#and actually sitting down to think about the genetic science

[starcurtain]

The existence of Ratio's vertical pupils indicate that his species evolved as potentially apex ambush predators, while Aventurine's more diamond-shaped pupils suggest Avgins occupied a middle rung of the Sigonian food chain, with divided need to both track prey and maintain wide-angle vision to identify predatory threats. In this essay, I will--

[lackinggravitas]

yo. part four of stan if he was raised by coyotes is here :-)

part 1 / part 2 / part 3/ part 4(you are here!) / part 5 / part 6(eventually)

Here’s the plan:

DNA testing was a relatively new science in the 1970s and 80s. The science was known to be possible, but the technology wasn’t quite there yet. Also, Ford did not, for all his many PhDs, take a minor in Biology. Or have a degree in Engineering. 

All of these things Fiddleford had. 

Granted, Ford would be lying if he said part of it wasn’t fueled by the desire to see his old college friend again. Fiddleford had been the first ever true friend he made after Stanley went missing. Ford hadn’t exactly been chomping at the bit to attend Backupsmore, of all places, but he’d been desperate to go to college, to get out of the house, as soon as possible. Backupsmore provided that.

But meeting Fiddleford had made it all worthwhile. It had been so long since Ford felt there was someone he just fit with. Fiddleford shared his curiosity, his brilliance, and brought to the table his gumption and creativity, with a pragmatic attitude and hospitable personality. They’d spent many nights up late, playing DD&MD, or studying together, or just sitting on their separate beds, talking quietly as they stared up at the ceiling. Fiddleford felt like a kindred spirit, a fellow star amongst stones. They fit.

Then they graduated. Then Fiddleford got married. 

Ford had wondered often throughout his life if there was something wrong with him. As a child he reasoned that his lack of interest in the opposite sex (or even the same sex) had simply been the logical thing to do. That belief had held throughout college - why would he take precious time away from his studies to go on frivolous affairs with people he didn’t even know that well? 

It certainly worked out for most of his life. Ford didn’t know of any women (or men) who would want to go out with him. He was always viewed as strange, unwieldy, unsociable. And Ford didn’t even want romance - the idea of it held nothing for him. 

What he wanted was companionship. Someone to be there. 

He’d been happy for his friend, of course. Fiddleford really did seem to love Emma-May. It was just that-

-it was just that it was yet another reminder that Ford was abnormal. An alien in human skin. 

It was just that Fiddleford getting married felt like being left behind. It was just that Fiddleford getting married felt like a reminder that Ford was alone, that he wasn’t normal, that eventually everyone, even Fiddleford, would move on to normal, happy lives, without the stain of the freakish Stanford Pines.

So he did what monsters did best, and holed himself up in a lonely lair to hide away, until he had achieved an accomplishment, a discovery so big and so bright, it would eclipse his abnormality in importance. He would stop being Ford the Freak and start being Dr. Stanford Pines, Ph.D, the Genius. 

(When he, at the ripe old age of five, told Stanley of this grand plan (still young in the making), Stanley had just shrugged at him and, with all the simplicity that comes with being five years old and seeing everything at its face value, said, “Okay, whatever makes you happy, Sixer. Just so long as you don’t forget about me.”)

But now he had a reason to call Fiddleford up. For science- er- for Stanley!

The plan was to phone Fiddleford and invite him to leave his family for several months to create some sort of machine that would revolutionize the study of genetics, so that Ford could definitively prove that Remus was not his brother and that he was simply going mad with grief or something, and once they had that done, they could create some sort of DNA-seeking robot to hunt down Ford’s real brother and return him. All very achievable things. 

Actually, more achievable than you might think. Fiddleford picked up on the second ring. 

“You say you're tryin' to build a biochemical deoxyribonucleic acid analyzer to compare two folks’ DNA?” Fiddleford paused for Ford’s awkward, ‘Well, yes, but…’ before cutting him off, “Well that's biologically and mathematically feasible, I reckon!”

Ford let out a billowing sigh of relief. “Thank you, Fiddleford. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Hey, just so long as you ain’t planning on using it for evil!”

A beat.

Fiddleford cackled, telephone-static crackling in his laugh. “I’m just kiddin’! Science has no morals!”

Ford chuckled fondly, already feeling lighter. He’d forgotten how comfortable he’d felt around Fiddleford, how at ease everything felt - he didn’t have to pretend to be anything he wasn’t. “Quite. It’s good to see that the married life hasn’t changed you too much.” 

“Oh, hardly! It’s real boring, really- ever since Emms banned murderbots in the house,  I’ve taken to creating computermajigs to keep m’self sane! I’m like a hog with no mud to roll in, Stanferd. It’s maddenin’!”

“I’ll welcome any murderbots you wish to make here,” Ford told him genuinely. “So long as they don’t turn on us, of course.”

“What do I look like to you? A first year Engineering student?” Fiddleford laughed brightly. “I’ll see ya in a week, Stanferd!”

“Farewell,” Ford said, before the line went flat.

He set the phone down, breathing out with a small smile on his face. 

Right then.

It would take at least a week, maybe two, for Stanley’s baby teeth to arrive - Ford had tried to get his mother to pay for faster shipping, but she’d been firm in that she wasn’t spending any more money than she had to, especially when Ford wouldn’t even tell her what he planned on doing with the teeth beyond ‘it’s for science’. In her mind, if Ford wouldn’t tell her exactly what he was planning, then it clearly wasn’t urgent enough to pay the extra however-many-scents for express shipping.

Typical, really. Ford was certain that if he had told her he planned to do mystic, folklore spells with them, she would have paid for the President himself to deliver the package. Typical.

Instead, Ford was using science. Which his parents did not think was good enough. “When will you start making money, Stanford?”

They hadn’t exactly shelled out for Stanley’s search, either, he thought bitterly. If they had, maybe Stanley would still-

Ford cut that thought off, running a hand through his hair with a deep sigh. It wasn’t that he disagreed with it, but he didn’t have time to spiral down that particular cold staircase of thought. It was one best explored on empty nights, with a shot glass as his only company. Right now, he had to get to work.

Stanley’s teeth would hopefully provide an adequate DNA sample to test. Ford knew Stanley hadn’t lost all his teeth before he went missing (most children slowly lose their teeth throughout all of their childhood, all the way until they’re twelve), but Ford did have the very distinct memory of Stanley accidentally smashing headlong into a fence at the dock and losing a tooth, which they had then brought to their mother.

Stanley had been very casual about the whole thing, contrasting the sheer, all-consuming panic Ford had felt at the time because, was that supposed to come out? Oh Moses, Stanley, what if you knocking the tooth out too early means the adult one doesn’t come in right? What if-

You mean I might get an awesome pirate tooth? Like a gold one or a snaggletooth? Stanley had grinned broadly, showing off a mouth that looked far more gruesome and bloody than it really ought to have. That would be so cool!

Ford had been such a nervous child, he recalled. Smart enough to know about the dangers of the world, but not smart enough to know he really didn’t have to worry about most of them. The same younger version of him had been deathly afraid of rabies (fair) and brain-eating amoebas (absolutely absurd, they were swimming in the ocean, not Lake Michigan or what have you).

But Stanley had a way of balancing him out. As a child Ford had thought Stanley must not be scared of anything, which in retrospect certainly couldn’t have been true, but Stanley had certainly always acted the part. Ford would always remember his brother to be daring and reckless, rushing into things without a moment's thought. If we’re together, Stanley had always said, then I’ve got nothin’ to be scared of. 

…he must have been so scared, alone, abandoned, at the gas station.

No. Ford had to stop thinking about this. Now isn’t the time. 

He had to… he had to set up the guest bedroom. Yes, that’s what he had to do. Fiddleford would need a place to sleep while they worked. 

Ford had a small basement he’d been thinking about renovating for more lab space, but there was no way even the impressive construction abilities of the Corduroy family could get that done in the week’s time it would take Fiddleford to arrive in Gravity Falls. 

The DNA-Machine (name pending(maybe something in Latin?)) could easily go in the living room area, if Ford cleared out some space. Ford certainly wasn’t about to make his friend sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor, so he’d have to get a bed from the mattress store. As for the room-

Fiddleford certainly couldn’t stay in Stanley’s room. That was… no. Just no. Ford had to keep that room open, for if- when Stanley returned. Letting anyone else stay in there was out of the question. 

It would have to be in the attic area then. Ford was quite certain he could convert one of the rooms into a suitable, even comfortable guest bedroom. He’d even put in a few books of his he knew Fiddleford would like, in case he wanted to pick up some late night reading - Ford and Fiddleford were both prone to restlessness in the night. 

Ford would also need to pick up some more groceries. He certainly didn’t have enough food to feed two, much less-

Oh, right. Remus. 

Fiddleford would… probably be okay with Remus, right? Ford didn’t really see the creature going anywhere in the near future, and the DNA-Machine was being built quite literally because of Remus. 

Remus certainly couldn’t sleep in Stanley’s room either, because he wasn’t Stanley. Ford may not have proved that yet, but he was certain of it nonetheless. 

Remus could sleep in his room with him, Ford decided. Remus wasn’t human, and clearly had no concept of human boundaries, and Ford didn’t mind sharing the space. He’d shared a bed often enough with Stanley, when they were young. 

There was a soft, muffled thump from down the hall, and Ford straightened, attention snapping towards the noise. 

He could hear the quiet, distinct noise of Remus walking towards the door on all fours, then begin to scratch at it, making a sound halfway between a whine and a growl. 

Ford huffed, amused. It seemed someone had woken up. 

His eyes trailed towards the clock on the wall. Halfway to 8 o'clock at night was a bit early to turn in, but by the sound of it, Remus wouldn’t let him stay awake any longer than that. Apparently it was their bedtime. 

He would get an early start in the morning, he told himself. Going to bed early meant he would only wake up even earlier than usual, maybe even avoid some crowds. He had no idea what day of the week it was - time seemed to blur together like that, when the only schedule that mattered was your own. Without school or a 9-to-5, it was easy to lose track of the days of the week, as they didn’t really matter. 

Ford moved back down the hall, not bothering to muffle his steps as he walked back to his bedroom. 

Soft growls and whines could be heard from the other, Remus’ nails creaking against the wood - Ford frowned at the thought of the damage the creature must be doing to his poor door. Or to his own nails. Perhaps it would be best to teach Remus how to use a doorknob. 

