#but right now. right now i'm thinking yeah. maybe there is a market for straight proofreading of scientific manuscripts

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

The Truth of the Matter

A four part miniseries

@wonderland-girl143-blog @gregre369 @420-hun

Part One

Part Two

Robin poured over the book that Eddie had bought at the Flea Market. She was reading it rather intensely. She looked up at Eddie.

"You said you bought this at a Flea Market?" Robin asked.

"Actually, it was free. There was this woman selling only this. I thought it was strange, especially when she wouldn't sell it until I came up. She said, "This is for you," and gave it to me," Eddie said. "I tried going back the next weekend, but she was gone, and no one ever heard of her."

"That is. . .odd," Dustin said.

"Well, everything else is in English, but the spells are in Latin," Robin said.

"No, they were all in English. I read English," Eddie said.

"Uh, Eddie, you weren't speaking in English when you said the spell," Lucas said.

"I wasn't?" He asked.

"No," Dustin, Mike, and Lucas said.

"Why are you still glaring at me, Michael?" Robin asked. "I almost punched you, but I didn't. . . Anyway, it says here that only people with Wiccan blood can automatically translate the spells in their head and perform them."

"Wait, does this mean that I'm a witch?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah."

"Holy shit! This is the COOOLEST!" Eddie yelled.

"Hey, maybe you can use your powers to help Steve find his parents," Dustin said.

"Oh, shit, that's right. . .Harrington was kidnapped," Eddie winced and whirled around. "Sorry, man."

Steve had plopped down on Eddie's throne and leaned back against it as he crossed his legs. He was staring straight ahead, looking at nothing. Eddie tried to ignore how good he looked in that chair and also the fact that he wanted to untangle his legs to sit down in his lap. His face looked troubled, so Eddie easily pushed those thoughts away.

"You okay, man?" Eddie asked.

"Steve?" Robin asked.

"Shit! Robin, who's at the store?!" Steve asked, sitting up.

"I closed the store and hitched a ride with a customer. Keith is going to be pissed but I thought you were being murdered," Robin said. "Anyway, more important things to focus on here, babe. Are you okay?"

"Well, my parents aren't my parents, which I kind of always thought, but I didn't think they kidnapped me. Do you think they might have killed my real parents?" Steve asked.

"I don't know, but we're going to fucking find out because you look like a goddamn kicked puppy and the way you're inflating your eyes like that is killing me," Eddie said as he ripped the book out of Robin's hands.

"We're just going to ignore a lot of the secrets that Steve spilled, right?" Dustin asked.

"Even the sex dream about - " Lucas started to say.

"Yes, because that's my fucking sister and Will's brother!" Mike exclaimed.

"Ah, the sex dream. Did you mention the clown sitting in the corner watching while it made balloon animals?" Robin asked.

"No!" Steve scowled. "Fucking clowns."

"Did you really touch Steve’s dick?" Dustin asked Robin.

"Yes, and my lesbianism is still very much intact," Robin said. "Thank God."

"I thought we weren't going to talk about this!" Mike yelled.

"Mike's such a prude. He's afraid to talk about sex even though we're all sentient walking water bags made of sex and flesh," Dustin said.

"Okay. Now, you just made me uncomfortable. Never describe it like that again," Eddie said.

Dustin gave him a toothy grin, and he smiled softly before looking back at the book.

"What are we going to do if my parents are like dead or on the other side of the world?" Steve asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, Steve," Dustin said.

"You want to know, don't you?" Robin asked.

"Yeah. . .yeah, I guess," Steve said softly. "I guess it's the feeling that I don't know what to expect here that's overwhelming me. I'm trying not to get my hopes up for really good parents."

"That makes sense," Robin said softly. "I'm sure it'll work out."

"I can't believe Eddie's allowing you to sit in his chair," Mike said. "No one sits there except for him."

"It's cause he's pretty," Eddie said without looking up, and Steve giggled. "Hey, I found it! Steve, get your gorgeous ass in the circle and take off your shirt. Oh, you also need a blank piece of paper."

"Does it really need me to take off my shirt?" Steve asked.

"Yes it does," Eddie said seriously.

Dustin looked over his shoulder, frowned, and opened his mouth to say something. Eddie quickly put his arm around him and pulled his face to his chest, cooing at him. Steve looked doubtfully at him for a moment before getting up off the chair and pulling off his shirt. Dustin shoved Eddie away, scowling at him. Eddie grinned at Steve as he moved back into the circle with a sheet of paper. Eddie relit the candles and got the others to stand around Steve.

"Am I good?" Steve asked.

"Hold on, you need to be a little bit more even," Eddie frowned.

He placed his hands on Steve’s hips and moved him slightly.

"I think you're just finding any excuse to touch me," Steve smirked.

"Who? Me?" Eddie asked innocently.

"If I look in the book, it's not going to say I need to be shirtless, is it?" He asked.

Eddie smirked and moved his hands to Steve’s stomach. He dragged his fingertips up, moving softly over his skin. Steve shuddered. He rested his hands on his pecs for a moment before moving them to his shoulders.

"On your knees, big boy," Eddie said as he pushed him to his knees.

"I just want to remind you that there are children in the room, and one of them is me!" Robin yelled and Eddie jumped.

"What were we doing?" He asked as he blinked a lot.

"Oh my God! Finding Steve’s parents!" Dustin shrieked. "Have your way with our babysitter later!"

"You act like it's my fault!" Eddie exclaimed. "Tell Steve to stop being so pretty!"

"Steve! Stop it!"

"I can't help it! It just naturally happens," Steve smirked.

"Well, since you're not human, I guess you could say it's SUPERnatural," Robin said.

Robin and Steve giggled before high fiving each other. Dustin sighed.

"Steve, do you want to find your parents or not?" Dustin asked.

"Not if you're going to have that attitude," Steve scowled.

"It's his tone, right?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, let's get this done before our kid has a conniption," Steve said.

"He's really eager to meet his grandparents," Eddie cackled.

"Oh, now, you're in on the joke?" Dustin asked as Mike and Lucas laughed.

"Yeah," Steve and Eddie said.

Eddie opened the book and began to chant. The lights flickered, and the flames from the candles shot up in the air. Wind whipped around the room as Eddie continued to say the spell. Steve twitched and then shook before falling backward. He started shrieking in pain as the paper fell from his hands.

"Eddie! Stop! Stop! STOP! SOMETHING'S WRONG!" Lucas yelled.

Eddie stopped the chant, and as soon as he did, Steve stopped screaming.

"My back, my back. . .something's on my back," Steve said.

Eddie shut the book and rushed so quickly to get to him that he ended up sliding across the floor on his knees. He turned Steve over to find a painful looking rune flaring up in the middle of his back.

"What the fuck is that?" Mike asked.

Eddie opened the book and began flipping through the pages, cursing as he did so. Meanwhile, he had Steve’s head in his lap, blinking up at him.

"Okay, it says here that it's some sort of rune of protection. . . Against fae. . .you know, fairies. . .a witch placed it on you," Eddie said. "Well, that's fucked. . . No wonder your parents couldn't find you. . .well, let's see if we can't get this fucker off of you. . . Shit, I hope I can do this. . .it says I need to be related to the witch who placed the rune on you."

Eddie took one hand off the book and began stroking Steve’s hair. He muttered something, and the page turned. He did that quite a few times as he read.

"Eddie, what did you say to the book?" Mike asked.

"Oh, I said,"Turn the page." I guess I was speaking in Latin again," Eddie said.

"That's so cool," Dustin muttered.

"Okay. . .getting this rune off is going to hurt a lot. . .do you want to do this?" Eddie asked Steve.

"I'm used to a little pain. Bring it," Steve said.

"Okay, sit up," Eddie said and pulled a knife out of his pocket.

Steve sat up, putting himself on his knees again. Eddie sat behind him and muttered something else. The spellbook floated in front of him, and he opened the knife. Eddie sighed and hesitated before placing a kiss on Steve’s shoulders blade.

"Is that part of the spell?" Steve asked.

"No, it's just going to fucking hurt a lot. It's basically me cutting it out. . .so, yeah. . .sorry, so, so, so sorry," Eddie said.

He muttered another spell as he looked at the book and held the knife over a flame, letting it get hot. He chanted for a moment, and the flames flared up around the blade. Eddie hovered the blade above the rune and started to say the spell as he moved the knife as though he was actually cutting it off. Steve let out an inhuman shriek, his yells bouncing off the walls. The wind picked up, the flames grew higher, and the lights above them exploded as Eddie continued to chant. Tears rolled down Steve’s cheek as he threw his head back. Finally, Eddie stopped, and Steve collapsed in relief.

"Shit, that did hurt," Steve said, and he paused when he didn't get a response. "Eddie?"

Steve turned around and found Eddie still sitting on his knees. Blood was pouring out of his nose. He swayed and fell backward. Steve moved over to him and cradled him in his arms.

"Eddie?" He asked.

"There was a suggestion in the book to not overdo it. I was just like. . .fuck it, I can do it. I'm fine, I'm fine. . .I just need someone's lips on mine," Eddie said and closed his eyes, puckering his lips.

"Alright, I'll just go find Principal Higgins, shall I?" Dustin asked, peering over Steve’s shoulder.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Eddie sat up quickly. "Oh, too fast! Sleepy. . ."

He pressed his cheek against Steve’s chest and closed his eyes again. His snores filled the room.

"I guess we'll take him back to my place," Steve said and picked him up.

Robin pulled out a tissue and wiped Eddie's nose.

"Hey, Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"Your tits are still out, you slut."

"Right. Thanks, Robin."

When Eddie woke up, he found himself in a very ugly room. Plaid walls, plaid curtains, plaid sheets. . .Eddie screamed. He screamed louder at the single car poster hanging on the wall. . .it was all so sad. Steve burst into the room, wielding a bat with nails.

"Steve, where the hell am I?" Eddie asked.

"My house and my room," Steve said.

"Oh my God, this is your room? This is hell, Steve," Eddie said in horror.

"Well, my parents like everything neat," Steve said.

"You mean, your kidnappers," Eddie corrected.

"Right," Steve frowned. "Come on, let's get something in you."

"Hell yeah!" Eddie exclaimed and started unbuttoning his pants.

"What are you doing? I was talking about food. There's pizza downstairs," Steve said.

