#and it’s such an interesting dynamic to play with

[zeta-in-de-walls]

A quick timeline of Tommy and Dream's friendship.

Dream and Tommy streamed together and they had a good time so Dream invited him to his server. Tommy streamed on the DSMP server and there's where he and the server both started to really blow up. Tommy and Tubbo were 16 and Dream was 21. (Tommy was on around 250k on youtube when he joined the server and Dream was at like 4 mil).

Dream gave Tommy a bunch of youtube advice around this time as well and they got into lots of long night calls as they were both pretty hardworking and interested in making it big on youtube.

When Tommy and Dream streamed together their streams were very popular. Their comedy seemed to mesh really well but there was some underlying friction. Tommy is hugely sarcastic and plays minecraft very ironically. He would at times like to misinterpret what people said and then remind them that he's a minor. Some of these jokes were funny. A few were more grating for me personally (Eg I never liked the 'what's the worst word you know' jokes). But yeah this was purely comedy and Tommy loves to take the mick out of his friends. Also sometimes Dream and his friends did make the odd inappropriate joke.

Eventually the server and the fanbase got really big and people got super invested into the minecraft roleplay. Tommy and Dream's exile arc where Dream played a cruel villain and Tommy his victim was particularly notable creating a huge narrative around their characters' dynamic.

Then Tommy started to get burnt out on the server. Everyone was a bit. Dream was also rarely ever online not to mention other things going on. Whatever the case, the DSMP was coming to an end.

There had been plenty of drama amongst the CCs and Dream had been through plenty. The most famous was the speedrunning cheating scandal. There was also the manatreed thing. But allegations started coming out that Dream could not ignore. He'd apparently been sexting a minor. A few other stories came out too. And fans began distancing themselves from Dream. There was pressure on the CCs too.

However, Dream had convinced the server of a new vision: Dream SMP season 2!! Reset the server and do it all over again. End all the current plots as best you can and get ready for more!!! So they made a terrible ending of them blowing up the server.

And then a lot of CCs spoke out and said they didn't want to do DSMP season 2. It didn't feel right. Maybe because of the allegations, maybe because the plot sounded bad.

So Dream pulled the plug on the idea. Tommy was probably not best pleased that season 2 tanked so soon after the dark ending.

But Dream came up with a new idea. THE USMP. It would be an international server with live translation or something. All we know is that he had gotten Tommy on board and Tommy was excited by this. Tommy wanted to do another server with Dream still.

But yeah, the allegations hadn't gone away and a new drama surfaced. Quackity had plans for his own new SMP he was passionate about and Dream was threatened as it sounded so similar to his own plan. (They happened to have come up with the ideas independently.)

This erupted into drama as Quackity left Dream on read and didn't engage with him.

And Dream's server.... didn't happen. Again the server he'd promised Tommy didn't seem any closer to being realised. Just like in the DSMP, Dream wasn't shown to being much good at organising anything. The ending of the DSMP was badly managed because communication was so bad.

So as USMP wasn't happening, Tommy had been seeing what was happening, seeing both sides and wrote a skit. If youtubers were honest which made fun of Dream's response to Quackity given everything. Tommy was likely mad at the USMP's failure to manifest and also the internet was really turning against Dream. CCs in general didn't want to associate with him. Partially the allegations, but also he is a difficult CC to work with and Tommy was likely very aware having organised big videos and vlogs himself.

Dream was shocked by this video. He felt betrayed at Tommy and thought Tommy was being two-faced. Being sweet in private but milking him for views in public. So he became antagonistic towards Tommy.

At this point, Dream sent a DM to Tommy's mother complaining about him. Yeah.

Seeing Dream's crazy responses and also facing more wake-up calls about his teenage years with hindsight and the Wilbur situation, yeah Tommy was very happy to cut ties with Dream.

He didn't make a huge deal about it but he stopped making content with him and he and his friends would sometimes joke about him negatively, sometimes on his podcast, sometimes just jabs here and there. He and his community were both anti-Dream though he'd never made any public statements about it, or what happened. The history was fairly private.

Until now, Dream saw Tommy making fun of xQc and decided to lash out at him and his fanbase and air out every issue he's had over the last few years. Tommy responded, and made it very clear he's blocked Dream and they're done.

[shybluebirdninja]

The Last Drop

Summary: As you breastfeed the baby you had with Scott, Logan’s teasing becomes irresistible, leading to a lust-filled night where your commitment to Scott is put to the ultimate test.

Pairing            : Logan Howlett x F!Reader (she is Scott Summer’s wife)

Note                : Infidelity and cheating, breast-milk drinking, smut

In the dim light of the nursery, the gentle hum of a lullaby fills the air, blending with the soft sound of your baby nursing at your breast. You sit comfortably in the rocking chair, the warmth and intimacy of the moment wrapping around you like a cozy blanket. Your heart races slightly as you catch sight of Logan leaning against the doorframe, his jaw tight and his eyes dark with desire.

“Is it just me, or does it get hot in here?” he teases, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. You can’t help but laugh softly, feeling a flush rise in your cheeks. Logan has always had that effect on you—a mix of danger and allure that leaves you breathless.

“You’re not supposed to be in here, Logan,” you say, your voice barely above a whisper as you glance at the sleeping baby in your arms. Scott would definitely disapprove.

He steps closer, his eyes flicking down to the baby before returning to your face. “What’s the harm? Just two friends... catching up,” he says, his tone smooth and teasing.

As if drawn by an invisible force, Logan settles into the chair next to you. The proximity is electric, and your body reacts instinctively, heart pounding as he leans in. You can see the hunger in his eyes, the way he looks at you as if you’re the only thing that matters in that moment.

“What if I want to join in on the fun?” he says, his voice low and sultry. You swallow hard, feeling a rush of heat pool in your stomach at his words.

You let out a shaky breath, lost in the intensity of his gaze. “You’re such a bad influence,” you said, but the smile that crept onto your face betrayed the thrill of excitement coursing through you.

“Bad? I’m just what you need,” he replied, lips curling into a smirk. “Now, where were we?”

Without thinking, a small smirk spreading across your face. “You want to try it?” The question hangs in the air, charged with possibility.

Logan’s expression shifts, a mix of surprise and excitement crossing his features. “I mean, how could I resist? You make it look too damn good,” he replies, his tone playful but laced with genuine interest.

You’re caught off guard by how alluring his words are, how easily he shifts the dynamics between you two. With a daring flick of your wrist, you guide him closer. “Just don’t get any ideas about sharing this with Scott,” you say, teasingly serious.

He chuckles, leaning in closer as he watches you nurse. “Trust me, this is just between us,” he murmurs, his voice thick with promise.

The air thickens as you lift the fabric of your shirt just enough to reveal more of your breast. Logan’s eyes darken further, a primal hunger igniting within them. He swallows hard, his gaze locked on your breasts as if they are the most intoxicating sight he’s ever seen.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he breathes, leaning in. You feel the heat radiating from him, the raw desire making it hard to breathe. He hesitates for a moment, glancing at the baby before returning his focus on you.

“Just a little taste?” he asks, a wicked grin playing on his lips.

Your breath hitches as you nod, overwhelmed by the thrill of this taboo moment. Logan leans forward, his warm breath brushing against your skin as he takes your nipple into his mouth. The sensation sends shockwaves through you, mixing pleasure and the rush of your daring decision.

He looks up at you, eyes filled with mischief and lust. “Damn, this is better than I imagined,” he murmurs, his voice thick with longing.

You can’t help but let out a soft gasp, the sensations blending into a haze of desire. “Logan, this is... dangerous,” you manage to say, but the words feel hollow against the reality of your connection.

“Exactly,” he replies, his voice low and sultry as he continues to drink from you, each pull deepening the bond between you two. “You’ve got the best damn milk I’ve ever tasted.”

Your breath hitched in your throat, the boldness of his words igniting a fire deep within you. The way he continue to drink you breast milk, like you were the only thing that mattered, was overwhelming. “Logan…”

“Fucking hell, this is better than I thought,” he murmured against your nipple, eyes flickering with delight. “I could get used to this.”

“Logan,” you moaned, fingers gripping his hair, urging him closer to your breast, suffocating him in you breast as he moans loudly. “This is so wrong… but I can’t stop.”

“Good,” he replied, eyes dark with desire as he pulled back to look at you, his mouth glistening with your breast milk. “Because I don’t wanna stop either.”

As your heart races and the tension builds, you find yourself lost in the moment, the boundaries of your life with Scott blurring into the background. Logan's mouth on you ignites a fire, one that you know will leave you craving more.

And in that dimly lit room, with your baby peacefully sleeping nearby, you surrender to the desire pulsing between you and Logan, knowing that this moment would change everything.

[lune-moon-nuit]

The influence of conformity & gender stereotypes on the characters of Stranger Things but also on US (the general audience)

The moment I stumbled upon the arguments of "anti-Byler," the most commonly cited one was their outright denial of heteronormative pressures and societal expectations that are instilled in us from a young age. These same dynamics influenced Mike and the other characters in Stranger Things. This realization brought to mind a personal childhood anecdote that illustrates this phenomenon perfectly.

I must have been around ten years old because I remember this happening on the bus ride home from a school trip to watch Ratatouille. At the time, I had recently befriended a boy in my class—we had been seated next to each other, which gave us more opportunities to talk than when I’d usually stick with my girlfriends during recess while he played soccer with the boys. (Just describing this setup already paints a clear picture of gender stereotypes and heteronormativity, even though this was in 2007—25 years after 1982, to put things into perspective.)

When I say we had grown closer, I mean that two kids had developed a friendship: we laughed together, enjoyed each other’s company, and simply got along well. But I vividly remember sitting face-to-face with Maximilien—yes, I suddenly recalled his name as I was writing this! Maximilien, with his freckles and ginger hair—and we were laughing and talking about the movie. At one point, I playfully held two strands of his hair between my fingers, pretending to guide him like Rémy from Ratatouille.

It was then that I noticed, just behind Maximilien's smiling face, my classmates observing us from the next row. They were whispering and giggling, their glances unmistakably filled with mischief. I immediately understood what they were thinking. Later that day, they confronted me, insisting, “You’re in love with Maximilien!”

