#and because NOTHING is ever guaranteed a second season

[woso-dreamzzz]

Idol II

England Lionesses x Teen!Reader

Summary: Your first call up to the Lionesses

It wasn't you that Sarina had come to evaluate.

It was Grace.

She'd heard great things about Grace Clinton and the idea of putting her into the World Cup squad was tempting which was why she was sat in the freezing cold winter weather in Bristol, trying to see if she could find a way to fit Grace into her midfield at her current level.

But Grace is on the bench, having picked up a slight niggle in the warm up.

So instead of Grace, Sarina finds herself evaluating you instead.

You're by far the smallest and youngest on the pitch, at least two heads shorter than the next smallest and your round baby face makes it clear that you're not anywhere near the next youngest too.

"Er...y/n l/n," One of the staff members replies when Sarina asks who you are," She's currently being looked at for the Under-23s. She's an Under-17 right now."

Sarina frowns. "How old is she?"

"She turned fifteen this August. Her inclusion in the Bristol City team was a surprise to everyone."

Sarina sips on her coffee thoughtfully just as you dance between two defenders and your shot is deflected by the keeper.

The Championship doesn't have the greatest access to camera footage so Sarina's mainly condemned to old youth team footage that's a little unfocussed and shaky.

She hums to herself, fingernails clicking against her desk.

"Hello? Is this Mrs l/n? Hi, this is Sarina Wiegman. I'm calling on behalf of the Lionesses. Yes, about your daughter."

Your coat is two sizes too big and the legs of your trousers have been rolled up a few times, that's one of the first things Keira notices.

The second thing is that your eyes are wide and the smile on your face holds excitement with a hint of nervousness.

She's never seen you before in her life and to even see someone like you at camp is shocking.

She'd been shocked to see a name on the camp list that she didn't recognise, even more shocked when she'd asked around and found that no one really knew who you were.

You walk in with Sarina, tucked under her arm as the introductions are made.

The nervousness is another thing Keira notes, your awkward smile does nothing to hide the way your eyes dart around the area.

"That's the kid Jona was talking about," Lucy says one morning randomly, scoffing down a piece of toast," He said that La Masia were looking to bring her in. She's still on an Academy contract with Bristol City."

"Really?" Georgia asks," You'd think they'd have moved her onto a professional one. Apparently, she's like an integral part to their system. Bristol City are gunning for promotion, I heard."

"She's good," Lucy says as Keira glances over her shoulder to watch you push at your eggs with a wrinkled nose," But her talents are wasted at Bristol."

Georgia flicks a bit of mushroom at her. "Maybe Bayern will have to grab her before you do."

Lucy laughs, pushing herself out from the table. "Well, maybe I should just go and ask her now, shall I? Because I guarantee you, she's going to want to trade England's weather for sunny Spain over Germany."

Georgia stands up too. "Funny. I was going to say that she'd much prefer the food in Germany to the food in Spain. I don't think she likes rice much so she won't like paella."

You're sitting alone at your table, wondering if it's alright to leave the now cold scrambled egg on your plate or if you should force it down so the catering staff don't feel annoyed at your for wasting it.

You practically jump out of your skin as Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway slam into the chairs opposite you.

You couldn't look at them - not after meeting Georgia for the first time and mindlessly blurting out her statistics from this season right in front of her.

"So," Lucy says, drumming her fingers on the table," How do you like Spain?"

"Er..."

"Ever been to Germany?" Georgia cuts in," Because, you know, Munich is beautiful this time of year."

"I-"

"Because I was thinking," Lucy continues like Georgia hadn't even spoken," Barcelona is just so nice and warm. You could work on your tan there."

"And of course, there's so many great Christmas markets in the winter," Georgia says," And sometimes we go and visit them as a big team and buy each other stuff."

"Well we do that at Barcelona too. Ingrid has a great list of coffee shops if you're into that kind of thing."

"Sydney knows the best places to grab a bite in the middle of the night."

"Aitana knows-"

A body slumps down into the seat next to you, an arm swung casually over your shoulder.

"You know, Chelsea's the place to be," Millie Bright says," Great manager. Great staff. Great team. We've got it all."

"And how many Champion's Leagues is that?" Lucy asks and Millie kicks her under the table.

"She's not going to any of your teams," Mary interrupts, swinging her feet up and onto the table as she leans back in the chair she stole," Because United are going to have this girl on lock."

The table erupts into laughter and Mary's face drops.

"Hey! It's not funny! We'll see who's laughing next season!"

"Still us," Georgia says," There's no way a kid with this level of talent is going to United! Just you wait, after the World Cup, she's going to have offers flooding in from everywhere.

"Really?" You ask, voice quiet," You really think so?"

You hadn't ever really thought of you future outside of the now. You don't know if you had ever really considered that you were good enough for other people to want. You hadn't ever really considered anyone would take a chance on you like Bristol City did.

"Are you kidding?" Lucy scoffs," Kid, your skills are off the charts at this age! Just you wait, people are going to be clamouring to get you!" She winks. "Just remember to choose the right one."

"The right one being Bayern," Georgia says with grin," Think of the Christmas markets."

"Think of the Barcelona sun."

"Think of being on the best English team."

"Think of..." Mary throws her hands up. "Well how am I supposed to compete with that?!"

"You can't," Lucy laughs with a shrug," Which is why United was never part of the conversation. Face it, Mary, you can't compete with that."

Mary waves her finger around. "Just you wait, I'll have this kid moving to Manchester before this World Cup is over."

A hand falls onto your shoulder and you look up to see Keira standing there, an eye roll already half completed on her face.

"The kid can make her own decisions," She says," She doesn't need you lot badgering her to make one before she has to."

"It's just a bit of fun, Kie," Georgia complains with an eye roll of her own," Sue me if I don't want Barcelona to collect all the best midfielders in the world."

The gentle teasing continues but all you can think of is Georgia's words.

'Collect all the best midfielders in the world'.

She meant you in that conversation as well. She meant to put you in the same bracket as Keira and Bonmatí and Guijarro and Putellas, the staples of Barcelona's midfield.

You stare down at your plate, that stupid bit of cold scrambled egg still sitting on it. You don't know how to react to that.

Say thank you?

Or would that make it weird?

Probably.

You've already embarrassed yourself enough this week. You don't need to do it all over again.

So you just kind of sit there with a shy smile on your face as the older players tease each other around you.

"Don't listen to them," Keira says," Where you go and what you do with your career is all up to you." She winks. "But I wouldn't be opposed if you wanted to come along to Barcelona."

[artvscvntymullet]

Hey I have a request for George maybe u could do a fic about the inside show and George and reader fall in love like how Danny and Tennessee fell in love like there story in the show just what ever u come up with 

BEHIND THE CAMERAS - GEORGE CLARKE

thank you for requesting !! my netflix subscription ran out a couple of days ago, so ive seen lots of clips, but not in order haha, i hope ive been able to do it justice x

content warnings : light angst, pressure (like in the show) but nothing heavy !!

word count : 1700 words

masterlist here!!

Inside Season 2 was a different league than the first. More intense challenges, more manipulation, and way more pressure. Everyone was there to win. No alliances, no guarantees. It was every contestant for themselves, and you knew it would be a struggle to even make it to the final round.

You didn't expect to feel anything for George, not at first. He was confident, quick with a smile, and always ready with a joke. But underneath that exterior, you saw the same thing in him that you saw in yourself: someone who would do whatever it took to win.

"You’re really gonna do that? After everything we’ve been through?" George asked, eyeing you as you prepared to sabotage his chances in the next challenge.

You smirked, adjusting the strap on your gear. "This is a competition, George. No one’s my friend here."

There was a moment of silence between you two. His expression was unreadable, but the tension in the air was thick, almost palpable. "Right," George said finally, his voice calm, but you could tell he wasn’t happy about it. "Well, good luck then. You’ll need it."

You watched as he walked away, his back straight, never once looking back. And you felt a twist in your chest, but you shoved it down quickly. You couldn’t afford distractions. Not now.

As the show went on, it wasn’t just about the physical challenges anymore. The mental games, the alliances, the manipulations—it all took a toll. Everyone was turning on each other, using whatever they could to gain an edge. But then there were the moments when it was just you and George, alone.

"You know," George said one evening, as you both sat in the shared lounge area, too tired from the day’s challenge to do much else, "I can’t tell if I hate you or if you’re the one person here who actually gets it." You laughed, the sound surprisingly soft. "Maybe a little bit of both?"

George glanced over at you, his usual cocky smirk slipping for just a second, and in that instant, you saw something different. Maybe he wasn't so sure of everything he was doing. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t want to be alone in the game anymore.

But then the cameras caught your eye, and the mask came back on. You both straightened up immediately, plastering on the smiles for the production crew. No alliances. No feelings. It was the rules of the game.

As the season progressed, the stakes kept getting higher. Challenges were more brutal, and betrayals were more frequent. George and you often found yourselves on opposing sides, each of you trying to outwit the other, trying to get ahead.

But the more you fought for your own place in the game, the more you realized how much George was constantly in your head. Every little interaction, every quiet moment between challenges—it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the pull between you.

Still, you couldn’t afford to let it distract you.

Finally, the day came. The last challenge. The one that would decide who made it to the final round.

You and George were once again pitted against each other, and this time, it felt more personal. There were no more jokes, no more teasing. This was it.

"May the best person win," George said, his tone serious as you both prepared for the final task.

You didn’t answer right away, too focused on the challenge ahead. But deep down, you knew this would be the hardest thing you’d ever done. Because beating him—defeating him—would mean something you weren’t quite ready for.

And then, just like that, it was over. You won. But as the crew swarmed you with congratulations, George stood off to the side, watching you. His expression was unreadable, and for a moment, you felt like you were the one who lost.

The Inside experience felt like a lifetime ago. After the cameras stopped rolling and the finale aired, you and George didn’t keep in touch immediately. It was weird—being done with the show felt oddly empty. You both had been rivals for so long that it was hard to imagine anything else between you.

But somehow, your paths crossed again. It started with a message from George—nothing too serious, just a "hey, how’ve you been?" and a few emojis. You didn’t expect to reply, but you did. And just like that, the conversation picked up again. Not about Inside, not about the competition, but about… life. About what came after.

Eventually, you both ended up meeting up for coffee—casual, no cameras. Just two people who had shared something intense and weirdly memorable.

"I still can’t believe you beat me in that last challenge," George said, shaking his head, but there was no bitterness in his voice. Just a resigned smile. "I mean, I thought I had it in the bag."

You laughed. "You were good, I’ll admit. But I guess I just wanted it more."

George raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair. "Is that what it was?"

You looked at him for a long second, then shrugged. "Maybe. But I think it was more than just winning. I think… I needed to prove something to myself."

The air between you two shifted. The playful teasing, the rivalry—it wasn’t there anymore. It was just… a conversation. Real. Honest. And it felt easy.

A few weeks later, you were on the phone with him again. The vibe between you two had changed, and it felt... good. Real. George made you laugh in ways no one else could, and you could tell he was starting to look at you differently, too.

"You know," he said one night, his voice quieter than usual, "I never thought I’d say this, but I kind of missed the chaos of Inside. But… I think I missed you more."

You smiled, a soft blush creeping up your neck. "Same here. But I think we both know the chaos didn’t end when the cameras did."

There was a pause on the other end of the line, followed by a soft laugh. "No, it definitely didn’t."

Eventually, it just… happened. Slowly. You started seeing each other outside the chaos of the show, no cameras, no games. Just George and you, learning what it meant to actually be together after all the drama and competition. And maybe, after everything that happened on Inside, that was the greatest win of all.

Months later, you and George found yourselves walking down the street hand in hand, laughing at the absurdity of everything that had happened on the show. "I can’t believe we’re together," you said, still surprised by how natural it all felt.

George gave you a sideways glance, squeezing your hand. "I can. You always were my biggest competition."

You laughed, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "Guess I always won in the end."

George’s grin was just as mischievous as it had been during the show. "You know what? Maybe you did." And this time, it wasn’t a competition. It was just you and him—together, with all the chaos behind you.

