#also i'm like. so out of the loop on current events of the show these days i have so much catching up to do lol

[saintlesbian]

on it boss o7

[nemisuki]

Explosive Love

Synopsis || When the blonde realizes he yearns for their first kiss, he couldn’t help but to get a bit rough after his first failed attempt! 

᧔o᧓ || katsuki bakugo x f!reader, she/her pronouns, pure fluff, no smut or angst, a little steamy ngl, oneshot, majority bkg pov, dating au, first kisses, ice skater bkg mentioned, funny wholesome moments, he’s just a lil guy, 1.2k word count

If someone were to go back in time and tell the blonde's past self about the current situation he was in.... he would think they were insane.

Why do you ask?

Because Katsuki Bakugo does not fall in love.

He doesn't go on dates, he doesn't spend hours thinking about his outfit, he doesn't look up the best spots in the city and he certainly does not yearn to get physical.

Yet here he is, four months into a relationship – somehow managing to get his pretty classmates attention – and walking y/n back to her house, as the stars twinkle in the night sky above them.

Winter break gave them the rare opportunity for a late outing, spending the majority of their afternoon going ice skating.

Suppose he should thank his parents for being pushy when he was younger, putting him in any extracurricular activity possible – one of them being ice skating classes – giving him the chance to show off in front of her.

Hence it led him to teach her the basics, the girl clinging to him as much as possible in order to not fall, it was quite a comical scene to those passing by who giggled at the cute couple.

But it also made him have a realization.

The more time passed, the more he began to notice just how close she was, the scent of her perfume invading his nostrils and the way her lip gloss glistened as she pouted whenever she fell... he was entranced.

For the first time in his life, Bakugo Katsuki wanted to feel more than just her hand in his.

He longed for the distance to lessen, yearned to get a taste of what flavored lip gloss she put on today, ached to exchange something more than innocent headpats.

The boy wanted more.

"Ah, we're here, thank you for walking me home, Katsuki! I had lots of fun today!"

She turns to face him, a warm smile on her face as their gazes meet – the thumping of his heart only increasing from the sight – is this what falling in love feels like?

Noticing a stray hair falling down her face, his hand instinctively reaches out, gently brushing it behind her ear.

"Yeah? I'm glad... even if you did fall on your ass more times than I can count, ya klutz."

Laughter bubbles up within her as she remembers such events, the sound warming his skin as his palm halts on her face, y/n leaning into it out of habit.

It's that trusting nature of hers that has him bending down, his mind unable to process the action before his body moves on its own.

"Hey don't make fun of me-"

Just as she's about to frown at his teasing, her head slightly tilted to the side – accidentally ruining the target of his desires – as his lips touch her cheek.

Her whole body stills at the action, breath hitching as her pupils dilate with shock at the unfamiliar sensation.

The blonde quickly pulls back, the previous warmth of his body now spreading across his face all the way to the tips of his ears, embarrassment flooding every inch of him that has him completely frozen.

Fuck fuck fuck.

He messed it up!

His mind goes on overdrive at his epic fail, he couldn't believe it – as a hero in training who faced a good handful of villains – this was still his biggest defeat till date.

With his mind in a loop, he's broken out of his thoughts a few seconds later, her hand gently taking his to give it a small squeeze.

He reluctantly meets her gaze, his heart stammering as he sees her shy expression – wavering eye contact and softened brows – a look he never fails to adore despite his gruff personality.

"I-I'm sorry... I moved so..."

The boy tenses at the implication of her words, the way she's sneaking peeks at his lips, her hand holding his – though unyielding yet slightly shaky with nerves – gives him the reassurance he needed.

He takes a step closer, acting on this impulse that guides him to lessen the distance, rubbing small circles on her cheek to feel the burning warmth underneath his fingertips.

His control hangs on a thread as she gives him those pleading eyes.

The throbbing sensation in his head only increases as he slowly leans down, their eyes fluttering close as the gap between them disappears, lips connecting after an excruciating four months of innocent touches.

All of a sudden the previous mental aches disappear, his mind thinking about nothing except the feeling of her plush lips moving against his.

He then gets the answer to his earlier question, cherry lip gloss huh?

The blonde notices the way her grip on his hand tightens significantly, as if caught off guard by the intensity of the contact.

He tries, he really does to be as gentle as he could, but maybe it's the pent up emotions he didn't realize after months of waiting that has him continuing.

His kisses are slightly rough, eager in every way possible, finally claiming what's his as he depends on the adrenaline to keep him going.

The crisp air blows against them yet neither feels the chilly atmosphere surrounding each other, too immersed in the current heat forming between them, seeking refuge in one another.

Despite it only lasting a handful of seconds, they both pull away feeling absolutely breathless, the reality of their first kiss – now turned kisses – making them both avert their gazes with peaked timidness.

Remembering his unsuccessful first attempt, she begins giggling at the memory, soon turning into hearty laughter.

He frowns at her direction, like he knows what she's thinking about, though grumpy she notices the tips of his ears that hue in pink.

"Sorry sorry! It was cute!"

Katsuki rolls his eyes in response, though they both know it's to hide his humiliation.

He knows she'll forever tease him about this.

"Shuddup I ain't cute."

Her eyes soften and she suddenly leans up, pecking his cheek with a bright smile as she teasingly whispers with a wink.

"Guess I'm not the only klutz here."

His previous words being used against him has the boy flushing bright red – internally trying to come up with any excuse – y/n continuing to giggle as she runs to her front door, unlocking it with a key.

But before disappearing inside, she looks back at him to give him a small wave.

"Get home safe Katsuki! Love you!"

"Tch yeah yeah, love you too... Now get inside before you get sick, it's freezing out here!"

He waits before she laughs in response and closes the door behind her, relaxing his shoulders as he stands there motionless.

The intimate moment replaying in his head on loop as his legs give out, he crouches on the middle of the sidewalk, holding his face in shock at what just happened.

A subtle smile appearing on his face as he recalls it all, oblivious to y/n's similar reaction as she enters her room, falling against her bed as she hugs her plushie – one that he bought her on their first ever date – squealing into the fluffy material with a joyful expression.

The two can only hope to see each other soon, their classmates noticing the couple seeming extra close after the break, all curious as to what events unfolded to cause such a shift. 

Katuski Bakugo falling in love was explosive.

✦ ⎯⎯⋆ ˚｡⋆ ୨ masterlist || taglist || intro || socials ୧⋆ ˚｡⋆⎯⎯ ✦

a/n ||| this was a request i received in my inbox yesterday! i actually don't take requests but it was the first message i ever got with a fic suggestion – so i wrote it to test the waters – as im thinking about opening requests in the future hehe. i hope u liked this anonymous, whoever sent this idea in, this is for u!!! tags ||| @leleyro @zaiban2989 @qyuin ໒꒰ྀི ´๑  ̫๑`  ꒱ྀིა

[mxrcusflint]

getting to know mutuals!

tagged by the lovely @halestrom 💕 perfect timing bc have some new friends I wanna get to know better so!

what's the origin of your blog title? was deep into flintwood, marcusflint was taken and the x felt ~aesthetic~ enough as a replacement

otp(s) + shipname(s): jake/bradley, hangster. marcus/oliver, flintwood. steve/bucky, stucky. and a bunch of other ships but those are my main ones

favourite colour: emerald green; i had a gorgeous velvet emerald green couch but it wouldn't fit in my current place

song stuck in your head: Old Recliners by Role Model (listened on loop for recent soulmate au!)

weirdest habit/trait: if i'm eating a sandwich, at some point i'll eat it layer by layer i.e. bread -> filling -> bread

hobbies: writing, making edits, some baking, trying out new workout classes, trying out new cafes!

if you work, what's your profession? i'm a creative in tech LOL

if you could have any job you wish, what would it be? i really like my profession, but like – i do not dream of labor. I like projects tho! also think i'd be good at event organizing but not a dream.

something you're good at: writing an itinerary + scoping out food i think my friends would like

something you hate: ppl who listen to music out loud on public transit! cooked carrots!!

something you collect: stuffed plushies - gimme a cute plush thing and i'm eager to buy it

something you forget: to take my meds at night time oops

what's your love language: all...of..them... but I think gifts tbh

favourite movie/show: derry girls, arcane, ocean's eleven

favourite food: as a whole cuisine, thai food. an item? hash-browns.

favourite animal: sea otters!!!

what were you like as a child: very shy, loved reading, very unathletic lol

favourite subject at school: history + english!

least favourite subject: chemistry :( i ALMOST failed it

what's your best character trait? i think i'm pretty resilient as a person! and pretty good at holding my friend's emotions!

what's your worst character trait? I can be stubborn as shit

if you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be? give myself 20/20 vision so i could stop needing to spend money to see

if you could travel in time, who would you like to meet? frida kahlo, her art haunts me

no pressure tag for @intrepidjourneys @ghostlykiss @rcgersromanoff @tornadeoqueen @magdarko @paulmezcal @urmomsonfire @pissmotif and anyone else!!

[catboybiologist]

So. This has lived on my hard drive for over a year and a half now, and in my head for much longer than that. I have the entire plot mapped out in my mind, and it's not *too* long. But it's gonna require a lot of careful writing that I think is beyond my ability, and definitely beyond my current available free time level. Maybe when I advance to candidacy, or maybe this is the story I use a portable backpacking writing setup for.

Either way. It's very deliberately allegorical, and taps into a few sci fi cliche "twists" that you're supposed to kinda figure out early on, but are used for bigger themes later.

As I said. Probably beyond my ability.

But here's how I kicked it off a while back. It has a similar "flow" to the intro of biologics, where it cuts between expository introspection and the actual events happening. Idk if that's weird, but it's what made sense to me.

Also I hate the working title I gave it, but I can't think of it as anything else now.

