#i can't believe the show ended almost 15 years ago

[hairmetal666]

Steve has done interviews before. Like, a lot of interviews. YouTube, podcasts, print, TV stuff. Not as a brag, or anything, just. He's been an influencer for a long time, for better or worse, and it's part of the deal.

Usually, he's comfortable in front of the camera. Usually, he's poised and well-spoken. But today, this time, sweat pools under his arms and beads along his hairline, the lights beating down on him in a harsh glare.

"Steve Harrington," Murray Bauman crosses his legs, smiles big for the cameras. "It's been a while."

He smiles too, tries to seem like he's not about to have a panic attack. "I've been a little busy."

Murray laughs and it's then that Steve understands how screwed he really is. Murray's show, it's all glitz and glamour on the surface; mixed drinks and hijinks until the celebrity guests lose their inhibitions, admitting things they probably wanted to keep secret.

It's just that, before, Steve didn't have any salacious rumors to worry about, and now--

"You've had a rough year, Steve, yeah?"

"Not my best, for sure." He leans back, tries to seem calm, unbothered.

"I was sorry to hear about your divorce. I think that announcement really took a lot of people by surprise."

His hands clench, but he manages not to shift or bounce his leg. "Thanks for, uh. Yeah. We were also sorry it didn't work out."

Murray nods, face full of sympathy. "You and Nancy, you'd been together since high school? That's almost--what? 15 years?"

"It's--" he clears his throat. "About that long." Steve takes a sip of the drink next to him, an apple martini that's both too sweet and too strong.

"Am I right to assume that you didn't see it coming?"

And isn't that a question? Sure, now in hindsight, he can see the fractures that lead to the end, but six months ago did he--it's all so--what if all along--

"All marriages have rough patches," is what he says. "We just couldn't come out of ours as a couple."

"Do you know what I've found really remarkable about this phase of your life? The content and tone of your videos in the midst of the maelstrom of rumors and gossip didn't change at all. 'Your kids' as you call them, are still as bright and vibrant as ever. You're laughing, dancing, cooking, having a great time."

"I needed that--that normalcy you know? And the kids, they're such an important part of my life, having them around helped."

"Including Nancy's brother, Mike?"

Steve laughs and it's not fake. "Totally including Mike. My relationship with Nancy has nothing to do with my relationship with him."

"He's kind of an antagonist--would you say?--in your videos, though."

"We have conflict sometimes, but it's never serious. We know how to play it up for laughs."

"So, nothing's changed between you?"

"Not at all."

"The cheating rumors." Murray's smile is soft, but all the air still leaves the room.

"What about them?" It's more combative than he means, but--

"Did Nancy cheat on you with Jonathan Byers?"

He swallows and it hurts. She did cheat, is the thing. It's not public information, still only speculation, but--

"You can't believe everything you read, Murray."

"So, she didn't cheat?" There's a glow to Murray's eyes that tells Steve he already knows the answer.

"Like, I said before, marriages are hard. We spent a lot of time apart because of our jobs. It took a toll."

"And she was traveling with Jonathan, yes? He's been her photographer for the past decade, from what I understand."

"They were co-workers, but we're all close. And those rumors didn't help our relationship, for sure. It's--not easy to hear that a bunch of people think your wife and close friend may be having an affair, that people 'ship' them. Even when it's not true, it creates--"

"Tension? Distrust?"

"Both, probably." He takes another drink as he nods. "After a while you do start to wonder if there's truth to it, and you're too ignorant or too--too trusting to see it."

"And it eroded the relationship."

"It certainly didn't help." He takes another drink.

"And how about your relationship with Jonathan's brother, Will. Has that been impacted?"

"Of course not. Never. Whatever happens between Nancy, Jonathan, and I, it has nothing to do with the kids. They know that.

"You talked about it."

"Yes. Extensively."

"I know there's often speculation on the relationship you have with them; if you're really close or it's all for the cameras."

"Murray." He leans forward. "We've talked about this before. I met Dustin through Mike, and the whole group followed. I've known them all since they were 8 years old. They're--I mean, not to be cliche, but they're my family." He sips the last bit of martini.

"And where does Eddie Munson fit into that family?"

The question shouldn't be a surprise, but he almost does a spit take, has to fight to keep it together.

"Eddie?"

"Yes." Murray's smile is chilling. "Your close friend Eddie Munson. Musician. Plays Dungeons and Dragons on YouTube. You made out with him in a music video. Ringing any bells?"

"I'm familiar with Eddie," his grin is rigid. "I don't know what that has to do with my marriage ending."

"Well, the rumors weren't all about Nancy, were they?"

"Eddie and I have--we became mutuals online years and years ago. I used one of his songs in a video and the kids are obsessed with his dnd stuff, so. We've become close."

"Friends?"

"Isn't that implied?"

"After that music video, I don't think so."

Steve rolls his eyes, lets the irritation show for the first time. "He asked me to be in his video. There's nothing scandalous about it."

"What's your relationship with Eddie right now?"

"Like I said, friends."

"Do you want it to be more than that?"

"Eddie's really important to me."

"Is that all?"

"Not really sure what you want me to say here, Murray."

"You were married to a woman for years, but now there are questions about your sexuality."

He grits his teeth. "My sexuality isn't anyone's business aside my own. People can say shit on Twitter all they want, that doesn't mean they know me. But--the end of my marriage--it definitely gave me the space for self-discovery, I guess? In a way I hadn't had before."

"And is Eddie a part of that self-discovery?"

"Yeah, as one of my closest friends, he is."

"Do you have feelings for him?"

"That's--that's not--I'm going through a divorce. My focus isn't on starting another relationship right now."

"You, famously, tattooed your initials on the inside of his thigh during an Instagram live. That's pretty intimate."

"We were just having a little fun."

"Huh. That seems like more than 'a little fun' to me. So, how's Eddie doing with the increased attention?"

It takes Steve a second to track the change of subject, mind still stuck on the tattoo, on how the ink had looked on Eddie's pale skin.

"It's hard." Steve eventually answers. "Of course he enjoys bringing his music and dnd to a wider audience, but the focus on his personal life is--it's a lot."

"Well, he should have thought about before letting you tattoo him for your 850,000 followers. Does he want a relationship with you?"

His throat is dry, burning, he wishes he had more martini. He wishes he'd never taken a sip. "You'd have to ask him. I'm just taking it day by day, you know? That's what I need right now."

"We're getting to the end of our time, but you know I have to ask. Your best friend, Robin Buckley, she very famously unfollowed both Nancy and Jonathan on all social media when news broke about your divorce. Can you tell us why she unfollowed them?"

"I have no control over Robin's accounts. I didn't even know she followed Jonathan ever, and she and Nancy have a relationship outside of me, you know? I can't say what happened between them."

"She's been in your videos with Eddie. She like him?"

"Very much. It's kind of annoying actually. They keep ganging up on me."

"Much to everyone's delight, I'm sure. So, what can we expect from the newly single Steve Harrington?"

"There are a couple things in the works, but only time will tell."

---

He walks through his front door an hour later, and Eddie's sitting on the couch, playing a soft melody on an acoustic guitar. He stops when he sees Steve, setting the guitar aside, and standing.

"How'd it go, baby?" He asks. His soft smile is so beautiful, Steve gets a lump in his throat.

"As expected." He crosses the space between them, lets Eddie pull him close.

"He ask about us?" Eddie's breath tickles his ear.

"Of course."

"And you--"

"I want--it should be just for us. We should be able to announce when we're ready. Not when Murray-fucking-Bauman asks."

Eddie kisses him, then, sweet and slow, making him lose his breath.

"Whenever you're ready, I'll be right by your side."

"You sure? All my mess--"

"Is mine too. Afraid you're stuck with me for the long haul, Steve Harrington."

[artemispanthar]

I'm glad you are reminiscing about Monk because it's one of my favorite shows and I almost never hear anyone talk about it. You're making me want to do a rewatch of my own

I was super into Monk when it was on (technically I watched the first season or so when that aired and then returned a couple seasons later, but I was a consistent weekly watcher from like season 4 on), so much so it was like an identifiable trait of mine lol people would get me merch as gifts. It was a really popular and successful show when it was on but yeah no one ever talks about it nowadays. I've already completely gone through the tags lol

I'll be honest, I was avoiding rewatching for so long because it meant a lot to me as a young'un and I thought it probably didn't age well at all so I didn't want to taint those memories. I only decided to actually do a rewatch since they're making a movie (which comes out in like 2 weeks!) And obviously I wanted to see that so I needed a refresh of the series. It actually holds up pretty well, I was avoiding it for no reason lol

You totally should do a rewatch! I'm kind of hoping the movie reignites some interest in the show and more people rewatch. In part so there's more discussion/content/I don't have to be the one to make the gifs and also in part because they've said if the movie does well they want to make more and I think that would be fun

(also if Monk is rebooted with movies and Psych continues with the movies they could potentially do a legit crossover like I always wanted!)

[prideprejudce]

Also kind of related to the last alicent ask-- how objectively funny is it that the targaryens pulled alicent kicking and screaming into their weird blood purity incest tangle. For them, having uncle fathers and brother husbands and just generally blurring all the lines between family and romantic interest is sooooo normal. Yes its done massive damage to their psyches as we've seen with daemon in particular- but its passé to them at this point. For Alicent its breaking her BRAIN.

Like, Alicent who's deeply religious in a very westerosi faith and has classic nuclear family adjacent issues in contrast- overbearingly strict father, dead pedestalized mother to emulate, estranged sibling- is just SHOVED into the targaryen familial polycule and told to figure it out.

She keeps trying to bind herself to westerosi gender roles for comfort and safety, but bc of the targs she's now married an father/uncle figure, the girl who was supposed to be her sister growing up is now her daughter AND shes in love with her, her children are basically her siblings, and ALSO she's two of their mother in law(s?). Throw in the desperate parentification of aemond bc its not like viserys is helping her raise these kids-and its fucking her up!!! how is she supposed to have any sense of self when every role she would define herself by in a patriarchal westerosi culture has been fractured into twisted branches!!

It spiders into her other rationships too!! Her father otto has been treating her like both a daughter AND a pseudo wife, criston her lover keeps trying to assert himself over her choices in a very fatherly condescending way, and her brother gwayne is out in oldtown fathering her third son.

I sent an ask a while ago about how the tragedy of the alicent/rhaenyra/aegon triangle is that its an allegory for how targs just cant acclimate to westeros at all and end up breaking their dynasty AND the country by trying to force their culture to fit anyways, and i think you were so right in ur response that its not just rhaenyra/aegon/alicent who are the allegory but its ALL the targs in relation to alicent thats the allegory- they just cannot work with Alicent/westeros while she/its trapped in the current westerosi culture.

its hilarious bc it really is like having ONE catholic nun in an insane echo chamber hedonism cult and then being like 'why are you going insane bc of the incest and sex we're so over it it hasn't effected us whatsoever maybe if you try the kool aid you'll chill out' while she's desperately pretending none of this is happening and she's Not Involved.

this is a great point, and if you also go back to her as a child saying "you targaryens do have very queer customs" with noticeable disgust on face, and flash forward a decade later where she's marrying two of her children together in typical targaryen incest practices. I wish they had explored this more in the show and looked into how she feels about this currently, but I can't imagine she feels too great about it, and it's probably the reason why she went ULTRA religious with a five pound star medallion almost hanging from her neck. she wants at least some repentance for playing along in targaryen incest rituals, which goes against everything she was raised to believe

and like you mentioned, if you look close enough, almost EVERY relationship that alicent has is majorly twisted by either targaryen customs or her own stunted growth from being a child bride. she's now a grown woman who still has the mind of a 15 year old and is trying to navigate a civil war that she helped ignite in her rage and jealousy over her own private hell for last decade. she also swings from a protective parent role to having an almost eldest sibling like relationship with her kids who desperately crave more motherly affection from her that she is just not able to give (because she cant completely seal off her deep down resentment of them)

and to top it off, the purest relationship in her life (rhaenyra) with genuine love was also twisted into a familial one through an arranged marriage. if you also headcanon her possible romantic feelings for rhaenyra, you can times three that trauma on your score card as well

alicent literally was forced into the targaryen world of the snake eating its own tail (reduced to a bargaining chip for otto) with decades of inbreeding and family infighting for power and control and was told to play nice with them. no wonder she's out in the woods wandering around and dissociating lmao

[maefansblog]

Bridgerton Season 4: What Do We Want?

