#and this was in the 90s so they would've had to go grab the actual camera to snap that pic

[damnprecious]

I wish hiding under the couch was a socially acceptable answer to your problems

[captain19cb97]

A Surprise (M) b.c

Getting the chance to come back to Seoul for a couple months to work with your boyfriend's group, you also have the chance to show up without him knowing you're back, and the reunion is better than you hoped it would be.

Pairing: Idol!Chan x Fem!Reader | Older Sister!Reader x Felix

Word Count: 5.2k

Genre: Smut (18 + MDNI) Fluff, Established Relationship, Established Friendship w/SKZ members

Warnings: This story is 90% smut, if you are not 18 or older, please DO NOT INTERACT with this story. Unprotected sex (reader is on birth control, but regardless, be smart and safe! Use protection) Pet names (Baby, my love, love, babygirl, princess) name calling (Whore but affectionately it is unspoken but it's done consensually) Praise, cursing, light choking, casual mention of food.

You [9:35 p.m.] Min, Jinnie! I'm ready whenever you two are.

You set your phone on the counter after locking it so you could look around the apartment again for a moment. The company had paid to have some of your things shipped out, mostly clothes and things like that, because you refused to let them buy you new clothes, saying that you'd have nowhere for the new things to go once you flew back home. But you did compromise on letting them pay for everyday things, like kitchen utensils and the like, so you could actually inhabit the apartment for the close to 2 month that you’d be staying in it.

The company had asked you to come work with Chan and the guys, being that you were Felix’s older sister, and since they knew about your relationship with Chan, and how amazing of a photographer you were. You were obviously, more than happy to spend so much time with your brother, your boyfriend and the rest of the members, even if you were going to be working for a lot of the time.

It was still 2 months straight, though, and it was about to be the most amount of time that you and Chan have spent together, in person, since before getting together, since you’re living and working in a different country right now.

You stood in the doorway to the master bedroom, marveling at the sight before you. It was beautifully decorated- simple yet cozy- and there wasn't a single thing you could find to complain about as you continued to look around, even after hearing your phone go off from the kitchen counter.

You made your way back over to grab you phone, seeing that the boys had texted you back.

Minhooo [9:39 p.m.] We're on our way, Noona!

Hyunjinnie [9:40 p.m.] I'm so excited!

Little Bro Sunshine [9:40 p.m.] I can't wait to see you!

Jisungie [9:41 p.m.] Bin-Hyung and I will keep Channie-Hyung busy until you're at the dorm. Can't wait to see you either, though, Noona!

Seungminnie [9:43 p.m.] IN-ah looks like he's going to explode, he's so excited.

Innie [9:44 p.m.] I AM excited!

You [9:45 p.m.] I'm excited too, boys! I've missed you all so much

You decided that now would be a good time to text Chan, telling him you were finally home. Halfway through your flight, you'd messaged him- like you'd planned, telling him you'd had a layover for a couple hours somewhere, but that you were going to use that time to get some food and to walk around to kill time and stretch out your legs.

All in the hopes that he wouldn't question why you'd be texting him so much later then when your flight home would've landed already. You were so excited to surprise him, and you were thankful for the guys, for helping you get everything planned out.

You [9:50 p.m.] Hey baby! Finally made it home, but I'm feeling super jetlagged so I'm going to get some more sleep. I'll text you when I get up though, okay? I love you; I hope your day was good! 💕🥰

And after that, you waited for Minho and Hyunjin to knock on the apartment door and for Chan to text you back, which only took a couple minutes.

Chris💙 [9:54 p.m.] Glad to hear that you're home, my love. Okay, sleep well, I love you more xxxx &lt;3<3 I'm going home in a bit to do the same thing.

You [9:55 p.m.] Dream about me then?

Chris💙 [9:55 p.m.] I already do, love

Chris💙 [9:56 p.m.] Get some rest, babygirl. I'll talk to you later?

You [9:56 p.m.] Cheesy boy! Videocall when I get up? If you're not busy.

Chris💙 [9:57 p.m.] Only for you. And I'll never say no.

You [9:57 p.m.] I know 💕 night, baby

Chris💙 [9:58 p.m.] Good night, love &lt;3

After another few minutes, finally loud knocks sounded at the door, and you could barely contain your excitement as you pulled it open to two smiling faces.

You didn't even say hi, just quickly grabbed them both, pulling them in for a tight little group hug as they both laughed at your reaction, but hugged you back just a tightly.

"I've missed you both." You sighed happily, letting them go after a moment.

"We've miss you, too, Noona." Minho smiled at you as Hyunjin nodded.

"Lots," Hyunjin added, hugging you again. "How was the flight?"

You let out a soft sigh, "Not too bad, I slept most of the time knowing that I'd need the rest for the time difference. Honestly, I'm just tired from all the photoshoots I’ve done this last week and a half."

"Looking forward to a few days with nothing to do?" Minho asked with a smile.

You grinned, "Absolutely. After that, it's going to be a busy and long few weeks. But I can't complain when I get to see you guys so much again finally."

The boys smiled, "Well," Minho started, "You could complain, but we all know that we're going to make sure you have no reason to."

"Or have plenty of reasons to." Hyunjin laughed.

You shook your head, rolling your eyes at both of them, "You two are ridiculous."

"And you missed us." Hyunjin pointed out, a wide smile on his face. "But that's a topic for another time, because Changbin-Hyung texted me and they're leaving the studio soon so we need to go."

"Let me grab my things then," You said, spinning around towards the counter only a few steps away from you, glancing back at Minho, "Did Jisung order dinner like we planned?"

He nodded, watching you quickly pull a familiar looking hoodie over your head, "Yeah, it'll get there about the same time as us, if we leave now."

You scoffed playfully, pulling on both shoes, "Alright, alright, come on then." You smiled, making sure you had the key to the apartment in case you couldn't remember the code, before shoving your phone into the pocket of the Chan's hoodie and following them back out the door and down the hall, making sure the apartment door was shut and locked behind you.

The whole drive was spent just talking to them about everything that had been going on since you'd all been together back on their last tour, Chan had finally gotten the chance to spend some time back home with his family after a few years and you'd been so excited for him.

When Felix told you that he was going too, you were even happier, knowing your little brother was getting the chance to go home to be with the rest of your family for a little while, even though you were a little upset that you couldn’t also be there.

The boys told you about the few concerts they'd had since coming back to Seoul, some things that had happened in the studio when they were practicing and just everyday life for all of them- little things that Chan or Felix didn't always have time to tell you when you would talk to either of them.

The closer you got to the dorm, the more excited, and nervous, you became, and they both noticed- even in the dark of the car. Minho glanced at you after he finally parked at the dorm, offering you a small smile, "It's going to be great, Noona. Don't worry too much, okay?"

Hyunjin put his hand on your shoulder before you guys got out, "Yeah, Channie-Hyung isn't going to know what to do when he sees you."

"All I know is that I'm definitely going to cry." You mumbled, climbing out of the car, "How much time do we have?"

Hyunjin unlocked his phone, "Hannie said they just left the company, so we have like 15 minutes or so."

You nodded, following behind them into the building, "I'm so excited to see the rest of the boys."

"Yongbok-ah's been freaking out most of the day, he barely slept last night." Minho mentioned as you guys stepped off the elevator finally.

You cooed softly, "Yeah, he'd been texting me nonstop until my flight boarded about how excited he was. I missed my little brother." You smiled as they stopped in front of the dorm and Hyunjin put the code in before turning the handle. He smiled down at you before he slowly pushed the door open for you, motioning for you to go first.

There was a loud gasp as you stepped through the doorway, "She's here!" You heard Innie yell before three sets of arms engulfed you into a tight hug.

You giggled, squirming a little to get your arms free to hug them back, "Hi, boys!"

Felix laughed, "I can't believe you're actually here!" he exclaimed.

"I missed you, Noona." Innie grinned.

Seungmin smiled widely, "Took you long enough." He joked softly.

You managed to get your arms free, and touching each of them as you smiled happily, "I missed you guys, too." You told them before you all pulled apart from one another before you grabbed Felix for a long hug. “I missed you.” You whispered, feeling your eyes sting slightly as you hugged him.

It had been a long time since you guys had been together and since you and Felix have always been so close, it’s been hard being apart this long.

He immediately relaxed against you, hugging you just as tightly, as he sighed softly, “I missed you, too, Noona. I’m so happy you’re back.”

10 minutes or so later, you were firmly planted on the center cushion of the couch, facing the front door and watching Hyunjin accept the takeout boxes from the delivery guy with a smile and a soft 'thank you' bow before closing the door and facing the rest of you with a smile.

"Food's here, now we just need the star of the show." He joked, taking the bags into the kitchen.

"Han just texted me," Minho looked up at you, "Changbin-ah just parked, so they'll be up in a minute."

You let out an excited but shaky breath, "Oh, man, I'm weirdly nervous." you admitted softly.

Felix dropped his head to your shoulder and let out a soft chuckle, "That's okay, Noona! This is how Channie-Hyung was in LA before you got there."

You grinned at him, tightening your hand around his for a quick second, "Really?"

Seungmin nodded, "Oh yeah. He couldn't sit still, from the second we got back to the hotel until he ran out of the room to meet you at the elevator."

You grinned at the memory of that night, at how excited you had been to see Chan standing outside those doors when they opened. You hoped that's how he'd feel now.

Minho looked at the boys, "Okay, they left Channie-Hyung in the lobby, so they're coming in in a second and then he'll be up after that, so we should go hide in the kitchen." He looked at you as they all started getting up and walking away from the living room, "Ready?"

You took a deep breath and nodded, "Ready."

He smiled just as the door burst open with two panting boys who quickly looked around the room for you before they ran at you for a quick hug.

"He's almost up here, we waited by the elevator until he got on." Changbin said quickly, letting you out of the hug.

"He must have found it weird that you two just left him like that." You chuckled softly, watching them head for the kitchen too.

Han shook his head, "We were messing around before that to make it look more real. Changbin-Hyung 'chased' after me for smacking his hat off outside the car." He explained.

You just let out a quiet laugh, "You guys really went all out for this, huh?" You asked softly.

They both smiled at you as you stood from the couch to stand a little ways away from the door for when Chan opened it. "For you guys? Yeah! And we'd do it again." Han grinned.

Minho grabbed his arm, "Sentimentality later, he should be at the door in a minute." he whispered, tugging Han into the kitchen with him.

You just shook your head and spun around, keeping your eyes on the door until you heard the handle starting to turn and your heart began beating so fast, you were worried it would beat out of your chest as the door was slowly pushed open.

"You know," Chan's voice started before he had even put a foot through the doorway, "You two are lucky that there wasn't anyone in the lobby, to see you guys being-" He stopped talking, his eyes landing on your pair of shoes by the door as he stepped inside, before his eyes slowly landed on your figure in the middle of the living room, the rest of his sentence slowly falling from his lips. "Like that.."

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop as you smiled at him. "Surprise." you whispered finally.

Already, you could feel your eyes stinging with tears as his mouth dropped open slightly as you stared at each other for a solid 10 seconds before he launched himself at you. Dropping everything he had been holding in his hands to the floor before his arms wrapped around your body, tightly, pulling you into his chest until your feet were off the ground.

He buried his face in your neck, breathing deeply as he somehow pulled you closer to him- not fully believing that you were there, that you were in his arms again as he heard you let out a soft cry into his shoulder where you had buried your face, your arms wrapped tightly around his neck, and your legs around his waist.

"You're here. You're really here." He breathed out, a few tears dropping from his face onto the fabric of the hoodie adorning your body. "I can't believe you're actually here." he whispered, cupping your tear-streaked cheek as you nodded slowly.

It was so nice to be home.

"I'm really here." You whispered back before he quickly blanketed your lips with his before you both pulled away again, hugging each other tightly as you finally put your feet back on the floor.

He took your face in both of his hands, his vision slightly blurred from happy tears as he smiled down at you, "You lied to me." You let out a tearful laugh and nodded, he sighed, leaning down to kiss you again, his lips brushing yours lightly, "I missed you so fucking much."

You eagerly kissed him back again, fisting the fabric of his jacket at his waist, "I missed you, too." you mumbled, pressing your forehead to his once you'd both pulled away.

As soon as the boys realized you guys were done kissing- Han had peeked his head out the kitchen doorway to double check- they all quickly emerged into the living room again, cheering loudly like the dorks they are, for you both.

Chan looked at them, a mix of bewilderment and pure surprise on his face as the realization hit him, why they'd all been the way they had been since the day before, "You guys knew?"

"We helped plan this." Seungmin answered him, a proud smile on his lips.

Chan glared playfully at Felix, “You! You knew too?”

Felix couldn't stand still, bouncing happily on his feet, "Oh, it was torture having to keep this a secret from you, Hyung." He breathed, "But so totally worth it!"

Chan felt you lace your fingers with his, making him look down at you, "Definitely worth it." You grinned up at him.

A couple hours later, after you’d all eaten and enjoyed just spending the time together, you and Chan got ready to leave for the night. The boys had told him that he had the next few days off, to just enjoy spending time with you before you and Felix spent a day or two together, before your busy schedules really started.

Chan looked down at you and nodded gently, before turning to look back at the guys, "If you guys need anything, just text me. Or her."

"Chan, they know." You giggled, offering the boys a smile, shouldering your purse finally. "Either or though, doesn't matter."

Minho shook his head, "We'll be fine for a few days. Just like when you went home, hyung. Now get out of here and spend some time together."

He smiled wide, nodding in response, "Thank you, guys. Really. We'll see you in a couple days, I guess."

You grinned, throwing a smile back at Felix then the rest of the boys, "See you guys this weekend, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Han laughed, "Knowing you, Noona, that's not a lot."

You faked a hurt expression as you pulled open the front door, "Wow, Ji, just wow. I mean, you're right but still, damn." You sighed playfully, "Don't do anything that will get you in trouble." You offered instead, smiling back at them, "Better?"

Chan let out a soft sigh, "I'm worried about what you talk about with them." He joked, taking your hand in his, "Have a good few days, boys."

You giggled at him, rolling your eyes playfully, "Nothing bad, obviously." You looked back at the rest of them, "Bye, boys! Goodnight."

Finally, after hearing them all bid you goodnight and goodbye, you and Chan disappeared through the front door and down the hall, enjoying the soft silence that had enveloped you both as you made it down to his car.

"Princess." He grinned, opening your door for you before quickly throwing his backpack into the backseat.

You let out a soft laugh, shaking your head as you slid into the seat, "Thank you."

He chuckled, rounding the car himself, after making sure you were in the car and your door was shut. After a minute or so, he'd put his music on low, and grabbed your hand in his, pulling it up to his lips, "I still can't believe you're actually here." he whispered again, lips grazing your knuckles.

You smiled, leaning over to kiss his lips. Keeping your hand on his cheek as you slowly pulled away, "I hope it was a good surprise."

He nodded quickly, touching his forehead to yours for a moment, "You know how much I've missed you; I couldn't be happier right now."

You pecked his lips again before settling back in your seat fully, "Neither could I."

He grinned over at you, squeezing your hand once before finally pulling away from the dorm and onto the road to your apartment, following the gps that you’d put into the dash when you first got in the car.

The drive was quiet, comfortable, and your hand never left his until you both were getting out of the car a couple minutes later. You waited at the front of the car for him to grab his bag from the backseat, and it was only then that you realized he didn't have his laptop. Which you pointed out as much when you guys got into the elevator.

"If I have the days off, and I have you, I don't need my laptop." He answered with a smile, "I'd rather spend all this time with just you, and not worry about working on anything."

You could feel the warmth of his words spreading through your body as you made it to your apartment door, "As much as I adore that sentimentality, baby, what are you going to do when you can't sleep and want something to do?"

