#You could also have scott getting the equation if you want

[autisticcassandracain]

Free story idea I'll probably never write but am kind of obsessed with: Scott and Lightray role reversal where Scott grew up on New Genesis and Lightray was traded to Apokolips.

Basic set up: Scott, as a little baby child, was supposed to die when Steppenwolf killed his mother. He survived, narrowly, but Izaya hid that from Apokolips in fear of retaliation. So when the pact happened, Izaya's son, presumed dead, wasn't on the table; instead, (quite literally) the brightest child on New Genesis was traded.

So Scott grows up hidden on New Genesis as the son of Highfather, with his big brother Orion. And the thing is, he loves his home, his father, his brother, but by the time he hits young adulthood he's positively gnawing at the bars. He's going stir crazy from his limited movement; even in New Genesis he has to be careful, because after all these years, he's still hiding from Darkseid, who might change the pact if he hears Izaya's son is still alive, or even flat out kill him, breaking the truce in the process. It's not something anyone is willing to risk, least of all Highfather and Orion.

But Scott is not the type to accept limitations on his freedom, and on top of that, the longer he hides away, the more guilty he feels. He's not stupid, he knows that he should have, by all rights, been the one traded in the pact. But Highfather prioritized his safety and took the out that him being presumed dead offered, and another kid took the fall instead. How is that fair? It's not like Lightray is any less important than him. Scott may have been too young to make informed decisions or understand what was happening when the pact occured, but now, as an adult, he's becoming increasingly dissatisfied with being protected at the cost of other peoples lives.

If only he could help in some way – he's no fighter, but he's crafty and creative. Surely, even if he wouldn't he terribly useful on a battlefield (and has no real desire to enter it to begin with), he could at least do something for the kid that got traded in his place? Help him escape, perhaps? He's already capable of giving even New Genesis the slip, Apokolips can't be that much harder...

Meanwhile, Darkseid was fully planning on pulling the same basic gambit with Lightray as he would have with Scott: torment him until he decides to escape at all costs, breaking the pact. So Lightray was put in Granny's Orphanage, ostensibly a normal student, with Granny reporting back on him to Darkseid. And things would've gone roughly like they went for Scott, if it weren't for one thing: Lightray's intelligence.

Where Scott was, as far as we can tell, a perfectly average student, Lightray quickly proves to be exceptional. His fighting is largely mediocre (relatively peaking, of course), but he still wins a vast majority of sparring matches, even when his opponents far outmatch him in skill, resources, numbers, or all three. He does this by simply outsmarting them, figuring out positively brilliant strategies even under the effects of Granny's mind-altering drugs. Granny reports this back to Darkseid, baffled and annoyed, lamenting about cowardice and rebellion; children in Granny's Orphanage are not supposed to think, after all.

But Darkseid quickly realizes that the pact handed them far more than just a symbolical light, an easy way to end the truce; it handed them a weapon. Child of New Genesis Lightray may be, Darkseid reads Granny's reports of cunning, manipulation, underhanded and even ruthless strategy and sees himself. On New Genesis, Lightray may have been a formidable enemy, but now, Darkseid has the opportunity to mold him into a surprise weapon. A cunning strategist, perhaps even on a similar level as himself, completely loyal to Apokolips, but easily able to win New Genesis' trust if necessary. A perfect potential spy. Lightray still has some of that pesky New Genesis kindness, but nothing a little careful manipulation won't fix. But the brute force of Granny's Orphanage won't bend him into the right shape; a little more subtlety is required here.

So Darkseid takes Lightray from Granny's Orphanage and only lies to him a little bit. He tells Lightray about the pact, about how he was traded for convenience's sake; Darkseid even graceciously admits that he'd originally planned to use Lightray much the same way, but had realized his mistake and decided to give him a chance instead. Darkseid sees how special Lightray is, how much more he could be than just a bargaining chip; Darkseid could make him great, give him power and, more importantly, a place to belong. Lightray could be important, and important things aren't easily traded away, are integral to their home and respected as peers. He could have a place here if he just listens to Darkseid, and why shouldn't he? What has New Genesis, what has Highfather given him? At least Apokolips, Darkseid is giving him a chance, believes he can be more than a bargaining chip. Highfather sees him as nothing but a tool, but Darkseid gets him, believes in him, believes he is more. Between the two of then, who has earned Lightray's loyalty?

So Lightray grows up as Darkseid's adopted son, favored even over Kalibak for his merit, risen above his origins as a bargaining chip, and only feels a little weird about it all. Just a little bit. Somewhere in the back of his mind, there is an instinctive part of him that cringes when a hunger dog rebel begs for mercy while being tortured to death, but that's just his New Genesis weakness, and he's long since overcome it. It's nothing Darkseid holds against him, as long as Lightray fights it. His origins don't define him, and he's grabbed the knife and chosen Darkseid's strength over New Genesis' weakness.

They were planning on having him 'escape' Apokolips and slotting him into New Genesis as a spy, but a golden opportunity drops straight into their lap. A New Genesian manages to sneak straight into Lightray's room, in the heart of Darkseid's home. The only one they know with the skill to pull that of is Himon, but this is clearly someone else.

This is Highfather's son, remarkably alive despite all information to the contrary, and doesn't that just reinforce everything Lightray's ever been taught? Highfather had been unwilling to sacrifice his own son, as Darkseid had done, and had instead cowardly offered up Lightray as a sacrificial lamb. Well, joke's on them, this lamb has grown into a wolf, and is ready to earn his spot in the pack. Highfather's son is called Scott Free (which is really just salt in the wound, isn't it) and is here to break him out, take him back to New Genesis, and it's a little before schedule, but they can't possibly pass up this opportunity.

Scott returns home to New Genesis, having successfully rescued Lightray and feeling pretty good about himself, not understanding why Orion is so spitting mad at the whole thing. He knows this means war, and that's awful, but this truce was never going to last, and they all know it. And now that he's seen the horrors of Apokolips for himself, he can't help but want to do something about it. He may be no fighter, but he thinks he can work with Himon; Himon's methods seem to fit very well with Scott's strengths. He can help, but his father still forbids him to leave New Genesis, and Orion insists that Darkseid is planning something, that it's too dangerous. Scott is inexperienced, naive, and must be protected at all costs, and if they think they can actually successfully keep him in one place they're idiots. It's only a matter of time before he gives them the slip.

Orion knows this damn well, but that's not going to stop him from trying to keep Scott from walking straight into an enemy trap. He doesn't trust Lightray, not even a little bit; he still remembers what Darkseid is like, and he knows, knows that Lightray would never have been allowed to live as his son if he wasn't useful to him in some way. Orion would bet his astro harness Lightray is a spy, but what can they do? Highfather refuses to lock Lightray up without concrete proof that he's a traitor, and they obviously can't send him back to Apokolips. If Scott goes through with joining Himon, he'll be in the middle of enemy territory, with a spy to report back to Darkseid on it. Orion can't allow that to happen, no matter what. But he can't just babysit Scott, even if Scott would've allowed him to do that; with the war starting, Orion is needed on the front lines. He doesn't know how to balance the need to protect his brother with his duties towards New Genesis and the universe at large.

Lightray, meanwhile, is having a bit of a culture shock. New Genesis is, for the most part, exactly what he'd been told to expect: bright, soft, holier-than-thou, all-around fake and weak. But it's still a shock to go from dark Apokolips to bright New Genesis, and to his alarm he can feel the effects already. In the sunlight, he is physically stronger and much more comfortable. He settles in easy, feels content in a way he rarely (never) felt on Apokolips. No matter how much he tries to remind himself that these people betrayed them and he's here to destroy them, he fits on New Genesis in a way he never did on Apokolips, and that scares him, a little bit. Because he knows he'll never have a place here; he'd be a tool at best, and an interloper at worst. Orion's hostility, though a significant hurdle in the plan, is almost welcome; it's familiar, and makes it easier to remind himself that he does not, in fact, belong here.

And then, there is one more complication: Scott Free. Scott Free, Highfather's hidden son, for whose sake he was traded, who is naive and reckless and easy to manipulate, and genuine in a way that completely throws Lightray for a loop. Highfather lies, pretending to trust Lightray despite obviously agreeing with Orion's suspiscions, apologizing for trading Lightray even though he'd surely do it again without hesitation, claiming to respect New Genesis' youth above all despite how obviously untrue that is. It's easy to look at him and see confirmation of everything Darkseid told him about New Genesis.

But Scott tells Lightray he never should've been traded in his place and honestly seems to believe it. He defied orders to come 'rescue' Lightray because he believed it was more important than the continuation of the pact. He's weak, in many ways, but he sees the world how it could be, not the way it is, and has a bright resiliance to him, which Lightray stubbornly refuses to compare to anyone he's met, especially not one Aurelie, the Fury who'd been revealed to be part of Himon's rebels. Scott Free will either die painfully or waste the rest of his life away imprisoned, and Lightray finds himself making just a few too many excuses for why that bothers him.

When Scott Free finally escapes Orion and Highfather's watch to go join Himon, Lightray does not immediately report to Darkseid. He contacts Big Barda instead. It's not treachery, he tells himself. Big Barda is wholly loyal to Darkseid, the leader of the Furies, and will get the job done; besides, he'll report to Darkseid soon enough. He still refuses to think about Aurelie, and how closely Barda stuck to Lightray's side afterwards, drawn to him for reasons they both knew but refused to acknowledge. When he hears back about Barda's defection and her and Scott's escape to Earth, he is obviously very shocked and not even a little bit relieved the plan he didn't have worked.

Then the anti-life equation is discovered on Earth, and suddenly Lightray is told by Darkseid that discovering its location should be his top priority. Orion is sent to look for it as well, to protect it, and Lightray, seeing an opportunity, insists to go along. To his surprise, Orion actually agrees. Orion, for this part, just wants to get Lightray as far away from New Genesis as possible, and is working on a 'keep your friends close, but your enemies closer' logic. So off they both go, on the universe's most high-stakes and hostile buddy road trip.

[princesssmars]

sub! stiles with witch!reader... 18+

this could be read as a tie-in to either of my stiles and witch!reader works, but im just so obsessed with the idea of a more subby stiles. as much as i love the fics with a more dominant version of him i just cant get over him being the submissive in your relationship.

when he meets you and thinks you're so cool and crazy powerful and insanely hot, and you just have this way of making people do what you want that he admires.

(at first, he wondered if it had something to do with your powers affecting how people reacted to you, but when he found out that no, you're just able to get people to listen to you because it's you, incredibly smart and convincing you, he swears he falls a little in love with you.)

but yeah. and his friends don't but they also do understand it. there's you, a powerful but kind of scary ally always dressed in black and other dark colors who doesn't talk much and sometimes brings her black cat that hisses at everyone. and then there's him, a ball of chaotic energy that's always dressed in those corny t-shirts he loves and his beat-up converse and more beat-up jeep. so obviously the first time he introduces you to them they think it's some kind of prank, until later on when he tells a bad joke and the room is entirely silent until you fail to cover up a snort. then they get it

so, he has this amazing and cool girlfriend so why wouldn't he want to just. do everything you say? it doesn't take long for him to let you take the reins. the first few make-outs before you slept together he tried to keep some semblance of dominance, using his hands to rock you down over him on his lap until you would slowly grab his hands in yours and push them above his head. if you ever bring it up he denies it but the first time you did it he came in his pants.

after that its so easy to dominate him even more, not even just in a sexual setting. if he's ever rambling you brush some hair away from his face and remind him to take a breath and drink the specialty tea brew you made for him. you wake him up with polite good morning texts that start nonchalantly but always end with a quote from some poetry or literature book you read that makes him giggle and wanna kick his feet in the hair. don't even get him started on how when you're both hanging out with the others in someone's house you'll sometimes pull the arm move and drag his body into yours. scott pointed out how the first time he saw it stiles had a lovestruck smile on his face and he also vehemently denied this.

but in the bedroom, it's heightened to the maximum, and there's rarely a day where he isn't begging for your touch, sometimes even begging for your attention. if there's one thing you love to do its tease him, occasionally leading him on for a week with touches and looks and whispers into his skin. and as torturous as it is when you do its oh so worth it when you sit with your legs spread, his back pressing into your chest as he whines and moans while you move your palm up and down his dick.

and he is so excited when he realizes that you can bring your powers into the equation. a basic floating spell turns into the best night of his damn life.

