#i can't with the corporate take over of the seasons

[inthefallofasparrow]

People are up in arms about 'The Acolyte' season 2 being cancelled and I can't help but feel that, with this current trend of the TV industry immediately cutting their perceived losses and deleting every show that doesn't become top viewing within its first season, the only positive step forward that writers and showrunners can take is to kill the franchise mindset in its sleep. No more end-of-season cliffhangers, no more loose threads to be tied up, no more slow burn multi-season planned setups for the narrative. We tell enclosed self-contained one-season stories now. Beginning, middle and end with a satisfying conclusion for all the characters within one season. There's no confidence that you'll ever get a chance to tell any more. So, find a way to tell it all now. Similar story with 'Andor' being originally supposed to go for five seasons, but when the writers realised that wasn't going to work, rather than blowing up the budget and pushing forward until it fell apart, they actively decided to just tell the story in two seasons and then end it on their own terms.

When a show is based on a book series, you'll sometimes see these benefits too, if 'one book' equals 'one season', given those individual books have there own self-contained conclusion that carries over. This is also why anthology shows have been so effective. You get the nostalgia of coming back to an old show, alongside the intrigue and excitement of starting a new story. The best of both worlds. And if an individual season is more poorly received than others, it doesn't matter as much when you start again from zero next season.

One season stories. That's the only answer. Then, if a show does well and gets green-lit for a second season, you get to tell a whole new story that follows on the natural progression of the same characters, but again, it ends with all the new questions answered and everything wrapped up at the end of the season. That's how you make this blunt corporate oversight, at least function in a somewhat fulfilling way for the audiences and fandoms.

[humanityinahandbag]

Steddie Halloween

Halloween after 'Spring Break' must be such a hard time for Steve. This is the guy that regularly hosted costume parties at his house during his King Steve era. And at some point probably hosted more laid back ones for the kids and Robin.

But since the Russian bunker he just... can't.

He has regular and more frequent night terrors of torture that had him and Robin shivering and holding onto one another like buoys. He's been dragged down into the depths of lakes by unseen monsters that left all kinds of scars. He gets migraines from moving too quickly or seeing strobing lights.

He carried Eddie's body out of the upside down, hands slippery in blood. He did CPR and felt Eddie's ribs crack under his hands. He looked at Eddie handcuffed to a hospital bed while doctors said we just don't know yet. Had to watch his Uncle, his father, sit by Eddie every day, rarely leaving his side, staring at his chest like he was grateful for each breath his boy took.

So. He's not really able to do Halloween anymore. And that's hard for him.

But whatever. He'll survive. He's fine to sit on the sidelines if it means the others will have a good time.

At this point, Steve was already coming to terms with his bisexuality. He'd already done a speed run through the Coming Out stages and walked out the other side with the eerie confidence only Steve Harrington could muster. This is a dude who has decided that he's going to flirt with Eddie until the other realizes and gets with the program. He knows Eddie likes him. He's a pro at dating and relationships and crushes. He just needs Eddie to figure out that the not so subtle hints mean something.

And then came Halloween.

He'd already told Eddie during a movie night about how much he missed the spooky season.

(And yes, he did discuss it while openly combing Eddie's hair back from his face and absolutely relishing in the way the other boy was turning all kinds of pink under the glow of the TV. Yes, Eddie was taking his time to catch up but no one said Steve couldn't have fun while he waited).

"Aw man. That sucks." Eddie barely managed to boot up his brain again to answer.

"It's fine," Steve would say, even though it wasn't.

And then, on October 31st, Steve wakes up to a maze in his backyard.

It's not a very good maze. It's mostly just tipped over pallets taken from behind Melvalds as the walls and tarps as the ceiling to block out some of the light. But it's so clearly meant to be some kind of a haunted hallway.

Steve is in boxers and a ratty Hawkins Swim Team t-shirt. He didn't take time to put on shoes, so he's walking across the cold concrete and the dewy grass in tube socks.

There's a sign posted on a piece of cardboard at the entrance.

ENTER IF YOU DARE

He stands there, shifting from foot to foot in his rapidly dampening socks, not quite sure what to do but intrigued nonetheless.

There's whispering and hushed voices from inside. And then Dustin is stomping out from around one of the pallet corners dressed in a suit that's clearly too small for him.

"Come on, dude. Can't you read? You're supposed to enter."

"It says enter if I dare."

"Yeah. So enter."

"What if I don't dare?"

Dustin rolls his eyes hard enough to make them stick, and honestly this kid and his tone.

"Can you just-" He groans. "Look. Eddie set this thing up and he and Robin dragged us all out of our beds at ass o'clock in the morning to put on these stupid haunted house costumes and wait around for you to wake up. So can you please just dare?"

Steve blinks. He looks at Dustin's suit. The tie is a little crooked and he's wearing bright yellow socks with his dress shoes. "I thought haunted house costumes were supposed to be... yunno... scary?"

"Yeah," said Dustin, gesturing to himself. "I'm the corporate grind."

And Steve can't do anything but laugh.

He goes through the little haunted maze. El was apparently having the time of her life and waves at him from a dead end, decked out a dress she made out of bits of stapled paper. "I am very frightening," she assured Steve. "I am overdue bills."

"That is very frightening," Steve agreed and ruffled her hair before going down another short hallway.

No one jumps out. There are no bright lights. Will had drawn decorations that they'd taped to the inside of the recycled plywood warning him of imposter syndrome and sleeping past your alarm and girls. Lucas at least put in a little more effort as a basketball player, though he had his knee wrapped in a bandage they must have picked up at the pharmacy and explained to Steve that the true horrors were being benched all season.

Max had refused to put on a costume and declared that she was scary all on her own.

Even Robin was there, waving at him. There was a cooler besides her. "This is the checkpoint," she said. "All the best haunted houses have checkpoints."

Apparently, the checkpoint included his migraine medication that he'd coincidentally forgotten to take that morning and a takeaway cup of lukewarm coffee.

"I tried to keep it warm!" She flapped her hands, waving them at the cardboard cup. "I literally held it between my knees and everything. But I had to help Eddie out last night to start building and-" she paused. "Shit. I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Forget I said that! Just- drink your coffee! Or don't! Is it warm enough? It's probably not. Fuck."

Steve is always shocked at how much more he loves Robin every day.

"It's good," Steve assured her, taking a sip. "Much scarier this way. Nothing scarier than a cold cup of coffee."

When he finally does make it to the end of the maze, Eddie is right there waiting. He's dressed as a vampire, with the stupid fake teeth and blood drawn down his chin with lipstick.

"You escaped the haunted maze!" Eddie put on a show of acting shocked, horrified, angry. His speech comes out garbled from behind the plastic teeth so it sounded more like you ethcaped the ha'ted mathe! It was endearing. Charming. Perfect. "My evil plan is foiled!"

Steve smiled. He looked back at the tarp and plywood and cardboard and duct tape. "You put this all together?" He turned back. "You built me a haunted house?"

Eddie's posturing paused. Despite how much he tried, there was little Eddie could do to hide the way he turned almost shy. He took out the teeth. "Uh. Yeah. But it's no big deal."

"It's kind of a big deal."

"It's really not," said Eddie. "Just- yunno. Figured you should be included." He brightened. "And this isn't everything! We've got a party planned at Joyce's tonight. Low music, we'll keep the lights on. Kids even picked out a movie, but I can't attest to the quality."

"You built me a haunted house."

"I... did." Eddie cleared his throat. He shoved the teeth back in. "But just so you know, it was all part of my evil plan. Which you foiled, My Liege!"

Steve stepped forward. "What was it?"

Eddie paused.

"The evil plan. What was it?"

"Oh. Uh." Eddie swallowed. "Keep you in my evil clutches forever?"

Steve beamed.

Robin had to usher a group of jeering kids away from the Harrington house. It was apparently too much for them to see Steve grab Eddie by the edges of his stupid vampire cape and tug him into a kiss.

"Dracula doesn't swoon," Dustin shouted back at them, covering his eyes.

"This one does," said Steve happily, before going back to work on a very shocked Eddie.

In the end, it did take Eddie a minute to catch up. Once his brain rebooted and he was able to comprehend that he was kissing Steve Harrington, the boy he'd loved since long, long ago.

He spends that night at the party sitting on the couch with his face buried against Steve's chest while the movie played. "You'd been flirting with me?"

"Mmmhm," said Steve, popping a candy corn into his mouth.

"This whole time?"

"Yup," said Steve.

"I wasn't imagining it?"

"Nope," said Steve.

"This is real?"

"Yup," said Steve, and dropped a kiss onto the top of Eddie's head.

"Okay," rasped Eddie. "Just checking."

"Learning how dumb you were being was the scariest thing this entire halloween," Dustin mumbled from the floor.

[userautumn]

Please. Tommys helicopter crashing while him and Buck are still broken up? That would be such great drama.

You know what I want? I want Buck to get mad. He has yet to actually get mad at a love interest. He's been hurt and confused, but I want him to get angry. I want him to go out and fuck like he's getting revenge on Tommy, even though he's the one who got left behind again, and I want him to convince himself he's absolutely fine. Eddie can see it, of course. Bobby and Maddie and all the people who love him can see that he's not fine, but I want Buck to pretend he is like he'll die if he doesn't. He deletes Tommy's name from his contacts and dumps all his stuff in the trash and erases his existence from his life like he's nothing more than yesterday's news.

