#and a total lack of interest in whatever i'm saying on the phone

[sergle]

mMMMM my doctor "renewed" my meds but instead of actually renewing the most recent one, he went back and renewed the version that costs $300 per bottle. kewl

[yearningagain]

it's enough (to make a girl blush): chapter two

HELLO!!! welcome to chapter two! i'm amazed at the traction that this has gained with just the first chapter, and it's giving me so much motivation to continue this!

i've also decided to open up my ask box for suggestions for rambles and ficlets, so please shoot me a message if you feel so inclined!

and of course a huge thank you to @kayleeofcamelot for betaing and helping me so much!! without further ado!

also on ao3!

total wc: 2.6k | wc: 1.4k | rating: e (18+) | pairing: steddie | cw: none | tags: a/b/o, alpha eddie munson, omega steve harrington, modern au, baker steve, famous eddie, getting together, gay eddie, bi steve, soulmates/true mates/scent mates, side buckingham

part one | part three

--------------

Steve loved Robin more than he thought he could love anyone. She was the peanut butter to his jelly, the rock to his roll, the yin to his yang. He doesn't know how he managed as long as he did before meeting her, and he frankly doesn't know what he would do without her now. 

That being said, sometimes she does make Steve want to give himself another concussion. 

Lunch at the deli had been uneventful. They had eaten their sandwiches while nestled in the window booth in the back corner, turned to look out onto the streets of Chicago. Most of their conversation was driven by judgmental comments about passerby’s, ranging from jabs about interesting color choices on someone's tracksuit to monologues about wearing a faux fur coat with cheetah print leggings (“It’s the principle, Rob! You wouldn’t get it”).

After finishing their meals, the pair made their way across the street to the record store. Upon entry, Steve was surrounded by deep earthy scents, old vinyl and incense mingled with the fresh flowers growing in pots littered about. And that brought them to their current situation.

Robin was making a complete and utter fool out of herself. She was bright red in the face, and Steve couldn’t tell if it was from pure mortification or her complete lack of breathing for the past five minutes. As soon as a little blonde omega, introduced as Chrissy, emerged from the shelves to greet them and show them around, the alpha had not been able to stop her mouth from running and running. Now, normally in these situations, Steve would insert himself into Robin's one sided conversation and slow her down, purely to rescue the other person from being roped into a woven tale of at least six subjects at once. But after one look at Chrissy, and the adoration and attentiveness in her expression, he decided to leave it be. 

At the back corner of the shop was a small gathering of armchairs, a loveseat, and a small wooden coffee table. Plopping down into the comfiest looking chair, leaving the girls to their own devices, Steve pulled out his phone to start tackling the sea of messages he had received during the night. 

Dusty

12:58 AM: STEVE

STEVEN

12:59 AM: STEVEN HARRINGTON

STEVEN LOUISE HARRINGTON

1:01 AM: do you even love me anymore

1:08 AM: if i were dying i'd be dead by now

1:14 AM: ☠️☠️🩸🩸

1:27 AM: okay whatever goodnight steven text me when you’re  alive again ig 🙄

11:39 AM: Jesus Christ kid

That’s not even my name

11:40 AM: Did you die?

11:41 AM: no

11:41 AM: So what was so important?

11:43 AM: before i say anything i want to remind you that  i know all of your secrets and also you love me sooo much  and you’re the best babysitter ever and you owe me for  letting my mom hire you at the shop

11:44 AM: Dustin. What did you do.

11:44 AM: nothing!

i didn’t do anything i swear on my mother

11:45 AM: Okay…

So…?

11:46 AM: my favorite band is playing here next month but its an 18+ show

mom would never come with me, she’d have a heart attack i think

so i need you to take me

11:48 AM: i can pay for your ticket if you want!

11:50 AM: steve?

A loud crash echoed from within the shop, followed by an extremely disheveled Robin popping her head into the nook. "I need your help."

—

Leaving the girls was both the best and worst decision Steve could have made. 

In the ten minutes of inattentiveness, the alpha had managed to talk for seven of them consecutively. After realizing she had been talking herself in circles, she tried to reign it in, which ultimately ended in her accidental confession of attraction towards Chrissy. That then led to a kiss-turned-make-out, in which Robin had tried to push the shorter girl against a wall for more leverage. However, blinded by her circumstances, she pushed the omega into one of the shelves, effectively knocking it and its contents to the ground. They were old antique shelves that had been modified with basket-drawers to store records and other miscellaneous objects, they were heavy . 

Steve would be upset, but the dark blush and lovesick smile never quite left Robin's face. 

With that mess dealt with, he was finally able to respond to Dustin. He shot a quick 'Sure. Just LMK the deets ' text and slid his phone back into his pocket. Chrissy led them both back to the nook, bustling about and making sure they were comfortable.

"Steve, I am so incredibly sorry about that! Please sit here, let me go grab something and I'll be right back!" She dashed off down a small hallway towards the back of the building.

Steve shook his head at Robin, sighing loudly. "Couldn't keep it in your pants?"

The alpha huffed and looked away. She huffed again, this time more of a sniff. And then again. 

"Steve, are you fucking with me or something?"

Furrowing his eyebrows, he followed suit in her actions by taking his own sniff of the air. "What? What's going on?"

She continues sniffing, seemingly following the scent. Standing from her spot on the loveseat, laser focused on tracking, she walks right over to Steve.

"Your scent, it's changing. I knew it was different this morning! I know what you smell like, dingus. And you don't smell like you anymore. Well, okay, you still smell like you! But it's like you're roasting apples in the woods on a camping trip. And you've always smelled like apples, so I'm glad that's the same, but now it's different. Has anything weird happened lately? Have you felt different at all? Do you have a fever?" Her curiosity morphs into concern and she starts placing her hands over the omegas face, seeing if she can tell the temperature. "I've never been good at this. Should we go to the doctor? Do we need an ambulance? Shit, did you get poisoned?"

Steve grabbed her hands firmly, guiding them to his chest and taking a deep breath. "Breathe. I'm not dying, Robs. I think I'd know if I was." He takes a few more measured breaths, pulling her down into his lap for a hug. 

After he was sure she was calm, he relaxed his grip, but didn't let go. "I was actually meaning to ask you about something. Nothing bad, I promise! I just... I had this really weird dream last night and I woke up convinced it had actually happened. I was so convinced there would be physical proof, but there wasn't any. But I could smell the alpha in my dream. Have you ever had a dream where you could smell the other people?"

Robin looked at him calculatingly, a crease forming in her brow at the thought. "No, never. I didn't think it was a thing that happened."

"Exactly. I could smell him, birdie. I could feel him. It was real . Until it wasn't. I woke up heartbroken. For no real reason." He sighed once more, lowering his gaze to his fingers rested in his lap.

"Okay, I am so sorry once again, and I had no intention to eavesdrop whatsoever, but I want to help." Chrissy emerged from the hallway with a plate of mini cupcakes, a sheepish expression. 

Steve waved her off. "It's all good. If you don't think I'm crazy, I don't mind suggestions."

She set the plate of cupcakes onto the coffee table and sat down on the loveseat. Robin quickly scrambled off of Steve to sit next to the other omega, shooting him an apologetic glance. 

"So, basically, I read this book once, out of pure curiosity, that was about fate and the universe and all that. It had a whole section about how, years and years ago, alphas and omegas were randomly going through what seemed to be second presentations. It started with scent changes, and apparently a lot of people experienced some sort of initial mental connection. These changes were way less severe, and oftentimes not noticeable until a random heat or rut was triggered. When that would happen, it was always a pair at a time, one alpha and one omega. The moment they would smell the other for the first time is the moment their respective presentations would complete. They'd come out the other side bonded and, most often, pupped. Their bodies were preparing."

Steve stared at Chrissy, mouth agape. "Preparing for what, exactly?"

"Their soulmate!"

[smellingbats]

2. therefore i am  

⏾  professor! bruce wayne x student! reader 

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⏾ Last chapter

⏾ cw: 18+, slow burn, eventual smut, your professor is still hot…shocker, bruceiskindofadick, opposites attract

⏾ content: Your first meeting with Professor Wayne is off to a shaky start to say the least.  

⏾ eek! I'm so excited for all the notes from last weeks chapter!! Thank you guys so so much for reading my first fic!! I'll eventually post one-shots as well, but for now I'm focusing on this. If anyone has interest in being tagged when I update, let me know. I'd be glad to do that!

It has been a week since Professor Wayne offered you the extra credit opportunity, and let’s just say that the research aspect isn’t going great. But, here you still are. Obsessing over what today’s meeting will look like and obsessing over the way your dress looked. 

So stupid. You thought while you tugged your dress down to your sides. You figured it would be best to not dress in your usual attire. Which consisted mainly of whatever you dug out of your laundry pile that day. You give yourself one last look over and then glance at the time on your phone; it reads 2:07 PM. 

“SHIT, I’m gonna be late!” You grab your bag and rush out the door, double-checking that you locked it because the apartment building you lived in was not the safest of places. The streets on the other hand, were far worse by comparison. The roads were still pretty torn up with man-sized potholes and cracks that made them undriveable, the surrounding buildings looked like they could crumble at a gust of wind, and the garbage left behind from the flood covered the sidewalks entirely. You had been promised real change, but it would most likely take years before you saw a difference in Gotham. For now though, you could settle for the shitiness. It’s something you’ve known your entire life, so what’s the harm in a few more years of waiting?

You eventually make it onto the crowded subway and immediately put your earbuds in to drown out everyone around you. The noise on the subway is always just too damn much for you to handle. You grab your phone out of your backpack and hit play on your playlist, sighing softly as you hold your backpack close to you. There was no way that today's meeting would go well, especially with the lack of peer reviewed articles. So far you only found two that weren’t already in the stack of papers Professor Wayne gave you. You can only assume that he will find this unacceptable, so you have to do something to distract him from the fact that you totally blew it. 

