#and then post another bingo a bit later

[soulsxng]

Me and Kei: *get done cooking* My sisters and mom, who don't even live with us:

[sandboxwritings]

you know what its late and im too tired to think of words anymore so im just gonna post this wip here and go to bed

enjoy!

If there was one thing that was not on Grian's New Years' bingo card it would be growing wings. In fact, if anyone had so much as suggested it as a possibility to him he would have laughed them off, assuming it was the prelude to some strange prank. And yet, here he was two weeks into the new year with what were undoubtedly wings sprouting to either side of his spine, connecting to his shoulder blades in a way that they should not be able to.

That wasn't the only strange thing happening to him either. For one, he's lighter. Not in a diet-culture-fad or hitting the gym to meet that New Year's resolution that'll fade out in a month or so, he is just literally lighter. Less dense? Like the amount of physical space he takes up is the same but his mass is…less? Now, Grian is far from an ornithologist but he was able to quickly learn that bird bones are hollow and he does not like the implications that has for him and his new feathered existence. It does, however, mean he can jump higher, which is kind of fun to test out whenever he's taking the lift to and from his apartment unit.

It also means he's a bit more fragile than he's used to being.

Now, one might be asking, shouldn't a person who has strange growths go see a doctor immediately? And the answer is yes! Of course, and in Grian's defense, he did do that! It's not his fault that the hospital was overflowing with people at the time, most of which were in much more dire straits than he himself was and so he elected to turn around and go home. He would just go back. . . later. Eventually. He swore he would. Maybe.

Surely it would resolve itself.

That was ten days ago, before Grian's new wings had become more distinct and feathered and had only barely been strange misshapen lumps on his back. And in those ten days the entire world had changed.

An emergency notice had been sent out across the city, played on every news broadcast in the district, an alert sent to every cell phone registered to the local area code. Some strange bacteria had been discovered in the water ducts that fed into every reservoir across Hermitopia and it should be avoided at all costs. Citizens were instructed to limit skin exposure and refrain from drinking any sources of unsealed water. Stations were set up across the city to provide clean, filtered water in the meantime while the contamination was dealt with.

It was too little, far too late.

While Hermitopia was effectively put on mass lockdown, Grian's wings continued to fill out. He was almost glad for the shelter in place orders as it meant no one saw the process of his strange, wrinkly-skinned chicken wings double in size day after day. No one saw him nearly scratching the things bloody while the pin feathers grew in. No one was there to see him standing in the middle of his living room and struggling to activate muscles that hadn't existed days ago. No one else was there to look on in awe as he finally stretched both fully feathered wings out for the first time, touching wingtips to diagonal corners of the room.

Just over three weeks into the New Year, Hermitopia holds a press conference. It plays on every device from the heart of downtown to three cities over. As many have already come to realize, the contamination was more than simple bacteria in the water. It was a chemical agent, a biohazard, that was capable of adapting to and changing different forms of matter. Particularly, it changed living matter down to the DNA. Irrevocably.

The city weeps. There is fear and panic. Questions fly about what this means, what comes next, what do we do? Social media forums explode with speculation and rumors. Friends and family hold one another close amidst the chaos of a changing world.

Grian turns off his phone, sits outside on his tiny balcony, and looks at the stars. He feels the wind ruffle his feathers, feels the way it tugs at his skin, pulls him toward the edge. He flexes new muscles that support new, fragile bones.

Spreads his wings.

They say there's no better way to learn to fly. . . right?

And he jumps.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

10/09-11/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Vico Ortiz / Nat Faxon's birthdays!; OFMD Cast & Crew Birthday Calendar; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Samba Schutte; Kristian Nairn; Nathan Foad/Matt Maher; Madeleine Sami; Anapela Polataivao; David Fane; Dominic Burgess; Adopt Our Crew: OFMD Rewind; Articles; In Person Events: Calypso's Birthday in PA; Garlic Soup Autumn Bingo; LoveNotes: Featuring Damien Gerard <3;

== Vico Ortiz Birthday! ==

October 10th was Vico's birthday! So many people put out lovely dedications to our wonderful Jim! Chaos Dad was no different!

Source: David Jenkins Twitter / Lucy's Twitter

== Nat Faxon Birthday! ==

October 11th, 2024 is ANOTHER OFMD Birthday! This time-- Our dear Swede!! Happy Birthday Nat Faxon!

== OFMD Cast & Crew Birthdays ==

Hey crew, completely random but someone was asking me if there was a calendar for all the birthdays going on-- and I don't know of one so I put one together on the Repo. I'm still filling it out, but it has a chunk of the main cast in there. Hopefully I'll have as many as I can find done by early next week. If you know of some you don't see feel free to ping me, I'm always happy for help!

OFMD Cast & Crew Birthday Calendar

== Rhys Darby==

Rhys has been VERY busy. First off-- looks like he's got a new comedy show coming to Portland on 12/04! You can get your tickets here!

Source: Rhys Substack Oh! And Rhys & Rosie's son Finn's band, Great Big Cow is going to be playing in New York On Dec 16th! Wanna check them out? You can buy tickets here!

Source: Rhys' Twitter

For those of you not on Substack, Rhys has been doing some pretty fun Daily Doodles for us!

Wanna support our lovely Captain? Join him on his Substack!

More news on upcoming work for Rhys -- He'll be joining Lauren Graham in "The Z-Suite"! Check out the article here!

Source: HollywoodReporter

== David Jenkins ==

Our friends over at @adoptourcrew made a lovely post for National Coming Out Day, and Chaos Dad shared it with love <3

David also posted this picture on his instagram with the phrase "Guys This Is Important". Which as you can well imagine, triggered some HONKING.

He did however want us to go into the weekend not honking TOO hard and clarified on Twitter a bit later.

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

== Taika Waititi ==

In case you didn't remember that Taika's a stone cold fox here's a quick reminder.

Source: Popeofthebowery Instagram

In addition (and I'm not sure why Tumblr is fighting me) he had a really adorable message for his wife Rita Ora on The Masked Singer a couple days back. Check out the post here.

SourcE: Isladavis Instagram

He was also out on the George FM Radio show! With his FUZZY JACKET.

Source: George FM Radio

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan is always giving us so many fun little instagram stories, showing his cheeky side.

Also then he turns around and takes glorious headshots and destroys us in his beauty. Matt Maher was caught commenting on this little piece of heaven <3

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram

== Samba Schutte ==

Samba's new film, Advanced Chemistry-- is really getting some traction! Collider Article

He was recently on the Chirpse Hurts Podcast Re: Advanced Chemistry as well!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chirpse Hurts Podcast❣️ (@chirpsehurtspod)

If you haven't seen it yet, and want to check it out, it's available digitally on these platforms!

Amazon

Fandango At Home

Apple TV

Also-- Samba and team are asking for folks to review/rate the movie to help boost it, and show off Samba's awesome skills. Wanna help them out? Once you've watched, please take a few minutes to review on:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Samba Schutte (@sambaschutte)

Source: Samba's Instagram

Amazon

Rotten Tomatoes (This one in particular to get them on the Tomatometer!)

IMDB

Letterboxd

== Kristian Nairn ==

Kristin is going to be doing more book signings in Ireland at Eason O'Connell Street on October 12th! Are you in town? Check him out here! Eason Events!

He's also sending out so many thank yous for all the support with his book!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

Source: Kristian Nairn's Instagram

== Madeleine Sami ==

Our dear Madeleine Sami is back with more episodes of Double Parked airing in Aotearoa!

Source: Madeleine Sami's Instagram Stories

== Anapela Polataivao ==

Back by popular demand, Tina is being shown again on Oct 13th at 7:30pm at HIFF! Ticket info!

Source: HIFF Instagram

Not sure where this is at-- but it's gorgeous with our beloved Auntie.

== David Fane ==

Just the most adorable selfie with the even more adorable man.

Source: David Fane's Instagram Stories

== Dominic Burgess ==

Dominic would like to wish you all a Happy National Coming Out Day as well!

Source: Dominic Burgess Twitter

== Adopt Our Crew: OFMD Rewind ==

Our friends over at @adoptourcrew were back again Oct 10 with Episodes 4-5 of S2 in #OFMDRewind! Once again joined by the ever fabulous @astroglideofficial!

For those of you with Twitter-- if you haven't already, please go check out the thread! If you aren't on twitter and you would like to see what went down you can read them in the AOC section of the OFMD Renewal Repository!

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Twitter 

== Articles ==

Source: AdoptOurCrew Twitter

== In Person Events ==

Our lovely crewmate @ringasunn was kind enough to give me a sneak preview of the next Calypso's Birthday event going on in Millvale PA at Harold's Haunt on 11/9 at 6pm! There's more news to come so if you're in the area please follow them on their Instagram for more information and staying up to date!

Source: Harold's Haunt Instagram

== Garlic Soup Autumn Bingo ==

It's that time again! Looks like there's going to be a cozy #GarlicSoupWeek event going on! Looks like November 10-16 is when it's happening! If you wanna get involved and stay up to date on the latest news, please visit @garlicsoupweek on their Linktr.ee!

Source: Teal Oranges & Garlic Soup

== Love Notes ==

Hey there lovelies-- wow, the last fews days have had so much happen! First off -- Mental Health Awareness Day was Oct 10, and National Coming Out Day was Oct 11! Our sweet Damien Gerard gave us a beautiful message for Mental Health Awareness Day and I wanted to share it tonight for those who didn't see it, since it really made me tear up. I did want to mention though lovelies before we get there-- whether you're in the closet, or out and proud-- or not even sure who you are yet. Just know that you're valid, and beautiful, and the world is such a better place because you're in it. I hope you have a safe and wonderful weekend, sending so much love your way.

Source: Damien Gerard's Twitter

[dean-winchester-is-a-warrior]

Saints Are Sinners Too

Summary: Y/N has some confessing to do.

