#before that when we decided that that's what we were gonna watch i infodumped to him the entire time in the gateway parking lot lol

[dragon-giggles]

I SAW THE MUFASA MOVIE LAST NIGHT NOBODY TALK TO ME I'M NOT NORMAL

[marinsawakening]

I'm really not a fan of Impa staying behind in the past at the end of Skyward Sword. Not because I think it's out of character, but because I think it's unsubstantiated.

Impa is a very duty-oriented character, and as such, I think it makes sense for her to prioritize doing her duty over Zelda's feelings. However, what her 'duty' in the past actually is... well. It's a bit lame. The reasons given are as follows:

First: Watching over the Master Sword while the remnants of Demise decay in it, to prevent his reawakening. I think this is lame because, a) we don't have any evidence Impa can do anything to make sure Demise doesn't reawaken in the first place, that seems to be all Fi, and b) realistically, what is Impa gonna do if Demise does reawaken? Impa lost every single fight she had with Ghirahim in canon, and Ghirahim is nothing compared to Demise. And Old Impa couldn't do a thing to stop a weakened version of Demise from escaping his seal. That was a pretty important thing that happened. Three times. Impa absolutely could not take Demise in a fight, not without help. But she destroyed the Gate of Time, and seems to be the only living human left on the Surface; she'd have literally no way of getting help if Demise did awaken. So she's watching over the Master Sword in case Demise reawakens to do... what? Die? This is not a good plan. They could've simply taken the Master Sword back to the future and placed Fi into her pedestal there.

Second: To watch over the Triforce, which is really dangerous and important and must be spirited away after use. Y'know, the same Triforce that sits on the giant statue of the Goddess during the end credit scene. That one. Yeah I sure believe Impa needed to stay in the past and be alone for thousands of years to guard it when Zelda and Link just plop it on the most obvious landmark in a 100 kilometer radius. C'mon now do you really expect me to buy this?

Franklly, Impa staying behind feels like a cheap way to get a plot twist and a death scene in. Which is lame.

Firstly, forcing your plot twists and emotional moments like this undercuts their impact in the narrative. I felt no emotion except maybe vague annoyance during Impa's death scene because it felt so thoroughly unnecessary, and I adore Impa. She is my favourite Skyward Sword character by far and my second favourite LOZ character. If anyone should've gotten emotional here it should've been me, but I wasn't, because this did not feel like a satisfying conclusion to her character. It felt like a cheap moment meant to make me cry.

And second, what does the plot twist that the Old One is Impa actually like... do? The Old One mostly exists to infodump at Link. She displays very little personality, certainly not as much as young Impa (despite her relatively little screentime), so much so that even though I was spoiled for this plot twist, I still had trouble remembering that they were the same character. Knowing that the Old One is Impa does make her relationship to Groose more interesting, I'll give them that, but that alone does not justify such a blatantly forced set-up for the plot twist. The pay-off isn't so good that I can ignore the forced set-up.

The most irritating thing to me is that it really isn't hard to come up with a good reason for Impa to stay in the past. Or at least, it would be if Skyward Sword made literally any effort at all to keep its time travel shenanigans straight. Logically, past!Zelda should still be asleep in the crystal, even though present!Zelda is talking to Impa. If Impa asserted that she had to stay behind to protect Zelda, who is helpless in the crystal if, for example, a past version of Ghirahim decides to try and attack her, I would've bought that. That is a job I could realistically see Impa doing, because even if she's lost fights with Ghirahim before, they've been close enough that I don't doubt she could win under the right circumstances. This is a job that makes sense for her to have. It wouldn't have been my personal preference, I think Impa's arc could've ended far more interestingly if she decided to go to the future after all, but I would've been fine with it.

As it stands, I think the decision to have Impa stay behind in the past is forced and nonsensical. It feels like it's purely there to justify a plot twist and an emotional death scene, which just made me deeply unimpressed by both.

[wolves-etc]

thoughts on The Last Of Us episode one, largely in the order I had them:

[thoughts on: 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.9]

(I have some spoilers from tumblr, a vague awareness of the older gays & younger gays situations, and a friend's recommendation that I'd really like this show. I didn't realise how evocative this would be in a mid-pandemic world. the show quickly set me right.)

— all kudos and respect to mr "I have an opportunity to infodump to a crowd about disturbing fungal diseases and I am going to make the most of it." loses points for warning people about hypothetical future dangers while actively smoking at them.

— the views we get of the crowd and the host during the second half of his speech are interesting - they're so still, all rapt attention, while he's talking about humans made puppets. it's unsettling.

— and the visuals during the theme music? gross. the guy who recommended this to me is squicked out by fungus. I may have used the words "wetly unfurling" while confronting him about this.

— I'm struck by the apparent ritual of joel setting his alarm, sleeping through it or ignoring it, and having to be alerted by his daughter anyway. he's a mess. (<3)

— there's something very real and unsanitised about their home environment. sarah's presumably not the worst cook in the house, but still they're eating eggshell. there's takeaway in the fridge that tommy sniffs before having any (though I wish he didn't decide against it then put it back.)

— and joel's shirt is on inside-out. bless him.

— sarah and joel passive-aggressively siccing the neighbours on each other is bitchy and great

— the first glimpse of the unrest of the pandemic being someone visibly panicking, closing the shop, herding sarah out, telling her to go straight home? I'm trying not to do too much real-life comparing. but that's ouch.

— we have a dog!! a border collie!! mercy I love you I am giving you up for dead given the genre we're in but I very much hope to be proven wrong <3

— "three nails plus one cross equals four-given." please, please tell me people don't speak like that. lie if you must

— the mental shift from "that blurry old lady in the background needs medical attention" to "oh. oh this is a horror show, the characters just don't know that yet, oh no" was a fun one

— "and you were never gonna [get the watch fixed] for yourself" OH BOY

— it's functional depression vibes in joel and it's intense. he won't get the watch fixed for himself, and he probably wouldn't celebrate his birthday for himself either - I'd buy that the pancakes could have been more for sarah than him, but then she insists on cake, and he doesn't suggest anything he'd enjoy better. still, he seems willing to make an effort because she wants to, and that's nice.

— that moment, sitting down to watch a movie together, sarah falling asleep against him? joel's a mess, but he has a good relationship with his daughter, and that's refreshing to see. there's real love there.

— mercy is a very good dog and sarah COULD DO WITH MORE ANXIETY SLASH SURVIVAL INSTINCT, FRANKLY,

— and we get the first glimpse of joel being brutal and unhesitating when it's called for. the sense that he's already made a shift in thinking that sarah's slower to - she's scared, crying, not yet really believing that it was necessary.

— sarah in the back of the car being smart enough to put together - given what she knows - that any one of them could be infected. it's awful.

— "[they've] got a kid, joel." "so have we. keep driving." fuck

— (how must that feel for sarah? if she's the thing to be protected, it must be her fault.)

— okay the infected's too-quick movements and bird-like head tilts? very "inhuman software on human hardware." it's cool.

— this scene here, though. there's a lot here. they're saved, in the nick of time, by a soldier. the soldier receives orders that he has to double-check. joel calls him sir, says please don't, has to know what's coming. it's unfair and it's horrible and there's nothing he can do.

— and I had a lot of thoughts about that. about how the US military - quite aside from the huge wrongs it does to other countries - promises people to chance to do some good, and to be a part of a family, and betrays them on both counts. leaves its soldiers with trauma and no way to manage it. leaves them, perhaps, with chronic depression, in a job I don't even want to speculate about because neither the military nor construction work are kind to the body. it's betrayal on top of betrayal as standard. and it's cruel, very cruel, that the military betrays joel again here. (edit for reasons and for at least one "article" possibly lying to me)

— and it's a fucking needless way for sarah to die. fuck.

— okay. okay.

— we get this little reminder that the birds, the trees, the sunlight, they all keep going. no matter what goes on with humans. and I, for one, find that comforting.

— and that comfort is VERY NEEDED because holy shit it's twenty years later and joel barely even hesitates to throw a bound child's body onto the fire. (practical and brutal, when it's needed. I don't even want to wonder whether he's done it before.)

— he's still wearing his broken watch and he is very much not okay.

— tess is all steel. I'm a little scared of her as a person and I love her as a character. what the fuck are they both up to that they can handle criminal dealings like this.

— "I promised him you wouldn't hurt him, but I would very much like for you to hurt him." CLEAR AND TO THE POINT.

— no but that's a lot of fun though. clear communication, what seems like no real lies when she's negotiating with her captor, just a forthright attitude that's so easy to believe and a comfortable willingness to mislead him.

— "you don't have a fucking ear on your fucking head" would be a fun way to accuse someone of not listening

— "y'all talk it through, but please remember that I'm bleeding out." I LIKE MARLENE

— and here we see joel's fight response to trauma, which will, I hope, serve him well. that flashback was evil though.

— what the FUCK is the expression on ellie's face. is that awe. is that delight. miss, you're very fucked up, do you know that

things I expected: ellie being a murder child; joel being a traumatised badass with a soft spot for her. did NOT expect ellie to be THAT much of a murder child, or joel's soft spot to be that well-armoured. this is gonna be interesting to see.

and I didn't expect tess, who's interesting, and scary in her own right, and rugged in a way women aren't generally allowed to be in the zombie genre. this was a really pleasant surprise.

[temunitu]

so by contrast, who was the writer of one of your lower-rated episodes of 2012?

i’ll be honest… finding just one episode to focus on was hard. i tried my damnedest to find one that i didn’t hate the concept of—i just thought the overall writing and pacing wasn’t well done.

The Kraang Conspiracy - Brandon Auman

i’m gonna talk about why it bugged me and what i would have done differently that would have still given the show the development it needed (i.e. the whole point of this episode is so the turtles and april learn she’s part kraang and a mutant).

firstly, why it bugged me: pacing.

the episode starts with the turtles being stalked by someone while doing they're doing warmups. after realizing they’re being watched, they go after the stalker and track him back to his place where they meet Kurtzman and learn he’s been tracking and gathering evidence of the kraang’s plans. the kraang attack, the turtles fight, and after successfully getting away, they decide to listen to Kurtzman.

it’s not a bad premise to give a character a role like this, but this is Kurtzman’s debut episode and he was used as a way to infodump, rather than letting both the characters and audience pick up on all this through small scenes and clues. and like, i remember seeing some small scenes that were clueing the audience in to this april-mutant twist. this felt like a cheap way to conveniently clue the turtles in. and an even cheaper way to introduce the “april’s mom” angle. how does Kurtzman even know about that??

so the turtles head to the thought-to-be-destroyed TCRI building, which has mysteriously been rebuilt. they head inside, and discover… basically everything Kurtzman told them. that april is the key to the kraang plot. except they don’t really have much evidence? they just learn the kraang have clones of april, and that april can push anyone away with a strong enough headache.

so having a new character introduced to infodump all this and then having the turtles discover and confirm all he said seems really… repetitive. it made the episode feel both drawn out, and way too fast paced. at the same time. some people might consider that clever. i consider it… hard to watch.

you could try cutting out Kurtzman to give it more mystery and let the turtles discover this for themselves, but the things that happen in TCRI don’t convey the same information that Kurtzman straight up tells them. it’s in a weird place where the episode makes no sense without Kurtzman, but it’s way too much information to learn with him.

the other thing that bugs me is the way they conveyed this information. i.e. a bunch of april clones that pop when hit once. and a giant deformed clone to fight. a clone that is written as a gag. you could have done something badass and cool with this. we could have had a cool fight scene. instead we get derp april bouncing mikey against her (for some reason squishy???) grotesque hip. without Kurtzman, it just seems like the Kraang have a creepy obsession with april - which, we already knew??

and then, AFTER ALL OF THAT, donnie finally just looks at april’s blood and discovers she’s a human-kraang mutant. that was the entire point of the episode.

i think it would have been better if all this wasn’t sprung on the audience in one episode. the audience and turtles both know april is tied to the kraang somehow. Kurtzman shouldn’t have had to come in, conveniently drop all this information that makes no sense for him to know, and then peace out until the plot calls for him again.

it’s almost as if it’s written in a way where it doesn’t believe the audience could have picked up on all those moments before and wants to shoehorn this information in the audience’s face. or it was made for a newer, not-quite-caught-up-to-everything audience.

now, like… i get studios sometimes don’t give you a lot of time or you only have one episode to work with or whatever. part of this isn’t an episode issue—if you have to put all this into one episode to get onto the next episode that already has this established information, that’s a lack of pacing for the overall series.