Symphony of the Stars

The bar I found myself in wasn't much different than millions of others like it. A couple cheap liquors that could be found anywhere, maybe a halfway decent local beer or two, and some tacky tourist paraphernalia hang haphazardly on the walls. Absentmindedly, I swirled my drink. My eyes slowly drifted through the panel windows behind the bar, and onto the orange gas giant visible through it.

That was one thing that made me partial to this little backwater- that damn view. Sure, the closer moons might advertise themselves on their intimate little peeks at the red spot, or the faintest glimpse of Jupiter's barely visible rings, but the people there... Not that I minded the workers, I'm a mechanic of sorts myself- but the miners, water pumpers, and atmospheric skimmers of Jupiter's inner moons were a particular brand of insufferable. Thinking that a couple years managing equipment in the Hellas basin made them the most rugged people on the planet, and then shipped themselves out to the furthest flung inhabited spot in the damn solar system. Joke's on them- most of them don't survive 10 years out here. The ones that make it are a different story, I'll give you that. A certain breed of person actually has what it takes to make it out here, and those people have earned some respect.

But I digress.

Callisto was a remote place, damn far from the sprawling metropolises of Mars or the more cushy mining jobs in the belt. Up until recently, it had been my own little sleepy backwater that I had used to escape my extended hours fixing ships for the harvesters on the other moons.

That was before jumping.

Callisto boasted a small engineering and research center near the south pole, most famous for getting artificial gravity fields working nearly three centuries ago. That bit of notoriety let someone set up a particle accelerator that looped the whole damn moon on its equator. Forty eight years ago, a researcher hit the right island of stability when making ultra-heavy elements, and something just... came together. The exact right amount of mass was focused in the exact right amount of space to dent space time in a perfect little way. A few measurements later, they realized that they had created the smallest documented black hole.

My eyes again wandered to the space in between us and Jupiter. That was the other reason I came to this bar so often. It was also the only place around where you could watch the show.

After a few times generating and collapsing this infant of a black hole, some idiot of a scientist decided that they just had to throw something into it. It wasn't much of anything, just a probe that blasted a repeating live image from its camera in all directions. And hopefully, if it survived in any identifiable form, someone would pick up on it.

Well, someone did. A little over four years later, we got a picture of a star. Real helpful- there's only a couple septillion of those out there, right? But what mattered was the timing, and the direction. The star was eventually identified as Proxima Centauri. The moment the image from the probe had been received, the receiver was exactly 4.2465433 light years away from Proxima. And the image was received exactly 4.2465433 years after the probe was thrown into the hole. Meaning that the probe was at Proxima, exactly 4.2465433 years before the image was received. And it was thrown into the hole, on Callisto.... also exactly 4.2465433 years before the image was received. One moment, Callisto. One moment, Proxima Centauri. In some unit of time that was smaller than our ability to measure, it had traveled to the next star system. It was the textbook definition of a wormhole.

And with that discovery, well....

Jupiter's red spot quivered ever so slightly. They were right on schedule, it seemed. Just need to gain a bit of mass in the accelerator, get the magnetic railgun to throw it all into the space above it....

Like fluid down a drain, the image of Jupiter swirled as a dark spot appeared in front of it. Slowly, it grew, twisting the orange and red tones of the gas giant in mosaic patterns, until the black orb stopped, hovering in the emptiness.

After the initial wormhole generation all those years ago, it was found that by nudging the mass to be a little less, or a little more, or nudging to position of the superheavy object that created it, you could target distant parts of the universe. Soon, small spacecraft were being sent to distant stars. The scientists started it, of course. Shortly afterwards, the Callisto government began lobbying to make our little outpost the first official launch point for interstellar settlement.

That was forty years ago. And at this point, the five established settlements were fairly self sufficient- they just needed occasional contact and resupplies. Every week, a wormhole would be opened to one of the colonies. And every week, a freighter would be there to make the jump through, grab what supplies it needed, leave behind a new list of requests, and then disappear again until their specific colony was contacted again in another five weeks. And every week, I would be in this same bar to watch the fireworks.

My eyes narrowed as the perfect black circle reached its stable state. I watched these things every damn week. Part of me wants to say "blink and you'll miss it", but the truth is, at this point in the process, there's nothing to miss.

One moment, a featureless orb. The next moment, a deep space freighter. No flash. No gradual fade. No coming out of a tunnel. The hole was large enough for the entire mass of the ship to fit through at once, and the jump was seamless.

And to tell the truth... I didn't like it.

Humanity had reached and settled the furthest reaches of space, because of a magic substance that broke physics, stumbled upon by accident, in a random lab, by a some guy who was just trying to whip up a new element.

It was perfect. It was too perfect. And it bothered me.

And well, that's why I was here. I'd been visiting Callisto for years, and the pressure to make jumping more and more accessible to small spacecraft was insane. Pretty soon, everyone trying to engineer or maintain any kind of ship would need to have half of a quantum physics degree, and I wanted to be ahead of the curve. So when the launch point was made official, and they called for mechanics to service the ships that made the jumps to the colonies and back, I lept at the opportunity.

But the push was always for more applications, with little thought to the physics. More jumps, more colonies, more resupplies, more energy efficiency to increase the frequency at which it could be used. Some people were interested in the mechanics of the phenomena to exploit it further, sure, but most seemed to stonewall when you questioned too far. How the hell had this been missed? Why is everyone pushing for applications, and no one freaking out over how much this broke our understanding of the universe? Is it possible to measure the unit of time that the jump occurred in? Was it below detection limits? If it was, what did that mean?

And so, here I was. Sipping some herbal thing, staring at Jupiter, and thinking a little too hard about reality.

Eh, at least I could fix that last part.

"'scuse me bartender?" I asked. "Can I get another one of these, with an extra shot in it?"

He silently nodded, and poured me the synthetic gin mixed with... well, I didn't question it much. Anything to help keep these ideas in check.

The carbon fiber fingertips of my left hand gripped the glass with their usual calculated precision, while the skin of my right idly tapped the bar. I sighed.

[akiizayoi4869]

I watched the Madoka Magica: Rebellion movie today, and I absolutely loved it. A very interesting spin on the shows ending, and it makes perfect sense to me. In the show, nearly all of them died except for Madoka and Homura, the former of which sacrifices herself to become a God of sorts so that way no other magical girl will have to suffer anymore. So she leaves Homura alone. Alone in a world where nobody but Homura remembered Madoka. And after everything that girl went through to try and save Madoka, that's a hard pill to swallow. So when it's revealed in the movie that the reality that the girls are in isn't real, and that one of them made it up because they now have the powers of a witch, it made perfect sense for that person to be Homura.

Out of all the other magical girls, she's the one who has faced the most heartbeat and despair. Constantly going back in time, creating different worlds as a result of said time travel, all in a bid to save Madoka, the person who she loves the most. And in the end, all of her efforts were in vain. She lost the one person who she had sworn to save and protect. So is it any wonder that she would give in to her despair and create a world where Madoka and all of their friends could live peacefully?

Look at them. All together and happy, unaware of the reality they actually come from. In other words, a world that Homura wanted and desired more than anything else. Something that I found to be really interesting and thought was a nice touch was this:

The people around them don't have faces. Almost as if they weren't real people, and the only ones who WERE in fact real was Homura, her friends, and the people closest to them. They were the only ones who actually had faces in this world. Of course, eventually Homura realizes that something is off about the world, and confides in Kyoko. The two then set out to Kyoko's hometown, hoping to find some answers there....only for the bus that they were on to take them back to the city that they currently live in. And endless loop that they can't get out of. As if nothing outside of that city existed. A lot of stuff happens, and Homura eventually comes to a startling conclusion: that she was the witch that created the labyrinth they were all currently stuck in. As a result, she gives in to despair entirely and transforms into a witch. Madoka and the others arrive to try and save Homura. And now we get up to the scene that had me screaming😂.

I've been shipping these two since I watched the show, so the fact that Sayaka actually confessed to Kyoko here was a very welcomed surprise, lol. Anyway, they all fight together to save Homura (also, I loved that they played Misterioso by Kalafina for that scene, absolutely banger song) and eventually Madoka regains her true form once again:

Everything looks like it's going well, and it looks like Homura will be saved....until this happens:

Homura takes away Madoka's God powers so she can live as an ordinary girl, and takes the power for herself, essentially turning her into a demon.

Now, I'm pretty sure that there's a lot of people who hated this part, but honestly? I loved it. To me, it really showed how done Homura was with everything (and I can't say that I blame the girl, she just found out from Kyube that she was being used for an experiment in order to get to Madoka) and that she would literally do ANYTHING to make sure that Madoka and her friends could live happy lives.

Even if that meant becoming a demon to do it.

The movie ends with all of the girls alive. And this time, instead of Madoka no longer existing in the world, she's here too. In fact, she's the transfer student instead of Homura. Very interesting turn of events indeed.

All in all, I really loved this movie and I think the ending makes perfect sense, especially for someone like Homura, who has been through a heck of a lot for a young girl her age. So becoming the villain in the end? Fits her tragic story perfectly.