[It's probably a long shot if any of Netflix actually listens to what the viewers actually want.] (I posted on reddit a little earlier. I want to see what the community wants from Season 4, too, either here on Tumblr or Reddit.)

Don't make us wait another 2 years. Spin offs should not happen if they can't deliver on the main story. If the story can't be fully told in 8 episodes, give us 10.

1. Main story: Benedict and Sophie

Masquerade, the sofa, Sofie runs away,

Benedict exploring his pansexuality, Sofie's family drama, Sofie Runaway and becomes a servant, Benedict not knowing who Sofie is, and

asking her to be his mistress [ughh yes I hated that], Sofie saying no, 🤣

MY COTTAGE, Sophie discovering Benedict's art,

them falling in love,

the jail scene,

Benedict discovers Sophie is the Lady in Silver, Whistledown and Benedict saving Sophie.

Benedict and Sophie HEA

A good HEA should be at LEAST 15 minutes.

2. Eloise being secretive, hiding away, writing letters and disappearing either by the 7th or 8th episode.

3. Penelope's fall out from Lady Whistledown. Rasing the heir, trying to be a part of society as the heir's mama, and editing Colin's journals. Also saving Sophie through Lady Whistledown.

4. Colin and Penelope writing, visiting John, Fran, Michaela and Eloise. Colin loving being married, eating a lot, and taking care of his son. It is told that Marina has passed away. Penelope, Colin, and Eloise deal with this.

5. Anthony and Kate actually working as the Viscount and Viscountess. We see the new baby.

6. Violet actually moving into a Dowager House. Hyacinth and Gregory fade a little into the background. Maybe Daphne's children make an appearance if Daphne and Simon can't. Violet loves her grandchildren. Show Eloise actually interacting with the kids. Lady Danbury, Violet, and the Queen continue to strengthen their relationship.

Some people are saying that Araminta is Cressida’s mother. If Cressida is Sophie, I will throw the entire show away. If Cressida is Posy or Rosamund, I will feel better. Cressida will have a part in the story, but I do NOT want her with Benedict. 😡

I love show Benedict. I remember reading An Offer from a Gentleman a few years ago and I hated what Benedict did. The show has an opportunity to touch on dark themes that happen with Sophie, but also redeem Benedict by humanizing him. Luke Thompson already has.

Book Quotes:

"I can live with you hating me," he said to the closed door. "I just can't live without you."

"You're beautiful because you know your own darkness and still, that alone doesn't stop you from finding your own light."

"It suddenly made sense. Only twice in his life had he felt this inexplicable, almost mystical attraction to a woman. He’d thought it remarkable, to have found two, when in his heart he’d always believed there was only one perfect woman out there for him.

His heart had been right. There was only one."

"Be mine. Be mine right now. Be mine forever. I'll give you anything you want. All I want in return is you."

"At the masquerade, even before I saw you, I felt you. Anticipation. Magic. There was something in the air. And when I turned, and you were there, it was as if you'd been waiting for me, and I knew that you were the reason I'd stolen into the ball. You are the reason I exist, the very reason I was born."

[In all honesty, I want Bridgerton to keep going. There are a lot of stories to tell. It shouldn't end here. It shouldn't end with Benedict. It should be told in its entirety. I'm worried that if they continue to deviate so much, they are going to lose a lot of fans.]

If you read this far, I appreciate you. 💕

[the-east-art]

Easts Supernatural Rant

Just been thinking a lot about how bad Supernatural is lately because I've been going through the weeds reading old fics I've bookmarked and there's some good SPN ones. Background info: I watched SPN nonstop in middle school (roughly ten years ago) and if you go back in time you'll see that it was the fandom I was in way back when I first made my tumblr. I watched until about... season 10? When I realized it was never going to actually get good. So I was really obsessed with it for a good while but also it has been quite a while since I actually watched it.

rant under the cut o7

Okay so anyone who has watched Supernatural knows that it didn't start out actually so... bad. Supernatural starts out decent and builds up momentum fine in my memory clear through the final of season 5. I feel like among the fandom most people know that this should have been the ending of the series. For those reading who don't know, Swan Song ends with a really beautiful monologue about endings and in a tragedy with just enough of a glimmer of hope. Like it's a good ending. And then the series just kept going. do not get me wrong - there's a lot of fun episodes and concepts explored in the *checks notes* holy shit 10 FUTURE SEASONS, but it's also where a lot of the cracks really get bad.

However, in my opinion the biggest issue with Supernatural as the seasons progress is how whittled down the cast becomes. In the first few seasons there are a lot of supporting cast that you really get attached to - there's a bar for hunters, Bobby's place, a whole network of people connected to the principle cast.

While naturally the core of the series is Dean and Sam (and eventually Castiel) almost all of the supporting cast dies. And while I think the death is good in several ways, it really pushes the stakes of the series, especially in the earlier seasons where death truly was final and wasn't a joke. However you can only kill the supporting cast for so long until the show becomes... lonely. Messy. You start to not want to get attached to new characters because of how you know they'll probably die and then not get mentioned again. Many characters after their death just kind of... fade into the background never to be seen. While I don't believe that characters need to be mourned forever, you can't help but to feel that they are dropped for convenience of the show.

This has been on my mind because, as I've been poking around the annals of ao3 looking for diamonds in the rough, I've realized that really any fics that take place in any of the later seasons (let's say 8-15) to me might as well be a different show. It's a show heralded by characters I either don't know (Griffin Mcelroy meme of 'I don't know who Jack Kline is and at this point I'm too afraid to ask) or are character so completely reshaped by the narrative that I no longer recognize them (Castiel the character that just kind of does whatever will make the story interesting I'm looking at you).

What previously is a respectable narrative becomes blown out of proportion. I was reading a fic that dealt a lot with the themes of 'free will' and what that means and how do we try and exercise it, and I realize that I forgotten that, at one point, free will had been the theme of the series. The principle trio in the fandom is called Team Free Will because of that, but pretty much after season 5 all of that is thrown out the window. The first third of the series the boys are fighting against fate, and prophecy, and roles that they have been assigned to. But in the latter part of the series, as the narrative web spins further out of control, you lose that theming.

I mostly talk about this because I kind of find it interesting to look at. About what is engaging to me as a person, and what is a red flag. What I like in a story and what I don't. And I am chiefly reminded of moments where the series drops plot point, or muddies messaging (I have been reminded what The Voicemail is and how it is never addressed). And It's sad. Because I really REALLY loved the show once, and cared for the characters. And now I take refuge in fanfiction, because a lot of the aspects of the story and settings and characters hold SO MUCH potential, that is ruined in the source material.

Uhhhh yeah. Let me know what you think and let me know if have any questions about my opinions on stuff cuz I LOVE talking about art and narrative and stories. Or let me know if you want Fanfic recs because hell yeah I do.

[acidmatze]

I’ll be there for you (Yes, like the Friends theme) Chapter 6

Summary: After being in a coma for two years Vash wakes up, not being able to remember Anything that has happened since he was “a teenager”. How is he gonna adapt to living in a world so strange and unfamilliar? (vaguely TriStamp timeline post ep 12) By watching a weird action movie and doing nordic walking. Warnings: None Word count: 4.1k Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5

Meeting the psychologist was relatively unspectacular.

Her office is in the hallway of group 3 as well and has a small space for couches and a bookshelf, kinda like a waiting room at the doctor's office.

Her name is Mrs. Fischer and for now she just wanted to get to know Vash better. Which was interesting since Vash barely knows himself.

„Sounds like a great goal for your rehab then! Getting to know yourself more. Im gonna write this down right now.“

Lunch was a bit awkward at first cuz Chelsea immediately yelled, before Vash could even sit down at the table: „Wait! How is he supposed to cut his meat? Should I cut it for you? I can do that!“

And then Vash had to awkwardly wiggle himself out of this but Nancy thankfully intervened.

„I'm just gonna call Villa Peony and ask if they got some cutlery left we can borrow and then later order our own. Oh man I can't believe I forgot to do that the whole time...“ In the hospital the nurses already cut his food before he got it which truthfully made him feel like he's already thousand years old and grey.

But he felt equally awkward when Nancy eventually returned and handed him a fork that was also a knife.

All while Chelsea was basically frothing at the mouth and vibrating on her chair from wanting to cut his food so badly.

Vash figured he would eventually get used to this and it was a hundred times better than having someone else cut his food. He wasn't a toddler anymore. And not an old man yet either.

Once Chelsea had calmed down lunch resumed like normal.

Steven asking Vash polite questions about himself and sharing a bit of additional information about everything that was going on today.

Melvin then told everything there was to tell about Deinocheirus.

This wasn't really something anyone else on the table was interested in but everyone nodded along anyway.

Physical therapy was quite okay.

Mr. Cruz („Oh no, please just call me Diego!“) had to admit that he didn't really had much experience with amputees but he would try his best to find some exercises that Vash can do.

He did however note that Vash's amputation must've been some time ago.

Since Vash's memories cut off at 15 and at that point he still had both arms it must've been after that but before he was done growing.

For today Diego showed Vash some balance exercises since Vash said he felt unsteady sometimes.

He wasn't really used to almost a whole arm missing and even though he obviously had mastered Walking In A Straight Line by now he couldn't balance on one foot.

Or stand with his eyes closed. Or put more weight onto one foot than the other without almost falling over to the side.

Diego also wanted Vash to build up strength on his left arm again so he tied one end of a rubber band around it and the other end around a balancing pole on the wall and told him to pull it back.

Vash felt a bit stupid doing that.

„I can't use my left arm much anyway. Why do I have to train it?“

„Because it's still your arm even if there's less of it. Also it's not just the arm there's also the entire shoulder and shoulder blade and your back. And it would look weird if one arm is muscular and one arm is skinny. But mostly it's because you will find uses for your left arm and it needs to be up for the task. I can tell that before your coma you were really fit and strong. That includes your left arm. Let's see if we can go back to that level.“

Whatever Vash had looked like before he now was rather skinny without either much fat nor muscle mass to him. Which is something that Diego expected.

How was he supposed to put on weight if he couldn't eat or muscles if he wasn't able to move?

Vash only remembered himself as being on the more skinny side so he had no idea what his adult body Used to look like.

He can't imagine himself looking any different than this.

And now he's back in his room splashing water in his face and hoping that he manages to cool down a bit before nordic walking.

Melvin, who has the room to the left, is listening loudly to music. Techno, or something.

Vash still needs to listen to more music to get a solid grasp on all the different kinds there are.

To the right of him is Steven's room who either isn't around right now or just super quiet.

He seems like someone who is just very quiet though.

He is also the oldest in group, having turned 35 just last week.

Then counter clockwise there is Anna's room who managed to not say a single word so far and then Chelsea's room.

When Vash came back from physical therapy he heard her talking to someone on the phone but now there also was silence.

The music stops. Melvin is walking around in his room.

And then gunshots but in very low audio quality.

Seems like he's playing a game now.

At least Vash Hopes that the noises come from a game.

Vash looks out of his window.

From here he really cannot see any desert, just buildings and trees everywhere.

It's as if he's in an entirely different world now.

The window is slightly open and a warm breeze is coming in but its not hot by any means. Vash cannot smell any sand in the air either.

His dorm is standing right next to the fence so he can see into the backyard of a house that doesn't belong to the organisation grounds.

He can see the building of the fire brigade. Further back there's a rather high apartment building, towering over the sea of small family homes and row houses.

Vash can also see the church way back.

Earlier he also heard its bells.

He has never been to church, as far as he knows and doesn't really believe in anything

and yet the bells had felt strangely familiar.

If he leans a lot to the right he can catch a glimpse of the electricity poles above the train tracks in the distance.

Trains are another thing he has never seen before.

According to Steven they are really new though. They showed up first when he himself was still a kid and then gained growing popularity in the past 5 years as a more reliable and faster alternative to the aging sand steamers.

Each sand steamer needs to be powered by a plant so only a very limited number can be produced and they can't operate as frequent as trains either in order to not to stress the plants too much while trains have none of these limitations.

Yeah they can carry fewer people each but unlike sand steamers they can go nonstop and several trains can be put on the same route so in the long run their capacity is dozens of times larger.

A sand steamer needs up to 4 days to cross the sand ocean while a train does it in one and a half so the remaining sand steamers are slowly being phased out in favour of trains.

Even busses seem like a more viable alternative despite taking just as long.

At least they dont use up all the plants.

