#i just love this kind of lost and found media stuff

[brinconvenient]

Ok, good explainer here, but (and I can't believe I have to fucking go all filmbro on this, but I fell down a hyper-fixation rabbit hole on this a while back) what's pissing me off about all of this, is that everyone, including op, keeps giving Martin Scorsese credit as the director, when the title card clearly shows "Martin Scorsese Presents" (I think it's the snippet in the 3rd tweet, maybe the 4th) which means that Martin Scorsese was the DISTRIBUTOR.

Like. Ok, so Scorsese graduates film school roughly the same time as George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, Brian DePalma, and the rest of the Movie Brats, coming up with Steven Spielberg etc, launching the American auteur era of film, but smack in the middle of research for Mean Streets, Scorsese encounters this film by the mononymic Italian director, Matteo (JWHJ0715 was his member id number in Italy's version of the Director's Guild of America - pretty sure they stopped requiring directors include their guild number in the credits after Fellini refused for like 20 years and they just gave up trying to fine him. This is also what inspired Lucas to cow the DGA into submission on the credits at the end thing for Star Wars).

And Scorsese is just fucking blown away. Like, it's everything he's wanted to do since he went into film school. The symbolism, the interpersonal intrigue, the conflicting loyalties between love, honor and duty, the family you are born into vs. the mafia family that finds, accepts and trains you, the constant ethical tension between doing what's right for your morality and what's right for YOUR family vs. what's right for THE family.

I mean. Jesus, look at Goodfellas if you want to see how Scorsese tries to touch on SOME OF THAT when he finally feels like he knows enough to even attempt to approach Matteo's mastery.

Of course, that's not even touching on the Cold War intrigue about the Russian mob operating outside of Soviet Russia and the whole KGB subplot aspect of it all.

Anyway, so back to 1972. Scorsese is just absolutely blown away. The Godfather has just come out and America is mafia mad! Scorsese has had some modest hits. He thinks that Mean Streets is gonna be his big break, and he sees this movie. Not only does he dump his original lead actor to cast Robert Deniro because of it, he decides that he's gonna use the connections he's been making to get this film in front of American movie goers, to help finance the films he wants to make.

So he just, he just fuckin COLD CALLS Dominico Procacci and says "I know people and I can get this movie seen over here" and Procacci takes the meeting... Like, the balls on Martin!

But Procacci doesn't tell him that the real Russian mafia is already sniffing around. Anyway, Scorsese gets the distribution rights for the US and starts getting prints made and ready to distribute to prop up the mob-movie-fever so he can ride it when Mean Streets hits later in the year.

Like, the film was already in cans and at the theater, when the Russian mob knocks on Marty's door and have a very convincing conversation with him.

Next thing you know, all of the prints are back at the warehouse where, reportedly, the fucking Russian mob counts each and every single one. Then they toss the fucking master on the pile (I don't know where they got that, does anyone have that story??) and set it all alight, while Marty watches his future go up in flames.

But then they just fucking walk away and Martin Scorsese, with britches full, goes back to his car and doesn't even see the bag of cash in the backseat until the next day. Business concluded.

Gotta give Old Ivan credit. Just like Matteo depicted - they keep their fucking word. Martin Scorsese decided to stick to the Italian and Irish mobs in his movies from then on, and leave the god damned Ruskies alone.

Of course, none of them knew about the test prints back at the warehouse of the company that was hired to make the copies for American distribution. I could be wrong, but isn't the leading theory about the provenance of the Twitter copy that someone probably found one of those test prints in some corporate asset auction or something?

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I just hate seeing Matteo getting left out of the fucking conversation, especially now that arguably his greatest work is finally getting attention.

Scorsese has been basically fanfic AU-ing "Goncharov" his whole fucking career and now he's gonna get actually credit for the original? Not on my fucking watch, thank you.

for those who are confused: copyright strikes aren't working on twitter at the moment so people are uploading entire movies in threads of two-minute clips, and yesterday someone anonymously uploaded Goncharov (1973), a little known Scorcese movie long considered to be lost media due to being widely banned on its release for sympathetic depictions of Russian organised crime, and the original print being destroyed.

the thing about Goncharov is that until literally two days ago almost nobody alive has actually seen it, but being a lost work by a famous director, lots of people have written about it. For decades it's been a popular niche in-joke among film critics, directors, etc to pretend that you've seen Goncharov and make reference to it as if its plot, themes, characters etc. are common knowledge. Which meant that naturally lots of people who weren't in on the joke ended up also writing about Goncharov, pretending they had really seen it.

fast forward to the insane situation of the past few days: SUDDENLY EVERYONE HAS SEEN GONCHAROV. Or at least whatever work print twitter user JWHJ0715 got their hands on and uploaded in painstaking 2-minute chunks. film twitter, being good sports, immediately got in on the joke and started replicating the old "Oh yeah buddy everyone's seen Goncharov" jokes but this time with the real actual facts from the actual movie, to the delight and confusion of everyone who was familiar with the joke but hadn't seen the illicit twitter uploads.

anyway nobody knows who the uploader is or how they got hold of the movie, but basically somehow we are here:

[p0orbaby]

Parental Guidance

summary: you’re on the brink of a baby induced nervous breakdown and you need your wife to pull her finger out a little

warnings: just some postnatal tension, but it all works out

a/n: thank you for the request !

word count: 1.2k

-

You’re pretty sure you haven’t slept in three days. Or is it four? The baby’s a demon. This tiny, adorable, 8-pound entity that seems to thrive on your misery. His cries have melded into a never-ending soundtrack of despair, punctuated by your own hollow attempts at soothing him with a song that you made up on the spot about 48 hours ago and now can’t stop singing. It’s called “Please, for the Love of All That is Good and Holy, Sleep.”

You used to be a person. You had interests, hobbies. You read books that didn’t have the words “Goodnight” and “Moon” in the title. You once watched entire movies from start to finish without interruptions. You’re pretty sure you used to smile, and not the deranged, Joker-esque grin you’ve developed from trying to maintain your sanity while walking a screaming infant around the house at 2 a.m.

And where is your darling wife, Alexia, in all this? Nowhere to be found. Well, she’s at work, technically. Which, fine. Someone has to pay the bills, but wasn’t there some kind of brochure about shared responsibility? Maybe she’s left it in her locker, along with her soul. You barely remember what she looks like at this point. You could pass her in the hallway and just nod politely, like she’s the postman.

You’re doing your best. Really, you are. But the situation is like trying to fill a bath with a teaspoon. And maybe you’re filling the bath wrong. Maybe the bath is cursed. You’ve tried everything—rocking, singing, automatic bouncers, and some baby yoga thing that some well-meaning Instagram mum swore by but mostly just made you realise how tight your hamstrings are.

Last night, you were so desperate, you found yourself Googling “Can babies drink Nyquil?” You didn’t actually give it to him, of course, but the fact that you even considered it is telling. Your maternal instincts have been reduced to the level of a sleep-deprived zombie.

You call Alexia. She picks up after the third ring. You can hear the echo of her voice, so you know she’s in one of those soundproof meeting rooms, which would be useful for something other than work right now, like, say, your mental breakdown.

“How’s it going?” she asks, with a tone that implies she has absolutely no idea how it’s going.

“Oh, fine,” you say, with the kind of deadpan delivery that would get a standing ovation on a late-night comedy show. “The baby’s great. He’s taken up wailing as a full-time job. He’s really passionate about it, you know? Very dedicated. I think he’s trying to set a record”

You hear her exhale softly. “I’m sorry, bebè. It’s just i'm in the middle of some media stuff—”

“No, no,” you cut her off. “By all means, finish giving your opinions on that new stadium or whatever. I’m sure our baby will appreciate it when he’s, I don’t know, 18 and actually sleeping. Maybe he’ll get a job there. Or just stand outside and scream, since that seems to be his true calling”

There’s a pause on the other end. Not a comfortable pause. The kind of pause that suggests she’s realising you might not be entirely okay. The baby shrieks louder, and you realise you’re bouncing him up and down like he’s a basketball and you’re trying to make a buzzer-beater shot.

“I’ll be home soon,” Alexia says finally, her voice softer.

“Define ‘soon,’” you counter, adjusting your grip on the baby before he launches himself out of your arms and catapults into a new dimension where babies don’t need sleep. “Is it ‘soon’ like in 20 minutes, or ‘soon’ like in three hours when I’ve lost the will to live?”

Another pause, this one even worse. You’re pretty sure you can hear her wincing through the phone.

“An hour?” she offers weakly, and you let out a laugh that’s halfway between genuine and maniacal.

“Perfect,” you say. “I’ll just go cry in the airing cupboard until then. The baby and I have matching dark circles under our eyes now, so that’s fun. Maybe we’ll start a band”

You hang up before she can respond, not trusting yourself to say anything else. You’re exhausted, stretched thin, and the fact that your wife isn’t here to witness the madness is only making things worse. You know she’s working hard, that she’s doing her best, but in this moment, it feels like you’re on a sinking ship and she’s on shore, waving at you from a distance.

An hour later, when she finally walks through the door, you’re sitting in the middle of the living room floor, surrounded by a sea of baby toys, burp cloths, and what you think might be some sort of baby vomit, though at this point, who really knows?

You look up at her, and she looks back at you, and there’s a brief moment where you’re pretty sure she’s about to turn around and walk right back out the door.

Instead, she says, “I brought wine”

You blink at her, then at the bottle of wine in her hand. It’s a good bottle, too. The kind you used to drink before you had a baby and your definition of “good wine” became “whatever has the highest alcohol content and is closest to the till”

“Great,” you say, pushing yourself up off the floor with a grunt. “Let’s get the baby drunk”

She gives you a tired smile, but you can see the worry behind it. “Cariño…”

“No, it’s fine,” you say, holding up a hand. “It’s totally fine. I’m just saying, if we give him some wine, maybe he’ll sleep. Or at least pass out for a little bit. We can all get some rest. Or die. Either one sounds good at this point”

She sighs, setting the bottle down on the coffee table and coming over to you. She takes the baby from your arms, and you’re almost tempted to just collapse on the spot. Instead, you let yourself lean against her, just for a moment, just long enough to remember what it feels like to be supported by another human being.

“I’m sorry,” she says, and you can hear the guilt in her voice. “I know this is hard. I’ll try to be here more”

You nod, but you’re too tired to respond with words. Instead, you just rest your head on her shoulder and close your eyes, savouring the brief reprieve from the bedlam.

“Do you think he’s broken?” you mumble after a while. “Like, did we get a defective baby?”

Alexia chuckles softly, pressing a kiss to your temple. “No, he’s not broken. He’s just…expressive”

“Expressive,” you repeat, nodding slowly. “Right. So we got the model with all the extra emotions. Great”

“Extra emotions,” Alexia echoes, her tone lightening. “Maybe that means he’ll be a really good artist someday”

“Or he’ll just be really good at screaming,” you say, lifting your head to look at her. “You know, for someone who’s supposed to be on a team, you’ve been doing a lot of solo missions lately”

“I know,” she says softly, her eyes meeting yours. “I’m sorry. I’ll do better”

You let out a long breath, feeling the tension between you, and your shoulder, start to ease. “Okay. But if he screams one more time tonight, we’re selling him to the circus”

“Got it,” Alexia says with a smile, and for the first time in days, you feel like maybe, just maybe, you’re not going through this alone.

[lazycats-stuff]

been thinking of a batbro bimbo reader who isn't yet fully aware of his family's identitys but is a vigilante too. Thinking of him getting flirted on and the other's getting protective. Especially the younger siblings (Ex: Damian)

Oh Damian is going to kill them. Blade out and everything. Also, I think you thought about writing a himbo. Also, I don't know which gif to put so enjoy a storm lol.

Summary: (Y/N) is a bit stupid, but very nice. He is oblivious to a lot of stuff and his siblings are protective of him.

Warnings: (Y/N) is stupid and sweet at the same time, adorable (Y/N), protective everybody, especially Damian.

Bruce often wondered how (Y/N) managed to survive for this long. Looks are often deceiving, he knows that very well. He always expected the unexpected and (Y/N) was certainly something of that sort. You know how you expect big people to be cold and just rude over all?

(Y/N) is sweet beyond belief and Bruce wonders how he survived for so long as a vigilante. But there is another problem too. (Y/N) sometimes has problems seeing when he is being flirted with and overall, sometimes slow with catching up.

What kind of scared Bruce was the fact that (Y/N) still didn't... Kind of... Connect the dots with their identities. Bruce often kept an eye out on (Y/N) during patrol or missions. Always. Everyone also kept an eye on their brother.

