#bc all the people who could've come up with the ideas we have here have either been brainwashed killed or scared into silence

[evilkitten3]

having some thoughts on itachi and radicalization and how people can do the most horrific shit imaginable while fully believing it's the right thing to do and police states

[strawb3rrystar]

totally didnt trip and run here…why would that happen.

anywho, stolas x stellas cousin!gn! reader :3 idrc if its platonic or romantic this man needs a friend/someone to care ab him and actually show it (staring at blitzø)

if platonic, then it could be that they have a marriage of convenience and stolas is off put but them but they reassure both him and octaviva that they arent like their cousins lol and from there they befriend stolas and be his rock for whenever blitzø shuts down and pushes stolas away

if romantic then it could just be a silly slow burn with stilas veru confused bc he loves blitzø but also is beginning to like his new spouse?! (then they could talk and the cousin could be like “dude we dont gotta be exclusive. esp since u still like the imp dude. if u want, take thing slow, see where u end up and how you feel.”)

and when reader shows affection stolas is taken aback bc all the people in his life aren’t really forward with their own affections?

soz if this is lengthy 😭😭 i love this sad bird sm and just want him to have someone to rely on that isnt his kid or his BF

It wasn't just a marriage of convenience.

Pairing: Stolas x GN! Stella's cousin! Reader

Warnings: Stella slander (im sorry), very slight blitz slander (again, sorry)

Word count: 816

✰Masterlist

Stolas wasn't too keen on remarrying, especially when he found out it would be his ex-wife's cousin. He expected to be just like the rest of your snobby family.

The first time he met you, your beak upturned in a smile that could've been fake. But there was no faking the look in your eyes. The way you were hanging off every word as he talked. That was the most genuine thing about your family. Your eyes always gave you away. Stolas learned that quickly with Stella. Even when she was trying to be nice, her eyes always revealed her true feelings.

After the wedding, Stolas realized the heels of your fancy shoes didn't echo in the hallways like Stella's did. Her footsteps always sent chills down his spine because they were always filled with fury. No matter where you were in the palace, you could always hear her coming.

The first time you threw a ball, it wasn't for a selfish reason, it was for your friend's birthday. Unlike Stella's amazing idea of a 'not divorced' party. She would glide across the ballroom with fake poise, her head turned up at everyone who was below her. But you move so effortlessly and with such elegance that you could put your cousin to shame.

It felt odd to be living with you at first. To be sleeping in the same bed. But you mostly kept to yourself during the day. Stolas finally could get some peace and quiet now that Stella's constant torment was gone. During dinner, when you were all sat at the table, you would have an actual conversation with him. Octavia seemed to like you as well, the two of you would talk about things that she liked. And you would hangout in the library at night.

You weren't trying to be a new parent for Via. Or a new spouse for Stolas. You were just simply existing in the same space. Not trying to disrupt the environment before you. Maybe that's why he was just so drawn to you. You cared about his problems, listened to him, but didn't pry. Even when your cousin was brought up, you were never angry. You were just an observer.

But now Stolas was in a dilemma. He likes Blitz, but now he also likes.. you? It sent his head into spirals, rethinking the last year of his life. It was so bad he couldn't concentrate on the words in his book. Because just a few feet away his spouse sat at their vanity, putting some eye drops in their eyes. Stolas takes a deep breath, going over every outcome in his head. Before he knew what he was doing, the words were coming out of his mouth. "Uh, hey?"

This gains your attention, and you turn to him. But not just your head, you did a full body turn towards him. Satan you were so beautiful. Stolas would compare your beauty to that of the stars. Your head tilts every so slightly, your eyes fill with affection. "Yes?"

"I'm having a bit of a problem.." Stolas admits, setting his book on the nightstand. By the time he looked back at you, you were already sitting on the bed with him. "What kind of problem?"

"I think I'm starting to love you..." He mumbles scratching the back of his neck and then smoothing down his feathers. "Why is that a problem?"

You already knew about his relationship with Blitz as he would often express his issues to you. It was a very simple question, but it made Stolas even more confused. "Because I can't like two people at once."

He shakes his head, his hands in his lap. You raise an eyebrow, then chuckle to yourself. "Stolas, we don't have to be exclusive. Especially since I know how special that Imp is to you. We can take things slow, see if we like it. If not, we can go back to how things are, I won't be upset."

His eyes widen at your words. His body felt like it was on fire. But not the 'I'm horny' kind of fire. More like 'I love you so much I think I'm going to explode' kind. "Could I.. kiss you then?"

You smile, the type of smile that made his heart melt for you. You inch over to him, taking his wing in yours. "I would love nothing more than that."

It was one of the most love filled, passionate kisses that Stolas had ever experienced. His claws grabbing at you like you'd slip away if he didn't. Your claws touch his face delicately, as if he were a glass figure that would shatter if you pressed too hard. When the two of you pull away, Stolas buries his face into your neck. And the two of you cuddle into each other for the rest of the night.

Star's notes -> You know I love it when I get requests from you Adonis!!! <3

(Thank you, @sweetadonisbutbetter for requesting!) (Requests are open!)

Taglist -> @samohxt2-0 @sunshines-bright @astrolovedy @saints-wrapped-in-plastic @sweetadonisbutbetter

@little-miss-chaoss @sunr1s3-strab3rr1 | Join the taglist

[teddybeartoji]

me and toji me and toji me and tojiiiiiiii...

we started out as neighbors but it took us like three months to even propely meet lmao,, it takes me a while to get used to new places so when i first moved in i just stayed at home like a lot. a lot a lot. i literally only left to go to the grocery store and then to the park down the street and that's it. and toji is a big homebody too, so he didn't go out all that much either, just work and then the bar with a friend every once in a while. we just didn't happen to move at the same time, despite living right next to each other.

after about a month, i found myself a third place and slowly but surely grew more and more comfortable there – the cinema (nobody is surprised). i always liked to go during the day, as early as i could, just to make sure that there wouldn't be too many people. always in the last row, always in the middle seat. this is the mickey way. anyway, after creating a bit of a routine for myself, i felt more free to observe my surrounding some more too. felt more comfortable to start people watching. and that's when i saw him. mostly dressed in darker clothes, hoodies and big jackets. sometimes with a cap on, sometimes without it. it's not like he was always always there at the same time as me but when he was, he always sat in the last row but instead of fighting for the middle seat, he always sat at the very end of the row. obviously i thought he looked very handsome – we had made eye-contact a few times while buying popcorn by accident and let me tell you, that was enough to have my heart racing ok i am very weak. but i'm not bold enough to strike up a conversation like that so stolen glances and shared movie experiences were all we had. we btw have a very similar taste in films so we did end up seeing each other a lot there lmao

aaaanyway i just had a silly little cinema crush but never did anything abt it bc i'm a pussy ok😔😔 (he's literally the same). okay but so, one day i was coming home from whereever, just stepped into the elevator when a hand stopped the doors and HE appeared. i was very confused. he.. looked confused too lmao,, but now........ loookkkk.... no matter how handsome he is..... he's still a stranger, and a man too at that. a man who seems to be where i am multiple times a week and is now suddenly where i live. yes, i freaked the fuck out okay. don't judge me. he didn't press a floor button either yk so i really did start to spiral over the fact that maybe he's stalking me or smth..... and he saw that. he saw me tense up and he isn't stupid – he knows he's a tough big guy and it did seem like he could've been stalking me. so he immediately backed away a bit, trying to make himself smaller bc he obviously didn't want to make me any more uncomfortable. and then he just blurted out with his raspy voice that he lives here. it definitely cracked the tension a bit. he cleared his throat and slowly pointed at the floor buttons, saying that he lives on the same floor (btw i need everybody to know that he has a bit of an accent in my head it's very very important to me he speaks english very well but his accent still shines through and i love it very very much<33333). he even showed me his keys lmao and i did feel way more safe after that buuut we still didn't really introduce each other or anything. i guess the air still felt just a bit weird.. the doors opened and we both walked to out apartments in silence (it wasn't actually awkward or anything though it was just . silence) and then looked at each other with silly faces when we realized we literally live Right next to each other lmao that was funny. i just said that i moved in like two months ago and that was it. we went our seperate ways.

for a day.

bc you have no idea.. how awful i felt abt that elevator thing. oooooooh my god. IT'S NOT HIS FAULT HE'S SO BIG SO IT'S SO MEAN FOR ME TO ASSUME THAT HE'S SOME AXE MURDERED YK well it isn't but i still felt really really bad esp since he tried to immediately make me feel more comfortable and tried to reassure me that he was not, in fact, stalking me lmao but yeah idk it just weighed really heavily on me i couldn't help but keep thinking abt it soooo i ended up baking a batch of brownies the very next day. and i went to his door (still in my hello kitty pyjama pants mind you)(i forgot to change them) aaand then started rambling and STUTTERING BTWW while apologizing and he just stood there like ???? like he didn't even understand why i was apologizing in the first place lmao he felt it was a very understandable for me to have that fear and to think the way i was thinking (he actually felt a bit bad abt the whole thing inside too he just didn't really know how to express it). aaaanyway so he was just there staring at me with like a veeery faint smile bc at a point it got a bit ridiculous bc i really did start just rambling abt the whole thing lmao it was uhhh just a bit embarrassing (the fact that he's hot didn't help either thank you very much). he thought it was cute how i was there trying to apologize for smth that he should've been apologizing for himself lmao he tried to say no to the brownies at first and i shoved them at him so hard they all almost fell.. aaand i think that's exactly where he decided that hm. mickey . yes weird little creature i am intrigued i want to know more yk?

btw we still didn't exchange numbers or anything at that point, that happened later after i came knocking at his door at twelve am bc there was a big spider in my room but i'll talk abt that some other time:33333333 thank you for reading abt the miji lore i love you . and i love him. sooooso much he means the world to me<3333333333333333

[bitterpngs]

...

