#and I don't even dislike Solo

[prismatic-starstuff]

miquella truly got the most beautiful, magnificent, awe-inspiring ost only to be on radahn's back for the whole duration of it,,,

[akpaleyreblogs]

I keep seeing a little of what the entire internet sees in Astarion and I am interested in seeing more of that person but every time you get a glimpse of it he immediately covers it up by being an insufferable jackass. Whenever I replay I'll have to put up with enough of the jackass to see more of the other person, but he makes it really hard to want to interact with him for that long.

[zahra-hydris]

the way lodwyn's comments while making her case during That Choice in shatterscarp really cut deep into juniper's feelings re: being a godlike... juicy.

[suncoved]

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS! — RAFE CAMERON

pairing; fratboy!rafe cameron x fem!reader

summary; you come to your first college party and have the worst panic attack of your life. who knew your knight in shining armour would be the captain of the biggest fraternity and the biggest fuck boy on campus

warnings ; panic attacks, anxiety, drugging, angst but like fluff!!

"Liv, i'm really not sure about this"

You're best friend and roommate looked at you with a blank stare, watching as you pulled the tight white dress down that had ridden up your thighs. She had dragged you out of your dorm only 20 minutes ago, telling you that if you didn't come she was going to wake you up with a bucket of ice water.

"Cmon babe, you made me promise i would drag you to at least one party this year. and i don't break a promise. Which also means that i promise if you don't like the first 30 minutes, then we can go home and eat 30 pounds of ice cream and pass out in our makeup"

You smiled at her, trying to push yourself through whatever anxiety was coursing through you. Liv was really a good friend, even if she was harsh about it at times, you know that she wanted the best for you.

The smell of booze and sweat hit your nose immediately as you walked into the frat house, the music blasting and the rainbow lights blinding against the otherwise dark space.

Liv pulled you to the corner of the living room, smiling brightly at you and giving you an extra tight hug. "Ok! I'm gonna go get us some drinks, stay right there and don't move!"

She had to yell because of how loud the music was, wasting no time before disappearing into the kitchen.

You stood in the party like a fish out of water, biting your lip as you looked down at your feet.

You'd like to say that you weren't that much of an introvert. I mean sure you liked to be curled up with a good book from time to time, and you were studying a bit more than healthy. But you like to go out and shop with friends, talk to new people in your classes and slumber parties on the weekends.

But parties were something you did not do. It had a combination of all the things you disliked most in life. loud music, people yelling, drinking, flashing bright lights and... frat boys.

You'd already been brought out of your shell at college, you were confident enough now to present in classes and partner up with new people on assignments, but this was pushing it.

You were a sweet girl, but naive. You didn't have enough experience with greedy men and even you would admit that you resembled a lost deer more often than you would like.

You lifted your head as you heard someone approach you, looking up quickly as you assumed it was Liv coming back from the kitchen.

But it wasn't Liv.

A brunette looked straight at you as you made eye contact with him, a red solo cup resting in his hand.

"What's a pretty girl like you standing here all alone in the corner" he stated, inching closer to you as you subconsciously stepped back a bit. "I'm Jeremey"

He reached out his hand to you to shake, only to receive a dumbfounded look on your face.

"Normally people reply back with their name, Babe"

"Oh! Sorry!" you replied flustered, repeating back your name as he grinned wide, showing his bright smile.

You didn't want to admit that when Jeremy was talking to you, you continually kept glancing over at the entrance to the kitchen, hoping that the next person to walk out was Liv, who was going to hopefully come to save you from this conversation.

"Hey, I was experimenting in the kitchen, wanna try my new concoction." Jeremy dangled the red solo cup in your face, the liquid pink and smelling of strawberries.

"No thank you. I don't drink" you replied sweetly, hoping to be polite and not upset him. "There's barely any in it, promise. Pleaseee, don't wanna hurt my feelings, do you?" He replied in annoyance.

A pang of hurt shot through you as you panicked, how could you have been so rude! Jeremy was taking time out of his day to talk to you and you rejected a drink he made you?

"Oh! no, I'm sorry. Thank you so much" you replied, taking the cup out of his hands and looking down at the liquid. He watched closely as you took a sip, your face twisting at the strong flavour of vodka.

"What do you think?" he smirked as he asked, bringing his hand up to your lips and wiping the extra liquid off with his thumb.

"Its- its great, thank you" you replied, your heart beating faster as you started to feel increasingly more uncomfortable. He watched you closely as he hinted to you to drink more, looking down at you like he was a wolf, and you were his prey.

You held back tears as you felt the room start to spin under your feet, your cheeks feeling hot and your hands shaking involuntarily. It hit you quickly that this wasn't alcohol that was making you feel like this, no, it was something else. Something much, much worse.

And you didn't want to stick around to figure out what it was.

"Um, sorry Jeremy, I need to go to the bathroom" you spoke up, using all your courage to push through the crowd quickly as he followed.

Your breath was now speeding up as you fought your way through the waves of people, your steps becoming faster as you felt the room spinning more and more, tears streaming down your face.

You didn't know where the bathrooms in this place were, but you didn't have time to think about that now.

You just needed to find Liv, or someone, anyone.

Your eyes fell on a room at the end of the hall, light spilling out of the crack where the door failed to meet the floor.

You didn't have time to think, just to act. Your balled fist made it up to the door, knocking over and over again as you looked behind you, Jeremy in the crowd but looking all over for what you assumed to be you.

You didn't even want to begin to imagine how stupid you looked, or how impolite you were being as your knocks became harsher and frantic as Jeremy came closer.

"Jesus, learn how to wait your fucking turn" a voice sounded as the door opened. you didn't even look away from Jeremy as you tumbled into the bathroom, accidentally bringing the person in the door with you.

"Yo, what the fuc-" the aggressive voice came to a halt quickly, but you all you could focus on was your breathing, which was out of control.

Your cheeks were wet with tears as you closed your eyes, bringing your hands up to your face and letting yourself sob. "I- I can't breathe" You let out, unknowing if you were talking to yourself or the person in the space with you.

You couldn't even handle your anxiety and emotions when you were in control of your body, let alone now.

That's the main reason you don't drink, because you tend to freak out to the point of no return, and this, this was much worse.

Your face was buried in your hands as the person softly closed the door to the bathroom. You didn't even register him softly moving you to sit on the toilet seat in the bathroom, kneeling down and removing your hands from your face.

You opened your eyes to see a man's face looking back at you, his features painted with worry and his body distanced enough away from you as to not upset you even more.

"Hey- hey. Its ok, what's wrong?" the boy asked, trying not to show how confused he was on how to deal with this situation. "Are you hurt?"

You shook your head quickly at his statement, your tears slowly coming to a halt as your vision became less blurry. You could now see his face more clearly. Fluffy dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, soft pink lips.

"Uh, um. Wait" He spoke, breaking eye contact with you for the first time since you entered the bathroom. He started frantically opening draws and cabinets, stopping when he found a box of tissues under the sink.

"Here" you looked between him and the box he was handing you before taking it in your hands, your fingers brushing past each other momentarily.

"Thank you, i-i promise I'm not this much of a mess all the time." You replied, earning a soft smile from the man. "It's ok, it happens to the best of us. Have you taken anything, or just drunk?" He asked delicately.

Rafe didn't understand what he was feeling at this moment. Because he'd never felt it before.

Sure he could be an asshole sometimes, He was rude and got into fights on occasion, and he had been known to make girls complete the walk of shame out of his room involuntarily after a big night out, but that didn't mean he would ever leave a clearly intoxicated girl alone at a frat party.

But this, this was different. He had to know what was wrong with you, and he had to fix it. Sure you were a mystery to him and only met you seconds ago, but he wasn't leaving until he knew you were safe and sound... and had given him your name.

"I don't drink- or, at least I didn't. This boy gave me something, it tasted weird. Then I got all dizzy and now- now I can't stop crying" You rambled, sighing softly and looking into his eyes.

He gazed back at you, running his tongue around his teeth before seemingly snapping out of the trance he was in. "Did you know the guy?" He huffed, obviously agitated with your reply as he ran his fingers through his hair.

You shook your head softly, a wave of sadness running through you because you couldn't give him the answer he wanted. Tears started running down your face again suddenly as you kept repeating 'I'm sorry' over and over again.

He lifted his thumb up to your cheek, softly brushing the tears away. "Hey it's okay, Don't worry. I'll keep you safe"

He didn't understand the feelings he was feeling, He had never craved to protect someone so much, He had never been this gentle in his whole life.

"What's your name?" he asked, distracting you to hopefully stop the flow of tears streaming down your face. He felt like if you didn't stop crying in the next minute, he was going to lose it.

You answered your name to him, earning a soft smile. "I'm Rafe, it's nice to meet you." He finished the sentence with your name, sending shivers down your spine.

"Liv" You gasped, making his head tilt in confusion before you shot up from your seat. "Wow, ma. Slow down, what do you mean?" Rafe replied, holding your hips to stop you from completely falling over. You sat back down quickly in defeat, your eyes wide with panic.

"Liv, I-I came here with my friend Liv. I'm gonna scare her. I need to find her." You gasped, your voice trembling as you spoke. "It's ok, We'll find her. Don't worry, it's ok." He repeated, desperate for your face to get back to your normal expression, aka, not struck with terror.

It was obvious to Rafe through the glaze cast over your eyes, the shaking from your hands and the drooping of your eyelids that someone had slipped something into your drink.

He had hosted enough parties at his fraternity to know what insecure, probably small dicked boys, not men, can do to women. And it revolted him.

"R-rafe. I'm gonna go to sleep now" You whispered, your body finally giving out before you could stop it, his arms quickly coming up to stabilize you before you toppled over.

He bit his lip as he tried to figure out what to do, pulling your body into his arms as you didn't even stir. He was scared. So scared.

He didn't know what you were given, how much you were given, what would happen after you woke up, if you even woke up at all.

He carried you up the stairs and into his bedroom, unlocking the door and locking it behind him again. His room was the only one with a lock in the whole house, because he was damned if he was going to walk in on random strangers having drunk sex on his bed.

He rested you softly on his bed, making sure your head was comfortably on his pillow and resting a blanket over your body after taking your heels off.

He looked at your sleeping form, your long eyelashes resting on your cheeks, your hair falling softly over your shoulders and your chest rising and falling with your breaths.

He looked at you one last time before leaving his room, ignoring every person greeting him as he made a beeline straight for the living room.

He scanned over the large crowd in the house, numerous people dancing, some making out, his frat brothers doing keg stands, and one very panicked girl going up to every stranger she sees.

Rafe took no time before walking straight to the girl in the middle of the dance floor, tapping her on the shoulder. She turns immediately to face Rafe, her face struck with confusion.

"Are you Liv?" Rafe asks, earning a confused nod from the girl in front of him” I am! Have you seen my best friend anywhere? She's about yay height, really pretty, heart of gold, she kinda looks like that baby deer from that Disney movie, she's wearing this white dress and-"

Rafe stops her ramble with a quick nod causing her eyes to widen. "What? Where is she?"

"In my bed" Rafe replied, remembering he wasn't all that good with small talk. "What? What the fuck do you mean, in your bed? What did you do? I swear to god-"

"Ok, calm down. Someone gave her something. I found her in the bathroom sobbing before she passed out. I put her in my bed then came down here, end of story" He replied, starting to get slightly agitated.

