#i am a sucker for ridiculous memes

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

WIP title ask meme replies! Bit late on this and on literally everything else because someone who loves/hates me got me the Elden Ring DLC for my birthday. Welp.

@boom-squirrel replied to your post:

"I'm having something very strong indeed"... I know... I AM KNOWING! Haha! ;P But jokes aside, "Wizard Tower AU | Aylin & Rolan stuff" sounds intriguing! ^^

An anon also asked for "I'm having something very strong indeed". This one arose out of a prompt that got sent in the latest batch. It's (funnily enough, considering your joke reference) about Isobel trying to get wasted at the immediate post-brain-defeat party just like she planned, and being very frustrated at her apparent inability to accomplish this due to some undead-ish weirdly resurrected physiology stuff. It is mostly an Isobel and Jaheira buddy ficlet with some death-touched Isobel content because I'm a sucker for that.

Snippet:

There is no air to breathe, suddenly, in the crowded room. Isobel excuses herself to whoever might be close enough to hear, and rushes out. The inn has a little terrace, overlooking a narrow, dingy side-alley - not much of a view, considering, but Isobel is grateful for the escape all the same. She leans on the rickety, only slightly singed balustrade and reflects, idly, how much of her life she has spent brooding on balconies. Tries to pretend, for a while, she hasn't noticed how ridiculously little she has been eating. How, even when she did partake, it was so easy to blame the food not tasting like much of anything on it being scrounged-up or trail rations - no offence to Gale's culinary skills, of course. Or the noble efforts of the acolytes at the Selûnite enclave, cut off from their normal supply lines and beset by the vanguard of an army. Or the cook in the Elfsong, where that particular excuse well and truly fell apart. Isobel sighs and rubs at her face with hands that have been cold for too long, grimacing at the grime and ash and smudged makeup that comes away, coats her fingers. Very pointedly does not think about the black residue that sometimes smears away from her lips and nose. It's Jaheira who finds her. Isobel supposes, of all the many people it could have been, this is the least of all evils. 

This one also includes banter about one of my favourite silly ways the timeline works out:

"We're about the same age, Jaheira, don't forget," Isobel snarks, poking at a wound herself, trying to turn the sting of it into amusement. "You just had a busier century than I did, that's all."

Next, "Wizard Tower AU | Aylin & Rolan stuff" is pretty rough and early days still but it's one where Aylin gets betrayed and captured in Ramazith's tower, while Rolan gets to have some of his Act 3 arc anyway. Inspired in part by the letter you can get from Lorroakan in the epilogue. Bit of a dual-POV going on in this one, and honestly could be considered a bit of a fix-it, if nothing else then in how it will (probably) include Isobel. 

Snippet:

Miklaur falls in the terrifying skirmish against celestial foes.  It is a tragic - if, honestly, rather increasingly inevitable - turn of events. It is also one that means Rolan, still reeling from the one smite-imbued strike the aasimar landed on him, is the one who has to dispose of elemental ashes, feathers and… other material. The sheer radiance that filled the room still burns and dances behind his eyelids when he closes his eyes. "I should have known, should have seen from the start," the Nightsong rants and raves, mostly to herself, and paces the dozen or so steps her little circle allows her, over and over and over. It is a miserable sight. Rolan is fairly sure she does not take much notice of his presence, and feels incredibly thankful for it. "When the wretch let the foul necromancer take me because it suited their plans. To play along with damned Ketheric Thorm and his lackeys--"  She spits on the floor to punctuate her derision and Rolan cringes, almost immediately moving to find a mop. Then he remembers himself - or some slight, miserable part of himself - and casts a quick cantrip instead.

[snip]

"Gods, we were stuck in that awful place… and Cal and Lia were…" The apprentice trails off, audibly choking on his words, even as he tries to square his shoulders and present a strong facade looking up at Aylin. "Don't you understand? I have nothing else. I sometimes wish I'd never set foot inside that damn cleric's moonlit bubble. At least then, perhaps, I wouldn't have wasted so much time on foolish hope." Aylin feels a surge of pity almost in spite of herself. But there is a precious nugget in his words that she cannot help but latch onto. "Tell me about her," she interrupts his spiralling musings, then lets her lips form the dearest name they've ever known, will ever know. "Isobel." "The cleric?" He seems confused even when Aylin confirms with a curt nod. "I never… that is, I talked to her the once, briefly. She mostly kept to herself, as did I. I don't really-- are you saying she will be sent to rescue you?" Aylin frowns and sucks in a breath at the reminder of that horrible possibility, as rattled by it as the apprentice seems to be. The thought of being forever stuck in this cage is nothing compared to the agony of the thought of Isobel getting hurt, or worse. Surely. Surely Mother will send someone else, will guide Isobel to safety, far from this den of vipers. She meets the tiefling's puzzled gaze - ah, wizards and their obsession with solving every single riddle they come across. "I love her," Aylin replies simply. "She is everything to me. I cherish her more than I do mine own life and so wish to never see her come here."

Seems inevitable that she will though, right? Well, moving on...

@jeejyboard replied to your post:

adolescence of rose quartz????!!!!!??? all of these are delightful

Ahah, good eye, spotting that silly "Utena AU" immediately! This one I've been poking at for a while, because it's one of those very specific self-indulgent noodlings. Basically, it's set on Homeworld and the main premise is Rose (this is just old enough originally for her to not be PD) winning Pearl in a duel, with the twist that Pearl had a hand in orchestrating the whole thing (and did some Cool Hacking in the process) in order to get away. Even includes a Prasiolite there to be insufferable, "a green quartz", and a blatant Saionji reference.

Snippet:

“Or- oh, is that envy?” Prasiolite laughed unpleasantly, then yanked the pearl closer to her, grabbing her as she stumbled. “Are pretty things like this a bit above your grade?” “I’m issuing a formal challenge,” Rose retorted curtly, forcing herself into restraint, and biting her own anger and irritation back. “The White Arena is close enough - we can settle this right now.” “Rose Quartz, what are you doing?” Larimar whispered in a squeak behind her, so different from the chirpy little assistant she'd been so far, rushing after the two quartzes and the blank-faced pearl. “That’s the head of White Diamond’s personal guard, are you- Rose--” But Larimar’s cries went unheeded all the way up the stairs leading to the arena’s entrance, where she went for one last appeal. “Rose, you don’t even have a weapon!” Prasiolite sneered. “I keep spares around. Pearl.” A shove in Rose’s general direction, and the pearl obliged, demurely, but catching Rose’s eye in a way she’d never seen a pearl - all of them, in her experience, nothing but muttered acknowledgements of orders and respectfully averted glances - do before. “A sword for you to use, My Quartz,” she mumbled, head bowed just a moment too late. Then, the unthinkable. She cast a brief look over her shoulder, back at Prasiolite, then pointedly turned away and towards Rose. “Good luck.”

[snip]

Finally, finally, Prasiolite lost her balance, and her pretty sword flew out of her hand, skittering across the stone tiles of the arena. She huffed as she climbed back to her feet and dusted herself off, pointedly not looking in Rose's direction at all. “Pearl! Bring my sword back. We’re leaving. This farce has gone on long enough.” The pearl stood at her post, unmoving for the longest time. Then, just as the silence had stretched dangerously taut, she spoke, quietly but firmly. “No.” “What?” Prasiolite was a vivid green, and looked fit to burst. “You disobedient, defective little--” “You lost,” the pearl interrupted and calmly spoke over her, to gasps from both Larimar and Prasiolite, and a frown from Rose. “Your ownership rights are forfeit. It’s the rules.” It was the most Rose had ever heard a pearl speak. “What are you talking about? You there, Larimar. What is she talking about?” “I, I don’t know, I--” “Well, check the legal database immediately!”

Hm, I wonder what the database is going to show... I'm sure nobody's tampered with it.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now. Hope you all enjoyed the little previews! All of them are super rough and subject to endless change, of course, but such is the writing life.

[kleinezoe]

Levihan fancomics (various artists 💕)

So, I made this list in 2022, these are what I found so far (that time). Here are some cures for our levihan hearts

Feel free to add some more in reblog!

Byallmeans

Do you remember that forest?

Am I that obvious?

The finger

6 months later

OMG this is so sweet

Later Hanji

I wish to never wake up again

Constipated face

Blood on my hands

A Few Seconds Part 3 / Part 2

I will end you

Happy One year

Hanji's room

Tea Shop

You enjoying this arent you?

Daddy doesnt know Ho to dance

Out of tune

Sucker

I gotpaid for this

Tulio and Miguel! Levihan

Sawney

Maes Hughes - Hanji swap

I never told him about my past

HAHAHA

Jealous Levi

Are you okay

I gained weight!

Don't die on me

Traitor

It's like living alone

Artisticazadia

A close ally

Let me keep you warm

A Dream

Hmm I see

yaepyep-lh

Marathon Netflix documentary

Anniversary meme

Shirt prank

Titan | Hange

Domestic!Levihan arts

Turning page by yaepyep-lh and zoevihan

alphadogg777

Cats!Levihan sharing food

Cats!Levihan illustration

You look ridiculous

What if ...

She has been through so much alone

Summer festival

Levi being jealous

Genocide is wrong

Marley accident

Levihan in sync

Protect levi!

[thenightling]

Agatha All along episode 7 review

Short review and spoilers within.