I felt embarrassed and awkward. But the truth is, before their remarks, the idea hadn’t even crossed my mind. To me, Maximilien was simply a friend, someone I enjoyed spending time with. It wasn’t until my friends planted that seed of doubt that I began to question my feelings. For the rest of the school year, I convinced myself I had a crush on him.

Looking back, this memory perfectly encapsulates how deeply societal conditioning affects us, even as children. At ten years old, we were already internalizing heteronormative narratives from our peers, advertisements, media, movies, and TV shows. Everything around us reinforced the notion that if a boy and a girl were close, they had to be more than friends.

This anecdote resurfaced in my mind recently, and it struck me how pervasive this conditioning was—even in 2007, when societal attitudes had already progressed somewhat compared to the 1980s. Now imagine how amplified this must have been in the '80s, which sheds light on the behaviors of Lucas, Dustin, and Nancy (and others by the way) in Stranger Things.

These three characters—Lucas, Dustin, and Nancy—each insinuated that Mike had romantic feelings for El based solely on his acts of kindness and care for her. It becomes much easier to understand their reactions when you realize they were operating under the same heteronormative assumptions that shaped our childhoods. After all, didn’t we all have our own versions of Lucas and Dustin who convinced us we were in love with our Maximilien or El?

Before Lucas’s heteronormative remark, Mike had done nothing more than show empathy for El—protecting her and taking care of her after she told him she was being hunted by “bad men” and that her life was in danger. Mike’s actions stemmed from compassion and the fact that she had information about Will’s disappearance, not romantic interest. Their interactions were simply those of two kind-hearted kids getting to know each other, with Mike admiring her powers (like any kid fascinated by superheroes) and El being drawn to Mike’s stable family life—a concept foreign to her.

But then Lucas planted that tiny seed: “If you’re this nice to her, you must be in love with her.” From that point on, Mike started behaving more timidly around El, his perception of their interactions skewed by Lucas’s words. Dustin reinforced this by accusing Mike of neglecting their friendship because of El, which was a childish and reductive observation considering the circumstances. Nancy, too, perpetuated this when she directly asked Mike, “You like El?” after he inquired about her feelings for Jonathan.

All these comments were rooted in internalized heteronormativity—small seeds planted in Mike by his friends, just as their families, communities, and society had once planted similar seeds in them.

The result? Mike simply conformed to what he thought he was supposed to feel. If everyone said he loved El, then he must love her, right? So he invited her to the Snow Ball and kissed her—because that’s what he believed he was “meant” to do. After all, she had superpowers like the heroes he admired, and as a bullied, insecure boy who often felt powerless, her attention gave him a sense of validation. She needed him, depended on him, and he felt useful and in control by taking care of her.

At the same time, he barely knew her—they’d only spent a week together, and beyond the immediate crisis and her love of Eggo waffles, there wasn’t much else he understood about her. Still, this fleeting connection gave him emotional and psychological comfort during Will’s disappearance and presumed death—a situation where he felt utterly helpless.

All of this resulted in Mike simply doing what he thought he was supposed to feel and do: "If everyone says I love her, then I must love her, right? So let's invite her to the dance and kiss her! Besides, she has powers like my favorite superheroes—that's pretty cool for a bullied boy who looks like a frog, isn't it? If she's interested in me, wouldn’t that prove I'm normal after all? Plus, she depends on me, she needs me, she's lost without me, and I have to take her under my wing. I feel useful taking care of her! It's only been seven days since I met her, so honestly, apart from the urgent situation we're in, I know almost nothing about her except that she likes waffles. But at least, during this week, we needed each other, and emotionally and psychologically, it helped me cope with the disappearance and presumed death of my best friend—a friend who vanished after leaving my house, where I feel 100% powerless to protect or save him. Having some sense of control by taking care of El, who clearly needs me, might just be my way of projecting? Also, she looks like a boy with her short hair, and she was mistaken for Will three times throughout the season—what a coincidence!"

I also noticed that in Season 4, the Duffer Brothers repeatedly wrote into the script how Robin and Steve are often mistaken for a couple by others. This happens because people don’t know Robin is a lesbian, but more importantly, because they can’t comprehend how Robin and Steve can be so close, so in sync, and have such incredible chemistry without being romantically involved. And yes, it’s absolutely possible—some people can be your soulmate without being in a romantic relationship with you. In fact, there are relationships that are healthier and more balanced as friendships rather than as romantic partnerships, and the people involved often realize this themselves. This doesn’t diminish the genuine love they have for each other. They love each other, they don’t want to lose one another, it’s just not romantic. It doesn’t take away from the strength or depth of the bond they share—it’s simply a different kind of love for a different kind of relationship.

This dynamic becomes even more compelling when you consider how heteronormativity shaped not only Mike’s understanding of his feelings but also everyone else’s perceptions of their relationship. Like Lucas, Dustin, and Nancy, we’ve all been influenced by these societal norms, projecting them onto others and perpetuating them, often without even realizing it.

[x-muses-x]

“It was an interesting dynamic for a while, but everything is fine.” Stef smiled, sighing as she looked at her wife, playing with Lena’s fingers. “I’m glad you want to get to know her. It means a lot to B.”

Pressing matters

Lena stared at herself in the mirror. She had pulled on a long skirt and a tank top with a blazer overtop. Her makeup was understated, subtle, but she looked put together.

Picking up Shayna, she rocked the little girl and held her close to her chest. She was ready to head to the school staff meeting and prepare their battle plan.

Brandon stumbled out of his room, looking exhausted, and gave Lena a tired smile. "Where are you going?"

"To work." She said, sliding on her heels. "We're going to make a game plan regarding Zara."

Frowning, Brandon looked around and saw their bedroom empty and hurried down the stairs.

"Your mom knows!" Lena called after him, rolling her eyes and pressing a kiss on Shayna's cheek.

[tmbgareok]

My new band consists of two strange girls, and we are thinking of playing to a prerecorded tape machine rhythm track. Do you have any advice or thoughts about the format?

JF: well, it's your project so the general things I would say is do what is interesting to you, and is the boldest expression of your ideas. Pay more attention to what you do well and less to what is happening on the immediate scene. People might say they are into some trend or sound, but as a friend of mine once said "people don't know they want to be surprised." Take advantage of all the ways you can approach stuff (and as I will explain--don't fear getting really small)

___

Okay on to the specifics of working with a track or drum machine.

We had an advantage in that we both sang, and we both played instruments that could be rhythm or melody instruments, and contrasting the possibilities there really helped keep things dynamic.

Our evolution as a band working with tape was pretty simple. We started with pretty elaborate tracks with a lot of varied sounds thinking the sonic range would drive the audiences experience, but over time found it was more effective to just have bass and drums on tape--really pare things down as to not take away from the stuff we were doing live. (there were irresistible exceptions of course, but it did really get pretty spare.)

Although it never felt too too close, I think our approach even from the beginning was always kinda negatively informed by "track acts" (the promo shows in nightclubs and discos where singers would jump on stage or by the DJ and sing over--or in some cases along--with their record or some remixed version of their record) Although this was all before Milli Vanilli, there was a general notion that these performances were too canned, so we were informed by that, and tried to keep as much action going in our own playing as possible.

I would also say, make your track or computer set up small, simple and as completely bullet-proof as possible. Although home computing and MIDI were just emerging when we started, there were sequencing boxes in the world and other musicians did suggest we would benefit from diving into those formats for our live show, the sync issues and general instability just made the tape seems more durable.

You also should have a plan b and maybe even a plan c for when you have the inevitable technical issue. (like a shiny a cappella or other unaccompanied number you might be saving for a second encore but is available to pull out that really shines) When the Fates pulled the rug on your act, the audience will be forever grateful that you anticipated this and can keep your show moving forward. (In fact meeting this kind of challenge is inevitably the highlight of this kind of show--because ultimately folks are always rooting for YOU, not the track!)

Finally, while working with tape or MIDI is easy and reliable and wonderfully affordable, and certainly a charming kind of show in a small venue, it might not scale! So when your act blows up and you are playing theaters, don't let the format define you--get a great backing band!

[corviiids]

"i suck at summaries": a dubiously helpful list of tips for how to do a summaries

by no means am i an expert. but in the hopes that this is helpful.

fic summaries have two main purposes:

tell a reader what the premise of your fic is in one glance, and

provide a 'hook' that convinces them to click on it.

based on those two purposes, here's what you should aim to do:

pack the key information into something that can be read while scrolling, and

make your fic stand out.

how do you do that. there are many different ways. ymmv. here are some starting points which may help if you are really, truly stuck.

details under the cut. in summary:

know your premise

keep it short and sharp

demonstrate your style

1: can you describe your premise in maximum three lines?

fewer is better. im not saying your summary has to BE fewer than three lines, you just need to be able to describe the premise as concisely as possible. not the whole fic. not everything that happens. just your premise.

being able to condense your ideas this way will improve your understanding of the work and make it easier to summarise.

sometimes it's a bit hard to isolate what exactly your premise is, especially if you were just writing into the void. so here are some questions you can ask yourself to figure it out:

what was the idea that spurred you to write the fic?

what is the climactic action in the fic?

if the fic is an au, canon divergence, what if, etc - what is the point of difference between this and canon?

if the fic is based around a trope, a genre, a particular device - how did you apply it, what makes the work familiar, and what makes it different?

this is important, because:

2: brevity is the soul of wit

now that you know your premise, it's time to jazz it up. turn it into a one-liner or similarly catchy pitch. give it a makeover.

it doesn't have to be literally one line. however, do not make your summary super long. do not make either your summary or your tags a massive block of text. the reader is scrolling. they have not yet decided to invest time in your fic.

the ideal summary is stylish and concise. your reader should be able to take it in without pausing for too long. it gives them a good impression of you: you know how to be economical with your sentences, which means your writing is probably easy and enjoyable to read.

and on that note:

3: including an excerpt is always an option

an optional option. but if you're stuck, it's a free card to play.

readers want to know that your writing style matches what they like to read. showing off your style can help you stand out to an interested reader.

