#at least team rocket was that was the only reason I was watching

[hana-bobo-finch]

AAAAAA I WAN T TO BE ABLE TO REPLY TO POSTS AND SEND IN ASKS SOOOO BAD RRRRRRGHHH MY PATIENCE IS GROWING VERY THIN. PRETEND THAT YOU ARE GETTING SO MANY NICE AND SUPPORTIVE REPLIES TO YOUR POSTS BECAUSE I AM THINKINH THEM IN MY MIND I SWEARRRR

[barcaatthemoon]

hold it in || claudia pina x reader ||

claudia pulls away when she thinks that you're dating cata.

"carry me!" you shouted as you jumped onto cata's back. you arrived with her to training like you did every single day. cata dropped her bag down to make room for you to ride on her back to the locker room. the two of you were extremely close as cata was your roommate and best friend, but despite what a few of your teammates thought, that was the extent of your relationship.

everyone was fairly used to seeing cata carry you around, so nobody said anything. she dumped you straight onto the floor in between where patri and claudia were standing. almost immediately, claudia dropped down to help you up onto your feet. she made sure that you were okay before turning to cata and flaying into her a bit.

"it's everyday with this bit. you would think that claudia would just give it up. i'm pretty sure that's the only reason cata still does it," patri said. you nodded as you brushed all of the dirt off of yourself. the two of you stood back watching cata and claudia playfully fight with each other.

alexia came over to break it up at the sound of the first crash. all of you were ushered out to the pitch. you easily fell in step with cata, who linked your arms together. claudia frowned at the sight in front of her. it was like the universe wanted to throw it in her face that you weren't hers. you liked cata, and claudia had missed her chance with you when you transferred.

"don't shoot rockets at me, i'm not panos!" cata warned as she separated from you with a shove. you rolled your eyes as you stumbled to the side. claudia clenched her fists, even though you were laughing along with cata. the goalkeeper blew you a kiss before she went over to join the others.

"i swear she's so annoying sometimes," you said as you fell in step with patri and claudia. patri hummed in agreement, but claudia didn't even react to you. they went with the other midfielders for training, but since the coaching staff wanted to push you back a bit, they had you with the defenders.

you had played as a defender in your youth club teams, but your college and national team had you playing as a forward. slowly, you had made your way up the positions, but every now and then you liked to fall back. you were a versatile player, one that barcelona had jumped to add to their roster as a few of their key players left.

you kept glancing at claudia during practice, but for once, you never met her eye. you chalked it down to claudia not feeling well, so you gave her space. unfortunately, you weren't the only one who noticed claudia's change in mood. patri had confronted her several times throughout the day, all coming to a head with a huge argument in the parking lot.

"hey, don't worry about them. they'll be fine, they scream at each other like that every other week. it's natural," cata reassured you. she was right, their little squabbles did tend to get heated, but something about what you had just watched felt different. "come on, let's go get some rest."

…

claudia's mood was not a one-off thing. at least it wasn't around you and cata. claudia seemed distant and a bit more tempermental around the two of you. it took about a week of claudia acting like that for you to decide that it was best if you kept your distance with her. cata seemed to have decided the same thing, and in that, she knew that she had to look out for you a little bit more.

"ugh, disgusting," claudia muttered to herself as she watched you hold cata in a tight embrace. cata's gloves were still off, so she ran her fingers through your hair. you completely melted against her body. it was no secret within the team that you had arrived a bit touch starved and still clung to every bit of affection that you could get.

"alright lovebirds, break it up," patri said as she came in between the two of you. you frowned at her, but took your spot in the lineup anyway. you were in between ona and patri with a couple more players in between you and cata. claudia seemed a bit smug about that, even if she didn't say anything about it directly. "stop fidgeting."

"i can't help it," you whined. you were a bit nervous. practices hadn't been going great for you with everything on your mind. this game felt like your chance to prove to the coaching staff that they hadn't made a mistake shelling out all that money for you. you knew what you had to do, and a big part of that was hoping that things went your way in today's game.

for the most part, things went well. you got the odd ball to kick back up into the midfield. most of your opposition's attempts were killed in the midfield and turned into points for barcelona on the scoreboard. at halftime, you felt better about everything, despite the nagging feeling in your stomach. irene gave the pep talk speech, motivating the team to play like they had been in the first half.

the game hadn't even resumed for a full minute when you went down the first time. it felt like a little tweak to your knee, but nothing you couldn't handle. you grit your teeth and kept going, not even allowing for them to stop the game and get a trainer out there. when you went down again, you were completely out of it. a good slide tackle on your end had been ruined by the boot of a forward crushing your leg.

claudia sprinted towards you as you screamed in pain. she wanted nothing more to be at your side, but cata held her back. claudia couldn't pinpoint the look on cata's face, but it looked like cata was mad at claudia. still, claudia tried to push past the goalkeeper to see you.

"cata, let me through. she's my friend, i want to see her," claudia huffed. no matter how hard she tried, claudia couldn't just push past the goalkeeper.

"not with the way you've been acting. just get out of here, you've done enough today," cata said. she pushed claudia back with a shove. her back was turned towards you, so she missed the way you reached towards claudia as you were stretchered away.

"i just want to see her," claudia mumbled sadly.

…

"you've got visitors," cata told you. you tipped your head back to look at the door where claudia, ona, jana, and bruna were standing. "i'm going out for a bit, okay?"

"yeah," you told her. cata leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of your head. you shifted on the couch a bit to make room for your friends, glad that they came to visit you.

"we brought markers for your cast," jana said as she held them up. you smiled, patting the spot next to you for her. she came right over with bruna in tow, the two of them dumping the markers on your coffee table. they sat on the floor so that they had better access to your cast.

"are you feeling okay?" ona asked. she had texted about coming over, but cata hadn't let anybody else over except for alexia and a couple of the older players. it seemed that everybody wanted to come check on you, which you found flattering. however, all you wanted was claudia's attention.

"better now that we've got my medicine figured out," you told her. "hi clau."

"hi (y/n)." claudia stood still, eyes downcast on the floor. "i'm sorry that you got your leg broken like that."

"it sucks, but frido is making cata take good care of me," you said happily. you were depressed about being injured, but it was highly amusing watching frido boss cata around. the swedish woman lived in your complex, as did a few of your other teammates, so frido was over nearly every other day to check on you. "you should come over more, i miss you."

"i'm not sure that i should," claudia said nervously. jana and bruna shared a look between themselves before they got up from the floor. ona walked them into the kitchen, which wasn't too far away, but did give you a bit of privacy.

"why not? why don't you want to be around me anymore?" claudia glanced over at you and immediately regretted her decision. your eyes were watery, like you had been waiting for this moment for a long time. "we used to be like best friends, and now you won't even look at me."

"it's hard when you're always hanging off of cata or hugging her or letting her kiss you. it's not fair because it should be me," claudia huffed. if she wasn't so genuinely distraught, you would have thought that she looked adorable standing there with her arms crossed and pouting. "i should leave."

"no, don't. cata's only been so affectionate because i need it. one day we're joking around, and the next you're avoiding me like i have the plague," you said. claudia sat down on the couch with you and pulled you to lay against her. "i don't even know what i did."

"you didn't do anything, i just got jealous of you and cata."

"there's nothing to be jealous of!" claudia cupped your cheeks and wiped away the tears that were falling. "we've never been together, not when she knows how much i like you."

"fuck, i'm an idiot. i'm sorry, can i make it up to you? we can kick cata out for a night or two. you deserve something special," claudia offered. you nodded, honestly loving the sound of that idea. "good, and i'm sorry for how i acted. i've hated every minute of it too, i swear."

"do i hear crying in there? claudia, if you made her cry, cata will kil all of us!" bruna shouted as she rounded the corner. you laughed as you buried your face in claudia's chest. claudia held you on the couch as bruna and jana took their spots by your cast, this time joined by ona.

"mapi will kill you if you take all the spots," claudia reminded them. the girls all shrugged, not fearing the older defender's wrath at all. between ingrid and alexia, mapi wasn't messing with a single hair on any of their heads.

[russo-woso]

Sick || Leah Williamson x reader

Request | Masterlist | Prompt list

Part of the Mini Williamson universe

Summary Leah takes the latest member of the family so you can have a break because you’re sick.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

It had been a chaotic two weeks to say the least.

You and Leah were getting used to being a family of four, but it wasn’t easy.

Especially when a sudden cold hit the team.

You’d only allowed a few of Leah’s teammates meet Charlie, not wanting to overwhelm her with so many people.

Teammates such as Alessia, Beth, Katie, and a few others had met Charlie.

Even Kiera and Georgia had flown out from Spain and Germany to meet the newest member of the family.

However, most of the arsenal girls that met Charlie, happened to come down with colds.

Although, they weren’t showing any symptoms at the time, and the fact Leah made sure they all washed their hands three times before holding her, the cold inevitably made its way around the house.

So when you, Amelia and Charlie woke up with sniffly noses and coughs, you knew it wasn’t looking good.

You were so emotional already, your hormones still being rocket high from the pregnancy, that you couldn’t help but cry.

You were awoken with Charlie crying her little lungs off, before you heard her cough.

You coughed yourself before grabbing her from the side of your bed.

On the other side of the corridor, you could hear faint coughs coming from a sleeping Amelia too.

