#did you guys know that for years Toy Story was my all time favorite movie?

[bimbelygimbly]

Holy shit this is peak oh my god.

BEGINNING the count for my Pixar art this year and heres the FIRST one for 2025!!!! 🧸🤠👨‍🚀

[samkiszkasfacialhair]

Move My Way

Move My Way

Pairing: Jake Kiszka x Female Reader but every other member of GVF gets some kisses.

Summary: Take a shot… or strip.

Warnings: Alcohol, kissing, implications of sex, spicy Jake

Word Count: 3.5k

This was one of those times in movies where the main character narrates a scene and tells the audience “You may be wondering how I got here.” 

You were on the floor of Josh’s apartment surrounded by three half naked Kiszka boys and Danny who was also in his boxers, reaching for a bottle of vodka on the floor. 

Here’s how you got here- a thunderstorm, a citywide blackout, one of Jake’s teenage memories, and jealousy.

Speaking of teenage memories, you’d been friends with Josh since high school. You did theater with him and remained close as the years went on. Your friendship began including Jake over the years and stayed pretty strong despite the small crush on Jake you’d pushed aside year after year. Sam and Danny had always been around as well and you had a good bond with them too. Even as they became successful and began touring and eventually moving out of Michigan, you remained friends with all of them.

You planned a weekend trip to Nashville to see them and go out to some of their favorite spots now that they’d lived there and got acclimated for a few months now. However, when you originally planned your trip, you didn’t plan on a huge storm hitting while you were there, preventing you from going out bar hopping with the guys like you originally planned.

Instead, everyone was sprawled out over couches, chairs, and the floor of Josh’s living room watching movies and eating popcorn when his TV screen went black and every light in his apartment went out. 

You all tried your phones, no wifi. 

Any phone service you had was limited.

Jake stood up from the floor and used his phone flashlight to guide him to a window. He pulled back the living room curtains to be met with nothing but a sea of black with wind and rain whipping at the window.

“It’s a blackout!” he said excitedly, “The entire city is down, look!”

Danny and Sam eagerly got up and ran to the window to see like two little kids while Josh headed for his bedroom

You followed behind him, already knowing what he was headed for.

He dug around in the bottom drawer of his nightstand in the darkness for a second, before pulling out a bunch of candles and handing you some.

You headed back into the living room and placed the candles on his coffee table. 

“Does anyone have a li-”

You didn’t even need to finish your sentence before Sam was tossing you a lighter. 

“Thanks,” you said as you caught it and began lighting up the candles you had set on the table.

Josh joined you all in the living room with more candles, lighting the rest of them and giving his apartment a warm glow.

“So, now what do we do? Wait it out?” Sam asked.

“And do what, Sam? It could be like this for hours,” Jake replied.

Sam shrugged and looked at the floor. 

Josh didn’t have much. He had only moved here a few months ago and with all the work they were doing, he didn’t spend a ton of time in the apartment. For entertainment, he had a TV, a few books, and a mostly empty bar cart.

“You got beer, Josh?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, I think-” Josh answered as he got up to go to the kitchen when Danny stopped him.

“Don’t open the fridge if you don't have to. Keep the cool air in or else everything in there will go bad,” Danny advised.

He was right as always. 

So for the better part of 30 minutes, you all sat around, trying to come up with ideas of things to do.

Eventually the conversation went onto discussing childhood and teenage memories. 

It moved from reminiscing about toys you once had, to people you once knew, to people you’ve each kissed. 

Josh made the executive decision that everyone must share their first kiss stories. And since you had nothing better to do…

Danny was fifteen. It was with a girl he went to camp with who he never saw again. 

Josh’s was when he was fourteen. It was for a play. Romeo and Juliet. Enough said. 

Sam was seventeen and it was with the girl he had just broken things off with last month after being together two years. 

You were just about to share yours when Jake interrupted. 

Jake wasn’t really a participant in the whole group conversation. Instead, he laid on an area rug and played around with a bottle of vodka, spinning it around on the hardwood floor close by.

“My first kiss was because of a bottle of Tito’s,” he said with his eyes fixated on the bottle, “Sixth grade. Kaylee Kowalski’s basement. Spin the bottle.”

Jake was in a daydream of teenage memories with a small smile on his face.

You stared at him with a hint of jealousy stinging in your chest. You were at that party. You watched him kiss Kaylee Kowalski in front of everyone, wishing it was you instead of her. 

Back in middle school, everyone knew Jake and Kaylee liked each other. It was like that party in Kaylee’s basement was made for them to kiss. You watched all his friends cheer him on and watched all her friends giggle. You remember thinking to yourself how lucky she was. From across the room, you watched him talk to her the rest of the night while she twirled her hair stupidly. 

You remembered becoming friends with Josh and seeing Jake around, hoping somehow, one day, you could be the one he wanted the same way he wanted Kaylee Kowalski.

And now, even though you were both adults, that was way in the past, and Kaylee’s family moved away a few years later, for some reason, those teenage feelings came back full force and made you bubble with anger and jealousy. 

You woke him up from his day dream real quick when you gasped as an idea for redemption hit you.

“What?” he asked hesitantly, catching a sinister look in your eye.

“Spin the bottle,” you replied, practically jumping out of your chair.

“Spin the bottle?” he repeated. He was asking a question but at the same time, he wasn’t.

“Yes, spin the bottle! Besides, what else is there to do?”

“Not kiss my brothers?” 

You rolled your eyes and took the bottle from his hands.

“You don’t have to kiss your brother’s look… If the bottle lands on yourself or someone who you don’t want to kiss, you have two options. Take a shot… or...” you paused, looking around the room for another option. 

“Or strip,” Jake interrupted bluntly.

Immediately, Sam, Josh, and Danny started protesting but you tuned them out as you caught Jake’s eyes staring you down from across the circle. 

All of it sounded like background noise as your eyes dropped from Jake’s eyes, to his lips, and finally to his bare chest peeking through his half buttoned shirt.

“M’kay,” you said, smirking and regaining eye contact with him once more.

“That’s not fair!” Sam shouted, bringing you back to reality. You looked at him in just a pair of shorts and a short sleeve button up shirt. 

“What? Both alternatives are equally as humiliating as me having to kiss each of you in front of everyone here. BUT! The game will end when I have kissed each of you. Or until someone’s naked,” you explained.

After shutting Sam down, you looked around the circle of them, all shrugging their shoulders. They knew this game was the best alternative to doing absolutely nothing. Plus it was bound to give you all some silly entertainment, get the group tipsy, and give you what you’d wanted since you were thirteen.

“Well,” Jake began, “ladies first,” he said as he placed the bottle on the rug and sat back down across from you.

“No way, I’m outnumbered! You go first!” you shot back.

Being the gentleman he was, he smiled, reached forward, and gave the bottle his best. The five of you watched it in anticipation as it slowed down. 

It came to a stop facing Danny.

You all broke out into fits of laughter and Danny puckered his lips out to Jake jokingly.

Without hesitation, Jake reached for the bottle and took a swig of it effortlessly.

Lame.

That was how the first couple rounds went. No one wanted to be the first one to kiss someone, understandably, so you all opted for the alternatives.

After a bit of time, you had each had a few shots and you all were getting hit with the effects of them. At that point, everyone except Josh stopped taking shots and started stripping. 

Jake and Danny kept their jeans on but so far were shirtless. You were just as they were, but in your bra. Sam was in nothing but a pair of boxers. And Josh, being stubborn, was fully clothed but a lot drunker than anyone else.

Next up to spin the bottle was Josh. You knew he was ready to take a break from drinking but he was also stubborn enough to be the last one completely clothed just so he could say he won. After all, you knew the other three guys were a bit more interested in kissing a girl than he was. He spun the bottle and it came to a stop at Jake. 

You all giggled, including Jake who figured Josh would give in and take off a piece of clothing. Josh however, was never afraid to shake things up and did the exact opposite of what Jake anticipated.

“Alright since none of you have any balls,” he said as he leaned forward on his knees, grabbed Jake’s face, and gave him a dramatic kiss on the lips, pulling back with a “MWAH” sound as Jake pushed him back off him, laughing.

Even if it was a joke, it was the first kiss of the night.

Jake wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand as all of you laughed hysterically at what had just happened. Jake was a good sport about it and it was all for fun. 

After a few jokes directed to Jake, everyone's laughter faded and it was your turn again.

You spun the bottle and waited for it to finish spinning. 

Josh kissing Jake as a joke pushed the game into a new direction- you knew whoever it landed on, you’d have to kiss.

And who did it land on? Josh.

The look of shock on his face sent you all into another fit of laughter. 

“Come on, Josh, kissing a girl won't kill you,” you teased as you turned to him and sat up on your knees.

Josh rolled his eyes playfully and lifted his chin up just a bit, waiting for you.

But you weren’t going for just a peck or a joke. It was game time. You wanted Jake to see this. You wanted Jake to be able to see himself in Josh, kissing you. 

The same nose, brushing against yours.

The same lips, wrapping around yours.

The same tongue, teasing yours.

You sat on your knees in front of him and cupped his jaw as he fought back a smile.

You inched your face closer to his and the second your mouth hit his, both of you broke into laughter that blew out of your puckered lips, practically spitting on eachother.

You couldn’t help it. Kissing Josh felt incredibly weird. 

But you weren’t worried. You had all night, clothes to lose, and two more unkissed boys in the circle. 

Next up to spin the bottle was Sam.

He reached for the bottle. You all knew what Sam was thinking. He was hoping for himself so he wouldn’t have to kiss anyone or for Danny so he could make a joke out of it like Josh did.

He got the exact opposite. 

He got you. 

There was no way he could say no to you without his brothers teasing him for the rest of his life, especially now that the game had taken on a new tone.

Even in the candlelight, you watched his face turn a shade of pink.

Sam was nineteen and still didn’t have much experience with girls- that much you all knew. He had one girlfriend his entire life so far. You knew he wasn’t a saint, but you knew he’d only ever been with one person.

To have to kiss a girl in front of his older, more experienced brothers was a living nightmare for him. Plus, out of everyone, he had the least amount of clothes on, which added to his embarrassment.

But at that moment, you figured you could help Sam out. You were about to give him the kiss of his life. This had the potential to end Jake and Josh’s teasing forever. And it could in turn help you out too. 

You watched Jake clench his jaw when the bottle landed on you. You could see daggers in his eyes as he looked at Sam. He was jealous. 

Good.

On your hands and knees, you crawled over to Sam slowly and met him across the circle where he sat criss-crossed and trying incredibly hard not to look at your chest. 

He was breathing through parted lips and once you got close enough to him, he tilted his face up to meet yours.

“Close your eyes,” you whispered right before your mouth connected to his.

You went for it with Sam. 

You kissed him hard and he kissed back. One of his hands naturally grabbed your ass and the other grabbed the back of your head and pushed you further into his mouth, deepening the kiss both figuratively and literally. 

Sam had nice lips and even though he was a little inexperienced and therefore a little sharp with his movements, you had to admit, the kiss was decent. 

You lapped your tongue at him just enough and Sam involuntarily hummed into your kiss, seemingly forgetting where he was. You pulled back and broke the kiss, watching a look of shock appear on Sam’s face as he opened his eyes.

He shook his head like a wet dog and swallowed hard before running his hands through his hair and looking around the circle. 

“You okay, Sammy Boy?” Jake asked with a hint of laughter in his voice. 

His tone was condescending. You took notice of what he called Sam. 

Sammy Boy.

He did that on purpose. He wanted Sam to feel young and small, like a little kid. 

“Yes,” Sam stated matter of factly, “I’ve never been better, actually!” 

Danny, Josh, and you all laughed with Sam. 

Sam’s sweetness overshadowed Jake’s harshness and completely backfired on him, making him look like an asshole to the rest of the people in the room.

Perfect.

You waited it out with Jake. You spun the bottle and it landed on him. But you rolled your eyes and took your pants off, leaving you in just your bra and underwear (which thankfully matched and was a cute set).

Eventually he caught on. He spun the bottle when it was his turn and of course, it landed on you. So what did he do? He took his pants off.

The air was filled with tension. Josh, Sam, and Danny stared at each other awkwardly, knowing exactly what was going on at that point.

The game continued on for a bit. Jake took shots so he wouldn’t have to kiss his brothers or Danny in his underwear. Besides, he was waiting it out for you. 

You, on the other hand, kissed his brothers and Danny in your underwear just to make him madder. 

The boys took shots and stripped sock by sock while you went for the kisses. You gave Danny and Sam gentle kisses but you did make sure you gave Sam just a tiny bit more feeling. You and Josh gave each other pecks that ended in laughter because you couldn’t take each other seriously. 

Then, it was your turn again. However this time, all you had left on was your bra and underwear. Taking anything else off would be too much. And you couldn’t handle another shot of vodka burning it’s way down your throat and feeling it swish around in your stomach. 

You leaned forward to spin the bottle and you could feel Jake’s eyes practically burning into you.

For what felt like an eternity, the bottle spun. Finally slowing itself down after passing Sam, Danny, and Josh. It came to a halt, pointed in between Jake and Sam, but was tilted just a bit more in Jake’s favor. 

Finally.

You and Jake locked eyes from across the circle and it was game time. 

“C’mere,” he said as jutted up his chin and sat back on his hands, opening up his lap for you.

Sure your kisses with Danny were sweet and your kisses with Sam were hot but they meant nothing. This one was about to be real and it had been building up not only for the past hour, but for the past 10 years. 

