#i've actually been up for 40 minutes now i just had to be responsible and actually get out of bed instead of fucking around on my phone :///

[daz4i]

they should invent a waking up early that doesn't kill you

[darkstaria]

Yandere Batfam - Soulmate Soul Animal Au.

Chapter 5:

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 6.

Sorry for the long weight everyone! I had to binge allll of Stranger Things for a friend's future birthday event and ohhh wow I thought the episodes were gonna be 20 minutes not 40-1hr

Also I suffered a bit of writers block, it happens

But regardless, I hope you all enjoy! ^ ^

(also the taglist has migrated to the bottom of the fic because it's a bit too long now)

----

The office was large, sprawling walls contained by an even bigger ceiling. The faint humming of Tim’s computer provided no reassurance, nor did the soft leather of your seat. It felt as if you could sink right into it, and try to fade away. There was a faint aroma of coffee that lingered around the office, but it gave you no solace. It just reminded you of the mistakes you made, to end up here. The elephant in the room.

Tim’s smile was bright, a warm sun. You were burning.

“It’s.. nice to see you again.” You attempted, words stumbling about on your tongue. You couldn't help it, the mere presence of your soulmate sending anxiety skyrocketing down your spine. Why couldn't he just get to the point?

“I didn't really expect my company and Wayne Enterprises to be working together.” You continued, a fake smile plastered onto your face. “What a nice coincidence!”

“I hope for us to have a successful collaboration.” Tim replies, still smiling. “But enough about the companies, it's been so long since I've seen you, and I didn't have your number to text.”

You laugh in response, a pale imitation of a real laugh. You had hoped to focus on discussing the work you both had to do first, and then escape before any catch up talks were attempted. Unfortunately, it appears that Tim won't let you do any actual work before engaging with him.

Your nails dug into your knees, an attempt to stay calm. Your reply was measured.

“Oh are you sure? Surely it would be better to get work on the collaboration done first, then we’ll have all the time left to chat freely.”

“I wouldn't worry about that, really. We’ve got plenty of time together, and I wouldn't be able to work without knowing how you're doing lately. Since you didn't have the time to text, I presume you've been busy?”

“Ah, right! Yes! Yes I have been, busy that is, you know how it is with work. Endless and all that.” You were frustrated at being pushed into a lie already. Tim was in charge here and he knew it.

“Why don't you give me your number then?” His smile was perfect, as flawless as his manipulation. “That way, when you're too busy to remember to message, I can remind you.”

You frowned. Like he didn't know your number already.

Quickly remembering you had to smile, you gave him your number, watching as he slowly typed it in, then texted. Only when you showed you received his text did he relent.

The ‘meeting’ continued on from there, Tim asking about all your hobbies and passions. Time ticked on, daylight turning to evening. Any attempt from you to redirect the conversation to either himself or work was swiftly dismissed. A small part of you admired his skill, he was playing you like a doll. You knew it, but you had no option but to play along. It was like an older sibling playing pretend with the young sibling. You hated the comparison.

The attention was unnerving. Your only solace was that neither of you had soul animals present currently, which was an absolute miracle.

Actually… what if that isn't a coincidence at all? Could this too have been engineered? Was that even possible?

“So then what’s your opinion on..” The sound of Tim’s voice slammed you back to reality. You quickly focused back in, fearing losing any advantage due to a lack of attention.

Abruptly, an alarm sounded, the noise blazing a path through your eardrums. You jolted in surprise. Tim however, was barely rattled. A frown appeared on his face as he glanced at his phone.

“That was the Arkham Asylum breakout alarm. It's no longer safe to go outside.” With these words Tim got up, walking over to the door and opening it.

“What…?” You mumbled, horrified.

“Stay here.” He commanded, a firm tone in his voice. This was Red Robin. “I’m going to check on the building, don't leave, it isn't safe.”

“Wait! But.. the collaboration.. we didn't..” The words rushed out of your mouth, leaving you feeling like a fool as Tim paused for a moment, to look at you.

“Don't worry.” He smiled, the weight of it bearing down upon you. You felt small. “You can just come in tomorrow, I'm sure your company won't mind.” With the final word said, Tim closed the door, presumably rushing off to become Red Robin. The click of the door felt like a dismissal, a scolding. A reminder to stay in your place.

Once again, you were trapped.

You clenched your fists. He wanted you to stay here, in his territory. You didn't doubt that Wayne Enterprises had amazing security, probably some of the best considering the identities of the owners. This was likely the third most safe place in Gotham, with the first and second places going to Batman’s base and Wayne Manor.

But… you haven't learned anything yet. All that time spent with him and somehow he hadn't brought up that singular, obvious fact. There was no way he didn't know, not with the way he was acting. And yet, he hadn't brought it up. Why?

What was he getting out of this?

Was he hoping that if you assumed he didn't know then you could easily be monitored? Was he just gathering information before acting? Where was the rest of the vigilantes in this?

Your head was spinning, going in circles. You couldn't understand him, you couldn't understand any of them. Why choose to be vigilantes, knowing the costs that life endures? Why were you tied to them, when you were so against a fundamental part of their existence?

You couldn't understand this at all. How could this be the basis of a soulmate bond?

You were… opposites.

You felt the telltale beat of an oncoming headache. For your own sanity, you decided to fold the incoming soulmate crisis into a small cavity of your brain to panic about later.

Fact One: There was an ongoing Arkham Asylum breakout, everyone is either being attacked, hiding away or escaping the city.

Fact Two: Batman and all his partners are going to be occupied for at least several hours if not a day.

Fact Three: You were going to take advantage of this.

It was the perfect time. All your soulmates were occupied, so none of them would be able to pay any attention to you. Red Robin might know your identity, and so the other vigilantes may know as well.

That didn't need to matter. They may have the information, but information itself is useless, if they are unable to act.

Right now, any Gothamite that isn't involved with rogues is either hiding or escaping. You could join the escapes, and get out of Gotham in the rush.

You didn't have to stay here, to play the role of a caged bird. You could escape, before they even got a chance.

You had to try.

You suppressed a shaky sigh, getting up and walking to the door. You tried the door handle.

Locked.

Uh oh. You tried it again, and then a few more times after that, shaking the door eventually in your desperation. Oh come on! You desperately thought to yourself. The one time you finally got the perfect chance and it's being ruined by a locked door.