[youcouldmakealife]

Sven/Gérard/Yvette; almost home

Another of the Kickstarter fills, for a request for some OG OT3.

“You know,” Blair says. “As a single dude, when your friends start getting married and have kids, usually you start to drift apart.”

Sven blinks at him, feeling slow, as he so often has lately. Blair’s speaking to him, but obviously he’s the married friend with kids in this equation, in which case the single dude is — ah.

“I don’t think we’ve drifted apart,” Sven says, looking over at Gérard. Gérard smiles back, small.

He doesn’t think they’ve drifted apart at all.

“Well, no, you’ve done the exact opposite,” Blair says. “That’s kind of my point.”

“I don’t understand what your point is meant to be,” Sven says.

“Leo?” Blair says. “You want to do that English to Olsen translation for me?”

Gérard smiles again. It looks tired. Sven sympathizes. Empathizes. Whatever the word is.

Usually he’s much better at this, but he hasn’t had an undisturbed night of sleep since little Gerard was born. Well, except on the road, but that’s exhausting in its own way — his first night away from Yvette and the baby, he spent half the night texting her for updates until she told him to sleep so at least someone would.

Sven is a champion sleeper. He’s renowned for it. Or, he was. He misses it. Sleeping in. Lazy mornings in bed. Napping just for the pleasure of it, rather than because it’s the only sleep he can snatch. He knew what he was giving up, but — well, he didn’t know.

“Too tired for translation,” Gérard says.

“Me or you?” Sven asks.

“Both, probably,” Gérard says.

“Okay,” Blair says. “Uh, usually people, you know, quit having shit in common? Instead of uh, literally moving in so they can help take care of the baby? Typically?”

“Well,” Sven says. “Have they considered it? Because I do have to say, it’s significantly easier to handle childcare when you outnumber the baby three to one.”

“Neither of you look like it’s even remotely easy,” Blair says. “Did you sleep at all last night, Cap?”

“I slept six hours,” Sven says. They weren’t all consecutive, but even so, he thinks those are solid numbers for a newborn. “As did Yvette.”

Hers were consecutive, thanks to an eye mask, ear plugs, and a noise machine. He can’t begrudge her any of it; she’s the one at home taking care of little Gerard while they’re here enduring their teammates’ busybodying because the coaching staff is running late. And not just one or two, but all of them. Sven would like to think that implies something scandalous, but most likely they’re in a meeting. He’s glad they don’t have meetings. He doesn’t think he could handle meetings on six hours of sleep. Frankly he doesn’t think he could handle meetings on eight.

Or perhaps they’ve all been fired. Sven hopes that isn’t the case. He likes them, but more importantly, he thinks if he had to adjust strategies right now he might malfunction. He’s learning something new every minute, it feels like. There is no room in his brain.

“That seems like a lot for a baby?” Bowie says. “Sleep,” he adds, when Sven blinks at him. He’s lost the thread again.

“Oh,” Sven says. “Yes. That’s my point.”

“Wait,” Dan says. “How many did Gérard sleep?”

“Seven,” Gérard yawns. His were also not consecutive. He’s an unfortunately light sleeper. He’s managed to adjust on the road, so Sven hopes he’ll be able to adjust to the baby too, but it hasn’t happened yet. But it’s only been a month. It feels much, much longer than that.

“Okay,” Scott says, leaning in, his eyes a little wild. His wife’s due any day, so Sven isn’t surprised. “I don’t know if my wife would agree, but you know what? For six hours of sleep, I’m in. Gérard, what do you charge?”

“You have to name your child after him,” Cary says. “Obviously.”

“I would genuinely consider doing that,” Scott says.

“Aren’t you guys having a girl?” Bowie asks.

“Gerardina,” Scott says. “What do you say, G?”

“That sounds like an STD,” Cary says. “You’d do that to your poor kid?”

“For six hours of sleep a night?” Scott says. “Absolutely.”

“Too bad,” Sven says, reaching a hand out. Gérard’s sitting too far away for him to reach, so he lets his hand hover in the air, hoping Gérard knows that Sven’s wrapped a telepathic arm around his shoulders. He might. Gérard is an exceptional individual. “He’s mine.”

“My wife’s a good cook,” Scott says. “Those two don’t cook, do they?”

Sven stands up, walking over to Gérard’s stall so he can not so telepathically wrap a possessive arm around his shoulders. Gérard leans back into him.

“I cook,” Gérard says.

“Free meals, and I’ll name two kids after you,” Scott says. “First name, middle name, everything.”

Sven tightens his grip.

“I don’t think Sven would be willing to give me up,” Gérard says.

Sven’s glad he knows this.

The coaching staff come in then — not fired en masse, Sven is thankful to see — and everyone jumps up, the few who haven’t changed into their gear hurriedly devoting themselves to the task.

Practice is harder than usual, but easier than conversation. There’s muscle memory to it, the literal practice of hockey, broken down into its bare components. Conversation flows, it changes, he has to adapt. That’s true of hockey too, but moreso during games than in practice. He’s only scored two goals in the past six weeks, but practice, that he can do. It’s almost nice, getting to use his body, to know that everything’s still there, that it still knows what to do, especially after he found his phone in the fridge this morning. He hadn’t even realised it was missing.

“I’ve never been more popular in my life,” Gérard says on the drive back. Sven isn’t a fan of driving at the best of times, so they’ve mutually agreed Gérard should be the one behind the wheel. “Everybody wants to name their kid after me.”

Sven grunts.

“Don’t worry,” Gérard says. “I won’t take Scottie up on his offer. I know you wouldn’t know what to do without me.”

Yvette might — she’s very capable, far more comfortable with everything. She’s tired, but not totally at sea. But Sven?

“I wouldn’t have the first idea,” Sven says honestly.

“Sleep for the rest of the drive,” Gérard says.

“It’s only ten minutes,” Sven says, but he closes his eyes, and doesn’t open them again until Gérard’s gently shaking his shoulder, telling him to come inside.

[gumnut-logic]

@idontknowreallywhy you reminded me of this. :D

-o-o-o-

Scott was ever so tired, but when John requested he not return Thunderbird One to her hangar, but instead nest her up with Two, he had to do as his brother asked.

John’s reasoning didn’t involve words, just a photo that had Scott hitting the brakes over Tonga and gliding in as quietly as he could.

The fact Virgil was behind him only had him waiting longer as the cargo ship needed to touch down before One could park securely. After all, the whole reason they hid the Thunderbirds like they did on their deserted Island was to protect them from accidentally being seen. There were holographic shields and security networks galore protecting the Island, but ultimately, if a fishing boat either wandered in or needed safety, it was a good idea to keep the Thunderbirds much less than obvious.

In summary, they didn’t tend to leave the sports car on the lawn for the neighbourhood to gawk at.

So instead, Scott set One to hover a respectful distance away while he waited for Two to catch up.

And try not to fall asleep in his pilot’s chair.

Fortunately, Virgil wasn’t as far behind as he could have been and the green behemoth soon appeared on One’s sensors. Scott stared as his younger brother glided in under minimal power and set down with a short spurt of VTOL in a rather impressive manoeuvre. It was the closest to landing silently that Two could probably get.

Scott let One follow almost immediately. She wasn’t as quiet as Two, the fact she had had to hover removing any chance at a glide out of the equation.

In any case, he slipped One in behind her sister and stashed her in the massive hangar so Two could still deploy if necessary and One could as well, albeit a touch slower than usual.

But considering her pilot was a zombie, it wouldn’t matter for another eight hours at least.

Climbing out, he met an equally tired Virgil and they plodded to the elevator together, drowning their exhaustion in the showers, and throwing on pyjamas that Grandma had obviously left out for them.

Scott’s t-shirt had the slogan on the front ‘Born to fly’, which he found appropriate, but the shirt having come from Gordon, the back followed up with ‘Farts in the sky’.

But he was too tired to care right now. Shoving it on and pulling the pants up over aching hips - he really shouldn’t have jumped from that cliff – he stretched to finally get any of the remaining kinks out of his system.

Only to find Virgil wearing a slightly too small t-shirt also obviously of the Gordon purchase pile that pectorally declared, ‘Warning: Do not decaffeinate, may decapitate’.

Well, perhaps, Gordon did have a point there.

Scott sighed. “Want to check on them?”

Virgil’s answer was only an eyebrow, but it clearly declared Scott an idiot for asking such a stupid question.

That ended all energy for future verbalisation and, finishing up, Virgil fell into step beside Scott as he headed off towards the lounge.

Because Allie was in the lounge.

And Allie was injured.

That fact, that entire concept, cut into Scott’s gut like a blunted knife.

John’s frantic yell the week before had aged the commander several years in a matter of seconds. Allie had been up helping a space freighter that had lost power and was in the process of losing orbit along with it. It should have been simple, but some high-speed space trash had collided with the vessel while Alan was out repairing broken electronics.

His suit had been compromised by what was basically a small meteor of human origin and for a bit there it had been damned scary.

But Brains made above average spacesuits and a certain self-healing polymer invented by a smart brother automatically resealed the suit.

Not before the damage to Alan’s leg had been done, however. A gash the length of his calf with both hot and cold burns leaving his leg a mess and their little brother grounded for weeks.

Scott was just happy to have him safe, and those weeks gave Scott the time to process the fact that, ultimately, he would have to let Alan out into space again.

But for now, he was safe at home.

Virgil was on his right when they entered the comms room. There was only one lamp providing illumination beside the moon shining through the rafters, but there was enough light to see Alan and Gordon curled up in what appeared to be the remains of a blanket fort.

Scott stepped quietly, Virgil on his heels.

Both little brothers were asleep, Gordon curled protectively around Allie, snuggled in a pile of pillows and bedclothes. Alan’s bandaged leg stuck out at an angle, but rested on a cushion, his foot sporting a pink fluffy slipper.

But it wasn’t the rather heart-warming sight of his two sleeping brothers that raised his eyebrows.

It was the swarm, a literal school of plushies that surrounded them that had Scott’s eyes bugging out...at least a little.

His brothers were curled up on the floor, but sitting on the couches where International Rescues were decided on and deployed was a literal cornucopia of sea life cuddly toys.

There was a giant prawn as big as Alan perched as if waiting for the holoprojector to activate. Eight octopuses of varying size, lined up in a row, sat beside it, three squid keeping them company.

A whale took up the entirety of one couch all by itself, a plethora of rays and fluffy sharks were piled up in mounds.

A furry red crab was sitting on the steps alongside something else that was white and vaguely bug like. The rest of the floor was covered by starfish, multiple clownfish and a whole variety of other plushie marine organisms including a six-metre-long oarfish that Scott only knew the name of because Gordon had pounded it into his head the day he bought it.

Literally, Gordon had whacked him across the head with it.

Virgil tiptoed into the mess silently on bare feet and there was a flicker of yellow light as he scanned his little brother.

The engineer retreated back to Scott’s side just as quietly, so there was obviously nothing to be concerned about.

