#holy cow this is gonna be wild

[recalled11]

Directionless Pt. 5

Pt.1/ Pt.2/ Pt.3/ Pt.4/ Pt.5/ next part coming soon!

[aroaceleovaldez]

what do you mean by fandom infrastructure?

Oh goody I get to rant about this. Definitely gonna need a read more for this one. There's gonna be a lot of general fandom thoughts here so I'll put a big title for when I get to the actual list and pjo-specific stuff for if anybody wants to skip. Okay, my anthropological fandom thoughts:

"Fandom infrastructure" isn't official terminology by any means, but as someone who's been in a wide variety of fandoms for like 15+ years and in varying stages of participating within said fandoms, I generally use it to describe the sort of environment created by a fandom that supports and sustains the ecosystem within it (and may also extend to what kinds of attitudes are fostered within the community). This obviously looks different for every fandom (and different per platform), but I think it's really valuable to break down what systems exist in different fan spaces and how those impact the community that utilizes it, and take lessons from different spaces about what those systems do and how they're effective or not.

General forms of fandom infrastructures have shifted over time - a lot of more recent formats, at least in western fandom, tend to be very reliant on source material and you rarely see a lot of sort of classic archetypes of "old fandom" like concepts such as "big name fans" (I partially blame social media platform drifts for this - I'll touch back on that later*). A fandom with more consistent infrastructure over time (plus just a general favorite fandom case study of mine) and just a general good example of fandom infrastructure is the Furry fandom. It's a bit of an outlier to begin with as Furry fandom doesn't have an actual source material, which means it's an entirely self-perpetuating fandom, and as a result you get some really interesting community structure! (I highly recommend the documentary The Fandom for a dive into the history of the Furry fandom and even some adjacent fandoms!) One of the number one things I always like to note with the Furry fandom particularly compared to other fandoms is it's a very easy fandom to join/integrate yourself into and become a part of the community - it's one of the few fandoms that has generally agreed upon written etiquette/guidelines for behavior in the community that is very easy to find (early 2020s MCYT fandom had a little bit of this as well, but most guides were specific to individual MCYTs rather than the community as a whole and difficult to track down) and a ton of guides explaining what the community is and ways you can begin exploring it. Not to mention the absolute plethora of resources available in the community for just about anything you could think of, and tons of community-dedicated spaces where people can get involved in various ways. The furries are a very well-organized fandom in general! They're also an older and very well-established fandom, so there is much to learn from them.

I like to consider fandoms that have good infrastructure to be fandoms where the fandom is self-reliant or self-perpetuating (not fully dependent to a source material - so the fandom doesn't experience total dry spells when there's no new official media.) and one that's easy to join and integrate into.

Tangent: I have this whole personal concept about "entry-level fandoms" particularly when it comes to the cosplay community. A lot of those fandoms tend to be the ones labeled as "toxic" but when you break it down it's actually that the fandom is just very easily accessible and for a lot of folks that is their first fandom and they haven't learned general fandom etiquette yet. For cosplay, entry level fandoms tend to be relatively mainstream or otherwise easy to access the source material for and then also easy to cosplay while also offering ample room to grow (doubly easily accessible while also not limiting) - usually that the main cast of characters have very casual every-day outfits that can be easily made with a closet cosplay (cosplaying using clothes from your closet or otherwise "normal" clothes) (low barrier to entry) plus more elaborate and evolved outfits for when new fans get comfortable enough to begin exploring further (niches to grow into). Also bonus points if people are able to use their natural hair at all because that makes it even easier. Another aspect that tends to be helpful is how much one actually needs to get into the source material to begin interacting with the community - if you can get the general gist/premise of the franchise pretty quickly and not have to actually engage with the entirety of the source material, that's way more likely to be an entry-level fandom (like, One Piece for example is not likely to be an entry-level fandom, lol). Homestuck is (or more was) an easily accessible webcomic, and despite it's length for the majority of it's run it was actively updating so there was no expectation to be completely caught up, plus it was extremely common to just fully skip over entire segments. Cosplay progression: human characters in basic outfits > trolls > god tiers/etc. My Hero Academia is a mainstream readily accessible manga and anime, particularly to western audiences, and the general premise throughout the series remains relatively close to the pitch from the beginning, alongside not shifting core characters too much. Cosplay progression: civilian outfits > hero costumes and more complex characters. Percy Jackson actually very much fits the bill for this as well - its a VERY popular book franchise to the point where most people have probably had to read it for school at some point, but also it's generally not expected you'll read past Blood of Olympus or any of the side series, if you even read past the first series (and you won't be super lost if you even don't read far past the first book). Cosplay progression: camp t-shirts > adding armor, props, or maybe trying to make goat legs or etc. A more recent and very interesting newcomer to the entry-level fandoms scene is Genshin Impact because it somewhat breaks the format - it's still easily accessible (free to play game) but the character outfits are all incredibly complex. But as cosplay becomes more mainstream and just in general as manufacturing techniques improve, it's suddenly become very easy and affordable to just buy a decent looking cosplay, which is very appealing particularly for a fandom like Genshin. You can have a very nice and complex looking first cosplay with little effort, similar to the effectiveness of closet cosplays in the other examples. As varying techniques improve, the barrier to entry becomes lower in more communities, and there are more opportunities for a wider variety of entry-level fandoms. Okay tangent over -

There's a lot of ways fandoms can be self-perpetuating, but some of the most self-perpetuating fandoms I see are ones that either have a lot of room for original characters, concepts, and similar (see: TTRPG fandoms) and/or fandoms that are heavily divorced from the source material (often due to the source material being widely deemed "meh at best" but having compelling base concepts) (see: Miraculous Ladybug) which is where you often see a lot of AUs - Warrior Cats fandom is a good example of both! I have not kept up with Warrior Cats in ages, but I'm still in the fandom. I have no idea what book they're on. If Warriors stopped publishing books tomorrow I genuinely don't think the fandom would even notice. They've been doing their own thing for ages. There's a ton of room for creating your own characters, storylines, and etc within the worldbuilding of the franchise where it never stops being identifiable as Warrior Cats, which means the fandom can basically do their own thing eternally without ever cutting off newcomers to the community.

The majority of this stems just from being able to not rely on the source material to drive the fandom. If the community inspires itself, then it's able to continue to sustain itself without outside reliance. But to do so indefinitely it will eventually need new fans. And this brings me to the whole "easy to join/integrate into the community thing" -

*It's later - Tumblr used to be a huge fandom hub in general, but the content bans around 2018 led to a giant migration of communities to other platforms. That 2016-2018 era is when we see a shift in fandom in general, with fandom attitudes shifting from old-era concepts like ship-and-let-ship, YKINMKATO/Kinktomato, use of "squick," etc (in general a major loss of old fandom linguistics and terminology - nobody even says OTP anymore!). There's a couple of reasons for this sort of multi-fandom cultural drift, but in general it seemed to widely be the combo of a new generation of younger fans entering their first fandoms all at once while simultaneously being cut off from learning established pan-fandom culture. Newer fans never learn about the old community, how it functioned, or how to upkeep it, and now the fandom is fully reliant on the source material and fizzles out almost completely in the absence of new official media. (Also I think somewhat the lack of BNFs/Big Name Fans can also contribute to this, as they are often the people new fans will look up to and emulate the behavior of when learning how to interact with a fandom - this can be good or bad, depending on the BNF! - alongside being able to learn about the community's history through them, since they're almost always older and well-established members of the community. In the absence of BNFs, the community often turns more towards the source material/creators and it can get Bad™.)

Tumblr as a platform, due to being a blogging and sharing platform, is inherently structured for long-form discussion, long-form text, documentation, and sharing concepts and ideas in nuanced ways. Also preservation - there's no time limit for when posts disappear, and there's no algorithms restricting you to only the newest posts. Tumblr's features even make it really easy to go back and find old posts, even despite the semi-broken search features. Tumblr creates environments where these types of communities absolutely blossom. There's a reason why it was the go-to platform for fandom stuff. Instagram is image-focused, actively discourages text, has a mediocre search, and no proper means of sharing except awkward reposting most of the time. Tiktok is even worse, being short-form video-centric (so even more difficult to repost in absence of sharing features) but otherwise similar (and even less text-friendly and more difficult to search, especially for older posts). Twitter has strict text and image limitations, heavily limited sharing options, and any attempts at threads get messy extremely quickly, so nuance is dead there. Reddit has long form text capabilities but no real sharing features and next to zero longevity. Facebook and Discord are locked behind requiring an account to even view it (instagram as well, to a point). And Youtube is right out (generally it acts as supplementary to other social media). Theoretically you could try to use Ao3 for that, but it's an archive, not a discussion board or social media - at best you'd probably just be going back and forth like scientific journalists which will not be easy for most people to follow. As far as mainstream western social media goes, Tumblr is the best place for "classic fandom" so-to-speak. There's a reason a lot of very established fandoms have built their own dedicated spaces - forums, art sites, etc (usually in combination) - the more splintered your community is, the less of a community it is. It's very difficult to build a community when you never know where the majority of your community is going to be at any given point! In most cases you'll still have the source material, but how is a new fan supposed to know if everybody's on twitter or instagram or tiktok at any given time? That uncertainty immediately cuts off new fans. And you need new fans to perpetuate a fandom (or in general, new people to perpetuate a community). Not every community is capable of having dedicated hosted forum boards and such (though GOD i wish,,,, i miss forum boards,,,, forum boards are awesome,,). Maybe there's a Discord, but discords are difficult to find, easily overwhelming if large, and often intimidating for new folks to join. Not to mention difficult to moderate and if they're busy then it's basically guaranteed most people are just going to get drowned out.

ALL THIS TO SAY: For a true fandom community to exist, essentially, it needs to a.) not be entirely reliant on the source material (instead being driven by activity within the community), and b.) have a cycle of new fans that can come into the community and take up the mantle of upkeeping that infrastructure and continuing the activity within the community, usually with low barrier to entry. This is where that fandom infrastructure becomes important, because that's exactly what supports and encourages that activity in the first place.

To begin with, you must have a community acceptance for deviating from the canon/source material. This is normal and fine and okay. This is what fandom is known for. This is exactly why we have the terms "fanon" (concepts largely agreed upon by the fandom but not officially canon) and "headcanon" (the canon that exists in your head/is personal to you) and AU (alternate universe)! You have to help foster this - you don't have to actively engage with every canon deviation you see, but respect when it is other people's prerogative to deviate from canon and don't shut them down just inherently for "daring to disrespect the sacred canon" or whatever. Remember the ancient fandom proverbs: don't like-don't read, YKINMKATO/Kinktomato ("Your kink is not my kink and that's okay"), ship-and-let-ship, etc. Cringe culture is dead, engage in some whimsy, and remember that ultimately you always are the one to curate your own online experience. Etc etc.

The other major thing is you need to foster spaces where new fans can easily enter and begin engaging with the community. These spaces are extremely important in fandom communities because it's what allows fans who are completely new to fandom to comfortably begin partaking in fandom at a level appropriate for them and without pressure. It's in these spaces that those whose who wish to can begin fostering skills that then leads them to engage with the fandom in larger and more complex ways, growing into different niches within the community and thus allowing the fandom to continue. (I have a whole little essay about this topic [here] which is extremely relevant to my major points here.)

"Alright so where's the PJO-specific stuff and actual examples?"

I'm glad you asked, theoretical reader. So, to answer the beginning question - what is some fandom infrastructure I've seen in other communities (and/or Riordanverse fandom, back when we had that kind of stuff)? These are generally types of blog or other niches that prompt activity, discussion, and other forms of interaction within the community. I have comprised many examples though forgive me if my organization is messy because these are somewhat difficult to categorize concisely: (Also if you do know of examples in the riordanverse fandom of any of my examples, like specific blogs or etc, feel free to comment them!)

- General community hubs and community spaces. I have these as two slightly different but adjacent categories since I think these things generally fall into one of two categories - spaces meant for general chatting and interacting with other fans (community spaces) and spaces more meant to find specific topics (hubs).

Things like forums, discord servers, group chats, etc - these exist in the PJO community but are far and few between and difficult to find. If you run one I highly recommend putting a link in your tumblr sidebar (enable custom theme > edit theme > new page [bottom of sidebar on the left] > there should be a little dropdown menu where it says "standard layout" - select "link" and plug in a discord invite set to never expire. there ya go). A couple I know of include my own (one for general riordanverse and one for my askblog), the Titan Army discord, these two, Riordanverse artists server, Nicercy (Percico) events, Jasico challenges, and Above The Clouds (also jasico). There used to be a big general PJO server but it's mostly inactive now (I affectionately refer to it as functionally a knitting circle these days, cause that's most of what's discussed there now, lol). There also used to be a well-known TOA-specific one and a general Riordanverse cosplay discord but both had problems and I'm not sure either still exist. I've heard there may also be a Percabeth server floating around somewhere? But I've never seen it.

"Hubs" is what I label things like blogs surrounding specific designated topics, usually consolidating stuff like general fanworks, specific fanfiction, fanworks of specific characters/groupings/ships, etc. I believe there might be one or two general riordanverse fanart blogs floating around. I'm not sure about blogs for specific fanfiction. A lot of ship-specific blogs went inactive by like 2017 but a couple are still alive like @solangelo. (I'll get into some other examples in a similar vein to this later*) We don't have a designated blog for keeping tabs on whenever there's a Riordanverse fanzine or similar project but some fandoms do (I would love this btw and i am almost tempted to do it myself) - an old pan-fandom one was fanzinewatch. I run a blog dedicated just to reblogging fanart (and occasionally other fanwork) of Hazel and Nico - @deathsibs. I don't know of any individual character-specific blogs off the top of my head unfortunately. Etc etc.

In general the purpose of these things is to help connect the community and make it easier to find and promote things or meet people. These are good places to ask questions, particularly directions or recommendations. That brings me to another one-

- Ask/Tag games and memes. Back in ye olde tumblr days there used to be TONS of fandom-specific inbox and tag games, or people would do milestone promos or etc and do these massive blog recommendations or literally just list everyone they follow or similar. This was a really useful way for people to find more blogs for specific topics and engage with each other in general. Here's an old one I found as an example. My friend has a nice tag with a bunch of old ask memes as well, and Hermitcraft-ask-games is a great example of a blog categorizing fandom-specific ones (Hermitcraft/adjacent MCYT in this case). Tag games can refer to both posts where you respond to the prompt in the tags while reblogging or a game where you tag other people - the latter has mostly fallen out of favor cause it can get very spammy and posts can get very long with it. Less spammy versions tend to be something more akin to an ask game or a follow forever, where you are responding to a specific question or prompt by tagging blogs that fit that, usually as a recommendation. It's a little nicer and more favored because then you're promo'ing other folks and usually it's not a long chain of reblogs, plus the posts tend to have dedicated formats so they aren't super messy.

- In another similar vein, Art games/memes. PJO fandom doesn't have a lot of these! These are your "Draw 6 Characters," "Character color wheel," etc prompts. The fandom I see this the most in is MCYT fandom, particularly Hermitcraft/Trafficblr! There's a ton of little variant prompts I see all the time there (not just for fanart! also fanfic and etc!) - Characters in your style, Fanon species swap, color palette swap, etc etc. (I am totally going to try and make one of these for riordanverse, give me a bit, lol)

- Prompt weeks/months. Also similar - prompt weeks/months/etc are pretty self-explanatory. They're events that give you a set of prompts to create/post fanwork themed to over that time period. PJO fandom used to have plenty of these, though I only see a couple floating around these days. I know Jasico Week/Jasico Challenges and Solangelo Week are still alive, and TA week happened recently. Fun fact, in some smaller/largely inactive fandoms I've actually seen prompt weeks DM active people in the community to tell them the prompt week is happening which I actually really like. In circumstances like that where a fandom is so small, scattered and inactive, it's a good means to get the word out.