Maybe I could just lie and say I had some more “stuff” come up this week so I couldn’t fully focus. No. You attended class all week, and besides he would probably see right through your lie. You haven’t personally experienced this, but he seemed to be the type. Like he could get anyone to cough up the truth with a simple look. 

The subway comes to a stop and you squeeze your way through people to get off at your stop. You hop off the platform and quickly make your way up the stairs and to the street towards your University. 

You eventually pass a cafe and come up with an even better plan. I’ll bring him coffee! Shit. I don’t know what he drinks…and I can’t email him either. He literally takes a million years to ever get back to anyone. You enter the shop and look at the time; 2:47. 13 minutes until you had to meet him. You knew you were cutting it close, but you couldn’t show up completely empty handed either. A peace offering of sorts would hopefully make him look past your fuck up. You glance up at the menu and panic after you realize you’re next in line.  I’ll go with a latte to be safe. Everyone likes those. You order and before you know it you’re out of the cafe with 8 minutes to spare. You’d make it in time if you ran and didn’t eat shit on the way over. 

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2:59 PM. 

You made it on time! You’re huffing and puffing, and your hair is a mess but you made it. Before going in you are sure to make yourself presentable. You wouldn’t want the hottest professor on campus to see you look like a hot mess. He was too particular to settle for anything less than perfection. 

You shakily open the door, immediately feeling yourself overwhelmed with butterflies in your stomach and chest. Was this a terrible idea? Probably! But it was far too late to go back now. 

There sat Professor Wayne, perfectly composed as he leaned back in his chair reading today's newspaper. Gods, he even makes reading the paper look sexy. How can such a grandfatherly act look so perfect?! You shake away the thought, feeling slightly ashamed of how shamelessly you thought of him. He was your professor for heaven's sake! You glance at one of the headlines; WOMAN STABBED ON SUBWAY BETWEEN PARK AND 5TH BARELY ESCAPES WITH HER LIFE. Unfortunately, this was nothing new for the citizens of Gotham, especially the female presenting ones. You consider yourself lucky that you’ve never experienced anything too terrible on the subway. 

“(Y/N).” He glances at his watch and then back to you, his expression unreadable. “I almost thought you lost your way.” Professor Wayne folds the newspaper carefully and places it in its designated spot on his desk. 

You stand awkwardly for a second before setting down his latte, your heart exploding from anxiety. “Ha ha. Very funny. I am actually right on time sir.” 

He makes a disapproving tut and straightens his posture, staring straight into your eyes. “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.” 

Before you can help it, you involuntarily scowl. Now that was definitely something a grandpa would say.  “I was unaware of that rule. It won’t happen again.” Great, what a wonderful first impression you’ve made. Smooth move (y/n) smooth move. 

“Obviously.” Your professor wordlessly motions towards the seat in front of him, ignoring your scowl. 

You hadn’t noticed how bare his office was until today. He had no pictures, posters, or even one of the university's dumb infographics about getting therapy. You couldn’t imagine Professor Wayne in therapy. He’d probably spend the whole time with that smug look on his face. Ugh, his stupid handsome jawline with his stunning blue eyes. Not now, he’s literally standing right in front of me. Quickly, you take a seat in the tiny uncomfortable chair, making sure to push his latte directly in front of him. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be offended by the gesture. 

Professor Wayne’s eyes flicker to the latte, but only for a moment before they return to his now lit up monitor. He looked…unimpressed to say the least. “I don’t drink latte’s. But your gesture has been noted.” 

Dick.

Instead of letting him win this one, you give him your best fake smile and fish your tiny file out of your bag. “I know it’s not much, but I think I’m off to a good start Professor. I figured we’d go over the requirements for the paper itself. Like, the minimum amount of citations, the format, the length, and the content itself.” 

“If you expect that to take up most of our time today then you’re sorely mistaken.” Your professor states, still looking emotionless. “I have already assigned you the project on Canvas, did you not see it?” Fuck. “No, I’m sorry I didn’t see it. I swear I check-” “Take this time to look it over then, it’s alright.” He says with an almost caring look in his eyes, maybe a part of him did have some empathy. 

The next hour and a half is filled with many more awkward silences and more ‘quirky’ remarks from Professor Wayne. You're not convinced that you’ll even get a good grade on something that is literally for extra credit. The part of you that is hopeful that you may be able to pass is spurred on by your dirty little crush on him. Could you be more cliché? You kind of liked being in his inner bubble, even if he had built about five brick walls around himself. Maybe one day you’d be able to get a peek through one of them. Somewhere under that hard exterior is a person. But what kind of person? You were dying to know. 

After another long awkward silence, Professor Wayne’s voice interrupts your thoughts. “Let’s meet in one of the library’s study rooms next week. I’d like to show you how to do proper research. With a subject this new, you can’t get away with your research solely being from online articles. I will email you with more details within the next few days.”

You pause for a moment, realizing that this was your cue to get out of his office. “Alright. I will see you next week then. On time.” You add the last part while you finish packing up your things. 

When you look up again, you see the smallest smirk on the corner of his lips. “Have a good weekend Professor Wayne.” 

“You as well. Oh and (y/n).” You stop in your tracks and look over your shoulder in the doorway. 

“You did some good work today. Keep it up.” 

A small smile creeps across your face along with an ever so slight blush across the bridge of your nose. "Thank you Professor Wayne." Internally, your stomach was doing backflips. Another compliment? You could get used to this.

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[blackbloodteeth]

Thank you both @silluuuu and @chickycherrycola for the Snippet Sunday tag! I figure this one is pretty fitting regarding both, haha (tried to keep it short this time for real, but we'll see how well that went, hah).

No further ado, I have banished it!!!!

————

Her thumb continues sifting halfheartedly through its judgement of information while she takes another sip of her lightly sweetened coffee, a disapproving grimace once again slamming its gavel and swiping away, pulling up the next suitable target to be likewise reviewed in this cycle of high-stakes stupidity. Of course, an eyebrow quickly piques at the well-framed photograph of an albino(?) guy – lightly stubbled and ensconced with a piano, gently roasted – that catches her interest enough at the more pleasurable sensitivity of the atmosphere (and lack of fish being held) to set her cup down, raising the phone screen up to the black cat nesting over her shoulder.

"Here, what do you think? Good enough for peer-review study?"

The cat, Blair, sinks further in for a look, suddenly turned chatty with an unanimous purr of approval to boot.

"Well, well; Winner, winner, chicken dinner." Feeling lucky for once, Maka takes a deeper dive into this "Soul" fellow's personal page for perusal: Musician (obviously), laid-back yet humorous, a real sweetheart once you get to know him (she'll be the judge of that), and… "Apparently a creative mind of the unexpected. Whatever that means."

Blair is still chirping her ear off and pawing at the screen, so, having nothing left to lose with a catch this good (enough), it's time to set up arrangements to see if this piano man takes the bait. Hubris grows bold whenever money's involved, but at worst, Maka will confirm her biases towards men and the trappings of dating apps, and at best, she'll have someone actually interesting to talk to and possibly split the money with once she's sealed the deal. Maybe.

"Looks like we've got one hooked!" Wes practically explodes out towards the pond, phone up in one hand and a small bucket dangling in the other.

The water – surrounded by many a splendid plant and decorative rock that Wes had fussed with far too much for Soul's shambling ego – ripples as a sizable silver fish with red eyes and majestic barbels surfaces to the edge of the pond, spitting up water before he lowly bellows out. "…What?"

"Someone approved of your dating profile," his brother beams while crouching to shove the phone in Soul's face, "We've already started communicating – Look, look, she might even be your tyyype!"

The catfish in question squints as his brother zooms in on the provided photo of a green-eyed lady in ponytails, causing Soul to glance it up and down before squinting further. "I mean, I guess she's nice? I haven't really met her enough to know…"

"Yes, well, trust me little brother, it would take a long time for that if we tried things your way." Wes is already back to tapping away (presumably messaging the lady person) as Soul tries very, very hard to hold himself back from spitting up water at him. "And yes, she's been very nice thus far – Honest and straight to the point! Dare I say we might just have you cured of your affliction in no time at all at this rate!"

"Oh, sure! I'm certain she'll be totally down to stick me in her mouth once she realizes you're literally catfishing her!"

An amused snort remains in phone-land. "I'm doing the brotherly thing and helping you out due to your lack of thumbs."

"I would still have thumbs if you had been the one to take the curse that was aimed at you for being full of yourself!!"

"Tohmato, tomahto – Oh, she's wanting to meet up with you later today, by the way! I was thinking a red bowtie might really bring out your eyes, but black would be such class." The sudden freight train of horror pales all of the anger out of Soul's little fishy face, especially as his brain is shaken, not stirred, under Wes's gloved hand drumming the top of his skull.

"Aaand arranged! There, there; We'll get one fitted posthaste! I'm sure you'd wear whatever the pond had to offer if it weren't for me around."

Soul's overwhelming instinct to bite Wes's fingers off is quickly thwarted by a shrimp from the nearby bucket being jammed into his mouth, its admittedly scrumptious deliciousness appeasing him momentarily with all the nibbling of a grumpy toddler. Between suckling on his forceful brunch and Wes running away with his own schemes again, a croak grumbles out around the mouthful of fish food. "If it turns out I'm right and she throws me on the grill by the end of today, you owe me your life savings…"

"And if I'm right – as always – I'll have saved you from yourself in becoming forever maidenless." Soul spits the remaining shrimp at him.

[valeskawhore]

VOX

HAZBIN HOTEL! RANDOM THOUGHTS.

I’m hitting on Sherlock Phones yall.

Someone help this man.

Someone PLEASE help this man.

Let's be real with ourselves lonely sinners, vox is not the man we need but he is the man we fawn for. I’ve done a lot of research on his character, his voice actor, his background and his main focus in hazbin hotel just to come up with the most canon version I can write him as.

