#but this is a pretty old source which is a little more reliable

[soars22]

Bad’s flowers:

Angelica- Inspiration

Dandelion- Happiness/joy/rustic oracle

Source:

[bratphilia]

Heyyyy so I was the person that requested more fics like the flip side (it’s 6 am and I can’t remember if that’s what it’s actually called atm) but I was thinking about possibly a situation where reader has a history with William possibly when they worked at Freddy’s before they shut down and were younger (still of age though; I’m thinking probably when they like reopened for a little bit in the early 90s). Now in the I guess present day they aren’t exactly going out with mike but maybe they are a babysitter and mike and reader are pining over each other?? But him working there brings up bad past memories of your time there but you don’t really want to tell mike.

Honestly looking for lots of tension, slow burn, pining, and angst but not too much angst yk and ofc nsfw

Sorry if this is like too specific or whatever but this has been on my mind for sure

note: i did some age calculating to fit with the timeline so reader is 18 in 1993 and 25 (the same age as mike) in 2000. creds to michy for convincing me this was actually post-worthy.

pairing: steve raglan / william afton x reader x mike schmidt

tags: threesome, rough sex, dub/con, age difference

taglist: @dilfity

triangle (w. afton x reader x m. schmidt)

(in november, 1993, you're a fresh hire at freddy's and the youngest adult on the staff at eighteen years old. it's not an ideal workplace by any means, but it's decent compared to other jobs that you most definitely didn't qualify for. and the people at freddy's are nice! maybe a little too nice, but the motto for the employees was "remember to smile, you're the face of the company" after all.

you work mainly as a waitress. you would say you're pretty good at your job. you're nice to the customers and work surprisingly well with the kids. the uniform is admittedly cute, too. red vest and a black pencil skirt. your skirt, for some reason, came in a bit too small prompting a few lingering glances from employees and patrons, but besides that you don't really mind.

it's a cold, rainy day in autumn. you wish you were wearing pants, but for once you're thankful for the lack of air conditioning in the restaurant. it's closing time and you're heading back to the employees room to grab your jacket and umbrella. you sit on the red, metal bench waiting for your sister expectantly. you never bothered to get your own license because she's always been a reliable source for rides everywhere. tonight was not one of those days. it's been at least an hour. your leg bounces up and down.

you hear the doors shut and a jingle of keys, and the distant scent of cigarette smoke lingers. you turn to see your boss, mr. afton, locking up the restaurant. he turns to you too, clearly confused why you're still here. "shouldn't you be home by now?"

you swing your legs and sigh. "my ride never showed."

he clicks his tongue and looks out to the parking lot, then looks back at you. "why don't i take you home?" you realize in this moment you and mr. afton have never quite really spoke. he's one of the thirty-something-year old owners of freddy's. he wears the springbonnie suit sometimes and performs with the co-owner, mr. emily, for the kids on fridays and saturdays. he's very charismatic and sociable, but mainly with the older crowd of the employees at freddy's. you hear some of your colleagues whispering about him, how he's such a kind and handsome man, which, as you're getting a good look at him right now, the latter is definitely true.

"are you sure?" you ask. mr. afton smiles down at you.

"sure thing. follow me." it's a huge upgrade to what you were previously considering before his offer: walking home in the pouring rain and chancing ruining your uniform.

you follow close behind him. so close that your umbrellas slightly bump into each other. a deep purple-paint-detailed mercedes-benz comes into view. judging by mr. afton's clear affinity for the color purple, as he includes it in at least one part of his daily attire, you assume it's his. he opens the car door on the passenger's side for you.

"thanks," you say politely.

in december, 1993, mr afton — who you've come to know as william — has become a frequent presence in your life. it started when he actually asked you if you wanted another ride home. you had phoned your sister, letting her know there was a change of plans. this became an everyday thing until you no longer needed to call home.

you would be lying if you said you hadn't started to develop feelings for him somewhere along the way. how could you not? he was just such a nice man! so charismatic, not just with you, but with the customers. always asking everyone how their day is going and dropping whatever he's doing to help out. there's was something special about your connection with him. he made you feel special.

it was one rainy day, just like the day back in november, when he stopped you and leaned in and kissed you. it was the most unexpected thing that happened to you in awhile. you don't know what possessed him to do it, but you found yourself eagerly kissing him back. so much that he chuckled and commented on it before sending you off. you spent the rest of the night lying awake in bed, touching yourself to every possibility you could think of.

the next day he avoided you, much to your dismay. you couldn't stop thinking about it. it slowed down your performance, making you distracted. the time just dragged on.

it wasn't until he called you in his office after your shift that you felt any kind of relief. he asked you to lock the door behind you, just like how one of those fantasies you daydreamed of started. with a fast-beating heart, you did what he said and turned to face him. and then his mouth was on yours again. it was much more sensual and yet there was an anxious component to it that made your stomach tingle with excitement.

"why don't you sit on my lap?" he suggested once he pulled away from you.

you froze. you've never actually done this sort of thing before. something delicious curls inside of you. gingerly, you sit on the thigh he patted on and he bounces his leg slightly, the fabric of his pants hitting just the right spot. he laughs at the yelp you give.

"just relax, baby. 's just you and me."

in january, 1994, is when kids go missing. everyone is on edge and patrons are frequenting freddy's less and less. on top of that, the animatronics are malfunctioning more and more, so there are even less customers due to the amount of maintenance that needs to be done.

you and william continue your routine: you fuck and he drives you home afterwards. but lately, something's been weird with william. he's been more... erratic? is that the right word? or just elated. he seems so gleeful, but more violent during sex. he's never showed any masochism until now. he even put a knife to your throat as he pounded into you, threatening to "fucking kill you" if you scream. you took it as just one of those things he says during sex, like when he calls you "slut" and "whore" but it's starting to scare you as it becomes a frequent thing.

it gets worse. you're taking the trash out to the alley when you see the security puppet laying limp. you go and investigate only to find charlie emily, the other owner's daughter, dead and badly hurt. like she's been stabbed repeatedly. you scream in shock and run in to find william, but he's long gone. instead you went to your co-worker, who called the police.

you were asked to stay at the restaurant until you after you were questioned and you told them everything you saw. you looked but william was still nowhere in sight. you walked home that night.

catching the killer was never something you were interested in. in fact, you hoped to do the opposite of some of your vigilant co-workers, who openly investigated the restaurant. some of them ended up missing too. the police had been called at freddy's on multiple occasions.

on one particular occasion, the last one before freddy's closed, actually, you went to the backrooms to catch a breather. what you found? william pouring bleach to bloodied clothes, bloody knife laying on a nearby table. you drop your keys in shock, alerting him. Turning on your heel to break for it, he grabbed the knife and your arm.

"tell anyone and i'll fucking gut you right here, right now," he threatened in a low voice.

you jostle your arm, desperate to break free. "please!" you whisper-shout. "i won't tell anyone, please let me go!"

and for some reason, he trusted you.

freddy's closed after that, and you swore to yourself you would take what happened to the grave. maybe you were a coward, but you had no solid evidence it was him behind the murders. it would all just be hearsay. no one would believe you anyways. william had such a high reputation, not just at fredy's, but within the community.)

--

mike hangs up the phone with a sigh. "so...?" you say, leaning towards his direction in anticipation.

"i took the job," he grumbles. his head is in his hands, running through his hair anxiously.

you throw your hands up in the air in excitement. "yay! we get to keep abby!" mike immediately snaps out of his sulking to bust out laughing. as he shakes his hand, he mentally adds your twisted sense of humor to the endless list of things he loves about you. and your distantly maternal role in abby's life. we get to keep abby.

you snap him out of his thoughts with a question. "who's the lucky employer?"

he laughs again in disbelief. "freddy fazbear's pizza. working in security. they need someone to watch the place and make sure no one breaks in and stuff."

you frown and furrow your brow. freddy's. william. "something wrong?" he muses, noticing your change in demeanor. you shake your head.

"no, nothing. i'm happy for you. sounds.. just peachy." mike shoots you a half-smile.

it's nighttime when it's almost time for mike's shift. your head is in your hands as you sit on the couch. it's one of those times when abby's off in her room, scribbling away with a crayon. you feel sick to your stomach. why did it have to be freddy's? who even gave him this job? why is it still there?

you hear a slew of curses coming from mike's room and decide to investigate. he's struggling with the loop of his belt and you can't help but smile. "need some help?"

he looks at you, face turning red. "you don't have to—"

"oh, come on," you sigh, moving to help him. "it's okay to need help sometimes." mike doesn't say anything, but from the way he's looking at you, he wants to.

"what?" you ask, but mike just shakes his head. you wouldn't understand. you decide to just leave it alone — mike's always been a distant guy.

"you need to be careful," you tell him with a much more serious tone than intended.

"why?" he asks, confused.

you try to relax your face and give him a lighthearted smile. "you should always be careful, mike! you never know what kinds of people you can encounter."

he has no idea.

two days go by. mike comes back home, surprisingly well-rested, until before his third shift when he casually mentions to you that he mainly just sleeps on the job. you freeze at that, worry forming inside of you in the pit of your stomach. "wh-what do you mean you just sleep there?! are you fucking crazy?!"

mike looks bewildered at your outburst. "i told you about this. i'm doing that dream stuff still..."

