#does that make sense...? it feels really weird.

[eddiegettingshot]

your prompt for today: pink🩷

When their night out winds down, and they land on Eddie’s doorstep, Buck’s gut begins to prickle with sudden nerves, or maybe anticipation. He really can’t tell the difference. Strange, because he thought he’d been handling being on a first date with his best friend pretty well. After all, it’s a song and dance that’s usually about making a good first impression, and not only did that ship sail years ago, but Buck didn’t even get it right. So dinner just felt like dinner, except for the fact that Eddie kept their feet tucked together beneath the table the whole time.

Granted, there were a few days where Buck kept forgetting anything had changed between them if they weren’t physically together, if Eddie didn’t have a hand on him, like he’d lost all sense of object permanence where Eddie was concerned. What’s startling is that in most ways, nothing has. 

Like this: Eddie turns to him now as he unlocks his front door, brow arched. 

“What, you got somewhere else to be?” he asks.

Buck doesn’t bother asking what Eddie had seen in him, that he’d decided he needed to stake an explicit claim on the rest of Buck’s night (and, with luck, the morning?). It’s not like he’s in the habit of playing things close to the vest, but half the time he doesn’t even need to say a word—not to Eddie. He’d been peeled open long before he knew he had anything to confess.

Easy to imagine: himself, held in the tender cradle of Eddie’s hands, Eddie’s thumbs feeling down his center to find the tenderest spot, pushing deep all at once, prying him apart—through the rind of him, his ribcage, so all his insides, overripe with adoration, come spilling out into Eddie’s palms. That’s how it feels. It’s everything he’s ever wanted.

“No,” he says, shuffling closer. He’d been hanging back, playing with his car keys in his pocket.  “No, I—I’m coming in.”

“Good.” 

Eddie sounds so openly pleased. Warmth spills through Buck’s spine. He hadn’t considered that he wasn’t alone in this—bracing against some new humming energy, staring too closely at the back of Eddie’s neck—but he watches Eddie’s shoulders soften, right before he lets Buck inside.

Then, once Buck’s on the couch, thinking really intently about how they’re going to occupy it together (it’s been a busy week; they haven’t even seen enough of each other for Buck to have adapted to their new rules of engagement. Can he crawl into Eddie’s lap?), Eddie pauses, says, “Uh, hold on,” and bustles off to the kitchen. 

He returns with a lighter for the candle sitting on the coffee table, which is—new. Buck hadn’t noticed until now. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Eddie light a candle in all the years he’s spent in this house, and now his lip is trapped between his teeth as he does it, avoiding Buck’s eyes all the while.

It hits Buck hard and fast: Eddie is really, really nervous. And trying to be romantic, for Buck. And if he crawled into Eddie’s lap, probably Eddie would laugh, and let him; he’s allowed. And maybe nothing feels different but it’s all changed. That’s what Buck wants, for once. That’s what Eddie wants, judging by his wide dark eyes, flushed cheeks, the flickering candlelight. Sometimes Buck’s slow on the uptake. This time, he might have just been scared. 

“You look nice,” Buck says. 

Kind of bad timing—Eddie’s just in his socks; he’d shed his jacket and the fancy watch Buck’s only seen him break out a couple times; he’d undone the first couple of buttons on his shirt; he must have run his hands through his hair when he was out of sight, since it’s falling halfway down his forehead. Buck should have said something when he picked Eddie up—he’d thought it, then, but he had been so comfortable with Eddie in his passenger seat, he didn’t want to risk making things weird.

Eddie’s laugh is just a soft puff of air. He relaxes. “Thanks,” he says, coming around to sink down beside Buck, turning a knee out so they’re touching, as if by reflex. 

“I like that color on you,” Buck continues. “Always have.”

“Hm,” Eddie says, smiling. He’s in rose pink. He’s also leaning closer, lifting a hand and brushing his fingertips down Buck’s brow, his cheek. His eyes flicker, and suddenly they’re trained on Buck’s mouth. Buck’s stomach swoops boyishly. “It’s a good color.”

Holy shit, Buck thinks, head full of jasmine and honey and smoke and the cologne Eddie’s wearing, something unfamiliar with an exotic spiced note. They kissed before—they’ve been kissing all week—except this time Buck starts whimpering before their lips meet, and Eddie swallows whatever strangled noise he makes with a grin. Buck lurches in, fisting urgent hands into the front of Eddie’s shirt. 

“Eddie,” he pants after a while. It’s hard-won, because Eddie is demanding, and he bites. “Eddie, are you sure?” 

Now that they’ve done it, like, really crossed the line, gotten a taste—he’s gotta know if this is what Eddie was looking for, when he told Buck he loved him. Not just the sex, which they’re definitely about to have—all of it. Buck shoves his knuckles against Eddie’s chest to feel his heart gallop, hard but steady like it grew Thoroughbred legs. 

Eddie’s cupping his face in both hands while they kiss. He pulls away, not far, and surveys Buck the way he would a patient: like he’s trying to puzzle out what’s going on beneath Buck’s skin, in all the places he can’t quite reach.

“Buck,” he says, gently. “Of course.” 

He pushes his thumb between Buck’s teeth. Satisfied, Buck drags him back in.

[diushek]

The Shen Yuan that dies - really dies. He actually dies and doesn't transmigrate, but well, you know, death is a timeless thing and the flow of time itself in the world of the dead is so weird lol So, well, let me make up that all the demons and ghost kings and cultivators inhabit this powerful timeless space where the dead also go, and oh, there's Shen Yuan now -

So, Shen Yuan is just a silly ghost fire filled with pent-up rage, damn shitty novel, damn shitty author. Is he “alive” for something? Because of how much he hates PIDW and its fucked up ending. Get a lower-ranking ghost body because he's just... angry at Airplane. His new form is, ah, well, different and weird, but he can grow his hair to go unnoticed, and can steal some robes.

Get a small job eventually just because he was bored and although he don't need to eat, it would be nice to have extra money - and the tea house owner doesn't care if he's a human or a ghost as long as he's not creepy with the customers and serves their tables. It's a routine that gives him the quick financial support to get bad books, complain more - and maybe he's getting stronger because of it? Because of his anger at mediocre authors and repressed anger? Does it even make sense?

At some point, Tonglu opens. Shen Yuan has headaches and the desperate feeling that he must go, as if he summoned. He tells his boss he's going to be out for ghostly reasons - his boss is like, oh, you needed a vacation anyway. And Shen Yuan goes.

It's a massacre, of course. A mix between the Hunger Games and the Purge, but Shen Yuan has something they definitely don't: a lot of knowledge in shooting video games. And he doesn't have a gun, but hey, he can shoot resentful spiritual energy and it works like bullets or something - he soon discovers that the more ghosts he overcomes, he becomes stronger. He has more power to throw, more skills, a stronger body.

Go to the kiln. Have bloody fights. At some point he gets a sword and it takes him forever and nothing like a training sequence to use it properly. And finally, the kiln opens and Shen Yuan comes out looking... Well, stronger.

He returns to the teahouse to change and take a bath. The owner tells him that it's been thirteen years, what the hell, but lets him in and gives him hot water and clothes.

Shen Yuan's new body and new abilities are strange to him. He notices himself taller. Stronger. His hearing and smell have improved. His abilities seem to be more wordy, as if he could persuade people if he spoke to them in a specific tone, as if his words could bind them. Well, it's not a bad way to be dead.

Shen Yuan tries to continue working at the tea house, but the humans are clearly terrified by the powerful ghost king aura in their area, so there are hardly any customers. Shen Yuan just sighs and decides to leave. He has some savings anyway.

Ghosts run away from him. Humans either try to kill him or hide. Shen Yuan is fed up; no matter if it is in the mortal world or the ghost world, people are gossiping about him and how he has not taken a Territory, about how unorthodox he is, about how they are waiting for him to start his killing spree one day.

Shen Yuan learns to change his appearance from creepy ghost to normal human, hide his resentful energy, and camouflage himself in the human world. It's a long way from his old tea house, and so many years have passed that the kind owner has probably already died, so Shen Yuan gets another job at a bookstore. Nothing unusual. Just a boy who was once from a wealthy family and was disinherited when his older brother took over the family leadership because of their bad relationship. Now he must work to live.

People swallow that story like a good meal, some even feel sorry for him.