The girl he now knows to be Liv quickly walks off, heading straight for upstairs where the bedrooms are. Rafe rolls his eyes before following swiftly behind her, though he's glad that there's someone out there other than him trying to protect his newfound soft spot.

Liv halts at all the bedrooms, looking expectantly at Rafe before he walks in front of her and opens his door. Liv immediately rushes to you, still passed out on Rafe's bed.

She sits next to you, tucking your hair behind your ear before placing a kiss on your forehead. "Of course, on the first party she goes to, some sick fuck roofies her and she ends up in Rafe Cameron's bed" Liv speaks, not taking her eyes off you.

"How do you know my name?" Rafe asks, not even bothering to look at the person he's talking to as he focuses on your chest rising and falling. "Ha, everyone knows who you are Rafe. And if I find out you had anything to do with her getting hurt, I'm gonna chop your dick off and feed it to you and make sure everyone on campus knows it"

It would be a lie to say Rafe wasn't slightly amused by your best friend's words, holding back his smile and keeping his face stern. "I would never do that shit. Especially not to her" Liv's eyebrow quirked in confusion at the last bit of his sentence.

She knows for a fact that you did not know Rafe Cameron before this night, let alone any frat boys. Liv could cry at the sight of your passed-out form, taking full blame and responsibility for the fact that you got hurt when she was meant to protect you.

She pulled her phone out from her purse, about to call an Uber back to the dorms for both of you. "No, I'll drive you" He stated, not leaving room for an argument

Liv nodded slowly before pulling the blanket off you, your body involuntarily starting to shiver from the cold air.

Rafe walked over to his closet, grabbing his warmest hoodie. Liv looked up at him as he raised your body softly, placing the hoodie over your head and softly lifting you up into his arms.

Rafe walked with Liv down to the road outside the fraternity house, receiving hundreds of stares from people in the crowd. But he didn't care, all he cared about was you.

He let Liv open the door to the backseat of his truck, allowing him to place you softly inside before Liv climbed in next to you, placing your head on her lap.

The ride was completely silent, barring Liv's directions to the dormitories, but she didn't miss the way he was constantly looking in the rearview mirror at you.

It didn't take long before Liv was leading the way to your dorm, Rafe trailing slowly behind with you in his arms.

She flicked the light on in your dorm, Rafe quickly knowing which bed was yours from the multiple stuffies and pink blankets. He lifted the covers before placing your head on the pillow once more, knowing Liv was going to get you changed before she slept.

"Thank you, Rafe, for looking out for her when I didn't" Liv said as Rafe walked to your door, nodding curtly in repose to her statement.

He gave you one last look before he walked out of your door, watching as Liv was about to shut the door on him after saying goodbye. Panicked he placed his foot in front of the door before it shut, forcing it open.

"C-can I get her number, please?"

[seungcheorry]

at this point, seokmin is literally performing a solo show as he showers.

the setlist? it goes from 'espresso' by sabrina carpenter, to 'ggum' by yeonjun, his junior.

"jagi~", seokmin screams in his cute voice, as if it's not 7am and your neighbors won't complain about the noise.

it takes less than a minute for you to enter the bathroom, 'birds of a feather' by billie eilish playing loudly.

"babe, my neighbors might strongly dislike you at this point", you sigh.

"i'm sorry", he peeks his head from behind the curtain, but his childish-like smile tells you he's not sorry at all. "my shampoo ran out, can i use yours?"

"that's why you called me?"

seokmin nods, patiently waiting for you to answer.

"what am i gonna do with you, lee seokmin?"

and, just on cue...

"and i don't know what i'm crying for, i don't think i could love you more...", seokmin sings to you, face expressing how serious he is at that moment - even though it's just one of his silly little antics.

you roll your eyes, trying to ignore how your ears are turning red. "use the shampoo and get out of the shower in 10 minutes, breakfast is almost ready".

"i'll love you till the day that i die!!!", seokmin loudly sings as you close the door behind you.

a 'thank you, jagi' is what you hear while you go back to the kitchen.

a/n: for my dear @kozukensgf. sorry it took me so long to write, hope you like it, baby. ❤️🍒

[cipheramnesia]

Star Wars fans do not understand how unbelievably important to the narrative it is that Han Solo cannot use the Force. I don't even like Star Wars, but I know it's absolutely critical he does not in any way have any connection to the Force. If you've ever felt even a vague dislike for George Lucas changing Han's introduction so Greedo (really? Greedo? his name is Greedo and he's greedy? come on, man) shoots first, you already know why Han can't use the Force.

[cartierre]

BRUTAL OUT HERE | op81

SOCIAL MEDIA!AU oscar piastri x fem!singer!reader (fc: olivia rodrigo)

side note: the way i used to dislike oscar and now i'm so immensely proud of what he's achieved is crazy. what a character arc of me.

♡ liked by conangray, oscarpiastri, sabrinacarpenter and 238,495 others

yourusername i am beyond the moon happy and proud to announce that my debut album is out now in store and on all music platforms! having worked on this for so long, it feels like seeing my little child grow up 🫶🏻 my team and i invested a lot of time and effort into this and i'm insanely excited for you to experience it. let me hear your thoughts and opinion on this! 💜

view all 7,293 comments

user1 JUST LISTENED TO IT AND I AM NOT OKAY

user2 the way this captures the spirit of being a teenage girl so well ⤷ user3 she literally took my feelings and put it into words it's incredible

conangray i'm so proud of my babygirl comment liked by yourusername ⤷ yourusername ah stop! you helped me so much in the process, huge huge thank you for supporting me 🫶🏻😭 ⤷ user4 i love y/n's and conan's friendship so so much!

oscarpiastri 💜🖤 ⤷ user5 OSCAR?

♡ liked by conangray, landonorris, oscarpiastri and 201,394 others

tagged: conangray

yourusername the last few weeks have been absolutely crazy! i've recieved so much love and positive feedback for 'SOUR' ... i can't even describe how loved and appreciated i feel. i love you guys so much!

view all 6,283 comments

user6 you deserve this so much!! your music makes me feel so many emotions, it's incredible

user7 can't believe how far you've come! been listening to your solos for so long and now you have a whole album aaahh ⤷ user8 remember when she used to upload covers on youtube?

oscarpiastri insanely proud! comment liked by yourusername

user9 oscar is being a bit suspicious these days i don't trust him ⤷ user10 lando is also liking sooo something is brewing in the paddock for sure

♡ liked by conangray, madisonbeer, oscarpiastri and 302,183 others

yourusername my first performance here in melbourne (my hometown) felt so fucking special i'm in tears from how amazing you guys were! my official tour dates are coming soon!

view all 8,283 comments

user11 is it true that you and oscar are childhood friends ⤷ user12 what if they're dating ⤷ user13 what if sour is actually about him?

conangray ahhh i'm so proud of my bestie! comment liked by yourusername ⤷ yourusername couldn't have done it without your pep talk

user14 someone said sour is about oscar and y/n's former relationship? ⤷ user15 is this confirmed?

oscarpiastri what an amazing show 💜 comment liked by yourusername

♡ liked by landonorris, oscarpiastri, sabrinacarpenter and 328,283 others

tagged: oscarpiastri, landonorris

yourusername cat's out of the bag thanks to this dingus

view all 8,094 comments

user16 no because it's kinda sweet they revealed their relationship during oscar's homerace (even if it was accidental) ⤷ user17 and her having had her first concert a week ago in melbourne as well (which he attended) like since when is melbourne so romantic like that

oscarpiastri i already told you i'm really really sorry ⤷ yourusername save your apology and gimme a kiss

landonorris great so now i see your annoying asses in real life AND on social media ⤷ yourusername haters gonna hate

user18 but... i wanna know who the album is about then ⤷ user19 real like babes let us knoooowwww

user20 i love childhood friends to lovers aaahh comment liked by yourusername

[johns-prince]

John's insecurity and fear of Paul abandoning and no longer loving him really reared it's ugly head when Paul wrote Yesterday and people started talking about whether this meant Paul would go solo. It's true that part of why John and Paul's partnership worked out is because they could be competitive with each other—but it encouraged and inspired rather than threatened and smothered. It was relatively healthy.

John hated the song, and I don't believe it was simply because he was envious. I mean, John was envious of Paul in certain aspects, merely because John had pretty poor self esteem and view of himself to begin with.

I just don't think John's reasoning for hating Yesterday is based on competitive envy as much as it was based on what the song stood for and what it's popularity meant—Paul could do just well without him, Paul didn't need him, everyone could see it even. With the success of Yesterday, there was talk about Paul leaving the band, which in turn meant leaving John.

The song crippled him with this kind of insecurity so much that he even got into rows with Paul over it. There's photographs of it taking place in the dressing room. John was always a complete jerk when it came to this song being performed.

Years, years later, I can understand why John also disliked the song as so many people would attribute the song to the Beatles, as in thinking John himself had a part in creating it like so many of the songs authored by Lennon-McCartney—when it was solely Paul's song.

But this song brought up one of John's biggest gripes, insecurities, and fears, And it was documented for us to read about and even see: Paul would realize he didn't need the band, didn't need their partnership, that he didn't need John.

I was feeling insecure. You might not love me anymore.

[iscdisc]

A 2012 Casey appreciation post, basically- Lmao

I originally was going to rant about something not so positive, because that's just in my nature to do and 2012 as a whole just makes me incredibly angry- But that's how you can tell it's my favorite show on the planet, so like- LMAO

That's not to say that there won't be some moments of anger in this tangent from me, but for the most part I just want to kind of "gush" (so to speak) about 2012 Casey Jones and why these incompetent writers could never get me to hate him. 🫶✨

This might be kind of contradicting from me, since a lot of 2012 April's writing is what causes me to strongly dislike her as a character canonically- But I think I've come to realize that it's not that I necessarily hate April, it's just that I hate how she was handled and all the opportunities that the show gives her simply for just existing / a lot of what April gets tied to or what she accrued throughout the series are things that I feel the writers simply hand to her rather than explaining why she deserves them (Like her Kunoichi certification after the Space Arc- 💀 / I still don't understand why, "City at War" couldn't have been the first April solo mission episode instead to further show why she should be awarded this accomplishment, but okay- Lmao). And that's why she's frustrating to me. LMAO

Just think about how much better April's character would have been if the show writers actually gave a shit about her and weren't (probably) misogynistic because her character feels like a stereotype of a teenage girl / the "mandatory girl character" a majority of the time. 🙃👍

Casey, on the other hand, is a different situation. Because not only does this show not give him jack shit half the time, but they do him no favors the way they do April a lot of favors (in my opinion) and it feels as though practically a majority of the cast despises his existence-?? Another thing that cannot be said of April (in my opinion). LMAO

I also feel like a lot of the negative traits that we see from Casey throughout the series feel intentional?? In the sense that it feels as though the writers want us as the audience to think that Casey is the most insufferable person on the planet- Similar to how the writers embellish Mikey's negative traits so that we'll also think he's "unreliable" and "annoying" like his brothers do. The writers practically have Casey become "Mikey 2.0" in a lot of instances, and I don't say that like an insult because it honestly shouldn't be?? But it feels like sabotage from the writers, I gotta be honest. 💀

Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but 2012 Casey in his first three introductory episodes (Which yes, I refer to them as three introductory episodes because he wasn't officially introduced into the narrative until, "The Good, the Bad, and Casey Jones" / S2 EP 8 / but he technically was a big part of two episodes prior to that one and more literally introduced as a character in, "Mutagen Man Unleashed" / S2 EP 4 /. So-! 👍✨) has an incredibly different feel to him than the Casey that we see in, "Fungus Humongous" / S2 EP 10 /-?? Before, at least in my opinion, Casey felt like a chill dude who had occasional aggressive / hyperactive moments. But after, "The Good, the Bad, and Casey Jones", he felt more like an aggressive / hyperactive dude with occasional relaxed moments- Does that make sense? This is when I feel like he was really shifting into "Mikey 2.0" by the writers. He's a lot more brash, openly obnoxious and boisterous, saying things that he doesn't necessarily need to say so that everyone will look at him with glares (I wonder what other character that happens to- 🙄), having an unserious nature that the others disapprove of (Again, who else does that sound like-), a lot clumsier in battle than he used to be, the others don't take him seriously (Do I even need to say it again-), etc.