[hiraethwrote]

sidelines

cw: f!reader, hurt/no comfort, reader gets injured, semi proofread wc: 1.1k

meeting you was a coincidence. falling in love with you was an accident. distancing from you was a choice.

satoru still remembered the flash of heartbreak that washed over your face when he had served you a lie; i think we’re better off as friends.

it would always be carved into his mind — the sharp breath you took to settle yourself, blinking away the shy tears before you had nodded along weakly. “oh, okay.” it had barely been a whisper, but your tone would forever haunt him.

he knew it was for the best, keeping you at arms length no matter how much he hated it.

some part of him had always suspected he might have to sacrifice the experience of true love, and therefore he had never pursued it. the target on his back was just too big to be worth the risk.

nonetheless, you had come into his life like the season’s first fall of snow — unexpected.

and whatever you had done, he had fallen completely in the matter of mere moments, because when you looked at him you had seen satoru… just satoru.

when he was with you, he didn’t need to be the strongest. he wasn’t the heir to the gojo clan. he wasn’t the first sorcerer in centuries born with the six eyes.

no, when he was with you, he was satoru, the guy who hummed quietly when your fingers brushed through his hair. he was satoru, the guy who caused you frustration when he yet again forgot to bring your favourite drink that you had requested, turning in the door as quickly as he has arrived to go get it. he was satoru, the guy who was finally starting to enjoy the quiet normalcy of everyday life.

how naive you had made him.

because he had slowly started to believe that he could take a moment to breath when it came to his responsibilities, simply wallow in the warmth of your natural compassion and affection. he could lean into the soft touch of your hand and for a second forget what rested on his shoulders.

how wrong he had been, when you had accidentally found yourself witness, and also collateral damage, to one of his encounters with curses.

it happened so quickly, he hadn’t even noticed the action itself until he saw your unmoving body on the ground. never had satoru been as scared as he was the moment his eyes landed on you, certain his own heart stopped at the sight.

he quickly exorcised the troubling curses before rushing over to you, kneeling beside your unconscious body. with utmost care, he had swooped you into his arms, holding his breath as he checked for a pulse, not trusting any of his abilities to tell him, needing to physically feel the faint pumping at the side of your neck.

it felt like an entire lifetime passed before he found the soft signs of life, instantly letting out a shaky breath when he could finally confirm with his own flesh that you were still breathing.

with a bruised and bloody hand, he carefully brushed your hair out of your face to reveal a rather severe gash across your forehead.

he breathed your name, waiting to see the reactive, light raise of your eyebrows that happened subconsciously whenever he spoke the sweet tune. but your face stayed completely still, not even a single twitch in your eyelids to indicate you were waking up.

next thing he knew, he was stood in front of shoko with you in his arms, begging her to help you.

“it’s not severe,” shoko tried to reassure him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder while he sat at your bedside. “you can even take her home.”

he’d only nodded in confirmation, not daring to take his eyes off of you. he wanted to be the first thing you saw when your eyes eventually fluttered open — he was not going to miss that moment for anything.

and while he waited, he was deep in thought. churning and chewing on how best to prevent you from ever getting hurt again.

he had been lucky this time, but there was no guarantee it would end as well as it did next time, and he would stop at nothing to ensure your safety. but every idea he came up with ended with the same heartbreaking conclusion.

because the incident had him realise you were his one and only weakness — that meant you would always be in danger.

it was only a matter of time before you would not be his secret anymore. eventually it was bound to be a common fact in the jujutsu world, that there was one way to have the strongest sorcerer at their mercy.

satoru would not be able to live with himself if that was the case.

the safest thing for you was to break your heart — tell you that it wasn’t working. he had just been caught up in the intensity of the honeymoon phase, swept up in the comfort you had provided. which was all true, the lie was saying those feelings had passed.

but he was the strongest — who better to protect you than him? so the earnest preposition of friendship had been his way of being able to keep an eye on you without directly exposing you to the dangers of his world.

now his future was destined to be nothing but torture.

he would eventually see the sparkle in your eye return when you finally got over him. and when that happened, which he knew it would, he waited in despair for the day you would fall in love again.

you would trail your fingers through the hair of a person that wasn’t him. your eyes would stare hearts at a face that wasn’t his. at night, when you were sound asleep, your breathing would move in unison with someone who was not him — but you would be safe, shied away from the world he was forever trapped to serve.

satoru would torture himself for eternity, be a helpless audience in the theatre of your life, watch you indulge in all the happiness life had to offer, if it meant he wouldn’t put you in danger.

after meeting you, satoru had learned he wasn’t really a person meant to love from a distance. the love he had for you was all over him, supposed to be loaded onto the one person it belonged to; you. his devotion for you was so big and all consuming, filling any void he found himself in.

but if it was from the sidelines he would get to see you live — it was in the sidelines he would stay.

a/n sorry

©hiraethwrote 2024 . all rights reserved. reposting, translating and otherwise plagarisim is prohibited

[dustmusings]

a half-hearted escape

Hunter x F!Reader

word count: 3.4k

description: in the heat of the moment, you have a bad idea that would help you evade capture, but you never expected the accidental half-confession it draws from Hunter

warnings: kissing to escape capture trope, swearing, miscommunication kinda? steamy kissing but nothing crazy just some wandering hands, kinda cheesy perhaps

a/n: shamelessly inspired by that new girl season 2 episode (you'll see). this is just a short and sweet one :) because the Fives one I'm writing rn is taking the life out of me lmao. tbh I can't believe this is only my second Hunter fic, I am a Hunter girlie after all. the title makes sense in my heart okay

masterlist | join my taglist

You were running, except there was nowhere else to run to anymore. It was a dead end.

“Fuck” Hunter breathed the word out heavily as he rested his back against the wall in the thin alley, looking this way and that, “What do we do?”

“You give the orders around here, you tell me” you replied in an exasperated huff, earning an unimpressed look.

“Well I'm taking suggestions” he growled, his voice low and irritated as he peered around the corner.

You glanced around the alley. There was really nothing to hide you, only some rubbish scattered about the ground, but leaving would guarantee your capture at this point. A thought entered your head and you let out a short whine at having even let it find it's way in.

“What? You have something?” Hunter asked, turning to find the reason for your sudden vocalisation.

“I have a really bad idea” you said, giving him an almost pained look.

“Well anything is better than nothing” he argued, which only made you laugh humourlessly.

“You're going to take that back in a minute” you told him, and he turned to you fully so you could see his frown.

“What are you—?”

“No time” you said in a panic, noting the patrol of stormtroopers about to pass by, “pick me up”

“What?” he hissed, his expression contorting into one of utter confusion.

“Just do it, quickly” you rolled your eyes and stepped up to him, hoping he'd follow your instruction. He hesitated for a moment, but hooked his hands under your thighs and you jumped into his hold.

“Right, now push me against the wall” you instructed.

“You've got to be kid—”

“Hunter” you snapped at him, “they're coming”

He groaned out of frustration, but obliged, stepping forwards and trapping your body between his and the wall.

“You happy now?” Hunter asked with a scowl, his breath hot as it fanned across your face.

“Ecstatic” you bit back, looking over his shoulder at the incoming stormtroopers. They were looking into every side street that they passed, their blasters held up as they inspected.

You reached up and slipped off Hunter's bandana, ruffling his hair so that it hung over his face. He let out a short grunt and fluttered his eyes closed as you did so.

“Was that really necessary?” he grumbled.

“Shut up” you replied, then wrapped your arms around his neck, hiding your own face as well.

You could hear the chatter of the stormtroopers as they passed by. They seemed not to want to disturb you, and you breathed out a relieved sigh. You continued to listen out for them, but it was hard not to become distracted by the intensity of Hunter's gaze as he opened his eyes and stared directly into yours from only a few inches away.

It struck you that you felt surprisingly comfortable in his arms, as if it were entirely normal to be in this situation.

“I can't believe this” he mumbled out, with a small shake of his head and a little humour in his voice.

“I did say it was a really bad idea” you reminded him, one side if your mouth curling into a small smirk.

Hunter scoffed, “I'm never trusting any of your ideas ever again”

You chuckled breathily, your head dropping forwards so that your forehead gently rested against his. He adjusted his hold on you, his hands gripping the top of your thighs, and you wrapped your legs around his waist to ease the load.

“You—”

“If you say I'm heavy, I swear to the maker I will punch you” you interjected. It wasn't uncommon that Hunter would taunt you, so you were only trying to pre-empt his teasing.

Hunter chuckled, a deep rumble that you could feel with him pressed up against you. “I was actually going to say that you smell good” he corrected in a murmur.

Oh. That certainly wasn't what you were expecting.

“Uh, thanks. I guess” you spoke awkwardly, your eyes flicking away from his.

Despite your uneasy reaction, you actually felt a sense of pride in the comment. Hunter had attuned senses, you knew that, so for him to say such a thing felt more meaningful to you than if anyone else had said the same thing. A strange feeling tugged at you chest and you could feel your face flush at the observation that felt oddly personal.

“Do you think they've passed us?” Hunter asked, and it brought you back to why you were in this situation to begin with.

“Right, uh…” you lifted your head and peered outside of the alley, not seeing any stormtroopers passing by, “Seems like it”

Hunter was about to let you down when you saw a flash of white plastoid come into view.

“Wait” you gripped him tighter, “fuck, they're coming this way”

Hunter huffed, “Well what do we do now?”

Your mind scrambled for something, anything to let you escape capture, and you were surprised by how quickly it brought forth your next bad idea.

“Kiss me”

“Wh—?”

“Just do it. It'll make them uncomfortable”

“Yeah, they won't be the only ones”

You rolled your eyes, “Hunter please, just get on with it”

“No”

“No?”

“No. I'm not doing it”

You cast a glance over his shoulder again and the stormtroopers were practically entering the alley.

“Hunter they're right on top of us, they'll know we're pretending”

“No they won't” He replied firmly, pressing his forehead into yours to hide your faces.

“Hunter just do it, you don't have to make it convincing even”

Hunter chuckled harshly at that, “That's not the problem. I'm just not doing it”

“Hunter, just kiss—”

“No. Not like this”

That gave you pause. The situation at hand completely slipped your mind.

“What?” your voice was small, nowhere near the amount of power it usually had behind it.

It was obvious that Hunter had said something he shouldn't have. His eyes were wide and his mouth hanging open, stuttering, looking for the words to explain himself. He tilted his head to look towards the end of the alley and there were stormtroopers looking in at the two of you. He turned back to you and the look of shock was still present on your face, trying to process what his earlier words truly meant.

“Oh, fuck it”

He latched his lips with yours, gripping the flesh of your thighs even tighter. He kissed you with fervour, and you couldn't tell how much of it was to make the stormtroopers leave you be. He pressed you into the wall further as his mouth worked against yours, lips moulding together in a way that could be interpreted as passionate, if you could sort out in your mind what was real and what wasn't. If he was doing this just to put on a show, you wanted to know what he’d do behind closed doors.

Wait, what?

Since when did you think such things about Hunter?

Any rationality in your thoughts left you when his hand slid up your body and he tugged you even closer, gripping your hip tightly. The other hand wound its way up to your neck, and he traced his thumb across your jawline, drawing a shudder from you.

By now, you were past caring if the kiss was just for show, you were enjoying it too much to pretend anymore. You tugged at the hair at the base of Hunter's scalp, pulling a deep groan from him that allowed you to deepen the kiss, slipping your tongue between his lips. The experience of exploring each other's mouths was intoxicating, the heady feeling somewhat close to that of being under the influence of spice. You couldn't get enough.

By the time you both pulled away, you had to take a moment to come back to your body, your breath falling from you in short pants. You blinked a few times, the haze lifting slowly, and found his grey eyes searching yours, his own breath just as heavy. You were passing air between you, still close enough that you could tilt your head and kiss him again. You almost did, before you remembered exactly why he had even kissed you to begin with.

You tilted your head to the side, resting it against Hunter's as you surveyed the situation.

“I think—” your breath was still heavy, and you had to pause to gather enough to speak, “I think they're gone”

The look on Hunter's face when you turned back to him was positively hurt, his brows drawn together as his lips turned downwards. You wished you could take back your words instantly, though you didn't know exactly what was going on. You'd need more time to figure that out.