„There will always be some sand steamers, I guess,“ Steven had said „Just for nostalgia's sake and also because they have become such an iconic image. But they will probably be used as tourist attractions and run on historic lines instead.“

So what should Vash do with his time now?

He has a tablet and a phone but it seems that many others here have a TV and consoles or a laptop and such things.

Or they collect other things to occupy themselves with when there's nothing to do.

Melvin told Vash after lunch about a few stores that are within walking distance and he mentioned an electronics store so maybe once Vash has gotten a bit of money he should pay it a visit. Someone knocks on Vash's door.

„Yo Vash it's me, Chelsea! We got nordic walking now! Come downstairs!“

Vash jolts.

Wow he really got into deep thought here for a bit. How did an hour pass this fast?

He quickly changes T shirts and then hurries downstairs.

Funnily, the nordic walking group is led by Mrs. Fischer.

Chelsea spots Vash and then drags him further outside into the frontyard.

Several others are already here and looking for the right walking sticks.

„Mrs. Fischer! Mrs. Fischer! How is Vash gonna do this?“ Mrs. Fischer looks up from helping someone else picking out the right equipment and putting it on.

Vash really doesn't like being in the spotlight like this.

Luckily most others don't care about The New Guy.

„Ah well we can just put the sling around your arm and make sure its nice and tight. And we just use the longest stick for your left arm then and a shorter one for your right. And then we'll see if that works out for you and if not then we will find another solution.“ Mrs. Fischer explains while doing exactly that.

„So how does that feel for you?“ „Odd.“ Vash answers „But I have no idea what its supposed to feel like so I guess thats normal.“

„Let's find out then!“

Mrs. Fischer then explains Vash what he has to do while helping him with his right-hand stick.

How walking can be so complicated is beyond him but who knows, maybe this ends up being fun for him? At least its outside and he has been itching to move around more which wasn't a possibility in the hospital.

„Okay now guys! Is everyone here? Where's Joe?“

Mrs. Fischer does a quick roll call.

Turns out, everyone is here except for Joe which no one has seen since lunch.

Mrs. Fischer lets out a sigh.

„We can't wait until His Highness graces us with his presence or we'll be standing here all day. Let's go! We take the route around the biodome today.“

To his great dismay, Vash has to quickly realise that whatever stamina he might have had before, there is not much left of it now.

It takes about two minutes until he's already sweating and it's not the heat of the two suns for once.

Two more minutes and he's lightly panting and to make matters even worse the road goes slightly uphill now.

He's almost at the end of the group, only a handful others are slower than him.

Chelsea joins yet again.

„Huh? You're so skinny I thought you would be way ahead of us.“

„I was in a coma for two years..“ Vash wheezes.

„Ah that explains a lot. I'm just really out of shape cuz I hate sports. 'But Chelsea' they say 'It will be so amazing for your mental health if you're outside more often.' they say. Blaaaaaargh.“

She badly mimicks Mrs. Fischer.

Can't be That out of shape if she can manage to talk so much without even breaking into sweat, Vash thinks.

They are out of the residential area mostly. Only a few houses here and there. The majority is pastures for Thomases and „fields“ where people try to grow grass until the soil is fertile enough to grow other things.

Then they arrive at the biodome which is an absolute massive structure that sticks out like a sore thumb between all the other more organic buildings and fields.

Vash can't see inside from here but he notices that the air around it seems so much cleaner than before. There's also a faint sweet smell, like flowers.

Well, there probably Are flowers inside so that explains it.

They pass the biodome after a minute and the air that was clear and cool now turns warm and a bit stuffy again.

Like a room that needs to be aired out badly.

But by far not as bad as the middle of the desert.

Vash remembers that sometimes when he was outside for too long he would blow his nose and find sand in the tissue.

Sand in his clothes. His hair. His room. His bed.

„I really wanna work at the biodome!“

Vash looks back at Chelsea.

„I always wanted to work at one. Maybe I can do an internship there. I keep forgetting to ask about it though. This one even has animals like cows and sheep!“

The good thing about Chelsea is that Vash doesn't need to verbally answer, just nod, so he can focus on breathing and not keeling over from the exertion.

„I worked at a Thomas ranch once but that wasn't quite the same and it was outside of the city and taking the bus there took so long I had to get up at 5am and was home around 6. Ugh... The Thomases were really cute though but one bit me once.“

Yeah, they tend to do that sometimes.

At least now its going downhill for a bit.

Mrs. Fischer has noticed that Vash is having trouble keeping up with the majority of the flock so she falls back a bit to meet up with him.

„Is everything alright with you?“

„Yeah..“ Vash says, clearly still out of breath, „I'm just really out of shape.“

Something is coming up in the back of his mind.

The sensation of sand going up to his ankles and walking for hours until the suns go down. Boots slowly filling up with sand. Casually talking to someone next to him as if this isn't one of the most exhausting things someone can do.

If he was able to do this before the coma he clearly couldn't do it now anymore.

At least for the time being.

„Just focus on breathing. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Keep a steady rhythm when walking. Maybe sing your favourite song in your head. We are taking the shorter route as well today and will be back soon.“

Once they are back Vash definitely needs to take a shower first.

And then find something to eat.

It takes another ten minutes to get back to the dorm and when they do Vash is ready to collapse there and then.

„Did you have fun?“ Mrs. Fischer asks.

„I don't know yet.“ Vash wheezes.

Two hours later and he has showered and eaten something and feels somewhat alive again.

Now Vash is lying on his bed and contemplating on what to do. How to spend the rest of his day.

Some people from his dorm, including Melvin and Anna, have gone to the local burger place in the neighbourhood but Vash doesn't have any money yet so he couldn't go.

The suns are already low above the horizon and douse the room in a warm orange colour.

Now that its getting cooler outside Vash could open his window fully and a nice breeze is coming in.

Some people from another dorm can be heard playing football outside.

Leaves are rustling in the breeze, which is a noise Vash still isn't used to.

Another noise he is even less used to is birdsong.

There's a bird sitting on the windowsill of the neighbour's house and singing it's little heart out.

Another bird from a bit further away answers.

Vash can also hear the faint rumbling of cars and someone is really revving their engine.

Someone is starting to mow their lawn.

There are so many noises going on at once.

And they are completely different from the hospital.

All those noises sounded hectic and unnatural.

And on the ship were barely any noises at all.

The machines were quiet the computers were quiet the Plants were quiet and even the people mostly talked in hushed voices. Luida and Brad were the two only ones who were openly loud and made attempts to make the place feel alive.

This changed when they got the first geodome going and also managed to get more people out of their cryosleep and some of these people were kids who looked like they were as old as Vash.

Or rather, he looked as if he was as old as them.

Things got a lot more lively on the ship then. The kids didn't even care that Vash was growing faster than them. They called him Brother.

They would play hide and seek together and tag and pick flowers and draw things and Luida would read stories for them under the trees even when Vash already could read himself.

Vash blinks.

He wonders what happened then. What happened and why did he leave the ship and how did he get here?

Someone is driving by on a motorcycle and somehow that piques his interest for some reason.

Does he have a connection to bikes?

„Jesus Christ, Spikey! You never got car sick so why does my bike suddenly make you throw up?“

„Maybe if you wouldn't drive like you drank all the whiskey on the planet I wouldn't be sick.“

„Well, do it yourself then. Let's see how that turns out.“

Huh. Where did that come from?

It certainly snapped Vash out of getting homesick, that's for sure.

Playing with the kids in the biodome feels like it was basically yesterday but also eons in the past.

After all, it was indeed almost 150 years ago.

There's so much stuff to catch up on.

For example, who was that guy in this sudden flash of memory? Is he still alive? It seemed like he was close enough to Vash that they could just bicker like that. They probably had spend a significant amount of time together.

What was his name...? Something.. with an animal. There was an animal in his name...

Someone suddenly knocks on the door.

„Hey Vash it's me, Melvin! Wanna watch a movie? You shouldn't be all alone in your room when you're new. Too many thoughts and all.“

Well, he is not wrong.

So Vash gets up again and decides that watching a movie doesn't sound so bad.

The living room is a slightly musty-smelling room with big windows a large table in the back a few cupboards with books and games in them and of course a large L-shaped couch a coffee table and a TV.

Boxes with fries and burgers are scattered across the coffee table. So are a few big cola bottles and red plastic cups.

Everyone from Vash's group is there plus a few from the other two groups.

One of them is lazily sprawled out in front of the TV and eating fries.

He has blue hair and for a second an exclamation mark goes off in Vash's head but vanishes immediately again.

„Just get cozy anywhere. We thought we bring burgers and stuff for everyone and have a nice movie night.“ Melvin explains.

Vash sits down next to Steven and feels a bit.. misplaced.

He never watched a movie. Well, as far as he can remember, which doesn't say much.

When was the last time Vash had a burger?

He and Nai had them for their first birthday and Luida also made them a few times but not very often.

Vash grabs a box and takes the burger out and takes a bite.

Huh that tastes totally different than the ones Luida made.

It tastes.. a lot better.

Not that Luida's were bad but this has much more flavour.

„I got my hands on the new Revengeancers movie. Has anyone seen that already?“ Melvin asks.

Everyone shakes their heads.

Steven groans.

„I was hoping you had a Good movie or something. I heard that one is pretty dumb.“

„Oh I'm so sorry, I will get one about quantum physics just for you.“

A few people giggle and Steven groans again.

„Just... just put it on. I will survive.“

Ten minutes into the movie as Vash unwraps and chomps down on his third burger (double cheese double beef) the blue-haired guy turns around and stares suspiciously at him.

„Hmm..?“

Did he eat too much? Vash is surprised himself. He already ate dinner two hours ago and now he basically inhaled three burgers in barely ten minutes.

But that's not the reason the guy is staring.

„You look familiar. You look like Vash the Stampede.“

Now Everyone has turned around and stares at Vash.

„He sure does!!“ Chelsea yells and takes out her phone and then basically smooshes Vash's face with it.

„Look! Look!“

There's a wanted poster on the display. It already looks a bit yellowed and faded but it unmistakenly says „Vash the Stampede Dead or Alive 60,000,000,000$$“ Vash counts the zeroes.

„60 Billion???“ he exclains in shock.

„Yup. Levelled the entire city of July. It's a miracle anyone survived.“ Chelsea confirms.

„My uncle lives in one of the towns surrounding July and he said that night it looked like a spiral of bright light was going up to the sky and then a ball of the same light fell down and it was like ten thousand suns. And once the light was gone the city was gone with it.“

Vash can just blink in horror.

That was supposed to be him? Why would he destroy an entire city? He's not a villain!

The blue haired guy chimes in again.

„But it makes no sense. Why would he have done that?“ Yeah, exactly!

The guy digs in his pockets and also digs out a phone and shows everyone a photo. It looks even older than the one Chelsea has.

„My grandpa met Vash! About 40 or so years ago. He helped digging a well in his village so they wouldn't have to rely on other towns for water.“

On the photo was unmistakenly Vash standing next to a tall lanky guy with a ponytail in front of a well. Vash was flashing a peace sign and grinning.

„Huh? 40 years ago? Wouldn't Vash be like... 60 or whatever now?“ Melvin asks.

Everyone looks back at Vash who's just sitting there.

„You don't like 60. You look like... 22 or something.“

Vash rubs the back of his head nervously. Oh man, this is awkward.

„Well... ahah... ha... I suppose that could be me though. I don't think Vash is a super common name. But it can't remember anything past being 15.“ Chelsea scoots closer, so close that she's almost sitting on his lap now and stares at him.

„There is No Way that you are 60.“

Vash lifts his hand so she can't get even closer.

„I.. I have no explanation for this that doesn't sound insane. But I am a Plant.“

It's not like he could've hidden that forever. Better to say it right away. Then either everyone knows or nobody will believe him, think he's completely out there and beyond help and he has made his life here utter hell.

Silence.

„Yeah sure. And I got a secret identity as a pop star. The name Chelsea is fake and I'm actually Tara Olson from November City and the leader of the girl group Twinkle Star.“

Steven who had been silent the entire time now gently pushes Chelsea away and also gets closer to Vash.

„It's not like we can't see for ourselves if he's lying or not. My father is a Plant Specialist and says there's a foolproof way to find out.“

And sure enough, he's shining his way too bright phone LED directly into Vash's eyes.

Everyone gasps.

Vash can only assume what they are seeing. He actually has never seen the markings in his eyes himself. For all he knows they could be spelling „Fuck you“.

„Holy shit what?? He's really a Plant!“ Melvin screams.