He is NOT “that guy”. Vox is conniving, manipulative, egotistical, rude,and has been described as not “a nice person” by Vizi herself.

I'm pretty sure he was the “where my hug at?” guy back in college for computer science and theater arts. The guy who no one liked; laughed at not with and continuously thought that everyone was intimidated by him because no one wanted to approach him. Yet it was really because— No one thought he was cool whatsoever.

Of course this man took dance lessons and acting classes, his mind is quite literally a computer even back when he was alive. Vox understands the concept behind “good television” and how to appease his audience.

The lack of attention in his life to early childhood/adulthood was made up when he became a TV host. Vox wanted everyone to love him just so he could push them away and be this “Awesome guy who's too busy and successful for everyone”.

He totally speaks to everyone like they are 4-12 years old. Someone could be older than him, taller, or stronger and he’s just going to immediately deem them imperior to him because of his success.

“My dear, whatever could be the problem?”

“Awe cupcake, are you sad? panties in a twist? Is your bra too tight or are you just going through shark week?”

Vox will literally say one phrase when he knows things aren't going his way.

“Let’s think about this.” Not TALK– THINK. Let's THINK about this.

And darling, he’s not talking to himself but to you and again, immediately placing you underneath him–trying to have you use that “big brain of yours”

This man will plant shit in your head causing you to draw conclusions about things so you can focus entirely on what HE wants. As done with Valentino in episode 2 SE1; when valentine is flipping his shit and all vox does is control the situation.

He’ll flip his shit, igniting fear into the person he’s talking to, allowing the victim to find him ‘scary’ enough to break into submission and shut their mouth.

He’ll take this time to plant thoughts into their head. “What do you think going half cocked around hell to find angel dust will do to our image?”---”U-uh.. fuck it up?” DING DING DING. “Good boy/girl”

And then praise when they come to their “senses” (What he wants them to do)

“Such a big brain you have, you’re so smart.”

“Aren't you a pretty doll? hm?”

“That’s right baby, I knew you had it in you.” No he didn’t, you surprised him but he’s gonna take on the ‘caring best man role’ to cover up his surprise.

He gets hard easily. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.

*~*~*~*~*

ok so I really wanna write like a whole freaking series of events for him, just one shots and I’m interested in all kinds of ideas, these are really just random thoughts that came to my mind while writing. If you guys like the way I write him or the ideas I present— totally let me know if I should continue my obsession with this man.

[allthishumanityforfree]

I'm the tangfastics at stage door lady (50 years old) and Paul Mescal is the first crush that I've had of this size on a celebrity since Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride. I've been examining it big time... Some of it is impulse control, diagnosed with ADHD and perimenopause and went through some trouble at work which evidently can lead to crushes as a way to deal with things. Happily married. But way way way way addicted and wasting way too much time on following him on social media. I was trying to cut down and found this account just googling his name because I had taken Instagram off of my phone. First saw him a year ago on Hulu and all of the strangers and thought he was Pedro Pascal for the first few minutes, then looked him up and started watching normal people which I had started before not realizing it and liked it more the second time. I think it might be just those two movies in a row that really created the attraction. I didn't even know what shipped meant until I got on Instagram just for paul. I totally had shipped him and Andrew quite some time so you properly identified me as a mescott but then I equally shipped him in Daisy just as hard. I have had some jealousy issues about Gracie, but he just wore another one of her sweatshirts last night at stage door. I do think the relationship is real. It will be interesting to see how his career grows and who end up being his long-term partner. I think his natural reaction to being given the Tangfastics was pure joy and he brought up vanya, so I don't think there's any awkward breakups I have a feeling they're just trying to keep their private lives private. Paul would hate all of these conversations we're having about his private life. But my self-control is seriously lacking these days! Curious how you became such a shipper and is it in jest or are you full on tinhat.

Hello. I hope you don't mind me posting this ask. Thank you for giving him those sweets, you certainly were a talk of the fandom and gave us all a little Mescott hope. I am so so relieved that he seemed happy and there was no awkwardness, although you have to admit that the lack of public appearances, even at professional events, is unusual. No reason Paul and Andrew can't attend opening events and promote each other's stuff.

Can you tell us what he said about vanya and more about meeting him?

I worrying am quite a tinhatter, I believe everything I write on here. I mean, I am not in peoples dms and like this in real life. This Tumblr is the only place I talk about Mescott, and I chose it because it's quiet and hidden. I would hate for people involved to read these thoughts, which is why I do not have a Twitter, TikTok or Instagram about Mescott. It's just here and the Discord, where I feel I can get feral, and no one will notice. Of course, I am aware that it's not totally hidden and people can still find me. (I am shocked I have this many followers).

But 80% of my thoughts when they drift are about Mescott. And yes, I do think they had a thing going on during the AOUS promo. I have always thought Paul was queer. I liked him as an actor since Aftersun, well actually I saw Carmen when it came out and thought he had huge potential as an actor. I just presumed he was queer, like a straight guy would not be engaged to Phoebe Bridgers.

How did I become a shipper? I watched Mescott on Graham Norton promoting AOUS and perceived. My TikTok fyp is generally celeb interviews and press tours, so I started seeing those purple cardigan/blue shirt interviews. I became low-key obsessed with were fucking. I perceive a lot about celebs hooking up (I could list a few I think have theories about) but thanks to some good gifmakers I really got into Mescott. For whatever reason, it itched my RPF brain. I just loved how happy and comfortable Paul was with Andrew compared to older interviews, I guess.

I also am not sold on P&G being real, but I am worried if I say some theories I could tempt fate.

[f4iry-bell]

Request !?

Maybe reader moving into the house with avery (whatever reason why is up to you) and jameson like being totally down bad for her. like she doesn’t really notice cause she thinks hes outta her league (other way around tbh cause we’re all hot) but jameson just being like a huge simp.

maybe the readers like a bit of a book girly too, and he likes to bother her while she reads (i lowkey hate when this happens but id let him <3)

jameson hawthorne x oblivious reader.

thank you for requesting. hope you like this it's kind of dialogue heavy. and past events there. also sorry it took some time!!!

After hearing stories about the great Tobias Hawthorn and his games from Avery she was intrigued about him and his games. Now that Avery is going to host her own games, she couldn't hold back. She asked Avery if she can help, Avery knows she is a sucker for murder mysteries and has written some of her own. After reading them Avery thought she'd be useful for the games. So, she invited her to Hawthorne House and to help her plan the game along with the boys.

When Jameson read her works he was definitely fascinated by it Nothing keeps Jameson Hawthorne interested more than a mind that sees things the way they aren't supposed to be and makes the thing something else.

He tried to find her in Hawthorne House but it was hard, he only saw her during dinner and lunch. Everytime he tried to woo her but she showed no interest. Though when they talk she has a lot to say, just not what he needs to hear from her though. Everytime she talks his mind goes blank and all he can think about is how to win her heart.

“And that's how I came up with that idea. I swear if it wasn't for the cat I wouldn't have written my recent work. I should credit it.” She was explaining how she got the idea for her short story because Jameson asked her.

He always has something to ask her.

_

“You look lost.” Jameson stated.

“I'm not, I have the blueprint on my phone.” She showed him the picture.

Jameson smiled. “Why a map when you have a guide?” He asked in a flirty tone.

She frowned. “Hawthrone House had its own guide?!” Her tone filled with surprise and not a clue that he was implying himself.

Jameson nodded. “Yeah, actually they're on vacation.” He pursed his lips.

_

Jameson was staring at her the whole time while she was explaining how to plant clues for the game in the Great Room and didn't pay attention to what she was saying. She did notice it and confronted him after everyone dispersed.

“It's really disrespectful to not listen when your teammate is explaining something.” She sounded mad.

“What?”

“You weren't paying attention to what I was saying. If you hate it just say it. Don't make me look like I'm talking to the wall.” She

“Wait, no. I wanted to listen, I was just…let's say distracted by something.” He gave her a frisky smile, stepping closer to her.

“Crap! I knew I should have rehearsed before I told everyone! My presentation skills are very bad, I'm so sorry that you got distracted because of my lack of skill to keep someone focused.”

Jameson thought how can someone who is as smart as her could be so oblivious about his signs?

_

He found her in one of the libraries reading alone.

“What are you reading?” He asked after grabbing a book and just simply flipping through the pages.

“Book.” She answered after a few seconds.

“I know that, what book?” He took a seat next to her trying to peek. She immediately closed the book and kept the book behind her.

“Contemporary romance.” She admitted not wanting to explain further and went back to reading after opening her book.

Jameson was quiet for a while and then spoke again.

“I thought you were a mystery person.” He said.

internally groaning, she spoke. “I like romance too. Sometimes all a girl needs is a corny romance book.” She shrugged. “And since you know I'm reading, please leave me be.” She added.

“Just a book?” He raised an eyebrow.

“What else?” She rolled her eyes at him, unaware of what he was trying to imply.

“Real life corny romance. With someone.”

She chuckled. “Who? Almost every guy I know is taken or wouldn't be interested in me and I don't go out often so I don't meet people. It's almost impossible for me to experience romance.”

“Not true, not everyone is taken and not interested.” He was hoping she'll get a hint.

“Yeah. Sure. Like who?” She chuckled again.

“You're an idiot.” He said.

“Why?” She frowned, taking a bit of offence.

Jameson kept quiet, and then realisation hit her.

“Wait! Your brother Grayson?!”

Jameson made a disgusting face. “What? No!”

“Then who— Oh my god. Tell me I'm wrong.”

“You did not say anything.” He rolled his eyes.

“You?” She prayed to every God that it's right or else she would have to change her whole identity and leave the country.

“Finally! Took you long enough.” He sighed.

“You like me? So you were flirting with me!” She exclaimed.

“So you did notice that I was flirting!”

“I thought you weren't though it sounded like you were!”

“Because I was!”

“You're lying.” She shook her head.

“Why would I lie? After all the signs I gave you?” He asked.

“Because! you're you and I'm me, why would you like me?”

