#i'm not done with this. not by a longshot

[tangents-within-tangents]

I see your ‘Tech’s alive bc the show knows how to explicitly confirm deaths and gave us multiple on screen examples of that’ and raise you one ‘Tech’s death wasn’t meaningless, insignificant, or just for stakes and shock value bc the show gave us multiple on screen examples of what that actually looks like’

[shiroselia]

I just finished writing QuintSum 67, so I think that means I'm done with the "early" part of that arc and will now start at the "middle" part of it which is probably the one I'm the most excited about because it has some Banger fucking chapters in there (like, chapters I write chapters around getting to, such as Moon and Deia talking lore chapter, Deia and [Redacted] have a talk, Deia and Moonlight [redacted redacted REDACTED]) and I'm very excited for the next 6 or so chapters :3

[the-prima-vista]

I think I'm going to give up on FFXVI. I thought about just not doing the sidequests (because 5 more just popped up and I know they're going to be MMO-like 'go kill 5 crabs') but I find even the main story boring and I don't like any character except Gav.

[insanescriptist]

Flip the Table

Casually eavesdropping on what should be highly secure frequencies, Jason sipped his beer in a sleezy saloon style sports bar somewhere on the Vegas strip, nominally watching college(?) football; he's a hockey fan because baseball's boring as shit to watch and he's never got the appeal about American football. Football to the rest of the world was at least worth watching for the drama. Something had the Justice League in a tizzy and Zatanna -the one who normally covered Vegas when it came to the costumed crazies- was off world; Jason didn't have the details exactly but it sounded like Zatanna was dealing with some magical planar stuff and was not expected back for at least six more days. Assuming all went well.

So like any reasonable person who's going away for a time, she turned on her home security, had the alerts wired over to a friend -in this case Justice League Dark- gave a list of what was needed to be done and when -the pick up my mail and mow my lawn equivalants- went on her trip, trusting that the JLD were watching over her city and it wouldn't be on fire when she got back.

Such glorious hope.

And thus something happened so when Jason pulled into Vegas proper to investigate a desperate -read last hope- lead on a missing person's case, Jason happened to spy one of the lesser members of the JLD losing their shit in the sky. And so in a moment of civic duty, Jason started spying on them.

Magic was not something anyone trained by the Bat really ever got comfortable about, but chances were magic bullshit was going to intervene in his case. Justice League shit spilled over everything, all the time. Ghost cultists tripping Zatanna's necromancy alarms or whatever they were, was not Jason's business. Not unless the presumed cultists -those that had survived- had the person he was looking for.

No, he was looking at a missing person's case and his lead was 1. cold and 2. a longshot and 3. in a city full of tourists and catering staff, where "seen anything unusual lately" could be "there was this trio of tourists arguing how sex with your best friend doesn't count as cheating," or "someone having a meltdown over the delayed shipping of organic blueberries to the hotel," or "Sarah Maria got murdered a couple weeks ago on the job, but I haven't seen any notice about her funeral stuff on her social media, why yes, I do know she's dead, oh, she's dead and I'm an idiot for expecting someone dead to post on their socials their funeral deets."

Point was, he could look and ask all he wanted, beat feet for days, but the chances of this lead panning out were basically so minuscule that Jason could treat this more as a hobby case while on vacation. He still did his due diligence, asked the staff a few questions, called the guests on the same floor during the time period of their stay about how they found their stay, ran into the dead end of shitty business practices -they recorded over their own records every two weeks- and so unless Jason got the ability to do magic and do a "point me!" spell, the case would turn cold. It sucked when it happened but sometimes the evidence wasn't there. Or wasn't noticed or was destroyed before it could be collected. Sometimes people just didn't remember shit until three weeks later, which with some follow up digging gave him the lead to the hotel. Which got him nothing after that.

As Jason Todd didn't gain an innate ability to do magic that he was aware of that actually counted as magic bullshit magic instead of a couple cantrips, all he could do was get a beer and some food in a Vegas style Texas saloon bar. Which not his first choice, but it was full enough no one really paid attention to anyone. Technically a sport's bar but also very much was not. It was also busy enough that Jason ended up getting asked if someone could set with him at his table -which real Jason said hell no to, but cover Jason did agree to-

Oh. Meta. Jason realized quickly. Oh no, he's hot.

His hair is on fire!

How did the server miss that? Most metas don't casually out themselves like that! Too many people willing to target them for whatever power.

That hair was flaming, tied back in a low tail; Jason blinked and the hair flickered color, looked like normal hair -black- and then back to white fire, then black fire, some tv static abomination of color, white hair and then black hair. Another blink and it appeared to be black flames for hair and yeah, Jason closed his eyes. Pointedly ignored the hair thing. If the meta asked, Jason was judging him for the stupid little goatee.

The rest of the meta was built along the same lines as Jason himself, tall, broad and built. Packed with muscle, which was something to make note of; metas usually were more durable and could hit harder, so Jason casually made note to not get hit if a fight broke out.

Which it might, or probably would.

That's just how Jason's luck ran. To shit.

Said meta also ordered food and a beer, didn't even get asked for ID -unfair bias- and judging by the sound, turned in the seat to look at the American football screen that Jason had been ignoring. His hair had at least settled to black flames instead of the glitchy hair.

Of course as this was Vegas, people gambled on outcomes of games too. Which is how Jason learned the meta was rich enough to blow a couple grand -not expensive in the world of supers- but more than what the average person would be comfortable betting.

There were better ways to piss away money than gambling on sports. Like on over priced burgers and onion rings with an order of mozzerella sticks. The burger was good, admittedly Jason's had better and then some party of guys was yelling at the ref on a screen. And yup, that's some altercation with another table but the barman broke it up with a couple of words.

His tablemate muttered something about the ref having made the right call if one of the players wanted to continue a career professionally and Jason used that as social leverage to get a name -Dan, no last name given- and a bit more in-depth explanation on what stakes were going on; he's a hockey guy, not a football guy.

Some time later, Dan had caught him up on the football drama -nothing compared to the hockey drama- and conversation had drifted significantly from sports, lightly touched on family -Dan had siblings he shared little about other than they existed, which fair, they could also be metas and at risk- much like Jason did -he had siblings that existed, no further details- and parents weren't mentioned. Instead a lot of engineering talk, a slide into ethics -Dan's opinion on killing super villains was very much that some people needed Ended- and some small talk about how Dan's high school English teacher cursed in classical book titles.

Soon the easy joy of potential friendship ended when his phone rang; that was the Batman ringtone and Jason felt no guilt hanging up on him. And again. And again.

Then Dick rang and nope. He was not dealing with their shit. Dick would just sweeten up whatever shit B wanted to shovel.

And then Oracle's ringtone rang. Oh, now that was serious. Justice League shit spilling into his life again. No fucking doubt about it.

"Uh-huh, so what's up? Because I gotta say, I am a couple drinks in and the whole bar is waiting for one of the football teams to fumble or foul up their next play so they can throw down."

"Jay-" She started because much like Bruce, she would rather go straight into the mission, and Jason absolutely had wrong-footed her. Because instead of making excuses to leave, Jason had absolutely stayed. So now she had to rephrase things on the fly because who knows who might be listening in. "Hey, it's on the news that the Justice League is showing up in Vegas; something about investigating something magical showing up."

"Uh-huh, that's not a surprise. There was some magic ninny flying in a panic earlier. I decided it wasn't my business."

"I hadn't heard that," -bullshit, she just hadn't double-checked that herself yet- "but what I did hear that some cult might have succeeded in bringing something over."

"Uh-huh. Well, no one's praying to Cthulu yet, there's been no troublemaking beyond the usual human malice and nothing's on fire."

"We were just concer-" And Jason hung up on Oracle.