But does any of this deter me from loving him as a character? Absolutely not and it never will. LMAO

This isn't to say that I think Casey is perfect, because clearly he has his flaws, and given how the writers handled his character throughout the series, I completely understand why some people think less of him or would say that he's their least favorite character in 2012,, I really do get it.

BUT, despite all those things, I still feel like there were a lot of redeemable traits from him that don't get talked about a lot? Also a lot of things that I feel backfired in regards to the image that the writers "wanted" (Since maybe they didn't intend for this?? But it felt that way to me-) us as the audience to have of his character- Like him actually being one of kindest members of the team??

It's definitely not a conventional kindness, but it is a kindness nonetheless.

I honestly don't know a good place to start with this, so I'm just going to start rambling about whatever comes to mind and hope that that works out for me- LMAO

One of the first things that comes to mind for me is him during, "Of Rats and Men" / S2 EP 12 /. Despite having a crippling musophobia (Fear of mice and rats-) in the same way that Raph has a crippling entomophobia (Fear of insects-), Casey's still did his best to contribute to that problem and was probably enduring one of the most traumatic events of his life for his friends?? Like hello?? He's only known them for like maybe a few weeks or so at this point (Logically speaking-) too??

I know Raph technically has some growth with it in 2012 (Only saying technically because I really didn't like how the show constantly harped on Raph's entomophobia, as if there aren't many other aspects of his character that could have been talked about instead- Lmao), but when he was in his first situation revolving around his phobia ("The Cockroach Terminator" / S1 EP 18 / ) he was not very helpful for a majority of that situation (Which I totally get-) nor did he volunteer to put himself in the "eye of the storm" of that situation in the same way Casey did here. That was an incredibly kind / selfless thing for Casey to do??

Without questioning anything, he defends April against Timothy (Who they didn't know was Timothy at the time, besides I don't think that would be relevant cause April didn't really meet Timothy-?) during the episode, "Mutagen Man Unleashed" / S2 EP 4 / and rides away on his bike with her to escape Timothy, having just met April for the first time. He's pretty much kind towards April in general, but what I mean is a different type of kindness than the more general one that most characters give her- He truly allows April to be herself around him / doesn't treat her differently as person (When I say this, I mean moments like when Casey had no problem kicking April in her shoulder to wake her up during, "Within the Woods" / S3 EP 1 /- Lmao), and I feel like that is the biggest act of kindness he could ever give her. Like??

Maybe this isn't something that is necessarily considered "kind", but I thought it was incredibly sweet and understanding of Casey sit through the drive all the way up to the O'Neil's Farmhouse immediately after the Kraang invasion + immediately after he had failed to find his Father and little Sister in the chaos,, I'm sure he felt like he had to because of everything going on, but it would have been just as understandable for him to need breaks on the road or to vent during the drive- Instead it felt like he just focused on getting everybody else to safety, you know what I mean??

The way he whispers to Raph about taking it easy on Leo during their sparring match since he's been having a hard time since he woke up from his coma during, "Eyes of the Chimera" / S3 EP 7 / ? 😭 || I don't know how much this counts for kindness either, but the way he was so excited to tell Raph about what he had accomplished in regards to Shredder and his little recon mission during, "Casey Jones vs. The Underworld" / S3 EP 14 / always makes me cry- Like he was so happy,,

Also speaking of Casey being incredibly understanding?? 2012 Casey has to be one of the most understanding characters I've ever seen, because the amount of shit that he gets dealt by everyone else and decides to just let's go / move past it is wild to me.

• When Casey's reminiscing to April about his ex best friend Nick in "Target: April O'Neil" / S2 EP 6 / and how there was this complete accident during last year's playoffs and he genuinely accepted that his best friend since second grade decided to never talk to him again?? The maturity that Casey exudes from the scene alone- Not to mention his understanding of her leaving him with a bunch of Foot Soldiers (Not that I'm saying she did anything bad there, I understand why she left and I'm sure he did too-).

• Casey not thinking twice about helping the Turtles and Splinter not get exposed to the Foot Clan during, "The Good, the Bad, and Casey Jones" / S2 EP 8 / despite having known them for a brief amount of time and being at odds with Raph prior- Giving Casey honestly the slimmest of reasons to do this + before this point he actively talked about how he didn't like mutants.

• During, "Newtralized!" / S2 EP 17 /, how despite Raph giving him the hardest time ever (Which felt so hypocritical because I've never seen Raph treat April this way, and she messes up quite a lot imo- 🙃) and blatantly disrespecting him to the point of genuinely pushing him away, Casey STILL CAME BACK AND SAVED THE DAY- Not even getting upset that he didn't get an apology from Raph. At all.

• I don't know if this necessarily falls into what I mean here, but I feel like he often gets misread when he's trying to be genuine? The moment he had with April during, "Within the Woods" / S3 EP 1 / feels like one of these instances to me. I truly don't think Casey meant anything by it when he was asking April if everything was okay between them (Implying the April's been distant towards him lately or probably just acting different-), and even after she kind of blew up on him, he didn't say anything about it and just let it go?? 😭

• Casey being quite literally understanding during, "Buried Secrets" / S3 EP 3 / when April was venting about the situation with her Mother and basically reassuring her that it was okay for April to leave with her if that was the decision that she wanted to make-

• It honestly boils my blood to see how little faith the others had in Casey during, "The Weird World Of Wyrm" / S4 EP 3 / (At least it came across that way to me-), because how could they truly believe that he would turn on them like that? On one hand, I get it was to make the whole thing more believable so that Wyrm wouldn't suspect Casey was trying to do something underhanded, but if I were Casey I would have felt genuinely hurt that they really thought that of me?? April didn't even try to be like, "This isn't you at all! :( " like she normally does, she just fully believed that this is who he was now- 🙃 || But I also understand that a lot of the events of this episode get retconned on purpose, so. 🙄

• Casey basically let go of Raph quite literally ditching him because of his entomophobia during, "The Insecta Trifecta" / S4 EP 17 /, but I also acknowledge that Casey was not helping but all his descriptions during the fight,, LMAO || But I don't know, I feel like Casey was genuinely taking Raph's word for it when he said that he was "over the bug stuff" in the beginning of the episode-

• I don't really want to count this one, but I guess I can bring up how everyone forgave April so quickly after the events of, "The Power Inside Her" / S4 EP 22 / even though I feel like that was incredibly unrealistic-

But all of these hurtful moments?? Casey never brings them up again, he doesn't hold anything over anyone's head- Like- 😭

There's also the fact that he's incredibly selfless?? The most well known example of this being when he saved Raph's life during, "Requiem" / S4 EP 25 / and almost lost his own in the process,,

I feel like the entire concept of his vigilante-ing is an act of selflessness on its own, since you have to want to help people who can't help themselves to accomplish something like that-

Casey almost risked his life protecting April from the mutagen vat Stockman was trying to fly into during, "The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman" / S2 EP 16 /, and the reason I say that he was risking his life is because if that had gone the wrong way, he could have gone into the vat with Stockman himself or could've simply fell in somehow- He literally risked the entire world after Donatello stopped breathing (Presumably his Brothers would follow suit shortly after-) during, "In Dreams" / S2 EP 5 /, since he didn't know for sure that the Dream Beavers wouldn't be world ending entities (Which, this is completely derailing right now, but there was just really sweet 2012 Jonatello fanfiction that used this situation in it- Where Casey openly acknowledges that he risked the entire world for Donatello even if it would have been only for a few minutes because they would have parish shortly afterwards- Like?? I'll try to find it later- 😭💜🖤).

I know this could just be a writing thing and another glaringly obvious way the writers clearly didn't care enough about him as a character, but I feel like his lack of bringing up his personal issues or his family feels selfless-? Like, he doesn't want to weigh anybody down with his problems, so he'd rather focus on what he can control than what he can't- You know? From a canonical writing standpoint, I found this really annoying, but ignoring the writing for a second- I wouldn't be surprised if Casey felt like the guys already struggle with emotionally supporting April and her constantly absent Father enough as it was, that maybe that's why he felt like he didn't want to add on to it or something by talking about his-? 😭 (But knowing these writers, I wouldn't be surprised that they had the Turtles be complete assholes to him about it- Because "boys will be boys" or some shit. 🙃 Lmao)

I also want to talk about how Casey felt like such a fantastic friend?? I know we only have that one moment with Leo during "A Foot Too Big" / S3 EP 2 /, but even that felt like a really great moment from Casey to me? Not to mention the fact that Casey's demonstrated multiple times that he's incredibly loyal, so whenever Leo asked him to be there, he was there- Something we see in episodes like, "The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman" / S2 EP 16 / (Though, maybe this kind of feels like a straw grab-? Casey and Leo don't get a lot of interactions, so I don't know what else to say- 😭)

The only reason why I say what I'm about to say is because I feel like the writers handled Casey and Raph's friendship extremely poorly, but even though Raph treats Casey like shit 9 times out of 10 during the show, Casey still views him as his best friend and still has his back constantly?? This is demonstrated throughout the entire series honestly- (This is it to say that I don't like 2012 Raph and Casey or I don't value their friendship as such a staple in the series, because it's the exact opposite-! Which is why I was so disappointed in how 2012 handled their friendship,, 💀)

Casey and Mikey's dynamic is one of the most organic friendships to come out of the 2012 series in my opinion- They were genuinely the most fun on screen and it made me want them to interact a lot more. Like have you watched the episodes, "Meet Mondo Gecko" / S3 EP 17 / and "Bat in the Belfry" / S4 EP 19 / ? 🙄✨

Even though Donnie views Casey as "his rival" or some kind of "threat" between himself and April, I still feel like Casey had a lot of moments where he treated Donnie with respect and as an ally / friend, despite how Donnie feels towards him being glaringly obvious- As much as I would love to give you a plethora of examples of this happening, it feels like there's too many because it's kind of a in the background / nuanced thing-?? (See the picture I put for this part-) Like, if you focus on them during episodes, I feel like you could see what I mean- LMAO

Which has always led me to have this theory that Casey never actually hated Donnie to begin with and was just reciprocating the energy that Donnie was giving him, because why wouldn't he?