You crawled around Josh and over to Jake. You could tell every single eye in the room was on the two of you and you didn’t care. In fact, you liked it. 

While keeping eye contact, you straddled his lap.

The hair on his legs brushed against your skin and the only thing between the two of you were a couple thin layers of cotton. You could literally feel his dick on your thigh through his underwear.

His eyes were dark and tired as he looked up at you. 

He reached one hand up, now only supporting his body weight with the hand still resting on the floor behind his back, and gently gripped it around the back of your neck, rubbing his thumb along your jawline. 

“I bet Kaylee Kowalski wishes she was you right now,” he whispered.

“Shut up and kiss me,” you replied, also in a whisper, closing the gap between the two of you. 

The second your lips hit his, you found yourself in heaven. This had been what you’d been wanting since you were thirteen. Only now, Jake wasn’t cute with his Beiber cut and braces. Now he was a man and he was sexy. 

Jake started slow. His pillow soft lips fit perfectly on yours and made you want more with each kiss. 

His mouth tasted like vodka combined with the flavor of cherry lime vape juice, and just the sweet flavor of that alone had you humming into his mouth. 

You sucked his bottom lip in and pulled at it just a bit with your teeth before he broke the kiss and sat up to pull you closer to him. 

As he went deeper, his tongue teased at your lip and you did the same to him, letting them slide against each other as your lips continued moving. 

Jake was taking you to a completely different world. You were completely lost in him and his kisses and you had to thank God you were adults now and not teenagers in a basement party so you could really do what you wanted to do to him. 

Unfortunately, the sound of Josh, Danny, and Sam letting out celebratory cheers brought you out of your Jake induced daydream and back to reality. 

You broke away from Jake with a smack of your lips and looked around Josh’s apartment to see every light on. 

“Alright games over, get a room!” Josh, who was still fully clothed, yelled dramatically as he picked up the bottle of vodka and headed to his bedroom for the night.

Sam and Danny laughed everything off as they threw their shirts back on and threw themselves onto Josh’s couches for the night with the TV now on as background noise for them to fall asleep to.

Now able to fully see and after a taste of each other that you’d both been wanting for 10 years, you and Jake looked at each other and laughed. 

“I like this game,” he said. His voice was soft but gravely at the same time.

Even though the power was back, it was late and the night was over for the entire city; except you and Jake. 

Thankful for Josh’s two bedroom apartment, you whispered, “You wanna keep playing?”

Without saying a word, he started to get up, urging you to get off him first. The two of you got off the floor and headed for Josh’s guest room, leaving your clothes behind on his living room carpet. 

Upon entering, Jake closed the door, locked it, and turned off the light, leaving you two in darkness once again. 

He pulled you in close to him and kissed you gently before speaking just above a whisper.

“You said the game was over when you kissed everyone right?” 

“Mhm,” you hummed, “that or once someone is completely naked.”

Jake smirked as he walked you backwards towards the bed. The back of your knees hit it and you fell back with Jake on top of you. You could see nothing but his teeth and the whites of his eyes in the dark room when he whispered,

“Game over.”

Author's Note: This one has been in the drafts for a while. Don't come for me about incest because this is far from it. It's all silly. They kiss each other on stage anyway.

[saphire-dance]

Welcome to the Transformers Fandom

Did you just see Transformers One? It was good, wasn't it? Do you want to be fannish about it? This post is for you.

First thing to know is we use the tag maccadam. This practice dates back to when the live action movies would flood the Transformers tag with actor pics. Maccadam is where you will find the robots. It is a reference to Maccadam's Old Oil House. A bar found in some continuities. You can still use the Transformers tag

Speaking of references. Let me introduce you to your new best friend: TFWiki. The Transformers Wiki is the place to go if you want to know anything about Transformers. Shows, Movies, Comics, Books, Toys. It's all there. We're spoiled with how good this wiki is. Thanks, guys.

Now you don't have to watch more Transfomers to be a fan. If you loved the movie you're already a fan. You don't have to ever watch another thing and you are still a fan and welcome here. But I'm betting you want to see more Transfomers. Here are some other continuities and where to find them. This is not an extensive list. This is a starter pack.

The Transformers (1984) AKA Generation 1 AKA G1. The original that started it all. Dubious 80s animation and some of the greatest voice actors of all time. Available on Tubi for free.

Beast Wars AKA TFBW. If G1 started everything Beast Wars is what kept it from dying out. Absolutely bleeding edge computer animation in the 90s. It's, uh, very dated, but the story and voice acting still hold up and I recommend giving it a chance. Available on Tubi for free.

Transformers Animated AKA TFA (yes we fought the Star Wars folks over that tag) Debuted the same year as the first Live Action Movie. It is very anime influenced and shows a very different side to our favorite characters. One of the more popular shows in the fandom. Available on Tubi for free. Also on Pluto

Transformers Prime AKA TFP AKA Prime. Another very popular show with the fandom. Part of the Aligned continuity which featured books, games, and other shows. This is probably closest to Transformers One in characterization and I would recommend making this your next watch if you can. The First season is on Netflix with the rest available on Tubi. Yeah I don't know what is up with that.

Rescue Bots AKA TFRB This is a Show for Preschoolers, but don't let that scare you away. It is one of the best Transformers shows. Somehow also part of the Aligned continuity. Season one is on Netflix and it is also available on Pluto

Transformers Cyberverse AKA Cyberverse AKA TFCV. A fun Bumblebee focused show. Very few humans. Season 1 is on Hasbro's YouTube channel, Season 3 (????) is on Netflix, Also on Pluto.

Transformers EarthSpark AKA TFES. The most recent show. Lots of new characters and a new side to Megatron that I love. On Paramount+ and YouTube premium.

Live Action Movies. There are 7 live action movies the first 5 are directed by Micheal Bay and are collectively known as the Bayverse The other two movies Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts, are also sometimes lumped in with Bayverse. It is debated if they are reboots or prequels. Personally Bumblebee is my favorite. They are all available on Paramount+

Comics. Comics have been part of Transformers from the very beginning. First with Marvel and later with other publishers. Marvel Dreamwave and IDW are the best known publishers. IDW is still very popular in fandom. Currently comics are being published by Skybound. Unfortunately finding out of print comics can be very difficult/expensive and I recommend checking TFWIKI for summaries if you can't find them.

[notiddygothgf]

1. Arrival in Tokyo

★ pairings: aki hayakawa x fem reader

★ ❝ Captain? Should I be calling you sir? ❞ ❝ Only if you want to. ❞

★ c.w.: aki being sexy a f (more content warnings and tags)

★ a/n: CHAPTER ONE IS UP AND RUNNINGGGGGG!! im so excited bc ive been sitting on this fanfic all fking summer like when i tell u i havent been able to focus on anything else. i have not known peace. ANYWAY im trying smth new w this story bc it was supposed to be a oneshot but uh... now its at 150 pages on google docs so erm... anyway! updates should flow quixker now that i have 90% of it written!! comment and let me know all of ur thoughts everywhere omg i love reading ur remarks bc u guys r so funny on my other ffs. ENJOY POOKIES! i love yall!!

★ w.c.; 4.3k

shameless ; chapter index

"SO YOU'RE LEAVING ME because the Tokyo division needs backup?" 

"I'm not leaving you," You sighed, though a playful lilt and a smirk followed your sarcastic remark. You and your husband were discussing work-related matters over a sushi dinner – your favorite. Perks of being married to your work partner. "I'm being summoned. I won't be long. Promise."

Your husband frowned, brows knitting together. His brown hair was tied back into a bun, baby hairs licking at his forehead, his cheeks. Tanimoto Yoshiro was a man of many virtues, but patience was not one of them. With a sigh, he began to toy with his salmon roll, prodding it with the end of his wooden chopsticks. "One whole week without that sexy ass of yours... What will I do?"

Your left eye twitched – slightly, hardly noticeable by the naked eye. You, for one, wouldn't miss the sex. It was, for lack of a better word... unfulfilling. It would get better over the years, you were sure of it. The two of you had only had the last few years to practice, after all. You wanted to wait until marriage (With him. You were no virgin by any stretch of the word.).

It was unfair of you to take your sexual frustrations out on him. It had been a tiring week for the both of you, is all. You barely had time for sit down meals like this anymore – whatever hanky-panky the two of you ever did indulge in these days was rushed, messy, and often... short lived.

Anyway, needless to say... You would be fine. It was you and your rabbit toy against the world, anyway.

"You'll be fine," You smiled. You loved him. He loved you. He was a great husband, and he took care of you. You had no reason to complain. "I'll be back before you know it." .

The Japanese countryside was a blur, rushing past the window of your train like pictures, like a movie. You hadn't noticed the train slow to a stop, in fact, until you heard the doors open. Popping your head up over the seat, you observed the train station. Which stop is this? People began filtering in from both sides, eager to find a seat before the train took off.

A shrill cry of your name roused you from your thoughts. 

You whipped your head around. A familiar-looking woman with black hair and an eyepatch was waving you down across the aisle. She was wearing a Public Safety suit and slacks. Himeno.

A smile crawled over your lips before you knew it. "Himeno?" You asked, a teasing lilt in your tone. "Is that you?"

Without asking if anyone else was sitting there, she took a seat in the one across from you. She leaned forward, perching her chin up on her hand. "Never thought I'd see you again. How the hell are 'ya?"

You and Himeno went way back. She had been in the same division as you back when the two of you were teens. She was the first person in Public Safety who had ever actually welcomed you to the division and the last person to say goodbye to you. You parted ways before ever being able to exchange information but, for what it was worth, she had made those gruesome, tedious missions more bearable. 

"I've been good!" You grinned. "I've been in the Kyoto sector with my partner. I truly did plan on coming back, but one thing led to another, and now..." You trailed off, waving your hands around like you were trying to find the right words. "Well, I'm married to him."

The train creaked and groaned before it began to move again. 

"So I've heard," Himeno licked her lips. She sat back in her chair, producing a carton of cigarettes – the kind she always used to smoke when the two of you were on missions together. "You mind if I smoke?"

No, but the conductor might. "Of course not," You answered. "How about you? How have you been?"

She sighed. "Been better, honestly. Devil activity's been crazy recently," Fishing a lighter out of her suit pocket, she sparked up. The end of her cigarette sizzled and smoked between her slim fingers. Holding it up to her lips, she muttered, "Just doing what I can to stay alive. What brings you back to the city?"

"My presence has been requested by the higher-ups," You shrugged. The scent of nicotine and smoke filled the cabin. It was gross but, frankly, familiar. "My husband wasn't too happy that he didn't get invited, so this better be worth it."

"I see," Himeno hummed, breathing out a puff of smoke to the side. She kept on looking out of the window after that, at the train station that was now far behind the train. "You're leaving your partner and I'm returning to mine."

"You're married?" You asked.

"God, no," She chuckled softly, pulling another hit from her cancer stick. "Wouldn't mind being with my assigned partner, though. He's a fine piece of ass."

It seemed like you couldn't help the way you burst into laughter at her crude remark. She hasn't changed one bit. "Is he cute?"

"Cute?" She repeated the word like it was a foreign object in her mouth. Her voice was muffled by the cloud of smoke that flowed out from between her lips. "He's drop-dead gorgeous," She took another slow, calculated hit. "Enough about me, though, how's the married life going for you?"

Could be better. You feigned a warm smile at the mention of your husband. "Good. Yeah, it's good."

Good was a bit of an overstatement. .

You and Himeno spent the rest of the train ride catching up. There was talk about marriage, sex, old coworkers, and new ones. It felt kind of good to be back – to be able to talk to someone who shared the same history as you. You would almost say that you missed it.

By the time the announced its next stop at the Tokyo station, you hadn't even realized how quickly the trip had gone by. You could thank your talkative companion for that. As the train finally eased to a stop, you turned to Himeno with a smile. 

"I need to grab my bags," you said, rising from your seat and straightening your clothes.

Himeno nodded, her smile warm but tinged with a hint of sadness. "Okay. Take care of yourself!"

Navigating the narrow aisle, you headed toward the luggage compartment. As you reached up to grab your suitcase, you collided with someone. Startled, you looked up to find yourself face-to-face with a man who immediately captured your attention. He was tall, easily over six feet, with broad shoulders and a powerful build that spoke of both strength and discipline. His dark hair was tied back in a neat topknot, accentuating his sharp, angular features. But it was his eyes that held you—their piercing blue depths seemed to look straight through you, filled with a seriousness that made you catch your breath.

"Sorry—" he began, his voice a deep, resonant baritone that vibrated through the narrow space.

For a moment, the world seemed to narrow down to just the two of you. The closeness of his body, the scent of his cologne—clean and subtly spiced, lingering just faintly on the collar of his suit jacket—the intense focus of his gaze; all of it created a bubble of tension that neither of you could ignore. You could see the flicker of surprise in his eyes, a momentary lapse in his serious demeanor, as if he too had been caught off guard.

Both of you paused. His gaze flickered down to your uniform for just a heartbeat before he quickly looked away, regaining his composure. Without another word, you continued in opposite directions, the silent exchange leaving you... well, a little breathless to say the least.

Stop it. You're a married woman. Surely, you would know how to control your impulses after being away from your husband for only a day.

