#i’d love to know who the most popular is for several reasons

[satorusugurugurl]

Here's some funny ideas I've got while at work today; a leisure streamer gojo who'd just simply streamed himself playing games naked except for his sunglasses and briefs. Rumors had it that each time his all-time top donor was replaced, the new one would get to see him ~fully naked~.

The Leisure Streamer is a Hottie!

Summary: Rumor had it the top donor of the-strongest-streamers chats get to see him naked! Now that you're the top donor will you get to see the goods or was it just a rumor. Time will tell.

Pairing: Streamer!Gojo x FAB!Reader

Warnings: language, nudity, masturbation, mutual-masturbation, skype sex??

A/N: I fell in love with this request! ugjskdkekd I love them so much! Thank you bonnie for such a great idea!! 💚💚💚

Part Two Part Three Part Four

On Friday nights, you always ran home from your last college class, avoiding people on bikes and walking by. You often got dirty looks thrown at you or the occasional ‘watch where you're going.’ But nothing would stop your stride. Friday nights were some of your favorite nights of the week. All because the-strongest-streamer live streamed on Fridays.

And the man, god fuck, he was the hottest!

Gojo Satoru, aka the-strongest-streamer, was a leisure streamer. He played games like Animal Crossing, Dream Daddy, and fluffy feel-good games in only his boxers and sunglasses. He was among the most popular streamers, not only for his looks but also for his happy-go-lucky attitude. But because of a particular rumor that started going around.

It was said in the forms online, in his comments, and even on Twitter that every time his all-time top donor was replaced, the new one would get to join a private stream with him and see him fully naked. That was just a rumor. He had denied the allegations and made it clear that the private stream was to have a meet and greet with his top donor.

The meet and greet was why you’ve been saving money for six months. You wanted to meet the man who had brought you so much joy in the last year. You stumbled across his profile when looking through videos online. You were looking for a cute cat compilation to ease the ache in your heart after your boyfriend dumped you. Instead, you found this goofball that had you smiling like an idiot on your phone.

You had been in a dark time when you first found his videos. You wanted to express your gratitude to him. Seeing him naked was not your goal in any way, shape, or form.

The second you got home, you slid over to your laptop and pulled up Gojo’s stream. He was sprawled out in his black and blue gaming chair; blue LED lights illuminated the room. Black sunglasses reflected his computer screen as he adjusted his headset.

“Tom Nook is a scammer.” He announced as hundreds of comments flooded in. “The little shit asks me to do all this for him! After all, I have to spend my hard-earned bells on upgrading the pavers. Kiss my nicely toned ass, you bastard.” You smiled, giggling as you dreamily watched him. “Ya’ know what? Next week, we'll play Sims or something; I’d rather build a house than have Tom Nook steal all my money.”

He adjusted his sunglasses as he slipped on some frappe, the logo conveniently covered so no one knew where he was. Several comments flooded in asking what he was drinking, and most people sent in small donations. All of these were things Satoru tried to answer and thank. He may miss a couple here and there, but he tried hard to get to everyone. God, he was so down to earth.

It was all of those reasons that had you clicking the donate button, sending a total of eight hundred dollars to him. Your cute little icon of a mochi popped up on his screens, flashing while music blared. The whole scene reflected off his dark sunglasses.

“Eh?!” The white tufts of his hair flowed as he moved in, focus glued to the screen. “Whoa! Whoa! Mochi-gurl-89, thank you so much for that donation!” With a chipper chime, you took the spot as his top donor. “And it looks like you're my new top donor! Just before the stream ended! I'll have one of my admins contact you so we can do our private stream. And with this, I adore you all, until next time this is the-strongest-streamer signing off!”

The second he ended his stream, your inbox chimed with a new message. As Satoru said, it was a message from one of his admins. The message was clear; you got a thirty-minute stream, maybe more if Satoru agreed. There could be no recording of your conversation or photos, which was perfectly fine. All you wanted to do was talk. After agreeing to all those terms and signing a nondisclosure form, you were sent a link to your private stream.

You had your camera off, your cute chibi mochi avatar taking up your screen as Satoru’s room was fully displayed. With a deep breath, you shook your hands, trying to ease your nerves as a door opened on Satoru’s screen. A second later, he plopped down in his gaming chair. God, he was so handsome. Fluffy white hair and chiseled abs like he was carved from marble; he was just your type.

“Hello?” he asked, “you there, mochi-gurl-89?”

“O-Oh! Uhm, yes, hi!” He stared at the screen, frowning just a bit as he saw your avatar instead of your face.

“Here, I thought I’d be talking to a fan. Instead, it's a cute mochi ball.”

You nervously giggle before clicking a few times and turning your camera on. You felt so plain compared to him. He was incredibly sexy, and you were just an average college girl. In your opinion, there wasn’t much to see.

“Oh.” Satoru breathed out, drawing your attention back to the screen. You swear to God, you choked on your breath. Because he had taken his sunglasses off, revealing cerulean eyes behind white lashes. “Wow, you're fuckin’ hot.”

“Oh! Uhm—”

“Fuck! Sorry, did I say that out loud?” he sulked back in his chair. “I'm so sorry. I'm not one of those creeps who stalk their followers. I, I was expecting—”

“A giant ball of mochi?” The sweetness of your voice seems to have him relaxing as he realizes you didn't mind his compliment.

“Exactly.”

You cup some of your hair behind your ear, biting your lip. “Sorry to disappoint, but thank you for the compliment.”

“And thank you for the generous donation! That means a lot to me.”

“Thank you for being such a beacon of light in my life.” Did popular streamers think comments like that were cringe? “I hope that doesn’t come off creepy or weird.”

“I've had fans send me their underwear. Being a beacon of light to you is the least weirdest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

You can't help the wide, warm smile that spreads across your face. “You have no clue how happy that makes me. I went through a nasty break and the night that it happened. I found one of your—” his fingers played with the hem of his boxers. “Your stream—and you—” fingers gently lift the hem, and you focus on his face. “Uhm Gojo?” The man on your screen hums.

“Yes, mochi-gurl?”

“I—I heard about you getting naked for the private streams.” Using your hands, you shield your vision. “B-But you don't have to do that! I just wanted to talk.”

“Eh?!” peeking through your fingers, you watch the white-haired man turn red. “Naked! No! No shit fuck, I'm sorry! I'm not a perv, I swear to god.” He shields his face in his hands, grumbling some incoherent words that you can't make out.

Gojo didn't seem like the type to be a pervert, and from his reaction, it wasn't like you’d caught him fully undressing in front of you. If anything, he seemed more embarrassed than you. After gathering your thoughts, you leaned a bit closer to your screen.

“Gojo?”

His white hair flies as his head jerks up. “I-I know about the rumors! How I get nude for my private streams for my top donors, but that is nothing more than a rumor, I swear!” Your eyes widen as he stares directly at you, into your soul. “I promise you I wasn't about to do anything remotely weird.” His face is almost entirely red, and his bottom lip is between his teeth as he scans your features.

“Okay,” you tentatively begin, “then what were you doing?”

“That's the thing; it's going to sound ten times worse when I tell you what I was doing.” you motion with your hands for him to continue. “Okay, just promise you won't put me on blast or try to cancel me?” When you nod, the leisure streamer grumbles before tilting his head back. “I-I’m sorry, but you're really hot. Like super mega hot.” Thank god your room is so dark, or he could see how flushed you were. “So hot, my stupid dick decided to spot a hard-on.” He rolls his chair back just an inch, revealing the extremely hard bulge in his boxers. “I was trying to discreetly lift the waistband so you wouldn't see how hard I was.”

A string of ‘I’m sorry’ echoes on the other end of the screen. Gojo’s blue eyes focused on you, waiting to see how you reacted to the news. His shy demeanor and the bulge in his boxers have you shifting in your seat. Heat pools between your thighs. God, were you getting wet? Rubbing your thighs together, you confirmed that you were as you felt your arousal. You bite down on your inner cheek to prevent a moan from sounding.

“Hey, mochi-gurl? You're too quiet, and you look super pissed. I'm sorry.” Gojo’s voice seems to enhance your growing arousal. He sits back, cocking a brow as you peer at him with dark needy eyes through your lashes. “H-Hey you go-goo—oh fuck.” He watches as you stick your hand between your legs.

“You think I’m hot?” Your voice is so smooth, with desire.

“Y-Yeah, super hot.” Gojo follows suit, his hand reaching back down, fingertips slipping under the band of his boxers. “The hottest fuckin’ girl I've ever seen.”

Pressing your fingers against your shorts, you rub your clit in slow circles. “Gojo, you’re girlfriend won't find us doing this?” The man on the screen before you scoff, his hand sliding fully into his boxers.

“Girlfr-ahh—” his hand moved up and down, “fuuuck—what girlfriend? I-I go to the gym, hang out with my friends, and live stream.” Watching him stroke himself has you feeling feral. “Plus streaming half naked, well, let's just say girls don't like that.”

You rubbed your clit faster, “As a girl, I like it.” White brows knitted on your screen. “I like it a lot; it's so hot.” Gojo watched, head resting back against his chair as you slid your hand up your shirt, cupping your breasts, massaging yourself.

“Y-Yeah? Does your boyfriend like it?”

“I don't have one~”

Gojo growled, biting down on his lip. “Really?” He leaned back, spreading his legs apart. “Lucky me.” Pursing your lips together, you tilted your head back. “Fuck, you're so fucking hot, sweetheart.” something overcame you. A boldness you hadn’t experienced before. Taking the bottom of your T-shirt, you put it between your teeth and lifted it, revealing your bare chest to your favorite streamer. “Oooh fuck, you have the prettiest tits.” Gojo watched as your fingers moved elegantly over your skin, kneading your breast until your nipples were hard. “How rude of me, you’re showing me yours might as well show you mine.”

A choke sounds in your throat as you nearly release your T-shirt from between your teeth. Gojo had pulled his boxers down just enough to hook them underneath his balls, freeing his gorgeous cock. His cock throbbed and twitched underneath his hand as he gently began stroking it up and down. Watching him stroking himself, twisting his wrist, squeezing it just around the tip, causing his head to tilt back, and seeing that made you do something you had never done.

Gojo could hear you shuffling in the background before your screen suddenly turned, and he faced a couch. You plopped down, your shorts discarded. With his jaw dropped open, Gojo watched as you spread your legs as wide as you could in front of the camera and rubbed your fingers over your wet pussy. You had never done something like this before. Sexting, yes, but full-on masturbating in front of a stranger, this was something you never thought you would do.

“Holy, you're so wet.” his hand sped up around his cock. “God, look at you. You’re so fucking pretty.” his thumb brushed over the slit rubbing pre-cum over the tip. “God, I wanna taste you. I bet you smell fucking delicious.”

“I want to suck you off, fuck, Gojo~ fuuuck.” coding your fingers in your slick, you rub quick, fast circles around your clit, causing your legs to tremble. “Gojo~ Gojo~”

“N-No, call me Satoru, please.”

“Satoru~”

Goj—Satoru tilts his head forward, his burning gaze on you, watching you slide a finger inside your tight heat. You don't think you've ever been so aroused. Having a stranger watching you finger yourself as he jerks off had your walls clenching around your fingers. Satoru must have thought the same thing because his tip dribbles more pre-cum, his cock throbbing hard as he matches his pace with yours.

“Oh god, I'm so wet.” Slick coats your fingers as you rub your clit with your thumb. “I can't remember the last time I was this wet.”