“Exactly, me being me obviously I like you because you are you!” He explained in her own terms.

“But!”

“But what?”

“I don't know. It's not believable.”

“That I like you?”

“Yes!”

“Would a kiss make you believe?”

“Yes!”

[reddesires]

So I just wrote several paragraphs of text, and my phone deleted it before I could send 🙃. I don't think I can write all of it again since it's late and I'm very tired, but the most important thing that I wanted you to know is that I'm sad that you feel like you're losing motivation for writing. I haven't read all of your pota works yet but I'm very impressed with what I've read so far. It's honestly amazing and very versatile. I'm not one of the anons who's asked for any works yet, but I hope more reach out to you to at least say thanks. Although I've heard anon asks don't receive notifications when answered, so maybe that's one reason they haven't reached out.

tldr of my long, boring media analysis:

I don't think it's that people don't care about your work. I think it's an unfortunate combination of factors that make engagement kind of slow (pota being somewhat niche on this platform), and discouragement of openly engaging (people being caught in the cross hairs of negativity recently). Not to mention people who just feel iffy about engaging too much on social media (like myself).

Since Kingdom is coming out on digital soon, hopefully more people build or rediscover interest in the series, and find their way here. And hopefully more people read and interact with your wonderful work!💜

(I might elaborate on some of my original thoughts I had to say later when I have more energy 😅)

Thank you for your support. It truly means a lot. I can not express how much it means to me, and I love everyone who's reached out showing their support.

I was just feeling a bit down and lacking motivation since I mainly just receive requests, and I was just wishing I had more interaction since I really do like to interact with you guys, speaking to you all truly make my day.

I totally understand POTA being niche. It's why I started writing fics so others are encouraged to open up on being a part of the Fandom like I was.

There's people who have reached out to me, and it truly made me so happy, and it motivated me, so now I have Caesar and Blue Eyes works ready to be posted!

All likes, comments, and reblogs are truly appreciated. Whatever anyone is comfortable with doing is totally fine with me.

Thank you again, and I can't wait to hear more from you! ❤️

[scre-a-ming-cupcakes]

This Book Is Full Of Spiders review and rant

Personal rating: 9/10

Ranking in the book series: Top 3

I really loved this book. Although it's rated higher that JDATE, it's listed lower in the ranking because, while it was a good story, it felt a wee bit too normal for my taste. Out of all the books in the francise, this one lacks the most batshit insanity.

The tone:

I enjoyed the beginning and the ending a lot because it had the same weird vibes as the first book. However, the long middle bit felt a bit like a normal zombie apocalypse story. Nothing wrong with zombie apocalypse stories, I was just hoping for more hot-dog-phone-level bullshit. It still managed to be quite tense and has a few good-ol' horror elements in it. I might have to read it a third time but I don't remember there being quite as much humor as in the first book. The humor I do remember brought me to tears, though. (The whole bit of bloodied, naked Dave and John with a chain saw accidentally kicking a decapitated head into the car of the same guy who is investigating their case?! The gun that shoots whatever you think of and Dave can't think of anything but the ugly Jesus painting. That Jesus painting appears, levitating and shooting the enemies with Jesus' laser eyes!? I couldn't breathe anymore)

Those moments are the ones that stood out to me. The horror was mainly body horror mixed with tension. It was more of an action than a real horror book.

Pacing:

This book has more of a consistent red string through out, however it's still not perfect. The slow escalation of the beginning is entertaining and one of my favorite parts. The middle part dragged a bit. The team being seperated causes the story to be split up into three individual story lines, all of which have their highs and lows, tension wise. Once the team gets together again, it is back on track with the vibes. However, either I'm stupid (which might very likely be the case), or some of the plot points are confusing and not entirely explained in the end. I'll get back to them in a bit.

The monsters:

The spiders (?) are grotesque, disgusting and make your skin crawl. Truly amazing. The way it's described that they fuse with your skin when they touch you (with Dave having to surgically remove a spider leg from himself) is CRAZY. I gotta say, the spiders as singular beings are more scary than the zombies they create once attached (Or "Zulus" as they call them) Zombies are good fun, though, especially Franky in the first act who just turns completely inhuman by the end.

The REPER organisation is also an interesting antagonist and the way they are manipulating humanity with propaganda is scary. From what I understand, they are from an alternate dimension (?) Correct me if I'm wrong. Whether or not they are the actual Shadow People, or have any corrolation with Korrok, or if they were freelancing villains, doing their own thing, I don't think was entirely explained.

Then there was Carlos and Anna, who were sweet and great characters, but kind of disappear from the story. Feel free to explain it to me, but I didn't totally understand what makes them different from the other zombies. Their reasoning was basically to not let the humans kill anyone who isn't human, because some people like them aren't evil. cough cough dave too cough cough. However, after having read all the chapters of Zulus killing and infecting thousands, I wasn't sure what to think of it and what that said about the ones who kill and the ones who don't. Franky tried to fight against the spider and couldn't. Meaning, we can't just trust the infected to fight against the spider impulses because they might lose and cause havoc.

The characters:

I truly liked the characters in this story. They felt real, they all have problems, strengths and weaknesses and they are real personalities. The character's distinct personalities cause for some fun and exciting dynamics. We also explore some of their deeper feelings, get to know them past their monster hunter/excorcist/supernatural expert knowledge.

The supernatural elements:

I liked the further addition to the strangeness of the city of [Undisclosed]. We know the town is a shithole from the first book, but in this book we find out how truly supernatural it always has been. The door-portals cause for some fun moments. They can't control where they land, but no option is ideal. public restrooms, closets of shitty fastfood places, changing rooms in the underwear sections.

And when they figure out that they CAN control where they come out of, depending on how high they are on the soy sauce, it leads to some fun tension with all the responsibility being on John. Truly entertaining.

The soy sauce in this book also lead to some of the most interesting trips in the francise. In the first book they became allknowing and could read minds. In this book they can make time stop, but only in a way that they can't interact with anything. It's both cool to visualize but also useless as all hell, and I love it.

Little aspects and bits I like:

- AMYYY IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER I LOVE AMY

- have I said how much I loved the levitating Jesus painting with laser eyes?!

- Loved the chapter out of Molly's perspective.

- did NOT like Molly's death. RIP my sweet angel. You were useless and lazy for the most part but owned my entire heart.

- Falconer and John made an amazing duo. Would've loved to see more of Falconer in the rest of the series.

- Anna: "Is your name Walt?" Dave: "No, it's David Wong." Anna: *continues to call him Walt for the rest of the book*

- Love that it starts of with the therapist scene. A great chapter all around and fuck yeah it was only a matter of time until Dave would need court-ordered therapy

- We need a show adaption of Tight-Pants Cowboy, Dr. Albert Marconi and Owen

----

Other reviews:

JDATE | WTHDIJR | ITBEYITWU

[coppernickeldime]

Fast Car - Pt. 1?

A/N: Okay, I'm totally new to Tumblr (only been here a couple months and have just been binging all the great spn content on here). Let me know if I'm not doing this right, haha. I haven't written fanfiction in like seven years, but this is just an au that popped in my head today and I just had to write it. I mean checkoutclerk!dean??? I'm also new to writing Destiel so any tips are appreciated.

Let me know if you even like this? This is all I've written so far, but if yall think it's worth it maybe I'll dig around and turn it into a full-fledged story.

Pairing: AU Dean Winchester x Castiel Novak

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: None really, a little fluff? Alternate Universe

Summary: Castiel, a journalist just recently relocated to Lawrence, begins having run-ins with the new super-hot grocery store clerk. Both Castiel and Dean have a lot going on in their lives. With Castiel fighting to earn the big writing gigs under his family's broadcasting company and Dean working at the grocery store when he gets off from Bobby's garage in order to have money to send to Sam each week, can they find time to figure out what's going on with this chemistry between them? Not to mention that Dean is just beginning to realize his own sexuality.

Here we go:

"C'mon, little bro. You just gotta wait your turn. You know how it is. You're the lowest on the totem pole right now," Gabriel encouraged through the phone.

"Well, it would be nice if I had a little money left over after paying rent," Castiel grumbled as he grabbed a shopping basket at the entrance of the local Piggly Wiggly. "I was under the impression there would be perks to working for family."

"There are! You just gotta wait it out. Before you know it, you'll be like me. Traveling the world to write the big stories," Gabriel said. Castiel rolled his eyes and huffed a little, turning the corner to begin examining the fruit selection even though he knew he couldn't afford any of the produce there.

When he didn't say anything after a moment, Gabriel continued, "Alright, I gotta get going. There are two very hot ladies who should be showing up at my hotel room any minute now. Adios!" The line went dead before Castiel could reply. With another huff, he flipped his phone closed and shoved it in the pocket of his trench coat.

It had been a long day. Well, actually, it had been a long year. Castiel was under the impression that once he finally made it out of school, he could start getting real journalism experience by working for his distant relative's big time news company.

Heavenly Hosts Broadcast Company was not only the largest broadcasting company in Kansas, but the most well-respected. Though it mainly operated out of Kansas City, the company also owned several smaller stations and newspapers throughout the state. After graduating school, Castiel had been surprised to find out that he would have to move to small-town Lawrence in order to be hired as a writer for HHBC, but he felt he had no room to argue being only a distant relative of the company founder. He was thankful to be working under the well-known company at all; it was better than some of the incredibly small newspapers some of his classmates had ended up at.

However, he realized very quickly just how lonely Lawrence was for him. He had no friends or family there to accompany him, nor any peers who were interested in the same field as he was like he had become accustomed to in college.

Castiel woke up at six AM sharp every morning, had coffee with two over-easy eggs, and headed off to work. Once he got to the news station, he said a polite hello to the receptionist, Hannah, and headed to his office. That was where he spent most of his day, answering emails and researching whatever stories were handed off to him.