[cupcakesmoothie]

Being an adult.

A letter I wrote for myself a little while ago, for my 18th birthday.

Two weeks. Thirteen days, to be precise. Anything can happen. It isn't enough time.

By the time you're reading this, you should be an adult in the eyes of the law, and in most people's opinion. You're not a child anymore, and the liberties people are willing to give you are going to be fewer than they've ever been. It's been coming for a long time (Eighteen years, in fact!).

Chances are, from now till then, not much will have changed. Hopefully you've at least asked for that part-time job now, and have achieved at least one or two things in that short term goals list.

You'll probably be celebrating your birthday, either as you're reading this, or soon after or before. Maybe mom's been celebrating it the entire past week. It's your day, after all.

Not much has changed. It feels like that, doesn't it? For all that talk about the very atoms that make you and the things you've been through, it still feels like you're the same person you've always been.

The world opens itself up to you, in ways I, we, might not even be able to imagine, and you live on the other side of that window, see and experience things you never thought you'd be allowed to do, or have.

And you look back at me, at us, children, and maybe it doesn't feel that much different. Maybe you'll realise how much braver you are, and how much braver you'll need to be. Maybe you'll be glad you get to go this far, or wish you could go back. Either way you'll have to keep going.

You'll keep getting better, and have days when you feel like you're not.

You'll keep doing more, and have moments when you feel like it's not enough.

You'll keep going forward, and have times when you feel like you need to take a step back.

You'll keep growing up, and you'll wish, you'll wish you could stop time from passing by, wish you could go back to when there were less things to worry about, whenever that may be, and there's nothing any of us will be able to do about it. 

And I know, I know it feels so goddamn terrifying. You’re gonna have so much to do! All the time! You’re gonna have to study, and get a job, and you’ll have to sacrifice things I can’t even begin to let go of. People are going to be mean to you, for things you’ll suddenly be too old to do. And you’re going to be expected to fit in, give in to the societal standards that have been set for you. And if people do anything weird to you, you can’t play the “I’m a minor” trump card anymore. 

You, in the future, will have all the time in the world. As you always have. As you always will. All the time in the world to make mistakes and learn from them. All the time in the world to make sacrifices, and make up for them. Fall out of touch with old friends, and make new ones. Decide to look those societal standards in the face and spit on them, or decide not to take that risk. 

I want you to keep being weird. 

I want you to keep being so shameless. Wear your cat ears out in public. Excitedly ask for a cosplayer’s photo. Have your footsteps be accompanied by the sound of a bell and several keychains colliding. Be horny on main. Squeal about fictional characters. Infodump for an hour straight about anything in particular. Have people ask you why the hell you’re wearing a jacket in this weather, and tell them you’re just built different. L + Ratio + Skill Issue. Only the strong remain. 

I want you to get new experiences. 

I want you to see what’s out there. Meet your people. Make new interests. Find new things you like to do. Learn new things. Read more books. Watch more shows. Play more games. Find an outfit you really like and wear it so much people associate it with you. Watch people be surprised to meet you and find out what you can be like. Start driving and going further than you’ve ever been. Get a real boyfriend. Get laid. 

I want you to be happy. 

I want you to enjoy yourself. Keep doing things that make you happy. Meet people that make you happy. Smile so much your face hurts. Laugh so much you can’t breathe. Go crazy about the things you like. Be such a positive force people can’t help but be influenced by you. Don’t care what the haters say. 

I want you to love. 

I want you to love the world as best you can. Love the people and things around you. Love creating. Love learning. Love your stuffed toys and sketchbooks. Love your shows and games. Love your 2D men and overly expensive merch. Love the cats and dogs you meet. Love the fanfics you read and the art you see. Love cute socks and cat ear headbands. Love short skirts and long sleeves. Love rain sounds and warm weather. Love puzzles and pictures. Love cosplays and conventions. Love yourself.

I want you to love living. Love being alive in a world full of things to love and people to love them. 

You’re an adult now. All grown up. Whatever those words may mean. You are the oldest you’ve ever been. I’m so proud of you for making it this far. You’ll keep going, growing. And perhaps one day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come. 

Happy Birthday, and I love you.

[devilsrecreation]

You know how I mentioned a whole TLG fic idea with Chungu? Here’s me infodumping about it

Kifamilia Means Family

Synopsis: Taking place post-The Lion Guard, the hyenas get a heartwarming surprise when Shenzi’s clan (AKA their parents) come back. But Chungu notices that he doesn’t have anyone to reunite with and goes off on a little journey to find his parents

What would happen (may or may not be in order):

The original trio and the rest of Shenzi’s clan come back and everyone’s elated

-The question of why they left in the first place is answered and the hyenas understand

-The truth that they killed Scar comes out. In fact, the trio tells them aaaaaall about Scar and how he betrayed them

-Upon seeing his friends reuniting with and cuddling with their parents, Chungu notices he doesn’t have anyone to greet him and wonders where his parents are

A couple flashbacks in the form of dreams:

1. How Chungu met Janja and Cheezi

2. Faintly remembering what his parents were like

He gets the idea after talking to Tunu and Wema and tells the rest of the clan (with support from them but Janja dismisses it). He then goes off on his own

The ghost of Ushari follows him everywhere, making sure he doesn’t make any bad decisions

-We get to see Ushari’s thoughts on the matter

-He also creates some obvious signs that he already has all the family he needs, but Chungu doesn’t get it until towards the end

Meanwhile, in the Outlands, the hyenas grow increasingly concerned for Chungu and have to be reassured by Janja that he’s gonna come back (except he starts to lose hope the longer he’s gone)

It would be implied that Chungu’s parents were part of Shenzi’s clan but died shortly after having Chungu (maybe a little before Shenzi left the cubs) from starvation

Chungu gets to meet and briefly live with many animals he meets. Thanks to his dim-witted personality, he’s able to befriend them all as well as wanting what they have

-The animals are ones TLG hasn’t shown like African Wild Dogs, striped hyenas, black mambas, etc.

- He first meets a wild dog named Nguvu (energetic), who lets him stay with her pack for a few nights

-A shoebill stork named Kiatu

-A striped hyena named Aibu and a black mamba named Kifo show him what a found family looks like since they’re misfits

- All his new friends either follow him back to the Outlands (like he’d arrive with them in tow) or they meet Chungu again when he’s already back home. Leaning towards the first option

He finds himself at the Tree of Life, where he finally decides to give up after searching for so long. At first he’s devastated that his parents don’t like him enough to want to see him (or so he thinks), but thanks to Ushari manipulating a cloud to look like a hyena, he finally realizes who his real family is and goes back home

-After saying out loud that “maybe they don’t wanna see me cuz they don’t like me”, Chungu gets to see his parents towards the end and they tell him how they’ll always watch over him. They also tell him how even though they’re gone, he still has a family before disappearing. Chungu doesn’t know what it means until Ushari gets him to understand

- “It’s Chungu!”

“And he brought friends….”

-Cheezi and Janja

OH BUT THAT’S NOT ALL CUZ I HAVE MORE INFO ON THE CHARACTERS:

Nguvu (energetic)- Living up to her name, Nguvu is an energetic, fun-loving painted dog who is the first animal Chungu meets on his quest. While the other wild dogs are distrusting of outsiders, Nguvu is the odd one out and loves making new friends. However, her nice, trusting nature can get her into trouble, leading her fellow pack members to save her.

Upon meeting Chungu, she immediately takes a liking to the hyena and somehow convinces her pack leaders to let him stay for a little while. She teaches him how wild dogs live (with Chungu almost ruining it due to his dimwittedness) while Chungu tells her about the hyenas. Chungu eventually learns his new friend hasn’t been in touch with her parents (giving wild dog traditions with the females leaving), thinking they don’t like her and encourages her to visit them. And she does!

-Nguvu and the rest of the pack are Chungu’s first clue into realizing the hyenas are his family, as their bonds remind him of his friends

-She becomes good friends with Chungu and the clan and maaaaaay or may not become Cheezi’s love interest (okay, she does)

-Voice claim: Sarah-Nicole Robles (Luz Noceda)

-If this were an actual special, Nguvu and the other cape dogs would sing a cover of “One Way or Another” feat. Chungu who just goes along with it. They do choreography and everything

-Her and Cheezi’s dynamic is basically “What do you see in him?” “He makes me laugh”

Other pack members: Mbwa (dog), Mkulima (growl), Gome (bark), Rangi (paint) and other unnamed cape dogs;Mbwa (male) and Rangi (female) are the leaders; There are only 10 members altogether, but they’re always willing to expand

Aibu (shy)- A shy, submissive, but sweet striped hyena who Chungu meets along with her best friend, Kifo. She and Kifo teach Chungu that family doesn’t have to consist of the same species. Upon spending time together, she ends up catching feelings for Chungu because of how much he complimented her (much to his obliviousness). She gives him a little kiss on the cheek when he goes off on his own again

-It takes Chungu a while to realize Aibu had a crush on him. Janja had to tell him straightforward

-Aibu kissing Chungu was a lot like how Amity kissed Luz for the first time. She did it, then immediately got flustered, wished him good luck, and hurried off to her den while repeatedly questioning why she would do that. Chungu just thought it was a striped hyena thing

Kifo (death)- Despite being a black mamba, Kifo is actually incredibly sweet and wouldn’t hurt a fly, which is what makes her a misfit. Her goal is to teach animals not to be scared of her even though she’s highly venomous. Chungu meets her and Aibu when he accidentally steps on her and freaks out, begging not to be bitten. Kifo reassures him she won’t hurt him. She explains how she and Aibu are misfits who look out for each other and agree to let him spend the night with them cuz of the area being dangerous where they live

-After being persuaded by Chungu to move to the Outlands, she gets to know more of the reptiles. The skinks have taken a liking to her fairly well, Sumu is really chill with her, Kiburi…can tolerate her (although he thinks she’s annoying), it’s Kenge who takes the longest to warm up to her. Kenge doesn’t like meeting new animals in general, but meeting Kifo brings back so many memories to him. Being a venomous snake, not being afraid of him, and having that whole “please give me some respect” attitude towards him straight up reminds him of Ushari

-Speaking of Ushari, Kifo can actually see him. I’m not sure if he makes himself visible to her during Chungu’s quest, but they definitely meet in the Outlands. He gives her advice on how to befriend the animals and she thinks of him as a mentor figure. She doesn’t even realize Ushari’s dead until she brings his name up to the other reptiles and they’re like “….How do you know who Ushari is?”. Cue a very emotional conversation and Kenge finally opening up

-Kifo also agrees that Ushari was never evil and his reasoning for turning to the dark side was justified, just that he was wrong for the way he handled it

Kiatu (shoe)- An intimidating, tough, but good-hearted shoebill stork who is a single soon-to-be father to three eggs. He meets Chungu at the hyena’s most vulnerable state: exhausted, dehydrated, and starving. A lost Chungu stumbles upon his nest and tries to eat the eggs, only to be scared off by a strange sound similar to a machine gun (which is the sound shoebills make) and causing him to get his leg stuck between some fallen branches. Kiatu frees him and upon seeing his condition, nurses him back to health in exchange that he helps take care of the eggs. He eventually becomes Chungu’s bodyguard and gets a soft spot for him. He teaches Chungu how it’s okay that some families have only one parent and the importance of caring for a child while Chungu teaches him that not everyone is bad (he thinks almost all animals are bad, which is why he is so overprotective and so unfriendly)

-The reason why he’s a single father is cuz his mate died of some unknown cause. He doesn’t like to talk about it

-Like Paddington, he uses a death glare whenever animals have forgotten their manners. It works on everyone from other birds to crocodiles. Yes, it even scares Makuu and Kiburi

-When his chicks hatch, they call Chungu their uncle

- Kiatu knows that shoebills are supposed to only take care of one chick when they hatch, like in real life. Except Kiatu doesn’t want that. Neglecting kids just never sat right with him so he decided to care for all of his kids rather than just one

-Kiatu still thinks of himself as Chungu’s protector (and later Cheezi’s, too)

-Is like best friends with Basi (and later Beshte)

[spencersweetie]

Coincidence (Spencer x GN!Reader Onseshot)

Category: Fluff

Summary: Spencer and Reader accidentally have a museum date when they run into each other. 