- Headcanon/ship/"Imagines" blogs *It's later (again)! Headcanon blogs used to be EXTREMELY common back in ye olde days of fandom. Some of the most popular iterations tended to be ship-specific headcanon blogs. PJO fandom had A TON of these (and many are still up! They just haven't posted since like 2017 at the lastest. Quite the trip down memory lane though). They were generally formatted by people submitting their headcanons/"imagines" anonymously, which would then be formatted into an image to match the blog's general format (sometimes themed to specific characters or subjects, depending on the submission itself) and posted. A good example from PJO fandom I stumbled across the other day while looking at old askblogs is Percicoheadcanons. Absolute classic format right there. Also bonus time capsule points - the most recent post is from before Blood of Olympus was published. That's just particularly amusing to me given the ship in question here.

- Shortform Headcanons / Short Memes & Shitposts Helyeahmangocheese reminded me of this one in my previous post - shortform headcanons are essentially any headcanon thrown out into the world in a short format. So you're "headcanon that [x]" or whatever with no elaboration. Just quick little snappy things off the top of your head that people can pick up and run with. Sometimes there would be blogs dedicated to these, with people submitting them in blog formats like the above, and then shortform headcanons to be posted in that format. Short memes & shitposts are the exact same type of thing - just short little silly textposts and similar cracking jokes that the fandom can take and run with. Both of these are more important to the fandom than you'd think - a.) they have a very low barrier to entry, which means they're a great way for new fans to begin engaging with the larger community. b.) they circulate new ideas for other fans to build off of, creating collaborative concepts. These collaborations help build the community with giving opportunities for people to chat/inspire each other's work and can create iconic fandom moments or community references/in-jokes. And old one from PJO fandom that floated around was somebody threw out the concept of Will Solace's weapon being a lasso/whip (because cowboys/he's Texan/etc) made of light, which then got illustrated and elaborated on by many other fans such as Cherryandsisters and was very popular fanon for a time.

- Confessions Blogs These ones can be decisive in fandoms, depending on how they're run. Confession blogs in general are blogs where people anonymously submit fandom thoughts, opinions, etc (formatted similarly to HC/imagines blogs like above). There's also usually a decent amount of funny confessions like initial misunderstandings or confusion about things. Most well-run ones of these will have rules against negativity towards other fans and similar. When done properly these blogs can be a nice way for the community to have discussions about topics that they may be afraid to broach publicly, and easily can generate community in-jokes.

- Positivity blogs / Fandom voting Somewhat opposite to (at least, more negative) confession blogs, fandom positivity blogs are a very sweet way to spread compliments around the community. Sometimes they're anonymous, sometimes not. Generally though the format is people can submit compliments or kind notes to other people in the community and it'll get posted tagging the individual in question. Trafficblrpositivityproject is an MCYT example of this concept. Fandom Voting is a little bit more odd and varies a lot between communities. An old one PJO fandom used to do was PJO Prom, where people could nominate blogs for different categories, they would either accept or deny their nominations, and then folks would vote for their top favorite blogs of each category and winners would be announced (though the event also included more than just that - like blogs asking each other to prom and etc). In other fandoms I've also seen elections where various members of the community would jokingly campaign for election (including choosing other members of their campaign), people would vote for a winner, and then do it all over again. Fandom elections tend to be a lot more chaotic and silly, versus stuff like fandom prom voting is more geared towards just appreciation towards members of the community.

- Fandom Events / Community Projects Related to PJO Prom, (and prompt weeks/months) general fandom proms or valentine's events used to be pretty popular, especially amongst RP and askblogs. These weren't always strictly organized, but they generally involved asking other blogs to prom/to be valentines and then people would draw cute prom/holiday art or similar to celebrate. Some blogs would send out valentines to multiple blogs just as a nice cute lil treat in a similar vein to how some blogs still do trick-or-treating events. Trick-or-treating events have been a thing for awhile, generally following that same structure, but it's become significantly more popular in general now that tumblr has image embeds possible in asks rather than having to submit a post. Other fandom events can include fandom elections like mentioned before, or any number of things really, but the majority of regular ones will include gift/fanwork exchanges in some form. Secret Santa projects are very common (and PJO did have them! There isn't one singular PJO Secret Santa blog since it seems different folks did different years so I can't link it, but I participated in 2016 iirc. It looks like the most recent one was in 2021 - pjosecretsanta2021). I did find Rrversesummerbang as a recently active one as well. Zines and similarly collaborative projects are also common - PJO fandom does occasionally have zines but they aren't very frequent and generally don't get a ton of traction (which is very sad cause zines are very fun - most of it seems to be just the fandom doesn't have good ways of getting word out about events through the community). We've also had a couple of coloring book projects! I participated in the 2016 one and there was another in 2022. Some other fandom and pan-fandom examples of similar stuff is Mcytrecursive (Gift exchange for fic-of-fic, in this case MCYT-specific), Fic in a box, Mcytblraufest (AU fest), general holiday exchanges, etc. (A lot of my examples are MCYT cause man that fandom is active). There are a lot of pan-fandom ones of these, but usually involvement of specific fandoms is entirely dependent on sign-ups and it can be difficult to know or guarantee any specific communities participating. Fandom-specific ones are generally more well-known in their own communities for obvious reasons. In other projects, Riordanverse fandom even once had a Multi-Animator Project! These are more common in fandoms like Warrior Cats that are very artist and animator-centric, but the fact that we have at least one major one at all is pretty cool! Collaborate games in similar veins to big events/projects like this (see stuff like the art meme/games) can also be great ways to get the community active and engaged. Voting/poll stuff like character or ship brackets can be really interesting too and depending on how it goes down can become an EXTREMELY major event in the community (see: MCYT Tumblr Sexyman bracket). Very fun times.

- Incorrect Quotes / Text Post Memes / Chat Posts Rolling back to headcanon/imagines blogs, incorrect quotes for specific ships/character groupings used to be extremely common. And not even just dedicated blogs, but incorrect quotes/chat posts were pretty much the number one thing the average fan who didn't create fanart/fanfic/etc would post. I was actually quite surprised to see that Incorrectpercicoquotes is still alive. They post more than just incorrect quote/chat posts (not uncommon for blogs of those nature, especially back in the day), but still it feels like seeing a thought-to-be-extinct-species in the wild eating a bag of chips. Anyways, like shortform headcanons and memes/shitposts (of which these are somewhat a subcategory of), these are another low barrier to entry type of fandom engagement, which means they're great for new members of the community.

- Askblogs MY FAVORITE TOPIC. I have a list of PJO askblogs on my sidebar actually cause I'm very passionate about them and askblogs in general. For what an askblog is, my blog @askblog-index goes over that and also I answered some questions about askblogs recently, which you can find in my askblogs tag (also I'm always open to answering questions about askblogs please ask me about askblogs I love them so much). There's so many different varieties too - text, illustrated, cosplay, voice acting, combination, etc etc etc. Askblogs are a really fun means for collaborative storytelling in the community, especially with how much they tend to generate headcanons or put characters in silly little scenarios. Cherryandsister's Will Solace askblog is practically personally responsible for a solid 50% of all Will fanon. Photokinesis!Will was entirely popularized there. They're also a really great place for people in the community to build up their skills - yknow those jokes about "the best way to improve your art is to become obsessed with something and draw it one billion times?" yeah askblogs are that. My art improved so much by starting an askblog because it pushes you to draw things you might avoid normally or wouldn't expect to draw - or if it's not an art askblog, is just plain good practice for writing or voice acting or whatever. It's a regular outlet where you can build up your skills with not a lot of pressure but also outside encouragement and concepts to build off of. Character or fandom-specific daily art blogs and similar request art blogs are similarly also very useful to building up skills (and can be applied to other artforms like fic writing!) (Request blogs are not the same as askblogs though please dont send random art requests to askblogs just gotta put that disclaimer). I also personally consider them extremely vital to fandom ecosystems, though often overlooked - remember those old "ask the seven" posts that would be the terribly colored text in random fonts on a white or poorly-chosen-color background that'd just be random stuff and it'd get reposted absolutely everywhere? For a lot of people that's both some of the first stuff in a fandom that they might make, and also some of the first stuff people used to see in fandoms in general. With my whole silly theory of fandom ecological niches, those types of posts are your base of the pyramid, because it's where most fans are going to start out. It gives them a low-stakes place to begin engaging with the community and figure themselves out and begin exploring the characters and media on a deeper level. That's what fandom is all about! It's what separates fandom from just the general audience of any particular thing. Those types of posts were popular because they're just easy to make! All you need is mspaint, if even! They get across their concepts quickly and easily in an easily sharable format - that's exactly why they got reposted absolutely everywhere! The concept of those posts (and general character chat posts/incorrect quotes) still exist in other spaces in fandom communities, but in different formats - usually tiktoks, being spoken and acted out loud. The problem with that format though is it can't go anywhere - even in shortform video format there's no way to easily condense it down (and also they have a higher barrier to entry, as the format at it's simplest usually requires some aspect of showing your face/using your voice. This means you inherently have to sacrifice some amount of privacy to engage with the format, which isnt friendly to new/younger fans). Meanwhile these ask-the-seven posts are one jpeg that gets across the entire concept. And we've evolved! We have better technology! We can pick better colors and fonts and add image descriptions! We can bring the format back!

- Cosplay This one is pretty self-explanatory - just. Cosplays are a type of fanwork too! PJO cosplay used to be pretty common on tumblr actually! Particularly there used to be a decent number of cosplay askblogs (which are just askblogs where instead of responding to questions with text or a drawing, asks are answered with either a gif or image of the mun/mod in cosplay reacting in-character). Cosplay is cool! And in PJO fandom it's particularly easy!

- Roleplaying Spaces PJO fandom does have a pretty active tumblr RP scene as far as I've been able to tell, which is good! Also you can find people who want to RP pjo just about anywhere. It's just somewhat of a matter of giving them a space to do so. I talked about how to get into roleplaying recently on my blog as well. RP is also one of the forms of fandom infrastructure in this list that transfers well to other social media platforms, in large part due to social media RP making it a whole lot easier. The fandom is mostly just severely lacking in hubs to locate RPs and help people find ways to begin engaging with them.

- Public AUs / OCs Public AUs/OCs are a bit of a weird one to describe - they're basically any AU/OC that the creators (if there is a singular known creator of it) have given total free reign to people with. More often it's an AU that doesn't have a particular known creator but the fandom likes to run around with and do a lot with. In PJO fandom, the ye olde fandom OC was Peter Johnson, a son of Demeter. The AU generally was about how Peter Johnson was a new camper and Mr. D's favorite camper, and just generally a sweet lil guy while Mr. D proceeds to torment Percy because of the name jokes. A series of public AUs that's completely unique to PJO is Godswap aus - there's no one singular set godswap au, but the two most common swaps tended to be Demeter!Percy (in part due to Peter Johnson) and Aphrodite!Nico (admittedly this one was like 90% gay stereotypes/homophobic tropes and there's a reason why the fandom kind of dropped it. It was absolutely the most popular godswap for a time though, and some of the concepts from it have bled into general Nico fanon for better or worse). General pirate aus have also always been very popular in the fandom - there were some old ones back in the day, including local BNF (Big Name Fan) Saberghatz having at least one, maybe like two or three, including a cosplay. Pirate!Nico in particular was very popular. There was actually a slight resurgence of PJO pirate AUs on pjo cosplay tiktok in like 2020 or so I wanna say. Truly we came full-circle there. There's also just general popular AUs that fandoms like to run with. For awhile PJO fandom had a HTTYD au they really loved. The current fandom favorite AU seems to be Velinxi's Young Gods/Hades Game AU.

- Fangames This one might sound odd because Riordanverse fandom doesn't really have this, but fangames can be REALLY fun and cool. Fangames also often spark mini-fandoms in themselves and are just really awesome in general. There's a lot of different varieties of vastly varying complexities, but a lot of it is pretty much just "I made a game, it's about [fandom], here ya go." Some good examples from other communities off the top of my head are games like ClanGen or Untold Tales for Warrior Cats, or Featherbent from the Homestuck fandom which was a visual novel / AU fanfic. Btw, visual novels are actually not all that difficult to create. If you're interested in trying to make one I highly recommend checking out Ren'Py - it's basically a program to make visual novels with.

- Other project types / General Collaboration Related to community events, particularly Multi-Animator Projects (MAPs), AMVs/PMVs/Lyricstucks ("animated music videos" and "picture music videos" - lyricstucks are the same as the latter but usually in a scrolling tumblr post format with the song linked at the beginning rather than video format) are very cool and can be both individual or collaborative projects (in Riordanverse fandom most are probably very familiar with Viria's old lyricstucks - Nothing Left To Say and How Far We've Come). Some folks do dubs of fancomics (also used to be a thing in PJO fandom, particularly back when the PjoVoices group was active and the brief stint in the fandom when we had some Voice Acting askblogs) which can be a nice way to collaborate and engage with other fans in different mediums. "Aesthetics"/Moodboards (usually an arrangement of either 2x3 [former] or 3x3 [latter] grids of images) and the more recent "webweaves" also are a great low barrier to entry type of fanwork that has a lot of variety and versatility (just make sure to credit art/photos used) - especially if you make moodboards/webweaves inspired by people's AUs/fics/etc!

- Gifset Makers / Editors In Riordanverse fandom we don't see this often, because we're primarily a book fandom, but back in the days of the movies and more recently now with the show, editors and gifset makers are a very cool niche of fanwork creators. Gifset makers is pretty self-explanatory - they're people who make gifs. Editors can range from people who make edits of clips or put together clips of images or a whole bunch of very different things. Very wide range there. Edits (with credit to the original artists) can be a really fun alternative to AMVs/PMVs/etc if you don't draw but you have a concept (CREDIT THE ARTISTS - trust me, having your art used in an edit can feel super cool but ONLY IF IT'S CREDITED. IF IT'S NOT CREDITED IT'S NOT FUN. if you ask and credit people will probably be happy about it!). Edit blogs can also be very fun and are often a big hit in fandoms - "Where is [x]" and "[character] in places" are classics. Again just remember to credit artists appropriately and ask permission to use their work.

- Fanwork Promotion Blogs/Hubs PJO fandom does have a couple of these still floating around I think! I don't know them off the top of my head but I swear i've seen them recently. Regardless - these are any sorts of blogs that promote other fanworks. Maybe it's dedicated to just general fanart, general fanfic, stuff of a specific AU or concept. Going back to previous bullet points, character or ship-specific blogs are a form of these. They can range from elaborate and complex with how they promote or spotlight and recommend works, to just literally being random reblogs of stuff of a specific topic. These can actually also be a really nice if you're looking for a simple way to get more involved in the community, because chances are if you're on tumblr you know how to reblog things and that's about all it takes. These hubs can be really nice ways for more fans in the community to get spotlighted/recognition and become more well-known, and it also helps fans looking for specific types of fanwork. (The only caveat with these is if you are going to make a generalized hub blog, you have to actually make it generalized. You can't just exclude the things you personally don't like just because you don't like them - if you don't want to deal with that, make a more specialized hub blog for your more focused interests instead.) (Also personally I'd recommend if you're making one of these types of blogs that you're an adult, cause these blogs can require fandom tag-spelunking that may not be appropriate for all ages - ESPECIALLY if you run a fanfic hub.)

