#he crashes onto another end island probably.

[solargeist]

thinking abt a failed timeline Grian that tried to run away from the Watchers but crashed and broke his wing in the process. He is dragged back home sobbing.

Who knows what happens to him !

[cher-rei]

Heyy,

Could u write a Jamal Musiala x reader fic

Where they are both on vacation and just go swimming on the beach but she doesn’t like swimming because she fears deep water,so he helps her

and he propose her later ,at dinner

I know it’s kinda kitschy

xoxo

bottled up– jamal musiala [ J.M ]

I will always love you [godsped– frank ocean]

pairing: jamal musiala x fem!reader

summary: a much needed trip to the maldives ends in a wave of emotions and unforgettable memories.

genre(s): fluff and a whole lot of emotions, suggestive content but it's chill

[wc: 2.3k] masterlist

notes: screaming. crying. throwing up. me when????

your jaw dropped at the breathtaking sight of the resort in front of you. jamal had surprised you with a trip to the maldives, saying that it had been so long since you too have been alone together without any interruptions.

and you were so glad that the thought dawned on him because the way that the sun soaked island looked from your hotel room was gorgeous. the azure waters, flourishing greenery, and the vibrant hibiscus flowers set a perfect backdrop for your much needed holiday.

jamal had been looking forward to this trip for weeks, eager to spend quality time with you without any pressure. he shut the door to your suite behind him, a smile on his lips as you gawked at the view from the window.

"this view is making me emotional," you joked and took a few pictures of the sunset scenery.

jamal hugged you from behind, letting his chin rest on top of your head to admire the view and appreciate the feeling of you safe in his arms. "yeah?" he laughed at your eager nod in response to his answer and gently peppered the crook of your neck with kisses.

you felt the featherlight touch of his lips start to roam, causing you to giggle. you shivered at his touch, absentmindedly tilting your head to give him more access. this probably wasn't the best thing to do at a moment like this, especially when you still had unpacking to do.

jamal's kisses grew more insistent, his hands roaming over your body and you turned around to face him, needing more. your lips met instinctively, your fingers tangled in his hair which caused him to let out a satisfied moan.

taking this as a sign, he took a few steps back that had the two of you stumbling back toward the bed, your laughter mingling with the sound of the crashing waves outside. the energy between the two of you was playful, nothing short of a giggling mess. but you loved it.

"I know I said that I was tired when we landed." his kisses moved from your lips to your jaw, down your neck, and across your collarbone. "but I think I'll be good for another hour."

disregarding your laughing state, he gently pushed you back onto the mattress, the playful twinkle in his eyes never leaving as he looked down at your smiling figure.

you covered your face with your hands in attempt to hide the blush forming on your cheeks. "an hour?" the shock in your voice made him smirk, and he pulled your hands from your face.

"baby, if you want two then I'll be more than happy to--"

"--jamal!"

the following morning, you woke up feeling more relaxed than ever. the atmosphere was enough to lull you to sleep for at least a week, but there was still much exploring to do.

jamal made sure to have you up and ready for breakfast in record time so you could be out for some sightseeing. his excitement for this trip was jarring and it warmed your heart knowing that he finally got a chance to rest after the season he's had back home.

it was filled with ups and downs and you recalled the evenings where he would come home from practice and lay himself down on your chest. no words were exchanged in moments like those, instead you'd gently trial your hand on his back.

in minutes you'd have him fast asleep with his head resting in the crook of your neck, his light snores of exhaustion tugging at your heart as a reminder of how hard he worked. all this at the ripe age of 21, so you knew that your role wasn't just to be his girlfriend, it was to be his support and home.

which was what you were doing now in your hotel room after taking a tour of the resort and eating lunch. jamal's grip tightened on your waist as he cuddled further into your side, basking in your warmth.

"I'd kill to have vacations where we could just lay like this," he muttered through a smile, a warmth spreading through his chest at the low hum vibrating from your chest. and he was just about to fall back to sleep when a wave of realisation washed over him.

he lifted his head to look down at you, flashing his trademark smile. "are you ready to hit the beach?"

you smiled back at him, though with a hint of apprehension. "sure, but you know how I feel about the ocean right?"

the ocean, or rather the depth of it was one of your greatest fears. you were one to appreciate the way it looked, and the beauty of the waves crashing and how it looked on the horizon but when it came to swimming in it, your chest tightened.

jamal understood this better than anyone and ruffled your hair teasingly. "don't worry, I'll be holding your hand the entire time. and we'll just dip our toes in, okay?"

screw jamal and his power over you, because not even 10 minutes later, you were on your way with a bag full of snacks, sunscreen, and a ridiculously sized inflatable flamingo that he insisted on bringing. when you arrived, the beach was everything you'd hoped for— clear waters, soft sand, and surprisingly empty.

your boyfriend wasted no time and set your things beside your lounge chairs, making sure that you were comfortable. before he got too excited you wave him over and took out the sunscreen.

"j, take your shirt off. you can't get it wet," you said and applied some sunscreen to your arms and legs. you were wearing a cute cream linen two-piece— shorts and a button-up shirt with your swimsuit underneath,

janal sat on the lounge chair with you standing between his legs, with a pout on his lips, clearly not wanting to put the sunscreen on. "you just wanted a reason to touch me, I know how you think."

you rolled your eyes as you smoothed the sunscreen onto his shoulders, just the sight of his toned upper body had your heart pounding but you couldn't give in.

he must've been tipped off by your lack of reply though and took it as an invitation to tease you further. there was silence as you applied the last of your sunscreen but your breath hitched at the feeling of jamal fidgeting with the hem of your shorts.

not having any of, you gently slapped his hand away. "we're done here, thanks."

to your surprise, he gladly took his leave and made sure to drag the flamingo to the water. after 10 minutes of relaxation and peaceful sunbathing, he called out to you, saying that it was time to get in.

you happily declined however, and said that your presence and the fact that you took of your shirt and shorts was enough as is. there was no need for you to get in the water instead, you stood on the water's edge and watched as he played around.

"but the flamingo is lonely without you," he whined with a pout, bringing the flamingo floaty closer.

you shook your head and kicked the water beneath your feet, which sent an unwanted chill up your spine. "no thanks. I'm fine over here."

jamal was a baby at times like this, where he would whine and beg because no matter what, he knew that you'd give in eventually. he came up to stand a few steps in front of you, the floaty still at his side.

"come on baby." he extended his hand out for you to grab. "for the flamingo?"

what was up with him and this famn flamingo?

with a deep sigh, and a roll of your eyes, you relented, watching as his eyes lit up. "fine, but if I drown, it's on you."

"deal," he said and took your hand in his, slowly taking a few steps further into the water. "I'll even throw in a free cpr lesson."

a scoff left your lips and the two of you continued to wade into the water which was now resting just above your knees. the comforting grip of jamal's hand on yours made the situation ten times better and you found yourself enjoying the feeling of the water on your skin.

"see. this isn't so bad," he said and lightly splashed you with some water and you splashed him back.

it took a bit but you were more or less fully covered by the water that was now resting at your chest. you floated around on the flamingo calmly while jamal stayed at your side in the water. it was more relaxing than you thought it would be, and you quite enjoyed the feeling.

as the afternoon went on, the two of you enjoyed the water, had fun with the flamingo and took a bunch of pictures with it, and laughed until your sides hurt. by the time the sun began to set, you were both comfortably bobbing in the water, watching the sky turn into a masterpiece of warm hues.

a few days later, you and jamal found yourselves back at the beach, this time with a picnic basket and a sense of excitement. the flamingo floaty was noticeably absent, but there was a twinkle in jamal's eyes that you couldn't quite place.

after a lazy afternoon of sunbathing and snaking, jamal suggested that you should take a walk along the shore. you were a but suspicious at first since it was starting to get late, but agreed seeing as that you wanted to spend more time with your boyfriend in this setting.

as you strolled, hand in hand, jamal kept glancing around, seemingly searching for something. you took notice of this and couldn't help but wonder. "jamal what are you looking for?" you lightly nudged his arm and he turned to look down at you with his lips pursed.

"I have a feeling that the flamingo is following us," he deadpanned, causing you to laugh. his blank expression didn't last long though, and his focus was fully on how beautiful you looked.

the way that the setting sun reflected your complexion was awing and he couldn't help but stare, his heart pounding in his chest. you were breathtaking and it took jamal a while to realise that you were talking to him.

you waved a hand in front of his face. "hello? are you okay?"

he cleared his throat and smiled. "yeah, you're distracting me that's all."

a scoff of disbelief fell from your lips at his comment but you continued to face forward, your interlocked hands swinging at your sides. the stroll continued for a bit but finally he gasped and directed your attention to something.

"it's looks like there's something in it." you squinted, spotting the bottle bobbing in the gentle waves.

jamal who couldn't contain his curiosity ran to the waters edge and picked up the bottle, inspecting it before attempting to remove the cork. he was struggling by the looks of it, and waved you over to help him.

you rolled your eyes but joined in, both of you tugging at the bottle until jamal finally popped it open, almost falling over in the process. he laughed sheepishly as he handed it over to you with a sigh.

"open it, I'm too tired I need to catch my breath," he said dramatically and took a few steps to dramatically fan himself off. you watched your boyfriend with a disapproving look as he walked off but gave in.

you uncorked the bottle and pulled out a piece of paper, laughing at how this was probably something like a few kids did a while ago. nonetheless, you unrolled it was a smile until your eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

the paper read, "will you marry me?" but what confused you was that it was obviously in jamal's handwriting. "j, wha--" your sentence abruptly came to a halt when you turned around to look at your boyfriend who was dropped to one knee, holding up the most gorgeous ring you've ever seen.

a knot of emotions formed in your stomach and you were honestly about to throw up. words were lodged in your throat, your gaze softening as you looked at jamal who was nervously smiling. "I love you. I am, who I am because of you— you are every season, every hope and every dream I've ever had, and no matter what happens in the future, everyday that we're together is the greatest day of my life."

the tears were falling down your cheeks in record time, but you tried to wipe them back as jamal carried on speaking and all you could think of in that moment was how much you loved and appreciated every single thing about him.

a small chuckle left his lips as he watched you blink away your tears. "I have so many things to say right now but you're making me nervous-- seriously you look so gorgeous right now." the trail off was unintentional and after a beat of listening to you laugh, his heart swelled.

"just like the grains of sand that make up this beach, you make up every part of me. so before I start crying— will you marry me?"

your heart raced, a of laughter filling the air as you didn't waste a second to nod your head with an excited "yes, of course I'll marry you!"

jamal slipped the ring on your finger, picking you up and spinning you around as you both laughed. he set you down and kissed you deeply, the waves lapping at your feet as you sunk into the sand and the feeling of utter bliss.

it was when you pulled away that you heard a few more familiar screams echo through the air causing you to look behind you. at a nearby rock, sophia, aaliyah, kai and florian appeared. they were carrying— of course— the flamingo floaty, now decorated with flowers and a banner that read, "she said yes!"

you burst out laughing and looked at jamal who pulled you closer to his chest, kissing the top of your head. "I told you the flamingo was following us."