First... Patti LuPone was brilliant in this episode as Lilia. That woman deserves an Emmy. I will admit I am NOT a fan of her experiencing time out of order / nonlinear thing. To me it felt like a dementia metaphor and I never liked those in comic book or fantasy stories. Everyone thinks they're being clever about it but really they're not, they're tired and cliche and often feel ham fisted and even out of place. I didn't like it with Martian Manhunter's father in CW's Supergirl (formerly CBS) and I don't like it here. HOWEVER it was so well acted I'll over look the clumsy and tired metaphor that I don't feel belongs in fantasy. Before this episode was released I saw a fan theory floating around that Rio is not really there and just a figment of Agatha's imagination, like Lestat's added scenes in season 2 of Interview with The Vampire. I was going to call out how ridiculous this theory is but decided to wait until my own belief (that she's Death incarnate) was confirmed. That came with this latest episode. One big reason why the theory that Rio isn't really there and / or is only in Agatha's head doesn't work, is the other characters have already interacted with her, sometimes without Agatha there or paying attention. This is why you shouldn't come up with fan theories when multitasking or not really paying attention to what you're watching. If you were surprised that she's Death go back and watch the first episode carefully and pay attention to the language. Also the lyrics about Death are in both versions of The Witches' Road, the Sacred Chant version and the Ballad version. "I hold Death's hand in mine." and "I dance with Death." I can't help but think that the obvious metaphor is the witches' road is a witches' life. And the end is... well, Death. If you (you know who you are) STILL don't think Agatha is of the LGBTQAI+ community and think they're just good friends, YOU belong on the "OMG they were roommates!" meme. Because, honestly, I'm getting deja vu of when I dealt with an Interview with the vampire fan in a Louis themed Yahoo group in the late nineties who insisted Louis is straight... "MY PRINCE CHARMING IS STRAIGHT!!!" (How's that working out for you, honey?) I am slightly disappointed that Patti LuPone hasn't released a solo cover of The Ballad of The Witches' Road song.

I kind of hope that at the end of the mini-series either Agatha or William use their prize to restore the lost members of the coven. That might piss off this version of Death though. I'd gotten a bit too used to sympathetic and kindly versions of Death such as Death of Discworld, The Angel of Death from American Horror Story, Azrael in Lucifer, and Death of The Endless in The Sandman. It was a very well-acted episode but certainly not my favorite. As I said, I don't like the symbolism of the non-linear life experiences. My favorite episode is still episode 4, I'm a sucker for a good song number.

[voxofthevoid]

hello - hope you've been feeling better lately! has anyone asked about nanami × yuuji yet for the ask game? if not, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I am! Knocking wood each time I say that though.

And nope, no one's asked for nanaita yet! Here we go:

Ship It

What made you ship it?

Their canon dynamic was ridiculously easy to get into. From the initial meeting to the final parting, they had me in a chokehold—still do. Nanaita actually gets the credit for being the ship that made me realize I'm crazy enough about JJK, and Yuuji in particular, to actually write for multiple pairings. With one or two exceptions that were mostly writing experiments, I've never done that for any fandom before.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I've lost my mind about this before, I think, but I love how indulgent Nanami is of Yuuji, in a way that seems against his own will. Like how he lets Yuuji get away with calling him Nanamin—protests one(1) time and that's that. He's Nanamin now. On a more serious note, I enjoy how their relationship develops rather quickly from one between awkward, slightly clashing colleagues to a partnership/mentorship based on mutual trust, respect, and affection. Plus, I'm a sucker for a good tragedy, and a significant part of what drives me insane about these two is the way Nanami dies in front of Yuuji: the way he smiles so sweetly, those parting words and the faith in them, how it never stops haunting Yuuji.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't know whether this is unpopular (again, this isn't a tag I check), but the approach I like to take with Nanami and his desire for Yuuji is essentially a serious version of this meme:

Nanami: I can't believe I'm going to fuck/date a child. His conscience, probably: You don't have to. Nanami: No, I'm gonna.

Oh, and I think Yuuji should fuck that man to sleep. Please, it'd fix them both (it won't).

Ask can be found game here.

[forabeatofadrum]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Hi Dre!

I'm switching it up, cause I think my fave fics that I've written are known to be my favourite (recap: yada yada my big five All the pretty things that we could be, Myosotis series, Mendacious, I’d cry a river just for you, Paradiso) but YOU KNOW WHAT DRE, I have written more stuff that makes me go "aye, that actually slapped" so self-love time to fics that don't make that list!

In no order, sorted by fandom:

Just Some Guy (Carry On, Snowbaz, sorta (and Matt/Leslie??))

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND HIMSELF. No, I'm not talking about Simon "Chosen One" Snow, but about our boi Matty Chris D. He is just some guy. It's Simon and Baz's canon 7.25 years at Watford from a perspective of an OC who couldn't care less about them, which led to some humourous situations. Dre, you actually motivated me to finish this story by giving me ideas for certain situations. I think this is one of the funniest ideas I've ever had and I'm glad with how it ended up.

Time After Time (Carry On, Snowbaz)

Time to go to the other MCD: Major Character Death. This idea had been in the back of my mind ever since Wayward Son got released and we didn't know whether Bazzy was immortal, so I played with it. Simon dies in the White Chapel and is Capital D Dead. No magic can bring him back kind of dead. He and Baz meet every 20 years when the Veil lifts. I think this fic was really challenging, because I had no idea how to end it, but I am glad that it kind of got 2 endings and it works. fatalfangirl on AO3 called this "upsettingly romantic" and I am inclined to agree. There's just this ache of looming heartbreak over the entire fic.

make a fire out of this flame (Carry On, Snowbaz)

Step aside MCD (Matt Christopher Davis), because I think this is the funniest thing I've written. It's a non-magickal textfic. I am a sucker for textfics/epistolary fics so it's wack I've never tried one myself. It's, uh, filled with Little Numbers references because I can. I just loved writing the gang (Penny, Shep, Niall, Dev) being batshit insane at times and I loved adding ridiculous memes and lines to this. Even coming up with groupchat names was a hoot. AND since it's a textfic, I didn't have to worry about typos! Formatting was hell, though, but it was so worth it. Also, Simon/Fish OTP.

All shall know the wonder (Check, Please!; Zimbits)

This is actually, probably, my favourite Zimbits fic that I've written. It's the oldest on this list. I published it in 2020, but I think I started on it in 2019. I had a huge interest in Deaf culture in the late 2010s (I hate writing it like that) and that led to this fic. Jack is Deaf, so never joined the SMH. He still likes to play, though, and he and Bitty, who is on the team, meet at Faber at 4am on a Sunday. I loved writing this fic and I am glad that other people who know more about Deaf culture and ASL (yes, Jack is Canadian, but it's explained why he also uses ASL) also liked it. Oh, and I am a bitch for Camilla Collins, so I am glad I was able to give her a role in this fic. Camilla/Shruti is probably my Check, Please! crack ship.

Ljubim te (Glee, Klaine)

I genuinely love this fic, which is why I am so bummed about the fact that the sequel isn't going as swimmingly. Kurt and Blaine meet in Ljubljana, since I used to live there for 6 months, so it's a great way for me to reminisce over my time there. The story is mostly about comphet and the idea of exploring comphet actually came from Simon/Agatha. In this fic, Blaine and Quinn totally believe they're straight and into each other, ignoring the signs that *narrator voice* they are, in fact, not straight. I loved writing Blaine/Quinn (AS FRIENDS!).

Thanks!

[nandermodela]

I don’t know if there’s a WWDITS roleplay community… But if there is, I want in!

Hi! I just finished season 5 and I am CRAVING to play Guillermo against someone’s Nandor! Lemme be your vampire hunter familiar bodyguard please!

About Me

I’m Ari, 33, gay af. I love to chat, plot & send memes of our characters.

Post length doesn’t really matter to me, just let me know your preference on short 2-3 paragraphs or novella style.

I don’t have many triggers, but be sure to let me know yours!

I prefer to hold the roleplay over discord (add me: nandermodela)

Plot Ideas

I’d love to build off of the show (or an AU) with increasingly ridiculous scenarios. With some danger built in occasionally cause I’m a sucker for some hurt/comfort and fighting for each other too. I’ve got a few basic ideas, but feel free to send me what you’re craving:

- The vampires win a cruise and enjoy the night life on board the ship (it could even be a cruise run by vampires for vampires)

- Guillermo decided to start training as a warlock

- If Guillermo chose to stay a vampire, Nandor begins helping him in his transition

- The Supreme Vampiric Council is putting on a vampire ball and not wanting to appear alone, Nandor asks Guillermo to pose as his date

- Harry Potter AU with Nandor as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Guillermo as the Muggle Studies professor

- Hunger Games AU where Nandor was Guillermo’s mentor and now past victors are being reaped for the Quarter Quell

Word Bank

And here’s some general things that I adore to get some more ideas going:

- There was only one bed/coffin

- Leaning on each other to survive

- Misplaced jealousy (another vampire flirting with Guillermo finally making Nandor come to his senses?)

- Near death experiences leading to a confession

- Drunken confessions

- Overall ridiculousness

Reach out if you’re interested!!

[kuwdora]

Latest things meme... (Two posts in one day? Wonders never cease. Enjoy the ADHD flavor rambling below.)

Anyway, thank you always for the tag @kiriele!

Last song:

I have to again preface that most of my music consumption is for vid-related purposes these days.

I came across this hilarious meme that gave me my latest vid idea. It’s a photo of Paris Hilton picking out some ice cream treats, and overlaid on the treats are one Cassian Andor from Star Wars and John Silver from Black Sails. The captain reads “Actually, can I have five more of these [can’t escape the narrative] bitches?” And the OP writes “finally figured out why these two makes me so feral.”

I saw that and I felt like my third eye opened. Like. 🤯 Because there is a perfect thematic vid there showcasing these two’s specific struggles. Especially in the context of resisting an encroaching empire and and and... they really got sucked into the narrative and can't! fucking get out!! And then they end up believing in the cause (in their own ways) and ah ah ah...ahhhhh..

Okay that context being given, I went and spent all 5 minutes going “I need a song. I need a song for these two. Two sources, two voices? Maybe, maybe not. Male vocalist? Raging against the authority is punk, but I love mash-ups and pitting parallels and contrasts of with multiple musical sources. Wait, I already had a DJ artist who made this other mash-up I loved am going to use for a vid…surely he has something that could be… interesting or great for Cassian Andor and John Silver. Surely??”

Friends. Friends. Even those of you who don't know or care about vidding, this is just a sort of beautiful mini-nirvana moment when you discover the perfect song (especially so quickly).

BEHOLD. My Cassian Andor and John Silver vidsong that I may or may not make but you hear it first:

I can see the whole vid unfolding before my eyes. Frantically trying to download Black Sails and searching my 3 hard drives to make sure I had in fact nabbed Andor earlier for a different vid idea. Yet…I have so many other vid things in my queue and only so much hard drive space and brainRAM.

