#but have watched some other roles as well!!

[writing-mlm]

The Price of Losing

Summary: Being sucked into a video game world because two Doom’s are trying to take over the world is bad enough. But dealing with a try-hard support who hasn’t lost since this started is beyond crazy, thankfully Lin has the perfect way to break that streak. Pairing: Lin Lie x Male!Reader Wc: 5.6k tags/warning: canon-level violence, porn WITH plot, jealous Lin, sex as a bribe, mating press, riding, finger sucking, degrading said as praise, healers being yelled at, I spent way too much time looking at Hydra and Tokyo-2099 maps for this, powers based on Raven (Dc comics) a/n: hiii people in my phone, take this smut as my peace offering

“Thank you,” Storm smiles as you use the darkness to suck the life from the enemy team, using their life force to heal your team. Iron Fist, Venom, Cloak, and Captain America fall to the ground as you let them go, their bodies slump on the ground. Hawkeye and Wanda quickly finish the ones you didn’t kill, leaving the domination point filled with only your team. You watch as their bodies time out, your shoulders dropping as you get a couple of seconds to relax. Floating, you cross your legs and heal yourself. Venom has been diving you for the past twenty minutes and you didn’t want to overwhelm Jeff with healing you. 

You didn’t mind being into an alternate universe, although you’d been mostly retired from the whole hero scene up until that point. It’s been six months of this, some weird video game where you were sometimes picked to play against other heroes from different universes. Or was it timelines? You couldn’t keep up— didn’t, if you were being honest. 

It was nice, although you’d been stuck with your main role being a healer. You certainly weren’t known for your healing back home, but you did heal exceptionally well. You grin as you check your cuff, twenty-zero-thirty-eight with almost thirty thousand healing. With your whole team having a giant zero next to the number of times they’ve died, you guess you were well-suited to being a healer. 

Well, not Jeff. He always died with the enemies he swallowed instead of spitting them out for some reason. 

“My ultimate is ready!” Storm calls, her voice echoing through your earpiece. 

“We only have ten seconds left, you should wait!” You warn, looking around for her, and find her at the entrance of the enemy team, ready to press the button. “We’ll go into our final match before they get here.” 

“But I hate going into overtime!” Hawkeye groans, checking his quiver as more arrows appear from thin air. Rolling your eyes, you watch and listen as Galatca starts her countdown. As she does, you see the other team rushing towards the point. Iron Fist rapidly punches to launch himself forward while Rocket is using his jetpack to try and back it before time runs out. Unfortunately for them, they’re just a second too late as the round ends with you face-to-face with Iron Fist. 

He huffs as time slows down, the air blowing into your face as you wink before being transported to the waiting room of the next map. 

“Who has their ultimates ready?” Bucky’s voice drowns out the sound of him rolling his metal arm. “I’m at sixty-eight,”

“Full,” You reply after checking your meter. 

“Me too,” Storm nods. 

“Ninety,” Wanda sighs. “Hopefully Cloak doesn’t vanish his team again,” You hum, looking around for a water bottle in the throne room. They’re usually hidden around somewhere. 

“Ten,” Hawkeye frowns. Jeff barks something and then spins, water splashing around as he does. 

“It’s full,” You translate for him and he jumps, throwing a healing bubble at you to confirm. Bucky nods as you get a small speed boost, using the time to scratch the bottom of Jeff’s chin. His back paws rapidly hit the floor and you coo before hearing the countdown starting up. 

“I’ll stay in the back line. If all six touch base I’ll pop my ult,” You tell them as everyone stands at the entrance. 

“I’ll keep their tanks off of you,” Wanda promises.

“Me and Storm will push them back, Hawkeye should stay in the rafters and pick off anyone who gets past us.”

“Sounds good to me!” Hawkeye agrees and the doors open. Jeff gives everyone a speedboat and you all push towards the middle room. 

The Hydra map is the Frozen Airfield, so while Hawkeye takes the side entrance to get to the balcony the rest of you take the hallway straight there. By the time you get there, you hear Rocket's feet pattering against the metal and Captain America’s heavy footsteps. He’s such a pain in your ass, but hey, at least he can’t knock you off of the map this time. 

From the corner of your eye, you see Dagger talking before Captain America gives a confirmation nod. 

“Cloak and Dagger are about to ult,” You warn, using the darkness to push Squirrel Girl back. You haven’t spotted Iron Fist yet but you see Venom swing down from the other balcony. 

“Got her,” Storm says and leaves the point to deal with her. Knocking down Rocket and Squirrel Girl with your darkness blast ability, you give Wanda a little extra healing as she deals with the Venom desperately trying to nab you. Finishing the two off, you glance around to see if anyone needs healing. Storm is coming back from an eliminated Cloak and Dagger, getting healed by Jeff who’s happily waddling around. 

“Iron Fist has his fist shoved up my—“ Hawkeye cuts himself off as he jumps from the balcony, rolling to your side as you rapidly heal him. Reloading, you and Hawkeye tag team Iron Fist just as he pops his ultimate, thankfully, though, Storm notices the crowded point and pops hers, too. 

Pulling everyone from the enemy team closer to her, you work on healing the others while the enemies get picked off. The point gets claimed just as Storm goes back to normal. 

“Fist is back at zero, then. But Cloak and Dagger still have theirs ready,” Bucky reminds everyone as you watch Jeff place down scattered bubbles. 

“I think Cap just got his, too,” Hawkeye sighs. “I saw his cuff turn gold.” 

“That’s fine,” You shake your head. “Bucky has his and I still have mine. Wanda should’ve gotten hers by now, too,” She only nods, flexing her red magic as a confirmation. 

“Wanda should use hers if more than three of them come at once. Everyone else needs to cover her so she doesn’t get eliminated before she finishes it.” Bucky instructs. 

“I’ll go to the balcony, that way there’s less time for them to react,” She offers and flies up. Jeff joins her, sitting and waiting to heal her as you hear them running up. Stepping off of the point, you dip over to see who’s heading over before they can see you. 

“Cap, Cloak, Squirrel, and Rocket.” Bucky nods and then gives Wanda the signal. She nods just as they step through the doors. She pops her ultimate while you corral them forward, keeping them from running away with the help of Bucky’s arm. You can hear them firing her but the sound of Jeff’s rapid healing outdoes them before they all fall, waiting for their timer to run out. 

“We should team up more often,” Hawkeye grins as you’re finishing up Wanda’s healing. “This is fun!” 

“You’ve made it halfway!” Galacta announces and you confirm on your cuff. 

“Venom behind you!” Bucky warns and you fly up, dodging his ultimate while Hawkeye rolls to the side. Healing him as you fly down, you see Bucky and Wanda dealing with him. You still haven’t spotted Iron Fist but you know he hasn’t disconnected, so he’s probably lurking around somewhere. 

“Squirrel Stampede!” Isn’t as scary when Bucky shoots the swarm of squirrels until they’re gone. But what comes next only makes you groan. 

“Us against the world!” Moving out of the way as Cloak and Dagger go barrelling across the point, you and Jeff heal the others while also trying to find an untouched spot on the point. By that point five of them are on the point— all six when Venom lands on it. You could use your ultimate, but there’s no guarantee they’ll all die from it. It only lasts five seconds so once it’s up, you rush back to the point just before they take it and use your ultimate with your team rushing in front of you to act as a barrier.

“Heaven and Purgatory swarms you!” You shout before the point is covered in a field of darkness. Six confirmed kills appear on your cuff and the points capture progress goes back to blue. 

“Good timing,” Bucky nods while Hawkeye pats your shoulder. Nodding, you watch as the map shifts, opening the large window to your left. With Jeff’s ultimate ready he could get another team wipe before you’ve fully captured the point. 

Sensing something behind you, you fly up and watch as Iron Fist locks onto you. Cursing, you fly about before being forced to land, sending darkness blasts at him before you can fly again. Jeff is rapidly healing you as half of his punches land. Wanda is slowly ticking away at his health but Venom slams her away. 

“You’re almost there!” Galacta announces. 

“Armed and Dangerous!” Landing again, you see Iron Fist land too before Bucky slams into him. He fires twice before you see his cuff light up. “Again!” Falling into a healing bubble, you help the others heal while you rub your chest. Had this been a real fight you bet he would have broken your rib cage. Bringing the other teams health down, you watch as Bucky keeps reloading his ultimate. 

“I’m glad he’s on our side,” Hawkeye whispers and you nod, watching as he eliminates Squirrel Girl before returning to the point. 

“We’re going to push for the last ten percent. Hawkeye, Storm, and Jeff cover point,” Nodding, the four of you rush to the enemy spawn point and wait for them to respawn. 

They stare at your team, talking through the red walls and you watch as they split into groups. 

“(Y/n), you take Iron Fist and Rocket. Wanda, you have Venom and Squirrel. Leave Cloak and Cap to me,” Sharing a look with Wanda, the two of you split up and you extend your darkness towards Rocket and Iron Fist. You’ll deal with Rocket first, his healing can get pesky when he’s only healing two people. Pushing him into the air, you fly up and push him to the edge of the map. He nearly falls but uses his jetpack at the last second. He’s almost eliminated, though, so one darkness stream and he’s falling off the map. 

“Aht aht,” Iron Fist grins before roundhousing you into the wall. 

“I’m low!” Wanda warns and you grit, trying to find her but Iron Fist blocks your view. 

“Find a healing pack,” Bucky says, his gun echoing in the air. “Or run to Jeff,” 

Flying up to put distance between the two of you, you throw out darkness but he remains on your ass as you land. You watch as your health quickly declines and push him away, running back to a nearby healing pack. He follows closely, managing two punches before you dive and start attacking back. 

“Pure Chaos!” He doesn’t look back as Wanda wipes nearly half of his team. He could’ve easily eliminated her from his spot, with just two leaps but instead, he dips behind the wall so he’s out of her radius and backing you into a corner. His focus is on you as the two of you play cat and mouse until you see his cuff glow that familiar golden color. You’re no longer on any cooldowns, you could fly or use your spray but he’d catch up too fast.

“Aw shit,” You grumble, your back pressed to the wall while he grins, going to press it before time slows down. 

“Another perfect victory!” Sighing, you slump and watch as he tosses his arms up. 

You don’t watch as the MVP screen plays, skipping to meeting up with the team and heading out of the arena to the dorms. 

“Who won?” Spider-man asks as he sees the twelve of you leaving the portal. 

“We did,” Wanda smiles. “The other team put up quite the fight, though.”

“Lemme guess,” Ironman smirks. “(Y/n) MvP?”

“It was a close call,” You shrug. “I had one more kill than Bucky,” The man in question rolls his eyes and you watch as another team gets called into a fight. All you know is that you’re not in the group they called so you head up to shower. 

—

Two knocks echo throughout the mostly empty apartment as you’re watching your dinner get made. Pushing off from the counter, you open the door and stare at Lin. He’s out of his costume and in a simple compression shirt and sweats— it’s the only loungewear available so you’re in the same attire. 

“What’s up, Lin?” You ask, letting him inside. He walks inside, looking around the apartment that’s nearly identical to his, and then spins on his heels to face you. Everyone agreed that while out of the dorms, it’s strictly Code Names. Unless you’re someone like Bucky who would prefer to not be called the Winter Soldier. You just never had a hero name, public identity, and all that jazz.

“You’re a try-hard,” He says, arms crossed over his chest. “I checked your stats, you’ve lost zero games since you’ve gotten here. Who does that?”

“I don’t try,” You shrug, taking your food out from the weird machine. It’s probably bad for you but it’s also the only food available, so you make due. “I’m just that good.”

“You don’t get tired of winning?” He follows you into your living room, standing at the edge of your couch.

“Winners get gift baskets, I love gift baskets.” Gesturing to the basket of fruits and sweets, you hear him sigh. Looking at him, you grin and roll your head to the side. “Are you just pissy that you lost against me again?” Instead of replying, he huffs and stuffs his hands into his pockets. 

“We could make a deal,” He proposes. “You lose and I’ll give you something you want,”

“We don’t exactly have the luxury of having items here,” You remind, gesturing to the lack of items everywhere. 

“You know we’re neighbors, right?” He continues and you nod. You live at the end of the hallway with your only direct neighbors being Lin to your right and Adam in front of you. “Our bedrooms are against each other and the walls are pretty thin,” He makes a face and then waits for a beat. You lick your lips as you try to connect the dots he’s clearly trying to lay down. You do a lot of odd things to pass your time, he could be talking about the fact that you’ve been creating shadow versions of everyone to play card games for all you know. 

“I don’t see your point,” You roll your head to the side while he sighs and licks his lips. Lin takes a moment before he speaks again, having to think carefully about his next words. 

“You lose our next match and I’ll fuck you.” 

“Deal.” 

He blinks, unable to think of anything to say while you laugh.

“Sorry, did you have a speech ready?” He shakes his head and scratches his neck. 

“I just didn’t think you’d agree so fast…”

“You’re hot and I’m horny, I see two willing participants. I’ll take the stain on my perfect record. I also would’ve done it for a gift basket, I heard everyone gets different types.”

“I prefer the sex,”

“Great, can’t wait to lose.”

—

The agreement had all since left your mind as you’re queued into a game with Lin nearly two months later. You’d have ten matches in between then, the excitement gone and replaced with your small yearn to constantly win.

Okay, winning was amazing! You’ll agree, there’s a rush in seeing that victory screen and seeing the basket on your kitchen island at the end of the day. Losing was just… you don’t know, you’ve never lost before. 

Thankfully, this isn’t another domination game. It’s Convergence, which you thought was the same as Convoy for about ten matches before Dr. Strange explained that with Convergence, you needed to capture the point before the object could move. 

Glancing at your team as you load into Spider-Islands, you find yourself as the only healer. Peni, Groot— who technically does heal, it’s just no one ever goes to his healing walls—, Venom, Punisher, and Thor. It would certainly make for a lovely match against… you check your cuff and bang your head on the wall. Iron Fist, Mantis, Loki, Bucky, Namor, and Luna Snow. That’s three healers— one of which can shapeshift as his ultimate. 

It’s fine, shaking your head, you move up the staircase as the countdown stairs. You imagine Namor has his little octopus— one of which is definitely shooting ice— just waiting and Loki has his clones just waiting. The doors open and sure enough, you hear your teammates taking rapid damage. 

“Thanks for the healing,” Punisher grunts as he’s pushed back into the base. 