...

...

… trust, huh?

TL;DR: what i want to highlight with this comic: satoru calling suguru "geto" / suguru crossing satoru's metaphorical line and permanently severing his relationship with him. kenjaku's plan in canon will never come to fruition in this au. what happens after is up to you :)

and yes ik the trust quote is in the context of the other 2nd years! i added it bc it fit, in a way.

this got long sorry lol i started to ramble

LAST NAME - what started this all and what i hope others picked up on was gojo calling geto by his last name, not his first: geto. even after everything geto did during jjk v0, gojo still calls geto 'suguru.' he's still 'suguru' to him. i wanted a scenario in which gojo would reject his first name - reject their past and their relationship. this whole comic idea sprung out of being unsatisfied with geto and gojo's canon relationship. personally, im not the happiest with how things were written in the story and feel like the author could've done some things differently. this isn't to say i don't like or enjoy what the author has written either. i just have mixed feelings.

KENJAKU - in case it wasn't clear, the door closing on page 14 depicts geto with stitches on his forehead - aka kenjaku. what that page is trying to convey is that the moment geto killed yuuta, the future where geto's body is used to box gojo ceased to exist. in this au, kenjaku's plan that we see in the canon timeline would never and will never work. by killing yuuta, geto crossed a line and permanently severed his relationship with gojo. if gojo wins here, gojo will dispose of the body properly. the panel after shows a closed door with the memory of who suguru was. the person who suguru used to be and the best years of gojo's life etc etc. but "broken" bc it's gojo truly realizing that's not who geto is anymore + the whole "severing relationship" thing. does this make sense.

what happens after the comic ends is up to interpretation though

GETO'S PLAN - i didnt focus a lot on the specifics of how this could've happened considering geto's plan changed in this au. how it happened isnt really important, you can come up with whatever you want. what i wanted to focus on, and what i hope people managed to pick up on is the situation itself - geto killing yuuta. sorry yuuta. i'll make it up to you.

i ended it here because it felt the best place, but here's some scrapped dialogue of a few seconds after: GETO: "… It was a necessary sacrifice, Sato-" GOJO: "don't you dare call me that" basically to emphasize the first name vs last name situation

GOJO N GETO - ive always felt uhhh. nitpicky, i guess. about the specifics of everything regarding gojo and geto. ive felt unsatisfied for a variety of reasons, and this was basically an idea that sprung out (a looong time ago) of a want for gojo to be angry at and feel more.. negative emotions, i guess, toward geto. i still do genuinely enjoy their canon relationship a lot tho. i enjoy the way they’re written together and individually, i just have different/multiple feelings about the same thing :)

RIKO AND YUUTA - erm there was a scrapped panel... you can find it on my blog if you're really curious but there was a panel of geto 'remembering' riko's dead body (a distorted memory, because the blood reflects yuuta's injuries). it's not necessarily that riko and yuuta are similar, it's that geto becomes a bit like toji in the end. just like toji, geto tries to kill a young teenager for the sake of his own goals. while toji's was selfish and geto's, in his own eyes, was for the greater good, there's still the similarity of killing a child. of stealing their future for their own goals. plus the fact that gojo killed both of them in a similar way.

TRUST - yeah i know the quote is in the context of the 2nd years fighting geto. still. gojo trusted geto to a large degree, despite everything he did. so. it's going here.

PG 4-6 - geto values and cares about sorcerers so so much. again, he was fine with trying to kill yuuta for his vision and all but i dont think he wouldn't feel some level of. conflicting emotions i guess. (i am very against the idea that geto wasn't... trying to kill yuuta? i don't really get that perspective at all. it'd make all of that meaningless imo. but this isn’t about that.) ok im done.

if you read this entire rambly thing, thank you :D hope you enjoyed!

[howtobecomeadragon]

Mike got upset at Hopper in s2 bc Hopper was keeping El hidden... when she could've been helping Will and preventing Will's situation from getting so bad

Obviously there are other reasons too, he was mourning and missed her, it was a shock to see her, etc. I'm just saying I think this is the bigger reason.

This also ties into Mike viewing El as a superhero and how this puts their relationship in a weird space. If someone is a superhero, you're not missing them as a person, you're missing them for their powers and what they can do for you.

Obviously we saw that Mike was missing El in 2x01 and 2x02. But at the end of 2x02, we saw Mike having a new concern about what was going on with Will and that he was seeing something from the UD. Mike is confronted with the reality that he doesn't know much about the UD and doesn't know how to help. He doesn't know if this is real or just visions. He doesn't understand (although he does his best to help), the others wouldn't understand, but Eleven would. She would know, she'd be able to help, she'd know how to stop this.

Because, after all, Mike has said it before: she's a weapon. He viewed her as a way to get Will back before (partly, not claiming this was his only motivation in his relationship with El) and now in s2, Mike is missing her for what she could have done here: helped Will.

Mike does what he can to put positive spins on the situation and he provides that emotional support, which probably helped more than he knew.

But that didn't exactly stop the bad things from happening. Mike still doesn't know how to fix this thing happening to Will. He does everything he can, he comes up with the idea to spy back and to put Will to sleep, but it's still a very upsetting day or two.

When El returns, he greets her happily but as soon as he hears that she's been out there, listening to his calls, his face drops. He wanted to know she was out there. And then very quickly his anger moves to Hopper. El didn't know that Will was in trouble. She stayed away bc Hopper told her to, but she didn't know what was going on. Hopper knew. Hopper knew that El was probably one of the only people who might know enough to help, so he gets mad about Hopper hiding her, when she could've been there, she could've stepped in as soon as Will saw the Mind Flayer the first time.

Moving onto the fight scene:

Mike and Hopper both look and gesture towards this wall a lot (EDIT: credit to @runninguplenorahills for pointing this out, this is also in Will's bedroom, similar to the s3 kiss with El in the finale. just another thing pointing to this being more to do with Will than the GA might thing), and I get that it's probably the direction of where El is in the kitchen, but just like always, Will is there symbolically too. He's there in the drawings that are on the wall between them in the dead center of the shot. It's a symbol of just how bad things got with Will.

Mike looks at the drawings and says he doesn't understand how Hopper let it go on so long with El there but hidden.

Again, looking and gesturing at the walls. And there's this talk of blame here. "Don't blame her, she's already upset." "I don't blame her, I blame you."

Blame El for... just staying hidden? When Mike can tell she wasn't allowed to talk to him? That doesn't really fit perfectly with the word "blame." What Hopper might mean, instead, is for Mike to not blame El for how bad it got with Will. "Don't blame El for not coming to help sooner, don't blame her for everything that has happened the past couple days." And Mike doesn't, he says he's blaming Hopper.

Another couple things from the full fight scene:

"Protecting her?" Mike sees what happened. Hopper chose to protect El over protecting Will this season (in a way, balancing out his actions from s1, selling out El's location to Brenner to save Will).

"So I should be thanking you?" Along that same line: Mike isn't thinking about his or his family's safety. Brenner is gone, and it sounds like Hopper kept El hidden for reasons he doesn't understand or care about at the cost of Will's safety.

"Nothing about this is okay." There's so many things he's upset and overwhelmed and scared about right now. It's multifaceted, just like so many of Mike's scenes. He's not just mad bc he missed El, there's more there.