Warnings/Explicit 18+: Smut - this is just all smut. Pretty much zero plot to this porn. Blowjob, face fucking, deep throating, rough fingering, spanking (very minor).

** This fic is about Priest!dean and Nun!reader. They're undercover, and not actual members of the clergy. Nevertheless, it's probably obvious that there is a LOT of sacrilegious imagery, dialogue and situations in this one. So, be warned. **

Pairings: Priest!Dean Winchester x Nun!reader

Word Count: 1,427

A/N: This fic came about as a response to this post, and this post. It will also be used to fill my first square on my @jacklesversebingo card. The square I will be filling is "Does it turn you on that we might get caught?" The quote will be bolded in the fic. Hope you all enjoy my smutty offering.

Gotta go confess now. 😁

The beautiful divider at the bottom was created by @talesmaniac89. Title card above and gif below were created by me.

“Forgive Me Father, I’m about to sin.”

“Y/N?” Dean’s surprised whisper came through the thin wall that separated the priest from the petitioner. 

“Nope, I’m just a sinner here in need of forgiveness.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dean asked. 

Seconds later, Y/N opened the door to his side of the confessional and walked into the incredibly small, crowded space. 

He frowned up at her as she shut the door behind her, dimming the light inside the tiny box once again. “You’re supposed to be searching the rectory for the bone of a saint. And I can’t very well get confessions of evil out of our would-be suspects if you’re in here with me.”

Y/N pulled a little bag out of a hidden pocket within her borrowed nun’s habit. Inside the bag was a small white bone. “Got it already.” She said, turning mischievous eyes on him. “What about you? Heard any sinful confessions?”

Dean shook his head. “No, just a couple old ladies confessing to cheating at bingo, and getting drunk on church wine.”

Y/N snickered and then sank to her knees between Dean’s open legs, biting her lip as she reached out and pushed aside his black jacket before popping open the button on his pants. Dean’s expression was equal parts lust and worry. “Y/N, what are you doing?”

“Confessing my sins, Father.”

“Y/N, we can’t do this here, they’ll - “ Dean’s words trailed off into a moan as Y/N pulled down his zipper and stuck her hand inside to grip him through his underwear..

“Shh.” Y/N admonished. “Gotta keep quiet or they’ll hear you.”

“Y/N.” Dean tried again, but she pulled his briefs down far enough to let his hardening cock spring free, and he bit into his lush bottom lip to stifle another groan. 

“Don’t you wanna hear my confession?” Y/N asked, her voice and expression all innocence. 

Dean nodded absently, all his attention focused on not yelling out loud as she sucked one of his balls into her mouth and rolled it around on her tongue. She gave the same attention to the other one before licking a stripe up the underside of his cock.

Dean’s hard fingers were dug deep into the padded bench he was sitting on, and the veins in his neck bulged as he strained to stay quiet.

“My confession, Father, is that I’ve been lusting after you all day. Since the second I walked into the motel room this morning and saw you dressed like this, all I’ve been able to think about was this moment. All I’ve wanted is to get on my knees and show you heaven.”

With that she took him all the way down her throat, swallowing him in one go. Dean sank his hand into her hair and yanked it. “Fuck, Y/N, fuck.” He whispered, strained and desperate. 

Y/N came off of him, breathing hard, cum and spit running down her chin. She used her mouth to spread it up and down his dick before taking him in her hand, squeezing tight and pumping him hard. She watched his jaw clench, as he breathed harshly through his teeth, and she felt her panties flood. 

Her voice was thick as she reached under the black skirts she wore and rubbed herself over the damp cotton. “Does it turn you on that we might get caught? Hmm?” She asked as she kitten-licked the angry, purplish head of his straining cock. “Is it making you hard to know there’s only a thin door keeping us from being seen? That any minute someone could walk into the booth and see us through that partition.”

She nodded up at the open wicker grating that allowed light to seep in from the other side of the confessional. With jerky movements, Dean reached over to yank closed the tiny curtain that covered the window.

Y/N chuckled darkly. “That’s not gonna help much.” She said, gently squeezing his balls and making another harsh and entirely too loud moan leak out of Dean’s beautiful lips. 

“Please Y/N, goddamn.” He mumbled nonsensically, sweat dotting his forehead as Y/N pushed down on him again, taking him completely, but gagging a bit this time. “Fuck.” Dean cried out hoarsely as he took her head between his hands. She looked up at him from where she was sunk onto his cock, and saw the desperate question for her in his eyes. 

“Mmhmmm.” She answered around him, knowing what he was asking, her mouth watering in anticipation.

Gripping her head tightly, he pulled her back, so she only kept the tip of him between her lips. Then he hammered his hips forward, fucking her face hard and deep. Over and over he hit the back of her throat raising a gluck, gluck sound as she choked around him. He pulled out of her mouth completely and she pulled harsh breaths into her abused throat. 

They weren’t being very quiet anymore, but she couldn’t care. She hoped the booth was far enough away, and the soft organ music playing over the church speakers would drown them out at least a little. But she was too far gone to stop, whatever the consequences. 

She continued to work her clit as Dean began ravaging her face once again. When he pushed deep down her throat, she slipped two fingers inside herself and stared up at him, rapturously. His broad, powerful chest was heaving as he fought off his climax. His lips formed an O and he pushed air between them harshly, desperately trying to control himself. 

Finally, he pushed on the back of her head so that she was smashed tight against him, every inch of his thick cock filled her mouth and stretched her esophagus. Then his face contorted and he was spilling down her throat, fast and hot. She swallowed around his cock, trying to gulp it all down, but she couldn’t and as he pushed her off of him so she could breathe again, she coughed hard, spit and cum spilling down her chin and onto the habit she wore. Still breathing harshly, Dean grabbed her upper arms and wrenched her up off the floor. Barely managing it in the tiny space, he swapped places with her so that she was now standing in front of the bench. 

Rather than sitting her down on it, however, Dean spun her around so she faced the back wall of the confessional and pushed against her back, forcing her to bend over. Seconds later he had her black skirts rucked up around her waist and her panties down around her ankles. Y/N just barely managed to stifle a shrill scream of pleasure as he sank two fingers deep into her cunt. He fucked her hard with them, pulling out of her only once to give two loud and stinging slaps to her bare ass.

She moaned deep, long past caring about being found out as he buried his fingers, three of them this time, back into her slick and throbbing pussy. He was knuckle deep and then he pulled out and shoved them back inside again, rocketing his fingers into her body hard enough that the little box surrounding them shook slightly. 

He knew she was incredibly close; all he had to do was press his fingers against the secret sweet spot he knew how to find every time. He pressed there and Y/N gulped air into her lungs for a scream, but he took his free hand and clamped it over her mouth just in time. Her slick cunt clenched powerfully around his fingers at the same time that she bit into the palm of his hand in an attempt to lessen the noise of her climax. Dean gritted his teeth as he buried his face in the side of her neck.

Her body shuddered and shook as her high ebbed away. Dean pulled his hand out of her body, dropping her skirts back down and pulling his pants back up, before shifting them both slightly so that she was sitting in his lap. They put their foreheads together and shared breath as they tried to stop their hearts from hammering.

Dean smiled at her and licked his lips. “Well, son of a bitch, sweetheart - you’re absolved.” Y/N snorted and grinned at the dubious pardoning. Dean frowned quizzically and looked around the itty bitty wooden box. 

“Now, do you know a back way out of this place?”

1 - Jensen RPF + Any/All characters Jensen plays. @lyarr24 @deans-spinster-witch @impalaslytherin @maggiegirl17 @akshi8278 @candy-coated-misery0731 @deanswaywardgirl @slytherinlyn314 @globetrotter28 @jensensgirl @perpetualabsurdity @tristanrosspada-ackles @djs8891 @muhahaha303 @kayyay1219 @emily-winchester @recoveringpastaaddict @maximumkillshot @mimaria420 @sacriceria @envyaurora95 @lacilou @jc-winchester @spnwoman @mimi-luvzyu

2 - Dean Winchester Fics Only. @carryonwaywardgirl

3 - Any/All Fics (regardless of fandom/character.) @kazsrm67 @sexyvixen7 @alexxavicry @nancymcl @spalady26

4 - Everything (includes fan vid/DOOL edits as well) @unabashed-lover-of-fictional-men @maliburenee @supernatural4life2022 @spn730015 @kickingitwithkirk @waywardbaby @foxyjwls007 @deanwanddamons @deandreamernp @deanwithscissors @myloversgone @snowlovespie @leigh70 @all-alone-he-turns-to-stone @charred-angelwings @hopefuldreamers-world @jensensgotyoudean @thoughts-and-funnies @magssteenkamp @princessmisery666 @eevvvaa @mishkatelwarriorgoddess @waynes-multiverse @mrsjenniferwinchester @bernasaurus @jensenslady79 @courtn92 @avanatural @ellie-andthemachine @this-is-me19 @roseblue373 @katbratsupernaturalwhore @fanfic-n-tabulous

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Weekly Recap | January 22nd-28th 2024

First experiment to try and fix my ao3 history page has been a fail. Will have to delete another userscript to see if it fixes the problem 🙄

On another note, I've made a post but in case you haven't seen it: if I've ever reblogged one of your WIP fics, consider this my permission to tag me in them (not so I'll participate of course, but to increase the chance I'll see them 😆)

Complete

let's fast forward to three hundred awkward blind dates later by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Canon Divergent, Chef Buck | 7K | Teen): Eddie figures if he's going to go on bad dates, he might as well go to Buck and Bobby's restaurant so Buck can save him from them. Buck suffers and pines like the idiot he is, and feelings are blurted out over dinner and fancy wine.

the more we move ahead the more we're stuck in rewind by trysetmeonfire/ @try-set-me-on-fire (S4E5: Buck Begins | 4K | Teen): After the factory fire, Buck’s parents show up at the station. It goes poorly. Written for the bad things happen bingo prompt: backhand slap.