Currently watching:

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I want to like it more than I do. I like elements of the characters, (La’An and Chapel are extremely compelling, Ethan Peck is bringing a great human cheekiness to his portrayal of Spock, Pike remains a great Space Dad) but there’s still something that’s not gelling fully with me. Which is sad because I am so on board with the more episodic angle again and some of the classic themes and motifs from TOS but it’s just…idk, I think I need a whole post to think aloud on it.

Currently reading:

Ahsoka by EK Johnston, Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski. Almost done with Spin State by Chris Moriarty.

Currently obsessed with: Oh, I’m burbling with obsession…

In my reading I’m still losing my mind over how much I love Baptism of Fire. Milva sucker punching a peasant. Regis’ entrance to the narrative. ZOLTAN, sloppy drunk. Geralt dreaming of Ciri…Ciri dreaming of Geralt. 😭

Ahsoka learning how to pretend to be a Normal Twice-Orphaned Teenager. How do people interact outside wartime situations and executing battle strategy?? Honey… (I need to go look for some post-O66 Ahoska fic novels…)

ALSO!!! @dragneto has also infected me witcher fic idea that’s got me foaming at the mouth. I want to tackle the idea but I’m also dying to finish my WIP chapter first before I can play. I’m so obsessed with this ridiculously horny and sad idea.

I also have 4 vid ideas I’m chewing on like a rabid gremlin and it is definitely to the point of obsession. Mad that I won’t be able to follow through in the short or medium term…too much on the brain, lack of focus, stress from life stuff, other WIPs eating away at me.

Two Witcher ones vid ideas: my Phil vid…she’s so bad, I love her. Sexy song, lots of bad. And I am revisiting an old pan-canon humor/thirst/thematic vid about Geralt… Which is more about how the characters see him.

Then I got my Star Wars Rebels idea which I’m having technical problems that’s keeping me from starting.

…And then this Andor/Black Sails thing…

tagging @deerna and @danegen and @shetiger and @simuran and @whatkindofnameisvolta ...and anyone else who wants to go.

[welllpthisishappening]

rules: tag twenty blogs you’d like to get to know better. ha, that’s too many blogs, here just a bunch of facts about me instead. 

tagged by @distant-rose

nickname(s): literally nothing except the occasional “Laur” which is just...one less letter than normal so it doesn’t really count at all.

gender: female

sign: libra

height: 5 foot 6

time: 2:57 p.m.

fav band(s): panic! at the disco, fleetwood mac, augustana, literally any mid-2000s pop-punk band (fall out boy, all time low, cute is what we aim for, my chemical romance) and the jonas brothers.

fav solo artist(s): john mayer. like...john mayer again? billy joel, george harrison, stevie nicks.  

song stuck in my head: either one of the new panic songs

last movie i saw: thor: ragnarok 

last show i watched: the golden girls. 

when did i create my blog: late 2016 so i could flail on multiple social media platforms.

last thing i googled: a map of the beacon hill neighborhood in boston for the time travel story that literally will not end. 

do i have any other blogs: nah, you get all my interests in one less-than-organized space

do i get asks: yes and it’s the nicest

why did i choose my url: it was already my Ao3 account and mostly happened because it’s exactly what i said when i decided to go all in on fandom. like...welp, this is happening. 

following: 157

followed by: way more than i ever expected for a blog that is mostly me screaming in the tags and closing in on a nice, round number.

average hours of sleep: six?? eh...

lucky number: 31 because jason seahorn wore 31 when he played for the giants and we were in love.

instruments: unless you’re going to count my incredibly talented in-car performances on the LIE then i am the least musically inclined person alive.

what i am wearing: a chris kreider shirt, leggings, a red and white polka dot sweatshirt with a rainbow patch on the side that i have had since i was twelve and may be my favorite article of clothing.

dream job: meg cabot. but honestly. i just want to write fantasy rom coms forever. 

dream trip: throw a dart at any city in italy.

fav food: sesame seed bagels, medium iced caramel lattes from dunkin donuts.

nationality: american.

fav song: edge of desire by john mayer; summer, highland falls by billy joel; that green gentleman by panic at the disco; the chain by fleetwood mac; allison by elvis costello

last book i read: the belgariad.

top 3 fictional universes i wanna join: harry potter because i am a person who grew up in the early 2000s and i want to name my future dog padfoot. rivendell, but, like only rivendell and obviously before all that nonsense with sauron. riva or tolnedra in the belgariad because i wanted nothing more as a kid than to be ce'nedra. 

Assume if you’re reading this I have tagged you and also want to read facts about you on the internet. 

[d15gu571ng]

do you actually like family guy or is it just 4 the meme? im dying 2 know

Thanks for the question anon!

This is hard to put into words because while I do genuinely like the show, I like it for more than what it is on the surface. Its not that I relate to the characters on a deep emotional level but more or so of how it slowly grew on me and changed the way I thought of how I interact with media and the people who consume it.

When I first saw the show I was an 11 year old kid who "liked" almost anything, as long as it was 'entertaining' for me. Mind you I didn't actually understand what was going on, nor did I even react to alot of the scenes in any way I just... watched it to watch it. I mean, it beats the shitty infomercials and corny live action sitcoms that were on at the time.

When I formed an actual opinion on the show it was a deep, deep hatred. I saw the show as objectively lazy, cheap, mean-spirited and just downright obnoxious at times with its themes and writing. And I'll admit it, it's true.

Family guy is not an amazing show. A lot of it's characters, which used to be charming and fun to watch became flanderized distorted versions of themselves due to the passage of time. It's writing has moments where it can be downright cringe inducing, especially with some of the jokes. The themes of certain episodes are so ridiculously problematic that it made even ME feel uncomfortable on occasion. The animation is quite often cheap and stiff and don't even get me started on the modernized design of the show itself...

I can completely understand why somebody would say it was downright garbage.

But my dad LOVED that show

He would continuously talk about how funny he found Peter and his family, recount episodes by memory and even show me his favorite clips of the show and would laugh and laugh at the occasionally shitty punchlines. He loved this stupid bad show so much that for almost every birthday he'd ask me to draw Peter Griffin for him..

I hated that shit.

I would rant to him about how shitty the show was and that it was incredibly problematic that he liked it. And most of the time he'd simply reply, "Well I think it's funny!"

And I'd give a snarky retort on how it was stupid that he did.

Needless to say we didn't talk much about what we liked to one another.

And as more and more life stuff happened we became more distant and hostile until finally I was out of the house for college.

I didn't really reach out to him often and I rarely ever called.

And that was that at the time.

Until I watched dog bites bear.

Now to preface this, it was by complete accident. All my favorite video essayists has no more videos to watch, and I would rather tear my own eyes out than listen to another reddit "Am I the asshole for killing my entire family" type post. So without anything better to do, I let it play out. And to say I was shocked at how good stewie and brian's plotline was had me shocked. For a good while, I was obsessed with this episode, and I became even MORE shocked when I realized that there were MULTIPLE episodes with this amount genuine-ness to it.

As I began to binge through more and more episodes of this... fucking stupid show I hated at the time, I started to see aspects of it that I missed out on.

The original music and dance sequences ranged from alright to downright impressive! And it doesn't help that I'm a sucker for musicals and showtunes. Some of the fight scenes being actually, pretty well choregraphed. Yes, the camera angles are flat and uninspired at times, I do like how creative they can be. Some of the plotlines in many episodes have actually REALLY GOOD STORY BEATS AND SCENES TO IT. Like for example, when Peter and Lois reunite in Meet the Quagmires, or every moment of Peter and Brian's relationship in New Kidney in Town and Forget Me Not, Brain and Stewie's EVERYTHING (And the episode too). AND THESE WEREN'T EVEN THE FIRST 3 SEASONS.

I could honestly go on and on about the things I enjoyed in this show and it kinda made me realize alot about how I treated this show and the people who liked it. I genuinely thought I was better than them JUST BECAUSE THEY LIKED THIS "OBJECTIVELY BAD" PEICE OF MEDIA and I would constantly put people down just for liking the things that I considered to be bad. So, when I binged this show and CONSIOUSLY HAD A GOOD TIME WATCHING ALOT OF THE EPISODES? It made me realize that...

I was such a pretentious fucking dick as a kid lol

When I finished binging through around... what... a good 2-3 hours of family guy, my dad called me

And rather than ignoring it like I usually did I actually picked up... It was a little awkward at first, at least from my end... but I don't think my dad even noticed my stiffness. He was just happy to hear my voice after so long, asking how I was doing and how was school and all that... and I'd answer my usual "It was fine." But, what really started a conversation between us was me asking him what his personal favorite episode of Family Guy was, just out of pure curiosity. And the way I could hear his voice light up as he gushed about all his favorite moments...? Christ man...

As stupid as "Family Guy helped me rebuild my connection with my father" SOUNDS, it's really what happened. We ended up spending alot more time together, talking about things we liked and disliked and realized that... we were alot similar than either of us expected. And not only that it really helped me see both the good and the bad in media and that it was ok to enjoy things that everyone else enjoyed, even if the bad outweighs the good.

I understand that the great aspects of family don't represent the show as a whole... but there's a reason other than capitalistic corporatism of why this show just doesn't ever fucking end. Because there's people there that care about this show and these stupid shitty goofy ass characters, both the fans and the people who work on it.

Idk... this was an unnecessarily personal and sentimental stupid rant about something that I grew to love. Really I could've just answered with a simple "yes" and chad Peter png I stole off of google.

But I really do love this show because it helped me appreciate the one person in my life who stuck with me the best he could despite the tragedy after tragedy that happened to him, how shittily and harsh;y I treated him fur to my own fears and traumas, and how far he sunk down into dark... dark places...

Even after all that he's still giving it his all to the people he loves.

And I love him for that.

Sorry for how insane and incomprehensible this ENTIRE diatribe is. I just wanted to gush about how this show made me grow and change as a person and love my family

have a shitty Peter, thanks for the question ^^

[pyjamacryptid]

artists self rec! when you get this, reply with your favourite five arts/sets/edits/gifs that you've done, then pass on to at least five other people. time to shine and spread some self-love and appreciation 🥰 <3

oh my god sia i am SO SORRY i am only just now seeing this ask it's been so long i am so so--

Sia!!!