They all loved (Y/N) and they all just wanted to make sure that he is okay. He is far too adorable and kind for this world. That is a conclusion that everyone has reached. Even Damian. Damian is the one who is the most protective of him.

(Y/N) found a way to channel his kindness. Bruce helped him set up a few organizations to help the youth on the streets, homeless people in general and one for mental health problems.

Well, more (Y/N) and Tim. (Y/N) is the face of those charities and Tim has agreed to help out behind the scenes. He never minded doing it for his brother and it's for a good cause so he didn't mind to help with the financial stuff.

(Y/N) has tried to do it on his own, but he just hated paperwork. Bruce and Tim sympathized with (Y/N), knowing how paperwork could be shit. Tim loved working with (Y/N). More so than with Bruce. But Bruce will never know it.

(Y/N) is often considered by Gotham City as their baby on social media and he is famous because of it. Well, because of his kindness and other moments that social media would say is iconic. Gotham loved him and (Y/N) would often go in his vigilante suit to see little kids all year round in the hospitals in Gotham and sometimes elsewhere.

(Y/N) loved doing it and loved seeing kids smile. Some were just so beaten down that by being in a hospital and seeing them smile so much made (Y/N)'s day.

Damian is often considered as (Y/N)'s bodyguard on galas. Of course, there are many people who consider (Y/N) handsome. Unfortunately, (Y/N) can't see those advances and that's where Damian has stepped in. Always.

If (Y/N) is going to be in a relationship, it's going to be with someone who looks past his looks. Many who tried to woo him did so because of his looks. Not because of him and personality.

Damian often stepped in, making excuses for (Y/N) as to why he couldn't. And then the man would be met with an icy glare.

Now, the public loved (Y/N) even more when they saw how he treated women. How respectful he is... The female population of Gotham City have lost their minds. There was a viral moment where (Y/N) was seen giving his umbrella to a lady after a heavy rain started. He was soaked afterwards, but at least he did something nice.

There is a plethora of responses from men, but once (Y/N) came out as gay, those men weren't afraid of not getting anymore dates. The women of Gotham were sad, but there was nothing that they could do.

Dick and Jason were also protective of (Y/N), but not to the degree where Damian is. Nowhere near. But did they always keep an eye on him? Yes. That's their brother, how could they not. They loved him, but they knew that the couldn't protect him like Damian does.

Damian is on a whole another level.

Galas are often considered the most stress inducing thing that happens a few times a year. Nobody liked to attend galas in the family, not even Bruce, but they had to due to appearances they had to.

(Y/N) didn't mind it. Now, galas are often the time when Damian was vigilant around (Y/N). Bruce didn't say anything to Damian about being protective. In fact, it made Bruce happy, knowing that he didn't have to be constantly vigilant over (Y/N).

Damian is his second in command when it came to (Y/N)'s protection. Damian is often subtle in the way he is vigilant. Often. He never outright stood next to (Y/N), but he was always close enough to step in.

Always.

As of now, (Y/N) was making his way to the bar to get a drink. Damian watched him from the buffet table. He watched everyone else in the room, seeing if anyone was looking at (Y/N). And he did find someone.

He was looking at (Y/N) with something in his eyes that made Damian pissed. He knew that look very well and it wasn't to talk to (Y/N) about his charities. Damian waited for a moment to see if his suspicions are right.

And when was Damian wrong? Never.

He wanted to scoff at the predictability of these guys. They are really predictable. He watched for a moment more, but when he saw how the man smiled at his brother, it was go time. He swiftly put some food on the plate, (Y/N)'s favorite and quickly went to the bar where the two were.

" Hey (Y/N), here is some food that I know you love. " Damian said, bringing (Y/N)'s attention to himself.

" Oh really? Thanks Damian. "

" No problem and Bruce told me he needs to talk to you. " Damian said and quickly glanced at Bruce who nodded subtly.

" Oh? Well, I will talk to you later then. " (Y/N) said as he turned to his 'suitor' and then took the food that Damian brought and then walked off. The moment that (Y/N) couldn't see them, Damian glares at the man.

" I wouldn't try it if I were you. " Damian said as he glared at the man.

" And what is a kid like you going to do? " The man said and Damian had to smirk at the arrogance.

" I know who you are. I know that your father wants to make a deal with my father. And I can always put a word in about you. And let me tell you, father is very protective of (Y/N) and he is not going to like the fact that you are just trying to sleep with him. "

The man tried to defend himself, but deep down he knew that Damian was spot on.

" Now, I wouldn't really try to flirt with him anymore. Not to mention, there are 3 more brothers that will kick your ass in different ways if you try to. " Damian said as he walked off, trying not to smirk once more.

He can't smirk or (Y/N) will see something. Who said that galas could be boring when you can threaten your brother's suitors? Dick and Jason gave him a thumbs up from a far. Tim and Bruce shook their heads quietly. Damian walked up to (Y/N) and gave him a quick hug.

Nobody messes with (Y/N) Wayne. Nobody.

[revelboo]

ARRRRRGHHH I love your sunstreaker and sideswipe stuff!!! Is this a series you’re going to be interested in continuing?

And you mentioned in the first fic that sideswipe consumed human media, so how aware are the autobots of humans sentience/sapience??

Oh, he knows humans are sentient. He just doesn’t care. For now, I’m pretty much passively continuing most of these. I need to write a part two for Cliffjumper, update IDW Megs, and the Lost Light stuff.

Can’t Finish What You Started Pt 6

IDW Sunstreaker x Reader, Sideswipe x Reader

• When Sunstreaker recharges, he returns to Kaon. Remembers the smell of rust, lubricant, and energon as he fights through the crowds of bigger bots. Getting jostled as he uses his body as a battering ram, a shield. Behind him, Sides clings to his hand, asking him to slow down. Not understanding that he can’t. They’re drawing too much attention again, but he’d wanted to stay in their current place just a bit longer. The abandoned building he’d found has several good exit routes, it’s harder for them to be pinned down. It’s safe, but once they start getting noticed, that safety falls away under his peds. Knows that if they are noticed, they’ll end up dragged into the mines by the enforcers. And knows what happens to the weak, the young there.

• The rasp of metal on metal has you lifting your head, tiredly watching Sunstreaker move around in his recharge and wondering if they dream. They must for him to restlessly shift like that. Almost like he’s gripped by a nightmare. Sideswipe had dropped you on Sunstreaker’s berth near his head and just left you. Watching the big, yellow Autobot’s head turn, a whisper of unease lifts through you. Because he might accidentally swat you off the berth, but also because whatever he’s fighting is taking a toll on him. You shouldn’t care, but it hurts your heart all the same. What do giant, alien robots have to fear? Standing, you approach him cautiously. Seeing a flash of his bared denta, as he vents slowly. Wrapping your arms around yourself, you sigh. This isn’t your problem, you’re being held against your will by him and his twin, but you still reach out and lay a hand against his jaw. And feeling like a complete fool, start humming the kidnapping jerk a lullaby.

• Venting sharply, he’s aware of a soft sound, of something warm against the side of his helm. It takes a moment to understand its Sideswipe’s pet leaning against him, humming softly. Like you’re trying to soothe him. Keeping his optics shuttered, he tries to shrug off the last vestiges of the dream. Hating the fear still tightly wrapped about his spark. That Sunstreaker is long gone, he’d had to grow up quickly, do things he’s not proud of to survive and, more importantly, ensure Sideswipe survived. It shouldn’t bother him anymore, but that soft humming eases the tension. And he tries to remember if anyone has ever tried to take care of him like this. Worried over him like you are even if he doesn’t need or want your pity. “Why aren’t you resting?”

• The soft question takes you by surprise and you fall silent. How long has he been awake? Listening to you humming to him like he’s a child needing comfort. Face flushing, you’re just glad he can’t see you where you’re sitting against him. “Do you guys dream?”

• “What kind of a question is that?” Growling under his breath, he huffs at the feel of you shifting against his helm. Hating that he doesn’t mind you there.

• Rolling your eyes as you wrap your arms around yourself, you resist the urge to rap against him with your knuckles, because there’s no telling how badly he’d take it. “I’m sorry, but you’re the giant, horror movie alien, how should I know if you dream.” When he just huffs, you glance up at the profile of his face. “Want to talk about it?”

• Primus, help him. “Not really.” What could you possibly understand about his life? About that fear he still wakes up with even after so much time has passed. Of being hungry and never knowing how long it’ll be before he can find enough energon for him and Sides. Always afraid. Always angry at how unfair it is. He doesn’t regret becoming an Autobot, doesn’t agree with how much to an extreme Megatron took his rebellion, but what he can never say out loud is that Megatron wasn’t wrong. The senate needed to be overthrown, that corruption running too deep to be cut out. What could you possibly understand about any of that?

Previous

[fl3shm4id3n]

Bₑᵢₙg ₐ ₛᵢₙgₑᵣ/ᵣₐₚₚₑᵣ ₐₙd ᵢₙ ₐ ᵣₑₗₐₜᵢₒₙₛₕᵢₚ wᵢₜₕ: ⱼₒₕₙₙy Cₐgₑ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴊᴏʜɴɴʏ ᴄᴀɢᴇ x ꜰᴇᴍ! ꜱɪɴɢᴇʀ/ʀᴀᴘᴘᴇʀ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Tw: Age gap (Johnny is 58 and reader is 28), mentions of fans/people being weird.

A/N: Reader is heavily inspired by Doja Cat, I may write more stuff about this. I'll read any feedback of any kind.

Masterlist

When the public found out that you and thee Johnny Cage were in a relationship, a lot of people lost it. Some assumed that the only reason he was in a relationship with you was because so that he could still be famous or whatever other things they say. All you both did was just ignore those people comments.

That wasn't the first time some of your so called 'fans' tried bashing you for the decisions that you make. Same with Johnny. He isn't with you because of your fame and money, you and him actually had chemistry.

You and him were made for one another believe it or not. You both were like soulmates, literally. They were times where you and Johnny shared a braincell.

The thing about Johnny, as much as self absorbed that he is. He actually a very caring and sweet person to be around. He also is very good at making people laugh and get them to be flattered. That's what made you fall for him. He is a himbo in a way, but he is your himbo.

He is very supportive of you. He knows how much potential you got and you should show share it with the world.

Johnny likes to listen to your music, he's the type to listen to all kinds of music. At times you may hear him humming to your music and even singing under his breath while he's doing something.

He may not know very much about music, but he'll help in any way you need help in. For example, if you're having a difficult time trying to come up with lyrics or a beat for your song, he'll try and help. He loves to help you in all ways possible.

If that doesn't work with your writers block, you'll stop what you're doing and do something with Johnny. Whether is watching a movie, cooking together, simply just lay together in bed, or whatever you can think of.

A thing that he likes about you, is how you call out your some of your 'fans' on their weird and toxic behavior. He's had his fair share of his strange over the top fans. But he's never really had the guts to tell them off. He liked that you did, that gave him some sort of courage for him to do so as well.

You and Johnny have blast reading comments and watching videos in how you have become 'satanic'. It was funny because it all started when you began to work on other projects, that aren't what you normally do. This stuff isn't new though, every time a music artist does something new and is successful at it, then they've become a 'Satanist'. That's old news, probably as old as Johnny.

He's goes to your concerts and even on tour with you. He becomes your personal assistant in a way, because he knows you like the back of his hand. He doesn't mind it at all, he enjoys being your personal assistant. (He takes your kisses as payment.)

He also makes it his mission to record all most everything about the concert, mainly you since you're the star of the show. His star.

Johnny buys your merch. He doesn't have a shame in wearing it. He'll wear it 24/7. Whether is a shirt, hoodie, sweater, socks. He wears it.

Most of his social media, is of pictures of you and him, sometimes mainly just you. He also posts in his Instagram story your posts about your new album or shows. He loves to show you off to everyone. (He's probably do that one Will Smith meme when he is with you in public. Specially when it comes to events.)

Johnny is a dog person, but if you have pet cats. He'd end up spoiling the hell out of your cats. He'd also refer to them as yours and his kids.