But I think a dynamic that is one of my favorites with Casey in the 2012 series is his dynamic with April-

April feels like a genuine person / fleshed out character when she's interacting with Casey as opposed to when she's interacting with any of the brothers. I don't know how else to explain it- A lot of the solo scenes that April and Casey get feel so different for April specifically, and I genuinely enjoy them ! Moments like when they're riding "Kirby Bat" during, "The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman" / S2 EP 16 / or that Kraathatragon / " Giant Kraang Worm" during, "The Manhattan Project / Wormquake!" / S2 EP 13-14 / or when April finally breaks the wood in half with Casey at the end of, "Vision Quest" / S3 EP 8 /, or when April and Casey are walking home from the movie theater in, "The Deadly Venom" / S3 EP 18 /- It also makes me sad at the same time though, because I feel like if the show just dropped the stupid "Will they? Won't they?" romance bullshit subplot between them, they would have just been the best of friends and that would have been the best thing ever- Like. 😭

I almost forgot to mention the amount of times that Casey was actually able to swallow his pride for his friends despite the show giving us the impression that he's an incredibly prideful and egotistical person?? The fact that he has gone to the guys for help on more than one occasion (i.e. "Fungus Humongous" / S2 EP 10 /, "The Wrath of Tiger Claw" / S2 EP 19 / though this was just him sending them an alert from his phone, "A Chinatown Ghost Story" / S2 EP 23 /, "Casey Jones vs. The Underworld" / S3 EP 14 /-) despite claiming that he's a "Lone Wolf" and doesn't need anybody's permission to act. He even calls and waits for them before acting in, "The Power Inside Her" / S4 EP 20 /. He apologized to Donnie during, "Race With the Demon" / S3 EP 6 /, something I'm sure he never thought he would do in a million years at that point- He also had a lot of technical apologies?? Like telling Raph he's "not bad for an amphibian" during, "The Good, the Bad. And Casey Jones" / S2 EP 8 /, telling Donnie he "takes back everything he ever said about him" during "The Manhattan Project (Part 2) / Wormquake!" / S2 EP 14 /. I don't know if this one necessarily counts as an "apology" per se, but the way he was so quick to claim fault and say it was his bad after he triggered the traps during, "Riddle of the Ancient Aeons"- 😭 || I also want to tie in how a lot of the episodes were Casey was the problem or the issue of the episode revolved around Casey, Casey was genuinely the one to resolve said issue- We love him for taking responsibility ! ✨

Casey is also a lot smarter than I feel the other characters and the writers give him credit for / care to acknowledge. This dude literally made his own weapons. Excuse me?? Not to mention his shoes that have hockey blades that retract?? His decked out bike?? Like bro- His entire vigilante get up is incredibly unique and innovative ! During the episode, "Newtralized!", Casey was able to deduce where to exactly shoot his hockey puck explosive into the Kraang contraption (I don't remember what that thing was called,,)- During high action / high speed (??) scenes, you can tell Casey is very quick on his feet and has some pretty natural reflexes of his own (I think a great example of this is his "fight" with TigerClaw during, "The Wrath of Tiger Claw" / S2 EP 19 /-). He was the one that came up with the idea to use pizza to distract and subdue Leo / Raph / and Mikey during, "A Chinatown Ghost Story" / S2 EP 23 /. He clearly has some mechanical experience + possible engineering prowess, given he was constantly trying to work on that busted up truck in the O'Neil Barn and is clearly capable of not only helping Donnie but keeping up with him mechanically during, "Race with the Demon" / S3 EP 6 /. THE ENTIRE EPISODE OF, "Casey Jones vs. The Underworld"?? HELLO?? The way that he did all of that on his own and nobody gave him his flowers is criminal- /hj LMAO

You have no idea how much it upset me when everybody was acting like it was "so wild" that Casey had a good idea / his input was valuable during, "Tokka vs. The World" dude- 💀

All this is to say that 2012 Casey Jones is one of the most charming characters in an animated TV series for me. He's silly, he's stupid, he's loyal- He's just the biggest lovable goofball to me, you know?? 😭🫶

2012 Jonatello side tangent- 💜🖤

Because I genuinely cannot resist putting this at the end, I love talking about Casey's "contradictions" (so to speak) as a character and how he's presented in the show because this genuinely just feeds my Jonatello obsession. Like how I was talking about Casey treating Donnie like a friend despite Donnie clearly not liking him very much for a majority of the show?? How one of Casey's only on screen apologies (If I'm not mistaken??) is towards Donnie? How 2012 has Casey and Donnie conveniently standing next to each other or being in the same vicinity as each other despite "hating each other" more than not? How if you really break down their characters, they're kind of similar? Both physically (Tall, gaps in their teeth, brown eyes-) and characteristically (i.e. Mechanics and inventions, their weapons of choice / fighting styles, they both can get pretty morbid at times but Casey's just being Casey in this instance while Donnie's trying to be "scientifically accurate", as he says, etc.-).

How during, "Monkey Brains", if you look really closely at Donnie's plan to, "Get April to hang out with him", he has hockey on that plan? (Images courtesy of me by the way, since I happened to have the official 2012 art book !) How Donnie's helmet of choice (Specifically during Season 1 but did make an appearance in Season 2-) was a hockey helmet that had the number 16 on it? You know who else has the number 16 on their gear?? CASEY. IMPLYING THAT THIS IS LITERALLY CASEY'S HELMET.

But also the things that make them different attribute to these to being a perfect match to me ! Like their love languages ! Donnie's love language is definitely more verbal / words of affirmation (Since all he does is say things that he shouldn't say about April because she's not his girlfriend and call her things that he shouldn't call her because she's not his girlfriend- Lmao) and gift-giving / acts of service (Pretty much everything Donnie has ever done for April ever falls into one of these two-). While Casey's is also verbal / words of affirmation but in a different way (Since he's definitely more flirtatious / playful-) and physical touch (Since he's always getting into April's space and being very physically close with her-). This makes sense to me, but maybe it might not make sense to other people- I just can't help but feel that everything that Donnie became infatuated with about April and Casey with April is quite literally just each other?? To Donnie, I genuinely feel like he was more attracted to the fact that she was a "firecracker" (so to speak) and did what she wanted / didn't let others tell her what to do. Something we actively see in episodes like, "Panic in the Sewers" when April actively lies to a man to get through an apartment building and Donnie responds with, "She's so cool-". With Casey, it feels like the opposite, where he was only interested in April because in his eyes she was kind of stuck up and a nerd (In his eyes-). I feel like this is enforced by their early on interacts during Season 2, specifically, "Mutagen Man Unleashed", when Casey asks April if "studying is all she does" and April points out that he likes to push buttons-

Which?? This solidifies that (canonically) Casey's method of flirting is pushing buttons, and whose buttons does he push more than DONATELLO'S?? HELLO- 😭💜🖤

I completely derailed by talking about 2012 Jonatello, I'm sorry. This was meant to just be a 2012 Casey appreciation post only- My bad,, 🥲👍 LMAO

[biancasaidstfu]

Times like this, I choose to hang on to the facts we have at hand. Right now it is that both Nic and Luke still has exactly 1 post hidden in their Instagram.

Could be the S4 Polin selfie or selfie with Lord Ginger Baba Featherington or it could be the post that confirms Lukola without a shadow of a doubt. Fact is, it's a joint post between Nic and Luke that has been there for months! Both of them are there on each other's grids. Their tags contain Lukola shipper's posts too.

If Luke really was in a relationship with A, I would say the past year has been extremely disrespectful for her and it goes against everything that Nic's image is all about. It also goes against the doting boyfriend image of Luke that we have seen during his past relationships. It goes against what everyone says about Luke being the nicest and kindest person because how can one keep quiet with all the hate that is directed at his supposed "girlfriend"? He isn't dating A. His team had plenty of opportunities to confirm it and if it was true, it would have been less messier and even kinder to A to confirm it instead of saying he is "publicly single".

It's PR. They are only fooling themselves.

Interestingly I noticed that A's displayed post count is 44, but she only has 41 posts on her grid. I think those 3 'hidden' posts are her last posts that she can associate herself with Luke or in an ideal world, those 3 posts are model Collab posts of her's yet to be announced. I am going to start praying that it's bybarely related posts because I cannot handle another implied association with Luke when everyone knows it's all PR.

I am so exhausted from seeing this PR drama play out and I have been through Tomdaya fandom for years! It was never this messy from a PR side. I would rather go through the whole Zendaya and Tom dating other people than whatever this is. Atleast they were genuinely dating other people at one point. And then they broke it off with those people and didn't create a whole salsa with adjacents to fool the fandom. Tomdaya lore is deeeep, but it was never this obviously fake.

Sure, we has Zendaya call him a friend and whatnot. We already had it from Nic's side. It's a common thing when celebrities don't want to confirm their relationship. Fine. But everything else? Come on!

I know legal obligations are in place, but isn't the whole purpose of the legal obligations to ensure that it doesn't get messy like this? PR relationships are usually mutually beneficial which isn't the case here. If the obligations from Luke's side isn't fulfilled, then it might take years to have A satisfied. Lukola was headed towards a launch and then things all of a sudden changed. That indicates a renegotiation so why couldn't Luke's team negotiate better terms then? Better yet, why aren't they doing it now especially when the fandom is outright calling them out? People know it's BS. The only thing they are achieving is having Luke's reputation sacrificed. I think Luke's team in particular dropped the ball in this. Maybe everyone underestimated how things could get out of hand. I think Nic's team and Luke's team do not agree 100% on how to proceed. They need to be on the same page for this to work.

If the latest post was A going rogue, squat her like fly already. Use that as a leverage and just get out of the whole glaringly obvious situation. Hell, just pay her off or have faith in the fandom that they will not believe whatever accusations A comes up with following a Lukola launch.

Any divide between Luke and Nic's fan stems from the papgate. If they rip off the band-aid and launch their relationship, the fandom will protect them. Solo Nic fans and Solo Luke fans will defend them because majority of the fandom dislikes A. It might be messy initially, but it's already messy. Every time they misdirect, it is already messy. They are losing followers and their reputations are taking one hit after the other.

Most of bad that they think might happen most probably has already happened!

I am all for women not being identified simply as someone's girlfriend, but there is also power in being in a relationship. Their is power in finding love and having a stable, happy relationship. We do live in a misogynistic world, but there is power in a man stepping back and proudly cheering on his partner without being salty and insecure about it. Luke already does it. Nic is Luke's biggest supporter. She has protected him as much as she can without associating herself with him. A lot of the hate directed at Luke is because of his PR relationship. Nic and Luke can be power couples of the industry. They already are actually. Sure, most of it is in Polin context, but they are already stronger together than apart. Power couples are goals.

The world is already cynical enough. Luke and Nic doesn't have much to lose by launching their relationship, but they have a lot to lose by continuing this PR narrative.

Sorry for the rant. I just hate it when we are being treated as idiots by the whole PR shenanigans and it has gone long enough already.

We love a good rant around here anon ❤️

[secretlysamcro]

CHERRY PIE PT. 1

Female reader x Jax Teller SMUT, explicit language, possible spoilers. if you’re under the age of 18, haven’t finished the show, or dislike any of said topics, please read no further.

Jax takes a final drag of his cigarette, his whole demeanour radiating confidence. With a slight touch of cockiness, he turns to ask you, “you really don’t think I can do it, huh?” He flicks away the butt, turning his attention back to the fair game, ready to prove his skills.