This was so hard to choose wow.

FANVIDS FIRST:

I'm Sorry | Merlin & Arthur from BBC Merlin [tumblr link] [direct yt link]

This took me over 2 months and, so far, it's the best fanvid I've ever made. I'm ridiculously proud of it and I only have a tiny bit of shame in saying so XD. The finished product ended up far better than the original concept I had in my head. I wanted to make a video that focused on how Merlin and Arthur forgave one another; Merlin, since the day he met Arthur, and Arthur when he learned the truth. Because the core of their relationship was unconditional love, to their own strength and detriment. I cried almost each time I worked on it.

2. I Became Greedy | Kurosawa & Adachi from Cherry Magic [tumblr link] [direct yt link]

This took me about .. I want to say a month? I'm also proud of this one. Cherry Magic is a light-hearted BL j-drama that - at its core - is about the importance of reaching out to others, and the bravery of reaching out and accepting someone else's outreached hand. I eventually want to edit a video on the overarching meaning of the show. But I... am a sucker for pining lol and I was so taken in by Kurosawa's pining. It was so poignant, I was literally clutching my chest in sympathy pangs. So, I wanted to edit a vid that emulated that and focused just on that feeling. And I think I??? did!

3. it's not living if it's not with you | Wei Wuxian & Lan Wangji from The Untamed/CQL [direct yt link]

This was the second fanvid I had posted to my youtube channel and I used a lot of editing techniques I had never tried before, so I learned a lot! I wanted to show as many aspects of wangxian's story and relationship in one video as I could without mucking up the pacing or making it messy in general. I love the colour palette and font I chose. Something else I really wanted to achieve was using a light-hearted song with a sad meaning over both sad and happy scenes, because that's a recipe for EMOTION. And judging by the comments I got on this vid, I dare say I succeeded XD I had a lot of fun making this! Even if I got stuck on it for a month and then thankfully could finish it when I was hit with an epiphany. I also cried quite a bit while making it shkgjhdf

Listen. I have. Emotions.

ART:

4. A Favourable Misunderstanding | Merlin & Arthur [link to full comic here]

A meme re-draw turned into a fluffy comic because it took on a life of it's own and Merlin & Arthur are a force to be reckoned with when being idiots in love. I was also super proud of this! Despite the many styles in one comic (which is fine, I was just worried about nothing looking like it matched) I was happy with how I drew them! Especially as I find Merlin's face very difficult to get a grasp of, for some reason. And I was also proud of their characterisations! I still get so happy to see how well-loved it is, and so perhaps it doesn't need its own rec but what the hell. I love it, too hehe.

5. Balls the Unfathomable | a comic about a weirdly wholesome demon summoning [link to full comic here]

My friends and I, while on a call, fell into doing a bit. That lasted a really long time. And during it, I became a summoned demon nicknamed "Balls". No, I'm not joking. It was ridiculous and hilarious.

Thankfully, I remembered most of it and immediately tried to commit it to paper for - what I thought - was going to be a short, half-assed sketch comic. Nope. I ended up with a multi-page comic with clean lines and everything.

Funnily enough, I hadn't actually ever finished a multi-page comic before this. Not one so polished anyway. Balls has that effect on people, I suppose. skjdhjkfdg

So yeah, I was proud of finishing it, and of choosing a cute, simple style and sticking to it (cute, "less realistic" styles don't come easy to me, so I struggled more than you'd think trying to figure out how I was going to draw this skdjhkfg) and of how I structured the panels, especially when I really was just winging it. I do not know how to panel (yet).

Basically; I adore my friends and the fun we have together and I had to share this particular shenanigan and Balls themself. They've become a beloved character amongst my friends and I.

_________

That's it! Long-winded commentary and all.

Thank you again for the self-rec, Sia! 🥺💕💕💕

psst hey, you should go totally check out Sia's blog - she does amazing edits and gifs

[sessakag]

Don't hate me but I want to know your answer to all these:

Get to know my Shipping Preferences & Ships!

Made an ask meme ^ ^

Send me a number!

1. List 3 shipping tropes you love

2. List 3 shipping tropes you don’t love

3. One emotional aspect of a ship that always gets you

4. One physical aspect of a ship that always gets you

5. Multiship or Monoship?

6. Rare pairs or Mainstream?

7. Polyamory or Monogamy?

8. If the ship is physical, reversible or not?

9. Do you always have romantic ships for fandoms?

10. How important is the sexual part (if any) of your ship?

11. Opinion on platonic ships?

12. List 3 ships you currently love

13. List 5 OTPs from past fandoms

14. Opinion on the importance of marriage?

15. Opinion on kids?

NOW, about ONE ship (ships I’ll answer for in the tags!):

16. One thing one character likes about their partner(s).

17. Now one thing that the other character(s) likes about the first chara.

18. Who confessed?

19. How long did they know each other before getting together?

20. Who’s the ship’s biggest in-universe supporter?

21. Any rivals for the ship?

22. Any mutual friends?

23. Have they met each other’s families?

24. What’s ONE conflict they’ve had.

25. What’s ONE way they’ve resolved a conflict?

26. What’s ONE location that’s important to them?

27. What’s ONE object that’s important to them?

28. What’s ONE food/beverage that’s important to them?

29. What’s ONE thing they do in their free time together?

30. What’s ONE thing they do in their free time APART?

31. What’s ONE thing character A might gift their partner?

32. What’s ONE thing character A’s partner(s) might gift back?

33. How would they react to long distance?

34. How would they react to an ex showing up?

35. Describe one date.

36. Describe one example of comforting after a bad day.

37. Describe one reunion after time apart.

38. Describe their ideal home.

39. Describe their first kiss (if any).

40. Describe their first time (if any).

41. Would they have any pets? If so, describe.

42. Would they get married? If so, describe their wedding.

43. Would they have any kids? If so, describe.

44. Give each character a color.

45. Give each character an element.

46. Give each character a Pokemon.

47. Give each character a Hogwarts house.

48. Give each character a super power.

49. Give each character an rpg class.

50. Imagine each character as an animal.

Obvs, some of these I already know your answer but just...please? 😁

Alright! Here we go! 😤

List 3 shipping tropes you love

Trope One: The one night stand that leads to: "oh no I'm pregnant now!". The chaos that follows, the angst and the crazy situation of having to get to know your baby daddy or baby mama a few months before the actual kid pops out is just soooo entertaining to me. Trope Two: Age gaps, preferably older man/younger woman. I am a sucker for an authoritative male, yes there can be younger man that have that Dom energy, but there's just something ridiculously sexy attractive about man a couple years older taking the reins 😤 Trope Three: Toxic relationships/Dark (that may or may not get better). I get tired of reading stories that are all sprinkles and rainbows all the time, sometimes I just want to read some fucked up, dysfunctional shit that can engage the darker emotions rather than one that's continuously reaching for sainthood. I love delicious emotional angst.

Trope One: Gender Bender. No thank you, kindly. Not my thing at all. I've tried them and its like putting my foot in the wrong shoe, lol. I can't immerse myself in the story. Trope Two: Idiots in Love. Now I have a love hate relationship with this, if done right, I enjoy it, but when it gets to the point where its dragging on and on and on, and they're dancing around to the point where I'm getting irritated, yeah, lol, I'm exiting the story. Unfortunately a lot of stories overemphasize the idiots part 😅and omg when it gets to the end and they get a paragraph of actually being together before the story ends ��Trope Three: Strong!(insert normally sweet character) This one falls heavily on the strong!Hinata trope. She is usually just turned into a clone Sakura(one of my least fav characters) or RTN Hinata(who I cannot stand!) omg this really irks my soul. For some reason many people think strength = violent, nasty tempers and attitude. That characters, especially female characters, can't be strong without being unnecessarily aggressive and mean. Literally you don't have to do all of that, and it turns me off so freaking quick its not even funny! If you want to develop Hinata's shinobi abilities, do that, you don't have to make her awful to accomplish it.

Angst! For example, confrontations in which one or both characters admit to some wrong doing in the relationship and they have this emotional scene where they either blow up or work through the situation. I live for that!

Usually I'm reading about NaruHina so the physical aspect for me would be Naruto finally getting to experience constant physical contact with another person(Hinata), hugs and kisses, caresses and lovemaking. That gets me every time since he was so deprived growing up. He's not used to that treatment and I love it when he gets absolutely spoiled with physical contact!

This is kind of hard, lol. My core has always been monoship of NaruHina, but that NaruHinaSasu just refuses to leave me be. So I'd say I'm a multiship but with very strict with it. Definitely not a 'anyone can get it' type shipper. Sasuke I can put him with a very select few ladies, but Naruto and Hinata, they get each other and Sasuke, there's no SasuHina only or NaruSasu only, if that makes sense, lol. And putting them with anyone but Sasuke is a hard no. NaruHina, NaruHinaSasu or I don't want it.

I lean more into the mainstream pairings I suppose, most of my ships usually come to fruition, luckily. Though I go hard for the rare pairs of NaruHinaSasu and SessKag.

Polyamory! NaruHinaSasu only. I love my three babies together. If I have to choose a monogamous pairing, it'll always be NaruHina though.

Not really sure what number 8 is asking to be honest 😅 can someone clarify and I'll answer later.

Yes! There is not a fandom that I don't have a romantic ship for. I get bored without romance.

Very! Sexuality is very important to me in general, its like a love language you can only hear through your body, and it reveals hidden away pieces of yourself that only your lover knows about and experiences(in regards to my interpretation of it, I know the world is different) so having them take that step means a lot to me!

They can be fun! I personally ship Hinata/Ino as platonic girlfriends! 🥰I ship NaruSasu as a couple and as platonic ride or die besties for life.

NaruHina. NaruHinaSasu. HinaIno (platonic).

SessKag, EdWin, IchHime, DomonRain, KenshinKarou

I love for my OTP to get married, it's like closing the chapter and starting a new one. Nothing religious or societal norm pressure, just genuinely love seeing a big ass celebration and the exchanging of last names 💞It's so cute seeing the Mrs and Mr. Whatever.

