#honestly I have been going through a weird phase with my looks lately

[atmeho]

Classic and Poetic

[greenglowinspooks]

Honestly I think the fics where Danny’s a Kryptonian have a lot of potential, so here’s me throwing my hat into the ring

Danny was born a human. He was born to two loving (though slightly neglectful) human parents in the painfully mundane state of Illinois.

Then, he died, but he didn’t do it right. He became a Halfa; too alive to be a ghost, but too dead to be human.

Then, through strange, uncontrollable circumstances, that changed as well.

He had been heavily injured, missing a large percentage of body mass, and was at the cusp of either dying fully or just fading from existence.

(Perhaps it was an ordinary fight. Perhaps it was the GiW, or his parents. Perhaps it was a simple accident. That didn’t matter now.)

He fled, phasing through the ground, trying to bury himself as deep as possible.

(Perhaps he didn’t want to be unmasked in death. Perhaps that was already too late, and he just wanted his body be able to rest in peace.)

Unfortunately for him, he was in Metropolis, and ended up in a secret genetics lab below the earth.

Danny detransformed, completely exhausted, falling onto a table covered in different labeled specimen containers. He closed his eyes, and prepared himself for what would happen next.

And… nothing.

Slowly, cautiously, he opened his eyes.

Danny sat up, brushing off the foul-smelling liquid from the specimen jars, petri dishes, and assorted vials.

He felt…fine.

No, better than fine. He felt normal. Healthy.

He felt like he wasn’t missing most of his internal organs anymore.

Danny looked down at his stomach, and saw that the wounds that were killing him had completely disappeared.

(The blood blossoms, if there had been any, were still there, but they no longer hurt. At most, they itched a little, or maybe just tickled a bit.)

He wanted to question what in the hell had just happened, but he didn’t want to jinx it. He just quietly changed back to Phantom, going invisible and phasing out of wherever he had found himself in, ignoring the loud alarm system that had begun to blare when he broke the samples on that table.

Life mostly went back to normal after that.

If, like Danny, you ignored all the physical changes in a valiant effort to remain in denial that something was horribly wrong.

His skin was tougher, now; he didn’t get scrapes or cuts, even when he accidentally fumbled a knife while trying to cook. His ghost form was stronger, too; he was barely knocked down by his old rogues anymore.

He could fly, even in his human form. Though, admittedly, the flight was much different. It was like using a muscle he hadn’t known existed beforehand. He didn’t just ignore gravity or wind resistance, though he felt more graceful in the air now than he ever did as Phantom.

There were more powers popping up, lasers and cold breath, x-ray vision and super strength. His lungs and heart were larger, and he could handle temperatures much easier. He didn’t have to transform to handle the pressure and cold of space anymore.

His reaction time had improved, becoming much faster than ever before. His senses were much stronger, and he had even seemed to gain a sense of electric fields, like a shark.

The only thing that separated him from a Kryptonian was that he had developed electrokenesis, which he had never seen any of them use on TV.

So, surely, he was fine.

Everything was normal, he hadn’t been transformed by alien DNA in a sketchy lab, he had just had a really weird and specific metagene activation.

—

Clark Kent, Kal-El, was panicking.

It had been around a month and a half since a particularly brutal fight between Intergang and an unknown assailant, and it seemed that Intergang was determined to draw out whoever had scorned them.

Their method of doing this, of course, was trying to level the city.

He and Jon were doing their best to stop them, but with both Kon and Zor-El away on their own business, it was difficult.

And by difficult, he meant almost impossible.

Slowly but surely he was driving them back, but not without massive amounts of damage to the city, especially with only Jon on dedicated rescuing duty.

He was distracted, trying to draw a group away from a heavily occupied building, when a projectile hit him in the back of the head.

The world spun for a moment, and then it went black.

(It was, probably, then, some sort of Kryptonite-metal alloy. Intergang at its finest.)

He woke slowly, forcing his eyes open. He felt like he had been hit by an eighteen wheeler.

Clark jolted up, preparing for the worst.

To his shock, though, the city hadn’t been reduced to rubble while he was out.

Jon seemed to still be working on evacuation, either unaware that he had went down or forcing himself to focus on the task at hand.

Then, a lightning-quick figure flew into view, and Clark’s mind went blank.

He thought, for a moment, that Kara was back. But, no, that wasn’t right, she was supposed to be off-planet for another week or so.

Besides, this new figure didn’t move like her. They were lankier and more slender, and they flew quicker than any member of his family.

Their powerset was different, too; they focused mainly on using blasts of ice and electricity to drive enemies back, only occasionally using their strength or lasers—ones which came from their hands instead of their eyes.

He had woken up at the tail end of the fight, it seemed. The remaining Intergang members were fleeing from the mysterious metahuman.

They stayed in the sky, motionless, watching them leave.

As if they could sense him staring, they turned.

They were small, still clearly young. Probably around Kon’s age, or maybe even younger.

Instead of the colorful clothing he had inherited from his family, the stranger wore black and white clothes which looked similar to a hazmat suit, their face covered by some sort of gas mask.

Interestingly enough, instead of the S-shape crest that he was so used to seeing, the stranger wore the letter D on his chest.

Kal’s heart sped up.

From up in the sky, he heard the stranger’s heart, on the left instead of the right, speed up in return.

But before he could say a word to them, they sped off, disappearing into the deep blue sky.

[genshin-obsessed]

Confessions | Honkai Star Rail

So i've been super into hsr recently and I thought I'd get back to doing longer hcs because those are always fun! This time I left out Welt and Sampo and I'm not sure how I feel about it lol ✧ Includes: Dan Heng, Gepard, Jing Yuan, Luocha, Blade ✧ Extra: Something a little weird has happened to my Blade lol, he's just a confused man who really likes the reader. It may be ooc- i have no clue

Dan Heng

For Dan Heng, he doesn’t know how long he’s liked you. He just realized it one day when you said something- a compliment towards him- and he just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Dan Heng’s not the most outward person, so wanting to confess wasn’t something easy for him. He actually needed to prepare, give himself a pep talk and all. His method is invite you to his room and then just tell you- no beating around the bush.

You’re shocked to say the least- I mean it’s DAN HENG. He liked you?! HE CONFESSED?! You sat there for a good minute just staring at him. He looked calm but kinda started panicking on the inside.

“I-I like you too!” You say before he can speak. You were so loud, he jumped a little. Safe to say, he’s extremely happy you accepted because then it would’ve been awkward afterwards.

“Oh good… good.”

Gepard Landau

Everyone knows Gepard likes you before himself. He can say it’s just been a few months but others know it’s been like a year. It’s just the way he acts and stuff.

Gepard has a VERY hard time confessing. He’ll keep trying to do it, but then backs out at the last minute. He’ll keep saying he wants to talk to you about something important then just doesn’t tell you. Finally, one day… it slips out. You two are alone and he barely realizes it until he sees your face.

You’re happy but also shocked. The guy you’ve liked for like ever finally likes you back! Do you go through the statue phase of freezing up and staring? Yes. Did he start panicking because of it? Yes. Your reaction right after was to throw yourself at him and give him a tight hug.

He doesn’t say anything right then and just hugs you back. You not running away, horrified, probably meant you felt the same. That made him happy- so happy he didn’t even know what to do.

“Thank you… for not running away- oh and liking me back.”

Jing Yuan

His feelings had been around for a few months now, he knew pretty much instantly when he was attracted to you. It didn’t take him long to figure out he was in love with you either. It was obvious, his heart pounded when you were around, he couldn’t stop thinking about you, and he was always worried you’d find someone else.

Jing Yuan confesses fancy style. He’ll invite you out to like dinner or something or maybe just to take a late night walk with him. As you’re walking, he’ll coyly bring up the topic of dating and whatnot. You two chat for a bit, then he just admits it. He makes sure to add the “it’s alright if you don’t feel the same way, I won’t be upset.”

Of course, you do feel the same way! Your eyes widen and you gasp as the reality sets in. The General of the Cloud Knights liked YOU! It took a moment to just process his words, and Jing Yuan stood there patiently, giving you time to think. If you were going to say no, that’s fine, he just needed a clear answer. You found it hard to speak but forced the words out, “I-I feel the same.”

Jing Yuan’s over the moon with this newfound knowledge. He’s so happy, he could shout it out from over the rooftops. Honestly! All he can do is give you a tight hug, not wanting to do anything else if you weren’t ready for it- say a kiss.

“I’m glad. We should go on a date then- a proper one.”

Luocha

Luocha is very good at keeping his feelings to himself. At first, he thought it was just a little crush and it would pass. But it didn’t. It just… kept developing. He tried to manage it, feeling that maybe a relationship right now wasn’t the best option for him. But when his heart would start pounding every time you smiled at him, or his mind went back to you and what you might’ve been doing when you two were apart told me he… maybe didn’t wanna wait.

Luocha’s confession wasn’t exactly grand. I mean, what was there to be super grand about? Especially if you were going to reject him. So he just took you out on a little walk and slyly brought up the topic of relationships. Once you mentioned you didn’t mind being in one, he just said, “will you be in one with me?”

You kinda froze. Deer in headlights situation. You needed a moment to process what he’d just said. He… wanted to date you? WELL GOOD! YOU WANTED TO DATE HIM! You happily nodded, a big giant smile spreading on your face.

There was this emotion he felt when you said you liked him too. Pure, unadulterated happiness. He felt so good about himself, about life, about everything. That emotion spoke volumes and all he could do was hug you. Tightly. 

"I'm glad... because I was really, really nervous you'd say no."

Blade

Ok… hear me out. Blade knows he likes you… when he doesn’t hate you. When you ask him for a favor and he says yes. When you hug him and he doesn’t strangle you- honestly, it wasn’t hard for him to know. Kafka teases him and he just ignores her.

Blade… doesn’t know how to confess. He’s not crazy about relationships or… people. So his entire confession was just confusing. You followed absolutely nothing except: “I like you.” You thought he was just admitting he didn’t hate you. That was good news! But you didn’t realize how good it was. “That’s great! I like you too!” You replied to which he crossed his arms, nodded, and said… “we’re dating now.”

Mhm. Yeah. That’s how smooth he is :’) you- you poor soul- didn’t know what he meant at first. So you were beyond shocked when he said what he did. Blade- BLADE- liked you- Y O U- romantically? You liked him too but you never ever expected this. Not in a million years.

You could only manage a dazed nod for a few seconds before a giant smile spread on your face and you practically threw yourself at him. Blade’s usual reaction would be to shove the person away but this was his special person. So… he hugged back.

“That was… rude, I think? Will you go on a date with me?”

[p-taryn-dactyl]

way down we go: the before (i)

the series: (i) (ii) (the aftermath)

a/n: hi! i really liked writing for this AU so I decided to give a little backstory! this is the story of the first meeting/date of reader and Agatha who is in her less than legal hobby phase. hope you enjoy!

word count: 2k

warning(s): reader is a little bit oblivious...or is agatha a mastermind?; cursing oh no; mentions of stalking; did i mess up the timeline i myself created? maybe shh; also guys, it feels weird to write about the police when im not their biggest fan...eh it makes a good AU so; theres a murder! but who did it 👀 ; made up forsenics; hehe i have a plan; i kinda just throw MCU names around as characters in here sorry

You were convinced the universe had a vendetta against you as you rushed through your morning routine. You had slept in forty minutes past your alarm, much to the distaste of your neighbors, who had been the ones to wake you with pounding knocks on your door.