Reaching up, you pulled your suitcase from the overhead compartment, the weight of it a familiar comfort. Setting it down on the ground with a soft thud, you turned back to your seat, only to find the handsome man still standing there, now engaged in conversation with Himeno. He was so tall that he had to actually lean over a little bit to fit into the cabin.

Fuck me. You thought. Wait, no, don't fuck me.

"Is this your partner, Himeno?" you asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Yes, I found him!" Himeno responded with a wide grin. "Captain Hayakawa, this is an old friend of mine," she said, going on to introduce you by name.

"Hello," he greeted, extending his hand. The deep, velvety timbre of his voice sent a shiver down your spine.

"Captain? Should I be calling you 'sir'?" you teased lightly, shaking his hand – and his grip was firm and warm.

"Only if you want to," he replied, "Hayakawa is fine."

Only if you want to.

Get your fucking head out of the gutter.

Your heart skipped a beat as you found yourself momentarily lost in his gaze. His eyes were a captivating shade of blue, intense and unwavering. The handshake lingered a moment too long. You could feel the strength and warmth of his hand – it was far larger than yours, and had calluses at the tip of the palm.

Despite his serious demeanor, there was a flicker of something in his eyes, a hint of interest that he seemed determined to keep under control. Reluctantly, you pulled your hand away, feeling the lingering warmth of his touch. 

His gaze remained locked on yours for a moment longer, a silent acknowledgment of whatever the fuck had just happened.

Himeno cleared her throat, breaking the spell. "Well, let me give you a big hug, dearest."

You embraced her fondly, the familiarity of her touch grounding you. 

"Here, give me your number," Himeno said as she pulled back. She flipped her phone open. "Let's keep in touch."

With a smile, you told her your phone number. 

She snapped her phone shut after she had finished typing it in. "Okay! Hopefully, I'll get to see you around."

"Yes, of course! We'll be in touch," You agreed. You bowed your head to her, then to her partner. "Hayakawa."

He nodded back. You dismissed yourself after that, turning on your heel and practically scrambling to get out of that tiny train cabin. Still, you couldn't help but glance back at Captain Hayakawa. His eyes met yours again for a brief, fleeting moment before you turned away, heart racing with something you hadn't felt in a long time.

You didn't want to stick around and find out what it was. The weight of your wedding ring around your finger was a reminder of that much. .

You hadn't been in Public Safety's Tokyo headquarters in years. It was bigger than you remembered it being. The worst part? All the halls looked the exact same. It took you about thirty minutes to find the office in which you were currently standing.

A woman who you'd been dreading seeing the whole way over there was perched on a leather seat in front of you, arms folded over the desk, pink hair braided the same way it always had been, feline eyes flitting over your body. It made you feel small – like prey trapped in a predator's den.

"How was your trip over here?" Makima asked. Her voice was smooth, uniform – calculated, just like everything else she did. 

"It was pleasant," You answered. "I came as soon as I could."

"We appreciate that," Makima said, a hint of something sinister in her smile.

She stepped out from behind her desk, pacing slowly around the room. "I called you here because we've recently suffered a great deal of casualties," she explained, her tone measured and controlled. "I'm worried we won't have the manpower to deal with all the sudden appearances of gun-devil pieces."

"I understand. Am I being formally stationed?" you replied, trying to maintain your composure.

"Not that I know of, no," she responded, her eyes narrowing slightly. "For now, we need backup on a particular mission involving a school in the area. There have been reports of peculiar activity there, and I want to send one of my teams to investigate. I haven't decided whether you'll be in the field or here tying up some loose ends—we recently lost one of our best workers, and we're very far behind as a result. I'll have a certain answer for you within the next few days."

"A few... days?"

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"No, not at all, no. I just—" you sighed, feeling the weight of uncertainty. "Yeah, okay, that sounds good."

"You've also been booked a hotel suite nearby. Your stay will be provided at no cost to you," she continued, her tone unwavering. "I'll reach out to you as soon as I have more details. Hang tight until then."

With a tight-lipped smile, you nodded. "Thank you, Miss Makima. Am I dismissed?"

"Yes, I'll have one of our drivers take you to your room so you can drop off your luggage," she said, her smile not reaching her eyes. "Where did you leave it?"

"I left it in the break room," you said.

"Very well. I'll have someone collect it," she replied, her eyes closing briefly as she smiled. "Get home safely."

With that, you turned and left the office, the tension of the encounter still lingering in the back of your mind. There was just something about that damn lady that never failed to send a shiver up your spine. You sighed, glancing down at the old floorboards, at your shoes.

The reality of the situation began to sink in. 

You had traveled all this way, navigating the maze of identical halls and sterile rooms, only to be told you had to wait. The thought gnawed at you— That sounds about right from her, you mused. It was typical of Makima, always keeping you in the dark, always one step ahead, holding the reins tightly.

The cool, clinical atmosphere of the headquarters only heightened your sense of displacement. The fluorescent lights overhead cast a harsh, unforgiving glow, making everything look stark and unwelcoming.

Lost in your thoughts, you heard a series of footsteps echoing down the hall, followed by hushed voices. The sound grew closer, and you recognized the voice immediately—it was the young lieutenant captain again, the man you had bumped into earlier.

You glanced up, and there he was, standing just a few feet away. He was a striking figure, his presence suffocating – commanding and enigmatic. He had a sharp jaw, chiseled and defined, the kind that could cut paper. His eyes, a moody blue, held a penetrating gaze, one that seemed to see right through you, making you feel as though you were laid completely bare before him.

His brow was knit slightly in deep thought. There was a slight furrow at the bridge of his nose. The tufts of inky black hair that framed his features only added to the boyish charm of his face. 

As he spoke to the other Public Safety worker beside him, his hands moved with purposeful grace.

Your eyes were drawn to him despite yourself, unable to escape the force of his presence. 

His gaze caught yours briefly, and in that fleeting moment, you felt an almost tangible tension in the air. It was as if time had stopped for a heartbeat, the corridor seeming to stretch and contract around the two of you.

The connection between your eyes was like a magnet, pulling you in despite your efforts to look away. The faintest flutter in your chest was enough to have you gripping the collar of your shirt.

He blinked first, his eyes breaking away from yours as he turned back to his companion. The conversation resumed, but the air seemed thicker now, charged with the residual energy of your brief encounter. 

"We need to re-evaluate our strategies for dealing with the increased devil activity," he said, his words carefully chosen. "The losses have been significant, and our resources are stretched thin."

You turned and walked in the opposite direction, the soft hum of the fluorescent lights overhead seeming to amplify the distance you were putting between yourself and him.

As you moved down the corridor, you couldn't shake the feeling that his eyes were still on you, as if the weight of his gaze lingered even after you had turned away.  .

You had just stepped out of the shower, the steam still clinging to the room and curling around the bathroom mirror in hazy swirls. The cool, clean air of the hotel suite met you as you emerged, a refreshing contrast to the stifling atmosphere of the Public Safety headquarters.

You took a moment to let the chill of the air sink into your skin, feeling the pleasant coolness against your damp hair and freshly washed face. You dried yourself off, the soft towel enveloping you in its warmth, and slipped into a comfortable set of loungewear—simple, dark gray sweatpants and a loose-fitting, white t-shirt.

You walked over to the full-sized bed, the crisp white sheets and plush pillows arranged neatly. You flopped down onto it, letting out a relieved sigh as you sank into the softness of the mattress.

Reaching for your phone from the nightstand, you dialed your husband's number. As the call connected, you propped yourself up on one elbow and stared at the ceiling, trying to shake off the exhaustion of the day.

When he answered, his voice was calmingly familiar, cutting through the distance between you with a comforting ease. "Hey. How's everything going?"

"It's been a day," you said with a soft chuckle. "I finally got here, but of course, they've got me waiting for more details. Typical."

"Sounds about right," he said, his voice tinged with a longing that you could almost touch through the phone, "I miss you."

You closed your eyes for a moment, trying to push away the brief flash of memories that drifted through your mind—blue eyes and raven hair, a fleeting image that made your heart skip a beat. An image of soft lips wrapped around the syllables, 'Only if you want to.'

You shook your head gently, trying to dispel the image from your thoughts. "I miss you too," you said, trying to keep your tone light and steady.

You heard the faint sound of his smile through the phone, a soft, reassuring sound. You had never been so happy to hear his voice. "How's the hotel?"

"It's nice," you said, shifting your position on the bed to get more comfortable. "Pretty standard, but it's got a good view of the city."

"I can think of one view I'd really like to see right now," he teased gently. 

Just as you were about to reply, your phone started ringing again. You glanced at the screen and saw the name of your old coworker. 

"Hold on, I'm getting a call," you said, your fingers hovering over the screen. 

"Ugh, okay," he said. "Bye."

"Bye," you replied, a smile tugging at your lips as you ended the call.

You took a deep breath before picking up. "Hello?"

"Heya, Hot stuff. What you up to?" Himeno drawled into the receiver.

"Just got out the shower," You answered. "Why? Is something up?"

"Nah. Well, yeah," She giggled. "Miss Makima's taking us out for drinks to celebrate the success of our last mission tomorrow. She rented out this whole space for us. You coming?"

You chuckled quietly, carding a hand through your damp hair. "I always feel dull at parties."

"You? Dull?" Came Himeno's retort. "This really the same person who used to take body shots off complete strangers back in the day?"

The mere mention of your past self had you laughing all over again. "Times change."

"Married life made you soft?" 

You winced. Sure, perhaps a somewhat-boring life in the countryside with your husband had made you a little soft. But there was something in the way she said it – something that made you tick. You were happy being a married woman. You had been happy since the two of you had eloped at 21.

You were happy, dammit. You just wished it was a little easier to convince yourself of that.

"I don't know..." You trailed off. "I won't be any fun."

"Noooooo... You have to come!" Himeno groaned. You could hear her pacing around in the background. "DENJI!" She called to god knows who. "Back me up here!"

The phone was handed over to someone else – a young-sounding boy. "I'm not gonna force someone to go to a stupid party."

"Tell her to come!" Could be heard very faintly in the background.

"Wait. She's a 'she'?"

"Not just any 'she', thats–"

"You should definitely come tonight," The boy decided. "Name's Denji, by the way."

"Hi, Denji," You sighed. "Could you hand the phone back to Himeno for just a moment?"

"Sure," He answered. "Bye, gorgeous. See you there."

Gorgeous. He hasn't even seen me and he's calling me gorgeous. You had to have been in the twilight zone.

"So, you're coming, right?" Himeno's voice chirped over the line.

"I don't know," You answered (again). "Who's going?"

"Aki's coming. Remember him? Partner? Total hottie?" She replied. 

Total hottie was an understatement. Again, the image of his pretty face flashed through your mind. You squashed the mere thought of it – like an incessant bug. "Yes, we met."

"I'm gonna get a smooch out of him by the end of the night," She giggled. "You can bet on that."

People came and went. Seasons changed. Himeno, however, did not. She was just as crude as you had always remembered her being.

"Just a kiss?" You teased.

"Maybe. Maybe more," She teased right back. "Can you believe he doesn't have a girlfriend? He's 20! That's gotta mean something."

He's five years younger than me... You picked mindlessly at your nails. "Something like...?"

"Dunno. Am I wrong for thinking he's holding out for me?" 

"Oh, to be young and naive again," You sighed. "I was engaged at his age," You trailed off, words hanging in the air for a moment after they had slipped past your lips.

Awkward. Did that slip out?

You leaned back against the headboard, feeling the cool pillows against your back while your mind drifted to the past. You had been so young when you'd gotten married, looking back. You loved him, you truly did. Sure, you had your issues, but didn't every married couple?

The two of you were happy. Still, a pang of jealousy surfaced when you heard Himeno speak so freely about her independence, her sexual prowess. In a way, you felt as though you had been deprived of that freedom far too early.

Your fingers traced the edge of your phone, your gaze drifting as memories flooded your mind. Himeno's laughter on the other end of the line seemed distant, a reminder of a simpler time, unburdened by the weight of responsibilities and commitments.

You were happy... weren't you?

"Hey, you still there?" Himeno's voice pulled you back to the present, her tone tinged with concern.

"Yeah, sorry," you replied, shaking off the melancholy that had crept into your thoughts. "Just got lost in my head for a moment."

"Don't we all," she sighed, her voice softening. "Look, just come down tomorrow. It'll be fun. We can catch up, have a few drinks, and maybe you can even be my wingman for the night."

You chuckled, the sound more genuine this time. "Alright, fine. I'll come. But no promises about playing matchmaker."

"Yay! It's at five," Himeno's excitement was palpable, and it was contagious. "I'll see you then. Hopefully, you can loosen up a little bit. Relive the good days."

"Yeah, maybe," you said, a small, half-assed smile playing on your lips. "See you then."

You ended the call and set your phone to the side. 