I want this to continue through the rest of the season, long enough that both the characters and the audience start to think that maybe Buck is fine after all. Maybe this whole thing with Tommy was just a mistake, a hiccup. Maybe Tommy was right and saw writing on the wall that Buck didn't. Maybe he was smart by getting out when he did because Buck doesn't cry. He doesn't vent to Eddie, or show up on his doorstep like a kicked puppy. He lives fast and vibrant, and shows up to work covered in hickeys and lipstick and other people's cologne, and if Tommy really was as transformative of a love as he believed he was, shouldn't he be devastated?

Anyway.

Fast forward to the season finale. Athena has been following a case of corporate corruption where an auto and aeronautics manufacturer has been exposed for using faulty parts in their vehicles that have resulted in auto collisions and deaths across the country. None of this really concerns or interests Buck at all, if he's being honest. He fixes his own car for the most part (Tommy showed him how) and that which he can't do, he takes to his usual mom-and-pop mechanic for them to work on. Which is to say that, his life consists of sex and work, so news reports of [Same Company] being responsible for a Cessna crashing in Northern California don't really filter through.

Not until the 118 is called to a helicopter crash just outside of Los Angeles.

Even then, Buck doesn't think about Tommy. Why would he? Tommy Kinard is barely even a memory at this point, just an idea on the edge of his brain, an almost that was quickly buried. Helicopters crash all the time, so he has no reason to believe there's anything out of the ordinary about this one. But then when they're en route, Maddie's voice comes over the radio, tight with emotion and forcibly professional in a way that makes him immediately nauseous: Captain Nash, please be advised that the helicopter in question is one of our own. It's an LAFD chopper. Then, Hen and Eddie and Chimney and Bobby all turn to look at him, and Buck has nowhere to run from their gaze. Even if he did, he couldn't, because he feels paralyzed. Bobby's voice asking if there are any survivors, and Maddie's voice saying she's unsure get lost to the thrum of his heartbeat in his ears. Every repressed emotion, every memory, every bit of desperate longing and grief and love and anger comes rushing back in full force and all Buck can do is sit there while the engine weaves through Los Angeles traffic.

Tommy is fine, of course. He codes on the way to the hospital (Buck performing CPR on his boyfriend while begging him to stay alive is my drug), but once all is said and done, once he's come out of surgery with a little more metal in his body than he went in there with, he's okay. Buck isn't, not by a mile. He's full of too many emotions that he doesn't know how to sort through, chief among them being love, followed closely by anger, and then, guilt, of all things. But after Tommy opens his eyes, after Buck breaks down spectacularly, and after they finally confess that they love each other, Buck makes Tommy look him in the eyes:

"You don't get to run from this. Not again. I mean it. If you get scared, you talk to me. If you need to slow down, you talk to me. You don't make decisions for me, for us, and expect me to be okay with it. That's not how this works."

"Okay."

"I mean it, Tommy. I can't -"

"I mean it too. I promise. Okay?"

"Okay."

Anyways. Yeah. That's how I would do it.

[orcusnoir]

"You know what I hate?" The Champion asked to no one in particular as he watched over the slow boiling pot of stew.

"Uh... Not having enough spices?" The Captain asked from his seat at the table.

Wild gave a nod. "Not what I was going for, but yes."

"Then what do you hate, Champ?" Wars asked while glancing over to the Vet. Legend was currently trying to stack his fork and knife on top of each other to no avail.

"How do I put this?" Wild tapped his chin in thought.

"As bluntly as you can." Hyrule chimed in.

"Fair enough. Why are certain clothes locked to certain people? It's fucking cloth." Wild complained with a laugh.

At first Wars was going to chide Wild for the language, but... He just couldn't. Wild had a point here.

"FINALLY!" Wind's loud voice startled Wars a bit as the Sailor had been awfully quiet in his seat. "Tetra and I both hate that stupid shit. What do you mean I can't wear heels? I'm trying to feel tall, and Tetra hates heels, and so somebody has to wear them."

"Tell me about it." Wild started. "Zelda let me try on one of her old royal dresses, don't ask how they survived a hundred years, and somebody had issues with that."

The Captain just laughed. Damn those social rules indeed. Wild in a dress wasn't something he was expecting to hear about today, but it was something that he could picture.

And the Champion would rock that dress.

"Heh, I've been thinking those rules were stupid since I knew they existed. So, since I was nine." Time joined the conversation. "I didn't even know what the big deal was back then."

"I'd ask how, but I'm afraid the answer would be too confusing." Twilight said.

"Oh, not at all, I was raised by forest spirits and a giant tree." The Old Man nonchalantly explained. "They didn't have concepts like "male" and "female." So imagine my confusion."

A claim that he made often but never elaborated on. Everyone, besides the Captain and Wind, thought it was a lie or a ruse.

Warriors just laughed, he couldn't help it.

"Oh little Mask and his insisting that he's a tree." Wars felt everyone's eyes turn to him.

Time laughed loudly. "You made that corporals life hell."

"I did not have time for that guy's bullshit. We are in the middle of a fucking war, if the kid says he's a tree then he's a fucking tree." Wars started to lose his composure from all of his laughing.

"What do you mean by "he's a tree"?" Sky asked while scratching his head.

"Again, I was raised by forest spirits." Time explain. "You lot, besides two, think this a lie. It's not."

"Time, your life profoundly confuses me." Sky said. "So they assigned you a tree?"

Time nodded.

"Instead of anything else?"

Another nod.

"Not like a boy tree? Just a tree?"

Another nod. "Two trees, to be exact. But yes."

"Two trees?"

"Maple and oak, to be exact."

Wars just watch the conversation with a grin. Oh, poor Sky. He must be feeling the same confusion that he and the Sailor had during the war.

"I feel so understood." Rulie said with the widest smile imaginable. "I'm just a Fae." He shrugged as the others turned to face him. "Not the legend kind of Fae. I was raised by Fairies."

"Well, now you can be a Fae tree. How lovely." Time stated with a laugh.

"What kinda tree?"

"Hmmm, you and the Captain both have the same one. Pine, and you can have maple too. As a treat."

"A Fae pine and maple tree. Nice."

"Are we just gonna brush over the fact that Wars already has a tree identity?" Legend asked.

"I do too!" Wind but in. "Take a guess, it's so obvious."

"Uh...Palm tree?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Correct!"

"What tree am I then?" Wild asked while seasoning a few cuts of meat.

"Willow." Time and Warriors both spoke at the same time.

"Damn, that was fast."

"You had this conversation before, hadn't you?" Sky asked while keeping his gaze locked to Wars. "So tell us our trees."

"Oh, alright, I'll try to remember all the specifics. It's been a while." Time laughed while tapping his fingers on the table.

"It all reminds me of the Minish. They have leaves instead of trees, though." Four, who had been quietly observing this whole time, finally spoke up.

"Oh, the Kokiri had leaves too. That's a whole other thing."

[prettyboykatsuki]

later, then | i. rin

✮ tags ; gn!reader, pre-relationship, tooth-rotting fluff, rin in his actor era, assisstant!reader. this is sfw but i am an 18+ blog so minors do not follow me lol.

✮ wc ; 1.4k

✮ a/n ; a comm for @rabbbitseason that i had to rewrite a couple of times. i rlly liked being able to write something like this. i hope u like the direction i ended up going in sdjksdj

✮ synopsis ; on his last day of filming rin tried to keep you out of his thoughts.

"Rin-kun,"

He knows your voice well enough to know it's you before he even opens his eyes. "Hn,"

"We'll be shooting your scenes next," You say, tapping his shoulder lightly. "They told me to wake you up."

It's not like Rin to fall asleep on a set somewhere, no matter how tired he is. He's usually the type to push through it no matter what. It's petty, but it feels like he's lost otherwise.

He was exhausted before hand though. Months of shooting and he still can't get used to his schedule.

He's here from a morning flight from France that he took all the way back home to Japan. After he arrived, he immediately hailed a cab and busted ass to get here on time. He would normally rest on his journey but found he couldn't bring himself to actually fall asleep.

Professor Heartbreak is a Japanese TV drama (airing domestically lived and internationally on Netflix) and Rin's first acting role. The series follows a romance between a graduate student caught in a lot of debt and her relationship to one of her pupils, college student and heir to mega corporation.

Rin has never had any interest in acting, and had even less interest in acting in a romance drama. His manager however urged (read: forced) him to take the offer, emphasizing how good it would be for his public image among other things. Of course, Rin still declined but no matter what he did - he couldn't actually seem to get out of doing it.

He's off-season now though he started filming during. He can say with confidence there's nothing he likes about the job. No matter how much his manager or director insists that all he needs is to have a pretty face - there's still a level of annoying obligation he feels towards doing it.

The reception was more positive then they were expecting. Apparently Rin is a half-decent actor. He's not playing a character he feels is so different from him, if not much more cringe.

Rin plays the love interest Yukio. Not very expressive and rich with a tendency to chase what he wants. Generally aggressive about the female love interest.

It doesn't suit him and he doubts he'll do it again. But a lot went into getting the role. If he's going to do it at all, he might as well do it well.

Rin hates shit that's half-assed after all, lukewarm acting doesn't suit him.

Today is the last day of shooting and happens to be one of the last scenes. Shooting is sometimes chronological, but not always. Regardless, after today it'll be the last time Rin steps foot on this set. No more long nights, or trying to memorize lines, no more out of place press runs. The practice season will start again and he can go back to the busy he's been used to since the debut of his soccer career.

That also means it'll be the last time you and Rin spend time in the same room. It's the first thing he thinks of when you wake him.