You felt his chest against your back as you went to open the door, stopping when you felt his lips graze your ear, "Why would I want my laptop, when I can just do you, instead?"

Your breath hitched and your barely turned your head to look up at him. Seeing that cocky, smug grin on his lips didn't help the sudden want growing within you, "You're shameless." You said weakly.

His smug look only worsened as he finished opening the door behind you, "When it comes to you? Yeah." He muttered, gently pushing you inside the apartment, keeping your gaze as you both moved, before shutting the door with his foot.

You pulled him closer to you, not even bothering to properly put your things down before you pulled his lips down to yours in a heated kiss, moaning softly at the feel of his hands on your ass as he pulled you closer to him too.

It was a miracle that neither of you crashed into anything as you led him down the hall and into the bedroom, clothes trailing behind you after being haphazardly pulled from your bodies. Lips and hands barely left each other's skin as Chan laid you on your back on the bed, moving to hover above you, a lovesick grin on his face the second he looked down at you.

"I don't know how I got so lucky to be with someone as beautiful as you." He whispered, cupping your cheek lightly.

You flushed under his gaze and words, diverting your eyes from his, "You know damn well I think that same thing about you." You mumbled, meeting his eyes again and reaching up to cup his cheek too.

Chan grinned, turning his head to press a soft kiss to your palm, "6 months is way too long without you. I'm going to show you how much I missed you, my love." he whispered, leaning down to capture your lips with his.

You nodded just barely, relishing in the way he was already running his hands softly over your body, "Show me." You pleaded gently, arching your back as his hand found purchase between your legs.

He trailed his lips down your neck, lavishing your skin in unspoken confessions as he rocked his hips into yours- limbs tangled, wrapped around each other as you both steadily found yourselves closer to the edge.

You gasped, feeling him thrust deeper, but keeping the same pace, "J-just like that, baby, fuck yes."

He grunted above you, watching your face scrunch up in pleasure as you clenched around him again, "You're so good to me, love," He panted in your ear, "So fucking good to me."

You whined, throwing your head back into the mattress as you clenched around him and dragged your nails down his back, "You're the one doing all the work, baby." You hissed, feeling his lips latch around your nipple. "I should be telling you how good you are to me."

He chuckled, barely lifting his head to fully gaze up at you, "The sounds you're making are telling me enough, babygirl." He grinned smugly, lapping his tongue around the perked bud again.

You arched your back at the feeling, eyes closing as you sighed in pleasure before pulling his face up to yours, both of your hands on his cheeks as you met his eyes, "I love you," You panted softly, your lips grazing his, "Ruin me, baby. I want more. Please?"

He closed the space between your lips, grunting into your mouth as he hoisted your leg over his hip, his fingers digging into the flush on the back of your thigh, "You want more, huh? I'll give you more, babygirl."

If you thought you were rushing towards an orgasm before, you had no idea what you were truly in for. Chan braced himself with one hand on the bed up by your head, the other still tightly holding your thigh as he picked up his pace, moaning at the feeling of you clenching around him again as you moaned out loudly at the change in pace.

"This what you wanted, huh? You wanted me to fuck you instead of make love to you?" He let out a dry chuckle, bowing his head a little, and watching his cock disappearing inside you. "Do you want me to fuck you like you're a whore? My little whore?"

"Yes!" You cried, hands gripping the sheet beneath you as you squeezed your eyes shut, "Fuck, baby, yes. 'm your whore, I-I wanna be your whore."

He quickly pulled out, leaving you gasping and confused until he roughly grabbing your waist, "On your hands and knees then, babygirl. Whores don't get to look at me when I fuck them."

You had to keep yourself from moaning at his words as you did as he told you, dropping onto your forearms as he gripping your ass with both hands, squeezing and spreading your cheeks a few times, before you felt the tip of his cock at your entrance again.

You had no idea where this sudden change came from. The few times you guys have had sex since getting together, sure he'd fucked you, but, God, not like this. Not that you were complaining, you'd gotten a taste of this Chan on the many, steamy phone and videocalls over the long months, but this was different- this was first-hand, and you were living for it.

You moaned at the feeling of him rubbing his tip up and down your folds, wiggling your hips slightly in anticipation, "Please?" You begged, turning to look at him over your shoulder.

He put his hand on the middle of your back, pushing your chest further into the mattress, "You'll get it, babygirl. Behave."

And as he finished saying the words, he slowly pushed back into you, bottoming out before pulling out again just as slowly, listening to you gasp at the difference in angle.

As much as you both liked being able to look in each other's eyes, grabbing each other's faces to pull the other into heated, deep kisses during sex, this angle was making him hit every spot within you, and he knew it too, just from how you were crying out, and burying your face into the sheets as you clenched tightly around him, pulling him deeper.

You could feel the burn in your knees from the prolonged stance as you pushed back against him with every hard thrust. You could feel his fingers digging into your hips as he pulled you backwards into him each time, too. And listening to him let out low, deep groans as he fucked into you was quickly sending you headlong into an orgasm you knew was going to hit you hard.

You could feel it as he pulled you up and back into his chest, bucking up into you as he wrapped an arm across your chest, the other falling between your legs as his rubbed rough figured 8's onto your clit- the overstimulation making it harder for you not to fall limp on the bed, and had it not been for Chan's arms, you would've.

One of your hands gripped around his wrist on the arm across your body, taking his hand and moving it to the base of your neck, the other reaching behind you both, around the back of his neck as he continued to thrust, panting heavily into your neck.

"Are you close?" he grunted, enjoying the feeling of your body pressed tightly against his as your hand fell to his ass, grabbing a handful.

You nodded quickly, dropping your head back onto his shoulder, "So close, baby, I'm so close." You whimpered as he gently tightened his hand around your throat, as the knot in your stomach quickly tightened. "Fuck, I’m gonna cum.”

Chan's hips faltered for a moment, feeling you clench around him before he picked up the same pace, letting your throat go and grabbing your chin to make you look at him. "Cum for me then, babygirl." He demanded, "You've been such a good girl for me- my pretty little whore." He brushed your lips with his as your walls tightened around him again.

You cried out, letting him silence the sound with his mouth on yours as you finally came, ears ringing as the pleasure overtook you as he continued roughly thrusting into you, letting you ride it out until his hips stopped and he spilled inside you only moments later, panting heavily as he let go of your jaw and pulled his hand from your core.

He held you against his chest as you both tried to catch your breaths, bodies sticky with sweat from the heat between you both.

You felt his lips at the base of your neck after brushing your hair to the side, "You okay?" He asked, adjusting you both as he pulled out.

You whimpered softly at the oversensitivity, but nodded, "Perfect, you?" You asked, turning to look at him as he stood from the bed.

He grinned down at you, a tired expression on his face, "Never been better."

You barely huffed a chuckle, slowly moving to put your feet on the floor to stand too. "Shower?"

Chan didn't reply, only held his hand out to you, helping you stand on wobbly feet before following you to the bathroom. He looked at you, an amused look in his eyes as you stood slightly unsteadily as you turned the shower on, waiting for the water to get hot. "You sure you're doing okay?" He teased.

You glanced back at him, splashing a small handful of water towards him as you stuck your tongue out at him. "I'm probably going to be a little sore in the morning, but yeah, I'm fine."

He nodded as you turned back around, his eyes shamelessly raking over the naked expanse of your body as you paid him no mind. His heart felt full, having you home with him again, and even though the distance was tough and sometimes painfully hard, in this moment, he felt like it was worth it.

He hadn't realized that you'd finally turned back to look at him, ready to tell him the shower was ready. You caught his eyes, your brows pinching together in question as he just stared at you still.

"What?" You asked finally, the word spoken so softly, it was almost drowned out by the stream of water behind you.

He took the two steps between you both, hand coming to rest gently on your waist and smiled down at you- a look of pure love and adoration in his eyes as you tilted your head up to look him in the eyes. "I’m just so happy you’re home again. I love you." Was all he offered in response before he gently pressed his lips down to yours in a chaste kiss.

You sighed into the kiss, smiling as you both pulled away, "And I love you. Not to ruin your sappy love moment though, but can we get into the shower now? I, uhm, have your cum coming down my thighs." You said softly, cheeks slightly darkening before Chan let out a quiet laugh and nodded, letting you go before slapping your ass as you climbed into the shower.

You yelped at the sudden contact, spinning to playfully glare at him as he followed behind you, pulling the shower curtain closed, "Really?"

“It was right there,” He sent you a cheeky grin and shrugged just barely, "Couldn't resist."

[deathmetalangel]

Hii! I’m literally carving smuts in these days, and I just finished Wednesday!!

I was thinking about a bsf to lovers, where reader and tyler have to hide from his dad because the reader is an outcast and they have to hide and sexual tension, or maybe the reader goes to the cafe during tyler’s night shift!!

Btw, have a good day xx

-anon 🍃

DO I MAKE YOU NERVOUS? (TYLER GALPIN X GN!READER)

warnings: sexual tension, age gaps (they're a ghost so), oral (m!receiving), unprotected sex, no implied afab or amab genitals for reader, creampie, l word, tyler almost transforming, mentions of death

tyler galpin has many secrets, his biggest isn’t the monster in his closet, it’s how stupid his closest ghost friend makes him

two requests in once since two people asked for tyler galpin smut teehee

A normie and an outcast? Who would've thought the two could even be friends. Especially between a lifeless ghost and and the son of the town Sheriff who was wary of the Nevermore students. Y/n was easily Nevermore's longest resident, but throughout their years at the academy they had never enjoyed their time quite like they did now.

That was thanks to Tyler Galpin. The 'human' boy had somehow charmed the young spirit. For a soul forced to damnation the current life they lived was surprisingly enjoyable. Even now, when they had to hide in Tyler's room whenever his dad barged in to speak with him about some random chore or another trivial topic.

Y/n waits until the coast is clear to appearate again. "Sorry about him, my dads just been on edge. With everything happening in town and all you know." Tyler apologizes for the constant intrusions.

"It's nothing really. I think of it as a way of practicing my spectral abilities more. So, thanks for the practice." Y/n smiles at the awkward boy. Of course they already knew his secrets, not that he was aware though. "So what movie were you going to show me?"

"Oh! Yeah, lemme grab it." Tyler rushes to his closet to find the dvd. Who still uses dvds? "I wanted you to watch American Psycho since you haven't seen it, which is still weird to me but whatever." Y/n watches him start up the movie while they float towards his bed and take a seat.

Tyler smiles and sits down next to y/n. While their eyes were fixated on the movie he kept glancing back at them, he was so desperate for their approval. Would they like the movie? Or think it was dumb? Think he was dumb? What if they hated him? His body tenses up when their hand lands next to his thigh.

It wasn't the temperature of their skin, it was how close they were to touching him. He glances back again, his eyes studying every feature on their face. It was almost impossible for him not too. Y/n seemed to notice the attention on them when they look back and see Tyler staring 'inconspicuously'. "You seen the movie too many times?"

Tyler's face turns red from being caught. "Uh, no I actually really like the movie. I just wanted to see if you were enjoying it." His lie was apparent, but y/n really didn't mind.

"Yeah I am. It's pretty good, although Im pretty impartial to 90s movies since, you know, that's when I died. The Craft was a good one." They smile at how nervous Tyler was getting. So, they slyly move their hand on top of his thigh. "What, you don't like that movie?"

He clears this throat awkwardly. "No no. I like that movie, a lot actually. It's really good."

"Are you just not feeling movies? We can do something else if you want, just say the word." He was freaking out at the implication. Were they just being a tease, or was y/n really implying something else.

Y/n smiles and slowly presses their body towards Tyler, like they were waiting for an answer. "We can do whatever you want to do, I have my xbox or-" His breath hitches when both of their hands are placed on his upper thighs. "Just pick," He mumbles trying and hoping that his blood doesn't all rush to his eager dick.

"That's all you want to do? Or I can suck your-" Tyler quickly covers their mouth when he hears loud footsteps coming upstairs. His heart was practically beating out of his chest until they faded away meaning his dad went back downstairs. "Oh yeah, I gotta be as quiet as a mouse." It was obvious y/n enjoyed teasing him.

Especially when they glanced down at the hard on that was prominently shown through his jeans. "What's the magic word Ty?"

"Please." He whispers partially out of breath from the tension he was experiencing. Y/n smiles while they promptly undo his belt and loosen his jeans. His dick was straining in his boxers, a sight to behold.

His breath catches in his throat when their hand begins to make contact with his aching cock. "You're quite a big boy aren't you?" He can't even respond when their chilled fingers rub against his tip that was exuding precum. "Ty, do I make you nervous?" He looks down at the ghost whose face was positioned right next to his dick.

"Very much so."

They just giggle. "Good." Y/n licks a stripe up against his shaft making him throw his head back. Their hand was fixed at the base of his dick while they gently kissed his tip. "I wanna know how you taste," He can feel himself being eveloped by their mouth. Tyler bites back the breathy moans that want to leave his lips. Their other hand gently grabs ahold of his balls making him almost audibly moan.

It was getting hard for him to hold back. Especially when he felt his dick start to reach into their throat. "Fuck..." He bites his tongue to no avail. Y/n let’s him go and smiles at his mewling beneath them.

“Shhh. We gotta be quiet. Besides, we haven’t even got to the best part.” His eyes widened when they pushed him back onto his mattress. “Plus, I wouldn’t be the one getting caught with my dick out.” They giggle before dropping their bottoms and sliding their legs out of their underwear.

Climbing up on the bed y/n was basically straddling Tyler. They slip two finger into their mouth before rubbing them around and into their opening. “You ready?” They could see just how eager he was. It was funny, Tyler was acting like a freshman that hadn’t even got their dick touched.

Y/n moves slow when they line themselves up, their heart almost beating in sync with his. Tyler grabs at his sheets when he feels his dick start to enter them. Curses string from his mouth while he tries to keep quiet. When he feels himself bottom out. “You feel so fucking good.”

“So I’ve been told.” Y/n begins to rock their hips steadily, while Tyler is desperate to pick up the pace. He bucks upwards when he feels their walls clench around him. They had his dick in a vice grip and he couldn’t he happier.

Y/n lays flat on Tyler’s chest burying their head into the crook of his neck. Their breath fans his face while they continue to move sensually. It was almost like something snapped in Tyler, y/n had expected it, but not this soon.

He can feel his resolve slipping when he grabs onto y/n’s hips. A quick yelp leaves them at the sudden touch. Tyler starts to rock their hips more, each thrust of his concerningly hardening cock sending their mind into overdrive. “Fuck Tyler, don’t stop. Please.” They grabbed onto his shoulders, nails digging into his flesh.

Y/n was seeing stars with the way Tyler was thrusting. Both of their bodies were on fire and the upcoming highs. And they can’t help but gasp feeling the growing claws start to scrape across their semi-translucent skin. They had never felt more alive. Well, they did before they died but yeah.

Tyler doesn’t quit, he keeps on bucking his hips and bringing their hips down to match his unrelenting pace. Desperate to reach his peak and bring them with him. Y/n wanted to scream at the pleasure that was building. Like a damn about to bust, they bite down on their lip trying to contain their excitement. “Tyler I’m gonna cum, please faster, faster.”

Like a good little Hyde his pace seemed almost superhuman now. Tyler fought back his near transformation when the tension in his body snapped. He slammed their hips down again causing the euphoria to take over like a tsunami.

Y/n covers their mouth while they cum around his throbbing dick. They squeeze him for all he’s worth before y/n completely goes limp in his arms. “Fuck,” They mumble almost incoherently at the orgasm. Tyler pants when he pulls out, cum spilling from their aching hole. They shiver at the loss.