Hunter dropped you to the floor, somewhat unceremoniously, and you braced yourself on the wall to stop from falling over. He went to the edge of the alley, glancing around the street that you had escaped from.

“You're right” he coughed out, “they're gone”

The tone of his voice tugged harshly at your heart. He was clearly trying to keep himself together for the sake of the mission, but it was undeniable by the quiver in his voice that he wasn't feeling completely sure of himself.

“Hunter” you called in a soft voice.

“What” he snapped back, his eyes finding yours.

You didn't know why he was suddenly acting like this, though you didn't know how else he was supposed to act after what just transpired. You didn't know how to act yourself.

“Nothing” You replied, shame burning at your cheeks as you looked down, “lead the way”

The journey back to the Marauder was excruciating. Neither of you spoke up, no matter how hard you tried to whip something up in your brain. There was nothing you could find to say that would fix the rift that had so clearly been created between you.

Even after you both climbed the steps of the ship, greetings being thrown at you by the other squad members, Hunter wouldn't look at you.

“Everything went smoothly I take it?” Tech asked, noting how both of you seemed to be unharmed.

The picture in front of Echo was entirely different to what Tech was seeing, apparently. He raised a brow at you when Hunter didn't reply, storming into the cockpit.

“Mhm, more or less” you answered the spectacled clone, then ducked away from Echo's watchful gaze, striding towards the bunks at the back of the ship.

You sat down on your bunk, running your hands through your hair, and that's when you realised you were still gripping tightly onto Hunter’s bandana.

“Kriff” you swore under your breath, standing once more and crossing the short distance to the bunk that belonged to owner of the scrap of fabric. You weren't going to give it back to him yourself, definitely not now.

You placed the red material down onto his pillow, taking a moment to run your thumb across the skull insignia before pulling away.

“Why do you have that?”

You jumped at the voice just behind you, and scowled before you turned around, knowing exactly how this conversation was going to go. Echo was impossible to lie to. He just somehow knew when you were lying, and you hated it.

“Hunter dropped it” you lied poorly, turning your face from the scrutinising honey eyes of your squadmate.

“He… dropped it?” Echo spoke suspiciously, clearly not believing a single word.

“Yep” you replied, dropping down onto your bunk again.

“So it just… fell off his head?” he asked.

You looked up to see his disbelieving look, a scoff naturally passing your lips.

“I'm not in the mood for this right now” you grumbled, which only made Echo's lips curve into a smirk, “and wipe that look off of your face”

“What look?” Echo questioned, his smirk only widening.

You rolled your eyes and laid down on your bunk, turning away from the infuriating clone. You heard him chuckle before the scuff of his boots against the floor signified his leaving, and you let out a long breath.

Your thoughts all muddled together with uncertainty. You hoped to bridge the gap between you and Hunter, but what if you couldn't? What if your stupid idea had done something irreparable?

The next few days were tense.

Everyone knew something had occurred between you and the Sergeant, but neither one of you would speak about it to the others, much less to each other.

It was agony. You found yourself sitting at the bar in Cid's parlour, watching him sulk across the room. You wanted to reach out, extend the olive branch, but you had no idea what to even say.

Sorry for holding you against your will and making you kiss me? Or I'm sorry I made you believe I actually had feelings for you?

You didn't know which was the correct sentiment, and you had been driving yourself mad trying to decipher his slip up from before you kissed. The words bounced around your brain, taunting you. Not like this. What did it mean?

Even more distressingly, it wasn't even the case that you had pretended to have feeling for him, not anymore at least.

You had always found Hunter attractive, how could you not after all, but this was uncharted territory. You never expected to actually feel anything for him in this sort of way. A sense of closeness, yes. A deep respect, definitely. But this — this ache in your chest as you looked upon his displeased expression — was something entirely new. It made you feel sick.

“Hey hot shot! Bandana! Get in here” the grating call came from Cid’s office, and you ground your teeth at the irritating nickname.

You slipped from your seat at the bar, glancing over in Hunter's direction. He stayed seated, twirling his vibroblade between his fingers and watching you walk across the room. Your gaze fell to his fingers flipping the knife about, and you had to pull your eyes away when your mind brought forth how enticing you found it.

“What is it?” you spoke harshly as you entered the office, little patience for the Trandoshan sat behind the desk.

“That's no way to talk to your employer” Cid chided as she stood from her seat, making her way around the desk to stand in front of you. You had to look down to meet her eyes, and it gave you a small bit of satisfaction. At least you could say you looked down on her, even if she was a pain in your ass.

“What is this about?” a gruff voice spoke up, and you eyes followed Hunter as he walked into the room and stood beside you at the desk.

Cid rolled her eyes, “You two are a right pair” she muttered as she walked towards the door, “I don't know what your problem is, but you two need to figure it out, because your foul attitudes are bringing down the mood around here”

You glanced up at Hunter, noting his grinding jaw and narrowed eyes.

“I'd rather n—”

“It wasn't a request, bandana” Cid held her hand up to stop him and stepped out of her office, “Now, please, get over yourselves and figure this out. Just don't do anything on my desk and you'll still be employed after this is over”

“After wha—?”

You question was answered when Cid pressed a button on the control panel and closed the door. You heard the lock engage, and cringed at the implication. You were locked in here with Hunter. The one person you were both avoiding and actively seeking attention from.

Hunter grumbled and strode over to the door, repeatedly prodding at the open button on the panel, with nothing to show for it.

You sighed, “There's no point”

Hunter turned to look at you, leaning his back against the door and crossing his arms across his chest. He looked at you down his nose, as if in disgust, and you couldn't help but feel small.

“We should probably talk… right?” you offered, and he grunted in reply.

“I'm listening”

You had been banking on him having something to say, but that was foolish of you. Of course he wasn't going to make it easy. Unfortunately, you didn't have anything to say either, so you just stood watching each other for a moment.

“Um, I—” you gulped, “I'm sorry?”

Hunter laughed, an unamused sound that made your stomach turn.

“What exactly are you sorry for?” he raised his eyebrows at you expectantly.

“Well I, uh…” your shoulders sagged, your posture defeated, “I don't know”

“Hm” he tilted his head a little as he looked down at you, “then I suppose your apology isn't accepted”

You huffed, giving him a frown, “come on man, give me something to work with here”

“What's that supposed to mean?” he asked, his face adorning it's own frown.

“What does ‘not like this’ mean?” you rebutted, your tone holding an exasperation.

Hunter pressed his mouth into a hard line as he looked away from you, “that's none of your business”

“I think its exactly my business actually,” you moved forwards, stepping into his space, “and I want to know”

He gave you a dubious look, his voice low, “why?”

“Because,” you rolled your eyes, “believe it or not, it matters what you think of me”

Hunter went to speak, then paused, a deep breath escaping him, “I think you know what it means”

You pressed your lips together, irritated that he couldn't just come out and say it, “Then… why won't you talk to me?”

“Because there's nothing to say” he looked away, and you could see his cheeks tinge pink, “can we just forget that it happened and move on?”

His obvious embarrassment almost made you laugh.

“And what if I don't want to?”

That got his attention.

“What?” he asked, his voice careful, measured, making sure he understood you.

“I don't want to forget that it happened” you reiterated.

“Why?”

You shook your head slightly. When was this man going to get the memo. A smile pulled at your lips and you stepped right in front of him.

“Because, Hunter…” your smile turned to a smirk, “maybe I want it to happen again”

Hunter's eyebrows raised as he looked down at you, and he pushed off of the door, uncrossing his arms and finally taking down his physical and mental barriers.

“You do?”

“Mhm” you replied in a lilting hum.

He didn't need to be told twice.

Hunter grabbed you by the hips, pulling your body flush against his, and his lips found yours shortly thereafter. He kissed you with a passion to rival that of the first one, but this time you knew it was real, that he really meant it. You couldn’t help but smile into the kiss, his change in attitude since your confession amusing you.

“Something funny?” he mumbled against you, not giving you a chance to answer before his lips were on yours again, pushing you backwards so your body hit the desk.

“Just you” you replied, a chuckle bubbling up and out of you as he huffed.

His lips trailed kisses along your jaw as he leaned down, his hands hooking underneath your thighs and lifting you easily to sit atop the desk. A small squeak left your lips at the unexpected action, and you could feel Hunter smirk against your neck as he parted your legs further and came to stand in between them. His nose brushed against a sensitive spot just behind your ear, and a shiver ran up your spine, a small gasp escaping your lips.

“Fuck, you smell so good” he mumbled between kisses to your collarbone, and the breathless tone and sentiment sent an unexpected thrill through you. You gently scraped your fingernails down the back of his neck, earning a groan in return, and he brought his lips back up to yours in a hurry.

You couldn’t get enough, and you would’ve taken more, had you not been so rudely interrupted.

“I said not to do anything on my desk!”

taglist: @darthnihila @cdblake1565

[gyaruhana]

oh my goodness I think I just turned into the happiest sapphic ever 😝😝 thank you so much for accepting my weird love for player 044 but anywho once you have time and feel like it I desperately need you to write hc's about her w a easily manipulated reader who believes in everything player 044 says and is sooo blindly in love and how a relationship would basically be with my sexy evil old powerful shaman wife 😼

also may I be ' 🐘' anon ? 🙂‍↕️

Seon-nyeo/Player 044 - easily manipulated!reader headcannons

Synopsis: Seon-nyeo with an easily manipulated reader..

A/N: first time writing for this character.. hopefully i serve her right !! also, yes you can be 🐘anon!

Warnings: manipulation, NOT PROOFREAD..

➠ To you, Seon-Nyeo was your savior.

➠ Someone who could protect during these deadly games and you may have immediately started relying on her..

➠ Seon-Nyeo was very much on board with how easily you trust her and didn't waste a second to keep you by her side along with the other few that followed her around

➠ she's ALWAYS saying that it's your fate to stay as her ally and that, if you don't, you'll die here

➠ She's honestly a little surprised by how quickly you just trust her and blindly follow her

➠ (and a little bit concerned)

➠ However, she doesn't let that stop her lies and manipulation because she needs sacrificial pawns for her survival !!

➠ At first, you were more of a pawn that she thought she'd sacrifice if it came down to it but.. she may have changed her mind quite quickly

➠ Especially since you keep trying to give your life away for her and you've barely known her for long

➠ Because of your total trust in her and your willingness to die for her survival, she totally does fall in love with you

➠ Her love might also be because you were actually genuinely nice to her unlike some of the other players. You weren't just pretending to be nice for the sake of appeasing the gods and she liked that a lot.

➠ when she does fall in love with you, she gets more manipulative but, this time, it's to protect you from other players

➠ she knew very well that some of the other players had gladly sacrificed their allies or strangers and she didn't like the idea of that happening to you

she actually isn't really one to fall in love so falling in love with you was something she didn't want to let go of

➠ She's always keeping you by her side from then on and frequently begs the gods above to not let anything happen to you

➠ Every morning, before a new game, she'll immediately tell you the gods blessed the two of you with good luck today so you'll be less nervous about the game you play that day

➠ Also, always partners with you during group games (thank god season 2 didn't have the marble game)

➠ Whenever she's sitting on that one bed above everyone else when the players are voting, most of the time she's looking at you.

➠ Usually you notice her quite quickly and give her a wave which she will return with a smile

➠ If you actually make the decision to not continue the games despite what she tells you, she may be slightly upset about it tbh..

➠ She'll go to you immediately and talk to you about your decision

➠ If it was pure fear that drove your decision to discontinuing the games, she will promise to keep you safe and mention that the gods have promised nothing but fortune for you

➠ She knows she can't really guarantee that and that its a white lie but she really doesn't want the games to end in case she can't find you again

➠ On that note, it does make her a little possessive.

➠ If anyone gets too close to you, she'll slowly walk over and look at who's chatting to you up and down before smirking as if she knows something they don't

➠ She basically stares at them until they leave i'm not gonna lie

➠ Off topic but i could honestly see her wanting to wear some sort of matching jewelry..

➠ like a bracelet or a necklace..