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: none <3

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“Y/N!” A familiar voice called your name. You turned around and faced a familiar man whom you’d met through your friend Penelope. Spencer stood smiling at you with his hands in his pockets. He energetically waved at you.

You grinned back at him. “Hey Spencer! What a crazy coincidence, us both being here at the same time.” You had spontaneously decided to visit the National Gallery of Art since you had a free day to yourself over the weekend.

“Totally!” He responded. “I’m supposed to have the whole weekend off so I thought I’d revisit the gallery. How are you?”

“I’m alright! You’re revisiting? How many times have you been here? This is my first time seeing the gallery.” You had been to other art museums in Maryland but never the National Gallery of Art since you had recently moved to D.C. a year ago.

Spencer chuckled lightly. “This would be my ninth time coming here. I saw the gallery for the first time when I was nine years old  and couldn’t keep myself away from this place.

“Wow!” You exclaimed. “I don’t blame you, I’ve only seen the sculpture garden and the first few pieces in this wing so far and everything is gorgeous; I’m in love already.”

“You know what, I’ve got the building memorized!” Spencer eagerly informed you. “If you want, I could be your personal guide and show you the best parts of each exhibit and take you on the most efficient path through the museum! I mean, you don’t have to say yes, it’s up to you.”

“Spencer, that’d be awesome, I’ll totally tag along if you’re cool with that!” You beamed at him, trying to hide your excitement. You usually went on trips like these alone so it was nice to have someone who could enjoy the same thing as you by your side.

“Great, let’s go!” Spencer turned and gestured towards the next exhibit.

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

As you and Spencer explored the museum together, you noticed how abnormally comfortable you felt around him. You two had never hung out without Penelope so this was a first for you both. Even without your mutual friend, you found that Spencer was both easy to listen to and easy to talk to. He of course knew a lot about the art in the gallery and thoroughly explained each piece to you but you appreciated that he never talked to you like you were dumb or lesser than him. He regularly asked if you were okay with his infodumps as well, which you completely didn’t mind. You could tell that he undoubtedly had a passion for the arts, and you liked that he was so enthusiastic to share that with you.

While you did certainly find Spencer’s interesting facts to be intriguing, you couldn’t help but let your mind wander as you looked at him from the side. He didn’t notice your looking as he faced the painting while he talked to you, completely occupied by the piece that was on the wall in front of him. You liked the way he spoke about the art that he showed you. Spencer was very animated, clearly demonstrating his excitement about whatever he was explaining in the movement of his hands. His face was quite expressive too. His eyebrows rose and fell as he talked and his eyes squinted and widened as he conversed with you. You hadn’t noticed how pretty Spencer’s eyes were until now, how his irises were brown but with little gold specks on the inside. You liked that when he wrinkled his nose in the middle of a sentence, his scrunch reached the top of his nose bridge between his eyes. His nose was a nice nose, you thought. It enhanced his side profile and turned slightly upwards when he smiled too. And his lips. Today you noticed that his lips were quite… pink. And full. And plump. You had to catch yourself when your eyes traveled down from Spencer’s eyes to his mouth when he spoke, then hope that he didn’t notice your distraction. You just liked that way he smiled, that’s all, you told yourself. He often kept his smile as he talked and continued to smile when you spoke to him too. You liked the way his lips puckered when his smile grew bigger as he finished his sentences. It seemed like an uncontrollable habit of his-

“Y/N?” Spencer interrupted your thoughts. He looked at you with his brows slightly raised.

“Hm, yeah?” Your mind snapped back to the present moment. “I’m sorry, could you say that again?”

“Are you okay? Am I boring you? We could stop here if you want!”

“No, Spencer- it’s fine!” You jumped to explain. “You’re good, I promise! I’m not bored, I just got lost in my thoughts for a second. Um, the only da Vinci painting in the U.S. right? Is this one here?” 

“Exactly!” Spencer lit up and straightened his posture. “Da Vinci painted less than 20 oil paintings throughout his career; this one was bought for $5 million and arrived in D.C. in 1969!”

“Damn!” You exclaimed. “So that makes this portrait like, the Mona Lisa of the National Gallery, huh?”

“Absolutely!” Spencer agreed with you. “The gallery has other Da Vinci pieces displayed but none that are as rare and valuable as an oil painting of his. This one, Ginerva de’ Benci, is a portrait of a daughter of a banker, most likely commissioned when she was about 16 and just engaged. You know, the juniper bush is what’s in the background. Juniper represents chastity which was one of the most significant traits of a woman in the Renaissance era. It’s kind of a subtle little pun, including the juniper plant, because in Italian the plant is called ginepro.”

“Oh! Ginepro, Ginerva! That’s so cute, I love it!” You told him. “I like how there’s like no fancy jewelry or finery on her in this portrait too. It’s different from the Renaissance portraits of the other ladies that we saw.”

“Yeah, it’s a little bit of a surprise when it comes to a portrait like this that she isn’t completely dressed up! It doesn’t reveal her family’s wealth like portraits commonly do. I love that you noticed that.” Spencer’s lips turned at the corners in appreciation of your attention to detail. “Let’s move onto the next one!”

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

You and Spencer moved on through the exhibit, then through the rest of the museum. You two enjoyed each other’s company for the day and were able to see all the art in three hours. As you exited, you found yourself laughing as you and Spencer recalled the events of the day. “I still can’t believe they kept trying to pay you for a private tour even after you insisted you weren’t a museum tour guide!” You laughed into your hand which was clapped over your mouth, trying not to draw attention to you and Spencer. 

“Shut up!” Spencer jokingly rolled his eyes at you. “I hate that they were gathered around me too, attracting a crowd while trying to hand me money. I don’t even wear a uniform like the other employees!” Spencer cracked up along with you, shaking as he pictured himself standing next to you, explaining to a group of strangers that he was just visiting with a friend, not working for the gallery.

You shrieked with laughter, uncontrollably gasping for air as you tried to calm yourself. “Then when they said they would call the gallery and get you fired for denying customers!” Tears were coming out of your eyes from being unable to stop laughing. “And you just went ‘Okay!’ and walked off without me!” You missed a step and tripped, grabbing Spencer’s arm as you fell into him.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” You were half still dying from laughing and half freaking out from your mistake. “I didn’t mean to grab you, I know you’ve got a germ thing! I think I just got a little carried away and wasn’t careful enough to watch my step!” You frantically apologized to Spencer. “Are you okay?”

Spencer grinned at you and dusted you off on your shoulders. “Relax, Y/N. I know you’re not germy; I’m not gonna freak out if you touch me. And I’m fine, you’re the one who fell!” He reassured you. “Are you okay? Do you need a second? You’re pink in the face, I don’t know if from laughing or from tripping on the step.”

“I’m fine, I’m good! Thank you Spencer.” You replied, still hot around your face. “Let’s just get out of here before I start to laugh and embarrass myself again.” You chuckled. “Are you free for the rest of the day? We could get something to eat if you’re hungry!” 

Spencer smiled at you. “Yeah, I’m free! Do you like Indian? There’s this new place that’s about 10 minutes from here-”

A loud ringing cut his sentence off. Spencer sighed and apologetically looked at you before whipping his cell phone out of his pocket. “Yeah?” He spoke into the phone.

He listened for a few seconds before speaking. “I’m in D.C. but I’ll be there as soon as possible. Thanks, Penelope.” Spencer hung up and shoved his phone back into his coat.

“Got a case?” You asked.

“Yeah. I’m so sorry, Y/N, I know we were supposed to-”

“Spence!” You stopped him. “You don’t have to apologize, we didn’t even plan on hanging out today!”

Spencer’s eyes softened; he expected you to express disappointment before anything else and was surprised that you were understanding instead. He smiled and nodded. “Okay, but we could still check out the new Indian place another time, yeah?”

You felt butterflies in your stomach emerging. “Of course. Thank you for today, Spencer. I had an amazing time.”

“Me too, Y/N. I’ll text you when we get back!” 

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

Thank you for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts or send anon feedback, anything is appreciated <33

[james-fun-in-the-sunderland]

tv + movie: 17, 28, 31, 97, 99 c:<

oh my GOD ive been ambushed by my own PARTNER wtF!!!!! hehe

17. A show that you love to hate?

oh somehow this is much easier for me <- enjoys the potential of things way more than things that are mid or actually good

So alot of like 90s video game cartoons probably fit here, the super mario show, the legend of zelda show, all of the tumblr classics like dr who supernatural or sherlock, but if i had to like choose ONE it would be sonic underground. that show sucks so hard but its so fun and has a bunch of bangers

28. What is your favourite movie from the 80′s?

i looked up 80s movies on letterboxed and like the first page was a ton of movies i love so im . gonna have to rly think abt this... ok ive decided its The Thing. that thang. that movie rocks so hard bro like genuinely (also glad i didnt see a fave from the 70s q on this list bc that would b so much harder o.o"")

31. Favourite movie from the 2010′s +?

Thought this was 2000s so i was GONNA say lake mungo but since its 2010s then It Follows would be my pick!! its such a good movey.... i wanna watch it again i think ive only seen it once but it sticks out so much in my mind its SUCH a good movie

97. Think of a positive movie experience you will never forget?

Well what am i SUPPOSED to put here other than when i went down to see uuuu my partner bc we were gonna see sonic 2 together! and it was so nice being able to grab ur hand SO FUCKING excitedly when shadow came on screen c: <3 and then just infodumping SO HARD and constantly pacing and moving around and u just being like *heart eyes* the whole time like come ONNNN i love u <3 it was nice hehe

99. Best movie soundtrack?

hmm this ones a toughie bc . movie soundtracks all sound the same to me,,, i know its kind of cheating to use a musical but genuinely id just listen to the ambient tracks for the nightmare before christmas... but outside of musicals probably it follows? both of them id just listen to in general but the ost for it follows WOULD give me anxiety lmao the chase music is so o.o""""""\

link back to the tv and movies ask game for anyone else who may want to send numbers n get those qs answered!

