#i get ALL of the basic friendship needs i need from dogs. i SHOULD be able to get it from humans but bc we're closer related to chimps

[augustsblossom]

main mark grayson x full viltrumite fem reader, when reader is sent from viltrum after nolan failed to try and convince mark to join the viltrum empire but she ended up falling in love with him.

can you add some angst and fluff also a bit smut if ur comfortable pls.

thank you.

love this so much hope u like it !

└── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──┘

˚ ༘ *ೃ⁀➷ main! Mark Grayson x fem viltrumite reader

˚ ༘ *ೃ⁀➷ a/n: forgive me if this is AWFUL I haven’t wrote fics in years so I’m still rusty and trying to find my groove again, this is also super short and rushed because again I’m just trying to get back into writing! If you liked this one I can def make a part 2 just lmk! Inbox me if you wanna see anything else <3 take care pookies mwah

˚ ༘ *ೃ⁀➷ WARNINGS: angst (not that good lol), swearing, annnddd that should be it

˚ ༘ *ೃ⁀➷ ALSO: please forgive me if I get anything wrong in this! I haven’t completely finished Invincible so I may have gotten some things messed up plus I’m not too good with keeping up with lore and information so pls correct me if needed! And this isn’t proof read but act like it is

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Nolan betraying Viltrium was the worst news the planet could receive. He was one of their strongest soldiers, but not strong enough to conquer earth? It didn’t make sense to the viltrumites.

They genuinely believe they were done for, so after finding out Nolan betrayed them they sent you. To be fair, Nolan TRIED, and when I say try I mean convince his son Mark to join the viltrum empire to continue taking over planets and growing stronger. So, being here now your job was to go to Earth and bring back Mark, Invincible.

You absolutely hated Earth like no doubt, and rightfully so because they are such a weak planet, so you were hoping it was gonna be light work to obtain mark and go home.

well.

Never say never right !

The plan was simple, disguise yourself and build a relationship with Mark Grayson to then basically sweet talk him into joining your empire. Super easy right?

Absolutely not.

Mark was a sweet talker himself. You met him in class when you asked a question about one of the assignments, and he was a sweetheart about it.

After completing the assignment you guys talked more, and got to the point where you were being invited to his home. Debbie oh so adored you. You were kind, gorgeous and respectful so of course you get brownie points from his mom!

The mission got complicated when his sweet talking was working a bit too well. Being a viltrumite, you weren’t entirely used to human emotion. Someone caring about you the way Mark did felt so foreign, you felt wrong for thinking about it the way you did.

Your friendship grew even stronger, you two were inseparable. Everything you did was together and for each other

You knew you were deep in shit when you’d catch yourself staring at Mark. While he was focused in class or explains Seance Dog for the 10 millionth time, you adored him. And oh were you so wrong about this being an easy mission

You knew you had to end it and tell him the truth before it got farther. It hurt you hurting him.

You practiced it over and over, telling him he should come with you back home, be apart of the viltrium empire and be together once and for all.

After a day of hanging out you guys finally got back to his place. You greeted Debbie as usual, knowing it most likely will be your last time. You absolutely hated the fact you even got yourself in this situation. You were supposed to simply get him to Viltrium and now you’re day dreaming about him being your boyfriend? Cmon girl.

You walked in behind Mark and shut his door, locking it and taking a deep breath before turning to look at him. He sat comfortably on the bed as he was already looking at you, sensing you were upset.

“You know… you’ve been really weird lately” Mark started.

“I mean, if there’s anything wrong or if I did anything I wanna know.”

You took another deep breath, preparing for the worst statement you can ever say.

“I’m a Viltriumite Mark.”

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The only noise was the neighborhood kids playing outside and Debbie watching tv. Mark was as still as ever almost like he wasn’t breathing, he kept quiet

“I know you’re invincible. I know your father is Omni-Man. I know all of it.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat before going again

“Your father betrayed us Mark. We need you at Viltrium. Be with me at home where we can be this happy but better, we’ll have everything”

You were almost pleading with him. Scratch that, you were pleading with him.

Your eyes widened as you saw tears building in Marks eyes. He’s never cried in front of you, like ever.

“…This is why you came here? So you can get me for my dads fuck up? You used me and made me believe you were a normal friend I could have just so you can get me to join your damn empire?”

Marks voice raised with so much pain behind it, you never believed you would feel “bad” for a human but look at you now.

“No, mark you don’t understand”

He cut you off abruptly

“No YOU dont understand! Do you know how much I’ve cared about you helped you loved you? God you made me get feeling for a fucking spy”

And look at the monster you created for yourself. You truly only had one job, yet you made an innocent superhero fall in love with you for your own dirty work and fucked it all up. I guess you can say you finally understand why Nolan did what he did.

[lavender-romancer]

Push it Down

Astarion x GN Reader

Everyday it got worse, the longing stares interrupted when La’zel would curiously catch your eyeline always straying to Astarion. Or how you would always inextricably walk next to him regardless of the goal ahead. Shadowheart would often question if Astarion had to open “every lock we find” at your request. But you couldn't help it, being near him, with him was all you would think about

AN: Astarion brainrot is a real condition people. Lots of lovely fluff.

You're a squishy wizard

*°*°•.˜”*°•.˜”*°•.˜”*°••°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”°*

“Do you have to make your feelings so obvious that it's painful?” Shadowheart asked as you looked through some random boxes you found in what remained of moonhaven.

“Do you have to bring this up again?” You jabbed back with a smile. “I'm not ashamed of it, but I will never outright admit it.”

“Lady of Sorrows guide you, I don't know how you're able to stand with your debilitating lack of a spine.” She raised her eyebrow and you simply rolled your eyes “Here, go give these to your boy-toy.” Handing you a few thieves' tools Shadowheart walked to another side of the room and continued looting.

You scampered outside, only realising when you were in front of Astarion how desperate it must have looked to run up to him like a dog wagging its tail excitedly. He was unlocking a chest that was one in a big group La'zel and Karlach had put together for him to deal with.

“Here,” you held out the tools with a smile that was much too big for such a small token.

“Thank you, darling.” He smiled up at you. “You're looking particularly overjoyed, what's got you so energetic?”

“Uh… looting.” You never were good at lying.

“Thank the Gods you never became a politician because your inability to deceive is one of your greatest qualities.” He opened the chest he had been working on.

“I suppose. But I wish I was better at more things like that, it just makes me so nervous to not be honest.” You fidgeted with your hands.

“Well, for starters you need to be better at improvising, it is adorable to see you try and lie to anyone and fail miserably. I'm convinced you should just be completely honest and people might not believe you.” Standing up he brushed the dust off his trousers and you were now face to face. Given, a few steps apart but it still made you smile and your feet shuffle anxiously.

“The tadpole has definitely made me better at lying, you have to at least admit that.” You were practically beaming, staring at him in awe.

“Still, you carry most of your emotions in your eyes and your inability to stop smiling. You'll get there eventually my friend, probably, I mean probably not but it's very sweet that you continue to try. Anyways, we should head back to camp for the evening I am positively spent.” Astarion walked past you to pick up his backpack and you internally groaned.

It was so deeply embarrassing when you couldn't keep your emotions hidden. A problem you had usually put down to anxiousness, but realistically it was just something you had to learn to live with. You were an open book with almost no air of mystique about you. Maybe that was why Astarion seemed so utterly uninterested in seeking anything but friendship or a quick night of passion.

As you lay in your tent, you conjured a mage hand to throw books at you to try and practice your telekinesis but it was going dreadfully. Whilst your magic was growing back to it's former strength before the tadpole you were still plagued by poor reaction times to basically anything. One quite powerful throw from the conjured hand hit your arm and you yelped, sure that it would leave a bruise.

“What mischief are you up too now?” A voice suddenly asked, distracting you from the task at hand as a book hit you square in the face.

“Fuck!” You exclaimed, dismissing the mage hand and rubbing your nose.

“Are you trying to be agile again? You know how that ended up last time.” Astarion joked as he entered your tent and sat down opposite you.

A funny but painful memory entered your mind when you had tried to climb over a very small wall to surprise some goblins and had instead ended up on your back in front of them. If falling over in front of some goblins wasn't bad enough, you had also slipped in grease that was extremely easy to avoid alerting the whole horde to your party's location. The bollocking you got from La'zel after that encounter made you promise to work on your ability to not be “such a fucking Wizard” whatever that meant.

“No, surprisingly I was failing at something else.” You quipped back at him, “anyways, did you want to feed or-”

“No, well yes but, I wanted to talk to you.” He licked his lips absentmindedly and seeing the slight glint of his fangs off the light of your candle made your eyes grow wider. You never knew you'd have a thing for vampires…

“Oh! Do uhm, talk away.” You cringed at your inability to string a sentence together.

“I- look. I know that I am beautiful and wonderful darling, but have you been looking at me slightly differently lately?” he asked, you could almost sense that he was nervous but you weren't sure why.

“What do you mean?” You responded with your eyes fixated on your bedroll on the floor as the alarm bells rang in your head.

“With more longing behind your eyes?” You hadn't noticed that same longing in his eyes which was often present in your gaze.

“Who- I- why did you get that impression?” You fumbled through your words and began fiddling with your robe.

“Oh, I…” he trailed off and you finally looked up, sensing his dejected tone you cocked your head.

“You sound disappointed.” Your tone was soft in an attempt to stop him from running away from the conversation.

“Disappointed? Darling if I wanted you I could most certainly have you.” Having returned to his snarky sense of security you frowned.

“Is that why you seem so annoyed? Because I rejected you before?” Your mind went back to drinking red wine with him, the sour taste filling your nose all over again. It wasn't that you didn't want him, you just didn't want the first time you could spend the night with him to be clouded with alcohol and regret. Maybe it had bruised his ego but there were so many reasons to try to let your bond grow overtime.

“You think that wounded me? I have laid with thousands and I'll lay with thousands more before I am hurt by that!” He exclaimed but you could see the hurt in his eyes that he struggled to hide.

“I didn't want it to be like that. Something that you might feel like was a mistake, a drunken mishap you'd rather forget. I didn't- I don't want you to think I did it because I did not want it. Under different circumstances things would have been different for me.” Clasping your hands together you tried to reach his gaze but it was so accusatory that it was making your heart pound.

“I- I don't think I've ever been rejected as tactfully as you did.” Astarion almost laughed with a far-away look in his eyes.

“It didn't feel genuine and I couldn't allow myself to be swept up in all of it knowing that we weren't on the same page with our feelings about one another.” Smiling sadly you looked at the book that had previously hit you in the face, pushing it to the side you moved a bit closer to him. “I'm sorry that you felt like you had to do that, that night I mean. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.”

“I'm not sure how you know me so well that it's almost concerning.” His voice sounded strained as he departed from his snarky performative notes.

“You've become my favourite distraction through all of this shit we've dealt with. I really like being around you, it will be a shame when it all comes to an end when we get to Baldurs Gate.” your voice didn't show your true sadness but your eyes certainly did and Astarion could tell.

“I was hidden for so many years within those city walls, imprisoned and kept as a loyal pet before the nautiloid. A grim reality was the only way to escape the even worse life I was living and… I never thought I'd make friends let alone feel connected to someone. But you, you're thoughtful and sweet and respectful and too perceptive for your own good but so silly and honestly so bad as hiding that it's hilarious. Finding someone who understands you is a great gift and I would not like to squander it.” Astarion reached out his hand and it shook slightly as he showed his true vulnerability. You looked from his hand to his face, it was genuine and really from everything you could gather, it seemed like he was being the most honest he'd ever been with you.

“You want to stay together?” Your voice was so hopeful as your head told you that you were an idiot.

“Yes. You fool. Was that not clear. Now hold my hand so we're not both fools.” He rolled his eyes and you hurriedly held his hand. Your clamminess was immediately obvious given his hand was ridiculously cold. “God you mortals are always sweaty aren't you.” He gave you a cheeky smile and you had to laugh or you'd descend into an anxiety ridden madness.

“Do you want to stay here tonight? I would enjoy a cuddle.” You asked.

“Just a cuddle Darling?” He flirted but there was still that look behind his eyes that was there after the tiefling party. The look you had come to understand was the dogma drilled into him to seduce, sleep with and then sacrifice all his conquests. Sex wasn't the same in Astarion's head as it was in yours but you didn't mind, it wasn't important to you.

“Just a cuddle.” You smiled in a way that you hoped was supportive and whilst he looked surprised he didn't seem disappointed. “Come here,” you lay down on the pillows and invited him to chest.

Whilst tentative he rested his head on your chest and slowly placed his hand on your arm. You without warning wrapped your arms around him in a squeeze of a hug that would probably suffocate someone who wasn't already dead. But he seemed to appreciate it as he nuzzled under your chin and his body began to relax. You stayed like that for a while until you began to snore and Astarion peeled himself from your embrace. He sat up and started to read, every so often glancing down at you. How an earth had he allowed himself to fall for a Wizard?

Astarion Taglist:

@anukulee

[terapsina]

Now that the writers and actors strike is about to begin being felt (and as we wait for those greedy billion dollar companies who are refusing to negotiate fair pay and conditions to give up) here's 10 of my favorite (all around best) fully finished older series you should definitely check out if you haven't watched.

I mean it, these are the shows with continuously great writing and a satisfying endings that manage to actually deliver on their promises.

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1. Leverage - (containing 5 seasons, or 77 episodes) - trailer here.

Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief and Mastermind. Heists and cons. Stealing from the rich and giving to their victims. They provide... leverage.

Meant for anyone who enjoys bad guys being the best good guys, who will burn down the lives of evil CEOs and then gloat in the background. Very satisfying.

Hands down the best example of a found family trope I've ever seen on screen. Barring none.

2. Killjoys - (containing 5 seasons, or 50 episodes) - trailer here.

Space Bounty Hunters. Another case of found family trope. Bisexual space princess assassin. Quippy sentient ship. Green alien goo. Evil lesbians (but like... in a good way). The warrant is all.

More seriously though, it's a story about three killjoys and the bounties they go after. Initially. And then they have to save the entire Quad from some very terrifying... stuff.

Contains one of the best friendships I've ever seen on television.

3. Orphan Black - (containing 5 seasons, or 50 episodes) - trailer here.

Found family trope but with clones.

Low level grifter sees a woman who looks exactly like her kill herself and plans to take over her identity long enough to cash out. Except then there's two other women who also look exactly like her. And apparently they're all clones and someone's killing them.

Enter a global conspiracy. Human experimentation. Lots of clone shenanigans. Some serial killings. And a few murders 💖.

4. Person of Interest - (containing 5 seasons, or 103 episodes) - trailer here.

Okay I'm beginning to see how I might have a found family trope issue.

Former CIA agent gets recruited by a reclusive billionaire computer programmer who developed a... machine that can predict acts of terror before they happen. But it also predicts 'irrelevant' acts of violence that will result in someone's death.

Unless someone interferes.

I'd really like to spoil some stuff to get you all to watch this one. But I'm going to maintain self control and just mention that early on they get a dog named Bear. Bear is a very good boy. Watch it for Bear.

Also for excellent commentary on rights of privacy, government surveillance and what does 'greater good' even mean? But mostly Bear.

5. 12 Monkeys - (containing 4 seasons, or 47 episodes) - trailer here.

The very best time travel show out there. What starts out as a confusing mess of causality basically exploding, by the end of the series all makes complete and total sense.

(when that final timey-whimey loop slid into place and revealed the entire pattern it was like a choir of angels started singing in the back of my head. It was freaking glorious).

Anyway, a man from a post apocalyptic future travels into the past to stop a plague from decimating nearly the entire world population.

He has the name of the man who released the virus and it's supposed to be a single trip. One trip. One bullet. Simple. Done.

Except then things keep escalating, and escalating until time begins eating its own tail and it might start looking like the end of the world might be a better ending than erasing all of time and space from reality.

Because when our guys screw it up, they screw it up GOOD.

And oh yeah... found family.

6. The Good Place - (containing 4 seasons, or 53 episodes) - trailer here.

A self-proclaimed Arizona dirtbag opens her eyes and finds out that she's dead and got accepted in the Good Place. Except that as soon as she arrives the Good Place starts glitching, and she really, REALLY needs to become a better person before she can be found out and kicked out to the Bad Place.

Luckily her assigned soulmate was a professor of ethics and moral philosophy.

One of the funniest, most thoughtful and clever comedies I've ever watched. Ever. The characters are delightful and by the time the final minute rolled around I had sobbed my heart out multiple times (which, as we all know, is a sign of the very best comedies out there).

As for the question of whether or not this too contains Found Fami- Yes! Obviously, yes.

7. Avatar: the Last Airbender - (containing 3 seasons, or 61 episodes) - intro here (couldn't locate the trailer but it's basically the same thing in this case).

The four nations lived in harmony. Until the Fire Nation attacked.

It's been a hundred years since the beginning of the war when two kids from the Southern Water Tribe find a boy frozen in ice and wake him up. A boy who's able to bend all four elements... though not very well.

Enter multi-nation flying road trip (thank you Appa, we love you most of all) as they try to find teachers for the Avatar and save the world.

Includes found family (shut up), amazing fight scenes, the most heartfelt and vivid characters ever, and the best example of a redemption arc actually done well.

8. Love Between Fairy and Devil - (containing 1 season, or 36 episodes) - trailer here.

This one gutted me. I'm saying this as a compliment. But it had to be said. Completely destroyed me. I just haven't been the same.

A love story between an Orchid Fairy and the leader of the Moon Tribe that starts out with her accidentally releasing him from millennia long imprisonment and then takes you through the caleidoscope of all possible human emotions (it's a body-swap comedy through the first part, then a romcom, then a dramatic romantic tale, and finally a tragic love story).

But it's such a satisfying slow burn.

And it carries this... humanity through the whole thing that makes it so visceral.

If you're a romantic who's very tired of instalove and characters dropping all their morals because 'ooh, attractive person' then you've got to watch this. Because this story does NOT take the easy road there.

(my more extensive rec for this series can be found here)

9. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - (containing 7 seasons, or 133 episodes) - fanmade trailer here (it was better than any of the official ones).

This series did so much. Introduced Ahsoka Tano, and made us love her. Gave names and faces and souls to the Clone Troopers (okay, it's the same face but you know what I mean), to a point where their endings during Order 66 destroyed me just as much as the ending of the Jedi Order. And somehow made me both love Anakin AND be a million times more angry with him.

There are some arcs in this series that might be a bit weaker. But there were some... god, there's a reason I love Clone Wars more than any other series or trilogy in this universe. And I'm not even a little ashamed to say it.

Must watch for Disaster Lineage shenanigans; for the vod'e; AND for the Jedi (who did their best okay? They always did their best 😭💔).

(and on the subject of found family... do I even need to comment)

10. Nikita - (containing 4 seasons, or 73 episodes) - trailer here.

A rogue assassin that escaped Division - covert government agency that takes recruits out of prison, fakes their deaths and then forces them to become spies and assassins - has come back to take it down. Brick by brick if she has to. With guns and explosives too when that works better.

Contains soooo many cool fight scenes. Is full of incredible characters you'll fall in love with (and hate with) very quickly. And most of all has an incredibly complex relationship of mentorship and friendship between two women that holds both great admiration and betrayal, real care and love as well as rage and hatred, forgiveness, mutual respect and an unbreakable kind of bond that so very rarely involves even one female character on TV, let alone two.

(as usual, found family tropes up the wazzoo).

-----

In conclusion. We all know there's going to be a large space between seasons of our favorite shows now (and some shows that aren't going to survive it). Let's fill that space with some excellent TV we haven't had a chance to see yet.

And direct the blame for the wait towards the right place (i.e. the studios).

[holylulusworld]

Shy Guy (5) - Present

Summary: You grew up together. Bucky is the one. He’s just too shy to make a move.