Wait. You glanced at the small window in the door, the beginnings of an idea sprouting in your head. You glance over at Tim’s desk, noticing a small paper weight. You smile.

Lifting the paperweight, you judge the weight to be enough. Holding it up, you get into position to throw.

Wait.. the door has a keyhole, not a sliding chain, you realize, almost too late.

Ah.

Well that would have been embarrassing.

Sadly, you place the paperweight back down. There goes that idea.

But that wasn't the only door in the office, there was another one, the one that the shouting voice left out of. You approach the door, trying the doorknob.

Click!

It opens! Giving a small laugh, you advance through the door and out into the halls of Wayne Enterprises, a jubilant smile on your face. Whoever was shouting at Tim earlier, you almost wanted to thank them.

You avoid the elevators, instead picking stairs, as you presumed they may also be in lockdown. It didn't take you too long to get down to the ground floor, since the main walking areas were now barren of people.

The ground floor had some unfortunate news to offer you though. The once wildly open doors had now been locked down and barred, an iron wall between you and freedom.

Although, maybe there was some other way, you thought, eyeing the anxious security guards patrolling the front entrance.

Pulling out of your hiding spot, you approach the guards, making to time your steps, making noise to not scare them. You really didn't want to get shot before you had even left the safety of the building.

“P-please help me!” You stuttered, trembling with tears in your eyes. The guards jolted in surprise, turning to face you. They were expecting threats from the outside, not the inside.

“I need to get home, I can't stay here.” You sobbed, the guards pausing in confusion. They didn't know what to do with you.

“What’s wrong?” A sympathetic guard asked, patting you gently on the back. You almost felt bad.

“I need to go home!” You repeated, tone frantic.

A disgruntled guard stepped up to you. “Look, no one can leave right now. Company policy. It isn't safe, there's been an Arkham breakout. Just sit tight, and whatever’s waiting for you at home will be there when you get back.”

“N-no…” You mumbled. “You don't understand.. I have.. I have a cat, waiting for me.” You glance up, watching the expressions on their faces. They seem unmoved. “A-and my child!” You cry out, realizing you needed a better lie.

“A child?” The disgruntled guard repeated, sounding a little more sympathetic, but clearly not convinced. He eyed you up and down, evidentially thinking you looked a little too young.

“They're so little, but my cat likes to take care of them and I needed the money so, so I left them at home alone today. But recently they're been figuring out how to open doors and if anything happened to them I don't know what I’d d-” Your frantic lie is cut off, the disgruntled guard laying a hand on your shoulder.

“Alright listen. None of us can escort you, we're here on the job.”

You nodded, feeling exuberation rush through you.

“But if anything happened, run right back here, alright?”

You nodded again, fighting a smile on your face. The guards unlocked the doors, watching you dash out with frowns on their tired faces.

They were obvious to the beaming smirk on yours.

Nights in Gotham are by nature a little terrifying, but they're nothing compared to an Arkham breakout night. Shadows crawled up alleyways, the smell of booze and smoke lingering in a way it never could on normal nights. The terror was so pungent in the air, you could almost taste it. It was on the tip of your tongue.

Every so often you'd hear a scream, and you'd walk a little faster. Ideally you would have committed to the stealth route, but you had wasted enough time already.

Your house was on the way to the bus station, so you could easily pop in, grab essentials, and get out. You wouldn't lie, you were nervous. Every so often you’d feel your knees lose strength, and you'd have to fight with your body to regain the strength to stand.

But at this point it was either the horror of whatever your soulmates had in store for you, or the horrors of Arkham night. You'd already picked your poison, now it was time to swallow.

You took a breath in, then out, and continued walking. You were almost there.

The streets of Gotham stretched on endlessly, a cacophony of fear.

Just a bit longer.

A gunshot sounded nearby, the noise blasting through your eardrum.

Almost there.

The hum of a van's engine rushed through the night, haunting laughter echoing through the road.

You could see your house!

You beamed, a smile lighting up your face, as you practically skipped up to the entrance. You reached into your bag to withdraw your keys.

You had just retrieved them when a crowbar smashed into your head.

----

Wow umh, please pray for reader guys, this is NOT going well for them. Who do you think that was?

Me writing shenanigans for this chapter:

I just really feel like reader should smash open this window, let's do it. Wait. They wouldn't have doors that work like that. so reader sadly puts the heavy object down :(

Also me: yeah so reader lies here and it's an absolute mess

Also also me: rip reader that's a lotta head trauma omg

Sorry for the lack of soul animals this chapter :(( there's a reason I swear

The next chapter is definitely gonna be a bit insane, for sure! The soul animals return then anddd in droves!

Taglist: @moonchild-artemisdaughter @jjsmeowthie @madine11-blog @xxrougefangxx @hadesnewpersephone @neerathebrightstar @mel-star636 @jaythes1mp @rosecentury @lov3vivian @gaozorous-rex-blog @victoria1676 @vrsin @silverklaus @ryukyuin @kurai-hono-blog @thisisafish123 @isawyourbrowserhistory @ain-t-no-way-bsfr @realifezompire @lunaluz432 @nickey-diano @sukiiluvs @sara0055 @alleakimlala @kdidgg @paperhermits @lavender-moony @alishii @emmbny @sirenetheblogger @fantasy-angelo @andrasia @vinnvinnvintage @nyra-42 @armystaysatnct @beyond-your-stars @starsdotalk @adeptusxia0 @jailbimbo @yandereheros @sxftiebee @i-have-three-feelings @toast-on-dandelioms @lyl-3 @sitepathos @pato-spoiler-27 @ghostdoodlen @phoenixgurl030 @problematicreblogger @sociallyakwardpanda

@imaginarydreams @zanzie @yuyuzi-ling @soriansick @f1lover4ever @kiikkey @elizzsush @raincxtter @luoyi85 @yune1337 @erikasurfer @thekingofsimps @chaosbeanuwu

If I missed anyone out im super sorry! I generally check the replies for the current chapter and messages for people that want to be tagged, so it's possible for people to slip by

Just remind me again and I'll be sure to add you! (This also goes for if I misspell you accidentally, which also happens cuz I type them all manually)

For some reason I couldnt tag anymore people until I put a random space in-between the tags, so that's apparently a thing. If anyone has any ideas why, I'm listening

[olderthannetfic]

I accidentally killed my own desire to write, and I need some advice. To be really blunt about it, what's the point of writing? When I would spend lots of time laboring over making a good story with a plot and characters who were in-character and connecting all the dots narratively so payoffs were satisfying, my reward was dead silence and virtually no clicks. I posted some mindless smut to my side account one day and got more hits in a day than most of my other works combined got in a year. I know, I know. "Write for ~*~yourself~*~" is the common response. It's the "be yourself!" of writing. It's supposed to be a magical phrase that'll make everything okay. But... I don't like knowing that something I spend months working on won't be read by anyone while something I write in a car while bored got thousands of clicks. I don't like making something I'm proud of and then no one ever looks at it. That's not fun for me. It's not fulfilling.