And Shen Yuan is having a decent afterlife. Boring, mostly, but with good days. He reads a lot, gets angry a lot, writes authors letters that reach their desks without them even realizing how the hell did this crazy guy find his addresses. Let's just say he's having an interesting life.

Then one day, he meets Luo Binghe.

He... He literally knows that he's Binghe. It couldn't be anyone else but Luo Binghe. He does his investigations, and apparently, Emperor Luo Binghe exists, he has been there all along. It's not like Shen Yuan knew it; the ghost realm and the human-demon realm are divided, and even if they have a common mortal ancestor, demons and ghosts don't usually meddle in their own things.

Not that Shen Yuan wants to be cannon fodder anyway; he keeps his distance in Binghe, works at that bookstore, gives friendly greetings to his customers, and keeps sending angry letters to authors.

And one day Shen Yuan receives a direct visit from Luo Binghe at his door. With a letter in his hand.

"This letter was on my Second Wife's desk," Luo Binghe says, with a fake smile. "No one but her can open or read it, so this Lord wonders after discovering the resentful energy signature on the paper, what missives does this Ghost King exchange with one of the Emperor's wives?"

Shen Yuan is not surprised that Luo Binghe knows who he is - ever so OP the Protagonist! However, it is more difficult to explain that his wife actually writes cut-sleeved novels that the fact that Shen Yuan was reading and criticizing them in the first place.

Well, he's been dead for over a hundred years, really denying that he's at least bisexual at this point in his life...

[anomaliex]

Collection of headcanons not elaborate enough for own word vomit post:

- I don't think Kristen can swim. She has the vibes of someone who never learned as a kid and now it's too late to bring up without being embarrassed. (Also I thought about what would happen if she fell in water — mechanically she's wearing heavy armor, would Brennan just let her swim since she's in universe only in a tracksuit or would she sink without a sufficient strength check? Idk, but that's how I got to the no swimming conclusion.)

- insanely weird hc to have but i think Fabian shaves his arm hair. Also like legs and arm pits i guess but the way more unusual and therefore notable thing is arms. This guy kills any body and facial hair on sight. Like no one has ever seen him with as much as stubble outside of Cathilda or the Bad Kids when they were sleeping over. Why? Idk he just prefers that, no deeper reason. I do think elves generally have less body hair but here his human genes come through so he has to shave. Or get it lasered away I guess. You can do that right?? He's rich. Maybe he'd do it.

- also Fabian's depth perception is dog shit. Using his crossbow is less impressive because Fandrangor is simply a better weapon and his flourishes and manoeuvres rely on melee combat, I know, but to me it's also just that he's better at hitting things real close to him.

- Riz is the kinda guy to have chronic migraines and think it's fine. "Everyone has headaches sometimes and I do sleep a lot less than I should ahaha" (the amount of coffee he drinks is barely saving him from the horrors.)

- Adaine also gets a lot of migraines in what I think are more. Passive non specific visions? Like a gut feeling that's always correct and also makes her body hate her. The proper visions are comparable to absence seizures I think? Like I don't wanna say it's that because it's magic but the process is kind of the same in the sense that she's out for like ten to thirty seconds and it can really suck

- I also think Adaine has synaesthesia! I can't really put this into words well so I'm not even gonna try, but she perceives certain sounds and/or colours at times where there shouldn't be sounds and/or colours. I think those associations also to an extend help in drawing connections between less specific visions and real life.

- we know Gorgug has a drumset in his room I think it's electronic. But like not in a normal way like we have them irl it's some insane artificer shit that would justify so much more noise complaints than a regular one and also could probably have its own pyrotechnics idfk. It's fully a safety hazard but it doesn't even rank on the top 10 of worst things to have in your house that is a TREE that the Thistlesprings casually own.

- I think either Fig or Kristen would be the shortest medium creature type Bad Kid. Like obviously Riz is four feet tall max but he's in a whole different category lmao

- Fig sometimes puts little braids in Jawbone's fur and he happily lets her. He only properly adopted Adaine and Fig has more than enough dads, but he does still act as sort of a paternal figure to her (and every other kid ((which in this case includes Ragh but maybe not Aelwyn)) in mordred manor because he's just a caring guy and it's hard not to grow attached) so that's their pseudo daddy-daughter bonding

- Fabian doesn't like, hate Gilear as much as he used to? Like he still has his moments but overall he thinks he's a good guy and absolutely has the "well I can shit on him but I'm gonna kill this other guy who did. How dare you make fun of my Mama's beloved??" mindset. But uhm he tries to make Gilear work out with him so he can "stop being death fodder". Gilear is a commoner and everyone else in Seacaster Manor absolutely is not and like he likes it and he loves these people but he does kind of live in hell. His wife? Could kill him. His step son? Could kill him. The maid? Could kill him. The dog slash motor cycle?? Could kill him. One hit. Also the entire current Seacaster household are dexterity based fighters they're all so graceful and skilled he's fully just a guy that spills every drink ever on himself

- I think the Hangman loves Cathilda because she gives good chin scritchies (hound form obviously lol) Generally he tends to mirror Fabian's attitude towards people anyway so he's always liked her, but once he started being a hound more she started petting him and giving him treats and he is smitten

- Gorgug (and sometimes Ragh or Ayda) play extreme fetch with the Hangman. Like I need to stress that he's not just a big dog he's large enough to be a mount, which means he'd have to be the size of a horse. Maybe a small horse sure but that's still a horse-sized dog. I think his mini looks fairly big but in my heart he's bigger. So yeah fetch with him (which they mainly do because they want him to feel comfortable in both forms because he's so good) is really big sticks. Like not logs or anything but sticks the average person can't huck all that far. Fabian casts enhance ability on himself so he can also do it, lol. The wonders of multiclassing into bard.

- I think the only Bad Kids who never use makeup are Riz and Kristen. Gorgug doesn't do it every day and not that much but he uses eyeliner sometimes. Fig's makeup is the most noticeable and usually very fun.

- Gorgug has kissed Ragh at least twice. So at least one time after the prom thing. I don't mean this in a ship way I mean this in I look at Gorgug and then I look at Ragh and I go yeah these guys have shared at least one tender bro kiss. I mean I think Gorgug is the kinda guy that would kiss all of his friends if they wanted to because it's not that big of a deal to him and he loves them but not everyone is comfortable w/ that lol. He and Kristen kiss each other on the cheek though, I think (this does not mean he wants to see her naked in public please put your clothes back on Kristen??)

[steddieas-shegoes]

slowly, then all at once

for @steddielovemonth inspired by the quote "as he read, i fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once." from the fault in our stars by john green

rated t | 731 words | cw: nightmares | tags: pre-relationship, feelings realization, literal sleeping together, cuddling

📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖

Steve’s nightmares aren’t a secret. The severity of them, along with the frequency, and how shitty he feels after, those are all secrets. Not even Robin quite knows how bad it gets sometimes.

The summer is worse: the memories of the Russians, the way the pool reflects off his window at night, the humidity clinging to his skin reminding him too much of the way dust and ash and mud clings in the Upside Down.

He feels stupid after spring break, that he should even still have traumatic memories when Eddie almost died. But he does. They’re worse now. He isn’t being tortured, Robin isn’t even in these ones. It’s always Eddie.

Eddie bleeding.

Eddie’s broken body.

Eddie not breathing.

Eddie dying.

It’s weird how quickly he took over Steve’s brain, how he went from being someone Steve barely knew from school to being one of his closest friends. Near-death experiences tended to do that, he supposes.

But it’s almost every night, and he rarely gets more than a couple hours of sleep before they hit, so he’s in a constant state of exhaustion these days. It’s not great for all the volunteering he does, and the usual taking the kids where they need to go, and trying to find a new job, and trying to convince Robin he’s fine. The bags under his eyes and the constant slump of his shoulders says everything.

She worries, but she knows he just has to get over the hump.

They all do.

Eddie stays with him late into the night a lot. It’s like he senses that being alone is the catalyst.

He finds excuses, tries to make it seem like he’s the one who doesn’t wanna be alone. Steve appreciates it, but he’s far past the point of feeling any shame for being afraid of being alone.

He doesn’t turn him away, though. Eddie sticks around for hours most nights, well past the point he should. Sometimes they watch movies, sometimes they just turn music on and sit quietly in the living room. Eddie is always moving a little, fingers tapping, leg jiggling, head bobbing. It’s good, though. It’s nice.