And When You Speak, Angels Sing From Above by callmenewbie/ @callmenewbie (Established Buddie, Proposal | 3K | General): Buck pops the question but before saying yes, Eddie needs to ask someone else first.

we didn't happen the way we were supposed to (where do we go now?) by Iover_of_mine (I_almost_do) / @lover-of-mine (Post-S6 | 4K | Teen): Buck and Eddie start fighting over things left unsaid or just misunderstood.

only the best will do by trysetmeonfire/ @try-set-me-on-fire (Madney Wedding | <1K | General): Buck gets a little intense about wedding planning. Chimney hides in the kitchen. Eddie is a man in love.

through bloodshot eyes the sky is falling (it kills me when i try to push you away) by screamingcolours/ @vampbuckley (Post-S6 | 6K | Teen): Buck and Eddie have a fight, get in a car accident, and confess their feelings. Not exactly in that order.

Partnership: Finding the Right Scent by faradheia/ @faradheia, RhystaRose (Sentinels&Guides AU | 7K | Explicit): Guide Evan Buckley and Sentinel Eddie Diaz navigate through their life as firefighters and a mostly bonded pair. If only Buck could solve his Sentinel's last sense issue there might be the sweet smell of success...

my heart is trying to crawl out of my chest to get to you by bucksclipboard (S6E12: Recovery | 2K | General): Buck is released from the hospital and while the rest of his family is understandably on edge about his recovery, Eddie throws himself back into work. He refuses to be a part of Maddie’s “operation buck up buttercup” and Hen grows suspicious. Listen, it’s not like Eddie isn’t worried, quite the opposite actually. He just found a better way to watch over Buck, without having to spill any of his secrets. Unless technology plays a trick on him, as it usually does, and his foolproof plan goes wrong. But Buck might just surprise him.

forever is in your eyes by appleoctopie/ @appleoctopie (Getting Together | 3K | Teen): or the one where eddie needed his son to help him realize he's dating his best friend (it's okay because buck didn't realize it either)

You don't have to be related to relate by Polish_Amber (David POV, Buck&Bobby | 10K | General): The one where David is determined to prove that he’s in it with Michael for the long-haul, and that includes accepting and caring about the children of the Grant-Nash household. All 3 of them. (And Athena and Michael laugh more than they have in months, Bobby is sheepish, and David learns a bit about chosen families).

this is (not) a puppy love by asteriasera/ @asteriasera (Post-S6, Getting Together | 7K | General): Five times their family realizes Buck and Eddie are in love and the one time Buck and Eddie realize they’re in love

In a drought I'll give you water by JamesPearce911/ @diazsdimples (PWP, Established Buddie | 8K | Explicit): Or: Eddie finds come on Buck's underwear and panics

🔥 the answer to it all (is in the back of my mind and on the tip of my tongue) by waferkya/ @oursisthewinter (Canon Divergent, Cop Eddie | 17K | Teen): AU in which Eddie is a cop who just moved to LA; Buck has zero self-esteem, a praise kink the size of the desert and no clue on how to pick a decent Dom; and eventually love conquers all.

it was your heart on the line (I really fucked it up this time, didn't I, my dear?) by smilingbuckley/ @smilingbuckley (Post-S6 | 4K | Teen): Buck gets called to the station to bail Eddie out of jail, but Eddie refuses to tell him what happened and why he punched Phillip Buckley.

Eddie Diaz Is NOT a Birthday Person by Daisies_and_Briars / @cal-daisies-and-briars (Fluff | 4K | Teen): Eddie doesn't put much stock into celebrating his birthday, as an adult. But for the first time since moving to Los Angeles, it happens to fall right in the middle of a four-off. Buck schemes. Romance ensues rather accidentally.

sleep safe and warm by allisonRW96/ @homerforsure (Established Buddie | 2K | Teen): A few months into their relationship, Buck and Eddie finally share a bed.

WIP

🔥 A Minor Delay by rainbow_nerds/ @rainbow-nerdss (Post-S6/S7 Spec | 3/11 | 10K | Mature): Almost a year after the bridge collapse, a lot has changed. The team are scattered—Bobby and Athena on their Honeymoon, Hen on adoptive parent's leave, and Buck and Eddie... They may still work together, still have movie nights with Chris whenever they can, but things have changed. With Maddie and Chimney's wedding around the corner, Buck tries to make it perfect. And maybe, along the way, he might figure out why everything still feels... wrong.

🔥 Winter Prayer by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Road Trip, Buck&Bobby&May | 2/3 | 12K | General): When a work conflict prevents Athena from accompanying Bobby to Minnesota for the ten year anniversary of his family dying, Buck and May offer to go instead. Over the course of the trip, they all learn more about each other, and Bobby faces his grief.

🔥 Things We're All Too Young to Know by @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon, S1 through S6 | 108/? | 303K | Mature): This is a love story. Even if it doesn’t always look like it. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it. A look back on Eddie and Buck's lives up to now, and what led them to each other, interpreted from the current 9-1-1 canon.

Fractals from the Lightning Bolt by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (One Shots Collection | 41/54 | 78K | Not Rated): A collection of oneshots, some originally posted on tumblr. Each chapter is individually rated.

46. My Words Might Stumble but Not My Heart :  Just another cute "what if" getting together fic.

Kiss Me Once Cause You Know I Had A Long Night by I_still_dont_understand_13 / @sherlockcrossing (Prompt collection | 21/? | 14K | Teen): 100 kiss prompts.

Chapter 25. 3. Kisses that travel from your lover's nose to their lips

search history by forgottenwords (Getting Together | 9/10 | 11K | Explicit): Eddie opened the Safari app to find a specific recipe Buck was looking for, but something was already typed in the search box. Beefy blonde twink gets railed by— Buck's voice calls out from the kitchen “Did you find it yet?” and Eddie hastily closes the tab, opening another with a surprising speed from someone considered technologically illiterate. As close as they were, he’d never had a thought about the type of ‘adult entertainment’ Buck was partial to. Now, it was all he could think about.

🔥 Precious & Fragile Things by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Small Miracles AU, Angel Buck | 15/18 | 37K | Teen): Buck is the Fallen Angel of Petty Temptation, who has been tasked with tempting human Eddie Diaz to sin and enjoy life, but just a little. He thinks the job will be easy - get in, get out, go back to Peru to continue messing around with eternity. But when Buck arrives in Los Angeles, he finds Eddie is harder to tempt than expected, and more compelling than Buck had hoped.

🔥 and if i bleed (you'll be the last to know) by diazchristopher/ @captain-hen (Canon Divergent Season 6, Friends with Benefits | 6/18 | 27K | Explicit): or, an alternate look at season 6 where buck and eddie have been casually sleeping together since before the beginning of the season. somehow, this changes both everything and nothing at all.

Re-read

🔥 I Opened My Eyes and There You Were by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels / @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Post-S3 | 4K | Explicit): In which Buck provides the dots and Eddie finally connects them.

[rosellacwrites]

Healing Hands

summary: You’re facing something scary, but Steven helps you through it in more ways than one.

pairings: Doctor!Steven Grant x Reader (undescribed)

rating: nothing but fluff here, folks

warnings: sickfic, medical situation/discussion (brain surgery), flirting via infodump, post-anesthesia honesty

word count: 1.1k

author’s note: Written for the Moon Knight Spring Bingo @moonknight-events — entry #1 of hopefully many. Happy reading!

dividers by @firefly-graphics

“It’s definitely not cancer,” your neurologist had assured you. “Completely benign. But when it’s causing symptoms like this, it does need to come out, unfortunately.” Your face had fallen, and she’d looked at you sympathetically. “I’m going to refer you to the best surgeon I know,” she’d told you. “He’s — a bit odd, maybe, but he’s a genius. You’ll be in excellent hands.”

And now you’re here, waiting nervously to meet the man who’s going to be cutting into your brain, and it’s getting later and later and you’re about to run out screaming, when he walks through the door and smiles at you. And somehow, without anything having changed at all, you feel like you’ll be okay.

“Hello,” he says with a little wave, and oh God, he’s got a British accent, one of your known weak points, and deep brown eyes, another, and you absolutely cannot do this because it’s beyond inappropriate, but you’re melting anyway. “I’m Steven. Uh, Dr. Grant, that is. Dr. Steven Grant, with a V, and I’m probably not filling you with a lot of confidence here, am I?” He smiles ruefully, and that’s the third pillar knocked out from under you because he’s an adorable dork, and it all comes crumbling down. All you can do is stare at him as he comes closer and takes your hand in both of his and looks deep into your eyes. “But I promise you, I’m very good at what I do, and you’re going to be just fine.”

Steven — Dr. Grant, you have to remind yourself — spends a solid hour with you, patiently answering all your questions and making you wish you hadn’t turned down that 8 AM neuropsych class in college. Who knew the human brain was such a fascinating thing? Or is it only fascinating when you’re learning about it from a dark-eyed, sweet-voiced man?

“How big of a scar will I have?” you finally dare to ask him. You’ve been coping with the whole thing by focusing on the more minor aspects; whether or not that’s healthy is between you and your therapist, but this is the spot your anxiety’s decided to settle down and get comfy in.

A big grin lights up his face at your question, and he runs a hand through his disheveled curls, confirming how they got that way in the first place. “Absolutely nothing anyone will see,” he assures you. “I’ve had a good long look at your scans and there’s no reason at all we can’t do this the way we usually do these days. Do you happen to know much about Ancient Egypt?” The apparent non sequitur catches you by surprise, and you shake your head no. “It’s a bit of a — special interest of mine,” he says, smiling sheepishly, and you notice for the first time that his rumpled tie is patterned with hieroglyphics.