For a solid decade, I've tried to ignore how the level of interactivity in fandom is falling. Fewer comments. Fewer kudos. No comments in the bookmarks. You put your tumblr and Discord in the AN and get a handful of asks and one person who adds you, talks to you twice and then ghosts you. Most of the comments are "well, actuallys", made even more annoying by them being wrong as opposed to actually correcting an error. I avoid fandom drama, wank, and infighting. I don't engage with things I know will make me unhappy. I try to be happy over in my own little corner. I comment on every single work I read. I want people to enjoy fandom. I used to.

Some dumb smut I wrote in 40 minutes gets five times the hits of the writing I'm most proud of, and it gets it in just under three months. I am not a great smut writer. I haven't stumbled onto an incredible talent I had that makes it so the issue is that I'm so amazing my smut brings all the boys to the yard. People just don't like what I write and put effort into. It's very likely that despite 20 years of writing fic, I suck at writing. And people enjoy my writing most when they don't have to put up with anything substantial and can just skip to the sex.

So for the last eight months, when I write, I just sort of give up. Close the Word doc without saving. No one will read this. No one cares about this. There is no fan eagerly awaiting every update like I await updates from my favorite authors. There's not even someone saying, "update soon!" Close the Word doc. Delete old WIPs. There's no point. I do not tell stories worth reading. I used to. In the FFN days people genuinely enjoyed my work. I'd never have had an opportunity to do the 'I won't update until I get 3 reviews' thing because getting that many on a chapter was usually something I'd do overnight. Post before bed. Wake up. Read the reviews before school. I peaked in high school, I guess.

And now I'm just sort of lost. I still have lots of ideas. Ideas for fics fall into my head all the time. That's never been a problem. What I don't have is any motivation to write them. What's the point of writing? If no one else is reading, I guess the point would be so I could go back and read my own story and have fun with it. Write for myself. But I can review the story and have fun with it in my head without writing it down. It's substantially faster and more importantly, isn't incredibly depressing.

So, at the risk of definitely being calld the second-coming of True Art Anon or a troll or validation-seeking or haha mentally ill haha... what's the point of writing?

--

Okay, so write porn in a car while you're bored.

Look, you can whine all you want about my response, but what you've written here is blatantly about depression.

Lots of people in fandom are still interacting. And no, it isn't just on fics that are objectively written to some pro fiction standard or whatever. Teenagers still breathlessly review poorly spelled cracky masterpieces about this year's big anime and so forth.

Yes, there may be reasons why you in particular are in a slump when it comes to fandom friendships or "plz update" comments. We can talk about that. But this ask is all gloom about fandom in general. That's not realism: that's you having a problem.

--

As for why a person should write: because the actual hours you spend doing the writing are fun.

If they aren't pleasurable in some way, find another hobby.

--

But if you want an answer to the age old "Why did my 5 minute fic get 1000000x more asspats", I've seen meta about this for literally decades.

The most likely reason is that the fic we write quickly and without much thought often feels fresher and more fun. The things we labor over endlessly can feel overworked. Even in cases where they don't, they're often heavier subject matter or more niche subject matter. On top of all that, we just care more, so even a high level of feedback doesn't really feel like enough for the effort and care we put in.

--

Do you really need me to tell you why you don't feel the same as in high school when things were fresh and new?

Go read up on combatting burnout or dealing with post-college anxiety or managing stress in a dead-end job in your 30s or finding meaning in your 40s or whatever is going on.

Everyone goes through fallow periods in fandom and in life.

Feeling reinvigorated has to do with internal factors and some general life circumstance stuff. It doesn't have that much to do with number of kudos. That's just the surface trigger for a mood that was already there.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 17/12

Anonymous asked: re: your responsive timeline theory: "There is nowhere, however huge the multiverse is, where Sam Vimes as he is now has murdered Lady Sybil. But the theory is quite clear. It says that if anything could happen without breaking any physical laws, it must happen. But it hasn't… So what people do matters! People invent other laws. What they do is important… It means the multiverse isn't infinite and people's choices are far more vital than they think." - night watch you and pterry seem to be on similar pages about this lol

Oh, nice! That's one of my favorite moments in all of Discworld, and I've brought it up before when discussing Paradox Space.

I'm pretty sure I was thinking about it when I came up with Responsive Timeline in the first place. Having someone reference it in an ask is a fun way to bring things full-circle.

@necrowyrm asked: Welcome Baaaaaaaack!!!!!!!! @whyequalsemexplusbee asked: I've literally had this date marked on my calendar, Act 6 by the new year let's goooooooo! @goldsleeps asked: it's very nice to have your particular pale green showing up on my dash again. @skaiamechanic asked: I am so happy to see your notifications again whenever you post. Welcome back, you're one of the main reasons I'm still on Tumblr, and good luck getting to Act 6! @elkian asked: Welcome back! I'm hype to see you post again :D good luck with your goal, but please take care of yourself! @nebularious asked: On the 1st day of Christmas, thewertsearch gave to me!

Thanks, everyone! I'm happy to be back, and I'm finding I have a lot more energy after taking a little break. Onwards to Act 6, indeed!

@morganwick asked: There literally, actually is a Burger King less than 40 minutes from Rose's house. That may sound simple and obvious, but when fans figured that out after this ran it practically blew their minds.

Her area is fairly remote - but there's a limit to how remote you can really be when you're living in the state of New York, right?