And sometimes he lays down in Steve’s bed with him until he falls asleep. He doesn’t touch him, or really do anything more than just exist in the space while Steve closes his eyes and drifts off. He’s always gone when Steve wakes up.

Tonight, he’s got a book open and Steve’s curled up under his blankets. His bones ache from how tired he is, and he wonders if his body will ever get to the point where exhaustion keeps the nightmares away. Steve’s eyes are closed, but he’s not asleep. Not yet.

Eddie’s voice is soft, accents coming through for some characters, colorful inflections describing the scenery. Steve smiles to himself as his eyes start to feel heavy.

It’s nice to be read to. He doesn’t know which book this is, but it sounds like a dream.

Maybe he’ll dream about this instead of bats circling a body he loves.

Oh.

His eyes open and he looks up at Eddie, who doesn’t stop reading, even when Steve knows he can feel his eyes on him. It’s a beautiful thing, to see Eddie so enraptured in a story that he’s probably read before, to see him still putting the effort into giving Steve a show even though Steve was mostly asleep.

He loves him.

Steve loves Eddie.

Not the way he loves Robin, or the kids. Maybe closer to how he loved Nancy, but even that didn’t feel quite like this.

This feels like a later sunset after a long winter, a fresh breath of air after being stuck in the Upside Down, a glass of cold water in the middle of summer.

It’s refreshing, and waves of calm take over his body.

He settles.

He reaches out, places his arm over Eddie’s stomach, curls his fingers into his shirt. He buries his face into Eddie’s side.

Eddie pauses for a moment, just long enough that Steve worries he shouldn’t have done this. But then one arm covers Steve’s body and he continues, voice softer but no less enthusiastic.

Steve closes his eyes and falls into a deep sleep.

When he wakes, it’s calm. There’s no crying or screaming, no thrashing, no fighting.

Eddie’s there, holding Steve against him.

He loves him.

[da-janela-lateral]

Mezato is a very intriguing person despite her position as a side character restricting the audience's knowledge on her, but there are some implications I have become very interested on.

During her conversation with Ritsu post-LOL Cult arc, she mentions something akin to "people really aren't born as equals", referring to how Mob is so disadvantaged compared to Ritsu even thought they're siblings. However, that also says a lot about her motivations. Mezato has two main reasons for organizing the Psycho Helmet Cult and trying to make it influent (with Mob's help as their messiah): 1) it sounded fun; and 2) she wanted to take part in such a massive event. Although the "fun" part can be attributed to the fact that well, she is a fourteen year old with a weird perspective, both motivations are directly associated to not only Mezato's passion, but her opinion on herself.

First of all, she becomes fixated on anything that appears worthy of her attention. It kickstarts her adventures as the school journalist, hunting for any kind of news that she believes to be interesting, and by that she doesn't mean "math class is cancelled": Mezato goes far beyond, from catching shoplifters red-handed to infiltrating a cult that supposedly brainwashes its members. It's clear that the mundane is not enough to her. Mezato wants the current biggest thing. This is one of the reasons she gets so interested in Mob, and being so obsessed with the worldchanging, Mezato cannot bring herself to care as much about the common, the mundane. This way, she can only see entertainment, or better put, value, in what stands out.

Equally, Mezato wants to participate in something she sees as 'big'. Being someone who is so attracted to the flashiest parts of reality, she wants to have an active, direct role regarding them. It makes her feel entertained. It makes her feel fulfilled. It makes her feel special, most of all, because even being in the Biggest Thing's shadow removes her from the condition of banality she disdains so much. That's what makes the Psycho Helmet Cult sound like such an excelent idea, as hollow and uncritical it could be.

But what does these beliefs say about Mezato? Simple. Mezato doesn't think she can be interesting or valuable by herself. She is not shown as pretty, or academically gifted, or athletic. She doesn't appear to have friends. She doesn't even have an ability with the occult like Mob does. Mezato is a normal, lonely girl who has no other excuse to be noticed besides her imprudent detective work, but worse than that, she thinks she can't change. Mezato will never be attention-worthy as herself, so she appeals to inserting herself in whatever interesting thing she finds in the hope that it'll make her Someone by association. She could be a loser, a nobody, but at least she helped build something that is wonderful, and that is the closest she can get to being important.

Her interests and achievements, in this sense, are more like an extension of herself than a result of her passion. A passion that isn't understood by anyone else. A passion that others ignore and are annoyed at, which only reinforces her loneliness and her obsession with chasing after Big Things. If she succeeds, she will finally have a part of herself she can be proud of. After all, there are a hundred wonders in the world with the potential to change everything; there is only one Ichi Mezato and she can never be like them.

[kayawolfhorse]

The sun sets molten across the server, brushing the horizon in strokes of fiery reds and sickly, lurid golds. Rivulets of light drip sluggishly between the boughs of the dark oaks around Grian and glint against the diamond blade held loose at his side—a mere precaution, in this space between one held breath and the next. The night is young enough to have not yet spawned its monsters, and evenings are an agreed-upon respite this early in the game.

Grian flexes his hand around the sword as he walks. As newly-crafted as it is, the leather grip is still stiff, and it cuts a hard crease into where his time ticks away between the green lines of his palm. The heart and the life lines, he vaguely recalls, working in tandem to cease the pulse at his wrist. Who had told him that? It doesn’t matter.

The din of the day has faded into a buzzing hum that reverberates across Grian’s nerves. His shoulders feel pinched within the confines of the jacket Joel had wrangled him into. The grass doesn’t sound quite right beneath his soles. There is a sense of wrongness that clings to the back of his neck.

“Fancy seeing you here!”

His blade is at Scar’s throat before Grian can register the movement. “Scar!” He lowers his arm and glares. He does not put the sword away. “You can’t do that to a man.”

Scar’s grin is far too crooked to be anything close to the sheepishness he tries to sell it as. “Sorry, sorry,” he says, meaning approximately none of it. “Beautiful day we’re having, isn’t it? Would you just feel that breeze! The air is ripe with opportunity, don’t you think?”

“Uh huh,” Grian says drily. “Were you following me?”

“It’s all coincidences, Grian, all coincidence,” Scar says with a wink. His tinted glasses are perched rather precariously on his face. Behind them, in such low light, his eyes look odd. “I just happened to be in the area! That sword is completely unnecessary, by the way.”

“Do you want something? Is that what this is?”

“Can’t a guy just visit with his favorite bread bridge boy?”

“Bad Boy,” Grian corrects, and immediately wonders why he bothers. “And anyway, I’m hardly on favorite grounds.”

“Oh, nonsense.” Scar waves him away, and his striped shirt—predominantly buttoned for once—ripples with it. “Joel’s definitely crossed off the potential list, we can rule him out. Jimmy and you are about even on the mischief meter, but between you and me, you wear those sunglasses better.”

Grian wrinkles his nose. “They weren’t my idea.”

“And yet here you are, wearing sunglasses after the sun’s gone down.”

“On my head.” Grian gestures at where they’re propped in his hair to emphasize his point. “You’re over here actually wearing yours. Why are they blue, anyway? That’s got to make the world look weird.”

“Oh, they do,” Scar agrees. He slides off his glasses and takes a moment to consider them before, without warning, turning them around and sticking them on Grian’s face.

Grian’s sputtering protest dies in his throat as Scar adjusts where the glasses lay behind his left ear, brushing the shell of it in the process. Scar’s skin is rough with callouses and his touch is gentle. Grian is suddenly, inexplicably warm.

Once satisfied with his work, Scar takes a step back and tilts his head. The blue tint of the glasses does color the world strangely, but every observation of it is taken from Grian’s peripheral; his field of vision seems to have narrowed to encompass Scar alone. Like this, his eyes appear sea-green, and it’s nicer than the near-fluorescent shade his current life gives him, but Grian can’t help but think of kinder worlds and the lovely, lively emerald they bring with them.

“Well?” Scar prompts.

After Grian’s remembered how to breathe, he huffs at Scar. “Now I’m wearing two pairs of stupid glasses—hey!”

Scar steals Grian’s sunglasses and slides them into his own hair, and it’s stupid, really, how well he pulls them off. He strikes a pose and asks, “How do I look?”