After the scene with Hopper, Mike and El are standing away from each other. He even seems to be avoiding eye contact with her? Maybe from embarrassment over his outburst, maybe he just feels weird and conflicted already, feeling the strain of having his attention split when he's already so worried about Will. But either way, the shots are framed with Mike and Hopper together and everyone else with El. He didn't rush out from that fight to stick with El, be close, hold her hand, talk with her more.

And the first time he speaks in this scene it feels a lot like another "I'm the only one who cares about Will" moment. He's put the pieces together and was considering Will's part in all of this. He's not voicing concern about El being in danger again or leaving again, his mind is on Will.

And I think this all goes to the goodbye scene between El and Mike. Mike is concerned about losing people close to him. He can't say goodbye to Will, but he says goodbye to El. She tries to kiss him, he leaves his eyes open and doesn't move closer at all. A car with Will drives away and a car with El drives away, both headed towards danger. He stares after both, scared.

GA viewers assume he's just focused on El as he watches the cars drive away, but he spent most of the season just focused on Will. GA viewers assume Mike's outburst just has to do with loving El, but he spent most of the season trying to help Will, just like s1, except this time he didn't have El, his helpful link to the UD, to make the supernatural mysteries a little bit easier.

[mintydotdoodle]

spoilers up to the most recent events of riptide (ep115)

I don't know what possessed me (the spirit of Meryl Streep maybe???) but "The Winner Takes it All" works so well with the current state of Chip in the black sea. Like the idea of Chip eventually just coming to accept his loss and losing this inherit hope he's been holding so close. (which I don't think we would fully reach in cannon, but possibly something similar to how he broke down post Gillion drawing the card in the feywild with him talking about giving up in pirating to Jay) BUT LIKE STICK WITH ME HERE BC IM GONNA CONNECT TO SOME LYRICS first off : The winner takes it all The loser's standing small (Chip being physically smaller or emotionally smaller due to literally losing part of his body and some of his sanity from the black sea) Beside the victory That's her destiny (as a foil to Gillion beginning to move away from his destiny thing, him coming to accept that he was meant to lose himself in the black sea)

I was in your arms Thinking I belonged there I figured it made sense Building me a fence

Building me a home (home being both the black rose ship and albatross) Thinking I'd be strong there (Thinking is the key word here I feel, because every time Chip thinks he finds a home it can't help be swept away from him both in losing physical home and people) But I was a fool Playing by the rules

The gods may throw a dice (concepts of the whole group being pushed around by the supposed destiny and will of the gods) Their minds as cold as ice And someone way down here Loses someone dear (THIS SPECIFIC PART LIKE WOAH because it could work as both Chip's loss of his first family in the form of Arlin and Capt. Rose, and Jay and Gill losing Chip to the black sea)

The winner takes it all (takes it all) The loser has to fall (has to fall) It's simple and it's plain (it's so plain) Why should I complain? (Why complain?) (this is where those feelings of hopelessness and helplessness would come in)

But tell me, does she kiss Like I used to kiss you? Does it feel the same When she calls your name?

Somewhere deep inside You must know I miss you (Chip opening up for this moment of absolute unabashed sincerity about missing so much. Missing Arlin, missing who he once was, who he could've been, missing the life he could have with Jay and Gill) But what can I say? Rules must be obeyed

The judges will decide (will decide) The likes of me abide (me abide) (could possibly connect to Niklaus and his heart) Spectators of the show (of the show) Always staying low (staying low)

The game is on again (on again) A lover or a friend (or a friend) A big thing or a small (big or small) The winner takes it all (takes it all)

I don't wanna talk If it makes you feel sad And I understand You've come to shake my hand (i supposed final goodbye for Chip [Which I can't see actually happening])

I apologize If it makes you feel bad Seeing me so tense No self-confidence But you see (just this whole section in this self pitying apology to Gillion that he isn't who he once was, especially after Jay leaves)

The winner takes it all The winner takes it all (this part in the song and the way it's sung is so heart wrenching and I just get massive Chip vibes I cannot explain)

So the winner takes it all And the loser has to fall Throw the dice, cold as ice Way down here, someone dear Takes it all, has to fall And it's plain, why complain?

This could also just be my continuation of my obsessive Chip and musical theatre agenda, who knows?

[thefirstknife]

Sorry to dump this rant in your inbox but the community’s attitude this entire season has legit got me tilted to the point I ignore pretty much the entire community outside of tumblr and a few irl friends. A lot of it has been frustrations I’ve had since Lightfall dropped wrt acting like the story was dogshit bc it didn’t give all the answers.

I legit got so fed up with Byf’s whole “oh all this season of the deep lore should have been in Lightfall” stuff bc like. My guy. You were one of the biggest complainers about the seasons having zero lore or story relevance. Fucking pick one or the other. Either seasons are all filled bullshit or you’re gonna get cliffhangered and expected to have some damn patience for storylines to get picked back up over time in the seasons after the main campaign of an expansion is done.

Especially bc like. IMO anyone expecting anything not a cliffhanger from the end of Lightfall when we KNEW The Final Shape was coming after it was just setting themselves up for disappointment, you need big tension and shit like that before the final act and this way getting dripfed answers in the lead up feels less like we’re dicking around doing nothing useful for the entire year as we wait for TFS to drop. It legit felt like being a KH fan back when KH3 dropped who had payed attention and played all the games and knew wasn’t the end of the series, just the conclusion of an arc and anyone mad about the stuff left unfinished was being unreasonable when it was made pretty explicitly clear it would either be answered in the future bc this wasn’t the ending or had been answered ages ago and people just hadn’t bothered to pay attention to it. Lightfall was never going to have all the answers bc it wasn’t the ending, and Bungie has proven they’ll circle back around and answer questions and pick up story beats if you’d just have a little patience! I’ll agree it wasn’t done perfectly and could do with more focus on the Veil and less on Strand but come ON my guy!

Combine that with the general toxicity of non-story focused Destiny YouTubers, especially PvP only typesc about Destiny and the way their fans have behaved and I’m full on not watching Destiny content creators anymore. Genuinely never seen content creators who need to touch grass and maybe just. Take a break. I’m not saying Lightfall was perfect or that Bungie hasn’t fucked up but I’m honestly just. Extremely fucking tired of how the community outside of tumblr has reacted to everything. And I’m especially sick of crybaby crucibros being obnoxious. Much as I don’t actually think it’d be at all good for the game there’s a part of me that thinks the idea of them splitting PvP stuff and PvE stuff into separate Destiny games in the future might have some merit to it purely so those of us who just want to explore and enjoy the story in peace can never bother with them again

Go off, honestly. So true. I've felt the same and I've pretty much not watched any Destiny youtube content in months. I started a few of them, but then stopped because of how utterly annoying and just plain wrong they were. The Lightfall situation is such a shitshow, not because of Bungie or the expansion itself, but because I genuinely believe that Destiny is above the reading level of most gamers.

Obviously, I still have some issues with how some stuff was handled, just as you do. Literally nobody is saying that everything in Lightfall was perfect. And I extend that to all expansions btw. Every expansion had faults. None of them are perfect. I think Lightfall's mysterious storytelling could've been a little bit clearer. And make no mistake, Lightfall WAS clear that nobody knows about the Veil, it just wasn't as clear as it could've been. Nothing would've really changed about the mystery if this was made more obvious earlier on in the campaign.

But dear lord, the bullshit around it is so tiring. I get it. I was confused at first too. I even posted here that I found certain things not as good and that they made me a little annoyed! And like that's fine! Your first impressions are your first impressions. But please move on. Are you seriously deciding everything based on first impressions? Do you never look into things and see if maybe there were things you missed or were wrong about? Like, it's okay to be confused at first and then realise later that you missed things. That's how learning works.

And yeah, the whole "everything should've been in Lightfall's campaign right away" is not only annoying because of the stuff you said, it's also annoying because it ignores that there's too much content to fit inside of a single campaign and also that this content has a theme. The campaign is a self-contained story with a theme and a plot (and the plot is NOT "learn what the Veil is." The plot of Lightfall is "stop Calus and the Witness from destroying Neomuna" which has concluded perfectly well in the campaign). Post-campaign stuff, the Witness cutscene and the Veil Logs are all things that don't fit thematically with the high action 80s movie story about protecting a city from destruction. These things were deliberately spread out through the year to give us multiple stories to follow while we wait for TFS. It's a live service game. You're here for the whole year. And it's fine if that's not the storytelling type you like. It's fine! That doesn't mean the story is objectively bad.