[getghosteddd]

ok. ok i've rewatched all 8 episodes and rambled at multiple victims. here's my final theory before the last episodes are released.

everyone's confused about how there doesn't seem to be enough time to introduce the time travel plot but also that they seem to have already included time travel elements. solution:

the events we see in the drama outside of the fire flashbacks is the regular, unchanged timeline. that really is the story of how jin met the others and became friends with them, and also how their personal tragedies unfold. if this was a linear narrative then the next episodes would be about how it all falls apart like it did in the original storyline. realistically it would leave it at an open ending right before the time loop events of the webtoon. if they did somehow include the time loop, it would have shown jin's attempts at trying to save his friends and so on.

but! it's not a linear narrative - time travel's already involved. it was basically confirmed with the two jimin pov scenes where he tries to warn the police about the fire. in the first one he stumbles and is too late, and in the second one he's given a script and is successful. so there's someone time travelling and changing the decisions that were made this day. that person texted yoongi not to leave his mother, directed tae to stall yoongi, and was the one who handed jimin the warning.

it's jin. most likely, it's jin. we haven't gotten his pov of the night yet, and we have that one scene of the capped figure flicking the lighter that belonged to jin's dad. not only does it follow jin's role in the original storyline but it's also being narratively set up by the show itself by how it keeps putting up parallels between jin and his dad. reminder that jin's dad also went through the cursed time loop in an attempt to save his friends and made the same sacrifice of losing his memories, exactly like jin did in the webtoon.

so what's with current jin? basically. the flashbacks aren't actually flashbacks. the original timeline unfolds and then at some point in the future jin decides he has to use time travel to fix things - the events in those flashbacks are the things he changes. the unknown number and capped figure is jin from the future episodes travelling back to a time where his younger self was still in america to try and save his friends without having to interact with himself because it was before any of the others would meet him two years later. Or if we're sticking with only one body then its just young jin with old jin's memories.

they are running the high school segment and the time loop plot simultaneously. maybe in the original event the others weren't even involved in the night of the fire. maybe having all of them be involved means that they avoid something tragic thats about to happen, or causes a chain reaction to happier circumstances.

... i'm trying ok. my only other guess is that the principal is the one time travelling to try and kill yoongi/cein in the fire so he doesn't out him. so.

[jacethebeltsculptor]

Outer Wilds Expedition Log #4 #1

Okay gang, I'm checking back in with another expedition log since I've been playing the game obsessively for the last few days. I suspect this is going to be a long one, so let's just blast off into it, as is the custom of the Hatchling. After my last few runs, the #1 thing I wanted to do was figure out the Quantum Puzzles that I had skipped on Ember Twin and Brittle Hollow. I've suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Quantum Moon through no fault of my own and I was eager for quantum vengeance superimposed over quantum retribution. My first target was the tower of Quantum Knowledge- I'd been here previously but was stumped for a way into the tower. My first few experiences with Ember Twin started to clue me into the notion that the time loop was pretty integral to how the game progressed, rather than just a way to explain the autosave system, and that particular events happen at particular times every single loop. With this knowledge in mind, I decided to try cramming my ship into the tower and wiggling it until it fit. This ended up getting my ship stuck, and despite my best efforts, I was not able to use it as a platform to jetpack off of to the top of the tower. Once I realized that I couldn't ADHD Goblin my way to a solution here, the thought occurred to me that the whole planet was collapsing into a black hole. I hadn't seen any of the major construction fall no matter how long I waited and assumed it was sacrosanct, but I also don't think I'd ever been on Brittle Hollow long enough to see the final collapse. So, I waited, and I waited, and I played Baba Is You on my phone, and when I looked up, I was floating in the void, and the puzzle was solved. The secrets of the sixth location and the north pole were mine. Along the way, I met Riebeck, the next of the Outer Wilds crew that I hadn't met yet. I like this guy- archaeology and xenoanthropology are valuable fields of study, and I respect that he's fighting against his fear of space just to be here. Space do be goddamn scary, bud. Just, uh, might want to move on in the next 10 minutes or so or you're gonna end up having a really, really bad day. From there, I discovered White Hole Station- I had previously written it off as space junk, and attempted to fly back to Brittle hollow manually when I fell into the hole. It, uh, went well. Turns out it's a big teleportation tower, so I grabbed the projection stone and teleported back to Brittle Hollow just in time to watch the sun go nova. I ended up scrambling to slam that plate into a wall and translate the text before I died, and while I didn't get to actually read it, my ship's computer later told me that the towers on the Ash Twin were actually teleporters linking to critical parts of the project on a variety of different planets, which cements my theory that there's a "perfect loop" where I zap about the solar system, complete the Ash Twin project, and save the day. I don't think I have all of the pieces of the puzzle yet, but once I do, I'm gonna go full ADHD speed goblin for the win. On my next loop, I went to Brittle Hollow again to see if I could find my way to the Southern Observatory. A bit of brute-force wandering got me there, as well as a few VERY risky jumps, which showed me what I needed to get down to the core of Giant's Deep, which is to fly into the DOWN tornadoes, not the UP tornadoes! Well, fuck, I could've figured that out myself with a bottle of whiskey and a loop to kill. I followed that advice and got under the guardian current, only to be stopped by a big electrical ball of Palpatine-style death. Fortunately, this didn't turn out to be too hard to get past- I just rearranged the guts of a jellyfish and slipped right in to the Probe Tracking Module on the surface of a planet who seems to be 95% volume by water. Whatever the core is made of has got to be dense as shit, scientifically speaking. Stay tuned for Expedition Log #4 #2 as we go back to Space Mexico to play with hide and seek with rocks in a dark cave, like a mentally-healthy individual.

[yeyinde]

Haha, I also spoil myself intentionally, but for the plot of movies, tv shows, and games I’m not super invested in. If I accidentally spoil myself (especially if I learn a character dies) I’ll cope by telling myself “I don’t know how/when it happened though”

Anyways Major Character Death!!

I’m SO disappointed in them killing off Soap and especially in how they did it! No buildup or anything! To me it was disrespectful to the character and to Neil Ellice. And then the 141 don’t even say anything and it cuts to them spreading his ashes with a simple goodbye! They could have at least made them a little more upset 🥲 also I hate how abruptly the game ended. Makarov gets away, but no mention to that at the end.

I had also initially requested what would become infinity in the palm of your hand (eternity in an hour) as a way to “cope” with 2009 Soap’s death because it’s always been on the back of my mind for years (weird, I know). But now after playing the new MW3 campaign I look like boo boo the fool because of who went and got killed off 😭 now every time I go back to reread it, it will be painful knowing what’s in store for reader for their current reincarnation of Soap.

Tldr I’m kinda not okay with MW3.

From what I've seen, it feels like they pulled it out of a hat. All names went in, but his (amongst others) came out. And I guess it's safe because he died in the OG, so the backlash can easily be deflected from within their own community when other fans come to their defence over this choice. But idk.

I agree with everything you said. It doesn't make any sense. It's jarring and misplaced, and canonically pointless. I'm not against character death. Grief is a powerful thing. But I just hate when it's so contrived and needless. It was definitely done for shock value over plot/character growth and I think they were trying to re-create the massive storm that happened when OG Soap died because they know they don't have much else going for them. It just massively missed the mark because: a) Price and Gaz had no tangible in-game relationship with Soap the same way Ghost did; and b) what does his death really amount to in the end? Nothing. It feels cobbled together and poorly thought out. It's sad when Portal 2 has better writing than your whole remake combined. Honestly, it's kind of impressive how little thought they put into this. I'm getting flash backs to DGG's Halloween.

If it's any consolation, the mythology I based the reincarnation off of in infinity would essentially just be neverending. An ouroboros. The events would happen much the same way. A knock on the door. Spiral of grief. A bog. A deal. Restart. So, you'd just wake up again and live life until whatever the old you made a deal with decides it's time to collect. You're forever stuck in a loop with your soulmate until you get it right.

The rest is just how I kinda wish it went, but this was getting very long because I have more thoughts on this than I anticipated lmao 😅

Personally, I think it would have been much more interesting if they brought in a new passel of characters and slowly chipped off the main cast in a series of horrible decisions that slowly begin to feel hollow and empty. That leave you, the player, feeling emotionally gutted with each new chapter because the choices previously are absolutely impacting the way they move forward, but they're too deep into their own revenge fantasy to see it until the very end when it's too late. Give me actions have consequences and every choice you make is directly responsible for someone's death. The realities of war. And what happens when you give a group of people the power to play god in countries they know nothing about. It would have matched the gritty tone they tried to go for with the trailers and actually served as an interesting conversation about war and how we tend to deify the military when they're just men with too much power in their hands. Instead, we have a death that means nothing. That arguably happened much too early in the series so the payoff is solely meant for clicks and reaction channels. Pointless.

And Makarov. A Russian Ultra Nationalist. I feel like that title alone says everything for me, and yet. They still somehow managed to give a Russian War Criminal so many wins. I'm just so irritated by it all.

[gods-of-mischief]

My thoughts and theories after S02E04

This theory is based on my feelings, moments from trailers, footage from filming and statements from the show's creators in interviews. And maybe things I've read in the last few weeks.

The first four episodes showed us that everything that happens is important for the later plot. And every decision can affect the further development of the story. And as the end of the fourth episode will show us, the decisions and actions of the characters were not always the right ones. If the creators wanted to show the "wrong way", I think they succeeded more than well. Like seriously, everything was slowly going to hell… with destroyed timelines, ruined lives and the death of innocents. And then there is the development of the characters and their decisions.

Yes, Loki's development was amazing (like, for example, his speech in the pie land was just great) but at the same time, you can see that he is not happy and not on top of things. Yes, there is situational humor, he wants to help, he wants to solve the problems and there is no place for "being cool and without worries" but I mean you can tell that he feels alone. He often looks resigned. He lost the life he knew and is in one round of events. Moreover, he feels rejected by Sylvie and his feelings are hurt by the misunderstanding with her.

Sylvie has found a new life, but her "I'm happy" and "everything I've done is fine" sounds like her self-delusion. She exhibits behavior that Loki would have before. Being on top of things, hiding feelings, having heightened emotions in a confrontation. But there are moments when you can see that it bothers her and in the finale it was shown that she is starting to see the whole context of things. But it's too late. Maybe that's why Loki knows that Sylvie needs to start seeing things through her own eyes. And it's all the more difficult when he understands exactly why she is the way she is. But at the same time, he fears that her "happy mask" might be real. And that there is no hope for "we'll figure it out together".

And there's also Mobius and his "bad day at the office". This is certainly not the path his character is meant to take. Being surrendered, not wanting to know anything about the past and solving problems with lime pie and hot chocolate from the cocoa machine (but not gonna lie, I totally get it).