“What does it have to do with the surgery?”

“Right,” he says. “Your surgery. You won’t have a visible scar because we’re going to go up through your nose. I know it sounds unpleasant, but this really is the best way to do it. Better all round — minimizes the pain and the risk to you, and shortens the recovery process.” He grins at you, tilting his head. “And, back in Ancient Egypt, that’s how they removed the brains of those they were preparing for mummification — they’d go right up the nose, just like we’ll do. But fortunately, your brain’s going to stay right where it belongs, minus the little bit that’s causing you all the trouble.”

You can’t help laughing at his explanation. “That’s really helpful to know, actually. Thank you.”

“We try to be as non-invasive as possible.” His eyes twinkle, and you have a sudden urge to kiss the little creases around them. “We know you’ve got a life to get back to, after all.”

You start wondering about his life, then: there’s no ring on his finger, no happy family photos decorating his office wall. Maybe you’re imagining things, in your state, but you feel like he’s been holding eye contact with you just a little too long, leaning a little too close to you to point out something on his screen.

You don’t mind imagining that — not even a little bit.

And when the appointment’s finished, and he squeezes your hand and says he’ll see you again when it’s all over, you find yourself thinking about his hands, gentle and strong and capable.

For the first time in a long time, when you ask yourself what is WRONG with my BRAIN, you don’t mean it literally.

***

You’re still a bit groggy when Dr. Grant makes his post-surgery rounds. “Everything went brilliantly,” he tells you, squeezing your hand. He’s wearing a different Egyptian-themed tie this afternoon, one with little cats and ankhs, and it makes you smile. “No problems whatsoever, and you should have a smooth recovery, but once you’re home I want you to call me if you have any questions or concerns at all.”

The warmth of his hand and the last foggy wisps of anesthesia are suppressing your usual filter, and you blurt it out before you can stop yourself. “Can I call you even if I don’t? Like — for a date?”

The tips of his ears go red, and he clears his throat. “I — I’m flattered, really I am,” he says softly after a moment. “Immensely so. But… I can’t date a patient of mine. It’s not right, ethically, and I’d be in quite a lot of trouble with the hospital, and… and I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” You try to hide your disappointment, but you’re not doing a very good job of it.

He holds up a hand, a smile beginning to hover around the corner of his mouth. “But. What I was going to say is, you’ll have one more appointment with me in a few weeks, to follow up, and then you’ll officially be discharged back to your regular neurologist. She’ll handle all your care from then on.”

He’s waiting for you to cotton on, and you finally do. “Discharged — that means I won’t be your patient anymore, then?”

He dips his chin briefly in acknowledgment, and the smile turns into a boyish grin. “Nothing wrong with your brain,” he compliments you. “And I should know.”

“That’s good,” you murmur, suddenly feeling sleepy again. You settle back against your pillow and give him your most dazzling smile, or at least your best post-anesthesia approximation of one. “Wanna take you out after that, then. ‘S only fair — you’ve already been inside me.”

He chokes, and you fall asleep still smiling.

author’s note (yeah, you get two, suck it up): This is a piece of pure self-indulgence; last year, there was a point at which I thought I’d be facing the same surgery as Reader, and the idea of our lovely Steven as a doctor was a comfort to me. Fortunately, brain surgery was not required in my case, and this remained a fun thought until I dusted it off and wrote it up for the bingo event!

That said… while I was lucky, a very dear friend of mine was not, and I’m dedicating this to her. If you enjoyed reading this and you feel willing and able, please consider making a donation to the American Brain Tumor Association, or your local equivalent, to help fund research that aims to improve and extend the lives of people like S.

[dallasgallant]

Time period post: Terminology and technology

This started as quick and easy smaller one but it’s sort of diverged into subsections, anyways… this’ll be on some of the existing technology and terminology of them time. There was actually a far bit more than you’d assume.

Let’s start terminology wise. “Refrigerated air” is still one of my favorites that I’ve discovered, it basically means that a building is air conditioned! HUGE! NEW THING! It was being added to motels, businesses - homes eventually etc. so a motel being “Refrigerated air, color Tv, swimming pool” is a really damn nice place. Now days motels seem to be looked down upon but they’ve always been a huge part of the culture, especially when cars were new and big and the height of road trips back in the 1950s-60s. (Howard Johnsons , holiday inn etc) this was also the height of roadside attractions/tourist traps think ‘worlds largest’ anything, Route 66 (before it crumped into the remains of today)

~

Another terminology heavy thing is Schooling,

Back in the day it was much more common to hear “Primary school” in America than it is now an alternative is Grammar school - both of which being daycare-Elementary. Then “junior high” was more common than Middle school

But in a smaller town it’s also common to have more than one if not all of these schools and grade levels shoved into one huge building.

Corporal punishment- hitting students, was still a thing. (Also the argument of basically student rights/are people when it came to anti war protest in high schools)

Desegregation of schools began.

Schools also started later in the morning but still got out at a decent time; this changed in the 1980s

~

As for general terminology a lot of slang is still used today that was introduced in the 60s, I’d recommend looking it up but for JD specific stuff I do have a post up!

It’s also important to recognize some of their language would be outdated… not actively out to harm but they wouldn’t have knowledge of language 50+ years in the future etc. (like how a lot of older phrases or words have become offensive etc)

~

As for technology, a lot was changing too. The computer was still new and huge— spanning rooms as this huge mechanical thing that was going to get man to the moon. Still far from being in homes. However, still a lot of neat stuff and gadgets for people to play with.

The 60s are really the height of what we’d now consider “Retrofuturism” with how maybe one day they’ll be huge video screens and transporters and video watches and world peace etc. there was a obsession with progress and innovation in a very optimistic way.

Though if you wanted to transport your music (and weren’t going to carry a huge ass record player around) you have small portable radios but also hand/shirt pocket ones as well. I can’t speak to sound quality …

Phones were still on the wall or on the table. Color tv was slowly being adopted in households across the country— but still pretty $$$ a lot of people would be sticking with B&W even if tv and movies were making the more permanent switch.

So uh fun fact about cars. It wasn’t until 1968 models came out that seatbelts were standard and required. It’s more than likely the boys cars don’t have seatbelts. (They were invented in the late 50s and it sort of depended)

Bench seats were also super common so it didn’t matter which side of a car you got into as you could just slide across. You can see where this only adds to teen car culture- make out points, drive ins with some uh backseat bingo (actual term! Lmao)

[covid-safer-hotties]

The air travel issue no one wants to talk about - Posted Aug 20, 2024

I’m sick of getting sick on planes.

I got another case of COVID-19 last month, on a domestic flight, sitting near a woman who was sneezing. I wore an N95 mask, but she was only wearing the loose surgical type. I suspect she knew she was infectious.

There was nothing I could do about it. There were no seats to move into and, besides, to do so seemed a bit hysterical at the time.

Two days later – bingo. I wasn’t very ill, but I was visiting immune-compromised people and I put them at risk.

Nowadays, talking about masks – and indeed the virus itself – is deeply unsexy. They’re a symbol of a past we’d rather not remember, even though that past is still our present and future while the disease keeps mutating.

But I still want to talk about masks because COVID-19 keeps happening to travellers, ruining holidays and causing potential long-term health issues, and yet airlines, government authorities and most passengers don’t want to know about it.

Just look around any flight. Or bus or train. Despite a few people clearly being sick, only a tiny percentage mask up. It’s not just as a precaution against COVID-19. There’s influenza, RSV and other infections of a weakened immune system which, perhaps unsurprisingly, can be caused by repeated COVID-19 infections.

Maybe COVID-19 is “just like a cold” and I shouldn’t fret. I certainly hope so because scientists are still learning about how each infection harms the body, with little idea what the consequences will be in three, 10 or 20 years.

I’m told I should “get over it”. But it’s not over with me.

Constant new variants mean we’re unlikely ever to be immune, even though the healthy among us won’t get terribly sick due to excellent boosters. COVID-19 cases have surged worldwide these past two or three months. Many Olympic athletes had their dreams shattered by catching it before their trials.

There’s massive public denial. Not many people bother to test these days. If you don’t test, you don’t know, so you’re free to assume you don’t have it. That’s certainly the skewed logic I’ve heard a lot lately.

So, if you’re masking on a flight, you’re in rare company.

During the pandemic, masks became a symbol of divisiveness, enraging sectors of our society who thought mask mandates took away personal freedoms. The freedom to get sick and infect others, I suppose.

I’m not quite sure what the humble, practical facemask did to deserve the controversy, despite being quietly worn for decades in Asian countries and by medical staff, but the culture war against it still rages.

It’s very possible, in certain societies, that if you wear a medical mask, you’ll have it ripped off your face or even get arrested.

Recently, Nassau County, New York, became the first county in the tri-state area (Connecticut, New York and New Jersey) to pass a ban on anyone over 16 wearing a face covering on public streets and property. It’s a criminal offence, and police have the authority to arrest people who refuse to take off their masks.

In New York city, mayor Kathy Hochul is considering a mask ban on subways, even as the city’s health department urges people to wear masks to combat an unprecedented rise in summer COVID-19 cases.

The laws are mostly directed at protesters who wear face coverings, and not people protecting themselves against disease. But the immunocompromised are angry that once again the mask has become the issue, not the behaviour.

Aerosol scientists conclude that N95 masks are 95 per cent efficient in blocking airborne particles. But over hours in a confined space, when you might have to lower your mask to drink, eat and sleep, they’re less effective, especially when the infected person isn’t masked properly too.

Currently, we rely on our fellow travellers being considerate. That’s a big ask. I suppose you could bring a few spare N95 respirators to distribute to passengers in your row as a precaution, but that might be misconstrued as rude.

But here’s the thing – I know if I get sick, my precautions haven’t worked. But it’s impossible to know how many other times I might have become ill if I hadn’t worn a mask to protect me.