"Yeah, that's what I was talking about," Eddie said quickly. "I was just unbuttoning them to make room for the pizza."

"Right," Steve smirked. "As much as I would love to do that with you, some secrets should remain secret. I do not want the kids to know that I'm a screamer. Let's go, sweet cheeks."

Steve slapped his ass and Eddie cursed.

"I hate you!"

"No, you don't!"

Dustin immediately threw his arms around Eddie the minute he walked into the kitchen. Steve smiled softly at the sight of them and ruffled his hair.

"You scared the shit out of us, man," Dustin said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just needed some rest," Eddie grinned. "What time is it?"

"Almost midnight. Are you going to do the location spell again?" Mike asked.

"He just woke up, Mike. Let's get some food in him first," Steve sighed.

"After I eat," Eddie said, snapping his fingers at him.

Sitting down to eat, Eddie spent the majority of the meal laughing with the kids and playing with what he thought was Steve’s leg under the table. It had been Robin's.

"You could have told me!" Eddie hissed.

"Then it wouldn't have been funny," Robin replied.

They gathered in the living room and pushed the furniture out of the way to create the circle. Eddie knelt in front of Steve this time, the book floating beside them, and the piece of paper on the floor.

"You don't have to do this, you know," Steve said.

"I kind of do. . .I judged you harshly before. . .because you're a jock and because of the assholes who's bothered us in the past. I used to think that since you had a big house and a fancy car that you had it easy. I used to mock you mercilessly in Hellfire, and that wasn't right of me to do that," Eddie said. "Not all jocks are bad."

"Well, no one is perfect," Steve said. "This is a lot even for all of that. Thank you, you're a good man."

"I mean, so are you," Eddie said, blushing. "I'm still an asshole though."

"Yeah, that's true," Steve said with a grin.

Steve cupped the back of his neck and pulled him for a kiss. It was short and sweet. When Steve pulled away, Eddie let out a soft giggle.

"I am loving this," Dustin grinned and then frowned. "But also, gross."

"Yeah, kids never like it when their parents kiss," Robin said, and Dustin sighed loudly.

Grinning, Eddie performed the spells without any problems. Words appeared on the paper. One of them was an address in Indianapolis, and one of them was a plot number for the cemetery in Hawkins.

"Well, shit, I guess one of my parents is dead," Steve frowned.

"Sorry, Steve," Dustin said quietly.

"We don't have to do it tonight, but we can check out the cemetery whenever you want to," Robin said.

"I'm curious now, and at least, I'll get one answer tonight," Steve said. "Although, going at night seems like a bad idea."

"Don't be a chicken shit, Steve, let's do it," Dustin grinned.

So, now, here they were. . .at night. . .in a fucking graveyard. They had flashlights, and Steve made sure to bring his trusty bat. Meanwhile, Robin made sure to bring a thermos full of hot cocoa that she was currently sharing with the boys in front of them. Eddie was walking beside Steve, swinging his arms and letting his hand brush up against Steve’s.

"So, was that kiss just a one-time thing, or are you planning on doing it again?" Eddie asked.

"I definitely want to do it again. . . Would that be okay?" Steve asked.

"Definitely," Eddie grinned and then paused. "You said back in the drama room that you'd always be in love with Nancy Wheeler."

"Well, yeah, a part of me, anyways. There's just so much history there, and she's just so. . . Nancy. She's beautiful, and she cares so much about people. She's willing to put it all on the line for her friends and for her family. She's the bravest person that I have ever met. I don't regret falling in love with her. . . But I regret that I didn't get to know her best friend and I wish I could have been there for her when she needed me the most. I know what happened to Barb wasn't our fault, but I still can't help feeling guilty. I think there's always going to be that connection between us," Steve said.

"I know that Barb died, and she was Wheeler's best friend, but isn't it that Brenner's guys fault? The one Dustin told me about?" Eddie asked. "Why would you feel guilty?"

"Well, it was the first time that Nancy and I had sex together. While that was going on in my house, Barb was being dragged into the Upside Down and . . . Well, you know. . ." Steve said.

"Holy fucking shit. . .yeah, I could see how that could mess you both up," Eddie said.

"Yeah. . .it's pathetic, I know. . ." Steve said.

"No, man, it's not. You're not pining after her, you love her, and you accept the fact that you're not going to be together. I can see why either of you would want to hold onto the good parts of your relationship. You all have been through so much shit and if you guys can come through it all while still having love in your hearts. . . It's amazing," Eddie said.

"Yeah," Steve smiled and paused. "Have you ever been in love?"

"I've come close. I think at the time, we both had stars in our eyes, and all we saw when we looked at each other were plane tickets out of town. In the end, I couldn't leave town, but she could have, and after everything she did for me, I couldn't go with her. I wish I had done it better, but yeah, I pushed her away so she wouldn't come back," Eddie said.

"Damn, you white fanged her?" Steve asked.

"I mean, I guess you could call it that," Eddie said. "You know White Fang?"

"Yeah, it's not my favorite," he said and paused. "I wish things had gone better with. . ."

"Paige," Eddie said.

"Paige," Steve said.

"I wish things had gone better with Nancy," Eddie replied.

"Yeah," he said softly.

"You like women, too?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "It took me a while to realize that I liked men at all or that I was even flirting with them. According to my best friend, Ronnie, it's not exactly very straight of me to go on rants about jocks' sweaty muscles."

"Was I in one of those rants?" Steve asked as he stopped and turned to Eddie.

He pulled Eddie into his arms, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"You were very prominent," Eddie said bashfully.

"Maybe you didn't hate me at all," Steve said, his eyes twinkling. "Maybe you just had a type."

Eddie kissed him, and Steve smiled against his lips. Eddie wrapped his arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss, moaning into his mouth.

"REALLY ROMANTIC, STEVE, MAKING OUT IN A GRAVEYARD!" Dustin yelled. "YOU'RE KISSING OVER DEAD PEOPLE!"

Eddie growled as he broke the kiss and Steve bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"NO ONE IS SUPPOSE TO KNOW WE'RE HERE BUT IF YOU KEEP YELLING LIKE THAT THEY'RE GOING TO. . .BUTTHEAD!" Eddie yelled back at him.

"FOUND IT!" Lucas yelled.

"I don't think they understand the word subtle," Steve sighed. "Although, neither do you, so they're definitely yours."

"Were there doubts?" Eddie asked with a dramatic gasp.

Steve smiled softly at him, grabbed his hand, and laced their fingers together before pulling him in the direction of the kids. When they got to them, Robin and the kids were whispering together.

"There's no fucking way!" Mike exclaimed. "He never had kids!"

"That you know of. I imagine that it was probably painful to talk about your son getting kidnapped and being unable to find him in your own hometown," Dustin said.

"What? What is it?" Steve asked.

"Are we even sure it's the right plot?" Mike asked.

"Yes!" Dustin and Lucas exclaimed.

Steve moved towards the gravestone and shined his flashlight on it.

BOB NEWBY

SUPERHERO

Part Three

[blue-hi]

i’m gonna get into this because i’m bored and want something to do. i’m not gonna post the paper because i feel a little mean and petty and spreading those vibes far and wide is not what i wanna do right now, just blowing off some steam. that being said if you wanna know the paper lmk. under a cut because i imagine it could get long and maybe also unhinged. also i have no plan this is just off the cuff

background: i’m a postbacc with the neuroscience lab i joined my senior year of university, we study the neural mechanisms of different eye movements. i’m about to start a master’s program in science and technical professional writing so i’m the resident english major. this paper is about attention and how it (allegedly) explores space rhythmically

0.5: “saccade” (type of eye movement) is in the title but i don’t remember ever seeing it in the paper. the task includes a saccade from a cue to a target but really that’s about it 1: you know what a garden path sentence is, right? go look it up if you don’t. the first sentence of the abstract is one. off to a great start. there are several sentences of the abstract i understand all the words in, but not in that order. there are only three (3) sentences of the abstract i have no problem with, out of i think nine (9). incredible ratio 2: i can’t really speak on the quality of the science, for a few reasons– i’m a baby neuroscientist so sometimes (many times) rationale for experiment design just goes over my head. that’s ok. the main reason i can’t speak to how well the Did A Science is because i can’t understand the paper. like the language. oftentimes in lab meeting this morning we had a question and we just didn’t know the answer because the paper was being vague for some reason 2.5: one of the grad students is our resident expert in data collection and analysis, and at one point she got up and explained how she would expect a certain analysis to be done versus how it appears the paper did the analysis. i didn’t really understand it that much but regardless i do understand that it was strange. and again we don’t know why they did it. because they didn’t tell us. 2.75: many things go unexplained, like acronyms that just appear. is it common knowledge that “MUA” stands for multi-unit activity? maybe, i don’t know. i do know that it wasn’t defined in the text body, but it was in the materials & methods section, at the end of the paper which i didn’t get to because honestly i just was not having a great time. and we’ll get into that. we’re not even there yet. one of the reviewers said something along the same lines. oh, we’ll come back to the peer reviewers. 3: THE FIGURES. THE PROOFREADING ON THE FIGURES IS TERRIBLE. GUYS IT’S SO BAD. there are 10 figures in this paper. i didn’t get past 4. there are problems wrt 3 out of these 4 figures. this is the main thing that’s fucking me up. there may be some numbers after this one but this is the big one. this is why i’ve been thinking about this all day. Figure 2– besides being utterly incomprehensible for most people in the lab, nothing wrong with the figure itself. however. at one point, the text references a certain time range and then directs me, the reader, to reference Fig. 2a, insert. so i look at Fig. 2a, insert. and i notice that in the caption for Fig. 2a, insert, the time period references does not match the time range stated in the text. it turns out. the text was referencing FIGURE 2B. i’ having a great time here guys Figure 3– there are four sub-figures to Figure 3: Fig. 3a, Fig. 3b, Fig. 3b, and Fig. 3c. I’m not wrong there i swear to god that’s what it says. there are two Fig. 3b.s. but not in the caption. the caption has the correct Fig. 3a/b/c/d. the text never references Fig. 3d, which is just as well since it doesn’t exist apparently. maybe. the caption and the figure itself disagree. the text does reference Fig. 3b. i don’t know which one it’s referring to. i don’t think it does either. this is ridiculous Figure 4– mostly fine except for Fig. 4e. the caption says it shows the “percentage of hits,” ie. the number of times the monkey did the task right. this is fine. what isn’t is that the y-axis on the figure itself says FAs (%), or percentage of false alarms, which. which isn’t the same thing. it’s wrong. false alarms are shown in Fig. 7e, by the way. this is when i tapped out. my notes on this figure are hysteric. how did this get published. how did no one notice. this got published in Nature. 4: none of the peer reviewers noticed. the peer review notes are public and available and i read through their comments. nothing on these figures. wtf. when the authors respond, all three reviewers say that their concerns have been satisfactorily answered (fascinating, as some of the questions they had initially we also had, after publication. i’ll have to look back to see how these questions were answered but still. we had the same questions.), and said it was a fantastic manuscript and they wholeheartedly all recommended it for publication. MY BROTHER IN CHRIST THERE IS NO FIGURE 3D HOW ON EARTH DID YOU NOT NOTICE. 4.5: is that it. i’m done

in my hater era. currently trying to figure out how a paper that my lab's postdoc said was in his "top ten or five worst papers [he's] ever read" (which means a lot, coming from him) ended up getting published in nature communications, of all places

[class1akids]

do you think in the end bkdk is romantically implied?