Tears ran down your face as you felt the headache appear in your head.

Trying to calm down Charlie, you cradled her to your chest, but it was no use.

Leah sat up, half asleep, before whispering if you were okay.

Before you could even answer, a coughing fit was heard from Ami’s bedroom just as Charlie sneezed.

“My girls got colds?” Leah questioned, and you nodded.

She fully opened her eyes, to see you crying, a worried look on her face.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“I feel so shit, Leah. My head hurts so bad.” You tell her and she immediately gets up to get you some tablets.

“I’m sorry, love. You take these and go back to sleep, and I’ll take Charlie downstairs.” Leah offered and leant down to kiss you.

“No, don’t.” You told her, turning your face to the side so she didn’t kiss you. “Don’t want you to get it.”

“Baby, I don’t care. I want a kiss. Please.” Leah laughed lightly at your thoughtfulness, and lightly pecked your lips once you nodded.

Light footsteps were heard before Amelia appeared at the door, her teddy bear in her arms.

Her eyes were red as she looked at you and Leah with tears in her eyes.

“Icky.” She said and you nodded, gesturing her to lay in bed.

“I know, baby. Me and you can have cuddles, okay? Make you feel better.” You told her.

Leah then took Charlie from you, resting her in her arms before going downstairs.

Leah stood up, swaying side to side to try get Charlie to stop crying.

Eventually she did, and Leah stood there looking down at her baby girl.

“Looks like you’ll be spending a lot of time with me, little miss.”

It meant a lot to Leah that she was getting this time alone with Charlie, because the past two weeks she hadn’t gotten much of it.

With Ami loving being a big sister, she always wanted to be near Charlie, and if it wasn’t Ami, it was you because you had to feed Ami, and as much as Leah was thankful and loved it, she just wanted some one on one time with Charlie.

She had quite a lot of one on one time with Amelia when she was a baby and Leah insists that it’s the reason her and Ami are so close now, and she wanted that closeness with Charlie when she was older.

“We can have cuddles all day, and we can watch some football.” Leah continued to talk to Charlie, as Charlie melted into Leah’s chest. “You’re perfect, aren’t you? Just like your mama and sissy.”

[five-hxrgreeves]

Not Like Quill

PAIRING: adam warlock & fem! quill’s sister!reader

WC: 2.5k (longer than I intended, oof!) 

SUMMARY: after your half-brother and half-sister leave, you’re left to fill in Peter’s shoes on the Guardian team. Unfortunately, Rocket can only see the faults where you lack the qualities that his best friend has. Luckily, though, a certain golden boy is always there to cheer you up.

WARNINGS: slight gotg three spoilers, fluff, angst if you squint.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: so this is my first official one shot AND first time writing for GOTG (hopefully I did a good job.) I saw GOTG3 in the theaters almost a week ago and WOW, was I surprised by Adam!! (I make it a point to not watch trailers to avoid spoilers.) I liked Will in The Dawn Treader but I haven’t seen any of his other movies since they’re not genres I usually watch, but I have been SLEEPING on this man!! I’m now obsessed with Gally (I’ve never even seen TMR but I’ve now read a ton of FFs) and, of course, Adam. So, here’s a one-shot :)

I know that Peter gave Rocket his Zune but in this scenario he gave it to you, his other half-sister. You do have powers but they’re not really mentioned here; if anyone is interested I can make a sequel/prequel.

Part 0 , Part 2

The repairs to Knowhere were going well— or at least as well as could be expected with leaders who bickered as much as the remaining Guardians. Peter and Mantis had left the planet a few weeks ago, leaving everyone quite sad at their departure. But, there were things to do so those that remained moved on as best they could in order help out. You, however, as Peter’s half-sister, had been hit harder by their departures than the others. Mantis and Peter were the only family you had, especially since the group had killed your father (not that he’d been a good one, of course.) Sure, the other Guardians had become like family to you over the years, but they weren’t blood— but this is also the only reason why you decided to stay instead of going off on your own like your siblings.

To make matters worse, the only physical reminder that you had of your brother was his Zune, which he’d left to you since you’d always stolen it anyway. Almost every day since his departure you could be found with the Zune clipped to your belt with at least one— and often both— earbuds plugged in to drown out the world. You busied yourself with helping the rest of the population repair their homes, enjoying the physical work as it tired you out too much to think about your missing family. When you weren’t working, you were training, which is how you (more officially) met one of the newest members of the Guardians, Adam. It hadn’t been the best first meeting, but that was a story for another time.

You were grateful to him for saving your brother so after he apologized for almost killing you, you forgave him pretty easily. Since you wanted to fill up your free time as much as possible, you offered to help train him because although he had powers, he’d barely been a match for the Guardians during the initial fight. You became close because of this and you found that you enjoyed his myriad of questions. You made sure to always be patient when answering him since you knew that the other Guardians were either too busy or would snap at him.

However, that was about the only good thing that had happened to you since the defeat of the High Evolutionary. The only time you really saw Rocket, Groot, Drax or Nebula was when you helped out around the headquarters or went on a mission, and even that wasn’t the same as it used to be. Rocket was a very different leader than Peter; he was, well, smarter, so that was good, but he had yet to acquire any sort of nurturing or encouraging attitude. When they trained as a team to get used to each other (as they had also added Kraglin and Viola to the group), Rocket would veer towards critical rather than critiquing.

“No, on your left, you idiot! Your other left!”

“You call that aim? Blurp could hit the target better than you!”

And, lastly, “that’s not how Quill would do it!”

Ouch. That one was always aimed at you, for anything Rocket could criticize you for. It didn’t have to just be training; sometimes he took it to ridiculous levels, either for the music you selected or the food you cooked. Anything you did, he compared you to your brother. And of course, you loved Peter; along with the other Guardians, he had saved you and Mantis from Ego and for that alone you would love him, but he had left you terribly big shoes to fill and you weren’t even the leader. You tried to hide how much Rocket’s words affected you— usually by keeping your Zune close at hand to drown him out, but they did get you down.

Even worse was his nickname for you. Although it had once been endearing, “little Quill” now felt like more of an insult— as if he knew you could never measure up to Peter. You never confronted him about this since you knew Rocket had a barbed tongue, but after being abandoned by your siblings, his words seemed to hit you harder than before. So, you kept your distance from him as best you could and tolerated it when you couldn’t.

On this particular day, you had decided to make chocolate chip cookies, which Peter had taught you to make on the first ‘Christmas’ that you’d been with the Guardians. You were really missing your brother so you plugged in your earbuds and started on the familiar recipe. In this instance, the kitchen that you were using was communal, so it was no surprise that someone else walked in on you as you baked. You didn’t notice at first, too lost in the music of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Adam had come into the kitchen after following the sweet scent that had caught his attention. He smiled a little at the sight of you standing at the counter, elbow-deep in. . . something. It was golden in color, although lighter than his skin, and flecked with black. He waved to get your attention but as usual, you were oblivious to your surroundings (and you were a fighter?) so he made his way over to you and tapped you on the shoulder.

Feeling the presence of another person, you turned around to see who it was— if it was anyone worth talking to— and when you saw that it was the (literal) golden boy, you sent him a smile and pulled one earbud out of your ear. “Hey, Adam.”

“Hi,” he replied you, still a little uncertain with less formal greetings. “What are you making? It smells really good.”

“Chocolate chip cookies,” you said. “Peter taught me how to make them. Do you want to try some?”

He looked at what was in the bowl curiously. “What does it taste like?”

“It’s sweet. If you liked the smell I’m sure you’d like the taste. Watch,” you instructed. Then you carefully picked up a small bit that had a chocolate chip in it before you at it. You closed your eyes and hummed at the delicious flavor.

Adam copied your action carefully, even going so far as to close his eyes and make the same sound— and then he repeated it more genuinely as he realized how good it was. You grinned at his reaction. “You like it, huh?” When he nodded, you added, “want to help? I’m almost at the fun part!”

“What’s that?”

“It’s where we make the cookies— this is just the batter,” you explained.

After you both washed your hands, you showed him how to form the batter into matching spheres and line them up on the baking tray. As you worked, you talked about the music you were listening to and even transferred your spare earbud to him so Adam could listen as well. Bohemian Rhapsody had become Starless by the band King Crimson. . . and of their better-known members, Adam Belew. You couldn’t help but find it amusing that Adam had the same name, and that one of the lines was “sundown dazzling day/gold through my eyes.”

As he finished forming one of the last cookies, Adam glanced up to see the hint of laughter in your expression. Although he didn’t know what was funny, he smiled back at you. For some reason that he didn’t understand, he was happy that you were happy; it was an emotion that you didn’t really seem to show that often, so the rare chance that he got to see it only made it more special. Your grin widened at you leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially: “now comes the fun part!”

He frowned with confusion. “I thought making the. . . cookies was the fun part,” he said slowly, trying out the new word.

“Sort of, but everyone knows the fun part is licking the bowl!” you exclaimed happily. “Like this.” You scraped some of the remaining batter together until it was big enough to eat before you popped it into your mouth. Together you made quick work of the remaining batter and then you put the bowl in the sink. You’d started the oven earlier, so it was ready for the tray.