Pairing: Shy!Bucky Barnes x Fratgirl!Reader

Sidepairing (friendship): Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: teasing, banter, friendship, fluff, making out, cocky reader, virgin Bucky, shy Bucky, mentions of Steve's sex life

Inspired by this ask: Shy guy ask and@dawn-petrichor-world​ made me do it…

Shy guy (4) - Past & Present

Shy guy masterlist

“Hmm…what else do I need to know, Stevie?” You eagerly take notes while Steve explains the complexity of asking a guy out without making him look like a loser. “I don’t want Bucky to believe he’s a loser.”

“Bucky is not a loser, but shy. He never kissed another girl,” Steve points at a picture of Bucky on the investigation wall he made for you. “That’s our target.”

You grin and lean back in your chair. “Please continue, Obi-Wan Rogers.”

He gives you a stern look. “Miss, if you don’t take my classes seriously, you can go home and watch a rom-com.”

“I’m listening,” you groan. “Go ahead. I need to know how to make a move on Bucky without scaring him off.”

“Alright,” Steve uses a pointer stick to point at the next picture. “That’s our goal. We want him to be putty in your hands but get hard at the same time.”

You lean forward to look at the picture. “Dude! Is that a dick pick?”

Steve snickers. “I googled Bucky’s name, and this was the first picture coming up.”

“You’re lying!” You stick your tongue out. “You can’t pin a dick on our investigation wall, Steve!”

“Why?” He shrugs your concern off and points to the next picture. “Before we get to the dick, we need to make him loosen up and ask you out. Or accept your invitation.”

“That’s a dog playing with a bone,” you wrinkle your nose. “Is that a metaphor or something?”

“Yeah,” Steve nods. “You’re like a dog with a bone. You sank your teeth into Bucky and won’t let up.”

“I’m not a dog, Rogers,” you snap at your friend. “I wanted you to give me advice, not turn this into a joke.”

“I’m not joking about love and dick,” Steve chuckles but keeps a straight face. “If you want him to dick you down one day, you’ll need to win his trust and heart first.”

“Good, that’s a start,” you take notes while Steve tells you about all the things Bucky likes. “Hmm…that’s good. Tell me more about his eating habits and the lingerie he looked up in his search history.”

“Our boy grew up so fast,” Steve sighs and gives you a wink. “You should see his search history. He’s an eager beaver when it comes to eating pussy and fingering a girl.”

“Oh,” you nod, and focus on taking notes, not the image in your mind. Bucky between your thighs, eating your cunt. “I like me a man who can eat pussy.”

Steve laughs. “Well, in that case, Bucky is your man. I watched him practice while watching porn. He’s got a skilled tongue.”

“That’s good to know, I guess.”

“Next step, we need to talk about his erogenous zones. You need to know how to touch him,” Steve continues. He points at his neck with the pointer stick. “Neck.”

“Neck,” you hum.

“Nipples. Earlobe. Lips,” he moves to his crotch. “At last, the divine meat stick.” He grins. “The dick.”

You giggle and snort. “Meat stick, got it.”

“Y/N,” Steve’s features soften when you look at him. “You need to make a move but don’t be too pushy. Bucky will shy away from you if you are too pushy.”

“Christ, I won’t shove his pants down to suck his dick,” you grunt. “Now back to the basics. Do you have an idea for the perfect first date?”

“Alright, miss,” Steve turns back around to point at the investigation wall. “We have a lot to discuss.”

“Doll, you’ve got this,” Steve whispers as he guides you toward the frat house. “He’s over there, looking for you because he wants to borrow a book. You look stunning. This outfit shows the right amount of cleavage and ass. But it’s not slutty.”

“Okay,” you take a deep breath. “I’ve got this. Bucky Barnes will be putty in my hands.”

Steve slaps your ass, making you squeal. “Go and get him tiger.” 

Bucky is smart.

Like really smart.

He speaks over five different languages.

Still, he doesn't know how to talk to a girl.

It's not that he's not attractive. Girls do look at him. He's just too nervous to hit on a girl he likes.

It feels like his voice fails anytime he tries to talk to one of the girls from the frat house across the street.

Especially when he sees you.

It's even worse that you are friends with his best friend.

Steve Rogers. Quarterback. Golden boy. A girls' magnet.

“Hey Barnes," you quip as Bucky zoned out again. "Whatcha looking at?"

“What?" he slowly dips his head to glance at you standing next to him.

When did that happen?

“I was just...”

"Steve won't come back for a while. I think this week it's Carrie or was it Chanel?" you huff. "I'm telling you; he tries to break a record or something. I’m worried about his health. What if he breaks his dick? He won’t be able to win the upcoming game with a cast around his dick.”

Bucky chokes on his spit.

You giggle.

“Uh—what do you want here if Steve is not around?” He gets out before dropping his eyes to his shoes. 

“Hmm…On Friday night we will go out. Wear something nice,” you cock your head to look Bucky up and down. “Oh, and no hair gel. I like running my fingers through a guy’s hair when we make out.”

“What?” he swallows thickly. His cheeks turn pink, and he feels his heart start racing. “Y/N…I…what? Is this a joke?”

“You know how to get a girl’s attention,” you lean closer to peck his lips. “I hope you know I expect you to put that talented tongue to better use…”

Bucky gasps as you pounce on him to claim his lips. You slip your tongue inside, snaking it with his as you run your fingers through his soft curls.

“Barnes! GOOO! Barnes!” the frat boys chant behind Bucky’s back. “We knew you had it in you all this time. He will finally get laid!”

You grin against his lips.

“Aw, I always had a thing for virgins,” you coo. “I promise to be gentle, babe…”

“What just happened?” Bucky looks like a confused puppy. He runs his tongue over his lips to taste you again. “Y/N, why did you…I…what?”

“Bucky,” you place your hands on his chest and look him straight in the eyes. “I call dips on you.” You smirk. “We are friends since childhood, and I don’t want you to get laid by some other bitch. You’re mine.”

“Get laid,” he chokes out. “Oh,” his cheeks turn pink, and he chuckles nervously. 

“Do you want to go on a date with me, Buck?” you run your index finger over his chest. “I know you don’t see anyone else.”

“Yeah,” Bucky stutters. “We can watch a movie or order food.”

“Buck,” you lean closer to brush your lips over his quivering ones. “I will cook, and you can decide on the dessert.” You grin. “I heard you have a very talented tongue and are burning to put it to good use.”

He blanched, and chuckles nervously. “It’s a date…”

“It’s a date,” you say and fist his jacket to claim his lips again. “See you on Friday, Bucky baby.”

“STEVE! STEVE!” Bucky stumbles inside their shared room. “STEVE! She asked me out and…what do I do now?”

“Alright,” Steve wraps his arm around Bucky’s shoulder to guide him toward the investigation wall. Steve changed the pictures to help his friend. “I have been waiting for you, Padawan. I will tell you everything about Y/N, women, and pussy…”

Part 6

Tags in reblog.

[cant-get-enough-btr-forever]

This is how the show should have done the Carlos + Alexa storyline.

I was discussing Carlos' Flanderization with @fiyero3305 (under the comments of @skyj80's Alexa post). These are the two main points we talked about:

1) Carlos' role as the Comic Relief became more and more exaggerated as the show progressed. Due to this, he never had a consistent love interest. According to the writers, he was just there to be funny—not to have a girlfriend (because, you know, what girl likes a guy who's funny, sweet, and cute?).

2) As we all know, Alexa was added at the very last minute. Don't get me wrong; I love the idea of her being included, but they really shoehorned her in. She had no build-up at all.

So...here's how I think both issues could've been avoided.

.....

In late season 3 or early season 4, Carlos becomes obsessed with a food cart that's moved into Palmwoods Park. He starts making excuses to visit it, claiming they have the BEST corn dogs he's ever tasted. The others find this annoying—but it's Carlos, so it doesn't surprise them.

As it turns out, it's not just the food he likes: A pretty girl named Alexa is running the cart. He actually goes there to talk to her, but is too embarrassed to admit it.

He somehow discovers that the food cart is just a front; in reality, she's a spy! So, she makes him promise not to tell anyone. Now that they have this secret, their friendship is solidified. Friends with hidden crushes on each other, of course.

.....

Carlos spends the rest of the show trying to conceal Alexa's true identity. He's a little clumsy about it and slips up a couple times, but he manages to stay true to his word.

Sometimes, he gets her to help the boys with their schemes. During the second prank war, she uses her Cool Spy Gadgets/ninja skills to outsmart the adults (after seeing her in action for the first time, he finds her 1000x hotter).

Also, whenever the Jennifers are mean to Carlos, she stands up for him. She makes him realize that if they can't see what a great guy he is, they're not worth it.

.....

The finale rolls around. It's basically the same plot: Big Time Rush needs to save the Tween Choice Awards from the Evil Cheese Dude. Except, this time, Alexa is Carlos' date (they're both shy to call it a "date", but everyone else knows that's what it is).

Out of desperation, she reveals her spy status to help the guys. Once the crisis is averted, the other boys admit that they'd kiiinnndda had a feeling she was a spy all along.

The happy ending: After a whole season of romantic tension, Carlos and Alexa finally share their first kiss.

[futabapunk]

My opinion of Hachi's love struggle from personal experience.

To start with, this is my own interpretation, if anyone has other interpretations of the manga and Hachi's character that's totally fine! I've just been thinking on the manga more and more since i read it fully and i genuinely feel Hachi is a lesbian who suffers with feelings of comphet and idealisation of a 'normal romance' which she tries to pursue during the series.

To start with her relationship with Asano started from her being shown attention from someone who is much older and is clearly just grooming her for his own desires. Her first love being with Asano also screwed her idea of what a romance should be like. Getting mistreated, ignored and kept a secret like she's someone to be ashamed of which leads into how she approaches all of her romances from then on. For Hachi as long as they love her, even if it's not in the way she wants she starts to believe she loves them.

Her relationship with Shouji had her initially jumping to some feelings on her first meeting but deciding ultimately to try and just be friends with him bond with another guy 'without ulterior motives' and just become friends. However as we know Shouji liked her and everyone around her started to pressure her into getting into the romance with him. Especially around the fact Shouji started it through guilt tripping her for sex. Nana cared for Shouji, she didn't 'love him' which explains how she treats him. She likes having a boyfriend because she likes being loved. She gets really uncomfortable with the way he kinda mainly uses her for sex than actually showing romantic feelings towards her herself. Like the main thing she did to make him feel justified in cheating with her is the fact that she didn't want to just sleep with him over and over when he wanted. Shouji just wanted her to be his 'pet dog' and got upset the moment Hachi started making her own friends outside of him and Jun. Overall Hachi's 'love' for Shouji is just a dependence on the first somewhat normal guy who loved her, especially when Jun her only real friend left to Tokyo her 'love' for Shouji was the main thing keeping her going. For someone like Hachi she needs love to feel like life is worth living, she has no goals outside of marrying someone and having children, this is in part due to how society views women but also she never really had stable relationships or friendships growing up.

I find it really interesting to note that Hachi never had feelings for Nobu until Nana started bringing it up and Nobu himself starting to try and confess and show he loves her. She again falls in a cycle like she did with Shouji, the big difference being that Nobu is a genuinely nice guy as a whole and for Hachi it's hard to really justify that she doesn't have romantic feelings for him, that and she clearly is attached to Nobu as a friend, they're similar in ways. However Hachi has never had a male friend who hasn't suddenly decided they loved her and wanted to sleep with her. For Hachi she thinks the moment she turns him down he'll abandon her. We know this isn't true given Nobu and Hachi clearly made up in the timeskip and started getting along better in the last few chapters of the manga. However basically everyone in Hachi's life seems to leave her behind or infantilize her and tries to control her. Hachi's emotions are always in control of someone else, the only action she had complete control over was choosing to keep her baby regardless of what is best for anyone else. A big part of her character is the fact that she wants a normal family. Now onto her love for Takumi. A big thing a lot of lesbians tend to latch onto with guys they love, is usually they're some sort of ideal they usually can't attain. And because of this they somewhat feel fictional and out of reach and therefor someone they can focus all of their affection onto often in a way of trying to prove to themselves they like men. Hachi never really initially plans to fall for Takumi, it's just a love and affection she doesn't put much weight onto. However when she meets Takumi in person for the first time, she just found out Nana and Ren are dating. In Hachi's pov any feelings she has for Nana are an 'unrequited love' but she can't deal with Nana getting further and further away from her. Takumi being in the same circle that Nana and Blast are ending up in is a way of her forceably tying herself into the same circle. Hachi herself knows it's wrong and that it won't turn out well but can't help herself because she assume everyone is leaving her behind. She tries to leave him until the pregnancy happens but he is realistically the only one who could support her financially through the situation. She convinces herself over and over throughout the story that staying with Takumi is the only thing she can possibly do once she found herself in the situation.

I honestly believe the first person Hachi truly loved on her own terms was Nana. It's stated often throughout the text how, how she felt with Nana was 'like the bliss of a first love' and how soothing and relaxed she feels around her. Hachi has clear struggles in accepting her feelings towards Nana due to her own misconceptions that what she wants and needs to be happy is falling in love with a man, getting married and having children. In fact it's clear she recognises her feelings for Nana but in her mind Nana loves Ren and any love she feels for Nana won't be reciprocated. It's because of this that she starts sleeping with Takumi to begin with. She feels an immense sense of isolation and fear around her feelings with Nana. It's because of this that she bases her entire worth around who loves her rather than who she actually loves on her own terms. Many lesbians struggle with comphet around their feelings because society makes women feel that romance which don't revolve around a man or having children. Hachi's obsessive need for love traps her and makes her be unable to be happy and free, unlike how she initially assumes love would make her feel. I personally believe if the series continued Hachi would figure out how she feels around Takumi and Nobu and then her feelings around Nana by the end of it.

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 02x11 - Blue Lightning, Lighdramon / Storm of Friendship

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Ken finally got enough Gym Badges to make Agumon listen to him in battle and took off running with his new main.

We pick up where last episode left off. It's evening now and the Kaiser is rampaging across the Digital World with MetalGreymon. He's still flanked by those three Airdramon, but I guess MetalGreymon got tired of flying around punching rocks 'cause he's marching on foot now.

The Kaiser's moved from standing on MetalGreymon's head to a riding position on his neck. He holds his laptop in one hand while he works. On the screen is the map of the Digital World; Several white squares turn to black.

Kaiser: The Evil Spiral has full control over even the Perfect level. Everything's going according to plan. MetalGreymon: (roar) Kaiser: You want to fight more too, don't you? Good boy.

Linguistic note: The Kaiser here says お前も omae mo before もっと戦いたいのだな motto tatakaitai noda na.

The connective word も mo means "also", basically. MetalGreymon wants to fight more in addition to someone else. Implicitly, this line is the Kaiser admitting that he, the Kaiser, wants to go another round with the Chosen Children too.

As we saw back when he dramatically and pointlessly revealed himself to Daisuke basically just to GG him, I think Ken is enjoying this more than he lets on.

(It's notable that he peaced out with MetalGreymon after beating them last episode, rather than try to finish the job.)

In the dub, the Emperor kicks us off by implying that at least a few days have passed since last episode.

Emperor: Now that I've got my Air Force and my Armor, I'm conquering more and more territories each day. With these new and improved Dark Rings, not only will I control MetalGreymon but all other Digimon as well. MetalGreymon: (roar) Emperor: (pet babytalk) You're ready for a fight now too, aren't you? LET'S GO!!!

The Emperor talks to MetalGreymon the way a pet owner talks to their dog while ruffling their fur, and it's adorable.

From there, we join the Chosen Children, still in the two sailing minecarts we left them in.

A fluttering of gossamer wings alerts them to a new arrival.

Hikari: Ah! Tentomon! Tentomon: Is this where you've been? I've been looking all over! Seems you've had it rough.

Tentomon descends and joins the junior team in the rear cart. As he lands, Iori's D-Terminal sends out an alert tone. Changing shots to view Iori from the front, we see the older boys and Daisuke taking note as well.

Iori: An email from Koushiro-san! Tentomon: What does Koushiro-han have to say? Iori: The Digimon Kaiser is moving south. Yamato: And that means...? Tentomon: That we should stay on course. Taichi: Yes! This time for sure, we're taking Agumon back! Yamato: Yeah! We won't let that jerk have his way! (realizes) Oh yeah. Tentomon, I have a favor to ask. Tentomon: Sure, what is it? Yamato: Could you go find Garurumon? Tentomon: Garurumon, huh? Understood! By all means, leave it to me!

With new instructions, Tentomon takes to the air once more and flies away to carry out Yamato's request.

In the dub:

Kari: (gasp) It's Tentomon! Tentomon: Aaaaaaaaaaall aboard! (Tentomon lands) Tentomon: I just love riding trains! Where's the dining car?

No alert tone, of course. But we'll live. It's hardly a plot-critical sound effect.

Cody: An email from Izzy! Kari: Has he found them yet? Cody: Apparently Ken and MetalGreymon have been seen south of here. Matt: We're on the right track. Tentomon: Well technically, Matt, we're on the only track. Tai: Alright DigiDestined, this time we'll get Agumon back for sure! Matt: Yeah! There's no way that Ken can stop all of us! (realizes) Uh, but, just in case... Tentomon, I need your help. Tentomon: Now!? I was gonna have my shell waxed! Matt: I want you to go and search for Garurumon. Tentomon: Garurumon, huh? Okay! I'll be back in a flash!

Solid. I like that Tai just ignores Tentomon's Um Actually, and the way they handle Matt's "Oh yeah" moment is neat. Matt's gungho about taking on the Digimon Emperor and then suddenly realizes he's, uh, missing something.

Tentomon flies off to fetch Garurumon, but now Daisuke has concerns.

Daisuke: (to Taichi and Yamato) Hey, wait a second. Do you mean we are going to fight MetalGreymon? Taichi: Yeah. Yamato: If we hesitate, then we lose. We have to do what we have to do. Isn't that right, Taichi? Taichi: Yeah. Daisuke: But I... Will I even be able to attack Taichi-san's Digimon? Takeru: But we don't have a choice. Daisuke: Eh? (angry) What was that!? Takeru: I don't like it either but we have no choice! If we don't fight, then there's no way to save Agumon, so there's no other choice! Daisuke: So you're saying we should defeat Taichi's Agumon!? Is that what you mean by "We have no choice, we have no choice"!? Takeru: I'm not saying we defeat him! We can remove the Evil Spiral! Daisuke: But we couldn't do it, could we!? We won't be able to remove the Evil Spiral without defeating the Digimon! Takeru: (stands up) Well that's what Taichi-san has decided! We all have to see this through (ganbaru) together! Daisuke: IT'S THAT EASY, HUH!?!?

Furious, Daisuke leaps into the rear car and grabs Takeru by his shirt.

Of note: They use the toned down 倒す taosu or "to defeat" verb here. The subs translate this as "destroying" Agumon but I'm not 100% sure that's correct. I remember this argument being about killing Agumon, but the line, "We won't be able to remove the Evil Spiral without defeating the Digimon" stands out to me.

If we're just using 倒す taosu as a kid-friendly way of saying "kill", then that's an odd line. We've removed Dark Rings from Digimon without killing them plenty. Pretty much all of them except poor Ebidramon.

So Daisuke's concern may be exactly what it sounds like: He isn't thinking about killing at all. Rather, he doesn't want to hurt Taichi's Digimon. He can't bring himself to throw hands with someone he cares about.

Or we could be talking around a darker conversation about potentially killing Agumon. We'll see. I'm gonna take him at face value for now.