Unfortunately, most of the stories he received lacked any real excitement. He thought that after a few months he would be entrusted with stronger headlines, but it had been just the opposite. This was why, after receiving the task of writing an article about the local school cafeteria food from his boss Zach, Castiel found himself graveling to his brother about his low-pay and meaningless work.

He probably shouldn't have even called Gabriel, but who else was there to complain to?

While he shopped, Castiel stewed on all of these things and wracked his brain for any ideas of how to make school lunches remotely interesting. He made his way mindlessly through the store, filling his cart with the same items he bought every week.

"Not much of a chef, are ya'?" A strong voice broke Castiel from his stupor. He blinked repeatedly, suddenly unaware of how he even made it to the counter and added his items to the conveyor. He supposed he was too wrapped up in his thoughts on whether or not it would be acceptable to turn his school-lunch article into something political about how all student lunches should be free.

"I'm sorry?" Castiel asked as he looked up from his groceries. His eyes widened slightly as he met the gaze of the young man behind the counter.

The man chuckled lightly as Castiel's confusion, and Castiel found the corners of his own mouth turning up in response. He wasn't sure what was so funny, but just the sound of this man's laugh made him want to join in. Castiel watched as small lines appeared next to the man's eyes, which he also noticed were a rather unfair shade of emerald. He was just a bit taller than Castiel with wide, broad shoulders, hidden by a dark gray Henley with the sleeves pulled up on his forearms. His store-issued apron hung over his chest quite nicely, Castiel thought, and he tried to avoid thinking about whatever the apron might be hiding of the lower parts of the man's body.

"It just doesn't look like you cook much," checkout-guy clarified, gesturing to the array of microwave meals and quick fixes adorning the conveyor. His words brought Castiel's eyes back up to his face, and that's when Castiel noticed the messily styled Ivy-League haircut as well as the freckles decorating the man's cheeks. He suddenly felt unable to speak.

After clearing his throat and feeling his cheeks flush, Castiel found his words, "Uh, yes. I'm afraid I'm not very well-versed in the culinary arts." A bewildered smile graced the checkout-guy's lips, one of his eyebrows raising.

"Yeah, I'd say so. You know, if you add some Sriracha and an egg to these, it makes them like ten times better?" Checkout-guy said as he held up the ten-pack of easy ramen Castiel had picked out.

"Is that so?" Castiel replied.

Checkout guy nodded thoughtfully, sliding the ramen over the scanner until it beeped before turning to place it in a plastic bag.

"Oh, wait," Castiel said hurriedly, turning towards his shopping cart. He pulled out two reusable shopping bags, one decorated with kittens holding rainbow flags and the other with the HHBC logo on it. Checkout-guy rose his eyebrows a bit as he took the bags, the corner of his mouth rising up in a smirk as he placed the ramen inside the kitten rainbow one.

"It was a gift," Castiel found himself saying, suddenly feeling defensive over the bags. Checkout-guy fully smiled then, shaking his head a bit.

"Hey, no criticism here," he replied, holding the palms of his hands up quickly before going back to scanning. He pointed at the HHBC logo, "Do you work for the station or something?"

Castiel nodded as he watched checkout-guy pay special attention to where he placed the loaf of bread. "Yeah, I'm a writer there."

"Oh yeah?" Checkout-guy said, his brow rising in what Castiel couldn't decide was impressed or shocked.

"Yeah, mostly just small stories for now."

"I get the feelin' you're not too excited about that," checkout-guy said with a small smile. "Is that what you were grumbling about the whole time you were shopping?"

Castiel felt heat rise in his cheeks for a second time. He glanced nervously around the store.

"You could hear me all the way up here?"

"What can I say, buddy," checkout-guy replied, the creases around his eyes showing again as he smiled. "It's almost closing time on a Tuesday. There's not really much else going on to drown out the sound of you talking to yourself."

Castiel realized that he was right; there weren't any other customers in the store and it looked like most of the employees had gone home as well. It was pretty quiet, other than the rock music playing over the store speakers in a low volume. Embarrassingly, Castiel hadn't even realized he had been talking to himself while he shopped, though he wasn't all that surprised considering how enveloped in his thoughts he had been. Plus, he buys the same cheap groceries every week, so waltzing around the store was basically muscle-memory at this point.

"I apologize, it's been a long day," he said as he adjusted his tie.

"Don't apologize, man. I get it," checkout-guy said as he clicked around on the register display. "Your total is twenty-nine thirty-five."

Castiel dug into the pocket of his slacks to retrieve his wallet, which he opened to find the last of his grocery money until his next pay day. There was only a twenty and a five-dollar bill.

Slightly flustered now for more than one reason, he spoke again, "I apologize again, but I'll have to ask you to take off the ramen and the jelly."

Checkout-guy's gaze turned from a look of amusement to something more serious. "How much are you short?" He asked, tapping his fingers mindlessly against the side of the register and leaning forward as if to get a peek in Castiel's wallet.

"I've just got twenty-five," Castiel said, a bit bashfully, and pulled out the bills and showed that his wallet was now empty. "It's alright though, I don't need those things anyway." He really didn't need to have those items, but jelly did make peanut butter sandwiches a lot more appealing, and the noodles were a great change of pace from Banquet microwave dinners.

Checkout-guy shook his head, his lips pursing as if he had already made some kind of decision.

"Nah, don't worry about it. The rest is on me, alright?"

"I couldn't ask you to--"

"You didn't ask," checkout-guy said, his smile returning. "I'm offering. Seriously, I had somebody pay for my coffee in the drive-through this morning. It's about time I return the favor."

Castiel eyed him, unsure if he was telling the truth or just trying to get him to accept the offer. The guy shrugged a bit and stared back at him with a confident smirk. 

"Won't you get into trouble?" He asked after a moment.

"No way," checkout-guy assured. "If my drawer is short a few bucks, I'll just pay the balance. Plus, they like me too much around here for me to get into too much trouble." He winked at Castiel as he opened the cash register.

With warmth in his face and a cat-bitten tongue, Castiel handed over his money a bit begrudgingly. "Well, thank you," he managed finally. "That's very kind of you."

Checkout-guy laughed and shook his head, and Castiel wondered what he had said that was humorous.

"Alright, you're all set," the guy said as he handed Castiel his receipt. Their fingers brushed lightly as Castiel took the small slip of paper.

"Thank you, again," Castiel repeated as he began to grab his shopping bags.

"No problem," the guy said. "Have a good one."

Suddenly Castiel found himself wanting to stay in the store all night. He didn't want the sound of this guy's voice or his smile or the brush of his fingers to be over with so quickly.

Castiel nodded in parting and forced himself to walk out to the car.

***

Later that night, Castiel thought maybe he finally thought of a way to write an article about crappy school mashed-potatoes that was worth reading. He was feeling a bit more relaxed after his encounter at the grocery store, though a bit embarrassed about being so flustered by the attractive guy that worked there and being short on cash. Still, there was an ease in his chest that he hadn't felt in a long while, and he was beginning to think that if he could spin this article into something good, maybe he would finally be recognized for his hard-work.

After the groceries were put away, Castiel put on a record of the complete works of Mozart before heading back into the kitchen. As the instrumentals began to play in the background, Castiel loosened his tie before removing it and throwing it over the back of a kitchen chair. It was nearly nine o'clock by now, and he needed to eat something and get to bed.

He made his way around the kitchen quite smoothly, heating water in a pot on the stove while he opened a packet of ramen. As he stood there, watching and waiting for the water to boil, a thought occurred to him. Without much more consideration, he was pulling the eggs from the refrigerator. He had ten eggs left, which would leave him two for every work-day breakfast. After eyeing the water that was beginning to boil for a moment longer, he decided he'd rather be one breakfast-egg short and have a spruced up dinner in return.

So Castiel pulled another pot from the cabinet and filled it with enough water to submerge the egg. He added it to the stovetop, turning the heat on high and leaning against the counter.

He found himself thinking about the checkout-guy again. It had been a long time since he was romantically involved with anyone, so that had to have been why he was so caught of guard by the man's looks and playful personality. Not to mention his generosity, which Castiel was extremely thankful for as he added the noodles into the boiling water. 

When the food was done, Castiel sat down at his little kitchen table. It was only big enough for two, but he didn't mind. He hardly ever had company, so the small setting was more than enough for him. He settled for a random hot sauce he found in the back of his refrigerator since he didn't have any Sriracha on hand. He was delighted to find that the checkout-guy had been right; the egg and hot sauce drastically improved the made-in-minutes noodles.

If he ran into the checkout-guy again, he would have to let him know he tried it and ask if he had any more cheap-food improvements.

***

As Dean locked the door to the Piggly Wiggly and began the walk to his car parked in the back of the parking lot, he found himself thinking about the dark-headed journalist that had came through just before close. At first, Dean had wondered if the guy was just a stick-up-his-ass businessman, but after talking with him, Dean decided that maybe the guy was just kind of clueless.

He was funny in a way Dean hadn't quite experienced before, with his talking to himself, frowns, and formal way with words. The guy's blue eyes were stuck in Dean's head, and he found himself wishing he had caught the guy's name.

He wasn't sure why he was so caught of guard by another guy. No use in worrying about it when he would probably never see the guy again, right?

[another-cliche-title]

my hot take is basically me just absorbing this post i saw on cohost:

like i dont think we have to go absolutist and make the only acceptable positions "OMGGG UR A DISNEY SHILL" or "If you use my art style or OC i'm Killing You"

(This Is Not My Position Don't Fuck With Me) you Could totally go hardcore with "no amount of alteration makes it acceptable to use someone else's art in the production of other art without permission and/or compensation" and not have it benefit disney/corporations by banning corporations from holding intellectual property altogether and make copyright law a million timers funnier and weirder by making every interaction between artists and corporations that hire them into a ken penders situation. copyright law was intended to only protect individual creators in the first place and this would be a lot better for artists in general

i mean, if u were a musician and some rando used ur song in a amv, you wouldn't care. if apple used ur song in a commercial without compensating you and make one billion off of phone sales, you would def care.

you don't have to chose between "Must I destroy Every Medium or Have Artists Compensated/Get Called 'Disney Shill' By Some Redditor/Please Walt's Corpse"

i think copyright law could be Good if it only benefited creators (and not corporations) and had expanded fair use laws (which limit the ability for scumbags to just Fuck People Over for making a my little pony youtube poop or whatever)

And moving over to AI... obvs we can make a distinction between zillions of artists being exploited to extract bajillions of cash from them and a 12 year old tracing fnaf artwork.

