#and now its Venom just every other episode

[ghostingcrows]

While I am enjoying the 2017 Spider-man I think half of it is just that they actually use other Spider-men like Miles and Gwen

Cause its honestly just like-

Its SO damn repetitive

[stitchpunk1]

YO GUESS WHOS HERE TO TALK ABOUT HAZBIN FANKID OCS BITCHES!

Yeah Ive been wanting to do this for a bit but been super fucking lazy. Got some other fandom ones too I wanna talk about but what with Hazbins first season ending wanna talk about mine with a few tweaks I've done plus one I forgot to add in the last one. I will put this one under spoilers sense the eps just came out and now I have to change shit around till season two for a few of them.

First I have Lucy(used to be Mara and cliche name I know but i like it). She is Charlie and Vaggies kid and named after her grandpa(who spoilers her fucking ROTTEN). Kinda got a design in my head for her that goes with a lamb/goat theme because she is half demon and half angel. Shes got charlies blond hair but more in Vaggies short style and its slightly curly. Shes also got the little hooves, sheep ears and eyes are that horizontal goat type. Like before she is still an absolute artist and loves doing bigger art installations around hell. She ends up dating Husks daughter Heather when they get older.

Second we have Isabella who is by blood Angel and Alastors daughter but her other dad is Husk and sister is Heather. Still got the same design for her that shes a bit more centaur deer like. Shes got the ears(and tail because I'm not giving that headcanon up) of Alastor but with Angels color scheme and fur and kinda a mix of spider claws/hooves(trying to picture her like head/hair in my mind has been a BITCH trying to not just think of it as a carbon copy of Angel). Recently she has become absolutely fucking unhinged as a child in discussions with Musekicker. She is 100% a cannibal and loves to take bites out of people out of pure curiosity of how they taste(leading to many many child leashes that she usually manages to chew her way out of). I like to think that she becomes popular on the hell version of tiktok with cottagecore vibes with a mix of her cannibalism. Dunno why but I like to think that if Alastor sheds his antlers she collects them and makes them into headbands she wears(also uses them to stab people).When older she ends up dating Moxxie and Millies daughter Mable.

Heather is just Huskys by blood and a one night stand but after becoming a couple with Angle and Alastor they become her parents too and Isabella her sister. Every time I think of her design all I can picture is something like Sawyer from Cats Dont Dance. Shes mostly white with a bit of her dads dark grey. Her face all around is just a pure resting bitch face even if she isnt mad or in a bad mood("its literally just my face" is something she has to say a lot). Her biggest secret is how much she LOVES to sing especially musicals and wants to be a stage performer but she thinks she could never make it. She does start to try out in school or any local theater productions thanks to Lucys encouragement. I like to think that after quitting Mammon that even Fizz sometimes does shows for fun and he kinda mentors her after seeing her talent.

Two more to go! Vea is Val and Voxs little accident that they just decide to keep around. She looks mostly like a moth demon but more bluish and sometimes has a little bit of electricity that goes between her antenna. Shes pretty powerful as she can sometimes match Voxs powers if he say fucks around and locks electronics or tv channels. She ends up not exactly running away from home but just kind of wandering away as her parents pay her little to no mind. She ends up at the hotel and kinda taken in by everyone after they learn her story. She ends up becoming the hotels electrician and is fucking terrified of Niffty.

Lastly is one I forgot on my last post who I am not sure what to do with her after the last episode. Her name is Pia and she is Pen and Arackniss kid. Body type she looks mostly like Niss with a little snake tail but she can go full naga like with extra arms/legs when she wants. She has a hood/hair like Pen and is insanely venomous(took me like ten tries to fucking spell that right) do to being half snake/spider. If Pen is in heaven whenever these kids are around she is raised by Niss who stays around the hotel more to take care of her/keep her from his father(who you know is a fucking prick). When he isnt around Angel takes care of his niece. Shes mostly quiet and keeps to herself but she loves weapons of all kinds, being an absolutely crack shot with most firearms.

[lifblogs]

Lula/A Good Name

Week 8 Alt. Prompt: Lula @summer-of-bad-batch Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 2586 Summary: Crosshair watched the bomb go off by Wrecker's head on their last mission, and now he sits by his bedside, riddled with guilt. He's dying to do something good for his brother, so Crosshair goes on a little shopping trip, Hunter and Tech following along. A/N: I have been in a weeks-long mental health episode, but I am glad I wrote this. Maybe I'm back to writing. Guess we'll see! READ ON AO3

Wrecker writhed in his bed, moaning, and Crosshair squeezed his hands more tightly together, mouth drawing into a firmer line. If anyone looked in they would think by the tensing of Crosshair’s muscles, the hard set to his face, his eyes, that he was in physical pain as well.

He supposed watching Wrecker felt like that. There was an ache in his chest, and already he could feel the sore, brooding tension in his shoulders and neck from endlessly watching over him.

Crosshair knew Wrecker’s injuries were due to some mistake, some statistic that could happen to anyone in Wrecker’s position on the battlefield, that mistakes did happen.

Still, the sinking pit in his stomach, the monster gnawing at his chest, shredding him, its venom infecting his veins, told him that this was his fault. His.

After all, wasn’t Crosshair supposed to watch every single member of his team, battlefield terrain permitting?

He had had an eye on Wrecker, had watched the bomb go off near his head, had watched his helmet be ripped off from the heat and pressure a mere moment—less than the blink of an eye—before the fire and shrapnel hit. Crosshair hadn’t been able to see then, his view overshadowed by the raging flurry of orange-white flames where he knew his brother’s head was. He knew he had reacted quickly, that he��d called for a medic, that he had shot down any enemies trying to take advantage of the break in their line, had informed the rest of the squad…

Crosshair had been told by Hunter, by everyone that he had done the right thing, that he was a hero.

Crosshair didn’t feel like a hero. He felt utterly helpless.

That’s what he had been up on his perch. Helpless. Was he a hero to not be able to reach Wrecker himself? Did heroes hide and watch while their squad was out facing the real fight?

Over half the time plans did end up calling for him to be down in the dirt with them, for his armor to get as scuffed and marked up as theirs. And he knew his job was important, and he was kriffing good at it. Still…

Why did he feel so terrible about this?

They had often done training for field medicine, Hunter was a little too good with his acting sometimes, making everyone’s pulse kick up for a bit as their bond and instincts kicked in, and other times there was getting injured from training. He knew these kinds of things happened, had seen plenty of regs with scars. But Wrecker? He wasn’t meant for this, was he?

Apparently he was, because he lay there, tossing and turning in his bed in the medbay on Kamino.

Training didn’t prepare you for the gore, the sounds of pain, the screaming. At the time they had all thought their training had been tough, but now he realized it was mere child’s play. This wasn’t Hunter making his eyes go blank and his breaths slow to almost nothing, body going limp, as they pretended to patch him up. This was something real, something they hadn’t been trained for.

Wrecker mumbled something, and turned his head, giving Crosshair an excellent view of all the heavy bandages that covered up a horror story of pain.

Crosshair’s throat ached. The now-unending helplessness that hadn’t ceased since the bomb went off near Wrecker’s head tugged at Crosshair’s tear ducts.

Wrecker winced.

Crosshair wished he could get someone to give him more pain medicine, but he’d already checked so many times he was bound to get himself kicked out of the medbay soon. Besides, Wrecker was pumped full of pain meds. His injuries were just that painful, that ruinous, that not all of it could be mellowed.

The others of the Bad Batch checked on Wrecker, of course, but Crosshair stayed with him the longest, even when Hunter insisted he get rest, or at least have some water, something to eat.

It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair!

The anger sizzling across that anguish in his gut had him growling quietly as he rose to his feet, hands clenched into fists.

What could he possibly do?!

Crosshair paced, thinking about Wrecker, trying to think of the good, what he liked, what he loved. And so often his eyes drew back to his bed, to his suffering.

He remembered what the whole squad had been told by one Kaminoan, that it was possible Wrecker would not be the same, might even be childish after due to the damage to his head. Crosshair wanted to respect that, and—

He paused, an idea flaring bright in him, his fists relaxing slightly all on their own.

Could I…?

No. What if…?

Do it. Just in case, just do it.

Crosshair wasn’t much of a talker, yet he said to Wrecker, “Don’t worry. I’ll be back.” He tried to add you’ll be okay, but even the first word tripped him up.

He sighed, and gave Wrecker one last look for now.

He will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.

Crosshair left, guilt haunting his footsteps.

“Why are we here again?” Hunter asked as the Marauder set down on a landing pad at a busy port next to a flourishing tourist shopping center. The streets were full of color, full of so many lifeforms that Hunter wasn’t even sure he knew the names of all of them. The suns were shining, lighting up a lavender sky.

“I told you,” Crosshair said, “I have an informant here.”

Tech glanced at him, then Hunter. Hunter shrugged.

“And we can’t come along?” Hunter pressed again.

“No.”

Behind Crosshair’s back, Hunter gave a few hand signals to Tech, and Tech nodded. Crosshair almost turned in time to notice, but when he looked back Tech was looking at his datapad again, and Hunter was lounging in his seat, legs out in front of him, arms crossed.

“I’ll be back,” Crosshair said before heading off the ship.

They waited a total of thirty seconds before following after him.

To Hunter’s surprise Crosshair wandered, he talked to intimidated citizens at stalls selling all kinds of colorful toys.

Hunter motioned for Tech to keep following Crosshair. All three of them stood out in their armor, but if they hid in the crowds right, Crosshair would have no idea they were there. Hopefully.

Hunter now looked the way Crosshair had gone before crossing the busy street, towards a stall Crosshair had stopped at. He looked at the plastoid purple toy Crosshair had inspected, but it was taken from his hand by the stall-owner, an almost-pinkish colored Ithorian.

“Can I help you?” she asked via translator collar, not seeming too open to Hunter being at her stall, though she had seemed friendly enough with Crosshair, or perhaps cowed, was a better way to describe it.

“The other man in armor, what did he want?” Hunter asked.

She put a hand on her small hip. “Look, I’m here to sell toys, not talk to weird-looking clones.”

Hunter put his hands on the stall, leaning forward. “Please, what did he say?”

She shrugged, and Hunter was certainly impressed that she wasn’t the least bit intimidated by him.

“I sell toys. What do you think he wanted?”

“All right, my apologies,” Hunter said, stepping back, almost bumping into a family of grans. “So sorry,” he murmured to them, feeling out of his element amongst all these civvies.

He turned on his comm, speaking just with Tech as he looked ahead, “Where is he now?”

“Farther down the street. At another stall.”

“What is he doing?” Hunter asked.

“Clearly he has taken an interest in children’s toys, or his informant sells them. Though if the first were true I’d be rather confused. Perhaps he needs more excitement with his target practice.”

“Let’s let him be,” Hunter said, stepping aside to let a small Selkath girl with a stuffy bigger than herself pass. “We’ll meet up, and head back to the ship.”

“Oh, I think he has found something,” Tech exclaimed, just as Hunter turned to go back.

“What is it?” Hunter asked.

“He is handing over credits now. Wow, that is far too steep a price,” Tech said.

“I don’t need the personal commentary.”

“Right. Crosshair is now being handed a… Oh my. How strange.”