- General Resources This can look like a lot of things, particularly depending on what the fandom is about, but in general a lot of fandoms will have dedicated places to finding different types of information, and often important fandom terminology and sometimes fandom history. Fan Wikis may cover some of this, but not always (and depending on how the wiki(s) are run in a particular community, may not even have reliable information to begin with. I'm looking at you Riordanverse wiki). In furry fandom for example there's a ton of resources for how to get started in the community, commonly accepted community guidelines and general etiquette, fandom history and terminology, resources to find fursuit makers or other artists, various tutorials, etc etc etc. PJO fandom does not really have this! Like i mentioned in previous bullet points, while we have some hub/promotion or character/ship-specific blogs, they're relatively far and few between and commonly inactive, not to mention usually very specific in what niche they're focused on. The wiki only covers the source material (and is questionable quality at best most of the time) with there being next to no resources in the community in general for stuff like fandom history or terminology or etc. Did you know PJO fandom used to be part of the Superwholock of book fandoms (it was PJO, HP, Hunger Games, and Divergent. there was a whole symbol for it)? Did you know we used to have our own fandom lingo? Members of the fandom were usually called demigods or half-bloods, people would put their cabins in their bios (people would make little banners or other decorations to put on your blog themes to show your cabins or pjo stuff in general!), and we'd say stuff like "Spread this like greek fire" and "Amazhang" and etc. Those are actual things people said unironically very frequently. You're probably most likely to be familiar with "Persassy." We don't necessarily need to bring all of those things back, but point is we did use to have a community identity and sort of genuine subculture! And we lost that! There are so many community jokes and similar that most people have forgotten or at best kind of know of but don't remember the origins or contexts for. In other communities they have documentation for this kind of stuff - you should see some of the documentation that MCYT fandom does, particularly if the MCYT in question is a popular streamer or the SMP is primarily streamed content. Holy cow it's thorough. Resources and documentation are what help keep fandoms alive, because they give a means for new members of the community to learn the history of the community, learn established rules and etiquette, and just generally find their way around where they otherwise might be lost. It's really invaluable but often overlooked.

Okay, i think that's all the ones i can think of. This post has taken me over a full day of working on it, lol. Anyways i'm very passionate about fandom history and PJO fandom history/community in general so this was very fun for me to go on a deep-dive about. Also now i'm really tempted to put a lot of my old fandom knowledge and unnecessarily complicated lists/documentation to good use and try to help build up some of these bullet point concepts for riordanverse fandom myself because dammit somebody's gotta do it. But that's all i've got for now! As always feel free to ask me to elaborate on anything, or if you just wanna hear me babble on more about general fandom structures (i have another ramble about different types of fandoms relating to what fanworks they tend to exhibit the most!)/pjo fandom history/askblogs/RP community/whatever, I am always more than happy to talk!

[toast-tales]

Spoilers~

Drake looked over at Alexander, who held his head down in shame. He hated to admit it, but Drake received some satisfaction from his best friend's current misery. It was rare that Alexander was ever knocked down a peg. You're such an idiot, dude.

YES YES YES

"Alexander, don't call your coworker a meal. She seems nice." Pete's reminded him with secondhand embarrassment. 

Petes once again an MVP. Man, I sure wish he rubbed off more on his son. Also, poor guy, he created this monster and now he's gotta deal with it lol

Day 47 - Precipitation Shaft (Nov. 7th, Monday) Part 2

Contents (Warnings): More small little difficulties (Angsty, vore mentions, soft suicide attempt mention, and character/monster info). Read full chapter on - A03

Wordcount: 3,300+ (ey yo part 2!)

Side note: This will contain experimental writing; first person (Lynette's view) will be implemented alongside third person for the two other essential characters, (mostly) Alexander and (occasionally) Drake. All their text will be italicized for those third-person moments, with the characters' names in Bold at the start and their thoughts in Bold. There may be other characters I write for using this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I pressed into him tightly and squeezed as hard as I could. I felt like he could and would drag me with him. He "calmed." I think it was primarily due to the others coming back. 

We all sat down; Alexander sat across from me with Drake and Ulysses on either side of him, while I sat with Wicks on my right and my mom on my right. The heads of the table were Padre and Edgar. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Wicks wouldn't stop staring at Alexander even as the conversations started. Wicks didn't care for the context of the dumb thing he said.

"Lyn, do you want to try some?" Madre offered beside me. She held up a giant margarita glass with a light green glowing slushie inside it. She stirred it around with her straw and turned it to me. 

Charletta hummed across the table beside Padre, "it's sooo good!~ Try some Lynette," She tapped on the glass and smiled, "it's nonalcoholic!~"

"It might be a little strong," Padre commented. 

"Ella sólo está bebiendo un sorbo," Marde said.

Is it going to kill me? I waited for Padre to argue further or Wicks, but neither did, "okay." I leaned forward to get the straw. I took a small sip and pulled back, "oh, that's so good. It's pineapple cherry!?" Why is it green? I asked in my head.

"I'll get you one," Padre said, getting up. 

"Wait-" I chased after him once he did. I glanced down at his robotic leg on his left side. Before he locked it in, I remember he used to take it off at the dinner table and stumble out of the chair without it. Now that I think about it, I've never seen him fall over. 

Padre purposefully slowed down his usual quick pace. "You don't have to come along, Lyn." He said through a relieved smirk.

"And you don't have to get me a drink! You just sat down to eat. I have water." I told him. The side of the buffet we were at was specifically marked "energy substitutes" and contained various kinds, those that looked normal, like sandwiches, burgers, fries, etc, and some that I didn't; they seemed fairly interesting or disgusting. I wanted to try the one that appeared like little apple slice ducks, except purple, with peach fuzz. I kept that to myself.

"Now we're both not eating," he teased. We walked to the counter between a few dishes with the sign, specialty drinks. There was a giant list of items behind the girl at the counter. I couldn't read any of it. 

Padre ordered the same as Madre's, except he asked for a lighter version. After, we were given our receipt and waited nearby. 

"Scary?"

My eyes stroked over the other individuals inside this giant building. At least everyone in the building looked human. I supposed they remained in their cases. However, for some reason, the light felt like a moodier blue, making the atmosphere very dark or worrying. 

"A-A little. You'd think I'd be used to it by now." I said. I turned my head to peer up at Padre. His hardened eyes stared back, a touch of kindness hidden in their near-gray shade. "I'm worried for you guys."

He raised a brow, and his eyes rested. He looked in the direction of our large table near the back corner. "We're a lot tougher than we look, Lyn." He released a heavy sigh, "Including myself. You're the one we should be worrying about." He ruffled my hair, and I pulled my head away. 

I chuckled dryly. Me? I'm fine. I said in my head, and a question I didn't want to ask came out. "Did you all move a lot because of me?"

The deep, tender tone reached out to me. "Lyn," he pursed his lips, then continued, "it took a while for you to become as you are. The differences in your energy happened very slowly. It only spiked exponentially when that core festered." He explained and took another breath. "Imagine our surprise when we expected your body to fully change, which never did."

You guys don't feel any different. "What do you mean change?"

He held such care, "I've never seen a human change with exposure to magic beings," he admitted. "I've only seen someone born of two magus's or who went to Yexodele. So maybe our excess helped you develop that core, which needed more to fully develop." 

What is he talking about? Core, fully develop? Huh...

"Wicks hasn't talked to you about anything, has he?"

"Not really..." I replied. I haven't really talked to anyone...and I miss it.

My drink was ready, he let me pick it up with both hands, and he walked me back to his table. His messy man-bun nearly coming undone. "why don't you help me make breakfast tomorrow, and I'll catch you up?" He asked.

"That sounds nice." I fought through my nervousness talking to Padre. It was odd. He looked stern and unforgiving, yet he had such an ease to his tone that I felt he'd protect me from the world. It had such a similar warmth to Wicks. 

...

Alexander

He's so annoying. Alexander thought. Why does it matter if I know things about her? We just work together.  

He heard his name sung from across the table. 

"¿No estás comiendo, Alexander?" Lynette's adopted mom asked. 

He gave a half smile. I heard a no, and Alexander?

Wicks gave an eye roll. His voice sounded to insult him, "Alexander solo come humanos."

What did he just tell her? Is humanos, humans? That fucker-

Ulysses spoke, "Alexander's body's a little different than most magus's because of his wendigo half, so it's hard for him to eat a lot of normal food."

Charletta called to him over Ulysses, "do you speak Spanish, Alexander?"

He shook his head, "no."

"Oh, sorry." Their mom gave him a warm smile. "do you have energy in your drink, at least?"

"yeah..." He still could feel Wicks' glued gaze. He looked down at his drink. Energy's not my problem right now. He disliked the feeling in his midsection. It's the fact that I feel empty after drinking this. 

"You could have gotten blood." Her mom pointed out. 

"He hates blood," Drake commented, drinking some himself. 

"Oh, you sound very special." 

Is that an insult? He didn't know what to take from it.

"He is such a sweetheart too." He heard Drake's mom, Danee, from next to Edgar. He stiffened at her declaration. "he's always been there for Drake." She hummed out, "and gosh, does Drake need it."

Alexander glanced over at Drake. He squeezed his blood packet tightly. Now's not the time, Danee. 

"Sweetheart is a STRETCH."

Marsol pulled at Wicks ear and spoke with a huff, "Wicks, ese es tu cuñado sé amable con él."

"aii," Wicks said aloud before she let go. After he rubbed it and sighed, "Lo siento, mamá." Wicks picked up the ketchup for his nuggies. 

The half wendigo's eyes caught Lynette nearing. No. He pushed himself to look away and noticed his dad's heavy stare on Lynette's padre. I haven't seen them talk, why does dad look bothered by him? 

"Wicks, how is the C.P.P.A. on new applicants?" Edgar said aloud, he pressed his hair back and behind his pointed ear, "Wenna's been very interested in submitting one." His question broke Pete's concentration. Alexander's dad saw he stared, and Alexander stared down at his drink instead. He tipped it back.  

Wenna bounced in her seat, "dad, I told you not to mention it...but since you did!" She leaned over on the table and looked across at Wicks. "How much is the pay? How skilled do you have to be? Is there an age requirement per species? Are there certain species that can't join? How much training do you get on the job-"

The burst of questions didn't stop. Wicks first had a slight smile that slowly dropped as the questions continued. Lynette looked as perplexed as everyone at the table did. 

"Wenna-" Danee called. Wenna's excitement drowned out her mother. 

She persisted, and Wicks flipped the ketchup bottle upside down and squeezed. The cap plopped onto the plate, and ketchup erupted over his dinner.

"Ha!" Lynette squeaked before closing her mouth and holding her giggles. 

Wicks turned to her; there wasn't a hint of anger on his face. "How dare you, Lentils! You'll rue the day." 

She giggled some more. I have expected her to cower. Alexander said in his head, a slight relief lifted from him as Wicks gave him a break from the cold stare. 

"Lynette!" Her mom exclaimed. 

"I DID IT BEFORE HE DID IT TO ME THIS TIME!"

Lynette's mom used reversal magic to fix it, and to Alexander's surprise, Wicks answered most of Wenna's questions.

...

Drake

"What happened?" He questioned Alexander once they got back in the van.

Alexander didn't respond.

Wenna peered back at them, "you said something stupid to Wicks, didn't you? He looked like he wanted to kill you the WHOLE time."

Alexander grumbled, "shut up."

"Alex!" Pete's said from the seat beside Wenna. 

Alexander gave a low growl and sighed, "keep your mouth shut, Wenna."

Pete's glared back at his son, "ALEXANDER."

"I didn't cuss!" 

Edgar and Wenna laughed.

"Alexander, you know Wenna's not gonna stop pestering you until you share it, dear.~" Danee cooed. You're as nosy as Wenna. Drake thought, not that he didn't get it from them.

Alexander groaned, "you all-" he glanced slightly at his dad, then continued. "Wicks said some stupid stuff about me not being nice to humans."

Drake threw his hand to his mouth and turned his head away. He poorly held back his laugh. "You-ha-don-haha-don't say."

Wenna chuckled at him too, but not as heavily as Drake.

"YOU have NO right to laugh at me, asshole!" 

"ALEX."

Drake continued to laugh, and he imagined how the conversation went down. "W-what did you say in response?" Drake didn't have to look at Alexander. He heard the embarrassment. 

"Yeah, you said something stupid."

Alexander gestured to Wenna and yelled to his dad, "YOU let her get away with saying I'm stupid, but I tell her to shut up, and I'M THE BAD GUY?"

Pete's looked at the two of them. "No more stupid, shut-ups, or anything from either of you, okay?"

They both agreed. Drake noticed Alexander's childish crossed fingers behind his back, and given that Wenna sat up in her seat, he suspected the same. 

Pete's continued, "what did you tell him, Alexander? You know why he's worried. Lynette's his little sister, and you're not exactly..." His dad paused. 

Alexander grumbled under his breath. "you're all assholes." And he shut his eyes, confessing to his "crimes" "Wicks asked me to name off one thing I knew about Lynette."

It can't be that idiotic, then. You know Lynette plays video games. 

There was a slight hesitation from his best friend, "I thought if I said she plays video games, he'd ask me specific ones, and I didn't know any she's working on currently, so-" his voice sounded gentler when he was flustered. "I told him what I recently found out about her."

It took Drake a few seconds, and he howled from his seat, "DID YOU SERIOUSLY-!AHH-HA!" He turned to his friend, "YOU'RE SO STUPID!" 

Alexander grabbed Drake's fine winter coat collar. Drake didn't care. Edgar's voice stopped Alexanders' insults from flooding out. 

"What did you find out about Lynette?!" A moderately worried curiosity fell from his tone. 

Alexander shook Drake, "forget it!"

"OH!" Danee popped in and clapped her hands together. "Congratulations, sweetie!" She paused and tapped her chin, "Isn't there a rule against not doing anything with your coworkers?"

"WHAT?!" Alexander shouted.

The car burst with life. Everyone either shouted at Alexander or Danee.

"SHE'S A FUCKING MEAL. WHY WOULD I F-" Alexander wanted to bash his head into something. Alexander knew if he did, he'd break what he did it to. Drake got a great look at his tomato-red expression. The boy with bangs over his eyes hadn't laughed this hard in a long time. 

"Alexander, don't call your coworker a meal. She seems nice." Pete's reminded him with secondhand embarrassment. 

"Wicks is going to kiiiillll you.~" Wenna hummed with her snickers. 

Edgar tried to hold a serious demeanor, but the innocence of his wife's celebratory cheer made him smile.

Drake looked over at Alexander, who held his head down in shame. He hated to admit it, but Drake received some satisfaction from his best friend's current misery. It was rare that Alexander was ever knocked down a peg. You're such an idiot, dude.

...

Wicks

"They're dangerous, Lynette. He couldn't even say one thing about you." Wicks groaned as he laid on his side of the pillow wall. Lynette had the side by the wall in case she slept walked. Then she'd have to climb over Wicks.

"I know. I didn't expect him to. Alexander and I haven't exactly carried many conversations." She grumbled, throwing a sheet over herself.

"I'm still mad you never told me."

"And you never told me."

"You know Mom said not to," Wicks replied. It's not like I didn't want to tell you. I simply couldn't argue with her... 

