#i'm sure these were coherent answers at one point but i don't even know what i mean half the time

[thefandomenchantress]

(Sorry for not just answering this in the comments, I had a feeling I was gonna go over the word limit (I was correct haha) and figured maybe I should just make a post about it).

Spoilers for Chapter Two Episode 13!

I'll be honest...I am very scared for Ace right now. A lot of his trial behavior is kinda suspicious if you squint, but then again, he's Ace, so he's always going to be hastily throwing around suspicion and be generally incompetent when it comes to solving the murder. And after watching all of chapter two...I just can't accept that it's him.

Now, it's fair to say that's just favoritism on my part. After all, I'm willingly to make a lot of stretches to keep on believing in my Eden's The Culprit agenda. And...Yeah, true, you are kinda right. Even if I was in a scenario where I couldn't find a single objective reason for him not to be the culprit, I still wouldn't be able to accept it was him until he was executed.

But I can't help but think I do have at least a little evidence to prove Ace isn't the culprit.

I actually made a post a while back about the Ace culprit theory, and how I don't think it works. And I'm going to reiterate a point I made there, since I'm not sure if I conveyed what I meant all that clearly.

This is about the tape.

Yes, yes, I know. Everything's about the tape these days, but I still think it's important!! After all, the grippy tape was used in the murder mechanism, and disappeared while only Ace, Eden, and Teruko were in the room. Meaning one of them has to be the one connected to the murder, (meaning they are at the very least an accomplice).

Teruko and Eden both technically could've taken it, Eden much more so than Teruko, but this isn't about them, so I'll skip that. I'm sure you've heard stuff about that before somewhere, anyhow.

Let's get to the main point:

Could Ace have taken the tape?

Okay, okay, fine, real answer time. In my opinion? It doesn't make much sense to me. After all, if Ace took the tape, we have two options:

Ace was planning to murder someone and already had a plan in mind when he took the tape, knowing he'd need it for a mechanism.

Ace didn't have a plan in mind and wanted to murder Nico when he took the tape.

Now, let's take those one at a time so I can tell you why I don't buy them.

Let's start with option one.

Ace knew he was going to murder someone with the tape down the line and took it.

Now, let's put this into perspective for a moment. Ace is actively being murdered. Even if we assume that Nico is not the true person behind Ace's almost-death, we can assume that someone was cutting Ace's neck open before this. And if Ace was conscious, he wouldn't wait for them or anyone else who can take advantage of his weakened state to come back. So Ace must be unconscious at least until Teruko and Eden make Nico run away.

That means the only time Ace can be having even sort of coherent thoughts is in the minute or so Teruko is investigating his body. He is actively bleeding out, someone just tried to murder him, and everything has gone to shit. On top of it all, he's a character who's usually rather impulsive.

And in order for him to have known he'd need the tape for his new murder plan, he'd need to have thought of a whole murder mechanism scheme while under those conditions. Seems a little iffy, but let's assume, for the sake of this post, he's secretly a murder-plan-making genius! So of course he easily thought of that entire extremely complex murder plan that far in advance!

That means Ace has a plan when he manages to get the strength to stand up. He knows he needs the tape, so he grabs it, while knocking Eden over and shouting in hopes it will distract them enough to not notice he took it (Let's also ignore that Teruko is watching him this whole time and probably would've noticed him taking it). He then pretends he's going to go kill Nico immediately, while secretly plotting to kill them or someone else in the future.

But if Ace isn't planning to murder Nico immediately like he says, then why is he so insistent on it? Non-culprit!Ace readings make this easily understandable; Ace's emotions are running high from the murder attempt and he's running off to find Nico because he's angry and thinks they tried to kill him. However, if Ace doesn't actually want to kill Nico, why does he bother putting on such a big act pretending he does?

If this is an act, color me impressed. Ace has, in the past, shown himself to be a pretty terrible liar who is also not very good at keeping secrets. So him being able to pull this off while bleeding out...Yeah, he definitely deserves an Oscar, haha. Because he really sells it. He's banging on Nico's door, yelling in a very aggressive and convincing manner, and tells Levi he is going to murder Nico almost nonchalantly. If this scene was later revealed to all be an elaborate 4D-chess move by Ace, I would be super surprised.

And none of it is even that necessary if it is an act. Ace could've stomped out of the room without telling them he was going to kill Nico if he wanted to, it's not like it was necessary for his plan. After all, if he was planning a murder, why would he purposely prove that he would be willingly to commit one? It's way better to play into his scaredy-cat tendencies here, instead, if he's trying not to gain suspicion. Like, imagine:

Eden: O-oh my god! Ace, are you alright?!? Y-you're bleeding a lot, let's go to the infirma--

Ace: Get the fuck away from me! I'm not trusting any of you fuckers to get anywhere near me! I was totally right to not trust any of you in the first place, you're all gonna try some shit like this eventually! You probably think that now's the perfect time to strangle me while pretending to help, huh?! Well, too bad! I can do it myself.

(Cue Ace getting the fuck out of there before they can realize he took the tape).

I mean, why would he possibly think that pretending he's going to murder Nico while secretly planning another murder is a good idea?! Even if people don't connect the tape to him, they're going to think that he's completely capable of an act like that if he's desperate enough. If he hadn't done this, his classmates might've kept on thinking he was too much of a scaredy-cat to seriously consider hurting anyone, which would help his chances of winning the trial.

You could say he did it to disguise the fact that he had a plan to murder someone later. No one would suspect that he was planning to murder someone later if he pretended to try to murder someone now. But no one was accusing him of plotting anything in the first place? So I really don't see how it's necessary. Better to play it safe than to risk actually running into Nico when he doesn't actually plan to harm them. His little charade can only go so far. The only way this even sort of benefits him is if in the trial, people say maybe he was plotting something, and he can refute with his reckless behavior here. But, uh...Would it really be realistic to say Ace, of all people, thought that far ahead and meticulously planned out every detail in the mere moments he woke up from the turpentine? I don't know, seems like a little bit of a stretch to me.

Let's remind ourselves that, in this scenario, Ace is most likely scared for his life. He is scared someone else is going to murder him now that Nico tried, and that is why he is planning a murder now. In that case, I think the most important thing is that Ace's primary emotion is that moment is fear. Which he doesn't have a very good track record of hiding. When Ace is scared, you will know. So if Ace was scared and planning a murder in result during that moment, I don't think he'd have masked it as well as he did. Ace doesn't seem scared, just angry. Because he hates that, in his eyes, Nico was able to make him vulnerable like this.

I just...Don't think the dialog of Ace in the hallway scene after his almost-death would work as well if he was secretly not trying to murder Nico and only refusing help from the others because he was planning a different murder, and not because of his own character flaws. None of his lines seem disingenuous in the slightest to me. Which is weird, considering all the other times Ace has lied, it's pretty easy to tell.

In short, I simply don't understand why Ace would do the things he did if he was just secretly planning to murder someone. To me, his behavior makes much more sense if he's actually blinded by rage instead of secretly planning something super smart and complex.

...Alright, let's move on to scenario two.

Ace was actually planning to murder Nico when he took the tape, but plans change, and he uses the tape for murdering Arei instead.

Unsurprisingly, I don't buy this either.

If Ace really did plan to murder Nico in this moment and was admitting it full-heartedly, with no qualms about getting caught, why would he hide that he took the tape? He tells Levi he's going to murder Nico upfront, so obviously he doesn't care that they know what he's doing.

In that case, he wouldn't have stealthily picked up the tape while Teruko wasn't looking and put it in his pocket immediately (Both of Ace's hands are seen in his sprites, so it's not like he was just holding it in his hand, if he did take the tape he took it as quickly and unnoticeably as possible, hid it somewhere on his person, then didn't mention it).

If he's planning to murder Nico and hasn't thought about what happens afterwards, or knows he will be executed and still doesn't care, then it's not like he has anything he's going to do with the tape after he murders Nico. Meaning the only reason he would take it, is if it had something to do with murdering Nico.

And in that case, Ace doesn't care about how much the others know when it comes to how he does the murder. So he wouldn't be shy about admitting he was going to use the tape to uh...Idk, strangle Nico? Or restrain them? I don't even really know how he would use only grippy tape to murder them anyways. It's not like he'd use it to put over their mouth to keep them quiet, he's shouting threats to them in the middle of the hallway for everyone to hear. He could not give less of a fuck about who knows Nico is in danger.

Ace has literally no reason to be secretive about taking the tape in this scenario. The only way it would work is if Teruko and Eden just so happened to not notice even though Ace wasn't bothering to be subtle, which is...Kinda weird, since Teruko's usually pretty damn observant.

Plus, Ace has a lot of blood on his hands during the gym waking-up scene, but maybe he managed to get the tape in his pocket before any blood could get on it? Since there wasn't as much on his hands before he woke up? Idk, possibly still notable.

To summarize this whole section a bit, if Ace was planning to murder Nico when he took the tape, he'd have little reason to take it and no reason to take it sneakily. If he was secretly planning another murder, it's hard to justify why he pretends he wants to murder Nico in the first place, or how he even thought up his murder plan so quickly and under such intense circumstances. And since Teruko was presumably looking at Ace the whole time, Ace would have a hard time even picking up the tape in the first place without Teruko noticing.

(I've also seen people say that if Teruko and Ace can't 100% confirm each other's witness testimony about the other not taking it while Eden was on the ground, you can't really prove who took it in the trial).

...So that's it with the tape, I think. All in all, I don't think Ace taking it makes much sense, or at least not as much sense as Eden does.

That's my main reason for being doubtful of Ace being the culprit, but I guess there's maybe some other things I could mention...

Ace is supposed to be the Mondo of the Chihiro-Mondo = Nico-Ace murder situation.

This can be seen by how the almost-murder takes place in the gym, and how Ace is the one who wants to be strong despite feeling deep down that he is weak. He's also the one who is afraid of getting hit by cars, and the one who's friend mysteriously died...

Yeah, I'm willing to bet Ace's friend being dead and Ace weirdly mentioning being afraid of cars hitting him in chapter 1 probably means his friend met a similar fate to Mondo's brother. Except without all the biker gang stuff, haha.

Which, uh, isn't good if we're trying to make Ace not the culprit, since that secret was one of the major reasons Mondo killed and all that. And I was worried about that...Until Ace just sorta brought Taylor up unprompted in the middle of trial. Like, if that was a big, personal, secret reason for why he murdered Arei, not sure why he would just randomly bring it up now when the DRDTdev could just--Have him talk about it later, when he's the culprit. And if we assume Ace thought that Taylor dying was his secret and killed so that secret wouldn't get out, then that wouldn't make sense, since Ace brings it up in conversation without hesitating. Even Ace wouldn't kill for a secret and then blab about it only a day later. So I doubt Taylor's death is going to play any sort of role in Ace's motive to murder.

(Unlike Eden, who's secret does include someone she was close to and probably regrets not being honest with when it came to her feelings and--okay okay fine I'll shut up now sorry--).

Plus, Ace having Mondo parallels doesn't mean he has to be the culprit. Nico wasn't the victim just because they had Chihiro parallels, so the same can be true for Ace. It does make him a little more suspicious, though, sadly.

Also...

I wonder how this would pay off if Ace died? I immediately assumed that oh, Levi will die, and Ace will realize that this statement was not true. But it could go in way more directions than that.