Rin sits up and carefully rubs his eye, careful not to disturb the makeup he wears for set.

"When the fuck did I sleep?"

You laugh under your breath, handing him a water bottle like you already knew he would want one. He takes it from you and takes a long drink trying to wake himself up.

"Been a little over an hour. Hour and a half, maybe. Did you sleep okay?"

He scowls, just slightly. "It was fine."

"I'm glad you slept well," You add, voice full of mirth and amusement as you read between the lines said all too easily.

He was moody when he came on set with you, worse then normal and refused to sleep. You suggested he rest his eyes and Rin scoffed at you for thinking he's so stupid. He's not a kid you can trick into going to sleepy.

You conceded easily, made a single sly comment about hoping he's all there when it's his turn. It'd be a shame if he had to keep shooting the same scene and ended up home late after all. Enough of a provocation to submit to your stupid suggestion.

Rin supposes this was why his manager hired you in the first place. You're in a temporary position, your contract to be in place until filming is over and Rin's back on normal scheduling. Rin realized pretty early on that you're more like a glorified babysitter then an assistant which is why he didn't have very pleasant expectations of you at the start.

But you're competent. Push without pushing too far. Clever even when it's annoying. You've known each other for a year and the only thing that binds you is work but you're with him all the time. Maybe it's just the job, but it still feels like you know him better then most.

Not like he cares.

Realizing he was tired enough to sleep and goading him into doing it are two separate things though. But you've managed both pretty easily which he can admit is a feat. You're always like that. You remind him a little of another annoying striker in that way.

A quiet settles between you. Rin gropes around for his phone, checking his messages and the time. Still a few hours until the set wraps and no doubt social obligations afterwards. He groans.

"I'm going home after we're done shooting,"

"You can't," You say, apologetic. "Manager says you have to show your face during the after party."

"That doesn't make any fucking sense."

"You're the main male love interest, you should at least drop in for a little bit. Have a beer, unwind."

"I don't like drinking,"

"A soda then. Don't be so stubborn."

Rin huffs, carefully pushing a hand through his hair careful not to mess up the styling. There's a beat of silence.

"Are you going?"

"To the drinking party?"

Rin looks at you as if to ask isn't it obvious. You just chuckle.

"Why?" You tease. "Will you stay longer if I go?"

Rin pauses. And it's quiet for just a second too long before he realizes. You seem to understand the implication almost instantly.

Even before Rin who catches himself just a second too late.

"...I don't mind staying with you until you've filled your quota. If that's what you're asking." You supply.

Rin frowns, faint warmth creeping his neck. "Then do that."

You fight back a smile. "Sure, sure. What time were you thinking of leaving?"

"As soon as possible," He says bluntly. You laugh that time. Brightly. Sincerely.

"Seems like a waste. You can handle fifteen minutes without me, right? Doesn't feel like I need to go if we're gonna part ways so soon anyhow."

Rin pouts. A petulant, ugly feeling in him. He speaks without thinking. "You're saying it like we're never gonna see each other again,"

You both catch it.

"Are we?" You're grinning at him where you stand next to him, eyes cast down to look at his face. He fights off a blush but fails to keep from turning red. Fuck. "Seeing each other again, I mean."

He doesn't know what it is exactly that makes him answer the way he does.. "No shit."

You grin, beam really - and your fingers brush his hand on the couch. Rin jolts, clearly in deeper than he thought.

"Okay. Then let's go together and get something to eat after," You say, coy. "Since we're seeing each other again,"

Rin rubs a hand on the nape of his neck.

"Shut up. Fine. Whatever,"

You laugh again no longer hiding it. He hands his water bottle to you as he gets called onto set. Standing to his feet, he takes a breather to stretch out all his limbs.

You give him a mischievous smile, staring at him openly when something seems to strike you. Like you've just realized something.

"Rin-kun. Bend down a little. I need to tell you something."

Confused but not concerned, he complies without thinking.

You place your copy of the script strategically to obscure both your faces, and in a single split second - Rin feels something soft and warm press against his cheek followed by another giggle like a bell chime. He flusters, instantly scowling and tomato-faced and nearly cussing as you look so self-satisfied.

(Warm. So warm where you linger on his skin. Hot where you've touched him despite how brief.)

"For good luck. I'll see you later then. Knock 'em dead, okay?"

He curses under his breath before they call him one more time and he watches you disappear to go do the other half of your job. He puts his hand to his cheek and takes a breath.

Stupid. He closes his eyes and buries the explosion of feeling in him as he replies to no one in particular.

"Idiot."

[ohnoitstbskyen]

So, considering what's going on with Riot right now, do you think Arcane Season 2 got caught up in all of this restructuring?

Yes and no. Arcane season 2 is part of the reason for the restructuring.

As I understand it, internally at Riot, after Arcane was a huge (and more importantly: prestigious!) success, the decision was made to basically hand the entirety of the game's lore and story over to the Entertainment division within Riot. These are the people in large part responsible for projects like Arcane, K/DA, Heartsteel, that animated series China got, all that sort of thing.

The writers at Riot were basically told to flat out stop producing new content and lore for the game - that's why there's BEEN no new story content for League for over a year - because everything was going to be consolidated under the Entertainment division from now on. This is why Riot started talking about "One Runeterra" and "Arcane is going to be canon" and so on.

The success of Arcane convinced executives that what League of Legends needs is a singular cohesive brand with its most successful public property leading the charge, Arcane is going to be the gateway drug, the hook on the end of the line that brings new players and new paying customers into the exciting world of the League of Legends multimedia IP universe!

Nevermind that Arcane's story and worldbuilding is fundamentally incompatible with >checks notes< the overwhelming majority of Runeterra as it exists and enormous compromises would have to be made to either the world of Runeterra or Arcane itself to make it work. Arcane is the big shiny prestigious mainstream Emmy-award winning project that every executive wants to put their name next to, and like companies Pivoting To Video in 2015 because Facebook showed them inflated viewership stats, Riot Games is Pivoting To Arcane. It's better than them pivoting to crypto and NFTs, at least, although I know for a fact that high ranking people at Riot tried to make that happen too.

Now, the primary cause for all of these games industry layoffs is that interest rates aren't zero anymore. Borrowing money isn't free, the curve of constant growth has ever so slightly slowed, taking on debt is becoming a little tiny bit more risky than it was previously, and corporations are responding to this with massive rounds of layoffs and constriction to show "financial responsibility" and prove to shareholders that they are prioritizing core growth strategies and blah blah blah etc. They're also trying to kneecap the growing labor movement in the games industry and exert downwards pressure on wages, but the interest rates seem to have been the main thing.

In Riot's particular case, a secondary reason is they want to pivot the focus of the company to support their One Runeterra pipe dream, so a lot of the people who got fired at Riot are writers, artists, creative leads and sometimes extremely senior and successful staff who are now surplus to requirements. This is also why Riot shut down Riot Forge in the same round of layoffs - can't have a bunch of talented indie devs going off making video games that don't adhere to the new One Runeterra policy. What if someone played Mageseeker and got confused how there can be mages all over Demacia but somehow there are no mages in Arcane's Piltover and Zaun. That's a plot hole! People write snarky articles about that sort of thing. It turns off new consumers! What if Cinema Sins makes a video making fun of it?!?

So yeah. A bunch of cocaine-addled fame hungry executive vultures at Riot are absolutely gagging on their own d*cks to put their name next to Arcane related projects, and since they were going to be screwing hundreds of people out of their careers, healthcare, and in some cases their fucking visa status anyway, it seems to have presented a nice opportunity to clear the board for their latest Visionary Scheme for the company IP.

That is as I understand the situation, anyway. I'm a bitter old man and most of what I hear is second hand and anonymous gossip through my social networks, take what I say with a grain of salt, but I've followed this company for (oh god) twelve years now and I have developed a tragically keen understanding of how its executive class operates.

[a-very-tired-jew]

So I've seen a few of my mutuals clutching their pearls over the UHC shooter being praised, others cheering him on, and some cheering him on reluctantly. While nobody asked for it, I'm going to give my input as a forensic specialist and consultant.

We have a multi tiered judicial system that splits things into "price points". If you're in certain tax brackets you get tried a certain way. If you're a corporation, CEO of a big corporation, or a board member / officer then you also get special treatment as well.

(In fact, one of the best recent representations of this is the trial scene from the new season of Helluva Boss where Solas is not executed when taking responsibility for the crime Blitz is accused of when Blitz was going to be executed for it.)

We then split all of this into what we call "blue collar" and "white collar" crime. White collar crime does more damage to people than what we classify as blue collar crime.

The latter is what we make television shows and podcasts out of, the former is maybe touched upon in a legal or financial drama.

The latter involves people who fall in the realm of Ed Gein who maybe kill into the double digits, the former involves people who make decisions that harm and/or kill into the hundreds if not thousands.

The latter involves robberies and assaults, the latter involves people going into debt because of a corporate decision and maybe committing suicide because they can't pay it off.

The latter involves vandalism of a building, the former involves a company being slapped with a fine because they polluted an entire area and now the residents have to deal with life altering and damaging health issues.

In my time as a forensic consultant I have worked cases that would fit into Hannibal very easily. So have my colleagues. It's not uncommon for us to encounter something at a crime scene that we would call ontologically evil because it is absolutely horrific to witness. I've been on a few cases where I would definitely classify the perpetrator of the crime as such.

But considering all of that... I would still say the worst crimes are committed by corporations and their leadership because they do so much more damage. They harm so many more people and our legal system is not set up for that.