Realistically, IP law is like all law in that a lot of it is straight up just written to protect corporate interests. so a world where disney has to bow down to its own artists would be a pipe dream. anyone can smugly point that out.

And my other concern about AI is that it basically is just a part of the increasing normalization of mass data collection. half of ai defenses are not really that different from "oh boy i do love relevant ads !!". archiving someone's deviantart crap and mass data collection can be seen as the Same Thing Technically but no! it's not!

we can, in fact, have some wiggle room so that random kids can take stuff off of google images without having to ask for the author's permission while zillion dollar silicon valley megagiants can't. in other words, fair use yada yada ya.

a lack of protections/wiggleroom in some areas when it comes to "you MUST ask for permission!" protects you from people who just want to curb stomp other artists, increased protections in some areas protects your work from exploitation in the line of "labor is entitled to all it creates"

i think a reasonable, although imperfect, comparison can be made to goods. if i hold a monopoly on food and withhold it from everybody and you say that's fucked up, you'll be coming from "property is theft". but if you go to "labor is entitled to all it creates", you might say i can keep all the food. we can, of course, have a middle ground where i can get my bread and you can get yours too

the most frustrating thing about AI Art from a Discourse perspective is that the actual violation involved is pretty nebulous

like, the guys "laundering" specific artists' styles through AI models to mimic them for profit know exactly what they're doing, and it's extremely gross

but we cannot establish "my work was scraped from the public internet and used as part of a dataset for teaching a program what a painting of a tree looks like, without anyone asking or paying me" as, legally, Theft with a capital T. not only is this DMCA Logic which would be a nightmare for 99% of artists if enforced to its conclusion, it's not the right word for what's happening

the actual Violation here is that previously, "I can post my artwork to share with others for free, with minimal risk" was a safe assumption, which created a pretty generous culture of sharing artwork online. most (noteworthy) potential abuses of this digital commons were straightforwardly plagiarism in a way anyone could understand

but the way that generative AI uses its training data is significantly more complicated - there is a clear violation of trust involved, and often malicious intent, but most of the common arguments used to describe this fall short and end up in worse territory

by which I mean, it's hard to put forward an actual moral/legal solution unless you're willing to argue:

Potential sales "lost" count as Theft (so you should in fact stop sharing your Netflix password)

No amount of alteration makes it acceptable to use someone else's art in the production of other art without permission and/or compensation (this would kill entire artistic mediums and benefit nobody but Disney)

Art Styles should be considered Intellectual Property in an enforceable way (impossibly bad, are you kidding me)

it's extremely annoying to talk about, because you'll see people straight up gloating about their Intent To Plagiarize, but it's hard to stick them with any specific crime beyond Generally Scummy Behavior unless you want to create some truly horrible precedents and usher in The Thousand Year Reign of Intellectual Property Law

[invisiblerambler]

My Life is a Cosmic Joke

I need to vent about this, doing it publicly is probably stupid but it's happening anyway, more beneath the cut.

so that networking event I went to last week, someone that I met there offered to give me a tour of his office where he's interning for the summer. I said yes because it's a place I may want to work someday and I was curious. it's a tech company I knew they would have tech company offices. very quickly after I got there I realized this was a thinly veiled pretext to a date. I didn't really care, I figured that would probably be the end of it.

Through planning this visit this guy got my phone number because I texted him to let him know I arrived so he could get me from the lobby standard stuff. a couple days later he texted me asking a follow up question about plans I had said I had made. the plans didn't end up happening, but now there's a dialogue going.

earlier this week he invites me to something else professional. I say yes, maybe this time against my better judgement because I assume maybe this is a group thing. reader it was not in fact a group thing, and I end up going on this tour with him and the guy that worked there. totally fine, the company was interesting and it was a really good learning experience I would not have otherwise gotten.

He had taken a ride-share to this place and I had driven, so he asks me what I'm up to afterwards because it's early evening now. I say I'm planning on heading home but I can drop him somewhere, he's only in town for the summer as of now so he doesn't have a car here.

on the drive it becomes very clear he wanted this to be a dinner date. no plans just hoping I would say yes.

I gently decline saying I have to get home (I do kind of) but I leave the possibility open for future interactions.

I'm driving him back to his office, across town during LA rush hour so it takes a while.

This gives him plenty of time to grill me about my dating history, my life and if I am currently interested.

I VERY RECENTLY had mostly decided to not date men. I haven't dated in years, and absolutely have not dated a man since high school, so whatever out of practice is I'm beyond that.

throughout this drive it is incredibly clear this man is down bad for me. he acts shocked that men do not regularly show interest in me, and I explain most men are not comfortable with my level of ambition.

he says that is what attracted me to him, that I know what I want. all of this is super flattering, but I am still unclear if I am even interested in dating. theoretically, absolutely but now that the opportunity basically has been dropped into my lap I am scared shitless.

when I said that I wanted to pursue a creative career he told me that I could do that while he made the money. he asked me what I thought of essentially being a stay at home wife, and I balked at the idea. and yet I'm still entertaining this.

I have nothing good to say for myself other than I am somewhere in-between blushingly flattered and horrified I am even entertaining anything with a man who repeatedly prodded and questioned my lack of desire to have children.

he always seems to say the right things which is infuriating and things I would normally have as hard nos I'm not ruling out. I am not ready for anything serious, and he accused me of not being able to commit, but I had just begun entertaining the idea of dating again.

the attention is nice I won't lie and pretend it isn't but also being confronted with the reality of dating so soon after I even had the thought of wanting to even open myself up to that again!

my extremely carmy coded reaction is to shut it down, my life is too messy, my trauma too unresolved, I'm not even sure I'm attracted or interested in men

I have never dated people I wasn't friends with, not seriously anyway, and not since high school. I know there's a world in which I just let this play out and hit the eject button at any point I choose (with compassion for him in mind) but this is so far outside my comfort zone that the idea makes my skin crawl.

I know that accepting the attention, going on a few dates and breaking it off is fine! it just doesn't feel fine.

I also want to use the excuse of my career, yes I moved here to live, but I also moved here for a job, for my career. dating is for when i've graduated and made my first shaky steps in the direction I want.

I know life isn't that cut or dry or easy. I just don't want to lose focus. I'm aware it's not an all or nothing and I am not wired to abandon my ambitions.

I wrote all of this just to have my weird and messy feelings about attracting the attention of a man for the first time in nearly a decade, and being completely unsure of how to proceed.

a man being down bad for you actually can feel bad sometimes!

[magicalghail-blog]

You wouldn't know

I always thought about what should come first. If loving yourself first, or like what we all usually do, loving everything before anything. When I say everything I meant everything. People, money, love, luxury, work, and drugs. Something like what we do just to feel better, but somehow shows the part where we lack discipline.

I was thinking, does something really have to go first, or we can just learn the rest later? I needed an escalated thinking about kinds of stuff like these because every time I've been questioning myself it always leads to ironic thoughts in my head, which is probably the main reason why I've been jilted obnoxiously by the guys I dated before.

There was a time when I was so lost and naive that I decided to meet up with my old love back in junior year. I was so fascinated by him back in my junior days; I remembered taking photos of him whenever I saw him on campus and video recording him walking around like I was a paparazzi; that is when I knew that I like him so much, and I know that he is aware of my feelings for him because I was so vaguely showing my love for him and even give him some money for some sort of school fund that they are raising at that time, so look at the sugar mommy right now.

When we meet again after so many years I know something really changed about him. The way he talks to me is totally different than before, at that day we decided to go to the mall together to pick up some of his personal stuff; he treated me like a princess and made sure I was fine from time to time, and when he drove me home that night I was completely blissful it felt like a dream. After weeks of going out together, I figured out that I'm starting to like him again, but a little harder this time, like a little crazy. One day he invited me to their house to hang out, which imprudently drives me crazy because he actually introduces me to his family as a friend! And I was like, "He is so damn dead in love with me." Snapped out my phone texting relentlessly like an actual couple day and night: making out and having fun, watching movies, and sharing music. At that time I know that I found a person who I can actually spend time with and just be blissfully imbecile and transparent.

Although it seems like this is the perfect time for the both of us, I know that he genuinely likes me this time, by his actions and all, and he even said that he loves me really because I was willing to have his child ironically. After everything that happened suddenly one day, he just stopped contacting me, and after months of talking and spending time together, everything drift completely, and the depressing days have come into my life continuously. I was totally devastated by him, it hurt so much that I couldn't accept what he had done to our connection, which I totally kept safe and happy; I put on my best effort to keep him interested in me even If nothing is interesting in my life, which added weight to my baggage for a long time because maybe he wakes up, and he figured out that I was no fun at all, and I was just a girl who likes him so much in a junior year: that he can just spend some moment together until he doesn't feel like doing it anymore.

Years have gone by, and a lot of realizations come into my mind about the situation I had with my junior love: he doesn't have his life figured out that much at the time that we two are dating, and I depended on everything on him because at those times I felt differently happy. I was so thrilled by the bare minimum that he was feeding me at that time, but I come to realize that maybe I was starving for affection because I don't love myself completely. He could do whatever he wants to do with his life without me being affected by his choices; he can cut me off completely without me feeling devastated because I love myself enough for me to be happy and not depend my happiness on anyone in this world unreluctantly which what I actually failed to do at those time.