In the dub:

Davis: Hold on a minute. Are you saying you're planning for us to fight MetalGreymon? Tai: Yeah. Matt: With all of us together, I think we stand a chance. There are just some things that have to be done. Am I right, Tai? Tai: Yeah. Davis: I'm not so sure, guys. What makes you think we'll be able to defeat Ken and MetalGreymon? T.K.: What makes you think we can't!? Davis: Who asked you!? T.K.: I'm speaking from experience! We have to fight because, if we don't, we'll never save Agumon! What are you so afraid of, anyway, Davis!? Davis: Who said anything about being afraid!? I just don't want to see Agumon get hurt! That's all, T.S.! T.K.: No one said we have to hurt him! All we have to do is get rid of that Dark Ring! Davis: And how do you propose we remove it!? Especially without hurting Agumon! Any bright ideas under that fancy hat!? T.K.: At least I'm trying, Goggle Head! And don't make fun of my hat! Davis: THAT'S IT!!!

In the dub, this goes a bit off-course as Davis's reluctance comes from a place of fear that they can't win the fight.

I think this might be a mistranslation rather than a conscious change. They may not have understood what he meant when he said he doesn't know if he'll be able to attack MetalGreymon. It's wrong, but I can see how they might have hit an ambiguous line and then spiraled.

Speaking of which, I guess we're referring to the spirals as "Dark Rings" still. Ken did it once before and now T.K.'s saying it. Force of habit maybe?

All the same, they still manage to find their way back to "How do we remove the Dark Spiral without hurting Agumon?" which is the key question here. The main difference is that both Davis and T.K. come off more flawed here. Davis sounds like his chief concern is just that he's scared, while T.K.'s dialogue has a sharper, meaner edge to it; He even provokes Davis twice.

Iori stands by helpless while the sudden violence unfolds. Hikari and Miyako try to pull the boys apart.

Takeru: WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? Hikari: STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!!! Miyako: WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? Taichi: DON'T STOP THEM!!!

Taichi's voice brings everything to a halt. Even Daisuke and Takeru freeze mid-grapple.

Hikari: Why!? Iori: Shouldn't we stop them!? Taichi: (on himself and Yamato) We used to fight a lot too. If we hadn't, we never would have become friends. So it's better to let them fight.

This is pretty standard "boys will be boys" rhetoric. Nobody seems to be buying it, though. The girls release Takeru and Daisuke, but they just stand there looking pissy. No further fists are thrown.

Miyako: "It's better to let them fight"? What's that supposed to mean? Iori: I don't know, but I think there must be some meaning to it. Yamato: Exactly right. You'll understand in time. Taichi: Anyways, we need to go after the Kaiser!

It means these two had a fucked-up childhood and now they think their experience is normal.

With the topic settled, their minecart rolls on southward.

In the dub:

Kari: Stop fighting! Do I have to separate you two like a couple of children!? Tai: LET 'EM FIGHT!!! Kari: Huh? What do you mean? Cody: Isn't that bad for team morale? Tai: When Matt and I were younger, we fought a lot too. But if we hadn't fought all those times, we probably never would have become such good friends! So just let them fight it out of their systems. Yolei: Leave it to boys to think they have to fight to become friends. Cody: Well, I think the best way to make friends is over a good game of checkers. Matt: Sounds great! I get the winner. Tai: Hehe. But for now, what we need to do is catch up to Ken! Matt: Everybody blow! Group: (blowing sounds)

XD The dub kids try to accelerate their minecart by blowing at the sail really hard. A hopeless endeavor but absolutely something children would think up.

The dub plays the "boys will be boys" angle to a T, with Yolei explicitly calling out the gendered advice for what it is.

The dub takes its first commercial break here.

Cutting over to Tentomon, we see new Dark Towers have been erected in various parts of the Digital World. Tentomon comes across one in a desert region filled with rock columns.

Tentomon: The Kaiser's even made it to places like this... EEP!!! DYAHHHH!!!

Realizing he's exposed, Tentomon quickly flutters around behind a column. Down below, he watches a squad of six Pagumon patrol the area, each with an Evil Ring affixed around their left ear.

Tentomon: I have to tell Garurumon as soon as possible!

In the dub:

Tentomon: (calling, singsong) GARURUMOOOOON!!! OH~ GARURUMOOOOON!!! (speaking) Where could he be? (Tentomon finds the Control Spire) Tentomon: Huh. That's either the biggest sundial I've ever seen or it's one of the Digimon Emperor's Control Spires. Hold your horses! (Tentomon hides behind the column and spies the Pagumon) Tentomon: What's that? A squadron of Pagumon and they're all being controlled by those Dark Rings! I'm definitely going to need some backup. I've got to find Garurumon!

Dub Tentomon overtly explains what everything he's seeing is for the benefit of kids at home, while the original leaves it to the audience to be familiar and need no explanation.

Cutting back to the minecart, Iori's D-3 begins beeping with an unexpected signal.

Iori: Huh? Is that.... Yamato: What? (Iori stands up to show the front car) Iori: It's a Digimental's signal! Daisuke: Huh!? A Digimental!? Hikari: Are there more?

They hit the brake, bringing the minecart to a stop beneath a very familiar carving in the cliffside: Yamato's Crest of Friendship.

Yamato: Huh? That Crest...! Daisuke: Should we go? Hikari: Let's go.

It's a small detour but we can use whatever help we can get. And I mean very small 'cause like it's right over there, like twenty feet from the railroad track.

In the dub, Tai's agitated by the failure of our "blowing on the sail" plan.

Tai: Can't this thing go any faster!? (Cody's D-3 starts beeping) Cody: Hey everybody, look at this! (Cody stands up to show the front car) Cody: My D-3 has found a Digi-Egg! Davis: Well, don't just sit there! Hit the brakes! (Minecart comes to a halt) Kids: (wailing) WHOAAAAAAA!!!

They're offscreen but the dub kids implicitly have a very hard time with the cart's sudden deceleration. Particularly Yolei, who wails the loudest.

Yolei: Who could have carved that!? T.K.: Someone with a really big chisel? Matt: It kind of looks like my Crest of Friendship. But why would someone go to the trouble of carving that into the side of a wall?

Valid question that the dub kids are asking. Amazing how accustomed we've become to just nodding along with the Digital World's oddities. Oh, sure, giant sigil of Yamato's crest carved in the cliffside. That might as well be there. Let's go check out what it's pointing us to.

Iori's the only one who has lip flaps for this segment, so the dub was free to have whoever they want say whatever they want. Sadly, we lose Hikari's question, "Are there more!?" which isn't super important but does highlight how surprising this is supposed to be.

All five junior team kids have their Digimentals now. So. Why would there be a sixth? Who would a sixth Digimental even be for?

The dub kids just shrug and go along with it. Check it out, new Digi-Egg just dropped! They're more put off by the wall carving.

Unsurprisingly, following the signal leads the kids straight to that carving.

Iori: So it is coming from here! Daisuke: Is that...!? (Daisuke runs forward) V-mon: What is it? (V-mon follows)

While everyone else was looking up, Daisuke was looking down. He draws everyone's attention to a shallow pit in the ground. Inside is precisely what they were looking for: A new Digimental bearing Yamato's Crest.

Daisuke: It is! Taichi: That's.... Yamato: The Crest of Friendship. Daisuke: Friendship? Taichi: It's the proof of all those fights Yamato and I used to have. Yamato: (affectionately) We'd bicker over the stupidest of things. Daisuke: Fighting can be a proof of friendship? What does that mean? Taichi & Yamato: (exchanging glances) Ehehehe....

Once Taichi and Yamato have finished laying the theme of "Fighting = Friendship" on pretty thick, Iori brings the conversation back to the topic at hand.

Iori: Whose Digimental could this be? Miyako: Are there more kids like us? Yamato: Or it could be mine, like Takeru and Hikari-chan. Taichi: Try lifting it, Yamato. Yamato: Right, I'll give it a try.

Yamato's first up to try.

In the dub:

Cody: I think the Egg's in there! (Davis and V-mon silently run forward to the shallow pit) Davis: Bigfoot was here! Tai: What's down there? Kari: Looks like a flipflop with a bent nail in it. T.K.: Has everyone had a tetanus shot?

In the original, Daisuke's the first to notice the hole and find the Digimental. The dub makes it seem like he was just trying to quip and then got lucky.

Kari and T.K. riff on the Digi-Egg's design but, I mean, that blade sticking out the front of it is pretty freaky.

Davis: It's got that same symbol! Tai: Yep, it definitely has the Crest of Friendship on it, alright. I wonder if it's meant for you, Matt? Matt: Or maybe it's meant for the one with the most friends. Davis: Or maybe it's meant for the one with the fewest friends. Like me. Tai & Matt: (exchanging glances) Ehehehe....

The dub is having none of that "fighting is proof of friendship" stuff this time. They're kinda shitting on Davis here, but this does tie into his arc for the episode.

Cody: Someone should try to pick it up. After all, what's the worst that could happen? Yolei: Well, it could be a trap set up by the Digimon Emperor. Matt: I don't think it would be booby-trapped. After all, it's emblazoned with the Crest of Friendship. Tai: Then I think you should go for it, Matt. Matt: Wish me luck! Just in case.

In the original, the kids continue to circle the topic of who a sixth Digimental would even be for. The dub kids instead discuss the possibility of a trap.

Which... is a possibility worth considering, regardless of what Matt thinks. Rigging a Digi-Egg with traps to screw over the team when they find it or even going so far as to create a fake Digi-Egg are ideas that seem entirely within the realm of possibility.

I'm pretty sure the main thing stopping the Kaiser from doing just that is simply that... I don't think he actually knows about the Digimentals? Like. I don't think he knows what these are or what their connection to Armor Evolution is. The kids are always isolated when they find them, and then the Digimentals nest inside their D-Terminals. I don't think Ken's had a chance to learn about them.

But if he did know, hoo boy, Yolei raises some scary possibilities.

So begins the inevitable Digimental montage of failure.

Yamato is the first to try, but when the Digimental won't come up, they call up the next.

Yamato: (groan) No good. Taichi: Iori, you try. Iori: Oh, uh... yes!

Among the junior team, Taichi pegs Iori for Friendship first. He fails. Next!

Yamato: Taichi, you try it. Taichi: Me?

That would be wild, but no dice.

Yamato: The rest of you should try too.

Takeru, Hikari, and Miyako each take turns next.

Takeru: (groan) It's no good. Hikari: (groan) I can't...

Miyako pulls so hard that her hands slip off, causing her to fall backwards and crack her head on the edge of the pit. Good thing she has that helmet.

In the dub:

Matt: (groan) No luck. Tai: Cody, why don't you give it a try? Cody: Okay. (Cody fails) Cody: ...I should have had a bigger breakfast. Matt: Alright, Tai, it's your turn. Tai: Okay! (Tai tries) Junior Team: LIFT, TAI, LIFT!!! LIFT, TAI, LIFT!!! LIFT, TAI, LIFT!!! (Tai fails) Junior Team: Awww.... Matt: Alright, which one of you is next? (T.K., Kari, and Yolei try and fail) T.K.: (groan) I think I'm done.... Kari: (groan) Me too.... (Yolei falls and cracks her head)

A little sad we don't get Tai sounding absolutely bewildered at the thought that the Digimental could be his.

Though it's funny that Tai - and only Tai - gets a cheer squad when he makes his attempt.

Only one person left to try it.

Daisuke: The Digimental of Friendship, huh? Taichi: Daisuke, it's your turn. Daisuke: I don't think it's mine. Yamato: Why's that? Daisuke: Because... This is the Digimental of Friendship, right? And I don't really know anything about all that friendship stuff! Taichi: It's fine if you don't know! Iori: ...huh?

The shot hangs on Iori's confused reaction to that statement for a moment.

Daisuke: I have no idea what you and Yamato-san meant when you were talking about Agumon. It doesn't make sense to me that you think it's better to fight Agumon. Yamato: Quit harping on the same string and just do it!

Yamato and Taichi grab Daisuke to force him into the pit.

御託を並べ Gotaku wo narabe is a Japanese turn-of-phrase. The subs I have translate it to "making excuses" which is pretty close, but it's more like "sounding like a broken record". He doesn't have excuses, plural; He has one excuse that he keeps repeating over and over.

Yamato: Didn't you hear what your senpai said!? Taichi: We're in a hurry, so hurry up and do it!

Yamato and Taichi shove Daisuke down into the pit hard enough that he nearly impales his face on the Digimental's blade. Great. Thanks, guys.

Daisuke: Okay, I get it.....

Daisuke plants his feet, gets a firm grip, and then applies the tiniest bit of pressure.

Daisuke: (gasp)

Then he gives the smallest pretense of trying to lift it before letting go.

Daisuke: Ehh, I knew it wouldn't work!

It kinda seems like he's faking it here. His body language seems to imply that he felt the Digimental move and then "failed" on purpose because he didn't want to accept that it was his. But he'll later be surprised when it turns out to be his after all so IDK.

In the dub:

Davis: I think you guys are going about this all wrong. Tai: So, you think you can lift it up? Davis: Yeah! You just have to use physics. Matt: What do you mean? Davis: You see, in physics, there's this little thing called equilibrium. When you have two libriums that weigh the same, they're equilibrium! Tai: That makes perfect sense to me! Cody: ...huh?

Contrary to Daisuke's hesitance, Davis is confident that he knows what's up and makes a stand-up comedy bit out of it. But once he's done making jokes, Davis catches up to Daisuke's reticence.

Davis: Um, you know, Tai... I was just making that stuff up! I really don't know anything about physics. I usually leave all that stuff up to professors and scientists and Izzy. I didn't think you'd take me seriously! (Tai and Matt grab Davis) Matt: Ugh, I'm sick of all your blabbering, Davis! You're the only one who hasn't tried yet so just get in the hole! Tai: Yeah, lift that Digi-Egg up so we can get out of here! (Tai and Matt shove Davis into the pit) Davis: Hey, I could've put my eye out! (Davis prepares to try and lift it) Davis: Okay, this shouldn't be too hard. One-- (gasps) ...two! Three! (Davis fails, possibly on purpose) Davis: IIIIIIIIII can't do it! I give up!

I like that Davis feels it move or whatever that gasp is for while he's making gentle warm-up tugs. That's neat.

In the original, Daisuke's... He's kind of intimidated by the Digimental. He doesn't think it'd be appropriate for him to bear the Digimental of Friendship. Neither does Yamato; He expected it to be Iori.

This reluctance parallels Yamato's own struggles with understanding why he, of all people, would bear the Crest of Friendship. Both of our Friendship boys have trouble understanding the capacity for friendship that lies in their hearts. And yet, just as Yamato couldn't help but reveal it whenever he wasn't thinking about it, we've already seen Daisuke's loyalty and love for his nakama play out again and again. He may not see it but we do.

In the dub, he just makes jokes and then gives up.

When Daisuke "fails", Yamato and Taichi exchange surprised glances but there's no time to follow up on that. An high-pitched earsplitting whistle takes everyone by surprise, forcing them to cover their ears in pain.

Daisuke: AUGH, WHAT IS THAT NOISE!?!? Miyako: MY EARS HURT!!!

They get their answer quickly enough. An enemy Flymon descends from the sky.

Miyako: SOMETHING'S FLYING THIS WAY!!! Yamato: WATCH OUT!!!

Flymon makes their first attack run, rapid-firing their stingers at the children below. The kids and their Digimon are able to evade the line of shots, except for Patamon; He takes a glancing shot to his left wing and crumples to the ground next to the stinger.

Takeru: Patamon!

Flymon is an Adult-stage Virus-attribute Insect Digimon. The senior team were attacked by a Flymon back on Server Continent, when they were trying to bring Sora back into the fold.

Narrator: Flymon! Adult-stage. Virus. They fly at lightning speeds using their gigantic wings while paralyzing the enemy with their Howling Noise. Their special attack is Deadly Sting!

"Howling Noise" is in English, so it's probably a formal attack name too. Flymon is a feral Digimon who doesn't have the language capacity to call attacks, but they used Howling Noise to incapacitate the kids before following up with Deadly Sting.

In the dub:

Davis: AUGH, WHAT'S THAT TERRIBLE NOISE!!! Yolei: IT'S HURTING MY EARS!!! T.K.: SOMETHING'S COMING!!! Flymon: DEADLY STING!!! (Flymon makes their attack run) Matt: (dodges a stinger) Watch out! (Everyone has to dodge) Yolei: Avoid the stingers! (Patamon takes a glancing hit) T.K.: Patamon!!! Armadillomon: (rundown) It's Flymon. The only thing worse than his Deadly Sting attack is the noise he makes when attacking! When I hear him coming, I usually just dig a hole until he blows over.

The timing on Matt's "Watch out!" is different here. In the original, he shouts it as soon as he lays eyes on Flymon. The senior team have fought this Digimon before; They know what's coming.

The dub has him say it after he dodges the first of the stinger volley, when the threat is more apparent.

V-mon: Daisuke! Daisuke: Yeah! DIGIMENTAL UP!!! (V-mon Armor Evolves) Fladramon: FIRE ROCKET!!!

He makes a valiant effort, but Flymon simply buzzes to the side to avoid Fladramon's attack. Aerial agility remains OP.

Miyako punches the air and then hoists her arm over her head in what's probably supposed to look like a badass martial arts pose.

Miyako: Hawkmon! Hawkmon: Right! Miyako: DIGIMENTAL UP!!! (Hawkmon Armor Evolves) Horusmon: TEMPEST WING!!!

Yeah. Uh. Flymon buzzes to the side and avoids that too.

In the dub:

Veemon: Let's do it! Davis: Right, pal! DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!! (Veemon Armor Digivolves) Flamedramon: FIRE ROCKET!!!

In a rare deviation from the norm, Fire Rocket is actually Fire Rocket this time.

Yolei: Hawkmon! Hawkmon: Right! Yolei: DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!! (Hawkmon Armor Digivolves) Halsemon: TEMPEST WING!!!

And Tempest Wing is Tempest Wing but that's normal.

After Horusmon misses his attack, Flymon goes back on the offensive.

Sigils on Flymon's wings glow yellow, producing their terrible Howling Noise. Everybody's forced to shut their eyes and cover their ears to try and ride out the horrible sound. When it abates, Takeru opens his eyes to realize that his Partner is missing.

Takeru: Ah!? Patamon? PATAMON'S GONE!!! Yamato: What!? Daisuke: Patamon is--? Miyako: THERE!!!

Miyako spots him in the air, clutched in Flymon's left talon. The enemy Digimon withdraws into the sky, taking Patamon with them.

Takeru: Patamon!

This seems like a fine time to go to commercial!

In the dub:

Matt: Here he comes again! (Flymon uses Howling Noise, forcing everyone to shut their ears until the noise abates) T.K.: Huh!? Patamon is gone! Kari: Where'd he go? Matt: Did he run away? Yolei: No! Look up! There he is! (Yolei points out Patamon in Flymon's talon) Patamon: HELP, T.K.!!! HELP!!! T.K.: HANG ON, PATAMON!!! WE'LL SAVE YOU!!!

The dub foregoes the commercial break here, continuing on with the scene.

Hikari: He can't... Not Patamon too! Takeru: PATAMON!!!

Takeru tries to go after Patamon on foot. It takes little time for Fladramon, Horusmon, and the more athletic Daisuke to catch up to him, and the four chase Flymon together.

They don't get very far, however. Out of absolutely nowhere and with a genuinely shocking level of stealth for a behemoth of that size, MetalGreymon suddenly stomps down in their path.

Taichi: METALGREYMON!!! Yamato: TAKERU!!! DAISUKE!!! BE CAREFUL!!! Kaiser: Huhuhuhuhuhu....

The Kaiser, of course, is still up there. He's standing on MetalGreymon's shoulder, amidst his hair.

(Bold choice. He's gonna be really unhappy if MetalGreymon has to whip his head around real fast.)