After setting the timer, you made a face. “Now it’s time for the worst part: doing the dishes. Peter hated doing them so much that we usually just put them in the contamination chamber and chucked them out to space,” you explained with a giggle. “If anyone asked why we had to buy so many new dishes we just said that Peter was really clumsy.” You finished the story with a wistful look, remembering all the fun that you and your siblings had had before the Snap had ruined everything.

Adam wasn’t sure if doing the dishes was really that bad, but the happiness that had been present while making the cookies had slipped off your face, so he figured that it must be an arduous task. Wanting to spare you the discomfort, he offered: “I can do them, if you want. You did most of the work anyway.”

His suggestion pulled you back to the present and you shook your head. “You don’t have to. Since this is your first time having cookies you can just enjoy them. Next time you have to help,” you added playfully, covering up your sadness as you always did with humor— you learned that from your brother, after all.

The golden boy allowed a small smile at that, although he’d picked up on your habit. “I can wash and you can dry?”

You agreed, and soon the task was done. While you waited for the cookies to be finished you answered a few more of Adam’s questions. You found his curiosity refreshing after spending so much time with smart-ass, know-it-all teammates that wouldn’t know how to ask question if it slapped them in their face. (And yes, you did love your teammates— that’s why you could call them out on their stubbornness.)

The cookies were done about fifteen minutes later and you took them out to cool for another ten before you took one for yourself and one for Adam. You sat down next to him and bit into the warm dessert, closing your eyes again to enjoy it. As much as you liked the batter, the finished cookie was definitely better. Adam seemed to agree as he made the same sound of enjoyment from before, causing you to open your eyes and grin at him. “Good, huh?”

“Definitely,” he agreed, and he was finished with his cookie before you were done with yours.

You saw him eye the tray greedily, which caused you to laugh. “Go ahead, you can have another one.”

As he did so, the other members of the Guardians entered the room, apparently drawn by the same scent that Adam had smelled. Kraglin took his with a nod of thanks, stuffing one in his mouth as he left the room. Viola took one as curiously as Adam had, seeing as she’d never had a cookie either.

“You can take some to the other kids,” you told her— you’d made a double batch since they were pretty popular, so there was plenty. She thanked you as well and took some extra for her friends.

Then, it was Rocket’s turn. After the rest of his reactions to whatever you did, you found yourself holding your breath as you waited for his opinion. It only took a moment before he pronounced: “not bad, Little Quill.” You perked up at that, eyes wide with hope that you had finally done something right— something that Peter couldn’t do better than you. But Rocket wasn’t done: “not like Quill’s, though.”

You slumped in your chair as he took a few extra, oblivious to the effect his words had on you— but Adam noticed. “I think hers are better than Peter’s,” he spoke up quietly.

“Sure, blondie. You ain’t never tried Quill’s though, so ya don’t have a comparison.”

“I don’t need to,” he insisted, glancing over at you. “I know they’re better.”

Rocket scoffed with disbelief but didn’t bother arguing the point (he knew he was right, anyway), and left the room without so much as a thank you. Adam glanced over at your defeated posture; you’d been so confident and happy moments before the other Guardians had come in, but now you seemed to shrink into yourself, as if Rocket’s careless words had physically hurt you. Normally your recovery time after such an incident would be fast so no one else could pick up  on your feelings, but this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back— if you couldn’t do cookies right, what hope did you have for anything else?

You suddenly felt a warm hand settle on top yours, which had been resting on the counter. You looked up sharply, surprised by the touch— you hadn’t been so much as hugged since Peter and Mantis had left. Adam’s expression was sympathetic, but there was a hint of anger in his golden eyes. “You’re not like Quill,” he said.

Unfortunately, you mistook his words after being so used to Rocket’s insults and looked away. You’d expected this sort of thing from him, not from Adam, and the blow hit you harder than anything Rocket had ever said. “I know,” you snapped, taking your hand away from his. “Thanks for the reminder.”

He gave you a confused look since he wasn’t sure what chord he’d struck to cause your reaction. It dawned on him quickly how his words could have been interpreted and he gently took your hand again as he repeated more firmly: “you’re not like Quill. You’re. . . there isn’t anything to compare. You’re not your brother— Rocket shouldn’t expect the same things from you that he did for Peter.” He hesitated for only moment before he added, “I can. . . talk to him, if you want.”

As he’d spoken, you realized you’d made a mistake and your initial thoughts had been right: Adam wouldn’t use your brother against you. You felt guilty for jumping to conclusions and gave him an apologetic look. Then, his words really sank in; a statement about how special your uniqueness was from someone whose society was literally carbon copies made your face heat up at the impact of his sentiment. You found that you couldn’t look him in the eyes and lowered your gaze to your still-connected hands. “I— thank you,” you said softly. “I just wish Rocket would see that. You don’t have to talk to him— I should be able to do that myself; I’ve been his teammate for longer, after all. But. . . I really appreciate it.”

His expression softened as he squeezed your hand, which inexplicably made your stomach roll nauseously (but in a good way, like when Peter would do loop-the-loops with Milano’s pod.) “Anytime, Little Quill.”

And just like that, “little Quill” went right back to being an endearing nickname.

[sunllghtt]

Rocket and his complex relationship with power and authority

(I'm not really familiar with the comics so this whole thing is solely based on evidence from the trilogy and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy game ok thank you)

It's repeatedly shown to the audience that Rocket has absolutely no respect for authority and whoever's supposed to be above him. Though it definitely has some deep roots and goes way back to his experience with control and the High Evolutionary (once he's out, there's certainly the wound and the wrath of a victim who's been abused and dehumanized for years in the name of someone else’s twisted will – someone who should've protected him and promised a reward at the end of the torture), I don't think that's where the resentment stops.

Rocket will go out of his way to spite authorities. He'll go out of his way to prove to them their hierarchy means dogshit to him. In the first movie, when they get caught, he calls the Nova “fascists” and talks about how they're “corrupt and cruel” (which doesn't fall far from Rocket's game iteration, who would rather do literally anything but pay the goddamn fine. His resistance is beyond their lack of money and comes from something bigger he can't step over, as if giving them any ounce of their money would be a betrayal to himself and his beliefs). In the second movie, Rocket impulsively steals a shit ton of batteries at the very clear risk of getting his whole team killed, and despite the self-destructive, self-sabotage aspects of the whole thing, it was also his “fuck you” letter to the people who, besides being directly connected to the High Evo and most likely bringing back not so awesome memories, made sure to talk down to him and his friends and literally just exist to serve as this perfect, unflawed images of unquestionable power.

Before we understand what it is, we need to understand what it can't be. When we go back to Vol. 1 and look at the other characters, especially Quill, we learn that Rocket knew about the political state the galaxy was in. He knew about Gamora, about Ronan, about most of their plans and had a clear idea of what was going on in general. Meanwhile, one of the only reasons Quill just stood still and let it happen for so long was his own ignorance and lack of information, and he takes a side as soon as he realizes what's about to happen – while Rocket's still reluctant until the last second (“What’s the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?). Rocket actively chooses to keep himself as far as he can from any of that, and not out of ignorance or neglect, but a conscious and resistant decision.

Rocket's hate toward the system might be related to some sort of trauma response and a lot of hard-learned experience. He knows what injustice is. He knows the Nova Corps will always help everyone and everything out of the kindness of their heart and their flourishing goodwill, as long as it fits their own interests. They'll watch over whoever benefits them the most. He knows the system has a funny tendency to side with the rich, the great, the powerful, and he knows he's none of those things. The High Evolutionary had done whatever he wanted, took as much as he pleased, hurt whoever he wanted for hundreds of years and still got praised for his hard work and had his face openly circulating around the whole galaxy like he hadn't torn him and his friends apart. People like him got to stay safe while Rocket would get arrested for stealing a protein bar. Everybody knows and nobody does anything.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all this rambling is the reason Rocket is, or at least used to be, so thrilled about defying authority figures is because he's seen enough to be hopeless, he's seen enough to know most of them have no problem being selfish, sadist, oblique, fascist, corrupt and cruel when given the opportunity.

[silverechosandblankmasks]

Post-Purgatory headcanon

// CW for talks of potential Egg/Child death and the fact several people tried/try to kill themselves after said eggs supposedly die (if you see this again, I accidentally deleted the orginal post adhsjhdaj so I had to repost it sorry lol)

In my head, the people fleeing Purgatory had a little more time, or a little less distance to cover or hell maybe managed to find the boat quicker, and everyone who wanted to stay behind was either dragged or knocked out because nobody left behind even now, even in the face of tragedy.

I should also say it's my hc some people were left behind in Quesadilla island (mostly people who didn't participate in Purgatory at all) though lorewise I'm making it so some of the ones who just didn't make it to the last day were there on the last day, but several people were actually sent back to Quesadilla island early for whatever reason.

Phil on his barely held together wings and with Fit's stolen elytra and rockets, they carry most people, either with lasso trains or managing to pick up people as everyone bolted for the ship.

People are quickly and efficiently ferried or run to the boat, with Tubbo and Phil being last as Tubbo refused until his people were gone first, but Phil's wings get hit by a stray meteor just before they make it and Phil goes down hard, wings screaming in agony.

Thankfully they get on board and sail away pained and feeling grief, but alive, as the bomb goes off in the distance.

Almost everyone made it, and they’re only missing Maximus, but in their sorrow fueled state a lot of people are still mad at the man so not many can really find it in themselves to care at the moment.