try and find a few lines which are representative of the premise, representative of your style, and sufficiently intriguing. an excerpt is a try before you buy. you just wrote a whole fic. you want people to read the whole fic and enjoy your work. so show them what you have to offer.

what is an example, postmaker

look im not more qualified to give this advice than anyone else, but here's what i do if it helps. i typically pick out a short excerpt and include a short pitch underneath it. that way the reader knows what i sound like and what the fic is about.

here is a baldur's gate 3 fic summary

shadowheart says, “kill l–” “not lae’zel, darling, it’s too obvious. in fact, both of you are banned from killing each other.” astarion thinks for a moment. “in the game, at least.” -- the gang plays fuck, marry, kill.

this fic has a basic premise and hinges on dialogue, so i picked some sample dialogue to demonstrate what my grasp on the character dynamics looks like and then added one line to explain what the fic is about.

here is a death note fic summary (death note spoilers) (i guess)

The night Ryuzaki dies, L appears in Light's bed. -- (every night when light goes to sleep, his dreams place him in a romantic relationship with his newly-dead rival. it makes him sick.)

this fic has a more abstract premise, so i picked a short excerpt to demonstrate what the tone of the fic is (a bit mysterious). then i added two lines: just enough information to explain what the catalyst of the fic is, but no more than that, so that the reader will be intrigued.

here is a persona 5 fic summary

Ren grins. “You want me to date Goro?” “Pretend-date Goro,” Ann corrects. “And make his crush jealous.” “This is not going to work,” Goro says. “Sure, I’ll do it,” says Ren, still grinning. He does his own rendition of Ann’s eyelash bat. “Go out with me, Goro-kun?” “I’m older than you, so show me a little respect,” Goro says crossly. “Our relationship is off to a bad start, Ren-kun.” -- (or: what not to do when you're fake-dating your real crush.)

this fic is based on a premise everyone knows well (fake-dating trope), so i picked dialogue that samples the tone of the fic and of the key relationship so that readers can decide if i write the dynamic in a way they personally vibe with. then i added a line to tell them what the trope is, so that fake-dating trope enjoyers know that's what it is.

anyway. hope that helps

[alynwdym]

SBG STREAMER AU

(Basically, this is about what would have happened if there was no Phantom Dimension and the entire SBG company were streamers)

Ashlyn:

● Nickname: LYN3TT3_X (or just Lyn)

● Content: Mostly plays games and does reactions to horror.

● Reason: Ashlyn is pretty emotionless, so she doesn't show fear in many games or videos. Viewers really want to see her get scared, so they ask her to play different horror games/watch horror movies. She also sometimes plays strategy games and people like her critical thinking in such games.

● Additional: Ashlyn also has specially configured donations that allow viewers to make scary screamers. Anyone who was able to scare Ashlyn in any way is given VIP on her streams, which give some cool features (You can count such people on one hand)

● Reason: Ashlyn started streaming when she once broke her leg during ballet. Her leg was put in a cast and she couldn't do ballet for 2 months. At this time, Ashlyn was alone at home and almost going crazy. One day, while watching the stream, she thought that she could do the same. Her first stream was 30 minutes long and she played a horror game. She only had one viewer and it didn't last long. She was quickly noticed and started gaining popularity.

Aiden:

● Nickname: 4C3cdc (or just Ace)

● Content: Dynamic games, puzzles, racing.

● Reason: Aiden is quite active and energetic. Many people like Aiden's activity and charisma. The way he plays different games is liked by viewers. Aiden also often completes different challenges.

● Additional: Aiden has a tradition of recording big donors and completing their different challenges.

● Why: As a child, when Aiden was left alone, he often watched different streamers and also wanted to become like them. For him, this also became a way to avoid loneliness. His first stream lasted an hour, where he chatted and played racing in a multiplayer. Some time later, he was noticed and he very quickly began to gain popularity.

Ben:

● Nickname: TheSilentMusician(Or just Mime)

● Content: Music streams using guitar, drawing.

● Reason: Ben is sweet and calm. Many people like how comfortable and calm his streams can be. Although he is always silent, this gives the stream its own atmosphere. Sometimes Ben holds streams where he just draws different things or his followers.

● Additionally: for donations, he draws different drawings and posts them all on his Instagram

● Why: After Ben lost his voice, he still wanted music and sharing it. He started streaming and playing the guitar. It is also calming for him and his psychologist supported his idea to start streaming.

Taylor:

● Nickname: GoodTwin(Or just Tay)

● Content: Roleplay games, multiplayer games and reactions.

● Reason: Taylor is a sweet and kind girl. Followers like how kind she plays different games and her touching reactions to videos with cats:) She often makes reactions than plays games. But most of all, she plays roleplay games with her insight. Completely immersing herself in the story of the game.

●Additional: Sometimes Taylor can play horror games, but she is always very scared of them. Therefore, many people donate specifically to complete horror games.

●Why: Taylor felt lonely and useless for some time. When her family needed money, Taylor wanted to get a job, but Tyler did not allow it. When she found out that streamers make money, she wanted to help her family in this way. She suggested Tyler to start streaming to earn money without getting a job. Streaming also helped her overcome feelings of loneliness.

Tyler:

● Nickname: EvilTwin (or just Ty)

● Content: Reaction games and competitive games.

● Reason: Tyler is pretty hot-blooded and rude. But viewers like his quick reactions. In games that require reaction, he has no equal. Many people like his audacity and how competitive he can be.

●Additional: Tyler has it specially set up so that certain donations from followers can interfere with him, so that the games are more interesting.

●Why: The Hernandez family needed money, but Tyler didn’t know where to get it. He couldn’t quit baseball and get a job, but he also couldn’t combine work. He already spends a lot of time training, so he was rarely home. He didn’t want to leave his mother alone, but he also needed money. When Taylor told him that streamers make money, he thought about starting a stream. Then Taylor suggested starting a stream and he agreed.

Logan:

● Nickname: Nerd (or just Lo)

● Content: Shooters and astrology.

● Reason: Logan is a sweet, shy guy. But despite this, he is a great shooter player. Many people like that a real sniper can hide under a timid boy who can beat a team of 5 players solo. Sometimes he can talk about astrology and explain the structure of the stars.

● Additional: Logan sometimes plays math games.

● Why: Logan was bored._. (I couldn't think of anything for him:,>)

Popularity rating within the group:

1. Aiden

2. Ashlyn

3. Tyler

4. Taylor

5. Logan

6. Ben

Interaction:

Tyler and Taylor are often present on each other's streams and do different collabs.

Aiden can sometimes be heard on Ben's streams. On Aiden's streams, you can see him and Ben together in a photo. Also, Ben and Aiden sometimes do collabs (most of Ben's audience are Aiden's followers)

Taylor sometimes mentions Ashlyn when she is asked to play a horror game. Like: "Is this the game Lyn played?"

Logan said that he would like to compete in shooters with Tyler.

Ashlyn and Logan are stepbrother and sister, they mention each other. And also, by Logan's decision, they once arranged a cooking stream (they destroyed the kitchen). After this stream, they never tried to do cooking streams again

(I LIKE BANNERS SIBLING AU! I WANT THEM TO BE HERE)

Interaction in life:

They all study in the same school. When they had a group work one day, they recognized their fellow streamers and started hanging out together little by little, gradually getting closer. When they finally became friends, they started doing different colabs with each other.

(Additional/Ship(?): Ashlyn's first viewer and follower was Aiden. Watching her made Aiden want to become a streamer too

Taylor always goes to Ben's streams when she's feeling anxious. His guitar playing helps her calm down)

((could someone create a fic for this au?))

[xsoldier]

I always found it interesting that Widowmaker basically exists stuck in this nigh-untouchable niche of instant hitscan burst damage, because they took away things that were similar to that. She is a glass cannon in her game design niche… but not in her kit as a character.

As a character, there's the mobility-lacking glass cannon character like Zenyatta who initially had a charged projectile burst fire that could headshot at a distance, but that projectile volley release specifically got slowed down by 15% to lower the burst damage potential, so that hitting long-range (counter) snipes would be more difficult. Glass cannons HAVE to be able to erase characters, otherwise their advantages don't outweigh their weaknesses as a design.

Thus, as they kept making the extremely sharp edge Zenyatta had more dull, they had to bolster his glass survivability by adding things like his snap-kick in OW2. The game was making its glass cannons less & less into ACTUAL glass cannons, but Widowmaker can't lose that aspect to her core design as hitscan head-clicking. It's overlooking that her gameplay necessitates other characters being glass cannons to counter her, because that's what that kind of FPS skillset is, but what a MOBA isn't.

Over time, those sorts of changes just kept making it so that Widowmaker had fewer and fewer possible burst counters to be able to suddenly peak & erase her at various levels of play other than just… another Widowmaker, until that's all that was left. The more that they levelled out everyone else to a different playstyle that couldn't burst down — the more locked into that impossible niche Widowmaker became, even more at the highest levels of play.

There's also the core issue of hero-swapping. For that to work, Ult charge rates HAVE to be consistent across ALL characters to be able to preserve them regardless of swaps to prevent it for having a MASSIVE weakness that costs the whole team. As soon as that wasn't true, hero swapping was NEVER going to be fluid & dynamic counter-picking, and thus pick/ban phases were really the only way to stop that issue with Widowmaker via another means… except that pick/ban is a problem for lower-level one-trick players who ALSO can't dynamically swap & contribute value — and won't learn how because of the Ult reset problem.

That's a self-reinforcing issue that's based in not balancing ALL the Ults directly to one another, so that swapping characters could be done without losing that charge. Essentially, the issues are embedded in design-level choices that anyone could tell you about things mechanically eroding into those problems being impossible to escape by following the types of changes they made.

Even early things like Torbjörn & Symmetra as Defense/Builder characters had a core design around a wholly different type of playstyle that 2cp and other map types were designed to emphasize, but again — those approaches to the gameplay were totally undercut by having the ability for a character like Widowmaker click heads from across the map being a high skill ceiling where auto-aiming turrets would be either overly-effective at that niche for certain levels and utterly nothing at higher levels, while also making the skill investment feel massively uneven… making universal balancing impossible.

It was the biggest weakness in translating the MOBA & FPS elements into the team hero shooter, because they were a universal problem felt differently at different levels. On top of that, the hitscan sniper pulled in the FPS pros that they needed for eSports attention, that was NEVER going anywhere. There were a number of things that made the game start to fall apart from early forms of what it might have been early on, and they were all ABSURDLY amplified by needing to rapidly cater to the eSports experience above all else.

I haven't followed anything closely with Marvel Rivals, but it seems to have gotten the message about some of that right off of the bat, and it also has the advantage that people who like it's characters can ACTUALLY go enjoy stories about that world, rather than having Blizzard constantly lie about expanding those elements for years and kill the game just to be able to feed everyone OW2 as a predatory Live Service model because they made a bunch of governments aware of predatory loot boxes are. It was all about extracting value from their audience and not providing it TO them, while also just emphasizing having fun that COULD draw that crowd rather than betting the farm on it.

If Blizzard had actually just DONE FUCKING ANYTHING with the world that they created from Overwatch they'd have been able to absolutely print money for the same reason that Mortal Kombat sells so many copies compared to other fighting games — the casual audience is what funds your cool projects. People just wanna have fun playing cool characters that they're into. Even though the eSports pros stay linked into the core property and have the POSSIBILITY to boost that popularity & revenue like StarCraft did, the casual fans are the ones buying books, and various other things that can give that legs and long-term investment.

That's why Riot can spend more money than any other animated show in history on Arcane and not give a single fuck about the short-term return on investment — because the whole point is that they make that because they value their audience and provide that value to them. They sell skins to make shows like Arcane, they don't make Arcane to sell more copies of League of Legends.

Meanwhile OW2 lied about ever making its PvE experience that a massive part of the OW1 audience was always waiting for from the day the cinematic announcement trailer dropped, while remaining locked into this fractured formula that would ALWAYS suffer from built-in issues that was burning away its player trust at both ends. They managed to eventually break from 2cp as the game style shifted, but it's clear that as the OP mentioned, they're locked into the other flaws.

I figure that Marvel Rivals will just bury that game now that it can manage all the issues and seems to have all the good will that everyone deservedly lost for Overwatch. At this point, it's well beyond deserved. The only tragedy is that it was so tunnel-visioned on being that ONE thing stuck with those issues it couldn't overcome that it'll never be able to be anything else other than a forgotten Live Service model game that one day, that not even retro gamers of the future will be able to play.

the three game design albatrosses around overwatch's neck are hero switching, widowmaker, and 2cp and sadly they're stuck with two of those

[nobodyfamousposts]

I remember reading a post by @critical-thinking-is-mandatory a while back about how Lila would realistically be disliked by people because of how self centered she is even if they don't think she's lying.

With this logic, Adrien's public friendship with Chloe (a school wide bully) should have a lot of people side eyeing him, if not outright avoiding him all together.

What do you think?

That's a valid point, and one that I and I think a number of others have considered.

Origins played with it but not nearly enough. By all counts, when a bully comes in with their "celebrity best friend" and parade him around the way Chloe does, there would be a mix of people being put off by him being her friend as much as there would be people impressed by Chloe being his friend.

Honestly, it would have been a more interesting setup and added extra layers to the love square dynamics if they started off going from enemies to friends to lovers. Or at least slow down and not dive headfirst right into over the top crushing.

But in that case, it would likely work better as a reverse love square. Ladybug loves Chat who is Adrien who loves Marinette who is Ladybug. Have Marinette be someon who gives Adrien a chance which builds a friendship and starts up his crushing on her.

Otherwise it would just lead us back into cringe with Marinette crushing on Adrien despite having valid reason to not trust him for being Chloe's friend or potential boyfriend.

I'm fairly certain I pointed this out in another essay/critique/salt post that they completely missed out on a potential character arc for Adrien in having him actually ADJUSTING to public school. Having him struggling to make friends with his stigma both as a celebrity and as "Chloe's friend". The effects would be two-fold.

First, it would help the Adrien salters better sympathize with him. Yes, I know there's his horrible HORRIBLE father, but storywise, the "Gabriel sucks" angle doesn't really matter if Adrien isn't having to be the one to face that. In addition, he seems to have no trouble with acclimating to a public school and making friends. Heck, he's not making friends, people are jumping over themselves to make friends with HIM. Part of what makes people sympathize with characters is seeing them try and fail and just generally make an EFFORT for what they want. Turn that around. In the hands of competent writers, this would be a setup that would do that more for Adrien. We see that in some aspects with the manga where it has Nathaniel mistake Adrien as a snob who looks down on comics and him as an artist. It would have been great to see more like that with Adrien getting to know his classmates or being the focus through which we get to learn about the classmates since he is supposed to be the new boy.

Second, it would be a stepping stone/building block to the eventual confrontation with Gabriel—which yes, should happen. Building relationships and forming HEALTHY bonds really helps to understand when other ones you have are not. (COUGHCOUGHScarletLadyCOUGHCOUGH) They can help you gain strength and courage and build a new identity for yourself. They also give you support in dealing with major conflicts. They can help him form attachments that make him NOT so willing to jump in to join his father's craziness. And they can help him become a better hero in his own right.

I'm not saying make Adrien suffer and be friendless. Far from it!

I'm saying to USE this as a plot point to develop Adrien and give him focus and room to grow. Or at least a point that ISN'T just him being half of the endgame pairing and desired by everyone in the city.

Show Adrien try to interact with each of the classmates. Show how Adrien becomes friends with others. Show how he comes to care about people who aren't there just to give him what he wants or tie him to the plot.

And yes, this would inevitably also lead in to some changes for Chloe as well...for good or bad.

[variousqueerthings]

me every day like: but why did they choose that song to frame victoria's and fraser's relationship??? a song that appears at first glance to be a sort of mysterious love song, albeit with some mildly either ominous and/or bdsm like vibes:

(And I won't be denied

And I would be the one To hold you down Kiss you so hard I'll take your breath away And after I Wipe away the tears Just close your eyes dear)

and then you're like "ok, the song is literally called possession, what an interesting not-so-loving sounding title" and then you sleuth and it's literally a song written off the back of being stalked and obsessed over in an unhealthy way

gun to your heads writers, im not reading this dynamic the wrong way, that woman was out to do a violence on that man and if he'd managed to get on the train he'd have been dead within a few months once she grew tired of playing with her food (or once the pedestal she'd put him on was toppled or once she was done with breaking him into pieces or or or...)

[gristlegrinder]

tag screenshot 1: #see also: i could write you a whole essay on the plush elder dragon trinkets #<- prev I would be thrilled to read that #I didn’t even realise there could be meaning behind those stats and will now look at the wiki page for every plush dragon #guild wars 2

tag screenshot 2: #yes yes yes and also UR TAG ABOUT THE STUFFIES #yes please write it cus i feel the same #i wish so badly theyd turn them into homestead decos #or something bc their icons are so cute and i love the flavor text

YES OKAY this took me a bit to get back to but!! elder dragon infodumping!!!! as fair warning, i am not an expert on buildcraft, but i’m trying my best.

anyways, i think all of the dragon plushies are actually really interesting viewed as deliberate character choices for each of them, both in terms of general vibes and how those stat combinations work. here are all of my thoughts, in story order:

zhaitan has grieving (power, condition damage, precision, ferocity) stats. first off, in the game, grieving stats are deeply intertwined with relics of the dead, beyond just the melancholic name. most of the gear that comes preloaded with grieving stats is in some way associated with death and burial— funerary armor and weapons and trinkets from the tomb of the primeval kings, the elegy armor set from season 4, and halloween weapons like the carapace of chaos. intact elegy mosaics are literally tiles that were originally laid inside of the tombs of monarchs, displaying representations of their triumphs in battle (which is why you receive them from bounties and metas). there’s a very specific vibe that grieving gear comes packaged with, and while it’s not necessarily orrian, it is very much in theme with zhaitan’s interests and domain. and, more than anything, zhaitan has everything to mourn. “like all ruins, they become what they are, not what they held” is a reflection on orr, but it’s an insight that also suggests a family dynamic that has been left to degrade. zhaitan’s death was always going to be the beginning of the end, and it’s implied that he had always accepted that.

as a stat combination, grieving is a hybrid power/condi set where your conditions don’t last very long, but you can maximize bursts of damage output by focusing on crits. necromancers have always been the favored profession for grieving builds— scourge (at least historically) does really well with it in world vs world, and grieving gear is still used on condition reaper builds, where most of its condi damage comes from maximizing bleeds on a grandmaster trait and it otherwise prioritizes power damage. giving it to the undead freak seems like the obvious choice. but also, the stats and the playstyle feels appropriate for zhaitan in other ways. he lacks the defensive toughness/vitality attributes of his family, and is in some ways the weakest dragon; caught off-guard by the pact assault and blinded and starved. like, he can cause massive destruction through direct assault (see: claw island), but it’s easy to take him down once you know where his weaknesses are (and any survivability associated with grieving builds is less about the stats and more just that you’re probably playing necro).

also, it feels fitting that zhaitan is the halloween dragon. i don’t really have much to say about that other than the obvious— during halloween, the barrier between tyria and the mists weakens, and the underworld is within reach through the mad king’s realm. so it’s death, death, death.

mordremoth uses trailblazer’s (toughness, condition damage, vitality, expertise) gear. this is one of the heart of thorns’ prefixes, although nothing really comes in trailblazers stats besides the gear you get from its crafting recipes. it’s kind of an interesting one, in that i have no idea who the trailblazer archetype is supposed to be. commander’s gear is the commander (duh), vigilant armor is associated with the vigil and laranthir, viper’s is for the forgotten, wanderer’s is for the exalted, and minstrel’s gear is largely associated with the virtues of the bardic profession. i would almost venture to guess that trailblazer’s is a prefix that is meant to represent the hylek, or even the jungle itself— first obtainable in tangled depths as you venture deeper into mordremoth’s nest. either way, the jungle provides.

(also, fun fact, trailblazer’s gear is crafted with maguuma lilies, and one of the only other uses for them is in crafting an orb of natural essence when reforging caladbolg. haha.)

trailblazer’s gear is surprisingly solid all-purpose condi gear for open world and wvw, having a lot of personal durability without sacrificing too much condition damage. mordremoth is a tanky guy who bites hard— he and zhaitan are similar beasts in fights like harvest temple, loving poison AOEs and fears (so many poison AOEs), but mordremoth throws his own weight around more, with headbutts and crowd control skills. mordremoth is the most hardened of the six of them with that toughness, as well. he’s a character that sees the world in terms of domination and submission, but also as an existence that requires the constant challenge of survival. anything in the jungle can eat you if you can’t defend yourself.

i think it’s interesting that you get plush mordy during lunar new year, and plush ess during SAB. for the longest time, i could not figure out the reasoning for that, especially since soo-won is tied so closely to cantha— and then it hit me. the heart of thorns campaign lasted from 30 zephyr to 74 zephyr, meaning the initial assault and mordremoth’s call would have been around the equivalent of january 30th, right around when the new year starts. his plush is commemorating that. discovering this while writing all of this did make me shout and i am now sharing it with you.

kralkatorrik uses diviner’s (power, concentration, precision, ferocity). this is one of two stat combinations introduced during season 4, alongside plaguedoctor’s gear for the joko half of the season, and it has a lot of personal connections to kralky: frodak steelstar (the ascended namesake) assisted glint in crafting the original dragonsblood spear, diviner’s gear is crafted with branded masses, and dragonsblood weapons in-game are diviner’s pieces. there’s also perhaps the obvious connection between “divination” and the prophetic sight that kralkatorrik, glint, and aurene all possess. it’s kind of kralkatorrik, it’s kind of glint, and it’s all family trauma all the way down.

not a lot of meta power boon support builds actually use diviner’s gear, though, because a lot of them reach concentration cap without it. whatever. it’s more interesting that kralkatorrik is a boon support build. concentration as a defining attribute gives him an almost mystic vibe, in line with both the visions he’s had in the past and the connection to the mists he gains from consuming part of balthazar. he’s wise beyond his years, but also hurting tremendously under the burden of all of the magics inside of him. he’s still primarily a dps build, because destroying everything will cease the torment inside of his head, but he has further insight into the weight of the cycle, and he does find ways to support the commander and aurene in moments of clarity.

finally, plush kralk is available during the festival of the four winds, which is both a summery festival and one largely centered around the zephyrites— so again, it all circles back around to glint.

jormag’s plushie uses bringer’s (expertise, precision, vitality) stats. it’s one of the two prefixes associated with wintersday, being crafted with snowflakes and found exclusively on wintersday rewards outside of crafting. hooray hooray. admittedly there isn’t much going on with bringer’s gear outside of tixx and wintersday. like, okay, jormag is associated with snow, and icebrood corruption is often framed as a gift bestowed upon the lucky. what else is there to say? but i do think you could also draw parallels between jormag’s vision of the world encased in endless winter and the original spirit of wintersday, grenth and dwayna (child and mother, even!) fighting over the changing of the seasons and their cycles.

bringer’s gear is uh… nobody really uses it because it’s not good. it has no damage or any real synergy between its stats. from what i understand, bringer’s gear is (in theory) largely best at focusing on non-damaging conditions— meaning you mostly use it as a supplement mixed with more damage-heavy pieces. i think the lack of damage on their stats is really interesting, both in contrast to primordus (and everybody else, really) and in that it highlights how jormag doesn’t like getting their own claws dirty in a fight if they don’t have to. they’re largely enabling somebody else’s ability to do damage on their behalf, like with ryland. the conditions that benefit the most from bringers are also generally non-damaging, movement-based conditions— such as, most fittingly for jormag, chill. it’s very much jormag’s style, and claw of jormag is always a never ending cycle of being chilled over and over again get me out get me out get me out—

as discussed, plush jorms is the wintersday collectible and there’s not much more to say about it. obvious pick. i think jormag can cloak the world in eternal winter if they want. my one additional comment is like, hey, side note, do you guys ever start thinking about how jormag’s blood canonically tastes like peppermint?

primordus, meanwhile, uses marauder’s (power, precision, vitality, ferocity) gear. of all of the prefixes, marauder has the least to do with primordus thematically out of all of the stat combinations— it’s associated with pirates and mariners, originally having a connection to grymm svaard from the sea of sorrows novel and in more recent times being retroactively associated with the aetherblades. the crafting materials don’t really resonate with primordus, nor do the characters associated with any related gear. this one, i think, is meant to be all about the actual use case for marauder’s gear, more than anything else. unless you could, like, maybe make some argument about naval marauding + barbed thorns (primarily dropping from mushrooms, mordrem, and treants/druids) suggest an association with draconis mons and the ring of fire, but that feels like a stretch to me.

so, marauder’s gear is about raw power damage, but it’s more protective than berserkers— its what you take if you just want to hit things until they’re dead, but you also don’t want to die immediately. he’s not tough, though; it’s a vitality build. he’s not mordremoth, who has armored himself against the world. primordus is soft under the surface, warm lava under volcanic rock— he can protect himself, but he doesn’t want to throw himself into fights until it hurts too much to do anything else. he’s a character that hides underground in the depths of tyria, and any destruction in his wake erupts recklessly when he’s provoked. now, that destruction comes in instantaneous, hard-hitting bursts, meteor strikes and wildfire blazes, but at least they’re over quick.

you can get him during dragon bash, which in its modern iteration is largely associated with the dragonstorm. and braham’s there in hoelbrak! braham’s his best friend! also, dragon bash and wintersday are on direct opposite ends of the year (june/july and december/january). that’s real balance, baby. although, i do tend to forget that dragon bash is considered a summer festival when its events are placed in the shiverpeaks.

lastly, soo-won uses ritualist’s (vitality, condition damage, concentration, expertise) gear. it’s one of the two prefixes added in end of dragons, and soo-won is deeply tied to cantha— it’s where the world, her world, started; and it’s where her world ended. you tie ritualist’s gear to spirit-workers who were pulling magic from the void of the mists long before the six arrived in tyria, when all we had were the dragons. additionally, the luxon weapons are ritualist’s gear, tying her to their traditionally-seafaring culture. i also think it’s fun to associate her with togo’s ascended gear, when togo is called the defender of cantha, something soo-won and kuunavang have similarly stepped up as in the wake of the tsunami following the rising of orr.

it’s our other boon support build, although it just feels different than kralkatorrik’s diviner’s set. i think that’s because ritualist’s isn’t really the direct condition-based equivalent of diviner’s gear, as it sacrifices power for additional vitality. it feels like we ultimately met a soo-won that has been divided into two, between the maternal character that she is— soft, protective, resigned to her mistakes— and the corrupting void that she has always carried inside of her. soo-won is, by all accounts, not a particularly violent dragon, not until the dragonvoid finally wraps its tendrils around her. (unless they’re planning some fun lore drops whenever we get the deep sea horror expansion). so, while kralkatorrik is primarily a dps character who happens to have boons, soo-won feels like a character who was originally more support-oriented, but now has more of a bite, one that’s been festering and threatening to spread.

plush ess is available during super adventure festival. we’ve already discussed why mordremoth is associated with lunar new year instead of soo-won, but i think it’s also fun to associate soo-won with SAB when she’s the most technologically-forward of the dragons, shedding her excess magic into the energized jade that powers cantha. i think soo-won could have been a gamer if joon gave her the opportunity.

dragons! rawr!

i’m always delighted when i realize the gw2 devs have done something playful with the stat combos on gear. right now i’m looking at the sinful weapons from SOTO for reasons, and you should’ve seen the big goofy grin on my face when i realized they gave the greed weapon (avarice’s command) celestial stats… because it wants a little bit of everything

also envy’s bite having vipers stats, despair’s lament and regret’s memory both having grieving, rage’s fist having berserkers…….. very cute 10/10

[bcacstuff]

One of the US reviews for TCND:

These days, Sam Heughan is a fan-favorite presence on the small screen, but he wouldn't have garnered mainstream awareness if it hadn't been for his breakout role in the hit television adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander book series. Over the last decade, Heughan's performance as a swoony Scottish hero and self-professed wife guy on the Starz series has propelled him to certified heartthrob status — but with Outlander finally set to conclude with its eighth and final season at a date yet to be determined, it's no wonder Heughan has been taking other projects, perhaps in an effort to step out from the long shadow that Jamie Fraser still casts.

On paper, The Couple Next Door, Starz's six-part psychological thriller based on the Dutch series Nieuwe Buren, has a lot going for it, as messy relationship dynamics play out against the idyllic backdrop of suburbia — and at first, the show gives every indication that it's ramping up to an erotic, twisted climax. But despite best attempts from Heughan, along with his main co-stars Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark), Jessica de Gouw (Arrow), and Alfred Enoch (How To Get Away With Murder), the series frustratingly pivots away from its most intriguing elements in favor of weaker B-plots, ultimately resulting in a hectic finale that relies too heavily on outdated, regressive tropes to drive its biggest conflicts.

What Is 'The Couple Next Door' About?

Primary school teacher Evie Greenwood (Tomlinson) and her partner, journalist Pete Thomas (Enoch), are looking for a fresh start in more ways than one. Moving to a small suburb in Leeds feels like the right next move for the young couple, especially once they run into their next-door neighbors, PC Danny Whitwell (Heughan) and his wife, yoga instructor Becka (de Gouw), while attempting to lug their belongings into the new house. Evie is drawn to the beautiful young couple from the start for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being her attraction to Danny. However, as someone who grew up in a very conservative, religious household, Evie's eyes are soon opened to her neighbors' more non-traditional lifestyle.

As the four spend more and more time together, Becka and Danny disclose the fact that they're non-monogamous, even if they make a point of always "playing" together with other couples. As Evie starts to entertain the idea of experimentation, Pete's reservations about opening up their relationship lead to rising tensions. Yet their drama isn't the only one that plays out within this seemingly sleepy community. As a somewhat lowly traffic cop with little authority and mounting bills to pay, Danny begins to accept late-night jobs that don't exactly fall on the legal side of things — right around the time that Pete starts digging into local corruption for his latest exposé. As for Becka, she's built a successful social media presence, but she's also attracted a creepy real-life stalker in the process, one who isn't willing to go away without throwing a wrench into her picture-perfect existence.