“You ran without looking, dumbass,” You grit, healing the teammates who didn’t push back. Groot hurriedly places a wall between the octopus and helps Peni place down her web traps. There’s a thump from the hallway to your left and you see Iron Fist slowly walking over. Taking a step forward, he watches as your hands glow black before he taps his earpiece, telling you to turn it off. Doing so, you continue to heal since he’s at a good distance. 

“We had a deal,” He reminds you and your face scrunches. 

“What fucking— oh, the fucking,” Your hands drop and he nods. “Fine, because Punisher pissed me off and half of my team are real assholes about getting healed.” He laughs, looking out of the window as your teammates continue to get dogpiled by his team. He sees them shouting for you, begging and cursing you for heals. Instead, you walk further into the hallway and take a seat on the soft couch. 

“I didn’t think you’d follow through,” He admits, closing the doors that surround the room. You get nervous, shifting in your seat as he closes the final panel door and the sounds of the fight are muffled below you. 

“I’m a man of my word but I can always back out,” You muse and he looks at you, nearly daring you to get up and fight. “Please, you couldn’t take me,” Crossing your ankles, you watch as he stalks over to you, leaning down to your height.

“I was close last time,” He hums and then pins you to the couch. Rolling away, he grabs your ankle and pulls you back, using the momentum to grab onto your thighs with both hands. Gritting, you watch as he sits between your now open legs and prop yourself up on your elbows. 

“I’m only not fighting back so I don’t eliminate you,” You defend, ignoring the twitch in your leg as he squeezes them.

“Y’know what?” He grins and leans down, his lips brushing against your ear while you shudder. “I’ll find you after you get the convoy to the first point.” He’s up in an instant and slipping through the exit. Huffing, you drop down and turn your comms on again. 

“I was getting backlined by Iron Fist,” You explain, joining the team after they barely made it a full meter. Group healing, you see Iron Fist jumping back to his team in the distance. 

“I see it was a tie, then,” Thor points out and you shrug, fixing your cape over your body. 

“We called for a rematch,” Sitting on top of the robotic spider, you push the other team back, bringing them down to half while Punisher finds a perch for his turret. He grumbles something about finally showing up and you roll your eyes. 

“Thor, push Magik. Peni, why haven’t you put down your spider things yet? Groot, Luna likes using the side entrance so you should block that.” You quickly list off, falling back into the fight with ease. Normally, as a support you don’t give directions but man, does this team need it. Letting the robot as Peni stands next to it, you work on bringing their healers low. 

“Your powers are mine!” Loki shouts and you see a clone of yourself on the roof to your left. 

“Punisher, nine o’clock, before he uses my ultimate!” You tick away at his health before Punisher finds him just as you see Loki pop the ult. Dipping into a building, you manage to pull Peni and Groot in with you but the others get dived immediately. “He’s low,” You tell them, leaving out and landing the final hit on Loki.

While he killed half of your team, he fully healed his team and you huff, checking your own status. It just needs two more seconds before you can use it, so you heal Groot while waiting for the other team to all huddle together. Sure enough, they all do and you see them all rushing towards the convoy. Punisher sets up yet another turret, this time on the back portion of a roof. 

“Groot, can you box them in a little?” You ask, dodging an attack from Luna. He nods and you watch as they get pushed together before pulling back just enough that the team could get healed and the others would get eliminated. 

“Heaven and Purgatory swarms you!”  

“That’s six!” Galacta announces as you see the six kills register on your cuff. “You’re almost there, don’t stop now!” The convoy is three meters away and when you join Peni on it, it speeds up enough that you reach the checkpoint before the other team can respawn. 

Sitting on the robot, you watch as the door opens but catch the green and yellow outfit from the top of the stairs. He motions with two fingers and you grin, slipping away from the fight. 

“You’re eager,” He teases, using his hand to open your cape and looking down at your suit. His hands wander a little while you turn off your comm yet again, sparing your team a glance as they get jumped by the others. It’s like once they all got into the team they all forgot the powerhouses they normally were and suddenly sucked. 

“They’re the worst right now,” He slides open the door and pulls you inside, dragging his nose up your neck. 

“Mhmm,” He licks a stripe along your neck and you hold onto his shirt, whining at the contact. “Let me prep you,” He whispers as the door closes behind the two of you. Nodding, you let him drag you to the middle of the roof before he pushes you down to your knees. 

Staring up at him, he grins and cups your jaw, running his thumb up and down your cheek with one hand while the other removes his belt, careful to not let the red ropes hit you. It falls to the floor with a thud before he’s on his knees in front of you. He leans in, sealing his lips against yours while his hands go from your face down to your thighs. He finds a good grip on your flesh as you grip his hair, leaning closer to him and biting down on his bottom lip. 

Iron Fist moans into your mouth as your knees lift from the floor and your back is placed on the floor in one fluid motion. The kiss doesn’t break as his left-hand wanders from your thigh, pulling at your pants until he finds what he’s looking for. Once he does, he smiles into the kiss and pulls away to get a good look at you. 

He doesn’t look away from you as he grasps the loose fabric of your pants, his hand wrapping around your dick print before he slowly strokes it. Watching him with fluttering eyes you cover your mouth to keep yourself quiet. He coos before removing his right hand from your thigh and scooping your hand, lacing your fingers together, and pinning it above your head. 

You can hear the fight below you, your heartbeat rising when you hear Punisher setting up a turret in front of the door. He notices too and glances over, seeing the man’s outline, and looks back at you with a shit-eating grin.

“Please,” You gasp, chest rising with your heavy pants. “Iron,” He starts squeezing in between his strokes and you arch into him, rutting against his hand. You feel his thumb roll against the tip as he watches you, waiting for more of those delicious reactions before kissing and sucking along your neck. Grabbing the back of his head, you push him closer and continue to rub yourself against him. 

“Call me Lin,” He whispers against your chest, kissing you through the thin fabric. For a second, he lets go of your dick to pull your pants and underwear down to your knees in one motion. Your dick slaps against your stomach before it stands and he rubs his thumb over the tip again. Briefly, you hear Punisher getting eliminated but the door he was in front of thankfully doesn’t get destroyed. Feeling the weight above you lessen, you look towards Lin as he settles between your legs.

“Lin, fuck,” You pant looking down at him as he smears your pre across his fingers before slipping his hands lower. The one that was holding your wrist moves down and holds your hips down as he pushes his index finger inside. Wincing, he apologizes and kisses your inner thigh. Slowly, he adds a second finger and starts making scissoring motions until you begin moaning. For good measure, he adds a third and peers down at your hole clenching around him. 

Hiding your face in your shoulder, you use your now free hands to stroke yourself before he slaps your hands away. 

“Don’t touch yourself, just lay there and take it.” He stretches you one last time before pulling his fingers out. Whining at the loss of contact, he grins and pulls his pants down. He spits into his hand and pumps himself while lining himself up with your hole, the tip rubbing against you with each stroke. Wiggling your hips down to chase the feeling he presses harder until you stop. “You’re that desperate to let your team know what you’re doing up here?” He grins and slowly pushes inside. 

“No,” You whine, shifting as you try to quickly adjust to him inside of you. He watches your reactions carefully, using the hand that once held you down to dip under your shirt and rub against your skin. He feels your heart thumping against his hand, your nipple hard due to the contact and you moan, rolling your head back. “I don’t care if they see us,”

“Oh, really?” He laughs. You nod as he tests the waters, rolling his hips against yours. “I didn’t think you’d be into that,” There’s no reply to him aside from a strangled moan and your hands slapping the floor, finding something to hold onto. With you adjusted, he slips his hands back under your legs and presses down against you, his hips snapping as his breathing gets jagged above you. 

Wrapping your arms around his shoulders, you find yourself at a loss for words as he bottoms out. His dick drags inside of you, curving and prodding at your insides with each shallow thrust. The fabric of his shirt rubs against you, the smooth fabric feeling like heaven paired with the way he’s fucking you. 

“More,” You plead, breathless under him. He snickers from above you, lifting himself up, and starts a brutal pace. He’s lifting your lower half up from the floor with each thrust, his thighs slapping yours each time he digs deeper inside. 

“Losing just to get fucked,” He grunts. “How would your team react knowing their precious healer is getting— hugh — dicked down above them?” He doesn’t expect an answer but he also didn’t expect you to moan louder at the thought, your dick twitching in the air. “You’d like that, huh? Getting caught and letting them know you threw the match because you’re a horny bitch.” He grasps your face, squeezing your cheeks until your lips puff out and drool slowly pools out from the corner. He uses the hand that didn’t prep you and sticks his fingers inside your mouth.

“Mhmm,” You nod, sucking his index finger while looking into the whites of his mask. “Wanna get caught,” He nearly whimpers and watches as your dick twitches faster, cum spurting out and landing on your black shirt and the floor. 

“Oops, guess you made a mess,” He chuckles, his thrusts getting sloppy and his hand moving from your mouth down to your hips. He can’t figure out what to do, his hands squeezing at the flesh before they trail up the side of your body. “Fuck,” He moans, leaning down to grab your face again. He watches you as he cums inside of you, still thrusting as he empties himself. You’re letting out broken noises as he does, your legs slowly lowering to the ground as he comes to a stop.

“They’ve made it halfway, stop them!” Glacata announces in his ear and he huffs. 

“They still haven’t lost?” You ask and he shakes his head, slowly pulling out. Checking your cuff, you see they all have at least six deaths and groan. 

“Round two?” He asks and you easily agree. “Ride me?” 

“I think you just wanna see my face,” You quip and he shrugs, sitting down on the floor table cushion. His back pressed against the wooden panel wall while he slowly pumped himself. You watch as the tip of his dick disappears under his skin before getting pulled taught when he pulls it down. He lets out breathy moans while you’re climbing on top of him. He unclips your cape, letting it fall down his legs and you fling it to the side. 

Holding his shoulder with your left hand, you grab his dick and slowly align yourself. He inhales sharply as his cum drips from your hole and spreads across his dick before you sink down on him. Slowly rocking back and forth, you look up at him and kiss his neck. You feel his pulse under your lips, how he’s straining himself to remain composed. 

“(Y/n),” He strains, hands gripping your ass as you start moving faster. 

“Yeah, Lin?” You ask, looking up at him from the red spot you’re leaving under his ear. 

“Don’t stop,” He moans, guiding your hips into a better position. His hips buck into yours erratically, still not fully recovered from the first orgasm. Through your cuff, you hear the countless healing pins before grumbling and tossing them to the side. Lin snickers through his parted, glossy lips. 

“You feel so good, Lin,” You breathe, hanging your head as he’s reaching deep inside of you. His tip hits your prostate more in this position and you swear to Khonshu or Bast that you’re never going to leave his dick. 

“You’re so cock hungry it’s easy,” He coos, gently stroking your cheek with his thumb as tears bead on the side of your eyes. “Next time— fuck— next time you’re in your room, touching yourself, just knock on the wall. I’ll come and make you feel this good again, yeah?” Rapidly nodding, he pulls you closer and kisses you.

“It’s the final ten seconds!” Galacta announces and you gasp while pulling away. Checking his cuff, you see the timer rapidly going down and let out a strangled groan, rocking your hips faster against him. He helps you, picking you up and slamming you down on his cock in ways that make you scream. 

“We’ll have to keep fighting until we find a winner!” Stopping on his dick, you feel yourself cumming again, this time you manage to do it at the same time. Slumping against his chest, you pant while he tosses his head back, also trying to catch his breath. 

Carefully, you peel yourself from him and lazily put your pants back on while he does the same. 

Finding your cuff, you slip it on and check the Overtime meter. It was slowly going down, so maybe another minute before the match would end. Slinging your cape back on, you feel Lin wrap his arms around you before pulling you into his chest. 

“What?” You ask, turning your head to face him. He just grins and shrugs, nipping at your ear. 

“Armed and Dangerous!” Briefly, you see Bucky launching into the air and hope he lands all his kills. 

“Nothing, just making sure you don’t leave.” He hums, squeezing your ass before giving it a small tap.

“Again!”

“I’m a man of my word, Lin. You’re teams gonna win,” 

“Again!” 

Checking the meter again, you see it rapidly going down and find that Bucky has completely wiped the team. 

“Well, you can’t expect to win ‘em all…”  

—

“Fuck was that about?” Frank pushes your shoulder as you’re transported back to your team. None of them catch your dazed look as you fix your cape over your cum stained clothes. “What happened to your streak?”

“Rough day,” You shrug. “Win some, lose some.” He grits but it is just a game after all, so he calms down and follows the rest of the team back to the portal. You see Lin halfway, getting chewed out by Bucky for being awol for the whole game, unaware that Lin is still trying to fix his belt. His eyes catch yours through his mask and he winks, making a call-me motion before you turn and head into the dorms. 

“I cannot believe you lost!” Doreen gasps as you head inside. 

“Can’t be perfect all the time,” You huff through a smile. “It won’t happen again, though.”

“It definitely will,” Lin appears behind you, subtly grabbing your ass again. Chewing the inside of your mouth, you watch as Doreen laughs before moving over to the others. Everyone else is completely unaware of his actions even as he pulls you into the elevator, roughly kissing you before the doors even fully close.

[question-everything-twice]

I LOVE THIS TAKE

💖💖💖🗡️🛡️

I love the concept of sword and shield and having that as a cultural role dynamic!!

It fits in so so so well. Especially since Mando values are so intrinsically inclined with family, and what do warriors do for their family? They protect them at all costs and they fight for them. I also think it’d be so cool imagining this dynamic in action. Like imagine a chaotic mando kid being saved by their shield parent from a fire or a mynock or even from trying to take a piece of Uji cake from the pan before it’s done cooking in the fire. Or maybe the kid sometimes learns to hunt with their sword parent!

I just think the kids would also be more well rounded as warriors too as they grow up with learning defense and offense tactics by watching and learning from their parents. And as they get older they realize more about themselves and how they react and think “am I more of a protector first by shielding my loved ones or do I protect by taking out the threat first?” Who knows maybe some mando parents totally take turns hunting and guarding their ade too!

It kinda reminds me of eagles or Shriek hawks in universe, one parent guards the nest while the other hunts for the family and they take turns guarding so the other parent can have a break and stretch their wings or rest with the kiddos. Penguins especially! I wonder if the sword may take week long hunting trips with the whole family sometimes? That could be really fun!

Thoughts aside I just think you’re a total genius!! thank you so much for sharing!!