It's rougher when those either unconscious or tied up for their own safety are waking up or finally freed from their ties. The ensuing argument is dark, loud, and painful on all sides, more than one person has to be retied back up and carefully watched in case they try to "Finish the Job" they were stopped from doing on Purgatory.

Thankfully, most of the argument is settled after Phil tries to tell them he doesn't think this is it, there might be a chance-that Cellbit tearfully spits out to not give him hope, he can't Phil, he yells-

Phil silences him with a sharp word, familiar in the way Cellbit unconsciously falls in line as a well-built habit from these last two weeks forces him to settle enough to listen to his team captain.

Phil looks at him, and the other parents, and evenly tells them that right before the rest of the room collapsed him and Etoiles did see Richarlyson before he suddenly disappeared before their eyes and that had to mean something. (Yes I'm making that canon, shh they need something to push them along, and I like the idea)

Cellbit only shakes, and Phil quietly looks at the other parents who tried to stay behind, who want to stop hurting, and asks what happens if they are alive? And come back to parents who didn't even try to stay alive for them?

There are flinches and more than one person starts crying, but Philza keeps going, and ignores his own tears dripping down his face as he fails to hold them back.

Phil's not asking them to hope, he can't, but he can ask that if they can't stay alive in honor of their children, who wouldn't want them to give up despite the pain, or can't find in themselves to live for those who did survive, that they stay and try until they at least know for sure, their kids deserve that at the very least, even though it hurts.

After a long, tear soaked silence, finally tensions are lessened and agreements are made, either out loud or silently in a very slight nod. Nobody is happy or 100% okay now, hell a lot of them still need to be watched, but they make due.

Wounds and injuries are tended to in the ships, admittedly small, infirmary. Phil has to be carried because he collapses in pain after the conversation the minute he tries to help out, and rides out waves of agony as they set his arm and left wing, and gets his injuries cleaned.

They try to get him to rest, but he refuses, before finally compromising and taking it easy, with only overseeing, planning, and sitting often under his team's and Tubbo's scarily watchful eyes. Honestly, he can't be too mad though, he has people to worry about him at least.

Food/water are heartily indulged in after two long, long weeks of borderline starving for most of it. Most of them are malnourished, dehydrated, and fucked up in more ways in one, so they focus on making sure they won't run out of food before they managed to get... somewhere, but don't limit themselves or anyone too much, it would be cruel after everything they endured.

That night, and every night after, instead of making use of the rooms they collapse together in one of the common areas, in a nest of hastily put together mattresses and even more blankets and pillows than they're pretty sure they had on Quesadilla island. People are curled together, masses of limbs and bodies thrown over everyone and holding, making contact with as many people as possible.

There is a divide, mostly by team, on the first night or two, even through pain and freedom it's too early to let go of the fact each team do not feel safe with the other team at their back. Though, Phil can't help but notice that Soulfire is spaced out evenly, even amongst their own.

Sure, several are curled together, but it's uniform and mostly only touching by held hands or sharing space but not touch. Bolas, on the other hand, are practically suffocating each other in their sleep with how tightly wound they are around each other, a normal sight, but it's somehow More now so many are in turmoil.

It makes a sort of sense when Phil finds out the blue team often had actual bed spaces and barracks set up for them, if not with beds then some other sort of material.

But Bolas was often too poor to risk using wool or supplies for beds and figured it was just easier and safer to stay close, so even the early days were spent piled on each other, reaching warmth and comfort in their team on roughly constructed blankets and hay bedding.

Soulfire was a team of their own, but not like Bolas. They were a brotherhood, where Bolas was a family. Not to say they didn't care for each other, it was clear they did, it was just a different dynamic was all.

But, the nights after, there's a noticeable spread as they get used to once again sharing space and lives with the other team, rekindle friendships from before Purgatory that were either put on hold or temporarily pushed aside. Soon they're one giant pile of comfort and safety.

They also unconsciously take watch from the first night, despite how safe they are it's too soon to break the habit, but it's made easier by how many people there are.

It was almost funny when the first watchmen of each team realized the other was awake, exchanging a nod but return to watching over their teams after the surprise leaves. Later nights, people on watch were still one from each team per shift, but they'd spend it talking quietly or playing silent games.

And over the coming days there are hard conversations, people sobbing in someone else's arms, fights, and nightmares that wake everyone up with the screaming.

People have to be stopped from hurting themselves or others, bitter words soothed and apologized for from grudges better left on the island. A lot of people have to be taken out of their own heads, and finally some of the more shell shocked people are brought around to lucidity.

Bad in particular takes days to stop staring blankly at the horizon to come uncurled from Dapper, who hasn't tried to really leave or disturb his father except for food and water to be shared, and is very tired from everything. Nobody blames Dapper for living, and are happy he's alive, but the other parents tend to avoid him just a bit when the sight is too much, and Dapper is very much also in shock.

They're very worried when Bad's memory starts to blank or when he gets confused, they think from a serious head wound and trauma he underwent, but cant do much then be there for him and hope he can heal from it.

But they have each other, and they're alive, and that has to be enough.

Then, after a time, they end up back on Quesadilla island.

They all spend the next few weeks still living/piled together, after undergoing vigorous examination and interrogation from the Federation, until they feel safer and can unlearn the habits born from fear and survival, specially Bolas who... let a lot of themselves go in order to survive what happened, and the feral need that came with it.

They then reunite with the people either pulled from Purgatory or those who never went, and most of the Purgatory-experienced people are absorbed into their habits and those unknowing watch, horrified, and try to help the best they can but often have problems connecting due to not being able to understand.

After they start to disperse, they live in groups or pairs for a while to keep watch or provide comfort, some people even making temporary, or even permeant, new homes while they figure out their new place in the world. It's common to have giant sleepovers at a newly constructed building, they fortify and kit out to be safe and comfortable.

Everybody lives, for their own reasons, healthily or unhealthily, for sad or good reasons.

And then, one day, the eggs are returned to them. Sleeping, in bad condition in a hospital, but they are alive and they are home, even with new Eggs too. And they are thankful they are alive to see their kids, and live for them too.

Please, if you did enjoy, reblog and just not like. Likes do nothing and it's kinda disheartening to see like 50 likes and 4 reblogs only for it to die because nobody else sees it after the first 3 days. I'd appreciate it greatly! <3

[reliablejoukido]

Digi-memories, summer 2000 (feat. me crying more than once)

On Saturday, June 24, 2000, I was on vacation in the mountains with my family. I was 11 at the time. We were staying in a cabin with electricity and running water, but obviously no computers, phones, internet or cable. We had a tiny, black and white TV with rabbit ears that we brought with us, and it got like 3 local channels that would cut in and out. One of them was Fox! I knew the final two episodes of Digimon: Digimon Monsters were airing that day (Fox Kids waited a whole month to air them for some reason). And amazingly my sister and I were able to actually watch them! In black and white of course. And the reception did cut out for most of Apocalymon's famous pizza crust speech. But I got to see the finale with the full version of "Hey Digimon" and the trolley car and Mimi's hat, etc.

And I cried. A lot. I was (and still am) incredibly sensitive and prone to crying at the drop of a hat. We had only just started the week-long vacation when the episodes aired and (according to my parents), I was "annoying" all week because of how upset I was. I thought it was over forever. That I'd never get to see Digimon again. That my faves' story was over and they would never get to see their Digimon again. I remember grabbing my spiral notebook (which was at the time filled with Team Rocket fanfiction), and started writing letters to the Digidestined. I wish I still had them, tbh, because I'd love to know what I came up with for Joe, who I was not a fan of at the time. Probably most of the emotion went to Matt, who was my favorite character back then, and Izzy, who was my sister's.

Anyway, there was this stretch of time between June 24, 2000 and August 19, 2000, when the season 1 dub had finished airing and the 02 dub started airing. Apparently 02 began airing in Japan in April, 2000, so by the time the season 1 dub ended on Fox Kids, there were already a number of 02 episodes out in Japan (apparently 13 episodes to be exact).

That summer, I read a rumor on an English language Digimon message board claiming that the new season (02) was going to "completely cut out the characters of Matt, Sora, Mimi and Joe". Since I was 11 years old at the time, I took this at face value (though if you remove the word 'completely', the rumor is largely true).

I remember going into the basement of my house and crying my eyes out (again) for Matt, Sora, Mimi and Joe. I made up a rambling song that essentially eulogized them, and I sang it for hours in the basement with the lights off for some reason. I remember telling my parents about it and they had no idea what to do to console me. My sister was 6 years old, so who knows if that "news" affected her in any way. It's funny because at the time, I didn't even particularly like Sora, Mimi, or Joe. But I was still devastated by their "loss".

There's nothing else to the story, really. I think I was probably surprised when most of the older Digidestined did show up in the first handful of episodes of 02. I don't think 02 made me cry (or at least not as much). But after it was over, I wrote like 20 love letters to Davis and wrote some cringy self-insert fic. All of those I definitely do still have.

Does anyone else remember Digimon that summer (or whatever time it ended/aired for you)?

[jeremys-blogs]

If anyone's interested in a 20-plus year after-the-fact story idea for Pokémon, feel free to read below.