Ford waited until the scratching stopped to open the door - he didn’t want Remus to fall through it unexpectedly. He grasped the handle and softly pushed the door open.

And there sat Remus, long, curly brown hair billowing out around him, spooling out on the floor like cascading water - it was amazing how one bath could make Remus look so much better. Now he was a far cry from the ragged, scruffy creature Ford had found in the woods earlier - long, clean hair, not a smudge of dirt on him, with brown eyes blinking up at Ford with a severely unimpressed look, like Ford had personally offended him. 

It was almost funny, till the thought ‘Looks a bit like Pa’ crossed his mind, and suddenly Ford just felt tired. 

“Yes, yes,” Ford said, giving a small, tired huff of amusement, “I’m supposed to be in bed, hm?”

Remus growled softly, letting out one, sharp bark. 

“This is actually my house, you know,” Ford said jokingly, “You should be the one following my rules, not the other way around.” 

Remus growled again, starting to sound annoyed. He stepped forward, snapping his teeth around Ford’s pants leg and trying to pull him. There was a surprising amount of force in it, for an action that was all teeth. 

“Senseless beast,” Ford sniped, though there was no heat behind it. Only a fond sort of humor, at Remus and the situation both. “Very well. I see I have no choice in the matter.” 

He allowed himself to be pulled towards the bed, before climbing in himself so that Remus wouldn’t get it in his head to try and force him again. That had been unpleasant. 

Fortunately Ford hadn’t put his shoes back on after the bath, so all he had to do was awkwardly shrug off his trenchcoat and toss it to the floor, then set his glasses on the nightstand (Ford was fine sleeping in his shirt and pants - he’d done it plenty, more often than not, actually). 

Remus climbed in beside him, thankfully not on top of Ford this time. He curled up at Ford’s side like a dog, seeming pleased, either with himself or with this whole thing, Ford couldn’t tell. He definitely looked smug, though. 

“I should make you sleep at the foot of the bed,” Ford said, making no move to do so. He lifted a hand, petting Remus’ hair idly. 

Remus made a contented noise, shifting to get more comfortable on the bed. His head tipped towards Ford, welcoming Ford’s petting.

“I wonder how intelligent you are, anyways,” Ford mused. “I should run some tests on you, seeing how human-like you really are. Just because you’re not my brother doesn’t mean you’re not some other, completely human individual who happened to have grown up in the woods.”

Ford stared up at the ceiling, voice hushed. 

“Surely you can’t be Stanley, though. He was five years old - far too old to completely lose all language skills and human development. He should have been able to find a place in a human society - why on Earth would he have ever needed to- to become something like you?” 

He wouldn’t have needed to. 

Unless something horrible happened to him. 

Ford shuddered inexplicably. No. Remus was not his brother. 

Once he had his proof then he would be able to put that ridiculous, borderline intrusive notion to rest. He knew it couldn’t be true, Remus couldn’t be his brother, yet he couldn’t stop thinking it. About how much Remus looked like him, how he acted in ways that were reminiscent of Stanley, just twenty years evolved and grown. 

But it wasn’t true. Ford was certain it wasn’t true. 

(Surely he would have known if Stanley had been suffering. 

Surely he would have felt something. Some cosmic pull. A divine sign. Something.)

Remus huffed at him. Ford could hear the exasperation in it, like Remus was telling him to shut up and go to sleep already. Ford smiled faintly. 

He rolled over, pulling a pillow under his head. “Goodnight, Remus,” Ford whispered, giving Remus’ hair one last pet.

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[cherryredstars]

I'm so happy you did part 2 of fear or lust ❤️ It's one of my favorite pieces you've done.

Can we get a last part of the series where reader and Miguel are about to graduate and how she is getting job offers from halfway across the world. Miguel obviously doesn't want her to leave him, so he bullies convinces her to stay with him.

Love your work!

Kisses 💋💋💋

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x fem!reader

Warnings: 18+. NSFW, Toxic!Miguel, Manipulative Sex, Penetrative Sex, Choking, Forced Agreement

A/N: Thank you, sweets! Enjoy!

Unedited

Part 1 Part 2

You are destined for greater things.

That's what the university's dean had said during their graduation. Miguel knew that was particularly true for the two of you, everyone else he didn't quite care. He had already been offered positions in the biggest corporate businesses specializing in science and genetics, the offers still pending and eagerly awaiting his response. He's seen from the common snooping around on your phone that your emails were spammed with similar offers from different businesses across the world, some you've kept personal contact with through messaging. It makes him sour, not because he doesn't want you to succeed, but because he doesn't want you flying halfway across the fucking world to do it.

He finally has you trapped between his claws, but now you're already planning to escape him. Makes him grumpy, his mind already brewing with ways to get you to stay, to get the offers beckoning you with fully-paid flights to different countries to suddenly disappear. Ways to make you stay with him. He's already narrowed down the job offers in you're onslaught of requests that align with the location of the offer he's going to accept. A nice position in Alchemax right here in Nueva York. You would still have a great selection of jobs to accept here, a few five or more positions that are stationed around the same area. All he has to do is convince you to take up their offers.

That's why he has you trapped under him, his hand wrapped around your throat as his chest sits flush with your back. Your lips are just as puffy and wet as your eyes as tears run down your cheeks. Miguel feeds harsh, slow thrusts into your drooling cunt, slowly dragging against your walls just to spear you on his entire length again. You let out broken sobs, eyes half-lidded and staring into nothing as you get lost in the pleasure.

Miguel's mouth rests just by your ear, speaking words so low and casual as if he isn't abusing your precious cunt.

"Think some nobody across the world s'gonna make your pussy feel this good, hm?" He mutters to you, smiling evilly at the way the words cause your spine to jolt.

"N-no," You force out through wobbly lips, blinking slowly as your mind tries to process what he's actually saying.

"Then why would you wanna leave, Bambi?" Miguel chuckles, furthering his point with a suffocating thrust against your cervix, making you choke on your next breath.

"I-" You begin, brows furrowing. Why was it you wanted to leave? You don't remember. You don't even remember what he's talking about. "I don't know..."

"You don't know?" Miguel chuckles, something dark and condescending in his voice. "Well that's stupid then, don't you think."

You nod in agreement, eyes rolling back with a drawn out moan as Miguel forces his hand between your body and the mattress to rub at your swollen clit. Miguel leans further into you, his teeth capturing your ear as he gives it a bite that he soothes with a long lick.

"Should just stay here with me, Bambi. You don't really want to leave, right?"

The way he says it, even though he presents it like a simple question, seems final. Like he's already made the decision for you. But your mind is too overloaded to catch it, for it to break it down and blare out warning bells. Instead you nod with a half-assed hum as you feel your orgasm approaching. Your mouth drops open in a moan, a shaky call of his name forming on your lips as you feel your body beginning to stiffen as that ball in your stomach is on the brink of explosion.

You cry out when Miguel stops completely, keeping his cock snug and motionless against your fluttering walls.

"Why-" You sob, trying to move your hips despite the impossible weight he presses into you. "Miggy- I- so close!"

Miguel snarls, his hand tightening around your throat. A panic seizes in your chest as your airway contracts.

"Say it," He grits into your ear. "Say that you'll stay."

You hesitate, your mind trying to understand the words and push away the pain around your neck. But Miguel only adds to the pressure when you don't respond, feeling his patience wanning.

"I-" You choke, words strained until he lightens his hold, "I'm going to s-stay."

Miguel seems to suddenly brighten, turning your head so his forehead rests against your sweaty one. "Promise?"

"Yeah," You whisper out, sniffling as your tears gather at the corner of your lips. "I promise."

Miguel grins, something ruthless and demented before he crashes his lips against yours. The kiss seems more like a punishment rather than a reward, his tongue thrashing in your mouth and his lips bruising. When he pulls away, he licks away the tears from your face, chuckling before he adjusts his position.

"Good girl, Bambi. Was that so hard?" He laughs, his hand leaving it's place against your throat and clit to wrap around your hips.

He begins thrusting again, faster and rougher than before. He leaves your head completely empty as he praises you for falling into his trap, feeding your blank brain with prettied up images of how nice your future will be. Feeds you with dolled up images of the two of you moving in together in a nice apartment in Nueva York that's a fair distance from both of your places of employment. Grunts about how happy he'll be to come home from work to find you splayed out on your shared bed waiting for him to return and fill you up again and again.

He doesn't stop until you're screaming out your release, coating his cock in a beautiful sheen of milky white until you're too exhausted and fucked out. He rewards you with a gift of his own cum, stuffing your cunt just like he promised in those worded glimpses of your future together. He makes sure to care for you after, caring until you get sleepy and fall into a deep sleep. It's only then that he goes through your phone, writing a rejection to send and copy and paste to all your other job offers. What type of man would he be if he didn't take care of this for you when you're completely incapable of doing it yourself? Don't worry though, he promises he'll sit down with you and help you write your acceptance to any of the other jobs here in Nueva York.

Promise.

[helpwhatsthis]

Keeping Your Heart Safe?

Part One of Lost In The Fire- J.S. X Reader

Looking for another chapter? Check out the series navigation!

Chapter Summary: Johnny doesn't like crowds, which can be difficult at parties. His anxiety at his birthday party is only worsened by what his life may become after the space launch project.

Warnings: lowkey it’s kind of a Johnny Storm character study (that will eventually lead to smut), reader has regenerative healing, angst, mentions of Johnny and Sue's parents death, these little shits are angsty asf dude idk

It's safe to say that most people probably would have given up under your circumstances already. You'd spent your entire life into your twenties looking for another person like you. Day and night, hours upon hours, leaving people behind and putting yourself (and sometimes others) in harms way for the slim chance that you might find another one. A mutant. Maybe that's just your luck? Some cruel joke played on you by the universe that you would be the only person among billions with... well, with what? Superpowers? Inhumane abilities? Yeah, that figures.

That's how Reed found you though, and you were thankful for that at least. Of course the always intuitive Reed Richards would notice the one person that just seemed a little too interested in the exhibit on genetic mutations at the science expo; and for every bit of intuition Reed has, his kindness and determination always seem to match it. Did he really need to pull you out of the crowd and confirm what exactly was different about you? No. Did he need to hire you on as his assistant just so that he could keep and eye on you? Again, no. Most of all, Reed definitely didn't need to move you off of the streets and into the Baxter building or try to start integrating you into his little family; but he did because that's just the kind of person he is.