But then there is the other side of the coin. We have seen that when Loki and Sylvie are together, they are stronger. And if they clear things up and talk (as much as possible) it will move them forward. The problem is that they ran out of time to solve the problems. So what will happen in the next two episodes?

My theory is that the first scene of S02E05 will be the same as S01E01. Loki in the desert. The entire current plot will be his time loop. Yeah, maybe we shouldn't go that far. Maybe it will be right after the Citadel. But the trailers tell us we'll see a scene from his arrest at TVA, as well as their fight from the season one finale. Either he actually comes back and relives everything, or he comes back and with it his time slip problem and tries to change specific moments.

But the problem here is that I don't know how it will work with his memory of previous events. If he knew everything, he could try to change things, but he could change too much. And the memories of others? If everyone took different steps, it would change too many things. Plus, we don't want Loki to lose his relationship development with Sylvia, with Mobius and the others. So it's hard to say how this will be resolved. Additionally, his time slip and ability to change the past is still very vaguely explained. Why can he do this? Why after Citadel?

Then there's the second McDonald's scene and the bar scene with Sylvie. If he had his memories, he could have found her right after the Citadel. For her, it could be sooner than a few months and she could be more open in conversation with him. Joining forces sooner might help. And it can help even more if the two are actually okay with each other. Be that as it may, they are the ones who matter in all of this. He Who Remains made it clear. But their different view of things, their scattered feelings were part of bad decisions. What if fixing their relationship could also fix TVA's future?

Or maybe the past? What if the real solution is in the distant past. At the beginning of TVA. Maybe Loki can change the foundations and build a better one. There may be several attempts. From start to finish. Many falls and losses. Maybe this loop will last for days, weeks or years. It would be crazy, but the idea of Loki falling in love with Sylvie over and over again is actually quite romantic, no? But yes, it's actually quite terrible. Not being able to move on with unfulfilled wishes.

Then there's Loki and his "sacrifice" at the Temporal Loom platform. It's still unclear to me here because I thought this scene will be in S02E04. But everything was different. I sincerely hope this isn't a scene to show us the next (or even final) death of Loki. This idea is already very overused. Yes, he deserves to be a hero. But they also deserve something else - to be happy. Is it a cliché? Maybe yes, but I really wish so. What if it's the point, everyone will be afraid that he will die. But what if it made him even stronger? But it would be pretty cool wouldn't it? If Loki was the real Time Keeper after all of this?

I love this show, but I care more about the characters and their future than TVA. I am a sensitive in this, who wants everyone who deserves it to have their happy ending. So let's see, we have two more episodes. Hopefully they will give us what we and they deserve. It's going to be a long wait. These weeks are longer than the two years since the first series.

[ursbearhug]

Okay I'm losing a lot of battles to nostalgia lately and I am not happy bout it.

There was the dragon training larp site.

Before that I've had to go on and admit that the only conceivable reason why would I ever pay so much for a bottle of coca cola is because the cherry variant tastes so much like this off brand soda I remember loving as a child. The brand has been gone for years now, the secret to their cherry cola thing probably long dead but the coke variant? Pretty close.

And now I've lost to the overabundance of ads being like 'hey log on into Nostale, it might be fun'. It's not, in case you're wondering, but it does strike a nerve.

So for context; NosTale is a game originally released in 2007 in Korea with european release shortly thereafter, I guess, since I remember playing the game as early as 2008. Myself I've played it for maybe 3 years? 4 at best. This has to match the timeline of me also starting to religiously play elsword in 2010ish and starting and taking a break from leauge of legends at a time (with lol starting in 2009, I played maybe few months into the release and then not touching it till 'season' 2, plaything off and on through 3, and then mostly skipping season 4, coming back to the game just as it was ending).

And like... I have too much points of criticism for Nostale to feasibly put into one post at tumblr dot com in one evening. But truth of the matter is, I loved the game at the time. The chibi style, most of the art work, the music, design for specialists. Coming back to it after what seems like eternity feels strange. The game didn't change one bit; if you look up old youtube videos, it's almost undistinguishable. Graphic stayed the same, the rigid models and animation are still there, as far as I'm aware they didn't do anything to textures or renders, you're just as liable of getting stucked in the environment and so forth. So it's like I came back home that has not gathered dust at all for the last, let's say 15 years. But it very much is dusted as fuck. It's the very same game, it feels familiar, but at the same time, it is not same nor does it feel familiar. I cannot quite put my finger on it.

I haven't played terribly long, mostly because the awful gameplay loop makes me want to rip my hair out in frustration, but beside the UI changes and the weird options; that allows fresh new accounts make level 56 characters (first of all, random ass number. 1 to 99 and 56 is the number they landed on? Kay Jan. Second of, you're fresh new player that never touched the game before, you think 'oh I'll start 56 it'll be fun' and it's not because it means games explains NOTHING to you just dumps you with items, no gold, no consumables, no tangible reason to start off 56 and massive confusion. Like even for seasoned player I cannot quite grasp what's the purpose of it, it doesn't seem suitable for twink leveling because you're penniless, the point of this is eluding me), it's been the same Nostale as a decade ago. Maybe less grindy (at least so far) as I got to lvl 23 in however little hours I played split between weekend and I've not been stuck with the drop rates I remember playing as a kid (I mean like week long grinding for one (1) piece of [Quest Item] out of 20), but that can actually be chucked off because currently there is an event giving you 100% exp, which still rings off all of MY alarm bells because you're telling me that's double the exp and it still took me this long to get level 23? Puhlease.

I do find it hilarious that the few tutorial pop ups they kept are STILL 15 YEARS LATER, incorrect, old or korean, or FUCKING ALL 3. What I mean is that; you get a pop up about [game mechanic] and the infographics they shove in your face can be; incorrect, ergo information they give you is either not true or no-longer true or just so fucking vague it might as well be not there, old, meaning they show you screencaps of the old UI that doesn't help you one bit because the UI is bad and shit and I cannot believe players just rolled with it and also jarringly grainy it's not really readable, and sometimes it's also not translated so it's just screencap with korean in it and I'm like... How many 7 to 30 year olds europeans you know that also fluently read korean? I've meet tons of people in my life, so many weebs you would not believe, and even then the amount of folk that I know that can speak different language than their original and maybe english can be counted on fingers of one hand. So having a screenshot of grainy ass korea explaination of game mechanic is both annoying but also mad fucking funny. 15 years later mind you, this is still a thing. Amazing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that nostalgia really ain't shit. She will come over and demand you see her but she's just not it. Nostale is EXACTLY as I remembered it and it didn't make me happier, it didn't make me sadder, it has yet to really frustrate me; it just makes me feel nothing and proves it was not worth pursuing... And maybe that's a lesson to be had here? I know that our memories are fickle at best but maybe that's when they shine the best? Left to their own devices, gathering nice thicc coat of dust and being looked at every now and then to remember the old stuff and then; just let go.

In next episode watch me download Metin2 and get scammed or something. Now wouldn't that be fucking hilarious. I wonder if private servers are still alive and well. If Nostale is doing this good (like the game is not overcrowded but it's most certainly not dead), I have to believe that the dedicated metin players probably still ripping each other off or grinding for money. Never change tiny mmorpg communities. Never change.

Meanwhile elsword is getting there with age but absolutely not with player retention. I have no interest in proving anything but there is no fucking way you'll find a 'busy' server channel here in europe in elsword lmfao. Nice job power and feature creeping your games dipshits.

[tuesdayx]

Sam Hill

I'm honestly still amazed with myself that this song ever saw the light of day. I started working on it at the same time that I was writing "432111", which makes these two sister songs as far as I'm concerned. The goal was to make a song that captured the essence of 90's hip-hop.

There's likely several Sam Hills in any part of the United States and other parts of the world. I've never been to a single one. I'm not sure why I gravitated towards that name, but usually when I'm writing songs from scratch I'll give it a working title based on whatever comes into my head first and change it if I need to later. "Sam Hill" itself is a traditional literary representation of Satan or the Devil. This ended up fitting perfectly for the tone of the song as it lyrically centered around themes of hedonism and controlling forces in our lives.

A good majority of my time was spent tightening the rhythm section that carries the song from beginning to end. At the time I was trying to avoid using my typical setup of either guitar or some kind of keyboard, so how should I fill the rest out? How about a horn section? Not just a horn section; a horn section with a flute solo! Throw in some haunting xylophone and some sitar and that did the trick. This was the first album I made where I purposely quantized everything in the event that someone else would end up collaborating on the album with me (which didn't happen.) Despite that, on tracks like this I still opted to record entire sections in one take rather than doing small bits for every part and looping them.

The album carries a theme overall where I utilize different vocal modulations to represent different aspects of myself based on the subject matter of the song. My "main voice" I refer to as Tuesday, who typically represents a more laid back yet fatigued energy. The "low voice" I called Rex, representing introspection and wisdom as well as a voice trying to consolidate my masculine self from the toxic masculinity I was raised within. The "high voice" is Tiny T, representing the youthful spirit I refuse to let die as well as exploring my insecurities and doubts as a struggling human being with many flaws and mistakes under my belt.

Lyrically this song dances around the primary themes of hedonism, resentment, and a lack of control in one's life. Each voice gets a roughly equal chance at telling different stories that all led to my decision to abandon my former life and pursue my dreams as an artist.

Starting with Tuesday, I'm straight up explaining my current living situation. I've been homeless for a year now and traveling when funds and opportunity have been available, sleeping in the back of my car or couch surfing with whatever friends I happen to have in these areas. My life up until this point, I feel, has been wasted working for other people and inserting myself into relationships I was unprepared for. My struggles with substance use and infidelity never helped my case either. As I've said before, Hip-Hop and Rap generally are more lyrically arrogant genres, so I wanted to flip the script and shit on myself a bit to show that I recognize where I've failed before, I can laugh about it, and I'm actively working on preventing myself from making those mistakes again.