“I can tell, god, you're soaked.” Glancing at the screen, you can see Satoru gritting his teeth. “Oh fuck, I-I’m so hard it hurts, I-I’ve never done this before. God feels so good; all my brain is thinking is, ‘dick hard, feel good.’”

The conversation dies down, replaced with whines, moans, and grunts of pleasure. Your eyes never miss each other. You both constantly look each other over, whispering each other’s names like prayers. You try to imagine how his thick, long fingers would feel inside of you instead of your own. You know that he could reach the sweet spots inside you that you loved. At the same time, Satoru imagines replacing his hand with your own while his fingers take the place of yours.

Both of you are so worked up that you find yourself dangling over the edge of an orgasm before you know it. Your legs are trembling, toes curling, while Satoru’s hand moves faster his other hand, reaching down, cupping his balls, massaging them. Both of you are lost in each other’s pleasure without even touching the other. There’s chemistry between you. Both you and Satoru can feel it through the screen.

“Oh fuck, of fuck, fuuuuck fuck!” Satoru leans closer to his screen to watch you. “Oh god, I can feel it coming; it’s gonna be a big one. Baby~ fuuuck, please tell me you’re close.”

“S-So close.” a sharp inhale of breath sounds, “Oooh fuckin’ shit, Satoru, I’m gonna cum~.”

“Oi.” your eye hazily find him, “look at me when you cum.”

That, god, that was the hottest thing anyone has ever told you. “Cummin! Oh fuck, Satoru~! Satorruu!” the screen that leaves your body almost doesn’t sound human as you squirt all over your couch. Even though your orgasm is the hardest one you’ve ever experienced, not once do your eyes leave his.

“Good girl~ good fuckin girl.” his praises leave your cunt twitching. “Oh fuck, gonna fill you up all the way. Tell me you want it. Please.”

“Yes~ Satoru, inside~ inside~!”

The veins and his neck protrude as he slams his free fist against his desk, causing his setup to shake. Ropes and ropes of white cum spurt out of his cock. The sticky substance coats his abdomen, on the top of his thighs and hand.

“Fuck~ fuck~fuuuck!” His hand continues, moving up and down his shaft, milking his cock for all that it’s worth. “Fuuuck!” he hisses out through clenched teeth.

Several seconds pass, both of you breathing heavily, recovering from your orgasms. Swallowing hard at your dry throat, you slowly pull your fingers out of you with a wince. Satoru was the next move, grabbing some tissues off his desk and cleaning himself up. You can’t help but laugh softly in the silence of cleaning yourselves.

Hearing the angelic sound leaving your mouth, Satoru focuses his blue eyes on you. “What’s got you giggly over there?” much to his disappointment, you slide your shorts back on before sitting back on the couch.

“That was one hell of a meet and greet.”

Satoru’s lets out a rough laugh.”Yeah, it sure as hell was. I think I owe you a proper meet and greet.” The streamer let out a content sigh. “Are you free tomorrow night? I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.” he leans back, fixing his boxers.

“Think you can keep your boner down long enough for that?”

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I can’t make any promises that it’ll behave.”

“Huh, what if I don’t want it to behave?”

Flushed cheeks darken in color as Satoru’s mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. “Goddamn, you're so hot. Who knew some chick with a mochi avatar was going to have me stroking my cock tonight.” God, he was so cute, both physically and in personality. “Which is super cute, by the way. Did you do it yourself, or did you have an artist commission it? Because I am in dire need of some new avatar artwork for my videos.”

“I drew it myself. I’m a freelance graphic design artist.”

“You takin’ commissions right now, Miss oh-so-hot-and-talented?”

“If I get this job I want tomorrow, I might have to take a brief break. But I would make an exception for you.”

Satoru opens his mouth to say something, but there’s a knock on the door behind him. “Shit, sorry, I gotta go; I promised my roommate I would help him hook up a computer upstairs.” With one final glance in your direction, Satoru, for once, was elated over a rumor that had spread about him over the Internet. “Tomorrow same time, mochi-gurl?”

“Sounds great, Satoru.”

After bidding farewell to the exceptionally hot man, you pass out on the couch. From the excitement of getting to meet your favorite streamer to the intensity of your orgasm. The combination of those contributing factors knocked you on your ass. While your neck was stiff, falling asleep like that on the couch allowed you to get some of the best sleep in months.

You woke up refreshed and ready for your interview that morning. Satoru had put a peep in your step as you walked into the coffee shop you had an interview with. The owner wanted to develop a new logo design for the shop. One that was both warm, welcoming, and had an adorable mascot.

“Wow,” The man across from you flips through your portfolio, “you're talented. You’re just a freelance artist?”

“Mhmm, I don’t like big corporations. I would rather help out small businesses and help support our local community.”

The man interviewing you brushes dark bangs out of his face, his tongue running over his lip piercing. “We love supporters of small businesses. People like you that keep our place going.” He brushes long, dark strands of hair before his dark eyes leave the page before him, meeting your nervous gaze. “Which is why I think you would be a great fit. Your art is exactly what I’m looking for when I think of our logo.”

“Really? That’s so good to hear. I promise you I won’t disappoint you. I’ll be sure to make your dreams come true.”

Your interviewer shuts your portfolio, handing it back to you. He held out his hand, his nails painted black, and his rings on almost every finger. When you first walked into this cute café, you were intimidated by the stranger. He was covered in tattoos and piercings, and his gauges were huge, but he couldn't have been any nicer. So, without hesitation, you stood up, shaking his hand.

“I'm looking forward to doing business with you, Geto.”

“Same goes for me; I’ll give you a tour and introduce you to everyone.”

Rainbow Dragon Cafe recently went viral for its excellent coffee, pastries, and aesthetic. Not only was it a café, but it was also a gaming café. There is a bar where people can enjoy their coffee and booths where they can sit down and work on projects if needed. On one wall, there’s a large flat-screen TV playing compilations of different streamers talking to the camera as they play games. A large sectional couch was set up in front of it so people could sit down and watch if they wanted to.

The other wall was set up so that people could take photos with the company's logo behind them. That was if they had a logo, which is where you came in. For the next few months, your job was to help the owner, Geto Suguru, design and revamp his menu and website. Once you succeed in your mission, a cute neon sign with the logo will be placed on the wall, covered in fake vines and flowers. It is the perfect spot to take photos and hashtag the cafe in their posts.

“This is Shoko; she manages the front and helps run orders to tables.” A woman with dark brown hair waved at you casually as she passed a cigarette in her mouth and headed for the front.

“Taking a smoke break, I’ll be right back.”

Geto led you into the back, where an espresso machine hissed. “Back here is Ryomen Sukuna; he is my best barista.” The muscular, pink-haired man in front of you, covered in tattoos, slammed a rag down on the counter.

“I'm not some fucking barista; I’m the king of coffee.”

“Right, king of coffee, sorry.” Geto introduced you to several other workers. Most of them were just high schoolers working there as a part-time. Itadori, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki waved at you before returning to doing their inventory. “And you’ll meet my girls eventually. They said something about getting more couches or pillows for the front. They’re the head of our social media team.”

You lean over the counter with Geto, overlooking the shop that you were hired to help. “I love the setup you guys have. It’s got my creative juices flowing.” Glancing at the TV, you watch a compilation of different streamers reacting to jump scares. “But I’m curious. Why make it a gaming cafe?” Geto follows your gaze, humming at your question.

“That’s all because of my best friend. I didn’t want just to run a cafe and bookstore; I wanted to do something different. He pitched the idea. A place for people to sip coffee, read a book, or play video games.”

“Sounds like he’s a good friend.”

“He is.” Geto jerks his thumb in the direction of a door. “He rents out the basement while I live in the loft upstairs. He's an investor; you might get to meet him if he ever drags his stupid ass out of the basement.”

“Oh, that wou—”

Before you finish your sentence, the door Geto is still pointing at is slammed open. “Suguru! Hey, do you think I could borrow that blue shirt of y-you—” God, if you hadn’t been holding onto the counter, you might’ve passed out? Blue eyes that had been locked and focused on the night before met your gaze. You almost didn’t recognize him because he was wearing clothes. “H-Holy shit, mochi-gurl?!”

Your favorite leisure streamer, the man you had masturbated with the night before, was standing right in front of you—more like towering over at a total of six three feet. Words seem to evade you as you stutter. “G-Gojo?” Why was the room spinning all of a sudden?

“Hey, I thought we went over this last night. You can call me Satoru!” his smile fades as soon as it appears on his face. “Sweetheart? Oh shi—” He’s rushing forward just as your world fades to black due to shock.

This was a dream right, it had to be a dream!

Forever Tag List:

@darkstarlight82 @pandoness @nealeart @simp-plague @sugurubabe

[beneathashadytree]

HEY GUYS! LONG POST HERE, BUT PLEASE READ🙏🏽

I am genuinely appalled by the discourse ongoing in the LNDS fandom these past few days—but above all, I am severely disappointed in what had started out as one of the most inclusive and sweet fandoms I’ve ever been in. I have a few things to say, so in this post I’m trying to put all my thoughts to words. Apologies if I sound harsh, but I’m genuinely livid. Also, please ignore any typos. I’m not wearing my glasses while word-vomiting.

First off, for a fandom that is composed of mostly adults, you guys have been acting terribly childishly. It’s 2024, and yet people are still unironically shaming others for “switching up on their favs” as if a person owes 2D characters any loyalty. Let people enjoy things. The novelty of Sylus and how he’s quite literally 6 months behind the other 3 love interests makes people want to catch up on the enjoyment of him all at once. He’s still such a brand new character and concept, so there’s no wonder everyone’s hyped up over him.

I’ve seen people get genuinely mad at other players and writing whole think-pieces about this. I promise you guys, the company making this game is still benefiting whether you’re pouring your money into Sylus or any one of the previous 3. We’re all happy to have an interesting character pop up among the roster now, and we’re taking our time getting to know him. Doesn’t make any of the first 3 any less loved. I genuinely don’t remember this amount of nastiness when solo events for each of the guys used to drop.

In fact, if the popularity thing is worrying you, going off MLQC (the company’s past game) the character who was last added was—eventually, after the initial hype died down—kicked off to the sidelines in most major events and was given the least content, and was the least favorite of fans.

Secondly, and this has my blood boiling, there is an insane amount of entitlement and rudeness I’ve seen on my timeline concerning how people characterize the men—particularly Rafayel.

Absolutely nothing warrants this shitty attitude towards other creators for how they depict characters in their fics. It seems you guys feel protected behind a screen and think it gives you the right to bully strangers online. Fanfiction is for fantasizing about your favs; for letting your imagination run wild. If this were a character analysis, then yes, maybe I’d agree that inaccuracies are aggravating. However, in fanfiction, there are zero rules, especially when it comes to smut.

Sexual preferences are not equivalent to a person’s whole personality—so whether he’s written as a dom, a sub, a switch, or whatever the fuck you wanna call it, this has nothing to do with his kindness, gentlemanliness, passion, power, ruthlessness, snark, or whatever minuscule aspect of his character makes up his lovely whole and matters to you.

I think this circles back to a lack of ability to separate sexual matters and personality, because how else do people interpret fics depicting him in a certain manner as them erasing his character? They might overlap, but they can very well be mutually exclusive. I’ve seen incredibly sweet and gentle men irl who were absolute doms in bed, and I’ve seen powerful and passionate men who were reduced to tears between the sheets. There is barely any correlation whatsoever, and if anything, claiming otherwise is what I consider piss-poor media literacy and reading-comprehension.