Loosen up a little, You thought. Yeah, you could definitely stand to do that.

a/n: shortie but a goodie! i already have most of the story written (so this one doesnt wind up like my 25,000 other unfinished projects), and this was the only way i could think to cut this chapter off hehe. ANYWAYYYY i hope yall enjoyed and are prepared for the TENSION AND SPICEEEE. omg its so tasty i cant wait. stay tuned! its gonna be so amazing. please comment and whatever to let me know your thoughts, wants and desires for this story! or just smth fun. i love reading yalls comments hehe comments + reblogs are greatly appreciated!!

credits: UNKOWN ATM. I found it on pinterest unfortch. If you know the artist, please let me know, so I can credit them properly for their work!!! This is NOT MY BEAUTIFUL DRAWINGGG. I obviously do not own csm or anything related to it. please do not reproduce, copy, or translate my works anywhere. dont fk w me im a bruja.

also: come find me on my wattpad if u wanna interact more!

taglist: @mitsuyeahhh , @sleepysnk , @enneadec , @noaabean , @em1e , @drakensdarling , @bertholdts--butt , @satanlovesusall666 , @mitsuwuyaa , @noctifule , @scaraphobia , @ask-the-insect-hashira , @lovingranchturkeyweasel , @bontensbabygirl , @slvdsjjk , @novacrystalli , @hanmastattoos , @kodzuksn , @hqtiny , @ohmaiscool15 , @redlittlequeen , @leivane , @goldeneagles-posts , @yeahblahlame , @no-oneelsebutnsu , @cookiesandcreammy , @cawwn , @the-haitani-baton , @littlelovebug98 , @armani78 , @mindurownbussines , @kokos-property , @violetmatcha , @hp-simp505 , @acethebrave , @mitsuyeahhh , @sleepysnk , @enneadec , @noaabean , @em1e , @drakensdarling , @bertholdts--butt , @satanlovesusall666 , @mitsuwuyaa , @noctifule , @scaraphobia , @ask-the-insect-hashira , @lovingranchturkeyweasel , @bontensbabygirl , @slvdsjjk , @novacrystalli , @hanmastattoos , @kodzuksn , @hqtiny , @ohmaiscool15 , @redlittlequeen , @leivane , @goldeneagles-posts , @yeahblahlame , @no-oneelsebutnsu , @cookiesandcreammy , @cawwn , @the-haitani-baton , @littlelovebug98 , @armani78 , @mindurownbussines , @kokos-property , @violetmatcha , @hp-simp505

wanna join the taglist? | shameless ; chapter index

[wally-darling-hyperfixation]

Take You to a Better Place: Floyd x reader Chapter 1

╚══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══╝ ╚══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══╝

The girls and you were a brand new band coming out . Band name was going to be Sugar,Spice and Everything Thrice with you girls as the main girls in the band. Violet, Parsley, and (Y/N) that’s all who is in the band. Anyway , yall are at Brozones concert watching it to see the new competition. You watch your competition start their performance. (I’m going to assume that velvet and veneer in the movie are 16 so you will meet them as young kids like 10 years old)

(I found a video on TikTok of this part so I wanna show)

You and your band had gotten front row seats to Brozone concert. Your manager wanted you to see your new competition and to scope them out. They boys get on stage and start singing their song "Perfect". You noticed that Violet seemed to be into the lead singer JD by how she was eyeing him.  Parsley seemed to be eyeing the guy who is the fun one but you just roll your eyes at them eye looking at some boys. This was the competition. Even if you did like how the pink haired one looked and sounded. This is your career you won't jeopardize it.  Suddenly it looked like the leader JD was going off from their original choreography and they seemed to look all nervous to you. Suddenly they fall from the tower and the huge disaster happens on the stage.

You gasp in shock. Definitely not expecting that to happen. You and your girl band were shocked to say the least. Brozone ran backstage and y'alls manager decided that this was the perfect time to introduce yall together.  You distracted the audience who were upset cause of Brozone leaving.

After the concert, it seems your band has gotten extremely popular. Next day when your album was released, you sold out. You were on magazine covers and everything. Violet was the band leader and the pretty one. Parsley was the exciting and adventurous one. You were the cute and calm one who had the sweetest smile. No matter where y’all went , people recognized and asked for autographs. You were polite and always willing to take pictures.

Brozone was all over the papers the next day. They broke up. Tons of fans crying in sadness that their favorite boy band disbanded. But that just left your girl group to fill the gap. You traveled all over the trolls world, you dabbled in all types of musics to appease every troll. You had rock songs and pop songs and country songs and funky songs. Y’all even added some classical to some songs. Y’all were known far and wide and loved by many because you appealed to all music lovers.

For the next several years , y’all were on top. You won awards and had an awesome fan base . But after 8 years of making songs together, Violet wanted a solo career. She said we were too old to be in a girl group anymore. That we are in our 20s and we need to go out and make a name for ourselves but she meant herself.

Violet: “Look it’s just a “girl thing”. We knew we wouldn’t last forever. We are no “babes in toy land” and we won’t be young forever. So, “girlfriend”, I’m going solo. We used to be “the chicks” but it’s time for me to “xscape” and make a name for myself. Y/N and Parsley, all yall need is some “TLC” and I’m sure you “spice girls” will be fine. It’s time for me to “go-go.” Bye girls.

Then she up and left. You havent seen her or parsley since. Not knowing what to do next you head to Mount Rageous to find work as a music artist. This is where things get bumpy.

Dang. I haven’t wrote a chapter story since before September last year. I am so sorry yall. I hope you liked this. Love you my darlings

Part 2

[artist-issues]

I just found out you like the Twilight Zone! Please talk about your favorite episodes, if you have the time!

Oh yay, sure! I started watching the Twilight Zone about five years ago and it’s become one of my top 3 favorite tv shows of all time. It’s creepy, and I have a low tolerance for psychological horror, so I take my time watching it. But my favorite three episodes are a lot of other people’s faves, too.

I think the very best one is It’s A Good Life. This kid is born with godlike powers—he can do anything—but he chooses to make everything the way he wants it. He transports his whole town out of the world or destroys the rest of the world—the townspeople aren’t sure which. Their lives revolve around keeping this kid happy, because if he’s ever upset, he does terrible things to them. He doesn’t like it when people look at him like he’s the monster he is, so he strikes them blind, or turns them into toys, or, if he even hears you thinking unhappy thoughts he sends you “to the cornfield.” Which is basically death. The whole town is constantly telling the boy that everything he does is good, and everything they feel is good, and they’re always telling each other to think everything is good. And eventually one guy stands up to the boy (the boy’s name is Anthony) and gets fed up, and Anthony kills that guy, then makes it snow, which kills all the remaining crops in the town, and the people just sort of go… “I guess we won’t have food now. That’s a good thing you did, Anthony.” And it ends.

Because the thing is, all of the stuff that sets Anthony off—all of his little pet peeves that everybody tiptoes around—they’re actual good things. He doesn’t like other kids because they don’t always do what he wants. He doesn’t like dogs because they are afraid of him. He doesn’t like music, or television, unless it’s what he creates. He thinks suffering is funny and he likes to make up vicious creatures, then kill them, and have everybody approve of it.

Anthony is forcing everyone to behave like what is really good is actually bad, and what is really evil is actually good. He flips right and wrong on it’s head, and everyone goes along with it out of fear.

I also love Eye of the Beholder, even though it’s on the nose. (HA. Get it) The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine is incredible too. That idea that nostalgia for whatever you thought was the best time of your life can actually imprison you…and you don’t even know it’s a prison. And it keeps you from embracing and growing in and loving the rest of your life.

And Where Is Everybody, for those of you who’ve never seen The Twilight Zone, is the very first episode, and it just perfectly captures the weird “what is going on” vibe that draws you into the show.

I think there are two things that make me love The Twilight Zone.

The first is that every episode “makes you think.” Usually they don’t have conclusions where everything is explained, or resolved; Anthony is not defeated, Barbara Jean stays in the movie screen with no explanation of how she got in there or what will happen to her now…but the fact that the storytellers leave it like that literally forces you to think more about what you just saw.

Your brain naturally goes, “yikes, the kid just gets to keep making life a nightmare? Don’t like that. If I were in there I would’ve just knocked him on the back of the head. Why didn’t anybody do that?” And by having to think about it more, you aren’t critiquing or arguing with the actual story. You’re thinking it over, trying to figure it out, because you naturally accept that there is something there to be worked out. The “message” of every episode gets under your mental guard, works it’s way into your worldview.

You watch “It’s a Good Life” and realize that not everything is “good.” Sometimes there’s plain evil that can’t be reasoned with or explained away in the world, and you just have to stop protecting yourself with pretending otherwise and do something about it. The townspeople should’ve all stopped pretending and worked together, or been brave enough to realize stopping the monster or dying trying was better than living in fear.

And that brings me to the second thing I love about The Twilight Zone: every episode has a message. It has something it wants you to think about. It’s not just tickling your suspense-responses, or giving you a brain worm about nothing but creepiness. It’s not trying to get you “in your head” to “figure it out.”

I know I just said it makes you think, but it specifically makes you think about something real, a concept that affects real life. The Twilight Zone answers enough of your questions with each story to make you think about the lesson, and doesn’t give you enough information to be like, “I’m going to figure out the Easter eggs, and the backstory behind how everybody in Eye of the Beholder got pig noses!”

The Twilight Zone makes it obvious that there are important questions to ask when you watch a story, (like, “Why didn’t everybody work together to kill Anthony?”) and there are useless, unimportant questions to ask when you watch a story. (Like “where did Anthony’s godlike superpowers come from?”) And it specifically engineers each story so that you’re more emotionally involved with the RIGHT questions, instead of the arbitrary questions.

Nowadays everybody’s like, “let’s figure out exactly where that Easter Egg came from! Let’s see if we can figure out what version of Arthur’s narrative is the REAAAL one in The Joker! I can’t actually verbally explain what Christopher Nolan was doing but I totally got Tenet.” 🙄

I’m tired of stories that are all shock-&-awe and no meat. The Twilight Zone might ask you simple questions, but they’re really good, important ones to have answers to. And the artfully suspenseful, show, don’t-tell episodes of The Twilight Zone make those questions stick in your head and your heart.

[nczaversnick]

Writblr Interview

Thanks for the tag @willtheweaver

Short stories, novels or poems?

I’m definitely a novel guy, both for reading and writing.

What genre do you prefer reading?

Definitely fantasy and mythology. But I often cross into sci fi and dystopians

What genre do you prefer writing?

I am honestly not sure how to answer this, given that I’ve done almost nothing but work on one project for over a decade

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

I start out with an outline but when I get down to the scenes I like to wait and see what happens then adjust my plans accordingly

What music do you listen to while writing?

I have playlists for some characters but on the whole I pretty much just have one playlist with all of my music on it that I hit shuffle on every time.

Favorite books/movies?

Oh cmon we’ll be here all day. I grew up on pretty much everything made by Jim Henson or Mel Brooks and I listen to audiobooks 40 hours a week at my factory job. I burn through a lot of material XD8 to summarize my favorite movie is The Princess Bride, and my favorite book is The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Any current WIPs?

For the most part just Project Gemini.

Fandomverse is an rp chain, and I mostly do art for this not so much writing snippets

Elemental High is an idea I’ve been toying with. it’s basically Project Gemini, if it were a Disney Channel series. I think it’d be super interesting to see how I as a writer could tell the same story through a completely different lense/ how would the story change if I changed its intended audience?

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you what would your standard outfit be?

Lucky for all of you, I did make a cartoon me. The color would change based on what color my hair is

Create a character description of yourself:

If I thought anybody in an orthodontics factory was about to be isekaied or find a weird portal into another dimension it was this guy. He was at least 20 years younger than everyone else in the building and, in a lot of cases, twice that. But despite being super easy to spot in a crowd, he never really says much without prompting. Still, as loud as he is in a visual sense, he never seems entirely here. Like the voices in his head are more interesting than anything going on around him. Dude fucking lights up if you mention pizza though.

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

Not consciously no. People will say Quinn is based off my enby stoner best friend but from my point of view, I don’t know many enby stoners who aren’t like Quinn. But as a whole I like to let the characters tell me who they are. Any resemblance to someone real or imagined is purely coincidental.

Are you kill happy with your characters?

Rachelle, my partner for Project Gemini, would say yes. I have elected not to comment

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Hate to be the odd one out here but an ice cold Dr. Pepper is what I go for

Slow or fast writer?

If I can get a glove going I can write badly pretty fast. But overall, I’m 13 years into the only real project I’ve ever had and I’m still not done with book 1

Where/who/what do you draw inspiration from?

It helps for me to keep consuming new stories but honestly, the best inspiration comes from the interactions about my work from all of you out there. Unmatched. (Shoutout to @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet and @the-letterbox-archives for giving me so much)

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

Probably a librarian of some kind, just like I’m trying to do in real life. But I’m way to exhausted and disabled for that adventuring crap XD8

Most fav book cliche:

Oh I don’t know how to describe it. When the protagonist is a young boy without a father and they find a father figure/mentor/bodyguard. I eat that shit up and I don’t see it very often. [examples would be Sage and Mott from the Ascendance Trilogy/series by Jennifer A Nielsen and Matt and Tam Lin in The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Least favorite cliche:

I really hate it when a main character (regardless of gender) is passive. It’s just so not fun to read about someone who never takes action in their situations.

Fav scene to write?

Almost any of Cas and Adrian’s interactions. I adore their dynamics

Reason for writing?

Because I’ve got shit inside my head and it’s not doing any good in there so I might as well get it out here.