“Like an idiot,” Grian deadpans, but the quirk of his lip betrays the straight face he’s trying to keep. This is the problem with Scar: no matter what may lie between them, regardless of the sides they stand on, it never takes Scar long to slip between the barbs of Grian’s scowl and soften the points into a smile.

Scar is entirely too aware of such an issue for Grian’s personal liking, if how his eyes crinkle at the corners is anything to go by. “A matching pair we make, then!”

“Hey, now, don’t go lumping me into this.” Grian’s sure the blue glasses look silly on him without the context of the rest of Scar’s get-up.

From a nearby tree, a spider leaps towards them with its mandibles splayed. Grian strikes it down in two hits; after it disappears, he turns to raise an eyebrow at Scar.

“Maybe the sword had some use,” Scar concedes, “but not against me!”

“We’re both green; I wouldn’t have killed you anyway,” Grian remarks.

“Of course, of course, that comes later.” Scar is easily wry and comfortably teasing.

“Of course.” Grian smirks. The night is dark. The faint, flickering light of a nearby torch illuminates Scar’s lingering smile—a small, private thing, accompanied by a slight pitch in his brow. Grian’s voice comes out lower than he means it to as he says, “Best be getting back, yeah? You wouldn’t want to lose time to some old skeleton.”

“Bedtime waits for no man.” Scar nods. “Especially if you’re teamed with Bdubs.”

Grian laughs. His fingers twitch at his side for something he can’t name but feels twisting in his chest. “Goodnight, Scar.”

“Goodnight, Grian!” With one last flash of his teeth, Scar’s unprotected back recedes further into the forest as he heads for the Clockers’ base. A beat passes, then another, as Grian’s feet remain rooted in place.

Nearby rattling shakes him of his stupor. Sighing, Grian passes a hand over his face as he starts in the direction of the bridge. Belatedly, he realizes he’s still wearing Scar’s glasses.

He folds them carefully into his pocket before he reaches the Bread Bridge. The world’s strangeness no longer has the justification of a filtered view. The stars don’t look quite right above him.

Before beginning the climb to the half-burnt mansion’s roof, Grian lightly touches the glasses’ translucent rim. He does not think about too-green eyes and too-indulgent smiles. He does not think about blood that always stains the same.

He’ll give the glasses back tomorrow.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Home Grown 1

Warnings: non/dubcon, stalking, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Characters: Cole Turner

This AU is called Watcher Anonymous and will include different series for different characters. This is our introduction to Cole and Eartha.

Summary: loneliness can drive one to desperate measures.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

Cole is tired. He's never really not. He spends all day on his feet, cleaning up some clog in the drains or fending off the pests in the fields. There's not much going on aside from the constant battle with the earth for his livelihood. His family's too.

Ever since his dad had a stroke, it's been on him to balance it all. His sister if off who knows where with who knows his name and his mom is looking after his dad. So it's all up to him to keep this place going. And it's all on her to keep him going.

The shame used to make him squirm. His skin would burn and his blood would boil. He'd close his laptop and mope, feeling bad for himself, calling himself weak. Then he'd open it back up and keep doing it. His persistence became indifference, Not to her. No, he only ever thinks of her. He just doesn't care if it's wrong because it makes him feel right.

That night, he's addled. His dad isn't doing well, his mom is worried despite efforts to hide that, and he can't get an answer from his sister. She said she'd come see them so he could spend more time working. Not that he really wants to.

He slips his phone into the little plastic pocket to protect it from the water. He balances it on the rack that hangs around the showerhead and he cranks the faucet to a steaming spray. He stands under it as he lets it wash away the tension and waits for the stream to buffer. It's taking a bit today but sometimes it happens. Out here in the farm lands, reception is spotty.

It's not working. He's lathered up by the time the error shows. Disconnected... Strange. Why?

He gives up with a sigh. The one thing he has to look forward to and even that isn't going his way. He'll give Jensen a call when he's done.

He rubs dry his hair as the water drips down his legs onto the mat. He looks down at himself then moves to face his reflection in the mirror. He's not an ugly guy. He's not being a narcissist, he just doesn't think he's that bad. He shouldn't be alone. Still.

He huffs and wraps the towel around his waist. He grabs his phone from the show and closes the curtain. He walks down the hall and locks himself in his room. His bars are full. He shouldn't be having issues with a signal.

He dials out and waits for Jensen to pick up. He does right as Cole expects to go to voicemail. He's whisper.

"Hey, dude," Jensen scuffs around.

"Busy?" Cole asks.

"Eh, sorta, just..." he clears his throat. "All clear now, bud. What's up?"

"Mm, well... you remember... that... feed. So, er, it's not working."

"Hm, and it's just on her laptop?"

"Yeah," Cole sits on the bed and chews his thumb. "All of a sudden."

"Did the error have a code?"

"Uhhh yeah, I think," he recalls the numbers as best he can.

"Device is either off or broken. Could be both. You could give it a few days and see," Jensen suggests.

"Sure, but, er..." A few days is a long time especially when they're so slow. "Yeah, you're right. I'll wait her out."

"Dude, trust me, I get it. Boss went out of town last week and I saw her pack her favourite toy," he purrs grossly. "Anyway, it's about that time for me."

The line clicks. Good. Jake kinda weirds him out sometimes. He drops his phone.

He'll be cool about this. He can handle a few days without watching her. I mean, she's a stranger. They've never even met. She doesn't even know he exists. So he can log off and touch grass, so they say.

~

The days pass in a torturous slog of dirt, pollen, and lonely nights. Cole is wound tight, ready to snap as he has a thousand things pulling at him at once. His mom wants to hire a nurse, his dad is getting aggressive with everyone, and his sister just convinced his mom to send her money they don't have. Worst of all, he's alone. He's not sleeping because all he does is dream of her.

As he cuts away the rot from the tomato vine, he catches the tip of his glove, just enough to pinch himself good. He curses as a flash of rage swells in him. He whips the clippers into the dirt and snarls. Goddamn it!

He paces back and forth angrily. He rips off the gloves and tucks them into his workbelt. He combs his fingers through his hair and prowls like a wild beast. He can't take it anymore.

He takes his phone out and calls Jensen. It takes two tries but he gets an answer. Not a happy one.

"Dude, I had to leave a meeting--"

"Feed's down," Cole interrupts. "I'm having a real bad day and I need--- I need it."

"Jesus, you sound like it. Hm, okay, you know her email?"

"Uh, sure I do," Cole says.

"Right, you know everything," Jensen laughs. "Come on, guy, let's not pretend here. We're all a bit freaky. So, I'll send you something. Don't click on the link, got me? You take that template and forward it to her. I'll include instructions so you can dupe the sender... she'll think it's some bullshit coupon redemption or whatever. She clicks on it, you got full access again."

"Really? That easy?"

"Well it all depends on her, doesn't it?" He snorts. "Alright, I'll get that too you when I can. Gotta go."

The call ends. Cole leans against the fence and sighs. He better follow through. Better yet, it better work.

[honourablejester]

Ah, I think I see what you mean. That the more controlled, level-of-difficulty based structure will sort of induce dungeon makers into making a ‘one true path’ through the dungeon, in an effort to make sure that any challenge a party faces is one they can handle, even if they’re trying to have more randomness.

Yeah. That makes sense. I can kind of see his argument for the tiered dungeon, in that it does kind of signpost to the party where dangers are, that the more down they go, the more dangerous it is, so that the party can make more informed decisions about the risks they want to take. It might feel unfair to a level 3 party on like the second level of the dungeon if they run face first into an adult black dragon and get TPKd because they weren’t expecting such a high CR so high in the dungeon.

However. In that case, if you meet an unexpected dragon on level 2 when you’re way too squishy to fight it, it just means that you have to not fight it. Choose to run away and take another path, or to try and talk to it, or to try and sneak past it instead. (And have the DM understand that those are valid options and to work with them, and reward them). I do also see your argument for a significantly less controlled and stratified dungeon as well, where combat isn’t the deciding factor of where you can go. Where it very much is your tools and your skills and your willingness to negotiate and your lateral thinking that lets you navigate a unique path through this environment.

There probably is a median ground, where there still is the overall downward trend of deeper = weirder and tougher, but the dungeon designer was conscious of making everything vastly interconnected and did also liberally sprinkle even the upper levels with little surprise areas of, say, a random black dragon lair. Heh.