Lots! Fill the whole house up with those little buggers!!

Naruto likes Hinata's kindness! 🥰he really hasn't had anyone that just showered him with kindness until Hina (imo) I love that he has some that wouldn't beat on him, insult him, call him names or make him feel less than in anyway and I know he's got to love that!

Hinata likes Naruto's determination. That guy gets something in his head and he goes for it with everything he's got and then some! He pushes and pushes and moves mountains! Hard not to admire him!🥰

Hinata then Naruto.

Think it was around 15 years-ish? Think in the Last Naruto was 19 and they met when they were like 4 or 5 I think? It was before they went to the Academy, Hinata got lost during Hizashi's memorial and Naruto led her back home.

Sakura. In the Last she was encouraging Hinata a lot and helped talk Naruto through his feelings. That really kick started me tolerating Sakura better. She really was a nice person in the Last, and I liked her a bit during it.

Nope. Not even close.

Konoha 12.

No. Unfortunately. Minato and Kushina would have loved Hinata to pieces though!

Hinata got kidnapped by Toneri.

Naruto beat tf out Toneri for stealing his girl, and Hinata ripped his eyeballs out for messing with her lil sis🥰

Ichiraku Ramen Stand! It was one of the first places that accepted Naruto as a child and it's where he took Hinata on their first date! And though I LOATHE the Boruto series, I did catch a snippet on youtube of him reminissing about their first date happily while out with his brat son Boruto🥰

The Red Scarf! The scarf Hinata made for Naruto was incredibly important to both of them, Naruto especially, he wanted it even though it'd been blown to shreds.

Ramen.

Make beautiful babies 😂still waiting for that third redhead child.

Shippuden wise, they train. idk what Boruto got going on.

Something hand made. Hinata's pretty crafty and she's caring enough to make him something no matter how time consuming.

Flowers. Naruto's unpredictable, but him knowing she likes to press flowers, I can see him doing that.

Fine. They're shinobi after all, they understand that duty calls them away from time to time.

Naruto would act a damn fool 😂mean muggin, poutin and shit. Wrapping himself around Hinata like a damn boa constrictor. He would not be happy and everyone would know it. Jealous Naruto don't gaf. Hinata would probably feel a bit insecure. She's always had low self esteem thanks to daddy dearest, but I think as long as the ex didn't overstep she'd be fine and cordial.

[agathaloseshermind]

Season 8 part 2, the Sirenixes

So this will cover Neo Sirenix and Crystal Sirenix. My knowledge on these transformations is based on what little season 8 bits Im willing to subject myself to (yes I heard plot wise its actually solid but... the whitewashing.... and how ridiculously kiddified it is... and the fact they’re still relying on romantic drama...... eh no)

Similarly to Neo Enchantix I feel like returning Sirenix was pointless why? BECAUSE THEYRE REUSING THE ANDROS IS IN DANGER PLOT

I seriously DO NOT understand why they feel the need to always plunge Andros into chaos. Like Aisha how fragile is your kingdom that this is like the 3rd season it’s in danger, I can’t even bring myself to care anymore when its in danger again like your kingdom is just a villain’s punching bag at this point. Like I didn’t mind when Season 5 re-endangered Andros because it was trying to do a protect the environment message but the third time is excessive now. Like it just needs to stop.

The designs are.... eh. I like the idea of the girls having scales but the execution is just kinda awful like the only one’s here who’s scales I like are Flora and Musa’s with Bloom’s being solid, Tecna and Aisha’s are okay and Stella’s is just awful. I’m not opposed to them dressing Stella in colors like purple but it looks so strange with her more orange focused wings and leggings like the purple is so out of place in her design. The idea of the design changes are great but the choices made colors wise are either good or awful without an in between I can see lol.

Song and transformation wise, the sirenix song slaps as always but the transformation sequence.... w h y. Literally only Bloom shows her unique powers, the rest just use bubbles which is just extremely annoying because original Sirenix proved in its transformation sequence even when water themed, its possible to show off the girls’ individual powers. It just feels so lazy to me like don’t get me wrong the animation is still beautiful with them swimming around but like there’s nothing about each transformation sequence that makes each girl stand out. Literally if the girls swapped transformation sequences it would be hard to notice except for Bloom because of the fact there’s no individualization.

Also admittedly the speed in how quickly the girls transform in this case isn’t as bad as Neo Enchantix because when swimming you would expect the girls to be fast and given Sirenix doesn’t have any skirts or dresses for the girls to put on and just the top and legs to immediately put on, its fine.

My rating for Neo Enchantix is 6/10, I want to rate it higher but I am SO sick of the Andros is in peril plot I swear it’s a meme at this point that Andros is in danger. Also I’m annoyed at the loss of individualization in the transformation sequence.

So Crystal Sirenix is caused by Sirenix reacting to the magic ice in Dyamond so the Winx can keep warm in the cold waters. It’s definitely not the worse in terms of needing to exist but I don’t get why Bloom doesn’t just like use her fire power to keep the Winx warm like she could use the Dragon flame to give her friends shiny new powers in Bloomix but can’t create something to give to the Winx so they don’t get cold? Sure...

I think the designs are very pretty though, I’m very much a sucker for those cape things they have, it looks like Harmonix but made for colder temperatures though I don’t understand why they didn’t just fully commit into covering the girls’ bodies given its meant for the cold. They covered their bodies in Bloomix, I don’t get why they didn’t just cover them in Crysta Sirenix as well since it hardly looks like it’ll help with the cold given they’re still showing off skin. Though it is better than Lovix in making the girls actually look like the clothes are keeping them warm even if skin is still being exposed.

I love most of their designs except for Aisha's. Think the purplish pink looks odd on her for me. Like its nowhere near as bad as Neo Enchantix as the color suits her far more but I still wish she had her actual signature colors. Also the crown looks incredibly strange on Tecna, it should be smaller. 

Also as pretty as Bloom’s design is here, the snowflakes on her boobs are just no stop. It looks good with the artstyle but I saw art on Crystal Sirenix in the old artstyle and now its cursed to me. 

Song wise there is no song they literally just have the background noise of the Sirenix song and tacked in on, like why?? They couldn’t do what they did with Lovix where the background noise is Sirenix but more crystal like? Like its just strange listening to the beat of Sirenix, getting so ready to jam out as the girls transform only to get nothing. 

(EDIT: SO TURNS OUT WHAT I WATCHED WAS AN EDIT AND THEY JUST USED SIRENIX’S ACTUAL SONG {Which is still an eh decision to me} AND LOVIX’S SONG WASNT AS GOOD AS I REMEMBER. Oops)

Also I wish again they did what Lovix did where the girls were in Sirenix first then transitioned to Crystal form because the girls are just immediately in the outfits then pop out the wings and crowns. I just felt confused watching the sequence because they could’ve made a really pretty sequence with the girls transforming into these clothes.

My rating is 6/10, if the transformation sequence was more interesting it would get a 7 but given it doesn’t, it’s about the same level as Cosmix is to me. 

[vegalocity]

Kiss 9- first kiss for Amnesia Spicynoodles? (Whether as Red Boy and Xiaotian or Red Son and MK, your choice).

Affection meme

9. first kiss

Goddamn i gotta get back on that AU

That's actually a very clever shorthand for the difference between 'the Son of the Monkey King' and 'The Monkie Kid' Anon hope you don't mind me using it!

Also since this is technically the first real THING i'm writing for this Au it got a lil crazy

--

It was.... weird... falling into this rhythm with Red Son.

Even he'd seemed surprised at how quickly he'd agreed to join their team while they were hunting down the weapon that could finally end the Lady Bone Demon. Sure he'd reasoned that he was doing it for the sake of his father, that their family had been taken advantage of by that demon, and this was little more than 'enemy of my enemy' but barely time at all had passed before he may as well have joined simply because he wanted to.

There weren't a lot of bunks on Sandy's Hovership, and at the start of all of this, everyone was so on edge (and in Monkey King's case injured) that it just made more sense to sleep whenever it struck rather than sort out bedroom options and who bunked with whom.

Which had lead to some interesting things so far, such as Monkey King tending to curl up against Tang as he was reading or something and taking a nap right there and how Tang seemed like... wayyy too comfortable with it despite how he'd first reacted to seeing him on New Years.

Pigsy was ALWAYS crabby in the mornings, but he was getting exponentially more frustrated after waking up for something or another he never seemed to be able to relay when he woke (probably some frustrating reoccurring dream that keeps blotting out when he wakes up, MK didn't remember his dreams much either so he could relate)

And about thee days in of Red Son working with them, he'd knocked out during some down time, and while he was sitting near him. The ship rumbled, Red Son hadn't woken, but he slid to the side until he was leaned against MK's shoulder. and... It was comfy. Red Son was warm, and soft.

And before he'd known it he was being startled awake by Xiaojiao making delighted cooing noises and the flash of her camera. And when he jostled Red Son woke up as well. He'd met his gaze for a second and his artist brain noted that his eyes were a rather lovely shade of amber, not even fiery orange or honey brown, but pure, precious stone amber.

and for a moment it had felt... nostalgic... in a way he couldn't place. and the puzzled look on Red Son's face mirrored his confusion at the sudden thought, before the demon slammed up the walls again and pushed MK away, face burning bright red.

But from there it had spiraled.

It was just so... easy? he supposed would be the word. It was almost startling how easy it was to fall into this rhythm with Red Son. Not a few months ago he was a nominal enemy, yet here they were finding themselves sitting next to eachother more often than not, sometimes close enough for shoulders to brush, their unconscious bodies rolling over at once to tangle together like it was the most natural thing in the world.

At one point they were facing a demon that had cast one of those 'greatest fear' spells over the lot of them, and before it had hit he'd felt Red Son slip his hand into his own with a small startled gasp. And before the world went black and he was covered by spiders and the looming specter of his own failures he'd squeezed back.

