#i need to investigate this now lol

[titsthedamnseason]

cobalt empire couples ranking by most anticipated???

also do you read any ce fics on ao3?

hmmmm interesting and super hard to say. weirdly eliot or beckett are maybe my most anticipated.

i LOVE eliot’s trope and this is the first TRUE forbidden love story we will see from kbr (they have sort of claimed to have done it in the past but i think this is the most authentically polarized couple they have done. like yes raisy and marrow were sort of forbidden and so were all the bodyguards technically but eliot and winnifred are straight up ENEMIES their families will be RAGING and the DRAMA i will be living for it)

and beckett i’m really excited for because i love him but we dont get to see that much of him in other books. he is super private and busy and of course we should have seen him way more in sulli’s books but i’ve already ranted enough about that for a lifetime. i also love his initial set up with BOTH jo and leo and am happy kbr are writing another poly romance. i simply wasn’t invested in kitsuletti but i ship beckettjoleo (i know they have a better ship name that im simply too tired to remember rn) way more off the bat and since i liked sulli’s books more on the reread im hopeful im going to have a better reading experience this time. poly rep is super important but also way oversexualized so im super curious to see how they handle it and how ill like it this time around

next is probably ben. you may know but i used to be a harriet HATER until my recent reread of luna’s books and then i realized im just a miserable human and i gave her a makeover in my head bc kbr gave her a fugly style and now i recognize the queen that she is. super excited to see ben’s dynamics with his family firsthand and see how him bringing a girlfriend into the fold will go down

begrudgingly i will put charlie next. we all know i have a love hate relationship with this man but i can’t deny that makes me want to read his book so maybe i finally decide one way or the other. or maybe im just meant to have complicated feelings about this character forever idk. but i also know ill enjoy reading charlie and beckett’s twin bond, his dynamic with his parents, his relationship with ben, and whatever drama him and roxanne will cause with beckett (this plot line is a little confusing to me tbh but i want to see how it unfolds. like high key why does beckett even care i feel like the protectiveness they are setting up is baseless and will fizzle out quickly but im curious regardless)

audrey next because MY GIRL!! she shouldn’t be this low but in fairness we don’t even know WHO she will be with so there’s not much to anticipate 😭 but it does make me strongly wonder who her love interest will be and i love when hopeless romantic characters get their happily ever after bc im cheesy like that

sorry to tom i have no idea why im not invested in the threads kbr have been laying out for him but hopefully that will change. adore him as a character but his trope / storyline hasn’t hooked me so far and tbh i think phoenix is a bad name i wish the love interest was called something different LMAO

sorry that you asked for a simple ranking and i wrote a full essay we all know i can’t be normal about kbr books but i numbered my ramblings for you to make it easier to read (and of course by “read,” i do mean “skip”)

and as for the fic - nooooo i didn’t even know such a thing existed tbh. the last time i checked for addicted / like us fics years ago out of pure curiosity there were like 3 lol. truthfully i likely will never read any. i never ever read fic for a series or couple that is unreleased because it almost always ruins the reading experience for me / i have very little desire to and would much prefer to wait for the real thing. with kbr books in particular i have never felt the need to seek out fanfic because they write so much fan service already (this is usually a diss but i mean it as purely a compliment. they write SUCH entertaining scenes that you could only find in fanfic for any other fandom) and since i have their patreon that is so much bonus content i would never dream of needing more. their stuff is already perfectly written and has such high reread value that ive never felt the need to look for something extra that i felt was lacking from my reading experience

[umbrellajam]

y'know what let's do it. have Jack Drake accused of murdering Janet for a different flavor of drama and whump

he was in a coma and then wheelchair-bound for weeks/months after the incident you say? he was FAKING, it was all arranged, a ploy to appear helpless and sympathetic, how else could he have woken up and recovered so smoothly from the same poison that killed his wife

new evidence is produced of a suspicious payment trail from before the hijacking, leading from Jack's DI funds to accounts that appear connected to the Haitian cult/cartel responsible for the Drakes' kidnapping and Janet's tragic demise

the widow of the Drakes' personal secretary, Jeremy Whatzizlastname, and other employees all come forward and wag their tongues about the alarming frequency and escalation of the fights between the deceased and her aggressive, belligerent husband in the lead-up to that final fateful trip - how they were openly arguing about divorce

mysteriously, this relentless mud-slinging media blitz only begins after Drake Industries starts to go downhill and CEO Phil Marin comes under investigation for embezzlement/insider trading...

since it's post-NML the scandal blows up even further. the press hounds young Tim Drake, the iconic NML Kid known to all as the face of re-opening Gotham after the quake. muckrakers gleefully tear apart the recent image of a desperate, loving father who was broadcast on national television putting all his resources and influence toward bringing his lost son home

...actually. doesn't Drake Industries going broke happen right in the middle of Bruce Wayne: Murderer? (checks notes) aha, Robin #100 so lmfao yes, it does.