[luminecho]

tell us about the wolf game wolfie

[aggressive table slam stimming] OK SO THE WOLF GAME YEA YEA YEA? prepare to get infodumped on because you just unlocked my Backstory

wolfquest was a fuckin like,,, it was very different. back in Ye Olde Days of 2015. WQ 2.7 was brand new. I had seen the game floating around before and had watched some videos on it but never really got into it. Until,,, idk, suddenly I did? I think a specific YouTuber was who got me into it but. WQ may as well have been one of my first fandoms. and for a damn wildlife simulator game it,, really did have a fandom! I don't know how much of that fandom is still around anymore cause I've kinda lost touch with it (as far as I know it was mostly deviantart, amino, and on forums). but like.

god it's just so special to me. i have felt extremely close to wolves my whole life (i know now it's bc im kin lol) and you know wolves are like. a specific Niche of content. so I took what I could get. I played every wolf simulator I could get my hands on. I did a ton of roleplay.

and here comes WolfQuest. a game set in YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL FUCKING PARK aka That National Park That I Knew From All Those Wolf Documentaries I Watched Religiously. where you could! play as a wolf!! and CUSTOMIZE said wolf!! and raise PUPPIES!!! and people had full-on wolf pack LEGACIES where they'd play as a wolf and then play as that wolf's puppy and then play as THAT wolf's puppy and then just KEEP GOING. and that sounded SO FUN so i was like I NEED THIS GAME

so i got the mobile version on my phone and i played the demo and i was like. hmm. i wonder what i should name my wolf. and I debated between a few names, I think some were Eclipse (a long-term favorite of mine) and Whisper. but the one I ended up going with was Echo.

and I FELL IN LOVE with the game. because you know what the best thing about it was? it was a wilderness simulator that was EASY and had a PATTERN. once you master the game that's IT. you're SET. i could recite to you the exact steps you need to take and the exact order of all of the game's episodes/stages/events/etc. it got so easy that playing on the highest difficulty wasn't much of a challenge anymore once you remembered all the steps and patterns. trial and error throughout generations. i LOVED it. my autistic brain was ALL over that.

I'm going back to my notes (which I still have), and I played through TWELVE GENERATIONS of wolves. that's nothing compared to other people but it's still like. a lot. jhfwfkh. and there came a point where i grew kind of sick of the repetitiveness of singleplayer so i devoted my time to roleplaying in multiplayer instead

but like. i have this distinct memory. of just. sitting in front of a movie theatre and playing this game on my phone. whenever i had free time i would play wolfquest

and like,,,, i joined the wolfquest amino around the same time I joined the warrior cats one. back when amino was new. idek if people still use amino but. i joined it. and i met some FANTASTIC people, one of which i'm still in touch with!! but before I joined that community i didn't really have a set name I went by online. I just went by whatever my current username was. and I wasn't sure what to put as my username for that amino so I just went with the name that i called my wolf pack in the game. which was. the Echoing Sound pack.

you'll never guess what people started calling me

so i guess from then on Echoing Sound was just. my branding??? idk.

but yeah in like 2016 the WQ devs were like "we have a HOT NEW UPDATE coming in 2017 and it's gonna be Tower Fall! the next episode of the game!" and we were like "WWWOOUUWWHH" and we were so excited.

and then WQ was like "hey we have to delay this because we decided to actually uuuhhhh REMAKE THE ENTIRE GAME FROM THE GROUND UP"

and we went "holy fuck! ok! still excited tho!!!"

and now it's 2022 and the WQ only just recently finished the remake (anniversary edition) of the second episode and NOW, FINALLY, they're getting to work on Tower Fall.

and like,,,,,,,,,, I've been tracking this game's progress for as long as i've been ONLINE. so in a way it feels like i'm growing up with it??? in a way that i haven't experienced with many other games

idk idk idk i just. i just love it so much man. it's. it's a really pretty game. the graphics are fucking off the charts i mean LOOK AT IT. my poor laptop can barely run it JHSFHJGHEJK. AE isn't even out on mobile. you wanna know what the first thing i did when i got a computer was??? i bought wolfquest.

just. just. just. just. i love it.

and. and it's not the same as it used to be. ofc it's not. it's WAY WAY WAY harder and it's not as structured or formulaic and it gives you more freedom and it's,, admittedly a lottt more stressful so yeah i dont really play it much and i still haven't gotten very far in it and i probably never will because it's just. not my kind of game. anymore. but i love and adore and cherish it so much that i will always ALWAYS continue to just run around and play around with customization and just play as a wolf because it makes me so so sososososo happy. so. so happy.

uuuhhhh this infodump isnt organized at all cause im literally just. like. talking. and im not gonna edit this in the slightest but. yeah. yeah. i love it a lot ;-;

and i'm tacking this on at the end here but i was looking through the wolfquest tumblr tags and saw a couple posts tagged as wolfkin/therian and it just makes me happy to see that other ppl like me are finding the same kind of,, euphoria?? through playing this game. like. hsjfdwkjf. it really replicates something that you can't really find through anything else

and i could spout some poetic bullshit about how the game kinda represents the small joys of life as well as the tremendous hardships and like. it IS that but also tbh it really is just my gay little wolf game from my phone. Lobo From My Games if you will.... like it can be profound if you want it to be but it's just kinda special in that it doesn't really. have a plot. the plot is you're a wolf and you're living as a wolf and look!! you're going through life. you're experiencing life. as a wolf. as realistic as the devs can possibly make it whilst still being fun. haven't you always wanted that.

man.

(wolf.)

[yourbestdream]

Ok so yesterday I got this vague idea for a toh au then my adhd brain got custody of it and it. Spiraled out of control I'll just say. So I'm gonna infodump abt it below the cut. Sorry in advance lmao (it's really long i'm so sorry mutuals)

So I originally got this idea because I watched Encanto recently (loved it btw) and I thought "oh haha mirabel and hunter are kinda similar, since they're both non-magical people surrounded by people with powers" which then led to me thinking "hey what if instead of witches in the BI being born with magic they were given powers by the titan when they reach a certain age" and then I thought about it more and it became this beast so. Here we are lmao. I'm gonna try to explain it the best I can but sorry if it makes no sense lol

So to start I'm just gonna provide the full backstory/explanation for what's goin on in this au. So first off, like I said before, witches in the BI aren't born with magic, but are gifted it by the Titan when they're about 6 years old. For most of the BI's history, witches were given every type of magic, but in the present witches only receive one type of magic, aka the precursor to the covens. This is because (and bear with me I'm just making shit up here) the Savage Ages were basically akin to the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution, so the government was collapsed and everyone was killing each other. In response, the Titan stopped giving witches magic, which caused everyone to freak the hell out and desperately looking for a way to appease the Titan so that magic wouldn't eventually die out completely. Eventually, Belos gains enough of a following to become the emperor and basically reforms BI society as a whole, which leads to the Titan giving witches magic again. Except this time, instead of receiving all types of magic, every witch only receives the ability to perform one type of magic, which leads to the formation of the covens. So in this universe the covens don't restrict magic necessarily, they just sort people into groups based on what powers they have. Also I wanna state here that Belos is NOT a good person in this au, he's just marginally less awful than canon Belos, but he's still a dictator/abusive asshole to his employees.

So anyway, from there a tradition is formed where every year every child of the appropriate age participates in a huge ceremony/ritual where they're given their magic. So for a few decades, everything goes pretty smoothly, until two things happen: one, some witches start receiving two types of magic, and two, Eda receives every type of magic in her ceremony, which I'll talk about in more detail below.

So when it's Eda's turn at the ceremony for that year, she becomes the first person since the Savage Ages to receive every type of magic. Because of this, Belos obviously wants her in his coven, so she begins training with the Emperor's Coven immediately after her ceremony, and later uses her position to get Lilith special training as well, since being in the coven is Lilith's dream and all. Also probably shoulda mentioned that since Lilith only has one kind of magic like everyone else, this contributes to their mom's unintentional favoritism of Eda and fuels Lilith's jealousy even more. Eda never gets cursed, but their relationship becomes more strained as they get older, with Lilith working harder and harder and Eda still surpassing her every time.

Eventually, Eda decides that the government is fumb and she doesn't want to be a cop, so she runs from the coven and becomes the Owl Lady like in canon. Lilith stays and eventually becomes the head of the coven like in canon, and makes it her mission to capture Eda so she can join the coven and "stop wasting her gift."

That's all ove really got for Eda rn so now let's talk about Hunter babey! So Hunter in this au is just some random orphan lmao, and during his ceremony, he becomes the only person since the Savage Ages to not receive any magic whatsoever. Fun times:). So Belos notices this and thinks "damn that's weird, I should take this kid in and see what the Titan has planned for him", so Hunter becomes the Golden Guard like canon, but is treated more like an experiment by Belos than anything else, so their relationship is a lil more complicated.

Anyway that's the basic idea lmao, I doubt anyone will see/care about this but I'm gonna tag everything anyway bc I am at my core an attention seeker tbh

[feferipeixes]

Still Alive

After Dipper learns that this whole "being a demon" thing means he's going to live forever, he and Mabel talk about the future, and what he's going to do when everyone he knows dies. It's not until much later that he starts to realize that they'll never truly die -- just like he'll never truly get sick of ice cream.

Thanks to @toothpastecanyon for beta reading!

(See the most updated version on AO3!)

===

“If you could choose one project to do and be guaranteed that you’d finish it eventually, no matter how long it took, what would you do?”

“Hmm....” Mabel replied, itching her scalp with a plastic hand clapping toy. “Oh! I’d get my hands on the Ultimate Magical Shimmering Rainbow-splosion Fluffykins doll! There’s only five hundred in existence -- they’re super duper rare!”

“No no no,” Dipper countered. “That’s too easy, and too short. All you’d need to do is set up some eBay alerts, bribe a few people, maybe sneak into the FluffCorp factory building. Not even -- you could just snap your fingers -” (he snapped his fingers for effect, causing a puff of blue flame to momentarily appear) “and conjure it.”

“I can’t -” Mabel started, but Dipper kept talking over her.

“I’m talking about something really unprecedented. Something that would take a long time, something you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do. Something that would change the world.”

“Oh, I get it now!” Mabel tossed the toy aside and flipped over, letting her head dangle off the end of her bed. “I’d call you a dork a million times.”

Her brother scowled at her and jumped out of his chair and into the air. “Hey!” he yelped over Mabel’s laughter. “I'̼͚̻͓͎̲m̡̖̰̘̣͎ ̖͇̕n̛̻ơ̰t̷̟͇̱ ̝̺̻a̳̦ ̪̟̮͖ḑor̞͓̭k̟̤̖!̛͍ And even if I was, that wouldn’t take you very long! At, uh, a rate of, let’s see, you could probably say ‘you’re a dork’ at least 30 times per minute, and if you didn’t ever sleep…”

Mabel watched the red tinge fade away from his features as he paced around in mid air, doing math in his head. “Yeah. You’re totally not a dork, Sir Maths-a-lot. You sure showed me.”

“- It wouldn’t even take you a month,” Dipper finished. “Besides, how would that change the world?”

“Hmm, well if I call you a dork enough times,” Mabel answered, “maybe my big scary demon brother would decide he doesn’t want to be a dork and instead he’d do something with his cool magic powers that ends up making the world a better place!”

“Mabel?”

“Yeah bro-bro?”

Dipper frowned at her. “Your face is turning purple.”

“Touche,” she replied, rubbing her chin very seriously. She slid the rest of the way off the bed and clutched her throbbing head. “Owww…”

“That's what you get for giving me dumb answers,” Dipper quipped, arms crossed.

“You mean for giving you fun answers,” Mabel corrected, and then winced at another sting of pain. “Why are you asking me these weird questions anyway?”

A panicked look flickered across Dipper's face, and his feet touched the ground. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

Mabel, still massaging her temples, pushed herself semi-upright to give her brother a look. “Come on. ‘What would you do if you had all the time in the world?’ ’What movie could you watch a million times and never get sick of it?’ ’Do you think Stancakes have a shelf life longer than 100 years?’ Something is clearly up.”

Dipper giggled awkwardly (was there any other way he could giggle?) and stared at the ceiling. “Nothing. It's nothing!”

“What, are you really not gonna tell me?” Mabel pushed. ”What if I tickle you?”

Her brother recoiled in horror. “You wouldn't.”

There was a tense silence as the two twins considered whose was the stronger will: the expert fighter with a plethora of torture tactics at hand, or the demon. Mabel narrowed her eyes. Dipper sharpened his claws. No words were exchanged. The room was perfectly still.

Mabel jolted forward half a foot and Dipper shrieked.

“Okay, you win, just don't tickle me!” he begged, throwing his hands up. “I'll tell you!”