You can’t help but smile at his confidence, also amused by his unwavering self assurance. It wasn’t the selfish kind, more of a charming quality that made him even more intriguing. “Just get on with it Teller” you teased, “and if you do, I want that one” you point to the giant sized brown bear hanging from the top of the stall.

Jax turns to you, grinning victoriously as he hands you the giant brown bear. His smirk growing larger as he comments “good thing I drove the car” he adds a playful wink at the end.

You let out a coy laugh, “I knew you’d win it, just needed to give you a little push” you joked, enjoying the sight of your new prize. With a thankful smile, you express your appreciation “thank you” you lean into Jax’s side lightheartedly, an embrace without actually wrapping your arms around him.

You stroll through the fairground alongside Jax, only a slight gap in between you both. The giant teddy bear clutched in your grasp. Jax observes you closely, noticing how you seem lost in your own little world, taking in the sights and the details of everything going on around you. As you approach a narrow section of the path, it’s packed tightly with people, Jax gently places his hand on your lower back, guiding you through the waves of bodies. A protective gesture that shows his concern for your safety, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.

He leads you to a less crowded spot, pulling softly on your arm as you escape the crush of the crowd. He leans against a wall, a serious expression now on his face. “I’ve been wanting to apologise to you…” he begins to admit “…I wanted to do something more, you know… conventional but I just have some shit going on with the club and-” you cut him off quickly with a reaussuring smile.

“Jax, this is perfect… honestly, I’m really enjoying myself” you assure him, with your angelic smile.

He releases a sigh of relief, nodding his head in agreement as he realises you are genuinely enjoying yourself. He was a little apprehensive bringing up the club, he thought that it might have bothered you, having been rejected several times in the past due to his involvement with it.

Jax observes your gaze lingering on the Ferris wheel, “You wanna go on it?” He asks quietly, a small smile forming on his face.

“You’ll come on it with me?” You question, with a hopeful tone.

Jax chuckles at your answer “Do I look like the kinda’ guy to make you ride solo?” he pushes himself off the wall now, “how about we put this guy in the car first” he says as he gestures towards the oversized teddy you still have in your arms.

The line for the Ferris wheel is a little long, but the wait doesn’t seem to bother either of you. Jax stands towering behind you, his hands gently resting on your hips, guiding you subtly as the line moves forward. In that moment, is when you become acutely aware of the effect that Jax’s gentle touch has on your entire body. You take note of the tiny hairs on the back of your neck, now raised. Your breathing becoming the tiniest bit laboured and a certain throbbing sensation that is hard to ignore. The intensity of your bodies reaction throws you off slightly, you hadn’t expected such a response from a touch so simple.

"You okay?" Jax murmurs, his breath warm as he leans in, his face nestled against the curve of your neck. What you don't realise is that Jax too, is experiencing the same intense sensations. His mind drifting to other scenarios, which may involve him having his hands on your waist.

You spin round, forcing a calm breath as you try to steady your over racing heart. "Yeah, all good" you smile, although its more of a nervous curve of the lip, your mind scrambling to find something, anything to say. "When's the last time you've been on one of these then?" you ask, hoping he doesn't notice the desire taking over your entire soul.

He chuckles, a knowing glint in his eyes. He can sense something is off with you, but he cant quite put his finger on what. "Its been a while" he responded, as he tries to recall the last time he stepped foot in a fair. As president of SAMCRO, these kinds of moments are fleeting. Jax is usually tangled up in the messier side of life. You laugh softly at his response, knowing full well this isn't his usual scene. "Thought so," you tease, the smirk on your lips clearly playful.

"What's that suppose to mean?" he leans into you mischievously.

"Nothing..." you push back against him softly, the sexual tension getting thicker. "...I just know you're obviously busy with your club...and everything that comes with it" you let him know.

He nods, an understanding smile tugging at the corner of his lips and lets out a easy laugh. "Yeah... well, it ain't easy being King" he lets you know, the humour in his voice masking the weight of everything that comes with the title of President.

You look up at him, your eyes wide and innocent, the flickering fairground lights causing a soft glow. "Maybe you need a Queen to ground you" Jax is momentarily taken back, his focus shifting between the warmth in your eyes and the subtle desire in your expression as he bites his lip, responding to the unspoken tension between the two of you.

As you reached the peak of the wheel, the gentle sway of the ride somehow made the night feel more intimate. There was a warm glow highlighting the sharp features of Jax's face. His usual confidence was there, but something was different, something softer almost as if he was savouring this moment, away from the chaos of the club and simply existing in this moment, with you.

"Look at me" he says, his voice low and steady. The illuminations from below casting a warm halo around him. The intensity in his blue eyes is strong as they move between your gaze and your lips, lingering for a moment longer before meeting your eyes again. He locks eyes with you, the air thick with anticipation. He goes to close the distance between you both when the ferris wheel suddenly jolts, coming to a sudden stop and you’re both frozen in place as the first kiss you would have shared, slowly slips away.

Jax can sense your nerves, so does his best to reassure you. “Hey, look at me. It’s okay, it’ll start again in a second”. He watches as he notices the hint of panic creeping in. “Come closer” Jax says, pulling you closer and draping his arms around you in an attempt to calm your nerves. Your face is now buried against the patches of his kutte. The rough fabric scratching your skin just enough to feel it, but it doesn’t matter because you finally feel at ease.

“You good now?” He asks as you both make your way back to the car, you feel a tinge of embarrassment for how you reacted but grateful that Jax was there beside you.

You try to mask your embarrassment with a small laugh “I’m all good” you reassure him, though the stolen kiss keeps playing in your mind. As you get closer to the car, you slowly reach for his hand, a silent urge to let Jax know you wanted it too.

Jax opens the car door for you, giving you time to grab the huge Teddy and toss it into the backseat. He lights a cigarette as you’re doing so, the smoke disappearing into thin air as he watches you.

As Jax starts driving, a thought suddenly hits him, without contemplating he turns to you and asks “you wanna’ come see the clubhouse?” You laugh, glancing at him as he keeps his focus on the road, you can see the small smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You gonna give me like a VIP tour or somethin’?” You tease.

The smirk on his lips deepens as he nods his head slowly, his fingers smoothing down his beard as if he was in thought. “If that’s what you want” he mumbles, the subtle heat obvious in his voice.

“So I’m just allowed to like…walk in?” You ask, your mind racing a little at the thought of stepping into the Sons Of Anarchy Clubhouse.

Jax can’t help but find your lack of biker knowledge a little charming. “It’s a clubhouse y/n, not a god damn cult” he laughs as he answers you. “Besides, it’s my clubhouse, anyone with my invite is good to go” he adds with a grin as his hand rubs over your leg in a soothing motion, the earlier sensations flooding back, literally.

You hadn’t felt nervous until now. A few days ago, being in the Teller-Morrow garage was the closest you’d ever been into the SAMCRO domain, and now, you were about to step right into the heart of it.

Jax turns left and pulls through the familiar gates. It’s quieter than you had expected, but then again it is nearly 9pm. “Only a few of the guys will be around” he says “it’s Friday, most of them will be at red Woody” he states, as if you’re familiar with their extra curricular activities.

“Red woody?” You question, completely clueless.

Jax shakes his head laughing, “trust me, you don’t wanna’ know” He starts walking towards the entrance, his hand gently guiding you once again.

Jax swings the door of the clubhouse open, gesturing for you to step inside first. You take a deep breath, bracing yourself for a taste of a world you knew nothing about, a slice of life that is entirely foreign to you.

The moment your foot steps over the threshold, you’re hit with a thick haze of smoke and the sharp scent of liquor, wrapping you in an intoxicated embrace. You step to the side, waiting for Jax to enter, your nerves prickling against your skin as you feel the weight of the stares from wondering members and a few half-naked women drift past, their eyes lingering on you with a mix of curiosity and distrust. That is, until their eyes land on Jax, and the mood shifts instantly. The glares soften and are replaced by a hint of respect as they realise you’re with the President himself.

Jax picks up on your slight unease and without a word, reaches out. Taking your hand in his. The little gesture grounds you, his touch reassuring. “I feel a little underdressed” you joke, in a whispered tone, as Jax leads you towards the bar. He chuckles, leaning in so only you can hear “Don’t mind them, they’re just croweaters” he can tell from your facial expression that you have no idea what that means, so he adds “they’re just here to please the guys and drink the free booze” as soon as he finished speaking,he realised it came out sounding like he was one of those who actually enjoyed the company of the croweaters. “Not me though” he adds hastily, noticing you laughing as he scrambles to cover his back. “Hmm, how could I be so sure?” You retaliate, Jax takes not of your tone, certain that you’re only messing around.

“Jackie boy!” a voice echoes from around the corner, the accent is unfamiliar to you, but if you had to take a guess, you’d say Scottish. A tall man steps into view, dressed similarly to Jax, though instead of the pristine white trainers, he’s wearing rugged biker boots. His salt and pepper hair pushed back, away from his face, revealing a distinctive scar that stretches from one cheek to the other, almost like a smile.

The two of them collide into a hearty embrace, each giving the other a solid slap on the back, the sound echoing like an encore. As they pull away from the hug, his gaze shifts to you.

“And who’s this tantalising young lady?” He asks with a mischievous grin, waiting for Jax to offer an explanation.

“This is y/n” Jax says with a smile in your direction, and id you weren’t mistaken, there was a hint of pride in his tone. “And this…” he gestures towards the Scotts man “…is Chibs, my VP”

You return a friendly smile. “VP… Vice President” you say, nodding as you recall Jax explaining the title back when you came in to get your car done.

"The one and only" he chuckles, a rouge grin on his lips. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance" Chibs can feel the tension between you both and his instincts telling him that there's more to this than a one night fling. He knows its a rare thing for Jax to bring women to the clubhouse, so its clear he has more than just ill intensions.

A phone begins to ring, Chibs pulls it out, pressing it to his ear. "Yeah.." he rolls his eyes "Well, he's clearly been occupied" his tone shifts, becoming more sharper as he casts a glance towards Jax. "You might wanna take this Jackie" he says, handing the phone over to the President. Jax gives you an apologetic look, mouthing the words 'sorry' before stepping away to take the call.

Chibs turns to you, checking to make sure you're comfortable. "Jax show you our wall of fame yet?" he asks, trying to fill the silence with something light.

"He hasn't" you reply with a laugh, raising an eyebrow "Do I even want to see what that is?" You already know to expect the unexpected in this place.

He chuckles along with you. "Lets get you a drink first, aye?" he suggests, leaning over the bar. "Anything in particular?"

You're not usually much of a drinker, but then again, you don't usually spend your free time in a notorious biker clubhouse, so why not? You scan the bar, searching for something of your taste. "I'll have a Cuba Libre" you let him know.

"What the hell is that?" he says, his Scottish accent thickening with each word.

You laugh, realising it’s probably just a clash of cultures. "A little bit of rum, a little bit of Coke," you say, still laughing as the words leave your lips, your hands gesturing the little bit you speak of.

His grin widens, as he begins to make your drink. "Well, why didn't you just say that" he cackles to himself. He hands you your drink with a grin "Not too strong, I hope?" he winks as he pops open his own bottle of beer.