It's set up to handle the murder, the robbery, and so on. It's set up so that people can receive justice for very immediate and visceral crimes. It's punitive and handles the individual.

It was barely set up to handle something like Love Canal.

It's definitely not set up to measure and act upon the scale of harm that corporations and their leadership impart upon the average citizen through exploiting loopholes in regulations, committing actual criminal behavior, and other unethical acts that simply result in a fine. It doesn't know how to prosecute a company and its leadership for causing lifelong harm to people.

We are still using criminological theory from the 18th century as the basis for a lot of our criminal justice system. So you can understand why it's not set up to handle white collar crime that would impact whole populations.

I personally can't recall any conversation with a colleague where we discussed a CEO or board members actually being charged with something that encapsulated the harm they did to people. It's always some form of fraud or embezzlement, because money matters more.

That's the issue. Those charges usually result in a fine which can easily be paid off and then they're back to it. Maybe they get fired, maybe the company is dissolved, but rarely do we get a Bernie Madoff like ending. Even then, the charge against Madoff was for the ponzi scheme he was running. A financial crime.

And that's the crux of it all. We are all witness to the privileges given to certain tax brackets here in the USA. The blatant corruption, bending of ethics and morals, and exploitation of legal and regulatory loopholes with no real recourse. I'm not surprised something like this happened. I'm shocked that it didn't happen sooner to be honest. Yes, we can change the system in some instances. But in others? You're naive. Completely and utterly. Remember my post about the ghost gun and how the NRA controls firearm research in this country and threatens careers? That's been since the 90s. That's 30ish years. You sound just like the grad student who comes in with big ideas who thinks they can change the system and we all look at you and go "good luck kid, but here's all our attempts, our continuing attempts, and the threats we've gotten." It's a been there, done that situation that only changes when the powers that be actually feel that they're no longer untouchable and under threat. It's the way it has always been (I even have some examples in entomology like this I can throw out there as well).

Now, I'm not saying we should go full Robespierre and drag every CEO out to the guillotine. I'm not an accelerationist or maximalist by any account. But I'm not crying over this at all, nor am I shaming anyone who is cheerfully celebrating. Hell, many of us recently celebrated the death of leaders whose crimes would fall into the blue collar category (and you should be able to understand the impact of both and how bad both things are).

But our legal system needs a complete and utter overhaul to handle white collar crime that happens in the modern era and address the very real harm that these companies and leadership do. I would love to see actual legal repercussions for these companies and have them held accountable for the harm they've done. But I realistically don't think that will happen in my life time, and neither do a lot of others. Hence why something like this did happen, and will likely happen again.

[auroralwriting]

Corporate heir!Bucky and childhood best friend!reader waking up in an unfamiliar hotel room (after a crazy night) to a bunch of congratulatory messages about their Vegas wedding that they don’t remember having happened at all

vegas lights

corporate heir!bucky barnes x reader

what the hell happened in vegas last night?

warnings: hangover, overall fluff and humor

it’s a little shorter than i normally write but i love it 🫶

The sound of the annoying ping of your phone was the first thing you heard when you woke up, and it was probably what woke you up in the first place. You didn't dare touch your phone yet. The room was still dark and you knew the light of your phone would kill your eyes.

It took a moment before it hit you, there was someone breathing next to you. No, not breathing, but sleeping. A quick glance and you saw it was Bucky.

Now, this wasn't super uncommon. Bucky and you had slept in the same bed before. Nothing sexual or weird, it just happened that during movie nights you both fell asleep. Totally normal for two best friends.

It took you another moment to realize you were just in a bra and underwear, which is when you freaked out.

"Oh my God, Bucky!" You cried, pushing him in the arm lightly. That motion was enough to make him jolt awake, clutching his head as he squinted.

"Jesus, what fuckin' time is it?" He groaned as he slowly sat up. It took him just about as long as you to realize he was almost naked. "And where the fuck are my clothes? Where are your clothes?"

You quickly pulled the sheet up and over your chest as you scooted back against the headboard. You hadn't even noticed your killer headache, causing your eyes to squint as you had to adjust to the pounding in your head.

"I don't know," You responded. "We got drunk."

"Yeah," Bucky chuckled bitterly, upset by his lack of memory and ache in his head. "No shit."

Bucky was quick to stand up, regretting the pace as he groaned. He groggily made his way around the room, picking up scrap pieces of clothing you both had left behind. He tossed you your shirt as he put on his own. "I think the pants are still in the covers." That didn't matter as much now that you both had on shirts. You were thankful for any clothing.

Your hand searched over the nightstand to search for anything you could take. Thankfully, your drunk self had left some pills for the morning. You passed a few over to Bucky who took them instantly, followed by you. He laid back down on the bed with a soft grunt. "I haven't been this hungover since I was freshly twenty-one."

"I think I remember that night," Bucky chuckled. "You threw up all over Sam."

You cringed at the memory, replaying it in your head. You had way too many shots, and they all ended up on Sam. It might have been the worst night of your life. "Don't remind me."

"You remember anything from last night?" Bucky changed the topic. He rubbed his forehead as his eyes furrowed, deep in thought. "I can't even remember where the fuck we are."

You thought on his words for a moment. Where were you? A few memories came back as you thought. You were celebrating, you'd been bar hopping in Vegas.

"Vegas," You replied, pursing your lips. "We were celebrating, uhm.."

"Dad said I was gonna run the company starting September." Bucky responded with a small nod. "We went out to celebrate that." Bucky smiled softly, remembering how excited he was.

Yeah, that was. right. Yesterday, Bucky's dad gave him the call he'd been waiting for since he was sixteen. After nearly double the time in waiting, Bucky was finally becoming the CEO of his father's company. He was ready to retire before the next big season. Bucky was beyond excited, and he suggested you all should go bar hopping to celebrate. Wait, all?

"Who else was with us?" You asked as Bucky searched the floor for any clothing. He threw you one of his long shirts and took one for himself. You quickly slid it on, now allowing the sheet to cover the remaining bare part of your legs.

"I think it was just the group," Bucky replied. He'd invited all your guys' friends to go, too. Where did they go?

It seemed like Bucky had the same question. He was brave enough to reach for his phone and turn it on. After a few moments, his reaction was not what you expected it to be.

"Why are they congratulating both of us?" Bucky murmured as you grabbed your phone.

You opened your messages app to see a load of messages from all your friends.

iMessage: 25+ unread messages

Natasha: Congrats you two, live it up 🎉

Steve: Have a great time tonight you two ;)

Tony: WHY DID I MISS THIS?! congrats tho

Sam: Don't get too wild tonight you freaks 🥵

Wanda: AJFAOGWEGJ !!!!!!!!

"What are they talking about?" You asked as you scrolled through the countless messages.

Bucky turned to you, clicking off his phone. "Let's piece it all together. We got to the bars, started drinking..."

"Okay, yes," You nodded, setting your phone down. "We went to Tito's, Smiley Ray's, Tavern T, and," You hesitated.

"Corkscrew!" Bucky clapped his hands loudly, making both of you cringe. "Okay, so we got to the last one. We were probably super drunk by then. What happened after?"

You felt your memorize return in a haze, a faded mesh of colors that seemed endless. You remember Bucky's hands all over you, not sexually, but in new, unexplored places for just two best friends.

That's when it hit you. You should've felt it sooner, but you were so hungover that it didn't properly register in your brain.

The ring that sat on your ring finger was dainty, small, just the way you liked it. It felt heavy, cool, and you could tell it was real. You held your hand out for Bucky to see.

"Hey, that's a pretty ring." Bucky casually mentioned. A moment later, his eyes almost popped out of his head. "Holy fuck, we got married!"

"No, no, I remember now," You began. "They were all making comments about how perfect we would be together, and-and we just ran with it!"

Bucky rubbed his face, "I must've picked that up on the way to wherever we got married."

"And Vegas marriages are very real," You sighed. "God, what are we going to do?"

"I mean," Bucky paused, shrugging as he grabbed your left hand, admiring the ring on your finger. "It's a pretty ring."

You felt your eyes nearly pop out of your head as he spoke. "Don't tell me you think we should stay married." The idea felt ridiculous. Sure, did you have a long-time crush on your childhood best friend? Yes. But did that mean getting drunkenly married was the way about it? Absolutely not.

"C'mon, doll. We aren't getting any younger. We're both successful people who both happen to be single." Bucky emphasized.

"Buck, I can't just marry you because of that. You don't even love me like that, we can't just be married because-"

Bucky cut you off in an instant. "Who ever said I don't love you like that?" You felt your heart stop at his words. It felt like the room that had previously been spinning from hangover suddenly paused. "Seriously, who said that?"

"You can't be serious," You half smiled, trying to convince yourself he was joking. "That's not a funny joke, Bucky."

"Doll, I'm not joking." Bucky said, inching closer to you. "I love you, and not like a best friend. I've been in love with you since the seventh grade."

You smiled lightly, "Try sixth grade."

With your words, he pushed himself closer to you. He wrapped his hand around the back of your neck, holding it softly as he interlocked his lips with your own. It felt so delicate, so fragile, yet exploratory and hungry. His thumb caressed the back of your neck as you placed your hands on his cheeks.

"So, husband," You said as you pulled back. "Think we're gonna have a real wedding after this?"

Bucky chuckled as one hand moved to your waist, gently rubbing your hip. "Doll, I'm gonna give you a better wedding than you've ever dreamed of."

You hummed in contentment as you put your forehead against his, "I can't wait to marry you again."