I'll answer these together:

I think that the Final Chapter was very carefully curated to ensure that all the significant shipping communities in the fandom get something, but everything can be interpreted in whichever way you want. The scenes are all pretty neutral on purpose (the purpose being is to keep the ship-centric fans hooked as they are the biggest spenders on the franchise especially once the manga/anime ends. They become the heart of future sales).

So there are bones/crumbs for almost every single shipping group that they can dress up and fill with romanticism but all of them are also just things that you can interpret as totally nothing romantic:

Eri & Kota - I feel like they are trying to appeal to the Damian x Anya kind of shippers since their handhold (cute kids - make up your own story of orphans -> childhood friends -> classmates)

Erasermic - popular ship - (perfectly angsty set-up to murder husbands getting a repeat of mourning Shirakumo's death)

Endhawks - Enji's final scene in the franchise is not with family, but with Hawks (Look at Hawks still hanging out with Enji. Rei is there if you don't like this ship.)

Spinnaraki - Spinner wrote his book! Look, wonder what's in it? (-> write your own SoL of the LoV with any ship combination that floats your boat)

Kiribaku (and Bakusquad crumbs, but Deku is also there now -> write your on fic of best bros supporting Katsuki's recovery. Any ship conbination is fine).

Izuocha (-> date? Could be. Or not. You choose).

This scene works for Togachako, Tsuchako, Iidachako, MomoIida and Izuocha shippers equally (as Ochako's mask is somewhere between Iida's and Deku's)

Todobaku confirmed chasing each other in the rankings for a decade is a beloved trope. But Deku talking fondly both about Bakugou and Todoroki can please the Bakudeku and Tododeku shippers or even the tdbkdk enthusiasts. (-> write your own fic of Deku wistfully watching his besties rise in the ranks thinking they are too busy to hang out with him while they are busting their asses off to buy him an ironman suit. Also do you think TDBK shacked up together to save on rent? Why not? And then they were ROOMMATES!!! Do they help out at Midoriya sensei's combat classes while having a crush on the cute teacher? Hell yeah! )

Bakudeku - a generous gift from Bakugou = a generous gift to the biggest shipping community. It fits all Cinderella / Forever and ever / Sugar-daddy fantasies, depending on where your romanticism lies, but it's carefully curated to fit into the platonic Dadmight + Bakugou & Deku canon storyline, it works with Bakugou's atonement / redemption and his angsty question of "what did I do to you?" in the hospital. (Did he do it as a final step to set things right for the bullying or did he do it because he can't live without Deku by his side? As a friend or a lover? Does Deku take his hand? Are they hero partners? Just the two of them or a bigger agency? - this is all up to you!)

But it's also developed by Hatsume and Melissa (if you like straight ships) and in fact a joint contribution by Class A - (So yeah - let your imagination run wild. I did. )

Ghost Tenko!!! - this is not as popular as TogaChako because of the age gap - but look!!! now they are both adults! They could be a ship if you wanted them to be?

Final panel - the big dilemma of where to place Deku?

BKDK? - maybe it would be too much and alienate other ships.

Ochako? - no, can't risk losing the bkdk crowd. (But she can look at him)

I know! TDDK - they are still a pretty popular big ship but also just sweet friends. Very inoffensive. Chill. Both Bkdks and Izuochas can breathe a sigh of relief and TDDKs can get a nice little crumb.

(Hey, why not also make this a Kacchako crumb and MomoJirou crumb and ....look it's Class A - we all love them!!!!)

Anyways, maybe I'm too cynical, but it seems to me that this ending was carefully curated by the marketing team to ensure that there is one resounding message here:

Dear Fans! The manga ended, but the franchise lives on. Whatever your ship is, please keep buying merch!!!!

[alacants]

Okay feel free to leave this in the depths of your ask box haha but I had to get it out. I don't think Sincaraz have a compelling dynamic at all? IDK the whole "Fedal 2.0" thing just feels manufactured a bit by ATP marketing. I simply feel there is a lack of matching each other's freak therefore I am obviously going to dump some rarepair discourse in your inbox sorry

Jannik seems like someone who's only really comfortable with the few people he's really close to & so in Fic Land I think that translates most compellingly to a friends to lovers thing with Matteo or Jack. Alternatively I think Janholger enemies to lovers is so fun. Angst/sexual tension of your rightful "destiny" on tour being "stolen" etc etc. Great hate sex potential.

I know Carlos pining over Jannik is a popular take but to be honest I think Carlos acts around Jannik the same way he acts around every man he meets (cuddly golden retriever) & people only notice it with Jannik because they're direct rivals. I honestly think the most fun Carlos ships are the more unexplored ones. Carlos & Grigor could be good (how are there no fics for them yet?). Or Ben? They vibe on the same silly level

dying, poor anon, based on the back-to-back asks you've been holding this in for a while, huh. re: your first ask, this is a safe space in the sense that i'm not going to respond with "but ACTUALLY it's REAL." at the same time you did just come to a known yapper with a prompt that is implicitly about metanarratives in sports fandoms.

because, i mean, that's the thing. this is a sports fandom. full of sports fans. the narratives on the court aren't just a vehicle for the personalities off the court—they're why we're here. and love it or hate it sincaraz is one of THE narratives. partly because, yeah, tennisworld is desperate for the next fedal.¹ but also partly because they play insane and unbelievable tennis against each other. we are always talking about miami and indian wells because no matter how many times you watch those points they never get more normal. 

like, the "carlos pining" take—you're coming at it from the perspective of how they interact backstage, so to speak. others are coming at it from the perspective of carlos talking up jannik as his biggest rival for two straight years, when he was the youngest no. 1 in history and jannik was Just Some Guy. "because they're direct rivals" IS the answer. (i know it wasn't actually a question.)

this is obviously not everyone's reason for shipping it or the only reason they ship it.² (and beloved mutuals please do NOT start an indirect back-and-forth through my inbox of "but actually carlos DOES treat jannik differently here's 39841038490 specific pieces of evidence" because i have a real job to do today.) just, it's not incidental to the appeal. it is the appeal.

just cut a gazillion words about early fedal and the future of tennis. ok your real message here is that the things you find most compelling have been underaddressed by fandom. this is fair. as someone who enjoys several ships that have nothing to do with rivalry or metanarratives and everything to do with They Just Really Like Each Other, i get where you're coming from. honest. i think with jannik/matteo in particularly you're looking at a promising future, like, we're in a shipping boom right now! whether that will translate to fic is an open question. (i feel like the jannik/jack miniboom didn't result in that much fic but i also didn't go looking because i am not compelled by jack draper. sorry beloved mutuals.) i believe in the power of matteo's face to deliver but i think maybe promptfest could be an early bellwether—there were quite a few jannik/matteo prompts.

(i'll also take this opportunity to note that i doooo hope that promptfest will produce some rarepair fills and prompt amnesty is ongoing. once again please don't flood the form with 20 prompts but if you want to drop one or two for a ship you can't believe is missing from the table…)

size is a challenge here. if the current iteration of tennis fandom were bigger sincaraz would still be the main course but at least you'd have other things to eat as well. rarepair would mean "ugh there's only a dozen fics in the tag" instead of "ugh there are zero fics in the tag." however that is somewhat out of our hands.

so the real, actual solution is… be the change you wish to see. this is not a very satisfying answer. believe me. beLIEVE me. i understand. but after MONTHS OF LABOR³ i'm starting to see the fruits of my rareishpair efforts and i believe you can too. take your character insights and flesh them out a bit, string a couple anecdotes into a narrative (optional), add some illustrative visuals, boom. mayafritzes' janholger post totally sold me and i think a lot of other people! (would loooove to read jannik/holger/invisible presence of carlos alcaraz fic.) of the ships you mention i would particularly enjoy seeing you or someone else do this for ben/carlos. :D if you can seed the ground with a fic that also helps. 

sorryyyyy i realize you're just venting and not asking for either deep analysis or action items. this is the risk of coming to my askbox though. 😔 best of luck finding food that is better suited to your palate, i hope you don't have to cook it ALL for yourself. :(

--

¹ this is a strategy that is destined to fail btw. which makes it especially appealing (meta)narratively. they built a statue of us / and they put it on a mountaintop…

² re: jannik: i am actually totally on the same page with you in that i think he VERY much wouldn't be comfortable around carlos. the difference is that i think that just makes the fic potential more interesting. SORRYYYYYYYY.

³ obviously this is exaggeration for comedic effect… to a point. people here were shipping it already and it's the fact that i did see a brief discussion in the ferru tag that finally pushed me get on tumblr instead of just pour all my thoughts directly into bff texts. but the discussion had yet to produce fic. so, rolls up sleeves. hasn't escaped me that fic #5 is yet to appear tho.

[sgiandubh]

And kia... ora (?!) to New Zealand, like you've never seen it before 🤭

Just listened to Monica Gleberman's latest podcast with S. Twice. I can only urge you to do the same: it's 19 minutes long and well.. I'd just love to read your thoughts on it. By the way, I had no idea the woman even existed (happens a lot in SC world, at least to me) before she chimed in with indignation, you know... the Palestine Letter, and such.