➠ Anyway, back to what I was saying -

➠ she honestly gets jealous easily but she doesn't lash out or anything

➠ like she's not the kind of person to drag you away randomly or do some sort of public display of affection

➠ her aura just scares the person away

➠ I'd also say she doesn't do a lot of PDA

➠ Not because she doesn't like it, she just doesn't do it much

➠ If you ask for it though, then she gladly will.

➠ Overall, manipulative but for the right reasons when you're dating

"Good morning," Seon-Nyeo speaks as she's crouched next to your bed, watching you slowly stretch and come to life. You had gotten used to seeing her by your bedside, smiling at you as she waited for you to finally wake up. It was a wonder how she always woke up before the music blared over the speakers. Her eyes watched you carefully as you sat up and she quickly made herself comfortable on your bed - sitting with her legs crossed. She always enjoyed watching you sleep peacefully. Just like she enjoyed watching your face light up when she told a slight white lie about luck being on your side today. Sure, lying was bad but if it made you more confident, she'd lie a million times. She was glad you trusted her so much. It made her feel rather.. good inside. Once you seemed more awake, she smiled and looked at you directly in the eyes. "The gods have once again promised nothing but good fortune for today so there's no need to worry,"

[craziertogether]

stancy & mileven

GOOD LORD THIS IS A LONG ONE. but i hope you guys enjoy it)

so i often think about stancy and mileven in the grand scheme of the show & fandom. if someone ships mileven it’s almost a guarantee that they will ship stancy too. i’m gonna be honest this usually tells me 1-2 major things about the person, you’re too young and have a very immature outlook on love OR you’re used to face value & toxic love/infatuation.

stancy is THE most perfect portrayal of the first “popular” / “bad boy” boyfriend a teenage girl most often gets. i say this from experience, like nancy i was a “good girl” that became infatuated with my first boyfriend, a trouble maker/womanizer but a good time. that is what stancy represents, a good time but nothing permanent or even endgame just the guy who makes her feel special. it kills me how much i relate to nancy but it also kills me more to think about how people are romanticizing stancy because of season 4. we just watched the rest of the show with our eyes closed huh? yes he was very sweet coming back to help clean up the movie theatre and IG the season 4 confession about his dreams with her were “cute”. but i’m sorry to say this like its not the most obvious thing ever but, you do NOT have to love someone because they love you. love is not enough to keep a relationship together. and unfortunate all steve has for her is that same high school idealistic view of nancy that made him fall for her. steve did not understand nancy, nor her goals her passions. that specific scene in s4 when jonathan listed off how hardworking and determined she was and how he couldn’t come between her and her goals. he showed what she REALLY needed, someone who understood her and knew that he couldn’t get in the way of that. steve and nancy are what people who don’t understand how mature relationships are. they’re not codependent (like steve + nancy). they’re not fully based around lust (like steve + nancy). they’re not based all on the goals of one person (like steve describing his insane dream of marriage and kids asap). (PS showing steve with like 10 other girls away from nancy and then bringing back his “i actually always wanted nancy all along in s4 was LAME and just a way to show the audience imo that those ships are also SUPERFICIAL AS HELL. the audience saw right through it, that nancy and jonathan were better for each other, it might’ve revived some stancy shippers to hear the “i love her still” about nancy. but guys COME ON. you’re telling me the GA somewhat saw through that fake revival of feelings but not through mileven and mike’s confession? i cannot today.) anyways i wanna say that if jancy not endgame, that’s insane first off, but second nancy can be alone and independent but to put her back with steve would be like the worst possible outcome. just like mileven.

as for mileven, it’s the same thing. as i stated before i was a mileven lover, but i was also 10/11 and i wasn’t aware that queer relationships could happen. if we take out the byler aspect of why mileven is doomed. we completely overlook the fact that they are the young version of stancy. the love at first sight lie, something that i know many girls can probably relate to, my elementary boyfriend seemed like my husband. i was conditioned to think heteronormative thoughts, that i had to absolutely marry a man and i had to be someone’s perfect wife. that’s why mileven fans think it’s the perfect outcome for mileven wedding and naming kids after the members of the group that may die. it’s not just childish but it comes from a lack of understanding complex relationships and from the conditioning of staying in a toxic relationship. mileven shows how empty and unreliable both mike and el are for each other, outside of mike being unable to say “i love you” to el, mike can’t stop idolizing her for ONE sole part of her identity (ahem steve + nancy w/ her being the good girl that’s a virgin) & el can’t stop idolizing mike for her idea of love (ahem nancy to steve when she grew up seeing her parents, thinking she can stay with him even after she felt her connection to jonathan and choosing to be with him because it was comfortable and it was easy, it’s what was expected of her by steve’s friends). both mileven and stancy represent what it means to be confined to heteronormative and social norms, they prevent you from becoming who you’re meant to be/ be with.

it’s crazy to me too because we see how many people LOVE nancy with a gun and think she literally is so badass and showed off incredible skill throughout the seasons and yet fail to see that the MAJORITY of those scenes are with jonathan?? (like will and mike they bring out the absolute best in the other). they know the other better than anyone else, even when they fight, they fight and it’s real, it’s raw. they fight through honesty and they fight because they love the other and they KNOW that they can take it. with jonathan calling out nancy in season 3, we see how he's calling her out for being immature for not being able to see that he is poor and he struggles and he needed that job, she fought with him bc it felt like he was coming from a place of ignorance and not addressing her mistreatment. they’re both incredibly honest even if it hurts the other one. versus her fight with steve, she can’t even honestly say the words “i love you”, so instead she stays silent. (HMM I WONDER WHO THAT SOUNDS LIKE…. mike queeler). but also when jancy is together they’re TOGETHER. they have heart to hearts, strong ones. they have MATCHING SCARS GUYS. even thousands of miles apart, they describe the other like the light of their life, they call out the TRAITS that make the other so wonderful (unlike steve who literally js thinks of nancy as his first love and who’s pretty). jonathon believed nancy and goes on a literal psychotic bender to find murray and get justice for barb, versus steve who remind me again, says they should try to be “normal” and party? yeah sounds a lot like another person trying to be normal. direct parallels blow me away btw, the GA has to be choosing to act blind on purpose. but yeah, let’s switch to mileven then byler. every major fight between mileven has been because mike lied or felt lied to. he felt lied to by el when she said that will was alive, he lies to her in s3 about his grandma and acts like he can’t completely understand her species (queer coding to the MAX) and in season 4 hes once again lying to her and SHE is also lying to him. dare i say, they’re not fighting with the OTHER, they’re fighting to keep their facade up.

and now let’s look at byler (my beloved)!!! 1) the first relationship established in the show is byler, like it or not, that moment of intimacy “it was a 7”, soulmate behavior. 2) complete and TOTAL trust from both of them. it’s interesting that will only tries to tell two people in the show that hes still alive. joyce his MOTHER, and MIKE with his walkie talkie. not jonathan who has a radio system? not dustin? not lucas? not hopper? the police? no. he chooses his mom and mike, interesting. 3) he hides his struggles from his friends and his family, everyone treats him like hes weak like hes different but not mike? why not mike? i mean he spends the most time with mike and yet, you’re telling me mike never once maybe slipped over his words and said something insensitive, no instead he “makes him feel better for being different”. 4) now onto the actual fights, bc this is really long. when will and mike fight, it’s raw and real, it hurts the audience to see will hurting because he’s been through so much trauma, and yet, mike hurts him anyways, but will CANNOT stay away. one moment i think we forget to mention is in s2, when mike gets angry about max, mike takes a jab at will. “did you agree to this?” “you should’ve told ME first.” will literally looks SO defeated & hurt. why mike? why does will need to tell you? you’re the leader? you own will? no. it’s bc will wasn’t honest to him, will didn’t come to mike about a big decision. also yeah a little gay bc why are you mad about a girl. but okay. and the season 3, yes the rain fight is back. i won’t dissect it any more but i will say, mike’s cruelness towards will was so unwarranted. but will’s willingness to say what no one else was willing to was yet another example of how deep their relationship is. calling mike out for being a shit friend, that’s will being what mike asked of him (season 2 halloween & honesty), and yet mike’s become too afraid of revealing his own feelings, but he’s still somewhat honest to will. he’s projecting his feelings to will, he’s TELLING ON HIMSELF here. and yes we know he regrets it runs back. but the fight is what matters it’s them still being real and honest to the other even if they don’t realize it just yet. season 4 is just another extension of the season 3 fight, but this time, they’re both projecting/accusing and yet insanely they’re both still being honest. will’s accusing mike of yet again abandoning him while deflecting his fault for not calling and mike’s projecting his homosexual thoughts into will, and yet again hes still being fully transparent to will, he calls out will’s bad behavior & WILL’S lack of effort too. all of this to say, we can see as the audience, queer or not, it’s practically crystal clear that stancy & mileven are parallels and only exist to show the audience immature, unreal love. while byler & jancy actually show the hardships of true love. romantic or not, they show how love is meant to be. it’s mean to be hard it’s meant to be painful, it’s meant to make you doubt, take a step back and remember that nothing is perfect but that it can always be worked through. byler & jancy make ALL parties involved better/uplift the other while stancy & mileven do the opposite they lead to lying, they lead to trying to uphold the “perfect” couple image and forgetting to make the other better because they’re too busy trying to make themselves look good. these ships are selfish and don’t put the other person’s needs into perspective. CRAZY btw that stancy (platonic) & elmike are WONDERFUL. they showcase the care they have for the other and how deep their relationship can actually become when they’re faced with life or death. one example is how mike reacted in season 3 when billy was coming after el and he found his courage to hit billy (mileven was broken up) but in season 4 despite being together and all love dove, in a serious moment, mike just can’t do anything to help el, she needed him and yet he couldn’t deliver romantically but he could platonically! reminding her to fight vs the i love you’s (duffers were crazy for this.

basically, stancy & mileven CANNOT be endgame and byler and jancy don’t have to be endgame bc the wheelers might enter an independent era. however, they cannot return to the people that have done nothing for their character development except show the audience how much better off they are without them. also if you think about it this is literally applicable to all endgame ships, jopper, duzie, lumax, & rovickie. nobody doubts jopper, why? because bob was adorable but they were low-key superficial, hopper understood joyce and was willing to believe “crazy joyce”. and even their fights in season 3, so interesting that we see this olive branch that exists between them from joyce even after they spend the ENTIRE season arguing. lumax, endgame from the jump, dustin was superficially fascinated with max bc she was a girl that had boy-ish interests he didn’t even know her, he didn’t try like lucas really did, you could say he didn’t have the chance, but it’s just too clear that lucas saw her as an equal, dustin saw her as an ideal figure (HMMM) & rovickie + stobin , teaches the audience that queer people deserve love and acceptance, exactly what they’ve been denied over and over. and dustin and suzie, insane that dustin had to teach steve that social norms don’t matter, that he should pursue the person who understand him best. suzie is gorgeous to dustin and she’s a brainiac that is now dustin’s equal. dustin has his disability but it doesn’t change at all how suzie sees him, she sees him for his perfections. jonathan is the outcast with mrs. perfect, two people who don’t “make sense” and yet fit together better than any popular jock for nancy. and byler, don’t get me started AGAIN, no one understands will like mike does, and no one makes mike feel better than will does. these ships don’t have to make sense to the outside world, just to the other.

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

One fun thing about Midst is that the nature of the protagonists' internal character progressions is mirrored by the physical journeys through the cosmos they undertake beginning in Season 2. Lark and Phineas, who experience positive character development, travel a parallel journey towards the Fold. Weepe, who conversely experiences negative character development, undertakes an opposing journey to the Un.

To quickly define the terms positive and negative character development: these simply refer to the way in which a character's arc progresses. A character experiencing positive character development overcomes their flaws and ends the narrative somehow a better person than they started it. Negative character development is the opposite. A character experiencing this embraces or is consumed by their flaws and ends the narrative worse than when they started it. Neither of these is inherently better than the other, they're simply different progressions a character can undertake.