But yeah, agreed with what you said. It helps to vent! There's definitely people out there who are in the same situation and who just want to enjoy the game as usual and not having to deal with crybabies who make the whole experience absolutely miserable and make it impossible to engage with anything. Luckily, there's also always people who are still engaging with the game normally. We like the game and we like engaging with the game. And when I stop liking it, I'll just stop engaging with it. I wish other people could do the same.

[halojalex]

Lets hear that essay

oh man i kind of wasn’t expecting to get any replies to this LMAO bUt here we go. strap urselves in this is gonna be a long one

i won’t share the whole document i wrote bc it’s really long and i go off on a lot of tangents but here’s the general idea

for starters, i believe g&c is absolutely about jalex. we already know it's about a gay couple, so with this in mind, alex telling jack that it's about him is enough to at least consider what that means. granted, i know many believe that he was joking, but i've always thought his tone and general demeanour seemed far too sincere for him to be joking; we've seen how alex acts when he jokes around with jack, and this was different.

furthermore, it's also worth pointing out that jack and alex specifically wrote this one song on their own in a cabin (?) away from everyone else; i know this may not seem important on its own, but it's always worth keeping in mind. ie why would two friends go off to write a song about a queer relationship on their own?

adding onto this, there was that interview with kerrang where alex talked about wake up sunshine as a whole and how it’s about discovering yourself and coming to terms with who you are (i’m paraphrasing but that’s the general idea), so to have a song about a gay couple on an album that’s all about alex discovering who he is seems to me like he wrote it from personal experience.

secondly, i feel like it's important to note that, while jack and alex have always been closer than the average friendship, always bordering on acting like a couple, this closeness was especially apparent during the time that alex was separated from lisa and was living with/near jack. people have commented before on how 'dependent' they were on each other back then, so it's clear that the bond between them was especially strong at that time. of course, i'm sure many will say that it could've been bc alex needed jack's support/bc he was living close by so spent more time with him/whatever, however i feel like there's more to it than that, given all the other reasons. i think they were more than friends.

i'd also like to bring people's attention to one particular incident - that photo of them spooning on a beach. frankly, i've always been a little surprised that so many people have skipped over this without blinking, bc that photo to me has always seemed so intimate and domestic, i find it really hard to believe that many friends would casually sit like that.

and of course how can i forget to mention alex's bday post for jack in 2021? that caption haunts me. "what's there to say that isn't already tremendously obvious? you're a bright light in this weird world my dude. love you times a million" how does that not scream a bday post for a partner? "love you times a million"??? bye they ruin me. all of it just seems so,,, romantic?? idk but i feel like if my closest friend wrote something like that about me i'd find it just a little too much. but maybe that's just me. but also i've seen/heard people say that that caption sounded a lot like something they would write/have written for their partner so,,,,,,, make of that what you will.

ofc honourable mention of the time they went to a gay bar together and karaoke. i realise it’s only from word of mouth that we know that it was a gay bar, but it seems a well-enough-known fact that i feel like i should include it.

i’m sure there’s more i could say, it’s just hard to keep track of everything, especially without making this ten pages long. but another thing i believe is that jack has always had feelings for alex, long before they ever got together. granted, that on its own doesn’t necessarily mean that he and alex dated, however it’s important to note. one thing that sticks out to me with regard to this is how andie once made a post commenting on how jack never looked at her the way he looked at alex. this is interesting to me bc it just seemed like she was implying that she was competing with alex in a way. maybe it’s just me, but i can’t really see that post any other way than that tbh. i mean why else would she have said it? if jack didn’t have feelings for alex, then why would it matter how he looked at him?

furthermore the fact that jack wasn’t alex’s best man at his wedding fr keeps me up at night (i mean not literally but u get the idea). like everyone knows how close they are, alex has literally called jack his “best friend in the whole world” (brb while i cry over that), so why wouldn’t he choose jack, his closest friend, to be his best man at his wedding? i always feel like he did that intentionally to spare jack’s feelings. as if he’s always known that jack has feelings for him, and as such he knew he couldn’t put jack through that, as presumably the best man would have had to give a speech etc. just something else i think about a lot.

anyway, all of this was probably very confused, i hope it makes sense as i have a tendency to waffle sksjsksj but yeah, this is my general idea! lmk if anything doesn’t make sense djskdjsk

[praetorqueenreyna]

I'm reading Acotar (almost done with book 2, but I spoiled myself a little on book 3) and Im just....I didn't super care about Tamlin in book 1 (was more obsessed with Lucien, was convinced we'd get a threesome with Tamlin/Lucien/Feyre for the longest time lol I was bobo the fool) but now as it keeps going and with every 'Tamlin sucks so hard/is such a terrible abusive person' that's going on I just....feel I'm getting protective. I'm always waiting for him doing something worse but it never comes??All the fan posts that the algorithm shoves in my face always seem to misquote/misinterpret him??? Even the him locking her up feels so exaggarated in context? Like, I even liked the idea of them not working out because they both had to learn to deal with their own traumas first, but they could've just sat down like adults about it you feel me? Tamlin isnt that bad at all (by fairy standards anyway), he's just held to some weird modern moral standard while Rhysand isn't and it's pissing me off and really hindering my enjoyment of the Night Court shenanigans (which in theory I don't even hate, I think the characters are kinda enjoyable, but the book is riding the NC dick so hard while constantly dunking on Tamlin for no reason? Just leave the guy alone ahh). Sorry I'm not even in this fandom really I just needed to vent my frustration somewhere!!

ARE YOU ME? This is exactly how I felt reading through ACOTAR book 1 and then going straight into book 2! I was about 3/4 of the way through ACOMAF waiting for tamlin to do the "terrible abusive thing" that everyone claims he does before I realized that it had already happened. And yeah, him locking her up a single time isn't great, but he literally thought she was going to be kidnapped and murdered. that's not him being ABUSIVE and CONTROLLING!!!

the fan posts absolutely misconstrue his character to a comical degree. Just yesterday I saw an incorrect quotes-style post of rhysand talking to tamlin going "you begged to kiss her, she begged to fuck me. we are not the same." as if feyre wasn't slobbering after tamlin in ACOTAR while he held back and kept everything cute and chaste lmao. like yall are just making shit up now.

and YEAH I couldn't enjoy ANY of the Night Court/Inner Circle stuff because so much of those sections on the book are about comparing the NC people to tamlin (or lucien) and complaining about them. Like damn yall sure are obsessed with tamlin considering you claim to hate him. I definitely have gotten super protective of Tamlin being in this fandom bc he really is a sweet character who doesn't deserve any of this!

ANYWAY I SEE YOU and if you do decide to join ACOTAR fandom on the side of Tamlin, there are other Tamlin lovers! I'm helping to host Tamlin Week (@tamlinweek2023) in 2 weeks and I've spoken to lots of lovely people who love Tamlin and are going to participate! We are here, and we are normal lmao

[karinyosa]

Gene and Brinker, good sir?

AHHH okay okay

what made you ship it?

reading the book lol. ok so i feel like there's a lot of context i need to explain for this beyond just the book's subtext bc there's a bit of personal lore here. before teaching us the book, my middle school english teacher introduced each of the central four characters with this powerpoint with a slide on each one, and the way she described them like archetypically and physically made it sound almost like (to MY middle school brain) a dating sim, in which gene was the main character. like the blurb already sounds very romance novelesque so jdkshfkh. ig it wasn't too big a leap. so we already have a baseline there.

i also think that in the book brinker and gene are a secondary and competing rivarly/friendship to gene and finny's rivarly/friendship, and i think that's where the tension between brinker and gene and brinker and finny comes from. in fact this is kind of just text, like brinker and finny i think are pretty explicitly competing for gene's attention. i'm pretty sure there are some like old asp posts from the earlier 2010s era of the fandom where people are like "brinker and gene/finny have such ex energy", but iirc it was more often finny? like i'm definitely not the only person to see this Thing brinker has going on with gene, but at the time i'm p sure brinkerfinny was the more widespread take. anyway. brinker pursues gene so relentlessly both as an antagonist and as a guy who just Needs to be doing things with him, Needs to be occupying his time and attention. and yet they maintain this weird friendship/understanding throughout. to me this was most pronounced with the whole enlistment thing, and that dynamic where gene had to choose between finny and brinker for the enlistment/not enlistment??? it just gave very love triangle energy. the intensity with which brinker is fixated on gene is like. it gives repressed queer guy with problems. it's beyond wanting to antagonize him, he just is constantly coming up with excuses to be around him and to orient his focus around the pursuit of this one guy. his need to be morally superior to the object of his pursuit feels very queercoded to me. it's a very funny contrast to other parts of the book where he and gene are seemingly chill and normal friends? boy has issues

2. what are your favorite things about the ship?