John flickered in above the table, obviously on dim projection. He didn’t say anything, just smiling a little down at his brothers before looking up at Scott and Virgil.

Scott absently saluted him and that smile widened just a little before he blinked out again.

There was definitely a good reason why Thunderbird One needed to be parked out back.

Virgil tugged on his arm.

A glance at his brother and Virgil nodded him in the direction of the elevator.

Scott looked back at his two sleeping little brothers once more, a breath releasing through his teeth. Gordon obviously had a sea creature plushie addiction that might require a few questions at a later time, but there was something about the scene that swelled Scott’s heart and part of him wanted to curl up in the pile with them.

Virgil tugged on his arm again and Scott relented, following the engineer from the room.

Nothing much was said between them in the elevator, both caught up in their thoughts. Now they were out of sight of their little brothers, exhaustion once again crept in.

Virgil squeezed Scott’s shoulder as they exited onto the residential level and both of them disappeared into their rooms.

Five minutes later there was a knock at Scott’s door.

Bleary eyed and heart sinking he opened it, only to find Virgil standing there with his arms full of a giant black teddy bear. His brother shoved it at Scott, forcing him to either grab a hold or drop it.

Nothing was said, but Virgil did squeeze his hand before disappearing as abruptly as he had appeared.

Scott was left holding a giant black teddy bear.

It took him a moment, but he shut the door and retreated back into his bedroom.

The bear stared at him.

This was foolish.

But exhaustion continued to gnaw at him and it was with a certain lack of care that found Scott grabbing the bear and curling up in bed around it as the lights finally shut off.

Its fur was ever so soft.

And warm.

As he relaxed into sleep.

-o-o-o-

[astranite]

CH2 Coming Home Loudly

John isn't okay because it sure is lonely up in space. Scott follows through on his promises; he's here for his brothers and nothing, not even the distance between Earth and Thunderbird Five could stop him. Gordon is also Making Sure This Happens. --After suffering in silence, John comes home.

@janetm74 's Suffering In Silence which this follows. Ch1 upon tumblr.

@lying4sport

---

It had been twelve weeks since anyone had last hugged John or touched him at all. Scott would've been the last, leaving him on Thunderbird Five months ago with a quick squeeze of his shoulder to say goodbye. If Scott had known then that it would be for this long or had put together the pieces about the debacle with Alan already, he would have given in to the urge to tackle John into a hug, professional dignity while on duty be damned. He only had now and his brother in his arms.

All things considered, the stifled sob John let out was far from surprising. 

How he tugged away from the contact fully was even less so. Scott let him go, not forcing his brother to put up with his personal space being invaded when he was so unused to having anyone else around. He wouldn't anyway, even if his own heart ached. John needed physical affection to be on his own terms as much as he did need it.

John's arms went back to hugging himself as he rocked on his feet from heel to toe and back again, sniffling. "It's really nice to have you here."

"I'm glad to see you too. I really am," Scott replied. That barely begun to express how badly he wanted only to sit at John’s side and talk about anything or nothing at all, simply to be close.

Pretending to inspect the big ol' International Rescue sign became far more interesting as Scott turned away to let John surreptitiously wipe at his eyes. Spelled out in blaring capital letters, it was underlined red on the front of their space station

Funny how they had built this massive sign into Thunderbird Five up here where only John saw.

Scott ran his hands through his hair. He'd heard his brother's voice, seen his image through their communications array every day and near every mission since John had last rotated out, but it didn’t compare. Never could. It had been so damn long since he'd actually been physically in John's presence. 

He missed him ever so much.

He spun back to John, slowly to give him warning but too fast because right now he needed his brother in his sight. John seemed a bit more with it, the mask of Thunderbird Five, the larger than life promise of salvation overshadowing the very human operator slipping back into place. There were still cracks in it to see his brother through as John fidgeted with his uniform, twisting his fingers around his baldric until it crumpled.

He was more the utterly exhausted, probably covered in mud and hangry level of put together of the others after a mission, than John's usual never less than perfect. Scott would take what he could get though. If John started crying again, Scott couldn't guarantee he wouldn't either. 

"You ready to head home?" Scott said suddenly. 

He craned his neck around to look at the gleaming control panels, their blinking lights shining as brightly as they should. There. Sorted. Given this was John, of course it was: he’d never leave Five anything less than gleaming. They could go home.

John paused, his movements dying down into unnatural stillness. He lifted his chin, looking Scott straight in the eye like he was presenting his case before a committee of the entire world judging him, instead of it only being them. 

"No."

The single word came out blunt anyway.

Scott tensed up. To leave without John… he couldn’t—

Scott forced himself to take a deep breath. John wasn't exactly making sense, but when it came to his oh so clever little brother, it was most often Scott who was missing part of the equation.

"You don't want to? Or is there something else?" he asked, hesitant. 

It was rare for John to be this thrown by anything. But then this wasn’t an everyday situation, or rather it never should’ve become one so ceaselessly.

“Jay, what’s going on?”

Scott didn’t know how not to worry.

"No!” John shook his head frantically. “No, I want to go home."

His hands flailed through the air as if he was trying to sketch out a diagram of the problem for Scott. They rose upwards before John brought them down fast, flicking them, flapping them in rapid, repeating succession.

It struck Scott how long it had been since John had let him see him do that. With came the piercing realisation of long since he’d been physically in front of John to see him. In front of a camera and across comms, John held his hands below the field of view unless one was delicately wrapped around his microphone.

A tiny piece of the tension eased. John took a deep, shuddering breath, placing his words deliberately: "Father told me to pack my bags. I'm not packed. So therefore I'm not ready.”

To leave without John… he couldn’t—

As Scott reached for him, out of an instinct to comfort his brother in any way he could, John flinched back. He flattened himself against the wall, limbs compressed inwards as if he wanted to to sink through the glass and disappear into the star punctured void outside. 

John had always had the talent of making himself small. Scott was the one here on Five who was too loud and out of place.

 “So therefore I can’t go home,” John murmured. Or rather he mumbled, barely audible syllables clinging to each other instead of cutting through the noise clear as day. Scott had nicknamed the latter as his newsreader's voice once upon a time, on a day they’d been messing about over the comms as each brother requested John do different voices and Jeff pretended to not hear. 

It was what the world heard of Thunderbird Five, through and through. But not all there was to him.

Scott's hands found their way into his own hair again, tugging at it. He hadn’t thought. Grabbing him into a hug wouldn’t work with John. Never had. Sometimes that meant Scott wasn’t sure what to do.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

This was unfair, so fundamentally unfair that Scott didn't know what to do with it. He wanted John, down on Earth for however long he needed, happy and safe, but this wasn't the kind of rescue where Scott could throw him over his shoulder and carry him out of the burning building. It wasn't that sort of strength Scott needed. 

What he needed was John’s own quiet strength, to calm and care for and carry people through to hope on only his voice. Yet what he had was himself.

[thecoolerliauditore]

Sorry someone asked me about the self harm post and I got really out of hand writing stuff that wasn't really relevant and just mansplaining how I view double life's mechanics in a metaphorical sense as a whole. This really is not anything but I feel like I wrote too much to just delete it now so here

Scared that this is gonna be someone else's bdubs unsweetened lemonade situation but:

double life's mechanic, in essence, is "your life and wellbeing have direct impact on someone else" so when you combine that with the players actions and how they abuse the mechanic to control and punish their soulmates, you get some pretty cool stuff that could be translated into symbolism. If you're insane, of course.

I feel like I should note that I'm not going to go into the queer reading of double life and the anti-soulmate themes because I feel like other people have summed that up better than I could even though I do feel like that is one of the strongest reads of anything in the series. For the sake of argument we're going to be equating a soulbound with someone you have a genuine connection with emotionally and not just your watcher government assigned husband because I do think both are applicable to every soulbound pair in the series.

so with that being said a good chunk of the players, the worst offenders being divorce quartet, instead of seeing their soulbound as a reason to be more careful use their physical pain to punish their respective partners, while hurting themselves in the process.

Scott + Cleo are the most straightforward example, to me. They feel snubbed by Pearl and Martyn so they "teach them a lesson" by hurting themselves, knowing that it will impact their partners. They also enable and push eachother to get more and more dramatic with their "punishments", i.e. through the mutual axe crit morning routine they'd established. They call themselves chosen soulmates but through both the axe crits and other behaviour (e.g. cleo admitting she was "using" scott) it is shown that they don't truly Care For eachother, rather that they simply need eachother to enable themselves.

Pearl is also pretty straightforward: Scott hurts her, so she hurts him back. Despite her gleeful mocking and giggling through it all I'd argue this is not something Pearl ever really wanted to do, especially since the soulbound isn't the only way Scott hurts her in the series (I'd even argue him socially isolating her is worse than the axe crits) and this is the only thing Pearl has to get back at him -- through hurting herself. I also think it's kind of fucked that despite the fact Scott is hurt by this (as in the mechanics apply to him), he always treats it as more of an annoyance until it gets to the point where he's worried about his own life (e.g. when joel chases down pearl, scott specifically yells "Pearl run! MY life isn't worth it!")

It almost becomes this messed up toxic competition for Scott and Pearl to see who can push things further. There's this one part I think about alot where Pearl is doing her usual powdered snow tick damage ("just a tickle", as she puts it) and Scott leaps off a massive cliff and takes out a huge chunk of their healthbar to get her to stop. And he does this all without saying a word.

Martyn is kind of the outlier as the one who engaged in hurting himself the least and even Cleo chills on the axe crits after awhile, I like to think due to her and Martyn's conversation on the bridge and her realising what she is doing isn't fair to him. However, Martyn is not without his own demons since his first reaction to Cleo teaming with Scott was to fucking start hitting her, despite the damage reflecting back onto him (he even pulls out an axe and starts going for crits).

seriously though I haven't seen anyone else comment on this. what the fuck man.

Martyn continues with this later as well, when he catches Scott and Cleo in the middle of one of their axe crit routines and, once they explain what they're doing, starts hitting Cleo again (again, despite the damage reflecting onto him and having just taken an axe crit). This part was especially interesting to me because he never hits Scott even though he's the logical target (no soulbound), the one who actually did the axe crit and just as responsible for the split as Cleo, but afaik he never lays a hand on him.

In fact I'd even say it's worth noting that Martyn is almost on friendly terms with Scott, despite talking behind his back. When Cleo and Pearl get into a game of chicken to see who can stay longest in a pile of powdered snow, Martyn and Scott suddenly start taking damage and, instead of getting angry at their soulbounds (like Scott and Cleo had at the start of the series), Martyn places down his own powdered snow and asks Scott if he wants to do it too, to which Scott giggles and agrees. It seems like Martyn is more or less only concerned about His soulbound.

Like Cleo slowing down and eventually stopping with her axe crits, Martyn stops hitting her after awhile too.

Now while I do realise the imagery is very uncomfortable, it's worth noting that Martyn hitting Cleo is pretty much equivalent to Cleo hurting herself to get back at him, if anything Martyn hitting her does less damage. So at least in the confines of this post the comparison is less beating your wife = cutting yourself and more "here are two people who do mutual harm onto one another, with different methods but the same outcome".

Cleo is also pretty smug through the whole thing and doesn't seem emotionally impacted whatsoever by Martyn hitting her (aside from taking offense) and the two make up relatively quickly as well. What I'm trying to say is Martyn Wifebeater Littlewood is not real but he does suck. It's not Literal physical abuse and it's not Literal self-harm. Other than in Pearl's case I think you could make a case for that literally being the equivalent of her hurting herself because it's all she has to get back at Scott with.