My third point is that for some reason, there have been many, many posts and replies on here where I’ve seen people just straight-up spread pure hate for the characters. Maybe this bothered me in particular because I’m an OT3 (OT4 now!) and absolutely adore all of them, but I find no logical reason for “yucking someone’s yum” when we’re talking about liking the characters of an Otome game—a genre of video games which is made to literally cater to the tastes of as many people as possible.

It’s especially disheartening to see when it’s at a time like this, when new content is about to drop, and you find in the replies of every other post/discussion at least a few people spewing hate and disgust at Sylus. Again, so many people are incredibly excited about him. Why is there a need to rain on everyone’s parade, especially in such an unsolicited manner?

This fandom originally started as a safe space for people of all races, backgrounds, genders, sexualities, and personalities to bond over our mutual love for characters. All I’ve seen on my TL lately (in terms of discussion) is negativity, and it’s such a fucking let-down. I hope whatever the fuck has happened to this fandom cools down after a bit. It’s probably exaggerated and very in-your-face rn, cause more and more people are downloading LNDS, so the probabilities of finding people being nasty are increasing. But I seriously don’t want to grow to resent this fandom and find myself distancing myself from it to protect my peace.

Let’s all remember to be kind towards other players, to not act entitled or bratty about the characters, and to try and mind our own business if we see content that doesn’t suit our tastes.

[co-mixed]

Why Boom Still Can’t Get Buffy Right

My love for the Buffyverse is concrete but it has its limits. Yesterday I had a very unpleasant experience finishing yet another unimpressive Buffy run, courtesy of Boom Comics. It’s always disappointing to me because Buffyverse has so much potential and untold stories. It’s a goldmine that is constantly held back and simply can’t find its footing in the comics medium. Why is that? 

Boom’s been rather relentless in trying to make Buffy work. Several years and runs later, there’s still no big WOW story that can attract readers and viewers alike. Not just that, but even seasoned buffy fans don’t seem very interested in continuous attempts at rebooting the Slayer tale. You can blame the word reboot (it does tend to scare people) but the real reason is still Boom’s inability to deliver a good captivating story.

Boom had tried reinventing Buffy, sending her back to school, developing alternate realities and futures. But in every iteration, Buffy and the Scooby Gang were plagued with the same mistakes over and over again. 

Hey, I’m not sure what I am, so bear with me here 

The characters from Buffy are some of the most well-developed characters out there. Each one has a point of origin, a story, and a final form. We love them because we know them. And we know them extremely well. 

Let’s take the fan-favorite, Spike. We’ve seen his whole afterlife and even bits of his life. We know how he became William the Bloody, then Spike, a neutered vampire, and finally, an ensouled champion. We know how, and more importantly, we know why. 

I’d hate to throw in one more why but there is a reason Spike exists in the show, and we know it. 

When you read Boom comics, it feels like writers stick him into every arc just because they like him. He brings nothing to the story, he has no soul or chip yet chooses to join the scoobies. That does not look like the Spike we know. That guy was in s2-s4, not s5-s7. That’s the guy from School Hard or the one who got the Gem of Amara and happily marched to kill Buffy. 

But there’s nothing stronger than the author’s desire to make things ‘right’. Hence this spike lookalike joining the team every time. 

The funny part is, I can very well imagine a soulless chipless Spike who’s not a monster. If Dru sires him and never sees him again, if she never introduces him to Angelus, if he keeps on writing his bloody awful poetry only forever. He probably would’ve turned out like that poor librarian guy whose glasses Dru broke or like Harmony who still tried to be decent. But it’s the writer’s job to explain it, to write it into the story, not just throw a character into a book and see whether they swim or go down. They will always go down. 

Spike is only one of the issues here. In the show, both Kendra and Faith exist to show us the perfect (according to the council) and the fallen slayer. Two possible realities for Buffy. They have their own arcs (well, Faith does) but the show is strong because supporting characters serve a purpose. Just like the people we meet in real life always serve a purpose for us. You might believe that one character pushing the development of another is cruel, but that’s still how good stories are made. That’s still why Buffy is popular 20 years after the show’s finale. 

Kendra and Faith did that for Buffy in the show. In the Boom comics they just exist. They show up for no reason and they just hang around. You can take them out of the story and nothing will change. At one point in the initial reboot there were three slayers at the same time, and that felt more like a fix-it fanfic than a quality comic book. Unfortunately, some slayers have to die and some have to turn evil. Besides, without her rebellious personality, Faith is meaningless.

I have one more bone to pick. I know that Buffy and Angel (still the OTP of the show!) are a complicated matter to many modern writers. And readers, and viewers. There’s no place to hide from the creep factor and even though I will defend this ship till the day everyone finally agrees with me, I can’t deny its presence. But that doesn’t mean you get to discard this ship and separate Buffy and Angel into different books. One doesn’t exist or grow without the other. There is no Buffy in love with a vampire without Angel. There is only Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire. 

Without Buffy, Angel is not in LA helping the helpless. He’s in New York eating low rats. Before trying to launch two separate books, how about Boom launches one good one, that provides background, even if revised and adapted to the modern days? 

I always worried what would happen when that b*tch got some funding

All this chaotic mess with the characters determines the stories Boom puts out. They tend to have an interesting start but by the time issue 3 comes out, it’s either Camazotz flying around Sunnydale, a giant crab taking over the main street, or whatever the hell Silas was (a soul eater?) Didn’t care for him much. Not even when we were evil. 

More often than not Boom writers suffer from the same disease that plagued Dark Horse comics – scale. Just because you can do anything doesn’t mean you should. Comics allow you to draw literally any kind of baddie but you are playing within a specific world, and suspense of disbelief only goes so far. Besides, in the show, it all grows gradually. You go from the Master to the First evil. In the comics… seriously, what the hell was Silas? 

From what I’ve read so far, Boom knows how to ask interesting questions: 

What if Buffy went to school today?

What if Willow took over as the slayer? 

What if Buffy was older? 

Those are all good what ifs but Boom has a problem following through. They don’t know the answer to this question and it feels like they’re making it up as they go along. If I’m being honest, it even feels like they wrote random ideas on pieces of paper, through them in a hat, and started pulling each time they hit a wall. 

Characters show up for now reason (hi, Tara from the latest run), they don’t feel like themselves, and the saddest part – none of it feels like you are getting your favorite show back. 

These characters deserve better than that. 

And there’s not a one who can say this ended well

At this point, I don’t know if Boom wants Buffy comics to succeed. I don’t mean to be this dramatic but every time someone mentions comics, fans think Dark Horse. Not because they are still considered canon, but because they had a connection to the beloved show. Boom comics don’t give you that, so you can’t look the other way when writers don’t deliver. It’s just how it works. 

I keep thinking what Boom can do to get out of this vicious circle. And I do believe there If they want to successfully play in the Buffyverse, they have to seriously up their game. It’s not impossible either. I mean, Something is Killing the Children is being released by the same studio. And what is that if not a more gruesome version of Buffy? So it’s not exactly magic. It’s doable. 

Personally, I still hold out hope that someone would dare explore the terrifying bloody past of the Whirlwind. Wouldn’t that be fun and gory? I’d like to see deep well-thought-through stories of past slayers. I’d happily read a well-illustrated comic run based on In Every Generation. And if we have to go back to Buffy variants, why not reinvent her story? But before we get to that, we’d have to work through every step of every character. Get them to where we want them, and start with a story that we want to tell, from start to finish. From her first day as a slayer to her last one (she didn’t have to empower the potentials after all).

That, of course, requires a lot of work. And if Boom isn’t ready to put in that kinda effort, they could just move from season 5, introduce a new slayer, and watch how her adventures unravel.  

Buffyverse is a hell of a property and there are too many stories waiting to be written. I’m probably still gonna give it a shot whenever Boom comes up with something new. I just hope I won’t have to write yet another long read complaining about it. 

[annoyinglandmagazine]

Russingon Headcanon

Maedhros and Fingon’s relationship reads like a romance right? Regardless of whether you ship it their entire relationship is compromised of several romance plot lines rolled into one and is a textbook example of a romance. You have the families who hate each other keeping them apart, the opposite sides of the war thing, the hopeless quest to save their beloved from the enemy at all costs, succeeding against all odds because of the power of love and just so much more. You see where I’m going with all this right? It reads like the script to a Disney film.

So if someone with no prior knowledge of who these two people are were to hear this story they’d probably think it was a similar kind of story to Beren and Luthien. They wouldn’t really question that this was a romance. So what I’m saying is that there were probably men and dwarves who were told this story and heard it was an old elven story and interpreted it exactly like that. So I’d say it’s a reasonable assumption that at some point songs and stories started to crop up and became pretty popular ballads. I’d also say a lot of the time Maedhros was depicted as the damsel in distress. Make of that what you will.

So when the elves hear these songs they’d probably see these similarities right away. I feel like Turgon would get to the point where he’d have to screen all the songs played in his court beforehand to make sure there was no trace of his older brother in a romantic context even implied because it makes him so uncomfortable. He gets really flustered when anyone brings it up because YES he knows it’s common knowledge but he was trying very hard to recover from the image of walking in on them during his childhood and does not appreciate the reminder . Maglor would absolutely love it. He makes a point of playing the instrumentals of the more well known ones at formal events just to watch Maedhros turn gradually more red. He also sometimes changes the lyrics to contain as many innuendoes as possible and stresses their names in the ones where they’re mentioned. He’s the only person who’s ever dared to play one in the presence of both Maedhros and Fingon. He changes the music to one of the ballads every time they get too close to each other during the evening and everyone always turns to look for them when it comes on so they have to scramble to a respectable distance.

Celegorm and Curufin are absolutely in on this and Tyelko helps come up with some of the dirtier verses. Everyone collectively agrees to preserve the innocence of Amrod and Amras. Finrod is secretly teaching the men more and more romantic ones but escapes all the blame. He’s actually the person who introduced most of the ones with their names in them.

Maglor teaches Elrond and Elros all of them without telling them who they’re about. Maedhros is absolutely murderous when he hears the twins singing about him and Fingon but he doesn’t want to let the twins know the truth so he keeps his mouth shut. Many elves are absolutely horrified when they hear that these are an important part of Numenorean culture. He made Quenya one of their languages don’t tell me Elros wouldn’t find this hilarious. Imladris is one of the few elvish settlements where these songs are allowed because Elrond secretly enjoys stirring things up. He figured out what they were about when he was still a kid but he finds everyone’s expressions way too funny to call a stop to it and just plays innocent.

[pink-heart-jam]

Love triangles

Truth be told, I’ve never been into love triangles - in fact I used to actively avoid them in the past, and still do when I’m reading fic because I hate feeling conflicted between two love interests. But somehow these stories found their way into my heart and left me utterly obsessed entranced and invested in the trope (the amount of scorching sex definitely helps 😂). So I thought I’d share these in case anyone else is looking for great stories with hot, intense, well-written triangular dynamics. Some will make you pick favorites (tell me about yours!), some are properly polyamory which is fun and refreshing to see in manga. All works are E-rated. Enjoy!

Blue Flag by Kaito

High school senior year, spring—one of life's important forks in the road. Taichi Ichinose finds himself in the same class as Futaba Kuze, who he feels strangely averse to, and his popular childhood friend, Touma Mita. One day, Futaba confides in him her love for Touma, and asks him for help.

Canis: The Speaker by Zakk

A spin-off of the main series that follows some of Ryou's gang acquaintances.

From Points of Three by White Eared

Jisuh is quiet, unassuming... observant. He’s suited to working behind the camera. But for reasons he’s not exactly quick to disclose, he’s run into some debt. Heejae, an actor who has worked with before, proposes he work with him exclusively on a private project of his...shooting himself and his partner having sex..

