#but anyway yeah this whole thing is starting to bleed into other parts of my life and it’s not good

[diaz-fox]

had a bad few days bc i’m going to a festival w my friends (who kinda suck) next week and it always ends up being an absolutely horrible time for various reasons (it’s also the fifth anniversary of my dad dying next weekend but i’m trying not to think about that lmao) but i’ve been overthinking it and stressing about things that haven’t even happened yet and i think i need to try and change my mindset going into it bc like ???? if i go into this thing already writing it off as Something Bad then it actually will be something bad y’know?

[himbosandhardwear]

Steddie I Soulmate AU I 2k I Rated Mature I idiot4idiot

The thing about linking with your soulmate, you never knew when it was going to happen. There were horror stories about it happening during weddings to someone else or while performing heart surgery or landing a plane, but linking was so rare, stories like that seemed more like fairy tales than cautionary ones.

If anyone had asked Eddie what he thought about it, he would've said the odds of there being some guy out there destined to be his mate, let alone that he'd have to worry about linking during some critical moment, were astronomically low.

He'd be wrong.

Because his ears are ringing, his vision has tunnelled, and there's an empty vacuum where his usual chaotic thoughts should be. All signs pointing toward-

Hello?

Jesus H. Christ, not now! Not right now, this cannot be happening now. Quick! Think of something else! Uhhh… Golems! Ice golems! Or maybe frost giants. Yeah! Not having hate sex with your arch nemesis. Shit! Stop thinking about it! Frost giants, frost giants, frost giants!

Hate sex? He hears echo around his noggin next. Arch nemesis?

Fuuuuuck. No, darlin’, don't even worry about that stray thought! Nothing to see here. I'm, uh, baking! Yeah. Brownies. For a charity bake sale

A long pause, empty space between them, before he says, I don't believe you. I think you are having sex

Sex?! He screeches. How dare you! I would never!

You would. Go balls deep into a guy you don't even like, sounds like to me. Class act.

Oh god, there’s gotta be a way to salvage this.

No, let me explain, please!

Knock yourself out

Right. So, this guy, I know him from school, right? And he was always kind of a jerk. The space between them pings with a sort of stung feeling but Eddie doesn't understand how any of this works yet so he ignores it. But we end up having a few mutual friends, and this one really weird event happens that forces us to, like, team up, I guess. After all that I'm spending more time around the guy and he's not so bad. Invited me over to smoke up with him, which was cool. I'm gonna be totally honest, I'm not sure how exactly we got here, the sex part, but it’s pretty hot and heavy, kinda aggressive, so… yeah. Hate sex I guess

Soulmate is quiet again. His feelings bleed through anyway, at least Eddie's pretty sure that's what he's getting. It feels like embarrassment and disappointment.

You okay? Did I scare you off?

You don't like the guy at all? You said arch nemesis

Oh. Uh. Well… How did he explain to his future partner, if he hadn't already ruined it, that he likes him plenty, he's just been holding him at arms length, metaphorically, because he assumed the guy was straight? Up until roughly twenty minutes ago. He should probably start with honesty.

No, I like him okay. He's not as bad as I'd always thought. We give each other shit but I'm pretty sure it's just left over bullshit stereotypes from high school. I bully him about his music taste, he bullies me about my shitty van. That type of thing

…Right

He waits to hear back from his soulmate but he's not very talkative. That's okay, Eddie can talk enough for both of them.

So, what were you up to when we linked? Not driving I hope

He can hear the guy sighing over the link, which is worrying.

You'll never believe it, but I'm also having sex at the moment

Seriously? That's hilarious

Yeah. A hoot

Not having fun?

I was. But I recently found out the guy doesn't like me that much. So, yeah, real mood killer

Oh man. That sucks

Oh my god. Yeah, it really does. Kinda wish he'd get off of me so we can get the awkward part over with but he's distracted at the moment

Doing what?! Eddie yells, offended on his behalf.

“He’s busy not realizing he linked to the guy he was hate fucking.”

Huh?

“Eddie, open your fucking eyes.”

That's Steve talking.

He blinks his eyes open to see Steve looking up at him. He's not pleased.

Wait

“Yeah.”

Oh my god

“As impressive as it is that you managed to stay hard through that whole thing, I'd appreciate it if you-” He hisses as Eddie, rudely he realizes, pulls out without warning.

He scrambles to the end of the bed, bunching up the comforter around his junk. “I'm so sorry, fuck, Steve, I'm so sorry. I don't… I didn't…”

He can't fix this, he starts to slowly comprehend. He's made Steve think he hates him.

“Nah, it's cool. I get it.”

I don't hate you, I swear. You have to believe me

“Sure, Eddie.” He's yanking his briefs back on, angry and trying not to show it. “You just don't like me much.” Can't believe I did this again. So fucking stupid

Eddie's certain he's not meant to hear any of that but he responds anyway.

You're not stupid. Please let me explain

“You already did. And I am fucking stupid,” he snaps. “Here I thought we were flirting this whole time and you thought we were bullying each other. That's real fuckin’ stupid of me. I'd convinced myself you actually-” He snaps his teeth shut but Eddie can still hear the unfinished -liked me. “I really wish you would control your feelings, dude. You're broadcasting your horror straight into my head.”

“I don't know how to stop,” he quietly admits.

“Well if you'd ever shown up to health class you'd know how to control it.”

I never thought I would get a soulmate

Steve's surprise at that pings around his brain before he does what Eddie can't and shuts it down.

“I did. I've been thinking about it for years.”

And you ended up with me… And I ruined it before we even got started. I ruined it. Steve Harrington is my soulmate and I ruined it. What the fuck

“You don't have to say it like I'm some kind of prize.” He steps into his jeans and tugs them back up to his hips, not even bothering to do them up. Which is- “I guess it's nice that you think I'm hot. That's something. Maybe we'll be the first casual hookup soulmates.”

He has to fix this. Somehow. Think, god damnit! Wait! That's it! He just has to show Steve what he's thinking!

“I wish you wouldn't.”

“Too bad!” He snaps back.

Okay, as embarrassing as this is about to be, he has to tell the truth.

Eddie was in the 8th grade, Steve in 7th, when they first met. Or, when Eddie first noticed Steve anyway, they never really spoke to each other, their cliques already established by then. But Eddie can remember it like it was yesterday. It was lunch, Eddie was walking by with his bagged PB&J, when he heard it. Steve laughing. It was so joyful, Eddie didn't even know what he was laughing about but it made him smile anyway. Of course one of Steve's shitty jock friends caught him staring and called him a queer freak but that wasn't unusual.

“What the fuck, Eddie? Why do you remember that? And how are you so good at visualizing?”

He ignores the questions to move on to the next memory. Eddie's sophomore year they somehow ended up in the same Shop class. Again, they never spoke but he got to watch Steve work, tongue poking out while he concentrated, the proud look on his face when he whittled some hunk of wood into a recognisable shape.

“I forgot about that. It was a dolphin. I was dating Chelsea Hosteller, they were her favorite animal.”

“Lucky her.”

“Hey, fuck you, man, you're the one showing me this shit! What am I supposed to assume from any of this? You thought I was cute? So what? You clearly don't like who I am as a person, so what difference does it make?”

He's not going to have the patience for every single moment, and they're a lot of them, Eddie realizes that now. So he speed runs through them, making sure to send every bit of feeling through their link.

Steve in his Scoops outfit, luring Eddie to the mall but never making him brave enough to go in. The horror of not knowing whether Steve was alive or dead when he heard about the mall burning down. The joy of finding him at Family Video, somewhere he had reason to visit.

You never even talked to me there

Listening to every word to every story Henderson told him about Steve and his bravery. Pretending to be annoyed so no one noticed he was eating it up. Getting to know the real Steve over Spring Break, the giddiness he couldn't quite tamp down, even as he was scared shitless. The pain of knowing Steve was still in love with Nancy Wheeler, even though it was the obvious narrative to Steve's fairytale life. Of course he gets the girl at the end.

What? Is that why you-

The way he stuck around afterward, even though their dynamic was more antagonistic than friendly, and the way Eddie thrived off of every snarky comment. How it felt like banter even though Eddie knew, by all logic and reason, Steve was merely tolerating his presence. They would always be antithetical to each other, circling but never meeting.

Eddie, no

Steve growling ‘Do you ever shut up!’ before pouncing on him downstairs. The heavy pounding of his heart as he wrestled Steve up the stairs. The way his brain never did catch up to what was happening or why, until it was too late, and he was ruining both the greatest sex he'd ever had and also the chance to prove, though he's still completely unworthy, that he has already been primed and ready to fall for Steve for years. The shame of ruining it. The heartbreak of ruining it. The teeny, tiny spark of hope as Steve stares him down. He has to close his eyes to avoid it, lest he say something stupid and fuck it up again.

You…do like me?

Yeah, Stevie. I like you a whole lot. I just didn't think I was allowed to like you. I didn't realize you liked me too. I'm sorry I said all that shit earlier. I didn't want to tell the guy I'd just linked with that I was thoroughly enjoying the chance to sleep with this guy I'd had a crush on for years. That seemed rude

The bed dips and so does Eddie's stomach. Steve's enormous hands slide up his neck, into his hair, and gently cradle his face as he leans in to kiss Eddie square on the mouth.

Oh. Hi

Hi

This is nice

I think so too. How do you feel about finishing what we started but this time we both know that we like each other?

That sounds awesome. But are you sure? I really, really fucked up the first time

I thought you were perfect up until you called me your arch nemesis

I have been told that sometimes I'm a little dramatic

You know what, that's fair. I really should've taken that as a compliment, if anything

See? Now you get it

What I'm getting is another condom. Hold my ankle so I don't slide off the bed

You got it, baby

Unbelievable. Salvaged the wreckage of his own stupidity and managed to bag the hottest guy in town! Score one for the nerds!

“I heard that.”

[story-island]

Shot From Above (Simon Riley X Fem Reader)

A/N: Hey everyone! I wrote this one as a longer piece, I might post a part two or the other half might just end up as a whole separate work, because it could be. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Summary: You and Ghost are on the tail end of a convoy and get shot from above by helicopter. Forcing you and Ghost to get a little closer. Super fluffy aside from descriptions of gun fighting.

Warnings: Descriptions of being shot at, Car roll over, Explosions, Swearing

Word Count: 2.6K

"Ghost, we got birds!" you said to the man sitting passenger to you.

"I see that Birdie, weird being on the other side?" he asked calmly as you drove, avoiding RPG shots as you went.

"Yeah, it fucking sucks" you replied, still keeping your eyes on the road and bird.

You were known to be on one of the best helicopter support teams, so being at the receiving end of chopper fire was new to you.

"Can you get a shot on it?" you asked annoyed that he hadn't even looked out to see it better.

"No, my rounds won't make it that high and still damage enough."

Your mind was reeling, you needed to feel in control of something, everything was up in the air, and you were narrowly avoiding the shots at this point.

"Fuck okay, when they get in range, the tail is your best shot, it might spiral out of control with enough rounds." you said, feeling your anxiety grab you tighter.

"When did you start out-ranking me?" Ghost asked with only a small bit of anger in his voice.

"Um . . I don't sir"

"Then you don't tell me where to put my bullets do you"

"No sir, sorry sir, won't happen again" you said, through a voice crack.

"Don't be sorry, do better." He said coldly.

"Yes sir."

The rockets were getting closer and closer, and you were running out of road and ideas, but the silence that fell in the cab made it a little easier. That was until you miss calculated when you needed to punch it to get out of range. It was a simple mistake that anyone could have made, but it was enough to put you in some deep shit.

In a flash the front of your truck was hit, forcing you to go straight into a series of rolls. You ended up somewhere off the road, mind fuzzy and vision blurry you moved to unbuckle yourself quickly. Noticing that you were the only one in the car. Once you fell to the roof of the vehicle you knew you only had moments to kick out the glass and run for your life. But fuck did it hurt to move, you were banged up pretty bad.

Moving yourself, screaming as you kicked as hard as possible against the glass. It broke the first try, and before you could crawl out, a strong hand was pulling you out by your leg. Ghost had obviously fared better, being able to pull you up in a flash.

"Tree cover" he half yelled, forcing both of you into an all-out sprint.

Not five seconds after you made it away from the truck it exploded, almost pushing you to the ground. Still hearing shots from above, you weren't sure if they would follow you or go after the rest of your convoy. You hoped that you toyed with the Helo long enough for everyone to split up and find their own ways back to base.

"You good?" Ghost asked, breaking the silence before slowing down to a jog for your sake.

"Yeah" you said, breathlessly, thankful he slowed down a bit.

"Your bleeding" he commented, seeing a pretty nasty looking cut on your head.

"Yeah" you responded.

He caught how distant you were with the response, so instead Ghost changed the subject.