GOOD EXCELLENT PERFECT, Tim's father figures can both be accused of murder simultaneously 😈 and then the Bats have to divide their efforts and resources between exonerating Robin's dad and attempting to clear the civilian name of an infuriatingly uncooperative Batman…

[smile-files]

the alliance........ from left to right: baseball, suitcase, nickel, and balloon!

(i was trying to find a way to represent balloon's name and i came upon a lucky medium: given how he was a jerk in ii1 and nickel continued to see him as such, i imagine he'd just call him "bully" from then on, even after they became friends -- and it sounds like the word "balloon", no?)

[fisheito]

me: idk i guess i'm not really into [specific kink] anyone: oh sorry then i won't show you t-- me: show it to me anyone: i thought you didn't like [specific kink] me: but how will i know if today is the day that changes? show it to me

[roscoehamiltons]

regarding my prev tag about a merc employee sending the email and my overall thoughts about lewis at mercedes and possible sabotage:

i think it’s very clear at this point that things behind the scenes at mercedes are messy, and that the relationship with lewis and mercedes has been fractured for a couple years now. it’s hard to believe that it has gotten this bad. if we were to go back to 2020 or even 2021 it would’ve been unthinkable that it would get to this point: that lewis would leave mercedes in the first place and go to another team rather than retire, that the possibility of the team sabotaging him is even being considered.

and i think we should consider it a possibility that there is sabotage happening at the team. and by that i don’t necessarily mean that the entirety of merc is actively plotting against lewis because there are thousands of people working there, some of whom have been there since the beginning of lewis’ tenure with them, and have a strong working relationship and even friendship with him. i don’t doubt that there are people at mercedes who still want the best for lewis in terms of results and life in general. however, the opposite can be true as well— there very well could be people in the team who do not like or care for lewis, and all it takes is one, two or a few people here and there to cause trouble.

it might sound illogical to sabotage lewis, but. just because it seems "illogical" doesn’t mean it’s impossible. people are not robot-computers that act rationally all the time, there are plenty of situations where people at mercedes have not acted logically in the past couple of years. it is illogical that merc wouldn't give lewis, their most successful driver, the most successful driver of all time, a 2+1 contract and an ambassadorship. it is illogical to replace lewis with an almost 18 year old who skipped an entire feeder series and can’t drive a road car yet. it is illogical for the marketing team to actively ignore lewis, their most popular driver, in their social media posts, for the admin to beef with lewis fans publicly on the official account. there have been many instances of illogical behaviour, and unthinkable things have happened in the past couple of years. why not one more illogical or unthinkable thing? there have been many instances where lewis has been treated unfairly by the team, and it could be a coincidence or incidental of course, but how many coincidences or incidents have to take place before it is not that anymore?

which brings me to the email. we do not know who sent it and what the intentions are with the email— it could be sent by someone who genuinely cares about lewis and his well-being, it could also be someone who wants to cause trouble for mercedes, and doesn’t care one bit about the consequences it will have on lewis. it might be a mercedes employee and it might not be. however, the fact that it has been sent out— by someone who knows something about the inner workings of f1 media— and is being investigated means that we cannot any longer ignore the murmurings of what is happening behind the scenes at mercedes.

for the record, im not saying for sure that there is sabotage happening. like i said, i believe there are still people at merc who still like and care for lewis. it could be just some people being bad at their jobs, and not anything more deliberate and sinister than that. we, as outsiders, don’t know and won’t ever know the full details of what’s happening and will happen at mercedes. sabotage is only one possibility out of many, but it is not as improbable as some people think.

[guardian-angle22]

No one told me 4x11 featured the return of Bookworm Paul Strickland! 😍🥺

[krimiqueer]

I need a Polizeiruf 110 episode where a small evidence everyone missed points to Adam. Only Vincent catches that, and he hides it as long as he can to lead his own investigation. And it doesn't go well.

[your-local-squip-fanatic]

Wait a gat-dang minute...

Not two, but THREE stories of mine could theoretically take place in the same universe. Hear me out.

Shatterverse and Lesterverse are already connected due to Lester/Leander being in Shatterverse... Don't Freak Out, Don't Resist could possibly be set in that same world as early seconds drafts of Shatterverse reference SQUIPs when talking about Augustus' REHEM chips used to let him control people. (Something something "these seemed worse than those supercomputer pills from Japan," I'd have to find the exact thing I wrote)

...Guess we doin the Astrid Written Universe/AWU now I guess lol

one day itll be the acu

[unproduciblesmackdown]

truly lmao 2024 lambda literary award finalist wynnstannery

[mekatrio]

oh maya fey...

[umilily]

Lily help some of my friends and I have been playing Stardew Valley as Crazy:B and I ended up as HiMERU but I'm starting to relate to that identity thief blueberry

omg that sounds so fun!! i hope you've been growing loads of blueberries, got some blue chickens and made himeru wear the silliest hat you could get your hands on lol

[keeps-ache]

...hello.

[canisitsnotlupus]

you know, honestly, sometimes you just need a dog that will sit on the porch with you while you repot plants. not running off and being busy but happy to lay down without any direction and just watch the world while waiting for you i love easy dogs. i love dogs that aren't busy.