But first, my short assessment, of course. By the way, this was recorded, I think, on November 1st, based on this X post:

Showbiz being showbiz, all grudge is now forgotten and you can listen to the podcast on Spotify, here (no subscription needed, of course):

OK, I honestly think her voice and her completely clueless, torrential debit are totally meh, but maybe that's just me. She made me think of one of those Tupperware representatives, always eager (hungry?) to sell something to you and do it quick, drug-dealer style. Some in Mordor thought she was drunk on the job (a half-emptied bottle of SS Gin was emphatically mentioned at least twice during the interview) - as usually, no humor and nasty.

I just think she was just acting too cool for school and #silly, with a severe case of ovaries going...

... on top.

Straight off the bat, the OTT praise is on steroids: how amazing S is, how he never changed, 'same sweetest person and like an amazing human being and friend to talk to and I just love you'. Kill me now, but that was unnecessary - yet still useful, since it prompted this answer (02:54):

'Well, that's very kind of you to say, but I think that's not true...I think there's...there's a lot of smoke and mirrors, this is ALL fake, um...underneath, there's a completely different human being. I have a double, actually. I AM the double. Um.. no, it's been a great journey, I'm very lucky and yeah, it's [OL] given me a lot of opportunities, as well (...).'

Translation: I am joking, but not even joking, if you see what I mean.

You'd think that was casual banter? You might want to think twice. Like all Taureans, bless their heart, S always almost heavily insists, when he wants to make sure the message gets across (07:12):

MG: ' Soooo, I don't know what's true, what's not true, but I'm just gonna assume that, you know, you looove watercolor. So, what is your favorite watercolor painting to make?'

Huh? Did I get that right? The answer does not match the clumsy question. At all. But see/hear for yourself:

S:' Err, you know what, I mean, I actually do, I actually have a couple paintings.. um.. from a..an artist called James Morrison, he was a Scottish artist.. he.. he actually painted a lot around Scotland, but he also painted up in the Arctic... the Arctic Circle... I'm kind of obsessed with him, so yes, this actually,,, this is truth...damn, I didn't know you'd actually put truths in here, but, you know...'

MG: ' OK, so we're already breaking barriers, right? Like revealing secrets so that is... that is... true.'

I shall not comment this. I do not think it needs any translation, to be honest.

The 'illiterate' S is, apparently, a keen art connoisseur and how could it be otherwise, if you only think of his mum? And Morrison is not just your average Scottish watercolorist. If you care to check his Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Morrison_(artist), you'll find interesting things, like:

His works can fetch at auction (here at Christie's in 2006), around...

... and the recent (conservative) estimates are stable. You can check them here: https://www.invaluable.com/artist/morrison-james-1932-9fybkaiqbc/sold-at-auction-prices/. A very good investment, on a volatile, whimsical market (I know very well what I am talking about).

Surely enough, some of you will just hear that horrendous cackle and the flirt fest that totally goes south by the end of the podcast. But maybe - just maybe - if you listen a bit more carefully, you'd have a rare peek behind that damn mask.

[mrs-gauche]

Vows & Vengeance Episode 1

ALRIGHT GUYS! As always, I'm super late to the party (although for once, I actually have a good reason, which is that I'm currently kinda in the middle of renovating my place lol), and while I first listened to the episode on Thursday, I just wanted to let it sink in a bit and listen to it again a few times, to really appreciate all the details. :D So here are a trillion few notes on the first episode (spoiler, I loved it! <3333) and I hope this doesn't sound too jumbled, I haven't had a lot of sleep lately. 😂😂💀💀

- Ok, so my first reaction to the ending was basically: "OH MY GOD NOTHING CAN EVER GO RIGHT", "DAMN THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY" and sobbing for Elio, I guess. lol

- My general thoughts: I loved it!! ❤️❤️❤️ I felt like it was gripping and immersive from the beginning, but also genuinely funny and moving at times! I think this first episode did a good job of setting up the plot, the pacing was good and I'm already invested in the new characters! The sound design and voice acting was top notch (albeit maybe a bit over the top and a little cheesy in a couple of scenes lol) and I absolutely LOVED the little nuggets of the Veilguard soundtrack we got throughout (Zimmer and Balfe confirmed!!). There are a few tiny nitpicks, but overall this was fantastic and correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never heard of a game being marketed with an audio drama before? 😂 But looking at Dragon Age's amazing voice cast (and the fact that they all made us develop a voice kink lmao), this makes so much sense and I need like a hundred more of these in the future. lol

Notes on the episode itself:

- The narrator reminds me so much of the ones in these old anime dubs. I was expecting him to be like "LAST TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z". He got lost in the wrong dragon franchise. lol Really cool voice though!

- I LOOVE how it starts off with a minute of just the ambient sounds, chatters and music of the tavern, to really get that immersion, as if you just walked into this place yourself. - That new rendition of "Oh Grey Warden" hit me in the feels ngl.. ;-;

- Nadia just walking it and poisoning Olen to get answers was such a badass introduction to our main character! - I like how the narrative is neatly tied together by making this a retelling of what happened, starting off with loads of questions and by the end we're back in the present again.

- Nadia and Elio are so sweet nawww <3333 - Those sounds of Elio waking Nadia up were straight up ASMR. lol - The tune that's playing in the back here is sooo nice, I wonder if it's part of the new Love theme or something. 🥹❤️

- A sort of forbidden love between Liberati and Altus, oh this better end f*cking well!! 💀💀💀 - Well, that birthday got cancelled REAL fast. lol - I get Nadia's outbreak, but DAMN, she went OFF on him from like 0 to 100 in a heartbeat. lmao I guess something was bottling up for quite some time. - "I'm sorry" Oh no. I notice a certain pattern. *sob* - Again, that track that's playing here, wooow. Goosebumps! It's a super tragic rendition of the main theme. I just know this one's gonna hit so hard whenever that plays in Veilguard. 😭

- I wonder if the docks here are the same we've seen in screenshots. :3 - The soundtrack that's playing here reminds me SO MUCH of Unravel (one of my favorite tracks in recent years! <3333) - I like Nadia and Vik's dynamic. Super authentic. :D

- Nadia's reaction to the gold and then "TRIPLE the bag for delivery??" Yeah, Solas truly is the richest apostate hobo in all of Thedas. Those vaults from Trespasser come in handy now. Good thing the currency of old Elvhenan is apparently still valid. lol - Solas' quest of collecting every ancient powerful artifact continues. - Isn't this like the second time now that Solas indirectly hired someone to break into the Archives? lol They really need to improve that security. (Watch there being a quest in Veilguard where you have to break in there again, but it's impossible due to the amounts of guards now and Solas is like "Yeah, that might be my fault, sorry." lol)

- Super random thought, but judging by the sound design, there's gotta be lots of chickens running around in the streets of Minrathous. lol - NEVE!! <3333 (I'm sorry to anyone who had the wildest conspiracy theories about that teaser image and was expecting someone else. lmao) - So, wait. Does that mean Solas also anticipated Neve to talk to Elio? Or maybe someone else was supposed to do that but Neve got there first? lol

- Nadia and Vik have got to be the noisiest thieves I've ever heard. LMAO HOW did you manage to steal anything until now?? 💀💀💀 - I love how you keep hearing Vik laughing in the distance while distracting the guards. lol

- I wonder if all the turmoil could have been avoided if they just informed Elio about his ancestor's connection to the Eye and the Venatori from the get go. I guess he needed that push of knowing to never be able to return to his life in Tevinter to go along with it, but.. *sigh* poor Elio. - "I trust you." UHGGHH We were on the right track there. 😭😭 - That music AGAIN?? Chilllls!! - Nadia just casually destroying hundreds of years worth of relics. Love it. lol - "FLAME BLAST!!" Oh, this is so anime. lmaoo - Elio going from "WE'RE NOT DOING THIS" to fully enjoying beating up templars and go full criminal in a matter of seconds as soon as he sees his girl in her element. He loves her so much. <33

- "Who's the hat?" lol - That groan after the Dread Wolf name drop? Yeah, that was actually me. lmao - So, I assume this also ties in with Neve already knowing about Solas and his shenanigans in Minrathous when she met Varric in The Missing. Maybe it was this very incident that Neve was talking about? - Noooo, Vik!! 😭😭 (I knew you for like five minutes, but you made in impact. lol) - Sooo... I take it these "assassins" were actually Venatori, since they were the ones going after the Eye in the first place? Or am I stupid now? - "The eye went boom!" Love that delivery. lol - "She's trying to freeze the bay!" Yeah, Neve just DID that. What a boss. - "An elf with a fancy tongue." Oh, I know who THAT is. lmao

- "Me and you." 😭😭😭😭 You two are killing me. - That motif AGAIN. 😭😭😭😭😭 - Oh, for fuck's SAKE. Solas really always has the best flippin timing. They're all sweet and loving and here goes our disaster man "I'm about to ruin this couple's day so good." 💀💀💀 It's her BIRTHDAY, dammit!! - "Ominous looking chap in the road" lmao All I could think of there was THIS (for anyone who gets the reference LMAO)

- How is it that I knew he would appear in this episode from the teaser, and yet I still freaked out so hard. lmaoo After such a long time, it's like any second of new Solas content makes my heart skip a beat (or several). 😭😭 I still can't believe we're getting all this. 🥹

- Look, I may be a Solasmancer and have my biases, but godDAMN.. GDL is so good. HE IS SO GOOD. That Welsh accent. That rolling lilt. A voice like velvet that can be both so smooth and so sharp. There is just something about his performance that has you on the edge of your seat every time he's talking and I looove these little moments when you can so clearly hear that cheeky little smile in his voice. 💜

And it's so nice to hear him talk so calmly (well, at first at least lol) and kinda playful again, opposed to how super anxious he sounds at the beginning of Veilguard. 🥺 It's kinda interesting to compare this performance with DAI now, because now he's fully embracing the Dread Wolf role, and I keep thinking this is him after being isolated for the past ten years. ;-;

- Anway, so Nadia "unknowingly employed by the Dread Wolf" gets her pay from Richie Rich and girl, that would've been the moment to LEAVE. *sob* - "What other choice do we have?" Well, I dunno, RUN?? lmao - *chuckles* "I will demonstrate." Alright, I'm dead. Why did you say it like THAT? T_____T - Hearing Solas talk in elven after so long.. Dead again. Overkill. And yes, he's saying the exact same thing he said to Sera once. No, we don't know what it means. lol Maybe Sera IS actually an ancient magical artifact and he tried to trigger.. something. lol - That whole flippin dialogue. Solas please stop talking like an old witch trying to lure her prey into her lair. 💀 - "I do not play games." *screaming* - Honestly, I was like "NOOO WHY would you GO with himmm" but then I remembered, SHIT I WOULD FOLLOW HIM ANYWHERE. Hell, I *HAVE* followed him anywhere. To Hell and back. 💀💀💀💀💀 - Solas' persuasion game is at maximum at all times.