"Safe house is three miles out, keep up" he said.

"Sure thing L.T." you said, as he pushed back into a run, slightly slower than before.

The majority of the run was quiet, you were focused on the pain you were feeling, trying to push through. However, at some point you spoke up to thank Ghost for saving you.

"Thank you for getting me out, and not just leaving me in the truck" you said, breathily.

Ghost didn't respond with more than a nod in your direction. He heard you.

You weren't more than five minutes out from Ghost's safe house, but you were getting tired, and the pain was still draining you piece by piece. Eventually though you came to a small one-story building in a big clearing on a hill. It was a nice little place, with great advantage points in case of ambush.

"We stay here for the night," Ghost said, hoping through a window.

This time it was your turn not to respond, just following him into the building.

"Since you'll be up taking care of that nasty thing, why don't you take first watch." he said, dropping some of his gear in a room he seemed to claim.

"Yes sir" you stated, annoyed at him, he must be punishing you at this point.

"I'll be sleeping, wake me when you get too tired." he said, hating how silent you were.

Dropping some of your stuff you went to get a med kit and a mirror. Settling in a room with two windows that looked different ways you got comfortable. Taking a moment to take care of yourself you held the mirror up and saw how bad it looked. It was large, but not as deep as it could be. Didn't need stitches, Ghost wouldn't have made you run if it was that serious. So, you cleaned up the dried blood from your face before bandaging it for a little so it could start healing.

You were determined to have the bandage off before you went back, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. But for now, you would keep it as clean as possible. When you were done, and the med pack was put back together you finally settled in for a long night of being hard on yourself.

Being a naturally anxious person made quiet nights like this hell, having just got in trouble in the past few hours. You escaped into your mind, trying to figure out how to be better as Ghost suggested. Though it might be extreme to some you decided the best way to stop today's event from repeating was to start being quieter. The messed-up logic being that if you don't speak as much you won't accidentally order your superiors around.

You also figured it best to stay on watch for as long as possible, not wanting to meet a cranky Ghost. So, the night fell, and you watched. At some point you saw it getting lighter out, realizing it was daytime you lost any hope of getting sleep. Watching the horizon, you failed to notice the massive, but quiet Ghost behind you.

"It's morning, why didn't you wake me?" he asked, with an edge to his tone.

"I never got that tired." you lied, barely keeping a yawn in.

"Don't lie to me" he warned, stepping closer, now only a little more than a foot separating the two of you.

You didn't respond.

"Jesus Christ Y/N I am not punishing you, fucking nine hours on watch is too much when there are two of us. We talked about this not even a month ago, four-hour shifts and you wake me up." He stated, anger radiating off his body, but it didn't seem to be directed all at you.

"What do you want me to do then" you asked, looking for some way to fix the mess you were in.

"Go sleep" He ordered.

"Yes sir," you said, gathering your shit and leaving the room.

It didn't take a genius to see how tired you really were, beating yourself up in your mind all night. Finding the bed Ghost had slept in you collapsed and fell asleep in seconds. Not even bothering with the blankets. But it didn't matter because you were so deep in sleep that a bomb could have gone off and you would have slept through it.

Regardless of how tired you were, waking up in a place that you weren't supposed to be scary. Opening your eyes in a flash, and frantically looking around. Seeing Ghost driving the truck you were in, you relaxed a little.

"Where are we?" you asked in a scratchy voice.

"Back road, thirty minutes from base" Ghost replied, in a calm tone.

"How long was I out?"

"Only six hours, but I was trying not to wake you." he said, sparing you a few looks.

"Why not just wake me up? Be easier than carrying dead weight." you said, starting to feel more awake with a stretch.

"You needed rest." Ghost said, but secretly he knew something you didn't know about your sleeping habits.

When he picked you up to put you in the vehicle, you weren't dead weight, you were very clingy weight. Almost immediately wrapping your arms around his neck, not wanting to let go even after you were finally buckled in. But he wouldn't tell you, locking that memory in a vault for him to enjoy.

Nodding in response, but not liking the answer you tried to change the subject.

"So, what's happening?" you questioned.

"Managed to get in contact with Price, they secured what they needed and not casualties on our side. He was relieved to hear we were well though." Ghost responded.

"Ok, good to know."

The air went dead, neither one of you willing to break to silence. You were still trying to stay quiet, so you started picking at your nail beds.

"What, no comments to make over there?" Ghost finally managed after a few minutes.

"About what?" you asked, noting that Ghost saw you were acting differently.

"Anything, the weather, asking what we are doing next, fuck even something about how my mask is pointless from an optical perspective. Just something, you're always chatty." He said, frustrated because he wanted to hear your lighthearted voice ring through the truck.

"What if I just don't want to talk?" you asked, looking over, meeting his eyes for only a moment.

"You're making a bad habit of lying to me when it comes to you."

"I'm not lying" you bit back, starting to get snappy.

"Then what is your reason?" he pushed, not backing away from a little bark.

Looking through the window you quieted down and managed a response, but not one you wanted to give.

". . .My mouth makes me a liability, it can get me in trouble, and it did. I'm not exactly ready to go looking for more issues."

"That's what this is about? Seriously?" Ghost asked, almost sounding relieved that it wasn't something worse.

"Yeah" you said, feeling small because of his reaction.

"I was reminding you of your place, not telling you to shut up."

"You're still my superior sir, I shouldn't run my mouth, it's disrespectful." you tried to defend. Knowing full well it was a terrible defense at best.

" You know damn well that's bullshit. We are on a team; I need everyone at one hundred percent. I know for a fact when you aren't talking, you're mentally tearing yourself apart. That can't happen in the field." Ghost explained.

"How . . . Soap that mother fucker" you said, hearing your own words against you. Only telling Soap that when you're quiet you're usually not doing good on the inside.

"Don't blame him, I would have gotten that information eventually."

"Why do you even care?" you asked, managing to look back over at your L.T.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" he asked, giving you another glance.

"No, you need me at the top of my game in the field."

"There you go" he said, almost in a protective tone like a father might say it to his kids.

"Then what do you want to do about it?" you asked, knowing Ghost probably wouldn't go for what you actually needed.

"I'm not in your head, what do you need?"

"Ghost, I can't ask those things of you" you said, looking to your lap.

"Do I have to order you?" he asked with a firmer tone.

"You really want to know?"

"Jesus, just spit it out."

"Pull over" you said, knowing it was pushing an order.

Ghost just nodded and did as you asked. Now stopped he gave you his full attention. Taking a deep breath, you told him.

"I need to hear you say that you don't hate me . . . and a hug."

You met his gaze and saw something in his eyes, some sort of understanding, and not a single ounce of rejection. Even still you felt the need to walk back your words.

"I can go to Soap if you don't want to," you said.

"No, it wouldn't mean as much from him."

Only managing to hum in agreement with the man. Looking back to his eyes he spoke.

"Y/N, I do not hate you . . . I actually quite enjoy your company." Ghost spoke, letting the British slip through a little more than usual.

His words caused tears to well in your eyes, never spilling over, but noticeably there.

"Thank you"

"Now get out of this vehicle and come get your hug." he said with warm eyes.

Practically jumping out of the truck you ran over to Ghost's side, where he stood, towering over you. Not even waiting for a confirmation that you could touch him, you leaped up, giving him a koala hug. Ghost was shocked but he had found his hands under your butt as you clung to him.

"Ok there, you Koala we need to get back on the road" Ghost teased, before letting you drop back to the ground.

"Yes sir!" you responded suddenly feeling so many different emotions.

Back on your game, you leaped into the truck with a smile on your face.

"Feeling better?" he asked after you were driving again.

"Much, thanks again Ghost."

"You know you can come to me, right? It doesn't just have to be Soap" he said, glancing in your direction again.

Ghost was watching you, he didn't usually keep looking over. Normally he would just drive, but you could see that something was different. So, when you responded you tried to match the weird vibe, he was giving off.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind . . . you know the mask isn't a bad thing, even if it isn't practical."

Taking a moment to let your words sink in a little, Ghost responded.

"You never wonder what's under it?"

"I never said that, but I figure it has to do with your issues, just like I have mine. Regardless, it's still a version of you . . . I still get to know a piece of you." you finished off quieter than you started, but Ghost heard you.

"That's a nice way to think of it," he said, soothingly.

You hummed in agreement and turned to the window, looking out to see a sunny, cloudless sky.

"You know, the sun is nice, but the sky is much prettier with clouds." You said, not meaning for it to be deep, but Ghost held your words close to his heart.

"Sounds like a good motto for life," he said.

"I suppose it is," you agreed with a smile.

The rest of the drive back to base was quiet aside from your little comments. It was nice, for both of you. So, when the base finally came into view you couldn't help but be a little sad you won't be able to spend more time with the man.

Sadly, you couldn't stop time, so you climbed out of the truck and greeted the rest of the team with a smile. Ghost seemed to disappear the second you didn't have an eye on him. Probably off to his room. But that was ok, you were happy with the small moment you shared in the privacy of that vehicle. Only hoping you would have the chance to see more of him in the future.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

I agree that creative ship names are more appealing (marriage chopsticks is such a cute idea!!) and takes away the rather negative top/bottom <- dick/hole <- masculine/feminine thing you mentioned and I agree with you.

Like sure, in a scenario where the fic is just smut, a often one and done deal, I save more bottom Zhongli fics, but that's only cause he's my favorite--I'm like this with all my favorites. I wish I knew why as it isn't a inserting myself reason (being a touch avoident aroace) and it has nothing to do with the "traits = position"/bleed-over from toxic straight beliefs. To be honest I dont really associate traits strictly to masculine or feminine anyways, since it changes in many ways between individuals, and realistically people have a blend of traits society as a whole would divide between masculine or feminine.

Regardless of what I save more of, I still read all sorts of fics, cause I like the ship and the characters alot (like dude its been 2 years help). I mostly read fics not part of the smut category anyways, even if I re-read them more often by virtue of them often being in the like 800-2k word range and thus easier to keep safe in a doc.

Back to the ship names though. Tbh, however, I do like the convince of name x name if only cause it makes searching up the ships easier (esp in foreign art forums), either cause someone might not know the ship name or cause something like "chili" or even "marriage chopsticks" sorta gives you a different flood of results mixed in. Ex: the chili tag will give some Zhongli and Childe art or fics or whatever, but it will also give you a bunch of results of the food chili.

Iirc this issue is similar to why the transformers fandom uses the #maccadam tag on top of their posts cause just the characters names or universe stuff might pull up unrelated transformers stuff

yes that's true, that's one of the (few) problems with proper ship names sadly. i do think this could be remedied somewhat if, like i mentioned, the fandom would agree to always list ship names in aphabetical order? kinda like how it's done in ao3 for tagging purposes. so childe/zhongli would have no connotations for top/bottom but rather would be like that just because c (and also t in this case) goes before z

and yeah of course if the fic/art/whatever contains sex, then you can start being specific with the tags. in ao3 this is easy bc the main tag is already standard, so even if your fic is top zhongli, the ship tag is still childe/zhongli. but outside of ao3 is where this would of course get complicated. still, with some organization...

whenever i think about this i always end up pondering the one other instance of proper ship names that always stand out to me in a fandom? idk if any of you guys have ever been deep in the pokemon fandom, but the ship names there are- Unique. to say the least. of course i assume it's possible not everyone uses them, but like- you'd be shocked. idk why that fandom in specific does things that way and i have yet to find another one where they pull the exact same bs with so much coordination, but i have to applaud them. they do circumvent a good chunk of problems that you mentioned like the ship name being some other term that skews the results (for those unaware, in the pokemon fandom, at least back when i was still active, all ship names ended in 'shipping'. so like- ruby/sapphire is 'franticshipping', raihan/leon is 'truerivalshipping', etc. this extends to the pokespe and show ships as well (frantic is pokespe-only territory i think), and very few escaped this trend afaik. like the only one i can think of that doesn't end in shipping is bwagency? intriguing stuff. here's the shipping wiki's list, though i think this doesn't include pokespe ships but still. it's hilarious to go through)

[obsidiancreates]

Catching Up (With No Murders This Time!)

(I just wanted Shawn and Abigail to like, see each other again and get a little closure since they broke up under such horrible circumstances.)

"Hey, sweetheart. I just wrapped up a case and I just so happen to be next to that awesome bakery you love, do you want- sweet! Uh, no, no Gus with me, your croissant will make it to you with no bites taken out of it. ... No, I'll buy my own so I'm not tempted either. Yeah, well, Selene called and told him Charlie is running a fever so he sped off before I even finished the wrap-up. Oh, gotta go, someone is about to try and get the last Nutella-filled one."

Shawn hangs up and rushes up to the counter as the person who's eyes were lingering on the Nutella-filled croissant is about to order. "You know, I am amazed you guys still make these, because I heard that hazelnuts and chocolate combined can give you hair loss."