Tying this back into Midst, as mentioned above both Lark and Phineas experience positive character development over the course of Midst's three seasons, while Moc Weepe experiences negative character development across the same. Lark starts the narrative with impenetrable walls; she's isolated and this is by choice as she is doing everything in her power to evade the Trust and avoid becoming attached to a location and a people she may have to run from in case she is found out. In order to protect her secrets, she murders an otherwise harmless retiree. By the end of the podcast, Lark has embraced Midst as her home, and the people of Stationary Hill as her people; at the end of it all she joins the Fold to become a part of Midst forever. She also saves the life of a man who almost handed her over to the Trust, because some part of her has come to believe in other people and in second chances. Phineas starts Midst slavish pursuing Net Zero in his Trust account, and he is willing to do whatever it takes in order to personally achieve that goal. His foremost concern is being Valorous; as Phineas himself would later say when reflecting on the matter, his balance is all he thinks about. By the end of the story, Phineas has helped to destroy the institution he started it so devoted to, and has embraced the idea that there both is no end point to being a good person, and that one has to do good even without the expectation of some acknowledgement or reward. Weepe, however, begins the story thinking that the only thing he can ever be is someone who ruins everything he touches, and so he sells out Saskia and the Black Candle Cabaret to the Trust so he can at least control how he ruins them. By the end of the series he has sunk so deeply into this belief that Saskia herself begging him to at least try and change has no effect, and he pursues the other protagonists in the name of the Trust not out of any personal conviction but out of momentum. In the end, the most rest the narrative can offer him is a death with the guarantee that he won't come back to continue inevitably breaking things.

To bring this back to the first paragraph, the fun thing about Midst's narrative is that the internal journeys the character undertake are really kicked off at the start of Season 2, when the characters depart from Midst after the Moonfall. Lark and Phineas (inadvertently) leave together; they travel to the Fold and both get advice and help from the Mothers Merciful that contributes to the ultimate resolution of their personal internal arc. Weepe, whose person arc runs in the opposite direction of the other two, also physically goes in the opposite direction, instead departing Midst for the Un. There, rather than finding advice and support, he instead finds himself locked in the Acra, effectively the basement of the Trust's Central Vault, and tortured until he pays lip service to the Trust's ideals, something which unsurprisingly does nothing to help him actually address his underlying issues.

Midst's three protagonists all begin Season 2 moving decisively in a direction, both physically and emotionally, Lark and Phineas towards the Fold and healing, and Weepe towards the Un and entrenchment.

[fiveredlights]

also I now have so many questions about the DAUD AU world that I don't know what to do with them. if a DAUD performs really well in the other universe does that do anything for them in their home universe?? What if they do really poorly? is there a system in which they are allowed to stay in the alternate universe?

Has a DAUD for vcarb/rb/alphatauri/whatever ever been part of one of redbulls mid season driver swap/promotion/demotion shenanigans?? is that even allowed?? rb still run three cars as allotted for being the designated team but they run 3 drivers from their normal universe and red bull steals the DAUD for their second car?

thank you for enabling me to talk about The DAUD AU

before we begin i very quickly have to solve the problem of benjamin’s DAUD program being one race only versus matilda’s DAUD program bring a whole season by saying in 2030 the FIA changes the program that drivers have to stay for a whole season and everyone agrees that it’s fine for teams to run three drivers for the season because as callan says, the DAUDs are usually shit!

okay now onto your very good questions. usually DAUDs are reserve/junior drivers and if they do well in the program, usually teams will move them up into the seat but it’s not like a direct correlation. sometimes DAUDs can do really well but they don’t end up with a full time seat 🤷‍♀️ like how winning f2 doesn't always guarantee a f1 seat.

but it helps your case massively if you do well which is why people attempt the DAUD program as a way to get into a f1 seat. that’s probably the main reason why benjamin does the DAUD program, he’s in the RB junior team and needs to make a name for himself.

matilda does the DAUD program because she hates her teammate (devon jackson when i catch you) and ferrari won’t fire him because idk he’s like super rich (pay drivers have hit ferrari in 2048) so he sees it as a way to escape for a season.

(also she’s running away from someone like callan but we don’t need to get into that. matthew doesn’t like her in the beginning and i wonder why …)

if they do really poorly there’s leniency depending how far forward/back they went (eg. drivers who go back 20+ years almost never do well so nothing happens) but if they went to a similar time period and do very badly they will almost always get dropped from their teams. like if you were from 2024 and get sent into 2025 and you DNF in the race you are unfortunately probably gonna get kicked out.

DAUDs aren’t allowed to stay in the alternate universe permanently because of *waves hand around* universe somehow not liking it BUT if you win the race/championship you get a special little universe time travel bracelet that allows you to travel between your home universe and your alternate universe whenever you wish. so matilda is absolutely travelling back and forth for the sole reason to annoy matthew and callan.

there’s a whole thing where callan’s like you don’t want kids after knowing matilda and max just sighs super loudly and is like “you must be really stupid if you don’t think daniel considers you two as his weird adult children. i knew i would be stuck with you two when i started dating daniel. be so serious callan.”

okay so the whole Red Bull/RB/DAUD swap is such a funny and great thought because red bull are absolutely doing crazy shit like that. below is the craziest possible option i could think of.

in 2035 in the old habits/glitter on the floor DAUD verse i think RB/red bull attempt this crazy driver thing, where the RB DAUD does incredibly well for the first race but then does like mediocre for the rest and of course red bull are immediately like well with results like that we gotta get them in the main team!

the race before the summer break, the 2nd red bull driver contracts appendicitis on the friday. red bull call on the RB DAUD to replace them, he beats matthew for that race and red bull are like okay you're staying for the rest of the season. i don't think you can give someone appendicitis but there's obviously going to be news articles on red bull giving appendicitis to the 2nd red bull driver as a way to get the RB DAUD into the seat.

everyone starts petitioning the FIA to stop red bull from doing this, lawsuits are launched, there's a full on civil war between teams, everyone in red bull and RB are walking on eggshells, and to top it off the after the 2nd red bull driver recovers they refuse to drive the RB so they quit midseason and then we go into summer break with five cars between the two teams and only four drivers.

RB didn't run the 3rd car in the race before summer break, so obviously now daniel has to find a driver for the rest of the season. he doesn't want to pull up any of the drivers from the junior team because they are not ready and honestly he's still holding a grudge against red bull for stealing one of his drivers behind his back AGAIN. he is teetering between also quitting mid season and calling andretti up being like hey you wanted a f1 team right??

matteo jokingly says daniel should drive the 3rd car, daniel is like i can't drive because of my hand. he's trying to figure out if he can call matilda again but ferrari won't let her drive. then max is like well i can. everyone turns to the door and max is like well it is not like i am doing anything else.

daniel thinks he's joking but then realises he is very much not joking and he's not going to look a gift horse in the face, shoves max into the factory to do seat fits etc. everyone in RB agrees to keep it hush hush because red bull would throw a fit if they found out max was replacement driver and swap the DAUD for max.

matthew catches wind that max is the replacement, attempts to get himself demoted so he can be teammates with max, callan throws his phone out the window before anything can happen.

summer break is over and RB haven't announced who the replacement driver is so everyone assumes they're abandoning the DAUD program/3rd car. no one suspects that max is the driver when he walks into the paddock, but when FP1 starts and people see the 3rd car with 33 on it everyone promptly loses their shit, daniel and max have the biggest shit eating grin on their face, christian is having a mental breakdown down at red bull, red bull shareholders are pissed, matthew is still trying to get himself demoted and on top of that FIA places a temporary ban on driver swaps mid season to deal with the lawsuits/petitions.

so then it turns out that the DAUD who was once thought to be a generational talent maybe wasn't that good at all because the first race back he hits matthew and causes him to retire. a fluke maybe. nah he hits callan in the next race. red bull come to the startling realisation they are stuck with this guy for the rest of the season. someone googles how to give appendicitis to someone else.

adding salt to the wound, RB finish above red bull in the WCC, callan wins the WDC and matthew quits red bull and the FIA give red bull a massive fine because what they did was illegal and outside of the regulations etc. red bull agree to sell RB to andretti at the end of the season and daniel has never ever been happier. this is what he wanted all along.

max wins the last race, we finally get the daniel, max, matthew, callan podium line up. max retires again, matthew quits red bull and goes to andretti with daniel as TP. matteo also joins andretti, we get the oops all matt team and mostly everyone lives happily ever after.

matilda visits at the end of the season and is like woah. what the fuck happened here and everyone just starts crying because it's been a long year.

is this situation so ridiculous and crazy? yes. but so is this universe.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Based on what you know about TV writing, how much of the show do you think they actually had planned when season 1 was airing?

It's really hard to say because season one sets up almost nothing and has a lot of elements that just disappear. That could mean that nothing was planned or it could mean that the writers failed at the challenge of sticking to their formula while also setting up the world they wanted to expand on later if they ever got the chance. The fact that season one had so many writers working solo (I think the official number was 19?) plus this interview make me feel like it may have been the later case, but it's hard to be sure:

So [the writing director] sold the Miraculous series to broadcasters as a formula show. A person gets angry, is akumatized, then Marinette transforms into Ladybug then frees the person from the akumatization and… The End. It's also for this reason that Marinette tries to confess her love for Adrien in every episode, but is unable to do so. But he tried to go against what he had planned with TF1, by slipping little extra stories into certain episodes. Audiences were receptive to these slightly hidden stories. The TV channel even asked [the writing director] if there really were hidden things in the series, but he denied everything. Thanks to the positive reception from the public, TF1 agreed to develop the characters of Marinette and Adrien and flesh out the universe a little more.

Miraculous is bad, but the reasons why it's bad are likely somewhat complex and don't belong to any single person. That's why it's so interesting to me.

We see in the above quote that season one had the writers trying to give the show a wider plot, but they had to straight up lie that they were doing that in order to sell the show. I have mixed feelings about this, but I can almost guarantee you that the writing director only admitted to this because it worked out to some extent and they kind of got their way. But they didn't totally get their way because Miraculous is still a formula show. That's why the writers will insist that everything can be watched in any order. If they said anything else, that would possibly have massive, negative reproductions since they sold the show as an episodic formula show.

Did that issue plague the series, keeping the writers from telling the story they wanted to tell in a coherent fashion? Maybe! That could 100% be why major story elements feel like last minute retcons. But those elements could also just be last minute retcons. It's hard to know for sure. The best I can do is tell you how it reads to me, which is 100% last minute retcon, but if the truth ends up being that the writers were just so desperate to tell this big story so they decided telling it badly was better than not telling it? I wouldn't be stunned. I'd just be even more judgmental because this is their job. I'm way more sympathetic to "they keep giving us more season so we have to keep making shit up because we don't have enough content for this many seasons" than I am to, "we knew we couldn't do this well, but we did it anyway instead of focusing on things that work well in the format we promised our investors."

The first is just so freaking common and is why I rarely get excited by series renewals for shows that already have several seasons. The second just seems arrogant, but I'm on the outside looking in. It's always possible that the full story would make me way more sympathetic. It's why I try to avoid being too focused on the writers and focus more on the "art" unto itself.

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

My other theme this week is actually based on a quote from one of your recent posts! It’s “the gentlest futures” - one story where Buck’s going a bit crazy trying to guarantee those futures for everyone he loves and another where he’s already built his own!

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ (seeing the end chapter count on this story kind of broke my brain! But it definitely fit the vibe of the last chapter - sad about an ending but so grateful for the experience! Loving these last snippets though! Seeing them all thriving in their new roles and still being a family - it’s so beautiful! And watching Buck realize he doesn’t need to hold on so tight to the 118 because he’s never being abandoned again - love that for him!!)

⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️ (oh boy Buck didn’t anyone ever tell you not to make deals with sketchy supernatural authorities? I’m definitely worried about him but it is very on brand for him to sacrifice his sanity and soul to keep the people he loves safe. I love it! And I’m very intrigued by the nullification clause - a way for the whole curse to be gone huh? Interesting…)

- PCA <3

Oh I love this!!! Great theme.

123 or 1k for ⚡️(yeah! Can't believe I really made it to the end, and I'm glad it feels like it's wrapping up in an okay place):

---

“Buckley’s still here,” Bowman says to Hen. He snorts. “That’s a shame.”

So that’s how it’s going to be, then? They couldn’t have just ignored each other? Like professionals? 

“Firefighter Buckley is a valued member of this team,” Hen fires back. And he loves her. He really does. But nothing she says to him is going to matter, when it comes to Buck. He has it out for Buck and he doesn’t respect Hen. They just need to try to get through this day with as few casualties as possible. 