This pays off the bit about "You want to fight more too, huh?" They didn't have to catch up to the Kaiser because, rather than continuing on south, he doubled back to go fuck with them some more.

In the dub:

T.K.: HANG ON, PATAMON!!! WE'LL SAVE YOU!!! Kari: But how!? He's getting away! T.K.: PATAMON!!! (T.K. runs after Patamon; Davis and the Armor Digimon join him) Flamedramon: I think we're gaining! (MetalGreymon arrives) Emperor: Where do you think you're going? Tai: METALGREYMON!!! Matt: T.K.!!! DAVIS!!! GET OUT OF THERE!!! Emperor: Huhuhuhuhuhu....

Flamedramon's hopeless optimism got me. XD

Flymon circles back around to MetalGreymon and brings Patamon to the Kaiser.

Takeru: Patamon! PATAMON!!!

The Kaiser reveals an Evil Spiral, chuckling triumphantly.

Kaiser: Huhuhuhuhu.... Hikari: AN EVIL SPIRAL!!! Taichi: What are you going to do with that!? Kaiser: I managed to create a second Evil Spiral. I'm going to test it out on this Digimon. (to Patamon) Do you feel honored? You get participate in experimenting on my brilliant invention. Takeru: WHAT WAS THAT!?!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?!? Kaiser: You'd better watch your mouth!

From a strictly scientific perspective, this is a good idea. The Kaiser spent a lot of time creating a control device that would work on Agumon, but it's good to run more trials on other Digimon. Just to make sure he hasn't accidentally created a device that specifically works on Agumon.

From an emotional and moral perspective, the Kaiser deserves sequential swift kicks to the junk from everybody here. But scientifically, further tests would be wise.

In the dub:

Flymon: Here's your new playtoy, Your Evilness! (Flymon brings Patamon to the Emperor) T.K.: PATAMON!!! PUT HIM DOWN!!! Emperor: No. I'm just getting started with him! (Emperor reveals the second Dark Spiral) T.K.: He's got more Dark Rings! Kari: What does he have planned!? Tai: You can be sure it's something bad! Emperor: When I put this on your little friend here, I will have complete control over him and I can make him do anything I want! (to Patamon) Do you hear that? I'm gonna make you do my laundry one piece at a time and then-- T.K.: I'll never let you get away with it! Emperor: Don't interrupt me while I'm planning my evil deeds!

The dub plays Patamon's plight as goofy as they can, and continues referring to the Dark Spiral as a Dark Ring.

Fladramon's had enough of the Kaiser's shit.

Fladramon: Shit... FIRE-- Daisuke: Stop it, Fladramon! What if you hurt Patamon!? Fladramon: Sorry, Daisuke... But.... Horusmon: Patamon's too close to the Kaiser! Daisuke: T-There's nothing we can do-- Takeru: What are you doing!? Daisuke: Huh? Takeru: We have to get Patamon back, and fast! Daisuke: I KNOW THAT ALREADY!!! Takeru: THEN DON'T JUST STAND THERE AND WATCH!!! Daisuke: WHO'S JUST STANDING THERE WATCHING!?!?

Who starts the fight this time is complicated. The simple answer is Daisuke but the complicated answer is both. It happens quickly in individual frames, but Daisuke raises his arms and moves in on Takeru only for Takeru to rush forward and push Daisuke back to his starting position. Takeru then reaches around under Daisuke's arms and grabs his shoulders.

Daisuke's still the aggressor but Takeru's pushing back, and it all happens so quickly that you could easily mistake either one of them for it.

Their fight gets nowhere, however. Miyako cuts in the middle, putting herself between them and prying them apart with her body.

Miyako: STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!!! WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO FIGHT EACH OTHER!!! Kaiser: Hahahahaha! And what are you rats doing? Are you having a falling out? Is that all your friendship amounts to?

Thank you, Kaiser, for explaining the theme.

In the dub:

Flamedramon: Rrrgh... FIRE-- Davis: HOLD IT, FLAMEDRAMON!!! You might accidentally miss and hit Patamon! Flamedramon: I'm such a hothead. Sorry. Halsemon: We have to separate Patamon and the Emperor. Davis: I don't see how we can! T.K.: We've got to try! Davis: Oh yeah, how!? T.K.: We can trap him by using you as bait! Davis: Me!? Why do I have to be the one!? T.K.: We have to use some kind of bait that we could do without! Davis: Oh yeah!? Well, we could easily do without your hat! (Davis and T.K. fight; Yolei intervenes) Yolei: STOP FIGHTING!!! NOW'S A GOOD TIME TO REMEMBER THE CREST OF FRIENDSHIP, OKAY!?!? Emperor: Hahahahaha! I'd love to see how this turns out, but I've gotta run. I have a few chores to take care of, like taking over the Digital World.

This time, it's Yolei who awkwardly cites the theme.

The dub continues to talk around the topic of attacking even though our friends are in the line of fire. Avoiding this topic leaves T.K. and Davis with nothing to fight for, so T.K. takes a level in jackass and just starts shit-talking Davis. Great.

Takeru: I'LL NEVER LET YOU HAVE YOUR WAY WITH PATAMON!!! Taichi: OR AGUMON!!! Kaiser: Ha! What a joke. If you can take them back, then take them back.

With that, the Kaiser turns his attention to Patamon.

Patamon: (wince) You're... going to make me wear that?

Patamon wriggles in a desperate but futile attempt to escape Flymon's grasp.

(...Hey Takeru, what would happen if he suddenly Armor Evolved just now? Food for thought.)

Kaiser: Exactly. And your dimwitted nakama gets to watch our magnificent experiment. Huhuhu.... Takeru: PATAMON!!!

Takeru rushes forward, trying to get to his Digimon. MetalGreymon responds by firing his Trident Arm.

Taichi: TAKERU!!!

Taichi tackles Takeru to the ground as the Trident Arm shoot past overhead, embedding itself in the earth where Takeru had been.

In the dub:

T.K.: THERE'S NO WAY WE'RE GONNA LET YOU USE PATAMON TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR PLAN!!! Tai: THAT GOES FOR AGUMON TOO!!! Emperor: That's really funny... because I don't remember asking for permission! (Emperor turns towards Patamon) Patamon: You really should have Flymon trim his nails back! (Patamon wriggles) Emperor: Just hold still. In a few seconds, you won't remember a thing except what it's like to be my slave!

Here is where the dub places its second commercial break, using the cliffhanger of Patamon's impending doom. We return to the Emperor's smug face.

Emperor: Huhuhuhuhuhuhu.... T.K.: PATAMON!!! (T.K. runs forward; MetalGreymon shoots Trident Arm) Tai: GET DOWN!!! (Tai tackles T.K. to the ground)

Patamon's up there quipping to try and keep things light and the Emperor's going for smug wickedness instead of cruel intellectualism.

The Kaiser slowly advances on Patamon, bringing the Evil Spiral closer and closer, when suddenly--

Garurumon makes this stop all happening in a single stroke. Bounding from a nearby hillside, he sweeps across MetalGreymon's shoulder. He snatches up Patamon, knocks the Evil Spiral from the Kaiser's hand, and breaks the Evil Ring on Flymon's leg for good measure.

Kaiser: (confused) Wait, what?

Garurumon lands triumphantly in front of the Chosen Children.

Yamato: Garurumon! Garurumon: Tentomon told me everything!

Garurumon opens his mouth, releasing Patamon into Takeru's arms.

Patamon: Thank you, Garurumon! Takeru: Are you okay, Patamon? Patamon: It hurts a little, but I'm okay. Sorry for making you worry. Daisuke: Takeru put himself in danger to protect Patamon.... Fladramon: Would you do the same for me, Daisuke? Daisuke: Huh!? Uh... Maybe? Fladramon: Maybe? Did you say "Maybe"!? You're supposed to say "Definitely"!

Daisuke opens mouth and inserts foot. Though it's honestly not surprising that he and his Partner aren't as tight-knit as the veterans.

(The answer, of course, is yes. It's just that it's something Daisuke would do without thinking, and so hasn't really thought about it.)

Y'know, it's easy to overlook at times the fact that some Digimon don't move their mouths to talk and instead just sort of psychically convey sounds. But the fact that Garurumon delivers a line of dialogue while holding Patamon in his mouth makes it really noticeable.

In the dub:

(Garurumon seizes Patamon and breaks Flymon's Dark Ring) Emperor: Huh!? (Garurumon returns to the others) Matt: Nice going! Tai: Garurumon! You came just in time! (Garurumon delivers Patamon to the T.K.) Patamon: T.K.!!! T.K.: Patamon, how do you feel? Patamon: Kinda like a big piece of dental floss but other than that, I'm fine! Davis: I have to hand it to T.K. He really risked himself to save Patamon. What a friend. Flamedramon: Would you try to protect me if I was in danger, Davis? Davis: Huh? Um... maybe. Flamedramon: Maybe!? MAYBE!?!? WHAT ABOUT "DEFINITELY"!?!?

Flamedramon bit comes through perfectly.

Guess the dub team felt weirded out about Garurumon talking with his mouth full too 'cause they gave his talking space to Tai. XD

Unfortunately, Fladramon is only the second-most upset person about this development.

Kaiser: How dare you mess with me like that!? Are you trying to piss me off!? That's it! No more playing nice with make-believe friends! METALGREYMON!!!

As is becoming increasingly common, the Kaiser's outburst here is revealing about his sense of isolation. He says he's fed up with 友情ごっこ yuujou-gokko or "Pretend Friendship". To my understanding, this means people who aren't actually your friends but, for the purpose of whatever you're doing, you'll engage with them as if they were. You're not really friends, so much as you're playing at friendship.

This was all him playing nice, as if he'd invited them over for a night of Smash Bros. But as we established a few episodes ago, he's violently insecure about even the smallest of slights. So now he's fed up and is going to smash, bro.

That was awful. I do not apologize for it.

As MetalGreymon stands up to his full height, the Chosen Children brace themselves for battle.

Taichi: Damn it! We're definitely taking you back! Yamato: (riding Garurumon) We'll take that Evil Spiral off MetalGreymon! Garurumon: COME TO YOUR SENSES!!!

Garurumon rushes forward. But without the element of surprise, a stomp from MetalGreymon is enough to force him to back off.

Garurumon: DON'T YOU RECOGNIZE ME!?!?

MetalGreymon's answer is to fire off his Trident Arm. Garurumon evades away before his metal claw pierces the ground.

Yamato: Garurumon! We have to destroy the Evil Spiral! Garurumon: But to do that, we'd have to attack MetalGreymon.... Yamato: Then do it! And don't hold back. If we don't take this seriously, then we go down together. Isn't that right, Taichi!? Taichi: (nods) Do it! Daisuke: You can't....

Garurumon wasn't there for the "Next time we see MetalGreymon, hit him with everything you've got" conversation.

Daisuke was but he still doesn't wanna.

In the dub:

Emperor: Oh, you guys are gonna make me cry! If you really want a test of your friendship, I'll be more than happy to give you one. Prepare for the fight of your life! METALGREYMON!!! (MetalGreymon stands up to his full height) Tai: Don't listen to him, MetalGreymon! Don't you recognize me!? I'm your friend! Matt: (riding Garurumon) Garurumon and I are going to try to get those rings off MetalGreymon's arm. (Garurumon moves up, but MetalGreymon's stomp forces him to back off) Emperor: Squash them like a bug! (MetalGreymon fires Trident Arm. Garurumon evades) Matt: Garurumon! That was close but we've got to attack him with all of our strength. Garurumon: I'm afraid of hurting MetalGreymon. Matt: We have no choice. If we don't use our full power, he'll crush us like grapes. Isn't that right, Tai? Tai: (nods) Mhm. Go get him! Davis: But Matt...!

In this version, Garurumon does not try to appeal emotionally to MetalGreymon. Tai does, however. Taichi, at this point, is has already resigned himself to fighting MetalGreymon but Tai's still holding out hope.

Daisuke may be paralyzed by his empathy but Yamato's still got backup nonetheless.

Iori: We're in this battle too! DIGIMENTAL UP!!! Hikari: DIGIMENTAL UP!!!

Digmon and Nefertimon armor up, and the battle roars without a moment's hesitation.

Digmon: GOLD RUSH!!! Nefertimon: ROSETTA STONE!!! Horusmon: TEMPEST WING!!!

Digmon takes the first shot, aiming for the Evil Spiral. MetalGreymon sidesteps the attack, right into Nefertimon's line of fire. Her Rosetta Stone strikes the ground right in front of his foot, forcing him once again to back off, disoriented.

With all this pressure on MetalGreymon, Horusmon can drive his Tempest Wing straight into MetalGreymon's chestplate. The sound of metal scraping on metal does little to mask the sound of MetalGreymon crying out in pain.

After wounding MetalGreymon, Horusmon falls back to where the kids are.

Horusmon: It's not much.... Taichi: That's fine, Horusmon. Don't worry about it.

In the dub:

Cody: It's time to call in the cavalry. DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!! Kari: DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!! (Digmon and Nefertimon digivolve) Digmon: GOLD RUSH!!! Nefertimon: ROSETTA STONE!!! Halsemon: TEMPEST WING!!! (Halsemon scores a direct hit on MetalGreymon) Tai: Careful, you'll hurt him! (Halsemon backs off) Halsemon: Sorry... Tai: You did what you had to do! Don't worry about it.

In the original, it takes all three Armor Digimon to do just a bit of damage. We're so outmatched by Perfect might that we're in "All that for a drop of blood" territory. But Taichi encourages Horusmon that it's still good, all the same.

The dub goes the exact opposite route with it. They have Tai call Halsemon off because he's hitting MetalGreymon too hard. They are not committing to this "Gloves are off, hit him with all you've got" thing.

With MetalGreymon's attention pulled by the Armor Digimon, Garurumon moves in to finish the job.

Garurumon bounds to MetalGreymon's bicep, latching onto the Evil Spiral with his teeth. Once MetalGreymon realizes what they're doing, he shakes them off. Garurumon hits the ground, but comes straight back for another round.

Garurumon: FOX FIRE!!!

Though he shoots for the Evil Spiral, Garurumon's shot goes wide and hits MetalGreymon in the side of his face. MetalGreymon recoils in pain from the hit.

Yamato: I'm sorry, MetalGreymon! But this is the only choice we have right now!

The only reply MetalGreymon gives is another attempt to crush them with his foot. Fortunately, Garurumon remains quick on his feet and backs off once more.

In the dub:

(Garurumon bounds up and bites the Dark Spiral) MetalGreymon: You're getting annoying! (MetalGreymon shakes Garurumon off) Garurumon: HOWLING BLASTER!!! (Garurumon hits MetalGreymon instead of the Spiral) Matt: MetalGreymon, I'm sorry! We're only doing this out of friendship!

Pretty close to script, with an added line for MetalGreymon himself because the dub likes to make all Digimon verbal regardless of context.

Yamato and Garurumon are giving what they can, but Daisuke continues to struggle with what's being asked of him.

Taichi: Please, Daisuke! Fladramon: Aren't we going to fight, Daisuke? DAISUKE!!! Taichi: But that's... Taichi's Agumon.... Fladramon: If that's how you feel, then I....

Fladramon loses his evolution. The Digimental of Courage leaves him and returns to Daisuke's D-Terminal.

Daisuke: Ah! I... I....

MetalGreymon launches his Trident Arm down at Daisuke and V-mon, forcing them to scurry out of the way. V-mon dives forward and hits the ground, while Daisuke flees the opposite direction.

V-mon: What are you doing, Daisuke!? Are we just going to run away from MetalGreymon!? Daisuke: Stop it! If this keeps up, we'll all be killed-- Taichi: That won't happen!

While Daisuke's having this crisis, Yamato rides up on Garurumon behind him, backing him up.

Taichi: We have faith in Garurumon and Agumon. Yamato: (nods) Daisuke: Faith...? Yamato: PREPARE YOURSELF, AGUMON!!! WE'RE GETTING THAT EVIL SPIRAL THIS TIME!!! Taichi: Yamato! Garurumon! I'm counting on you!

Garurumon returns to the fight, leaving Daisuke behind.

In the dub:

Tai: Davis, help us! Flamedramon: Come on, Davis! Aren't you going to help them fight!? Davis: I just can't do it! There's a chance I'll hurt MetalGreymon! Flamedramon: (furious) You don't understand about friendship! (Flamedramon reverts to Veemon) Davis: Ah! Veemon... Oh no.... (Davis and Veemon dodge MetalGreymon's Trident Arm) Veemon: Davis, you have to fight! How can you just stand there and let him try to hurt me!? Davis: Lay off! What do you want!? I don't want to hurt anybody! Tai: It's not about what you want to do! (Matt rides up behind Tai) Tai: It's about the things you have to do for friendship! Matt: Right! Davis: Huh? Friendship? Matt: Agumon, don't worry! We're going to try one more time to remove those rings from your arm! Tai: Matt, Garurumon, do your best!

Daisuke is having a full-blown panic attack at this point, and that comes through pretty well in Davis's dialogue.

The dub's language is pretty on-the-nose here, directly citing friendship twice. Fladramon loses his form because Daisuke doesn't have faith in him to do this, which Taichi then presses him about. Taichi and Yamato both have faith in their Partners, and that's why they trust Yamato's Partner to fight Taichi's.

Flamedramon makes a furious accusation that's pertinent to their conversation yet feels a bit oversimplified and on-the-nose to be an organic response. Then, I guess, he devolves out of spite? I remember, as a kid, being confused by why he changes back.

For their part, Tai and Yamato assert that friendship demands they do what they have to do, like it or not. Matt's tone when he calls out to MetalGreymon is softened to match the more reluctant vibe of the new scene.

So Taichi and Yamato are confident and dedicated to taking Agumon back no matter what, while Tai and Matt are hurting but resigned to do what they must. Given the way the dub typically handles the characters, it's kind of wild that the American version are the ones being emotionally vulnerable while the Japanese originals are tough and ready to fight.

Garurumon lunges for the Evil Spiral once more, clamping on with his jaws. Left behind, Daisuke's mind reels.

Daisuke: (thinking) Takeru and... Taichi-san too... Their bond with their Digimon is so much stronger than I thought. It must have been hard for them to say that we had no choice but to attack Agumon.

MetalGreymon shakes off Garurumon once again, then goes to stomp on V-mon. Patamon swoops in, grabbing V-mon and pulling him out of harm's way.

V-mon: Patamon.... Patamon: V-mon, ganbatte....

The subs translate ganbatte here as "Don't give up". Which is a fairly accurate description of how it's being used; Patamon's offering encouragement to keep going and persevere. To see this through to the end. Get it done.

But in English context, saying "Don't give up" to someone after saving their life kinda sounds accusatory. V-mon wasn't giving up, and neither is Patamon intending to imply that he had. The tone is more of a "We got this, bruh."

As usual, this deeply important word is just infuriatingly hard to translate accurately.

Daisuke: (grateful) Patamon! Takeru: (commanding) Daisuke-kun! Daisuke: Huh?

Takeru approaches the kneeling Daisuke, towering over him.

Takeru: Don't worry about us. Go for MetalGreymon! Daisuke: Takeru... Daisuke: (thinking) I couldn't understand how Takeru felt. I couldn't even save Patamon... Daisuke: Damn it...

Finally, Daisuke's feelings explode out of him. He throws his arms to the side and screams into the sky:

Daisuke: I'M PATHETIC!!!

Not the most graceful of battle roars but if it gets you in the fight, we'll take it.