The woman freezes, and Shawn almost does a little celebratory shimmy- until she turns around.

Shawn's mouth parts in shock. "Abigail?"

"Shawn?" Abigail blinks. "Are you really..." She leans in and whispers, "Why are you in San Fransisco?"

"I- I uh, moved here. A few years ago with- uh, well with my wife." He holds up his hand. Please don't let this be awkward, please don't let this be-

Abigail holds up her hand, showing off her own wedding ring. "We match."

A tension Shawn hadn't realized he was holding bleeds out of him. "Look at that!" He grins at her. "Who knew us crazy kids would ever find that, huh?"

"Who knew. ... Oh, you um, wanted the Nutella."

"Yeah, if- it's Jules's favorite so I just-"

"Jules? The detective you worked with? ... Actually, that makes sense."

"... Is that a... bad, 'that makes sense'?"

"No, just... it makes sense. Here, uh, I'll have the regular chocolate instead. My husband is allergic to hazelnuts anyway, I'd have to brush my teeth before kissing him, it's... a whole thing."

They order, and sit together while waiting for the coffees.

"So, um... how long have you been married?" Abigail asks before taking a bite of her pastry.

"Let me see, uh... six years, now? ... Holy crap, I've been married for six years. ... What uh, what about you?"

"Four. We met through the program I do, for teaching abroad."

"Ha, that's cool. I'm a detective, I married a detective, you're a teacher, you married a teacher... fits, it-it fits good."

"Yup."

"... Sorry about uh... all the stuff I put you through, back then. Taking you to crime scenes and client's houses was a little-"

"Stupid?"

"I was going to say offbeat, but... stupid works too." They both give a small laugh. Shawn awkwardly picks at his own pastry, Jules's sitting in his lap. There's a beat of silence that's just agonizing.

"How's Gus?" Abigail looks up at Shawn again. "I mean, I just assume you're both still doing the psychic detective thing."

"Oh, Gus is great. He uh, he got married too, about four years ago now, just before the whole uh... pandemic, thing. She's basically a clone of him, but a woman, and they've got a kid."

"Let me guess. You're the godfather."

"Which still freaks me out, by the way. He's a great kid though. Smart and awesome, just like his dad, and it looks like he got The Super Sniffer too. Gus says it's too early to tell, but-" Shawn puts a finger by his temple. The movement feels weird. He hasn't really leaned into the whole "psychic" thing for a few years now, and when he does he usually use the finger-to-eyebrow device anymore. When was the last time he did? ... Dear god, it's been ten years. Ten years since he moved out of Santa Barbara.

"Time really flies," he finds himself saying."

"Tell me about it." Abigail shakes her head. "My husband and I adopted, about two years ago now, and she's just... shooting right up. When she started walking I couldn't believe it."

"Gus couldn't either. I think he showed me the video about a billion times."

"Crying?"

"Absolutely weeping, yes."

"Nice to know some people never really change."

"Mmmm, I wouldn't say that. He's done some pretty badass stuff since you last met him."

"You do know that seems... a little far-fetched."

"More far-fetched than the time we had to prove a polar bear was framed for murder?"

"... I'm not sure if I believe you about that."

"If we had time, I could condense each little weekly adventure into about a forty-three minute story each."

"That's not very condensed."

"... You're right, it's not." Shawn nods, and looks up as the bell on the door jingles- he hears Abigail laugh a little about it and mumble that yeah, people don't really change.

The man at the door spots Abigail and grins. Shawn hones in on a wedding ring, a tie with Abigail's favorite flowers as the design, and hair that just may rival Shawn's own.

"Hey, honey." The man sweeps right over to Abigail and leans down to kiss her in her chair. "Finally sorted out the issue with our plane, we should be on our way day after tomorrow."

"Oh, thank god," Abigail groans, holding her husband's hand as he pulls over another chair to sit next to her. "I'm so tired of hotel food."

"You and me both," her husband chuckles. He looks at Shawn. "Who's this?"

"Oh, um, this is Shawn Spencer."

"Ooooh, you're the guy who took her to a crime scene as a date one time."

"Guilty," Shawn says with a laugh.

"Nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you. Good things!"

"And some not-so-good things, I'm guessing?"

"No, no. ... Not about you as a person, anyway. Plenty of bad things about your job."

"Yeah, I figured. ... Oh, there's our coffees." Shawn takes his paper tray with 4 coffees (Gus and Selene will need them) and stands up. "Well, this was totally unexpected, but I'm glad it happened. It was nice seeing you again, Abigail."

"Nice seeing you too, Shawn." She smiles at him. "I'm glad you're doing well."

"Me too. Doing well is pretty great. Oh, and, glad for you, I guess."

Abigail laughs again. "Bye, Shawn.

"Bye, Abigail."

He walks out of the bakery, the sound of Abigail chatting with her husband following him until the door closes. She sounds happy. Happy and relaxed in a way that even on their best days, she never was with him. And he's glad.

He's just genuinely happy for her. That's a really, really nice feeling. No jealousy, no feeling of missed chances, no wondering of 'what-ifs'. Just... actual, authentic happiness that she's doing well.

He tucks Jules's croissant into his pocket and pulls out his phone.

"... Hey, babe! Yeah, got the last Nutella for you, and a coffee. ... Yup, that perp was our case. Really? Described being caught by 'some kind of ninjas or something?' Well, babe, as much as I'd love to tell you I've secretly been a martial arts master our whole marriage, you can put in your report that he's absolutely lying because he's very embarrassed. Truth is Gus accidentally knocked over some marble statue onto him while he was chasing me through the art exhibit. ... Can I fill out the statement later tonight? I got coffee for Gus and Selene too. Awesome! I will hang around to tell you who I just ran into, though. Of course I'm neglecting paperwork in favor of personal matters, if I ever don't then your husband has been replaced by a pod person. Okay, love you, I'll be there as soon as I find a ride..."

[pastelsapphy]

"I've told you before: I don't smoke or drink." The words are forced through clenched teeth and heavy breathing.

"I think you can make an exception this once."

Vanderwood has never met a more stubborn kid in their life. Anyone else with a wound that big would be begging for anything to dull the pain. And to be fair to Seven, he did ask for something... at first, anyway.

"I won't let you bleed out if that's--"

"I know you won't," Seven cuts in. I trust you, as much as people like us can be trusted, is something that remains unspoken but understood between them. "That's not my concern. Just get on with it."

Vanderwood huffs out an irritated sigh. "I don't think a few shots of whiskey will count."

"This is the last time I will say it: if the closest thing you have right now to a painkiller is a bottle of whiskey, then I won't take it. Just. Get. On with it."

Seven's eyes are hard and unwavering. Vanderwood knows they're not going to win this argument. Why is he being so stubborn? "This is going to hurt," they say.

"It already fucking hurts," Seven snaps through gritten teeth. "It's a stab wound."

"And it's going to hurt a hell of a lot more when I'm sewing it closed."

"I'll be fine. I can take it."

"You're going to have to hold as still as possible. And be as quiet as possible."

The safehouse they escaped to should be too far for anyone to follow. Should being the keyword. If they have been followed, and Seven screams, it'll mean a lot of trouble.

Seven nods. "Yeah. Yeah I can do that, just..." He looks around for a moment, then grabs his jacket where it lay on the bed behind him. He balls up part of it and shoves the fabric into his mouth, biting down hard. He says something that sounds like "do it" and squeezes his eyes shut too.

Vanderwood sighs. They're not keen on doing this without giving Seven anything to dull his senses, but the other option is letting the wound keep bleeding.

"Okay. Last chance. Because once I start, I'm not going to stop," Vanderwood warns.

Seven shakes his head in a firm, final no.

"Okay. Keep pressure on it while I set up."

A few minutes and a sanitized needle later, Vanderwood walks back over to where Seven sits on the bed. His breathing is audible and deliberate. Slow breath in, slow breath out. In. Out. In. Out. Trying to focus on anything other than his leg. Vanderwood digs a knee into Seven's leg to hold him still and, with the hand not holding the needle, pinches the sliced flesh together. Seven's breathing gets heavier.

"Hold still and keep breathing. I'll be as quick as I can."

Seven nods. He twists his hoodie tight in his fingers and bites down even harder.

He doesn't scream when the needle pierces his skin. They've been working together for a few years now, but Vanderwood is still surprised by the kid's pain tolerance. He's not completely unaffected--Vanderwood doesn't miss the sharp inhale when they start--but he doesn't scream. Just bites down harder on the wad of cloth in his mouth and trembles with the effort of keeping still.

It feels like it takes forever--probably feels even longer to Seven--but Vanderwood finally stitches the wound shut. They wrap a bandage snug around it and let out a breath. "Okay. It's done."

Seven gasps and yanks the hoodie from his mouth. He takes big, gasping breaths, like he's just come up from underwater. His whole face is red and damp--sweat running down his face and drool on his chin. Vanderwood grabs a clean cloth and sits back down next to him. "Tip your head up and take your glasses off; you're a mess," they say.

Seven does and Vanderwood sees his eyes are red too; the tracks running down his face aren't all from sweat. Vanderwood doesn't comment on it. They just wipe his face clean. They're a little heavy-handed at the best of times, but they try to be gentle. After a moment the cloth is tossed aside and they're handing him a bottle of water. "Drink. You lost a lot of fluids."

Again, Seven does. That's how Vanderwood knows he's beyond exhausted--no comments or smart-ass remarks.

Seven gulps down half the bottle before stopping to take more gasping breaths. "Thank you, Vanderwood," he huffs out.

"Hmph. Good to know you appreciate me for more than just cleaning your house all the time."

"I mean it," he says. "Truly. Thank you."

If Vanderwood has ever seen genuine honesty from him, then this is it. If not, it's as close as they'll ever get. It's exceedingly rare and they're never quite sure how to respond to it. "Don't worry about it. I can't have you dying on my watch. Now finish drinking that and get some sleep. You look dead, and we can't stay here too long."

Seven nods, chugging the rest of the water before lying back on the bed. He's out cold in seconds, leaving the cabin in silence. Vanderwood enjoys it while they can (they won't admit that they miss Seven's chatter when it's been gone too long). They start repacking their medical supplies and catch sight of the bottle of whiskey standing on the table.

They make a mental note to double check that they're stocked up on painkillers in the future.

[pinkpeccary]

1, 2, 9, 14, 19, 25 for the spotify wrapped asks!!!

1: Catchiest song

i'd give this to #18: Bad Day by Charlotte Sands. the chorus is fun and the beat punctuates it really well. it captures an emotion i am very familiar with (i'm upset right now and you can't make me feel better) and i've found it popping into my head when i'm in that sort of mood which a) helps surprisingly much and b) supports it's catchiness

2: A song you didn't expect to see in your top 10

i'm a little surprised by #6: every word by Animal Sun. of the four songs from them in my top 100 it's the one i discovered the latest, and i really like it but wouldn't've guessed it'd be so high.

9: Favourite lyrics of your #1 song

Make me bleed if you need to confirm that it's something I can do And I'll paint it red If you're still unsure, let me lie for a day Before they formally announce me dead When I'm gone, cast the bronze for the bust of my head To be displayed in the library Engrave that I gave my consent To be anything that anyone prefer I be

specifically it's that last line that speaks to my heart, but i think the context of the chorus as a whole is important to that.

14: A song you think is underrated

Like A Child by Mother Mother (#31). fun fact, MM was my #3 artist this year but only two songs made it into the top 100. i have a deep love for their music in general, and there are more songs i listen to, but this is one that's been resonating with me the most recently and i think it's a bit of a hidden gem based on streaming numbers compared to others on its album.

i feel like this song represents something important for me about where i am in terms of healing. the Mother Mother songs i listened to in high school was largely about depression and anger and struggle. songs like All Gone or Happy or Body or Burning Pile. then in 2018 they released It's Alright (and the rest of Dance and Cry), which timing-wise was around when i was starting to put myself back together and figure out who i was as an adult, with the ability to make my own choices. and now, Like A Child feels like a acknowledgement of progress. and importantly, a recognition that having an unhappy childhood or growing up too fast doesn't mean you can never go back. it won't be the same, but engaging with childlike wonder and joy even as an adult is still a powerful thing.