I just. I really want to explore. I want a huge, vast environment that I just get to explore. Potentially endlessly. I want to find the petrified forest fourteen levels down and find the tomb of the sylvan youth an ancient wizard loved so much that she made an underground glade for him, and then four areas further on meet the ancient and badly scarred medusa that the wizard tried to murder in revenge for his death, only to realise that said medusa loved him too, and the reason the forest was petrified was to preserve it around his tomb. I want to find the gnome colony on level nine that is in dire straits because the drow colony from across the chasm has shattered their artificial sun because the light was paining them, and wind up potentially having to negotiate between them. I want to stumble across the goblin alchemist on level eleven who makes fire resistance potions and remember the passage way back up on level five that we couldn’t take at the time because of the massive lava trap, and have a knock down drag out fight with another player over whether we go all that way back up for nothing but curiosity when the damned haunted lake was supposed to be somewhere close to here, and we’re going to do that first. I want to find the entrance to the vast ancient necropolis full of treasures that we’ve been hearing rumours about for five levels, and see the symbol on the door, and realise that the goddamned black dragon on level two had the damned key in his hoard, we goddamn saw the bloody thing, and now if we want in here we gotta go all the way back up and have another talk with that sneaky sonnuva.

I want my character to bring a thick blank leather-bound journal with them, and six bottles of ink, and cartographers tools, and I want them to have been Journey-to-the-Centre-of-the-Earth style keeping a journal the whole way, and making maps, and I want my DM to reward me at some point with a bottle of endless ink as loot, or to have us run into a deep gnome herbalist who teaches me how to make ink from the weird phosphorescent fungi that grow in several of the tunnels down here. I want some faction down here to try and steal my book to gain insight into other levels of the dungeon, and a whole sidequest being our party trying to get it fucking back, I worked hard on that you assholes, go scout your own conquests and make your own damned maps!

The megadungeon that just exists, that is just there to explored, is such a deeply enchanting idea to me. The vast cyclopean structure from before any known civilisation that has been piecemeal invaded and inhabited and warred over by various factions and magic users and adventuring parties ever since, such that you could stumble across literally anything down here. And you and your group gather up your best equipment and survival spells and just … head down there. To see what’s there to be seen. No more goal than that. You’re just going to see what’s down there. Because you’re a bunch of incurably curious so-and-sos who are perfectly willing to die for the thrill of seeing something new.

Megadungeons are such a cool idea, but then they turn into nothing but meatgrinders for bragging rights, and I just want a game mode where the exploration is the point.

That last part wasn’t aimed at you, by the way. That was just me rambling about my ideal megadungeon experience. I do think you were making sense, also! Heh.

I’m watching a (3hr) discussion on megadungeons as a concept for modern d20 games on a youtube channel called Knights of Last Call, and I’m enjoying it a lot, because it does explore a couple of points that I’ve been very much looking for. Namely, the idea that megadungeons should be there to enable and reward exploration. Which means, among other things, there can’t be a time-pressure meta plot (you have to get to the bottom of the dungeon to stop the lich before he destroys the world), and that the game/DM needs to explicitly reward (with xp, magic items, etc) the act of exploration, not the act of killing things while exploring.

Because the thing I always found enchanting about the idea of massive dungeons and complexes was the idea of going in to see what’s down there. Not being forced in for a plot, but just … because I’m curious, and I want to see what’s there. And he discusses how modern d20 games like Pathfinder and 5e can actually be better for that than OSR-type games because characters are more powerful and sturdy and can survive doing that. You can explore, and (most likely) have a decent shot of surviving said exploration. You can take risks because you’ll survive a broader range of risks.

The thing with a megadungeon is that it’s there to be explored, and so to encourage, enable and reward exploration for people who want to play that kind of game in the first place, you have to a) not penalise taking risks and going exploring by making it instantly lethal to try and go anywhere, and b) actively reward going exploring by making it the main way your character gets more cool things, such as magic items and/or new abilities from levelling up.

(And, he’s less explicit about this, but also making the rewards self-contained to the dungeon, things you find and gain in the dungeon, and not things you’d have to bring outside the dungeon to benefit from. So cool items you can keep and use, experience to level up, knowledge that would allow you to access new areas, etc, not things like gold where you’d have to go back outside to spend it, or quests that you have to go to external parties to be rewarded for).

The discussion goes into some detail about potential ways to do this, and potential problems with various methods, but overall I just really like the tone of the discussion. Because that very much is a thing I’ve been looking for for a long, long time. A game that rewards the simple desire to go somewhere and see what’s there. I don’t want to explore a massive underground complex because there’s a bad guy down there and I need to stop him, I want to explore it because there’s rumours that there’s a vast underground sea down there where creatures that haven’t been seen in aeons are rumoured to still live (blame reading Journey to the Centre of the Earth as a kid), or to discover why there’s a massive dungeon down there and learn who built it, or just because it’s a big strange space and I just want to see what it looks like.

He does talk about how you make dungeons interesting enough to justify that, things like thematically-distinct areas (like the underground lake, or the weird sunless forest, or the ghoul town, etc) so that it’s not one endless slog of ‘10ft wide corridors and stone rooms’, and to make it interconnected so that the players have full choice of where they go and what risks they want to take (enabling them to skip ahead difficulty levels, or retreat if need be, or escape areas that they’re not enjoying). And to possibly put in some distinct … not end goals, but capstone events, like a boss monster very deep down, that might feel like an ‘ending’ if the party wants to ‘finish’ the dungeon. Not something that will ‘burst out and destroy the world’, but something contained to the dungeon that a party could triumph over if they want a ‘final challenge’ sort of feeling. But one that’s optional, a challenge they can take up if they want to, not a prerequisite for getting out of the dungeon or completing a large goal, but just a challenge that exists if they want to take it on.

Because, and I do agree, a lot of the problem with exploring in D&D is not necessarily that there’s no mechanical support for it, in terms of things like skills, etc, but because there’s no reward for it, and in terms of structured adventures, there’s often either narrative or mechanical punishment for it (running out of time on the baddie, or running into something too lethal for your party to handle with no option to nope out). A megadungeon as a concept is a cool environment where exploration is the whole point, and the only point, and if you take care not to put an external pressure on it (‘kill the lich or else’), then then party has time to poke around and decide what they want to see and what risks they want to take (or nope out of). Especially in something so big that there’s no real chance of finishing it, so there’s no ‘100% completion’ pressure, just a big buffet of options for people to pick and choose from.  

(There are so many things in 5e that would be excellent for an exploration game, especially in terms of spells and magic items, but because combat is so much the driving force of the standard mode of play, people are reluctant to ‘waste’ spells known/prepared and/or items attuned on things like Alarm or Water Walk or Purify Food & Drink or non-combat items like Candles of the Deep or Foldable Boats or Slippers of Spider Climbing when those slots could be used for combat spells/items instead. But if exploration gets you XP, and if you can nope out of combat as required because there’s no massive stakes/story riding on it, then you’ve got more room for these things).

There’s also an in-depth discussion on ‘game balance’ and CR, and why megadungeons might not necessarily require them, for the simple fact that everything in the dungeon is optional and not required to forward the story/plot, so you can try challenges way above your level if you’re feeling frisky that day, and just nope out and go a different way if it starts really not working for you. Which I feel is a fun point.

There is a point that this is a specific mode of play and not meant to be the point of the game in general. It’s specifically for people (like me) who want exploration as its own point and reward, without needing a quest or storyline attached, and for whom combat is an element/hazard/complication but not the point. But. If you are specifically doing a MEGADUNGEON, it’s an interesting look at things to consider and what people might want out of a massive self-contained dungeon that’s going to be the whole point of the campaign in and of itself.  

Where he loses me is when the discussion moves to how to prevent the '15 Minute Adventuring Day', where people go in, do a room or two, and then go back out to rest and heal and resupply, instead of staying in the dungeon to keep exploring. And for some reason allowing healing is bad for this? If you want them to stay in the dungeon, how is it bad to let them heal in the dungeon? Set up factions to trade with and potential base camp locations in the dungeon to let them heal and resupply and set up safe areas so that they can stay in there potentially infinitely? Though it’s possible that I missed something about his point there.

But yeah. I love the idea of megadungeons, vast areas to explore just because they’re there, and I love the idea of game modes with all the cool abilities and spells and powers of D&D BUT where the thing that’s rewarded is exploration and interacting with the environment rather than combat.