Tyler rolls over and lays y/n down gently, any hint of his previous self washed away with his euphoric state. “Shit, I should’ve been more gentle. Just lay down. I’ll take care of you.” Y/n yawns softly before nodding. Curling into his warmth while he took care of the rest.

The most warmth they’d felt in a while, and it was about to be the best sleep in a while as well. Their post nut haze can’t even get them to here the words that leave his mouth next. “I think I love you.”

[ofaresandnemesis]

Happy Birthday

Rio one shot about how he got to camp!!! Tw for child abuse.

Reusing my usual tag list: @cabin-12-resident-daddy-issues @dawn-lovelace @dionysus-god-of-all-things-wine @childofthewargod

April 21st, 2019

Rio woke up when the captain america alarm clock on his nightstand started buzzing at 7 am, just like it did every morning

But this time the date on the screen read '4/21', his birthday

His tenth birthday, specifically

Rio was never particularly excited to wake up on a school day, but he couldn't help but grin just a little this time

He got up and got dressed before running off to the kitchen to drop a couple pieces of bread in the toaster

He could hear the sounds of a blow dryer from his mom's bathroom and the occasional curse in ancient greek when she dropped something

He hopped up and sat on the counter when he ate his toast. He wasn't allowed to sit on the counter, but it was his birthday! He could allow himself a little bit of mischief before school

He quickly got down when he heard his mother come out of the bathroom, brushing the crumbs off his shirt

"Go get your bag" His mother said just as coldly as always as she grabbed a frying pan that she'd used to make her own breakfast and put it in the sink

"Yes ma'am"

He grabbed his bag and they were on their way, the radio in his mother's car sat to the 90s station as always

He waited for her to say something about what day it was. Just one happy birthday would satisfy him, that was all he wanted.

His birthdays were never a big deal, considering they were an anniversary of what his mother had told him was the worst day of her life, but this was a big birthday, after all

She didn't say anything, though. Neither did he. Not even when he realized she was going the wrong way. Not when he realized that they'd been in the car far longer than the ride to school.

Not until he saw a 'Welcome To New York' sign

"Mama?"

"What?" She hissed

"..this isn't the way to school"

"You're not going to school today, Riot"

He would've been happy, if she hadn't said like he should've known. Like he was stupid.

"..why not?"

"Why do you ask so many questions? Because I fucking said so, consider it a birthday present"

He fell silent after that. He knew when to shut up, when to stop talking before he ended up with another beating instead of just some harsh words.

He fidgeted with a loose string on his jeans until he dozed off, sleeping until the car stopped in what looked like the middle of nowhere.

At least it did until Rio looked closer, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he read a huge sign that read 'Camp Half-Blood'

"Mama..?"

"Get your backpack and get out."

"But– you said I wasn't gonna come here until I was 13? And you said I'd come here in the summer–"

"I said get out, Riot, go."

"But I'll get lost! I don't know where to go!"

She huffed and got out of the car, slamming the door behind her before opening his door and dragging him out by the wrist

She dragged him into the camp, past the border and over the hill

"I'm not supposed to be coming here yet– it's not even summer yet!"

"Some kids stay here year round, remember?"

"But those kids don't have homes! I have a home!"

She laughed. A cruel, sickening laugh that hurt his ears.

"I'd pick a damn comfy bed if I were you"

And with that she dragged him onto the porch of the big house and left him there. He just stood there in shock as she walked away like nothing had happened.

Like she hadn't just her kid alone and confused on his birthday with nothing but his school backpack.

He didn't even here Mr D's 'oh great, another one' because his eyes were fixed on his mother until she was out of sight, and Chiron was trying to coax his name out of him

"Riot" He said. He'd never liked his name, but his mother had insisted that he go by it. But she wasn't here now, was she? "No, Rio, actually"

Chiron smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder

"Welcome, Rio, to Camp Half-Blood"

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Wash Day With Matt Murdock

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Black!Reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: none what kind of warnings would I even need here hehehe

Genre: fluff of course

Summary: What wash day looks like when your boyfriend Matt surprises you with a visit

***

The familiar knock on your door as you walk from your bedroom to your bathroom stops you in your tracks. Your boyfriend usually knocks in a particular patern because he knows how unlikely it is for you to open the door when you're not expecting company. You detour to your apartment door and swing it open for Matthew.

"Hey Matty." You say with a smile.

"Hey, I hope it's alright that I uh came by... are you doing something with your hair? It smells like that... oil you usually put in like once a week."

"I didn't expect to see you today but it's totally fine that you came over. You know you're always welcome here baby, and there's probably some oil on my fingers I just took my braids down, I was planning to wash my hair today." You tell him, grabbing his arm to lead him into your apartment. You know very well that he's familiar with the layout of your place but you like to use guiding him as an excuse to touch him.

"Oh- sorry I disrupted your plans I- I would've called first but I just thought I'd come by for dinner since it's been a few days since we've spent time together. I've been so busy with this latest case I-"

"If you're going to apologize for having to work darling you don't have to. You also don't have to apologize for 'disrupting'. I'm always happy to see you." You cut him off.

"I mean if you have to wash your hair though-"

"If you can entertain yourself for an hour, I'll be yours for the rest of the night once I'm done." You kiss his cheek.

"An hour?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. It takes a while. Do you want an audiobook or something?"

"An audiobook? Did you get new ones?"

"I did yeah, here I'll get the kindle."

"Just pick a random one for me!" Matt calls out as you head to your room quickly. You set up a book and pass it to Matt.

"Alright, I'll be back in like- an hour." You kiss his cheek.

"Should I order food?" Matt asks.

"Oh I've got a pizza I was gonna make but if you'd like to order something else be my guest." You say going into the bathroom to wash your hair. Between shampooing, conditioning, and detangling your hair the process can be pretty lengthy. On a good day it takes 45 minutes but if the tangles are particularly tough or you need to do multiple shampoos you could easily be in there for almost 90 minutes total. The universe and your tempermental collection of curls seem to be very much on your side today as you're out of the shower in just less than an hour. You wrap a shirt around your hair and dry yourself off before going to your room to put on lotion and find something to wear. You throw on a pair of sweats and a shirt before padding back out to the living room to Matt.

"You're done?" He asks passing the kindle to you. You pause the book that you'd played for him and set the tablet on the table beside the couch.

"Yep, just to dry it now." You hum.

"I ordered takeout while you were in there by the way." Matt says gesturing towards your coffee table where an unopened bag of food sits.

"Oh! Cool, well let's eat then." You say sitting beside him on the couch and opening the boxes. You hand Matt his food and utensils before tucking into your own order.

"So- why does your hair take so long?" Matt asks you with a curious look on his face.

"Um- I know I've pretty much always had it in braids every time we see each other but it's actually pretty thick and tangles easily so I have to take some time to work through it or else it'll get real bad." You explain.

"Oh okay, is there a reason you always wear braids then? Is it less maintenance?"

"In some ways. Doing the braids is time consuming but once they're done I can, pretty much not do anything to my hair for a while, besides oil it." You shrug.

"Are you- going to put it back in braids now then?"

"No I actually think I'll wear the curls for a little while. I like my curls."

"Can I- is it okay if I feel your hair?" Matt's question is hesitant. You've told him enough stories of people treating Black people and their hair like spectacles that he knows it can be an offputting request. You giggle a little at him, you're glad he understands the plight but feeling is one of the ways he can see- you'd never berate him for that.

"Well let me dry it a little first and then you can do whatever you want." You say unwrapping the shirt from the top of your head and running it over sections of your hair until it's not so damp.

"Is that- is that a t-shirt? Do you not use a towel?"

"Did you just- hear the fabric against my hair or something?"

"Something like that- why are you using a shirt?"

"Much like your sensitive skin, my hair does not react well to certain things and towels have a tendency to be too harsh. So I use a cotton t-shirt. Like how I wear a silk scarf or a bonnet to bed. My hair has very special requirements." You tell him. The bonnets and scarves conversation had been another interesting dive into Matt's cluelessness but he was nothing if not understanding albiet a little curious about it when he'd first slept over.

"Fascinating." He muses.

"The roots are still damp in some places, it'll take a while for the whole thing to dry, but it should be dry enough for now, just- since I just washed my hair, go wash your hands before they go anywhere near it." You tell him. Matt laughs but stands up and makes his way to the sink without protest. His hands are washed and dried a few minutes later and he's back at your side, gently threading his fingers through your hair.

"It's very soft." He mutters.

"Yeah, shout out to my conditioner." You hum contently. You don't really have many opportunities to have some play with your hair this way, it's actually very soothing from the right hands apparently.

"How often do you have to do this? I can't imagine spending an hour washing your hair every other day is practical."

"That's because I don't. My hair doesn't get greasy the way straight hair does, in fact I have to put stuff in it to make sure it doesn't dry out, so I can go a lot longer than a few days without washing it."

"I should really do some research on this stuff." He hums.

"What for?" You laugh.

"Well I feel silly having to ask you these things I mean- you shouldn't have to sit here and explain how you wash your hair like I'm a child."

"I mean the answers would be slightly different for everybody so the best way to find out about me would be to ask me. Like, I wouldn't go asking Foggy about how you write an opening. You're both lawyers sure but I've seen first hand that your processes are not the same." You shrug.

"I just know that being interviewed about your haircare isn't exactly an enjoyable way for you to pass the time." He frowns dropping his hand as you sit up to cup his cheek.

"Matthew, if I ever have a problem with a question you ask me, I will be the first to tell you it bothers me- but you trying to learn about your girlfriend is not the same as microagressions in the workplace. If you cross a line I will let you know, but I was well aware there were be things you'd probably have to be taught when I decided to date you. There are lines, you haven't even approached them yet." You say looking at him intently, he can't see you but you're positive he can tell.

"You're sure?"

"Listen to my heart yourself if you don't believe me but I'm being honest with you." You say.

"I'll still do some more research on my own I think." Matt says after a moment and you can't help but chuckle.

"Suit yourself baby. For now, you can tell me about the book you listened to." You say, leaning your head on his shoulder.

"Have you not read it?"

"No I bought it for you to read." You tell him. He sighs so sweetly before he launches into a synopsis of what he read. The two of you spend the rest of the evening talking, first about the book, then about work and from there it spirals outward until you're both half asleep shuffling to your bed and falling asleep. You'll admit, dating Matt wasn't necessarily something you thought would go far as your track record with white people doesn't lean positive but you know Matt tries really hard to make sure he's the best partner he can be to you; he insists it's the very least he can do for you accepting his double lifestyle, not that you find that to be something worth complaining about, still it's something others haven't given and you do love him more for it.

***

[popculturebuffet]

Beetlemania Epilogue: Batman Brave and the Bold (Rise of the Blue Beetle, Fall of The BB, Revenge of the Reach and Meanace of the Madinks) (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy beetlemaniacs and welcome to the long delayed finale/epilogue to my look the blue beetle. So while I was working on this project which for those just tuning in was a look at all three men to wear the blue, Kev asked me to take a look at Ted and Jaime's brave and the bold apperances. Being a massive fan of both, enough that Brotoman asking me to do this retorspective in the first place was one of the easiest yesses i've made in my career, and absolutely loving brave and the bold it was an easy addition.

So for those less familiar with this cartoon, Batman: Brave and the Bold was a 2009 cartoon. Brave and the Bold is easily the most unique of the batman cartoons thus far: while each one has it's own touches, Bold decided to go against the usual dark and broody nature of batman he'd had in the 70's to do something a bit diffrent.

Instead BATB takes after the silver age of comics, a time of camp, innosence, and fun goofiness like batman getting his own dimensional imp, Superman and Supergirl having two pets with superpowers and capes a piece, and of course a bunch of kids from the future who still act like it's the 50s who come to grab a young superman, leading to one of my faviorite teams of all time. But not before you know making him cry because 50s. It was a time of brilliant concepts, bonkers carefree storytelling and superman in a pope hat.

And while some fans titled their head, some wailed he needed to be grim and gritty and I just said "oh cool plastic man's in this"... the change in tone was both brilliant and needed. We'd already had three fairly serious batman shows, each distinct: BTAS is a noir masterpiece, Beyond is neo noir putting someone else in the role and thus giving us a batman with school and family to juggle and an older bruce as the mentor, and The Batman was an attempt to really shake things up, using both a younger batman and wildly diffrent versions of his rogues. So while another likely would've worked, and as seen with Beware the Batman it did as likely will the caped crusader, I can't blame showrunners James Tucker and Mike Jelenec for deciding to do something entirely unique.

Thus while Batman's still stoic, instead of being a loner who slowly adds sidekicks and uses over the top silver agey gadgets, from having a jetpack and helmet in his suit, to being able to summon fighting gloves to having his batmobile as a transformer. It comes off as a child's idea of batman: a guy who can do anything and can use all those neat toy add ons you usually only see in his action figures. It's a batman that has a sense of fun about it: While he's stoic as ever, the world he's in is werid and he adapts to it.

The the other secret sauce here is the show's decision to be a team up show: instead of the batfamily, who still show up on occasion, Batman teams up with a fellow superhero in each episodes opening teaser as a fun one off adventure and then in the main story, another nod to the silver age in how many books would have more than one story, batman in particular. It's also telling that most of the main focus heroes are almost entirely b listers: Common sights include Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel (aka Shazam, pre movie), Guy Gardner Green Lantern and Aquaman, the only a-list of the bunch and the main character. Some had shown up before in the DCAU, sure, but most hadn't gotten this kind of focus and some like Blue Beetle, our natural focus for today's, hadn't shown up at all thanks to rights issues. And even some like Aquaman got a revamp, with the stoic brooding 90's anti-hero of the DCAU replaced with a glorious large ham whose every bit as goofy as the silver age but every bit as badass as he is now. They also wisely kept his beard.

It provides a nice mix of actual silver age characters, and more modern ones like the Jason Rusch firestorm or Jaime that simply hadn't been adapted yet, as well as for whole teams like the Metal Men, JSA and Freedom Fighters to get proper first appearances in animation. This series is one giant love letter to dc and just about every hero they could cram in here and have it make sense is here> And if that wasn't enough, for me personally instead of doing a big 7 lineup of the justice league or just using heroes batman had teamed up with a lot like green arrow or plastic man, they just straight up decicided to recreate my faviorite Justice League Lineup of all time, the Justice League international, even bringing in Martian Manhunter just to make it as close as possible to the core lineup of Batman (Who was leader in those days), Martain Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Guy Gardner, Fire and Ice. The only changes were changing the beetle from Ted to Jaime (to fit the shows continuity) and adding Aquaman as it'd be all kinds of weird to not feature the shows breakout star.

So with what the show is down that finally brings us to the Blue Beetle and his long overdue first animated apperance. The DCAU PLANNED to include him but rights headaches meant Ted was relegated to the tie in comics. And since Jaime was such a fan faviorite , when it came time for Brave and the Bold he became the primary beetle instead, providing the fun angle of batman having a teen sidekick.. whose far more powerful than he is, if lacking experince. We rarely see Batman mentor superteens, and it's an intresting concept: He has a partner he can order around and such but can't REALLY stop if Jaime wanted to operate without him. IT's something I hope gets explored again sometime.

That said while Jaime was the main blue beetle, and one of the most common recurring cast members, the series , like most adaptations didn't forget ted exists or to honor him. And while they sadly didn't give us the two beetles operating at the same time, something we didn't get in full blast until Blue Beetle: Graduation Day LAST YEAR (He did mentor Jaime for a while but weirdly they didn't have him resume the costume for a while), we do get one hell of an episode focusing on both beetles in the past and present, another hell of a heroic death, and a time travel episode with Ted's best buddy booster going back to see his friend one last time... and fucking it up because it's his superpower. So join me under the cut as we put on the armor and see the dawn of a new blue beetle and the legacy he protects one more time.