So I've been in a bit of a Pokémon mood lately, going back to re-watch the older show, and It occurs to me how great an idea it was that Mewtwo, the antagonist of the first movie, was teased in the Indigo League episodes as some shadowy figure controlled by Team Rocket before going rogue. It really hyped up audiences as to what this thing was for when the film finally released. And I can say that with certainty as an OG Pokémon fan. However, it's something of a disappointment to me that they never seemed to do this sort of thing with later stuff. No hints of Lugia or Entei or the other Legendaries before their respective movies like Mewtwo had.

As such, I've been tinkering in my head about a possible way this could have been done, at least as far as with the Pokémon Lugia and the 2000 movie. I realise I'm a few decades late to propose it, but hey, better late than never, right?

So, here's the idea. Much like in the remake games, Heartgold and Soulsilver, the Kimono Girls of the Johto region are heavily tied to the Legendaries, Lugia in particular in this case. They have been searching for a chosen one in the hopes that one will enable the Legendaries to return. Then, word will reach them of the events of the first Pokémon movie. Ash, a mere human boy, has not only managed to cease the fighting between two Pokémon of godlike power, Mew and Mewtwo, but even came back to life in the process through the mythical power of resurrection tears of the other Pokémon assembled there.

Yes, I realise that memory loss was involved in all who were there at the time, but for the sake of this idea, let's say that word got out about the events on New Island in spite of that. The Kimono Girls hear this and they wonder to themselves, this Ash boy is clearly something different, and maybe, just maybe, he's the one they've been looking for. So, it's decided. One of them will find him and meet with him. To determine if he's indeed the one and, if he is, to prepare him for his role as the chosen human who will bring about Lugia's return.

Of their number, they choose the youngest, Sakura, so find Ash and ingratiate herself with him. The girl goes, but she has her own reasons for going as, much like her brief appearance in the anime, she has hopes of being a Pokémon trainer rather than following the tradition of her family, and so uses this mission as the excuse she's been looking for to get out there in the world. She finds Ash and the gang and joins him, serving as the new companion character for the season. She and Ash become friends (and possibly go down the usual route of Ash's female companions getting a crush on him only for him to be oblivious to the whole thing) and they journey through Johto. Despite her scepticism for the legend, Sakura, seeing Ash and his interactions with Pokémon, starts to get the same inkling about him as her sisters.

Eventually, the season draws to a close and we get into the territory of the Pokémon 2000 movie. Things basically go the same, with the three birds infighting and Lugia needed to keep them in line. But it takes Ash stepping up to his role as the chosen one to bring the Legendary out from the sea, as well as Sakura, who reveals her intentions to him, to do so, much like the player character and Kimono Girls do in the game. Basically, Sakura sort of takes on the role Melody had in the canon movie, a ceremonial maiden whose song/dance was needed to resolve or summon Lugia alongside Ash. The day is saved, Sakura reconciles with her sisters (who are none too pleased that she strayed from her mission to pursue her goal of becoming a trainer, but are happy for her all the same) and that whole family drama is settled. She then parts ways amicably with Ash, with potential for the occasional cameo and re-joining the group later on.

Yeah, this basically mashes timelines of the show and draws a lot from the remake Johto games, but I just thoughts it'd be neat in a sort of retroactive way for some kind of storyline and build-up for Ash's role with the Lugia movie, as well as introducing the very cool (at least to me) idea that there are human characters in the Pokémon world who are aware of the Legendaries and are something of a liaison between them and humanity like Sakura and her sisters. Hope you enjoyed my rambling. I'm no storyteller, but with luck this was a fun what-if for you to read :)

[dorizardthewizard]

Galactik Football season 3 rewatch, eps 7 - 9

Episode 7:

AGAIN they put the Shadows logo instead of the Pirates...

Well at least Mei is trying to be civil with D'jok and have a normal conversation

D'jok claiming he doesn't miss the Snow Kids >:(

I mean idk why they're tossing Mei up and down like that like, what are they celebrating XD

Aarch: We're far from ready for tonight's match, even against the Pirates!

DON'T SLANDER THEM LIKE THAT

Kinda rude they only show D'jok depressed over/ missing Mei. Surely he must miss the rest of the Snow Kids even if he won't show it? He literally ditched Mei in season 1 because Mice left, saying he's his only family apart from Maya, but now he just doesn't give a shit?

Did D'jok seriously just kiss Nikki-4 because he was reminded of Mei? Get this man some therapy

I mean idk why you're upset Mei you are literally dating Sinedd. Although I wouldn't blame her if she assumed D'jok was only doing it to get back at her

ngl I prefer Artegor's hype speeches haha

STEVENS IT'S MY BOY STEVENS!!!

What's with all the matches in season 3 having a goal being scored IN THE FIRST FEW SECONDS

GOOOOAL PIRAAAAAATES

Sorry I'm a Snow Kids supporter I swear

ooo they have Cyclops players in the Pirates team. The only chance for the Pirates to have a flux with them and be on the same level as the other teams, and they get the Cyclops. lol.

Wait, if the reason the Pirates couldn't use flux was because they're from different planets, then couldn't they use it now in this tournament? Or is it because they're all from Shiloh and it doesn't have a flux? I once read an idea somewhere that they didn't use flux because it can be tracked so they couldn't train with it, or maaaybe the Flux Society only let them play on the condition they don't use it, as their doings are a bit too opaque for their liking? Many questions.

I love Artie ditching his team to support Micro-Ice. Get you a hypeman like Artie, king shit <3

Corso kicking Artie out for potentially disturbing Sonny, they're so 💖 and in the next shot Corso is watching the TV anyway with his hands crossed like a dad LOL

YESSSS MICRO-ICE GOT TO SCORE THE FIRST GOAL! THAT'S MY SON!!!

This is me btw

Why didn't Artie just go to the stadium from the start?

I love Rocket's penalty (free?) kicks so much <3 I'm sorry I don't actually know anything about football <333

Aaand Rocket's out. You guys should really have more subs. Or like, ANY subs

Gimme some Lun-Zeara action :( Y'know, just like the Rykers match, the match doesn't have to be a total wipeout to show that the winning team is good. I want the Wambas to at least put up more of a fight against Paradisia I mean, their flux is just a discount Breath anyway

I love the Pirate's acrobatic style of play, you just know these guys are parkour experts with all their running away from Technoid

Oooo that goal attempt was by red hair dude, nice to see someone else on the Pirates team strike. Hc he's twins with the goalkeeper, but where tf did their names in the wiki come from and why are they all so basic. Tbf they probably wouldn't reveal their real names anyway

Just realised there has been like zero development for Lun-Zia in terms of integrating with the team. She's from a completely different planet, they could have done so much with this but she just... fits in just like that? I know that later there's some stuff about her wanting to stay with the SK and learn the Breath but... it just feels weird to have none of that development when she actually joins the team

GO TIA GOOOO

Hahaha, that's not how physics works. The net is a loose material! At least in the previous seasons you could see it still spinning against the net and stretching it to its limits before falling

I love Callie accidentally showing her bias sometimes

Lun-Zia just doing cartwheels to celebrate, cute

DAN DAN DAAAAANNN... CYBORGS! Although the plot kind of treats them more like androids in the sense that they're not “real” humans

> be me > girlfriend broke up with me by going to a different team > said ex girlfriend immediately gets with my nemesis > I leave for a new team, they're all hot girls and really strong players > turns out they're cyborgs > find out my dad is seriously injured and clinging on to life right after our first victory > they suspect the very coach I literally just started playing for > fml

Episode 8:

The Red Tigers?? When did they qualify???

Maddox why would you turn down the only chance of your team ever winning a match. Give them a flux player! Also, good feeling about the match?? Against the XENONS??? come on he can't be that naive

woah is that a new Technodroid theme song? Kinda slaps tbh

This match should be like 20-0 honestly

Fuck the Red Tigers <3 Warren, destroy them

SINCE WHEN DID THE RED TIGERS HAVE THE BREATH???

Warren is just as surprised as I am, although honestly I have no idea how this development didn't get out to the press sooner. This is also so thrown in, you'd think there'd be more discussion or reaction on there being two Akillian teams in this tournament??

oooo seeing Warren's teleporting from his perspective is pretty cool

I was about to rant that there's no way Warren would be troubled by the Red Tigers, flux or not, but ok fair he has the resonance because of Netherball. He only played in one match though, and all the Lightnings are good players, the team doesn't just suddenly suck because Warren's having a bad day

The Xenons have a Cyclops? Ok then, would've been too OP otherwise haha

Y'know I feel like they could have done more with this whole mixed flux thing, like found more creative ways for the team members to work together. So far, nothing would change if the tournament was still single flux, well except Lun-Zia

HOW THE FUCK DID THE TECHNODROIDS EVEN SCORE A GOAL? Keeper must have gotten bored and taken a nap, fair enough

I like Warren's dignified little clap with the audience haha, he's a true champion

Not the Red Tiger's captain pushing WARREN. This is why no one likes you guys

I'm not actually sure if that player is Woowamboo because I don't think they mention him by name, but I like to think they're bros! It's nice to see the new flux player get the spotlight and score a goal

Oooo teams we've never heard of before

I want to be at this beach party :( LOL even the Pirates are here

Rocket and Tia are so cute

Oh come on Lun-Zia you didn't really think you had a chance with Rocket? Wish they'd drop this drama and let Tia and Lun-Zia bond over something else. Last season Tia's arc also mostly revolved around Rocket so can we give her something else this time?