This also opens up a good question of: if hurting their soulbounds is the goal, why aren't all of them doing what Martyn is doing? After all the outcome is the same, the method is just more direct. There's this interesting point here I think then of Martyn being the most outwardly hostile of the four, but also the most direct and willing to communicate, even if he does it in a really awful way.

ALTERNATIVELY that is literally what is happening and both Martyn and Cleo are just insane people.

Outside of the divorce quartet, things get even muddier.

I feel like one of the pitfalls for the purposeful self-damage = self-harm take actually comes from Etho and Joel, early on in the series when Joel is building the RelationShip. Etho purposefully jumps off a ledge to do fall damage to Joel everytime Joel takes damage while building to "teach him a lesson", according to him. He even does this in front of people whose reactions range from amused to slightly taken aback.

Now this could easily be read as controlling behaviour but I feel like that would be severely out of character for etho, who historically has not wanted anything to do with team-ups on any level past convenience. It could be argued that this is what the soulbound system brings out of him now that he is forced to keep track of one other person (and imo he's pretty clear he doesn't care deeply for joel as a soulbound whatsoever) but he is otherwise so unbothered with anything Joel does and, if anything, let's Joel lead their decision-making ("the ship burns, everything burns" was certainly not etho's doing).

The damage he does to himself + Joel is also minimal enough that it doesn't ever get to the point of worrying either of them past being annoying and it's not something Etho does for more than one or two episodes.

So with that what I'm trying to say is there's definitely wiggle room for what it means for individual soulbounds and its overall impact seems to be very dependent on who is doing it and what the intent is behind it.

Which is relevant for the last pair I feel like this is especially important to: Scar and Grian. What does, for example, Scar showing Pearl the powdered snow signify? Is he enabling her like Cleo and Scott with eachother? Is he doing it out of amusement? Does he relate to her plight with Scott due to his own situation with Grian and want to feel some sort of second-hand justice?

It's not really clear, especially added to him hurting himself to get back at Grian for the cheating thing. I'll be honest I'm very scared in general of speaking on Scar's character because he's kind of an enigma to me and I've heard every take on earth about what he actually is like.

There's definitely more to talk about here but this is too long lmao chile

[hebuiltfive]

Thundertober Day Three: Armour

I always seem to be putting Scott in most of the emotional spirals. Sorry, Scott fans. On the plus side, the next two after this are also Scott centric, so win-win?

AO3 here Days: One ~ Two

Warnings for: no real warnings this time, just Scott being a little depressed. Everyone has a mask that they put on like armour to hide themselves from the world. Tagging: @thunder-tober @skymaiden32 (just going to put it out there that if you want to be tagged in any future Thundertober pieces, or future pieces in general, let me know and I'll tag you too!)

Tropical breeze blew through unkempt locks. He had quite taken to hiking recently. He wondered if the others had noticed… No, of course they had noticed. Virgil’s worried glances, Gordon’s offers of company, John’s calls that came the moment Scott had made it to the top. They could all sense something was wrong, but they all had the respect of leaving Scott alone to decide if and when to inform them.

They all trusted that he would.

The thing with falling was that it was a lot like flying. Scott figured that was probably why he allowed himself to plummet so far before picking himself back up. The perception was deceptive; whenever he fell, it often felt like there was a warm embrace awaiting him at the end. After so many descents, he knew there was nothing but a soul-crushing oblivion at rock bottom, but Scott accepted the fall every goddamn time because, in these specific moments, when the fall was already underway, he genuinely believed he deserved it.

These moments of self-destruction were never random. They always had a trigger. This time, it was from (what Scott would have called) a failed rescue.

John had been trying to convince him otherwise on the entire journey home, but Scott hadn’t listened.

Yes, his space brother had a point in claiming that no-one had perished in the disaster, but that didn’t equate a success. Not in his eyes.

They had managed to save everyone, but Scott had been stubborn and there had been subsequent costs.

“We’ve got to get these people out now, Virg.”

“Scott, if we move too fast, the whole thing is at risk of collapsing. This is the safer—”

“If we don’t act now, safer won’t matter because there won’t be anyone in there left to save!”

He squeezed his eyes tightly shut as the memory of that moment came back to him in vivid colours and sounds. He’d never be free of that mistake, just like he’d never be free of any of the other mistakes he’d made.

No-one died, but Scott had still managed to fuck it up.

He pretended to be okay for the journey home, listening and nodding away as John tried valiantly to reassure him that all was not lost. Scott didn’t believe a word of it, but John didn’t need to know that. He had placed the mask on, hoping his brothers wouldn’t be able to see through it.

The reason he had hiked up to the summit was so he didn’t have to keep pretending.

Here, he could let that shield down for a while.

Here, with only the sky and sea to view for miles and miles, Scott could allow himself to be himself.

If Scott were ever asked where this defence had come from, or when it had developed, he wouldn’t have been able to give a straightforward answer. Perhaps he’d always had this guard up, or perhaps he’d built it up in the months following Dad’s disappearance.

He didn’t know.

He didn’t care.

Scott was glad for the mask. It meant no-one else worried. It meant that he could stay safe and, so long as the armour remained up, he could not only protect himself from the world but also those around him from himself too.

He didn’t want to see Virgil’s worried eyes scanning over him every five seconds. He didn’t want Gordon to constantly feel like he needed to be around him just in case. He didn’t want John constantly checking up on him.

His brothers weren’t his babysitters, and as much as he personally hated it, he hated the idea of being a burden to them more.

The armour was beautiful at keeping his true feelings and thoughts hidden, so everyone could go on as normal, but that only worked when everyone believed the wall of lies that Scott had built up. Whilst he had hoped his brothers hadn’t seen through his armour, from their concern showed earlier it was clear that they had. Again, Scott blamed himself for that. Maybe the mask wasn’t good enough this time.

Maybe, because he didn’t believe it, no-one else would.

He berated himself.

There were whispered curses under his breath as seagulls cried overhead.

Had to do better.

Had to be better.

Scott slumped against one of the rocks, unconcerned over the uncomfortableness of the jagged ground beneath him. He pulled his knees up to his chest, ignoring the tears that ran down his cheeks.

At least for now, alone on that peak, he could let the armour fall.

[malikszayn]

sorry but this has to be said because i?? can't understand how some people can't seem to fucking grasp that theo taking gabe's pain was NOT character development, and consequently don't understand that therefore it was also NOT genuine??? theo has NEVER fucking shown an ounce of authentic care that was not driven by his own self-interest/desire. he would both do AND say anything to get closer to scott, even AFTER killing him. if given the opportunity, he would do it AGAIN. you think theo wasn't fully aware of the opportunity that presented itself in that situation? WHO did he have the easiest access to that looked up to and trusted scott the most? LIAM. if theo could have a display of "growth" in front of liam, that literally EQUATES to building credibility and trust with SCOTT. word gets around, no one in beacon hills shuts the fuck up about the things they witness. you can't tell me liam wouldn't relay this information to scott, that theo didn't absolutely KNOW that everyone in a thousand mile radius would know how "he'd changed/grown/whatever the fuck." and i don't know how much louder i can say this, BUT THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE IN THIS LIFE THAT CANNOT BE REDEEMED, BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT REDEMPTION. theo is inherently INCAPABLE of being saved. there's no amount of love, of communication, and no amount of trust that will alter his chemical make up. theo's environment has NEVER be one of safety, and he has NEVER been driven morally to do the right thing. he doesn't CARE when he does the wrong thing as long as it gains him POWER. how many times did he willingly show he did not have any regard for anyone he hurt when it actually came down to it? how many times did he LIE? how many times did he lead people to think he cared WHEN HE DIDN'T? how FAR was he willing to go and how CALLOUS was he when people finally realized what he was doing? and the sheer amount of posts saying "i'm so proud of theo," and "look how much he's grown" make me CRINGE because it's so apparent the blatant lack of understanding of his character. i absolutely PRAY that none of you have encountered or will encounter someone like theo in your life, because those are the type of people who destroy EVERY BIT of you who are, remove you from yourself, strip you of all your prior beliefs, and ruin EVERYTHING they touch. STOP MISTAKING WELL-EXECUTED AND CONTINUED MANIPULTION FOR GROWTH.

[pluckyredhead]

I am still reading my way through the Fourth World! Last time I talked about all the stuff published in the 70s; now let's talk about the 80s.

Kirby:

New Gods #12: In 1984, DC reprinted Kirby's original New Gods run and threw in an extra issue (not to be confused with Gerry Conway's New Gods #12) so that Kirby could finish the story. This was partially DC being nice and trying to give an aging Kirby money, and partially not because they refused to let him produce the ending he wanted, which was Orion and Darkseid both dying. After a couple scrapped versions, we got this, in which Orion goes down in a hail of laser fire. It's a real bummer, but at least he's extremely homoerotic with his best buddy Lightray first? (Oh, they're getting a whole separate post, just you wait.)

The Hunger Dogs: This "graphic novel" (it's only 64 pages but back then that counted) came out a year later and was the "conclusion" to the Fourth World saga. Once again DC and Kirby butted heads because Kirby really wanted to kill everyone and DC was like "But our IP!!!" In the final version, only supporting characters Himon and Esak die, which is sad but not going to do any damage to DC's bottom line.

It turns out Orion is not dead despite being riddled with holes (there's an intriguing suggestion that he has some kind of healing ability because he possesses the Life Equation, which like everything else in this book is presented with zero context or explanation), which is great because it gives him an opportunity to be homoerotic with Lightray again, although he has also been given an Obligatory Heterosexual Love Interest, Himon's daughter Bekka.

Anyway this book is baffling. Highfather blows up New Genesis (everyone survives) to taunt Darkseid, who is overthrown by the downtrodden masses of Apokalips. There's some shouting about the dangers of technology and maybe some anti-Cold War rhetoric about stockpiling weapons, but it's all so hysterically overblown - Kirby at his most grandiose - that it's nearly impossible to parse beyond "war bad." I do appreciate that Orion is able to break free of his rage and death wish and just...leave Darkseid behind, but the fact that he's emotionally mature enough to do that now comes pretty much out of nowhere. The art is extremely powerful, at least.

My final thought is that Kirby clearly gleefully ignored everything Englehart, Conway, et al. did and I love that for him.

Super Powers: Darkseid fights the Justice League. This was a comic created to sell a toy line and you can really, really tell.

Post-Kirby:

Legends: I've read this before, but it's great. If you like pre-Flashpoint DC, you should definitely read this, which introduces Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad, sets up the JLI, and brings Wonder Woman into the post-Crisis DCU. Neither Orion nor Scott are present but this (along with the Happyland issue of the original Forever People) really makes the case for why Glorious Godfrey is one of Kirby's best and scariest Fourth World creations. And I will never complain about John Byrne art.

Forever People (1988): Blecch. It's definitely arrogant to read something and think "I know for certain that Jack Kirby, a man I never met who died when I was a child, would have hated this" but like. I'm right. And it's obvious from the very first page.

Basically, at the end of Kirby's series, the FP were marooned on a random, idyllic planet somewhere with no hope of getting home, so they embraced it as their new, hopeful future. This catches up with them years later, with Serifan (the sweet young kid) drooling and raving alone in the woods, Vykin (the only Black character) dead (he gets better), and the rest of them...living in yuppie paradise? Apparently the planet they ended up on was populated (missing the point) with "primitive" people (racist) so they decided to use Mother Box to forcibly "evolve" the people (SO RACIST) and were able to create...modern-day America? Literally why would they even do that, they're from New Genesis. Mark is mayor and married with kids, and Big Bear and Beautiful Dreamer are married to each other with a baby on the way.