[perseephoneee]

Okay, so I was thinking Hope Mikaleson x Reader. Where they are in a relationship. Where Hope was fighting and kill supernatural people and I forgot to mention that she turned off her humanity. Season 4. She left Salvador school and now she came back to surprised everyone but she sees Reader who was depressed because she was mad at Hope for leaving her and she expected her to be happy but no she was angry at her. Reader walked out not caring and Hope followed her. When Reader screamed at her for leaving, Hope turn her humanity back on and she broke down.

Fluff at the end but angst at the start.

cruelty (hope mikaelson x reader)

↳ masterlist  ↳ ship exchange ↳ taglist

omg i hope this is kinda what you wanted?? i wrote this during class.

It felt unfair for the outside to be sunny and for the fall leaves to twinkle in the light. The sounds of children's laughter echoing, or even the footsteps in the hallway with hushed conversation. You bury your head deeper into your pillow, letting the covers hide you away. Your bed has become a cave of solace. Your mind was a prison of your own design. 

You need to scream. You yearn to be heard. But no one can soothe you; no one bothers. Your heart feels perpetually heavy, this anchor dragging it deeper into your soul. You can't remember the last time you woke up without screaming, your voice raw and scratchy. Any psychologist would say you're depressed. You know what the other feeling is, though— guilt.

You couldn't stop it. You couldn't save her. The woman who changed every ounce of your being, who altered the course of your life in a single smile. She left. You were alone.

Everyone had tried to console you. They brought you meals and whispered niceties. They gave you time to process and to heal. But underneath that sorrow was a boiling, glistening anger.  You rolled over to scream at your ceiling.

"Fuck your, Hope Mikaelson."

"Is that really the welcome I get?"

You sat up, believing the phantom at the door to your bedroom to be exactly that— a ghost. Except the way she leaned against your doorframe, all ego, that was corporeal.

"Hope," you say, brows furrowed. She smiles, no humanity in her eyes.

"I was going for some more fanfare," she stepped into the room. You forced yourself to not recoil. Or to launch yourself out of bed and hold her close. "This, my dear, is wholly disappointing." 

"Disappointing welcome for a disappointing person," you respond. No reaction. You wonder how deep you'd have to swim to find where her soul is.

"Venom doesn't suit you."

"I grew up," you tilt your head, taking her in. All black, every part of a viper and not the warm individual you initially fell in love with. "You should leave."

"But I just got here," she mopes. "Didn't you miss me?"

"Hope, leave," you roll your eyes, getting out of bed and standing your ground. 

"I have things to do, so no, I won't leave."

"Oh really?" You scoff. "All you do is leave; it's what you're best at."

You see a flicker of…something. You wonder if you imagined it. You must've; there's no way she feels anything at all.

"I was trying to be kind, coming to say hello; I guess you don't want that." She pushes off the door, mannerisms presenting an aura of boredom.

"I don't want excuses from a snake," you chortle. "Especially one like you."

"A snake?" She laughs. That laughter doesn't reach her eyes. "That's pathetic."

"Pathetic isn't the half of it," you match her stance. Arms crossed, eyes narrowed. You feel an inexplicable anger. "Pathetic is running away the second things get hard. Pretending to be anything but Klaus Mikaelson's daughter, as if you aren't the product of the cruelest man in history. When you look in the mirror, do you see any of your mother? Or has she run away from the woman you've become?"

You don't remember feeling angry before, but you feel this anger now.

"I loved you, and that was a mistake. Cruelty suits you. Your heroism was nothing but a facade to hide the coward within. When you snapped Lizzie's neck— was it because you started to realize she was better than you? Did you feel threatened by the fact that you mean nothing in the grand scheme of things? Are you really still that insecure?"

You realize you're being cruel. But god, she's been cruel. And you are so so tired of pretending to be okay with it.

"I am happy you are the devil. It makes it easier to leave," you step towards her, standing face to face. There's that flicker again. "I'm done with you. Now…get the fuck out of my room."

You shove past her, marching down the hall in nothing but a ratty t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants. You look like a mess (you feel like a mess), but standing in the same space as Hope was too hard to bear. Being cruel felt good…it felt like a release. 

The world is spinning as you stumble into the bathroom. The tile is cold beneath your feet, and your hands brace the sink as you suck in deep breaths. You have no clue when you started crying. You turn on the sink and splash cold water on your face, trying to steady the sobs that are consuming your entire being. It's so hard to breathe. You don't remember how to.

You sink to the floor, curling up into yourself as you bury your head in your knees. You feel a hand on your shoulder, someone pulling you close, and you let them. You are so, so lonely. The scent of roses and vanilla is a familiar one, and you inhale as if it's the last time you'll ever be able to. 

Hope holds you until you're done crying, and when you finally pull away, you narrow your eyes in hesitation. 

"I never expected you to call me cruel," she whispers, and she seems different. She looks like the Hope you knew. The one you fell in love with, that was your best friend before she became more. The light in her eyes reflects her humanity. "I didn't realize how much it would hurt."

"I didn't mean—"

"You did," she sighs. You wish she could be more angry with you. "I don't blame you."

"I was just so angry—"

"And I was mean," Hope laughs as a tear drops from her eye. You rarely see her cry. "It was easier to hide than it was to be strong. I'm…sorry for hurting you because of it."

You wipe her tears with your thumb, cradling her face. Her skin is smooth to the touch. 

"Are you back?" You whisper. She looks at you, brows furrowed, before nodding slowly. Almost as if she's afraid to admit it. You let out a choking laugh, kissing her with all the love you'd held in for the months she'd been gone. You kiss her cheeks, nose, lips again, everything you can touch. She laughs, something light and airy that you didn't realize how much you missed. You pull back, holding her at arm's length. "Don't you ever fucking do that again."

"I won't," she says, kissing your cheek. "I promise."

[magicicephoenix]

DOCTOR WHO AU???

IM LISTENING

PLEASE

HERE YOU GO. i am just rambling

it ended up being super long, so. under the cut :)

okay so i'm still not sure if it'd be better for y/n to be the doctor or the dca. because on the one hand y/n being the doctor makes them a very very lonely last time lord who outlives all the companions they've tried to keep over the years, who saw two robots (bc i think it'd be better if they were separate in this instance) and went "oh my god. companions who will never die.", thus getting immediately attached. and sun and moon are fascinated by this otherworldly being who looks completely human to every single one of their sensors EXCEPT the fact that they have two hearts. one for each of them WHO SAID THAT anyway since obviously the doctor needs an accompanying master if y/n is the doctor i think maybe vanessa as the master would work. something something vanessa was an old friend who turned to the dark side (afton, somehow??? maybe afton WIAIT MAYBE AFTON WAS THat one super important time lord in the time lord council or whatever they're called from the end of season four and he's DETERMINED to have the time lords come back and that's why vanessa does all that oh my god it all makes sense). and y/n is always hoping she'll leave old ghosts behind but she can't and it's devastating every time aughh... and meanwhile y'know the dca are childcare animatronics but they know and can see troubles in any age and they're seeing a worrying amount of unhealthy coping mechanisms in this mysterious "doctor," so much so that they wonder if this doctor needs a doctor of their own. because even if the doctor is a different species they still need all the basic necessities of life that a human does and the dca are very specifically programmed to help humans. so they're just about perfect to help y/n!!!! and umm i think being able to see the universe is a super big deal to a couple of animatronics who were confined to a daycare their whole lives. maybe the inciting incident to their initial meeting had something to do with aliens trying to take down the human race through the children. and the dca notice the children acting strange and start going for help but no one's listening to them because they're "just robots" and it's frustrating and awful and they keep trying until by some coincidence they manage to inform y/n about it and y/n LISTENS to them doesn't ignore them and that's literally the ONLY THING they were asking for and y/n is the only one to give it to them. and then they work together (and isn't that wild for the dca, working with a perceived human instead of working under them, being able to make suggestions and offer ideas and not being brushed off!!!) and solve the mystery and defeat the terrible aliens who were using children for their master plan but due to all of it the dca's daycare is destroyed. and the dca has nowhere to go but stupid fazbear entertainment. and they've almost resigned themselves to returning to the hell of being nothing but an object for a giant corporation... until y/n says "come with me." and the dca say "yes."

ah right um on the other hand. time lord dca. two ideas i had: one, the master could be eclipse. then there'd be secondary idea one-A where the dca are in one body and one-B where they're separate. dunno about that one because a big thing with the doctor is that they're the SINGLE last time lord other than the master and they're desperate for companionship because of that. idea two: one half of the dca is the doctor and the other half is the master. prolly sun being doctor and moon being master but i could absolute see the other way around as well! then it hurts even more because they're two halves of the same whole, literally The Sun and The Moon as maybe they've chosen as titles instead of doctor and master actually. but the thing about the sun is that everything else orbits around it while the moon only revolves about the earth. wait oh my god that's fantastic actually. Sun taking the Master role because everything must be circling him, he must be at the center of everything, without him everything would flicker out and die, HE'S the most important thing and he needs EVERYONE to KNOW. and the most frustrating thing is that the moon is so so so enamored by the stupid earth and its stupid humans to pay enough attention to him. only one half of that moon is ever facing him but he needs all of its attention, he needs to see it all, and if he needs to rip the moon out of its orbit to do that then he WILL. meanwhile Moon is the little saving grace of the earth, so far away and unnoticeable that the humans don't notice his aid (like how the moon causes the tides). if the earth stopped spinning he'd be there to start them it again (anyone seen that one comic from the "what if?" book? yeah). no matter what he is there to keep earth and the humans safe, even if it's from the bright burning star that they rely on for life. and he's so so lonely, doing his best in the shadows, alone without his counterpart that has long been lost to time (or so he thinks) until he stumbles upon y/n and can't bear to let go. so when Sun returns, hoping his grand motions will capture Moon's heart, he is devastated to see Moon instead clinging tight to this small, insignificant life form. what about him? what about all the time they'd spent together? what happened to the sun and the moon? why is he not enough? and from devastation comes rage. from rage turns destruction. and, unfortunately for Sun, Moon despises destruction.