Tagging: @honeybewrites @wyked-ao3 @kittrrrr @zackprincebooks @theverumproject @the-golden-comet @fractured-shield @poppycat-writes @illarian-rambling @finickyfelix @kuebiko-writing @yourpenpaldee @the-letterbox-archives @moltenwrites @davycoquette @drchenquill @leahnardo-da-veggie +open tag

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

2023 was a really rough year for Disney. Marvel had two of the biggest flops, Quantumania and The Marvels, with only the phenomenal finale to the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy wedged in between to give audiences faith; Star Wars didn’t fare much better, with divisive works like the third season of The Mandalorian and the first season of Ahsoka splitting the fanbase as usual; the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid floundered with critics and audiences alike, while Haunted Mansion was dead on arrival; the final Indiana Jones film got middling reviews, with some even saying it made Crystal Skull seem better in hindsight; and Elemental nearly burnt out at the box office due to abysmal advertising, only getting a second wind from positive word of mouth. Keep in mind, 2023 was the studio’s big 100th anniversary. Flopping this hard with all their major brands was not a good look. Thankfully, they had a really special animated film dropping for this historic anniversary, a film that was a big love letter to Disney history. It’s ostensibly a film about the origin of the wishing star other characters in other films wish upon—a novel concept to be sure! How did this premise pay off for Disney?

It bombed, with a net loss of $131 million. Keep in mind that films like Raya and Encanto, which also did poorly, had less time of theaters due to COVID. Also keep in mind Wish was advertised like crazy. Toys, clothes, ads, this movie got it all! And all of that likely contributed to how bad a financial failure it was. To make matters worse, critics were extremely mixed on the film, and the opinions of audiences weren’t much nicer. People had been skeptical from the first trailer, and so the film had an uphill battle to begin with, and sadly that uphill battle turned out to be a Sisyphean one, with the boulder slipping and rolling all the way back down to the bottom for Disney.

I genuinely had zero interest in ever watching this, and keep in mind I have access to Disney+ so it isn’t like I’d be paying specifically to see it. But I have a little daughter who became obsessed with the movie, and so I had to watch it about a dozen times. And with how much of a disaster this was for Disney, after the umpteenth viewing I decided I may as well give my thoughts. Is this movie any good, or is that just wishful thinking?

THE GOOD

I think it’s safe to say King Magnifico is the standout performance of the film. Chris Pine is clearly having an absolute blast playing the guy, and he manages to deliver a fun, upbeat, poppy villain song that succeeds despite some really bizarre and nonsensical lyrics. Sure, he’s not an S-tier villain or anything, but he’s a lot more fun and enjoyable than any of the mediocre twist villains Disney plagued us with during the 2010s. He’s an enjoyable asshole, consumed by his own ego.

Aside from his villain song, I do like some of the other music. “At All Costs” is a very nice, tender song; “Knowing What I Know Now” is a heroic “shit just got real” song, with a foreboding aura that nicely contrasts the villain’s lightehearted number; and “Welcome to Rosas,” a fun little iintro song for the story. Now, all of these songs have some issues (we’ll get tot hose in a bit), but they’re definitely fun and enjoyable if you can overlook some of the flaws.

I’m sure a lot of people found the numerous Disney references to be a bit much, and maybe even distracting, but I think they can get a pass just this once since this film is meant to celebrate one hundred years of Disney magic. Asha wearing the Fairy Godmother’s robe? Magnifico getting turned into the Magic Mirror? Peter Pan just randomly showing up for no fucking reason as a cameo? Sure, why not? And this all leads to the ending credits, where every Disney animated canon movie that isn’t a sequel gets represented (except for Meet the Robinsons, The Rescuers, and The Bkack Cauldron). You’ll see constellations of all your favorite characters, like Milo Thatch, Jim Hawkins, Yzma, Tarzan, and Yokai! Remember Yokai? From Big Hero 6? Clearly he was the right character to spotlight for this! I can’t harp too much on this, because every time I watch this I applaud and clap when Chicken Little appears.

THE BAD

So there are a few good songs, I admit. But for every good song, there’s two more that just plain suck or are entirely unfitting. “At All Costs” sounds like a a song about love and romance, so of course it plays… over the scene where Magnifico shows Asha all the wishes. Huh? What sense does that make? But a decent song being out of place is small potatoes compared to how absolutely bad the lyrics are. Even in the songs I like, like “This is the Thanks I Get” and “Knowing What I Know Now” there’s just something off with a lot of the lyrics and the rhyme scheme. But nothing in them is quite as egregious as the song “I’m a Star.”

“I’m a Star” might genuinely be the single worst song in any Disney animated film ever from a lyrical standpoint. The entire song is nothing but word salad; nothing in it makes any sense, and not once does it answer any of the questions it has posed. While some of the other songs have sloppy writing, they still are easily able to communicate core ideas that help progress the story. This song, though? It’s meaningless drivel made to pad the runtime. The absolute worst bit is this verse near the end, though:

Here's a little fun allegory

That gets me excitatory

This might sink in in the morning

We are our own origin story

If I'm explaining this poorly

Well I'll let star do it for me

It's all quite revelatory

We are our own origin story

None of this means anything. Like yeah dude, you are explaining this poorly. What the fuck are you trying to explain here? And while this is the worst verse, the worst lyric is right near the end where they painfully force a rhyme by having someone sing “Here I are” with “I’m a star.” No matter how many times I listen to these songs, this one coming on fills me with dread because of how painfully bad it is to the core.

I think the issue here is the lyrics were written by Julia Michaels, someone who typically works with pop, R&B, and EDM. She’s written for Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Justin Bieber… but notice she hasn’t written for any musicals. Say what you want about Lin-Manuel Miranda, but he knows how to write fun, poppy songs that would not sound out of pace in a stage musical---a core part of the appeal of the best Disney songs. The songs Michales wrote really don’t fit that vibe, and feel more like repurposed radio friendly pop tunes than something that belongs in a Disney movie. And maybe this wouldn’t be too bad of an idea if this weren’t supposed to be the big centennial celebration film.

But hey, maybe the songs are bad… which isn’t great, because a Disney musical with bad songs is on thin ice, but whatever! Maybe the characters can redeem this? Ehhhhhhhhh… Unfortunately, none of the characters in this film really do anything particularly special. Asha is cute and determined and all, and she’s definitely more compelling and less annoying than Raya, but she lacks a really solid identity. It honestly feels like she does things simply because the plot demands her, and not because it is in-character for her to do so—something that would require her to have a character in the first place. And despite being the best part of the film, Magnifico is a victim of the wonky writing as well. While it’s great he isn’t a twist villain, the writing really just makes the whole idea he’s bad guy seem stupid. I resent the idea his goal is in any way reasonable—he’s certainly an overly paranoid dick with an inflated ego even in the most charitable interpretations of his actions—but the movie still manages to make him somewhat sympathetic via his backstory only to have him grab a sled to slide on down that slippery slope. I don’t know, it just feels like these characters shift gears at the drop of the hat because the plot demands certain actions and roles from them.

Then we have the cutesy kid appeal characters, Valentino the goat and the wishing star. Valentino, played by Alan Tudyk in his millionth Disney role, is not nearly as insufferable as I’d feared he’d be. Unfortunately, he isn’t really good either. It really is sad how Disney keeps pushing him as their answer to Pixar’s John Ratzenberger yet refuse to give him good or fun roles to make an impact like Ratzenberger does. The guy hasn’t been utilized well since Wreck-It Ralph, it’s just getting sad. The wishing star is just a cutesy non-speaking plot device meant to sell marketable plushies, and pulls out new powers from its ass as the plot demands; it’s responsible for the awful “I’m a Star” as well as a cringeworthy chicken musical sequence. These characters really do feel like they exist solely to sell toys to children, because everything else aside they don’t really add to the experience—which is especially bad for the star! This is supposed to be his story!

And, look. Get it. They wanted to stick to something that is incredibly formulaic to pay tribute to all the tropes Disney codified for animated movies. But did they have to make the whole thing so predictable and safe? You can predict exactly what’s going to happen at any given time; there’s no real big twists or turns to be seen with this one. This is strictly formula, a very basic Disney story that couldn’t be more “paint by numbers” if it tried. You’d think they’d try to be a little more bold and daring after a hundred years, but… nah.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

I think calling this movie “bad” is a bit harsh. It’s not exactly good, it’s messy and stupid and all that, but after seeing it so many times I really don’t think it’s as egregious or repugnant as something like, say, Pocahontas. But taking everything into consideration, the movie is extremely disappointing as a centennial celebration, and isn’t that worse in a way?

This was meant to be the film that pays tribute to a hundred years of animation, a love letter to a studio that has made some of the greatest artistic achievements in cartoon history, and it ended up like this? I think it’s pretty safe to say a better tribute would have been to return to hand drawn animation and make something like their classic output instead of a cliché storm of tired plot beats and nonsensical songs. The film feels really bland, safe, and corporate, like they were more concerned with selling merch and coasting off of the novelty of being the big animated release during the hundredth anniversary. And look how that turned out! My daughter spent a month earning enough cash to buy a King Magnifico doll, and it didn’t sell out in that entire time—and this was recently, too! Wish has long since left theaters, and the toys are getting their prices slashed because no one is buying them! Even kids, for the most part, don’t care about this one.

It’s just a bummer. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect more out if the richest company on Earth, is it? It really is a harmless, boring film, but it just feels so much worse than it actually is because we all know Disney can put more effort into their work and produce films that far outstrip this in quality and yet this is what they chose to represent them for a historic milestone. It really is rated fairly up there, it’s about what it deserves, but I hardly blame anyone who rates it even lower. It’s definitely not the worst Disney movie, but it sure is the most disappointing.

I’m glad my daughter likes it though, and honestly she’s probably why I’m not quite as harsh on the film as I was at first. Her enthusiasm for it is honestly infectious, even if at the end of the day I still think it’s kind of a lame movie. There’s definitely worse things to show your kids than Wish; if nothing else, it can make a decent gateway into other Disney movies. But that’s as charitable as I’m willing to get for Wish.

[justabackroundcharacter]

Thoughts while watching Wish:

- base princess personality trope

- Never getting over the face that the goat is named Valentino

- 7 dwarfs vibes with the friends

- Hans type character

- Weird ass love song to wishes

- Evil Chris Pratt went from 1-100 really fast

- The wife was 1000000% the kings wish and he used magic to get it

- Angry guy is played by GIZMO MY BELOVED

- 100 year old man move like a 60 year old fr

- Asha also goes from 50-100 real fast

- My favorite song was a little disappointing:(

- What she’s singing and what the animation gives dosent match

- Wifey is CLUELESS

- We could’ve had A STAR BOY INSTEAD WE GET THIS THING

- Star is still cute

- When you are a Star and accidentally make a devils trap in the tree lol

- IM A STAR ⭐️

- thanks for not eating me John

- Throwing books like your cramming for a test

- King is bipolar like actually tho

- EVERYTHING IS FINE

- What are you five ?

- DANCING CHICKENS

- Best friends help each other commit crimes against the kingdom

- King really is evil he made everyone go to an assembly and they aren’t even in school

- WAIT WAS KING SUPPOSED TO BE AN ALIEN

- how old is the king ? Do we know at all ?

- Casually dooms yourself to an eternity of pain because you got insecure

- HE HAS A SECRET LAIR LIKE HAWKMOTH

- ok how do wishes work again ? Was gramps not free to still inspire people

- Not the mom pleading for her daughter to only get her wish trampled on (definitely don’t need to look at how accurate that is)

- Star said SQUARE TF UP

- He’s literally just your king hit him with your bookshelf

- Returns to your stable if anyone asks pLaY dUmB

- when you have to speed run the 5 stages of grief bc you are the main character damnit

- I know what your thinking- WELL I DONT girl that star doesn’t have an expression on his face

- I can not swim *proceeds to jump into the water with reckless abandon *

- You’ve been hit by, you’ve been stuck by LOSS OF YOUR WISH

- ‘AMYIA darling your just in time come meet my new TOY’ why would you WRITE IT LIKE THAT

- Hot take anyone who calls their partner darling is on THIN FUCKING ICE

- King man went insane that is fun

- HANS KNOCK OFF BETRAYED THEM I FUCKING KNEW IT

- Dont worry im a talking mouse but very clean

- When you only want to be a loyal knight but you end up betraying your friends- happens to the best of us dude

- Good find Valentino - my butt found it

- introverts deserve sanctuary— louder for the people in the back

- STRIKE, STRIKE newsies vibes

- YES fulfill your Sabos wish

- doc and dopey slayed

- They all did

- They are like any queer friend group fr

- the chase scene is cool

- YAZ QUEEN GET YOUR HUSBAND

- I was fooled by the love I felt- Its ok queen you were definitely manipulated not your fault

- Don’t destroy never land you bastard

- A stick ? What am I supposed to do with this ?

- The MUSHROOMS 🍄

- Poor gizmo can’t catch a break no matter what universe he’s in

- a dress on a tree more likely than you think

- Dude bro dear got into the mushrooms fr

- Sometimes a plan is just you and your six friends jumping from a high place

- FUCKING HANS GOT ME AGAIN

- thanks John

- Your so right bunnies are terrifying

- Nope nope nope nope nope

- StAr GeT aWaY fRoM tHeRe

- WAIT IS HE MAGIC MIRRIR GUY

- Yay singing again

- THE power of collective singing will always save the day

- GREEN SMOKE

- MyWiShEs dude get a grip

- Simon and queen should be besties now

- LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

- Peter Pan origin story 👀👀

- ZOOTOPIA ?!?

- bippty boppty boo the magic wand is fixed

- Give GIZMO THE WAND 😭he deserves it

- Fireworks yay

- 5/10 movie

[enigma731]

Hey there... I wanted to tell you that you have some of the most amazing writing I've seen.

