#gotta love taylor giving a dramatic speech

[germesthegenie]

Realest reaction to being trapped in a room with Taylor’s swarm clone tbh

Mockshow/Romp had like 2 scenes total throughout Worm but she was great at being a little shit in both

Highlights from the scene I referenced for this doodle:

[wingsofthewibbets]

Hello I Made A Playlist

It is specifically for the vibes of the Calamity Trio! Also, I feel like contributing to fandom, so I tried to explain why I felt each song gave off the ~Vibe~. Apologies for the length of this monstrosity. It’s on Youtube and Spotify, but there is a song on Youtube I used that was unavailable on Spotify. It’s in no particular order, although maybe I’ll organize it one day.

~‘California Friends’ (The Regrettes)- Generally the fun upbeat vibe of the song, but also these specific lyrics make me think of Anne’s :

     I think I love you but then I think

     No way!

     I gotta go but I wanna stay

    Just stay!

    I guess I’ll save it for another day, well okay?

As well as:

     I get mixed up in my head, you do too

     But I don’t forget a thing you’ve said

     Well that’s true

I think the lyrics definitely give me more Anne/Marcy vibes, but the music itself makes me think of Sasha getting them into trouble. There’s some big garage band energy here, and it just makes me think of them running around and causing chaos. (also the ‘i gotta go but i wanna stay/just stay’ definitely reminds me of the end of the aquarium episode)

~’The Archer’ (Taylor Swift)- Oh man this song where do I even start?? There is so much?? (I know I’ve already talked about this one, but Imma do it again) I was listening to this song one day and the lyrics hit me so hard as reminding me of all the girls, specifically:

For Anne:

    Combat, I’m ready for combat

    I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?

    ‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies

    I’ve got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory, but this seriously makes me think of her relationship with Sasha -or the shambles of it anyway oof- and the speeches line just makes me there’s so much that she doesn’t tell her friends about what’s running through her head. 

Anne’s an emotional person to be sure, but she’s also a very impulsive one, which means a lot of times, what people get from her is the unedited, unreflected version of her thoughts, which don’t make them any less true, but that also means that she’s probably a little more reticent with the deeper ideals that don’t get unearthed through dramatic moments. She just does things a lot of the time, and when she gets stuck on something, it is kinda obvious from the outside, but she also gets uncomfortable with trying to talk about it, because there is no clear solution she can enact in the moment to resolve it.

For Sasha:

    Screaming who could ever leave me, darling?

    But who could stay?

    I see right through me, I see through me

As well as the repetition of ‘they see right through me/can you see right through me’, these lines give me huge Sasha vibes, specifically. I think of them kind of especially applicable to the Reunion episode, but also just how there were a couple scenes where she seemed to be regretting hiding from her friends the toad rebellion that was going to take place in Newtopia, and that conversation Anne and Sasha have in The Third Temple. I don’t think she ever considered regretting the rebellion at all, but I do think she worried over what it might do to her friendships. 

The end of Reunion was heartbreaking, for both Anne and Sasha, because if the Plantars had been able to pull both girls up, I think there would have been more opportunity for Sasha and Anne to have a better reconciliation. (i think this about this a lot ngl) And, also because she was willing to die for Anne??? I don’t think that gets discussed enough. That episode has big ‘who could ever leave me’ at the beginning, and then at the end ‘who could stay’ vibes. 

For Marcy:

    And all of my heroes die alone (OOF)

As well as

     All the king’s horses, all the king’s men

     Couldn’t put me together again

     ‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends

Ahahaha this is the ANGST. So. I mean, obviously the king’s horses part makes me think of the ending of True Colors, and I don’t think that Marcy considers Sasha and Anne to be her enemies by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t think that Andrias is above manipulating her to think that they think of her that way. (Also the line ‘cause all of my enemies started out friends’ line is very applicable to Anne and Sasha as well, it just happened to be part of the lines that made me think of Marcy) Plus sticking around the king and whatever the heck he has in store for her will definitely not put her back together sooo-

The ‘help me hold onto you’ and the ‘I’ve been the archer/I’ve been the prey’ just apply to all of them (for the former, think Sasha and Anne in Reunion, the way Marcy tried to mediate in The Dinner, and just True Colors in general; for the latter, it makes me think of the sword-fights between Anne and Sasha, as well as how Marcy once believed that Andrias actually cared about her). The ‘Dark side, I search for your dark side/But what if I’m alright, right, right, right here’ make me think of how Anne is going to be reevaluating her friendships with both Sasha and Marcy, as well as how all of them seemed to grow into the Amphibia communities that they landed in and what they are going to struggle with leaving behind.

I had this song on loop for way too long trying to word my feelings out about it.

~’Soldier, Poet, King’ (Oh Hellos)- This song is just so absolutely perfect for the three girls. I’d like to take the time to state that I think Sasha fits soldier, Marcy poet, and Anne king, but what are y’all’s thoughts? 

     There will come a soldier/Who carries a mighty sword

     He will tear your city down

Big Sasha vibes, fits with what’s she done so far in the show, as well as how she’s being set up for the third season to be a hero (whose intentions somewhat align with the consequences of her actions).

    There will come a poet/Whose weapon is his word

    He will slay you with his tongue

Marcy spends a lot of time journaling, and she even takes the time to learn a dead language! She seems rather skilled with more traditional weaponry, but her biggest boon is her intelligence and her quick-thinking. I also think that if she does end up getting possessed by the Night, its words being spoken by Marcy’s voice is absolutely going to SLAUGHTER Anne and Sasha.

     There will come a ruler/Whose brow is laid in thorn

     Smeared with oil like David’s boy

Apart from the fact that Anne literally has plants growing from her head in the S2 finale, she is also a charismatic leader who has made connections all over Amphibia. She genuinely cares about the people around her, and takes the time to get to know them and spend time with them. Also, a lot of times, she is underestimated and seen as the David to her opponent’s Goliath- whether that be physically or in skillset.

~’Someone To You’ (The Banners)- No specific lyrics here, but the general vibe of the song. There is a sort of desperation that seems to permeate it, as though if the narrator isn’t someone to the person they are singing to, they will be nobody at all, and I think that is very much how all of the girls view their friendship, at least at first. 

Marcy gets the music box thing going because she doesn’t want to be alone; Sasha is desperate to have Anne, and she wants so much for both Anne and Marcy to look up to her as someone who is strong and present. I think for Anne, we kinda see this song in the speech she gives to Sprig in Best Fronds when she’s trying to get him to break the rules with her, but also in how she is open to reconciling with Sasha in The Dinner and giving her a second chance. Mainly, though, what I associate with Anne for this song are the scenes where she reunites with Marcy and Sasha for the first time. The spinning hug she gives Sasha, and how tightly she hugs Marcy with tears in her eyes- she really does love and care about these girls.

They all cling to this friendship so much, in different ways, both healthy and unhealthy, and I think this song really captures that.

~’Lost Girls’ (Lindsey Stirling)- This song is mostly instrumental, so again, no specific lyrics here, but there is a very deep, melancholic feel to this song. It gets kinda fast-paced at some points, and reminds me of the ending of True Colors, with Anne and Sasha and Marcy separated. There is so much space- literal and internal- between all of them now, and I think this song does a really great job of getting Those Feels across. They aren’t just lost to each other, they are also struggling with battles inside of themselves.

But the lyrics that are in this song, (lol I just said I wouldn’t mention them whoops) ‘Lost girls find a way’, are sung, the music played after them that plays remind me that, like Matt Braly said, sometimes things have to be broken to be fixed again. They can find a way. It’s not a happy song to be sure, but there’s a quiet strength and determination in it.

~’Long Live’ (Taylor Swift)- I could cite specific lyrics here, but this song has just always given me epilogue-end-of-the-battle scenes, where we get to see everyone exhausted, but happy and most importantly together. This song is what I’m hoping the future gets to be for Marcy, Anne, and Sasha; happy about their present together, being able to heal despite the past, and accepting that even if they aren’t together forever in the future, that doesn’t mean they weren’t important to one another.

~’Torches’ (Oh Hellos)- ‘Torches’, on the complete opposite hand to ‘Long Live’, kind of represents where the girls are right now with one another. 

Despite keeping that old wheel turning, despite laying that next spoke down (yes these are direct lyric references), they are also continuing to make mistakes with one another.

    I got a venom like a snake running out of my mouth

    (Running out of my mouth, running out of my mouth)

    It’s got you burning at the stake

    Innocent or not, you’re not a bet I care to take

 And, yet, somehow, they keep being led back to one another. They are more alike than they think, and even if they get back to Earth, they will still be bound by the mutual experiences they had on Amphibia, that no one else is likely to ever understand. The ways they misunderstand one another and don’t communicate cleave them apart, but also together, in a way. 

    And Father Ignorance will make brothers of us all

   (Brothers of us all, brothers of us all)

    As he sets our torch aflame

    Chasing down the flimsy specters that we pro-create

As well as 

    Mother Fortuna, O, she makes sisters of us all

    (Sisters of us all, sisters of us all)

   When the faces in her wake

    Look more like our own than the effigies that we immolate

~’Castle On The Hill’ (Ed Sheeran)- Purely just the vibes. Nothing super deep, just makes me think of how Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are going to look back on their friendships and their time together. 