...or something like that.

[cipheramnesia]

This is the process my brain goes through every time I see anything about Netflix Avatar The Last Airbender.

My first reaction is always: Why? The original, although not without flaws, doesn't leave a lot of room to improve. A good remake or adaptation usually involves an updated context or change in perspective that adds to the original work and gives it new meaning. It's a risky undertaking because it usually involves wanting to take on something established as iconic and make it your own. But Netflix is a corporation and seems very risk averse for the most part. Its only investment is in the name recognition of AtLA. It's hard to visualize Netflix deliberately taking a big risk on an expensive show.

My second reaction is: How? The original series is about 1400 minutes over 61 episodes, and it still had to rush the ending. We're looking at 8 episodes of roughly 45-60 minutes per episode for season 1, which would require Netflix to let it run more than 3 seasons, if the series has similar pacing. Historically however Netflix shows have glacial pacing, and rarely make three seasons. Not really sure how they plan to tell the story if the series is anything like the average Netflix series, meaning it either needs to undercut the story or let the series breathe for at least five seasons. But nothing Netflix has done makes me want to watch anything they make as an ongoing series? Why bother, they cancel everything I enjoy. So I wonder how. What's the hook to say "this will be able to provide something new and interesting compared to the original, and will be allowed to tell the complete story."

Which leads me to think, but you can't judge if something is good without seeing it. Except none of this is about whether it's good, I just find myself wondering what are the odds it's worth the effort? They're low, and it has nothing to do with whether or not it's even any good on its own merits.

Following this, I ask myself, what would a good version of this be. Imagine you are making a live action series with eight hour long episodes per season based on a children's cartoon with 20 thirty minute episodes per season. You are trying to encompass a story which was presented over three seasons as a cartoon, and you do not know if you will have more than those eight episodes. It's made for Netflix which, in terms of a company which will protect the hard earned fruits of your artistic labor, is the fox guarding the henhouse. What do you do?

If you are looking to make something good, that respects your audience investment and your own work, you make radical changes to the story. You change the pacing, the character arcs, the plot arcs. You make sure you deliver a complete story in those episodes with as much respect for the original work and as many new ideas as you can.

Except, at that point, what is even the point of a remake. The only way to work with it is either to trust Netflix allowing you to finish the story (which you'd need to be incredibly naive to do), or tell a story so different it may as well be wholly original. And that's where I always end up. Like, it'll probably be fine, but what's the point of it all? Another vanishing digital property to get canceled because of some undefinable failure to return on investment.

I think about it a lot because the two ends of the spectrum seem to be "dunk on every new piece of information" or "wait and see" but the only conclusion I can ever reach is "why even care?" That's been the lesson to take home from digital streaming in general when it comes to series, but Netflix in particular, and honestly for movie series too. If it can't be self contained, the companies who produce and release these kinds of series just cannot be trusted with it, and there are too many good original stories being put out to care anymore about big budget promises that one day they will definitely for sure deliver a finished story, this time for real.

I care enough to think about why I don't feel anything at all about Netflix Avatar. It'll be fine, whatever else. Just fine.

[discountdemonwarehouse]

Remember Papa told us to take care of each other

I know that we Ghost fans love our Ministry building's IRL location, and have likely heard it survived the fires in California - maybe with some damage, but it survived. I have seen mentions of finding ways to donate to the repairs.

But I'd like to remind you that as a business, they're probably going to be okay. If they open donations later on after assessing the damage and insurance coverage etc., and you want to donate, great, do that.

Please consider donating to more immediate relief for those who are not and will not be as well off as they are or any other celebrities will be.

Multiple insurance companies canceled fire coverage in homeowner policies or stopped offering it to new clients. By multiple they mean 7 out of 12 providers. Why? To avoid paying out for repairs because they can't up the insurance premiums high enough due to state regulations (which probably protect the consumer over the corporation - but I could be wrong, I'm not in California.) The areas affected don't usually see these kinds of fires, and it's not the usual fire season for California either.

So where to donate? Find GoFundMe options if you want to give directly to someone, or here are a few options for agencies. GoFundMe has created a central hub for donating to fire relief in general, and has a list of vetted/confirmed fundraising efforts for people and small organizations.

ABC 7 News has compiled a list with descriptions of what each is doing, so I won't bother to copy and paste that here, just know it has everything from Red Cross to Humane Society, so you can donate to whatever tickles your fancy.

California Fire Foundation is supporting efforts.

If you have been impacted by the fires, a resource from ABC 7 News about how to get help, specifically food and care. Federal care is rolling out, so make sure you try to stay on top of that and how to get it. Be careful of sources telling you that you won't be eligible or that it's not coming etc.

If you are in the impacted areas, I hope you're safe and well, and can stay that way. If you have loved ones in the area, I hope they're safe and well, and stay that way. If you or loved ones haven't been able to stay safe and well, I'm so, so sorry.

[midnight-mourning]

Holiday Party

❄️❄️Midnight's DCA December Day 31❄️❄️

We did it! 31 requests in 31 days. My goodness. And what a fun one to cap us off too. I was hoping for a holiday party one as i had a few ideas in mind, hope you all enjoy and also, be on the look out for one more thing sometime tonight :)

Prompt: Christmas party at the plex, bonus for mistletoe shenanigans, andddd moon has a Santa hat lmao I can ask her for more details if you need!! ^^

Word Count: 1726

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

"Sun! You have to hold still!" You laugh as he fidgets again. "You're going to end up ripping it and we don't have time to get a new one. 

You're attempting to help him put on a Christmas sweater, working against the laws of physics to get the thin neck around his too-big head. You're almost there, but he keeps moving around, as he always does when he's really excited like this. 

His rays pop out just a tad before they react again, voice slightly muffled by the sweater. "I know, I know! I'm sorry, I can't help it, Sunshine!"

"We're almost there, just a little more... there!" The sweater finally makes it over his head, and you see his smiling face once more. 

He jumps up, and adjust the sweater a little before standing proud, hands on his hips. "Well, how do I look?"

"Oh, very handsome." You put a hand to your chest. "The green really matches your eyes."

"Why thank you~" He says, and you both giggle. 

You look around for the antlers, snatching them up and handing them to him. "It's a bummer Moon won't let you wear the nose."

"You know him, always a downer." Sun fixes the headband on his head, you'd made it just for him so that it'd fit well. "At least he's wearing the hat."

You look around for your bag, grabbing it and slinging it onto your shoulder. "Very true, he'll look out of place if he doesn't."

There was a Christmas party tonight at the Plex, and anyone and everyone was going. That included yourself, the Daycare Attendant, and the other animatronics. It was going to be a night filled with fun and good times, and you were more than excited about it. Especially since this was your first holiday season with Sun & Moon as your partners.

"Ready to go?" You ask, as Sun makes the final adjustments to his head gear. 

"Just one thing left!" He bends down to your level, and out of nowhere, pulls out another pair of antlers, situating them on your head. "There! Now we match."

You giggle, and stand on your tip toes to give him a quick kiss. "Thank you. Now come on! We're going to end up being late, and we'll never hear the end of it from Freddy, bless his heart."

Sun's rays flutter and he nods quickly, grabbing your hand and taking the lead as you exit the Daycare. 

The entire Plex is decorated to the nines in decorations, but not in a tacky, corporate way like you'd expect. It's festive, but not overbearing. You can't help but admire it as you walk through. 

When you arrive to the West arcade, you find it's just the same, all sorts of wreaths, tinsel, and more are strung up all along the walls and railings. There's a massive tree situated next to the DJ, who grooves along to holiday music, he's also dressed up. A stovetop hat on his head and a giant fake corncob pip in between his teeth. You wonder who helped him with that one. 

You see the other animatronics are all dressed up as different holiday characters too. Freddy is playing the part of Santa, Chica's an elf, Monty makes you laugh with his Grinch costume, and Roxy looks fabulous as the Sugar Plum Fairy. They too, express disappointment that Sun's missing his red nose, but compliment your outfits nonetheless. 

The night proceeds exactly as you expect. You chat and catch up with coworkers you haven't seen in a while—ones you worked closely with prior to the Daycare—and Sun visits with his friends. You dance and sing along to different Christmas songs, DJ Music Man even dims the lights every so often so Moon is able to participate too. He gets many compliments on his red hat, and he merely mumbles 'thank you' in response. 

"It's true, it suits you well." You comment as another person walks by. 

The two of you are slow dancing to an older song, one you can't think of the name of currently. 

Moon tsks, looking down to you. "I'd believe you better if you weren't smiling so much, Star."

"It's true!" You laugh as he spins you. "You know I wouldn't lie to you."

He hums. "I suppose that's true. You're a terrible liar."

"Hey now, it's Christmas, be a little more considerate, yeah?"

Moon dips you, leaning in so your foreheads touch. "Considerate of what? Your bad lying skills or your feelings?"

"Both you jerk!" You swat at him as he chuckles. 

