#grappling hook is not canon. for NOW

[froggibus]

Me again! Surprise, not Kurt!

May I request headcanons for rivals to lovers with Jason Todd?

— Rivals - Jason Todd

Pairing: Jason Todd/Red Hood x gn! vigilante! reader

Genre: headcanons, fluff?

Summary: there's a new vigilante on the street, and they've made themself busy being the bane of Red Hood's existence

CW: vigilante reader, robbery/theft, canon typical violence, intimidation, fear gas, v brief mention of sex trafficking, Batfamily jumpscares, typical stuff for Gotham

hello my beautiful amazing incredible fwren :) thank you for requesting this, it was sm fun to write! i hope you enjoy & have a really good day <3

you are a colossal pain in Jason’s ass, and you have been since the first night you met

a random—presumably civilian—running around in the dead of night, taking his targets? yeah, Jason is pissed

he’d laughed when he saw you that night, ‘no way the Bat is gonna let some rando run around’, and simply bided his time until you were off the streets

except that time never comes, and are you actually…cleaning up the streets?

he wonders if maybe Bruce simply doesn’t know about you, paying his adoptive father a begrudging visit and casually slipping it into conversation

imagine his fucking surprise when he shrugs it off and claims you’ve been holding your own just fine

Jason is livid, and if Batman won’t get you off the streets, Red Hood will

your first confrontation is terrifying

you’d never technically set out to be a vigilante, it was something that had just happened

originally, you were just on the hunt for a group of particularly nasty robbers who had broken into your home and ransacked the place

but that group had just led to another which led to another—and lo and behold, here you are every night

you’re not an idiot—you know the Bats run Gotham’s vigilante underworld, but if you can help them out by taking out a few low-level lackeys (and get your stuff back in the process), why not?

it’s simply bad luck and being at the wrong place at the wrong time that puts you on Hood’s radar and has your list of targets combining with his

you’re simply finishing tying up some goon dressed like the Riddler (presumably one of his lackeys, but you can never be too sure) to a lamppost when there’s a soft thud behind you

you feel his presence before he even casts a shadow, spinning around with a knife in your hand to face your attacker

Please be Nightwing, please be Batgirl—fuck, you’ll even take Red Robin

tonight is not your lucky night, you realize when you come face to face with Red Hood

“What are you doing?” his voice from under the helmet is honestly terrifying

despite all of your effort, all of your training, and the many, many large men you’ve put behind bars recently, you find yourself shrinking back

“Well?!”

you swallow and suddenly the idea of retiring forever doesn’t seem so bad—but you’ve come so far, and you can’t let him of all people drive you away

“Your job,” you snap. “Better than you, I might add.”

your heart is utterly pounding in your chest. there’s no way you just spoke to Red Hood of all people like that

he laughs, but there’s no humour behind it

he clicks the safety on the glock in his hand and tucks it into his holster, stepping towards you until he’s close enough that you can smell the blood and sweat on his skin

“I want you to listen really carefully.” 

you raise your eyebrows from behind your mask

“You’re going to go home, and you’re going to stay the fuck out of my way. Clear?”

“Crystal,” is all you manage to say before he’s running off into the night

since that day, you’ve made it your personal mission to be as much of a pain in his ass is possible

you show up every time he finds a new target, you fuck with his grappling hooks and wires (leading to at least one bad fall that had Dick in tears), you even insert yourself into his family’s life

Jason was an idiot if he thought threats and brute force would work on you, and now he’s paying the price

He almost pleads with Dick to get rid of you after a particularly rough night, only for the blue clad vigilante to shrug it off

your next interaction with him goes about as well as the first

he’s leaving a seemingly abandoned warehouse after beating you to a target, feeling particularly pleased with himself, when he feels his wire goes slack

not this shit again

he manages to catch and brace himself on a nearby rooftop, eyes darting around to find you sitting on the building he was grappling to, laughing your ass off

“There are plenty of crooks in Gotham, stay the hell away from mine.” 

“What, did you call dibs or something?”

“Dibs?” You can hear him scoff all the way from here, “are you a child?”

you’re not sure if it’s his tone or his words, but something about that sets you off and before you can think, you’re making your way down to him

“Do I look like a child?”

Jason’s glad for his helmet so you can’t see where he’s looking—because with a body like yours, you certainly do not look like a child

but any lust he feels towards you is drowned out by sheer anger and frustration

“That’s what I thought,” you smirk, and then you’re tumbling off the building and disappearing into the night

Jason resists the urge to punch a wall. Random vigilante 1, Jason 0.

when Jason doesn’t see you for a few weeks, he can’t help but feel like he’s won

but then paranoia sets in and he thinks this must be another ploy, that you’re hiding in the shadows and waiting for him 

that’s what leads him to track you down, watching you fight off some low rate car jacker

he watches you fight, tracks each movement of your body, and he’s kinda impressed at—is that a bruise? 

he’s dropping from his vantage point the moment he sees the mark peaking out from your domino mask 

the car thief sees him and runs off into the night, leaving the two of you alone 

“I had that,” you say and wipe blood away from your mouth 

Jason cringes at the sight of your bruise up close

he’s never seen you injured before—he’s never even seen you take a hit from someone, you’ve always been too fast

he’s taken some bad hits both in his time as Robin and as Hood, but something about your injury has turmoil brewing inside of him 

“You got hit.”

You look up at him through tired eyes. “I’m sure you must be happy about that.”

“Who was it?”

you take a deep breath and consider not telling him, but you’re sure the Bat or someone else will eventually 

“Scarecrow. Wrong place at the wrong time.”

any trace of amusement Jason felt is wiped away. is that why you’ve been gone for so long? you were dealing with the volatile effects of Fear Gas? 

he almost feels bad for the relief he felt in your absence.

“I should go. Making up for lost time and all that.”

you’re entirely surprised when Red Hood grabs your wrist. you’re not sure what to expect—anger, advice? 

“You’re not cut out for this life.”

you break free of his grip without a second word, running away like that didn’t just break something inside of you

you actively avoid Red Hood after that—any hope you’d had that your tricks would humble him is gone

of course, it’s impossible to stay hidden from him forever and your paths cross again when you’re stopping known sex traffickers at the docks

somehow you managed to beat him here, which is bad news for you given there’s upwards of a dozen men here 

you would never admit it but you’re grateful when you hear the sounds of his guns. It's almost…comforting? 

you try to slip away at the end of the fight but he stops you in your tracks, his big arms crossed over his chest

“You’re avoiding me.”

“And what about it?”

He looks almost surprised at your retort. “Why?”

you laugh if only in exhaustion with his antics. “Are you kidding me? You’re an asshole.”

Jason’s grateful for his mask so you don’t see how stunned he is. yeah, he’s an asshole—but that never stopped you before, so why now?

“I—”

you bounce on your heels in anticipation about what he’s going to say next. I hate you? I think you’re an asshole too?

“I’m sorry.”

you choke on stunned silence. he’s sorry? of all things Red Hood has been called—vicious, murderer, antihero—he’s never been sorry

“I should go,” he taps awkwardly at his ear, “The Bat’s calling.”

he leaves you responsible for calling the cops and rounding up the group of traffickers strewn around the dock

ever since that night, Red Hood lives rent free in your mind. every minute of every day (yes, even at work), his stupid shiny mask and smug attitude haunts your memories

it’s the sincerity in his apology that confuses you the most. you hate him, god you hate him so much that you don’t even hate him at all

the two of you fall into a begrudging agreement after that night 

you don’t bother him, he doesn’t bother you and if (heaven forbid) you’re tracking the same target, you put your problems aside and take them down together

the night when you realize he has feelings for you is rainy and cold, a summer storm moving in above gotham and plaguing the skies 

every night this past week has been spent with Red Hood, trying to track down some mysterious rogue that was allegedly recruiting kids off the street for his cause

it’s that mission that brings you both face to face with Scarecrow

you’re brought back to the night of your fight—to the dose you had taken and the horrors you’d seen 

and the complete fucking beating you took

it’s those memories that have you jumping out of the way when he releases a dose of his gas, desperately jumping to safety behind a car

Hood does the same, albeit slower than you, and ducks his head in next to you

he coughs through the mask and that’s when you realize he didn’t fully clear the gas—and now it’s trapped inside with him

“Take off your helmet.” You command

“What?”

“Just—trust me. I’ll get him but you need to breathe.”

the shock you feel when he peels off his helmet is nothing compared to the warmth you feel knowing he trusts you

you dip away to go fight Scarecrow before you get to see his face, ready to give your greatest foe the ass-kicking of his life

it’s not so much of an ass kicking as it is fending him off until his face turns white with fear and Batman himself emerges from behind you

he’s got it from here, you think, and rush back to Hood’s side only to see Nightwing tending to him

seeing Hood’s face for the first time is like having water dumped over you

he’s ruggedly handsome with blue eyes and dark hair streaked with grey

“Is he gonna be okay?”

Nightwing perks up at the sound of your voice. “He’s fine,” he nudges the vigilante in his arms, “hey, Hood, your friend’s here.”

he says it teasingly, like the way a brother would to their younger sibling

Hood offers you a weak wave, his head resting on Nightwing’s shoulder

“I missed you,” he slurs

“I…I missed you too.”

his cheeks turn pink and you genuinely cannot believe your eyes—Red Hood is blushing

“Do you guys need help? I can take him home, or—or something.”

“We’ve got it from here.” You flinch at the sound of Batman’s voice. God, when did he get behind you?

fucking terrifying.

you’re hesitant but let them leave with your partner, staying put until they load him into the Batmobile and speed away down Gotham’s roads

it’s a few days before you see him again, each passing hour painful and lined with worry

you’re taking a break on Wayne Enterprises, your feet dangling off the side of the tower while you eat a cheeseburger

“Hey”

you no longer cringe at the sound of his voice, instead raising a hand to beckon him closer

he sits down with you on the edge, close enough that his thigh touches yours

“Glad to see that you’re okay.”

“Thanks to you,” he says, and you can tell he doesn’t thank people often. 

“Thank Nightwing.”

He snorts and you’re tempted to ask what’s so funny until he says

“They told me you made a good call with the helmet. Said the dose would’ve been ten times worse if I’d kept it on.”

“I just didn’t want you hurt,” you admit.

you’re ready for him to tease or to shrug off your feelings, but he does something that surprises you even more

he reaches a hand out to brush at the fresh bruise on your cheek

“I don’t like seeing you hurt,” he says and his voice is so quiet that it sends shockwaves through you.