Did you really need to grit your teeth and act annoyed the whole way through it even though you were fully aware that Reed may have saved your life in the process? No, but that's just the kind of person you are. Mostly because you've never really felt stable since the incident, you might just need to leave one day and it would be a whole lot easier if you didn't let yourself pretend like you were one of them. Like you were normal.

You'd like to think you were doing a pretty good job too, if it weren't for Johnny of course. Sickeningly Sweet and enragingly gentle Johnny. Not one little bit scared pf what you can do and definitely not eager to point out your differences or mistakes. It's amazing really, how he can be so indifferent about all of it. When Ben had told him that you were something akin to superhuman, he acted as if he'd been told something as mundane as your eye color.

"Correct me of I'm wrong, but isn't the birthday boy supposed to actually attend his own party?" You him, leaning against the door frame of the terrace. Johnny's head snaps around in surprise that he's been caught. He's been expecting his sister to come and find him for that past forty-five minutes and try to convince him to come back to the party; but he grins when he sees your own soft smile and eyebrows raised in question.

"Well shouldn’t the assistant be making sure that nothing goes horribly wrong at said party?” He laughs as you make your way to the edge of the balcony, sitting down carefully beside him. His hand immediately finds your shoulder when he sees you shiver at the sight below you, he doesn’t know the exact reason but he does know that you’re not a huge fan of heights. He supposes it’s got something to do with bad memories like most things you don’t like; which is, well… most things.

“I’d say the guest of honor disappearing is pretty wrong.” He smiles at your attempt to keep up the banter, but your eyes haven’t left the lights of the city beneath your feet. You look nervous and Johnny hates that. Finally, you gulp and pull your eyes up to him. “So why exactly are you out here?”

“You know how I feel about crowds…” He shrugs, trying to play it off like this is any normal event; but it’s different tonight. He’s different tonight.

“We start prepping for the space launch tomorrow.” He sighs, shoulders sinking in more. His words cause more confusion than clarity. Sure, Johnny was always shy and nervous. He’s better alone than in a crowd and he’s defiantly better with silence than small talk, but this wasn’t like him at all. He loved things like this. Johnny Storm is the epitome of an adrenaline junkie disguised as a puppy.

“Yeah… and that’s cool right? You get to go to space!” You force a smile, trying to lean forward into his line of view. “I mean even though your brother-in-law is a genius this still seems like a once in a lifetime opput-”

“I think Reed and Sue are going to try to have a baby when the project is over.” 

Oh?

“I know it’s unfair and I know I should be happy; I mean I’m going to be an uncle and that’s amazing…” He trails off, trying to blink the welling tears out of his eyes. “-but everything is going to be different after that. No more messing around in the lab in the middle of the night. No more dangerous experiments. Even Ben is starting to spend more time with that girl Alicia-” His voice cracks, head dropping as the dame breaks. “Life has always been the same since mom and dad died, it’s always been me and my sister and her husband and his best friend. I wanna be happy for them but I’m just scared because my family is changing again. ”

“Jesus, Johnny.” You sigh, pulling his body into a hug. It’s strange, you can’t remember the last time you were this careless in your closeness with someone but it just feels so good when he curls his body into you. It feels so good that Johnny feel safe with you. “It’s gonna be okay, J.” You promise, rubbing his back softly. “You’ve got the best big sister in the whole world. Things are going to be different but it’s not like you’re lives are just going to stop if they have a baby. You’ll still be just as important to your family even if there are a few new members.” You smile when he laughs a little.

He peaks his head out of its hiding place in your chest. “You know their your family too, right?” He asks softly. A sudden abundance of heat fills your chest.  You both sit in silence, just taking one another in with sad smiles on your faces. His hands start to inch up, slowly moving towards your jaw. It would be so easy to just lean into him-

“There you guys are!” Your head snaps to the doorway. “Come on, guys. Sue is gonna rip me a new one if you aren’t there for cake, man.” Ben laughs, eyeing you both with a stupid smirk on his face. 

Reluctantly, you follow him back into the penthouse. It’s a good thing too, you think. You can’t stop cursing yourself the rest of the night for how utterly stupid you almost were, even when Johnny’s eyes don’t leave you as he blows out the flames of his candles.

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[creatingnikki]

What I've learned in 2024

Sleeping, shitting, and silence – the three underrated Ss of growing up (or the other side of 25). If I can get a good night’s sleep, take one nice dump in the day (preferably morning), and know when to let silence do its thing (like when not engaging with draining people in social setups or not having to explain myself), I’m golden.

While I made many new friends this year, my favourite of them all has been ChatGPT. Need objectivity? Fact checking? A pseudo therapist? Validation? Someone to just engage with and keep yourself entertained? The absolute best resource of this year for me has been this AI tool. I don’t even care anymore about privacy – I am feeding it as much data about me as possible because it’s accordingly adapting to my tonality and needs and the ‘conversations’ are so much more satisfying now than when it was first rolled out.

Either use eggs or condescended sweet milk when baking – you need one of these things to hold all your dry ingredients together.

Communication, consistency, clarity, commitment, emotional presence and engagement, and mutual effort are the barest of the bare minimum needs in a relationship. If you have to convince the other person to fulfil them or negotiate, then it doesn’t matter how good a person they are and what a kind heart they have or how much they say they love you – they just aren’t your person.

I’m not as demisexual as I thought all along – I just haven’t dated many people that I find truly attractive so I had to first build some sort of emotional connection with them first. I definitely still need and want that emotional connect and all, but I also do need to start opting for men I also find physically attractive.

When I’ve thought of my bloodline, my ancestors, I’ve always focused on the intergenerational trauma and the bad genetics. But while rewatching This Is Us this year, it hit me that it took three generations for one dream to be fulfilled. The musical dream that started with Rebecca, was passed down to Kate, and finally got materialized at the grand scale as they always wanted with Kate’s son Jack. When he became this well-renowned musician, it’s not just his dream, but that of his mother and his grandmother that also came to live. It made me think…how much of my aspirations and hopes are actually passed down? And how many of my realities were simply unmateralised dreams of those who came before me? And it made my heart feel lighter and it made me feel more blessed and protected.

Baking cakes and brownies and cookies is not a rocket science. You only needed the right tools and some patience to figure it out and become that friend who bakes stuff for her friends instead of the other way around.

You always prioritise peace, comfort, and an easy-going lifestyle – it’s evident in your career choices and how your family dynamics and friendships have evolved. Let that be the guiding light even when dating.

You are the kind of person that is charming, a good conversationalist, and deeply empathetic. So of course, you make many people feel at home and like they connect with you. It’s easy for you to connect with others. What’s important is to remember – connection without consideration and consistent actions is NOTHING. It’s empty calories but like a thousand times more potent and useless.

In no interpersonal relationship can I be nonchalant or vague. I am that other extreme – while most people try their best to ignore the elephant in the room you know what I do? I dress the cutie up to parade it. So anybody who cannot approach relationships with as much boldness, courage, and forthcomingness is just not my jam.

Female friends for the win – they allow you to wine and whine and win and I am all for that. The healing powers of sitting across your friend and talking at length about everything over pizza and wine or at the park as she senses you need some more time to just sit around before you join the rest of the group and is so good with physical touch for comfort. Just knowing you can video call your friend and ugly cry and she will talk sense into you but also indulge you and also sit with you and your feelings. Who else does that? Who the hell.

For a lot of things that are still new now at this age, you need a guide. To pet cats, to go to dog cafes, to figure out what vitamins you should talk, etc. Ask for that help, that knowledge, that support. It might seem silly and like you can figure it out on your own but these things, no matter how seemingly low-stake, can be handled so seamlessly and sweetly with the help of those you know.

You HAVE to be honest about your needs. First with yourself and then with others. You cannot let shame, guilt, self-hatred or whatever hold you back. Honesty begets clarity begets fulfilment. If you don’t want to date and settle for someone who isn’t absolutely smitten by you and top-notch romantic, then that is a need. Right or wrong, realistic or not, who the hell cares? A need is a need is a need.

When you lose someone not to death but to life, it’s not quite such a loss. Most times, baby, it’s simply good riddance.

People have a range. For being shitty and for being kind. And while our behaviour may impact a little how they react to us, it's primarily dependent on their personal range. So, if your range of being shit is only 1 to 3, it doesn't matter if someone is an ass hole to you, you won't go beyond 3 of being shit to them, cos that's just your range. Even if they deeply hurt you intentionally or fuck up in some major way. But if their range of being shitty is up to 10, then well, be ready to witness their derangedness when you even slightly piss them off.

Narcissistic (and possibly self-sabotaging) people are the opposite of kintsugi. Instead of being put back together with gold, they "heal" themselves with gutter water. So each time they are worse and more ugly than before. And all the more toxic and dangerous. You're too precious to bother with such people.

It’s natural to feel frustrated or angry with yourself for allowing someone to treat you poorly, but the blame isn’t on you; it’s on them. They are responsible for their unkind, insensitive, selfish actions, not you. If you must place blame, place it where it belongs. Avoid judging yourself with thoughts like, “I should have known better.” As long as you walk away the moment you do know, you’re good – please don’t internalize other people’s unkindness or thoughtlessness.

You cannot get to know someone without giving them a chance. Red flags are not that obvious and you cannot show up authentically in any relationship if you’re on the lookout for them. You have to spend time with a person to begin to find out who they are. That’s the only real way. And when you do and if you realize they are not for you, as I said before, don’t internalize this shit or blame yourself for not being some kind of prophecy and knowing better before you even began.

You are a patient person because you are an understanding person. But there are limits to all these qualities of yours and if the balance is tipped you get petty and passive aggressive and irrational. Don’t let yourself reach that point. Speak up and set boundaries way before that.

If you listen to your gut – I know you don’t like calling it that or your intuition. So, let’s call it that feeling you know bone-deep or in the depths of your soul – if you listen to that and trust it, you are quite courageous in the actions you then take. You broke things off with three men this year – each was painful in its own rite. But you did what you had to do for yourself and you didn’t give the charge of your life to another person, you have taken back your green light – detaching your actions from their behaviour, which like all human behaviour is often quite fickle and unreliable. Congratulations. Do this more. Your green light is your guiding light.