MM has a lot of bangers, but this one deserves more love imo

19: Is the most streamed song by your favourite artist your favourite of them?

now this is a hard question because it says favorite artist not top artist. which means i need to pick. i think i'd probably have to say Raynes or Noah Kahan- if it's Raynes, maybe? top song by them was Cast the Bronze at #1 and i do love it, but Second Thought (#7) might be my favorite so i'm not sure. if it's Noah Kahan it's an easy no- my favorite by him is Homesick, which was #2 last year and #21 this year. but my most streamed this year was Catastrophize at #3.

also fun fact: in the artist message for top listeners Noah Kahan called us out for having gone through "something traumatic" and said "if you're an emotionally stable person and you're listening, i would consider listening to something else" which. yeah. if it was not clear already the theme of my music listening seems to be "childhood trauma" (but in like. a normal healthy it's just a part of who i am way)

25: Favourite lyrics of your #100 song

I just turned 14 And I think this year I'm gonna be mean

for this one it's definitely this specific line and doesn't need the surrounding lines for context. i've seen this song getting clowned on more recently for being written by a trans man cringe which is weird cause it's good. i think it's interesting from a personal gender perspective because i relate to it on vibes more than actual matching experience. kind of like how mountain goats songs are somehow the most relatable when they're about hyperspecific characters in hyperspecific situations. distilled emotion or whatever.

anyways i had a lot of anger as a kid and tended to bottle it up and then explode. i also have a lot of baggage about being "nice" because it feels like a box i was put into very early on and never allowed to leave. one of the biggest healing things for me has been allowing myself to feel anger, embracing the idea of being mean, and especially in the context of being a kid.

"i think this year i'm gonna be mean." as a teenager i never knew where the anger came from. like, i knew immediate causes, but it took moving out for college to realize just how much living with my family was fucking me up on the daily. so like. idk, the idea of just. deciding to be mean. not for any reason. i just am. it's relatable.

Ask Game Here

thank you for the ask!!

[nnnn99999]

It's honestly insane how rewatchable thk is considering it only has 2 episodes out. But the more I watch, the more I notice. So here's an unnecessarily long rant on whatever pops up in my mind as I rewatch the 2 episodes together (I say as if I didn't watch these 2 episodes separately at least 10 times already). I'll probably divide it into multiple parts because otherwise the post will truly be too long. Anyway let's start.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned this already but Bison's expression when the first target pushes his face to his stomach is so interesting. It's a weird mix of disgust and satisfaction. The disgust coming from, I'm assuming, having a man who supposedly does bad things acting like he can own anyone he wants just because he has the money and power. And honestly, if Bison wasn't a hitman, the man probably could own him. He did pick him from a bunch of other guys like he was shopping for clothes. And for freedom loving Bison, that kind of objectification and show of power must be very suffocating.

The satisfaction is the more interesting part though. Because to me it feels like Bison thrives on having control over others. Yes, the man in his arms is the one with the money and the power. But at this very moment, Bison is the one who can control the trajectory of his life. Being trapped in a life he doesn't want, I think these are the moments when Bison can taste true freedom and control. Because he knows at this moment, the man is in the palm of his hands and playing to Bison's rhythm.

This desire for control bleeds into every relationship Bison has. Although he loves Fadel and cares about him, whenever Fadel is around, it is Fadel who is the one in charge and for good reason too. Bison's overwhelming desire for control does not equal to the ability to handle any situation. Bison is impulsive, rash and reckless, which makes his desire for control all the more dangerous. Fadel is calm, calculating, sensible and responsible. He is capable of handling any situation, no matter how sudden or dangerous. He can calmly assess the situation and decide the best course of action. This is why he is the one in charge during their assassination missions. Because if it were left to Bison, who knows what crazy stunt he would pull. I think Bison himself knows that which is why he doesn't fight for control with Fadel during the missions. Crazy as Bison is, he wants to be free, not rot in jail.

I also find the difference in expressions between Fadel and Bison after they shoot the man very fascinating. Fadel's face has nothing. No emotion whatsoever. I think at this point Fadel really does not feel anything after killing his targets. He has convinced himself that they are enforcing justice by killing, and he bottles up whatever emotions he might have so deep down that it feeels like he doesn't have any emotions at all. Bison, on the other hand, is not emotionless like Fadel. He is also very used to killing people now, but you can detect a hint of that sick satisfaction in Bison's expression after the kill. I genuinely think Bison is the most terrifying of the 4 main cast.

Khaobos doing such a wonderful job of playing Bison. I love him so much.

Special appreciation to the lighting and coloring throughout the show. It adds so much context to the whole scene.

Also the music. The music brings so much nostalgia and character to the whole experience. I have watched these scenes so many times already and I am not sick of the music yet so I take that as a win for the music. But yeah, for me the music makes the whole experience more fun.

[innytoes]

From the subconscious that brought you the Quiet AU, it's time for Inny's Brain Comes Up With Another 100k fic she's never going to write while she's dreaming.

Okay so it's the Post Apocalypse. The apocalypse happened a few years ago, there was a horrible plague that makes you bleed from your eyes and maybe some other things, a lot of humanity was wiped out, chaos, destruction, blabla.

We start with Our Heroes travelling on foot. Luke is telling them this area seems familiar, and Alex and Reggie realise they're near where Bobby's family had a cabin. They decide to veer off because Alex remembers where Bobby hid the emergency key. Not that they haven't done their fare share of breaking and entering, but it would be nice to, you know, not have to.

Also maybe they want to see if Bobby is there. Because even though they split with a lot of bad blood between them over some stolen songs, the apocalypse makes you miss old friends.

Julie and Willie are like: um excuse me that is not a cabin that is a Log Mansion. It's three fucking stories. (It also had the exact layout as my grandmother's old house, because this is my brain, which is funny because my grandmother's house was very much not a log cabin).

And then SHOCK AND GASP Bobby comes out. He has the Trevor Wilson Beard and Man Bun and is just... staring like he's seen three ghosts... and two random people he doesn't know, I guess.

There is a big sappy reunion and a big talk and apology and blabla of course they can stay. There's more cabins around the place and they've made themselves a little farming community. They trade with the other little the towns in the area, but they haven't heard much from the bigger city in the while.

"Um yeah, maybe... maybe don't go to the city," Luke says. Reggie is very pale. Willie mutters about how there was plenty of stuff that could still be looted (as long as you don't mind all the dead bodies is left unsaid).

They settle in at Bobby's house and become part of the community, finding jobs. Willie does indeed go with some of the more brave individuals to the city to search for supplies. The whole community has like one working truck because gas is hard to find these days.

Some traveling trader comes by and he's basically on a giant sled on wheels pulled by huskies and predictably Reggie loses his mind and gets to play with the doggies.

There comes a night when Reggie can't sleep, so he's the only one awake to hear the car. Two cars. A group of four with two cars is bound to mean trouble, so he wakes everyone up because there's a high chance there's raiders.

The people are breaking in and Reggie goes downstairs to greet/distract them, playing the clueless guy, welcoming them and being like 'oh hey are you lost do you need help? We're looking for a bartender if you need a job' and basically being in the way and these four people are just so confused because they broke into his house and he's so cheerful about it.

One of them was injured and Reggie more seriously offers the first aid kit and just when they were about to be like 'fuck it let's just murder him and raid the place', where comes Julie and Luke with the shot guns. Meanwhile Alex, Willie, and Bobby were checking out their cars and alerting the neighbours about trouble and OH SHIT ONE OF THEM IS BLEEDING FROM THE EYES HE'S INFECTED.

Cue fuzzy chaotic time jump because I woke up with a dry mouth lol.

For some reason Bobby disappeared from the dream after this so maybe poor Bobbers got shot in the show down with the raiders. Or got hit by the car of the other three fleeing, leaving behind their infected friend.

The gang stays in Bobby's house, though, and slowly, Juke and Willex drift together. When they were travelling, they usually all slept together, but now...

Reggie, who is still grieving Bobby, and maybe blaming himself because he wasn't good enough at distracting the raiders, sees the other two couples drift together and decides to stay out of their way. He can't sleep anyway, since he was the only one awake to catch the raiders in the first place.

So he starts sleeping less, and less, spending less time with his friends because he wanted them to have time together... Pining because he's secretly a little in love with all of them, but they clearly don't want him.

Until he was suuuper stoked because he found a puppy. It was so cute, and he wants to show his friends, and they're so freaked out because Reggie, there is no puppy...

Turns out Reggie was hallucinating from lack of sleep, and he's so confused because he's CLEARLY HOLDING A PUPPY WHAT DO YOU MEAN and then the whole thing kind of comes out and not only is Reggie heartbroken when the hallucination shatters and vanishes, but he also confesses how he's in love them with but they clearly chose their partners and not him.

And both Juke and Willex are like: we've missed you, doofus, we love you, we didn't want to make you chose between us, we were scared you were mad at us for both flirting with you.

And they all live as happily ever after as you can in the post-apocalypse.

[seasonal-writes]

' “Ouch..” Tango groans, not so much in pain, but just out of reaction.

“Oh goodness.. Just a cut..” Jimmy breathes in relief.

“It’s okay, I’ll go grab a bandage and get back to- Hey-!” Tango says, words getting caught up as his wrist is grabbed.

Jimmy raises the injured finger to his mouth, and lightly places it between his lips.

As he does, Tango’s pupils visibly blow wide, consuming most of the space in his eyes. Jim gently sucks some of the blood away, that iron taste attacking his taste buds for just a second before he releases Tango’s wrist and lets the wounded extremity fall from his mouth.

The moment is quick, but Tango seems to lag in processing. He’s silent, mouth hanging open in utter shock.

Jimmy’s tongue swipes across his bottom lip, wiping away just a speck of blood that stuck around. He wonders how sick it is for him to be so entertained by the whole thing.

“What the..” Tango starts to say, voice crackling. If he wasn’t overwhelmed a moment ago, he definitely was now.

“Just to stop the bleeding for a second. I’ll go get a bandage for you,” Jimmy says with a genuine smile, but a slight, playful chuckle.'

HI HELLO I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO REQUEST A COMMENTARY ON THIS PLEASE. DELICIOUS. YUMMY. SILLY.

yeah, so i'm like. sooo sorry it took me a while to answer this. my goal for today is to try and get at least the commentary asks answered. :> so thank you for your patience! anyway. HOOOO BOY YEAH, I REMEMBER WRITING THIS SCENE. 'Jimmy’s tongue swipes across his bottom lip, wiping away just a speck of blood that stuck around. He wonders how sick it is for him to be so entertained by the whole thing.' do you know how fun it was to write that last line. do you understand how unwell i was- how unwell i STILL AM about it? i distinctly remember acknowledging the prompt had "cuts" in it, being very confused for the majority of writing it as to how jimmy would react, and then i said. what if he just. was a little weird about it. and what if tango was into it?

like, i think a big instinct is to stick wounds in our mouth when we get them. especially small ones. (at least in my experience, maybe I'm the freak). i just thought it'd be funny if that was jimmy's first reaction, and it was so WILD in comparison to just.. soothing and getting a band-aid or panicking right away. like obviously he still panicked in the little part preceding this moment. which is another favorite moment of mine but i won't get into it- and it's just that i really wanted jimmy to know damn well what he was doing here. like. and tango knows it too. the transition from this to tango just GRABBING him and kissing him means the world to me. it's funny it's silly it is, as you've said, delicious. mwah, chef's kiss, no notes. <- literally wrote it. i just think i deserve to write more fun, silly scenes like this. i wish i had more to say about it other than this nonsense, brain rotted commentary but akdfsj it is pretty self-explanatory, in all honesty. thank you for the ask, and thanks again for being so patient!

[castlebyersafterdark]

what's your opinion on the s3 goodbye scene where everyone is hugging each other? i see byler's goodbye gif'd a lot, but for some reason that scene always rang strangely with me. it feels a lot more like the actors than the characters, for everyone. jon and nancy feels genuine but not too sad, and we know the actors are a couple. max and el are smiling and hugging like girl besties, and yet, typically, girl besties would be the ones sobbing most. ofc max was hiding/processing her grief, and will isnt your 'typical' boy so his tears feel very in character. but the whole shot set up and blocking, the lack of continuity, the multiple byler hugs... it feels not quite like a montage, but not quite like a continuous scene. i feel like the duffers saved it to the end of shooting and just told everyone to go to town with their goodbyes, allowing for a little bleed of reality into fiction. it's not unheard of for filmmakers to do this, despite what some fans say about the strict lines between reality and fiction. i mean, whatever helps you get into character. if its cost effective to do a big group scene at the end of filming, have everyone together for the wrap, and also utilise the natural emotion of the end of filming, they'd likely do it.

i think two things felt off mainly for me, which was mike and el's hug (very intimate, heads close) didnt track with their previous awkward goodbye and felt more like finn and millie (this will be a hot take, i know, but tbf they WERE going through this wacky thing of portraying adolescent love with kisses on screen together, for the first time - some human bonding was naturally going to occur as a result). and secondly, it just didnt feel like will and mike hugging to me either. will looked devastated, yeah, and mike was hiding, turning away... but i dont know. something felt off. and how they edited that whole finale, with the goodbyes -> the letter and seeing everyone leave again -> heroes? it was like the timeline was all messed up. odd.