"The stronger the better" you joke, lifting your glass and clinking it against his bottle. You take a sip, the drink burning with its strength, You force yourself not to react to the taste in your mouth "You gonna show me this wall then?" you look around, taking in the environment you're currently in.

"Sorry about that" Jax says as he re joins you both, a beer in hand. "admiring our pretty faces huh?" he chuckles, noticing you and Chibs standing in front of the mugshots belonging to each of the members. Chibs gives you a playful wink, then pats Jax on the back before stepping away, leaving you two alone.

He watches as you take in each individual mug shot, your expression softening with recognition when you stop at a specific one. "That's Harry right?" you ask, your mind drifting back to high school, Jax and Harry being the inseparable two.

He laughs, amused at the fact you're still calling him Harry, even though he's been known as Opie for years. "Yeah, that's our Ope" he smiles, impressed by your memory.

The night continues to flow effortlessly, you and Jax are getting closer with every conversation, sharing looks and touches that linger a little longer than usual. Chibs moving in and out of discussions, always with a quick grin, making sure your glass is always full, and stronger than the last. The alcohol making you feel much more at ease now. You’ve had casual chats with the barely clothed women, met some of the other SAMCRO members, and even spent some time playing darts, loosing to Jax of course. The sense of being an outsider has faded, and you’re starting to feel like you could see yourself being here on the regular.

Jax leans in closer, his hand resting lightly on your thigh. His ring covered fingers warm against your skin. The faint touch of alcohol and cigarette smoke clings to his breath as he exhales softly. “You Okay, do you need anything?” He asks, his voice low and concerned, a slight touch of protectiveness in his tone.

A soft laugh along with a smile escapes your lips as you lean back into him, his warmth grounding you. You start playing with the rings on his fingers, adjusting them and tracing patterns on his hand. Jax takes a quick glance around and notices the mood starting to fade. Some are too drunk whilst others are distracted with the women offering their advances.

You’ve both enjoyed the company of the others, but Jax feels it’s time for some alone time, just the two of you, and unknown to him, you’ve been thinking the same thing too. He gets up, extending his hand towards you, leading you to a quieter part of the clubhouse. At the end of the short hallway, there’s a blue bike that sits proudly on display. Jax presses three fingers to his lips before gently touching the bike, as if giving it a kiss. It doesn’t take long for your mind to quickly piece together that the bike likely belonged to his late Father.

You tighten your grip on his hand, a little gesture of affection. “Your dad’s?” You ask, curious if he’s willing to talk about him. He answers quickly, keeping it brief “Yeah, that’s JT’s bike” he squeezes your hand in return, a silent signal that he doesn’t want to dive into this topic at the moment. Respecting the unspoken boundary, you quickly shift the conversation “so where are you taking me?” You ask with a laugh.

Jax glances down at you, laughing quietly as he opens another door within the clubhouse. He leads you inside, his eyes locked on yours. Once the door is shut behind you both. He steps closer to you, using his body to gently push you against it. You look up at Jax lustfully waiting for him to make the first move. Your eyes reflecting that you want this just as much as he does.

Your lips crash together in an intense collision, his hands gradually trailing down your face towards your neck, holding you with a firm grip. The kisses begin soft and gentle before turning intense and desperate. Your hands glide smoothly to remove his kutte, as he rushes to take off his own t-shirt. You take in Jax’s half naked body in front of you, your eyes tracing over his tattoo, the scars, and the nearly healed bruises scattered along his rib cage.

He steps forward once again, closing the gap that remains between you, his hand reaching down to slowly pull the zipper on your shirt. He makes sudden eye contact with you, almost as if silently seeking your permission. “please” your voice strains, the desire so close to boiling over, you begin tugging lightly at the waistline of his jeans.

He laughs, a low almost amused sound. All those years ago, it was him pleading for your time, and now the tables have turned. You lean into him, feeling his hard cock rubbing against your thigh, which only serves to heighten your arousal even more. Your hands trail lower, grasping him in your hand, you can feel him twitching beneath the fabric. "you think I’m giving you my dick that easy?” He grins, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, reminding you of all the times you had previously let him down in the past. You bite your lip, realising he’s in it for the long game, you always had a feeling he was the type to tease. With a sudden surge of energy, he lifts you up effortlessly, one of his hands gripping onto to each ass cheek. He strides over to the bed behind him, where he lays you flat beneath the star speckled flag of the USA, a somewhat patriotic scene.

he gently lifts your shirt over your head, his lips leaving a path of warm kisses down your neck, until they reach the top of your leather mini skirt. His touch against your bare skin sends shivers down your spine, and makes your needy pussy tremble.

as your heavy breathing increases, so does the blood flow to Jax’s cock. He removes your skirt, unveiling the dampness between your legs. Covered by just a small piece of black lace, the moisture clinging to the fabric making it shimmer and almost become translucent. You can feel his hot breath hovering over you, you raise your head slightly admiring what he’s up to. He’s off the bed now, on his knees bowed down in front of you, literally worshipping your cunt. He looks up, catching you watching him. His gaze now locked with yours in a dominant manner. Without breaking the eye contact, he pulls down the thin material of your underwear, your body instinctively submitting to his command. You arch your back slightly allowing him to remove them with ease. “do you know how long I’ve waited to taste your pussy?” He murmurs, practically salivating at the sight of you. The words almost magnetic as your body unconsciously lifts towards his mouth.

He swiftly pushes you back down, his large hand covering your mound with absolute dominance. He then pulls your body closer to the edge of the bed, before he effortlessly folds you into a pretzel like position. The moment his tongue meets your sensitive flesh, you throw your head back into the mattress, huffs and moans leaving your lips. Your unable to control the reaction of your body as your legs push back against his firm grip. His hold loosens as he continues delivering sweet little licks either side of your swollen clit. You feel the disappearance of one of his hands, raising your head slightly again you notice him fumbling with his belt buckle. Releasing his stiff length from the fabric. He begins stroking it, teasing you as he submerges his face back into you. You notice his beard, glistening with your desire whenever he comes up for air. As your neediness becomes more apparent, Jax responds by making his movements more aggressive, rougher and more urgent. He’s tongue fucking you now, teasing your hole with what’s more to come.

“How do I taste?” You ask, between breaths, fully aware you’ll get the exact response you’re hoping for. “So fucking good” he says, as he crawls back onto the bed, licking his moistened lips and hovering over you. “Let me show you” he whispers, kissing you slowly, giving you the chance to taste yourself on his lips.

You can feel the hardness of him grinding against you, knowing he’s doing it on purpose. Teasing you with the feel of blood filled veins, the throbbing making it hard to resist. “Are you gonna make me beg for your dick?” You whisper, your fingers tracing down his tattooed back. His signature grin spreads across his face as he reaches into the top draw. “nah I think we’ve both waited long enough” he mutters, you turn your head to see his hand rummaging through the belongings. His body falls flat on you in defeat, as he realise there isn’t any protection to be found. “Fuck” he says, frustrated, neither of you wanting this moment to slip away. You place your hand against Jax’s face, gently guiding him back to you. “Jax, I trust you” you assure him, your eyes locking with his. He looks back at you, fully understanding the undertone behind your message. “y/n I don’t know if I can trust myself” he admits, unsure if he could pull out in time. You repeat your previous words, “I trust you” with conviction, wanting to make sure he knows you’re equally dedicated to this as much as he is, despite the potential risks.

To be honest, he needed little convincing, as even before the words left your lips, he was already positioned at yours. His desire, as well as yours, had already reached a point of no return. He guides his tip tenderly between your soaked folds, the touch gentle yet deliberate, like an introduction before he proceeds any further. “You think you can handle me?” He asks, in a playful but challenging tone. The question was pointless, he doesn’t even allow you the chance to reply. He shoves himself inside of you with such a pleasurable force it causes your back to arch inches off the bed. Your mouth opens wide, gasping as if you’re trying to inhale all the available air, your chest rising and falling with each desperate breath. Jax is unable to form coherent words as he is consumed by pleasure, his grunts and moans blending together.

He hovers closely over you, but manages to maintain his balance, holding himself up on one elbow as the other holds your face firmly, tracing his thumb along your bottom lip, pushing it slowly into your mouth. It’s clear he’s struggling to form the sentence he’s trying to get out. He bites his bottom lip, snarling at you before saying through gritted teeth “so… fucking tight” he laughs lightly as he finally manages to get the words out, in disbelief he’s finally fucking you.

It had been a while since you last had sex with someone, and even longer since it felt this fucking good. The connection with you both feels almost soul-tied but that just could be your pussy talking.

He changes position, now perpendicular to your body, holding your waist allowing him to go deeper into you. He watches as his two toned dick slides in and out of you, glistening from your wetness clinging to his body. His thumb is positioned just at the height of your hole, his thumb balanced on his hard piece, enjoying the way it feels as it ploughs into you. His stance is dominant, looking down at you smiling when you both make eye contact. He lowers himself down onto you again, grabbing your left tit, moulding it within his hands, he begins paying attention to your erect nipple, kissing it sloppily, spitting on it and lapping it back up again. Your hand lazily gripping his head, pulling him up towards you. “I only want you to fuck me from now on” you whisper in his ear, all it took was one fuck with Jax to never want to lie with another man again. “I’m only… fucking… you from now” he responds, now paying attention to your neck. He could have just said that because he’s in the heat of the moment, but either way you know you’ll hold it against him.

His thrusts become irregular now, both of you so close to reaching your peak. He pounds into to you, his sensitive tip recoiling off of your G spot. You’re both so in the moment, you don’t realise the voice echoing down the hall.

“JAAAAAX!” The Scottish voice rings out, booming through the thin walls, Chibs walks towards the dorm door, the unmistakable sound of skin meeting skin ringing in his ears. If it wasn’t important he would have let you both be but without hesitation, he knocks on the door. No answer of course - not that either of you would have heard, with Jax being balls deep inside of you. “Jesus Christ” he takes a deep breath, rolling his eyes, preparing for what he’s about to walk into.

“Pull ya dick out Jax! we gotta to go” Chibs looks up towards the ceiling whilst simultaneously banging his fist upon the desk next to the door, trying to avoid seeing anything he shouldn’t, but needing to get Jax’s attention, quickly. “Sorry y/n” he adds a small apology at the end.

The both of you fumble, thrown off by the interruption. Jax quickly moves to straighten the covers, in an attempt to preserve your dignity, he isn’t worried about his own. It wouldn’t be the first time his VP has seen is bare ass. “Chibs! What the hell brother” Jax shouts, pissed off is an understatement.

“I’m sorry, Jackie boy, but we’ve gotta move. Marks is at the warehouse…so is Alvarez” He shoots Jax a knowing look, clearly unable to share more details with you present. “Shit!” Jax retorts. You can tell from Jax’s reaction that this is serious. “Make it quick” Chibs instructs Jax, pointing directly at him, before slamming the door shut, waiting for the president on the other side.

Jax hurries off the bed, throwing his clothes back on. His boxers and jeans pulled on in a frantic rush. You watch from the bed as his messy hair - now tucked behind his ears, still clings to the clammy dew on his skin, some strands still poking out of place, adding to the chaos of the moment.

For a split second, you almost expect Jax to tell Chibs to fuck off, so that he could get back into bed, back into you, finishing what you had both started. But as you see him yank the laces of his trainers tight, reality hits. “Wait… Jax, you’re really leaving me here… like this?” the surprise obvious in your tone.