The sour memory entered his head. It would enter his mind when he saw Lynette's face when upset. 

He could never forget the violent shake of her body in his grasp. Nor the sounds of the waves below the cliff striking the sharp rocks at the bottom.

"Would it have been better for them if I was never born?"

He shifted to face Lynette, almost like she had repeated those words now. He met the pillow wall, his sister beyond it. 

Her voice reached him, "I couldn't tell any human outside of work that didn't know about magic!" She declared. "I had no idea you guys were magus's. Other than that...I would have told you."

It still surprised him that she stayed there. He knew how scared Lynette could be. Though her newfound resolve was something he admired too.

"You sounded like you didn't want to."

"You almost attacked Xander," Lynette muttered. She lifted her head up over the pillow wall. Her grassy meadow green eyes squinted at him.

"I assumed he did something unsavory to you. What do you expect?" It will not stop me from killing him next time we're alone. I bet he tries to eat you constantly.

Lynette sighed and plopped back down, knocking one of the pillows onto Wick's face. He laid with it there, a smile on his face from the slight comedy of it.

"Why would you assume something like that! You know I've never even been on a proper date!" Lynette squeaked. 

He eventually pushed the pillow back into place. "YOU DIDN'T COME HOME FOR A DAY OR TWO BEFORE! THEN WITH HIS COMMENT!? WHAT AM I LEFT TO ASSUME..." Wicks threw his body up. He didn't even think about the pillow wall. "Why were you gone? We all reviewed the contract with Edgar...did any of them EAT YOU OUTSIDE OF WORK WITHOUT CONSENT!?"

She was covered in fluff. She pushed them away and spoke. "N-no!" She cried. "I-made a deal with one of them for that, and the other time I was really small, I couldn't go-"

"S-SMALL! LENTILS!!" Wicks picked her up, "What the heck has been happening at that pizzeria!? Someone shrank you down? WHO? What's their name?! Was it Alexander?!" Wicks let her go, and he leaped from the bed. Sorry Charletta, I'm killing him. 

"NO!" Lynette crawled forward and panicked and fell off the bed. She hit the ground nearly face-first and whimpered. 

Wicks went to her immediately and knelt down, "Lentils."

"It wasn't him-he helped watch me one of the days," Lynette replied. She rubbed her forehead for a second. Then her eyes flicked with fear. She remembered something. 

"What's wrong?" Wicks asked. 

"N-nothing," she said. 

He helped her off the floor, "don't nothing me. You look worried. What did he do to you?"

"It's not about him, it- I'm not going to pretend I enjoy him, I don't, but I don't hate him enough for you to fight him. I don't hate any of them enough for that." Lynette said as she climbed back on the bed, "especially not now. Charletta seems to be happy with Ulysses, and Drake isn't bad. He's one of my nicest coworkers on the night crew with me." 

Maybe I should search his registration too. It occurred to Wicks he never even looked at the information Garter sent him. He picked up his phone from the nightstand once they got the pillow wall up once more. 

"One of the nicest doesn't say much," Wicks muttered.

"Wicks," he heard her grumble from beyond. "I'm too tired to argue." 

She got ready for bed. 

"Fine then, I love you, Lentils."

"Love you too, Wicks. Goodnight."

He turned out the light at the nightstand. Darkness filled the room quickly. Wicks pressed his phone to his chest.

I'm sorry, Lentils. I should have been more attentive. There was such a complicated array of feelings rushing through his head. He didn't hate monsters by any means, but he did when Lynette was around them. He hated to imagine her eaten by them. It's not something he cared about with anyone else besides his family. I should have pried. I should have pushed you more. He stared at the ceiling. 

I can't imagine how terrifying that jerk made it for you. Wicks lifted up his phone and opened his messages. 

Garter: Information sent. If you need anything else, boss, give me a ring! 8:52 p.m.

Wicks: Thank you, Garter, and you don't gotta call me boss! 11:34 p.m.

Garter would keep calling him that. Wicks didn't think he deserved it for being a rank higher. 

His eyes scanned the file, reading over the information they had on Alexander. It's legal and real. Wicks noticed Alexander even notified them of the area change. He's at least diligent, I guess...

Wicks skimmed over the other recent activity, right he's partially involved in the Andras case. Such a slippery magus. Wicks read a bit more information on it. Wicks didn't see any big issues for a while besides that and...

He shot up and gasped. His glowing hue focused on Lynette. 

Wicks's chest, specifically his heart, felt squeezed by his fear. 

He scrambled to grab her and stopped. He read over the notes of the incident. 

'Lynette Wayland request: Memory left intact.'

That's-is this the stalker? Were they a monster? He wanted to wake her up. How much have I really been missing? He asked himself. 

His head throbbed with worse scenarios even though she lay next to him. He wanted her to spill everything. He wanted it all now. He didn't want her to ever leave his side again. She was in so much danger. 

That wendigo... Wicks hated him. His opinion wouldn't be swayed, however...If he ever hurts you, I'll kill him. 

He couldn't stop himself. "LYNETTE!" 

She woke up with fright. He couldn't go to bed, and neither would she. He needed to know everything. The desperation ate at him. He didn't know what his mom and dad would think if they found out about the stalking incident. I'm a failure at protecting her. He couldn't even smile anymore. Not that I didn't know that already.

...

Hey, you, thank you so much for reading. It means a lot that I put out a story that people can enjoy! <3 So, I hope you continue to enjoy it as WE have a LOT more to go! YOU BETTER KEEP PROSPERING! (Nonnegotiable).

First Chapter Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Catch up, see some maps/art, or check the latest release dates down below  ↓ ↓ ↓ 

What I’d do for a Livable Income (Synopsis/Chapter - List)

[kvhasproblems]

I’m currently watching The Wilds

and i’m losing my mind! I’m on season 2 episode 5 and holy fuck THE TWIST!!

spoilers below

FUCKING SETH OMG

like i knew he was fucked and i was sure we gonna watch his whole decent into madness but like the SA thing and now he’s the mole… he only took this so he could pick them off one by one… like he is a true psychopath? sociopath? (i know there is a difference but i can’t remember which one is the correct term for his character)

like this man is THE male manipulator

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

i literally have no idea what this is, or where it came from but here's a thing:

pairing: steddie | word count: 2,043 | rated: M (will be E in next part)

Eddie Munson was not Steve’s bi awakening, okay? He wasn’t.

He just happened to be standing in the middle of Family Video dressed like his bi awakening (and it didn’t help that he already had an embarrassingly huge crush on the guy).

Steve had come out of the back none the wiser to what he was about to see, glancing up from the tape he was carrying for someone who’d called earlier. His eyes met big, clunky, worn-in cowboy boots, long lean legs (and very nice ass–damn, they’ve got one of those stupid bandanas in their back pocket too) in classic Levis so tight they looked like they were painted on, the back of leather jacket (--hold on), and the back of a head of long, wild-looking, sun-kissed, yet still dark hair.

After his seconds-long oogling, Robin, who was chatting with Bon Jovi’s twin at the counter, glances behind him at Steve. 

Bon Jovi tries to turn and look back without taking himself off the counter, but when that insane hair of his gets in the way, he shoves up off the counter and spins on one heel.

“Munson? Where the hell’ve you been?” Steve thanks whatever it is up there that the surprise of seeing Eddie again temporarily suspends his frazzled ‘hothothothothot’ thoughts about his friend enough to respond normally.

“Damn, Stevie, been gone all summer and all I get is a ‘The hell’ve you been’?”

“Of course, asshole, you’ve been gone All. Summer.” Steve says, finally getting to the counter himself and dropping the tape on it. He scoops Eddie up in a tight hug, one long won from their month of recovery post-Vecna.

Everything went fine, Vecna was dead, the upside-down sealed away, but they hadn’t all left unscathed. Specifically Steve and Eddie, both of whom ended their spring break from hell nursing bat wounds, and closer than ever before. 

Then, after finally graduating, being hailed a hero for “saving” Max and Dustin from the real killer (thank you, suspicious government people), Eddie was hauled out of Hawkins by his Uncle, the former of whom got just enough time for a quick ‘Gotta go, Wayne wants me helping out at the farm this summer,’ before he was gone.

“I told you I would be, Harrington,” Eddie says once Steve sets him back down on his own two feet.

“So what happened? Where’ve you really been?”

Eddie raises a brow, “At the farm. Like I said.”

“Okay, well, excuse me for thinking it may have been the same 'farm' my parents said my childhood dog was sent off to.”

“You think my Uncle was gonna take me upstate to shoot me dead?”

“Obviously not, dumbass, but what other goddamn reason would you, Eddie Munson, have to be on a farm. Like with cows and stuff?”

“Though the sun did you some favors,” Robin cuts back in.

And isn’t that the truth. Up close now (and letting himself look), Steve could see how Eddie’s normally dark hair and pale complexion were now sun-kissed and so well be-freckled that it sent his stomach for another rollercoaster ride.

“Yeah, Munson, you planning on keeping the blond around?” Steve teases, picking up a strand of sun-lightened hair off Eddie’s shoulder and giving it a short tug.

“I don’t know, I’m not really used to how light…”

Whatever Eddie says after that is completely drowned out by ringing in Steve’s ears because Eddie stretches an arm up to paw at the top of his head and he’s wearing a crop top.

He’s wearing a goddamn crop top under his jacket, some band tee that looks like he’d hacked off himself..and are those abs?? God damn he is so fine. It’s not fucking fair. Who does he think he is running around like Steve’s own personal wet dre–

“Holy shit.”

He couldn’t help it. The words just fell out of his mouth.

“H-holy shit, you’ve got abs, Eddie!”

‘Thank you, Robin.’ Steve thinks at her absently since his brain is completely preoccupied..

“Wha–? Oh! Yeah! Check me out, huh?!” Eddie grins wide, lifting his shirt just a bit more to show off the toned expanse of stomach. 

Steve’s mouth goes bone dry.

“And that’s not all,” Eddie says. He drops his shirt and shucks the jacket off his shoulders.

His very well sculpted shoulders.

And arms.

And oh god those hands. Steve could hear the soft scrapes of rough callouses against the leather when Eddie threw the garment onto the counter beside him and his only thought was about how they might feel against his skin..

Still beaming, Eddie flexes one, then both arms, his biceps bunching under more tanned skin. “I got a lot of ‘lifting heavy things and putting them back down again’ in over the summer.” he continues, “I’m probably stronger than you now, Harrington.”

“Ha haha, right..yeah. Robin, can you excuse us for a second?”

Steve doesn’t wait for her response before he grabs Eddie around one of those absolutely delicious biceps and hauls him through the store and out the back door.

He lets a grinning Eddie go as soon as they’re through the back door, taking a couple steps away towards the woods behind their building, and trying to calm down with measured breaths.

When he does turn around, Eddie’s stood away from the door, one hip cocked out and his arms crossed across his chest.

The grin on his face has melted down into a smirk though, and the look in his eyes is less teasing and more cautious.

Steve steps back up close to the other man, and literally starts to circle him like a shark. Scanning his eyes up and down Eddie’s body as he does.

“What’s goin’ on Stevie? Looking for some style tips?” he jokes.

Steve doesn’t answer, and starts his second cycle around his friend.

“You know, maybe get rid of some of those polos?” Eddie sounds just a bit more unsure this time.

Steve’s behind Eddie’s right shoulder when he speaks again. “You think you can barge back in after all this time, looking like that,” Steve comes around to stand in front of Eddie again, “And not expect me to react?”

Eddie grins wickedly again, and steps back at the same time Steve steps forward.

“Expect me to not want to devour you whole?”

“You expect me to want that, big boy?” Eddie says as he’s pressed between Steve and the closed back door.

Steve rears back immediately, “Shit, Eddie, I’m sor–”

“‘Cause I do.” Eddie grabs hold of Steve and spins them around, pressing the younger man back against the door instead. “Ohhh boy, do I want that.”

Steve groans as Eddie slots their hips together, “You really are a big boy, aren’t you sunshine?”

“The things I’m gonna do to you..” Steve growls out, Eddie’s jaw snapping open with his words.

They’re both startled away from the back door when Robin bangs on it, “You’ve got five minutes to get back in here before I drag you back in! It’s Friday and we’re about to get busy!” she yells through the door.

He hears her converse squeak on the tile inside the door as she heads back to the front, then chances a look at Eddie.

He looks as red as Steve feels, from the bit of his face he can see from behind the hair he holds over it.

“Eddie–”

“It’s cool, Harrington,” he wheezes out a dry laugh, glancing over at him, “Better get in for the rush before Robin comes back.

He reaches for the handle again, but is stopped short by a hand on his wrist.

“Listen, Eddie.” Steve says, giving the other man’s arm a soft tug to get him to turn around. “I may have gotten a little…over enthusiastic…”

Eddie’s face scrunches up in a weird way.

“No! Not in a bad way, unless you weren’t as into it as I was–doesn’t matter! Point is, I may have gone a little crazy, but I wasn’t faking it.”

“I don’t think guys can fake it, Steve-o.” Eddie jokes softly, a small smile on his face.

Steve chuckles just as soft, “Shut up man, you know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

“I think you do.”

“I dunno Steve," Eddie shrugs sarcastically, "You’re quite an enigma.”

“Okay, fine, here’s it spelled out for you: I am super into you.” Steve puts up a finger to stop whatever it is Eddie was about to say, “Hold on– I am bisexual, have been for a while and would like to try this..with you. If you want.”

“You gotta be more specific on what ‘this’ is, sunshine.” Eddie steps close to him once again.

Steve smirks, walking Eddie backward to the door again with both hands on his waist. Once he’s got him pressed back against the warm metal, he scoops the hair away from Eddie’s ear and holds it out of the way with a hand on the back of his neck.

He leans in, whispering right into Eddie’s ear. “I want to take you apart, Eddie.”

Eddie sucks in a sharp breath and Steve can feel the man’s heart hammering against his own chest.

“I want to suck you down, eat you out, and fuck you into next Tuesday.” He states, nipping on his earlobe for good measure before pulling back. 

Steve takes in Eddie’s flushed face, his eyes blown out they’re almost completely black, his chest heaving.

“I’d also like to totally romance you and date the fuck out of you, but…” he shrugs, grinning as Eddie smacks his chest lightly with a laugh of his own.

“I’m serious though, Eddie. I want this.”

Eddie’s smile falls slightly. “You sure about the whole dating thing, Harrington? You know you can’t date me for real..like in public and shit.”

Steve shrugs, “I know, but… I don’t think I’d survive something casual with you, Eddie.”

Eddie lets out a breath like he’d been punched.

He takes back in a deep breath, then pulls Steve flush to him again.

“I think that sounds amend—-”

Eddie’s forehead smashes into Steve’s nose when Robin shoves the door open behind Eddie.

“Damn! I knew the door was a bad idea.” Steve says, his voice coming out nasally from where he’s pinching at the bridge of his nose.

“Time’s up, Dingus, get your fruity butt inside.”

Eddie chuckles after her, leading Steve inside. “You shouldn’t tip your head back, lean forward and let it drain out.”

“Ugh, you sure? I’ll get blood all over me,”

“I’m sure, sweetheart, I’ve had a few bloody noses in my time.”

“Here,” Robin says once they reach the counter.

Steve takes the offered tissues, and soaks up the small trickle of blood.

“You still wanna date me if my nose is crooked?” he asks Eddie, who’s (sadly) shrugging his coat back on.