~’Trouble’ (Valerie Broussard)- Though I will forever associate this song with Six of Crows thanks to a fabulous animatic, I will say that it also makes me think of the darker tone that Season 3 might take on, and how each girl is poised to take on a different problem. I see it as a very Sasha song (especially ‘I’m your Number Two man in a fight/We are revolutionaries tonight’), but all three of them tend to lead a trail of chaos in their wake. (Also the vibes here are impeccable)

~’Time Alive’ (K.C Katalbas)- (not on Spotify, definitely recommend checking it out) This song just has that perfectly nostalgic, yet aspirational feel to it. It is hopeful, yet it it has its own sort of weight. It pairs nicely with ‘Long Live’ and ‘Castle On The Hill’, in a way, I think. It makes me think of what the future could be for the girls, once again, and how even if something is bittersweet, you are still allowed to be hopeful. Mostly, it makes me think of each girl reflecting about one another, and the time they spent together. 

    And this is your life, every plan has a right to fall

    And this is your heart, through the dark it’s the loudest call

    And this is breathing

    And seeing her go

~’Try’ (The Lightning Thief)- True Color battle against Andrias vibes! And Season 3 vibes! A lot of these lyrics are kind of specific to Annabeth, Percy, and Grover’s characters, but I also think the general feel of this song is very applicable to Anne, Sasha, and Marcy. Particularly, I am reminded of how Sasha and Anne will be feeling about Marcy.

    I may fail you

   I may fail you

    I may fail you, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t try

And

    I’m not leaving your side til we find what matters

   I’m not leaving your side til we’re back home

   I’m not leaving your side til you’re remembered

   No matter how far we have to go

As well as probably the guilt that Marcy was feeling during True Colors:

   Two thousand four hundred forty eight reasons I have to come along

   Wash my hands of past mistakes

As well as

    The weight of the world’s on my shoulders

    Like Atlas, it’s crushing me down

    We’re not brave, we’re not strong, we’re not soldiers

And how could I forget?

    L.A doesn’t seem so far away…

~’Drive It Like You Stole It’ (Sing Street)- Again, like ‘Trouble’, but a little softer. If ‘Trouble’ has Sasha vibes, this one makes me think of Anne, but it also has a similar line to ‘Time Alive’- this is your life. For the most part of Amphibia, I think the girls focussed a lot on fitting in and adapting to their surroundings, but I think Season 3 is really going to see them owning who they are and taking it upon themselves to enact change. 

It also just makes me think of them messing around and being kids, trying to figure out who they are. It’s like, if they ever make it back to Earth in one piece and stay friends, but still manage to get into shenanigans.

~’What’s Up Danger’ (Blackway, Black Caviar)- local newt king gets mauled by three newly empowered thirteen-year olds

~’How Far We’ve Come’ (Matchbox Twenty)- This one is a classic. No playlist of mine is worth its salt if it doesn’t have this song here. It has the ~vibes~ of pre-last battle energy, and also I can definitely see Sasha and the Sharps playing it at some point. 

Alternately, this also makes me think of Anne, Sasha, and Marcy finally going home together or reuniting properly after the end of True Colors. Lots of angst either way.

~’We Are Young’ (fun.)- What I picture with this: Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are not entirely reconciled with one another yet, but it’s the night before the last battle or somethin’, and they still care about one another a lot. This has that energy. They’re just kids, but they’ll be damned if they don’t go out without a fight, and without standing by one another’s sides. 

(and marcy found someone(s) to carry her home nanananananana)

Slightly more uplifting(?) than ‘How Far We’ve Come’, but similar energy, I think.

~’Pump It’ (Black Eyed Peas)- three local teenagers get pumped to cause problems on purpose; montage time. I have no justification for this song, only that it has the vibes of Sasha and Anne’s relentless energy and the confidence of Marcy swinging down on a rope she doesn’t know will actually hold her weight. 

~’Disaster Hearts’ (I Fight Dragons)- I feel like this song is the definition of Matt’s tweet about how some things have to be broken to be fixed. It has vibes of the aftermath of a battle, and opening the door to reconciliation and forgiveness. Amphibia has tied these girls together, for better or worse, and I think there is room for them to become better friends and mend their relationships.

    Disaster has a way of remaking our hearts

    Long after all the thunder and scars

    Days pass and bit by bit we begin to restart

    Our disaster hearts

~’Thus Always To Tyrants’ (Oh Hellos)- It makes me think of where Anne and Sasha are left at the end of Reunion, but also in how Anne wants to find Marcy now that she know she’s definitely out there. The sound of the song gives me huge Marcy vibes, with how it does seem to be almost cheerful? The very last line makes me think a lot about Sasha (‘Learn to love without consuming’), but I think a lot of the song is applicable to all the girls in different situations. 

[changingchances]

Crossing Senses Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor Part Six

A/N: 6922 words. HELLOOO! Happy Holidays, lovelies! This part is super long. I really hope you like it. I wanted to wait a few days to post it so that I look back over it and make sure I was happy with how it turned out. Don’t be afraid to leave comments, feedback, or suggestions! Much love!

Warnings: Swearing, confrontation, depictions of a panic attack

The event is held in an extravagant hotel, the kind with chandeliers and ballrooms and grand staircases. There are paparazzi around every turn within a two-mile radius outside of the venue. The noise and flashing lights of their cameras feel like a punch to the face as Roe steps out of the car with Brian. Though she doesn’t allow herself to falter in step or pause at the overwhelming stimulation, Brian seems to sense some amount of her discomfort. Or perhaps he had anticipated that she would be nervous, unused to such a scene to begin with. No matter the reason, he wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her close to him as they wade through the crowd to the entrance. Once inside, Roe lets out a breath and allows herself a half smile at Brian.

“Not sure how you boys manage that kind of attention,” she chuckles. “Seems like the kind of overwhelming you couldn’t ever get over.” She chances a quick glance behind her at the chaos outside. She doesn’t miss how his arm hasn’t moved from her waist, despite being safely inside and away from paparazzi pandemonium.

“For me, I don’t think it will ever be normal,” he leans down to murmur, close to her ear. “It will never not be overwhelming. I think Deaky feels the same. Rog and Freddie, on the other hand…” Brian chuckles instead of finishing that thought, because they both know how Roger and Freddie are.

Roe nods in agreement. “They do love the spotlight, those two.”

Brian’s led her to a table big enough for the band plus her and Mary. He pulls her chair out for her and offers a wink as she sits. She returns the gesture with a smirk.

“Ever the perfect English gentleman, Bri.” She teases as he takes the seat across from her. By now, Deaky, Freddie, and Mary have caught up with them and take their seats as well, Freddie on her left, Deaky on her right, Mary sat next to Brian.

“Which reminds me, Roe, I’ve been meaning to ask this,” Brian begins, glancing over the drink menu offered to him by a waiter. “You sound relatively English most of the time. But you have some odd pronunciation. Where are you originally from?”

Deaky makes a noise of agreement. “I noticed that too, Roe. You’ve got an odd accent.”

Roe gives a small laugh at their observation. “I’m from the States, but my family moved to London when I was so little, it wouldn’t make much of a difference in speech. I think the weird accent comes from picking up nuances of both English and American vowels, since my parents spent most of their lives in the States. If you ever heard them speak, there would be no doubt in your mind that they’re American.”

Brian and Deaky nod in understanding. Of course, Freddie already knows her entire backstory, and Mary’s met Roe’s family once or twice, so she’s heard the accents.

The group orders their drinks, the boys choosing whiskey or beer, Mary and Roe opting for a glass of red wine. Freddie finishes his drink before anyone else, no surprise to Roe, and goes about ordering a round of random cocktails and shots for the table. When his order arrives, and everyone goes to grab a beverage, Brian frowns in Roe’s direction.

“Fred, you ordered too few. Roe doesn’t have one.” He goes to flag down a waiter, but Freddie stops him with a wave of his hand.

“Roe doesn’t need to be drunk to have a good time.” He throws back his second drink. Deaky and Brian raise their eyebrows in surprise. Freddie thinks everyone needs to be drunk to have a good time. He never lets anyone get away with only one drink, especially if that drink is wine.

Roe simply smiles and shakes her head at the two boys, sipping on her glass of red. She appreciates that she is the only person on the planet that Freddie doesn’t pressure into drinking. He knows from back when they were teenagers that alcohol is a catalyst for panic attacks in Roe’s book, and he’ll be damned if he ever puts her in a situation that would induce such an episode.

“Someone’s gotta stay sober enough to keep you rockstars out of trouble, yeah?” she smirks. Deaky smiles and pats her head teasingly.

“Thank you for being the responsible friend, Roe.”

A few more rounds pass, and the group is relatively tipsy. Roe finds herself amused in witnessing the shenanigans of the drunken band. Mary stays on just the right side of buzzed, and Deaky’s only a little more tipsy, bopping in his seat to the music. Brian’s face is flushed, and his usual filter in conversation appears to have dissolved in the alcohol, as he’s swearing left and right about a variety of subjects, ranging from the cosmos to the band, from music to badgers. Roe can’t recall having laughed this hard in her entire life, watching the vigor and passion of the guitarist throughout his ranting. It’s almost comical to watch the typically calm and collected Brian May yell about anything.

Freddie is shouting, which while not entirely unusual for him, is hilarious because he seems to have no understanding that he can, in fact, speak at a normal volume for everyone at the table to hear him properly. Obviously, Roger never sat down with them. Again, not unusual for him. Roe assumes he is merely off flirting, looking for some arm candy to take home.

The party is really beginning to pick up. People have begun occupying the dance floor of the ballroom. The music is getting louder, sexier, more fitting for a club than the hotel’s grandiose hall. The drinks are flowing. Roe can’t decide if she’s not drunk enough to enjoy herself or if this is as good as it’s going to get. Not that she isn’t having fun. She’s just obviously not having as much fun as those with a third or fourth drink in their hands.