- "Energy is neither dark nor light." Speak for yourself, Trickster God of In Between. - "It is the Fade. The Veil is fragile here."

- Solas finally gets to answer questions again, but Nadia is rude about it. 😂 Solas slightly approves AND disapproves. lol - "Kindly remove your blade from my neck."

- Those damn Venatori at it AGAIN with their hunt for magical McGuffins. After TN and the Missing, I'm starting to believe that is all Solas did in the last ten years, snatching one deadly toy out of the their hands after another. lmao - "And it is up to me to ensure we arrive at the best possible outcome." Oh, we're so doomed. - "You're sharper than you let on." Here we go again with the backhanded compliments. lol Ohhh, how I missed it.

"Some people confuse a reckoning as an ending." "I seek... regeneration."

Holy shit. The voice. The long pause. The delivery of that last line. Shivers down my spine. It feels eerie. Like he sounds.. desperate.. and maybe a little.. insane? lmao (That's how you start to talk if you've been separated from your soulmate for ten years 💔💔💔)

Ok look, I've seen a TON of people thinking that, because of the way he says this and him using the word "reckoning" ("For a reckoning that will shake the very heavens"), this HAS to be whatever part he took of Mythal speaking now that has taken over his mind or something. But.. I don't think so? lol

I honestly think this is just Solas who, after a thousand years of preparing to "heal" the world again that he broke, even after admitting to himself that this world and its people are in fact real and he has to destroy it, is SO close to getting there now and there's NO ONE who could possibly understand him or how he truly feels or what any of this or the Blights/Titans/spirits/gods/Veil even truly ARE, so no WONDER he sounds a little f*cking unhinged. 💀💀💀

The choice of words is very interesting though.. "Regeneration" is not something he has ever used, BUT it immediately made me think of the line "But still, some hope remains for restoration" in Trespasser. This is what google tells me:

Regeneration represents a form of upgrade from restoration. If restoration means “to make something well again,” regeneration, for some authors, means “to make it better” than a (supposed) origin condition.

Regeneration: "a renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or biological system (such as a forest) after injury or as a normal process/ or a spiritual renewal or revival"

You know.. if I read "restoration of a bodily part or biological system", you know what's the first thing that comes to my mind yet AGAIN.

Look, that Titan's body is SPLIT IN HALF and we know that this was kinda the catalyst for everything Solas did back then, so... I'll just leave that here and listen to rest of the episode now. lmaoo

- "And the eye will make us fix that?" "More or less." dksdjjgdkfvlf THE SMILE IN HIS VOICE. What does that even MEAN? What do you MEEEAN, SIR?? I would've RUN out of that cave SO flippin FAST. - "And you're sure this is safe?" "As safe as we make it." *literally two minutes later* "SOLAS, SOMETHING IS WROOONG!!" This is a goddamn comedy show. lmaoo - "Silence, please." lol at him still being polite. - "This is all to be expected!" *five seconds later* "WE MUST FLEE!" I BUST out laughing. WHY are you such a DISASTER. Nothing EVER goes right and yet you always keep trying, you fool, omg!! - I don't think we have ever heard Solas so distressed. lol Like, not even when Wisdom died or at the beginning of Veilguard. - "Take my hand!" I would've never thought to hear THAT Trespasser line repeated under those circumstances, but here we are. lmaooo - We know Solas is a hopeless romantic, so for him to see that sweet couple torn apart because of him, and him still trying to save Nadia, I'm not ok. - Solas being responsible for Elio getting banished to the Fade and him being trapped there not long after.. Do you believe in karma? 😂 - "I'M SORRY!" WHY DOES IT ALWAYS END WITH HIM SAYING THAT. 😭

- So.. uh... what even WAS the plan, exactly? lol Like, what was supposed to happen?? Maybe they should've asked a few more questions after all. 💀 - That following scene with Nadia all alone. I got chills again. That hit different. ;-;

- "Where can I find this wolf??" Oh, she is about to hunt him down. 😶 "...I'll be back." Nadia in full Terminator mode now. 😂 - How are she and Elio connected now though? How can she hear him? 🥺 And I can't help but think about whoever was left in the Fade in DAI again, too. 😭😭😭 - Not the credits making me almost sob AGAIN because of the music. 😭 It is so so good.

So there we are. Everything went wrong, a couple is doomed and Solas is sorry. So, nothing changed. LMAO Everything as usual. 💀💀💀 Solas, I swear, if you don't get these two back together again and pay Lavellan a visit afterwards, my Rook might rethink listening to your advice in Veilguard. lmao

I can't wait for that next episode! This was so much fun and an amazing start, and I'm so excited to hear all the other companions! :D ❤️❤️❤️

[buddiekinard]

i guess i just jotted down a several sentences sunday that's a bit of a continuation of the little proposal i wrote last night. i've had this bit of, like, buddie talking about how they Could Have Been in another life for a while and in it it's always happening in this exactly situation. i don't think i'll ever write a longer fic but i thought i could make it part of that universe.

buck/tommy but mostly buck/eddie as the platonic soulmateism variety on buck and tommy's wedding day. i hope you enjoy it. please tell me if you do.

"so what are you thinking about, buckley?" eddie steps into the room. he's wearing a suit and his hair is loose and falling into his face. if buck didn't know better, he'd think eddie was trying to show him up on his own wedding day.

"my name isn't going to be buckley in like an hour." he turns around, sucking in a breath. "do you think i chose the right suit? maybe i should have gone with the green."

"the blue is perfect. everyone will be lucky if tommy doesn't rip it off you right there at the alter." eddie adjusts buck's tie ever so slightly.

"right." buck laughs and ducks his head.

"i'm still calling you buck. i am not going to start calling you evan."

"no, please don't. weird." buck laughs.

"are you nervous?"

"oh for fucking sure." buck breathes in. "what if he leaves me at the aisle?"

"tommy? no way, man. he's been in love with you since you met. do you remember what an asshole you acted like? you fucking broke my leg, buck!"

"you sprained your ankle. don't be dramatic." he laughs quietly. "oh god, you're going to talk about that in your best man's speech, aren't you?"

"guess you'll have to wait and find out."

"such an asshole."

"that's why i'm your best friend."

"dad! they're ready for buck!" chris pops his head into the room and then immediately ducks back out.

"well, that's it then. you're about to be off the market."

"i think i've been off the market for a while."

"maybe." eddie brushes some lint off buck's shoulder. "you look great. tommy is a lucky man. you are too. you deserve this."

"you know," buck laughs. "there was a time when - i don't know. i know before tommy i didn't really - " buck waves his hand around. "but i did wonder about us."

"us?" eddie raises an eyebrow.

"you know, yeah. i watched you get shot in front of me and just thought, if i lose him now - " he shrugs. "but then you were fine and you were with ana and i just let it pass. we were both straight - i thought we were both straight, anyway." buck grins. "but in another life - "

"you wish, buckley." eddie rolls his eyes. "but yeah, maybe. maybe in another life the last thought before i thought i was dying was i love him and he'll never know."

"damn, we really could have been epic."

"nah, this is how it was supposed to happen."

"you're right, diaz. don't let it go to your head. would have been fun, maybe, to have a fling, though."

"i'm gonna tell your husband you said that. i'm rewriting my speech as we speak."

"if you tell my new husband i confessed i had a lapse in judgement half a decade ago, i swear to god!"

"hey, you're the one who told me on your wedding day!"

"eddie!" buck laughs. "i do love you, you know. you're my best friend."

"yeah, i'm the best. it's true." eddie hugs around buck and grips the back of his neck, tightly. "you're more than my best friend. hope tommy realizes that he's marrying you, but i'm part of the deal."

"oh he definitely knows that."

"BUCK!"

"when did chris get so loud?" buck snorts.

"he gets that from you." there's a twinkle in eddie's eye. "i hope tommy also knows he's a step dad to a teenager who's angling for a car for his 16th birthday."

"oh chris has already started telling him about it."

"come on, lets go walk you down the aisle before chris goes to get maddie to come yell at you, buckley. or should i say Mr. Evan Kinard." eddie hooks his arm in buck's.

"that sounds so fucking good."

"yeah, yeah it sounds pretty right."

buck grins and lets eddie lead him to the hall where his future husband is waiting.

[jalapenobee]

"Are we there yet?"

Hunk uses his shotgun position to pelt him with tiny rocks he collected beforehand, the pebbles aimed straight for Lance's eyes. And mouth. "Oh my God, no, we are not there yet!"

The teen in question smirked mischievously, attempting to duck away from Hunk's attacks (unsuccessfully). He cowered behind Pidge, who was currently enraptured by a video game (which, if he may add, hasn't even come out yet. They probably got it off the black market.) and didn't appreciate the sudden jostling. They shoved Lance back in his seat, earning a wet sock to the face and a press of the power off button on their computer. The sock in turn was flung back at Lance, and The Great Car War V had started. Keith lifted his head off of his fist and shouted up to the driver. "Oi. Can't I drive?"

Shiro shook his head and snickered. "No chance. Last time you drove you got pulled over twice and nearly committed a hit-and-run. I think that says enough. Besides, you took all the M&M's out of the trail mix again when I specifically told you not to."

"I said I was sorry!" He wasn't. And besides, isn't it general code to do something someone else explicitly told you not to?

"Suck it, Keith. I'm just a more experienced driver."

"Oh, so now you wanna admit you're old."

"Okay-"

"Isn't he the youngest? He's like, six," Pidge chirped from the floor of the car. Lance had his foot on top of them and was spamming their blank screen with random keyboard smashes as Hunk started throwing larger rocks. "Leggo of that!"