I do tend to feel like it was a very improved sort of scene maybe? Reality bleed. Directed, but perhaps they saved it for the end of the filming wrap that season, perhaps also because it was the last use of that set? Get the most impact out of an emotional moment - didn't the house used for the Byers family get sold at the end of the season in reality as well? Unsure if that's true, I feel like I make up half of this stuff in my head because there's so much to keep straight. And I'm so bad at being - haha, anyway.

The Mike / El hug was odd, but it did feel odd in a different way than maybe you're describing. It felt the same to me as the kiss, after rewatching it again. El seems to be the one to force his head over to do the forehead thing. Mike wasn't really naturally meeting her there? It's interesting for sure. The awkward kiss where Mike didn't react and then here as well, El has to physically guide him to be a part of this additional intimacy. That was my read once I started looking for the hints. It you watch it again, I replayed those few seconds a couple times and it almost looks like El is trying to go in for another kiss and Mike actively resists it 👀 Worth a revisit. My Byler goggles are super-glued to my damn face, but still. It's an interesting interaction...

[byunbhyunz]

Lead and Gold 5.

Pairing: Eunhyuk/Reader

Genre: mafia!au, smut and fluff

Warnings: swearing, self-pleasuring

Word count: 3,136

There were a lot of gossips about your superior, Doctor Jung’s secret works, where he invited surgeon residents to his private clinic to help him out. Afterwards, no one talked a word about it. Then, your time came. He took you there too, and you did your best to do exactly what your job was in the hospital: saving people’s lives. You just didn’t know who’s life it was this time.

Previous | Next

Despite your wishes, in the next week you got used to the whole healing mafia members surprisingly well. Your bruises started to heal; purple and blue patches of skin blooming into more greenish and yellow colors, but there was still a long way to go. At least the patients in the hospital stopped giving you weird looks.

You were called in two times already within that week, and was told by Jung to expect some more since Eunhyuk was hunting the men who came after him through you. His men getting injured was not so surprising in that scenario. You helped patching up five of them, fortunately none of their injuries were too serious. Well, if this manhunt will continue for longer than necessary, then it will be worse and things will get really ugly for both sides.

On your way back from grocery shopping, just as you parked your car, the phone started to ring. With an exaggerated sigh, you answered Jung’s call.

“Another one happened. Three men down, one needs immediate surgery, so jump in your fucking car and come!”

You didn’t like one bit the tone of his voice. He was commanding you around, which you never liked in your personal life. In the bedroom you liked to be dominated and bossed around, but beside that you hated it with passion.

Anyway, you swallowed words that instinctively wanted to escape you, and started the car. Jung on the other end let out an appreciative noise, one you rarely heard from anyone.

“I’m on my way,” you added, if the background noises of the car wouldn’t make it obvious enough.

“Make it here in ten. I’ll start the surgery, you’ll join when you get here.”

You hummed in agreement, and stepped on the gas pedal more firmly. You locked out of your mind that you were on your way to save the life of someone from the mafia, as you usually did lately – only focusing on the life-saving part. That was your job, which you did the best.

Your parking was sloppy, as you paid no mind to making it perfect.

Rushing into the private clinic, you only nodded at the guards strolling outside, not really paying any attention to them. You wondered how bad of a fight Eunhyuk’s men got into if one of them needed surgery immediately.

Walking down the hallways, you were more confident now on where to go, and in a few minutes you were already washing in for assisting Jung on the surgery. Eunhyuk was in the room too, with Donghae on his right, giving you inspecting looks as he gazed over your figure. Oh, yeah, he haven’t seen you since your little meeting with his enemies.

Back to focusing on your job. One of Eunhyuk’s man was laying on the operating table. Jung was fishing in his chest with a clip, probably looking for a bullet.

“Heart rate increasing. Breathing normal,” you announced in a tight voice. Finally realizing why he needed the surgery so bad, you started to really take seriously saving his life. The bullet was too freaking close to his heart. Close, as in if Jung would make the wrong move, he would die right on the spot. He was also bleeding a lot due to the circumstances.

“He has another bullet in his leg, not as dangerous as this one. Start working on it while I close this, and keep on monitoring his heart rate.”

Doing as Jung said, you went over to his lower side, keeping one eye on the heart monitor. Picking a clean clip up, you fished for the other bullet, after giving him a local anesthetic shot. Luckily, it wasn’t in too deep, barely in the skin. You pulled it out carefully, while speaking:

“Heart rate back to normal. I took the bullet out, closing it now.”

“Fuck,” you heard Eunhyuk mutter slowly along with a sigh.

After wiping the blood away with a cotton pad, you sewed the wound together, and cleaned it with some antiseptic, then covered in gauze. And could call it a day. Except there was two other men being injured.

“You do Jungsoo, I’ll deal with Baejin.”

To your luck, Jungsoo walked to you just as you wanted to ask which one of them he was. You already knew a couple of Eunhyuk’s men by then, but not all of them. Asking for a name wasn’t a thing you did while patching them up. Only the talkative ones told you their names. Some of them dealt the pain with running their mouth with no end to it, so you sucked up the information as a sponge, since Jung haven’t really told you anything, the less danger you were in. Or maybe it was Eunhyuk who told them it was for the better.

Well, even he couldn’t stop some of his men from spilling a few secrets.

Fortunately, Jungsoo only had scratches from bullets and daggers. They were the easy ones. Only putting antiseptic on them, sewing the deeper ones, then putting gauze on them.

While Jung and you worked on the men, you saw Eunhyuk motion for Donghae, then the bodyguard went to the man on the operating table. Donghae grabbed him by his arm, helping him down, then they slowly left the room. Upon seeing this, Jungsoo and Baejin followed them.

“I want to talk to Y/N when you’re done.” Eunhyuk’s voice was nonchalant. So was Jung’s, when he answered for you.

“You can talk to her right now, too.”

“I meant alone.”

“Of course that’s what you meant.” There was a dangerous undertone in Jung’s voice, which you couldn’t figure out the meaning of. Was he worried to leave you two alone? But why would he?

Still, he left, but only after giving a look to Eunhyuk and saying:

“You are the boss, but remember: I don’t want to find a new assistant again.”

There goes another mystery you feared to deal with, but wanted to know the meaning behind it.

Being alone with Eunhyuk in a room felt wrong and right at the same time. His face was empty from any emotions, but his gaze on your face spoke volumes as he took a step closer to you. He was surveying your bruises or more like what was left of them. The tiny scar on your upper lip, the blueish bruises fading into ugly yellow around your left eye and just under your cheek.

Eunhyuk took another step, now standing right in front of you.

“It’s a pity that it happened to you. I should have known they would find you,” he said.

He took your chin between his fingers, inspecting your face from so close you could feel his warm breath on your skin. You refused to say anything, waiting for what he really wanted to say. At that moment Eunhyuk didn’t seem like some big, scary mafia boss. His hand on your chin was soft, almost careful with big, dark eyes staring straight into yours, searching for something.

With the tension around and between you, it was hard to breath.

His thumb grazed over your lip, the scar on it, barely touching it. His gaze following the path of his finger, he continued:

“How come I feel sorry?”

“Maybe because your enemies beat me? I’m no one to you, yet they thought they can get to you through me.”

“They could have. You only had to tell them everything you know about me, and they would have stopped.”

“I don’t know anything about you. And I hardly believe they would have stopped if I told them just that.”

You felt guilty enjoying his finger’s soft cradling on your skin. Eunhyuk looked into your eyes again. His expression softened with his caressing, and you had to remind yourself that it was the city’s mafia boss who was standing in front of you. From any other man, these actions would come off as flirting or courting, but not with him. Never with him. People like him weren’t nice for nothing, they always wanted something in return. Maybe he just didn’t know yet what he wanted from you. It was unfortunate, that you just started to realize what you would want from him.

You were Jung’s assistant in these shady businesses, and Eunhyuk was Jung’s boss in some kind of way. Dancing with the devil is a dangerous thing, you thought, it might not worth your while or time. Or your life.

“Not knowing anything might have saved your life,” he added after a long while. “And what about your little run in with one of them at the hospital?”

“Jung told you.”

“Shindong, not that it matters. I have to know everything concerning my businesses.”

His fingers left your face, trailing down your neck to your shoulders. You shivered and not because of fear this time. Eunhyuk’s touch was affecting you. Sighing, you lowered your gaze to the ground, basking in the feeling of his skin on yours.

You haven’t been with a man for a while and it was affecting you bad. Maybe you should take a night out and hook up with someone, just to clear your mind. Getting lust out of the way would make everything so much easier. Because you craved him.

“So I am one of your businesses,” you concluded flatly.

“You work for me, so yes, you are. Your safety is my concern, too, like any of my men’s.”

Clicking your tongue, you took a step back. His hand fell back to his body. You saw his fingers twitch for a moment, before he regained his calm.

While you were thinking about escaping the room and his presence, Eunhyuk stepped closer to you again, enclosing his fingers around your wrist and his mouth opened to say something more.

Jung chose that exact moment to barge in, interrupting Eunhyuk before he could say anything. The doc measured the scene with a swift look at your pair, and his face hardened.

“We are finished. Go home and take a rest,” he told you sternly.

Upon that, Eunhyuk finally let go of you, the feeling of his touch still lingering on your skin.

Your mind has been a mess since last night. You felt bothered and needy all night after going home from the clinic. Even after taking a hot shower and pleasuring yourself for an embarrassingly long time.

You blamed it all on yourself. It has been a while since you met someone for romantic reasons, let alone spending a night with them. Maybe that’s why Eunhyuk’s closeness affected you so much.

Your past relationships were a mess. And that was an understatement. You spent most of your teenage years in a committed relationship with a nice boy, but going to different universities ended it soon. During the coming years your relationships only lasted a few month, and you had several hookups between them. You had to take your mind off the stress, and one night stands with bad boys were your solution to that. In reality, enjoying life to the fullest was your only intention.

Work was slow, and it didn’t help that Jung noticed your restlessness. Fortunately, he didn’t make any comment about it, but his sharp eyes picked up every single one of your hesitating moves and the distant look in your eyes when your mind wandered far away from the hospital to a certain tattooed mafia boss. You had to focus hard not to think about him.

Shindong – as always – patiently waited for you in your car, when you were finally free to go home.

“I plan to go out tonight. Will you follow me there too?” You voice had certain bite to it. The man already had his phone in his hand, doing who knows what.

“My orders state to keep you safe everywhere you go.”

“And you expect the enemy to be at a club, seducing then torturing me for information again?”

“You don’t know what they are capable of just to get to Eunhyuk.” He shrugged nonchalantly, but you saw a dark glint in his eyes. His fingers tapped faster on his phone now. “Which club are we going to, by the way?”

“Don’t know yet. Haven’t been in one in a while.”

“I heard ‘The Fortress’ to be a good hookup place, if that’s what you are looking for.”

You chuckled lowly. Did he read your mind or were you that obvious? Could anyone look at you and tell that you wanted to walk home with a stranger tonight?

“The Fortress it is, then.”

Getting ready wasn’t really fun. You were nervous, and Shindong’s constant questions didn’t help at all. He wanted to know everything. Will you take the lucky man home? Or would you go to his place? Should he act as a friend? Should he wait outside of your apartment until you are finished? Will you kick the man out or you’d let them sleep over?

At one point you got so angry, you wondered if you should go out at all. Was it worth it? Having a bodyguard showed its downside big time now. You just wanted him to disappear. You wanted your old life back without the whole mafia thing.

You shook your head, after finishing your makeup. A winged eyeliner was the cure for everything right now. That, a red lipstick and the promise of a well deserved hookup.

Exiting the bathroom, Shindong was on his phone again, talking in a low voice to someone. He took one look at your short red dress, before saying:

“I think even an army couldn’t hold her back from going out.” Then he ended the call.

“Who was it?” You asked hesitantly, something fluttering dangerously in your lower abdomen.

“Eunhyuk. I have to inform him, if you do anything outside of your usual routine.”

“Since when?”

“Since he sent me here the first time.”

“Fuck him,” you muttered, but he still heard you.

“Well, that could be an option. A bad one, but still an option.”

You pondered upon his words, but didn’t reply, simply grabbed your purse and waving for him to get going.

The Fortress was tricky. Its outside looked like a simple old building with bars in front of the windows, but the inside was buzzing with tons of people and music. The air was hot and you were happy you didn’t overdress, because you were already sweating.

Grabbing a drink for yourself and Shindong, you cheered before drinking it, then threw yourself onto the dance floor. Your hips swayed to the rhythm of whatever song was playing, body swiftly brushing to the other dancers’. Constantly scanning the crowd, you were waiting for someone to catch your eye and swing into action.