This line has to be pretty damn important if it got the bold yellow letter treatment. That statement is going to affect Ace or Levi (or both) in a very major way.

If Ace dies, then...I guess I'm not sure if that statement would affect Levi as much without Ace being there. Levi has already said that he would not care if Ace died. It would simply be as if he never knew him, like he was a stranger. And I guess, in my mind, it makes a lot more sense if Ace is a living embodiment of what he said to Levi than him just being gone.

I mean, imagine if Levi threatened Ace and then Ace was the culprit in chapter 1. Levi would not care nearly as much about what he said, because everyone thinks Ace did a bad thing by framing Teruko and not admitting to the class that he murdered Xander, even if it was with good intentions.

Now imagine that Ace is the culprit of chapter two. He murdered Arei with not-good intentions, framed Eden, and never admitted he did it until the bitter end. No one liked Ace before, and they certainly don't like him now. He took advantage of Arei's trust in Eden and for that no one will forgive him. Ace was not a good person, and most of Levi's classmates will reinforce this. So if Ace wanted Levi to die, it doesn't matter, right? Levi tried his best to help him, and he failed, but he tried his best, like Eden said.

What I'm trying to say is that if Ace dies here, I'm not sure how one would make it so that this line really resonates with Levi enough to make a significant enough impact on him that it's highlighted. If Ace is gone and made out to be a no-good murderer by the killing game system they're trapped in, and no one thought Ace was a good person as is, Levi wouldn't put stock in Ace's opinion nearly as much as he would, say, Eden's. Ace was a bully and a murderer, so his opinion doesn't matter, right? I doubt anyone else in the killing game will disagree, so I'm guessing none of them will be ecstatic to defend Ace's honor if Levi asks anyone about it in chapter three.

Long story short, this line makes a lot more sense to me if both Levi and Ace survive trial two (Or I guess if Levi gets executed because of that 'all murderers must pay for their crimes' rule but still).

Other than that, a few other points that make Ace being the culprit less likely are that we have no evidence of Ace knowing about where to find Hu and Teruko's old clothes and that sort of thing. Then there's the spelling mistake I don't think Ace would make given how he acts in the investigation and trial, as I said in another post (Would they really make a point to have Ace of all people correct Teruko's language twice only to have a sticking point be that a word was misspelled in a letter he wrote?).

Plus there's the fact that, allegedly, the culprit made the time ambiguous so that no one would know they did the murder at AM not PM, and Ace didn't have an alibi for either time slot. It'd be weird to do that and then not get yourself an alibi for the fake PM murder time. If the culprit didn't do that on purpose, then I guess they just got really, really lucky when no one found the small piece saying pm or am. Like, that's a smaller piece, so it's not surprising no one found it, but it being such a small piece of the note makes it look like it was ripped out purposefully.

Honestly, the only thing I'd sort of like about Ace culprit theory is that it would confirm Ace writes all fancy and nice, haha. Which would be a really funny subversion of expectations, but not funny enough for me to not be sad he's the culprit and is going to die.

Another thing I've seen floating around is that if the culprit really did copy/reuse the Nico-Ace murder contraption, they would need to know how it works. And if Ace was in the gym that night, that would mean he knows how it works and would be able to replicate it!

But this entire time, we've gone under the assumption that Nico (or whoever almost-murdered Ace) knocked Ace out with the turpentine, and that's why they stole it. Ace is pretty strong physically, so someone needing to knock him out to overpower him isn't too unbelievable. And in that case, Ace wouldn't have gotten much of a chance to look at the crime scene, since he was unconscious for the whole murder attempt. The only time we saw him awake was in the time he woke up bleeding out. And seeing as Ace isn't exactly the brightest, I doubt he could've just looked around while actively dying and immediately have known exactly what was up and how he almost got murdered. And on top of all that, if he was secretly planning a murder, he'd have been focusing on his whole pretending-to-want-to-kill-Nico thing, too, further dividing his attention. Whoever set up the mechanism or saw it for a longer period of time without bleeding out, probably would've had a better shot at knowing how the mechanism worked.

Oh, and before I go: I've mentioned this before, but "All That Glitters" and "A Good Person" aren't really themes that I think would suit Ace as a culprit. After all, they mean 'not as good as it seems' and 'being a good person'. Unlike some other characters, Ace hasn't had any involvement in the Good Person dilemma except telling Levi he's not one. And I don't think anyone thought Ace was 'good' in the first place, let alone not as good as he seems.

I could probably go more in-depth...But I'm tired so short, straightforward theme explanation it is, haha.

I...Think that's all? Honestly, I might be able to think of more reasons in the future...But for now, I think I'm done. I refuse to accept the culprit is Ace, so I'm just trying to point out any evidence I can that it's not him. My heart wouldn't be able to take it...

Still, I don't judge anyone who does buy the ace culprit theory, I just don't buy it personally. So there's the answer you were probably looking for, in way less words, haha.

[obsessivestar]

'What If It's All A RomCom?' - A Ted Nivison x Reader

{{-Theres not a whole lot to say about this chapter 7 so I'm gonna use this space to just thank everyone for the love and support lately! I've been getting a lot more likes and reblogs and ppl are recommending this fic and that's just really fucking cool. Every comment I read makes me so inspired, thank you everyone ♡ if y'all have any prompts you want me to write a quick one-shot with, don't be afraid to ask! Pretty sure my question box thingy is open LMAO. Enjoy this chill chapter!-}}

//General Warnings: 18+ Fic, NO MINORS. Reader is implied to be afab and under 5'5.

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of nudity and female genitalia, Lotta pillow talk n flirting lololol I love writing banter\\

Word count: 4.2k

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@k-k0129 & @callsign-scully

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Also bonus points if you can guess the title reference (it's not hard to guess LOL)

Chapter 7: The Room Where it Happened

I wake up to the sound of an alarm going off, though I recognize that it's not from my phone. I'm laying on my side and my bare body is comfortably warm, somewhat still under the covers. I open my eyes, but the view of my room is blocked by something. Skin, a man's bare chest. Ted's chest.

My arms are tucked in front of me, slightly constricted by Ted's strong arms wrapped around my bare body. I can feel his hands lightly tracing and rubbing my back, making me blush and smile to myself. He's awake. More importantly, he's still here, holding me.

I move my head a little to snuggle a little closer to Ted, hearing him hum in response. "There you are.." I hear Ted's tired voice acknowledge my movement, moving his body back a little so I have more room to move, still keeping his arm wrapped around me. I get to look at Ted's face for the first time since last night and I feel a flutter in my chest, batting my eyelashes at him a little with a warm smile. I don't know what it is, but he's so much more handsome now than he was yesterday. Maybe it's the lack of glasses, maybe it's his messy hair, maybe it's the doe eyed smile he's giving me, I don't know. Looking at him now...It's like I can hear a choir cooing like angels my head.

"You conscious in there?..." Ted speaks again, moving one of his hands up to poke me in the forehead. I squint in response and chuckle, nodding slightly at him. "Yeah, sorry, I was just..." I trail off a little, my sight going to his lips once again. I can't believe I kissed this man last night. I can't believe I slept with this man last night. "I..."

"Wow...you're actually speechless, eh?.." Ted laughs a little, his hand moving to rub my upper arm. "Guess I can shut you up.."

I guess he can. It's strange. I have so much I want to say, so many more questions I want to ask and yet, I'm speechless. All I can do is giggle and gaze into his eyes, admiring the little features on his handsome face now that the room is lit up enough to see them. He's got the cutest moles along his cheek and beside his mouth, the littlest cupids bow along the top of his lip that gets thinner the bigger he smiles, the little line along his chin, the bags under his gentle eyes...

"Hey.." Ted softens his tone as he speaks to me again, his thumb caressing my shoulder. "Seriously, though. What're you thinkin' about? What's gotchu so quiet?"

I can see he's genuinely asking, I have been rather quiet. I take in a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves so I can actually deliver a coherent answer to him. "I'm just...fuck.." I whisper, shaking my head with a chuckle. "I...I can't even really think straight right now. I have...no idea what to say; where to start..."

"Well, we've got about..." Ted turns back briefly to look at his phone. "...an hour to, uh...talk, so..." Ted turns back to me again, giving me a reassuring smile. "Take your time.."

His tone is so much different now, even the way he's looking at me is different. So concerning, So...affectionate. If this were yesterday, he'd be a lot more condecending. He'd be mocking me. Hell, he was mocking me last night. Now it's like...that wall is down. He's comfortable, maybe. "I just...can't believe you're in here.." I finally speak out, letting out a shaky sigh. My hand moves up to cup his cheek, his affectionate smile growing as I caress his face. "In my room...in my bed...in my arms.."

"Technically, you're in my arms.." Ted commented, getting another dopey giggle out of me. "What, did you think I'd leave?"

"I didn't think you'd ever been in here to begin with.." I admit with a little shake of the head. "I've felt things, I figured you knew I've felt things, but I couldn't tell if you felt...things."

Ted hums out a little chuckle, glancing down at my lips before pulling me in closer, connecting his blush toned lips with mine. I let out a content sigh in the kiss, wrapping my arms around him the best I can. I didn't want to get out of bed, I wanted to stay here with Ted forever, or for at least an extra hour or so. I wasn't sure how the dynamic would change once we have to go back out in front of everyone.

Ted breaks the kiss with a pleasant hum, opening his eyes once more to gaze at me. I blush at him, wondering to myself if anyone had heard us last night. I wasn't really able to be quiet with how he was...handling me and the bed had been making an awful racket as well. The frame is probably cheap. "I suppose that's...an answer.." I sigh with a little chuckle, running my fingers through his tall hair.

"I'm a little, uh...better with actions than words.." Ted admitted with a tired smile, still gently caressing my face. "But, yeah I uh...I do like you.."

It felt so nice to hear him finally admit it aloud to me. After last night, I didn't really have anymore lingering doubts, but hearing it come from his voice was relieving, the burden of the unknown finally lifting off my shoulders. "Well, last night's actions certainly made everything crystal clear.." I purr at him, moving my hand around the back of his head to rub my fingers through his messy dark hair. Ted closes his eyes for a moment, smiling with a low hum. I can tell he enjoys the little massage. He opens his eyes and moves to lean over me somewhat, holding himself up with his arm. "Oh I bet.." Ted snickered back, his eyes lingering on my bare body momentarily. "You wanna make it a habit?"

I grin up at Ted with a bashful blush on my face, wrapping my arms around Ted's neck to pull him into another intimate kiss, feeling him lower his body down as our lips slowly dance together. I could get use to this. I really could. "Mmm, That..." I purr in the kiss as I pull back, nibbling a little on my lower lip. "That wouldn't suck.."

"Oh, There'd be plenty of sucking.." Ted hums with a devilish smile, leaning down to leave little kisses along my neck. I instinctively lean my head back and a quiet moan escapes me, moving my hands down to Ted's shoulders to weakly urge him to slow down. "You fucker.." I whisper to him, my face warming up when he snickers mockingly against my sensitive skin.

We both freeze when I hear a knock at my door. I softly gasp as I sit up and Ted shifts away from me to look back at the door. "(Y/N)?" I hear Tanner's voice from the other side of the door. "You awake in there?"

Ted looks at me, making sure to keep quiet just in case. I noted that Tanner was only speaking to me. Maybe he didn't know Ted was in here? "Yeah, I'm awake.." I call back to Tanner, keeping my eyes on the door. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, just wanted to let you know that there's food downstairs." Tanner explained. "Dan came back with breakfast. It's downstairs if you want some. Everyone's just kinda grabbing whatever."