Shiro, regretfully, took a look in the rear view mirror. "Pidge, put on your fucking seatbelt or so help me God-"

Hunk snickered. "Oooh, you're in trouble, Pidgeon."

"You wanna switch spots with Keith?"

"..." Hunk sighed and slumped back in his chair after throwing one last rock at Pidge (he'd love to keep going, but being in the front means he can harm and not be harmed. That's not something to give up.)

"Ow! Shiro, make Pidge stop biting me!"

It was gonna be a long ride.

Two hours later, Pidge was sleeping and Lance was…well, not looking at Keith. Who, in question, was looking out the window. Lance prided himself on being in the middle; he was just out of reach of the sun's grasp while Keith was its indifferent victim. It was the perfect place to take a nap without waking up to a burning smell that you'd quickly realize was you.

Or maybe not indifferent. Lance didn't watch as Keith bent down to rummage through his duffel bag to pull out a small hairband. He definitely didn't watch as Keith tied up his hair, and absolutely didn't notice how…y'know what, maybe Lance should stop thinking about it and focus on his chess game. He was losing to AI, by the way. Completely Keith's fault.

He also didn't gawk at Keith's exposed neck, and didn't take note of how he looked so much more…uh, OLD. Yeah, not mature or handsome or anything. Just plain old. The thin sheen of sweat on Keith's forehead that should've been gross was still gross. It didn't make Keith look like a shining angel or whatever.

Later, Lance would tease him for it. For now…a nap would suffice. He shifted so that his back was to Keith and started to doze off. Hunk was the one driving now, and he took a sharp left onto the highway, causing everyone to slide to the right.

Lance fell asleep soon after, slightly pissed at himself for not moving off of Keith's shoulder.

[mackeydoodledoo]

Chapter 4: Life in District 7

Pairing: Lamina x (Fem!Mentor)Reader

Summary: You began living life in 7 after Lamina finds you. The both of you continuing on growing, a continue developing feelings for one another. However, Lamina continues to deal with her PTSD from the Hunger Games...

Warnings: Social Anxiety, Swearing, New Life adjustment

Key: Italics = Thoughts, +*+ = Time Skip, Bold/Italics = Flashback

Theme: True Colors - Justin Timberlake/Anna Kendrick

A/n: None

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

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

*Y/n's POV* You walk back into the house to search for Lamina.

"What do you want?" She asks

"I was just... Letting you know that your father and I are heading down to the market," You say, "And... I nearly forgot that my mother packed me some baked goods before I left. Mostly baked them for you of course..."

Lamina doesn't answer as she coddles her brother. You awkwardly leave them on her nightstand and briskly walk out of her room.

*Lamina's POV* When you hear the front door close, you out your brother back into his crib for a nap. Walking back into your room, you walk up to the settled basket on your nightstand. You move the cloth covering the baked goods and reach for one... Slowly bringing it to your mouth, savoring its taste...

"Also, how did you get these done so fast?" You ask, biting into a treat

"Well, when your mother is pretty much a culinary artist, and her only daughter is in the infirmary, she stress bakes," She answers, "Hence, why I have so much food right now."

"So you're an only child?" You ask, highlighting Y/n's only-child status

She nods, "Father died when I was a little kid, and mother never remarried. So, when you told you had a younger brother, I got a little jealous."

"You? A capitol citizen jealous of a girl from the district?" You chuckle

"Yeah," You say, straight faced, "I've always wanted to know what it felt like to have at least one other sibling. But, guess I'll never know."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed that you basically could have everything you wanted," You say, tucking hair behind your ear

"It's okay," She says, "We're from opposite upbringings. Technically, I could have everything I wanted. But, I chose to go at it my own way."

"Not really when you're spilling personal information like this," You say, "My mother died giving birth to my little brother. We're kinda alike in a way."

"If... If it were up to me, I would switch places with you; you mentoring me, and I'd be the one going into the arena," She confesses

"You'd die?" You ask

She nods.

"Well, maybe in another life we would meet under different circumstances," You say

You think back to that specific night and sigh...

I've missed her ma's baking...

*Y/n's POV* Lamina's father brings you into the market. You weren't sure what you were expecting other than lumber sales, but you were taken aback with all types of lumber that was around.

"So you all don't just cut down trees huh?" You ask

"Of course not," Lamina's father explains, "Of course, that is our main schtick. But, we managed to find little hobbies to utilize some creative skill in our district."

As you gaze around, you see people carving utensils, figurines... Even instruments...

You were amazed.

"Set it up here kid," He gestures to an empty table

You set his stuff down as you see eyes set upon you form everywhere...

"Don't mind them," He tells you, "Once you're here for about a year, they'll stop seein' you funny."

"Hope so..." You sigh, "So, how does this go?"

"Watch and learn," He says

You watch as a couple comes walking up to the table. However, began to look at you oddly.

"She's my apprentice," Lamina's father averts their unpleasant gaze

He goes onto explaining the products you and him had brought.

+*+

You return with Lamina's father after a day in the market.

"I'm assuming that you don't have a place to stay?" He asks

"No I don't sir," You say

"We have a spare room, you're more than welcome to stay with us for as long as you need," He says

"You're too kind," You chuckle

You follow him to the spare room, which you happened to pass by Lamina's room; she sits in her bed, reading a book of sorts.

She's kinda cute when she reads...

Your eyes drift to her nightstand... Basket open... You couldn't tell how much she had consumed.

"What do you want?" She asks

"Nothing," You say, quickly making your way into the spare room

You take in the surroundings; way smaller than what you were used to back living with your mother. But, you weren't going to complain.

You settle yourself into the small room...

+*+

Screaming...

Your legs burst out into a run and you nearly slide past Lamina's doorway, but caught yourself on the doorframe.

"Hey hey what's wrong?!" You ask, panting

"N-nothing, I'm fine," Lamina attempts to compose herself

"You're clearly not fine," You say

*Lamina's POV* You viciously wipe away your tears.

"I'm fine Y/n, now get out!" You say, pinching the bridge of your nose, trying to hide your tears

You let out a sigh and turn your back towards Y/n, slowly drifting off to sleep...

+*+

You wake up to the birds chirping outside. As you sit up in bed, you look over to the door and see Y/n, knees pressed against her chest, using her arm as a pillow; sleeping uncomfortably against the wall.

Was she there... All night?...

You were falling even harder... But, you weren't sure how to tell her that...

You get up from your bed and make your way towards Y/n. You gently shake her, and her eyes flutter open.

"Come on," You whisper

She begrudgingly stands but almost collapses from the pain in her back and legs. You keep her upright as you begin to motion towards your bed.

"I.. I thought you were going to take me back to bed, in the spare..." She yawns

"Too far..." You say

You gently lay her down along your bed, tucking her in like you would to your brother.

"Thanks for... Staying with me," You say, brushing some loose strands of her hair

"Always," She replies under her breath

You couldn't help but crack a small smile...

"You're so dumb sometimes," You say under your breath

You stand up and make your way out of the room, making your way down to the kitchen.

"Mornin' kiddo," Your pops greets you

You could easily tell that he was already cooking up breakfast.

"Mornin' pops," You greet back, walking up to his side

"You uh... Slept okay?" He asks

"Yeah, why?" You ask

"Well, you would often wake up two to three times a night," He points out

He was right, you normally would. Ever since coming home from the 10th games, you've lost a great amount of sleep.

*Y/n's POV* You walk down the stairs and see Lamina's family at the table.

"Ahh, good morning Y/n," Lamina's father greets you

"Morning," You reply

"You slept okay?" He asks

You nod.

"Lamina finish up, we have to get you ready for the reaping," He tells her

Both you and Lamina drop whatever the both of you held... You nearly forgot about the 11th Hunger Games...

"Uhh..." You break the horrifying silence, "I don't know if you know about this but... Lamina is exempt from any future hunger games."

"Exempt?" He asks

"Basically she has no obligations to put her name into further reapings for the rest of her life," You say, "When the Dean chose us for mentorship, he had us read up on the hunger games rules. And according to the rules, every victor, despite still being of the reaping age; Lamina being sixteen, she does not have to participate

Lamina attempts to stop tears from rolling down her face. Lamina's father gently grasps your hands and gets onto his knees; profusely thanking you for the information.

+*+

Instead of accompanying Lamina's father to the market like the last few months, you accompanied Lamina to the forest.

"What did you bring me out here for?" You ask, "Don't you... Have... Friends... Around here?"

"They're all at the reaping..." She explains

"Oh..." You sigh

Lamina stops and presses her hand on your shoulder and hides the both of you in a hollow stump. The both of you watch a pair of peacekeepers walk by.

"Why are we hiding from them? You don't need to go to the reapings," You whisper

"They probably wouldn't care if I'm a victor," She whispers back, "They'll probably throw me in the reaping anyway."

The both of you slowly crawl out form the makeshift hiding spot and continue your way through the woods.

+*+

The both of you find a part of the forest that you're far enough from the peacekeeper population, but not far enough to be past the border from 7.

You watch as Lamina strgetically finds stable branches, unnoticeable cracks and scales the seemingly smooth tree. She turns and looks down at you.

"Are you coming or what?" She asks

"Y-yeah, hang on," You clear your throat

You attempt to match where her hands grabbed and where she placed her feet. You look up and see her already halfway up the tree.

What the hell?!... Wow...

You watch her pull off to the side somewhere far up the tree. In which you attempt to climb faster.

"How do you make this..." You strain, "Look... So easy?!..."

You let out a yelp as your foot loses its footing. Your hands claw at the bark, attempting to grab at anything. However, you stopped... You look up and see Lamina grasping at your arm. You regain your footing and your other hand grabs at the tree's surface as you carefully catch up to Lamina.

"How do I make tree-climbing look so easy?" She jumps back to your question, "Been climbing trees all my life."

"Yeah... Makes sense," You sigh, trying to let your thrumming heart calm down

When you do, you begin to take in the scenery before you... Mountain ranges for miles... Rivers connecting to lakes here and there... You were able to see everything.

"If only... This were in the Capitol," You sigh

"I didn't think I'd live through the games," Lamina comments, "I... Also never got to thank you..."

You look at her, "For what?"

"Bringing me home," She says, looking back at you, "When they announced me the victor, I was surprised that you lived up to your promise."