He'd pay for that later, but petty was satisfying now.

"Sounded important."

"Was bullshit."

"So an entity summoned by a cult that tripped a bunch of magicians into a tizzy-"

Yeah, those sharp ears were not for show. Enhanced hearing check. "That's a bunch of incompetents panicking." Time for his good guess to hit or miss. "You're not going to decide to destroy Vegas, are you?"

"Done it before, doing it again seems pointlessly petty." Statements Jason wasn't going to prod further right now.

"And what if Wisconson University loses?"

"Might flip the table." Dan shrugged.

"More beer?" Jason asked.

"Sure."

[captainsophiestark]

Couples Costume

Stefan Salvatore x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries

Summary: Stefan is dead set against dressing up for Halloween, but his girlfriend might just have found a way to outplay him.

Word Count: 1,262

Category: Fluff

Requested by @cncownerxstefansalvatorefanxstay for a fluffy Halloween with Stefan! This prompt kinda possessed me for a minute until it was done being written, so I figured what better day to double up on fic posting than Friday the 13th? Hope you like it!

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Okay! What do you think? Nadja and Laszlo or Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf? One is more fitting but the other is funnier."

I held up the costumes in question so Stefan, my boyfriend, could get a good look. He glanced up from his reading with a bewildered expression, his eyes scanning each of the costumes before landing on me with a frown.

"What is this for?" he asked. My mouth dropped open.

"For Halloween! Obviously! Come on, Stefan, we have to dress up."

"No. No, we don't," he said, a laughing smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as his eyes dropped back to his reading. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Are you seriously telling me you're not going to dress up with me for Halloween?"

"I... think I am telling you that, yeah."

"But what about the trick-or-treaters who come to the door! We want to be the cool people with awesome costumes, don't we?"

"Mmm.... no."

I sighed dramatically, letting both costumes drop to my sides. I narrowed my eyes at my boyfriend, but he didn't flinch, not looking up from his reading.

"I'll support you if you decide to dress up," he finally said. "But I'm not putting on a costume."

"Fine. I guess I can't force you," I said, flopping my arms dramatically as I turned away from Stefan, a smirk on my face. This was not over by a longshot.

A few hours later, as the sun started to set and it was time to get ready for trick-or-treaters, Stefan wandered out of the bathroom with his shirt off. We were hosting a big Halloween party later, so we needed to be dressed and ready for both.

"You decided not to dress up?" asked Stefan, running a suspicious eye over my outfit. I just shrugged.

"It's not as much fun if you don't do it with me."

Stefan smirked a little as he moved back towards he bed. "The guilt trip's not gonna work on me."

"Not even if I ramp it up to an eleven?"

He snorted, not bothering to respond as he surveyed the outfit I'd laid out for him on the bed. Once he was apparently satisfied the shirt wouldn't secretly turn into a ruffled monstrosity befitting Laszlo Cravensworth, he pulled it on and buttoned it up, then slipped on the gray pea coat I'd left with it.

With my heavy, light brown jacket and headband, my plan was officially complete. I smiled and stepped closer to Stefan, fixing his collar before running my hands through his hair a few times, spiking it up even more. When I'd finished, I stepped back and gave him a beaming smile.

"You look great," I said. He smiled, then leaned in to kiss me. We lingered for a minute before he pulled back.

"You look great too."

We shared a smile, then I held out a hand, which Stefan took.

"Come on, we have trick-or-treaters to greet."

I pulled him after me as we headed downstairs. Damon, Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie were setting up for the party, but I'd volunteered Stefan and I to answer the door for anyone who came by.

We didn't have to wait long before the doorbell rang. I smiled and grabbed the bowl of candy, Stefan right behind me as we opened the door. A group of kids with their high school-aged chaperon stood at the door beaming, candy baskets in-hand.

"Trick or treat!" they chorused. I smiled.

"You guys have some great costumes! What do we have, a vampire, a Jedi, Spock..."

"What are you dressed as?" asked a little girl towards the front. I beamed, mentally thanking her for the opening I'd been waiting for.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Stefan, ready to tell her we hadn't dressed up. I spoke up before he got the chance.

"We're Bella and Edward from Twilight!"

I felt Stefan tense next to me as realization washed over him, which only made me smile wider as the kids beamed.

"That's a good costume!" said the girl in the front.

"You look just like him," the boy next to her agreed, nodding at Stefan.

"Thanks! Let's get you guys your candy, your outfits deserve some extra treats."

We smiled and waved as we gave the kids their candy, and I noticed Stefan slipped the vampire an extra bar or two. We waved as they headed off, and as soon as I shut the door, Stefan turned to me, hands on his hips and a stern look on his face.

"Bella and Edward? Seriously?"

"Yeah!" I replied, not even a little bit phased. "It's a low key costume, enough that you didn't even realize you were wearing it, but I still get to do a couples costume with my boyfriend. It's the best of both worlds."

Stefan sighed a deep, heavy, long-suffering sigh.

"I'm changing before the party."

"No!" I cried, reaching out to grab his arm. He hadn't made to move away yet, but I wanted to be ready if he did. "Please wear it for the party too. Please? For me?"

I batted my eyelashes and gave Stefan my best adorable guilt-trip look. He stared back, his expression not budging an inch, until finally he sighed again, throwing his head back and staring at the ceiling.

"Fine."

"Yes! Thank you." I pulled him to me, and grudgingly, he wrapped his arms around my waist as a small smile tugged its way onto his face. "You're the best boyfriend ever, Stef."

"I know."

He smiled again, then leaned down to kiss me. I leaned into him, and I think we would've stayed that way a lot longer if we hadn't been interrupted by another ring of the doorbell.

Reluctantly, Stefan and I pulled apart, sharing a smile.

"We should probably get that," I said. He hummed, not quite letting me go yet.

"I don't know if I can. You're like my own personal brand of heroin."

I laughed, which got a beaming smile out of Stefan even as I finally slipped out of his grasp.

"I can't believe you paid enough attention when we watched the movies to remember that but not enough to realize I was putting you in the same costume Edward wore!"

Stefan shrugged. "Maybe I just wanted to let you have this one."

I paused, narrowing my eyes at Stefan to try to decide if he really had put up with the costume for me, knowing the whole time what I'd been doing, or if he was just messing with me. Before I could decide, he reached past me to swing the door open and another group of kids greeted us with smiles on their faces.

"Trick or treat!"

"Wow, another vampire costume. There seem to be a lot of those this year," he said, smiling at the kid in question. "I think yours is the best I've seen, though."

The kid absolutely beamed at the compliment, and I moved up next to Stefan as we chatted with the trick-or-treaters and handed out the candy. One of the kids actually guessed our costume this time, and Stefan was the one to tell them they were right, we were Bella and Edward. With his arm around me as we talked with each and every kid who came to the door, I could tell Stefan was warming up to the couple's costume idea, whether or not he'd been aware of what he was getting into in the first place.

I just hoped that warm feeling would be enough to carry him through whatever inevitable bad jokes Damon made at his expense all night once the kids were gone and the party began.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury

TVD/TO Taglist: @elenavampire21

[demodraws0606]

An character analysis POV as to how Hu could be the culprit (and a little bit of Nico stuff as well)

tw/ mentions of suicide

So I've seen certain Eden!Culprit truthers just not really believing that Hu could be the culprit because of her behavior during the class trial. However her committing murder against Arei and Ace makes a lot more sense than Eden does by a longshot (especially with Eden having no accomplices atp).

But I also understand why people are confused by Hu's behavior if she could possibly be the culprit. There's a lot of things that don't seem to make sense on the surface that I also accepted however digging further, you can find a version of Hu that honestly fits really well as the culprit of this chapter.

I will also throw in analysis of Nico's behavior because a lot of their behavior during this class trial is strange if Hu really is the culprit but again I think I can explain why this happened.