This endeavor proves to be a challenge. For one, the rescue itself is getting harder the longer it goes on. The people inside are struggling. For another, Bowman loudly disagrees with Hen’s slow but steady method of evacuation. They can knock a hole in the wall and pray, but it’s a load bearing wall and the house is already collapsing. The victims could be killed in seconds. Hence Hen’s plan to stabilize what they can before sawing a small, precise gap in the wall. They can hear the victims inside. Communicate through knocks and shouts. They know they have time. 

Bowman also knows they have time. That doesn’t seem to matter to him, though. 

“The quicker we get out of this shitshow, the better,” he grits, before instructing his crew to ignore Hen’s orders and knock down the wall anyway. 

Buck has never seen anything like it, honestly. Just flagrant disregard for procedure. He may have more seniority than Hen, but she’s in charge of this scene. Eddie’s in charge of the whole damn thing. And Eddie told Bowman to assist the 118. Assist. Not take over. 

A few of the 114 firefighters look hesitant for a second. Unsure of the protocol. 

“Absolutely do not do that!” Hen says. She radios to Eddie. Explains what’s happening. Her voice is frantic. 

But they do. They do it. And despite the 118’s best efforts to reduce the damage and rescue the victims, one of them dies. 

☆☆☆

It’s a hard night. An impossible one. 

Neither Eddie or Buck seem to know how to move forward from today’s events. They both feel horrible. Drained. Defeated. They both feel guilt, even though there is a clear culprit. Captain Bowman. 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Yardley tells him afterwards, as they are sifting through so much paperwork Eddie’s vision starts to blur. “You did everything right, and a seasoned fire captain made a very bad call. You couldn’t and shouldn’t have anticipated that.”

Well, he might have. He’s heard all about what kind of man Bowman is. But Buck never had a bad word to say about his endangering people’s lives. It always sounded to Eddie that he was just a bully. Which sucks, but… Well, this is something more than that. 

“And, Eddie,” Yardley continues. “Even if we couldn’t point the blame at one person… These are the sort of calls you’ll be on from here on out. They aren’t routine. People will die. And most of the time it won’t be on you. Do the best you can, and start counting the people that survive.”

And though Eddie knows it’s good advice, he doesn’t quite feel it. 

“We saved fifty-seven residents today, Eddie,” Yardley says. 

And it should have been fifty-eight. 

“You’re right,” Eddie says.

When he goes home, Buck is in an even worse state. He’s scraped and bruised all over. He’s changed into warm clothes, and has wrapped himself in a blanket. He’s clearly still feeling the residual cold of the water. Eddie gets that. He was cold for a long time after the well. When Eddie finds him, he’s sitting up in bed, watching television. Brooke is asleep on his chest and he’s stroking her hair. Soothing himself, more than her, Eddie thinks. 

“Hi,” Eddie says softly, dropping his bag on the floor and walking to the bed to kiss them both on their respective foreheads.

“Hey,” Buck whispers back.

“Where’s Chris?” Eddie asks. 

“Friend’s house,” Buck says. “He begged. Thought it might be better anyway, tonight.”

“Which friend?”

“Duncan.”

“Is that the one with the ugly dogs?” Eddie asks.

Buck snorts. “They’re boxers. They’re sweet.”

“They’re hideous, but sure.”

Buck rolls his eyes. They’ve had this argument before. Eddie knows he’s right. Even Chris says they’re annoying. 

“You okay?” Eddie asks. He walks away from the bed to change into sweats and a tank top. He’s not as cold as Buck. He didn’t spend very much time in the water.

Buck shrugs. “I feel awful.”

“Yeah, me too,” Eddie says. “There’s going to be an investigation into Bowman.”

“Hen wondered,” Buck mutters.

“She okay?” Eddie asks. 

“She’s pissed.” 

“No kidding,” Eddie sighs.

“I don’t get it y’know?” Buck says.

“Which part?” Eddie asks. “Because we already knew he was an ass by how he treated you.”

“Yeah, but…” He sighs. “Okay, when Bobby fired me-”

“Still hilarious, by the way,” Eddie says.

“When Bobby momentarily let me go, he said he didn’t think I understood how lucky I was to be a firefighter,” Buck says. “And to some degree, he was right. I’ve never been as stupid as Bowman, but I didn’t get it as much, then.”

---

96 for ⚖️ (Nullification clause will be important!):

---

No. He’s not. He’s obviously fucking not. This is going to be the rest of his life, and he’s going to be miserable, and Eddie can say all he wants about things being okay, but he doesn’t even want Buck like this. He made that clear. So nothing is going to be okay for Buck. That was the whole point of this, right? Nothing will be okay for Buck. It’ll be okay for everyone else. 

“Just make it through the call,” Eddie says.

But it won’t end, then. It’ll never end. Maybe Billy Boils’ friends had the right idea, ensuring he’d be sent to the gallows. 

Luckily, the call takes them towards two of the ten guests Buck could single out for punishment. Meaning, he can do it. He just needs a second. It’ll make some of this pressure go away. Give him some relief. He needs that. He needs that, and then he can focus on his job.

The scene in the penthouse is sort of absurd. It’s a dual-story suite. There’s a balcony from the upper level overlooking the living area. One of the police officers on the scene explains what has happened. Two brothers, twin sons of a wealthy businessman with quite the social media following built for themselves, are staying here. The one brother has pushed the other over the balcony, where he landed directly on a glass table below. There’s a lot of blood and agonized moaning. 

The unharmed brother is sitting on a leather loveseat, cuffed. He looks dazed and teary-eyed. Potentially high. He doesn’t look mildly remorseful.

Buck can tell both brothers are targets for him. Qualified leads, or whatever. But he thinks he’ll go for the non-injured one first. 

“How long have you all been here?” Bobby asks the police officer. “Why weren’t we called sooner?”

Buck ignores the response. As Eddie, Chim, and Hen work on the injured brother, Buck grabs a flashlight from Eddie’s med bag and wanders over to the cuffed one. 

“What do you want?” He sneers at Buck. “An autograph?”

Buck literally has never heard of this man-child before today. But yeah, totally. 

“To check you for a concussion,” Buck says. 

“I haven’t hit my head,” he replies. “Just protocol, man,” Buck lies.

“Whatever,” the guy rolls his eyes. 

Buck starts a phony version of a routine check. He flies through it, not very diligent. 

“You’re clear,” he says at the end, then pats the guy on the shoulder. He’s not supposed to do something like that. But it doesn’t matter. It’s enough to get what he needs.

The scary thing is that what he sees isn’t even that extraordinary any more. The badness. The aura. The past he gets to see. It’s par for the course with what he’s been seeing lately. Misogyny, predatory sexual behaviour, general abuse of the people around him, the environment, and his wealth. Truly vapid and inhuman beliefs. Just… Grotesque. And it would have made Buck sick at first. Now, he just quickly chooses the worst possible fate and calls it a day. 

But the problem is, when Buck is done, he doesn’t feel any better. No itch has been scratched. No pressure has been relieved. He feels awful. 

His feels a constant thrum of panic. Why isn’t it lessening? Why isn’t it going away? This wasn’t the deal he made. The quota isn’t supposed to consistently increase or disappear. Right? Nemesis didn’t say anything about that. Did she? Because Buck… He can’t… He can’t live like this. 

He tries again with the other brother. Touching his arm briefly as he helps lift a backboard onto a gurney. Same shit past. Same punishing future. Same… Same nothing. No relief. Nothing at all. 

⚖️

Bobby sends him home. He doesn’t get to talk to Eddie, the way Eddie wanted to. He gets back to the station and vomits, so overwhelmed by what he’s experiencing. The physical side and the abject dread. 

“I’m still worried this is residual from your illness in the fall,” Bobby says. “I’m worried about you, Buck.”

Who fucking isn’t?

[erosia-rhodes]

Don't leave your best ideas for later

The “Good Omens” season three renewal mess is a great reminder of a simple rule: do not leave your best ideas for next season.

It’s been at least a year since I watched season two of “Good Omens” and here’s what I remember most clearly (spoilers, obviously):

Gabriel loses his memory and hooks up with Beelzebub.

Aziraphale accepts a job to rule heaven.

Crowley kisses Aziraphale and they basically break up.

That’s it. That’s what I remember.

I vaguely recall subplots about two shop owners falling in love, flashbacks to a Victorian cemetery, zombies in WWII, and Aziraphale holding a dance at his bookshop, but none of that stuck with me even if those bits were fairly amusing at the time. If I were given a choice between those dalliances or a couple more hours of season three, I would reallocate that time to season three, and I think most fans would too. I doubt it would be hard for a fan to edit season two down to 2-3 hours without cutting anything essential.

Of the three things I do remember well, the most interesting idea was Aziraphale taking over heaven. That’s what season two should have been about!!! Will Aziraphale be able to make a significant impact upstairs? Will the job corrupt him? Will the challenges make him realize his side isn’t as “good” as he thinks? Will he come into direct conflict with Crowley? Will he quit or get fired or stay or choose to fall to be with Crowley? And what’s up with the whole second coming? This sounds fascinating and we did not need six episodes to set it up!

Instead, most of season two was spent trying to figure out why Gabriel lost his memory, and even though John Hamm is delightful, Gabriel is a tool and I never cared if he got his memory back. That whole story arc could have been wrapped up in two episodes and led us into Aziraphale taking over heaven in episode three, leaving plenty of time for more interesting plot.

Season two did not feel like a complete story. It felt like the first third of a tale that stopped when it got most interesting. It was risky to assume they’d get a season three to complete the story because streamers cancel shows all the time and nothing is ever guaranteed. Even after a show is made, sometimes the networks decide not to air them like what happened with “The Spiderwick Chronicles” which had to hunt for a new home.

So please, do not wait to explore your most interesting concept! Do not assume there will be a next season! Tell a complete story during the season even if that story is also part of a larger series-long one. As much as I hate that we’re only getting a 90-minute movie that will rush to wrap things up, the show brought this upon itself. Aziraphale and Crowley deserved better and so did we!

[ominoose]

𝐒𝐚𝐦 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 - 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐇𝐂'𝐬

Second and last post for me and @ierofrnkk's new pookie. New immoral murderer blorbo just dropped!!

Keep calling him Sam Fartner in my head.

V - Vase (What flowers he gets you)

Sam has no clue what flowers you like, asking didn't occur to him. What he ends up getting you is a generic bouquet from the nearest store, probably with roses because he vaguely recognises that as a popular choice.

It won't be a big one, or a small one, just a medium-sized bundle of flowers because in his mind flowers are flowers and the act of getting you them is good enough.

A - Affectionate (How openly affectionate is he?)

Sam goes between both extremes on the spectrum, from not being in the mood to even sit next to you, to making you sit on his lap while he lounges in his Lazy Man chair for three hours.

Generally he sits on the wanting affection end, holding your hand, kissing you every ten minutes, giving you his jacket even if it's warm out. Sam parrots the social norms around him, taking a good while to settle into your preferences and figuring out a rhythm that suits you both.

When he kisses you he gets very caught up in it, either giving a quick peck or devouring you, even if he isn't in the mood for more, he craves the intimate closeness.

L - Love Language

Acts of Service.

If you've ever ordered something from Ikea, it'll be built before you realise it's been delivered. Sam wants to be the reliable boyfriend you can lean on, thinking if he does everything for you then you'll have more time to spend with him and will grow to rely on him more, making you less likely to leave.

During Valentines this translates to a fancy breakfast in bed (he doesn't realise he's not meant to wake you up at the crack of dawn to serve it though), driving you anywhere you want to go, getting up to pour you every drink. If he can anticipate a need before it comes, it's a job well done in his mind.

There's also the obvious heaps of fancy food he's plating for you for every meal, with snacks in-between.

E - Eat (Where and how does he dine you?)

Food is his world as much as you are, so only the best can be served to his everything. What constitutes as the best to Sam is wildly different from your average guy, there's going to be a variety of starters with names you can't pronounce, but every single thing he serves will be the best thing you've had.