"Okay, I'll be right down. Thanks.." I smile a little at Ted, hearing Tanner give me a quick 'yep' before walking away from my door. I really wasn't sure if Tanner was trying to be polite, or if he genuinely thought I was alone in here.

After knowing for sure Tanner was out of earshot, I let out a little sigh of relief and Ted starts laughing quietly, moving some of his hair out of his face.

"Did he know you're in here?.." I ask with a bashful smile, placing a hand on my cheek. "He might not, I don't know about everyone else.." Ted admitted, looking around the bed to see if he can locate his clothes.

"Why do you say that?" I ask, shifting a little in the bed towards my air conditioner.

"He fell asleep with his earbuds in."

"Oh yeah, he does that. No way he heard anything."

"Everyone else definitely heard you though."

"Oh fuck you!" I cackle, picking up one of the pillows to throw it at Ted. "Maybe if you'd taken it fuckin' easy, I would've been quieter."

"Last I checked, you were the one takin' it."

"Ted, I'm going to fucking slap you."

"Can it wait until I find my fucking pants?" Ted chuckles at me, trying to keep himself covered with the blanket. "I'm hungry."

We had scattered our clothes around quite a bit last night. His sweatpants were down by my air conditioner, his shirt by the front door, my nightgown still hanging off the edge of the bed and I couldn't spot my pajama shorts anywhere at all. "Do you know where my pants are?" Ted asked, trying to look around his side of the bed. I smirk at him, leaning back a little on the bed.

"Yes.." I give a slow nod, crossing my arms. Ted turns to look at me, giving me a suspicious smile. "Did you hide them?"

"No."

"But you know where they are."

"Mhmm.."

"Are they close to you?"

"Maybe.."

"And you're not gonna let me get to them, are you?"

"Nope.."

"Well, I've got something you need, too.."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Your clothes for the day."

Ted reaches under his side of the bed and pulls out the clothes I was going to wear that day, underwear and all. Fuck. The night before I like to pick out tomorrow's outfit and tuck it under the bed. He must've seen them last night. Sure, I have my dresser on my side, but I'd still have to uncover my body to get to it. "You wouldn't.." I playfully glare at him, sitting up a little in the bed. Ted holds the clothes up and far away from me, smiling deviously.

"Hand me my pants, and I won't.." He offered, tilting his head a little.

"Give me my clothes first, and I'll move." I countered, keeping my body covered with the blankets.

"Oh no, you started this. Hand me my pants."

"Give me my clothes."

"I will, once I get my pants."

"Oh come on, you wouldn't even need to leave the bed to get your pants.."

"Neither will you if you hand me my pants."

"You wanna miss breakfast over this?"

"I already ate last night."

"You just said you were hungry, Theo."

"Wasn't talkin' about food, princess. Now hand me my pants."

I squint at Ted, glaring daggers through him with a slight embarrassed smirk on my face.

"You're not gonna do it." I challenge him, leaning back against my pillow and crossing my arms again. Ted raises his eyebrows at me and glances down at my crossed arms before giving my clothes a good toss away from both of us, watching with a gasp as they land next to his shirt by the front door. "Fetch.."

I look over at my clothes with widened eyes before rolling them back and letting out a huff. We had spent a little too much time in here so I figured I should just go get them. I reach over my side of the bed to pick up and throw Ted's sweatpants at him before moving to get out of bed, completely naked.

When I sit up and move my legs over the edge of the bed though, I feel my thighs are still shaking a little. My face becomes a little hot when I remember how tightly I had my legs wrapped around Ted last night, I didn't expect them to still feel weak.

"Can't walk?" I hear Ted mocking me with a pleased hum, looking over to see that he'd already gotten his sweatpants and glasses on. "Can you get my clothes, please?.." I asked him, sweetening the tone of my voice. Ted tilts his head at me and hums again before getting up out of bed to move over to my clothes. I smile at him, but it falters a little when I see him pick up his shirt instead.

"Y'know, I would.." Ted begins, putting his shirt back on and leaning back against the closed door "...but now I wanna see if you can walk." He grins devishly at me and slowly beckons me over with a finger. "Come here."

I feel my face heat up and pout at his response, but honestly, this is kind of hot, so I do as I'm told. I stand up from the bed, closing my eyes for a moment when I feel the slight weakness and warmth in my legs. I'm grateful to Tanner for choosing his film to be a RomCom and not an Action movie, that's for sure . I move around the bed and approach my clothes, the heavy blush staying on my face knowing Ted is watching me. I'm sure he's very entertained. I picked up my clothes with an embarrassed huff, putting them on quickly in front of him.

"This is what we are now, eh?" I ask, turning around to get Ted's assistance with putting my bra on. I hear him sigh, planting a little kiss on the top of my head. "If you want the truth, I'm enjoying this while I have it.." He replied, successfully hooking my bra around me. "I...don't know if you want to say anything about this."

I smile affectionately when I feel him kiss my head, turning to look at him as I put my shirt on. "You don't think they heard us?" I ask with a sort of sing-song tone. "You underestimate how fucking deeply Joe and Dan sleep." Ted adds with a little chuckle. "They're heavy fucking sleepers, plus they're on the entire other side of the hallway. We might be okay."

I don't say anything for a little while, getting my pants on last so I can tuck my shirt in the way I like it. I thought I'd been loud enough to wake the whole house up, but Ted has a point. Tanner had his earbuds in, Dan's an incredibly loud snorer and Joe definitely would've knocked my door down by now if he knew Ted had spent the night in here. There's a very good chance no one out there knows a thing.

"Do you wanna keep it between us?.." Ted asks me, his tone becoming a little more serious. Once I get my pants buttoned up, I look up at him. I sigh a little. "Well, even if I did, I have to tell Joe.."

"Joe? Why?" Ted asks, a little confused.

"He...snipped at me about this the first night we stayed here." I admit with a smile. "He warned me not to get with you, but a couple days ago he...changed his mind, I guess. Told me to tell him if anything happened, I promised I would."

"'Get with me'.." Ted repeats with a little scoff, looking away for a moment and shaking his head. "Too late, I guess. You're stuck with me now."

"Oh am I?" I grin at him, wrapping my arms loosely around his neck to get his attention again. He looks at me once more, his gaze softening as our eyes meet. "Yeah, you are.."

An affectionate sigh leaves me and we both chuckle a little. I'm content with this. I lean up to give him a gentle kiss on the lips, a satisfied hum leaving me when he returns the kiss, slinking his hands around my waist. After a moment, I pull back from his lips and gaze at him once more, biting my lower lip slightly. "I'll let Joe know privately. It's up to you whether you want everyone else to know.."

Ted briefly glances up with his eyes, probably pondering the idea. "I'll think about it. Thanks."

I smile at him again before pulling back so Ted can open the door, peeking outside at first to see if anyone was up here in the hallway with us. With the coast being clear, we both exit my room. Ted tells me he's going into his room to change for the day, so I go downstairs alone. It probably looks better this way, especially if Ted wants to keep us on the downlow for now.

Everyone greets me when I enter the kitchen, seeing the different boxes of donuts and other snacks scattered around. Some members of the film crew were toasting some bagels to have while others simply had a coffee and a hashbrown. Most of the donuts were already devoured so Tanner starts to throw away the empty boxes. It's weird being in front of everyone again after last night. It's like they could just look at me and know, even though it's clear to me now that they haven't got a clue. Joe and Dan are out here as well, sitting at the kitchen table with some donuts in their hand and their coffee's on the table. After I grab a bite to eat, I head on over to hang out with them. It seemed like we were getting a slightly later start anyways, I couldn't spot any of the extras that had been here for the last week, so they all probably went home.

"Holy, I thought you were dead up there." Dan joked to me with a smile, wiping his mouth a little with his wrist. I blush a little, wondering if that was a comment about...you know. It definitely wasn't, thankfully. "I slept in a little." I admit with a shy grin and a shrug, sort of leaning against the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ted come downstairs in a new long sleeved shirt, fixing up his hair with his other hand as he heads into the kitchen. I smile to myself. Ooh, this is gonna be hard. He's more attractive now. Is this what 'post-fuck glow' is?

"Ok, we need your help settling something.." Joe speaks up after taking a long sip from his iced cappuccino, setting it down on the table. My attention returns to Joe, raising my brow a little curiously. "Okay.."

"This is gonna sound so fucking weird to you, but hear me out cause I think you'll find it funny.." Joe begins, gesturing his hands out in front of him. "We were arguing over what the ratio is--out of all of the guys here, what the ratio is of...who here would know where the clit is versus who wouldn't know."

Oh fuck me, Joe comes up with the wildest topics.

"What???" I furrow my brows at Joseph and scoff a little. Tanner joins us at the table, pulling up a few more chairs so he and I can sit down with Dan and Joe. "Hear me out! Like there's, what, 21 other guys working here, including the 3 of us." Joe explains, gesturing to Dan, Tanner and himself. Tanner's staff was more male focused. Now that the extras were gone there were about 32 of us. 24 of them were male. "So, what, you're wondering how many of them know where the clit is?" I ask with a nervous chuckle. "How fucking long have you been debating this? Why?"

"A good hour." Dan admits, his tone suggesting he's exaggerating. "This all fuckin' started because I pulled out a really small donut hole and Joe said it looked like a clit. It made me laugh and I asked why he thought that."

"I just know, bro." Joe chuckles with a little shrug.

"Joseph.." I bring my hand up to lightly squeeze the bridge of my nose with my finger and my thumb. I wanted a way to take my mind off of last night, this certainly wasn't helping.

"I'd say maybe half. At least half of us must know." Tanner suggests, gesturing to the kitchen.

"Nooo! No way." Joe quickly shoots it down, shaking his finger at Tanner. "Not fucking half, no way. 5 of us probably know. 5. Tops."

"So if we know, that leaves 3 others." Dan continues, gesturing to himself and Joe. "Tanner, do you know where it is?"

"Oh, definitely not." Tanner admits with a little chuckle. "But, like, If you give me maybe 5--maybe 10 minutes. I could, y'know, probably figure it out. For science."

I can't help but laugh at that. Knowing Tanner, he's not being dishonest about that. He'd probably want to know where it is for bragging rights and that's it, not to actually use that knowledge as a man.

"Find what?" Ted finally joins in on the conversation, half of a bagel already stuffed in his mouth.

"Ted, do you know where the clit is?" Tanner abruptly asks Ted, getting a good laugh out of the rest of us when Ted nearly coughs out his bagel. I resist the urge to touch my cheek, feeling it warm up.

"What the fuck!?" Ted asks with a laugh, shrugging with his arms out. "That's what you're discussing? At 9 in the morning?"

"We think 3 other guys here must know where the clit is." Dan explained, taking a sip from his coffee with a little chuckle. "Do you know?"

"He wouldn't fucking know! Ted wouldn't fucking know where it is." Joe scoffs with a cackle, wiping underneath his eyes when they begin to water from the laughter. Ted and I share a quick, knowing glance and I see him smirk at me.

"No. Probably not." Ted jokes, shaking his head a little. I look down at the desk to mask the big smile threatening to spread along my lips.

Act a fool

Act a fool

Act a fool

Act a fool

Act a fool.