He pretends to think for a moment. “Sorry Stevie, that’s a dealbreaker. Even if it was my forehead what done it.”

“Ugh you’re such a dweeb, I don’t know what you see in him, Steve.”

“He’s hot, okay? And he’s still hot even after he rejected me just now.” Steve states matter-of-factly while shoving a wad of tissue into the one nostril still bleeding.

“You think I’m hot?”

“Very.”

“No, you’re gross. You guys are both gross.”

“Oh Birdie, you should've heard the things he was saying to me outside; all ‘Ooh Eddie, your muscles are so big and so is your hair and also your di—’”

“OKAY! That’s enough of that!” Steve cuts him off, pushing the still grinning Eddie toward the door, then, a softer: “Yours or mine after I’m off?” once they’re at the door.

“Definitely yours, unless you want Wayne to be privy to our shenanigans.”

“Yeah, that’s a no. Also, shenanigans? Really? You’re a super dweeb.” Steve smirks, pushing his boyfr— frien— Eddie out the front door. “I’m off at four, see you at five?”

Eddie fumbles backward over the curb but manages to catch himself, “It’s a date, Steve.”

He watches Eddie climb up into his van, and follows its path down the road and out of sight with a dreamy sigh.

“You still have tissues in your nose, Dingus.”

part 2/2 here | and on AO3!

definitely inspired by this post from @sparrowtapes

[striderepiphany]

My favorite reddie fics masterpost

I have an absolutely insane number of reddie fics saved in my bookmarks for how recently I joined this fandom so I decided to share my absolute favorites with you. Please give these authors some love and let me know which ones are you've read and enjoyed!

the year of the goat and your kid back by derryfacts2

1 chapter, 14,838 words, No Archive Warnings Apply. Summary: The day you get the most important email of your life, there’s a new black skidmark on the wall of the stairwell, and you know exactly whose fault it is. “Margaret,” you intone to the harried, wild-haired woman in the lobby. She sighs at you as she tries to jimmy her mail key loose. “I know.” It wouldn’t even be that bad if the kid would just skateboard outside. Or get good at skateboarding. Either of those things. Maggie’s a nice lady, though, and she’s had “trying my best” scribbled all over her since they moved into 6B maybe eight years ago. So you try not to be a dick, even if her son is a gold-standard pain in the ass. He’s good for three things: smells, noise, and reminding you how big Eddie must be by now.

The first It fic I read that made me go "holy shit, this is fantastic" and remains one of my all-timers (hence why its first in this list). Really fun and unique outsider POV from Eddie's estranged gay dad, and tells a very sweet story mostly through dialogue. Young adult Eddie and Richie are very cute.

i think the clock is slow by derryfacts2 (again)

3 chapters, 15,815 words, No Archive Warnings Apply. Summary: So there was that reason that work wasn’t boring, too. There was Richie’s soppy campaign of making cow eyes at the back of Eddie’s head as he passed, gently pressing Betty for details about his personal life (“I don’t think he has one. He had this awful fiancé a few years ago, but we’re all glad that’s over”), and chasing the incomparable high of a quiet, muttered “Thanks, Rich” whenever Richie picks something up for him from the copier.

Richie is a wannabe stand-up comic daylighting as the receptionist at Eddie's office. Eddie is a tightly-wound corporate asshole. They are both disasters. Or: five times Richie watched Eddie and one that Eddie watched him back.

I really enjoy workplace dramas and this one satisfied the itch so well. So many good scenes and dialogue, this author characterizes them in a way that really works for me. The perfect read-in-an-afternoon fic.

listen to my heart (can you hear it sing?) by vampirerising

12 chapters, 137,708 words, Major Character Death. Summary: "You need to wake up now,” Stan says softly. “This isn’t real.”

“I know, but I can’t,” Richie sobs. “I don’t want to be here.” Not again. Never again. It is dead, why is It still haunting him?

Stan fixes him with one of those looks of his, the one where he can see his every thought as if it were written on his face. “That’s not true, Trashmouth.”

Alternatively: We all know Richie gets caught in the Deadlights, but do we really know what happens after?

(Deadlights, timelines, Stan’s ghostly meddling—oh, my.)

This one is fucking weird in a way that I absolutely adore. Kind of like a sci-fi novel in that it requires you to pay attention to figure out what the fuck is going on but its so good and worth it. The MCD is Stan, not Eddie, and the last couple chapters are actually a very normal domestic Eddie lives AU. One of the first reddie artworks I made was fanart for a scene from this fic that I really enjoy.

a strange sense of familiarity by Katranga

21 chapters, 103,571 words, No Archive Warnings Apply. Summary: "So Eddie, what brings you to the bar tonight?" Richie asked. "Gonna rebound from the divorce? Pick up a hot young twenty-something to feel young again?” “Fuck you,” Eddie said, jutting his chin forward. “What a terrible way to ruin the mood.” “I’m sorry, all my moods are poorly cultivated. What mood were you looking for?” A nervous lump grew in Eddie's throat. He threw back his drink to get rid of it.

Hand wrapped around the glass he’d just slammed back onto the bar, he said, “The mood that gets me leaving with a schlubby forty-something.”

Pre-chapter two, Eddie and Richie meet and don't remember each other, but have an instant connection anyway...

This one is just... so fucking good. Decently long without ever feeling like it's dragging. Part 1 is them developing their totally-casual-I-swear relationship, which blows up right when Mike calls them back to Derry. Part 2 is them navigating both killing a nightmare clown demon and the awkwardness between them. Also everybody lives! So that's nice.

change partners by avacadomoon (with podfic available)

1 chapter, 30,453 words, No Archive Warnings Apply. Summary: "Rich," Eddie says heavily. Meaningfully, and Richie holds his breath, both afraid and hopeful that Eddie is about to say something really sappy, like I always knew and it didn't matter to me, or you know I support you no matter what. Eddie takes a deep breath before he speaks, and Richie closes his eyes, braced for it. "I didn't look at your dick pics."

"Well hey, Eds, thanks," Richie says, laughing incredulously. "Thanks for that."

I LOVE THIS ONE SOOO FUCKING MUCH. I urge you to consider this as a rec for this author as well, as they have a bunch of other reddie fics I think are fantastic. I have a weakness for any reddie fic that lets them be just a little mean to each other. As a treat. (Also the podfic is very well done, you should check that out too.)

check raise by avacodomoon

1 chapter, 15,061 words, No Archive Warnings Apply. Summary: "Eddie, not a fan of stand up comedy, not a fan of his beer," Rich says, leaning back on one elbow and squinting at him, like he's lining him up in a camera lens frame, "but what is he doing drinking alone?"

"I was alone, and now I'm not," Eddie says. "Some prick sat down next to me and started yapping."

"Ah, unpleasant to talk to," Rich concludes. "Explains a lot."

I know I meant the last rec as a blanket rec for all this author's works but I'm including this one specifically because it has a twist ending that is well-foreshadowed and it slapped my dick clean off.

Things that Happen after Eddie Lives by IfItHollers

11 chapters, 107,947 words, Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings. Summary: In a world where Richie manages to save Eddie from It after the deadlights, they still have problems on their to-do list. Featuring everything from Derry to Los Angeles—Richie Tozier's murder trial, Eddie Kaspbrak's divorce proceedings, bedsharing of the platonic and non-platonic varieties, an investigation of magic, a truly disgusting séance, the quintessential morosexual road trip, and OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMMATES.

Definitely NOT your average Eddie lives AU. Drama! Mild peril! Psychic abilities! The ghost of Stanley Uris collect calling from beyond the grave via Richie Tozier's vocal chords! Fun and freaky and weird. Three things that make any fic a Josh favorite.

I'm going to stop there because I'm sleepy but let me know if you want more! Like I said I've got like 70 of these lovingly tucked in my bookmarks and I'm happy to share with the class.

[unamused-boss]

How we met

Billy Harvgrove x Phoebe Levin

Summary: The day Billy Hargrove found Phoebe Levin changed his life forever. The day he met her was one he would never forget, literally. Like how can you forget that.

The minute that Billy stepped out of his camaro into the Hawkin’s High School parking lot he knew that this was gonna be the absolute worst part of his entire life. Girls were already gawking him like a piece of meat given to a pack of wolves. The guys were sizing him up like they thought they had a chance at winning a fight against him. 

“Jeezus, smells like cow shit here.” He muttered as he made his way into the high school. Once his boot made contact with the tile floor of the school he was swarmed with wannabes and thirsty girls.

“Hey man, I'm Tommy. We’re gonna be great friends.” One freckled faced freak said to him.

“Hello~ I’m Tina, it’s so great to meet you.” Some brunette flirted.

“Heey cali boy, how does the countryside feel?” Some rando said.

‘Holy shit, do these guys have anything better to do?’ Billy thought. ‘It's not the worst, I already have them like putty in my hand.’ He smirked, he already had a majority of the school's population on his side. This could not be as awful as he thought it was going to be. If these guys are like this just by his first day then Billy can’t wait for what will happen throughout the next couple of months. 

Which is what happened, Billy soon became the new King of Hawkins High School. He had everyone eating from the palm of his hand. The parties were nothing like the ones in California but they were a good way to distract him while being here. And every girl here wanted in his pants, which he let them but soon left them right after the deed was done. 

The day started off as any other day. Billy was late to his first period, as perusal, taking his seat with a very irked teacher. As he was about to start his normal routine of ignoring everyone around him a glint caught his eye. He turned his head to see a girl decorated in long earrings and glittering necklaces. She had pale skin and hard dark hair. Her eyes looked bored but still tried to pay attention to the lesson at hand. She wore dark clothes, her stomach was out, and the closer Billy looked he realized she didn’t have a bra on. She looked wild. Her hair somehow kept and unkept at the same time. Something about her was drawing him in, like a wave to a surfboard.

“Can you stop starring?” She broke him from his thoughts. No enthusiasm in her tone, she was not happy whatsoever that he was staring at her. Why was she not giggling at him like every other girl?

“I’m Billy.” Billy tried to introduce himself. Pulling his classic charm to win this girl over.

“I know. Now stop talking to me.” She simply put.

“What?”

“I said stop talking to me, you are someone I do not want to speak to.” She was getting frustrated by his presence. That’s bullshit, the only person that was supposed to get annoyed by him was Hairrington.

“I’m trying to flirt with you, you know that right?” He asked as if it wasn’t obvious.

“Yes it’s very obvious, so why don’t you stop and go back to the other girl next you that you flirted with all last month that has not stopped staring at you since class started.” Now you were over him. If your tone didn’t put it straight in his face that you were not having anything he was giving; he turned around to, in fact, see the said girl staring at him. Then the bell rang just as he was going to talk to you again. But you were out of there without him seeing.

The cafeteria was where Billy saw the mysterious girl next. He just stared at her as she sat by herself. No one was around her, being that her friends had a different lunch schedule then her. His staring didn’t go unnoticed by Tommy or Carol.

“Why are you staring at that weirdo?” Tommy asked him, picking at the food on his tray.

“Who is she?” Billy asked curiously.

“Phoebe Levin is the most peculiar girl you’ll ever meet. Swear to god she is related to The freak sometimes.” Carol scowled. “You seriously don’t want to be around her.”

“Her mom was married to some Russian immigrant dude, probably killed because of his help with the Russian forces.” Tommy laughed.

“Ugh, I don’t know why she is still here.” Carol whined. “Billy there are such better girls in this school than her.” The three continued to stare at the young girl. 

Phoebe knew they were watching her, she knew Billy was asking questions about her. “God give me a break.” She grumbled through the sandwich she was chewing. She heard the sound of fake pompous heels click their way over to where she was sitting. And to no one's surprise there stood Carol Perkins. With a grin on her face and  her caked on makeup.

“Can I help you Carol?” The unenthused girl spoke.

“Hey Phoebe.” Carol smiled, obviously fake. “ I just wanted to check up on you, you seem so lonely.”

“Okay?” Carol just continued to stare at her while she ate.

“You know for someone that has so many cropped tops, you do have a pretty fat stomach.” Carol snied. 

“You know for someone that sucks every other guy's dick except her boyfriend’s, you’d think you’d know how to shut your mouth.” Phoebe retorted. “Are we done here?” Carol just sat there with her mouth agape. Phoebe finished the remainder of her lunch taking her tray to leave. Only for Coral to put her foot out and trip her. Causing Phoebe to go face first into her tray. Phoebe picked herself up, taking the little food she had off her shirt. Walking away unbothered.

“Ugh, You scathing BITCH!” Yell Carol.

Billy watched in amazement. He loved every moment of that conversation, he knew she were different. He didn’t think she'd be this different. He watched as Phoebe made her way out of the lunchroom watching her hips sway as she walked. Carol made her way back to their table huffing and puffing at the interaction she just had. Sitting down like a newly scolded child.

“I told you Billy, you don’t want to be around her.” Carol sneered.

Ever since Billy asked about Phoebe Levin everybody has given every opinion possible about her.

“She is so weird.”

“She’s probably a spy planted for the Russians, maybe that’s why she’s so isolated.”

“I swear she’s done a seance with Munson!”

“Phoebe doesn’t wear a bra, like ever, which is kinda hot?”

“Uhg, she hangs in the library all the time in her dark corner.”

“She always seems like she’s on some psychedelic trip.”

“I saw her walking barefoot through the woods once.”

“Her grandma is a witch.”

“I hear she’s eaten goat’s brain.”

Billy didn’ t give a shit what these people thought. He only knew her name and that he wanted to meet her.

While Billy dealt with his predicament of having to find his belle of the ball in black Phoebe was dealing with her own troubles. Her trouble has names that are Carol Perkins, Hiedi Flanders, Tina Clarks, and Betty Johnson; those four have been giving her hell all week. All for Billy Hargrove having caught his eye on her.

“I swear to everything, I will rip his tongue out.” Phoebe grumbled under her breath.

“Hey it’s alright.” Nancy reassured, “It’s Friday, you won’t see them for two days. But you will be seeing Tom Cruise with me.” She grinned. The both of you being friends was an odd sight to see. A princess and a witch, but you guys have been through thick and thin together. Phoebe was there for her when she found out Barb was found dead. And Nancy was there for Phoebe when her dad died. Only those two know the secrets between each other, that no one else will ever know.

“I guess you’re right.” Phoebe smiled. “I’ll see you after gym… see ya.” Phoebe waved her off. 

Phoebe was making her way to the gym locker room when she thought she heard giggling behind her. She knew what was going to happen, having already accepted her fate of whatever little prank the class bimbos were going to pull on her. Nothing like this will change for her if she stays in this fucking town. Phoebe entered the locker room to her spot by the corner. Putting her stuff away into her cubby then continues with getting ready as normal. Taking off her clothes to put on her gym clothes. Once the shirt was over her head and on her body, this is one of few instances she puts a bra on (ya gotta stay prepared) Phoebe then hears the giggles again. ‘Dammit’ Phoebe braces herself for what is about to come. The expecting rush of cold water comes down upon her; her hair now wet, her mascara smudged and running down her face, the top of her shirt soaked. The giggles turned to full hyena laughter ringing through the locker room. 

“Sorry Carrie didn’t see ya there!” Carol boasted.

“I think she looks better this way.” Tina smirked.

“Yeah, it brings out that washed out skin.” Betty cackled, and I’m the one that gets called a witch. The warning whistle from the coach signaling us to get out of the locker room.

“Come on Carrie, don’t wanna be late.” Carol joked, her and her friends laughed as they walked away. Phoebe did not react. She made no comment. All she did was make her way out of the locker room to the gym for class. Where she saw a familiar mullet head skipping class.