All the same, she knows that there’s a fine, fine line between pleasantly buzzed and suffering a panic attack. One drink too many and she’ll be riddled with anxiety for the rest of the night, and she’s quite liking how calm she feels now, relatively sober.

“You’re thinking too hard, love!” Freddie shouts from right beside her. Roe laughs heartily and rolls her eyes.

“I’m just debating whether to get another drink or not, Freddie, I’m fine.” She grins at him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and giving him a hug. “Thank you for tonight. This is the most fun I’ve had in months.”

“Of course, darling! Anything for my best friend. Now go dance with Brian. He’s undressing you with his eyes!”

Roe’s eyes shift to the guitarist, who is indeed staring at her with a gaze that is anything but innocent. She raises her brow when she catches him looking. His cheeks redden, but he doesn’t look too embarrassed at being caught. She smirks when he licks his lips, then jerks her head towards the dance floor as a question. He stands immediately and rounds the table, stopping in front of her, bowing a little dramatically and holding out his hand.

“Madame,” There’s a mischievous gleam in his eyes, playful and inviting and so very Brian. Roe’s smirk grows, and she takes his hand, standing and tilting her head ever so slightly to one side, a teasing expression. He presses his lips to her knuckles, just barely there, but it makes Roe’s smirk shift into a full Cheshire cat grin. The two know they aren’t soulmates. But that’s what makes this dynamic so easy to enjoy. They’re adults, friends who are willing to fool around for the sake of a good time. They’d had conversations about what ifs concerning soulmates and hard feelings, and the wonderful thing is that they both appear to be in the exact same place in their lives- too busy to worry about forever, more than willing to indulge themselves.

So, when she feels a tingle shoot down her spine, Roe can’t help but stiffen. And she knows Brian’s noticed when he pauses in pulling away from her hand.

“Roe,” he begins, moving to hold her hand in both of his. “I know that look.”

“I need a drink.” She turns around, pulling away from him, and sees a waiter carrying a tray of flutes filled with champagne. She grabs two and throws each back unceremoniously, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Brian looks a little taken aback at the action. Roe doesn’t look like the type to enjoy alcohol, ever the studious, calm voice of reason in his time being her friend.

“Do you want to talk-“

“Not at all. It’s my birthday, Bri. I don’t want to think about the rest of my life. I do that every bloody day. I want to have fun tonight.”

Were he sober, Brian wouldn’t let this be the end of the conversation. But he is relatively drunk, and drunk men are easy to distract. So, when he opens his mouth as if to argue, Roe stands on her toes to whisper into his ear.

“I want you to have fun with me, Bri,” she feels his posture stiffen as her breath brushes against his skin.

“Roe-“

“Please, dance with me.” She kisses at the spot just below his ear, trails her lips lightly down his neck for good measure, smirking in triumph when she feels his hands grip her hips as he lets out a shaky breath. She pulls away and leads him to the dance floor, all the while ignoring the lyrics painting themselves down her body.

They dance together for what may be hours. Brian disappears a few times briefly, always returning with more drinks, which she gratefully downs, all thoughts about alcohol induced anxiety pushed to the back of her mind. So long as she isn’t exposed to any triggers, she’ll be fine. So long as she doesn’t linger on thoughts of her soulmate, she’ll be fine.

It’s when she feels another body behind her, pressing into her, that she decides she is definitely not drunk enough for this kind of party. When she turns to see who’s invading her space, she comes face to face with Roger Taylor.

“Nice of you to show up!” She yells over the music, her dancing slowing to an acceptable pace for conversation. Roger smirks.

“Nice to see you having fun! Dare I say it, you’re pretty hot when you’re not so uptight.” He offers her the rest of his drink, which appears to be whisky. Roe hates whisky.

“I’ll take offense to that later,” She retorts, taking the glass and throwing back the contents. She doesn’t let herself make a face at the taste, but instead turns to see Brian dancing with another girl. He makes eye contact with her and gives her a smile. She grins back, grateful that he’s got himself entertained, before turning her attention to Roger again. He appears to have been staring at her ass.

“Oi!” She snaps her fingers at him. “What are you looking at, drummer boy?”

When his eyes meet hers, it startles her how serious they are. Suddenly, he’s got a hold of her hips, pulling her close.

“What are you doing?” Roe goes to pull back, a little stunned by his actions, but his grip tightens, only a little.

“Your soulmate is here, Roe.” He says quietly, looking directly into her eyes. Roe pulls her head back, confused. She doesn’t want to talk about her soulmate.

“What are you talking about?”

“There are lyrics on your back. To the song that’s playing. Right now.”

The two of them stare at each other a moment, his gaze serious, hers bewildered. When he lets her go, it’s with an encouraging smile.

“Go find that unlucky bastard, Roe baby.” He gives her a wink before making to move away, deeper into the crowd. Roe surprises herself when her hand shoots out to grab at his wrist, effectively garnering his attention again. When he faces her again, he’s smirking, but his brow is raised in inquisition.

“I don’t want to think about soulmates tonight!” She yells at him over the music. Roger moves closer, hand finding its way back to her hip.

“What do you want to think about then, love?” His voice drops, and Roe can’t help but take note of the hue swirling behind her eyes in association to his tone. She can’t help but recall that when men’s voices lower, it’s typically to assert dominance or to attract a mate. But she just rolls her eyes, snorts, and moves to stand with her back facing him, and begins to dance again. His other arm wraps around her waist and pulls her flush to him.

“Don’t get any ideas, Taylor.” She warns, allowing her head to lean back and rest on his shoulder. “You’re not my type.”

He laughs out of his nose. “Don’t you worry, Roe baby. You’re too smart to fall for my charms.”

“Damn straight, drummer boy.”

 “Darling,” Freddie takes a seat next to Roe at the bar, plucking a shot glass from her hand. “This does not seem like a good idea.”

Roe sighs, heavy and dramatic, and puts her face in her hands.

“My soulmate is here, Fred. I need to be drunk.”

“Roe, lovely, you are two types of drunk- horny or angry, and there is no in between. And that’s when drinking doesn’t make you a panicked mess. I stand by the opinion that this is not a good idea.”

She groans at that. “I cannot deal with this, Freddie. I don’t want to meet him right now. It’s my birthday, I wanted this night to be perfect.” Her voice is on the brink of being whiny.

“Maybe it still will be, love. Maybe he is what makes tonight perfect.”

There’s a beat of silence. Roe doesn’t have it in her to argue with him. The room is spinning too much for her to make a good argument.

“May I please have my vodka?” Roe asks, holding one hand out for the class, face still resting in the other. Freddie sighs and hands her the glass.

“Be smart, Roe, yeah?” He murmurs, standing from the stool he had been sitting in. “It’s your soulmate. You don’t have to be drunk to connect with him.”

“Don’t want to connect with him, Fred. I just want to have one night where I’m not worried about how my actions will affect my future, okay?” She throws back the shot and makes a face. She fucking hates shots. She knows they’re only filled with bad decisions and inevitable hangovers, but she wants to get trashed and she wants to do so quickly. She hears her friend sigh.

“Roe, my love, look at me.” She swivels in her seat to face him, a look of mild exasperation plastered across her features. Freddie, who is no more sober than she is, smiles at her and touches her cheek gently. “Have fun, my love, do what you feel is best for you. But one day, you’re going to fall in love, you know. Maybe not today, but it’s going to happen. And you can’t run away from that.”

Roe nods, glancing out at the crowd, rubbing her thumb over her upper thigh where there are still lyrics tickling her skin. “I know, Freddie. It happens when it happens, blah blah, it’s inevitable, it’s fate. But if I can help it, it isn’t happening tonight.”

“Then here’s to avoiding our problems until they outrun us, darling.” He hands her another glass, obviously having given up trying to talk some sense in her. Roe snorts at his declaration and takes the drink, shooting the vodka with her friend. When she looks back towards the crowd, scanning the area for Brian or Roger, she sees something that makes her chest seize. She drops the shot glass to the bar. Thankfully, it doesn’t shatter, but the clatter is loud enough that Freddie starts a little bit, looking at her strangely. She’s suddenly on her feet.

“Roe?” Freddie reaches for her arm, but she moves away too quickly, trying to control her breathing, trying to look okay in front of the vocalist.

“I, um, I just-“ her eyes remain glued to the man in the crowd, dancing and singing along to the music. It’s in that moment that he glances over and makes eye contact with her. She sees the recognition in his face instantly. It feels like someone’s punched her in the stomach. “I’ll be right back, Fred, I’m going to find the restroom.”

And she takes off in some direction, a direction that may or may not take her to a bathroom. But it’s in the opposite direction from the dance floor, and that’s all she cares about.

 “Shit, shit, shit,” Roe stands in front of the mirror, having finally found the restrooms after several moments of avoidance and pacing around the ballroom like a bloody lunatic. “He can’t be here,” she gasps quietly, feeling the panic creep up her lungs. Deep breaths, in and out. “God, that cannot be him.” But it had been him. She’d recognize him anywhere. The man out there is her ex-boyfriend, her last serious relationship. She’d thought, briefly, he was her soulmate. Every time lyrics would pop up on her body, he would tell her he had been thinking of the song. He would sing along as they tickled against her skin.

However, she grew suspicious when he began to have trouble naming the tunes- often times they were Queen songs, when the band had just started out. Sometimes they were songs she’d never heard nor ever found, they were so obscure. When she questioned him about it, he would go ballistic, swearing and calling her a liar and a whore, threatening to leave her, telling her how hurt he was that she could ever doubt him.