"Why do I have so many fucking creams and serums?" You muttered angrily about the purchases your past self had bought as a celebration of getting the job. The new job that you were now dangerously close to running late to your first day. Finally your frustration came to a head and you finally just started on your makeup, pausing your blending and swiping to pull on pants and a sweater. A sweater you realized was on backwards and inside out once you were in your car and in front of your regular coffee stand. You had pulled the sweater off and was in the process of turning it right side out when you realized you had caught the eye of one of the coffee stand customers. You also realized you were only in your bra and your car windows were far from tinted. Heat rose to your face and you sheepishly pulled your sweater on over your head. If you ever had done the walk of shame, you imagined it would feel like how you did as you got out of the car. The customer who you had made eye contact with smirked at you as you made your way to join the coffee line.

"If I known I would be getting a show, I would've brought more cash."

While her voice held a joking tone, you saw no malicious intent in her blue eyes. Dear lord you had just flashed the most beautiful woman in the world. Forget your new job, you were just gonna run away to Argentina and change your name. You gave a small laugh, embarassment still coursing through you. The woman seemed to realize and bumped your shoulder with hers.

"Oh come on now, don't be shy. I liked what I saw." She whispered into your ear and made even more heat rise to your cheeks. The blatant flirting made you genuinely smile and a small burst of confidence had you responding.

"I guess the next logical step is to buy you dinner...or coffee! This coffee, I don't know why I jumped straight to dinner." You trailed off to a mumble, the burst of confidence gone. But the woman just looked at you with a fondness that you didn't know someone could have for a stranger.

"You'll offer me dinner before you learn my name?"

Your eyes widened and your hand shot out in front of you for a handshake.

"I'm sorry, that's just rude of me honestly. First I flash you and now this!" You started to pull your hand back, wondering why you even put it out but she grabbed it, shaking your hand softly. Her eyes shone with humor as she told you her name.

"Agatha Harkness, lovely to meet you dear."

You smiled but it quickly fell as you noticed the time on her watch and how long the coffee line was.

"Oh shit, I have to go. Guess I'll push through the day without a caffeine boost."

Agatha laughed, a sound you knew you wanted to hear more of in the future.

"Dinner?" You anxiously asked as you fumbled with your car keys, unlocking your car. Agatha nodded, cocking her head to the side as she smiled at you.

"I'll meet you here around 6? We can walk to The Bistro just around the corner."

While it was a question, Agatha spoke as if it was a demand. You smiled and nodded, internally hoping Agatha wouldn't take you up on your buying dinner offer. The Bistro was a delicious restaurant but was known for prices that normally took weeks saving up for. You waved at your date, climbing in your car with a giant smile on your face. Before you shut your door, Agatha called out.

"See you later, Y/N!"

It didn't occur to you that you never told her your name.

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

Agatha watched as you drove away, a smirk pulling on her lips. Finally. She had been keeping tabs on you for weeks, the new forensic scientist who was the new obstacle in her way. Over the weeks, she memorized your schedule, where you frequented and when. This coffee shop was a constant, a perfect place for an impromtu meeting. But even with all the information she collected about you, she didn't expect to genuinely like you. You were adorable, both in your mannerisms and how you spoke. If she didn't already know your history, she would be more concerned about the profession you had chose.

She also didn't expect you to ask her out, an interesting development. Agatha was prepared to inch her way into your life as a friend, slowly coercing information out of you as the friendship progressed. But this, this dinner would would change everything.

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

The universe definitely had it out for you.

Almost the second after you situated yourself in your new lab, after meeting the team and thankfully clicking with them, a call came into the precinct.

A body had been found.

The excitement of your first officical case made the whole process become a blur. But reality became stark the second you crossed the yellow tape. Red and blue illuminated the air, flashing in your eyes as you made your way to the body. Almost immediately, you were grabbing the arm of Detective Jimmy Woo, the man who had been kind enough to let you have the last of the coffee pot.

"This isn't where they were killed. This is a body dump."

Jimmy, quick to grab his notepad, started jotting down what you said before looking up at you, a quizzical look on his face.

"How do you know?"

You slowly started circling the body, Jimmy following you as you explained, careful to not disrupt the photos Darcy, the CSP, was taking.

"The way he's positioned," Jimmy looked like he was about to ask how you knew the sex but you held up a hand as if to say you'll come back to that, "His arms are up against his chest and so are his legs, rigor mortis sets in after death, meaning since there's no outward indicators on the scene of a struggle and from what flesh is left, it looks like the wrists and ankles were tied, creating the position he's in now. If I'm allowed to make an educated guess, he was stuffed in the back of a vehicle of some sort and died while back there. He probably was dumped when whoever put him in the vehicle realized."

Jimmy just stared at you and you fidgeted in place. The excitement of being in a crime scene made you break a rule you learned while completeing an internship at the Jeffersonian. Never make assumptions about how the victim died, wait until you have evidence for a hypothesis. But Jimmy just nodded, an impressed look on his face as he taped his notepad with his pen.

"We're lucky to have you as our main analyst, Y/N. Welcome to the team."

Jimmy went to talk with the couple who had found the body while fishing. If you had to guess, you would say they would be staying away from seafood for a long time.

Along with your new forensic team, you inspected the scene, collecting and bagging everything and anything that seemed out of place. Finally, it was time to head back to the lab.

Dental records of the victims skull gave you an identification quickly.

Vis Maximoff, 32, reported missing two weeks ago by a neighbor, who had chosen to stay anonymous. You were surprised to see a pending case attatched to his name in the system, one that had been open for almost a year. Vis's wife, Wanda, was reported as deceased under unusual circumstances but all evidence detectives had to even start thinking about arresting Vis was either circumstancial or non-existent.

You passed on this information to Jimmy, who had a confirmation from the coroner, Hela, that your theory of how Vis died was correct. Fibers found on his body matched those of the floor of a 2017 Buick Verano. He died of asphyxiation, meaning either he had no air in the trunk of the car, or something had been covering up his nose and mouth, keeping him quiet and ultimately leading to his demise.

The rest of the day went by in what felt like a second. Soon, it was coming close to your date with Agatha and you had no time to change. Darcy proved to be your savior as she walked into your lab without knocking, quickly clocking the panicked look on your face.

"Girl are you okay? I mean you did have to look at a dead man for hours so I guess that could be it but I'm also going to guess this is about something else because you keep picking at your sweater."

You looked up at Darcy, forcing yourself to stop plucking at your clothes.

"Maybe you should be a detective," you joked, Darcy snorted as she leaned on the table across from you, silently prompting you to explain, "It's just, I have a date with someone I met at the coffee stand and she's gorgeous - I mean really pretty, and we're going to a super nice place and I'm pretty sure I have dead man juice on my pants."

Darcy shuddered before coming around to loop her arms through yours.

"Well thankfully, this department has plenty of clothes used for undercover assignments and stake outs. I'm sure we can find something that screams 'FUCK ME' in time for your date."

If you had pearls, you would have clutched them. Darcy just rolled her eyes at your dramatic reaction. She pulled you up, dragging you to the giant walk in closet where the undercover clothes resided.

"Ok don't give me that scandalized bullshit, do you or do you not want her to fuck you?"

You murmmured under your breath as you looked at the racks of clothing. Darcy crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. You sighed, making eye contact with the brunette.

"I mean I was mostly hoping that she even likes me after this date, but yes, that would be nice."

Darcy laughed, shaking her head as she joined you in looking for an outfit.

"You're a funny one, Y/N. This woman better not break your heart because you just gained yourself a best friend and- ew no not that dress, it makes you look like a corpse." -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Agatha tapped her foot against the concrete as she waited for you. A small part of her wondered if you had forgotten about the date that was made so quickly, and she hated how that thought made her stomach sink.

"Agatha!"

Your voice called out as you turned the corner, looking slightly out of breath as you walked over to her as quickly as possible. You came to stand next to her as Agatha's eyes raked over you, taking in the dress Darcy and you had agreed on.

"Oh I don't know if we can go into the restaurant like this." Agatha said while slightly shaking her head. Your smile fumbled as you looked down at the dress, surprised at how much you ended up loving it.

"Oh I thought it was ni- I don't- Why is there a dress code it's breaking?"

Your panicked flurry of words made Agatha come to stand close to you, cupping your face in her hands and lifting slightly so you could make direct eye contact.

"I just don't know if I'm okay with everyone staring at my date."

You rolled your eyes jokingly as Agatha pulled away, swatting at her shoulder lightly.

"You scared me! Now if anyone is going to be staring, it's going to be at you. Did you literally jump out of my fantasies?"

You only realized what you had said once you saw the growing smirk on Agatha's face.

"Fantasies huh? We only met this morning and you're already fantasizing about me?"

You felt heat rising to your face, a seemingly normal occurence around Agatha.

"Let's go to The Bistro! Probably a long line to wait in, should get to that!"

Agatha wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you close as she whispered in your ear.

"This is going to be fun."

a/n: hihi! God I love this AU! This and The Aftermath parts of Way Down We Go are going to be two parts each, and then there's something else i have planned that hopefully y'all enjoy too!! thank you for reading!

[alpineshift]

an incomplete list of professions I'm putting jacknico into in my ongoing kit of ‘what if one of them weren’t an NHL player, how will they meet and what would their relationship be like?’

Jack's a hockey player (and most definitely wearing the C):

Corporate Nico who's Jack's neighbour and is incredibly disgruntled by Jack's weird hours and occasionally noisy af team gatherings at his place.

Working points include Nico being politely huffy and Jack always running out on their arguments bc he's going to be late for practice

Jack's incessant need to sing in the shower and Nico constantly overhearing him bc they share a wall (amongst other accidental noises)

At some point Nico wins some kind of corporate recognition prize for his Hard WorkTM and it's...VIP Devils tickets. And a meet and greet with the captain AKA his own neighbour that he regularly beefs with. Imagining Jack finding out it's Nico before the game and gets a dick trick that night out of spite? The unrelenting desire to show off a bit for his grouchy hot neighbour? And Nico has to begrudgingly admit Jack played really well

At some point also maybe Jack's out on IR and Nico just. Accidentally-not-really looks after Jack bc they "dislike" each other, but he doesn't want Jack to actually suffer. Classic finally getting to know each other phase iykyk

Suit designer Nico, who's introduced to Jack through one of the Swiss guys and begins to exclusively style Jack over the course of his years as a Devils player

Jack having to get suits resized and custom made every year bc his ass is incredible and Nico is not immune to said ass

Nico is always complimenting his figure and Jack is losing his mind bc he's obsessed but also firmly believes Nico is just being so professional

Jack always flexing his suits online with flirty captions and tags Nico and Nico has such a crush but also firmly believes Jack just really appreciates his work and this is His PersonalityTM

At some point after they get together Nico designs the WAG playoff jackets and Jack tells him he has to make one for himself too. Cue blushing.

Kindergarten teacher Nico who simply Does Not Care for hockey (or hockey players) who has to host the Devils school visit for his kids

The kids adore the players. Especially Jack, who is very good with the kids. He's super sweet and very engaged and stays late hanging out with them

Obligatory Jack chatting/being flirty with Nico and asking who his favourite player on the Devs is. And Nico going "Honestly I think I prefer football." And Jack's all oh! I also love watching football with my brothers at UMich-- and Nico's like "European. European football."

Luke just about killing himself laughing watching Jack try and fall flat on his face again and again while he attempts to flirt with Nico

But now that Nico's met Jack it feels like a dam has been opened and Nico is somehow seeing Jack everywhere. Grocery store. Harbourfront parking lot. Bus stop ads. Farmer's market. On his goddamned uber eats app promo. He can't escape.