In the dub:

Davis: (thinking) T.K. and Tai both have such a deep bond with their Digimon. Much deeper than I would have ever imagined. Must have taken a lot for Tai to be able to say we had no other choice but to attack MetalGreymon! (MetalGreymon shakes off Garurumon and goes to stomp Veemon) Patamon: I GOT YOU, VEEMON!!! (Patamon carries Veemon to safety) Veemon: I owe you one! Patamon: Don't worry. I'm keeping track! Davis: Veemon, you okay? T.K.: He is, but no thanks to you! Patamon risked his life to save him, and all you did was stand there and watch! Davis: T.K., I.... Davis: (thinking) Now I'm beginning to understand what makes friendship so powerful. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to protect them because they would do the same for you. Davis: VEEMON, I'M YOUR FRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEND!!!

Again, T.K. is much more aggressive in the dub. Takeru is visibly angry and forceful with his words, but he doesn't disparage Daisuke in the process. T.K. basically just came over here to tell Davis to jump off a bridge.

His frustration is understandable but "Hey, Davis? Go fuck yourself," is not helpful.

Daisuke's outburst suddenly causes his D-3 to glow.

A similar glow emerges from the Digimental.

Daisuke: (examining his D-3) What the.... Iori: Daisuke-san's D-3 is reacting!

The Digimental levitates into the air, floating slowly through the group. Hikari and Miyako watch it pass.

Hikari: The Digimental!

Then it arrives in front of Daisuke.

V-mon: The Digimental from earlier! Daisuke! That was your Digimental! Daisuke: My Digimental? Iori: Daisuke-san already had the Digimental of Courage. If both Digimentals belong with Daisuke, then.... (Iori turns to Takeru for support) Iori: ...what would that mean?

It means we have no idea what the rules on Digimentals are. Not only have we established zero consistency between whether they go to new kids or veterans, but we've now broken the assumption that each kid only has one Digimental assigned to them like how the Crests worked.

The neat and orderly structure of Crest assignments has completely broken down into chaos with the Digimentals.

(And that's not even the last assumption to be broken.)

In the dub:

Davis: This is new! Cody: His Digivice is responding to the new Digi-Egg! (Digi-Egg flies past Kari and Yolei) Kari: What's it doing? (It arrives in front of Davis) Veemon: Look! It stopped right in front of you! Take it. It's your Digi-Egg of Friendship, Davis. Davis: My Digi-Egg of Friendship? Cody: Davis already has the Digi-Egg of Courage so how can he now have another one? I think that means that Veemon can become twice as powerful! (Cody turns to T.K.) Cody: We can win now!

...is that how it works? I think Cody pulled that straight out of his ass. Thus finally marking him as a true successor to Izzy.

Well, whatever the Digimental does, what matters is that Daisuke's found his will to fight.

V-mon: Daisuke! Daisuke: Yes! Let's do it! DIGIMENTAL UP!!!

With a whole new Digimental, V-mon ARMOR SHINKAAAAAA!!!

Lighdramon: THUNDERING FRIENDSHIP, LIGHDRAMON!!!

Lighdramon is an Armor-stage Free-attribute Beast Digimon. His name, ライドラモン Raidoramon, takes its first two letters from the English word ライトニング Raitoningu, or "Lightning". Thus, the official romanization of "Ligh" for ライ Rai, which I will not dispute.

This can be confusing as initial assumption may be that "Lighdramon" is supposed to be "Light Dragon Monster" and not "Lightning Dragon Monster" but that's just because English is fucky. That's on us.

Narrator: Lighdramon! A Beast Digimon who challenges enemies with lightning speed! His special attacks are Lightning Blade and Blue Thunder! Iori: So a single Digimon can Armor-Evolve in two different ways!

Technically all Digimon can evolve in multiple ways but we're kinda used to our set evolution paths over here.

In the dub:

Veemon: Hey, that's cool! Davis: Hey, let's give it a try! DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!! Veemon: (Digivolution stock animation) VEEMON, DIGIVOLVE TO... Raidramon: RAIDRAMON, THE STORM OF FRIENDSHIP!!!

For the dub's preference of "[Noun] of [Virtue]" in place of "[Adjective] [Virtue]", Storm of Friendship is perfect.

The dub opted to directly translate ライドラモン Raidoramon into Raidramon. ライ into "Ligh" is complicated enough, especially without the rest of the word there to lend it context, that this is probably an innocent mistake.

If you are familiar with the word ライトニング Raitoningu enough to recognize a piece of it then you can catch their meaning easily, particularly with all the lightning and thunder and storms and stuff going on with this character.

But for someone who doesn't know a lick of Japanese looking at the word ライドラモン Raidoramon? I mean. What are you supposed to do with that? I'm surprised they didn't call him Raydramon. That is how they pronounce it, though.

Raidramon: (rundown) I am Raidramon! As Veemon, I used the Digi-Egg of Friendship to Armor Digivolve! My Blue Thunder and Electric Bite attacks annihilate my enemies! Cody: Finally someone who can stand up to the Emperor: Raidramon!

Iori's marveling at the ramifications of branching Armor forms, but Cody's still stuck on "This one's power level is over 8000 probably!"

Up top, even the Digimon Kaiser's staring in slack-jawed awe at Lighdramon, but he catches himself and tries to play it off.

Kaiser: Hmph! GET HIM, METALGREYMON!!!

Down comes the Trident Arm. Lighdramon bounds over the attack, taking to the air.

Lighdramon: BLUE THUNDER!!!

The three spikes on Lighdramon's back crackle with electricity, forming a surge of energy that he sends straight into the Evil Spiral. A direct hit, and the hardest anyone's managed to land a strike on that thing yet.

Daisuke: IT'S A HIT!!!

It does not budge.

Yamato: No good! It didn't come off! Kaiser: Huhuhuhu... It's futile.

In the dub, the Emperor does the Kaizer one better and gasps in alarm.

Emperor: (gasp) ...hmph. Show him who's in charge here! (Raidramon dodges MetalGreymon's Trident Arm) Raidramon: BLUE THUNDER!!! (Raidramon shoots the Spiral) Davis: Gotcha! (No good) Matt: It's no use! It won't come off! Emperor: Hahaha! Your weak attempts make me laugh!

The dub takes its third commercial break here, on the complete failure of "twice as powerful" Raidramon's attack. So much for that hypothesis, Cody.

Taichi: Is there no way to get it off!? Will he be like this forever!? Yamato: No, we'll get it off for sure! Trust me! Garurumon: Agumon! You have to remember! Remember Taichi! Remember me! Yamato: Daisuke! You have to believe in Agumon! Believe in yourself! Daisuke: Yamato-san.... Takeru: Daisuke-kun! You and Lighdramon need to fight together! Daisuke: Together? Lighdramon: Daisuke, get on my back! Daisuke: Right. With Lighdramon with me, I'm sure we can do it. No, we're the only ones who can do it! Yamato: (commanding) DAISUKE!!! LET'S GO!!!

Daisuke rides up on Lighdramon, joining Yamato and Garurumon at the front.

Daisuke: Yes! Lighdramon, let's give this everything we've got! Lighdramon: Yeah, we can handle this!

Daisuke is finally ready to fight MetalGreymon with full force - and, in the process, to commit himself to his Partnership with V-mon.

In the dub, we return from commercial to briefly replay the Emperor's taunts.

Emperor: Huhuhu... Give up yet? Tai: There's got to be a way to get through to MetalGreymon! Somehow! Matt: Don't worry, Tai! We won't give up! We'll get him back for you! Right, Garurumon? Garurumon: RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIGHT!!! Matt: Davis, this is a team effort! We're both going to attack him at the same time! We need you! Davis: I'm not sure.... T.K.: Not sure!? This time you're going to do things the right way! Davis: How can I!? Raidramon: It must. We'll fight together. Davis: You're right! All this time, I've been worrying about what's best for me and not the team! Well, you guys can count on me now! Matt: (agitated) Let's go! Now! (Davis rides up on Raidramon) Davis: Right! Raidramon, are you ready? Let's give it our best shot!

That is. Wildly not what he's been worrying about. In fact, it's exactly wrong. Daisuke's been held back by his empathy and sense of loyalty to Agumon. He couldn't bring himself to hurt Agumon, even if it was for Agumon's best interest.

Davis's crisis is that he's a coward who wouldn't risk peril for his friends. He doesn't care about Agumon; He's just scared of getting hurt. Which plays off the angle of the whole "Takeru risked himself for Patamon; Would you do that for me, Daisuke?" thing but is only a small piece of what we're talking about here.

Also, the adaptation remains much harsher and more aggressive towards Davis's behavior than the original is with Daisuke's.

Onward to battle! Garurumon and Lighdramon surge forward.

Taichi: I'm counting on you! Garurumon: FOX FIRE!!!

Garurumon takes the first shot at the Evil Spiral. MetalGreymon roars and sidesteps the attack so hard it nearly shakes the Kaiser free from his shoulders. While he's distracted, Lighdramon moves in.

Lighdramon: LIGHTNING BLADE!!!

Lighdramon conjures a bolt of lightning into the blade at the end of his nose, then concentrates and fires it out at the Evil Ring. His attack hits home and finally the Evil Spiral breaks off from MetalGreymon's arm.

Daisuke: Huh!? Taichi: We did it! Yamato: It came off! Kaiser: WHAT!?!?

It's over.

In the dub, the insert song Change Into Power picks up here as the kids begin their final assault.

Tai: Good luck, guys. Garurumon: HOWLING BLASTER!!! (MetalGreymon dodges) (Raidramon blasts the Dark Spiral, finally breaking it) Chosen Children: (collective gasp) Matt: Look, it's off! Emperor: WHAT!?!?

Lightning Blade is called as nothing at all. Raidramon silently shoots the Dark Spiral with lightning.

With the Spiral finally broken, MetalGreymon regresses into Agumon. A lone Airdramon swoops in, snatching up the Digimon Kaiser before he has to fall that whole distance.

(Though we've seen that he can handle fall damage for some reason.)

Without a second's hesitation, Taichi runs over and hugs Agumon.

Agumon: Ack! That hurts! Taichi: Agumon! I'm so glad it's you.... Agumon: I came back to you, Taichi. Taichi: That's right! Be more careful from now on, okay? I was so worried about you! Agumon: (crying) Taichi!

While Agumon and Taichi are having their private moment, Daisuke unpacks what just happened with the rest of the junior team.

Hikari: That was amazing, Daisuke-kun! You brought Agumon back! Miyako: You did surprisingly well. Daisuke: (stunned) ...we did it...? Raidramon: (stunned) ...seems like.... Hikari: ...Daisuke-kun? Takeru: What could be wrong with him? Iori: It seems he's having difficulty comprehending what he's just accomplished.

Well, he's out of time to figure out. Yamato appears out of nowhere with the sneak attack, grabbing Daisuke's head and mussing his hair.

Yamato: Good job, Daisuke! You did great out there! Daisuke: Eh...? Ahh....

Miyako's only willing to hand out qualified praise. Daisuke gets an ambiguous "exceeded expectations" from her. But Yamato's proud of him.

In the dub:

Tai: I'm sorry we attacked you, Agumon! Agumon: I'm sorry too! Tai: I'm sorry that you're sorry! Agumon: Well, I'm sorry that you're sorry that I'm sorry! Tai: Tell you what? I won't be sorry anymore and you don't be sorry either, okay? Agumon: ...sorry.

Aww, this is cute.

Kari: Davis, you saved the day! We thought you were wonderful. Yolei: Raidramon too! Davis: Ugh... uck uck... glrk.... Kari: Are you sick? T.K.: What's the matter with him? Cody: I'm not sure but I'm getting out of here before the throws up. (Sudden Matt Attack Affection) Matt: Davis, you saved Agumon and you didn't even lose a single hair! Davis: (pained) Not yet!

Davis being airsick from all that flight time he has no practice for is as good an explanation as any.

While the team celebrates their victory, one unhappy camper sails off into the distance atop his Airdramon slave.

Kaiser: (calmly) That's odd. According to my calculations, the Evil Spiral couldn't possibly be destroyed by an attack like that. Wormmon: Hey, Ken-chan? They all get along pretty well, right? Maybe that bond allowed them to work together and become stronger? Kaiser: (livid) ARE YOU SAYING THEIR FRIENDSHIP IS WHAT CAUSED THIS!?!? Wormmon: ...

He doesn't dare answer that question. Wormmon shuts right the fuck up before this goes badly for him.

Kaiser: (quietly) That's ridiculous. What ridiculous people!

It's interesting that he pivots from being furious at the suggestion to then calling them ridiculous. As if he's accepted Wormmon's suggestion despite the fact that he can't fathom it.

In the dub:

Emperor: I can't believe they were able to defeat one of my new Dark Spirals! I'm just gonna have to make them even more powerful! Wormmon: Hey, Ken? Is it okay if I drive for a while? You said once we took over the Digi-World that I could drive. Well, can I? Emperor: How many times have I told you!? When I'm thinking, don't talk! And I am always thinking so never talk! Why are evil geniuses always surrounded by fools!?

They strip the scene entirely and replace it with banter. The only thing that gets carried across is that the Emperor's mad that his Dark Spiral was destroyed.

Though at least the episode finally calls it a Dark Spiral again. We haven't heard that term since last episode.

While the Kaiser heads back to his lair, the other children finally make the trip back to the human world and return to Computer Club. Koushiro closes things out with one last transmission to Tentomon.

Koushiro: We managed to reclaim Agumon but, moving forward, we can't let down our guard. Please continue to gather intel for us, Tentomon. Tentomon: Sure, leave that to me!

Then the Gate closes, ending their transmission.

Meanwhile, Daisuke stares baffled at his D-Terminal. He can clearly see two egg-shaped symbols inside of it now. While he's baffled by this, Taichi and Yamato flank him from both sides.

Taichi: Daisuke, this was all thanks to you. Thank you. Daisuke: Eh? Uh, me...?

Yamato grabs Daisuke and noogies the side of his head.

Yamato: That's right, you! I'm proud of you for inheriting the Crest of Friendship.

Once Yamato lets Daisuke go, he approaches the rest of the junior team, fishing for compliments.

Daisuke: I don't really get what happened. Was I really that cool? Chibimon: Well, at the time, I didn't just feel my own power but the power of Taichi, Yamato, and everyone else too! That must have been it!

Turns out, Wormmon is right. It shouldn't have been possible to break the Evil Spiral, but Lighdramon was channeling everybody's power to make that last attack.

(This probably connects back to the final revelations about the Crests during the battle with Apocalymon. How the Crest of Friendship embodies everybody's friendship converged within Yamato and such. Not just Yamato's feelings of Friendship towards them but the Friendship he brings out of them.)

Daisuke doesn't like that answer, though, because it detracts from how cool he is. He picks up Chibimon and shakes him.

Daisuke: What are you talking about!? It had to be me! This was all thanks to me! Yamato: Turns out he's still got a long way to go. Taichi: Hehe. Daisuke: Eh!? Why!? Yamato: You keep saying "Me, me!" like you're still just a kid. Hikari: That sounds like Daisuke! Daisuke: Oh no.... (Cut to slow zoom out from the building) Everyone: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Taichi and Yamato inflate Daisuke's ego only to swiftly puncture it and bring him back down to ground once they see what they've done to him. We close the episode on this moment of levity at Daisuke's expense.

In the dub:

Izzy: Okay, we've managed to get Agumon back safe and sound but we can't relax with Ken still out there. Tentomon, I need you to be a spy and find out what he's up to. Tentomon: The name's 'mon. Tento-mon! (Davis inspects his D-Terminal) Davis: WHOA, TWO DIGI-EGGS!?!? That's cool! Tai: Davis, thanks a lot for saving Agumon. You were a good friend. Davis: Who, me? A friend? (Matt grabs and noogies Davis) Matt: That's right! C'mere! You're officially part of the team now. Time for a noogie!

Has he... Has he not been part of the team for the past ten episodes?

Davis: Hey, did you see that? I got a noogie. That means I'm one of the guys now! DemiVeemon: I have a question. If you're one of the guys now, does that mean you used to be one of the girls? And how come you never told me about it? I wish you humans would just make up your minds! (Davis picks up and shakes DemiVeemon) Davis: Okay, then how's this for friendship!?

DemiVeemon takes the revelation that Davis is transmasc pretty hard. :P

Matt: He's not the only one who's got a lot to learn! Tai: Hehe. Davis: Great! Teach me! Matt: You'll learn soon enough, Davis. Let's just take it one step at a time. Kari: Starting with the noogies. Davis: Right! (Cut to slow zoom out from the building) Davis: ACK!!! OW!!! AUGH!!! Everyone: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Narrator: Will the Digi-Destined ever stop the evil Digimon Emperor? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

What!? No, we won't! We aren't even like halfway through the Kaiser arc.

I do like the way the dub recontextualized Daisuke's despondent sideways bend as him presenting his head for further noogies. That's pretty clever.

Assessment: This is one of the episodes for 02 that I've been greatly anticipating. And it is absolutely nothing like what I thought I remembered.

I blame the word 倒す taosu. The subs were translating that as "kill" pretty consistently in the first anime, but it wasn't really a big deal. When Leomon would show up places chanting ��どもーたち倒す Kodomo-tachi taosu, it would get translated as "Kill the Children".

Linguistically, it's more accurately "Defeat the Children". But when your method of defeating them is to cut them to ribbons with a machete, that's really not a linguistic hill worth dying on. Contextually, they were trying to kill the Chosen Children. They were just doing the Japanese equivalent of a cartoon villain shouting "DESTROY THEM!!!"

So cutting out the verbal middlemon and just having them say "kill" is a decision I can understand, even if it's not entirely accurate.

But in this episode, the difference between "We may have to defeat Agumon" and "We may have to kill Agumon" is vast. That distinction kinda matters here, and I think translating it as "kill" changes the entire tone of the discussion.

Daisuke's crisis, as I remembered it, was that Taichi and the others were pushing for potentially killing Agumon if that's what it takes, and he can't bring himself to do that.

Daisuke's crisis as presented here is that he can't bring himself to even throw a punch at Agumon. It's not that he's afraid to kill his friend; It's that he's afraid of hurting him at all. That's a very different character journey.

So. Yeah. I was super excited to get to this episode, but what I remembered of it was completely wrong.

Not the first time that's happened. It will be interesting to see what else I remember incorrectly moving forward.

[rainyfestivalsweets]

9/22/24

Ok.... so some storytime. This weekend's plans were smashed to hell and if I was in a different mental space I would have fared much much worse. But I have been focusing on boundary making and personal growth so here is what happend:

A friend (SPECIFICALLY THE ONE Who was bugging me earlier this year about buying her diet products incessentaly) had called me in July, while drunk and with her husband on their anniversary. During this call, she asked me what I was really doing to lose the weight and insinuated that I was either a recipient of weight loss surgery or on Ozempic or some other GLP 1.

Mind you - This is a lady that I converse with daily over snapchat. Maybe not full in conversations, but she sees all my sweaty selfies, thoughts on mindset, and sometimes food. Mostly daily sweaty selfies.

The incessant requests to buy her weight loss bullshit this year drove me to the brink of getting off all social medias. How many fucking times do I need to say no. Mind you, this lady has been my friend since 2000.

So she tells me during this call, where she isn't really letting me speak, that she will be here this weekend and I should come hang out with her and her friend. Upon inquiry she divulges it is like a 30 year high school reunion thing.

Now, I want to see her because I feel like our friendship is floundering. She lives far away and I find most social media things to be unbearable.

Why? Weight loss is hard and I do better when I reduce interactions with people, because everything feels really emotionally raw. You also have people who will tell you that whatever you are doing is fucking wrong and you should be doing something else OR people who will see you changing your habits and will fight that tooth and nail. It doesn't really matter what you are doing, people will just foist their opinions on you. It is better to block all that shit out and focus on yourself.

So she invites me to 3rd wheel and I want to go because I want to see her in person. It is a 4 hour drive one way, and requires me to get all my weekend chores done before the weekend, have someone come by to check on my mom, who I am a caregiver for, and someone to watch my dogs. It also conflicts with a group fall cabin camping weekend, which I steadfastlu maintain I cannot attend because I have prior plans.

