#i wasn't going to put alan here since he was in the other one but he showed up in the episode i was giffing for kaden and marcus

[mortemoppetere]

WICKED'S REST as FANTASY

( featuring: @nightmaretist, @eldritchaccident, @chasseurdeloup, @thenavysealkie, & @alan-duarte )

[pharawee]

It's been a week already, so here I am with the third part of my Pit Babe novel commentary.

(You can find the first two parts here and here.)

First things first, though. North is an omega. Do with that information what you will. 🤡

Meanwhile, Charlie and Babe are back at it again (because of course they are) and this time they're not taking any prisoners. Poor Way is on the phone with Babe as Charlie does his best to please~ him. In various ways. Way is very confused. All he wants is for Babe to tell him which car he wants him to buy. You know, if this is Way's villain origin story then I'm not even mad.

Charlie mercifully ends the call before things can get a bit too obvious, only for Babe to pick up the phone again to make an x-rated recording of them going at it like bunnies. Keep this in mind for later.

But anyway. It's finally time for Charlie's initiation into Team X-Hunter - that is, if he manages to pass Alan's test: compete against Pit Babe himself. As if Charlie wasn't nervous enough about it already. Naturally, he loses, and he's really upset about it too - not because he failed the test but because he failed his friends. Aw. But no one really expected him to win against Babe anyway, Alan merely wanted to test his determination, and so he's welcomed as the newest member of the team. Competitive racing really is that easy, I guess.

One almost-love confession later (Babe can't quite bring himself to say it but he doesn't need to. Charlie knows.) they're back to actually teaching Charlie how to race. Since Babe is still healing from his injuries, he can only (very stylishly) watch from the sidelines as the other members of X-Hunter take over as Charlie's teachers. Today it's North's turn and remember? He's the only omega on the team. Naturally, Babe is jealous. They (dirty-)talk it out. Charlie can now smell Babe's emotions, while Babe has all but lost his heightened senses. Hm.

Later, in the locker room while Charlie is busy racing, Babe comes across Way. Or is it the other way around? It seems like Way really wants to talk to him - or rather, talk him out of being with Charlie. Something's really fishy about the way he phrases things. Manipulate, mansplain, malewife. Or something. But the thing is? For some strange reason it's working, even on someone as headstrong and stubborn as Babe (and the only reason why Babe isn't immediately giving in to Way's weirdly cruel love confession is because his heart is full of Charlie). All these moments when Way and he seemed so flirty and close? Suddenly they've become very, very creepy. Hmm.

Anyway. It's time for Charlie to pay another visit to his mysterious clients and/or family. He never really says (but we now know better). But, oh no! He's left his wallet! Luckily, he's got the world's best not-quite-boyfriend to try and catch up with him before it's too late.

And here's where things go very, very wrong.

(I'm putting the rest of this post under a cut because of major spoilers and a content warning for SA and grooming. Please take care.💜)

Because that's not a taxi Babe sees Charlie getting into. It's one of his "father's" limousines, along with some of his men. Preparing for the worst, Babe follows.

Meanwhile, Charlie is meeting up with his adopted father. Their coversation goes about as expected, with Charlie refusing to return home and bring Babe with him while he's at it, because they've indeed been adopted by the same man. Charming.

This is the moment when Babe barges into the room, thinking that he's here to save Charlie before very quickly realising the truth: that he's been manipulated and played and lied to.

I need you to realise how much of a nightmare this is for Babe. He's spent over a decade running from an adoptive father who wants to trap and abuse him, and now the only person he trusts (and loves, but we don't talk about that) has led him straight back into that trap.

So basically, Babe's sanity is slowly unravelling at the seams. He immediately takes off, with Charlie following him outside and into the rain (because of course it's raining - it's much more dramatic that way). When Charlie attempts to stop him and explain, Babe (understandably) lashes out. He punches Charlie's glasses right off his face, failing to understand why he's the one who's hurting when it's Charlie who should be feeling guilty.

Oh, and then there's this bit:

"I thought you liked racing…" Babe's voice was trembling and soft, completely different from before, "…I thought you loved me."

I barely survived reading this. I'm here for fun omegaverse shenanigans dammit!!

So, yeah, Babe returns home alone, and even though he doesn't want to, he forces himself to remember what happened with his adoptive father, because as it turns out Charlie's betrayal has the most horrifying of implications:

You see, Babe was adopted because he was an alpha with special abilities. But he wasn't the only one, there were other adopted alpha children with special abilities that Babe was never allowed to meet. Eventually, Babe learned about the existence of enigmas who stand above even alphas and are so strong (and thankfully rare) that they can turn any alpha they have sex with into omegas and impregnate them. Children from these unions have a 99% chance to be alphas with special abilities. See where this is going?

Let me spell it out for you - because clearly this isn't wtf-inducing enough: Babe is essentially the main ingredient in his adoptive father's breeding program.

But wait! It gets even worse! 🤡🤡

Babe, alone and at his lowest, deduces that Charlie must the enigma that was sent to lure him back.

And if that's true, then maybe he's already been changed from an alpha into an omega (because his heightened senses are gone, remember?). Maybe he's already pregnant.

And this is what sends Babe completely over the edge (same here, Babe, same here...) because he is positively traumatised by the thought of having children and fulfilling his adoptive father's sick wishes. He doesn't want children. The very thought makes him sick. He values his autonomy above all else. He never even has sex with omegas because he refuses to get anyone pregnant.

Only now he's about to get a pregnancy test because he was stupid enough to fall for a cute, innocent boy with glasses.

Enter Charlie who of course still knows the code to Babe's condo. Babe barricades himself in his bedroom while Charlie tells him his side of the story. How he was adopted by the same man, and how he was quite content with his life until he learned about his father's plan to get one of his other adoptive children pregnant - by force if necessary. Charlie felt sorry for this older adoptive brother but since he only knew his name - Babe - he bid his time until he heard about a racer named Pit Babe. Charlie started hanging out at the races and in turn fell in love with racing (and with Babe).

Fast forward to now, only of course Babe doesn't believe him because he must be the enigma, right?

Nope, turns out Charlie is an alpha after all, only his special ability is stealing other alphas' special abilities.

And his grand plan? To take away what makes Babe special so their adoptive father will no longer be interested in breeding (ugh...) him.

Which leaves us (and Babe) with one problem: Wtf Charlie, you don't just steal people's abilities without their consent - especially not when you claim to love them.

So yeah, their whole relationship is based on lies and manipulation, and Charlie essentially stole Babe's heightened senses by having sex with him.

Babe starts crying, Charlie starts crying, then they start having hatesex (which usually ends all their arguments). This fixes things for about five minutes until Babe starts sobbing for real. He wants Charlie to leave. He can't even stand to look at him.

And so Charlie leaves and moves in with his other adoptive brother, Jeff. We'd already established that Jeff is an omega. However, he's a special omega (because why else would he have been adopted too?).

Jeff can see the future. 🤡🤡🤡

He was incredibly valuable to their adoptive father until he probably realised what that meant for him, so one day Jeff took a stroll outside and let himself get hit by a car, claiming that this had him lose his abilities. Naturally, he was promptly discarded, but he seems to live a comfortable life protected by Charlie. He's exactly as aloof as Pon plays him in the series. I love Jeff, ok?

Meanwhile, Babe's back to his old habits, trying to chase away his thoughts of Charlie by getting it on with other alphas. Only it doesn't work. He blames their scent, of course, but he's clearly still hung up on Charlie. Drunk and miserable, he rediscovers the spicy video of Charlie and him that he recorded on his phone and promptly starts masturbating (as you do). When Charlie calls him, he picks up out of habit. Babe is angry (and horny) and Charlie is sad (and horny) so they have phone sex (and they're still really into calling each other papa and daddy - which, you know, there might be better pet names considering who's their adoptive father but ok).

Babe still doesn't want to see Charlie, and as Charlie later aptly puts it:

"Because I chose the starting point myself without asking him. So now I have to let him choose the ending he is most comfortable with."

Much, much later, the racing season picks back up again. Turns out the whole race track had to shut down for an investigation into Babe's accident. It's Charlie's first race and there's some kind of qualifying for future rounds. But, surprise! Babe will be racing too. He's too stubborn to let Charlie win the title. To the surprise of absolutely no one (except for Charlie who's worried about Babe's barely-healed injuries) Babe easily wins, with Charlie (who's overwhelmed by his new heightened senses) coming in fourth place. Plot twist (but really actually not...): Babe doesn't need to rely on his senses to win because he has years of experience to draw from.

After the race, Charlie follows Babe into the locker room. They talk it out. This somehow involves a blowjob but I'm not judging. Babe still won't forgive Charlie, saying:

"You think I love you more than I love myself?"

Which is an incredibly powerful thing to say and I hope they keep this for the series.

Later that night, Babe meets up with Way because he doesn't want to be alone. Things with him have been awkward since that day in the locker room when Way basically confessed, but for some reason Babe won't hold it against him. Way is right, after all (Hmmm.). Only, Way won't let things be and somehow, without Babe noticing, they're suddenly kissing.

And then Babe goes motionless and still as Way starts undressing him. He's stopped just in time by a very panicky Charlie. When Babe comes to he doesn't know what's going on until Charlie tells him.

Way is their adoptive brother and he can hypnotise alphas.

Because DUN DUN DUN! Way is the enigma.

To be continued. 🤡🤡🤡🤡

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

Stickbug AU

Just so y'all can get an idea of what I'm yapping about, I'm gonna spill everything I have planned for this AU so far on this post. I'll try to update it as I come up with more ideas.

NOTE: SO THIS CAME OUT A LOT LONGER THAN I THOUGHT SO IF YALL WANT TO CONTROL F TO CERTAIN SPOTS HERE ARE THE HEADER NAMES: The Hollows Creation AVA IV Chosen & Dark Anim VS Minecraft Purple KING LETS GO MY FAVORITE KING AVM Season 3 Victim & the Mercenaries After Everything

So this AU takes place around 50 years after the canon events of Bug Fables, and I'll explain as I go along so you won't need to know the events of the game.

Some needed information is that Humans are heavily implied to have disappeared/died, and some species of bugs have gained sapience in the "Day of Awakening," though some species remained feral with a few individuals gaining sapience far after the Day of Awakening.

The Hollows Creation

Alan is still in this AU, and in a way he is still the Hollows "creator." In this AU, he's a creature called a "Deadlander Omega" found in the Giant's Lair/Deadlands. Basic information is that they're colossal bird-like Deadlanders which are so big only their claws and eyes have ever been seen. In game they like to drop other Deadlanders onto the player which triggers a fight. Alan is a more aware Omega. He likes to collect whatever piques his interest, normally anything that shines due to the lack of sunlight in the Lair. However after a while of dropping Deadlanders onto the few passing bugs, he got more curious by bugs.

NOTE: THIS IS DRAWN BY @tatos-stick-pile SHE HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR THIS AU

So what did he do? Sneak out of the Giant's Lair. Used the overgrown weeds to his advantage and would look around. Found out about larva and got fascinated by the fact bugs came from that. So whatever larva he could find he'd take back-- which wasn't often since most people wouldn't just leave their larva/eggs lying around.

Anyway he'd bring them home. The Deadlanders wouldn't register the larva/eggs as bugs or alive so they could just crawl around and munch on the grass until they eventually grew up. Alan started realizing "oh shit grow your own entertainment" when his first little stolen egg grew to a bug, a grasshopper (victim). Alan would basically use a jar to keep Victim from running off, would drop Deadlanders on him to watch the fights even if Victim sucked at fighting.