I also want to preface this by saying that I do think Hu is going to be a heavily flawed character but I don't think she's malicious in any way shape or form. If I find any Hu hate after she's revealed to be the culprit, I will actually fight your ass and that's a promise.

Her outburst against David :

I honestly was also in the camp of not really understanding Hu being the culprit, doesn't this go against her outburst against David ?

Well, here's the thing, I think her outburst was 100 pourcent genuine, I just think Hu is both being a hypocrite in a way but mostly she's hiding her true feelings behind her wording.

Let's take what she says in her outburst :

There's a funny thing about her wording, especially at the beginning :

"You have no right to decide wether I, whether any of us..."

I think what Hu is trying to say is being hidden by her saying "we" and "us". In my opinion, she's probably mad at David for wanting to toy with her life, not even to escape himself but simply to commit mass suicide. Which we know Hu has a very complicated history with suicide due to her secret.

I do think her anger is both a mix of projecting onto David her present (and past self) and also her genuine desire to want to continue living.

She would be mad, she's trying so hard to live and here is David who both planned to let her die not even to survive himself but simply because he gave up. Interesting to note how she interprets David's desire to stop the killing game as "Because this killing game requires us to live, you think you should just reject that notion and kill us all". She doesn't mention him wanting to end the killing game, she mentions David rejecting the notion of living itself.

If Hu was a past suicidal person who now has committed herself to continue living, of course she would be insulted by David's action, it spits in her face and reminds her of a past self that simply rejected the idea of living.

A desire to live that's shown through this outburst and also in her secret quote.

Again switching the pronouns Hu is using here with "I" really gives a new perspective that I think makes a lot of sense with her being the culprit.

"It is not and never will be your desicion as to what happens with MY life"

Because Hu wants to live now, she's no longer her past self, she won't try and throw her life away anymore.

The murder of Arei and attempted murder of Ace :

I want to discuss both the victims and method of murder here because I think it works very well with Hu. It's not really a character analysis thing as much but I didn't want to make a seperate post for it.

Hu clearly does/did not have high opinions of either Ace or Arei, like at all. They were both people that Hu reprimended heavily.

Especially with the secret motive happening, it's very possible that Hu's possible choice of culprit was done with the notion of "who deserves to be killed". Her first pick being Ace makes a lot of sense

I'm making her sound villainous when I say this but I do think it was her mindset at the time, Ace's horrible behavior towards Nico possibly being what led to her to feel allowed to take his life. However when Ace survived, she decided she was simply to deep into it and decided to go with the second best choice in her mind, Arei.

I want to also point out the method of murder...hanging

Clearly the culprit had a lot of knowledge about hanging, with it being their main method of murder. Which would make sense with Hu's past, using her past attempts as knowledge for her to take someone else's life which I find very ironic and in a way morbidly narratively compelling.

What was the motive ? :

I think Hu simply just wanted to live, it had nothing to do with the motives (and I honestly think the motives will actually not ever be involved in the murders bc it seems like they're setting it up to be a recurring trend).

I think Hu was thinking about murdering to get out ever since she was put in this killing game. However the only reason why she has never done so is because she was way too attached to her classmates.

From her secret quote, to her outburst against David, to her secret motive. All of it hints at this strong desire to want to live.

However she couldn't bear to kill anyone in this cast until chapter 2 happened.

Ace and Arei both are probably the least likable characters in chapter 2's daily life, I don't mean that in the fandom sense but I mean that in the eyes of the cast itself. Especially Ace who truly ends up falling to horrible harmful patterns out of self preservation.

We know how toxic the cast became in chapter 2 and I think that's what led to Hu feeling more comfortable killing someone. She no longer felt as guilty when she saw Ace (and Arei but mostly Ace) acting this way. This allowed her to commit murder. When it failed, she simply ended up chosing the second person on her list that she saw as nothing more than a horrible bully.

After all who would miss Ace and Arei, they're both horrible horrible people right ? Who would cry for someone who isn't a good person.

It was a murder both driven by Hu's strong desire of survival and also her view of her fellow classmates.

Nico's behavior :

Before I get more into Hu's mindset, I want to take a little detour to why is Nico being so difficult ?

I know I've made theories about Nico being an accomplice, but looking back I don't think they actually knew Hu did it. Even if they're not telling the truth about Ace's attempted murder and Hu's false allibi.

But then why ? Why would Nico ever do this, don't they know they're potentially putting everyone's lives at risk

Well it wouldn't be the first time a character in DRDT's cast is difficult to the point of risking people's lives (i'm fucking look at you WHIT.). However I think there are both actually decent reasons as to why Nico wouldn't tell the truth alongside his issues with being non-confrontational.

First, I don't think Nico ever expected the murder of Ace to be important to the case. I think they lied because everyone else made it extremely obvious what their thoughts truly were and Nico probably thought that trying to argue against them simply would just make them look more guilty or not do anything at all.

Again I would like to pull Nico's secret quote for evidence here. Because again I think it just fits with everything here.

For the alibi thing, I think Nico genuinely didn't contest it because they probably believe Hu only did that to protect them from getting blamed. Again anything that would make Nico not get yelled at or suspected probably is something they would hold onto. They still have no reason to think Hu really did it, so again with their issues with being non-confrontational I think it would make sense for them not to contest it.

I think Nico's arc is heavily tied with Hu, and vice verca. There's an empahsis on how Nico is struggling to make their true feelings truly known because everyone talks about them and the one person who thinks they are there to protect them actually are just as bad if not worse in ignoring them.

Nico wasn't ready to come out, they were instantly labelled an attempted murderer and the one person who is here to defend them is someone who constantly interrupts them. The entirety of chapter 2 has just been them being objectified and not really giving them a voice.

Which I think comes back to a part of Hu that I think is related to the murder.

Hu's relationship with Nico and Eden :

Isn't that interesting how Hu has established relationships with both Nico and Eden, meanwhile Ace and Arei both have bullied Eden/Nico.

I don't think this is a coincidence and I think it matches Hu's misguided attempts at protecting people.

Hu wants to be useful, she desperately wants to be the strong protector of the group. However there are very clear signs here intentions aren't very glamorous.

In a fucked up way, it's very possible that she sees the murder of Ace and Arei as her helping Eden and Nico. Two people she clearly wants to protect (at least for Nico it's obvious).

However Hu's actions clearly did not help them, in fact, what she did ended up backfiring on the both of them.

Nico ends up being framed as a murderer

Eden lost a potential friend

Not only that but she had to have manipulated both Nico and Eden, to accomplish her murder. It's a flimsey self excuse for Hu to keep up her belief that she's a protector.

Obviously I don't think this was her main motivation, I've talked about it before but it's yet again something that would make it more easy for Hu to swallow the idea of being a murderer.

Is Hu evil ? :

No ! What the fuck did you think this post was for !

See I don't think Hu being the culprit suddenly makes her this horrible manipulative person. Despite the dread I feel with the likelyhood of Hu getting dragged to the ground if she's the culprit, I don't think she's remotely close to characters like...Celeste for exemple.

She's a person who was desperate to live who let herself murder by making up excuses, that she was doing this for the greater good somehow that it wasn't just a selfish desire of survival.

It makes sense for a chapter all about morality right ? Justifying a horrible action by justifying that well...these people she murdered weren't really good people were they ? Plus she ended up killing Eden and Nico's bullies right ? And I mean the killing game will only really end when two people are still alive right ? So maybe she's not a bad person. Maybe she deserves to live.

But people don't to be deserve murdered (99 pourcent of the time, i'm talking about DRDT's moral here) , not even horrible people. You don't know these people, if they could change, and you don't know what consequences you bring upon others by enacting justice like this.