Over the first half of its eight episodes (all of which were provided for review), The Couple Next Door has a lot of promise, especially when it focuses on the evolving and tangled relationships between its main foursome. Yet the series is also majorly underserved by its pacing, as it spends a significant amount of time devoted to building up that tension and then ultimately fails at offering a more nuanced depiction of attraction and obsession given the sheer number of other characters and storylines that have to be juggled. The problem is that none of these secondary threads are even remotely as interesting as the main one; every scene spared for Becka's stalker, or Danny's off-the-books job, or any side character for that matter, feels like a missed opportunity to return to the emotional rollercoaster playing out between the two leading couples. Cutting at least one of these B-plots may also have resulted in a better lead-up to the finale, which climaxes in a way that feels extreme, even for these four.

Some characters are afforded better treatment — in many instances, de Gouw's Becka feels like one of the only mature adults in the room — but others seem to regress in increasingly drastic ways purely for the sake of drama. Unfortunately, The Couple Next Door joins recent films like Nightbitch and Babygirl in giving one of its female characters a backstory steeped in extreme, cult-like religion that feels perplexing at best and reductive at worst in justifying sexual exploration. Evie's ignorance about polyamory could've been filtered through a simpler, more straightforward premise of a woman embracing her innermost desires, and the blurred lines that result when she finds herself falling for the one person she shouldn't. But Tomlinson's character is done the biggest disservice over the course of the season; as Evie's fixation on Danny intensifies, she becomes even more of a caricature, with her later scenes devolving into stereotypical '80s erotic thriller territory — and not in a way that can be considered complimentary. The show's men don't fare any better; while he does have excellent chemistry with both Tomlinson and de Gouw in the scenes that call for it, Heughan is given very little to do other than handsomely brood. Meanwhile, Enoch, in welcome contrast, initially gets to play a more level-headed and less alpha presence, but, like Evie, Pete's characterization annoyingly falls prey to jealousy and rage.

In many ways, this show would have been better off solely revolving around these objectively attractive people and the palpable tension that stems from them debating whether they should all sleep together — and to a point, The Couple Next Door delivers on that front. But the season quickly becomes derailed by way of less intriguing subplots, disappointing character regression, and poor pacing that struggles to build to a satisfying finale. It'd be one thing if there was a promise for more at the end of it all, but with the show having already been renewed for a Season 2 featuring a completely new cast, there's no opportunity for this version of The Couple Next Door to continue. Given how it all wraps up, though, maybe that's for the best.

The Couple Next Door premieres January 17 on Starz.

[our-ensemble]

How else could HappyElements go about writing Ibuki?

Just a little exercise to see what else Enstars could have done with Ibuki besides what they're doing now. (This one is long!)

When it comes to putting Ibuki in another unit, its very debatable, but its not impossible. Below are just my own thoughts and I'll get into why I wrote this at the bottom.

So, units!

fine: Not the best. Writing-wise, I don't think it's impossible to fit Ibuki in... somewhere? But all in all, fine doesn't lend itself to a story that would make Ibuki's addition natural. Also, aesthetically, it doesn't seem up Ibuki's alley. While Eichi's actions in Okinawa could lead to an interesting conflict with developments for both parties which plays into real-life social issues, that depends on Enstars' ability to write it, which is currently in an unideal place. That being said, I am waiting for the day that Ibuki sues Eichi. Put your court skills to use!

Trickstar: Likely not. Again, like with fine, Trickstar's overall writing makes this difficult and unnatural. Maybe with a lot of pre-existing development where its made clear that he'll join, but otherwise, he's difficult to slot in Trickstar's current dynamic (and that's not even going into Trickstar's historical importance to its producers as being the four of them + Anzu).

Ryuseitai: Possible! Ryuseitai is currently in a directional shift + leadership shift, and Ibuki's addition plays well into this setup. Additionally, in Enstars, the pre-existing lore is that units must have 2 - 5 idols as a result of War-era imposed restrictions, and it would be interesting to see how that tidbit of worldbuilding holds up in relation to this idea. Ibuki and Tetora's interaction in Ibuki's Idol Story 2 also provides some idea of how Ibuki's inclusion would go, and the interaction also makes the inclusion less sudden. Though, if memory serves me well, he rejected being the leader of EsuPuri because it was child-like? or childish? Anyway, he might have similar concerns with Ryuseitai - or he could embrace his inner-child some more. Ibuki should watch Kamen Rider Geats.

ALKALOID: It can work! ALKALOID is in a bit of a lull writing-wise, and adding Ibuki could be just the thing to stir them up. Ibuki's personality + identity means that like each member, he is marginalized, but his narrative doesn't seem to be stepping on anyone's toes. He also seems more ambitious and energetic than the average member, which could be interesting. The points about Tetora made above also apply with Hiiro and Ibuki. However, how Ibuki would wind up in ALKALOID seems hard to determine, since they are weapons-but-not-really-anymore of StarPro. Unless Eichi takes interest in Ibuki? Plus, there are only 4 suits in a deck of cards. Guess we'll have to make up a fifth one... (Would Ibuki be "one of the kids" or would he be Tatsumi's grandchild? The world will never know...)

Eden: Highly unlikely. Unless Ibuki REALLY sweeps Ibara off his feet, its not happening. Eden also has an "it is the Four of them" atmosphere - and even if it didn't, I can't imagine Ibuki being the most comfortable in this setup. The aesthetics also aren't really for him. Maybe when you're older and more experienced, Ibuki...

2wink: How. (everything from this point on is a joke to be clear) In the twin unit? The 2 unit? Do we kick one of them out? Does Ibuki become a triplet? What's the thought process here? Where are we going from here? Is Ibuki the family therapist? Are we finally getting 3wink (thrwink... thwink...)?

Valkyrie: In Shu's words - Non. Writing-wise, this just wouldn't happen. Plus - and this really was the only way that I could word this - Valkyrie's freakisms are not for the weak of heart, and while I don't doubt Ibuki's tenacity, I'm not sure if he would want to be around these two for an extended period of time. The aesthetics also aren't tailored to him. Additionally, Shu's habit of calling Rinne a barbarian doesn't translate well here, and gets us into a situation with a lot of microaggressions and little to no resolution.

Crazy:B: There's a chance - if Lady Luck's in your favour. If any unit were to suddenly add a guy midway, it should be the rebellious unit, no? A unit that appeals to outsiders could also make Ibuki feel welcome as someone unfamiliar to Japan - or it could make him feel more isolated, but that depends on a lot of things. In their writing, Crazy:B has been focusing a lot on their interpersonal relationships lately, and Ibuki's addition might get them back into their greater theme of rebellion - or it could ruin what has been established about their interpersonal relationships, and we wind up going over the same song and dance when it comes to rebellion. Fans are also really fond of the Crazy:B dynamic now, so adding in another guy likely would not fair well. Then, same concern as ALKALOID - how would Ibuki end up here? Lady Luck'll have to be extra nice to Ibuki if he joins this unit...

UNDEAD: Hard to imagine. Honestly, I just couldn't visualize this one. In all fairness, Enstars' ability to integrate Kaoru and Adonis into UNDEAD's major arcs hasn't always been the most stable (see: HappyElements not using their names once in the original summary for UNDEAD's climax event) and Ibuki would likely get the same treatment, if not worse. Again, very hard to integrate Ibuki in writing-wise, and he would definitely be outright neglected. A shame, because while he might not be suited to UNDEAD as a unit, it's not as impossible to imagine his interactions with the individual members.

Ra*bits: Hmm... Ra*bits' recent attempts to mix "cute" and "cool" so as to stand apart from girl groups while still retaining their existing appeal gives a bit of room to work with. Ibuki's definitely a "cool" guy, so I imagine that he could teach them quite a bit - but it doesn't look like he gets much in return for now. Aesthetically, it bears for him the same problems that EsuPuri does. Again, that doesn't even go into Ra*bits as "the Four of them". Maybe if they develop a lot of interaction beforehand and clearly outline their future goal...

Knights: I have ideas (but Enstars might not)! With Esu formerly studying under Knights, do you have any idea how funny this would be? People were a bit peeved that EsuPuri and Knights had similar aesthetics, but introducting Ibuki into Knights then setting up Knights as their senpai + rival could be so fun, especially with a rivalry between Esu and Ibuki to mimic the older rivalries our protagonists had (Trickstar - fine, ALKALOID - Crazy:B). Like, the guy that dropped out of being leader, ultimately leading to you to become leader in his absence, is now singing and dancing with your senpai who are considered some of the best in the industry. Also, like with Ryuseitai, we get to poke at the worldbuilding that previously established that units cannot have more than 5 members. Please tell me you see the vision. (though I will concede that the aesthetics + goals of Knights don't scream Ibuki).

There's also something here that applies with some other units as well - which is that putting Ibuki in units where the leader is one of the younger characters in the franchise helps show off how pre-existing characters have grown. Since Enstars characters have been aged up a year 1-2 times, there's been quite a bit of growth for them, but people tend to be stuck with their impressions of when these characters were younger. EsuPuri + Ibuki can help show the growth of the younger characters by putting them into senpai positions, sometimes for the first time. So, for Knights, it means that Tsukasa would have a proper junior for the first time - which either leads to interesting developments for the Knights characters or neglect of pre-existing relationships.

Which is to say that a) we get to see Kasa-kun curbstomp a bunch of children and b) we get to see Kasa-kun realize that having an energetic junior isn't better than having energetic seniors.

Switch: Not the one. Can't really see Ibuki in this one for, as always, aesthetic and writing purposes. Additionally, SwitchPs have noticed that Sora doesn't get as much attention as the other two, which could go in two ways. 1) Ibuki and Sora become an in-unit pair akin to Natsume and Tsumugi, and their developing relationship allows them to battle this disparity in attention or 2) the lack of attention gets heightened, with either Sora, or Ibuki - or even both - being neglected.