Now even if Alan doesn't recognize the bugs as living and thinking things, he isn't stupid. He notices how they use the shiny crystals he likes to collect to heal. So when he sees Victim nearly getting killed in one of the fights he puts two and two together and "gives" Victim the crystal. AKA impales him and literally kills Victim. When he notices Victim stops moving, throws him away and tries again.

He finds a hornet larva. Decides to try something different. Bugs use the crystals for health, so as the larva crawls around and eats he crushes up one of his crystals and mixes it into areas they know they like to eat in. Because of the magic in the crystals, whatever sticks in their bodies results in the larva becoming strong, healthy, and extremely powerful sorcerers.

Chosen fights-- both the Deadlanders and Alan-- but can't win. He tries running, but Alan rips off a wing and puts him in the jar. Eventually Alan gets lucky and finds a wasp larva, and unfortunately for Chosen, this one doesn't seem to understand anything other than following Alan. Of course y'all can guess what happens from here: Alan pits the two against eachother, Chosen tells Dark they can team up to fight Alan, and end up doing a lot of damage to him before running. It takes a long while for Alan to rebuild his health before he tries again. This time a lot more careful with a little bumblebee larva (Second). He keeps a very close eye on it to make sure it doesn't hurt him, and an even closer eye to make sure it doesn't get away.

AVA IV

Red's a ladybug, Green's a grasshopper, Blue's a firefly, and Yellow's a caddisfly. While Bugaria takes place in the Giant's Lair (AKA a abandoned human home)'s backyard, the color gang are from the front yard. They each have their own reasons to travel to Bugaria: Yellow has heard about Roach technology and really wants to see how it works for himself, Red wants to join the Explorer's Association and fill out his bestiary along the way, Blue wants to visit the Harvest Festival and give an offering for the goddess of Harvest, Venus' approval, and Green just wants to stick with his friends.

However getting to Bugaria is difficult. While before most people would take the swamp, the only thing that resulted in was a lot of tension and frustration since they couldn't communicate with the Leafbugs living there and would only result in a lot of deaths on both sides. The swamp got closed off, and as a result, left two main paths. The Caravan is the most popular for good reason: it is an extremely long road usually consisting of many bugs, although because the trip normally takes around a month, it is not safe from bandits nor the weather. A lot of injuries tend to happen and many come out malnourished. The other option takes a day. Just follow the path through the Giant's Lair. There won't be many Deadlanders, but if there are, only large enough groups of bugs or explorer teams can go through to ensure safety.

Since they're a group of four impatient, naive, younger bugs, the Color Gang goes through the Deadlands. It isn't that bad actually, until a little bumblebee catches Red's eye, and an glint of Blue catches Yellow's. Each go off path, Red finding a very excited and nervous Second Coming, and Yellow finding a half of the Roach's ancient Key.

And This catches Alan's attention, because that bee and that key are both of his things. They get to see Alan's spooky ass eye, and Second urges them to run, but before they can the Color Gang gets squished by Alan's claw and Second and the key get picked up. Second isn't happy, stings Alan right in the eye, and gets dropped right next to his friends. He tries helping them up so they can leave, but they're still struggling. He takes too long and Second and his friends get a jar slammed over them.

Alan keeps watch of them, now mostly curious because that's a LOT of bugs in one jar. He's expecting them to fight or do something, but instead... they just sit together. They just chat and sit against the glass, and what really shocks Alan is when they pull out food and start sharing it. I think this is the moment it clicks for Alan that there's something more to them. Alan leaves, and when he comes back he brings back two things. A good pile of food for them, and one of his crystals. He places them on the ground and lifts the jar before perching to see what they do. They're too injured to leave even with the crystal's healing, but Alan is just fascinated with this new discovery. That they're complicated, that they think. For as long as they stay in the Deadlands, which is only a few days, he tries making it as comfortable as possible to see what they like. Tries modeling after what he's seen other bugs do and live in.

They leave of course, taking Second and the key half with them. Alan doesn't like it, but he lets them. Now he's curious on if they'll come back, and now just has a lot to think about now that he's realized they can think and feel.

Chosen & Dark

After everything with Alan, the only thing Dark and Chosen knew was the other, so they clung. Dark itched for a fight, and Chosen was more curious about the outside world. Eventually this lead to the two becoming an explorer team.

It wasn't bad at first, but Dark of course gravitated to the shadier areas. Dark THRIVED in bounties and fights, meanwhile Chosen started second guessing whether or not he liked being an explorer. Every time they had to leave a kingdom or village, he'd always just felt disappointed. But Dark wanted to keep going, so he followed.

Eventually they started to get a reputation. They would do any quest, no matter the morals, and they wouldn't sell you out. They would get worse and worse clients, and were quickly teetering on the line of hitmen, and Chosen eventually had enough. He didn't see the point in it anymore, he liked the slow moments. Dark meanwhile thrived in a fight, because it was the only thing hes ever known.

This led to a fight between them. A bad one. Dark had been experimenting with Roach crystals to boost his own abilities, and somehow, Chosen ended up accidentally dragging Second and the Color Gang into it. There was a lot of collateral damage and Dark showed off how he was not above killing people, by targeting Second's friends. They died, and that mixture of sheer rage and grief was what triggered Second's skill in magic. Y'all know how this goes, Second beats the shit out of Dark Lord, revives his friends, but before he can land the killing blow, Chosen stops him.

Chosen doesn't want Dark to die, but he can't be with him anymore. So he rats on Dark. Gets him thrown in Rubber Prison, and Dark takes this as a betrayal. They depend on each other, and Chosen wouldn't even defend him and never visited him. Chosen regrets this decision every day and before he can get arrested too, he hides and is labeled as missing.

Anim VS Minecraft

This stumped me at first because how the hell do you mix bug fables and Minecraft but NO WORRIES I FOUND A WAY

After the Deadlands, first thing Color Gang does is sign up for the Explorer's Association. Unfortunately there can't be teams of 5, so they split into two teams: Blue and Yellow form Team Sunset, and Second, Red, and Green form Team Second. They do quests for a while, Yellow spends a lot of time focusing on the key half, and eventually they team up for a pretty important quest!

Not sure what this quest would be exactly, but basically they get lured into a cave and when they get into it Red starts acting weird. And then he starts attacking them and going for the key and yep if you've realized it WE FOUND A WAY TO ADD HEROBRINE FUCK YOU MINECRAFT CREEPYPASTA BUGSONA

Art once again by @tatos-stick-pile

Herobrine is a recently awakened Golden Orb Weaver spider who uses his silk to puppet Red around. This silk is SHARP too. He tries going for the key because he's heard of the artifact and its power and he really wants it to expand his territory. He gets his ass kicked when they figure out whats going on and he escapes.

Afterwards Yellow decides to be more secretive about the key half. They don't figure this out for a while though, but the entire reason Herobrine was expanding his territory is because he looks after lesser bugs ESPECIALLY ones that have recently awakened. He just hates regular bugs.

Purple

And I lied to start with Purple I have to start with an Explorer Team y'all should be familiar with-- unless youre coming from the bug fables fandom and to that i say hello how do you like the shitstorm so far. Anyway one Explorer Team, Team Orchid. It consists of an orchid mantis named Orchid and another mantis named Navy.

Orchid is an explorer for the sightseeing and to help people. Navy doesn't exactly care about that, he's mostly around to make sure she doesn't get herself killed. Eventually he gets an idea that they can get a pet for some extra defense. Orchid LOVES the idea, and so Navy drags her to the Forsaken Lands to find something strong enough.

Orchid falls in love with a mothfly and won't settle for anything else. That mothfly is Purple, a recently awakened mothfly who is extremely confused because he's only been around feral mothflies and its his instinct to stick with them. Anyway y'all know how this goes, Navy "trains" (aka beats) Purple, who can't fight back and goes to Orchid for comfort. Purple causes a massive rift in their relationship and its not even their fault. Orchid wanted a pet to dote on and Navy wanted something to train. But Orchid isn't stupid-- even if Purple is a mothfly and can't talk she starts recognizing he's awakened. He's a child. She starts treating him as such despite how much Navy HATES it and Purple of course starts seeing them as their parents and really looks up to them.

And one day Navy is sick of it. Takes Purple by the arm and drags him back to the Forsaken Lands and far from Orchid. Purple is nervous but still trusts him, thinks its for training. Navy drags him all the way to the abandoned Ant Settlement and tells him to stay there. To prove his training he needs to protect that settlement until he comes back to get them. Purple of course is "okay ❤️ yay❤️."

He doesn't come back. Neither does Purple. But Purple sticks to the settlement and protects it-- getting a little overly defensive of it. Overtime more mothflies are drawn to the area and of course they form little hivemind clusters and whoops! False Monarch 2. But since Purple is awakened and actually intelligent he has a lot more control over the mothfly clusters-- or False Citizens-- and they act more as an extension of him. Purple forms his own little cluster too-- and hates being separated from it and DESPISES being acknowledged as "just a mothfly" so he dresses with a mask and cloak to be a better bug. He gets a bit of a superiority complex as well due to just being surrounded by nothing but feral bugs that he can control.

Anyway the sudden re-population of this abandoned settlement with False Citizens does not go unnoticed. Especially because whenever one wanders close, Purple tends to have a citizen stalk and lurk around the edge until it creeps the bug out enough for them to leave. So a bounty is made once again for the False Monarch.

Blue and Green see it. They think it would be SO fun to lean into their competitive sides and see if whoever got the killing blow on the bounty would finally prove their team as better. So they go to the settlement, see the citizens staring and stalking them and ignore it. They aren't attacking them, after all. They're just being creepy.

They end up finding Purple who is NOT happy and is immediately defensive. But he's not attacking them. He's just kinda throwing a fit and making himself look bigger. Which is weird because bounties are usually extremely dangerous and hostile, but this one is just... throwing a fit. They end up just nearly dodging a fight when some of the citizens start grabbing Green and Blue to throw them out and Blue blurts out they don't want to fight. Turns out Purple does understand Bugnish, but can't speak it.

Great! So they don't have to kill the pretty chill bounty. But others don't know that, and they need to bring back proof they killed Purple to get the bounty taken down. They bring it up to Purple and after vague translations, they make a deal. Purple's been having trouble with a strong enemy near the settlement, so he gives them their mask and helps them defeat the enemy.

And its a big fucking spider, but thankfully they have Purple's range to help in the fight, and while its going smooth at first-- Purple ends up bailing. He's spent too long away from the settlement and figures since Blue and Green are strong enough that they'll be fine. They aren't. Because they needed Purple's range. Purple almost ends up getting them killed, the only reason they survived is because their friends realized they were gone for a long time and come just in time.

Green and Blue afterwards take the mask and leave. They're pissed at Purple but they can confront him another time, they mostly just want to be away from him at the moment.

KING LETS GO MY FAVORITE KING

Time for King! Y'all know King's deal. He has a child he loves with all his heart. In this AU he is a Violin Mantis and his little Goldie is a mantis nymph. King personally isn't an explorer, but Gold REALLY wants to be once and he always finds it difficult to say no to Gold.

Anyway Gold hears wind of a tourist thing. They're doing this mini-tour of the Deadlands in a 100% totally nothing will ever go wrong encased area. Its gonna focus on theories on the Deadlands and what Gold is more interested in-- how Explorers made it safer and how they traverse it.

King doesn't like it. Its called the Deadlands for a reason. But Gold really wants to and is begging him and is doing all his chores and being the most perfect little nymph so he can go. And they claim its safe. King finally caves and takes Gold, and y'all can guess what happens. Deadlander breaks through and kills his son right in front of him before the Explorer escorts can kill it.

So like any regular parent experiencing grief King vows to fucking blow up the Deadlands and everything in it. Not like anybody cares about that fucking place and is widely considered a No Man's Land. He ends up getting his hands on the other half to the Key and is obsessed with finding the other half.