(There’s also … I think this also reminds me of the story arc vs episodic discussion regarding TV, where I genuinely like episodic series equally to story-line driven ones, and I think that in games it also works, where there’s a BIG SETTING and the point is to go out and have episodic adventures in it. A loose sandbox like a megadungeon where there’s no plot, you’re just exploring and seeing what you encounter day to day (and possibly developing plots as you interact with individual areas/factions and then connect them to other ones) is also an excellent way to play a game).

Anyway. Forgive the sidebar ramble.

[jeffrrandell]

Explanation for the connection I made lol 👇

I'm gonna at least slightly explain Tord and Gravy being roommates. I'm not going to lie to you guys, this was a joke made because when my friends and I were watching "Technical Foul" from 8 Crazy Nights we were like "that's like if Tord crashed at Gravys house tbh" and then it turned into "Tord somehow becomes Gravys roommate after he leaves Edds house, for like maybe 2-3 years. And it's almost like a Disney movie. Tords just happy he has a place to stay, and he knows Gravy is just soooooo nice but man is he annoying. So he's not mean to him, he just is autistic and only ever likes Edd anyway basically. But he warms up to em. Gravy works a ton of jobs, and Tord cleans up around the house. And an odd but actually important detail is Gravy smokes weed (because of all of these jobs), and Tord took interest in that. Getting high together kinda made it easier for his nerves to be calmed down, and it made it easier for him to realize "oh Gravy is just a guy". Of course afterwards, Gravy turns back to jumpy goofy Gravy, but Tord learned to appreciate the energy. Tord and Blonzie were already slight acquaintances, actually before Tord met Gravy. Somehow for whatever reason Tord ends up at the auto shop he works at, probably asked about a pile of spare parts that looked like junk and Blonzie said "take em". So they had that for a while. They're mechanically intelligent together. Plus Tord finds his stunts REALLY cool, as he loves destruction too. He'd love to invent little things for him to try out. They also both have "I'm gonna be silent now" autism. Anyway, he never in his life expected for Gravy to be like "meet my boyfriend" and "oh whataya know, it's the guy that calls me Tiny and gives me spare parts". Not sure if it makes sense for Tord to still be living with Gravy when he gets with Blonzie or not, but either way they'd make a really weird fun trio. Gravy definitely opened up Tords weird side for him. Because Tord is just so closeted around everyone, even Edd didn't know a few secrets about him (for probably crush related reasons, intimidation.) But with Gravy, it sorta didn't matter to him what he told him. He'd listen, and I mean it's sad but. Gravys a huge loser who's pushed around EVERYDAY, and for a bit Tords view on that was "well he has it worse than I do so he can't judge me"

But yeah, they're friends lol

In a WTFuture timeline, this was also a joke that turned out to be something that we all kinda liked. I believe in Tord clone theory btw! Basically one day, Not Tord shows up to Gravys house one day. Reminder that if this is a bad timeline, Blonzie is dead sorry. But yeah Gravy notices something is off about him. Very off. Like, somehow this Tord knows Gravy would call him "buddy" buuut.. Tord never called HIM "buddy". Blah blah blah somehow Gravy is in the Red Army. And I don't mean as a soldier, the last thing Tord wants is for him to die actually. As in any timeline, Gravy will work a million jobs. And that's exactly what he does. I'm talking coffee runs and goofy shit like that. Because to me, yeah Red Leader is "WOAAHH crazy leader man scary he's taking over the world" but it's EDDSWORLD, so he's also "aw man. My helmet stinky" "play just dance with me I'm bored" like y'know. Before this concept, I was like "yup. Gravy is the first to die in this timeline" and then it turned into "Tord wants to keep him alive because he'd be dead bored without him"

And I'm serious it's gets so goofy. To a point where THIS Tord also opens up to Gravy, crying about Edd and being like "I'LL JUST GET RID OF ALL THE COKE IN THE WORLD I CANT LOOK AT IT ANYMORE!!" and then he's like "😲💡" and then Gravy talks about his feelings too.

Potentially as well, since Gravy is trained in medical, he could also technically take care of wounded soldiers and almost act as a doctor but ONLY back at headquarters, he's not allowed to go anywhere he'd be in danger. Anyways. Yup. My sick and twisted mind.

[laurelwen]

Sorry, it's me again. There's this thing that has been...whispering in the back of mind since I read this post for the first time. Nigel wrote: "... I removed a rat's heart and pretended to be disgusted" Why on earth would he feel the necessity to PRETEND to be disgusted in front of Alex?

I've taken a minute to answer this because it's a very good question but difficult and complicated to answer within the context of the film. For those who aren't sure what you're referring to, please see this post transcribing Nigel's notes.

The short answer is: I don't think the people making the props were entirely consistent with the character as scripted. I think most likely they were given some general directives (such as "make sure it highlights the words "egocentric megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur") Outside those few directives, they just sort of let their poetic license run free, injecting their own ideas of a what a "fucked up weird guy who dissects animals" would say into the text, and creating a different version of Nigel than the movie presents us with. The worst example of that is the newspaper article in Alex's book--which doesn't make ANY sense in the context of the film. No one really expected crazy fans to obsessively pause the movie and use photo enhancing techniques frame by frame to determine what was written in his journals or the text of the article, so I think there was a lot of leeway and perhaps some laziness when it came to the props.

It's hard for me to come up with an IN character justification for Nigel to have written that, because it doesn't gel with my observations of him as presented in the film. The journal entry itself is written before he is kidnapped by Alex and the dynamic of their relationship shifts. This IS the entry that made Alex angry enough to kidnap him and teach him a lesson in the first place. This is the Nigel who barely responds to Alex's confrontational anger over the dissection in the dorm room, the Nigel who seems to be completely unmoved by or even very aware of how his actions might impact others. He doesn't care enough to even consider what effect he has on others, and even if/when he is aware, I sincerely doubt he'd bother to *pretend* anything. Nigel doesn't seem interested in pretending to be anything other than what he is, a defining trait that causes him a lot of problems.

Later in the movie, Nigel does shift a bit into a more puckish role. He fucks with Alex in a variety of ways, very noticeably in the train scene when they're going to visit his secret room. He's playful, mischievously antagonistic, poking and prodding Alex and seeming to enjoy his discomfort. This demeanor is more in line with the kind of guy who might write about deliberately messing with his roommate's head. But I still don't know why he would feign disgust in the middle of the dissection given that he's been dissecting animals regularly and Alex would have no reason to think he's grossed out by it.

I suppose if we apply that puckish attitude backward and say that Nigel was already trying to mess with Alex even before the kidnapping, we could sort of squint our eyes and imagine him being very over the top Fake Disgusted as he waves the heart around in Alex's direction. I still don't find that very likely, but it's the best I've got.

If you wanted to, you could use this as part of a theory that Nigel was the real instigator all along and had been intending/planning to manipulate Alex from the moment he was transferred to the school and forced to share a room. In such a reading of the film, all of his behavior could be seen as pretense in some way, including his initial lack of reaction to Alex--calculated to rile Alex up, put him off balance, etc.

I don't personally buy in to that interpretation, just as I don't buy into Alex being the sole instigator. I think either reading ascribes far too much power and control to these teenagers, however intelligent and manipulative they may be. But if you want to go that route, here's a supporting piece to add to your puzzle.

Thanks for the ask and I hope this rambling mess makes at least some sense!

EDIT: please read my reblog of this post. @silhioutte pointed out the very obvious mis-read of this line.

[Like Minds Masterpost - Main]

[tens-converse]

a really long rant about why this comment is wrong

i have talked about this time and time again, but the way the doctor who fandom treats donna is so weird.

“[donna] and her character are both arrogant and unpleasant.”

first of all, let’s discuss the “arrogant” portion of this statement.

donna noble has a hard exterior. she has been so put down in her life that her shell is the only thing that she feels will protect her from anymore heartbreak and disappointment! she acts aloof and above others because she feels the exact OPPOSITE. it is proven time and time again that donna feels deeply for others and has even put herself in actual life threatening situations because she CARES that much about others. it also makes no sense to call her arrogant when half of her lines are her demeaning herself and her arc is literally her acceptance of the fact that she IS special and she CAN BE worth something to someone.

second of all, unpleasant? what i’ve found is that donna haters say unpleasant to mean “not complacent in every idiotic idea the doctor has.” its misogyny at its finest. they want donna to be head over heels and awed by everything the doctor does. when she treats him as an equal, they hate it because they’re so used to the women in doctor who thinking the doctor is all knowing and amazing. donna saw him for how he really was before she got his persona.

the thing about donna and the doctor is they are two sides of the same coin. one knows he’s supposed to be important and has a hard time coping with that, and one is convinced she can never be seen as anything but a failure to other people. they both put on a mask of false confidence, but they both understand that neither is okay.