[0vergrowngraveyard]

The day had started pretty average all things considered.

Eggman had decided to attack yet another poor, defenseless village but at this point, that was pretty common (as depressing as it was to admit).

It was a peaceful little spot. The village was pretty small and had its own little beach a few miles away. Why the doctor had decided to attack this place out of any village on Mobius was beyond Sonic but hey, why question the bad doctor’s plans when he can just wreck them?

Which is exactly what he and his team, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, were doing. Knuckles had decided to get off his island and pay everyone a visit for once in his life so when word got out about Eggman’s attack, Sonic had to bring him along.

Y’know, just for some fun.

The gang had managed to drive Eggman’s attention away from the village and solely onto them. Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy took care of the badniks on the ground while Tails handled a few of the larger flying ones in the Tornado.

At this point, they were just fighting on the beach. It wasn’t ideal for the hedgehog, but it was away from the village at least, and that’s all that mattered. He could begrudgingly sacrifice a bit of comfort in order to keep the people safe.

Didn’t mean he wouldn’t audibly complain about it though.

“Why’d you have to choose a beach to fight at, Eggy? D’you know how hard it is to get good traction on sand?” He charge up a homing attack and shot through three buzzbombers, “Actually, now that I think about it, you probably wouldn’t!”

“Aren’t you the one who led us over here?” Knuckles asked, punching a hole straight through a badnik and tossing it into another one which exploded on impact.

“Maybe, but Eggman’s the one who attacked the village so it’s ultimately his fault!” Sonic responded. Knuckles couldn’t argue with that.

Amy slammed her hammer into the ground, a shockwave taking out at least six of the robots. “Is it just me, or are there a lot more badniks?”

Sonic paused and looked around.

Yeah, there were definitely more than usual, but it was nothing they couldn’t handle!

He pulled up his communicator, “Yo Tails! How’s it going up there?” He asked his brother. The Tornado was flying over the ocean, keeping a lot of the flying badniks away from the ground fight.

“Not too bad!” He pulled on the yoke, driving the plane upwards as two bots crashed into each other. “What about down there?”

“Easy peasy!” He pulled his hand away to spindash through a bot before continuing, “Though it doesn’t exactly reach lemon squeezy criteria.” He held back a snort as he heard the kit groan.

“You sound stupid, I hope you know that.” the fox said.

“I second that,” Knuckles added, “though I’m not entirely sure what this fight being simple has to do with peas or lemons.”

This time, Sonic did laugh, to which Amy spoke up about, “Leave him alone, Sonic. It’s just a saying, Knuckles!”

“Once again, your figures of speech make little sense. Why do they all involve food items?”

Sonic opened his mouth to quip back at the echidna when an explosion rang out, echoed in the communicator.

“As much as I’d love to participate in explaining Mobian phrases to Knuckles, things are getting a little dicey up here! I’ll talk later!” Tails said, performing some tricky maneuvering around a few bots as they exploded.

The Tornado had been getting further and further away from the shore.

“Alright bud! Be careful!” Sonic said, taking notice of how far the biplane had suddenly gotten.

“You too, guys!”

“Don’t know the meaning of the word, lil’ bro!” The hedgehog responded as he lowered his communicator, bringing his attention back to the fight at hand. He could almost hear the kit lecturing him about his hypocrisy from the biplane.

The fight on the ground went on for about 10 more minutes. The three had started making a game out of it. Who could throw/smack Sonic into the most badniks in a row? Amy ended up winning when she sent him flying through five badniks in a row croquette style. Her reward was bragging rights, of course.

As Sonic was recovering from being tossed around like a ball for the past few minutes, he decided to have a chat with the old doctor.

“Ayo, doc! You’ve been a little quiet!” He yelled out, “Is this a defeat silence or a disappointed silence or-“

“Quiet rodent. I’m waiting for the finale.” The doctor said, pressing a few buttons on his control panel and muttering something under his breath.

Sonic laughed as Knuckles and Amy walked up behind him, the former keeping his eyes on the Tornado as it was still fighting off a few of the bots.

Were they getting more aggressive?

“Finale? You mean when I knock you on your butt and—!”

(It all happened so fast.)

There was an explosion, a big explosion. It was loud enough to echo through the entire area (or had it just been amplified in his mind?).

He didn’t register Knuckles cry out and bolt towards the shoreline. He didn’t register Amy pulling up her communicator and screaming at the person on the other end to respond. He didn’t even register Eggman’s triumphant laugh as he said words the hedgehog couldn’t hear.

The world moved in slow motion as he turned his head towards the water just in time to see the flaming body of the Tornado crash into the ocean, sinking to its depths.

Time froze. The world around him muted. He stared at the spot the biplane had crashed.

(It happened too fast. Everything just needed to slow down.)

He couldn’t breathe. A suffocating sense of dread blindsided him, smothering him alive and he didn't have the strength to fight back. His heartbeat pounded in his ear and his legs itched to run.

To run away from the entire scene. To run and not look back because maybe, just maybe, if he didn’t look back, that would mean it never happened. That everything was fine. They would go back to the workshop later and bicker and have movie nights and play fights. They’d complain about one another’s habits and laugh together.

He’d lecture the kit about his sleep schedule (or lack thereof) and drag him to his bed. He’d tuck him in and the kit would later wander into his room after having a nightmare and the two brothers would snuggle up together, fighting off the bad dreams that tormented the little fox in his sleep.

That would all happen. It would. It had to.

It had to because if it didn’t, that would mean Tails was really…

Tails was…

(He just needed the world to slow down. Just this once. He wasn’t ready to catch up yet.)

He didn’t realize he had walked waist deep into the ocean with Amy having to hold him back. Knuckles had tried to swim to the wreckage but soon realized it was a fruitless endeavor.

The crash had been too far out.

There was no way to get to Tails.

All Sonic could do was stare out across the body of water he feared so intensely. It was a fear that was ingrained in him.

The ocean didn’t care about who or what was in its depths. If it wanted to keep you there, it would, and there wasn’t much you could do about it. Especially someone like him who sank instead of floated.

The dark depths were always out for him, wrapping its hands around him and tugging him further and further down whenever the opportunity made itself known. It was like the ocean was determined to make itself his final resting place. It joyfully filled his lungs with water and never allowed him up for air.

There was one person he could rely on to get to him before the water did. One person he knew that could fight off the thing keeping him down.

But that one person had just had his small body grabbed and dragged under by whatever malevolent force lived in those waters. Never to resurface.

It was as if the ocean was laughing at him. Annoyingly tapping at his waist with waves as if to say, “Hey, look what I just did. Did you see that?”

Of course he saw, how could he have missed it?

How could he miss the sight of the biplane he took with him from Christmas Island, the plane that allowed him to meet the kit in the first place, crashing in a flaming wreck and sinking to the bottom of the ocean, taking his little brother along with it?

The waters laughed at him.

They bragged about how they were the ones holding the kit instead of him. That their hands were running throughout the fox’s soft, golden fur, surrounding him in his final moments.

They teased him about how he’d never be able to hold him again. His hands itched with the feeling of his kit’s fur beneath them. He wanted to find him, to rescue him from his captor. Even if he was taking his final breaths, he wanted them to be in the arms of someone the fox trusted more than life itself. To tell his kid how much he loves him and how much he meant to all of them. That he would be missed.

But the kit was alone.

And that’s exactly how the ocean wanted it.

…

Knuckles didn’t know how much time had passed and frankly, he didn’t care.

He didn’t want to think about it because if the kit hadn’t gone quickly in the initial explosion, then the alternative would’ve taken time. Minutes he could’ve spent swimming to get to him. He should’ve been able to get to him. He was an incredibly fast swimmer, he should’ve been able to get out there.

As the seconds went by, the already cavernous pit in his stomach grew tenfold. He tried not to think about the fox kit who was alone in the cockpit of his beloved biplane, possibly conscious and just waiting for his time to come.

He didn’t want to think about the youngest — one of his first friends, someone he had grown to consider to be a younger brother just as the hedgehog had — in that scenario. It wasn’t right, not after all the kit had done for them.

He had managed to pull Sonic a little closer to the shore. The blue hedgehog had fallen to his knees, no longer being able to carry the weight of what just happened. It was haunting, the way he just stared at the horizon. Never in his life did he think he’d see the hedgehog in such a state of despair and defeat.

Then again, he never even began to imagine something like this happening. Not to Tails.

He pried his eyes off of the grief stricken big brother and looked beside him.

Amy wasn’t doing much better, her head was in her knees, fist clenched and body tense as she cried. She was sobbing her heart out. He could only imagine the thoughts going through her mind.

He looked at the sand in front of him and closed his eyes out of respect for the kit, a few tears he didn’t even know had formed slipped down his cheek. His mind flashed with memories of the fox kit, from the one of him first arriving to Angel Island with his hyperactive yet silent blue brother all the way to the call just a few moments ago.

It wasn’t right, they (Sonic) had just been teasing the echidna about his lack of knowledge for common Mobians phrases. How could this have happened? Why did this happen? Why was there no heads up or warning? It was all so sudden and they didn’t even have time to process anything.

Knuckles knew it was foolish to question why people died, he was the last of his kind for crying out loud, he should be used to this.

Except he wasn’t. The kid may not have been an echidna, but he was still part of his tribe. His family. They all were.

And their tribe had just lost their youngest. Their little golden ball of sunshine. The kid who could brighten an entire area with his laughter and knock someone’s ego down several pegs at the same time. The kid he for the longest time just assumed was magical because of how skillful he was with machines, creating their communicators out of seemingly nothing just so they could stay in contact with each other. He created incredible defensive mechanisms and weapons just to keep people safe. He was only 8 years old.

He had done so much for them, and this was how they repaid him? How the world repaid him?

How dishonorable.

[shuugumi]

an! ive been busy with school & this acc is probably dead but i still want to contiune posting fics & drabbles because my mind is too creative & i have a whole bunch of drafts that are semi-complete that are ready to be posted! hope ygs enjoy the ex-husband!gojo series

ex-husband!gojo satoru who arrives at your doorstep with a bouquet of roses and you great him with a polite nod as you lead him into your apartment when kara starts to beam with happiness.

"daddy!" kara screams before jumping up into satoru's arm, crinkling the plastic wrapped around the assorted colored roses. "it isn't wednesday...why are you here?" you ask cautiously, walking and standing at the kitchen island watching the two embrace each other.

"was in the city for some meetings with the higher ups, thought i could come by and hangout with my girls." he says innocently, putting kara down and then the flowers on the kitchen island. you sigh, bending down under the sink to reach for the ceramic vase you and satoru had created together during one of your dates, many years ago.