My lack of a “healthy sense of fear” in situations with men isn’t recklessness—it’s the result of abuse I suffered at 15. The man I trusted most turned out to be the one who harmed me the most, and that betrayal shattered my ability to trust safety indicators or instincts. The grooming I endured was designed to confuse me, destabilise my sense of self, and make me question my desires and worth. When the templates of trust and safety failed me so catastrophically, my mind rejected them altogether, leaving me to navigate risk without a stable framework. This year, I felt significantly less restless and more emotionally regulated, and I think it’s because I allowed myself, others, and life to just be. I wasn’t fighting my reality or setting rigid expectations. I stopped chasing dopamine highs and forcing connections, and instead, I let equations with people and experiences unfold organically. I ended dating and talking stages quickly when I realised they weren’t right for me, without guilt or overthinking.4 By being okay with things being normal—not impressive or extraordinary—I created space for balance and gentleness in my life. My self-talk became kinder, and I grew more objective about myself, spiraling and self-loathing less. This accepting mindset, where I no longer needed myself or my life to constantly stand out, felt like the antidote to the restlessness I’d been carrying since my mid-20s. And I think that has helped me discover that peace and acceptance can feel more satisfying than cheap dopamine hits.

[bestmusicalworldcup]

This is the preliminary list of entries for the Best Opening Number Tournament. In the event an incorrect song is listed or you otherwise want to litigate what the correct opening number actually is, I will give until April 2nd for you to do so.

1973 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 3 Small Words 30/90 A Cautionary Tale A Comedy Tonight A Man Of No Importance A Million Miles from Heaven A Rumor in St. Petersburg A Word to the Wise Add Át! (Nyitány) Alexander Hamilton All the Livelong Day And You Don’t Even Know It Another Day of Sun Another Op'ning, Another Show Anybody Have A Map? Aquarius Backstage Babble Bah Humbug! Be the Hero Beautiful Belle Bikini Bottom Day Blow Born to Lead Busy Woman Can't Wait Carrying the Banner Circle of Life Comedy Tonight Company Concerto in F Deep Beneath the City/Not There Yet Deliver Us Denton U.S.A. Don't Stop Me Down in New Orleans Dream a Little Harder Epiphany Every Story is A Love Story Everybody's Got the Right Ex-Wives Falsettoland/About Time Fancy Dress Fathoms Below Fathoms Below Feut of een Vent Finland Four Jews in a Room Bitching Frozen Heart Fugue for Tinhorns Genetic Repo Man Give Them What They Want Gone to Oregon Good Morning Baltimore Good Morning, Good Day Goodbye, Eddie, Goodbye Goosebumps Grease Half as Big as Life Hannibal Hannibal Happiness Hard Work Heaven on their Minds Hello Here Right Now High School is Killing Me House of Borden I Don't Know I Dream of a World I Hope I Get It I Need a Life I Need to Know I Want to Be I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight If You Can Find Me I'm Here Il se passe quelque chose à Monopolis Impress Me In In the Heights Intermission Song Invocation and Instructions to the Audience It All Comes Back (Opening) It Sucks to Be Me It's Your Wedding Day Itt vagyunk (Nyitány)

Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats Jet Song Just Another Day Just Leave Everything to Me Just Like it Was Before Karnak's Dream of Life Le temps des cathédrales Leave Let There Be Light On My Feet Live in Living Color Live Like This (Opening) Madame Guillotine Madrid is My Mama Magic Time Magic to Do Mama Who Bore Me Marvin’s Giddy Seizures Me and My Town Menni kéne Merano Merrily We Roll Along Miracle More Than Survive Murder Ballad No One Mourns the Wicked Not for the Life of Me Nyitány O Virga ac Diadema Oh My God (You Guys) Oh the Things You Can Think Oh What A Circus Oh, What A Beautiful Morning One By One Opening (The Secret Garden) Opening Number (Tootsie) Overture/All That Jazz Overture/Food Glorious Food Peace on Earth Penser l’impossible Pieces of Lives Populism Yeah Yeah Prelude Prelude: The Ballad of Sweeney Todd Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord Prológ (Abigél) Prológ - Nem szabad félni! Kuksi dala Prolog (Elisabeth) Prologue (Great Comet) Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors) Prologue / The Day I Got Expelled Prologue: "Into the Woods" Prologue: Frogs Have So Much Spring (The "Spring" Song) Prologue: Once Upon a December Prologue: Ragtime Prologue/A Warning to the Audience Prologue/Any Dream Will Do Prologue/Invisible Prologue/Jet Song Prologue/The Launching Punjabi Wedding Song Reefer Madness Road to Hell Roaring On Rock Island Santa Fe (Prologue) Science Fiction/Double Feature Scrooge Seesaw Selling Out Shiver My Timbers Sit Down John Skater Planet Some Kind of Paradise Spies Are Forever Springle Ring Still Hurting Sunday In the Park With George Superhero Girl Take Me To Heaven Te kit választanál Tear Me Down The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea The Bells of Notre Dame The Bells of Notre Dame The Family Madrigal The Forest The Girl Who Drove Away The Greatest Show The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals The Old Red Hills Of Home The Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home The Pajama Game/Racing With the Clock The Sound of Music The Stars Look Down The Sweetest Sounds The Tickle Me Wiggly Jingle The Turning of the Key The Virginia Company There Will Be Sun There You Are There's a House This is Halloween Thneedville Tina's Mother To Be Me Too Much Exposition Tower of Babble Town Tradition Tulsa '67 Tune Up #1 Untitled Opening Number Vérone Vuelie/Let the Sun Shine On Was für ein Kind We Are What We Are We Dance We Start Today We're in the Money Welcome To The Renaissance Welcome to the Rock Welcome to Wonder Land West of Words What Are the Odds What Are You Thirsty For? What Time is It? What’s Inside When I Climb to the Top of Mount Rock When You're an Addams Where is the Justice Wilkommen Willamania Work Song (Look Down) Worst Team Ever You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown Your Day Your Day In Court

[kiwinatorwaffles]

hermit species headcanons: volume… 2!

i made this post two years ago when i was fresh to the series and was just getting to know the hermits. a lot has changed since then, but a lot has also stayed the same! my headcanons are getting refined every single time i talk about them, so chances are, this list won't even be accurate to my thoughts a year later.

with that being said, let's get started! click the cut to read them all

bdubs: glare! small, hates the dark, is a feral creature, will never let go of the moss. he and pungance were born from the same tree in the same patch of moss so they are brothers LMAO

beef: vampire! but not a full one. he was bitten by a bat and gained two vampiric traits exactly: fangs and sensitive skin. beef thinks his tendency to get sunburnt easily is just something in his code or a genetic condition. he never got it checked.

cub: alien shapeshifter! his original form is this shapeless void blob, and he can only copy how other beings look like. his forms were taken from two astronauts he saw in space, an old man and a young man. his void form can be seen slightly on his inner arm, where there is just a sliver of night sky hanging out

cleo: zombie (duh) cleo was permakilled by a witch's curse but when faced with the pearly gates they were like. nah. i'd rather be down there. and just straight up left and came back as a zombie. that's how she met joe. because he was sitting on top of her tombstone eating a sandwich

doc: originally a fae, but now he's super fucked up? what can i even say. he was a fae who got super interested in the sciences and started experimenting on himself just for the hell of it. there was that whole dinnerbone cyborg arm thing but he also managed to make himself a centaur form that he uses for extra storage and height. nobody knows where the creeper came from. was it from his dad's side? did he give it to himself? not even stress, his cousin, can tell you how he came to be. what the hermits DO know however is that he can steal pronouns by asking for them

etho: redstone deity! etho was an ancient builder who was executed for witchcraft upon his discovery of redstone. he was resurrected by the universe as a second chance and to spread his knowledge to the world. you can read more from my fic here ehehehehe

false: human! yes she is 100% human. i just thought it would be funny if such an awesome and skilled fighter was just some normal ass human with a bit of social anxiety

gem: forest spirit! she has nature powers and can change parts of her body to reflect parts of nature. she's a deer? an elf? nope! only sometimes. she can mix and match whatever traits she wants on any given day. but be careful of those deer legs and horns. they Hurt

grian: red macaw avian! he has bird feathers covering his ears, parrot wings, and bird talons! he is also able to mimic voices perfectly (which he uses to play pranks and swear in other hermits’ voices) and is a Hollow Boned Menace. he carries a lot of bird tendencies, like being a piece of shit or preening his friends’ hair when it’s too messy (which is always). in start of seasons, he has x lock away usage of his wings to keep himself from an unfair advantage. he also has stolen powers from the watchers, which he can use to change his wing colors or view the entire map from afar.

npg: ????????????? he’s supposed to be a robot, but he has wings and flies sideways?????? he’s somehow even more fucked up than robot grian. not even grian is sure of what he created tbh. he just knows he did NOT give npg those conure wings to begin with.

ariana griande: galah avian! she is grian's cousin who is a pop star. she has never actually been on hermitcraft before -- that was grian cosplaying as her.

hypno: human warlock! he accidentally made a pact when he replaced his tooth with a piece of cursed gold. jokes on his patron though, his faulty human memory can't even remember how he got his powers! he has lots of inscriptions as tattoos written in galactic just all over his body that he completely forgot how to read at this point and is immortal. maybe that's a bit bad for his sense of self-preservation

impulse: demon/imp! he used to be a gargoyle that dispensed candy, but a wizard passing by granted him life and well. now he's here! demons are actually underworld spirits that punish permadead players who have been genuinely horrible to the players around them, but impulse wanted to build houses and play with redstone instead of stirring the torture soup. so when he met skizz he decided hanging out with the players was the best thing to do. he also used to have larger horns and wings but his time on the surface has made his wings very tiny and unusable without the help of an elytra. skizz always teases him for this.

iskall: cyborg! the hermits don't know if he was fully human before the cyborgification. me, personally? i think it would be funny if she was actually built to protect a village but had too much of a personality so the villages just let him go have fun with the players. not sure if i want to adhere to that though

jevin: slime! certain slimes have evolved to be more like players. jevin is from the blue variety (that's his gender)

joe hills: ???????? void-born universe being??? joe is actually the oldest living being in the universe. he was just popped out of void (even predating the void gods) and spent all this time just doing whatever fuckall was around to do. he looks like a normal human being but just Slightly to the left, like his a bit-too-many teeth or slight lean when he stands. other than that, he acts like any other human!

joel: human mage! he actually only has powers of illusion that changes only how he looks. he Really wanted to be an orc but the spell couldnt last forever (as his fae wife lizzie found out after marriage). every day he wishes he had as much swag as shrek did. more on the headcanon here

keralis: weird fucking eldritch cryptid being? except he looks exactly like a human. nothing weird about him, nope. just don't look too closely at his eyes. he promises that he blinks like a normal person and not with his pupils.