“Hood—”

he cuts you off by rubbing his gloved thumb over your lip

you watch as he pulls off his helmet, resting it on the ledge next to him

“Jason,” he says. “Call me Jason.”

if you thought he looked handsome when he was high on Fear Gas, he looks practically ethereal now

“Y/n.” 

your voice is quiet as you hold out a hand for him to shake. his grip is firm and his hand lingers too long and god, did it get hotter outside?

and then Hood—Jason is leaning in and pressing his lips against yours, a gloved hand grabbing at the nape of your neck to pull your closer

he pulls away with a smirk that has your heart rate spiking, “so,” he looks out on the city, “should we get to it?”

thanks so much for reading! i hope you have a great day <3

masterlist | dc masterlist

[tinfoil-jones]

How did the mayor elections go in the Jerk Ford universe? Cause Stanley would have no reason to run for mayor, and even if he did, the twins wouldn't have to help him

Some of the Stanchurian Candidate was handled Here.

The reason Stanley was running for Mayor was at the behest of the younger Mystery Twins, because Mabel and Dipper knew that Gideon was gunning for the position via his dad, and there was no way they'd let the town be under Gideon's control.

Gideon has even more disdain against the whole Pines family due to Stan confiscating his amulet, Dipper beating him up, and what Jerk Ford did to his family.

Stan may still be well-liked by the community, but some of the townsfolk have recently soured their opinion of him because even if they don't know how he did it, he must be the reason Jerk Ford is back because no one else would ever even think about trying to bring him back.

@aroace-get-out-of-my-face suggested way back in the OG post that part of Stan's canpaign would be "I will make sure my brother goes into town less."

While Stan does agree to run for mayor, he refuses to make that a part of his campaign.  So the kids have to be creative.

In one of the Journals, Jerk Ford had written about an invention called "The Free Will Tie", and how it "protected the wearer against brainwashing, possession, suggestions, and political cartoons". Dipper had gotten better at deciphering Ford's trolling and deduced that it must do the opposite and mind control the wearer instead.

They ask Jerk Ford for the tie and he vehemently refuses, saying something along the lines of his tech didn't need grubby little fingers messing with it. So they wait for him to fall asleep in the living room (Jerk Ford didn't sleep in the basment or his old bedroom, because "he didn't like sleeping anywhere that didn't have multiple exits") and once he's asleep they sneak into his lab and steal the mind control tie.

Things go pretty similarly to how it does in canon, with Gideon controlling his father via possession spell, the only difference is he's doing this from a safe distance away in the woods and not from jail, since he didn't go to jail in this.

Things go awry as they did in canon when the dynamite is set off on the monunent with the twins on it- Stan initially tries to save them like he did in canon, except this time he's unable to because Soos pushes him to the ground and beats him with a shovel because the sparks had set him on fire.

So the twins do fall from the manuments nose, with the ropes untying them from the chairs some point before the fall. Without her grappling hook, Mabel can only cling onto Dipper as they descend to their untimely deaths.

There's bone cracking sounds - but not from her or Dipper. Someone caught them before they could hit the ground and to their shock it was Grunkle Stan's brother.

He looks at them both quickly - checking to see if they're okay?? - before carefully setting them both down. One of his arms is at a weird angle it isn't supposed to be at, and there's a little bit of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth so he must have an internal injury, but neither of those things are what's disturbing about Jerk Ford right now.

He's completely silent. He says nothing - he's always got a rude remark or witty remark that is also rude ready. But not now. Now he's just stalking towards the stage, and every person he passes also suddenly goes quiet.

Dipper is also at a loss for words, clinging back to Mabel as she still is to him, he had seen Jerk Ford sprint out of the treeline. He'd heard from his stories that he was more of a runner, but he didn't know a man his age could run that fast. Wendy runs out of the crowd to go check on the twins.

At this point Soos had managed to take out the fire on Stan, and was helping him back up, Jerk Ford doesn't stop his stride but he does at least glance over at his brother and nephew, confirming by sight that they're both okay.

Stan's trying to say something to his brother but he's coughing too much to form words and Soos is desperately trying to keep him from making any sudden moves, he seems to be trying to break away for some reason.

Everyone's silent in the crowd as Jerk Ford stops right in front of Bud's podium.

Then in a flash he leaps right over it at Gleeful and starts beating the dog sh*t out of him. Bud doesn't stand a chance.

Take in mind, this is Bud's size in comparison to Stan in canon:

Also take in mind, Jerk Ford is scrawny compared to his canon self. And in fact, according to the AUs artist @tearosepedall, Jerk Ford is also slightly shorter than his canon counterpart.

So everyone just watches in horror as an old man with a broken arm and multiple broken ribs savagely beats a younger guy three times his size like he owes him money, and is showing no signs of slowing down, stopping, or mercy.

Wendy is compelled to cover the twins' eyes because not only is the beating that bad, but none of them knew Jerk Ford could be scary, isn't he supposed to be just some nuisance? Nuisances are supposed to be harmless! And he said he prefers elusion over fighting.

Dipper gets a cold, sinking revelation that Jerk Ford could have easily snapped him in half any of the times Dipper has hit or tried to hit him with a blunt object.

Bud gets into pretty bad shape at the assault, which doesn't stop until Gideon also runs out of the treeline crying and begging Jerk Ford to please don't kill his dad it wasn't his fault he'll leave his family alone just please stop.

Gideons bellowing causes a chain reaction of Jerk Ford halting his beat down, Stan finally breaking free from Soos' hold and running over to pull his brother off of Gleeful, and Wendy with the twins in tow also running towards the stage.

Whatever Stan did or said to Jerk Ford must have flipped a switch because as Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel are on the stage with the rest of the mystery crew, Jerk Ford is back to his normal self, because he makes a grumpy remark about how the kids "fell on him because he just happened to be standing there".

Now everyone votes for Stan because they're too scared of what Jerk Ford will do them if they don't, and Stan wins the election (also Bud Gleeful gets picked up by an ambulance), however Stan ends up turning down the position of mayor to Tyler Cutebiker, the last remaining candidate, citing that he's realized he needs to focus more on his family.

They go home and Jerk Ford takes some kind of weird medicine out of his bag and injects himself with it - he explains to Stanley that it's something that can heal bone breaks in the span of a few minutes (Broken Bone Serum), but the kids didn't hear this because as soon as he's healed, Mabel runs in with stickers, gauze, glitter glue, and ace wrap demanding to cast Jerk Ford's arm.

Jerk Ford lets her do so but he complains the whole time, which doesn't dampen her spirits in the slightest.

What does dampen her spirits however is that when Stan caught on fire it burnt off a bunch of his hair so now he has short hair and a more disturbing resemblance to his 'bad' twin (something that irks Dipper). Mabel is so sad because she can't braid Stan's hair anymore! Who else is she going to braid train with in this house? (It might not be spotted initially but in the artists design for Stan he has long hair that he pulls into a ponytail or a braid)

[mythmerth]

from my February and March readings, I’ve collected a few more merlin fic recs for the people…

ive been primarily rereading in March so I’d have to change up the style anyways xoxo here’s both!

For favorite long (80k+) fic I’m absolutely choosing The Scroll and the Sword by Elizabeth. The modern-with-magic and haters-to-maybe-you’re-not-bad-shit-I’m-in-love adventure of it all, I was thoroughly enjoying this one from start to finish. The plot hooks you, the romance gets you kicking and screaming, what else is needed ykwim. It also captures the brilliant merthur idiocy, really a gem!

For favorite mid length (30k-80k) fic I’m going with A Language With No Words by neptunesyellowsands! It’s a really great canon era post finale Arthur survives fic. The gradual acceptance of magic and grappling arthur does is just *chefs kiss*. It also has a sequel which was really great as well- just a really enjoyable series!

For favorite short fic (<30k) I’ll choose And He’s Still Left With His Hands by witchmd13! It was so beautifully written and I love the detail of focusing on hands in various scenarios throughout the story. It’s canon era, very soft and such a pleasant read plspsls check it out

since I’ve been rereading so much, I’m gonna do a shorter list of rapid fire novel reads and then another one of favorite rereads~

novel-

At the end of the world by b92morgan was a unique take on omegaverse soulmatism with a lot of lore and plot to back it up. not really canon era, not really modern, somewhere in the middle!

If you like your ouchie fucked up fics, Shackled by Obsessionist may fit the bill. It’s canon era and painful and pay attention to the tags cause it definitely keeps getting worse before it gets better, but still a good read!

rereads-

Following the beast by Footloose is following the fucked up trend in a different way. you just don’t get this kind of fucked up BAMF merthur often, morality is a bit lost here. Modern era with lots going on, and watch the tags cause even though Arthur’s the actual antichrist and earns the title in every respect he still has quite the age gap with merlin

My way home is through you by evaelisaa and Leandra is another great modern-turned-canon era fic. I love the transformation merlin especially goes through as he realizes where he belongs. the first kiss scene gets me screaming every time

The Dragon Rises by Footloose is an all-time favorite. It scratches the canon era itch but technically isn’t. Unique plot, incredible lore, the merthur in it is pure excellence, I’d recommend it to damn near anyone

Though Love Like Light Can Flee by horsecrazy is a wonderful modern era read. like these idiots, absolutely incredible the way they dance around each other Ten Million stars out of five

that’s it for now! sorry for the format switch but I hope it still works <3 god I’ve been busy and offline and this has been in my drafts but tehe I’m still hereeee!

psa I’ve been getting the itch to write again and it’s been distracting me like crazy… if I posted snippets of original work would that be welcome? 👀 let me know! I love to do more writing too but it slows down my reading… hmmm…

see you later for next months lists!!!

<< prev month next month >>

[nightingale-ghost-writer]

Your Wildest Dreams [Soap x Fem!Reader]

Summary: In a mission gone wrong, you and Soap have to hole up in a safehouse, trying to stay warm during the cold Russian winter

Author’s Note: Not me thirsting after Soap for 5.1K words instead of finishing the companion piece I started for Maybe… also, my first ever shot at writing reader-insert! Anyway, here’s a really plot-lacking, self-serving piece for anyone interested

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or events from Modern Warfare

Warnings: Language, canon-typical violence, extremely suggestive, borderline smutty? No actual explicit smut, but let’s call it NSFW to be safe

Shrike /SHrīk/ noun

a songbird with a strong sharply hooked bill, often impaling its prey of small birds, lizards, and insects on thorns

a 10-foot (3-meter), 400-pound (180-kilogram) U.S. air-to-ground missile designed to destroy missile batteries by homing in on their radar emissions

Icy water enveloped you. Pinpricks instantly broke out under your skin, dancing through your blood and your bones. For a blessed moment, your mind went blank. Then, survival instinct kicked in. You kicked your already numbing legs as hard as you could, launching yourself back toward the night sky. Just as you thought your lungs might burst, you broke the surface, gulping in the crisp mountain air. It burned the back of your throat as you bobbed in the current, trying to get your bearings.