I like Zo-Leen just hanging with them now

STFU D'JOK WHAT DID MICRO-ICE EVER DO TO YOU??!!

Love how only some teams get the privilege of getting animated with casual clothes and not their football kits haha

Artie, after jumping an old guy that looks like Vega: we thought you were a woman!

NOT HELPING YOURSELF THERE DUDE

idk is Simbai really the only expert they can call? I mean I guess she might be renown in the field since she cured Aarch and Artegor of the Smog poisoning, but still. Aahh well since it's Sonny they probably don't have many options without alerting Technoid, that's gotta hurt

Episode 9:

Sinedd saying the Shadows will win bc they've always been a mixed flux team – I mean I guess mixed species but not flux as Sinedd had to learn the Smog. But also I'm gonna take the chance to give the Shadows points for inclusivity because they seemed to have no problem mixing the team up even before this tournament

I wonder if there was a taboo against that due to the flux wars not being that long ago, I mean the teams are already like our national football teams so most would only want to play for their planet, but it's gotta be even weirder if you switch teams and there are still tensions between your people. So this mixed flux tournament could have been a big political moment if the show explored that side more.

Ok the shading on the characters is bothering me, was it always so dark in the previous seasons? They look like they're always standing infront of a bright light.

Mark I really wouldn't trash talk Luur if I were you

Go Lun Zia!!

Guys do you think Luur would be popular with the monsterfuckers if Galactik Football were a more well known show. I mean look at his figure- (someone throws a grenade through my window)

D'JOK WHAT THE HELL, FOULING WARREN?! FUCKING WARREN YOUR IDOL WHO YOU HAVE NO BEEF WITH CURRENTLY???!!!! why are they making him do stuff like this just to drive home that he's being an ass and will learn from it like, people can be nuanced. You don't have to have him lash out at literally everyone he interacts with.

Warren: Real shame that football has come to this.

Ok this supports my theory from the Netherball episodes that Warren is obsessed with football and the integrity of the sport

YYYYESSSSS GOOOOOAL TIA SLAAYYYY!!!! SHE STEPS UUUPPP!!!

wow that match ended quickly, considering how hyped up the Xenons were in the last season. I mean they played them in the finals! I wonder if season 3 split the matches like that so they wouldn't have to animate as much lol

oh I just realised D'jok is no longer number 9, he's 6. So his number upside down, heh, symbolism

Roasted by Warren, oof. This is the guy that got SINEDD to behave and work with D'jok in the All-Stars game last season, he commands that much respect from the young players but now D'jok is just being a jerk to him for no reason.

Artegor telling Aarch to try more warmth and less doom and gloom, that's hilarious

D'jok you're really gonna reveal that Sonny is your father to THE GUY SUSPECTED OF TRYING TO KILL HIM? WHO CAN EASILY KILL YOU?? AND INFRONT OF THIS TEAM YOU'VE ONLY KNOWN A FEW DAYS?

Vega's spy suit kinda slays tbh

Not Aarch realising he needs more of a social life outside of football 😭

“Last one back is a Cyclops!” THRAN THAT'S RACIST

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE. FIRST MEI/D'JOK, THEN TIA/ROCKET, NOW FREAKING AARCH/ADIM HAVE A LOVE TRIANGLE PLOT? I know it's a misunderstanding but like, what the hell. The romance drama is so bad in this season and I have a pretty low tolerance for that compared to other things like plotholes and whatever

How the fuck did Micro-Ice hear them talking from underwater

OK I like that it's Micro-Ice who gets suspicious of Paradisia with all the weird stuff going on, cute he goes up to Tia about it and she's immediately down for some investigation work despite going on about how amazing the place is a few minutes ago.

[aura-acolyte]

Actually, you know what, lets start discourse. Hoenn cities ranked:

Lilycove. Basically my home base, and my two favorite places (Sharkie's Magikarp Sanctuary and the Aqua-Magma Conservatory) are nearby.

Mossdeep: I have a lot of memories there, some good and some bad, but its all cancelled out because Tate and Liza are there and they are objectively the best gym leaders.

Sootopolis: City built in a crater. Real cool. Loses points for having Groudon and Kyogre trapped under it.

Pacifidlog: You built a whole town on the water! How cool is that!

Meteor Village: Gotta give a shoutout to Z's hometown. Great place to learn about Ancient Hoenn stuff.

LaRousse City: Home of the Battle Frontier. Kickass in general. Had to help out in a hurricane there once.

Lavaridge Town: Still think its insane to build a town next to a volcano but it does have Flannery.

Dewford Town: I know, I know, there's not a lot there but its where I met Steven for the first time. Technically also where I met Zinnia depending on what you count as "Meeting."

Fortree City: I'm gonna be honest, I'm pretty sure this city is every 8 year old's dream. Or it was when I was a kid, at least. Not sure how into treehouses modern kids are.

Slateport City: I love the sea and I love port cities. It reminds me of all the best parts of Goldenrod but without any of the shit parts (you know, like Team Rocket and my bio father). Plus, if you hang around the market enough you can hear all sorts of stories from trainers from all over the globe.

Verdanturf Town: There's not a lot interesting here but I gotta give a shoutout to my boy Wally's home.

Mauville: Mauville is problematic for obvious reasons but also its really fucking cool. Plus Wattson's there.

Littleroot Town: Finally getting around to my Hometow. Well, my Hoenn Hometown. Its nice and quaint and my Uncle and Mom live there so, you know, cool.

Petalburg: It's only this low on the list because I refuse to give Norman a break.

Oldale Town: Booooorrrrriiiinggg! I'm sure the people are nice but its such a boring town. I legit have more interesting memories from Route 103 than Oldale.

Ever Grande: Its a League City so there's not much going on there during the off season but its absolutely bustling during League Season. Sometimes I like to watch the League Matches on the big screens they have. Nobody's beaten Steven yet but a few have gotten close.

Falarbor Town: Hmm... a town created for the purpose of mining meteors to study which directly led to the death of Zinnia's sister. I wonder why I have a negative opinion of this place.

Rustboro: Capitalism ho!

Some of these are arbitrary, most of them aren't. Bye!

[lumenflowered]

[A video is attached. It shows Maria leaning on the side of a building, arms crossed, honestly looking rather bored. Fortunately, she doesn't have to wait for long—her head snaps over to look at a boy with spiky hair, approaching casually in a way that might be best described as sauntering.

Maria is undeterred by his informality, though she looks far more out of place in Viridian City than he does. "Leader Blue?"

"Huh? Yeah, that's me." Blue, hands stuck in his pockets, makes a show of looking her up and down. "Who are you?"

"My name is M—"

He snaps his fingers. "Riiiight, you're the one Lance mentioned. Mary, right?"

"Maria."

"Eh, I was close enough." Blue waves a hand dismissively. "You've gotta be decent if you beat Lance, but you're not the only one who's beaten him. Doubt you could beat Red."

"Perhaps not," Maria allows, "but I'm certain that Lance informed you of the need for discretion where that particular matter was concerned?"

"He told me to keep my mouth shut 'bout you being the new champ," Blue says evenly. "Didn't tell me a word about why. So? Why should I keep my mouth shut? What's going on that no one thinks I'm enough of a gym leader to know?"

"...Lance did not inform any of the Kanto leaders of the reason why," Maria says, "because he had reason to suspect that official League communications were being watched. I would have informed you personally far sooner had I reached Viridian City any sooner, and had you been present when I first did so."

"Oh." Blue scowls, though he at least has the decency to look a little sheepish... or would it be mareepish? "Yeah, I was busy. I'd say sorry, but I'm not, and also I'm still here way more often than Giovanni ever was."

Maria visibly stiffens. "The previous leader here was named Giovanni? I don't suppose—"

"Yeah, that Giovanni. I'd have to try to do a shittier job than the guy who ran Team Rocket."

"Runs," Maria says. "Present-tense."

Blue gives her a look like he's a minimum-wage worker in fast food less than an hour before closing time who has just been informed that a big order is imminent.

"You're shitting me," he says. "I heard about the mess in Johto, but they said on the news that was his underlings. Not..."

"It was," Maria replies. "I'd rather discuss further details in private, but if you happen to know anything—"

"I might," Blue says. "But I want a battle first. Gym's about to open. If you can't beat me, you won't stand a chance against Giovanni."

"Very well," Maria says. "I assume you'd like me to come in as a normal challenger?"

"Yeah." He pauses. "Actually—tell you what. I'm in the mood to test out some new strats. How confident are ya feeling?"

Maria certainly looks confident when the video ends.]

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Had 2 ficlet ideas for Song of a Usurper that I've been trying to wright but haven't been coming out right.

First is Tonio and Piper meeting up near what looks like a bandit camp next to one of the seals, which is actually inhabited by the Teeth in the Dark who have similar camps near the other seals as well on Damien's behalf. The two of them are actually aware of who the Teeth are, partly because some of their lower level members have ended up in the way of their heists recently. They compare notes on the group, with Tonio explaining who they are, the fact that they went dark years ago and shouldn't be this strong a force now, and explains what he knows of the Seals, while Piper identifies their new emblem as a coyote, which Harmonia doesn't have, so it's now clear that their comeback was likely facilitated by an off-worlder.