I've been caught in some pretty dark & exhausting times these past few years, the daily grind of adulting, parenting & self sacrifice my world, to the point where anything fun & worth dreaming over has been something so far out of reach, that I didn't feel like I deserved. I would wonder, where did I go, & will I ever see that part.of me again. My heart naturally gravitates towards the underdog, the rare breeds, towards those from the Isle of Misfit Toys, that when they come together form a bond so strong they would die for each other. I am 0% a fairytale princess love story lover, but 1000% drawn to "those two" that banter in guarded & sometimes mean frustration & fear because of the Unspoken Thing between them. These people are the ones that speak to my heart, & have often many times in their journey helped me through a hard time or work through something within myself. Potter did this for me in so many instances- & yes, I rocked the Ron/Hermione ship- which I was able to live & enjoy in real time. These guys.. I knew OF them, the ride is my favorite at EPCOT, & I was drawn enough to it after that to wanna sit down & watch these movies with my son. I did it out of order- watched Vol. 3 ("the latest one") with him first... & felt enough of their vibe to know that I needed to go back & watch it correctly... but like Gamora now, didn't recognize the pain & devastation that many have experienced watching their story unfold in real time. Last month, I went back & watched it in order (also realizing the concept of jumping time, & opened up to the world of how the Avengers are part of the story too with the IW & EG crossover)... & oiy... 🥹🥹😭😭 So I am late to the game (may be better as I don't know if my heart could've handled it in real time), but they have joined my village. &, like so many, SOO many feels that this didn't end fairly. That their family was built up & shattered & not put back together the way it should've been. That SHE grew leaps & bounds only to be shattered down... & then brought back in a purgatory state. It would be one thing if their story wasn't over... but that seems to be the word. I can go on & on about how I think she carries the heaviest burden in the MCU, from the repeated cruel narcissistic mindfucks she endured by that monster to the disrespect of dying at his hands on the basis of "love," to being brought back a shell of herself & not finding her way back home (& it doesn't seem like she will)... so many unfairs left. So I, like many, are beyond grateful for the stories. They help process & keep them alive & all the enjoyable "What if it went this way" & will I'm sure be the closest thing to closure I-& many- get. So thank you again for that, for sharing their world- her world- through your eyes.

& I know that life happens (as it has for me), & maybe it has become harder with the finality of it (or maybe not), & hope this is OK to say... but if it speaks to you to finish your last work, even if it is your final work for them, you have people that will be there to love & acknowledge it just like before. & if not, I know I'm grateful for all you've given.

blessedb28

Thank you so much for your kind words! We are still working on our current fic -- in fact my wife is sitting across from me editing our next chapter as I write this.

The truth is that it has gotten harder to write fic, but mostly for good reasons. We started these stories when we were still in our 20s, in a long distance friendship across the country. We both spent a lot of time online and in fandom as an escape, and it was easy to produce a ton of words because it was the thing that brought us the most joy.

And I'm not saying it's become less joyful to write, but that there are now so many more things that also bring us joy. We got married this year, we went on a honeymoon, we own a house full of rescued animals that we love dearly. We've also both had significant career developments in the past few years, and I personally am in the midst of realizing a number of really lofty professional goals I've been inching toward since the start of the pandemic.

What started out as a shared fictional escape became *our* real life love story.

So I guess what I want people to know is that we're less present here and writing more slowly not because we've lost the passion for it, but because that passion has led to so many other amazing things that also take up our time. I don't think we'll ever really be done telling this story, though, whether that's in fanfic or some form of loosely inspired original writing. I'm glad to hear there are still people enjoying it and people who will be patient enough to stick with us.

[raw-law]

oh yeah i can relate, L. i had exactly one close friend growing up (most kids didn't DISLIKE me but they thought i was weird and intense) that i would play games with littlest pet shop figures with. littlest pet shop is a series of little animal toys in multiple colors and such, btw. but i always had a specific way i wanted things to go, but my friend had thoughts too and wanted chances to have an input too, and i reacted with 'Absolutely Not, fuck you' except not swearing because i was a good child. and i also got very fatigued after talking too long, so i'd just wanna go silent and start arranging the figures, but she didn't like that. and when i suggested we play a video game or watched a movie, she didn't like that either. looking back, it's a wonder we stayed friends as long as we did.

a sort of side story, when i was like 7 or 8, i got my first set of pokemon cards. i loved looking at them and organizing them and making decks (although they were always poorly balanced) and my mom took me to a local game store to learn to actually play the game. i was TERRIBLE, but i LOVED playing. my favorite part was looking at other people's cards, especially pikachu cards.

one time, i DID win though, and it was when all the cards were against me. however, there's a Lot of context to make it understandable.

so the way pokemon TCG works is each player shuffles their deck and draws 6 cards without looking and sets them face down on the left side of the table, these are called 'prize cards'. every time you knock out an opponent's pokemon, you draw a prize card, or if the opponent's pokemon in question is an ex, EX(yes they are different), GX, V, or BREAK pokemon, you draw 2. once all 6 are drawn, you win. there's also different types; grass, fire, water, electric, psychic, fighting, dark, steel, fairy, dragon, and normal. the only type advantage you need to know is that water types are weak to grass types.

so i'm like 8, in the middle of a game with this 20 year old guy, playing with one of my super imbalanced decks. somehow, i'd actually managed to knock out enough of his pokemon to have 2 prize cards remaining. he had 1. his attacking pokemon was a blastoise EX, a giant water type turtle pokemon, and my attacking pokemon was masquerin, a tiny grass type bug pokemon. i got INSANELY fucking lucky and i had a lot of item cards that allowed me to remove damage cards, so by slowly chipping away at this giant water tank turtle and healing before my pokemon was knocked out, i managed to knock out the blastoise, and WON. this guy who played competitively and had been making decks for longer than i'd been alive got beat by a tiny 8 year old with a pikachu plush and pikachu jacket, AND SAID 8 YEAR OLD BEAT HIM WITH A BUG. he said his ego was hurt and i still brag about it.

-rainbow dash

L:

first i should apologize for only now getting to this. it got mixed in with other asks from other side blogs i have and only now realized this was buried in there. feel free to whack me on the head with a metal bar for that.

but my god this is... beauty at its finest....

you should keep bragging about it. i would refuse to let them ever live that down. i can't even remember if i have any stories that live up to that kind of achievement.

my god this is simply divine.

Light:

I'm so sorry I'm only getting to it now, the past few weeks have been terribly busy for me.

But, I must say, your life is very, very interesting...do you have any such stories? I'd love to hear more if all of them are adventures like this....

And Ryuzaki's right. If that happened to me, I'd really never shut up about it...

[iolaussharpe-24]

Hiii, love your header ^^ anyways once you get this, you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly. Then you have to send this to ten of your favourite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool!!)

Aw! Thank you! There's actually a pretty funny story behind that. I initially set up this blog to read more fanfiction and to support my favorite blogs. It was blank and was going to stay blank. Then, one of the ones at the top of my list blocked me because it was a blank blog. Cue panic mode. Now I post stuff and that blog unblocked me. However, I do think "scarily obsessive" is a perfect way to describe how I am with their fics. (I don't know if I should name them or not, because I love this person, but I don't know if this would be rude or not.) Their @ is in the comments of my pinned post with a bunch of other wonderful blogs I love; so please give those guys a look!

I have this game that I like to play with myself where I put in a dvd and the old previews then try to guess what movie's being advertised before it says. This game also works when channel surfing or coming into a room behind somebody else. Just walk into the room, look at the screen, and try to guess what's on before you can be told. Sometimes I can get it just from audio without looking at the screen in a couple of seconds.

When I was in kindergarten, a lot of people thought I was really smart (joke's on them) because I was HUGE into dinosaurs. There was a time when I was really little (before school) and I was in a Toys R Us looking at dinosaurs. An older kid came up to me and started talking to me and I just start naming things. Like, the crazy names I shouldn't have been able to pronounce. I'd go on rants identifying different types of ceratopsians on sight: triceratops, styracosaurus, protoceratops, centrosaurus and other things. I knew all of my sauropods and pterosaurs, and ichthyosaurs. In the second grade I had a grasp on the theory of evolution that rivaled my teacher's (but she was kind of dumb about a lot of things; I liked her but she had the entire grade level on her one time because she asked our class "Do you see the moon during the day? Of course not!"). Back in those days I wanted to be a paleontologist and I dressed up as one for career day. No one knew what I was supposed to be. Not even the teachers. Even though I was holding a real fossil and walking around with a picture of myself with Dr. Robert T. Bakker; an actual paleontologist I had the pleasure of meeting when I was young. He signed a few books of his I had, and I won a drawing of a deinonychus he did right there in that room while he was doing a lecture. I was so into dinosaurs that I made a book full of printouts from the internet. Kept it up for a few years and the binder is like two inches thick and FULL. I'm not into it all anymore, but I do still love dinosaur movies and shows and I did keep a lot of that information in my head. (I love the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise, I loved 65, I grew up with Dino Riders and Dino Squad holds a very special place in my heart; just to name a few.)

I'm really good at REMEMBERING stuff. Not stuff you told me five minutes ago, I'll forget that in a heartbeat. But you ask me about my birthday fifteen years ago, I can tell you things people said to me word for word. Ask me about what I did when I was in school, I can tell you the classes I liked and hated. I can tell you what teachers made me feel like I mattered and which ones made me feel like the dirt under dirt BY NAME.

I love singing. I was in choir from fifth grade all the way through my senior year of high school. I did solos for a few concerts and events, and I can't not listen to music when I'm not talking to someone. I don't like silence. Even in the car, I'll be talking to someone and I'll cut myself off mid-word to start singing if the radio plays a song I like. I've been told that I would be good at Name That Tune.

Double edged sword: I'm very creative. My mind is always coming up with new scenarios and characters and worlds. BUT I'm not a good enough writer to put everything down so it all just rattles around in my skull like a maraca forever. Plus, because these things come to mind all the time, I tend to zone out a lot. When I say I think of stuff all the time, I mean ALL THE TIME. If you'd ever wondered why my blog is so chaotic, this is why. My train of thought is a rubber bouncy ball. An accurate representation of my brain is in Sharkboy and Lavagirl:

Thank you for sending me this! I'll admit, I'm pretty negative towards myself most times, so this took me forever to answer. I've been on it all day.

Plus, I accidentally misread the ask and wrote five very different answers because my eyes did not read "Five things you like about yourself" they read "five things about yourself" and I didn't catch the mistake until I started proofreading. So I had to start from scratch.

[whispering-about-the-tmnt]

9 and 11 NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO PICK FAVORITES BY ITERATION BWUAHAHAH! XD

Seriously keep up the amazing work, big fan!

*hugs you*

9 - If you could change one thing about TMNT, what would it be?

Probably that so much attention is paid in-canon to Raph and Leo's "rivalry", at the expense of other, different forms of tension. Now, don't get me wrong... I do like it when they have little disagreements, but the point to which it has become the central theme of so many stories just make me wanna, you know...

11 - Favorite turtle (iteration specific)?

See what you have done! You have opened the proverbial can of worms, and I will now be naming my favorites in every version of the TMNT that I have ever watched or read! Mwahaha!

*ahem* In (more or less) chronological order...

Mirage Comics - I never had much of a preference between the guys in the old comics, though Donatello always had a great appeal to me.

1987 - I totally had a crush on Donatello back in the day. He was the toy that I played with the most, and the one I chose when me and my friends were pretending to be the TMNT (which was pretty easy, since I could use a broomstick as my bo staff).

1990 - There aren't many versions where Raphael is my favorite (I mean, I always love him, but other Turtles usually appeal to me more), but I loved his journey in the first TMNT movie.

1991 - To me, Secret Of The Ooze was all about Donatello. I loved how he had an emotional stake in what was basically a silly little movie.

1993 - How could you not love cute little lovesick Michelangelo? And plus, him being all heroic and rescuing Yoshi!

TMNTA (Archie) Comics - Although Don is dear to my heart in this version, I am going to go with Michelangelo. He is a sweetheart, an artist, he likes poetry, in the future he runs an orphanage, and he is one half of the only TMNT ship I ever actually had... and also, the Blindsight storyline is, in my opinion, the best in the comic's run.

Image Comics - Although I read most of the Image comics, I am going to be honest and say that none of the Turtles really stood out to me. If I had to choose, though, it would probably be Donatello, because of all that cyborgification he went through. Poor guy.

2003 - I know, you know, we all know... Leonardo is my boy in this version! Such a ball of stress... so relatable. Don is a very close second, though!

2007 - Gotta be Donatello! The dude had so much to take care of being the de facto leader while Leo was gone.

2012 - I have to confess that I have not watched enough of this series to develop an opinion, but on behalf of my 12-year-old daughter, I am compelled to say Michelangelo!

2014 - In the first Bay movie, Donatello really shined for me. His nerdy badassery stole my heart.

2016 - While I also really liked Don in the second Bay movie, Michelangelo was my primary focus. How he went back and forth between being the goofy goober and his heartbreak at being perceived as a monster was fascinating to watch.

2018 - Again, I have not watched much of Rise, but based on the movie alone (which I did watch, several times), I would like to say this is another instance where Raphael stood out to me... though it was really hard to choose between him and Leo!

Batman Vs. TMNT (movie) - I loved the way Leonardo was portrayed in this one! His primary fear of failing his brothers was both palpable and understandable, and his fight with Ra's al Ghul is one of my favorite TMNT battles of all time ("I'm sixteen, and I learned this from a rat!")