So, even though the sight of me wearing a mask angers some people, and looks foolish to others, and even mentioning it drives people crazy, I’m sticking with the cover-up.

[tgmsunmontue]

Upon which our souls touch 1/?

Hangster Fantasy!AU for the "Elves/Orcs" and "Immortals" squares on my bingo card. (Previous Tumblr post/s).

SUMMARY

Tradition and the stories have been the same for thousands of years. Until Bradley and Jake came along and broke all the rules without ever speaking a word to one another...

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

                On your sixtieth summer you’re permitted to enter the cavern.

                It is a horde of eggs, protected alike by the dragons and the elves and orcs that ride them, and live with them side-by-side.

                The eggs are all warm to the touch, all of them holding the promise of new life.

                Your egg glows for you, and only you. This means you have an unbreakable bond with that dragon and they will bond with you, no one else.

                If the dragon is big enough, they will permit you to ride them. Dragons however, can control their rate of growth, and some are just assholes who don’t ever want to be ridden.

                Some dragons are small things that ride on the shoulder of their companion instead.

                Some dragons fly, while others never grow wings.

                Eggs hatch only when they feel you are ready.

                When your egg hatches you stop aging, gifted near-immortality to be a dragon-companion forever, or until your dragon dies.

                Sometimes an egg may never hatch. Those people grow older and eventually die.

                Upon their passing the egg goes cold. The egg is used as a grave marker.

                Dragon-kind are beasts of the earth, the air and the fire that joins them and moves between them, the ashes floating up, to then later settle back on earth.

                While not all eggs hatch, everyone has an egg glow for them.

                Until Bradley.

…            …            …       

                Bradley enters the cavern and swallows, nervous. He’s been told that that is natural. Normal. But he feels like something is… different. He’s never felt the same affinity for the dragon-kind that his family have, but this is a rite of passage and he will fulfill his familial duty. He’s already different amongst their kind, his looks not as fierce or warlike. He has worked hard to be the strongest, the fastest, the most clever. He knows the other talk. About how no-one knows his true bloodlines. His father unknown, his mother tight-lipped but loving. No one can deny his abilities though.

                Compounding his physical peculiarities is the fact that his chest sigil is unusual as well. The sharp edges of the peaks are common enough, as are the circles. But to have two, ones that are the mirror of one another. The shape or the circle and triangle both almost equal in size which makes it unclear exactly what his purpose in life may be. Others may have questions, however no more than he himself has them when he looks down at them, runs a finger over the ink and wonders.

                He walks around the cavern, and all of the eggs are warm, all pulsing lightly under his fingertips and he can sense them all. But none are lit up like they speak of in the stories. He knows it can take time, that it’s important not to rush. To let his eyes adjust to the darkness fully so that a hint of glowing can be sensed, even from the smallest of eggs buried under dozens of others. The stories speak of that too, how eggs will grow extra bright if they are buried, if you need to uncover your egg. You must carefully move the eggs, until you are holding the one glowing one and you can then claim it, as it has claimed you.

                Nothing happens.

                He spends the night in the cavern, lets sleep claim him for little bits here and there, hopefully upon waking that he will see a gleam of light coming from any direction. None comes, until morning when the sun reaches its long finger even this deep and there is a little patch of not-dark.

                It has been a day’s cycle and no egg has glowed for him.

                He doesn’t run, but he does leave.

…            …            …

                Twenty summers pass, no one forgets. Everyone has long memories. Bradley lives a quarter-day travel from the closest settlement, and a half-day from two others, however his affinity for plants and healing has made him sought after, if not exactly desirable. Some murmur wishes of death rather than seek help from someone seen as unworthy by the dragon-kind. However the dragon-kind do not shun Bradley at all, and his healing herbs work for them as well, many seek him out. Even though twenty summers are few, he does develop a reputation amongst them. He is the last hope of many.

…            …            …

                Jake enters the cavern and immediately needs to shield his eyes as it gets blindingly bright. He thinks that his egg must be as bright as the sun to be shining so vividly, but when he cracks open his eyes and peers through his fingers he’s horror-stricken to see that they’re all glowing. Every single one of them. He stands there, frozen, unable to think about what he should do. Should he just grab one? He can’t. He wants one that is meant for him, and him alone. He remembers sneaking in here as a child, something that is expressly forbidden and he wonders if that’s why he is now surrounded by hundreds of glowing eggs.

                He leaves the cavern the following morning empty handed, eyes downcast as he walks past the confused faces of his family. He gathers his things from where they were stored and hoists his bag onto his back. He might not know what is happening to himself, but he knows someone he can maybe ask.

…            …            …

                The elders, those who look only one-hundred summers but whose years number over one-thousand, as well as those who look every year of their three-hundred years, egg un-hatched, gather to discuss. To have Bradley not have an egg glow is one thing, they cannot speak as to his lineage and there is something there they may not know about, despite their many years and knowledge of the world. Jake though. For him, not to have an egg claim him is far more concerning. His family have been dragon-riders for generations, the large golden dragons almost exclusively choosing those from the Seresin Clan. Everyone had expected it.

                Everyone had been wrong.

Bradley's chest sigils

PART TWO

[avaantares]

Wait, Zhao Yunlan's gun is actually a...?!

(I've never claimed production meta for @guardianbingo before, but after the amount of time and research I put in on this, I feel like I've earned the "Zhao Yunlan's Gun or Whip" square, haha)

SO. GUYS.

Maybe this is something fandom as a whole figured out back in 2018, but I, who didn't hear of Guardian until 2020, did not realize until now and I need to share the knowledge because when I finally noticed, I made an unholy sound.

I've tracked down where Zhao Yunlan's gun came from -- or at least, what it most likely started as. Not the in-universe dark-energy-maybe-uses-bullets-maybe-doesn't-device-that's-best-not-thought-about-too-long, but rather the actual fake-steampunk-revolver-that-is-best-not-looked-at-too-long-because-it's-awful prop.

Y'know, this disaster:

I was actually working on a different Guardian Bingo fill and needed to look something up for continuity, so I'd flipped through a couple of episodes at super high speed trying to find a scene. As luck would have it, one of my skips forward happened to land on the scene I screencapped above, when ZYL confronts Zhang Shi.

Normally we don't get this clear (or this stationary) a shot of the godawful gun prop. I'd assumed all along they had just taken a plastic gun, glued some extra bits and bobs on it to make it look fancy, and hit it with some dry brushing (fun fact: you can watch the paint flake throughout the series; check out the top of the barrel and the side of the cylinder in the above screenshot!) to make it look #steampunk like the abandoned aesthetic of 25% of the show (as I've said before, I have theories about what happened in preproduction, but that's another post). This sort of thing is exactly what I've done for cheap cosplay weapons or background props for film work that aren't going to be seen at HD detail range.

Anyway, since the detail showed up better here than in other shots, I paused the video to look at the random screws and hex bolts (why??) they'd glued on it, since I recalled that I had the aforementioned gun/whip bingo square to fill.

That's when I noticed a detail that had eluded me before: An inverted V shape at the bottom of the grip.

Only looking more closely, that's not an inverted V. It's a symbol that I've seen a whole series of variations of over the past 15+ years... every time there's a new installment of the Assassin's Creed video game series:

So I started hunting. The principal weapons in each game turned up no matches, but eventually I found a gun that looks almost exactly like ZYL's:

It's not a perfect replica, but the details are certainly all there: The stylized logo; the leaves and swirls on the grip; the feathers up the back; even the Victorian scrollwork beneath the barrel.

Now, what's really interesting is that this gun isn't actually from the AC game series. It's part of an elaborate fan project by artist David Paget that started as a class assignment back in 2014. Even though it gathered a bit of steam in the AC fandom and generated a couple of forum role-play groups, OCs and the like, nothing about this artwork was ever connected to a real Assassin's Creed title. So why would there be a physical version of a gun that was only someone's fanart?

This is where the smoking gun (*rimshot*) goes missing, because I can't prove any of this, and it's been long enough that digging through the archives of the internet to find answers is going to take way more time than I can afford to spend on a project I'm not getting paid for. But there are two likely possibilities:

Scenario A: Some employee in a toy factory somewhere in China got told, "This Assassin's Creed franchise is really big, so we need to be producing replicas from those games to sell. Work up some designs." So the employee Googles "assassin's creed gun," finds David Paget's very professional-looking art, and whips up a replica to mass-injection-mold without realizing it's not actually from a game. Later, someone on the cash-strapped Guardian production team needs a gun to mod, and finds a cheap toy revolver on clearance after several years of sitting in storage because there was little demand for a replica of a gun that was never in a game. They buy several, glue hex bolts on the cylinder for reasons unknown, and poof! Instant pseudo-steampunk!

Scenario B: Other fans were involved in the design. Someone did build a 3D model of David Paget's design that's still available on Sketchfab (screenshot below), and it's not unreasonable to assume that other fans could have thought it looked cool and built 3D printable models. Later, someone on the cash-strapped Guardian production team needs a gun to mod, and acquires the 3D print file of one of those models from the interwebs. They mod the file a bit, print some, glue hex bolts on the cylinder for reasons unknown, and poof! Instant pseudo-steampunk!

Personally, I find Scenario A far more likely than Scenario B, for two reasons: First, the hero prop looks more injection molded than 3D printed, especially given the technical state of 3D printing back in 2017-8. And second... Budget-challenged dramas do have a history of picking up bulk video game replicas and using them as cheap props. I made a post back in 2019 about the WoW Horde shields we spotted in a different drama...

Anyway, no firm answers about the source of the hero prop -- the world may never know! -- but we have now confirmed that in some alternate universe (possibly one of the first eighty?), Zhao Yunlan and/or Zhao Xinci is an Assassin.