The Rise of the Blue Beetle!: Stinger: Batman teams up with Green Arrow to defeat clock king. Honestly my reaction to this version of Ollie is mostly

As he dosen't really have anything that makes him that.. unique or intresting. He's cocky and wants to one up batman. That's about it. I love Ollie, but this version is so boring. It dosen't help most of his spotlight episodes feature someone more interesting.

The opening however.. is solid, spotlighting the two's competitive nature with each other (and contrasting Ollie's open boasting with Batman being reserved and not showing his compettive streak outwardly), and fighting Clock King. And not the more grounded, awesome version we saw in Batman TAS, but the goofy silver age version complete with robes and a clock face.

Is it the best cold open they could've used? Probably not. But it gets across the team up theme of the series, and the important fact that most of the foes we face.. aren't batman's usual foes. Most of his Rogues are mia, and the only one who gets used a LOT is Joker, and even then it's in more creative ways like having him be Batman's team up for the mid season finale (And leading to the glorious scene in the final fight of him just running around with a mallet like a giddy three year old), teaming up with his own inspiration, or adapting emperor joker. Just like the team up format allows for a wide exploration of the dc's heroes, the antagonists are usually guys you wouldn't see or at least wouldn't see fighting batman.

The episode proper begins with Jaime and his best buddy Paco talking superheroes, with Jaime hyping up batman. It's here we get two big changes: the first is Jaime's personality: Instead of a kind, reserved, if with a biting tounge when called for it kid who just wants to help out his friends and family and who feels overwhlemed, this Jaime is a superhero fanboy whose super jazzed to have power armor.

This change is hit and miss for me: it does kinda miss a lot of the point of Jaime and his personality, a kid burdened iwth incredible power and responsibility who uses it not because he wants to but because it's the right thing.. but I get it for the context of this series. Here Jaime's being trained and mentored by batman, and thus having him be a bit more cocky and eager in places opens up stories more as otherwise Jaime would just be waiting at home. Not only that the series already had a reluctant legacy hero in Ryan Choi, the Atom, so at least one of them had to change personality a bit and it made more sense with Jaime. So while i'm not a huge fan of this change, I understand it enough to not be all that bothered by it, especially since both his Young Justice and Movie Counterparts hem closer to the comics.

A change I DON'T like at all.. is that Jaime's best friend Paco (his family and brenda don't show up).. has NO IDEA who he is. There is absolutely NO justification for this either. We don't see enough of Jaime's home life for him having a secret identity to have any impact and there's really nothing about his appearances that coudln't of been done without him knowing. In fact his next two probably would've been better had he known. It feels like the producers didn't know how to handle a superhero who doesn't have a secret identity.. despite Plastic Man and Aquaman, neither of whom have one and are just fine, being recurring characters. It's an annoying decision and one i'm not a fan of at all, especially since Paco doesn't seem to be in ANY other adaptations.

The rest of the episode is okay. Out of the episodes I had to rewatch (and in our last case watch for the first time) it's the one I was the least happy to see again as it didn't leave much of an impression. On rewatch it has some intresting ideas, but is mostly just a typical "supehero needs to not rely only on his powers" story mixed with a training the peaceful villagers one: Batman and Jaime are shanghied to a colony of admittedly neat looking little protoplasmic blob men woh put out an energy charge. They kidnapped Jaime to help because a previous wielder of his Scarab saved them from Space Pirate and justice league villian Kanjar Ro. Ro is part of why I largely forgot this one as i've never been a huge fan of the guy. He dosen't look terrible but other than space pirate there isn't much to him. The DCAU used him well but also had him as a simple criminal helping frame John Stewart. Here he works decently enough as he's intimidating ENOUGH to be a foe for Jaime, whose the real focus here, and give batman a fight, while still clearly being a villian of the week.

I do like that already, even before we get to ted, the writers of the show get that Jaimee. .is tied into legacy and It's a neat idea to hint at just who carried the scarab before Dan Garret, the first beetle, who for all we know very well COULD have been the person who fought Kanjar Ro before. It's just a shame this NEVER comes up again which is disappointing. It'd be neat to know if the Scarab had a host before the reach dispatched it to earth.

The rest of the episode is pretty by the numbers though, and while the idea of jaime getting cocky isn't bad... he's just not cocky Enough with his powers for the message to work. The episode has more clever stuff like batman hooking one of the little goo people up to a power cable to save them when kanjar leaves them all tied to a piece of debris to die, with the little guys later hooking their guns into themselves, using the fact Kanjar Ro harvests them for fuel against him. It's a clever chekovs gun and speaks to the message of the episode that DOES work: relying on one's self and the power of inspiration.

I"ll also say Batman is kinda.. fucked as a mentor this episode: While I get his logic, having Jaime pretend to be his predecessor to inspire these adorable blobs to kill their opressors, a good message for all, it's still mildly fucked up Batman is asking a children to lead a bunch of people to posisbly die in a war against a ruthless space pirate. I get jaime needs to be a symbol but maybe do't gloss over just how big an ask your asking bats.

Finally i'll say the episodes climax has a good idea: Jaime forced to rely on his brains.. and Kanjar Ro taking the armor. The problem.. is the latter RAISES A LOT OF QUESTIONS, especailly since later episodes go with the idea from the comics, that the scarab coudln't bond with ted kord and specifically choose jaime, making it come off contrived as all apokalips that Kanja Ro JUST SO HAPPENS to be a compatable host. It dosen't ruin the climax, seeing someone evil let loose with the armor is neat and Jaime turning the gamma gong, Ro's weapon he used to strip Jaime of the armor in the first place, against him is genius.

Overall an episode that's jus tokay. i'ts not a bad start to the series or Jaime's time on the show, but it's still clear they needed an episode or two before they started really cooking with gas. Thankfully that only took the first 4 or so episodes and by the time we next saw Jaime this season, the show was firing on all cyllnders with a true classic.

Fall of the Blue Beetle!:

Fall of the Blue Beetle! is more like it and while i'ts not where my obessesion with ted started, that'd be

This episode certainly didn't hurt. It is where Jaime started to grow on me though and where a lot more of his character from the comics comes from.

The biggest part of this.. is Legacy. We got a touch of that with the previous scarab wielder in Rise, but a key aspect of Jaime is that he ISN'T the first blue beetle. That he has to step into someone else's shoes. And it's something that fits dc like a glove as one of DC's bigger draws, one that they snuffed out for a while, is Legacy. Most heroes have more than one version and many have sidekicks, something marvel almost completely avoids thanks to Spider-Man's existence being a direct response to the concept, who more often than not later take up the mantle or find their own new one, leading someone take up THEIR old costume. Often you'll also get heroes sharring identities: it's why we have 9 earth green lanterns, three flashes, and two supermen.

So the fact that Blue Beetle was ALREADY a legacy made ted fit right in long before Jaime had to follow him up after his fatal case of bullet to the head. And Jaime learns that early, and thus has to carry around the fact that not only did Ted die a hero.. but armor or no this could EASILY happen to him. He has to learn to think with his head and learns to appricate Ted as he was. It's not an overwhelmingly major part of the book but the fact Jaime is part of a proud legacy is still important and when he needs help for his final fight, it's Ted's grandaughter Dani and Ted's friends in the JLI who come to help... because they know it's what ted would want.

Brave and the Bold cleverly plays with this as while like his comics counterpart Jaime knows there were other beetles.. he dosen't know what happened to Ted off the bat and this episode brilliantly plays with that.

It also plays with another Key aspect of Jaime: his self doubt. At the end of the days Jaime is a throughly normal kid given great power. In the comics and movie a lot of it is simply not WANTING this power, but with no way to remove the scarab and live he does what he can with it anyway because it's the right thing. The poor kid teared up because during a fucking hurricane, made worse by a supervillian, the kid couldn't save everyone, with his vetran dad having to explain that.. you simply can't. And the fact Jaime was there still saved a LOT of people.

While this Jaime's way more happy in the roll from the off, being a superhero fanboy, the idea that he's not worthy of it still crops up here in a clever way: He and Paco have a campout, and when he recites the Hal Jordan Green Lantern's origin (Which he likely knew as he easily could've met Hal at this point as he DOES exist in this continuity), Paco is doubtful. For those whose attitude to green lantern lore isn't

Like yours truly, a quick recap: The Green Lantern corps are space cops, though thankfully not nearly as corrupt as that implies, who patrol sectors of space. When one dies, their ring finds a replacement. But in this case, dying Green Lantern legend Abin Sur didn't really have time for the ring to do it's thing so he crashed his rocket on earth near Hal Jordan, the nearest worthy canditate and gave it to him personally.

Paco.. dosen't buy any of this, thinking heroes aren't chosen and most dickishly that a hero.. is just their powers. It's just the RING that's special not the person.

Okay look I try not to go on tangents refuting a fictional character.... but given this kind of argument occasionally crops up in real life... no. While a heroes powers are cool and what allow them to do the job...it's the person that makes the hero. And the green lantern's are the biggest example of that. They were all chosen sure but each chosen because they can overcome great fear (Paco IS right that the idea of someone being WITHOUT fear is kinda fucked and the daredevil comics have gone into what exactly that means, it's why they changed it), nad because each one of them chosen brings something to the table. Hal Jordan can think on the fly like noone's buisness, Guy Gardner WILL never give up (Wether he actually should or not), John Stewart is a tactical and archetcural genius, Kyle Rayner has a boundless imagination and some of the best contracts, Jessica Cruz has deep and noble heart and empathy and the power to go on and Simon Baz has a drive no lantern can match. And tha'ts not even getting into Alan Scott, gay icon or the ones whole books I own but haven't read like Jo Mullen or Tai Pham, both of whom deftinely deserve it.

I do love the episode exploring this idea though as given it's something a kid watching this might've thought it nicely deconsturcts it.. and shows what hearing that would do to a person. IN Jaime's case he sprials and goes to his mentor for validation. And this brings us to one of the weaker parts of the episode as Batman is in Batdick mode this episode. Granted at FIRST it's a bit understandable: jaime interupts him during a fight with Doctor Polaris. That fight itself.. is a nice subtle nod to Jaime's history as in the comics, one big arc had him fighting the newest Dr. Polaris. It's really damn good for the record and I hope it gets reprinted. Later we can see batman having recently beaten the Squid gang from Ted's first solo issue. It's some nice background stuff.

Jaime is worried he wasn't chosen for a reason, and while Bruce not reassuring him at first is okay... bruce saying, and I quote "you are NOTHING like the blue beetle I knew" is a level of dickish only suprassed by this guy

Seriously bats, a teen comes up to you, is clearly going through something regarding being worthy of this. I get it, Bats was close to ted in this continuity.. but even in that context it's comes off pretty dickish to compare the kid to someone who had years more experince in the field.

Also yes, in this continuity Ted and Bats.. were besties. I had honestly forgotten that and it's a fun uniquely wholesome take. See in the original comics.. Ted and Batman weren't exactly FRIENDS. They were coworkers: Batman was the stern, often mean boss who expected everyone to do what he said without question, and Ted was the snarky guy in his cubicle who'd shut up when that guy said to but certainly would talk behind his back. It was a good comedic value. Even later, when ted was in his final hours in countdown, batman was someone he turned to.. and Bats didn't take him seriously.. and later deeply regretted it.

Here? The two utterly respect each other, and we get a lot of fun dialogue as the two talk about their gadgets: Bats is impressed Ted managed to get a mini laser working, he switched the coils, while Ted is suprised he can get smoke pellets on his belt because his always blew up. Bats then explains he had the same issue and the casing was ungodly expensive. Thankfully he just put it on the bat credit card.

As for how the two are interacting when Ted's a corpse in present day, that's where one of the episodes most clever aspects comes in: rather than have the intro be an unrelated cold open... the intro is Bats and Ted's on Ted's final case. We don't find out the last part till later, but it's a clever way to have ted around while still having him sacrifice himself in some way.

I'd also like to stop for a moment to talk about how great the voice actors are for our beetley buddies.. and this show in general. For Jaime we have vetran voice acting legend, feeeeee-hany fan, podcaster, and critical role hall of famer Will Fredidle, who does a great job with Jaime's wide eyed enthusasim, ocasional haminess.. but also his vunerablity and depth. You can sense at times in these episodes a kid who badly WANTS to be a good as hero as the heroes who inspired him, covering it up with a layer of jokes... just like his predecessor really. Granted this all comes with the necessary asterix of THEY SHOULDN'T OF HIRED A WHITE GUY TO PLAY JAIME.. which.. they really shoudln't have. It's.. not complicated and it shouldn't of taken till 20goddamn20 for that to be standard practice and not just what some productions did and other didn't. Given a cast this size they STILL coudl've cast my boy in a roll that wasn't racist. Hell he woudl've made a great booster (though who we got is excellent). So the casting decision dose'nt have a leg to stand on.. but Will still did a good job and I dearly miss his voice acting. He's still around granted: he's currently doing the podcast pod meets world with fellow BMW allums Danille Fischelle and fellow voice actor who really should be doing more of it these days Rider Strong. Seriously he was great in Star Vs. Maybe he's focusing more on his family, as he sometimes watches episodes of BMW with his son for the pod, and if so.. fair enough. I do miss these guys and I am glad Will at least is showing up in Legend of Vox Machina and that they have a podcast together.

The other will in the equation is will wheaton, star trek's scrappy doo turned geek icon. Will is a natural fit for ted and does him justice: this version's a bit more anlytical, but as we see later with boosters ep he can play the jokey side just as well and does ted really good. he's the bar that's set for whoever plays him in live action.. and i'm pulling for their top pick of Jason Sudekis. that is PERFECT ted kord casting and the only thing that could top this casting. If not.. will is old enough to still fit the part in the live action dcu. Just saying.

The freindship adds a nice layer to Batman's action: yes he's being bat dick... but it's clearly hard to talk about his best friend's death, someone who really got him as a crimefighter and he could relate to. Green Arrow uses similar methods.. but Ollie's ego's so big he's more concerned with one upping bruce instead of talking to him like a person. Given mots of Batman's partners defer to him in some way or form (and it's telling that for as much as his boisterous baffles our blue bat, he treats aquaman with respect), it had to hurt deeply. And as we'll see later the pain is still there and he's still not quite over Ted's death. It also explains why he's specifically mentoring Jamie: he wants to protect Ted's legacy. While the meteor mission in the last episode was to test of Jamie was ready to partner with him regularly with this ep it feels more like he wanted to make sure Jamie was worthy of his friends mantle.. and makes how proud batman was at the end all the sweeter. It also shows that despite batman using the worst possible phrasing, he DOES think Jamie is worthy.

It also adds a layer to Batman's

Behavior regarding what happened to ted, refusing to tell Jamie and then flying off in his batjet. Bats later fully admits he was worried Jamie coudln't handle it.. but it may be in part he simply didn't want to relive one of the worst moments of his life, when once again someone he loved died and he could do nothing but watch. He didn't want to saddle a teenager with his grief or the fact that in this job you CAN die. And that's something shockingly consitent about this series: Dead.. means dead. There's only three major deaths in the series: Ted's, B'wanna Beast's and the Doom Patrols, but all three stick. All are given weight and gravitas and all deeply effect bats.. not from episode to episode as this is more episodic but the moment still clearly shakes him.

Jamie isn't really happy with that explination and the scarab suggests checking the internet. Turns out ted has a fanpage run by a notboostergold. Who knew? It tells Jamie ted vanished a while back and is headquartered in Hub City, Ted's hometown in the comics though where he operates out of varried: he also operated out of Chicago, New York, el Paso and currently Palmera City alongside Jamie and his long lost slightly older sister we just met because the movies gave him one and DC thought "eh this could work". Which .. honestly it does, with Vicotria being more buisness minded and ruthless. Also sidebar but.. this.. this has happened with booster and ted right?