Love or Hate by Youngha, Bakdam

Haesoo is a cynical writer of a romance column, while Joowon, his former stepbrother, is a famous actor. The two go way back - thrust together when their parents remarried, their relationship is far from simple. When the mysterious photographer “K” takes an interest in Haesoo, events begin to spiral out of control.

Nights Before Night by Kazuki Natsume

It's been a long time since Haru, owner of the gay escort service "Rain," left his yakuza days behind. But when the Ichijo clan says he's the only civilian they can trust to hide the troublemaking Yukitaka in line, there seems to be no choice for him but to follow suit.

Momentum by Park ji-yeon

Stories with triangles: M’s Study | Phantom

“Momentum” is a series of beautifully drawn vignettes that glimpse into the life-altering moments of several couples as they fall in and out of love. This BL features a series of characters learning how to love, understand, and forgive one another – and in some cases, the world – at different moments in their lives.

Ouroboros by Songhyel

Woo Hyung’s life has hit rock bottom. He’s traumatized after several days of being imprisoned and abused by his brother-in-law, an event that eventually left him both wifeless and jobless. His only way of coping is sex, and two very different men who can provide exactly that show up in his life.

Wet Sand by Doyak

Jo can't stop fantasizing about the tall, handsome stranger on the balcony, and he grabs any chance to get to know him better. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize that Ian does the dirty work for one of the region's largest, most unsavory gangs... and is the lover of one of their most powerful people.

[androidboy]

can you share some about what you do to celebrate día de los muertos? i’m somewhat distant from my mexican family for geographic, immigration, assimilation, homophobia reasons, etc, but really want to cultivate my own practice and feel sad that i’ve lost access to the ancestral knowledge… trying to learn more about other people’s family’s traditions so i can build my queer practice!!!!

i think the thing i love most about day of the dead in the US is that ive noticed a lot of people who come from assimilated families love to celebrate it and a lot of families from mexico who didn’t practice beforehand start here. i don’t know how widespread it is now in mexico but when my dad came to the US he was really surprised by how popular it was here since it was more of a contained regional thing out there and he had never participated before but when i was a kid we started celebrating it by going to the little festivals that would pop up and we’d get to look at all the people dressed up and all the face paint and there was music and good food and my dad would say a couple words about his brother and that was it! that was my entire experience growing up.

what i do now varies a lot. i do a lot of research into it and pre-covid i’d take part in public celebrations but now that much crowd is too much for me so ive started setting up a little ofrenda with candles and my favorite mexican sweets and snacks and little things that were given to me that had been in the family for a while. last year i was completely alone but i did calavera makeup and i lit a candle and just talked out loud to my papi and my uncle about life and questions i would’ve liked to ask them and i had a few snacks on the alter and a big thing of conchas that i snacked on while talking and i drank a coke and left a couple bottles out for them

this year i’m gonna do calavera makeup for me and my girlfriend and i think we’re gonna make some sweet corn tamales and light candles and still have sweets out and we’ll share stories

i think because the celebration is so open, it’s an easy piece of culture to find home in for those that feel like they’re lacking it whether it’s just an opportunity to feel familiarity and likeness or a chance to feel like you actually get to participate in a culture you feel disconnected and severed from

this was way longer than expected but find what feels right whether it’s just you or if you want to take a look at your community that rises out of love for their loved ones

[m0ther-of-p3arl]

bad news on tv, black ink revives me

(robert aeor high au p2)

masterpost

hi and welcome to my mcyt high school au! if you haven't read part one, i highly suggest starting with that.

…Huh. That’s interesting. So there is a new student, and chances are, based on the chair seated ominously by his side, Scott has a class or two with him. He’s, annoyingly enough, slightly interested about this so-called “Timmy,” wonders what he looks like-

or Scott finds out there's a new kid at school, and can't stop thinking about who they might be.

TW: internalized homophobia, self hatred, anxiety, bullying

Robert Aeor High is an exceptional school, very upper-class, with most of the students living most of their lives in mansions, surrounded by everything they could ever need. Scott supposes he’s obliged to count himself in this number, though his friends, all mostly lower-class typical income people, say he’s nothing like them. But he has grown up in a mansion, and even his cold, sterile home is still a mansion.

Scott is by no means popular, in fact, quite the contrary. He tries as hard as he can to stay to the side of all the drama, to stay safe within his own little friend group, to stay hidden, to stay safe. Sometimes it’s hard to blend in, though, when someone’s singling you, specifically, out. Especially when that person is Xornoth.

Xornoth is that kid at school, the one everybody’s afraid of, the popular one, the one who has several henchmen that bend over to do zir bidding, the one who everyone seems to have a secret crush on. Ze’s a tiefling, like Owen, but where Owen is a prismatic tiefling, able to be born any color of the rainbow, from dusky blue to the pumpkin orange of Owen’s skin, Xornoth is a dark tiefling. Zir skin is a dark, almost glowing, purple, and zir massive, twisting goat horns at least three times bigger than the non threatening orange spikes that peek out from Owen’s hair.

Xornoth is one of the main reasons Scott’s begun to dread going to school almost as much as going home, especially now that their bullying’s extending to the level of legitimate harassment.

Xornoth seems to have a perverse obsession with touching Scott’s snakes.

A gorgon’s snakes are like an avian’s wings, or a tiefling’s horns, or a celestial’s tail: you simply don’t touch them. Xornoth’s way around this basic human decency, however, is that since Scott’s a hybrid, those rules just don’t apply to him. It’s never made much sense to Scott, as though he’s defective, he’s still a gorgon, still a person.

He has feelings, and that’s the one thing Xornoth seems to disregard the most.

“Scotty, come on, I just want to see how they feel,” ze purrs. Zir two henchmen, Joey and a boy who Scott only knows as “Sausage,” snicker under their breath, smirks ghosting across their faces.

“No, you can’t-” Scott begins, only to feel unwanted hands brushing roughly up against his snakes, the fingers calloused and groping. Scott shrinks away, disgusted. “What is wrong with you?! How would you like it if I touched your horns?”

“God, Major, what the hell? Why do they feel like ice?” Xornoth asks, completely disregarding Scott’s previous statement, reaching zir curious hand out towards his head again.

“One, my name is not Major. Two, you know why, you’ve known why since last year. Three, stop trying to touch my snakes. Now.” Scott’s slowly backing away, and he can feel himself beginning to shake. He hates unwanted touch, especially directed at his snakes, and he knows that if he doesn’t get away soon, he’ll have a full-on breakdown in the middle of the hallway. He’d never live it up then.

“Aww, he’s mad!” Xornoth snickers. “It’s just a question, Major. Be civil. Now, as much as I’d love to stay here and hang out with you all day-” Joey giggles under his breath, pushing his hand up to his mouth- “I’m afraid me and the boys have things to do. Arrivederci, Scotty Boy!” Xornoth waves cheekily, zir eyes cruel and calculating, knowing ze’s hit him in exactly the right spot.

Scott watches as ze sashays down the hall, one arm wrapped loosely around Joey’s shoulder as ze talks animatedly to Sausage, rude laughter cascading from the boy after Xornoth says something seemingly very funny, presumably about him.

He hates Xornoth almost as much as he hates himself. 

Walking into his homeroom, Scott immediately notices that there’s an extra desk in the back row, right next to where he sits, alone, the furthest away from everyone he can get. He’s always chosen to sit in the far back corner whenever he can, because the less attention Scott gets, from students and teachers, the better it is for him. So the fact that now, there seems to be someone who’s sitting next to him? It doesn’t bode well.

What if whoever’s desk this happens to be another Xornoth, bent on tormenting Scott and making his life hell?

But as the students trickle into homeroom, the extra desk isn’t claimed, and Scott lets out a mental sigh of relief. Maybe it’s just a mistake, just a simple misunderstanding. Maybe it’s for a new person in a different class, someone who doesn’t share Scott’s homeroom, but instead has this class for math or something. That sounds plausible, and if Scott’s honest with himself, he’s slightly disappointed. There’s always a possibility that any given new person will be attractive, and Scott is in dire need of a boyfriend.

The thought slips out before he can stop himself, and immediately, he starts to spiral.

No. No, no, no, nonononono- he’s not supposed to think that, that isn’t allowed- Scott’s disgusting for even letting that thought breach his mind, he’s not gay, he can’t be gay, but he knows he is and that’s the worst part- Scott can feel the breakdown from before pressing even harder in the back of his skull, because from his dream father, his real life father, Xornoth being absolutely horrendous, and now a reminder of one of the many ways he’s utterly repulsive inside and out, it’s just too much for him to take.

Scott needs to talk to Shelby, the main therapist of their group, because though she doesn’t know that he’s gay (disgusting) she knows about the other things, like his father and Xornoth. Scott’s not ready to tell anyone other than Owen that he’s gay (revolting) yet, if ever. He’ll try as hard as he can to beat it out.

He whips out his phone and pulls up the group chat, making sure to prop up his textbook to hide the fact that he’s texting, as Mr Jau is very particular about that kind of thing. It doesn’t seem like anyone’s on right now, however, which is…not optimal for Scott. 

And if he can’t talk to Shelby, he needs to find a distraction. But then he remembers he’ll see Shubble next period anyway, and even if he can’t find something else to focus on, he should be able to make it the ten minutes before homeroom’s over and the real school day begins.

He’s just scrolling through his notifs now, finding a few from his mutuals, rolling his eyes affectionately at the crazed reposts of fanart. Then he notices that in the absence of him and Owen while they were walking to school, Joel and Shelby (the bus riders of the group), have been talking about something. Scott knows it’s wrong to snoop, but like, they put whatever they were talking about on the group chat, so they must have meant him to see it, right?

And now that Scott knows there’s something to know, he absolutely has to do a bit of “detective work.”

He scrolls to his last sent message, a hasty gn love yall xx that he had typed out before his father had come into his room for his nightly inspection of Scott last night, and reads from there. Owen, Joel, and Shelby hadn’t stayed long after he’d gone, trickling away at about eleven, which leaves him with a slight pang of relief that he hasn’t missed anything. The conversation had resumed this morning, while he and Owen were walking to school. 

He really doesn’t have much to do, and he’s secretly very curious what they were talking about, so he begins to scroll through the texts.

thesmallbeans: hey shelby you there

shubbleshrubble: heyo joel :)

thesmallbeans: did you see, there’s a new kid?

shubbleshrubble: wdym, i dont go on your bus ofc not you idiot

thesmallbeans: shut up your short you cant talk but yeah, there’s like a new guy, hes got wings so i think hes an avian

thesmallbeans: he’s sitting a few seats in front of me he got on the stop after mine

shubbleshrubble: huh we havent had a new student in a while much less an avian arent they rare? I think grians the only avian at school right?

thesmallbeans: FOR GOODNESS SAKES shubble YES theyre rare do you pay NO attention during species studies?!?! 

shubbleshrubble: ummmmmm

shubbleshrubble: anywayyyy

thesmallbeans: also no hes not the only one you’ve forgotten about beks

shubbleshrubble: oh right beky but shes a year lower so why would i remember her

thesmallbeans: i remembered her and i have like the worst memory arent gnomes suppotsed to be all wise and remembering things?????

shubbleshrubble: shut up joel

shubbleshrubble: im super smart you dont know anything about me

shubbleshrubble: im a mystery ;)

thesmallbeans: uh huh. sure

shubbleshrubble: oh shush

shubbleshrubble: anyway what does this new kid look like??

thesmallbeans: hes blonde and his wings are like bright yellow, hes pretty tall for an avian, blue eyes and hes wearing the girls uniform

thesmallbeans: like the one with the skirt i mean

shubbleshrubble: huh 

shubbleshrubble: do you konw his name

thesmallbeans: i think its timmy or something like that

thesmallbeans: oop bus pulling up gtg cya @ school

…Huh. That’s interesting. So there is a new student, and chances are, based on the chair seated ominously by his side, Scott has a class or two with him. He’s, annoyingly enough, slightly interested about this so-called “Timmy,” wonders what he looks like-

STOP IT, SCOTT. STOP. It’s the second time this morning and two more times than he can handle. He tries to convince himself the reason he’s so intrigued by this turn of events is because the new kid is a rarer species, because he’s supposedly tall for an avian, because he seems like an interesting person, choosing to wear the skirt uniform and all that. There are times when Scott wishes that he could wear it himself, but of course, his father would never condone such an unmanly outfit.

He slides his phone back into his pocket, closing the textbook and pushing it back into his desk as someone walks into the room, and Scott cranes his head forwards, because is it him, is it the new boy?

Scott flumps back into his seat, realizing it’s only Joel. He suppresses a sigh; he should have known not to get his hopes up, but an avian? They’re the least-common sentient species, having been hunted to extinction for their wings by other species, most noticeably the seafolk. 

Their small stature and group nesting habits make them a predictable and easy to target people, and hundreds of avians are murdered each day, from the owls to the penguins to the canaries. It would be so interesting to meet a new avian, someone who seems to be neither an owl, like Beks, the one in the year below, or Grian, who’s a parrot.

Scott tries to convince himself this is the reason he’s interested.

But he realizes he’s been unfair, as Joel is never “only” Joel. He’s a celestial, and a sky celestial at that, so he’s almost inherently gorgeous, as well as extremely fucking tall. His light blue skin ripples with white cloud-like spots, his hair dark brown shot with a green streak that’s always reminded Scott of lighting, tied back into a short ponytail. A green laurel tattoo snakes down Joel’s right arm, his smooth, jewel-covered tail snaking along the floor behind him.

He stands at almost eleven feet, and he hasn’t stopped growing yet. Scott’s been friends with Joel for the longest time out of any of his closest companions, their friendship dating back to fourth grade, when Scott had nicked a few of Joel’s pencils during class. He’d thought he’d gotten off scot free (heh heh), but he’d been met at his locker by a glowering Joel, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

Joel had been eight feet tall even then, and had picked up Scott by the scruff of his neck and put him on top of the lockers “to teach him a lesson,” in the celestial’s own words. But he had come back not five minutes later and brought Scott down, offering a profuse apology and saying he was working on “not being a menace.” They’ve been friends ever since.

Joel saunters across the room, taking his spot in the corner behind Scott, as he’s too tall for any desk this school has to offer. “Hey, Scott,” he grins in that cocky Joel way of his, “What’s up?”

“Eh, not much, you?” Scott asks, smiling back at him.

“Oh, you know, just…stuff.” He waves his hands vaguely, and Scott has to duck to avoid being backhanded by the unchecked limbs. “Hey, by the way, have you seen Lizzie today?” Joel’s eyes begin to go misty thinking about his not-so-secret crush. Scott’s pretty sure she’s completely oblivious of Joel’s affections, and he doesn’t know how that’s possible, but seafolk are notably fuzzy-minded when kept away from the ocean for an extended amount of time, so that probably explains why.

But Joel’s crush is still so glaringly obvious that even with how much Lizzie’s brain must be muffled, Scott can’t imagine how she hasn’t noticed so far.

“No, I haven’t, why?” Scott decides it’s best to humor Joel, to let him go on and on about Lizzie and how her hair cascades off her head and how pink it is and how much she looks like an axolotl with those frills that surround her neck and how her skin is so blue but not sky blue like Joel’s, blue like the ocean deep and dark, blue like the ocean Lizzie calls home. All Scott has to do is offer a few “mhm”s and nods, and Joel will be happy. Scott’s learned long ago that this is the best way to deal with Joel, because when he has something to talk about, ye gods, he will talk. 

“By the way, Joel,” Scott says, interrupting a detailed and decidedly very sappy description of how Lizzie’s eyes glitter in the sunlight, “Can you tell me more about that new kid who goes on your bus? I saw your texts.”

Joel looks slightly miffed that he’s been cut off, but diverts his attention to Scott nonetheless. That’s a first. “Uh, sure, what do you want to know?”

“For starters, you said he was an avian? What kind?” Scott leans forward, chin resting on his hands.

“Um, something with bright yellow wings? Like, almost solid yellow, no patterns.” Joel’s disinterested, staring off into the distance, almost certainly mooning over Lizzie, though silently this time (thank god).

“Joel,” Scott chastises admonishingly. “Now who doesn’t pay attention in species studies? The only avian types with solid yellow wings are canaries and some parrots- did the new kid have more upwards pointing or downwards pointing ear feathers?”

“Downwards pointing, I think,” Joel answers, “They were all fluffed out, though. His wing feathers too.”

“Okay, so he’s a canary,” Scott realizes, ripples running down his spine. “And the fluffed feathers means he was nervous. And understandably, starting a new school and all that? That’s a lot to take in at once. You said his name was Timmy?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Joel’s squinting, as if trying to find the answer off in the distance somewhere. “But I can’t be sure, he said his name kinda quietly when the bus driver asked what it was. Hey, why are you so interested in this new kid anyway?”

“Oh, no real reason,” Scott hastily reassures. “Avians are just so rare, though, and the canary bit is interesting too- they’re the least common avian type of all, and isn’t there a proverb about canaries being the harbingers of death?”

“Maybe,” Joel mutters, clearly not really engaging with the conversation. “I don’t really know- can I go back to talking about Lizzie now?”

Scott rolls his eyes and half-holds in an exasperated sigh. “Sure, Joel. Go straight ahead.” Scott’s still only half-listening, the rest of his mind wondering about the new kid; an avian, and a canary? That’s an interesting combination, Scott thinks, especially since, as he’s already stated, canaries in particular are one of the rarest avian types. 

The more he thinks about it, the more interested he is in this new student, and before he knows it, the bell has rung and he’s off to math. Waving goodbye to Joel, who stays in homeroom for his next class, Scott weaves his way through the hallways crowded to the brim with students of all species. Friends are snickering and chatting animatedly in little groups of three about the newest gossip or newest episode of their favorite series or loudly bragging about how gay they are.

Scott smirks dryly at that last one, his secret still held close to his chest. He’s so caught up in his own mind that he doesn’t notice where he’s going, and someone collides directly into his chest, causing him to stagger back a couple steps.

Now, Scott is by no means tall, landing squarely at around five and a half feet, but whoever’s collided with him is a significant bit shorter, by at least four inches, given the feel of it. This weirdly short person mutters a stammered apology, ducking behind Scott before he can get a good look at them, and by the time he’s craned his head back to try to catch a glimpse of his mysterious offender, they’re gone.

Scott doesn’t even notice the feather laying right at his feet as he rolls his eyes and enters his science class, the bright yellow plume flying up, up, up to the ceiling under the scuff of his feet, landing on the rafters far above the crowded mass below.

[seriouslysam8]

Okay, so we know from Backstabber that Peter was brainwashed by Bellatrix.

Was he so easily brainwashed because he resented James and Sirius?

We know in the Petrichor Series that Sirius never really cared for Peter, but put up with him because James adopted him into the group. I assume that Peter did not care for Sirius, but liked James and the protection that being James' friend gave him.

I always pictured James being Sirius, Remus, and Peters best friend and Sirius being James' best friend. I picture Remus accepting this fact, but I think that would have bothered Peter, and that is where the resentment started.

I also always felt like Peter did not like Lily or Harry, because they were just more competition for James' attention. It just put Peter lower on the list of people who James focused his energy on.

Peter Pettigrew is one of the characters that I hate most, but one of the ones I find most interesting! We get very little information on him in cannon.

I always like to hear peoples theory's of why he turned on his friends! In cannon, Peter tells Remus and Sirius the only reason he did it was because Voldemort was going to kill him, but that cannot be the only reason. Why would Peter help Voldemort return if he was scared that he would kill him? If Peter was truly scared he would have left the country to get away from Sirius and Remus and lived out his days as a rat!

I wonder what Peter's (Scabbers) thoughts were when Ron sat in the train compartment with Harry for the first time? Did he ever think about trying to kill Harry or talking to him? The first time he saw him did he think it was James?

Also, no one says anything about this, but that night must have been traumatic for Ron. He lost his pet, and found out that his pet that has been in his house for years is a 30 something man that has killed several people! Does any of the other Weasley's know about Scabbers true identity?

I find the Marauders dynamics so very fucking interesting. I’d love to read more canon representations of them and not their fanon counterparts. Like this group of friends is so fucking angsty that I can’t stand it.

I truly believe that Sirius only really liked James at school. Peter annoyed him. Remus was all right. But James was his ride or die. Sirius latched onto James in a way he didn’t with the other two. I mean, look at how easily Sirius believed Remus to be the spy in the first war. They weren’t that close if Sirius so easily believed that. Which, as pointed out, James didn’t have those same feelings.

I think Remus considered James the best guy he knew. He considered James his best friend but he knew he wasn’t James’ best friend. Remus was all right with that because he was just happy to have friends who accepted him for who he was for the first time ever. I also think that Peter and Remus were pretty tight. James was the one Remus talked to about shit, but he spent most of his time with Peter while James and Sirius were off being, well, James and Sirius.

Peter I believed thought he too was closest with James. Unlike Remus, this bothered Peter. He didn’t understand why James liked Sirius more than him. Sirius who was always so grumpy and haughty. Sirius who could be vicious and cutting with his words. Peter deemed himself as nice, nice like James. I think it really, really bothered him that Sirius and James were besties. Especially since Sirius could take or leave Remus and Peter on any given day but he couldn’t be separated from James for even the span of two hours serving detention.

While Remus gave Peter attention like James did, Peter wanted James. It was James who was the popular one, the Quidditch star and top of most of their classes. It was James who could effortlessly work a room and people instantly liked him. It was James who could shrug and offer an upside smile and instantly be forgiven. James was a social butterfly, James was powerful, James was well-liked and connected. Remus never cared for any of that. Remus kept to himself and was satisfied with his small group. But Peter wanted more. He wanted what James could offer him, what James offered Sirius. What pissed Peter off was that Sirius didn’t need James in that way. Sirius was handsome and popular in his own way. Sirius could be a total ass to someone and they still liked him, because even when he’s extremely grumpy there is something endearing about Sirius. Sirius was smart and powerful in his own right. James was Sirius’ equal. Peter wanted to be the equal.

I feel like Peter wanted to be James’ best friend. I also think Peter wanted Sirius not to disregard him as much as he did. But Sirius disregarded everyone who wasn’t James Potter. I truly believe that Sirius and Remus were not even that close. Again, they both thought he each was the spy. Neither one seemed to have great communication skills with the other. You know it had to peeve Sirius to no end that he’s rotting in Azkaban and Remus isn’t seeing Harry as much as he possibly can. I mean, everything Sirius did in canon was for Harry. To know Remus had opportunities to be there for Harry and never was… gosh, Sirius must have been pissed off with Remus. Another tick in Sirius’ column of why he hated everyone that didn’t have the last name Potter.

But back to Peter. I think he saw life as a bunch of slights against him. He wasn’t the best friend. He wasn’t the best man. He wasn’t the godfather. He was alway second place, maybe third place because he legit joined a hate group and all but killed his supposed best friend. Then Lily and Harry came and Peter wasn’t even third anymore. He was fourth and then fifth. Peter was at the bottom of the barrel every single passing day. He wanted to be on top.