"okay, but do you have to do it on the job? do you have any idea how dangerous that is, when you're supposed to be looking out for any suspicious behavior." you're poking a finger into his chest, scolding him like he's a child.

"jeez, what's the matter with you?" he sighs in frustration. "if it bothers you that much then why don't you come with me and make sure i stay awake? i'm tired all the fucking time, and you know that!"

you know you shouldn't, for your own safety, but you have to think about mike. besides, if there's two people there, one can call the police. you let your paranoia, and your overwhelming care for mike, get the better of you. "fine. i'll come with you. put on your vest, grab abby, and i'll be in the car."

mike looks at you with sad eyes. you really didn't mean to be so harsh but it doesn't matter; he's more important. the drive over is silent, not that mike is really a talker anyways, but there's a thick tension in the air. your jaw and your fists are clenched anxiously, and you try not to look at him. when he parks the car he sighs and says your name.

the three of you set up camp in mike's office. abby sets up her tent and shortly falls asleep. you pace around the room while mike stares at the cameras, head in his hands with his eyes barely open. you walk over and snap your fingers in front of his face with a huff.

then something goes wrong. mike calls you over. "uh, i think i just saw something move? towards the offices." if it's potential danger, you decide it should be you who goes. not in a heroine sort of way, more of a need for closure.

you make your way slowly towards the offices. the dead silent halls make room for the only sound being your quickened breathing. you can practically hear your heartbeat thrumming in your ears. something rustles and, of course, it comes from wiliam's old office. you pray it's a rat.

as you push the door open, you breath a sigh of relief when the room is empty. that is, when someone slaps a hand over your mouth. "how truly lucky i am that you were the one to find me, lovely."

you struggle instantly but he wraps his other arm around your neck and pushes you further into the office. you land on the ground, hitting your head on the chair. looking up at him in horror, you cling onto the chair for dear life and get a good look at him. he admittedly aged well. salt and pepper hair and beard and all, it looks ridiculously good on him. "don't be afraid. i only want to make amends. i saw you were here and—"

"fuck you!" you spit venomously. "i don't want anything to do with you!"

william looks dumbstruck, then he scowls. the look on his face scares you as it contorts horribly. "what is it? is that boy? you realize i'm the one that gave him this job, right?"

"i don't know what the fuck you're talking about, but—"

suddenly, william lunges towards you and grasps you by your cheeks, holding your face tightly. "stop acting like such a fucking brat. remember when you were such an obedient little girl for me? let's go back to that, yeah?"

before you know it, you're being shoved against the desk facing forward. "i'm gonna teach you some fucking manners." you scramble in his grasp but his strength is unmatched. you know what's coming next and it makes you feel something burning in your stomach that you try to convince yourself desperately is sickness.

he pulls down your pants and you begin to sob. "please!"

"look at you, begging for me already," he laughs. he's undoing his belt and you already feel his dick prodding at your entrance. if this was back in the 90s, before all of this bullshit, he would've had the decency to engage in some foreplay, but there's a sense of urgency that makes it all the more—

god, what the hell is wrong with you. you're so fucked.

he undresses your bottom half, leaving you just in your sweatshirt. "gorgeous," he comments. "just as i remember."

you feel his dick prodding at your entrance, and you squeeze your eyes shut as he pushes in. it still feels as good as it did back then. he fucks you nice and slow, emphasizing each thrust with a slap from his hips onto yours. how does he still fuck this well at his age?

instead of picking up his pace gradually, like he used to, he continues to fuck you slowly. you're moaning uncontrollably now, clawing behind you at his chest, hoping he'll get the message and pick up the pace. he doesn't and just laughs darkly. "he doesn't fuck you as good as i do, huh, baby? you needed my dick to satisfy you all those years ago, and still need it now the way you're gushing on my cock."

you want to tell him mike doesn't fuck you at all, and that you're just friends, and that you only belong to him—

someone calls your name from the doorway. you and william both snap your heads towards the direction, only to find a shocked mike with his mouth agape. "mr. raglan? what the fuck is going on?"

"michael schmidt!" william practically exclaims, excited. he stops fucking you, purposefully burying himself to the hilt inside of you so you groan and squirm at the loss of stimulation. "come! come join us! your girl and i were just getting re-acquainted."

"she's not my..." mike trails off, finding himself moving closer without thinking. he takes in your appearance: bottom naked and bent over the desk with a fucked out expression. god, you're so pretty. you're always so pretty, but this is just...

no, this is wrong, he tries to tell himself. it's almost like william reads his mind when he sing-songs, "join us, or i'll kill the both of you."

like there was a devil and angel on mike's shoulder, the devil was winning. he's always wanted to fuck you and he doesn't necessarily have a death wish, either. "what, uh, what do you want me to do?"

your face falls and your mouth goes dry. william speaks with a grin, "why don't we trade places?"

mike scrambles to undo his belt and you practically drool when he pulls his cock out. fuck, you've wanted mike for awhile now. all that pent up tension between you two is finally spilling over the edge. all those lingering glances and long-lasting touches leading up this

especially like this, with your former fling and the guy you babysit for, makes it — and fuck it, you'll say it — all the more hotter. he replaces william's spot behind you and thrusts in quicker than the latter. he's practically humping you, fucking you desperately like he's running after something. his hands grip onto your hips tightly. "yes," william hisses, pumping himself while sitting dowqn in his chair. when you glance at him, he has the audacity to fucking wink at you. "'attaboy, keep goin.'"

that only encourages mike as he moans your name. "fuck, your pussy feels so good — hah!"

"mmm, mike!" you moan back.

"look at you two," william says breathlessly, "what a lovely fuckin' sight." mike begins to plunge in and out, reaching your cervix with each thrust, and you're close already. he senses that, and you can tell he is too by the way his thrusts gradually become more unbalanced. william's grunts are getting louder.

you're the first one to come, then william, and mike is still desperately pushing out of you. for good measure, he lands an uncharacteristic smack on your ass and then buries himself to the hilt becoming coming inside. the feeling of him filling you up is absolutely delicious. when he pulls out he studies the way that his cum drips out of your pussy. he's enamored with you, by the way.

[seat-safety-switch]

It's a new age of motoring. The old world of inefficient, gas-burning, polluting vehicles is over, and now is the time for zingy cough drops that do 0-60 in four seconds and have a bunch of annoying dinging sounds that you can't figure out how to turn off. If you're the kind of person who rides on an elevator and thinks "this could use more JavaScript," the world is your oyster.

Of course, no matter how many touchscreens, gewgaws, doodads, and fart noises you throw at an electric car, someone still has to build the car. You could go to a boring, old-technology company that worries about things like "bolts that fit," or you could take a gamble. You could step into the future and invest in a Switch Motors platform for your next electric car.

Switch Motors is the only small, unproven brand you need to risk millions of dollars and the livelihood of your employees on. We know about making a reliable car, because we know everything about how to make an unreliable car. And like Thomas Edison said before he was deluged by telemarketers: goddammit, why doesn't this thing work? Here's an example of our focus. Switch Motors cars are guaranteed to have at least four wheels, or we'll provide you with a pro-rated discount.

Don't care about the "car" part of electric cars? We've got you covered, with several platforms based entirely on classic Malaise Era American cars. Customers will love the straight chrome bumpers, which are easy to bang back into shape when they have a little whoopsy-doo at highway speeds while trying to quit their Zoom call. And our powertrains are proven – they come from high-end Chinese electric forklifts that we source from only the finest AliExpress vendors. No Wish.com for you, oh no: we're premium all the way.

Paint? Friend, paint slows you down. Besides, it looks way cooler when the arcs the motors kick off are shooting across the skin of the car like a Jacob's ladder. Keeps carjackers away, too. And pigeons. And anyone with a pacemaker. Maybe we can do something to improve that last part, I've got some Toyota water pumps around here somewhere. Switch Health Solutions sounds pretty good.

[bylrlve]

Warning! Potential Spoilers for Stranger Things 5!

A compilation of recent tweets made by Alex and others about the mileven ‘making out in a field’ leak. Alex is insisting that this scene is separate from the sequence involving them talking on the rooftop, the scene which was leaked as a video back in January. According to 011scenes this scene happens ‘at the beginning’ aka in episode one.

The issue? Alex’s sources are people who speak to paps (which she lied about in answering a cc question; either that or she’s clueless), and who deliberately feed her inconsequential things production dgaf abiut because it distracts from the juicy shit e.g., what Mike and Will are doing. She was told ‘Robin and Will have a scene’ and that morphed into ‘Will is in his unrequited mopey Steve era, Jonathan and Robin don’t share scenes’, etc. The source said nothing about Byler being finished or about passionate makeouts.

I’m suspicious of the second anon’s claim about Finn, as Noah is straight-up went on TikTok live right before filming commenced in January to read out byler endgame and Byler kiss comments lmao. The bit about the love triangle being kept under wraps seems accurate enough - they’re openly passing out scraps of mileven to leakers to pass onto Alex, and it’s pretty clear they didn’t care about that mileven video hitting national news website in the Uk (daily mail). Byler? On lockdown. The only thing we know is the hospital stuff and that’s due to specific leakers, and even then it’s not that much. It is clearly a big question going into s5 for the GA, so it being kept tightly guarded is unsurprising.