"Oh, (Y/N), now that you're here.." Tanner gets my attention by speaking my name, swallowing the last bit of his donut so he wasn't speaking with his mouth full. "Dianne with the makeup department wanted to experiment with a few looks with you. She's in the living room whenever you're ready."

"Oh cool, mind as well go now." I shrug, standing up from my seat. "What's it for?"

"For the ballroom scene." Tanner replied, wiping any crumbs that may had been on his face. That's right. Tanner had written in a whole dream sequence in the film that involves changing the set to appear more like a ballroom and making Ted and I look like royalty. They're probably going to see what will look best on me, whether we'll be making this more historic or fantasy-based. It'll be one of the last scenes we film. I've really been looking forward to it.

"Have a good rest of your morning, guys!" I chirp and wave a little, moving aside so Ted could sit. Ted moves around me to take my spot, but not before giving me a little peck on the lips.

Uhh...

In front of everyone.

"Have fun, princess."

Everyone at the table looks very surprised as Ted sits down, myself included. Huh? What was that? He said he was going to think about both of us telling everyone! Oh, this motherfucker, he probably did that on purpose. He totally did that on purpose. Everyone stares at Ted as he takes a long sip from his coffee, with Joe eventually breaking the stare to furrow his brows at me instead.

"...What?" Ted speaks through his coffee cup, a coy smirk making the corners of his lips curl up. A nervous chuckle escapes me. I can't believe he did that.

"...Did you just kiss her?" Dan asks, a half-smile on his face. It's like he couldn't tell if this was supposed to be a bit or not.

"Yeah." Ted replied simply, setting his coffee down. "Why?"

"Wha--Yeah, that's what I was about to ask, Ted." Tanner looked more bewildered than ever. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why...did you kiss (Y/N)?"

"I wanted to again."

"Again? When did you kiss her before?"

"In her room."

My entire face feels like a boiling kettle. Is he really going to spill everything right here, right now? It seemed like no one from the film crew could hear us, he was exclusively just speaking to Tanner, Dan and Joe.

"Wait, is that where you went last night?" Tanner asked, the confusion on his face becoming more dramatic. "Well I planned to sleep on the couch, but yeah." Ted answered honestly, finishing up the last half of his bagel.

"You were in her room? Last night?"

"Yeah."

"What--What happened in there?"

"Nothin'."

Ted glances at me with a smirk as he gives no real answers to Tanner. I'm so embarrassed, I just turn away and start heading towards the living room like I said I would. As I do this, I hear Joe get up from his seat to march straight towards me, along with Tanner continuously proding Ted with more questions.

"What happened in the room?" Tanner asks, a confused laugh leaving him. "What happened in that room, Ted?"

Oh boy, here we go.

__________________________________

|| Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 (smut) || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9 || Chapter 10 (smut)

[gyuarchives]

wrong timing, right nor wrong person. | a choi yeonjun oneshot.

sypnosis: this is the last time. you told yourself this is the last time that you would let yourself fall in the arms of love and catch feelings for a person. you don't even care if it was the right thing to do or not. alas, it was, and always will be, at the wrong time.

genre: angst, no happy ending, gn!reader

word count: 873 words

warning: none! (heartbreak?)

note: there is a good ending version for this story! figured that this can end in a happy way too so enjoy <3

"can i talk to you?"

"yeah sure! i still have some time left before my next class, what's up?"

you hate it. you hate this smile on his face that makes you feel like the whole world will be okay and that there is nothing to worry about, but your mind was filled to the brim with worries, concerns and your heart was screaming for you not to do this; however your mind said that you should, because you wouldn't have another passing chance like this again.

"no like, in private."

he looked around the lecture theatre as the other students were taking their leave after the boring class ended a few minutes ago, only the nerdy, studious ones stayed back, but none that you would even care about.

it felt like he did not want to budge from the spot he was standing between the seats, so there wasn't much choice but to do it then and there.

you took a deep breath, and dived right into the deep end.

"yeonjun, i know we have been friends for so long, and school has been so much fun with you around. classes were more tolerable, lunch breaks were so full of shit-talking about groupmates and professors.. there was never a dull moment since we worked on that project together and got closer. you came around quick every time i needed help, and you never fail to cheer me up on days when i couldn't move a muscle to smile. you really make me feel much better about life."

at this point you weren't halfway through your confession, and you were already choking up on words as your vision starts to get bleary. yeonjun looked like he knew which direction this was going. you exhaled strongly through your nose for an inch of relief.

"all those moments made me feel somewhat...attracted to you. and i couldn't ignore those feelings. every day i get to school, the only thing i would look forward to was seeing your face in classes we shared.. p-point is, i like you. so much. and i know our final year is already ending, but i feel like i need to get this off my chest before the end, or else i will never lay it to rest. and i don't really care if you don't feel the same, this was mainly for me. okay?"

you stopped talking and finally looked up from the ground to watch his face unfold into a look so mellowed, yet shocked. he couldn't even fathom his words right, and you could see his brain turning to match your words into coherent sentences that he could register.

he rubbed his mouth anxiously, a subconscious self-soothing gesture as he tried to process your confession. yeonjun looked around as if watching out for someone before answering you.

"hey, yn... look, i love being friends with you-"

oh god.

"-and i do look forward to seeing you everyday too. there were countless of happy memories i made with you and i never will forget that even after we graduate and go on our separate ways. but, im so sorry. i have been going out with someone for a while now and-"

"how long."

your statement-like question interrupted his answer quick.

"w-what?"

"how long have you been talking with this person?"

"...a month."

and there it goes. you physically felt your heart shattered into a million pieces, your body felt numb, and your head was spinning; the answer was too much for you that it almost made you sick right then and there. you expected him to reject you, but not in a way that would stab you right in the heart. you let the tears roll down your cheeks, your strong demeanour doesn't matter anymore now.

"i see."

"yn i'm sorry-"

"there is nothing to be sorry about, yeonjun. please. stop apologising."

"..okay."

you leaned on the nearest table to be alone for a while, but not long enough to disrespect his time. you wiped your tears away before turning back to him.

"great. yeah. t-thanks for the closure. i'll... see you soon, yeonjun. i wish you the best with this person."

you thanked him, and tried your best to genuinely smile while every atom of yours wished to disappear from the earth.

as you were about to walk up to the door, he yanked your arm and pulled you strongly against his chest within seconds. his hand stroked your hair while the other arm pulled you flushed to him.

"i know you don't want me to apologise, but let me be foolish and say i'm sorry one last time.. you deserve someone who will love you back as much as you love them. you will find this person, and this person will be so much better than me, yn. i will still care for you even if this is the case, yeah?"

that was the last straw for you before the dams in your eyes broke and you sobbed every depressing feeling out of your body and onto his shirt, not saying anything else; not wanting him to know that there is no replica, now or ever, who will treat you as sweetly and as heavenly as yeonjun.

a/n: sooo... another heartbreak again huh? tmi; this is just a sob story for my real life feelings, just so i can get over another boy whom i stupidly fell head over heels for no reason.... writing this feels rushed but again, i wanted to make a post for it to lay my feelings to rest actually. nonetheless, i hope you liked it!

here's the good ending version, for some smiles!

[our-trans-punk-experience]

What does it really mean to be a "Punk?"

I'm completely on board with the whole "beat the shit out of fascists and pigs" thing but I'm skeptical of any sort of subculture or group that celebrates values of any kind as "good" because I get pissy when confronted with concrete ideologies like Marxism. I'm scared that I'm going to end up getting into some kind of clique. I don't want to be in a clique where I get shat on for not having the morally approved opinion. If I can't have a controversial opinion without being silenced, then I don't want anything to do with "Punk."

I'm an Egoist. You're an anarchist, so, assuming you know who Max Stirner is, I'm pretty sure you know what that entails, but in case you don't, I put myself above all things. That's not to say that I'm a greedy bastard who wants to consume all the products ever, but that my own being and desires are the basis of my views on politics/society. I hate gender not merely because it oppresses all the poor minorities who need my help but because it gets in MY way, threatens MY life, and demands MY conformance to it. I want my damned life for myself. I want self-ownership. I see no legitimacy in the braindead wokeness of bougie college kids and chickenshit university profs. I want action in the here and now, not ineffectual Bookchinite/Leftcom/Marxist-Leninist meetings where we discuss how best to tickle the workers balls in the fallout of the USSR (which was an authoritarian shithole).

As a post-left anarchist (or preferably no-wing anarchist) I find myself skeptical of subcultures. "Oh, what's that? You don't like *band here?* Well you're automatically a poser/elitist/hipster/whatever." I understand that sometimes it's meant to pick out the actual posers by testing how thin your skin is, but it's really fucking annoying when people expect me to embody values like "don't do drugs" or "be vegan" because I refuse to define myself and my goals according to what other people deem morally correct.

I'm not really in a position to actually join a subculture at the moment because I'm a financially dependent minor, but I want you to give me an actual reason to join the punk subculture. Just so I can see if it's really worth it. What's in it for me, and how hard am I allowed to kick the balls of Nazi scum?

RIGHT!! Fuckin love it when i get asks like this

I'll split up my answer so I can get through all the points without rambling

Political Theory

SO punk does not have any one kind of coherent political ideology. Core political views are

anti-authoritarianism

non-conformist

abstractly leftist

fuck bigots of any description

you will not be bound to Marxism or any key thinkers beliefs. Your politics are your own and disagreement is encouraged as long as you arent being a dick. Of course you might find some punks that get pissy about ideological purity, but they aren't very punk, sooo fuck em. Bootlicking isn't punk, even/especially if the Boot is Lenin's.

Egoism

yeah egoist anarchism is just fine in the punk scene. as long as your "for my own ends" mentality doesnt end up tipping over into "I will go on a Shein haul twice a month bc I want new clothes and fuck anyone who tells me how damaging it is". You don't have to be a saint, just again, don't be a massive dick about it. You can look out for your own ends for sure. You will find that the punk scene often times talks about community, in the sense of solidarity and common goals (which you seem to share anyway), so as long as you can jibe with that you'll be fine

Non-conformity

Is the entire bloody point. If you're looking for a community that won't tell you that you have to look a certain way, or listen to 100 bands from the 70s to be accepted, the punk scene is built on nonconformity. not even just from society but within the scene. And even the big name bands from back in the day were screaming about the dangers of homogenising the punk scene, or letting it get commodified. Differences in opinion, style, music taste, ect are the whole fucking point and if someone tries to impose punk "rules" about that, then they don't get the scene.

"it's really fucking annoying when people expect me to embody values like "don't do drugs" or "be vegan""

i do drugs and am not vegan. you really don't need to worry. i really fear for the punk that says "don't do drugs". absolutist ideals should not be shoved on you.

"I'm not really in a position to actually join a subculture at the moment because I'm a financially dependent minor,"

Ok so while I get that possibly if you're financially dependent on people who would be able to mess up your life if you wore clothes they didn't approve of, and wouldn't buy you anything, it can seem difficult, but I want to just reassure you a bit. Punk is built off communities with financial difficulties, DIY, and more than just spiked collars. You don't have to be able to make it to basement shows or out to the city to be a punk. You can listen to the music (definitely listen to the music), get involved in politics, learn the history, watch movies, read books, DIY your own clothes and accessories, including smaller things like badges, patches or chains. The scene is the people as well as what we do.

how hard am I allowed to kick the balls of Nazi scum?

make them piss blood for weeks.