Roe didn’t get out of that relationship for years. Freddie was the one who, over a phone call while on tour, could tell something wasn’t right, that she wasn’t as happy as she told him she was. And she couldn’t lie to him, her best friend, so she broke down into tears and told him everything. Freddie was livid- it was the only time she could ever remember witnessing legitimate anger from him. He told her that what this man was doing was cruel, that he was lying to her obviously, that he was gaslighting her, and how none of that was okay. That night, she attempted to talk to the man one last time, to set the record straight, to hear the truth. That night ended with her packing up her bags and sleeping in the lab for the first time, an icepack to her cheek, a paper towel to her split lip.

And here he is, at this party, on the night of her birthday. As if that isn’t enough to send her into a panicked frenzy, Roe is drunk on god only knows how many varieties of alcohol. But she cannot let him do this to her. It’s been over a year. She cannot let him have this kind of power over her. But she can’t stay here, in the ballroom, at this hotel. She decides, after getting her breathing under control, that she will leave the bathroom, find Freddie, and explain what she’s seen. She will ask him to take her home, and she will nurse her hangover tomorrow morning and focus only on how much fun she’s had before all of this occurred. So, she takes a few more deep breaths, plucks up all the courage she can muster, and leaves the bathroom in search of Freddie.

Nothing about the event has changed since she locked herself away half an hour ago. The music is still thrumming through her body at an ungodly volume, the people are still dancing, still drinking. But the entire mood has shifted and turned upside down. Roe isn’t having fun anymore. She’s fighting off a fucking panic attack, and the stimulation from the party isn’t doing her nerves any favors. The music is bright, glaring in her eyes, reds and oranges and neon purples. She can taste the vodka she’d recently had in the back of her throat, blinding white and striped in black streaks. Everyone’s voices blend together into a mess of splattered colors, blues and greys and browns and greens, yellows and creams, and her head begins to pound.

Where is Freddie? She thinks, looking around and attempting not to appear as frantic as she feels. He isn’t at the bar anymore. No way in hell is she wading through the crowd of dancing people to find him. It’s then that she sees Brian, Deaky, and Roger sitting at their table from earlier in the evening. She makes a beeline towards them and is only about a couple of feet away when a figure steps in front of her, a figure which she promptly runs straight into.

“So sorry,” the person says, voice bright and yellow. She mentally cringes, recognizing it immediately.

“Excuse me, I’m trying to get to my friends-“

“Roe?” He looks down at her, towering above her at a height of six foot something. She swallows thickly but narrows her eyes in faux confusion.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Despite being far more drunk than she has been in years, her voice is steady, exasperated at not being able to pass. Irritation is the least transparent façade, and she makes sure that he can see she is well past annoyed.

“Don’t pull that shit, Roe, it’s Matt.” The man retorts, and her stomach churns at the name. But she really looks at him, takes in his features, keeping her gaze bored and mildly critical. He’s not as lanky as she recalls, broader and sturdier looking now. He’s trimmed his beard, looking cleaner and more put together than he had a year ago. His hair is styled, blonde waves contained by product. But his eyes are still just as she remembers from the night she left- cold, judgmental, prying. Her eyes narrow further, now an undeniable glare.

“What are you doing here?” Roe’s voice is low, almost monotone. Freddie was right. If she isn’t a horny drunk, and she isn’t an anxious drunk, then she’s an angry drunk. And right now, she’s furious.

“My manager invited me,” Matt’s tone is not friendly. “He thought it would be good to make connections with the important people.” His chest is puffed out. He is purposefully looking down at Roe, unconsciously making himself appear bigger, literally talking down to her. His smirk is nothing short of a sneer. He’s always been a prideful bastard. “And you? Get tired of playing scientist and decide to crash a party?” His eyes rake down her body, taking in her fitted dress and lingering a moment too long at the neckline. His mouth twists into something cruel. “What kind of graduate student can afford such tasteful clothing, Roe?”

Roe bites the inside of her cheek, fuming. She wants nothing more in the world than to kick this guy’s teeth in. But she knows, she knows, that’s a fight she would lose. She glances around Matt and catches Deaky’s wandering gaze. When he sees her, his eyes go wide. Maybe she isn’t hiding her emotions as well as she had hoped. She watches as his lips move and notices Brian and Roger look at the bassist, then in her direction. Their expressions mimic the bassist’s shocked reaction. They shift, all three quickly rising from their seats.

Realizing she’d been silent for a long moment, Roe turns her attention back to the man before her. “I’m here with some good friends of mine, actually.”

His responding scoff has Roe clenching her hands into fists, which she subtly moves to rest behind her back. Matt practically got off on watching her get angry. She is not going to give him that satisfaction. Her face burns. She tries to ignore the angry flush, but Matt’s expression shifts from mocking to curiosity, then to callous amusement.

“I saw you earlier, little angel,” he spits the nickname as though it’s a curse. “Dancing like a whore on that one man. And his friend. Did you know at that point that your soulmate was here too?”

Roe bristles. “You are not my soulmate.”

“Oh, I’m well aware,” his smile is twisted. “But you’ve got some lyrics, precious.” He lifts a hand and rests his thumb on her cheek. Roe takes an immediate step back, jerking her face away. Matt laughs, cackles practically.

“Oh, you do know!” He claps his hands together in front of him. “Tell me, angel, what kind of slut gets drunk and dances on a handful of men that aren’t her soulmate? What kind of tramp flaunts herself for them rather than spends her night searching for the man that was made for her? Huh?”

“Fuck off, Matt.” Roe growls through gritted teeth. She’s going to punch him. She’s going to start a fucking fistfight in the middle of a five-star hotel and she’s going to get her ass kicked, but she’ll be damned if she walks away from this asshole without at least one swing.

“Same old Roe, eh? Always running away from anything that isn’t exactly by your design. Probably for the best. Put off the inevitable, precious. He’ll figure see it one day, too, that you’re just a dirty, used whore-“

“Roe, love, is everything alright?” Someone steps up to her right and an arm wraps around her shoulders. She doesn’t break eye contact with Matt. She doesn’t have to in order to recognize Brian’s voice. Matt looks a tad bit taken aback at the intrusion. He straightens up and lifts his chin.

“you must be one of Roe’s good friends. We were just having a chat,” he doesn’t smile at Brian. There’s a long pause. The space around them is thick with an awkward tension. Matt looks the guitarist up and down. “Saw you two dancing earlier. Who might you be?”

Brian huffs out a short, unfriendly laugh. “Brian May. Guitarist for Queen.”

Matt’s eyes widen, almost imperceptibly, for a fraction of a second before he regains his composure. Roe takes a great deal of pleasure in that fraction of a second.

“And I’m Roger Taylor, drummer.” Roe hears Roger’s voice from her left. She feels one of his hands gently rest upon her own, which are still balled up into a fist behind her back. She doesn’t let the tension leave her shoulders though, still does not break eye contact with the man before her.

“John Richard Deacon,” There’s a pause. Someone clears their throat. “Bassist.” His voice comes from behind her. Roe feels like she’s got a small rockstar artillery surrounding her, at the ready to aid her in kicking in Matt’s front teeth.

But Matt, after a beat, regains that sick smile of his. “Got yourselves quite the little groupie, don’t you, lads?”

Brian’s grip on Roe’s shoulder is suddenly more firm. She hears Deaky suck in a breath. Roger appears to remain relatively calm, but Roe doesn’t look at him to see if his shoulders have tensed up. When he speaks, though, she’s willing to bet money that his entire frame is taut as a bow.

“Roe’s our friend, mate. I suggest you back off.” He warns.

“Good friend, I’m sure. Could tell be the way you were practically grinding against her a few hours ago, mate.” Matt scoffs. Roe’s fists tighten further, so much so that she feels her knuckles pop. She shifts her thumbs from inside of her fists to the outside. She’s going to sock him in the fucking face.

“I think it’s best that we go,” Brian suggests, but there is no calm demeanor in his tone. He’s saying, let us leave now or we’ll bloody end you.

“You know her soulmate’s here?” Matt comments suddenly, smile curling into a toothy grin. None of the boys say anything. Of course, they know. Of course, for the sake of her birthday, none of them pushed the subject. But Matt interprets their silence as shock, and his grin grows. That is, until the man next to her speaks again.

“Obviously,” Brian snorts. “That would be me.”

Roe’s breath catches in her throat at that. She breaks eye contact with Matt to look up at Brian, who smiles at her. She can still feel lyrics racing up her back, down her arms and legs. Catching onto his game though, Roe feels a crooked smile spread across her face, and she looks back at Matt, eyebrows raised in the most satisfied, smug expression ever to cross her features. Matt’s façade falters. His brows furrow together, and he opens his mouth, closes it, repeats the action a time or two. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Roger’s shoulders lower a little on an exhale.

“As I said,” Roe states, brow arched and smirk venomous. “I’m here with good friends.”

There’s a moment of silence. Roe is the first to move, making to pass Matt and head for the door with Brian, Roger, and Deaky following. But the fucker opens his mouth.

“Show me your lyrics.” He moves to stand directly in front of Brian. The two are just about the same height, so they are standing practically nose to nose.

“Piss off, man,” Brian rolls his eyes, clearly more than a little irritated.

“Show me your lyrics. If you’re really her soulmate, prove it.”

“Why the fuck does it matter to you in the first place?” Roger fumes, taking a step towards the two. Roe feels her breath catch again.