[kindheartedgummybears]

:3 <- patiently waiting for a The Devil in Me x The Quarry crossover/au

[senxitive]

I need to get my (corporate goth) act together

[paramoira]

@godofcourage gets a random starter

it's one of those bitterly chilly nights where the moon is high in the sky and a soon approaching rainfall clings in the air. nightlife seems prevalent, at least if the street she's walked down was anything to judge from. one of the bars' had one of those folding doors which allowed them to form an open patio, live music drifting out and people of various levels of intoxication braving the chill. another, the one on the corner, had a line of the typical college looking sort waiting to get in with a few scattered older adults. she ignores them, dodging a larger group of friends in the line and stepping into the street to get around them. maybe ariadne shouldn't have parked her car so far away yet she hadn't exactly wanted it seen or anyone taking down her license plate when she held no business getting involved in what she was doing in the first place. ariadne held enough issues with certain detectives even if most had seemed to form a kind of acceptance that her dedication to her work proved family members held no baring on her commitment to solving the deaths which crossed her table at the morgue.

except, all of those detectives had seemed ready to accept the current case (or lack thereof) as presently in review as 'accidents'.

it was true the evidence hadn't been as strong as other cases, however, ariadne steadfastly disagreed with the pathologist in a jurisdiction over, the two cases she believed were linked having transpired in different areas yet not over state lines. there hadn't been any outright preternatural elements though a few things had made her question; even so, finding evidence the victims had once been to a blood den did not equate to proof anything paranormal had caused their deaths. as such there had not been enough to require the bprd's involvement and certainly nothing to have warranted fbi involvement even had she attempted a favor.

perhaps this was all one enormous hunch of a bad feeling ariadne shouldn't be following. certainly, one would think that as intelligent a woman as doctor kalkan clamed to be, she would have learned her lesson by now in respect to getting too involved with her cases. if nothing else what had happened in london should have taught her that. and yet, here she was, walking down a dimly lit street and jogging up the six steps of the apartment building once she finds the address she'd been looking for. how she'd got that, perhaps, wasn't completely in-line with the fact she was supposed to be on the side of law enforcement (sometimes it helped that one's familial ties were tied up in much less legally acceptable things and held no issues in utilizing those means if she asked). it was a very blurred line at times, though ariadne was willing to justify it as a fairly minor deviation and for a greater good. when someone comes out in hurry, she grabs the door before it closes, looking back a moment as the person moves down the street and rain begins prompting her to move inside, distracted.

somewhere in the back of her mind, she'd gotten a strange sense off the hooded man, something dark and the scent of smoke... however, ariadne chalked it up to her own minor paranoia about her covert actions and her anxieties about things in the past. closing the door, ariadne wonders if this was how private detectives operated, waiting for doors to be opened or did they just pick locks? she supposes they weren't held to the same rules as the police and as long as they weren't caught. on that same thought train, she wouldn't have put it passed the one girl's only living relative, a brother, to have hired one to look into things after the police findings. regardless, she has to speak with the girl that lives here and so ariadne makes her way up the steps. there's a weight to the moment, a sudden increasing worry. she has theories, even if ariadne's not sold on them yet but she'd seen the same item on this girl's person as had been found at two previous scenes, a match box from a location she knew was a blood den. again, it didn't mean the girls were even connected to the place, for all she knew it could be the killer-- if there really was one. finally, she reaches the top where the girl's apartment was, seeking to knock only to find the door slightly ajar.

there, a few steps inside, she finds a female down-- the girl, a friend of one of the victims who she'd spoken to briefly when on scene with one of the detectives, laying on the floor among a smashed glass table. she moves to take a pulse, render aid if possible, however the girl was deceased, having begun to bleed out and another set of matches on the floor. was it a coincidence? or was someone trying to draw attention? the easy answer would be to think it was a vampire killer or more likely a ripper if one went down that route yet there was too much blood left at the scenes and no bite wounds. was it a human who knew about vampires? and it always looked like an accident-- a fall or a something of the sort. ariadne wondered if this girl also had a strange puncture mark as that had been present at the other scenes too except there wasn't an easy method to check and the glass made things precarious as it was. she needed to call this in though how she was going to explain her presence or that she'd taken it upon herself to want to ask the girl questions she held no idea how to explain. she's pulling out her phone when she senses someone else at the door.

"i'm with the m.e.'s office.. i just found her like this. i'm about to call it i--" ariadne pauses in confusion when she looks over as she stands upright. "o--" no, no. it wasn't, she's not entirely sure how she knows, perhaps it's the difference in his aura if that was what that strange sense she was only starting to become aware she had was and perhaps it's a trick of the low-light, but he looks so similar to... well, she supposed everyone had a doppelganger of sorts. "oh shit--" she realizes it too late. "--that guy with the hood downstairs! i think he's the one that did this." she's not really talking to the strange man though she should be much more concerned about his presence than she is. granted, this man wasn't dressed like the other guy that'd smelled like smoke, nor did he have the same... he didn't seem the same and she was surrounded by glass pieces if she had to defend herself. "who are you?"

*(see the novel i wrote in tags)