AVM Season 3

While going towards the Termite Kingdom to hopefully find some clues on where the other key half is, King gets lost along the way and finds the abandoned Ant Settlement. False citizens are of course not happy and watch him, but he ignores them. He might as well search the place while he's here. He ends up finding Purple, whose not happy and already a little on edge because Blue and Green haven't come back despite promising they will.

King notices the bounty paper Green and Blue drop and promptly manipulates Purple. Tells them that they probably won't be coming back. But I imagine Green and Blue were yapping to Purple, mentioning the key half because both dont take it that seriously, and Purple sees King's key half and mentions it through a drawing.

King turns up the manipulation to 100. convinces Purple to take his citizens with them (wants to use them as a deadlander bait). If they get the key they'll be strong enough for their village. He just has to get the key from his friends and bring it to King.

Very cute doodle once again from @tatos-stick-pile

Purple does. A while after he's ditched the village to be with King, they run into Color Gang again. They're chatting and having fun and eventually Purple just... dissapears along with the key. Y'all should know what happens, the chase happens, Purple brings the key to King, he combines them and gets really strong and starts destroying shit. Big fight starts up, King focuses on superpowered Second, the color gang go after Purple, who isn't really that strong. He tries getting help from King, but King ignores him. Leaves him for dead.

This fucks up Purple. Because King introduced that fear and realization of abandonment in Purple. And Purple not only realizes how many mistakes he's made, but also realizes he's in fact a lesser bug. That's why nobody wants him. And people don't hesitate to kill lesser bugs when they're in their way. Purple gets both super emotional and terrified for his life, and is forced to abandon his beloved cloak and mask to make a run for it. Green pursues him, everything else happens.

Not sure how everyone splitting up would work so far, but Red somehow gets Herobrine and some of the bugs he watches involved in the fight. Green convinces Purple to go after King, and the bigger fight starts. King uses the Key to attack anyone and hes close enough to his goal hes gotten a lot more brutal. Will just hold whoevers nearest and shoot them point blank with it. Y'all know that scene. The scene where King is nearly killing Purple and goes through that flashback and is slapped in the face with the realization he sees Purple as his own son. That still happens, King gives up, helps Purple and Purple still sticks to him.

Victim & the Mercenaries

Shortly after being discarded by Alan, a cordyceps fungus found and started growing in the grasshopper's body. He is EXTREMELY lucky, because the tiniest crumbs of magic crystal left in his body was just enough magic to balance out the fungus sticking to him and passing on its memory without completely overloading it and turning him into a zombie. But its not perfect, and it still shows in the mini holes in his body. He also woke up fucking PISSED enough to turn him into a Locust

I'm gonna keep this section extremely vague since we still don't know what happened to Victim in AvA canon. Just know he built a massive "charity" corporation in the Termite Kingdom that claims its going to find a way to turn the Deadlands useful. AKA he wants an excuse to have enough money to research a way into killing Alan.

This involves hiring explorer teams, leading him to the Mercenaries: Hazard, Ballista, Primal, and Agent. They are explorers who work in the shadier areas of the Association and are EXTREMELY difficult to hire as they only accept high rewards up-front.

Some concepts for Victim and Agent since I haven't settled on a design for them...

Chosen and Dark catch Victim's eye, since they're rumored to have attacked an Omega and lived. However since Chosen is missing, Victim and the Mercenaries stop by Rubber Prison to visit Dark. Now Dark and the Mercenaries were very well known in the same area, so they know each other. Doesn't mean Dark likes them.

They convince Dark to help them with the promise of his bands back and a dead Omega. Dark thinks Chosen would absolutely love a dead Omega, and so he doesn't hesitate.

Shit happens. Chosen and Second get captured by the mercenaries and Chosen is PISSED at Dark despite all the regret. They're both mad at each other but Dark's doesn't last long when Victim starts torturing Chosen for information. He's mad at Chosen but he doesn't want that.

He blows up at Victim a little at it, so to get Dark to listen, Victim rips off a good chunk of Chosen's remaining wing. That makes Dark stand down, and now Dark doesn't know what to do. Chosen feels too guilty about everything to say anything, and Dark is too prideful to apologize. More shit happens-- Victim has the gem of Hoaxe's crown. Long story short it can brainwash Hornets, which Victim starts using when Chosen keeps refusing. That pushes Dark more off of Victim but he can't do anything lest Victim directs it all back on Chosen tenfold.

More vague shit. Mr alan becker i need the next part of episode six soon please. Anyway big fight in the Deadlands. Everyone's in there and Victim wants Alan DEAD. But Victim is getting progressively more and more pissed off because despite being attacked Alan is being as gentle as he can. He's going the extra mile to make sure he doesn't kill them. Anyway Dark ends up snapping Chosen's antennae to break him out of the brainwashing and Victim gets cooked.

Chosen decides to not murder Victim-- mostly because clearly that's not permanent and its too good for him. Victim is extremely upset about this because the fact nobody is killing him and just being weirdly merciful and the fact hes lost all control has sent him into a breakdown. Its challenging all the rules hes lived by and how he thought the world worked. Hes screaming and shouting at them.

Which attracts the attention of another Omega. Now the thing about Omegas is because they're pretty fragile due to being mostly bones, it means they need to build armor to survive. And they're territorial. Usually if an Omega picks a fight the one with the better armor survives.

Once again-- art provided by @tatos-stick-pile THEY ARE COOKING

And to protect the bug he KNOWS he hurt and was alive-- Alan attacks the other Omega despite already being extremely injured and losing most his armor. The others dont have a choice but to hide out of sight, and eventually the other Omega wins and kills Alan. Tries looking around for the interesting thing that was shouting but finds nothing and fucks off along with a few undamaged parts of Alan's armor.

Everyone except for Second and the Color Gang decide to take their leave. I imagine throughout the story theres a lot of moments where Alan works on making it up to Second and just truely shows he cares and is regretful. So Second tries reviving him, but the problem is that Alan is just... fuckin' massive. Even when they're dead or asleep they're so big their bodies get mistaken for terrain.

It doesn't work at first. Until Yellow finds the gem Victim left behind that he used to control Chosen, and he learned that this can boost magic. He gives it to Second and he completely exhausts himself and they revive Alan. Yipee!! Everyone is saved happy ending go home its over

After Everything

Chalk my liar count to 2 y'all

Purple lives with King, and King has officially adopted him. They still have their own issues they're working towards, but they're slowly getting there together.

Dark and Chosen don't know what to do at first. Chosen wants a chill and peaceful life, but Dark directly contrasts that. He's much more well known and hated than Chosen. Just by being with him, he ruins Chosen's happiness, but he just wants to stay with him. Chosen wants to stay with Dark as well. Thankfully, one of the mercenaries pops up. They're pissed at first, but all they do is mention a town.

Looking into it, after the attempted takeover half a century ago, the bandit leader Astotheles got inspired by the celebration. He wanted a home, a nation for his people, so he left Bugaria because it obviously wasn't gonna happen there. Outside the nation's borders, he established his own village. Where bugs who are abandoned or discarded can come to start anew.

Chosen and Dark decide to move to there, leaving behind and finally moving on from everything that happened to them.

Victim on the other hand went missing. He took that loss HARD. Agent thinks he has an idea on where he went, but needs extra help, so he puts up a request. He's not bringing the other mercs because they don't know about the cordyceps thing and Victim prefers to keep it hidden.

Color Gang ends up taking it up. They are low on berries and its the only request on the board. Nobody is happy about this. Agent makes sure to go with them, and he leads them all to Snakemouth Den. In the den there's a lot of spores and magic in the air, and it gets worse the deeper you go in because in that cave is an ancient Roach laboratory where experimented on cordyceps and magic in an attempt to recreate the immortality of the Everlasting Sapling (that thing is long dead it doesnt matter).

Anyway Victim went here for a power boost. Thinks he just needs to try again and he'll have more control and he'll win. Now he aint thinkin' clearly because the magic that is so goddamn potent in this cave is messin with the fungus. And y'all remember what i said?

"He is EXTREMELY lucky, because the tiniest crumbs of magic crystal left in his body was just enough magic to balance out the fungus sticking to him and passing on its memory without completely overloading it and turning him into a zombie."

Yeah. Ends up shanking himself with the crystals to try and force more magic in him and it makes the fungus go stupid crazy and completely overgrow out and through his exoskeleton and whoops! say goodbye to your sentience. Control freak loses everything even the control over himself. Fun little boss fight I also imagine he has a poison thing going on.

Anyway they end up knocking him down and restraining him, Agent rips out all the crystals. Victim isn't dead yet but he's in awful shape, and congrats you earned Second's pity. Second heals him and Agent pays them a shit ton for that and brings Victim home to help him recover.

Anyway thats it for the AU so far holy god that was so much longer than I expected if you made it here we should go on a date to texas roadhouse together

[maboroshi-no]

Hamefura LN Release SS

This seems to be a commemorative special story posted when LN1 and LN2 came out.

Series: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Source: Ichijinsha Bunko Iris website Synopsis: Katarina gets drunk during the ball held for Geordo and Alan's 15th birthday. Translation: maboroshi-no

Anne: My Lady, are you alright?

Katarina: I'm okay, Anne. I'm feeling well!

After saying this, when I swiftly got up from the sofa I was sitting on, the scenery around me spun dizzily, and I inadvertently staggered. 

Anne: And how is this okay…? Please patiently stay here until the ball is over.

After I, Katarina Claes, had staggered, my maid-in-waiting Anne sighed a little while helping me. As I was looking at her tired face, I dazedly wondered how things turned out like this.

Today was the birthday of the twin princes of this country. Since it was the year of their 15th birthday and debut in high society, a magnificent ball was held at the castle.

Since I was engaged to one of the twin princes, Geordo Stuart, I was naturally invited to this party and attended it with Geordo as my escort.

However, with the guest of honor Geordo surrounded by many people and very busy engaging with them, I, his plus-one moved to a corner. 

When I did, there were many very delicious-looking dishes and delicious-looking juices remaining untouched in the corner. It instantly raised my spirits and I relished the dishes laid out on the table.

Especially, the grape juice completely refreshed my dry throat. It was so delicious that I emptied three glasses.

Then, as I was reaching out for my fourth glass, my friends, who were also attending the ball, noticed me and came to me. I took a step towards them, and… at that moment… the scenery around me spun dizzily. 

When I came to, I was lying on a sofa in the waiting room of the party, and Anne, who had accompanied me from the manor, was peering worriedly at me.

According to Anne, I got drunk from drinking too much wine and fainted. 

I see, so this grape juice was wine~. I had only attended children's tea parties until now, so they had all been juices… But in adults' balls, there would also be alcohol. 

After I had heard the circumstances from Anne and grasped the situation, Anne sternly told me, "Since it happened at a corner of the venue, it didn't seem to have reached public eyes, but please be very careful."

The ones who carried me here were my friends coming to me at that time. They also seemed to have tended to me for a while. I had to properly thank them afterward.

Still, for the scenery to spin so much just from standing for a bit… The effects of alcohol were so powerful.

What's more, when I swiftly stood up, the alcohol might have hit even harder because my head became even fuzzier.

Maybe it was the effect of alcohol, but I felt so good~ As I was sitting on the sofa thinking this, a visitor came to the waiting room.

Geordo: Katarina, I heard that you fell sick. Are you okay?

The one who, after saying this, showed up with a worried face was Geordo. With the other nobles hardly letting him go, it became late when he came to see me. "I am sorry for coming late", Geordo apologetically said as I dazedly gazed at his face.

Geordo: Katarina? Are you really okay?

As I was dazed and didn't answer him, Geordo knelt and peered at my face.