“No big deal, mate, just show me your lyrics.” Matt taunts. Roe can see Brian’s patience thinning. She can see Roger’s shoulders tensing, the muscle in his jaw jumping. She can’t breathe.

“Walk away.” Brian’s voice is quiet, voice low, and it’s possibly even more terrifying than it could be were he to scream.

“Or what, mate? Hm? Just show me your lyrics. Prove that she’s really yours.” Matt knows he’s getting to them. He fucking basks in it. Despite being in the beginnings of a panic attack, that last sentence catches Roe’s attention.

“I don’t fucking belong to anybody, you misogynistic fuck.” She hisses. Matt laughs loudly.

“No, of course you don’t. Not anymore. You belonged to me, you fucking ungrateful whore! I was the only person that could ever want you. Now, you’re just some bitch running away from a soulmate that will never care about you.” He takes a heavy step towards her and all she can think about is that he might hit her. All she can think about is another bloodied lip and bruised cheekbone, and it scares the hell out of her.

Roe stumbles back into Roger so suddenly that they both nearly fall to the floor. There’s no stopping any panic attacks now. Roe’s having a full-blown episode- hyperventilating, tears stinging at her eyes, chest feeling as though she’s being electrocuted. She scrambles to her feet in spite of it. Matt’s back is turned to her as he’s facing Brian again, the tension between the two men rising rapidly. Both are shouting at each other now, and she knows shit’s hit the fan when Matt abruptly shoves Brian into a nearby table.

Someone grabs at her wrist and yanks her in the opposite direction. Her head whips around to see Roger as he begins to drag her away from the scene. They round a corner, out of sight, and Roe leans against the wall, breathing too hard. She slides down to the floor as the first sob bubbles from her lips. Roger stares at her, alarmed.

“Stay here,” he stammers, glancing around the corner. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to find Freddie.” And before she can respond, he’s sprinted off.

Roe, now seated, now alone, feels the full weight of anxiety crash over her, and she’s gasping, sobbing, hands pressed to her sternum in an attempt to force air out so that she can take another breath. She feels like she’s dying. She feels like her skin is crawling, like her insides are vibrating violently. She tries to find something in the room to ground her, but the music is in color and she feels like she’s watching from a third person point of few, like she’s standing beside herself. She tries saying her ABCs, but the letters are in color too and there aren’t enough of them to keep her occupied. She tries some breathing exercises, but she can’t fucking remember how to breath. It’s like once the air comes in, it won’t leave. Her head is spinning. The lyrics that were tickling her skin now feel like claws raking themselves down her body. She feels like she’s fucking dying.

There are hands on her face suddenly. She jerks backwards and screams, but all that really escapes her throat is a choked yelp. Screaming requires the ability to breathe.

“Roe, darling, my love, it’s me,” Her eyes focus on Freddie, crouched in front of her, hands moving to gently cup her cheeks again.

“Don’t,” she whimpers. “Please, don’t touch me.”

Freddie’s hands drop immediately. He stands and turns slightly, and Roe is suddenly hyperaware that Roger is standing there too, watching her while Freddie murmurs something to him. His brow is furrowed, his eyes are wide, shoulders tense. He’s chewing on his lip, holding a cigarette and fishing out a lighter from his pocket. Freddie hands him something before crouching down again in front of Roe.

“Listen, love, Roger told me what happened. I’m going to get security, alright? Roger’s going to take you upstairs to a room. We paid for them earlier this afternoon, to surprise you. So, don’t worry, yes? Roger’s going to take you upstairs, alright? In the elevator. Then I want you to take a shower, drink some water, and go to bed. Do you understand?” Freddie is speaking slowly, calmly, voice soft. Many people may find it condescending in tone, but he knows that Roe suffers from overstimulation during panic attacks. Any loud or intense noises would only make this worse for her. Roe, still gasping, choking down the tears, nods at him.

“I’m sor-“

“Don’t you dare apologize, my love,” Freddie shakes his head. “This is not your fault. None of it. Are you alright to go with Roger?”

She nods again, frowning as she tries her damn hardest to breathe normally. Freddie smiles, stands, and speaks to Roger again briefly before going to find security.

“Don’t touch her, okay? It will only cause another wave of this. Just try and talk her through it.” He says as he passes the drummer, who makes a noise of understanding. Once Freddie disappears, Roger approaches Roe slowly, as though he may frighten her if his steps are too heavy or quick.

“Are you alright?” He murmurs.

Roe, in spite of herself, scoffs at him. “Am I alright? The fuck kind of question is that, Taylor?”

He can’t help but to smile at that. Looking at her, she doesn’t look fragile. She looks frightened, most certainly, but when she looks up at him, her eyes are not wide with fear. They are wild, angry, shiny with unshed tears. Her chest heaves in her attempt to breathe. She looks as though she’s just returned from war. Something in Roger’s chest aches.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here, Roe baby.”

 They get to the elevator quickly enough, successfully avoiding the chaos that is the altercation between Matt and Brian. Roger wants more than anything to ask who the fuck that guy is and what the fuck his problem is, but something tells him now is not the time. Roe is still breathing hard, still crying, but he can tell she’s really trying to cover it up. It’s shocking to see her, the firecracker that she is, in this state of ungodly fear and frenzy. He wants to help, so he tries talking her through it, like Freddie suggested.

Except his chatter isn’t helpful, in Roe’s book. It’s distracting from her grounding exercises. She loses count when trying to steady her breathing. While waiting for the elevator, she feels like she finally has a hold of herself. Then Roger’s voice snaps her out of it, and her reverie slips through her fingers like sand.

“Are you still getting lyrics?”

Roe clenches her teeth together, shaking her head. She hasn’t felt the lyrics in several minutes. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in.

“Do you think he left?”

Roe exhales heavily and shrugs, trying to block out all thoughts of her soulmate. There’s a long moment of silence, and she’s feeling her composure return.

“Mine was going crazy earlier tonight, too.”

Roe opens her eyes and looks at the drummer. She catches his wistful expression. When he sees her staring, he shakes his head and smiles.

“She’s always singing something. Always has something stuck in her head.” His voice is longing. He doesn’t even try to mask it.

“And you have no idea what she’s singing.” She doesn’t phrase it like a question.

He shakes his head. “I don’t speak colors, Roe baby.”

They’re quiet for a moment except for the sound of Roe still trying to catch her breath.

“You know,” Roger drawls. “You probably need better coping mechanisms.”

“Fuck you.” Roe snaps, but she smirks a small bit.

“Fred would kill me.”

“Excuse me?”

“If I even tried hitting on you, Freddie would castrate me with one of my own cymbals.”

Roe tilts her head very slightly to the side. “You’ve put some thought into this.”

“I have.” Roger gives her a half smile.

The elevator door dings and opens, and Roe is relieved to see that it’s only the two of them getting on.

“We’re at the very top, so it may be a moment.” Roger presses the button to their floor. Roe nods and goes to sit in the corner of the elevator, head in her hands. Several seconds pass, but the anxiety doesn’t. She sobs a bit into her hands, frustrated.

“What do you usually do when it gets this bad?” Roger inquires quietly.

Roe groans, shakes her head. “It doesn’t usually get this bad. That’s the thing.” She wraps her arms around her legs and rests her chin on her knees. “Breathing exercises aren’t working. I feel like I’m dissociating. I can’t stop fucking crying.” She leans her head back and lets it rest against the elevator wall, staring up at the ceiling. It’s decorated with an oceanic aesthetic, abstract sea shells and fish, waves and seafoam patterns, a trident like symbol outlined in gold. Roe narrows her eyes in thought.

Neptune of the seas,

An answer for me please.

“I dance.” She ponders quietly. “That usually helps a lot.”

“Then do that!” Roger exclaims. She laughs out of her nose at the suggestion.

“I can’t fucking dance here, Roger. It’s an elevator.” She shuts her eyes.

“Doesn’t dancing require counting or something? You could try and go through it in your head?”

Roe opens her eyes and turns her head to peer at the drummer. “What makes you think that will work?”

Roger shrugs and folds his arms over his chest. “It’s what I do when I get pre-show jitters. I run through drumming patterns and tempo changes.”

She looks at him for a moment longer before nodding a little. That may work.

So, she turns her face towards the ceiling again and shuts her eyes, beginning with counts. It takes her a moment to find the right tempo, but once she does, she’s imagining the movements, forcing herself to inhale and exhale as she envisions the rise and fall of her shoulders with the rhythm of the counts.

On her first full breath, she holds it for a second, letting herself slowly fall into the momentum of the music. Her hands make small, subtle movements to trace the path of her turns. Her feet shuffle minutely, following her leaps and lines. Her breath comes back to her, slowly but surely. The tightness in her chest begins to unravel after several long moments. Soon enough, she’s feeling more composed, more capable of breathing, more safe. She opens her eyes and looks to Roger, wanting to thank him for his suggestion.

Instead, her eyes widen when she catches sight of his face. His cheekbones are tinted in shades of lilac and royal purple. His jaw is shaded in blue. Across his nose, whites and yellows bleed into one another. She realizes that this is what his soulmate indications look like. This is how his soulmate experiences the music that she hears, the songs that she sings. And Roe knows these colors. She’s seen them before, but never so solid or tangible, never so vivid. She’s become familiar with them in the past couple of months, basking in them while working in the dance studio, while singing in the shower, while spending hours upon hours in the lab. Roger has Lily of the Valley painted across his face in blooming watercolors. And Roe knows what that must mean.

“Ah, shit.”