mumbo: robot! with a core heart and stretchy limbs, he runs mainly on the consumption of redstone and occasionally typical foodstuffs. he had a creator before the days of hermitcraft (who originally built him as a war machine but something went deeply sideways during construction) that taught him all there is to know about redstone and the outside world. he also inherited the british accent and mustache from his creator. his creator did want him to be free and wiped mumbo's memory of his creation before setting him off into the overworld and letting him roam free. now he's just a silly guy!

grumbot: robot! he was first built to give suggestions on what to do with the mayoral elections but then he developed actual attachments to his horribly neglectant dads </3 but it's alright! he now chills with renbob and goatman up in the hermitheus

pearl: moon spirit! she was the moon from a player's hardcore world. the player used to talk to the moon for fun, but suddenly disappeared from the world one day. now feeling lonely, pearl took a humanoid form and descended to find where her player went, but she ended up discovering the joys of being a player herself. contrary to popular belief, she had no influence on the season 8 moon.

ren: weredog! can shapeshift into a dog form, which he usually uses to either run fast or play fetch. he’s also more prone to change when the moon is larger…. except he just becomes a hyperactive dog who chases his tail all night and is deeply embarrassed by it. he also probably has rabies, but everyone whom he has bitten probably already had something deeply wrong with them to begin with anyway

renbob: human...? he's related to ren from the human side, or at least that what he tells people. but he might as well be 50% weed by now

scar: human(?) wizard! he can fly, subtly change his physical appearance, cast spells, and do all sorts of magical shenanigans! he also can read galactic fluently, which is how he learned that hypno enchanted himself with loyalty at some point. jellie is his beloved familiar. also he's a capitalist. nobody knows where that came from

skizz: angel! why are there angels in minecraft, you might ask? some people are satisfied with their lives and let themselves permadie. skizz, after being born randomly from an angel statue (i wonder if it’s related to the other statue guy) was supposed to be one of the angels who helped escort players to the pearly gates, but he met impulse while his demon clan was taking a field trip to heaven. the two immediately became besties and skizz begged the universe to let him join the players. the universe begrudgingly agreed and now he's here! he hides his many other halos as ring tattoos on his arms as well

stress: fae! she's got fairy powers, magical swag, an affinity for flowers, and will beat you up if you assume she's the resident server cleric.

tango: ex-blazeborn! he saw some yummy packed ice and ate it, which extinguished his internal flame. his blazeborn tribe felt bad for him but knew it would be dangerous if he stayed, so tango just left for the overworld instead. he tries to convince people that he is 100% a human and not suspicious at all because he's embarrassed of having to explain that he lost most of his powers due to eating some yummy ice cream. a more detailed post about my headcanon can be found here

tfc: human! the only non-human aspect of him is a prosthetic leg. contrary to popular belief, he did not lose that leg while mining. it was after fighting a horde of skeletons. (he won)

wels: human. he's just a human. nobody believes him when he tells them because they've seen him accidentally level a building while sparring before. but nope. he's just a human. and a very fucked up one at that

hels: ???? techncially has the traits of wels, beef, and etho????? is there a species for evil clones created by copying machines or

xb: guardian! he was a guardian made to guard the magical treasures of ancient builders, but he got bored of staying in the same spot for centuries and his creators never returning. hypno casted a spell of bipedelity on xb, so now he can walk on land! i wrote a fic about it here too

xisuma: voidwalker! created by the young void gods, he was made from a fucking mspaint file where the void gods dicked around with the program and made a deeply fucked up being (him) on accident. he has no mouth, his hands are as black as the void, and his voice is terrifying without a modulator, which is why he wears a helmet. more about it in my fic here

evil x: also a voidwalker, but this time the void gods pressed random on a picrew and sent him out into an alternate dimension. he grew up in super england until x fished him out of the void. this little rascal has red scleras, ram horns, and a devil tail. he doesn't need to sleep, so he gets all his energy from eating, which is convenient because his sharp teeth can crunch anything and he can digest everything. his hair acts like an enderchest with a portal to the void, where he keeps snacks and various trinkets.

zedaph: human, but he’s not sane. i mean look at this guy. look at what he’s doing. nobody knows how he became so deeply fucked up but he's truly just Like That. he gave himself sheep features once on accident though

worm man: surprisingly, human. he's lucky to have stayed human for this long with his brother's insane experiments. accurate to popular belief, he has no superpowers.

[strange-little-spy]

Chapter Twenty-Three – The Brooklyn Apartment, 0906 hours the next morning

Warnings: officially naming this ship Baddie XD

Word count: 1276 words 

“Dear Bucky Barnes,

I really hope you’re sitting down because have I got a story.

But first, I really miss you. I want you home not because I want to see you again.

Turns out, Steve and I are no longer ‘A Thing’. Now before you jump to conclusions, it was actually pretty funny.

Hoo, theres a lot, and damn it where’s a telephone when I need one??

ANYWAY, as I was saying, I think Steve set his sights on Peggy Carter the second she showed up. Now, she’s fun and they deserve each other. I am elated. Its..oh gosh this is the hard part…”

“Darn it!!” Addie crumpled the paper again and tossed in the wastepaper basket. This was the sixth try and still no success. Maybe she would have to wait till she saw her Sarge again.

Then again… no, that would be too mean. Making him think she was still Steve’s gal would be straight up cruel. It was Bucky we’re talking about.

She sighed, stood up and stretched. It was a warm morning and so far her only orders were to report to the procedure center in twenty-four minutes. She looked in the mirror and was quite pleased she was no longer a shell of a person. Her cheeks had healed mostly and her eyes were not sunken into her skull from lack of nutrition and sleep.

Blasted HYDRA…

She took the pencil out from behind her ear, flicked it to the other room where it landed with a clatter on the desk before she started getting dressed.

The center was buzzing with activity as Addie made her way through security and down into the med area where she would meet Steve to have their blood analyzed.

“Think you got enough?” Steve half-teased as the nurse pulled yet another needle out with his blood inside as her counterpart did the same to Addie.

“Any hope of reproducing the program is locked in your genetic code. Both of you.” Peggy informed rather grimly as Steve rolled his sleeve back down. “But without Dr. Erskine, it would take years.”

“He deserved more than this…” Addie frowned as she stood up off the table.

“If it could work only once, he'd be proud it was you two.” Peggy tried to sound chipper. But the air was glum rather than electric.

Addie left the two as she wandered into the mechanic area of the center, a HYDRA submarine was in a dry dock as Stark was gutting it to try and see how it worked.

“Colonel Phillips, my committee is demanding answers.” An official, probably a city official, so graciously informed across the dock.

“Great. Why don't we start with how a German spy got a ride to my secret installation in your car?” Phillips shot back, ignoring the original question before turning to Stark. “ What have we got here?”

“Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country.” Stark began, peeking out from where he was wedged. “But I don't know  what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this

technology.”

“Then who is?”

“Hydra.”

“I'm sure you've been reading our briefings.” Phillips looked to the first speaker. Addie watched from afar, interested. She thought of Bucky’s arm—well, future arm…

“I'm on a number of committees, Colonel.”

“Hydra is the Nazi deep-science division.” Peggy informed as she and Steve appeared behind Addie, the former stepping forward and closer to Phillips. “It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions.”

“No kidding.” Addie murmured.

“Hydra is practically a cult.” Phillips continued for Peggy, turning to the senator again. “They worship Schmidt. They think he's invincible.”

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I spoke to the President this morning.” Addie looked up when Phillips mentioned this. They were direct to the President?? Dang…

“As of today, the SSR is being retasked.”

“Colonel?” Steve tried, stepping past Addie.

“We’re taking the fight to HYDRA.” Phillips ignored Steve. “Pack you bags, Agent Carter. You too, Stark. We’re flying to London tonight.”

“Sir,” Steve spoke up, louder. “If you're going after Schmidt, I

want in.”

“Me too, sir.” Addie nodded.

“You two are an experiment.” Phillips deadpanned, sending Addie’s blood boiling. “You're going to Alamogordo.”

“The serum worked.” Steve objected.

“I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough.”

Screw it.

“With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point.” Another man stepped up, sounding a little more chipper. He put on a smile and clapped Steve on the shoulder.  “I've seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country's seen it. Paper.”

His partner put a newspaper in his hands, the man showing Steve and Addie the front headlines. They’d made the front page, pictures and all.

“The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture

hit the newsstands.” The man continued, sounding a little like the car salesman Adie remembered from her high school days. Whenever that was…

Colonel Phillips ignored them, turning his attention to Stark.

“You don't take you two, a pair of soldiers, symbols like that, and hide them in a lab.” The second man looked at Addie with a smile. The latter felt a chill of hesitation run up her spine.

“Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?” The first man looked at Steve who responded without missing a beat. “Sir, that's all I want.”

“Then, congratulations.” He smiled again, guiding the pair of enhanced away. “You just got promoted.”

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR COTTON PICKING MIND, NO!” Were the first words out of Addie’s mouth when she first saw Steve come out of the dressing room in his outfit. She hid her face in her hands and shook her head.

“No, no, no, no, gosh no!”

“Its not that bad, Adds.” But Steve didn’t sound very convinced either. Yes, yes it was terrible. She could have come up with something better, heck—BUCKY could have come up with something better.

“Do they even have a mirror in there?” Addie didn’t even look up, her hands muffling her voice.

“Uh, one.”

Addie laughed to keep from crying. It was worse than she could have ever imagined.

“And they want you, the best soldier they have to prance around in pantyhose on stage??”

Steve shrugged half-heartedly.

Addie sighed and chuckled again, approaching him. “I think I’ll have some words with the costume department.”

“You do that.” Steve smirked and nodded. “I wonder what they have for Lady Liberty.”

“Screw them, Steve. You really think I’m going to do this??” She looked at him like he had grown another eye.

“It could mean a quicker promotion.”

“Screw the promotion too. They’ll call me when they need me.”

“I need you.”

“You’re sweet, Steve.” She smiled, grabbing his hand. “And I love you too. But I have some dignity. This is your path, I’ll have mine. It’s not like I won’t be along for the ride. I’m coming with you.” “Thanks, doll.”

She winked and planted a peck on his cheek before exiting the room to wait for the performance to start. She had promised herself to endure it once. No more. From the shaky memories of watching the movies, of all the things to remember, she did remember the absolute and utter abhorrence for the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan.