One of Nico's students draw him and Jack together and point it out to him going "Are you guys getting married?" and Nico is like...at this point, who knows. I am at the universe's mercy

Just cutesy goodness everywhere. This is such an overdone trope and I love it.

Also - continuation of the reporter!Nico AU why not

Also just them fucking nasty in this AU cause why NOT.

Nico's still Captain of the Devils. Jack's doing other Hot Girl Shit:

Classic Michigan cottage owner/renter Jack who hosts Nico once during bye week and suddenly Nico is making time during the offseason every year to visit

Beautiful potential for there to be "Jack almost became an NHL player too but didn't bc of xyz reason" and it gets angsty

I imagine Quinn and Luke still play in the NHL but the dots literally never connect for either of them Nico doesn't mention he plays professionally for the NHL and Jack doesn't keep up with anything hockey except for his brothers' stats and to know they're not injured

Summer romance clichés everywhere. Nico catching sight of Jack sunbathing all the time, boating everywhere. Minor problem at the cottage and Jack comes over to fix it, impressing Nico. Nico talking about Switzerland and just really endearing Jack to him.

When Jack eventually warms up to Nico he invites Nico out to the town summer festival and it's not not a date. But let's just say Nico doesn't wake up in his own cabin later that night.

Also potential for the worse blowout fight when Jack does realize who Nico is. Angst! Angst!!

Will Jack ever go to see Nico play a game or will he hide away from the hockey sphere forever? Will they ever forgive each other? Stay tuned

Tennis player!Jack

I halfway jokingly assigned Jack to tennis during the Olympics and now even if it's short I want him to compete in it and I want Nico to sit in the stands with his shades on and cheer Jack on in the offseason. That's it, really.

Indulgent idea of novelist Jack being the author of Nico's favourite book series

Maybe it's a series Nico started reading when he was younger, but went on hiatus bc Jack took a break

It comes back in full swing when he's Captain now and it's Nico's go-to road trip series. He gets a full secret profile on like an online bookclub to enthusiastically yap about it

Meanwhile Jack is a secret Devils fan - fave player #13 - and has a burner twitter acct where he gushes about how good of a player Nico is online.

I didn't think super ahead in this au but I'm sure they will somehow cross confusing paths at some point. I just want book nerd Nico and enthusiastic online fan Jack.

ALSO. What else could be said about underwear model Jack AU?

Becks has to nurse his forbidden knowledge for like an entire season until Luke sits him down one day and goes "Buddy. It's fine. It's not that big of a secret" and Becks is like oh thank god. I thought my head was going to implode. And Luke is like "However if you do sell Jack and Nico out to the media I will be preemptively ending your career. But you're a good kid, so I'm not worried. Anyway, nice chat!" And Becks is about to shit himself.

Side note - for a while I did not realize there was a Becks on the devils LOL

Or - this time Nico is the one who gets papped with a guy and it's not immediately recognizable as Jack (he cut his hair for a shoot or something) and the rookies are besides themselves thinking Nico is cheating on Jack or something (assuming at some point they also learn the truth). It's shenanigans.

An eventual boyfriend reveal? To put the rookies out of their misery? Jack finds the whole thing hilarious.

[hallucinateonpaperspines]

what would happen if Ashley ended up in gotham, DC universe ?

You. You are my favorite person of the day.

Honestly, DC is so big and extensive, that I'm going to limit this to Gotham for the sake of my mental sanity. Unlike Tim Drake, I do have a caffeine limit that no number of red strings and corkboards can alter.

Just for fun, Ashlyn won't know anything beyond a casual viewer. No OP knowledge here.

How she's here is anyone's guess, some dimensional mishmashary thinning the lines between universes, some ancient relic that a villain didn't quite know what it was for before they used it, or maybe Constantine finally pushed the line too far. Maybe it was a combination of all the above.

Either way, Ashlyn's here now :)

It's quite the discombobulating experience, stumbling out of a snow-capped forest only to find yourself in the middle of a city that looks like the child of Chicago and New York going through a goth phase.

Eventually, she finds herself at a storefront. The window display has attracted a small crowd of people, as she can just make out the tell-tale glow of digital lights peaking out between silhouettes. Slipping through, Ashlyn weaves her way to the front and is met by a display of several TVs hidden behind bulletproof glass.

GOTHAM CITY NEWS! Seven heads were recently dropped off at the Gotham City Police Department. Who is this killer and what will their theme be? Breaking News: The Joker is at large, still no leads on how he escaped Arkham Asylum again. Please report suspicious clown activity, and keep gas masks on your person at all times. Join us later at 5 for-

Ashlyn bangs her head on the bullet-proof glass for a minute. A few people walk by a tiny bit faster, but for the most part, Gothamites continue on with their days.

It's the cold that gets her moving, no sense in freezing to death.

Honestly, Ashlyn fits into Gotham pretty well. Sketchy people are rather common, so her lacking any proper ID is overlooked and getting some fakes is stupidly easy. Her nonchalance towards the violence and slight PTSD over weirdly specific situations isn't uncommon either. Ashlyn gets mistaken as a Gotham native regularly, and quiet a few people are shocked when her accent doesn't match what her behavior presents.

Of course, the blending in doesn't last for long.

It starts with her neighbor. He's disturbingly quiet. Which would be fine if his apartment did stink of blood and guns and the walls weren't thin enough that she could hear every scream in the odd hours of the morning.

Ashlyn never sees him, not particularly surprising given the type of people this derelict building attracts. She's not judging, she's here too, but it just wouldn't be surprising if the pookie-bear next door is a snitch on the run. Or a serial killer.

She starts leaving cookies outside the door after the really loud days. It's a neighborly thing to do. She's not soft.

The world feels a little brighter when some bread is left outside hers.

... Dang it. She's going soft.

Que this weird shuffling of baked goods that gradually graduate to small meals being left out. It's the battle of returning the Tupperware and neither is going to return it empty.

Oddly enough, she doesn't see her neighbor's face during these exchanges. No, that update comes when she's reading out on her crummy balcony (it's late, the power has been cut again, so it's just her, a ratty book, and a circle of candles) and she looks up to see some dork pulling themselves up to her neighbor's side.

A book projectile later, a quick convo to straighten out the details, and a returned (blessedly indented) book later, all is well and silent. They are never going to mention this event again... other than giving the side eye and sometimes crawling over to help with medical emergencies she doesn't mention it. At all.

Ashlyn Moore can keep a secret. That's what initially flags Jason Todd's attention.

Of course, the entire Batfam gets pulled in after videos of the same woman surface. Ashlyn is gaining a viral reputation, smack-talking the Joker and pointing out that his goons were patsies in his bank heist, asking Poison Ivy for tips for her herb garden, joining Harley in psychoanalyzing commentary on a hostage situation, and always being weirdly calm yet feral civilian witness.

As a fun "training" attempt, bets are placed on who this strange, Gotham but not Gotham person is. By the end of it, Drake does have a red string board and it's covered in drawn-out question marks. Nightwings gets heart palpitations every time he rescues this girl and she is like "Eh, not my first zombie attack, he's less than a story tall the wimp," or "Hurt? Yeah I'm pretty sure I've got compression fractures on ribs 7 through 9. Maybe a sprained wrist... oh and a laceration on my calf, but I can hobble run so I'm fine!" or "that's a very sad clown, I've seen a spider with a scarier smile. It glowed. Literally glowed from all that acid."

The situation is not improved when Constantine shows up panicking because some dimensional entity is here but hasn't done anything, so when it does something it's not going to be good.

It gets even worse when she accidentally calls Red Hood "Jason."

[thatbanditqueen]

Basic Training Ch 3

A response to the prompt: "You're staring." Thanks to my harem cohort @vintageshanny @missmaywemeetagain @ellie-24 @from-memphis-with-love @be-my-ally @powerofelvis and @whositmcwhatsit

Summary: Bess heads to the dance the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Committee for the 37th armored tank division is throwing, and manages to avoid dancing with the most notorious soldier on post, who cannot seem to take his eyes off her.

Warnings: None! Wait, kissing. Swear words. This may be the slowest burn yet. Probably typos, I wrote about 1K words over the last three days and then the rest in a fever dream. So.... may not make sense. Also I am pretty sure the first phase of basic training would not have them in tanks yet, but....I am playing fast and loose with Army life in this one.

Word Count: 5. 3 K

This is my newest WIP, please like, comment, reblog and tag and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading.

You can catch up on the previous chapters here

Basic Training Chapter 3: Just Kiss Me

Saturday, April 5, 1958

7:30 p.m.

The Schwartz Residence, Killeen

Just as her shoe hit the bottom stair, Bess realized she had left her lipstick in her room and was turning back around to grab it when she saw Kay sitting in the living room, dressed in a pink cocktail dress. Her puffy crinoline skirt was gathered in a heap around her as she shifted in place, adjusting her pearl necklace.

“Um, where do you think you are going?”

Kay looked up, tucking her brown hair behind her ear as she eyed the tight, fitted sheath dress Bess was wearing. She smiled at how the white sequins and embroidered red flowers glowed iridescent in the dim light and whistled low.

“Who are you dressing up for? The guy who you snuck in last weekend?”

“What makes you think there’s a guy, Katherine, honestly. I don’t sneak men into our house.”

“Uh huh,  so you’re all gussied up in your favorite dress just for a bunch of enlisted soldiers?”

Kay grabbed her purse and followed her sister to the door.

“Why are you being weird Bess, I always come with you? You’ve been going to army dances since you were sixteen. I’m about to graduate, plus, I told Dickey I’d meet him there.”

Bess sighed, thinking of Kay’s latest boyfriend. She supposed that she should be happy because he seemed like a harmless nerd, and, according to the files she had pulled on him, was not married, inbred or bankrupt.

“I just - we - I didn’t invite you to this dance because it’s an enlisted platoon. I didn’t think you were coming.”

“Wow, you must really like who ever it is, if you don’t want me to see you with him. Too bad. Dori called earlier and told me to come. She’s been trying to reach you all day, by the way.”

Bess locked the door, and they got into her car.

“Can you believe her date?”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“Of course, then it all made sense why you guys would be messing around with an enlisted tank unit. How did Dori even get involved with their MWR Committee.”

Bess rolled up her skirt so she could comfortably drive, and shifted into reverse, arching her eye bow at her younger sister as she did.

“How do you think? She asked to be reassigned to it two weeks ago.”

“Man oh man, she really is lucky. I wonder if we’ll all get to dance with Elvis?”

“Look, Kay, they sent out a memo to everyone, do NOT make a spectacle over Private Presley. Just act like he’s any other solider”

“Of course Bessie bushka. I’m on my best behavior.”

Bess looked Kay in the eyes as they pulled through the base gate.

“I am just going because I told Dori I would, I don’t wanna stay too late. So maybe Dickey Rooney can drive you home if you wanna swing all night?”

“Yeah, sure, ja volt. You don’t have to be ein klafte, Elisabet.”

**************************************************************

The tight cloth of her dress didn’t have much give, and Bess regretted her choice as she tried to keep up and hold on as she danced

“Look, this is tactical move that requires delicate maneuvers—”

“I’m not spiking the punch, Jim.”

Bess huffed and got into her rhythm as they kept up with the band’s rendition of “Tutti Fruity.”  If she let her self relax and swing into each step, it was almost like old times when she, Jim and Ben used to go out dancing in Austin or Killeen and she’d take turns dancing with her fiancee and his best friend all night. They had been the three musketeers. But that was last year, when she had a fiancee. And a different future peering back at her from her crystal ball.