“constant bad behavior and insults are [donna’s] idea of fun.”

yeah, and so is ten’s. that’s why they work so well together. he loved every conversation and argument they had. he held her in such high regard and their banter was a part of what he loved so much about her. it set her apart from other companions. it kept him in check, it made him reevaluate his ego and decisions. not to mention that “bad behavior” and those insults stopped him from literally offing himself.

in conclusion:

the doctor would hate this person, the doctor would hate a lot of the people in this fandom who mistreat and mischaracterize donna. a lot of you are way to comfortable perpetuating misogyny. this isn’t the first time i’ve seen comments like this made about her. i’ve even seen whovians on here be awful about her and disgustingly mischaracterize both her AND the doctor’s feelings about her. i’m tired of seeing it!

[the-fyre-flie]

So... people hating on Justice League × RWBY, the two cross-over movies for DC and RWBY, has to be blown out of proportions or a joke... right? Cuz these movies are great. At least, in my opinion. They're fun and a bit stupid and incredibly entertaining for me, who's a fan of both DC (my current biggest fixation) and RWBY (my friend likes it so I must like it too) (Link to the movies at the bottom btw!)

Sure, I'll relent they're a little boring at times, and they completely butcher both DC and RWBY characters sometimes, but like... I finished watching a review by The Judgemental Critter (who I love btw and I think their opinions are pretty agreeable most of the time! No hate to them at all!) but a lot of the points just... don't make sense to me?

More Yappage Below

The animation and models being bad was said a lot, and while I can agree in some places like Weiss' weird skirt, saying the hands and faces look weird just... does feel right? They look fine to me? I'm a 3D artist, I make thumbnails and promotional art for youtubers as a job and animate as a hobby, and the models look more than okay. The proportions are a bit wonky, but RWBYs animation has always been wonky. Calling the lowered framerate lazy and ugly also bugged me, cuz like... lowering the framerate to showcase sudden motions or lame actions is REALLY common. It isn't lazy, it's saving resources for moments you care about... like the fights. RWBY and DC both love their big flashy fights. Why would they waste time animating Blake picking a lock? RWBY itself is 90% fightscenes, so on top of that, why are you against big drawn-out fights?

I do agree that some of the designs suck specifically the heroes... I really really hate Bruce's Remnant costume being all black and gray. It's a personal pet peeve of mine when Batman isn't allowed color because I feel like it's antithetical to his entire character if he's all dark. Bruce needs to have some color, some light, or else he risks slipping right into the darkness that is Gotham. The same reason Robin is so brightly colored. It represents his hope for the city. So seeing all black/grey Batman with no color AND no cowl shape language bugged me. Anyways, here's my redesign, lol. Includes real bat ears, a half mask, and blue and yellow splashes! Nothing major!

The way they didn't really include Cyborg, Vixen, or Flash in the story for 70% of it bugged me too, but trying to say the Teen Titans would be better irked me slightly Sure, they might relate better as teens, but a major part of the story's conflict is Ruby being young and struggling to control her team because it's easy for people to overlook her or ignore what she has to say while Clark feels all that confidance from normally being an adult dude running an adult team. The JL being adults turned into teens puts them into a unique position where, unlike with the Teen Titans or Young Justice back home, they they have no real power or leverage over RWBY or JNPR. This is a conflict for both sets of people, and simply wanting "better character moments" feels like a cheap way to just nitpick. Especially when you also claim you dislike how much standing around and exposition there is. If Raven of all people showed up to brood, she would have to explain why she's so broody, which is just more loredumps you stated you didn't like. The movies over explaining of Semblance and Dust would have been way worse they were also forced to explain every DC heros past. This movie is very clearly targeting DC fans who have some knowledge on RWBY but are not super into the series. Note how the movies never once explain Batman, Superman, Vixen, Flash, or Cyborgs powers, and the time they spent vaugly talking about Wonder Womans it's turned into a trauma dump between Blake and Diana? They expect you to already know their stories. They way Clark and Bruce talk about their parents but not his planet is simplified down for RWBY fans because DC fans are expected to know this stuff.

On that note... Bruce was never debating leaving Gotham behind. It's pretty obvious in the movies. When Weiss offers for him to stay, he never responded. When Diana brought it up to him, his top priority is helping more, but he doesn't specify if he means Remnant or Gotham. As dumb as someone might think "they've been turned into teens" is as a point, it's very much an important plot point for Bruce. When he was a teen, he was the only man of the Wayne household, training to be Batman, still dealing with his grief over his parents. He truly never got to be a real teen. This is also the first time he's had real actual powers (at least in this very messy canon), and it's important to him, and it's clouding some of his judgment as a teen. But him liking having powers is not him willing to ditch Gotham. As soon as he was back on Earth, he was in Gotham, helping. There was never a debate. It was him dealing with the fact that he felt inferior. Literally, it's hormones and anxiety about not doing enough as Batman without powers. Is it a little goofy that Batman is insecure? Yes. Is it him abandoning his code? No.

Tho I do hate how he pretends his father literally didn't become batman in an alternate reality. Like Come on Bruce, Thomas was willing to throw down the same way you are, you did not "let go of their expectations".

More Bruce rant, his Semblance is very clearly not heat vision. It's Detective Vision (as named by the wiki). In the first showcase of his Semblance, he's not seeing the heat off Weiss or the electrical wire. It's noting the most important features of the room and how to escape. This is showcased more in the fight with Kilg%re!Barry, where his Semblance specifically notes the Morse Code and translated it. It's just super investigation powers. Which is lame... but it's not heat vision. I felt like I had to correct that.

I'd like to end this rant here even tho I said a lot more in dms to my friend... I feel bad just... 'responding' to someone who will never see it or care about my opinions. I really do like Judgmentals judgments (lol) 90% of the time, but I also feel really passionately about these particular movies, seeing as it combine me and my friends' two favorite things. It feels very close to home in a way, I guess. I hope people go and watch the movies and enjoy them!

I've linked both parts here to Internet Archive! The rips are a little weird in quality (very dark for some reason?) But they are the full movies!

Part 1

Part 2

[brain4stew]

Hey again!! I’m back here with yet another request 😇 also the last one I sent you was SO good 😭🙏 ur headcanons we’re amazing and I personally think the way you described the characters were spot on so kudos to you bro… anyways enough with my little ramble session here’s my next request hehe

May I request 1x4, Mafioso, and John Doe with a GN! Reader who is really, and I mean REALLY downbad and lowkey (highkey) insane for them? Like they would do ANYTHING for them (Basically their like Joe Goldberg for better use of words 😭) and whenever they encounter them they literally just start going nuts with screaming, and jumping up and down happily? Hopefully this makes sense LMAOO

Anywho, thank you again! And remember to keep yourself hydrated and take breaks! Your writing is amazing SKSKSKS

I legit have NO idea who Joe Goldberg is!! 😭😭 But tysm for the compliments!! 🫶🫶 (I will hydrate myself like a cactus atp, DROWN ME IN WATER.)

(As always, I do not entirely know the characters exact personalities and so on, so they might, if not most likely will be OOC!!)

That being said, here are the headcanons/something, under the cut!! ;

(1x1x1x1)

• 1x1x1x1, can hear you from across the damn map. How and why are you so loud?

• He ignores you for now, and goes to kill the other survivors, struggling a bit due to Guest 1337 and Shedletsky.

• When he does kill everyone, (except for Two Time, as he absolutely HATES them with their second life.) he goes to find and kill you.

• Unfortunately for him, he gets creeped out by you, and walks backwards, out of… What is it he’s feeling? Concern, disgust? Whatever he’s feeling, it’s weird.

• He decides to let his minions kill you instead, which… Proves to be difficult…

• When the timer ends, and you’re all sent back to your lobbies, he’s mentally exhausted by you… (Give him a break, he got confused by you.)