Anyway a nebulous villain/evil force called "the Dark" undoes everything which brings Vykin back to life but takes away Mark's wife and kids (she's alive but still "primitive" and the kids were never born) and Bear and Dreamer's unborn child, which means the only female protagonist spends the whole rest of the miniseries clutching her stomach and going "my baby!" I absolutely don't mean to make light of pregnancy loss but this doesn't feel like a story about a three-dimensional woman experiencing pregnancy loss. It feels like a story that reduces a woman to a) whether or not she's having a baby, which is the only thing she cares about and b) the central point on a vague love triangle with Mark and Bear. SIGH.

Meanwhile they all go to Earth for...some reason...and then Mark gets possessed by the Dark and is evil for a while but then they manage to summon Infinity Man and Mark isn't evil anymore. And it's bafflingly revealed that they're all from Earth in the first place from random different historical time periods and Highfather kidnapped them as babies. Okay???

The Forever People are perhaps Kirby's purest and most optimistic characters, and this cynical take on them actively angered me even though I don't actually care about them at all. I've also basically never cared for J. M. DeMatteis's writing outside of JLI, and I don't like Paris Cullins's art, so this book just had absolutely nothing going for it for me.

Cosmic Odyssey: I do not trust Jim Starlin with the New Gods since I know he's going to kill them all off in 2007. This is...fine, I guess? Starlin really does not like Orion, who he has slaughter a bunch of innocent, brainwashed Thanagarians, and also be deeply bigoted against Forager. Everything else is...fine? It's basically all action. The only character who has an emotional arc is John Stewart because this is the story where he fails to save Xanshi because he's being an overconfident moron, but the moral at the end of the comic is like "Get over it already" so...that happens. It's fine.

But man, that Mike Mignola artwork is worth the price of admission alone. That guy's great at drawing.

Mister Miracle Special: The plot of this is that Barda doesn't want Scott to be an escape artist anymore because it's too dangerous, even though a) she's a warrior of Apokalips and b) he's an active Justice League member and she seems fine with that. So okay.

Mister Miracle (1989): Okay, so the basic premise here - Scott and Barda try to adjust to normal life in the suburbs - is good. And it's a spiritual spinoff of JLI, which is of course one of my favorite books of all time. But this book is like...imagine someone screaming "Iiiiiiit's WACKY!" over your shoulder constantly while you're reading. That's what reading Mister Miracle (1989) is like. Highfather wears a tuxedo! Funky Flashman shows up a lot! Scott fights a giant alien noodle! Some of it is actually funny, but most of it is trying so hard to be funny that it's just exhausting.

There are some interesting character moments in there. Scott, Barda, and Orion all get to call Highfather out. Orion mentions wishing he was closer to Scott. There are hints at Scott's depression and suicidal tendencies, which I find really fascinating. But all of it is always immediately overshadowed by ZANINESS.

Anyway, I think we as DC fans deserve a do-over with a new Scott and Barda book about their lovingly domestic (kinky) life together on Earth that is funny but not desperately mugging for laughs in every panel. And I think it should be set in Vegas where Scott has a residency. Call me, DC!

New Gods (1989): This book was mostly written by Mark Evanier (a couple issues were by Starlin), who was one of Kirby's assistants back when he was originally creating the Fourth World, so you might think it would feel the closest to a continuation of Kirby's vision. Instead, I am making it Exhibit A in my argument for why a character should never be assigned to a writer who obviously fucking hates their guts.

I mean, I don't know that Evanier hates Orion. But boy does he write him like he does. Starlin's Orion (who again, we get a couple issues of here) is a monster, but Evanier's Orion is just an incompetent idiot, forever slamming himself against the brick wall of his inevitably becoming his father. Almost every single issue has at least one character, often multiple characters, bemoaning Orion's absolutely unproductive violence and inability to learn or comprehend basic concepts that should not be at all new to him after living most of his life on New Genesis (i.e. justice, mercy, compassion). Even fucking Kalibak is like "Wow, you're a useless idiot." Kalibak! The king of useless idiots!

The comic is so into hating on Orion that it hates on him when he's not actually doing anything bad; at one point he walks into a nuclear reaction that's melting down in a desperate attempt to stop it before it kills everyone, and Big Bear is like "Wow, he's just like his father." REALLY, BIG BEAR? Show me the comic where Darkseid risks his life to save thousands of strangers. I'll wait.

This series also features:

a hawkish, bloodthirsty New Genesis military leader who keeps trying to overthrow Highfather, which both seems to undercut the whole point of New Genesis as well as Orion's uniqueness as The Angry Guy;

an Earth woman with the worst gaydar in the universe repeatedly failing to fuck an increasingly uncomfortable Lightray;

but then Lightray falls in love with a dead woman he never met?;

also Orion gets a crush on a bug lady and learns to stop being racist against bugs (she's not impressed and good for her)

and Lightray and Orion parade around Earth in the WORST fashions of the late 80s/early 90s, which is about all this book has going for it.

Anyway it was bad and I'm glad I'm done with it. Next up: the 90s!

[safyresky]

So, Season 2. It's. It's alright ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But like...that's it, lmao.

I did enjoy it! I got WAY MORE genuine laughs out of these first two episodes than I did the entire first season. Magnus is hilarious, I love his whole vibe lmao. Fluffy's character, Kris, he's...man is really out here looking for a father figure and it is deffs biting him in the ASS.

The elves are top tier as per the usual! Betty and Noel are continuing to be THE power couple and I am SO HAPPY ABOUT IT, I love them to death 🥰🥰🥰

My fave thing about the season so far is just everyone out here like Scott wtf are you doing. Wtf, man. I yelled GET HIS ASS so many times lol. The official Get His Ass Count as of the end of Episode 2: 8. 8 whole GET HIS ASS moments. BLESS.

SO RIGHT. NITTY GRITTY. OKAY.

Episode 1

Scott sucked SO BAD this episode. He breaks the SOS on a worldwide level then gets upset when Cal is like "I love Riley! I wished her here! We're hanging out! Riley!! :D" and is like "Bro you should've dusted her."

OKAY SCOTT. WHAT ABOUT THE WHOLE WORLD, SCOTT, HMM? ARE WE DUSTING THEM??? HMM??? YEESH.

Scott aside (you know, his usual boomer-esque old guy who refuses to change shtick with BUT WHAT ABOUT FAMILY! And whatnot thing), everything else was. Mid, tbh. But fun! Santa being like "Are you gonna kill him?" With Carol being like "I can take care of Gary" was hilarious.

Betty and Noel, of course, SHINNED. I love them, they are SO CUTE. Cardboard face cutouts??? ICONIC. Nobody is doing it like them!

Now. Cal. aka, Buddy. I am very worried for him. Like, 4 episodes ago he was having ANXIETY about being Santa? And now this? Carol being like "what if he doesn't want it don't force him to follow in your footsteps" like. I AGREE. HE SHOULD GO OFF TO COLLEGE AND LIVE HIS LIFE!!!! I have a lot of thoughts there but it is late and I need to FOCUS because I need to yell about Cupid in a second, ANYWAY

Magnus Antas. I love this guy. I fucks with him. He takes a 700 year nap and is like "I'm fine" until his toxic bestie is like "I WANT TO KILL" and a kid sasses him for not being Santa/being OLD and he's like "Nevermind. I want to kill now too. Time to MURDER." He has VIBES and I like them!! He also seems like he's was over it until Olga was like "but what if" and some kid was mean to him and tbh, I can't even blame him for getting pissy at the kid lol. I'd also turna kid into "a Roblox" if I could (here for Gamer Mad Santa btw. I'd watch him stream on Twitch)

This is verging into Episode 2 territory, lol. May as well get there, then!

EPISODE 2

So, the LORE DROPS. Um. There was a LOT of it? And it seems to contradict itself/not quite equate with itself? If the NP is a utopia for magic, why is it like that? Was Magnus good, or not? Why do ALL the fairy creatures live there, when they come from so many diverse cuktures and backgrounds? That's a lil messed up! What the fuck happened with the gnomes becoming so (what's the phrase) PROMINENT for Santa? Will we get answers for all of these? Based on past season, PROBABLY NOT! BUT I HOPE WE DO! BC IT IS A BIT ALL OVER THE PLACE! AHH!

RIGHTO. SO SANDRA'S MAGIC. Love that for her! Love that they're actually devoting time to showing her interacting with La Befana and learning about herself and the pair of them discussing things!!! MUCH rather watch that than a 5 minute long auto-tuned elf song which is there just for a Santa/Satan joke! I'm excited to see how her whole arc goes--it looks like she's ACTUALLY GETTING ONE.

I wonder why Befana needs her to tell her parents, like, aside from obvious reasons. She was so insistent on Sandra making sure her parents knew she was training with Befana, that I'm wondering if there's something more to it a la "our powers don't work on other legendary figures". Like, was it to keep her mind clear? Is it like a past thing? Bc Witches are "scary" and often "bad" given that Santa calls Befana a "good one"?

That's another thign! Not sure I vibed with THAT whole thing. Both Claus's being like "yeah witches, they are deffs their stereotypes". Like. Idk. It sits. Not gr8 with me. Feels like performative activism, sorta, you know?

Which is also how I feel about the girl power moments, tbh. Like, it's nice to see them--Carol respecting Befana as a self-made woman, sister solidarity, etc. But it feels very performative! It feels very much like they are checking it off a list, you know? They're STILL like "Carol is trying to find a role for Mrs. Claus" and they go for COP? Wildin. Also wildin that the ELFS are COP EQUIVALENTS? Um, since WHEN?! They are funky little guys with jet packs and no regard for authority. Remember when they broke Santa out of jail and bullied the cop at the front desk? Remember that? YEAH.

OKAY SO NOW MY FAVOURITE PART TO TALK ABOUT. CUPID AND THE COUNCIL!

So as a classics major and a lover of the Cupid/Psyche myth (and personal bias from OCs made bc of said myth) I was unimpressed with the Mrs. Cupid convo. FIRST off, her name is PSYCHE so jot that down. SECONDLY. It was ONE ARROW MEANT FOR HER THAT SOMEHOW GOT LODGED INTO CUPID ACCIDENTALLY WHILE SENT ON AN ERRAND BY HIS MOTHER, VENUS, TO TAKE CARE OF (make her fall in love with a horrible monster/something/someone very ugly) PSYCHE BC SHE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL WORSHIP WAS DROPPING FOR VENUS AND GOING TO PSYCHE.

This resulted in Cupid and Psyche having a very strange romance/marriage in which Psyche's shitty sisters convince her to break Cupid's one rule (which was don't look at me) and he gets injured, HELD HOSTAGE by his mother, and Psyche has to go on a QUEST to free him that involves Venus making her do all sorts of shitty shenanigans, setting the personifications of sadness and despair on her, and trapping her in an eternal sleep. Cupid, afflcited by his own arrow, escapes his mother's house when he hears about this, finds her, and draws the sleep out of her, waking her up and reuniting them.

They then proceed to go to Zeus (not Jupiter despite Cupid being the Roman equivalent of Eros, and Venus roman of Aphrodite? It's interesting) like LOOK WHAT VENUS DID and Zeus goes "Wow, that's a little fucked up, actually. Listen, I'll make her a god and sanction your marriage and tell of your Mom IF you do something a little fucked up for me and help me get ANY woman I want" to which Cupid goes "Sure, that sounds reasonable and not fucked up at all" and then he and Psyche get married and have a fucking rager with the gods and have one kid, Pleasure, aka Hedone/Volupta, or in SOME iterations, THREE kids, Pleasure, Joy, and a third one who's name escapes me (Vanity I think) and presumably live happily ever after! READ FOR YOURSELF!