The context of the kiss will be interesting, regardless of if it’s pro-mileven or somehow anti-. Alex indicates that it’s only them present in the field - BUT she’s also said that she outright leaves Will out of ‘leaks’ and gave the example of Max, Lucas, and Will having a scene but her only reporting Lumax having a scene, so… S4 mileven was a concerted effort to show that the characters had matured from s3, and that their fight was more serious. They only kissed once, and that briefly, and were… unaffectionate at the end of the season, to say the very least. The reversion to kissing in broad daylight, in an apocalyptic setting when El will be mostly hiding with Hopper from the military, feels a little out of character - and will certainly be jarring tonally and thematically.

Alex received this dm ^ back in February (discussed in my first leak post), which stated that hopper is annoyed by mike’s continuing presence around el. I and many others (including Alex iirc) dismissed it, as Hopper and Mike are on good terms at the end of s4. If Mike and El are still doing reckless things in s4, and if the old pattern of isolating El from others just to kiss re-emerges, though… The veracity of this is very shaky: the time skip occurs gradually over episode one, not in between episodes 1 and 2.

It’s important to note that many leaks are undoubtedly missing context. Just today, Alex brought up how she was right about Mike ignoring Will at the airport, about their fight, and about the airport kiss. Yes, she was, but she lacked the tonal subtext of the scene itself, which portrayed Mike’s behaviour as inexplicably phony - and of course, she lacked the lynchpin of this plot, which is that Will is in romantic love with Mike. She completely missed that, and it meant she missed every important aspect of this plotline.

Byrhop, a highly reliable st acc who’s closely following filming, was able to ascertain that Vickie is at the farm.

Lastly, I want to go over everything I know to try and map a trajectory. The Byers are living in the radio station before it’s overrun by military and they flee to the Turnbow farm - I personally am not sure of when exactly this occurs. There is a leaked hospital file showing that Karen Wheeler is attacked by a demogorgan. The file is dated as 1/1987 but it could be a prop error, as I’ve seen claims that she’s attacked when Holly is taken..

As we know, according to the leaked episode 2 title, Holly Wheeler goes missing. This likely occurs at the end of episode one, but the chronology is unclear. Karen being attacked could happen here, and I’ve seen claims that it happens in episode 2. Mike and El kiss in episode one, and as I’ve said this has been overblown greatly by Alex. The chronology of this is also unclear. At some point in episode one, Mike and Dustin are at the high school and interact with the jocks. Mike is wearing the same outfit he wears on the rooftop - dark trousers, blue and black shirt with a yellow collar, etc. As this is what he wore in the official pic released by Ross of him in his room, I am speculating that this is the first outfit he wears in the story proper, after the last time jump to November 1987, and that he may wear it throughout episode 2 as well

In episode 2, Mike, Nancy, and Karen have a plotline at the hospital. From official BTS pics, we know Robin and Vickie are there as well. The above anon does not mention Mike being injured, and its description of Karen’s mindset does not tally either with her having being attacked by a demogorgan prior or with Holly being abducted. It’s likely that they have partially but not totally accurate information; or else it’s a point in favour of Holly being taken and Karen being attacked after this happens, at the end of episode 2. I have confirmation that Mike is injured in episode 2, as are several other people - I discussed this in a post a few days ago - please discount the forehead kiss anon section of that post. This was confirmed by an extra who played a nurse on the scheme and by a different source later. The second source confirms that Will shows up last, and is crying and blaming himself for what happened. - I also have confirmation that El doesn’t show up to the hospital at all. The nurse extra also confirmed that Mike and Will ‘share scenes’ although he was not present for those so can’t speak as to what happened in them - I don’t have an image of that text so didn’t include it yesterday.

The forehead kiss anon is definitely not real (check @will80sbyers) but the rest seems to be.

Lastly, Atlanta-filming insinuates that the m*leven rooftop scene occurs after the hospital subplot. It’s unknown how they came to this conclusion.

To summarise: m*leven kiss in episode one, potentially during one of the staggered time jumps (my speculation) and the short rooftop conversation between them likely in either episode one or two immediately before something involving Hopper and Joyce occurs down in the field that alarms El. I’ve seen conflicting into on when Holly is abducted - either episode one or episode two. In episode 2 Mike, Karen, and Nancy go to the hospital for plot reasons. If this occurs after Holly goes missing, it is likely to be related to that. I am speculating that Holly vanishing, whenever it happens, accelerates the byler plotline, as Mike will more-than-likely seek out Will for advice, reassurance, information. In episode 2, Mike gets injured somehow at the hospital, along with several other people in a small-scale mass-casualty event, and ends up being admitted to the hospital. As I’ve said, it seems to be rock-solid that Will arrives and is crying and blaming himself for what happened, and Will stays with him but El is nowhere to be found in this plotline. We know from BTS pics that Robin and vickie are also there, and I’ve seen claims that Jonathan shows up to be with Nancy, but have no proof or knowledge of the providence of such claims, so… take that for what it is. It is pretty certain, as far as I know, that El is not there.

One possibility is that Will is possessed at least temporarily in 501-2. Perhaps there’s another superspy, ‘it’s a trap’ situation? Will Byers would never be reckless with the safety of Mike Wheeler or his family… but I bet Vecna and the mindflayer are just itching to attack the one salvation standing between them and Will. Something to muse on.

The timing of the rooftop scene is very important. El not showing up at the hospital is unlikely to happen after it. The scene is very clearly about affirming their relationship- whether as lovers or as friends. It’s likely that she’s distracted by Max, who is her main plot, but this is a narrative. El not being present for Mike, while Will is there and crying and staying by his side? That is telling of a potential rift that opens up in their relationship between episode one and two. There is a pattern of problems arising in their relationship in episode twos. In s2 El reached out to Mike during his call but he walked away while an ominous stinger played. In s3 they broke up at the end of episode 2. In s4 they had their disastrous roller rink date.

A few days ago, I gif’d the rooftop scene, and speculated that they’re discussing being friends, and that El apologises for not being there and Mike says ‘No. You should have been.’ before basically saying that he’s okay because Will was and “you’re all friends to me.” The ending of s4, to me, potentially marks a shift in Mike’s attitude to El, as much as it does for hers to him. In the hospital she seeks him out by resting a head on his shoulder, and she did speak briefly with him prior about Brenner, but he offers her no comfort beyond a stiff arm around her. When they arrive at the cabin, he walks in with the other boys instead of staying with her - as shes’s clearly very nervous and emotional about reentering the cabin. Finally, as we have all observed, she directs an almost angry look at Will and Mike before stomping into her room and slamming the door - a parallel to s3 after the phone call with Mike where she knew he was lying. When it pans back to Mike, and Will asks if they’ve talked? He rolls his eyes. Unlike in 403, he does not seek her out and push through her self-isolation. He leaves her be. This, coming from Mike the Paladin, suggests that he’s kind of done with trying.

El’s attitude has been convincingly dismissed by M*levens as simple grief over Max causing her to retreat as she always does. It is bizarre, however, that the monologue did nothing at all to make her feel she could rely on Mike, and much more so that he’s very apathetic.

I posit that they might, maybe, fall into old habits of passivity and inertia and string the relationship along over the time jump. Perhaps the kiss is from one of the interim jumps between March 1986 and November 1987? I could see El having too much on her plate to really address it, and feeling that she doesn’t want to push him away - after all, he did give the big damn speech. The kiss could be a parallel to Boyce and Stancy. If that Hopper leak is accurate (doubtful), perhaps they fall back into habits of clinginess and immaturity while still being deeply unhappy. Nurse extra stated that Mike is no longer trying to be normal, and that he’s discovering himself, being himself again, and being the support he once was - the wording rather implies that it means being the support to Will.

Of course, I could be wrong, and it could be that they’re doing very well, and that the kiss is indeed as happy and loving as Alex paints it out to be… but I am skeptical bc of the hospital, and because of El the brave protector not rushing to her boyfriend’s side. It’s simply too early to say. If my musing on whether Will was possessed and effectively set Mike up (against his will ofc) is correct, and if my lip-reading is correct, Mike speaking affectionately of Will here could be due to the fact that he’s intimately witnessed Will being possessed, and he knows Will would never do something like that on purpose.

Finally, definitely worth noting that there have been no signs of any NPC love interests. Will’s storylines are being protected well from leakers, so people could be missing something, but there has been no indication of it. What we are getting, though, is a focus on Will’s love of Mike, and his selfless devotion.

All of this is incredibly shaky, and I’m interested to hear your guys’ opinions on alternate sequences of events. Whatever the truth, clearly m*leven is inconsequential to the production, as it’s being deliberately leaked to distract from the real juicy stuff.

Oh, and I just want to wrap up by mentioning this bit of idiocy. Someone in Alex’s inbox sincerely thought that the production actually kills fields they want to look dead-looking, rather than editing it. And Alex agreed.

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

i know the easiest way to resolve my two wolves dilemma about the near miss notfic is for buggy to be the one in disguise, okay? i know. i just haven’t been able to figure out why he’s in disg—okay, no, i’ve got it now.