What should have been an hour-long intel collection mission had gone to shit in less than a minute. 

You and Soap had been dispatched to a safehouse of Makarov’s in the Russian countryside to gather intel. You were anxious- excited to be out with Soap, nervous about the actual infiltration. Soap’s signature flirting melted that anxiety quickly. It was one of the reasons you enjoyed missions with him so much… and one of the reasons you got so flustered around him.

Tensions with Russia were high, so rather than sending a full team, the pair of you had been dropped off by helo three clicks from the site. You’d go in, get the intel, get to the safehouse, and wait for evac. Barring any immediate danger, you’d be holed up there overnight, hiking out early the next morning to be picked up. Price was unhappy about sending you in without comms or backup, but Laswell was concerned with radio traffic and her sources had told her it would be empty.

Laswell’s sources had been wrong.

You’d taken a long, cold hike up the frozen mountainside to a deteriorating stone building that might at one time have been a castle, but was now little more than half-crumbled walls and hastily built wooden shacks. There had been no indicators that anything was amiss- no footprints in the snow, no pings on Soap’s heartbeat sensor, no noise. Laswell’s intel had seemed good.

Then you’d opened the door to one of the shacks and been met with a full squad of soldiers. They clearly hadn’t been expecting you, and you had the distinct advantage. Before they could react, you’d grabbed the nearest soldier, using him as a human shield while you put him in a headlock. Soap had sprung past you, shooting two others before ducking behind a desk. An overeager and overconfident soldier had fired several shots at you, nearly grazing your arm, but killing his teammate in the process. Soap had lunged at him, baring him to the ground and stabbing a combat knife deep into his throat.

The three remaining soldiers raised their weapons, shouting to each other. You’d killed one with a well-placed throwing knife as you threw yourself behind a table and watched in horror as another launched himself at Soap. You raised your gun, but there was no clean shot with them grappling as they were. Then, you were blindsided by the last soldier. He leapt at you as you tried to line up a shot on his teammate, knocking your gun to the ground and grabbing one of your wrists.

Instinct took over as you wrestled, and before you knew what was happening, you and your attacker were flying through the nearby window. You both rolled down a steep, snowy hill toward a frothing river, each trying to get the upper hand. Before either of you could, you went straight into the icy river, sinking instantly. Luckily, you recovered first.

After taking a moment to breathe, you dove back underwater, looking around for your attacker. He was close enough to reach out and touch, back to you as he tried to get to the surface for a breath of air. You swam toward him, wrapped an arm around his shoulders to hoist yourself up, and stabbed him. Once in the neck, once in the ribs, and then once in the chest for good measure. His body had gone limp at the first thrust, but you couldn’t be too safe.

As soon as his body floated out of your arms, you realized the bigger issue- the current, and the cold. You were already being dragged downstream, the tide splashing over your head and threatening to pull you back under. You swam for the bank, but your progress was minimal. Your muscles were already starting to freeze up. You looked around frantically, desperate for something to hold onto. Just as your fingers met with a sharp rock, you heard Soap’s voice calling your name.

You looked up to see him scrambling down the hill, sliding on snow and loose bits of shale. Blood dripped from his temple and he seemed to be cradling his arm to his chest. You tried to pull yourself out of the water to meet him on the banks, but your muscles refused to work. The icy water was doing its work and you could feel your body beginning to shut down.

“Soap,” you called weakly. He had almost reached you. “I can’t move.”

He waded waist deep into the water, reaching out for you with the arm that wasn’t held carefully to his side. “‘S alright, hen, I’ve got you. Take my hand.” You shakily, slowly, tried to reach for him, barely managing to brush the tips of your fingers against his, and he managed to lean just a bit further out to wrap his hand around yours. He tugged you toward him, and after a moment, was pulling you into his side. “You’re freezing, Shrike,” he murmured, rubbing your arm for a moment. You were shivering violently, barely able to move.

“I am,” you said, teeth chattering. “Your head.” Soap waved you off as he looked around, gaze settling in the direction of the town where you were supposed to wait for evac.

“The intel-”

Soap cut you off, shaking his head. “Forget the intel. Price said if anything went wrong, we get to the safehouse.” His eyes scanned your body, looking for any injuries, as his hand rubbed over your arms. “Are you okay? Can you make it back to town?” You nodded, your violent shaking making it nearly impossible to tell. You reached for his wrist, pressing on it gently. You were no medic, but it didn’t feel broken to you. 

You held his wrist with one hand as the other reached up to wipe the blood from his temple. “You okay?” you asked. He winced as you wiped at the blood, but nodded. You breathed a sigh of relief when only a shallow cut was visible.

“Just a sprain,” he said. He pulled his wrist carefully from your grip and unzipped his jacket, pulling it off.

“W-what are you-”

“You need it more than me,” he said. He walked around behind you, tucking you into the jacket before zipping you up in it.

“You’ll freeze,” you protested. Soap only shook his head, offering a lopsided smile.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

You were afraid your legs would refuse to move, but were so grateful when they didn’t. The warmth that bloomed in your chest at Soap’s sacrifice warmed you more than the jacket itself, although it did keep out the worst of the biting wind. You both trudged through the snow toward the village, teeth chattering and bone-cold. You walked in relative quiet, broken only by Soap’s soft inquiries.

“How’re you holding up, hen?”

“I can’t feel my toes, Soap.” “Hang in there, Shrike. We’re almost to the safehouse.”

As the town came into view, your vision began to swim. You’d been given the safehouse address. Now you just had to find it so you could lie down and bundle up until Price could send someone to get you.

You breathed a sigh of relief as Soap found the house, prying off one of the address numbers to reveal a key. He opened the door, revealing a tiny studio. It took less than a minute to clear- the only room with a door was the bathroom. While Soap dug out the radio system hidden under the sink, you turned the heater on full blast and looked for blankets. You found a pile in a cupboard, dropped them onto the foot of the bed, and headed toward the kitchen in search of a kettle to heat some water.

You only vaguely heard Soap talking to Price through the fog in your mind, something about getting some rest and pickup in the morning. Then, very suddenly, you found yourself looking up at the ceiling, wondering when you’d stopped shivering.

“Shrike? Shite!” You only realized you’d fallen when Soap pulled you upright. “Shrike?” He raised one hand to your neck, feeling for your pulse. He cursed under his breath, muttering in an unintelligibly thick Scottish accent as he hauled you up against his chest. You were vaguely aware of being carried into the small bathroom and deposited on the countertop there. You squeezed your eyes shut, fighting to stay awake. You were suddenly so sleepy.

You opened your eyes when you heard a squelching sound, freezing as you watched Soap strip off his clothes. You’d seen him without a shirt, but only in passing in the halls on base. Never this close, and never with no one around to check your gaze. Nevertheless, you’d memorized his scars the last time you saw his bare chest. He had some new ones since then. You stared at his rippling muscles as he unbuttoned his pants, peeling the wet material off his toned legs, leaving him standing in front of you in nothing but his dog tags and boxers. You tried not to stare at the outline you could see in the fabric as he took one step toward you to stand between your legs. Then his hands were on his jacket, the one you were wearing, pulling the zipper down and your arms out of it.

“Stay with me, Shrike,” he murmured. His hands shook as he unbuckled your tac vest and pulled it off. You raised your arms as he pulled up your hoodie, then your shirt, leaving you i n just a sports bra. You let your own hands rest on his chest as you lowered them.

You giggled, tracing patterns across his pecs and down his ribs. His muscles jumped under your fingertips. “What are you doing, Johnny?”

His cheeks reddened as he glanced up, dutifully keeping his eyes on the task at hand as he hastily pulled off your boots and pants.

“I’m trying to get you warm,” he said. “What are you doing?”

“Checking you out,” you said boldly, arching an eyebrow at him and smiling. You weren’t sure where the confidence had come from, but you’d had a crush on him since day one and you’d be damned if you didn’t make the most of this opportunity. He had just reached up to grip your hips and he faltered for a moment before pulling you down off the counter. He turned you around, walking you toward the bed with his hands on your waist until pulling back the covers. Soap sat, pulling you down between his legs and back against his chest. He pulled up the extra blankets, wrapping them around both of your shoulders. You giggled again, wiggling back against him as his arms wound around you. You couldn’t tell whether he shuddered or whether it was just his shivering. You’d started to shiver again, yourself.

“Stay with me,” he repeated. His body trembled around you, proof that he probably should have kept his jacket after all. His hands rubbed your shoulders, occasionally tracing the straps of your sports bra, and he curled his legs up, bringing yours with them. His knees held yours together and he shifted one arm down to circle your waist, keeping your back pressed to his chest and your hips connected. One hand brushed your hip and he tilted his head so that his chin rested in the crook of your shoulder. His hold on you was tight, but reassuring. You savored the way you fit perfectly in his embrace.

Your bare skin felt numb, even under the pile of blankets.

Everywhere Soap’s skin touched felt scalded. 

“You’re so hot,” you murmured. 

You felt as much as heard when Soap chuckled low in his chest. “I’m actually freezing.” His voice shook when he spoke.

You leaned your head back on his shoulder, turning so that your cheek touched his. “You know that’s not what I meant,” you whispered.

“I know,” he smiled, eyes fixed on some point across the room. “I’m just trying to save you from saying things you don’t mean, so you don’t regret them later.”

When you cocked your head at him, shifting in his arms to better face him, his smile dropped. “C’mon, Shrike, don’t make this any harder than it already is.” Hope flared in your chest like a bonfire. Your mind ran through all the possibilities of that statement, and every one of them suggested attraction to your lovesick mind. You stared blankly at him and he tipped his head back against the headboard, heaving a sigh. “I’m sure Gaz would be none too pleased if I made a move on you when you were only flirting because of hypothermia.”

“Gaz..?” You didn’t understand what Gaz had to do with Soap making a move on you, and you were too confused to focus on either the fact that he said that he might, or that he had just admitted he knew you were flirting with him. Your heart beat wildly in your chest. You barely dared to breathe. 

Soap’s face flamed as he looked away. He had stopped shivering so badly, but his voice still shook a bit when he spoke. “You and Gaz. I know you’re… well, something. I’d never-”

You hadn’t imagined it. Your snort cut him off. “Gaz and I are friends, that’s it.” Now it was Soap’s turn to stare blankly. You fought to speak normally, not with the giddy optimism you felt. “Remember the day Price introduced me to you all? Gaz was the first one to shake my hand, and then he showed me around base? I knew right off the bat that Ghost didn’t trust me and I thought you wouldn’t either, since you two were clearly so close.”