She writes and says at 5 pm the day before I am supposed to leave that "they are concerned" about the drive and that it is alot of driving for a very short visit. I read that as- Don't come.

I kind of expected this, and even tho the late hour annoyed me, I was able to wrangle myself and say, ok, hope you have a blast.

And I have heard basically nothing from her since.

So here is where I ask: Am I the asshole?

She seems to be giving me the silent treatment for not coming when she basically told me not to come. I think the real reason is- she invited me when she was drunk, to an event she planned with her other friend for their high school reunion, and didn't check with her other friend about inviting someone else.

I feel like she has been experiencing sober regret about inviting me to an event they obviously planned together without me. And she waited 2 months to say OOOOOps! Didn't mean to do that.

The other issue is- I also expected to get uninvited because I was sick and she has an autoimmune disorder.

But that is conjecture and not the reason she gave.

AITA??

[astrasng]

EMPTY BOX II JEONG YUNHO

pairing: idol!yunho x fem!reader

summary: yunho is your best friend, but he's in love with you. can you handle the love he gives, or you pretend to ignore and satisfy your needs only?

warnings: reader is selfish and unstable, actions of cheating and mentions of heartbreak, VERY slight NSFW but mainly focused on angst.

recommended music: empty box -ateez (obv) we can't be friends - ariana grande

author's note: this is pure fiction, the act in this story is by my imagination and not based off any true events. please do not copy the work.

(also i DREAMED this fic and i couldn't handle being yunho in my mind 24/7 so i had to write it out lol enjoy)

Do you know that feeling when your heart desires someone so bad, that you can’t talk about your feelings openly, fearing that what if you screw everything up. Your heart is so full of someone, that you can’t even call it yours. Feelings are dangerous, but the heart is heavier than people predict. Especially when you’re in love. You're so full of different emotions that it sometimes pushes out the ability to speak or act straight. So it results in you denying everything you feel. Just in order to protect them and your friendship. 

But nevertheless, 

When you hear the other confessing those feelings you feel, it all comes together. 

When you hear him whispering “I think I’m in love with you.”

When you can feel his warm breath fanning over your skin, being so close you can feel his body warmth, 

When you can feel him pulling the covers over your body because you fell asleep one night you two watched a movie together,

It all comes together. 

You need to confess. 

So one day, when Yunho announced that he’s going away on a mini trip to another city, and he needs someone to keep an eye on his house and dog, you volunteered happily. Because what are best friends for? Without a doubt, Yunho trusted his house on you. It makes you feel so warm inside, knowing that he feels the same way changes everything. Although, the fact that he’s going away without knowing how you feel, eats you alive. Maybe you should’ve let him know about your feelings before it’s too late. However, it’s been almost a week since he left you here, and as you sit on the carpeted floor in his living room in front of a coffee table, you’re thinking about him. The weather outside went from sunny and warm to suddenly humid and cloudy as the day slowly creeps into late afternoon. You know it’s risky being in a relationship with an idol, but somehow that doesn’t bother you. The only thing on your mind is being happy, with him in your arms. 

But no use of these thoughts. It just slowly eats you alive, the more you think about it. You should wait for him like you’ve always been, sitting in his house and taking care of his dog like you promised. But no. Something inside you tells otherwise,and that is exactly how you end up standing in the middle of his room, staring at his neatly made bed in the dark room, only the streetlight illuminating the room. It kills you staring at his bed, basically still smelling his perfume he probably put on himself the day he left his house. It’s overwhelming thinking back to those times when you slept over because you were “tipsy” and needed someone who would take care of you. No doubt, you’re friends called Yunho. 

Of course they didn’t know how painful it was for Yunho to pick you up from parties and feed you with warm food and clothes in his home just as a friend. 

Whenever  your friends called him up, already teasing him about looking out for your boyfriend at the time to not to get jealous. 

It made his heart shatter in pieces when you stood in his door, wrenched because of the heavy rain outside because your so lovely boyfriend broke up with you. Saying the excuse that you needed a friend. So naturally, Yunho had enough.

Without your notice, he started distancing himself a little, until one night,you called him again, asking if you could crash at his house because your stuff is still at your ex-boyfriend’s place, still not being able to gather the courage to stand in front of him. What can he say when you’re asking him in a desperate voice, the voice only he knows because he heard it a hundred times? In no time, you were eating his self-made food and watching his favorite movies on his TV. He thought it would be a smart idea having you so close to his body, almost cuddling like a normal couple would, but instead you weren’t together like that. He lets out a sigh when he notices you sleeping deeply, dreaming about something happy because he can see a slight smile in the corner of your mouth. Before he could stop himself, he whispers;

I’m in love with you. 

But that was months ago. And he still thinks it was good this way, telling you he loves you without you really knowing, just so the pain would be lifted up from his chest and heart. 

As these memories flood your mind, you let the tears soak in his bedsheets you changed oh so dearly earlier today. As you’ve been spending your days here you avoided his room, afraid that if you go inside, you would call Yunho up and order him home. You couldn't do that, not when he’s working. But as you spent more time in the room, it didn’t sound so bad. Would he be able to come home? Just because you called? 

The answer is yes. 

Whispering on the phone that you need him home immediately, he left everything and rushed from the hotel he was staying at. He loved you too much to ignore such a simple request. It was you, in the end. But as you put down the phone, you look around once more in his room, you remember back one more time. 

To that night. 

That night, you were selfish. It happened way before he confessed, but just by looking at him you knew he might have felt something towards you. And you used it perfectly to please yourself. As usual, you and your “new” boyfriend had an argument and you didn’t want to be in the same place as him, so you escaped in your “Yunho always got my back” world. And Yunho couldn’t say no to you, not when you were crying in his arms, squeezing his body so close and telling him please don’t let go. It was unfair, really. How easily he fell for you and said yes to everything you asked for. Even when you asked him to take you to his room and make love to you. 

You overstepped something that night, but still wouldn’t admit it. 

But that night, you truly felt like you made love with someone with no strings attached. You truly felt like you were being heard. Someone cared for you,someone loved you. 

You felt his lips tracing your body like a feather, worshiping every part of you like fine crystals in the sea. You looked like a goddess in his eyes, the way your hair sprawled on the bed sheets, your body arching when his lips got lower and lower until he found your sweet spot that needed so much attention. That night, you repeated his name like a mantra, whispering in his ears to go faster or harder, or scratching his back to punctuating your words when you say — please Yunho, make me yours~

And all he said was; I love you - whispering in your hair when you screamed his name around him due the pleasure he caused. He whispered your name over and over, begging for you to finally hear him. But no use. 

Somehow you knew how to have him wrapped around your fingers. 

So why did you ignore him up until now?You don’t exactly know either. 

But there he was. You hear the car pulling up to the driveway, the headlights illuminating the semi-dark living room as you enter, running to the door just to almost trip over some dog toy in process. You shouldn’t be this excited, but you can’t help but smile when you open up the door and run towards him. Your heart skips a beat as you take in his tall figure,wearing a long gray coat as he runs towards you in the rain. He towers over you as both of you stop in front of each other, feeling the cold rain falling on your bodies, but that doesn’t even matter to you. His warm hands sneaking up on your cold face says it all. His worried expression takes you in. 

“Are you alright? Why did you-” 

You cut Yunho off by pulling him closer to you, inching closer to his lips but this time, the unexpected happens. His hands grips your face harder to keep you back, defeatedly putting his forehead on yours. The rain rolls off his dark soaked hair onto your face, making you smile as you look into his eyes.

 “I love you,Yunho!” 

The world stops, it feels like raindrops are freezed in the air, waiting for everything to go back to normal. Yunho feels the same way too, waiting for you to continue to make sure he doesn’t hallucinate anything. A moment passes, and your hair is soaked by now as you watch Yunho’s expression. His eyebrows are scrunched together slightly, his eyes searching for something in yours, while on the other hand, you smile brightly at him. It feels like you’ve been rejected, without words. 

“Can’t you hear me? I love you-”

Instead of finishing your sentence, you grab him by his face,slowly kissing his cold lips to snap him back to reality. It feels unreal to him, really. Too unreal, in fact. So he can’t help but trust his intuitions and pull you away from him. Your eyes widens when you take in his disappointed expression, his eyes still closed. “Do you…do you really love me?”He stutters out, his gaze suddenly glued to yours. Without another doubt, you nod heavily. “Of course.” 

“Do you realize what you're doing, Y/N?” As another moment passes the rain pours harder on your bodies, like the weather knows how Yunho feels too. You make a confused face, still holding his eye contact. “What are you talking about?” 

But then, he lets you go suddenly, stepping away from you as he swipes his hand over his wet face. “Both of us know what this is really about. Right?” 

“I think we should go inside, we’re going to catch a cold. Let’s go have a bath, yeah?” You whisper, trying to catch his hand from his frustrated face, but he pulls away. 

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me? How miserable my life is because of you?” 

The words simply slip out of his mouth, visibly not regretting. Yunho should feel morse because of his harsh words, but he doesn’t. He finally feels free saying these words to you, after being used to many times. The look on your face only upsets him more, the clear confusion and innocence sits on your eyes like you don’t know how you played him just right. You really thought you finally sorted your feelings out. Was it a lie? 

“I have been here for you, everytime something shit happens to you, Y/N. I was here when your shitty boyfriends abused you or you had enough of them. I let you use me because I was so blinded by my own feelings. Do you still not realize?” 

His words hit you like a thunderstorm echoing in the dark sky. It makes you more confused than ever. 

“Can you imagine what I had to go through because you thought of me just as a friend while I loved you with all my heart?” 

“But I love you too, Yunho-”

“No you don’t. You just the idea of me being here for you every time you fuck something up. You need someone to clear the mess up after you, and your other friends clearly can’t do that.” 

As Yunho continues, you feel like the world is slipping out from under you. 

“I tried to move on from the fact that we are not meant to be, but you had to come back and seduce me again, right?” 

He inches away from you, betrayal and pain showing on his tired face as he lets out another sigh. Before you could say anything else, you hear the car door opening and closing again, a figure closing to the two of you with an umbrella. Your breath catches in your throat as Yunho looks down next to him, his arms sneaking around the girl standing next to him. 

“This…this never meant to be on a long run, Y/N.” He says, not looking in your way as he takes the umbrella from the girl, her eyes intervening with his as she looks up at him with worry. You know this look from him. He used to look at you like that too. “W-what?” You’re left speechless when Yunho extends his arm towards you, keeping you under the umbrella as he takes your own hand and places it in it. He takes his coat off and hovers it above the girl next to him, his hand sliding into hers as he looks at you once more. “I think you should go home tomorrow and never come back. For the both of us.” 

Yunho loving you teached you a lot of things, nevertheless, in the end, you were just a girl who happened to choose the wrong people over the good ones.

[lulu-recs]

never have I ever written a love letter by wannnabesuper

during a drinking game, remus lets slip that he's written a love letter. sirius (and an increasingly large group of friends) won't rest until they get to the bottom of this!

confessional spaces by thatfilmgraduate

sirius black is trapped in an enclosed space with his best friend and fellow marauder, remus lupin, and some interesting truths come to light.

or: sirius black asks a lot of questions and remus lupin is a moody fucker.

the light that blinds my eyes by aryastark_valarmorghulis

sirius is in love. remus is too, he just doesn't know it yet.

in which sirius is demi and pines a lot, remus is oblivious, and they should move together as soon as possible.

possibly a date by anonymous

basically sirius asks remus to dinner, but remus doesn't realize it's a date.

it's me or the dog by ruarcher (coriesocks)

sirius didn’t realise how much he relied upon his best friend (and took him for granted) until he was replaced. with a dog.

come in from the cold by goodboylupin (somebetterwords)

the first Hogsmeade weekend of sixth year. alternatively: in which sirius frets and works to keep remus warm, james argues it’s not that cold, remus wishes the cold brought something more, and peter just wishes everyone would get their heads out of their asses.

solntse by lumosinlove

sirius, a young russian billionaire hires remus, who is working part time as a call boy to make ends meet. things happen, feelings occur.

that’s the art of getting by by sarewolf ♡

“what do you want me to do?” remus says, tiredly. all he wants is to curl up on his bed. smoke a pack of cigarettes. get drunk. he can’t stop looking at harry. “remus...” dumbledore is gentle. remus hates when he has that tone. hates that he knows it will hurt. “there is no one else left.” a bitter laugh escapes him. “so you’ll curse the poor thing with a werewolf for a guardian?”

lonely dancers by anonymous

remus didn't want to go out in the first place, and now lily's gone and his crush is kissing someone else. Nothing can save this from being the worst nightout ever. except maybe another person, who's also by himself... coincidentally

wading in waist-high water by colgatebluemintygel ♡

remus is a phd student and hobbyist baker who finds himself adrift following his father’s death. on a whim, he enters the great british bake off and is swept up in a flurry of curdled custard, shrunken souffle, and under-proved dough. remus expects to be challenged and to embarrass himself on public television. what he doesn’t account for are the friendships he develops with the other contestants and the deep connection he forms with his teenage crush, sirius black: charming ex-boy band member and bake off presenter.

or

sirius groans, dropping his head back into his hands. “it’s the dough,” he mumbles into the skin of his palms. “it’s the kneading. it’s his hands. they’re obscene.” lily laughs. “they are a bit, aren’t they?”

customers only by orphan_account ♡

"dragging her eyes back to sirius, the hostess pointed a perfectly manicured nail to the sign on the podium that read: restroom for customers only." a charming stranger saves sirius black from a sticky situation when little harry's on the verge of wetting himself.

just like the movies by venusjewels

standing off to the side of the red carpet, sirius wasn’t nervous at all. he had a flask of vodka and blind confidence, what more did he need?

sirius is a reluctant red carpet interviewer for the 2023 awards season.

remus is a charming movie star that just so happens to attend a lot of awards shows.

the best by far is you by orphan_account

padfoot and moony meet over mutual follows on tumblr. remus, the blind student, hires sirius, the fallen aristocrat, to be a reader for his classes. they fall in love in separate ways, and fall apart. then fall together. their love is almost as ridiculous as they are.

my jokes are my armour, my kindness is my sword by littleoldrachel ♡

“my mum died last year,” sirius says at last, perhaps more bluntly than he intended – perhaps not given the defiant set of his chin. “and we don’t have a gravestone yet, till the ground settles or whatever, so I want something I can put there to represent her and how toxic she was.” remus blinks. whatever he had expected sirius to say, it hadn’t been that. he had inferred that he and regulus had a complicated relationship with their blood family, but this was a wholly unexpected turn. unfortunately, instead of the empathic response he knows is in there somewhere, what comes out is: “yes, that sounds like a perfectly healthy response to grief.”

you and me, moony by amethystheart2421

prompt 85: ambiguous loyalties during the first war. they’re both using each other to get a piece of sirius they can’t have. au in which remus was in ravenclaw and only became friends with sirius in later years at hogwarts. remus is staying at sirius's flat resting after a full moon when his old boyfriend shows up... his old boyfriend, who happens to be sirius's little brother, and a death eater.

hot library hunk by thefeistyrogue

sirius and james fight over who gets to serve the hot library hunk that comes into their cafe.

to say goodbye is not forever by greywolfandmoon

when remus lupin falls in love, he lets go. when he lets go, he writes. he stores all his letters in a shoebox underneath his bed. one day, to his horror, all his letters are magically sent out ...and James has an idea. inspired by to all the boys I've loved before by jenny han. no prior knowledge needed.

by any other name by under_the_willow ♡

it was chance that brought sirius to moony's new and used books on one cold winter's morning - chance, and james potter. he couldn't tell if it was destiny that put remus lupin behind the front desk.

destiny or not, sirius finds himself visiting the quaint bookstore more and more, until he can't imagine going a day without dropping by to talk to remus, and share a cup of tea.

he finds himself captivated by the amber-eyed man - who seems to have even more secrets than sirius himself. secrets that show themselves in mysterious scars and an unnamed illness, and mingle with the one sirius keeps tucked away in his pocket, in the shape of a wooden wand.

but secrets don't like being shoved to the side, and it's only a matter of time before the truth makes itself known.

scent of summer snow by tracingpatterns

remus had spent seven years watching james potter and sirius black. it was impossible not to the get drawn in by their magnetism, impossible not to watch them when they were together, impossible not to be affected by the way the whole world seemed to centre around them. it wasn't that he was jealous, exactly, but when he lay awake in bed listening to the two of them whisper, unaware that he was still awake, he couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to be a part of that.

love by the seaside by viwrites

remus is an artist who, after a particularly messy breakup, finds himself drawn to the cornish coast. his fresh start is disrupted, however, when he meets someone who reminds him an awful lot of his ex-boyfriend.

under the glow of neon lights by viwrites

james swallows the last of his drink and takes an ice cube in his mouth, rolling it on his tongue and then cracking it between his molars. regulus wants to chase it down his throat – remus leans in close and does just that.

he can’t quite make it out from here, but he knows what it feels like. remus’ fingers digging half-moon marks into the soft flesh of james’ cheeks, holding him there and groaning into his mouth, the tangle of tongues – one ice cold and one blazing fucking hot.

regulus bites down hard on his lip and mumbles something that sounds like “sorry, I have to go.”

as it was by peachyybabe ♡

"you know it's not the same as it was" a story about falling in love with a stranger in a bookstore and learning how to live again.

best gift ever by spookeart ♡

“the sensation of his lover’s hands creeping under his clothes while he’s not even there and regulus is in a room full of people is exhilarating. regulus’ lips part in a silent cry, uncaring when drool leaks out of his mouth and drips on his lap. he can’t even make sense of the pleasure coursing through him that’s not his —and yet is his.”

or, james is devilish, so when he offers matching rings for regulus and him to wear, telling him they’re enchanted to connect their bodies so they can feel what the other feel, regulus expects nothing less from him than to use it at the least appropriate moment. and james doesn’t disappoint.

the thing by realityshowjunky

sirius continued: “I thought this little guy could keep you company while I’m at work.” remus laughed as the puppy planted lick upon lick across his face. “I love you,” he said.

sirius’ felt his own breath hitch. “I lo—”

“I love you,” remus repeated to the puppy, in a high-pitched voice sirius had never heard come out of his mouth. “I love you, I love you, I love you!”

-

in which Sirius buys Remus a puppy and immediately regrets it.

how remus got his groove back by realityshowjunky ♡

after two years of noncommittal sex : remus tells sirius that he loves him. sirius firmly rejects him. remus tries to move on. sirius is not happy.

or

remus lupin becomes king of the cockroaches, fabian prewett writes a book, gilderoy lockhart is a catfish, and sirius black realizes he's a fucking idiot.

our destiny in the stars by orphan_account ♡

having no luck in the dating field, and insecure about his body, remus checks out a dating website which offers the users the opportunity to get to know a person before seeing what they look like. it's during this time he meets sirius, an enthusiastic teacher--and they immediately click. when they agree to meet, remus sees a photo of sirius and immediately panics. he's too good looking to ever be interested in someone like remus. what the tawny-haired man doesn't know, is sirius has already checked him out online and has fallen head over heels for the adorable editor.

fiery-coloured world by orphan_account

and though remus had a thick jumper and coat, they were still soaked and frozen as they ran across the pavement, laughing with their cold fingers clinging to each other like it was noah’s bloody flood and they were about to be swept away.

then someone—sirius was never sure who, though he often liked to take credit for it—closed the distance and lips met lips. and that was all it took, really. besotted. smitten. twitterpated—the word remus liked most of all.

sirius knew it would be minutes, moments, seconds before his heart told him he was in love and there was no going back from the emotional tidal wave that was remus bloody lupin.

in daylight by essie_cat

after twelve years in azkaban and two years on the run, sirius finally has the chance to settle down. remus does whatever he can to encourage that.