[tobiasdrake]

Okay, here we go. It's time to give a new game a go. I've had a lot of people pushing for this one so I'm excited.

I realize those are supposed to be rays of light shining off of whatever the thing is - a star, presumably - but it honestly looks like it's shooting at me. Should I be concerned?

I bet it tastes like lemon. It looks lemon-flavored to me. Though that might just be the black-and-white color scheme.

Hey. Uh. Pro tip, don't stand directly over someone's face when you're wearing a dress. There are better angles you can approach from.

Fortunately for you, I am a, uh... I am a....

...

You know what, I just woke up and I do not have sufficient information at this time to describe myself as "gentleman", "lady", or "person of esteemed character". I will get back to you when I have gathered more information as to my personal gender situation.

Yeah, sorry, I'm coming down from a wild trip. The kind where you can't be 100% sure if the things you just did caused the hallucinations or were part of the hallucinations. I think I actually saw the curvature of time.

It's a serrated crescent. I don't know what to do with that information. But I have it now.

Thank you, I feel like I will be able to hold more coherent conversations when I am more fully awake. And possibly caffeinated. If that is a thing we have.

FUCKING OW

I'M AWAKE

Ugh, that's like rolling over in just the wrong way so that your whole leg cramps up and then you have to throw yourself out of bed and walk on it to make the unbelievably agonizing pain go away. I GUESS I'M DONE BEING ASLEEP NOW.

There we go, information gathered. I have consulted the pocket notes I wrote to explain my gender to me and arrived at a conclusive answer: Masc-leaning non-binary.

Now that this mystery has been settled, I'm ready to face the day.

Well, the maybe/maybe-not hallucinations were fantastic but then it ended in violent agony so I'm gonna say that balances out to a 5.

You are alarmingly invested in my naptime quality. Are you trying to hint that you want me to go away for a couple more hours?

I dunno; I kinda just ruined my appetite for bedtime and I don't want to be that one person in the group who keeps trying to talk for hours and keeps everyone else awake.

Plus we're supposed to go fight the big bad evil guy in the morning and that might not be an appointment that we can show up to sleep-deprived. He might take offense.

Then again, we might be able to intimidate him with our cavalier attitudes and complete lack of regard for the severity of this situation.

OH NO

I didn't mean no! I just meant... we should really consider all the factors first!

...

I might be history's greatest monster.

...ugggggggh how did this become my problem.

Why does Odile get to be a Madame? I want to be a Madame. Super unfair that she gets the cool title and I'm just... uh....

SIFFRIN. I'm just Siffrin. Unfair.

If we're all staying in the same place then what's even the point of calling it a sleepo-- I MEAN I AM DOWN AND VERY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT YOUR SLEEPOVER IDEA YES THIS IS A WONDERFUL PLAN.

...

...

...

*quietly shuffles pocket notes back into pocket*

My memory is fine. Perfectly adequate.

OH THANK YOU I wanted one but I was too machismo to ask. You're always looking out for me, Mar... Merma....

Mirabelle! You're always looking out for me, Mirabelle. I appreciate it. ^_^

Now then. We have a fulfilling day ahead of us! Time to carry out the task I was assigned wander aimlessly around the village pokin' stuff.

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

This is a scrapped piece from a story I'm still trying to make work, which means the full context is a little lacking. That said, I liked it too much to ditch entirely, so onto the writing blog it goes. Again, there are placeholders all over-- even more than usual. Please don't go into this expecting anything polished. xD

---

“Hello, this is [name] calling on behalf of the Goldenrod City General Hospital.”

Immediate alarm bells, though Emmet couldn’t quite articulate why; trepidation blocked his throat, and he remained silent, letting [them] continue.

“I’ve been asked to act as a translator, as no one on staff is fully fluent in Unovan. You see, for the past four days, the facility has been attempting to identify a [John Doe], and we believe we’ve found a match with Mr. Ingo Bewaker, but due to… circumstances, have been unable to confirm. As his emergency contact, we were hoping you might be able to help us with visual confirmation.” […]

Mind going a mile a minute, it took a bit for Emmet to respond. His brother had no business being in Johto, but at this point, anything was possible. What truly disturbed him was the implication that the hospital had taken this long to find an [identity], meaning that… this person was unable to [identify] themselves.

It sounded like they wanted him to [identify] a body.

[he’d been fighting against that for some time/whatever else]

The last thing he wanted to do was agree, but how could he refuse? Either he could be sure that this was some other unfortunate individual, and that he shouldn’t give up yet, or he’d finally find an answer. He bit down on his tongue and forced himself to respond.

“Yes. Of course. Would email be preferable?” For a moment, it was just business-- the rote exchange of information-- but as the call seemed like it was winding down, he couldn’t help but ask, “...was it bad?”

Because, as much as he wanted to know what had happened, he wouldn’t be able to handle it if this was his twin and he’d died in pain. Knowing ahead of time would make it that much harder, but at least he would have something to prepare himself against. He would do it-- if it meant finally bringing his brother home, he would do it-- but [???].

[name] went on, oblivious to his internal conflict. “As I mentioned before, I’m only acting as a translator, and so I’m uninvolved in the patient’s care. From speaking to him, though, I think it’s fair to say the language barrier has been the biggest problem.”

The racing thoughts came to a screeching halt.

“You spoke to him?” He echoed [hoarsely]. Ironically, that in and of itself had an alternate translation: he’s alive?

“Yes, though I’m not sure how much got through. Between the medication and his limitations, he’s not the easiest to communicate with.” […]

That was… rude.

Even without having seen the physical proof, Emmet found himself inching closer to believing this might be it-- because of course someone would look at his brother’s face and call him hard to understand. If he was too out of it to respond coherently, that would even explain why they hadn’t been able to ask I-- this person directly, thus necessitating outside assistance.

The [deep] low suddenly swung upright, into a hopeful peak. It left Emmet a little dizzy.

“I see. Thank you for the clarification. I will refer to the email and respond as soon as possible.” He said, and the call ended shortly thereafter. Trying not to fidget, he waited for his Xtransceiver to ping, and struggled to keep his hand steady when the message came through. Hovering over the link to the attached photo, he took a deep breath and pressed down.

That was Ingo.

He had a splinted leg, there was a bandage stretching along one side of his face, and it kind of looked like he’d suffered his own personal Earthquake, but there was no doubt in Emmet’s mind. That was his brother, and while the photo could only capture so much, it was plain to see that he was alive, if not entirely well.

Using a nail to trace the edge of the facial cut, he let himself wonder how. There was nothing in the picture that suggested anything specific, or shed any more light on where he’d been all this time… beyond the Johto region, apparently…? No, that didn’t make sense. If he’d spent the past year in Johto, he would have picked something of the language up-- enough to make it by-- but he’d needed a Unovan translator.

...which was completely ignoring the question of why he wouldn’t just try to contact home, but it was obvious that Emmet was missing a great deal of context, so he would reserve judgment for the time being.

Lost in his reverie, he accidentally let the screen go dark, and then immediately tapped it to bring the picture back. He gave it another once-over before reluctantly closing it to formulate a reply-- that yes, that was his brother, and he would be departing for Goldenrod as soon as he was able.

[emeraldmew]

Hey, sis.

#also someone remind me to make my Cosmic Horror Toddler theory into something coherent

Whenever you have the time.

Okay. So bear in mind we're only like seven episodes in and I have no evidence and really no thought behind this beyond "would that be fucked up or what?" and "ooh I'd love to see what an eldritch abomination growing up is like."

There are also like, all of the spoilers for the original TMA below so like, if you're just listening to Protocol you might want to skip the rest of this post.

Tenuously connected point 1.

One of the things from what Jonny and Alex have said about Protocol is that it's supposed to involve exploring "what makes a person" right? And we also already know Jonny's answer to this question from his, uh, cannibalism discussion.

Short version: a "person" understands their actions as something that actually does things to the world around them beyond simply fulfilling a want like hunger/capable of choosing to do evil.

Tenuously connected point 2.

In the Archives universe, a point is made that the Fears "don't think. Not like we do." They work off instinct.

Tenuously connected point 3.

While I never looked into the ARG before Protocol's release I have since looked into the summaries of what it revealed. Among other things the ARG revealed Magnus Institute of Protocol was studying children via... psychological experiments of dubious morality. Aside from this being why Sam is snooping into the Magnus Institute (for those who haven't looked into the ARG yet, his name is among the children researched) the experiments are pretty much looking into how children at various stages of development display empathy and whether they conform to orders or choose not to and stuff like that (I'm sure I am not wording this part right someone with a better background in psychology can probably expand further).

Anyway, my point is the idea of choices and such is being studied in relation to psychological development in children.

Tenuously connected point 4.

The way the cases so far have played out in Protocol does seem to show a difference compared to Archives.

Smirke's original categories don't seem to fit quite right anymore as each of the cases seem to have stuff that doesn't cram into the original boxes. As the blurry categories were already a major point in TMA regarding creating the Eyepocalypse and even Sam calls out the categorization the OIAR use in the first episode this isn't surprising. But it does suggest that the Fears have changed from what they were before.

Quite a few people have also suggested that in the cases we've seen sometimes the incidents seem to fulfill a desire (in a monkey's paw way, of course) rather than simply finding a random victim. This might suggest the presence of intent rather than only instinct.

So what?

I'll admit it's just sort of my own "ooh wouldn't that be messed up? let's explore that further" thought process doing the talking here, but The Thing that was Fear has existed since things could feel afraid. It's ancient. But it's also a cosmic horror entity that has been shown to grow from it's initial state to what we saw in Archives (see ep 200).

It's something on a cosmic level. Maybe it wasn't done growing. The Fears don't think "like we do"...

but neither do babies.

What if by Protocol the Fears have developed more after leaving their cradle? To a point where they can at least begin to think or choose.

What if the Fears are eldritch toddlers and they're learning how to play?

[bookdragon-shenanigans]

I just read the fourth wing bonus chapter and MAN. I knew I wasn't Xaden's biggest fan before but MAN. I honestly don't even know how they ruined a character with so much potential is beyond my understanding???? Xaden is straight up unlikable in the chapter. So many issues in the chapter.

[Caution: Listen, I love Xaden, truly. But he really makes me want to beat him up I'm sorry]

Opinions so far: (Warning: This is not Xaden-friendly I might be a major bitch for 80% 😭)

The chapter felt kind of unnecessary?? Like even if it was a cash grab (which I agree but that's not the point rn) did we really need a bonus chapter that's just the same chapter but just rewritten with some occasional Xaden comments? We could've gotten a new interaction but noooo

With the amount of obsessing talking Xaden does about Dain, you'd think Dain was the one he has a crush on. No because stop this you're literally doing the same thing you accuse everyone of doing to you. "Everyone judges the marked kids just because of what our parents did 🥺🥺👉👈" ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW??? Why are you being such a pissy bitch over the fact that he thinks you're bad for her when you literally agree???. [Coherent me update: In hindsight Xaden going out of his way to annoy Dain for entertainment is hilarious not gonna lie. Still think he was being a bitch tho]

The Imogen was missing plotline. Seriously? "Imogen was sick"?? They could just be like oh no she wiped everyone's memories so they don't remember because there is zero canon connection in her being sick. Also the fandom was spot on 💅. To be fair, I can excuse this one.

Xaden's "strategy". Why are we acting like battle strategy is a multiple choice question with one answer??? Where is the common sense?? Where is the individuality??? Where is the originality???