This had to have happened. We're alli n agreement, good.

Anyways Jaime heads to Hub City and finds Ted's old layer, covred with dust, something the movie ended up copying and I fully approve of. In fact it feels like the movie took some cues from this episode, turning Ted's adventure on pago island into a jamie story, having someone try and use the scarab to create robots, little touches like that. I don't mind as they did enough of their own thing with it and frankly more people are going to see the movie over this episode, so i'm fine with a good idea being used twice.

Speaking of which Jaime finds out the last cordinates were Pago Island. For anyone who knows Ted's origin that's a red flag. Quick recap for those who didn't read my review of Ted's first two solo issues: Ted worked with his uncle jarvis, found out he was a bad dude, and then brought dan to stop him. Good news: it ended terribly for jarvis with his robots sealed and him dead. Bad news: it ended with dan dead. Gooder news: Dan told ted to take up his legacy. So the fact Ted died on an island where nothing good happens cannot end well for Jaimie.

Batman DOES try ot make up for earlier, calling Jaimie.. only for Jaimie to tell Bats where he's going and where to stick it. Batman takes it like a mature adult and while flying ot rescue Jaime, mumbles "no more teenage partners"

This line.. just.. my god> I mean yes he says "adults got him into just as much trouble " right after.. but he still soley blames JAIME for this catstrophe. Jaime is screwing up yes.. but h'es a kid desperate to know he was chosen for a good reason and to live up to someone he found out went missing on his own because you coudln't take two bat minutes to try and explain things. Maybe tell him about ted without telling him what happened just yet. INstead you accidently told him he wasn't good enough then got mad when he was rightfully pissed you gave him nothing. His timing sucked, but you really should've brought up ted LONG before this.

And as a result.. it makes it VERY easy for Jarvis, still alive here, to con Jaime into giving him data on the scarab , claming he intends to improve humanity's lot and make things better. I get not telling him he was dead.. but maybe if you'd screamed "Ted kord was dead", as traumatizing as that would've been it woudl've at least stopped a villian you KNEW was still around fro mconning him

I"ll also say this.. Jarvis' scarab based tech.. looks amazing, very beetly and while I saw the twist coming... most viewers not familiar with jarvis' existance wouldn't. The tech all looks like something ted would make. It's something I give it over the movie where despite victoria kord's OMAC"s being based directly on the scarab.. they look NOTHIGN like the scarab armor nor the actual omacs. i'm fine with it being different enough to be visually intresting but the omacs and later caprapax armore are just.. boring. But that's a rant for another review.

The main takeaway is that Jamie has accidently given a mad genius an army of super fighting robots.. and by bringing up batman NEARLY caused the man's death. But not only does Jaime catch on the robots are weapons whne one spills i'ts bullets, Batman, being you know, the goddamn batman, is alive and well. He only gets tied up when Jarvis puts a gun to Jamie's head.. which i'm 90% sure is a bluff as the scarab can take on MULTIPLE green lanterns as we'll see next episode, but it speaks to Batman's character he doesn't risk it.

Jarvis.. is an excellent villain here, taken from your usual cackler to a guy who genuinely seems like his talk about wanting to make the world better is legit.. he's just willing to conquer it to make that happen. And a utopia forged in blood isn't rally a utopia is it? But Will does a great job as Jarvis too, making his voice similar enough to ted to buy him as an older ted.. but diffrent enough to hint at the twist.

With that Batman FINALLY is forced to explain what happened: Ted gave Jarvis the scarab because he genuinely thought he could help him use it. IN this continuity dan died another way. So when Ted found out from Batman that Jarvis was instead plotting world domination, he lept to stop it.

In the end though while they did beat Jarvis... he had one last play: launch a rocket full of his robots out to begin his world conquest. So much like with Countdown when backed into a corner.. Ted sacrificed himself to save the world, not telling Bruce exactly what his plan was till the was already on the rocket. As for how the Scarab got away that's easy: ted stole it back during the scuffle and put it on the rocket, so like the comics but in a much simpler way, it still got rocketed to el paso. Ted Kord once again died a true hero.

This dosen't help Jaime as he feels he failed Ted and his leagacy and was chosen just to do this. Batman explains the episodes aseop, similar to last times but executed better: it's not being chosen or what powers you have that make a hero. It's choosing to do the right thing> Despite not having the scarab Ted choose to use his intellect to fight crime. And while Jaime didn't chooose the scarab.. he choose to use it to help people and fight for good.

The two naturally escape, fight off jarvis, and fight the throng of robots, actually beating him this time and with Jaime setting it to explode. Our heroes win, Batman shows his pride and Jamie has his confidence back.

As you can probably tell.. I love this episode> it's one of brave and the bold's best and aside from the excess of bat dick, it's a compelling story of legacy and loss. If you haven't seen the show or are curious about ted and jaime after watching the film, this is an excellent watch.

Revenge of the Reach:

Revenge of the Reach is another banger episode. On first watch I wasn't really into this one and didn't really remember it but on rewatch it was a lot of fun. I'm also happy this episode is as good as it is... as this marks the final Jaimecentric episode in the series. The big reason for this is simple: The Justice League International.

For those less familiar with Ted and this show itself, the JLI was the first version of the justice league post crisis on infinite earths, the grandaddy of crisis crossovers and the event that brought Ted into the DCU. Writer J.M. Demattis finally got the gig writing the league after begging for it but the amount of stuff being reworked post crisis meant most of the vetran justice league was off limits. Demattis and his partner in crime Keith Giffen decided "Fuck it let's make this a sitcom", and used lesser known heroes including good old ted. The only vetrans to join the team were Black Canary (Who only stayed for about the first 12 issues) , Martain Manhunter, and Bats himself as leader before giving that headache to Jonn.

And since Brave and the Bold already had prominent spotlights for key members Blue Beetle (Jaime instead of ted), Booster Gold, and Green Lantern Guy Gardner, featured Fire as a guest star and had Batman as it's lead, it was easy enough to simply introduce Martian Manhunter and Ice. Also Aquaman was there since, as said before, he was their biggest star. The team showed up a decent amount in season 3 and likely would've more had the series not been cut so short, eventually adding other members from the comics like Rocket Red and Captain Marvel.

So with season 3 cut in half and the crew knowing the end was nigh, there was less time to give Jaime more stories, instead focusing more on stuff they clearly wanted to get in before the end: Stories with the league, a whole episode dedicated to Superdickery that's one of the most glorious things ever put to film, an origins episode for batman and his other recurring patners that weirdly didn't have jaime. Season 3 was just packed and had only so much time left. It also had powerless which objectively sucks and I will get to when we eventually do a JLI in brave and the bold retrospective, one of a few Kev's floated along with the Starro arc and Batmite (the latter I especailly want to do as I forgot the late great paul rubens was his voice. ) So this is Jaime's last hurrah. And lucky for him, he got a heck of a writer on board as J.M. Demattis himself wrote this one.

Spekaing of the Starro arc, our intro ties into it and i'll likely be covering again when I do that one. It features a jack kirby creation, THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN, with the intro for the segment funly done in the style of a 60's tv show. THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN are a quartet of adventurers who well.. challenge the unknown, experts in their fields who survivied a plane crash, put on matching jumpsuits and took on weird cases for the pentagon. They , to my shock came BEFORE Kirby would move on to Marvel, and with the challengers not having got a lot of traction, and even in recent dc works mostly showing up for one off apperances, I wouldn't be shocked if he reworked the concept of four adventuerers with public identtites who fight weird shit while wearing matching jumpsuits as the fantastic four.

Anyways the quartet fight a weird creatue with batman... but where this connects to the eventual story arc.. is after batman leaves a bunch of mini starros popping out of the meteor to posses the challengers.

So let's move on. Our main story has Jaime going out to space for an unauthorized solo mission. I'd say it was suprising Batman dictated when he could save lives or not .. but he is batman. And TBF, Batman probably wouldn't chastise Jaime if say he stopped a local fire or helped out with disaster relief. I"m sure the kid does the basic heroing stuff daily to stay sharp, and Batman, for all his faults would never want someone to not step in and help when they could. He just likely dosen't want Jaime tackling super crime without him.

Jaime fights Evil Star, whose name isn't a joke from me, but an actual Green Lantern villian, fitting given the Corps plays a large role in this. With some unknowing help from Paco, Jaime does in fact win on his own merits. Batman however isn't pleased as he apparently has Jaime chipped and followed him out there in his bat space suit. What I like though is Bruce isn't mad and his reasons for keeping Jaime on a leash aren't dickishness like last time: he TRUSTS Jaime, he both likely worries about his young ward, especially after loosing ted.. and DOSNE'T trust the Scarab, knowing nothing about it.

The two take him to Oa to drop Evil Star off. Oa is the home of the Green Lantern Corps I mentioned earlier, where new corpsman are trained and the central power battery, the source of their power is stationed. It's there a squad of Lanterns comes to pick up the leftovers, lead by Guy Gardner

So quick backstory for guy: guy was the second space cop green lantern for earth, being a backup for Hal Jordan and only not picked because Hal happened to be closer to where Abin Sur could land. For a while he was an also ran who ended up in a coma.

Eventually though Steve Engleheart decided to make use of him. During his run Steve made John Stewart the main green lantern and had Hal depowered for being mad at the responsiblity and such. Standard angst. Many a fan was simply, as tends to happen in comics, waiting for Hal to come back. Steve however didn't want that and had a simple thought: "Why CAN'T there be more than one earth lantern? Ther'es thousands of others up in space". So he not only allowed John to remain in the role, hence John getting to be the GLC's rep for crisis, but also brought Guy back, this time as a jingoistic right wing loud mouth. According to wikipedia Steve.. regrets the decision a bit as other people around him weren't fond of it and he got no royalties as he didn't create guy. Which is sad as this version became the premiere one.

But while steve lit the spark, it was Demattis who turned him into the tire fire we all know and love, deciding to pick guy for the JLI, likely because out of the four lantern's avaliable, Guy fit into the dynamic the most. While the JLI was still fighting superheroes, it made sense for a more comedic group to have a resident asshole, someone within the group who generally tends to start shit. The person no one likes but they can't really chuck for whatever reason. So for the JLI, guy was that dick, swaggering onto panel demanding to be leader and pissing everyone off with his abrasivness and general dickishness, paticuarlyl Black Canary who, in one of JLI's weaker moments, was portrayed as a straw feminist, working best against guy as a chauvnist. It was essnetially if someone had given Steve Dallas a power ring.

While Guy has mellowed out slightly over the years, he's still largely the loud obnoxious older brother of the superhero set, mostly known for challenging batman to a fist fight with predictable yet hilarious results

Guy ended up as BATB's main GL, mostly because he fit the tone well and James Arnold Taylor did a pitch perfect job getting Guy down. He never got bumped up to the status of Jaime, Plastic Man or Aquaman of being as close to a main character as the series format allowed, but he was still a memorable part of it and they did him good.

Which is bad for Jaime as Guy's approach to the lantern's request to take JAIME in with his prisoner goes over like a lead ballon, not helped by Guy basically saying "Shut up and get in the van' While his fellow lanterns do fuck all to actually explain WHY the guardians want Jaime. A fight insues and it's easily the best part of a standout episodes. See with the Green Lantern's what makes them so awesome is that the power ring can make ANYTHIGN they imagine. Any thought can be a weapon. There's limits of course: some things can tamper with the vibration, the user needs to be able to concetrate, the rings have to be recharged by reciting the badass oath, stuff to keep the stories interesting, but even with those limits the ring is a deadly weapon in the right hands. It's also what makes the lanterns fun in comparison to other heroes who share the same power sets: while they all have the same ring, each person uses it diffrently: from Hal Jordan favoring planes due to his airforce background, to Kyle Rayner going with a lot of Manga style designs due to being a self confessed "Manga nut with a power ring". It's just some writers can't see the full potetial and just have it be a glorified ray gun or have them only reatrain people with rings and such.

Demattis.. dosen't have this issue, and also fully gets that Jamie's scarab is just aas formidable, leading to a dope as hell fight as we get two fighters both experinced, both with weapons that can do anything going at it with highlights including guy making a sword and shield and later armor for himself, befitting his brawler styles.

Batman eventually steps in and stops this, though I like that he dosen't chastise Jaime. While Jaime esclated, he was faced with a bunch of people wanting to take his incredibly dangerous scarab that he saw as a friend and not explaning why. Guy on the otherhand.. is guy and tries to get Bats to butt out.. only for Batman to remind him he punched his lights out in this contuity too. Yes folks BATB made sure to adapt that moment for Guy's debut. Guy wouldn't listen to batman on a mission, with Bats keeping him on a short leash.. so Guy decked him. While Guy mumble's it was a lucky shot.. it's clear he's cowed and the Guardians step in.

They explain things to the trio in private: the Scarab is, like in the comics a dangerous weapon of the Reach, intergalactic conquerers the Corps defeated years ago, with the scarab users being a false flag: heroes sent to help them.. to keep the planet alive long enough for said user to conquer later when the programming tookover. The diffrence here is in the comics, the Reach played the long game, planning to wait a few generations to sell the planet and use it's inhabitants for slaves, slowly making them docile so by the time they were ready for market, they woudln't fight back. IT's part of what made them such a threat: Jaime coudln't just punch them away, he had to outsmart them.

Here their more like the borg from star trek: a cold collective with but one purpose, a hive of insects planning to swarm. The false flag part remains, it's just less nuanced. And tha'ts.. okay. I didn't like it at first, but I get that unlike Young Justice after this... BATB simply didnt' have the real estate for that kind of story, so they codnsensed it.

The Guardians let Jamie go for now as they want to see if he can control it and trust Batman's words. Guy being guy.. isn't convinced.. and proves a broken clock is right once a day as the Scarab, now in position to do some damage way sooner, regretfully hyjacks Jaime. The one weakness of this one is it's hard to buy Jaime and the Scarab as friends given we've barely seen the two and don't really see them bonding. It just beeps behind him, with the comics, movie and young justice taking effort to show Jaime warming up to his metallic parasite.

Most of the ep is really just a large fight between a possesed Jamie and the corps, and unlike the comics, where their on an even keel, or when Jamie is in control.. this scarab easily mows through them without anyone holding the leash, and Jamie only gets to wake up for a secona nd panickedly try to fight it's control.

So we're left with two sides; Guy who, again, being a dick assumes Jaime is a willing traitor

And Batman.. who see has come a long way, now fully respecting Jaime and has all the faith in the world he can fight this. He gets blasted a lot but is ultimately p;roven right even as a small reach squad arrives.. and easily mops the floor with an ARMY of green lanterns who barely hold them back.

Jaime ends up turning the tide though, fighting his way free and proving himself.. and Guy decides to trust him because why not. How Jaime wins is also clever: he has the lanterns load him up with thier power.. but choose THEM for a reason: since the lanterns run on a user's will, it allows jamie to tape into the scarb's hosts an dresotre there,s disarrming the scarabs. The guardians not only thank jamie ut plan to destroy them... and Guy, as is necesiated by tv law, steps in and tells them not to include Jaime's, with Batman fully graduating his old sidekick.

Revenge is a solid ep. It lacks some of the depth of Fall, but is still a fun episode with some really tightly animated action and plays with the toys it has beautifully. So that leaves us with one last beetlecentric episode.. only this time.. it's Ted's farewell.

Menace of the Madniks!:

We end this retrospective still in season 2.. and this is a very close second favorite out of this pile. It's also the only one I hadn't seen, having not really tracked down most of the episodes I missed, apart from the Doom Patrol one.