HOOOOOO okay i have a long answer for this because it has to do with how i accidentally made myself insane about them. so i have this really long winded headcanon-turned-sequel fic in my Brain and Mind about gene and brinker moving in together after the war for kind of money reasons and kind of personal reasons. gene has been depression camping in finny's family's attic for a long undefined amount of time, and brinker is like hey you need to get the fuck out of there come live with me idiot. cue several years later and this is where the fic starts. i usually have it start at the time that gene would've gone back to visit devon, because i like the idea of that whole thing happening during a hs reunion in devon town, in which he and brinker joint travel and stay with his family which is its own whole awkwardness but anyway. <- culmination of everything i've ever thought about them since eighth grade

most of my genebrinker thoughts center around this period of adulthood where they're not young anymore but they're not old either, and they have all this unresolved tension and shared trauma and resentment that spills over into their "present" relationship. i think this is where genebrinker would theoretically "actually" start, in adulthood. i think there could've been ambiguous things earlier, especially during their joint enlistment period if they happened to be together, but nothing very deliberate or openly acknowledged until much later. it's this delicious mix of both having an established very domestic and familiar dynamic, knowing this person's routines and habits inside out, and yet having this pent up unspoken something. and for gene and brinker, it's not just this quiet tenderness, although i think that's bound to happen sometimes when you're essentially apartment husbands. i think they'd blow up at each other and let things slip during heated moments that they don't mean to, mostly on brinker's side, bc i think brinker's been nursing some kind of crush since hs, whereas if gene returned brinker's feelings, i think they'd slowly build over time. their familiarity with each other is also very interesting because, while they have this odd like, daddy issues(?) solidarity in the book that again feels very queer, in adulthood, it's also this thing of like, they kind of shared the murder of one of their closest friends. my fav think about genebrinker is that they know the worst of each other, that they actively participated in some of the worst parts of each other's lives, but it's that coupled with like, arguing over dinner and visiting the parents and trying to hold down stable jobs. or i guess for something more connected to the actual book, that coupled with like, accompanying your friend to an awkward meeting with his dad

this is not even all the things i think about their dynamic or all the like underlying sources of tension in their adult relationship in my head, i also think they'd be in very different places in terms of sexuality, and that would come to a head at some point, but i'll stop here because this is a question about my favorite THING, not explain every thought you've ever had about them

3. is there an unpopular opinion you have about your ship?

i think the entire ship is an unpopular opinion lmfao. like 90% of this is my headcanons. ummm i have brinker being the more responsible of the two when i write them as adults, if still the more temperamental one, so that might be controversial? i think at this stage of their lives, he's more practical and better at home ec stuff, and gene cannot fucking take care of himself for the life of him. gene is running himself into the ground while brinker is like get your fucking socks off my floor

[puffpasstea]

Random blurb idea - could you please do a blurb maybe where Matilda travels to surprise harry on tour, and maybe has her text notifs off bc of travel so harry is upset/concerned bc she’s not responding to his messages? Like a mix of angst and smut?

Sorry if you hate this and its nothing like you wanted.

Warnings: angst, smut, (brief) mentions of mental illness.

---

"I'm sorry, okay? but to be fair, I never said I'd come for sure. I only said I'd try." I adjusted the phone in my hand.

"I didn't say anything!"

"You didn't have to. I can practically feel you brooding all the way over here."

"'M not brooding. Know better than to expect you to just drive out cuz I happen to be playin' a show nearby. Even though we haven't seen each other in months."

"But you're not brooding or anything, right?"

"Right."

"I have to work, Harry! Not all of us can just change our plans on a whim and expect the whole world to accommodate our schedules, you know. Some of us have real jobs. Plus, you know I get anxious about this kind of thing. I'm not a professional rockstar-"

"No, you have a real job."

"C'mon, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"'S alright. I have to go, anyway. Sound check starts in a bit."

"Talk soon?"

"Bye, Matilda."

***

The wheels of my carry-on squeaked gratingly as I pulled it across the airport. I couldn't believe I was actually going through with this. I felt foolish. Like some love-struck teenager sneaking out of her bedroom at night for a boy who doesn't even know her name. Except I'm an adult. And Harry- well, it's complicated. But my therapist did say that I needed to start getting out of my comfort zone and doing things that I wouldn't normally do. Something about practice making things easier, or whatever. I've certainly never done this before. Granted I've arrived way too early for a domestic flight, and I'm sure I've overpacked for this weekend trip. Hopefully, the look on Harry's face will be worth it though.

A knot formed in my stomach every time I thought about how I spoke to him on the phone the other night. All he wanted was a chance for us to finally see each other again, but the thought made me feel threatened somehow. Like I'd admit to being attached to him if I were willing to come all this way. Of course, I could've been nice about it, or at least avoided implying that his job was less real than mine. All I can do now is hope that he doesn't still remember all that.

***

My fingers were shaky against the screen of my phone as I selected the "airplane mode" and plugged in my headphones. Perhaps getting four shots of espresso in my crappy airport coffee wasn't the sanest decision, or maybe the trembling was simply nerves, either way, I needed a distraction. Launching the music streaming app, I went for the "downloads" tab, and played "Matilda" as the pilot announced our take-off.

***

I ran across the airport, my squeaky luggage in hand until I reached the crowded escalator, regretfully bumping into the person in front of me before reaching a halt.

"E-excuse me, sorry." I whispered, but the man didn't seem to care. I peered beyond him at the long line of people. Damn was this thing crowded. I needed it to move faster. I needed to use the restroom. Airplane bathrooms gave me the creeps. And drinking soda with my stale complementary pretzels on the flight was a huge mistake with a bladder like mine.

hurry, hurry, hurry. I tapped my foot against my carry-on, impatiently, and earned a side-eye from the person in front of me.

"Again, sorry, sir."

***

I stared at my reflection in the foggy bathroom mirror. Gross airplane smell isn't exactly the scent I want Harry to associate with me. I took out my TSA-approved, mini-toiletries and began damage control. Freshening up, re-applying make-up, and spraying some perfume might help counteract the post-flight aroma and general vibe.

I promised myself that if this ends up going badly, my therapist is going to have to pay me next week.

The shorter the distance between Harry and I, the louder my heartbeat felt. It was practically in my eardrums by now. I hated keeping secrets from him, but I've also never surprised anyone before. If I was being honest, there was a tinge of excitement and anticipation about this, underneath all the self-loathing and embarrassment. No matter what happens next, I should be proud of myself for trying, right? I should...

***

At the arrivals gate, I deselected the "airplane mode" to access the internet and put in Harry's hotel address. The second that my phone caught signal again, my notifications were blowing up. It took me a minute to get over the vibrations and buzzing, and when the flood had died down, I look at my screen, blinking intensely.

Harry Styles, 12 Messages

Harry Styles, 16 Missed Calls

Harry Styles, Voicemail

Holy shit! What had I done? I worried that he'd been trying to reach me to let me know how much he hates me; how he's glad I never ended up coming out to see him after all. What if this whole thing was a mistake?

My brain froze. I hastily scrolled through his messages, too paralyzed by anxiety to process the words on the screen. Vaguely, I caught sight of "Apologize" "Just missed you" and "worried you hate me" across all 16 messages.

jumping in the cab, I relished in his voice messages and listened to them repeatedly it with a stupidly wide grin blasted on my face the whole time.

"Please don't ignore my messages. It's one thing to do that when we're within driving distance and I can just bang on your door and call your bluff, but I kind of hate when I can't do anything about it now."

"I'm really worried, and I know it's manipulative of me to say this, but, I really don't want to go onstage knowing that you're mad at me."

"okay, I'm starting to think that you do want to upset me. Don't be like this. I just missed you. Can ya blame me? The show was hell in case you care to know. I mean, I couldn't not sing Matilda now, could I? You know what I thought about the entire time I was singing it, though? Remember the one time you decided we should go to your place instead of mine, after filming? You made us dinner and I fucked you against the couch? left a nice bruise on your neck. Some of my best work, I must say. Have you been with anyone...you know, since... It's not like you can't be. Why stay celibate. I'm not your boyfriend or anything. I could be. But you don't want that, so... anyway, they're knocking on my door. Bye."

What a giant idiot.