„Whooooooaaaaaaaaah....“

Chelsea wants to creep closer again but Steven holds her back.

„He's not some zoo animal you can just gawk at. Have some manners.“

Steven puts his phone back.

„So. This proves that he's saying the truth. Can we now focus on the movie?“

„Huuuuuuuh? But I have so many questions!“

„And I want to watch that movie now, so quiet please.“

Vash will be eternally grateful to Steven for keeping everyone from bombarding him with questions he probably wouldn't have an answer to.

[izloveshorses]

Just out of curiosity what's wrong with zadkins!dimya? I never got to see the show at all (just bootlegs) so I don't know anything.

I do agree with the 1NT though. I have no idea what they were thinking with Lila Coogan. She pronounces every single thing she says the same way?

anon you have no idea how much this ask delighted me. i'm in tears. i'm so so so excited this made my whole week.

first-- lila was only casted bc she knew lynn ahrens, i believe. this happened a lot with anastasia at the time unfortunately, when it came time to replace the principal cast they kept choosing people they knew or people who were already in the show instead of finding new talent. stephen (steven? i can't be bothered to remember) covered dmitry on broadway so they hired him as principal dima on tour and that was such a waste too tbh 💀 other than a few delightful people here and there, 1nt was such a bland and forgettable cast to me. 2nt superiority <333

now. for zadkins. a couple years ago i would've answered this privately bc his stans would've eaten me alive, but it appears no one left here cares for him anymore anyway ashdljfdjk so!!! i'm gonna be mean. so sorry. or not sorry. i don't really care anymore lol.

man. another bad case of promoting someone mediocre instead of hiring and training someone new. he always kind of gave me an ick, like on a Regular Person level, but for now let's focus on his performance:

the man cannot sing. he yells. he cannot act. he yells! i'm like not an expert or anything on either but i know a bad singer when i hear one lol. there's a moment in my petersburg where he growls? yuck. he and christy, as talented as she is, had no chemistry. not even like compared to christy and derek (which was like ~Magical Chemistry~), they just had zero chemistry period. even off stage their interactions felt weird and forced. i think he tried too hard to be Different™ from derek that he ended up playing dmitry wildly off book. i mean, you Should come with a new and fresh take on the character, that's fair. but he was almost playing a completely unrecognizable character altogether. (the glebya stans love his dmitry for a reason)

and then he kept thowing little fits off stage-- he got a tattoo when he wasn't supposed to, complained about being compared to derek, etc. he was kind of strange with christy sometimes. on one of her live streams during playtime (the 15 minute stretch between crossing a bridge and iacot, where she would invite the little girls and other folks off stage to hang out in her dressing room) he said he saw her in spring awakening, a show with some nudity, and she was clearly uncomfortable by the way he said it. he was also weird online, there was one instance where a teenage girl tweeted and asked him to come to her birthday party and he?? showed up????? he was also dating ashley park at the time and i think the breakup was messy 💀

his stans were awful. i know it's not his fault, but god. they were so loud, constantly complaining about derek for some reason? a man who minds his own business??? bc the only way you can support your fave is by hating everyone else on main?? the infighting was insane. you had to be there.

and oh man. when they announced cody simpson was replacing him.... it got so much worse. they were tearing that little blond australian man (who can actually sing and act, mind you) to shreds. every review was scathing when the show needed a boost. zach threw a fit about it too, because his contract was ending early (i mean. the show was actively losing money because he was so terrible. so yeah of course they're gonna replace him with a stunt cast ashdljfk) and you compare that and his stans to derek and derek stans just quietly mourning his exit and enduring but otherwise minding our business.... yeah. the only anastasia obc member with a bad attitude fr

so you pair that (the Yikes that is zadkins!dima) with max von essen's gleb (as much as i loved him he was also a miscast, i believe he's said the same) both yelling at anya the whole time with the mediocre 1nt cast,,,, of course you have people walking away from the show going 'so,,, what the hell was that. i could've just watched the movie.'

this is just speculation but i truly believe if i had to pinpoint an origin as to why the show isn't open anymore i would say principal zadkins at such a crucial time was their downfall. the second year is so important to get people to come back and to get new audience members at the same time and they botched it. instead of bringing in new talent they just stuck with mediocre people who already knew the tracks. the show had all the ingredients for being the next wicked, but damn. casting for anya, dmitry, and gleb are so important. you really need people who Get It to portray them, and if you have one weak link the whole show falls flat. and for several months, before cody was brought on and before constantine returned to play principal gleb, christy altomare was carrying the whole thing on her little shoulders.

and THEN you have the whole year two Red Dress marketing campaign, which misinterpretted the show So Badly as ~just another princess show~ to compete with frozen across the street... yeah of course it tanked. but that's another topic.

so! in conclusion........,,, summer-winter 2018 was a dark time for fanastasias ashldkjfjk we were in the Trenches

i would also like to let the record show the fact that we got masters who returned Twice in the same month to film derek/obc in september 2017, which are the bootlegs that are probably the most circulated other than hartford, and returned again in january 2019 to film cody and constantine, and returned AGAIN for closing in march. two whole bootlegs of my guy cody simpson and uhhhh zero for zadkins <3 as god intended <3

this isn't even half of it but this is what i remember from The Dark Time. anyone else is welcome to chime in, this is a safe space to be a hashtag hater <3

[keyh0use]

Kinktober Day 15: Praise Kink

Rafe being the most stuck-up, pretentious kook the mainland has ever had the displeasure of hosting

Contrary to what Rafe had spent the better part of their relationship believing, Barry didn't graduate in the Outer Banks.

After being introduced to high school buddies while down on the cut, it was an easy assumption to make.

But that wasn't the case. Barry's family had moved to the mainland during his senior year which meant he had to finish the last semester at a new school where he knew no one. That part of his life was very short lived and according to the dealer, unimportant to disclose.

It wasn't like, a private school, y'know? Nothin' like The Kook Academy or whatever, Barry had told Rafe one evening. But everyone was way better off than my folks, I got made fun of for it. Not a big deal, though.

Only Rafe did find that to be a big deal, couldn't imagine a time where Barry wasn't how he is now; mean and confrontational and trigger-happy.

Like a beacon calling him to relive the worst months of his life, Barry receives an invite to his highschool reunion and like everything else, can't hide it from Rafe.

"You're going," insists the boy.

"The hell I am," counters Barry. "Bunch'a assholes I don't wanna waste a night I could be with you on."

Rafe tells him, "Oh, I'm going too."

Arguing with the kook—who was not only an excellent negotiator but could also cry on command—wasn't something Barry did lightly, so with a heavy sigh he agreed.

That was how the older man ended up in front of his old high school, looking the same way it did all those years ago. Only now Barry was dressed exceptionally nice, something he was accustomed to after being with Rafe and forced to attend every prestigious event on the North side, mingling amongst the kooks like he was one of them—and maybe he was, after all this time.

The entryway was decorated with cheap looking fairy lights, glittering white and bright now that the sun had fully set. Everything was so familiar it was unsettling and Barry kept a firm grip on Rafe's hand, a silent plea not to be left alone for even a second in this terrible place. It wasn't that Barry was bullied or anything, just that almost all of these people grew up as upper middle class and had brand-name clothing and fancy Christmas vacations to show for it, a stark contrast to the dealer's upbringing. As someone who spent most of his life in the Outer Banks, Barry could attest that not even the snootiest kook would blindly turn their nose up at him, too familiar with how the other side lived down in the cut. Besides, both sides of the island shared moments together, usually on the beach at the end of summer, and Barry had always had fond memories surrounding those days. Especially when Rafe waltzed into his life. But he supposes it all makes sense; every one of the families in this little town live the exact same cushy way, so it's inevitable that when some boy from the barrier islands shows up with scuffed shoes and second-hand clothes, naturally he would be beneath them. There's a large frame propped up on a table just outside the bustling auditorium filled with grad photos, and Barry can physically feel his boy grin as he's tugged over to it. Blue eyes scour the last names printed beneath the black-and-white pictures but Barry isn't interested in reliving his bad hairstyles, back when he didn't have a clue how to properly care for his curls and instead took the moment to try and make out who was in attendance. Some of the football jocks, clearly, given how obnoxious they were. An English teacher Barry was fond of because she would get side-tracked easily and go on rants instead of making them do work. The vice principal, who now appeared to have been promoted, taking photos with former students with a big, practiced grin plastered on his face.

Once Rafe had snapped a photo of Barry's awful picture, and presumably sent it to Sarah, they were joining the hordes of people from the older man's past. But as the evening slowly went by, Barry hadn't considered who he had at his side. Rafe—who usually carried himself with an air of superiority—was ramping his conceitedness up. They made rounds and the kook was perfectly attuned to his man's demeanour, picking up on Barry's fidgeting and terse words, knowing to turn his nose up at the people before them.

When some guy who used to gang up on Barry in gym class comes over to start bragging about some start-up, claiming it's the next best thing and he's at the top of the game, Rafe listens with the most uninterested look until the other man starts to stumble over his words.

Rafe has a ton of accomplishments under his belt from working with Cameron Industries—seeing how he's their best negotiator and has closed an unbelievable amount of deals in his short few years in the business. The kook will gloat for a few minutes and then smoothly change the conversation to Barry by saying I owe everything to my husband, without his continued support who knows where I'd be and it's so genuine and proud the older man can't find it in him to feel embarrassed, even when Rafe continues to boast about him.

The same process repeats, people will make their way over and try to impress the well-dressed kook to no avail, Rafe only being polite to those who don't make his man all tense and jittery.

Then a woman Barry vaguely recognizes joins them and gets a little too friendly. The older man feels like he's suffering from a spell of insanity at just how upset he gets and how fast, after all, people were drawn to Rafe and flirted with him everywhere they went; the country club, dinner dates, the damn gas station. It always pissed Barry off but this time, watching some random girl from senior year bat her lashes at the kook is too much.

Barry opens his mouth but Rafe beats him to the punch, rejecting the advances without missing a beat and doing it rudely, like the boy is disgusted. And Rafe always does that, too, has never in all their years of being together strayed for even a second, never letting the compliments get to him.

Pride swells in Barry's chest and it's overwhelming, the love he feels.

For a moment the woman can only stare in shock and then her husband is looping an arm through hers and introducing himself.

"Let's go somewhere," Barry leans over to whisper once they're left standing alone.

Rafe takes a sip of the watery cider from a clear plastic cup, mumbling against the rim, "Now?"

"Yeah, now."

With a slow nod, Rafe slips his hand into Barry's and they make their way outside into the dimly lit hallway, only a few people rushing by on the way to the bathrooms.

"You wanna go home?" asks Rafe.

"Nah, not yet," Barry answers. "Havin' you here makes this shit bearable."

Rafe can't wipe the smile off his face as they walk the corridors hand-in-hand, talking idly until Barry tries the door on a dark classroom, finding it unlocked.

The lights aren't switched on as the kook is ushered inside, Barry swiftly closing the door behind them and crowding Rafe against a wall to kiss him heatedly.

There's only one thing on Barry's mind and that's being inside his beautiful boy, leaving a trail down Rafe's throat as he yanks on his own belt.

"You're such a good boy, y'know that?" whispers Barry, sucking harshly on the skin just below Rafe's collar. Hands twist in his dress shirt, black fabric wrinkling but neither of them care in the moment.

Rafe does know—how could be not, when his man is always reminding him? But the compliment makes his belly swoop and his cock jump, half hard in his slacks already, he'll never getting tired of hearing it.

Footsteps fall just outside the door and urgency sets in, Barry turning the kook around, Rafe's cheek pressed against the cool chalkboard as the two of them work together to get his pants and briefs to pool around his ankles.

Barry yanks down his own zipper and feeds his hard cock through the opening, spitting into his palm to smooth down his shaft. Precome drools from the tip, connecting a sticky string from his slit to Rafe's puckered rim where they teasingly meet.

Both of Rafe's hands flatten against the board on either side of his head, panting into the dark room as he impatiently waits, mindlessly squirming in an attempt to get friction.

"I love how desperate you get," Barry mumbles, holding the base of his dick and smacking the tip against Rafe's hole.

The boy snaps in a bratty tone, "Do you like fucking me? 'Cause you're about to miss your chance." His prick hasn't flagged since he got hard, even with all the waiting and Rafe knew without looking there was a small puddle of his precome pooled on the ugly tile floor.