Sam will memorize every reaction you have to food, what textures you like, what spices and seasonings you prefer, how hot you like things. He's learnt his lesson after Mary and only dines at your favourite places.

Valentine's dinner will be somewhere formal, somewhere upscale and nice, somewhere he's inspected before because he will absolutely not risk taking you somewhere where he can't guarantee everything is not only good to eat, but safe and clean.

He'll domineer a bite, pointing out menu items he knows you'll enjoy, so reining him in before he orders on your behalf is a habit you'll need to get into.

N - Nicknames (What nicknames do you share?)

'Honey' is his default, with a 'Darling' every now and again. Sam likely picks them up from his country songs unknowingly, and never really strays from them. Most of the time he'll use your name.

T - Tacky (How cliche is he?)

Sam's somewhat tacky, in the sense that he'll indulge in some of the typical Valentines behaviours like buying you a teddy bear, taking you out for a nice night out and using more pet names than usual.

PDA isn't something he's afraid to do, if anything he likes showing you off, walking around the world with a pretty partner on his arm. Sometimes he'll stop you randomly while you're both walking just to give you a deep kiss, then walk on again as if nothing happened.

If you want to do something tacky, like matching clothes, getting matching teddy bears, etc, then he'll do it without question.

I - Innovate (How did he fix a Valentines gone wrong?)

Sam likes his routine, likes things to go how he imagines. If your Valentines plans were interrupted or went off-kilter, he won't be happy. The anger or outbursts will not be directed at you, he'll likely go hide in his room for a bit and try to calm himself down.

If a person is at the centre of the ruined plans, maybe someone was rude to you at work, and you came home sad, a server got your order wrong, someone spilled something on your nice outfit, he'll blow some steam off by killing them. When he gets home from that, he'll offer you the money in their wallet, suggesting you both get takeout with it.

N - Naughty

Sam's sex drive is low, it feels more like a societal expectation than a regular need. Whatever your needs are, he'll meet them happily and without care, unless it was several times a day, he'll start getting a bit grump.

Regardless of his sex drive, he'll initiate on Valentines, mostly because he feels it's part of the tradition. Sam likes giving oral, and he'll fit that in somewhere.

One thing that's guaranteed to get him going is public sex. The same way PDA gives him a sense of pride, public sex acts make him feel desirable. If you start touching him intimately at the restaurant for dinner, or in the car, he'll insist you go to the toilets or pull over so he can ravage you.

E - Ending (How does he wrap up Valentines day?)

Whatever happens as the day ends, he wants Kenny Chesney playing. The country music stays on during sex.

S - Song

The No Shoe Nation rises.

[colekinnie-4life]

I’m upset so I’m gonna rant for a while

You guys need to know that Cole is my favorite character in Ninjago. He’s funny, can be relatable at some times, and is probably the nicest person on the show

My only problem with being a Cole fan is that we don’t really get much from him if that makes sense

Like in season one the only things that happen to him is he gets hypnotized by the serpentine and he comes out to his dad for being a ninja

Season 2 he does the exact same thing as everyone else. Sure he’s the first one (besides Nya) to turn evil but that’s for 3 seconds of screen time and it gets reversed

To be fair though it’s the same with Jay and Zane (I mean some people believe that Zane was just an animation error but I like to believe he turned evil tbh)

Season 3 had the stupid-ass love triangle that I will not be talking about because this already long-ass rant will become a fucking essay

Season 4 he was the first ninja to get kicked out of the tournament. Do you guys sense a pattern?

It feels like he’s always the last one picked for stuff. He’s the first one to turn evil, or to get kicked off the team. Or he’s shoved into an awkward love triangle where he doesn’t even like the girl in question.

What I’m trying to say is that he’s always the afterthought of the earlier seasons

In season 5 they kill him off

I guarantee this is because they didn’t know what else to do with him

Kai had the thing with Lloyd. Jay and Zane had that funny bit where Zane’s voice box broke and Jay couldn’t fix it right. Nya was training to be the water ninja. Lloyd was the villain of the season (technically not but who cares)

What does Cole get to do?

Oh yeah!

He fucking dies

Season 6 he does nothing except find out he can turn invisible and fly, only to end up only using the invisibility powers only once and then they’re never mentioned again

He gets stranded on the island with Nya and Lloyd and has that really awkward sexist line

“I dunno, because it takes a lot of paint to make em look good?” 💀

Then he gets kicked out of the plot while it focuses on Jay (not complaining, I love this season and the characterization of Jay),until he gets sucked into the soul sword. He gets out of the sword, then fucking dies again

He cries at Nya’s death and then time is reversed and he has one extra line that’s canon during this whole season

Day of the Departed

Lord have mercy

It’s supposed to be based around him. And the writers fucked that up.

The whole point of this special was to be centered around Cole, and they make it about the other ninja because he’s an afterthought

But whatever. He defeats the bad guy through the power of friendship after being chained up the whole 40 minutes and then turns back into a human with the coolest scar ever

Season 7, the only thing noteworthy is that this is the only season he has his scar be shown when he’s not using his powers. Besides that, he does absolutely nothing except for shout out Kai’s name when he gets sucked into the portal (fruity ass)

Season 8 is where he finally does something plot relevant instead of fucking dying or turning evil

He becomes a dad for baby Wu and that’s his role throughout most the season, besides being kidnapped after singing worse than my dad in the shower

Season 9. I don’t care that people call it a “Wu season”. This could be classified as a Cole season with how much stuff he gets to do. He’s still Wu’s adoptive dad, he’s the main guy who comes up with the plans, and he’s Rocky Dangerbuff, making this season 100% a Cole season/j

Season 10…

This is where my main argument comes back

Cole got too much stuff to do in seasons 8-9, so what do the writers do?

Why they yeet him off the destiny’s bounty of course!

This is my problem. The writers barely give him anything to do. He finally gets a few seasons where he’s able to be more than just a mannequin, and he gets kicked off the boat

Of course he survives this, because we can’t kill off a main character, we’ve got legos to sell!

(Even though they do this with Zane a million times but that’s a conversation for another day)

And even after that amazing scene where Cole falls off, there’s no reunion between the ninja. They’re just happy he’s alive, thrown his scythe, and after the tornado of friendship, Lloyd fucking dies and it’s focused on him again

Ughhhhhh

I love you Lloyd but the writers are so fucking obsessed with you

Give my boy Cole some more love dammit

Anyways I need to go to bed so I’ll leave it here for now, gonna pick it up tomorrow (I’m nowhere near done)

Just remember this until I return

Cole deserves better than being the guy who turns evil, dies, or is just thrown out of the plot entirely so it can focus on Lloyd

[kingnlionhearts]

📻 + taryn !!

from this ask game

there are almost 200 songs in the lionheart playlist so it took an embarrassing amount of time to decide which song to pick. BUT today i picked dna guarantee by kodi rhianne!!

i'm pretty sure i found this song from a theon edit or something but it changed my life. but to me it's incredibly taryn & cersei.

"childlike mother and a motherly child" — taryn grew up taking so much care of her siblings, always following around the little ones and their septa. joffrey calls her out on it in chapter three when they're visiting winterfell. and taryn is seventeen when she has her & robb's first child 🥺

"child like its mother, like mother like child" — the first line of lionheart's summary is that taryn is nothing like her parents. she isn't during lionheart — but by season four, she is exactly like robert & cersei. she can't escape.

"a dog bites bones like a daughter bites her words" — i think cersei would regret that taryn is a girl. especially since taryn had a twin brother and joffrey is such a tyrant but taryn is so good. cersei raises taryn to have everything that was out of reach to her. even tywin treats taryn more carefully, insisting that she attends small council meetings to learn about the realm because he wants taryn to sit on joffrey's council one day & taryn is more easily malleable than her younger brother so tywin & cersei can control her more.

"fight like wolves but flee like birds" — in chapter one, cersei tells off four year old taryn for touching a dead baby bird. and cersei is pissed when robert arranges for taryn to marry robb when they're both of age.

"we're from the same pack but from rivalling herds" — taryn choosing robb & the starks over her lannister and baratheon family. she doesn't want to lose anyone and feels torn between two drastic worlds. and robb knows that he would lose taryn forever (mentally less than physically) if he killed jaime or tywin. taryn's loyalty will become a massive detriment to the war effort. she is loyal to the starks, but no one believes her (except robb) and she still loves her family so much despite everything they've done (she can't help it). even in season four when taryn goes back to king's landing after the red wedding, her relationship with cersei is beyond repair.

"everything you hate about me" — cersei does love taryn. but i think taryn represents everything cersei knows she is and will never be.

"and we can fight in the yard" — taryn flees king's landing at the end of season four with her newborn daughter (cersei gets to meet taryn's second child, but never her first).... and i don't think they ever see each other again. i need to rewatch season four again, but i know they leave on bad terms. and taryn carries a a lot of guilt (about leaving cersei behind, and about still loving her mother).

this got so long oops 😭 but those are my thoughts 😁🫶 i could do this with so many tarynrobb and taryn & cersei songs.

[grimbeak]

ninjago is layed out so shittily tbh. the two (2) pilots weren't originally part of the first season but now they are. we have multiple "seasons" that are just one episode. nobody can remember how many seasons we actually have off the top of their head because of that. the main show is actually 2/3 different ones— s1 and s2, s3-10, s11-onwards. we changed character designs and some voices halfway through the series because of the spin-off movie that was almost entirely different than the show. the first two seasons are 20+ episode, the next 7 are 10 episodes each with a main character each season. season 10 is literally only four fucking episodes for some reason. season 11 has two different chapters (fire and ice) and it's literally the only season that does that. for seasons 11+ the episodes were shortened to ten minutes but we got double the number of them. most people count day of the departed (between seasons 6 and 7) as it's own in-between episode and not a season, but also count the island (fuck idr. s14 and s15 i think) as it's own season—which, by the way, first released in ten minute parts (it was a single episode) that were not cut well. and it was only in french. we had to rely on french people and google translate to tell us the plot. i don't think ive ever fully watched it in english. dotd, by the way, is not on netflix despite the rest of the shows being there, and while you don't have to watch it, it is an important episode to watch because a character stops being a ghost during it, the main villain of the next season was in it, and it's just generally confusing as a kid to have not watched it. there is a recap series that is only on youtube. there are about a million comics, almost none of which really matter or affect the main plot. however. in the last season the main characters lose their powers and, almost immediately after that, a sequel show that is actually distinct enough from the first one to be it's own show releases, in which... they have their powers back. because they went and got them back in a comic. which i can guarantee most people did not read bc we could not be bothered to look for it hard enough online.

said sequel show is back to 20 episode seasons and 20+ minute episodes thankfully. however whole seasons keep consistently getting leaked way before they're supposed to drop (most of the time they're in english. most of the time.) which leads to 50% of fans watching them, 49% thinking people who watch them early are monsters, 1% not really caring, and a whole lot of people watching the leaked versions and then watching the official ones months later because they feel bad. this keeps happening. it happened with the old show too. they released a trailer for the second-to-last season of the main show months after it officially released. months. the final season was released in two parts (parts. not chapters.) and on netflix the island (again. a single episode) is credited as being the part one to seabound (an entire season). they somehow fucked up the timing so bad with the final few episodes of the final season so that they were literally putting out several filler episodes (not even good ones. they could have been erased and the plot would have been better.) before the finale which made it feel like they had too much time on their hands. and then the finale felt extremely rushed. they had an 18 episode season (3 hours of showtime) with ~5 filler episodes that did nothing at all so you would assume they were just killing time. and then they essentially panicked and shoved everything together really fast in the finale. i still don't know how they did that. incomprehensible choices were made during production and i hope to never be in a room with any of the people who made it.

[violetswritingg]

Thunderstruck

Tyler Owens x OFC!

Description: When cowgirl meets cowboy after a year of no-contact and chaos ensues during storm season!

Rating: M (Mentions of blood and death in Tornadoes and storms alike, angst and loss of loved ones, car accidents, Tornado aftermath, and injury to characters, slight age gap (5 years))

Want to read the other chapters?

Click here

3

May, 2024

Oklahoma

There was something about Oklahoma during storm season, the smell in the air, like the promise death and destruction but wrapped up in the sweet scent of rain. A spring in Tornado Alley was never gonna be a peaceful one and no one knew that better that two groups of people, the people who lived there and the people who were stupid enough to chase the storms.

Riley St. James had unintentionally fallen into the second category. She blamed her genetics. Having someone like Jo Harding and her dad in her life all but guaranteed she would end up here. The rest stop they had decided to stop to gas up at apparently had been a popular choice. Other teams, all varying levels of profession, camped out just waiting for a storm. Some faces she recognized others she didn't. There were a lot more new faces than before, for a multitude of reasons she didn't want to think about.

She was one of them, she had to admit that, her celebrity in the community and among the middle of America was pretty strong. She hated it.

"Hey! Everything okay? What's it looking like out there?" Sarah Mitchell, Riley's research partner and best friend asked, sidling up next to the blonde. "I wish I could see what you see, it's kind of freaky."

"I wish I couldn't." Riley chuckled, "If you want I can give it to ya."

"Nah, it's what makes you, you. I could never take that from ya, love ya too much." Sarah joked as she threw her arm around Riley's shoulder, pulling the girl into her side and off balance. "Besides I don't think anyone would be able to handle just how awesome I would be if I had my brains and your instincts. I would be unstoppable."

"So humble."

"I try to be, it's not easy. I'll tell ya that."

"I bet."

"But really, what's it looking like out there right now?" Sarah sobered up a bit and they both went into work mode. Talking about the cells forming in the west and the lone wolf to the east.

"Look, the one to the east isn't going to produce anything. It's just not. The cap is way too strong. I've seen it happen a million times, you get close, it's about to touch down but there's not enough updraft for it to touch down and it just poofs out of existence. Trust me. Not worth our time."

"So, we go west then."

"You bet'cha." Riley grinned, passing off her tablet to a passing undergrad with a thanks and looking over just in time to see Javi roll up, a blonde woman in his front seat. "I really wish they weren't here. We're gonna be battling it out that's for sure. Why is nothing ever easy?"

"Because then life wouldn't be worth living." Sarah shrugged with a bright grin, looking down at Riley and laughed at the blonde as she groaned and flopped her head onto the slightly taller woman's shoulder.

"But why does it have to be so hard then? Shouldn't there be like an easy mode or somethin'?" Riley kept going and Sarah was more than happy to play along.

"I don't think it works like that unfortunately. Heads up." Sarah stood up straighter and made herself look busy with Dororthy.

"Is that-" A soft voice started, startled as Riley turned and locked eyes with another blonde woman. Her drown doe eyes wide as they locked onto Dorothy.

"Dorothy 6, had her since I was 18, a present from my aunt for my first official chase as an adult." Riley grinned a bit, "I haven't seen you around here, what's your name?"

"Kate. Your aunt?"

"Jo Harding. Riley St. James. Nice to meet you Kate," Riley looked to Javi with a strange look, at least to Kate, "You enjoying your time with Storm Par?"

Kate was taken aback and left reeling.

"I've read all of your papers." Kate blurted, eyes going wide, her cheeks heating up. Looking at Riely like she was some kind of unearthly being. Like Riley was better than her and while Riley had gotten used to the admiration and awe people would usually hold in their eyes this was different. She shifted a bit and rolled her shoulders back.

"Thanks. Did you like them?"

"Most of them were crazy, in a good way," Kate quickly corrected, holding out a hand in front of her palm up to clear the air of any miscommunication, "I mean you must have gotten a couple grants, at least, big ones."

"I did. Thankfully the money hasn't run out just yet, even though it looks worse for wear Dorothy here is a trooper. So is the Warlock."

"I believe it, aren't the doors alone like-"

"800 pounds each, we have to use the hydraulics system to get them open." Riley chuckled, "Thankfully that's never gone out, not yet anyway."

"Don't speak that into existence! Why would you say that?!" Sarah snapped, slapping Riley's shoulder, the blonde feigning injury and laughing when Sarah glared. "Seriously not funny! You think I wanna suffocate int there when the air runs out?"

"Sorry, sorry, I take it back."

"Thank you." Sarah huffed and crossed her arms, looking much younger than her real age at this moment.

"Sorry about her, she used to be a theatre major before meteorology corrupted her." Riley waved her hand and Sarah balked with an offended look and put a hand on her chest.

"I'll have you know, I was a theatre major with a creative writing minor... Get it right, and you call yourself my best friend, for shame." Sarah just shook her head, disappointment painted across every feature until it slips just a bit and she starts to laugh and Riley starts to laugh, but then they both went shock still and stood up straight. Clearing their throats and Kate looked to Javi, the man looking back to her with a winced smile.

"Look Riley, I just wanted to introduce you to Kate, she's the smartest person I know other than you. And I thought you two might hit it off, work well together." Javi explained with a hopeful smile, as if she wasn't here with the Warlock and a small army of underpaid and definitely overworked undergrads who couldn't be happier to be here.

"I already told you no Javi, and if you can't tell, I kind of already have my own team. Can't exactly leave them without their fearless leader. Sarah wouldn't be able to handle all the pressure on her own. They need me." Riley shrugged, as if to say, 'nothing I could do.'

"Yes, yes we do." Sarah agreed, moving shoulder to shoulder with Riley and nodding.

"And the only person I work for Javi, is me." Kate was very confused with the look shared between Javi and Riley that held a thousand words all while giving nothing away.

"What are you working on right now?" Kate blurted out, quickly raising a hand to her mouth and apologizing under her breath. Riley just looked at her with an unreadable look, and Kate started to shift awkwardly.

"Unfortunately I can't tell you that, but keep your eyes peeled." Riley winked and Kate's cheeks turned a shade pinker, knowing how silly she looked. Probably like every other fangirl. It was embarrassing. She had always wanted to meet the Riley St. James, pick her brain, ask her a million questions. She's seen more tornadoes in person than probably anyone else alive right now and lived through an F5. Like her. and kept chasing, kept fighting.

The conversation was interrupted by music blaring.

Ain't no love in Oklahoma....

The red truck made Riley freeze, Sarah shooting her a questioning glance before looking back to the truck, more specifically to the mad standing on the raised ledge of the driver's side door. Leading the group in a very familiar chant.

"What was that?! If ya feel it!"

"Chase it!" The crowd roared back and then cheered when her held up his fist in celebration. Shirts had begun to be sold, other merch items and Riley wanted to smile. But the feeling in her stomach, seeing Tyler be so Tyler. In the year she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him, he had not changed a bit. It was comforting in a way. A constant she didn't know she needed in her life until he wasn't there.

It felt like there was a bull standing on her chest. Watching him smile and autograph literally anything. She had pre-done that, and left two very trustworthy undergrad manning the table where all of that was held. Last she checked they were already sold out of the signed t-shirts she had done.

"Who are they?" Kate asked, leaning into her hip and crossing her arms over her chest. Watching the spectacle in fascination.

"Chasers out of Arkansas." Javi answered while Riley couldn't take her eyes off the blonde man going through the dog and pony show for his audience. He always had been a crowd pleaser. Knew how to work a crowd.

"Hillbillies with a YouTube channel." Sarah scoffed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Takes one to know one." Riley smirked, doing her best to fight her demons privately.

"You know if you weren't my best friend and boss, I would so smack you right now." Sarah huffs and Riley's smirk grew into a small grin. One of the few that met her eyes. The dark cloud receding just a bit. "I'm just saying. That whole rig and he doesn't even use it to conduct research. What a waste." Sarah buckled down, tossing an arm in the tornado wrangler's direction. One of the undergrads she had working for her motioned Riley over to Dorothy and she frowned. Laying a hand on Sarah's wrist, looking to Kate and Javi, grin still in place, but it was a little dimmer.

"Okay, it was great to meet you Kate. Javi. If you'll excuse us, we're on the clock." She pulled Sarah with her as Javi called her name. She ignored him and took the tablet from the intern reading the information on the screen and sighing. Looking up at the sky while listening to him explain the readings Dorothy was giving were a little weird and they should probably look at the software.

"Sarah, that's you. Grab Isaac and John, work it out in the next fifteen minutes." Her eyes stayed transfixed where they were as she handed the tablet to Sarah, "We've gotta get moving. Daniel last check on the barrels, don't make it obvious, you know the drill. And tell Jenney she needs to do the final checks in the van before we head out."

"You got it boss." Daniel nodded and took off. Riley sighed and laid a hand on Dorothy.

"Don't give up on me yet girl. Just a couple more, and then we can retire you. I promise."

"I thought I told you just because you talk to it like it's real doesn't mean it is." Sarah looked up from the tablet slightly. Looking at Riley through her lashes before focusing on the numbers on the screen again.

Riley licked her lips before clicking her tongue, "And I thought I told you to go get Isaac and John to crunch the number and figure out what was wrong with our lovely Dorothy here. Don't worry Dorothy, Sarah is gonna go work with the very smart undergrads we have with us and make you all better, okay?" Riley baby talked the piece of technology before looking to Sarah with feign innocence. Batting her eyelashes behind her aviators, Sarah couldn't see it because of how dark the lenses were, but she knew, "We're running out of time, tick tock."

Sarah just chuckled and shook her head, doing as told but before fully leaving. She turned over her shoulder and whisper-shouted, "You know if I weren't mad at you right now, I would warn you about the hunky cowboy storm chaser coming over here right now like a man on a mission. But I am, so I won't." With that she turns on her heel and all but sprints to the van that held all their monitors and receivers. Being constantly monitored by three of the undergrads.

Riley doesn't need to look back to hear the click of his boots, the same ones he's worn since she got them for him on their six-month anniversary. The slight jingle of the spurs giving them away. She wasn't dealing with this right now. She looked around, purposefully not in Tyler's approaching position, looking for an escape. Seeing Kate standing off to the side, watching the woman crouch down to pick a dandelion.

Riley's head tilted to the side and a soft grin came across her lips as she took off.

"Rile-" Tyler's voice was taken by the wind as she was too far by the time he got to where she used to be.

"My dad taught me to do that. All the tech is nice but uh, sometimes the old ways are just better ya know?" Riley shrugged, the older woman still looking at her like she was a god among men. She would take the ego boost, but it was a little much. "Compare wind direction versus cloud movement. Get a feel for the sheer. Where are you from?"

"New York."

Riley took in her answer for a second, pulled down her aviators to the tip of her nose and looked at Kate up and down. The older woman shocked to see startingly blue eyes, brighter blue than what she thought was natural.

"New York, huh? Long way from home." Riley pulled her glasses back up and crossed her arms over her chest. Settling into her hip.

"Yep." Kate was internally screaming, telling herself to say anything, something intelligent maybe? Hopefully.

"What do you see?" Riley nodded to the sky. The darker blonde taking a couple steps forward, leaving Kate to watch her back. White, high collared tank top giving way to toned arms and shoulders hit heavy with sun. Stray hairs curling at the nape of her neck out of her ponytail, the tied-up strands getting shifted by the wind. Kate swallowed hard and took a breath before meeting Riley where she was at.

"Two cells in the west. One in the East which on radar has better numbers and has the sky all to herself and good shear. Plenty of instability." Kate held her breath, looking at Riley out of the corner of her eye, waiting.

"Nice. I saw that too, but..." Riley lolled her head to the side before turning to look to Kate, hands on her hips.

"Cap is way-"

"-Too strong. I agree." Riley finished and smirked when Kate smiled at her. A light shining way back there in the depth. "You're good." The veteran chaser whistled, laughing when Kate looked down at her feet, rocking back on her heels. "What made you stop?"

Kate's head snapped up and she froze.

"You avoiding me Riley? I'll admit, that kinda hurt my feelings." Riley, on instinct turned around. Big mistake. Tyler Owens was right there in front of her, seston hat her dad had gotten him for a birthday of his, anniversary boots, million-watt smile as he squinted in the sun down at her. 

~~*~~

A/N: Hello! I wanted to give you guys some chapters to read with this one, I know it's still in theaters and I have now seen it three times, will probably need to see it another three to finish what I have planned for this bad boy. SO, hold your caps, it's gonna be a wild ride. 

And I will get the chapters out as quickly as I can, I promise! (I wish I could put like a thumbs up emoji here - but I can't it lowkey makes me sad)