I am very passionate about this bc uh. this is uh. Dite's whole ass backstory? She is Hedone lmao so I've got some personal attachment here thanks to me own OCs lmao, ANYWAY

So YEAH that got me miffed. As did uh, the whole PEEKABOO and cupid making baby noises back at Riley. The ICK.

But you know what I DID love?? Cupid being like "I'm not spying but also, I am spying and also, the whole ass entire council is like BOI...WHAT THE FUCK". GET HIS ASS! CALL HIM OUT!! BC YEAH, WHAT THE FUCK SCOTT?? SEASON 1?? HELLO??? EVERYTHING BEFORE THAT??? VIOLATING THE SOS BY SHARING ALL THOSE SNOW GLOBES??? AHHHHHHH.

Cupid delivering that 3 month deadline and Council threat I was like. HERE for it. I was like. GET HIS ASS (this was one of the GHA counter moments tbh). Like, this dude is out of control! I think it's high time Scott meets the consequences for his actions! AH!

So YEAH. Excited to see Sandy and for New EB! I hope the whole Council comes back, even if they have to recast, that 5 minute scene would add YEARS to my life that Riley and Cal took away.

Because they are. So icky. I feel as though. There is a scale. And Marie is on one end, and Riley is on the other. This isn't just FIRST LOVE this is just DISGUSTING. Like it was cute at first last season but now Riley is honestly?? Sups annoying. You can tell that they're like, checking items off the list instead of actually putting more thought into them, because Riley is v much a stereotype and they have WAY UPPED her teenager levels. I need them to talk to actual teens. Nobody says OMG like that and also, she's bringing home BIKERS?????????? UM??????? It's like. Why are they so bad at writing love interests? You feel? Tho this could just be a me thing 🤔🤔🤔

They really should've socialized those kids, DAMN. Santa being like "And we all know how that [Romeo and Juliet] went" or whatever the line was had me like "FINALLY SCOTTY BOY. SOMETHING WE CAN AGREE ON!"

AND LAST ON MY LIST. THE SCOTT/SANDRA SCENE.

Finally. Finally. FINALLY. Some good parenting from Scott. FINALLY. Being sups understanding to Sandra? I actually loved it. He finally did ONE (1) GOOD THING. MAYBE HE IS? LEARNING? I DUNNO MAN! WE'LL SEE HOW IT GOES! But yeah, I did like that scene a lot. I'm just really here for Sandra getting her moment!

So YEAH. Overall, season 2 is okay. Gave me more laughs which is WELCOME, and I cannot wait to see how this develops. Especially since the lore was like, really thrown our way, you know? It was a lot for two episodes and again, did kind of contradict itself? Hopefully it clears up once Santa inevitably learns the truth about Mad Santa, probably mostly thanks to Carol who is DOING the MOST.

But yeah, I'm hoping to see the lore tidied/explained a bit better. Especially bc the whole elf lore opening, with the icy tunnels and drab vibes, didn't sit well with me? It...I didn't like it. Not my cup of tea. The lore in general isn't my cup of tea though it's fun to see it there finally, lol. Poor Toots, being named after a fart essentially (I went right to toilet humour, I'm sorry, I am so mature I promise i'm not)

Also, they really kinda. Throw around the head elf title, huh? It felt REALLY WEIRD to not see BMan there, and Toots just being thrown in? Weird it's WEIRD. I wouldn't bring B-Man back for it but MAN IS IT WEIRD. Especially since the new elves, as much as I ADORE THEM, don't have the same kind of like. Old feel to them? As the movie elves did? So I was like "they should NOT be there right now. They should NOT."

Righto. I am going to wrap this up bc I am INSANE and this is very very VERY long for a franchise like this 😅😅😅

[the-somwthing]

Who wants to hear how I see flower husbands (WARNING: it’s bad. My interpretation I mean. It’s not a good one. Everyone is gonna hate it. It’s gonna look like I don’t take anything seriously except I’m completely serious about it being this stupid. If you care a lot about flower husbands interpretations whether positive or negative you might want to look away)

So 3rd Life starts and Scott is evil. For some reason. Jimmy finds him and he KNOWS that Scott sucks but he decides “I can fix him ❤️” except he DOESN’T EVEN TRY to fix him because he loves him the way he is. For some reason.

Scott was evil but being given a flower warmed his heart ONLY ENOUGH TO TRY HAVING A HUSBAND. He didn’t actually become any better or anything and barely showed this love to Jimmy.

JIMMY, however, was very happy with Scott being with him. Now Scott certainly did things that Jimmy wasn’t so happy with, but also you’re not a real jimmy solidarity viewer if you think he isn’t into guys who degrade him. He also viewed himself as quite incompetent and enjoyed having someone who was more competent and would correct his mistakes. NOT THE MOST HEALTHY and sometimes felt to Jimmy like it backfired BUT OVERALL HE WAS PRETTY HAPPY WITH IT.

If anyone ever said “dude this is an abusive relationship you’re in” he would’ve been like “yeah Scott’s so annoying” and Scott would’ve been like “BINCH HOW DARE YOU” and they would’ve got into a fist fight. So the other person goes “WOAH okay so you’re gonna break up then” and they go “no ❤️” and start making out. Nobody knows what this means.

In reality everyone who would point out that the relationship is toxic would ONLY be doing it because they have an ulterior motive cuz EVERYONE IN 3L WAS TOXIC AF 😭 also if they gathered all of the couples together they would ALL start fighting each other so even though FH is TECHNICALLY the worst they manage to LOOK like the healthiest couple by virtue of NOT CARING.

Then Jimmy dies and Scott FINALLY goes “WAIT A MINUTE… I loved him 🥺💔” like it ACTUALLY took him THAT LONG to figure it out. The feelings were actually there the whole time slowly growing but Scott couldn’t recognize them. Not until he lost Jimmy.

And so Jimmy, who saw evil scott smajor and said “I can fix him” and proceeded to NOT EVEN TRY doing that, ended up ACTUALLY FIXING HIM. I mean obviously he still has issues but he stopped having pure evil in his heart and started having a more average amount of evil typical of quite a few life series players.

Now Jimmy’s job is done and he must leave. OKAY SORRY. I have a few interpretations as to why Jimmy tends to act off about FH later on. Here’s some, feel free to mix and match idk.

- well feelings get erased between seasons maybe they REALLY FREAKING wiped Jimmy’s clean

- a big reason Jimmy went with Scott was because he saw Scott as more competent, but Jimmy’s slowly started having more faith in himself so loving Scott is just a reminder of how pathetic he used to be, so whenever Scott insinuates that Jimmy loves him Jimmy equates that to saying Jimmy’s pathetic and needs Scott to take care of him. And he’s not.

- Ever since he died in 3L Scott has been suspiciously less violently abusive which turned Jimmy off so now he needs to go find a new toxic bf cuz all Scott does now is give him flowers and THATS NOT WHY HE FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM!!! 😭 (worst option)

- THE REASON I’m not going with the popular “jimmy realized how much the relationship sucked” thing is because Jimmy tends to look back on a lot of FH stuff pretty fondly AND likes being FRIENDLY with Scott he just doesn’t seem to like the topic of them being IN LOVE.

- it could also be because Scott is annoying af and Jimmy would’ve been fine with it actually if Scott didn’t bring it up every single chance he gets

Also a lot of people when talking about 3L FH bring up empires s1 FH but guys I didn’t watch that season 😭 I mean I watched that date episode I don’t really have anything to say on it. I think esmp1 FH is funny tho cuz the uber fancy elf king goes “I NEED that slimy fish from the bog” but idrk what goes on in esmp1. And also I am VERY “separate SMPs” so whatever goes on in esmp STAYS in esmp LMAO I just mean it’s mostly irrelevant to my life series interpretation.

And then future life seasons like eh. Scott typically ends up ruining it by saying “we were married” every time he sees Jimmy like OKAY BRO way to show your ex you’ve stopped thinking about him slash SARCASM!!!

I am still team LIMITED LIFE FH. Limited Life FH is FH if it was good. I really don’t get why people use it as a negative fh thing it was like their most positive relationship in the whole series. I think the only time Scott wronged him was accidentally causing his death one or more times. Then asking him to say I love you back which is really not like the worst thing you can do to someone really LMAO.

Anyways this is supposed to be about 3L FH. I like 3L FH cuz they’re so weird. Is it healthy? No. Should it have traumatized them? Yeah probably. Did it? No. Was everything really under-negotiated? Yes. Did even THEY understand THEIR OWN relationship? Not really. Is this a GOOD interpretation? Probably not, no. Is Jimmy okay? Probably not but he’s a lot more okay than he should be. Is Scott okay? Dude. He’s something.

Long story short my interpretation of Jimmy is a lot more freaky than most others. idk guys JUST saying. WHO does he gravitate towards being gay with? Usually guys who bully him. Checkmate. Now I’m not saying he knows what he’s doing but he certainly THINKS he does.

I don’t know man. You can talk to me about FH like it’s a good relationship or like Scott traumatized Jimmy and I’ll try to match your energy but this is the truth I have been hiding deep inside of me for so long. I think they’re a weird mess that nobody wants to touch. (In just 3L. Cuz Jimmy somehow fixed Scott by standing there and dying. So they became more normal later on.)

[rxttenfish]

Ship opinions: polly x vick :3

Shipping meme.

HM HMMMM

okay, so the main issue you need to keep in mind first off is that i don't really care for the PCs very much. not anything special, just the same thing as always where, by proxy of having literally no writing or Anything about them or describing what they were like, they never felt like actual characters to me and the recent work in roadtrip and the like, trying to flesh them out, is trying to work uphill and only makes them seem criminally flat and boring to me. i could tell you far less about vicky and what she cares about and what her inner world and emotions are like than i could tell you about scott or about valerie or about basically any other characters. and this, combined with how much the fandom loves them and uses them as self inserts (not a bad thing necessarily, very much intended by design) has not greatly endeared me to them either. they're charming little designs, and IMO they should have remained that way.

which is always going to have to be the disclaimer i give with all the PC ships, you know? i don't really know how to describe the PC side of the equation, which means its very hard to describe the relationship between the characters. one of these characters is much more interesting and dynamic, designed with a synergy between their personality, appearance, history, plot, and voice, and the other looks pretty with a personality coming in two games later.

i understand a lot of people love PC ships! and they love the PCs! i understand they mean a lot to a lot of people!

its just also sad that unfortunately they do not mean very much to me and that's going to impact how i think of them in ships.

so... for polly and vicky, we have someone who believes in celebrating life and love and the moment while you have it, who is very aware of the ups and downs of life and has dealt with her own, who is smarter than what people take her for but cares less about correcting this as much as she cares about using it to pull the wool over their eyes, but who is sometimes careless and prone to getting carried away, sometimes forgetting to look back and make sure others can keep up with her or that they haven't become collateral damage. and you have vicky, who is smart and spunky and intense, surely, with a perfectionist streak.

i think, on my first impulse, that polly might have an issue, since i imagine vicky would easily pick up on how smart polly is, and while polly doesn't mind the cognitive engagement and fun that comes with knowing how to pick apart something complex, i also don't see herself as particularly wanting to paint herself as a "smart person". vicky feels like she might tend to want to push polly towards that, as perfectionism tends to also end up projected onto others, especially others who have potential but aren't using it, and again, polly doesn't really want to use it like that. she's not ambitious, she's just doing what feels good, exploring and finding new avenues for pleasure and to sate her curiosity. polly wants engagement, less so fulfilling a prerequisite list of expectations.

vicky certainly gets into a lot and she throws herself in with her full heart, and polly does something similar, but polly's less committed to the outcome. she's not trying to succeed, necessarily, and i don't think she actually cares if she fails or loses so long as she enjoyed herself doing so. polly manages to succeed and to be damn good at things mostly out of rule of funny, but also because she is actually sincerely skilled, just skilled in an entirely different way than what vicky's used to.

honestly, i think these two might get on each other's nerves a lot? vicky seems to me like too much of a tryhard, too high strung for polly, and polly just doesn't care about all of the things that vicky has used to measure herself by, seemingly making a mockery out of them even when she's not trying to, chronically unable to take anything seriously. this feels like an extremely bad combination to me, something that, while it could work in the right circumstances (because, realistically, every potential combination of personalities could as a relationship, don't take this as me giving relationship advice or saying what will or won't work), isn't something that i see happening easily or even something that could happen in these circumstances. i kinda see this as the worse version of polly x liam, where the other party is too stiff and too set in their own ways and own way of looking at things to consider polly's own perspective and feelings, and to respect her own fears of commitment in a way that isn't just judging her for feeling that way.