(^ she knows nothing about US geography)

@animation-recaps-by-sean asked: The troll sprites didn't automatically die at the end of the game, it's implied that Jack hunted them down and killed them

Wait, really? I had a little search through the comic there, but I can't find any statements implying that this is the case, unless they're in a walkaround somewhere.

Maybe I missed it - if so, send me a link and I'll take a look!

@catlikeascendant asked: idk if you go here but are there any ships you are interested in/think will be canonized? like it or not, it is a pretty important part of the story!

Thewertsearch dot tumblr dot com is a certified Rosemary nation. That's the only ship I'm really ride-or-die for, and the only one I am absolutely 100% sure will be canonized.

If you're interested, I made a full list of my ships back at the end of Hivebent, which I still mostly stand by - although I might need to rethink the ones involving Gamzee, specifically.

@relaxxattack asked: it’s so crazy that your “jump back in” point is perhaps the most fast paced and high stakes part of the entire comic. i absolutely love this arc, but i do NOT envy having to grapple with it directly after a hiatus!

I know, right?

Honestly, it's probably a good thing. The pacing is really energizing me - I haven't been able to blog at this pace since early Hivebent.

@morganwick asked: "The terms of a God Tier permadeath are defined according to the case of the individual - which implies that Heroic and Just are subjective, even to Sburb. It sounds like there might not be any ironclad rules, and that everyone's ruling works differently." Or as another liveblogger put it, when she got to the line in question: "In other words, 'by Andrew Hussie'."

Heh. That's what it ultimately boils down to, doesn't it?

I can grumble about 'canon' and 'meta shenanigans' until I'm blue in the face - but at the end of the day, the story will go in the direction that Hussie wants it to go. No ifs, ands or buts.

@krixwell asked: I actually think the "no lying" thing is essential to making Doc Scratch as intimidating as he is. He makes it pretty clear that (assuming it's real) it's a self-imposed challenge – he's handicapping his own manipulation just for fun, and he's still massively confident that what he's doing will work out exactly how he wants it to anyway. Normally such hubris would be a surefire sign of a character's imminent downfall, but because he's near-omniscient, we the readers know that his confidence isn't unfounded. We know he has very solid reasons to believe his main designs cannot not succeed, even with dark pockets here and there. I just think it does a fantastic job at selling the idea that his designs are inevitability itself, his guidance hopeless to struggle against, his words the rails on the one way track of the alpha timeline.

Hm. I do like that, I have to say.

It's fun picking away at Scratch's chatlogs, trying to find statements that are technically 'false' - but the fact that he presents himself as truthful and yet succeeds in his manipulations anyway is very strong characterization. And it's that much stronger if Hussie's intention was that Scratch really, truly never lies.

[wanderingblindly]

The new October Birds chapter is lovely (and you are too for writing such a gorgeous fic)!

Any behind the scenes information you want to share about it? Sentences that didn't make it in or oscar POV moments that can't get told from the fic's POV?

- Snippet Anon

(october birds)

oh my goodness thank you so much darling! Chapter two was one that I initially felt very little confidence in (I think I sent it to like, three people to see if the vibe matched the first one even remotely), so the response it's garnered has absolutely floored me. I literally cannot say thank you enough 😭💖

There were fewer things that stumped me in ch2 than in ch1, thank fuck lol. But there's one scene that I really did struggle with, and one key Oscar moment I haven't seen anyone comment on yet!

New Years

Ok so when I was originally picturing the new years scene, I wanted it to be with small fireworks on the beach. Then I rubbed my two (2) braincells together and realized that A) Perth is literally not near the beach at all for the sake of a midnight trip B) fireworks are super illegal in Tas. So that was very fun for me.

That then posed a big question of 'where the fuck are they meant to go?'.

At first I considered seeing if they could reasonably find a viewpoint of the Launceston or Hobart fireworks shows, since those are close enough to be feasible. But then I was like 'fuck, Lando had the anxiety moment about not going into the city, idk if there's really a place that would be isolated enough AND in view of the fireworks'.

After spending a lot of time on google maps, I found a viewpoint that was quite lovely: Max's Lookout in Nunamara, Tasmania. It's about a 40 minute drive away, and I could embellish the details to sell The Fantasy that I was picturing -- delightful!

In terms of the actual Event, the parts that I rewrote the most were the details around Oscar offering Lando his hand. It was difficult to both keep the "swept up in the moment" feeling and emphasize the tentativeness, the hesitation. I struggled a lot with figuring out how Lando would feel in that moment, especially because he'd technically already touched Oscar's hand before in Feast -- was this different enough for him to be affected? Was it similar enough to feel familiar? Was it scary, exciting, unremarkable?

Oh, and I had to google how to open a beer bottle with another bottle + your heel; I knew it was possible, I've just never had beer before lol.

Oscar and Lando's "Anxiety Attack"

Oscar's eyes flick overhead, taking in the fiery orange blossoms hanging from above. His under-eyes are more hollow than usual, the blue tint almost leaning purple in the early-morning light.

Oscar heard Lando in the kitchen.

In a different version of the scene, I actually had Oscar come out and try to help Lando, but then I realized it was far too early. Chapter 2 Lando is only beginning to peek out of his shell -- any intense display of emotion embarrasses him, he tries to talk himself out of them and pretend "it's fine" or that it's something he'll make himself "get over". Having Oscar come in at that point would have been mortifying for Lando, and waaaaaay more vulnerable than he's willing to be.

Of course I could decide that as the writer, but what was Oscar thinking about?

I have a really strong image of Oscar waking up to the sound of Lando's door closing, or maybe him falling against the oven door more forcefully than he thought (Lando's not the most reliable narrator at that point). And as Oscar jumps to go see what's happened, he hears it -- Lando's sobbing, his panic.

His hand would hover over the door handle.

At this point, based on what Oscar knows, Lando's clinically standoffish. He's clearly upset, but he doesn't want to say why -- even though he didn't deny his assertion that he wants someone to ask.

But would going and asking now be too much too soon? Too little too late? If he makes the wrong decision now, is he going to lose whatever opening Lando's worked open thus far?

He chooses not to go because he doesn't want to risk over stepping, but he can't sleep once he's heard it; Oscar gets as little sleep that night as Lando, and that's why he was awake so early. He heard him leave for his run.