The opening.. is the Haunted Tank. Now the concept of a possed wwII era tank, is awesome and the car chase is great. But for some reason not only did the original writers think it being a CONFEDERATE ghost was okay.. but so did the staff of BATB. I get this was long before BLM but.. come on. Just.. come on. He has CSA ON HIS HAT. WHy is batman riding shotgun with a racist confederate ghost? WHY IS BATMAN TEAMING UP WITH...

Menance builds on Batman's characterization from Fall of the Blue Beetle, having been one of Ted's closest friends and working hard to mop up the Madniks, the only member of Ted's rogues gallery to have staying power after his death. Their a bunch of artists, doodly doo, who want to peddle their weird anti-society ways man. Basically their what Steve Ditko thought beatniks were, but work because they have great designs that help cover up being created by an old man who yells at clouds.

Batman is trying to take them down in ted's honor.. but wasn't the ONLY one with that idea as we get the glory that is Booster Gold. Booster was ted's best friend in the comics, a janitor from the future who came back to our time to get rich being a hero, learned to be a hero, and spent most of his time in the league dragging Ted into get rich quick schemes

The two are joined at the hip, with Ted's death shattering the poor guy. Their also shipped a lot. Not really my thing in most cases but this episode is very much "the two guys into me have to hang out and neither likes each other", and I suppport it.

And tha'ts how they cleverly account for Booster and Ted's history not having been brought up till now: Ted was close with both bats and booster.. but made sure neither one knew about it, with booster only finding out when Batman berates him.

Booster being a time traveler also allows for them to cleverly bring ted back without undoing his sacrifice: While he is VERY dumb, Batman outright snaps at him later when he asks too many time travel questions a time traveler should DAMn well know, and Skeets, Boosters robot buddy voiced by voice acting legend billy west (Who along with Booster's va tom everett scott is reprsing his role from the DCAU, the only actors to do so here), is worried Boost just wants to save ted. He dose'nt know: while he'd LIKE to, he's again not THAT dumb and simply wants to see him again and wrap up the madmen as they were the last case Ted worked before Pago island.

It's sweet at first as we see how close the two are: Ted's super happy to see booster, glad to work with him, and only mildly confused his best friend is here after seeing him just a week ago. It speaks to the type of friends they are: wo goofuses who need each other and speak the same very dumb language. Ted is way more relaxed in this episode and it implies his more withdrawn manor with batman.. is simply matching bat's energy. IT's a nice way to have ted still be the awesome science guy.. but inject the fun back in.

The two go to stop the Madniks together, but booster makes an oopsie and shoots the gun their stealing. Their all imoblized by it but if you thought "a weird raygun backfiring and spraying red ominous energy over a bunch of c list villians" is going to end badly, your correct as Booster going back to the present.. finds it ravaged by three weird energy monsters who i'm calling the Meganiks as unlike booster, you can put two and two together. Booster tells on himself, and Batman, having not even REMOTELY suspected him, makes Booster take them back.

This leads to the fun part of the episode: Ted awkwardly having to navigate his VERY different besties, with batman being utterly shocked Ted spends time with such a goofus, not getting that not EVERYONE thinks fighting crime is the funenst thing possible. Seriously this episode has such "my best friend hates my boyfriend" energy and I love it. The two naturally bicker a lot with Ted trying to be civil before just telling the two to shut up and admitting this is WHY he didn't tell them about each other. Eventually the two DO end up working together well enough when Ted's in real danger.

And that's where the two sweetest parts of this come from. The first is when Booster finally admits he just wanted to see Ted again.. and Bats not only realizes he was a bit hard on the moron, accidently end of the world or no.. but that their friendship was as strong as Bats own with ted. I mean really.. who WOULDN'T want one last moment with a loved one, wether that loved one knew it or not. It bonds the two.. and in doing so gives ted something better than simply finishing his last case.. he gets to see the two people he cares about most actually get along. It's a really nice way to end it and when they get back to the present bats decides to invite booster to patrolw tih him. They may not really get each other.. but mayeb they can help each other move on.

So all in all one meh, early episode and a bunch of REALLY strong episodes. In general Brave and the Bold was really fantastic and only had maybe a few duds. It's a glorious celebration of the dcu and I wholly recommend checking it out especailly if you love those boys in blue

For now.. it's time to let Jamie and Ted have a rest. I'll go back there someday, I still want to cover the movie at some point, the rest of Jaime's run but for now we can simply watch as one flies and one swings off into the sunset, for more adventures, and a bright future. The bluest, and bravest, heroes there ever were. Thanks for reading.

[alfhildr-the-word-weaver]

I must say, it's pretty poetic that I've gotten to season 6 of Vampire Diaries right before another solar eclipse happens in America. I certainly didn't plan it, but it does feel like my timing is very appropriate with this one. I do have questions about the accuracy of the eclipse portrayal in the show, though. I mean, a solar eclipse did in fact happen on May 10, 1994, and it was visible across much of the country, so that much is accurate. But I don't think Mystic Falls would've had quite as good of a view as they show it having. For reference, here's a map of the May 1994 eclipse path (credit: timeanddate.com):

And, if you'll remember, Mystic Falls is like two hours from my old hometown just a stone's throw north of Lynchburg, Virginia, as seen on the locator spell map (this one's all over tumblr, forgive me for not remembering what blog I grabbed it from):

So if you zoom in on the timeanddate map and pick somewhere closeish to there:

It looks like Mystic Falls would be getting a little over 77% coverage or so. It's also worth noting that the '94 eclipse was an annular eclipse, not a total eclipse like tomorrow's eclipse. That still means that the moon went directly in front of the sun, but it does mean that it was small enough/far enough from earth that you didn't quite get full coverage of the sun (thanks to weather.gov for the nifty graphic):

So, I'm not positive whether it would've looked quite as dark as was shown in the show:

Although, I must admit, in this video I found on youtube of the '94 eclipse, (part of me is shocked to find footage from then but I know I shouldn't be like yes they had cameras in the 90s) it actually looks more similar than I expected it to look, but I imagine it was most likely filmed within the path of totality:

But also, when Kai takes Bonnie to Portland, don't they see the eclipse again there? I couldn't find that clip on youtube just now, but Portland barely had any eclipse--only 42-43% coverage, so it would've been way milder of a visual effect, barely any dimming in the sky noticeable without eclipse glasses.

The funny thing is, the area where I live is going to be sitting right around 80% coverage tomorrow. I was lucky enough to get to travel to Missouri for the 2017 eclipse to get into the path of totality, but I'm afraid that it hasn't worked out for me to do so this year, which is immensely disappointing to me as an astronomy enjoyer, but I do still plan to go to an eclipse party and I'm going to start saving to try and get to Spain for the next total eclipse in 2026, which is going to be right around my 30th birthday (screaming). Anyways, it isn't great, but here's my best picture from the '17 eclipse:

I didn't even have a smartphone yet then, because despite it being 2017, I was somewhat of a luddite, so I had the purple flip phone I so stubbornly clung to and a point-and-click Nikon, but I still think this picture is pretty cool for what it is. Here's the zoom in so you can really see that ring of fire (and my shaking hands doubling the image):

Obviously you can find thousands of better eclipse pictures online, but that one's still special to me because it's mine. Anyways, I'll report back with smart phone pictures from whatever I see of the 80% total eclipse tomorrow to compare and contrast with Mystic Falls's 70% annular eclipse of the 90s, because from what I've heard it's going to be much less impressive than full totality was, but I've yet to watch a partial solar eclipse, so I'll just have to find out. Also, if you happen to have any vampiric loved ones trapped in a magical prison dimension who you need help freeing during the eclipse tomorrow, let me know and I'll see what I can do! ;) Hahaha. Anyways, happy eclipse everyone, and may we all possess sufficient self restraint to avoid eye damage (says the woman who has looked at the sun unprotected so many times and is probably going to go blind because of it some day. I know what I've done lol. Don't be me.)

[faemytho]

man ykwhat, i didn't wanna say it but i was thinking about it earlier and swan being released so soon after abyss monarch, after something like three years of no new legendaries (not counting the dragons here), it feels like devsis was riding the high of releasing a good legendary with an interesting story and worldbuilding. feels like they were trying to cash grab what they got from the success of abyss monarch by quickly releasing swan so soon after. like, come on, i dont even think there were two events between abyss monarch and the sugar swan's releases, and those are two LEGENDARIES. bam bam. we had like zero room to breathe between them

also like, come on. they released swan from NPC hell after SEVEN YEARS and her whole event is unsatisfying because she wasn't even in the event for like 90% of it. i like the worldbuilding they did for the dessert paradise and i love blue slushy, but it really didn't feel like a new legendary release event.

if you ask me, sugar swan shouldnt have released at all during that event, ESPECIALLY because of that teaser cliffhanger at the end of the story! if they had used the dessert guardian test event to build up to the sugar swan's legendary release at a later date, that ending cliffhander would've given devsis room to make a future event to release her! they could've given swan the same proper build-up they gave abyss monarch. did you guys SEE how in-depth the designers went with "The Making of Wandercrab"??? why did swan get SHAFTED so hard

swan is an extremely indifferent character and i like the angle they're going for with her but. their execution of her story and the timing of her release and everything...??? it just felt SUPER flat. like they went all in building wandercrab for abyss monarch and shafted swan SO bad bc they wanted money. swan doesnt get an intricately built story and setting the way abyss monarch does with the tower of frozen waves leading into sugarteara leading into wandercrab, and it KILLS me bc swan's release could have actually been REALLY cool if they'd just teased her in the dessert guardian test event and then waited to release her in a future event.

like, hear me out. what if it had gone like, blue slushy, epic cookie, first release, they introduce the spring and summer sections of the dessert paradise. red panna cotta cookie, epic cookie, second release, they introduce fall and winter sections of the dessert paradise. everything goes as is, but the swan isnt released, she's just touched on in the story and is a little cameo at the end! like wow, she CAN turn into a cookie that's pretty cool. and its this big payoff for blue slushy's character arc and it gives some closure to red panna cotta's conflict with blue slushy too, all without dropping the sugar swan too much in there because the story wasn't really ABOUT her as a character, just her as an IDEAL.

and then, there's the ending cliffhanger with the black sugar duck, which gives them a perfect opportunity to springboard from that into a future event where swan is released!

and remember how in the event they said if the swan doesn't return, winter will come? well, what if in this hypothetical future event, something does happen to the swan, and it's the black sugar duck's fault, and winter DOES come.

i think it'd be an interesting spin to add elements of the demeter persephone hades story too, where persephone spends three months in the underworld with her husband and demeter is so upset at being away from her daughter that persephone's absence causes winter

black sugar duck does something to the swan, winter comes. the dessert paradise guardian birds have to go find and free/save the swan to stop winter! MAN THIS COULD'VE BEEN THEIR WINTER TO SPRING EVENT NEXT YEAR TOO

idk. maybe also the black sugar duck becomes a cookie because of whatever they did to the swan and is the first release cookie, but we don't KNOW it's them. we can only guess until halfway through the event where we find out they're purposefully leading the dessert guardians astray from finding the sugar swan because they want to continue being beautiful and its a huge conflict! and then swan releases as the second cookie in the event, and we get some characterization for her that's beyond just "she's an indifferent goddess, neither malevolent or benevolent". maybe she willingly GAVE some of her power to the black sugar duck. maybe she's the persephone to the black sugar duck's hades. maybe she's the indifference to the black sugar duck's extreme passion and they balance each other out.

meh idk. i just feel like the sugar swan's release event could have been better thought out instead of being a transparent cash grab. also red panna cotta SHOULD have been playable.

[voided-selfships]

Favorite scene/storyline with your F/O in canon? Or in your personal canon with them? with Bojack

GRABS BOJACK. YES YOU ASKED ABOUT THE RIGHT GUY /SILLY going off of personal canon. And by personal I mean selfship. True Timeline let's fucking GO!

My favorite scene? Forgive me in this gets long imma be talking about a LOT of different shit because I cannot simply choose ONE

So I'm going by season. Heart emoji

Gods where to start, Our A-Story is a 'D' Story? /silly [we all know it would've been The Telescope but surprisingly Warren veto'd going on that trip. (Unsurprisingly, he missed Herb to death but was not ready to be in a room with both him and BoJack.) I digress.]

Anyway it's my favorite just because of the idea that Warren gets out of bed to see BoJack passed out on the couch before immediately seeing AND hearing news of the D from the Hollywoo(d) sign being stolen???

[That "What- what- what the fuck did you do?"

"What did I do? How do you know you didn't do it?"

"BoJack I was actually sober last night-"

"Sure, sure-"

"And you know I can barely carry half of my weight- how the hell did you do this??"

Anyway, the 90s Trio (BoJack, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Warren) scrambling to get rid of this fucking letter is- this is why it's my favorite. Like comedically??? Yes. Yes. Classic Season 1 Shenanigans.

Season 2? Brand New Couch or The Shot. Brand New Couch...Warren trying his best to be supportive of BoJack's uh....brand new attitude!! Even if its weird- not a bad weird! Just not something he's used to! He tries to be supportive for the entire time BoJack works on Secretariat. [Really I need to draw a comic for Brand New Couch because fuck it's so so good. They make me insane. Moving on.]

Season 3? Not even a Question. Episodes 9-12. I don't even wanna ELABORATE. [Warren trying to console BoJack after the conversation he has with Todd only to be kicked out. Getting the news about Sarah Lynn's death and wondering what he could've done differently. Wondering if he could've been there to prevent it. Knowing that to an extent it was BoJack's fault but not understanding the full story- in the end just wanting and needing to be there for him]

Season 4....The Old Sugarman Place. It's already my favorite episode but in Lore Context? Warren goes with BoJack to his family's lake house- which opens the flood gates to a lot more...person bonding. Which they really hadn't done before. Stories about BoJack's family that Warren only heard snippets of- now more in full, a deeper insight into his friend [crush?] They kiss this episode [and it's a lot more meaningful than any other time. They did it just to do it- not as a lead up to sex] Then of course this season has his mom moving in which was. So so so fun. [And Hollyhock! Warren had a feeling that wasn't his kid but didn't want to say anything. Otherwise enjoyed spending time around her- gave him that weird domestic feeling he oftentime tries to ignore when he's around BoJack for too long]

Season 5... they get together in season five. Free Churro has to be my favorite. If only because they don't go to the funeral together, so what ends up happening is Warren ends up in the right room and after a solid 15 minutes has to scour the entire place to look for BoJack. [He does miss a good chuck of his speech finds him halfway through just to listen instead of telling him it was the wrong place. And Beatrice's funeral was so so empty, no one was there aside from BoJack and him]

Season 6. What episode ISN'T my favorite lmao. I guess I can talk about whenever BoJack gets back- so The Face of Depression? I guess lore wise it's important. When BoJack gets back Warren is startled but not upset- goes with him [not by choice] on his trip around the country. It's mostly fine. They have a fight about...a lot of things later in the season [I wanna say...episodes 11 and 12.] Break off- not up! Just off. Don't hear from eachother again until Angela and The View From Halfway Down. Then don't see eachother again until Nice While It Lasted. [Which!!! All my favorite favorite episodes by the way! Fuck!! /pos]

I just realized I started talking about lore instead of my favorite scenes so whoops fjebdjdjd I'm just so passionate [insane and mentally unwell] about them

[butmakeitgayblog]

AWTR what’s it like when they see each other for the first time? I’m assuming they recognize the other? What goes on in their heads?

The first time they see each other again is somewhat unremarkable. Clarke has just blown into town a few days prior and has basically slept 90% of the time since.

Recovering college student finally catching up on a full semester's worth of sleep and all. You know how it is.

So it takes a few days but eventually one late morning she finally drags her ass outta bed and goes to go forage for sustenance, aka makes her way into the main strip of town to see if this place has managed to claw itself into the 21st century by actually having a starbucks or any sort of decent coffee spot at all.