The sound of giggling a bit behind you, beyond the edge of the dancefloor distracts him momentarily, looking away from you. 

"What's that they're doing over there?"

You tilt your head back to look, and you see an upside down couple kissing under mistletoe that one of them is holding up, your heart drops to your stomach. Oh no. 

You swallow, looking upright again with a sheepish smile. "Well, funnily enough, you know that 'me being a terrible liar' thing we were just talking about?" You laugh nervously as his eyes narrow. "I uh, may have been doing a better job than you think."

It hadn't meant to happen, rather, it was a slip up that you just never corrected. Mainly, because you knew if either Sun or Moon knew what mistletoe stood for in relation to Christmas, they may go a bit, wild with it, to put it lightly. So, you just, never told them what it represented, skirting around the topic and saying something like 'it's just something you put up for the holidays'. 

You'd done this in the hopes that one day you could bring it up causally—preferably long after Christmas so they couldn't retaliate—and things would be much easier on you. 

Now though, you've been caught, and you quickly realize they're not going to let you off easy with this one. Your face and ears burn as you mumble out your explanation, and before you've even finished Moon is marching you over to the couple, politely asks them where they found the dubious little herb, and drags you along to retrieve his own. 

Once he does, you're forced to sit at a nearby table, in a quiet corner of the party, and are subjected to several kisses. Then, once you think it's over and you're free. Moon walks over to DJ Music Man, and to your horror you realize he's asking the bot to turn up the lights. 

Moon's expression is cat-like as he wiggles his fingers goodbye to you, Sun appearing in his place. He takes a moment to reapply his antlers, then whips to face you, eyes nothing but devious crescents as he waves cheerfully to you, walking back. 

"Oh lord I'm not strong enough for this." Your head goes into the table, feeling completely and utterly embarrassed. You're thankful now that someone spiked the eggnog, meaning no one is really paying attention to your little table in the corner. 

Unfortunately for you, not everyone at this party has the ability to drink eggnog, liquor-infused or not. 

There's a clink as something is set down on the table in front of you. A glass of punch you realize. You look up and to your right and see Chica's standing there, whistling as she glances to the side. 

She glances over at you briefly. "Thought you could use something to cool you down. Your internal temperature is reading as feverish, hot stuff. There's nothing in it, I didn't think you'd want that."

"You'd be right." You snatch up the drink, downing it in one go. You gasp when you finish, wiping your mouth. "Thank you."

She winks. "Anytime. Now go get 'em tiger! Freddy can only distract him for so long."

Your face starts burning again, and turning back you see that Sun is indeed currently talking to Freddy. He's still got the friendly demeanor he always has, but you can see how impatiently he's tapping his foot. Based on how happy Freddy is, you're guessing he has absolutely no idea he was sent as sabotage. 

"Right. Thank you." You stand up suddenly, chair squeaking as you do. Chica laughs, clapping you on the back before you walk off. 

When Sun sees you approach, he snatches up his opportunity. "Ah, there they are! Sorry to cut things short, Freddy, but I was promised another dance."

"Of course! No worries my friend." Freddy waves as Sun starts to lead you away again, barely able to say goodbye. "Have fun you two!"

Sun turns to call back to him. "Don't worry! We will." 

You gulp. 

As opposed to another private corner, Sun leads you up one of the staff stairwells. You're going up to the catwalks, you realize as you step out onto the platform, high above the party. It's a little quieter up here, but still just as lovely. You walk out to roughly the middle, Sun sitting down with you facing him in his lap after a moment. 

"This is, um, quite the scenery change." You say, glancing around. 

Sun tilts his head, tone as mischievous as ever. "I thought the change would be good, since it's not as easy to hide away. And you do seem oh so flustered."

"That's so not fair." You say as he kisses you. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you! I knew this was going to be the result."

Another kiss. "You don't seem to be complaining."

"Well no, I'm benefiting from it a great deal. Complaining is the antithesis of what I want currently."

Sun laughs at that, and you do as well, wrapping your arms around his neck as you initiate a kiss this time. 

"I've had a lot of fun tonight, you know. I'm glad we got to do this."

Sun's arms wraps around your back, encircling you in a warm hug. "We are too. I love you, Sunshine. Merry Christmas."

"I love you too." A kiss to his cheek. "Both of you. Merry Christmas."

You spend a large remainder of the rest of the party in each other's arms. And you would have gotten away with it too, had you not forgotten to wipe Sun's faceplate off, covered in bright red kisses marks from the lip gloss you'd worn. 

Totally worth it. 

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Thank you for the request @ccccaptain-clownyyy!! As i said i was hoping for a holiday party one, glad I got to do it to finish us out :)

Thanks for reading!

Masterpost link

Tag list (if you would like added, see this post for more info, you can also dm me!):

@scarletcowboy @beemyhuneybee @fishm0ther @deviouscrackers @elsajoyagent8 @luckyyyduckyyy @zenkaiankoku @jogimote @local-shrub @milosmantis @robinette-green @everlightreader @sinister-sincerely @starredeclipse @dangerva @juukai @crystalmagpie447 @mothgutz236 @lizyxml @divinit3a @amarynthian-chronicles @crystalfay

[affectionatecorpse]

Spoilers for Finding Frankie below the cut!

Okay I'm sorry but I actually really dislike how some people are saying the announcer cares about the player and calling him "Good Frankie" cause... bestie... I REALLY don't think that's true at ALL--

He's a psychopathic power hungry monster. He doesn't see you as a person, he just sees you as another meat bag that's going to rake in more money. He doesn't even give you the courtesy of your name, just "Contestant". He tries to play to your heart by saying this was his last resort, that he's going bankrupt, that he basically has no choice, but Henry straight up confirms that's total bullshit. He explains that's not true at all. They keep doing this. Once you die, they'll just find another 4 victims to drag in, over and over. They have season after season of this. This isn't a new thing that started out of desperation, this has been going on for a WHILE now.

He wants you to die. He wants to make it a gorey, spectacular mess, and he wants the attention to skyrocket because of it. He wants the audience to be on the edge of their seats, so they'll keep being invested, like any good TV show creator. If every episode is the same, just having everyone die in mere moments and in the exact same way, there's no mystery or excitement. It becomes predictable, and boring. He's not sympathising with you. He just wants to prevent his show becoming mundane. After all, the horror and surprise of it is what gets his money.

They did this exact thing with Henry. He claims the energy you bring inspired them to spare him, but the second he returns the loveable sidekick and delivers some Tumblr Sexyman vibes, he's suddenly and brutally killed. Because it's surprising. Killing him offscreen? Boring! Catching the audience off guard with a loud and sudden kill to the character they've grown attached to? Now that's good television!

In the moments when the announcer even does spare you, such as telling Frankie not to kill you in the vent and preventing you from attracting attention in the sewer, that's not because he cares.

The only times he actively stops you from being killed is in places with no cameras.

There's no cameras in the vent or in the water. But the moment you enter a room with a camera somewhere in it, the threat returns. Because the viewers can see it now, and it better be glorious.

And in the moment you think he's going to help you, just before the final boss, he completely disregards you, instead slamming the door shut. You'd better give him a good ending.

When you survive, he's not even happy. He's stunned. He never thought there'd be a flaw in his grand design. So his immediate response is to compromise. He can't have you going out there, soiling his name! Giving people hope! If you did that, he'd actually have to start giving people prize money! And your strength is so admired by the fans... He'd be a fool not to take that opportunity.

The announcer is not a good guy. He is not your friend. He isn't some tragic soul just trying to save his company. He's sadistic and greedy, and incredibly selfish. He is the CEO of a giant corporation, after all. He's not the "good Frankie". He's just the announcer. He's not special, no matter how much he wants to be.

[sgtbradfords]

Hello!! I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who helped create something for this amazing fandom event. From fanfics, art edits, gifsets, and fanvids, there was a little something for everyone to enjoy! So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. This event would not have been possible without all of you!

Below, you will find a list broken down by day and type of content. If I missed your creation, and you would like it listed, please send me a message!

I am looking forward to hosting it again in July 2025. Until then! 💙

DAY ONE

FICS:

📖 Reaper - Angst - T - by @thesassywitchofthenortheast

📖 this building's coming down (with all the trouble you ignited) - Angst - T - by @romantashas

📖 Best Laid Plans - Angst - T - by @centralperkchenford

📖 Starting Again - Angst - M - by @imperiumwifestrikesagain

📖 Scratch That Itch - Break-Ups & Make-Ups - M - by derangedgoats

📖 I wish I could do it all over again - Break-Ups & Make-Ups - G - by lucyyychen

📖 Curveball - Break-Ups & Make-Ups - T - by Elisa_Beth84

📖 When you put your arms around me, you let me know there's nothing in this world I can't do - Favorite S6 Scene - T -by Chenfordlover13

📖 Empty Chair - Empty Heart - Break-Ups & Make-Ups - G - by Raydyan

📖 Whispers in Her Eyes - Angst - G - by kelzspooky

📖 Guilty As Sin - Angst - E- by CSM

📖 You're Losing Me - angst - unrated - by summerwritesstories

GIFSETS:

📺 Favorite S6 Scene - 6x02 by @chenslucy

📺 Favorite S6 Scene - 6x04 by @sgtbradfords

📺 Angst - Season 6 Scenes - by @sisterofficerlucychen

📺 Angst - 6x06 - by @iameks

ART:

🎨 break-ups & make-ups 💘 by @gottalovetherookie

🎨 Favorite S6 Scene - by @theawkwardanglophile

🎨 Favorite S6 Scene - by @ellabea28537

🎨 prompts show (don't tell) & break-ups and make-ups - by @accidental-spice

DAY TWO

FICS:

📖 double take - Outsider POV - T - by @romantashas

📖 If This Is Just the Beginning (My Life Is Gonna Be Beautiful) - personal headcannon - G - by @theawkwardanglophile

📖 In sickness and in health - domestic bliss - G - by lucyyychen

📖 The Not-So-Secret Softie - domestic bliss - G - by kelzspooky

📖 For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul - domestic bliss - G - by Chenfordlover13

📖 For Fiona - CHAPTER 12 ONLY - unknown - T - by @girlintotv

📖 Safe place to land - personal headcannon - G - by @centralperkchenford

📖 Martha’s Musings - outsider POV - T - by @thesassywitchofthenortheast

📖 Our Little Oasis - domestic bliss - G - by derangedgoats

📖 Only Angela Knows - outsider POV - G - by @imperiumwifestrikesagain

📖 Three's Company - domestic bliss - M - by Elisa_Beth84

📖 For Fiona - CHAPTER 13 ONLY - domestic bliss - T - by @girlintotv

📖 All of the Girls You Loved Before (Tim Bradford Has a Type) - CHAPTER 2 ONLY - domestic bliss, personal headcannon - unrated - by @summerongrand

📖 Growing Pains - domestic bliss - unrated - by @sweetcarolinejane

GIFSETS:

📺 domestic bliss - by @chenslucy

📺 domestic bliss - by @sisterofficerlucychen

📺 domestic bliss - by @iameks

ART:

🎨 domestic bliss 🐾🍪💗 - by @gottalovetherookie

DAY THREE

FICS:

📖 Lotus - new beginnings - T - by @thesassywitchofthenortheast

📖 I love you not only for what you are but for what I am when I am with you - Teacher/Cop AU - T - by Chenfordlover13

📖 Sacred New Beginnings - new beginnings, physical touch, and comfort - unrated - by summerwritesstories

📖 a dangerous melody - Singer/Cop AU - T - by @romantashas

📖 I’ll always be your sunshine even in a storm - physical touch, comfort - G - by lucyyychen

📖 A thousand and one times - comfort, new beginnings - M - by @centralperkchenford

📖 A Place For My Head - comfort - T - by Zadien

📖 Corporate Hearts - Secretary/CEO AU - unrated - by derangedgoats

📖 The Doctor - Doctor Who AU - T - by kelzspooky

📖 My Assassin And I - Hitman/Nanny AU - T- by @girlintotv

📖 We're Afire Love - AU, new beginnings - M - by @imperiumwifestrikesagain

📖 Wherever you are, I’ll find you. - Fantasy AU - G -by Raydyan

📖 Tough Break - Comfort - T - by Elisa_Beth84

GIFSETS:

📺 physical touch - by @iameks

📺 comfort - by @chenslucy

ART:

🎨 physical touch, AU ✨ - by @gottalovetherookie

🎨 alternate universe - by @gottalovetherookie

DAY FOUR

FICS:

📖 Bridges of Trust - found family, missed moments - G - m by kelzspooky

📖 A perfect match - callbacks - G- by @centralperkchenford

📖 I can't imagine my life without my chosen family by my side - found family - T - by Chenfordlover13

📖 Someone to Stay - unknown - T - by derangedgoats

📖 Déjà Vu - callbacks - by Elisa_Beth84

📖 you and i are meant to be - missed moments - T - by @sgtbradfords

📖 It’s Legendary - missing moments - M - by @thesassywitchofthenortheast

📖 I Have *Had* it with these Motherfu**in *Snakes* - callbacks, missed moments - T - by @imperiumwifestrikesagain

📖 With You and Not Without You - callbacks - T - by readerbook1981

📖 It’s Legendary - missing moments - M - by @thesassywitchofthenortheast

📖 Psyched On U - missed moments, found family - unrated - by @summerongrand

📖 Cop Cuties - lyrics - T- by @sweetcarolinejane

GIFSETS:

📺 the chenford playlist - by @chenslucy

📺 fix what you didn't break - by @sgtbradfords

📺 in all the world - by @iameks

ART:

🎨 Missed Moments - by @gottalovetherookie

[the-californicationist]

Hey 🫵🫶🏻! I love your John Price fics A LOT and I wanted to thank you for that<3 I wanted your opinion! How do you like Price's new skin?!

I'm just thinking about that!!! On a camouflage/infiltration mission and he fucks reader in this outfit!

Me right now looking at this photo:

Cold Shoulder

I wasn't sure how this one was gonna go, but I hope this is close to what you imagined! <3 <3 love this outfit. TW: fem reader, dub con?

"There you are," he growled, lowering his gun when he realized it was you.

You were holed up in a small alcove of a cave on the west side of the mountain. It was snowing, and you were doing your best to keep warm, but it was getting more difficult by the minute. And now, you had your angry captain yelling at you.

"You could've been killed, Sparrow. What the fuck were you thinking? This is a full klick away from the RV."

He closed in on you. Price was still fully geared up, and his snow hood shaded his eyes, making them all the more menacing. He was wearing his shining skull mask, but the sharp teeth below it were scarier than the gleaming bones.

Price grabbed you by the arms and pulled you up to face him,

"Answer me, soldier."

His eyes searched yours, looking for the truth. You swallowed your spit, thick and suffocating, trying to comply,

"I don't know, sir."

"You don't know? You don't know how many men I fuckin' killed to get up here to find you. I thought..." His anger cracked like glass, sudden and violent, "I thought I lost you."

"What do you care... sir?"

The words tumbled out of you before you could catch them. It was hard to call him by his title when you were basically calling him out. But, you managed to tack it on to the end.

The problem was, you hadn't wanted to be saved by your captain. You had wanted to handle your ex-fil on your own. After all, it was he who had told you that you two should stop what you were doing. All the sneaking around and finding comfort in each other in the middle of the night. He had said it needed to stop. So, why was he so concerned about you now? You seethed,

"I could've gotten out of here on my own if you hadn't disconnected my sat-tab! I was closing in on their camp. Soap and his explosion blew my cover and I --"

"That explosion saved your bloody life, little bird. You jeopardized the mission, and you're not using your head. I know you're upset with me, but..."

"Upset? You told me you loved me, John!"

A cold, snowy silence stretched out between you. Even though he was so close to you, you could barely hear his heavy breaths. You could smell him. He was spice and tobacco and oak moss. His sweat and soap tangled with all of his other scents, reminding you of all of the times you had breathed him in.

Suddenly, striking like a viper, he grabbed you by the back of your neck and pulled you toward his face. You thought he would kiss you, but he didn't. He held you just close enough and said,

"Turn around, Corporal."

"What?" You were confused, but you were at his mercy.

Price turned you around himself, shoving you down on all fours in the stony floor of the cave. The rocks were wet beneath your hands. You heard the zipper of his pants, and you turned to look at him, shocked. He snarled, right in your ear, as he leaned over you,

"Won't listen. Gonna have to make you behave."

He started to pull down your pants, dragging them over your thick ass cheeks, revealing your pussy to him. He took off his glove with his teeth and began to play in you, telling you,

"Can't have you riskin' your life like that, little bird. I do love you. Can't seem to fuckin' help it. Tried to stay away. Can't. I can't."

Then, you felt it. His cock was at your warm entrance, pressing into you in that familiar way but at an unfamiliar pace.

Usually, he treated you like his soft little princess despite the fact that you were a seasoned soldier. He would eat you for hours, sometimes, making you dripping and pliant enough to take his heavy girth.

But, not now. Now, he was on a mission to make you remember how precious you really were. You needed to learn, and he was ready to teach you.

You screamed as he pressed your walls apart. It wasn't pain, but it was intense. He went slowly, but he didn't relent. As he began to pump himself in and out of your body, he lay his hand down hard across your ass, smacking you and letting the skin burn beneath his palm,

"Tha's it, birdie. Sing for me. Loud. Let me hear you."

Price's huge rod was fucking you so deep at this angle, and he wanted more. So, he pushed your shoulders down, forcing your chest into the snow. Your cheek hurt from the ice.

"So wet for me. Almost like you wanted me to find you," he teased.

What could you tell him? That he was right?

All you did to respond was pulse around him, gripping him hard inside of your body, making him stutter in his rhythm.

He let out a low growl and grabbed your ponytail in his hand, arching your back up towards him, barking commands at you,

"Say you're sorry! Tell me you're sorry for riskin' your fuckin' life up here on this goddamn mountain. Say it!"

"I'm sorry..." You managed.

"Sorry, what?" He bit down hard on your neck, marking you with his teeth.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Good girl. See? You're so good. So good for me. Mmmf. Fuck!"

He pounded into you mercilessly, and his other hand began to play with your clit, smearing your wet juices all over your lower lips and skin, dragging it up over your mons and onto your belly.

"Fuck, you're so wet, Sparrow. I'm gonna come in you."

"Yes, sir."

"Fuck!"

You felt his hot come pool in your body, radiating through your skin, wet on wet on wet. Your ass cheeks stung, your body ached, and yet, you were so satisfied. You'd never seen Price get so worked up, but you wanted more. He had created a monster.

He fastened his pants and sat with you in his lap, breathing heavy in the darkness of his hood.

"Sparrow, I love you. I can't lose you. I won't. Don't do that to me."

"I love you, too, John."

You nuzzled against his neck, smelling his familiar scent, waiting for the next time you could misbehave.