There were a few specific things I cut from this chapter that I miiiiiight repurpose later, so I'll keep those to myself, just in case :)

[atopfourthwall]

Tbh you lament what people say about you and bemoan "harrassment and bullying". Yet you told RLM to "eat a bag of dicks" unprompted. You said Oneyplays "Are assholes, fuck them!". You'll constantly lecture your own fans, angrily yelling at them for asking when new Power Rangers are out, or for giving you simple, solid advice like below. You say youve calmed down in reviews yet still yell at the comic creators over minor stuff. The comments you complain about getting seem tame in comparison.

Okay, first of all I did not tell RLM to "eat a big of dicks" unprompted. What I said was "Eat a dick, jackass" while talking about the Plinkett Reviews in regards to how parts of them have not aged well, in particular the line that I felt was a bit racist - "Black people don't like Star Wars" (to be clear - I don't think anyone at RLM is racist [AFAIK]. The remark itself feels like it is, though, but that's also emblematic of edgier, wince-inducing internet humor from the time - we're all guilty of awful jokes like this to some degree, myself included). Now I ended up removing this line from the Star Wars Prequel reviews compilation because I realized it was needlessly inflammatory towards them and some perceived it as me attempting to star a beef with them… when of course I don't want to start a beef with ANYONE, much less someone much, MUCH more popular than me.

And no, I did not say Oneyplays "Are assholes, fuck them" (unless I said this on Twitter a long while ago). I'm assuming this is in reference to a part of the Fallout: New Vegas streams. Someone in the superchats asked a question relating to them and my other guests didn't know who they are. I proceeded to spend all of 40 seconds calmly explaining (though admittedly with a bit of light irritation) "They're other streamers, one of whom apparently does a GREAT impression of me. They're also responsible for popularizing calling me Lightbringer, soooo… screw 'em." That was it. But apparently "screw 'em" was TOO MUCH for a lot of people, because I got flooded with hate from that - videos made about how I was "TRIGGERED!" and "HAD A MELTDOWN!" Because that was one of the first public times I ever talked about how I wasn't okay with the nickname. We'll circle back around to this in a minute.

"You'll constantly lecture your own fans, angrily yelling at them for asking when new Power Rangers are out-" Aaand right there you prove that you don't actually watch my stuff. You're just repeating the same garbage from people who ALSO don't watch my stuff, but assume I have not changed at all, that I am the same person forever whose opinions don't change, whose attitude doesn't change, never gets better, etc.

Because I haven't been angry at people asking when the next History of Power Rangers is out in ALMOST TEN YEARS.

And the reason I know that number in particular is because I started my Patreon in 2014. The question annoyed me so much because I didn't have an answer for them and it seemed like they didn't care about anything else I did. But then I started my Patreon and one of the Milestone goals was actual release dates for HOPR. And thus since then I've been able to answer when new ones are coming out.

You want to know how NOT angry I am about the question I am now? I put it on t-shirts.

You can buy them at https://atop-the-fourth-wall.creator-spring.com/listing/when-is-hopr?product=2 and https://atop-the-fourth-wall.creator-spring.com/listing/when-is-hopr-03?product=2 (I was going to post pictures of them but Tumblr keeps breaking when I try). There's a third one, but I don't think I put that one back up because it was intended for Shark Robot where colors are limited and it didn't do very well.

But this is a thing that's brought up by people who hate me - my irritation at the question as if it was still something that bothered me because, again, they cannot conceive that maybe I've changed. No, I am cringe forever and there is nothing I can say or do that will satisfy them.

But no, I "lecture people constantly" evidently. People say I'm obsessed about this topic, about the bullying, that I just talk about it soooo much and I can't move on from it and it haunts my every waking moment and that such "simple, solid advice" like "Be okay with being bullied" is met with unreasonable hostility and my mind fixated on it constantly.

Unless of course you actually look at what I post, what I reblog, what I tweet about and then you discover "Oh, he actually only talks about it when people bring it up to him. He only made that thread because he said the harassment is starting to rise up again and that was days and days ago and hasn't said anything about it since. In fact, on this very Tumblr he's only bringing it up again because somebody ELSE is bringing it up, allowing him a chance to further break down why asshole behavior is still asshole behavior.

So let's bring this back to the "screw 'em" thing. You'll notice that in none of these longer rambling statements I've made have I brought them up. Sure, in that 40 seconds during the stream I did… but that was in the middle of the first wave of it where it really WAS affecting me psychologically hard… and I have not talked about them on stream since then. I don't talk about them in these threads. I don't tell my fans to harass them. I don't make up some nickname for them or mock them or do anything other than maybe some frustration at them during the thread a few years ago (and I am explicitly telling my fans not do so - if you want to be an asshole to them, you can fuck off from my fans). Because I don't WANT to talk about them. They can do whatever the hell they want on their streams. They can call me Lightbringer there, make weird memes about me. It's THEIR space to do with as they please.

The problem is entirely that their fans come to MY space to be assholes. To repeat those memes, to bully me and call me the name. Some do it innocently, thinking I'm okay with it (which, again - is who that thread was directed towards)… but there are others who are being assholes about it. And I'm going to call them assholes about it and block them. And I'm still not going to talk about Oney because I don't want to - they're not the ones who are spamming Lightbringer in my chat or comments or trying to find some way of sneaking it into the comments past my comment filters to try to get a gotcha on me. Hell, I've gotten some people who have said they discovered me and love my stuff now BECAUSE Oney talked about me.

And I'd really like to know which recent review you saw where I was specifically attacking creators in the manner you seem to think I did. Because being angry at a plot point or a narrative decision is not the same thing as attacking a creator. I'll freely tell you about the ones I HAVE specifically called out for shittiness - the racist, the homophobic, the sexual harassers, the transphobic, the one that spread misinformation, or just the greedy assholes. But just looking at the list of the last 50+ episodes I've done that maybe… once or twice? And even despite ALL those horrible things, I STILL tell my fans to leave them alone - to not start fights with them, to not send my videos to them, etc. Because I don't want my fans to be bullies, either.