"we should make another vase, with kara of course." satoru inclines once he sees you start to fill up the vase with water. "that's a good idea, you can take kara when you have her." you say, opening the bouquet of flowers and cutting the ends off before arranging the flowers into a beautiful arrangement.

"but it'll be fun as a family, y'know. want kara to have that family bonding experience we both never had."

he was right. growing up was never easy with distant parents who never wanted you. finding out you were pregnant with kara had every right to make you scared and have thoughts of giving her up. generational trauma was something you were scared of passing down to your daughter. satoru was right in everywhere to include everyone as a family even if you were divorced.

ex-husband!gojo who persuades you into going out as a family and you find yourself sitting across from your ex-husband with little kara sitting next to him in the cozy bistro.

the bistro had it's usual soft, romantic lighting that seemed to mock the awkwardness in the air. you wanted to be happy. happy because your daughter was happy but, it always felt wrong to look like a happily married couple out in public because you weren't married.

“what’re you gonna get suteki?” you ask, watching her pull and play at satoru’s white locks. “i dunno mommy. wan’ share strewberdy milfshake with daddy.” she says, presenting a smile at you as satoru makes kara sit down correctly.

(suteki is kara’s nickname; originally it had been yours given by satoru after seeing how beautiful you were physically and emotionally. a beautiful heart that was passed down to another beautiful heart.)

"we can all share a strawberry milkshake, how about we add some vanilla cake too?" satoru chimes in and kara immediately agrees. daughter like daddy. a major sweet tooth.

the waiter came by and asked if the three had been ready with their order, they placed their order.

time passed and the vanilla cake along with a large strawberry milkshake with extra strawberries on the side presented with three straws in the drink was placed onto the table.

conversations flowed effortlessly as kara blabbed on about her experience in kindergarten and how she's really not the happiest camper about learning english when she moves a grade above. satoru wore his blindfold like usual but, there was never a time where you never could not feel his eyes on you. feeling you get shy when you start to smile and laugh a little too hard when you see kara get annoyed at satoru's antics.

with kara knocked out due to a sugar crash, draped over satoru's shoulder as the three of you walk back to the station. satoru intertwined his fingers with yours and even though it took a little while for you to reciprocate the same action, you held his hand the entire walk back to the station.

"maybe we should try being a couple again...it wouldn't hurt right?" he says, squeezing your hand a few times before you looked up at him. "satoru..." you whisper and he sighs, his lips turned a slight upside down, "why not y/N...look at us right now. it seems so natural."

"i don't want to hurt you...again."

©shuugumi ; do not translate, copy, or plagiarize work

[vide0-nasties]

Going to be rambling insanely about Ghost and probably what his feelings on the monarchy would be, coming from one deeply damaged povo to another.

Anyway, specifically around the time the parasite in chief in her idiot hat (thanks Eccleston lub u) died and passed said idiot hat on, I was seeing a lot of (fun and gentle-ribbing, mind you!) posts about Ghost getting razzed about the queen croaking and maybe him being sad about it or something - I don’t really remember bc I have shit for brains and I just latch onto what bits my adhd will allow.

SO. I really don’t think Bruv Innit gave two shits about Liz buying the farm, bc he grew up working class in a working class town to a drug addicted, drug peddling dad, and a fairly nondescript mom who likely didn’t have a way to get her and her kids out of that shit situation (per ‘09 MW lore and some presumption). I imagine dude was dragged around a shitload of council estates and his dad’s friends’ shitty crash pads, no stability whatsoever, where food insecurity was a big ass forever-looming deal, mom had no idea if her 20 year old vauxhall was going to make it another trip to her minimum wage part time job, and school was forever on the back burner bc when it came to school supplies/trips vs eating and keeping the lights on. You can guess which one won.

If we’re also going with him being about 35-40ish, he would’ve been 10-12ish or so around Diana’s divorce and then her death. So, here’s this starving, horrendously abused kid, with his starving, horrendously abused mother and little brother, drowning in a system that is pretty much just letting them sink to the bottom, nothing is being done about the evil sperm donor that ruins everything for them, and he’s obliterated constantly by TV coverage and tabloids and radio DJs talking about this goddamned family’s stupid fucking drama. Charles cheated, Diana left, her poor boys in their fancy private schools with their endless wealth and glowing skin and brand new clothes that don’t stink of consignment shops are sad.

Sorrows - sorrows, prayers. 🫶

It’s a story he’s seen countless times, the only difference is money and coverage. And, realistically, the women in the stories he knows aren’t killed in car wrecks, they’re killed by their infuriated husbands who think they’re owed something catching up. Maybe that’s why his mom doesn’t leave the cocksucker that trapped her, she could’ve ended up another council house Diana that no one gave a shit about.

He grows up, becomes a butcher’s apprentice, joins the army. Straightens his brother out, makes sure his mom is set up nice, finally beats the shit out of his dad. And all the while, there looms the most fucking pointless, parasitic family in England: living off taxes taken from the public, god knows how much land and how many castles, even owning all the fucking swans on the island.

Relics, vampires, leeches.

But, you know, twenty years down the road, he’s pushing 40, his services to the country are done in the dark, the family he tried so badly to save were brutally cut down anyway, and when he goes to Tesco, the price of a fifth of piss Smirnoff is insane, and he’s still got Soap swimming in his head mid-rant bc his mam’s fucking knee replacement appeal has been denied for the third time and she can’t even walk anymore, Gaz is moving for the second time in a year bc he just can’t afford to live close to his parents even on his salary, meanwhile there was a stretch where it looked like Philip was surviving solely by being pumped full of virgin blood and straight stem cells.

So, yeah, if anything he probably said cheers when the news broke and cracked a couple extra jokes that day.

“What d’you call one dead Windsor? A good start.”

Edit: This is picking up some traction. @50cal-fullauto-astarion is my CoD blog if you like my Call of Bullshit stuff, this is my main and I don’t really go into CoD here

[benjen-mormont]

⋆❅‧ HOW TO FALL WITH DIGNITY (YOU CAN’T) ⋆❅‧

(Starter with @edrickofwinterfell)

Benjen did not belong here.

Bear Island had its winters, sure—frozen shores, treacherous tides, and the occasional snowstorm that could bury a man alive if he wasn’t careful. But this? This thin, brittle sheet of ice stretched over the godswood pond was a different beast entirely. It was mocking him. He could feel it.

His boots, usually so sure and steady, had been cast aside in favor of sharpened bone skates, strapped tightly to his feet by the little demon currently gliding in circles around him like a vulture waiting for its meal to keel over.

Edrick Stark was a menace on ice. The boy cut across the frozen lake as if he’d been born to it, twisting, turning, and carving patterns into the surface with infuriating ease. Meanwhile, Benjen stood wobbling on the edge like a newborn fawn, one wrong shift away from total disaster.

“This is hardly fair,” Benjen muttered, flexing his fingers. His gauntlets were already off, tossed aside when he realized they were about as useful as a sword in a snowball fight. He’d fallen three times just trying to stand, and his pride—not to mention his backside—was still recovering. “You weigh as much as my left leg. I, on the other hand, am a *normal* size.”

Benjen clenched his jaw. He had faced worse than this. He had warged into his own warhorse mid-battle, dodging arrows and spears like they were flies. He had stood before Cregan Stark and sworn to serve him until death, all while maintaining a straight face despite the man’s notoriously terrible breath. He had even tolerated Kermit Tully’s drunk singing without throwing the man into a river.

He could ice skate.

He stepped forward. The ice, traitorous and cruel, slid out from under him. For a fleeting second, he was weightless, arms flailing, feet flying—

Then, disaster.

Benjen crashed down onto his back with the force of a dying mammoth. A crack rang through the ice, but the surface held. His dignity, however, did not.

Edrick, of course, was already laughing.

Benjen groaned, staring up at the sky. “Seven hells.”

He shifted, testing whether he could get up without making things worse. The answer was a resounding *no*. Edrick was giggling so hard people would probably hear him from Dorne.

Benjen sighed, long and slow. “You are a very small, very annoying creature, Stark.”

Edrick leaned down, extending a hand after cracking a joke Benjen wouldn’t dignify by repeating. Benjen took it, not because he needed help, but because the little pest would never let him hear the end of it otherwise.

He grunted as he pulled himself up. The ice groaned beneath his weight, but it held. For now. Maybe if Benjen warged into a bear, he could at least have the satisfaction of chasing the boy off the lake. Another slide, another crack. He could keep trying to get up, which would almost certainly end in another fall. He could accept defeat and let the ice claim him. Or—

With a slow, deliberate movement, he reached into the fur-lined collar of his cloak, withdrew a handful of snow, and lobbed it at Edrick’s face.

The boy squawked mid-jest, skates skidding wildly as he tried to dodge, but the snow caught him square on the ear.

Benjen smirked. "Not so graceful now, are you?"

Maybe Winterfell wasn’t so bad this time of year. Or maybe he’d just hit his head harder than he thought.

[gildedmuse]

With credit towards @jhaernyl who shared some fantastic doctor/surgeon humor with me that ended up leading to.....

The ZoLaw AU No One Asked For...

Where Law is a surgeon on some small Northern Island.

Recently Transfered Nurse Sabo: Excuse me, sir, there is a man here? Roronoa Zoro. He's apparently suffered a small injury.

Law: *sighs* Let me guess, that loudmouthed robot made him come in.

Nurse Sabo: No, he-

Law: Robo-ya's wife then. At least one of them is sensible.

Sabo: He came alone, sir, said he was training and suddenly felt something was off balance. I couldn't -

Law: *Going completely still*

Law: *Turning and grabbing the poor new trainee by the shoulders* QUICK! Answer me this: did he finish his training?

Sabo: Err, no, he said he was worried and he came right in so-

Law: BEPO GRAB THE CRASH CART! WE HAVE A CODE GREEN!!!

Law rooming down the whole hospital.

Law: WE CANT LET HIM GET AWAY HE IS SERIOUSLY INJURED *Pointing dramatically as Shachi and Penguin nod to one another, both grab jing gurneys and blocking off the ER exit*

Zoro: *Raising an eyebrow, though also still suspiciously holding onto his arm* Honestly, Torao it was no big deal, I feel fine now.

Law: *sighs* Zoro-ya... *looking down at the floor.*

*....And there is just a trail of blood on the floor leading to Zoro who is holding into his arm which he has (roughly) bandaged on.*

Zoro: What?

Law: .... Zoro-ya, give me your arm. Now.

Zoro: Torao, I told you, its fine, I just needed some ba-

Law: Give. Me. Your. Arm.

Zoro: Tch *hands over his stupid traitor arm*

Trainee Nurse Rebecca: *passes out cold*

Law: Zoro-ya, what has Law said about cutting off your own limbs!?

Zoro: But you always fix it and it was easier than-

Law: That's not the point Zoro-ya! You can't just cut off limbs whenever it's easy!

Sabo: So are they always like this?