Wait, wait, wait... *recalls mechanics of how the whole Assassin's Creed frame story is supposed to work* Uh... so... who wants to write a genetic memory explanation for the whole Kunlun -> [lots of lifetimes] -> Zhao Yunlan thing?

.

(I did actually check the catalogue of a friend of mine who makes replicas of props from various media franchises to see if he'd done a commission of the David Paget design, since a surprising number of his custom pieces actually do end up on film and television, but while he has a gorgeous replica of a revolver that actually appears in an AC game, it appears he has not done the Zhao Yunlan gun. I didn't really think it likely, since he's in the U.S., but you never know.)

[omaano]

Last one for @bobadinweek's bingo - A Gravity Falls AU for my FREE square! I'll make a whole post to sum up all my contribution to this bingo a bit later (I made 10 artworks for this event in the past year omg!) - but I'm really pleased to end it with this one - just look at how cute they are as babies! There are some musing about this AU (and another variant) under the cut if you're interested ;)

I'll admit that I don't actually know much about Omega (aside from how she appeared in some fics and what I saw of her on this site), but I already felt bad enough for taking her bow and giving it to Boba (if it's up to Grogu he won't be able to keep hold of it for long, lol), so I felt it best to let her keep her hat and give her the journal. She seems more like the type to pour over it, while Boba just jumps headfirst into any and every kind of adventure. (Also imagine Boba with a pig-sized mini rancor. He'd lose a limb to it, but he would also LOVE it!)

I know that it's usually headcanon'd that Din and Boba are about the same-ish age (with usually Boba coming out a year-or-two older), but for the sake of fun here let Din hit puberty and his growth spurt a bit earlier and be just a bit older, and let Boba have his gay little awakening that summer.

(Just imagine that episode where Dipper makes multiple copies of himself (I know the roles don't track perfectly, shush!) to try and ask Wendy out for that dance/date at the party - and make it Boba trying his very awkward best [insert clone joke here], and, say, put an equally teenage Cobb in Robbie's place, except Cobb turns out to be cool, and now Boba is in all kinds of trouble, and surrounded by too many cute boys wow (but Din is still the cutest with his weird frog-eating baby troll). This idea's kept me entertained through the struggles of trying to keep track of my lineart and flat colour layers with the background here lol.)

ALTERNATIVELY I also entertained the idea of Boba and Fennec running a con mystery shack because they try to lie low for some crimes and not get caught (they are just the ideal type of chaotic-dumb-but-secretly-competent combo, who would play super dumb about any supernatural shenanigans going on while casually leaning against a rancor under a way too small sheet in the corner); and Din is the handy man helping out around the shack, trying to cover for his weird slightly green son who should not be allowed near frogs or you will see something you can never unsee after, and baby Rey, Finn and Poe could be the ones to get into all kinds of supernatural trouble (with Hux as Pacifica, and Kylo/Ben as Lil Gideon lol that would even work with Han and Boba having an archnemeses kind of situation going on). Plus Boba has an endless supply of lost competent twins so...

[novantinuum]

Pink Onyx AU- An Analysis and Theory Post, Part 4

[Part 1] | [Part 2] | [Part 3] | [Part 4- You are here!] | [Part 5]

~

Woo we’re almost there! This is part 4 of my analysis series on the excellent @pink-onyx-au comic made by @ceephorsshitshow. If you haven’t already, please check out the first three parts- linked above- for more information on what these posts are all about. A lot of this analysis will build on what came previously.

And with that stated, bingo bongo, an interlude-! 

__

Interlude: The analyst’s treasure is also in the tags

I’ve noticed a few little extra notes in the tumblr post tags before, but until I started this project I didn’t notice how decently common they were in the first few chapters. My jaw kinda fell to the goddamn ground when I realized the sheer wealth of vital information these tags give us about Onyx’s base personality before it even could fully surface in the comic.

There’s a few of these secret tag messages in Episode 3 while Jasper is taking Onyx on a fusion power spin as well, but I find the meaning of those tags to be a bit more tricky to summarize my take on, so I’ll just be focusing on the tags we can find peppered in Episodes 4 and 5.

Aight. So, Episode 4. We see secret tags start to crop up every few pages starting on page 11.

(Episode 4: Page 11)

Tags:  “i hear”

The meaning of this one is pretty straightforward. The budding personality of their fusion hears a name they really like. Next up…

(Episode 4: Page 13)

Tags: “why would i be nicer”

Here’s where we get to see a bit of that personality peeking through. The mostly Steven-fronting comment in the first frame is dappled with a bit of Onyx’s pink, so they seem to show some interest in the idea of identifying as an Onyx made for Earth. But also, does that mean they have to be nice? Do they even want to be “the nice Onyx?” 

Because, maybe instead… 

(Episode 4: Page 15)

Tags: “maybe i can do both”

Whatever kind of personality is developing here is one of rich contrasts. Via the tags and the speech bubbles, we can see that Onyx agrees with both suggestions that are given here simultaneously. A protector of all life on Earth, while also being a no-craps taken brute of a leader. Earth’s ultimate champion, mayhaps.

From now on, the tails of Onyx’s speech bubbles are tinted THEIR pink, even when Steven or Jasper are fronting. Onyx is slowly but surely coming more to the forefront.

(Episode 4: Page 20)

Tags: “would i be great?”

However, there’s a great bit of insecurity brimming within them. A lot of self-doubt. Would Onyx be great? It’s not hard to understand one of the reasons why they harbor these doubts. Just in this episode alone, Jasper referred to this fusion as “ugly” and was really pessimistic about their powers. I don’t think Steven is innocent when it comes to adding to Onyx’s whole little insecurity complex here, though…

Throughout this chapter, Steven’s got this leading goal of trying to heal all the damage he and Jasper caused to their surroundings the night before. Even though in later chapters he states that fusions are more than just tools, in this case, using Onyx as a tool to repair the woods is all he’s fused for. Thus, I think Onyx is innately aware of that, too… of the fact that if they don’t provide a useful “service” to the both of them, they won’t have any reason to fuse and let them exist.

Now, moving on to the two comments we see from them in the tags in Episode 5:

(Episode 5: Page 12)

Tags: “is that me?”

I don’t really have anything to add to this one, it’s just really fucking wholesome, lol. Look at that toothy little blep.

(Episode 5: Page 16)

Tags: “how do you want me to be?”

Aaaand then this one is just really sad. There’s another big ol’ chip on Onyx’s shoulder to add to the insecurity pile. One of their components thinks their “big, stupid body” is just absolutely useless? Well, how does Jasper want them to be, then? How can they prove that they’re worth her time? That they’re worth existing?

And in fact, this exact question is what plagues a lot of Onyx’s actions when they officially embark on their first long stint as themself.

__

Question Six: What do we learn about Onyx from their first big day out?

When Steven and Jasper finally form Onyx again after the events of the episode “Stuck With You,” their fusion is wracked with feelings of inadequacy and a continual drive to prove their own worth to their components. 

(Episode 8: Page 14)

This manifests in that classic sort of “gifted child” type of way. Like… they’re the fusion of one of the strongest jaspers out there and a diamond, yeah? Shouldn’t they instantly know who they are and what they’re capable of? Shouldn’t everything be easy for them?

Alas, however, they’re the fusion of probably the most mentally unstable jasper and diamond there is. So while they eventually figure out how to combine their weapons into a sick set of clawed shields, the celebration is dampened by the realization that… there isn’t much point to their existence at all anymore, is there? The weapon they wield… the niche they’ve already carved out for themself within their mind… doesn’t serve much of any purpose in this peaceful Era 3.

(Episode 8: Page 16)

Thus, what purpose would Jasper and Steven have for fusing to allow them to exist? Everything is transactional to Onyx, at this point. If they can’t prove their usefulness to the two of them, then in their head, their components will never have a reason to fuse. 

And so Onyx gets right to work trying to make themself indispensable. 

(Episode 8: Page 18)

Hey, ow. That really hurt to read you say, Onyx. 

They’ve barely existed for more than a few minutes and they’re already falling into the same pitfalls as their components.

After spending some time cleaning up the campsite and finding food for the bunnies and “Jasper’s ugly plant” (this line always makes me giggle), Onyx moves to take a selfie on Steven’s phone… only to realize that the dink friggin’ forgot it at home. Which brings them to their driving cause for all of Episode 9: 

(Episode 8: Page 21)

Sneaking through Beach City without being caught so they can retrieve Steven’s phone.

What really fascinates me about this newfound purpose is that for the first time in their whole existence, it’s a completely self-serving mission. Steven does not need his phone at this moment, and if he desperately did, they could easily just unfuse to allow him to sprint back and grab it. No, no… the reason Onyx wants to grab Steven’s phone is exclusively because they want to take a picture of themself to leave in his camera roll as a way of cementing tangible proof of their existence in this world. Even if it’s just an incognito photo of themself on a single phone. 

It’s the silent cry of a fusion who- after many nights of existing as mere whispers of personality in the background of two individuals scrambling for control in the same body- desperately wants to be remembered as an individual.

And thus begins Episode 9, titled “Steven For a Day.”

(Episode 9: Page 8)

The most basic meaning of this title is obvious when Onyx shapeshifts into a silly lil Steven double (Onyx plays Steven Tag WHEN?), but there’s a deeper meaning, too.

(Episode 9: Page 14)

Throughout this whole section of the comic, Onyx progressively hides more and more of their natural features to try and “blend in” and hide their true identity from the Gems and humans around them. First it’s shapeshifting into Steven to begin with… then a failed attempt to hide their second set of arms… then it’s closing their lower set of eyes to obscure those… next, hiding the gem on their face by letting it sink deeper into their head… then, plastering a bandaid over it to mask it entirely.

With each and every corner they turn in Beach City, they’re erasing more and more of themself.

Because instinctively, a part of them already knows (or at least, thinks) that they would not be welcome here if people were to know who they actually are.