(or, instead of being bitter and depressed at grimmauld place, sirius gets chubby and domestic and grudgingly happy.)

hot child in the city by shes_reckless

sex worker/motel manager au. remus lupin is a motel manager who works the graveyard shift at a motel notoriously frequented by sex workers. sirius black is a regular.

the boy in the bordello by yumenouveau

regency era - london- sirius has spent the last five years starting a new life for himself as a brothel worker until late one night a stranger enters his room wanting only to talk.

the truth in the dare by marie_tomas ♡

remus has no idea why the gryffindors always dare sirius to snog him every time james, peter and sirius play truth or dare. yet for some reason, he can't bring himself to complain about it.

a dance move too complex by dark_owl_records

“he’s trying to find me a girlfriend,” remus admits.

lily immediately snorts at the prospect, but then, when turning to say something, she sees his face. what he looks like he can’t be sure, but it’s bad enough that she stops herself and says, “no, you're serious? He’s really… wow, boys are stupid.”

“lily.”

“right, no, sorry. just. why does he-?”

“it’s a long story.”

shaking things up by noisemakers

bartender!au. in an irritatingly thoughtful plot by serial matchmakers james potter and lily evans, remus lupin winds up at a gay bar in the middle of London. it just so happens that the bartender is a friend of james', and he's taken a special interest in remus.

swipe left for safety by remy_writes5 ♡

his finger hesitated over a picture of someone who absolutely couldn’t be real. he had long, dark hair that fell well past his shoulders and grey eyes that remus thought must have been either contact lenses or photoshopped. high cheekbones and sinful lips the man looked like a model. remus was not about to get catfished by a picture that was probably of someone famous that he just didn’t recognize. besides, what kind of a name was sirius anyway? it was obviously fake.

he swiped left. not today, satan.

“hard pass on that guy, huh?” someone said from above remus. “ouch.”

turn on my charm by bethanlovescoffee ♡

sirius black is a youtube phenomenon. a youtube phenomenon who develops a crush on his video editor.

discards by picascribit ♡

when assistant librarian sirius black develops a crush on a college student at the seattle public library, all he wants to know is whether he's cool about dating trans guys. but remus's life is more complicated than sirius ever could have guessed.

we will fill the cracks together by newskyillusion

remus works in a library and at his parents pub in a small, welsh town.

sirius black is doing his phd on werewolves and comes to a small, welsh town to do some research.

the bark's not always worse by sableunstable

sometimes, the bite's just as bad.

forever by orphan_account

sirius black--coda, outcast, family disappointment, and fairly famous youtuber who runs a sign language channel siriuslysigns with his best mate, james.

remus lupin-- vegan hipster who dropped out of university and lives with his best mate peter, and together run howlingmoon's diy, barmy science experiments, and ukulele tutorials channel.

when sirius becomes enamoured with moony's singing, he dedicates a sign tutorial in hopes he'll be noticed. this leads to exchanging of shout-outs and videos, and what sirius hopes, is a little something more.

[carmenized-onions]

okay am i insane, probably, but hear me OUT!! yk i am yelling for that squidink spinoff (LETS GO LESBIANS (bi actually)) but a richip au/spinoff/something??? you cooked a bit - a lot - with that vision. like again HEAR ME OUT. i LIVE for platonic richip, my fave besties!!! but also chip being planned for richie makes so much sense??? and also after his speech to david (blegh) ‘I WOULD BE SO LUCKY’ (he has her number memorized!! her biggest defender!!her guard dog!!) how can they not smooch?? at least in one universe?? and also chip is the best and coolest aunt to eva, so imagine chip as a step mom?? and chip thinking her and richie weren’t friends (/only friends by circumstance) when in fact he was fucking fighting for her the whole time and then years later their friendship evolves into something more??? i love a friends to lovers what can i say, and richip would be PEAK, devour the dynamic in fact.

also for shits and giggles imagine MIKEY’s reaction to canon richip (yes you’re the canon actually😌). like either if mikey is rip, then imagine richip joking about what his reaction would be (which is sweet but sad at the same time) or if he’s alive yay!! then MAN would he have some thoughts!!

(also richip in the mikey era would be so cool to see because being in that era is so interesting but i don’t think there’s any way around what mikey was going through so i can’t really see richip happening organically during that time cause they were both hauling ass to keep mikey alive)

SO I GUESS WHAT IM SAYING IS WE NEED FUCKING RICHIP AS WELL

is this just my sneaky way of making you write more for the bear because we need every pairing cause you’re the best one out there and no one else can compare (in my eyes)??perchance, a smidge

I HONESTLY LOVE TO HEAR THIS HAHA, oops all romance for everyone !!!

RiChip dynamic is so fun to me, I think I've said before but I'm nothing if not a parrot of myself--- they are just so everything to each other, yknow? Like thats my road dog that's my best friend that's my work husband but maybe my real husband but also my cousin but not in a weird way but also my dad but also my estranged other half

yknow?

it's so far away in my brain now, but i remember my whole idea with 'Handyman and Richie' started out not even as her being this integral past but actually just a called in handyman that is really the ONLY ONE that notices how hard richie works, and how much shit he STILL gets despite growing so much; like, the scene from Just Dropped in the parking lot was the FIRST scene i thought of, in this series, but as Richie/Chip's like ooo la la sparks fly i see you omg let's kiss, type beat. when he death grip hugs? that was the smooch moment!

they were gonna be a very messy almost friends with benefits basically (but the benefits are that she can fix his broken shit). they were SO casual by chappell roan core. in the end i am happy where i landed with carmen, but just fun behind the scenes facts, ig

but anyways, i think in CK, because of Richie and also even Syd being my first ideas for a romance, i truly can't help but put a sprinkle of tension in everything. a dash, perhaps. I should make a compilation of Richie Chip moments for myself. I love them dearly.

OH. fun fact, on the topic of the David speech; little piece of CK canon that, i should probably maybe write a blurb for at some point: Richie has her number memorized because she's his emergency contact!

I think initially it was probably Tif, then Mikey, then Donna. And then post Mikey, Tif and Chip, and post BAD NEWS, just Chip.

And a lil extra bit: 100% when he went to jail, he was highly considering calling Chip, but figured, probably NOT the best way to reintroduce himself. ugh. i just think it's a fun parralel to syd, who also called when shit went sideways

i need to stop yapping it's past mid night but truly now i gotta consider the ramifications of mikey's feelings about Chip and Richie. I am so unsure.

I think he'd just be like oh of fucking course. But with his whole shipping of Carmen and Chip, I think he'd be tastefully bitchy about it, honestly. I imagine Mikey'd probably off-handedly mention her fitting Carmen well, and Richie would have to debate either going "haha,,,, yeahh,,,,, for surrreeeeee maannnnn" or telling him TO "LAY AWF THAT'S MY BROAD", those were his playful misogyny days, so. lil bit probably.

anyways. gotta go ruminate on this some more. richie and chip are fun. the man really knows how to express his gratitude for her, and i think that's what gets y'all ABSOLUTE HORN DOGS the most riled up. praise kink?

[sakitenmaenjoyer]

4 the fic ask thing if u want to share info on any or all of them I would clap and cheer

fuck yeah

emunene little mermaid au: ive talked about this like once, but it's basically what it sounds like. emu is a princess; nene is a mermaid

plot stuff, emu goes on a ship, emu is saved by nene when her ship goes down, and she's very !!!! when she realizes that nene is the one with the singing voice she'd been hearing right after her grandpa died. unfortunately she is half delirious when she's saved and doesn't remember how nene looks. emu vows to look for the beautiful lady with the beautiful voice....

ruinene and emukasa would be the platonic pairings in the fic. i considered having tsukasa be emu's fiance? if only to parallel the original story. nene won't stab tsukasa. probably. but she does find him deeply annoying at first. he and emu might be close enough to consider a marriage of convenience...still havent figured that part out yet. nene gets less annoyed by tsukasa when she sees why he's emu's friend

rui is the sea witch, and he helps nene become temporarily human.

i dont have any of it fleshed out but i want to do something with the idea so bad. emu dragging nene to see the sights of the human world and to socialize.......nene being emu's company for longer than either knew. nene realizing the value of her voice when it's gone....she thought being silent wouldn't be any different from normal, but emu made her want to talk, and to sing, to yell and laugh. she wants to have an our happy ending moment with emu but she can't

rui angst fic/TtSaB/Working Title: "When faced with the unthinkable, Rui struggles to navigate old feelings and new fears. Fortunately, he has his friends by his side... it's just a matter of letting them in."

this is a fic ive been chipping at had since curtain call came to en LMAO. i asked 'hey can i have curtain call rui please please please ill write and post that fic idea i have' and rui came home in a single pull. so im legally bound to write and post it eventually. here's some of the scenes ive done

actual dogshit writing lmao. but yeah this fic is more serious than any of my other prsk ideas. i wanted rui to have at least one important scene with each wxs member, because their friendship is at the core of this. also wanted to include the vocaloids bc it's not project sekai without them....even if the idea of talking about your personal problems to hatsune miku is. well.

the plot and title is under wraps for the time being, but here's my notes on how i want to characterize rui

the fic should be 8 chapters. It's teetering between a Teen Rating and a Mature Rating, but I should probably write the rest before deciding anything...

other:

whenever im bored, i format unwritten fic ideas into stories on ao3. ive written absolutely almost nothing for either of these, but it's nice to imagine i have lmao

But I'm Still Here: Saki goes invisible, and everyone around her proceeds to freak out as they search for the 'missing' girl. includes tsukasa ping ponging between 'we'll find her, we have to' and 'it's so fucking over', leo/need trkes and failing not to fall into depression, and saki feeling guilty that Everyone's lives are put on hold for her. the original idea was set before they debut, but maybe it should be after (so toya would have surpassed rad weekend already lmao).

everyone who adores saki makes themselves sick with worry. especially since it lasts about a week. tsukasa has not been that anxious in his fucking life. he's coping...fine. he's doesn't throw himself down while wailing at least. and he doesnt vomit from stress (preventing both takes a lot of self control). leo/need try to be strong for each other, but they are all sad shivering dogs. shiho wants to punch to be useful but knows she can't do anything. ichika tries to stay hopeful, like saki would want. honami tries to be their calm leader...but theyre like, 16/17, so theyre all just anxious.

Phthonus: Rui is envious and sad the fic, rip bozo. it'd be an introspective fic. i'd want rui to subconsciously compare and contrast himself and bakuno, and come to the realization that tsukasa (romantically) likes the parts of bakuno that rui doesn't have (bakuno's timidness, his lack of confidence, his acting, his ability to not annoy tsukasa lmao). but he also has traits that rui does have (his passion for theatre, obsession with writing stories, talent above his age range, the ability to bounce ideas off of tsukasa)

tsukasa still loves rui, but he never saw him in a romantic light. if he ever did, then it's too late....tsukasa set his eyes on bakuno and went "i can fix him". and unfortunately, tsukasa isn't polyamorous. rui deals with the heartache every time he sees tsukasa, even though it hurts him. he loves him too much to ever look away

uhh other stuff without titles-

bakuno/tsukasa fic, maybe a kotaro/akito fic. they would be in a series about the npcs waxing poetic about the ocs. throw in some pairings like miyake & rui, otori siblings & emu, yukki and mizuki, nagi and an....but the first fic would be bakukasa because i like them a lot lmao

Another rui is jealous fic, but it ends in rks- bakuno and tsukasa sign up to be gay lovers in a short film and rui's clenches his teeth and tries not to mope over it. (he is the one that asked them to do it) he does not know why and thinks there's something wrong with the film/acting rather than himself. he's stupid. meanwhile tsukasa is slowly realizing he likes men bc of gay research he did... and while he thinks bakuno is cute, he's immediately hit in the face that he likes rui a Lot.

saki in mogami land fic- saki gets isekaid in a hell world where everyone hates her/doesn't know her. i cant decide yet. maybe both. tsukasa and her parents say mean shit to her, ichika avoids her, her favorite idol doesn't even know who she is. the ending is her going back to her normal world, where she proceeds to be crushed by tsukasa and her parents (she went missing for a week. tsukasa cries the hardest at her reappearance... though her parents aren't too far behind) this is another "i want to show saki how loved she is by taking it away from her" fic

ruikasa are fucking dumb fic - tsukasa confesses to rui, they get together, and then things go down hill because neither know how to act in a new relationship. tsukasa wants to be a good boyfriend, so he treats rui differently (in a way that bothers rui). he's probably sweet and nice and doting, which rui like, but it feels more like a role tsukasa wants to perfect. rui wants tsukasa to be himself. at the same time, rui also wants to be a good boyfriend, but becomes aware that he has no idea how to do that...so instead he subconsciously tests their relationship, wondering just how far he could push tsukasa to get him to go back to "normal". the conclusion is that theyre stupid and just needed to adjust and realize nothing changed

future wxs meets present wxs - there r so many ideas i have for this it'd fucking ridiculous. the most prominent one is future rks meeting present wxs. another one is 3rd anni tsukasa meeting pre wonder magical showtime tsukasa

wxs takes care of child wxs - due to sekai bs, there are teenage wxs and child wxs. they all take turns and interact with the kids...tsukasa and baby rui & nene and baby rui would be cute i think. my ideas are

1) baby rui getting sad that tsukasa said his ideas are too dangerous (he's literally five and wants to jump from a high place). tsukasa feels guilty about his sad little face and offers to do it for rui. cue rui's excitement that an adult wants to try his idea

2) baby rui looks at grown nene like a proud parent and says 'i'm so proud of you nene' and nene goes 'you're literally five. also youve told me that before.' she still says thank you though, bc it's cute and she's fond

child/middle school wxs meets emu's grandpa - rakunosuke shows up during difficult times in tsukasa/rui/nene's lives and helps them smile. none of them remember him, but during that moment, he's a bright light. maybe some emu/rakunosuke parallels?

kamiyama group during mizuki5 - i made a post abt this already, but a silly fun fic to what fun everyone had at the festival. nobody knows mizuki is suffering. very bittersweet

saki helps tsukasa get ready for a date with rui - saki gives tsukasa questionable dating advice and tsukasa ends up botching date with rui (rui doesnt care). includes tsukasa trying to be a gentleman, saki getting love advice from manga and magazines, and rui having a good time watching tsukasa fumble be a gentleman

arcland rui - canon rui wakes up in universe where he joined arcland and asahi. it shows an alternative path rui could have taken, and how that path would have been every bit as valid as keeping wxs together

...unfortunately, rui isn't happy with this because wxs disbanded and he doesn't talk to them as often. he doesn't even go to school with them anymore. (also he has a situationship thing with asahi And tsukasa but he doesn't notice either of them lmao)

i probably have others but these are the ones that come to mind first...hope this is all okay!

[austinslounge]

Idk if this has been pointed out, but I just saw Dua post a photo dump of her vacation on the British countryside, it has Callum and his dog featured, that relationship looks so much healthier than what A/K have. And nobody can tell me they are more famous that's why they need to hide basically, cause they are just not, no offence. When have we ever seen Austin spend time with his family and friends with her around? They are only seen when money is somehow involved which makes it seem more like business than a relationship. Poor guy got himself in this situation, where someone's overprivileged daughter can have so much influence on his image cause of who her family knows. When he finally leaves her will be a day for celebration. Cause rn he is just being used, I don't doubt he gets paid somehow but materialistic things can't replace love.

Looook -- Say what you will about Callum and Dua, but those two actually look genuinely in love, and like they're having the time of their lives with each other😁🥰❤️

When I see pictures of them together, I want what she's having lol 😆

They look like such cute little love birds 🥰❤️

When have we EVER seen Austin and Kaia genuinely looking this genuine and happy together while out in public with each other? 🥴

When you do the picture comparison, it's hard not to notice that Callum and Dua look far happier than Austin and Kaia. 👀

I honestly don't see how Kaustin shippers can be so gaga over Kaustin, when Callum and Dua, or Tom and Zendaya are right there. Rofl 🤣

You know who else used to look lovey-dovey like this together? Austin and Vanessa 👀 -- you know, people in a real relationship with each other. 🤭

Idk what "situationship" Austin and Kaia are in with each other, but it certainly doesn't look fulfilling, or even simply fun. 🥴

I won't make speculations on whether Austin is getting paid to date Kaia or not (that seems a bit of a stretch to me 🤔) -- All I'll say is that neither of them look as happy as they should be in a romantic relationship, and something about it seems devoid of love, warmth, or even genuine friendship to me. It seems a bit contrived. That's just the vibe that I get from them.

And it has nothing to do with them being super famous and private either, because Tom and Zendaya are way more famous than Austin and Kaia, and are notoriously private about their relationship, yet you can still sense the deep genuine love and friendship that Tom and Zendaya have for each other. 😊

[possum-quesadilla]

New chapter of Time’s Arrow, “Good luck, babe! You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling” is up! Everyone say “thank you, concussion.” (Don’t actually. It sucks.) THIS CHAPTER IS PARTICULARLY ROUGH. PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS CAREFULLY AND PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

As always, here are the extras!

- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Good Luck, Babe!” By Chappell Roan! I think it is pretty self explanatory, haha.

- The songs for this chapter are “A Deer Mistaking Candles for Headlights” by Crywank, “Racehorse: Get Married!” By Jordaan Mason, “bad idea!” By girl in red, “Gross” by Penelope Scott, “maggot belly” by awfultune, “Lavender” by Penelope Scott, “Personal” by Stars, “Little Soldiers” by The Crane Wives, “Butch 4 Butch” by Rio Romeo, and, of course, “Good Luck, Babe!” By Chappell Roan!

- “ “Go! Class starts in…” he leaned away, squinting hard at the clock on the wall just outside the kitchen. “… some.. amount of time.” “… I need to take you to the optometrist.” The teen opened the door and went to step outside, ignoring the demon’s ‘huh?’.” - Beetlejuice’s eyesight suuuuucks. They’ve never been to an eye doctor, or even heard of one. They really need glasses. Perhaps they will get some soon!

- “The very thought of the feeling of food in his mouth, of the savory and salty tastes and mushy textures overwhelming his senses made his stomach turn. But the tug at his non-functional heart strings at the image of Barbara’s disheartened expression was stronger, more painful.” - Not the best motivation to eat, but honestly, any motivation can be good motivation when you’re having trouble getting yourself to eat!

- “Did anyone see you? You barely pass as human, and you’re a stranger in this town. Did anyone bother you? Are you alright?” “Geez, Chuck, when-” “Where have you been?! Do you know how late it is, young man?” - Get parent-ed, idiot!

- “‘Young man’? I am neither of those.” - This is a cheeky reference to a similar joke in “Good Omens”!

- “… English isn’t my best language.” “What others do you know?” “.. let’s put a pin in that convo, D-Dog. Your energy is distracting in the best way.” “Aww, thank you!” - a little peak at Beej and Delia’s friendship. I will probably expand more on it if I ever write the extra chapters!

- “Charles furrowed his brows. “Where did you get that laptop?” ” … “… where did you get that one?” - He stole them.

- “ “The what?” Charles sat up straight, brows knit in… concern? Beetlejuice wasn’t sure.” - he is not used to parental concern! Get cared about, fool!

- “… ‘Surely the average White River townie will be petrified by your demonic beauty!’” He chuckled to himself. He thought perhaps he imagined Barbara, Adam, and Delia laughing as well. “First of all, thank you, you’re too kind.” ” - A little peep at the smug, braggy little guy he used to be! And yes, they did laugh at his joke in agreement. He just doesn’t want to hear it because he can’t accept love.

- “Semi-tamed curly hair, now brown with irritating grey streaks he couldn’t get rid of. Manic honey-brown eyes instead of yellow serpentine ones, blemishes on his face instead of moss. Skin now pink, but still pale.” - yeah, basically just Alex Brightman, just with brown, curly hair. Surprise!