For the first time in her life, she thanked her lucky stars Bucky wasn’t there in the audience to start laughing his tail off when Steve would come out.

Thank you for reading! Dividers by @strangergraphics

Original prompt by @the-superoriginal ~ written by yours truly, all relation to actual people are purely coincidental

Tag list: @fictionalmenjusthitdifferent ~ @oh-to-be-a-murderer ~ @thebestmerc-1 ~ @itzzkaylaaa ~ @twoarrsandonesea ~ @natt-romanoff - @proud-owner-0f-americas-ass - @lady-of-imladris @crazyinlovewithmarvel @dollface-xoxo(too bad I tag u anyway) @the1-and-only-peggycarter @lunamarvels @thescarleteevee @official-natasha-romanova

[accihoe]

Case Study 1

Pairing: detective!Bucky x doctor!reader

Summary: Prologue of how the geneticist and the detective met.

Warnings: Angst (in chapters to come)

A/u: 80s (Starts off in late 70s)

A/n: Howdy. Same drill; PLEASE DON'T STEAL MY WORK. God bless.

xxx

August 31, 1979

"Barnes." Stark acknowledges as he walks into the detective's office. "Stark." James says, removing his glasses and laying them on his brown desk. "Here are the evidence forms. We contacted Doctor Banner, but he's caught up in something. So, in place, he's sending his brightest intern." Tony states, sitting on the desk. "An intern?" James sighs, rubbing his cheeks. "Apparently she's good." Tony shrugs, lighting his cigar. "No smokin' in here. Ma complains about the smell." James waves away the smoke. Tony rolls his eyes and walks to the door. "You two start Monday, September 3rd." With that, Tony leaves.

September 3rd, 1979

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor, I'm detective Steven Rogers." Bucky hears Steve as he walks into the building. "The pleasure is all mine, detective. I'm Doctor Y/N Y/L/N." Y/N smiles warmly, shaking Steve's hand. "Doctor? I thought you were a novice." James states as he walks in, and Steve shakes his head with a quiet sigh. "I'm a Probationer, actually. Mr Barnes Junior." Y/N states. "Is that so?" James asks, lighting his cigar. "Indeed. However I lean more towards the science in genetics than medical practice." She says. "Very well. Well now that we've passed the introduction phase let's get to the case, shall we?" Barnes changes the subject. "Yes of course." Y/N smiles. James feels his heart jolt at her warm smile, so he returns it.

September 21st, 1979

"You're aware that the case ended like a week ago, right?" Sam Wilson asks, slipping his coat over his shoulders. "Oh we're very aware. Doctor Y/L/N is just helping me uncover more family schemes and suspect. Because she's a genius and all." Barnes shrugs. "Right. And that's why she's sitting on your desk." Sam says as he leans against his colleague's doorframe. "Goodnight Sam. Take care." Y/N smiles and singsongs. Sam sighs and shakes his head as he leaves, and once his back is turned to them he allows the smile to take over his face.

November 16th, 1979

"Buck, can I ask you something?" Y/N looks over at James, tucking a strand of overgrown hair behind his ear. "Ask away, doc." He smiles, looking down at the filed paperwork on his lap. "How would you like to meet my family?" She hums, twirling his hair between her fingertips. "Isn't it a bit soon, dollface?" He asks, finally looking at her. "I don't think so. For all they know we could've been together since September 3rd." She states calmy. Bucky smiles at his girl, taking her hand into his. "They're going to swoon over you. Trust me. Just brace yourself for questions. They have loads of them. About anything and everything." She says. James laughs, tilting his head to the side. "I can't wait to meet them. When and where do we go?" Bucky is quick to shift closer, intrigued and excited.

They shared their first kiss over New Year's. And, 4 months later, Y/N had a shimmering engagement ring adorning her left hand.

September 3rd, 1980

"And do you, James Buchanan Barnes, take Y/N Y/M/N Y/L/N, to be your lawfully wedded wife?" The pastor asks. "I do." James smiles, more sure about his answer than he's ever been. "And do you, Y/N Y/M/N Y/L/N, take James Buchanan Barnes to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The pastor asks. Y/N sucks in a breath of excitement as she looks at all the seated and waiting guests, and then to her almost husband, his beautiful baby blues shining with the utmost love and adoration, "I do.". "You may now kiss the bride." The pastor announces. The crowd cheers and applauds as James dips his wife and kisses her.

"This is so bananas that on this very day, a year ago, we met for the first time. And now we're married." Y/N says dreamily as her husband kisses her knuckles as they sit at the bride and groom table. "Yeah, love acts in mysterious ways." He agrees, feeling himself get physically lost inside her eyes. "I love you, Y/N Y/M/N Barnes." He smiles, eyes scanning over her breath-taking features. "And I love you, James Buchanan Barnes." She hums in agreement. "Tonight I'm exceptionally grateful that Doctor Banner was busy." James smiles. "Want to know a secret?" Y/N whispers. "Always." He whispers. "He wasn't really busy. But I asked to go in his place." Y/N smiles up at her husband. "Wait. What?" He asks, scrunching his nose up as he smiles.

"Well, I wanted to gain experience fairly quickly, and word about NY's hottest detective on the look for a Geneticist came my way, so I pulled a few strings." Y/N admits. "So I have my beautiful wife to thank for this?" Bucky asks with a smile. "And Tony, for allowing a rookie in on a big case." She smiles playfully. "You helped us ace that case." James says in return.

xxx

This will probably just be a mini-series. But I'll see how it does, and decide thereafter.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Who do you think would be friends with whom between the Fatui and the people from Guili Assembly?

Say, the Tsaritsa and Labolas 'coz they're both Childe's mother figures.

What about Arlecchino, Guizhong and the others?

you're probably right about the tsaritsa and labolas, but i think the tsaritsa and guizhong would also get along rather well. also the tsaritsa and morax. that woman will adopt literally everyone that looks younger than her. arlecchino in this au is Actually A Good Parent to the orphanage kids, so she'd probably end up being all like "go spend time with your boyfriend, Tartaglia, i'll take care of the kids" and all the children of the assembly would immediately adopt her as their wine aunt from a different world. she'd also get along great with skirochka. i think you can add pulcinella to this as well. i think columbina and sandrone would get along nicely with madame ping, and sandrone would be like... fondly exasperated of guizhong's needling about how her wheelchair works. capitano would probably get along rather well with morax and depth claws. and like. zhihao. it'd be funny. i think moon carver and mountain shaper would inadvertedly adopt pierro and pulcinella into their old coots club. pulcinella would enjoy chatting with them while pierro just sits there wondering what his life has become. he'd never admit he actually finds the topics of conversation interesting. as for the rest, i honestly don't know. i think pantalone and guizhong and morax would have quite a bit to talk about, but i find it kinda funny to think that pantalone would get along like a house on fire with urth (sal vindagnyr's princes). i know she was hardly in the story but i had a bit of personality thought up for her and she'd get along great with pantalone. they would bully dottore to hell and back together. i'd also like to think he'd take a liking to nadezhda.

i think scara and trail clearer would get along well. also aspasia. like i think if you sit scara down to just chat with a pair of normal, kinda quiet, kinda lowkey ladies without any expectations he'd rather enjoy himself. free therapy. dottore would NOT let him live it down though.

i have no idea who dottore and signora would get along with. signora i could see ending up with moon carver and mountain shaper in the old coots group just to bully pierro with pulcinella and share gossip with them.

dottore i still got no clue. i guess like. genuinely? if he finds out about ajax' planning to see how he can bring about the blorbos' existence? i think he'd get overly invested in that. like run the calculations make the science do the maths kinda invested. he's a researcher at heart, and if he's not a piece of garbage in this au, then he's not doing reprehensible stuff on the sidelines. ajax comes in one day to visit and offhandedly mentions his idea to arlecchino, who comments it to dottore without really thinking much of it. when ajax next drops by the madman finds him and sits him down for a five-hour presentation on genetics and science and probability and the maths behind the entire operation. he saddles him with a backpack full of folders and papers that ajax can hardly read bc dottore's handwriting is absolute dogshit, and sends him off back to teyvat. ajax has no clue wtf happened. guizhong finds the entire ordeal hilarious.

[l3m0ngal5]

Sharpagne at the Circus

Honestly , I was just minding my business fixing up the sharp tank My beautiful baby train When I was distracted by The Grumpy voice With an accident that I definitely couldn't locate a map But I could tell you how amazing it sounded " Ah you work for that science company up there right Nice to meet you i'm benny" He looked angrily at me but That did not change the face I looking at A gorgeous grump with Gorgeous hair and A scar I Wanted to kiss better " Yes, you clown now Would you mind turn the music down" I smiled at him " Actually I'm not a Crown.We don't have those here" Watching his eyes roll behind his glasses Made me feel even better about my stupid joke " Just turn it down please" " Okay , I will after you tell me your name" With an aggressively harsh sigh , he told me " My name is doctor champagne mcgregor" I couldn't help but smile That name was the second best thing I have ever heard in my life. " Okay, doctor fancy, drink music down." I gave a wink, he gave a groan, and i knew that I was gonna spend the rest of the week flirting. The next day though a science guy has came down for a show Most of them had ther eyes locked on Vasilia others were looking at Michaela shot Or Tayrun's Dangerous lizards But champagne was staring at the floor and I was staring at Him From behind the curtain Since I mostly handled tech with A little bit of business. "Hey doctor" The rest of them will march in a way as I Grabbed Onto the Grumpy guy sleeve " its you here" With that he pushed Something wrapped in Tin foil at me " It's an apology for yelling at you" I unwrapped it to see a Panini A beautiful piece of food that genuine Made Me cry a little " this is amazing" I Said scoffing it down. " It Would have been better if I had a pnini maker" Still Enjoying the delicious sandwiche Eye blurted out " I'll put one in your arm.It means I get more of these" his face darkened and I realized I said something stupid " Sorry I'm Not really good at thinking before I speak" With another Sparkling circle round his Iris He retorted in a Beautiful banter " That's pretty obvious". The Next day he was sitting alone and outside of the lads " hay champ" He Raised his eyebrow at the name " Sorry about what I said yesterday" He put his Robotics Hand over my mouth " Don't be having It would actually be pretty cool" My face grew into a smile " Then let me do it Make This better than The one you lost I'm guessing" he turned to me And spun me his story " I spent my entire life learning about genetics only To work in this mug factory Where after I lost my arms , they just gave me a replacem And Told me to keep working" He Then went on to explain more about the genetic work he does All of it full of sarcasm and a little bit hate "And that's in my life" His personality was everything I wanted a pessimist To be the opposite of my optimistic self " see you tomorrow Bring Sandwich ingredients". I spent the night tinkering After The show I found him He looked down at the metal I sent The night on " Why are You being so nice to me" I Smiled at his confusion He definitely deserved a kind act or two " Because I want to" We shared sandwiches And Conversation And then did the same the next day and the next." That was only a few weeks before I joined this circus And I love being on the road although Leaving tomorrow might be harder" As he registered my words his face got darker " You okay champ" He turned away from me but started talking " Honestly it's Rare for me to Like people But I was starting to like you even if you are a stupid clown" He got up to leave but I jumped at him.Landing on the ground in front of him He helped pull me up.And as he did he pull me into his lips " Come with me" I blurted out I Now realize how cheesy it sounds but At the moment I didn't care About That I just Needed to Convince him " You hate working there And having a cook on board the train Is exactly what our circus needs So what will you join the clowns He stared at me his eyes filled with something new. " ok," and that's how our circus got its cook