[fourswordsannotated]

akira himekawa are unbelievably cool.

soooo here's the thing. i was looking at akira himekawa's website on a whim and found a public blog, with posts that go all the way back to 2009. many hours of google translating later, and i've developed an even stronger admiration of these two women and their exceptional career as manga artists. they share so much in these posts about the creative process, their thoughts on social justice, their connections with nature, and their most major original story, gliding reki, which seems to have always been a passion project in the midst of commercial work.

from what i could gather, reki is unique in that they were determined to do it in full color. and they did it, because after reading about their career, it's clear to me that when these women set their mind to an idea, they make it happen. see also: they just recently produced and distributed their own art book, because no publishers were offering to do it in a way that pleased them.

their stated goals for reki were to make something more adult than their previous children's manga, taking place in a city, involving a lot of mechanical art, and featuring stronger romantic and self-described erotic subtext. good for them. before i get into the four swords-related stuff, i'm sharing what i could find on the internet about reki.

more under the cut, because there's quite a bit to discuss :)

not much that i could find on the blog specifically references four swords, but they have many fascinating insights about nintendo, the zelda fandom, and the franchise as a whole. i can't know for certain because this information was surmised from translated text, but it seems as if their manga with chibi link made them feel a little stifled, which is why they took a long break before returning to do twilight princess. it's not lost on me that even a work like four swords, which they may regard as not their favorite or best, still has inspired and brought together so many passionate, creative, and diverse people. this is especially sweet because it seems as if they met each other, and formed their creative partnership, because of a shared fandom interest of their own.

honda and nagano have shared their thoughts and feelings on this blog for more than a decade, and they have a lot of thoughts and feelings. throughout their entire career they've made commentary on work-life balance, their experiences as women in a male-dominated field, and their desire to create original art while simultaneously enjoying some commercial work as well. they are passionate about social justice, particularly re: women and indigenous people, and offer insights on aspects of culture and history and the state of the world that really could resonate with anyone. and they really seem to appreciate fans of their work, and emphasize repeatedly the care and thought they put into their manga in the hopes it will inspire and bring catharsis to readers. they love animals (especially wolves), being outside in nature, being nerds about art they enjoy, a certain subgenre of romantic manga that appealed to and empowered female readers in the 90's and 2000's, and traveling around the world to partake in activities like horse riding and falconry.

the coolest part is, they're still updating the blog to this day :) in fact they seem to have recently returned to it, reflecting that twitter is not their preferred manner of sharing things online. they seem very familiar with and fond of older-school blogging culture.

there's a lot more i could say here about my findings, some of which do pertain to... certain ships 💜🖤 . but i don't want my genuine appreciation for these authors to be overshadowed by that kind of conversation. in addition to a link to the blog itself, i'm including a few translated posts of interests, which you can interpret and incorporate into your perception of the media however you please. at the end of the day, it's a really cool gift that these artists have chosen to share so much over such a long period of time. by making their personalities, beliefs, and insights more visible to fans of their work, i hope it brings new context to the stories we already love.

a modern-day insight:

re: the zelda mangas. these are from several points throughout their career. please note that they have so many fond things to say about zelda as a franchise and their work on the mangas, especially regarding the way they've affected fans. i encourage you to look for yourself, on their blog and their other socials!

re: gliding reki

re: the creative process (and in the latter two, the fandom that seems to have inspired them!)

re: their two goofyass adorable tiny dogs that they dress up in outfits while also loving wolves like a lot, they love wolves (both domesticated and wild), they really love wolves

re: wolf day (every day is wolf day,)

re: indigenous rights

re: painting serious works on commission vs their manga. i can't know for sure exactly what it means, but it really does kinda hit

re: a fan and manga artist in training bringing them art and a note

and a moment from a twilight princess manga interview i found very sweet :)

okay. you've made it to the end. i know you're wondering. here you go. please remember that this is and always has been a public blog, and these posts are actually from 2009 and 2010. also please remember that the point of this post is not to cause or fuel fandom discourse, but to appreciate these authors and the things that they choose to express.

(also, this is the column they were referring to in image 1. it's FASCINATING. give it a read if you'd like!)

the dots are there. you're welcome to connect them.

thank you for your beautiful work and insights, honda and nagano. please never change.

[peasant-player]

I'm so happy right know I could cry.

A long time ago I lost every bit of hope to get back to drawing. Everything I started felt wrong.

I had a break from drawing for over 10 years. And before that I was struggling to get better and I was not happy :(

I see all the amazing art out there and I never used social media before,so I just looked and maybe liked something and then I stumbled over @thelien-art blog.

Who does this super cool challenge where you can draw a pic of her own in your style!!

And she is so nice to all of the artists who do that challenge despite them not being the best or having perfect styles.

So I thought I could do that challenge. And I did.

And she reacted to it! Kind and so wholesome.

And I had a new goal. To do my art and hope that I get some positive reaction,some chatting and to make someone happy with it.

I don't get so many views or hearts or reblogs and I don't think even 1 of my post has reached a 100 whatever. More important was for me

To find mutuals who are happy when I post something.

I don't need many I just wanted some who like me and my stuff.

And I found them. I want to give a special shout out to @erendur @serene-faerie @dfwbwfbbwfbwf @starshadeemilyart and of course @tar-thelien.

I would have stopped drawing like I always do but you guys headcanons, fun comments and interactions make me keep going !

And the Tolkien fandom especially the Silmarillion fandom is so freaking kind. I love being part of this community ❤️

[ahonice]

Please Don’t Go

Please Don’t Go

Luke Hughes x Fem Reader

WC: 6.1k

Warnings: cussing, mentions of partying & underage drinking.

Luke didn’t mean for it to happen, to fall in love with his best friend, but it did and now there was nothing he could do about it. You were insanely out of his league, he knew it, you knew it, and so did everyone else who saw the two of you walking around campus or saw photos of you on social media. Those who don’t know you probably assumed that you guys were dating, with the matching swimsuits over the summer, and sharing beds all the time, you guys did couple stuff together just as best friends, not as a couple. You were kind, funny, supportive, and beautiful.

So could anyone really blame Luke for falling for you? 

Your mother and Luke’s mother were childhood friends, they played lacrosse and hockey together growing up, both played for the USA women's team together as well, they were best friends. While your parents had kids much earlier than the Hughes did, your mother had always wanted a daughter and her first four attempts had ended in boys so after seven years she decided to give it another go and finally in early 2004 her little princess was born, you. For once your mom and Ellen, Luke’s mom, had kids that were close in age so you in result did everything together. There are images all over Luke’s walls of you in joint Halloween costumes from growing up over the years, you guys at picture day for school, when you had to say goodbye when he moved to Canada, all the pictures of you guys hugging in the airport once he was back for the summer. Your walls were a bit different, you just had one photo of the two of you on display, coincidentally it was the only picture Luke hated of the two of you. Taken when you guys were 3 and 2, you were in the bath together and you had matching bubble mohawks, it was a sweet photo but Luke always found himself embarrassed when he saw it. You loved it though.

Once Luke had moved back to America right before he started high school he wasn’t in New Hampshire anymore, they had moved to Michigan, you were still apart from each other but at least you lived in the same country again, and you still spent your summers with the boy, and his brothers and friends, at the lake house. You had never really been close with the friends and teammates that were brought over during the summer, just keeping to yourself and Luke, and the both of you had no issue with it, but things changed during the summer between your freshman and sophomore year. You were filling out your swimsuits better, you got your braces off, your acne went away, and with that you had a new found self confidence. Luke had taken notice of it and so did everyone else, you were suddenly invited out more and you hung out with everyone during the day and nights doing whatever the first suggestion with it, this time Luke had an issue with how you were spending your summers. He chalked it up to just being a protective best friend, but all those around him knew what it was actually about, everyone but you. 

Everyone first noticed it when Luke’s friends from his school stayed at the lake house for a week. His one friend, Vincent, seemed to have taken a liking to you. He always sat next to you, offered to make your plate or your smores for you, and always wanted to do whatever you wanted to do, and if no one else wanted to do what you suggested the two of you would do it just the two of you. It was sweet, you found it sweet having never really had a guy flirt with you before, Luke did not. He began sitting next to Vincent, or pulling you onto his lap whenever there weren’t any spots available other than the one Vincent would save for you. Luke would make comments about Vincent making your plates wrong or make them himself claiming “I know her better than you.” and when Vincent made the mistake of putting chocolate on your smore Luke just about lost it and began yelling at Vincent about how you were allergic and you could die. When you and Vincent would go off to do your own thing Luke would tag along, always trying to one up Vincent at whatever you were doing and embarrassing himself quite a lot. 

On the last evening all of Luke’s friends were at the house, you suggested that everyone ate outside because it was very nice, unsurprisingly they didn’t want to say it was too hot out for that so you told them you would be eating outside if anyone wanted to join you. Once you were out there you understood why they didn’t want to be out there, it was nearly 8pm and still nearly 90 degrees outside, but not wanting them to have a reason to say “I told you so” you stayed outside. Deciding to strip into just your bathing suit, which you usually only wore when you were tanning because it covered the least amount of your body but it was all you had that was clean.

Soon enough you heard the backdoor open and saw Vincent approaching you with a smile and some lemonade. “It’s hot out, I don’t want you getting dehydrated.” He said as he approached you.

“Thank you.” You said while taking a sip and immediately sighing afterwards, you loved lemonade more than life itself. 

You and Vincent quickly fell into conversation about how horrible the AP Geography exam was that you both had to take. 

“I probably got a one on it if I’m being honest with you, that class was so horrible.” Vincent said, causing you to laugh.

“Oh come on, have some faith in yourself, it really couldn't've gone that badly” You said, turning when you heard the backdoor open again, smiling at the sight of your best friend.

“What couldn’t have gone that badly?” Luke asked while approaching the table, sitting at the spot next to you and across from Vincent. 

“The AP geography exam. How do you think you did on it Lukey?” You asked him, confused when he coughs to cover up his blush and shame.

“Lukey here-” You cringed at the use of Luke's nickname in a sarcastic form, “dropped the class a few months ago because he was failing it. If he had taken the exam he probably would’ve gotten an impossible zero.” Vincent laughed, you did not. You knew how insecure Luke could be about academics.

Once Vincent had finished his food he went inside, you quickly told him you would meet him there in a little bit before turning towards your best friend.

“Lukey come take a walk with me?” You already knew the answer.

As you made your way towards the docks you turned to him.

“Why didn’t you mention that you were struggling in school? You know that I’m here for you right?” You questioned him, feeling him tense next to you as you grabbed his hand.

“I didn’t want to bother you.” 

“Nothing you could do could ever bother me Luke.” You said, “-unless you start being a blanket hog again.” You added poking him in his side, pleased with yourself as you heard him giggle and saw him smile.

“Let’s go inside, the boys weren’t kidding I am sweating my balls off.” You joked, laughing at yourself.

“Ew Y/n please don’t tell me about your non-existent balls.” Luke said, groaning, which just made you laugh harder. Running ahead of him, he was finally able to see what you had on, not having a good look before. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head before he took his shirt off, yelling at her to catch and put it on. 

“Lukey, will you ever not be overprotective of me?” You asked with no malice or poor intentions hidden in your voice. 

“No I don’t think I will.” He said back, his words hidden with meaning and promise.

Vincent walked out the back door again asking if you wanted to go get ice cream together.

“Yeah I would love to, Luke I’ll see you later tonight ok?” You smiled at your best friend and left before you could hear him whisper “Y/n please don’t go”.

***

“So have you decided where you are going to college yet?” Luke asked over the phone.

You were having your weekly facetime, there were about three months left until your graduation and you didn’t know where you were planning on going. You had applied to the University of Michigan a few months back, but you hadn’t heard anything back yet so now you have to start considering some other options.

“Not yet Luke, I’m still holding out committing anywhere in hopes that I get into Michigan. I have started considering other options. What do you think about NYU? Or Ohio State?” Luke’s opinion meant the most to you, he had to have been approving of where you go to school just as much as your parents, probably even more. 

“What! You can’t go to Ohio State Y/n, you can’t be my enemy.”

“Luke, I wouldn't become your enemy just because I go to your school’s rival.”

“That is exactly what you would become. NYU is a great school, but it is too far from me.”

“Luke we have been surviving off of seeing each other only during the summer, I think we can continue doing that.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to. Y/n I want you to be at the same school as me again, even if it’s just for one year before I move out to New Jersey.”

“You do realize that if I go to NYU it would just be one year apart before we live like half an hour away from each other.” You suggested hoping that would spark some approval in him.

“Or, and hear me out on this one, you come to Michigan-”

“Ugh Luke.” You groaned, interrupting him.

“-let me finish. You come to Michigan for your first year, and then you transfer to NYU and live in New Jersey with me.”

“That is tempting, but I have to be accepted into Michigan first.” You explained.

“The second you get your letter you facetime me ok? I need to be there with you when it happens.”

You nodded before the conversation switched topics, you really wanted to get into Michigan.

***

It was finally time, you had received a letter in the mail from the University of Michigan regarding whether or not you had been accepted, and you had never been so scared. You quickly facetimed Luke, and received no answer, so you continued to call, but still you were met with a reflection of a very disappointed looking you and “facetime unavailable” shown at the top.