Taglist

@voidfanfiction

[lonelyandgone]

Disclaimer 1 - This is totally ooey gooey cheese.  If you don’t like cheesy fics, do yourself a favor and not read it.  Disclaimer 2 - I wrote it super fast so it may not only be ooey gooey cheese but full of errors.  Read at your own risk.  

Ironic – A Joe and Taylor Drabble

 She can remember their first discussion about this.  Fifteen years old.  Sitting against the pastel painted bed in her room.  Abi had been picking at the hole in the knee of her jeans, rambling on about how much she hated Algebra but that she couldn’t hate it too much because Ben Henson was sitting diagonal and two seats up from her.   She had been writing a song that could really be a poem or maybe a story, she wasn’t positively sure at that point in time.  And when Abi had realized her lack of attention, she had grabbed the notepad from her hand and flung it across the room.  

“Let’s plan our weddings,” Abi had said enthusiastically, her red hair bouncing in waves like it was trying to match, or at least keep up with, her energy.    

Her heart had leapt a bit at the idea because, well the idea of everlasting love made her starry-eyed and planning the wedding she knew she would eventually have made her whole body shiver with excitement.  But showing Abi that wasn’t something she really wanted to do, not after her best friend had warned her to stop living in a fairytale just the day before when she had been whimsically forecasting her future romance with Chad Michael Murray.

So instead of outwardly showing the immense amount of glee coursing through her body, she had looked at her increduously.  “I’m not getting married,” she had stated, choosing to err on the side of ridiculous rather than be honest, the 15 year old in her wildly shining through.  

“C’mon,” Abi had virtually yelled before providing her best belly laugh and throwing her head back dramatically against the bed, “Taylor I’m in love with love Swift isn’t getting married?  What planet do you think I’m from?”

It was then that she wished she hadn’t had her head in the clouds so much before when spewing about boys and crushes to her best friend.   Because as much as she was going to deny Abi’s words, she knew it wouldn’t work.  It didn’t stop her from trying though.  Not in the slightest.

She had raised her chin up high, now completely determined to make her friend see some form of fake truth in the utter nonsense she was saying.  “I’m not.  I’m going to be a successful and completely independent woman who doesn’t need some man hanging off of me.  What good are they for anyway?”

Abi’s laughter had only intensified tenfold then.  “Obviously good enough for you to write songs about and pine over every single day,” Abi had howled, placing her hand on her stomach as she continued to bellow.

“Well that’s the only thing they are good for,” she contended, locking in her jaw and focusing her eyes like lasers on Abi, “and don’t act like you don’t pine too.  You were pining for Ben Henson five minutes ago.”

“Whatever,” Abi had giggled as she swatted at her arm, then turning to push herself off of the floor in the direction of the notepad she had just flung away.  “Well if you’re gonna continue to lie . . . . we can just plan mine.”

She had tried to ignore her for the first ten minutes, closing her eyes and folding her arms across her chest in some weird act of teenage friend defiance.   She had refused comment when Abi asked if she preferred sleeveless or capped sleeves and when she asked if the best time for a wedding would be summer or fall.  It was when Abi had started talking about wedding music, and specifically her question of the traditional wedding march versus Pachelbel’s Canon, that she finally caved and joined in.

They had spent the next two hours talking about catering and decorations, dress length and first dances, wedding cakes and throwing of garters.  They imagined the looks on their future spouse’s faces as they walked down the aisle and how their dads would cry during the father daughter dance. They made promises to be each other’s maid or maiden of honor, regardless of far away from each other they lived then along with another promise that they would be each other’s first call once the big question got popped.  

No detail had been missed by the time they fell back against the bed, both with notepads in hand, both gloriously living out their future weddings in their imaginations.  

And now, twelve years later, one of those plans is coming to fruition.  

She can feel the pull in her cheeks as she runs her finger along the edge of her wine glass, a day full of smiles and jubilation to blame.  The thought alone causing her to smile even more.  

Her best friend, her ride or die, her person was now Matt’s wife.  She had taken those wishes and dreams of a daydreaming teenager and tweaked and edited them to turn them into the utter elegance and magnificence of this day.

It had been flawless and perfect and impeccable.  It had been beautiful, romantic and touching.  It had been everything that it should have been.  Everything that Abi deserved.  

It had been years and years in the making and she knows there is no way she could have ever written a better day for her nor would she ever even try.  This was Abi’s vision and she considers herself lucky to simply have been part of it.

She’s sipping the last bit of Chardonnay from her glass when Abi slides into the seat beside of her, laying her head on her shoulder the way she’s done thousands of times through the years. The way she’s certain she will do thousands more through their remaining years.  

“I’m married Tay,” her friend says, pulling her smile higher and her heart warmer, “I’m not even sure if I believe it yet.”

“You’ll believe it in a couple hours when Matt makes you call him husband over and over again in bed and then tells you to go and get him a beer afterward.”  They share a laugh as Abi raises her head.

She nods emphatically. “Probably.  But it’s still feels so strange.  Absolutely amazingly right but so strange.”

Taylor winks, giggling, “That’s because you and Matt are weird.  Obviously perfect for each other but weird.”

Abi tilts her head to the side, raising her eyes to let Taylor know she is right.  “We gotta stop talking like each other.  There are times I feel like we are the same person.”

“Matt would disagree with that,” she laughs, dipping her head to the new groom dancing on the floor.

With a wink, Abi adds, “Oh darling Joe Alwyn would disagree with that too.  Because he’s not going to give a second glance to me but you . . . . . he’s got plenty of glances for you.”

Rolling her eyes, she shakes her head, completely aware of the validity of her friend’s words but also completely aware that she won’t admit them.  “Whatever,” she says, prompting a loud howl from her friend.  

They watch the party going on around them for a few seconds, Abi making a remark about how Matt’s friend is dancing like Patrick Dempsey in Can’t Buy Me Love and Taylor waving the waiter over for glasses of wine.  

“Thank you for being here,” Abi says after her second sip, her eyes moving to Taylor, “for doing everything you’ve done for this wedding.  And for me.  That you’ve always done for me.  I don’t know what I’d do without you, Taylor.”

She can feel her cheeks pulling once again, her smile becoming even more permanent on her face. “Well you’ll never have to worry about that.  I’ve already told you that my weird heart loves your weird heart so you aren’t going to be able to get rid of me easily.  You’re my sister from another mister.”

“That’s so bad, Taylor,” Abi cackles, “I remember us having that airbrushed on a t-shirt when we were fifteen.”

Taylor nods her head, “Yes we did.  And it was bad.  We sure did some strange stuff at that age.”  

Abi’s eyes twinkle, a light triggering in her mind.  “Awww let’s not forget the wedding extravaganza,” she bellows and Taylor nods again.

“Oh I haven’t.  I was just thinking about it earlier.”

“Want to know something funny,” Abi snickers, “My mom found my list a couple months ago, complete with heart stickers and glitter ink, and she scanned and emailed it to me.  I laughed so much reading through it but the scary part is that I must have subconsciously remembered those plans while I was working on this wedding because there was a pretty good bit that matched up.”

Taylor laughs for a few seconds, watching the joy spread so evidently across her friends face.  “You want to know another secret,” she whispers, leaning into Abi, “I still have mine too.”

Abi’s mouth falls open, her eyes wide, “Well you best be digging that thing out because I’m fairly certain you’re gonna be needing it soon.”

She shakes her head softly, lowering her chin as a gentle laugh escapes her lips.  “I hope,” is all she says, glancing at her friend once more before she pulls her gaze away.

Abi’s head tilts against hers again and this time she slips her hand into Taylors, holding it.  “I know so, Tay.  Trust me.  I see it all over your face.  I see it all over his.  It’s time.”

She doesn’t say anymore, neither of them does.  They don’t have to.  This is the bond they share.  One unlike any bond she shares with anyone else.  And this is the first time Abi has ever said those words to her so she knows how much she means them.  

She also knows how absolutely true they are, at least where she is concerned.

Because settling down with Joe Alwyn is the plan she holds close to her heart, somewhat scared to whisper it aloud in fear that it won’t come true, but knowing in reality how much she trusts that it will.

Abi gets up when Matt arrives at the table a few minutes later, a wide smile on his face and his hand held out to her.  She squeezes Taylor’s hand before she goes, leaning down to whisper one parting statement before her groom slips her away.  “Remember that you promised to call me first.” Taylor laughs, her mind instantly going back to their pact at 15.  

She gives her speech a half hour later, toasts her best friend and the man she’s entrusted with taking care of her, and then slips out of the reception behind a veil in an attempt to keep the focus on the bride and not on herself.  

She thinks of Joe the entire trip back to Nashville, wondering what he’s doing, how his filming is going and if he misses her a fraction of as much as she misses him. She thinks about seeing him next, about how she feels when she’s with him, about how he makes her feel when she’s with him.

About how madly in love with him she is.  

Her apartment is dark and quiet when she arrives there and her heels make a loud thud when she kicks them across the room.  She’s laughing at the noise and pulling her earrings off when she sees him.  His long frame leaning against the wall, his lips spread in the most perfect smile she’s ever seen.  

“Joe,” she whispers, her surprise cascading down in her voice.    

He’s wearing a suit and tie, a bouquet of flowers in one hand, a small box in the other.  It doesn’t hit her at first but when it does she freezes.  “Are you going to propose to me,” she squeaks out after a few seconds, her voice sounding as rushed as the heartbeat in her chest.  

He smiles, his brilliant blues gleaming, and then pushes himself off of the wall, taking one step toward her before he tosses the flowers on a table and then opens the box, slipping its contents out and into his hand without her seeing it.  “Do you want me to propose to you,” he asks, his eyebrows raised, his gaze fully on her.