Next we have Rex. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, this entire verse is pretty much me ranting about how my father. Specifically, his controlling nature and constant need to always be in the right. I idolized him growing up, despite only seeing him maybe 4 months a year, and looking back on it I realized he not only negatively influenced me as a raging misogynist-sexist-racist, but he also made me insecure over my intelligence as a child and my confidence to perform most manual labor related tasks.

Finally, Tiny T wraps things up by alluding to my sketchy behavior in relationships. For the record, I never did "fuck hoes or pop pills" with my friends. If anything we'd smoke some weed, talk about South Park, and eventually my guitar would come out and it would turn into a game of JukeBox. Despite this, I tried to justify wanting to do things without my then-partner, as she was doing the same thing without me. I'm sure we both made each other insecure by doing this, and we were both guilty of coming home late at night reeking of smoke and booze before flopping next to the other in bed. The end of that relationship tested my sanity, and situations like that led me to suspect other things were going on, but I recognize I was simply looking for reasons to be upset when I directly pushed away from me with my behavior.

In the end, it turned out to be a pretty fun song and catchy song I hope people would want to sing along to the same way they sing along to their favorite classic hip-hop anthems. Don't cheat on your partners, and don't stay in relationships you're unhappy in that can't be fixed by communicating.

Favorite line: "I'm going up to Sam Hill. My friends are coming, they're chill. Hey babe, what's the big deal? I ain't fucking hoes or poppin no pills."

[popculturebuffet]

More than Meets the Eye Retrospective: Dark Cybertron Part 1

Hello all you happy autobots and welcome back to my long look at Transformers More Than Meets The Eye. When we last left I looked at the sister comic, Robots in Disguise.

But a necessary one for Today's review: Dark Cybertron, a crossover between both books.

Dark Cybertron is the cumilation of a plot that had been slowly building in the background of Robots in Disguise while Bumblebee dithered, Prowl tried to install a dictatorship long before he got a bug in his brain telling him to keep going with that, and Starscream was awesome. Shockwave has been up to SOMETHING over the issues, working with his mentor Jhiaxus.

Chasing Jhiaxus in the best part of RiD was Optimus Prime, redubbing himself Orion Pax out of disgust with the legacy of the primes, alongside his friends Hardhead, Wheelie and Garnak, who soon found themselves chasing Jhiaxus. Mr J eventually lured them to a dead planet, where he and Waspinator, yes the boy himself, ignited a titan and made tracks for cybertron while leaving our heroes to their deaths as Shockwave held back Soundwave and his decepticons , igniting his final plan.

It's here that mystery plan comes to fruition as the lost lighters split up gang to help save the unvierse, while Bumblebee and his Cavlcade of Fuckups, and also Arcee try to stop the apocalypse and Starscream gets a new paint job as he tries to hold on for dear life to his throne with a big ole event.

This crossover's notable for a few reasons: it's the first proper event comic for the transfomers: While there had been previous event style arcs with All Hail Megatron and Chaos and crossovers with the IDW wide Infestation and the marvel crossover Transformers/New Avengers, which also means the new avengers and likely all of marvel exisit in this unvierse.

But this is the first crossover between books within the line, something that would become a tradition as IDW liked money and Hasbro liked free advertising for whatever they were doing in the toys at the time, either threading in designs from their current lines or in the case of combiner wars and titans return, just straight up having IDW model their events to match the toyline. . This lead to the ambitious and failed Hasbro Universe with Revolution, and the universe even ends on one with Unicron.

Ironically though.. this is the ONLY one to loop in more than meets the eye. And thank Primus for that. Look i'm not anti-event comic, sometimes an event can be a total banger. For a recent example see Marvel's Judgement Day. But the big two tend to do events and crossovers EVERY damn year, not giving books a chance to rest or status quos to breathe for a bit. So having More than Meets the Eye sit that shit out is a fucking relief.

It's also from a practical standpoint as this crossover shows both creative teams had trouble meshing the two together: the narrative splits into four plot threads, one in the dead universe with Optimus, Rodimus and CO, one with the rest of the lost light , one with the cavlcade of fuckups and one with god emperor starscream. the latter two evnetually intersect and the two casts DO interact towards the end of the crossover.. but in the six issues i'm covering today the only ones to interact with the lost lighters are Starscream in a brief video call and Optimus in one of the main plots. It's clear that while the two writers liked each other.. they may not of known entirely how to make the two casts function together, and thus kept them to their corners.

The result isn't a bad story but a fractured one. I will say upfront I won't be able to judge the story as a whole till next time, but I needed to do it in two parts as it's a big boy and there's a lot to go over. So join me under the cut as darkness falls over cybertron, titans rise, and rodimus gets a new toy so stupid it will bite him in the ass for the rest of the comic. IT's Dark Cybertron and it's under the cut.

We open with Nova Prime's crew. Nova Prime was a prime who was seen as a great one.. but in reality was an supremacist piece of scrap who wanted to conquer all other forms of life. He will not be missed. Among him are our boy Cyclonus and Jhiaxus, who tells Shockwave to FINISH MY WORK.

In the present.. Shockwave almost has, having seeded ores aroudn the galaxy and experimenting on a titan, both the same one that declared Starscream chosen one and then vanished.. and that Waspinator just brought home. It starts screaming in terror and bleeding out it's eyes

Elsewhere on Cybertron, Starscream woke up from a nap to find a few hours ago the sun rose.. and hasn't gone down. He also has a new all red everything paintjob, a familiar one

As i've been told and found out.. this is Starscream's look from Transformers Armada, which I did watch when it was coming out but entirely forgot this is what Starscream looked like because my memory is quicksand and only few things escape it like X-men trivia.

It's.. not my faviorite. It's almost ENTIRELY red and whlie it does look better in later shots, it's just not as fun to look at as his classic look and while he'll keep this look for the windblade mini series, i'ts telling the artists reverted to his old standby as soon as they could. The Armada look isn't bad and looking at stills from teh anime it loks GREAT there.. but it's a bit too one note for the page, at least these pages.

Starscream decides to call the autobots for help.. not the ones he exiled, an I told you so from prowl is death in it's purest form, no OUR autobots.

For now though we cut back to Optimus. Since we last left him he and his crew are trying to escape.. and luckily run into some old friends

I love this so much. Unsuprisingly Swerve made it his ring tone. Naturally Rodimus dove in anyway to save his old friend/boss/dad.

Rodimus shows his dad around, which really feels like a teenager accidently exposing his dad to all the stuff his dumbass friends do while trying to be respectible. The wind's taken out of his sails by Ultra Magnus who asks if Optimus is taking command with all the tact and grace he's known for.

Optimus isn't, he's only here for the guest spot , he's got his own leading roll to play in the other books, but he is happy to get the tour. .until Starscream calls. Screamer of course can't help but passively agressively brag about how he was elected in by popular demand after bumblbee fucked up hard

Then asks Cyclonus for help since he knows the dead universe better than anyone. The Dead Universe is a parasite, a universe that should fucntion right but is instead both sentient and EVILLLL. And it's hungies.

Back on Cybertron, Team Fuckup is starring in horror and the Dinobots want to punch the fuck out of the sun. Bumblbee tells them to wait for it... and granted he's telling them not to punch a bright light on the horizon, something even prowl can tell is stupid which tells you something, but honestly after the last two years worth of comics, the bar for Bumlebee's competence is low.

He ends up being right as the necrotitan lands. Meanwhile Shockwave goes into a whole rant about hwo this is all ineveitible that has a bunch of vauge images and two optimus primes about ot throw hands for some reason. none of this is relevant to the rest of the crossover, it's a clear misdirect and it sure does exist. The real point is who he's talking to: Nova Prime and Galvatron, who somehow returned. Also Galvatron and Megatron are two seperate people in this continuity, happens a lot, moving on.

Onto chapter 2 and Team Fuckup's strategy is now suns out guns out.. though Bumblebee's redemption arc continues as when the Autobots want to punch the giant, Bumlebee tells them no and tells them to either get in line or fuck righ toff, which actually gets them to listen. Seems Bee got a spine with his new form and I like it. After 20 some issues of him listening to whoever yelled the loudest while ignoring the people he's supposed to be serving, this is nice. It's clear field command fits him better.

He does have a bit of an exestial crisis wondering if this is the titan that choose starscream and I THINk it is. I'm not sure. But either way it's here and i'ts big.

Back with Team Rodimus, Brainstorm tells Optimus the dead unvierse is alive and that's why going into the dead universe is tricky: it'll kill anything it senses shouldn't be there. Luckily he has a plan.. and a weird creepy parsite in a jar. It's also so fun seeing the straightlaced optimus interact with the lost lighters. So dang good seeing Chromedome resisit the urge to condescend to Optimus.

Back with Starscream he's doing what any sensible cybertronian would do in this situation: GET HIS GUN. Or a lot of them hidden in a closet Rattrap is telling him to come out of. Please everyone knows Starscream as pansexual as fuck. Rattrap urges caution.. which is like saying it's tuesday but still when Starscream is whiffing it you know it's .. also tuesday but also probably an issue.

Back on the lost light we get a great scene as Rodimus, Magnus and Optimus hit swerves. Magnus is curious if they should be having command discussions in a bar but Rodimus for once isn't snippy, which tells us deep shit is a comin: he simply wants to be by his men.. granted he regrets that when he finds Swerve taking photos but for once Swerve is also not as flip: it's three of the greatest autobots of all time, on the preciipce of SOMETHING happening, something they call feel.. that shared feeling of dread. Something's coming and it ain't good.

The trio get a text from brainstorm: He's ready. This being brainstorm the most he has is a palm thing that keeps the dead universe from killing you using the venom of a monster from there he keeps in a jar. Granted this is only because it's short notice.