I will end this with one final thing: "The comments you complain about getting seem tame in comparison." Yeah, well, that's because you're you and I'm me. Something that seems innocuous to one person may be deeply triggering for someone else. Something that seems like an innocent joke might actually be really fucking with someone mentally, as it was for me. And that's why I've tried to tell people "Hey, please don't do that." Maybe I do it aggressively. But sometimes that's the only way people will listen. If people are still doing it even after I've expressed how much it harms me - telling me that I should just "get over it" or "let them do it and respond with a laugh" even though I keep saying it DOES affect me, then those people are assholes and I don't see why I should give them the time of day.

Hopefully this lengthy response (I really am a windbag) helps people understand or it clears up some bullshit. And if it's still not good enough for you, then nothing less than complete capitulation to being called Lightbringer is the only thing that will satisfy you… well, fuck off.

[iheartgod175]

Some Quick Thoughts

--Sorry I've been on and off of here, everyone! Work's been crazy, and so has home life, but I'm starting to come out of the dreary tunnel now, meaning that I should be back on here a lot more often now.

--My writing motivation has been on and off for the last few weeks, mostly due to getting back to work after getting hit with the 'Rona (after my birthday, which was a double whammy). The project that I was working on before getting sick was The Zula Patrol: Dreamscape Crusade Remastered, but now it's shifted to a few other projects that I haven't worked on in years or are on hiatus. Those projects are Mirror, Mirror, and Sodor Magic Crusaders.

--I haven't really been into Thomas the Tank Engine in a hot minute, but I have kinda been into Nanoha again. And I'm about 45% through the actual sixteenth chapter, where things go wrong for multiple characters. I also had a cool idea to switch up how Emily is handled in this story, since I don't want it to be a total cut and paste from the canon events in Nanoha (the fic itself already plays fast and loose with canon as many Devices that appear later in the series appear in the first installment, Mid-Childa doesn't exist, and rather than the Jewel Seeds, we get the Book of Transformation).

I'm also doing a total readthrough of the story to get up to speed with what's going on, and the difference between my old writing style and my current writing style is like night and day, haha! I'm still planning on rewriting a few chapters to make things clearer and clean up any errors/descriptions. At least, until I decide to get the ball rolling on The REMAKE 1st. And while SRBA was unanimously the top pick for a DCR-style remaster, a few people wanted to see this project, too.

--Mirror, Mirror's fifth chapter is something I've been working on for the better part of two years. I'm raising the stakes here in this chapter! Like SMC, I'm about 40% done with this chapter; just adding a few points from ideas and brainstorms I had, and working off of that.

--Sheriff Callie's Wild West has also been tickling the brain a little. I've been trying to get to chapter 7 of You've Got My Attention for the longest, but everything I've tried has not worked. Yesterday, though, I had a little idea on what exactly happened in Callie's past that's made her so closed off on love and why what those criminals did crossed the line. I haven't even started on this chapter yet, though, so please don't rush my inbox with messages about when it'll be done!

--A huge thanks to the folks who have been reblogging my ZP stuff from last year, including all the ship art ^^ Actually, thanks to everyone who's been reblogging/liking my art. Especially the art that I did with Chuck E, because I was not expecting that kind of response. It really makes my day!

--I do have a mini art bomb coming soon. I've been drawing more and want to share what I've been working on!

--And last but not least, I will get to doing my Animation Bucket List soon, because reading through my old Netflix Bucket Lists made me realize that I missed doing 'em. And since I've seen a lot of anime since then, I really want to share what I liked, hated, and am ambivalent on.

[uboat53]

It's been a while, but I feel the need for some political analysis. Not the specific issue things I've been doing, but a broader look at the 2024 election. LONG RANT (TM) time?

INTRODUCTION

As I imagine you're aware by now if you read anything I write, I'm a bit of a data guy. I've been following the polls for a few decades now and I find it a good way to keep sane in the chaos of an election season. This time, though… this time I'm not so sure.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm still following the polling like a crack addicted muppet, I'm just no longer sure that it's accurate, even within its own margins of error. There are a few reasons for this, the long-standing ones like declining response rates, but also some new ones to do with the changing electorate. A bunch of things are coming together in ways that make me no longer certain that we're getting an accurate picture.

That said, there is still data I'm seeing that I find useful. Focus groups, for example, are still producing interesting nuggets of information that help fill in a few gaps, but more on that later. First, the polling.

HOW POLLING WORKS

So polling, at its heart is fairly simple. You call, text, or otherwise survey a bunch of people, usually on the order of a thousand or so, and ask them for their opinions. Then you figure out the race, age, and other demographic information of the people you got and use some statistical tools to normalize them to the broader population.

For example, if your thousand person sample was 5% black but you think the voting population is going to be 10% black, you'll "weight" the answers your black respondents gave. In other words, you'll give more impact to their answers to try to better represent who you think is actually going to show up on election day. If you get more of a group than you think will actually show up, you'll do the reverse and de-weight them.

If you think about that for a minute, you'll realize that there are two really big places where error can seep into your polling.

POLLING ERRORS

The first is called the response rate. It used to be that you'd have to call about 2,000-3,000 people to get 1,000 responses. Nowadays, you've got to hit closer to 10,000 people. And there's good research showing that the kind of people that respond to polls are meaningfully different than the kind of people who don't respond but still vote.

That said, pollsters have adapted and have gotten reasonably good at adjusting for this kind of error. Well, the good ones have, the bad ones just do low-quality polls and their results are terrible as a result. There was one particularly longitudinal poll during the 2016 election that apparently only had one black Trump supporter, who they weighted heavily, who would just stop answering their questions when he felt Trump was doing badly which led to some wild swings in their results depending on whether he answered that week or not. Generally speaking, though, this kind of error isn't as big of a problem in decent polling as we kind of thought it would be when it started showing up a decade or two ago. The other kind of error, though…

Look, in order to weight your polled population properly, you have to have a reasonable idea of who's actually going to show up to vote. Will 30% of white women between the ages of 18 and 24 show up or will it be 50%? Will the electorate in Georgia be 30% black or 40% black? Answering these questions makes a huge impact on how the final result turns out, and the way we generally answer these questions is we look at the past few elections.