That brought a smile out of Soap. As much as Ghost tried to play it off, the two had definitely become good friends over their time working together. Soap loved to flaunt his position as the resident boogeyman’s right hand, to anyone who would listen. But mostly to the boogeyman himself.

You turned again, snuggling closer into his hold. His arms tightened around you, almost imperceptibly. “Anyway, yeah- Gaz was my first friend. But he’s just my friend. Nothing more than that. You and Ghost are Batman and Robin, Gaz and I are Mario and Luigi.” Soap barked a laugh, and you grinned.

When his cold nose nudged behind your ear, you couldn’t even pretend your shudder was from the cold. You gathered the last of your courage, waning with the arctic chill in your bones, but bolstered by his near-confession. “So tell me, Sergeant.” You’d lowered your voice, turning up all the charm you possessed. “What am I making ‘harder than it needs to be’?” Soap froze, and panic washed over you like water as cold as the river you’d come out of. He hadn’t been confessing anything. It had been nothing more than his usual firefight flirting, harmless and silly and just a little cocky and oh-so-hot and why would you ever think he could actually be interested in you and-

Soap flipped you, one arm around your waist as he lay between your legs, propped up by the elbow next to your shoulder. Before your mind could catch up with what was happening, he leaned down, lips a hairs’ breadth from yours, and hesitated. It was the longest and shortest second of your life. You could feel his warm breath on your parted lips as his eyes scanned your face, looking for any sign of hesitation. You half expected him to lean back up, all mischievous smile and twinkling eyes, and tease you. He knew. He knew how you felt and he was going to mock you for it. Then he leaned down, eyes fluttering shut. His lips brushed yours softly, barely touching, and your mind went blessedly quiet. Your body responded of its own accord; your knees came up, framing his waist and squeezing lightly; one hand went to his bicep, lightly grasping there; the other slid to the back of his neck.

You pulled him closer.

The kiss turned feral in a heartbeat.

The arm around your waist tightened, pulling you half up off the bed, as he let more of his body weight rest against you. His tongue traced the seam of your lips, begging for entrance. You happily gave it. Your tongues slid together, fighting for dominance as you each tried to deepen the kiss even more. You raised a leg, wrapping it around his waist, and he groaned your name into your mouth. When you pulled on his mohawk, his head fell to your neck as he sucked softly on your collarbone.

“Johnny,” you breathed. He swore, lifting his head to kiss you again. He pulled his arm out from under you, running a warm hand across your bare skin from your hip to the back of your knee where it wrapped around him, before wrenching you up against him. You gasped at what you felt. If you’d had any doubt before, there was none now- Johnny was packing. You could feel the heat of him through both your underwear and his boxers. Time seemed to slow as he rocked gently against you, pressing his forehead to yours as your hands cradled the back of his head. He was panting, pressing light kisses against your face. He dropped his head to your shoulder, tucking his face into your neck. He seemed to be steeling himself, trying desperately not to move.

“Not kissing you,” he whispered. It took you a moment to think through the haze of lust and realize he was answering your earlier question. “What am I making harder than it needs to be?” “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

Some of your earlier boldness had returned, shored up by his clear physical response. “Only that?” you whispered back.

The groan of your name on his lips was the single most beautiful thing you’d ever heard.

“What?” you teased. “That’s all you want?”

He tugged at the back of your knee again, pressing you against himself. You both stifled moans. “You know damn well that’s not all I want. I want you. All of you.” He turned his head, ghosting his lips against your cheek. “I’ve wanted all of you from the moment you asked me why a ghost would need soap.”

You started, turning his head with your hands so you could look into his eyes. “That’s the first thing I ever said to you.” He nodded, gaze unflinching. His eyes smoldered, but there was a softness in them you’d only seen a handful of times over the years. When your brother joined the military, following in your footsteps. When your best friend’s husband cheated on her. When your mother died. Any time you’d cried in his arms.

“T-that was the day we first met,” you stuttered out. Again, he nodded solemnly. He turned his head in your hands, kissing your palm. 

“I knew right away,” he whispered. Soap had laughed, a fully belly laugh, and clapped you on the back. Ghost had rolled his eyes, and you’d hoped his reservations about you would fade. Not only so you could get closer to the devilishly handsome, charming Sargeant who followed his every step. When you didn’t say anything, he released your leg, mumbling apologies and sitting back on his heels. The loss of his body weight and heat, along with the blankets, made you shiver all over again. Johnny didn’t see it- he was running his hands over his face, head hanging. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… I had no right, please forgive me-”

You reached out a hand, grasping his wrist to stop him from retreating any further. “Forgive you for what?” you asked softly. His face was pained as he struggled to hold your stare.

“For taking advantage,” he began. But you shook your head, reaching out your other hand to touch his cheek. You didn’t think he even realized that he leaned into your touch.

“You didn’t take advantage of anything.” You scooted forward on your knees, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. You leaned up, kissing along his jaw, before licking a stripe of skin just behind his ear. He trembled under your touch as you ran a hand down his arm and pressed yourself against him. “I want you, too. So you should take me.”

“Steamin’-,” Soap groaned your name. “You can’t just say that to me,” he whined, breathless. His fists were clenched, eyes squeezed shut as your fingertips skimmed his skin.

“And why’s that?” you teased. You were sure that nothing could ever match the rush you were getting from his reactions to you.

“Because,” he ground out. He’d lost the fight to keep his hands off and they now rested on your hips, intermittently squeezing the flesh and hovering. His pupils were blown, nearly eclipsing his irises. You’d never seen hunger like that in your life and it set you on fire. “If I start with you, I won’t be able to stop.” His voice was lower, hoarse. Desperate.

You scooted forward until your knees touched his, pressing as much of your body against his as you could. His entire body quivered in his struggle not to devour you whole. You dragged your lips up the column of his throat, pausing when they brushed the shell of his ear. “Then I suggest, Sergeant, that you don’t stop.”

Johnny didn’t need to be told twice.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You woke up to a soft thudding sound in your ear. You were so comfortable that you didn’t want to move, but then you remembered you were on the field. Your head snapped up, looking around the tiny room. The thudding had stopped, and when you looked down, you realized why. 

You’d been sleeping with your head on Johnny’s chest, his heartbeat in your ear. His arms were still wrapped tightly around you, face turned toward yours. He looked younger asleep. No worry lines creased his handsome face, and his brows were relaxed instead of their usual serious, lowered state. His lips were just slightly parted, breath softly fanning across your shoulder.

The night came back to you in one big wave. Kissing Johnny, straddling him, holding him close between your legs, his mouth on your neck, your mouth on his shoulder, your name on his tongue, being pressed to the wall, the stretch of him, and both of your hands seemingly everywhere at once. You ached everywhere in the most delicious way. Even your throat was sore from moaning his name over and over and over again as he made good on his promise that his mouth was good for more than just talk.

Your cheeks flushed remembering.

As if sensing your racing heart and thoughts, Johnny stirred. His arms tightened around you, pulling you nearly on top of him as his eyes fluttered open. He smiled when his eyes settled on you, slow and lazy.

“I thought I dreamed all of that,” he said softly. His voice was husky with sleep, accent thicker than normal, eyes soft as he stroked your cheek with the back of his hand.

You quickly weighed whether or not you were prepared to deal with the cockiness that would come with your next statement. “Certainly good enough to be a dream,” you whispered. The grin that split Johnny’s face was instant and radiant.

“Oh, aye?” he asked. “Would you say it’s everything you’d dreamed of?”

“I love you,” he’d gasped, holding the back of your head to his shoulder as you fell apart for what must have been the tenth or hundredth time. “I love you,” he’d repeated as he lost control, trembling violently in you and in your arms. “Oh, God, I love you,” he’d whispered as you cried out his name and carried him in a vice grip right over the edge with you. You’d never dared to confront your feelings for him too deeply, refusing to dig beneath the surface of the crush you’d harbored for him. In all your wildest dreams, you’d never begun to imagine him putting to words what you felt- and never in the most intimate moment of your life.

“Better than my dreams,” you mumbled, turning your head away from his and pressing your cheek to his chest. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see a purple bruise you’d sucked into his shoulder. You winced, raising your head to apologize, but before you could even open your mouth, Johnny turned your head and kissed you softly. You kissed him back, and then smirked as a thought crossed your mind. “Dream of me often, then?” you asked.

Johnny’s eyes darkened as he pulled you down for a searing kiss. “Every night,” he whispered. You shuddered. You could already feel his body responding beneath you as you kissed him again, smiling to yourself when he groaned. He reached for the tiny bedside table, muttering about a clock, and found the alarm there.

He turned a wicked grin toward you. “We’ve got time for round two.”

“Round two?” you shrieked. Johnny snickered as he lifted you up, your legs automatically wrapping around his waist. Round five was no less impressive than the first four, in no small part due to the added feat of Johnny holding you up against the cold shower wall while the hot water beat down on you both. 

“I can’t believe,” he’d panted “That we could have been doing this all this time.”

“You should scold Gaz for getting in your way,” you’d panted back. Johnny had practically growled at that, picking up his pace.

“I’m about to scold you for saying another man’s name while I’m inside you.”

He came undone the moment you moaned his name in his ear, pulling you off the ledge with him.

By the time you’d actually managed to get clean, your clothes had miraculously dried despite laying crumpled on the tile floor all night. You were thankful as you both stepped out into the flurry of wind and snow to trudge up the hillside toward the evac point. You hiked in companionable silence, only breaking it once you could see the ridge where you’d be picked up.

“How’s your wrist?” you asked. You’d been worried about it all night, but Johnny either hadn’t been in pain or hadn’t been in enough pain to pay it any mind.

“It’ll be fine,” he answered, smiling at you over his shoulder. “How’s your… you?” You both snickered at that.

“It’ll be fine,” you parroted. Your Scottish accent was horrible, but Johnny beamed at it all the same. You were about to pull yourself up by a rock when he grabbed your wrist, nudging you until your back touched a tree. He tilted your chin up with his knuckles, lowering his head slowly to kiss you tenderly. You sighed into the kiss, reaching up to wrap your arms around his shoulders, and he held you close by your waist. His lips tugged at yours softly, lightly dragging your bottom lip between his teeth before pulling back to look at you intensely. He seemed to be trying to memorize every inch of your face.

“We can’t tell anyone, can we?” you whispered.

For a long moment, Johnny was silent. When he finally answered, his voice was low. Sorrowful. “I don’t know,” he said.

You nodded, pasting a smile on your face even as your heart throbbed. “That’s okay. We’ll figure something out.”

He smiled back. “Yeah, we will.” Your smile felt a little more genuine after that. You trekked the last bit up the hill, and by the time you reached the top, you could hear the whir of the chopper. You shared one last longing look at each other from a respectable distance before the bird touched down. When the door opened, Ghost’s skull plate greeted you.