I’ve always personally headcanoned that if Mandalorians DID have certain stereotypical family/relationship roles it wouldn’t be anywhere close to gendered, like one person is the man and one person is the woman. It would be like, one person is the shield and one person is the sword. One is the guard and one is the hunter. The bigger and stronger of the two — traditionally, though obviously every marriage would be different and most wouldn’t conform exactly, especially with polyamory — might be the one to stay home and guard the kids and the clan. While the faster, more maneuverable and perhaps deadlier of the two went out and hunted, provided, initiated raids. A Mandalorian couple fighting together would be so dangerous for so many reasons but principally because if they’re both there it probably means you’re on their territory and both the guard and the hunter are after you, and now you’re seriously fucked.

[sunflower1experiment]

Children (Risk's Prequel 2.0)

pt1, pt2

Harley is so full of himself, sometimes dating him was like dipping your hand in a rose bush. Like him they were beautiful. charming, hell you even considered the relationship with him to be a thorn bush without the roses. But it was the day something happened in the labs, you went in and noticed the toys were crying? "What happened?"

You march by and comfort them, "What is wrong with them!?" The other scientist who fails to answer at first, backs away but then she feels you lean in. "What happened? Answer."

"You really don't know? Of course not, not when you're busy playing work wife for Sawyer." You glance at Leith, eyes filling with animosity.

"Mind running that by me? What is wrong with my children?"

"Ah so you claim them. Well, let me break it down, your children, they are not just toys. You of all people should have noticed the vast majority of the new high rise of emotions and tension between them and us." What is he spouting about!? You look at Stelle with a curious eyebrow quirk, she avoids your gaze and once more you return to Leith's cold side glance.

"Sawyer didn't....inform me..."

"Of course not, why would he want to break his favorite sentimental experiment's heart." It goes quiet.

The toys who coward behind you, look up as he leaves, as everyone leaves. You kneel down to study them, then your eyes begin to well up. "......Prototype was serious."

The little ones start to hug your feeble form, while you realize how terrible and naive you are the sounds of shoes fill your ears. "You, you're different..." A pink hand holds your shoulder, a long arm follows after and hugs you.

"No need to cry, Mommy's here." You look at this so-called Mommy, and realize why you recognize this voice, it couldn't be, not her.

"Marie Payne?" She backs up with a slight chuckle and the little toys cling to your hand sadly while Mommy stands on the ground, "So you know, or you did know. What makes you think you're different from them?"

"I'm not, I failed...I-"

"Then stop wallowing and do something!" Mommy's hand punches the ground, this was obviously Marie talking. You firmly nod but then hug the toys again, Banzo bunny, the mini huggys, Daisy, Cat-Bee, so many of these little ones.

When you leave the toys behind you take one more glance at them, Mommy watches with a somber stare, Harley took you for a fool didn't he? Or did he simply know how senstive you were.

You couldn't let these children starve, going back home, it meant missing dinner, breakfast, sure but they had to eat. Risking your job would be worth it regardless, Leith calling you an experiment was one thing but to be embarrassed by everyone? Over his dead body, whenever you returned to work with food, you'd just make a simple curt excuse, then place the boxes and containers down.

"What is this?" Mommy grabs the food, "This will feed you all, starvation leads to difficult actions. Now come on. We have to take care of the kids."

She was in shock, for you to get back up after a day, why weren't the adults who hurt her like you? Even if you played a role, the willingness to do better still prevails. Maybe, she looks at your lab coat while you feed the children fruits, "Maybe there are some good people."

It was a lot to handle, a bit overwhelming even but you didn't pull any punches, but when you met with Harley, you both were quiet. He was sent to sleep on the couch that night. Three days would pass, and he’d check on you, “Dear?”

“What did you do with those orphans I cared for?” Harley kicks himself, cursing Leith, Stella and Eddie. Those three were told to keep you away, how can he adore you if you know too much!? Your face of revulsion or disappointment, so he gently holds your hand, “What do you mean?”

“Harley, do not play dumb with me, you’re smart and that's what I love about you…” Of course, of course he should be honest…. “I, well Elliot said we should do this for the betterment of humanity, I’m simply following orders.” The audacity, you were there when he argued with Elliot and everyone knew he had anger issues. 

That was why you chose to avoid Harley but you both attracted each other, he was enamored by your genuine curiosity and adoration for simplistics, meanwhile he always had such charisma with that gentle tone, polite demeanor and fascination with anatomy. Were you in love with a facade perhaps? “So you knew, and didn’t tell me?”

 He didn’t deny the knowledge but to deliberately not tell you, why? So Kissy, her stress, Mommy, Huggy, and who else? Harley hated it when you cried, he knew when the tears fell that you’d rebel or probably not speak to him. Relationships were complicated, but you both communicated and that was what made Harley stay, yet this time he knew you’d speak your mind. So he did what he could to try and change the perception of the situation.”You know I love you, I would never lie.” 

His hand falls flat and he clutches it, your face wasn’t shedding tears but they looked disappointed. You then hold your stomach before hugging him sadly, “.....One more question, what did you do…with him?”

No, not him, not the boy… 

“Him?” That was the answer you needed, “How can I trust you if you won't even tell me the truth?"

Why? Why were you so sentimental!? Did you not realize the risks? No, of course not.

--

NSFW, CW and TW // Minors DNI (signs of pregnancy, intimacy for NSFW)

CW// Signs of emotional abuse, self-loathing, child experimenting, and abuse

TW// Slight suicidal thoughts. (If you ever feel this way, be sure to call a trusted friend/adult or the hotline, know that you are not alone, you are deserving of care and to be heard.)

"I'm sorry, I’ll make sure to do better..." You nod into his hand while his gentle gaze remains on you, he may be a liar but Harley knew he adored you, you’re perfect. His perfect experiment, the only one who understands him, the only responsive and reactionary force he wished to invest in after he was tired from his other sets of experiments. He slept in the bed beside you, his larger hands resting along  the arm while you remained in Harley’s arms, you were naive even when you held so much unconditional love for him. His lips travel to your neck, hands intertwined together in the moment where Harley’s lips touch, he notices how much your lips embellish his growing adoration. 

When things start to heat up, Harley is there, his arms will wrap around your waist while you admire him, those worry wrinkles, his gentle hands with calluses, and most of all his gaze. Bed creaking, your soft sounds of breathing filling the doctor’s ears whenever those hands of his would roam your frame. At some point he had a moment of lingering, a longing, and it makes him wonder what would you have done if he told the truth? Would you love him enough to fix things, perhaps give him a chance. It was wishful thinking on his end, especially when it comes to his lover. In the intensity of this heated moment between you both, he could feel your hands resting along his face or they’d move to hold him close. 

His deep chuckles and breaths, while you both share more kisses than one can count, Harley would let himself sink into your arms while he indulges in everything he loves. About you, it was strange to be in love with someone, someone of his intellect falling for you. A scientist with a bleeding heart and someone who was always willing to cater to him.

Harley would simply lose his mind at the idea of not being able to cradle your form, in life or death maybe but, he simply wouldn't allow it. Not when someone as perfect as you, could fit his standards of experimentation.

Every fiber of your being knew something was wrong, even after you began cuddling again, his grasp of you was firm with the iron grip. The way he’d kiss your forehead while you lean into his bare chest, “Hey....if Leith ever talks to you poorly, let me know…and, try not to worry about the toys. You should be focused on our work.” It goes silent, as you cuddle into him with a distant sad gaze, taking note of his slightly serious tone. 

“Okay..”

--

You lied, now you were worrying for the children more than ever, feeding them and then the visit to Kissy’s room, carefully feeding her you note the long gaze. Kissy slowly moves forward and then her slender arm moves carefully; she begins hugging you close. “It's okay Kissy, I’m fine.”

How could someone of your caliber be so naive and caring? Especially when she and these children rely on you, the only adult to make this right?

"So, you and Harley?" Stella tries to make conversation, you merely nod in agreement, even if he had to sleep on the couch for a couple of days. Somehow it always worked out, because you'd still feed him, tend to him, you could be angry right now and he's already slipping through those cracks and crevices. But when he was angry, he was never one to aim it at you but when he did, you'd offer a hug, some time alone or just to talk.

The thing is this anger wasn't ever aiming to you: his partner, but instead your coworkers who could feign innocent all they want, yet none of them were any better than you or Harley. That is why you hated your sense of morals; how could you date a potential child abuser? What if, he hurts....

"Mz.?" You startle when Stella speaks again, gently moving the Candy-cat toy so he wouldn't get hurt. "I- need to check on the children."

She frowns, "Hey, um...If...Harley is..."

"What?"

"You'll come to me if he does anything right?" Stelle asks, you pause then turn to her while she gives a somber smile to assure any form of Desolate emotions that threaten to spill out.

"Stelle, you and Leith know what he is doing. You never told me; we are no better than him and you shouldn't try to be of help when these children are being treated this way. The least I can do is comfort, nurture and love them." As your back turns to the woman who watches your retesting form she looks down, gripping the Zinnia while Harley, as if to mock her walks by with a Tuberose flower.

He places it in your vase, then looks to Stella, "You should focus on work. I'm sure you both will find a way to rekindle whatever friendship you had."

Whatever Harley told you it was obvious he didn't realize how much it would hurt you at the end, Stella saw the signs clear as day. She was your friend, easy to socialize with, but you always took the time to listen to her dreams and desire to care for the children. As you place more food down for the little ones, Mommy finally speaks again.

"I saw you with Kissy, she's being moved...further down, and... there are more...down below."

"Down, below?" Mommy couldn't help but scowl at your naivety, she felt sorry for you. ".....That boy, Quinn?"

What about Quinn? She tells you softly while you listen, her hands grip your arms to keep you from running. Being outraged, it was quiet...

Down below, Quinn, Marie, how many children...

One last thing to do.

You step into the lab, where Prototype remains. "gOoD tO sEe-E you, mY dEAr.." His metallic hands carefully hold your soft fleshy ones.

But you merely look away, he senses the hesitation to speak and realizes how much you knew. "s0 thE dOcTeR t-TRu-TRULY! Truly did fail, you know a lot but how much?"

Enough to where you were sitting before his creation, "I...I am not any better than him. I asked him to stop hurting you, he was...."

"Angry?" The experiment says in his voice to which you wince and then nod slowly, "Yes but it wasn't enough, you and I both know that." Prototype lifts your chin up.

"oF cOurSe."

"I'm sorry, I cannot apologize enough, I so badly wanted to think that, not everyone is truly a monster, and these children deserve the best....as many have said: Children deserve parents, but parents do not deserve children or deserve to even be parents. But I was truly naive, Mommy knows this." As the Prototype listens, he also twitches.

Harley was coming, so he gently shushes you and then points. You stand, grabbing the files but before you leave. You speak one more time, "Please do not hurt the children, and don't let vengeance cloud your perception."

With that you leave with the door shutting behind you, Harley walks in and notices the files. At first, he wanted to start a long lecture about his experiments being disturbed but you hand him the files. "Sorry, I wanted to help you work..."

Harley smiles at you for a quick moment but then you both go your separate ways, until you stop. "Harley."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever considered the thought of children?"

He pauses at the question, thinking of the implications of you having his child...the thought occurred to him during your intimate nights together. But he truly didn't see the resolve, especially when there are children surrounding you every day. "No, not when we have the Playtime Co. You and I are truly different."

It goes quiet and you leave, but not after chuckling to his little banter. Of course, Harley Sawyer is so full of himself. Very apathetic, very....

Foolish.

Sometimes, life felt like grappling at a thread just to see you survive, the more food you'd distribute the more guilt you felt.

The last straw was probably when you asked him to go down below. ".....Of course, is there a reason?"

"Of course, I want to see my partner's work up close." Harley couldn't help but crack a smile, he holds your hand, like always as if trying to form some sort of emotional power balance. Then his lips connect to your head, "I'd be happy to."

.....

What have you done?

[windixie]

black sheep *ೃ༄ actor! gojo x guitarist! reader

gojo quickly lands a role as the main character in an upcoming film. only problem? you’re his costar and he has to film a sex scene with you and he ends up falling for you.

ⓘ gojo is mean, filthy smut, reader is hinted as being alternative, public sex, creampie, smut smut and smut.

actor! gojo is thrilled to be informed that he landed the role to an upcoming movie. he wasn’t surprised at all to be honest. his father is one of the biggest movie stars of all time and it was gojo’s time to shine.

actor! gojo who arrives on set to get to know his costars. he has no problem wooing the females leads with his muscular build and charming personality.

guitarist! reader arrived a bit late due to not finding your tuner for your guitar. you quickly apologized to the director as well to everyone.

actor! gojo who’s blood ran cold. it was you. the lead guitarist and singer to his favorite band. and you were going to be his supposed love interest in the film.

actor! gojo watches from afar on how to carry yourself with talking to others. he can’t help himself but approach. he prepares his cocky personality.

actor! gojo who asks how he can’t believe they decided to risk the movie by including your face in it. he was joking of course! but

guitarist! reader wasn’t having it. you quickly shot back how the film was at stake for having a nepo baby as the main role. you said as you looked back down to correctly tune your guitar setting it on the side since it wasn’t needed yet.

actor! gojo who was taken aback but he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. he took a seat next to you saying how most of the industry relies on nepo babies and what not but you just weren’t listening!

guitarist! reader has seen some of actor! gojos films but you thought they were boring and worthless. simply because he was in it.

actor! gojo soon realizes he actually hates you and your pretty face.

over the next few weeks of filming you and actor! gojo did not get along at all. the director was nervous to see how the sex scene would play out if you two didn’t even get along!

actor! gojo sighs as the day arrives that he has to fuck you in front of everyone else. he didn’t understand why they couldn’t just fake the sex but the crew just wanted the scene to be raw and real.

guitarist! reader who has to quickly change into lingerie after filming your singing scene. the frilly pink panties and bra exposed your body.

actor! gojo eyes widened as he took sigh of your body. you both were explained on how the scene would play out and gojo didn’t even need to take anything to get hard. his body completely covered yours. “don’t think I want to do this with you”

“I’m sure you don’t. you’re rock hard I can see how wet you are” you grinned.

actor! gojo was about to shoot something back at you before he heard the booming voice of the man yelling “3..2..1 action!”

he threw you into the bed making you moan as he made you look at him. “performing while wearing that fuckin short skirt huh? you slut, you want another man’s attention?!” he ripped off the lingerie immediately with a sound that made you cringe. “no michael just want you!” “shut up”

actor! gojo was so excited to fuck you already. he teased you before slowly entering you. the sweet sounds that fell from your lips sounded so real.

because they were. his cock was long and it kissed all the sensitive areas. “Michael..!” you moaned out as you scratched at his back which made actor! gojo groan out his speed picking up just how the script said it had to.

guitarist! readers back arches as you whined underneath him. you were so dumbed out by Gojos cock you understood all his other costars from his past movies now.

actor! gojo who’s eyes widened as you moaned out his name. not his characters, but his. he pounded into you harshly. “take my fuckin cock” you whined at his speed.

the director was about to cry tears of joy at how the scene was playing out. everyone watched carefully and some were even flustered.

with one final thrust, actor! gojo came in you. the camera zoomed in to see the cum drip out of you before his fingers pushed it back in. “take all of it”

that definitely was not on the script.