That had actually happened just hours ago, and MK's hand was still tingly. Everyone was a little shaken up from that one. (Monkey King had holed himself away in one of the few bedrooms there were and he sounded physically pained when MK had tried to check in on him and he'd answered that he'd rather be alone. he was pretty sure Tang was allowed in, and he tried not to take that personally. It was probably a whole 'Mentor doesn't want his student to see him freaked out' thing. If he didn't stop taking everything so damn personally he'd be a sucker for the next fear spell or whatever.) And unlike the others, Red Son didn't have any loved ones on this ship to help reassure him.

So... if their... something or another... that had been developing was gonna mean anything, that probably meant it should fall on him.

Red Son was where he'd expected him to be, half buried in engine guts in Sandy's work area, his hands were shaking and there was a far off look in his eye.

MK had to physically lift him and drag him away, and it was a lot harder without the Mystic Monkie Strength, but he managed.

in fact he'd gotten all the way to the kitchen area and Red Son had stopped struggling in his arms screeching to be let go (yet never trying to flare his fire and forcing MK to drop him) before his stamina gave out and he had to deposit Red Son in one of the chairs.

"Noodle boy i swear this truce will end in an INSTANT if you do not explain yourself-"

"You're freaking out."

"YES I AM! You would be too if your current ally just lifted you up from what you were doing and carried you to the deserted part of the ship because even the Pig is too on edge to be in here!"

"I mean from this afternoon. Red son, you've been pale as a sheet since we got out of there and your hands are STILL shaking." He watched as he hurriedly hid them in his pockets. "You need to talk to someone. And it may as well be me."

"I- I don't need to talk about ANYTHING! Presumptuous Noodle Boy... Bold of you to assume I'd just pour my heart out at some perceived internal detriment which you have no proof even exists!" The bluster and casual insults were considerably less convincing than they were when they were enemies...

...maybe he was just starting to see through them better.

Red Son pulled his hands back onto the table, as a sort of subtle show of how fine he totally was, and clenched his fists to keep them from continuing to shake.

"Red..." The nickname felt... natural. He couldn't quite explain why, but he supposed they'd been Something-or-Another-ing long enough to make it reasonable. Red Son's glare abated and was replaced quickly with a shocked expression. But he didn't shout to not be called something so short, so MK considered that a signal to continue. So he continued with what felt natural and placed a hand over his clenched fist.

The defensive anger was all but gone. And that puzzled, yet slightly awed look he kept sharing with Red Son during moments like these replaced it and those amber eyes darted down to their linked hands, as if he didn't quite know what to do next.

Eventually Red Son came to a decision, and MK let him fiddle around with his grip until their hands were linked properly. And it felt... it was that weird sense of nostalgia again. And as everything else neither of them could quite explain it felt right. familiar. Natural.

"It's not really worth talking about." Red Son responded after the moment passed. yet he didn't pull his hand away. "I know better than to believe what it had showed me."

"Red-"

"I mean, I SHOULD know better, right?" He looked away from MK then, but squeezed his hand a little tighter. "I mean- they're my parents. and they agreed me coming along with you all to take down the Lady Bone Demon was the best course of action. I know they wouldn't disown me because they believed I was becoming more aligned with you all than with the family. That just because we're friends doesn't mean I'm somehow betraying them!" Red Son was working through it in his head, and he didn't seem to really realize that he'd admitted to seeing MK as a friend, so he just squeezed his hand a little tighter and filed that away to celebrate later.

"It's irrational, and it's ridiculous that I actually feared the idea."

"It's not ridiculous, If you think it's irrational then it probably is, but it's not ridiculous. " Red Son looked back at him then and raised a brow. "I mean, who isn't afraid that they're letting their parents down in some way?" He remembered how nervous Xiaojiao was about the idea of disappointing her family, and he was always worried that he'd disappointed his fath-....

What was he thinking about again?.... right, Xiaojiao and her parents.

Red Son took his attention again and the confusion zipped right out of his mind. he gently detangled his hand from MK's and was moving to stand.

"I suppose you're right. And... In that regard I should probably thank you for allowing me the chance to properly process."

"Anytime, Red."

He stood as well, with nowhere else to go, he supposed he'd probably just go out onto the deck and do a little one-man training, heavens knew he needed it.

Red Son put a hand on his shoulder before either of them could pull away and when he turned back to face the demon-

Red Son was looking at him with intent. determination. And it was only then that MK realized that maybe holding someone's hand while they talked about some Real Shit with you, constantly sitting next to each other so as to be closer, falling asleep on each other, and sometimes when you wake up you glance at their mouth wondering how easy it would be to just...

Maybe that wasn't just all friendship overtures.

And maybe they'd had a name for their little something-or-another already.

Neither of them were ever very good at this whole 'self control' thing anyway.

Red Son was just as warm as he'd anticipated. His calloused fingers hooking under his chin as if to keep MK in place. And it was... chaste. Nothing like the fierce passionate devouring of another's mouth that he'd anticipated a demon to go for (that he'd daydreamed about) Almost... child-like. As if Red Son hadn't kissed anyone since before he hit Demon Puberty and didn't know how to do it right. And the action alone made MK feel very much like a child as well. Which was ridiculous he was a grownass man and Red Son was a fully matured demon, and the shortest most chaste little peck made him feel like a squeaky voiced kid.

When they parted he peeked his eyes open just a bit, and it seemed like Red Son had realized the same thing, the two of them shared a soft chuckle.

But then Red Son started to pull away, and that wouldn't do. MK wrapped his arms around the demon's shoulders and properly kissed him this time.

And it didn't feel quite as natural, but it did feel right.

So that was what mattered.

--

Send me stuff

[dapper-nahrwhale]

Thanks so much! All those ideas sound super interesting, both the character-focused Ninjago au (I love the idea of a “canon divergence” in which Wu is never a part of the ninja’s lives, but they still get roped together in a different occupation with a different influential figure) and the plot-focused RvB au (because heist aus SLAP and I am always a sucker for Simmons getting more of a spotlight with a subplot bout his family). Happy to hear more about it!

Ur welcome! And thank you for the interest in them! It honestly really does help with my motivation to finish writing things when I know people do want to hear abt them!

Heres some more lil tidbits abt them lol:

In the rvb one, the whole main heist is all about taking down the simmons family.

But the main plot is a grimmons fake marriage :3

I dont want to spoil it cuz I think it's a hilarious twist, but the reds are not supposed to be on this con. It was an accident.

And theres multiple heists going on at the same time in the same place and its basiclly that one always sunny meme of the two guys recognizing each other across the restaurant and also the leverage two teams competing at the same heist episode vibes going on.

Also did I mention it all started with a fake marriage thing going on with grif and simmons that they have to keep up around his family. Then I made it better by adding heists. For some reason lol.

And also theres ridiculous bets.

And tex >:)

In the ninjago one, it's more of taking place over time and through years ect ect and it's not solely focused one one heist it's more of just we'll sometimes hear references to jobs theyve done. Cuz I dont think I could write that many overcomplicated heists. I mean I could but this au doesnt call for that so I'm not. Yet...

None of them know about their elemental powers yet either. Kai just thinks hes good with fire, jay just thinks hes good with electronics ect ect

Idk how lloyd fits in it all yet but I will. I'm sure. It's come to me.

The timelines and certain events are kinda all over the place since the ninja never stopped garmadon from getting the golden weapons or the devourer or really any of that, I'm envisioning that the world has become very divergent from canon. The lore will still be similar just not exactly the same ig. Still figuring put the worldbuilfing in it

Cuz alot of the villians in ninjago are a direct cause of villains of previous events. So if those events never occur. Then what happens. This I guess.

It all takes place a few years past the pilot, so they're older than when they first met there

I genuinely cannot find the first pilot eps anywheres and I cant remember how it all starts exactly, I just wanted to see it again anyways and to see how different the beginning of the series would be if wu wasnt there.

It's really fun to try and figure out how different the ninja would be as criminals, like what would drive them to that, and what would that change about them, and how different they would be from their canon selves too. Rn they're just. The same but more crime.

I'm imagining ronin finds them all separately and then they go their own ways then meet back later? Idk still figuring out alot of the particulars in it too

I'm also planning on posting some doodles of these aus soon too! :^D

[cherryblossom-chopper]

Hi there! Sorry to bother you! I just saw you were opening matchups and I was hoping if I could request one if they are still open!

To begin, I am a girl and while I consider myself questioning sexuality-wise, I do have a preference for guys!

Personality-wise, I consider myself:

•Sweet- I do my best to be kind to all and help those around me to the best of my ability. Though I can be a bit of a pushover at times as I tend to really struggle with confrontation and prefer to deal with things as peacefully as possible.

•Silly- I enjoy making those around me laugh whether it be through teasing or doing something random. Though I do my best to not go too far and be serious when I need to be, I enjoy helping brightening people’s day, always trying to have a smile on my face and an optimistic outlook to cheer up those around me.

•Imaginative- I often have my head in the clouds and love thinking of things for my interests from headcanons to OCs to memes. This can cause me to get easily distracted and be forgetful at times but I am trying to work on it.

•Insecure- While I do my best to be confident, being unabashedly open about my interests and embarrassing myself, I do doubt and question myself often. From a bad grade to decision to spend a night alone, I can’t help but enter thought spirals where I judge myself and my own opinions in a negative light, which can lead to me getting very stressed and emotional. I tend to be heavily reliant on the opinions others have of me and my decisions and while I’m doing my best to work on it, I still have bouts of anxiety because of it.

•Introverted- While I consider myself an upbeat person, being around people for a long time can really tire me out. Big crowds or people I don’t really feel comfortable around definitely especially get me tired and stressed as I tend to feel my best when I am around people I feel comfortable with, especially if I can talk about my interests, or by myself, doing something I enjoy. While I can be insecure about this aspect of myself, it is part of me that I have grown to accept.

My zodiac sign is Taurus.

Hobby-wise, I really enjoy music, having sung since I was little, with my favorite songs usually coming from shows or musicals. I am especially a sucker for musical theater and theater in general whether I be watching it, listening to the soundtrack, or acting in it which I have done a few times and greatly enjoy. I also really enjoy analyzing works of fiction, especially films, shows, and tropes. I also love memes, bad jokes/puns, sweet foods with cookies being high up there, and dogs. I also have begun picking up writing and sketching though I am far from the best and can get distracted from it often.