“You guys injured?” he shouted. You both shook your heads, clambering in and strapping yourselves into harnesses on opposite sides of the chopper. Ghost slammed the door, strapping himself in again on your side.

He stared at Soap, some look you couldn’t quite read. When you glanced to Johnny, his eyebrow was raised at his partner.

“You look like you haven’t slept in a week,” Ghost rumbled.

Soap looked to you, then back to his friend. He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “We didn’t get much rest- too cold,” he said evenly. If you didn’t know it was a lie, you’d have believed him. But something in the way Ghost held his stare told you that he didn’t. He could read everyone like a book, but especially Johnny. You needn’t have worried, though. Soap started right in on recapping the mission for his friend, chattering away as he always did, and you watched as Ghost’s shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit while he listened. His gaze flicked to you every so often, and you added to the tale where you saw fit. Ghost took your words as truth- he trusted you now, years later, after you’d proven yourself to him and the rest of the team.

You smiled to yourself. It would be good to see the rest of the team, to be back on base, in the comfort of your own bed… and you were sure Soap would find his way there, too.

[devils-yui]

Tfa Optimus Prime and Megatron?

TFA Optimus Prime and Megatron is a very mixed bag for me, on one hand. I’m a huge sucker for MegOp, always.

But on the other hand, the “age gap” is such a funny thing to me, you’ve got on one hand, a warlord who’s been playing a strategic game, taking leadership of an entire political party of Decepticons, who commands an entire legion of said Decepticons, and he’s essentially fighting your boss/military leader

And then there’s Optimus Prime who’s just gotten hot dropped out of the elite academy because he and his polycule fucked up, and now works in a small team of people who cooperates (optionally) semi-well and is struggling to play between being a good leader and good father figure of sorts.

Optimus Prime gives me the vibe of some guy in his early 30s BARELY still trying to get his life together

Meanwhile, there’s Megatron who’s just double the age in his 50s-60s watching Optimus be like this

Regardless, in fanon. I think it’s a pretty neat ship, in canon?

I’m gonna be fr with you, ever since I saw that season finale. I don’t think I’d really fall in love with the guy who costed me one of my very close teammates/friends to beat

Other than that?? I still like it outside of the ending and all. I still think about the scene where Megatron straight up ties Optimus with his own grappling hook and pulls him in. I felt like I shouldn’t have been watching that with the tension that was going on there. 😭

But yah! It’s 50/50 for me, also @/pastelpaperplanes art got me interested in the ship tbf

[ganondoodle]

it may not look like it but this took a long time to make

heres a rough ability breakdown for the totk rewrite project (i know its hard to read in the pic so let me clear it up and add some extra info)

theres two ability wheels now, sages are not frame rate killing glitch ghosts around you but their abilities are selected through the wheel on the right (pic is rough concept, it is clearer what is selected and what isnt + it has names in final version, symbols are placeholders as well) and bound to the player, when you acitvate it an aura appears similar to the arm abilities and their ghostly form appears besides you, charging or firing when you hit A while the ability is active

SHIEKAH ARM WHEEL

ANALYZE: zelda tells you info about targeted enemy/NPC, it gives you info about it and informs you more dynamically about important things than the foto-entries do

FOTO its fotos :) zelda joins selfies tho and does silly poses with you

REWIND: functions like the time recall in canon, but this time it is a more developed version of stasis instead

AMIIBO: its ... amiibo

HOOKSHOT: grab onto anything (perhaps restricted but not yet decided), you pull yourself+zelda to heavy stuff, light weight objects are pulled to you (including light enemies like bats or small slimes) grab onto something and hold onto it, usable like a vine (think, ww grappling hook) but with limited duration (battery power?)

AUTOBUILD: like in canon but it uses luminous stones if material isnt all there (or other material you put out to so its more versatile and you are more aware of what you have, no accidental spending then)

BUILD: similar to canon, but no glue (it kinda just fuses with no extra graphic unless pehaps like a bolt or sth), you put stuff together anyway you want; build is also used for weapons (no extra ability needed), you just build a weapon on the ground and pick it up afterwards (it has to be a weapon handle part and then sth else to it, otherwise it wont turn into a weapon)

INFUSE: infuse somethign with ancient energy, useless on normal objects usually(?) but reactivates broken or deactivated tech like elevators and doors; used to dynamically access caves and especially labs (labs serve a similar function as shrines, they are old shiekah labs that broke over time, puzzles are diverse things like traversal and little quests in which you help the researcher ghosts of the people that died in these labs (by the calamity, earthquakes, accidents, or killed by the royal army when their tech was banned and they refused to give it up)

SAGE WHEEL:

WIND GUST: same as in canon

LIGHT SHIELD/LIGHT LASER: zelda uses a shield of light to protect herself in combat, it does not affect the player (or perhaps only when you happen to be within range, which is small, this is more a character thing for her than useful for you) for the player through the selection wheel; aim and tell her to shoot a light laser like rauru did in the moldora cutscene in canon totk (a bit more dynamic) it deals very high damage to anything hit but has the highest cooldown of all abilities; deals extra damage to miasma enemies

THUNDERSTRIKE: similar as in canon, it charges through you however (so the charging only gets stopped if YOU shoot an arrow or get hit)

FIRE .. BOOM THING: similar as in canon but yuno has a little animation of daruks shield around him again :)

YIGA TELEPORT/KOGA CLONES (undecided yet): A: target a location in range and koga grabs you like a naughty kitten and teleports you both to the targetted location, you spawn in a little above ground giving you time to either perform a bullet time move or a sword attack from above B: summons a bunch of koga clones that serve as a distraction for enemies and combat support, they die in one hit (reference to kogas and monk moz kyoshias similar moveset; since there are no sage ghosts around you all the time and a max of two companions (zelda always, sage in sage dungeon) it serves as a replacment for that)

WATER ...WELL(?): sidon gives you a shield of water, elemental effect is applied to weapon and lasts as long as the shield does no matter how many times you attack; if it is hit by an enemy it breaks but you dont take damage; if the shield lasts it entire duration without getting hit it it grants you a percentage of your missing health back upon dissolving (ref to mipha healing powers anyone??)

im open to constructive feedback but overall im quite happy of makign it work out like that, although there are quite a few things that need polish i think this is both realistic and works well with what else i have been writing; remember tho, this is my rewrite so im undoing the things i dont like, like riju never being there when you need her bc she runs right up to the enemy and her losing her charge bc she keeps getting knocked over + overall uselessness of minerus robot (to me)

(totk rewritten project)

[weepingtalecowboy]

Rito wind au

Fanfic prompt : the Zora in wind waker got their wings from Valoo by collecting a scale from him

So what if wind also got a scale as a form of thanks for saving the dragon

(which was a thing I actually thought would happen when I first played the game as a kid because Valoo's scale sounded like a Zelda item you could collect)

And also can get wings

The Rito would probably already consider him part of their tribe because Quill essentially adopted him already (Dad Quill is best Quill)

And when he

Saved their dragon from a monster that was tormenting and angering him

Took Medli the one rito who could understand Valoo to become a sage and reconnect with their ancient ancestor and play a duet together

And also got their dragon to help him on his quest

They definitely wanted to honor him for that

So after his adventure the Rito threw a feast and held a ceremony

And Wind got thrown off a training ledge to try flying properly

(Because if Medli who had her wings for a while already has trouble keeping in the air if the wind is not favorable then a hylian who just got wings definitely needs some training to fly)

He hangs out with komali

And then gets to hang out with his Dad (who officially took him in now)

Then linked universe happens and he doesn’t have the time anymore to practice flying

So he and the chain adventure around till they appear on dragon roost island

And he just immediately startes to hoop over the pillars with all his flying knowledge and use the grappling hook for places he can’t glide to yet

Asks for quill at the mail office and then throws himself at quill

The chain at first freaks out because he just bolts away so fast they can’t follow catch up with him

And see him with his Bird dad

And just go like

Yeah they definitely know eachother until Quill just throws him (throwing bird children helps them get enough momentum to glide farther it’s literally canon but so hilarious) and then they actually see his wings when he flies back on the ledge

Because everyone already heard from wind about two rito friends

and his really unusual wind affinity for a hylian

They just immediately think he is a rito

And only much later do they find out that he wasn’t always a Rito

Because he fits in way to naturally with them

And now they tallest of the chain throw him at people

[crosshairs-dumb-pimp-gf]

Collecting more OC notes...

Now with bits on Kahtzi and Jar'ath

Kahtzi is a devious card shark, leaning on playing dumb to disarm her opponents.

Jar'ath doesn't kiss and tell and prefers to find sexual partners that'll stay separate from the rest of his life, (though he does hook up with Kat from time to time.)

Tahny is the epitome of a nympho nepo baby.

Tahny will only ever use the non possessive "li'nen" term of endearment from her language (treasure, precious, loved one)

In fact the only people who in canon refer to HER as "li'hah" (my treasure, my precious, my loved one) are her father and suitor, two people who see "possessing" her as very literal.

Tahny usually carries a grappling gun while on Coruscant.

Tahny doesn't settle on Pabu, due to the closing events of Disgrace she has too many people with her to settle on the small island and ends up using her considerable resources to form her own colony on a planet called Taunterra.

The meta reason for Tahny's eye markings is that that's how I wore my makeup in high school.

Tahny loves sour candy, and savory food.

Speaking of, she's a surprising adept chef with a refined pallet.

She's likely to eat an endangered species because it's said to be a delicacy.

Tahny can't aim for shit, no matter how much Cross might try to improve her marksmanship.

Kahtzi can't carry a tune to save her life and that's a leading cause in her changing her name from Diva to Kahtzi.

Kat is the sexual dominant in the Kahtzi X Tahny dynamic. She's usually expected to play a more demure and submissive character while escorting and revels in being the one in control in private.

Their very specific sexuality labels are:

Kahtzi - Polyamourous Bisexual

Tah'nyem - Demiamourous Bi Polysexual

Jar'ath - Aromantic Pan Polysexual Nympho

Sex and Love are very separate for Tahny, though she's aware that Love often comes with Sex, Sex doesn't have to come with Love. For her, it's strange that most people think love and monogamy go hand in hand.

Then again, she never felt romantic love till she met Crosshair- and this why she's resistant to the feeling. It's alien to her and freaks her out a little.

Their relationship is sexually open, but emotionally closed making the prospect of falling into bed with them a little less attractive to most people. It's quiet obvious they're just in it for the sex and it can be a little lonely being their third.

Except Kat, she's oddly used to how emotionally cold Tahny can be and is unfazed. She mostly finds it cute that she went and fell for someone finally.