“Mom, I can't open it without Luke on the phone.” You told her after she asked what you were waiting for.

“We’ll film it for him, come on sweetie open it up. Your brothers are here for you, ok hun? Open it up.”

You hesitated, for a long time, your mothers patience wearing thin.

“Y/n if you don’t open it right now I will do it for you.”

“Mom let me just call him one more time, I really don't want him to miss this.” You pleaded. Your mother sighs in response. Her way of saying yes, so you quickly thanked her while walking to the washroom and called Luke again, and once again it was denied. The tears in your eyes were hard to push down, but you did it and walked out giving a sad smile to your mom,

As soon as she hit the record button on her phone you began shaking, Michigan was your dream school, you wanted to be with Luke and Luke wanted you to be with him, and Michigan would do that.

You ripped open the envelope and started reading, mumbling the words until you got to the line.

“I GOT IN! MOM I GOT IN!” you yelled, jumping up and down as your parents ran up to hug you, your brothers yelled in congratulations. Soon confetti cannons were being popped and a cake was brought in front of you.

“What would you guys have done if I didn’t get in?” You joked causing your family members to laugh.

“We knew you would sweetie, but we have one more surprise for you. You don’t have nearly enough Michigan gear so we got you some, they’re all over your bed. Go look.” Your mom patted your leg to send you off. As you stood up you didn’t notice your brother following you with a camera.

“Surprise!” Is what you heard as you opened up your bedroom door, your eyes quickly focusing on your best friend sitting on your bed with what looks like one hundred Michigan sweaters, shirts, hats, etc. 

“LUKE!” You were sure your voice would be sore tomorrow with all the yelling and screaming you’ve been doing, but you didn’t care. 

You were quick to jump onto your bed and tackle him into a hug, the two of you landing on your sweatshirt covered pillows.

“I can’t believe it. we’re finally gonna be together again.” You whispered in his ear.

“I’m so proud of you Y/n.” He whispered back, leaning back and staring at you.

That was when he knew he was fucked.

***

You just finished your first week of freshman year at the University of Michigan and of course you had to celebrate. Luke informed you about the party that the hockey team was throwing to celebrate syllabus week being over and to welcome in the school year. Luke told you he would pick you up at 9pm, saying he needed you there early for the pregame and so you could meet his teammates and friends before the party actually started.

You decided to wear a pink corset-bustier type bodysuit that made your boobs and waist look amazing with some black ripped jeans and your white air forces. You straightened your hair and applied your usual going out makeup before Luke texted you that he was outside, you did your final touches by adding the necklace with your name on it that Luke had gifted you for your 18th birthday before you walked out your dorm to the front of the building.

“Woah, you look…wow.” Luke was speechless once you entered his car, his eyes literally never leaving your chest, you giggled at his flustered state.

“Eyes up here Hughes.” You said faking anger, but he saw through it and began laughing as he drove off to the house.

***

“You have met Dylan, Mackie, Ethan, and Mark at the lakehouse, but this is Luca and Adam, brothers, Seamus, Rutger, and Johnny. They’re all freshmen like you, and there are a couple more who are gonna be arriving soon, but everyone this is Y/n.” You smiled at all the boys, giving a way. You were suddenly very aware of how much of your skin was showing by not only the breeze of the night, but also by the eyes of a few of the boys who were shamelessly staring. “Alright guys, we are gonna go up to my room. We’ll be down once the party starts.” Luke said, glaring at the boys for making you uncomfortable. 

“Wrap it before you tap it Hughes!” Dylan shouted, making everyone laugh, but Luke.

The short trip to Luke’s room was silent, neither of you speaking until his door shut.

“I’m sorry about that.” Luke was the first to break the silence.

“Oh it’s fine Lukey. The joke was funny and I’m wearing a shirt that shows off my boobs, of course people are gonna look.” You laughed, trying to ease the tension. You could tell Luke was angry, his jaw was clenched and he was gripping his phone so tightly his knuckles were turning white. 

“Lukey, seriously it’s ok…just settle down. Go lay down, I’ll join in one second.” You said patting his biceps before turning around and leaving the room.

You went downstairs to get water for yourself and Luke, but you had to figure out where they kept the cups first. 

“What the fuck, do they drink out of solo cups?” You questioned yourself.

“We actually do, we don’t like doing dishes.” A voice came from behind you. You turned around to be met with a face that you couldn’t put a name to.

“Oh that is wonderful, where do you keep the solo cups then…” You trailed off, hoping he would get the hint and introduce himself. 

“Frank. And you are?” You smiled, feeling less guilty that you were also a stranger to him.

“Y/n, I’m Luke’s friend.” He nodded, reaching forward to shake your hand, which you gladly accepted, blushing.

“Well I can guarantee that all the solo cups are out back right now, but I can bring you out there. We’re pregaming with pong, and I need a partner.” Frank’s offer made you blush more.

“Yeah that would be great, just give me a second. I’ll just meet you out there.” You told him before turning to go back up the stairs.

Once you reached Luke’s room you could hear the opening credits to your favorite movie, Luke probably put it on for you.

“Hey, I turned on The Grinch for us to watch while we wait.” Luke said as you entered the room, not shutting the door behind you.

“What are you doing? Shut the door. I don’t want the guys making fun of us for watching Christmas movies in August.” He finally turned towards you as he finished his thought.

“Lukey I’m gonna go out back and play pong with everyone to pregame for the party, you should come join.” You told him.

“Oh. Um yeah sure give me a second.” He said, a little defeated which made you feel guilty. “-are we gonna be partners again?” His question only makes you feel worse.

“Actually I’m already partnered up with Frank. I just met him, he is super cute and sweet by the way, but I think Dylan still needs a partner.” You smiled at Luke trying to hide the blush on your cheeks from talking about his cute teammate.

“You know teammates are off limits Y/n.” Luke said sternly. You just sighed in annoyance as a response, you never understood why Luke was so adamant on that rule, but you never confronted him about it and just respected his wishes.

“Well I’m going outside, so I’ll see you there.” You said coldly, not even sparing him a glance as you walked out of his room.

***

It was about 11:30pm and the party was at its all time high, you had never seen so many people in such a cramped space before. The party had moved inside after about 11:00 because the night chill was becoming a bit too much, and the neighbors had already called in a noise complaint that night. 

“There are way too many people in here, I’m shocked the floor hasn’t caved in on itself” A voice whispered in your ear, you quickly turned around to find yourself face to face with…

“Frank, hey. I haven’t seen much of you tonight.” You said smiling, your noses were just centimeters away from each other, but there were so many people in the house you couldn’t even separate from him if you wanted to, so it was a good thing you didn’t want to.

“Well I’m not a party guy at all so I have been hiding outside all night and I’m pretty sure the hairs on my arms are never gonna stop being raised.” He joked, making you laugh.

“Well I know somewhere we could go for some more privacy.” You hadn’t meant for it to come out as suggestive as it did so you quickly back tracked. “Nothing inappropriate or anything, but I could just use time away from all these people and I can see that you do too.” You offer him a shy smile, still blushing from your previous statement. 

“Well then lead the way m’lady.” 

***

You had taken Frank up to Luke’s room, Luke had told you earlier that “if you need some time to yourself or you just wanna be done for the night, go into my room.”  so you were taking him up on his offer because you were very overwhelmed with everything happening downstairs. 

“Do you wanna watch a movie or something?” Frank asked you while searching for the remote to Luke’s tv.

“Yeah that would be great, I’m gonna use the restroom quickly, just put whatever you feel like watching on.” You told him before exiting the room and walking to the bathroom down the hall.

Once you were back in Luke’s room you saw Frank on Luke’s bed and the opening credits of a movie I didn’t recognize.

“What movie did you put on?” You asked, getting situated in the spot next to him. He wrapped his arm around you before answering.

“Barbarian. It’s a horror movie that I’ve been meaning to see, but I haven’t really had the time to. Hope my choice is ok.” 

It definitely wasn’t, you could not sit through scary movies. No matter what it was about you always had nightmares after watching them, but you didn’t let Frank know. You decided it is just best to let him enjoy the movie he obviously wanted to watch so badly.

***

You were halfway through the movie, when you started to get really scared. At one specific jumpscare you let out a little yelp and hid yourself in Frank's shoulder feeling tears threatening to fall from your eyes. He was smiling at you until he heard you sniffle and felt some drop on his sleeves.

“Hey what’s wrong? Are you ok?” He asked frantically, neither of you noticing the bedroom door opening.

“What’s wrong is that you forced her to watch a horror movie, and she is obviously not ok, look at her.” Luke yelled as he registered what was going on.

“Shit Y/n I didn’t know, why didn’t you say anything? I would’ve turned something else on.” Frank said while looking into your eyes, wiping your tears as they came down.

“Get out of my room Frank, and leave Y/n alone from this point forward.” Luke said after yanking the freshman off his bed and pushing him towards the door.

“Luke, there is no need for that. He didn’t know.” You said, defending Frank. Luke had a habit of banning people from your life and it always bothered you. 

“Frank lets go, we’ll walk back to campus together.” You said before storming out, ignoring your best friend's pleas for you to stay. 

“Y/n please don’t go.”

***

Like all other times in your friendship when you and Luke got into an argument, you two just ignored the actual issue and acted like nothing had ever happened. It was just a waiting game before everything would spill over.

A couple months later you were preparing for an exam. The hockey season was starting tonight, you wanted to finish your study guide for your growth and development class before tonight because knowing the boys they were gonna force you to party with them tonight.

“Are you wearing my jersey tonight?” Luke asked the second you picked up his phone call, it’s times like these that you appreciate him not liking facetimes because you already know he would pick a fight because of you rolling your eyes. 

“Luke, I already told you I left your jersey at home by accident, I’m just gonna wear a Michigan shirt or something.” You told him, sighing because you knew what was to come.

“Why haven’t you had your mom send it out here yet? You always wear my jersey, I don’t see how you could’ve just forgotten it.” Luke told you with an annoyed attitude.

“Maybe because I’m busy Luke, getting your jersey sent to me isn’t the only thing on my mind these days. Do you not understand that I have to get good grades to stay in school? Not everyone gets a free pass because they’re an athlete.” You told him, getting ready to end the call. He hated when people brought up his athletic scholarship, you knew this because you know how touchy the subject of grades and school is for him, but you still brought it up at times to make a point, as shitty as that sounds. “I have to go Luke, I’ll see you after the game tonight. Good luck.” You hung up the phone right after, not giving Luke the chance to speak, before going back to your work.

***

“Do you wanna wear my jersey tonight? I know you don’t have one of Luke’s.” Frank asked after you had come over to his dorm to help him with his math homework.

“Yes! I probably shouldn’t sound so eager yikes, um yea that would be cool” You said immediately embarrassed by how quickly you agreed.

Contrary to Luke’s wishes you and Frank became very close, he was your closest friend at Michigan other than Luke. 

Frank got up to his closet to grab a spare jersey for you to wear tonight.

“I should probably get going, but I’ll see you tonight. Make sure to sit by the glass so when I score I can dedicate it to you.” He winked before walking the two of you out of his dorm.

***

After the game you stayed around to wait for all the guys, Frank was the first to come up to you.

“Hey, did you have a good time?” He asked, hugging you in the process.

“Yea it was great, I got to meet some of the guys’ girlfriends and they’re all super sweet. It’s nice to talk to people that aren't male hockey players sometimes.” You said laughing.

“Hey we’re not all that bad, but it’s great that you had fun. Did you see the goal I got?”

“Yea, I also saw your celly. That heart was pretty cute, who was it for?” 

“Oh, just some girl.” He laughed out

“Lucky her.” You joked poking his side.

Your conversation was cut short by your best friend grabbing your that was resting on Frank’s shoulder.

“Hey Lukey, you played great!” You told him, moving to hug him. He just smiled at you, not returning your hug, which sent an embarrassed blush to your cheeks.

“Y/n can I talk to you for a second? Alone.” He wasn’t asking, he was telling you. His last word, alone, was directed towards Frank, who just nodded awkwardly and gave you a hug goodbye, whispering to tell you to find him at the party tonight. As you let go of each other Luke grabbed your wrist and pulled you outside, away from everyone else. 

“What the fuck Y/n?” Luke yelled at you, only furthering your confusion.

“What Luke? What could I have possibly done now?”

This was becoming a common occurrence, you doing something to piss Luke off that you never meant to do or even know what you did in the first place and him getting mad at you and yelling at you before going back to pretending like nothing was wrong, you were pretty fucking sick of it. 

“Don’t play dumb, you’re literally wearing Frank’s jersey.”