“Good,” Mabel replied. “Things were about to get ugly. Spill it, bro-bro.”

Dipper sighed. He dusted himself off -- a habit he'd gotten into lately even though he was pretty sure nothing he could do would make his orange shirt and vest look any less weird with his new body.

“Remember… Remember the thing I told you the other day, when I had that infodump and learned more about my powers?”

“Oh yeah,” she said. “You found out that your omniscience tells you whenever anyone farts.”

“No!” he squeaked. “Although, you are right, it does do that and it's annoying, especially because now I can smell it from like a mile away.”

He wrinkled his nose, staring off into space for a minute before shaking his head. “But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about… how I'm never going to die.”

It had been about a week since Mabel had walked into the living room to find Dipper writhing and sobbing on the floor. She remembered the way he’d looked right through her, how he hadn’t seemed to even notice her presence when she sat him upright, how he kept muttering “still alive, still alive” over and over again, and it hadn’t made any sense to her then, but when he finally snapped out of it and was able to vocalize what he’d seen…

She shuddered at the memory of it.

“Since then,” Dipper continued, “I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to deal with it. And I had this idea that I could come up with things to do to fill the time.”

“What, so you’re going to plan out your whole life?” Mabel asked, incredulous. “Let me guess -- you’re making a checklist? Hah! Can you imagine?”

She giggled, and then he reached into his vest and pulled out oh sweet Moses.

“I’ve already got some good stuff on here,” Dipper said, ignoring or not noticing his sister’s flabbergasted expression. “I’m gonna learn how to make a sword by hand. I’m gonna watch all of Tiger Fist backwards to see if there are any hidden messages. And there’s this spa getaway weekend that the Multibear invited me on -- shoot, wait, he’s gonna be dead by then, umm…”

Mabel raised an eyebrow as her brother started scribbling on the checklist. “Dipper. This is obsessive even for you.”

“What would you know?” he shot back. “You’re not the one who’s immortal.”

“I know how to have this thing called ‘fun’,” she replied. “Maybe you’ve heard of it?”

He grumbled at her, eyes locked on his checklist. He couldn’t believe he forgot that the Multibear spa trip thing was a limited time offer. That kind of stuff was slipping his mind more and more these days, like the time Mabel asked him to play cards with her and he was so busy alphabetizing his Sibling Brothers books that he neglected to respond to her for three days.

Although, now that he thought about it, that might’ve been before he became a demon.

Something damp and cold hit Dipper in the face, and he spluttered in surprise. “What was that?” he shouted. One of his flailing hands happened to close on the object as it fell, and he held it up to the light.

“It’s a popsicle, doofus!” Mabel said. She’d fetched two from the minifridge in their room while he was distracted, and was busy licking away at her own, which was chocolate. “Remember those?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t have ti-”

“I’ll throw another one at you,” Mabel interrupted.

“- I guess I could have some ice cream,” Dipper finished.

He floated over and sat on the floor next to his sister. He removed the paper from the popsicle and gave the object a sniff. The aroma of orange and vanilla caressed his sensitive nose, and he realized how long it’d been since he had any sugar. Without a second moment’s thought, he threw his head back, stretching both his neck and jaw further than they were supposed to go, and placed the entire popsicle -- stick and all -- into his gaping maw.

“See, what’d I tell you?” Mabel said, smirking at the satisfaction on her brother’s face. She reached up with her popsicle to scratch an itch on her nose, and then went right back to eating it. “I always know what to do with my time. I wonder what it’d be like if I lived forever…”

Dipper eyed the glob of chocolate ice cream on the bridge of her nose. “The world would probably be a much more chaotic place.”

“You mean a much BETTER place!” she declared. “Everyone would have fun and ice cream all the time!”

He grinned. “You’re right. It would be a much better place. Because my best friend would be there.” Mabel looked at him, a twinkle in her eye and ice cream all over her face, and his grin fell away. “I guess this is what you felt like when I said I was going to be Grunkle Ford’s apprentice, huh. I’m such a shitty bro-”

Mabel at once had her hands on his face, squishing his cheeks together so he’d stop talking. “Nuh-uh. Bro-bro you’re gonna stop hating on yourself Right. Now.” She was still smiling, but her tone had twisted into something harsh. “Okay, sure, I’m gonna die someday and then you’re gonna have to figure out what to do on your own. But I’m not ready to think about that and neither are you! We’re hecking 13 years old! We should act like it, while we’ve still got the chance. Please don’t make me think about dying yet.”

Dipper winced, and she let go of him. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

“S’okay.” She patted him on the back, harder than he’d been expecting, and he was so surprised that he coughed up the popsicle stick he’d eaten earlier.

For a minute, neither of them said a word. Dipper lifted a hand to his face, where he felt something sticky.

“You got chocolate on my face.”

“Yeah. On your vest, too.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “What are you going to do about it?”

He looked at his hands, still small and smooth like a child. With a thought, he bathed both hands in a blue flame, searing away the chocolate and leaving them clean, just the way he liked them. Then he cleared his throat.

“I’m gonna chase you around the house,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Smiling ear-to-ear, Mabel jumped up and ran to the wall. “You’re nuts if you think you can catch me, even with demon powers!” Cackling, she threw the door open, which bathed her in a blinding white light.

Dipper thought about his infodump from the other day, thought about the part he hadn’t told Mabel, the tiny glimpse he’d gotten of his sister when she’d been old, pale, and still -- too horribly, horribly still. It was just a glimpse, but it haunted him -- the thought that one day there wouldn’t be a single trace left of Mabel Pines anywhere in the world. She was right -- as always -- that he was obsessing, that he was letting a thought hurt him when it didn’t have to.

He wasn’t ready to think about growing up yet, either. No matter how strong the pull to obsess was, he had to find a way to fight it.

“You can’t get away from me!” Dipper roared, and flew after his sister into the future.

---

"Wahoo! That was a great idea -- getting ice cream -- Dipper! I feel so much better! You always know how to cheer me up."

Dipper, clad in his usual human disguise, collapsed onto the bench with a grunt. "I dunno, this stuff tastes off. You’d think with all the technological advancements since the Transcendence that they’d have found a way to perfect ice cream."

His friend Arin, who was somehow managing to carry five popsicles in two hands, nodded with a serious look on her face. "Yeah. Oh sure a lot of old timey diseases were eradicated and we've got flying cars and stuff. But not one of these ice pops actually tastes like orange!"

She stared at him for a beat longer, then finally broke into snickers. One of the popsicles fell out of her hand, and a stubby arm immediately shot out from under the bench to catch it.

His face twisting in confusion, Dipper bent over to look under the bench. There were two gnomes right beneath him -- one of them hissed when they saw him, making him jump and making Arin laugh even harder.

"Ha-ha, okay," Dipper said, hand on his chest like his heart was racing. Despite this, he couldn't keep a small smile from creeping onto his face.

So much had changed in the last five hundred years, and yet so much else had stayed the same. Wars were fought, societies had formed and collapsed, but people were still people, and Dipper was still Dipper. Even though he’d had more than a few incidents where his demonic nature overcame his humanity, he always seemed to land back on his feet again eventually. Sometimes all it took was a friend.

Right now, his friend was a girl named Arin who he’d saved when someone else had tried to sacrifice her to him. He remembered how grateful she’d been, how she gave him a hug despite him being a void black monster splattered with blood, and how she then spent 20 minutes chatting with him about dragons even though she’d just had a very traumatic experience. She seemed, in other words, cool. So he later presented himself to her as fellow undergraduate student Dipper, without revealing that it was him who’d saved her that night, and they’d been good friends ever since.

Arin sat next to him and started taking bites out of her ice pops. "Yknow, the Transcendence-era wasn't that great," she said, although with her mouth busy it sounded like she was drowning.

Dipper's brow creased. "What do you mean?"

She gulped down the hunk of ice in her mouth. "No offense -- I know you're totally obsessed with Transcendence history stuff -- but that was soooo long ago. There's no one left who was alive back then, except like vampires I guess. But vampires don't eat ice cream so it doesn't matter."

Dipper bit back the urge to say "I know a vampire who loves ice cream as long as there's blood in it". What came out instead was "So?"

"So!" Arin shoved an entire popsicle into her mouth, and then had to take a minute to cough up the stick. "S-so," she continued amid gasps, "no one knows for sure what ice cream tasted like in the year 2012. And that includes you, Mr. Argues-With-The-Teacher! For all we know, old timey ice cream tasted like sawdust!"

Dipper considered his chocolate popsicle, which he's barely looked at since the first taste. "I guess you're right." He gave it another wary lick.

It didn't taste like chocolate the way he remembered it, but it was close enough.

"Do you ever think," he asked, unable to meet his friend's eyes, "about all the stuff that used to exist but doesn't anymore? All the ideas and food and... people?"

Arin groaned. "Is that what this is about? My best friend of the past 2 years -- secretly one of those 'I was born in the wrong century' people?"

"No!" he shot back, before taking another lick of the popsicle. "I just think it's sad that stuff goes away and no one's there to remember it."

"Well, maybe no one remembers that stuff, but that doesn't mean it's forgotten."

Dipper looked up. "Huh?"

Arin scarfed down her remaining two popsicles, which had begun melting onto her hand. "People die and ideas change and the world moves on. It happens constantly! But those people influenced their friends and their family and their coworkers. Who in turn influenced other people. Those people might be dead, but they live forever in the words and actions of everyone who came after."

Dipper just stared at her, jaw dropped. "Where did that come from?" he managed to get out. "Five seconds ago you were gagging on frozen sugar! You're not allowed to be this insightful!"

"Sugar rushes always make me super thoughtful," Arin said, patting him on the back. "It's 'cause I'm a genius. I'm probably gonna crash hard later though. Also by the way your ice cream is totally melting."

"Ah, shoot." Dipper hurriedly tried to catch the melting ice cream with his tongue, and Arin giggled again.

"The point is," she said, "if you've always got your head stuck in a history textbook, you're gonna miss out on the present. If you're always thinking about the dead guy who invented ice cream, you won't be around to eat any with me."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. He felt an itch on his nose, so he wiggled it. "Thanks, Arin. I feel better- why are you looking at me like that?"

Arin was indeed staring at him with a perplexed look on her face as if she was not the one who'd just swallowed a metric ton of ice cream. "Why do you do that?"

Dipper frowned. "Do what? AGH-"

He yelped as Arin whipped out her phone and snapped a photo of him, blinding him with the flash even though it was a bright, sunny day out. "What was that for?"

She didn't say anything, simply handed him her phone. It certainly was not the best photo ever taken of him. It was blurry, his hair was a mess, and his mouth was contorted in shock.

On the bridge of his nose was a dollop of chocolate ice cream.

"You do it every time we get ice cream," Arin said, taking her phone back. "I mean, you call me weird, but I'm not the one always itching my nose with an ice pop."

"Oh," Dipper said. He paused and looked at his fingers, which were all chocolate-y too now. "I didn't even notice I was doing it."

"Suuure, weirdo," Arin chuckled. She stood up, wobbling a bit as she did so, and steadied herself on the back of the bench. "Listen dude, this was fun but I think the sugar's starting to hit me. I'm gonna head back to the dorm before I collapse. Wanna hang out later?"

"Definitely!" Dipper replied. "You should get some rest! Try not to give psychological counseling to anyone on the way -- you're gonna burn out your brain!"

He waved at his friend as she staggered away, and watched her until she turned a corner around a building. Then he sighed, and wiped his nose with his finger.

"Hey Mabel," he whispered, looking at the chocolate he'd collected. "It’s me, Dipper.”

A passing jogger sent a pointed look at the young man who was talking to his finger, but Dipper ignored them.

“I seem to remember you saying something to me about living forever. You said that one day you’d be gone, and I’d have to find a way to carry on alone.” He thought about Arin’s words, and felt something swell in his chest. “But I guess you’re still alive after all.”