Like, geeze. They’ve barely existed as themself for a few hours and yet they’ve already perfected the art of internalized shame.

Does this basic scenario sound a little familiar?

Well, it should.

(He would not be welcome here if people were to know who he actually is.)

To me, this entire episode reads as a metaphoric little glimpse at how Steven feels about being in public after his “meltdown.”

(Episode 9: Page 17)

I found this moment with Dewey interesting. Here’s a transcription of the text in the above panel if it’s hard for some to read: 

“Resourceful as ever. I’m happy to see that you’re doing better after everything. When I hadn’t seen you for a few mornings, I got a bit worried! People were asking. Ah, but no worries knowing you’re okay. I’ll be happy to tell them all that you’re up and around.”

The townsfolk seem very supportive and understanding of Steven- even worried when they notice he’s not up and about on his usual routines- and meanwhile, this dialogue is juxtaposed by Onyx literally slapping a bandaid over the “problem,” over what they think is making them stand out like a sore thumb… over what they fear may bring them judgement.

That’s what Steven’s been doing for all of Steven Universe: Future. And it’s what he’s still falling into the habit of doing now, after his corruption incident. He’s still slapping a bandaid over his own problems and not allowing himself to be vulnerable in discussing them, and this is a source of self-inflicted emotional harm for him. It causes Onyx physical discomfort to hide away their features in the same way that it causes Steven intense inner discomfort to deny the truth of what he went through.

Onyx isn’t just experiencing what it’s like to be Steven for a day in the flesh, they’re experiencing what it’s like for him having to hide away every shameful part of himself he fears others won’t truly understand.

Now, a quick little aside. Let’s step back a few pages to see what else we learn about Onyx in this episode…

(Episode 9: Page 13)

There IS a moment where Onyx gets a photo taken of them by a nefarious little Onion. Given this is exactly what they wanted (to secure a photo of themself, some cemented proof of their existence), one might question why they respond to this in such an agitated way.

Well, after so many nights of existing in the background whilst their squabbling components literally “drove” their body around, I imagine that personal agency is a huge priority for Onyx. They did not consent to this particular image being taken, nor did they want this image to (as I imagine Onion might use it) be circulated around town against their wishes. Intent and circumstance matters.

(Episode 9: Page 19)

The other thing I find very interesting about Onyx that’s further highlighted in this episode is their association of loud, droning background sounds with the concept of “quiet.” An arcade is absolutely not “quiet” in the way most of us would define that word. 

(Episode 8: Page 13)

But remember, from Onyx’s perspective, existing in the background of all of Steven and Jasper’s cross-talk is all they knew for a long while. And now, without those personalities at the forefront of their mind, all they have to keep company with are their own thoughts and the sounds of their surroundings.

Thus, it makes sense to me that the subdued auditory chaos of an arcade would be a comfort to their ears.

(Episode 9: Page 22)

Tragically, for all of Onyx’s efforts this episode, they never manage to snap the picture they wanted. The Gems are just too hot on their trail.

And much like what happened with Steven himself, when all the frustrations and bitter feelings start boiling over, everything they’ve worked so hard to mask thus far just unravels. 

Now Onyx (and by extension, Jasper) can finally understand just how hard it is to be Steven.

_

Look out for the final post in this series at 7am PST tomorrow. Farewell!

[recurring-polynya]

Izakaya Kamenoya

I am re-watching the Captain Amagai arc, which I love because it has just a shit-ton of Seireitei slice-of-life worldbuilding. Early in the arc, Kira goes to the bar with Renji and Iba to sob about how his new Third Seat is better than him, and it made me wonder-- do the lieutenants always go to the same bar, or does the anime just make up a new one every time? Episode 172 had a nice shot of the exterior:

I immediately went to Episode 355 (the second New Year's episode), because I'm always thinking about Rukia shotgunning that beer while Renji gazes on lovingly, and it certainly *looks* like same place, but again, maybe that's just a very standard-looking izakaya.

I decided that trying to translate the kanji might help. They're more visible in the first image. The ones on the paper lantern, 酒処 were easy, because they just say izakaya (literally, "alcohol" and "place"). That just supported the idea that this was just some generic bar. For the kanji on the wooden lantern, which appeared to be the same as the ones on the sign above the door, I managed to puzzle out the bottommost one, 屋, which means "shop" or "restaurant." Hmm.

At this point, I was feeling a little stumped, so I went looking for other screen shots.

Other bar scenes I could remember took place in: Episode 179 (Ukitake and Kyouraku try to angle Amagai into a threesome). This had a clearer shot of the sign, and it's definitely the same as the lantern.

Ep 305 (Kira and Hisagi go for drinks after work and run into Unohana having "Ladies' Night" with Soi Fon, the Kotetsu sisters, and Yachiru ????)

And finally, Episode 265 (the end of the Sword Beasts arc, Ladies' Night again, I guess, this time with zanpakutou)

and bingo, they actually translated it for me, this time!!

In, the only one that didn't turn out to take place at Izakaya Kamenoya was from Ep. 303, the first New Year's episode. The SWA holds their holiday luncheon here (the sign says 茶屋, or "tea house") .

It is also not the place where Rukia and Renji announce their engagement in WDKALY, that place is called Safflower, and it's fancier and it's specifically mentioned that it's way classier than everyone's usual digs.

That's neither here nor there, let's get back to Izakaya Kamenoya!

Later on, like when I was 90% of the way through writing this post, I realized there was an earlier shot of the sign in episode 172 that was also translated (which I thought I remembered and then assumed I had hallucinated when I couldn't find it, but it was from a separate trip to bar with Kibune and Kira's shitty subordinates). Conveniently, it's also probably the most readable out of all of them. EDIT: I didn't notice when I pasted this in here, but they translate it as Kamegameya here, which seems like a mistake? B3 suggests they might have read the second character as a repetition (with the k turning into a g, which I don't know all the details of, but I assume it's that thing that happens in Japanese when a word is in the interior of another word and it gets a harder consonant, the same way the s in "sakura" in Senbonzakura becomes a z). Google also tells me that the name of Yugi's grandfather's game shop in Yu-Gi-Oh is called Kame Game, so I wonder if the subtitler here was just working on muscle memory 😂. I'm sticking with Kamenoya, although Turtle Turtle Bar has its own charm)

The three characters in the upper left are 居酒屋, which is just a different way to spell izakaya.

"Kame" was easy to translate, it's the leftmost large character on the sign, 亀. It means "turtle", but the second meaning is "heavy drinker," so I'm guessing this might be a bit of a pun. Unfortunately, googling didn't turn up any further detail on this.

I puzzled a little over the middle character, until I realized that it might be 之, which is an older version of の. Oh, says me, who only speaks the Japanese I picked up from anime, it's Kame no ya, the way all the inns in Kakuriyo end in "ya." It just means "House of the Turtle", or "Turtle's Pub."

Turtle's Pub. Can we just take a moment to reflect on the fact that the lieutenants (and sometimes captains) like to hang out at someplace called Turtle's? I am so charmed by this. I have not been so excited since the time I realized that Renji was wearing the koi hoodie in the Bount Arc OP.

It's possible that it was just named by a guy who has "kame" as part of his name or who likes turtles, or as I said, maybe it's a pun, but there are two other possibilities I thought of:

In line with this post on the naming scheme for the Seireitei Gates, perhaps it's in the north part of the city, and named after Genbu the Black Tortoise-Snake

When I am making up business names in my fanfic, I often like to associate them with the squads they are near-- dragons for stuff near Squad 10, fish for 13, firebirds for things that are more city-wide. It's partially trying to tap into squad solidarity, and partially so people have a clue where your place is located in this stupid maze city. I love the idea of some former captain with a turtle-themed zanpakutou, whose is fondly remembered because someone happened to name a good bar after them.

I looked up that extremely questionable Blood War era Seireitei map, wondering if maybe Squad 3 was near the north gate:

It turns out it is not (assuming the unlabeled squads just go in order), but you know what is? Squad 10. So if Kamenoya is named after the North Gate, I assume everyone drinks there because it's close to Matsumoto.

(thank you very much to @kaicko for checking my work)

[trans-luis-serra-navarro]

hi! do you have serennedy headcanons about luis and leon being parents?

Hello!! Of course I do omg are you kidding me!!!!!!! I have a whole tag on my main @wisecrackingeric-2 titled ‘DadSerennedyAU’ if you wanna see my own spin on the idea!!!!! ORRRR if you wanna read something from yet another incredibly talented artist and author I CANNOT recommend @mooseonahunt ‘s AU enough!!!! And I know the lovely @geddy-leesbian has made some posts on this subject also!!!!!!!

But in terms of Headcannons I have plenty!! I’ll put them below the cut to avoid clogging anyone’s dashes!!

Edit: THIS IS UH UM. V E R Y LONG. I WENT KINDA BUCKWILD WITH THIS ONE AHDNCHDNXUXJXJ SO UH PLEASE ENJOY I GUESS!!

• First and foremost they are t4t. Sorry I don’t make the rules (also. Look at my blog name HQNAHWNEHDNDUDJ /lh)

• I imagine it was probably Luis who wanted a kid- we don’t know much about Leon’s childhood other than the fact that his parents died (the very wonderful @highball66 has some more information on the backstory we DO have for him!!) and thus we don’t really have a good idea of what his relationship with his parents might’ve been- but Luis is the TOTAL opposite. We know from context clues that he had a really strong relationship with his Grandfather, who went as far as to encourage his love for science and the unorthodox in an incredibly strict Catholic environment, and it’s implied on some level that Bitores Mendez had some hand in helping raise him, so I can imagine that Luis is very attached to the idea of parenthood and would probably wanna be the same kind of man his Grandfather was to him!!!