Older HCA Ikkaku, who is used to these idiots: *holds out popcorn bucket to share*

No words. Her show is on.

Sabo: But none of the TVs are-Ooooh HCA Ikkaku: I said shhh!

Ikkaku: Roronoa just mentioned Doctor Trafalgar just being sour over Zoro's ankle stitches. That ALWAYS leads to drama.

2nd HCA aka Perona: *appearing from nowhere to grab a handful of popcorn* Doctor Trafalgar hates those scars. Everyone in the hospital - depth, probably the whole town - knows as much. Law doesn't exactly make it a secret.

Like catching someone up on a your favorite long running television show.

Only its live and one of the people is holding a detached bloody arm.

Ikkaku: *ignoring the wide eyes stare from young nurse* Ooh, Looks like Roronoa is going to let him attach it.

Perona: *giggling* Doctor Trafalgar is gonna give him such a hard time! Horohoro, I'll bet he wouldn't even call for the anesthesiologist!

Law: AND DON'T BOTHER GETTING CESEAR! WE'RE DOING THIS NOW!

Ikkaku: Yo, new guy, stop just standing around and get your pal there off the floor.

Perona: And hurry up, we doesn't want to miss when Roronoa finally smiles. Doctor Trafalgar goes bright red! It's SOOO cute! 💕

She's right, too, as anyone whose worked there long enough will attest. It's the best part of the whole show.

The trainee and new transfer are not sure about all this, but the employees who have worked there awhile seem to be.... enjoying it?

Law: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, IDIOT!? WHAT IF I WASN'T HERE TODAY!? AND DON'T JUST ACT LIKE IT WAS A MINOR PAIN!!!

Zoro: Hey! Last time, when Robin made me come (damn noisy witch) and I showed the lady what was wrong, she passed out and you got all-

Law: Because you can't just show our poor check in team a gaping chest wound, Zoro-ya!

Law: *eyebrow twitching* Still! You're supposed to mention when you've CUT OFF YOUR OWN ARM!

It doesn't seem fair for Torao is getting so upset with him, especially since this time Zoro came in without even being made to. Oh, and he knew it wouldn't be a problem! Torao is the best surgeon in the world, Zoro knew he'd be able to fix him.

Sure enough.....

Zoro: Oye, Torao! Look at that! It's good as new! *Bright, sharp smile* See, ai knew there was a reason we kept you around!

Law: *immediately frozen*

HCA Ikkaku: *nudges nurse* Wait for it...

Law: *frozen*

HCA Perona: *holding onto the trainee Nurse too tightly, eyes wide* Here it comes....

Law: *whole face turns bright pink, pulling his surgery mask up as if hiding* Whatever you idiot! Now, stop getting yourself hurt! I'm not sewing on any other limbs for another month at least, I swear!

Zoro: You are the best, Torao *smile getting even brighter*

Perona: 💕 Ahh, aren't they so cute? 💕

Rebecca: Are they?

Sabo: Or are they just scary?

Zoro: *still with that sharp smile as he twists his arm, practicing all his sword moves. Absolutely glowing with pride* Not even a scar, doc. You really are the best.

Law: Of course I didn't leave a scar! I'm not some useless sack of flesh like that Hogsback asshole. I would never leave you with an unwanted mark.

Zoro: *still studying his arm, smile becoming softer, warmer* You know... I wouldn't mind a little mark. So long as it was from you.

And Law's mask gets pulled up so high he's practically got his eyes covered.

(It's both.)

(They're both adorable and scary.)

[mezzy303]

Ok laddies time for this week's theory time (do I need to make a masterpost of my theories? This is getting a little ridiculous lol)

Spoilers for One Piece chapter 1115 spoilers under the cut

The way I jumped and threwwww my kindle (onto pillows) when Vegapunk confirmed all the Atlantis theories!!!!!!! I made the mistake of reading it right before bed and I was wide awake for like another two hours talking to a friend and just thinking about it 😅

I honestly was ready to scrap my theory from ch 1113 about there being whole continents 800 years ago before a great flood happened, and I'm still reeling on how it all turned out to be true besides the natural phenomenon part (here's my theory from ch 1114). And Oda once again proves how fucking genius he is bc I never expected 200 meters?????? Omg???? That's over 650ft for my fellow US folks. Here's an image going around Twitter from a YouTube video that shows what are own world would look like if sea levels rose 200m

Insanity

These recent chapters have had me really questioning the mechanics of the One Piece world lol. Tbh I think we all just assumed that the world was just Like That and mainly functioned to drive the plot forward. But there are actual reasons behind it?? With this revelation, I started thinking about how the sinking of land could have been intentional on the Allies' part, beyond the destruction of the Great Kingdom and erasing it from history. The way the world is now, with the Red Line going all the way around and the Calm Belts running perpendicular to it, it's incredibly hard to travel between the different Seas. The islands are also fairly isolated from each other, especially on the Grand Line. It makes it hard for information to travel around, and the only way to get world news is through a heavily vetted newspaper. To me, it all seems purposeful to further subjugate the world by physically dividing the people, making them easier to control and rule over.

I also want to reiterate how easy it would've been to erase the Great Kingdom from history and collective memory when the Allies/World Government had the capabilities of mass destruction that could cause sea levels to rise hundreds of meters. Not only does it make the original land inaccessible, the amount of people that died was probably immense. And with the death of a large number of people comes the loss of knowledge. Those that survived likely wouldn't have wanted to pass down information on the Great Kingdom from both the trauma of the event and the fear of retribution by the World Govt (I assume the laws forbidding research on the Void Century was immediate). So potentially after just one generation, knowledge on the Great Kingdom and how the world used to be would've disappeared. Iirc only the Minks and the Kozuki family passed down info on the kingdom's existence, and their lands are largely isolated from the rest of the world. (Speaking of which, they both are in locations where further rising sea levels wouldn't affect them)

Looking into it further, the way the geography of the world also seems like it's trying to prevent (or at least discourage) people from getting into or leaving the Grand Line and also travel between islands. Just trying to get to that sea is dangerous because it requires a person to either sail through Reverse Mountain, where many pirates canonically have died because of the crazy currents and storms and end up crashing into the mountain, or going through the Calm Belt, which is current and wind free and infested with Sea Kings. And once you're in the Grand Line, the waters itself are extremely difficult to navigate. Now what's in the Grand Line that the Allies may have wanted to prevent people from getting to? Laugh Tale.

For a little while now, I've been playing around with the idea on how the magnetic fields on each island may have been created to specifically help a pirate/sailor get to Laugh Tale. We've already seen Kidd using his awakened devil fruit powers to change the polarity of different objects, what if it's possible to change the polarity of an entire island? With those powers, a person could have created the seven paths of the Grand Line. I'm still trying to decide if this was done outside the Allies' control, or if it was an order from the Allies and the person was secretly loyal to the Great Kingdom.

And don't think I missed that little detail Vegapunk said about the Allies using ancient weapons!!!!!!! Literally each chapter has been teasing the reveal of the Elders having Uranus!!!! ｡゜(｀Д´)゜｡ It seems like the Lulusia attack really was just a taste of what their weapon can do. I can't imagine how big an attack (or how many attacks in succession?) it would take to cause 200m sea level change???

[applcrumbl]

Joy Rider

Just Friends

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Reader Warnings: Strong Language, Mention of abuse (no direct description, just in passing), Mention of ill mental health and suicidal thoughts, (again, only in passing), JJ just Pining over Reader. Word Count: 2K Author’s Note: please bare in mind that these are not chapters! You can read them however you like, skip the ones that don’t interest you etc. It’s okay not to read absolutely everything.

Summary: A glimpse into Reader and JJ’s friendship.

There is blue as far as she can see to one side, and the comforting scenes of Kildare island to the other. She can taste the salt from the ocean as it sprays her in its path up to the sandy shore. With it wafts the smell from the barbeque that her friends cook. She feels the cold water up to her knees, her inner thighs burning with friction from the board. Waves crash against sandy shores and the sound of gulls fly over her head. She sits on her board, back to the beach and once again in her own world.

It’s peaceful, relaxing, and exactly what she needs after a day out on the surf. The waves had died down now, so she only rocked gently on the water.

“Hey Reef,” John B shouts from the beach, tongs in hand like a proper BBQ dad, He calls louder, fighting against the sound of Kiara and Pope laughing, “Whaddya want? There’s a burger left?”

She doesn’t answer, not hearing the calls of her name from the coastline. 

“Y/N,” He tries again, to no avail, “Jesus Christ, will you go get her?”

“Why do I have to?” JJ asks, sipping his freshly opened beer, “I literally just dried off.”

“You’re still soaking wet.” Kiara deadpans, spooning coleslaw onto a paper plate.

JJ huffs and walks along the pier, handing his bottle to the girl before jumping off the end. He swims to her, hands clinging to her board for stabilisation.

JJ Maybank was a caring person, but never one that particularly showed it. He did everything for his friends, and would always be there for them, but he wouldn’t tell them that. He wouldn’t chase you up when you didn’t answer a message, but he would plan a stop past your house to invite you out. He wouldn’t specifically say to call him when you got home safe, but you’d know that you probably should. 

It was different with her, his twin flame, his best friend. They’d grown up together, she lived in the house next door to his. They were each other's first sleepover, first fight, first friend, first kiss - though She swears that hers was with Colton Ashby in the first grade.

She’d always been there, so there was no need for defensive JJ. She’d seen it all, and he’d seen all of her. Of course, there were secrets. She never knew how bad it got after his mother left, the bruises that littered his skin from the age of 13. He never knew about the nights she cried herself to sleep with the want to never wake up. But, neither of them felt like there was information lacking. They had one another, at any time, any place, any point.

He was more caring towards her than he ever had been towards the rest of the Pogues. And his opinions never changed when she moved from the cut to figure eight - despite his inherent hatred for the rich southern side of the island. He was happy that she’d crawled from the depths, and that her uncle had invited her to stay with him whilst her parents were gone. Gone where? Nobody knew. Yet she didn’t really care.

She was the glue that bound the group together. Without her, he never would have spoken to John B - much too territorial over his one best friend. If she hadn’t got her first job at Heywards, then Pope wouldn’t have been in the picture either. And even though he can’t quite remember how Kiara got involved, he’d happily put it down to her doing too. She was the exact definition of both a Kook and a Pogue.

He owed her everything, but she was the only person that he would ever let know that. But, even then his mouth kept shut.

“Foods ready,” he says, prodding her thigh on the open water, “time to come in.”

Her eyes don’t open, “Gimme 5 more Jayj”

“Dude, you’re literally turning into a prune,” he jokes, lifting her leg from the sea, toes wrinkled from the water, “Your age is finally catching up to the rest of us”

There were precisely 3 days of age between the pair of them, but JJ would never let her forget it. Probably because without her, then he’d be the youngest, and something about that just didn’t sit right with him.