Tahny often goes to the opera and ballet by herself, not minding that no one wants to go with her.

Despite his (constant) antagonism, Jar'ath cares deeply for his childhood friend Tah'nyem and vise versa.

Jar'ath has the most nicknames for Tah'nyem. The usual T or Teeny, extending it to Teeny bop, doll face, etc etc. But in dire straights he reverts to calling her Tahny like he did when they were kids.

Though Cross and Tahny have a very sexual relationship, there's examples of each of them rejecting the others advances when their mental state made consent dubious.

Tahny doesn't experience jealousy very often, her ego is a little to large to feel insecure about where she stands with anyone.

Like most Ga'haiians, Tahny finds the ways of the Jedi to be incredibly silly and gets a kick out tormenting the uptight ones. This can be an issue with how often The Red Crown hosts gatherings for the Jedi Temple.

In the Disgrace AU, the Ra's bought out most other entertainment venues in the vicinity of the Red Spire while building their monopoly, including the club that eventually became 79s. They gave the bar to the government while holding onto some stock for the venue since the payback was subsidized by the senate making it a guaranteed investment.

Tahny has fertility issues that mostly go unnoticed due to her unlimited access to the Red Spire's medical resources.

Kahtzi is well known among clones, her Pinups being featured with other Red Crown escorts in the holocalendars sent out in the GAR relief packages.

This is why she desperately wants to go to 79s and part of why Tahny avoids the place like the plague.

Kahtzi is one of the top three Courtesans of the Red Crown's line up, but a Thisspiasian named Rahktah Merian is the first place earner.

Jar'ath has never worked a hard day in his life and he plans to keep it that way.

Though Jar'ath is the picture of confidence, his one nervous tick is that he constantly checks and tucks the hair over his left ear where his black Ga'haiian Calico streak is hidden.

There's two main versions of the Disgrace universe: Canon Disgrace where Tahny and Cross meet between the events of "Fall of Kamino" and "The Solitary Clone." And the "Young and Stupid" AU where they date during the clone wars. Y&S isn't very fleshed out but sometimes I just want to draw them hanging out on Coruscant okay.

Tahny's training in the pleasure arts are particularly troublesome for Hunter. Adjusting her body temperature, heartbeat and pheromones through meditation (incredibly second nature to her by this point,) she can make his enhanced senses go haywire. It does not take long for her to figure this out and exploit it mercilessly.

The only person who can make Crosshair irrationally jealous when it comes to Tahny is Echo. The two are saccharine and overly affectionate with each other- but it's just a bit. They know it drives Cross nuts and they're little shits about it.

Though Kat is still involved with Tahny, after the events of Disgrace she drifts more to Wrecker as her primary partner- making him an official member of the diamond doll polycule.

Yes, Wrecker X Kat X Tahny X Cross is a thing from time to time.

Though Tahny and Wrecker have been intimate, they're not very close. They tend to miss on communication and don't really "get" each other.

Tahny is ADHD and this is generally brash and impatient, an imperfectionist overall- until one of her hyper fixations kicks in and she'll suddenly do something that'll remind Cross of Tech. It throws him for a loop every time it happens.

Tahny has never met Tech, but since she has copies of Crosshair's feelings in her brain- she sometimes finds she misses him.

Those copies are also the driving force behind her dynamic with the other batch members. Like Cross, she's antagonistic towards Hunter, fond of Echo, and a little shaky with Wrecker.

Omega doesn't really like Tahny. This kind of hurts her feelings because, "The girl likes everyone! To a detriment! Why doesn't she like me?"

That's a lot more than I meant to put down, lol.

Miss the first set of these? Find them here.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

@lonewolflupe @foxwithadarkside @returnofthepineapple @boredzum-671 @feralferrule @loganpine @legacygirlingreen @eobe @ghostymarni @vimse @yiggetyyoot @covert1ntrovert @gars-weaponeer

[asouefanworkevent]

another fall is upon us! another woevember is coming!!

what is it?

woevember is an asoue fanwork event week, that will take place from november 10th through november 16th, 2024. every day of the week is dedicated to a different part of a series of unfortunate events or all the wrong questions for you to create something about! this year's theme is objects!

what do i do?

the prompts will be revealed now, so everyone has time to make something. between now and the week of november 10th, you’ll create fanworks about the prompts, and then post it on the corresponding day during november 10th - 16th! there will be the occasional countdown post between then and now too, so we all know how many days are left until posting begins.

don’t forget to tag this tumblr (asouefanworkevent) in the post so i can find it and reblog it, and tag the post with #woevember !

what do you mean by fanwork?

everything! fanfic and fanart are of course allowed, but woevember has always been meant to be an event that is as big or as little effort as you want! fanwork also means edits, gifs, analysis posts, headcanons!! your cosplay!! your photography!! your photosets!! your web weaving!! your moodboards!! your super short fics!! your sketchiest drawings!! your most ramble-y half-fic idea posts!! your wip scenes!! you merely saying ‘lemony snicket, though. am i right?????’ (and you are. you’re so right.) your loving macaroni art!! your embroidery!! your sculpture!! whatever you are moved to make from the prompts! i want people to be encouraged to and be able to create even something small that didn’t exist before for the snicketverse, and share it with other people!

are there any rules?

to keep the event open and comfortable for everyone, no explicit content. also, as always, sibling romance and age gaps will not be tolerated.

do i have to make something for every day?

only if you want to! feel free to just make something for one day if you want :) the point of having a different theme for each day is so some part of canon that you like comes up eventually, and you can at least make something for one of the days. or you get struck by an idea you might not have considered before! i want to get people thinking about all the intriguing things in asoue and atwq and the exciting, different ways we can interpret and create from the same idea.

what are the prompts?

the description under each prompt is just some ideas to get your brain going – feel free to take them in another direction too! whatever you want to come up with!!

november 10th - violet's inventions

the grappling hook! the toaster in the clock! the rock retrieval device! the bobblehead train stopper! even just lockpicking, and violet's ribbon, too! what else do you think violet has made, pre-canon or during canon? what does she make now? post-canon, does she have a job that relates to inventing? does she still invent in her spare time?

november 11th - the sugar bowl

the mysterious sugar bowl! lives have been lost in the quest to find it and it's important to both the snickets and the baudelaires, so says esme. where is it now? what was its importance? what was inside it? where was it during canon, before canon? who has had it before? did anyone have it before esme? what does it look like? how does it keep its contents safe? when was it first used? did it make it to the hotel denouement? is anyone still searching for it? what if it wasn't stolen?

november 12th - disguises

both the firestarters and the firefighters have used disguises --the same disguises, supplied by vfd. what other kinds of disguises have each side used, and for what ends? was a disguise ever seen through at the wrong time, or the right time? was a disguise ever NOT seen through when it should have been? even the disguises beatrice wore when she acted on stage, or the cow disguise worn by jacques snicket, or the denouement triplets pretending to be each other, what does it mean to wear a disguise and what do you do when you wear one? do the baudelaires, or the quagmires, ever wear disguises again? do frank and ernest ever pretend to be each other post-canon?

november 13th - the bombinating beast

our beloved statue the size of a milk bottle, valued upwards of a great deal of money! where do you think it is now? what did lemony do with it when he left stain'd-by-the-sea? who used it before canon? do the baudelaires ever encounter it? does it make its way back to stain'd-by-the-sea? and where is the bombinating beast itself now?

november 14th - books

lemony's a series of unfortunate events books do, after all, exist in asoue canon itself! what does vfd think of the books? who's read them? or books like the unauthorized autobiography, and the beatrice letters, and lemony's childrens books, what place might they have in canon? for all the wrong questions, who's read them? they were filed at vfd headquarters, after all. how many members of vfd know what lemony did during his apprenticeship? or books like caviar: salty jewel of the tasty sea, or stain'd myths, or lemony's pamphlets on the accordion, or even the classic children's lit books, like the ramona series by beverly cleary, and their place inside canon and especially vfd? or even beatrice and bertrand's a series of unfortunate events, the journal they contribute to on the island. who else has written in that journal?

november 15th - the duchess of winnipeg's ring

the ring that went from the duchess, to lemony, to beatrice, to back to lemony, to kit, to bertrand, to beatrice, to the box she kept it in, to widdershins as he searched the ruins of the baudelaire mansion, to ishmael when it washed up on the island, to violet, and to the second beatrice, who traded it to a shepherd for a yak ride. what other adventures has it been on? does the duchess ever get it back again? why did beatrice keep it in a box -- a box that kit's grandfather made the code for? what has the rest of the duchess' family done with it? what does it mean to them?

november 16th - free space!

do you have another object in mind? the spyglass, one of klaus's books, or sunny's meals, or the harpoon gun, or ellington's record player, or cleo's chemistry equipment, or something like the medusoid mycelium? the laudanum? all the things esme says are in or out? the baudelaire fortune? the quagmire sapphires? the fabled tito puente records? the ruins of the baudelaire mansion and what else might be there? all those objects mrs. bass had her students measure? jake hix's meals? cleo's car, or the bellerophon taxi? the vfd taxi? gustav's films, or the sebald code? violet's bread knife? kit's book raft? commonplace books? do you want to combine any of these objects with one of the previous days and create something with two objects for one of the previous days? so many options!! or do you care not for objects! use the free space to write about the item or character or relationship or thought or whatever of your choosing! feel free to pick a theme from a previous woevember event for the free space, if you'd like!

if you have any questions about anything, feel free to drop me an ask or a message!

happy creating, and i hope to see lots of you november 10th-16th!! ✨

[tilly-tittle]

since you asked me now i gotta ask you--

NUMBER 12.

gimme the good shit....

Ah well

Have you seen Rodimus? Yeah him XD

especially IDW, that one panel where he’s addressing the crew on the Necrobot planet and he’s leaned so far forward lmao

LIKE LOOK AT HIS WAIST

*coughs*

Also TFA Roddy with a bow? Very hot, I love bows actually and I love him

Also Drift, cause wielding two swords is also hot (I historically have liked characters with two swords so)

Oh and the first time we see Getaway in the mtmte comics

Are you seeing what I’m seeing?????