- “…wrist-length black driving gloves to cover his blackened fingertips.” - This, along with a line later on, is heavily inspired by the character Theo from “The Haunting of Hill House”. See if you can spot it! She similarly is very sensitive, and wears gloves to avoid direct physical contact with others.

- “They hate it. Fuck. Maybe next-day delivery holy water is still an option?” - ABSOLUTELY NOT

- “They look like a substitute teacher.” - Dewey Finn reference! I see a lot of Beetlejuice fans talking about the “School of Rock” musical. I’ve only seen the movie, and I love it. Should I give it a listen?

- “ “They look… nice.” Adam’s cheeks were flushed a dark pink. Barbara let out a delighted giggle as she rubbed her hands over his facial hair. “What a professional little man!” ” - They think he is so handsome. Barbara cannot control her cuteness aggression.

- “Lydia, pumpkin, I don’t want the people of this town thinking of me as a scoundrel. He obviously is too old to be E-.. Emily’s son.” - He’s trying his best to keep Emily relevant and talked about!! It’s just a bit hard still. Also, yeah, no one would really believe the man with greying hair was spawned from Charles and Emily.

- “He hadn’t been opposed to people thinking he was his son.” - he has never been called someone’s son in a positive way! New experience unlocked!

- “He was… happy. Light. Warm. He felt like he could rip apart a car with his teeth.” - like yours truly, Beetlejuice gets the urge to bite and rip things apart with his teeth when he is excited.

- “ “… I’ll tell folks I’m a distant Maitland relative. Maybe a cousin!” Beetlejuice grabbed Lydia’s arm, going to pull her out the door, missing the way Adam and Barbara wrinkled their noses at the word ‘cousin’.” - I wonder why they were so opposed to him being called a cousin? Hmmm.

- “Beetlejuice slides the Book across the counter and holds out a pen. “Have you heard about our Loyalty Program?” ” - what a weird, suspicious insistence he has. I wonder why that ‘Book’ is capitalized. Surely that must be an error? ;)

- “He bolts off, excusing that he needs to go find Percy and put him in ‘extreme air jail’.” - ‘Extreme air jail’ is when he floats off the ground while holding Percy up. Like regular air jail, but extreme.

- “Aftershave. Tung oil. Black tea. Tea-tree oil and nicotine.” - the smells, respectively, are from Charles, Adam, Barbara, and Delia! Delia smells like her vape pen a bit.

- “Lydia released the demon’s hands, slowly stepping behind them. “I’m behind you, alright? I’m gonna take your blindfold off.” ” - Lydia educated herself on his triggers and is careful not to come up behind him/touch his back or chest without letting him know first!

- “The walls had a familiar striped wallpaper applied to them..” - they recreated the striped walls from when Beej took over the house!

- “… pocketed figurines of various horror characters and stupid-looking colorful monsters. (Adam had called them “pokay-men”?)” - Beetlejuice stole a bunch of Pokémon funko pops without knowing anything about them, except that Adam likes them.

- Two “Lisa Frankenstein” references! The poster, as well as the name of a character later.

- “The ceiling was lined with familiar gentle string lights, the bulbs giving off a soft yellow glow.” - gentle lighting for his sensitive eyes, courtesy of Adam and Barbara! He never really turns on the overhead lights.

- “A large, fuzzy, purple rug covered most of the hard concrete floor.” - Delia picked this out for him! She knows how much he loves Floor Time.

- “… seemingly home-made black and white quilt..” - Barbara made it herself!

- “.. and a rotund black cat plush Lydia had ordered off of Amazon and claimed was for herself.” - it is a squishmallow. Beej still has no idea what they are, but Lyds got one just for him!

- “.. even a rocking chair covered in a bright green fleece blanket in the corner-” - Charles picked out that blanket after seeing how much Beetlejuice enjoyed the fleece blanket on the guest bed!

- “Like Dad said, you deserve your own space, big guy.” - ‘Dad’ is capitalized like that because Lydia considers Charles both her and Beej’s dad now.

- “They still aren’t sure what to do, way later that night, as they lie in their very own bed for the first time. They’d never had a space of their own.” - yeah, he’s never had his own bed. Or room. He mostly slept on the floor growing up, sometimes under a stove!

- “.. as he stared up at the multitude of gently glowing green stars plastered on the ceiling.” - Delia heard that his name is based on a star, so she got these and carefully plotted them out to match the real night sky/constellations!

- “ “I was only thirteen, Beetlejuice.” … “I dunno, Sexy. Arson is a pretty mild form of revenge. I was doin’ a lot worse for a lot less at that age.” ” - Beetlejuice had suggested that Adam should’ve set a bully’s backpack on fire.

- “And you don’t wanna put your weapon up against your victim’s back. Makes it real easy for them to just take it from ya.” - This is true! A little bit of self defense advice!

- “Do you get all your mugging tools at Home Depot? God/Satan, you’re butch.” And “My tit!” - These are both “Jennifer’s Body” references. I couldn’t help myself.

- “… red sleeveless sweater, frowning at the blood-stained button-up underneath. “My.. good friend gave me this stupid, tacky sweater vest…” ” - Yeah he dresses like his human disguise like Dewey Finn because of Adam.

- “It was tacky and itchy and smelled like mothballs, but it was still something one of his favorite ghosts had given him.” - Beetlejuice savors every single thing given to him, because no one really ever gave him presents before.

- “Don’t say Barbara, don’t say Barbara- “Ba-.. Bab… Babette.” What the fuck was that? Babette? “Yeah. Babette… ” ” - Of course, the town remembers Adam and Barbara, so he has to call them by other names. ‘Babette’ is what he thought of on the spot.

- Suprise! Ash is Sky the Girl Scout’s sister! Her full name is “Ashlyn Swallows”, but she only wants to go by “Ash”.

- “Fuuuuck.” … “ “.. damn. That… that, uh… poor girl..” Fuck, the Maitlands and Charles and Delia are going to be so mad when they hear about this.” - Asshole Beej, my beloved. He only cares about his own humans, and not at all how he impacts anyone outside his circle.

- “…and a fair wage from my own pocket.” - So the business doesn’t suffer from the absurd amount of money he is going to pay this kid.

- “Beetlejuice’s ear flicked at the sound of her heartbeat quickening, the jewelry clinking irritably.” - Yeah he hates the jewelry, but he had a hard time saying ‘no’ to Cyrus’ gifts.

- “… yeah. I didn’t realize she’d remember, though.” - Hmm. I wonder if anyone else remembers things that occurred during the loop?

- “… and Barbara enjoyed the occasional sniff of his glass.” - Since she can’t drink the wine, Beetlejuice is letting her smell it instead. Not the same, but it’s still nice!

- “Barbara was sat right up next to him on the couch, leaning on his side and keeping an arm loosely around his midsection.” … “They try their best not to melt at Barbara’s touch as she starts to gently scratch at their chin.” … “His ears went back at the delighted little squeak from Barbara, but he relaxed as she wrapped her arms around him and tightly squeezed. “There he is!” Beetlejuice felt his tail quivering as he wrapped one arm around her in turn. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m the most handsome devil you’ve ever seen.” The ghost softly huffed. “It’s true!” ” - Barbara is laying it on THICK. Too bad Beetlejuice’s skull is thicker!

- “.. the demon jumped as Delia leaned in close, scrunching up his nose at the smell of wine on her breath, the sudden increase in all of the sounds of her body functioning. Lungs expanding, blood flowing, joints creaking. It was much harder to ignore when she was that close.” - Beej is constantly overwhelmed by the noises everything makes, especially since he’s not taking care of his sensory needs.

- “The demon slowly let out a breath once Delia leaned back into her place again, his grip on Barbara tightening. Why was it so hard to allow humans to be close?” - BECAUSE HE DOESN’T PAY ATTENTION TO HIS SENSORY NEEDS. And also people suck sometimes.

- “He glanced down at the ghost, hurriedly looking away and taking a swig of his wine when he found her staring up at him with a soft, fond look in her eyes.” - Oh, he’s big stupid. Thankfully, Barbara likes her men just a wee bit stupid.

- “Beetlejuice slurred, finishing off his glass. He went to release Barbara and reach out to refill it, but she gripped onto him tighter.” … “He felt the wine glass be tugged from his grip.” - Barbara decided he had enough, and is gently cutting him off here.

- “(If anything, at least the alcohol was dulling the horrid sounds of the house settling, of the wind blowing and clouds churning, of the distant call of the cicadas. He could no longer feel how tight the stupid dress shirt was, feel his own teeth sitting in his skull. It was nice. Perhaps he should drink more often.)” - unfortunately, a staggering amount of adults with autism use alcoholism to cope with symptoms they have yet to learn how to properly cope with, and to help them better socialize.

- “Just like there’s some stupid part of me that’ll always hope my Ma will turn herself around and start carin’ about me.” - AUGH. The anguish of having abusive parents. Some stupid hard-wired part of your brain is always hopeful they’ll just decide to be good one day.

- “… kids are great like that. They’re made with this…. Hard wired love for their parents.” … “I always thought.. it would be great to take all the love I had saved up for her, all the love she never returned, and… pass it on.” - HE JUST WANTS TO LOVE AND BE LOVED SO BAD OKAY?? I’m not crying you are

- “He titled his head back a bit to look at Adam, in his pajamas, without his glasses, staring the demon down with the most sorrowful expression he’d ever seen on a human being. It hurts worse than the ritual, worse than the glass window, worse than centuries of solitude. This is all you do, Lawrence. You hurt others, and you hurt yourself. His mother’s voice is always in the back of his mind, but it’s so clear now.” - Adam is feeling sympathy and/or empathy, like a normal person, but Beej is taking it as him hurting Adam by being the way that he is.

- “ “B-but they… I could never…” The Maitlands hold him tightly. Barbara gently shushes him, running her fingers through his hair. He didn’t have to finish. She knew. They shared that pain, together. They’d had a long, tearful conversation one night, during their year in the loop. It was the closest he’d ever felt to human, even considering the times he was actually human.” - I will leave this up to interpretation within the confines of Time’s Arrow. I may expand upon it in one of the extra chapters, maybe write out the conversation they had, but for now I will allow readers to come to their own conclusions, since this breaches topics I am currently not fully equipped/educated to write about.

- “ “Maybe you can distribute that love elsewhere.” It wasn’t too bad an idea. But where?” - Delia is suggesting to turn that love inwards, and to maybe also distribute it to Lydia and the Maitlands. But Beej is daft.

- “ “Pink’s a great color on you,” Delia says, patting his cheek before she turns to head back towards the living room. He couldn’t disagree more.” - YOU DESERVE LOVE. CARE IS A GOOD LOOK ON YOU. Oh god he isn’t listening.

- “Sleep finally finds them. They aren’t sure how they made it down into their room, or how they were able to change into a cozy sweatshirt and pair of loose-fitting boxer shorts. But somehow, they did.” - Adam and Barbara carefully and very respectfully helped him change!

- “As they took a wary little sip of the old, undiluted wine,” - Greek wine from waaay back when had to be diluted. Undiluted, it is way too strong and bitter.

- “ “Beetlejuice, when was the last time you drank water?” .. “I had a Dr. Pepper last week.” .. “Who gave you a Dr. Pepper?” “Wh- I’m a grown demon! I can get myself a Dr. Pepper!” Lydia raised an eyebrow at him. He scoffed, looking down at the counter. “Fine. Ash did.” ” - this is both based on a bit from Game Grumps and also a conversation I had with a friend.

- “For that hour before the two of them had to leave, Beetlejuice instead listened. At first it was frantic, confused. Then the conversation was light and breezy. Teasing, joking, excitedly comparing interests. He knew he had to make them meet from the moment Ash mentioned cinematography. Neither of them had many friends other than him, from what he’d heard. And he was sure Ash didn’t consider him a friend regardless. I’m a genius.” - My guy thinks he is the master of meet-cutes. He needs to meet-cut it out and go to therapy. (Next chapter can’t come soon enough…)

- “Their tongue and throat burned with the remains of that horrible sticky, iron taste.” … “Energy, revitalized from this latest sacrifice, buzzed through their whole being..” - Yeah he is accepting sacrifices of human blood from Cyrus’ cult. That is how he is getting the energy and strength to resist the Seal.

- “They desperately grasp Cyrus’ hands. They fumble, head burning and spinning, as they guide his hands to their throat. The demon quirks an eyebrow at them curiously. “Hurt me,” they rasp, their words almost slurring together. “Hurt me like you did before.” ” - DRUNKEN CONSENT IS NOT REAL CONSENT!! Allowing someone to hurt you is not an adequate way to deal with your issues!!

- “As you wish, Pet.” - Sorry I twisted a line from a beloved romance story and made it fucked up. It will not happen again. (It might)

Fun tidbit for making it this far! Here are some TikToks that summarize Ash and Beej’s “friendship”! This, this, and this!

[destiny-smasher]

Vague spoilers for chapter 19:

After having multiple people telling me about this 'scene' in the Pokemon SV manga, especially since I am currently writing about these two for my main Pokemon fic, I decided to catch up on the manga. This scene with Nemona and Scarlet only lasts two pages. It's... nice, but like. It's too short? For one thing.

For other things: Scarlet doesn't really fucking show any signs of growth or change, here, either. She's just like 'yeah I don't want this' and Nemona shows self-awareness that is refreshingly MORE like what I expect of her character from the game... and then does the whole 'you're not alone anymore now!' which is exactly what Scarlet needs to be getting into her head. But like. NEMONA is the one declaring this. Declaring to still latch on to Letty. And Letty still refuses to give any amount of emotion in return. Refuses to accept that she has people who are willing to help take care of her and be there for her, even after she has been a jerk and even endangered them. She is being forgiven for her awful behavior... without showing ANY signs that she won't just continue pulling the same shit. The toxic imbalance is still THERE. She STILL refuses to join the others, literally, multiple times, and then gets PISSED at them for 'mocking her' by trying to get her to help. She has NOT apologized for any of her shitty behavior. She demands info from people, yet continues to withhold it herself. She literally tells Nemona 'you should keep your distance from me', and Nemona insists on not giving up -- which is GOOD, because self-isolation is what is keeping Scarlet in such a bad mental state -- but then. There's no acceptance of this help or support on Scarlet's part. No thankfulness, no appreciation, not even accepting that it's a thing she will even allow to happen. As usual, Scarlet does nothing after doing hurtful things, and is being rewarded for it. Ironic how she seems to understand how to train a Pokemon (as seen with that bit with riding Miraidon) but then refuses to actually integrate that kind of thing in her own life.

It reminds me of Netflix's Wednesday, whom Scarlet is directly inspired from -- the character does not grow or change during the entire arc of Season 1. People keep throwing support and attention at her, which she actively rejects, hurts them, relies on her own arrogance and makes things worse for people around her over and over... And gets called out on her bullshit by everyone, including her Nemona-like roommate. And her response? Basically nothing. Carries on, no apologies, no amends, whatever.

I'm just not a fan of this dynamic. People are more complicated than Pokemon or pets, of course, I do not think we should be 'dog-trained' to be 'obedient' or whatever.

But I am very much not a fan of watching a character be an absolute little shit to everyone who is supporting them, and they just continue to get rewarded for their bad behavior, over and over. It's the definition of a toxic relationship, friendship or otherwise.

I have real life experience, both in the distant and recent past, which reinforces my strong beliefs about this kind of thing.

I see so much potential in Nemona/Scarlet, as a friendship, and as a romance. But it's all headcanons, potential, nothing that is actually literally happening in the official story itself. When I have spoken with fans of the ship for explanations as to why they like it? No one has been able to give me any actual substantial reasons why they like it -- some have told me 'I like the way you write them, you seem to understand the appeal' -- and I could write an essay on their potential (I probably already have months ago, come to think). But again, it's the potential. Not what has actually happened so far.

I will say, I am glad the manga at least spent a couple pages addressing this, but I think it's meaningful and important enough to warrant a full chapter at some point -- just explaining why Scarlet is the way she is, having her own up to her bullshit, apologize, make amends, all that.

It's NOT that Scarlet should magically transform into a different person.

It's that healing from trauma is a process and you have to want to get better, or you won't.

She is still showing zero signs of wanting to get better.

And that upsets me.

[what-gs-watching]

"I'm just a boy in a neon suit, standing in front of a girl, reminding her that Notting Hill is her favorite movie."

GANG. I went to see The Fall Guy and it was SO. FREAKIN’. GOOD. Like, sooooo good.

I have to admit, I’ve been a bit disillusioned with movies for the past few years. The industry has changed and like, really, do we need so many fucking movies about APES? Apes? For real? I do not understand why they’re making like 90% of the shit they’re making and I used to love to go and see absolutely everything and I haven’t felt that way in a while. 

Y’all,in the summer of 2008, there was Ironman, Dark Knight, and Pineapple Express. That was the height for me. That was the last time I felt really tuned into what was going on at the movies. 

The Fall Guy reminds me a lot of that summer. It would have fit perfectly. I would have seen it at least three times, we would have wandered into showings a few minutes late because there was nothing else going on that day and we wanted to get out of the heat and just have a good time. It feels nostalgic, and I love that. 

Wherein, Ryan Gosling plays Colt, a stunt guy for a popular movie star, in love with Emily Blunt’s camera operator turned director Jody, who's trying to make her first movie, after Colt suffered a terrible injury on the job and basically disappeared.

I’m gonna be Stefan for a second - this movie has EVERYTHING! Car chases, adorable couple moments, a dog that bites people in the junk, karaoke, a dopeeee neon suit, explosions, a dead body, movie quotes, friendship, and, obviously, a shit ton of incredible stunts.

ALSO! Hannah Waddingham. Shout out to that gorgeous amazon woman for being charming as hell and also a ridiculous villain. Girl, you are on fire and I want to see you in literally everything.

But my favorite part? Jody explaining the plot of the movie she’s making while forcing Colt to perform a stunt that sets him on fire, over and over, in front of the entire crew. Obviously, the movie plot has parallels to their brief affair, and she’s calling him out on abandoning her so very publicly, hiding her hurt behind the details of her movie couple, Aliena and Space Cowboy (which, LOL). And he takes it on the chin, and he tries to answer her as honestly as possible in between takes, burning and thrown against a wall. It’s funny and a little bit cathartic and a little bit sad.

Once she finally decides he’s down with the stunt, he climbs into a truck to leave and the radio starts blaring Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well”. He starts singing along and remembering their time together and ya boy starts to cry but is then interrupted by Jody asking “are you crying to Taylor Swift?” and the whole thing was absolute perfection. They had me in the palm of their hands, after that. 

And that’s like, pretty close to the start. The rest of it is madcap and fun and Ryan Gosling really is a fucking powerhouse. He’s Noah from The Notebook, he’s Ken, he’s a fucking mouseketeer and he’s always so, so, so, so good. The man is a national treasure. I will follow wherever he goes because it’s always wonderfully entertaining.

It’s really just two hours of the perfect movie going experience. And the confusing thing is, it seems like the studio didn’t realize what they had? I remember the first time I saw a preview for it, it was supposed to come out in March which is when you dump out tepid movies no one’s really dying for. But then they moved the release to May which made more sense, summer movie season, but man they are not touting this movie the way they should. 

It’s universally appealing! The chemistry between Colt and Jody! The full on absolutely crazy action sequences! The banter! 

It’s an incredible summer movie. And it put me in a great mood. I need more of that in my life, and I bet y’all do too. Maybe I’ll go again, and pretend I’m a youngin’ just looking for something to do for the afternoon, ignoring my terrible adult obligations. That’s what movies are for, and I’m glad The Fall Guy helped me remember that. 

Ryan Gosling, you wonder.