The only problem was that in every handsome men you were looking for the features of a certain someone. You dismissed anyone who didn’t have black hair or tattoos. Slowly, but surely you were getting tired of your own mind. You didn’t want him. You didn’t want someone who looked like him. You wanted someone who could take your mind off of Eunhyuk for a few hours, no matter how they looked.

Looking around with a newfound resolution, you spotted the bane of your existence.

Eunhyuk sat at the bar, chatting away with Shindong like it was the most natural thing in the world. His dark eyes were on you, following every movement of your body. He looked at you like he was moments away from devouring you right there. You froze on the spot. You could only stare back at him. You forgot about the people around you, barely feeling when someone caressed your hips or back.

You came out to forget about him and the fire he put inside you, and he was here. And you were getting angrier with every second as you put two and two together.

Shindong on his phone earlier texting away, him recommending The Fortress, calling Eunhyuk while you were getting ready. It was his doing. Eunhyuk was a spider weaving his web delicately and you walked right into it. Like a fool.

Hot and bothered, you swing your hand up, flipping him off. He only cocked an eyebrow, a smirk tugging on his lips. It was inviting, alluring. Your own lip parted, curse words crowding on your tongue, never actually getting released. You shook your head and did your best to disappear in the mass of bodies before going home.

And screw Shindong, he can get to your apartment however he wanted.

The moment you got into bed, your phone started to ring. Shindong came home half an hour after you, and never commented about you deserting him at the club. Not even a word about how stupid and dangerous it was on your part.

He was on the couch and you wondered if the ringing bothered him, because you were too tired to answer it. But it could be Jung calling you to get to the clinic, so you had to check the caller anyway. The number wasn’t familiar, so you let it ring out.

Not even a minute later, it buzzed with an incoming message.

[01:27] Ignoring me is not the smartest move. I’ll visit you tonight.

You scoffed at the arrogance. Even without a name, you knew who it was coming from.

[01:34] Just text me what you want to say. There’s no need for you to come here.

[01:36] It’s not something I could say over the phone. Sleep well.

Your fingers slipped inside your pants as you put your phone aside without answering Eunhyuk. The fire inside you flared up again with the promise of meeting him tonight.

You caressed your folds, covering your fingers with the sticky wetness. You fantasized about him wanting you and your body, just like you wanted him. Because you wanted him, you had to admit that to yourself. A shaky moan escaped your lips as you wondered what kind of lover he would be.

In your mind it was his tattooed fingers moving in and out of you. He would be enthralled by your wetness and your little sighs, an amused smirk playing on his lips. His thumb would be on your clit, fingers scissoring to coax more of those moans out of you, constantly looking for your sweet spot. And when he would find it, he would be ruthless.

Your movements followed your fantasies, getting you closer and closer to the edge.

Desperate for an orgasm, you massaged your clit faster. You felt it building up. You imagined him caressing your breasts, almost heard him whispering in your ear what a good girl you were for him.

After silencing your final moans in your pillow, you fell asleep with more fantasies of him.

[skittidyne]

if the cast of htkg gets stranded somewhere w no food who is the first to suggest cannibalism and who is the first to get cannibalized?

vivienne is the one who suggests it 10 minutes in as a joke(?). hell she probably suggested it on the ride that crashed or however they got stuck there.

but hmmmm time for bullet points! my beloved

if thomas is there he and vivienne are pointing fingers at each other and shrieking "THAT ONE THAT ONE THAT ONE" the entire time everyone else debates calmly/tearfully

dana is the one who has read an uncomfortable amount of stranded/disaster/the rook stories and is the first to point out the logistics of it, but not the first to make the Serious Suggestion

i don't see how she'd be this stupid but i think it'd be really really funny if christine tearfully volunteered to get eaten and someone had to quietly take her aside and go "sweetie no. you're not corporeal we can't eat you"

actually emil/christine/kirara are probably too lucky and avoid this mess entirely. (i don't know how dana doesn't avoid it, then. i like her nerdiness coming out in this dark way too much.)

like dana comes into this conversation with FOOTNOTES.

codi and thomas, the ones who kill Many Things for a living but never butcher them, just kinda shrug and nod and go "yeah that makes sense" when dana points out how careful they would have to be with a body to preserve it for food rather than just murdering someone for funsies

sam probably opens his mouth to volunteer and isaac bodychecks him to keep him down and out of the conversation for the rest of the night. isaac would be very pro-cannibalism of other people but no one's getting a two-for-one special on his watch.

you can't eat demons anyway, even if you could safely drain them of their blood

also. ngl. the whole bad luck thing kinda means vivienne would do it, but she can't die, sooooooo.

"well why can't we just cut off an arm or two instead? we don't have to KILL a person" "and let them bleed to death? we have no real medical supplies either" and meanwhile isaac is like "my time has come" (bc cauterization)

actually this scenario would have to have all of the nonhumans (aside from sam) kept away because otherwise they would be way too into eating the humans and there wouldn't even be a debate. they'd just pick a person and go to town. the extra funny part being that it would take weeks before a spirit would get to that starving desperation level versus how quickly a human would

mark probably gets killed and eaten first just for being so damn annoying and no one wants to deal with a mindreader when they're all stuck in Dark Thought town, anyway. if brynja is there, she probably kills everyone else in a fit of rage. if brynja is not there, she will kill everyone else in a fit of rage later.

man this could get really fucked up really fast if megan was there; they really could just start carving hunks and limbs off of each other and just heal the wound to stop death. good ending, maybe? or more horrifying? (mark probably still gets killed for being so damn annoying.)

[magnumdays]

Magnum PI 5.08 ‘Dark Skies’ review

Is it just me or were we getting serious “White Knight”/ Dark Thomas vibes this week? Like very serious determined and even broody/mysteriously feeling? Like normally I KNOW exactly where his head is at but this one I feel a little unsure. And I kind of loved that. It’s almost giving me ‘Higgy when Thomas has been kidnapped’ vibes. Only slightly less die this minute and more cat thinking very hard about how to kill another cat...

“I don’t think I was very clear; I’m not asking!”

So dramatic!

So for this week I felt like three very separate plots and stories without any real common theme or link. Which because they have been doing a swell job of having that lately I’m a little disappointed even as I did enjoy the episode.

Higgy and TC on adventure was a really good contrast to Rick and Magnum being very serious with their Greene investigation to make the episode less dark and for there to be a case of the week. TC and Shammy’s thing while sweet felt a little random, even though Higgy was too adorable about the whole quiz thing at the start.

Also my poor shipper heart just melts whenever we get our faves just being adorable and soft with each other be it on the phone or in the same room.

Higgy and TC going all cowboys on the drone was fun, wacky and none sympathetic client was a nice change. Feel like they could have done a little more with him and the whole adventure, but surely TC having guns in the chopper has to be a Chekhov's Gun sort of thing for the midseason finale.

Rick and Magnum and the Greene case is getting some traction and just as Juliet warns, it feels likely not getting rid of their new “friend” might come back and bit them in the ass. But we all knew our boys weren’t going to shoot the guy, even if it would have been a very interesting and dark turn if that did happen!

I like that it seems we’re not going for terrorists are after them but some part of the very same organisation/part of the government that ran their team or gave orders to someone. How they’re going to make sense of the ones after them not knowing their identities I don’t know...

Guess we shall see, but it does feel like someone really went in to this with a plan, so let’s hope it’s not another SUV-plot fail!

Anyways, liked the episode but even with the Greene development this felt little bit like a filler. Like a good filler, that might even be fun on the re-watch but not more than once probably. 

Now let’s talk about NEXT EPISODES PROMO!

My goodness, we got a proposal, someone getting blown up(?) and Higgy bleeding and freaking out in a padded cell. 

Genuinely curious what the proposal is about; a dream (Magnum’s or Higgy’s?), Higgy hallucinating at the mental hospital, them on a case or an actual proposal? I’m decently confident we’re not getting actually Miggy engagement until the very end of the season if at all but you never know even if I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t spoil it in the trailer! Feel like it would make sense for a case somehow even if it seems to be just them, so perhaps a dream?

But being the angsty “I love trauma for my faves” b*tch that I am, I’m kind of more excited to see what the bloody on her hands Higgy scene is all about. It looks like she’s utterly devastated and yeah, want to see what f*ckery can make Juliet Higgins lose her shit to this level. 

Very annoyed we have to wait 2 whole weeks for it, that’s for certain!

[amodernpersephone]

wataru 👁

ask game

favorite thing about them

— i love his design and personality in general!!! i kinda realized im drawn to clown-esque/circus/eccentric characters bc of him since it echoes thru all my rhythm gaming favs (hhw, wxs, etc) of all things, i think i rly like his hair. which is alive btw. thats actually canon bc it moves several times . yeah. they always give him the most prettyboy hairstyles thank you happyele

least favorite thing about them

— hng. ok i love him and his whimsy and clownery as much as the next person but Boy. sometimes his dramatic effects cause...well, drama. wataei doesnt advance emotionally (despite the fact that theyve been married since ! era) because one eichi cant read the room for shit and two wataru's incapable of expressing his romance in ways that arent less . wataru-like. i mean i love him and i love his grandiose wholly but it would help if he could he straightforward just a bit and if the straight part is too much, being forward is enough LMFAO SKDHJSVSJDG

favorite line

— “Please wake up, Eichi. With your own feet, let us walk home together. Did you not say that you would walk alongside me? Only you? Come, open your eyes. Look, look, you can view the Milky Way in its entirety, see? A reality far more beautiful than any dream... Even now, it is spreading out into this world. The one who taught me that was none other than you, yes?”

and alternatively

“You’re missing the point, Butler-san! That filth is precisely Eichi’s — no, I daresay all of humanity’s — charm point!”

brOTP

— i am an avid wataru & tori friendship enjoyer!! i just love how thru tori wataru slowly grew out of his fixation on eichi and his madness being the only thing linking him to fine (thus also assuring eichi that wataru held affection for them as a unit, and not merely because hes fuck all insane and wataru finds that hot somehow) and began to love fine as a unit he was part of, something real and true and whole!!! also i think he should take tori on more littol dates and they should have fun and do each other's makeup because i am right and yuzuru and eichi would gush about this until they bleed

OTP

— must we really ask me this. the guy wearing a shirt that says "i love wataei"the girl that wrote the wataei shipping wiki the thing that broke apart during ep:link and was never fully the same again??? anyway. yeah. i cant even make a fucking joke here bc wataei has woven itself so fucking deeply into my belief system i will see a mask and a crown and start screeching "MY BLORBOS MY BLORBOS" like the local loon in the wild west. god they make me want to cry

nOTP

— uh. idk if its just bc of the aforementioned wataei illness but. i cld never rlly enjoy other wataru ships. but i think i simply dont vibe w wataru x any eccentric rlly . not my cup of tea ig

random headcanon

— OH. OHOHOHOHOHO. i am firmly wataru trans nb he/him/any if thats anything. ANYWAY he wonders what hairstyles wld look good on eichi if he grew out his hair more. he tried to recreate the performance eichi watched on tv That Day because he wants him to experience it firsthand, right in front of him, no longer an enigma, no longer surreal, but tangible and wholly his. he decorated eichi's wheelchair with the rest of fine!! the nurses literally have him on the constant blacklist because SIR you cannot keep sneaking tenshouin-san down the window because you think he should see the beautiful moon out tonight. its canon but i think he can carry eichi around with relative ease. wataei do each other's hair! theres a special whimsy in performing but theres also an irreplaceable sense of joy in standing at the same stage as eichi and feeling both his competitiveness and admiration for wataru reverberate over his voice they are echoes of one another eternally flowing into their souls

unpopular opinion

— cant rly think of any bc i practically tune out everything else LMFAO but. ig uh. hello to the people who wrote me a 17-page google doc on why my ship was problematic to which i replied a 24-page legal document telling them to shut the fuck up. wataru is a firm believer of "if i can't fix this man, we can get worse together" come on get with it!!!!

song i associate with them

— aside from his own songs??? uh. i think of him and eimichin singing lightning bug a lot. there's also elegy dedicated with love from the vivy anime which is very wataeicore from a wataru perspective. OOH. anima by reona tops it tho i just. ouahh.

favorite picture of them

— must you even ask. i actually have more normal pictures but. he is my thing

[faunastanza]

Stolas: First Speech pt. 1

(part 2)

Stolas: First Speech by Stolas, River, Razca, Shizukan, Tzebel, Gaap, Mavi, Phoebe, Caskette, Nuez, etc.

Another long one, credited to all the people in the RP again. We're still in Althar where some random stuff is happening. A whole bunch of old plot things come back as fun cameos though. I think Glip was doing some backreading.

We start at the Synemetricism temple of the sun where someone named Prince Stolas, the central cardinal, is going to take the stage. President Gaap is the south cardinal with Thorn and Check as east and west, although River (north) is not at his podium and Azlyn seems to be missing. Stolas is supposed to give a speech but he's 20 minutes late. River shows up late and scurries to their podium.