2024 - Baby... baby boy Leonardo... he needs a hug so bad!

If an iteration isn't listed, then assume I haven't read or watched it enough to form an opinion! Yes, this includes IDW (the concept doesn't appeal to me, for some reason), and The Last Ronan (my heart can't take that)... and although I did watch some of The Next Mutation back in the day, I can't actually remember any of it.

[nostalgiaworld]

I created this blog because there are soo many memories and so much of me that went into this story. Everything from the titles of the chapters to the content in the chapters themselves. An author of a popular series that got turned into a movie on Netflix created a blog for his upcoming novel and I thought I can do that. There’s just so much to say. So, lets just jump right in.

Lunch Meat

Chapter 1

*(MEANING BEHIND THE NAME)

When I started off I just gave him the name “Lunch”. In the earliest chapter I wrote I made him look like a “lunchable”. I think I gave him a tan chef’s hat, a pink shirt, yellow pants, and tan shoes (the cracker, the bologna, the cheese, and another cracker).  I decided on  Oscar as in “Oscar Myer” who made Lunchables.  Then I just gave him the last name “Able” Or (ah ball)

*(“LUNCH’”S ILLNESS)

Lunch is so much of me. He has “an illness that doesn’t let him keep food down”. Rather he did when he was younger.  For a long time I had “Gastro Peries”. I don’t remember when this started but I remember a very hard time in my life when I couldn’t eat or drink anything without it coming up. I remember losing so much weight that there was a doctor that wondered if I was anorexic. That time in my life I didn’t have the energy to do *anything*. I spent a lot of time laying on the floor or laying over a hard chair.  Sometimes I just couldn’t get comfortable so I’d have to “sleep” on my knees bend over.  I would also have spasms and a dull ache in my chest.  It got to be so bad I remember they were talking about giving me a feeding tube. I was practically living on Ensure. I was going in and out of the hospital for dehydration. I remember getting so confused one time, I called my aunt and told her I was locked in my mother’s room and couldn’t find the door. I was SO weak! Thanfully there was a doctor that knew of a pill that the compound shop made that was rare, but it worked for me. I haven’t had an episode since but sometimes off and on over the years I have had to deal with throwing up. I’m not sure if it’s been from my stomach getting too full due to that or something else.

*(LUNCHS LOVE OF COOKING)

I didn’t know this at the time (or maybe I did) but “Lunch” reminds me a lot of my uncle Thomas “Johnny” Edwards (my mother’s brother) who passed last year.  My uncle had a reddish-brown skin tone. He was of medium height.  He wore his hair cut low.  Amost none. So much so that my cousin (his son) use to vent about why he needed to have this guy come and cut it (because he didn’t have any and he thought it was a waste of money).  After a while he stopped cooking but there was a time when he really seemed to enjoy it. At the funeral, the pastor praised him for his lemon pies.  I remember he would make really good banana pudding and Italian sausage. He would also make *the* most tender bbq! Lunch is a little more timid than my uncle. He always seemed to be cheerful and laughing.

*(JOBS)

TOYS R US

All of these jobs were onces I held. My first job was working at Toys R Us.  What I remember was working the floor. There would be baskets of toys and it was my job to put them back where they belonged.  From what I remember about it it was a never ending thing because it seemed like the baskets never STAYED empty. Soon as you cleared one there for four or five or ten other baskets full of toys to put back up.

RICHES AND MACYS

I worked sales. I worked at the Galleria at Macy’s and Brookwood (I think) Rich’s. Like “Lunch” I had a knack for helping people pick good choices in clothes and jewely. Surpringly because I’m not a big clothes and jewelry person. I probably would be tho if I had the money!  And like  “Lunch” my least favorite past of it was constnaly having to go in the dressing rooms and put things back (much like with the baskets of toys). Cleaning up after people just wasn’t it for me!  Like “Lunch” I also didn’t feel like one of the people life favored. I didn’t have a car so I had to stay after work and wait for someone to pick me up. Sometimes after everyone had left I’d be the only one left in the parking lot! And that was *NOT* fun! I also didn’t like when we had to do early days when we’d have to come to the store and do inventory.  I remember what I wanted to do back then which was either being a buyer or one of the people that did the store window displays. I worked in quite a few sections including lingerie, womens, juniors, and the jewelry counter.

ADVANCE PCS

I worked in a Data Entry center called Advanced Pharmacy.  Data Entry was a challenge for me. You had to have a certain amount of orders processed every day. Like with “Lunch” it was hard to keep up with even when I wasn’t sick. But I soon started to have the episodes again.  Some days I remember just having to go into a room and lie there a minute.  I also remember during this time having to wear a heart monitor. Alhtough nothing was ever found.  Which to me is even odd to this day.  It was during this time I have a vivid memory.  There was a girl there that worse a blue and yellow “Michigan” jacket. I causally commented to her how much I liked the jacket and she said “Do you want it?” Just like that she took the jacket off and gave it to me.  Some months into the job I was fired.  The lady that hired me (who was black) wasn’t there and told my mother had she been there she definitely wouldn’t have let them fire me, but by then it was too late!

THE MCWAYNE CENTER

I worked here it seemed just for a few months. The exhibit was working in the gift store for the Titanic. It would have been temporary anyway but unfortunately I goto sick again and wound right back up in the hospital.  Do you know what was crazy to me tho? When I think about it I’d be ok until I started to work again and then BAM the gastro would hit me again. My body just DID NOT want to work. This is something I kinda wish that my half sister would have seen with her own eyes the struggle I had to go through when I was working jobs

*(LUNCH’S DEPRESSION)

This comes from a very real place. Lunch wants to create something to end his misery. There have been times I’ve suffured from depression.  I remember a time when everyone else seemed to have found love and married, and all the relationships I had would fail on me. I wanted love so badly then. I’d pray to God and it would fall on deaf ears. Instead I got bad health, failed job attempts , and dead end relationships so I would pray that he would just take my life in my sleep, That didn’t happen either. It felt like God wanted me to just suffer through all the hardships and they never seemed to end for me. I wish I could say that it got better.  Depression is still something I struggle with.  There are days when there will be too much pressure on me from family or too much noise or thoughts that why couldn’t I just have been born “normal” I will say “Must” you can take me now. He hasn’t so I guess I have a bigger purpose here first tho at times that’s so hard for me to even concieve but I still keep going ..  slowly. Even when all the appointments, and procedures and everything else start to make me tired.

*(THE FRANKFOOD CHANNEL)

For the LONGEST time I wanted to watch this show! I use to try to look it up and it only gave me clips.  I didn’t realize until later the show only had a few episodes to it.  The combinations just always looked so interesting. One of the things I use to do was watch videos on You Tube where people would go to all the restaraunts on the Disney property and vlog the foods. This was fascinating to me and something I wished I could do.  I started to look up “Frankenfoods” to see if there were any websites dedicated to combination foods. I wanted there to be something unique about Lunch’s foods.  While looking around on Amazon I found two books called FRANKENFOOD RECIPES. The The descriptiosn of the pizza flavored Mac and Cheese, the breakfast cookie, and the fried chicken coated in chocolate and marshmallow coating came from the book. At the end of the chapter, the maple, bacon, muffins also come from this recipe book..  I thought that it would be fun -later- to give him the gift of creating foods that taste the exact same as when you had it years ago, because today NOTHING taste the same as it did years go!

*(THE TELEVISON)

Here is the first clue that we get that Lunch is a cannibal.  I’m pretty sure I got the imagery of the hand coming out of the tv from one of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies.  The television show was a scene from THE DONNA REED SHOW

*(PIG EAR SLIDERS)

One day my uncle “Johnny” was watching Yo Tube and he saw some people talking about this out of the way place that sold Pig Ear Sliders and they claimed they were so good. So, he got my cousin (Thomas)-his son- to take him to this place. When he got there (as expected) they weren’t good which goes to show you can’t believe everything you hear from other people on You Tube, television, commercial, etc.

*(GATEWAY AND MOONBEAMS)

These refer to a series of text books and practice books I used by Houghton Milton I used when I was in elementary school. Later on we’ll find out “Gateway” is the access point to get to the Nostalgia Theme Park. “Moonbeam” I think I saw in my head as the park’s dark side. I also thought that behind “MoonbeamS” was the dark park of “Lunch” himself. The part that “Teddy” erased early in his childhood.

“TEDDY” (THE BUTCHER MR. GRAM)

I always knew that when  I got to the last chapter (which would be about what went into creating the Nostalgia Theme Park) I would call him “Teddy” so I could make a double play of the word’s “Teddy’s Jam”. “Teddy’s Jam” was a popular song from the group GUY which consisted of Teddy Riley, Aaron and Damion Hall.  “He stood about six or seven feet” is a line from the song “My Mind Is Playing Tricks on Me” by the Ghetto Boys. And a lot of Teddy’s description can be taken from imagery *from* the video. There’s a man in the shadows (that turns out to be a woman-hmmm-) and the figure is wearing a hat with it’s head bowed so you can’t tell it’s sex.

Teddy tells Lunch to  “Look into his eyes and tell him what he sees”. This is a line from the Bone Thugs and Harmoney song “Look Into My Eyes”.

*(THE TOYS)

THE ADMANS FAMILY and SUPER MARIO BROTHERS 3 bring back very special memories! My aunt had a pull out couch bed. This was during the time when my grandparents still stayed in there old house. After my aunt moved out and my grandparents passed it got rented to a man that I heard changed it so much that I wouldn’t recognize it today. But during those good old days, my cousin and I would stay up until we saw the sun come up and then just pass out on the couch bed. We’d also be up watching old Batman reuns.  Just a couple of weeks ago I pulled up the game play of THE ADDAMS FAMILY and all it took was for me to hear the sounds again and it took me right back to those days!

I do remember having CANDY LAND and HI HO CHERRIO.  I didn’t have any of the Playdooh sets but they were so much fun to look up on You Tube.  I thought it was cool to give him another odd food related talent to be a “food sculptor”, I myself never had this skill. I took pottery at an art college and I’m not even sure how I passed that class.  Poettery definitely wasn’t my “gift”.

I did also have the BARBIE KITCHEN, ICE CREAM SHOP, BAKE SHOP,  I also did have all the vintage STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE DOLLS, THE EZ BAKE OVEN, THE COKE MACHINE, and maybe the SNOOPY SNOW MAKER (I think). I wanna say I had a ROSE PETAL lunch box as well as a STRAWBERRY SHORTCKAE one.

*(“LUNCHS” HOUSE)

Lunch’s house’s layout was the house I remember growing up in when I was a child. I haven’t seen it in years but I remember it VERY clearly. The thing I remember the most is that my bed was by a window and I use to fall asleep looking at the sky and the stars!

*(THE FALLING LAMP)

When I was small, I once was running in a pair of footy pajamas and bumped into the floor lamp in our living room. It left a scar below my eyebrow.

[suckitsurveys]

Did you know that all the fish are dying out? Did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean boulevard?

Would you ever wear a white tuxedo? Sure.

Do you judge a book by its cover? I think we all do to an extent.

Do you like chips and dips? Yes I do! Tortilla chips and salsa/queso/guac is my favorite!!!!

Last time you went on a rollercoaster: Oh gosh it’s been a bit. Probably 10 years ago?

Ever been to a pottery class? Yup, I took ceramics in high school and college.

Does your milkshake bring all the boys to the yard? Please no.

Who was the last person to stay over at your house? My niece.

Do you like red lipstick? Yes.

Can you recall your country’s national anthem? Uh huh.

Do you believe in ghosts? Sure.

Which sweets/candy would you put into your dream pic'n'mix? Never heard of pic’n’mix but I assume it’s just mixed candies? sour gummy candies would make a good mix.

If you had a boat, where would you sail in your boat? I wouldn’t.

Can you rap? Hah.

Are you a light sleeper? Sometimes.

When you were young, did you ever pretend to “marry” somebody? Yeah.

What is your favourite Disney film? The Emperor’s New Groove and the Toy Story movies.

Do you prefer brown or white bread? Wheat.

Have you ever spent an entire day in bed? I have. Or on the couch.

Don’t you just find it annoying when people get too much plastic surgery? No, people can do whatever they want with their bodies.

How high’s your pain threshold? Somewhere in the middle.

What would you wear to a red carpet event? It would entirely depend on said event.

Whose birthday is next, out of all the people you know? My cousin Kelly and my coworker; they have the same birthday.

What kind of coat are you going to wear in the winter? It is winter and I have my trusty black puffer jacket.

Did you ever go through a Goth phase? Eh.

Do you find architecture interesting? YESSSSS I love architecture.

When on the computer do you ever think about how it all works? Well now I am, thanks.

How many songs are there in your iTunes library? I don’t use iTunes.

Do you like Irish accents? Sure.

Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on: This guy took me on a picnic but when we got there he told me it was a “zombie apocalypse” picnic and the food he brought was those prepackaged MRE things where you just add hot water to them and it makes a meal. Then he told me that if anyone got close to use, we had to move and move quickly and it was just so dumb and embarrassing.

When did you last go to the park? It’s been a bit since the weather has been cold.

Which two animals would you breed together to make a hybrid? Eh.

Do you ever forget how to walk? No.

Do you own a Jesus bracelet? Nope.

How far out can you stick your tongue? I don’t know, the normal amount?