*

It was a little past midnight by the time that my cab pulled up to the lobby of the hotel Harry and his band were staying in. I gave the receptionist the fake name he usually uses for reservations like this and they eyed me from head to toe a few times before finally confessing his room number. It was a large penthouse-sized space on their top floor. No doubt booked specifically with all his gear, luggage, and concert items in mind. During the elevator ride to the summit, it occurred to me that he might have brought someone back with him for the night. Or maybe gone out. He'd told me some stories, from the beginning of his performing career, when he'd go to afterparties, and after-afterparties and pick up women and smoke and drink and do things that I could only imagine. But, he's also told me that he has since turned in the opposite direction, opting instead, for a very structured routine on tour. He'd found that performing the very next day with a raging hangover and on very little sleep made his stage presence shaky and lackluster, and he felt it was his responsibility to always give every performance his full capacity. So, it was very likely that he'd be getting ready to go to sleep soon, but what if tonight is the exception? what if he'd decided, on a whim, to go back to his old ways, just this once?

how would I feel if I were to find his lips attached to someone else's neck right now? And before I could wait around to make up my mind about it, I found myself knocking on Harry's door.

the door creaked open, and, I could swear I saw the wheels turning in his head.

"If you must know, no. I haven't been with anyone else since being with you. Not that it's any of your business."

He went from barely looking at me through droopy eyes, clutching the middle of his bathrobe, trying to keep his chest covered to looking as if he'd seen a ghost, to grabbing the cross on his necklace, kissing it, and looking up at the ceiling.

"Thank you Jesus. God, thank you, thank you!!"

I frowned. "I didn't know you were religiou- ahhhh"

He grabbed me by my shirt collar, dragging me into the room and shutting the door behind us.

"Aren't you gonna- ask- why I'm here..." I attempted to remain cool and collected as Harry busied himself with separating me from my luggage, shoving me up against the wall and kissing everywhere his lips landed.

"Don't care" he whispered in between leaving a trail of kissing down the side of my jaw and neck. "Just care that you're here."

"H-harry, wait. I just got off a plane, there's like airplane germs all over me." I swallowed my giggles, feeling tickled by the stubble he appears to be growing.

Harry used, looking up at me through his lashes.

"Fine" He relented, his arms still around my waist, squeezing gently, as if to verify that I was really here. "You can take a shower. There's a very nice bathroom here."

"That'd be nice." I leaned in, kissing his cheek, and enjoying the blush it caused.

Harry's fingers danced down my body and took hold of my hand. "Let me give you a little tour."

"Ooo fancy!" I scanned his residence enviously, until my eyes landed on his massive, and unmade bed. "You were sleeping?"

"Not exactly....was about to. But that doesn't matter now. Cuz I've got company!" he turned around to face me, his hands cradling my face, his sparkling green eyes looking directly into mine. "are you really here or is this the dream I'm having after going to bed thinkin' about you and worrying that I haven't heard from you? Is my subconscious just makin' this up? if so, I don't ever wanna wake up."

My heart melted in my chest. I didn't know what to say, so I simply kissed his lips, causing his eyes to flutter shut and his feet to momentarily lose balance before he held onto me to steady himself.

"Ca-can I...join you in the shower?" he asked, looking down at his feet.

"Seriously, Harry? shower sex? do you know how impractical that is?"

"N-no! not shower sex." He looked at me, briefly, before sheepishly looking down at the floor again, his arms finding their place around my waist. "N-not that I don't wanna fuck you. Just-- uhh...I just wanna hold you. If that's okay? You can say no! I can just wait."

I was glad Harry wasn't looking at me because I'm sure my face would've given me away instantly. I grabbed onto the sleeve of his robe, leading him to the bathroom. "Fine. You can come." I could feel his excited gaze on the back of my head.

***

"Food'll be here in 40 minutes." Harry placed the hotel phone back in its place.

I nodded, my eyes on the tv.

"So..." He stood by the side on the bed, towering over my scarcely covered body. My hair was still damp and he insisted I wear his t shirt even though I'd packed my own pajamas. "How long are you here for?" he spoke as he crawled onto the bed, situating himself squarely in between my legs.

"just- for the- uhh- the \ weekend" I stuttered as Harry's hands slipped under the fabric of my clothes and found my breasts, his thumb and index fingers lightly running over my nipples.

"Mustn't waste time, then" he kissed a line of wet, open mouth kisses from my belly button, reaching the band of my underwear. "May I?"

"Yes. God, yes." My breath quickened. Harry's soft voice asking for permission always got me even when we were sleeping together every other night. Tonight, it downright melted me. "P-please." I mewled, instantly embarrassed.

"Eager, are we?" the grin was obvious in his voice.

"Yes!"

"Yes, what?"

My heart fluttered in my chest, skipping a beat. "Yes, sir." I corrected.

"hmm.." Satisfied, Harry hooked his fingers through the band of my underwear, slowly, teasingly, dragging it down my legs. "That's my good girl."

[aniseandspearmint]

Oh man just woke up from a FABULOUS dream. Like GOOD JOB brain, that was FUN.

Okay, so urban fantasy post apocalyptic. It was kind of vague on what happened? Like there may have been zombies involved but they seemed more like an area effect you had to worry about in major urban areas rather than everywhere? Lots of people died tho, and there was basically no government. Cops were shooting anyone they wanted, cities were splintered into factions. Things were on fire a lot.

Cutting this here bc it got LONG with me trying to write down all the details.

I was playing a version of me at about 20 or so physically, so average height, looks white, brown blonde hair long but kept up. Baseball type hat. Jeans, T-shirt, over shirt, steel-toed boots.

I was with a group of people that I'd come through the start of things with and we'd stuck together out of lack of any other bonds in the area we were in. IF MY DREAM NAMED THEM IDK WHAT THEY WERE. But i remember what they looked like!

There was this big burly dark skinned guy that mmmmmaay have been hispanic and/or black? Even when dreaming I'm a bit face blind so that parts up in the air. Anyway he was a paramedic, and a really NICE person. Good at calming people down.

There was this quiet teenager most of whoms family very conspicuously died in the first bit of the dream. Except his little sister, who was about eight or nine? Dream never said. They were white i think, and very average. Brown hair, brown eyes, mid range fair skin. Little girl was chubby at first, but apocalypse and all. We ALL got thinner in a skipped meals and doing a lot of scrambling way.

And there was this older lady, mid fifties i think who was kind of pushy and overbearing but you could TELL her she was getting over the line and she'd back off. She was thin and very tall with greying curly black hair. Kind of like Lily Tomlin if you stretched her out. She did something with plants i think, or at a museum? Maybe both idk.

There was this guy vaguely 20s that was in trade school to be an electrician. Brown hair, mid-range tan skin, dark brown eyes. He smoked but kept trying not to.

There was three girls around 18-20 that worked at walmart. Two black girls and one asian girl. They all knew each other before everything got weird. Roommates maybe? One of them was trans, i can't remember which one tho.

There was also a guy that was the kind of face of the group? Like, we did not have a leader, things were decided as a group, but he's the one people ASSUMED was the leader. We decided to let them, mostly. He was very ambiguously aged, could've been anywhere from 25 to 40, about six foot, and blond-brown hair, hazel eyes, long face shape I think. I have no idea what he did before the end of the world, but he was good at listening, and standing straight and pretending he was in charge. Good memory too.

We were trying to get out of the urban area we'd started in, bc yikes zombies, and also yikes, people going nuts.

Because the OTHER thing whatever kicked off the apocalypse did was some people had POWERS now. Which was freaking a lot of people who didn't have them out, and you know, freaked out witch hunts were happening. Religious people convinced you were a demon now bc you could make lights, or were telekinetic.

None of the powers were visible, and over all they seemed to come with some nifty instinctual control? Which was GREAT bc the two kids were firestarters. Or something with heat anyway.

But the rest- well lemme just get into the main body of the dream. XD

So we were all trying to get out of the city, and we managed that pretty well, even if there were some scary near misses with the zombies and mobs. This took a long time, I think, the dream had time being wonky. Idk maybe time in the cities WAS off bc when we finally got past the city limits, the land was WEIRD. Way over grown, and the roads were really rough and cracked like it had been YEARS since the world had gone crazy, except we still had unexpired food from before?

We had a vehicle, and some supplies, but we lost it after a while and were walking until we could find another vehicle. Several of us knew how to fix a car or truck up enough to run, if it WAS fixable.

So we were walking, and we came up to this area of conspicuously cleared trees on either side of the road. Stumps to the horizon, but all of them had a little new growth on them, like they'd been cut a year or so ago.

We kept walking. And eventually came upon people, who seemed friendly enough. They said they'd done the clearing, their group, to make a new settlement because most of the old town had burned down. Log houses right now, nothing fancy, but they had a travelers lodge and were willing to put up people over night for news and a little trading!

Face guy took point and accepted the offer, all amiable and friendly.