As he did, Anne told him, "My Lady got drunk with alcohol", and explained things in my place. 

While she did, I dazedly gazed at Geordo's face. Geordo's face felt different from usual. Like… how should I put it? He looked somewhat tired.

Katarina: Prince Geordo, are you tired?

Geordo: …Ah, yes. There were especially many people approaching me today, so I am indeed a little tired.

While a little surprised by my sudden question, Geordo replied this.

It seemed like even Geordo got worn out from people coming to him one after the other.

On my birthday, Geordo escorted me and greatly helped me. It would be great if I could also help him in any way… Wasn't there something even I could do? I dazedly pondered this…...... That's it! I just came up with a great idea. As he was peering at me, I pulled Geordo's body close and hugged him tightly. Then…

Katarina: Good job! You've worked hard!

After saying this, I stroked Geordo's head. When I was little, Father would often do this to me after I had worked hard on my hated subjects. When he did, I would somewhat feel at ease and greatly cheered up.

I intended to cheer up the tired Geordo like this, but… When I pulled my head back and looked at Geordo, he was frozen with a straight face.

Huh? How come? And why was his face bright red? What happened? Maybe I was reeking of alcohol?

As I was thinking that I should probably apologize for the alcohol smell, for some reason my head became even fuzzier… The scenery started spinning again… and I fainted.

When I woke up again, I didn't remember anything after I had drunk the grape juice. It seemed Geordo came to see me and we talked, but I had no recollection of it.

When I talked about it to Anne tending to me, for some reason, she looked at me with eyes like she had seen something sad.

[rebelrayne]

Hi there 🩷

What are we thinking about the likely reveal that Hamish and Melissa have shagged? Personally I’m pretty sure it has to be them. Because why else would he have been so pressed about her leaving? And the weird things he said?

Ngl I’m a bit nervous about this. I won’t give a fuck and snap him up as soon as I can anyway but still… I wanna hear your theory 👀

Hi Rae!!!

Settle in, babe. Just call me Marisol because I'm about to psychoanalyze this manchild that I am so fucking desperate for. I've got all the opinions under the cut lmfao and it's A LOT of opinions (and a really long headcanon)

Let me know what grade I get on my thesis paper

First let's go back to the scene of the crime: Season 6. Hamish tells us that he has dated someone seriously and it was a girl he'd met back in University. I suppose he does not specify that they were in college at the time that they dated, rather that was where they met. We'll still assume it couldn't have been long after that.

Why is that important? Well, Hamish admits that he's cheated in two different places: in Season 6 during the Judge and Jury challenge, and then once in Season 9 where he says to Finn: "Haven't we all?"

But this is actually contradicting the one of the two times this man has ever seemed human in a group setting: at breakfast when he admits that his girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend. He was upset, and he looked it. Sure, this could have been Ivy but most likely, it wasn't. It was the first girl and she ripped him apart. I think we all know that Ivy probably got fed up with him because he's kind of fragile and needs someone really patient, and Ivy needs someone very self-assured.

No, this other girl ruined him. Ripped his heart from his chest and stomped on it. The man accidentally admitted he was a virgin until almost 25! So either, this girl was using him to get to said best friend that she cheated on him with, or he did get sex from her out but only because she was tricking him. Not to mention, either way, he got his V card swiped out of pity, I'm sure.

What's this all mean? It means that Hamish is putting up a front. He's trying to make it seem like he's this big party dude, with tons of friends and game. He's rejecting girls left and right, they all want him and so yeah, of course he's cheating-everyone wants a piece of him, right?

Wrong. No one wants him. He's literally the wacky sidekick of the main male character in every romance movie. He's fucking Alan in the Hangover. This man has never cheated on anyone because he's the most insecure man he knows and has ever met. He's trying to make himself seem like he's something he isn't, trying to make others believe that he's just such a player and he doesn't catch feelings-he's too cool for that kind of thing.

Well, until he isn't. The issue with Hamish now is that he wants to keep this façade going. It worked for him in Season 6, didn't it? That's why he was invited back in the first place. He clings to the first girl he couples with, but the thing is, he's messy. He's never had this many girls actually show interest in him. Hell, the only date he had outside of Ivy since the S6 season stood him up.

This man is literally trying to be like his best friend. That guy gets all the girls, doesn't he? He has them chasing after him, pining for him and he's confident as hell about it. Hamish isn't being his true authentic self. He's pretending to be like his best friend, who stole his girlfriend, so that other people think he's cooler than he actually is.

Because let's be honest: Hamish is soooo uncool. Funny, sure, but cool? No.

So to answer the question you have: Did he have sex with Melissa?

No. My very first instinct was that Hamish didn't take a chance. He's been starting to have feelings and he's been too scared to let himself open up because look what happened last time he did? He's stuck because women don't normally pay him any attention but here he's got Natasha, Kat, Melissa and MC all chatting to him. He kind of likes Melissa and MC, too. He has a connection, but he's too scared to just say that.

Melissa leaving-that was a wakeup call because what if MC is next? What if he does what he's always done since his girlfriend fucked his best friend and he doesn't put himself out there? Will he be sad and lonely for the rest of his life?

The answer was yes, so that's why he opened up on the date. "I have a crush on you." because he does. It's going to take more to make him be okay with being vulnerable, he needs someone to be patient with him. He's had this front up for so long that he doesn't know how to take it down.

Not to mention that because Hamish never gets any girls, he's screaming it to everyone when he does. He hasn't been very shy about his affections in challenges, either. Remember Grace? He started to slip up that they'd hooked up. He can't keep a secret at all. Why would he keep it a secret if they had sex? MC would have been the first to know. Hamish might know every bit of tea in that Villa, but he is always talking to MC about it when he has any to spill because he does like her, and he does want to connect with her.

Plus look at his friends!!! He said he was only 15 minutes away from them and kept making wrong turns, yet he wasn't found in that dune for three hours? They weren't looking for him. This guy is essentially Tom 2.0 but in the way that he actually doesn't have friends that like him that much. He's trying to be something he isn't and that's kind of sad to me. I think we're going to continue to see more and more layers. He's way more complex than we thought he was.

TLDR: Hamish is a liar. He's uncool and never cheated but thinks he sounds cooler to everyone if he says he did because he has soooo many girls that want him. Melissa didn't fuck Hamish, he wouldn't be able to keep it quiet if he had.

[obsidianimagines]

Just Like Old Times

Sam surprises you with a visit to the newly restored Flynn's Arcade.

Sam Flynn x gn!Bradley!reader

Warnings: None

Notes: This is my first Sam imagine. It's connected to some other imagines that are coming up, I just wanted to do this one first because it's cute. Reader is Alan and Lora's kid, but could easily be adopted if that works better for you! Enjoy ☺️

"You busy tonight?"

"Yeah, a little bit." Looking up at the home screen of your Wii, you smirked. "I've got a date with a little Italian plumber."

Sam chuckled from the other end of the phone. "Can Princess Peach wait a little longer to be rescued?"

"I don't know," you sighed, already shutting off the system and your television. "What do you have in mind?"

"Still got your helmet?"

Back when the two of you were still dating, and even before that, Sam used to take you out on his Ducati all the time. He'd gotten you your own helmet because even though he drove much more cautiously with you on the back, he still wanted you to be as safe as possible. "I think it's around here somewhere," you replied, trying not to betray that you still knew exactly where it was.

"See you in ten minutes." His motorcycle revved loudly before he hung up the phone.

Grinning, you jumped up from the couch and rushed to your closet to search for something other than the sweatpants and loose shirt you'd been wearing since you got home. Since you didn't have much time, you settled on a t-shirt and jeans look, and a hoodie on top to protect you from the wind. It wasn't like it was a date, so casual was just fine.

You took a minute to dig the old helmet out of the back of the closet, and you smiled at the sight of it. Sam had it painted in your favorite color, with a golden Triforce on the back. It brought back a lot of good memories.

With only a few minutes left, you fixed yourself up in the bathroom mirror and finally left to meet Sam.

You noticed him the moment you stepped out of the entrance to your apartment building. He sat on his bike, helmet off and resting in front of him. You tried to ignore the striking blue of his eyes and how the glow of the street lights played on his dirty blond hair.

Sam smiled when he saw you approaching. "You look great."

"I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" you asked as you took the spot behind him, avoiding the compliment.

"Don't worry, I only just got here." He put his helmet back on, and you did the same for the first time in years.

You wrapped your arms around his middle, instantly feeling right at home. This was getting a little too dangerous already. "Gonna tell me where we're going?"

"You'll see."

Sam started the bike back up and took off, smirking as he felt you hold on a little tighter. Riding with you was one of the many things that he'd missed. He remembered the first time he'd taken you out for a ride, back when you were both 15. Alan wasn't happy about it afterward, but your father's protests didn't keep you from regularly ending up on the back of his bike.

You rested your head against his back and closed your eyes, feeling the rushing wind and the rumble of the street beneath you. If anyone else were driving that motorcycle, you would've avoided it like the plague. But you trusted Sam with your safety, and with your life. There was no question about it.

Remembering that made it that much harder to stick to the idea of starting over again as friends. Spending more and more time with him had you craving it all, even though he'd broken your heart when he ended your relationship. Circumstances were much different than before, but you didn't want to jump into things. You wanted to take it slow for as long as you could manage, and thankfully, Sam had understood that.

You weren't sure exactly how much time had passed when Sam finally came to a stop and turned off the engine. "Here we are."

Pulling your helmet off, your eyes went right to the huge glowing sign that read FLYNN'S. You hadn't seen it lit up since you were six. Even the Tron billboard up top looked exactly the same, not faded and worn. "Whoa."

"You should see the inside," he said, taking off his helmet and standing up, placing it on the seat. "Come on."

You followed his lead, watching as he unlocked the door and opened it up to let you inside. The place was almost pitch black as you stepped in, the outlines of some of the arcade cabinets barely visible. "I can't see much of anything like this."

Sam walked further into the arcade. "Wait there."

Shoving your hands into your hoodie pocket, you did just as he said, and moments later, heard the flipping of a few switches.

After 20 years of abandonment, you'd expected the place to look dilapidated, covered in a thick layer of dust. But no, once everything turned on, Flynn's looked just the way it had in 1989. Neon signs on the walls, the arcade cabinets flashing with idle animations, and the jukebox blasting pure 80's nostalgia. Tears pricked at your eyes, and you couldn't help the huge grin on your face.

For a moment, you were six years old again.

Sam smiled as he watched you take the place in, the awe on your face making him feel even more pride. It'd been a long time since he'd seen you so happy.

He came to stand beside you, only adding to that feeling of nostalgia. "I hired some people to clean the place up and get the cabinets in working order. Grand opening's in about two weeks."

"Dad said you mentioned doing something with the arcade, but I wasn't expecting this."

Passing by the neglected arcade had always stung a bit. There were so many days where your parents would bring you and Jet by, and you and Sam would play games with his father. Then Kevin Flynn disappeared, and the place was shuttered, remaining only in your memories until that night.

"It just felt like the right thing to do." Like taking back ENCOM and actually doing something with his life. Like reconnecting with you.

"How many hours do you think we spent trying to beat your dad's high scores?"

Sam glimpsed the leaderboard on a nearby cabinet, his father's initials still firmly at the top. "Nowhere near enough."

You walked further into the arcade, Sam trailing behind. "So did you bring quarters, or are you just being a tease?"

"Me? A tease? Never."

A loud laugh left you as you made your way over to Space Paranoids, and Sam headed off to fetch the coins he'd prepared. You fiddled with the buttons, getting a bit of a feel for it again. You'd played some arcade games off and on in the last two decades, but Space Paranoids was not one of them. Hopefully, you weren't too rusty.