It? Has not.

It's still depressingly almost exactly how she left it so she already knows her only options available to grab some much needed caffeine are between the gas station's swill and Gus's bakery. Which is how she finds herself stumbling in through the door of the small bookshop and bakery, looking entirely out if place with her skin tight expensive designer jeans and a huge pair of sunglasses perched on her head to hold back her blonde and pink hair.

And then, yeah, there she is.

Lexa Dorkus Woods.

Still posted up behind her father's counter, still wearing one of the most hideous sweaters Clarke thinks she's ever seen in her life over a neatly pressed button down with her nose perpetually planted in a book.

And it is a rather startling sight because on the one hand, seeing Lexa exactly where she would've been found every weekend since they were 8 years old (whenever Clarke and her friends would crash through the small shop to grab cupcakes before heading back out (and leaving a very uninvited Lexa in their wake))) reminds Clarke that she really is painfully home. But on the other hand... what in God's fucking name is that brainiac weirdo with zero sense of style still doing in this hell hole?

She should be off... doing quantum physics or interning at NASA or something. Maybe solving world hunger or designing a completely solar powered car. Whatever the hell it is that obscenely smart people do with their lives.

Lexa's reaction is pleasant, but muted, which feels a bit rude considering Clarke's utter befuddlement at seeing her face right back here after so long, but it does makes more sense after Lexa's polite reminder that not everyone had spent the last 72 hours in a near coma and that, "It's a small town, Clarke. Word travels fast."

[scibot9000]

top albums of 2023 for me. i dont have spotify so i gotta do this manually.

rankings approximate except the top one. links and thoughts under the cut

greenhouse - arc,regn

ok this may sound silly but: in the 90s, necros (among others) were making some rad tracker music with a very very specific synth sound and overall vibe that i simply have not heard since. this hits that for me.

"露華" necros md tracker idm revived. "spur" feels like it's that tracker sound, removed from tracker limits.

"føn", my second fav track, feels far more Halley Labs, but still carries a hint of that turn-of-the-century tracker spirit.

the opening track, "eko", is SO choice though. fav.

---

DJ Shadow - Action Adventure

kind of fascinated with this! it’s extremely 80s but not always. “You Played Me” is just an 80s hit. i keep coming back to it lol (idk “when” you’d place “Free For All” but its also a fav) how is “Fleeting Youth” so beautiful

im really excited to see DJ Shadow enter the 90s in 2035 or w/e

---

PROGedia - Diõscuri

prog hip hop? 6????

yeah that opening track grabbed me and did not let go. holy hell what a banger.

the aoty status is mostly carried on that, but like. it left an impression damnit.

feels like brainfeeder.

---

Liminal Warp - Nocturnal Edge 3

downside: anime VO, mixed kinda loud too...

upside: INTENSE.

I've had "Reina" on loop for ages. easy fav, but the rest of the tunes Don't Slack. still deeply fascinated by "yag si urowak". it's like breakcore 2 or smth.

---

Skrillex - Quest for Fire

I was really scared when i saw the number of features here but uhh... nope this went hard.

and also i didnt notice at first but one of those features is Joker. like... purple music Joker. and it's the best damn track on the thing.

"Xena" second favorite. insane drum production there.

---

Oneohtrix Point Never - Again

This covers the mind-exploding fringes of sampledelica but fresher. Or, actually... maybe that's too reductive.

I remember chimeratio hyping up "Locrian Midwest" specifically, and... yeah I can tell why. That's very him-flavored. The timbral selection is top notch. That last sentence applies to every other moment in every other track, though.

"Plastic Antique" would have murdered me in 2013.

---

Patricia Taxxon - TECHDOG 1-7

Of course this would grab me.

I would've just thought it was a delightful romp if it stopped at TECHDOG 1, but damn did it keep going.

"TETCTEHECDCHOHDGDOGOG" was an instant fav, but as time goes on, I keep finding new favorites. I think the build from birds to walls in "OCOTOCODCTCETDTHDEDGEHEGHGHG" is my fav as of writing.

That said, something that struck me imemdiately, got the most replays from me this year, from TECHDOG7: "THTCTHTOTHTCTHDHCHOHCECOCDCOGODOEODGDEDGDEGEGEGEG"

Never has a song so viscerally teleported me to a specific scenario: being a child, alone in a room without knowing why. I can feel the dust in the air. Insanely good.

---

Blawan - Dismantled Into Juice

Man.

This one hit my DNA.

The title track, "Dismantled Into Juice" not only is my fav here but it's influenced how i think abt music.

AOTY. ...EPOTY?

[cacklefrendly]

Hi this th same anon who ask for gin and vodka hc and thank you for answer first and you say you have more hc about the two not as a duo so spill the hc i will enjoy hearing you rant about them ofc if you want and about the compliment you're welcome

anon i would've answered more quickly but the weather has been Too Cold to do anything but hibernate. i refuse to let that stop me.

here have a song that's in my Vesper Cocktail playlist — "Slaughterhouse Floor" by Skippocalyptic:

Be thou flesh of my flesh, and I’ll be the house that you haunt Lay down your neck for my blade, and I’ll be what you want And I can’t seem to imagine, perfect love But I have to imagine That it’s blood, blood, blood

ok more headcanons YIPPEE—

GIN:

He's always just a bit sleep-deprived and just a bit under-weight. It’s perfectly understandable given his job but the 'tism isn't helping him any.

Gin is trans, and transitioned after he got his first codename (Kina Lillet, as previously mentioned). Turns out that the Black Organization already has paperwork ready for name changes!! Black Org. says Trans Wrongs. He doesn't see his old codename as a deadname, but he's so comfortable with 'Gin' that he considers that to be his real name. The only reason he doesn't talk about the old codename is that he and Vermouth had a couple one-night stands while he was Kina but she doesn't know that was HIM and he would like to KEEP IT THAT WAY—

For dysphoria-related reasons he used to keep his hair short religiously. When he got De-Titted he started letting it go a bit longer between cuts. Then the T started really kicking in as he was climbing the B.Org’s ranks and he decided “gender norms are simply another law to be broken over my knee” and from then on only ever trims the ends. As he should.

Gin does Not play video games. He’s never even played Portal. It’s one of his more glaring flaws as a person.

Silver is his natural hair color! He used to dye it darker, but he stopped when it was getting too long to be worth maintaining. He’ll go through the hassle if he REEEEEEALLY NEEDS TO for undercover shit but he only uses temporary dyes. And tries not to leave the house until it’s gone.

Speaking of his hair, again, 90% of the people who end up fighting Gin hand-to-hand go for his hair. Which is a trap! He’s specifically trained himself to break out of hair grabs — or use them to his advantage, which is way more fun for him.

He's actually pretty calm and laid-back when he's not on-the-job. In the same sense that lions and wolves are kinda lazy when they're not hunting. Predators need to conserve their energy! Of course the SECOND he has an assignment he is 100% in Murder Mode.

VODKA:

First and most importantly: Vodka wears Doc Martens. Because he deserves it. He mostly wears work-appropriate ones — Oxford-style, black stitching, little-to-no heel. Actually just. THESE ONES — but he owns a selection with high-heels and/or platforms. (the first time he struts walks out in THESE Gin’s like “firstly you’re taller than me and that’s unacceptable. i trusted you. but secondly God-Damn,”)

As I’ve said (and drawn) before, Vodka can sing. Because I deserve it. He likes to change the lyrics to make songs gay. Also because I deserve it.

Before Vodka was codenamed, while he was working for one of the Black Org's front businesses, while he still wasn't privy to any super illegal information (rather, wasn't SUPPOSED to be, but he’s not stupid and could tell that numbers weren’t adding up the way they were supposed to), he was kidnapped along with three coworkers. The kidnappers were part of a decent-sized rival group looking to get some dirt to force the Black Org. out of their territory (not knowing exactly what they were getting into) by interrogating its employees. One by one, all of his coworkers cracked and admitted that they didn’t know anything. So they were killed. Vodka didn't tell his captors a damn thing, so they concluded that he must have access to important information. They kept him alive and quickly moved from interrogation to torture — but Vodka lasted long enough for the Black Org. to track the threat down and kill them. His secret? the only thing he let himself think about was a song, one he'd kept hearing when he hung around his superiors' offices: Seven Children. By the time he should've cracked, the only thing he had the presence of mind left to do was sing. The incident got him codenamed, and he’s proud of himself for it, but in particularly high-stress situations you might hear him singing under his breath — "Cute, cute," The mother crow sings. "Cute, cute."

Yknow how in like every movie with the Black Org. the team has some Super Expensive New Toy (spy plane, submarine, ect.) that is absolutely going to be Blown The Fuck Up by the end? While the movies technically don’t exist, i 1000% believe that Vodka is extremely good at convincing The Boss and the people in charge of weapons distribution that Gin’s team should totally get a shiny new toy to play with, thank you. He presents the keys to the newest Vehicle For Manslaughter and watches Chianti and Gin vibrate with excitement like two grayhounds you just asked "wanna go for a walk?"

[alivegirlmari]

which skamiverse character do you think would fit in best with the Yellowjackets?

OKAY INSANE QUESTION. had to spend all weekend thinking. idk whether you meant who would best fit as in like, who would be friends with the team?? or who would just generally exist in the yj universe?? so i'm doing a bit of everything <3 long as fuck so under a read more.

mailin is, i believe, the only canon girl soccer player, so the most boring superficial answer ofc is that mailin is the best fit. however:

nora m. and lottie would be a bittersweet type of almost, i think, if they were ever in a group project together. one time everyone bails on a meeting so lottie is like let's ditch the library come over to mine my parents are out. at some point they pause for a break and have a drink (lottie offers something alcoholic, nora declines, lottie doesn't question further but Knows something is up and grabs them both sodas). i don't think they'd be completely honest about their respective mental illnesses or family situations, ofc, but there'd be a shared, quiet understanding borne from a few anecdotes and the implications underlining them. it's nice to be able to breathe for a few hours, to admit the depth of your loneliness and momentarily allow yourself to cast it away. at one point, lottie puts on some music. they dance and laugh and let themselves be teen girls before lottie's parents come home. i think they'd say hi to each other in the halls, and nora would cheer when lottie scores a goal (the cashqueens go to mailin's games), but i just can't see them - for multiple, complex reasons - becoming besties. or at least, not publicly? i think it's one of those 'we'll have the magic of that night and i'll always be grateful for it' dynamics. fuck i actually want a fic of this now lmao.

in many ways shauna/jeff/jackie is just a parallel universe eva/jonas/ingrid situation. so i think shauna would be friendly at school with some of the evas (i'm thinking og eva and megan, not an eva but she'd also like liv imo), but they'd never quite click, either. shauna recognizes something in them she doesn't like - or, she can't recognize herself at all bc in her mind her situation is worse. but they'd share notes sometimes.

rip javi you would've LOVED being a tiny big brother to umut inci <3 there's a world where javi, wanting to become closer to his dad (or perhaps forced to go with him? similar to how he and travis go on the nationals trip) goes to mr martinez's games & training sessions and sees the u12 boys team warming up first and talks to the sullen kid kicking balls really hard. tfw you love your elder sibling but things are hard and neither of you really has the language to express it all.

constantin and randy. obviously. they have drinking competitions at parties; constantin eventually hates randy for not being an alpha male like him. unforch it is the 90s and randy does not have the emotional intelligence to recognize constantin is an alcoholic spiraling. (was that plot like...ever addressed?)

zoe m. and mari besties, spiritual sisters, and soulmates every friday and saturday night. berlin slash wiskayok you are NOT ready. but i don't think zoe is as bitchy as mari is. or as smart, tbh? mari would def hate the instas's s5 stunts. it'd be a very intense, fiery, party-focused short-lived friendship. a 24/7 drunk girl in the bathroom vibe. always about to collapse but absolutely beautiful while it lasts. pre-s2 cris would also love both zoe and mari btw.

yara and tai are the resident It girls who run things bts. i'm assuming tai did multiple extracurriculars. she meets yara, class president, overseer of all, at one of them. they immediately just get each other's vibe and have the 'can work in silent tandem and get everything done in ten mins OR will spend an hour giggling' type of friendship. yara faux-casually lets slip that she's bi once. does she already know tai's closeted and wants to make her feel a little less alone, or is she just hoping she is, desperate to know she's not reading too much into it, wanting to feel a little less alone herself? (tai freaks out regardless. they make up, eventually. yara becomes the world's first tai/van shipper. they smile at each other, a little wistfully, across the room and over the crowd at parties.)

tai would think redouane was a bit of a class clown at first, but she'd see him on the other side of the gym sometimes, always working out, playing with the younger students, putting away equipment correctly, and she'd come to respect him. van would LOVE his lil films. he'd be on the yearbook committee and make sure to take really good photos of van for the yj page, and give her the outtakes, and they'd talk Cinema. bilal comes along once and he and van invent the Just A Goofy Little Guy Convention. but i also think they recognize something in the other - a desire for More from life, but a situation beyond their control that may not allow for it - and maybe they wouldn't talk about it, but she'd sneak him movies for zak and he'd sew her something to pin on her jersey.

pre-s6 lola would love pre-crash nat in the sense that they'd both skip classes to smoke behind the school. unforch lola would rather die than exercise so she also thinks she's better than nat bc she's not an athlete. max also likes pre-crash nat for her bisexual smoker swag.

nobody hates this more than me but tiff is v mistycoded like her first response to being rightfully slapped in the face is to fake a broken neck with a brace to make people feel bad for her. they also only have one friend. they'd absolutely HATE each other though. s6 tiff would def bully her. s7-10 tiff doesn't, but keeps a wide berth, and offers no real apology for her past actions. moira's existence is the only thing that stops misty from putting a dead rat in tiff's locker. the second moira's 18 though? oh it's over.

(tiff is also 10000% the allie stevens of the yj universe, btw.)

some of the william remakes, mostly senne & noah, give me jeff vibes. as in the fandom loves to think they're better men than they are but if you think about it for more than two secs you're like, hold on...but didn't they once...? however alejandro IS travis and i mean this in a way complimentary towards both. alejandro & travis: guys who eventually become one of the girls. guys who love their gfs but love isn't always enough. guys and their almosts, their what ifs, etc.

lucas r loves paul's aesthetic, esp. his earring. he also loves mari. but i don't think mari loves him. tragic (misty loves him bc she loves a gay man she can put in a cage. he doesn't love her at all. less tragic.)

lucas vdh would light a cabin of girls on fire no question. he doesn't even need to know about the cannibalism to do it.

crystal is obvs those two theatre/musical kids that approach the evas in every season one. i could not tell you their names if you put a gun to my head. they might not've even been theater kids. but that's her: Very friendly, Very unable to read a room, Very much deserved better. speaking of deserving better: ava and crystal musical duo when???

jackie [handshake emoji] maya: girls who are doomed by the narrative. girls with complicated families. girls who love really hard. girls who are in love with, and have their heartbroken by, their best friend*. i actually don't think maya would like pre-crash jackie tbh. she's too normie for her. but college jackie and maya meet when jackie's roommate drags her to a campus enviro protest, and they'd become friendly, esp. when maya spots jackie hesitantly entering the lgbt students union. jackie helps maya shave her head once. they talk about femininity and gender and lesbianism and something clicks maybe they become roomies. maybe they raise a plant together. (*yes max is maya's canon bestie but s9 took everything from me debshirley are NOT taking my lola/maya besties headcanon too)

anyways um. did not mean 2 write an entire essay here. sorry for taking ages with it. lmk ur thoughts anon <33

[biaswreckingfics]

For the prompt drabble request (again)

San - ateez & 48, 90, 107

San + Fluff/Crack -Idk how, but we ended up going straight for the crack fic, but we're here🥴🥴-

(Of course, I've noticed. I notice everything about you. + If you want to keep sitting on my lap, you have to stop wiggling around like that. + You're so cute when you're struggling.)