• While you, just babble on and on to the survivors about him. (Shedletsky called you a simp, and you might have strangled him a bit…)

• To say that 1x1x1x1 HOPE to not get you against him again, is an understatement.

(Mafioso)

• Mafioso is shocked and surprised by your volume, how and why can he hear you from across the map??

• Whatever the case is, he doesn’t care, as he goes to kill all the survivors.

• When he sees that you got hit by one of his guys, he immediately goes to you, to kill you off.

• However, he was NOT prepared to be greeted by… You being… You.

• He just stands there and stares at you for a while. (You’re strangely amusing to him…)

• After a while however, he goes away from you, and goes to kill the other survivors, as he’s running out of time.

• When the timer ends, everyone gets transported back to their lobbies.

• You are immediately babbling about Mafioso, and how much you love seeing him, and how awesome he is. (As you completely ignore your wounds, that the other survivors are trying to help you with.)

• Mafioso is in shock and confusion about you, how were you that loud, and why did you act the way you did? (He’s not entirely complaining, as you amused him, but still. WOAH.)

• Safe to say that, Mafioso is unsure if he wants to see you again or not.

(John Doe)

• John Doe is SHOCKED and CONFUSED, to say the least at your volume. How the hell did you manage that type of volume??

• He’s even unsure if he should kill you and the other survivors…

• He doesn’t kill them, he goes friendly. He stays by other survivors, and is just, confused as hell.

• When he sees you approach him, he’s even more confused. (Why are you going to him? Why- why are you going on his corrupted trail- NO. GET OFF IT NOW!)

• When the timer ends, and you all get sent back to your lobbies, John Doe is extremely confused, that 1x1x1x1 had to help him with his confusion.

• You, of course, are just babbling about him in the survivor lobby, as the survivors try and get the corruption off of you, and heal you.

• John Doe, too is confused if he wants to see you again or not. You made him go friendly after all, can you blame him for being confused?

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

Effy Stoneham

Effy Stoneham

Her makeup and everything was so old iconic and. Mid to late 2000s and early twenty 10s. She was even on one of these programs where they’re like vogue or somewhere like that. Where they go through like old chronic looks in TV shows or they go through that iconic characters.. I think it was like the the character James McAvoy did one as well he did one talking about him being him shameless and also playing like someone in the UM something like the lion the witch and the wardrobe that kind of thing. But yeah her looks and that have been copied so much right with Jenna generations but it’s more of my generation and she started that show so young that she was like this is what made her Jen free not as good because they didn’t have Fe as like a Cliff note if you will. they had to use other characters to make that connection between it all but.. they did as well as they could on what budget they had in fact they had a really good budget for Gen. 3 but it just didn’t sit as well over the viewers. I like the second season of Gen. 3. especially allow. He makes it good and so does many for her character development but Frankie ruins it and it’s sad because she’s the only skins character that in real life they didn’t give her a verified tick online because she was disliked by so many viewers and she’s on.. April Pearson who played Michelle Richardson in Gen. 1. In the podcast are you Michelle from skins.

.... and how the creator who none of them are that fond of by the sounds of it I guess it was different with the younger lot I don’t know but they said that the sex scenes were really awkward and if you look at it it’s like really weird these people are teenagers are now having to take off their clothes and TV shows when they’re actually of that age I can’t think of anything worse.. well I could but not much worse it would be horrible to like when you’ve got all those feelings as a teenager it’s that age it’s hurtful and maybe you don’t feel good enough about yourself. the FBI was always the lead person’s favorite character I think because she got most of the good parts she got the bad parts obviously but she was popular because she was in all Four Seasons of Gen. 1 and Gen. 2... she was leading on to Jan 2 before taking over tonye space and there’s this thing on TikTok called the Stoneham and EFF ECT.. warehouse the Stoneham siblings really everybody there close to it. With Tony and Effie. but her looks have been iconic up until like now where things of my generation are now vintage because they're really well they're 20 years old a lot of them and that makes something vintage now.. they have a 10 to 20 year cycle 10 years of being popular Max and then ten years of being the opposite where it’s like say 80s compared to 90s clothing... so there’s that in between. Where they’re very similar and then it slowly peaks off and goes into a whole different genre of clothing and music also affects this too I feel like if it became later the series then Effie would have been a Lana Del Rey kind of girl... somebody else said sky fiera I don’t know enough of her music to know if she would be but seeing her hanging around with their banks and some of the pictures that I’ve put on here makes sense.

[shadowsofdread]

it’s ever so slightly unfortunate but maybe simultaneously interesting (in the sense of getting to see other people’s interpretations) that whenever a post of mine about theron starts going around, inevitably there will be an addition that on the whole aligns with my interpretations of the text and then the poster puts something in there that makes me grimace and go “oooooooh, i don’t agree with that actually”

anyway. theron does not hate the jedi order. one might even suggest, judging by one of his good friends being one, his mother also being one (and though the relationships with those character are complex, he still values them), him having partnered with the sixth line on ziost and took personal responsibility for what happened to them (and was fiercely defensive of surro and wanted to make sure she got back to the order), and whenever he talks about ngani zho, he still calls him master — sorry, i just don’t think a guy who hates the jedi or the jedi order or feels any lasting resentment towards them would do all of those things.

i do think there are particular kinds of jedi he doesn’t get along with (there’s a line floating around in my brain from annihilation but i can’t fully recall it), and he makes a kind of bitter comment about mind-reading in forged alliances if a jedi player gets mad he wasn’t more clear about the operation he was asking you to join (iirc). but these are, like, two instances stacked up against all his other interactions with the order.

like, again we’re going off of memory, but i don’t really think he get too much specific dialogue with him as a jedi as it pertains to your relationship. which, because it’s swtor, could’ve been a cut-content sort of thing, and i do argue it was a missed opportunity, and at the same time, the only reason i think it’d ever be a big deal to theron is in a romance route specifically because of the Attachment Rule. this is one situation - one - where i really think it should’ve come up considered how theron Happened, but, like, if you’re friends with him, why would it matter to him if you’re a jedi or not?

of course, i don’t think it’s the game that people get this interpretation from. what i think it’s from is that godforsaken series of panels from lost suns that gets posted here out of context, and people take that one snippet of a scene from the lost suns comics and go “oh, so theron hates and resents the jedi and so jedi x theron is weird” NOOOOOOO!!!!! [casts fireball]

[melodyofthevoid]

So,that new animatic huh? One the one hand I get why Willow and the rest of the crew would would be extremely wary of Mariza after realising the true extend of her powers but on the other, considering that this is after dismemberment , I feel that they turn on her a bit too quickly considering that she saved Delta's life, especially considering that her powers haven't really acted out at all in the animatic.

So did something happen between the events of dismemberment and now that already put them on edge and the events at the temple were the last drop, or are they really just that distrustful of her despite her rescue mission?

Really liking the few things we've seen of Willow so far in the story, seems she really cares about Delta and the crew and that makes her lash out at any perceived threat (maybe trying to overcompensate a bit for her past too). Might be reading a bit too much into it but she she seemed really shaken by Delta coming to Mariza's defence and walking off with her.

I do remember one of your earliest stories ("a different ship a different crew" I think?) where Willow seemed much more sympathetic to Mariza's plight though. Is that supposed to take place latter down the line when she's earned a bit of her trust, or is that so old that their relationship has been changed to be colder in general? What do the too think of each other during the story?

(Sorry for the length of the ask but I really missed these ocean idiots)

Great question! So one of the consequences of the piecemeal nature of OI is that sometimes we make things and then decide later "ehhhhhh what if this instead".

Initially when I wrote "A different ship a different crew", we hadn't come up with the idea that Willow used to know Heather yet, and some of the order of events were still in question (hell a few are even now).

A more recent element that I've really liked is the parallels in a weird way between Heather and Mariza, in that they're both fairly ambitious people who've fucked with things they should not have. Willow clocked that not long after meeting Mariza fully, and the reminder of Heather more directly with the Dismemberment Song incident does little to put her at ease.

Mariza's clearly bad news, but unfortunately they do kinda owe her. These are Willow's closest people, she's worried. The presence of gods? It's a lot.

IMO it makes more sense for them to have more suspicions of Mariza over the course of the story given the circumstances lmao.