Then Agent Zed (who's on comms since he's Piper's mission control guy when she's in the field) chimes in with the reveal that according to the readings he's getting compared to a normal copy of the game, the seals are weakening, possibly deliberately considering the Teeth. So, they're gonna have to prepare for a ghost apocalypse. First on the list is finding ways to actually fight ghosts, which shouldn't be too hard given the fact that the Grid has access to the Danny Phantom universe and its technology via Anchor Timmy's server.

Second involves Hoopa (the one Ash knows from that one movie) ending up in Harmonia because he tends to wander and explore now that he actually can and the whole Digital Multiverse thing added a whole bunch of new places to explore. He finds Tama who's having a Bad Time (as is typical in this arc) and decides to help.

By summoning Pokemon.

Because that's his solution to everything.

He ends up summoning several of Ash's traveling group's Pokemon (notably including Pikachu, Kirlia and Miku's Ghost Meowth), several of Team Rocket's Pokemon (plus the Doodoll that follows them around who they haven't realized they could probably catch no problem yet. 'cause they're idiots), the Pichu Brothers (lord help us), a few of Ash's pokemon from Oak's Ranch, and a wild Absol. He also nabs Jub Jub and his Smallfry friend kinda-sorta by accident. This results in the usual Pichu Brothers Short misadventures with an added dose of Memes, which to Hoopa's credit does take Tama's mind off of Things for a while, and by the end they're in a big napping pile in the castle garden. Well, most of them are napping. Absol's fully awake and alert, keeping watch over all of them and a bit tense in preparation for something, though she is still being part of the pile.

That's what Nimbus and Ash's crews (and Boopkins) see when the Trainers come to pick up their Pokemon (none of them were too concerned about things since Pikachu has access to the Avatar group chat and explained right away what happened. Well, Boopkins was still worried but he's Boopkins). Obviously they're all happy that Tama's feeling better, even if it's only for an afternoon, though Ash does note that Pichu Brother episodes tend to come right before the kind of Big Events that end up in the movies. The fact that Absol's on high alert also isn't a good sign given the species' Whole Thing being the ability to sense incoming disasters. After naptime's over the Pokemon get recollected, though Absol refuses to leave Tama's side and Hoopa and the Pichu Bros also decide to stick around for a while (no reason for them not to, they are wild after all).

So Nimbus's crew is now at least aware that something is coming, though out of everyone involved they have the least idea what, and Tama now has a big, fluffy, highly competent, precognitive bodyguard.

(and of course they now have Hoopa hanging around, who'll probably respond to the incoming ghost apocalypse by throwing Legendaries at it until it's no longer a problem. Because according to Hoopa Logic if you can't solve a problem by throwing Pokemon at it you're just not throwing enough Pokemon)

Oh! I love both of these SO MUCH! If it's cool with you, I'd love to write about both of them!

[toxx-apex-727]

[AN ODD VIDEO. WATCH IT?]

[RECORDING START]

Skel is trying very hard not to break into a sprint. He has an Alolan meowth in his hood and a very unhappy absol by his side. He anxiously checked his phone again when someone stopped him.

???: Hey! Our eyes locked, so now we gotta battle!

Skel: H-huh? Sorry I'm not a battler-

???: C'mon, you have two pokémon dontcha? Let's have a quick battle.

Skel: Seriously I- I've never battled anyone before and I'm- I'm not interested-

???: It won't take long. Go, Champ!

The mysterious challenger sends out a Machamp. Skel looks startled, and there's a hint of a sinister smirk on the challenger's face.

Skel: H-Hold on, I'm seri- Arséne?!

Arséne the absol steps forward to face the machamp.

???: See, I knew you could be reasoned with. Champ, use vital throw.

The machamp smiles and grabs the absol, throwing him to the ground and nearly hitting his trainer, who jumps back in shock.

Skel: Arséne-!

Skel stutters, clearly flustered and in over his head. Arséne shakily stands back up, barely hitting the machamp with a bite that seems to do no damage at all to the fighting type. The machamp retaliates by throwing the absol off of it, knocking it out. Skel recalls Arséne back to his pokeball, attempting to leave the battle.

Skel: Yo- You win, okay..? I'll get going n-

???: Oh come on, the battle's not over yet. You still have another pokemon.

The challenger's cocky smile betrays at least some of their malicious intent as the meowth in Skel's hood jumps onto his head, hissing at the challenger who nods at their machamp. The machamp takes it's trainer's signal, smacking the meowth off of Skel's head and knocking it out in one shot.

Skel: Doobie!!

Skel shoots a weak glare at the challenger before scooping up the little cat, putting him back into his pokeball as well. The challenger's sinister smile only grows, barely stifling laughter.

???: Arceus that was easy. Machamp, use submission.

Skel: Wh- huh?!

???: Nothin' personal, ya damn freak.

A Team Rocket grunt pulls up in an unmarked white van as Skel is knocked out by the machamp. The machamp picks Skel up and throws him into the back before getting recalled as it's trainer steps into the van themselves.

[RECORDING END]

[skylertheminish]

Even more inane dog water writing! Please read tags for credit... can't wait to find typos and awful grammar later on lol.

A rumor and a bad guy.

The past few days had been awful. Case after case had been springing up and all with concerning records. Considering staff had rescues to take care of after hours, such as myself, this increase of workload was worrying indication of something sinister. While there was no evidence to confirm the suspicions of my boss. There was plenty speculation among staff that an organisation was the cause.

Galar has a Team for sure. But this wasn't Team Yell's kind of thing. And sure they were a headache to deal with, sinister they were not...or cruel for that matter! And it certainly wasn't Team Rocket. They got disbanded...right?

I finished off the last bit of work I could before clocking off. My bones cracking as I rose from my chair. Heading down the hallway I met up with Kate.

"Ya look awful. Like something dead warmed up" she commented while handing me a cup of tea, rather something passing itself off as tea. Don't know what the centre got for drinks but I'd wish they'd spend a little more on tea that had greater strength than 3 tea leaves.

"Aye" I sighed along with my thanks. Taking a sip of the weak tea water tea. Weak but welcoming.

"So have ya heard?"

"Hm? Heard what?" I asked before taking another sip.

"About the rumor going about. Thought you'd of all people would know" she gave a rather confused look at me.

"If its anything about whom is behind all these new cases then I have an idea or two. But anything outside of that I dunno. Been drowning in work."

This for some reason just prompted her to give a small smile. Which only confused me even more. She clearly knew something about this rumor.

"Well I've got something for ya to think about on the drive back home! Not exactly a change of scene, but I'm sure it will catch your interest to say the least."

"Aight what's the word then?"

As per usual for these rumors. It started off with someone who knew a relative of someone else with a gammy leg or whatever. Although in this case it was true. A member of staff has a relative who fits the description, and they were the source of the rumor. Kate was on the money about it catching my interest too.

"A missing Ceruledge you say?"

"Aye. Kinda odd we'd hear about this while you have your wee ones don't 'cha think?"

"I think it's just a coincidence. Odd for sure, but nothing more than that" I finished the tea "I'd best head off before traffic gets worse. Cheers for the tea Kate!"

"Take care!" I heard her say as I made my way to collect the Ceruledge infant and her brother from the daycare in the centre. Thankfully the drive back home was calm with only moderate traffic. Perfect for mulling things over! Kate knew full well that rumor regarding the percular Ceruledge would hold my interest, and get my mind somewhat off the recent cases. The person who rescued the pokemon from the lake was set on finding out more about it and its trainer. Knowing there was someone going out of their way for this Ceruledge cheered me up somewhat.

The drive home almost flew by before I knew it. If not for the few spells of traffic it certainly would have! Arriving back home, I went to preparing my Pokemon their dinner before loading a game to play and relax and distract myself from the past few awful days.

A good hour or so had passed. And Ceru decided she wanted to watch me play the game by climbing up onto my lap. She seemed to enjoy what was being played on the tv. Or at the very least was interested. But her response to a particular npc caught me off guard.

"Rrrrrr"

Her growling prompted a chuckle from my tired self. I knew this character she was growling at. It was the main bad guy currently disguised as a rotund, joyful mayor. "You don't like that man?"

"Rrrrr!" Hissss!

Oh she really didn't like the funny round man on the tv! And her hissing got me into a fit of chuckles. "Oh we don't like that man huh?" I commented while giving Ceru pats in an attempt to calm her.

"Don't worry lass. He is the bad guy and we won't let him win!"

Ceru crossed her arms and gave a nod. This video game character wasn't going to win. Not on her watch!

The past few days had been awful. But seeing Ceru look so determined, and hearing her adorable growls cheered me up and reminded me why I do what I do. They're worth fighting for.

[suaine]

I really want to talk about queerbaiting and how the definition of it shifts in usage and what it means at the core. The currents wikipedia article describes it as a "marketing technique in which creators hint at but do not depict" a queer romance or other queer rep.

The marketing technique part is two-fold: selling to queer audiences, and using queer audiences to drum up buzz.