The party feels like it's been going on for hours. You would've gone home ages ago if your bosses hadn't required everyone to be here. The least they could've done is make sure everyone had enough chairs to sit on. Your feet are killing you, and you swear this is the last time you wear these stupid shoes. They're cutting into your feet and you can already imagine the blisters you're going to have.

Bouncing back and forth, you scan the room to check if your bosses are still here. Amid the scanning, you notice someone waving you over. San, the cutie from the floor above you. Half of your company has a crush on the man.

Curious about what he wants, you make your way over to him while trying to keep the pain off of your face. "Hey. What's up?"

"This might be highly inappropriate, but if you need to sit down, you're more than welcome to sit on my lap."

Surprised, you glance at the people around you before you look back at him. "You're offering me a seat on your lap?"

"It just looks like your feet are bothering you." He glances down at your shoes then looks back up at your face. "I'd give you my seat, but I tweaked my knee, so I'm not much better at standing."

It suddenly makes a lot more sense why he's not just giving you his chair and is instead offering a virtual stranger a seat on his lap.

"You noticed?"

"Of course, I noticed. I notice everything about you." He pauses after the words come out and grimaces. "That sounded a lot creepier out loud than it did in my head. I just meant that I've noticed you around the office. A lot."

A laugh comes out of you and you find yourself looking at him in amusement. He's cute, seems sweet, and might be funny, so you shrug your shoulders. What the hell? Why not?

Actually sitting on his lap is awkward at first, but San cracks joke after joke and you quickly find yourself relaxing. Your first impression of him seems spot on. He doesn't try anything weird, and a lot of people you respect come up and talk to the two of you. Suddenly, you're glad you weren't able to leave the party earlier. You're having way too much fun with San.

The later the night gets, the less classy the music becomes. You find yourself bopping along to the songs, enjoying yourself after having maybe a little too much wine. It takes you a little bit to realize how stiff San has become. When you do, you turn back to him and ask if he's okay.

He gives you a tight smile. "If you want to keep sitting on my lap, you have to stop wiggling around like that."

You blink at him in confusion for a moment before your eyes widen in shock. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry!"

Abruptly standing up, you nearly fall over your own feet. San grabs you before you can get very far and places you right back on his lap. You push against him to get off, but his arms wrap around your waist.

"It's okay. I just said it to make sure you're a little more careful."

"San, really. I can stand for a little while. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," you attempt to stand up again but he doesn't let you go.

With his arms wrapped tightly around you, he says, "You're so cute when you're struggling."

You pause in your movements and look back at him with an odd look. It takes a second before he realizes the words that came out and his eyes widen in panic.

"Wait, that sounded even more creepy than before. I promise I'm not a weirdo!"

[bellysoupset]

Oooh okay, so i love Jonah and Wendy's vibe and I was thinking - how about him getting a little too wasted at some medics function, confessing to her how much he likes Leo, and then having to dash away to puke?

(Feel free to just leave to one side for a while cause I know you have loads of Jonah prompts!!)

"Let's dance," Jonah said, chugging the last of his beer and grabbing her hand, pulling Wendy up. Somehow, HR's idea of a hospital bonding included beers and barbecue. Sure, it wasn't your "in the backyard bbq", but it was still far from what he would've considered appropriate.

Wendy had been too enthralled all evening, listening to Jonah bitch non stop about it. Not only about the food and the heat and the fact he was being served beer, but anything and everything under the sun. It was clear he had a thorn on his side, but until he decided to speak on it, he was set on being an absolute bitch.

It was amusing, she thought, giggling and throwing her arms around his neck as he pulled her to the middle of the garden.

They had hired a band, but no one was dancing. Not to bossa nova, that was just not... Not something people knew how to dance to. Wendy didn't. But Mr. Fancy Boarding School did, as he put his hand on her hip and swayed her side to side, an easy drunk smile on his face, that she knew she should cherish, because it wasn't going to last.

"No, eyes here," Jonah tipped her chin when she tried to look at their feet and Wendy huffed.

"I'm going to fall and make a fool of myself."

"I'm not gonna let you fall," he scoffed, squeezing her hand in his and pulling them both to the right with one quick step, then stepping forward - forcing her to go backwards - slowly.

Wendy allowed him to manhandle her around like a ragdoll, bodies pressed together in the mellow rhythm enough that she could ask "What's gotten into you today?" without fear of being overheard.

As she predicted, his smile slipped and Jonah scowled, "nothing."

"Oh really?" she rolled her eyes as he twirled her, "Jonah, c'mon, you've been bitching non stop and now we're dancing."

"I like dancing," he said defensively and Wendy leveled him with an unimpressed glare.

"Jonah."

He twirled her again, so her back was pressed to his chest, "Leo."

"Uhm, Leo," she repeated cheekily. Jonah hadn't ever spoken out loud, but it was no secret to her just how stupidly into Leo he was. Not when his eyes sparkled like that around the man, not when Leo was the subject of 90% of his conversations and not even in a mean way, but fond and tender, "what about Leo?"

"Shut up," Jonah scoffed, turning her around and Wendy laughed, tipping on his arms before coming closer again, hand in his hand, face to face.

"What? You're not gonna tell me?" she egged him on, "That bad?"

"It's not that bad," Jonah grumbled, making a menacing face and she rolled her eyes at his big scowl. It wouldn't ever work on her, despite it sending nurses, doctors and football players cowering.

"Then spill."

He made a face, then ducked his chin to his chest and muffled a small burp, all dainty and nothing like what she had heard in the headquarters of the hospital.

"Sorry, excuse me. All the bee-"

"Leo, we were talking about Leo," she didn't let him change subjects and stepped closer. Now other people had joined the dance floor, none of them as on rhythm as Jonah, but all of them clearly having more fun, "So?"

"Ikissedhim?" Jonah said in a way that sounded like a question and she raised her eyebrows, but didn't pull back.

"You what?!" she whispered and Jonah turned her again, back to chest once more, but instead of answering he muffled a wet burp on her shoulder and caused Wendy to groan, "Jon, ew."

"Sorry," he said, sounding more bitter and sick than actually sorry. Wendy wrinkled her nose, turned her head to look at the director's table, but kept swaying in his arms.

"And I'm guessing it didn't go that well?" she whispered, a fake smile plastered on her face. Jonah grumbled something uninteligible, "Jon?"

"It went great-"

"-so why do you look like he kicked your metaphorical dog?" Wendy dropped all pretense of fake happiness and turned around to face him. Something very close to annoyance started to itch under her skin, as she saw the deep crease between Jonah's brows.

"Well... He didn't remember it," Jonah grumbled, stopping to move too and planting a hand on his chest, rubbing up and down uneasily, "it was when he hit his head."

"A week ago," Wendy deadpanned, trying not to think of the fact he had been sitting on these news for a week. Her voice softened, "honey, he was really concussed-"

"He remembers, Dee," Jonah grimaced, brought a hand to his mouth and muffled a weak, airy burp, "he remembers everything we said that night, he just- He's just pretending he doesn't remember the kiss."

Easy like that Wendy's annoyance returned with vengeance, but now she could feel it clearly and it was not annoyance, it was anger. Protectiveness.

"What the fuck, Jon? That's such an asshole move."

"I guess, I-" he winced, then folded down and a wet, disgusting burp rolled past his lips, making some of the people that were around them take a step back. The head nurse, Claire, frowned.

"Dr. Banks...?"

"He's fine, Clare," Wendy lied through her teeth, wrapping her arms around Jonah's shoulders, "c'mon, let's not cause a sceneee-" she whispered, fake smile plastered on, "nothing to see here, folks!"

She managed to manhandle him away from the hotel garden's but not all the way to the bathrooms. They stopped nearby the water fountain and he planted both hands to his knees, "Wendy, I feel. Uurp. Really sick," he said in a distorted voice and she sighed.

"Breathe, Jon, it's just your head getting to your-"

"No-" he pitched forward with a heave, spat between his feet in the grass, "it's not nerves."

Wendy grimaced, circling him so she was not on the direct splash zone and planted a hand on his back, rubbing up and down as a bunch of wet belches rolled off of him, each one bigger than the previous one- Until he pitched forward with a big burp that morphed halfway through into a gag, sending a gush of pale yellow vomit on the grass.

She wrinkled her nose at the scene and steadied him, feeling his linen shirt stuck to his back, "Jon..."

He was bracing against his knees, a line of drool still hanging from his lips, "it's burning..."

"You just had too much," she reassured him, "breathe in, it should settle soo-"

He shook his head and nearly went down to his knees as more vomit rushed past his lips, this time much chunkier and brown- Wendy turned her head with a gag of her own, staring at the water fountain as she heard the awful noises he was making.

Jonah coughed, sounding out of breath and belched loosely, something he hadn't forced up, "Fuck-" he groaned queasily, falling on his butt on the water fountain and burying his face on his hands.

She carefully averted her gaze from the stone statue pouring water from a basket, pressing her lips in a line as she tried to look at Jonah but not at the mess. He raised his head from his hands upon feeling her gaze on him, "I think I overdid it."

"You think?" she rolled her eyes, "are you still sick?"

He nodded, throat working dangerously, "I just... I just wanna leave."

She was suddenly very grateful they had carpooled there, though not as grateful as she thought of Jonah this queasy stuck in her car.

"I'm just gonna go grab my purse, meet you at the car?"

"Uhm," he groaned, standing up with her help, a hand planted over his stomach, which she could tell was bloated and pressing against his button up.

After a string of apologies and reassurances that "Jonah is fine, he's just a little under the weather", Wendy finally managed to retrieve her purse and make it out of the hotel. She got him a water bottle from the front desk and met him at the parking lot. He was braced against the top of her car, head buried in the crook of his arm and Wendy cringed in sympathy.

"Jon?"

"I'm fine," he grumbled, voice thick with the nausea and she clicked her keys to unlock the car. Upon entering it, Wendy immediately turned on the a/c. All that hot stuffy air couldn't feel good.

Jonah pushed the passenger seat back and collapsed on it, one arm wrapped around his stomach, the other thrown over his face, shielding his eyes from the sun.

In the silence of the car, she could hear his tummy gurgle angrily and he wasn't holding back from burping, which she opted for not pointing out, even if the smell and frequency of them were making her vaguely queasy too.

"I think you're right," he groaned after about ten minutes of nauseous burps and silence. Wendy raised her eyebrows.

"Of course I am, but over what?"

"...He's being a dick pretending he doesn't remember it," Jonah lowered the arm that was shielding his face, planting the now free hand on his stomach and rubbing at it, face all twisted with discomfort and heartbreak, "makes me feel like I took advantage of him."

"You- You?!" she interrupted herself, floored at the revelation and pissed, "Jonah, you didn't do anything wrong!"

"He was concussed, Dee..." he leaned in, forehead coming to meet the car's dashboard, "I don't know, I just wanna forget about it."

She was going to murder Leo Wagner, Wendy decided. Instead of voicing it though, she reached over the handbrake and squeezed Jonah's thigh.

"I'm sorry, Jon," then because she couldn't stop herself, "but you deserve better than someone who pretends your first kiss didn't happen."

"Guess," he grumbled, then burped again, "are we almost there? I'm gonna hurl again, I can-" he swallowed in, "I can feel it."

She sighed, taking her hand back and focusing on the traffic, looking for a place to pull over, "almost."

[epicspheal]

Heyo! I hope life's been treating you well! I recently threw myself off the deep end and tried to figure out the swsh timeline. A daunting task, I know. And by timeline I mean purely like. From Opal to Leon and everything that happened in-between. I've got a decent start in finding out the exact years that Mustard's reign as champion was ( 1970-1988), as well as some little details about Opal( like how she was born in 1932 and was 38 when she battled Mustard before he became champion). All of this is under the idea that swsh takes place in 2020 by the way. However, as I tried to visually map out how this timeline would go and I noticed two things.

1. This timeline is going to be heavily based on headcanoned ages if I want to have an exact date to when certain events happen. In general, some things are so vague that I might just have to put certain events, like everything with Kabu, at where they would better fit ( maybe somewhere in the 90's???)

2. With Mustard and Peony both stepping down, I realize that Peony couldn't have come after Mustard immediately. In 1988? With a kid Nia? Yeah, he would still be pretty young then. Same goes for Peony and Leon. Someone had to be in-between the two, since Peony stepped down as well. Also 3 champions in the span of 50 years. Not impossible, but still odd.

Basically I realized you were ahead of the game Spheal! My mind went to Jack when thinking about this, and now my brain is buzzing with ideas ( mainly involving one of Piers' parents, but that needs more thought). I just thought I'd share this experience before I go do another noise dive into Bulbapedia for any scraps of lore I may have missed.

And as always, have a good day/night!

Hey there ihopethisendswell! I'm doing well just swimming in an endless amount of cardiology/nephrology information. Ah yes the SwSh timeline (and honestly really any of the Pokemon timelines once you get to Gen 5) is more than a little aggravating. Props to you for tackling it for your verse! To your point about the headcanoned ages (and I too have struggled with that massively in cactusverse) this is where I really wished at the very least Pokemon would give out actual birthdays or just ages of the characters. I know many people enjoy the freedom a lack of canon ages/birthdays give them when coming up with stories but for me it's just really annoying. So often I have to just make vague statements. Like you for me Kabu is the epitome of vague in cactuverse. He's been there for about 2 decades for me.

I do believe Mustard was actually defeated rather than stepping down thanks to the loss of his partner he started losing his battle prowess, based on what's said on Bulbapedia. But yeah, Peony and Mustard's reigns are farther apart which makes sense given their ages. Mustard is over 50 and Peony (and Rose) are most likely late 30s/early 40s. That and Rose is more or less implied to have been chairman for not much longer than Leon had been champion and while we don't even have an actual estimate of Leon's reign (at least 10 years is the minimum but no more than 18). Mustard lost his title 32 years prior so there's up a 22 year gap where Peony could fall into. And yeah with Peony bouncing as soon as Rose stepped up there most likely had to be someone in between that Leon would've defeated. I mean it's certainly possible that the year Leon became champion there was no seated champ and thus the title was entirely up for grabs but more than likely i think he would've defeated a seated champion. To your point about potentially only having 3 champions in 50 years it's certainly possible but again odd and given what we know of the timeline likely unrealistic. This actually brings up something that's been hinted a lot by the champions in Pokemon Masters, that the title often switches hands frequently. Which makes sense when you look at Pokemon battling as a competitive sport like our Tennis, Football, Track and Field, etc. Who the number one player or team often changes from year to year. Even the greats like Serena Williams or Michael Jordan weren't always on top every year they were active. So the same would apply to Pokemon battling and champions. Who is on top can change frequently and when I think about the Hall of Fame room in Pokemon Origins which had a pretty big number of photos lining the wall, it's pretty safe to say that there are a lot more former champions in the Pokemon world than we think. They'll always be champions but the title of "reigning champion" is fleeting.

And with Galar being so competitive, I can definitely see it being the case that many champions don't last that long before being dethroned with some of them perhaps losing their title the year after they obtain it. That's why champions like Mustard and Leon end up being considered some of the greats in Galar because of how long they end up reigning (or in Leon's case the fact that he didn't incur any losses during his reign). But yeah Jack (as well as Calla and Cami) were all created champions on the basis of the idea that the title of reigning champion is fleeting and in Jack's case the need to fill in the question of "who was the champion Leon beat to take the title?" I'm excited to hear more about what you did for your verse! And you have a great day/night as well!