[brucewaynehater101]

You will suck cake with a bunch of Morris dancers. Life is like gravity: if you shoot a duck, I'm scared of toasters. Occupy the Sudetenland.

My hovercraft is full of eels and the current time on the moon is thrillve hundred and neeve. JIVE BEAM ENGAGE!

muffled Tom Scott voice i am inside of the trinity desk please get me out of here

Sucking cake.... innocently, it could be trying to eat cake without your hands. Not innocently, it could mean sucking face + cake = ass. So.... Imma assume I'm partaking in food with the dancers instead ✌️

Also, I didn't know about Morris dancing! Apparently, it's an English folk dance??? If i wasn't at work, I'd definitely love to look it up and see what the dance is like.

"Life is like gravity" could be a really impactful line. Life constantly weighs you down..... I'm sure there's a hopeful twist to this metaphor, but nah.

The explanation for life being like gravity can make sense if you stretch. Okay. Here we go. So, me shooting a duck results in the consequence of you being scared of toasters. The how doesn't matter. However, its implication does. Similar to life and gravity, my actions do have effects. I may not understand them or know the equations involved, but the changeable rule of the universe dictates that every action does something (did I do well enough?)

I wouldn't shoot a duck (not even a stuffed one), so you'll have to be scared from toasters some other way :/ Best of luck!

Occupy the Sudentenland.... Apparently, that's regionally the Czech Republic. Since I don't know history, [insert historically relevant analysis about occupation here].

I want a hovercraft :(

The thing about eels makes me think about the game Prey. You can eat eels for health (I think), and there's this playable section where you investigate the eel farm they have on the ship. Gods, I love that game.

Ooh!!! Time measurements separate from Earth! I like the idea in space fantasy where they make a point to have "standard" space time metrics (such as 37 spins or 1.34 rotations) and planetary ones. Since planets orbit in various ways, ofc their time is not the same.

Why are we concerned with what time it is on the moon? I'm curious if there's a reason

A jive is apparently a dance, sneering, deceitful, or worthless depending on how you use it.... Which one is the beam? Is the beam all of them?

I had to look up who Tom Scott was, lmao. I'm guessing you're referencing the YouTuber and not the saxophonist. Though saxophones should be included in more music. I like them. They got a vibe

A trinity desk is either a recording one or a horror game??? I would like to know more about the horror game

[gumnut-logic]

*sneaks into your asks with WIP questions*

8. ♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP

Follow up question if you’re up for it - how do you deal with shedding stuff that isn’t working?

(I’m struggling with getting attached to ideas or bits I’ve written and it’s hard to say nah I’ll bin it because WORDS exist 🥺)

11. 🛠Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

(Any tips on pushing through? You’ve written so many amazing epics I’m guessing there must have been times you got around a problem)

*lurks and awaits nuggets of nutty wisdom*

Ooooohkaaay, a scrapped idea ::pokes brain::

When I start writing, a good part of the time, I have no idea where I'm going. Sometimes I will have a single scene to write towards, sometimes I will scribble down a vague skeleton of an idea, but a lot of the time I have the scene I start with and then have to work out how the hell they got into that situation.

For example, my current 'Virg got shot' fic. I wrote that from a prompt that pretty much outlined the scene in purpose. Someone interrupting another person, trying to get their attention, but that person is too busy and brushes them away, until they say that they are shot and the freak out happens. Which is essentially what I wrote.

The purpose of writing it was just to write. I had zero plans of expanding it, I don't need any more wips. But then...

What about Scott's point of view? Would be interesting to see his thoughts, so I started writing that second bit. John poked his nose into the equation as I often like to let my characters' thoughts wander - it can be entertaining.

By the end of writing that bit, the fic is calling out for more. What's next? Could be a hospital scene...eh, boring...hmmm, why did he get shot? Is it related to anything else that has sprung up in the story? Damnit, I can't write tomorrow cos I have to work all day pretty much 8am - 8pm. But that is not going to stop me from building ideas.

But anyway, I'm waffling, I do that.

For Sweetapple part 3, I have a definite scene I'm writing towards. There will be a moment and I will love it and it will be great. Whenever I finally get there. And if it plays out as I see it or the story demands something else, well, hopefully that will be fun, too.

Cos sometimes those scenes change. 'Gentle Rain' was all about one scene that occurred in Chapter 12, but that scene never happened in the way it was conceived (cos it would have killed da Virg and we can't do that), so it came out differently. Ultimately I find character logic and plot demands write the story.

I have written myself into corners, even one where things took a sharp turn simply because I didn't have the energy to write what needed to be written if the story continued in the direction it was going. See if you can work out where I changed direction in 'Who do you save, John?' It bugs me each time I reread it and I'm tempted to write an alternative ending because it could have been so much more.

Then there are the fics with massive plot holes that I can't fix and just have to watch them as they sail past. 'The Tattoo' has a massive hole in it, but I wanted to explore the concept, so completely ignored it. The pedantic in me has a fit every time.

And I'm still waffling, sorry.

A scrapped idea...none in my current wips because...hold on...Callisto. I stopped writing Callisto because it was Virgil's birthday at the time and I needed a break, but mostly because I felt I was writing into a corner. Virgil was too whumped to function and I needed him to be funtioning. Multiple rereads has me questioning that decision, I could just keep writing and work around it. Also, Jeff isn't working the way I wanted him to, plus the Mechanic went on the voyage but hasn't had any impact on the plot. Wanted him to do stuff, but it hasn't written itself. So I stopped to re-evaluate. Unfortunately that is not how I normally write and stopping was a mistake cos I stopped...for years. I haven't thrown bits of the fic out yet, but it needs some fixing.

If I do 'throw something out' of a fic, I always keep it. I have a file that usually sits next to my main fic file that says something like 'Callisto - cuts'. I stash cut text in there just in case I need it later. Most of my long fics have one of those files sitting around somewhere.

What am I struggling with? This is also for @sofasurf ::hugs:: who also asked.

My problem isn't ideas, it is usually focus. Put it this way, if I was a kid in school now, I'd be diagnosed with some attention difficulties or executive dysfunction or whatever. I'm definitely on the spectrum (that was diagnosed when I was four, but my parents didn't believe the doctor apparently). I've had years of practise working with my brain and have minimised its effects on work and my life (being unable to finish things is a real curse) but as you can see, my creative life is still impacted.

So writing...I can only write in short bursts. My longest ever was 7000 words in one day, all day. Most of the time I write between 400 and 1500 words at a time. I use the Terry Pratchett method of 400 a day when I can, which is why you will often see short bits of my fic flung up on my blog. I try to write to a publishable point and not stop in the middle of a crucial scene or something, but both my working life and my attention span impact on what gets written. Some of those fics were all written on the side of the road outside my kids school in tiny little bits, fifteen minutes here, ten minutes there, that kind of thing. It has been a big thing for me to learn that little bits can make big things. I am now using this theory with my crochet as well :D

As for my current WIPs challenges. It comes back to asking myself questions - why was Virg shot? (I have an answer and I like it, but the fic will likely get bigger and Scotty might need to take out another country :D)

Vamp!Virg fic - currently deciding between POVs for the next scene. Also need to build some world rules.

Getting around problems can be simply switching POV or someone walks into the room. Characters can also be the greatest source of problems. Like the time Alan decided he wanted to visit the site of his mother's accident - I knew the moment I wrote his line that I now had several thousand more extra words to write and a pile of research to do (I now know a lot about Mount Rainier :D). But writing those words ended up with that ending....which I am so soppy about. I wrote poetry for goodness sake.

Ah, it's 10.30pm and I'm rambling all over the place making little sense.

In the end it is just writing. Don't push yourself too hard, remember it is supposed to be fun, not torture (yeah, right) and often a good thing to do is to poke a friend and ask them to slap you around the head a couple of times to knock some sense in. I have had several Thunderfam members do this for me. Thanks guys :D

Write little, write big, just write and see what happens.

Nutty

(sense is apparently optional)

[valleyfthdolls]

I know you have the vaguest idea of what happens in ggy (pretty sure you've read a summary??) but let's say Scott emails you for a once in a life time opportunity where you get to rewrite it for fun, what would you change about it

(Yeah I’ve read a summary, at some point I gotta read the actual story but uhh Not Today)

Discarding the opportunity to simply delete it and walk away, because I want to actually entertain this idea, there are two ways I would go, I think.

One: GGY becomes VNY. Make it a story about Vanny’s corruption to put her back in the spotlight. I made a short fic on my Ao3 I’m not gonna promo here that’s similar to this, but a more in-depth version. Luis would work great as Vanny’s Tony Becker. The story takes place in an office building instead of at school, and VNY is the mysterious hacker revealed to be killing off everyone who gets close to the truth. Princess Quest connections and allegories would be EVERYWHERE. Slowly it begins to eat away at Luis, who becomes paranoid and anxious when handling technology, and eventually even develops a fear of things as simple as rabbits as it just gets deep under his skin. What the replacement for the story that Tony, Greg and Ellis are writing is I’m not sure. Maybe some sort of a tech project Vanny sabotages last second and then she plays upset, is all I’m so sorry Luis I don’t know what happened, I was trying to add my finishing touches and it just seemed like everything I changed made it worse, if you want you could come over to my place and we could talk about how to fix it over dinner and some drinks? and Luis is blindsided by Vanny actually returning his interest and doesn’t even think that he could be getting lured.

Two: Just make some tweaks to the overall plot to make it suck less. Mainly, if GGY is a Glitchtrap follower, make that obvious. Maybe his friends see him talking to things that aren’t there, that kind of thing. Make him more insecure about handling tech because in SB he obviously does not know what he’s doing. Reference something going on with his parents. Maybe they’re dead, maybe they die during the story, idc. I want Gregory to be clearly troubled in some way. Make the therapists actually be therapists because clearly, clearly, Scott Cawthon does not know the difference. Simple guide: therapists work with schools. School counselors also work with schools. However, therapists are therapists who work in other places and school counselors are not. Plus, as I calculated at one point, 79 biweekly therapy sessions would equate to about three years in therapy. Assuming they’re weekly, that would make it like a year and a half. This would require them to be going on outside of school as well. So it makes a lot more sense if it’s actual therapists who have multiple clients attending the school. Would I still hate it? Yeah, but I’d have a much easier time liking it if it was better written and actually fit Gregory’s character instead of trying to warp him into the Patient 46 mold.

Or, a fucked up and sad extra third option that only fits my own AU: imply that Gregory is not actually doing any of this, but is instead intentionally making himself look sinister to muddy the truth about who’s behind the hacking and… murders. Because someone he loves is behind it and he’s trying to protect them. (Specifically, in my AU, this would be Valentine/Vanny. His older sister and one of his only friends. He really, really believes in saving her, and trying to protect her from what she’s doing under this control would be in line with that.)