The first is obvious and straightforward - a piece of content is marketed to a queer audience specifically promising content and then not following through or having the follow through be something that is either ambiguous or easily dismissable. Examples for this would be dozens of articles proclaiming "The First Gay Character!" in the MCU, or Disney, only for that to be an absolute non-event. (I'm sure you've seen the articles)

The second is more interesting and more insidious - a piece of content is made to appeal to a queer audience by hinting at or promising queer rep to tap into the audience's desire to make that thing succeed, using their considerable passion to basically get free advertising in wider fandom circles. We know that this works: look at how popular Our Flag Means Death became, or Yuri On Ice - they were sky-rocketing BECAUSE of their potential (and then actualized) queerness. But you don't actually have to follow through to get this effect, and many don't. It takes a very long time for queer audiences to get tired and give up. Some of us never do.

How many times did you start watching something because Those Two Guys were on your dash enough?

Now, queerbaiting is not an easily definable concept because it doesn't necessarily require all of those parts of the definition to be real and it doesn't necessarily have to be on purpose.

Sometimes the people doing the queerbaiting think they're doing the queer audience a favor by giving us hints and nudges, by feeding us a fun pairing that we can play with. And in some ways, that's true. We get a lot of enjoyment out of it. But it's no longer the 90s, where queer pairings HAD to live in subtext. Xena, Due South, etc. They gave us as much as they could at the time, or at least it felt that way.

Today, there is a growing perception that creators have more freedom to establish and play with queer characters, that there isn't institutionalized homophobia above their heads stopping them from executing these stories the way we yearn for them. That's not usually true, the more and more queerfriendly production teams are still running up against prejudice and conservatism, and it manifests in weird ways. It's okay to have this much rep and no more, you can have a gay side character, but not a bi male main etc. The gays can get together, but they have to suffer in some way. Bury your gays is alive and well for a reason.

And then there's the showrunners who really truly created those initial stories by accident and resent the hell out of the queer audience for being more invested in that than the rest of their story. That happens and it sucks but it is what it is. You can never know which way it goes until someone tells you.

But queerbaiting is more about audience than it is about content - using a queer audience to promote your show is still queerbaiting if the romance happens but then one of the couple is brutally murdered. It's still queerbaiting even if the promises being made are all subtext. It can be queerbaiting even if there's other queer rep on your show. Because it's about using the queer audience to create buzz.

When David Jenkins was interviewed after the success of Our Flag Means Death, he talked about queerbaiting, and the many things he as a straight man had never considered. And it's honestly an eye-opening moment in this conversation:

What is it about Our Flag Means Death that made it so easy for people to really sort of miss the early queer subtext that’s barely subtext?

I’m the wrong person to ask because I, well, I know a lot more now than I did a month ago, and I know a lot more now than I did two weeks ago based on how this show was going to roll out. I thought it was pretty clear to me that you get halfway through, and you’re like, “Oh, OK. These people have feelings for each other. And they’re attracted to each other.”

Little bit, yeah. 

And it’s clear. I think I didn’t realize — because I see myself represented on camera, and I see myself falling in love in stories — I didn’t realize how deep the queer baiting thing goes. Being made to feel stupid by stories, I guess.

How do you mean?

As we were breaking the season and looking at how it would go, part of me knew that, yes, Stede and Ed’s romance was going to be real. But one part of me felt like, “We’re going to do this story, and they’re going to kiss, and maybe that’s not even going to be that big a deal. Maybe it’ll just be a blip.” But then, looking at how people were kind of afraid to let themselves believe that we were doing that was a surprise to me, and it’s heartbreaking.

I understand it much better now, and it’s like, oh, you were made to feel stupid by a bunch of shows — unintentionally, by and large, I think — but made to feel like “maybe I’m going to be up there. Maybe that’ll be me in this story.” And then at the end of it feeling like, “Aw. No, it’s not me. I’m not in this one.” That fucks with you at any age, I think, but especially when you’re young and impressionable. I know it would make me feel that I didn’t belong, and I think that’s part of where the response to the show comes from.

And I think that's where a lot of the anger and pain comes from: it's a form of narrative gaslighting where you start to doubt not just your ability to read story cues but maybe a little bit the legitimacy of your own experiences. It cuts to the bone in ways that regular het ship bait wouldn't.

As I said above, it's not always about the amount of rep in a story, but about the way a story indicates to queer audiences that a long-form story MIGHT be for them and then doesn't deliver - Sterek was still queerbait even with gay characters on the show, Clexa was still queerbait even though the relationship was consummated. Because the queer audience was used but never truly taken into consideration.

So would you call Buddie, specifically, queerbait? The ship was teased/jokingly referred to in season 2 in a deliberate way - this is a matter of fact straight from Tim Minear's mouth and the literal text of the show (see the worm in face influencer call). Then from season 3 onward their relationship was developed in ways that use a lot of narrative romance tropes, from camera angles to acting choices to dialogue, there's enough there to make you think, "hey, maybe?"

Now, in interviews and other official outlets, Kristen Reidel has always been careful to manage people's expectations, she's never promised anything. But inadvertently the social media presence, the media buzz and the way people have responded to the fandom have certainly not done anything to dissuade people's belief that it would/could happen and happen soon.

I got into the show based on the queer grapevine buzz. I made two other people watch the show, one because she loves procedurals, one because she's A Gay Like Me.

There's grounds to call the handling of Buddie specifically queerbaiting, I suppose, other impressive rep notwithstanding. Hen and Karen, Michael, and Josh, and so many of the calls - 911 is unflinchingly queer-friendly without question. Whether or not Buddie can still be queerbaiting is honestly a matter of interpretation. I personally don't think arguing about the semantics here is doing us any favors.

Because ultimately, an accusation of queerbaiting does nothing or only hurts - we don't have the power to change the minds of executives or creators who just don't want to go there. If for some reason they don't want to do this and the development so far has been entirely unintentional, then accusing them of queerbaiting will almost certainly result in reflexive no-homo additions, up to completely narratively separating the characters.

And if the development has been intentional but just never came to fruition for other reasons (executive meddling, time crunches, etc.) then yelling at people who are on our side probably won't help either.

It's certainly not done until it's done and I promise you, as someone who has lived through fandom since the X-Files, it could be so very much worse than this.

But. My friend has stopped watching the show and I don't begrudge them the choice. Because my god, we're old and tired, and hope can hurt a little too much sometimes and it's hard to cling to when you just lost a lot of ground. Again.

So when kids yell queerbaiting over the finale I know it comes from that deep well of anger and pain. It's not about rep, per se, it's about stories that feel like they might be ours and then aren't, and that hurts, especially if we have invested more than just passive consumption (writing meta, creating art and fic and gifs, so many gifs, telling people, so many people, to watch the show with us, because it feels like this time, you know, this time it's happening. That story, the one you've been waiting for.)

I get it and I'm sorry you're suffering. If it helps a little, I do believe that 911 is not made by people who resent us.

[dangakkisland]

Dangaronpa Portuguese Translation Chapter 4

Firstly I wanted to show off my amazing spelling skills for a second, this gambit was never a struggle for me (I struggle with the comic part) I'll get the fun parts out of the way:

''Casca de bala'' Or candy wrapper is synonymous for best friend at the moment, the reason is: A song I believe that I don't know the name off..Mom is more aware of the internet than me

I literally took business/economics classes in high school (Forced). I can't believe I didn't know what day trading was. I mean, at least I know all the bank names, the best way to do insurance, and the best way to pay taxes. Where is the knowledge when I need it?

Who taught this bear how to fucking laugh (He said more curses in this trial compared to any other character in the game: he did it 7 times in only one chapter) Additionally: Makoto got his..''Little title'' little Makoto ''Makotinho'' by Shou..So tiny.. He got called tiny..I'm on ''Makotinho'''s team forever Portuguese class of today: If you want to know it is pronounced more like Makoti (Normal) Nho is like ''Nyo''

''This isn't a work of Machado de Assis, this makes so much more sense!'' I'm so glad I am not the only one that thinks his books (Machado de Assis) are so damn complicated and they put this at reading class (Forced) and it was like 200 pages or so long and it was for 3 weeks and you had to study all its conflicts and how it related to relationships, geography and sociology and then you had to do a theater about it and the book did not make any sort of sense...

(The last one is called the Fortune Teller...Makes sense for Yasuhiro)

Shou speaks spanish For the class trial, there wasn't much else I believe they were trying to take this more seriously because you know...Sakura died and they avoided every joke possible, the class trial was easy, and the mood was so tense you could cut with scissors, Monokuma or let's say Junko are a bitch really, I do have some sympathy for her to some extent (Puttind DR 0 into account and that I have to re-read it) this chapter is tough to forgive after all Monokuma and Junko aren't really separate entities I wanted to add that my friend really hates Junko because of this chapter, I was drawing when she was watching the chapter go on and I just heard her anger screams (True despair for sure)

TEAM ROCKET REFERENCE!!!

I really like James voice in portuguese I always believed that in English he sounded like cosmo from the Fairly oddparents

Obrigatory pause for Mukuro Ikusaba:

''Mukuro Ikusaba''

''huh?''

Kyouko whispered in my ear

''Mukuro Ikusaba''

''The sixteenth student hidden somewhere in this school''

''The girl refered as the Supreme level despair''

*Gandalf voice* ''Be watchful of Mukuro Ikusaba...''

''I mean... be wary of Mukuro Ikusaba''

this post is quite all over the place because what best way to describe my experience..