In Petrichor, I have Bellatrix show him some affection. She flirts with him, she trains him, she pays attention to him. She makes him feel like he’s first for once in his life. Even though she’s playing him the entire time, wrapping him around her little finger, he becomes increasingly enchanted to the point of obsessed with her. This obsession could explain why he helps bring Voldemort back. He wants to be number one again. He wants Bellatrix back. I think in the back of his mind, he knows she’s fucking with him, but she also makes him feel so good. But the real kicker is, Peter is useless now. He’s severed all ties with his friends, with Harry, and with the Order. He’s not talented enough to be any use to Bellatrix or Voldemort anymore.

So Peter betrays James because someone else is finally paying him attention - the attention he wanted from James but didn’t get in his mind. Peter downright hated Sirius. The friend who always dismissed him, who always rolled his eyes at him, who only bit his tongue because he respected James. Peter had to know Sirius would go after him. There’s no way he came up with that plan in the moment. He probably ran scenario after scenario in his head, trying to figure out how to best Sirius, because Sirius was the only one alive who knew the truth.

I don’t think Peter had any intention of hurting Harry until the day Voldemort came back or Bellatrix came back. He probably saw the devotion Harry had to Ron and pictured it was devotion to him. He was the loyal little friend to Ron and therefore to Harry. Maybe he was even delusional enough at this point to view himself as James’ best friend and Harry’s godfather - I mean, didn’t Peter bite Malfoy once in canon? (Or am I confusing that with fanon?) But, again, Sirius rides in and steals the best friend spot, he claims his spot as godfather, and he’s back to dismiss Peter. Then Peter goes off to bring Voldemort back.

I do think there’s a bit of spite in Peter that drives him back to Voldemort. He wants to prove to Sirius he was worthy, he was just as smart as Sirius, and he should have been the one closest to James. I think Peter wanted to prove to Sirius that he was a force to be reckoned with.

I think, at the end of the day, Remus was the only one that Peter didn’t have a problem with. I do think that Remus and Peter were close to one another in the same way James and Sirius were close. But I also think that James and Sirius chose each other while Remus and Peter were each other’s second choice. I think that makes all the difference as well.

[tornrose24]

Could any of the Dreamworks Animation films that I’ve seen work as a live action film?

In light of the news of How to train your Dragon getting a live action remake, I decided to do this list for fun. Keep in mind that these are the films that I HAVE seen from start to finish, in case your favorite is not on here. (Madagascar and Trolls are such examples of not being on the list).

Prince of Egypt-Absolutely yes. As long as you cast the right ethnicities for the roles (who are also good singers if you want to take the musical approach), and hire a crew that is good at doing their research, then yes this could work.

Road to El Dorado–Also yes for the same reasons as Prince of Egypt.

Spirit–The best thing about this is that you could use real horses and not rely on CGI for this one. Though some people (and we know who they are) would be ticked off because ‘oh the Americans are the bad guys.’

Chicken Run–Nah, I’d leave this alone. It’d be interesting as a stage play, but I don’t think a live action film would work. Plus I feel that would make a lot of the darker elements even worse. Alternatively, you could screw this up by having it be human focused and have OCs be the ones to save the chickens like in Dumbo, and no one wants that.

Shrek (any of the films)–Eh…. If they did 80’s style practical effects and saved the CGI for specific things, it could work. Otherwise half the characters would be in CGI as well as almost the entire scenery if you went with the lazy route, in which case it won’t work. Also, given how things have changed, someone would have Lord Farquaad be played by a regular sized man, which would not be taken well by some fans. If they mess with Fiona’s character, it wouldn’t be well received either.

Puss in Boots–same as Shrek. If they go with the CGI route for the entire cast, it won’t work, unless you go with a theater approach (which would be the better choice).

Kung Fu Panda (any of them)–Absolutely not. They’d go with the CGI route for this one and it’d be crap. Also my understanding is that Chinese audiences love the Kung Fu Panda films and I don’t think you’d want to anger them if you were trying to appeal to them for money like with the live action Mulan. The ONLY way you could do this is to have the actors in costumes (not cheesy costumes, but good costumes that incorporate the animal elements as well as Chinese culture) and take nods to Eastern theater/cinema for this to work. Knowing Hollywood, it’s doubtful the second option would come into play.

Monsters vs Aliens–It’d be neat to see this with cheesy old school effects, but I can’t see this being a live action film given how the original didn’t do well enough with most people.

How to train your Dragon (what started this whole thing)–A puppet version of Toothless would be cool. However we all know the dragons are most likely going to be CGI, so… yeah, this might not be well liked.

Megamind–given how popular Marvel is, they could pull this off (but probably try to have Megmind be in disguise for longer chunks of the film to avoid having the actor be in make up so much). Though expect certain people to throw a fit because the whole thing with Hal being more than just a creep towards Roxane is STILL relevant in this day and age.

Rise of the Guardians–Same with Shrek. In the right hands the costumes and make up would be amazing. But they’d likely go for CGI for Bunnymund and the fairies, as well as most of the scenery, in which case it might not work.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman–Could you learn from the mistakes the first live action Sonic film almost made? It all depends on how Mr. Peabody is done, but either way I don’t think this adaption could work. Then again a lot of those ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle and friends’ cartoons have had several live action films, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this film also got that treatment.

Home–Nah. I know what route they’d take with this film (given that most of the cast are aliens, and they wouldn’t use a live action cat for Pig, not to mention all the alien stuff), so no.

Boss Baby–OH HELL NO! NO! NO! NO! Not only is this a terrible idea, but it’s already been proven that CGI babies are terrible. You know damn well they’ll go with the CGI baby route if they do this. I don’t want to see a CGI baby in live action talk with an adult’s voice. We will have entered an apocalypse if this ever happens.

Captain Underpants–Honestly I’d be curious to see this and I think it could be pulled off. The catch is that there’s some things that’d have to be CGI (unless you keep the books’ more creative approaches to certain scenes and moments), you’d have the same Farquaad issue and have to have a regular sized person play the bad guy, you’d need to find the right crew who wouldn’t treat the story or characters as complete jokes, and you’d need to find a pretty well rounded actor who shares physical similarities to CU/Krupp, has enough energy to play both roles, and is willing to… well, you know… be running around in his underwear for all to see.

The Bad Guys–this would be hard to do if you made the wrong creative choices. You could do the Sonic approach with the main characters, but if you just made them all humans with animal characteristics/are just regular humans with code names then its probably not going to work (I mean, that’s interesting, but not everyone would be all for that). Also, I don’t know if just having the actors in make up and costume would work.

[askironwill]

Hello everyone! Long time no update. As most of you probably realized quite a long time ago this project has ended. I just never felt the need at the time to outright say this. There are many reasons I originally stopped, but in the end it was mostly just because I lost interest in the format and the characters. Even when the fandom was in its hay day, Iron Will was never really that popular of a character, but he piqued my interest for a time. I'm sure I would have done a little bit more with the blog had it had more interaction, but I'm still proud of all the fans and followers I did get. I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I just kept putting off for one reason or another. I really don't like to leave things open-ended and I figured I'd at least let you know where I've been up to and where you could find me still if any of you are still interested in what art shenanigans I get up to. I'll leave some links below to my personal galleries and media sites. Spookitty Website Picarto Twitter DeviantArt Fur Affinity (Potentially NSFW!) Tumblr Patreon Besides doing this, I also spent several years working on an MLP fan game which you can play here! Beware, it also has a NSFW version and the content fluctuates between versions. Ultimately it was shelved after some legal concerns, so it only made it so far as an very extensive intro sequence and introduction to the characters. I've also released many of the assets on my personal Patreon for all the fans to use if they'd like! I'm still working in game dev so things are going pretty well so far. Let's hope it stays that way! In the future I'd love to come back to making comics, original or fan-related in my free time. I've always loved creating things, but more importantly I've always enjoyed creating things for people to enjoy! Interacting with people through my art has always been my favorite aspect of creating things. Once again, I just wanna say I really appreciate all of you. It was you who made this project fun. Take care, everyone! XoXo Spookitty ᓚᘏᗢ

[lahooozaherr]

I’m posting this here because I want to gather my thoughts on it somewhere but….

I do empathize with those who are pressuring celebs to say more. To an extent. There are celebs higher up on the “food chain” that would probably receive less consequences than others for speaking out (or not idk I could be wrong, it’s just my observation). But it’s obvious now that most of the time they’ve been receiving some kind of consequence and they’re not entirely immune to it.

I mainly empathize because when speaking out about this lately I’ve felt almost alone, like I’m screaming into a void. I know I’m not REALLY alone in it, especially on company I keep on social media. Also, with the way the media has been, suppression of Pro-Palestinian sentiment (suspecting this is happening on my insta), etc.

HOWEVER….

As I’ve seen similar opinions on here, I agree that we can’t rely on famous people to save us and do the work. Would having their voice help? Sure, but when they actually know what they’re talking about and not contributing to the cesspool of misinformation.

But that isn’t a reason to become complacent and not do our own work. Celebrities have always disappointed us and will continue to.

In regard to Pedro, we don’t know and we may never really know what his situation is. I don’t personally feel like it’s our business, like I do with all things in his personal life! As much as I love him, and even I hope someday we get to hear his voice on things again, he’s not going to save us. I’m not going to ride hard on celebs having exceptions, but they’re human as well and just as fallible. Although, I did want to point out that:

Pedro and his family were political refugees. I’d like to think (I’m not assuming or asserting either) that he has an idea of what he’s doing. We can’t act like he hasn’t been in these shoes somewhat before, or at least seen it through his parents.

He now has several siblings in spotlights and gaining notoriety aside from him. I’m sure he considers their safety just as much as any of us would with our own families.

He might also be very popular on the internet and wanted for all kinds of projects, but he doesn’t have the influence some prominent figures do. I’ve seen this factor pointed out in several posts as well. Pedro is definitely someone that isn’t immune to the backlash he could receive.

I understand with all of this, everything going on, is extremely difficult to witness and try to reconcile with on the inside. I know I’m probably just repeating what many have already said and fumbling over myself a little. I don’t (or at least no longer) subscribe to a lot of celeb culture and have learned to no longer look to them for things like this. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating when they don’t use their voices. But I just don’t think it’s that black and white. Although I usually err to not feel bad for rich people.

SO! With that being said, I’m feeling the pain as well. It’s been very difficult for me to learn how to mourn and feel like I’m not losing my mind over Gaza and how too many people are not treating it as serious as it is. Or don’t see how connected we all really are (nor do I ever assert that my pain could even compare to Palestinians and those with more proximity to the situation).

But we’re privileged with free speech ourselves (I say that with a shakey hand gesture in some cases). It’s our duty to use it for those who can’t and, if anything, especially when celebs or figures with more of a platform can’t or won’t.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to properly describe the pain I know a lot of us feel over this. I understand how easy it is to react rather than respond, become angry (a lot of the anger in general is valid), to get wrapped up in the online politics over whose saying or not saying what.

But the best thing we can do about it is to do that work ourselves.

I’m lowkey nervously posting this because I don’t typically write up posts like this on here but I’m trying to move past that discomfort. I know it’s just another layer of white supremacy to not say or do anything for fear of not getting it right the first time. I’m sure there’s many good points against what I’ve said and I do my best to continue to be an “always evolving and learning” kind of person.

But just to bring it back to what I’m saying: we have free speech and can use it, and we should. Our words have power even when we don’t feel like they do. Maybe sometimes I empathize to my detriment (working on that lol) but I digress.

We can’t rely on celebs to do it all for us. ACTUALLY, we need that energy focused on our elected officials. Because if anything, this is an even BIGGER mask off moment for them. That’s a whole other problem I won’t get into on here, but still.

If you read this and write me off as just trying to justify silence for my fave celeb, then you’re allowed to have that opinion. If I’m ever proven wrong I have no problem owning up to that. I’m just not waiting around for them to say something before I do.

[silver-state-knights]

I’d love to hear more about Carey Price and the CCM goalie gear!

hey there! thanks a bunch for the ask! i know its been sitting a while but now i just remembered to get around to this!

Carey Price (and many other Habs goaltenders over the years, tbh) has been very influential on the world of goaltender equipment in general, but especially CCM's catalogue as he was one of their longtime "faces" of their goalie equipment and arguably one of their most notable (besides Marc-Andre Fleury for awhile there, too). he originally started with Vaughn in the early days of his career, as we can see here:

Vaughn at this time was much bigger in goalie in the NHL than they are these days, the only real notable goalie they have now as far as I know is Jonathan Quick. But, if you're CCM and you're seeing a lights out, absolutely killer goaltender like Carey Price starting to emerge in the mid 2000s, you're likely going to want him to wear your stuff, with your logo, right? If this goalie is wearing your stuff, everyone who plays and wants to be like him will likely try to emulate him, right?

Hockey brands will often send pros equipment tuned to their specs in an attempt to get them to switch all the time for this exact reason- but I can't really think of any other instance of a brand going as far as CCM did in the case of Carey Price.

To understand what I'm specifically talking about, I have to first introduce the concept of break angle- this is a term in goalie equipment that refers to the way and at what angle a goalie glove/trapper closes. The three you'll often hear of are the 580 break (90° closure), the 590 break (60° closure), and the 600 break (50° closure). No two gloves are the same, so a 600 break from Vaughn will be different than a 600 break from Bauer, and so on and so forth.

Here's a chart that should give a better visual on what each of the three look like and how they differ:

At this time, Carey Price's glove with Vaughn was most similar to what we would call CCM's 600 break today. They actually created the 600 break in order to help Price transition out of the Vaughn glove he was using at that time. As you can see with what appears to be one of his first CCM sets, the Extreme Flex III that he had circa 2012-2013, the glove is very similar looking to the one he had with Vaughn:

Now, some bonus info because I think it's funny: Carey Price no longer uses a 600 break, and has since switched to the 590 as of a couple years ago (something that caused a bit of controversy at that time). He also is no longer with CCM, as CCM Goalie cut ties with the Lefevre family a couple years ago now. The Lefevre family, who are well renowned for their excellence and innovation in goaltender equipment. Where they go, most NHL goalies will follow. Lefevre is now working with True Temper, and that explains the severe uptick in NHL goaltenders using their pads, gloves, and blockers.

Here's some of his True setups because I think they're neat:

So yeah! Basically, TLDR: CCM invented the 600 break angle, a break angle that is still popular at the retail level to this day, specifically for Carey Price to switch to their equipment from Vaughn.

[karuvapatta]

Apologies for the delay! I had a bad case of writer's block.

Also I need to start putting it on ao3 because tumblr is a nightmare to navigate sometimes, but that would require coming up with a title. So. Here we are!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

***

He tells himself it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t, not really. A momentarily lapse of reason. No more than that.

Yet he can’t stop thinking about Elias, all the way through the rest of the weekend, on his way to work on Monday morning, through his lunch break. He supposes it’s better than reliving other people’s nightmares, but not by much.

Sasha knocks on his door around two p.m. She’s carrying a stack of papers – academic records of one of their latest statement givers, he can see as much.

“Do you have a minute?” she asks.

“Sure,” Jon says. “I’m going to assume it isn’t work-related?”

Sasha laughs in response. “What isn’t, these days?” she asks, with a degree of bitterness and resignation Jon knows all too well. “It looks like we’re stuck here for good, aren’t we?”

Jon feels the first tendrils of panic gripping his chest.

“Sasha. I meant what I said, I’ll try to get you out—”

“I don’t want to quit,” Sasha interrupts him. “Do you?”

She’s looking at him with that calm, measured, reasonable expression he’s always admired about her. It’s enough to calm Jon’s racing heart.

“No,” he says.

He waits for the wave of guilt and nausea that should follow the simple confession. It doesn’t come. Sasha won’t judge him for its absence; he can see the familiar sense of relief in her face, followed by fierce determination. And, all around them, he senses the Eye’s presence. It approves of their willing submission; it secures its hold on them both. He wonders if Sasha can feel it too.

“Tim and Martin won’t understand,” Sasha says. “So—perhaps—if we asked Elias…”

“Do you think he might let them go?”

“Do you?” Sasha raises an eyebrow. “You know him better than I do.”

“I don’t—” Jon begins, then stops. His face is flush with embarrassment, he knows as much. But what can he say, at this point, without digging himself in deeper? “I don’t know what he’s planning,” he says. “I doubt he’d ever tell me.”

“Do you trust him?”

“No,” Jon says. “Contrary to popular opinion, I am not that stupid. But I—” he bites his lip.

“You like him,” Sasha says. There’s pity in her voice; he supposes pity’s better than outright disgust.

“I—” Jon pauses. He doesn’t like Elias. He’s not some teenager with a crush; he’s an adult man, capable of recognizing that Elias is dangerous, unpredictable, cruel, selfish, manipulative… that he loves power most of all and that, whatever his agenda is, he’d sacrifice anyone and anything to achieve it.

So, no. Jon doesn’t like Elias. He just finds him endlessly fascinating, he enjoys being in his company, he wants to know everything there is to know about him; he could blame this fascination on the Beholding, but it doesn’t seem entirely fair. It’s most likely a product of Jon’s own deranged mind.

Sasha shakes her head sadly. “Well, I suppose I can’t judge you, since I’m willing to continue working for him.” She’s lost in thought, her gaze unfocused. “That’s just it, isn’t it? You spend so long searching for answers, it’d be a waste to back away the moment you start finding them.”

“I know,” Jon says. “Unfortunately, I think that’s how the Eye gets you.”

“In that case, neither of us ever stood a chance,” Sasha says.

Jon smiles. His mood sours quickly, however.

“This job should have been yours,” he says. “We all know that. I shouldn’t have accepted it.”

“This job isn’t what any of us thought it would be, so it’s pointless to frame it that way,” Sasha says firmly. He recognizes it for the peace offering she possibly meant it as, and breathes a sigh of relief.

“So how do you want to proceed, then?” he asks.

“We know there are several organizations serving the Entities,” Sasha says. “I’d quite like to know who they are, how they operate, and suchlike. We have enough background to begin investigating them.”

“They may not take too kindly to being scrutinized,” Jon says. “Elias may not approve, either. He is allied with a number of them, so if we do anything to jeopardize that alliance…”

“That’s on Elias for not telling us anything,” Sasha says firmly. “I’m sorry, Jon, but I do not know what I’m dealing with, and I hate not knowing. If Elias won’t tell us, we’ll have to find out for ourselves. How’s that sound?”

“Reckless and dangerous,” Jon says. “Where do we begin?”

***

It feels good to talk to Sasha. Partially because her little project takes Jon’s mind off Elias, but mostly because it’s just—nice. Jon never had many friends to begin with, and while he’s aware that he has no one to blame but himself, the solitude was starting to wear him down.

There is still a wall between himself and Tim though. Jon desperately wants to make things right, but Martin warns him to back off for the time being. And Jon complies, because he doesn’t think he could handle it if Martin hated him too.

On Friday, shortly before five, Sasha clears her throat.

“Right,” she says. “It’s been a long week. We’re going to a pub.”

They all pause – Martin, who is scribbling in a notebook, Tim, who seems to be chatting with someone on his phone, and Jon, who is unpacking the new shipment of office supplies. All pretence of doing meaningful work has been unceremoniously dropped after lunch and now they are counting the time until five o’clock.

“What?” Sasha puts her hands on her hips and glares at them. “You can’t weasel your way out of this one, boys. And don’t pretend you have plans, I know for a fact none of us have a life outside of the Institute.”

“I resent that,” Tim says.

“Need I remind you what happened the last time we went out, Sasha?” Jon asks drily.

“Exactly,” Sasha says. “We need to put it behind us. Right, Martin?”

“Um,” Martin says.

“See? Martin agrees.”

“Sasha,” Jon says. “Be reasonable.”

“I am being reasonable,” Sasha says. “We’re supposed to be working together, aren’t we?”

“That’s the whole fucking point,” Tim says. “We already spend way too much time with one another.”

He’s looking at Jon as he says this. Jon stares right back.

“I am inclined to agree with Tim,” he says.

“One round,” Sasha says. “That’s all I ask. Then we can go back to sulking in peace.”

“What are the odds of you dropping this idea?” Tim asks.

“Zero.”

“Okay. Fine. One round.” He glares at Jon. “But if he tries anything—”

“You punched him, Tim,” Martin says. “I really don’t think you have the moral high ground here.”

“I suggest we prepare a list of conversation topics to avoid,” Jon says. “In the interest of keeping things pleasant.”

“All right,” Sasha says brightly. “Come on, then.”

***

Despite Sasha and Martin’s heroic efforts, the first round of drinks passes by in near-silence. Tim ditches them afterwards to flirt with someone at the bar, and Jon tries, unsuccessfully, to conceal his relief.

Wordlessly, Martin fetches them another round. He is toying with his glass, eyes darting between the surface of the table and Tim’s back.

“So, uh,” he asks after a while. “Did you ever hear him talk about his brother?”

Jon feels like he’s going to be sick. “Don’t bring this up, please. Tim clearly doesn’t want to discuss him.”

“I know,” Martin hurries to say. “But—it sounded pretty bad. I’m worried.”

Sasha bites her lip, her expression sombre.

“He told me bits and pieces,” she says. “Nothing substantial. But it’s the reason he first started working at the Institute, I think.”

“So whatever happened was paranormal in nature,” Jon says quietly.

“I’m not sure,” Sasha said. “But it’d explain a lot, wouldn’t it?”

Is there a file, somewhere in the depth of the Archives, that deals with Tim’s past? If not, then there ought to be; Jon should collect it. He can feel the Eye now, its hunger, its searching gaze. It needs to know, and Jon can feed it that knowledge. All he has to do is ask. All he ever had to do was ask—

His mouth is buzzing with static now. He takes a sip of his drink, but it doesn’t taste like anything, washing blandly down his throat. It offers no relief.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he says. He longs for the safety of his Archives.

“Why?” Martin asks.

“I—” Jon swallows. “Tim has a statement, doesn’t he? I—I’m going to force it out of him, aren’t I?”

“What are you talking about? Why would you do that?”

They both stare at him, uncomprehending. Do they not understand? Do they not feel the Eye’s presence? It seems almost laughable. It’s everywhere, all around them, the ever-present gaze of the Watcher. And it’s a dreadful thing when it chooses to focus on a specific human. When it uses Jon to acquire what it wants. How weak Jon can be when resisting it.

“Jon?”

“Sorry,” he says. “The stress of the job is getting to me, isn’t it? More than it already has.” He laughs, awkwardly. “Please stop me if I start asking any invasive questions, okay?”

“Okay,” Sasha says carefully. “But you can control it, right? This—compulsion?”

“For the most part,” Jon says. She tenses, and Martin shifts in his seat, uneasy; Jon can almost taste their fear, infinitely more flavourful than the drink in front of him… “Yes,” he adds, more firmly. “I wasn’t aware of it before, until I used it on Tim. But I know how it feels now, and I can stop it from happening.”

He takes another sip, just to give himself something to do. They have more questions, always more questions. But every answer brings them further into the service of the Eye, and Jon refuses to be responsible for that.

“Stop what from happening?” Tim asks.

They all jump. Tim is back from the bar, looking none the worse for wear; smiling, his hair artistically tousled, first few buttons of his shirt undone. More than one person checks him out as he stands there.

His smile fades, however, as they all look away; an obvious admission of guilt.

“Not this again,” Tim snarls. “Jon, I told you—”

“Jon didn’t bring it up,” Martin says quickly. “I did. Sorry.”

“Always so happy to defend him, aren’t you?”

“Tim,” Sasha says. “Sit down? Please?”

Tim sags into the seat beside her and buries his face in his hands.

“You’re not going to drop it, are you,” he groans. “Nosey bastards.”

“We didn’t mean to pry—”

“Yes, you did! It’s what you do!” Tim hesitates. “What we do, that is. I’m not much better.”

“You don’t have to share anything you don’t feel like sharing,” Jon says.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Tim snarls.

“I mean that. I’m trying—”

Jon pauses. There it always is, the persistent feeling of being watched; but now there is a different quality to it, something less encompassing, more human. More familiar.

He looks around for the tell-tale flash of grey in someone’s eyes, but the bar is too dimly-lit for that. He wishes, suddenly, that they had chosen a more secluded booth.

“Jon?”

“You really should sleep more,” Sasha says, disapproving. “You spaced out again.”

“Sorry,” Jon says. “I think Elias is watching us.”

“What?!”

“Where is he?”

Both Tim and Martin rise to their feet, poised to fight. Jon shakes his head.

“He’s not physically here,” Jon says. “…probably.”

“Then how do you know he’s watching?” Sasha cocks her head.

“I don’t know,” Jon answers honestly. “Just a feeling, I suppose. I could be wrong.”

It takes time for Tim and Martin to drop their guard and return to their seats. They are still scanning the room, as if half-expecting Elias to pop out from under a table. The rest of the time, they are staring at Jon. There’s fear and distrust in that stare, but Jon is so used to it he barely even notices anymore. He checks his phone, just in case, and then, finding it blank, texts Elias himself.

Can I help you?

The reply arrives quickly: You never leave work on time. I was concerned you got yourself kidnapped again.

Ah. So they aren’t even pretending that Elias wasn’t spying, that Jon didn’t notice, that Elias didn’t notice Jon noticing. It allows them to skip several steps in the conversation.

And if I have? Jon texts. You told me yourself you wouldn’t have rescued me.

Well, no, but I’d still rather know where you were being kept, Elias writes back. Do give your assistants my regards, Archivist.

“Elias says hi,” Jon says.

“What the fuck is even going on with you two?” Tim asks. “No, you know what? Don’t tell me. I’m probably happier that way.”

Jon says nothing as he pockets his phone. Not like he can offer them an answer they’d accept. Not like he himself knows the answer. Instead he excuses himself, to procure another round of drinks for everybody. That gives his assistants ample time to discuss him, if they so wish.

They barely even look at him once he sets the glasses down on the table. Jon slides into his seat and silently chides himself for ever saying anything.

“Is he still watching?” Sasha asks, sipping on her gin and tonic.

Jon takes a moment to think about it, and then settles on: “If he does, I can’t tell.”

“Lovely,” Sasha says grimly.

“Yeah. Fucking great,” Tim jabs at the clinking ice-cubes in his glass with a soggy paper straw. “Just what I signed up for. One boss is a telepathic murderer, and the other—” he glares at Jon, clearly struggling to verbalise his feelings on the subject.

“What did you sign up for, then?” Jon asks, before he can bite his tongue. Then he amends, hastily: “You don’t have to answer, I only meant—”

“Oh, shut up,” Tim sighs. “Might as well tell you. But I am not giving you a fucking statement, Jon, and if you try to record me—”

“I won’t,” Jon says, icily.

“Fine.” Tim is quiet for several minutes. No one dares to interrupt the silence; not until he steels himself, and starts speaking in a low monotone, “I had a brother, Danny. He was murdered by—by an evil fucking clown, of all things. Right before my eyes…” He takes another moment to compose himself, act like he isn’t on the verge of tears. “It wasn’t a normal clown and a normal circus. It couldn’t have been. So I did some digging around, and eventually joined the Institute to find out more about it. And that’s pretty much it.”

“Tim…” Martin reaches out, hesitantly. He doesn’t touch Tim, but his hand is there, on the table, next to Tim’s; an offer of comfort. “I’m so sorry.”

Jon is once again grateful that Martin is here, because he himself has no idea how to act. A quick glance at Sasha confirms that she feels the same, awkward and out-of-place, aching to help but not knowing how.

“Thanks,” Tim mumbles. He takes Martin’s hand and squeezes it quickly, before withdrawing back into his seat and clearing his throat. “Well. There you have it. Does that satisfy your curiosity?” His tone is biting, the jab obviously aimed at Jon.

“The circus – was it the Other Circus, by any chance? The Circus of the Other?” Jon asks.

“Probably,” Tim says. “I guess. What of it?”

“We could find them,” Sasha says, exchanging a quick glance with Jon. “We have enough data to go by, we know where to ask around…”

Jon nods. He’s already going over the relevant statements, aching to get his hands on the catalogue, and the files deep within the Archives.

“What for?” Martin asks, alarmed.

Jon blinks at him. “I figured Tim might want a sense of closure. Or vengeance, perhaps.”

“Are you—are you actually insane?” Martin asks. “You want to attack them? They’re dangerous!”

“Unlike most people, we wouldn’t be going in blind,” Jon points out.

“And it’s better than Tim doing it by himself,” Sasha adds. “If that’s what he was planning, that is.”

Tim is stunned. He looks between Sasha and Jon, with wide eyes and slack jaw.

“I—I thought about it, but—why do you want to help?”

“We’re your friends, aren’t we?” Sasha asks.

It’s a bit of a stretch – Jon wouldn’t describe himself as Tim’s friend, exactly, but he is his direct supervisor, and would be remiss if he let Tim and Sasha run off into danger unprepared. There has been quite enough of that already.

“So you’re just… just going to help Tim murder someone? Because of friendship?” Martin asks, incredulous.

“It’s way too early to make concrete plans, isn’t it?” Jon asks in lieu of an actual answer. “We have some preliminary research to get through before we can even begin to decide how to proceed.”

“Jesus,” Tim says. And then he starts laughing, a touch hysterically. “Yeah, sure. Yeah. Let’s do that. It’s a great idea. What could possibly go wrong?”

[crippledinafunway]

Since the Ides of March quickly approaches, I wanted to relate what is, to date, my worst social media moment.

Years ago, my school had an English teacher (Not to say that they don’t have one now) that everyone adored. She’d taught all eight of my siblings, and it was the expected highlight of my 8th grade year that I could finally:

A) See what all the hype was about

B) Stop dealing with my 7th grade English teacher, who I still hate to this day. (She denied any accessibility accommodations for my blind & crippled self unless explicitly instructed by admin. It sucked)

So things go about as well as I’d hoped. I already loved literature, but she taught in a way that appealed to our (my) burgeoning sense of self-importance and indignation at the world.

In October we had a student teacher for what felt like a whole semester, but was most likely just a month, and while she was fine, I personally felt robbed of a valuable teaching opportunity. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything from this supposedly magical experience!

We all found out a month or so after things went back to normal, that on top of everything else, our collective favorite teacher was quitting. She’d accepted a job in the next city over (our bitter rivals, for whatever reason) because, as it turns out, teachers aren’t paid shit. This was news to all of us, of course.

These were paragons of wisdom! Not only that, but paragons of wisdom who had a desk drawer full of pop tarts! We all protested vociferously, but it was already done. So we did the next logical thing and decided to buy her a giant stuffed giraffe (her favorite animal), that upon inspection of the package upon delivery, was not over six feet tall.

We gave it to her on her last day, and the aptly named Longfellow now sits proudly in her living room.

Now, at the time, Facebook was still, for whatever reason, extremely popular with middle schoolers. And so after she’d quit, we all sent friend requests.

Since being taught by her was, at this point, a family rite of passage, it was only natural that that’s how we would communicate. Through words with friends or English questions or whatever came up.

She would also regularly post memes or riddles related to English Lit, most of which seemed pretty tame even from a 14 year old’s POV.

One in particular I was very proud of. It showed a bottle of salad dressing stabbed with a whole block of knives. Again, pretty easy to figure out.

So I typed out my answer, with all of the cocksure smugness of a teenager who still thinks too much of himself.

I didn’t notice my mistake until several hours later that I’d fucked up (royally? No?)

My message had both autocorrected and been sent prematurely, since due to my vision I sometimes use voice text. In a room full loud noises. So I’d said:

“Caesar getting stabbed? This is easy”

But in reality what had sent was

“Casey getting stabbed?? That would be easy”

Is it a big deal? Of course not!

But I was 14, didn’t know how or if you could delete a comment, and now, a decade later, the only thing that comes to mind when the tumblr holiday comes around is that I made myself look insufferably dumb.

That feeling only faded when I deleted my Facebook this year

So check your grammar before you post.

Happy Stab Caesar Day, and uh. Sorry Casey. I promise you’re not easily stabbable.

[icejinlov3r]

Announcements

A few important announcements about my writing.

Bad news first - I’m sure anyone who’s read it has noticed I haven’t updated “Taboo Feelings” in awhile. This isn’t because I lost inspiration! Im still super into the concept! But….it’s one of the rare cases where the story isn’t coming out like I wanted.

There are some good moments, but for me, the pacing is completely uneven. Some moments feel like they drag on too long, and some feel rushed. Plus im unconsciously focusing more on Frieza/Frost less than Cell/Zamasu. It’s difficult to write two main ships for a story. “Dungeons and Dragon Balls” was different because I had their relationship completely planned out - not so much here. Overall, I’m not feeling happy with how it’s turning out.

I thought about scrapping it entirely, but I still LOVE the idea, so I’m not doing that. But I am going to rewrite it! When? No idea, when I have more of an idea what to do. It will be more focused as a Frieza/Frost story, with Cell/Zamasu as just a little side plot. I’ll leave the old version up, so people can still read that one. But a new, better version is to be expected - eventually.

Okay, now for the good news!

I will be starting a new story really soon! To anyone who liked the innocent children fluff in “The Emperor’s Reign”, you’ll probably like this - it’ll be called “Little Tykes”. It’ll be a simple story of Frieza, Frost, Zamasu, and Cell as adorable six year olds! Going on little adventures, learning lessons, and getting into trouble! I *did* draw some cute promotional art that I planned to show last night, but for whatever reason, I can’t save it on my phone or my computer, this I can’t post it on here. But anyway, I’ll try to have the first chapter of that up in a couple days or so.

And finally, I’m considering writing a new Dragon Ball Oneshots book - only it’d be solely for requests!

To anyone who’s read my other DBZ oneshots book, you know I didn’t accept ANY requests (except a couple I offered to my close friends). This is cause I only felt like writing specific things for awhile, AND I didn’t think anyone would care for my writing - specifically, how I wrote NSFW stuff.

But, considering it’s my most popular book on my account, and I’ve gotten several good comments about what I wrote, I think I’d be good at it. This isn’t solidified though, I could change my mind. Which is why I want your guy’s opinion - is this something you guys would be interested in?

That’s all I’ve got for now. I hope you guys continue to enjoy my writing! 😊😊