[verday]

Ranking my satisfaction with the conclusions for each character of Bells Hells after the finale

The list will go from least satisfied to most satisfied. Feel free to share your own.

Braius: It was going to be hard for Braius to do anything that significantly left an impact on this group. While his final confrontation with Asmodeus was the best scene he's been in it was also like the only scene I ended up being truly invested in him. A not surprising ranking.

Chetney: His line about working with metal at the end was a perfect full-circle moment and a great final laugh. I really like that he got to help F.R.I.D.A with his new werewolf powers even if we didn't get to see it. Sucks that he had the shortest epilogue but it proved that there wasn't much left to do with him in the end.

Fearne: I feel like Fearne stayed relatively the same at the end which isn't inherently a bad thing. She's so wonderfully chaotic always. She was kind of the Caduceus in that regard (a static character). Would have love to have Fearne acknowledge whether or not she gave any thoughts to what Ashton said about her not thinking things through.

Laudna: Laudna's arc felt finished awhile ago but it was nice to see some more of her gaining back her autonomy through mortality. Other than that scene with Imogen I feel like Laudna didn't have any stand out scenes in the finale. But it's okay because she had many stand out performances through out the campaign.

Orym: Another character that remained mostly unchanged. But a lot of decisions felt right for his story. The scene with him and Keyleth was the best moment for him in the finale as he has always kept things so professional with her. Finally getting a chance to speak with her on an equal level was beautiful to watch. His line to Dorian about walking in the sun was poetic and a great conclusion.

Ashton: A roller-coaster of a finale. Absolutely had the best full-circle moment with their sacrifice and the "I love yous" shared. Got some closure with FCG (even if I personally would have wanted more). The scene with Fearne was hard to watch but I definitely see where it came from and was an overall great decision. Still think that at the end Ashton was a bit too hard on himself and would have liked to see him lean into his friends more instead of going off on his own.

Dorian: A scene-stealer (affectionate) at all times and that didn't stop at the finale. His scene with his mother was a real tear-jerker. He really grew into his confidence at the end. Loved the honesty with him and Orym and the gentleness of their relationship. Glad he patched things up with Dariax and Opal as well. The fact he is the glue that holds the party together is the best ending for him.

Imogen: Stole the show with that persuasion check with the gods. A great character to end Bells Hells with narratively. She played her role as the unofficial leader beautifully. Her cabin with Laudna was something many people, myself included, were looking forward to and their conclusion did not disappoint. The fact that Imogen looks forward to seeing everyone in their dreams was the sweetest detail as well.

[redladydeath]

@storm-ismyusername

The idea that the grandparents are so awful that Sarah & Thomas aren’t horrified when their Dad murders them says SO MUCH. (I guess the kids now know Very Clearly what their Dad went through and how he ended up like that.)

Welllll, it's less that their grandparents were completely horrible to them and more the desensitization to death that all citizens of Hell go through, plus the relief of no longer being stuck in that environment. Tom and Sarah's time with them wasn't torturous, just physically and emotionally exhausting. It was such a sharp pivot from being normal suburban kids to going to Hell and having to work for everything (even their relatives' affection) that any sort of return to normalcy was welcome, even if it came through violent means.

How would Vox find out about this situation? How ENRAGED would Vox be when he found out his parents were reenacting his childhood trauma on his kids?

Honestly, it wouldn't be hard for Vox to find out. Once he starts to break into the entertainment industry, it'd be easy to just happen upon or hear about a little theater that has an act that seems a bit too familiar to him and whoops, it's murder time. Tbh, despite his bad experience with it, Vox actually likes theater (or at least appreciates the skill/work that goes into live performances), so he could've feasibly realized what was going on halfway through watching the show.

Vox is a weird, hypocritical guy. I don't think he's against child labor on principle or would even admit that his own childhood was abusive, but ever since they were born, he's been very adamant about his own kids having "normal" childhoods. Part of it is his obsession with social status/norms (he needs to be The Best = society says that children should grow up in actual homes and shouldn't have to work = his children should grow up in an actual house and shouldn't have to work), but there's also a more human part of him that freaks the fuck out at the idea of his kids having to grow up like he did. He had a visceral internal reaction to his dad half-jokingly asking if he was going to get Tommy into the family business mere hours after he was born. He can't even articulate why that interaction gave him a mini-panic attack mixed with rage– it just did. So actually watching that fear be realized despite his best efforts to prevent it... it's not pretty.

Wonder what kind of role and show Sarah could be in? Does she develop genuine interest in theatre or singing after her experience?

Sort of. She discovers that she does enjoy performing for fun (not for work, though), but because of her experience, she now feels like she should be "earning her keep," even though she's. you know. eight. and in Hell. Vox doesn't really interrogate this new interest of Sarah's very hard, partially because he's not a very empathetic person and partially because it mirrors his own experience so closely that he doesn't even think to question it.

Ondine doesn't have a lot of variation in the kind of roles she plays. She's always a precious little girl of some kind because, well, that's all she can be due to her eternal youth. She's very at-home on sitcoms, although those aren't the only shows she's in. She has a view skewed perception of what life as an actor is like though since she's the producer's daughter and is always treated 1000 times better than any of the other cast members.

Are the kid’s personalities affected by their ordeal?

Not significantly. Ondine's a little more outgoing because of it and Fineas is a bit more introverted.

Wow, Vox’s fragile pride is so enormous that he forces his kids to relive his own childhood trauma. So pathetic and cowardly.

To be fair to Vox, the main reason why he made that choice was because he felt that if he brought his children under Lantana's roof, none of them would ever get out. The "my kids might not respect me anymore if they see me like this" thing was more of an underlying motive. He doesn't leave the kids with his parents for months/years after being rescued by Alastor like he does in the Cannibal Town scenario. He'll allow his kids to eat people in order to protect his ego, but he draws the line at child labor. Vox is a weird guy.

The shared custody situation sounds hilarious, can we explore that more? So would Sarah & Thomas have visitations with Vox every weekend? Would Vox & Helen try and make their schedules fit so the kids won’t be alone in their apartments? Once Vox gained Overlord status would he kill Helen, give her a penitent & stick her in a decent apartment so the kids could still bust her, or leave her on the streets?

I have no idea how this scenario would work, honestly. It's not entirely out of character since this would all be going on in Vox's early days, before he became his worst self, but I still struggle to come up with ways this could feasibly work without taking an abrupt turn for the dark. It's really for the best that Vox and Queenie never see each other again. Neither of them are going to play nice in the long run and it'll just end with the kids even more traumatized than they already are.

It would be funny if Alastor wanted super friendly and nice to Helen to spite Vox.

Oh, 100%. In any scenario where they meet and he knows that she's Vox's ex, Alastor treats Helen like a queen (except for that one RAM scenario where he casually kills her but shhhh).

@storm-ismyusername

Okay, so, the "Vox's kids die as children AU." I came up with the image of Vox keeping his kids in a fish tank first, but upon further reflection, I've realized that it doesn't really line up with the timeline I've established.

Vox's children were 7 and 10 when he died (1957)

Vox worked under an overlord for 3 years after his death before he broke free, started his own business, and met Alastor (1960)

He and Alastor were friends for 6 years until they fell out (1966)

Vox gained official overlord status 2 years later (1968). By the time Vox had the resources for the fish tank plan, his kids would've been 18 and 21.

The only window of time where Thomas and Sarah can die and still be children is 1957-1961, so it would have to happen when Vox was still in the employ of his overlord. I actually think the idea of struggling single dad Vox is really charming, so let's go with that.

With that background, I'm not sure if Vox would feel the need to do the fish tank thing since they went 15 years with nothing going wrong. Maybe it exists, but Sarah and Thomas aren't confined to it 24/7. Everyone already knows they exist, so they're allowed to move around the tower as they please (they are absolutely not allowed to go outside, though).

Okay, with that out of the way, onto the responses. Gonna answer this in parts: this one is the pre-canon stuff, the next will be the canon stuff, and the third will be RAM stuff.

Ondine & Fineas where they die as kids: How does child Sarah and Thomas react to: 1-Dying 2-Going to Hell 3-Reuniting with your dead Dad (who now has a TV for a head) Would any of their Sinner features be different? Is it weird I can see Vox being more fatherly to Sarah and Thomas than he was in his human life? So when Sarah & Thomas die as kids does Vox find them before or after his big fight with Alastor? If before, what would Alastor make of the situation?  How long does Sarah and Thomas fend for themselves in Hell? A few days, a few weeks, a month, a year?  Did someone find the first? Did Vox only learn his kids were in Hell when someone was using them as blackmail against him? Did Sarah and Thomas watch as their father brutally murder their kidnapper in front of them?  Maybe another Overlord (like Carmilla, Zestial, or Rosie) found them and gave them to Vox because they felt threatening children was beneath them and drew the line at hurting kids. Wait what if Alastor found them first? What would he do with them if he did?

Okay, so Sarah and Thomas die somewhere between 1958 and 1959. They still drowned, maintaining their aquatic theming, but I'm not sure how exactly– could've been from their mother driving under the influence and crashing the car through a bridge's guardrails, could've been just regular drowning at the beach or something. Their mother survives, so they land in Hell alone (I have no idea what an 8~9 and 11~12-year-old could've done to get sent to Hell, but let's just move on).

Not sure how Vox finds them. In the main AU, they found him by recognizing his voice in an advertisement and seeking him out, but at this point, Vox is just some random nobody. Let's just assume he got extremely lucky and happened to come across them 1-30 days after they first arrived but before anyone else thought to scoop them up. Vox is horrified that they're dead and in Hell and privately swears to permakill his wife for letting this happen if he ever sees her again. He brings them back to his shitty little apartment and starts trying to figure out how the fuck he's supposed to care for children in Hell.

Despite the circumstances, Vox is actually a better father in Hell than he was on Earth. He has nothing to his name other than a shitty errand boy job, a tiny apartment, and his two small children, who he thought he'd never see again. While the stress of having to provide for them is a beast, losing everything sort of forced him to get his priorities in order. They become far more tight-knit than when they were alive, as Vox is forced to spend more time with them and get creative when it comes to meeting their needs.

It's all quite the adjustment for Thomas and Sarah. Dying and trying to survive on the streets was as traumatizing as you'd expect. Reuniting with your dead dad and having to adjust to living in poverty is also a lot to take in. Every day, they're stuck in a one-room apartment with gunshots constantly going off outside and explicit instructions from their father to be as quiet as possible and not open the door for anyone– very different from the upper-middle-class suburbanite life they were used to. Eventually, their dad will come home with cheap food, they'll spend time together for a while, and then they all curl up together in their singular bed and try to sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat. It's not a comfortable life, but it's definitely more intimate than how things used to be. Thomas starts letting go of some of his resentment of Vox since he can tell he's actually trying now, and Sarah's view of him as A Good Dad, Actually solidifies.

Eventually, Vox secretly kills his overlord, starts his first business, and is taken under Alastor's wing. Things become more comfortable for the three of them, and Alastor becomes something akin to a weird, kind of fun uncle to the kids. Things are looking up for the family as Vox starts to build power and wealth. It's horrifying for the kids when Vox comes home one night without a head and swears revenge on Alastor, but that incident only adds to Vox's upward momentum. After ten years of struggling in Hell, Thomas and Sarah (or rather, Fineas and Ondine) find themselves back in the lap of luxury as their father claims the title of the Overlord of Television.

[hurtspideyparker]

I’m sending this because I saw your post on the tags. You’re not a Tom Holland fan, you’re a Peter Parker/Spider-Man fan. You only talk about this character on your blog. You’re a Marvel stan. I doubt you can't even name more than 5 Tom projects that aren't Spider-Man movies. You’re not obssesed with him, you’re obssesed with his version of the character which is not the same as being a fan of the actor and support his career outside of one thing.

Well this is a very rude way of supporting someone who only promotes kindness and adores his work with Spider-Man.

First of all, this is a Marvel side blog. So I only post about Marvel and adjacent things on here, in my personal life and other blogs I do have other interests. I will also say I have a hyperfixation on Marvel, especially the MCU, and my favourite character since I was a child is Spider-Man. So yes, that is my favourite Tom Holland role, he is my favourite spidey, so my blog focuses on him a lot. And the thing about hyperfixations is 1. I can't control it and 2. I am literally mentally ill about him.

But I do absolutely adore Tom Holland as an actor, so I'll take this as an opportunity to gush about some of my favourite projects of his!

The Crowded Room: If someone says Tom isn't a good actor I know for a fact they've never seen this. The amount of roles he plays in this, heavy and variable, was remarkable. Switching between the accents, mannerisms, even down to the way they stand. I was in complete awe, especially when he would switch between them without cuts. I watched an interview where he said he doesn't memorize scripts completely, but he learns the characters so deeply that he knows what they'd say and do anyways. To do that in a role like this just shows how seriously he takes the art. The story in and of itself was very moving, well written, and paced beautifully. I loved all the characters and how they fit together in order to protect Danny. 10/10 would recommend, there is heavy subject matter and I cried when he was on the stand and they didn't believe he had DID (especially when the man who loved him also started doubting if Ariana was real), and then again when he said Adam was him :(

Cherry: Incredibly real story, hurt my heart that people go through this. Tom did a fantastic job being respectful of the subject matter—a veteran with PTSD who falls into drug addiction and crime to fuel it. You can see his character harden over time, and I have a crush on the version of Cherry when he was in college hehe. The way he loves Emily so intensely through it all, how reverently he treats her, and his total breakdown when she overdoses. He rather have her clean and away from him than be together in their suffering. And it has a happy ending! Ngl Tom with a mustache made me giggle, just looks so silly lol. I know he can't grow facial hair to save his life

Uncharted: While Tom is fantastic in those heavy roles and I love seeing him cry, let my boy have fun! This movie was a great action movie, and idc about all the video game nerds who says he isn't a good fit for Nathan. He might not be Nathan, but he is BORN for action babyyy. Suave, intelligent, and sweet. I know he had a lot of fun with this role and is a big fan of the game, so happy he got it! I am still hoping for a sequel because I need Tom in more action and light-hearted films

Chaos Walking: The sci-fi aspects of this are really cool, and a unique way of commentating on patriarchy. The plot twists were cool and Todd Hewitt is my sweet little feminist king. He's so funny to me, bro is trying his best, I definitely view Todd as an underdog who has all this responsibility put on him. World building and characterization was sick, wish it got a bit more love

The Devil All the Time: Okay this movie was objectively really good but SO WEIRD? I felt very discomfited after. But Tom's character was definitely my absolute favourite, what a terrible journey he goes through. Even though the movie was odd Tom made it all worth it. A genuinely good guy pushed to do terrible things because of other terrible people, like yes you get em king!!! Had me on the edge of my seat

The Impossible: The fact that this was his first film!? SO INTENSE, and yet he did fantastic. Tom Holland didn't really plan to be an actor, he truly just had greatness thrust upon him. Scooped up as Billy Elliot, then scouted as Lucas in this film. He genuinely has a natural talent for this stuff, this movie is based off a true story and seeing the devastation and little Tom covered in dirt and grieving his family that is still alive, oh gosh. Heavy but the happy ending will make you cry.