“Stop, I'm gonna fall off my board,” She laughs, to which JJ makes a face, “Don’t-”

In one fell swoop, the blond lifts her leg higher, tipping over their buoyant aid, and knocking her into the water. She pops up from the depths, gasping for air.

He smirks, “I said it was time to go in”

The girl glowers at him, eyes thin and testing. She climbs back on the board and begins to paddle back to shore, leaving JJ in the sea.

“You can swim back yourself.” She shouts behind her.

-

“I don’t see what the problem is!”

“Of course, you don’t.”

“Then enlighten me, JJ.”

The Maybank boy scoffs, running his hand over an open jaw. “Colton Ashby?”

She doesn’t reply with words, instead an expression on her face. ‘Yeah, and?’ It reads, eyebrows furrowed and eyes wide.

“He’s a Kook!”

“I’m a Kook?”

“You haven’t always been, you don’t count” He bats back her attempt to change the conversation topic, “I can’t believe you’re going on a date with Colton fucking Ashby. That is so dumb.”

Her eyes roll so hard to the back of her head that it looks as though they may never come back around again. “Oh my god!” She exasperates, “It is not dumb! It’s sweet, and I’m excited to go.”

JJ sits on her barely-made bed. Her family circumstance may have changed, and he uncle may have provided a new life for her, but nothing about the girl had changed. She was still the same messy teenager that she’d always been. She grabs the dress laid out on her desk chair. She was never one for dresses on a casual day, but that night felt special. She wanted to put in the effort.

“He was my first kiss, y’know” she points out, sliding into her bathroom to slip into her outfit. “It’s like a full circle moment.”

“First of all, he wasn’t your first kiss. I was. Second of all-”

“You were not my first kiss, stop saying that!”

“Uh, yes I was. We were 4 and sat on your old tyre swing.”

The bathroom door opens, and She steps out, clothes in hand. She dumps them in the hamper next to her. “I smell bullshit.” She sits at the vanity direct from the bed, watching JJ in the mirror. He takes in her floaty dress, almost shocked to see her ins something so, girly.

“I smell truth-shit” He tries to counteract but fails miserably. “So many women would kill to say that they kissed me. You should really jump on that. Maybe you’d get a better date than Colton Ashby”

She stops her lipgloss application to eye him in the mirror. “This is really bothering you.” She observes, smacking her lips together and reapplying the cap. 

“I don’t want my best friend running off with some Kook, just because he was her first kiss” He moans, throwing his body back onto her bed, “By that logic, you should be running away with me.”

‘Yeah and I’d bet you’d love that,” she replies, “Can you put this on me?

She holds out a necklace. Small, golden, expensive from afar. But, up close you could see where the colour was tarnishing, and the plastic seed dull. JJ had bought it for her 15th birthday. The first and only gift he’d actually bought her, not stolen. A cheap tourist shop shell pendant with a fake pearl in the middle. But she loved it.

And she was going to wear it on her date with one of the richest Kooks in Kildare.

JJ’s fingers struggle with the clasp for a while before it finally hooks to the small chain link. She adjusts the pendant on her chest, making sure it lines up perfectly with the V-neckline of her dress. She stands to observe herself in the mirror. “This is fine, right? We’re not going anywhere too fancy I think”

He can only stutter a response, still taken aback by the fact that she’s actually still going. Taken aback by the fact that she’s put effort into the way she looks, for him. There is a hint of jealousy too, but he swiftly ignores it. “Yeah, you, uh- You look great.”

“Man of many words, Jayj”

-

The date was fine, not that she was avoiding another opportunity to go out with the dark-haired boy, but not that she was gasping for one either. It was simply an experience that she had and one that she probably wouldn’t ask for again.

Colton was nice, he paid for their food, he picked her up and dropped her home. He even complimented her looks several times throughout the night. She was extremely flattered - but there was nothing else there.

You can really tell when you’re not into someone, because it doesn’t matter how kind they’re being, or attractive they are, or if you have boatloads in common, you will still only notice the negatives.  And they will still be made much bigger than they actually are. You will still ‘get the ick’

She hated the shoes he wore. They were too polished and clean. He had loose hair sticking from his gelled-back quiff. She didn’t like that he ordered wine for the table. He mentioned JJ’s necklace, and how it looked like it was a little past its prime. Albeit, this was his way of flirting - offering to buy her a brand new, more expensive one - but everything just rubbed her the wrong way. 

“So I doubt you’re meeting him again?” Kiara questioned, using the tree as an anchor to rock the hammock they were both laying in. 

“Yeah, definitely not.” She sighs, “Should’ve kept him as my first kiss and no more”

“JJ will be happy then.” Pope pipes up from the camping chair next to the hammock. His flat-brimmed cap was pulled down over his eyes to shield him from the sun.

Kie shoots him a look with her eyes that Y/N misses, it’s a shock that Pope catches it.

“How do you mean?”

Pope stutters, ”I just mean that he’s quite territorial,” His words are danced around, like he has more to say - but won't, “He likes his time with you, and a boyfriend would take that time away.”

She exhales through her nose, “Yeah, I suppose.”

A loud smash erupts from inside The Chateau, causing the three to jump. John B shouts out not to worry, and that JJ had just dropped a mug. They return back to the conversation.

“Man, that’s Y/N's favourite mug - she’s going to kill you” John B continues, directly to his friend, “You’re supposed to be courting the girl, not pushing her away”

“I’m not courting her, we’re just friends!” JJ exclaims, kneeling to pick up the broken shards of ceramic. Though John B was right on one thing, this was Y/N's favourite mug. “I’ve literally known her my whole life, it’s not like that”

“Are you sure? Cos, her date pissed you off a whole lot”

“Ashby’s just a dick. She can do better.” He explains, “Besides, the date didn’t even go well. She told me.”

A horn honks twice from outside, catching John B’s attention. He looks through the dusty panes of the window to see who it is.

“Is that why he’s just come to pick her up?”

JJ pushes past him, eager to get a glimpse from the window. John B laughs at him as Kiara climbs into the passenger seat of her mother’s car. JJ kisses his teeth, “Ha. Ha. Funny”

“Y’know for someone who is strictly friends with the girl, you sure care a lot about her being with anyone that isn’t you.”

A feminine voice calls his name from outside, and JJ jumps at the opportunity to answer it, practically sprinting outside at her back and call.

“And will jump to her every move.” He observes, speaking only to himself.

masterlist | taglist

[justhereforqsmp]

QSMP Theories: What’s going to happen on Day 6?

Before the fated day arrives, here’s some theories and (possible) coping on how the eggs will return/ still be instrumental to the plot of QSMP in some way.

Scenario 1: The Most Messed Up Ever (probably not going to happen but I thought of it while theorizing and it broke my heart)

On the dawn of Day 6, the players log in and the egg task is a little different:

Take a life from another egg as a lethal task. (The eggs themselves or the parents for the original ticket families—so Phil killing an egg wouldn’t count for Tallulah, for example)

So if you refuse to do it, your egg loses a life.. but at the same time everyone else is pressured to hunt for eggs

THIS WOULD BE SO MESSED UP AND SO DEVASTATING. But it would be so interesting and so so angsty and build so much conflict. Perhaps the Binary Entity corrupted the code that gives the egg tasks, or this is just the final stage of the experiment

There are not enough lives to go around, so even if the eggs with double lives gave up one life for another egg, they would still need to take a life from another egg.

Those who refuse to kill would have to worry about those willing to kill to keep their egg. The possible betrayals. The possible sacrifices! And weirdly enough the parents without eggs may end up being neutral chaotic parties that can help or hurt the other families.

- Imagine Tallulah refusing to kill another egg, offering up her lives to others while her family would probably start murdering to protect her

- Bobby )::: he’s already done a little bit of forgiving, but he’s also all about combat. I think it would be incredibly meaningful if he refused to take another egg’s life in the end because he recognizes it’s meaningless. As an alternative Jaiden and Roier could suddenly turn on the others in order to save their beloved son.

- Imagine Gegg being exposed as Gegg because people tried to kill him to satisfy the requirement (Imagine if it works, and the loophole lets the eggs survive one more day?)

This would ensure there is a last survivor (unless somehow the last two eggs kill each other at the exact same time) for a family to win the “happiest egg” prize while the others receive punishment

Would break up and shake up the existing friendships, creating the possibility for new dynamics that the new players could more easily fit into! ….and also be super super tragic

Scenario 2: Missing

They just log on… and there are no eggs ): Deserted. Absolutely devastating. Gone not with a bang, but with a whimper. The signs left behind ): The gardens and houses and nurseries ):

But the announcement days that the Children will die so I doubt they’d just disappear. I think omelettes will be made.

(If the eggs are kidnapped/taken/dissapeared : What if Gegg goes too because the experimenters recognize him as an egg, and we het an interesting Charlie POV on behind the scrnes of the experiment?)

Scenario 3: The Mother Dragon arrives/Scenario 4: The Binary Entity

Maybe they can fight off the dragon/Binary Entity or maybe the babies perish in an impossible fight to stay by their caretakers side.

Scenario 5: The QSMP Federation

They’re definitely somehow involved?? It’s still unclear what the relationships between the entities of the island are, what their goals are, etc.

Scenario 6: Poison??

The eggs get weaker and weaker over the course of the day. No enemies to fight, just a slow, sad sort of thing. Lots of goodbyes ): No enemy to fight, just helpless despair

^^^ This could be because of the experimenters?? The eggs were created to, so maybe they just… are made to die after this stage of the experiment is over, like a slow decay. Who knows.

Scenario 7: (a little troll, but it leads into my next theory for what happens next)

The new members arrive in an airplane that crashlands onto Quesadilla Island. All the eggs are in one place when the airplane crashes and boom! All dead

Scenario 8 (added just today, based on Tallulah’s Nightmare…)

QSMP Federation? Binary Entity? An overwhelming number of mobs spawning on the island purposefully to overwhelm and turn the QSMP into tower defense simulator? Who knows?

(Source: QSMPEN updates on twitter, BadBoyHalo’s stream)

And hey it says all turns black which means MAYBE NOT DEATH

POST-DAY 6 Theories

While it would have been nice to stay in slice of life egg mode for forever, Philza and Wilbur’s sleep schedules are suffering with the obligation to log on and take care of the eggs, and likely streamers from different timezones will be joining so unless there are more eggs coming out of nowhere it’ll be weird to have some players with eggs and some players without (excepting… the ones who have already lost their eggs in rp)

ALSO I mean come on we as the audience live for the drama and new things happening in the story… even though it comes at the cost of the egg’s safety…there is much still to learn about Quesadilla Island.

And, since there will be more members, there won’t be as much of a need for a log on requirement for the server to be somewhat active every day.

BUT!! “Post-Egg Arc” kind of implies that the eggs are a self contained event, but I really do believe the eggs will still be super important to the future of the server— even if it wasn’t planned that everyone would get so attached at first, it’s clear they’ve become well beloved characters and most importantly, the majority of the players are attached and will do anything for them.