With River in place, Stolas finally decides to start talking. He looks sort of like a weird Hollow Knight character. The title card reveals this is just a stupid outfit the actual Stolas is wearing, who you'll see in a moment.

i can never tell you all how much i love stripes

Stolas says that he's been trying to figure out how to express himself for days. He says he has intentions of granting a wish. We get an overlap of Mesund whining as usual to some poor unfortunate who's stuck listening to him. He complains that he hates this and he hates hearing this from whoever he's talking to, and that it feels like this person made everything bad with Nuez when Mesund didn't want it to be bad in the first place. He says he tried very hard from the beginning to listen to her and include her in everything. "I tried," Mesund says, "I was doing this on my own. I was trying on my own because I cared on my own."

Reminder that Nuez is one of Pengo's characters. No reason.

Mesund continues, saying that if Nuez had told him that she felt hurt from what he did, he would have listened. He hates that this person's fear interfered and that he wishes that it hadn't. It turns out he's talking to that weird bear thing from before that talked about wanting to disengage from Mesund's yelling in that deranged way.

got two little xylophone hammers on my head, nodding like yeah

Mesund continues tantruming about how they wish Bear would stop making his relationships worse with other people and how much he hates it. Always someone else's fault. We cut back to Stolas at the podium, saying that granting a wish is the focus of the ritual he wants to begin today. The narration says that Stolas speaks in a slow, measured way. He says he'll grant the wish in several months (when the RP ends, presumably).

We get a cut-in of Deca and Mesund again, with Mesund crying about how he wishes he could do something safe with Deca. They frame the center shot of Stolas, so we're kind of cutting back and forth with the narrative focus. Stolas says that the wish's focus should be about uniting Althar. Mesund continues, saying that he can't even hug Deca. "What does it mean to unite Althar?" Stolas asks.

this is what i mean by two scenes at once

Mesund says that they don't know if Deca would even want a hug anyway, although the text has a background to it that sort of looks like it's been erased or rewritten. Stolas says he wants to explore what it means to unite Althar. Part of Mesund's dialogue disappears, leaving "cannot... know it" while Stolas says he doesn't know what it'd mean to unite Althar. Both the scenes are bleeding into each other as you've probably guessed at this point, I'm just trying to be specific because it gets easy to lose the thread of one scene when it cuts to the next.

Mesund keeps crying and talks about "the boat thing", and says it reminds him of a phrase Sleebee (who? also lol) said to him that it (who?) said it was very important, or that it treated it as important. Stolas says that Psia'ago, you know what, Pengoists, has barred Synemetricism from their grounds. I'm just going to call Synemetricism Synmet from now on.

Going back to Mesund, he says it was called the "S.S. Friend Drowner", which is a reference again to the very early pages of Seeds which was a time of simple hijinx. Cress made herself a boat at one point to get Min across a river and Min kept roasting Cress for falling asleep while sailing. Min writes in her journal sarcastically about how the "S.S. Friend Drowner" will reach the other side of the lake eventually before she takes a nap. Mesund says that it made him sad, and he realized that he couldn't know if he was wanted, and he might not be. Implications of Mesund being Cress now, for whatever sense that makes.

Stolas asks why the Pengoists blocked the Synmets, rhetorically. Mesund continues his previous thought, saying he'd "find out, once..." but then trails off. He says he doesn't know, it just made him sad. Stolas says he was given no reason. Deca finally decides to speak up and says that it does sound sad, and he's sorry for contributing to that feeling (how?). Stolas rhetorically asks why.

Deca says that his statement of "you cannot know" could have been misinterpreted in a very robotic way.

still can't figure out where my face is

Stolas says he's wondering about the Pengoists behavior. Dialogue comes from Mesund but with a different background and it sounds a bit like Deca, so I'm not sure if it's Mesund or Deca talking here, but let's assume it's Mesund. Mesund says that if Deca doesn't have a feeling, then he doesn't have it, and that if he doesn't want to connect to security in that way, "it doesn't... it's not... I don't expect it."

Stolas is quiet in thought for a long while. Eventually he says that some of the congregation might know why the Pengoists blocked the Synmet where he does not. "Maybe this is so," he says, "It doesn't feel like unity to me." He says he wants to change this. Stolas goes on to say that today his head was full of noise. We then cut fully to another scene, this time with River and a bird thing with Andre's wand in his head. River asks where they're going, and Stolas says they're going to a place about noise. River asks if they're going to a temple, and Stolas clarifies that they're going to the temple of Sample, the troupe member associated with music. You know who hasn't shown up much? The troupe. I know saying that is inviting disaster but god I hated all of them, I'm glad they're gone. Especially Double/Extra. Double/Extra can go to Hell.

Anyway, Stolas in this form talks differently with very short broken sentences. River asks who Sample is, and Stolas says that they're a sibling of his and Gaap's. River asks for more details about what Sample looks like, and asks if Sample's good at wiggling. Stolas says she is, and River gets an odd look on his face and asks if Sample's better at it than Stolas is.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

This is set up like some fun teasing thing but instead a big web of those weird crying cat keys show up. They say a lot of stuff about dying for doing something wrong, along the lines of "if you make a mistake, you'll die, if they make a mistake, you'll die" "if you tell anyone,  you'll die" "they want you to die" and things like that. Some of it mentions things like "forever screaming" "always bad" "it's your fault" "you don't care, you never did" and other things that sound like stuff Glip would write whenever Marl or a stand-in would show up. Marl venting or in-character anxiety? You decide!

these things are ridiculous looking

Anyway, all the lines get crossed out except a few, leaving "if you make a mistake, it's your fault, not theirs. You can't tell anyone." River asks what's wrong and Stolas says everything is noise. We get a clearer shot of Stolas.

get used to him, he's going to show up a lot

River asks if it's like the noise bomb dream that Stolas has sometimes. Stolas abruptly asks what River would do if he killed himself. We cut back to podium Stolas in his goofy outfit. He says he woke up dreaming of death and the threat of death, and he's been trying to understand what death means, and what it means for a united Althar. He says this might sound somewhat disconnected, but he's thinking of Hellside. Stolas pauses to let everyone linger on the thought of Hellside for a bit. He says that disease of an angelic nature threatens to come through from Hellside, in one of the few callbacks to the old plot we've had in a while.

We cut to little Stolas who sort of resembles a basketball looking at some weird swirlies on a wall.

my tangela looks weird

Gaap tells Stolas that the circle with the dot inside is very important since it represents Synmet in Althar, as well as Andrealphus and Stolas. Stolas mainly parrots Gaap as she tells him that he'll find this language easy to grasp, although none will be beyond him. Gaap explains how words can be used to tell stories and gets a note from Check, one of the other cardinals. She says that Check's words are concerning about a potential future. We get a glimpse of the note as Gaap shows it to Stolas. From what I can gather, it says that River's been spending time with Razca and that's not a good thing for some reason.

got my... saladfingers

She points out the sigil on the left of the note and says that Stolas can write that at any time to contact her. Stolas is delighted by this and still mostly parrots single words back at her, clearly supposed to be a toddler or around that age. She says that words can make a world smaller or larger, and Stolas is intrigued by the idea of using tools for other worlds. Referring to himself as Andre, he says he wants to write and see "sing symbols". Saying that he write sing symbols "of in the heart" he says he saw Static. Gaap doesn't seem that surprised by this.

mommy mommy guess what i did in school today mommy

Stolas tries to write a sing symbol, which he does. This song showed up before in Itchy Itchy - Andre wrote it on the wall for Biff to relay to his zombie, Loppy, to sing to the angel to neutralize it. It did work I think although Loppy doubledied in the process.

haha, this song's gonna cause so many problems

Gaap asks what the song is about. We do an abrupt cut back to Itchy Itchy with Andre and Beleth. Beleth is tripping out under the angel's influence, saying that they think the angel is gone, while Andre says that has nothing to do with what he said. Originally, Beleth repeated themselves because they were tripping out, but now Beleth turns to look at Andre and says "What does that matter? Nothing you say ever has to do with others. Why's it bad when others do it?"

Andre is startled, saying that's not what Beleth said next. Beleth agrees, saying that they repeated themselves and that's how Andre KNEW, he could hear it in the repetition. "You hear my death in that repetition," they say, "you KNOW that repetition". Beleth goes on, saying that Andre then trashes the story and gives up, just going through the motions until he gets Double (god damn it!!) to burn Beleth, and then Double paints for Andre and does everything for Andre, and feels when Andre doesn't want to feel. This does explain the split mask/full mask imagery we've seen with Andre before. Beleth says "And NOW you act like you care about imitators? Disease? Death? Don't make me laugh." After a pause, Beleth looks away and calls him a coward.

We cut back to Stolas at the podium. He says he's working on sealing the Hellside portal currently, and that the thought it'd be a shorter endeavor than it has been, saying he thought it'd only take a week. He goes on to say that he felt like Hellside was like a second home to him. Leaving it and sealing "ourselves" away gives him a dull ache.

We cut to Amdusias and Andre talking. Andre asks how Amdusias has been enjoying it so far. Amdusias says that there are a lot of Andres there (more paintings of him). Andre rolls his eyes saying of course there are, it's his pyramid, it's for him. Amdusias then gets angry and says that this is where she asks him why Beleth's body wasn't accounted for when they developed the cures for Itchy Itchy disease. I don't remember this scene happening at any point, although it could have happened off-screen, although the on-screen explanation we were given for this was because Beleth was "embarrassed" about the makeup of their body. But a lot of this feels like retconning anyway, so.

andre in the corner all, i'm not involved in this Amdusias goes on to say that this is where Andre pretends he's not in his painting anymore, and that she corners him and makes him think about how much he hates helping the Hellside military, although he told no one about that. He wished he could have stopped Beleth's death, but he can't even be honest with her. The screen goes black with the text "You shut everyone out, and then act like some great, noble deed is being performed". This doesn't sound much like Andre as we've seen him in the comic but it DOES sure sound like how Glip's described Marl and also themselves at points.

We go back to Stolas at the podium, looking away. He thanks Pengoists for shutting Synmet out, saying it gave him direction on sealing Hellside. He then says he wants to talk about something else that's been on his mind. He says that his Art Pyramid, the one in Trebol Hellside (where Andre is), has been stolen. He then says it was the one that was SUPPOSED to be in Hellside (what?). Stolas ponders outloud how someone could steal an entire building, and says he's started to track the thief down.

We get a shot of Phesund from the Spirit of Art VN, with a side frame of Phesund talking. He says he's been thinking about the work he's doing and says it's like meditation, which involves noting things around you and letting them go to purely exist in the moment. Going back to Stolas, he says he can't confirm the thief tracking because he can't go to Hellside since it's being sealed due to the disease. He says it feels true however.

Back to Phesund, he talks about how art can resonate and flow within you and to others. We then get this silly shot of Phesund making bedroom eyes going ~Flow~

oh god they're all around me, don't panic

Phesund says that the flow of life is spirit and the basis of spirit magic. Stolas says that he doesn't like that his home was stolen from him. It was one home of several, but it was built for him specifically. Spirit magic is about creation, Phesund says, we are creative beings! Stolas says the pyramid was to house him and his creative expressions. Phesund says that everything has the potential to be creative, including the art pyramid itself and the angel on it. Uh oh!

Clarifying, Stolas says that not only was the pyramid for him, the criminal angel called the Principal, was allowed into the art pyramid as well. The angel was supposed to be sealed away on Pike, and is singlehandedly responsible for countless tragedies in Hellside. We get a shot of some weird thing that looks like it has manhole covers for hands.

RED LIGHT The snake thing goes up... the MOON IN HELLSIDE!! THIS IS THAT STORY CALLIOPE WAS TELLING ABOUT BIG STAR A MILLION YEARS AGO! HOLY CRAP!! It grabs the rim of Big Star and pulls it off to eat it. Stolas says that this angel led the initial charge, and yet the thief saw fit to let the angel loose in his home. He doesn't think he needs to explain why letting the Principal, one of the most destructively powerful angels ever, into a giant amplifying artifact was a bad idea. He does stress it is a bad idea though, and to that end, he's divined a new map of Owel, saying it's changed. The Principal's doing, he thinks, since it changed the landscape in Hellside whenever they fought it before. Lots of people died. It was only due to Gaap's ingenuity with words that any demons or imps were recovered.

River mentioned a barrier around Althar before, and Stolas now thinks this barrier is the work of the Principal. Who knows what's beyond the barrier or what happened to everything out there? This is what happens when you let the Principal out carelessly and let it defile his home, he says. He's already started work on how to address this problem and will continue it. He's going to capture the thief and question them! They're apparently pretending to be him. "I wish they understood... what... they are doing, when they lie and deceive as they are," he says. He wishes he could understand why they've stolen from him. Stolen from Stolas, haha! Ha haha. He says he WILL understand.