Can I also say lip sync battle as one of my fave projects? I need this man to do more dancing or at least physical work. So enamored with him and his confidence. It's interesting looking back on that video after a recent interview he spoke about how young he was and eager, but as an adult (and the adults around him at the time) being more hesitant and cautious about putting yourself in the media like that. It's been cool watching Tom mature!

Films I would not recommend as a Tom Holland fan:

How I Live Now: Tom isn't in it that much, and it was a really slow, disturbing film. I felt sad, gross, and uncomfortable watching it, just for Tom to barely be seen. Do not recommend

Edge of Winter: Also a very disturbing film. Tom was in it more, but it's mostly a slow horror film without much closure, and Tom's character isn't that interesting. Bland and uncomfortable

Now I'm not interested in his animated voice work, and I don't like period pieces, so I haven't seen those films. But if they're great enough and Tom has a good role in them pls feel free to recommend!

I just want to say you don't need to hit a quota to be a fan of someone. If you like one song, book, film... you're allowed to call yourself a fan! Gate-keeping art is not cool, and even if someone only likes one character then that sure is one fantastic character. Spider-Man is something very important to Tom; it's a big part of his career, he met his future wife through it, it changed his world to become his childhood hero. And his depiction of Spider-Man is something very special to me. It isn't just the character, it's him; the freshness, the awkwardness, the naivety he brought to Peter that Andrew and Tobey didn't choose to do. It is such a fantastic character to show off his physical skills, humour, his range from childishness to the grief and fury. You look at him in Homecoming and compare it to NWH and you see how Tom has evolved the character. I'm in awe of every thing Tom Holland does, but Spider-Man is 6 huge projects of his and to be more, which shows so much of his skill.

I also love his interviews. He's a very down to Earth, sweet, and genuine man. I think he's funny, charismatic and confident, but has fantastic work-life balance. I watched that 2 hour interview of his talking about spirituality and mental health, and seeing where he is now with Bero after his struggles with alcohol warms my heart. I wish I could have seen his Romeo & Juliet production, but in the least I think it was a nice break from the big screen for him. And best believe I was fighting for my life in comment sections for his costars—the racism was disgusting. One day that man is going to be a father and we'll never see him again, and I'll support that too. Can't wait for his Nolan film, can't believe how far he's come so quickly, and oh yes, I'm most excited for more Spider-Man films ;)

[scoobydoodean]

it's SO funny how crowley latches onto dean even tho sam is the one he feels "sentimental" about. bro was like. oh wow the human blood made me think i was in love with u or some shit, embarrassing. is your brother single? and i think that's why sam hates him

One thing I am noticing about Sam is that he is very anti-demon after season 4, which is understandable. We see this most strongly with Crowley in season 5, but it's not just Crowley—it's Meg too. And Sam and Dean also have many other reasons to hate Meg. But like Sam comments twice about how wary he is about them working with Meg in season 7, even if her only role is to keep watch over Cas at the hospital because they have no other options.

SAM I don't know. I mean, we can't just leave him. DEAN Well, we can't bring him with us. Everything on the planet's out for us, okay? Word gets out, we can't protect him. Not really. This is safer. Every demon who knows about Cas is dead. SAM Not everyone. Look, Dean, this whole "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing feels kind of like a demon deal. DEAN It's not a deal. It's – SAM It's what? DEAN Mutually assured destruction. Look, man, I get it. She's not our friend. We don't even have friends. All our friends are dead.

It's funny because people often perceive Dean as this very dogmatic figure who can't handle the idea of working with demons and hates Ruby just because she's a demon, but he is the first person to trust a demon (the often forgotten Casey from 3.04). He never trusted Ruby, but he saved her bacon twice (3.09 and 3.10) because he actually does understand the concept "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". He shows this again with Crowley in 5.20 (an episode titled "The Devil You Know" which is rather pointed). Sam doesn't trust Crowley one iota. He tried to kill Crowley in 5.10 right after Crowley gave them the colt, and I actually think that interaction is what makes Dean decide Crowley can be trusted as an ally against the devil. In 5.20, Dean decides Crowley is on their side and agrees to go with him on a solo mission without Sam (because Crowley does not trust Sam not to shoot him) and Sam is so upset about it he vents to Bobby on the phone lol. (To Dean's credit, when Crowley tries to convince Dean to keep the Brady secret from Sam under the suspicion that Sam will fly off the handle, Dean refuses to lie to his brother).

But yeah I mean joking about Deancrowley aside, Sam has a strong distrust of demons post season 4 and has hated Crowley from day one. He 100% connects him with Ruby, and I don't know that his general distrust of demons or his hatred for Crowley in particular ever truly goes away. I mean I think there's a reason season 13 Dean only dares mention losing Crowley in a private prayer to god while shouting to the roof tops over Cas when it's made clear to him that Sam wants to ignore his death. I think Sam's probably at least a little resentful that Dean seems to be pretty good at figuring out when he can and can't trust a demon not to backstab them. Add the "summer of love" and Crowley's gloating about it and the resentment just builds and builds. Rowena didn't need to do any convincing to get Sam to kill Crowley for her lmao.

[peopleareaproblem]

Names in Severance

Studies show that first names tend to be particular to individuals, whereas surnames are tied to the family.

- The You You Are, Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD

I went on a deep dive on researching name meanings on Severance, as I'm sure many others have. For those of you not insane enough to do this, my findings are below the cut.

Spoilers up to and including episode four of season two.

Why am I doing this? Well, names play a massive role in this show.

Gabby chooses the name William for her baby but Gabrielle names him Declan, which clues Devon in to something being up with her. The first chapter of The You You Are is about names, and after Ricken's reading Rebeck says she'll have to change her name again.

But most notably: the innies have no last names of their own and don't know the first names of their superiors. This divide is a huge aspect of the power dynamics of the severed floor and seemingly the rest of Lumon, as Cobel is referred to casually as Harmony by Natalie and other superiors but only ever as Ms. Cobel by the MDR department. Helena knowing Milchick's first name and casually calling him by it is what finally confirms Irving's suspicions, and he immediately weaponizes it against him. "Yes, do it, SETH."

I'm listing the full known name at the top (except for repeats like last names being the same) and then the meaning of each name in a subsequent line. So for example "Ricken Lazlo Hale" gets three lines: the first one for Ricken, then Lazlo, then Hale. If it's in the same line it's a different possible meaning for the same name. My own notes are in brackets.

MDR

Mark Scout of Mars (the god) - warlike, indicator, sign someone who goes ahead to gather information about enemies

Peter Kilmer stone kiln worker, famous sacrifice

Helly R. / Helena Eagan torch (Helen of Troy's kidnapping started the Trojan War) little fire

Irving Bailiff green water, river Irvine law enforcement officer

Dylan George toward the tide (going with the flow?) farmer, earthworker

ADMIN

Judd a river, descending, flowing down (the river where Jesus was baptized by John)

Harmony Cobel / Selvig agreement, calm, music (harmonizing two different tones) fishing boat bay of seals (nordic place name, I thought this was meaningless until episode four and now I'm like ???)

Seth Milchick appointed, placed (the third son of adam and eve sent to heal the family after cain killed abel) a jewish dietary law forbidding "boiling a (goat) kid in its mother's milk" (this has got to be on purpose, but what does it mean??)

Natalie Kalen christmas day, birth of the lord slender, fair, blessed, pure, keeper of keys

Ms. Casey watchful, vigilant (this one really convinces me some of these names are chosen with great care)

Doug Graner dark river manager, german place name

Ms. Huang phoenix (literally coming back to life in a blaze of fire)

MARK'S LIFE

Gemma gem, precious stone, "a small cellular body or bud that can separate to form a new organism"

Devon cattle, divine, poet

Ricken Lazlo Hale powerful, wealthy ruler healthy

Eleanor shining light

Patton Thune nobleman money

Rebeck Gulk instrument, tie, snare friend/servant (sometimes: of Christ)

Danise devoted to bacchus / dionysus

Alexa defender of man

THE EAGANS

Kier (CEO 1865-1939) a vat where fabrics are boiled/bleached/dyed

Imogene maiden, innocent

Ambrose (CEO 1939-1941) immortal

Myrtle (CEO 1941-1959) evergreen shrub (evergreen = never dies)

Baird (CEO 1959-1976) poet

Gerhardt (CEO 1976-1987) hard spear

Phillip "Pip" (CEO 1987-1999) friend of horses seed, excellent

Leonora (CEO 1999-2003) light

Jame (CEO 2003-) follower, supplanter, protector

Helena torch

OTHERS

O&D

Burt Goodman fortified town good man

Felicia lucky, successful

DYLAN'S FAMILY

Gretchen pearl

Jim protected/protector

Merrick fame, power, ruler of the sea, dark

Ruth friend, pity, compassion

PETEY'S FAMILY

June young

Nina little girl / shortened form of any name ending in -nina

THE ARTETAS

Angelo Arteta angel evergreen oak

Gabrielle / Gabby woman of god / talkative

Bradley (NOT William) broad meadow (NOT will helmet / desire to protect)

Declan good man / man of prayer

Kai keeper of keys, the sea, king

MISC.

Asal Reghabi honey again stupid? (ghabi = stupid)

Cecil Fields (Burt's partner) blind / sixth pasture

Charlotte (Cobel, name on breathing tube) free

—

And what does all this mean? WELL, some themes I'm picking up on are the water, fire and earth, as well as light and living forever. It's of interest to me that both Gemma and Peter refer to a sort of stone, which is a plus for Mark/Petey shippers. There's a lot of water imagery connected with Lumon, but Eagan means fire. Then there's Huang meaning phoenix, which is rebirth through fire. I'm not sure how to take this yet but it's percolating.

The double meaning of Gemma is also really giving some big clone energy, I'm sorry to say. I know the makers of the show have stated that there's not a clone thing going on, but there's something happening here. I hope Ms. Huang isn't her clone, mostly because they're wildly different looking people whose only real commonality is being asian women.

I've also been looking into alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone as it relates to the themes of Severance, and all of this really rhymes with a lot of that. (I might make a seperate post about it tbh.)

Kilmer meaning kiln worker also really fucks with me, what with the water/fire/earth thing. You need water to mold clay, but firing it in a kiln turns it solid. In the Perpetuity Wing Irving tells Helly: "It’s an unnatural state for a person to have no history. History makes us someone. Gives us a context. A shape. But waking up on that table, I was shapeless." And Mark was a professor of history, and Casey made him sculpt his feelings out of clay, and he sculpted the tree that Gemma hit with her car, which neither of them remember... there's something here, I think.

I think Ricken and his friends, especially Patton, are descended from old money and may even be distantly related to the Eagans.

And then there's Reghabi, which doesn't seem to exist as a name/word outside of this show, but "ghabi" literally only returns results about the Urdu word meaning "idiot". I might be way off base but it makes me worried Reghabi isn't trustworthy. It's giving "the surest way to tame a prisoner is to let him believe he's free".

[your-turn-to-role]

if it helps at all (reblogging directly from you starry bc can't tag you) - as someone who gave up on it pretty early on bc it wasn't really my thing, i have been wanting to look up more positive opinions on the campaign recently, i've just been really busy so haven't had time to respond to anything but what's on my dash, which yeah is a lot of critique, and with what i do know there's definitely stuff i'm not a fan of, sure

but also like. the critical role cast aren't some corporation just trying to squeeze money out of this show, like a lot of the things c3 has been compared to are

while they could have, in retrospect, probably made better decisions to really pull off whatever they were going for, they're also playing the game that makes them happiest (and they're putting it all online for free it's not like they're obligated to follow the fans' ideas of what should happen)

if you enjoyed it all start to finish, you're honestly a perspective i'd like to see round tumblr more! you're seeing what the cast see in this narrative and that definitely doesn't make you wrong or stupid. if there was no value in this story whatsoever they would have stopped a long time ago

as megs said, being able to articulate an opinion well doesn't make it objective truth. god knows i can pull out a million references for any of my essays but when i write them it's always gonna be me shining light on a specific angle of the narrative that appeals to me. other people can choose to pick a different angle and still be just as right, regardless of whether or not it's something i personally would enjoy looking at. and that's even more true in a fandom like this, where every narrative is in fact 7+ narratives that we hope will weave together well, and there's a million things to focus on that haven't all been handpicked by the creators for the sake of telling a singular story

if you're seeing an angle a lot of people aren't focusing on, hell, celebrate that! i love hearing about the moments that genuinely appealed to people, it just feels like there's been fewer and fewer of them focused on bells hells the longer the story went on. but i've also been in fandoms where i truly genuinely enjoyed the ending of a particular story and thought it was well told the whole way through, and then it turned out 99% of the fandom thought the ending was rushed and it ruined the whole thing, so i definitely get how that can feel a bit crushing and like you're fighting a tidal wave

(and hell to your tags about being worried c3 will become an automatic skip in the fandom - i also really love a lot of the c1 episodes before ep24 and think there's some great character stuff there that a lot of people skip bc orion or because the briarwood arc is where it gets 'good', so im with you on that one. it sucks but it doesn't mean i can't talk about, say, trial of the take, there still are and always will be people in the fandom who've watched it, and there will be even more people who didn't watch it but are glad to find out what's in it because they couldn't find out themselves)

so yeah all to say if you ever wanted to write about c3 stuff you loved, im on your side here

if you're just sad that the fandom reaction to stuff you liked has been overwhelmingly negative, that's also fine, and doesn't make you any less a valued member of this fandom

idk I kind of feel like I'm an idiot bc I actually enjoyed cr 3 from the jump to the end but like the blogs who follow bc I feel they are definitely more articulate and insightful than me are like "the whole thing was meaningless and pointless! matt fumbled everything!" so maybe I'm wrong to have liked it all? I'm not really sure where I'm going with this sorry

I think one thing to keep in mind is that many (and in fact, I would argue, most!) people who are critiquing the story and construction have also generally enjoyed the campaign as a whole! Certainly I don't know anyone who stuck it out through the end who did not overall enjoy watching it, for various reasons; I know there are people who hate watch, which I think is an absurd and honestly really stupid waste of time, but from my experience they are normally making snide and vicious tweet-length posts rather than long considerations of what isn't working for them.