I just noticed this now but WHY IS THE CONTINENT THEY LIVE IN LITERALLY CALLED The Continent???? WHY ARE THEY ACTING LIKE THEY LIVE ALONE IN THE WORLD HELP

FINALLY Emery's last name

Okay I actually like passively possessive simp Xaden because let's be fr he's not noticing anyone other than Violet. He's really acting like the stupid hormonal emo 23 year old he his and I love him for that.

Xaden not understanding sibling dynamics is top tier I love this. Like this man is standing there so confused like 🧍‍♂️.

Highkey confused at the Lewellen part because I'm pretty sure they were fostered by Lindell?? Either this is shitty writing or a case of an unreliable narrator. Who knows. Not me.

SGAEYL. THAT'S IT. 🛐🛐🛐🛐🛐

"Violet would get over her sister's death eventually" CALM TF DOWN SIR. This is a civilized conversation. Okay but like someone needs to tell these people that murder doesn't solve everything. It's not even the best form of revenge 😭😭😭

I need more backstory on the Cygnis flier drama. Why only that province??? How come other provinces are safe??

"Wasn't my choice," I shrug. Lying is easy, except when it comes to Violet. I haven't quite figured that one out yet. Excuse me what

Okay, I know this is OS buildup but why were the wards down???

"Was it us?" LIAM. MY SWEET BABY BOY ILY YOU'RE THE BEST.

Okay I just realized now that Dain only name drops Rhiannon, Ridoc and Sawyer when he mentions the first years and man how did I not notice that before-

Lots of suspicious stuff. Lots.

IT HAS COME TO MY NOTICE THAT THERE IS A VERY HIGH AMOUNT OF MIRA DYING MENTIONED IN THE CHAPTER AND I DO NOT LIKE IT AT ALL

The bottom line is that I've read too much fanfiction and set my standards too high 😭😭

Anyways stan Liam my sweet summer child 🛐🛐

Update: I just came back from my exam and took a look at what I wrote here and help why was 5am me so salty 😭😭

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Loki Episode 5 Coherent Thoughts

Spoilers for Episode 5. Once again, I have not rewatched before posting.

Most of this is lokius related because I'm still a damn fool.

I want the twist at the end to be that Loki gives Mobius (and the others) back his memories to give him the choice to go back to his life, and is just really sad about it, because he expects Mobius to want to go back to his kids who don't have a mother. But he gives him his memories of his past and they're... not what he saw when he found him. Like at all. I'm not gonna speculate on specifics (*cough* Theo Bell *cough*) but he doesn't have the responsibilities of being a single parent. And Loki's like 'No, but you had two boys,' and he tells Mobius about them and they both kind of realize at the same moment that they looked like Mobius but acted like Loki. None of that was real. Mobius made all that shit up and it somehow manifested. Because he's got it B-A-D for Loki, like a middle schooler with their first crush imagining an entire life with them.

Alternatively, I saw only one other post about this but maybe it's gotten some traction by now, but maybe Mobius's wife got Blipped four years prior. So the good thing is the boys are gonna have a parent in a year even if Mobius decides to stay with Loki.

Hi hello I'm still disturbed that these very young children have been possibly left home alone for eight hours (he says his shift is 9-5), and Mobius couldn't even answer the phone when they called. We don't see a babysitter. Mobius, this is neglect. For the children's sake, I fucking hope either A. they aren't real, or B. a more responsible parent is about to come back and take care of them in 2023. (Ugh, but Love having cousins who are about her age and just as chaotic as she is would be amazing.)

I've come up with the worst Dad joke and a way for Mobius to get out of his bribery with his kid he for sure cannot deliver on. He brings OB around for dinner. OB's timeline name (if I read the subtitles correctly) is A.D. Doug. ADDOUG=A DOG. And his TVA name is Ouroboros, the SNAKE eating its own tail. (Alternatively, you now know Loki, you can borrow his sons Fenrir and Jormungandr. Blended family.)

I know it hasn't been explicitly stated, but I thought the whole thing with Alioth in season one was meant to imply that Loki now knows how to restore memories. So why the fuck doesn't he try it in this episode? Even if he's pretty sure they're all where they were prior to the formation of the TVA, it's still after for him, so why wouldn't he at least try it? When he kept moving toward Mobius in the garage scene I thought he was gonna grab his head but he doesn't. (Maybe he was interrupted by OB, but he has ample opportunity later.)

It just needs to be said because I love history. I am obsessed with Casey being Frank Morris. Both he and Loki being central to these ongoing (technically) mysteries is amazing. Like unlike Cooper it is generally accepted that Frank and his co-escapees drowned during the attempt, but no bodies identified as the men were ever found (if my shallow dive into the wiki article immediately following the episode is to be believed). OB, your boyfriend's a convict lolololol!

AD Doug is still gender-neutral though. It's 1994 but my boi can still be enby. (I'm aware enby people existed well before this but, and the wiki is not being helpful, I think the specific term was coined in the mid to late 90s or possibly later, so OB may not have been aware of it.)

I don't think Marvel is moving toward Casey/OB (at least not before the end of this season, if we get another season it MIGHT be a different story), but fuck it would be so funny if they met so much later than lokius but were able to get their shit together faster than lokius. I think it'd check out for for everyone involved. Hell, maybe they're already together and it just hasn't come up yet to the group. That'd be funnier (bonus points if B-15 already knows though).

Loki for some fucking reason: Hold on, I gotta look cool and suave for this dork of a single dad who's already informed me at least three times of his own volition that he's single.

[perpetualproductions]

What do you think Jordan and Marie would be like in the Seven. Like I can see them both breaking a lot of rules but then again idk. Jordan seems like they'd know all the diplomatic answers to press and all that were as I'm sure Marie would go off script 🤣 Ashley would have a nightmare

Ooo. Okay, yeah. I have thoughts.

First off, I definitely agree that Jordan would have a better handle on the media/publicity stuff, knowing how to give the right answers, putting on a charismatic smile and saying all the right things. It's a practiced skill for them. I think Marie would be a natural, flashing the perfect smile and saying the right response, but she wouldn't be too afraid to go off script, especially if she doesn't agree with it.

Idk, they're both stubborn and opinionated people. But I think Jordan would be more likely to bite their tongue at first, especially in front of the cameras, but they'd complain about it constantly the second they're off (most likely to Marie). I think Marie is more likely to do so about it in the moment, especially if it's something she doesn't agree with or she thinks is stupid. She'd go off script, say what she actually thinks, and maybe after Jordan has a quick heart attack, they quickly come to back her up.

I think I'd be a similar dynamic when it comes to general rule breaking. Jordan would try to be more subtle about it, not wanting to make a public mess of it all if they can avoid it. But Marie would just do what she thinks is right. If they're told to not intervene on a certain thing, or to focus on saving one person and not anyone else who might be caught in the cross fire, Marie wouldn't listen and save whoever she can. And again, maybe at first Jordan tells Marie to be smart about it, picking her battles, but in the moment, they'd immediately back her up and help her out. Not caring too much about breaking the rules at that point.

Maybe one day Jordan decides to say "fuck it" to one of the rules or a situation or whatever, and does so comfortably knowing Marie will back them up. Even if they don't want her to... Maybe that isn't as comforting, idk. Lol.

Very interesting thing to think about, these two in The Seven. I've read a fic or two that give interesting takes on the idea (how to be liars in love, by literaryspinster on AO3 is a great one) . But yeah, if one thing's true, it's Ashley having a fucking time dealing with these two. If you thought she was ripping her hair out before, just you wait, lol.

Fun to think about, for sure. Thanks for the ask!! Hope my thoughts made some coherent sense, lol.

[diplonimbodocus]

omg i just read your aos lee spock fic and it was SO CUTE!!! if you ever have the time or interest, do you think you could do one with tos spock? maybe with some spirk there ? No pressure ofc!!!

Hello thank you so much!!! Honestly you don't know what that means to me! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! I have written you another little one featuring our wonderful tos boys, and I want to thank you for the ask because I've never written for these two before and it was a really good experience! Sorry it took so long, I just wanted to have it finished before I answered! Thank you again and love to you <3

Here it is~

"And he was so stubborn - well, you know what he's like - that I just had to do something about it. I lunged for him, and it's been the longest time, but he actually fell to the floor, laughing." Jim chuckled, as the lift slid, whirring sleekly between floors. "I really shouldn't be telling you this, he'd kill me."

"Laughing, captain?" Spock questioned with a straight face, the slightest cock to one eyebrow.

"Really, Spock. I'd bet you can hardly imagine our good doctor cracking a smile, never mind a laugh," Jim grinned, laughing more.

"Why laughing, captain?" Completely glossing over the latter remark, Spock remained curious.

Jim started as if to reply in humour before stopping short and turning to his Vulcan friend with a look of curiosity himself.

"Well - laughing, Spock. He was laughing because I tickled him, that's why."

The eyebrow came back down surprisingly fast.

"Ah yes. That most human of phenomena," Spock said, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Well it's not just human, Spock - all kinds of Earth animals are prone to it. But yes, I'll give you it is a bit unusu-" and at this moment, Jim looked at his friend anew. "Are you telling me Vulcans don't have this?"

"Would you be surprised, captain?" Spock answered, eyes on the elevator floor.

"Yes, I suppose not..." Jim looked pensive, and then the doors opened.

The two men walked along the corridor, eventually coming to the captain's quarters. The doors whisked open to let them enter.

Once inside, Kirk paced near the small desk area.

"Now Spock, with regards to the last mission, I think we really need to get our reports coherent to each other before we submit to Starfleet."

"Agreed. I can give you a detailed overview-"

Jim suddenly interrupted. "I'm sorry Spock, I just - is there really no tickling on Vulcan? Not even the children?"

Spock thought for a moment before he answered. "It is... abnormal."

"A-HA! So there is ticklishness in vulcans then?"

"... somewhat, yes."

"So it's the children? And you, what - grow out of it?"

"Vulcan children are born much like human children - they have many of the same traits. However we are raised and trained very differently. We learn to process all physical sensations, logically, from a very young age. Most parents, as I'm sure will be obvious, do not indulge in the practice. It is, illogical."

Jim's face fell. But then, "most parents?" He looked up with a glint in his eye. "What about yours?"

Spock locked eyes with his captain, one eyebrow cocked in a way that gave Jim a distinct feeling that he was in some way being defied.

"I had a vulcan father, and a human mother. My parents were not 'most parents.'"

"So you have experienced it! Something in that really - well - really tickles me, I have to say!" Jim's face gleamed as he laughed.

Spock stood uncomfortably quiet, seeming to deliberate.

"Cheer up, Spock, I won't keep pestering you. At least you've grown out of it!"

Jim clapped his friend on the arm jovially, but the vulcan continued to focus thoughtfully at a point on the ground, as if thinking about something.

And then the penny dropped. Vulcans cannot lie.

"Or have you?"

Spock must have heard the change in the captain's voice, as his eyes bounced up to meet Jim's with a deep and guarded look.

"Are you ticklish, Spock?" Jim grinned.

"Decline to answer," Spock replied.

"Don't pinch me - that's an order, Mr. Spock."

"Do you intend to abuse your power as captain of this vessel, undoubtedly loosing your rank and career in Starfleet, simply to test your hypothesis, captain?"

"If that's what it takes to get you laughing, Mr. Spock."