“Why is that an issue Luke? I don’t have one of yours and Frank offered me one because I had nothing else to wear. He was being a good friend, unlike you have been since I got to Michigan. Do you not want me here or something Luke? Why are you being such a dick towards me?” You shouted.

“You don’t have one of my jerseys because you purposely didn’t bring one, how did you remember to bring both Quinn and Jack’s jerseys, but forget mine? It was obviously intentional.” He said, his ears turning hot as if steam was about to escape from them.

“Do you understand how insane you sound right now Luke? Are you hearing yourself?” 

“Frank only wants you to wear his jersey so he can claim you as his, don’t you see the issue there Y/n?”

“Are you not doing the same thing Luke? You always make me wear your jersey, how is this any different?” 

“Because it- it just is Y/n.”

“No I want an actual answer Luke, or just admit that it is the exact same thing. Your choice.”

There was a tense silence between you two, minutes passed with neither of you saying anything. 

“Well whenever you’re ready to have an actual conversation with me let me know, until then I don’t want to speak to you. No more pretending like nothing is wrong, I want an actual reasoning behind all of this before we can be friends again.” And with that you turned around and walked towards your car to drive back to your dorm, no longer in the mood to party.

***

Two weeks had now gone by since you last spoke with Luke, both of you too stubborn for your own good. You weren’t gonna start the conversation with him, because you weren’t the one who needed to explain themselves. 

Luke was going crazy, he had never gone longer than a few hours without at least texting you, but two weeks of radio silence was enough to drive him mad. His game was off, he was getting more penalties and less playing time then ever in his life. He was taking his anger out on others too, especially Frank. The poor freshman feared the youngest Hughes, walking on eggshells around him, afraid of what he was gonna do next. 

At the three week mark, you were getting restless. Was Luke seriously never gonna speak to you again? It didn’t help that you were going back to New Hampshire for winter break in a few days, which meant you wouldn’t even have the option to see or speak to Luke in person for over a month. 

“Mom I don’t know what to do, he won’t talk to me. I know I’m the reason this whole thing happened, but I had a reason to get so upset right? I’m not blowing the situation out of proportion?” You had called your mom for advice, the only friends you had in college were tied to the hockey team in some form and you didn’t want your personal business being on display for everyone you knew so you decided to call your mom, and then Luke’s mom, who was basically your mom as well. 

“You did nothing wrong sweetie, Luke is the one who started the argument, and apparently does it often from what you’ve told me. I say you don’t initiate the conversation, you need to hold your ground and make him understand that this behavior goes on no longer.” 

You smiled even though your mom couldn’t see it.

“Now tell me about Frank.” She said giggling.

“Mom.” You said sternly before cracking a laugh yourself. “He is really cute, like really really cute, and he is so kind and we’ve been hanging out like everyday since the beginning of the year.” You started, and continued to tell her all about Frank before you both decided to call it a night, promising to keep her updated on Luke before saying goodbye.

***

The next few days flew by and soon enough you were waiting for your uber to take you to the airport. As you stood outside your phone began ringing, your heart sped up when you read the contact calling you.

Lukey Pookey <3

You dropped your phone in surprise and scrambled to pick it up and answer it before it went to voicemail.

“Hello?” You didn’t mean for your voice to sound so weak and vulnerable, but it did, he didn’t answer for a little bit so you spoke up again. “Are you finally ready to talk about what happened? Or should I be expecting another call from you after another three weeks of the silent treatment?” You knew your words were hurtful, you meant them to be.

“Where are you? I want to talk.” He answered.

“Luke I’m about to get into an uber to take me to the airport, can we talk over the phone?”

“No, this has to happen in person. Any chance you can switch to a later flight?” Luke asked, a little hope in his voice, which quickly deflated when you answered.

“Luke I’m not changing my flight just to talk to you, do you wanna meet me at the coffee shop in the airport? That would probably work best for me.” You asked, Luke agreeing and telling you he would see you there.

Your uber arrived shortly after and you texted your mom to update her.

To: Mommy💜

Hey mom, just got in my uber and I’m on my way to the airport where Luke is meeting me to talk.

To: Mommy💜

I’ll let you know how it goes, hopefully we will still be friends afterwards.

From: Mommy💜

Alright princess, good luck with Luke. Love you sweetie.

***

You arrived at the airport and went through baggage drop off and checked into your flight before making your way to the starbucks. You saw Luke sitting in a booth already, waiting for you with your go to drink and a croissant. 

“Hey you beat me here.” You said approaching him, he looked up and gave you a very fake smile.

“Why don’t you sit down.” You quickly took a seat and waited for him to continue.

“I’ve been thinking these past couple weeks, about everything that happened and why I reacted the way I did, and um wow this is a lot harder to say out loud than I thought it would be, but I realized why I’m so protective over you, and why I want you to wear my jerseys and my jerseys only, and why I hate seeing you with Frank and why I hated seeing you with Vincent and any other guy like every.” He paused to let out a shaky breath. “It’s because I’m in love with you Y/n, you are the person I wanna be with for the rest of my life. I love everything about you, these past three weeks without you have been hell and it made me realize that I never wanna spend any time away from you ever again. I don’t want to be your best friend anymore, I wanna be your boyfriend, I wanna be with you. I love you so much Y/n.” He let out a heavy sigh once he was done talking, a weight was lifted off his shoulder as he finally looked at you smiling. His face fell when he saw your expression.

“Luke. What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to be funny or something? Because it’s not working.” You were shocked, if he was being honest then your best friend just ruined your relationship.

“No, Y/n I’m serious, I love-” You cut him off.

“Luke, stop it. Why are you doing this? Are you trying to make me feel guilty for not talking to you?”

“No Y/n I’m telling you this because I love you, so much, and I need you to know and I need to know that you feel the same way.” Tears started building up in his eyes as he looked at you .

“Well I don’t. Luke I don’t feel the same way and I think I should go.” You stood up from your seat.

“No Y/n stop please don’t go.” He begged.

“Have a great break Luke, I think it’s best if we don’t talk for a little bit, until this all blows over and we can talk about everything. I’ll miss you.” You walked out of the coffee shop, ignoring the sounds of Luke’s sobs and his heart breaking.

To: Mommy💜

Hey mom, I just finished up my talk with Luke and it didn’t go very well. I think our friendship is permanently ruined, I’ll tell you more about it when I’m home. I love you. 

note: sometimes confession fics where the guy is an asshole and then the second he confesses suddenly everything is ok and they act like nothing ever happened really piss me off. so here is this angst fic and a reality check for everyone. love ya have a great day!

[redmelawashere]

Alright I got woken up at like 3 AM with FORBIDDEN MEMORIES™️ and remember that MelloNear literally had a fandom video game. What other fucking fandom has SHIPPING VIDEO GAMES.

I think it just hit me since recently I've been thinking a lot about how fandom spaces shift over time (especially as we have re-boots, live-actions, or other media that helps reinvigorate fandoms like currently with A:TLA) and honestly, MelloNear has had so many ups and downs and like…as someone who was in this fandom WAY too young and grew up with it I want to see how many people on tumblr, who were there in ye olden wild west days, remember the stuff I do and also for those of you who weren’t around back then but are big now, here’s the insane history that I remember:

1 - LiveJournal (LJ) and the LOST FICS LJ was initially one of the better places to find fics – but a lot of authors jumped ship when FF.NET started to take over and for other reasons that were before my time. Finding fics on LJ that haven’t been deleted was/is hard and their UI is trash I never could get a grasp on it. (The irony of FF.NET now being dead and people jumping ship to AO3 and Tumblr lol.) Astyzia_ii used to write really fucking good MelloNear stuff there. She was one of the first people I ever read that had insanely good Near characterization. Unfortunately, her account no longer exists. But some of the things she wrote were things like:

Near being a total brat (at the time, no one else was really writing Near like that. Including Near lying to Mello about being assaulted by other children at Whammy's, just generally putting him in his place, etc.)

Mello painting Near’s nails black (then this trope just went off on FF.NET and everyone was writing fics like that - I really like when stuff like this comes out of fandom)

Mello finding out that Near, despite being in love with him, thought Mello was so unapproachable he had sex with someone else (implied Giovanni) and Mello is basically confronting Near about it at a time when Near was treated as a prudish virgin in fandom

Finding each other in the apocalypse AU

Mello and Near being like high school sweethearts (salthearts?) and Mello wanting to go to a University in the BIG CITY but would ignore the offer if it meant staying with Near (and super tragic fic too. They pull over on a freeway after an argument about it and then Near just straight up gets hit by a car after pushing Mello out of the way 💀 and you don't know if Near survived)

And obviously, many more really creative AUs

2 - KurosakiAkane and VIDEO GAMES Akane, as Spanish artist and the original “cursed moons” drew some of the most viral and prolific MelloXNear doujinshis and EVEN MADE FANDOM VIDEO GAMES. Like I can’t believe I forgot about this. Akane literally made fandom yaoi video games and they were SO GOOD. What other fandom has shipping video games you’d think it’d be the norm I can barley wrap my head around it

Pretty sure her website (www.cursedmoons.com) is down so you can’t download them directly from there or see her full doujinshis anymore

Her DeviantArt account is still live so you can see some stills and teasers from her doujinshis.

Her LJ account is also still live but more so as an archive.

Her first game “D.nD Poisoned” can be downloaded here if you scroll to the bottom (but I haven’t checked the link so be wary…) but it was basically taking place during Whammy’s days, and yes, Mello has a knife cause he’s unhinged since those were just the times ig.

“D.nD Infection” was her second, unfinished game, which would have been when they were mid-Kira investigation post Mello blowing up the base. I found a website that hosts the short demo she released.

Her games literally inspired a new wave of AUs for the fandom in the fic department and she was just a titan who kept everyone together on all corners of the internet. When she decided to leave the fandom in like 2011 after 2010’s great FF.NET purge of M rated fics it kind of felt like the beginning of the end.  

3 - Doujinshis (fandom comics) Most doujinshi artists had their own websites and MANY were Japanese / Chinese translated into English (pretty sure Akane was the first one to create them exclusively in English...). There are so many archived on YouTube that I used to watch all the time. You can even still find some of Akane’s doujinshi’s on Youtube like:

January

Lost Innocence

The Last Birthday

Game Over

Chocolate Kiss

One of the ones that was most impactful on me was this one that I cannot remember the name of, and it wasn't by Akane, but basically Mello, freshly 16 trying to stay alive, resorts to prostitution, and the big revealer at the end is he’s just kind of left there, alone, opens up his hand and there’s a little white puzzle piece he stole from Near and pretty sure the last line was something along the lines of “no one else” and I just 😭

4 - Lost Art and the Famous Water Colours

A lot of that water-colour MN art you see floating around was from, if I'm not mistaken, a Chinese MelloNear artist and their website I think was just "w" or something and she had created 100s of MN art.

5 - ForbiddenSoul562 and FF.NET Beef and Fan Fic Rap Battles

Soul was one of the BIGGEST creators on FF.NET (and luckily, she’s still active both on FF.Net and here on tumblr!) I remember when she had like a fic battle with another creator FragilePuzzle (who is also on tumblr and active – but they post M-ll-M-tt stuff now and pretty sure they deleted all their MelloNear fics... Their active handle on tumblr is mizzmellos I think? Anyways, they’ve also switched from writing to art and its really good!) And there was like a whole “vote who you think wrote the better fic” and it was like Clash of the Titans. Shame that Fragile, as they used to go by, doesn’t like MN anymore since they also wrote a lot of really good stuff. When Fragile stopped posting and Soul went on an extended hiatus that also felt like another beginning of the end loooooool (pretty sure Soul and Mzz had an interaction here on tumblr reminding each other of each other and I had so much social anxiety I was like headbanging watching this interaction go down and if I'm remembering correctly it started cordial but didn't really end well but I could be 100% misremembering the tone of the interaction but if you dig through Soul's tumblr you can probably find it or mzzs for that matter.) 6 - Kids Writing Dark Tropes

I feel like I should make another post and just…describe how Mello and Near were portrayed individually and in a relationship during that time since it was honestly insane. Very toxic, very star-crossed lovers who revolve around each other but are devastating together and are healthier a part, and so much more. I’m much happier with where their characterization and how the fandom has evolved currently from those times lol. But I think over the years I’ve also realized how fucking young all of us were (I was literally like…13 consuming all this media which retroactively, I’m like YIKES 18+ is 18+ for a reason and I even realized some of my favourite authors / creators who I thought were way older than me or like “cool teenagers” were also close to my age and not that much older so no wonder we were all writing crazy unstable relationship shit like that - which can be fun! - but this was literally all. the. time.).