There are also a lot of levels of critique—I've greatly enjoyed a lot of moments in isolation that I simultaneously felt weakened, contradicted, or even actively undermined the structure of the story as a whole, but those moments were still really fun and interesting beats. The Arch Heart's cameo comes to mind, as does, in hindsight, some of the construction of the post-Solstice split, but there are plenty of others of higher or lower impact on the story. In the finale the Raise Dead falls into this place very strongly, so I'm going to talk about it at length for a moment, since it was an absolutely stellar moment for me personally and as such I do think it serves as very illustrative of an example where I simultaneously fucking love a moment while finding it worth significant critique. I think it also touches on the critiques you're referring to, which I would summarize overall as the idea that many of the outcomes feel influenced negatively by pulled punches on the part of the DM rather than a flaw of one player or another. (Also, I want to talk about it cuz I love it. :3) This got very long but I think that to your point, it is worth examining in this amount of depth.

First, the good: it is an absolutely phenomenal culminating point of an arc that was only really concluded in summary; I have, as noted earlier this week, written at length about how Essek is never situated as a protagonist, which is functionally fine and even good. He ends up tied very strongly to Caleb's arc, and moves in the narrative in such a way after 2x97 that allows Caleb to reach a concluding note, and strengthens that narrative. So we only really hear about the outcome of Essek's choices, his inevitable leave from the Dynasty, in the summarization of the campaign 2 epilogue. This is not inherently a problem, because he is not a protagonist. But this moment does functionally create a material representation of that denouement, which does strengthen his arc in its own right.

This moment also, hilariously, bears out my argument from this post. That the resurrection should only work with this intervention, particularly while the Nein are involved, does follow through on the Nein's general positioning within Exandria. Essek's leave happening without a fight (and, frankly, with only one attempted Counterspell) both makes for a very well-paced moment and also maintains the overall sense of story that the Nein impart when they are on screen; I'm thinking again of how their Ruidus episodes feel, much like their campaign and their post-campaign one-shots, like an intrigue action thriller series, and this fits well in that framing.

So overall, it is a fantastic moment... for the Nein. The Nein are not the protagonists of this story. They exist in the world, and are such active agents that they do continue to develop and exert motion on the narrative into this campaign, and frankly, I think this would have been fine if the party given ownership of this story and campaign did not abdicate their responsibility for it with unfortunate frequency. They do not exert a strong control over their story, which is at odds with the fact that the Nein do, and are present and also involved by the nature of their ending. It completely overshadows Ashton's heroic moment, in that the culminating action beat of this sequence is Essek getting away, which kind of takes the wind out of the sails of the Hells' involvement in the gods' outcome. It doesn't negate it, certainly, but it does refocus the story from them to, for some reason, Essek. So in this sense, it occurs at the expense of the Hells.

I find that while the handwaving of using dunamantic intervention to push Raise Dead beyond its limits (if indeed the reason it didn't originally work was because Ashton's brain was essentially gone) fits fine and even well within the framework of the Nein's story, and an NPC being able to do so without a roll is fine, since NPCs are vehicles the DM uses to guide the story, this is a significant divergence from the overall mechanics of the world at large; even the Nein had to do a full ritual for the resurrection of their tiefling. Matt put those mechanics in place specifically to create narrative meaning behind resurrections, which can feel very unmotivated and like a get out of jail free card in D&D, and while it's been noted that this would've really strained the runtime beyond its existing length, prioritizing it at the cost of, for instance, more truncated end notes for the Nein and Vox would've bolstered the Hells' presence in an ending to their own story that even many of their fans felt was ultimately lacking.

Giving the resurrection full weight would've also given Ashton's sacrifice and the Hells' involvement more narrative weight; the reason the other parties are involved at all is because the Hells were truly running on fumes by that point, but any lack of involvement this created could've been alleviated by having them directly involved through pre-established ritual elements that are not contingent on them having any mechanical offerings. So this moment sits within the context of critique that I agree with: that it felt like a pulled punch that ultimately also served to decenter the Hells within their own narrative, when it could've been used with more deliberate narrative force.

At the same time, I fucking love it, and watched it four times in a row yesterday, because it is so good—and it is, as I described, narratively and thematically coherent in one sense! And I think that is one issue of the campaign: many, many great moments are excellent and coherent in a certain framework but are weaker to varying degrees when considered as one piece of a larger whole. There are so many frameworks at play in this narrative, and not enough direct intervention to manage those as frameworks rather than as a single story, but at the same time, I think those frameworks are far more apparent if you're really looking for them, and that's much more difficult, if not impossible, when you're in the midst of them and telling the story.

I also don't think this means one cannot critique this; in fact, I would say this is more an issue of being a serialized narrative than an improvised one, which is often how critique of it has been pushed back against within the fandom. I was thinking about this as I'm currently in a course on, quite literally, how to critique comics, and we discussed this week how Marjane Satrapi said in an interview after making the film adaptation of Persepolis, which was first a serialized comic, that she ended up preferring the film, and I speculated that was because with a film, one has the ability to make a more cohesive narrative purely by virtue of the fact that with a serialized form, you cannot go back and make retroactive edits when no developments come to light. This is something that long-running comics must constantly navigate (as do many long TV shows), and in extreme circumstances such as decades-old comic franchises, ends up resulting in infinite timelines and hand-waving, which becomes so ridiculous that at this point it's a meme. In that scenario, though, it is not presented as a non-contradictory story, let alone a cohesive one.

Many of the critiques of campaign 3 are operating within the idea that this is presented as one overarching narrative. (And honestly, comics and other narratives that don't utilize that presentation are also still critiqued on that merit by people who greatly enjoy the texts they're critiquing anyway.) Within that context, I feel that the framing of the Raise Dead, as well as much of what would be my critique of the other pieces I referenced (the Arch Heart's cameo and some of the party-split sections) if I was to do the same kind of rundown of those, actively undermine this presentation by introducing and forefronting too many conflicting frameworks that are not interwoven well enough to create a single, cohesive overarching narrative.

This is a very long-winded way to illustrate my point, which is that I would really encourage reading critique not as a lack of enjoyment of the campaign, let alone a suggestion that no one should've enjoyed it (and if you did, then you're not smart enough to know better), but as a way to engage with the text(s) as presented within one framework or another. I think this is sometimes obscured in online fandom spaces, where we're not engaging in critique in as formal of a sense as one would in, say, an academic setting, where the norms generally dictate the framework one is using is explicitly stated if not fully delineated within the critique, but it is, more often than not, still implicitly present within the critique.

And as a final note, I would also really urge everyone reading others' opinions on something they enjoy to resist the urge to elide their own opinions from the conversation, even if you don't feel as articulate or as well-versed in critique. Critique is a trained skill, so it is certainly something one can pick up if they are inclined, and at the same time, someone doing it does not mean they are inherently right—and in fact, with all argumentative writing, it is up to the reader to consider the argument and decide whether or not they agree with it. (You can decide that you disagree with me about the Raise Dead! Just because I wrote a thousand words on it does not inherently make my interpretation truth; it's just an interpretation. You get to say whether or not you think my interpretation makes sense based on the evidence presented.) Even here I'm using the framework of some critique that others have made, but I don't delineate in full myself. In doing do I'm not presuming that you agree, but I am presuming that you've read it and know what I'm referring to. Strictly speaking it's also not even saying that I take that critique as true; it's saying that I feel the conclusions drawn are applicable as a basis for my argument. If you wanted, you could even say that you feel that my argument is irrelevant to you because you don't feel those critiques are true! But you ultimately do have to be the one to decide any of that, which does involve a balance between a confidence in the formation of your own opinions on the text and an openness to entertaining others'.

[darl-ingfics]

Feveruary Day 9: ALT - "I don't get sick."

Fandom: Seventeen

Sickie: Jeonghan (cold)

Caregiver(s): Vernon

Word Count: 862

“What are you doing?” Hansol asked, watching Jeonghan warily from the kitchen doorway. 

The older man paused, turned around, looked at Hansol like he’d said something incredibly stupid. He held out his arms. “I���m making breakfast. What does it look like I’m doing?” But the audible congestion in his voice thwarted the patronizing tone he’d been going for. 

It had been bitterly cold in Seoul the past week, so cold in fact that all of Seventeen’s extraneous schedules had been cancelled to keep the artists and staff out of the weather. The extra time off had been lovely; sure, they still had their regularly scheduled practices, but they also had more time at home together in the mornings and evenings. Time they usually didn’t get to spend just enjoying each other’s company. 

The extra rest had a second motivator, though. While the team’s schedules had been relaxed, it appeared that their collective immune system decided to take a break as well. Which wasn’t helped by their appearance on a music show last Friday, cramped into tight quarters with several other overworked, exhausted idols. Especially because, during this time of year, ’exhausted’ often meant ‘sick, but pumped up on meds to hide it.’ So it wasn’t surprising but unfortunate when several members had gone down with a rather nasty cold, not bad enough to keep them from practice, but certainly not something anyone wanted to worsen.

Hansol had been one of the first hit with the virus, and had fully kicked it in less than a week, (as had Soonyoung and Minghao, a hopeful sign for the rest of them.) He was still, however, having difficulty staying asleep, his body still sending mixed signals that something was wrong, even though it wasn’t. Which was how he’d heard Jeonghan (he admittedly hadn’t known who it was when he’d first heard the movement, but still), get up and leave his room, and stumble downstairs. Intrigued, Hansol had gotten himself up to investigate. 

And one day, Jeonghan would thank him for it, because it was very obvious that the older man had finally been struck down with the cold himself, and needed someone to knock some sense into him. 

Assuming his role as ‘the one to convince Jeonghan to lay down,’ Hansol arched an eyebrow. “Really? Cause it sounds to me like you’re just making a racket.” In fact, the slamming of cabinets and clinking of pots had been what woke Hansol in the first place. 

“Well, sometimes cooking is noisy.” His statement was punctuated with a chesty cough, similarly as noisy as his banging around. 

“What’re you making?” 

“What’s it to you?” Jeonghan turned back to his task, swiping at his nose with his hoodie sleeve. 

“Well, I’m just a little confused why you’re making breakfast at three in the morning, so I just wanted to understand what food is incredible that you couldn’t wait until morning.”

Jeonghan froze, back going stiff. He glanced back over his shoulder. “Why the third degree, Nonie?”

Hansol set his lips in a thin line. “Hyung. You’re obviously sick.”

Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “I don’t get sick.” His face instantly crumpled, and one hand grasped for the counter as the other bent over his face as he collapsed forward. “H’arrchu! Atcshu! Hratschoo!” He sniffled thickly, moaning in pain as he brought his other hand against the counter, stretching his back out like a cat. 

“You’re right, hyung,” Hansol said, nodding to himself. “You don’t get sick. You fully succumb to illness.”

Jeonghan glanced up at him, eyes watery and unamused. “Smug bastard,” he muttered just loud enough for Hansol to hear before coughing into his sleeve. “Ugh.” He pushed himself up off the counter, rubbing at his pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“What were you really doing, hyung?” Hansol asked gently. 

“Looking for the good tea. I know Hao hid it earlier this week so people wouldn’t make it by mistake.” Hansol chuckled to himself, pushing off of the doorframe. He stepped over to the counter right behind Jeonghan, reaching behind a stack of plates and pulling out the desired teabag. Jeonghan frowned, sniffling indignantly. “How did you find it so fast?”

“Chan found it yesterday. He thought it was funny, but he only told me and Kwannie about it cause he didn’t want to anger whoever had actually hidden it there,” Hansol answered, turning on the electric kettle. “Pretty sure he’s going to try to hide something too, just for the fun of it.”

Jeonghan pouted, his hands hung limply by his sides. “It isn’t nice to hide things from your group members.”

Hansol snorted. “Can I get you to say that again on camera?”

Jeonghan did not look amused. He sniffled again, coughing lightly. “Be nice to me. I’m ill.”

“What happened to ‘I don’t get sick?’”

Jeonghan closed his eyes, sighed like a heavy weight had been placed on his shoulders. “I am a dramatic man, Hansollie. I like to live my life in absolutes. And right now, I absolutely need a cup of the good tea and an entire bottle of Nyquil.” 

Hansol smiled just as the kettle whistled. “We can make that happen.”

[fantasybuff3186]

Daddycop thoughts

So I didnt make posts about the s6 episodes and well I didnt intend to because thats not what I do here but Daddycop was such a great episode I had to talk about it because gosh I am in love. So much development for more than one character in one episode and I adore it so lets go, obviously spoilers below.

To start of I love that they addressed Sabrina's sadness over chloe leaving and to see that scene where shes watching the stuff chloe posts. Its nice to see that the sadness she would undoubtedly have felt was addressed. It was also really nice to see the reactions of the rest of the group, they were slow to accept which makes so much sense. I also like that Sabrina took accountability and didnt expect instant forgiveness. Also Girl fought off Lila and like that is so huge!!!!!! I love that so much, she was guilty but she fought it off and I admire that about her so much. Sabrina is now one of my favourite characters along with Zoe and I love the development she got. Sabrina is not just a henchman anymore or related to Chloe and I am loving that so so much.

In general, I love this new direction miraculous is going aka where other characters are focused on, the writers are genuinely improving. This feels like a proper show now, not just Marinette's show and while I adore Marinette and really did not mind the Marinette focus earlier, its nice to see the other characters' develop. I am glad I stuck around. I also love Miss hound's new outfit and it shows her growth. Her new civillian design though well not really a fan but I can love with it I suppose. I still dont like it but I can live with it. Now onto Zoe

Zoe was a character I found sweet and I didn't mind her inclusion and was glad to see that she got the bee miraculous but before this episode, she was well just there. I love that focus on her liking Marinette but she honestly was pretty bland, a nice person but bland without much development. I guess there is that growth of her learning to be herself but it was one episode so not that impactful for me, but today well she's definitely my favourite.

Although in a way I feel like she sort of filled Marinette's role usually because Marinette is the one who usually gies above and beyond so while I do find her attempts to include Sabrina it did feel like Marinette again so that was odd. I still love Zoe and I love the focus she got but it feels a little odd seeing her pay attention and not Marinette, it feels like shes taking Marinette's place for some reason that she is well just a more measured Marinette without well the excitement and relatability of Marinette but the post credits scene, makes me really eager to see what they do. Shes not my top favourite character, but that return of someone from her past well I am invested and I cannot wait to see what happens.

I love Zoe but I'm hoping theres more differences other than Zoe being a calmer Marinette to well in a way make up for well Marinette struggling. Also in regards to Zoe's design I like her hair and the skirt is a great change and I'm really hoping they expand on Sabrina and Zoe's relationship. I want to see development in their relationship and perhaps a ship, though that is very much optional.

At the core though I really want to see more Zoe and Sabrina interactions. It would be nice to see Sabrina bond with the others too but I want Zoe to be the closest friend to Sabrina. Usually its Marinette who is everyone friend so this time I want to see Marinette not be the key player which she already isnt in this episode which I loved. Now onto Marinette, my absolute favourite character. well maybe more like Adrinette because well Marinette wasnt the focus in this episode.

Marinette is still Marinette and I love that so much, she wasnt the focus but seeing the subtle development and her just being Marinette well I love that for her. Honestly I dont have much to say for Marinette this episode except that I felt so bad for Sabrina. The Adrinette though, gosh its adorable and I love that so much they're just the sweetest and get sweeter with every episode. Also Adrien is just such a great boyfriend, like he said no to Marinette and he was so considerate about other people, in a way this just proves how essential Adrien is for Marinette, he grounds her and she needs that because its very obvious how lost in her head she gets and how she needs a reality check sometimes which he gives. Granted she didnt listen because she was too strung up on her plans but I love the attempt and Adrien firmly refusing. I really am growing to appreciate Adrien more.

I waited for them to get together, the Adrinette side and they finally are and I'm not being disappointed at all. Like they are my babies and I adore it. On that note, unpopular opinion but I actually like ladynoir platonically and its so much more of a joy watching them now. Miraculous just turned out the way I desired and I am so happy. I also really like that one of the final scenes was Adrinette and while people hate the changes, I kind of like it. Anyway I'm happy and cant wait for what comes next. Maybe I'll do a thoughts post on Werepapas too later who knows but yeah basically I would rate this episode 10/10.

Thank you for reading if you made it!

[loopstagirl]

Initiation

For @febuwhump day 8: Bleeding Out

TW: Violence

-x-

“Thunderbird Five to Mobile Control.” 

“Go ahead, John.” Scott glanced up from the readouts he’d been pouring over so he could give his brother his full attention. 

“I’ve got a life sign over to the east.” 

Scott glanced that way, as if hoping to see their latest victim standing waving at him. It was just more rubble and abandoned buildings though. What else did he expect from an area that had been devastated by an earthquake? 

“The boys are still over to the west,” Scott mused. Virgil, Gordon and Alan were shifting rubble and extracting families from collapsed buildings. Scott had spent an annoyingly large amount of time coordinating local rescues. He could always tell in a glance these days which areas had no money: the fallout was always so much worse. 

“I can call one of them back?” John offered. 

“No. I’ll take it.” He turned his back on the officials that he had been liaising with. “I’m gonna punch someone if they don’t stop asking stupid questions. I need a break.” 

He knew the importance of his role. But on rescues like this, when he felt chained to Mobile Control, he itched to be out in the centre of things. 

“I can track-” 

“No,” Scott said quickly. “Stay with the fellas. I need you to be my eyes, John, I was directing them to where the ground was most stable. Take over.” 

“Scott-,” 

“Don’t monitor me, Thunderbird Five. That’s an order.” He dropped his voice. “I need you to watch over the others. I’ll get this guy out and be back before you know it.” 

“F.A.B.” 

John cut the line. Scott understood his brother’s uncertainty. But they’d already cleared to the east. This was someone wandering in to where they shouldn’t be. He (or she) shouldn’t be buried, shouldn’t be injured, unless stupidity was a recognised injury. 

Securing Mobile Control, he grabbed his helmet and set off in that direction. If it wasn’t for the devastation surrounding him, it would’ve been a beautiful day. The skies were clear and the sun was shining. It was no comfort to those who’d had their lives destroyed, but it made a rescue a lot easier compared to doing it in the torrential rain. 

He had to climb over a lot of debris to reach the signal that John had indicated. 

“Hello? International Rescue. Can anyone hear me?” 

“Down here.” 

Scott blinked. It was a woman. For some reason, he’d just assumed only a man would be stupid enough to walk into a danger zone. Maybe that was having four brothers and actively rushing to danger zones themselves. 

He scrambled over a few larger pieces of rock, and found her. 

She was in a hollow that looked like it had once been the foundation of a building. 

“You shouldn’t be here, miss,” Scott said. “Can you reach my hand?”  

He lowered himself until he was flat on the ground, and stretched down to her. He was starting to rethink his ideas on stupidity now that he realised he hadn’t brought any equipment with him. 

She stretched up, and her fingertips just brushed his. Scott wriggled forward, and managed to grasp her wrist.  

“I’m going to need you to climb,” he told her. “I’ll draw you up, but you’ll have to help me. Okay?” 

She nodded. As he pulled, she scrambled up the side, loose stones slipping away underfoot. It was one of the most straightforward rescues that Scott had ever done, even easier than the one time he’d had to get a cat out of a tree. This woman at least understood he was trying to help and didn’t have claws! 

He steadied her as she found her footing.  

“You alright?” He did a quick visual scan but couldn’t see any injuries. The fact she’d managed to climb out as well suggested she was okay. If nothing else, she could get herself help given she was mobile and conscious. 

Speaking of which... He really should get back to Mobile Control. His team needed him. 

She smiled at him, but there was something cold and calculating about it. 

“Yes. Thank you.” She offered out a hand. Ever the gentleman, Scott shook it. 

But she tightened her grip, bringing his arm into her, forcing the limb out straight. Thrown off balance, Scott could only let out a soft ‘oof’ as she punched him suddenly in the gut. 

No. 

Not punched. 

There was a burning pain as the concealed knife sunk into his abdomen. Her smile curled unpleasantly and she gave a savage twist of the blade that dropped Scott to his knees. 

She followed him down as he slowly sank to his side, hands sticky with blood as he tried to do something. Opening his mouth to speak, he could only cry out as she twisted it again. 

“I’m sorry about this,” she told him. “Usually, we’d meet in a bar, I’d get you drunk, invite you back, and only kill you after the greatest night of my life. But what can I say? You can’t get more high-profile than a member of International Rescue. Now...” 

She drew the knife out, wiping the blade on his uniform. He flinched as she shifted her grip on the hilt. 

“Relax. I just need a trophy.” With a few deft slashes, she cut away swatches of his uniform. Anything that had their logo on it. 

“Thanks, pal. You just got me into a, well, let’s say exclusive club. Nothing personal. Have a nice life. What’s left of it, anyway.” 

Without a backwards glance, she walked away. 

Scott knew he had to act fast. He was losing far too much blood: the twisting of the knife had forced the wound far larger than the original stab. He had to pack the wound, call for help, control the bleeding... 

All of which would’ve been far easier if uncontrollable shivers weren’t wracking his body. His hands were slippery with blood; he couldn’t get a grip on anything. He fumbled for his watch, but his vision dipped in and out. He couldn’t even find the buttons, let alone press the right ones that would call for help. 

He was too far out of the way over here. No one was going to just stumble across him. Why had he ordered John to stay focused on their brothers? Had he made contact? Had he managed to hit a button? 

Scott had no idea. A bloodied hand gripped a rock, some shattered piece of what was once someone’s home. He tried to drag himself forward, shifting inch by painful inch across the uneven ground.  

He didn’t make it more than a few paces before the darkness swallowed him whole. 

-x-

“C’mon, John, now where?” Virgil grumbled. He drummed his fingers on the steering column of the Excavator. He envied Gordon and Alan right now. They might be out there in the dust, but at least they could proceed without having to check if the ground was stable enough to take their weight. 

“John? Thunderbird Five, I’m waiting.” 

“Hang on!” John’s snap was out of character and Virgil’s fingers stopped drumming. 

He gave John a minute. That tone of voice gave away he was looking at something else. Usually, Virgil would say that John was the king of multitasking but that tone meant it was something serious. 

“Turn around!” 

Virgil startled, then collected himself. “We’ve cleared behind, John. I know there’s still debris, but no one-,” 

“Get to these coordinates.”  

A light flashed on the control panel in front of him. Virgil frowned as he squinted at it.  

“There’s nothing out there, John. Scott cleared it when he got here.” 

“It’s Scott,” John said. His tone was harried and more stressed than Virgil had heard in a long time.  

“His signal went haywire and now I can’t get him to pick up and-,” John took a deep breath. “Virg, his vitals are crashing.” 

Questions weren’t important. Answers even less so. Virgil slammed the vehicle into reverse and executed a three-point-turn he didn’t know he was capable of and would no doubt make Alan proud. 

The Excavator wasn’t fast, but it was quicker than going on foot. He didn’t try and skirt around the debris in his path, he just steamrolled straight over it. He was almost there when the ground became too treacherous to risk it. 

Snatching up the medkit, Virgil leapt out and started running, letting John guide him.  

He didn’t find Scott as much as he fell over him. 

Virgil stumbled, turned, and swore when he saw the face-down sprawled form of his eldest brother. He dropped to his knees, fighting the instinct to instantly roll Scott over and instead grabbed the med-scanner. He had to know what he was dealing with... 

He swore again when the red lights indicated the trauma. But there was no sign of a neck or back injury and Virgil made short work of rolling his brother onto his back. 

For a moment, he focused his attention on Scott’s face. He was deathly pale, eyes closed, even his lips colourless as his head lolled to one side. 

Then Virgil’s gaze travelled down his brother and he forgot how to breathe. 

Scott’s uniform was torn and it looked as if there were pieces missing from it. But what remained was stained red, blood still oozing from a deep wound in his stomach. 

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Virgil muttered. He grabbed the kit, hauling it closer. Half the items went flying as he snatched up all the gauze he had, pressing it tightly over the wound. 

“Thunderbird Two, report.” John sounded more in control than before and his professionalism helped cut through the fog descending on Virgil. 

“Deep wound in his abdomen. He’s lost... John, he’s lost so much blood! I think – I think someone stabbed him!” 

It was the only thing he could think of for a wound like this. 

There was silence for a beat. 

“i’ve alerted the authorities,” John said. “And Gordon and Alan are on their way.” 

“They can’t see him like this!” 

“Right. You’ve got a stretcher, have you? An IV bag? You can move him by yourself?” 

As usual, John’s logical mind calmed Virgil down. He wasn’t fooled though: he could hear the slight tremor that gave away how John was really feeling and his fingers were no doubt flying as he multi-tasked to find out what was happening. 

Virgil continued packing the wound the best he could, desperate to try and bring the bleeding under control. Scott’s pulse was weak. Virgil kept having to swallow hard, as if he could push down the rising panic. Every sluggish beat of Scott’s heart stained Virgil’s hands a little more. 

He ran out of gauze before his brothers arrived. All he could do was keep pressure on the wound. The medkit had the basics, but it wasn’t designed for anything more than patching someone up and getting them to safety. 

“Virgil!” 

“Over here.”  

He was surprised by how steady his voice was as his two brothers charged into view. Alan instantly went pale, but Gordon dropped to his knees.  

“We’ve got the stretcher. John’s contacted the local hospital, they’re on standby to receive us and security measures are already being put in place. And I’m ready.” 

“For what?” Virgil stared at him blankly. He hadn’t moved when they arrived, remaining kneeling by Scott, hands pressed to the wound. 

“Donation. We’re the same blood group, remember?” 

Virgil managed a weak smile. It was moments like this that reminded him Gordon had seen active duty. While Virgil was used to dealing with injuries caused by nature throwing a tantrum, Gordon had seen his fair share of what men could do to one another. 

His brother being so calm helped him pull it together. 

“Set the stretcher down next to him. Then help take his weight so I can get a bandage wrapped around him.”  

Something needed to maintain the pressure while they moved him. They worked quickly to secure Scott as much as possible, then shifted him onto the hover stretcher. Virgil activated it until it was floating at waist height. 

“I need one of you to shut down Mobile Control and secure One. The other to fly Two.” 

Neither of them made the usual comments about letting someone else fly his ‘bird. They both knew the gravity of the situation and right now, Virgil needed to be with Scott. 

He started heading towards Two, ignoring the whispered conversation going on behind him. By the time he had Scott secured, Gordon had joined him, Virgil raised an eyebrow. 

“Same blood group, remember? Makes more sense for me to be on hand. Alan will join us as soon as he can.” 

“F.A.B. Go and start pre-flight checks, Gords, we need to get him there asap.” 

Gordon nodded and hurried up to the flight deck. Virgil busied himself attaching monitors to Scott. He didn’t want to start a transfusion until the doctors had seen Scott. While he may have just been trying to convince himself, Virgil was certain the bleeding had slowed. 

“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” he told his brother. “Just hang on.” 

“Virgil?” 

John’s voice made him jump but he also wasn’t surprised he’d stayed on the line this entire time. 

“Go ahead?” 

“Hospital is prepped and ready. And I’ve-,” John audibly swallowed. “I’ve spoken to Dad. He’s on his way and he’s sending in the agents to ensure security.” 

Virgil nodded. John knew him well enough that he didn’t need to see the action to know what he was doing. He braced himself as Thunderbird Two lifted into the air. Not as smooth as he would’ve done it, but he also couldn’t complain. Not when he wasn’t prepared to leave Scott’s side. 

Afterwards, he didn’t remember much of the flight. He tried to keep Scott stable, fighting against his slowing heart-beat but managing to keep it clinging on. As soon as they landed, Gordon lowered the hatch and medical staff were swarming around his brother. Virgil stepped back to let them work, but was surprised by the hand gripping his arm as he made to follow them. 

“They won’t let you in,” Gordon said in a soft voice. “You know this.” 

“Doesn’t matter.” 

“Virg. Get changed.”  