The music brought her out of her silent reverie, and Bess looked to her where the band was performing on stage. The lead singer’s voice reverberated through the building, echoing up into the tin ceiling and back down again, making the room buzz with energy. There were six people in the all-Black Flapjacks: drums, guitar, bass, trumpet and then a male and female vocalist. The men wore matching silver dinner jackets and black bow ties, and the beautiful, Black woman had on a gorgeous silver dress with tulle flowers at the bust.

Bess took a deep breath, her attention shifted back to Jim, whose hands were always steady, but never needy. She was grateful he had agreed to come when she called last night and asked. A year ago they had spent almost all their free time together. Stalwart, an honorable prankster, Jim wasn’t shipping out to the Army Intelligence station in Heidelberg for another two months and Bess wondered if their friendship would end. If Ben’s new German wife would win him over and, like his friend before him, Jim would forget all about the last three years of shared adventures and promises of a lifelong friendship. Men mean it in the moment, Bess thought, I suppose women do to. Forever. What a meaningless word. How can we plan forever when we cannot know the future? The song ended and Jim escorted her off to the side. She looked for her sister, and found her swaying with her beau towards the back, hands clasped together between the lock-eyed look of first love.

“I forgot how good a dancer you are, Schwartz. And in that dress, whoowee! You’re a knock out tonight.”

“You can cut the flattery, Jameson, still not spiking the punch.”

“S’not flattery, how dare you insinuate that I would be disingenuous? You look good all dolled up, s'nice to see you this way. It’s almost like fun Bess is back, though a year ago she wudda helped me spike the punch.”

He took out his large, dark leather flask and handed it to her after taking a nip. Bess’ face scrunched up in distaste as the vodka burned down her throat, but she greedily held on and took another long drink.

“A year ago I didn’t work here, I was just hanging out with some of the reprobates from the German language division. Now it would be bad form for a Front Office secretary to spike the punch.”

“Look around, Bessie, this crowd needs to relax. They’re alllllll keyed up waiting for that Hound Dog.”

Jim was right, a heightened sense of anticipation pervaded the warehouse, even the strings of colorful paper lanterns seemed to sway with anxious excitement above them. Bess looked over at the big bowl of punch, next to the trays of deviled eggs, brisket sliders, the lime jello mold filled with seafood salad, pineapple upside down cake and more. She was sizing up the punch and checking her breath as they waited for the next song when she heard a wave of hushed murmurs ripple through the large room and turned to see Elvis, Dori and a few other soldiers in dress uniform enter the dance together. Bess’ eyes narrowed as Elvis’ looked at her.

Jim followed her gaze, then met Bess’ eyes.

“There he is, as handsome as he looks in the movies.”

Bess’ grimace could have cut through glass as she turned to her friend and elbowed him.

“Not you too?”

“What, art thou so high above us mere mortals that you don’t find Elvis Presley attractive, Schwartz? To gouache for a scholar like you?”

“It’s Private Presley now. And I’m not made of marble, Captain. Of course I recognize his attractive features. He just isn’t my type.”

She sniffed, and grabbed the flask from inside Jim’s uniform, the breath coming out of her nose forcefully as she drank a long draught.

“I’ve met him, actually, already. I was there.” Bess took another drink, tipping the flask back again and noticing that the liquid didn’t burn so much this time. “When he asked Dori out. I’m happy for her.”

Elvis and Dori began walking toward them, and Jim noticed how Bess’ stance changed as she crossed her arms and pursed her lips, suggesting that she what felt was the opposite of 'happy for Dori.'

“Well, I was at the press conference his first day here, at least four reporters asked if he has a girlfriend. Said he was playing the field so many times, sounded like a broken record.”

Bess straightened as she watched Elvis’ hand tighten around Dori’s waist and push under her bust while the blonde leaned into it and introduced Elvis to some of the eager MWR committee members who had stopped them.

“Yeah, that would be the alternate version of Hound Dog, it’s on the B side.”

Jim chuckled at Bess’ joke, but she didn’t notice, she was busy watching the Hound Dog himself, and caught Elvis glance over at her and give a little nod before his lips bent into a smirk. She realized she was frowning and plastered a big smile on her face. Jim watched this exchange with interest as Bess turned back when he spoke.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Definitely not your type.”

Bess scowled and whispered for him to stop as Elvis, Dori and another soldier approached them.

“Why Captain Daniels, how nice to see ya over at this little ol’ dance for the 37th, are you Bess’ date ta night? Or sneaking in to try and meet you-know-who?”

Dori giggled and playfully tapped Elvis’ chest. In case, you know, they didn’t get whom she was referencing.

Jim nodded and shook his hand to stop Elvis and the other soldier from saluting him.

“Oh, neither, actually, I’m just here to make sure Schwartz doesn’t spike the punch.”

“Don’t believe a word the Captain here says. This is a great introduction, by the way. Captain Daniels, meet Private Presley, you know Doreen of course, and then, well, I cannot say we’re acquainted.”

The liquor had loosened Bess up and she giddily put out her hand to the other soldier, as Elvis fiddled with the blue dress uniform cap under his right arm and took charge of the conversation.

“This is Rexadus, I mean, uh, Private Mansfield, he’s in the 37th wit me, another Mephisss boy, we were inducted ta gather, actually." Now Elvis was turning his hat over and examining it, speaking with confidence, almost as if from a script he had rehearsed in his head. "He’s a solid, solid, guy. He really is. Guess I’m lucky, since he’s spending all his time stuck in a metal box with my ass - I mean stuck with my behind.”

Rex her shook their hands with tight, swift grip and a warm smile. Jim raised his eyebrows at Bess.

“And how do you find the Army, so far, Privates?”

“Well, it was easy ta find, just follow all the tanks.” Elvis  smiled and  looked down. “Nah, well, speaking’ jus for me, I mean, I was real honored when President Eisenhower sent me an invitation to this here costume party, and all the boys are real nice."

There was that scripted voice again, Bess mused. She had seen under the hood and Elvis' attitude toward being drafted had not struck her as honored and grateful.

"It’s not easy, golly, I tell you, it’s really whooping my - uh - caboose. But I never felt I earned my supper so well, that’s the God’s honest truth.”

Dori giggled like Elvis was the wittiest man in the world, but he barely noticed, his eyes were focused on Bess and she coughed, uncomfortably. It was hard not stare back. She almost forgot to breathe, and exhaled deeply as she forced herself to look over at the band.

Her eyes trailed over to the food, and she looked back at Elvis with concern, knowing he rarely actually went to the mess hall. He had been meeting her at her back stairwell every evening at 5:15, opening her car door and getting in without even asking. As if it were his own car and sliding across her seat was the most normal thing in the world. It actually did seem normal now, and had become part of her daily routine these last three days. They sat there in their own private enclave, and every time, as he laid his head between her thighs and rubbed her waist, she told him that they were just friends hanging out. Yesterday they’d talked past dinner hours and she’d ask him if he didn’t want to go to get food, prompting Elvis to share how someone had yelled out in line at him Monday, asking if he missed his teddy bears, and he hadn’t gone back since. Sergeant Norwood’s wife, apparently, was providing him with a loaf’s worth of peanut butter sandwiches every night. But that wouldn’t have happened this evening and Bess thoughtfully looked over at the food table.

“You must be hungry. All of you, I mean.” Bess stuttered, trying not to stare at Elvis, which, for some reason, backfired, because consciously trying not to made her think about him even more and she failed horribly at being able to stray from his blue eyes for very long. “Because you just got here. Of course.”

Dori smiled and took this as her cue to play hostess and lead Elvis away to the refreshments.

“Yes, of course, of course, y’all must be hungry, doing those tank exercises all day. I made the seafood dip over there in the jello mold, it’s a recipe from Ladies’ Home Journal, you simply must try it and tell me what you think.”

“Aw, darlin’, I don’t, don’t eat seafood.”

“The brisket is pretty good.” Bess chimed in.

Dori smiled even deeper.

“Hmm, well, I suppose it’s probably ok for a Yankee like ya self, Bess honey.”

She pulled her arm tighter around Elvis, leading him to to the brisket as Bess heard her say, “Personally, I find Millie’s brisket a little bland and dried out, but come on, you’re a growin’ boy, need to refresh ya energy.”

Dori’s giggle trilled back as she walked him away and Bess frowned again when Elvis turned back over his shoulder, clearly grinning deeper as he took in Bess’ eyes following him.

She made small talk with Rex, mentioning how the last time she had heard this band, The Flapjack’s, they had played all of Elvis’ big hits and there had been none tonight.

“He bribed them.”

Rex whispered, looking over at where Elvis and Dori stood, as she fed him a deviled egg and then a brisket slider, sticking her finger in his mouth to lick the barbecue sauce off. Her high laugh echoed all throughout he warehouse, prompting Bess to roll her eyes.

“Bribed them?”

“Yeah,” Rex continued. “Not to play ‘Hound Dog,’ not to play any of ‘em. And he bought cases of cigarettes for all the guys in our unit. He wants to make sure tonight is nice, smooth, and normal. As it can be for him, I suppose.”

Before she had the opportunity to inquire further Bess was distracted by the band as they started up a new song, a rendition of Johnny Mathis’ “Chances Are,” and she watched Dori squeal that she loved this song.

 Bess smiled at Rex.

“Well Private, want to cut a rug?”

He hesitated. “Uh, I think -" he looked over at Elvis, who was making his way to the corner of the dance floor. “Probably better if I don’t, gonna go check out the chow.”

“C’mon, you little Yankee, I’ll dance with you, even if you have no taste in brisket.” Jim took her hand and raised his eyebrow. “By the way, Elvis Presley is in love with you Bess.”

“Stop it, Jameson.”

“Did you see how his buddy hardly touched you?”

“How would he know? These boys don’t talk about their crushes in their bunks at night. ‘Sides,he is here with a date.”

“Oh fooey! Elvis doesn’t have to tell him anything, all Rexadus, or anyone need do, is clock how that boy looks at you and, man, that’s all she wrote. You don’t dance with another soldier’s girl, it’s the code. Dori doesn’t stand a chance, honey, he’s just too polite to turn her down. I bet his mama is just like her. Which is probably why he likes you.”

Bess gave him a stare.

“Ok, maybe not exactly like Dori. I cannot see the good Mrs. Presley making you go all the way to Dallas so she can dress shop at the boutiques. They were share croppers, right?”

Bess nodded at Jim as she swayed with him, attempting very hard not to look over at where Elvis and Dori slowly danced.

“Something like that. Very very poor. But Jim, you dance with me, and I was your friend’s girl for two years.”

“That’s different Bess, I hate most women.” Jim looked back over at Rex and his voice trailed off. "Most people, actually. You are saving me from all the eager beavers here looking to snag an officer as a husband.”

“Well, looking around, some of them would probably settle for snagging just a night with an officer.”

They laughed and Jim led her around the dance floor in perhaps the most chaste slow grip of any of any officer or gentleman that danced a slow dance that evening.

The song ended, and the band kept going with their version of Sam Cooke’s hit “You Send Me.”

Bess could not help herself, and found her eyes move to watch Dori press her cheek to Elvis’ and it made Bess’ stomach clench inadvertently. Elvis’ eyes locked on hers while he pulled Dori tighter to him, tilting his head with a smirk. Something in his eyes told Bess he could tell how much she envied her girlfriend, a fact she refused to even concede to herself as she looked away, scanning the room for her sister. To her dismay, Kay was now kissing her dweeby young lieutenant toward the back of the warehouse, not so much dancing as staggering back and forth in place.