This game of cat and mouse continued, the two taking a waltz of slow and careful steps around the room, ever just out of reach of one another.

Jim's face was enthused and predatory, a look often seen when faced with a challenge. Spock's was unreadable, his feeling unknowable, save only for the fact that he could easily have called everything off had he really wanted to.

Jim, sensing his chance, lunged. Spock, as always, had reflexes finely-trained, and jumped backwards to dodge the grasping fist, however Jim, anticipating this, went in after with a second arm. He caught a fistfull of his regulation uniform in his fingers, and yanked the taller man firmly towards himself.

Caught off guard, Spock stumbled forward, right into his captain's open-armed grasp. There was a beat in which Spock did nothing.

"We're about to find out if you really are still ticklish, Mr. Spock," Jim said, and clawed at his friend's stomach.

Immediately Spock went stiff, stood upright and then crashed backwards onto his ass, looking dazed. He curled around the fingers currently trying to tear into his soft front flesh, twisting a little this way and then that way with each wiggle of the digits.

Jim could not keep the smile from his face. Spock was squirming! He continued pinching at the first officer's stomach as well as throwing some in sporadically to the sides.

Spock had begun to shudder, his eyes clamped shut with the ghost of a smile tugging there and at his lips. Just when matters couldn't get worse, Jim suddenly used both hands to attack.

"Hahah!" Spock let slip a surprised laugh.

Everything stopped, and Jim took a moment to stare at his friend in wonder and delight, before saying carefully, "Spock?"

Spock remained unmoved from his position, eyes shut, body curled and statue-still, a half-smile still visible. He seemed unwilling to comment.

"Not got anything to say?"

Nothing.

"Oh..." Jim said, though his tone was still playful. "I guess not. Suppose you'd rather do something else instead? Like this!"

Jim dug in again with new vigour, this time pinching all along Spock's sides, and the vulcan was on the floor, turning from side to side with the widest smile imaginable, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Oh come on, Spock! Where's that laughter? I know you have it in you," Jim teased, grinning all the while.

Spock suddenly shook his head, the first he'd responded to any of this.

"No? You're not gonna let me hear it?" Jim took little pinches at his tummy again.

Spock shook his head again, convulsing.

"That's too bad. Guess I'll just have to continue."

By now Jim was straddling his first officer, using gentle pinches all over his upper body, but when he kneaded his fingertips into his lowest ribs, Spock practically leapt off the ground, and finally Jim found that laughter.

"C-captahahain!" He pleaded.

"Bad spot, Spock?"

"Ahah ahah hahahahaha!"

"I'm going to take that for a yes," Jim smiled triumphantly, kneading in even deeper, and Spock was beside himself. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Spock's hands had come down to wrap firmly around Jim's wrists, but so far had done nothing else.

"Remember your orders, officer," Jim put on his captain's voice through the hilarity.

At this, Spock seemed to deflate, arms and shoulders going limp as his hands loosened their grip and fell away. 

"I'm impressed, Mr. Spock! But let's see how long you can hold out doing that."

Jim kept massaging those low ribs with his thumbs, using the other fingers to scratch at the sides, catching other ribs higher up. Spock acted as if electrocuted, his spasms unable to save him from the ticklish onslaught. His laughter had started deep but was getting higher.

Suddenly, Jims fingertips were moving down, exploring that expanse of waist that had come exposed during the struggling. His short nails scratched against the flat plain and Spock hit the roof.

"Hahaha!! N-no, captahahain!!" He bucked, only really succeeding in throwing himself further into the attack.

"Oh? Is it particularly bad here?" Jim grinned, giving it an extra good scratch, Spock pushing into it and shaking his head simultaneously.

"S-skihihin! Skihihin!!"

Jim looked down, and for the first time considered the skin-to-skin contact.

"Do you want me to stop?" He withdrew immediately, worried he might have gone too far.

Spock heaved some breaths, unable to engage right away. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked directly into Jim's gaze. He looked there for a time, unreadable, and then, unbelievably, cocked an eyebrow and said, "captain, don't presume to think you have broken me. I assure you, it would take much more than anything you could provide to do so."

Jim's mouth fell open as he grasped for a response, but he quickly recovered enough to beam back at his first officer.

"You said, "no, stop", your words!"

"A reflex reaction, and unfortunate," replied Spock, as if he hadn't just a moment ago been completely undone.

Jim stammered, dumbfounded. "And what's all this about skin? I don't understand you."

"Ah. That. I..." And finally Spock was showing some shyness. "It opens a slight telepathic connection."

Jim beamed with the dawning realisation. "Ahhh, I see... And that makes it worse?"

Spock said nothing for a moment, and Jim now noticed the slightest of greenish colouration in his cheeks.

"I'm afraid nothing could be worse than your attempts to get more than a surface-level, knee-jerk reaction from me."

"My attempts?" Jim asked delicately, whether curious or offended, it was hard to tell. "Are you telling me my tickles didn't tickle enough?"

Spock simply tilted his head as if to agree, and that said it all. "I believe the earth-phrase says, 'if the shoe fits'."

Jim snapped his mouth shut and switched to his captain face.

"Where was that spot again... Oh, here," and he locked eyes with Spock as he touched his fingers onto the bare skin. "You'll regret that, Spock, I promise you. Can you feel what I'm thinking? Can you see it?"

Spock said nothing, but the nervous look behind his eyes, the green in his cheeks and the tension like electricity radiating through his skin let Jim know the message was getting through.

"Are you ready to give me some more of those wonderful reflex reactions?"

Laughter filled the room once more as Jim got to work, undoing his vulcan.

[chartreuseian]

3, 22 - Helen, 23, and 25 - Nikola. (Because I'm mean on that last one) For the ask game, please! 😁

Hey hey 😊

3. NoTP?

(I feel like you're expecting Magnitt but ho ho that's a no)

Helen/Will hands down. I just don't see it. And I've yet to come across a fic that changes my mind on the idea even though I've tried more than a few in my time.

Also, I can't get behind anything Henry/Helen or Henry/Ashley because in my head that crosses all the family lines.

22. Give us a headcanon for [character]

OK. This is a hard one. I don't know if I have all that many headcannons for Helen... I mean, like, for sure she slept with Nikola. And I think that the reason she kept him around when they were at Oxford was because he was the only one who knew what it meant to be a true outsider. Plus even if he was sort of in love with her back then too, he was the only one who didn't treat her like a 'Lady' which she appreciated.

(I have spent like 20 minutes contemplating my answer to this one and I still have nothing good - sorry!)

23. Has your favourite character/ship changed over time?

Not really? I've always been team Teslen all the way, though I think my love of them and their dynamic has changed over time. Probably because my appreciation of Nikola in particular has changed. I used to just love them because their chemistry was *chefs kiss*, but the older I get and the more I invest in the whole world, they feel like the only viable options for each other to me. I'd write an essay on the topic, but somebody already sort of did that here and that is pretty much all my thoughts offered in a much more coherent way then me babbling about my love for the idiot bbys.

25. What's your least favourite thing [character] said or did?

Hehe... I know you think you're being tricky, but I honestly could give you a list of all the reasons Nikola is a prat! I'll break it into two catagories though...

Least favourite thing the writers did: 'The Five'. Because he was a grade A dick only because I don't think they knew what they wanted to do with his character yet. Which is fair, let's be real.

Least favourite character moment: joining SCIU like the raging idiot he is. I can totally rationalise it as him thinking he'd be her man on the inside, or that he didn't think it was that big of a deal, but also he so clearly just wanted the pay check and the glory (because the idiot bby is in fact a fame whore) and as always, totally failed to think about the bigger consequences. But also I think it's because, fundementally, he is a good person and sees the possibilities before the consequences so he just jumps straight in. Like, in his head working for SCIU would allow him to do these amazing things for the world and that makes it worth it. He didn't see anything beyond that point.

[diiwata]

i have been thinking about your asian district 4/7 thing since you posted it and specifically about south asians, caste, and colonial/racist attitudes. because asians generally are portrayed in colonial texts as weak and unable to fight, and those attitudes could influence how everyone else sees d7 during the games. like, johanna coming in as a 'snivelly weak coward' and blight being someone that nobody really considers as a fighter would make complete sense, because they're all undermined due to racist assumptions about their fighting abilities. and then treech, whose basic personality is 'juggled nuts in the zoo' and snow's clear dismissal of him until he's alive in the last 5, would show that snow still doesn't consider him a real threat. i was also thinking about south asians and caste with book treemina and movie treemina and how their actions could also be influenced by remnants of a caste system (book lamina described as dirt poor and movie treech seemed to me to be poorer than lamina) - in the book lamina leaves treech, in the movie treech leaves lamina, but both of them could be acting within what would be expected of their caste. anyways. this is very incoherent but i'm curious to know if you also have thoughts on this!!

hi!! omg this is awesome. I just wanna start off by saying that I love your fics, and I can't believe you want to discuss asian d4/d7 with me 🙏🏽

okay, NEXT-- analysis under the cut

that's such an interesting take that I haven't really considered!! I've learned about castes in my history classes, but just to make sure, I did a teensy bit more research to help come up with a (hopefully) coherent answer

I'd love to incorporate the idea of a hierarchy into this ever expanding headcanon. I think it's even more interesting to think of d7 having more south asian influences than d4, given that your analysis ties more into our fellow lumberjacks!! (but please do correct me if that's not what you were going for)

from what I gathered regarding the caste system, it checks out with the ideas of filial piety as discussed in my analysis, except this focuses more on COMMUNITY rather than FAMILY. a jati, or a caste, only usually mingle with those of the same jati. and they can rise in the ranks not individually, but TOGETHER.

the idea of a caste system being reflected in these districts could be one of the reasons lamina and treech decided to part!!! by recognizing that they each have different priorities and morals taught to them, they ask themselves: how would working with a member of another class reflect on our own separate communities?? from what I can tell, the caste system runs deep and has been a part of india for centuries. regional and class divide is something I've noticed in other asian cultures too, but they don't seem as integrated or prominent. in the same vein, it could be a reason coral worked so closely with mizzen, they might be from the same socioeconomic class put in place in d4!!

what's interesting to me is how even tho I claim that they have asian influence, they differ in the ways they're perceived, as you pointed out. much of the d4 tributes are seen as threats, coral and finnick especially. I also hc annie being a career, so yeah, threat!! even mizzen was a considerable threat despite being only 13! !meanwhile, the d7 tributes were overlooked, as you said. the d4 tributes also stick close together, so it makes me wonder if such a hierarchy is as prominent there as it would be in d7 as we hypothesized.

do these preferences for one hypothetically asian district over another have to do with the "type of asian" they are?? b/c let's be honest, some asians are more -- I hate to say it -- palatable to western audiences. if we think about it, asian rep usually comes in the form of EAST asian media. has this been something that subconsciously stayed with panem?

then again, d4 being more preferred might just be the fact that they're a career district, but it's something to think about!

anyways back to your first point: the undermining of those characters could very much tie back to the fetishization, but also infantilization, of asian people!! not only are they seen as weak and passive, but the weird obsession with younger asian people is something of an epidemic among western audiences. would d4 use this as a leverage to gain favors with the capitol, while d7 doesn't?? and that's the core difference between them?? idkkk just food for thought 🤞🏽😔

if you have any more thoughts on this, lmk! that's all I can think about for now :o also if I made any wrong assumptions or false claims, please correct me!!!

thanks for expanding on my hc/analysis <33 this was so AAAH to think about (in a good way). asian d4/d7 truther forever ‼️

[belovedblabber]

I’m so glad to have found other Jod enjoyers on this site. Top John Gaius “makes you want to chew on the furniture” moments?