“Yes,” she says instantly, “I mean if you want to,” she adds with a nervous laugh.  

Taking a few more steps toward her, he falls to one knee on the floor.  “Well then let’s do this then, shall we?”  He reaches for her hand, pulling it to his heart when he looks up to her.  “What do you say Taylor, can I keep you forever?”

He pulls her hand back then, holding it in front of him as he carefully slides the ring from his finger to hers, the diamonds catching in the light and making them sparkle.  

“Oh my god,” she whispers slowly through glazed eyes, springing them quickly back to him.  

“Is that a yes,” he laughs, his eyebrows raised once more.  

“Yes,” she exclaims, her word echoing through the house, bouncing off of walls and ringing in her ears over and over again.  It’s the most beautiful word she’s ever said, she thinks.  

Her arms are around him within seconds, her body clinging to his as he lifts to his feet and slides his arms around her waist, molding her even closer to him.  “You’re here and you’re doing this,” she says into his lips.

“Yes.  I’m here and I’m doing this.  And you, my love, are definitely going to be my wife.”

He’s pulling at her dress now, his hand feeling like fire as he slowly unzips the back and tugs at the fabric there.  And when his lips find her neck, she struggles to find any ounce of clarity, any ounce of thought that isn’t drunk on the sensations he is eliciting.  

She’s naked, her legs wrapped around his torso as he carries her toward the bedroom when a coherent thought finally forces itself into her head, jabbing there repeatedly in an attempt to bring her back to her senses.  

“Wait,” she says as he bites at her earlobe.  He doesn’t stop and she’s just about lost in him when she says the word again.

This time, he sits her down carefully, his gaze grazing over her.  “Is something wrong,” he asks with concern.

“No,” she laughs, “no. Everything is perfect.”  She kisses him and he slides his hands around her waist to try to wrap her back in but she laughs again, pushing him back lightly. “One second baby.  There’s something I have to do and then after, I promise you get me all night . . . and then forever.”

He groans through his laugh when she pulls away and she turns around just long enough to blow him a kiss before bounding quickly out of the bedroom.  She grabs her phone and returns to the bedroom, allowing him to pull her naked body back to him on the bed, her legs straddled over him.  She clutches the phone to her ear when he goes to work with his mouth again.

Abi answers breathlessly on the eighth ring, no doubt enjoying her night as a newlywed.  Taylor laughs when she hears her.  

“As promised.  First call.”  Joe’s mouth finds her neck again as her words get spouted out.  

It’s all she says before she turns the phone off and tosses it on the floor.  Her attention now fully on the man she knew from day one that she would keep forever.

When she wakes up the next morning, she finds 17 new text messages from her best friend, ranging from I can’t believe you interrupted my wedding night sex with a smiley face to I totally knew it! to I’m so giddy with happiness and Matt thinks it’s because of him.

She glances back at Joe’s sleeping figure as she reads the last one.  She’s never in her life felt her heart this full, her life this complete, everything so amazingly perfect.  

Leaning in, she kisses his temple before she slips into a robe and out of the room.  

She looks for it then. In desk drawers and bookcases, finally finding it tucked inside a yearbook from her Freshman year of high school.

She smiles when she unfolds it and then raises her phone to snap a picture, sending it to Abi.  

Her eyes scan over the words written at the top of the torn and tattered paper in her hands. “Taylor’s dream wedding,” she whispers to herself, laughing.  And then she notices something written in the bottom right corner.  

It’s a heart just beside of the initials JA

She closes her eyes and shakes her head.  Jeremy Austin had been her crush when she wrote that list at 15.  She hadn’t even remembered that until this very moment.  Jeremy Austin.  

JA, she smiles.

A text arrives seconds later.  Thirteen hearts followed by Abi’s message.  OMG JA!

She rubs her thumb across the scribbles she made years before.  “JA,” she whispers to herself, “how perfect.”

How absolutely ironically perfect.  

Her Joe Alwyn.  Her real JA.  Yeah, she’ll keep him forever, she smiles.  

[renaroo]

Wednesday Roundup 15/6/2017

So this is a day late but in my defense I had a ridiculous amount of comics to get through with no one to blame but myself here. And you know what? I genuinely enjoyed almost everything. But does that mean every comic was good this week? And even so what did I think was the best? 

Honestly I don’t know how to write these intros for people who wouldn’t be here to read my opinion anyway so let’s just jump into it. 

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine, Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, DC’s Detective Comics, DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester, DC’s Justice League of America, Image’s Motor Crush, DC’s Superwoman, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DC’s Titans, IDW’s Transformers: Salvation, DC’s Wonder Woman

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine (2015-present) #21 Tom Taylor, Leonard Kirk, Cory Hamscher, Terry Pallot, Michael Garland

Okay I need this issue to reread a million times over because there are just so many things I love all at once. Like, oh my gosh. I was almost in tears multiple times because relationships! Healing! Supporting each other!

Wade and Gabby alone could just about make this issue perfect, but then you have Laura and Daken hugging and worried about each other, and Old Man Logan being likable for the first time in any of my readings of him. There’s so much I enjoy, though I find the cover rather deceiving. This is much more of a Howlett family reunion than anything else, though I did enjoy Riri’s parts in it.

I just eriously adore these characters and it meant a lot to see them all come together like they have here and that cliffhanger HURT so much more for it. 

I will nitpick the art a bit because we’ve been doing so good about keeping Laura in the Wolverine costume which is much preferred to her X-23 wardrobes, for sure, but this issue it pretty much looked exactly like one of her old costumes without the midriffs and it was kinda weird. I know she took off a lot of her armor for skin contact but it’s... idk. It was weird. 

The main thing I’m happy about though is that as we go on, I realize that literally all of the Marvel books I’ve kept are going out of their way to not involve themselves in Secret Wars and it’s kind of beautiful. Laura and Gabby are stuck on an island that’s quarantined (and I can pretend Wade’s there with them instead of whatever’s going on since I dropped Deadpool for the summer crossovers, thanks Tom Taylor!), Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are literally off world, and the rest are non-616. So yay me!

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (2016-present) #8 Gerry Conway, Ryan Stegman, Jesus Aburtov

For those who don’t know, Mary Jane Watson is genuinely one of my favorite Marvel characters and is easily one of the reasons I ever stuck with the Spider-Man comics for as long as I did was because of my interest in her and wanting to see her and Peter.

I can also thank her for my genuine attraction to redheads probably.

But one of the main reasons that I’ve loved this book so much is because, as written by Gerry Conway, this is the Peter and MJ of my dreams. I love them so much, and the complications that comes from their relationship and from growing older, raising a daughter, and MJ’s desire to continuously be the glue to keep both Peter and Annie together logically causes her to seek out a way to continue being Spinerette without syphoning off Peter’s powers. 

It’s almost like growing old, having a stable relationship, trying to keep things fresh while raising a kid, are all dramatic and worthy of good storytelling in their own right or something HMM.

Anyway, yes it’s completely on the nose where this is going and it’s a little curious how MJ’s not immediately aware of the connection between what’s going on with her right now and the horrible, arguably traumatizing experience she and Peter had, but who knows what’s canon anymore lol

Basically, I sideye a bit from a story point of view, but this series continues to make up for it with the real thing that matters to me: these characters and their development.

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #958 James Tynion IV, Aluaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson 

Honestly I really love the slower issues where Tynion takes more time to make moments for the relationships between the characters and give us interractions we didn’t know we wanted -- Kate going with Luke and Jean Paul to a basketball game, Cass and Clayface being adorable by reciting a play, Bruce at a poker game with a bunch of assholes in homage to Almost Got ‘im!? It was a lot of fun honestly. 

...

Okay I take issue with Cass’ dialogue. I know she was repeating lines from a tape and such but it’s weird to see her make so much progress when just two issues ago she was almost monosyllabic. Like... I want to see Cass gradually learning, I want to feel her frustration with hitting walls, I want to see her struggle and achieve despite the struggle because that gradual progression was honestly something we weren’t delivered in the former canon. We have a great opportunity for it here. 

But y’know. I’m particular with Cass and it’s hard to say where her baseline for reading and speech even is in this canon because her dyslexia may be in tact but her circumstances growing up are completely different. So I don’t know. 

Now. I’m a sucker for Bruce and Zatanna team-ups because I’m a schmuck but I’m really excited for next issue. Had a lot of fun with this one. This feels like a decent pace for Tynion -- at least in my opinion. 

DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016-2017) #10 Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl, Adam Archer, Massyk, Sandra Hope

This comic is speeding toward an end and I’m not sure if I’m ready! 

From the beginning, for me at least, the selling point for Gotham Academy has been just how much these kids felt like real teenagers and real friends with all their various relationships and connections, platonic or romantic or something in between. And it’s powerful to see that coming to play as an advantage to completing Olive’s arc, but also as a disadvantage since the consequences of many of her actions hurt that much more.

I’ll save a lot of my thoughts for a complete wrap up of the series but overall, very happy and very grateful for the continuously good read that is GA

DC’s Justice League of America (2016-present) Volume 1: Road to Rebirth Steve Orlando, Jody Houser, Ivan Reis, Andy MacDonald, Stephen Byrne, Jamal Campbell, Mirk Andolfo

WE GOTTA GET THE BAND BACK TOGETHER. WE’RE ON A MISSION FROM GAD. 

In all seriousness, I’m a huge fan of Vixen and Ryan Choi as well as a big fan of Justice League International, as it was in its 80s glory. So my interests with this particular lineup were piqued from the beginning and I made myself wait for the first volume to dive in. 