Also very yes on TFO Star on the throne (there’s also that gif of Star pushing past Soundwave and Shockwave, I think when the main cast first arrived to the high guard, where like bro straight up felt up Sounders’ entire chassis)

Weirdly (or idk) also when Pharma is talking to Ratchet’s detached head+spark casing (cause competency is hot)

That one scene in TFA with Optimus and Megatron and Optimus’ grappling hook

Megatron talking to Magnus’ head on his table in WFC too for some reason

That one clip of KO catcalling OP despite me never watching TFP yet because I have a thing for deeper voices

This panel of Mags and Megs

This is what we in the theatre industry call kiss or punch distance (and they better kiss)

Cyclonus’ Holoform

He just slayed idk what else to say, I wish I got to see more of it honestly

And lastly (cause I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head that is canon lol)

Brainstorm on this cover

Because again, competency is hot

[fryingpan1234567]

canonically Jason and Tim have motorcycles, right? and B and Duke too but the other two are more well known I think

ANYWAYS what if everyone in the batfam had one tho? because. the potential.

Dick takes his off of roofs sometimes, but it’s built for it. before all his modifications, it was just a blue and black chrome Yamaha sports bike, nothing special. he added a Nightwing sticker on each side, a bunch of weapons (mostly electricity based), grappling hooks, Nightwing things. there’s even a sidecar for Haley.

Babs (before the wheelchair days) had a purple and yellow one that matched her suit perfectly. it sort of meant she couldn’t use it during the day, but occasionally she rode it to work with extensive concealing of the random dangerous gadgets. hers was also a Yamaha (same model ^^)

Jason canonically has a black shapeshifting one like some maccadams shit but it’s fine— it’s loud as shit, so he doesn’t really use it for patrol, but he loves it during the day. because it’s just black, it’s pretty easy to take it out for completely non-suspicious speeding law breaking joyrides. no harm done!

Cass has a jet black Ninja, and her reputation on the streets is about the same as the nightfury’s at the beginning of the first httyd. dark, deadly, and it’s even quiet in Gotham’s busy streets. watch your back for her.

Tim’s got the BATCYCLE it’s CANON. it’s also canon that it’s got a liquid-cooling engine and a Robin-themed paint job, but fuck that, I say it’s dark red and electric and he rides it to work. so sometimes (most of the time) he pulls up with ruffled clothes and helmet hair, which Conner nearly fainted at the first time he saw it, but we don’t talk about that. he doesn’t use it for patrol because Kon said he’d carry him everywhere if Tim gave him rides in exchange. on the bike. he has said on more than one occasion “wear the helmet, ride a biker” and Tim punches him really hard

Steph’s bike is purple, and the wheels do the hover-shift-glowy thing like in Mario Kart (also purple). she’s not scared of you or anyone; she will ride that shit to school and use it on patrol with the hovering and distracting color and everything. fight me.

in canon, Duke’s bike is electric with a bunch of lights and black and yellow and lowkey built like a tank. I kinda like it! I think it’s a fabulous bike for a fabulous man so therefore he gets to keep it I won’t be taking criticism

Damian gets a green and red and black electric Ninja, plus a helmet that he painted with feathers and paw prints n shit. Jon likes the spare, which is just black but has a red mohawk. what more could you want? he could fly everywhere, but he also could just have his badass motorcycle bf drive him everywhere while he wears his dope ass helmet and vibes to whatever 2000s pop shit Damian lets him play. he’s a professional backpack.

did you think I’d stop at the Batkids? sorry imma keep going

I like the idea of Brucie having a black sports bike that’s 90% modifications like in the movie. no one remembers what it was before he took it all apart and added Bat-stuff, but it looks great now! it’s blown up more times than you can count, just because it’s a really good target for rogues.

Kate has one that’s almost exactly the same, except hers is maybe a little closer to what it was originally. she doesn’t quite have all the same stuff Bruce does, but they’re the same vibe!

anyways that’s the vigilante weirdos club, so like it’s expected that they’d all have a dangerous vehicle. slightly less expected— Alfred freaking Pennyworth has a Harley with tall handles and sparkly black paint, but nobody knew that for such a long time because he barely leaves the manor. all the kids lost their minds when they found out. what can I say

anyways some Bat-bike shenanigans that have ensued:

street races between all the Batkids at least once a week, whether that be on patrol or in civvy clothes

Jason obnoxiously revving really loud whenever he sees one of them in the street, on a date, when he’s picking them up from something, just as often as possible. obnoxious revving. old people hate him

cool lesbian aunt Kate picking up kids from school with her badass bike and epic helmet

sometimes Dick will be talking about “his child” or “his baby” and no one’s sure if he’s talking about his dog or his bike

bike-related thirst traps on social media

“race you to the next light”

not a single one of them has left a Gotham speeding law intact even once (not even Alfred, although he won’t admit it)

Wally likes to get Dick to race him on his bike even though he knows he’s going to win

both Jon and Conner have said something along the lines of “I bet I could pick up the bike with you on it” as a show-off attempt, but Damian and Tim love their paint jobs too much to permit them to try

Batfam on bikes❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[bonefall]

Hi! How would you draw a tool-evolved cat paw?

Aeons ago I wrote some speculative biology thoughts on what a tool-focused cat would begin to look like, and mentioned the way that a caw's paw might evolve. I can try to draw it out as a sketch; but fair warning that I put my art style points into cartoony anime stuff SO you're not gonna get a realistic drawing lmao

Evolution doesn't "think." It's many changes over generations that snowball into bigger ones. So I tried to look at WHAT exactly is happening between an animal with less sophisticated tool use (chimp) and one that COMPLETELY relies on tools (human) to predict where the cat's paw would end up in a few thousand generations.

Please note! My paw would still be a "link" between the ancestor, and something even more reliant on tool use. This proposed species would still be 100% capable of doing what the cats in-canon do, like hunt alone. It's for a feline species that is tool-ADAPTED, not tool-RELIANT.

(In that way, it's more comparable to, say, a lemur and a chimp. But lemur palm refs were hard to find and I did this quick because I've already thought about it.)

This paw would exist in-tandem with a "tool tooth;" A V-shaped gap in the jawline that a single fang would nestle into. Early tool-using felines would likely use their mouth to "break" or "shear" their crafts, leading to broken teeth that would make them less successful. So there would be a lot of evolutionary pressure to have better, stronger teeth.

Evolution doesn't do "one thing at a time," so if you happened to port yourself into a group of these cats and watch them craft stuff, you'd see them using their mouths as well as their paws!

Finger Size + Tool Claw

When you see real cats batting stuff around and manipulating things, and when you look at canon where they like to "hook things on a claw," it's usually the index "finger" they favor. In fact, they do a LOT of "poking," even when a cat bats at something they seem to mostly explore with the tip of their paw.

So I figure that would actually be a big difference between this species and humans.

Unlike us, who usually have our middle finger as the longest (though there are exceptions) so we can "stabilize" the things we grab, I'd give these guys a "Tool Claw" which is not involved in grappling at all. It's longer, more deeply grooved, but also more fragile than the "hunting" claws.

When at rest, the Tool Claw would stick out from the rest of the foot, straight upwards. The fur is able to "sheathe" the other three, but the index's would be too long to be fully hidden.

Because one of those fingers is now mostly taken out of combat, the pinkie would probably thicken up to compensate. Another difference from the human hand. I can imagine that if the trend continues, they might end up supporting their full frontal weight on the pinkie pad to free up the other fingers for tool use.

(But evolution's not always predictable! They might end up becoming more "back heavy" like raccoons, or rely on the invention of shoe/gloves, or just abandon silent hunting all together to become tool-reliant.)

Paw Pad Changes

Cats use the pads on their paws to move silently. As long as the species is relying on silently stalking prey, they will need to have these pads in contact with the ground to be good hunters.

So instead of the digital pads sliding down to create the "top" of the palm, I figured the metacarpal pad would split in two. So now there's a snug, dipped "shape" with which they could nestle an object into as they work with it, but also there is ALWAYS still pad in contact with the ground.

The amount of fur in-between the bottom (metacarpal) and top (supercarpal) pads probably just depends on culture and genetics. It wouldn't really have enough of an impact on the paw to be selected for to be furry or hairless.

I can imagine some groups being weird about it and thinking it should be shaved or braided or something, lmao. Or cats who live in muddy environments clipping it for hygiene reasons.

[soaringsummerbird]

what does the Izumi/Shu confession look like to you? Do they make a big deal of it? or rather, how big a deal do they make of it? 👀

ehehe 👀

I have written multiple iterations of getting Shu and Izumi together at this point bc they are my curse. Started shipping them as a joke but the "do it for the bit" to "brain rot otp" pipeline is real.

Their relationship tends to follow a formula in how it starts. (I assume thats what you mean by confession) General order of operations to get the freaks together / effectively a summary of the first chapter of this fic

Shu demonstrates a compelling understanding of Izumi that flatters him. My favorite way for this to happen is Shu creating an outfit specially designed for him, often celebrating Izumi's shrewdness and, of course, amplifying his beauty. Embodying beauty is a priority for them both. I love that their talents are complimentary as model and fashion designer. They're both egotistical, combining their skills creates a natural path to them admiring each other too as equally but alternatively talented artists.

Izumi recognizes himself in the work of art Shu made especially for him — he realizes Shu understands him, appreciates his callous edges that chafe most people, and that he really is a creative genius. Izumi is so flattered and impressed that his yandere radar malfunctions and locks on to Shu. (somewhere, Makoto breathes a sigh of relief)

Izumi grapples with his obsessive feelings. Recognizes he's doing a Makoto all over again. But Shu is so different. And the shape of these feelings are so different. This obsession isn't rooted in a need to protect a little brother, it's about desire for an intelligent and beautiful man whose company he enjoys. So maybe this obsession can end different? (Maybe he can somehow find the love he's been craving his entire life here? With Shu Itsuki? Somehow?!)

Izumi caves, and attempts to pressure Shu into sex. He knows Shu finds him attractive, that much is stated in canon. Now Izumi wants him, and if he can force Shu to confront their mutual attraction, then maybe they can be together for real?

Shu is stranded outside his comfort zone. He has little if any romantic experience, but he does like Izumi. He thinks he's talented, admires his confidence, and finds him beautiful. So Izumi pushes until he cracks. Shu gives into rampant impulsive emotion, and they fuck.

Depending on the context surrounding their first time, Shu experiences regret after behaving so rash. He's afraid of that side of himself that never had an outlet before. He thinks his sexual desire is filthy and inherently wrong. And he thinks he's dangerous when he loses control.

But Izumi is stubborn and obsessed — and he enjoyed weathering Shu's intense emotions. He determines Shu is passionate and unhinged enough to match him. That this really could end differently. So he doesn't give up, repeatedly seducing him until Shu is hopelessly caught on his hook and grappling with budding obsession of his own.

Shu once felt something similar for Nazuna, a desire to possess and control someone he found incomparably beautiful. His compulsion to control eventually drove Nazuna away, so Shu believes those feelings must be repressed. But then along comes beautiful Izumi — and he outright offers to let Shu possess him. Shu fails to resist that temptation. Eventually, he agrees to begin a proper relationship, never quite realizing that the shiny new doll he's grown so smitten with is the one who's really dangerous.