The problem with that is, there's nothing consistent or predictable about the last few elections. 2012 and 2014 were pretty standard elections where the predictable groups showed up in predictable numbers and things went as expected. In 2016, though, Trump turned out a huge amount of people who had never voted before and shifted the result in key states that were not expected to go for him. Those same people, though, didn't show up in 2018 when he wasn't on the ballot and the result was a pretty solid win for Democrats in places that hadn't been expected to for them after 2016. Then, in 2020, those same people showed up to vote for Trump again, but this time they were outnumbered by ANOTHER new group of voters who hadn't showed up before but now showed up to vote against Trump. Finally, in 2022, yet another huge wave of new voters showed up, energized and outraged by the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe vs. Wade, and completely overturned the conventional wisdom of a strong Republican showing.

In other words, there's no way anyone could reasonably say that we can make a strong prediction of what the 2024 electorate is going to look like based on the last decade of elections. Are the voters who were outraged about abortion in 2022 still outraged? Will the new voters who showed up for Trump in 2016 and 2020 show up in the same kind of numbers? Will the anti-Trump voters of 2020? Maybe they have got it right this time, but there's absolutely no way to know that. Even worse, there's no way to know which way the error is running, the polls might be massively overweighted in Trump's favor or Harris's.

I certainly can't say and I'm fairly certain no one else can either.

OTHER DATA

That said, there is other data we can look at. My personal favorite these days are focus groups, particularly those conducted by people who are good at running them like Whit Ayers or Frank Luntz. Rather than look at what percentage of voters are voting for Trump, Harris, or undecided, they simply take a group of undecided voters and ask questions to determine why they're undecided and what could shift them and the results of those conversations are really interesting.

I've seen results from a few of these focus group results so far and they're fairly consistent. There's the standard undecided voters, the low-information voters who simply haven't paid attention enough to know where they stand and there's the so-called "double-haters" who just really dislike both candidates, but, surprisingly, these groups aren't the majority.

The majority of undecided voters apparently are generally moderate conservative voters who know that they don't like Trump but don't feel like they know enough about Harris to vote for her. Specifically, they feel like they don't know enough about her economic policies.

And that's a very interesting result, because it's the kind of result you see when an unpopular incumbent runs for re-election. Unpopular incumbents can and do win re-election; it's not enough that people don't like them, they also have to like the alternative. That's why John Kerry didn't defeat George W. Bush in 2004 and why Bill Clinton did defeat George H. W. Bush in 1992. Clinton persuaded voters that he would be better and Kerry didn't.

When Biden was running against Trump earlier this year, he was the unpopular incumbent and, while people didn't like Trump either, a critical mass of them seem to have liked him better than Biden. With Biden's withdrawal, the race has shifted. Trump may not technically be the incumbent, but people have seen him in office and they didn't like him. Harris has been Vice-President for about three and a half years now, but that's not being President, not even close. She's the unknown in this race.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS

Look, I don't know if there's enough undecided voters in this race to make a difference. Heck, it's possible that either Trump or Harris already have enough voters in the tank to win this thing in the key states and we just don't know it. All that said, there's a clear fight on for what undecided voters currently exist.

Harris needs to convince them that she has a plan to manage the economy. Job growth, wage growth, and consumer spending are strong and inflation is back down to reasonable levels, but the scars of high inflation remain. If she can convince voters that she has a plan to bring down costs and/or raise wages, she'll win. This is going to take more than the broad-strokes style answers she's been giving so far, my take is that she'll need to give a formal economic policy address, preferably more than one, and go into detail and depth about her economic plans.

Trump's only chance, on the other hand, is to smear Harris as well as he can. After four years in office and about a decade of a constant campaign, I'm pretty sure there's nothing left that could convince these voters to like him. Fortunately for him, he doesn't need them to like him, he just needs them to dislike her. That said, the relentless personal attacks he's been lobbing aren't going to do it, he's going to need to actually attack her economic policy, but that runs the risk of highlighting it to voters who may have otherwise not have heard about it.

CONCLUSION

Look, the polling data is iffy to me. It may be accurate or it might not, but we really have no way of knowing given the massive churn in the electorate this last decade. Assuming, though, that this race really is a tight one and will come down to undecided voters, it seems like this really is Harris's election to lose. If she can define herself, particularly her economic policies, in a way that appeals to undecided voters, it's likely that she can win them and, presumably, the election as well and there's not a lot that Trump can do about that without becoming a far different person than he is.

[1rsoldiersince2012]

Bound by Law (Matt Murdock x Reader)

Words: 3365 (chapter 40)

AN: pardon me for this chapter but... Yeah.

/slight smut/ minors dni!

40. running away is all I know

"Isn't it a bit too loud?" You shout to Pug, whose hand has been steadily keeping a hold of your wrist and pulling you forward through the sweaty crowd.

"What?!" Pug turns to briefly look at you, but then continues his journey towards the bar.

"Exactly!" You shout back, trying to not lose your purse and your friend by tightly gripping Pug's jacket with your other hand. You got out of your 5-hour flight just before noon, and now Pug was dragging you out for drinks, hoping that it would lessen your guilt and heartache over a certain someone.

"Oh, I see it!" He says excitedly, and finally you spot the bar, full of people lingering near the counter and others sitting on the high stools. The whole place reeks off rich people with big egos and you're a bit surprised that it changed so much since you left Los Angeles.

"Pug, it's full." You gently pull on his sleeve, but he still drags you near the left side of the bar, where a couple of guys were having a heated conversation, something about business and stocks from what you've managed to overhear in such a short time. Pug gestures something to the bartender and in a minute the guys are leaving their seats, grumbling something about rude service.

"After you, madam." He shows you the stool and helps you to sit down first, before getting comfortable on his stool beside you.

"You call me madam again, and I'm taking the next plane to NY." You send a threatening glare and Pug puts his hands up in defense.

"Okay, okay." He sighs then calls for a bartender. "'Sup Johnathan?"

"Pug, my man, how's it going? Haven't seen you here for a while." They shake hands like old pals and you can't wipe the confusion off of your face.

"I've been busy lately, but hey, I brought this beautiful lady today, it's been what..? a year since she last was here." Pug announces, suddenly making you feel old.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Miss...?" He extends his hand over the counter, waiting for your response.

"Y/n." You shake his hand and you're pretty sure that it smells like all the alcohol in this bar mixed together.

"Johnathan. You said you were here a year ago?" He smiles, the light of the bar illuminating his short, spiky hair.