Sam returned, holding a cup full to the brim with quarters. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" You slid one coin into the machine and got into position.

Sam's heart grew warmer as he watched you play. You'd always been at your most adorable when you were singularly focused, your eyebrows furrowed and tongue poking out from between your lips. It took everything he had not to kiss you right then and there.

"Come on, come on, come on," you mumbled, shooting at the Recognizer. This was the last stretch, and while you surely wouldn't beat Flynn's score, you still wanted to do your best and show off a bit. Once the final enemy was destroyed, you didn't quite make it on the leaderboard, but to be fair, you did have some stiff competition.

You moved back from the cabinet and nodded towards it. "Your turn."

"No, thanks. This one's a bit too real for me now."

Sam had told you about 'The Grid' and how he'd found his dad and Quorra there. Apparently, Kevin Flynn had succeeded in his dream of a digital frontier and ended up trapped there, in a world much like the Tron game in the back of the arcade. He'd told Sam stories about it as a kid–which Sam had relayed back to you a few times–but they were just stories, right?

You bumped your shoulder into his playfully. "I think you're just scared you won't do as well as I did."

And though you'd met and already adored Quorra, the idea of her being a program living in the real world seemed completely impossible.

Part of you wondered if Sam might have been concussed while base jumping off ENCOM Tower, or maybe just had a bad acid trip or something. But whether or not an adventure on The Grid really did happen, you were just glad that it triggered something in him. Everyone who knew him could see how much better he was doing already.

He would be the first to admit that you were better at most video games than he was, given that you continued to play them regularly into your teens and adulthood, but he stepped into the open space anyway. "Alright, I'll give it a try," he said with a laugh, putting a quarter into the machine.

"Don't forget, it's all in the wrist."

"Man, that was the most fun I've had in a long time."

"Happy to help." Sam smiled, his arm casually resting over the back of your seat. After playing every game in the arcade, the two of you had decided to hang out in his dad's old office for a while. And he might have had an ulterior motive in getting you away from the loud music downstairs. "Not to ruin the mood, but I wanted to talk to you about something while we're here."

You placed your drink on the coffee table. "Uh oh. Should I be worried?"

"It's not bad, I promise." Sam ran a hand back through his hair, almost nervous. Would this be too much too fast? "Alan told me that you tried pitching a new games division a while back."

You'd talked about it off and on for years, but he'd had no idea that you'd actually brought it to the board until he began looking into more ways to change ENCOM for the better. Among other ideas proposed by employees, your father had informed Sam of yours, and he knew that it hadn't gone well.

"Oh, that?" There was a tinge of sadness that you couldn't hide from him, even though you tried to act nonchalant. "They practically laughed me out of the meeting. Told me that ENCOM Games went out the window a long time ago."

"Well, the new CEO happens to think it's a great idea." You could see the serious glint in his eyes as he continued. "I want you to be the head of game development for ENCOM."

In spite of the sincerity in his expression and tone, you laughed. "What?"

"We both know that operating systems aren't your passion. You got into programming to make games."

"Yeah, but I thought you were focusing on medical technology and research." He'd told you about ISOs, and how Quorra was one herself. How her DNA could change the world.

"ENCOM's a big company." Sam put his arm around your shoulder and gestured his other hand out in front of the two of you. "Come on, just picture it. An office that's not the size of a closet, with a great view of Center City. The power to make the games you've always wanted without having to answer to anyone. Except for me, technically, but I trust you completely."

Over the years, you'd showed Sam so many ideas and sketches for games that you wanted to make some day. Some fully fleshed out, others just interesting bits and pieces that you could expand on later. You had notebooks full of them, but you hadn't looked at any since the board shot you down. Sam knew better than anyone how much it all meant to you.

"I got on at ENCOM because I hoped things would eventually go back to how they were before. Over the years, it became more and more apparent that it wasn't happening. Then my pitch went to hell, and I gave up. I decided it was time to go and do what I've always wanted. But I was wrong. You're finally making ENCOM better, and I'd like to help you do it."

Sam needed all the help he could get, and he knew it. Thankfully, he had people he could trust. "We'll get you moved into your new office tomorrow."

He already had an office, which meant he must have already had space reserved for a new department, which meant..."You just assumed I'd say yes?"

"More like hoped."

"You almost missed your chance, you know. I was so close to being hired by Nintendo."

The idea that you were planning to leave Center City, especially now that you were in his life again, made his stomach drop. But if anyone deserved the chance to follow their dreams, it was you. He couldn't blame you for having written off a future at ENCOM. "...They would've been lucky to have you."

"I know," you replied with a shrug. "But now you're the one who's lucky to have me."

"That's old news."

Sam's bright blue eyes bore into yours, and you found yourself leaning in just a bit. His arm still rested around your shoulders, his fingertips brushing your arm and making your skin tingle even through the fabric. You glanced at his lips for a moment, and he started to move in to meet you. You could still remember the feeling of his mouth on yours as he held you impossibly close, making your heart pound in your chest every time.

The thumping drums of Separate Ways started up in the arcade, and you managed to break out of the spell. "We still had some quarters, right? We should go use them up."

Sam let out a breathy chuckle. "Yeah, that's a good idea." He would've been more than happy to stay up on that couch kissing you, but you obviously weren't ready for that, and he would never push it.

So, he gladly went back downstairs and played more games with you, just like old times.

[aannonn]

★ ─。colorful text , strong colors , bold text , brief mention of suicide , implied/referenced grief , swearing

okay i know we are all excited about the actual short that just came out but let me ramble a bit about Red cause im getting emotional about this stick ... ( before my motivation to type all of this ends and i dont feel emotional anymore lol )

Red in season 3 went through so much istg ;; not only did he and Sec went through a very tense (and needed) fight which almost caused the end of their friendship (+ Sec was clearly in the winning side here, or Red was just really terrified of her at that moment given to how he tried to run away from her - of which i will probably talk about it in a later post maybe), but he was also really fucking tormented in monster school (i felt so bad for him in this episode i legit wanted to cry)

+ after all of this fiasco he really went ahead and carried this thing (of which, given to how he hit it on the ground and it made a soft thump, it must have been heavy asf) all the way to the other side and??? fucking smashed King's chin which made him fly to so fucking far ;; which means he literally used all of his strenght to carry this staff, and dropkick King with it, even if it was so hard he almost even dropped it at first

AND THEN HE JUST. PROCEEDS TO PASS OUT ON THE FLOOR CAUSE HES SO FRICKING TIRED AND EXHAUSTED AAWRGHWS

there are also other moments where i think he really deserves a break tbh ;;

he lost a pet. i have a pet myself and just the thought of ever losing him hurts so fucking much to the point i can feel my oof'ing urges coming back.

;; granted; it was a minecraft pig and it was high with all the potions, and also tried to kill all of them, but he clearly atleast had some care for that pig ... (the fact that he immediately stood up and spawned another animal makes me think about that one post/tiktok (i dont remember the user) i've seen ; which talked about Red possibly hiding/bottling up his sadness from others , in order to stay happy and positive or because he doesn't think his struggles are important enough compared to the others' - which i think it make alot of sense since you rarely see him cry or something, just going numb and/or looking down in despair - the only ever time we ever saw him cry was when Green supposedly died.)

i haven't talked about this actual short before since i had no desire to , but damn bro the way i felt bad for Red in this(っ °Д °;)っ he just wanted to have red stuff for him aswell, since apparently it wasn't dropping for him for some reason???? okay he should have included green and blue stuff aswell instead of possibly removing them but. still. Green and Blue were so fricking wrong in this

and !! his and Sec's tense relationship in the past seasons ... i love Sec he's literally my fav out of them all but i cannot defend xem on this. i know she had her reasons and im not saying Red was in the right either but, gosh ... pretty ironic given he's the one who inspired xem to break in in their site and join them in their battle

... i dont even need to explain do i

he lost a pet ... again. and because of his own fault aswell ! he knew the possible dangers of fusing the command block and the staff together , given how he almost got possessed alongside his friends the first time something like this happened , and yet ... he did it anyway . and beeper died as a consequence . i cant imagine how much guilt he must have felt .. (probably one of the main reasons why he didnt put up a fight when they put him in the timeout box)

i think he wanted to cry at this scene ngl ,,,

thinking about this ; they are all really tragic characters tbh ,,, stepping away from the heavy angsty all of c!Alan's stickfigures go through , rygb goes through a lot of shit aswell , and tbh i just feel bad for all of them ; they are all such tragic characters that deserve a very well-needed break break/_ \

since we are in this topic aswell , i would like to mention how i really love Blue and his immediate rush in being a comfort for the others<3

i used to think Yellow was the therapist friend but we only ever saw him comfort Blue lolll ( i love him anyway ;; i think Blue is more of a therapist friend than he is though )

[spacedadkronos]

Ooo, lol, looks like someone got their knickers twisted so hard they wrote a whole essay about how they're categorically correct about an ultimately subjective matter. That's always a winning approach.

Please do not try to "educate" me the difference between writers and executive producers in animation. I have an animation degree. I'm not a child.

 I follow both Brent and Alan on Twitter and have been for like 3 years now. I have been watching their updates since the announcement of the show 2 years ago. I have pics of them celebrating finishing up the writing. Here's proof that they wrote it, including screenshots of the IMDb Brent had linked on his Twitter. 

I said this is not what they consider THE sequel. Obviously it is *a* sequel. I'm saying people should not be treating it like Megamind 2 when it is a pilot for the TV show. They want a real theatrical sequel.

This is a random screenshot I felt was important

I think this person better put what I meant about not as many people would care this much if it wasn't on streaming:

Megamind was an arrogant little egomaniac for the entirety of the first movie. Not sure how you missed that. Roxanne appears dissatisfied with her place in life from her recording at the Metro Man Museum with Hal onward, and does her level best to become the hero her city needs because no one else is going to stand up and do it - not sure how you missed that, either, but her whole character arc is about stepping up to the plate to do good. Well done reducing her to a single career point and then discarding her. I wasn't surprised to see her frustrations with going right back to reporting. That was a headspace that made a ton of sense for her. It was set up incredibly well.

And Megamind himself says, "some days, it felt like it was just me and Minion against the world," so you might think I agree with you there - but in fact I'm going to point out the SOME days, it FELT LIKE. There is no reason to believe that he never had any other professional associates between the time he left the schoolhouse and the time we see him as an established supervillain. In fact, I can and will argue that there's room to interpret *he himself* saying he wasn't always flying solo. It's up to interpretation - but it's there.

And no, Roxanne and Megamind are not and should not be "quasi-dating" unless you want to look past the enormous Bernard lie. Which I can't say I'm surprised you did, since Roxanne doesn't matter as anything other than Reporter Romantic Interest, apparently. The end of the original implies they have *potential.*

But I'm not trying to convince you. At the end of the day, you didn't enjoy something you hoped to enjoy. You missed a few key points about the original, so the pilot of the show didn't line up with some of your expectations and it pissed you off. That's a shame. But instead of offering some grace and recognizing it for what it is - a movie designed for a younger demographic than the original, the first ounce of love Dreamworks has shown this IP since its initial release more than a decade ago, and as much story as could be crammed into 83 minutes because the people making it only had so much time within which to work, which is *honestly a fun ride* if somewhat tonally dissonant compared to what YOU were hoping for - you've decided instead to focus on what it wasn't: What You Personally Wanted. And you've decided to make your disappointment everyone else's problem instead of processing it like an adult and moving on.

I think you're boring, I think you're unkind, I think you're a whiny little bully who came onto MY POST to bitch and complain about how you're the god of what I'M allowed to enjoy. Block me, if I make you so miserable. I'm busy having fun.