We all immediately clocked the way these people were TOO friendly. The three roommates went to the edges of the group, all silent and watching. They had a kind of sense8 like connection with each other as their ability. What one saw/heard, they all saw and heard. They were the group scouts.

I stayed in the middle, with the big paramedic guy and the kids, ready to grab them if i needed to.

When we got to town it was mostly unremarkable, there were maybe three or four dozen people of all ages and ethnicities, but all of them were wearing a necklace of a bent nail hammered through a silver coin of some kind (possibly a silver dollar).

We were all like, oh , yeah, cult definitely.

Electrician guy was like, "Maybe they're a harmless cult? Maybe they raise bunnies and we won't find anything creepy going on?"

To which we all quietly scoffed, but were kinda hoping he might be right, you know?

It was nearly dark when we got there, so they set us up in a guest lodge, sweetly apologizing that the door was old and poorly fitted, and we promptly set up for a siege.

The older lady could do this thing where she could make things remember how they used to be? Sort of? It was a bit weird, but she could take an old broken thing and make it be new again, but only once. If it broke again she couldn't fix it. And she could use whatever energy the power used to make things grow, too. So she made the logs remember they were trees once, and wove a net of branches over the doorway, to make an extra barrier. She could have done more but we were all kind of hoping it wouldn't come to that. After she made everything as secure as possible, paramedic guy tried the food that we'd been given; bread, and bowls of vegetable soup. And was like, "Oh yep, soups drugged. Not the bread tho. Guess they thought that was overkill? Some kind of sedative." He got a bit woozy after bc his power let him identify substances, but the non lethal ones still effected him a bit while his body worked through them. He got all sweaty and worked up when it was full out lethal stuff, his body kinda going into overdrive to flush it i guess.

Electrician guy sighed and flexed HIS power, going invisible and intangible, and floating out to see what the nuts had planned.

He dropped back in a few minutes later. "Murder cult definitely. Possibly cannibals. Looks like they're planning to haul us out and kill us later. There was a bucket of old bloody teeth and a stack of skulls and a bone pit in the lodge in the middle of town."

Face guy looked disappointed but not surprised. They all turned to me.

Because MY power? FREAKING TELEPORTATION BABEY!!

I had to have been where I wanted to go, but i COULD take passengers! I started with Electrician guy, then the kids, then the paramedic guy, then the older lady, then the Face guy, and finally the three roommates.

I took them all back to the highway at a crossroad point before we got to the beginning of the cleared trees, where there was a great big boulder with a bunch of travelers graffiti and marks on it.

The teenager had been hard at work adding a warning while i was fetching everyone else, melting 'WARNING; CANNIBAL CULT THIS WAY. BEWARE THE NAILED COIN.' into the stone.

"Very nice! Good and eye catching, concise." I told him, from where i was leaning against the still a little woozy paramedic guy. Teleporting that much at once was exhausting.

We camped beside the travelers stone for the rest of the night and headed down the other road in the morning. I woke up around then too. Shame, I kinda wanted to know where we were going! I just know we DID have a destination.

[matchbet-allofthetime]

❗Transformers Rant Post❗

(note: this is all done in one sitting and is based on personal observations and continuities I know are linked through concept art, canon continuations, etc, so I THINK this is all fairly (if not almost fully) accurate, but if not, don't come at me, tf has been my special interest for my entire life. If it sounds ramble as hell, that's because it is. My bad.)

OKAY SO

Here we go

Hopefully there's a cut because this is long and I get pissy. Enjoy.

So i just learned that in transformers Rise of the beasts, they based Optimus' face under his battle mask off of Peter Cullen (aka THE VOICE OF OPTIMUS PRIME SINCE 1984)

And from what I'm aware, they only publicly released that they made that design choice AFTER trailers released and people were saying Optimus' design was terrible and ugly, which is so disrespectful

And I'm gonna cry about this ajdjdj

While also on this topic, I am sick of being told "bayverse sucks!!!" Or some other equivalent when people talk about the bayverse movies

Because Optimus was voiced IN EVERY ONE OF THOSE FILMS by Peter Cullen, so that's just,,, don't disrespect who MADE YOUR FANDOM WHAT IT IS (give him credit for how well he did everything at least, you don't HAVE to like bayverse, no one is forcing you)

Transformers fans (mostly newer ones/ones who have gotten into the fandom in the past three to four years, I've noticed) are the vast majority of those who are CONSTANTLY bashing designs.

It's been done with bayverse (YEARS after the films released and did FANTASTICALLY), it's happened to Earthspark, and now to ROTB. This is bullshit and so disrespectful. You can criticize a design without being a dick, for one, and two? The animators didn't ask your god damn opinion.

And ALSO the reason they did his model after his face in rotb? Because *Hasbro wouldn't hire Peter Cullen this time around so (I assume) they did it to honour him because he was disrespected and tossed to the side by Hasbro because Hasbro sucks ass

He's the reason we HAVE OPTIMUS PRIME. Not a single voice could've fit, not a single person would've made Optimus who he is other than Peter Cullen.

He's the reason we have transformers prime. (Because he VOICES OPTIMUS HERE TOO) And the TFP movie (TFP beast hunters predacons rising, where he ONCE AGAIN VOICES OPTIMUS). And he's the reason why we have the continuation of that, which is transformers robots in disguise (WHERE HE IS, ONCE AGAIN, OPTIMUS MOTHERFUCKING PRIME) And then THAT became comics with tfp's characters that didn't exist anywhere else in canon (as far as I'm aware, it's been a while, IE knockout and breakout with their TFP DESIGNS, etc) then became earthspark later down the line, which was a mix of mtmte, TFP, and bayverse designs in concept art bc it combined ideas

Bayverse is ALSO ALSO the reason we HAVE ROTB. AND BUMBLEBEE 2018.

The reason I say he's responsible for all of these? The reason I say that Bayverse is a backbone for transformers (branching off from G1 ofc)? Because every single new fucking continuity or series or comics or whatever the hell is ALWAYS based on preexisting designs merging with new ideas.

He made Optimus Prime who Optimus Prime is and frankly I am a little god damn sick of people saying "this series/movie is bad" or whatever just because they don't like it

Anyways I had to rant but I'm not sorry about it and I hope others can feel a bit heard because I am so fed up with online slander.

I grew up with Bayverse. It gave me my entire start to this fandom. It gave THOUSANDS OF US STARTS TO THIS FANDOM. It is the SOLE reason we have so much we have now, as much as we have- and god damnit, you don't have to like it but UNDERSTAND it is the ONLY reason you have more than 3/4 the content this fandom currently does (if not more)

/end rant

[ruthlesslistener]

We sure do live in a society, don't we.

The anons sending you hate are doing my head in. Like, I can completely understand why they bristled at your initial response, because as someone who writes Ghost as an adult in a child's body (hi, Gently, my beloved fic that is drowning from my dead muse), I had a kind of similar "hey wait" response at first.

But then you CLARIFIED. You took the time to ask, listen and let others educate you on another POV. It may not have changed your own personal HCs (and that's OK!!!), but you clarified your meaning was not people like me - it was not the average person who spurred it - and that's all anyone can really ask for. You don't have to agree with or ask people.

The best part of fandom is taking bits and pieces of each other's ideas and using them to decorate our sand castles and make them our own. That means "I wouldn't spin it that way but I liked reading how you did it." It also sometimes means "Oh I cannot get behind that but I respect your right to."

I think it says a lot that people are on anon, rather than actually talking to you and giving you a chance to engage with them one-on-one. I'm not sure I would label them trolls. I think their feelings got hurt and they are lashing out because of it, in an impolite way, rather than stopping to listen to explanations. I am going to give the benefit of doubt and assume that ill-intent wasn't meant, and that the reason they're on anon is that anxiety has them going "if I say it on my main, I'm going to get flamed because I offended popular tumblr user." To that I say: If you weren't on anon, Aren could've replied privately to you, and likely would have. A one-on-one conversation can go a large way for trying to clear up misunderstandings.

TBH, I probably could've just sent all of this on Discord but I just am frustrated. Asks like the ones you received are why I am terrified of sharing my own headcanons, why I assume anyone asking me ANY opinions has bad faith, and why everything I say has a giant ass disclaimer on it with "THIS IS LIKE, JUST MY OPINION GUYS" and we shouldn't have to do that. We shouldn't have to sit and police everything that we say because Someone Might Twist It.