Virgil followed Gordon’s pointed gaze and saw that his uniform was covered in blood. The med-bay around him suddenly lurched as he fully accepted it was his big brother’s blood. Gordon’s hand stopped restraining him and instead guided him to the edge of the bed, encouraging him to sit down. 

A few moments of careful breathing brought Two back into focus. Gordon made sure he wasn’t about to pass out, then gave him some privacy so he could change. He switched into civvies and headed out. 

Gordon was waiting for him just outside.  

“I’m gonna go park up,” he said, “meet you inside?” 

Virgil nodded. It was one of the strangest experiences of his life watching Thunderbird Two take off without him in it. But Gordon would stash her somewhere secure and their agents would set a perimeter to make sure she stayed safe. Alan would be doing the same with One right now. Then they could enter the hospital as civilians. The hospital staff knew Scott was International Rescue, but they didn’t need to broadcast it to everyone. 

Gordon had been right about the doctors not letting him anywhere near. By the time Gordon and Alan appeared, also in casual clothes, the only thing Virgil knew was that Scott had been rushed into surgery. No one knew anything else to tell them. 

Tracy One was a fast jet, but it showed how long they’d been stuck waiting as their father arrived before news did. He looked haggard but his sons had no new information to give him. John had already told him everything they knew as Virgil had deliberately kept the line open to ensure their space-bound brother wasn’t left out of the loop. 

Eventually, Virgil could sit no longer. His brother, his best friend, was fighting for his life, and the only thing Virgil could think was that he should’ve got to Scott’s side sooner. If Scott had bled out in that rubble because Virgil had taken too long, he’d never forgive himself. 

He paced, and no one said anything. They couldn’t. Not when Gordon’s leg was jiggling up and down and Alan was picking at the edge of his thumb. Only their father was still, as if someone had carved him from stone. 

It was hours later when a doctor finally arrived. He was still in scrubs. Alan had fallen asleep on Gordon’s shoulder, his brother’s arm looped around him. But Gordon shook him awake and all four Tracys got to their feet. 

“Well?” Their dad said. 

“The knife nicked an intestine,” the surgeon reported. “And you already know he lost a lot of blood. But we’ve managed to repair the damage and his BP has stabilised. He’ll need bed rest, and a lot of it, for a few weeks, but he should make a full recovery.” 

For the second time that day, Virgil’s world spun around him. Gordon and Alan were cheering, but their voices sounded far away as he groped blindly for the chair he was certain should be right behind him. It was his dad’s hand on his back that guided him back into it. 

“Thank you,” his father said earnestly. “Thank you so much.” 

The world came back into focus as the surgeon left, promising he’d send someone as soon as they could see Scott. His dad’s hand was still on his shoulder and Virgil looked up at him. 

“He’s - he’s really going to be okay?” 

“Yes, son. He’s going to be just fine.” 

“Not so sure about that,” Gordon said, grinning. “Who wants to be the one to tell Scott he has to stay in bed?” 

Four answering groans met his question, as even John tried to duck out of that from all the way up on Thunderbird Five. 

[scrumptiousstuffs]

i’ve never watched any of p’au works so i don’t know the kind of atmosphere he put in his shows, but since OL is a funny comedy maybe CFC will have a lot of comedy too and i know people will get mad at bcs ppl hate funny things

I was delighted when I found out FirstKhaotung will be working with P’Au. If you have only watched OL, then I implore you to watch the others shows he has directed - this includes the massively successful My School President that pretty much put Gem4th on the map of Thai BL and My School Mix Up (also Gem4th)

Plus, he is the protege of P’Aof and has worked closely with him (being his assistant director) of these projects: Last Twilight, Moonlight Chicken, Bad Buddy, A Tale of 1000 Stars, Still 2gether

And also the screenwriter for classic Thai BL (pre-2020 era): including Theory of Love (OffGun) and Dark Blue Kiss (TayNew and PoddGawin)

Now, I haven’t watched Theory of Love and Dark Blue Kiss, but I’ve watched all the rest. And while I may not vibe with some of them (Last Twilight, I’m looking at you 😅), these shows are still excellent in their own right.

Suffice to say, P’Au track record is pretty good. His flare is slightly different from P’Aof who tends to be more angsty-vibe/melodramatic/lakorn-like while I find P’Au to be softer, more romantic still with some angst/hurt-comfort vibe. And as you can tell with OL, I think he is doing a good job with balancing comedy as well.

As for your last sentence about “people will get mad because they hate funny things” - I’m interpreting it as you alluding to some FK fans (or casual watchers of FK-related things) wanting them to play only in serious, dramatic/angsty roles. I suspect this is partly because their introduction to FK is from The Eclipse, MLC or OF (or even THK), where let’s be honest - their roles are more “heavier” and serious in nature.

See, this is where I will like people to go watch First/Khaotung earlier roles because the boys have great comedic timing.

First in The Shipper (and as a supporting character in Wake up Ladies) was amazing. Seeing First (in The Shipper) embodying a fangirl while also trying to navigate his (her?) feeling for the best friend and brother - was funny but doozy lol

You can tell he was still honing his skills then but without these roles, we won’t get his subtle but effective comedic take of this scene in the THK (for example):

Similarly, Songpol/Paul in 55:15 Never Too Late. This show remains the most under-rated gem of a show ever. Seeing Khaotung acting like a 55 yrs old man in a 15 yrs old body while simultaneously fangirling over his idol - EPIC (plus his chemistry with Piploy (she plays Jeya) - the idol he worshipped (who with Paul suddenly finding themselves in their 15 yrs old bodies), his now same aged niece as the latter tries to teach him how to be 15 yrs old effectively - 🫡🫡🫡). I still cried buckets for him (by the end of the show) because what is a KT show without tears 😭 but it was worth it.

(Here, have a fun reel of Paul/Jaya being chaotic lol):

And let’s not forget Tonhon Chonlatee - I know people trashed this show a lot. Yes, it’s not the greatest series. But again, Khaotung nailed it with the comedic scenes. And the way he can say all the cringiest lines with an earnest, cute face just made me snort with laughter, ok? This show also has the best queer friendship group ever. Not to mention - Khaotung and Ciize chemistry as besties. It also has people (who did watch it) worshipping Khaotung/Neo as a ghostship.

I guess what I’m trying to say is - I have the upmost faith in FirstKhaotung and P’Au. FK have never failed us and they always shined in whatever they were given (even when it’s just a cameo/side roles - I’m looking at you Zero!! Home School Season 2 when?) and just looked at them with their cameo in OL recently (as Alone/Kaitong).

I’m not sure why people want doom and gloom so much for them (the real world is already terrible as it is). So, give me all the good vibes, fluffy cats and sweetest romance (with a touch of comedy or more 😉) - I, for one, cannot wait for this! (Ads and blatant sponsors of pet food/toys included 🤣)

[almaasi]

hello tumblr friends, i am alive! and here to rec a game to YOU SPECIFICALLY

(i.e. the people who follow me and have followed me through a series of fandoms over 15-odd years, both for reblogs and my own fanfic content. this is a rec for you, regardless of whether you are a gamer or not.)

it's called BALDUR'S GATE 3

it's a realistically-animated fantasy role playing game. which means you make a character, then play as them as you go on an EXTREMELY EPIC adventure. it's based on dungeons & dragons, so it's like playing d&d but in a movie-esque form. you don't need to know anything before you start. (you do need a PC or console with 8GB of RAM that can run a game.)

you collect friends, who you talk to along the way (the game provides sentences you can click, which sway the story). you get to know them, and help them fulfill their personal destinies. they start as utter disasters, and you gradually find out their damage, then you can assist them or turn them into worse messes, depending on what you choose.

and you fight monsters - either to rescue vulnerable people, or to be evil, again depending on what you want.

if you loved things like supernatural, star trek: deep space nine, or are an enjoyer of something like lord of the rings, you'd love this.

that's true whether you enjoyed the homey, comfy moments, the dark emotional depths, the comedic relief, the silly episodes with goofy characters, or the heart wrenching moral-questioning life-altering storylines.

the music, atmosphere, the depth of the characters?? the found family!!! the FOUND FAMILY!!!

THE F O U N D F A MI L Y

and if you like schmoopy fanfic, this is for you. if you want your lil blorbo to kisskisssnuggle or perhaps bonk the other blorbo, you can do that. if you want to polyamory or threesome about it, for some characters, there are ways.

if you want to live vicariously as a genderswapped wizard version of you, this game is for you. if you want to mix and match gender and body presentations and masc-femme voice and clothing options, you can do that too.

if you want to observe your trauma expressed in a character and try and help them through it, without you needing to find the words to do so, in a way that is not you talking to someone about it directly, this exists as trauma processing on a cracker.

if you are spending your days bedrotting, scrolling on your phone, or watching things end to end and not knowing how to give yourself enrichment without leaving your home or expending precious spoons, this is your answer.

the writing? FANTASTIC

the worldbuilding? FLAWLESS

the characters? i would die for them (and have, repeatedly.)

the women are WRITTEN WELL. their stories have MEANING.

the graphics? beautiful and just real enough that you can exist in the world and become immersed.

you can adopt a dog. and an owlbear. and there are innumerable delightful other animals you can talk to.

i was very surprised by the combat. because listen, i don't like violent things. i shut my eyes when there is bloody violence in a thing i'm watching. however. this is not mindless pewpew violence, this is pause, slow down, think about what you're doing and why combat. for a decent amount of fights, you don't need to kill if you don't want to, you can toggle off lethal attacks. you are fighting for your life sometimes, and to rescue people other times. you can plan ahead. you can do it again if you want to change what you did. you can TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF IT so you don't end up in a fight at all.

the learning curve for the controls and the character-creation options may be steep if you've never gamed or played a RPG before, but i googled some basics and i had it down in a couple of days. the rest i picked up as i went along. i started on the easiest setting (explorer mode) and increased the level as i got the hang of it.

anyway i just love this experience, and if you have ever enjoyed a thing i have also enjoyed, THIS GAME IS FOR YOU. i'm playing by myself, romancing the vampire twink known as astarion, and i'm also playing another game with my sixty-something year old mother, who has never played a game before.

it's expensive. i think it's $60 USD - for me it's $100 NZD at full price, so i put off buying it. i was gifted it by my friends who were playing, because they knew it was worth it. now i've played, i also know it's worth it. the sales on steam bring the price down about 20%. HOWEVER. with the sheer amount of content, depth, and quality, i'm shocked they're not charging double. it's worth saving for. you WILL enjoy it.

if you don't have time, you can split the gameplay up and play it over years like a tv show, if you want to. i'm about 300 hours in and i'm not done yet. (i am doing every single side quest, and i'm in no rush.) and it's also replayable. i went back 80 hours of gameplay to change something. and the catch-up i did after had almost nothing in common with the previous time i did the same section.

if you need any further convincing, here's a clip of my character (starling) talking to astarion, and giving him what is most likely his first hug in 200 years. (cw discussion of sexual trauma)

k that's all.

baldur's. gate. three.

enjoy~

[wheresannie]

Critical Role Campaign 3 ending spoilers

(Sorry this is long - it just came out of me 😅)

After watching the end of Bells Hells, I'm trying hard not to grieve for the lack of Callowmoore we got because although it was crumbs, it was also a mirrored or reflective story.

Fearne's biggest inspiration and mentor has always been Nana Morri, who canonically has had many lovers, is super powerful, and has put her own desires at the forefront of much of what she does.

Fearne has taken many of these traits of Nana's and made them her own, but although shes impulsive and overtly confident externally, she's struggled to put her own desires out there in the world. One of the reasons she left the Fey realm to begin with was to go have adventures and find out who she was without being under Nana's influence, and even with 3 years of episodes, we only found out about some of Fearne's desires in this last episode. But to the point of romance, Nana's biggest love interest that we're aware of, has been and continues to be The Nightmare King, Ira Wendigoth.

Looking at Nana and Ira, they have fought and they have loved. I think at some stage there was betrayal, but even then they fought it out and loved again.

Ira recognises his own power and lives most of his life in mystery (to us viewers anyway), but thrives on chaos and loves that people fear and hate him. Grudges seem to fuel him, and we can often see his thought process in that he's willing to do whatever he can to further his own goals. However, with Nana, he's a lover. Ira brings gifts, apologies, flattery - he's still himself, but the love and respect there is clear despite the on-again/off-again distance.

I think Fearne and Ashton have inadvertently ended up in a similar dynamic. Ashton never had an example of romantic love growing up (to my knowledge), but they fell hard and fast for the hot faun in this new adventuring party. They then had to learn the hard way (as was their right, albeit frustrating), that they were no longer alone. They had friends and love. They didn't have to be in survival mode anymore, and they eventually realised that self-sacrifice is not always the answer to resolving their insecurities. Fearne was a balance to their anger and resentment, and Ashton was a confidence boost, advocating to and for her to stand up for herself and her desires. Their coupled trouble-making antics were so well balanced with their emotional dependence on each other. Through Shardgate, Fearne's acceptance of the shard and them bonding over their shared Titan heritage, their time spent together before and after FCG's death, Sorrowlord Zathuda's demise, and then adopting and releasing Gloamglut together... As an audience and shipper, I was really hoping they'd be more enthusiastic about staying together, even if that meant in a more open-minded way than Imodna and Dorym's endings.

But Ashton loves Fearne and understands her in a way no one else does. He will be the Ira to her Morrigan, and while no doubt they will adventure together again (finding Chet's eggs or discovering more about their Titan powers hopefully), he will carve his chaos in one way and she will pluck her discord in another. He will visit her, advocate for her wants, wait for her thoughtfulness to prevail (which I think it would), and she will follow his fate with Nana, find him on his travels, rock his world and then leave him yearning again.

Fearne also loves Ashton and has always worried about his well-being in her own way. She understands him as a fellow outsider and weirdo, and allows him to be the fuck up that he is without judgement. She was always by his side to support him emotionally or to steal from him physically, so I can only imagine how she would fuck with his fate thread for love and kicks. Away from her, Ashton might realise mid bar fight that his shots weren't hitting as well as they should and laugh as he cursed her out, but then his next punches would hit harder, faster and deadlier.

They are both unique creatures, who theoretically could live extra long lives (as again, who knows what titan shit, dunamancy, and fey lineage amount to), so when Talesin said Ashton would just disappear one day it's not hard to imagine that he disappears to the fey realm with Fearne, and they both return to the earth and flame to meet their peace. They're a mirror of Nana and Ira, but hopefully more open, more loving, and sans gods more chaotic. I hope this isn't the last we hear of them, but what a ride it has been. ❤️