MaM: Interesting. Madara and Ibuki both seem to be the independent type, and its noted that Madara isn't mindful of others when dancing in a group since he's used to being alone. Though, his experiences in Double Face must have changed that, and it would be interesting to see how he has changed since Double Face's creation - but if not written well, it could trivialize Double Face's history. On one hand, fans enjoy seeing Madara make friends, but on the other hand, Madara's choice of being solo has been quite the question, and Ibuki's addition might bury this worldbuilding away if not written well. It definitely has potential, but it has just as much potential to go awry. Ibuki could be Madara's lawyer instead I guess.

Solo: HappyElements, hire me and I will raise you to levels you could never fathom!

They could have made a whole show of it! Have Ibuki go from unit to unit where he's their understudy for the duration of the event and have him assess whether or not he wants to join! This would tie into the junior system in J-POP where idols pre-debut usually become backup dancers for other units, going on to do interviews, songs and other things to build up a reputation before debuting and using their now established fanbase to make a lot of dough! It would tie in so well to the idol-like direction that HappyElements is taking with 4piece!

It could have been such a grand event! Have them build up the hype over time, show off the pros and cons that Ibuki sees in joining a unit, and then when the time comes to announce his decision after months, maybe even years in real-life - pull the rug out from under everyone and have him go solo! And since going solo isn't allowed in-universe, have them confront the War-era rules that continue to affect idols! Let Ibuki challenge the idol rules that Eichi once established and mess with the system!

And if he were rivals with Esu? Imagine if he outperforms EsuPuri as a solo idol - that's gotta be a hit to Esu as a leader... Man...

and AKATSUKI...

The new AKATSUKI could have been "an idea of Japan that represents everyone" which acknowledges those beyond the Yamato. It could have recognized the diversity in Japan, and allowed for the "idea" of Japan to no longer be dominated by the majority - a unit that respects the people of Japan who are normally forgotten. An AKATSUKI were Ibuki's traditions are celebrated, not chiseled down.

Instead, Ibuki is being absorbed into "the traditional Japan" - a very different scenario from the above.

That's all from me. I have a little extra info below for the curious.

Why write this? It's not really related to your blog...?

Fair question. But for one, I think that we forget that writing is a part of HappyElements' problem of discrimination (but just one part). As people have mentioned for years with Adonis, its pretty clear that the message is that racism is bad - its just that in their writing, HappyElements reinforces the racism that it claims to be against, thus pitting themselves against their own message.

This is only exemplified more in the recent AKATSUKI event, but what I really want to address is fan reactions.

There's a bit of a rift growing now, particularly with AKATSUKIPs and IbukiPs

"If you were a real AKATSUKI fan, you would still recognize and support them as four."

"AKATSUKI is only ever three, the AKATSUKI with Ibuki in it is not who I grew to love."

"AKATSUKI fans are being so rude - there is no problem with Ibuki joining, and he deserves to be in a unit."

"Ibuki shouldn't be in this unit, and it hurts for me as his producer to see him here."

But here's the thing:

Fans are not the ones who created this situation, so why are they blaming each other?

Enstars did not write a good event for either AKATSUKI or Ibuki, frankly speaking. Even if you remove every incident of racism from Enstars, the writing quality is still bad. Even if the writing quality was good in this event, it would not change the imperialistic tones.

But this is not a dichotomy - HappyElements doesn't have to choose between making either AKATSUKIPs happy or IbukiPs happy. It could have written anything else, as I've demonstrated in my writing exercise above. Some fans have been theorizing about other units Ibuki could join, and some are rather amenable to Ibuki joining their own favorites! HappyElements chose the most divisive decision, sullied further by a slew of problems.

When the song Tenshou KAGETSU was first released, prior to the story release, there was a common sentiment in the comments:

"Let's hope for an event that will make us both [AKATSUKIP and IbukiP] happy!"

And their hopes weren't misplaced. It was more than possible.

HappyElements' choice is what made it impossible.

[missbliss12]

Just letting you know, there's an anon going around messaging people that you ship a child with their caretaker and urging them to reconsider interacting with your posts

Thank you to the anon who messaged me about this, and thank you to the anon who is unhappily engaging with my work! As a fine artist, comic artist, and person who likes to think about culture, stories, and history, I’ve been wanting to write about the Dynamic Duo for a while. This is a good opportunity for getting those various drafts together. And for anyone who’s curious about DC comic dynamics and likes, like me, to play with comics… I hope this can be an interesting little read into the various ways of reading Batman and Robin, and why one might choose to engage in a queer reading of “Brudick.”

Bruce and Dick: Father and Son, Brothers in Arms, Partners Fighting Crime

First, Bruce and Dick can certainly be read as “Father and Son.” There are several Dynamic Duo stories from various decades that do this, some of which I quite enjoy.  

Like in Batman Vol. 1, No. 20 (1944), where Bruce has to fight Dick’s corrupt blood relations to retain guardianship of his almost son/best friend.

And in writer Tom Taylor, artist Bruno Redondo, colorist Adriano Lucas, and co.’s Nightwing comics, including Nightwing Vol. 4, No. 100 (2023).

But “Father and Son” isn’t their only definitive relationship.  

Dick wasn’t adopted by Bruce at first for logistical reasons inside and outside of text (the difficulties of single men adopting kids during the 40s, when Batman and Robin was first published, for example.) There are comics that describe them as brothers for example, including when Dick first leaves to attend university as a young man and when he dons the Batman cowl after Bruce “dies.”

Batman & Robin Vol. 1, No. 7 (2009) by Grant Morrison, Cameron Stewart, and co.

Batman Vol. 1, No. 217 (1969), by Irv Novick, Dick Giordano, and Frank Robbins.

(Said vow of manliness was then followed up by Dick crying like a heartbroken heroine of a 1960s romance comic.)

Young Romance No. 125 (1963)

Dick and Bruce have even, on significant occasions, denied being father and son (though one could choose to read that as the first step of a cautious, tsundere journey towards patrilineal bonds)

Batman Vol. 1, No. 439 (1989), by Marv Wolfman, Pat Broderick, Adrienne Roy, and co.

The bond that Bruce asserts with Dick in this compelling story is based not on him replacing Dick’s parents, but on bonding with him as a similarly traumatized and wounded child.

This resonates with the words of David Mazzuchelli, fantastic mainstream and indie comic artist behind Batman: Year One. In the “Afterwords” section of Year One, Mazzuchelli describes the pair as being a pair of innocent, un-sexed twelve-year-old boys (Bruce mentally) who connect as best friends pretending to be heroes. 

(Take a look at Austin Kleon’s blog for the full post where this comes from – all photo credits to him)

This reading of the Dynamic Duo who are mainly partners, fighting against the crime that destroyed their parents, vibes with Darwyn Cooke’s beautifully rendered DC: The New Frontier (2004).

As Batman explains, they are “two lost souls who found each other”... romantic, no?

2. Bruce and Dick: Romantic Partners

With all the various interpretations of Bruce and Dick over the decades, from the perspectives of various writers and artists, there is also room for a romantic reading. Not just the comic panels taken out of context and spoofed on the internet. From this Reddit post… 

…To “A Brief History of Dick: Unpacking the gay subtext of Robin, the Boy Wonder”, a great summary by Glen Weldon, author of The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. The comics themselves are ripe for various – *eh-hem* – creative readings and misinterpretations.  

Canon Jokes about Batman and Robin’s Relationship

But Bruce and Dick’s ambiguous relationship is also referenced in DC’s canon comics, like World's Finest Year 6: The Imp-Possible Dream (1999) by Karl Kesel, Peter Doherty, and Robert Campanella.

By aligning Dick with Lois Lane, damsel in distress, DC’s officially published comics pokes at the stability of a purely platonic father and son relationship between the Dynamic Duo.

Then there are the much more disturbing jokes from the Joker in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (1989) by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean. 

Joker makes plenty of insinuations about Batman’s mental wellness and his attraction to a Robin. Queerness as pathological isn’t new to Batman – it’s embodied in the Joker, a lipstick and acrylic-wearing man obsessed with another man. Joker not only evokes drag queens; in Batman: The Dark Prince Charming (2017-2018) by Enrico Marini, he even dresses as one.

It’s easy to forget the Joker’s queerness with Heath Ledger’s highly popular elemental Joker, Joaquin Phoenix’s sad boy follow-up, and the heterosexual, Harley Quinn-touting Joker of the Batman animations. But I think Joker has lasted – and surpassed Robin in popularity – because Robin was a good boy who was scandalously attached to gay jokes while Joker was a bad guy, who one, historically, could easily accept as being evil.

And then Robin became the Joker.

Like Sin City, Frank Miller’s infamous Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again is a testosterone and titty fueled extravaganza. And it makes Dick a Joker mutant targeting Bruce’s new sidekick, former female Robin, current lovely Catgirl, Carrie Kelly. A side-by-side comparison shows who is more desirable and healthy amongst them.

Dick envies Carrie, going so far as plotting to steal her body by skinning her alive. 

It’s not a good look on Dick. It is also sad, twisted, and one of the most fascinating ways Frank Miller could have acknowledged Dick’s mixed cultural legacy within DC published comic (even one set in an alternate universe). Here is a panel of Dick declaring his wicked love, driving Bruce to (lover’s) suicide.  

So there is room for laughable and sick interpretations of romantic Brudick. Now let’s take a look at a healthier option for these not-quite lovers, enemies, partners, and family members.

3. Batman’s (and Robin’s) Queer Liberation: Fredric Wertham, Feminism, and Kevin Conroy

I’m personally captivated by a romantic reading of Bruce and Dick. Stories revolve around conflict and that poses A LOT OF PROBLEMS. It also has led to plentiful interesting fanart and fanfiction that tries to make sense of decades of stories with a cohesive narrative. While there’s plenty of porn (which, no anti is entitled to shame others about), it also involves strangely compelling coming-of-age stories that few other slash pairings can inspire.  