Like DMs and NPCs that the players will be motivated to keep safe, the eggs are a powerful tool to drive plot and for the players to ask questions and dig deeper. After the 6 days, even one CRUMB or HINT that the eggs could return, or that they’re being kept somewhere (like in the case in the 5 min period we get to see Juanaflippa, Tilin and Huevo Trump again), or how to revive them would like. The players would do anything to have more time with their eggs!! I doubt that the OOC storytellers or the in character overlords of the QSMP experiment would give up this method of control over player motivation.

But what if the egg plot and the new players are tied together? It’s happening on the same day…

APRIL 28TH UPDATE: that’s a shipping container. They’re in a plane or a boat??? Friends the eggs are going to be crushed by a shipping container (/j)

I welcome any and all fellow theory crafters to add their thoughts and predictions!!! Also I’m excited for the new players, unfortunately I know nothing about them— if any of you are fans or have heard of them, I’d like to hear of the,!

[xarrixii]

Chapter_39 : "The Gray Area"

CW: fighting (physical) previous chapter | beginning | masterlist

/ / / / / | ---

Harlow was more than just concerned.

If it was Liam, he would’ve shown himself by now with some loud dramatic entrance. If it was his mother, it meant that she’d finally figured out she’d been making absent payments for several years and was going to sell Harlow’s one hiding spot off to someone else. And he’d probably get fucked over by being inside.

If it happened to be anyone else, they were trying to break in and steal something.

Harlow took out the pocket knife from one of the shadily installed drawers courtesy of Raiden. It was better to avoid fire here. Just to be safe, he made sure the lighter was accessible from most positions.

The rest of the garage door’s code was finally entered and the shabby metal sheet was lifted just enough for the person to get inside. Then it dropped back down to the concrete. Something slid along the floor. Harlow sat crouched behind the counter.

Confident enough to lock themselves inside with someone completely random.

Then they turned off the light.

Okay.

Harlow shifts uncomfortably before quickly rolling out of the way of the body very obviously vaulting over the counter above his head. A crash into the cabinet doors, one of the wooden panels falling off its hinge.

He could vaguely see with the light from the crack under the garage door. The outline of someone who at least vaguely knew their shit.

The knife ended up being held in warning.

Fire pumped out from the person’s fist, forcing Harlow to dodge and move into the open space that was the rest of the generally spacious garage. Harlow cast the knife aside to some corner to instead wrench the fire from this random, careless, pyrokinetic stranger.

He threw it back at the figure, much to their bemusement.

Some angry mumbling and the person ran at Harlow, forcing him to block one of the punches spewing out fire and grab for their arm to yank them past.

The angry bumble of a person made sure to gain their footing back and instantly throw themselves into close-quarters again, where Harlow got a chance to click open his lighter and start heating it up. Which left him with one hand to weave just out of this person’s reach and behind them, kicking their back into the island counter.

A grunt escaped them with Harlow stepping back carefully over the cord connecting his controller resting on the couch to the game station.

He let out a huff when the figure whipped around, barely fazed, and went to run at him again before Harlow strung up a white spread of fire to block the way to normally walk over the cord.

They saw the white smear and moved to duck under it, effectively tripping on the cord with the controller clattering along the floor. Harlow rushed to find the handle on the garage door, failed, and ran the long way around the couch when he heard the person get up behind him.

The person ended up grabbing onto his wrist with the lighter and wrestling it out of his hand onto the floor halfway across the couch.

Harlow managed to kick them back again. It was really the only move Harlow had ever managed to find useful when sparring with Raiden. It was proving itself right again.

Some scarily familiar laughter erupted out of the person with yet another press forward at Harlow trying to gain any sort of distance.

He froze.

Harlow felt himself getting shoved against the island counter, lost in a trainwreck of thought. He probably would’ve crumpled to the floor if not being held up by the person grabbing hold of him to flatten him on top of the counter.

It hurt. The hand holding him down hurt.

The name wasn’t coming out.

“What, you’re just done now? It was finally getting…” the person went quiet when the flame sparked to life again in their still free hand.

“Rai,” Harlow weakly said.

He was quickly pulled off the counter into a standing hug, slumping into the arms that wrapped around him instead.

Harlow had been tired.

So, so tired.

“Fuck, Urb, that’s my bad. Sorry.” Raiden relaxed out of the hug and walked back to the lightswitch, flicking it on.

Harlow slowly let out a chuckle. “You’re good.”

Raiden crouched down and picked up a box from the floor, inspecting it awkwardly before turning back to Harlow with a sheepish grin. “Uh, happy twenty-three, I guess. I was planning on replacing the game station with this, use a sharpie or something…”

“Two months?” He let out some sick form of laughter. When Raiden shook their head and walked back over, laughing along with, Harlow quickly devolved back into recognizing the stupidity of what had just happened.

“Yeah,” Raiden held out the box to Harlow. “Sorry. I probably should’ve called or something. I’m a fuckin’ idiot, aren’t I?”

“Where…” Harlow decided against an instantaneous interrogation upon seeing Raiden’s stupid fucking smirk. He could do that later. “Nevermind. What the hell is that?”

Raiden’s smirk transformed into a grin. “Daffodils. Well—ones that don’t die.”

Harlow hesitantly took the box and looked at the image on it, little plastic daffodils with a piece count in the top left.

“I do have to go back to my hospital room before anyone finds out. I came down here to trade that for the game station and Flash Fire, didn’t expect you to be here. Write a little note and everything. This sounds weird, but if you’re willing to drive me, the motorcycle I took down here, and that game back I will explain everything.”

“Okay,” Harlow breathed. “But, hospital? Wouldn’t I have heard if someone found you by now? I mean⸺”

Raiden visibly winced. “No one found me. It’s why I turned the lights off, nobody is supposed to know that I’m walking about now unless they’re in the loop and everything, I didn’t really want to risk⸺”

“You said you’d explain on the road. We can talk about something else while we go get the truck?”

They waited a second before rolling their eyes.

“I ended up with a lot of time to think in my cell, thing,” Raiden relented in the driver’s seat, tapping the steering wheel. “Storm ended up making a lot of sense. Apparently the cell block division I was in was just a test for Storm ops, but apparently Nacht hurts a fuck ton, so now they’re refusing to let me do anything until I’m cleared.”

“But you can’t tell anyone that you’re… not imprisoned anymore?” Harlow was trying to focus on everything he was being told. It wasn’t working the greatest.

Raiden let out a playful huff. “Nope. It’d get kinda weird, anyway. I know Cinder’s gonna find out eventually and everything, but if you could not tell anyone for at least a while, it’d do me a big favor. Along with not sharing the whole Storm hospital thing.”

“Right.”

The rest of the ride was kept in silence, stars out in the sky by the time they’d parked in front of what was, in fact, a legitimate-looking hospital.

When the truck stopped, Raiden didn’t immediately hop out. Instead, they looked at Harlow sitting anxiously in the passenger. “Hey I’m, sorry I couldn’t make your birthday any, better. And also that I have to go, and that I threw all of this on you.”

“You’re good, Rai,” Harlow said. “One of my best yet, all be as it may.”

Another few seconds of unspoken words.

“Urb, I think you should join Storm.”

next chapter | masterlist

/ / / / / | --- missing a content warning? let me know

i'm not entirely sure how i'm feeling about this fight scene. this is the last chapter i have backlogged, so i should probably get on writing some more.

also i know the header lost a lot of its details but it feels like a little much in its complete version (which you can find on the masterlist).

any feedback on the fight, positive or negative, is welcome on this post.

taglist: @lychhiker-writes, @madeoforgansandtissues, @fins0up

[jokerthepotatouwu]

Leon's driving skills

I don't know if people have noticed this, but I have, so time to share, I guess.

I know we all know and love the "Leon can't drive anything for shit" meme by now, but have you noticed that, starting with Vendetta, Capcom has slowly been changing that? Let me explain.

In case you are new, or just somehow unfamiliar with the meme and/or how it came to be, I'll give you a quick tldr.

Starting with the original RE2, all the way to RE6, Leon so far has crashed 4 vehicles. He crashes the police car in RE2 he and Claire find when a zombie ambushes them (and depending on which storyline you're playing, he will either crash in the front or the back), in RE4 he crashes a motor boat when Ada grapples off to who-knows-where trying to get it under control again, and in RE6 he sorta crash-lands both a plain and a helicopter, all in the same night. The only time he was seen driving something in these games that wasn't crashed was the jetski he uses at the end of RE4 to escape with Ashley.

So, you can see now where the joke came from. It doesn't help that in the two canon CGI movies that came out in that time (Degeneration and Damnation), Leon was never driving anything.

Now all of this started changing when Vendetta, and later on more notably, RE2R came out.

Now, everyone who's watched Vendetta is familiar with the motorcycle dog chase scene, and you've probably heard of it even if you haven't watched the movie. In this scene, Leon displays some amazing skills in handling a motorcycle, going so far as to hop and lean from side to side and even drive it with a foot (all white recovering/still hung over). This isn't the only scene in the movie where Leon displays amazing driving skills with his bike. He later on drives that same bike up the stairs of a building, into the halls, into an elevator and then on the rooftop, never crashing it unless that's what he wants. All in all, Leon displays some professional level driving skills in this movie, and it just works to make him super badass.

With RE2R, Leon is also shown to be a good driver, or at least just an average one. He is no longer the one crashing the car. In the cutscene at the beginning, he is actually shown stopping the car when they come up to blockade on the road, and a truck with an injured driver that's slowly getting turned into a zombie crashes into them from behind, causing the car to blow and the two to separate. This is a major change when it comes to our beloved meme, as it is no longer Leon that crashes the car (no matter who's fault it is), but rather a truck that crashes into them, showing that Leon isn't the one at fault here and couldn't have done anything about it.

Fast forward to this year and RE4R and we have another change. A small one compared to the last one, but still goes to show that Leon isn't a bad driver. In the scene where Ada grapples off to somewhere, the boat is not shook as badly as it is in the original, making it so that Leon can get into the driver's seat easily and without any accidents. The jetski escape remains unchanged.

And now we come to Death Island which just came out this month. So, in case you haven't figured it out already, MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

MINOR DEATH ISLAND SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Alright, with that outta the way, let's talk Death Island and Leon's driving skills.

In the beginning of the movie, Leon is shown tailing a truck on his bike when he enters another motorcycle scene once Maria catches up to him on her bike. They knock and drive around each other a bit before she hops on from her bike onto his and after some more action, uses her heel to squeeze the brakes, causing the bike to crash and Leon to have to jump off to save himself. Again, another great display of Leon's driving skills, especially with a motorcycle that only comes to crashing stop when another person literally hits the breaks for him.

Also, a little fun fact, but in this scene after the bike crashes, we get a hint that Leon regularly drives a bike as, once he's left alone he says, and I quote, "I liked that bike..."