So our heroes come up with a plan: split up. Rodimus, Optimus, Hardhead and Cyclonus (Since he has experince) will go into the dead universe to plug whatever stygian hole is leaking. Wheelie and Garnak will stay by in Optimus' ship to pick them up after. Meanwhile the Lost LIght will head after Jhiaxus. Magnus is doubtful he can lead.. but Rodimus perks him up, assuring him he can do this: he may of been thorugh a lot.. but this is his comfort zone: "You're chasing a war criminal and i'm leaping into the unknown"

Back on cybertron Starscream talks with Scoops, a cybertronian ratrap framed for him and who belivies in screamer's prophecy. And as it turns out Screamer REALLY shoudl've payed attention to what that prophecy was or asked or.. anything other than accept it as face value as it turns out he's pegged as a "false leader" one who will bring on the coming darkness... "The stars shall scream and the symbol of the uncreator shall become clear" and said symbol is.. not encouraging to screamer or us

Anyways back to Shockwave: he's talking to Nova, and reveals the space bridge in the Necrotitan isn't working.. but luckily he has a backup plan: megatron.

We end the issue with two more cut tos: in the dead unvierse, Team Rodtimus fight some parasites hoping to snack on them since the signal their using reads "FOOD' to them and while they get away from them fine.. someone else notices. more on him soon. Back with Team Fuckup, the Calvary arrives: SOUNDWAVE BABY.

Part 3 begins with Starscream, whose assuring his adoring public.. only for a meteor to apparnetly land near the titan.

Speaking of shooting the Autobots wage a war to destroy the not so evil forces of Soundwave, only for the metor thing ot distract them too.

Before our next plot point let's talk about this series pacing as you might of noticed the last paragraph or two was just "this plot point, now this". And that's because the series likes to jump around, jump around, get up get up and get down. It has FOUR plots it's juggling and rarely do the issues just.. focus on one or two, especially early on. So each issue is bouncing around several subplots often for just two pages at a time. I don't mind a big story having to move around, but you have to let things settle for a minute. Let a plot point marinate a bit. I shouldn't feel rushed in a 12 issue crossover. 12 issues is a LOT for a story, again why this is a two parter. We do get some good character stuff like Bee growing a spine, a lot of it feels like a reahash. For instance did we need the starscrema going to get his gun scene? no we coudl've had rattrap suggest talking to scoops earlier. None of this is bad and some of the character stuff is necessary: Rodimus showing optimus around both moves the plot along with starscream's call and is objectively hilaroius. But a lot of it feels like thumb twiddling to get to the next plot point. We probably coudl've compacted most of team fuckups scenes into half an issue, if that. It feels like their cutting to each plot to make it seem important instead of carring how a story should progress. It feels like the writers took turns with scenes instead of truly colaberating on the crossover an das a result we just jump jump jump.

So we jump! Jump for the plot to our next point: the lost light where their being pushed off course... turns out Metroplex's thumb what got embedded in the ship after the annual is alive again.. and Getaway knows why: Tyrest, for all his madness, once said you can find a titan with a titan.. and figures Metroplex is trying to reunite with itself.

At the Necrotitan, Team Fuckup sadly gets back to buisness as usual.. arguing with each other. Fortuantely this time, Bumblebee.. is still a compitent leader. He's still on "wait for it" mode.. because they really CAN'T do anything and attacking a giant statue is a death warrant, and he's taken Team Soundwave's help as while they aren't on great terms, they have the same goal: Stop Shockwave. Prowl takes this with the grace, dignity and cool he's known for

God it's good to hear ANYONE, especially Bumblebee, tell Prowl to "shut up for once". And Bee's not wrong. While wait and hope things go well was a TERRIBLE strategy when Bee was running the planet and all it did was get starscream on the throne and all of them exiled, in this case.. their facing a giant cybertronian with weird glowing eyes who they can't really understand. As we'll learn shortly titans function SORT'VE like regular transformers, but are so giant, massive and ancient their hard to parse. A small band of semi-reformed fuckups, an asshole, and a bunch of casette tapes and their player/dad isn't REMOTELY enough to stop that thing and interacting with it might just piss it off.

And sure enough Starscream seemingly prooves that hypothesis as he tries to manipulate it by talking to it.. only for it to explode into 2 or 3 pages of purple light. And This.. I like> it lets the MAGNITUDE of this thing's power play out, it's sudden, and it's shocking, and the effects afterwords aren't good as Arcee is out, the death wave having taken down their forces. once again Prowl won't shut the fuck up, wanting them to attack... and bee brushes him off essentially asking

He points out the death wave, his words not mine, is heading towards the city and despite Starscream's efforts.. it goes off. Shooting the titan would've eithe rdone nothing or set this off SOONER. There is NOTHING they can do and that.. works for me. As douchey as Prowl's being which, par for the course and all that aside, you understand his want to do SOMETHIGN.. but their in a situation where all they can do is just sit, wait, and HOPE they can figure something out. Shockwave said it best as Starscream tried talking to the titan. "We were all too late from the beginning". Unlike the bulk of the comic thus far sitting and reacting is all they have. .because they don't know the full scope of what's going on here. WE as an audience don't know what the hell the necrotitan just did: I only have it's name thanks to the wiki.

The wave not only hurt the living.. but wakes the dead as Metalhawk is back, on the bad guy's side now.. and pisssssseeed. Starscream to his credit reacts more with "Oh goody another cherry on the shit sundae that is today." but he still gets stabbed and Metalhawk is taking Megatron, bye. While Scoops goes to help people, the citzens surround starscream, his star falling.

On the lost light thei rleft with a decision: follow Jhiaxus.. or follow the severed thumb. Ratchet dosen't wanna as he feels their back in the "autobots mainstream" again... but Brainstorm disagrees.. and Perciptor shockingly AGREES: an ancient god has asked them to come find him, and given the end of days is going on back at home, an ancient god could REALLY come in handy right now. Magnus agrees and they head to a planet full of blood red water. At least I hope it's water. THey go deep into planet danzig, and find a horde of microbots ready to tear them apart. These are the amonites from the 25th issue adn they aren't happy.

Closing out the issue Shockwave prepares to make Megatron into a spacebridge. It's very impressive and not at all healthy.

Chapter 4 begins back with the lost light and with good art for those portions again! Yeah while i've glossed over it because this is a LOT of comics to go over and i'm already behind, the art for the lost light sections of parts 2 and 3 is once again by James Raiz, who has a very sketcyhy lifeldian style.. and not bein ga fan of those styles in general, I like it even lest on the quippy, weird lost light. It dosen't fit at all and the lack of expresssion dosen't really work with characters who thrive on expression even when they got no mouths.

It also works as we get bits like Brainstorm trying to hop onto Perciptor's exposition and Magnus announcing himself as "duly apointed enforcer of the tyrest accord" before remembering "Oh yeah the horrifying events of the last arc right. Just an autobot now". I'ts a bit funny but also very sad. All it gets is the super combinining amonites blowing up their window.

Back on cybertron the mob turns on starscream, with Scoops rightfully calling him out for dooming them and pointing out the black mark on him as a sign.. whne really he just tried to schmooze an elder god of a robot, but semantics. poitn is time is running out for our faviorite boy.

Back on planet Danzig, Skids remembers the amonites and wonders why their pissed.. forgetting they you know, ended their forever war and one of them tried to kill thunderclash, something the lost light prevented. Take your pick.

With the Lost Light too big a target the crew decides to split up: they have a few water vechiles and half of the aquabots, so they should be fine, but they still need more... so Magnus gets an idea: they'll take the rodpod. Like the audience Getaway wonders "what the fuck is that" before we gaze on it in all ti's glory.. or as glorious as it is as for some reason we're suddenly back to raiz art.

Yes the rodpod, which Magnus was worried about as naturally Rodimus loves this stupid fucking thing as mucha s I do. But Skids is banking on Rodimus' short attention span.

The important thing here, besides this very hilariously stupid thing happened in a major crossover and that's awesome, is Getaway's reaction. His disguist, his sheer confusion.. for now it just comes off as most people's reaction to this ego piece who aren't used to Rodimus shit by now. But true to roberts.. this bit is one of the MAIN REASONS why we still had to cover this crossover. It's not the only one but this one small character moment.. ends up changing the entire course of this entire comic and our heroes lives forever. Yes the RODPOD is so rediculous and breaks a man's brain so bad, it has deep lasting conseqeunces that will last to the finale of this comic. I love that more than words.

Our heroes take the rodpod out for a spin, and while Rung kills a guy, and it's awesome, our heroes blow up a giant super combined amonite as they apparently have no upper limit but no upper limit dosen't mean "can't blow up real good"

Back to the dead Universe where Optimus deals with some squabbling from the kids

See this.. really shows the contrast between the two styles: the bickering over with Team Fuckup is annoying at times, bette rin this series but still annoying. The banter between the lost light on the other hand feels both more genuine and funnier. And I get the quippy style isn't for everyone: The MCU has gotten some fatigue fo rthat.. but I like a bit of back and forth. it shoudln't be the whole thing, and MTMTE succeeds largley because the characters are deeply made as well as deeply hilaroius, but a little humor helps. It breaks up the dark exesntial terror of everything to occasoinally have things like Rodimus' stupid headship he built for his own amusment or Optimus being about 5 mintues from turning this dead universe around so help me god.

Yet the questions he brings up .. arne't unfair as his next cuts deep: if Optimus had asked him to stay, would he have? And the answer.. is yes. Yet what cuts deeper.. is optimus response: He has the utmost faith in Rodimus and the progress he's made.. and it's clear form his silence he both regrets he's hardly made any and the choices he HAS made. He saved the world, something he rightfully rubbe din Hardhead's face as he was one of the many who nearly died thanks to Tyrest's attmepted genocide, but it's clear the thigns he's done weigh on rodimus: Would staying have helped? Could he have made a bette cybertron?