Hitting someone’s shoulder, Bess turned to apologize until she saw Elvis had moved Dori right behind them. She stepped hard on Elvis’ foot, then apologized loudly and profusely. That didn’t get him to scout off and they remained dancing next to each other as Jim ignored Bess’s pinches at his wrists clearly signaling for him to lead her away.

“Why hello there, Moo Moo, fancy bumping into you here?”

Dori smiled big and pushed her hands further up around Elvis neck as she swayed to the rhythm.

“Moo Moo? Y’all are gonna havta tell me bout that” Dori giggled. “And look at you Bessie, honey, I just LOVE your dress.” Her eyes moved to Jim. “Y’all having fun?”

Bess stepped closer to Jim, nodding and avoiding the coy irreverence in Elvis’ dark blue eyes as she slyly tried to navigate her partner away from them. She kicked Jim’s shin to let him know that if he did not politely guide her away this very instant she would begin to kick harder.

*******************************************************

Leaning against the wall during a ballad, Bess found herself making a mental note that Elvis’ seemed to avoid dancing to the faster songs. During this one, he had gone off to get some punch and then started walking in her direction only to be assaulted by a troop of MWR committee members, offering him samples of the desserts they had baked as a pretext to come and talk to him. Bess smiled as one asked him to dance, then turned at Mabel’s voice, observing the rosy glow of the other secretary’s cheeks.

“Mhmmm, the punch is good tonight.”

Bess smiled, then leaned in to smell Mabel’s glass.

“How many of these have you had, Mabel?”

The older woman replied without missing a beat. “Five.”

“I’m cutting you off, I think it’s been spiked.”

“Of course it has. By me.” Mabel took her glass back, gulping the rest down with a wink. “Someone needed to liven up this funeral. Hold this for me, won’t you?” She asked, and Bess’ jaw dropped a bit as she watched Mabel cut in on Dori.

Bess wondered if Mabel still preferred Burt Lancaster to the movie star she currently leaned her head against, happily watching her colleague cozily nuzzle into Elvis tall frame. He was a good sport, joking and swaying with Mabel for a second dance,  then stepping to the side and chatting with another swarm of woman who tried to contain their eagerness as they brought him another tribute of dessert platters.

Bess danced to The Flapjacks performance of “Jambalaya,” but quit as the music turned toward more and more ballads while the night went on. It was late, the people on the dance floor seemed to have coupled up and the decorum had slowly fallen to the wayside as the senior personnel disappeared. The air fell thick with a heady, hazy lust provoked by the swell of sweet, slow rhythm and blues and the release dancing provided from the stress of barracks life. Jim had ducked out, and Bess wished she had given Kay her keys and gone with him. She managed to stay as far away from Elvis as she could through he evening, which wasn’t hard. If Dori was not monopolizing him, he only made it a few feet before another woman tapped on his shoulder. During this time, Dori had cornered her and begun drilling Bess for information, asking why she didn’t pick up her phone anymore, and what the deal was with Elvis.

“Moo Moo? Is that a nick name? Are you sure y’all are just friends? Honey, say the word, and I will be on my way. I do not throw myself at men.”

Thinking of their double date last week, Bess restrained herself from explaining that this seemed to be Dori’s primary hobby.

“I promise, it’s a silly nick name, Moo Moo is what he called his childhood cow named, get this, Bess. I’m telling you, Doreen, we’ve just accidentally stumbled into a very casual friendship.” She rubbed her friend’s shoulder, and looked out at Elvis laughing with his dance partner.

“He's lonely, and just jives more with women. You saw him with Mabel in the office. I’m not saying I see wedding bells in your future either. But then again, Dori, you don’t want to get romantically involved with Elvis Presley, do you? I can only imagine the havoc he is going to wreak on the girls in this town once he gets his bearing and into phase two. That boy is a fast operator, so fast you don’t even know what happened and boom, you’re asking him out.”

Dori narrowed her eyes. “Mmmhmm. Well, honestly I don’t want to marry him, Bessie Boo. I just want to experience him. He is so soft, Bess. That jaw! And those eyes. Ufffff. And when he kisses you, oh, it’s like having lightening strike your cheek. I’m fixin’ to get more before the night is over, hopefully with my mouth.”

She winked as the song ended, and strode off to get him back. Bess had to giggle at the glare Dori shot a younger girl from the switchboard office who looked like she was about to ask Elvis to dance.

Lonely, awkward, and ready to be done, Bess rolled off the wall and told Kay she was ready to leave. Her sister politely told her to get bent, promising Dickey would drive her home. So Bess subtlety slipped out of the side door next to the stage and made her way towards her car, ambling slowly in the cool evening air. Bess found it a sweet respite from the crowded, stuffy ware house stuffy. Out here, it was peaceful, and she savored the darkness as she looked up into the black sky. The stars and moon were hidden by some clouds, and Bess tried to get lost in the murky shadows as she wandered away from the sounds of the dance. She begged the wind to tamp down the anxious buzzing in her head. It was then, when she paused in the passage way between two tall buildings, that she heard the sound of footsteps following her, and turned to see a tall, dark figure striding toward her with purposeful, swift steps. His shoulders were back and his hands were out and he slowed when he heard Bess speak.

“All dressed up and marching in a hurry, huh? Loose your parade, Tupelo?”

Elvis’ gait turned into a wide swagger and Bess stumbled into the building backing away from the force of Elvis’ magnetism. It was not a smart escape strategy because he followed in step, his hands on his waist as he looked her over.

“Al - al - always, the smart ass, huh?”

“I’ve been a smart ass my whole life, Tupelo. Try to keep up.”

Elvis shook his head, chuckling low.

“You’re staring. Stop it.”

“Honey, if you didn’t want me to stare at you, shoulda worn a different dress.”

She gasped, and Elvis stepped closer, his right arm up against the wall while his left moved over her waist and he whispered into her forehead, his voice was low, teasing, almost babyish.

“Be honest, Moo Moo, did you come out here cuz you wanted me to chase you?”

Bess looked at the eaves of the building above her, she could hear the faint sound of the band back at the dance playing “The Girl Can’t Help It” and Elvis hips swayed very slowly at half time with the beat.

“Nope, I, I was leaving, actually.”

“How could you leave without dancing with me, baby. Not even once. An ya hardly even talked to me all night. Every other girl in there is ready and rearin' ta pounce on me, but you make me come chase after you?”

“I’m - I’m not like very other girl, Elvis. I’m not trying - trying to ….”

The way his thumb trailed up her arm made Bess shudder and she lost her train of thought.

“Hmmm. Not tryin’ to what, Moo, huh?”

He leaned into her ear as he spoke, and the skin on her bare shoulder prickled as his thumb rubbed over it while he whispered softly.

His voice was warm on her neck, and it reminded her of the first summer Mama drove her and Kay down to Galveston spontaneously for a week. They had stayed in a cheap motel across from the beach and enjoyed the warm Gulf water while eating fried shrimp and hush puppies and getting sunburnt. There, in the golden sun of the Texas Gulf, Bess had forgotten how uncomfortable it was to move through the world. No, standing where the sun met the surf had set her free, and she had become a wild animal dancing in the water and screaming into the waves while the sand crabs tickled her feet.

Elvis’ breath on her neck had the same effect. She felt wild, relaxed, totally at the whim of her body as she bit her bottom lip and looked up at his half-lidded eyes. She wanted to pull him close and scream into his mouth, howl at the untamed force of nature that rippled beneath his cheeks. He tightened his hand at her waist and kissed her neck, but then stepped back at her shudder.

“Ya scared not scared of me, Moo Moo, are you?”

She shook her head, but trembled as Elvis fingers feathered lightly down her arm.

“You don’t never have to be scared of me, baby, I won’t ever hurt you.”

“Elvis, I -”

He kissed her neck again, murmuring into her skin. The top of his cap rubbed into her hair. “Wanna get out of here? Go somewhere we can jus… Talk?””

Just as Bess began to answer, she felt a light sprinkle of water on her nose and looked up as it started to drizzle down on them. The rain brought her wits back to her and she gently pushed Elvis away, feeling the water increase and her hair slip down over her face. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

“You are here on a date with someone else, and I have to go home.” Squeezing him in a tight hug, she kissed his cheek one last time as he nodded, before removing her heels and sprinting off through the puddles to find her car.

**************************************************

Bess had managed to wash her face and get her dress off before she succumbed to the extreme need for a pot of hot tea. Now she stood in her kitchen, towel drying her hair and shivering as she waited for the kettle to boil. Hearing a knock at the door, she yelled out hurrying to the front of the house.

“Kay, the door is open! Or is numbnuts a catching disorder -  shit.”

There was Elvis, hat in hand, on her front doorstep.

“Numbnuts?”

She swayed to the side, watching the back of a white Studebaker whirl around the corner. A white Studebaker very much like the one Mabel owned.

“My sister’s boyfriend is not the sharpest shooter in his platoon.” She held her robe closed as she looked down at her thin, white silk night gown. The thin matching robe didn’t do much, but she felt more decorous pulling it over herself.

“Did Mabel sneak you off post?”

Elvis grinned mischievously and strode past her into the house

“Hello to you too, Bessie, whatcha cookin, good lookin'?”

Closing the door, she shoved him as he walked backwards down the hallway.

“Don’t you hello me, what are you doing here?”

Elvis unbuttoned his jacket, and draped it around her shivering body.

“Still cold honey?” He drew her in, rubbing her shoulders. “Let me see if I can warm ya up.”

His jacket was still cozy with the heat of his body as he drew Bess into him. Breathless, she let him enclose her in his embrace, folding her arms into his chest as she lifted her chin up to gaze into his eyes.

“There she is, there’s a good lil Moo Moo.”

Elvis leaned down to bundle her further into him, his hands moving inside her open robe to caress the sides of her body, his nose stroking hers as she closed her eyes and whispered into his jaw.

“Elvis, you shouldn’t be here.”

“I know honey.” He pulled her closer, kissing her cheek at the fold of her earlobe as Bess crushed into his.

Her mind was racing, racing the with knowledge that at any moment her 17 year old sister would come home and probably know how to work the door knob. Racing with the knowledge that her father and mother were flying back to Waco tomorrow and she needed to be rested and alert when she drove to pick them up. Racing with the knowledge that Elvis Presley was the absolutely worst choice for a romantic entanglement or fling, not just because he was famous, handsome, rich and probably already dating any number of women in Los Angeles, Memphis and God knows where else. And therefore, an unimaginable person to be seen with publicly or explain to her family.

But it was worse than that, she could already tell, from the way her mind bent towards him all through the day when he wasn’t around, and directed itself to him with an intense, buzzing focus when he was. For these reasons, she knew he would be the worst kind of all-consuming distraction that she could possible let herself get involved with right now.

Her mouth had other plans. Namely, how could it find his mouth?

“Elvis.” She mumbled as her lips brushed the nape of his neck and her hands wrapped around his body.

“Yes Bess?”

He looked down at her as she tried to find the words she wanted to say.

“I - I - I”

“I know honey, you don’t date soldiers.”

She smiled a lazy, goofy half smile.

“Mmmhmmm.”

He gripped her tighter, pinching the flesh at her sides.

“Honey, dating is not the word on my mind right now. I am not interested in asking you on a date.”

He kissed her forehead.

“I do not have no intention of driving up to your house in my pink Cadillac.”

He kissed her nose.

“I don’ wanna have to come meet ya mama and shake your daddy’s hand.”

He kissed her cupid’s bow.

“And I definitely ain’t about to take you out to fancy restaurant and buy you dinner.”

He kissed her lightly on the top of her mouth, his teeth grating over her lip.

“I do not want to date you, Bess.”

“Good, because I don’t want to date you either.”

“So don’t date me, baby. Jus kiss me.”

**********************************************************

Click here to read Chapter Four: Dance

@eliseinmemphis @moonchild-daniella @tacozebra051 @ab4eva @kingdomforapony @everythingelvispresley @richardslady121 @dkayfixates @artlover8992 @peskybedtime @freudianslumber @amydarcimarie @toreigh @notstefaniepresley @18lkpeters @yynneessmons @lookingforrainbows @prompted-wordsmith @ashtag2887 @waiting4brucewayne2adoptme @returntopresley @girlblogger2002 @rjmartin11 @bigromansgirl-blog @literally-just-elvis-fics

Let me know if you want to be tagged. Feedback, suggestions, thoughts and questions always appreciated.

[maester-of-spreadsheets]

Tagged by @vonlipvig and it's come around at a great time because I've actually been finishing media lately. Imagine that.

Last song/piece I listened to: Chor Bazari from Love Aaj Kal. AZAD HOON MAIN TUJHSE! AZAD HAI TU MUJHSE! wait i just noticed that the lyrics are saying "now i'm free from you, now you're free from me" but it's using the most informal 'you.' Which kinda implies they still have a degree of emotional intimacy despite being exes. Despite the whole song being about how they're exes who are handling this reunion super maturely even if they're bemused by it all lol. Interesting.

(also Deepika was still in her awkward rookie actress phase here but I can see the glimmers of the kind of stuff that would go on to make her really good at more naturalistic roles.)

(great now I want to rewatch it even though I remember it being the platonic ideal of a timepass hahah. If only to rewatch the sequence where early on they have a 'we're breaking up!' party because they dont want to do long distance and then later on she calls him from the airport and they have this lighthearted conversation talking about their gripes with one another that they never mentioned in the relationship in order to keep the peace.)

Last book I read: Diavola by Jennifer Thorne. Horror novel about the bisexual disaster black sheep of a family going to a family reunion in Italy and... oops [cocks gun] villa's haunted.

On one hand is it kind of a mess with weird pacing and some dropped plot threads and it has multiple themes that don't quite congeal? Yes.

On the other hand, did it FUCK MAJORLY?? Yep!! Probably my favorite book I've read this year so far. So cathartic.

Last film I watched: Piku, solely to look at several actors' faces and it delivered on that front.

Last TV series: I don't... know? I think it might have been that documentary series about Nickelodeon. And I'm glad survivors got to tell their stories, but like a lot of recent true crime documentaries about systemic crimes I felt like it didn't go deep enough. For every Dan Schneider, there are quite a few people above people him in the corporate ladder who have to sign off on their abuses. But that's all very bleak so let's move on. (Also it turned out I am still not far away enough from The Old Job to really be able to deal with this content.)

Last video game: Pentiment! I was playing a "choose the rudest option" round and was shocked every character hated me.

Last thing I googled: Diavola to remind myself of the author's name.

Last thing I ate: Pasta and broccoli.

Sweet, savory, or spicy: Spicy.

Amount of sleep: As usual I genuinely don't know how much was actual sleep and how much was lying around half awake.

Currently reading: Uhhhh so many things. My Lent resolution to only read things I own and/or have started didn't go too well (but better than I had been before because I actually finished some things.) I'm probably going to try and make an effort to return Emily Wilson's Iliad translation and/or the biography on J. Dilla.

Currently watching: Uhhh does watching the Murder on the Orient Express play all the way through every other night count?

Tagging @onetrueharem @ponydeathisland @amarguerite @invaders-forever @sickfreaksirkay aaaand honestly everyone who wants to do. And doesn't want to YOU LOT ESPECIALLY

[the-byeah-bunch]

we’ve been having a bit of a rough go lately. we’ve hit another rock bottom and we’re struggling to even function. but, despite everything, we can’t help but think about the people in our life that make it worth sticking around for

our biggest supporter? our partner. gods we can’t even begin to say just how much she means to each and every one of us in the system. from the get go she has been nothing but supportive and caring and willing to learn. in all honesty we were learning together. she was the first person to know about us being a system in 2021, and that was after about a month of me trying to decide how to tell her. and that was after the person who brought this to our attention left our life. i honestly don’t think we would be where we are right now if not for her. i fear we would be alone in this fight. but we aren’t.

it did definitely take me awhile but with our partners help, we were able to slowly tell our friends. we were so goddamn nervous that we would tell them and they would see us as weird or insane and cut us off. but we were met with the exact opposite.

the first two friends we told (who sadly aren’t in the picture anymore) were so enthusiastic and willing to learn and they made us feel so valid. no matter what they were always asking questions and wanting to learn more about us and our illness. they made us feel so heard, despite neither of them knowing much about it.

the next two friends we told were the same. and to this day both of them are still wanting to know more. our one friend is always cracking jokes about us and never fails to make us laugh. he also makes sure he knows who’s fronting and their pronouns so he doesn’t misgender us. he is someone who has become so so special to all of us because he always goes above and beyond. hes always taking into consideration our health problems and is always wanting to help, no matter the time or place.

my other friend has been someone we’ve known since we were super small. we were friends all through elementary and high school and when she found out things just seemed to click for her. reasons why we did certain things, why we liked to go by certain names. hell, she was noticing the signs waaayyy before we did. but she is still one of our closest friends, despite everything. and she never ceases to surprise us with things she notices that we do that we aren’t even aware of.

our next friend is also someone who we hold so near and dear. he is the biggest sweetheart and he’s also always making sure he knows who’s fronting. he himself has had a rough go but it’s allowed for us to be able to bond over our trauma. knowing his struggles and his fears and experiences as allowed us to understand him on a deeper level and we continue to do so almost every time we are together. we always joke about how we could be siblings because we look alike. but we already see him as the brother we always wanted.

my long distance best friend was the next person we told. we were honestly so nervous to tell her but i’m so glad we did. she told us that she doesn’t see us any differently and still loves us for us. despite her being across the globe we continue to talk and call as if nothing had changed

the two friends we told in 2023 were definitely a lot easier to talk to. a lot happened between 2022 and 2023 which brought them a lot closer to us than we had been before and we finally just decided to say fuck it and tell them both. they were the first ones we told without needing the help of our partner. they were so open and chill about it. it honestly doesn’t feel like anything’s changed and we can’t help but sigh of relief. they are both so respectful and understanding and we feel like telling them only brought them closer.

the last friend we told was someone that clicked with us almost immediately. we liked all the same things, got along so well that there wasn’t an awkward phase. we didn’t think too much about it in the beginning but when they told us that they told their mom we were their best friend, we had a moment to realize just how special they are to us. no matter the amount of time that passes, we can always go back to exactly where we left off last time we saw eachother. when we told them, they simply said they loved us and that they were proud of us for sharing and even though it doesn’t seem like the best answer, we couldn’t have asked for anything else. if anything, hearing that was a bit of a relief. just knowing they love us regardless was enough.

i know this isn’t something a lot of systems have. in fact when i first was told by another system that they believed we were as well, they told us to be careful who we told because they had lost a lot of people after telling them. and that scared the absolute shit out of us. so much that when they left my life, i truly felt alone in the world. the two people who actually understood what we were going through were suddenly gone and we didn’t know what to do.

but now, we couldn’t be more grateful for the people we found after. because they are so much more than we could’ve ever asked for. for the first time in our life, we finally feel accepted and loved for us and nothing but. we know that we are heard and we know that we are seen. we know that there are people out there who care.

for any singlets out there wondering how to help your system friends - ask questions! let them know you want to learn about them! learn the terminology! educate yourselves on the right and wrong information. and remind them how valid they are. remind them that they are heard and seen and that their suffering isn’t going unnoticed. remind them that they are loved and cherished for everything they are and everything they will be. remind them that their trauma does not define them. remind them that their best is enough. tell them that if their best is all they can do, that’s good enough. it may not seem like much to you, but i can guarantee it will mean so so much more to them than you know.

[stry-someone-to-remember-you]

Update... September was a Weird month for Me

2 Updates bellow come directly from my Art Twitter Account:

#STRY #webcomic I haven't posted art lately, as promised. Life kinda got me. Had a few weird days last month of random depression (I mean I know definitely why it happened has to do with something from last September... but I won't get into it)...Then other times this fixation with the novel or jobsearch. Trying to get back in routine of exercising and art. I hope next few weeks to post more. #STRY #SomeoneToRememberYou The #novel is coming together. It still will be several months and still getting everything in life, and the web comic together. But I'm honestly excited! I think I have the final Novel Summary down, -some cuts. Let me know if you want to see it.

~~~~ Sssooooo.... Lets Expand on what I mention above...

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO:

I felt more pressure as I also realized Indeed after I worked my ass off fixing my resume and my cover letter, had gone and saved the rough draft version so for the last several months I was using the poorly fixed version of both and had to fix everything again... I really don't like the side but it's one of the best for job searching. I admit my hours for art started becoming a game of job searching, going through the stressful process. I call it a game cause it was almost like an addiction. Especially after realizing I was using this whole time the wrong form of my resume and cover letter. You don't know how embarrassed that was, especially since I'm applying mostly for secretary positions. Talk about FACEPALM... I've told myself my old rule not to look at Job Apps at night, leave them be so I can focus on art... (I also watched a few new to me shows, I've been meaning to watch... got addicted lost time watching them, then came to find out they have a horrible ending *cough* Devil is a Part Timer *cough* yeah took a day to realize that has creeper predator ending) I really fell off my exercise routine which I tell myself I have to do (about for an hour) before I do art, mostly to stay healthy so I can keep doing what I love. I hope to just post some stuff and finally involve myself in the month challenge. Even if late. Stay tuned if I manage that... On my other profiles, job searching since fixing that "accident" up I have had several interviews scheduled since. Tomorrow I have a few scheduled and am so ready. Although, I admit I'm hoping for once with benefits, my last job promised it but never gave any. So I really hope to find one with such. And that will eventually help me in my potential career. If things keep not working, due to having a few friends on the force I've honestly considered going into the academy if things keep not panning out job wise. But they seem to be looking up. And I have looked into doing book reading jobs as well. So I have several avenues I'm looking at just in case. #WISHMELUCk Hopefully, you hear more from me art wise.

I want to thank the many people who've subscribed since my last few posts. Also so sorry for any art friends that think I may have dropped off all of a sudden. I'm still here. Just knd went through some odd motions..

~~~~ Update on Last Post (about the date): Lastly, to my update on going on a date. Yeah it was fine, conversations were odd afterwords and I can't say I felt much after the fact so I don't think that's going anywhere. Took a few weeks away from social dating apps/sites as I can get addicted to focusing on them. I'm trying to control the sudden addictive phases of solely focusing on this or that. I know it's cause I've been more nervous lately not getting previously during the summer more then a few job interviews and wondering what was wrong. Now that I've solved that issue and have several lined up, I'm finally kinda taking the reigns again and switching my focus art I was working on and art for the story.

~~~~~~~~~~

STORY UPDATES:

As for S.T.R.Y... Someone TO Remember You.... I hope to work on the Initial (last valentines day) Hint Post of the main characters which has been sitting in half unfished limbo for months now. And work quickly on the Sneak peak of the characters and full Face Reveal before or Around Halloween, cause I recently was introduced to a fandoms that I really want to use for a character halloween pic. It may be posted after Halloween. But I have an idea of what I'm wanting to do. I can't promise all my plans will work My Dad's birthday is this month, and though he's busy I know we are thinking of celebrating it a month later. So some of my focus will be put to that while the long time he's off working assisting my disabled mother with her many cleaning projects. I promised to help her around the front yard, especially with Halloween coming up for the trick-or-treaters. (Since my mom has mobility issues I'm often the one in charge of answering the door or such. So course I go all out dressing up. And I know it's important to all of use that the house looks good in the areas that can be seen. I wasn't able to do much last year since I was suffering Anxiety. I want to make up for things I haven't done. So I know the many art projects I want to do this month may not occur. But I wanted you to know what plans I'm hoping to do. I know I often pile on a lot, so I'm just saying what I hope accomplish but may not be able to fully do. That's my update so far... Stay tuned. Stay Sweet. PS. Ironic but I finally am just going to work on my UPDATE Comic that Legit I put on hold Two Years almost to this day to Job Search back near the end of the pandemic and now I'm picking it up again. WHy? THe Update is just me using my Authors character, by promoting the story and saying a little about myself. It was my way of practicing making a comic while making art. But, I told myself I wouldn't use the author character to make updates till I posted the comic. I've had so many times the last four months I wanted to make updates. Had a good plan but knew it would be redundant later posting the Update Comic I still plan on. I'm finally at a point where I want to work back on in (with the extended pages to add Recent updates rather then 2 years ago updates)... Then from then on, I hope to have shorter updates where I just use my Author Character to give updates without these long paragraphs and just short tidbits.... I've mentioned it before. But finally want to announce I'm working on finishing that... I still have a art project I'm making as a present, which is Half Way to completion. I added way more elements to it then I planneda nd just had numerous computer issues or life issues that got in the way of that getting completed. I also have a few fan Henry Stickmin art pieces I ALMOST forgot about from April and May I want to get back to soon.... So to say I have alot of art on the way Is not Putting it lightly. I have alot Of future Art coming up.

[lhs3020b]

An observation concerning the current aliens/UFO craze: it's fascinating that it's popping up right on cue.

What do I mean by that? Simple: popular culture seems to go through a phase with being UFO-obsessed about every 20-25 years. There was, of course, the original outburst in the late '40s/early '50s (fn. 1). There was another big eruption in the late-’60s/early '70s. Then there was the first one I was personally around for, which was the late '90s UFO craze. (Full disclosure: kid!me was obsessed with this stuff.) Looking at the time-pattern here, you'd predict that the next wave would hit sometime around 2021-2024.

Oh. Bingo. Right on cue.

In a way, I find this pattern more interesting than the thing itself. (Honestly? The overwhelming majority sightings really do fall under the categories called "most normies have never heard of the planet Venus" [fn.2] and "actually that was an aircraft", though yes, in fairness there are some more-enigmatic ones like the now-famous US Navy tic-tac-toe footage and so on.) It fascinates me that this pop-culture craze pops up, regularly as clockwork, apparently about once a generation. What are we looking at here, a genuine cohort effect? (Most supposed cohort effects are actually nonsense, when you look closely at real data.) Why, of all things, is there an actual generational thing going on here, of all places?

I have no answers, but I do find this fascinating.

---------

Footnote 1: I'm leaving aside the various bits of possible "prior art" such as the "ghost airship" thing from the 1890s, and the various pre-20th Century accounts that have been suggested as UFO sightings (there's a surprisingly-long pre-history to all this stuff, though obviously all of it falls under the category of "please keep your skeptical hat on" for it).

Also, interestingly, if there was a rolling phenomenon going on, there should have been another burst of it around the mid-1920s, though to my knowledge there’s nothing in that time-period that really fits. Whatever this pattern is, the evidence does seem to suggest that it started around the late ‘40s.

Footnote 2: as an ex-astronomer I really can't wrap my brain around it, but it genuinely does seem to be true that most people have no idea about what's in the night sky, even just the planets of the solar system? Most people have heard the names of the planets at some point and do vaguely-recognise them, but they have no idea at all which object they are in the sky, even though the inner planets are some of the brightest and most-recognisable things up there. Maybe my perspective's an odd one - I guess it is? - but I just find it so weird. Does anyone know anything about anything?

[shrinkthisviolet]

☕️ about the current state of the MCU!!!

It's honestly tough to really give an opinion about this because people are either: "everything's great!" or "boo MSheU!" and not enough people are willing to tread the middle ground of "hey, there's a visible step down between the Infinity Saga and now, and no, it's not because of the increased diversity."

Because...there is a visible step-down. And I know it's not fair to compare three phases of storytelling to one, but...even in Phase 1, there was a throughline. Like...it felt like they were building to something - that "something" was the first Avengers movie, but...it was simple. Standalone movies with tie-ins via post-credit scenes that culminated in the team-up movie.

Now it feels like there's so much going on, and...I'm not entirely sure what it's building up to? Like, don't get me wrong, I've liked parts of all of these projects. I enjoyed Ms. Marvel (though imo the villain aspect fell flat), She-Hulk was fun, Love and Thunder was funny in places even if the movie didn't quite land for me, Loki lost my interest about halfway through and got worse for me after that, TFATWS was great as a Sam origin story but fumbled its antagonist, Wandavision was great but tripped at the finish line, Multiverse of Madness was a lot of unresolved potential, Moon Knight was all right, I enjoyed Black Widow but it felt rushed (if we'd gotten a trilogy for her like the others, it probably would've been better), Wakanda Forever was fantastic...etc. I get what they're trying to set up based on comics: Young Avengers and/or Champions, but it just kinda feels...aimless?

Like, Phase 4 ended with Wakanda Forever. But it doesn't seem like anything was really accomplished? There was a little cross-talk this phase, but...aside from introducing the multiverse, did anything actually happen or change beyond just individual movies? Even in Phase 1, things were connecting in post-credit scenes and culminated in the Avengers, but...what's happening now? What's all of this for? Sure, I might have my questions answered in Phase 5, but...why?

And I know it might seem like a weird thing for me to complain about, given that my complaint about Star Wars is how interconnected it's becoming. But the key difference is that the MCU has always been like that, it's what people expect, and it's what drives the overall plot forward. The movies might have individual plotlines and such, but the phase moves forward when the characters across different movies are all driving toward a common goal. Star Wars used to be loosely connected stories within the same galaxy, but now it's leaning towards being interconnected...but my rant about that is for a different post 😂 not this one.

The point being: the MCU has built its brand on being interconnected and having phases defined by a common goal (or a series of common goals - Thanos wasn't the goal from Day 1, but a team-up was, and that happened by the end of Phase 1). And let me be clear: I don't think the previous phases were perfect either, the MCU has always had its flaws. But...the main problem of being so interconnected is that with each new project, the barrier of entry grows higher. And with so many projects released lately, without a clear endpoint to look to (or a clear goal that they're driving toward)...this is probably why we're seeing a lot of MCU fatigue lately. The MCU built a certain expectation, and now it's not living up to that.

send me a "☕️" and (optionally) a topic, and I'll talk about it!

[kirbys-pop-culture-junk]

Japanese copy of Danganronpa for the PSP that I bought on the SomethingAwful forums back in like 2013 or so.

I feel like a lot of people my age went through a 4chan phase of their life as almost a rite of passage where they spent at the least a little bit of time on the site, especially in the late 2000s/early 2010s era. As someone who has always been a bit of an old soul, for some reason for me I had a SomethingAwful phase.

I had always been a fan of the weird stuff on the site, especially Photoshop Phriday, the kinds of stuff that a 13/14 year old in 2003/04 probably should not have been looking at. But the forums themselves were always paywalled and something that I never really had much of an interest in going to anyway. All of my forums were retro video game and wrestling message boards and I didn’t feel the need to branch out that badly. It wasn’t until I got a bit older and hit that specific weirdo cynic phase of my life when I was like 18 when boards like SomethingAwful appealed to me.

I became a longtime lurker of the place, including a fan of Retsupurae, the YouTube SA-based series that is now a relic of early YouTube history, before finally purchasing an account, as well as Archives access (for an extra fee you were able to access the entire forum archive, which for a person like me who loves history it meant I could access stuff like posts that got weirdos like TotalBiscuit banned on the site) and started to post, mostly in the Let’s Play, Games, and Food boards. I’m sure you’ve heard about the drama associated with SA and I can safely tell you that yes, even the board that just talked about food and cooking had drama with members and it was honestly always absurdly hilarious. As an internet-lonely early 20s doofus, it was a place to make friends. The last community I was involved with (Detective Conan) had things end on extremely sour notes with some friends while other friends kinda just drifted away, which meant that a lot of the time that I spent online, I was extremely lonely. Using SomethingAwful around the same time that I started heavily using Tumblr meant that I got to see both sides of the infamous Danganronpa Let’s Play Paywall situation. I’m not gonna lie, all the posts getting upset that Lowtax would put the LP Paywall back up whenever a new chapter of the Let’s Play for the game came out used to crack me up, as did seeing all the ways people would circumvent it by even posting god damned screenshots of posts in the thread. I was even there for when slowbeef infamously banned someone for using the phrase “intriguingly moe” to describe a character and let’s be real here, slowbeef was completely in the right.

Being like 23 and having what I thought was disposable income, as a gag I figured I’d buy a copy of the game from the SA Mart from a fellow goon for like $15. It was the only time I ever used the SA Mart to buy anything. I didn’t even have a way to play it, I just thought it was a funny gag as someone who liked the series and characters while also seeing the fandom in the early days of Tumblr Fandoms being a thing go bananas for everything possible about it. I hung out on SA until about early 2015, when a lot of us realized that after having corners of the site that were a dedicated safe haven for people like us, it was getting overtaken by garbage again, so most all of us abandoned ship for the hangout future of Twitch streams, Skype group chats, and of course, Twitter.

When Lowtax committed suicide a few years back, there were a lot of people making self-reflective posts about their own lives on SomethingAwful, and I completely understood why, and even had my own little taken aback moment over being reminded of that period of me life. Lowtax was a genuinely reprehensible human being and even when I was an active user of SA a lot of the forum regulars were well past tired of him and his antics. But people used the site and turned it into something that I don’t think Lowtax had ever wanted it to be. For a large chunk of people now-a-days Online, especially leftist/progressives in their late 20s to mid-to-late 30s, that was where a lot of friends were made. I made some of my longest lasting internet friends on that site, including people that I talk to to this day. I learned *a lot* from the people I met on there, including people who helped me gain new perspectives on things in life. Before becoming a SA Goon, back when I was a lonely post-college dropout living in an entirely new town away from home and away from all my friends I grew up with, I was almost a reclusive outcast, a college liberal dirtbag leftist who watched Bill Maher. People on SA that I met got me to knock all that obnoxious shit off and I don’t even think they realized it.

Even though SomethingAwful was only a footnote of a few years or so of my life, it was definitely one of the biggest moments of my internet life, and maybe one of the times where I went through the most changes as a human being. As a website, it was an awful, awful place full of stupidity (never forget the guy who peed “LET’S PLAY” into the snow) but I can’t ignore the fact that I also made some friends with some very cool people who helped mold me into the person that I am today. And as a shoutout to those people, much love to FutureFriend, TheJayofSpade, DeviousVacuum (you’ll always be DVac to me), Danzel Glovington (maybe the first friend I made on SA. Haven’t spoken to you in years but hope all is well), DazzlynReed (an absolute sweetheart), Metroixer, FreezingInferno, Captain_Duck (one of the first people to give me a chance by having me guest on streams), Color Printer, and ChorpSaway.