"Please, there was only so much I could do behind a computer screen," You chuckle

"Well, your last bit of advice really pushed me through the moment when the tributes from 4 were double-teaming me," Lamina says, "I think it was something like... 'If they try to kill you, kill them first.' Kind od thing... That was what was going through my head when I was fighting them..."

You were surprised on how well Lamina remembered that line... Because it was word-for-word. Even though it came out of your mouth, you didn't remember how you said it....

You felt Lamina's pinky brush against yours. You look down at it, then back up at her.

"Thank you, Y/n," Lamina smiles

"Always," You smile back

Lamina scoots closer to you, enough to rest her head upon your shoulder; the both of you gazing out on the beautiful 7 forestry whilst avoiding the horrific reality of the world you both reside in.

+*+

It was a slow process on adapting to the culture in 7. However, you were surprised on how everyone was being so kind towards you; despite being from the Capitol.

"I bet everyone is beginning to tolerate me is because I got you home," You joke

"It is not that Y/n," Lamina says, "Okay that is one factor, but you don't flaunt your wealth nor do you think lowly of us."

"Well, after I announced to my mother that I was moving, she isn't giving me any ounce of support," You say

"What?!" She asks, "I thought you had a good relationship with your mother."

"Oh, trust me, I do," You say, "I did tell her that I wanted to make a new life. So, any ties I would have with the capitol, other than her, are severed."

*Lamina's POV* "So..." You say, "You're now going to be seen as a lowly person?"

"It's better than being brainwashed into believing what the capitol is doing to the districts are right and filthy rich people should be praised like... These gods... That they were in control over everything, even in the districts." She says

"You said 'they'," You point out

"Y-yeah... I guess I did," She chuckles, "I just... Felt.. So... Out of place there... I.. I... Always felt. Different compared to the traditional capitol families. That, my life wasn't in the capitol. That. It could be... Somewhere out here."

"Well, I'm glad you chose 7," You say

"I thought you weren't happy to see me when I arrived," Y/n chuckles

"I wasn't," You confess, "But, after having you around here for awhile now, I don't think I'd let you go back to the Capitol."

"Then that should be easy for you," She smiles, "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

+*+

You wake up with a scream, cold sweat and tears streaming down your face. Y/n rushes over.

"Hey," She yawns, but obviously concerned, "You okay?!.."

You nod, "Just another nightmare..."

You let out a sniffle, wiping your tears.

"Same one?..." She asks, having a good guess of what it is

You nod again.

You watch her sit next to the door, the usual night after night.

"Actually... Will you... Hold me?..." You ask

Her eyes search you for certainty... In which you easily show to her that you were, indeed certain, and watch her get up and make her way to your bed, carefully getting underneath the covers with you. Almost immediately you cling to her; causing her to twitch.

"Is this... Too much?..." You ask, noting how she twitched in your embrace

"No," She says, slowly relaxing her arms, "Not at all."

You immediately settle yourself in her embrace and slowly rest your eyes, listening to her heartbeat .

Chapter 5

[amaiguri]

The WIP Questionaire

Thanks so so much from @verba-writing for the tag! I had such a fun time reading your answers too and I'm very excited for paranormal romance 😍

I feel like I wanna flag that a lot of my answers are very anime/gaming-sphere oriented and I hope I'm not totally alienating my mutuals by revealing just HOW MUCH I'm not a book person lololol But this is with what we're working:

The Questions are:

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

The very first thing I made was the high premise: It was synthesized from the Overly Sarcastic Productions question "What if all the Kings Under the Mountain came back...?" and then I added the context "...in a Nuclear Crisis to discuss piece?" And in my head, it was this HBO-style modern fantasy Game of Thrones meets West Wing type deal. But then... I didn't want to write the modern piece. (The modern piece should be written by people in countries from all over Europe about what it means to be a hero in various cultures.)

So I set it in 1800s fantasy world instead!

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

The first arc would be Dance in the Game by Zaq

The second arc would be Lacrimosa by Kalafina

The Gods' Arc would be Paper Boquet by Mili

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

Is it to cliché to be like "my current self-insert protagonist is my favorite character I've ever made"? Her and my antagonist are just THE BEST and I love them.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

Mmm, I think Untitled Yssaia Game's story would appeal to queer Game of Thrones fans who could FEEL the straightness in GoT, especially if they also like anime. I would hope I could get general anime fans as well as Arcane and Genshin Impact fans, but I feel like those are too mainstream and Yssaia is not. Realistically, I think I'm gonna get the Wadanohara people and the Ib people and, if I get really lucky, the To the Moon people.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Marketing lol -- explaining what it is to people in a way that they realize they want it.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Fuafua 🥺🥺🥺

Look at her! She is a six-legged, six-eyed slug cat called a Maret. Marets fill the same role as ocelots in Yssaia, except they're more semi-aquatic like otters and their skin has a stressball-like texture.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

They walk or ride Rumateurs (which are alpaca-like beings with ossicones) or take ships or airships or trains. I don't like writing about travel that much though so it is a background element.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

I am pre-editing the first arc for my alpha readers and the third arc has another 50k to 100k words to draft. We're at like 250k words total right now and it is so unwieldy 😭😭😭

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

Oh, I have a convenient graphic for this. Hang on...

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I was just diatribing about this earlier but the DREAM is to turn it into an RPGmaker adventure game and have it go viral and make a million bucks off it. I'd love to be the next Undertale but it'll never happen because I am not positioned to be the next Undertale, you know?

So yeah, that's what's what! Thanks again for the ask! This was so fun! I'm gonna pass this to @maiemorrae, @moonfeatherblue, @zebee-nyx, @winterandwords, @modernwritercraft, @words-after-midnight, @spideronthesun, @theprissythumbelina, @thepanplate, @thetruearchmagos, @maskedemerald, @moondust-bard, @pluttskutt and @emelkae 😍😍😍 I actually internalized Verba's WIP so well from this tag and I wanna make sure I'm updated on what all you cool people are working on! Open tag to any of my other moots too! 🥳

IMPORTANTTTTT⚠️

I will edit this to have a blank easily copy-and-pasteable question section when I get back to my computer. If I forget, @ me!

[tobiasdrake]

Another one bites the dust. This place is cleansed.

The Watcher? What are you talking ab-- OH RIGHT

Resh'an wanted us to repair the Watcher. That was the whole point of this. Sorry, there was a Dweller and then all of my brain space was being used for violence.

Yes. Please. If you wouldn't mind.

Huh. Okay, so I was right about it being a time prism but wrong about it being the receiver.

Hold up. Isn't this one of those giant statue bros? He's not going to yeet the prism, is he?

Unless that's how we penetrate Mesa Island's barrier? Yeeting the prism straight into it like a Fuck You bomb?

Ooo, this looks important. I'm gonna push it.

Oh shit, it's one of these. If I can swap tiles freely then this will be a piece of cake but if it's one of those slidey-doos, I suck at those.

Turns out it was neither. Simple rotation puzzle. Alright.

Is that Resh'an? Is the Fleshmancer stepping on his head?

More importantly, we've got what we came here for. Time to go see what this buys us.

Resh'an sent me out like, "Hm. 50/50 She either brings me the Vial or makes up a forgery to try and swindle me. I should be ready for either outcome."

He knows me so well.

Full strength, Garl. You only get to smash a legendary artifact of divine power so often.

Oh, so that's why it was being kept in a secure location. It warps back to him if it's destroyed. That's neat. I want all of my shit enchanted like that.

And now he's buttering me up. He does know me so well.

Tell me more about how brave and pretty I am. I added that last part because you forgot to mention it. Clearly an oversight on your part.

Are you going party or cargo? Because when I told you there's plenty of space in Garl's bag, I didn't think to ask Teaks how she felt about it. That's an oversight on my part.

So, party it is. It's cool, I get it. You're LARPing as one of us and you gotta act the part.

We should try and find you some new clothes. And a bath. I mean, Zale and I are both pretty talented at a loom, but we spent ten years sewing so. Y'know. Not on your life.

But the shops in Brisk probably have something. We can ask around, try and get you fitted. See if there's anything in Size WTF Is That.

Oh, absolutely. We're super good at keeping secrets.

Can I call you TIA? It'd be a cute little nickname and we'd be the only ones privy to its meaning so it'd make a fun little in-joke.

I think we're gonna get along great, TIA.

Oh shit, somehow I completely forgot about her. There's my oversight. Again.

Yeah, no, we are terrible at keeping secrets. Like. The worst.

Right, because trying to keep the Fleshmancer from knowing you're with us doesn't exactly work if a servant of the Fleshmancer sees you with its eyes. I gotcha.

See, Garl's got my back. Change of wardrobe and a shower. Maybe three showers. This whole place reeks of mildew.

*gritted teeth* I don't want to say yes because then I'll be denied my chance to pull you into the markets and have a dress-up montage.

But it does meet the criteria. So.

Son of a bitch went straight for her. Didn't even hesitate! Just fucking made a beeline for her, and after I tried so hard to warn him off this self-destructive path!

*sigh* I try and I try to dispense sound wisdom, but there's no reasoning with reckless idiots determined to throw themselves into harm's way.

It took her five seconds to peg him.

Five. Goddamn. Seconds.

This is why we told you to stay away from her, TIA. What have we learned? You can doubt me all you want, I'm sketchy as fuck, but don't you ever question Garl's wisdom.

The face of complete and utter defeat.

Five seconds!