• Leon???? Realistically???? Probably a whole lot more hesitant- like he almost dies on the job everyday there’s no way he’d feel fit enough to raise a kid. But also,,,,, this is resident evil and also fiction where we can do whatever the hell we want so hell yeah he comes around to the idea eventually!!!!!!

• Luis is probably accidentally VERY clingy with their kid/a lil overbearing during the toddler age. Everything he’s ever contributed to in his life has either hurt others or he’s destroyed it one way or another- and everyone he’s held closest to him dies in some way. And going off of the first point, he’s probably put a LOT of pressure on himself to be a good Dad like his Grandfather was, so that usually ends up with him hogging the baby HCNNSSNSJSNIS

• Leon, again similar to my last point, would probably have the opposite reaction where he has this gut instinct to keep his distance- like he’s worried if he gets too attached it’s all gonna be ripped away from him just like Sherry was all of those years ago. But I highly doubt either of their qualms last for very long- they’d talk things out and figure out something that works for the both of them <3

• They’d probably go with the same middle and last name as Luis- ‘Serra’ and ‘Navarro’. I know I keep repeating myself but Luis had a really good relationship with his Grandfather and his culture/heritage clearly means a lot to him (ie; the intro to Seperate Ways), so being able to keep that little piece of his history alive would probably mean the world to him <<33

• And going off of that, Luis is ALWAYS trying to encourage their kid to learn more about their culture and heritage- teaching them Spanish, cooking them traditional foods, etc etc etc and when Luis isn’t there to do it, Leon is always more than happy to do so <<<<<<33333

• Let’s be real,,,,,,, Leon is coming up with the cringiest baby names ever HXNEHENDUXNXU CMOOOOOON LOOK AT MR. WHERES EVERYONE GOING BINGO!!!!! But Luis probably isn’t much better BCNENWEJSJ I can easily picture him convincing Leon that noooooo Alonso or Miguel aren’t references to Don Quixote hahahahahaha omg what’re you taaaalking abooout. So anyways if it were a girl what about Dulcinea-

• I’m picturing them choosing to have a kid a lil bit later than most people (like,, late 30’s-early 40’s??? So not like they’re old or anything but it’s not like they’re having kids in their early 20’s yk HNCSHDNSJ) so for that reason in my mind they’d probably only want one kid

• Very predictable but they both read Don Quixote to their kid when putting them to sleep and/or they sing them lullabies in Spanish. Who here is surprised for that one certainly not me

• And once again WHO IS SURPRISED, the kid’s room is very subtly Don Quixote themed. Lil stuffed donkeys and windmill motifs everywhere you get it (<- normalest guy alive)

• Leon’s probably the one who does more physical activities with their kid- realistically, Luis is N O T surviving that knife to the back without some major lifelong injuries, so Leon’s the one who always carry’s their kid on his shoulders or swings him around when they’re playing etc etc

• I think Luis would be a lil sad that he isn’t able to join in on those kinds of physical activities, but he’d absolutely make up for it by taking their kid to work or teaching them general hands-on skills n stuff!!

• Leon ABSOLUTELY would wanna teach their kid self-defence as early as possible. He obviously mellows out and realises hey maybe teaching a 10 year old how to wield a knife is a Bad Idea, but with everything he’s seen in his life there’s no way he wouldn’t want his kid to know how to defend themselves at LEAST

• Wild-card one here but the three of them ABSOLUTELY take family trips to Madrid or other cities in Spain during the summer

• Last wild-card one but sometimes Luis will look at their kid and see his Grandfather so clearly he just starts fuckim bawlimg. Same with Leon. He sees the childhood he could’ve had and sometimes he’s gotta excuse himself to cry. Love these beautiful idiots

Tl;dr they would be very very wonderful parents who would love their kid with all of their heart and soul and you can put that headcannon from my COLD DEAD HANDS!!!!!!

[kinardstits]

I am aware that maybe (probably) I am projecting, but.

before it settled in me that I'm demi, I believed I was simply bisexual

and the number of people, friends and family alike, that cringed and went on a tirade about how 'oh, so both? uh, it's fine if you want to sleep around or if you're easy, you do you, but lmao maybe choose one? don't need to go after the whole market ahahaha' was baffling

and now, to have one of my favorite queer stories, one which has frankly resonated quite a bit with me cos only later in life did something stick and feel right, be absolutely bulldozed, not just on screen but during post-ep interviews as well, is just. yikes. what a throwback.

I'm fine with break-ups meant to generate drama and hype among fandom spaces but to have OS come out and reinforce harmful biphobic stereotypes was not on my bingo card.

this could even be the plan from the beginning, to have buck sleep around for a while (even if it's character assassination after all that he grew since S1, but that's another conversation entirely), but to have the cast and crew lean on it on interviews like it's for laughs is just double fucking YIKES.

if you want to portray/write a queer storyline, maybe some research should be done to avoid tripping on sensitive topics. if the research was done and they still decided to dig their knuckles into it like this, then, fuck you very much.

[jo-harrington]

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 18 - Freak

Summary: Dave's first day at Hawkins High.

Word Count: 961

Rating: T

Warnings/Themes: Friendship, new friends, a bit of self deprecation, teenage angst, typical teenage snark, Freak #3 is named Dave, whats the friendship thing where you think someone's a raging bitch/asshole and then that ends up being your best friend? yeah that...

Check Out the Main Post for @corrodedcoffinfest here! Even if you didn’t start on Day 1, you can still join!

Tagging: @the-unforgivenn at her request.

You can find my masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

Here we go again.

Another school, another first day, another fresh start.

Dave's mom loves fresh starts; Dave hates them.

Understandable because he's been the new kid at school at least three other times in his life, thanks to his dad's job. You'd think he'd be used to it now that he was older, but it'd only made him more bitter.

Always having to leave friends behind, leave plans unfulfilled.

Plus he'd been gearing himself up to ask his crush out before they had to move again. He was pretty sure they were gonna say yes too.

He'd spent all summer in some stage of heartbreak.

"You'll find someone new to have a crush on," his mom tried to cheer him up as she drove him to school on his first day. "And making friends again will be so easy! You have such a bright personality Davey."

He sunk further into his seat, pout cemented on his face.

That was the last thing he wanted to hear from his mom.

He felt a little thankful that it wasn't only his first day, but the first day of classes entirely, and that there was such a commotion of traffic between Hawkins Middle and Hawkins High that his mom couldn't get out of the car to hug him goodbye.

Immediately, he realized how much he was gonna stick out at this school. First day of school meant that you dressed your best. For Dave, that was his nicest jeans, his leather jacket, and his favorite sneakers. For everyone else, it seemed like their best meant that they were cut out of sears catalogs and Old Navy window displays and whatever magazines that the popular girls always giggled at over lunch.

He figured...that was what happened when you moved from a bigger city to a suburb in the middle of nowhere like this. But it suddenly put a bitter taste in his mouth and he suddenly doubted that he was gonna find anyone to be friends with.

If only he knew what was waiting for him in first period...

To be fair, when Dave first saw saw, who he later would find to be, Eddie Munson in the back corner of the classroom, his mind immediately thought "who is this douchebag?"

Long hair, perpetual stank face, slumped in his desk so far that you could barely call it sitting, with a long leg stretched across the aisle making it impossible for anyone to sit next to him.

"Guy must think his dick is so big," Dave grumbled as he put as much space between himself and capital-D-douchebag as possible.

Unfortunately for him, they were partnered together for the "ice breaker" by their very chipper teacher.

"Hey, I'm Eddie," the guy greeted immediately, face pulled into a less-than-enthusiastic expression as he moved to the seat beside Dave. "Nice jacket."

"Thanks," he responded blithely with a nod.

It wasn't that he wanted to be an asshole, he just...got the wrong vibe from this guy. Even if Eddie didn't seem all that bad right now--bored more than anything--he knew plenty of people that turned out to be terrible.

But he could try to be a little friendlier.

"Let's, uh, break some ice I guess," he told Eddie with an expectant lift of his brow and they got to work.

The activity on the board--a weird "getting to know you" game of Bingo--was slow to say the least.

Name of your first pet? Eddie never had any pets, Dave had a dog named Rascal when he was younger.

Middle name? Edward Joseph and David Andrew.

Favorite band? "Metallica"

It was said in tandem and both boys did a double take, then Eddie narrowed his eyes.

"Seriously?" he scoffed. "You like Metallica? Name three of their songs."

"What?" Dave's voice squeaked with affront. "Are you kidding me? I don't need to prove myself to you."

That's it, he knew this guy was a dickhead.

"Why don't you name three of their songs?"

The two of them bickered back and forth for a minute, their words lost beneath the din of their classmates chatter, until finally Dave had enough.

"Seriously I know I'm the new kid and everything and I know its not hard to look at me and see that I'm a freak," he put hard emphasis on the word, "but it doesn't mean you need to tease me for the shit I like. Play pretend to get me to trust you and then laugh at me. What's next? You gonna ask me if I like Dungeons and Dragons?"

It was silent for a moment before Eddie leaned over in his seat to dig something out of his backpack. He slapped it right onto the desk in front of Dave.

A beaten old black spiral notebook with a piece of duct tape across the front that said Hellfire in black sharpie.

Dave cautiously opened it to find all sorts of campaign notes and character sheets and scribbles in the margins about this and that. It was like a gold mine. Shit, even his friends back home didn't play DnD with him...

"So..." Eddie sniffed. "Hellfire meets every Friday after school. Still not too sure where we're holding meetings this year. Have to talk to our good old sponsor first. But, unofficially, you're welcome to come sit with us at lunch if you want? See if you wanna join?"

Dave nodded dumbly and then, before he realized it, he was rambling on about his favorite songs from Kill Them All and he and Eddie were on their way to becoming the best of friends.

"It's, uh, nice to meet you Dave," Eddie told him at the end of class.

"Nice to meet you too Ed.

And the rest was history.