My favorite animals are dogs. They are just so cuddly ;w;

I ship you with Portgas D. Ace

I think that Ace would fit well with your vibe. He's just a big goofy guy who won't hesitate to pull ridiculous stunts or embarrass himself if it makes you laugh. It's one of his favorite sounds, actually. One of those laughs makes him laugh, even if he's just made a fool of himself in front of his entire crew.

Ace is very clingy, so he makes it difficult for you to feel alone or get lost in your thoughts when he's around. Why think about all the bad stuff when he's right there demanding your affections?

I do think he won't help you stay focused on your tasks. If anything, he'll encourage your daydreaming or distract you from your work to go do something with him.

He intends to stand up for you if you can't stand up for yourself. Ace does wish you would be a little more confrontational because people shouldn't push you around, but he takes things like that one step at a time.

I will say that I think Ace will struggle to deal with your social battery being shorter than his, though. He's a social butterfly and loves people, so he can't always see the signs that you're getting tired. You will probably have to tell him outright that you're ready to leave a public space. He'll always be understanding, though.

Relationship Trope: Childhood Friends to Lovers

[imnotoverlyobsessive]

Mabel’s All-in-One Guide to Being a Shooting Star: How to Avoid Being Caught and Other Tips You Should Know

Chapter Three: Not Dipper

A big ol thank you to @edward-or-ford and @pacific-ship!

He’s so tall and handsome as hell; he’s so bad but he does it so well. I can see the end as it begins.- Taylor Swift, Wildest Dreams

Warmth.

Warmth and safety.

Those were the first things Mabel noticed when she woke up for those few brief seconds, the first things she could recall feeling. She was too tired to open her eyes, and her head was freaking killing her, but there was warmth seeping into her skin like melted butter into bread, and something smelled remarkably good.

It wasn’t a familiar smell, not by any means, but she found she liked it quite a lot. She turned her face towards the warm, smooth fabric the scent was coming from, nuzzling it happily with a small smile.

It didn’t help her killer headache, of course, but her bed or whatever it was, it smelled goooooood, and she was all for it.

She felt as if nothing could touch her, there in that little bubble of delicious-smelling warmth, and she wondered idly if Dipper was around, because she only ever felt so happy and safe when she was with him.

When had she seen him last, again? Mabel couldn’t remember. She couldn’t remember anything, really.

Oh well. Whatever. She was warm. She was safe. She was comfortable. She was happy. She smiled again, just a little bit, as her thoughts faded when she lost consciousness again.

She would not be so content when she woke the second time.

———————————————————————

There was a throbbing in her skull. An intense kind, particularly in her temples and behind her eyes. It hurt worse when she opened her eyes, and it took them several rapid blinks to adjust to lights that were actually quite dim, but with her concussion headache, they seemed ridiculously bright against the blue ceiling.

“Yeesh,” she muttered, sitting up on the… was that a chaise? Yup, okay, that was definitely a chaise. She’d never even seen one in person; those things were for fancy people. Mabel had always been many things, but fancy most certainly wasn’t one of them.

Anyway, she was sitting up on the super-duper fancy chaise, her hands supporting her. “My head, what in the…” Dammit, her wrists and arms hurt, too, those were, ugh, were those rope marks? They sure looked like rope marks.

There was a sound nearby when she spoke loud enough to be heard, but Mabel’s head was throbbing so loudly in her ears that she couldn’t hear much of anything. She massaged the skin on her wrists, trying to get the soreness to dissipate. It didn’t.

And then the whole thing came rushing back.

Shit. Was she married to the gnomes now? Was that gonna be her life? No, no, it was fine, gnome marriage wasn’t legally binding, she didn’t think, and even if it was, it wasn’t legal for somebody to marry a whole bunch of people at once, and it definitely wasn’t legal for that somebody to be an unwilling participant. Therefore, any marriage contracts they may or may not have drawn up were null and void, legally speaking. Which meant she needed to escape. Which meant she needed to figure out where she was.

Wait, what about the blood-gnome? What was up with that? Or, shit, the floating glow-dude! What the heckity hecking heckfire was going on with that shiz?

Suddenly, out of nowhere (or perhaps not truly nowhere; she just hadn’t examined where she was just yet, as she hadn’t looked up), a pair of arms wrapped around her, and her head was squished against a very masculine, yummy-smelling (the same smell as before, actually! What a lovely coincidence!) chest. Mr. Hugglebus reached up and threaded his fingers through Mabel’s hair, holding her head against him.

“Mabel,” a voice whispered, like its owner couldn’t believe he was getting to say her name. It was familiar, but also very much not, and Mabel was, like, off-the-charts levels of confuzzled. “Mabel,” the voice said again. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

It was hard to think with the pounding in her ears, but she did her best to ignore it.

She had bigger things to deal with than a headache, no matter how nasty it was.

“Wh- whoa there, friend,” Mabel said shakily, putting her hand on his chest and pushing away from him lightly. Mr. Hugglebus pulled back enough for Mabel to get a proper look at him, and…

Wait.

What?

“Dipper?” she gasped. He said nothing. “What is up with your hair, man?” she laughed. “Or- or your getup, like! What? You goin’ to a fancy party or something? No, no, wait!” she was giggling, and it hurt her head, but it was just so goddamn good to see him she didn’t care. “Okay okay, I know! You’re doing, like, a knock-off impersonation of Gideon, right?” He furrowed his brow, annoyance filling his ice blue eyes.

But… wait. Ice blue eyes? Dipper has brown eyes. They were identical to hers. She knew this. She’d stared into those stupid-beautiful eyes of his a bazillion and one times. She knew her bro bro’s eyes, aight? She knew those suckers. This guy, though. This guy was different. Like. Different different.

“Are you… are you Dipper? ‘Cause like. The Dipster I know won’t even wear color contacts for cosplay purposes, and those eyes ain’t blue naturally, so…”

It was several moments before he finally spoke. He was gazing at her with this weirdly intense look in his eyes (holy crap, those eyes, they were so pretty, nobody’s eyes should be allowed to be that freakin’ blue) she’d never seen on anyone before.

“I’m not… your Dipper,” his emphasis the ‘your’ was strange, condescending, as if he loathed saying it.

She scooted away, her back hitting the arm of the chaise.

All she could think about was a gnome drenched in blood, babbling in terror before exploding violently.

”Then who are you?” she whispered, eyes wide.

He smiled, and not unkindly, either. It was… strange. It was a kind smile from someone who didn’t look like such things came to them naturally. It was nothing like her twin’s smile.

Nothing like it at all.

It did something to her insides. Something she didn’t understand. Something she didn’t know how to interpret or name.

“Don’t worry,” he murmured, keeping his distance, his legs twitching as if he wanted to get closer to her. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Okay,” she said, not believing him in the slightest. ‘Cause. Like. The blood-gnome. Had that been him? Had he done that? She hadn’t seen it, but in retrospect, it totally made sense for him to have done that somehow. “But who are you?” she asked again.

“I’m something of an… alternate version of the Dipper you know.” The more he spoke, the more she found his voice to be different and strange. Plus, he looked so similar to Dipper, but Mabel only ever saw her bro’s birthmark once in a blue moon. This guy had it front and center, and his hair was slicked back, and she lowkey wanted to touch it, just to see what it felt like. His voice was deeper than Dipper’s. More monotone, too. It was bizarre.

It was… it was attractive, is what it was. His look and attitude, the whole shebang, it was just insanely attractive. Wait, no, no! Mabel thought to herself. It’s cool, Mabel girl, you’re all good, everything’s a-okay, it’s just that he looks like your bro, alright? No big deal. Well, okay, you shouldn’t be having those kinds of thoughts about your bro, either, but we’re well past that.

“Alternate… version…?” Wait. Shit. Maybe he was… “Are you the anti-Dipper?” She whispered frantically, trying to back away more as if her back wasn’t already firmly pressed against the armrest. “There’s tons of different versions of me, I know that, but I’ve never seen another version of Dipper, and you look just freakin’ like him except for your whole… style and general demeanor, I guess, so-“ she was trying to get up, but holy hot pockets, that was some serious dizziness right there.

Moreover, was there another Mabel in this universe? She hadn’t seen another Mabel in years. It’d be… interesting to see one again. Wait, shit, if he was the anti-Dipper, there was the anti-Mabel somewhere around there, and Mabel was not at all confident she could currently best the anti-Mabel in a fight. And something told her the anti-Mabel wasn’t exactly one for fighting fair and waiting till she was ready. She wasn’t the meme-worth Inigo Montoya, and this wasn’t The Princess Bride.

Dammit.

Wait, he’d said he’d never expected to see her again. And she’d definitely never met him before, she would’ve remembered a fancy, older version of her bro, which could only mean he was talking about the other Mabel. Had something happened to her? Had she left, maybe?

“I’m not,” he cut in quickly, moving towards her slowly, like she was a feral cat ready to book it at any moment. “I’m not the… anti-Dipper, or whatever it was you said.”

She looked around. They appeared to be in some sort of dressing room. No, wait, it was Gideon’s dressing room! Except it wasn’t, because Not-Dipper was there, lounging on the ultra-fancy chaise as if he owned it, which he might very well have done, because Not-Dipper didn’t exactly look like he was a broke college student.

He looked like he used hundred dollar bills as tissues like Woody Harrelson in Zombieland.

Still very much fighting the urge to attempt to GTFO, as the kids say, Mabel turned back to him. “What are you, then?” He blinked for a moment, as if he were surprised, and then she belted out more questions. “What’s your name? How old are you? You don’t look like you’re the same age as me, which is weird if we’re kinda-sorta-pseudo-twins. Why am I here? Where even is here? How-“

“Okay, let’s do this properly, shall we?” He tilted his head when he spoke, the corners of his lips curling upwards in another one of those strange smiles that did something to Mabel’s insides. “One question at a time,” he said, holding up a long, slender finger. “You can ask me anything you want, and I promise to answer truthfully. However,” he crossed one leg over the other, his foot dangling off his knee, the arm closest to her draping casually over the back of the chaise, “for every question I answer, I get to ask one of you in return. You don’t have to answer me, of course, but if you choose not to, that’ll be the end of our little game,” he paused for a moment. “For the time being, at least. Sound fair?”