He sniffed, and looked up at the sun as it started to bathe the sky in the pinks and purples of evening. He saw people in flying cars, people rushing through pneumatic tubes, people high fiving on jetpack because it was a wonderful day to be out. And he thought about what Arin said; thought about all of the sicknesses he'd seen friends and family afflicted by that no one ever had to suffer from again. He thought about all the preters he saw walking freely and happily on the campus, without worrying that they'd be attacked.

"And you were right," he said. "The world is a better place."

Dipper licked the remaining chocolate off his fingers, and got up. As he headed back toward his dorm room, he wondered what other legacies his loved ones had left in him.

(AO3 link)

[transsexualhamlet]

sherlock holmes reactions part 4 (?) ive lost count already but unsurprisingly ive grown even more attached to him

using this as the cover image because i made him a playlist. cause im awful

no legit this is gonna need a read more because it's SO LONG SHIHEWIESHEFSHIEWHF

Had three mental breakdowns this week and realized i do in fact kin sherlock motherfucking holmes. this does not bode well for anything in my life mentally I've diagnosed him with so many things

Oh boy lol you want the list I think hes autistic (undisputed honestly) plus also adhd but on top of that there's the manic depression and uhhh the bpd lmao I dont even think that's it those are just. the obvious ones

But yeah man's a fucking mess and a shit person but in the same way as me so 👍

Some highlights I thought were very funny:

watson: we are in fact going to be waltzing into a place where people are Shooting People you do not have your gun. this is a problem

sherlock: don't worry watson I have my trusty stick!

watson: visible pain

This clearly happens like every day or so with them

but yeah there were some really honestly sweet scenes with them at the apartment and why am i getting soft over the crusty man being gay

have you considered tho. have you considered them

have you considered sherlock, who usually only plays absolute garbage on his violin serenading watson to sleep when he was tired and in pain and watson being so fucking in love with the man and waxing poetic about falling asleep to his music and waking up to see him fallen asleep on the couch next to him and oh my god them

They're just really sweet together for such a completely dysfunctional couple so much of the time lol I just. Sherlock being like.

Sherlock half of the time: watson you're fucking stupid. no i won't take care of my personal needs stfu. watson get a goddamn life. watson shut up. watson no one cares about your goddamn opinion. no i need to disturb you in the middle of the night it's for science. hey watson mind if i manipulate mansplain malewife

Sherlock the other half of the time: HELLO SIR YOU ARE MY FAVORITE MAN TO EVER MAN HELLO MAY I SPEND THE REST OF MY DAYS WITH YOU HELLO I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU WE ARE PERFECT MATCHES I LOVE YOU AND I NEED YOU YOURE SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME PLEASE MARRY ME

They're... they certainly are.

ALSO OH MY GOD.

THIS ONE TIME WHEN SHERLOCK WAS JUST PACING AROUND THE ROOM AT 3 AM GOING "IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE >:(((" AND HUDSON LIKE BARGED IN TO COMPLAIN AND THEN WATSON WAS LIKE DUDE YOU GOTTA STOP DOING THIS AND PROCEEDS TO SAY THE LINE "YOU ARE KNOCKING YOURSELF UP, OLD MAN"

BAHGHSFHGRHEWHEWHIFEW

BRB SOBBING

CALLING HIM AN OLD MAN???? KNOCKING HIMSELF UP?? I DONT KNOW WHATS FUNNIER

The main highlight of this part was I have now gotten to see him have a great time watching his homo homie get married

Its so fucking funny.......

I was prepared for a funny reaction by yuumori sherlock's face when he said it lol but. Damn i was really not prepared tbh

watson: I'm engaged!

sherlock: *pained groaning*

watson: do you... not like her?

sherlock: no she's fine she's great you'll be wonderful together bUT I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE ARE HETEROSEXUAL WATSON DO I HAVE TO MARRY MYSELF THEN WATSON? ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE ME MARRY MYSELF.

watson: yeah... yeah... fair, I feel really bad because you did this whole case and I got a girlfriend out of it and all you got was me leaving you alone fuck man im sorry what are you gonna do without me

sherlock, highly sarcastic: dont worry watson I've always got my handy cocaine! *pulls it out and gets high in front of watson just as he's about to leave*

watson: *in fucking agony*

sherlock: good for you!

I DONT EVEN- THIS SCENE KILLED ME MULTIPLE TIMES OVER WHAT

ITS SO GODDAMN NONCHELANT ABOUT IT SHERLOCK IS JUST LIKE YEAH I WILL IN FACT NOT BE MENTALLY HEALTHY IF YOU ARE NOT WITH ME 24/7 BUT WHATEVER YOU DO YOU /S

I'd like to apologize to watson on sherlock's behalf lmao. man is being a bit too codependent on main

The last thing about sign of four I do need to address is yeah, there's the Horrific Amounts Of Racism in that one and the whiplash hearing it is just ridiculous because they seem to be so knowledgeable in all other areas and fairly... politically correct, taking sherlock's original misogyny as a purposeful character flaw, but then they just mention someone indigenous once and suddenly its all parrotting racist propaganda and just... really awful shit. There's no way I'm gonna speak for the group that just got absolutely hate crimed here but anyone can tell the author just has no clue what he's fucking talking about and it's physically painful.

And I don't know, it's just so bad it seems out of character? Doyle's making these motherfuckers say shit that honestly, Sherlock would know better about. And especially Watson. Come on, you cannot tell me watson is mentally capable of being prejudiced against someone. Please do not make him that way.

I'm not sure how to handle it specifically, or what's the proper way I should handle something like that in a media I otherwise like. Is it ok to say Doyle was clearly a piece of shit on the matter and separate those characters from his bias or is that insensitive?

I don't know, I was Not a fan of it and I'm glad to see they've at least finally shut up about the guy

But anyway yeah, uhhhh onto the short stories because I'm trying to read those before I get to the final problem

Scandal in Bohemia was a fucking ride, first of all, before we even get to Sherlock's girlboss arc we have to discuss how gay the whole situation was and how Doyle's attempt at making them less gay failed spectacularly

Like he's all "ah yes I need to marry off watson and uhhh make sherlock ummmm interact with a woman so they dont look gay" but he does it SO BADLY that it makes them look EVEN GAYER

cause i mean, even the conversation they had about watson getting married back in sign of four was gay af, but how Doyle handled things afterward was in no way straighter.

Cause you know, the man kind of wrote himself into a corner with the fact of Watson narrating these stories. So Watson has to be around to witness them, and to witness Sherlock's own thought process rather privately, so he has to be around sherlock at night, a lot. But trying to come up with a reason for that happening just... it didn't occur to Doyle. He just went. Ah yes this makes sense. And it's Watson just like Sleeping Over At Sherlock's like every other goddamn day and every time his wife leaves town and having them basically still live that cute domestic home life but they have absolutely no excuses for doing it anymore. It's quite funny

Like it was gay already the way they interacted when they officially lived together but it was like, a necessity for them. Now it's not, Watson just comes over because he goddamn wants to, and it's hilarious to me.

LIKE IDK I THINK THEY KIND OF BROKE UP FOR A YEAR OR SO BC OF WATSON GETTING MARRIED AND THEY LIKE DONT HAVE CONTACT WITH ONE ANOTHER BUT ONE DAY WATSON JUST INEXPLICABLY HAS THE URGE TO COME VISIT SHERLOCK ON NO NOTICE AND THEN SUDDENLY THEY ARE TOGETHER NEAR 24/7 AGAIN LIKE BARELY ANYTHING CHANGED AHIEHOEWH

SIT DOWN AND TRY TO TELL ME THOSE ARE NOT HOMOSEXUALS

Watson walks in on no fucking notice after a full year and Sherlock is just. In the middle of some experiment obviously but hes like

Sherlock, carrying around unidenfiable chemical mixtures: W A T S O N you look good you look good! i see you've gained seven pounds!!

watson: uh. thanks??? Hey lol *awkwardly waves* Uh um Wanted to Uhm sEe you

Sherlock: ABOUT gODDAMN TIME AND YES WONDERFUL LOOK LOOK SIT DOWN I HAVE THINGS TO INFODUMP ABOUT

watson: :) ok :) *turns to camera* and we were back to the old days

sherlock: makes a deduction

watson: wowwwwwwwwwwww !! so true bestie !!

sherlock: !!!!!!!!! :))) !!!!! :))) uh fuck im supposed to be smooth Its Elementary Lol

watson: *turns to camera* when i stroke his ego like this and compliment him he blushes like a girl like i just complimented his dress so i do it more because he likes it. this is a homie trait

watson: well i should probably get going! my wife will notice that i am gone my dear buddy bro homie!

sherlock: NO DONT LEAVE IM LOST WITHOUT YOU (pretty much a direct quote lol) your. wife doesn't. get back home until monday. I know this because I am smart and definitely have not been stalking you.

watson: alright :)))))

AND THEN HE FUCKING SLEEPS OVER LMAO FUCKING HOMOS

So yeah they're right back where they were before pretty much and there's a case bc of course there is

And honestly I think this short story specifically was so insane mostly just because of how absolutely fast it all went. Yuumori kind of made me believe the original Irene Adler was more of an important character than she really is? And I think that's. Honestly so funny. Motherfucker shows up for ten pages, girlbosses her way around town, and changes sherlock's entire opinion of the female gender while still keeping him gay?

LIKE NO LOL SHES NOT IN ANY WAY A LOVE INTEREST AND WATSON GOES OUT OF HIS WAY TO SPECIFY THE FACT THAT IN NO WORLD WOULD THEY HAVE BEEN ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED BECAUSE. SHERLOCK. DIDN'T DATE WOMEN.

HE WAS JUST??? SO IMPRESSED AND SHELL SHOCKED BY HER EXISTENCE HE DECIDED IT WAS TIME FOR GIRLBOSS APPRECIATION DAY TODAY AND ALL DAYS HENCEFORTH???

AND THEY HAVE LIKE O N E INTERACTION?? God, the power this woman(?) has. Watson looks at her once like. damb shawty 😳 and she's like "no<3" and he's like FUCK

Like yeah it's pretty much just the king walking up like "help girl the whore is blackmailing me" and sherlock being like "ok lol this will be easy" and then it proceeded to not in fact be easy or even possible

sherlock like... posed as a dead body and tried to get her to give up the location of the photo but she out-acted him and skipped the town the next day after doing the 'good night mr. sherlock holmes' thing with sherlock completely tricked

and she just. sends a letter like "dear sherlock holmes. you're a fucking idiot and i think it's funny that you lost. nice job tho mad respect" and sherlock just SHORT CIRCUITS

the king comes back a bit later like "hey Dude where's my Photo" and sherlock's like oh yeah uhhhhhhhhhhh about that and the king is like HOW COULD IT POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN THAT GODDAMN HARD i would have dated someone more noble if she wasn't so pretty i swear im on a whole different level from her

and then. GIRLBOSSIFIED SHERLOCK HOLMES RESPONDS "from what I have seen of the lady, she seems indeed to be on a very different level from your majesty" ABSEHHESHEFHHFES ROASTED

and the dude just LEAVES

After that I read a few more of the short stories and well the highlights I got from that pretty much were these conversations

Watson: sherlock. honey. have you. eaten anything today

Sherlock: IT DIDNT OCCUR TO ME DEAR WATSON

Watson: ITS FIVE PM

and:

Sherlock: *having one of his Moment Moments at three in the goddamn mornig* GRRRR CRIME ISNT WHAT IT USED TO BE

Watson: MY DEAR SHERCOCK WHAT IS CRIME S U P P O S E D TO BE LIKE ACCORDING TO YOU

Sherlock: no one's original anymore fucking copycats

Watson: so you want the criminals to make things harder for you specifically.

Sherlock, exasperated: yes!

I love them your honor.