And in a chapter about morality wouldn't it be interesting to tackle the morality of someone who would want to live no matter what. Is it fair to call Hu a bad person because she simply didn't want to die ? Somehow her attempts at killing herself in the past is wrong but letting herself be killed in a place like this is the moral thing to do ?

Is the fact that she killed people who she perceived as bad make this whole thing better. Did these people's lives matter less than her, someone who has been trying to actually be nice to others and help them ?

Or is her attempt of being a good respectable motherly figure only just a facade to feed her ego, a person who once didn't think they deserved now hanging to every possible reason to continue fighting to stay alive ? No matter what, no matter what happens, she needs to continue living.

"A pig never hopes to grow up into a human, because it knows that a metamorphisis like that is impossible"

[longerbee]

I will take care of them. I'm their leader.

Apparently it’s a recast of Longshot’s line. Facing the fatal destiny under Lake Laogai, Longshot and Smellerbee would do anything to defend Jet, for Jet had done the same for them in former days.

[ponyosmom35]

friendly debates

Simon Ghost Riley x reader

Liability series chapter 9!

summary: debating with Soap at the dinner table makes even Ghost laugh.

warnings: none, super fluffy

Liability masterlist:

https://www.tumblr.com/ponyosmom35/733401347573088256/simon-ghost-riley?source=share

“Dogs are superior by a longshot. They have more personality when it comes to their breed, and not every dog is the same. Some are really friendly and kind, and others will maul you to death. Cats are just... Cats” Soap explains, watching her eyes widen in response to him. The pair had been arguing about this for ten minutes when Gaz had mentioned his partner wanting to get a pet. Which he now regretted bringing up. 

“are you shitting me Johnny? what are you even saying! all dogs are the exact same, they love you, they follow you around, they need you. Cats each have distinct personalities, never met two similar in my life!”

“That's where you're wrong. Dogs all have different personalities Cats are the exact same. They all act like little shits, they look at you, meow, and then claw up your stuff and destroy it. Plus, dogs aren't dicks like cats are.”

“All of the dogs I had growing up were the same, they're lovable don't get me wrong! But they chose their person and they love them, you don't have to work for it. With a cat you've got to earn their respect and their love, it's something you have to work for, meaning its more worthwhile to own a cat” she defends

“They make you earn their trust and affection because they are the true assholes. Dogs are way better than cats”

Kyle makes eye contact with Price and Ghost as they enter the room, he runs over and grabs them “you guys gotta hear this” 

“sometimes they are assholes, I'll admit it. But that's personality baby! I swear one day I'm gonna have like five cats” she says, trying to keep her cool as Price and Ghost sit down next to them. She glances at Ghost sitting across from her and qucikly looks back to Johnny.

“I hate cats. I swear if you get a cat I'm gonna go apeshit on you”

“are you asking me to chose between you and the cats?”

“Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking”

“cats every time” she answers without hesitation, causing the table to erupt in laughter. All but one, smiling at her antics. 

“Damn. You're brutal” Kyle comments 

“don't fuck with me about cats suds! I warned you when you brought it up” She says pointing at Soap. Price laughs at her choice of nickname. 

“I'm telling ya, some of these cats are just the absolute bane of my existence. Especially when you have your hands full and they jump up on top of you and just dig their claws into you. It's torture”

“I'm sorry is the sergeant mactavish really comparing a cat to literal torture?” She asks as she giggles “you’re admtting that you’re afraid of little kitty cats? All you’ve done is give me ideas” 

“You wouldn't dare..., no. Anything but those cats, I beg of you”

“too late you've already gone too far” she shrugs 

“Noooooooooo! Have mercy, you devil!”

“funny” she responds, picking up a strand of her ginger hair. The men around her laugh loudly.

“Okay enough about cats, how about this, is soup cereal?” Gaz asks egging them on.

“Soup? I think it's more like a savory form of cereal” Soap nods, answering simply. 

“what the fuck did you just say? are you insane?” she asks

“It's literally a bowl, of liquid, and you eat it. That's just savory cereal”

“Johnny I am seriously questioning your sanity right now” she says seriously 

“You're questioning my sanity for calling soup a savory cereal? It is literally savory cereal.”

“okay repeat yourself one more time”

“Soup. Is. Savory. Cereal.” he says, earning a laugh from Ghost himself. 

“you're psychotic! soup is hot, cereal isn't”

“Soup can be hot, but it doesn't have to be. Do you think cold soup doesn't exist?”

“name literally one” she demands 

“Cold tomato soup.”

“Johnny tomato soup isn't cold” Price interjects “I've drank cold canned tomato soup” Soap shrugs 

“Thats disgusting” she cringes 

“Soup is savory cereal, LT what do you say? Back me up on this” Soap says wrapping an arm around Ghost’s shoulder. 

“You out of your right fuckin mind if you think soup is cereal” Ghost states causing the entire table to erupt in laughter. She smiles to herself as Soap continues to defend himself, clearly seeing out numebred he was. She makes eye contact with Ghost once again, accidently as their legs brush against eachtoher. She utters an apology and holds her hands to her cheeks, resting on them as she attmpets to hide her blushing face. 

Simon sits back with his arms crossed as he pretends to listen to the ridiclous claims the sergeant was making. He couldn’t help but look at her, he watched as she argued so passioantly about the simple topics. She was funny, a side he hadn’t seen from her before. She was charming, and sarcastic and quick witted. He’d always wondered why his teammates seemed to love her so much, now he understood the appeal. She was interesting, and she could hold her own. Still feeling bad about his behavior last week, he decides that he would apoligize. She didn’t deserve it.

chapter 10:

https://www.tumblr.com/ponyosmom35/734021889324974080/ghost-to-the-rescue?source=share

[crashlanding-skywalker]

[The 212th and the 501st relaxing after a mission]

Rex, rubbing his temples: I am not proud of what I am about to say, but someone get me a cigarrette.

Fives: But Rex, we don't smoke.

Cody: Cut the crap, Fives. We're not idiots. We know that at least one in five people smoke.

Rex, pointing at Dogma: one *then at Trapper* two *then at Wooley* three *then at Longshot* four *then at Fives* five.

Cody: Now, I am going to close my eyes, and when I open them, there better be a cigarrette between these two fingers.

Trapper, puts a cigarrette in Cody's hand: here, sir

Cody: Thank you.

Fives:

Wooley:

Dogma:

Trapper:

Longshot:

Cody: Light?

(all of them simultaneously pulling out lighters)

——————

Crys: Time freezes for everyone but you one day. What do you do?

Fives: Oh… We’d mildly trouble everyone.

Crys: Alright, so what would you do?

Fives: I’d shave a one-inch thick line in every thick beard I saw.

Echo: I’d twist all the lightbulbs just a little bit so no one would know when they aren’t working.

Fives: I’d make every wing on girls eyeliner just a little bit higher than the other one.

Echo: I’d tie everyone’s shoelaces together.

Echo & Fives: And then lastly, We’d snip a little hole in every tea bag.

Crys:

Echo & Fives:

Crys: Remind me to never allow you to have power.

——————

Kix: How does one turn their emotions off?

Longshot: Okay, so first go to settings.

Hawk: I'm a fucking idiot, I thought that said emojis at first.

Kix: No, I'm still willing to try this, go ahead. I'm at settings, what do I do next?

——————

Echo: On a scale from “damn Daniel” to “fre sha vaca do”, how are you feeling?

Waxer: In between “it’s an avocado, thanks” and “how did you defeat Captain America”, but as a solid answer I would say “I don’t need a degree to be a clothing hanger”. How about you, Echo?

Echo: Probably “road work ahead”.

Switch, about to bang his head into a wall: I speak many languages...

Switch: this one is definitely not one of them.

——————

Gearshift: Sometimes I drink milk straight out of the container.

Hawk: The cow???

Jesse: What?

Oddball: Hawk, W H Y?

——————

Appo: So, what's it like living with Gregor?

Trapper: He once referred to sand as "heterosexual glitter."

——————

Hardcase: I made tea.

Longshot: I don't want tea.

Hardcase: I didn't make you tea. This is my tea.

Longshot: Then why did you tell me?

Hardcase: It's a conversation starter.

Longshot: It's a horrible conversation starter.

Hardcase: Oh, is it?

Hardcase: We're conversing, checkmate.

——————

Echo: Rules were made to be broken.

Gearshift: They were made to be followed. Nothing is made to be broken.

Striker: Uh, piñatas.

Trapper: Glow sticks.

Vaughn: Karate boards.

Wooley: Spaghetti when you have a small pot.

Waxer: Rules.

——————

Echo: What is your favourite mythical story?

Boil: The Story Of My Will To Live.

Echo: I don’t think I’ve heard of that one before.

——————

Axe: I'm not sure what you mean

Axe: I am socializing.

Gregor: Standing there ominously doesn't count as socializing

Axe:

Axe: Since when?

——————

Crys: I was arrested for being too cool.

Vaughn: And the charges were dropped due to a lack of supporting evidence.

——————

Hil: I’m going to get so much done today.

Jester: I’ll hold you to that.

*8 hours later*

Jester: So how much did you get done?

Hil: One thing.

Jester: Well, that’s one more than usual.

——————

Switch: Who ate all my cookies?

Tup: Bounty hunters

Switch, confused: I didn’t see them

Tup: No one ever does :)

——————

Fives: The how the fuck’s and why are you so dumb's don’t matter. All that matters is that I have a new gun.

——————

Tup: Why is it called "oven" when you of in the cold food and you of out hot eat the food?

Crys: What???

——————

Boil: FIGHT ME, YOU NERD ASS SLUT!

Fives: At least try to sound slightly more sophisticated when you threaten someone.

Boil: Oh, I'm sorry. should I ask; dost thou want to engage in a duel, my good bitch?

Fives: That's somehow worse.

——————

Cody: When Fives & Echo were born, the gods said, "They're too good for this world."

Jesse: Please. When they were born, the devil said, "Oh, competition."

——————

Gearshift: You know, I used to play back in my gory days.

Appo: You mean glory days?

Gearshift: Ah, that too.

——————

Fives: I’m an idiot.

Boil:

Jesse:

Waxer:

Echo:

Trapper:

Fives:

Echo: If you’re waiting for us to disagree, this is going to be a long day.

——————

Kix, looking at both batallions: Okay, so I need to become a therapist faster.

——————

Boomer: It’s funny how well you and Longshot get along. Didn’t he hate you at first?

Hardcase, nodding: Longshot hates everybody at first. It’s his way of reaching out to people.

——————

Waxer: Are you reading fan fiction?

Denal, reading an article about a extremely rare diseases: Wh- No.

Boil: Oh, is it on AO3?

Denal, ready to punch one of them: This is BBC.

——————

Oddball: Hey, thanks for checking in, I’m ✨still a piece of garbage✨

——————

Sterling: You could be nicer.

Spark: I am.

Sterling: You threatened Wooley with a cooking knife.

Spark: But I didn't actually stab him!

——————

Redeye, about Gus: Is he a freak (derogatory)?

Redeye: Or a freak (affectionate)?

Slick: Why not both?

Redeye: You’re so right, a freak (double-edged sword)!

——————

Hawk: Protip is you do not feel good about yourself after eating tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce.

Barlex: What's wrong with you??

Hawk: I literally JUST said I ate tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce?? Pay attention.

Wyler: No, he means other than that.

Hawk: Ohhhhhh.

Hawk: I haven't slept in 4 days.

——————

Jesse: Self-care is suppressing all your trauma until it comes back and hits you in the face with the force of 7 very large ships.

——————

Fives: Why do humans have different blood groups?

Longshot: So mosquitoes can enjoy different flavors.

Dogma: Really guys? Now?

Dogma: I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!!

——————

Fives: Can we go out to get icecream?

Cody: Did you ask Rex?

Echo: He said no.

Cody: Then why are you asking me?

Echo & Fives: He aint the boss of you.

Cody, internally: It's a trap, it's a trap, it's a trap.

[recurring-polynya]

Bleach Returns 2024 - Day 5 - Black and Blue

Author's Note #1: I thought this was sort of a fun prompt that one could riff on in a number of different Bleach-appropriate ways. It made me think of the color schemes of the boys' Academy uniforms contrasted with the shihakushou, so I liked the idea of doing some sort of now-and-then type story.

Author's Note #2: In early Bleach, Renji makes several statements implying that he has seen or possibly even fought Byakuya some time in the past, before he became his vice-captain. That seemed like a fun idea, and I wanted to write a little something about it. Also, Momo is here because I think there should be more stories about Momo being down to clown.

In case it's not obvious, this takes place a few years before canon, when Renji is still at Squad 11.

Rated PG for language, implied violence.

| read on ao3 |

💙 🖤 💙

"Hinamori," said Renji, "I am not actually going to become an adjunct fighting arts teacher."

Hinamori, who had been gushing for the last ten minutes about how excited she was that Renji was going to become an adjunct fighting arts teacher, was not dissuaded. "I know it seems like a longshot," she said. "The Academy doesn't exactly like to admit that the Eleventh Division even exists. But a lot of students are really interested in going there! And you aren't just some guy from the Eleventh--you're an alumni, you were third in our class, you've been writing that column in the newspaper--"

"HInamori," Renji cut her off before her face started turning blue. "That's not what I meant. What I meant is that I asked you to get me into this thing on, uh, you know. False pretenses."

This thing was some sort of open house day, where the grounds of Shin'ou had been opened up to a select set of visitors. Mostly, it was for prospective students and their families, or at least the ones who were already residents of the Seireitei. Renji sure didn't remember getting any invitations to tour the campus. There were various other festivities designed to attract the attention of donors or higher-ups in the Gotei or the Kidou Corps who might have research dollars or internships available. And there were some networking opportunities for people who were interested in part-time teaching positions. These weren't exactly easy to sign-up for, but it helped if you had a friend with connections.

Hinamori froze mid-step. "Abarai!" she gasped. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"I didn't think it would be such a big deal," Renji grumbled. "I mean, I'll go to the interview or whatever! I don't want you to get in trouble with your boss." Hinamori was an assistant layout editor in the publishing department. There was even one of her own drawings in the latest edition of Intermediate Bakudou: Theory and Applications--a diagram of tenteikura that was so good that even he could understand it.

Hinamori huffed and crossed her arms. "Oh, don't worry about that. The issue is--" she took a deep breath through her nose. "Abarai Renji," she said, "tell me this wasn't a ploy to come see the Kuchiki Byakuya demonstration fight."

Renji rolled his face down to regard her. "Of course it was a ploy to come see the Kuchiki Byakuya demonstration fight. Do you know how rare it is for him to fight in public anymore? He hasn't done one of these in thirty-five years. This is only going to be the third time I've seen him in action and the other two were pure luck. This is a huge opportunity for me and I honestly did not think angling me an invitation would--"

"Oh, stop it," Hinamori sighed. "You could have told me. I would have gotten you in anyway. I'm just mad because Kira told me you were only coming for the Kuchiki Byakuya Demonstration Fight and he's unbearable when he's right."

"Is he coming?" Renji asked, feeling a bit hopeful about the prospect despite himself. It had only been in the last few months that he'd started talking to either Kira or Hinamori again, after the big blow-up when he transferred to the Eleventh. Even though most of the blame for that probably belonged on his own stubborn ass, now that it was over Renji couldn't believe how much he had missed the two of them.

"He said he would meet us for dinner later," Hinamori scowled. "He said that he has it on good authority that historically, Captain Kuchiki's demonstrations are impossible to follow, very boring, and also that if he was going to have to hear the detailed play-by-play from you anyway, he might as well skip the actual event."

"You know what?" said Renji, "it's fine. You'll appreciate it more than he would, anyway."

"Will I?" Hinamori replied dryly.

"You have an appreciation of elegance. Of economy of movement. Of a guy who is just really fucking good at what he does."

"He has nice hair, too."

"Not that I was trying to find out, but I know what shampoo he uses. If you act like the demo was super awesome in front of Kira, I'll tell you, even though we couldn't afford it if we pooled together all the money we got."

Hinamori squinted leerily at him for a moment, before her face split into a big, teasing grin. "It's a deal."

🗡️ 🌸 💀

"I expected to see a few more shihakushou in this crowd." Renji glanced over the crowd while Kuchiki Byakuya's lieutenant hauled yet another one of his unconscious officers out of the sparring ring, The audience was mostly the white, blue and red of Academy uniforms, with a smattering of expensive civvies. The handful of other shinigami Renji could spot all seemed to have younger versions of themselves in tow.

"Are you feeling self-conscious?" Hinamori murmured. "It's your own fault for being seventeen feet tall."

"It's not that," Renji whispered back, although he was convinced that the Academy must be taking them shorter these days. "I just think that more people would be interested in seeing the best swordfighter in the Gotei at work!"

"I think that most people who care about seeing Captain Kuchiki fight are already in Squad Six, and he seems to have brought most of them with him," Hinamori suggested. As if on cue, Lieutenant Shirogane prodded a fresh victim into the circle. Nervously, the woman dropped into a combat stance, her practice sword held out in front of her.

"Observe," intoned Kuchiki Byakuya. "This disarming technique was developed by Kuchiki Souta during the 400 Days War."

"Oh, shit, the 'Seizure of Assets,'" Renji gasped.

"The wh--wait, what just happened?"

Captain Kuchiki was now holding two shinai. The poor Squad Sixer was holding her hand and looking like she was trying not to cry.

"He wrapped his arm around her sword and levered it out of her hand. I bet it hurt like a bitch."

"You followed that?"

Renji had watched Captain Kuchiki's stance, the way he held his shoulders loose, how he started with most of his weight held on the right leg. He had noted the distance between Captain Kuchiki and his subordinate. He had seen a blur of black, felt the way Captain Kuchiki had focused his reiatsu on the left side. "Kinda," he replied.

"The caveat to all of the maneuvers I have been showing you," Captain Kuchiki Byakuya droned, "is that they will not work against an opponent who is prepared for them. Even a fighter of middling strength should be capable of maintaining a grip on their weapon. You may need to utilize a distraction or to take advantage of sloppy form. Who can tell me what Sixteenth Seat Gotou's mistake was?"

He waited.

At first, the crowd was silent. Then, as the wait wore on, the students began to murmur among themselves, but everyone seemed hesitant to call out an answer.

"Do you know?" Hinamori hissed at Renji. "I don't even know. She was too stiff? Caught flatfooted?"

"The question is for the students," Renji replied out of the side of his mouth.

"So you don't know, either."

"Of course I know. Her mistake was going up against Kuchiki Byakuya."

Hinamori huffed and rolled her eyes.

"I heard the correct answer," Captain Kuchiki's voice ran out. "Who said that?"

If a single blade of Senbonzakura had fallen to the ground at that moment, everyone would have heard it.

"You, there," Captain Kuchiki said, his eyes drilling directly into Renji. "Repeat what you just said."

If it were thirty years ago, if he were still in his blue-and-whites, if this were the first time Renji had laid eyes on Kuchiki Byakuya, he would have glanced from side-to-side, hoping the man was talking to someone else. He would have rephrased his answer, tried to make it sound less blunt, more thoughtful.

"I said, she isn't you," Renji replied loudly.

"Say more," said Kuchiki Byakuya.

Renji cleared his throat. "Your speed is so fast that almost no one can follow it. You made a quick feint to the right and you spiked your reiatsu to scare her. You outclassed her so badly that she had no chance of reacting."

Captain Kuchiki's gray eyes were as placid as the surface of a lake. "Did I do this to show off?"

Renji could feel some of the kids standing near him start to sidle away. Renji knew a few things about intimidating people, and he was pretty sure that Captain Kuchiki meant his question sincerely--exactly as sincere as Renji's answer had been.

"Not at all," Renji replied. "Everything is relative. Any graduate from Shin'ou could do that to a tough from Rukongai with no spiritual pressure. A seated officer can dispatch a Hollow before they know what's happened to them. Overwhelming your opponent swiftly is a safe and efficient strategy. A shinigami must never stop pursuing strength and they should not hesitate to use it against their opponents!"

To her credit, Hinamori was still standing next to him, back ramrod straight, staring dead ahead. Not a sound came out of her, even though Renji could practically hear her thinking how ridiculous he was. As soon as she passed that exam, she was gonna make a killer Vice Captain.

"Just so!" declared Kuchiki Byakuya. Then, he frowned and squinted. For the briefest of seconds, Renji wondered if Captain Kuchiki recognized him. "Who are you?"

"Abarai Renji, sir! Eleventh Company, Sixth Seat!"

"What are you doing here, Eleventh Company, Sixth Seat Abarai Renji? Surely you're not here to consider enrolling at Shin'ou?"

Renji felt his face go warm. "I already graduated, sir! 2066! I'm--!" He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes closed, "I'm just to here to interview for an adjunct position!"

When he cautiously cracked one eye open again, Kuchiki Byakuya was regarding him with those flat, gray eyes. "I see. Which subject?"

Renji blinked. "Which…?"

"Which subject. Do you intend to teach?"

Renji's ears were ringing. "Fighting, sir!" he barked.

Kuchiki Byakuya gave the very slightest of nods. "Indeed. How interesting." For a moment, it seemed like that was that. He was going to go back to his lecture. But then something changed. For a million kan, Renji couldn't have told you what it was. The man's face didn't budge. There was no shift in his posture. But Kuchiki Byakuya had changed his mind, Renji knew it in his soul. "How would you have avoided being disarmed? Future Professor of Fighting Arts, Abarai Renji?"

Intellectually, he knew the answer. It was on the tip of his tongue. His tongue just refused to make the words.

"Oh just do it," Hinamori hissed out of her back teeth. "You know you want to."

"YOU WANNA FIND OUT?" Renji bellowed.

Kuchiki Byakuya's eyebrows lifted exactly three thousandths of a millimeter.

🍶 🍜 🩹

"So, did you get the teaching position or not?" Kira asked, sipping at his sake.

"It remains to be seen," Renji replied, shifting the icepack on his forehead.

"On the plus side, I think the head of the zanjutsu department was pretty impressed when Lieutenant Shirogane personally delivered him his office and said, I quote, 'my captain says someone should hire this man for something.'" Hinamori took a philosophical bite of tamagoyaki. "On the other hand, Abarai-kun insisted on going through with the interview with a severe concussion."

"I see," said Kira.

"I"m pretty sure," said Renji, examining his bandaged fingers and wondering if the pinky was also broken, "that I spent most of the thing explaining how we set up the brackets for the annual Tournament of Blood."

Kira made the face of a man who had already endured more than his fair share of Tournament of Blood discourse. "Why?"

"Well, the guy asked me to describe an improvement I had made to an existing practice and you know how un-fun the lower ranks of that tournament was before I got Ikkaku to, uh, come around on my vision. The guy seemed kinda into it. I think the whole job offer thing could still happen."

Hinamori rolled her eyes and tossed back her drink.