And the hard answer is.... no. Him staying wouldn't of been a good thing: he didn't want to be there, none of the bots who left really had ideas for a new better cybertron and MORE autobots wasn't going to fix a situation where autobots being there at all was causing tension with the nails. The sad truth is Bumblebee failed not because Rodimus left, but because he didn't have any plan other than "We want to retain power" , and with a throng of people crying for a better government and something NEW that was never going to happen.

The ironic thing is while Rodimus is on a quest for the old... his going out, exploring, doing daring due war or no war.. IS something new. He's letting his bots be who they are, having down time, movie nights, open bars. Sure he's also shoved some of them into very bad situations, the whole overlord mess was a waking nightmare and should never have happened and swerve shooting rung is ENTIRELY his fault. Rodimus, like Bee, often tries to lead like this is war time instead of a shaky peace. Yet despite also operating from that style.. he's casual enough and caring enough deep down that his bots.. get to have lives. Be who they want to be. He's not yelling tat them for daring to want to not shoot people or trying to create infastructure, he's just like "when I need you, do your fucking job bro". He may be embarassed around optimus.. but his letting his crew be people instead of weapons is better than Bee trying to lead like this is a war of attrition and not "what comes after" or Prowl acting like the war neve rended and a shiny new police state is better and not what caused the war in the first place.

OUr heroes soo seen Cyclonus is bleeding.. and soon have bigger issues as Nightbeat has arrived.

Back on cybertron Prowl sucks suprising no one wanting AGAIN to attack the giant robot that just wiped out hal fof them despite having no plan other than "shoot it REAL hard" Bee once again calls him out

He brused Prowl's ego enough to actually get him to pause.. well huff like a child but Prowl does have soundwave scan the city, which picks up something bad: Megatron SCREAMING as Shockwave both turn shim into a bridge and tries to get him to join. He naturallyr efuses ESPECAILLY since the primes are involved, so instead of joining in the new world order.. he gets prime coming out of his chest.

We end the issue on Team Magnus as they find Metroplex.. and end up in his eye socket.. which is hollowed out. Which is impressive but horrifying. And also not very healthy.

Onto part 5, and Shockwave is helping his pawns out of a screaming megatron's chest

When Team Fuckup arrives... Bumblebee has no idea what Shockwav'es doing but it end snow.

It dosen't though because Metalhawk is here, and Bumblbee's attempts to pull an "I know your in there somewhere fight", failed as Metalhawk is consumed by vengance and purple stuff. Skywarp attempts to just free megatron but his teleporting fails.

Prowl questions WHY Shockwave is helping nova.. not getting that maybe, just maybe the One Eyed Two Horned Grounded Purple Plotter whose already manuvered you all like chess pieces.. is using them as pawns for something much worse. Either way he gives Nova time to escape and his best buddy Waspinator time to bring him the staff Waspinator used to awaken the titan and summons it as if it were one of his x-men.. and has it crush them as if it were his juggernaught.

Back to the dead universe, let's talk about Nightbeat: Nightbeat is an autobot detective. During Nova Prime's previous plot, he had a thing installed in Nightbeat's head to turn the poor guy into his sleeper agent. Unfortunately for him he again picked a detective and one of the best at that so while he coudln't do much, Beat at least figured out he was being brainwashed and after shooting Hardhead had enough will to beg heardhead to shoot him.

So naturally his sudden return is a lot for everyone to process. As for how the shore he died on WAS connected to the dead unvierse, Optimus correctly guesses he got swept in with the tide. We get a sense of Nightbeat's personality too, as doing a simple look at Cyclonus tells him about Tailgate's near injury: he has facial scars, they were self inflicted, and they were patched recently. Cyclonus responds to this invasion of privacy mixed with genuine sympathy by trying to choke a bitch.

Back with team fuckup they TRY to count up their wounded.. but they hav ebigger issues: Megatron is craddling Ironhide crisis on infinite earth's style, before Galvatron rips him the fuck in half, starting his streak at one and declaring WHOS NEXT.. and somehow that's not their biggest issue as the titan is still active and shockwave is now in control.

Back in the dead universe, we find out how Nightbeat survivied: he was dead going through the portal and sense dead equals alive in this universe, he's spared. Sorta like how a healing spell usually hurts a zombie in an rpg just reversed.

At any rate he has some bad news for cyclonus: his hand generator thingy broke nad the Dead Universe has reclaimed him.. and he also has time to ominously say "your all home now" before triggering a giant force field around them. Turns out his death didn't undo his sleeper agent brain thing and Nova has come for them.

Before we move on to our final chapter for this batch, let's look at this cover. Which I rarely do for tim's sake but this one well

It looks like Nova Prime is playing with his dolls again.

At any rate we're back with what's left of Team Fuckup: bumblbee' smissing while what's left is running from the titan. The Dinobots plan to lead it away.. but it was already going this way they just were running away from it and are only pulling a prometheus because their genuinely not fast enough to get out the side, especially with some of them carrying wounded.

Back with Team Magnus, they notice Metroplex is decaying... partly due to age as getting spare parts is hard for titans and partly due to the weird blood water all around Planet Danzig. Theya lso find that Metro's BRAIN is missing: he's still alive but without that he's clearly dying. Getaway notices something in the water and calls Swerve for help but h'es a bit busy getting his groove on

They do however find a place to drydock. Back in the dead universe, Hardhead tells his friend he's going to rekill him while Optimus fakes a fight with rodimus to tell him there's a hidden barrier. While Hardhead tries to reach him Nova arrives.

Back on cybertron Starscream's no good horrible very bad day continues as he finds not only is his mark of shame spreading, but he's not the only one dying. After getting yelled at by his second tankor today he finds the titan heading right for him and the wounded

Back on Planet Danzig, our heroes find some arrows in the dry dock.. but it takes them around in circles.. then an Amonite blows up the ship, leaving them stranded.

We end this issue and the first half of dark cybertron with Nova Prime megomanically gloating... Hardhead escapes to shut him up.. only for it not to go well> Turns out PRime is not only crazy strong, but he CRUSHES Hardheads fist in his hands and then watches the poor guy desintgrate. He has plans for those left though: he's taking them to see a new friend he's made: bumlbee whose the shiny new space bridge.

So that's where we end it? Can Team Fuckup somehow save cybertron? Did any of team magnus survivie? Can Optimus shut this dude the fuck up. Find out in april folks! Thanks for reading

[call-me-starshine]

oh so we've reached the bargaining stage i see hdkfkgndbsngmbdhsb -chava

do you want exclusive sneak peek content because you're my favorite or not???? lol, here's your treat love

Luffy sat on his bed with the TV blaring, a bowl of chips next to him.

“Hot damn,” he said into the phone he had balanced on his knee, “Who let him out like that?”

The channel was tuned to the event the boy he loved was currently attending. Ace was wearing baggy low rise black jeans, chunky black Doc Martin's, and three stacked necklaces on top of the red beaded one Luffy had given him. Chains hung from his belt loops, framing a chunky belt with a shiny red A on the buckle. On his left hand was had a fancy black watch and a beaded bracelet, he was wearing rings on almost all of his fingers, and his nails a neon orange. New piercings peppered his ears, sitting beside a bright orange color on the bottom layer of his wavy mullet. His chest was bare, however, showing off his muscles and a new tattoo across his back.

“They like it,” Sabo chuckled on the other side of the phone. “They take dozens of pictures of him when he's like this, also ends up on more covers,”

“Figures,” Luffy giggled, “Mom's gotta be annoyed, though,”

“You shoulda heard her when she saw the first few magazines he was featured in,” Sabo shook his head. “I'm about to text him,”

Luffy jumped up and scurried over to the screen, plopping on his knees in front of the light. He held his hand up and gently touched Ace's image with his fingertips.

“Okay, there, wait a minute,” Sabo said.

Luffy watched as Ace glanced down at the watch on his left wrist and looked directly into the camera. Luffy's stomach flipped like it was doing summersaults. Ace lifted his right hand in a casual salute, his pointer and middle gently resting above his brow, and his thumb casually sticking out to create the illusion of an “L.” He smirked and winked as he flicked his wrist slightly. It had become known as his signature pose on the red carpet, but only a few people knew what it really meant.

The world might know him as the Firefist, but he was still only Ace. Luffy's Ace.

[mcknotanniegrey]

I know I'm in the minority and the show ended 2 years ago, but I've gotta get my Lucifer thoughts out somehow.

(Spoilers below)

So I finished the show and I expected to be disappointed based on what I was seeing of the internet's reaction to the ending... but i was pleasantly surprised to discover that I loved the ending. To quote Jeremy Strong, i thought it made sense dramaturgically. It was emotional, beautiful, and written with love to the original myth, the show's narrative arc, and the fans.

Like literally everyone got a happy ending, the show stayed true to its therapy concept and character arcs and growth, Lucifer and Amenadiel both learn from their father's mistakes and make different choices, Chloe is Amenagod's consultant and lives her human life feeling fulfilled, and still a Deckerstar happy ending! That's incredibly difficult to wrap up so much character development and the series as a whole in a "happy ending" way while also staying true to the integrity of the art.

The years Chloe and Lucifer spend physically apart (but still emotionally together) echo the myth of Hades and Persephone, staying true to the eternal love story with the bittersweet yearning and the reunion. What's a few decades when you're looking at eternity? It's as Rory said, that time is a blip in their existence. After the time loop is resolved, the whole family can visit and be together again. We get cake & eat it too!