A glare was given to him. Phoebe was tired of the shit she was given. Tired of the attention people have decided to give you for the dumbest reason. To have some meat head think this is the funniest joke on the planet. ‘I will shave his head and make him eat his hair.’ I hate him.

‘Holy shit.’ No one since he has gotten here has given Billy any shit. But the glare that Phoebe gave him. A chill ran up his back. With the unlit cigarette hanging from his lip almost falling out. He has not met a girl like her. Well he has but they usually never speak to him, let alone glare through his skull. 

“Go to hell…”

Phoebe spent her time in gym class wisely. She didn’t tell the coach. Didn’t explain to anyone that asked. She ran her laps. Did every exercise she was told to. She ignored the laughter of the girls that did this to her. Ignored that stares from everyone. However when at her water break Phoebe noticed the janitor’s closet was unlocked, ideas went through her head. If she was going to be treated like this only because some ass is giving her attention. Well they don’t say an eye for an eye for nothin. 

Gym class was let out, since Phoebe was one of the first few into the locker room her plan was already in action. The four bimbo’s made their way to her corner; already dressed in her tank top and long skirt. Accentuating her figure, a figure that many were jealous of or either wanted. The bimbo’s were in their towels going to take their showers.

“Who knew you’d enjoy a cold bath before class.” Laughed Betty.

“Yeah… Now just for you to know…” Heidi said, wickedness pouring from her words as she stepped forward closer to me. She glared at me, “Stay away from Billy, or I will make your life hell.”

“Oh sweetheart.” Phoebe mocked. “I knew I was there when I saw you.” She apparently didn’t like that too much since she turned away from me flipping her hair into my face. Her curly coarse hair from too many perm treatments. But Phoebe didn’t have to worry about that, when across from her she saw the familiar belongings to the girls that were once here. Along with some items that will aid her in her revenge.

Nancy was confused, gym class got out a few minutes ago and she couldn’t find Phoebe anywhere. All she saw was the commotion of the halls. Nancy doesn’t know where she could be. Until…

Billy was getting annoyed not only with not being able to shake off his interaction with Phoebe earlier today but no one would stop bothering him. He can’t stand it, Tommy won’t shut his yap.

“Then I told him to strew off if he knew what was good for him.” Tommy laughed.

“Yep, you got him.” Billy grumbled. He just watched as the people in the halls passed him. Looking for her.

Tommy rolled his eyes, “Are you still looking for her, she’s literally a nobody.”

“Tommy. If I wanted your opinion I’d ask for it.” Billy stated. “ And I don’t-” Billy was cut of by the clicking of running heels.

“TOMMY!” Carol yelled, “TOMMY!” Carol and the other three girls ran up to the two boys. The girls were out of breath but fuming with anger with their arms tightly crossed against their chests. 

“Whoa what is it?” Tommy asked.

“Someone stole from us.” Carol snided.

“Stole what?” Tommy questioned. “You have all your stuff.” He pointed out.

“NO.” Carold came closer to Tommy’s face so no one else would hear. “Someone stole our bras…” Tommy’s eyes widened, he almost laughed at the statement before him.

“What?” Tommy answered. Neither of them noticed the sudden burst of energy in the hallway. People started to make their way to windows and the front of the school. Billy noticed but he waited for the couple to finish. All while being stared at by Hiedi.

“I want you to find them and kick their ass!” Carol screamed. The echo of her words is what stopped their discussion. Carol looked around, along with her little posse, “What are they looking at?”

It was about the same time when Billy and Nancy made their way outside to the front of the school. Pushing their way through a shocked crowd of students, some laughing and some with their jaws on the floor. By the time the two teens made it to the front of the crowd what they saw before them was not what they thought it would be. 

In front of them stood four burning stacks with bras being burnt at the ends.

With what Billy just overheard, he can only guess at who those were. And off to the side stood Phoebe Levin smoking a cigarette lit by the flames. Standing only looking at the crowd before her. It didn’t take long before Carol and the others saw what had happened to their once lacy bralettes. Screaming as they saw the consequences of their actions before them.

“OOHH!” Coral screeched. “YOU BITCH!”

“Exactly!” Phoebe Levin replied. Phoebe then stared at Billy, the same stare she gave him in the halls a while ago. She flicked the last of her cigarette onto the ground, then stomped it out. She only smiled as she passed Carol and them until she was face to face with Billy.

“I don’t know what your game is, but I don’t like it so leave me out of it.” She stated to him.

“I don’t think so, this only made me want more.” He grinned at her.

“PHOEBE LEVIN!” The familiar call of the principle called, she wasn’t getting out of this easily.

“That’s my que…” She said as she left him there.

Billy did not know what else to say. He was glad she walked away because he would have been speechless. Billy knew what he wanted and he wanted her, he wanted to be with her. And he’ll have to work a little harder to get her. He doesn’t mind cause once he has her. He won’t let go.

I hope you like it!

[thestalkerbunny]

I had a dream last night and it was so fantastic, I'm gonna fucking share it and eventually draw and expand on it-but this is basis of it.

They finally made Fallout 5.

TLDR: Where the actual First Nation's People went, history threatening to repeat itself, finally the non-romancable npc is that way for a GOOD REASON.

It actually takes place in the middle of America; and it's established when the bombs dropped-it was mostly on major cities near the coastal areas-such as Las Vegas,Boston,Washington Dc, etc. etc.-but with the radius, there is a part of the US that recieved the least amount of radiation.

(A poorly made map by your truely, probably not all accurate where bombs dropped but like. The darker places is all the places I'm pretty sure we've been. Probably wrong but I don't care to look up for accuracy.)

And it's this odd massive strip of land right down the middle. It's not COMPLETELY devoid of radiation-but it's a small part of the whole of USA that received the LEAST amount of it and over time was able to recover successfully, similar to Chernobyl years after the Nuclear Meltdown. Still toxic levels of radiation if you do things like upset the dirt or go in too deep-but otherwise harmless to explore and live in if you're tolerant to those levels of radiation. And in Fallout where RadAway is a helpful common place medication tool-it could potentially be a paradise. The wild life is actually very plentiful and you can honestly spot a lot of normal looking wildlife like normal looking deer and occasionally-a one headed cow. But it's still vast and ominously empty at the same time. Like wandering through thick forests and open plains and prairies with nothing around for miles.

But it was the answer to where the actual Native Americans were in Fallout-they're in this place that everyone in the game referred to as The Holy Strip. A lot of the settlements and cities are a part of the First Nation and one of them I specifically remember was the biggest city called Cherokee City-and it had a collage where for caps or certain items you could move around a point of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats if you felt it like it's better used in a different spot-and it was flavored as that's where all the academics flocked to share survivalist knowledge so when people venture out into the Wastes they'd at least have a basic grasp on things. And for the most part, all the cities in The Holy Strip got along-there was a sort of system where each city had an elected person on a council and everything was voted on before major choices were made, etc. etc. all in all the most high functioning areas in Fallout at least in that sense. There's of course tiffs and occasional spats-but other than that-not a whole lot of blood is shed.

And of course there were other factions outside of The Holy Strip who wanted the area for themselves; rather they wanted to affirm governance over the entire area (We know what this is an allegory for, Government trying to run off Native peoples.) And the game gives you the option to either side with the outside Factions-each with their own reason for wanting control of The Holy Strip or siding with The Holy Strip and the people who were there from the start and helped that area STAY as nice as it could be in an irradiated hellscape. And it's not just the theme of 'War never changes' but also the theme of 'History always threatens to repeat itself.' and you have to decide which part of this repeat of history you want to be on.

And there were like....4 Specifical companions I recalled.

One was a woman named Angora and she was a porn actress-and in some of dialogue, it's insinuated she's from New Vegas or that area because in her idle mode she'll tell raunchy jokes-specifically 'Did you hear about the mailman with a bullet in their skull?' Her specific quest is to destroy the holotapes of shoot that had gone wrong and turned into an assault and the footage still was spread out in the public. And the destruction of these holotapes is her reclaiming agency over herself.

Another was a Vietnamese woman named Jun who was a botonist looking for the national seed depository in Colorado that happens to fall within the area of the Holy Strip-she's got the pass key to get in there and she wants to use this time since The Holy Strip has shown such successful progress and good soil ph levels-to start cultivating and distributing seeds to the settlements so more food can be grown. Her idle animation if you leave her alone long enough, she'll start planting saplings and if you come back to the same area she plants in later in the game, you'll see them growing slowly.

There was another one-who was like I feel like....a teen girl? Put her at 18? 19 Maybe. A short girl who kinda reminded me of the girl from Atlantis the Lost Empire. She's a tech mechanic and builds guns, improves them, repairs broken things and she's looking for her younger brother whom she got separated from. I think her name was either Delilah or Tuesday. I don't remember clearly. She was a fan favorite for actually normal reasons cause she had such a teen energy to her to say out of fucking pocket shit all the time and sasses you constantly-but in like a fun way.

The final one I remember is a Ghoul you meet at one of the First Nation Settlements. I don't remember his name-but he is of the First Nation and sort of nomadic lifestyle drifting between cities and settlements, helping people where he can when he can. While the Holy Strip is nice-there still is a level of ghoul discrimination and he just preferred being on his own. But when he becomes your companion you learn that he makes a lot of jokes about the 'Native American Wisdom.' One being

"How did you know I was from a Vault?"

"I heard it on the wind....I heard it from the birds....I felt it in the sunlight on my face.....Also you've got the word VAULT 29 Plastered on the back of your stupid blue jumpsuit."

He also liked Romance paperbacks. You meet him during an escort quest he's doing, helping a pregnant woman get to one of the vaults (that apparently she was born at? And she wanted her kid to be born there too.)

And there was new romancable companion functions-where you could gift them items they liked (like Romance books for the ghoul, Seeds for the Botonist, etc.) that would not only boost their affection for you, but give you a temp boost during a fight. ( the 18 year old is the non-romancable option in the game. For once a Non Romancable NPC that makes SENSE.)

And for the most part it was well received? There was still people who bitched a lot about it, complaining they 'needed like 50 million mods to make it acceptable' and people complaining about the ghoul being 'such a sterotype' where most of what he did was ironic and prodding fun at the trope similar to Raul wearing the spirit halloween costume as a joke for his sister. Then there were the freaks who were mad they couldn't romance the 18 year old.

But pobody's nerfect ya know. All in all I now have a game I cannot play.

[luimagines]

I really love four. I love them all in general! So how would the chain react to having an s/o who's taller then all of them?

I think I'm beginning to see a trend here.

Headcanons form! I hope you don't mind it. :D

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

Hyrule

Bold of you to assume that he doesn’t find it the hottest thing about them

If the group was being honest, they wouldn’t have expected Hyrule to get in a relationship at all

Having traveled to his Hyrule and seeing how barren it is, they weren’t sure how the people were finding each other to begin with

But they’re all very happy for him

The teasing is pulled back a bit because The Traveler was so nervous about being in a relationship to begin with

The boys don’t want to the reason he thinks that it’s impossible, or worse, his partner breaks up with him because they decided to be jerks

Wouldn’t be the most guilt tripping thing they would have ever done?

But that doesn’t happen!

So Hyrule gets to love his giant royalty with no restraint

Legend can’t say he’s surprised.... but holy cow he is

How did The Traveler land such a beauty?

Twilight and Wild share a look

Maybe the height is a hero thing (along with the color red)

You bet that Wind is going to ask all sorts of questions, inappropriate or otherwise

Don’t mind Warrior giving tips on how to woo his partner even later on in the relationship

Time is trying to stop him but also think it’s hilarious

His partner is taking it all in stride because Hyrule’s friends are fun

Although they will have to wait until their gone to ask their own questions

For example: Why do they call him the name of the kingdom?

Legend

Won’t admit it, but he loves getting piggy back rides from them

Like, won’t even admit it on his death bed sort of thing

It’s his pride

But also he thinks it’s childish

Just as long as they don’t call him out on it

Little spoon?

Little spoon.

A lot of the chain didn’t even think that he would have a partner

Let alone that he would have a type

Time understands what he might have caused

Kinda- He’ll take the blame for it anyway

Warrior is gonna tease

He might get a black eye from it but in his eyes (literally) it’s worth it

Wild is also going to tease

“Won’t settle down? You’ll see when you’re 117?”

“Shush.”

His partner loves picking him up a teddy bear and Legend doesn’t have it in him to complain for once

Four

Everyone knew that no matter who Four chose as his significant other that he was going to be the shortest

By a long shot

And yet when they finally meet, they’re all stunned by how much taller his lover is

The difference is more than any one would have been willing to bet

Having to cram their head up to meet them in the eyes was not something they would have put on their expectation lists

But here we are

Four is going to climb them like a tree and be very happy with the added bonus of being able to sit on their shoulders and hug them from behind

Is also the perfect opportunity to whisper sweet nothings into their ear and distract them from whatever they were doing

You bet it is!

Is Four going to admit that’s the whole point of him being up there?

Nope! Because then he wouldn’t be allowed to do so.

Is going to give them the longest chains to dress up in and make them seem taller than they really are

Four is never going to hear the end of it if the guys ever see them together and he knows it

So he’s anticipating the jokes but he knows that it’s all in good fun

He’s never going to let them see him get a piggy back ride though

It was bad enough with Twilight and he gave his excuses for not liking it

He’s not keen on explaining why there’s a problem with them and not his lover

It’s none of their business

Wind (Aged up)

I want to think in my heart of heart that he would grow taller but still not be taller than the tallest in the group

That being said, Wind is a sap

Sure he can no longer reach the top shelf as far as his home life in concerned

But also tall royalty!

Like hello!

He’s the little spoon! 

He loves it!

The others when they meet again are both surprised and not

Let’s be real the boys have a type

And it’s not exactly that far of a leap to think that Wind would be included in that list as well

Wind takes their remarks in stride

Having a tall significantly other who fights with you on the battle field- or battle deck, in his case- is one hell of a advantage

If Wind had to complain about one thing and one thing only....It would be how he can’t reach up to give them any kisses

A burden to bare for sure.

He gets teased for being in a relationship period, there’s no escaping for it

It doesn’t matter if he’s the short one here

That doesn’t change literally anything

He’s always going to be the baby of the group as much as he hates it

So his s/o is going to be extra special as well

Just as teased though- for many other reasons

Older brothers are merciless

Wild

Wild is fairly small compared to most to the people in his world

So when the boys saw this, it shouldn’t have come as any surprise that Wild’s s/o was going to be taller than him

That being said, they misjudged the difference

Wild grins from their shoulder and waves to the group. “Hello! This is my partner! Like I said.”

Twilight blinks and hangs his head, digging into his pocket to bring out a small bag of rupees and hands it to Time

Wild gasps and screeches “Really Rancher?! Old man! You too?”

Time smile. “I know my boys.”

sky snickers and waves back. “Happy to meet you. Wild talks about you a lot.”

Wild covers his face with his hands as his partner gently puts him on the ground. “A pleasure to meet you all as well. He speaks highly of the lot of you.”

Warrior happily skips over and claps Wild on the shoulder. “They got family/”

“Shut up!” Wild takes a swing, previous shame forgotten.

Hyrule and Wind laugh and move away from the soon to wrestle duo so they can get to now more about Wild’s home life.

Time and Twilight approach as well and introduce the members of the chain one by one so that it would less confusing for them in the future

Four kicks the ground from under him

Wild’s s/o looks familiar to him and he’s not sure why they look someone he used to talk to in Castle Town

Genetics said copy and paste

And dang they all the same type don’t they?