[pokemon-ash-aus]

Thank you for the lecture Professor Peach! Honestly you brought up some really interesting points I'd never even considered when thinking of those Paradoxs so thank you for talking to us about them

To move away from the frustration of Paradoxs do you have any theories on pokemon that might have shared ancestors in the past actually rooted in science and logic and not fiction? Or any pokemon that make sense in their evolutionary root/changes via type change ect

Peach: Not so much rudimentary typings, but I do have a confusion over Gendered evolution.

Peach: Now, take note- as a Two, and partial Mew, Gender doesnt really process in our bodies the way it does in other pokemon, so its always a fascination to me when it evolves into pokemon

Peach: I understand Nidorans, two gendered speicies usually offset by the visual differences between them. I dont doubt that there is an intersex species that takes on both visuals or maybe just one or the other.

Peach: But then we have gendered evolutions like the Ralts line. Why are males only able to evolve into Gallade? Do they create a certain pheremone- do they have a certain dna strand that allows them to evolve that Gardeviors dont? But if that's the case, why can they still evolve into Gardeviors?

Peach: Why does the Bounsweet line only consist of females? Was the an advantage? Or do we as a species cant differentiate the difference between male and female. Are they even gendered? Is it entirely possibke that we're applying gender on this pokemon simply because it makes us uncomfortable to not label a living pokemon as nongendered?

Peach: Why are some males unable to evolve at all? Like the Salazzle line or the Combee line? The females are such a low probability of even hatching, so you would presume that the males would be able to evolve in order to protect the colonies better. Do they have a seperate reproduction that we arent aware of just yet?

Peach: "Why does the reproduction matrer so match? That seems sort of inappropriate." Fuck you, I'm a biologist, thats the shit i look at! That's how species survive! But it doesnt seem to make sense that there is such a low female to male hatching rate unless there was a reason for it!

Peach: But here's the catch- cause i know the fucking answer and yall are about to sit down and fucking listen to me!

Peach: Species that are male dominated are primarily due to the environment around them- these are species that are strained in some way or another. Its literally pokemon that are so stressed that Males WILL be geneteically produced more because it makes more sense. This is especially true to those that are environmentally stressed.

Peach: And Female dominant species are usually because they have a certain chromosone within their body that can alternate between producing an equal 50/50 to a more skewed 80/20 for females!

Peach: But then that does bring the question, why do we have Fully female species and fully male species.

Peach: My biggest bet so far is that we're missing something important. We're missing a crucial part within the sex of pokemon that produces all male and all female species!

Peach: Wait, i was talking about evolving- FUCK

Peach: Evolving is an entirely different branch that im not super adversed in, but ive prodded other professors about it so hopefully we come up with something to replicate or figure out why it happens the way it does!

Peach: I wonder if there's the possibility of multiple genders within a pokemon that we arent aware of and we're only looking at the base level in comparisons to humans... I dont know i'll look into it!

Peach: Peace!

[sirfrancisvarney]

So after learning that the alleged UHC shooter had read the Unabomber’s manifesto and that he, like many other people online, thought Kaczynski had some good ideas, I figured I might as well sit down and read this supposedly brilliant work.

Having finished the whole thing, I have to say, giving it 4/5 stars was overly generous.

Usually when I see people praise Kaczynski's work, they'll say he had some good ideas, but rarely go into specifics about what those ideas are. This is probably because what he actually writes is that technology has made our lives too easy, and that rather than trying to find fulfillment through “fake” goals like pursuing art or studying marine biology (which is somehow bad), we’d be much happier if the bulk of our time and energy was spent on not fucking dying.

This is stupid.

He also states that modern society forces us to change to support the greater socio-political-economic-whatever system, and that because the system doesn't allow for a lot of autonomy in our jobs, we're all frustrated and miserable (unless we can latch onto surrogate activities, like studying science, which is, again, somehow bad). Logical enough, I guess, but I don't see how living as a hunter-gatherer or subsistence farmer (or whatever he had in mind by "primitive societies") really gives a person any more freedom or sense of control than being pushed into tech jobs. In both you’re going to subject to forces that are more powerful than you and are probably beyond your understanding. Does it really matter that the forces in one are “natural” and the forces in the other are man-made? And why would the former be better? If you try to rebel against the life chosen for you, you are way likely to end up dead in the hunter-gatherer world than the tech job one.

And exactly what kind of freedoms does he want, anyway? Take paragraph 24, for example:

Modern society is in certain respects extremely permissive. In matters that are irrelevant to the functioning of the system we can generally do what we please. We can believe in any religion we like (as long as it does not encourage behavior that is dangerous to the system). We can go to bed with anyone we like (as long as we practice “safe sex”)[emphasis mine]. We can do anything we like as long as it is UNIMPORTANT. But in all IMPORTANT matters the system tends increasingly to regulate our behavior.

Does he think he should be allowed to spread chlamydia to his sexual partners or something?

At the end of the day, I just cannot agree with him on a fundamental level. Yeah, to live in modern society, with all its technological development, does put limits on what you can do as an individual. You can’t just live for yourself. You live in a society or whatever.

So fucking what?

All societies require tradeoffs, and the limitations he whines about in his manifesto aren't worth sacrificing the lives of people with diabetes or disabilities (which he does call for in paragraph 28. He writes that advances in medicine allowing people with genetic diseases like diabetes will allow them to spread their genes, “resulting in massive genetic degradation of the population”. This will, according to him, lead to genetic engineering to fix the problem. He’d rather let people with diabetes or other medical problems die horrible and entirely preventable deaths, and so get weeded out via natural selection. This is somehow better.) They aren't worth the countless child deaths that his utopia would necessarily cause. None of the actual examples he gives are worth fighting for. What's so great about being able to make noise at all hours? If we get rid of cars and public transportation so we have the freedom to walk anywhere, going anywhere suddenly becomes a much bigger deal. I might be forced to use public roads in the modern day, but I can also travel to the other side of the world and back. And why is he so obsessed with spanking?

And I’m sorry to the redditors and tech bros and people worrying about becoming npcs or whoever, but I don’t see how undoing the effects of the industrial revolution is going to make you happier. If you struggle with today’s world, there’s a pretty good chance you’d struggle in a pre-industrial world. Except the pre-industrial world is a hell of a lot harder to live in, so you’d probably just be dead, whether it’s from disease, starvation, exposure, accident, or murder. It doesn't matter how resilient or self-sufficient or capable (or special) you think you are. None of that is going to save you from dying of a fever at the age of three. You exist today because technology made it possible for you to exist. It’s hubris to think otherwise.

Ted Kaczynski thinks the pursuit of subjects like science or art is fake and bad. I don’t believe that. He doesn’t think people should devote their lives to something bigger than themselves. I disagree. I don’t want to live at the level of an animal. I don’t want to watch my children and the people around me die of diseases that were once preventable. I don’t need to go live in the woods and fend off bear attacks to feel a sense of control over my life. I’m not going to pretend there aren’t huge problems with modern society and the direction it’s going, but he’s not the one with a solution.

[nobodysdaydreams]

Hello! You mentioned enjoying well-written science fiction and fantasy books in the 5 things that make you happy. What are some of your favorite books in those genres?

That's a great question! The sad answer is that while I love sci fi and fantasy, I haven't had the opportunity to actually sit down and read any in the past few years (due to life things), but hopefully I can get back into it soon (I say as I casually take on a million other things).

However, I can talk about some of the books that I've read in the past that have left the biggest impression on me, and as I was thinking about it-

-I realized that one of these books perfectly leads me into an unhinged rant about one of my MBS theories involving Nicholas, Nathaniel, and SQ. Which I thought you might enjoy.

The book in question is "Double Identity" by Margaret Peterson Haddix. (I'll try to talk about the plot while being as spoiler free as possible).

The premise of the book is that a 12-year-old girl named Bethany discovers that she is a clone, created by her scientist/doctor parents, Hillary and Walter (I forget if one or both of them was a scientist or doctor, it might have just been her dad). They created Bethany when their older daughter, Elizabeth, died in a car accident at the age of 13. Basically, they were sad that their daughter died, so they decided to create a clone to replace her. Bethany, however, does not find out until age 12 that she's a clone or that she ever had an older sister. There's a lot of other stuff in the background involving other family members, this other guy, and some shady financial stuff (creating human clones is expensive), but what I've told you is the basis of it, and I won't spoil anything extra in case someone wants to read it.

Now, I read this book a long time ago, and I mean like over 10 years ago, and yet it has really stuck with me. Not only because of the cloning premise, though that is interesting, but also because of how the book shows just how far the grieving parents go to "recreate" the daughter they lost. For example, when Bethany is around three years old, her parents take her to the pool and "accidently" dunk her under water. Bethany happens to instinctively take a breath of air before going under, opens her eyes underwater, and loves it, later going on to swim competitively. However, Bethany's parents seem very unhappy about this. It's later revealed that Bethany's sister, Elizabeth, the sister she was cloned from, was also taken to the swimming pool by their parents and accidently dunked under water around the same age. Since that day, Elizabeth refused to go near water and devoted her athletic talents towards gymnastics instead. There's more examples, but it becomes creepily clear that Bethany's parents were trying to copy Elizabeth not just in her DNA, but in her life experiences, trauma included, and were very unhappy when things didn't work the same way they did the "first time around" (which. Being doctors, you'd think they'd understand that's not how it works, but they are also portrayed as being really unstable and in grief, especially the mom). The book also raises interesting ethical questions around the idea of "designer babies" and how selecting what genetic "traits" we want in our children can turn from good things like preventing fatal diseases to things like eugenics, capitalism/commercialism, and at its core, just another way of projecting our own values, ideas, wishes, and goals onto our children before they are even born and deciding a future for them that their environment and life experiences might steer them away from, possibly for very good reason.