[danieyells]

In Tokyo debunkers I have been thinking about the first years and what they have in common.I think all of them are short-sighted or have tunnel vision this isn't a bad trait

I may be wrong on this or miss remembering so if I'm wrong please correct it.Please excuse the formatting I'm on mobile and the length.

Leo-

He is the easiest one for this,the speech that Alan gave him at the end of vagastorm kinda sums up lot of leo problems.There was a post about Leo possibly self-sabotage or disregard for his own self, there's merit look at the scene of Leo,Alan and Thoma.

He may have figured out that Alan wasn't going to hurt him but Thoma was a complete wild card in that situation,he was grabbing his axe.Along with setting up the PC,he used her to his liking and was planning to fuck her over after the fact.Image if his planned success what would have happened most likely no more access to the PC if she believes her boasting does not work.That means no more spying on Thoma and Alan.

Please tell me if this has any weight.I have to go to work.Thank you

Sorry this took so long, anon! I wanted to reply earlier but I thought that maybe mobile wasn't showing parts of the message(it sounded kind of like you were going to list the ways the other first-years were short-sighted/prone to tunnel vision) so I wanted to check it on desktop and my Taiga brain ADHD made me keep forgetting 8'D Excuse me for rambling so much, I get a little long-winded! TL;DR, I do think you're right, although Leo isn't as careless as you think, and I think Sho isn't really prone to tunnel vision or short-sightedness beyond that he seems to bounce between interests somewhat easily.

Yeah, I agree that the first years are a little prone to tunnel vision--like, they all must have come here with something in mind and that something will expand in their time here. Ritsu intended to acquire clients--particularly the famous and wealthy Frostheimers who are prone to controversy and scandal. Ren has implied some issues with his family so he possibly did this to escape the responsibilities of home--and now he has to try and escape the responsibilities of work too. Sho. . .I think Sho is the least short-sighted of them in a sense? Sho seems very much like he takes things day by day and he does whatever catches his interest and whatever makes things easiest for Leo, even if it means he gets in trouble when Leo should've. He's really intelligent and has a plethora of hobbies and interests, although he puts a lot of his passion in cooking and tends to drop most other things that aren't sports. And Leo, like he said, came here expecting it to be a lot more fun to be around other people who made pacts with demons, and he acts like he only cares about thrills, profits, and having a good time. Most of them don't care about others or only care about others in superficial ways that benefit them(again, with the exception of Sho who at least seems to be more good-natured and considerate so far, unless Leo is telling the truth when he says Sho acts that way to get and keep customers, which wouldn't make sense since Sho only recently started the food truck.)

About the meeting in the car, both of them were reaching for their weapons, not just Tohma. Because they didn't know what was happening when they were summoned to the car by the other but they were both confused, so they suspected foul play and prepared for a fight either way. They may have been about to fight each other, suspecting the other wasn't actually themself, frankly. I think they had their hands on their weapons before that panel was shown. See how they both already have their hands off to their sides by the time Leo pops in, after they both get confused? Reaching for their weapons was happening before Leo made himself known.

But Leo is smart enough to know Alan wouldn't let him get hurt even if Tohma started swinging--although I imagine he was being sarcastic when he said he didn't think Tohma knew who he was and he knew Tohma wouldn't just start attacking him mindlessly. Tohma was at the entrance ceremony(he already saw Tohma's information with Darkwick so he would have recognized him anyway, and he could probably ascertain from how diligent Tohma is that he would also recognize Leo already) and he also knew Tohma knew of him from when he listened in on them previously. Even if Tohma did pull out his weapon, Alan would have recognized Leo and his voice when he started speaking and protected him. Leo knows who his muscle is. He wouldn't have had put himself in a situation he didn't think he couldn't safely get out of. He does this kind of thing far too much to not know his exits--not to mention, you don't immediately hurt or kill someone who pulled something like he did. You get information first. It's just the smart thing to do, especially when they're already worried about a spy. (Plus you can't just willy nilly try and kill motherfuckers on campus. The likelihood that Tohma was actually going to try and kill, or even injure, him was slim to none.)

As for convincing the PC their power didn't work, they already knew it worked from when they used it in Frostheim. They just wouldn't think it always worked. He would still be able to ask them to come and use it on the basis of 'let's see if we can get it to work.' He'd be claiming it'd help them, because if they don't know what does and doesn't cause it to work, they and Darkwick would want to figure it out--and since he would be able to say 'it seems like it works when we use it together' they'd end up relying on him to help them understand when it does and doesn't work. The PC just probably wouldn't be sent on missions with them due to being a liability. Also, he could still spy on Tohma and Alan--just not while they're in the soundproofed car. He mentions in the campus chat that they likely have more than one place they meet up(unless he wasn't spying on Tohma and Alan at that point, but somebody else), and he also plants bugs in the car according to his home screen dialogues(although they get destroyed.) He'd be able to spy on them less, but it's not like they only ever meet in there, and I'm sure he'd figure that out quickly enough.

You have to remember what the guy does for a living outside of being an influencer--he corners rich people and basically makes them give up money in exchange for him not releasing information they'd wanna keep private. His proper introduction is at the "mercy" of a guy with a knife who's clearly threatened to stab him multiple times based on the multiple stabbed pillows around them, summoning Sho to help him. He puts himself in danger all the time, but he always has at least one way to be backed up. He was second in scholastic ability among all the first years. He's extremely intelligent and clever. Yes, he is short-sighted, but that's in terms of making things work. He'll treat the symptoms without resolving the problem if he can, like Alan said--if it gets the desired result who cares if it's right or wrong in the long run? But he's not so careless that he'd put himself into that much danger with no backup plan--although he is careless enough to put himself in the danger in the first place, but. Everything involves risks.

The problem is that backup plans can fall through and understandings of situations can too. Like Alan said, he does need to take better care of himself because he absolutely is careless--not extraordinarily so imo, but definitely careless. Leo is willing to put himself in danger for an end goal, but it's not like he runs into things with no plan and no backup. Leo is smart enough to get things to work with his wits and his words 99% of the time, but that one percent is gonna get him in real trouble eventually--and we've already seen his plans partially fall through two or three times(although two were after they served their purposes.) Alan realized when Sho wouldn't eat the spicy donuts that he and Leo lied about who was at fault for their acting outside of the scope of their mission. Even at the end of the encounter with the anomaly, Sho ended up telling the [half?] truth and backing up that the PC was able to buff his stigma instead of going on with their deal, which Leo hadn't expected. And the PC and Alan, in Alan's character story, end up investigating the actual circumstances behind Jun and Takeru's deaths. He's used to things working out for him and going his way, so he doesn't consider enough what could happen if they don't. Short-sighted, yeah, careless, yes but not as much so as you might think. Calculated risks, normally really good at math. But sometimes you get the math wrong.

I do think you're not wrong as far as most of them being a little short-sighted though. The only one I kinda disagree with is Sho, but even Sho's like. . .he only cares about his interests, but he goes through with what other people want from him anyway sometimes? Like he tends to train with Alan in The Pit despite complaining about it a lot, enough so that Alan doesn't have to use the punching bag in his room as much when he trains since he can spar with Sho instead. He's also constantly doing whatever Leo wants despite seeming to dislike it, and letting himself take the fall for Leo's bad behavior. But maybe that follower mentality is a sort of short-sightedness and tunnel vision as well. . .then again, like he said to Hyde, "If I can use you to get ahead, I'm doing it." That's not really very short-sighted at all, he clearly has other things in mind. . .but it's hard to tell with Sho. We rarely see his motivations. Like I can't really pin down what Sho is. . .after in life. But also, Sho cycles through interests(with the exception of cooking and maybe basketball) frequently, so I get the feeling that's the point. Sho doesn't know what he wants either, and he follows who and whatever seems most interesting. When the PC says he could make money off of cooking, he takes a shine to that idea and immediately opens up a food truck. Fortunately he seems to like cooking and serving food for others a lot, because he's sticking to it at the moment.

[bitimdrake]

I don't know if you've already been asked this, but I was wondering if you could rank the Gotham vigilantes by combat level? Like, I've heard Black Canary is actually a really skilled martial artist, and was wondering how they compare to each other.

This question first puts forth how we classify Gotham vigilantes. Black Canary is indeed a vigilante who has often been in Gotham, but can we truly call her first and foremost a Gotham vigilante? What about the other Birds of Prey? The Outsiders? Alan Scott? Catwoman I think is safe to count by now, but Harley and Ivy have had more recent rehabilitations so?? For sanity, I'm going to keep this fairly limited.

Second it illuminates for me personally the gaps in my knowledge. I have barely read about Kate Spencer/Manhunter and skipped a lot of Kate Kane/Batwoman. I haven't read much after Flashpoint. And hey, what is even going on with Bette Kane these days?

Anyway my primary answers to what you've sent here are:

You have heard correct; Dinah is indeed known as a very skilled martial artist.

Trying to rank vigilantes one-by-one is a fool's errand and will only lead to petty infighting about "no my fave should be better" and "this comic where X won a fight against Y is clear proof, and that other comic where they lost against Y is clearly OOC"/"no, it's the other way around!!!" arguments. There is no clear order, no matter what anyone might try to convince you of, and characters will almost always be portrayed stronger and cooler in their own books, and weaker and not as good as supporting characters in someone else's book.

I think at most we should do rankings in groups:

She Gets Her Own Category

It is simply narratively important to Cassandra Cain's story for her to be the best in the world, in a way that it is not and never has been important to any of the others' narratives. Based on the metric of who's won what fight, you could maybe argue this, but based on narrative weight, no way. And I put story first, so. Perfect for a year, etc etc.

Top Tier Adult Vigilantes

Dinah, Bruce, Dick, Jean-Paul Valley, Jason, etc. Helena probably goes here, although I remember less focus on her hand-to-hand since the crossbow is so iconic.

Put two from this group in a fight, and it's not a terrible stretch for the writer to pick either as the victor.

You Go, Kid

Tim, Stephanie in and after her Batgirl era, and I think current Damian although my knowledge after the reboot tapers off.

Gonna be a struggle for them to beat one of the adults above, but they are still incredibly good fighters.

Trying Their Best

Pre-Batgirl Stephanie, early Damian. Both have grown out of it since, but in Steph's early years we were regularly being told or shown that she just didn't have the training to hold up to other Gotham vigilantes. And though Damian was surely a fantastic martial artist for a ten-year-old, it was also made regularly clear in his early preboot appearances that he wasn't half as good as he thought he was, and the older vigilantes could kick his ass if they wanted to.

[williammorgan45]

You know what time it? It's Realizin' time!

Here it is! The result of the brain rot of @realizinau art and Alan Wake (I took inspiration by drawing this.The games are so cool) so here we are. It's a bit wonky but I think it's decent. Please ignore the little blue spooch on the suit. I made a boo─boo while painting :/

I'm still thinking about on how to name this guy but I have a little of his backstory on how his role would be in the Realizin' AU.

First he's a wolf if you're wondering.

Alright, now into his story: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before being put into the Bigger Bodies Initiative, he was just a child like any other with a mother and father who loved him and loved them back. But after a tragedy to both parents in a car accident, leaving him as the sole survivor of the crash, he was alone in this narrow dark place.

He was put in normal orphange just with many others parentless but he was different to other kids. Just as the kids where loud, energetic full innocence and some didn't apply to the rules he was the opposite. He was quiet, didn't move alot from his bed, his innocence gone for the result of the crash and allways following orders from the caretakers of the orphange.

Since he didn't talk to the other kids besides to the caretakers to see of he was okay and only respond with a nod, a shake or a short phrase, they began calling him names like 'the silent kid', 'downer', 'the staff's pet' and other names behind his back.