"Yeah fuckin' right," counters Barry, finally easing his fat cockhead in the boys greedy hole. "Could do this anywhere I want, tease you as much as I want, smack you around as much as I want. You're so good to me, baby, letting me do anything to you." Once he's fucked all the way in, one strong arm wraps around Rafe's stomach and his other hand holds the kooks hip in a bruising grip. "You're so fucking sexy when you're mean, actin' like a spoiled little brat—"

"Your fault," gasps Rafe.

Barry's hips are snapping forward, the sound of skin on skin echoing throughout the spacious room almost as loud as their combined moaning. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd give you anything," pants out Barry. "You feel so good, so tight around me, fuck."

"Make me come," demands Rafe, though it's followed by a whimper. The kooks ego has inflated tenfold since the two men got together, a damn near constant stream of praise falling from Barry's mouth to shower Rafe.

It doesn't matter if he burns the chicken to a crisp or his teeth accidentally graze the underside of Barry's prick too hard—Rafe is such a good boy, such a good cocksucker and the older man worships the ground he walks on.

It's intoxicating and addicting to have a man like Barry, who's tough and strong and unfriendly want him so ardently, to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep the boy happy.

Leaning forward to kiss devotedly over Rafe's clothed shoulder, Barry reminds him, "Good boys don't come without asking permission and you're so good," while speeding up the thrusting. "So go on, baby, ask me."

One of Rafe's hands slide down and off the chalkboard to curl around the arm baring across his stomach and he cranes his neck to look back pleadingly, taking the fucking as quietly as possible given their location but he's losing his composure, shamelessly whining.

"Please?" the boy asks sweetly, glassy eyes wide.

Barry crowds in closer until his whole front is flush with Rafe's back, more rocking into him than actually thrusting, keeping his cock buried deep.

"Please what, baby?" Barry asks.

Rafe begs brokenly, "Please can I come?" while rocking back on the thick length pressed heavenly against his bundle of nerves.

Keeping the kook pinned in place Barry reaches down to wrap a firm fist around his cock. "Yeah. Yeah, go ahead, baby boy, make a mess," he encourages.

Come paints the concrete wall in thick ropes, Barry's hand working Rafe over until he's squeezing his eyes shut in oversensitivity, rim squeezing around the cock pistoning into him.

A litany of praise falls freely from Barry's mouth when he empties inside his boy, lips pressed against Rafe's nape and eyes squeezed shut in concentration.

Barry helps right the boys clothing, kissing over Rafe's ruddy cheeks while smoothing out any wrinkles he may have caused in the boys dress shirt before doing the same to himself.

"You sure you don't wanna go home?" asks Rafe, tucking a curl behind his man's ear. "I just wanted to show you you've got it good, much better than those assholes."

"That's why you dragged me all the way here?" Barry can't suppress an eye roll, palms trailing up and down Rafe's sides. "I know I got it good, baby, I have you." this could technically be an extra from my they don't know they're dating fic that I've only half written, as almost all of the little details are from it

[virtie333]

20 fanfic questions

Thank you, so much @otterandterrier for the tag!!!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

97. Though I plan to start posting #98 on Monday!

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

813,847 (!!!!!!!!!)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Wars (sequel trilogy mostly, but some original trilogy), The X-Files, and currently working on my first Moon Knight fic.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kinetic (Damerey) - 245 Flight 814 (The X-Files) - 161 Eyes In the Night (The X-Files) - 160 My Best Friend's Weddings (Damerey) - 144 Let's Get This Show on the Road (The x-Files) - 127

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

Absolutely! I love kudos, but I live for comments. I don't always know what to say (other than 'thank you' and 'i wish i could hug you'), but I will always do my best to show them my gratitude.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Well, I always write happy endings... unless I'm writing a series and I know I can drag it out a bit. Which means my angstiest ending was probably Let's Face the Music and Dance. I knew I was going to continue it, so I purposefully left it as a cliffhanger.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Almost all my fics have happy, sappy, fluffy endings.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. I have had one person complain about me calling my AUs 'Star Wars' because I could 'put any character in the story,' and I did get couple of complaints from Reylo fans because I tagged Rey/Ben (past relationship) on a Damerey story. This, of course, made me laugh. I can't even tell you how many times Reylo stories turn up in the Damerey tag. But, I've always been polite (if firm) in my responses.

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

I do. Back in my X-Files days, I had one reader call it 'classy smut.' I feel my style has changed a bit, but I hope it's still 'classy'! LOL It's mostly 'vanilla,' and will always be full of emotion, but I'm always willing to test my boundaries.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nope. I've never felt the urge.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I was once told that one of my X-Files fics was stolen years ago, but I could never find any evidence.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have. I know I was asked for my permission on an X-File fic years ago, but I can't remember which fic or what language. Same with a Damerey fic more recently. I remember which fic, and I'm pretty sure I remember who asked, but I can't find it, so either it was deleted or my memory is faulty.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Way back in the day, myself and a few other crazy X-File writers did a 'round robin' fic that got waaaaay out of control. We never finished it, and I have no clue if it's still hanging out on the Internet somewhere. BTW, I'm still friends with a couple of those writers; one of them was with my on my 50th birthday in Disneyland earlier this year!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

It's got to be Rey and Poe, the ship that never was. I still believe we were robbed. I adore them so much, however Mulder and Scully will always be special to me, too.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I will always finish my stories. If I don't, then you know something horrible happened to me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I don't really know. I have been told that I am the 'queen of angst' and I've also been told that I write believable and realistic dialog.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I can't stay on a consistent schedule. Part of this is due to my physical and mental health, I'm sure, but for every chapter I write, I've tried writing it ten times unsuccessfully first. Something (migraine, exhaustion, anxiety, stress, work) always gets in my way.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I tend to make Poe Latino in my AUs, since Oscar Isaac is, but my Spanish sucks. I try to use as much as I can to give credit to him and his heritage, but not enough to embarrass myself. If I wasn't so busy trying to write these stories I might get down to actually learning the language!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Wrote for? Star Wars. Han and Leia. I also wrote for Jack and Jennifer from Days of our Lives. Alas, none of these stories were ever read by anyone else (unless my mom snuck a peek). The X-Files was my first 'published' fandom.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

This is so hard! I actually really love them all. I don't understand writers who can write something and then try and forget about it. I think I put too much of myself in my stories. El Halcón will always have a special place, as it was my first Damerey AU. Kinetic is also pretty special, not only because it's my 'greatest hit,' but because it was the story that helped me through my suicidal era. My first X-File fic, The Letter, and my first Damerey fic, Rising, are both very close to my heart. Other faves include The Secret, Naboo, I See You, No Molestar (my first and still best drabble), The Back Corner (smut!), Tempest, Blind Faith, and She Makes Him Laugh. I'll stop there!

Tagging a few writer friends, if you want to do it! @randomfoggytiger, @my-secret-shame, @soft-girl-musings, @campingwiththecharmings, @the-little-ewok, @writefightandflightclub, @sperastella, and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it (it's after 1 in the morning, and I should be in bed!)

[carveredlunds]

“We’re in harmony”: A meta on Amara and the “Chuck Won Theory”

So, the Chuck Won Theory has gripped my brain again with a ferocity that’s arguably unwarranted for a show that ended almost two years ago at the time of writing. And something that a friend and I were discussing last night is a very simple but absolutely essential part of the theory that I think has been overlooked so far: Amara’s role in all of this.

It’s not totally clear what happened to Amara. In Unity, she’s apparently “consumed” by Chuck, but we’re not even sure what that means. Whatever it means -- if she’s conscious inside him, or if she’s asleep, or if she’s dead -- she clearly didn’t sign up for it. Let’s break down that scene quickly.

So, Chuck is on full Big Bad Manipulation mode (and it’s very hot) and he tells Amara that Sam and Dean plan to kill them both:

CHUCK: Sam and Dean, they're using Jack to destroy us.

AMARA: No, but... but Dean can't hurt me.

CHUCK: No, but he can lie to you. He could send you into the meat grinder with a wink and a smile.

In my opinion, it’s a bit odd that Amara really believes Dean can’t hurt her. There was no real mention of their bond from season 11 in season 15, except when it’s being joked about, but Amara clearly feels betrayed by the idea of Dean, especially, killing her. Chuck is absolutely counting on that, and using that to convince her to go along with his plan. He uses his and Amara’s godlike Otherness to his own advantage, separating them from humans, from Sam and Dean in particular, reminding her that all they need is each other.

CHUCK: I spent so long searching for happiness, contentedness. In creation... or the Winchesters. But the only ones who will ever really get us... is us. You and me. Back together?

It’s interesting that Chuck says this, because it’s completely the opposite to what he says in season 11, when he talks about needing more than just them. He said to Metatron in Don’t Call Me Shurley that he wanted to show Amara that there was “more than just them”. He makes that impassioned speech in We Happy Few about life “waiting to be born”, claiming that he was tapping into something outside of them, Life Itself. Amara never understood that, until the finale of season 11, when she saw the beauty in Chuck’s creation. (Now, interestingly, the roles are flipped. Now, in season 15, Chuck hates his creation, the way his sister did, and Amara loves it. Now Amara is the one pleading on behalf of humanity, and Chuck is the one destroying it.)

Also, this is a real call-back to their final scene together in season 11, when Amara admits to Chuck that all she wants is them to be a family, to be together again. Whatever happened between seasons 11 and 15 don’t matter anymore, Chuck is harkening back to their reunion in Alpha and Omega. What he’s saying here is very similar to what Amara herself said in that episode:

AMARA: Brother, I... In the beginning it was just you and me, and we were family. I loved you, and I thought -- I knew... that you loved me.

CHUCK: I did. I do.

And now, in season 15, he is drawing on that familial bond, that love, again. They might be celestial Darkness and Light incarnate, but they’re a family and they love each other. It’s almost as if Chuck is hypnotising Amara, in the Bunker. He’s speaking softly, gently, staring into her eyes with a small smile. She’s all teary-eyed and fragile, taken in by his promise of unity (hey! That’s the name of the episode!) and balance.

AMARA: Balance.

CHUCK: Yes. Think of it. Us starting fresh. Creating something new, something beautiful... peaceful... together. And we can finally forget about all this pain. No baggage. Only balance.

So, what does she do? She takes his hand, crying. We can see it so clearly in these gifs (from this gifset of mine):

To me, she looks nervous, but his expression is saying “trust me, I got you.” It’s an exact replica of the scene in the season 11 finale, where Chuck held out his hand for Amara to take, and they literally healed the world together:

So, what exactly happened after Amara took her brother’s hand in season 15? Well, one thing is certain: She didn’t agree to be absorbed into him in a puff of black smoke. Her expression says as much. As soon as she takes his hand, she dissolves into her Darkness form, and begins to disappear into him, as if he’s hoovering her up.

Look at that expression! That is not the expression of a woman who expected or wanted this to happen. This isn’t “balance”. This is Chuck inhaling her. It’s not even as if he takes on any of her traits afterwards. He’s still exactly himself -- he sounds like himself, he acts like the narcissistic jerk we’ve come to know and love in season 15. In fact, after this, Amara is never seen again. Chuck himself describes this as an “understanding”, but it sure doesn’t look like that to me. He dismisses Castiel’s disgust by saying Amara’s “in here somewhere”, but he says that so flippantly that it’s as if he doesn’t care. Where’s his sister, his celestial equal, his counterpart? Somewhere “inside” him. Okay.

So, Chuck was clearly lying when he said this was going to be balance. It’s not. It’s him (to use Castiel’s term) “consuming” his sister. He manipulated her by promising balance, and then sucked her up. Whether she’s a conscious prisoner inside him or asleep or dead, we never find out. We never get proof that she’s even present, outside of Chuck’s one black eye. Is that Amara, or is that just her Darkness power inside him? We don’t know.

Okay, with that refresher out of the way, now we move onto the whole “Jack stealing Chuck’s powers” thing. If we take that at face value and say sure, Jack took Chuck’s “God-ness” away from him, then surely that’s all Jack took. Amara isn’t God, Amara is the Darkness. So, when Jack stripped Chuck of his “God-ness” and his power, surely Amara should have come right back into being? If she was held prisoner by Chuck (which seems likely, honestly -- she’s the only being besides Jack strong enough to stop Chuck) then surely, when Chuck lost his God powers, Amara should have been freed and returned.