[autie-j]

Webby is autistic headcanon

From the moment that I first started watching Ducktales back in November 2019 I got serious autistic vibes from Webby. And on my initial watch of the series I decided to take it upon myself to record every bit of evidence that I found throughout the series. I don’t think I have ever had such a strong autistic headcanon before.

There's:

In the first episode she misses the social cue that Louie is lying to Donald. Louie: "Hey, Uncle Donald. Nope, yeah, pretty boring. We napped, rubbed ointment on our joints. Old people stuff." Webby: "Oh, no no what?! What about the dragon? And the plane crash?"

Literally the entirety of 'Daytrip of Doom' but specifically the free water cup scene. Webby: "I was hoping you could hook me up with one of those free water cups, you know for fruit punch." Waitress: "you suuure you don't want it for water?" Webby: "Yes for water, fruity water that really packs a punch, am I right? (Winks with both eyes)" Waitress: "I...I don't know." Webby: "I mean fruit punch" and then not understanding Louie's hand gestures.

This scene:

In 'The Beagle Boys Massacre' Webby shows she has trouble recognizing sarcasm. Lena: "Real smooth moves back there." Webby: "Ha! Thanks! Wait, was that sarcastic?" Lena: "Nope." Webby: "Ha! Thanks! Wait was that-" (also the most relatable dialogue I've ever heard. I've had that conversation like a million times in my life)

In 'The Beagle Birthday Massacre' Dewey: "I don't know what any of that means." Webby: "Now you know how I feel half the time!" which like mood

Special interest in Scrooge McDuck, the supernatural, survival, treasure hunting, etc

Very rule oriented. In Jaw$ she says "are you excited for our sleepover? We're gonna brush our teeth, go to bed on time"

Infodumps a lot about her spins. In Jaw$ she tells Lena without prompting "did you know there's a military grade tuck in that's also used as an interrogation technique?"

"I've read online that the number one sleepover activity is-" she researches what to do in social events.

Doesn't realize how uncomfortable she's making Scrooge when she says she knows everything about him in "From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22" and that scene where she just stares at him while he drinks his tea. And just the entirety of that scene where she's talking to Scrooge as he drinks his tea.

And she definitely has issues with personal space as evidenced by the bus scene and this scene

In the Ducktales short Dewey Dew Night: The Sidekick, Dewey says "So you were telling me about something funny that happened in the cursed antiquities room today?" Webby: "No I wasn't, I just got here" Dewey: "No no, earlier. Before the show when we talked about what you would talk about on the show." Webby: "oh right, and you told me to mention that funny thing you said when I accidentally mislabeled an artifact and you said-." Proving that Webby definitely has a tendency to take things literally.

In the Ducktales short "30 Things with Webby Vanderquack", in her list of things she loves to do Webby lists, "laughing, even if I don't get the joke", confirming that she often doesn't get the jokes other people make (it happens often enough for her to comment on it). Also, not getting the joke but laughing along anyway is so relatable

Also in the Ducktales short Webby reacts, Webby shows that she takes things literally when in the Andy Mack video the one character asks the other character to be a couple and Webby responds, “A couple of what?” Also in the same video she says “Awkward like Webby. Oh that’s me” which like relatable

Yup, definitely a spin on Scrooge McDuck. In The Other Money Bin of Scrooge McDuck- Lena: "Its just, Mr. McDuck is pretty cool. I may have caught a bit of the obsession bug from you." Webby: "oh no! Sorry you caught the greatest disease ever! Oh, oh, let's start a fan club!" And she researches her spins extensively and tends to info dump about them. In the same episode- Webby: "But I do have an exhaustively researched presentation on the life and times of Scrooge McDuck!" Lena: "Oh no." Webby: "Scotland 1867, a duckling was hatched to humble beginnings." To which Lena sighs and looks bored. And then the episode cuts to Huey Dewey and Louie and by the time it cuts back Webby is still infodumping about Scrooge and Lena has fallen asleep.

Webby's face when she finds out Castle McDuck holds the secrets for all things Scrooge McDuck which is her spin. And Dewey describes it as a joy overload.

In The Last Crash of the Sunchaser, when Hewey, Dewey, and Louie are trying to act casual and whistling, instead of playing along like they are Webby looks awkward and says, "inconspicuous whistling, just a casual whistle."

In "The Golden Spear" Webby misses the social cue that Huey doesn't want want Donald to know about the tape they're going to watch.

The episode "Friendship Hates Magic" shows another example of Webby having routines. Lena is able to predict everything that Webby is about to do and say, implying that she does the same exact thing every time she visits the library. Lena even says later "sorry she's got a library day routine"

Also Webby says "Hi, I'm Webby so often that I'm convinced it's a script that she's practiced for when she meets new people.

When Webby is trying to think of what other kids like to do and she says, "What do normal kids like? Games! And pie!"

Doesn't recognize/understand when Fenton is flirting with Gandra while Huey does. Misses the social cue. Webby: "Are they fighting?" Huey: "Oh Webby, this is a standard romantic meeting of adults, often known as a meet cute."

She also definitely has hyper empathy as evidenced throughout the series but definitely with how she reacts when Lena reunites with the triplets. 

[shippedwithmonsters]

Okay, so I'll start with Sophie.

(The actual gushing starts after a hearty bit of expository infodumping; read at your discretion)

I call her "Sophie" because her name is Sophia in the set of characters she was previously grouped with —

(Here's the complicated origin bit: She was originally based on a similar character in my current 'verse, but I imported her design into what amounts to a highly customizable girlfriend-themed paper doll/dress-up app, and I've been steadily creating new characters based on my now 7 designs there over the past 6 years, but I wasn't sure how to re-integrate Sophie into the 'verse she originally came from because out of all of them she was the only one who started there. Actually, if I'm gonna get really meta, I made an avatar for her on the app because she's always been the character I was most attracted to, but I felt weird thinking of her that way because I already designed a canon love interest for her, and even though he's technically also an S/I, he's like an idealized version of me that I have trouble relating to... ...but after exploring self-shipping in the past few months, I figured out how to incorporate her back into my main 'verse as a new character, and while I've had a version of her on the app for a while now, I'm so happy to have her back in-universe in a form my current, more-relatable S/I can interact with.)

—in this 'verse I haven't fully decided on her name, but she's probably "Galatea" (because out of all the designs that in-universe are creations loved so much by their creator that they were given life, she's the one who the name's literal translation best applies to i.e. "milk-white").

She's pretty much my ideal person, if I had to pick only one person. (I may or may not be considered polyamorous; it's more that I've long doubted I'll ever find one person who is simultaneously all the personality types I'm into. Irl I've only loved once and... ...it didn't work out.)

She's a lot like me, personality-wise (devoted, meticulous, and simultaneously hard-wired for logic and overwhelmed by feelings, et al) because on some level that's really the only kind of person that would work for me, so I designed her that way.

Visually, she's slightly taller than me (although about the same height as my S/I) She's pale white like bone or marble with at least waist length black hair and deep indigo eyes (again several of these traits she shares with my S/I, reflecting the above "like me" aspect.

Oh, and she's kind of a vampire? It's more accurate to say she was modeled with all the same traits as my 'verse's vampires (claw nails included) but like all of my other F/O's she's a mineral construct themed after a sea creature, in her case a Vampire Squid. Because of course. Mineral-wise I'm toying with making her diamond because Twilight was a big thing for me back in the day, but she's less sparky vampire and more cold dense statue physiology vampire.

Ok so ^this is why I asked for time 🙃

Now to actually gush about her 😳

-I could stare into her eyes for hours. Days even.

-She knows this, and stares at me when she wants attention.

-In one particular instance, she was ready to go to bed, but I was staying up to work on something, so she basically said "don't mind me, I'll just be sitting here enjoying the view until you're ready"

-The reason for this is because she can't sleep without me. Sometimes she just stays up because "vampires watching their partner sleep" tendencies run deep, but when she feels tired, she likes to lay on top of me and listen to my heartbeat, gaze into my eyes, let me hold her tight and stroke her hair, etc, until she feels safe enough to drift off, and with the weight of her body pressing me into the bed it doesn't take long for me to follow.

-You might be asking, "wait, didn't you say she was cold and stone-like?" Yep!

-Because of this, before bed, we get to engage in a couple of my other favorite rituals- bathing and massages touch-starvation.

-Here's the fun part: because she's like me, she simultaneously prefers giving to receiving affection (like your vampire boy if I recall correctly) and willing consents to receiving said affection because she knows I feel the same way, and vice versa. So we take turns.

-Bathing together so she's warm and slippery, and washing each other's hair because it drives us both wild...

-Exploring each other's bodies (I love her shoulder blades) and leaving the other barely coherent from the sensuality, then carrying them bridal-style off to bed... (I feel so safe cradled in her arms 😳 and then she straddles me...)

-So since her physiology is stone-like, while she's initially cold, she retains heat. So when it's cold, after a hot bath, she keeps me warm all night... (and of course she can be a more traditional cold-to-the-touch vampire during warmer weather etc)

-Ok ok one more thing, and then I'll gush about someone else. Since we both love giving affection, one of our shared passions is taking care of my (/our) other F/O Nettie. I'll get back to her, but regardless of the fact that this version of her is wildly different than her original concept, either way she's an athletic/tomboy type who overexerts herself, and Sophie and I take one look at our tired and sweaty girlfriend, nod at each other, then scoop her off her feet and carry her off to be pampered senseless in many of the same activities mentioned above.

...yeah I really went overboard I just love her so much. Small endnote: a lot of the imagines I write are about Sophie, and part of the reason I described her above interacting with me rather than my S/I is because those imagines are set somewhere between the 'verse I'm currently writing and the app I designed her on. Because I love imagining soft domestic stuff with her but there's slightly less room for that in my canon, so in a sense I really do self-ship with her out-of-context as if she was a more traditional F/O rather than the OC F/O she is. Sorry if any if this is too dense or complicated but feel free to ask for clarifications and stay tuned for more gushing 😊

Definitely no way I can completely comprehend all this tonight, but thank you for telling me about Sophie! I am curious, what dress up app do you use? All the ones I used to use to make my characters died when Flash died. :(

Okay, actually I did read the whole thing and umm I loves? Sophie sounds amazing! And goodness, what is it about falling asleep with vampires that's so darn appealing? rofl.

Thank you for all this! It honestly made me really happy to read!

[the-dc-killjoy]

4x12 - Old Souls

Wynonna Earp's over. I'll do pretty much anything to get another season, but shows (not that I think that this show could ever get to that point. id still love WE even if it turned into whatever Grey's Anatomy's doing rn) shouldn't overstay their welcome. If this is the end, than it was a damn fine ending!

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The cute.

I've been watching Martina sing since I was 11 years old, and it still puts a smile on my face. Rachel was iconic as always, and I'm gonna miss the most recent addition to the Earp family. I can just imagine the chaos of her, her not really but kind of boyfriend, and Randy Nedley on a tiny boat in the middle of nowhere. Poor Nedley. Let's hope Chrissy remains the only one of his many daughter figures to catch mono.

Speaking of mononucleosis- that's such an awful transition that i'm keeping it, I believe that Wayhaught has officially christened the entire homestead. Bedroom, The Stairs, kitchen floor, barn- short of just going to pound town (i'm not getting any better with sex references tonight. am i) in a patch of grass outside, they've got everything covered. Or nothing covered if you know what i mean. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Am I getting better now?

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The random.

Nedley walking Nicole down the isle, Wynonna walking Waverly down the isle, Doc being Waverly's best man, and Wynonna being Nicole's best friend (no she will not take a secondary title. best friend will go on her tombstone)- sigh, i'm so gay. i can't really explain what that has to do with these circumstances, but i am and this makes me happy. Rachel and Nedley (and Billy was there somewhere right?) being the only people in attendance made this the perfect pandemic wedding even though there wasn't actually a pandemic in Earp land. I was the living embodiment of the pleading face emoji when they panned over the chairs. Doll's chair hurt me. like deeply. like i'm still suffering. there aren't words. fuck, i miss him.