[mixsethaddams]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @mojowitchcraft

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Twenty as of right now

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 293,097. I know there's a lot of writers who'll get to that same level with one or two of their long fics but it's still a lot for me 😅

3. What fandoms do you write for? Just Stranger Things these days

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The Bartender Was A Trap with 2135, Eddie/Hotdude Official Megathread! with 1887, Slither with 1360, Could you coo, could you care? with 1202, and good to me with 1004.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? As often as I can! It means a lot when people take the time to leave comments. I mostly don't reply when someone is trying to 'well actually...' me about something though

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't tend to write a lot of sad endings or angst for actual fics. I have some posts on here that have sad endings though. Maybe this one probably that I'd written for febuwhump is the saddest/most angsty?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I only write happy endings! But definitely either Slither or wasted crying . There were people cheering for those ones

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yeah I got a lot of hate from some people about crushcrushcrush because of the Eddie/Chrissy relationship tag. This version of the characters was in an unhappy and, as we later find out, mutually toxic relationship and I had maybe two or three chapters planned out to explore how it got to that point between them and have her as a much bigger character. I folded under a lot of really horrible things being said to me in anon asks here and guest comments on ao3, and cut it down to a single chapter with everything crammed in, reduced her character down to (as I refer to her) a cardboard cutout pantomime villain, and took the tag off. I wish I had have been able to just brush it off and plow through to give the story the chance it deserved, but I'm still glad I was able to do what I did with it.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do indeed. I claim not to, but let's be honest with ourselves. Its entirely mlm right now but I do have some wlw written and hidden away. I haven't written straight boy/girl sex in a very long time but I have some that I want to do as part of a series of follow ups to The magic number

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I haven't! But I do think that Eddie Munson would spit in Gator Tillman's mouth the first chance he got.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I have, yes. That's entirely why I created my whole online 'persona' and started trying to show some sort of presence. I had a few too many things taken and claimed as someone else's and I just got sick of it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No! The opportunity would be a lot of fun though, with the right person

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Honestly Steddie. It's the only one that's held my attention for so long

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I have a really cute Farmer's Market AU for Steddie but I can't find a way to tell the story I want to with it

16. What are your writing strengths? I'm good at characterizations

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Sometimes I over describe things because I myself have trouble visualising it or making a link between point A and point B and assume the reader would too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I've never tried it because I know I'd be relying so heavily on google translate and I don't want it to sound jarring or stilted.

19. First fandom you wrote for? ...Green Day RPF.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Slither has a very special place in my heart obviously. When He Loved Me was a cathartic and freeing way to help myself work through various things while telling the story. I also need to give a shoutout to my first Stranger Things fic, which was an Eddie/OFC story called What happens next? based in canon after Vecna is beaten. I really love the story I told there and I really like the way I wrote Eddie especially. It's cute and fun and I'm proud of it.

zero pressure tags:

@henderdads @infinite-orangepeel @steddielations @thorniest-rose @eddywoww @steddierthings @lexirosewrites @3minsover

[white-tulips]

do you also feel like OMORI has tone issues?

like i struggle to classify OMORI's tone as positive or negative, ironically enough games like yume nikki are very easy to talk about, YN has an overbearing feeling of loneliness and dread, meanwhile OMORI is 8/10 happy wholesomeness and 2/10 misery and horror, and those emotions feel very separate from each other, i think the game struggles by trying to have it both ways and it's not able to construct a proper tone

personally i would have liked if the happy areas were more nostalgic and melancholic than outright happy, because otherwise when the Horror starts it feels very abrupt to me and not really in a good way

it's supposed to be a horror game but most of the time i feel like i'm playing kirby or something

oh for sure, 100%

it’s been a while but I’m positive I’ve talked about this on here before, though I don’t really wanna go digging for old posts right now lol. I have been wanting to make a more well thought out post comparing/contrasting OMORI and Yume Nikki though so ty for brining the topic up, it’s putting the Thoughts back in my head aha

but yes, OMORI’s tone is frankly all over the place, and I really agree that the emotional shifts don’t mesh well together in a lot of ways. I might’ve said this before, maybe not, but I personally feel that OMORI comes off like it’s a first or second draft of a game, not a finished game. I do truly believe that the OMOCAT team could’ve made it work but the final product was just a tonally confused mess. (okay calling it a mess feels pretty mean but like [waves hand])

I do slightly disagree that everything that wasn’t horror and misery was just straight “happy.” unless you’re just talking about Headspace here, which okay now that I’m typing this I think you probably do mean Headspace. disregard my statement actually, I do agree with you then. there are some nostalgic/melancholic crumbs in Headspace that I really love but overall it does get reaaally overshadowed by the sillies. I would’ve loved to see it focus on more of the bittersweetness because I think OMORI handles those types of feelings so well. it probably would have led into the horror much better too!

but yeah. for a game that’s marketed as “horror” it sure isn’t. which is a damn shame. I really would’ve loved a better balance of everything

(also side-note, as a Kirby fan I gotta say those games are genuinely more tonally solid than OMORI lmao)

[gregoftom]

Wait can you tell me more about comphet greg and/or your theory (that I'm pretty sure you mentioned or I could be making this up) about them fucking somewhere in s1? <3

of course!!!! okay so like. we didn’t really get any sort of romantic interest wrt to greg [lol] until late s3 when he declared an interest in comfrey and just the way that he spoke about her - you’re a fascinating book i’d like to crack open! she’s a very nice…… person! almost he like forgot what he was gonna say at the end there lol. and like, he loses his ‘interest’ in her after the whole conversation with tom and her actually agreeing to go out with him like, uh oh she actually said yes?! didn’t expect that and now i’m stuck. except she seems to disappear later. and it’s the same wrt the contessa - he makes this big proclamation of love and then we never see her or have her mentioned again lol. then we have the fucking. god. 4.01 the holy grail of comphet greg. we Know he didn’t have sex with bridget because a. he said “we put our hands down each others pants” which means he’s straight up lying because she was wearing a dress, b. he says “bingo bango bongo” which is exactly what roman says about him and tabs at a point and we are explicitly shown that he doesn’t/cant fuck her and c. there was more horny sexual energy in the “tell me” rummage to fruition scene than any moment he had with that girl like, damn. and she too mysteriously disappears!!

wrt his rep that kerry mentions i honestly think it’s just bullshit spread around hyped up by like, the general idea that men are gonna pump and dump women in this environment, and kerry is obv wise to it. i don’t think he’s ever had sex with a girl personally. furthest he’s gone is a kiss. ppl seem to think he’s become this slimeball casanova and like lol, get real. it’s pretty clear at least to me that he’s comphetting to fuck for multiple reasons. his interest in women just doesn’t seem genuine. ‘crunchy peanut butter’ uhuh dude, sure.

in terms of s1 sex, it’s just me picking up the horrendously sexual tension those mfs are laying down. my thoughts were that they messed around a little in i went to market, not full sex but enough to make greg come/feel good for like the first time ever bc not only is tom an exceptional lover, i don’t think greg’s ever had a particularly good experience wrt sex, if at all. and like. maybe he used that to help like push greg to getting rid of those docs, like, cement his closeness with him and something like, “that felt good right? want more?” “there’s more?!” “ohhh yeah greg, yeah. if you take care of this for me there is.” and then that leads to the next episode where tom takes him out on the ortolan date and to the club, and then fucks him that evening for real ❤️

realistically i don’t think it happened that early but the WAY greg looked at tom on that balcony and the WAY that tom held his lower back possessively and would not let go and the WAY that greg looked back at him while he did that, sheesh!!!! it’s at least somewhat plausible lol. i think for sure at the very least they fucked somewhere in the show. in the s3-4 gap, i’d wager.

[colin-firth]

a lot of the stuff around ts right now is putting a bad taste in my mouth but i think it comes down to this:

we as a society seem to have decided that people who make music have to be not just be artists but also impeccable marketing strategists and businesspeople, moral arbiters, allies and activists, the voice of the people, political grassroots organizers, etc. and i think tay does want to meet other people's expectations but this is an unwinnable ask. because one person is not all things to all people, and while there is an intersection of art and culture and history inherently, our connected world through press and digital communications has kind of distilled all of these roles into one job title: global superstar-cum-savior. and that's both unfair to put on someone and also a fatal error for her to try to meet the demands of these roles. idk. does that make sense? i'm annoyed by people who overinflate the purity of her capitalism as a feminist outcome rather than what it is, pink capitalism. i've been steadily disappointed by her choices to work with abusers, contribute to a climate crisis already at a breaking point, affiliation with the intellectual property of racists, merchandising that I find to be WHOLLY excessive and sometimes embarrassingly pointless, sending C&D to independent artists on Etsy who make tributes to her work [technically she totally has a right to protect it, but these are usually people working out of a home studio, if that] and the matt healy thing - there just wasn't a way to undo that for me. but is it really on me for expecting her to meet MY standards for ethical conduct? yeah, it is.

we all know too much about each other now. we have become narcissistic enough to need to see an idealized version of ourselves in our idols. taylor is a bit different because she has basic control over her image but think of the studio system in the 20s - we were never buying Norma Jeane Mortenson or Archie Leach - we bought Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant. We bought Rock Hudson as the straight hunk of the age, we bought Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly as "pure" and unattainable ingenues when both had passionate affairs just like their male contemporaries [stating this without judgment as I love the work of both actresses and Audrey's personal work for UNICEF]. Entertainment is image and image is entertainment. So buying into Taylor's activism when it was never the point of her image or career, but something she briefly tried on for her brand, is just a confluence of all of these factors and expectations, I think. And these observations are confirmed, I think, by the fact that there is tension over why Taylor is POTY instead of Palestinian freedom activists - because we insist that ONE person fit all roles - cultural influencer AND wartime hero. No one will be both. Maybe the only fair way to handle that is do POTY issues in different categories, IDK.

So while I'm increasingly annoyed with the forced bifurcation of pro- and anti- ts stuff I need to step back and realize that the whole thing is a mess from every angle and it's been and probably will continue to be harmful to her in the future, as well. A lot of actors do their work and in private have their charity focuses like animal rights, refugee aid, etc. Everything with tay is SO heightened and overexposed and public and that burden and privilege has become a monster I don't think even she has control of at this point. and all of this is hilariously contrasted with how personal and private her lyrics often feel, like things you would tell a close confidante.

[underwater-i-will-go]

personal shit under cut x

this week's been a train wreck in terms of personal problems and i'm just yearning for when it will eventually get all better but whenever something seems solved a new thing turns up and it's just all piling up right now.

positive things to look forward to next week ? loads of work to keep busy. england plays. christmas party at work (with my ex which is not so very pleasant) visiting the christmas market with my partner. maybe going clubbing.

unpleasant things ? oh yeah my mums funeral just squeezed in there somewhere. life's mad. been a mad 4 weeks. never touching weed again. but that's for another day. (my tolerance is apparently no longer existent because i smoked something last week while out and had to be picked up by a friend because i panicked and thought i'd pissed myself for an hour straight) haven't been eating much recently, constant stomach pain. i think my period is coming, too.

anyways. rice x saka fic finally taking shape, and by shape i mean i have something to base it on. that's what i focus on instead of figuring out how to afford £15 for a new washing machine hose.