And as I write this letter, I realize that anything could be possibly unnecessary when it comes to loving ourselves, and somehow nothing will ever be sufficient or accurate because that's just how it is until it doesn't feel right anymore. It will always feel like we can make it up to ourselves later when we know that we are already crashing from the sky of life and wondering how we ended up here. I hope one day you can enthusiastically love yourself more than anyone did because you deserve it, and just so you know that you have the strong will to choose and do it. Just in case you don't know because there is a lot of time in our life that you just wouldn't know.

[weekend-whip]

I’m comin down with something so I wanna ask: what’s it like when the gang gets sick?

(nooooo I hope it's nothing serious!! Get better soon!)

Anyway, the main gang takes sicknesses very seriously, especially because they'll all try to pretend they're not actually sick until they're totally busted. Even being just the slightest bit off is usually enough for one of them to be like "hey, you're not looking so good today, take a break?" and the sick-ee will be like 'nah man I'm good' and then collapse while training.

Zane's usually the main one providing TLC due to being immune from conventional sicknesses...but he's also as strict about bedrest as he is about adhering to school rules. The closest he gets to being sick is when his software needs updating or there's something interfering with his systems.

Cole's probably the one person that doesn't mind being sick because it means he gets to lounge around and be doted on asfghkjgfd. He'll just crawl right back into bed, headphones in, and sleep for a while. Because of this he's also not usually sick for very long; the most he'll be off his feet is for like a day or so, and then it's right back to the grind. (But sometimes he'll pretend to be sick an extra day so Jesse will bring him some extra special homecooked food dfghgf you could've just asked him, Cole)

Jay's probably the most normal one about being sick, and he's the type to wander around in a soft blanket, bemoaning his pain and agony to all within earshot, curled up on the couch watching shows all day, and if he's lucky he can talk Nya into feeding him some soup asfghk. He falls asleep on the couch, and one of the others will carry him back to bed.

Kai and Nya will fistfight their sicknesses. Being sick back in the before-times never stopped them from getting things done (or getting any potentially needed medicine), so they're used to just powering through it. Of course, hypocrites as they are, when the other is sick they'll be doing everything in their power to make sure they rest. Thankfully they have extra hands now.

Lloyd doesn't get sick often either (due to how his energy circulates on top of his melting pot of genes) but when he does he just tries to carry on about his day, but he'll stop talking and just grunts at things. He'll just bump into people when he wants to ask for something, and that usually tips off that something's wrong. They'll ask Lloyd if he wants to rest but he won't say anything because obviously he wants to, but as the Green Ninja he probably shouldn't—and the turmoil's written all over his face so Kai's usually the one dragging him to bed.

Like Zane, Jesse's usually the one doting on others when they're sick, but when he gets sick he just straight up shuts down and turns into a blob that suddenly can't move asdfghjgfd. When he sneezes or coughs, one of his tricks always unintentionally activates (due to using a hand motion to cover up his face) and that has led to some...interesting times. Only likes being doted on by specific people.

Miranda's already under careful watch 24/7, so her getting sick doesn't change much, only that she feels worse and thus is grumpier, especially if Jesse's hovering around because then he goes overboard with the care dfghjkl.

Like Jay, Antonia and Harumi are also pretty normal about getting sick, will skip a day or two of school when needed and just chill. However Antonia will be blowing up Jesse's phone constantly making sure she's not missing anything and Harumi will lose her mind from boredom and the lack of human interaction.

If Garmadon's not around, Olivia has absolutely no problems taking a day for herself and forcing some poor helpless goons to wait on her and bring her snacks, blankets, pillows, and whatever else asdfghjk. If Garmadon IS around–wait, what sickness? She's not sick. Total picture of health. Ready and reporting for duty, Boss.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hi slug! I love all your answers to the weird asks. They always make me smile. With that being said, I've come up with one of my own that hopefully has not been asked before. I don't know if you play many video games, but what do you think the favorite video game of each of the characters would be? If you can't think of a specific game, genres (rpg, fps, sandbox, etc.) also work!

I do play a fair variety of video games, so I've given this some thought.

Ichirou - I'm of two minds here. Since Ichirou is a big fan of isekai and other fantasy style manga and anime, I imagine he would also be into JRPGs. He probably also enjoys anime action games, such as the DBZ fighting games. We've also seen him play rhythm and gacha games (ARB) on his phone in the manga. That's mind one. Mind two says that the minute he turned 18, he nipped on down to Akihabara to acquire certain games featuring his top waifus that he would never show to Jirou and Saburou. If anyone on this list would play eroges, well... it'd be Ichirou.

Jirou - I think Jirou would play whatever Ichirou recommends, but he'd probably also enjoy sports games like FIFA. Jirou likes hanging out with people, so I doubt he'd play many single player games.

Saburou - In addition to playing chess with people online, as he does in the anime, Saburou probably enjoys strategy games like Total War or real-time strategy games like Starcraft II.

Samatoki - Samatoki doesn't seem like he'd be a big gamer, but I bet he has an old bright-pink DS with a copy of Nintendogs. Ostensibly, it was once Nemu's, but now he plays it religiously to take care of a toy poodle named Fang or something appropriately edgy.

Juuto - Judging by how he drives, Juuto seems like he'd enjoy racing games or Rocket League. Mad Trigger Crew tried playing Mario Kart once, and the resulting argument after Juuto beat Samatoki in Rainbow Road nearly went to blows before Riou broke it up.

Riou - Riou would enjoy the hell out of survival games, especially ones in which resource management is vital. He would also be enamored with Cooking Mama.

Ramuda - Ramuda probably knows how to play Dance Dance Revolution like an absolute fiend. In private, he works off his aggression with fighting games or shooters.

Gentarou - Gentarou plays games for the story, so he probably enjoys JRPGs and artsy-fartsy indie games. He also secretly plays gacha games, perhaps even ARB for the meta factor.

Dice - Dice seems like he'd play whatever you put in front of him provided the game is fast-paced enough. He would also be into playing poker online.

Jakurai - Ichirou tried showing Trauma Center to Jakurai once, but the lack of medical accuracy simply baffled Jakurai. Then Ichirou gave him a fishing simulator, and Jakurai took off. I could definitely see him having a World of Warcraft membership simply so he could sit in WoW and fish. I hear it's calming to do this.

Hifumi - Hifumi would enjoy party games and two-player games to try with Doppo. Between the two of them, I could see them enjoying a wide variety of genres.

Doppo - Doppo doesn't seem like he has the time for games anymore, but when he was younger, he probably enjoyed playing all sorts of things with or without Hifumi. I can picture them as teenagers bawling as the credits roll after a long, emotional RPG.

Sasara - Sasara doesn't seem like a big gaming type, as his interest lies more in TV and films. He might enjoy casual mobile games to pass the time between acts in his show.

Roshou - Roshou is into TV and sports nowadays, but I could see him enjoying video games more when he was younger. As he was kind of a rebel, he probably tried to play shooters and the like. Nowadays, he keeps them around just to threaten turning his skills on the unrepentant bastards who keep breaking into his house.

Rei - Is Rei a gamer? I can't picture that myself, but I can picture him being part of developing an addictive mobile game with predatory payment plans.

Kuukou - Kuukou seems like he'd enjoy video games. Action horror seems like right up his alley, along with the weirdest shit he can manage to find on the Playstation store. You know those games that have names like Fart Simulator or whatever? That's what I'm talking about.

Juushi - Juushi would like Castlevania for the aesthetic. He would definitely try to play Resident Evil with Kuukou but would be horrified by all the blood immediately.

Hitoya - Hitoya doesn't seem like much of a gamer either. However, Juushi might suggest one day that they play Ace Attorney. Hitoya would refuse at first but would finally be wheedled into it. "This is bullshit," he'd say, approximately two minutes in and every ten minutes or so afterward. But then later, he'd ask Juushi and Kuukou, "So when are you going to make me play that stupid game with the dumbass lawyer who looks like a hedgehog?" In this manner, they've worked their way through most of the series. He likes Miles Edgeworth as a character but refuses to admit it. He also complains about the helpers (Maya, Pearl, Kay, etc.) and says they remind him of Kuukou and Juushi. Naturally, this is because he adores all of them, but he refuses to admit that too.

[oswald-privileges]

ALL RIGHT BUT YOU ASKED FOR IT

Power of Three as a series is just. full of weaknesses, most of which come down to poor continuity and structure. I'm not gonna try and fix ALL of those, bc that'd be laborious as hell, but I will pick out things that I feel are the most egregious as case studies.

What Po3 does have, tho, is an absolutely shining strength in the concept of its three main characters. After twelve books of Blandly Heroic Protagonist Syndrome, Jayfeather is an absolute godsend. He's angry! He's rude! He's unhappy! He's not nice. I Love Him And He's My Son. Lionblaze has his invincible pride (hah) and emergent bloodlust, and Hollyleaf has her moral absolutism and certainty. These are good starting points for characters. Sadly, the lack of continuity undermines what could have been three really good character arcs.

So! I present to you:

HOW TO MAKE "WARRIORS: THE POWER OF THREE" NOT COMPLETELY SUCK ACCORDING TO MY PERSONAL TASTE; A NON-EXHAUSTIVE, NON-CONSECUTIVE LIST BY ME

ONE

- Have there be a persistant, overarching series threat. Sol is a character with amazing villain potential who does literally nothing except hang around, and do exactly 2 Bad Things completely off-screen. This Is Not Good.

- Instead, have him be present from the second book onwards- initially introduced as a friendly but enigmatic outsider who is slowly revealed across the series to be a complete black hole of a personality, a social parasite quietly rearranging whatever community he's a part of to just-so-happen to benefit him as much as humanly possible. His "preach individualism not starclan" methods are not so much values as one strategy out of many. (to those who know me- yes i have a type. no i will not apologise.)