Honestly that’s all I can remember for now but what a wild ride. I know FF.NET is like, a super hard platform to use now (and just gets worse every day 🙃) but if anyone wants some MN fic recs from the vault lmk and I’ll make a post about it.

-Redmela

[theoldoor]

Some Talia + Post-talia content with these bumsOUUOUHOUHUH IM FUCKKIN GSIISSIICKCK

During Talia, Fenrir had lost the ability to read considering his worsening eyesight and lack of interaction with literary medias. He used to teach the kids at the orphanages and people of his own clan, but now he’s with the majority of those who can’t read. (HEADCANON PART) It’s something Fenrir was very insecure about. He grew up lacking education and had to teach himself a lot of things through the library of the estate he was held in and he felt behind his peers for that. He speaks when he needs to around those he’s not close by and when he does he makes sure to check the thing he was about to say in his head multiple times so that he wouldn’t say the “wrong thing.” When someone pointed out an information, whether if they’re right or wrong, Fenrir’s first instinct is to believe them as he doesn’t think he’s smart enough to confirm whatever he was saying, even if it was common sense.

Aventurine came around, he was also one to teach himself a lot of things too considering his background. But Aventurine had his eyesight and he still had papers and stuff from the things he brought along for the Talia mission - he could still read. (HEADCANON PART) The reason why Fenrir knew how to read a few parts at the end of the quest, despite claiming to be illiterate the whole thing maybe was because Aventurine taught him to read along the way - accommodating his impaired vision too.

HERMIA’S CONCEPT WAAA I LOVE HERRRR she’s so >:^ she’s like my niece but i do have to focus on building her character more. she’s more fleshed out in combat and abilities more than loreeee. after im done with her ill move onto stella and bronte lol. she’s tuxedo cat themed, hence her hair and the faux cat ears + hetero chromia.

Fenrir is popular with the kids of Avidity for his gentleness, patience and domestic nature. It was something he brought alongside him from his upbringing. He was born into servitude and a “domesticated dog will always be haunted by the call of the wild”. This is also something that he does genuinely, not to use them for any gain for himself - he believes that kids should be taught kindness before brutality. To him, traces of humanity is above all, considering where he was raised.

Caring for them also gain him quite a reputation, no one really bothers to handle the kids in Talia - As long as they live kinda ideal they got going on there. So Fenrir took the “burden” of the children and let the clan go do their things with no worries.

Though Fenrir feared death twice as others, that also means he valued life twice as others too. He went too far, he has lived this long, it’d be a burden not to see another day and see all your hard work go to waste because you wanted a permanent solution to a temporary phase of your life. He believes that kids should be living by that too. Idk man he’s a caring older brother because he sees himself in these kids and he did not want them to go through whatever he did.

Especially with Hermia, he loves her most and same goes with her. Hermia is the only one who was willing to stick by Fenrir’s side even when he kicked her away (metaphorically) and they’re awfully dependent on one another. Hermia provides Fenrir with the accommodation he needed for his impaired vision and comfort, in return Fenrir brought her closer to the clan and became her older brother (found family way) - he took care of her in every part.

Fenrir was a brutal and cruel man, that doesn’t mean he was not a man.

He has humanity, and that’s why he was discarded to the wasteland of Talia. I think Talia’s concept of “recycling” everything works well - especially for characters like Aventurine and Fenrir. “To be reborn is to live again.”

The two are cruel because they’re survivors. They’re cruel so they can see another day not because they wanted to. They were taught and force to be cruel in this current life. But just imagine, if everything reverted, if they get to be recycled and experience the side of life that runs rather the side that crawls. But to live again also means you gotta go through all the struggles again,

I wrote for the quest for Aventurine to go through everything in Sigonia again as the price for having a family again LOL what a nice bet you made with the devil there aventurine (he made a bet and he “lost” for the first time) and for Fenrir he was in the recycling process during talia and post talia is when he finished recycling ehheuehe.

ooouuuhh he wants that cookie so fuckin bad EUEHUEHUAAAUGGGH jealous fenrir hello

but yk, i dont want aventurine to be the punching bag. he struggled a bit when he came back to pier point and has to act like everything was normal - even given the purple heart equivalent for whatever he contributed during Talia but he didn’t want that at all. Imagine getting honored and praised for losing your loved ones, that shit mustv sucked bro

so fenrir came back, it works well with his dog motif on how he keeps crawling back no matter what. he will always bring back the ball you told him to fetch. loyal as a mutt - “desperate dogs bite harder than wild ones” type shit idk man but when they’re back it’s just “ok” again. Aventurine had a little closer connection and so does Fenrir- now they’re up to some silly shits in penacony or whatnot lol

just like

they went through a lot, but that doesnt strip away their humanity. human has been humans and will always be.

[antianakin]

I wanna know what your thoughts on the Jedi of the High Republic Era are, cause I’ve been scrolling your Pro Jedi tag (all your opinions are so real btw) and while the Jedi orders painted in a positive light in the PT (not that some people have the media literacy to understand that), THR explores the perspectives of Jedi of all ranks more than the films were able to, as well as seeing how everyday civilians interact with them

My experience of High Republic has been immensely limited because I've only read the three adult novels in Phase 1 (Light of the Jedi, The Rising Storm, and The Fallen Star) and nothing else, so please know that the opinions I express here are based on a very small sample of High Republic content. It's possible I'd like some of the other stuff if I tried it, but I got a little discouraged by The Fallen Star and so I haven't really gone back to it.

So my very first opinion here is that I appreciated that there's a lot of evidence of the Jedi and the Republic's government working together on issues. There's not as much of the separation we see grow with Palpatine in charge during the Prequels and there's a level of respect between the two groups as they work to deal with the problem of the Nihil. There's a lot of commentary from fans about the relationship we see between the Jedi and the Republic during the Prequels and about whether the Jedi should've been more or less involved in politics and whether the relationship was one that did them any good or if it was always a bad idea, and so I really loved the way that Light of the Jedi in particular showcased this relationship as a very positive one right from the jump.

I didn't necessarily HATE any of the Jedi characters, but there were only two that I had strong positive feelings towards and the others I was primarily neutral about. The two I liked the most were Regald Cole (gone too soon) and Bell Zettifar. I thought Regald was ADORABLE and I personally found him really funny, anyone who told him he had a bad sense of humor were just wrong. Bell is really sweet and it seems difficult NOT to feel for him, especially when the various authors seem to just delight in giving him like two to three new traumas in each successive novel. He just doesn't get a break. I loved that he got a service dog, his relationship with Ember is awesome and I think more Jedi should have pets or animal companions of some kind, it's sadly underutilized.

Elzar Mann was fine, I appreciated the exploration of someone who was struggling with darkness but hadn't really lost himself to it completely, that's something I think we've not seen a lot of in Star Wars high canon. I'm less into the romance of it all he has with Avar, I just don't care. Part of that might be because Avar is rarely around and so we don't get a real idea of what their dynamic is in order for me to root for them or feel bad for them, part of it might be that I'm just feeling oversaturated on romance narratives in general, and part of it might be that I just am leery of romance narratives for Jedi specifically.

Stellan Gios was my biggest disappointment. I'd heard he was basically a High Republic Obi-Wan in a lot of ways, and I love Obi-Wan quite a lot, so I'd expected to enjoy Stellan and then... didn't. While you CAN view Stellan's narrative as about struggles specific to him and nothing else, I personally felt like his narrative was meant to be viewed as something of a metaphor about the Jedi Council and the Order itself beginning to lose its way and stray from what it means to be a Jedi. Stellan spends a lot of his time feeling lost and distant from the people he cares about and then a lot of time in The Fallen Star is spent on emphasizing the difference between him and Orla Jareni which seems to lean in the direction that Orla's way of being a Jedi (Wayseekers, who are basically just defined as Jedi who don't answer to the Jedi Council and apparently just do whatever they want wherever and whenever they want, which really just lands them in the category of being a Gray Jedi by another name) is the far superior way of doing things than Stellan's. Stellan also expresses a jealousy over Avar and Elzar's relationship specifically because they have romantic feelings for each other which I guess makes it stronger or something. And then he seemingly dies at the end of that book and if that sticks then it's a really unsatisfying end to the character and if it doesn't, then I'm convinced Stellan is at the beginning of a really Jedi critical storyline that I am so uninterested in that it hurts.

As you can clearly tell from the last paragraph, I'm not a fan of Orla Jareni or the Wayseekers. I don't like what they represent and the way they're being used to send certain messages about the Jedi, specifically about the Prequels Jedi.

As much as I adore Bell as a character, I wasn't a big fan of the idea that he was ready to be knighted at 18 years old. Even if we assume he was chosen earlier, like around 11-13, that still means that he got 7 years of training AT MOST, which is three years LESS and a year younger than Anakin, who is supposed to be a prodigy. I personally believe that Anakin's record of 10 years should be the minimum a Jedi Padawan could possibly take to become a Knight if they become a Padawan that early. Obi-Wan himself takes 12 years when he is chosen at 13. I would only accept a 7 year apprenticeship for a Padawan who was chosen at the more normal age of like 16-18. Bell doesn't seem to be indicated to be a prodigy of any kind, so I find it weird and unrealistic that he would somehow be ready to be a Knight at the age of 18 (which is arguably closer to the age he should've been CHOSEN, not the age at which he should be getting KNIGHTED). This to me seems like it's just trying to associate becoming a Knight with reaching adulthood, which isn't quite how it works. Even outside of Star Wars, that's not how apprenticeships ever work. It doesn't help that Bell seems so far from being ready to be a Knight when this poor kid can't even jump from a tall height yet, which appears to be a pretty basic skill for Jedi to learn. He needs like 3-5 more years of apprenticeship at minimum.

I don't know if I can really talk about my opinions on "everyday civilian interactions" with HR Jedi given that the three books I have read primarily focus on large scale crises and catastrophes the Jedi are dealing with and so there's relatively little of that. I don't remember having a ton of strong opinions on it, so I assume it was probably fine and not like notably off or memorably excellent. There's just enough respect for Jedi for most civilians to listen to them in a crisis but when things go wrong, those same civilians often lose faith pretty quickly, which is a pretty common theme in Star Wars in general, even in more Jedi positive content.

So TL;DR I think the first two adult novels are quite Jedi positive and I did enjoy them, but I found Stellan's narrative a little grating and by the third book it seemed to get more overtly Jedi critical and that put me off of reading more within the High Republic universe.

[youcouldmakealife]

Love all this for Bryce and them as a couple but did Jared get a little lost in the narrative? He was forging his own career, was wanted and seemed valued in VAN but by the end he's a love interest who partly has his husband to thank for his contact? Could Bryce not have included him in the charity? His love inspired/changed Bryce, but J's left as only known for who he's married to. Bryce way back wanted them to achieve great things together, but that was lost in Bryce's becoming everything.

The thing is, and Bryce knows this; Jared wouldn't want to do that.

He would have helped with the charity if Bryce asked, the same way he offered to do more media if Bryce asked, while clearly hating everything about it when they did do media together. But Jared would not choose to do it were he not asked (not just vis a vis Bryce's charity; see, Jared grumping about children's hospitals while Bryce happily allows a horde of children to sign his sling). Bryce is the one obsessively checking social media after Julius' interview; Jared's the one who won't touch it.

He doesn't want the attention; he'd prefer there was none at all, certainly not the level Bryce gets, but that's something he's known comes part and parcel with Bryce from the start, even if he's really only had to deal with it directly in recent years because they avoided being together in public. Whatever the polar opposite is of wanting Bryce for his fame, and his money, and his status, Jared's that. (He does have a boner for the skill and the hockey brain, though.)

Them getting a Cup together is the kind of achievement Jared would want, and every Cup team needs a Bryce or two, but they also need Jareds. Bryce is the top scorer, playing on on PP1, but Jared is the one playing the PK, Jared is the one playing shut down minutes, settling the game down when it gets too give-and-go. The other stuff, Bryce's charity, being Bryce's plus-one, Jared's there for that because he's his partner and he loves and supports him, but it's very much Bryce's stuff.

As I said in the final LBTE: Bryce found acceptance in who he is and as soon as he got it, he wanted to get it for other people who might be in the place he originally was, because that's the kind of guy he is. Jared wanted it so badly for Bryce (he's been pretty comfortably himself all along, though he embraces it more and more as the narrative continues). He's very much a 'me and my people' person; his people are happy, he's happy. His people are happy. He's happy. The rest of it's dragging him to stupid fucking Vegas in summer, but he'll survive (allegedly).