But that’s not what happened. Instead we see what appears to be Chuck’s powers flowing from him to Jack. We see what looks like God’s energy or essence or whatever going from Chuck to Jack, and Chuck being left powerless. However, things aren’t always what they appear with God. This is the being of unbelievable and limitless power, who was able to transport Sam and Dean from St Mary’s Convent to an airplane in Sympathy For the Devil without doing anything visible. This is the being who was able to sing and play the guitar in Don’t Call Me Shurley while people rose from the dead. Heck, in Unity, the same episode where he sucks up Amara, he says himself that he’s omniscient.

Importantly, we see several instances of Chuck actively using his powers to trick people, to make things appear not as they are. He uses his powers to “turn off” the Samulet until the end of Don’t Call Me Shurley, despite the fact that, by its very nature, it is supposed to glow hot in his presence (the following gif is from this gifset of mine):

He also sent Kevin to Hell, but made it very much look like he went to Heaven:

There are probably other examples of him using his immense powers to make things not as they appear, but you get the idea. So we’re supposed to believe that an omniscient and omnipotent deity was simply... just not aware of Jack becoming an energy storage unit, or whatever he became? We’re supposed to buy that Chuck had no idea what the Winchesters were planning? He needed to be told by Michael? Seriously?

Not only are we supposed to buy that, but we’re told by Jack at the end of Inherit the Earth that Amara is “with [him]” and that they’re “in harmony”. Gee, that sounds familiar to what Chuck said about balance, doesn’t it? Apparently, according to Jack, “harmony” means “I get to walk and talk and you get to live inside my chest cavity, silent, unable to speak or have a form of your own.”

That doesn’t sound like “harmony” to me. That sounds like prison. As I’ve already said, if it was just God’s power that transferred from Chuck to Jack, then surely Amara would have reappeared. But she didn’t.

Also, Amara is apparently totally fine with her brother being depowered. If we accept that Jack sapped Chuck of his powers, why Amara doesn’t stop him? She just lets her brother get depowered and left in the dirt? Whatever their differences, that’s her brother. She doesn’t try to stop Jack, or fight back, or do anything? She’s apparently totally fine with “moving house” from Chuck’s body to her nephew’s. Unless she didn’t have a say in the move. Unless she’s a prisoner inside God.

Also also, Jack is apparently fine with carrying the Darkness around inside him? Not only is that his aunt (ew) but he’s new to his Godly powers. He’s suddenly okay with “being in the rain” or whatever he says? He’s fine with the omniscience and the omnipotence and every single other thing that comes with literally being God, as well as the fact that he’s got the Darkness somehow existing inside his vessel. That’s a lot to take onboard in one go. Unless you’ve had millennia upon millennia of practise. Unless you’re not “Jack” at all.

As others have pointed out (here and here and probably elsewhere!), Alex Calvert’s acting choices in his final scene are very interesting. He stands like Chuck, he smiles like Chuck, he shrugs like Chuck. He’s even wearing white, just like Chuck was in Swan Song, the first “planned ending” of the show.

So, what do we have?

We have what appears to be the coercion of Amara by Chuck, ending with her being absorbed into him as possibly a prisoner.

We have an all-powerful deity who has a history of using his powers to make things appear not what they seem.

We have Jack acting like Chuck right after apparently “inheriting” his powers.

We have Amara never making a reappearance.

We have Jack using very similar language to Chuck to describe Amara (“in harmony” is awfully like being “balanced”!)

All this to say that Amara not making a reappearance is key to the “Chuck Won” Theory. If Chuck didn’t win and make it look like his God powers had transferred, along with Amara, to Jack, then we have to accept that Amara was fine with her brother being left for dead as a human, Amara was fine with being transferred from her brother’s body to her nephew’s, Amara was fine with not having a physical form of her own, and Jack just happened to speak of Amara in a similar way as Chuck did.

And if Chuck did win? If he’s now inhabiting Jack? That accounts for all of Jack’s mannerisms, sure, but it also accounts for Amara’s lack of appearance after the Bunker scene in Unity (as she’s still imprisoned inside God) and it explains why Jack uses similar language to talk about her.

[taddymason]

-20 asks for Fic Writers-

Thanks for the tag @rainofthetwilight!

Tags: @tik-ket and @fanficmaniatic and any fic writer that wants to do this!!

1.How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 5!

2. What's your total AO3 wordcount?

154,728

3. What fandom(s) do you write for?

For now, just Ninjago, but maybe I'll do some ATLA or BB in the future

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Stormbound: 406 kudos (I still can't believe it)

Everything I think I Know it's just static on the radio: 137 kudos

Lightning Pin: also 137 kudos

Let the poison bleed out of me: 60 kudos

Spirits in the sky: 19 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments?

YESS Almost always, I don't always know what to answer, so there are some that I don't answer, but I love each one of them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angiest ending?

Eh, Let the poison bleed out of me… because Jay dies there so

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of the ones I write end with a bittersweet ending but I think it would definitely be Spirits in the sky! I actually really love the amount of fluff that that one has

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nop

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

No but... I mean, maybe in the future I will idk kdjd

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, but I've been thinking for a while about doing one of Ninjago and Back to the Future. Simply because it's canon that lightning masters can time travel.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

As far as I know, no

12. What's the longest time you've spent working on a fic? And what's the shortest?

Stormbound: I think I spent about a year planning the whole story (?) and it took me about seven months to write it all. I swear that fic was one of the ones I'd been wanting to write for the longest time.

Home: I made that fic and the illustration in less than two hours.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Nop, but i’d be interested!

14. What's your all time favourite ship? From all the fandoms?

HiccupxAstrid from httyd

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The second part of Stormbound. I started making some drafts for some one shots, but a long time ago I decided that this fic didn't need a continuation. I think the ending is quite conclusive so I doubt I'll continue it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Describe the feelings of characters. I really like replacing dialogue of the characters saying what they feel with simple descriptions and leaving various things implied for the reader. Show instead of tell, I have received very good comments about it.

17. What are your writing weaknessess?

Action scenes. I'm still trying to make them more dynamic and not dwell too much on the descriptions.

And I don't know if it counts but... correct any spelling mistakes because english is not my first language, so every time I reread one of my fics and see some small spelling mistake, a part of me dies.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I haven't tried it yet, but maybe in the future!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ninjago

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Everything I think I Know it's just static on the radio

I'm still proud of that fic and I think it was one of the ones that made me most sure to plan everything in advance and that there was some symmetry in the chapters.

-

[myasssaysno]

Once upon a Time-Lord.... (What does that even mean?)

Why is the Doctor stood in front of a green-screen like the world, no, the universes worst weather man?

Why is Donna so caught up on events that took place fifteen years ago?

Why does this feel like everything between then and now, never happened?

What is happening?

(I'm aware I'm supper late to the party but...)

The Star Beast (Doctor Who Special of 2023) Review.

This felt nerve racking (which is ridiculous) but watching this actually caused me distress.

I watched the 2005 Doctor Who as a child and liked Donna well enough as a companion (she proved a bit much at times but she wasn't in love with the Doctor, so a win as far as I'm concerned.)

But I never expected to see her back on the screen. Especially not with the 10th Doctor (no, I don't consider him the 14th, though I will refer to him as that from now on, but in reality, the whole point of the number system is to identify the Doctor being referred to by face, not regeneration, because that went out the window, with the War Doctor.)

Point is, RTD came back (for some reason) and wanted to remind everyone about his era of Doctor Who (in case we forgot) and retconned the most tragic companion exit ever.

Not that whole Doctor-Donna thing should have happened in the first place, but still.

That being said, RTD came back, Donna's back, 10th is now also the 14th Doctor (and a part time weather man), and all attention is immediately on how things got left last time.

Which is mistake one; (I can take a shitty opening, to fill in anyone who wasn't their to watch Donna's time as a companion) but at no point does it feel like 15-years has passed.

At no point, do I get a sense of this new Donna. We get constant mentions of everything that happened, but that means nothing to me.

Show me Donna's life. We deserve that. I want to see this woman thrive after the Doctor. I want to see her meet her husband and have weird dreams about him cheating on her with a spider, which her husband finds weird but funny. I want to see the challenges of getting a job, and then the stress of having a job you don't like, I want to see her lose said job and have to explain everything to the family. I want to see her have a child, and her reaction to them coming out as Trans. I want them to have a normal, human life, until Rose Noble finds an alien.

No Doctor. No Aliens. No nothing. Just Donna and her family.

Because then maybe I would have cared when she almost died. Which unfortunately didn't happen.

I'm going to be honest, I wanted Donna Noble to die, and I don't dislike Donna Noble, but her entire introduction and her entire time on screen resolved around this missing chunk of her life. It seemed to consume her, and that's completely unfair. In the end, it seemed like, she'd rather remember and die, then live. Despite her saying the opposite, but that was the option and I think Donna should have known that, and made that choice, because she never got the chance to do so the first time round.

That being said, RTD also seems to have learnt all the wrong lessons from Chibnall, by including diverse characters (just about) but not representing anyone.

Rose Noble (and I still can't believe he named her Rose) is a one-dimensional character. She is Donna's daughter. She is Trans. And she is just super nice. We get nothing more than that. I would have loved to see her interact with the Meep for longer. I wanted them to built up trust and respected, only for it all to be one big lie that tears Rose apart.

Which sounds horrible, but it would add to her character, and also make her aware that not everyone who is discriminated against is immediately trustworthy. They might understand, they might relate but that doesn't mean they care.

Meep proved to be this perfect character, or villain, which demonstrated the looks can be deceiving aspect.

And Rose comes across as someone just young and hopeful enough to be deceived but she wouldn't be the only one. Everyone else got deceived too, she's just the one more heartbroken over it. Because she thought they were friends.

Whilst the Doctor should have ended up at the spaceship, met with Shirley, and they should have teamed up. Because once more, there is no point adding a wheelchair user, if they're pretty much replaceable and just sitting around?

I'm aware that people overlook all types of well people, but you mean to tell me, they didn't think it worth it to hold the woman captive. Did she just hide somewhere? I mean that's not bad, but it also feels bad, like she should have had her moment, beyond appearing when the main character's needed her.

Like I would have loved to see her, where she joins the Doctor, and goes with him, on the taxi ride, which would take place after the spaceship lands not before. And then, they would all end up re-meeting at Donna's house anyway. And Shirley's wheelchair can just be advanced enough to get into the house, and become one of those chair-lifts which gets her upstairs.

My point is, if she wasn't a wheelchair user, she'd actual probably be found dead in a corner somewhere.

Doctor Who (or should I say its writers) really don't care for side-character like they should, unless they're making them the most sympathetic character's imaginable (then its over the top).

Let's jump back to the actual episode which I haven't even talked about probably yet.

It opens weirdly, with the Doctor and Donna filling everyone in (which I have discussed) and then we immediately jump to the Doctor stumbling into Donna, which is both convenient (or not) and destroys any built up to this moment.

Before we can even get into the episode, before we can really understand that 15 years has passed for Donna, and over a thousand years for the Doctor, we immediately have them meet, and it's alright now, because she doesn't immediately die, by looking at the Doctor's face (something we already knew).

And not to get into too much but having the Doctor get his old face back ruins the whole thing about the Doctor's face not even mattering.

Point is, a spacecraft crash lands (though not really) and everyone sees it but Donna. Which was a thing, that never made any sense the first time round, but what can you do?

Would have been nicer to see how that affected Donna? Or that it had no affect, confusing and troubling the Doctor.

Some nice little foreshadowing that things are different now, that things have changed, since the Master turned everyone's face into his.

The Doctor then gets a taxi ride from Shaun, the husband. And that is all you need to know (other than he's happy man, with happy life, and happy family, that's happy all the time (except his wife lost her job, and they can't afford the house anymore and might have to down-size, oh and his daughter things it's her responsibility now to provide for the family, because she's likely blaming herself for existing.))

None of that matters though, because they gave away the money from the lottery, which is all the Doctor's fault.

Like honestly this is the most annoying thing, throughout the entire episode. The focus on money, for all the wrong reasons.

I don't even get the point of it. Are we saying, giving away money is bad? You will regret giving to charity, because one-day you'll need that money?

Because in all honesty, the lottery money, which happened at least ten-years ago, is completely irrelevant.

At this point, the whole focus should be on the fact that a job fired Donna over spilt coffee. (Which apparently was foreshadowing (for reasons unknown to just about everyone.))

Ah, dead-naming.

I'm sorry, but there is zero excuse, and even lesser reasons to do this. It achieves absolutely nothing.

No attention is brought to this, about how horribly it is to be dead-named. It compared to causal bullying, and I don't wanted to lessen the horrors of bullying in general, but it takes one a whole new level of horror when it against Trans people, for being trans, and involves a group of boys on a trans-girl.