On a lighter note, Waverly said fuck (like eight times)!!! She technically said it already, but chainsmoking-angelic possession doesn't count, right?

I'm glad that Jeremy has this new thing with Damon, but I kinda wish things had worked out with him and Robin. He officiated a wedding, got promoted, and got a handsome date in one afternoon, so I can't be too sad about his adorable self.

Charlotte Sullivan, the jilted dress shop owner/witch, played one of the earliest (in my knowledge at least. this show was my brother's thing not mine) representation of a bi woman in Canadian media. I don't know too much about her Rookie Blue character, but if you can have tolerated the will-they-wont-they, end of the world romance of the main character's kinda mediocre relationships for a couple more seasons, I'm sure you'll find out! By the nature of Canada having 16.87 actors in total, I tend to see a lot of overlap, and I have to infodump about that somewhere. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Earping callbacks! Wynonna's truck, her motorcycle, the bullet proof vest, Nedley and Nicole's father-daughter thing, Waverly never saying the f-word (and subverting that), i'm all in, even Rachel always being stuck with juice while the adults are drinking- perfect! We had a little bit of the usual supernatural insanity, but this episode was wall to wall fanservice, and it was perfectly in-character fanservice. That's the way to go! It didn't feel forced or awkward and the edited mailbox will make me tear up on rewatch

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The relationship. (aka i wanna talk about wyndoc and had no outline when i started this thing)

The Wyndoc goodbye was beautiful. I'm not into the whole you need one person to complete you kinda thing, but the implication that it didn't have to be romantic (implying that Wynonna's person was Waverly) was great. I felt that the scene worked perfectly, and might have been fine leaving it there if there was another season clearly on the horizon. With the fact that this was the series finale (i sighed so hard typing that. my poor lungs), I'm glad that they got their own happy ending.

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The analysis.

Nicole's and Wynonna's as individual characters mirror each other in so many ways, but I'm just gonna wax poetic about one: their relationship with the GRT. Wynonna was hurt by the town, badly. She grew up with a steady stream of shitty adults and a few who told her to shake the demons out of her head and embraced the tough love mantra. It made a lot of sense that she left as an adult. Waverly was most likely the only reason she didn't skip town before that.

Nicole had a negative integer of adult role models in her life, with the murdered aunt and uncle and the whatever-the-fuck her parents were trying to be. Sure, a little trip to the Ghost River Triangle left her with trauma that she spent a lifetime repressing, but what's a little surviving a massacre under the six year old girl bridge. Am I right?

In their early lives, these characters had nothing but negative experiences in the aptly named town of Purgatory. Wynonna was drawn back into town by Curtis' letter just in time for her 27th birthday, and Nedley applied for Nicole to start working as a cop. Neither of them directly chose to come back to the Ghost River Triangle, but both of them did have the final say.

Wynonna decided pretty early on that she was going to stay no matter what. She already abandoned her sister once. How could she do it again with all of these monsters lurking in the shadows. As time went on, her circle of people expanded, but Waverly has always been the person that fight through hell and high water for. Even when fighting wasn't necessary, when it hurt her much more than it helped anything, she did it anyways because it was the only thing she could do to protect her sister. Wynonna thought it was the only thing she could do at all. This entire season, she's been fighting a war with herself, and her leaving, Waverly telling her that it was okay to leave, was the first time that took a break, took a breath since she arrived in Purgatory on her 27th birthday. Her child and the man she loves are out in the world, but she will be back with them at her side. Maybe after a quick road trip, maybe after a few years, but she will be back.

Nicole spent a majority of season 1 and 2 feeling like an outsider. Season 3 came with the realization that these people were her family and the Ghost River Triangle was her home. Early season 4 kinda shat all over that, oops. The rest of this season has been her finding her footing again. Nicole was a wandering soul, but she voluntarily staked herself to the land, vowing to protect it and the people within its borders for the rest of her life without the ability to leave, and she doesn't regret it. Her wife, her family, her people are all in this one not-so-sleepy Canadian town.

Nicole found her place, after a lifetime of searching, and Wynonna left, temporarily, after a lifetime of feeling trapped. They might seem like opposites, but both women call the same place home.

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Originally, I watched this show was to cope with the ending of Agents of SHIELD (which I kind of used to cope with the ending of Killjoys, which featured Emily Andras as a writer in season 1 and has near identical humor, found family, and a healthy serving of gay and wow this is turning into a bit of advertisement isn't it), but it wormed its way into my heart. I've never quite seen a show like this. Never seemed interested in a western, even a sci-fi western. Never saw the gay couple reach OTP status both in fandom and canon. I've never seen so many fan conventions dedicated to just one show. I usually stay for just one character (and Wynonna has become one of my all time favorite characters), but I find myself connecting with so many of the beautiful people being brought to life on my screen. Wynonna, Waverly, Nicole, Rachel, Dolls, Jeremy, Doc, Nedley and so many other hilarious and heartbreaking characters make this show, and every single human who played a part in this self-proclaimed shitshow deserves a round of applause and a swig of whiskey.

The end.

[mikiruma]

I'M CLOSING TWITTER FOR THE NIGHT JESUS CHRIST ANYWAY I'M JUST GONNA INFODUMP UNDER THE CUT BECAUSE I'M GOING APE

HI I SPENT ALL DAY WANTING TO/STARTING TO WATCH TOTAL DRAMA SEASONS 4 AND 5 BECAUSE I WANTED TO SEE MIKE&.... AND MOOMOO DECIDED TO WATCH WITH ME BECAUSE THEY BINGED TDI SOMEWHAT RECENTLY..... AND IT TURNED INTO ME PERIODICALLY PAUSING TO TALK ABOUT OUR OWN SYSTEM AND COMPARING MIKE&'S WITH OURS SO AN 8 HOUR EVENT TURNED INTO AN ALMOST (CHECKS TIME) 12 HOUR ONE..... they went to bed a while ago so i'm finishing s5 by myself.... and it was cool because i know now they're wanting to get to know the others and ask questions and be involved(!!!!) BUT ALSO i know mike& in general is a controversial character.... but as someone who sort of relates to the internal conflict in a weird way or has this being our first time witnessing someone with DID have their alters identities respected and not being treated like a complete weirdo for being plural... i mean there's the mistreatment a la chris and scott triggering a switch intentionally to help himself in a competition.... but other than that!!! and the ending to s5 which i have not reached but spoiled myself with because i wanted to know what i was getting into before i started!!!! i'm legit falling in love with these guys and want to see them go places and it makes me appreciate the one fanwork i've seen rewriting them a bit even MORE...... also i know mal is the most stereotypical/worst rep of anything, for having a persecutor and knowing their roles i SHOULD be saying it's a little singlet bait-y and knowing they added him in the story as the main villain because they knew that's what people would have wanted to see instead of a system achieving healthy functional plurality.... but he reminds me a lot of our persecutor and how they acted back in the day, we haven't entirely patched up and they still have stumbling blocks sometimes but after getting to know them and realizing they're acting in good faith (even if the good faith is spelled out with self-sabotage), i just have a feeling maybe i need to psychoanalyze mal. ESPECIALLY because of mike (and to an extent the show) treating his headmates like EXTRAS instead as other fully fleshed people (at least in s4, though they got their moments to talk to each other and cooperate) and taking control/acting like the others were getting in his way of *his life*.... and mal being the host before but being locked away and having to force his way out and rule with an iron fist before he was given any mind.... that guy needs a hug. and everyone else (MIKE ESPECIALLY) may need to learn how to communicate better. mal just needs to feel important and get attention when he's doing things that AREN'T being mean or acting out.... also i think i just want to give mal a hug in general. not saying mike is the real villain of s5 but i AM saying when he was working with everyone to overthrow mal, they were very clear that mike being in charge, while better, was still not the best because they get pushed aside and not taken seriously.... so i think if they just went to therapy or TALKED TO EACH OTHER (I KNOW THEY CAN!!!! THEY HAVE A HEADSPACE THEY HANG OUT IN!!!!! IF MIKE WAS ONLY ABLE TO ACCESS IT BY THE COMPETITION NOW'S A GOOD TIME TO GET YOUR WORDS IN!!!!!) then it would have been a MILES better solution than. PERMANENT INTEGRATION AND CHOOSING TO CURE THEIR OWN DISORDER ALL BY THEMSELVES WITH NO HELP BY PUSHING A BUTTON IN THEIR BRAIN JUST TO GET RID OF ONE GUY THEY DIDN'T WANT TO TALK TO!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my god also i just want to mention i know svetlana was trying to be nice and encouraging saying they needed mike because he's better at some things than some of the other headmates but..... that coupling with the integration...... kind of hammers it in that everyone sees themselves as "extra" :( it makes me want to be more conscious of how i think/talk about OUR headmates because i want to try and make everyone feel welcome and valid.....

anyway sorry for the text wall i just love these guys so much but i HATE THE WRITING and i'm stalling finishing the s5 finale because i know they're going to do it and it's going to piss me off so much and i love ALL of them and want them to be ok..... it's hard for me to criticize much else because i can see us a lot in these guys and how things run.... and i'm disappointed they didn't show much else of mike& purely because i was watching the seasons just for them so everything else felt like filler.... IT WAS ENTERTAINING I JUST.... want to see more of them but WITH THE CORRECT DIAGNOSTIC NAME AND SEVERAL THERAPY TRIPS LATER LOL.....

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edit: finished!!! SO! mal admitting he was pushing people away so they didn't have the chance to hurt them first. the others saying integration wasnt getting RID of anyone, just making them a fuller singular person. GUYS I'M SOBBING.... i KNEW mal was doing the typical persecutor song and dance but with the way he even threw around his baggage like it was NOTHING. still upset at the integration since everyone was more willing to cease existing as they were altogether just so mal wouldn't be the host.... it breaks my heart.... ALSO I'M STILL OVER THE MOON ABOUT GIVING THEM A HEADSPACE AND THE LITTLE DETAILS IN THERE!!!! i legit don't know any other media featuring systems that INCLUDED that!!!!! god y'all the end of the system era was pretty disappointing but it just made me think of the guys i'm living with. i know i wasn't a perfect host and was definitely a control freak when i first discovered i was part of them, and every day i try to make that right.... so this just reminded me of those times in awareness infancy where i was like. ok but i'm the one who fronts the most so i must be the real one!!! obviously not true anymore because julian's the host now, i mean i'm still real but knowing that logic is pretty busted... hehehe.... even realizing i was only the host for a handful of years up to that point was a shock!!! but retroactively trying to work things through with everyone and getting us to a functional place despite not being able to see a therapist about it yet... this was weirdly heartwarming in a way? seeing the headmates in their natural habitat, just chilling. seeing them get into internal conflict. dissociation periods used as windows into their mind. mike starting as insisting he was the one in control and who SHOULD be in control, even willing to abandon everyone for zoey, but going to being the least willing to integrate because he would miss everyone and valued their existence.... i know they can only fit so much development in 20 min episodes of a show thats supposed to focus on multiple people (non-systems at least) so i think their story was cramped in that aspect, but if it were a more serious non-reality show focusing more on mike& in general it would have been WAY smoother. but like. i understand the shorthand and can see the allusions and whatnot. i know what they were trying to do. and i LOVE it. it's not perfect but this is the first time i watched something in a good while that felt like it encapsulated ANYTHING close to my personal experiences being in a system and being the disgruntled host, and seeing a little bit of my closest comrades in mike's headmates was just icing on the cake. :) i think the only thing i would have liked better was if instead of an integration they either agreed to work together and be more functional/rehabilitate mal, or if someone new split entirely to act as the mediator.. idk total drama is pretty stressful!! it's the right environment for it!!! and especially the inner system conflict!!! i don't know i think after all that, they needed someone to be the impartial third party to help settle conflicts and junk... just my onion though