Jared and Dan are pretty different people, but they're both very similar in the way that they have a partner do their thing that they're passionate about, and they love that they're passionate about it, and they support them, but it's not their thing and they don't want it to be. And Bryce and Marc both wholly understand that.

(The other thing Jared and Dan have in common is that their partners will not shut the fuck UP about how wonderful they are.)

[hfjonewiki]

Hi! I hope this isn't a strange thing to ask but could you tell me more about ii-critical? I'm writing a research paper on the ii community and I wanna gain more insight to what that part of the fandom was all about.

My main questions are: Why did it exist? Why were you apart of it? What were the posts like? What was the biggest drama? Hell, what platform was it even on??

I wasn't that deep in the OSC when it was up and running (only really got into the community in ~2018) so a lot of community context from that era is lost on me. If you have any other object show oldhead insight for ii you wanna share, please do! I find fandom fascinating and would love to here more stories.

hoooo boy...... cracks knuckles. i went over it a little bit in a previous post but i'll try and give more info this time

(also this should go without saying but please don't try and seek out anyone mentioned or involved its been like 6-7 years since all this happened. also most of us were mentally unstable teenagers hence the. everything)

ii-critical originated as a tumblr blog created by someone named mira (i have no idea if they still go by mira or what their pronouns are now. i'm just gonna stick to they/them for convenience) as a way for them to discuss their criticisms towards the show's writing. the blog was created in mid-to-late 2017, during a time period where "(media) critical" was becoming a common tag. the trend was started by "su critical", a tag created by steven universe fans to discuss the show's faults in response to the show being in a rut of making some VERY dubious decisions (i believe it was started around bismuth's introduction, which was heavily criticized at the time for MANY reasons). the "critical" tags were often created for fandoms who tended to be hostile towards criticism of the media they were based around. the inanimate insanity fandom didn't really have that issue, thankfully. and so, the blog "ii-critical" was born.

at the beginning, the posts were about mira going through an episode beat by beat, and pointing out things they both liked and disliked about it. occasionally, there were posts analyzing a specific character. i'm kind of speeding through the "what were the posts like" section because that is by far the LEAST interesting part of the ii-critical mythos

i found the blog very shortly after its creation. it caught me at a good time, because i was at a point where i was becoming disillusioned with the show (episode 11 was the most recent episode at this point, and i really disliked it due to it being at the peak of ii's melodrama era. the show just felt miserable to watch. s2e11 sucking butt is still an opinion i stand by today Lolzor). mira and i started talking and i was brought on as the blog's other moderator, and i wrote my own analysis posts.

the blog was decently successful and didn't actually get that much hate. most people agreed with our criticisms and were, like, normal about the concept of a thing they liked being flawed. at some point we had a decent amount of followers and made the ill-fated decision to create a discord server for the blog. for added context: at the time of the server's creation, mira was 13, and i was 14. we were NOT old enough to be running a public discord server that at least 50+ people ended up joining.

the server had a lot of problems, mainly in regards to the channels. since we were both at the age where you are hormonal and stupid, we decided to make the nsfw channel accessible to everyone, and didn't even ask for people to include their ages in their intros. a concerning amount of people assumed that mira and i were both adults, or at least older teens until we said otherwise. we also had a blacklist and vent channel, which, word of advice, you should NOT have in a public server. shit gets out of hand SO fast. i vividly remember there being at least one guy who posted in the vent channel on a near-daily basis about pretty serious stuff. trust me when i say that people shared some HORRIFIC information in there. also, we had an emoji that was just a drawing of donut from bfdi with his whole cock and balls hanging out because we thought it was funny. i'm pretty sure there wasn't a "please don't post the donut balls emoji in non-nsfw channels" rule anywhere either.

i could go into more detail about various happenings, but that delves too deeply into interpersonal drama that frankly has no business being shared publicly. one of the most concerning things that happened, however, was this one guy who would come in vc, barely say anything, and fuck around with his gun the whole time. and yes, you could hear it. eventually we got reports of him being predatory towards a younger member of the server, and he was banned. i think that was the first thing that made mira and i go, "oh, we might've fucked up". there was also another incident where somebody was leaking information from inside the server (yet another reason why the vent channel was a HORRIBLE idea), and we banned a bunch of inactive people until eventually realizing somebody had stolen the username and pfp of a real user and impersonated them to stay in the server. this whole ordeal lasted like, two weeks. and again!! we were just BARELY no longer preteens at this point!! and we still thought, yeah, we can handle this. we're super capable. at one point we hired two other moderators (one of whom was 14-15, and the other was an actual adult for once. having an adult moderator led to us FINALLY locking the nsfw channel off to minors, since we had somebody who could moderate it for us), but this was towards the end so most of the damage had already been done

i was removed as a moderator on the blog after a large amount of interpersonal nonsense that, again, i'm not going to get into. it was mainly just because i was spending too much time in the server instead of posting on the blog like i was supposed to. a couple weeks later, i was suddenly banned from the server and mira had blocked me on everything. again, interpersonal nonsense and both of us being mentally unstable, not anyone's business. we reconciled a few months after and both apologized for being dumbasses, so we at least ended things on better terms.

another notable thing is that sometimes, crew members would pop in and out of the server, and they were surprisingly chill about the blog's existence. it was mainly justin and sam from what i remember, and resulted in this legendary image:

i don't remember this bit, but at some point taylor may have responded to one of our posts and was Not Nice about it? again, i don't remember this, take it with a grain of salt. but knowing his history with getting into shit with fans for no reason and how it got to the point where it was cited as a reason he was removed from the team, yeah that tracks

talking about ii-critical is strange, because i don't know where to draw the line between "infamous blog from the early days of the tumblr osc", "stupid pointless infighting between teenagers", and "genuinely horrible decisions and moderation that caused real damage". i'm trying to stick to just the first one and giving info about the last one when necessary. i'm aware a lot of this is gonna paint my past self in a VERY unflattering light, but that's who i was and what i did when i was 14 and i just have to accept that.

ii-critical was just a facet of the tumblr osc circa 2017. a lot of what happened can be traced back to larger issues with the fandom, especially when it came to restrictions on nsfw content. remember, this is pre-tumblr porn ban. i knew an ALARMING amount of people who had nsfw blogs, and even posted nsfw art while they were minors. i don't wanna seem like i'm making excuses for fucking up when it came to moderation and keeping our members safe, but it's important to know that the blog and server were very much a product of a specific point in tumblr history. we saw minors casually posting nsfw on a regular basis and thought, "yeah, it should be fine to have the nsfw channel open to everyone, right?" and like i said, we didn't originally require ages upon introduction. people didn't realize how badly we'd fucked up until the damage had already been done.

i could go on about the dozens of other ways i fucked up, but that would start to dive into the interpersonal side of things. i think i covered everything that actually mattered. i don't plan on talking about ii-critical to this extent again any time soon. everyone who both ran and was part of the blog and server have moved on, i don't wanna keep dragging people back to what's probably a very unpleasant period of their lives.

that said, if prompted, i will talk about the 2012-2014 deviantart era + "dark ages" of the osc AT LENGTH if prompted. i swear i have wisdom beyond the shitty blog i ran with my friends as a teenager. you dont even know about the Ball OC Discourse

[mindibindi]

⭐(Re)Visit a Classic XF Fic [7/7]⭐

So, as part of The X files 30th anniversary celebrations, I took it upon myself to highlight some of the AMAZING authors I first read in this fandom. They were a HUGE part of my experience of watching the show during it's original run. For shippers, the original run was a marathon in faith, frustration and endurance. We were judged, dismissed, ridiculed and gaslit throughout. But in fandom, we found solidarity, and in fanfic, we found solace. (AND we won in the end, so THERE).

As a retired author, I also have a vested interest in pleading the case of older writers. Fanfic archives are libraries, not social media sites. Don't just read whatever comes up most recently in your feed. Search. Discover. Explore. Experiment. Yes, there are some differences in older fanfic culture that are evident in these seven recs. Characters may be understood differently in their original context, narrative style may also differ (more 1st/2nd person address that even addresses the reader directly), there may also be less clear trigger warnings and fewer opportunities for feedback/community. I know we all love AO3 and are grateful for its good works. But don't forget that there are other avenues through which to explore fanfiction.

For this final rec, I want to return to the first author I rec-ed. I urge you to check out her other works. The characters are sometimes a little overwrought or OOC but even when they are, her stuff is tremendously messy, sexy and fun. Here Mulder and Scully are perfectly in character in a rather rauchy scenario. (If you're a babyphile and you don't know the politics at play then ask an auntyphile to fill you in). I will post links below for all the classic authors I have rec-ed, along with a few archives you may want to check out.

Rec #7:

MSR, obligatory stakeout fic

Prompted by current events, Mulder and Scully discuss oral sex

Some knowledge of the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal required

READ MORE BY:

Rachel Anton (inc lots of Krycek content)

Beduini

Suzanne Schramm

Shalimar

Terma99

Narida Law

The search engine is not great but Gossamer IS still up and running:

X-Libris is a current archive that is doing a great job of recovering older works. You can suggest fics to be added to the site or even ask for a long lost fic to be tracked down!!

Smaller archives but also still up and running is Whispers of X and XFSM, both of which are good for different pairings, threesomes and a bit of kink, if that's your jam.

In particular, if you're into BDSM then you may want to check out Kristel St Johns "Aphrodisia" which does a beautiful job of putting Mulder and Scully in a v different, intense kind of physical relationship . The novel is unfinished but definitely still worth a read.

[jakowskis]

torchwood fanfic resources

so i'm a chronic livejournal archaeologist, and fixating on 2000s media is particularly fun for me because it means i get to go digging on lj / dw / old fanfic forums. below you'll find some of the excavations from my torchwood fixation (give it up for month 6!) it's pretty much got every comm i've ever stumbled upon and found useful, or thought others would find useful. it's largely fanfic-oriented, though there's some more generalized comms, too. i hope you guys enjoy!

i was originally going to include a link to my reclist on this post as well, but it's still a wip, so i'll just post that separately in the future.

general disclaimer: most of the content here is from 2006-2013 or so. period-typical attitudes may pop up in places. i'm not sure if most modern tw fans have witnessed the original fandom at all, but i felt a need to say this anyway, because i've seen some icky stuff. i've warned for anything notable. gwen bashing in particular may unfortunately pop up in some of these comms, especially in the comments, so tread carefully.

if you're new to probing through old lj comms, remember to always have the wayback machine on hand, because you're going to run into a lot of purged accounts and seemingly lost fics, but sometimes you get lucky and something's been archived :)

as of the date i'm posting this, all of these comms are still accessible, but if you're from the future and some have been deleted, again, go ahead and give the wayback machine a try. additionally, livejournal has a system that includes 'cross-posting' in which, if authors choose to (and the majority of them do, to get their fics more visibility), fics get posted to multiple comms at once. so chances are, even if one comm gets deleted, the contents will survive through other comms. kind of like how reblogs continue to exist even when the original blog is deleted.

finally, ctrl + f is your best friend if you have a specific ship/character/trope you're invested in, especially in comms with less than ideal tagging systems. if a comm does have a substantial tagging system, you can find all of its tags by adding '/tags' the end of the urls i've provided.

ok... let's begin :-)

assorted livejournal communities

✎ torch-wood: this is essentially a torchwood subreddit. it started before the show even aired, and one of the highlights of it is episode reaction posts (easily accessible on the right side of the lj) that document how everyone immediately reacted to the eps, which is pretty damn cool, fandom-history wise. only thing i should mention is there's quite a lot of gwen and owen bashing in the comments of some of those reaction posts, so just be wary of that if you love those two like i do, 'cuz it's a bit of a bummer.

✎ torchwood-three: this comm is an extremely cool then-daily newsletter (that still updates sometimes?!) that compiled as much fan-content as it could find into cleanly organized lists. the posts made immediately after new episodes aired contain reactions, discussions, meta, theories, new fic, fanmixes, just about everything. very very cool to go back and see the way the fandom was thinking as the show was airing and as they were getting to know the characters. here's a direct link to all posts made in late 2006, during the airing of s1.

✎ torchwood-fic: exactly what it says on the tin. desktop layout is easy to navigate, tags are all there!

✎ torchwood-fic's profile page also features a list of affiliated accounts that's pretty handy. it's worth taking a peek at, in case i've excluded anything in this post that you might be interested in.