(I will not go into this anymore, you either understand or don't.)

And Donna's response, makes her look like an awful parent. Oh, it's okay sweetheart, because I was once a bully, just like those boys, and I'm going to go bully their mother, which might be the reason, she raised her sons like that.

(Not placing the blame completely on Donna, or the Mother for the boys behaviour, but the point remains, don't comfort your kid being bullied, with bullying.)

Now this wouldn't come across as such a bad parent moment, if we're seen Donna, and how much she'd changed since becoming a parent. We get hints of it, and a nice conversation with Sylvia who has also mellowed out nicely.

Unfortunately, we don't get the same conversation with Rose and someone else. Someone she can express herself to, who isn't family and understands.

The closest we get is Fudge, but he's a little kid, and not someone she can really open-up to. I was hoping, that would end up being the Doctor as some point, but that never happened. (All of their bonding just happened of screen, I guess.)

Once again, we've spoke about Rose helping the Meep, and how tamed it is. We've also spoken about the Doctor and Shirley.

Now I have nothing wrong with the way, everything sort of falls out of control very quickly. We have Donna poking the Meep in the eye, the Meep asking for help, and Sylvia panicking, only for the Doctor to turn up, which makes everything worse until Shuan brings a moment pause to everything once more.

Nicely done, (if a little quick), some part do feel a little random. Like the Doctor hearing Donna. Instead of tracking the Meep, as opposed to the escape pod like everyone else.

Also, almost forgot to speak about the sonic.

Some people don't like it. Other's love it. Everyone knew it's just a special thing, and one kind of has to ask, why bother with a new sonic for just three-episodes?

I feel like its wasted potential.

I like a Doctor without a sonic as much as the next person, but I also see the potential in the sonic which is never used. And it has become a part of the Doctor. I mean the guy runs around without a shield, which exist in-universe, alongside teleporters and other helpful gadgets.

The reason for that, is the writer's are never actual prepared to handle that level of technology all the time. It would get boring very quickly, for a shield to have to be destroyed, before the Doctor can be injured, each and every time. But honestly, just have it there, and don't bring attention to it.

I don't think the Doctor needs to be in danger, every episode, and the whole, ducking and dodging, just takes away tension, because you know they're going to be alright. Having the Doctor wear a shield, and being shot at, and surviving, makes sense. And only once, you wanted them hurt or to get shot, do you come up with a reason for the shield to stop working, or have then give it to someone else.

I'm saying, with a little thought, having more advanced technology on the Doctor could actual work. But Writer's don't want that, and Doctor Who fans don't want that.

In conclusion, the new sonic is a one-off anyway. Like, even compared to the rest of the episodes, they never use it again. (I guess it costs too much).

I personally liked that it could be used as a screen, which could come in useful (but is never used again). Didn't like the shielding as much.

We take a moment to sit down, bandage up the Meep's hand, and have a little chat. Now, I've briefly mentioned, but I think Donna comes across to brash at times, but more so now. She's supposed to be a mother, and more tamed but, the not clarifying Wilf is in a home, felt out of place, and more so, blaming the Doctor for misunderstanding.

She did it all the time, the first go round, and it annoyed me to no end. As someone who can easily misunderstand people, I guess it doesn't help, I consider her already knowing the Doctor. But still, even as someone not known to you, you don't call them an idiot for being sad, because they think your grandfather's dead.

Have a heart.

Also, Rose getting at the Doctor for using a he pronoun on the Meep, felt all wrong. Like a new touch, and a nice addition to Doctor Who, but would have liked the Doctor to smile, and ask is it 2023 already, and get a massive glare from Sylvia for his trouble.

Like an acknowledgement, he's dumming himself down and has been since the sixties, because of our out-dated views about gender, would be the perfect moment to have the Doctor open up about his own gender, and not have been ignorant to the entire thing. And this continues, and turns out to be foreshadowing for a worse moment.

Also, also, having the Doctor confess to also having the pronoun 'The' (and not have this be a throw-away line) would have worked to, he could even have mentioned how this is true of all Time-Lords, expect their more than comfortable with he/him, she/her, they/them, when applicable. So, it's not wrong to use, any.

Now, we have the sonic save the day, to allow them to escape upstairs. I like that the Doctor lead them to safety through the attic, a clever move.

However, the fact that Unit, who have been possessed, know where the Meep is, is questionable. Beyond that, the fact they're firing into the house, with the Meep in, is also questionable. And even more so, why is the Meep, still playing pretend at this moment, what is the Meep waiting for exactly, other than the Doctor to catch up?

Now, the Doctor works it out, and drives the Meep to somewhere to speak with the Meep. And then summons the Warrior's (Zogroth's my mistake) to have a chat.

This could have been a good moment, if one, Fudge actual spoke with the Zogroth (why did I not know they had such a cool name?) and befriended them, because then, it's Rose and Meep, against Fudge and Zogroth.

Imagine that, this has been building for a few days, maybe a week, and we don't know who to trust, but Rose is convinced the Meep are the trustworthy one's, and Fudge trust Rose, but it turns out, she's actual wrong. And the Meep almost kills Fudge. Or, is honest with Fudge, letting us know the Meep is evil, but only when Rose isn't looking or around.

We could have even had then, on different sizes of the court room arguing their point. The Doctor caught in the middle, Fudge upset and angry that no-one believes him, because he's a kid. It could have been a whole thing, that's slower paced and gives the audience times to think and pick a side, but no, we just have the Doctor speaking fast, the camera spinning, and the Meep just giving up I guess, and confessing.

Point is, we build on this perception, of good vs bad, and not judging a book by its cover. And have the Doctor be there, to get to the truth of the issue, and could still have the silly mock-court, which happened because, they wanted to have the doctor wear a judge wig?

Not sure on that one, but the fact the Meep relives the truth then, and not at any other point, is the first odd point. Also, the second is that the Meep doesn't kill nor eat the Doctor, Donna, or her family.

Then, we get to the Meep's plan. Which is to destroy the earth for some reason? (I'm not actual sure, and I can't be bothered working it out.)

Point is, the Doctor needs Donna, became a glass barrier is slowing him down, and I know a lot of people like the Doctor (this Doctor) running around pressing button, randomly, but um, it goes on way too long for me.

Either way, he has to cause Donna to remember. And I do, like the whole, list of random works to unblock her memorises, but we've had no built up to it, and an even worse pay off.

Donna remembers, they save the day, and she doesn't die. Because she had a baby, (another companions child, where the Doctor is the third-parent, let hope he doesn't marry this one.)

Now because of this, Rose has some of the Doctor-Donna too, and when its activated, she able to save the Doctor and Donna, which is a little forced.

Point against this, I would rather have had it, fade over time, as though Donna had slowly been releasing the built up energy. Or had her, give it away, (as she sort of does), because now she's content in her life, she has a family, and a daughter, and doesn't want to be the Doctor anymore, doesn't want to travel the universe anymore.

That would have been perfect, but nothing builds up to this moment. Our problem is, we have too many characters, and none of them doing anything (but that's only an issue when Chibnall writes it).

Doesn't matter, the point is, the Doctor's now a male-presenting time-lord again, for like a morning tops, (half a day maybe) and is already too ignorant to realise the truth about Donna's condition, which has never happened before.

This actual could have been a brilliant moment, where Donna's like, you don't understand, because you haven't lived with this for fifteen-years. Which would link in, with the fight a lot of people (particularly woman) have with Doctor's presuming they understanding the illness a person is going through, better than the patient.

The Meep is stopped and honestly deserved a little better, some people really liked him. I thought it a mistake to not allow them to take it further in their deception, so it had a point. Also, they whole, they weren't evil, but made evil, and this Meep is the last, feels like, it missing the point, this episode should be aiming for. And that is that, appearance doesn't matter.

Rose has always had the memorises of the Doctor shinning through, wonderful, another character indebted to the Doctor for life, just what we need. (And the first trans character, is a by-product of the Doctor, so she can be trans, but you can't, because you're human and only the Doctor the weirdo who's male, female and more.)

Donna should have gone back to her life after this, we should have seen her visiting Wilf, to watch the stars together. Both of them wondering about the Doctor, missing him. But content to sit and watch from a safe distance, because she is that over the Doctor, and that secure in herself, and her family. That is the ending Donna Noble deserved.

3/10

Forgettable Villain. Misunderstood Characters. Too Much Going On. Happening Too Quickly. And The Worst Offender Of Them All Empty Inclusion.

(OH, and also, it's supposed to be a 60th anniversary of the WHOLE of Doctor Who).

[rapha-reads]

J'ai publié 3 912 fois en 2022

304 billets créés (8%)

3 608 billets reblogués (92%)

Les blogs que j'ai le plus reblogués :

@nooowestayandgetcaught

@garnetrena

@tasha-lemon

@queerofthedagger

@whetstonefires

J'ai étiqueté 3 907 billets en 2022

#eurovision - 331 billets

#esc - 305 billets

#eurovision 2022 - 298 billets

#batfam - 258 billets

#esc 2022 - 191 billets

#merlin - 167 billets

#merthur - 166 billets

#rapha talks - 149 billets

#doctor who - 141 billets

#star wars - 134 billets

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and the beauty in these endings is that they’re not. your dad doesn’t put you on his shoulders anymore but he puts everything aside to pick

Mes billets vedette en 2022 :

n°5

That jeweler seeing Kate and Anthony in the same room : YEAAAAH, I don't think I need to see more, the ring obviously is going to go on her finger, not the other girl. Duh. Is everyone else seeing that? No? Just me? Ok then. I'll just. Ship them on the side. Proceed with your drama.

77 notes - publié le 29 mars 2022

n°4

Just watched Everything Everywhere All At Once, and hey, I was not expecting to start crying and experience all the feelings at the same time.

This film is hilariously silly, absurdly emotional and intensely smart.

THIS is how you do multiverse jumping, family feels, comedy, drama and action. This film has everything and it does it perfectly well.

I'm gonna need a minute to recover.

87 notes - publié le 16 août 2022

n°3

Made the mistake of going into my tags and selecting only the "Love" and "Pining" tags to see what'd come up, and now I'm feeling very yearning and Merthur-y because of bloody course most of my love and pining works are Merthur.

Gah. I'll be 90 and grey and semi-senile and I'll still be ranting about these two.

114 notes - publié le 15 août 2022

n°2

Me two years ago:

Ryan and Shane now in 2022: doing shows DIRECTLY on Tumblr.

Oooooh, this is going to be exciting!

118 notes - publié le 19 octobre 2022

Mon billet n°1 en 2022

do you have any merthur fic recommendations that have happy endings?

Do I ever ! Strap on, I've got quite the list.

Tagged Angst With A Happy Ending :

Take A Letter, Merlin by Caledonia/@iamcaledonia (7870 words, Modern Era)

Arthur is an emotionally repressed workaholic who is unhappily married. Merlin is his loyal and competent personal assistant. One Monday, Merlin comes to work to find that, over the weekend, Arthur has dictated a letter for Merlin that is about to change both of their lives. A song fic inspired by the 1969 classic, 'Take A Letter, Maria' by R. B. Greaves.

Kiss Today Goodbye, by Cithara/@citharaposts (5337 words, Canon Era, Divergence from s02e13)

When Arthur regains consciousness in time to hear Merlin confront the dragon, his world is turned on its head by the revelations that follow.

Turning the Page, by @schweetheart and @queerofthedagger (19050 words, Canon Divergence, Epistolary)

Without intending to, Arthur pushes Merlin just one step too far. Now he's left without his manservant but a hundred questions, a world of hurt, and guilt that clings to him like a shadow. Well, and a notebook filled with drawings because apparently, Merlin can draw on top of being a sorcerer. No matter how often Arthur tells himself that he just wants to forget, he can't help but come back to the collection of sketches and notes, a chronicle of all that Merlin has done.

Maybe their story isn't quite over yet.

The Knights of the Table, by DrJackAndMissJo/@drjackandmissjo (9198 words, Modern Era, Food Critic and Chef AU)

'Can you even believe this guy?" Gwaine asked, offended and almost breathless as he popped himself on Percival’s counter. There was no need for any of the other men to ask who he was talking about. Everyone knew about the devilish creature that wrote the restaurant and food reviews on Camelot Weekly. “What makes you even think it’s a guy?” asked Lance as he took the newspaper from the Irish man, “I’m pretty sure that it is a demon sent straight from hell to torture all of us!”