Now, the next point in the movie where Leon is driving something is at the final big battle, where he drives a combat vehicle with a minigun on it. It's shown in the trailer and I'm sure you've all seen the gifs by now.

And all things considered, Leon drives very well in this scene. My man even does a drift at one point.

SPOILERS END HERE

All in all, what I'm trying to say here is that we now have just as many, if not more scenes where Leon is shown to be a great, if not outright an amazing driver, as we have of him crashing shit in high stress and chaotic situations. I think Capcom caught onto the meme at one point between RE6 and Vendetta and just went "Shit, we accidentally made him a shit driver, gotta fix that" because ever since Vendetta, Leon himself hasn't crashed anything (unless he wanted to).

I highly doubt the meme will ever die though, it's been too long and it's part of the fandom culture by now. I know I myself will continue to joke that I'll never get in a car with Leon behind the wheel. It's just honestly too funny.

My point, Leon isn't actually that bad of a driver. Cut him some slack.

[flicker-bot]

Thread for Flicker & Timeout by @ninjakarkki​ (originally posted on Discord, copied here for easier access to past messages)

Flicker — 07/29/2021 8:29 AM

Flicker slowed his steps and glanced up for a moment. Although the trees around him hid most of the night sky, he was able to see a few twinkling stars peeking from between the branches. He reminded himself he shouldn’t linger for too long and picked up his pace again.

The young bot had been out with the rest of the team when they’d seen a particularly big and bright shooting star. It wouldn’t have been so strange if it hadn’t seemed to land somewhere into the forests of Griffin Rock and knowing that it was their responsibility to keep the island safe, they had to check it out. They’d reached the edge of the forest and after some consideration, everyone had gone in different direction for better coverage.

Flicker realized it was getting harder to see the forest floor and he turned his head light on. He was expecting to hear a message through the comm system at any minute now – they probably wouldn’t continue their search for long when it was getting darker so quickly, and he was expecting Heatwave to call it quits. His focus wavered and he failed to spot a root of tree peeking through the ground. His foot caught on the root, and he let out a cry as he stumbled forward. There was a downhill right before him and he tried to grab onto the ground in attempt to stop himself, but he only tore off some moss before he rolled down the slope.

Fortunately, the hill wasn’t very steep, and Flicker stopped rather quickly, but it was enough to throw him off. He got on his feet, his movements slightly wobbly, and began to wipe his plating to get rid of dirt and make sure he hadn’t gotten injured. He looked around and froze, his servos mid-air. He heard vaguely someone asking him through the comm system why he’d screamed and if he was okay, but he didn’t respond. There was a few broken trees and a fresh gaping ditch on the ground. At the end of the ditch, behind a few trees that had remained intact, there was something laying on the ground… something big and metallic. Flicker took a few steps towards it and reached for his comm system with a shaky servo.

“E-everyone? I… I-I think I found it.”

Timeout — 07/29/2021 10:05 AM

"Affirmative, please approach it carefully. and let us know where you are" Came Chase's respond first, as per usual.

"And are you alright Flicker? You sound shaken up? Was it not an asteroid?" Another bot spoke up, this time being Boulder who sounded somewhat worried.

Blades was up in the sky for better view, mostly per Heatwave's order. As the comm came through that Flicker had seemingly found the fallen asteroid, Blades happened to spot it as well and flied over, shining his light over it. "Guys, it's not an asteroid, it's a small ship.."

Flicker — 07/29/2021 12:30 PM

It took Flicker a while to be able to answer. Hearing others' voices and Blades' rotors above reminded him that he wasn't alone and it helped him to calm down a little.

"Y-yeah", he responded slowly to the comm system, not taking his optics off from the metallic surface peeking from behind the trees. "I'm okay, I... I just stumbled a bit. You'll find your way here if you follow Blades." A pause. "Be careful on the slope."

Flicker turned his headlight off as he saw no need to keep it on anymore, now that Blades was illuminating the site. He began to approach the ship slowly and carefully, watching for any signs of life. "I don't see anyone", he informed to others. Yet, he added to himself silently. Surely a ship like this couldn't have crashed without someone controlling it? Flicker was sure someone was inside - he wasn't so sure if they were friendly or not. But they might need help, Flicker thought. We can't leave without knowing what happened.

Flicker stopped a few meters away from the ship, next to its side. "Hello?" He tried to ignore the hint of fear in his own voice. "Is anyone there?"

Timeout — 07/29/2021 2:23 PM

"The ship might be unstable! Be careful Flicker!" Blades said with worry as he was slowly circling in the air to get a better look around the ship. There wasn't any answer from the inside of the ship to Flicker's question.

It didn't take long before rest of the team got over as well. "That's cybertronian ship!" Boulder immediately took a note as he started to scan it, first and foremost to make sure it was safe to approach and to get its data. "It's safe to approach, no possibly of fuel tank or engines exploding"

"Cybertronian? I wonder if there's someone inside" Chase pondered as he had gotten over to Flicker to look at the ship as well, and to see where the entering place was. "Of course there's someone inside, what kind of a ship lands like this without a pilot" Heatwave said as a matter of fact.

Flicker — 07/29/2021 3:16 PM

Blades' warning made Flicker flinch as if he'd touched something hot and he took a few quick steps back. He was getting more and more worried when there was no response from within the ship.

Others arrived quickly and Flicker glanced at them - his optics lingered on Chase, as if looking for reassurance - before turning his attention to the ship again. Although Boulder assured it would be safe to approach, Flicker didn't return to the ship, but instead waited for the older and more experienced bots to decide what to do next. He listened to others' exchange and chimed in after Heatwave: "I thought so too."

He gave others a worried look. "I called out, but no-one has answered. If someone's there, they might be badly hurt... We have to help them!"

Timeout — 07/29/2021 3:38 PM

"Great thinking Flicker" Chase said and looked at the young autobot, giving him a small pat before spotting the entrance to the ship "The entrance is here, however it would seem it is stuck close, I will need help getting in"

"On it!" Boulder chimed and got over with Heatwave. With first some trouble, they managed to force the door open, smoke getting to escape from the inside. Chase shined a light inside and scanned the ship before the light hit a white and blue figure laying on the floor. "Ah, there!"

"They're not moving, either unconscious, or worse.." Heatwave muttered under his breath and quickly got in to get over to the mech. "Boulder, stay outside with Flicker, we will bring the mech out" Chase said and quickly followed Heatwave inside. Boulder nodded and took couple steps away from the door and over to Flicker.

Flicker — 07/29/2021 4:19 PM

Although brief, Flicker appreciated the little pat Chase gave him. He followed the bigger bot's gaze to what appeared to be entrance, and he took a step back to leave room for Boulder and Heatwave. He would've admire their strength to pull the stuck doors open if he hadn't been so worried about whoever was onboard.

Flicker barely managed to remain where he was when others went in, and he tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside from where he stood. Apparently there was at least one bot, a mech, and Flicker could feel his worry deepen when Chase said they'd bring him outside. That means he can't walk by himself. Flicker hoped the situation wasn't as bad as he feared, although the ship's condition was speaking for itself.

Timeout — 07/29/2021 4:53 PM

"Blades get down here!" Soon enough Heatwave ordered as he and Chase were coming out of the ship, carrying out what seemed to be an unconscious mech. The mech had Autobot insignia on the bottom of his chest while his arms had heartbeats, easy guessing the mech was an autobot medic most likely. From the order, Blades was quickly down, especially when he saw the autobot.

"There's no visible wounds but he doesn't seem to be responsive"  Heatwave informed and got the mech to lay down on the ground so Blades could take a better checkup to determine how acute the situation could be. "By the looks of it, it seemed like he had gotten out of stasis not too long ago, however we're not certain of it" Chase added on the information he had gathered when inside the ship.

"He seems to be ok! no major wounds, internal nor external, just unconscious but there's quite a dent on his helm which makes me believe he has hit his head in the landing" Blades soon let everyone know, the news making the others relax that it wasn't life or death situation. "We better get him to the bunker, he's fine but needs medical attention" the team's medic added as he finally got up from the ground.

"Got it. Chase, Flicker, you get to the firehouse and be ready to help Blades get this bot get inside, me and Boulder will help Blades to get him over there by the sky." Heatwave ordered.

Flicker — 07/29/2021 5:26 PM

While the mech was being carried outside and examined, Flicker paced anxiously back and forth with his servos clung together, trying to stay out of others' way but also trying to see constantly what was going on. He didn't like how helpless and useless he felt, but it was definitely not his biggest concern that moment.

Flicker finally stopped when Blades gave the good news, barely realizing he relaxed his shoulder joints after tensing them the whole time. He gave a brisk nod as Heatwave gave his commands and while others were preparing to carry the mech by air, Flicker and Chase began their walk back through the forest to the road. There they would be able to transform and travel faster.

As Flicker followed Chase up the hill, he turned his headlight back on. He hadn't realized before how dark it'd gotten. He remained quiet for a while, and only their footsteps on the forest floor sounded in the night.

Finally Flicker spoke in a quiet, nervous voice.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Timeout — 07/29/2021 5:46 PM

"Affirmative" Chase nodded to the order they received and headed out with Flicker, also getting his own light on as they walked to see where they were going. As Flicker eventually spoke, Chase turned to look at him with a reassuring look "Most certainly, it might have looked more dramatic than the situation was, but I can say with high confidence that he should regain consciousness within next 24 hours" he said with a gentle tone, wanting to ease up Flicker's clear worry for the autobot stranger.

"If my assumption is correct from his frame, he appears to be a medic and those bots are resilient, as you might already have seen from our Blades. So do not worry I am most certain that bot is going to be alright" he added as well with a small smile.

Flicker — 07/29/2021 7:10 PM

Although it wasn't enough to make his worries vanish completely, Flicker was visibly more relieved upon hearing Chase's answer. He met the police bot's small smile with his own, even if uncertainty remained in his optics.

"I can keep an eye on him until he wakes up", he promised. There was rarely a day when no-one had to leave for a rescue, left alone the whole team, and it made sense for Flicker to look after the mech while others might be busy. Besides - Flicker felt a pang of regret that made his expression waver - he wanted to make up for not being really any use back at the crash site.

Timeout — 07/29/2021 9:51 PM

  "That would be much appreciated" Chase smiled at Flicker's suggestion and soon enough they got back to the road where they transformed and rolled out to the firehouse.

>>> Firehouse

[madscarypod]

Episode 1 Recap: The Color Under the Shadow of Space

Welcome back! It's our first official episode. 

If you listened to our intro episode and/or read the blog you know that we’re officially kicking off our research with AI-generated recommendation Under the Shadow (2016). After we wrapped recording, I decided to throw my pick The Color Out of Space (2020) for a solid - something comes into my house and ruins the vibes - double bill.   Hey look! It's us.

Before we get into that, we start off by chatting about our fancy photo shoot with photographer of Terrifier 2 fame and friend of the pod, Jeff Harris Studios. Thank you, Jeff! Dropped a few favorites below. Spooky stuff. 