(another self-indulgent “shanks/buggy post-roguetown, pre-luffy” encounter below the cut)

buggy, lately called “the clown,” is not usually a pirate given to subtlety or discretion. he wants word of his wicked deeds to spread far and wide! if people are afraid of him, they’ll give in faster, so he won’t have to work as hard to get what he wants!

but usually, there aren’t rumors of monkey d. garp in the area.

buggy’ll thumb his nose at most any marine, but garp is an exception. that guy has a monstrous strength on his old captain’s level, plus he’s equally famous for his incorruptibility and his bullheadedness. all in all somebody buggy absolutely does not want to deal with.

and sure, his bounty as it is probably doesn’t warrant a vice-admiral’s involvement, but garp’s been around a long time. he might recognize buggy as “one of roger’s brats.” and while they never had bounties of their own back then, surely the marine still want their heads. they went after tom, for fuck’s sake, there’s no way buggy is safe.

so until he hears from a reliable source that garp has left this particular corner of east blue behind, buggy is not leaving the sanctuary of his ship without a thorough disguise.

he’s gone without his distinctive makeup, of course. his hair he’s tied up and tucked away under an old knit cap, which he’s sewn an ink-black wig to the lining of to better conceal his identity. he even rubbed a bit of ink into his eyebrows to be doubly sure. and, last but hardly least, he’s chop-chopped his nose off, sticking an ordinary-looking prosthetic in its place with spirit gum that will be very annoying to remove later—but better a little adhesive rash than prison.

looking in his mirror at a stranger, buggy sighs, clapping his hands together. “right!” his ship needs a resupply, and buggy sailed his favorite little skiff here to take care of it so he doesn’t have to explain this disguise to his crew. “rope, sailcloth, gunpowder, food,” he mutters as he heads out. just a few essentials for any sailing vessel, nothing obviously piratical about it. a perfectly safe supply run.

a squad of marines go thumping past, and buggy can’t hold back a flinch at the sight.

he breaths in deep. this will be fine. all he has to do is not draw attention to himself, and…

“hey, you!”

buggy freezes, and fights the urge to turn around. freezing is bad enough, that would make him look super guilty. and anyway, with a call like that how could anyone possibly know who the marines are after?

“you in the hat!”

ah, fuck. buggy can’t lose the hat, that’s half his disguise gone right there. he glances back, curses under his breath when it sure looks like that squad of marines is coming for him, and makes a break for it.

“this is navy business!”

“stop!”

“like hell,” buggy mutters, rounding a corner into an alleyway. he blinks when he hears his own words doubled, and realizes there’s been someone else running from the marines the whole time. ah, shit, was he even their target after all? has he been running for his life for no reason? he turns to give the guy what for and just about chokes on his tongue, because—

well, because it’s shanks.

same stupid, distinctive hair, same stupid, distinctive hat. a cape, which is more style than buggy would have expected shanks to develop, but which is also stupid and distinctive. a pretty nasty scar over one eye. buggy takes his first reaction to that—i wouldn’t have let that happen!—and violently shoves it down into the bottom of his soul, where stupid thoughts go to die. what-ifs don’t matter, what matters is this entire guy is stupid and distinctive.

shanks gives him one of those soft-hearted, empathetic looks buggy always hated. “ah, sorry, i think i got you tangled up in my business.”

…he doesn’t recognize buggy.

good! this is good, this is—salvageable, anyway! buggy clears his throat, tries to throw his voice a little higher, speak a little more politely. anything to avoid that soft look becoming one of recognition, or that awful heartbroken look from all those years ago. “that’s okay! anything to inconvenience the marines.”

as the rhythmic sound of boots thumping gets closer, an idea occurs to buggy. “speaking of…” he grabs hold of shanks’ cape, pausing only when shanks puts a hand on his wrist and gives him a wary look. right, shanks doesn’t know him from adam like this. “sometimes it’s better to fight smarter, not harder.”

shanks considers him for a moment. he lets go of buggy’s wrist.

permission granted, buggy moves quickly. goodbye, stupid hat! flip the cape around, the lining’s a different color so that will do nicely. adjust the closure so the fabric that’s supposed to be the top hem instead functions as a hood, all the better to hide that hair and scar… sure, it probably won’t hold up to a close inspection, but who needs it to? low-level marines are idiots.

buggy leans back against the alley wall and spreads his legs wide to make himself shorter and easier to hide. when shanks doesn’t seem to get the memo, buggy rolls his eyes and tugs him closer, until shanks is standing almost too close for propriety, his cape hiding both of them from view.

hands pressed to the wall above buggy’s shoulders, shanks stares at him intently, an eyebrow going up as they hear the marines run past without giving their hiding spot so much as a first glance, let alone a second. “impressive,” he says.

buggy snorts. “naturally.”

something about this response amuses shanks, who smiles, drops one hand on buggy’s shoulder, and squeezes. “thanks for the save, gorgeous.”

buggy’s mind goes blank.

well, mostly. “gorgeous?!”

shanks frowns, though his eyes are still smiling. “don’t tell me nobody’s ever called you ‘gorgeous’ before.” buggy doesn’t react—has no idea what shanks is doing—as that hand slides up his shoulder, his neck, to cup his cheek. shanks leans just that little bit closer, taking the lack of space between them from the appearance of improper to actually improper. buggy still has no idea what shanks is doing until his thumb starts to rub small circles near the corner of buggy’s eye. “that’s just not possible. i mean, your eyes alone are stunning…”

he knows that move. shanks told him about that move, about the barmaid who’d used it on him the first time, using a compliment about shanks’ eyes as an excuse to touch his face, right before she—

it’s a very sweet kiss. probably the kind of kiss buggy would have expected of shanks, if he’d ever let himself think of things like “shanks” and “kissing” at the same time before. (face hot, it occurs to him that maybe the way he’d always violently shut down such thoughts might mean something. he violently shuts down this line of thinking.) shanks pulls back after a brief moment, a curious look in his eye that buggy takes to mean ‘more?’

whatever look happens to be on buggy’s face must say ‘no’ for him—though probably not in as insistent a tone as he’d like, his mind is still pretty fuzzy—because shanks steps back, casually giving buggy space. like of course after… that… all he wants is to fix his cape and retrieve his hat.

“wh…?” is all buggy can manage.

an eyebrow goes up, and shanks smiles a little smugly as he slides that stupid hat back into place. “like i said. thanks for the save.” and with that, he’s gone.

buggy’s knees give out.

he spends ten minutes sitting in that alleyway, definitely not remembering anything that just happened in particular detail, or wishing he’d answered an unspoken question in a different way. eventually he remembers that he has duties to attend to, and he’d better attend to them soon if he want to get off this island today.

which he does.

he certainly doesn’t have any reason to want to stick around here.

no sir.

“rope, sailcloth… limes?” suddenly buggy can’t remember the last thing on his list. well, it can’t be that important if it was the last one, right? right. surely they can go without… whatever… until after garp’s gotten tired of this part of east blue.

because buggy is never going out in disguise ever again.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for not telling my sister we're related?

I CAN EXPLAIN, I SWEAR.

Okay, so basically. I have this friend (??X -- look, they're around my age but I don't know my age because time is not something I'm good at keeping track of. I think I'm older? Not by much though.), we'll call them R. R's a great person -- trustworthy, reliable, friendly, willing to play good cop to my bad cop (METAPHOR!!! NOT ACTUALLY COPS!!!), one time we planted an inordinate amount of beetroots together? Maybe more than once.

R is also, like, super possessed by an evil version of himself. At least, I'm pretty sure S (???X) is evil. He's sneaky, ominous, keeps saying things that don't make any sense, have this really spooky voice, and oh yeah there's also the eyes that change color and the fact that he keeps! Bugging me! About my past! Which you'd think would not be something appropriate to ask someone with a mechanical arm and a bunch of burn scars! And yet!!

Anyway. S insists her name is also R but in this case I'm referring to her as S because otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell the difference now would you? And I've been trying to figure out what exactly is going on with S for ages. Like, don't get me wrong, terrified of her, but I also want her help. Having someone like that on my side could be really useful.

The thing is, a while ago S and I talked and zhe showed me this... weird, old buried upside-down clocktower in the ground? I tried to talk things out with zhen and ask what zhe wanted but. Uh. Look, at some point maybe I stopped paying attention and tripped while going down one of the internal ladders or something, I still have a few healing bruises from that talk. Lost some time, too. But I do remember her mentioning I was related to R (and also something about us being time and space? Maybe? I don't want to think about that! So I'm not going to!) and that I was supposed to be zhens older brother.

The other thing is, every time I've remembered this (memory issues, you know how it is, everyone has 'em) it's been the worst possible time to go "hey, by the way, we're related" to R. Like, absolutely godawful timing. I didn't tell them immediately because S possessing R messes up their body hardcore and frankly I was scrambling to get them health potions so they wouldn't randomly die about it. I didn't tell them the next time I remembered because we were busy dealing with the person who blackmailed us who turned out to be a) a literal star and 2) basically a baby -- who then kind of told us the reason he's not, you know, in the sky, is that his brothers pushed him out of it as a prank and if there's any really bad time to tell someone you're their brother, it's when the kid in front of you is basically going "brothers suck, source: me." (Side note -- some weird combination of ESH and NAH from that situation as far as I'm concerned. We worked stuff out.)

Only, uh. Look, I am entirely not sure what happened. I randomly came to in the clock tower again one day with S glaring at me, and then next thing I know I've lost more time and R is helping me get out of the clocktower cavern with an absolutely splitting headache. He gets me up out of the place and then to my house (I saw some weird signs with my handwriting on them along the way. Sidenote: might also be possessed by an evil me.) and is acting... really weird. Keeps asking if there's anything I need to tell him or am keeping from him, eventually just reveals that S spilled the beans on us being related. I think he's a little mad about it -- I mean, I would be too -- but I really did just totally forget! I've been super busy and might've gotten a concussion at the time S told me!

Anyway. Found out someone was my sister via her evil possession twin. Forgot to tell them because the timing was always the worst timing imaginable. Am I the jerk for this specific thing. Not the other stuff. Probably was kind of a jerk during the thing with the star. Not relevant here.

[theworldvsyoshiko]

So, as I settled in today to prepare for succubus things, I decided that I should take a look at the Steam workshop to see if any weird new Rimworld mods have come out in the past month or so. There were a few mods that probably merit checking out sooner or later, but nothing immediately applicable.

And then I found this.

This ideology addresses two of the biggest issues I had when I was playing Yoshiko. It gives you an on-demand source of new children (via ritual rewards) and it lets you banish them once they become adults. Mood changes are reflected in all of this as you'd expect. After some testing, it also seems pretty reliable to keep an 'older' character around by resetting their age with various methods such as dark rituals. I can have my main character hit 18, eat somebody's youth to reset her age to 13, and she's happy again and exempt from banishment.

But, I did have to do that testing. This is a new mod, so I needed to make sure it wasn't gonna implode. I set up a scenario that starts you off with 13-year-olds, picked out my starting location and stuff... and then started with the wrong character. Like not even on a full run. The wrong character for testing. I wanted somebody with a bazillion skill ranks so they could set up a little base without me having to mess around in godmode. I was trying to get a hyper-competent Succubus or Nekomata.

Instead I got this weird chicken:

Harriet here isn't bad by any standards. She's got decent proficiencies and her traits are great. She's awful at Construction and Plants, which are a real slog to start a settlement without, and also Medical, which is only a nice-to-have until somebody gets an eye shot out. With Very Diligent Student and Great Memory, though, she can pick up just about anything long-term. In the short term she kinda sucks, but she's a little better off than Yoshiko. ... on a personal level, at least. Yoshiko had robots helping her out, which counts for a lot. Harriet's gonna have a lot less food poisoning though, which also counts for a lot.

Harriet's a Lilim, which is... mostly to her advantage.

It's kinda a much more low-key version of succubus. Still unaging past 18, still ridiculously pretty, still delighted by violence, but no blood-drinking, no soul-eating, and no giant demon form henshin. A bit more combat-focused otherwise, though. On the other hand: while Talons means they're better at unarmed combat, it lowers their Manipulation, which is probably the second-most-important stat in the game. (Although I think CE offsets that a bit.)

Since I was testing the ideology anyway, that's safely in place.

Adults have fucked this world up, and it's gonna take a team of teenagers with attitude to fix it.

Features of this ideology include:

Anybody over 18 is fucking dead to these kids. Anybody over 25 has a -70 social modifier with them. They would rather hang out with a 17-year-old who just murdered their best friend than somebody in their late twenties.

Anybody over 18 will be expected to leave the group in short order. There's a ritual for this. If the ritual goes poorly enough, the newly-minted adult might get pissed off and start attacking children. This goes by physical age, not chronological age, so Harriet herself can cheat with a Biosculptor Pod or the Chronophagy ritual. And she will. She starts off with the former, because she's probably gonna hit 18 before she can research either of these.

They have five different styles: Childish, Bushido, Steampunk, Corsair (pirates), and Ocular. Who has time for a cohesive aesthetic when you're going through puberty. let's be fucking steampunk samurai pirates. There are overriding priorities on this stuff, so I might have to shuffle them around to get more than the first one or two to show up.

They have rituals that can summon other children to join them, cause a transport pod with a baby to crash nearby (don't think about it), or enrich the learning of all the kids who participate. I can pretty much recruit kids on demand.

Apart from their intense distrust of adults, these kids are generally pretty moral. However: I twisted the usual ideology rules to give them a gladiator duel ritual. You can't tell me that a settlement of vindictive children wouldn't make adults fight to the death for their own amusement.

[hyperlexichypatia]

Hi! Something I’ve been wandering is if there is no point where a brain is truly fully developed, then how do we gage what age should be the age of consent? /genuine I was wandering if you have thoughts on that because it’s something I feel pretty befuddled about

First, I'm sorry this answer is a little late, because I had to think about it a little bit. I think this question, which is a good one, has almost two answers -- one for an ideal youth-topia, and one for our current, ageist, kyriarchical, very-much-not-youth-topia world.

Also, heads up, I'm going to be talking about child abuse in a few paragraphs.

In an ideal world, I think children should begin having some say over their lives and bodies as soon as they're able to express their own opinions, but in conjunction with at least one trusted adult to provide guidance. As the child gets older, the balance should gradually shift over time, with the child's opinion gradually carrying more "weight" over time. Then at some fixed end point, which should be no later than the late teens, the new young adult should have 100% autonomy with no oversight (they can still ask for advice -- which I specify because half the time this comes up, someone asks "What if a young adult wants their parents' advice!" and I have to say "Then they can call and ask, it's not illegal").

An adult will have to make pretty much all the decisions for a baby, because babies don't really know what's what. A toddler's decision-making ability mostly maxes out at picking which toy they want to play with and then crying because actually they wanted the other one. But a school-age child can start having some say in the decision-making process and can practice asking questions at the doctor's office, being included in the conversation, having things explained at their level, understanding things like "I know the shot hurts, but it will help keep you from getting sick later," or "I know you don't like taking pills, but they help your headache go away" or "If the pills don't help your headache go away, say so, and we'll ask the doctor for something that works better." And a teenager can really start taking the lead in their own decisions, with guidance, especially if things like making thoughtful decisions, asking questions, weighing pros and cons, and doing research with reliable sources has already been practiced and modeled over the years. And by the time they're in their late teens, they should have sole final say in what happens to their bodies.

But. All of that is very much the "in an ideal world, youth-topia" answer.

We do not live in an ideal youth-topia. We live in a world where many (I'm being generous and not saying "most") adults in positions of influence over children and young people intend to manipulate or exploit them ("for their own good" or otherwise), and it can be really... extremely... difficult to keep kids from being abused or exploited by parents, families, doctors, capitalists, administrators, politicians, and others.

Most of the arguments I get into are about people wanting to raise the age of majority or some other minimum standard for ""real adulthood"" to some age higher than 18, usually invoking some spurious argument about "the brain."

And I will die on the hill that this is wrong and that 18 year olds should be considered full real adults with full bodily autonomy to do whatever they want no matter how unwise anyone thinks it is -- drink, smoke, take medicine, refuse medicine, have sex, have children, get married, have abortions, get their tubes tied, whatever.

Okay, but then you might say, what about 17 year olds? What about 16 or 15? Is an 18 year old really "more mature" than a 17 year old?

Well, no, of course not. The problem is that the legal status of minors is so absolutely abysmal that, within that legal status, it's hard to asses what "consent," let alone "informed consent," even means. It's not that I think a 17 year old isn't "mature enough" to choose to have surgery, say, but an 18 year old is "mature enough." It's that when you have zero (0) legal rights, having the right to make one (1) choice is really constrained.

Throughout the U.S. -- and I'm only going to be talking about the U.S. here because I can't confidently speak to any other country's laws -- it is legal, to varying degrees (and with even more varying degrees of enforcement), for parents to beat their minor children. It is legal, to varying degrees, for parents to restrict their minor children's movement. To restrict their food. To keep them in conditions barely above prison. To send them to "troubled teen" farms that are literally prison. Even if the mistreatment crosses into some threshold of legally actionable "child abuse," there is no guarantee that the law will be at all enforced. There is no guarantee that the abuse will be stopped. At most, the government will remove the child and place them in a foster home which is likely to be just as abusive if not moreso.

I'm not saying that minors shouldn't have the legal right to make more medical and general life choices than they currently do -- they absolutely should -- I'm saying that in the absence of certain basic physical safety guarantees, a technical on-paper "choice" doesn't mean much.

Like, I just said that I would fight for 18 year olds' right to be sterilized or get married, and also, I'm vehemently opposed to sterilization of minors and firmly support raising the minimum marriage age to 18. That's not because I think decision-making maturity and wisdom magically kick in at the 18th birthday. That's because an 18 year old can leave and file assault charges when their parent says "Sign this consent form or I'll beat you and send you to a prison farm."

So... with that in mind... I do think there are ways to protect minors' right to consent. I think people over 12 or 13 should have to give their own consent for any medical procedure that isn't an immediately life-threatening emergency. And ethical doctors shouldn't perform procedures on people they have reason to believe are being coerced.

As for minors seeking out medical procedures, I think we can look at some contextual questions like: Is the need for this procedure urgent or time-sensitive? I.e. is there any reason it can't wait until the person is older? Can someone interview the young person to try to assess whether they're being coerced? Can the young person articulate the risks or give some indication that their choice is informed? Can they talk about how the medicine/treatment/procedure makes them feel? Do any adults benefit financially from the young person's decision? Are they having an undue influence over the young person? (That isn't just about medical treatment, it's also questions like "Why are child beauty pageants a thing?" and "Why do 7 year olds play American tackle football?") Have they been exposed to other points of view?

Obviously these are all really contextual questions that depend on people in power behaving ethically, which... is a lot to depend on.

So. That's my long answer. I guess.

Final note, mostly I'm talking about medical treatment in general and life decisions in general, but I wanted to quickly mention transition and gender-affirming care in particular. I do support youth gender-affirming care. I didn't always. When I first heard about youth transition, I thought it was a risky thing that young people were going to be coerced into. I thought there would be parents coercing their gender non-conforming children into transitioning to the "other" binary gender and doing surgeries on them before they could object. I was wrong. I know that now, after learning more about how youth transition actually works. Doctors involved in gender-affirming care for youth really seem to be doing it right. They interview the young person. They make sure it's really what the person wants. They go slowly at first. The young person has ample time and opportunity to change their mind. I think other forms of health care for youth (looking at you, psychiatry) (looking at you, weight loss) (looking at you, reproductive health) should model themselves on the kinds of youth-affirming, consent-affirming practices that are standard in youth gender-affirming care.

[kerubimcrepin]

Episode 51 - High-Temperature Trap (part 2)

aka "failing the "try not to mention Dofus Donjons and Wakfu Raiders" challenge", the liveblog.

The thing about Atcham, is that he thinks Kerubim is fucking stupid. Fake glasses... Wig... The fuckingdf sfdgjsfh the fur comments...

And he is ABSOLUTELY right. He knows him well enough to know that this stupid ass disguise is all he needs.

"If I stalked you... I didn't stalked you because I did. No I didn't. <3"

Kerubim thinking Atcham is OLDER than him, and Atcham using his hairlessness to make others overestimate his age, will never get less funny to me.

Keke, this old, ancient gentleman, is anywhere from five minutes to a year younger than you. You were fed upon the same tit. Chances are, if you're twins like Eleley and Flopin, you were beating his ass in the womb war.

If he is old, then you should be in a fucking museum.

This is an aside, but them being twins, like Eleley and Flopin, is a very likely thing no matter how you look at it.

Above is lore from the discontinued game Wakfu Raiders, — implying that Ecaflip dumps the women who give birth to his demigods after the first kid.

This would fit with all the demigods, except for Atcham and Kerubim, having different surnames, — those would be their mothers', and it would mean that Mom Crepin had twins.

Wakfu Raders isn't the most reliable source for canon info and is no longer playable, so, to be completely fair, let's look at another source of info that might be useful:

The other, conflicting source of Ecaflip lore, — is the unreleased/scrapped game "Dofus Donjons", — and as far as I am aware, the lore it includes, is that 99% of demigods, including Ush, Atcham and Kerubim, were born to a single ecaflip priestess named Varvara, who was pretty much the CEO of giving birth to Ecaflip's 22 sons.

(God. If Atcham could have met her, Pangaea would reform. It makes me sad he never had a figure in his life who looked like him, and was proud of it, — it's depressing that he got bullied into thinking there's something wrong with him, that he spent his whole life hating himself! Can we take this moment to be fucking sad about Atcham? Jesus Christ.)

If we consider the Dofus Donjons more canon than Wakfu Raiders, — and as far as I know, that is the case at Ankama, it is more canon, (Even the line choice in the ova, "previous litter", points towards this) Kerubim and Atcham being twins and growing up together still makes the most sense.

Kerubim and Atcham still share a surname, still went to the same orphanage (because, as a child Bashi knew Atcham, according to The Wheel Of Destiny #8) and lost the same family, before having, like, a life-long very-personal beef over whatever the fuck happened between them.

Which means that they when got adopted into the Crepin family together, it was as a package deal, — probably due to being twins.

Which would be cute, had their life not been so depressing.

Also, here's an insane little thought:

...Yes, it's obvious why Kerubim was uncomfortable in the OVAs, during Eva's monologue: He knows what he put Joris through when he died, (he failed at protecting him, he robbed him of his childhood, and he ruined Joris's head. he failed miserably, and will never be able to fix it.) and he knows, that, personally, all he wants to do is just stay at home with Joris too.

But listeeen, what if that's not all, — what if thinking about a pair of twin demigods losing a parent, even without the context of being a father, also painful? What if this scenario is like a two-in-one combo of the worst things that had happened in his life? Wouldn't that be awesome?

(Also, yeah, Ecaflips keep their memories after death, or else he wouldn't be saying this 100+ years after dying in the movie. I just felt like mentioning that, lest I came off as fucking insane during the last paragraph.)

Anyway, huge discussion over, lets get back to the episode:

Atcham knows which buttons to press to make Kerubim and Indie go at each other's throats again. Both as his brother, and as someone who's spent decades stalking him.

Atcham knows Keke well enough to use his need to affirm his self-worth, for murderous purposes.

That, too, is tragic platonic toxic brotherly yuri.

[doublydaring]

okay so at the chicago fob show i saw a couple people wearing shirts that said MIKE CARDEN'S SOLO FOLK ALBUM & naturally i looked into this. the academy's wikipedia article says mike has a solo folk album from like 2002 in the same sentence as remember maine, however its source for that sentence is a sisky interview that only mentions remember maine. supposedly this solo folk album was released on LLR Recordings which would make sense however i looked on LLR'S old website and i didnt see it there and i'm now wondering if this solo folk album is a fandom injoke that i missed?? you're the biggest mike fan i know so i figured i'd ask you :) sorry for the long ask 😭

can we talk about mikes solo folk album ive been dying to talk about mikes solo folk album. lots of sources will make vague reference to this album. it is hilarious to imagine what a solo folk album by a 16 year old mike carden would look like but it is my personal belief that no such album exists. I have no idea where the myth of this album originates, it could be from someone simply mixing up bill and mike and thinking remember, maine was mike's thing or it could have started as a joke. it just doesn't really make sense. we have it on good authority (little mike) that mike was in the very real band Jodie before his tenure with the academy is... and Jodie seems to have been a pretty established band at the time. i assume he was in Jodie for at least a year and given his age i doubt he was seriously involved in any other project preceding Jodie. The Academy Is... was a ridiculously young band that I don't think would have managed to get any backing without their association with older more reliable acts like FOB. basically in what world is 16 year old barely moderately musically talented but infuriatingly ambitious Mike Carden writing a solo folk album good enough to be even semi-professionally recorded. at this point its basically an inside joke as ive heard that is was officially debunked on some now defunct twitter though the debunking itself may need to be debunked. all of this is to say. THERE IS NO MIKE CARDEN SOLO FOLK ALBUM!

[strangeswift]

hi abby its jade!! congrats on the follower count, very well deserved ❤️❤️❤️ !!

if those slots havent been filled out already.. ohoh you know what i want. apocalypse byler + jealous mike. im on my knees orz

Congratulations Jade @blueeandyellowmakesgreen you have been selected to receive ���️a ficlet✨️

Apocalypse Byler + Jealous Mike coming right up!

-

Will Byers was absolutely smitten.

Mike was sure of it, he could see it in his eyes. Even worse, Mike knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. He was stuck at home with a “sprained ankle” (he still didn’t trust his mother’s diagnosis seeing as she was not a medical professional) while everyone else went out on missions.

Everyone else was out doing supply runs, and fighting monsters, and falling in love. Okay, not love. God, Mike hoped not.

The Wheeler house had become sort of a home base, it was still intact and it was the largest house available. Plus, being hospitable made Karen feel useful.

After missions, everyone would usually return to the house for food or a safe place to sleep. Or they’d gather in the living room and chat. Mike had been essentially living on the living room sofa, since he couldn’t climb the stairs without help and he refused help. So even though Mike wasn’t allowed on the missions, he could listen to everyone talking about them.

He was jealous, and bored. Perhaps he was going a little crazy.

One of the things he’d gathered from listening in was that there were assigned partners on these missions. Everyone had someone to watch their back. Which was good, he supposed.

The problem was, Will seemed to have bonded with his partner.

Mike hated her. He hated the stupid heart eyes Will was constantly giving her.

Robin fucking Buckley.

Mike wasn’t even sure when exactly she became part of the team. When exactly she found out about the Upside Down. A few years ago, she was just the exasperated girl behind the Scoops Ahoy counter who rolled her eyes every time they came to force Steve to sneak them into a movie. Then she… cracked a Russian code? Mike was still fuzzy on the details of that whole ordeal.

Now, ever since she and Will had been working together on missions, she was basically all Will could talk about.

“That reminds me of something Robin said…”

“Robin’s actually really funny, you should talk to her…”

“Have you seen Robin?”

Will was so obviously obsessed, it made Mike want to throw up.

She was too old for him anyway. RIght? Mike wasn’t sure exactly how old she was. He never paid much attention before.

He had, however, been collecting information about her over the past few weeks. For totally normal, not jealous reasons.

He knew she spent most of her time alone with Steve, but they were not dating, much to Dustin’s chagrin. He knew people thought she was funny, because they were always laughing around her. He knew she talked a lot, and really fast. He knew she was sarcastic, which he resented. He knew she was friends with his sister. He knew that when she was alone, she always looked kind of sad. He knew she was pretty. He knew she was smart, at least according to Dustin, who seemed a reliable source. He knew she was kind to Will. He knew she kept him safe, like Mike used to.

This was all information he’d gathered purely from observation. He never asked Will about her, because he didn’t care. Not in the slightest.

He most certainly didn’t care as he sat on the couch with his leg propped up and watched Will and Robin walk through the front door of the Wheeler house, talking and laughing. He continued to not care as Will said something to her and then turned to look at him, his face lighting up as soon as their eyes met. Probably because he was excited to tell Mike more about how great Robin was.

Robin. What kind of stupid name was that anyway? It’s a bird. It shouldn’t be the name of a person.

He snapped out of his hatred induced trance-like state as Will plopped down on the couch next to him, so close their sides were pressed together.

It was a big couch…

He was probably saving room in case Robin wanted to sit.

“How’s the leg?” Will asked with a small smile.

Mike shrugged, “Fine.”

Will’s smile faded, “You okay?” he asked.

Mike stared at his lap and picked at a thread on his shorts. “Yeah,” he mumbled.

“Mike, what’s wrong?” Will asked, sounding concerned.

Of course he was concerned. Will was the best friend in the world. The problem was, Mike couldn’t tell him what was wrong. He couldn’t say, “I know you have a giant crush on Robin and it’s actually driving me slowly toward the brink of madness because I’m having some very strange feelings toward you that I’ve thus far chosen not to think too hard about, but I’ve been stuck in this house alone all day for weeks and it’s kind of hard not to think about them, so I think I’ve come to the tentative conclusion that I’m in love with you.”

He really couldn’t say that, but honestly it was on the tip of his tongue pretty much constantly.

“I uh… my leg just hurts,” he said instead.

Will furrowed his brow, “You just said it was fine.”

Mike sighed, “Yeah, well…”

Will hesitated. Mike could practically hear him debating with himself whether to push the issue. Mercifully, he didn’t. “You want to see something to cheer you up?” he asked.

Mike smiled, he couldn’t help it. “Sure.”

Will nodded and stood up from the couch, he went upstairs to Mike’s room where he’d been staying, and returned with his sketchbook in hand.

Mike’s heart soared. He loved seeing Will’s art, more than anything.

Will sat back down, not quite as close as before. Mike resisted the urge to scoot closer and close the gap.

Will opened the sketchbook on his lap, and Mike looked down at the pages. On one side, there was a sketch of Will and Mike in their DnD personas. It was beautiful. It was mesmerizing. It made Mike feel things. Things like the desire to grab Will’s face and kiss him square on the mouth.

Mike couldn’t focus on that for long though. Because on the opposite page, was a half done sketch of Robin. Her head was thrown back in a laugh and her stupid hair was cascading over her shoulders. It was gorgeous. Of course it was, Will did it.

Mike glanced up at Will. He looked nervous, his face was a little red.

Oh god, was he about to tell Mike about his crush on Robin? Was showing him the sketch his way of doing it?

Why else would he be nervous? There was no reason for Will to be nervous about showing Mike a sketch of the two of them.

Unless…

No. Mike couldn’t even go there. Hoping would be a terrible thing to do to himself. Especially considering Will’s obvious infatuation with one Robin Buckley.

He took a shaky breath. “Cool,” he said.

Will looked nervous still. “Cool?” he asked.

Mike nodded quickly, “Yeah. they’re really cool.”

Will paused. “Oh. I was really just wanting to show you this one,” he said pointing to the sketch of Mike and himself.

Mike’s pulse quickened. He should say something. Something normal.

“Do you like Robin?” he blurted out.

Great. Really great, Mike. Super cool.

Will raised his eyebrows. “Like… like her?” he asked.

Mike wished the couch cushions would open up and swallow him like loose change, never to be found again. Unfortunately they did not, so he was forced to continue the conversation.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said awkwardly.

Will laughed a little. Why was he laughing?

“No, Mike. I don’t like Robin,” Will said.

“Oh,” Mike said.

“Oh,” Will repeated with a smirk.

They sat in silence for a moment, then Mike blurted, “Are you sure? You know you can tell me if you do. I won’t get mad.”

God. Shut up! “I won’t get mad?” Why the fuck would you get mad?

Will laughed nervously. “Uh… yeah. I’m sure. Like, very sure.”

Mike’s head was reeling. It seemed like Will was telling the truth. He had no reason to lie.

“I’m not really… Robin’s type anyway. I mean, she’s not mine either, and she’s older. Really, we’re just friends,” Will rambled.

Mike was ecstatic. He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he said, “Okay.”

Will smiled back, but then he looked nervous again. “I uh… I kind of like someone else anyway,” he said, his face bright red.

“Oh. Okay,” Mike said.

Who the fu-

[tenander]

Doing the Which of your OCs... asks for my homemade blorbos. Part 1: Question 1 - 13. (If you want to know more about these guys, check out their tags on my blog!)

has the best hair? As a certified impossibly-pretty-hair-enjoyer, that's a difficult pick. I'm gonna say Corzian, whose hair is ridiculously long, wavy and looks perfect all times even though he spent his entire youth sick in bed and now adventures daily with little to no time spent on its care. Elven privilege.

uses/would use the most products? Definitely Crim, he enjoys the ritual of pampering his own body and will happily take an hour to indulgently and thoroughly apply oils and creams and powders.

frustrates you the most? Zaphir, hands down. He is emotionally stunted, in a permanent state of paranoia and old enough to be very stubborn about his beliefs, and I want his story to be about finding inner peace and comfort and genuine companionship... but his story is the story of BG3, which is not conductive to overcoming trust issues. Hhhhhhhh....

makes you smile the most? ALL MY BLORBOS MAKE ME SMILE A LOT But Solstice's overflowing love and kindness is kind of infectuous, and sometimes he is also just really really funny in the most wholesome ways.

is the happiest? I think that'd be Qursa, now that he's reunited with his brother. He is with his family and they're doing good for the galaxy, that's all he ever wanted.

is the saddest? *slaps Crim* this bad boy can fit so much grief in him. He lost everyone he ever loved, as well as himself, and has to worry about losing more every single day. (He'll get better eventually.) I also have a yet unnamed guy percolating in my skull-raisin who is hella unhappy.

is/would be the first to die in a Horror scenario? Yukiro. He's a good fighter and a good sneak, but he is also in bad health and is the kind of man who would tell his team to "Go, I'll hold them off".

has been with you the longest? Making OCs permeates my life, so it's a bit hard to tell sometimes, but I think if we assume AU versions of an OC to still be the same character, then the OC I have had the longest and who has gotten new thoughts added within this year is Meredith, my Saints Row Boss. OG Meredith is basically retired (in a satisfying way), but there is a New Saints Row version of him.

is your newest? Fully existing, that would be my SWTOR Inquisitor, Ru'lonn, who will drag the empire into a new age of alien power even if he has to do it at forcelightningpoint. Still in larval form is unnamed guy, who achieved immortality in the worst possible way.

has the best butt? According to reliable and professional sources, Zaphir. He has been a Monk all his life, he could probably kill a man with his buttcheeks.

is/would be the most likely to get caught committing a crime? Novel would a) absolutely commit a crime for the sake of his townspeople or his temple and b) be really bad at it and get himself caught immediately.

likes/would like animals the most? It's a toss-up between Novel, the Ranger who was saved as a baby by ravens and is never without his own bird friends and loves all of nature, and (surprise) Qursa, who discovered that he is an exceptional healer because he can feel the pain of other living beings by noticing and healing injured animals as a youngling, and who still deeply cares for them now (except certain bugs, bugs are freaky).

can/could cook the best? I have had to realise that nearly all of my OCs have cooking skills ranging from "eh" to "oh god please no". In the context of this unfortunate trend, only Yukiro stands out as someone who can make a decent meal from nearly any ingredient he has available at the time, and makes amazing inarizushi.

[1-up-chump]

Hello, I share your indignation about the new part of MK. Everything was changed too much and strangely. Can you write down the moments you didn't like? For example, I’m not happy with this whole situation with Kuai Liang - Scorpion, Tarkata - a disease, Raiden - Liu Kang 2.0, Fujin - Raiden’s sister, who is Kung Lao’s lover, seriously?

I WILL STATE that i have not bothered to look at everything myself but hear from reliable sources of the basic information of the game so i cannot give a full and fair critique. And i will not give this game anymore attention than i already have given it since it is just NOT a mortal kombat game.

Lets talk about the reasons you listed bc i agree.

Kuai liang as scorpion and in role reversal:

I am not a fan of this even remotely being "canon" Although the idea should be explored by fans WHO UNDERSTAND BOTH KUAI LIANG AND HANZO HASASHI AS CHARACTERS ORIGINALLY. It completely disrespects hanzo as a character and erases his connection to scorpion being a "gimmick thing to slap onto someone" as a title rather than a personal journey of meaning. And kuai deserves more respect as well, originally being an assassin whose clan tried to "modernize" by removing free will of warriors to ensure obedience and make their spirits and talents disposable. Trying to fight against that. It seems ironic in the end his fate is nothing more than to be toyed with by this unoriginal and uninspiring "role swap au lolz"

The tarkatan race being a disease:

I shouldn't even have to clarify how fucked up this is. Right after in mk 11 we saw tarkatans just being another race living in outworld minding their own business, and kotal fucking up (kotal khan is a wasted character but thats for another post) so we got what was once a "bad guy evil race" to something better. AND THEN THEY FUCKED IT UP AGAIN like isnt that, at best, the most tone deaf shit after what happened in real life with a certain disease and people being uber racist??? And dont get me started on how they messed up mileena with that too. (God damn the writers fucking hate her just as much as kung lao)

Raiden role reversal:

Let me tell you as a raiden enjoyer i fucking HATE them making him a basic ass protag like they did with liu kang (i love liu but lately they just removed all personality from him) its so fucking uninspiring and boring as shit AND THEY MAKE HIM CHAMPION INSTEAD OF KUNG LAO???? THE ABSOLUTE DISRESPECT WHAT THE FUCK i love raiden but he doesn't deserve champion title, that belongs to KUNG motherfucking LAO.

Fujin being a sister????:

Listen i havent seen it but this is the dumbest ass shit i have ever seen in my entire life. As if they couldn't show how little they actually care about fujin......

And the shallow fans who care little about fujin other than a "pretty fuck toy to do teh yaois with uwu" which is also what they did to shang tsung now which is like YOU FOOLS! CARY HIROYUKI TAGAWA-SAMA IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE!!! YOU SEXUALIZE HIM WHEN HE'S AN OLD MAN TOO OR YOU'RE A COWARD AND A SHAM!

And then there's the absolute nothing plot that really shows they ran out of ideas and just slap together bullshit. The villains arent really villains and they suck, its just "stop evil shang tsung but hes not actually evil bc theres this other timeline-" ITS FUCKING LAZY AND PATHETIC WRITING it shows that they want to have it all just to appease fans to take their money. Thats it, thats all this story boils down to. A shoddy scam to bullshit a story to take people's money. I mean you cant even get shang tsung or marjory of fan desired characters without dlc and the base game is like 60-70 bucks like the fuck????

As a regular fighting game? Mid but enjoyable i guess. But as a mortal kombat game? No, thats not even mortal kombat thats just some dumbasses wattpad fanfic after they watched avengers endgame in their crusty batman shirt

I'll end this with a small side note: if my opinions offend, I'm sorry im passionate about a series that was a part of my childhood and made me appreciate Japanese and Chinese culture and kung fu cinema in general. Im sorry if the memories of playing a fun game and caring about the characters having strong bonds of friendship in a violent world designed to be a "kill or be killed" system and despite that choosing to do the right thing in their mind.

Sorry if i seem to be playing a different game bc i am.

Its mortal kombat: shaolin monks for the ps2

-gets head ripped off-

[yuniemaki]

Fun fact: Ganyu hates rumors and idle gossip as she does not see them as constructive or productive as well as detesting the idea of tearing anyone down. I figured that after a few centuries, it gets pretty old. The proof? Ganyu's voice line about Beidou.

"Recently, everyone in Yujing Terrace has been saying nasty things about the Crux Fleet. But in my personal opinion, Beidou's contribution to Liyue Harbor goes far beyond what those miserable rumor-loving heathens could even contemplate! ...Oops! I'm sorry, I... I'm not quite sure how that one slipped out..."

(Translation: Liyue is off for the better because of her and she would know because she's seen the nation at much worse.)

Another fun fact: Yae Miko holds Ganyu in quite the high regard as her voice line indicates. The voice line also implies that she would do this quite often and naturally, she would be friendly and almost fond of her in this sense.

"Hmm, now that you mention it, it's been a while since I last saw Ganyu. Before the Sakoku Decree came into effect, the two of us would often meet to discuss bilateral relations between our two nations. I always found her quite reliable. The next time you go to Liyue, take her some more fresh Sea Ganoderma for me."

(Translation: Not only are we besties, we try to keep in frequent contact.)

Why am I bringing this up?

Because despite Ganyu's distaste for rumors and how Miko thrives off of it and loves digging around for the source, their friendship works. And it's beautiful.

Another post about little nuggets of character interactions, lore, and other things I notice brought to you by 'this fandom has not paid enough attention to [insert gripe here]'. I'm quite glad that you like getting these. I quite like sending them.

NARKY PLEASE THAT SIDENOTE T_T I do quite like getting these. May Narky's miniseries continue!

Ganyu has never struck me as someone who values productivity and efficiency, that feels more like Keqing's domain. Rather, Ganyu as a whole seems to be someone who wants to be that way, but finds it difficult (based on her voicelines about Rex Lapis and she talks about avoiding major mistakes after a few HUNDRED YEARS OF EXPERIENCE???!!)

That said, I interpret her outburst re: Beidou to be more of outrage that such unfounded rumours are swirling about someone close to her.

Fact that she told the traveller, though, suggests she might be a little loose-lipped sometimes... and knowing Miko, she's probably already extracted a thousand juicy nuggets about Liyue's icons from Ganyu. WHICH IS FUNNY.... MIKO PROBABLY KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CRUX'S ILLEGAL WORK FROM GANYU LMAO

Ganyu's so shy and Miko's so good with people, I can imagine her just following Miko around and answering her questions and inadvertently revealing too much along the way...

And Miko just laughs and finds it entertaining because Ganyu's fascinating; she is half-human and half-qilin, she has perspectives of the mortal and immortal worlds that Miko can't even dream of experiencing, being a kitsune herself.

I like to think "bilateral relations" is just their work cover for meeting. Like sure, they talk and they get work out of the way, but I'm sure theirs is a special friendship: they are, after all, two immortals living amidst mortals, and Miko was lonely for centuries with Ei in the plane and all of her youkai friends dead :(

Miko's view of the mortal world also seems to fall in line with Ganyu's. I like to think she learned that partly from Ganyu and her centuries of working alongside humans!

Also the interesting thing is Ganyu doesn't have a voice line about Miko, so we're left to wonder what her opinion of Guuji Yae is. It's also interesting that Ganyu is the one who represents Liyue in bilateral relations... she's the General Secretary!! Shouldn't one of the Qixing be involved?! Or perhaps they see value in having a half-qilin cultivate relations with a kitsune? After all, Ganyu has seen multiple generations of Qixing come and go, and Miko has outlived countless shrine maidens... how did this unlikely friendship come about, anyway? We'll never know until Ganyu talks about Miko...

[canyoufucksoniccharacters]

Honey The Cat! This is a bit of a niche pick, but I can roll with it. Fun fact about this one, she's only kind of a Sonic character, she's more like a fursona for Honey from Fighting Vipers! In fact, if I remember correctly, the engine for Sonic The Fighters was built off of the one for Fighting Vipers- that being the reason Honey was originally meant to be implemented as a secret character, only to be scrapped, fully functional, until the console re-release, where she was made fully, legitimately playable. All that aside, her origin might help us answer-

Can you fuck Honey The Cat?

Hey, that's our third cat in a row!

First, I must warn that I am not very well versed in Archie content, which is where this character got most of her content. Her game of origin has pretty much no character dialogue whatsoever, and she only gets a few non-speaking cameos in IDW. So, I will mostly be looking around online for potential relevant information.

Let's start with solely Sonic-related information first. We'll look at Fighting Vipers later.

In Archie, apparently she's the founder and CEO of a clothing and accessories company- although considering this is Archie we're talking about, this isn't that particularly good of an indicator of age. This could very much be a Seto Kaiba situation where a character, by simple cartoon/anime logic, is a CEO of a company at an unreasonably young age. Her behavior also leaves very little to be gathered about her age- not particularly childlike, but not exactly all that mature either. From behavior alone, she could be anywhere from a teenager to a young adult.

So, that doesn't exactly help. Let's look at her human counterpart from Fighting Vipers for help!

In Fighting Vipers 1, she's listed as 16 years old- which is... Very, very concerning considering the contents of this game! As both her armor and skirt are breakable. Incredibly creepy behavior from Sega aside, this isn't the only game where she appears; as Fighting Vipers got a sequel! In fact...

Said sequel takes place 2 years after the original game, placing Honey (the human) at 18 years old. Problem solved, right? Well...

There's a bit of a release date problem here.

As you can see here, Fighting Vipers 2 only released after Sonic The Fighters- so, Honey The Cat is based on the 16 year old Honey from Fighting Vipers. If we're to assume that they share the same age, that places Honey firmly at 16 years old at the time of Sonic The Fighters.

Although... We've got to account for the fact that STF is a classic series game. And as of the release of Sonic Origins, the classic series is, in fact, set in the past. No, it's not an alternate/parallel universe, fuck off Ken Pontac.

So, if Honey were to appear in a modern game, logically, she should be an adult- by how much is unclear, but she could easily be around the 20 range.

So, if it's game Honey we're talking about, unless they aged her down for STF, she should, in fact, be fuckable.

As for Archie, though... I'm unsure. The arc she appears in is an adaptation of Sonic The FIghters- the game where she was presumably 16. Again, her position as CEO doesn't exactly change much here, and if she was 16, that'd put her solidly around the same age range as all the other post-SGW characters that aren't outright children. Much like anything Archie-related, it's a mess.

So, with all that considered, from the perspective of both the games and comics-

Can you fuck Honey The Cat?

Well... I'd be cautious. Unless there's confirmation from Ian Flynn or someone else who wrote for her and is a reliable source, and unless she appears in a modern game, it's a bit of a risky endeavor. Sure, we can assume she's 16 during her debut game, a classic series game, but there's no guarantee whatsoever. She could have aged down, they could have just not thought of her age, it's all rather unclear.

So, until we get confirmation one way or the other, which we likely never will considering the nicheness of this character, it's about a 50/50, and a very unlikely chance for Archie, where she actually gets some personality and her own identity.

Verdict;

Proceed at your own discretion.

There's a chance you can fuck her, but there's also a chance she is, in fact, a minor, much like the character she was based on at the time of her creation. Really, there's too little to say for sure. I probably won't judge you if you go for it, but there's also more than enough reason for someone to want to steer clear.

This is possibly our most complicated case thus far!

... Thus far.