"Orrrr….maybe that's just the head injury talking. It doesn't matter. I don't actually want the job anyway."

"You don't think a little stint in academia might look good on your resume?" Kira asked archly. "For when you do finally get serious about making vice captain?"

Renji tried to remember the exact look on Captain Kuchiki's face the third time he had peeled himself out of the dirt and said that yes, he would be up for demonstrating the next block, thank you. "I think," he said, "I've improved my job prospects enough for one day."

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Live Action Thoughts!

-First of all, ya'll need to leave those child actors alone, they are babies and they didn't write the show, nor was it their idea to do it. I have seen way too many people body shaming children; leave them alone they all did well!

-I think Gordon makes Aang just as cute and small and powerful as I always saw him as!! He manages to joke around and be fun even when the storyline is a lot darker and more serious.

-I really wish Sokka was able to be more of his goofy and silly self. I understand why he isn't, and his humor is more sarcasm and dark jokes, but I saw glimpses of him in there! His excitement when he was with the Mechanist, engineering and getting to do something other than be in charge. Also when he has any older brother convo with Katara or Aang. I'm hopeful with time he'll be able to loosen up!

-(Speaking of the Mechanist, my boy Danny Pudi was SO GOOD, I love him, him and his little son).

-I wish Aang would practice waterbending with Katara :( those scenes of them practicing together were always some of my favorites in the series. Just beautiful kataang moments. I'm glad they addressed it but I missed those moments.

-I don't understand how you guys can't be having fun watching this, I get so excited waiting for little moments of lore, or when Jet and Katara were fighting in the forest I was sitting in front of the TV like "WHERE'S SMELLERBEE AND LONGSHOT. OH MY GOD NO IT'S PIPSQUEAK!" It's just so much fun! The colors are beautiful, the effects are gorgeous, and the plot and characters are entertaining. Think about the piece as it's own thing and enjoy it!

-Adaptations are just that; adaptations, and things will be changed! I think so far I haven't minded their changes, I understand why they've been made. There are things to criticize, but I think this is pretty well done.

-Zuko is fantastic; I think all the child actors are fairly good but Dallas' pissy attitude and the faces he makes are so so fun! I feel for Zuko and I'm scared of him when he shows up, and he's just as annoying and bratty as ponytail Zuko should be. His physical motions are fantastic!

-TEO WAS SO LITTLE?? Oh my god, like as a kid I thought the cartoon version of him was kinda hot so when they wheeled that tiny baby in I was HORRIFIED.

-Idk why YOU ALL weren't scared of Lizzy Yu's Azula, but her little smile in her intro scene gave me a lil chill. Maybe it's because I was away when the show first came out so I saw post after post about how bad she was, but I just.... Thought she'd be worse?? She did really well! Ya'll better be careful though or Gaten Matarazzo will come for you, that's his girl.

-So far the mushing of plots has made sense to me. Yes, I miss the silly filler episodes and the traveling the Gaang did, but it allows us to sit in a scene longer, and to colorize the world better, when we're in one place and one plot for longer. I think that's important for this type of medium and this amount of episodes. They might be able to justify more next season if this show does well enough.

-I am OBSESSED with Zuko and the 41st division oh my god, what a fantastic and well thought out addition. The reveal, and they're bowing for him when he comes back was DEVASTATING.

-They we're GIVING us Sokka and Katara best sibling moments, I loved all of them. They are so cute, they just mean so much to me.

-I don't feel Appa or Momo as characters like I did in the cartoon. I'm hoping this can change, because rn they surprise me every time they get on screen. I'm like "WHAT- oh it's Momo, he's here." How are we going to feel Appa's loss as much as we did in the cartoon if they continue to like barely be in it.

-Ken Leung SLAYED as Admiral Zhao, I watched him go literally insane as the episodes went on.

-Aang's imposter syndrome and feeling of failure being focused on I will always enjoy, even if I hope he can be silly next season too. His entire character arc this season just made me want to cry.

-Bro the coloring during the the Siege of the North was A M A Z I N G. The way the color faded in and out with fireballs and the monster koi passing nearby, just so pretty. It looked awesome.

-Making Yue a waterbender? The best. Her freezing Sokka in place so he can't stop her? Heartbreaking.

-Iroh and Zuko paddling off looking for bestie Lt. Jee?? Okay.

-They really grew this show up for us adults that watched it in 2005 and focused in on the really painful moments, themes, and details.

[cripplecharacters]

Hi!! I know this is a longshot, but I'm wondering if you have an ask about a character with hip dysplasia & EDS who was the main character in a horror novel? I believe I signed off the ask with 🐭. I sent it in about a year and a half ago, and I don't know if it got eaten or if it's still in drafts. Sorry, and thank you guys for the work you do on this blog!!

Hi lovely 🤗

I've looked everywhere (I double checked because I thought I missed it the first time) and I can't find an ask similar to this. We have a few about EDS and but not any that fits this exactly. You can send it again and if there ends up being two copies on our end, it's alright, no harm done. Thank you for checking and I'm so sorry it's been such a long wait!

~ Mod Virus 🌸

[spaceorphan18]

The Rogue and Gambit Project: Omega Red (X-Men #5-7)

Okay, so neither Rogue or Gambit are chilling on the cover - but at least they get to be in the little Marvel logo!

This arc was started in #4 and dragged out for another three issues. And it's very Wolverine focused. I don't really care that much for Wolverine's backstory, and honestly, it doesn't matter that much, but there are some juicy tidbits to pick out of the rest of the arc.

On we go with Omega Red....

X-Men #5

When we last saw them, Rogue and Gambit were taken prisoner and look! They're being transported together. How cute to see their names together, lol!

X-Men #5

Gambit with the literal tricks up his sleeve! Again, I had forgotten how this early work makes him look so cool. Also - I feel like it's time, again, to make the obligatory comment about how Rogue and Gambit end up in chains together. This will be a common thread throughout their romance together.

X-Men #5

I've always loved badass Rogue. Her dress is torn to shreds, her shoes are gone, they've ruined her first real date. She's about to bring it.

X-Men #5

I don't really have a whole lot of commentary other than - how hot do they look just being on the same panel together? While I do have some qualms about Jim Lee's art (Psylocke, ooff...) they look so good here. The story isn't as important, they've evade capture for the time being. ...that's about it.

X-Men #5

I kind of love these double spreads of the full team. You get so many personalities and so many dynamics and we just don't see a lot of it anymore -- doesn't help that there are a million X-Men these days. A lot of this is just moving plot forward -- Blue Team going to find Wolverine (and Omega Red) while the Gold Team are going to go on their own adventures. Not much to comment on - but I do like that they're consistently putting Rogue and Gambit near each other.

X-Men #5

Just another action shot of the two of them together at the end of this particular issue.

I guess I'll take a moment to talk about the subplot of these issues being the return of Dazzler and Longshot. There's no real connection there, other than it's going on, and I'll have to talk about it in a about a half dozen issues or so.

X-Men #6

More action shenanigans! Also, Gambit being sassy with the villains, something I do appreciate about him.

X-Men #6

Alright, so I gotta talk about this panel for a moment. Time to address something that happens a lot in comics, and Jim Lee is particularly bad about it. It's the whole women having to be overly sexualized while fighting (dying/being in pain/etc). I'm not saying the male characters aren't overly done either, but the women in comics often are very much portrayed for the male gaze and sometimes it feels a lot more gratuitous than not.

This is the classic tits and ass shot, where women in comics are contorted in an unnatural way so they can show off their bodies so they can look hot to the male reader. And yeah, it's annoying. I don't particularly like it. I clearly won't be talking about it every time it happens, but I do think Rogue gets over sexualized /a lot/ and it is worth talking about. You can have a character be sexy - and that is fine. And yes, I realize the nature of comics in general is to be unrealistic in all body types. But I still think there's some worth acknowledging it, and commenting that in some ways, we have come a long way with comics art and in some ways we haven't. It's a worthwhile conversation to have.

X-Men #6

Alright, back to more fun things. Gambit is kind of knocked out at the moment, and we have the cute moment of Rogue calling him 'Loverbayou'.

And also kind of out of nowhere, Psylocke reminds Rogue (and the audience) that Gambit is still a relatively new character. This is kind of planting the seeds for a couple of things -- for one, Sabretooth is gonna show up and being really cryptic about something. For two, Bishop is gonna show up and be really cryptic about something. For three, Belladonna is going to show up and be rather blunt about something.

X-Men #6

Hey, look, they're strung up next to each other again! Take a shot! ;)

X-Men #6

So, this is arguably the most important sequence in these entire there issues, and it's mostly set up for what's coming down the road.

First of all -- Sabretooth mentions that Gambit is 'workin' the side of the angels'. It's an interesting statement meant to set up that maybe Gambit has some skeletons in his closet he isn't so proud of.

I'm not sure if this is set up for his connection with the marauders, or the Genevieve nonsense, or the X-Traitor stuff Bishop is going to bring or if they just want to dangle a thread and see where it goes. But Gambit's got a past, and we're gonna find some stuff out... just not in this arc.

Secondly, two things strike me as particularly funny here -- the fact that Gambit - a known smoker - is talking about the consequences of second hand smoke is just ridiculous, and the fact that Sabretooth calls his blood spicy. Which, I mean, that's gross. But also hilarious.

X-Men #6

Gambit continues to be his sassy, sarcastic self. What we don't know at the moment is that Gambit did not grow up with a mother. It just adds an interesting layer onto this comment.

X-Men #7

Alright, so after a bunch of Wolverine related nonsense, and after the longwinded Dazzler/Longshot subplot, our heroes are finally getting rescued... By Sabretooth? Um, sure. It really doesn't matter. Unless you're a huge Wolverine fan, then maybe go back and catch up, but this plot just isn't relevant here.

Rogue and Gambit are still hanging around here, though. That's still fun!

X-Men #7

Not much to say - I just like the action/hero shot.

X-Men #7

Another action sequence where Rogue and Gambit get to be badasses together! Rogue is so sassy here. I really appreciate her.

Anyway - they save Wolverine from Omega Red and Fenris! Whoo!

X-Men #7

...and that's really it! We end our arc with Rogue and Gambit standing next to each other.

Can't say this was the most exciting arc we get, but at least they get some nice action sequences and nearly all of their appearances are next to each other. There is this kind of underlying vibe that they're kind of a pair now, despite the fact that the date and anything from issue #4 was not commented on.

Well, it will be... Buckle up kids, because we're for a whole lot of fun in X-Men #8. ;)

[kartaylirnaak]

WIP Sneak Peak

Have another SFW sneak peak from the final chapter of The Lingerie Approval Board (NSFW).

—

Cody: What do you think I’ve been doing this entire time?

Wooley: Multitasking apparently

Gearshift: Putting up with us

Oddball: And writing reports

Waxer: And drinking copious amounts of caff

Longshot: Bones is probably seething somewhere

Bones: I am always seething

Bones: It sustains me

—

The final chapter will be up on AO3 soon and you can read it here.

More info about clone medic OC Bones below. He seems to be a fandom character and I'm definitely not claiming him as my own. This is more my interpretation of him as he appears in this fic.

To my eternal chagrin, there is no named medic for the 212th. So I had to make one up. His name is Bones and he is pretty much just Bones from Star Trek. It’s not very original and I’m sure plenty of people have done this before but I needed a medic for the 212th so here he is. He’s the CMO of the 212th and is equal parts grumpy and terrifying, wields hypos and scanners with a vengeance, subsists on caff and spite, and cares about his vode but is deeply tired of their nonsense. He’s a little protective of Splint (shiny medic OC) but will strenuously deny it.

[probadbatch]

Oooh 'soulmates'???

Another Crosshair x Hunter fic (with a dash of Tech x Phee) that I'm working on but it's barely more than an outline right now

Cliche soulmate au where your soulmate's name shows up on your wrist except that it just happens kinda randomly rather than when you first meet or at a set age or whatever. So Hunter gets his mark on Kaller and doesn't say anything about it at first because he's worried that Crosshair's acting weird because he's unhappy about getting his mark and besides, there will be plenty of time to deal with that later, right? Lol nope. Cue three seasons of angst and tragic pining because I am a simple girl and my target audience is me.

Like I said, barely more than an outline so I don't have much that's share-able but I do have one scene that's almost a proper snippet so here! Have some post-Eriadu sads:

Phee doesn’t cover her wrists. She makes no effort to hide the mark that wasn’t there when they last saw her. “Appeared right after your ship took off,” she says, answering his unasked question and tracing a finger over the spot where CT-9902 is written across her skin, clear as day. It hasn’t even begun to scar yet. It’s a cruel trick of the force that they both gained their marks right before losing their soulmates. “Do you know if he…” Phee begins to ask, her voice trailing off before she reaches the end. Hunter understands. “He didn’t say.” He wishes he could tell her something more than the truth. If her name had appeared on Tech’s wrist, his brother either didn’t know about it or had chosen to keep the information to himself. Phee nods thoughtfully, accepting the answer. She takes a deep breath and drops her arms. “Yours is your sniper, isn’t it?” she asks, nodding toward Hunter’s still-covered wrist. “How did you -” “There’s a hurt in your eyes,” she says gently. “Didn’t know what it was until I saw it in my own. You’re missing the other half of your soul.” Hunter thinks he’s missing a lot more than that now.

The idea came to me when looking through the prompts for @tbb-appreciation-week and I'm gonna try to get it done in time to post for that but let's be honest, that's a longshot for me 😂

[featherfangart]

Ur comics have inspired me to finally try making my own, and I'm obsessed with how you lay them out. Any tips?

Hey! Sorry for the late reply, life's been... eh.

Thank you so much!! Hearing my art inspired another artist to try is the best thing! <3

I'm not much of a teacher, but without going on about comics for pages and pages, I can offer these few steps now:

Think of the scene as a movie - imagine the screenshots in your head, place them behind themselves as a storyboard and think of the panels and their shapes only after you have the idea somehow settled. Try to switch between details and longshots, so you escape the talking heads problem.

If the characters are talking about something, let them do something with their hands. Let them interact with the environment. Are they in a library? Let one of them browse books. Are they in a bar? One can wash the dishes, the other fidgets with the glass (hello, Zack Fair).

I usually try to have ONE panel or ONE SEQUENCE (of gestures/expressions/movement) in each page that I focus on and draw it somehow visually pleasing and interesting, while the rest is flowing around it.

Think of the importance and timelength of each panel and position it in the page accordingly.

The comics should be fun for both you and the reader. It takes crazy amounts of patience to get anything done, but you can do this.

And most important of all - start out small.

Think of the smaller scenes, try out your style, try what wears and doesn't wear you down, try out what makes you happy, experiment, find a comfourtable style, but don't expect to draw the whole of Berserk as your first work ever.

Burning yourself out on first five pages, when your audience will only spend a few seconds on each panel is just. Nonsense. (........happened to me)

And obviously - read comics.

From a lot of artists. I read hundreds of pages of Robin, Teen Titans, Nightwing and Catwoman as a teen. And BUNCH of other comics, but I feel like DC and Bat-fam left the biggest mark on me. And obvs, Trigun, but I'm literally using it as a study material now.

I can also recommend Scott McCloud's books about comics. Understanding Comics (1993) opened my eyes when I was 16 and was the final step to made me fall in love with the medium.

Hope this helps a little! <3 Thank you again! <3