✎ twgenrefinders: handy dandy comm where people would ask for fics of a certain variety & be treated with reclists, or hyper-specific fics... pretty cool stuff, ive got several threads bookmarked to sort through the links later. ofc, please note that some of the things people asked for might be stinky. particularly i've seen a lot of ppl requesting gwen bashing fics :/

✎ twstoryfinder: cousin to the above comm; here, people would ask for a very specific fic they'd lost. it's kind of fun to find fics through because you get someone describing memorable scenes + hyping it up, so it's different than just a standard summary. this one still gets posted on, too, which is crazyyy.

✎ tw-unpaired: for gen fics! no romance allowed! there's some good character studies + friendship fics in there. stuff's tagged by character + authors are even tagged, in case you find one whose writing you particularly enjoy. this is v useful for when someone's main journal has been deleted.

✎ torchwood-decaf: a comm where janto is BANNED. nah i'm kidding, it's not anti-janto, it was just made because janto is so huge that it overshadows everything else. pretty smart, tbh; wading through the sheer mass of janto content can be tiresome.

✎ jack-in-cuffs: for dark tw fic, or uber smutty tw fic. as a fan of dark!fic, there's some goodies in here, but of course it's not everyone's cup of tea. most of the writers included warnings, but if you go a little further back, some people weren't as courteous; navigate with caution.

✎ jack-owen: for fic featuring our captain and his (second favorite) doctor. i know this pairing's kinda divisive nowadays, but i enjoy it a lot. the comm's got a dismal tagging system and, ngl, i don't truly like any of the fics there (i'm very intrigued by jack and owen's relationship but i've never found fic that really does them justice, and i still haven't figured out how to write them myself) - but i'll include it anyway.

✎ odetojoi: for fic featuring owen in the middle of a janto sandwich, for those of us who are allergic to women (/sarcasm). there's an oddly impressive supply of fics of the three of them, and a good chunk of them can be found in this comm. (everytime i see this comm i think of a certain abbreviation found in p/rnogr/phy... but i digress)

✎ halfwee-and-tea: for ianto x owen fic. haven't gone through this one much, truthfully. i hate when comms have no tagging systems agh.

✎ owenharper-fans: a comm for the saddest undeadest bisexualest doctor around. also features a few burn appreciation posts, which is nice to see pre-pac rim era. mostly just features a shit ton of owen fic, particularly owen x ianto fic. mostly sufficiently tagged. if you need me once i post this, btw, i will be balls deep in this comm.

✎ the pro-owen alliance: another owen-focused comm - i think this one was made directly in response to owen bashing. haven't combed through this one much but it's got a fair amount of fics.

✎ house-of-cooper: a gwen comm! made in response to gwen bashing. haven't gone through it, but i'm glad it exists.

✎ torchwoodcoffee: ianto comm! this one's hugeee. the majority of it's janto, but the pairings aren't tagged, which is really frustrating. about 6k fics on there, though! just untagged. fff.

✎ tw-femficfest: a comm for fic about any and all of the torchwood ladies. tagging's cleanly done & there's some handy fic round ups, too.

✎ tw-femslash: yuri!!! wahoo!!! a comm for f/f tw ships. there's quite a lot of fic on here, but unfortunately there's no tagging whatsoever. sigh.

✎ tw-classic: a comm for 'all things series one and two of torchwood'. was made after s3 and was popular around s4 out of nostalgia for the golden age <3 good amount of fic, discussions, etc.

✎ torchwood-house: this comm is, like, letterboxd, but for torchwood fanfic. basically a group of individuals who thought of themselves as having Good Taste would read Good Fic and then go in this comm and write a post about why they recommend it. it's well-made, easy to scroll through, and sells the fics v well, and it kinda gets you more excited to read them when you get to see someone hype them up with Fancy Words. it's like a little torchwood yaoi bookclub. we're eating quiche

✎ tw100: a drabble challenge; this thing's full of 100 word drabbles. ngl i hate drabbles but i'm throwing it in here anyway

✎ touchyerwood: i love kink memes... i love kink memes less when my favorite character/pairing is unpopular. the pac rim kink meme's been a blessing bc i'm a basic ass newmann - the torchwood kink meme? not so much. it's got a fair amount of shit, though, so maybe someone else will appreciate it. this one isn't the original, that one's been wiped off the internet, to my chagrin. keep in mind before digging that people in kink memes are horny & gross. that's your warning.

✎ reel-torchwood: for any and all movie aus... ok i have a bone to pick with this comm. i'm a big movie nerd, i love film, i've seen dozens of films i've thought would make good aus - i combed through this and there is not a SINGLE fic in there that piqued my interest. NOTHING. needless to say my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. i'm sure my experiences aren't universal though.

✎ torchwoodslash: ah, remember when we called it slash? gee whiz. i'm not big on this comm, it's not very user friendly + there's like no tags whatsoever so it's extremely hard to navigate. enter at your own risk & good luck, lol.

✎ rounds-of-kink: this isn't a torchwood-exclusive comm, but it's got a sizeable torchwood tag, which can be found here. pretty organized tagging system; makes me happy.

✎ tw-declassified: this comm was mainly used for running a 'torchwood bingo', which, i've been in other fandoms that do episode bingos and it's usually cute... this one confused me a little so i didn't bother peeking around too much, but still a cool little bit of fandom history.

✎ writerinadrawer: this was an annual torchwood writer's challenge that ran for four years... it's kinda hard to navigate but it does have some fic in it so i'm putting it here.

✎ dmarley-recs: a recs journal someone ran for compiling torchwood fic; it's got a l o t of recs on there, largely jack/ianto.

ok and straying from lj briefly for two other places to find fic...

✎ kink_bingo: this is a dreamwidth comm, and it's not torchwood-exclusive, so i've linked straight to the torchwood tag. this comm has a livejournal equivalent, but for some reason the tw tag is pretty barren on that one? not sure why. but on dw it's got a fair amount. the tagging system is rough, it tags fandom and kink but not pairing, which is irritating, and every post is hidden under a cut AND makes you go through a discretion barrier every single time (but probably only if you don't have an account? i'm not logged in) which makes navigation a pain. but i dunno, more smut, if you want it.

✎ whofic.com: this site is for doctor who fic, but it's got a very substantial amount of torchwood fic. i do not, however, like the formatting at all. i'm being overly nice; i HATE the formatting. it's very reminiscent of fanfic dot net but, like, worse. it reminds me of adultfanfiction dot org which was a NIGHTMARE to use. but! there is torchwood fic there so it's going in here.

aaaand there we go! that's all i have. i hope these prove handy! enjoy :D

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

What sort of jobs do you think the mercs would have if they weren't, y'know, mercs?

What Would The TF2 Mercs Jobs Be If They Weren't Mercenaries?

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Ough, I love this. It's a very cool suggestion, Anon. Thank you for asking! I've thought about this a couple of times, and I'm glad to get a chance to rant >:)

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Demo would get into pyrotechnics for a while, (shocker I know, but bare with me) he'd find himself setting up fireworks shows, making fireworks, teaching safety courses and all that fun stuff, but I don't think he'd be fulfilled in the same way being a merc would. He'd find himself being bored with the monotony of it all, only doing it for the money. After a while of this he'd finally just say fuck it, and try and look for other work opportunities, found an animal shelter in desperate need of new hires, submitted his application, and with in two weeks had become absolutely enthralled with his new job. He finds out he loves working with animals! He makes friends with every animal in the shelter right away, and gets a good chunk of them adopted each year or so.

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Engie would have most likely gone on to become a very successful engineer. Shocker, I know. He would have probably specialized in biomedical engineering. I think he'd go in with no particular job in mind, but then would be introduced into the idea of building prosthetics and become a prosthetist. He likes being able to help people with his creations. (MINI HEACANON / STORY) The first time he ever made a prosthetic was for a little kid who lost his leg due to a car crash. He was super traumatized from the accident and refused to let anyone near him, Engie spent about a year working with the kid to, one be able to measure and fit him for his prosthetic, and two, to just make the kid smile and make him less scared. When the job was done the kid was so happy, grinning ear to ear, he hugged Engie and was literally crying out of joy, that's when Engie knew he loved his job 😭

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Heavy has a doctorate in Russian literature, so I'd assume he'd go into the teaching field with that as his specialty. He'd find a university in need of a professor and work with students to help them better themselves. He just likes being able to share his experiences and perspective with those who want to learn. Very much a "Tuesday's With Morrie" type of teacher. Will literally do anything for his students by the way. He love each year he spends teaching, also loves hearing from his students after they graduate. Really just wants to make an impact on peoples lives anyway he can. He'd probably end up being a writer if he couldn't go into teaching for some reason. He'd write fiction mainly, maybe some life experiences too, for the same reasons above.

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Medic would have found a way to get his medical license back, legally or illegally (most likely the latter). And went on to continue practicing medicine, most likely in a country with more lax laws on human experimentation. If that failed, the local morgue is always hiring graveyard shifts, and when no one really cares too much about what happens to the corpses, Medic would find ways to keep himself very entertained. I also think he could be content working as a librarian! I don't know, like the gap between librarian and doctor is huge but I can just imagine him and Archimedes running a little library together, (Kind of like uh Blue and Linda from Rio, I'm really pulling out random media this prompt, 😭) I just feel like even though he's batshit insane nine times out of ten he can still enjoy a quiet, peaceful life if he wanted too. Probably still does a bit medical stuff on the side though, you just can't stop him.

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Scout is another case of me being unsurprising. He'd be a baseball star. It's really a toss-up on whether he gets super famous or just enjoys quiet success. If he's super famous you bet he's signing contracts for advertisements and other things you'd expect multimillionaires to be doing (He'd also be so thrilled to be a multimillionaire he'd be giving his mom her dream life) and just generally enjoying the fame. If he didn't make it into the big leagues, he'd still be successful in minor leagues. I'll even go as far as to say that even if he didn't make it big or even semi big, he'd become a coach little league/ high school /college and love it. Honestly, he would cry if one of the kids he coached went pro one day. (Maybe a Twitch streamer would also fit, but that's silly, right?)

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Sniper has always been into wildlife photography. He absolutely loves animals. He's naturally good at photography. I think him having good aim and a steady hand are a mix of a natural talent and years of training. His years of training would have just gone into photography instead of, you know. He gets very good very quickly, takes pictures you'd see hung up as decoration pieces, and definitely had a fair share of curious animals wandering up to him to check out his work. For a guy who loves animals, he's living the dream. Haz had a few less than steller run-ins during his time, but generally appreciates being able to enjoy nature and animals as part of his job.

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Spy being an actor would come naturally for him. He's great at switching his style, mood, character, etc. So he'd naturally be interested in a job where that skill would be valuable, then he finds out about how much money he can make off of acting and just goes straight in. I think he would end up being a really popular actor, people liking him in almost any role he plays, and would generally have little to no hater or bad press. He loves going over every new script and building up his character in his mind, then giving them a place off the page. He also loves going to fancy parties, so... Also, the first time he got a bad/negative review or comment on his acting, he cried lmao.

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Soldier would so be a historian. Like, hands down, only job I think he could have outside of being a merc. He can rant for hours about American history and knows so much about other countries too due to their involvement with America and a general curiosity, that he'd be a perfect to teach about history in museums, classrooms, or even just uploading videos online. Just put someone who needs to learn about history of any kind in front of him, and they'll learn more in the time with him than they ever have. Also! I'm not sure what these people are called, and I'm way too tired to look it up, but I think that Soldier would help new immigrants with leaning English and with getting their citizenship. Solider would also help refugees. Also also, he'd hold support groups for veterans.

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Pyro is normally headcanoned as a fire fighter or ex-fire fighter I'm pretty sure, but I think it's easy to forget that while Pyro likes fire, they like making firsvl, you know what else they like? Making art! So naturally, being a glassblower would be a great fit for Pyro. They love the job! The molten glass is mesmerizing to them. The artistic freedom is liberating. It's all just so great to them. They make a lot of flame themed pieces that and animal themed pieces. They mainly do pieces and sell them at markets instead of taking commissions for them. They're super happy with this life and have multiple pieces of their work displayed in their home. They sometimes get this feeling of missing something, like a vague memory, but they just continue to make new art to fix that, but oddly enough, they end up reminding them more of those distant memories. I wonder what that's about.

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I swore I'd get this out today, and I held myself to that, even though I almost passed out. (Not me posting this 5 minutes to midnight lmao) I only had three paragraphs left, and I was not giving up on them. I swear I'm trying to get better at consistency 😭

Anyways enough of that, I hope you enjoyed this! I had fun writing it. Trying to come up with different jobs for them is both really fun and oddly difficult. Anyways! The schedule for new posts will hopefully go as follows:

Mercs favorite books

Medic and Creepypasta

How the Mercs would react to a close teammates death

(Then any asks that come in would follow!)

So yeah! Busy weekend, but I'm not complaining:D