Warrior

Warrior didn’t realize just how tall they were until he was reunited with them

He got used to the height when he was home

Frankly, he’s not the tallest person in the Queen’s court anyway

And then he got used to be able to look his companions in the eyes and it was nice

Only to be viscerally reminded that this is not the norm

The others think he just has a type

They... aren’t entirely wrong but Warrior is going to take that little secret to his grave

His S/O, of course, is delighted to have him home again, if only for a little while

In their excitement, they lift Warrior clear off of the ground in a hug and hold them against their chest like a life size teddy bear

Wild snaps a picture

And it’s the only picture of Warrior where he doesn’t look put together in any way, shape, or form

Time thinks he remembers them and he knows that they’re good people

So he’s amused greatly just how whipped Warrior is for his S/O

As he should be

Legend quietly asks Wild for copies of the photo in the background

But Wind hears them and stops it

Little brothers gotta look out for the older one sometimes 

Twilight

Let’s face it Twilight is already incredibly short compared to the people of his Hyrule

(All of them are but shush)

So his s/o is easily taller than him as it is

But since Twilight is the second tallest of the group, it takes the other by a bit of surprise when they see how short Twilight is compared to them

Twilight can’t really see it though

He’s completely love struck and full of puppy love

Wind, Wild and Four try to secretly measure them when they’re not paying attention to see how tall they really are

Because Twilight surely doesn’t care

And they don’t want to see rude by asking

Twilight likes to be the little spoon, especially as Wolfie

So you better bet your bottom dollar that he’s going to curl up against his s/o much like he does to some of the other members of the group but this time he’s going to be encase by warmth

You know- if he sits, he sits

That’s the rule

Time know where Twi gets it from and makes it a point to not make any comments

Warrior and Legend don’t care

He’s getting teased

Sky is the only one to have mercy on him and he’s also going to ask every question imaginable because he’s a romantic at heart and nosey as hell

Time

This guy is already the tallest in the group

So his tall S/O is tall

They love all the tiny boys in the group

Everybody has to crane their necks to so much as look at their face

Time doesn’t even notice it anymore

Twilight is wondering why he got none of that

Warrior and Legend are once again trying to figure how he got with them to begin with

Bets are made

Money is lost

Wild and Wind are going to see if Time’s partner can carry them

Hyrule and Sky are going to have to adjust their heads more often than they’d like but they don’t want to think too much on it

They’ve met a lot of other tall people

Not a big deal

Four.... is having a minor crisis

It’s hard talking to Time as it is

And now there’s someone taller?

He’s not going to even bother looking up

Sky

Sap, sap, sap

Cuddle bug

A fiend

Piggy back rides

Please?

Did not warn the group about needing to crane their necks to look his s/o in the face

Is also living for their reactions

“This is my s/o and I love them very much and as you can see, they are my better half.”

“Yeah, more than half. They took all your height.”

“Ours too if the fact that we all share same spirit applies here.”

Legend and Wild both get smacked over the head

Time now knows how Four feels

Four gives up and asks Twilight to pick him up to get a decent angle

Just so it doesn’t look like he’s trying to be fresh

Twilight thinks it’s hilarious

Warrior realizes he might have a type

Hyrule and Wind appear to be unaffected, but their necks are sore..er at the end of the day

[fixfoxnox]

🎉🎉🎉Happy SiTO Anniversary!! 🎉🎉🎉

AY YO?

Brothers I didn't even realize holy shit? Its been a year since I posted the first chapter? What the fuck?

Brothers this is actually wild yo me, I feel like I should have had something prepared for today but I absolutely do not holy cow. Catch me at my computer trying to make something for yall!

Okay I'm gonna try not to be sappy about this, but I wanna just say a big thank you to all of you guys who came over from reading SiTO to interact and hang out with me here and on the discord. Its been absolutely fantastic getting to talk to you guys about something I love and am so unbelievably proud of.

I also just want to take a moment and tag a few people: @miilkybnn @probablylikesixducks @bananaktchp @wmdamadeof

Sorry for the random tag but now feels like an appropriate time to thank you guys for interacting with me and dealing with all of my nonsense. Thank you for reaching out and becoming my friend despite all of my loser energy. Thank you for letting me rant about AU ideas to you, playing Call of Duty with me, supporting in so many different ways, and trusting me enough to let me torture you guys in D&D <3

I'm very glad to have met all of you and to have the chance to know you.

Also want to take a moment to thank @theunbitten who has also been a major supporter and done so much for me. I apologize that I'm terrible at answering DM's, but I truly do appreciate all that you have done <3

Okay, sappy tagging people bit over. Here's to SiTO's one year anaversery! Let's hope for a finish of Pyre and perhaps the beginnings of a sequel this year!

Much love to all of you <3

[13docwriting]

So I'll start with the fact that I am, indeed, a fan of Chibnall's era. I am an even bigger fan of the 13th Doctor. I'll also start with the fact that I quite literally grew up with RTD's writing and loved Ten with all my heart. But now I am an adult and some of RTD's writing has left me a bit scared. Here's my "live streaming" review on The Star Beast. SPOILERS BELOW!

I'm going in order of how I processed things, so it's gonna be chaotic. My first essay is this: You know why this post is so long? It's because we're not livestreaming things anymore. I'm not immediately with other fans in real time, typing out our little posts. I'm quite literally doing this at my leisure. I'll miss watching DW live. Now then, in order! 1. The music? Ten out of ten. I have always loved Gold's compositions and he did not let us down. And this opinion is only being generated from the new(er) theme song. Which leads me to...

2. Look at the B U D G E T. Even the opening credits has a budget that you can just FEEL. Those stars/galaxies? Very nice... And then I have to chuckle over the low level lighting / 2000s era effects of David Tennant's full profile voiceover of Donna and his story.

3. Him taking the boxes, seeing Donna's face, and slowly putting the boxes back is an RTD special and I LOVE that kind of comedy. It just makes me chuckle. And then him having a full blown panic over hearing Donna shout "Rose!" which... 4. Having these little call back moments feels rather bitter since we're calling this a reboot of the show. UNLESS the reboot is when Nucti starts up? But the fact that I'm confused just shows how bitter I should be. Again, my Chibnall love is showing. I don't believe in yet another reboot for DW, but that's a marketing thing over anything else... I hope. 5. I'm glad the 2000s Rose/Doctor shipping era lives strong through the name Rose. I know those fans are going to be happy and they deserve it. 6. NOW... Donna having a family. Okay. I'll have a separate post but... Does anyone else think that Donna having a husband just doesn't fit for her? Especially with her memories erased? Idk, I just never envisioned Donna getting married after the whole Lance thing. BUT I'm glad she's happy and the husband seems so nice. 7. Donna giving up that lottery money? Also strange considering she lost her memories. The first time we meet Donna we get this feeling that she's a bit shallow, which makes sense because she has to develop as a character. That was her character development so here KEEPING the money would have made more sense here. Which...

8. Rose. That's all. She's great!

9. Hey, can't help but notice, but when did the 14th Doctor have time to make a new screwdriver, huh? What gives? AND - AND there's not a single hint of 13's sonic on there. HMM. What the heck!

10. FORGOT SOMETHING. Whatever the line was "that says mistress" "Oh, catch up, will you?" I don't know how to take in this scene quite yet, but it's making me pause. It felt... Off kilter. Maybe cause I love 13 so much, I don't know. There's always callbacks to other faces when the Doctor first regenerations, but this felt... Wrong? Also, TEE HEE my mind went to Missy IMMEDIATELY and I love that little connection my fic writing brain is going wild.

11. WHY DOES UNIT HAVE SO MUCH MONEY???? Look at this uniforms, holy cow! I almost don't like it? Like, they're an underground agency. WE JUST SAW THEM GET DESTROYED BY CYBERMEN IN THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR. Are we just ignore that entire episode or...?

12. Donna not being able to keep a job? Yeah, THAT one I believe haha.

13. "I will burn down the world for you, darling" says Donna Noble to her transgender kid. WHICH IS AMAZING, WHICH MADE ME SMILE SO WIDE I WAS HAVING A PARTY IN MY BRAIN. There's my Donna! 14. "Gramps used to talk about flying saucers" oh god my heart. I teared up a little, not going to lie. Wilf, I think about you every single day. You made the Doctor the person he is today.

15. MEEP IS SO CUTE. OH WOW. I know "evil" is coming but SO CUTE RIGHT NOW.

16. To go from some excellent animatronics from the Meep to whatever those alien, fly things are was HILARIOUS. What, we'd run out of money for those costume's? Were they meant to look like a typical RTD alien back in the 2000s? How does that work?

17. WHAT THE ACTUAL FLYING FUCK WAS THE SONIC DOING. Wait, did Disney give the sonic some magical powers? Why are we suddenly writing in the air? How are we getting readouts of the ship from the sonic like that? Could it do that before? Why would we not do that before? I'm dying that's so funny.

18. Shirley seems cool!!! I hope we get more of her! And I love the nod to PROPER representation. Chibs did a good job of that as well. Edit: REAL representation! Good on RTD. The scene with the stairs and she says "don't make me the problem"... I am not a wheelchair user but I do hope that was properly done. 19. "I absolutely love her [Donna]" LOOK AT 14 HAVING FEELINGS! Aww, I hope 15 follows through with the feelings! 11, 12, and 13 have been so locked up, so scared to love... Having a Doctor that's ready to loudly embrace their love for things would be such a good character development. (My fear would be RTD ripping that away in the most tragic way possible, but that's a future problem I suppose).

20. I'm at the scene where Rose is talking to the Meep in the shed, and just, again, THE MUSIC. We did have some good musical moments in 13's era but, even I have to admit, nothing as pretty as this. It really is something, round of applause once again.

21. LISTEN. L I S T E N. I don't condone slapping the Doctor. I don't. In fact, it's wrong. It's very wrong. And you can't slap 13, can you? So slapping 14 shouldn't make sense. It's the definition of sexist. It's just not something you should do. BUT. B U T. Jackie's "stitch this, mate" is always in my head and now THIS "here we go again" after Sylvia gives the Doctor a good slap... I laughed, okay? It was funny! But really, in the good year of 2023, there shouldn't be comedy like that. That joke should have died. BUT I LAUGHED. So I'm to blame as well.

22. "Never mind about the ferret from mars." I LOVE the mars callback from Donna, thank you very much.

23. Kate looking after Wilf damn near brought tears to my eyes. Kate, you are the real hero of the DW universe. Thank you.

24. This is... This is gonna be another post. But. Okay. So. The whole "you're assuming he as a pronoun". Right. Okay. I know groups of people that talk like that. Both online and in person. Personal life spoiler, I work(ed) in musical theater. I've seen it all. I, personally, do not like this whole... "Let's be really obvious about it" thing. And also highly believe in someone else first telling me, when it fits, what their pronouns are. Having someone pull the defensive "YOU ASSUMED" crap doesn't work because humans don't think like that. It's a whole other rant, but yeah. This felt forced and I hate when shows do that. Representation is important but FORCING that representation doesn't help.

25. what's the. what's the sonic doing. what. how'd it. we got lines in the air. we got unbelievable shield. we. he waved it like a wand and now. what the. how'd. (Yo, not me head cannoning that this is 13 banging around in 14's head demanding that they have a better way to protect their friends. Love it). I WILL HAVE A LOT MORE THOUGHTS ON THIS.

26. DW has money now. That will continue to blow my mind.

27. "This is a sonic screwdriver and if it's good at one thing, it's resonating concrete". Oh yeah, Doctor? I'd like to bring forth you, never once, being able to do it. Not once! (And now it's good at creating magical shields and complex, alien holograms, but that's point #25)

28. Where'd in hell's name did he get that wig and how soon can Donna throw it out a window?

29. MEEP YOU - YOU UTTER AHOLE. Man, it was SO CUTE

30. O k a y. I take back, holy crap what point am I on? I take back point #7. So there's some of the Doctor left in her, eh? That's why! I dig that. I really, really dig that. Sorry for being a downer, that was my mistake.

31. I too can come up with technobabble bullcrap that means nothing. I sometimes think that's RTD's biggest failing, his incessant need to over describe things. EDIT. JEEZ, a good five minutes later as we're STILL talking gibberish.

32. Hey, I see you "glass wall between Donna and the Doctor" and raise you "glass wall between Wilf and the Doctor". OW. I demand emotional compensation!

33. Listen, I just got over 13 keeping every. single. emotion inside of her. She never raised her voice, she never really cried, she never had a chance to just scream and yell and be angry at the universe. The fact that there's 14 RIGHT HERE, screaming, because to save Donna, he has to lose her YET AGAIN. Just angry and devastated and grieving... It's a stunning scene, it's a scene that makes sense, but my 13 loving little heart says that this is 13's moment to be angry and it was taken from her.

34. Also, ha, I know Disney bought DW, but did we just "Winter Soldier" Donna Noble. We gave her trigger words to keep her memories at bay? Really?

35. "Hold on a minute," said in Ten's/Fourteenth's voice... Was that.. Was that ELVEN'S theme music while Donna was being, well, Time Lady Donna? Because that was... That was GOLDEN. How amazing is that? What a great idea!

36. You MONSTER, RTD, making Fourteen hold Donna the same way he held the Master? What the hell is that about?

37. The.. The nonbinary, but binary. I... It's... Something! Okay, I'll get there. I'll have a post about it. Maybe. But. Yeah, it's something!

38. DOES UNIT HAVE AVENGERS *cough* sorry it's been a while for Marvel me *cough* STARK TOWER. WAS THAT STARK TOWER? Damn, Disney, you really did bring us back to superwholock Avenger's "Clint in the vents" era, huh?

39. "It's a shame you're not a woman anymore, because she would have understood... Something a male presenting Time Lord will never understand." You can't... You can't do the whole "nonbinary" thing and that just immediately point out gender like that. What. The defeats the entire purpose. The whole point you're trying to make is that gender DOESN'T matter, and yet... And the Doctor has always, always been nonbinary. I refer to the Doctor as "they" when speaking as a collective whole, and many of us have done that. I use pronouns when talking about specific Doctors because humans have always used pronouns. Again, 11 and 13 have made mention that gender has NEVER mattered to them. I just... You can't be poking a bear and then expecting the bear to not to come after you if you've changed the poking object from a stick to a teaser.

40. I gotta laugh that Rose and Donna had the most peaceful "regeneration" we've ever seen. Somewhere in there, a Doctor or two is screaming lol.

41. Oh... The TARDIS is ugly. DON'T HIT ME. STOP HITTING ME. I MEAN It. Not, for real though, Oh my god, what. Why. The colors. Or lack of colors, really. What the fuck. Where's the... Where's the personality? Where's the sass? I've loved every single TARDIS change but THIS... This is a hard one to swallow.

42. The TARDIS having an shit fit over Donna spilling coffee on her is WONDERFUL. That's so funny to me. With everything she's been through with 13, that was just the best way for her to get her revenge! All in all, strange episode, yeah? I mean, what WAS that plot? It was really more of setup for the next episode, and double really meant to reunite ten and Donna, which was well done, but also... Why? It just felt a bit all over the place but very much cushioned by nostalgia. I'm done now. My fingers HURT. As always, and as I say in all my fics, I'm here if you want to chat. Reblog this, PM me, tag me in stuff!