“What is it, Tech?”

“A tooka stuffy.”

Hunter stood with his limbs limp from the utter confusion. This was so out of character for Crosshair, so unthinkable, so strange that Hunter wanted to race down the street and interrogate him.

“We should get back before he knows we were following him.”

“Ah, about that. Too late.”

“Tell Hunter I said hi,” Crosshair said through Tech’s comm.

Now Hunter sent a signal to Crosshair. “How long did you know?”

“The whole time. What, you think I’m a sniper who wouldn’t know when he’s being watched? Your little sneaking around was cute, but you could do better. Armor stands out in a crowd.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“At least I wasn’t stalking—“

“Excuse me?”

“You were stalking me.”

“Not my fault you’re being weird.”

“It’s for a good reason.”

“This is quite nonsensical,” Tech chimed in. “We can all talk once we’re back on the ship.”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Crosshair hissed.

Hunter started heading back, telling himself he’d be fine if he didn’t know why Crosshair was acting like this, but the truth was, he was dying to know what would make Crosshair of all people buy a stuffy. Maybe he did need to liven up target practice.

Once they were back in hyperspace, Tech and Hunter turned in their seats to face the stone-faced sniper.

“Well?” Hunter asked.

“Didn’t you hear when I said I wouldn’t tell you anything?”

Tech sighed. “We’re on your side,” he pointed out. “You don’t need to have your shields up.”

Crosshair’s toothpick flicked up, like he had just bit down on it hard.

Hunter’s brows drew low.

The quiet on the ship that followed was uncomfortable, yet Hunter kept it up, knowing Crosshair probably felt uncomfortable too.

“Why a tooka?” Tech asked. “There were so many to choose from.”

Crosshair shrugged, almost angling himself towards them, the tooka stuffy out of sight as it rested in his rack. “I thought it looked nice. Seemed… huggable enough, I guess.”

Hunter gave Tech a grateful look, knowing getting the small details out of someone was often easier when starting questioning, and sometimes those tactics were needed with Crosshair. Hunter tended to forget and just went head to head with him.

“I like the colors,” Tech commented.

“Yeah. The, uh… the red’s nice, I guess,” Crosshair admitted, leaning back in his seat, maybe getting more comfortable. “How much more time till we’re back on Kamino?” he asked. 

His foot started tapping, his face was all hard lines.

Hunter thought just maybe he was starting to put the picture together, but since he wasn’t sure yet, he kept the soft smile off his face. Though the warmth of it bloomed in his chest, nonetheless.

Crosshair fiddled with his firepuncher in his bunk on Kamino, the stuffed tooka resting by his hip. He’d chewed through five toothpicks already, and thrown two of at Hunter.

Wrecker had been put under for yet another surgery, so he couldn’t give him his surprise just yet.

Again the helplessness crawled in, it tugged at him, dragging him down, making it almost difficult to move. His chest ached, digging a deeper and deeper hole in him.

“I’m sure Wrecker will be out of surgery soon,” Hunter said. “He was already under when we got back.”

“What could they be doing this time?” Crosshair hissed.

“According to the medbay records—” Tech began.

“Are you even supposed to have those?” Hunter asked.

“Strictly speaking, no. As I was saying, this is slated to be quite a long procedure as they are trying to save his eye.”

Crosshair hung his head, barrel of his rifle cool against his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut, wondering how Wrecker would even handle all this once he did wake up.

Even in his own pain, Crosshair kept to his silence, and he waited.

Crosshair squeezed his hands tightly together, mouth drawing into a thin line. The white of the medbay surrounded him as he sat by Wrecker’s bed, willing his body to utter stillness, to draw from his great wealth of patience.

Wrecker’s color looked better than last he’d seen him, and he wasn’t writhing in pain, face pulled into a grimace from it. Wrecker hadn’t been allowed visitors after his surgery, but Tech and Hunter had snuck him in with few questions asked, and Crosshair had placed the tooka stuffy under one of his arms. He had given up on stealth then and ushered the others in.

Now the three of them waited for Wrecker to wake up. Crosshair had wanted to do this privately, at first, but he realized having Hunter and Tech silently supporting him meant a lot. It meant a lot to him that they seemed to understand his need to help Wrecker in some way—any way he possibly could. Besides, Wrecker was their brother too.

Hunter almost put a hand on Crosshair’s shoulder, but a quick glance had him pulling it back.

Tech was busy looking at the machines Wrecker was hooked up to. Crosshair occasionally did the same. He understood most of what he saw on them, not through training, but by having grown up an experimental clone, having been hooked up to many machines himself.

Wrecker grumbled, and he turned his head.

His eyes seemed to almost open, but he groaned now.

Kriff, was he in pain? Crosshair stood, ready to get a Kaminoan in here and demand he be given an opioid or local anesthetic, something! Then Wrecker said, voice a bit muddled, “Ow.”

“Hey, Wrecker,” Hunter said, tone gentle.

Wrecker turned to the sound of his voice. “Sarge?”

“Yeah, I’m here. We all are.”

“What’s…” Wrecker shifted his right arm, hand drifting close to the tooka stuffy. “What’s this?”

He opened his eyes, body moving slowly as he grabbed the stuffy. He blinked against all the bright light as he held it up.

“A tooka?” he asked, sounding as high as Crosshair hoped he was (from pain meds, of course).

“Yes,” Tech said. “It’s…” He turned to Crosshair, clearly not sure if he was allowed to say this part. Crosshair gave him a gentle nod. “It’s for you,” he finished.

“For… me?”

“Who else?” Hunter asked.

“Stop, I can’t think. Ow.”

“Are you in pain?” Crosshair asked, feeling like an idiot for even asking.

“Only a little,” Wrecker assuaged.

He squeezed the stuffy, then left it against his chest. “Hmm.”

There were quite a few minutes of Wrecker coming back to himself, and Crosshair didn’t say much, now almost blushing at the silly thing he’d done for his brother.

“Lula,” Wrecker eventually murmured in between drinking water and eating a ration bar (all in slow sips and bites, respectively).

“What?” Crosshair asked.

He lifted up his tooka stuffy, a gentle joy in his eye, a small smile on his face. “I’m gonna name her Lula.”

Crosshair’s guilt faded away, like it was washed clean by the breaking of a storm, a cooling rain, and his muscles relaxed. He almost smiled, but would always deny it thereafter. He placed a toothpick in his mouth, and leaned back, eyeing Wrecker and his stuffy.

“Lula’s a good name.”

[sonicasura]

Feral Plagas!Leon but he acts more like an energetic cat that was just given catnip. The pills used to suppress the Plagas growth alongside the miniscule inactive viruses from his previous adventures just toasts the bug's original nature. It's relationship with Leon becomes akin to Venom with the mind of a stubborn toddler.

Don't give it sweets and the guy will be bouncing around like a lunatic until you catch him on a tree covered in fresh sap. Leon arches his back like the Halloween Black Cat with his tail plus spike spines flared up if spooked. Becomes a pure chittering mess if given anything that contains honey or maple syrup. Meat honey from vulture bees is Plagas!Leon's favorite so it's best to keep stock.

Complete and total hoarder. He loves to collect stuff in this feral state akin to a bower bird. If it gets Leon's attention, then it's added to his makeshift hive like nest. Man has a few scratching posts and something very durable to chew on. Got a tendency of stealing animals like rabbits or chickens for the purpose of being pets.

Any nest Plagas!Leon makes is a mix between old clothes, bedding materials, and a unique type of saliva he can produce. The slime is very adhesive that it'll put even the strongest glues to shame. Leon's saliva has minor healing properties.

It's usually made in a web form than liquid to heavily reduce the adhesiveness and make it easier to remove. He can also make a powerful acid with the purpose of making pathways. Leon has quite a number hidden in Spain with only one not made during a feral episode.

He is absolutely embarrassed once a feral episode comes to an end as he's fully conscious for every moment. Especially since tantrums are a given in this state and he'll wreck furniture out of spite. Saddler trying to control the parasite just pisses it off instead so Plagas!Leon is even more vicious when fighting the cult.

In fact, he will even EAT the other Plagas as rage lets loose cannibalistic tendencies from its altered nature. A good chunk of insects do feed on other members of their species so don't be surprised if its true here. Leon later admits that they taste like chicken much to Ashley's disgust and Luis' morbid fascination.

Zoomies happen a lot even more so during a feral episode. His body tends to produce too much energy and Leon has to expel it. A human sized hamster wheel or hamster ball is always brought up with Ashley even thinking of a design. Leon wasn't amused.

Completely territorial especially when a huge threat such as Krauser is nearby. Half the time Feral Plagas!Leon will cut down the threat or get his 'swarm' to safety. (Leads to a Luis lives situation) Ashley and Luis are HIS, same goes for anyone else that he can trust and likes.

Feral episodes has a 50/50 chance that he'll shift into 'bug mode'. His appearance heavily morphing to an insectoid yet oddly reptilian visage. It's completely random so what comes come. Plagas!Leon still acts the same although he might carry Ashley or Luis by the scruff of their shirt with his fangs.

His abilities are heavily amplified in bug mode than just size alone. Leon's acid can melt steel than just rock, his adhesive saliva now hardens into a cocoon like shell, and any webbing produced is able to treat more extensive injuries such as 2nd degree burns. You can say he's more of a tank or sentinel from roleplaying games in this state.

Overall, the man is just relieved that he isn't going to hurt anyone innocent thanks to his new infected status. Although Leon will never tell anyone about the time he almost ate a Karen's annoying corgi. Guy's Plagas was hangry that day.

Plagas!Leon: War Mode

[starryluminary]

Honestly I want to know your opinion on Nemma. Because honestly I don’t like the ship either and want to see if someone agrees with me.

Oh my god hiiii nerd-chocolate!! I will GLADLY detail why I don’t like nemma. Buckle up cause I’m not exactly normal about this subject

I will preface this by saying I understand why it’s Noah and Emma. I get why if Noah had to have a girlfriend it would be someone who would match his intellect and someone he could hold a competent conversation with. Logically, on paper, I understand. It’s not so much the concept of Noah and Emma dating that I dislike, it’s the execution. The development of the relationship was a train wreck. HERES WHY!!!

From the very beginning Nemma showed problems. The Noah that couldn’t play a game of dodgeball for $100,000 and was so standoffish he could only make a good friend in Owen is now suddenly falling in love at first sight with a girl that did a front flip and I’m just supposed to accept it at face value??

You could argue that it’s been three years and a person could change in three years. I’d like to argue back: this is a cartoon. If the development happened offscreen, it didn’t happen. Noah had a drastic change in personality out of nowhere because they give us no reason to believe otherwise. This is just the beginning. It’s all downhill from here, honey.

This is very much subjective and a personal thing but do you know how irritating his face is.

It makes me ill. Who is this.

Back on track, Noah is out of character the rest of his time competing (not that he was perfectly in character to begin with.) Both the way he treats Owen and how he acts regarding Emma is not believable to me. He’s tragically mean to Owen almost the entire time and he’s insufferably… inconsistent? When it comes to Emma? Like they didn’t exactly have pinned down how he should act when he’s in love so it changes with every episode.