Also, Bruce and Dick’s queer potential is really important for Western comics history – it’s part of what Fredric Wertham M.D. took comics to task for in the 1950s, leading to a (flawed) study, a Senate Hearing, censorship and comic codes, as well as the creation of family friendly female characters! Wertham clearly read the comics as queer – and that still holds currency for other LGBTQIA comics fans who see themselves in Batman and Robin. 

Excerpts from pg. 190 of Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent (1954):

Wertham also accuses Wonder Woman and her friends of loving women to the detriment of men on page 193:

DC superhero media has a history of deviant queerness – to say no is to deny an important facet of comics history. 

Mining said queerness can give room for female characters to be more than objects of men’s violence/sexual objectification. One of my favorite Batgirl comics gets Batgirl away from Dick Grayson, putting her on her own journey of friendship, love, and self-fulfillment in the capable hands of Babs Tarr.

From Batgirl, Vol. 4, No. 40 (2015):

Other female characters who have flourished when given the ability to be more than love interests include Batgirl’s bestie, Supergirl, in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2021-2022) by Tom King, Bilquis Everly, and co.

Superhero stories are so big, full of questions about what makes a person moral and how/whether they can ever truly belong. Do stories that play with Bruce and Dick as romantic connect to those ideas? They certainly do.

And, as we see from the autobiographical comic of Kevin Conroy, iconic voice of various animated Bat-men, these questions and deviations can enrich our superhero stories too. Excerpts below from “Finding Batman” by Kevin Conroy, J. Bone, and Aditya Bidikar, published in DC Pride 2022.

The Batman and Robin stories are so strange, plentiful, and varied – there’s room for various interpretations, none of them “wrong.” 

If the anon who’s messaging other social media users to stop looking at my art wants to tackle issues like child exploitation, or if they want to support girls and women who are in danger of incest or rape, they can donate and spread awareness of organizations like Save The Children, Planned Parenthood, and others using ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.

And for wholesome DC comic recs with gals of color, I recommend DC comics like Diana and Nubia: Princesses of the Amazon (2022) by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Victoria Ying and Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story (2023) by Sarah Kuhn and Arielle Jovellanos. My twin collaborator and I are also working on stories that tackle superheroines and intersectional feminism – stories which criss-cross with our platonic and romantic Brudick stories!  

[jacksonseymour13]

This post is long

Anybody feels disappointed there wasn't enough angst, mistrust or tension between Gi-Hun and In-Ho? Angst!Inhun

I love these old lovelies and this ship with all my heart but I can't help but feel like it was lacking in overall conflict. Two people working together,main protagonist and main antagonist being allies. Gi-Hun's massive trust issues that were played up in the first 2 episodes leading up to him joining the games didn't nearly impact enough as the episodes proceeded. The significance of #01 and that connection to the old guy from S1(help I forgot his name😭🙏🏻).

I needed In-Ho proving and bending over backwards to have Gi-Hun trust his ass. In-Ho was on a mission to infiltrate Gihun's trust before ripping it apart last second as a "I told you so honey".

Gi-Hun definitely had a stronger tense dynamic with Sangwoo in the game, yes you could argue their childhood besties and have known each other for as long as possible but it doesn't change the fact Gi-Hun was weary of Sang Woo and showed several moments doubting his authentic nature in the game, especially after glass Bridge.

GIVE ME A HANDOUT! I need them screaming at each other and having a power struggle with Team X, I need them driving each other crazy and wanting to beat the living shit out of each other(although they never come to blows😉). Fake player In-Ho and Gi-Hun's dynamic was IMO wasted and could've been so much juicier. I'm happy with what we got but...

The greedy desperate cunty that I am needed just a little more gravitas and sprinkles of a little bit of this and that in their relationship. Gi-Hun should have been 100% suspicious and kept his guard up with In-Ho after he was the sole responsibility why everyone continued in the games post-1st vote. His red flags should have been going off crazily. Gi-Hun joined the game with focus not to play the same game again and play as Level 1, nah bro. He had his stats and composure maxed out.

He should have made a mental note of In-Ho never being present(becausenowayGihunwouldsuddenlyforgetahandsomemofolikethat)for waking up,red light green light and before the vote. Blud just teleported in. Gi-Hun had no real reason to trust In-Ho either but let me run with it before I get cooked by everyone(I still ship but the writing was a little questionable)

I would have loved Gi-Hun and In-Ho to have a conversation after 6 legs about In-Ho 'crash out moment'. That's his first glimpse exposing himself to Gihun without this unpenetratable armor of confidence. He saw In-Ho at a stressed point and would've been nice of him to reach out, make sure he's okay. They have a heart to heart there and In-Ho gets some truth off his chest that he has all this pressure of maintaining a perfect exterior. It would show a sense of inferiority complex and a little more depth of In-Ho in Gi-Hun's eyes. Gi-Hun just has the reason why In-Ho voted 'O and nothing else.

Using the fanon brainrot with this last one but I would have Gi-Hun replace Jung-Bae in the last mingle round of 2 players. It makes sense they would go together, It would be very interesting and turning point in Gi-Hun's eyes regarding In-Ho. It sucks because the writers HAD it right there and just did nothing with it. Jung-Bae not telling Gihun or Gihun ever picking up a sign In-Ho cannot be trusted was so fluffy and for what? I love fluff Inhun but angst Inhun would have went TWICE as hard.

Gi-Hun trust would probably solidify after seeing In-Ho kill that player after he votes for 'X but the potential, the confrontation and doubt needed to be shown so we can see how In-Ho would tip toe around such questions. Gi-Hun asking him where he was during RLGR,why he really voted for 'O in the first game just to turn around and vote 'X afterwards. The writers really let me down with this one yall but still a super sexy toxic ship that didn't fail me. Can't wait to see what Reveal!Inhun has in store for us.

[bluespace-writer]

Seat saved for you

Team Fortress 7th comic story

> Team Fortress characters and GenderNeutral!Reader - [platonic,family dynamic]

Your breath puffed in faint clouds, as the sun was slowly hiding behind mountains of snow. You walked through a neighbourhood, gazing at houses decorated on Smissmas with bright lights and other plastic holiday-themed decorations. You hold a small letter addressed specifically to you from your old friend, Scout, or now, Jeremy Willis, who was inviting you to join and celebrate holidays this year. You couldn't show up on previous ones, you worked alongside Miss Pauling, helping her get rid of even the smallest connection mercs ever had with the TF industry. You spend over six years helping them, just so they can live normal lives. After long years of destroying the past, you were happy to enjoy the future.

When you got that letter, you answered, promising to show up.

A cold wind was blowing the at back of your neck, as you slowly raised your hand to knock on doors. You waited, ready for someone to open them, tapping your foot over the wooden porch, in the meantime checking if you had everything on you, soon doors opened, and you couldn't stop smiling knowing you'd get to see them again, after seven years.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Oh hey! It's You !" Jeremy opened the door, welcoming you with a wide smile on his face "Get in here, you big dummy"

"Hello there Jeremy! I am late?" You asked.

Fortunately for you, they were just getting started. You put away your coat and presents you brought for others and change your boots, not wanting to dirty the floor with wet shoes. Scout led you to the living room from which loud sounds of laughter were heard. As you walked, you listened to your friend, thanking you for showing up and sticking around for so long. You sparkled with joy at every word he was saying, still in disbelief at how much this loud boy had grown.

"Alright c'mon before this gets embarrassin' " you smirked, knowing it kinda already did.

"Miss Pauling brought us a turkey! But just remember...-"

Both of you stepped into the warm bright light of the room, it blinded you for a moment, but when your eyes adjusted, you saw them all sitting around a large table with a smile on each familiar face. Not the fake one. No. It was the true smile of joy, happiness, freedom, ...of life.

It was something..... that even the most positive words could not describe.

"We couldn't' have done any of this without you."

...you?

You stood there, eyes slowly filling with tears as wide smile showed up on you face. You stared at Scout, who was pointing at saved seat for you, waiting for you to sit down and join them. You walked up to him...and gave him big hug.

"Thank you..." you wishpered, before letting him go.

You sat down, and noticed a man sitting on your left next to you. Was it-

"I see you finally decided to join us"

It was Spy. You tried hard not to freak out, or scream in joy, so you just cracked wide stupid smile.

Everyone started do what they did best, the started to talk loudly, asking you many questions about you job, life, family, everything! You were happy to meet in person their family members, little girl named Tanya was the first one to introduce herself and invited you to play with them. Other kids swarmed you like bee's, wanting all your attention to themselves. So did Pyro, who was holding your arm close to their chest, expressing how much they missed you. Fortunately you were saved by Heavy, who invited you for a drink alongside Medic, Demo, Engi and Sniper. Later Solider pulled you aside to introduce you to his children [with interesting choice of names] and his loving wife Zhanna, who gave you death threat if you try to look at her man in any funny way. At least she gave you strong handshake. Later Heavy's youngest sister Bronislava handed you over some pictures she took, from simple selfies to group photos with men you used to work with but never stop beeing friends with.

◇ ◇ ◇

Hours passed but for you it didn't matter. Time was not a thing when you were with them all, enjoying every second of chaotic energy they brought to this room. Scout was more than happy to see how you and his kids bonded, especially after you told them stories about how their father saved your life many times, how they beat up the bad guys and uncovered secrets together. For the little ones it was one check of a fairly tale, but for you it was your past. Then loud booming was heard outside, as sky sparkled with colors.

"Fireworks!" Kids shouted as they run past you, pining their face to the window and watching with aw how sky lights up on many different colors. As kids watched you sneak away, to join the adults in the living room, to take a break. Spy poured some water in your glass, and handed it to you with gentle smile. You took a sip and looked around, memories coming back to you. It was a long time ago.... wasn't it?

Well

This party just like every party will end, but memories from it will stay in your mind, sorry but you won't forget those nine morons in a lonnggggg time ha! Enjoy this party, even if you have to know it will end eventually, because this won't go on forever... but long enough to make fantastic moment that soon you'll be calling memories.

At that moment Scout rased his glass and shouted "Wishing you Merry Smissmas everyone!"

Team shouted with joy as you joined them, with bright smile on your face, feeling lucky to meet this team all those years ago.