[onlytibki]

Percy Jackson as a NatGeo Explorer

I watched this recently and couldn't stop thinking about Percy joining the expedition.

Thoughts:

he joins with only his BS in Marine Biology. Everyone thinks he's gonna be the coffee intern with a single life-changing swim until whoops! Turns out he's incredibly talented at everything that doesn't involve statistics

Tagging sea creatures for study? Unprecedented levels of success. His shipmates swear he can just stick his hand in the water and the fish/whales/etc. just. Flock to him???

Free diving in open ocean? Man's always first-in last-out, never seems tired, has a lung capacity like a goddamn whale, and gets footage never seen before every goddamn time.

Sometimes his camera gets turned off for some reason and he says it's just faulty battery... which doesn't explain how it gets turned back on later, but no one can guess why he would've done that while underwater.

Hypothesizing on animal behavior? He's literally correct every time. The other biologists are torn between treating his word like gospel and the assholes who turn the other way based solely because he doesn't have a PhD.

All the ship navigators are solidly in the 'gospel' camp.

Technically they're not supposed to involve themselves in animal behavior (which breaks all their hearts sometimes) but nothing's stopping them from doing minor cleanup while out there. At least, nothing until Percy starts hauling up enough free-floating fishing nets to throw the balance of the entire ship off. They end up releasing some salt-water ballast and using the fishing nets as a replacement until they can unload at the nearest port.

Anyway. Turns out he already has a fiction book published, and it's well-received. so someone encourages him to write about their voyage.

Nat Geo snatches it up immediately and publishes it in their magazine. After confirming he's interested in writing more, they send him a photographer. The paperwork gets lost? But a photographer shows up anyway so it's fine.

(The human photographer has been replaced by an icthyocentaur friend of Grover's, one of the "satyrs of the sea". They're built like a fucking tank but also psyched to be working with THE Lord of the Wild and THE Demigod Prince. after getting to know him, they get so fucking soft for this tiny demigod copy of their king)

Percy gets to learn more and more about the ocean, and from his photographer (definitely gonna be named Jimmy) the ocean kingdom. Annabeth (in grad school) and Sally are over the moon about each and every article.

this is already too long but holy shit is this cow rotating

[neverwalka1one]

Magnus Protocol 22

We open to Lena giving Gwen shit for [checks notes] running away and not dying. Lena, you're really not going to beat those 'worlds worst boss' allegations. Your only hope is that Jonah Magnus is out there somewhere, because holy crap lady.

Seems that Lena is now interested in recruiting whatever Eye-induced nightmare saved/claimed Gwen as well... mmm. Good luck. Watch out for the tape recorders.

I do want to see Lena up against Ink5oul - I mean, would it be a Phil Coulson vibe, the middle manager that shouldn't be scary And Yet Everyone Falls In Line?

Sorry 'bout the demotion, Gwen. At least you now have less chance of running into Mr. Bonzo. Unless that is what was following you a few episodes back. If that's the case... well. RIP.

Augustus! Long time no hear! What historical lunacy do you have for us?

Ah, another real person. The guy who invented the EEG, despite the fact (or at least strong impression) that he 'knew nothing about mechanics or electricity' per one of his peers. Encouraging. Giving very strong 'mad scientist and his wife' vibes. The early 1900's were wild, yo.

I do not think the corpus callosum is where the soul sits, but hey, what do I know. Here's what I know - maybe don't electrocute it, mkay?

Whoop, ocean theme again, that's not getting horribly ominous. Are dead people gonna talk again? Is this guy responsible for the dead people talking thing?

... please do not put a telegraph in this guys head.

Sir.

Sir, Do not... why are you putting a telegraph in this guy's head?

THAT IS NOT A GOOD REASON.

You're going to give this guy a seizure, typing away into his head.

OMG, WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT, A GRAND MAL SEIZURE! Dumbass. You are a hazard to society.

Omfg and you're a psychopath, please never talk to people.

So. Um. Sir. SIR? If your wife can understand telegraph signals by sound alone without having to stop and decode it... why the everloving hell didn't you ask her what she was hearing AT THE TIME? How did this not occur to you?

Oooooh, Sam is angry, and asking the real questions here. Yeah Alice, why haven't you left? Can you leave? Can anyone here really leave?

... Wow that sounded like Alice was trying to get back together with Sam. Honey. Dragging your ex into governmental mini hellscape maybe isn't the most romantic vibe, but I'm also the wrong person to ask, IDEK.

Nonononono not the breakroom again augh the echoes stooooooop

Ceeelia stop trying to get Sam back to the Institute stuff please do not Sam is a tiny shrimp and needs protect...

... WHUT.

I mean, miss 'complicated immigration status' you did NOT just 'stumble across' the names Jonathan Sims and Martin Kartin Blackwood. MA'AM. I JUST WANT A WORD.

Please please please start the next episode in Scotland where they have to go track down the boys looking at good cows, okay? For me? Please? LET THEM BE OKAY. AUGH.

[mushiewrites]

Wake up brain is back in action Mushie!

So, I'll make it lee!George for you and lee!Dream for Llama

Sapnap telling Dream that George needs an exorcism after he says something extraordinarily mean. So he uses a pen to draw random symbols on George’s arms and forehead before shoving him onto his back so Dream can grab his arms. He then rather aggressively shakes George into the bed, yelling for the demon to get out of their friend. George makes a noise of surprise first before bursting into giggles at how silly the situation is. Sapnap claims the demon is laughing at them so he knuckles his ribs which gets him immediately screaming and thrashing like an exorcism No amount of pleading or bargaining convinced them to let him go, it's only when George begins to play along, shrieking out that he's been freed and the demon's gone now. They both back off and act relieved that it worked. Sapnap wipes away his tears and brings him up into a hug, George in a few seconds feels Dream behind him, sandwiching him in. The body heat comforting him. "You guys are idiots" is the last thing he says before falling asleep against Sapnap’s shoulder

omg sleepy.....do you just wake with ideas like this???? i wake up ideas too but not THIS detailed, holy cow. you are just....a genius in every way, sleepy 🥰

firstly, sap and dream are so extremely playful and george is just so wild that they would have so much fun in a scenario like this. because sap and dream would be holding him down, drawing random patterns everywhere they could reach (focusing on the extra tkly spots like his triceps and palms - he even feels his shirt lift and tks along his ribs that make him squeal). and george just has to lay there and.....take it. bc what is he gonna do, fight back? dream has both of his wrists held down to the bed!

and they start telling him he's possessed and they need to give him an exorcism NOW before it's too late!!!! george is screaming and laughing and thrashing and it's just complete chaos as sapnap fights to throw his leg over george's waist to straddle him. but george is squirming so much dream has to hold his wrists in one hand for a second before leaning forward to place his hand on george's stomach. he has to push on it lightly so his body stays down on the bed long enough for sap to finally take his place on george's hips

when george gets cackling from how ridiculous this whole situation he is sapnap just gasps in fake offense, quickly rubbing his knuckles against george's ribcage. and george screams and howls and laughs and he's in hysterics because it tks SO FUCKING BAD and he cant handle it!!! he doesn't know what to do besides scream and thrash and kick. he can hear dream and sapnap, giggling and still shouting this back and forth to each other about how possessed he is and how they need to "rid george of the demons!"

eventually george can't take anymore. sapnap has been rubbing into his ribs and kneading into his sides and soon enough he feels sapnap's thumbs drilling into his hips. he shrieks and just goes "OKAY OKAHAHAY I'M C-CUHUHURED! I'M NOHOHOT P-POSSEHEHESSED ANYMOHOHORE!". finally sap and dream take pity on him and he feels sap wipe the tears off his cheeks. he hadn't even realized he was crying bc of how hard he was laughing, but it warmed his heart that sap paid enough attention to comfort him that way.

george would let himself be cuddled and squished and squeezed because fuck, he deserves it after that torture. and of course he calls them idiots before he falls asleep in the little cuddle pile ):

[mytvd]

can they fly?? is there any other way she could have been yanked vertically like that??

the zooming of the credits sent me

"i predicted obama" "can we still say 'tr*nny mess'?"

the crow on the street signs. watching. observing. the video mentioned that the crow and fog get dropped right away which is already making me so sad.

kai confuses me -- is he really making fun of jeremy for wearing nail polish?? "pete wentz (derogatory)"?? offended at the mention of carson daly?? he and jeremy look equally threatening, is kai supposed to be scarier??

the dramatic sunglasses removal made me wonder if vampires can accidentally compel people by making eye contact. or was it just to look cool

the "chill yourself" clip has been stuck in my mind since i first watched that video and seeing it in context was just ...!

why is bonnie so menacing in that shot????

i'm uneasy seeing pretty much all of these people inside a high school. i have consumed ridiculous amounts of high school media but this is really pushing it

"HAWT-E" lmao

i haven't looked into anything about the production at all but this looks like a really high-budget episode for the first season of any show, especially a teen paranormal romance

that crow noise as she enters the cemetery LMAOOOOO

literally lol'd at [i assume damon] standing by that statue. whoever came up with that shot really ate that day

does elena think "hitchcock" is the movie title

the crow sounds keep startling my cat

there's no way she wouldn't have felt that injury lol

is this the same background music from pll??

matt looks old enough to be kai's dad at this restaurant. no offense to this actor irl -- he just looks tired and his skin looks very dehydrated (vs kai's v moisturized face). why didn't they oil up this man and try another take

"when's the last time you had sex with a puppy?"

i thought it was gonna turn out that elena was lying to jenna, she is dressed for a much different occasion than her friends are

"her mom and dad died" i wonder how many more times this will get stated in this episode (edit: even more than i thought)

it looks like stefan is on a date with all three of them

i had to rewatch this scene because of the background kate bush. i didn't want it to be a cover but wow. the hits!!!

i stan this wardrobe full of diaries!!!

why is this teacher such an asshole

i don't think i ever learned about this kind of hyperlocal town history in school at any point (i also went to a small town southern public high school). i realize it's there for our benefit but lol it seems weird. what actual class is this where on day 2 of school they are learning this information??

mr. tanner quickly became even more of an asshole jfc

why is the closeup of stefan's nose pores comforting to me? (it's bc everyone is airbrushed now)

i love how supportive elena is of bonnie's psychic abilities

elena is v committed to cradling that empty solo cup

where is this?? i know they said "the falls" and i assumed this pavilion in the woods was maybe someone's private property but the bridge with the lights?? where are they lol

holy shit vicki

this is a much fancier woods party spot than the woods party spot i went to in high school. or the cow pasture spot. there are so many coolers, cans, bottles, etc, but no visible litter. wild

how is nobody calling 911 lol like why are all these kids just standing around staring as if nothing has happened?? they would be, at the very least, milling about

the zooms are non-stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have never seen so many zooms. slow zooms. fast zooms. credit zooms.

i know there are things like civil war flashbacks but i would love a 90s one of stefan in his "grunge look"

jenny called damon "an eyebrow heavy performance" and yeah

i can't believe jeremy is drinking a beer while there are cops in the frame???

i hope we find out more about the competition caroline believes she is in with elena

the fray. i'm time traveling

stefan wanted to "be someone new" so he returned to his small hometown, under his real name, to live in his family home??

i know that almost everyone in a movie/tv show playing a teen or young adult is older than their character but again this show is really pushing my suspension of disbelief re: damon making eye contact with caroline. in this shot just having him facing the camera instead of showing his profile and using less harsh lighting would have done wonders to not make me viscerally react to him flirting with a teenager.

elena in front of this giant un-curtained window in the dark on the cw is so pll

from the video i know the stefan is "seventeen" but i wonder if katherine was also seventeen?? or maybe katherine is older than the brothers, in apparrant age & actual age? i just had the thought, "if stefan is only here to check out elena, why couldn't he have waited until she graduated high school to meet her?" which made me think, "at what point in her physical development would it become clear that she is a doppleganger of katherine? like how young?" there is no enjoyment for me in trying to pick apart the age disparity ethics of vampire teens dating human teens so i am disregarding that for this entire show but the doppleganger thing is weird to me

just remembered from the vpd video that queen bianca lawson is on this show, just like she was on contemporary PLL and predecessor BTVS. the eternal teenager

i was committed to only watching one episode tonight but the next episode is called "the night of the comet." fuck

[mybrainisalibrary]

In honor of Reformation Day, I wanted to share about Philipp of Hesse for anyone who has never heard about him because his story will never not be wild to me.

Philipp was a German ruler during the Reformation, and a good friend of Philip Melanchthon (another powerhouse theologian who collaborated with Luther)

So: Philipp came to power in the state of Hessen at 13 years old, resolving a decade of unrest that had been going on since his father died when Philipp was a toddler. In the first week of his rule, he immediately went to settle the custody dispute over his teenage cousin that involved the freaking emperor of Austria-Hungary. His cousin and her mom had been approached about hanging out in the emperor's household, causing a power struggle between them and Philipp's mom because 1) the imperial lifestyle is expensive and would drain Hesse's coffers and 2) Philipp's mom didn't want her sister-in-law gaining more power

So 13-year-old Philipp took a group of men and rolled up to where his cousin was staying and told her she could either come with him right now, or he would never help her in any way for the rest of their lives. (His cousin agreed to go, and that was the end of that.)

At age 17 he attended the Diet of Worms and got to meet with Luther one-on-one because he wanted to ask a question - about polygamy. Nothing else. (This will come up again).

He encountered Melanchthon on the way home from the Diet and the two began correspondence. Years later he quietly converted to Protestantism on a hunting trip, then returned home and abruptly started closing monasteries and making immediate church reforms, in regular communication with Melanchthon.

In 1525 there was a big meeting of leaders in Augsburg that Austrian Archduke Ferdinand was attending. His presence was expected to cow the rebellious states that supported Luther - might of the Holy Roman Empire against them and all that. This did give some leaders pause and it's possible the tide would have turned here - except Philipp said 'nah, we're not gonna be bullied'

The FIRST thing he did upon arrival to the city that Thursday was have a cow slaughtered to be eaten the next day, Friday, when Catholics would abstain from meat. The SECOND thing he did was to set up his court preacher to give sermons from the balcony of his residence, breaking the 'no preaching' rule that was in place. This boldness inspired the other leaders and they did not back down.

A few years later in 1529, Philipp facilitated a meeting in his city, Marburg, between Luther and Zwingli. This was the first and only time the two EVER met face-to-face. They were debating the meaning and purpose of the Eucharist, and weren't able to find any common ground, but it was a big moment.

So this man has been a champion of the Protestant cause, a powerhouse - and THEN.

Remember how he was interested in polygamy as a teenager? Yeah he never got over that. There's a series of letters between him and Melanchthon and Luther, essentially going like:

P: Hey polygamy is a thing in the Old Testament is it cool if I take a second wife?

M/L: I mean I'd recommend against it because it's not called a good thing and most people are gonna consider it unbiblical. But like...it's also NOT explicitly condemned...

P: Okay cool I it should be fine right?

Luther: I guess but just keep it on the down-low, you don't want to spread this around, and definitely keep my name out of this please

P: Awesome, letting you know I just married this woman the other week!

L: Congrats dude, I'm happy you're happy - but again, please keep this quiet and DON'T tell anyone that I gave you tacit approval

Philipp, literally like 2 weeks later: So uh, the cat's out of the bag about my second marriage. I told my sister and she told...everyone.

And this was basically the end of Philipp's influence and overall reputation. He still tried to do his thing and tried to work for peace between Catholics and Protestants, but he lost a lot of credibility, and now he's mainly remembered for bigamy!