Also a funny thing about SomethingAwful is how many new people I meet that as it turns out were on the site at the same time as me despite our paths never crossing. One of my best friends and someone very important to me now is something who was hilariously on the cusp of interacting with me on SA for years and years due to the both of us sharing a lot of the same friends, before we finally began talking barely a few years ago. I constantly kick myself over how I could’ve known her even almost a decade ago and it just never happened!!

This was a lot more than I had anticipated writing and I don’t think I properly conveyed all my thoughts about this period of my life the way I wanted to but I think you will at the least get the gist of it.

[arrowflier]

2022 fic writer's interview

Thanks to @thisdivorce, @energievie, @vintagelacerosette for the tags!

1. How many works do you have on AO3

59--but quite a few are compilations, which would basically double it.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

460,173

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Meet the Neighbors (I'm coming back to it soonish I swear)

Eighty-Seven Percent (Anatomy of a Heart)

Marriage, Mickey, and Milk of the Gods

Being His Baby Don't Make Me a Bitch

In Case of Emergency

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Sometimes. I go through phases of trying to be better about it, but my brain is also weird and I start to feel conceited if I keep saying thank you😅 I always massively appreciate them though, it makes me so happy!

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't think any, except for maybe a couple of galladrabbles like this one

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

They have to end to have a happy ending lol, but basically anything that's done.

7. Do you write crossovers?

I'm never sure what can be classed as a crossover, but I've done 911 (In Case of Emergency), Jurassic Park (Tooth and Claw), sort of X-Men, sort of Star Wars (with ideas for a full fic that may or may not come to be), and probably some I'm forgetting.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Just once I think, and it was just someone who really doesn't like Vee's nickname being spelled with more than one letter.🤣

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, and I'm way too proud of it lol. It's mostly way too wordy and flowery language abounds because that's also the only way I can read it😂 I've got a collection of ficlets here from when I first started to write NSFW by request, and other assorted works.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that would be really cool!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Calli (@ianandmickeygallavich1) and I have been playing around with one (very slowly on my part) that you can find under the tag #arrow&calli write

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I phase in and out of quite a few but right now Gallavich

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I refuse to say I won't finish anything I've started posting lol, but there are a couple things in an old doc that will probably never see the light of day.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I usually say description, but I've been struggling with it lately. Funnily enough, I think dialogue has been working best for me even though I've traditionally been uncomfortable with it.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Overcomplicating things: the plot, the sentence structure, everything. If I can overdo something I will.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I've done it once and I think it worked out ok, but I avoid it in general because I don't want to screw it up.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Shameless! Pretty much the only, too.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death, both of which I've previously planned things for but never followed through on. I'd be open to a pretty wide range of others but haven't had specific inspiration.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I'm gonna not limit myself on this, because I haven't felt like I like any of it lately but I was looking through my own stuff for these questions and honestly had forgotten so many I'm kinda proud of? So...

My first fic, because it got me here: F*ck the Stars

My latest fic, because I enjoyed writing for the first time in a while: Countdown to Christmas

My zine fic and my spicy collab fics, just because it was so cool to be part of the group: One hundred hours (without you here) and Show me (to) your garden

And my experiment with a short magic AU from a different of POV, because it was fun if a bit haphazard: Methods of Magic

-

I know this has gone around a bit already, but I'll tag @celestialmickey @abundanceofnots @iansfreckles @sweetbee78 @whatthebodygraspsnot @wehangout @sickness-health-all-that-shit just in case🥰

[risu5waffles]

Not like we're TEN days late

i know, i know. Look, last night was busy. But here we are again. Together. In the soup.

This level is so nifty! i loved all the little mechanical bits and interactions. Also that you kind of criss-cross through it, being able to see some later sections from early on in the level. Me, i just eat that right up. It feels a little rude to make this one a race, just figuring out how to progress can be a bit of a timesink, tho' i can see that adding into replay value. Like, you play a couple times just to learn what the level expects from you, and then you start making real stabs at a good score. It's weird, because on one hand, that really is good level design, and indicates a certain amount of confidence in what you've made that you believe players will give it that kind of time. On the other, well, it's not really a the other hand, i just think most players won't.

This is one of those levels that's really cool in concept, but pretty rough in execution. Not really through any fault of the level itself, it's just heavily, heavily reliant on physics, and when things work, it's super nifty, and when they don't, the level just breaks. i had to play three times just to get the duck to land right in that early on bit, and that's nothing i had any real control over, just a watch and hope kind of thing. Also, if i'm being honest, the level does feel just a touch overlong, and i was pretty ready to give up all pretense of getting a good score by around the halfway mark. Still, i super appreciate the ambition, and all the work that must have gone into making it run.

Gods, i honestly kind of love these attempts to make something scary in early LBP. Maybe because this was previous to the style getting subsumed in meme/copypasta formats. i just like "this is my spoopy ghost hospital wiv guh-guh-ghosts" a lot more than "jumpscare wiv slenderman or evil Sanic." But look at me here speaking from almost 45. i lay you dimes to donuts if i'd been in my young teens around the spoopy-pasta boom in LBP(2? Was that really a big thing in 1?), i'd have been right there for all of it. i was not wivout my edgy pre-teen phase, if you can imagine (and i'm sure you can).

Exactly what it says on the tin, and a bit more or less. Still, i mean, it's not not cute, you know?

This is, no lie, an extremely impressive bit of kit for LBP1. Like, it is a solidly designed platformer, wiv a clear design and character aesthetic, that delivers on that promise in a very satisfying way. The biggest issue i had wiv it turned out to be a totally on my end thing. That midboss fight, the one that seems to go on forever? So, some of you might know that my hearing is pretty shoddy. Not, perhaps, needing hearing aids levels, but it's still pretty bad. Rewatching the footage and i finally noticed there's a "damage taken" sound effect from the paintinator kit that plays when you hit those buttons. i didn't catch that at all when playing, so, going purely off the visual cues, i thought you needed to hit the left and right side buttons once to move it to the next cycle? So, like, it pops up, you hit both the buttons, it goes down, repeat three times kind of thing. Really, i could have hit either of the buttons repeatedly to just kill the thing. That kinda sucked. Yo, that final boss, tho'? Beautiful design on that one.

We talked about Princess Tofu last week. i stand by my takeaway that it is charming and confusing in about equal measure.

The LBP1 vibes are off the chart wiv this one. It's actually a pretty decent level, all nostalgia aside, tho'. Nothing in here is really too challenging, but there is a lot of it, and it's mostly enjoyable throughout. i love the creator just randomly wrapping up the level wiv a roller coaster, 'cause that was a whole thing for a hot minute. Like tying an onion to your belt.

This one is super cute, and i definitely appreciated the bright and cheery vibe; but it just goes on for what feels like forever? Also, even tho' there's no risk beyond just losing progress, i kinda hated that bounce pad staircase thing. Just thinking i'd have to do the whole dang thing again if i screwed up, you know?

i felt salty wiv this one, not gonna lie. The title page claimed it would be a long level. That it would be challenging. It turned out to be a two minute walk through a cave. That wasn't. Even. Cardboard. That's just lying. They lied to me. Rude.

i feel kind of bad for the creator here. Up on the title page there's a note, like, "this used to be copyable, but it turns out the LBP community is a bunch of thieving shits" (paraphrased). Which, you know, is definitely a mood. It's a real shame making levels copyable so you could share and teach turned into people just repubbing the level wiv their name on it. We really are a bunch of thieving shits. This level's pretty neat tho'. It's a good collection of some relatively simple puzzles and obstacles, and i had a good time throughout. It is fairly drab, seeing as there's a complete lack of decoration, but i can understand that; if the intent was for players to copy this and see how it was put together to make their own versions), the creator wouldn't have wanted too much crufting that might hide how things fit together.

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

So that's that set of ten down. The series has been going for almost a full six months (if you include my backlog, which i absolutely am) on a daily upload schedule, and that's kinda wow? Maybe? i don't know, i have a hard time judging these things, but i'm going to go wiv "a little proud" on this one.

Had a bit of a night out wiv two of my coworkers, and that went mostly well. Honestly far better than i could have expected. Was, i think, the first time i've been to an izakaya since honeybunny and i split back in '18. Definitely since covid has been a thing. It was mostly empty, which, like, honestly, that's for the best what wiv the plague, but also very not an izakaya mood, and kinda extremely lonely. But i had a nice time talking to the two gals, and eating shitty izakaya food, and surprisingly not drinking (the surprising was the enjoying not drinking, not the not drinking itself; it helped only one of us drank, so there was none of that social pressure to have a beer or anything).

The biggest fly in the ointment was, holy shit and no joke, i was fucking exhausted. i'd been dead-tired and beat since i woke up that morning, and the workshift did not help. i ended up having to skedaddle round about 7.30p, and i felt like a bit of a shit, like they might worry i didn't enjoy their company when i actually rather did. But like, when i say tired, i mean like "i am so fucking tired i can't even focus enough to have dysphoria over my stubble" tired. i mean, that sounds nice, the not having dysphoria, but, like, also, not being able to feel my fingertips sometimes and constant yawning, and that's its own socially awkward, and also "if i pass out, people will panic, then how will i get home" legitimate concern.

[4shfur]

not really a vent im just talking about stuff so uhh no one feel obligated to look at this im just talking and its probably going to b extremely long and make no sense (because its late)

2022 is over honestly 2023 feels like its out of a dystopian film 😐 not very cool. i wish it was the 2010s anybody remember that? i loved that. stuff is changing a lot and idk if im ready for it. my new year resolution to do more stuff. like hang out with my friends more and do more things. idk about anything else. i want to do better in track but im not sure if i can. all my cousins are in track/cross country but theyre all better than me. my brother's only done cross country once but even hes better than me. its kind of petty to complain about it, idk i also wanna do better in school but i also hate school. its frustrating, i used to be really good at it but now im just average, it feels like. thats dumb to complain about too though because i know people who really struggle with school and im being sad because my brother got a better grade on the sat than me when he was my age. i think im a weirdo but not in a good way (transitioning topics) that sounds dumb but idk im not sure ive been thinking about it lately and i think maybe im actually really unlikeable. this isnt a weird internalized thing i think i might just be super annoying and idk how to fix it. its not on purpose. and idk how to ask my friends if they like me or not because thats super wierd????? and obv theyd say yes right bcs you cant just tell someone you dont like them. and im worriwd i come off as insensitive or pushy to ppl and they secretly hate but like?????? idk i dont ever know bcs i cant tell with people and i really dont mean to i really do like these people. i really dont wanna be that one annoying kid who keeps hanging out with people even though they clearly dont like them, but its not clear, and idk how to tell. also my new years resolution is to be nicer to people. bcs im kinda judgy about people (usually in my head but sometimes i talk mean about people) and i dont want to do that bcs usually im wrong and i dont have the whole picture and i just want to be nicer. (transitjon again) im actually doing better mentally i think, i guess i was just going through that whole "i hate my parents phase" everyone always talks about but i feel like i should be worrying about things more. idk its hard to explain but i wish i was worse. that sounds super fucked up 🤷 but im nostalgic for when i felt terrible all the time and hated myself, i guess. thats as simply as i can put it and idk whats up. i know people who are struggling and i want to help them but i dont know how and i hate that. ik this makes me sound super gross. but who knows. maybe ill get my wish and this year will be terrible or something. 21 days till for the future comes out though ✌️✌️✌️