- Maybe his ultimate goal is to dissolve and centralise the clans or something so that he can live out his life as a political puppetmaster in all the cat-luxury he likes. idk it's hard to imagine overall stakes for this rewrite BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL DOESN'T HAVE ANY

TWO

- For gods sake you don't have a series based on the premise of "the main characters develop super powers" and then only have the second power confirmed by the end of the fourth book. I understand the first book mostly focusing on Jayfeather- his powers are obvious from the start, he's got the strongest personality of the three, he gets access to most of the prophecy plot stuff because of them. But you NEED to have the other two show an interest in something concrete happening to them beyond that, and you need to at least hint towards the other two having something unique to them even if nobody clocks it yet.

- Have Jayfeather tell his siblings about the prophecy by the end of book two at the latest. The amount of time he spends noodling around not sharing it with them is inexcusable. It's not that it's out of character for him to hang onto a secret for a bit, it's just that there's no point and it slows everything down. It would be equally in character for him to go to his siblings and be like "look, i'm SPECIAL. well you as well but ALSO ME". Boy starts off as desperate for recognition, what can I say

THREE

- Have Jayfeather discover that StarClan don't withhold signs or information on purpose for the sake of "building courage and faith" or whatever nonsense. Seeing and communicating the future is metaphysically very difficult, so interpreting signs and messages is a genuine skill, or even an art. The cats of StarClan, however, really are just ghosts, much more similar to living cats than the currently living believe. This is the impotus for Jayfeather's discarding of his reverence for StarClan, which remains consistent throughout the series.

- Have Hollyleaf and Jayfeather both still change their cat careers in the first book, but put place more attention on the fact that they basically switched jobs. Have a scene where they end up yelling at each other, because can't the other see how lucky they have it? The tension breaks when they realise they've both lost something important to them- Jayfeather his chance to prove he's as capable as a sighted cat, and Hollyleaf her path to helping her clan in the way she thinks is best. They commiserate together, and reluctantly promise to do the best they can with their lots, so they don't waste the path the other wishes they'd taken. This closeness is eroded over the series as they disagree more and more on the subject of StarClan and its role in their moral choices and obligations.

FOUR

- Speaking of Hollyleaf! I nearly threw my phone across the room when the first Omen of the Stars book claimed that Hollyleaf "worked so hard to discover her power to help her clan". Where, Ms Erins??? I would have LOVED to have seen that!! Hollyleaf expresses absolutely no concern over the details of what power she has/will develop, and only has a couple of scenes even touching on her ambitions to help her clan. She has some vague ideas about becoming leader and like one scene where she gets to do some leadery things, but that never gets followed up on. What does happen is that the whole "warrior code" thing becomes more and more a part of her personality (for no clear reason) until she snaps.

- Hollyleaf going off the deep end is something I wanted so badly to get into and be moved by, because I could see where it comes from! Her moral certainty is fascinating, especially since it's based in something as abstract as the warrior code- which, when you think about it, isn't really... anything. There's no concrete set of rules that make it up, no traditional wording or cat philosophers, not even any fables. It's a handful of agreed-upon, common sense rules- don't cross boundaries, don't take prey that isn't yours, respect your ancestors, and don't murder. That's it!

- So, combining the above points, I think Hollyleaf not being one of the Three should stay, but both the audience and the characters are given good reason to believe she is. By around the third volume, make it so that Hollyleaf has found that her power is to get cats to "Do The Right Thing"- i.e. what she wants them to do. She sneaks off often to see Sol, who teachs her how to use this power. Her siblings are concerned about this new power, having already gotten a glimpse at what Sol can do, but she's confident that she can only use this power for good. Volume-specific plot happens, Sol manipulates her into causing him to win, she is shocked and horrified, and vows to stick ridgedly to what she knows is right i.e. The Warrior Code

- However, the more fervently she tries to stick to this abstract idea, the less it gives her results, the more her power seems to be failing. Believing that StarClan is taking her power away from her, she becomes caught up in a faith-guilt spiral that puts her in the position to snap at the end of the series. By that point it's clear to her siblings that Hollyleaf has no power- she was just very, very good at persuading people to do what she wanted.

FIVE

- Lionblaze is a girl now because I Said So. This Cat Is Trans And There's Nothing You Can Do About It.

- Her relationship with Heathertail stays the same- childhood sweethearts who are torn apart as they begin to understand the nature of the societal divides that exist between them.

- This can be used to contextualise the whole "half clan/outsider blood" thing as a cultural contradiction. In reality, inter- and outer- clan relationships aren't at all rare. They can't be, otherwise the whole society would be inbred out of existence in like five generations. But if at least one society of humans can spend a good 200 years pretending Sex Is Bad And Sinful Actually then cats can have persistant cat-racism in the face of all logic. Heathertail clocks this contradiction, Lionblaze doesn't.

- Her relationship-to-power arc doesn't need changing all that much either, other than starting much sooner and being more consistent. At first, she's completely overjoyed by her power, since unlike her siblings, it lines up so well with her ambition- become the finest warrior any of the clans have to offer. As the berserker rage aspect becomes more prevelent, she becomes more and more disturbed by the fact that she isn't disturbed by what she can do, and that she doesn't want the escalation of her power to stop.

- Tigerstar still does his thing, but Brambleclaw knows about it. He recognises the signs from when his father used to visit him, and tries to train Lionblaze in his own way. She ends up caught between wanting to be a good warrior, and testing the limits of her power.

SIX

- Jayfeather can stay basically the same because he's my perfect little angy boy and nothing needs to change. His arcs can be strengthened by having a more robust relationship with Yellowfang where they try to out-bitch each other, and coming to terms with his internalised ablism. Maybe he has a chat with Mothwing about faith a couple of times. Him furiously lashing out at being offered help transitions into an acceptence and understanding of his abilities more naturally. He never stops being A Grumpy Old Man.

- All fucking past-lives unexplained time travel goes in the BIN. Doesn't fucking happen. You can have that lore dump sprinkled across the books, or come from going deep into the tunnels and having a surreal meeting. Make it properly eldritch-level scary, shake Jayfeather's confidence in the idea of them being just a bunch of ghosts.

SEVEN

- Have the way Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight present very clearly as parents to the Three be explicitly, textually unusual. One of the things I liked so much about the first series was an almost total lack of emphasis on who was mated with who, and who was related or not. It felt very real to how feral cat colonies form, where raising kittens is a communal job. This gets completely dropped the moment series 2 starts and now the cats have monogamy.

- This emphasis on the family unit and fostering close relationships between parents and kittens is deliberate on the part of both Leafpool and Squirrelflight. Their aim is to cover for Leafpool so she doesn't lose her role as medicine cat- something she already gave up Crowfeather for before she was pregnant.

- In that little bit of backstory, have a robust reason for both Leafpool and Squirrelflight to leave the camp while Leafpool is pregnant and giving birth, possibly one that ties into the present day story in some minor way. I don't know how, it would just make that element of the story a lot more ground than "we left, the kits were born, then we came back and everyone was cool with it"

- When it comes to the "I am Not your mother" reveal, Jayfeather and Lionblaze are confused and hurt that they were lied to, but come to the reasonable conclusion that well, since they were raised mostly by Squirrelflight, saw Leafpool often, and are loved by both, they don't hate her. Lionblaze has something of a crisis over being half-clan, possibly initiating an attempted reunion with Heathertail. Jayfeather is more concerned with how other cats will think it makes him lesser, something he's still sensitive too.

- Hollyleaf, meanwhile, completely fucking snaps at the way her mother Violated Part Of The Code. It's a completely irrational reaction, but expected because she's been growing more and more reliant on The Code for the whole series, and less and less stable in her attempts to aid her clan and train to be its new leader.

- Squirrelflight is the one to murder Ashfur. This is easy to work out while reading- she's literally the only one of the four with a motive who isn't a perspective character. The mystery is less around finding out who did it, and more about why she did it (it's very ambiguous as to whether it was an accident or not). The main tension comes from who finds out when.

- Lionblaze is shocked, awed by how far she'd go to protect the three of them, and reassures her she did the right thing (as a way to salve her own uncertainty over her own longing for violence). Jayfeather makes it all about himself because he's Jayfeather- upset that he didn't know immediately, instead of, you know, figuring it out in a few hours because he can basically read minds. They try their best to hide it from Hollyleaf, who is already rattling around the final volume as a full-on antagonist, but are unsuccessful. This almost costs them something incredibly important- possibly Squirrelflight's life.

EIGHT

- the whole plot with the Tribe Of Rushing Water is a MASSIVE can of worms that could be removed from the series without issue. As it is:

- Characterize the Tribe as uncertain of how to fight other cats, because yes, they haven't had to do this before. DON'T characterise them as pathetic, doing whatever their leader says without thinking, and with ancestors who have Given Up

- Have some of the Tribe be really good at the violence. Worryingly good. Have others be sickened by what they're being asked to do.

- Have some of the clan cats reflect on what they've done. Hollyleaf would be all for introducing this society to jesus The Code, but even she might be horrified at being thanked by a tribe cat who can't wait to get out there and win themselves glory, only to be killed a few hours later

- The Tribe begin a new tradition of marking the walls in the mud they use as camoflage in order to commemorate their battles, and memorialise the fallen. One of the characters reflects on the fact that in a generation or two, the Tribe will feel like it's always been this way. How many of their own traditions- those that feel almost like natural law- started out the same way?

- Have Sol as the leader of the invaders, or maybe having insinuated himself into the tribe as a "mediator" and doing his charismatic cult leader thing.

NINE

- Cinderheart isn't a reincarnation of Cinderpelt. She's just named after her bc Cinderpelt saved her mother from a badger. this is because I think the reincanation thing is stupid and I can't think of a way to make it good.

TEN

- No more using tails as hand gestures like covering people's mouths. Never. None of it. It's expunged from existence.

Disclaimer: I haven't read Omen of the Stars yet, so I can't account for anything that might happen in that series that's grounded in Po3. I'm like... two thirds of the way through the first volume. I'm Not Impressed.