Nothing about the way I have them interact is healthy, but I also don't think they're explicitly bad for each other. They push each other's boundaries, force each other to confront when they're wrong, and are an equal match in temper. The toxic behaviors that would make a relationship with these two a living hell for most people just mean they have to fuck nasty sometimes to get them out of their system.

And they actually like each other. And eventually, they love each other too.

[cartoonsinthemorning]

Hi forgive me if this has been addressed before! I'm a little new to your fem!stan stuff (I saw your ask reblogged by Boston and snuck out of the back of their foodtruck to send this) but I love the idea and was wondering does stan pretend to be Stanford when he falls in the portal? (If that is the route that's taken in the au at least) because it would be really interesting to see if constance would enjoy the freedom that comes with being a man but at the same time I think it would drive (incel) ford up the wall if he came back and saw his sister running a successful business out of his house. There would be this extra layer of tension as ford has to grapple with his own learned misogyny. Though I also imagine exploring the multiverse and seeing the way gender is explored or even ignored in other worlds would probably force him to have some realizations before hand but whether or not hed really allow himself to internalize those realizations is another story. Bros got an easy excuse to not analyze his own sexism since hes trying to hunt down bill

And then when he comes back and sees his sister is doing just fine would probably wound his pride a little bit. All those fantasies and unfair expectations of their roles hes built in his mind are forced to come crashing down once again

I'm also just kind of obsessed with the idea of constance finally learning how to be /stan/ in gravity falls because she never had the freedom and safety to do so before. I'm sure a large part of rejection of any femininity whatsoever came from not having the option to do so in the past. But then she watches the kids over the summer and sees mabel embracing makeovers and grappling hooks hand in hand. Dipper is insistent on being a "man" but never once tries to tell mabel she needs to be a "woman"

This ask is all over the place sorry I think i had a point to the start of this and now I'm just rambling about your own au to you lmfao

Anyway love the concept (and your art!!)

-🐶

Hello! Thank you for passing by and sending me such a nice message, sharing your own ideas with me! and many thanks for the compliments too, of course ❤ That said, I'm afraid my answer will be a tad disappointing. Because, the fem!Stan I enjoy to imagine is cis, and I can't imagine a cis woman being able to consistently pretend to be a man for thirty years, without losing their mind (in the same way it's detrimental for most trans people to supress their true identity for a lifetime, non?). Especially, in the same way canon Stan is very masculine (with a sprinkle of femininity, despite his shame about it), I like to imagine Constance as a lady who is very proud and comfortable in her womanhood- despite her loud voice and direct and somehow brash manners. Even in her younger years, when she was classified as a tomboy by most, she loved girly things- dresses, make up, gossip magazines, etc. without issues. I think of Stan in her 60s wearing tacky jewelry, lipstick, and hair-curlers at night, tbh. That's why, in this AU, my mind skirts around the part were Ford gets stuck into the portal.

For example, I sometimes imagine 30s Ford simply having a change of heart and dismantling the portal, and (now former) Drifter!Constance living with him from that point on (and, of course, I elaborated this one up until Stan and Mabel get into the picture, but for the sake of brevity I'll stop here). Or, I bend canon a little, making up that the people of Gravity Falls only heard of some researcher who was gonna build and live in a shack in the forest, but they never actually got to see them, let alone find out if it was a man or a woman. It's a version were the chaos Ford caused in town while posses by Bill either never happened or he did it without getting caught by police or getting seen. And, about the name on documents and stuff-- Constance was a marinated and resourceful conwoman at that point, she simply found a way to make things work. Hell, they have the same last name- maybe this time she registered Ford as deceased, passed herself as his wife, and inherited the Shack and the rest of Ford's possessions. I know many, reading this, would think it's heartless of Stan, but to me this trick is fucking hilarious. Especially, I'm grinning like a maniac imagining how mad and appalled Ford would look as he realizes the trick Constance pulled- not only because what a fucking ASSHOLE she's been, to use his "death" to appropriate his stuff- but also!! secretly!! because WHAT the FUCK- he often fantasized about Stan being his wife, but this is the most cruel and ironic monkey paw situation EVER!! To reconnect back to your speculations about sexist!Ford being humiliated and mad about Constance running a business independently: I like it! it's fun to read! But, I have to go deeper. I usually think of Ford's sexism toward Constance to be the outside layer, so to speak. I think deep down Ford always knew Stan had the potential to be strong, resourceful and independent, despite what their ma, pa, teachers and other people said. Ford grew next to her, he knows what this girl is capable of, how determined she is. And that's the point...What he really dreads, what he really hates, is the idea she doesn't need him, at all. That's what would make Ford actually upset about Stan running a business: knowing that, hadn't she brought him back, she would had been fine, without him. Sexism would be the mental shield Ford uses to protect himself from this painful acknowledgment: He's just mad because his fraud of a sister thinks she's being successful, but all she accomplished was using her physical appearance and womanly ways to seduce and manipulate. That's all, really. I roll my eyes at him, here, which is a good indicator I got him in character, if I can say so myself. The last scene you shared, with Stan realizing her nephew and niece aren't as oppressed by gender roles as she herself used to be- and bypassing them, even- is SO sweet 🥺 I have absolutely no doubt in my mind: one thing that does NOT change in either the canon universe and the genderbend one, is that Stan would love and adore Dipper and Mabel- and learn a lot from them ❤ PS: is the puppy icon your anon signature? it's so cute! 🐶 look at this fine boy. Great choice.

[talleyuh]

i officially coined the term riverdaling way back when and yellowjackets is starting to apply.

to define: riverdaling (verb) is the trajectory of a tv series beginning to lose its audience with strange writing choices, mischaracterizing protagonists, and/or becoming too high on its own success that it has no logical conclusion in sight. jumping the shark, so to say. riverdaling can often result in a show’s rewatchability being lost. in the case of mystery or thriller shows, the writers often create mysteries they’re uninterested in answering.

shows that have been riverdaling:

riverdale (duh): season 1 was imperfect, but generally well liked for an archie comics meets scooby doo take for your edgy younger cousin. until season 2, it went slowly off the rails, expanding its own universe so much that season 7 destroys the show’s original canon.

cobra kai: the series became way too cartoonish and overpopulated post season two, losing its emotional core along the way.

on my block: what was supposed to be a grounded take on kids grappling with growing up and gang violence became too unrealistic and turned flawed but realistic characters into supervillains.

stranger things: each season loses the lightning in a bottle magic from season one more and more. the ideas are a mess and the duffer brothers are obsessed with making every season bigger than the last than making every season make sense.

euphoria: just like riverdale, euphoria spends far too much time on plot lines that make the show so much less interesting and sidelining the best cast members in the series (lili reinhart & zendaya)

YOU: again, first season was solid, each season after that begins to lose the show’s original identity, ostracizing original fans. because everyone knows that a plot twist that outsmarts the audience is better than a logical one that a few people have guessed.

pretty little liars: i would say this is the original riverdale. down to episodes that can really drag out 43 minutes and inappropriate romances.

now how does yellowjackets fit? i am so glad you asked.

the first season had energy, it had atmosphere, it had mystery, and it had stakes.

season two had those things… for the most part. Nat’s entire arc of drinking Lottie’s Kool-Aid was worse than what they’re doing to Shauna. A selfish, but ultimately almost sympathetic character to an actual villain.

Form my personal understanding, each of the yellowjackets is very flawed from their time in the woods but sympathetic enough so they feel human. Part of the appeal was how the series felt like two different shows with the 1996-1998 years in the wilderness and the 2021 setting where all the girls are grown up.

After a while… the characters feel a little incongruent in a way. which makes sense, as two different actors are portraying them. it’s also odd watching the adult cast get killed off while they’re still alive as teens in the wilderness to be developed. i feel like you either love or hate that choice. part of what hooked me was how everyone was so vague about what happened in the wilderness and slowly learning that kind of kills the pacing of the series, since we know for the most part who makes it out. i feel like the creators had an idea for what they wanted to do, but they have to keep creating more things to happen in the wilderness until the show ends or gets canceled.

the more time we spend with the characters, the more they begin to sour. they start doing things that are so evil and they don’t get addressed in the present and it’s so uncomfortable.

speaking of which, i feel like season 4 will be necessary to get the story back on track or it will be the final nail for yellowjackets. i like how the show teeters between the girls’ imaginations and a supernatural element and i hope they keep it vague.

season 3 has personally been a rough watch and i can only hope the finale saves it just a little.

[arnoketon]

Hiiiiiii, been following your syndicate playthrough journey lol, and as someone who loved that game, I was wondering a few things!

1. Who's your favorite character and why?

2. Did you have a favorite mission? If so, which one and why?

3. What was your favorite aspect of the game? Characters, environment, story, gameplay mechanics, etc

and feel free to yap about anything else, I just wanna know your thoughts :3

giggling n kicking my feet, ty for asking :3

1. Evie for sure, i already loved her a lot even before i played Syndicate. I like how she's a good balance between serious n silly, i love her style, i love that she literally believes in ghosts, she can turn invisible (idc if that's not a canon thing, i think its pretty cool), she gets so mad when she's riding a carriage n i like how sassy she is <3

2. ngl probably the mission where we kill roth, that was just fun idk 😭 or maybe the mission where we have to rescue Ned n steal a train right afterwards lol (i just really love Ned)

3. The twins are definitely one of my favorite things in general about this game, i've always been a big fan of sibling relationships in fiction n i like how they tease eachother n fight a lot of the time but also deeply care about eachother, they're just so sweet. :'] Almost all of the characters r so fun to watch n not just one dimensional, I also love the setting of victorian london n got super interested in it since i played the game, the music is amazing n definitely in my top three ac soundtracks.

I'm not gonna lie, i really liked the story but i couldn't help but feel like the pacing was a little too fast sometimes n they could've still worked a bit more on Evie n Jacob's relationship (tho i still love them just the way they are).

Now, about the game mechanics, i think i can say im pretty satisfied with almost everything? i think the combat is simple but fun, the parkour is a lot more responsive compared to unity in some ways AND i feel like this is a hot take but i love the grappling hook 😭 i always see ppl talking about how it ruined the gameplay bc u dont have to parkour as much anymore but u can literally choose just not to use it, also it makes complete sense to add it to the game since the buildings aren't as close to eachother like the previous games bc now the streets need to be bigger to give room for the carriages n considering the size of some of the buildings the grappling hook saves so much time n it makes it even easier to escape when u have like twenty guards trying to kill u (happened to me a lot </3)

And i think that's enough bc this post is already too long but thank u so much for letting me yap about this game :]