There were some things I have critique for, of course. Amenadiel discovering racism again and his investigations felt out of place on their own; but I can justify this arc to myself for a few reasons: 1) it echoes the journey both Amenadiel and Lucifer take realizing that the entire system is flawed and how they want to change things if they had the power/authority to do so 2) there's a social responsibility I'm sure the showrunners felt about a police procedural show, given how we know these shows affect perceptions of police and in fact are used as propaganda that affects the public's perception of the current (and past and still happening now post-show...) events. It makes sense that the writers and actors would want to comment on this while also being quite hopeful in aligning with the show's themes about change and improvement. The system is terribly flawed, but there's still hope because we can change things and confront the injustice. 3) Amenadiel can't solve systemic racism for humanity because we need to do it ourselves. Amenagod fixing this would be the cheap way out narratively and also pessimistic in its messaging that IRL we can't do anything without the divine stepping in and undoing our mistakes. 4) Chloe wouldn't be happy being only Mrs. G, wife and mother. She is the Detective and both she and Lucifer realize that this part of her identity is integral; neither of them want her to have to sacrifice this. By being Amenagod's consultant and continuing her career as lieutenant, Chloe still has her independence and own identity outside of being Lucifer's partner. She's able to live a fulfilling human life without commuting back and forth from earth to heaven/hell.

Another critism is that all of the main characters were romantically paired up by the series end, when that doesn't have to be the ideal ending for someone at all. It sucks that we had to make sure Ella finally got a good boyfriend, as an example, especially when her arc confronting her own darkness and refinding her faith felt much more important and emotionally poignant in my opinion. But I can also see how this choice was probably made to support the fans and give favorite characters a happy ending, rather than only appealing to the Deckerstar fans.

I don't know, I guess I'm just so surprised that it seems (from reddit at least) that people hated the ending so much as to compare it to GOT - when David Benioff and D.B. Weiss clearly wanted their own show to be over and done without caring about the narrative arc at all - when it just seems so apparent to me that Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson clearly cared deeply about their show and wanted to give an ending that fit narratively/had integrity as a story and also was a love letter to the fans who'd saved the show to begin with.

[mwolf0epsilon]

The Umbaran Pathogen - Day 10: Branding

Summary: Two days after the 212th breaks away from the 501st, Waxer and Canivete come across a rather unusual specimen while out scouting the perimeter of their current basecamp.

Warning: N/A

Prev / Next

[In which the events on Umbara are worsened by an unknown pathogen taking hold of both the 501st and 212th. These series of drabbles will follow a non-linear timeline based on the AI-less Whumptober prompt list for 2023.]

THIS STORY IS ALSO ON AO3

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"I'm just saying... It's not that he can't rock the mustache all on its own, but would it kill him to try to do something different with his hair once in a while?" Waxer carried on with the previous discussion he and Canivete had been having during mealtime.

And, as rude as it was to talk about a vod who wasn't even on planet, Cani couldn't help but to agree a little with what he was saying. Boil could really use a new look that didn't just consist of putting all his effort into facial hair.

Maybe some kind of decorative fade, or maybe even a mullet...

"Keep your eyes on the ground. This place is crawling with critters ready to snack on our bone marrow..." She responded instead, making sure to keep her own peepers glued to the forest floor as she walked.

For all that Umbara was a bit of a desolate hellhole, one couldn't deny that the plants and trees had a sort of ethereal look to them. The Zabrak Spikes's glowing red spines looked beautiful against the dark hues of the landscape. And (if not for the fact they were aggressive) the tendrils of Death's Embrace moved in strangely alluring manners that were almost hypnotizing. Almost.

That enchanting beauty was exactly why it was so easy to get caught unaware by the creatures that roamed up above on the canopies, or that chose to camouflage down below with the foliage.

The Vixus, for example, were masters at just that.

"I hear ye, and I see it too." Waxer reassured as he glanced forward to what had alarmed Cani in the first place. A Vixus tendrils, just barely visible among actual plant roots. Waiting for someone to be so careless as to tread on it. "Nasty beasts..."

Nasty indeed. Too many had already fallen into this particular trap for them to have any understanding or sympathy for this particular way of hunting. Even Pi, with his fascination for animals, wouldn't defend these beasts after he heard just how many vode had been devoured.

If Cani got to live long enough to tell him that is...

Shaking that particularly negative thought out of her head, the medic carefully sidestepped the seeking tendril and carried on moving. Waxer tailed calmly behind her, flashlight skimming over the beast's closed bulb-like maw. Then his footsteps stopped abruptly, causing her to pause as well.

"Waxer?" She turned around, noting the way he was observing the dormant Vixus. "Leave it be, we need to keep moving."

"I know..." Even with his helmet on, she could easily tell he was frowning. "I just... Does that look natural to you?"

He pointed, her eyes following his finger and noting the rather strange marking on the creature's outer shell. It looked like some kind of symbol had been stamped on it. Or rather, burnt on with a branding iron. For what purpose however, she did not know.

Neither did Waxer who was staring at it with clear confusion.

"Uh... Weird..." Cani mumbled as she went to grab her datapad off its belt loop. "There's lettering on it. Umbaran, obviously. I'll snap a holo and we can show it to the General. He's good with languages."

"Yeah, probably best we do that. It's never a good sign when you find a big predator with some kind of branded symbol on it..." If anything, it was downright suspicious. And they both knew it. "Last time that happened, dang thing was some kind of tracking beast..."

"I doubt these things are trainable, but it's better to be safe than sorry." Canivete conceded. She took the holo and then motioned for them to carry on. The sooner they finished scouting the perimeter, the faster they could ask General Kenobi about the odd specimen they'd just encountered.

[ceruleanmusings]

TyHil Love Countdown Week 1 - Dawn

It's back again, my favorite beyblade event over at @takaoxhiromi! I'm going to do things a little different this time because my entries are (hopefully) all going to be on the shorter side. I'll post the whole entry here and also give links to FFN and Ao3 if you prefer to read them there. I'm also doing this because FFN currently has an issue where no alerts are being emailed out at all and I don't want people potentially missing my updates. Enjoy! (Ao3 | FFN)

Their breaths collided, curling and twisting in the crisp air of dawn.

He'd never appreciated it, the stillness before the world woke up. How time became suspended, creating infinities between the passing seconds. How the light of the waking sky extended and stretched in slow increments, allowing a peaceful transfer between tranquility and liveliness.

She kept asking him why he chose that time of day, even going so far as suggesting he wanted to hide her. That comment ruffled but the look in her eye hurt. She held her chin up, as assured as always, but he'd always been able to see past the sheen in her ruby eyes. The doubt hidden behind the bolster.

Uncertainty didn't fit her; it sat like a thick, cumbersome shawl, pulling her shoulders down and bundling her tight. She needed more room to take up space, breathe, and exist.

Which, incidentally, was part of the reason he chose the early morning for their sessions.

It took time for her to unfurl, to uncross her arms and relax enough to get sucked into his teachings. Her initial huffs and rolls of her eyes faded way to a quiet concentration he'd seen plenty when she studied or took an exam or…did this. Tried something new, tried to get an understanding of it to make it all fit in her world, tried to get him.

Admittedly, he wasn't that complicated. He lived his life like he floated on the wind, moving along where the day took him. And yet that was still something she didn't understand, couldn't seem to wrap her head around, or so he guessed with all the ways she'd criticized him over the years or shook her head at his antics. It was easier to show her and show her he did.

That's why he chose this time. That's why he chose the dewy drips of dawn. Because it was no one else but him and her, no expectations, no judgment, no pressure, no disappointment. They could be Tyson and Hilary; they could exist and breathe.

"Almost." She shivered against him and he hid the grin threatening to bloom across his face, lest he'd wanted to receive an elbow to his chest. After all, they couldn't mix business and pleasure could they? Or so she claimed. Still he couldn't resist, turning his head so his mouth just barely touched her ear. She shivered against and he let out a low chuckle. She stepped backwards a touch at the sound, pressing her back fully against his front. He closed his eyes, focusing on the heat seeping from her to the delicious floral scent clinging to her neck. Cheater.

His hands cupped her shoulders, gently lowering them down from her ears. "Just breathe," he said. Her body rose and fell beneath his grasp. "Good." He slid his hands down her shoulders, over her arms, and rested them on her extended hands, one finger curled around the plastic loop attached to the launcher in her opposite hand. "If you hold your breath, you won't get the right pull. Everything needs to work together for the launch."

She looked at him out the corner of her eye, lips pursing just slightly. The gloss applied caught the first beam of sunlight and, damn, did she deserve that spotlight. It was as if stardust had been thrown at her and she caught it in her mouth. He'd travel to the heavens to get a taste of it if he had to. Thankfully, he had a full constellation in his arms.

Tyson adjusted her grip a touch, allowing his fingers to drag across her wrists before placing his hands to her hips. She sucked in a breath, the air hissing inwards between her teeth when he twisted her a little to the right, whooshing back out when the tips of his fingers slipped just beneath the hem of her blouse and met with her warm skin.

"Okay." His breath floated out past her cheek, mingling with her short puffs. "Whenever you're ready, let it rip."

She gave a wry smile. "Ha ha."

He also smiled, though it beamed with satisfaction. "That wasn't meant to be a pun but…"

"It's fitting."

Her face relaxed and that look came back. He saw the gears turning in her head, the rapid strings of her putting all the information he'd given her moving into place, figuring it all out. Her grip tightened. Her chest rose and fell with her deep breaths. And her lisp pressed together, tightening, stopping her breath, only for it come out with a soft groan when Tyson pressed a kiss to the junction between her neck and collar bone.

The launcher landed in the grass; its thud softened by the lush blades. Her hand, now empty, reached back and lay atop of his, fingers slotting between when he squeezed her hips.

"That's not fair," she whispered, though he heard the smile in her voice.

He parted his lips just enough to let his tongue drag a quick stripe across her warm skin. "Oh well." He lifted his head and pressed another kiss to the side of her neck, this time beneath her chin. "Means we'll have to train longer."

Humming, she turned in his arms and loosely wrapped hers around his neck, lifting to brush her nose against his. "Unfortunately."

She'd barely finished the word when he ducked his head, trapping it between their eager lips, getting a taste of heaven and of her as they bathed in the light of dawn.