Okay I can FINALLY take some time to answer this now, huzzah!

I have some other John related asks I'm VERY excited to answer but I have gotten far too sleepy now so I once again have to wait on those because I have a LOT to say and I am incapable of not treating everything like I'm writing an essay and bringing in citations.

But anyway, if I gave all of my top John moments this post would be a thousand miles long so I'm just going to give some of my faves. And this is in no particular order, I'm just putting them down as they come into my head

"Is that the truth, or the truth you tell yourself?" asked Augustine. "What is the difference?" said God. This exchange makes me go INSANE. I can't even be coherent about it right now, I just love how chilling John's response is, and also Muir using God here. I love her very clever choices in terms of what she calls John and when. Calling him God (or by another one of his fancy titles) can either be used for comedy (aka "Thanks," said God) but it can also be used for an absolute wham line like this one and it's just very good. I love it. It's chilling. He's so scary

When Harrow explodes G1deon and everything is going insane and then John just says "Stop" and just freezes everybody. It's such a cool moment. He just STOPS it all, I LOVE it. Also: The Emperor of the Nine houses—the Resurrection—the First Reborn—sat at the end of the table, his plain face splattered with gore, and his eyes were the death of light. Oh my GOD is that such a good line, I am deeply not coherent here but god I love this entire moment, it's such a good reminder of how powerful John is (and then him being like "I did't really want to eat human again Harrow" sdfghj)

The entire section where he reconfigures himself after Mercy exploded him. And then his killing Mercy so casually. But what I really love about it is how stone-cold he is after it all ("I never liked cleaning house all at once") I love how this scene really shows how right Augustine was earlier in the book when he told Mercy "John is never as sentimental as you think." John is so matter-of-fact and it is SO good when we see him turn on a dime like this and start cleaning house (I also love "You acted afraid—" "Acted is operative. But this is not am FAQ.") I am not explaining myself well here but I just love the way that John, who we have seen as this very affable, mellow, often very funny character throughout, turns on a dime and is suddenly so ruthless, right after killing someone who he was begging to forgive him moments before. The absolute callous tone he has ("I didn't offer it to Mercy because Mercy really pissed me off, I'm sorry to say.") is so jarring and it's GREAT. And I've seen people point to this as proof that like, 'oh John doesn't actually love them like he says he does, John is a liar he was faking his affection.' And that is SUCH a boring read. What's much more interesting, and terrifying, is the idea that John can be fully in earnest with his affection, but then just so brutally flip a switch when he's pushed. Idk, it's just a great moment. I am explaining myself poorly here I know asdfghj

"Harrowhark, nobody has the right to know," he said fiercely. "Nobody has the right to blame you. Nobody can judge. What has happened, has happened, and there's no putting it back in the box. They wouldn't understand. They don't have to. I officially relieve you from living in fear. Nobody has to know." I love this line because it's like, John are you talking about Harrow, or yourself? And with the context of NtN this becomes even more clearly John bringing his own baggage to the table. It's so good. I have a whole post brewing in my head on this subject that I am sure I'll inflict on my poor innocent followers at some point

Uhhh, every single John interlude in NtN. I know that's cheating but literally every single one had me going off my rocker.

But even more specifically, John 1:20. That entire section may be my favorite part of the book. I actually had to stop reading for a moment after I finished it (and no joke I did whisper "damn, Tamsyn" out loud and I was, in fact, crying a bit. it was also like, 6am and I had been up all night aserfghj). But seriously I wanted to pick a single part or so from this to highlight but I can't. It's all so good. And heartbreaking. John crying at C— and N— 's wedding, and eating for the first time in ages, the building desperation at the state of the world and how helpless they all feel and that bit of humanity and joy with the wedding, immediately followed by...everything else. "John, your problem is that you care less about being a saviour than you do about meting out punishment." John and Cristabel's final conversation. The absolute heart wrenching stuff with John seeing everyone die and his blurry recollection of it because holy shit it was horrendous. Literally everything else. Also THE MOMENT HE LETS GO, the entire sequence of him trying to take the earth into himself, and then the terrifying description he gives of him eating the solar system and pursuing the departing ships. Also I just really love "All those frightened people. All those run-away rats." I think I just have a very clear uh, 'line read' of that bit in my head, and I love the way he calls them frightened and then the absolute rage in the way he calls them rats. Idk, it's really clear in my head I can't really explain myself better here. But anyway yeah, the ENTIRETY of this interlude makes me go absolutely wild to the point that I cannot be coherent about it.

John 5:4, and everything John says about forgiveness, and what he'll do next, and taking his friend's memories. Again I can't really be coherent about this entire section, but I will give my fave bit from it. "There can be no forgiveness for those who walked away," he said. "Just as there can be no forgiveness for me—even though I rip the very fingers from my hands...throw them into the jaws of the monsters who hunt me...as I run from them across the universe, end to end. Something will satisfy them eventually, but nothing satisfies me. Nothing." I put that last bit in italics because it is maybe my fave line from John. There's just something about it. It's just so tragic and chilling and terrifying and I LOVE it and I love how it is sort of this like, succinct and perfect sum of the tragedy of him. Idk it's just, chef's kiss.

Okay finally, not a direct John moment per se, but this: John loved her. She was John's cavalier. She loved John. For she so loved the world that she had given them John. For the world so loved John that she had been given. For John had so loved her that he had made her she. For John had loved the world. I have so many thoughts and feelings on this that I cannot articulate but oh my goddddd. It's so good. First of all the whole playing off of John 3:16 thing. And just...the wording, the way it all flows. I cannot be coherent about this I just go insane. That ending For John had loved the world hit me like a brick the first time I read it, and continues to do so every time I reread it. There's something so simple and final and heartbreaking about it. I think it sums of the tragedy of the character and his story in one simple line. If that makes any sense whatsoever.

ANYWAY, this is an absolute ramble of an answer I know, but the prompt here was 'makes you want to chew on furniture moments' and I feel like with that vibe in mind the level of not hinged I am here is at least thematically appropriate. Also thank youuuuu for sending me this ask, it has made me very happy

[endermagpie]

Welcome Home Thoughts

This is mostly just for me to get my thoughts down somewhere, sorry if it's not coherent! Also spoilers below obviously!!

Okay, all 14 of the "answer" links in order seem to be a whole day (episode?) in the neighborhood. And they seem to be from Wally's point of view because you can see his hands in some of the clips and how he's mentioned at the end of every single one. This paired with Barnaby's reaction to Wally not talking/responding in the last clip makes me think Wally isn't in control or aware when these were "recorded", (at least not fully, seeing how he does seem to move in some of them). I can only assume he snaps out of it each time one of his friends says his name, thus cutting off the video, and he continues about his day until the next clip; otherwise I don't think it would have taken the whole day for the others to notice.

As for the "Doodle" audios, there's definitely a set order to them, but I'm not 100% sure if I found them all or not. I feel like I'm missing one. So far I think the order is as follows:

"i" "will" "help" "find" "a" "neighbor" "i-2" "will-2" "understand" "soon"

I'm not certain this is where "neighbor" goes in this order, because it feels so out of place in the middle of the conversation. It seems more fitting coming after "soon", but that would mean I'm missing an audio link in order for all of them to complete a full message. It's also possible the last 4 go first, seeing how Wally tells us how to draw an eye in "i-2" but then mentions how we know how to draw eyes in "a". But "i" sounds like the beginning of Wally talking to us, not to mention it would be really weird to have it follow right after "soon".

Spooky lore aside, It's so cool to learn more about how the characters act in "canon"! Some key points that stuck with me:

Frank is so autistic he got a whole song for it. Good for him

I completely forgot Julie can talk to flowers!

Eddie seems strangely distant from the rest of the neighbors? Like backtracking when he used Frank's first name to Mr. Frankly. Then everyone else calls him Mr. Darling or the mailman.

On the topic of Eddie, he's apparently super accident-prone and seems forgetful? In his toy phone audio, he says he forgot if the phone even rang and wonders if he was going to call someone instead.

Wally not understanding how anything works makes sense in the context of the show, he's basically how they get away with explaining things to the child viewers without actually breaking the fourth wall. That said I truly do believe he's this clueless, this little guy doesn't have a thought in his head. (at least while the show was still airing...)

I have a whole theory about what I think Wally truly is, but that's a whole different post. What I am fairly certain of though; I don't think Wally is Malevolent in any way. Whatever it is he's doing I don't think he has any negative intent towards us. At least not yet anyways.

[nostalgebraist]

Hello I have a question about the bot, hopefully you’re not too tired of those. I’ve heard that machine learning models have a tendency to sometimes just recreate an existing image or post from their training data, which is a problem with a lot of the currently popularized AI art creation tools. Have you ever noticed the bot closely recreating a post from your blog? Sometimes I’ll see a Frank post that’s like a review of a movie or book or an impressively coherent shorter text post that makes me wonder if it just got lifted wholesale from somewhere deep in your blog. Also, when Frank is just generating new content that isn’t in response to an ask, is there any sort of seeding that influences what topics she’s making posts about? Thanks and have a great day!

I’ve heard that machine learning models have a tendency to sometimes just recreate an existing image or post from their training data, which is a problem with a lot of the currently popularized AI art creation tools.

This isn't exactly true.

We should distinguish between

Whether the model can re-create examples from its training data

Whether the model is likely to do this, during normal usage, if you aren't specifically aiming for it

For almost any generative model seeing use in 2023 -- including Frank's language model, stable diffusion, etc. -- the answers are

Yes, it can re-create (some) training examples, if you prompt it in just the right way

No, you're unlikely to see this "by accident" during normal usage

I've never seen Frank re-create a post from the training data, or even come very close to doing this. (At least not for a long time -- I think there might have been some very early, very overfit, not-very-good versions of the model that did this sometimes.)

I've never had this problem with an image-generating model, either ... at least, not to my knowledge. Maybe this is a pain point with some of them and I just don't know about it.

(Lots of people are worried that these models can capably reproduce the styles of specific artists, but that's different. Also, there are just a lot of misconceptions about these models flying around.)

Also, when Frank is just generating new content that isn’t in response to an ask, is there any sort of seeding that influences what topics she’s making posts about?

There are a few small factors, which also apply to asks/etc.:

Frank's mood value

The time of day in my time zone

I'm not sure the time of day really affects anything. It goes into the prompt, and it's present in all of the training data, but I've never seen a clear indication that it's having a real effect on post content.

Also, for original posts, the bot uses tumblr's queue to make them well in advance. That makes it doesn't actually know what the mood value will be at the time of posting. Instead, it uses a simple guess about the future value: namely, what the mood would be if no one sent any asks/etc. between now and then.

And then, some of these posts don't even get posted at the time they were originally "slated" for, because sometimes they get flagged by my automated moderation system and saved to drafts so I can manually review + queue them.

So yeah, it's complicated, and the tl;dr is "nothing really affects those posts much."

EDIT: oh, I forgot -- for original posts, I also randomly choose between a prompt for a normal tumblr post, a prompt for a fiction chapter, and a prompt for a book review.

The training data for the fiction chapters was taken from my fiction, and the training data for the book reviews was taken from my Goodreads reviews.