Jax bites his lip in frustration, “y/n, babe, I’m so sorry… but this can’t wait… I have to go” he grabs his kutte from the floor, slipping it back on like a suit of armour. “Don’t leave though… please, stay here. I’ll be back… I don’t know when but just promise me you’ll stay” he bends down, pressing a quick kiss to your lips before grinning. He leans in a little closer, whispering into your ear “it was worth the wait” he gives you a subtle wink, before heading out after Chibs, leaving you in the quiet aftermath.

You lean back against the headboard, the covers tucked tightly underneath each arm, protecting your modesty. A nasal laugh escapes you as you shake your head, glancing around the room. One minute, Jax was right here with you, fucking you senseless and then the next minute, he was gone.

As you sit there, processing the madness of the night, a part of you wonders if this is just the start. The chaos, the uncertainty. If you and Jax were to ever become more serious, would this become your new routine?Jax disappearing at the most inconvenient times, off to protect his club as he leaves you behind to wonder when he’d be back.

Perhaps the more tempting road may lead to more heartache.

photos, gifs & music do not belong to me. Apart from being edited slightly.

I hope I did part 1 justice lol, the amount of times I reread this back and changed 2625 things, would love to hear your feedback.

Please please please request some more Jax stuff!

Jax Teller Masterlist

xoxo secretly samcro

[the-deal-breaker]

Ace is my boy, and as all my faves without backstories I like theories

So just deal with my ramblings for a little bit please,

OK first of all I think Ace comes from something like a harbour town on the edge of the Queendom of roses. You know like the little fishing town close to a beach that is designed for tourists and stuff! It could explain why he's so good at keeping people distracted.

Like there's so much water around so I'd make sense, it would also explain his dislike of oysters. I mean people get sick of stuff there around too long for all the time.

Next! I like to believe that Ace was a smart kid, don't get me wrong he's smart now not Azul or Jamil's level but smart. How smart he is now is like half the reason a believe he was a super smart kid. I do however think unlike someone like riddle Ace dumbed himself down. I'm sure there were many reasons one of them could be he didn't like the pressure or something as simple as he wanted friends. Think something like Rio from assassination classroom.

C) The reason he's in heartslabyul is because he's doesn't have any rules or is ever strick on him self. It's quite a well known fact that Ace is great at coming up with plans it's the following through that messes it up. If Ace was ever stick on himslef to the point most housewardens are that'd be a problem. For others.

D) We know he loves all the movies. I personally like to believe that everytime a new one comes out he'll drag one of his friends with him to go watch them. He'll be Ace about it but he still wants them to go with him. Unless it's a childish flim yes he even goes to watch those but those are mostly a solo trip.

E) Ace should most logically have a familiar. It's stated time and time again (No book 7 spoilers) that between the first years Ace has like the weakest magic with Crowley claiming he will never overblot. He's also the only one without a UM so far. From what I gathered Familiars are for this purpose their supposed to pick up where their owner/master/friend is lacking.

F) If Yuu never showed up Ace probably would have been the MC. This one isn't a Ace theory but I wanted to share it for awhile so it goes here. It also kinda ties into my earlier point.

Also I do have some art coming soon

[seleneprince]

I've had the draft for the next chapter of Tales of Bats and Wolves open for what feels like hours but i've barely advanced because i'm just trying to put in order my ideas and decide what i'm actually going to include in the series because otherwise it'll be too much.

Now, instead of getting anything done, I can't stop thinking of the idea of N! Daughter actually being Catwoman's sidekick for a while as part of her training because seeked the woman out to learn her ways, and they both spend a year running around committing heists together. And ofc, Catwoman made her do it all in heels sharp enough to kill a person and tight leather, because if she you can't committ crimes with style, what's the point?

For this time, no one knows who Catwoman's new sidekick is. Some don't even know she exists, since Selina is actually a decent mentor and keeps her in the shadows because, well, she's only teaching her the ropes, she doesn't have to be involved in the gruesome parts of Gotham's underbelly (the girl does that by herself). Those who do know her call her Catgirl, which N! Daughter dislikes because she doesn't want to be a copy of Catwoman (which it's ironic because the suit she wears during the heists is very similar), but unfortunately, both Selina and Mrs Wayne find it amusing and like it. Suddenly, she's called kitty and catgirl by her mom and her mentor/somewhat mother figure?

It's even better considering Selina and Wife! Darling were friends in their youth until they went separate ways for a while, but Selina was definitely there when she gave birth and got to hold the baby sometimes until she left again. Years later, getting asked by that same baby, now older, to be mentored by her feels like one of the universe's jokes.

Anyway, just keep coming up with scenarios for this. Maybe they cross paths with the batfamily and they just don't recognise Catwoman's new companion (why would they?). She stands far from them and wears her own suit, rarely speaks and vanishes before anyone can catch her. Selina covers for her. After all, Bruce should be capable of recognising his own child. This falls on him.

No one guesses it...except one person.

*After everyone's gone*

The Signal: "Since when do you work with Catwoman, weirdo?"

Catgirl: "Excuse me?"

Signal: "C'mon, sis. I knew it as soon as I saw you. I didn't say anything because i wanted to hear you first. But seriously, what the hell?"

Catgirl: "Look, it's complicated. She's just training me, okay? So what's a couple of stolen goods?"

Signal: "I don't care about that. I meant your outfit. Geez, you look like you're about to star in the cover of a Playboy magazine. Was it really necessary?"

In the end, he keeps her secret because they're besties (and ngl he wants to see how far she can take this before the batfam figures it out).

Spoiler: They never do. She quits when she feels she's learnt enough and wants to go solo, and no one ever finds out her identity.

[ooooo-mcyt]

It's fascinating to me which lifers some fans consider "manipulative" and which ones they don't and how that often really doesn't align with how I read them.

I know I've gone on enough Scott defense rants to last a lifetime and you guys are probably tired of it at this point (/lh) but he's a great example to me. Now, I would absolutely say Scott is "manipulative" to a degree, in the sense that he's good at playing the social game, good at being likable, good at forming alliances, and has great control over his own reactions to things in a way that favors him (the amount of times i've watched this man get out of a fight with his life solely because he was so calm he psyched the others out into backing off when they would have won is astounding). Scott is good at manipulating situations and perceptions to a point, I will absolutely concede that. But so often I see this extrapolated to malicious personal manipulation in a way that I don't think I've ever seen Scott do. I've seen people claim he 'manipulated' Jimmy into doing whatever he wanted during Third Life even though Jimmy won most of their major arguments because Scott, while he's good at controlling broad impersonal situations, actually has a habit of deferring to his partners when they want something. I've seen people claim Scott 'manipulated' the social climate of Double Life to make everyone hate Pearl even though he was less popular than she was with most factions and had very little to do with the reason the people who did dislike Pearl actually disliked her. I've seen people claim he somehow manipulated Martyn in Limited Life and honestly I don't even understand how that take happened.

Grian is another one I'm sure I've talked to death, but it's a relevant one. Grian can be too independent and struggle with communication. Sometimes- whether he wants to or not- he ends up acting like a solo player even within teams. This isn't good, and has in some cases caused distrust and resentment within his teams. But I feel like it's a communication issue as well as an unfortunate consequence of Grian's tendency to take on too much personal responsibility and leave other people out because he thinks everything is his job. Which isn't good, but it's also not manipulative. But often I do see that spin on things. The idea that Grian hides things from his allies, that any distance he shows from them is a result of disloyalty, that he manipulates and uses people and then casts them away. The fact that Grian keeps "killing" his allies is shown as further proof of this (even though grian has literally never actually betrayed a major ally). I've seen people say Grian 'used' BigB in Double Life, which I've never liked, because Grian genuinely liked BigB and wanted him from the start. And the amount of times I've seen people say Grian lies to and drags Scar along and 'uses' him too, painting this narrative where Grian hurts Scar over and over and Scar stays out of love, as if Scar isn't just as bad as Grian?

Gem is an interesting one for me. I do actually think she has some manipulative tendencies. She was very overt in Wild Life about the way she'd twist narratives and pit people against each other. But I also think this is overblown by a lot of people. Gem is cunning, she is good at the social game, and she's certainly not above, by her own admission, using deceptive social tactics. Sure. But sometimes I see this narrative that Gem just uses people, that she doesn't care about her allies, that she sees people as assets or weapons or chips in a game. Which I don't think is true. Gem didn't see Scott and Impulse as chess pieces in Secret Life, they were her friends. She stuck with them until the end, even when she was offered space in a bigger team, and she was distraught when circumstances forced her to kill one of them. Gem doesn't see Pearl as a weapon to be used. I'll admit Gem hasn't been fair to Pearl in many cases, but I've always felt like the breakdown comes from Gem projecting onto and failing to understand Pearl, not Gem trying to use Pearl. Gem certainly wasn't using Joel in Wild Life, never once did she indicate that she saw her one and only true ally as a tool of any sort.

On the other side of things, there's Scar. My Roman Empire of manipulative characters. It almost astounds me how often he's perceived as a sweet silly harmless dumb puppy dog. This man is incredible at spinning webs. It's honestly impressive, the way even when you know his tricks, he can still turn a story that will have you enraptured in whatever he's trying to sell. The second you start listening to him, you've already signed away whatever price he's asking for. And, well..he's also very good at weaponizing the way he's perceived. Scar is friendly and fun and not all that clever, you can trust him! Silly Scar, didn't realize what he was doing. Of course, Scar does genuinely need things verbalized and explained for him more than others might sometimes, and he can be genuinely forgetful as well. But I find it funny how often people will watch Scar actively twist a request someone makes of him into whatever possible interpretation would be best for him, and then assume it was surely just an accident. I just feel like some people don't give this man nearly enough credit because he's so charismatic and clever and is incredible at getting what he wants out of any situation and then weaponizing his perceived 'innocence' to slip out of being blamed. I love Scar so much he's so good at the game and it's insane to me when people boil him down to this stupid harmless innocent persona (often going hand in hand with the "grian is manipulative and using poor baby scar angle, but not always)

Rapid firing a few takes here because these are all pov's I either haven't finished at all or have finished but haven't gotten the chance to rewatch in a while so I have less to say on each of them: I think the fandom is pretty good these days at acknowledging that Martyn is very skilled in manipulation and very willing to manipulate people. But back in the day I saw so many people who leaned so deeply into the "Loyal Hand" persona from Third Life that they somehow thought of Martyn as this extremely loyal and honest character with good intentions. Which is an almost laughable concept I think. BigB is an interesting one too, because people acknowledge to a degree his capacity for manipulation, but he's so silly about it that it's often not taken seriously. Which I get, but this man's ability to sometimes get away with shifting loyalties and even outright betrayals through pure confusion tactics is impressive, right? He's similar to Scar in a sense, able to spin webs and utilize a persona to get away with things, but BigB has this layer of pure confusion that's unique to him and it works. I literally never see anyone talk about this but I also think Ren is actually really good at twisting narratives too. I'm not entirely sure if this counts as manipulation, because I think in many cases he's lying to himself moreso than intentionally trying to manipulate other people. But I still needed to mention this because it's such an underdiscussed character trait of his and it fascinates me. Ren refuses to acknowledge his own capacity for wrongdoing, and he will actively twist narratives to the point of even lying about facts sometimes so he's always the 'good guy'. I will literally never forget the time in Wild Life when Ren went to Grian, Mumbo, and Skizz and proposed they attack the G's (ren literally suggested it first without prompting), just for Ren to organize a man hunt against Grian the next episode with the patently false claim that Grian actually tricked and manipulated him into killing Impulse because Ren never would have done something so dishonorable without someone making him.