He already got used to this new 'life style' on the orphanage. Wake up, breakfast, gaze outside the window of his room, nap, lunch, more gazing outside again, dinner, sleep, repeat.

He told himself that's going to be his life until he was adopted to a new familly.

...That was the plan before him and others kids where called on the hall as their caretaker was explaning that they were getting 'relocated' to a better orphanage. He didn't understand why tho but if they where getthing relocaded to a better orphanage was probably for the best.

...Right?

Him along with other orphans entered the bus that was meant to transport them to the new orphange. The name on the side of the bus caught his attention before entering. Playtime Co. He knew that name. Tha was the name of the company who sell those toys that appered on TV. His guess was that maybe they are expanding or something.

After that, everything where blur and pieces. How he arrived to Home Sweet Home, meeting the staff, Huggy Wuggy, Kissy Missy, Mommy and Daddy Longlegs along with other toys,doing some sort of test of memory and running, being told that he got adopted, on how he was guided to a room with a bed as they put him on the bed before putting anesthesia and how he became...like he is now.

He felt...weird to say the least but he quickly got used being taller and getting used to his new body. A few bumps here and there but he got used to it. Faster than the others. The Doctor thinks to himself.

And before he know it, he got a brand new suit (he allways wanted to wear one when he was older.It made him feel...important.) and got a new... 'job' as the new guard of Playcare and Home Sweet Home. At day he would help some of the staff carry important papers so he was given a mesanger bag to carry those paper more easier and organize smaller toys for the kids and making sure the wasn't something a miss or any complications among the staff and the children. And by the night, he would roam Playcare and Home Sweet home hall's with his trusty flashlight to make sure there wasn't any stray kid or someone suspicious was around.

He took extra careful in the night because he read in a book once that the dark can by tricky and dangerous. But what caught his attention more was one sentance in particular.

"Trust no one in the dark."

After that, he took his night patrols very seriously, with careful steps and eyes all open for anything. Something tells him there something off but rapidly dissmiss the thought.

Sometimes when doing the day shift, some of the kids would run to him and would either drag him to play with them, show him drawings of him or hug him out of nowhere. He would stay still with no idea what to do or react. Thankfully, some of the staff or caretakers would save him from that embarassment and he would fix tie and continue with his duties for today.

Just like before he is still silent with a neutral looks almost all the time. Responding with a nod, shake or short answer to long questions. He would been doing this for 5 years. Making him 15 years old if his math is correct.

None of the staff, the caretakers or even the children have see him smile. Not even once. Always on focus on the task. Some even says he's more of a robot than someone alive.

It would take a miracle to even make him smile.

...Maybe that miracle could be in the form of 8 new Critters know as The Smilling Critters.

Only time will tell...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's that! (Jesus, that was long.) Anyway, if you read till the end, thanks! 'preaciated! Hoped i could have entertaied you a little. Again, thank to @realizinau for inpriring me to make this little thing and maybe i will do more. But for the mean time...What's the time? Playtime...

[spicyvampire]

Hi, since GMM has many Thai BL series, just wondering, do you have favorites from them? If you do, do you have 10 you like most so far?

I do not have the best relationship with GeeMeeMee but over the years they have provided some tasty bls here and there, I'll try to give you a little top 10

1.Not Me (2021)

To me that's like the best GeeMeeMee show ever made, great activism story, all the storylines are compelling, it gets accidentally funny with the twins stuff and the fact that Yok the resident arsonist is tryna fuck that cop so bad, but with Yok's help Dan finished realizing that he was part of a system that was beyond fixing and it was better to get himself free of it than staying, honestly has one of the best storyline and character development ever written in a bl

2. 3 Will Be Free (2019)

A gay mafia son, a stripper and a gogo bar manager walk into a bar, shenanigans ensue. To this day, the only GeeMeeMee show to have given me an endgame throuple and frankly one of the only cannon throuples we have in bl

3. Moonlight Chicken (2023)

By god Wen fucked that old man in the chicken shop, but in all seriousness this bl probably has the best breakup storyline I've ever seen in any media ever, it's a truly masterpiece; also we saw the story of a deaf character who uses sign language and that's not something you see often in bl tbh, wish we had more Gaipa and Alan but you take what u can get

4. Cherry Magic Thailand (2023)

Honestly this one took me by surprise, I'm not a fan of remakes but they did a really good job adapting those japanese characters to a Thailand setting while keeping some of the japanese background there, and go a bit further and deeper than the original did with some of the characters

5. Wandee Goodday (2024)

This one was my obsession for the last few weeks, unfortunately I think the show lost some momentum around the middle of it, and it needed more balance on some stuff, like one of Dee's big trauma wasn't even resolved even if they showed it affecting him pretty severely at least twice, while we spend like almost the whole 2nd half of the show on Yak's, overall very silly and enjoyable and also nice asexuality representation which is not something you see often in bl

6. The Eclipse (2022)

I'm not really a high school boy bl type of person and I usually avoid them but they got me with this one, I think Akk's storyline ressemble Dan's a lot in the sense that he had to realize he was part of a system that is bad and is using him to maintain a bad status quo and then had to free himself from it even if that's all he's ever known, Ayan is of course of a great help with his flirtiness, shenanigans and overall fuck the rules attitude

7. Bad Buddy (2021)

Thai bl's Romeo and Juliet, what I loved the most about this one was the attention put on the dynamics of Pran and Pat and their respective families, and how even if they didn't succeed in changing their fighting parents minds, they stayed together and continued to love each other because at the end of the day, the love was between them and it had nothing to do with their parents

8. He's coming to me (2019)

I love me a ghost story like any other guy, so this was right up my lane, I gotta admit it's been like 4 years since I've seen this so I don't remember the storyline clearly, but it left a good impression on me, so much that years later I still think of it as good

9. Only Friends (2023)

Top 10 messiest friend group ever created, this could have been higher on the list if they didn't do Boston dirty in the very last goddamn episode of the show

10. Dark Blue Kiss (2019)

I honest to god remember nothing about the mains but this show has the best coffee shop au in the ql universe and it's from 2019, SunMork chemistry is just firing all over the place, definitely my favorite Gawin ost too

[miss0atae]

It's my random thoughts about Pit Babe the series ep 12:

What can I say? I still have so much fun watching this series. I know there are some loose ends and plot holes, but frankly I don't really care.

▪️ Way saved Pete from Kenta who fled the scene as soon as possible. It was really the episode where Way finally stopped spending all his time drinking and drowning his sorrow. He finally decided to properly apologize to Babe (even if he knew he would not be forgiven) and help everyone take Tony down. He used his power to help get some documents and tried his best to show remorse. I'm still not his best fan but it was a nice change from previous episodes where he was just crying and feeling hopeless. We can thank Pete who helped him a lot.

▪️ Speaking about Pete, this guy really see everyone good side even if they don't show it. He believes Way, still think that Kenta is a good person deep down (which I agree) and do his best to save all children taken by Tony. I still think their plan to do it isn't exactly the best but it works for the series so what should I say?

▪️ Babe really wants to put an end to Tony's actions and he does everything to get it. He didn't want to forgive Way, but to have his end goal happen, he accepted him in the team. When Way asked him if one day they could go back to how their relationship was, he wasn't entirely against it. He simply told him, it wouldn't happen soon but they might get there. Even if he is still really sad over Charlie supposed-death, he is poised and ready to fight no matter what. Babe is impressive.

▪️ Jeff was captured by Kenta to be sold to the new auction, since every special child Tony had, disappeared or is fighting against him. What is the point of seeing the future, if you can't save yourself from being kidnapped?! I know they told us, he can't really control his power but it's very unfortunate he couldn't this time. I was impressed about how calm he was.

▪️ Alan was trying is best to find him and was helped by his "family" (Can we say that Pit Babe is a BL type version of Fast & Furious ?). North and Sonic have always been helping him but I'm glad we saw Kim. Even if I get two minutes of him, I'm happy. I'm attached to this character. By the end of the episode, Alan saved Jeff. The power of love... always here when you need it. I only have one question: Why did they leave the children behind? Is there a good reason?

▪️ Finally, I'll talk about Kenta... It's been several episode where Kenta was abused by Tony and this one was no exception. I feel so sad for this man. He truly believed Tony was his father but unfortunately Tony never saw him as his child because he is not "special". It broke my heart to see Kenta kneeling and begging Tony. I wish he would understand how he could be loved and treated well if he just stopped helping him and leave! I hope in the next episode he will be free from Tony. He must be saved like the other children taken by Tony.

▪️ Oh and of course, we all knew the man who helped Charlie and Jeff is Babe's father. Anyone was surprised?!

▪️ Charlie also saved Babe in the last two minutes of this episode. and we'll get the reunion we were hoping between them, in the next one. It's a happy ending guaranteed. I just feel like 13 episodes is too light to tight up everything. Why didn't they make 14? Is there a good reason for this choice?

Anyway, Friday will feel empty when this series will end.

[lake-cosay]

since yellow posted about it without my permission (/j) here's everything (literally i'm going to try and put everything in one post) i've got for my parasite au

(just a heads up, it gets a bit heavy, mainly bc lake contemplates saving jesse's life against his will or letting him die with his consent.)

it's a no-train, human lake au. jesse and lake are childhood friends, both with relatively normal lives until one day jesse disappears. seemingly vanished out of thin air in the middle of the night. lake, who whole-heartedly does not trust the cops to actually try to find jesse, let alone bring him home safe, takes matters into their own hands, and sets out to find him themself.

lake packs a bag and heads out. (but not before they're stopped by jesse's parents, who know they can't stop lake and give lake supplies to stay safe, including jesse's dad giving lake his pocket knife.) (yes this might be a bit careless on the parents' side but i just want an excuse for jesse's dad to give lake his pocket knife idk) lake is willing to camp out in the woods for as long as they need to to find him.

days go by, and lake combs the woods looking for any sign of him. they think they catch fleeting glimpses of him, but whenever they turn to look, there's no one there. they also keep seeing deer -- sometimes only breifly, other times, they're able to watch the deer long enough to determine it's real and they're not just hallucinating. (surprise! it's alan dracula)

as the days go on, these glimpses of both jesse and the deer become more freuqent, more clear, more obviously not just lake's imagination. when lake is finally able to recognize the person as jesse, he looks bad. covered in dirt, his braid a mess*, his skin red from frostbite. his eyes... glowing. some horrible looking mark on the back of his neck.

*i firmly believe that if jesse and lake grew up being friends, jesse would shed the toxic masculinity much easier/earlier in his life, so he'd end up having a long braid by the time they're in high school.

but every time lake tries to get his attention, he disappears. but when lake is calm and quiet, they can start to approach him without scaring him away. eventually, they finally get to him. here's a drabble about that:

"Fuck, Jess, you're freezing," Lake said as they tried to suppress a shiver. He wasn't acting like he was cold, but then again, nothing about the way he was acting was normal.  Lake started to dig through their backpack, eventually fishing out the blanket. "C'mere," Lake tucked the edges of the blanket around his shoulders, then knelt down a bit before pausing. "I'm gonna pick you up," they said, hoping for permission. They didn't get anything explicit, but they didn't get a no either. As much as they hated to touch him without consent, his feet would fall off from frostbite if they stood there much longer. Lake tucked one arm around the back of Jesse's shoulders, the other under his knees. They lifted, and his weight came off the ground with surprising ease. Both because he had seemingly let Lake pick him up, but also because he had definitely lost a bit of weight.  With all of his weight in Lake's arms, Jesse leaned into Lake's chest. Lake lent their back against a tree, before slowly sliding down to sit on the ground with Jesse in their lap. They fussed with the blanket, making sure all of his skin was covered, especially his feet. Lake guessed that the blinding redness in balls of his feet were frostbite.

lake discovers that jesse's memories are extremely fuzzy. he doesn't remember any names, not even his own, but he does mention that lake looks familiar. when lake asks why he's out here, how he got out here, how he's alive etc, all he can answer with is "i don't know"

(alan dracula is definitely involved in lots of scenes but i forget about him when writing for some reason. i'm sorry AD i love you)

with their reunion, jesse's memories slowly come back. not fully, but he starts to remember lake's name again, and that he loves them, and that they love him. he remembers that he has a younger brother and his parents but it takes a while before their names come back to him.

i don't really have many details for the rest of what i planned for this au. basically lake somehow figures out that the parasite is killing jesse and they need to get it fast. they have to resort to cutting it out with the pocket knife.

that was all i had for the au until one day i realized that i've never seen anybody do anything with the fact that jesse almost turned into a tree in canon, and yellow helped me decide to combine that idea with this au. so, the parasite's way of killing him is turning him into a tree. here's another drabble:

Jesse winced and whimpered as another branch sprouted from his skin. Lake rubbed Jesse’s cheek, watching the branch slowly grow outwards.  Lake wasn’t sure how long they’d sat there, watching this parasite take over their best friend. But neither of them could think of a solution, and Jesse was so scared he was already practically stiff as a board. Save for the sobs that shook his body. There were 10 of them. At least 10 separate branches Lake could make out from here. They looked like they had pierced his flesh, the base of each branch surrounded with blood. Lake would look away for a minute, and when they looked back, the branches had grown thicker or longer. 3 of them had sprouted leaves. Or, maybe it had been more, but Jesse’s shaking had caused them to join the other leaves on the forest floor. Even his hair was changing; it was starting to feel more like vines than hair. Like dry, wilted roots. The tears Lake wiped away felt thick and sticky, and when Lake would kiss them away, they tasted like sap. Another whimper. Lake scanned his body, and the next branch poked out of his forehead, on his right side just below the hairline. Jesse’s shaky hand clawed at it, as if that was enough to stop all this. “I’m not gonna let you die like this,” Lake stated, with seemingly no response from Jesse. “Please. Let me try,” Jesse tried to take a deep breath, but the exhale made him shake violently. “I-I’m scared… I don’t— I don’t wanna die,” He tried to crawl even farther into Lake’s lap, but the roots from his feet kept him firmly planted in the earth. “If— If you really just… want me to stay,” Lake began, choking down their own tears now. “Then I will. But—” Staying meant saying goodbye. It meant Lake would sit here and hold Jesse until this parasite consumed him and he died. It meant he would die here, suffering. Lake’s hands itched to cut away the branches and carry him home, but Jesse had begged them to just stay. And though Lake’s heart had burst at his pleas to die, if that was what he wanted… Then Lake would do it for him. But Lake had a feeling that wasn’t what he wanted. That he was too caught up in his fear to really consider his options. Not that Lake blamed him; they couldn’t imagine how he was feeling right now. “If I stay, you die. I— I won’t leave you but— If you let me try— Then there’s a chance you could go home—” “Cut it out. Please,” Jesse begged, gasping for air. He pulled at his hair, and half of it came out like it was nothing. His whole body shook with sobs. “I don’t wanna die,” he gasped. “I wanna go home.” His hands clawed their way back to Lake’s. “Take me home.”

jesse turning into a tree was definitely NOT where i expected this au to go and i almost feel like they might be better as separate aus but the ideas are similar and i wanted to post that drabble anyways, so

i was going for a kind of analogue horror/lost footage vibe with this, just like. spooky dark forests, unexplainable disappearances, strange infections, etc.

so yeah, there's that. lmk what you think :>

[practically-an-x-man]

more thoughts about Wish:

Chris Pine has the best voice acting in this movie by far. Dude could be a legitimately scary villain if the animation wasn't so goofy

I'm telling you dude, the man is acting his ass off but the script and animation style are just ruining all the emotion he's giving

Alan Tudyk is also putting in the work but the script is not working in his favor

Evan Peters needs more lines. His character is legitimately interesting, a young guy who just gave up his wish and is now weirdly lethargic all the time, but they don't explore it enough

Speaking of the animation, it felt very inconsistent. With the King especially we'd get like... one cool moment (like him stopping the globes during his solo song) but then it's immediately cut by these goofy Nimona-as-Ballister type motions

The facial expressions are generally overblown, past the point of "animation stretching the rules" and into "this just looks goofy"

Like I said before, it feels like a patchwork of a dozen other, better Disney movies. My dad and I were watching this going "Tangled. Brave. Frozen. Peter Pan. Mulan."

The third act is like... Rise of the Guardians meets that one scene in Trolls where they sing True Colors

The music is just inconsistent. I think it mainly comes from the fact that they had a pop singer/songwriter do the music rather than a musical theatre composer, there aren't any consistent themes or leitmotifs and it leaves everything feeling very disjointed.

Some of the songs on their own are decently catchy but they just feel like they're trying way too hard

The dialogue is the same way. It serves a purpose but it doesn't quite feel natural or human. Some characters are worse than others and the VO work plays a role but the script itself is just awkward

I think they've just set up too many characters here. If they took two people out of Asha's friend group it would leave more room to develop the others. As it is, I don't remember their names and I have no idea what they want

Except for Asha since she's the main character and Simon because he's the only one who stands out from the rest (again, really interesting character! drastically underutilized!)

Feels like the talking animals are only a thing because it's a Disney movie. Valentino I understand, animal sidekicks are a classic, but the chickens and squirrels and mice are just too much

As a whole there's just... no substance in it. It feels like they've tried to make The Disney Movie and just started making it without even deciding on the themes or characters' journeys at all

It is a heaping pile of deus ex machinas. Every single problem in this movie is resolved in some cheeky little deus ex machina, solely for the sake of a stupid joke or a cheap reference to another Disney reference

If you're gonna copy Lin-Manuel Miranda's composition style anyway... just hire Lin-Manuel Miranda. At least he knows how rhyme schemes and leitmotifs work

This movie is so fucking trite it makes me legitimately angry

Good points I guess (because I refuse to dish on a movie without pointing out something decent about it):

Some of the songs are kinda catchy

There are a few powerful moments of animation, mostly with the King

There are little gold character moments here and there: the King's desperation for power, Simon's character as a whole, Asha's selflessness sparking the initial wish, etc.

Some of the voice acting is legitimately good!

The concept itself is interesting, a King who hoards wishes to make himself more powerful. It had the grounds to be a much better movie, it just didn't act on them very well

The diversity in this movie is genuinely good! We see various demographics of people - race, gender, physical build, disability, etc. - and there's not much "Disney same face syndrome" like we've gotten in other movies.

[duskwoodgirl4life]

Hello everyone :) I'm back with another short story hope you all enjoy what I've written is live to read your comments enjoy :)

Chapter 1

MC and Jake had been working together ever since they found Hannah, they had decided to team up and solve some of the unsolved crimes in duskwood. Alan had cleared it so they could have access to the files and evidence. MC knew she wouldn't be able to stay away from Jake not after he told her that he loved her. She helped him clear his name and now here they are 2 years later solving crimes for the Duskwood police. They had just been given a new case to work on. This one wasn't like any other case they had worked on before. This case involved abduction and spiking people's drinks. There wasn't much information to go on but something MC spotted worried her. She showed Jake the file and he too had a look of concern. "What are we going to do Jake? There is someone out there abducting women and spiking their drinks" Jake put the file down and walked over to a worried MC. "we will find out who this is we always do"

Jake tried to reassure MC but his words had little effect "Jake what if it's him!! What if he's come back and he's the one doing this" Jake pulled a chair over to where MC was sitting and he took a seat. "If it is him we will deal with him I promise" Jake went back over to his computer and started to do some digging. The crime was dating back to 6 months ago. Everything was pointing to him after all this time Richy had come back. Everything was pointing towards him but Jake needed to be sure he needed to be sure that he was still somehow alive after the mine explosion.

MC and Jake searched for hours for clues that could lead back to Richy checking CCTV cameras MC came across something. "Jake, come and look at this I think I've found something" Jake got up from his chair and came over to MC looking at her computer screen. "What's he doing? Has he really just done that to that woman?" Jake looked concerned as he watched the footage showing Richy in disguise slipping something into a woman's drink and leading her away. "We need to stop him Jake, he either needs pulling in jail or shooting" MC let her anger get the better of her slamming her fists down on the desk. Jake took hold of MC and embraced her in a hug holding onto her as tight as he could. "we will get him MC I promise I won't let him near you" MC tried to wriggle free of Jake's grip but he kept holding her. "You better be right"

After looking at some more CCTV footage Jake and MC decided to go check out the dare house and see what clues they could find there. "What's gonna happen if we run into him while we are there? Can I kick his teeth down his throat?" Jake stopped and gave MC a look that she knew all too well. "I'm not going to let him anywhere near you and you're not to go near him either" Jake took MCs hand and continued making their way through the forest. When they arrived everything was even more run down than normal. It was clear that someone had been staying there inside. It wasn't much better because the roof had caved in, the water pipes had burst at some point and flooded everything. There was dirt and grime all over the walls despite some light coming through the roof it wasn't easy to see.

Jake pulled out his phone and turned on his torch. They went down to the basement and discovered that someone had recently been there. The candles hadn't been put out long; the blanket on the floor was still warm as they looked around the small space MC spotted metal chains hanging from the wall. On closer inspection they found dried blood all around the restraints. The smell was absolutely awful. All the people that had been forced to stay there had a small bucket to use for the toilet. It hasn't been cleaned for some time and the smell was just sickening. After MC had finished taking photos of everything they quickly made their way out of the dare house and headed back home.

When they arrived back home MC went straight to her laptop and started to upload all the photos. She had been quite the whole way home Jake knew there was something wrong. He went over to her and kissed her softly on the cheek "what's wrong? And don't say nothing I know when something is bothering you" Jake took MCs chin and turned it so she was looking at him with tears in her eyes she didn't need to say anything Jake quickly put his arms around her holding on as she let everything go. Once she calmed down a little she pulled away from Jake, wiping her eyes. "It was seeing all those photos and the conditions that all the women were forced to live in. Why is he doing this Jake why?"

"I can't tell you the reason for that MC but we will find out and we will stop him at all costs that I promise you" they both stayed in each other's arms for a few more minutes before returning back to the case. Jake found some more CCTV camera footage of Richy getting off a train. He was doing his best to avoid the cameras but despite how busy the station was he failed to notice one of the cameras. While Jake was looking through more footage MC found something that could get them closer to Richy. "Jake can you come here please you have to see this" Jake moved over in his seat to where MC was sitting. "I've managed to hack into his computer and I've found a list of women's names" Jake took a look. There were about 20 different names on the list; some of them had already been crossed off leaving 10 more names. "We need to go back to that dare house Jake, we need to find out if he's keeping anyone else there" Jake sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We can't just go back there without a plan MC we need to come up with a plan first I can't handle it If you get hurt" MC saw the worry in Jake's eyes and she wrapped her arms around him. "We need to do something Jake, we can't just leave whoever he has locked up in that awful house" Jake pulled out his phone and tapped away at the screen for a few moments. "Give me some time while I place a tracker on his phone and on his laptop, once I have done that we can come up with a plan and we can go out tomorrow morning early. It's too late to be going into the woods now" MC looked at Jake and she knew he was right, it was far too dangerous to be going into the woods tonight.

Jake went into the office and started working on placing an untraceable tracker on Richys phone and laptop. While he was waiting for the program to do its thing he took a look at what Richy had on his phone. Jake's eyes nearly popped out of his head and his skin turned a pale white colour. He found more pictures on his phone, these ones detailing what he had done to them. He was able to save copies of the photos without Richy knowing.