We’re super excited to have him on in a few episodes to discuss shooting on horror film sets and some of his favorite scary movie tropes.  Cannibal stuff is mad scary and mad gross, yo. I insist on digging in on Armie Hammer’s disturbing proclivities. After a viewing of House of Hammer, I’m left speechless on what I’ve seen & heard but excited to share my vengeance-filled lucid dreams. Also richies probably eat people all the time, right?

Rina then shares an update on OpenAI’s legal hot water. ChatGPT be hallucinating too much and OpenAI is going to need to evaluate their loosey goosey legal language. Finally, we share shark attack stories since Jaws was back in theaters 4th of July weekend. Also, are there lake sharks? I don’t want to know. 

We then dig into Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow (2016) but Rina is unfortunately reminded of another Babak Anvari movie, Wounds (2019). She did not care for it. Guess who’s in it? Armie Hammer. Womp, womp. He was definitely part of the problem but Rina's not keen on the execution overall.

Anywho, we do a pretty solid recap of the movie - it’s 1988, Tehran and we’re introduced to a family navigating life during a war as well as mysterious and supernatural happenings in their home. Rina does a great job laying out the lore of the Djinn and chat some of the tropes - creepy little kids, Moms being suss, and real-life terror juxtaposed with supernatural terror. We discuss some of the creative choices that really stood out to us; like the fact there was little to no music and the washed out, bright overexposed photograph look of the movie. We talk about our favorite scenes - a solid jump scare, a creepy foot through a ceiling crack, and an open-ended non-ending. All in all a fantastic movie. Mad Scary not Mad Corns. Significantly better than Wounds. This was definitely Babak’s story to tell. 

We keep it going and chat through Richard Stanley’s  The Color Out of Space (2019) based on the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name. Jesus Christ. This movie. We talk high-level about the plot. You have five to ten minutes of exposition and an introduction to the Gardner family - they live in the country, they have llamas which may or may not be a poor investment, the daughter is a Wiccan, her brother is into smoking weed and space stuff, their little brother wears glasses and has a lisp.

Things immediately start going crazy after a meteorite crashes onto the Gardner’s land. The level and pace in which this movie escalates can only be likened to a freight train speeding into a fever dream. It’s also mad gross. This is Richard Stanley’s second mainstream movie. His first was the ill-fated Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). It was so bad they made a documentary about it. Anywho, this man clearly likes gooey gross because he leans in hard. The body horror and gore is off the chain. My man also has an unsavory past with women - can we separate the art from the artist? I'm having a time with it.

Wait!? Did I mention Nick Cage plays Papa Gardner? I didn’t!? My bad. Um, Nicholas Cage plays the dad in this movie and I just love him for it. If I ever get to meet him, I need to ask him about some of his choices -  all inspired but I just want to know why he made them cuz we got theories. Mr. Cage, what's up with that voice? Nick Cage's performance, the saturated colors, and the narrative device make this movie a must watch. Mad Scary approved.  

We’ve collected some tropes from both movies. While Rina felt they weren’t super similar, I think the tropes speak volumes. Horror movies that take place in the home feel the scariest because our homes are where we are meant to feel safe, comfortable, and the most ourselves. The idea of something coming into that safe space and terrorizing you, and you have nowhere to go to escape it, is mad scary. 

Common Horror Movie / Scary Tropes & Devices

Here are the interviews that I promised:   Babak Anvari Interview Richard Stanley Interview

For Episode 2, we decided on Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2015), a movie we were planning to watch together pre-podcast. It’s one of Rina’s favorites and feels very fitting in terms of our AI co-collaborator. Finally, we asked Chat GPT to recommend a good companion film for Ex Machina. Here’s how it went: 

In classic ChatGPT form, it beefed the request and recommended an episode of Black Mirror. No. That’s not a movie. We try again:  

Ok! We’ll be watching Ex Machina & The Machine next episode. We’ll also start to talk about our writing process and make some plans/next steps around writing our script. I’ll also try to limit the amount of times I say the word fascinating. See you in a few weeks!

[wolfwritingwips]

it was a dark and stormy day, the worst one this side of the mainland had seen in decades. The small island of Arkham had been through its fair share of hurricanes and storms as had its occupants in the fishing town that lined its shores and craggy cliffs. Both were the hearty sort, neither the land nor its people keen on balking at the first sign of a stiff breeze, ominous cloud, or the waves that crashed and roared against the cliffs. You’d be a fool not to fear for your life in the face of a storm such as this one, though.

Arthur Lester did not wholly consider himself fine, in the mind if not in appearance, but for what it’s worth he did not consider himself a fool. He knew a bad storm when he saw one. He might not have the intuition or instincts of someone born on the island, but when you live in a place like Arkham as long as he had you begin to pick things up. And it didn’t take any supernatural skills to see that a storm like this meant bad news.

“It’s not looking good out there, Bella,” he called out to the woman before him standing by the small dock off the shore. She was a powerful person, stout and sturdy, and while she stood barely past Arthur’s ears she had a spark, a rolling flame in those deep brown eyes that flashed in the sparse cracks of lightning and thunder around them. She wore an intricate knit sweater with a heavy coat and a solid pair of waders pulled tightly over it. Her loose chestnut curls spilled out from beneath a woolen hat and swirled around her face in the blustering wind. Arthur watched as she began to haul her small fishing boat in from the shore with strong practiced hands. “You think?” She scoffed over her shoulder but the sarcasm was drowned out with another crack of thunder. “Here, let me help you with that.” Arthur shuffled hurriedly across the sand to meet her, grunting as he tried to shove the other end of the boat out of the water. “S’fine, Arthur, go home. You’ll catch a nasty cold if you keep standing in the water like that.” She tried to dismiss him but he showed no sign of stopping or letting go. “I’ll help carry it to the boathouse, how about that?” He managed between pants of air and splashing around in the choppy waves that licked at his his shins. “Then I’ll go home, okay? I don’t want—“ he grunted before pushing the boat a bit further inland— “you out here any more than you want me to be, I’m sure. Warm up, keep Faroe in and stay safe with Catherine for me, will you?” Bella sighed. She knew Arthur wouldn’t give up, and he’d probably wash away like a piece of driftwood in trying. “Don’t tell me what to do, friend.” She hauled the rest of the boat onto the sand in one great pull, dragging Arthur along with it like a crab to a wayward piece of kelp. “But fine. Only because we both know you aren’t gonna leave this til this thing is at the boathouse.” She freed a hand to emphasize and point at him, but Arthur caught that note of reluctant appreciation around the words. “I swear, Arthur. You’re gonna get yourself hurt trying to help me out one of these days,” she muttered under her breath. the two carried the small boat up the sandy slopes around the dock and through the tall whipping reeds along the hill to the boathouse. Thunder rolled and boomed with the dark clouds that came in from the sea, leaving no room for conversation besides the odd grunt or direction here and there. The whistling reeds stung Arthur’s arms and face on the climb up but he has no time to waste breath. Whatever happened had to be fast because he wouldn’t be able to bear it if they got stuck out in the storm like this. His legs ached from the climb and each boom of thunder and flash of lightning seemed to echo and spark in his bones but he couldn’t stop now. They were so close that he could almost see the roof of the boathouse from behind Bella. “Not giving up yet, eh?” She called out, curls wild and illuminated by brilliant white light before the near deafening crack that followed drowned out anything he said in response. She saw him shake his head, as well as the tremble in his bad leg. “Good. We’re nearly there, just keep steady!” with one great final tug they made it to the very top of the hill. “I’ve got it from here.” Bella dragged the boat out of Arthur’s arms and over to the sturdy wooden boathouse before he could get out a word of protest. When she emerged and came back over to him he allowed himself to lean a bit against her shoulder to catch his breath. They began to walk back down the hill. “You really didn’t have to do that,” he started, but she put a hand on his shoulder to quiet him. “No, you didn’t have to do all that for me. Probably would’ve been smarter not to, not in all this.” She nodded her head up to the rumbling storm around them. “But you did. So thank you.” A flash of lighting lit up their faces

[brick-a-doodle-do]

I like the crashed au but I don't really understand it, can you explain it to me?

yeah fs! it's not too complicated when everything is together,,,,

when ranboo was a kid (about 6), the plane he was on with his parents on the way back from vacation crashed onto an island. it was supposed to be a safe landing, however something went wrong and it ended with the death of everyone onboard, except for lucky ranboo, who now faced two problems: their parents were dead (leaving him to fend for himself), and they were tiny. very tiny.

years passed and ranboo slowly adapted to the island, finding a beach far away from the remnants of the crash and building small shelters scattered around the beach. they made friends with a tennis ball he found, managed to learn to make clothes (and steal some from the other tinies that had been passengers), and more importantly he had found the weapons to fend off everything from birds to bugs to the occasional mouse or rarely a rabbit.

cut to where he's 18, still thriving off of talking to himself and keeping himself company. he's not exactly hopeful for any kind of future; he fully anticipates his eventual death caused by what he could only assume to be an animal or, if he was lucky, old age.

now, they hadn't expected a lot when the new day started. they got up like normal, started their day like normal, said hello to oliver (tennis ball), and started watching the sunrise.

about halfway into his day, ranboo sees something in the distance. he rarely did, and he loved to admit that he was excited, even a little hopeful.

he watched intently as what he made out to be a ski jet come closer and closer to the isla- oh, yeah, yeah, they're crashing. oh, he's screaming. ranboo found them dramatic, they were so close to shore they couldn't go underwater if they wanted to.

but, the ski jet did start smoking, so it was probably gone for a while.

,,, anyway after that, a human comes onto shore and start looking around a little bit, pointing out the little shelters on the beach and other quirks ranboo had added over the decade to what ranboo noticed was another tiny. and ranboo, who had been hiding behind the tennis ball the majority of the time while listening to them and their bickering, finally starts to try and make contact with them by moving the ball around to try and grab their attention.

it works, and the three of them introduce themselves. the humans are named tommy, and tubbo.

ranboo explains what happened, clingy explain what happened, and they just kinda start to form a friendship. especially him and tubbo.

and that's where the most detailed part ends,,,,

they're there for a few weeks, there's a bit of conflict between alliumduo because tommy wants ranboo's help, and ranboo does help, but every time ranboo offers his suggestions tommy just complains he has to do the work himself. also ranboo has "stolen" tubbo from him (by that, tubbo is bonding with the only other tiny in his life. poor touchstarved guys having some platonic intimacy!!)

maybe they get back. i don't know how long i'll have them stay on the island, maybe a few months or maybe even a year.

i do know that ranboo will neglect telling them that there's a plane there with materials, probably the materials to fix the ski just out of fear that they'd fix it and ranboo would be alone again,,, also the thought hadn't stuck their mind until pretty late (he'd tried to block out memories of the crash, also he forgot where exactly it was)

also there's some more worldbuilding under #crashed au as always,,,