For the most part, this is a team gathering exercise. Characters that have lacked the spotlight in the last few years -- Vixen, Ray, Killer Frost, and the Atom -- were given whole issues to reintroduce them to this continuity. And honestly those issues were great. I really, really love the updated origins for them and feel that they’re a good blend of honoring the past of the characters as well as adapting them for a new world. 

Lobo, Batman, and Black Canary took back seat, but considering that there were already tensions showing within the group, I think it’s safe to assume that giving the spotlight to the rest of the team won’t always last this long. Things are nothing if not explosive among these members.

I really did mean it when I said this is a team gathering exercise, because there’s no first case to unite everyone. There’s not any real antagonists or team-ups we see to speakof. It was just getting hte jLA together. 

And for me it’s enough to get me intrigued, though I’d completely understand if people told me it was far from enough for them. 

Now they just need to add Big Barda, Booster Gold, and Ted Kord and I’ll be satisfied. 

Image’s Motor Crush (2016-present) Vol. 1 Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr

I was not the biggest fan of this team’s Batgirl team though I appreciated the aesthetics and what not. There just never seemed to be a storyline that really interested me and I couldn’t be sold on the characterization for Barbara. So I kept hearing about Motor Crush for the last year and was really itnerested in it so I wanted until this volume came out and. 

Well, quite simply, I’m in love.

Tell you what, those biker gangs that kept coming up really confusingly out of place in Batgirl make a hell of a lot more sense now that I can see this team’s actual passion project. 

So I love Motor Crush a lot, I’m really invested in Domino, the mystery that is her origins and the powers of Crush itself. I love her relationship with her ex, Lola, I love her father -- I love just about everything and the cliffhanger really surprised me. 

I will say that while I love having a world that speaks for itself rather than constant narration, it’s a little hard to follow this world entirely, I’d like a bit more explained than what has been, but at the end of the day I’m very excited to see more. 

DC’s Superwoman (2016-present) #11 K. Perkins, José Luís, Ray McCarthy, HI-FI

You know, I have made it clear that I’ve been worried about this title for a while now, really just hoping it was going to find its direction and wow us with the great potential that is the Super Family outside of the main Kent triad. And I feel like that’s for good reason -- the end of Jimenez’s run let a lot of people feeling justifiably scorned, there was a mishandling of a lot of heavy and important subjects that were raised, and at least the initial stuff with Perkins taking over kind of left one wondering if they had a fully formed direction to go toward next. 

But I am really glad that I stuck it out for this long because the family of John, Lana, Nat, and everyone else is so important and so fundamentally different from the dynamics found elsewhere in the new familial renaissance of the DCU that I needed it. And I hope it continues to emphasize these relationships and how important they are to each other.

I’m still unhappy with how anxiety and mental illness is being handled in the title and find it lacking since it was brought up to begin with and now being ignored. That subject alone is making me rethink my disinterest in Green Lantern books as a whole because I have loved and felt inspired so far by what I’ve seen of Jessica Cruz and their handling of anxiety, and it’s why I picked up Silk at the high recommendations of a close friend. 

So I’d like for mental illness to be treated better in this title -- the least it can do after bringing it up and treating it the way it did at the end of Jimenez’s run, but there’s so much value in the non-nuclear family dynamic of the Irons household and of the uniqueness of Lana’s powers and her approach to fighting crime that it’s worth it. For me anyway.

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011-present) #70 Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Mateus Santolouco, Ronda Pattison

I knew the end of this storyline was going to be, at the very least, explosive but wow, WOW I had no idea how many twists and turns it was going to take in that time. That was a phenomenal ending to the Mutanimals storyline for the time being, and I just feel so bad for Slash, down to my core. I’m so worried about him, and whenever he will be allowed to recover.

At least I hope he’ll recover.

This series is seventy issues strong and i’m just so blown away by the way they still manage to keep me on the edge of my feet while so many different storylines and character developments are happening at the same time.

I mean, I even feel for Old Hobb here!

I do suppose a complaint I could hold here is that the titular turtles themselves have ultimately not been very front and center throughout this storyline, and that really showed in the conclusion, where for the most part they were lost to the colorfulness of the huge, colorful supporting cast that has been developed over the years. 

For me, personally, I think that’s honestly okay. We can’t have the same story over and over again with only the main four characters driving the narrative, and it’s been a long standing tradition in TMNT for a good 30 years now to sort of embody the concept that our main guys don’t really look for situations to get involved with but sort of fall into them naturally. 

Not to mention it’s probably a strength that 70 issues in, we haven’t once repeated plots or stories or put any of the characters on a loop of development to end up right back where they started. I don’t think the achievement of that can be understated, especially as we near that landmark #75!

DC’s Titans (2016-present) #12 Dan Abnett, Kenneth Rocafort, Dan Brown

Bleh. BLEH. I was holding out judgment on the twist of Wally and Donna and Roy ending up in some kind of love triangle because I wanted the context but honestly the context is kinda... bleh. It would be awesome if we lived in some world and time where Donna’s origins were not constantly retconned and thus the source of her characterization in every run of every thing she showed up in. Which is by no means a new problem but still.

And my opinion is... Wally and Donna are both going through a hard time and Wally is having to accept that his life is fundamentally different from the previous world he knew, that he can’t just badger people into returning things to the way they were -- especially Linda, who he loves but it’s a very one-sided relationship as a result of the parallel universe paradox and stuff. It makes sense to me that in a ploy to gain some sense of control over that, he and Donna both would try to take fate in an unexpected direction, into their own hands. 

But making it a love triangle with Roy just kinda keeps my eyes firmly rolled into the back of my skull. 

I overall like Lilith, Dick, Garth, and Karen’s development and characterization in this issue. I think they’re taking Lilith in interesting directions and I’m really curious about what her omen means for the future, since apparently there’s a traitor among them. And they set up plenty of reasons for various members to be that traitor in this issue but I can’t help but assume already that it’s going to end up being a twist. Good twist or not remains to be seen. 

IDW’s Transformers: Salvation (2017) John Barber, Livid Ramondelli

I’m going to be completely “original” here and say that I’m not a fan of Ramondelli’s at for the various Transformers comics. i know! I know. Shocking, never said before, completely going against the general fandom consensus. I’m such a brave soul. I know. 

Okay, joking aside though... I didn’t think the art was bad in this one-shot. Actually! I’d argue a lot of it was even good. He may not be my favorite artist and I’ll think that his colo gradients are butt ugly most of the time, but there was better handled action sequences than usual, the characters looked like they had weight, and we even got a range of expressiveness in the characters that is... well, frankly, not usual for Ramondelli. 

So other than that shocking revelation, I thought Barber performed good once more on tying the TF universe together again, answering some prior plot points and nicely knotting off loose ends. Trypticon being a Titan is not the biggest revelation in the world, but the development of Sandstorm and the Dinobots was great, and I loved just how devious Starscream truly is under Barber’s pen even though I’ve fully been enjoying the characterization for him in Till All Are One. 

But the most important thing of all: SPARKLINGS. SPARKLINGS. All I’ve wanted for years is baby transformers so I am HAPPY BEYOND BELIEF. THEY’RE NO LONGER A DYING SPECIES AND THESE PRECIOUS BABIES COULD BE BORN WITHOUT EVER KNOWING THE CIVIL WAR AHHHHHHHH

DC’s Wonder Woman (2016-present) #24 Greg Rucka, Bilquis Evely, Romulo Fajardo Jr. 

WOW! I mean, just wow! What a resolution to everything. I have so many emotions for Diana, for Barbara Ann, for even Veronica Cale of all people. Etta and Steve were great, the art was amazing.

It’s just such a relief and such... honestly just an amazing feat that Greg Rucka is beginning to wrap up this just phenomenal run of Wonder Woman 

I really enjoyed how everything turned out and it was so remarkable to see Diana’s resolution to save Veronica but also to not turn her back on her friends and loved ones as well as the torment it is for Barbara to not be able to get into Themyscira after all her life’s work.

And I liked Diana’s assessment of Veronica at the end, it was true and also blunt to the point of cruelty. But fitting also. 

It’s amazing what a turn around I’ve personally felt when it comes to Veronica’s character because in all honesty I was not a fan of her most of the time in the preboot, but Rucka really has fleshed her out and done something unique with her perspective now. There is tragedy but there’s also less deniability for her fault in all of it. 

I’m sad to be coming toward Rucka’s end on the run, but I’m also so happy to see the love and passion he’s put into everything culminating to what it is now.

This is a genuinely hard choice but I think if I go by what tugged on my heartstrings the most, what gave me the most joy overall and just feelings unrelenting from start to finish, I would have to say that my pick of the week is All-New Wolverine. I adore this series and I couldn’t be happier with this issue and how they’re keeping my precious Marvel girls faaaaaar away from Secret Empire. A close second would be Wonder Woman but really I would happily recommend my entire pull this week. It was a geat week for comics.

But that’s just my opinion! I’d love to know your thoughts. Agree? Disagree? Think I missed something I should’ve picked up this week? I’d love to hear from you!

[bitbd]

I love this scene so much, one of these days I might go on a long rant about how well Wildbow deconstructed the classic genre trope of "heroism through terrorism" through Taylor, particularly through her Weaver era.

Realest reaction to being trapped in a room with Taylor’s swarm clone tbh

Mockshow/Romp had like 2 scenes total throughout Worm but she was great at being a little shit in both

Highlights from the scene I referenced for this doodle: