#hits my nerd brain real good

[katakaluptastrophy]

Can we talk about Magnus in Harrow the Ninth? Because there's a tendency to paint him as this constantly cheerful figure and he's not - he's just very Fifth.

He's the only person who seems even slightly upset about the whole gun-toting horror thing:

“Did the Sleeper get them?”

“Only by assumption,” said Harrowhark, while Abigail’s dolt of a husband said, “I bloody hope so.”

“Magnus,” Abigail said, a touch disapprovingly.

“Well, if the Sleeper didn’t, that’s two maniacs with an ancient weapon and a love of blowing off faces, dear,” said Magnus.

And he's got a very low opinion of Silas:

"She won’t tell me what he said to her, just that he ‘was horrid.’”

“Cheeky little so-and-so,” said Magnus. “If he were my son, I’d give him something to think about. I’m not surprised he’s gone to ground.”

“I would hope your son might be of different character,” said his wife, half-smiling.

“Protesilaus should have biffed him.”

“It’s strange,” said Abigail, ignoring her husband’s exhortations to biffing.

Behind the jolly Jeeves and Wooster-esque talk of biffing people, let's remember that this is Magnus - who from Gideon's POV never saw a teenager he didn't want to adopt - earnestly wishing that a grown man had hit a 16 year old kid.

And when Harrow explains that she thinks she saw him jump to his death, Magnus isn't particularly sympathetic:

“We should have made him a greater priority,” said Lady Pent.

Magnus said, “I’m not certain.”

and

“We didn’t need him,” he said bracingly.

Abigail said, “We need everyone.”

“I never thought he was quite the thing.”

This "never quite the thing" line is the same one Abigail uses when she says Ianthe shouldn't have become a Lyctor and you get the sense it has a quite specific meaning on the Fifth. You get the distinct feeling Magnus is saying "good riddance" in response to a teenager's apparent suicide.

And then of course there's Magnus' conversation with Harrow as the River bubble collapses, as Harrow debates whether she should leave her body to Gideon:

She said: “If I go back, it will finally destroy her soul.”

It was Magnus who stepped forward and looked at Harrow face-to-face. And perhaps she felt that more keenly: that he was the man who had, in Gideon’s own words a lifetime ago, been nice to her cavalier. His mouth was hard now, but his eyes were as kind as they had ever been. And kindness was a knife.

He doesn't pull any punches in laying out his understanding of the situation to Harrow:

“This whole thing happened because you wouldn’t face up to Gideon dying,” he said, which was a stab as precise as any Nonius had managed. “I don’t blame you. But where would you be, right now, if you’d said: She is dead? You’re keeping her things like a lover keeping old notes, but with her death, the stuff that made her Gideon was destroyed. That’s how Lyctorhood works, isn’t it? She died. She can’t come back, even if you keep her stuffed away in a drawer you can’t look at. You’re not waiting for her resurrection; you’ve made yourself her mausoleum.”

His wife looked at Harrow’s face and murmured, “Magnus, you’ve made your point,” but he uncharacteristically ignored her.

He's trying to get through to her in a very fraught situation, but he's certainly not pulling his punches:

“You’re a smart girl, Harrowhark. You might turn some of that brain to the toughest lesson: that of grief.”

Abigail is also trying to talk her out of things, but she's much more discursive and apologetic. Magnus is kind, but it's kindness as a knife, not a cushion.

Magnus is so often written off as just a silly, goofy character, when he's more complicated than that. He's allowed to have a very real frustration with the River bubble and with Harrow, however much he does also care for her and want to help her.

And you know what, he's a CFO stuck in a horrorscape with his delighted ghost nerd wife and a bunch of soldiers. He runs with it - he cracks one of his House ordinal jokes while physically tackling a gun-toting ghost and makes a decent go at it before getting shot. But he's very much out of his comfort zone, angry, and no longer entirely held back by propriety.

[wynnyfryd]

Trailer Park Steve AU part 3

part 1 | part 2

(tw: guns, accidental death)

Robin’s already in full panic mode by the time Steve pulls up to her place, flinging the passenger door open and throwing herself into the car with so much force that the car bounces on its wheels a little. “Drive!!”

“Jesus Christ, good morning to you, too.”

“Steve!”

Steve starts to drive.

Beside him, Robin flips the visor down to look at her reflection; groans and scrubs her hands down her face in misery at whatever she sees. Steve doesn’t really get it. He thinks she looks beautiful, with her hair gently moving in the breeze from the open window, with her freckles lit up by the early morning sun.

“Ugh,” she says, turning to look at him, “I can’t believe I look like a zombie and you’re gonna make me late to the first day of school.”

“Wow.” Fuckin’ ingrate. And when he was just being so nice to her in his head. “How about a thank you, huh? ‘Thanks for picking me up, Steve. Thanks for bringing my backpack, Steve. Sorry you almost got shanked by your neighbor, Steve.’”

“You what???”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Um, yes it very much does matter, what the—”

“—I’m just saying, a little gratitude? Wouldn’t hurt you.”

He licks at the corner of his mouth, spritzes wiper fluid to clear the bugs off the windshield. Robin’s eyes are bulging out of her head, but he really doesn’t want to talk about how he still feels the ghost press of steel against his throat, so: “You’re not even right, by the way; I don’t know why you’re complaining.”

“Huh?”

“School started yesterday. I’m making you late for the second day of school.”

“Yesss,” she draws the word out like he’s stupid, rolling her wrist in a hurry up and get it motion, “but everyone knows that syllabus day doesn’t count. The first pep rally is the real first day of school.”

Ah, there it is.

Steve steals another peek at his best friend while they’re on a straightaway, notes the nervous twitch of her hands as she goes back to fussing at her reflection; the way she’s clumping her lashes together with seven coats too many of some drugstore brand mascara. She’s wearing lipstick. “This is about Vick—”

“—Don’t talk about—”

“—It’s about Vickie, isn’t it?”

“Ughhhhh.” Robin folds forward and thunks her head against the dash. “Fine, okay? Fine! Yes! This may have something to do with a distressingly cute fellow marching band member. Are you happy now?”

“Ecstatic.”

“Oooh, big word for you, Steven.” She swats him on the shoulder, face all twisted up in offense. “Stop laughing!”

“Stop hitting me,” he laughs. “I’ll dump your ass out on this highway.”

She gasps and narrows her eyes at him. “You wouldn’t.”

Steve eases his foot onto the brake.

“Okay, okay! Mercy! I’m being an asshole, alright? I’m sorry. I’m just— I’m stressed! Being gay is very stressful.”

The knife incident pops back into his mind. “Yeah,” he mutters, “I imagine it is.”

—

He catches himself slouching down into his seat a bit when they pull up to the school. Has to force himself to sit upright, hears his mother’s tutting in his ear about bad posture and the message it projects to the world.

It’s not that he’s embarrassed to be here; really, he isn’t. He’s just hoping to avoid being spotted by the nuggets now that they go here, too, lest he be accosted for evading his chauffeur duties.

God.

Dustin’s nerd shit is infecting his brain.

Robin grabs her bag out of the back seat, plants a parting peck on Steve’s cheek as she gets out of the car. “See you later?”

“Yeah, I’ll pick you up for work.”

“Love you, dingus.”

And then he’s alone again.

With Robin gone, Steve finds himself driving. Wandering and aimless, like a ghost who doesn’t know he’s gone. It’s not like he has nothing to do — he’s supposed to be out finding a second job, finding a way to support himself and his mom, because he’s the man of the house now. Because his life has turned into one of those shitty, overcomplicated word problems from math class.

If a recently widowed mother works no hours and her minimum-wage son works as many as Family Video will allow, how much mold-riddled dogshit housing can they afford?

Not much.

Inevitably, he finds himself circling the scorched bones of Starcourt, driving tired loops around the barbed wire perimeter. His ghost likes to guide him here; can’t shake the place where he shook off the mortal coil.

He didn’t know it at the time, but Steve Harrington died the day the mall burned down. Embarrassing, to not hear the death knell as his family name went up in smoke.

It was hard to hear much at all that night, between the concussion and the fireworks and the shrieking of a monster being torn apart, but the memory caresses his mind now in cruel whispers: the headrush of victory; the blood and the sweat; the relief that they’d won, they’d done it, it’s over, they won.

Steve tugs at his bad ear ‘til the ringing subsides.

Some fucking grand prize.

The thing is, you can’t go around exploding an eldritch horror without alerting the US government, and the US government can’t go around letting major investors in a hostile commie invasion keep their assets once they find out about their treasonous schemes. It happened fast: the arrest, the bail, the impending trial and the seizure of property. Richard Harrington was once a small town god on an invisible throne, making deals with devils in shadowy boardrooms, and suddenly he was looking at life in a cell.

Maybe it was a blessing he died before his reckoning was due. Maybe it was no accident at all.

The second, and perhaps more important, thing is: stray bullets don’t care about your looming court date.

Dad had a habit of cleaning his guns while he was drunk, nursing a whiskey in one hand while he polished the gleaming barrels with the other. Pointless, really, because the guns were always pristine to begin with. Dick Harrington didn’t hunt. Didn’t shoot. Claimed the pistol was for home defense, that he kept it loaded in case anyone ever tried to hurt his family, but Steve knew the truth.

His dad just liked to flirt with death. Liked to handle pretty, deadly things, stroke his fingers over ruthless metal and feel the rush of power when he walked away unscathed.

He didn’t walk away that night.

Didn’t even face death standing.

Sliced through his femoral artery and rolled right out of his chair.

They found him lying on the ground in a dark, sticky puddle, gasping like a fish as blood spurted from his thigh. Crazy how fast it happened. Steve had been in his room when the shot rang out, and he barely managed to reach the bottom of the stairs before the gurgling noises stopped. Just boom! whizz! bang! and Dick Harrington was gone.

Maybe it’s a good thing, too, that they lost the house.

The image of his mother in the hallway that night — shellshocked in the doorway, one pale hand shaking in front of her open mouth, features wide and wet with waking horror as she stared into the room — was enough to make him never want to step foot in the place again.

So now they live in a rundown piece of shit on the wrong side of town, with hideous burnt orange carpet and wood paneled walls, with cracks in the ceiling and cigarette burns in the walls, some parting gifts from whatever feral hick lived there before them, and it feels like another cruel, cosmic joke. Like the universe is delighting in the Harringtons’ comeuppance; like the blackened beams and brick rubble of Starcourt are all twisting to form one great, mocking mouth; the better to smile and laugh at their misfortune.

You bought your bed, now you have to lie in it.

He didn’t even know that the Harringtons owned Forest Hills until it was the only asset left to their name.

He’s pretty sure his dad bought it more as a joke than a genuine investment. Meant to teach Steve a lesson, like how he used to bring home Waffle House applications whenever Steve got a C on a report card. This is your future if you don’t straighten up, son.

Kill yourself, dad.

Oh, wait.

You already did.

—

part 4

[steddieas-shegoes]

A little thing based on this post because it wouldn’t leave my brain:

“I just don’t understand why you won’t try to read it.”

Steve had heard Dustin say this exact sentence hundreds of times at this point.

“I mean, do you know how to read?”

Mike was an asshole. Steve loved him because he was part of the group and he’d been through the same things, but he was such a dick.

“Yes, I know how to read. I just don’t.”

Dustin rolled his eyes.

“If you don’t wanna read nerd shit just say so.”

Steve threw his arms up in frustration.

Steve was a nerd at heart. As a child, he would beg the nanny to take him to the library and the science museum that had real dinosaur fossils. There was something about the peace of exiting his reality and finding a new one among fantasy and history that was indescribable, even to this day.

But as he grew into his looks, he grew out of that phase. At least around others.

And with no nanny around to take him places, he settled for just being the popular guy who hung out with his friends after practice and threw parties at his forever empty house on Saturdays.

But secretly, he still found himself enjoying books late into the night. Never school books, or his grades would’ve been good enough for college, but always incredible novels that took him to other worlds with the most impressively brave people.

And then he lived a nightmare. A few times over. With concussions at every turn.

Now, anytime he tried to read, his head started pounding, his vision got blurry, and ears would start ringing. He stopped trying altogether after Starcourt, but he’d never really let go his love of books.

He occasionally let Robin read to him, but she would get distracted by a plot or character and go on a tangent, leaving Steve confused about what the actual story was. He hated being confused.

“Stevie, you got a minute?”

Eddie had been watching from his spot at the end of the table, where he’d been cleaning up the mess of D&D. He usually made the kids do it, but he’d let them off the hook tonight when they beat the monster and escaped his trap.

Steve and Eddie were friends, definitely. Maybe not close ones, but friends.

Steve had a little crush, definitely. Or a big one. Maybe.

So when Eddie shows him attention, he somewhat shamefully receives it like he’s dying of thirst in a desert.

Robin is the only one who’s noticed so far, but if he keeps acting like a dog being called by his master anytime Eddie talks to him, someone else will comment on it.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Steve asked as he made his way to Eddie.

The kids took this time to talk amongst themselves about the game and what they think will happen next week, and Steve couldn’t have been more grateful.

“You don’t have to tell me, but.” Eddie was tapping his fingers nervously against his leg. “Do you not know how to read?”

“Uh. No I do. I mean I graduated high school. I know it’s hard to believe.”

“Not judging if you can’t, man. I mean, I took three senior years. I’m the last person who can judge.”

“Yeah, but you’re smart. You just didn’t like school,” Steve replied with a pat to his shoulder.

Eddie glanced down at the contact, eyebrow raising and then falling back to normal quickly.

“Just seems like you’d have read something by now to get them off your ass.”

And that’s a really good point. Maybe he should’ve just suffered through a migraine so they’d leave him alone about it.

But migraines left him out for days sometimes, and he couldn’t exactly afford that right now.

“I guess it’s just not worth the migraine.”

He hadn’t meant to actually say it. He didn’t want Eddie to feel bad or for him to try to make him feel better about it or ask questions or talk about the concussion thing.

Actually, did he even know about the concussion thing? Things?

“You get migraines when you try to read?” Then realization hit Eddie hard. “Steve. Do you like reading?”

Something about the way Eddie was looking at him, like he was sad for him but not pitying him, made Steve want to cry.

“I used to, yeah.”

“Everyone out! Your parents are gonna have to come get you! No questions, no explanations, go!” Eddie yelled to the room.

Everyone stared blankly at him before they started protesting, Dustin loudest of all.

“Steve’s my ride!”

“Not anymore. Hitch a ride with Lucas.”

“But Lucas’ mom always squeezes my cheeks and tells me she hopes I never lose my baby fat.”

“She speaks for all of us. Get the hell out of here!”

Steve was actually impressed. Maybe a little turned on? God, he was a disaster.

As everyone cleared out of the room, Eddie patted the seat next to him. When Steve sat down, Eddie scooted his chair so close to him, his knees were touching Steve’s.

“Alright, so you’re gonna tell me about what books you like and what books you want to read and we’re gonna get started.”

Steve blinked at him. “Huh?”

“You have a list I’m sure.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Okay, then we better get started.”

“I mean, I’ve tried. I appreciate it, but even focusing on one page makes my eyes burn and my head hurt.”

“Got that. I’m not asking you to read.”

Sometimes Steve was worried the concussions had actually knocked some screws loose. He wasn’t getting it.

“I’m gonna read to you, Stevie.��

“You don’t have to do that. I’m sure a lot of them will be movies and I can just watch them.”

“It’s not the same. You know it’s not.”

He was right. Steve didn’t have much patience for movies. And sometimes even those gave him migraines if there were a lot of bright lights and explosions.

“Yeah. But still. You don’t have to do that. You might not even like the books.”

“Ah, this isn’t a completely free service, my liege.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I don’t have extra money to pay you, dude.”

“Not money. I get to pick a book to read to you when we finish the first book you pick.”

“Is it The Hobbit?”

“It is,” Eddie looked so smug.

“Well, that was my first choice,” Steve stared back, equally as smug.

“So, your house is empty.”

“Yep.”

“And I’m assuming you own this book.”

“I do.”

“And it’s getting late.”

Steve looked out the window at the pitch black skies.

“It’s late.”

“So I could stay and read you to sleep.”

“Won’t I miss some of the book?”

“I’ll stop when you’re asleep.”

Steve’s heart was practically begging him to say yes. Eddie reading to him in his bed? Possibly falling asleep together? Maybe even waking up together? It couldn’t be a better proposition. Well. It could.

“Will you stay even if I fall asleep?”

Eddie smirked. “If that’s what you want, sweetheart.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d called Steve that, but it was the first time it felt like he meant it in a non-teasing way.

“Okay.”

So they both changed into some of Steve’s comfy clothes, got into his bed, and Eddie started reading The Hobbit.

Just as he was during D&D and real life, Eddie was animated, providing different voices for different characters and often giving long pauses to let Steve soak in what the words meant.

Steve didn’t even have to ask him to do that. He just did.

Steve fell asleep somewhere between halfway and the end of chapter two, but Eddie stayed.

And they woke up the next day with Steve’s head resting on Eddie’s chest, Eddie’s arms wrapped around him to keep him as close as possible.

They finished the The Hobbit in a week, and because Eddie was now committed to making sure Steve was well-read, they started moving through his list rapidly, falling for each other in new ways every time Eddie turned a page.

Part 2 (Angst)  / Part 2 (Fluffy) /  Part 2 (Explicit)

[alphajocklover]

Man I'm just some scrawny skater and always have been. I always make fun of meatheads at the gym for being obsessed with size and power, but recently I watched the Hulk movie and I think I get it... The idea of becoming unstoppable and reigning supreme.

My friends have been worried about me since I've stopped hanging out with me and started hitting the gym but I wish I could just Hulk out without the whole 'Hulk speak' part. Something about letting my inner beast take over like the other dudes in the gym is tempting. Could you help me out?

The thing everyone forgets about the hulk is that, after decades of being in the comics, Bruce Banner is far more complicated than the movies would suggest. Sure, it started out like all the movies do, with Banner being transformed into the Hulk by some terrible accident, switching between forms whenever angered, but over the years and the dozens upon dozens of different storylines the Hulk has become so much more complicated. Over the years Bruce Banner has gained more than just one alternate personality. There’s himself, of course, ther nerdy genius. Then there’s the classic hulk, dumb angry and strong. But there have been many others over the years. Joe Fixit, the gray hulk with the mind and personality of a Vegas mobster, Doc Green/professor Hulk, a version of the hulk with both the brains and the brawn, and Green Scar, a cunning warrior who ruled an entire planet (for a short time). These are only a few of his many different forms and personalities. So, if you wanna be like the Hulk… it’s going to be more than just the nerd and the hunk.

Let’s start with the basics. That is to say, let’s start with you. The Skater. Your original personality, the one who makes fun of meathead jocks and doesn’t give a fuck about being strong. Or at least didn’t until recently. But after watching that movie… something’s changed inside of you. It awakened parts of yourself you didn’t even know were there. And I’m not speaking metaphorically. It seems that certain triggers now cause you to change into other forms, other people. At first they presented themselves as the sudden urge to workout and desire to be a jock, but now they don’t need to be just urges. They’ve developed into full on identities. When you’re not in a different form you’ll revert to your original self, the skinny skater you used to be… but that won’t be very often. Your other selves are way too greedy to give the pathetic little skater his fair share.

Next is your hulk. But for you it’d be more accurate to call him the Hunk. Beefy, muscular, dumb and sexy as hell. He’s everything you used to hate and everything you now long to be. An alpha male, a jock, a himbo, a stud. Your inner beast. He's the one who goes to the gym with your new bros, flirts with anything that moves, and flexes almost constantly. He isn’t brought forth by anger like the real hulk is though. You turn into the Hunk when horny. Makes sense. Just like how the Hulk is always angry, the Hunk is always horny. A complete and utter fuckboy stud, and until you get control over his wild libido, you’ll be turning into him almost constantly.

After that is your Joe Fixit. Let’s call him Joe. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Just like in the original comics Joe isn’t summoned by an emotion, but by the night. He’s drawn out by the thrill of the nightlife, by clubs and secret backrooms and grinding against each other in the dark while the beat pumps through you like a drug. He spends the first half of the night as a bouncer, using his beef, strength and sometimes even his charm to keep certain people out. The second half he spends flirting with chicks, dancing at the club, partying, drinking, and on a good night fucking his latest babe in the clubs VIP room. The best part is that he never has to deal with a hangover, and whichever you who wakes up in the morning is always well rested.

Your next form is the one who has it all. Your Doc Green, the one with the brains and the brawn. He actually is a med student who is trying to become a doctor, so let’s call him Doc. Charming, manly, and muscular, but also sensitive, kind and intelligent. His trigger is less clear, but you know he comes out when you need him. Whether its for a shift at work, to charm a girl or guy you actually like enough to date and not just fuck, he’s there. What he’s really good at though is making money. For a med student he’s shockingly loaded, probably because he set up a very successful onlyfans account for each of you. You, the regular you, watch his videos sometime. You always turn into the Hunk before the video ends.

Finally is the warrior. The green scar. You just call him Jock. Because that’s what he is. He comes out fairly rarely, only when you’re feeling very competitive, usually during sports events and bodybuilding contests. He’s tough, rough, and never backs down. He’s surprisingly intelligent, but uses most of this intelligence on strategy and tactics. He’s the perfect team leader, and is incredibly dominant on and off the field.

Between the Hunk, Joe, Doc, and Jock, there isn’t much time for you anymore. But this is what you wanted, want you fucking love being each of them. You finally released your inner beast. All four of them.

**hey there! Hope you guys liked the story. I know most people go a different direction when it comes to ‘hulking out’ but I thought maybe something a little different like this would be more interesting. I hope whoever requested the story enjoys it, and that you don’t mind me showing off my inner comic book geek**

[bodyhopper-files]

Just A Dream

Beau woke up with the sun shining through his window, breaking into his bedroom with a ray of light. With a start, he remembered the peculiar dream he had just had.

"Bro, I just had the weirdest dream..." he said, gazing up at the ceiling with a perplexed expression.

I had been waiting for this moment. I knew it was my chance to make sure Beau never figured out my secret. Pretending to be deeply interested in the dream, I asked, "Oh yeah, bro? What did you dream about?"

Beau's expression changed from puzzlement to awe. "I dreamt I used to be some skinny nerd but then I made a wish to be a dumb bro."

I chuckled, trying to sound as casual as possible. "No way, bro! Just look at you. You're a real bro with a sexy jock body, not some skinny nerd."

As my words hung in the air, I silently thanked the supernatural forces that gave me the power to transform him into a dumb, obedient bro while he was sleeping. I continued to act clueless, though I couldn't help but feel aroused at the thought of his new personality and the possibilities that came with it.

"Huh. So, what do you wanna do today, bro?" Beau asked me with a smirk and a slow, stupid drawl. I could sense the easy confidence settling into his voice and it only fueled my desire for him.

"I was thinking we could hit the gym and pump some iron, bro."

He nodded eagerly, flexing his biceps. "Hell yeah, bro! Let's get jacked!"

"And then I thought we could come home and you could rail me real good."

Beau's eyes widened in surprise at my suggestion, but then his thick, dumb jock-brain caught up and a cocky grin spread across his face.

"Fuck yeah, bro!" he exclaimed, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me close. "I've been waiting for you to ask me that."

My heart raced as I felt his muscular body pressed against mine, his hot breath tickling my neck. I could feel the bulge in his shorts growing harder and I knew he was just as turned on as I was.

"Maybe we should just skip the gym for today," I murmured in his ear as he nibbled my neck.

Beau leaned in, his lips brushing mine. His eyes opened slowly and a devilish smirk appeared on his face.

"Whatever you want, bro."

My face heated up and my heart rate quickened as I realized how far I'd taken him in such a short amount of time. His transformation was complete, and I was ready to enjoy every second of it.

We stripped off our clothes and tumbled into bed, exploring each other's bodies with eager hands. He kissed me deeply as I ran my hand over his bulging muscles, marveling at the perfect body I'd blessed him with using my special powers. We explored and touched and tasted each other until neither of us could take it anymore. Rolling over on top of him, I leaned down to meet his lips with mine, pressing my body tightly against his as our passionate lovemaking began.

He held me close and moved inside me in an exquisite rhythm that only heightened our pleasure. Every touch was electric and every movement was athletically performed. The new dumb jock might not have been all that smart, but his sex game was about to be legendary. I gasped and moaned as we both reached our climax. He finished by pumping his hot jock load into me with deep, animalistic groans.

We lay there afterwards spent but satisfied, curled up next to each other in a blissful afterglow. With one last kiss and hug Beau whispered softly "Bro, I'm so glad being a skinny nerd was just a dream."

[translatemunson]

these days I'm restless, work days are endless • ttfd

chapter three of the tortured firefighters department

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

cw: fem!reader, afab!reader, no descriptions of reader, banter (because i love it), reader is a math and science nerd, chris and eddie are here, mentions of food, hints of mental issues, proofread by my bye-lingual ass (let me know if i forgot anything)

LA was less of a stranger now. Who knew going to that dinner at Maddie’s would slowly bring you closer to the 118 family.

Late night texts with Maddie to make her company while Chimney worked and Jee was nowhere close to sleep were standard. Night shifts were smooth as butter if compared to day shifts in any state, you found out. LA of course had more hits and runs, overdose emergencies, abuse situations, but you could type their info while waiting for your personal laptop to run the latest dynamical system you were analyzing. 

And now your agenda also included occasional brownie deliveries to the 118 and leftover food pickup you were sure Bobby wasn’t cooking as an accident; a few talks with Athena, Bobby’s wife, about how they could improve response time inside the LAPD with a small system you developed for your old local police; helping Chris over Facetime with his math homework — because Eddie called you one day looking like he just had the worst day of his life, but he couldn’t just understand the process to the results of a simple equation.

It was nice to finally have a life besides PhD and work routine. But that would always be brought up or come in handy for helping.

That’s how you ended up at Eddie’s place on a saturday morning. When he texted you that Chris needed extra help with a math syllabus — that could bring him some extra points that semester —, you jumped on your car and said would gladly help.

“How is it going, kiddo?” Eddie entered the dining room and checked Chris' progress.

“She’s really a genius!”

“And you are the most dedicated student I had.” And you weren’t saying that just to make him feel special. Chris was one of those kids that really put in the effort and dedication to understand things — when they wanted to, of course —, it wasn’t his fault the math problems were too complex for his age. Maybe you could talk to Eddie about it, so he could let the teachers know that maybe taking it easy with the kids was a good idea. They didn’t need to also be traumatized by mathematics. “C’mon, you’re crushing those equations, Chris!”

“Do you need a refill?” Eddie pointed to your empty lemonade cup.

“Yes, please.”

“Can you help me with science?” Chris asked, now that he was almost done with his math exercises.

“Not my forte, but I’ll try.”

In another universe, you would’ve stopped your studies once you had the basic requirements for being a teacher — maybe middle or secondary school. You’d always loved classrooms, and it was the safest option if your Masters ended up on a dead end. You were glad to be where you were, but your mind sometimes wondered the ‘what if’s of being a school teacher.

Chris brought his science homework, luckily just some questions about animals that, because of all of your free hours in museums and science classes you took for extra credits during college, were easy to deal with. Once you talked about seeing the dinosaur bones in real life, he was mesmerized, avoiding blinking at all costs just so he couldn’t miss a single detail.

“Dad! She saw the dinosaur!” He almost screamed when you pulled out your phone to show him some pictures.

The doorbell hung as soon as Eddie entered the dining room. “Be right back, buddy! Don’t give him any more ideas, Brains!”

“Won’t promise anything.” I took you one heartbeat to cover your mouth and whisper, “I will check if there is any dinosaur in town and take you there for a visit. What do you think?”

“That’s awesome,” he whispered back.

“But for now this is a secret, ok?”

“Ok. Pinky swear?”

“Of course, kiddo.” 

Chris got up to pick his books about dinosaurs. Your mind started to list all the museums in LA and how many of them had really good replicas of them — or the real ones, if possible. Maybe you could get the tickets for Chris and Eddie and tag along as their tour guide. Or maybe you could check with Eddie if he needed a babysitter someday in the following weeks, so you could help and also fulfill your promise at the same time.

“Buck!” Chris screamed.

You turned around just in time to see Buck taking him off the floor with a bear type huge and messing with his hair. “My guy! What are you up to today?”

“I’m studying dinosaurs.” He showed the books in his hands.

“On a Saturday morning? Where’s the fun? How about video games?”

“Are you done with your science homework?” Eddie asked, closing the door.

“Yes! Brains helped me!”

As your nickname has been brought up to the conversation, Buck finally noticed you. You heard Maddie saying, countless times, that Buck had a soft spot for kids. But had a huge spot for Chris, with all his heart. After the tsunami — you’ve only heard about it, still not in California to experience the disaster first hand —, their bond only grew even stronger.

“Oh did she?” He smirked.

“Yes. She even promised me she will take me to see the dinosaurs.”

“Chris! I thought you would honor our pinky swear!” you shouted playfully.

“Ouch! Someone call 9-1-1, I’ve been betrayed.” Buck faked having a knife to his chest, and pulling it out.

You pretended to have your earpiece on and changed your voice until it sounded like you were in your job, saying “Sir, calling 9-1-1 without being in real danger is considered a felony, and the authorities will investigate you. Hope you look good in orange pajamas.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and Chris laughed. Buck was definitely not impressed, and he took Chris with him to play some video games. You busied yourself with organizing Chris’ books over the table and checking his equations one last time. You took your lemonade glass to the kitchen, intending to wash it before going home for some deep cleaning.

“Just leave it there, I’ll take care of it,” Eddie entered the room and opened the cookie jar. “Are you serious about taking him to the museum?”

“I was gonna talk to you about it later. Maybe? Only if you’re ok with it, of course. I can take him on my day off, get him some pancakes from my favorite restaurant, bring him back by the end of the day, safe and sound. Or you could tag along, I can pretend I’m a VIP tour guide, I might be able to pull some strings at the Caltech museum, they don’t have real dinosaurs, but their exhibition on life on Earth is really good. It’s not much, but they have a few things about dinosaurs.”

“Does next Saturday work for you? I might need to take an extra 12-hour shift.”

“Sure! The Natural History Museum will do the job just fine. I’ll pick him up and don’t worry, we can stay at mine until your shift ends. Anything works for me, really.”

“Great.” He noticed how you held your bag and checked the door from time to time. “In a hurry?”

“I think my job here is done,” you pointed to the two kids playing and screaming over some stupid video game. 

Lately, you’ve been avoiding Buck like the plague. He was just so annoying towards you every time you met and it was getting on your nerves. Your small encounters when you were at the firestation to drop off some baked goods, or when you went to visit Maddie and he was just leaving the place, were messing with your thoughts. 

It was easier to give him the cold shoulder and keep your distance than sitting in a quiet room with your mixed feelings about the younger Buckley.

“Thank you again, Brains.”

“No worries, happy I could help.”

“You sure I can’t convince you to stay a little more and grab some lunch with us?”

“I really don’t wanna disturb the vibes, you know.”

“You know you are practically family, right? Catching lunch with us on slow days, having some beers, teaching math to the kids.”

“Yeah, but I just… Maybe another time, ok? I promise.”

“You have to stop acting like you’re always on the run, Brains. Someday you’re gonna run out of breath.”

“I appreciate the advice, Eddie. Text you soon?”

“He’s gonna freak out when I tell him about your plans.”

You left the house unnoticed. Before hopping on your car and driving to your favorite grocery store, you checked your messages, hoping to clear your agenda for next saturday — pretty sure you had a night shift on friday, but with enough caffeine, you could pull an all-nighter. Not ideal, but it was your plan B.

“Hey! Brains!”

“Tired of getting your ass kicked by a younger boy?” You were still too busy with your phone to raise your eyes to Buck.

“Why are you almost running to get out of here? Schedule’s too packed?”

“None of your business.” You opened the door of your car and threw your bag inside.

“Oh so you are still mad at me for eating the cupcakes!” Oh yeah, the cupcake incident. That was one of the reasons why you weren’t staying more than one minute alone with Evan Buckley.

“What did you expect me to do? I bought them for me and Maddie, and you thought it was ok to eat them all. Alone!” You faced him, your chin up high. “You have no fucking clue how long I waited in line before the store opened that day, I had a really messed up shift and I needed those!”

“I told you I’d get more cupcakes!”

“No! I wanted my favorites! Your sister wanted those specific ones, she kept mentioning them for days! And you ruined it!” You held the door open, hoping you could leave the place quickly.

“I’ve told you I’m sorry, ok? What else do you want me to do, hm?”

“How about getting out of my hair? Leave me alone, Buckley. I mean it. I was starting to grow fond of the 118, but you are making it impossible to enjoy some time with any of them!”

“I was there first!” Buck was much stronger than you, and he successfully closed the door. He wanted another fight.

“Great. Text me your schedule so I can avoid being in the same room with you.” You tried to push his arm out of the door.

“Now you’re just being dramatic! C’mon, Brains, it was just some stupid cupcakes, I got Maddie some of her favorite cake after you stormed out of the apartment. I texted you I was sorry a dozen times.”

“Maybe you should start asking before eating something that isn’t yours.”

“I don’t know what happened to you lately, but it’s unbelievable you’re holding the grudge for so long. Brains, really, I’m sorry I ruined your plans with my sister. Can we act as adults now?”

“Who are you to tell me ‘Let’s be adults’ now? You ruined the only free time I had with Maddie that week. And you know what? I had a shitty shift with some really bad calls that day, but, unlike you, I don’t go on messing with things that don’t belong to me.”

Your real name slipped from his lips and you knew it was time to leave. You took the chance to open the door and throw yourself into the seat.

“I’m tired, Evan. I really am. Give me some space, I’m still recovering from that shift. You could’ve bought us all the cupcakes in the world that day, and I’d still be mad at you.” You started the car. “I need to go home.”

“I’m gonna find out why you’re still mad at me after one million sorry’s!”

“I wouldn’t waste any more breath. But you know what, good luck.”

As much as you hated it, Eddie was right. You were running away. And you just didn’t want to admit who was from.

author's note: and she’s back for chapter three!!!! you all were a little shy on chapter 2, but ok, i’ll forgive you. there is a small blurb coming up this weekend, so stay tuned. also, you can request blurbs from the tortured firefighters department or just talk about it via my asks!!! also i’m almost done with 9-1-1 lone star and i may or may not be working on a crossover in the near future hihihi kay love you see y’all next week byeeeeeee (actually this sunday ok byeeeee)

[saintblk]

*ೃ— spider’s web | NANAMI KENTO

warnings: foul language, smut, p in v, vaginal penetration, slight slut-shaming, sort of kinda sub!nanami, implied virgin!nanami, nerd!nanami, college au— gender neutral afab reader, considered to be black + thick

word count: 606 (so short i know>_<)

note: ngl idk if i like this but i been having nerd!nanami brainrot for a while i might write another part to this idk

MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS INTERACT AT YOUR OWN RISK

NANAMI KENTO prided himself on his work ethic. he didn’t allow for anything, or anyone, to come between him and his perfect gpa. that included skipping out on gojo’s dumb parties, handing work in far earlier than he needed to, and spending all his free time in the library. it also included approaching professors and insisting he get to work on his own. one thing he despised most was depending on other people for a good grade.

so when you were assigned to be his partner for a research paper, he wasted no time in raising the concern with the prof before he left the lecture hall. unfortunately, he’d be quickly turned away after some speech about working with people in the real world.

as he suspected, meeting with you was as difficult as he expected it to be. as soon as you approached him for contact information, he couldn’t help but further curse your prof. you were followed by your equally loud friends, dressed in short revealing clothes. nanami, to his assumption, had you figured out in a minute.

he was not surprised by your lack of response to his texts, how little you showed up to class, and the new man he saw on your arm every week. to him, you were nothing but a manipulative little slut who had everyone wrapped around their finger, and he refused to be taken advantage of.

the position he found himself in just a few days later would say otherwise. you showed up at his dorm abruptly, informing him the library was closed for renovations neither of you knew about. he allowed you to come in and bit his tongue when you plopped down on his bed.

the last thing he expected was to have you climb atop him, tight walls enveloping his shaft as you sunk down onto his member. he couldn’t recall exactly what led to it; at least not with the way you clenched around him. while he failed to stifle his whimpers and groans, you ground your hips down against his in an attempt to force his noises out.

“lemme hear you,” you breath. “know you wanna let it out.”

as if he was waiting for those words, nanami let out a choked whine and clasped at your pudgy hips. he needily bucked his hips up into you, thrusting his aching member between your walls. a loud and sudden moan escaped your mouth, encouraging him to repeat his actions.

as he chased the unfamiliar feeling overcoming him, he mindlessly pistoned in and out of you. your nails dug into his chest and your mind went blank. every time he hit the spot inside you that made your toes curl, you felt yourself lose more and more of your sanity to him.

“f-feels so good-fuck…” he bites out.

nanami, who’d never been inside anything besides his own fists, fucked into you with reckless abandon. any concern he might’ve had about the assignment flitted from his brain as did his reservations about you. it was not long before you found sweet release and gushed onto his pelvis with nanami following close behind. despite trying to hold out the way you clenched around his manhood made it impossible. with a bruising grip on your waist, he thrust into you until he emptied his seed into your womb.

it didn’t take very long for him to knock out from exertion, only to come to with an email from you, the attached document containing a nearly complete assignment. though he might’ve thought being your partner would be absolutely pointless, it seemed you were useful for something after all.

2023 ©️ all rights reserved by saintblk (me) | do not copy, repost, promote, or translate any of my works without my permission

[doug-meat]

parts of the npmd soundtrack that scratch my brain perfectly (act one)

this soundtrack is so good. this is a long post so its all under the cut Part two coming soon. also i alternate between chara names and actor names idk why i do that. i hope this is even slightly comprehensible

HIGH SCHOOL IS KILLING ME

the little grace note in the piano bit in the last line of the piano melody before richie starts singing in (i hope this makes Sense)

jon's voice for real . just through this whole show

"a thread" and "i'm scared" happening at the same time

the violins(??) coming in when ruth starts singing

richie and ruth's harmonies during "the weight has got me sweating" bit

the "and i can survive it for only so long" harmonies

steph's "shit"

the way steph says "couldn't fuckin' study"

FOR THE CLASS OF TWENTY TWENTY WURN

agh Agh AGH!

the whispered "i'm so fuckin' dead"s underneath steph and pete's dialogue

steph and pete's repeated "my melody"s

the howling

the second delayed vocal line underneath the last bit of the last chorus

LITERAL MONSTER

the "HUH" at the start

the guitar riff motif

the little guitar squeal right before pete starts singing

the way pete says locker

richie's little riff on "seduce her"

the chorus harmonies

everyone knows how he BANGS!

the "and we pray and we pray harmonies"

you better you better!

kims voice in the he roars part <3

the harmonies in this song in general

will branners voice in this song SO GOOD

the "HUH HUH"s behind max's i roar bit

max's "don't need no one to tell me" verse UGH so good

NO ONE'S GONNA STOP ME!

max's harmonies on kind, size and rise

I WILL CLAIM WHAT IS MINE!

COOL AS I THINK I AM

the piano motif Can you tell i love motifs

i bet this song'll suck!

oo woah oo woah oh Oh

when the violins come in especially their little BA DA DUMS after "princess leia told me"

what if i were King of the hill!

the drums kicking in after the one oowoahoowoahoh oh

ensemble coming in

the little growl on the second "i'm as cool as she thinks i am"

THEN AGAIN I'M DERANGED

she's the brawn i'm the brains!

the electric guitar kicking in

IF I CAN FINALLY BE COOL I WILL KNOW THAT I'M NOT A LOSER

I'M THE RULER!!!!!!

DIRTY GIRL

the synth and drums

the way max says behave and be-betray me

baaaabe I'mma love ya all night lOOOooooong

THE LIKE MORE SYNTH KICKING IN HALFWAY THROUGH THE FIRST CHORUS UGH SO GOOD

the way grace says classroom

you want me cant be skipping skewl!

grace's "be-behayveee" UGH <3

THE GROWL ON "on your knees pray along"

the chorus harmonies <3

I DONT CARE ABOUT YOU!

the bridge harmonies

AA AAAGH!!

i'm a i'm a i'm a good girl!

WHO ON OCCASION GETS DIRTY!!!!

I WONT CAAARE ABOUT YOU!

BULLY THE BULLY

the snaps coming in

we'll make him shit his pants!

the riff on that line ^^

the jager-man??????

what's our budget?

the growl on "he's just a nerd in disguise"

stephie gonna lure him in with her charm

yeah?

JAGER GONNA JAGER OUT!

chorus harmonies!

standing for the nerdy the prudy!

WE'RE GONNA CUT OFF HIS NIPS!

AAAAHAaaAaaahh

the guitar bits in the back

we're gonna keep the beans cool! that whole sequence

BEAN SCHOOL? EXCELLENT!

THESE CHORUS HARMONIES ESP STEPHS

pete's and our problem's solved

richie's and the school can evolve

AND THE SCHOOL CAAAAN EVOLVE!!!

ugh jon and joey sound so good on the "we're gonna get the jock pleading"

the last guitar note

BURY THE BULLY

oh god she's snapping again...

this is a lot!!!

the whole hack all his limbs off bit

YOU WANT ME TO FILM THIS?

tape him up after dousing with bleach!

the chorus harmonies. every bit of these choruses i cant even isolate its everything

steph's little "bury bully line up stories NEVER HAUNT ME!"

i just cut off his nips

GRACE TELLING RUTH TO GIVE HER MAX'S NIPS

GO GO NIGHTHAWKS

the way ruth says shiny

IT'S LIKE THE START OF A NEW YEAR!

jon's higher range <3

jon's harmony on "and now i don't eat all by myself"

the trumpets behind the chorus

all the squawks

the HUH after who knew footballs a team game

corey's voice sounds so good on the "or hit u with a saturated towel"

the no more bully ball harmonies

the HUH! after no more bully ball

We're all givin the butt slaps YEAH HEAH!

the way jason sings cause we care <3

AND NOW I CAN PEE ALL BY MYSELF!!!!

the overlapping vocals coming together for "in hatchetfield high school"

N! I! G! H! T! AWK AWK! KSSSS!

NIGHT! HAWKS! NIGHT! HAWKS! NIGHT! HAWKS! FLY!

FUCK YOU CLIVESDALE GO GET FUCKED YOURE FUCKIN LOSERS AND WE'LL KILL YOU (KILL YOUR ASS)

fuuuuck you cliiivesdale gooo get fuuucked

the watch us fly harmonies

NIGHT! HAWKS! FLY! AWK AWK!

NERDY PRUDES MUST DIE (my fave song in the soundtrack be warned)

the "watch these nerds run for their lives" guitar riff before max sings

will branners voice augh

the little synthy ba duh duh duhs in the back

the BAMS! after every line in verses

the way max says "hallway safe" and "break you"

ugh the guitar kicking in and the double BUM BUM for the second verse

YA BITCH!

WOAH UH OAHHH

SHOULDA JOINED THE SMOKE CLUB YA NERDY PRUDE

the whole chorus

the watch those nerds run for their lives melody Ugh loved it in axe man loved it here

YOU PUSHED ME OFF THE EEEDGE

the way he says crusade

and youre too weak to be enSLAAAAVED

the drums AUAUDUAAUAU

CLEANSING OF YOUR KIND!!!!

the way he says anti socialites

the entire repeat after me bit. its actually incredible i cant just isolate one part of it its so good

the ensemble kicking in

IIIIM NOT A LOOOSERRRR

But you have lost. Everything.

THE HATCHET TOWN MOTIF

UGH I LOVE THIS SONG. THE NMT MOTIF

[quillyfied]

Real talk for a minute because I fucking need this:

I’ve been a fandom nerd since age eight. Formalized when I first got online at age thirteen. My first real fandom was Harry Potter. It was my personality. It was everything. It introduced me to the fantasy genre, which I still haven’t really left. It made me want to be a writer. It made me realize there are stories inside of me that I want to share, that I hope touch someone else as deeply as Harry Potter touched me. Brain chemistry-altering type stuff. Loving Harry Potter is the only thing that extended family members who don’t really know me anymore remember about me. An ornament gifted years ago from an aunt who died suddenly. Thousands of words of writing. Hundreds of hours talking about it with friends and family. Toys, stickers, notebooks, clothes, gifts from others and some bought with money I shouldn’t have spent but did because it made me happy. Core childhood memories with people I don’t talk to anymore but remember so fondly.

It took a long time to be okay with tucking away my Harry Potter things. I disagreed with JKR’s political stances the second I heard them, but I held out hope for longer than I should have. I went through the very real shame and guilt and agony of something so foundational to my sense of self having to become a private, nostalgic sort of sad love instead of the loud, joyous proclamation it had been for years. It took a long time to be okay with losing the connection it brought with other strangers who also loved this story like I do and the giddiness of common ground and common excitement with other human beings. I’m still not okay with how something I still have so much love for is now an indicator of a person’s moral quality. I’m not okay with how my love makes me sad and uncomfortable instead of happy.

I’m a fandom nerd. It’s my biggest hobby and my biggest escape and coping mechanism. In May 2019, the thriving and small Dice Camera Action fandom exploded and then crumbled because of the show’s players’ interpersonal dramas, which in turn exploded and then crumbled me. Fully took out a pillar of my mental health. I learned a lot about parasocial relationships and my own relationship with them, about the dangers of them despite their very normal and common advent.

July 2019, I found Good Omens.

You can infer the pattern: brain chemistry-altering love, thousands of words of fanfic, more money than I had sometimes spent on stickers and plushes and shirts. Creating my very first cosplay, hours and hours talking about it with friends, some very fulfilling new creative relationships. A story that gave me hope, that felt True in the way that all great stories feel when they hit the right emotional chords. I’ve found new stories since then, but Good Omens remains an anchor that found me during a time I desperately needed it.

July 6, 2024.

Real people are more important than fandom. Obviously. I don’t think that’s ever truly in question.

But goddammit, fandom is people, too. Fandom is community. It’s the driving dopamine-sharing communal experience that has shaped my life for twenty years now. There is something in me that pushes back against the idea that the stories that have shaped and affected me so deeply must now be cast aside because their creators are unworthy, and at the same time, I have a hard time enjoying art knowing something on this magnitude taints it. It’s almost religious, in a way; avoid the appearance of evil, cast aside the unclean thing, repent for the sin of loving something made by a bad person.

Fuck you, my love doesn’t require repentance, art and artist can have some degree of separation and what I do and enjoy is nobody’s business.

Fuck you, how dare you give even verbal support to a monster by giving their work, and by extension them, the gift of your attention.

I don’t know how I’m going to handle this one yet, because the situation is more complex than JKR’s. There is still information coming out (more victims coming forward, I think more journalistic investigations under way), and Good Omens wasn’t just NG’s work, not the book and not the show. I’m in mourning. A little stuck and paralyzed. I’m not ready to put away and privatize another love that gave me such joy to be open and proud of. I resent the feeling that I need to or I will not be a Good Person.

In the meantime the bills need paid and my antidepressants need taken.

[justevelynnnn]

My Nerd Armin Hcs 😘🥰

Notes: Sorry for my disappearance for anyone who noticed😭 i have alot of school stuff going on and i also work part time. The Armin angst is still coming and i’ll try to write other characters i just love Armin omggg‼️

Content: Headcannons, Modern AU, Armin is GROWN‼️ , one small mention of 🍃 ⛽️but that’s it

- As a kid he used to watch a lot of older tv shows and listen to a lot of older music due to mostly growing up with his grandfather so as an Adult he does the same thing

- He keeps it to himself though

- He also dresses kinda old fashioned too

- Wears glasses to read

- Has an extra pair with fake lenses though just because he likes the amount of compliments he gets when he wears the real ones so he’s seen with glasses a lot

- He’s obviously a Marine Biology major but he also has a minor in oceanography

- Takes like 6-7 classes 💀

- He’s also part of his schools garden club

- This boy just loves nature and life😭❤️

- He stays to himself a lot especially due to the workload but also because he’s a bit introverted

- Even when with Eren or Mikasa he’s just kinda there he’ll talk a little bit but he just enjoys listening more

- Has many posters on his wall of random old actors and sea animals

- Just completely covered

- And of course he’s a big reader too

- So just stacks of books everywhere it’s crazy

- He’s a bit messy but it can be excused due to how much he has going on sometimes

- He keeps it to himself too but he gets stressed easily ☹️

- So sometimessss he’ll smoke a joint or two to relax his brain

- He didn’t like the idea at first when Eren introduced the idea to him but once he tried it and felt at ease he got into it more

- He only does it once or twice a month

- He did date Annie for a little bit in high school but as they got older they grew further apart and naturally broke up

- It was on good and sad terms

- Since then he doesn’t worry about girls too much just school

- Gets hit on a lot when he does his tutoring lessons

- He lowkey kinda hates it

- He just politely declines and the girls normally “suddenly” don’t need help anymore

- His favorite scents are vanilla and sandalwood

- His favorite food is garlic bread and he loves coffee and tea

- He once dyed his hair brown and hated it

- I feel like he’d be allergic to all seafood which would fit his love for the ocean and marine life tbh

- One of his favorite book series is Scythe

- Secretly a Star Wars fan

- He listens to alot of classical music when alone and/or studying

- He doesn’t make his bed alot 💀

- He’s a bit lazy in every other area but school

- So a lot of people think he’s super organized and stuff until they see his room

- He doesn’t plan on having many kids, maybe one or two but no more than three for sure

- He also wants a cat super bad but he has slight allergies to them which he’s cried about alot 😭

- Once did an Escape room thing with Eren, Connie and Jean and he figured it out in record time (10 minutes) and he won an award and everything

- In the picture the place took he was red as hell and Jean and Connie didn’t let up on that fact for weeks 💀

- He was “Tomato boy” for a month too

- So now he’s never going again and he refuses to talk about it

Ok that’s all i got, i wrote this in like 20 mins so if it’s ugly sorry 💔

[far-side-skies]

Reworking Noob

Inspired by this post by @crossyyt. Saying what we're all thinking, Number One Fan was a lackluster episode despite the fact that it furthered what little overarching plot we managed to get out of the end of Season 2.

And it's because of this guy.

Gifs from this post by @atmosiacyclonia

Yeah, Noob. "The fan", and the writers' way of making jabs at both the fanbase and the industry as a whole apparently. Kind of entertaining on a first watch, especially over a decade after the show has ended, but looking at it critically...

He's just kind of a nothing character overall. We didn't need him to get involved in the quest for Warp crystals, he doesn't add anything to the story, he doesn't leave any meaningful impact on the story and yet he gets frozen in the prison crystal in Cyclonia Rising. Anyone could've been in his place and not much would've changed overall.

But I'm a believer that all characters have a use, you just need to find one for them. Noob didn't have much potential, but the potential that he did have feels wasted.

So let's see how he could've been put to better use.

TL;DR: I put him on the reserve team that was mentioned in Talon Academy and then never brought up again. Alternatively he could be a relative of Dark Ace.

Edit: I hit post on this too soon, added more thoughts as soon as I realised this wasn't in my drafts anymore.

First off: remove the meta commentary aspect. Poking fun at fans is bad form and commentary on real-life merch production in a fantasy setting like this is, in my opinion, nonsensical and makes my worldbuilding brain itch.

Second: Let's take a look at this kid's design.

When did y'all notice that Noob has black hair

and red eyes?

I only noticed a year ago.

Remind you of someone?

Allow me to freak out a bit, because

This can't have been an accident, right? What was the intent behind it? As far as I've noticed, these are the only two characters with this specific colouring. What was Nerd Corps trying to tell us??

Ok, freakout over. What are our options?

Noob and Dark Ace are related, and Noob's obsession with the Storm Hawks comes from knowing that he had a relative who was part of the old team.

Possible, but considering how quickly Noob bounced from being a Storm Hawks fan to an Absolute Zeroes fan, I don't think it's likely. If that is the case, then a rewrite of the episode would be needed to show a little bit more loyalty from Noob. I don't know about everyone else, but the jump from one fanbase to another feels like a pattern of behaviour in my opinion. He rotates through special interests on the regular. Nothing against that in a real-life context, but it feels like another mean-spirited jab at fans.

Meta commentary aside, Noob could be rewritten to be a fan of the original Storm Hawks because of this potential relation to them. It'd give us something close to a "real" origins episode if Noob was given a chance to infodump about his old idols. Maybe he dislikes the new team for being "inauthentic", or he doesn't care all that much about them, he's just interested in the Condor; a crucial piece of Storm Hawks history.

As for Dark Ace? Noob could either be unaware that the copilot he might be related to was a traitor (possibly indicating that the Sky Knights tried to cover up the traitor aspect), or he rejects the copilot out of disgust. He's just a traitorous Cyclonian after all and fodder for an identity crisis in Noob if he was anything close to a main character.

In short: Noob could've been used as an exposition device.

Option 2, and my personal take on how Noob can be made useful:

Rewrite him in full and give him a touch more screen time. Put him in Talon Academy for a scene or two, and then have him beg to join the reserve team that Aerrow suggested to Lynn. "Number One Fan" makes good on this suggestion and is about the whole reserve team, not just Noob.

I see this as a two birds, one stone solution. Noob gets to be useful, keeps his character trait as a mega-fan of the Storm Hawks, and that loose end from Talon Academy gets tied up somewhat. As much as I love the show, its episodic writing lead to quite a bit of disappointment. But it just means we get to play with all the elements like dolls.

Let him be an exposition piece for the world in regards to sky knight merchandise, but have it make sense in the context of Atmos. If he really is the only Storm Hawks fan out there (which I find doubtful), why are action figures of the team being made without the Hawks knowing? Either all his figures be handmade, or repurposed from existing figures of more popular teams like the Rex Guardians. Or hell, keep the joke that there aren't any Piper dolls in production, but have it be due to resource scarcity brought in by the war. Or Cyclonis bought every single Piper doll to use as target practise for whatever machine or weapon she's working on.

As I said above, let him be from the Talon Academy. Have him be so enamoured with the Hawks' takedown of this Cyclonian institution that he latched onto them as heroes and then got wrapped up in war propaganda in his efforts to become their number one fan. He's obviously a good few years younger than the team, so have his understanding of the war be incredibly shallow, and maybe give him an arc where he learns from that.

I was going to add more to this a lot more but a misclick or some kind of tumblr goof caused this to he published half-finished instead of saving it to my drafts, so eventually I'll make another post elaborating on these ideas. For now though I'm curious to see what everyone thinks, and their own takes on Noob. Is he a waste of screen time? Did you guys scrap him in your AUs? Did yall forget about him? Let me know.

[pipperoo]

another one of my npmd wips that i plan on writing sometime soon! i mentioned it in previous posts, but this is another ghost!au centered on max and grace (jagertitty brain worms got me)

this has been sitting in my drafts a bit, it’s very top down and doesn’t really get to the vibe of the fic, but it’s the best i’m really ever going to get. in person frantic rambles is the preferred medium to get my fic ideas across, so it’s always hard when i have to translate it to some written down. idk if that makes sense, but just read if you’re interested

the premise is grace is tired of max hitting on her so much and decides that, to stop him from bothering her, she needs to take him on a terrible date so he’ll be scared off. of course it takes place at the waylon house (only she and max go there, none of the other nerds)

max falls and dies and grace decides to cover up that she was there so it looks like an accident. (it was not her intention to kill him) max becomes a ghost and is mysteriously shunted to the black before appearing in grace’s room a week after he died.

through some stuff that’ll be revealed over the course of the fic, max and grace are connected and every time max gets a certain distance away from her, he is teleported back to her side. only grace can see and hear him too. he’s a bit of a lame ghost, he can’t really do anything, at the start.

they grapple with the complicated feelings and opinions they had as each other, but grow closer and become friends during their effort to figure out how to send max to the next plane. but there may be more to it than they thought.

grace’s headspace is stuck between arousal and repulsion towards max at the beginning. she hates him when he returns as a ghost and grows to see him as a friend (maybe more but who knows) but she now has to deal with the fact that he’ll eventually have to go. max’s headspace at the start is pure infatuation with grace, but he can never fully determine why he’s so into her that it bothers him. he also enjoys getting under her skin so she’ll think about him as much as he thinks about her. when he becomes a ghost he’s a little lost bc he thought grace liked him which she doesn’t and the entire school hates him which causes his temper to flare. when he starts to improve his relationship, he becomes better in general, still not great, but not the worst.

this is a very basic rundown, but their connection has ties to the waylon house spell which operates a little differently in this timeline due to certain things. a lot of it is mainly them being each others first real friend in a long time and navigating the complexities of being a ghost before their search for answers leads them towards danger.

i had a much longer explanation, but it made very little sense so this is good for now, it’s a little hard to fully describe it when i’m not rambling out loud. this is one of two wips that i plan to work on. there is also another au that i like to say is the evil version of this one which i might post about. this is what i have for now, might include more details later <3

[foone]

After pulling my hair out getting a VM of Win95 running, only to forget to install the graphics drivers and wonder why the colours of my game were all wrong, i can only marvel at your soft-hardware necromancy. How do you learn this stuff? What do you do when you encounter a filetype you've never seen before? (What do i even do with the file CD_AUDIO.kpx?) Can you download all your knowledge into my brain?

I mainly learned this stuff by just fucking around with computers for a long time (I think I got my first computer in 1993, so I'm coming up on my 30th anniversary of being a Big Nerd). You pick up stuff eventually.

Also yes. Setting up Win95 VMs is hard (real hardware is also hard, for the record) . The bearsoftware VBE drivers seem to have some glitches but they work well enough, and the scitech display doctor drivers work better... If they work. Sometimes they are a nightmare to get working. My advice is start your win95 VM setup, immediately work on getting everything working (graphics/sound/networking drivers), then clone or savestate that shit. Then you have a working base to build on. Don't dirty your clean base, just clone it when you need to start fresh because you've messed it up somehow.

As for an unknown file, my first approach is usually a hex editor. Look for signature info towards the top of the file, Google that. I find that's more useful than searching on the extension, because extensions are reused too often. Sometimes you can search the full filename or game name plus extension and hit gold, but sometimes you just get nothing, and then it's up to you to figure it out.

So the first step is make sure you have a hex editor that can do integer decoding. I usually use HxD. See the data inspector on the right?

It's decoding the value of the number at the position of the cursor. This is very handy. File formats tend to have commonalities, like a count of how many sub-files there are, either right up front or at the end. (up front is more common these days, but in the Old Times it was easier to put them at the end, because of RAM limitations. That's why Zip has the index at the end)

That's a good place to start, because once you know how many subfiles are in there, you can figure out where they are, and deal with them separately. Often you only care about one part, so this lets you ignore most of the bits.

The other big tip I can give you for figuring out files is to be hands on. You don't have to just stare at a file and go WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!

Change the file. Make a backup and then edit parts of it. See what changes in the program when you do that. Or if it's something the program writes out, save a basic file, than change something minor, then save it out again to a different file. Now you can compare the two and see what changed!

The next step up for figuring out an unknown file format is to reverse engineer the program that reads/writes them. Use a tool like Ghidra/Ida Pro, and disassemble the EXE. Figure out where it reads and writes the datafiles. This is often easy to find, you can look for imports on CreateFile/OpenFile or search for strings like the filename.

Another option is to hybridize your tools: use a debugger (I use OllyDbg usually, but it is getting long in the tooth sadly) and set a breakpoint on file opening. Run the program and step through all the files it opens and then you'll find the time it opens the file you care about. Now that you know where it is, you can locate that same function in the disassembler/decompiler.

Anyway. There's a bunch of tools and they all can help with different parts of this sort of reverse engineering, and it's often just about collecting as much info as you can, and then trying to compile it together. I usually have a text editor open on another monitor, and just keep a sort of running journal of anything I learn, so I can easily refer back and cross-reference things.

Also keep in mind that even if you can't solve the whole problem, you can learn some things, and it's useful to share that with the world. Sometimes just getting part of the solution means it'll inspire others to help finish the work, or point out stuff you missed.

[dominants-dominion]

Okay bestie this has been bothering me for weeks and I feel like your brain might be the best one to pick over this. Maybe I know I should just ask him but we've only gone out twice so far and self conscious a bit yaknow?

So I met this guy on a dating app and we hit it off nerding over star trek and scotch. We ended up finding out we have a lot of similar kinks, consent and boundaries in place, we've gone out on two dates and hooked up both times.

Now I haven't seen him in over a week since I was on vacation and he's been super busy with graduation but the last time we saw each other he made two comments.

One, we were cuddling after sex and I noticed my hair on his beard so I pulled it off teasing that "I was marking my territory", he made what sounded like a teasing comment back "Yeah you're making it extremely difficult to bring another woman over, I go to clean and find your hair behind the dresser".

At this point I'm hoping it's a joke, we've already established that we're only interested in sleeping with each other but I don't poke at it since we did only just start getting together and nothings really "official"

Well we get back into the sexy stuff and due to riding, I uhhh made his fractured rib worse. Like to the point he had to go to the hospital and while he's taking me back home he goes "So you going to tell all your friends you broke your boyfriends rib during sex?" And all I said back was I didn't mean to break it 😭😭

I feel like he actually does like me, he supports and encourages all my passion projects, has used our dynamic to help push me to get things done, he makes sure to carve time out of his busy days to talk to me and let me know he misses me.

Its just those two comments were made within 2 hours of each other and they kind of gave me whiplash and have me overthinking. Am I being silly? What do you think sorry this is so long and chaotic. If I was off anon you wouldn't be surprised how chaotic this is 😂😂💜

No, I don't think you're being silly. It's how you feel. Intuition is a bitch, especially when you have anxiety. Because you can't be certain if what you're feeling is real or just in your head.(because trauma response yay!!!). As you said in the beginning, a conversation will put this all to rest.

If you can break his rib during sex you can talk to him about your feelings 😂. That's something I'd totally gloat about btw. That's awesome.

Ask your partner if he wants to be exclusive or not. You'll get a pretty clear answer from the way he even approaches the topic. If he says yes then yippie. If he's heming and hawing then he hasn't been exclusive so far. If he says no then hey at least you got a fuck buddy 🤷‍♂️. He did say "boyfriend" so chances are better than not that you're good to go.

Still have a conversation if for nothing else a piece of mind so you can stop darting back and forth in your brain.

Thanks for asking 💜💜

[coolbeanzeaglbones]

Another fanfic idea, heres a chappy!

The Aquabats recoiled as the magician, Carl, appeared in front of them in a pow of sparks, “You?!” The commander said.

“Yes, it is I, Carl! I am here for revenge!” he exclaimed, “Not if we have any day in it! Aquabats, let's go!” Eaglebones was about to electrocute Carl with his guitar, when they were all hit with a blue light.

For some reason, everything around them started getting bigger. Then it dawned on the commander that it wasn't the surroundings getting bigger, they were getting smaller. He screamed and Eaglebones had to let go of his guitar, as he was too small to hold it. The headstock nearly smacked into him as it fell.

A crack of thunder sounded through the darkened forest, followed by booming laughter, “Goodbye, Shrinky dinks. Magic!” And in a poof of sparks and smoke.

They were still shrinking, and they were beginning to get too small to touch the bottom of the deep puddle they were standing in.

Though, it wasn't until after they had shrunk so much their heads were submerged that they really noticed. The commander was the first to break the surface, coughing and sputtering as he did. Soon, they were all up, coughing, “Swim! Swim! Swim like your life depends on it!” Which it did.

After a few minutes of desperately swimming in choppy waters, they were all on the leafy ground, panting and coughing, “Wha-wha how? How are we going to get back to the battletram?” Ricky asked between breaths, “And follow up, what's this giant…leather thing?” Everyone looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a giant, not so much taller than all of them, black leather thing.

Everyone stared, trying to figure out what the heck it was before Eaglebones’ face lit up, “The Dude! She can rescue us!” He turned to the others, who had looks of concern on their faces. That ‘invisible bird’ thing was getting old, “Bones, did the water get to your brain?” the commander asked jokingly.

Bones paid him no mind. He just walked to the other side of the glove and laid on his belly, putting his entire arm into the glove.

Everyone stared on as he yelled, “I summon the Duuuuuuuude!” then watched as he smiled, “oh my gosh, it worked!” He took his arm out of the glove.

The others thought he was high on smile dip. Why the heck is he petting the air, “Uh, bonesy, you sure you're feeling alright?” Bones still paid him no mind, though he did flinch back and cover his ears, “Shhh, okay, everyone on.” Ricky smiled awkwardly, “Ummm…we should get your head examined by an actual doctor.” He said, but bones just grabbed his arm and dragged him, “No, feel.” He put Ricky's hand into the air he was touching.

He was actually touching something. Something that felt like feathers, “Okay, everyone on the invisible bird.” He said, waving them over.

Jimmy and the commander exchanged glances before walking over. Eaglebones was already on the air, which was weird. He lent a hand up to Ricky, who in turn grabbed the commander and Jimmy and hauled them up, “Go dude, go, everyone hold on.” They all yelled out in surprise as they took off, “Yeah, to the battletram! Oh heck yeah.” They flew through the treetops, trying to avoid the rain that was still pouring, “Gandalf, motherfrickers!” The other three laughed at eaglebones’ nerdiness. Though they were all nerds in their own right, they could appreciate a good, nerdy outburst every once in a while.

Soon, they had arrived at the battletram. The Dude set down on the ground in front of the front door. They all dismounted and Bones went over to what everyone assumed was the front of The Dude, “Oh, you are such a good girl, yes you are, oh you get all the treats, yes you do.” The Dude nearly knocked him over as she nudged him with her beak, “Why does he get a pet?”

“Ricky, his pet is not real.” Bones looked over at the commander and then the commander was almost knocked down by a gust of wind that he assumed came from the Dude’s wings, “Okay, fine you have a pet, that's useful, now how do we get in, we're not tall enough to knock.”

“Rocks at the door.”

“What?”

Jimmy picked up a handful of rocks and began to throw them.

Everyone followed in suit, only hoping that Crash would hear.

[elkkiel]

11, 12, 24!

hi nerd fancy seeing you here /lh

artist ask game!

11: Do you listen to anything while drawing?

Usually podcasts/video essays, since I absorb the information better if I'm doing another task like drawing

12: Describe your process while drawing

LMAOOOOO my process is fucking disgusting and I'll never share a timelapse/speedpaint out of sheer embarrassment.

I usually start with breaking down my reference into super basic shapes to act as a base for my sketches. It's often by hand, especially for the cats, but I'll be 100% real about tracing over reference photos sometimes lol. The caveat is that I only ever break it down into the simplest shapes I can. This is so I can quickly figure out proportions/structure (ex. a palm is kinda pentagon shaped, so I'll rough out a pentagon) without actually tracing the image.

My actual sketch process after that can be anywhere from 2-6 levels of refinement. Since my style isn't really true to life like a photo ref I may use, it takes me a little while to translate those shapes into my own style.

After that, I do my line art (basic lines first, then working on modulating line weights, then finishing with rounding off all the inner corners) then colour! I usually finish it off with a solid colour blend mode layer on top, just for colour unity.

Adhd brain makes me jump around all over the place while drawing, so it takes me a lot longer to finish my work. Like I can be working on lettering in one part, then have to jump over to hatching on the other side of the canvas. I'm trying to speed up my process a bit, and tbh Sleeptober helped a lot. But yeah lol tl;dr I'm a messy bitch

24: What's a compliment about your art that's always stuck with you?

The things that stick out for me are less about the art, and more about my design work. My big "holy shit I'm actually good at what I do" moment was when I won a MacBook pro from my university as an entrance award. There were about 1000+ people that applied the same year as me, and they chose my portfolio as one of the top 3 strongest from the entire submission pool. It was completely behind the scenes and totally shocking, and I had a good cry over it lol. Like that was fucking wild to me, especially as a pre-treatment mentally ill loser of a teenager /hj

Maybe that's not quite what the question was asking, since it's not technically a compliment. But it was the first time I actually felt confident in my abilities like that. Any kind of professional affirmations like that still hit me really hard, like the first time I was told that my work was commercial-quality. Sorry I'm rambling now but yeah it's taken a while to build up confidence in my work, so I try to talk positively when I can