[I did a bit of research regarding the more important Nemma episodes and their writers, but couldn’t draw any good conclusions from it. I did find out Laurie Elliot wrote both Slap Slap Revolution from World Tour (notorious for the most significant Noco moments of the season) and New Beijinging (where Nemma is at its worst in my opinion.) This isn’t all that relevant but it IS fucking hilarious. The writer responsible for “Cody’s got a tiny sausage!” being made to (co) write a Nemma episode and subsequently butchering it is reeeeeally funny to me.]

On the topic of New Beijinging. I cannot watch this episode uninterrupted and it’s because of Nemma. I despise it. It’s not that I don’t believe Noah would act like a bumbling fool in love… in concept. In CONCEPT, I can buy the failed one liners and the speaking your thoughts out loud and the acting out to try and impress her. In practice it’s so painful to watch. The Noah that said he’s incapable of being embarrassed in his WT biography is now spitting hot food in his love interests face and physically recoiling every time he tries to talk to her. I can’t express through text the pain and anguish it causes me.

This is ALSO after giving her a suave one liner in the previous episode. How does he go from cool and collected to cringing at her I- AAAGGHHHH.

They don’t suddenly get better when the feelings are mutual, either. They just become insufferable together and it’s tragic. This is specifically about Māori or Less and Got Venom? (though admittedly I haven’t gotten that far in my rewatch and don’t remember Got Venom? too vividly. I do know they’re annoying in it even to Owen and Kitty so.) They just become so infatuated with each other they forget the rest of the world exists and while I enjoy the CONCEPT……… it just manages to drag down both characters. At least they treat Emma with a little more respect and have her snap out of the haze to play the damn game but THEY END UP KNOCKING OUT NOAH INSTEAD. Pain agony suffering and woe. Noah going catatonic and leaving Owen to struggle is the worst it gets but he still never truly focuses on the game and even hopes to get kicked off. He won’t even play for Owen.

Do I even have to mention Owen. My poor guy Owen. Owen suffers an unnecessary amount for Nemmas development. It hurts my heart even thinking about it but I’ll list off examples. Ways Owen has suffered for the sake of the relationship include:

Being made to carry dead weight (Noah) on more than one occasion.

Being used as a flotation device, offered by Noah to Emma, after being frozen solid.

Being forced to wait for the sister team, making his team go from first place to seventh.

Being victim to Noah’s snark and insults, which he does to either impress Emma or to reprimand Owen because of something Emma related.

LOSING THE RACE CAUSE NOAH COULD ONLY FIND THE ENERGY TO MOVE WHEN HE WAS OFFERED A KISS FROM EMMA.

(Side note: have I ever mentioned that RR Noah is my enemy? I feel like I don’t mention it enough)

To wrap this up, I do genuinely believe Nemma could have been great. I don’t hate Nemma cause I thought Noah was gay, or I’m a Noco shipper, or any other superficial reason. I hate it cause it’s a terribly written relationship that had to completely destroy my favorite character of the series to try and make it work. It’s a damn shame, really. I wish I could look past how different Noah is and how badly he treats Owen and how sickly annoying he and Emma can be and just, at the very least, tolerate Nemma. But I can’t, and I never will.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Bee Villain Audrey would be fun, especially given her previous interest in the temple. I agree she'd not be second fiddle, anytime Audrey lets others make decisions its cos of one of two reasons:

1: Its so unimportant that a plebian is tending to it. IE, she told them to. 2: She's indifferent enough to the situation that she doesn't care to handle it herself, IE most stuff she tells Andre to do.

Basically, yeah she's not gonna be second stringer, co conspirator at minimum.

Also, having a super powerful magical artifact, right after Gabriel and Ladybug humiliated her and Hawk Moth Akumatized her and- Wait a second! Gabriel was using Miraculous BS before, oh it is on! XD

Low key I have actually toyed with AUs built on similar premises and I think she'd be a very self motivated villain. Like maybe she wants a wish (If she knows about it) but she may just want other Miraculous, or to fuck over her rivals, or go on rampages. The line between Audrey & Style Queen is rather thin after all.

Also given the "Order & Subjugation" angle and how many write Miraculous powers as evolving or shifting based on the user. I could see Audrey's power being less Venom and more like, the power to command and control others perhaps?

Ultimately I'd say it comes down to how much one wants to do with her character. How much does she know, how much can she figure out, what does she even want out of life, ETC.

I know Audrey tends to get written off as just cruel and otherwise brainless. But I confess I always find that disappointing; there's nothing making Gabriel more inherently suited for supervillainy or competence than Audrey if you get my meaning?

As an amusing aside, her going out with a Miraculous power could lead to a very similar situation to Queen Wasp. Not identical, but in the sense that some Gabriel related event is disrupted by a Bee User. The heroes show up, Gabriel slinks away to try and Akumatize her, ETC.

Though in this case, maybe cos Audrey can re-use her powers, its instead him trying to AKumatize Ladybug or Chat as the fight turns against them?

(Oooh it could be Nathalie actually, like Gabriel is literally Veom-ed?)

But this gives a sense of how powerful a Akumatized Miraculous Holder would be (Even if it fails to take over Audrey or one of the heroes, the effort gives a sense of power), along with Ladybug losing the Bee, a signal to Gabriel not to quit. Or allow Nathalie to step up and take the role maybe?

Also, if/when Audrey is beaten (If she's a one episode wonder over a recurring problem) One could have Chloe snag Pollen up in the chaos (She was helping perhaps even jumped on her mothers back and grabbed the comb during the fight?) So now she's Queen Been, but no one knows she has it?

Sorry, rambling.

Honestly the only reason I haven't written Audrey as a villain is because she often has no genuine power over the rest of the cast.

Like.

The worst she could do herself is tank Marinette's career, but even then in a universe where Gabriel favors Marinette and her talents he could counteract Audrey's influence

Her influence over Chloé is limited and dependent on other factors. Is Chloé still vying for her attention? Is Chloé still a child or a legal adult? Does Chloé have a support network or not?

A lot of Audrey's other power would be dependent on Andre and what he's doing. Is he still willing to do things for her or has he kicked her to the curb yet? Even if he /is/ still under her spell, is this an AU where he'd break any rules for her? Or, though he is a man who wishes to grant his wife's every whim, does he put his foot down on things that would cause major problems?

But yeah in most of my AUs, Audrey has no genuine power over any of the rest of the cast. So she often is more of an annoyance or a short-term problem rather than a major player.

If I give her some kind of power though.....

[thewittyphantom]

Got the final Yuri episode in Duel Links!

Yuri: This is great...Dueling you really is the best! Yugo! This is just as fun as our previous Duel! [flashback] Yugo: Clear Wing Synchro Dragon! Yuri: That dragon is spectacular. So shimmery and dazzling! The moment it appeared, I felt the urge to eviscerate it with a dragon of my own. And that's exactly what I'll do! When I defeat you, I will absorb you into me and take your power! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon! Attack Clear Wing Synchro Dragon! Yugo: Argh...Ahhhhh! Yuri: As much as I enjoyed our Duel, I'm going to enjoy what's about to happen even more. To the victor goes the spoils. And the spoils are you and your powers! Yugo: Shut your trap. And wipe that smirk off that ugly face of yours. Yuri: Ugly? But you're me and I'm you, Yugo. It's time for us to merge. Actually, merging sounds like we're on equal footing. But that won't be the case. I'm going to absorb your powers until there's nothing left of you, Yugo. Now's the time! Yugo: To reunite as one! [end flashback] Yuri: Yuya! Yuto! Our Duels were spectacular as well! [flashback] Yuya: Agh! Argh... Aaaaaaahhh! Yuri: Yes! I feel their power! It's incredible! Too incredible! When I absorb you, we'll reunite as one. Yugo: Reunite as one. Yuto: Reunite as one. Yuya: As long...as I have a single LP...I'll fight...with all my heart! Yuri: Due to this card, any monster that gained ATK can't attack at all this turn. So Yuya, you can't do anything! Yuya: Oh yes I can! By Tributing this card, I can return one of my monster's ATK back to normal! Yuri: So what? If you destroy Starving Venom, its effect will deal enough damage to erase all your LP! Yuya: That's true - but you can't use that effect if I defeat you first! Yuri: What? Yuya: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Destroy Starving Venom Fusion Dragon! Spiral Flame Strike! When Odd-Eyes battles a monster that's at least Level 5, you take double the damage! Reaction Force! Yuri: I...lose...? Ha...Hahaha....Hahahahahaha! So this is what being a loser feels like...I bet this is just how Yugo must feel every single day...I had a good run. And if I had to lose, I'm glad it was to you. [end flashback] Yugo: What are you up to, Yuri! Yuri: I just want to Duel! I...realized something during my Duel against Yuya. That Dueling against powerful opponents is fun - even if I lose! That's what your Dueltaining taught me, Yuya. But it's only fun when Duelists of equal skill face each other. Because if one Duelist is much stronger than another, that's no match at all. I've fought against many "powerful" opponents, but they were all just talk! But I can always count on having a great Duel against you! After all, we used to be one and the same! Yuto: Yuya, I'm starting to understand what Yuri is actually thinking. Yugo: Same here. But I wish he'd lose the 'tude! Yuya: If he wants to have fun, I want to have fun too! And I can only have that by Dueling my best! Yuto: Yeah! Show 'em, Yuya! Yugo: Give him a taste of your Dueltaining! Yuri: Hahaha! That's the spirit! I won't hold back either! Let's find out which of our dragons is the mightiest of all!

[caaaaaaaaaaaaaampbell]

Hiiiiiii!!!!! How was/is your day?????

I just finished episode 5 pf camp cretaceous s3!!!!

And of new from last time, WE SAW KENJI'S HOME ON THE ISLAND!!!!!!! that place was bonkers!!! And the poor kid must uave had a lonely childhood(I might remind me a lot of chloe from miraculous sooooo I now I want to adopt him and suffucate him eith love and hugs!!!)

Also we saw blue!!!!!! The raptor and it's so funny that we the kids didn't free her, she would have died and we wouldn't have had the next two movies basically!!!!

Also I noticed a thing, ben and kenji never really have been on good terms, but like at the start it was for a reason(ben being always scared amd wanting safe and kenji being a chaotic kid who wants to show off) and then it's a different reason(ben being tarzan and kenji just a kid who wants to go back to normal), and it's kinda sad because I think that while ben was missing, kenji was the one to miss ben more than everyone else (except maybe darius, but he felt more guilty than anything else) and he kept his bag and hand sanitazers, like I think if ben hadn't gone insane he and kenji would be super best friend forever!!!

Also I find so funny how darius is often the group dad but he is the youngest!!!! I also think he has developed something i think is called atlas sindrome/behaviour, that it means taking everything on his shoulders, he thinks it's his responsability to keep them alive, to make them go away from the island ecc, ecc. He also showed some self sacrificing behaviour at the end of last season!!!!

And also the kids are so sad they will never see each others again, but like kenji is like super rich!!!! He can go and meet everyone and pay the travel for everyone to meet somewhere when averyone has time, he can even save sammy's farm!!!!

About sammy, that strange mortal science Project of hell just hit her and she doesn't look very healty now!!!! I really hope that thing doesn't have poison but it has scorpion in its name soooo yeah!!!