Tagged Happy Ending :

Hope On A Tuesday Afternoon, by arsenicandsunshine (8985 words, Modern Era, Housemates, Idiots in Love, Getting Together)

Arthur likes his life. Why wouldn't he? Nice flat, all to himself, stable job. Friends. Yep, he's set all right. Or, he is until he ends up with an unexpected flatmate. Merlin certainly does have a knack for turning Arthur's life upside down.

a long, long day, by @oncefutureemrys (1237 words, Canon Era, Secret Relationship, baths and massages)

Merlin was beyond tired of it all. He just wanted one moment where… it could be just him. Just him and Arthur, just the two of them, without the rest of the world interfering. But alas, Merlin was no normal person and neither was Arthur, and the chances of them having a regular day were almost as likely as Uther deciding to stop hating magic. So, he walked into Arthur’s room, ready for more late night chores, a slight slump in his posture. To anyone else, it would seem as if he was perfectly fine, usual Merlin just slightly tired from a long day’s work.  But Merlin knew it was a bit more than that. And so did Arthur, apparently, because when he stumbled in, he found the idiot sitting casually behind his desk, an air of amusement and playfulness surrounding him, a teasing grin forming on his stupid, stupid (handsome) face. Or: Merlin's had a long day, so Arthur takes care of him.

Suffering in Silence, by TheCourtSorcerer/@tcs-main (3205 words, Canon Divergence, Sir Leon-The-Long-Suffering, POV Leon)

He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to say something. He couldn’t keep silent anymore. Day in, day out… The constant borderline scandalous looks, the barely concealed innuendos, the incredibly unsubtle touches, all of it! He was going to lose his mind. How could two people be so blind?! So, that’s what led him to the tavern that night, across from Gwaine, a hint of regret tugging at his mind that he steadfastly ignored. “Okay… How do we get them together?”

Secrets & Lies, by LiGi/@little-ligi (13333 words, Canon Era, Divergence, Arthur Finds Out, Protective Arthur, Friends to Lovers)

Arthur had finally put his finger on it. The thing that had made Merlin stand out, the thing that had intrigued him about the boy ever since the first time he’d met him. The thing that was going to get him killed… Merlin had magic. Not only had it, but used it freely all the bloody time. It was only a matter of time before someone saw him do it, and then they’d report him to the king and Merlin would be dragged out into the courtyard and executed. Well, not if Arthur had anything to do about it.   Mid series one, Arthur, for once not being totally oblivious, discovers that Merlin has magic. The problem is, having magic gets people killed and Arthur very much prefers Merlin alive. It turns out making sure nobody sees Merlin do magic is rather a full-time job however...

A Universe Which Freely Gives, by @psychotic-fangirl369 (26455 words, Post Canon, Reincarnation, Arthur Returns, Getting Together)

Arthur returns… but because of a series of unlikely events (and perhaps a bit of morose dragging of feet because he can't bring himself to believe the signals), Merlin misses the boat. By the time he makes it to the lake, signs of Arthur abound but Arthur is nowhere to be found. Magical tracking being less reliable than one might think, when Merlin finally does manage to find him Arthur is bizarrely well-adjusted, living in a flatshare in London with roommates who think he's batty but mostly harmless, and working an improbable job. Enter: Merlin, who Arthur absolutely is not expecting to still be alive.

So Where Are My Flowers?, by @tehfanglyfish (1365 words, Canon Era, Pining, Flowers, Magic Reveal)

A question asked as a joke leads to years of fresh flowers waiting for Arthur each morning until the one day he almost screws things up.

Balancing the Scale, by sunsetmoonrise (20528 words, 5+1, Canon Era Divergence, Slow Burn, Pining)

Five times Merlin didn't realise Arthur was protecting him, and the one time he did.

Alright, that's quite a lot already! These are the latest in my bookmarks, don't hesitate to ask me again if you want more!

255 notes - publié le 27 août 2022

Obtenez votre année 2022 en revue sur Tumblr →

Well, obviously I'm still talking about Merthur, always and forever. Also, note to self, you have got to stop talking about Eurovision so much. I compared with last year's nimbers, I've been less active this year. Less posts made, less posts reblogged, and still the same tags again and again (merlin, merthur, batfam, eurovision, doctor who, last year was about six of crows, this year is about star wars)...

[goshdangronpa]

Yeah, if makoto got turned it would be rather late in life compared to other vampires, like 37 at the earliest. Most likely after an almost successful assassination attempt, after all, there's probably a lot of people who would benefit from his demise (e.g, to make him a martyr or stop him from influencing other people since he seems to do that as easily as breathing with junko gone)

What the would-be assassins didn't realise is that his friends would do anything to save him (even if it means technically briefly killing him).

However before that there would definitely be some entertaining age based antics

Makoto at age 35: complaining about being old

Kyoko, toko and byakuya: stare suspiciously at makoto who still looks 15, maybe 17 at most with the shorter haircut.

Hina and Hiro 100% believe makoto is secretly a vampire hiding his identity

Makoto is slowly running out of evidence otherwise

Makoto: 'guys, this is ridiculous, i show up on film and photos'

Hiro: 'so did junko'

Makoto: 'you've all seen me age over the last 17 years'

Hina: 'have we? Because it doesn't look like it'

Makoto: 'my hair is literally going grey!'

Byakuya, joining in because honestly he's suspicious by this point: 'so? Young people can be grey. Grey hair is often caused by stress rather than age'

Makoto: 'Togami-san?'

Hiro: 'face it naegi-chii, you're a vampire in disguise'

Makoto: 'i literally had a meal with you and Hina 15 minutes ago'

Kyoko, joining in because it's entertaining: 'while extremely rare, there are cases of vampires being able to consume human food after being turned, although the nutritional gain is severely diminished'

Makoto: 'you too Kirigiri-san?!'

Toko, joining in to agree with byakuya: 'why a-a-are you so de-desperate to p-p-prove us wr-wr-wrong?'

Makoto: sighs defeatedly

Heh, cute skit. "Confess, Naegi! Tell us your bloodline!" "... My parents?!"

Those are good possibilities! You've got me thinking: what if the Future Foundation comes to see the vampiric conversion of Makoto Naegi as imperative so the Ultimate Hope can endure forever? I think he might disagree with that notion and resist anyone, even Kyoko, arguing that he should turn. After all, he still has so many prematurely ended lives on his conscience ...

At that point, though, I risk just cribbing from the Anno Dracula series again. Its male lead, a British spy with a lifetime of secrets and multiple vampires who live him, refuses to turn even on his deathbed. If you're a fan of bloodsucker fiction, firedemongaming, I can't recommend these books enough.

Hm, why do you dig the idea of Makoto turning so much? I'm not currently swayed one way or the other or anything, I'm just curious about your perspective! (On that note, vampire Makoto walking outside with his little hoodie up to block the sun is such a cute image)

[annihilate-this-week]

Frequently Called Numbers

I have 380 contacts in my phone. Due to the eternal nature of my SIM card, some small portion of them dates all the way back to my first brick-phone in 2006, the one I demanded no one text me on because I only got 200 free texts a month (I went over it as many months as not). There are people on my phone contacts list that I honestly can't identify. There are girls I went on one date with; dudes whose band I practiced with three times; past roommates who don't even live in the same country as I do anymore. There are even people who don't know I'm a girl; a few years ago, someone texted me randomly that I hadn't heard from in most of a decade to invite me to go to a show. As a married lady, I generally don't get involved in things I can't bring my wife to, so I was in the process of declining even as this person was in the process of revealing that their memory of me was so outdated they still thought of me as a terminally-single guy. I still had that person's number in my phone, though. I almost wish I hadn't.

I know there are at least a couple of people in my phone who are dead. I never would have believed it had you told me when I was 25 that I would live to see the day that some of my good friends were 15 years dead, and yet that I was still walking around with their numbers saved in my phone. I never thought I would live to get that old. I thought I'd die. For years, I had plans on exactly how I would do so; wander into that patch of woods at the back of my neighborhood, intentionally overdose on over-the-counter sleeping pills, leave my cell phone on so the GPS signal could help someone find my body in an isolated spot where no one would have to worry about cleanup.

Instead, somehow, I survived. Friends harangued me into getting therapy. I cried during my intake interview, admitted that I had detailed plans for the way I'd kill myself, that I thought about suicide multiple times a day. I started seeing a kind older woman who talked me through six years of emotional struggles until I was eventually healthy enough to admit I was a woman, and needed to start living like I was. She was never as able to help me after that, though she did admit to me at one point, "I was really skeptical when you first told me you wanted to transition but it's really obvious that it was the right thing for you." We amicably ended therapy a few years later, but I'm not entirely OK these days. I thought recently about getting back into it with someone experienced at treating trans people, and thought of what I'd say during my intake interview today -- "I have found myself subconsciously unable to trust those closest to me, even if on a conscious level I'd trust them with my life. Also, I tend to think every expression of distress by my partner and other loved ones is my fault and their unhappiness is my responsibility to fix" -- and compared it in my mind to that first intake interview over a decade ago. I'm not perfect, but I'm way better than I was. I guess I can take comfort in that.

The therapist I had back then is still saved in my phone, alongside punks who died of heroin overdoses in the mid-00s and women whose first names are followed by an abbreviation indicating the dating site I initially contacted them through. And all of these people are arranged neatly in alphabetical order alongside the few numbers I actually still call or text regularly. My wife. My friend whose local music website I write for. My other friend who lives in Philadelphia and still thinks of me and texts me on a random Tuesday night. These are the people whose numbers I can't lose. The rest could all disappear and I might not even notice. But going through and manually deleting all of them is way too heartbreaking to contemplate. So I guess I'll keep carrying all of them around in my pocket for the rest of my life. Which will hopefully end peacefully and in the company of those I love, a long time from now.

[paulisded]

The Ledge #584: Birthday Week!

When I put together each and every episode of The Ledge, I try really hard not to repeat myself too much. If I play a new single one week, the next I'll more than likely air a b-side or album track. Certain songs do end up appearing in multiple shows, but more than likely due to whatever themes I've selected.

That fact has always been in the back of my mind whenever I put on birthday shows. Obviously, during my birthday week I want a show of nothing but my favorite songs of all time, but at the same time I don't want to repeat that same show each and every year. But it dawned on me earlier today that repeating myself once a year is no big deal! Who remembers what I aired a year ago?

Plus, honestly, while I have not doublechecked, I'm sure this year's birthday celebration of my favorite songs is quite unlike previous editions. My tastes are ever-evolving. Some artists have emerged as new favorites. Others have maybe dropped down a peg or two. Plus, I'll admit to purposely selecting different tunes by perennial favorites. Let's be real. I can play almost any song by bands like The Clash or The Ramones...or almost every band in tonight's show.

As for the "52 weeks of Teenage Kicks", I've got a relative rrity from Hagfish. Originally released on 1995's Happiness EP, it also appeared on European versions of their second album, Hagfish Rocks Your Lame Ass. (And since this was my birthday show, I ended the episode with The Undertones original.  

And like I do every week, I must again plead with y'all for more versions of "Teenage Kicks". If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!

1. Hagfish - Teenage Kicks

2. The Kinks - I'm Not Like Everybody Else

3. Rolling Stones - Loving Cup

4. The Pretty Things - L.S.D.

5. The Creation - Making Time

6. The Monkees - (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone 

7. The Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action

8. Big Star - September Gurls

9. Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

10. The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet

11. Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World

12. The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man (Mono Version)

13. New York Dolls - Personality Crisis

14. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - One Track Mind

15. Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory

16. The Ramones - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

17. Sex Pistols - Lonely Boy

18. The Clash - Stay Free

19. Elvis Costello - (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

20. Nick Lowe - They Called It Rock

21. Graham Parker - Discovering Japan

22. R.E.M. - I Believe

23. X - The New World

24. Superchunk - Slack Motherfucker

25. Archers Of Loaf - Wrong

26. The Saints - I'm Stranded

27. Hoodoo Gurus - I Want You Back

28. The Church - The Unguarded Moment 

29. The Jesus & Mary Chain - April Skies

30. Runaways - Cherry Bomb

31. The Patti Smith Group - Dancing Barefoot

32. Liz Phair - Fuck And Run

33. Lydia LovelessReally Wanna See You

34. The Replacements - Color Me Impressed

35. The Replacements - Satellite

36. Bash & Pop - Never Aim To Please

37. Paul Westerberg - 2 Days 'Til Tomorrow

38. The Undertones - Teenage Kicks