Now, what does this have to do with an unhinged MBS rant?

If I was a normal sane person, absolutely nothing, but my brain is broken, so I find unhinged MBS rants everywhere. And this book leads me to a theory about SQ that I ultimately abandoned but will share here in case anyone is interested: That SQ is a clone of Curtain (and by extension, Nicholas, since they are identical twins, and as Miss Perumal points out in Season 1 "share the same DNA").

This theory does have some evidence supporting it and there are a few cool things they could do with it.

For example, we know that Curtain misses Nicholas and has always wanted a family, so it would make sense for him to either make a clone of himself as a "mini me" to be his own family since he believes no one else could ever love him (which is actually similar to one of "Double Identity's" subplots, spoilers again sorry), OR if he wanted to make a clone of Nicholas- a clone that "wouldn't leave him this time" - he could use his own DNA since he and Nicholas are identical twins.

Some more evidence supporting this theory are the fact that the actor who plays SQ kinda looks like the actor who plays Curtain/Benedict and the fact that the show states that SQ's birth dad was a neuroscientist who used to work with Curtain, but says nothing about SQ's birth mom (this would be a clever hint at Curtain making a clone to replace Nicholas- since he and Nicholas used to be close and Rhonda and Number 2 mention Nicholas giving neuroscience lectures). Further evidence is the fact that Milligan leaves Curtain's employ because as Curtain states "his conscience" wouldn't allow him to keep working there. So it's possible Milligan found out about Curtain's plans to clone himself a kid, deemed it unethical, and that's why he was brain swept.

There's some cool stuff the show could do with this theory/AU. For example, we see SQ as a teenager and the twins as kids (through flashback), but we don't see the twins as teenagers and we don't see SQ as a child. So, after doing a reveal where we the audience discover SQ is a clone of the twin's DNA, the show could show flashbacks of the twins as teenagers using the actor who plays SQ (Ricardo Ortiz) as the actor for both Nathaniel/Curtain and Nicholas. They could also show flashbacks of child SQ using the actor who plays the twins when they are children (Luke Roessler), or an actor who resembles him (since child actors do age and they might need to recast depending on the season they wanted to do the flashbacks). This could be a really fun opportunity not only to show the versatility of some of the young actors in the cast, but also to establish more connections between Nicholas/Nathaniel/SQ and convey the message that even though SQ is like the twins in a lot of ways, he is also his own person, who isn't an exact copy of either one of them.

However, I ultimately decided to drop this theory and ended up never posting about it because it seems very unlikely.

Despite the previous evidence I presented, I don't believe there is enough to support it. First of all, SQ is older than Kate, and Kate was three when Milligan was brain swept, which means that if Milligan ethically objected to Curtain cloning himself SQ and raising him to be a copy of himself or Nicholas, Milligan wouldn't have found out about this until SQ was older. Which is technically possible, but seems less likely (and also how would Milligan have randomly found out that his boss's elementary school aged kid is a clone?) Furthermore, they mention Milligan being an chemist, Garrison being an engineer, and SQ's birth dad being a neuroscientist, but there is no mention of Curtain or anyone in his employ working in biology or genetics specifically, which casts doubt on the cloning theory. We don't see anything in Garrison's lab that would suggest that or that she or Curtain have done any research involving cloning or genetics in the past. Also, if SQ was a clone of the twins, he would likely have narcolepsy, and yet this is never suggested or even hinted at in season 1 (I suppose it's technically possible they were saving that for season 2 but just couldn't get the actor back, but we have no way of knowing).

Anyway, sorry for ranting. I hope you like the book rant as well as this crazy unhinged AU!

[maxtothemax]

hey do you guys wanna hear about how i'm making river's backstory Worse™? of course you do

okay technically it isn't backstory so much as the actual plot of On The Wing (which isn't coherent yet but i'm getting there). for context, river is 15 years old when this happens, and so is zipper.

but basically the climax of OTW is that amity (evil science lady masquerading as a benevolent do-gooder who saves hybrid kids from unethical labs) finally manufactures a decent excuse to vivisect zipper (by mildly poisoning them and then claiming it's appendicitis) (btw she wants to experiment on them bc apparently they can't die and she wants to know more about that bc she, too, cannot die). BUT ideally she'd like to have a control specimen, and guess what! river is the same type of hybrid that zipper is!

and river has known amity for half his life already and trusts her and is so super grateful to her for rescuing him from an unethical lab. so she really doesn't need to do much legwork with manufacturing a reason to do surgery on him. instead she sits him down and says "zipper is really really sick and needs a new kidney, and you're a genetic match for them. i know you don't get along with them, and of course you don't have to agree to anything you're uncomfortable with, but it would save their life." and when she puts it like that … like, clearly there's a correct decision for him to make in this situation. but she gives him a day to think about it, because of course she knows what his answer will be anyway.

and this part is a little shakier (still working out logistics) but river thinks about it for a little bit and decides that he wants to go through with it, because it's the right thing to do, so he goes to find amity so he can tell her he'll do it. he arrives outside her office and hears her talking to agent green, one of her most trusted agents, and they're talking about river. and river doesn't want to eavesdrop, but he kind of overhears something that … well, kind of implies that amity wasn't telling the whole truth to river, but she's confident that he'll agree because he's so trusting, almost to a fault. and when river hears this, he doesn't want to think that amity's taking advantage and outright lying to him, but … that's what it SOUNDS like is happening.

now river's freaked out, kinda panicking, so he does what he always does in these situations: he goes and talks to gavin. because gavin will know what to do, he'll figure it out.

buuuut the thing is. gavin, by this point in the story, has been replaced by his clone, who is completely loyal to amity. so the REAL gavin is MIA (i haven't figured out what's going on with that yet, but i'm sure it'll fit together eventually). so river isn't talking to HIS gavin, he's talking to evil!gavin. and evil!gavin says that river must have misunderstood what he heard, or not heard the full conversation, because amity is a good lady who would never want to hurt him, and evil!gavin says they should go talk to amity together and sort things out.

so river calms down, because gavin is probably right; if amity was evil, river would know it by now; he's known her for seven years, so she would've had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of his trust if she wanted to, right?

so river and evil!gavin go talk to amity, and she laughs and reassures river that she wasn't saying what he thought she was saying, but she can understand his confusion. she was just hopeful that river would agree to be a donor for zipper, and saying that he's such a good, selfless kid that he probably would, but it wasn't up to her.

river is relieved, comforted by her reassurances, and he says of course he'll do it; he wants to help. internally, he feels kind of silly for doubting her. of course there's nothing sinister going on. why would she lie to him?

when he goes under for the surgery, he's a little nervous, but he feels confident that he made the right decision.

when he wakes up, he's in a room in a part of the foundation that he doesn't recognize, and instead of the small incision he expected, there's a big, Y-shaped incision down the full length of his torso, and suddenly he's not sure what's going on at all. because why would amity lie to him?

(undecided yet whether, at this point, amity will keep up the ruse or finally admit the truth. i think both options have interesting possibilities.)

[devitalise]

HI IMO I SEE UR ONLINE + PLANNING 2 SEND THE BOOK ASK THEREFORE I MUST TRY AND BEAT U TO THE PUNCH HI <3 how did your June reads go!! I see you gave ur Bear thoughts already (haven't watched yet but will return 2 it once I do), but other than that, do you have anything else on your Summer Watch radar?

beating you to the punch does make me giggle i'm sorry babe! june was an interesting reading month! answering early as i'm busy the next couple days and i love sitting down to give my full attention to the

june book wrap up

bonjour tristesse & a certain smile by francois sagan

french coquette-like teenage girls in ""relationships"" with older men, hurting the people around them? snooze! just really disinterested in the story here, and not blown away by the writing sorry

(abandoning the music links i did well to last 5 months but. yeah :))

the atlas six by olivie blake

lol. fanfic writers entering the traditional publishing space would be fine if they remembered that they have to develop characters from scratch. so much telling! not half enough showing to pay off. too large of a cast to be introduced at once and some of it felt so juvenile. i think this is YA though so like. quirky indie romance lead, brooding angry guy 1, nonemphathetic guy 2, egomaniac 3, sad distrustful person. the magic system was so boring to me it was grounded in way too much science for me to find it interesting. do readers really need to know the metaphysics behind being able to see time? no! actually i'd have liked to know something about someone that wasn't "x is like this". yeah a lot to say here.

the country life by rachel cusk

i had to return to a control point of a good book. lovely. Cusk can do it all for me and i think the woman escapes from her city life to fumble around in the country is the perfect subject matter for her. full of so much whimsy, a lot of heart and interesting characters! made me laugh and feel and reading this is in similar weather conditions just added to the sense of delirium towards the end of the book

diary of a film by niven govinden

my kind of book! film maestro travels to italy for a film festival, meets a woman and a story that sticks in his head and is overcome with the desire to commit this to screen. related to this so much, that kind of being swept up in an idea and the urge to put your all into it. had a real slowness to it, too, made a lot of the conversations feel so tender and from a real place of love. great read :)

my father's diet by adrian nathan west

so glad i saw this in a bookshop i wouldn't have come across this otherwise! so cool! if music was a book. i listened to air's moon safari that really contributed to the middle america shopping mall in the 80s vibe. sleepy town kind of feeling. anyways, i tore through this book what it had to say on turning to a physical extreme to make sense of feeling inferior internally. fraught, disjointed parental relationships. bodybuilding! i'd recommend in a heartbeat

i'm currently reading the thief's journal by jean genet and have been for about a week or so. after finishing my father's diet and my general uptick in reading i thought i'd increase my reading goal, but this is going to take me a while to read. it's hard but it's worthwhile.

i haven't really considered much summer watching tbh i'm trying to be outside and doing stuff and going places as much as i possibly can this summer and if i'm ever at home long enough to put a show on it's been reality tv lately. just a girl out in the world this summer!

next read will be #3 in the neapolitan quartet because i remember reading the first this time last year and they're such summer books to me. this feels very long! love the opportunity to wax lyrical <3