Anyway, sorry. I just needed to put this out here because I was about to blow up on my own blog. lmao

Thank you tumblr user grollow I appreciate it immensely and I agree with everything you said about fandom being a sandbox made more fun by people having different ideas that make things fun to play with. It's just that I've been off in my corner playing relatively on my own for a bit, which kinda fucks over the amount of context you get on things a bit. And also the miscommunication had the misfortune of landing squarely in the intersection between 'things I really don't like' and 'things that have a canon basis but lack canonical descriptive details', turning it into a shitshow. Which I really really fucking wish didn't happen, even if I did enjoy discussing the pros and cons of different mental interpretations of Ghost and was able to come to the conclusion that it's about as appealing to me as a slice of apple pie. Which is to say, I like certain bits of it and will gladly nibble at said bits, but if there's any other option out there I'd take it over pie anyday. It's not bad and I certainly do enjoy it in extremely specific context, but it also doesn't appeal to me in the slightest and there's certain parts that I refuse to touch altogether (the texture of cooked fruit makes me cringe and nauseates me, much like the idea of Ghost being an adult trapped in a child's body from a horror perspective incites panic). But that's fine, bc then I can just plop the filling onto a friend's plate for their enjoyment, and nibble away at the bits I like in piece. My dislike of pie doesn't extend to the people who enjoy it, nor do I get upset when my brother refuses to eat what I cook for him. He's picky, I'm picky, I've got no right to judge. He's just as valid for saying my cream cheese frosting is gross as I am for thinking him refusing to eat anything but mac n cheese and scrambled eggs is gross. Same concept with fandom here

(And honestly, my judgement on the whole minor/adult thing is seperate from Ghost as a character altogether. I'm of similar mind with Miquella of Elden Ring, who is canonically an adult trapped in a child's body. Having a relationship with him in his child form would be fucked up- hell, even Mohg goes for breaking the curse first, and Mohg is canonically fucking insane! This isn't something limited to just one fandom, it's a hard line I draw in fiction in general)

Also yeah, I totally would have just worked it out in private, but I get the feeling the anon thinks I'm running some sort of clique or something over here where I would have twisted it into clout somehow. Which needless to say, I would not fucking do. Can't say this enough, but I'm autistic as all getout and had to deal with that enough in high school so I have nothing but contempt for that sort of behavior.

[that-gay-jedi]

You know, I really want more used-sounding voices in music in general, women especially bc there's definitely an element of misogyny, but like even when you look at what mostly passes for aged/smokey voices in men it's mostly just either basses who people think don't sound "youthful" because we stereotypically associate tenors with sounding fresh and young, or vocalists in genres with either growling or a lot of chest voice etc that sound just like every other singer if/when they do a song where it's relevant.

And like, I could bore you with all the anatomical details of what makes your voice either sound for lack of better terms "new" vs "used", but that's not really the point.

And sure there's a kind of self-selecting process that goes on because people whose livelihood rests on their voice are more likely to take care of their voices and can maintain their initial sound for decades if they're both lucky and really dilligent, and because successful musicians have money to pay for ways to reduce the rigours of touring and whatnot on vocal health that less popular ones I may not have heard of don't have etc etc, BUT.

Good vocalists whose voices have been noticeably altered by previous workplace/environmental factors or by cumulative years of lifestyle choices or by the ravages of TIME to which none of us are ultimately immune can bring a sense of like vulnerability/rawness/realism/rugged endurance to their performance that a mint condition voice just absolutely cannot match, and there's such an utter lack of it available both locally and commercially we're severely missing out.

This goes across genres and way beyond any question of what's "authentic" by the way. I don't require every song about striking coal miners so come from people who sound like they've worked 20+ years in the mines themselves, and in fact there's a power and beauty in the idea of someone with a relatively pampered voice who's seen entirely different kinds of hardship putting their pipes behind the words of those who struggled before. But you reach a certain age where, metaphorically, the knight in scratched and dented armour is more romantic to you than the shiny one, and yet for all the glut of music we have about romance there are not nearly enough love songs that "get" me (or they may lyrically but only lyrically) now I've reached that age- as just one example.

AND like. Singing is an art that requires a tonne of knowledge and work. Even people with the most naturally beautiful voices don't just wake up one morning knowing exactly how to breathe for which notes nor having the impressive lung capacity many genres prize nor knowing how to read music (or parse music by ear) etc etc etc. Which means there is something so powerful and aching and HUMAN about someone who can hear that their own voice doesn't sound like it could've if their life had been different or like it did when they were younger etc etc still putting in the immense amount study and practice to learn to use the voice they DO have. It adds delicious texture and depth to everything they sing.

Likewise, if someone already has put all that time and energy in and then something alters their voice AND THEY RELEARN/ADAPT AND KEEP SINGING, think about what that puts into everything they sing thereafter.

It's why we love fictional characters who grow beyond deep trauma or have prominent physical scars or who start off their story as a jaded antihero etc etc etc. The essence of what it is to be human is to live with loss and imperfection and still work toward your human desires to be heard, to create, to do, to learn. It's surviving hardship and being changed by time and experience but still reaching out and grasping the fact that YOUR ARE ALIVE with both hands. To not be able to go back to a past that no longer exists, to never again be the same person you were before X or Y thing and yet YOU ARE STILL HERE and deciding that FOR AS LONG AS YOU'RE STILL HERE YOU WILL NOT BE SILENCED.

[pucksandpower]

hi natalia! i hope life has been treating you well and that you're doing amazing. i wanted to say, i love your account so very much! everytime i go through the f1 tags on here i'm alway searching for your username among the fics and safe to say is you have never ever disappointed me. when i first got into the fandom you were definitely one of the blogs that really hooked me in. oh girl you don't know how ecstatic i was going through your masterlist, i literally felt like i was camping in that one post going through everything in one night. still, even now i love going back and reading it again because that little spark of joy i feel clicking the links to every au is the reason i love to be on tumblr!

you never fail to deliver an insanely good level of world building like this is kind of surreal to me, because you give us such a fresh and wonderfully blissful take on social media au's. it's super cool to see you explore all types of medias like articles, blogs, twitter, instagram, youtube videos—i feel like you've used EVERYTHING girl. all your posts are sooo long and idt people realize how much work you have to put in to make a cohesive story like that?? + using all sorts of outlets ur an actual beast at this wow. and it's not just the way you deliver it, it's also all the ideas that you have. i'm a huge sucker for the deep lore ones that are like the ones involving racing teams and stuff. it's so great to see your takes on real time events and how it could've been if this or that happens. the readers are also of so much variety, i hope you keep doing that bc it adds a lot of potential and spice into the story. royal au is also sooo good! your account to me is basically girlhood personified. i'm always so immersed in it that i forget i'm reading an au... that really shows your effort in the work you put out. i can tell the time you spent crafting these pieces i mean WHO goes this far and wide if not pucksandpower?? ur the backbone of my mental health i would've gone in the trenches if it weren't for you... that's my mother ya'll. there is not one fic of yours that does not have me at the toes of my feet, all giddy to click the "keep reading" button. i wish for you to know that i, and i'm sure many others who follow you, really appreciate all the work you put in! i'm lowkey like suspicious with how real and professional some of the articles you make are bc how is that not something that would come out of an actual blog? 😭

AND OHHHMYGOOOD you are doing god's work for feeding my delusions on giving charles leclerc the team that he deserves. seeing the newey reader fic, that was when i knew you were ON to something like this girl is special she's doing all the research.. babe you could be the new damn chief tech officer if you wanted to i mean. you are operating in levels that we can't even comprehend?? one step ahead in everything. when i read your cl stuff in my heart i'm rooting for this man so bad and like if this isn't happening irl at least pucksandpower got my back like... you know what they say about delusions=manifestations so if we keep this up yall i believe it can be real trust me i've seen it in my head....

i'm sure there's a lot more that i want to say but anyways, i'm really glad that i ever found your blog and i look forward to future works you're gonna put out! cheering for you always and please take care of yourself, xx ❤️

Hi, my love! Thank you so much. I totally teared up reading this and I am not the slightest bit ashamed to admit it. Every single thing I post is crafted with love — I do it because I love working on them and because I love being able to make my fellow fans happy through my work. There truly is no more rewarding feeling. I have posted a whopping 119 fics/imagines/AUs on here and typing that number out really made me realize how crazy that is and how far I have come since I started this blog back in November

I can’t lie, sometimes the research and time I put into each of my works can feel overwhelming at first but I am always proud of the end product and especially happy to share it with you all. Some are lighthearted fun and I can have them completed in a few hours while others run deeper and can take me days upon days to finish. I truly want to build a mini immersive world through each of my AUs and I am so happy that you have been able to get that experience through them

Also I like to say that delusions make the world go round (and help keep us sports fans semi-sane) so I am more than happy to contribute on that end

Thank you again because your words mean so much to me! I can’t wait to share more work with you. Have an amazing day 🫶