Also not me thinking about how all of this wouldn't have happened if only they made an hybrid herbivore, but nooo the t-rex is cooler, fuck them make an hybrid from bumpy, a tricetapos and a brontosaurus(the one with the long neck) and you get a giant tank, with a shield, spears and a hammer!!!!

Please keep talking. You're saying all the right words in all the right ways, If you write about these characters I will eat every word like it was gospel.

Also yeah, they are pretty dumb for doin that. Also also, in case you didn't know (you probably do) the hybrid is based off the scorpion fish, not an actual scorpion. However it's venom supposedly isn't as deadly as the dino's, so there might be a little something else, but it could also be the insane increase in the dosage, but idk. I could ramble about the scorpius but I gotta do stuff rn, I'll get to the rest of your aska asap! Thanks for talking!

[catwyk]

ok i finished malevolent season 1 and i have a LOT of thoughts that im gonna write down becausr im bored. spoilers for season 1 and warning for me being a picky listener !

first off. HARLAN GUTHRIE THE MAN THAT YOU ARE. insane that this guy is doing ALL the voices?? AND all the writing??? AND all the editing and sound design????? WHAT the fuck. honestly the fact that hes (almost) the only guy working on this podcast kind of negates all my gripes n nitpicks

i LOVE the arthur/john dynamic. it reminds me a lot of venom and eddie brock but its def distinct. and its great

i rlly appreciate the amount of guidance john gives arthur, i think more would be realistic but tedious so this is a good compromise

now. speaking of realism. my main gripe

(i feel like this is gonna be a very subjective take so yknow dont take it too seriously)

two main things kind of bother me: arthur recovers from major injuries SUPER QUICKLY, and in 12 episodes he has only eaten once. yknow that post where someone's talking about their immersion in period pieces being broken by the chicken breeds bein wrong? this is very much how i feel LMAO like ok theres a supernatural healing element (this too shall pass) fine yep good. but arthur should NOT have been up and walking and ROWING so soon after a month of coma. he loses a shitload of blood from his abdomen TWICE and sure he has major reactions but after that he just sort of. keeps going. and not to mention THIS GUY DOESNT EAT HOW IS HE HEALING!!!!! SIR!!! YOUR MACROMOLECULES SIR!!!!!

obviously if we were with him every single time he eats and for every second of his recovery it would absolutely drag so im not expecting him to be seeking out food every episode but this is another compromise issue that i feel like isnt as well balanced as john being arthur's seeing eye eldritch god

but again this is probably just a case of me being sensitive to certain parts of realism that other people arent so this is very much a nick picking complaint

as for the writing, i rly like the diegetic framing of the narration as john describing any given situation to arthur

however i think an unfortunate symptom of this is that sometimes the narration feels overly descriptive and eloquent in situations where it shouldnt be. like when theyre being attacked by the amphibious river creature, john says something like "stomach and ventral area", which was honestly. So unexpected it took me out of the scene entirely i was just like he would not fucking say that lol

another thing is sometimes the tension building does not work at all. the rising strings feel too cliché to have any real effect, and the way john speaks about horrors can get repetitive to the point where it just doesnt bother me. "fuck. arthur.... there's *something* in the water/in the room/hunting us". that kind of vagueness doesnt work well for me a least anyway, but when its happening every episode or more it really gets old

anyway that being said i think those are my only real complaints and i think theyre so subjective anyways so like do they even count

also im heartbroken im unable to stop myself looking up spoilers bc the john is the king on yellow reveal would have been so cool if i didnt know it was coming

and the fanart. is so fucking good

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Finished! Score in a few days - I have a friend I've been talking about these with every week and I kinda wanna talk to him first. He's not choosing my score or anything, but I think the back-and-forth will help me get my thoughts in order and decide where to leave it. Because as it stands I think I'm between 6 and 7 - and 6 sounds low after all the praise I've given (and am about to give) but then part of me wonders if it isn't just that I'm surprised how much it improved over the first season, like if that surprise factor isn't the main reason I'd want to score it a 7. We'll see where I end up with.

Anyway, good last episode. It had an extra 5 minutes in length which really benefited it, because it meant we got to see quite a lot of plot points and character moments come to nice resolutions with wiggle room for cute scenes as well. Felt really fucking bad for the twins though man, the dead one's corpse being puppeted around by Gates was fucked up, and the sister not being strong enough to even enact revenge and going down in seconds actually made me upset. We get to see Kaname restore Sousuke's faith in himself more or less, that was pretty nice, although honestly I could've done with at least less of the slapstick. The ensuing fight between Sousuke and all the Venoms is pretty dope, I haven't spoken about it much but yeah no KyoAni mecha action is really good lol. The final setpiece is really sick - Gates in his own Venom is holding another AS hostage, and Sousuke charges up this insanely sick looking punch, stops right in front of the hostage, and then Lambda Driver fuckin makes the punch go through the hostage completely safe. It's absolutely dope as shit. A level of excitement I never thought this series could offer me. Just really good all around.

And then yeah, Sousuke's back in action, knows what he wants, and all the villains are dead. Couple scenes of various emotional catharses, Sousuke's still staying with Mithril because we wouldn't have much of a show otherwise but he lays down the law, has the full support of Tessa, her moe anime waifu scene here is actually earned because she's been a character up to this point, it's all just pretty good. If I can be honest I was actually thinking about watching Invisible Victory and I still might - but Second Raid so neatly wrapping up most of its stuff makes me think I'll be fine even if I don't. It's really just Tessa's brother that's a variable here, but we'll see what I decide to do.

But yeah, that's me done. Mostly. I'll watch the OVA tomorrow. That was definitely good - I don't think I have too much to say that isn't just spread throughout the other posts I've made, but I mostly had fun here. The series takes itself seriously and has pretty strong plotting and lots of good character moments, which is all you can really ask for. Villains weren't great this time around, I didn't really talk about him ever but I don't think I liked Gates at all, him jacking it to small animals is almost too bizarre an inclusion for the series, but hey. Craziest thing I can say by far is that I am largely endeared to the characters now, which was an unfathomable concept to me back when I finished the first season. Even Fumoffu only got me liking Sousuke, Kaname and the like still pissed me off. Actually being able to point to the characters and say "yeah I liked them" goes so hard. I think I'll call that the end of the post. Like I said, OVA tomorrow, Invisible Victory is a maybe, and then uhhh I mean that's it. Although as one final sidenote, the OVA is the last Kyoto Animation thing for me. Insane.

[daydreamgoddess14]

The Syndicate

MASTERLIST

Ted Lasso/Rebecca Welton, fluff & romance. S3 departure after the Amsterdam episode.

Prompt: All of AFC Richmond is shipping Ted & Rebecca ... before there’s even anything to ship yet.

~~~~~~~~~

April 2022

It's a habit by now. Every Friday, Will comes around and collects the subs, and Leslie maintains the book. It's been a while since anything new was added apart from people moving their dates. The book has claimed many wishful thinkers, many die-hard romantics, and even Roy. Once a week, Leslie sits with the book and checks for missed dates or special bets, which are certain not to happen, and he draws a neat pencil line through them. For over two years, he's kept this book going. It's looking pretty battered and bruised. The glitter Keeley had added has faded and mostly been rubbed off. The tin (more of a small safe now) sits and grows fatter and fatter, its winnings unclaimed. Everyone has had to review their timings at least once, even Beard. Some have added new dates three or four times. The lure of super weird, obscure, or just obscene bets has passed. Only a few of those remain. Leslie is pleased to be getting out the book this week - he gets to add Nate back into the fold. 

January 2020

Leslie Higgins watched another morning biscuit delivery arrive and braced for impact. Rebecca hated this biscuits with the Boss situation. She hated Ted Lasso, Leslie could see it in her eyes. He knew it well, she hated him with the same intensity. She was ferocious and venomous, but with one bite of those buttery biscuits each morning, she was a new woman. It was a week or so before the Gala, roughly a month into Ted's tenure, that Leslie first took note that Rebecca’s demeanour was beginning to… change (he absolutely daren’t say soften). He popped down to the stationary cupboard and got out a new A4 lined notebook. Innocent enough. He stole back up his office and opened up the fresh, crisp book. The Syndicate he wrote in the top centre of the first page. He got out a ruler and carefully drew a sharp pencil line all the way down the page on the left-hand side, leaving enough space for names. He added another two lines down the page. Then, he added the headers: name, date, description, and amount. He wrote his own name on the first line, along with the date. Under description, he wrote January 2021, and then in the amount column, he put £5.00. Then he put the book in his bottom desk drawer, under a stack of financial papers and a crisp £5 note in an old empty metal tin, and then he tried to forget about both items.  

Keeley wasn't quite sure what prompted it initially, but around the Gala and bonding with Rebecca, something started changing. She noticed Leslie watching Rebecca rather intently, and that makes her watch Leslie more intently. At first, she thinks the worst. Has Leslie truly got a crush on Rebecca? Impossible! Then, when she meets Julie, she's convinced that she got the wrong end of the stick. With 5 kids and a 30-year marriage, the Higgins' couldn't be more in love. He definitely doesn't have a crush. She leaves the odd thoughts to marinade in her mind, the Jamie situation weighing more heavily. When Rebecca offers her a job and a chance to deepen their friendship, Keeley grabs it with both hands.

"I saw Rupert in the pub the other day." Rebecca states over a cup of tea while they're sorting out Keeley’s contract.

"How did it go?" Leslie asks before Keeley can. 

"He challenged Ted to a darts game. Ted said that if he won, Rupert could choose the team for the next matches, but if he lost, he could never come to the owner's box again while I'm in charge." Leslie's cup practically vibrates off the saucer, Keeley frowns at the sound.

"And?"

"Ted won! It was wonderful!"

"Hmmm. Interesting." Leslie says into his teacup.

"Well, at least you won't have him creeping up on you for a bit!" Keeley says brightly. It's not until she and Leslie leave Rebecca to her afternoon meetings that Keeley has the chance to be alone with him. She follows him to his office, "Whatever you've got going on, I want in." She tells him, staring him down. Leslie lets out a strange choked sound. 

"I… I… don't know what you're talking about." He stutters. Keeley arches an eyebrow. 

"Alright, fine. There's a weekly Syndicate running on Rebecca and Ted. £5 a week for any date of your choosing plus specials if there's anything in particular you want to add." 

"Who else is in?"

"Coach Beard. Nate. Me. That's it for now."

"Beard? Interesting. Put me in, and I'll have a special as well, I'll go for…" She taps her finger to her lips, "March 2021. I give it a year. And my special is… he goes first, but she goes hard."

"Bold, I like it."

"What did the others go for?" She asks, looking over his shoulder as he digs the book out from its hiding place. 

"Beard has gone for the end of next season - May 2021. Nate has gone early  - this Christmas coming, December 2020."

"Big range of dates there. Any specials?"

"Nothing wild, Beard put in £200 that we'll all find out from a paparazzi shot rather than from them."

"Fair. Could happen, for sure."

"Nate's special is that it first happens in the boot room."

"Eww. Smelly."

"Quite."

"Bet I can get us some more interested parties…" Keeley muses. 

"As long as we keep it quiet."

"Quiet is… not my middle name, but I'll do my best!" 

The next time Leslie gets the book out, it's been Keeley-fied. His hands come away covered in glitter, and there are feathers stuck to the front of the book. He's got three names to add - Bumbercatch, Isaac, and Mae from the pub have all collared him. He's going to need help with collecting the subs each week at this rate. He adds the dates they've requested from where he'd scribbled them on a post-it note and puts their £15 total into the kitty. 

May 2020

In April, he quits and leaves the book with Keeley. When he returns over a month later, just about the whole team has been added to the book, and Will has been appointed Debt Collector. Over the course of the next 7 months, every member of the club staff and team are in. Except Ted and Rebecca. The specials list has grown a little wild, and Leslie is not quite sure how he'd pay those out should any of them come true. There's well in excess of £10k in the tin. He's had to upgrade to a small safe. Every Friday, Will arrives with the weekly subs. They're easily putting in £250 a week - across 50 people, not including special bets. He's amazed that none of it has reached Rebecca and Ted yet. It's shortly after the first Truthbomb that Rebecca first approaches Keeley.

"So now that we're all good again…" She begins hopefully,

"Uhuh?" Keeley looks up from her phone. She's been propping Roy up on the decisions regarding his future. 

"What's the Syndicate?" Rebecca whispered. Keeley drops the phone. 

"Umm, I don't know? What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure. I've heard lots of people talking about it for ages now. It's not a cult, is it? Or do we have another curse?" Keeley's eyes are like saucers. 

"Noooo! Of course we don't have another curse. And I'm fairly sure we're not home to a cult either." She sips her tea. "But I've no idea what the Syndicate is." She lies.

December 2020

Nate is the first to fall. His eager date passes with no results. Unperturbed, he re-adds his name to the bottom of the list with a new date: April 2021. Nate's date did hold a lot of promise though - seeing Ted and Rebecca turn up on Leslie's doorstep singing Christmas songs evoked a flurry of bets and an optimism which carried them all through till the spring.

2021

If Sassy was a spanner in the works, Sam is the fly in the ointment. Keeley was beside herself with the knowledge that Rebecca had been sleeping with him. He'd been putting into the Syndicate! He'd chosen a date of late summer 2021, with a special bet stating that it would happen when Ted returned from his summer break in Kansas! The ending of the relationship, the second Truthbomb, and the promotion back into the Premier League led to a new outpouring of bets, which by summer had fizzled out again, and poor Sam had his date crossed out. He went for December 2021 for his next turn. 

With Ted's return from his summer break, he paid his usual visit to Rebecca - with biscuits.

"Hey boss, what's a Syndicate?" Rebecca froze with a biscuit halfway to her mouth. 

"It's ummm…  well t's a… umm… Oh Ted, I'm not entirely sure. I mean, I think it's like a lottery? So the more people who put into it, the better chance there is of winning."

"So it's just a lottery? The guys downstairs  are all just playing the lottery? They're millionaires. That don't seem quite right, Betty White."

"Maybe it's the thrill of the gamble?"

"I ain't an expert, boss, but wouldn't they be better goin' for horses? Or poker?" Rebecca shrugged. 

"Oohh! Maybe it's a team specific thing? Maybe they're betting on how the club will do next season?" She tapped the newspaper, one of the many which had them estimated to finish the season last in the table. 

"Hmmm, nah. I just had to take them to the sewer to get them to believe in us."

"You don't think? How many we'll win? Or score?" She suggests. Ted leans forwards, elbows on knees to get closer,

"Y'know, I heard somethin' about specials?" He says quietly. Rebecca gasped.

"Maybe they mean hat tricks or Jamie's hair changes?" She muses. He points excitedly, 

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, boss! You got it!"

"We should tell them we want in."

"We should tell them we want in."

"Cos we're going to win the whole thing, Ted."

"We're gonna win the whole fucking thing. We are. And we want in on that Syndicate."

"Yes we fucking do." Once Trent has been sent off down to the locker room and Rebecca and Ted are alone with Leslie, they tag team him. 

"Put us down Higgy, we want in." Ted said solemnly. 

"You… what?!"

"We know about the Syndicate, Leslie. We want in." Rebecca said.

"You know about the Syndicate?"

"Yes, how many games we'll win, how many goals-"

"Where we'll finish, how many hairbands Jamie will get through?"

"And we want in. What is it, a fiver?" Leslie nods, dumbfounded. Ted hands him a ten pound note. 

"The boss don't carry cash so I'll get this week for us both."

"Thanks Ted. I'll get you back next week."

And so began the regular pattern of Ted usually adding in an extra fiver to cover Rebecca on the weeks she didn't have any cash, and vice versa. 

"Uhh what date did you want?"

"Date? Oh, the date we'll win the league?" Rebecca questioned. "I think I'll go for the last game of the season, is that still available?" Leslie nodded, still unable to find his voice.

"I'll go for the day before. We play our game on the Sunday but if other results go our way then we could win the day before?" Rebecca points, copying Ted's move from earlier.

"Ooh that's a good shout, Ted. Between us, we've got this."

"We sure do Doctor Who, high five!" They clash palms excitedly. 

"Yep, I think you're pretty well covered between you." Leslie agrees.

2022

The book had just dragged on into another year when Leslie once again noticed the shift between Rebecca and Ted. They'd seemingly gotten into a holding pattern based purely on friendship until the Amsterdam trip. The return journey had come to life with song after song led from the back of the bus. The smile had lit up Ted's eyes when Rebecca apologised for missing his messages. It had ignited something in their friendship which had them teetering on the edge and thus had the team in a similar way. 

"I want £200 on next weekend." Isaac slammed the cash onto Leslie's desk. 

"Is that in addition to your existing date or did you want to bring that forward?"

"Addition, I'm keepin' my date as a backup. No one's takin' that from me." Isaac said adamantly. A couple of days later, Jamie put down £500 on Ted falling hard for Rebecca during Henry’s visit. When Beard showed up the morning after he'd been in the pub with Ted and Henry, he was buzzing with excitement. 

"It was poetry, it's a sign! She called him right as the busker sang 'remember to let her into your heart'. It's gonna happen soon, man. I know it." He slapped £250 into the safe. "My bet is that Rebecca is already there."

"Coach, how exactly do you expect me to pay out for that? I'm not a mind reader?!"

"We can ask her afterwards."

"Afterwards," Leslie tsked and shook his head, "we'll see."

"I've got a plan for Manchester, my friend."

"No influencing the result! I've already had to ban Roy from bullying Ted into telling her."

"Ted's not there yet, man. Rebecca is. Hang on," he put down another £50, "Rebecca goes first but Ted goes hard."

"That's funny, Keeley had it the other way round 2 years ago."

"Long time ago, they've both changed."

"They have indeed. OK Coach, I'll allow it." Leslie added the lines to the book. 

April 2022

In Manchester, Keeley joins Trent at the hotel bar before movie night. 

"I ship them so hard, Trent. I'm fully invested."

"They're so easy to ship together, it's so obvious. There's talk in the locker room that Rebecca’s already there - care to comment?"

"Not sure about that, but I do think she's closer than Ted. Plus his mum turning up might have fucked things for the people who'd bet on this weekend."

"I know, talk about a cock block."

"Trent Crimm, I'm guessing you put this weekend?! You're so right, she is! Anyway, I heard that Beard has chosen a romcom for tonight. I'll ply Rebecca with some wine, Ted can do the whole 'just stretching my arm' bullshit and before you know it, the hotel room is a-rockin! I'll get you your win, babe!" They clinked their glasses together. 

Rebecca passed by the stained glass panel unnoticed, hovering just the other side until the glasses clinked and Keeley's giggles ran out around the bar. She joined them a few minutes later in the small function room they'd converted into a cinema, smiling at Ted. She needed to speak to him quickly. She cried at the end of the movie, she always did. Ted had covered her hand with his and given it a gentle squeeze. Once everyone had dispersed, she crept along the hotel corridor to his room and knocked gently on the door. It had been just over 2 years to the day since he'd desperately hoped it was Rebecca at his hotel door in Liverpool. He sure as hell hadn't been expecting her in Manchester. Fresh from the shower, he looked stressed and tired. She smiled apologetically. 

"May I come in?" He held the door open and stood to one side. "I overheard something this evening."

"Was it Colin and Isaac? Cos I heard them too."

"No, Keeley and Trent. Why, what did you hear?" Ted hesitated, gesturing to the chair across from the end of the bed. 

"They were talkin' about ships, and bets? I wasn't really listenin' so I'm not really sure-"

"Keeley and Trent were on about the same thing."

"Huh. Weird."

"Weird. What do you think it means? What did they say?" She pushed for more information, suspecting that she had the upper hand in terms of knowledge gained. 

"Colin was excited that he might win this weekend? But I don't see how, we can't win the league tomorrow."

"Ted. I don't think it's about the league."

"Well, what the heck else are we paying for each week?" Rebecca blushed. 

"I think… I think they're betting on… us." She said weakly. 

"Us? What the-, I'll go and put them so right on this, boss. That just ain't fair on you. I'll put a stop to this right now," he reached for his phone to call Beard and rally the team. She put her hand over the screen, 

"Jesus christ, they were right." She whispered. 

"Who? About what?" She can't help but stare, his hair falling onto his forehead, "Rebecca?" He all but murmurs. It's the first time she's heard him say her name like that, so softly, intimately. It sends a shockwave of heat through her body. 

"I've gone first. How did I not notice?"

"You've gone where first? Forgive me, Rebecca but I'm lost here."

"Nevermind, Ted. We'll talk about it another time. You should get some rest before the match. Big day tomorrow." She can't resist pushing his hair back, her hand moves entirely of its own accord. "Goodnight, Ted." She leaves the room, leaves him lost to his own thoughts.

The 3 hour drive back from Manchester the next day is wild. There's booze from somewhere and they all seem to fall out of the bus and into the club where they party happily together. Ted excuses himself, and while Rebecca is desperate to follow, she knows he needs to confront his mother alone. They'd spent much of the journey home unpacking Ted's thoughts on her arrival and interference. It's not until his final 'fuck you' to his mother that he sits and re-evaluates his situation. While he does so, he receives a message from Rebecca. 

You are loved here Ted, so loved. I hope you know that. 💜 It helps him decide what he wants to do next. He's not really surprised to see her the following morning. It’s early, but he knows the date and assumes that she does too. 

"Sorry Ted, I don't have one for you." He can see that it's not the whole truth, she's looking slightly off eye contact - barely noticeable.

"That's OK, I've got one." He can see the tension in her shoulders, the anxious clench of her fists. "I'm gonna stay. If you'll have me, once the season is over." If the relieved breath she lets out didn't knock him over, the force of her hug nearly does. Her hands are tight around him, clinging to him and the shake of her shoulders is a dead giveaway that she's crying. 

"Oh thank god for that, Ted. Thank fuck for that."

"I mean, I need more time with Henry, I want him to come here more and I need to spend the summer working that out with Michelle. But I ain't ready to give this up either." His words in her ear send a shiver through her and she leans further into him, burying her nose into his neck. When she speaks, her lips brush against his skin. 

"Whatever you need, whatever I can do, Ted. I'll do it." And suddenly, there it is. Oh. He feels everything all at once, all night he hadn’t been able to put a finger on why he needed to stay. Yes, the team and yes, winning the whole fucking thing but nothing seemed quite enough. There was something missing and he hadn't worked out what until it was in his arms, clinging to him. Until she was in his arms. She's why he needs to stay. 

"You sure you ain't got nothin' for me, Rebecca?" He asks. She lets go of him enough to look at him, glancing at his mouth. 

"The Syndicate is about us. The whole club are betting on us. Not whether we'll get together - they're way past that, they're on about when, how. There's not a single person in this whole place that doesn't think that we'll end up together."

"Does that include you? You said the whole place?" She flusters slightly before nodding. "They're saying that I'm already there."

"That so? Any insights on what they're sayin' 'bout me?"

"That you're not ready yet?" Her voice drops to a nervous whisper.

"Don't you wanna be the one to ask that  question?"

"Are you there yet, Ted?"

"Yeah I am, you helped catch me up." He smiles broadly and leans in to capture her lips in all fierce kiss. His arms tight around her waist mean she barely notices when her knees buckle. 

"I won." A voice behind Ted mumbles. "I WON, I fucking won! I said today - I knew it would be today!" Will throws the training shirts into the air and runs past them through Roy's office door and into the corridor. "I WON!"

"How much you think we just helped him win?"

"An absolute fortune if it's been going on as long as I think it has. Maybe around 30 grand?"

"I'm sorry it took me so long."

"Well, I appreciate you didn't hurry, Ted. And so does Will."

~~~~~~~~~

[nyxivy]

Dude your boorman fic fed my ❤ I loved it soooooooo much. If you ever do another one you should definitely do one in the Nockmaar castle. If not a graydon one where he's possessed and talking to Y/N like he did with elora which I think was episode 4. They're just sooooo fine.

thank you so much!! <3 There are defo more boorman fics brewing but i just loved the graydon idea so much i just had to!! as always its a gender neutral reader, the reader's a bit angry in this one but i don't think they actually dislike anyone they're just stressed. hope you enjoy!! <3 <3

It was hell to see Graydon like this, for almost as long as you had been a knight, you had been his personal protector. You were best friends and companions in almost everything you did, even on your days off. You had been there the day he-  the day his brother died. You’d seen the thing that had taken control of his mind and body and you had vowed to yourself that you’d never let anything like that in again.

Yet here you were, Graydon chained by his wrists, kneeling on the cold, damp floor of Nockmaar castle of all places. You hadn’t left his side since the injury, your defences heightened to the point it took several minutes of debate to even let Boorman help you carry Graydon inside, you would have slung him over your shoulder and done it completely yourself. Now you knelt beside him, a dirty rag in your hand to periodically wipe sweat from his forehead or vomit from his chin. Your heart clenched every time he wretched and you think you must look as heartbroken as you feel because the others keep looking at you almost as worriedly as they looked at Graydon.

“What happened to Ballentine and Merrick is gonna happen to me,” Graydon says quietly into the silence of the cavernous room. It feels like he’s voicing a thought that everyone’s having so you screw your eyes shut and shake your head almost imperceptibly. You knew this was going to happen, Graydon was far too smart and far too righteous for his own good and you swear if he suggests any one of you kill him you were going to scream.

“And you guys are gonna have to stop me before I. . .”

A well timed thunderclap echoes through the room as your grip tightens on his tunic where your hand is laid on his shoulder to keep him steady. You're unable to muster up anything in response so you just swallow hard, trying to get rid of the lump in your throat.

In the background you can hear Elora questioning Willow but all you can hear is the rushing of blood in your ears, you only pay attention when Graydon speaks again and you can’t help but smile, of course he can still recite the epic tale of Bavmorda’s defeat whilst in his condition. He was obsessed with stuff like this. It was one of the things you lov-  admired about him. At the end of his speech he retched again.

Throughout the evening you attempted to feed him tiny morsels of food, you hadn’t said a word to the others, the only sounds you made were to murmur things to Graydon calmingly and the only time you moved was to fetch him water, more food or a clean rag. Right now you sat cross-legged with his head resting on your thigh, you stroked his head lovingly and hummed softly so that only you and Graydon could hear it, although you wouldn’t have really cared if the others did hear.

“How long does he have?” 

The sound of Jade’s voice catches your attention although you don’t look up

“Until it takes hold?”

Eventuallly, Willow answers her 

“Not long. Some time in the small hours of the morning he’ll lose control”

“I mean we all know what has to be done.” Kit says gravely

This does make you look up and you hurl a venomous look at her

“You little sh-” you begin, your voice croaky from the hours spent in silence but still seething with rage.

“Kit’s right” Graydon says quietly, laying a gentle hand on your leg, halting you before you can start to throw insults around.

“I’ve had some experience with this before and I know I’m not strong enough to stop it. . . I don’t want to hurt you guys. . .But I will”

His voice is so forlorn that it only hardens your resolve.

“You are not dying tonight,” Your voice is steely but your eyes are soft as you put a hand on the back of his neck and press your forehead to his. It was perhaps too intimate a gesture for the company but you had left your manners behind long ago.

Elora stands from where she was seated besides the two of you

“If Her Highness is in such a hurry to see it done, she ought to do it herself.”

You were glad to have at least one ally in this

“Oh, you don’t think I will?”

“Uh, I don’t” Boorman pipes up from his place beside the fire, his mouth still full. “Killin’ someone who isn’t trying to kill you back, it's not an easy thing to do”

You stand to take a step towards them, besides Elora, your hand going to your sword at your belt threateningly.

“There’ll definitely be someone trying to kill her back”

Elora pleads that there must be something Willow could do and you can’t help but agree, he was supposed to be the greatest sorcerer in the world. If Graydon died tonight and his personal fucking hero; the allmighty sorcerer Willow couldn’t save him you might just kill everyone in this room and then yourself.

When Willow agrees to at least attempt to help Graydon, you follow him out of the room and into what looks like a large storage cupboard, although you recognise very few of the ingredients in the jars on the shelves. You hurry to help everyone collect the ingredients and tools Willow listed off, nervous about leaving Graydon for too long.

“We can’t allow Graydon’s infection to pass to any of us, if it does we won't get out of here alive” Willow says as everyone gathers at a table ready to split up to their own tasks. You’re biting your nails, restless about getting back to Graydon.

“How infectious are you talking, like if he coughs on us? Or if I touch him and then I, you know, touch my face or. . .”

“I’ve been touching him all night, you couldn’t have said something before?” You demand. You can tell Boorman’s about to make a comment without even having to look at him “Not like that” You growl.

“The vermiscus goo.” Willow clarifies “Don’t sniff it, don’t wipe it, don’t eat it”

“Why would we eat it?” Elora ponders but you’re already done with this conversation and about halfway to the door when Willow seems to remember something else.

“Wait! There’s one thing even more important than that. No matter what, stay out of the High Tower. It’s maybe, probably a portal to the Netherworld”

“Portal to the Netherworld,” You mutter “Of course it is”

There’s another thunderclap and you leave the room before anyone else says another word.

Once you’ve returned to Graydon you deposit your armfuls of ingredients on a small table and when Willow arrives not long after you , you help Graydon into a reclined position on another kind of table. 

“Hey, now this is looking like a real exorcism” You joke, trying to lighten the mood. 

Graydon chuckles but it quickly turns into a cough. When Kit returns with the rest of the ingredients, you busy yourself with mashing together something the way Willow instructed, if you listen to her for more than five seconds right now you’re not sure if you could stop yourself from doing something stupid and what Graydon really doesn’t need right now is a fight. You had always been wary of Kit. She didn’t want to get married, you get that, but the way she treated Graydon had been grating on you from the moment you met her. Graydon had tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but your patience was wearing thin. It’s not even like her status as Graydon’s fiance meant she was trying to take him away from you. Not that you owned him, obviously, but you couldn’t help the bubbling jealousy beneath the surface that she was the one who got to marry him. And now she was basically advocating for his death, without even trying to save him. It was a double edged sword, you hated that she didn’t like Graydon but if she was any kinder to him your jealousy would probably be unbearable.

You’re snapped out of your thoughts when Willow puts a hand on your shoulder and you realise that the ingredients are far past mashed together and the mortar and pestle in your hands are gripped so tightly that they threaten to shatter. Willow gives you a tight lipped sympathetic smile and takes the bowl from you gently.

When Willow pulls out a large pair of shears you jump to your feet, ready to defend Graydon once again but Willow just uses them to cut open his shirt. 

You’d seen his scars a few times before, the first time when you had been showing him some of your scars and he was adamant he had you beat and you wouldn’t let it go until he showed you, the second time you had burst into his room while he was changing, much to the embarrassment of you both and the third time on one glorious summer evening when the two of you had been walking by a lake and you had convinced him to come swimming with you. He was usually very wary of anyone else seeing his scars but you had convinced him it was just the two of you. The memories flashed before your eyes as you put a comforting hand on his shoulder while he explained them to Willow and Elora. You wanted to tell them to mind their own fucking business but you were trying to keep a hold of your temper for Graydons sake and pissing off the only two people who might be able to save him was not smart.

Willow retreats to grab a bucket from his workstation and returns, gesturing for you to move out of the way. Reluctantly and with one final squeeze to his shoulder you step back to stand besides Elora. 

Graydon screams as the liquid from the bucket connects with his flesh. You screw your eyes shut, the sizzling sound of his flesh making you want to vomit or curl up into a ball or both. Elora’s hand finds yours and she squeezes you tightly. You squeeze her hand back and the two of you stand there for what feels like an eternity.

You feel utterly fucking useless, hours go by and all you can do is stand and watch. You’re not a sorcerer, you don’t know how to do spells or make potions. Hell, you’re not even that good at cooking. You knew how to fight, this sorcery stuff was Graydon's specialty, if only you could just punch this fucking Lich out of him. The sound of Willow and Elora chanting was driving you insane, the same gibberish over and over again and nothing seemed to be happening. Even in his state Graydon was able to correct Elora’s pronunciation of the spell. It made you smile despite the circumstances

Eventually Kit returned with the final ingredients. Graydon seemed to have settled down into a restless sleep while Elora and Willow finished the salve. You hovered nervously at Graydon’s side, biting your nails as you watch the two sorcerers work. Willow collects a blob of the salve on the tip of a knife that Boorman had retrieved earlier and presses it to the wound at Graydon’s shoulder. You tense up ready for the screaming to start again but it doesn’t seem to bother him. You don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign.

Suddenly he sits bolt upright, his hands coming to fists in Willows tunic 

“Get me some water, peck”

It was Graydon's voice but it didn’t sound like him at all.

“Or you die. Understand? Water”

Elora hurries to fetch him water and you take a step forward, your hand outstretched tentatively, unsure if you should touch him or not.

“Graydon?” You ask softly, his eyes snap to you before his head flies back and the sound of Airk’s voice emanates from his throat.

“It’s not Airk, it’s the Lich, trying to break our concentration” Willow warns. 

Unable to cope, Kit runs from the room and Elora and Willow continue their chanting. When Graydon's voice switches to Mims, addressing Willow now he stuffs a rag in his mouth and your resolve breaks. You don’t care if you’re risking infecting yourself, you sink to your knees at Graydon’s side, an arm reach over his chest to hold him, your other hand around his chained bicep. You press your forehead to his side and the sound of Elora and Willow chanting and then breaking into argument is far in the distance. You focus on the fact you can still hear him breathing and you murmur quietly to him, telling him it’s gonna be alright. And that Willow and Elora are going to save him. Eventually you feel a hand on your shoulder, it’s Willow, holding some sort of instrument that looks more like a weapon than anything that would be used to heal someone. He has a grave look on his face

“You need to leave. You’re not going to want to see this.”

Silently you stand, and give Graydon one last look before leaving the room. You hadn’t noticed that Elora had left but there was no sight of her as you’re walking down the corridor. Piercing through the silence, Graydon’s screams start up again and you clap your hands over your ears and take off running, you need to get away from this awful place. Eventually, when you can no longer hear Graydon’s screams you stop running, you don’t know where you are, all the corridors look the same anyway, you sink down against the wall, bringing your knees up to your chest. There you sit, huddled up against the wall for what could have been minutes or hours. Eventually you’re too exhausted to keep your eyes open and you doze off. You think you’re dreaming at first, you can hear Graydon’s voice echoing around you but as it gets closer and you begin to wake up you can still hear his voice, and is that Elora too? You scramble to your feet and run towards the sound.

“Graydon?” You call, the hope in your voice is obvious.

You turn a corner and there he is, looking a little bit worse for wear but otherwise unharmed. You race towards him, collecting him in a bone crushing hug

“What happened?” You demand “Where’s Willow?”

They explain what Graydon told Elora, that the exorcism worked but now the Lich was possessing Willow and they needed to find him. Elora tells you that they think he might be in the High Tower and you nod, it makes sense but you can’t help but get a bad feeling about it in the pit of your stomach. Something wasn’t right. 

Right now though you couldn’t care less, with Graydon’s hand clutched in yours you felt like you could do anything and you were going to kick that Lich’s ass.

The three of you race up to the High Tower, Elora leading the way. Every so often, you catch Graydon glancing over at you with a smile and you wonder how much of the evening he remembers. The butterflies in your stomach soon overtake the previous unease and you’re almost embarrassed by how much of a wreck you were earlier. The door to the High Tower creaks open, revealing a dark and dusty yet empty room.

“He’s not here” Elora says, sounding defeated.

Graydon’s hand slips from yours and he begins to walk slowly into the room.

“No.” he says. You frown.

“I don’t understand, where could he be?”

“I don’t know, but maybe it’s okay.”

“What do you mean okay? We have to find him before it’s too late”

“Don’t you see?”

The sinking feeling in your stomach has returned and you find your hand creeping towards your sword.

“It doesn’t matter.” The previously unlit candles spring to life and you feel sick.

Graydon turns to face the two of you, two minutes ago he had looked unharmed, now it looked like his skin was blistering and peeling from his face. 

You unsheath your sword, it feels heavy in your hands as Graydon says

“He can’t help you anymore.”

Elora runs for the door but an unseen force slams it shut before she can reach it. You don’t take your eyes off Graydon

“We’re gonna finish the ritual. Tonight”

You take a step towards him

“Graydon, I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me,” you plead “this isn’t you”

“I’ve never felt stronger” His voice is distorted. This is not the Graydon you know. And it certainly isn’t the Graydon you love. He picks up a boulder from the floor and hoists it over his shoulder.

“Look! I’m strong now! I can finally protect you like you want. You don’t have to be the one looking after me all the time” His voice breaks and you hear the real Graydon underneath and your heart shatters. You shake your head at him, clutching your sword in both hands, terrified that you’re going to have to use it. 

“That is not what I want. You’re already strong, Graydon,” 

You can hear your blood rushing in your ears, your head is pounding, there’s definitely something fucked up about this tower. The tears you’ve been holding back prick at your eyes and threaten to spill out.

“You’re strong in ways that matter! In the real way! You’re smart and kind, I wish I was more like you!” Your voice cracks and you’re desperately trying not to let the tears spill out. Graydon looks unphased but you can see something swimming in his eyes. The real him is still there.

Suddenly the door swings open and Willow appears

“What did I say was the number one most important safety rule?”

Graydon hurls his rock at Willow who dives out of the way just in time. You launch yourself at Graydon, who just flings you backwards with a flick of his wrist where you fly into the door, hitting the back of your head with a slam. You black out for just a second but when you come to Graydon has Elora levitating high into the air.

“So tell me, how will you defeat us?”

You stand as willow says 

“Same as last time, with my friends.”

The door opens and Kit, Jade and Boorman stand besides you. You think for a moment that Graydon looks worried and is soon proved right when Willow uses his staff to send him flying backwards into the wall. Kit, Jade and Boorman run to pin him down. You’re still dazed, using a pillar to stop yourself from collapsing back on the floor when you hear Boorman's voice.

“We have to do it”

You know exactly what he means and you let out a yell, hurling yourself towards him. You are not letting anyone kill your best friend. Your tousle with Boorman for a moment, you think you’ve just got the upper hand when he lands a blow right to the bruise on the back of your head. Your vision swims and he manages to get a grip on your arms, holding you as you struggle against him. You scream in frustration, the tears finally spilling over onto your cheeks. Kit and Jade still battle to hold Graydon down although Jade has her sword half unsheathed and only Kit’s exclamation to wait stops her from using it. You’re sobbing now, fighting fruitlessly against Boorman’s hold. You just need to get to him, you just need to be with him. The world grows strangely silent as you turn your attention to Elora

“Please-!” you choke out “You need to save him please”

Slowly she makes her way over to you, you think it has nothing to do with your pleading and everything to do with whatever it was Kit just said to her but you don’t care. You just need her to save him. She holds her hand out to you and reluctantly Boorman lets you go to take it.

“I need your help” she says

You shake your head, the tears still flowing. 

“I’m no good at that shit. I can’t do magic. That’s Graydon’s thing”

“Do you love him?”

You’re taken aback but slowly you nod

“Then you can do it.”

She leads you over to Graydon who doesn’t fight back as Jade relinquishes her hold on him. Elora’s hand remains firmly in yours as you lean over the man you love. You feel as though he’s staring directly into your soul as your eyes flutter shut and your lips connect, the taste of him mingling with your salty tears. When you part you can see the wisps of gold light, streaming out from his mouth and into yours and when you turn to look you can see it travelling through your arm and into Elora where your hands connect. You watch as it dissipates out of her into the night air and you turn around to see Graydon staring at you in awe. You sob, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and burying your head in his neck

“You asshole, don’t ever do that to me again” You blubber. His hand comes up to the back of your head and he laughs breathlessly 

“I knew you could do it.”

[revelisms]

Excerpt: An Artificial Sun

Silco recounts a past life.

From 'bitter bright wings,' a character study of Silco and Jinx set after Episode 5. Full story on AO3

"In the river, you told me..." She turns her cup in her hands, warm against her palms. "You told me you let—let a weak man die."

He tips his mug into a slow sip. "I did."

Her nails click over the porcelain. "I guess I—I was just...curious." 

He waits for her to elaborate further. She doesn't. "About what?" he prods, and glances down at her. The fire of his left eye glows in the dim. "Who that man was?"

"Well—" She curls her fingers slow about her cup. Shrugs softly. "Yeah."

He turns back to the skyline. There's a pause in the way he lifts his cigarette, something one might call hesitation, before he takes another drag. He lets the smoke sit in his throat. Breathes it out. 

She hates it, when he's quiet like this. She hunches upon herself, so close to ripping the words back; spitting out forget it, or I'm sorry, or fleeing, entirely.

"I spent years, looking for purpose," he says then, and his tone is strange. "In the dark. In the mines."

He tacks off the ash from his cigarette, peering absently over the balcony's metalwork to the sea of emerald-fogged buildings cobbled below. "Digging through the rocks, until your fingers bleed," he continues, faraway. "One can lose their minds, down there. No matter how hard you fight for something—there's always more earth to slough through. More tunnels to carve out. Every hour longer than the last; every day bleeding to another."

She looks up at him, quietly. The wind has loosened his hair from its usual coif, scattered over his brow. He's dug one hand into the crook of his elbow: the cigarette turned slow, pensive, within the other. The light washes out the red of his shirt to a bloody brown.

"That sort of life," he mutters on, embers in the words, "it starves you, for reassurance. That every bone you've broken has been worth something—and all the time you've wasted away will pay off, in the end." He stares out over the smog, the winding dark of the rooftops, the ghoulish giant of a city on a hill high, high, above, and chuckles, bitterly. "Can you blame them?" he muses. The fire of his eye burns on something she can't see. 

He takes another drag, slowly. "I was willing to do anything, to get out." Venom, in that word—and she has heard it before. He's never shied away from baring the ruthlessness of those years in the filth, climbing rung after blood-stained rung. In some ways, it is a mantle: a declaration of achievement, fought for tooth and nail. The cigarette bounces in his fingers. "But," he says quietly, and his mouth turns tense. "You spend so long underground, it roots inside you. The sun turns cold. And everything you spent months, years, scavenging for feels like dust, blown away."

She looks down into her cup, fingertips caught on the smooth slope of its clay. His words pause again, muddling—but it's alright, now. She focuses on what she can. The city is never quiet: but this early, a stillness blankets it. A breeze whispers about the building's edges.

Smoke unspools blue above him. "Then, one day," he continues, frowning, "someone comes along, who lights that fire in you—and you forget. All the fight you had in you; the power you gave yourself. You burn it all away." He rests his head against the rough stone of the Drop's old wall. "That faith in something that is not your own—it breaks you. Turns you reliant." The word stings, like a blade. "An artificial sun, replacing whatever that dead thing in the sky used to be—and when you lose it..." The words trail out to a whisper. He taps the unlit end of his cigarette on the railing, once, twice. "You're nothing." 

The memory festers, in the quiet. It fills the space between them, thick as oil. He takes another drag. "Or," he breathes out, waving the embers towards their slow-built empire. "It frees you. Reminds you why you survived, before. How you survived, before."

She rests her cheek on her knee, and swallows. She can feel his eyes slip towards her: weighing out his words, turning them over. 

"Sometimes," Silco murmurs, and it is gentle for all the fire that sits in it, a furrow creasing his brow, "we have to kill parts of ourselves, to remember. But those parts of you—they never leave you." He swirls the dark pool of his coffee. Takes a slow sip. "Not completely."

[planetofsnarfs]

Elon Musk is showing the world how radicalized he has become.

The billionaire, one of the most consequential figures to walk the Earth, spent another weekend swimming in the right-wing fever swamps of X — a bad habit that was apparent when his interview with Don Lemon was released Monday morning.

In the contentious interview, Musk equated moderating dangerous and appalling hate speech to “censorship,” bashed the press for legitimate reporting, assailed DEI programs without supporting evidence, skewered advertisers who fled the X platform last year and yet again gave credence to the racist Great Replacement theory, among other things.

To those not fluent in the intricacies of right-wing media, some of what Musk said may have sounded bizarre or even foreign. But in the right-wing fever swamps, where Musk is now deeply entrenched, these are the issues that animate the masses.

Musk’s comments on the premiere episode of Lemon’s new online show added to an unhinged 72-hour posting spree on X, in which the erratic businessman raged against the “woke mind virus” and said its “goal” is “the destruction of America,” agreed with a user who wrote “Fake News is the Enemy of the People,” said the press is “basically the [Joe] Biden cheering squad,” accused the news media of “lying” about Donald Trump’s “blood bath” comments, called NPR a “nice version of Pravda,” alleged Google “manipulate[s] their search results with left wing bias,” said the January 6 insurrection was “not a ‘bloodbath’ by any definition,” and argued that if there is not a “red wave” in November, “America is doomed.”

At this juncture, calling Musk a right-wing shitposter is no longer provocative. It’s simply accurate. And his ugly behavior is even more troubling because of the fact that Musk is enormously influential, casting a large shadow across multiple industries and doing billions of dollars’ worth of national security business with the US government.

In his ownership of X alone, Musk controls one of the world’s most important communications platforms, spitting corrosive venom into the public discourse at a faster speed than his SpaceX rockets hurtle into orbit.

In fact, as users of the platform once called Twitter know all too well, Musk’s posts often find themselves to the very top of the home feed. That is because, according to reporting from Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, engineers were forced to build “a system designed to ensure” his posts do well on the platform he owns.

To make matters worse, Musk appears to be growing more intolerant of other viewpoints. While elevating right-wing extremists, he simultaneously seeks to destroy trust in credible news sources.

Once upon a time, Musk welcomed having a media personality like Lemon on the X platform. Not so much anymore.

On Monday, after his interview with Lemon was posted online, Musk trashed the former CNN anchor, calling him in various posts a “stupid asshole” and saying he is “just a bad guy, plain and simple.”

“He’s not used to having to answer to anyone,” Lemon said in a Q&A with People’s Jason Sheeler, “especially someone like me who doesn’t share his worldview, who doesn’t look like him.”

In effect, Musk has become self-radicalized on the very website that he was forced to purchase for $44 billion, sliding deeper into the darkest and most unsavory corners of the platform that has served to only reinforce his own worldview with an echo chamber of conspiracy theorists and ego-stoking sycophants that regularly fawn at his every move no matter how outrageous or preposterously false.

All of it dished up by an algorithm designed to regurgitate it right back to him. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Musk is hell bent on taking everyone else down there with him.

[literaphobe]

I see that many here believe that Gabriel was selfish and wicked even when making a wish, but Astruc on Twitter reposted an analysis that actually says his final wish was a sincere intention to fix everything and make Adrien happy. There was nothing sinister except for Venum, and it seems he just thought she would refuse to give him the Miraculouses. He even mentioned several times in the show that Adrien would understand him if he told him what he was doing and assumed Adrien would do the same in his place, only to later tell Marinette that he didn't talk about the villain he was, as if implying he realized Adrien might hate him for it.

Finale analysis, which was reposted by him: https://twitter.com/MLBFrances/status/1677393499426004993

i don’t think gabriel was Overtly trying to be mean or cruel or evil. not in making the wish, for the most part not even in his intentions for making the wish. in his mind, he just wanted his wife back. he thought it was cruel and unfair that she had to be sacrificed for their child to exist. those are valid reasons to want what he did. but he’s also very much an ends justify the means kind of person. and the truth is, whether you think you are doing it all for the good of the world, the benefit of others, or the happiness of your loved ones, when the means are very cruel and painful, they never Ever justify the ends

that’s why adrichat yells and screams and cries in 5x24. that’s why he tells him he fucking sucks and is a shit father (however he said it). even if gabe explained it to adrien, when coupled with what ladybug’s told him, how he himself has learned that making a wish is Dangerous, he would ultimately realize trying to wish his mom back is wrong. at the end of the episode, when marinette shows gabe that video, he realizes that even SHE doesn’t want to come back. he makes the wish to bring natalie back so that someone is left to raise adrien. in his eyes, that’s the best thing he could do in this situation. a final ditch attempt to somewhat right his wrongs. but that doesn’t mean making a wish isn’t Still Dangerous and the characters in the world might start facing its consequences (the lies, lila and the electricity scene at the end)

and so yeah. gabe clearly doesn’t want adrien to remember him as an evil villain. but lies can only get you so far. the truth of how his dad treated him will never go away. and that’s the thing about villains that don’t deserve to be redeemed. there are people in our life that don’t deserve that either, but the odd thing about love is that we try and redeem them anyway. we want to be wrong about them anyway. we wish for them to be better than we thought we were. and that’s why i can say gabriel is awful and abusive and shitty but also adrien is going to miss him and mourn him and hate that he’s gone and want to think his father was better than how he treated him

so yeah. gabriel is a long list of bad things that you just can’t come back from at this point. not because he used venom on marinette when she let her guard down and trusted him. not because he made the wish. but it all adds up. and whether he thinks he’s doing the right thing or not, deciding to sacrifice himself deus ex machina style instead of facing real life consequences—sucks. him asking a girl to lie to his son and the world and keep his ugly secrets. sucks!!! regardless of intention

so yeah… gabe can have the right intentions and want to make everything right and decide that he shouldn’t force his desires on the people he loves at the end… it doesn’t mean he’s a good guy now lol. also doesn’t make it bad writing. unless they fuck it up majorly next season. but im really just here for the ride

tl;dr i don’t really know what ur trying to drive home here so im just giving my thoughts in general about gabriel + how good intentions don’t mean good person? lol i hope this makes sense. i think that redeeming gabriel doesn’t play into whether a piece of media is good. not every villain needs to be redeemed etc etc

[aprillikesthings]

Can I squeeze in one more tonight let's find out

(and then it's time for an edible, a shower, and the last chapter of that kinky Adora/Huntara fic that I mentioned in this post)

s3 ep3 Once Upon a Time in the Waste

First, Catra's little self-indulgent pity party for herself at Scorpia

angy kitty!!

But yeah Catra's acting all nihilist as fuck in this episode just all "I don't give a shit about anything" in that way that makes it painfully obvious she in fact gives many shits about many things and is trying to convince herself as much as anyone else

Anyway at the end of the bar Huntara's previous friend are like UGH THAT SHE-RA BITCH and Catra literally says, "Are you kidding me?"

"not that like, I care, or anything, but where'd they go"

Scorpia: uhhhh why are we asking about them when that's not what we're here for???

to be fair to Catra this is in fact correct

her little emo speech here is so cringey

that said I am in fact amused that they did a close up on her butt

(lol I was LITERALLY just talking to @corpseauthority about the scene in Steven Universe where Peridot pulls the little alien shorts over her butt while giggling, and I found the post I made about it at the time)

Adora, Huntara, Bow, and Glimmer are poking around Mara's abandoned old ship, which has had most of its guts stolen for parts, but you can still hear Mara's voice saying "She-Ra. Etheria. Gone." It's spooky

every time Catra gets a new jacket I get gayer

Scorpia: this is fun :) Catra: ha ha yeah

And then they get ambushed

Meanwhile they find Mara! or a hologram of her anyway. It is unfortunately just a recording on a loop.

Adora has another understandable breakdown of sorts, and bangs on a dead console, and voila:

"Oh I have one of those, I guess I just stick it in"

-and another recording starts up

"if you're seeing this, it means you wield the sword. You're the new She-Ra. It means I failed. I was supposed to be the last. And I am so, so sorry."

Back to Catra etc., and both me and Catra laughed the first time someone said Tung Lashor

(I assume this is a character name they were stuck with from the original series, and I've noticed they mostly avoid lampshading the goofy names but sometimes you just have to)

CLAW HIS FACE

(she throws sand in his eyes instead, and then falls into the quicksand, and she takes the whip)

fangie!!! I was just thinking about how it's been a while lol. Anyway now all the random fighters in the Crimson Waste are chanting her name.

AAAAAND back to Mara

Side note: Mara definitely looks older than Adora

"We were the first ones to settle Etheria, to really study this planet's magic. How could it go so wrong?"

but then it starts breaking up--

"Light Hope use the --can't--weapon--the weapon--weapon"

"I opened a portal to a completely empty dimension and pulled Etheria in. I hid us from the rest of the universe to keep everyone safe. This is the one place they'll never find us. I saw what they would do. The deaths that would follow. I couldn't stop them before but I can now. Hiding is our only option. Maybe it's been a week. Maybe it's been thousands of years. I never wanted to be a hero. I won't be remembered as one.

"With it, you can activate a portal. So I'm begging you. Don't do it. Leave us here. If you open a portal death and destruction will follow.

"If not, everyone will--"

and the message cuts out and the room goes dark again.

AND THEN, TRANQ DARTS but we know who has those now don't we

But also bc of that kinky fic I'm reading this screenshot is v entertaining

I will never stop screenshotting the way their expressions change when they unexpectedly hear the other's voice

Catra's "hey Adora" is one of the better ones ngl

the minions take down Huntara (with two blowdarts), Adora grabs the sword, Catra grabs that with the whip, Scorpia has Adora held in a pose that is Not Suggestive At All, Actually

Huntara gets up, grabs Bow and Glimmer and runs, and Scorpia knocks out Catra with her tail venom

whomever storyboarded this episode draws unreasonably sexy Catras.

Anyway Catra gives a toast to Scorpia which is very nice of her but to be fair she is an excellent mood. We get to hear Catra's genuine happy laugh for the first time in like a whole fucking SEASON

poor Scorpia. Catra is only encouraging her :(

"Hey, this is fun, and it's called a 'party!'"

Catra gives a little speech about how YAY SHE HAS THE SWORD it's the key to the whole PLANET and NOW Hordak will have to respect her!!!

Scorpia: orrrr since you literally hate your life back there, we could just stay here?

the way she's hugging the sword tho

Me: I'm reading too much into things Scorpia: pssht forget Adora Catra: *ears visibly droop* Scorpia: anyway let's rule the Crimson Waste!!! Catra: uhhhh, I'm gonna go check on Ad--uh our prisoner Scorpia: *saddest face ever*

🎵more cartoon bondage🎶

whyyyyy is she so hot

Adora: did u know Hordak is trying to open a portal that allows a huge Horde army from space to find Etheria and murder us all Catra: duh I'm in the Horde I'm cool with that >:3 Adora: did I mention the part where they MURDER ALL OF US, THAT INCLUDES YOU

Adora's face tho

Catra: also pfft how do you know Hordak's plans anyway Adora: oh our evil mom Shadow Weaver told me, did I not mention she's at my place Catra: UGGGH

(now hate-fuck!)

Catra: so you're saying the reason Shadow Weaver ran off from the Fright Zone and got my ass sentenced to death in the Crimson Waste is because she wanted to hang out with you instead???? this is ALL YOUR FAULT??

(yeah this would in fact hit all of Catra's angriest/saddest buttons, and yeah of course she'd blame Adora and not Shadow Weaver)

Catra is lookin' a little deranged at this information but also

ahahaha

but yeah the party was still going on

The list of people that consistently make Catra visibly cry: Adora Shadow Weaver

"We are going to open a portal. And we are going to crush them all."

EPISODE OVER and in retrospect I should've given up and posted it and reblogged it bc I had to delete like ten images so I could post some really good ones near the end there

and this episode only took *checks clock* forty minutes longer than I was hoping. sigh.