I just feel like my perception of characters and their capacity/willingness for manipulation is very different from a lot of other peoples, and I wanted to offer my two cents.

[theater-for-jocks]

oh nooooooo, drew's gonna wrestle a different guy (who he's had great matches with btw!) for like a month or two instead of going after your precious bloodline, how fucking terrible. what are you guys gonna do when roman and seth and punk and drew retire, do you just think it's gonna be a fucking

i'm genuinely starting to think that some so-called "fans" have a very specific group of people they view as top-tier talent and only want Those Guys to interact with each other

[jesncin]

A Queer and Asian review of Xanthe Zhou + Spirit World

I haven't exactly been thorough about how I specifically feel about Xanthe Zhou as "representation" for people like me and a part of me didn't want to be too harsh since they're a fan favorite and I'm sure the writer did their best and what not- but there is this sense of "I'm not even whelmed I'm underwhelmed" by Xanthe as a character. I don't dislike them, but I can't say I'm a fan if I don't find them particularly interesting.

I'm sure for a lot of people the idea of a Chinese non-binary anime sword wielding, bomber jacket wearing, shaved cut having, envoy between the living and spirit world character is a novel concept. But when you've lived the reality this character attempts to represent (ghosts and spirits are a tuesday where I'm from) and have sought out that representation from within your own communities, Xanthe pales in comparison like a really corporate product. So I want to talk about intersectional storytelling and what a holistic queer Asian superhero could look like.

Again I'm aware Spirit World was written by a queer Chinese author (+ an all Chinese team) and as a fellow author who has to navigate mainstream publishing and deal with attempts at sandpapering authenticity for capitalism I want to stress that I Get The Struggle. But I'm allowed to be critical of how the final product turned out. Some of this is subjective musing even.

Here's the premise of Xanthe Zhou's character: When Xanthe was a very tiny kid, they were run over by a car when they were walking alone at night in the rain. They're resurrected by a powerful spirit called Po Po to be the half-dead, half-living Envoy of the Spirit World.

Everything about Xanthe is exhaustively corporate for me. Like industry planted representation designed to be as safe as possible and attempts at being intersectional are limited. Spirit World features Cassandra Cain Batgirl and John Constantine Hellblazer because that's how we get Asian and queer DC fans to hop onto out new queer Asian character! Xanthe doesn't get to stand out in their own world, or have an established cast system the way Kong Kenan gets to. Spirit World suffers from being a follow up to an Event comic, with all these characters crossing over- but it didn't rise to the challenge of including Batgirl and Johnstantine in meaningful ways. The story would've been better if they were replaced by characters unique to Xanthe's cast system.

I've become pretty cynical about scenes like this one. It's a scene where Xanthe is forcefully invited to have dinner with their family they haven't seen in years. The transphobic dinner pages made rounds on social media because "ooh look at John Constantine gendering a non-binary person correctly even when Xanthe's family keeps misgendering them", and "whoa even the magic system respects a trans person's name". It's free marketing, you can see comments on these posts asking what comic this is from to read more. People will start discourse over "Constantine going woke" and the defenders will pull up receipts that "John has always been a lefitst" and so on and so forth. I saw the promos for Spirit World, but these panels were what piqued my interest early on.

My twin and I were taking turns reading Spirit World- Jes asked Cin (who finished reading first) "so what about that transphobic dinner scene? Was it there? Are there other scenes that talk about it?" and Cin said "nope that's it. The rest is magic fight scenes and spirit world stuff." And honestly that feels calculated. It's like that Jenny Nicholson Star Wars Hotel thing: "whoa if they have this droid and this animatronic alien performer, imagine what else they have!" but nope. That's it. Just enough to fit in a tik tok promo. Just enough to fit in a tweet and make rounds. It's not like Alan Scott's Green Lantern solo, where his queer identity isn't limited to one scene designed to go viral. The whole narrative holistically discussed what it was like to be a gay man in that era. Spirit World on the other hand felt like it had a representation quota to fulfill before moving on to the generic Superhero Stuff- an entirely separate plot.

Then there's Xanthe and John. As a Hellblazer purist I already knew this was going to be a hard read for me since I'm not a fan of DC!Constantine but I've talked before about how Spirit World still has that appeal for me because sometimes og Hellblazer is a pain to read as a person of color. Maybe I can enjoy the fantasy of Constantine being an ally to an Asian person instead of fetishizing them like he did in those old Vertigo comics (people love to leave that out when they're defending Constantine as an ally but whatever). And people kept talking about how this is an elder and younger queer friendship dynamic and I love those.

So where was that? Sure, John genders Xanthe correctly over transphobic dinner and comforts them afterwards. But nothing he says or does is specific to a queer elder. Any ally or character can say these things or do these gestures. He doesn't speak from personal experience about how "it gets better" or "I know what it's like" it's just. "yeah throwing up in Gotham is great I do it all the time". Excuse me if I don't think that's substantial.

Ooh but the ghost of Johnstantine's ex boyfriend Oliver showed up! And then there was a bi joke about how John hooks up with a clone of himself a "dozen times" because he's such a slut amirite, gays. Diversity win. I expected bi jokes from DC!Constantine but marketing this as a queer narrative or generational friendship is a stretch.

Spirit World would've been a more holistic queer narrative if Wan Yujing, the villainous corrupted spirit that wanted to be remembered properly (or reincarnated, depends on the writer's mood)-was revealed to be a queer person. This would've been a fantastic opportunity to recontextualize Xanthe's personal transphobic encounter with their family into a larger systemic theme of queer historical erasure. The original meaning of a "dead name" is the idea that when a trans person dies, their family will put the wrong name on their grave. It's literally their "dead" name, erasing their legacy in writing. So why not include that in your conflict?

Wan Yujing is revealed to be a famous poet, slowly forgotten because "time erodes everything" (vague and bad writing btw). Why not pitch something more motivated and specific? Make it so that she wrote queer literature that was destroyed. Make it so that her lover was rewritten in history books as her "friend". Then when Xanthe makes the promise to remember Wan Yujing as she truly was, it'd be a holistic act of queer recognition and solidarity. But instead the resolution is just Xanthe Zhou promising "hey I'll remember you" and Wan Yujing just takes their word for it.

Can we talk about the huge missed opportunity of what this dialogue implies? Xanthe proclaims that they are both living and dead, granted the living's power to remember and the dead's immortality. Why was this not thematically paired with their experience as a non-binary person struggling in a cis-heteronormative world. Heck, why not pair this with how they're a queer Asian American, a perpetual foreigner wherever they go? Not Asian enough for traditional spaces, but not white enough for a majority of queer American spaces. Are we worried we'll scare off the white audience if this got too intersectional?

Xanthe gets more fleshed out under a different writer (Jeremy Holt) for one of the DC Pride stories (2023). Here, Xanthe talks about how being in the land of the living feels like going about a routinic obligation; "Reminding me that home isn't necessarily where the heart is". This is so much like the disassociated way trans people go about life before figuring themselves out. It's also like how a perpetual foreigner doesn't fit in anywhere. But it's not paralleled to that experience. The fantasy aspects of Xanthe Zhou the Envoy, are completely separate from the very few personal civilian parts of them. Like they're a Superhero first and a person second. The later half of this story gets overtaken by a team up with Batwoman, because once you have a new character set in Gotham you are at the whims of being absorbed into the greater Batfam conglomerate.

There's interesting concepts at the center of Xanthe's character. But it's hard to give credit to writing that doesn't follow any of that through. Xanthe's a hero motivated by making sure the dead are remembered and respected. That's a decent motivation in general, and a pretty resonant one for a queer hero-but everything surrounding the execution of that idea feels so half-assed to me. Xanthe's origin story has so many plot holes, it feels like it was thought up in 5 minutes.

Why was their death just some random car accident and not something more motivated? Why did the all powerful Po Po decide to resurrect them specifically? Where's the tension in any of the many excessive fight scenes in Spirit World, if Xanthe's apparently immortal? Also they age? What are the stakes for a character like this? This isn't even covering the shoddy writing for their transphobic family drama (Why did they just stalk their family after being resurrected? Why did their mom recognize them even though they've been gone and have aged for 15 years? so many questions ugh).

(why was this toddler walking around alone in the rain with their own umbrella. In Gotham. What is this-)

I casually propose that instead have Xanthe's origin be that they died as a runaway trans teen who went missing and was murdered. Maybe because the way police and society in general don't look into the disappearances of trans poc, Xanthe's death went completely unnoticed. Maybe as Xanthe's dying, Po Po sees their determination to fight for the forgotten and chooses to resurrect this kid specifically. Then we'd have a really motivated origin story that ties their identity to their heroism. Instead we get these over the top fantasy concepts + transphobic dinner with my talisman wielding mom.

Spirit World is a fun enough action fantasy with troubled pacing and generic MCU-quippy dialogue. It's so overwhelmed by it's own spectacle that we don't get a chance to get to know our new hero. What is Xanthe's character development? What flaw do they grow out of or overcome? If I'm honest outside of the attempt at quippy banter, what even is their personality? The ending is rushed; not only is the conflict resolved with Xanthe just promising to remember a dead poet, but they also make a deal to work with the Spirit World authorities. Because it's always so fun to watch queer people assimilate to the powers that oppress.

In one of these action sequences, I guess the writer decided there needed to be a semblance of themes to make it feel like the readers' time isn't being wasted. So while Cassandra Cain Batgirl from Detective Comics and John Constantine from Vertigo Hellblazer are holding the giant anime sword, Xanthe goes on an internal monologue about how change is natural and people's fears make them resistant towards it. Xanthe says that to embrace magic, "you need to look at everything you think you know about the way the world should be...and imagine something new."

It's a nice sentiment that isn't reinforced by anything else in the story, but it does make me think. What is "new" about Xanthe Zhou to someone like me who seeks out representation like this? I've seen queer characters with the shaved hairstyle, I've seen queer coded Asian girlies with the bomber jacket, heck I've even seen the giant anime sword. I kinda cringe at seeing "giant spiritual sword" at this point even. But you know what I don't see as often? In real life I've seen the bravest Asian queer people reclaim cultural hairstyles, clothing, practices and beliefs (that originally excluded them). I've seen them join communities and create entire subcultures and lingo in a way that would be unrecognizable to the typical queer readers who enjoy Hellblazer-but I certainly don't see it reflected in fiction a lot.

(Is it really new if I've seen it in a Disney movie)

The premise of a Chinese American non-binary half-dead-half-living Envoy for the dead is something so metaphysical in its intersectionality, world building, stakes and themes that it would require Sandman-levels of out-the-box creativity to pull off. Which is why getting a generic action adventure (+ one scene about transphobic dinner with the family) feels so disappointing. I wish Spirit World took its own words to heart; I wish it took everything we're used to, everything we've known about how the world is and dare to imagine something actually new.