[evansblues]

Scott and Chris

I’ll start with just Scott. There's the T-square. It's got the moon in the fifth house of creativity, so the emotions, in Pisces, meaning very deep creative emotions.The water signs all feel very deeply. He’s got the Sun and mercury together in the eleventh house of hopes and dreams in Virgo. Virgo is a perfectionist. So he’s going to have very high standards for his dream life. Neptune is in Sagittarius, wisdom and knowledge in the third house of communication and siblings. Now the thing that I wanted to mention is there's a particular relationship that happens between the moon being the emotions, the ego being the sun, communication as mercury, and Neptune as the imagination. Particularly when it's in a hard aspect like this, meaning these things are in conflict. What it means is when he's triggered about his ego or who he'd like to be, the way he communicates is imaginative. When there is a relationship between emotions, communication and imagination in this way, it means that the person lies. That’s before you add in the ego to the equation with the Sun. This is someone who is very comfortable telling tall tales. It's someone who uses dishonesty to alleviate emotional triggers and to get what they want.

In this configuration, it has to do specifically with the ego because the Sun is involved and the eleventh house is your peers. His Sun also rules his MC which is his public image. The Moon in the fifth house relates to the fact he's an actor because it's Pisces, Pisces and Neptune rule the film industry. Those beautiful imaginary pictures. This again ties back into his brother because the third house where Neptune is represents siblings and, as an actor, Chris is part of his 11th house peer group also. Scott is triggered by his brother or things to do with his brother, especially by the perception of his brother both in his home community and among his peers, because both the third and eleventh houses are involved. And when he’s triggered he tells lies about it -either to his brother or about his brother.

Even without seeing Chris's chart, just looking at Scott's chart, there's so much here to do with Scott's ego and Scott's emotions and Scott being triggered in this big red T-square to tell untruths to the people around him. Any people. It could be the people close to him, because the third house is your local community, or the people he knows socially in the eleventh house, because both are involved. The sixth house is your co-workers, which is ruled by Ares for him and it has Eris in there. So he's very competitive if not combative with his co-workers, I would believe. He’s got nothing in the seventh house of partnerships, except Juno. That means he’s different with his romantic partner. So one of the things that I didn't want to put before was that Scott's probably a dishonest person, and I believe it’s to his brother's detriment to boost up his own feelings of inadequacy. But this is relevant to what I'm going to say, and what we've been seeing. So I wanted to bring that up.

Scott has a couple of other interesting things going on here. He's a Virgo Sun with his Mercury in Virgo in the 11th house. Sun in the 11th house is an extrovert placement. He's also got a Leo midheaven, and his Venus and Mars are conjunct in Leo, so this is someone who likes to be out in public with other people, who's very social, who loves to be seen, and who will pick a job that is social and public. So it's not surprising that he chose to be an actor. His moon is in Pisces in his 5th house. He could struggle with his feelings. He could also have extremely creative feelings. The 5th house is about creativity and performance and casual sex. I don't know that he has as much casual sex because the Moon’s there which infuses emotions into that area of life, but I think he's a dreamer because Pisces is very whimsical. There’s a good chance he has some sort of abstract art form that’s largely expressionist that he likes to do when stressed or sad that makes him happy. Something frivolous but ostentatious. I keep picturing finger painting because it’s messy and showy but more for enjoyment than presentation. He can also be very moved by performance art in a way many aren’t. Like maybe he goes to an installation and balls his eyes out for three days because of how it touched him.

His Moon is in opposition to Mercury retrograde in Virgo. Mercury is at home in Virgo. It's a very thoughtful, communicative planet. In The 11th house, it's very, very social. I think he likes to be out and about with people but at the same time he likes to have his downtime where he's thinking his unique thoughts. I think he creates when he's alone. I would be very surprised if he didn't have some sort of artsy hobby that nobody knows about. Virgo Sun and Mercury in the 11th can also be someone who likes to tell others how to do things. It’s one of the negative traits of Virgos. They are perfectionists who know how to do everything the right way and will let people know how they’re doing things wrong. I see that in him. Especially since they both square down to Neptune in Sag and oppose the Moon. His creative side doesn’t play well with his perfectionism. You can’t have both chaos and order at the same time. He struggles with this. I think his friends get after him too for being such a know it all but so messy himself. The ruler of his 12th house of undoing is Venus in Leo. His ambitions are his downfall, specifically his self image, his need to be liked and admired. It’s in his career but it will play out socially for him.

He’s very emotional. The Sun and the Moon both square Neptune, the ruler of his 5th house, and the ruler of his Moon in his 5th house. The Moon squares both nodes. His emotions create difficulty for him to flow into the cycle of his nodes. Which is furthermore aggravated by Neptune's conjunction to his South node. Normally the South node is something that you're very proficient at but I think he has a lot of trouble remembering what he's proficient at because Neptune dissolves boundaries. He doesn’t give himself credit. It's in Sagittarius, so it's very lucky and expansive, and Jupiter is at home with it, conjunct Uranus. There's a definite oddness to him. He values that oddness and thinks it’s an asset of his. They're both 5 degrees. Five is chaos and conflict or competition. He values being different for the sake of being different. Second house is your values. He likes the conflict it creates. Second house is also your money, he gets money from being different and confrontational.

There’s another triangle in his chart, the blue one. There’s not a name for this triangle but it’s important nonetheless. Aspects between Venus and Pluto can often mean jealousy. Add Mars, the planet of aggression, and Neptune, the planet of fantasy, and you get a very particular type of self image. Pluto conjunct the ascendant is someone who wants to change things around them but they want to be the vehicle of that change. Pluto is transformative but it’s also controlling. People with strong Pluto will be very good at taking charge but they will always face a struggle later in life when they have to surrender that control to transform themselves. They often hang on for dear life. Saturn conjunct his Pluto will make that even harder for him. He will have to suffer and learn lessons. Saturn will make him put in the work. Venus, in Leo, rules his Libra ascendant. Image is everything to him. His Leo placements are strong, Venus rules his chart and Mars weaponizes her. I think he likes to do drag. A lot. I think he gets mean when he does, too.

His fame asteroid is also in his second house. He has a lot of luck with his skill set. He's meant to move away from it up into Gemini though, in his 8th house. Gemini North node is hard to have. It can only be reached once you’re fractured a bit because Gemini is the Twins and to be a twin and to meet your North node you have to pick a side. It's interesting. It's also by Vesta. This is very transformative for him. A lot of the things that I see in his chart I already see are related to his brother, sometimes that's common. Much of what his struggles are and what he's meant to do ties into his relationship with his brother. Let’s look at that.

Chris's Sun falls directly between Scott’s North node and Vesta. Chris’s Mars is conjunct Scott’s inverted Chiron. This is Chris’s 7th house of partnerships. So he feels very comfortable with his brother. He feels like his brother’s a really good advocate and asset. For him, it's a really good partnership. Scott's Chiron conjunct his Mars actually soothes Chris’s anxiety and ambition. This Mars is in opposition to Scott’s Jupiter and Uranus. Chris hinders him from being his full self and from expressing his values properly, particularly on the Internet and from having luck in money affairs. Scott is triggered by his second tier status to his brother, but he loves his brother. It's hard for Scott because there's this big T square between his North node vesta conjunction with Chris's Sun, Chris is who he wants to be and he outshines him all the time. Scott’s Neptune conjunction with Chris's Neptune and his own South Node Means it’s Scott doesn’t feel adequate because the south node is what he’s good at and he already has trouble seeing it with his own in there. He doesn’t see that he has any value to add. He has Venus and Mars Sextile Chris’s Sun, which makes him admire Chris a lot, and it means that he has no struggles with Chris’s ego. It means that Chris is very comfortable with who Scott is and how he expressed himself. The trine from his Venus and Mars down to Neptune means that he idolizes his brother. Most things I see in the synastry chart are more beneficial to Chris. I’ll be honest. The apex of the T square is his moon. Seen a big red triangle pointing at the moon? Yeah that’s how this relationship hurts Scott’s emotions.

It looks like Chris kind of forces him to be a better person. Chris has his Neptune conjunct Scott’s South node further blurring Scott’s ability to see his skillset, and he's got his Sun on Scott’s North node, so it really pulls him. This isn’t comfortable for Scott, it’s like an iron grip on his neck. It creates a lot of emotional turmoil. It’s always overwhelming when someone else has such an effect on your life like that. But he loves his brother. His brother is very soothing to him. It’s kind of like Chris makes him a better person but it’s a really painful process so he doesn’t really see how to feel about it. Because he can see that it’s helping him get where he wants to go but it also really sucks. It’s a hard one to wrap your head around. The way he rectifies this is the T square lets out at his Sun and Chris's career placements. It's Scott's 11th house. So when his North node cycle is too much, of being a partner in crime and a brother and learning service and love through this relationship, his outlet is being seen in public and being around his people. The 11th is also hopes and dreams, I imagine he takes time out to be selfish and do those things he wanted to do but put off for his brother. I think he is very dedicated at times and then retreats into moments of extreme self care and attention.

Chris has Neptune in Scott’s first house meaning Chris affects his self image and people's perceptions of him. This is a karmic cycle between Chris and Scott. They both have North node activations. Scott’s are activated by Chris's Sun and Neptune, which is who his brother is and what people perceive his brother to be. Chris's nodes are activated by Scott MC/IC. Scott anchors him and reminds him of who he is versus who people see him as. His Venus and Mars trine Scotts Saturn in the first. Scorpio and Cancer. Scott calms him but restricts how he expresses himself and certain thoughts. This is because it’s Chris’s eighth house and Scott’s first, Scott tells him not to overshare. It’s both protective but limiting. I don’t think Scott likes how emotional Chris gets and he doesn’t like Chris’s interest in the esoteric. Scott cares a lot about image and he is much more practically minded with the Libra and Virgo placements. That Pisces moon all by itself tells me he thinks emotions and alternative ideas are meant to be had in privacy. There’s a direct line from his controlling placements in his first house of image to Chris’s eighth house of occult and other people’s money. It will be both helpful and limiting for Chris, the way his brother tempers this house. Speaking of money, his second house of money has his fame astroid conjunct Chris’s Uranus and AC, meaning his bother is the source of his fame through the internet. He has a lot of luck with money and the internet having his own Jupiter and Uranus there however they oppose Chris’s Mars which means Chris also negatively affects Scott’s money with his ambitions. This could look like people, in an interview with Scott, being more interested in talking about what Chris is doing.

This is a really fascinating synastry. The weird thing is that Chris's Moon is not aspected. To get a bit technical, Chris has a 12 Scorpio Moon and Scott’s is 19 Pisces. This is an elemental trine with a 7 degree orb. In synastry, the orb for a trine is 5 degrees so they’re not aspecting. They do both have water moons which means they both feel deeply and value their emotions, they will both make decisions based on their emotions and they will have a routine for self soothing to honor string phases of emotionality. Water moon are the deepest. In my opioid it’s water moons, earth moons, fire moons, and then the air moons are emotionless robots. The moons are like their elements; water in stillness is deep and life giving, in turbulence it is the storm that rages. Earth is stable and accepting, it holds life; in turbulence it crumbles. Fire is warming and life sustaining, in adversity it consumes and then snuffs out. Air is gentle and the breath it gives is calming, life lengthening, in trouble it destroys. Think tornadoes, the air is ever present but the tornado will destroy and pull everything with it. Moons like their own polarity and even more their own element. Chris and Scottt have water moons, so they will feel comfortable in each other’s presence. They will be able to soothe each other with what soothes themselves. However, Chris’s moon is in detriment in Scorpio, it needs a connection, and it doesn’t make a connection to anything in Scott’s chart.