He's still talking in a flat and measured way, the narration reassures us. Stolas says that things have changed in his absence, and it's strange. His last memories are being sucked dry by a parasite (THAT'S YOU, SILAS!! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!! maybe marl too!! i don't know!!) and then being born again. "Just a blip" he says. An angel found him, moved him, and isolated him, and then eventually another one sucked him dry. Andre keeps getting sucked off here.

He says "collaboration" and then trails off. It has another shot of the Worthworm on Andre's mural, then we get a shot of a big temple. It's the temple where Mel and TALwire went to see Razca from the last one with the egg. Gaap is there. TALwire tells Gaap to touch her nib to the egg to complete the ritual, and the timing of is it critical down to the last minute. Gaap narrates her actions in a way she hasn't done in a while.

splort

The egg turns into basketball baby Stolas. Teary, Gaap asks Stolas if he knows who he is. Stolas parrots her, so she explains who she is, adding that she's his friend. She tells him he's Prince Stolas, holy mother of Althar... for now. Gaap asks River to keep an eye on Stolas to keep him from falling in the water. River is very chatty and goes on about his rocks for a bit, eventually getting Stolas to get excited about different colors. Gaap says that it's right he should like different colors, and takes them to the observatory, saying that Stolas should look out over Althar. As they go up the steps, Gaap says that it's okay for Stolas to ask for help if he needs it.

Stolas dances around happily when Gaap praises him, and River says that he likes her. Gaap says that's good, as they're friends, and promises she'll do better by Stolas than she did before.

writing failed in the previous arcs but THIS time i'll do it right

River says that Stolas REALLY likes her, and Gaap says this is at it should be, and that everyone should love Stolas. River enthusiastically says that he's his friend too and will love him forever if he wants. Stolas runs around him while River is delighted that he likes him, which Gaap says is also as it should be.

River asks what happens if something isn't as it should be, and Gaap says it has to be corrected. River asks how to do that, do you paint a different color over it? After a moment Gaap says yes. They go up to the observatory to see Althar. River and Stolas are amazed, and Gaap says that people in Althar are kind, kinder than she expected, and helped return him to her.

don't mind the constant eclipse

She wants to give that love back to Stolas. She goes and gets a journal to give to Stolas, telling him he should write in it every day. Teary again, she says it's her wish that Stolas love himself as much as she loves him. She tells him to write or draw anything in it he wants, it's proof that he exists.

Back with podium Stolas, he says that during the past few weeks since his revival, he's been studying and thinking. He never liked words before, but he finds them useful now. He then says it's strange, he hasn't felt like painting. It was all he was and all he did before but now everything feels different. He says that he writes every day and he thinks about words. Glip feeling more writing inspiration than art inspiration lately? Trying to meld them both into one thing? Could be.

Stolas says he wants to hear the stories of Althar, and that he wants to grant life to someone's wish of a story. He says he can do this, but only if he feels it. He really wants to feel it. I'm reading this as whoever "wins" the rp has a chance to get an actual arc based on their story after its over but i'm just speculating. Stolas says that it's so hard to feel it. A united Althar, why, for what?

We cut to Stolas and RIver riding one of those horse cagroo things. They come to what looks like a barn. River says it reminds him of a dream he had, and when Stolas asks about it it's typical dream rambling nonsense. Maybe it's plot important and maybe not, but no one wants to hear about your dreams, man.

this sort of describes lily and neon at ever hopeful/teslic yard if you squint River says in his dream that people were hopping in big moving things, then points at an extremely vague looking car, saying that's what people were jumping over. Stolas goes to knock on the door while River keeps looking around. He asks if this is where the cave is, and Stolas says yes and no. He clarifies that there are many caves, not just one. Inside the car, under a seat, is Shizukan holding... something. I can't tell what. Some kind of plush toy...?

a book with bunny ears?

Stolas goes poking around the car. Razca comes out and RIver asks her what the car is, and Stolas meanwhile goes to knock on it. Razca comes and picks him up, which angers Stolas and makes him peck her. Razca calmly says its rude to touch things without permission while Stolas kicks her with his little chicken legs. She says she won't open the car for him if he won't cooperate. River, dismayed, says Stolas doesn't like that. Razca says she doesn't like him putting his hands (a generous term for Stolas's little tentacle things) on the vehicle. Stolas abruptly says that he won't save the angel if she won't put him down.

Razca is taken aback and puts him down. She asks what he means. Stolas says the angel inside will die, and "in church someone has death mark, angel will die". River asks if this is like when Stolas turned a curse into a wish, and Stolas says yes. Razca asks how Stolas will help. Stolas says to unlock the angel. Razca asks what happens next, and Stolas says "Stolas will make another map for next. In new day."

Razca asks if this means he wants to unlock the angel and then continue on the next day, and Stolas says no. When River asks if maybe there's another angel, Stolas suddenly gets mad and says there's too many questions. River asks how to get in the car, and Razca says she doesn't know since it's not hers. Stolas says that Razca is clever and can learn about it, and tells her to ask.

We go back to podium Stolas, asking what story "you and I" would tell together. What kind of story makes sense to bring to life, to make true? What kind of story includes everyone? What kind of story includes everyone in ways they want? What will the next RP be? Who can know.

Back to Razca, she's brought two other people - Myandery and some cat in a big sweater - saying they can open the car.

help we locked our kid in the car what do we do Stolas stomps over to the car and yells OPEN. Myandery is concerned that Stolas will hurt Shizukan, and asks if Stolas will tell others that there are angels here. Stolas looks mad as Myandery says that the angel is its friend and it just wants to know if it'll die. Stolas reiterates that the angel will die if not set free, and Razca says they're trying to save it. The cat in the sweater asks why in a very particular way.

i can just see this written out in discord

Stolas says that he "makes wish of River out of curse of angel" and again demands they open the car. Myandery says they want to talk to Shizukan before letting Stolas in there. This just pisses Stolas off further. Cat asks River what the wish and curse is. River rambles another dream where he was cursed and a lady with long black hair held a towel to another lady with black hair on all fours who was REALLY SCARY and River couldn't get away, and only felt like he could get away if she hurt someone else, and then when he told Stolas he said he'd turn the curse into a wish instead.

Myandery is taken aback and asks when River had the dream. He checks a notepad and says he had it yesterday. Myandery says to itself that Shizukan might be the most clever individual its ever met, and says it still wants to talk to the angel. The cat says fine and they'll open the car so they won't make "new Andre" mad.

Going back to podium Stolas, he says those questions about what kind of story he'll eventually make real with a wish are always on his mind. He says something else has been on his mind, then pauses for a while. He says there's a future where he dies, and it's the future where Althar does not unite. He says he dies by his own hand, and he wonders why.

Back with the others, Shizukan is out of the car. Stolas calls over Razca, saying he needs "keys or pins" to open the lock. Razca asks if he means "Angel Groupings" and Stolas says yes. Razca asks what keys he wants, and he puts a tendril to his head and says Ob-serve, who Phoebe has, and Shrou-desty, which Mavi has. Razca tells sweater cat to go get them.

how long have those line keys been a thing and yet they remain unclear

Myandery asks if Shizukan is scared as it holds some kind of bundle. Shizukan shakes and looks at Stolas, and Myandery offers to hold its hand, saying that its mother used to hold its hand when it shook. Shizukan does so. Phoebe and Mavi show up, looking like a cat with antlers and a gerbil with a tentacle ear respectively, and Stolas says he wants more of Ob-serve and Diff-frent. Myandery wonders aloud at wanting more Ob-serve, while sweater cat asks antler cat if there's another one. Stolas runs over and stares intently at Phoebe, then looks over at Myandery and Shizukan.

Stolas says "talking ritual?" and Phoebe says she did that. Stolas says good, and that means they're halfway to the lock. He points out some symbols in his journal and says "talking ritual" and "close hole". Stolas says they need four to play the talking ritual. Phoebe clarifies it as them needing another participant and another "Observe". Presumably in the discord this meant another person watching while another person joined the scene but again I'm speculating. Sweater cat says that Nuez did ask if Stolas was open to visitors.

Back to podium Stolas, he says he's spent a lot of time thinking about why he kills himself in that alternate future, and he doesn't understand. Still, he can see it clearly.

And back to the others again, with Nuez and a little mascot dragon. River identifies Nuez as a rabbat, which I wouldn't have guessed since they always looked like a jackal to me, but hey. The little Spyro dragon is called Caskette.

so now two people at least in this scene are being played by pengo

River tells Nuez that he had a dream where a rabbat came out of a cave and then fell over and changed, wondering if she's going to do that. Nuez says she's "unaware" and hopes that doesn't happen since it'd be weird. Myandery says it also hopes that doesn't happen and that it'd be "super omega weird" which is a bit jarring.

Nuez tentatively says hi to Stolas who looks mad. River goes on about his dream where the grey rabbat turned into a scraggly brown jackal (hey!), saying that some officials came after him who sort of liked him and sort of didn't. Anyway, they start the talking ritual to "show hidden thing of angel". Nuez is concerned about this, asking what Stolas means, while Shizukan looks scared.

Stolas sets up the word game, with someone eventually figuring out that it's basically hide and seek with words and it'll show what the angel is hiding. Shizukan squeezes Myandery's hand. It kind of looks like its holding the same bundle TALwire was a while back.

the virgin shizukan

Stolas reiterates that the game will save the angel's life. Some of the panels in this bit are overlapping each other with each pass and I'm not sure if its supposed to be the passage of time or multiple versions of the same conversation. In one pass, when Phoebe asks if the game will prevent a death, Stolas just laughs. When Stolas goes and hides behind River to illustrate what he means by hide and seek, River says that it's so he won't get "the poke". When asked, River says that he poked Stolas once and Stolas went and hid behind Gaap so he couldn't poke him anymore. In a SECOND pass of this conversation, when the person asks what the poke means, it cuts to Phoebe saying "Principal". Ugh this narrative choice is so hard to summarize.

Anyway, Stolas breaks them up into two teams, saying that he will find and break angel's goal. He's looking very ominous through this whole thing btw.  One team is "talking" and one is "collar", and the basic format is that he'll ask one team something and then ask the other team something else. You get snippets of the conversation in the Discord as the two players decide how to respond.

observe our thought processes

Nuez's team asks how breaking the goal contributes to saving the angel's life. Stolas just laughs. He asks the collar team to think of a word to say to Stolas about Undertown while Shizukan looks increasingly scared. River asks what Undertown is, and Stolas says it's the home of angels. The collar team decides on the word melody. Stolas flips through his book, says the angel's goal is revealed, and laughs maniacally. Shizukan looks crestfallen.

Stolas asks the collar team to ask him a question. They ask what the angel's goal is. Stolas looks in his book, then looks at Shizukan who looks away. He then asks the other team to agree on a word to say to him about Andrealphus. Shizukan hides its face and then hides behind a blanket or towel, not sure what it is. Maybe it's from the bundle its carrying.

Nuez says that she and Phesund had a dream about Andre. "Mesund made a story with me... and used that character... it was a nightmare actually... but he was... um..." Nuez says. Andre got caught in a loop trying to help people he wanted to protect, but those he was trying to protect were encouraging him in ways that weren't sustainable, like getting praise for hurting those "invading". Nuez says its complicated, and Phoebe says Mesund showed the nightmare thing in class, which is great because we never got to see it. That's great.

mesund is the real nightmare, am i right guys! tip your waiter

They settle on changing, but then change their minds again to go with growing since it has more positive connotations. Stolas looks through his book, then stares at Shizukan again. It's still hard to tell but it might be Myandery covering its face, I'm not sure. Stolas says "I see", then asks the team to come up with a question for him. Nuez and Phoebe discuss again what to ask and it seems like everyone in the discord talks in this distant, detached way. I guess it must just be the accepted style there.

nuez got that junk in the trunk

They think about asking about why this would make Stolas happy, but settle on "Why do you choose to move" which is an odd tangent. The other team reveals that they went with Melody because that's the name of an angel that one of them knows in Undertown. So are angels dangerous or not!! Stolas tells them to say a word to him about wishes.

maybe it's all just two or three people talking to themselves

They decide on connection. Stolas looks at his book and asks them for a question. They ask what Stolas's feelings are about angels. Again Stolas flips through his book and doesn't address it at all. He asks the other team for a word about the Art Pyramid. They go with gravity. He flips through the book again, although this time his eyes widen and he says yes.

Back to podium Stolas. He says someone in Althar leads him to kill himself. Then right back to the word game, this time with River. Stolas asks for a question. River asks how are you. Stolas asks him for a word that's the opposite of rain, and he says plume. Stolas asks why and River's reasoning is kind of interesting, I have to say.

i mean... not wrong