She nodded hesitantly. She could stop at any time, right?

“Go ahead, then,” he waved the hand that dangled haphazardly over the chaise.

“What’s your name?”

“Mason William Gleeful, but I’ve always been called Dipper,” he said easily, as if he’d been fully expecting that very question.

“Because of the birthmark, I assume,” Mabel was very careful not to phrase it as a question, not to raise the pitch in her voice at the end of her sentence. She didn’t know how he’d react if she asked two questions in a row.

“A fair assumption,” he agreed with a slight nod and another one of those smiles. Ugh. Could ya not, man? Like, for real, Mabel thought. His smile was most definitely not helping her nausea. “And your name? Your full name, if you would.”

“Oh, um,” was she seriously forgetting her own name? Jeez, Mabel, get it together, he’s not Dipper, get over it! “M- Mabel Caroline Pines,” she managed to stutter out.

“Pines, hm? Interesting. Alright then. Shall I go along with your other questions from before, as well?”

She shook her head. “Actually, I was wondering about your last name,” he raised his eyebrows at her and motioned for her to continue. “There’s a sort of… psychic, I guess is what you’d call him, in my universe, and he has that last name. Is that… I mean… we are in what looks like his dressing room, so…”

“I did shows here,” he said quietly, a strange look in his eye, as if he wasn’t seeing her despite looking right at her. “Once upon a time.”

“Oh. I see,” she squeaked out.

His gaze sharpened on her again, and he was moving closer to her, and Mabel tried to back up further, her sneakers scrambling against the fabric of the chaise. Eeek way too close way too close back the fudge up, man, what are you even-

“Why were you in his dressing room?” He was right in front of her face by that point, like waaaaaaay too close, ‘cause their noses were almost brushing and she could see each individual eyelash, and god his eyes were even more startlingly beautiful up close, and she wanted to reach up and touch-

No no no no, bad, bad Mabel, he’s not your Dipper, this is a different version! she told herself firmly. No touchy!

“We gave each other makeovers,” she said, trying very hard to keep her voice even. When he raised his eyebrows at her, she got mildly defensive. “I was twelve! He was… I dunno, ten or eleven! Jeez!” He chuckled at that, then leaned away from her, satisfied with her answer, she supposed, and resumed his previous position as if he’d never moved from it at all.

As if he hadn’t just sent a chill down her spine that was… not altogether unpleasant, which was significantly more concerning than it would’ve been if she’d hated every second he’d been near her.

She pursed her lips and put it from her mind. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-five,” he said easily. “And you?”

“Nineteen,” she told him quietly, surprised at his age. She glanced at the foot he’d balanced on his knee.

His shoes were fancy, too. Everything about him seemed to be. “Not what you were expecting, I see,” he observed from her expressions. Damn her and her expressive face!

“Well, it makes sense, because you certainly look older than… than my Dipper.” Her voice shook on the word ‘my’.

His hand clenched into a fist.

She didn’t know what to think of it. Was he angry, or did it mean nothing?

“But it also doesn’t make sense, because if it’s a parallel universe, we should be the same age, I would think.”

“Well, not necessarily,” Not-Dipper reasoned. “In some universes, time moves at different rates, from what I’ve gathered. In our case, it’s the same, but it seems I was born earlier. I was born in 1993, whereas you were born in…” he thought for a moment, tilting his head to the side. “1999.”

“Oh.” She’d never noticed that when interacting with other Mabels. Perhaps it was simply because she was too preoccupied with not dying. It had seemed rather urgent at the time.

“Indeed,” he nodded. “So, your questions,” he reminded her after a few seconds of silence.

“Right.” What had they been again? He kept looking at her, she had to get him to stop doing that. It was distracting. His eyes were distracting. She couldn’t think when they were in her, dammit. Oh! That was it! “Where are we?”

“My universe. I found you with and brought you here through a portal,” he stuck a hand in his pocket. “If you meant the locale, however, as I said before, this was our-“ he cut himself off, took a breath. “My dressing room until several years ago, when I stopped performing.”

“I… see,” she said slowly. So where was the other Mabel, then? Shouldn’t there be a fancy, blue-eyed, properly Adult™ version of herself somewhere? She looked around the dressing room (holy crapinoli, she didn’t think she’d ever seen so much blue in one room), but there were no signs of a woman anywhere. There were no perfume bottles or makeup on the vanity, no dresses on the clothing rack, nothing.

How strange.

“Why were you in Gravity Falls?” He asked.

“To get away.” Helooked at her questioningly. Did it count if it was an unspoken question? She wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t risking it. “I needed an escape. College can be… stressful.”

That wasn’t the full reason, of course, but she wasn’t lying, either.

“Interesting.” He tapped his fingers on his leg. How could a person’s fingers be pleasant to look at?

“Why did you bring me here?”

“You needed help,” he said simply, shrugging a shoulder. He winced slightly when he did, but just a bit; the change in expression so minor she wasn’t sure she’d seen it at all. “However did you find yourself kidnapped by gnomes, of all things? Gnomes who wanted you for their queen, no less.”

She looked away. It’d been a long time since she had fought against anything but class schedules and exams she wasn’t prepared for.

“They… caught me off guard,” she told him quietly. “They tried something similar when I was a kid, but they lost. It never occurred to me that they might try again.”

“Gnomes are persistent little things,” he mused. “They dislike losing, and they are quite stubborn. It stands to reason that they’d try again if you’d beaten them before.”

“What… what did you do?” Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “To the gnomes, I mean. Unless, of course, I’m misremembering, because there is every chance I am, what with the concussion I very likely have and all, so if I am just say the word, but it seemed pretty dang clear that-“

“I killed them,” he said bluntly. His face was bored, disinterested. Apathetic, even. It didn’t even seem to be bothering him. How could it not be bothering him? Unless…

Unless he’d killed before.

The human brain could get used to just about anything if given enough time.

“You- you killed them,” her voice was horrified, she knew. She could hear it in her tone. Yeah, she’d wanted to get away from them, she’d wanted them to leave her alone, and maybe she’d even wanted to give them a good whack, but she hadn’t wanted them dead.

“Of course I did,” he sounded surprised at her reaction. “They hurt you. They were going to hurt you far worse.”

“I know that,” she whispered. “I know that. But that doesn’t give you the right to just… you can’t be someone’s judge, jury, and executioner. That’s not right.”

“I only did it to save you, Mabel.” She had only heard Not-Dipper say her name once before.

It was different than when Dipper said it. Maybe it was because Not-Dipper’s voice was a little deeper, a little smoother-sounding?

“You weren’t safe. Not in your universe.” His eyes were burning, which was strange since they were the color of ice. “I can keep you safe. I will keep you safe.”

“Ummm… that’s cool and all, but that’s pretty freakin’ unsettling, to have somebody just, like. ‘Splode a bunch of gnomes for you,” she eyed him warily, still trying to figure out how to get away from the dude without crawling. Would he get angry with her for not being appreciative? She didn’t want to see him angry. Would he hurt her?

“I don’t want you to be scared of me,” he told her quietly, his voice a little sad.

She almost lied and told him she wasn’t scared of him, that everything was hunky-dorey, and that he should smile.

She didn’t.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have, I dunno, made people explode in front of me?” She was being sarcastic, she knew, and that was probably a bad idea, but sometimes she just couldn’t help herself.

“Gnomes aren’t people, technically,” he reminded her.

“Semantics,” she waved his argument away. “They’re living creatures. Or they were, anyway, before you decided to go and massacre them.”

Not-Dipper had a look on his face that suggested he wasn’t opposed to killing living creatures, whether they were human or not.

Maybe he already had.

Mabel hoped he hadn’t, but something in the way he held himself gave her a sneaking suspicion that he had.

“I’m sorry if that… bothers you, or if it scares you. I don’t want to make you feel those things,” he sighed. “That said, I think it’d be best if I were up front with you: if put in the same situation again -if you were in danger again, that is to say- I’d do the same thing.”

She crossed her arms, pursed her lips, and glared at him. “Take me home, please.”

There was panic in his eyes. “I- I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“The portal… it doesn’t work like that. I’ll have to find another way to get you back,” he explained. She was still glaring at him when he continued. “But for the time being, you can stay with me. If you want,” he turned his body to face her for the first time since he’d hugged her.

“Well. I suppose that’ll have to- WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT?” She was pointing, horrified, to his shoulder, where one arrow, perhaps about a foot long, was embedded in his shoulder. Another was in his side, the one that had been facing away from her. Blood had seeped through to pool around the entry wounds, though the bleeding seemed to have stopped. His eyes followed her shaking finger.

“Oh, right. I got shot with a couple of arrows. Just gnome ones, though, so they’re quite small,” she dropped her hand back to the soft fabric of the chaise.

“Okay, so you saved me, and you got hurt doing it,” she was saying this to herself, staring at her knees and speaking as if he couldn’t hear her when he could absolutely hear her. “Okay. Okay. This is fine, this is fine, Mabel girl.” She looked back up at him. “Okay, let’s go… wherever we need to go for you to treat those… yeah…”

“Very well,” he agreed. “I’ll take you there.”

He helped her to her feet, and she still found herself a bit dizzy, wobbling a bit.

“Would you like me to carry you?” he offered, steadying her with a hand on her arm.

“Carry m- say what now?”

“I don’t mind, particularly if you’re having difficulty walking still.” As if that explanation was adequate! Why was homeboy cool with it at all, though? She’d gotten a hella nasty gash on her leg once in PE, can ya guess how many people offered to freakin’ carry her to the nurse? Zero, is the answer. Zero.

What a weird dude. And Mabel was in love with her gay twin brother, so if she, of all people, thinks you’re weird, then you are weird.

“Nope!” she squeaked out way too quickly to sound even remotely close to being normal. “I’m good on the carrying front, thanks! Got it covered!”

“Suit yourself.” Ugh why, why was he smiling that smile again, it reminded her of Dipper and also not, and it made her nervous as all hell. “This way.” And with that, he promptly strolled out of his dressing room, clearly expecting her to follow.