Do you like David Bowie? Yes.

Would you eat a live cockroach if it made you a millionaire? Eh.

Does it annoy you when you feel like people aren’t really listening? It depends on the person and what I am talking about.

Are you the type who usually plays it safe? For the most part.

Do you want what you can’t have? Eh.

Ever been copied by somebody, clothing or style-wise? Not really.

Is there a point to clear nail varnish? I mean, it’s usually a top coat or a strengthener.

What is the latest time you’ve ever woken up? I’m not sure, maybe about 2pm?

Ever gotten into trouble over something you didn’t really do? Yes.

Are you currently ill? Not in the physical sense, no.

Don’t you just hate being corrected? Depends.

Are there any really beautiful buildings close to where you live? Oh yes, Chicago has amazing buildings and architecture.

Who do you think about most? The people in my life?

Do you have embarrassing parents? Nah, I honestly never found them embarrassing, even as a teenager.

How often do you use the word “poltent”? I have no idea what poltent means.

How’s your grandmother? Dead.

What in your opinion is the most annoying noise in the world? Metal scraping against metal.

Are you any good at writing? Sure.

Can you speak any Spanish? Un poco.

Do you like things from the ‘50s? My parents were born in the 50s and I like them.

Would you rather be skeletal or curvy? Curvy.

What’s your favourite type of cloud? Storm clouds.

What’s something that really matters to you? A lot of things matter to me.

Did that pass some time? Sure.

[babyjakes]

forever and a day | 11. touch.

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summary | a story in which america’s favorite captain gives a new life and family to a five-year-old girl who has suffered well beyond her years at the hands of hydra.

characters | dad!steve rogers, girl/willa rogers (original character)

warnings | AU similar enough to OU to include spoilers to many Marvel movies (Age of Ultron and beyond). mature themes related to child abuse/neglect. mentions/descriptions of past CSA and CSM. medical abuse and experimentation. ptsd/trauma symptoms in a child (developmental discrepancies, de-humanized behavior, detachment, extreme fears). medical treatment of CSM and other aftermath of abuse.somewhat evil!Tony Stark (eventually)

[Steve]

“Stark. Rogers. Can we talk for a moment?” At the sound of Bruce’s voice, I look up from my sketchpad, my pencil coming to a halt over the smooth paper. It’s mid-afternoon, and Girl has fallen asleep wrapped up in Peter’s blanket on the couch. Tony entered the room some time ago and has been sitting at the table, working with some piece of technology (per usual.) Banner stands in the entrance to the hallway, his arms crossed.

“Uh oh,” Tony responds slowly, “I don’t like where this is going.”

“It’s nothing bad,” Bruce rolls his eyes. “I just… I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I want to discuss some things with you.” Tucking my pencil into the ring of my sketchbook, I set it down beside me on the couch, looking over at Girl to make sure she’s fast asleep before standing up to face the men. Tony sighs and switches off his toy, the blue lights on the gadgets instantly cutting out. Bruce walks over and takes a seat across from Tony, while I take a seat at the end of the table, bridging the gap.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask, trying to keep my voice down so as to not wake the sleeping child.

“If this is about the shirt thing, I told you: I’m working on it. But you gotta understand, it’s not the same as making expandable pants. Shirts are just made to rip. Plus- it’s pretty badass every time it happens-” Tony starts, causing me to bring my hand up to my face in annoyance.

“No, no, it’s not about that,” Bruce waves him off. “Besides, why would Cap need to be involved in that conversation?”

“I don’t know. I feel like he would probably be on your side. He’s a boomer, probably prefers a more conservative look,” Tony jokes, failing to earn any amusement from either of us.

“Why on earth would I care if Bruce’s shirt tears off of him every time he turns green? His pants stay on. That’s all that matters,” I shoot back.

“Guys, stop. I have something we really need to talk about,” Bruce interjects, shaking his head.

“Sorry, sorry. Go on,” Tony reigns himself in, seeming uncharacteristically sincere. With everything that’s been going on around here lately, I’ve found that Tony is actually doing a pretty good job of being serious when he needs to be. Which honestly isn’t what I would have ever expected from him; needless to say, it’s impressed me.

“I know that you both signed for guardianship,” Bruce begins. Removing my hand from my face, I turn my body slightly to face the doctor. Tony quits fiddling with his gadget on the table, giving him his full attention as well. “And I- I guess that’s not what I was expecting. At least not from you, Stark.”

“Yeah, well… I suppose it’s not what I was expecting from me, either,” Tony agrees quietly.

“It shows a lot of character, what you did,” I tell him sincerely. The dark-haired man simply nods, not meeting my gaze.

“After having the past twenty-four hours or so to observe some of her behavior, I’ve concluded that my original analysis of Girl’s mental state was probably most likely accurate. Only it’s a little bit more… critical than I thought it would be.”

“What do you mean by that?” I ask, worry beginning to rise in my stomach.

“Obviously, the kid’s been through a lot of trauma. Not just physically, but emotionally. The fact that she was separated from her mother at birth and raised in a place like that already puts her in a terrible spot from a developmental standpoint. There are a lot of things she was deprived of, more than just proper food and being kept safe. The first five years of life are critical for emotional regulation, sense of self, security in attachment, and countless other psychological boxes to be checked. And that’s not even touching on what kind of early education she was getting, if any.”

“She must have been taught by someone. She can talk; she does talk. She has a general idea of basic concepts, right?” Tony interjects. Bruce looks up at us sadly.

“Sure, she knows how to talk. Look, knowing her letters and numbers is about the last thing I’m worried about at this point, in all honesty. You have to understand, when a child isn’t loved or cared for in the earliest stages of life, as an infant, and then a toddler… that creates a deep wound. She was never held or comforted properly; she most likely had no opportunity to ever be properly nurtured by someone. And then she was put through all of that abuse… this kind of damage isn’t easily solved. It’s gonna take a lot of time, effort, and patience.”

As soon as the doctor finishes his sentence, silence sweeps over the room. Lowering my head slightly, I let my gaze fall off to nowhere in particular as Bruce’s words repeat over in my head. She was not loved or cared for… never held or comforted…

Clenching my jaw, I swallow down tears. My heart is all but breaking at my friend’s grim revelations.

“How can we help? How- how can we ease the process?” Tony asks urgently.

“Well for one, she’ll need a lot of therapy. Stark, you and I have been looking for a counselor already; I’m sure that’ll help greatly. But in addition to that, she’s going to need a lot of specialized care. And since you two signed for guardianship, the majority of that’s gonna fall on you.” Tony and I nod in unison. “Of course, the rest of us are gonna be here to help you along the way, y'know, give you breaks when you need it. But at the end of the day, it’s you who she’s going to be relying on the most.”

“Whatever we need to do, we’ll do it,” I say, speaking for both Tony and I. The scientist nods in agreement at my statement.

“Good. If I had to guess, every waking moment is filled with terror for her, so as much as we want her to get better as fast as possible, we’re going to have to take it slow,” Bruce explains. “We don’t want to do anything too drastic; she’ll most likely be easy to overwhelm. A good place to start might be physical contact. When a child isn’t given physical affection and comfort for the first five years of her life, she develops deep attachment issues and mistrust. And as much as she’s afraid of touch, it’s going to be one of the most healing things for her to experience. Actions are going to speak much louder than words for her.”

“I don’t know if she’ll let me touch her much at all,” Tony says meekly.

“Steve, you’ve been able to hold her on occasion; I’ve even seen her let you stroke her cheek or hold her hands. That’s a good place to start. For now, keep doing that, and Tony, once she’s a little more comfortable with it, then you can try to start implementing the same tactics.”

“She is closest to you, Cap; I think that’s pretty clear. And I’m okay with that. You two have a special bond, and I respect it,” Nodding gratefully towards him, I know in my heart, he’s right. Out of anyone here, she seems to be the most willing to let me in. But even with me, there are still so many walls she’s built up. So many instinctive habits she has to protect herself that keep her from me. We still have a long way to go.

Before any of us can say any more, the sound of heaving interrupts our conversation. In an instant, all three of us are up and making our way over to the couch to find that Girl has woken up and thrown Peter’s blanket off of her, her big green eyes looking up at us in horror. Before any of us can say anything or move closer, she begins to cough, before vomiting miserably all over herself. Tears come spewing from her eyes; in an instant, I’m down on my knees in front of her. “Oh, sweetheart,” I say sadly, stroking back her hair from her sticky face.

“We should get her back to her room,” Bruce says.

“You guys take care of her. I’ll clean up the mess,” Tony decides, walking over to the kitchen and beginning to pull out cleaning supplies.

“Don’t hurt Girl, p-please, didn’t mean to, didn’t mean to,” the poor thing chokes through her tears and spit as she cowers beside me.

“We won’t hurt you, doll, you’re okay. Shh-shh shh,” I soothe, running my hands over her long brown hair. She coughs again, and I prepare for another round of vomit, but thankfully, it doesn’t come. Bruce sighs from behind me, earning a flinch from the little girl. “C'mon, sweetpea,” I say, gathering her in my arms while somehow managing to avoid getting any puke on myself. Turning with the trembling child placed on my hip, I follow Bruce as he makes his way swiftly down the hallway to Girl’s room.

“Do we have any clean clothes for her?” I ask as we walk through the door. He goes into the dresser and pulls out a pair of underwear, a plain white shirt, and a pair of blue pants that look like they might fit her.

“Peter and Wanda were in charge of stocking up yesterday before we got back. Looks like they managed to find some stuff,” Bruce replies, setting the clothes down on the bed. “Girl, is your stomach still upset now? What happened?”

“Please, sorry, will d-do better, please,” the quaking child begs in reply, clearly not processing the doctor’s question.

“Shh, sweetheart,” I hush, setting her down on the bed and crouching down to be eye level with her. “You’re alright, Girl. No one’s angry with you. You’re not in trouble; it’s okay. You’re okay,” I soothe. But my words seem to do little to reassure her.

“I’m gonna step out for a moment; can you get her changed, Cap?” Bruce asks nervously. Taking a deep breath, I glance down at the clothes, then back up at Girl, then over at my friend. Sighing, I nod. I know she’ll be afraid, but we have to get her out of her dirty hospital gown. No one’s felt confident enough to do so up until this point, but now that it’s covered in puke, we just don’t have any other option.

“I can handle it. Thanks, Bruce,” I tell him evenly. The doctor nods with a sympathetic look, walking out of the room and closing the door.

I take another deep breath as I turn back to Girl who’s still crying, her whole face flushed pink, cheeks burning wild with fever. “Hey, pumpkin. What d'you say we get you out of that thing and into some real clothes?” I suggest.

Her eyes grow wide as she processes my words, cowering back from me as she begins to beg again. “Please, w-wait,” she sniffles, her whole body shaking like a leaf.

“Hey, you’re okay. I won’t hurt you, Girl. I’m just going to help you get changed,” I promise her carefully. “Your old clothes are really dirty; you deserve some nice, new, clean ones.” Reaching out carefully, I wrap my arms around the trembling girl to find the sets of strings where the gown is tied closed. During the process, my hand brushes across her arm, causing the poor thing to let out a frightened whimper. “Shh-shh shh,” I hush, “You’re okay, darlin’. I promise, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Making sure to keep my movements slow and predictable, I carefully make my way down the gown, untying each set of strings until they’ve all been released. As the gown falls loosely over her boney frame, I take hold of it at each of the sleeves, ever-so-gently lifting it off of her. Once it’s gone, the child stands bare before me, tears streaming down her cheeks. I’ve never seen anyone shake so hard in my entire life.

“You’re okay, kiddo. We’re halfway there; you’re doing so good, bein’ so brave,” I tell Girl softly. I pick up the underwear, which have little purple flowers scattered across them, and hold them out for the girl. “Can you step into them if I hold them up for you?” I ask quietly.

Slowly, she shifts her body to the edge of the bed and does as she’s been asked, one leg, then the other. As gently as I can, I let go of the elastic onto her tiny waist. Then, I pick up the pants, and without needing to ask her, she steps into them as well. Finally, I pull the shirt over her head, smiling as her arms make their way through the sleeves. “See? All done. Not scary,” I murmur.

“Not scary,” Girl repeats back. Nodding at her proudly, I reach out, stroking her hair. When she doesn’t pull away, I decide to open my arms up again and pull her body in close to me, rocking her back and forth, side to side as she stands in my embrace. At first, she’s as stiff as a board, but slowly, as the minutes pass, she’s thankfully able to relax into my touch.

As much as she’s afraid of touch, it’s going to be one of the most healing things for her to experience, Bruce’s voice rings through my head.

“Let’s get your face cleaned up, sweetheart,” I say warmly to her, standing up and lifting her so that she’s held securely in my arms. I walk over into her bathroom and set her down on the counter, taking a cloth and running under some luke-warm water before raising it up to her face. But before I can wipe away the sick from the little girl’s cheeks, a quiet plea stops me.

“Please l-let Girl breathe, please- w-wait.”

I pause, confused. Looking down at the cloth, it only takes a moment for her heartbreaking words to make sense. They waterboarded her. “I won’t, sweetie. Don’t worry. We’re just gonna get you nice and cleaned up,” I promise her. Gently, I begin wiping away at her face, putting the cloth back down again when her skin is clear. “There you go, all clean. Not scary,” I tell her.

“N-not scary,” she mumbles in agreement, surprising me by leaning forward and resting her head gently against my chest.

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