"Yeah, and I honestly don't remember you." You say, squinting your eyes slightly. "Maybe you would've been a good catch for the night." You watch his eyes widen but then a mischievous glint changes the confusion.

"What about tonight?" He leans closer, trying to keep the conversation on low volume, despite the whole club going feral.

"Oh, Johnny, her heart is in another city, not a chance." Pug nudges his arms and John retreats back a safe distance. You only smile and order Vodka Red Bull, while Pug sticks to his usual Martini.

"Starting off strong?"

"Yeah, trying to forget some stuff." You huff a laugh and Pug eyes you knowingly. After you spilled all your heart in his apartment and in the taxi on your way here, he wasn't about to complain about your road-to-a-heart-attack drink order, because he knew how much you needed to get properly wasted tonight.

*** 

After the gala, you woke up the next evening, head pounding and a lump hanging in your throat. Your mouth felt so dry that you actually had to peel your tongue off of the top of your mouth. The first thing you saw upon opening your eyes was Foggy sitting in a chair next to you; actually, sleeping heavily, and you almost wished that Matt was sitting next to him, but the second chair was empty. Finally spotting the flowers on the table, you moved in bed, waking up Foggy. 

He was beyond worried, immediately thanking God that you've woken up, and running around the ward like a little worker ant.

"Foggy... Please, you're making my head spin." You said, feeling restricted by all the tubes and needles attached to your body, "Can you lift the bed?"

"I don't think you should sit up so soon."

"Since when you're a doctor?" You asked, already annoyed that he didn't hurry to fulfil your wish.

"Since I-" He stopped, thinking about Matt resting in his apartment, "Okay, whatever."

"Thank you." You said when he finally fixed the pillow and you felt your body relax. "How'd you find me?"

"How'd you get here? What the hell happened? I mean Claire told me why you're here but how the hell did you get poisoned?" Foggy started wawing his hands around in the air.

"Who's Claire?"

"Your nurse. She recognized you from your old bilboard and called HCB and then got sent to us."

"Oh." You fall silent, looking at your fingers resting in your lap. "I...was at Fisk's party."

"What? Why?" Foggy looks at you intently, and suddenly you feel like a child who is about to get a lecture from their parents about a broken thing. 

"I had to, there was no other choice. He gave me no other choice." You furrow your eyebrows angrily.

"Who? Fisk? Did he threaten you?"

"It's a long story, Foggy, I don't think I'm ready to talk about it..." You sigh, softly smoothing the covers with your hand.

"I'm so tired of all the secrets." Foggy grumbles under his breath, sending a look at the flowers.

"What secrets?"

"Nothing, just forget about it."

Probably for the first time since you and Foggy met, you felt him acting cold towards something, which was very unlike him. "Can you pass me my phone? Before the nurses come and send me through millions of tests."

"Sure." He comes close and hands you the phone, still looking at the flowers. You're met with at least 50 messages and 20 calls from Pug, asking where are you. All from yesterday. "There's a note for you." Foggy fidgets next to you and takes out the note, "is it from him?"

You take the piece of paper and read the words: "i wish it could've been different", written in nice cursive, although it was painfully evident that a man wrote it.

"Is it from that Wesley guy?" Foggy asks again, this time more demanding.

"I think so. I think he brought me here." You scrunch your nose when the hospital smell finally reaches you. "Remember that woman in art gallery?" You ask, eyes wide and, if Foggy wasn't wrong, a little bit wild.

"The one with dark hair? Who was telling me about that ugly painting?"

"Yeah, Vanessa." You say, somehow feeling strength return to your body, "she's with Fisk. There were all kinds of dicks in that Gala, all the rich people of the city, I don't even know half of them, but they're pretty high in power, I think I saw someone from the Station. Foggy, he has everyone in his pocket, we can't do anything about it. We just can't expose him because he's already three steps ahead and has it all covered." You sigh with desperation and notice a familiar face peeking through the small window inside your ward. You knew that face, he was one of the security men in the party. Marco notices your wide eyes and quickly disappears just like he appeared.

Foggy continues pacing around, failing to notice the unfamiliar person, much to his luck. "This is bad, this is so bad." He mumbles again, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm getting out of here. Tonight. I can't stay here any longer." You begin pulling out the needles out of your arms, quickly alarming Foggy.

"Hey, hey, are you crazy?"

"It's crazy to stay here, when Fisk has this place fully packed with his men, I have no doubt about that." You catch his hand trying to stop you and sit on the edge of the bed. "Please, let's just get out of here and I leave you alone, I won't bother you tonight. In fact, I'm going to LA for the weekend."

"What? After Matt had... The incident?" Foggy asks, making your hurried actions come to a halt.

*** 

"Oh, my favorite type of clients." Johnathan smiles and disappears in the other side of the bar.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you..." Pug starts, spinning the toothpick with olives in his glass.

"Yeah?" You take a sip of your drink and the burning sensation in your throat makes you feel alive again.

"What are your plans after what happened?" He looks at you, unreadable expression on his face.

"Try to stay alive?" You joke, hoping to avoid any serious topics, especially when you came here to get loose.

Pug doesn't get to ask any more questions when suddenly your world becomes dark - big hands on your face cover your eyes and you almost jump in your seat. "Guess who?" A deep voice says close to your ear, warm breath tickling the back of your head. Involuntary, you smile, ignoring the fact that a possible stranger put his hands on your face, most likely ruining your makeup. Your hands come onto his, slowly grazing his fingers and wrists, feeling the layer of hair and strong muscles. There was only one person in your whole life, who still did this childish game.

"Max?" You ask and feel momentarily blinded by the lights when the hands leave your face and rest on your shoulders.

"Bingo!" A voice with thick Australian accent exclaims behind you, and you turn on your chair to see a taller man standing with his arms open, smile on his face as big as the moon tonight.

"Max!" You shout and almost immediately pull him into your embrace, feeling the muscles under his dark green shirt when he presses you close into his chest. He pulls away slightly and takes your hand in his, leaning close to kiss your knuckle. You hold his gaze and shiver slightly when his lips touch your skin, disappearing just as quick as they made contact. Pug looks at the two of you, slightly surprised and almost shocked.

"Max? What a coincidence." He says, pushing his hand in front of Max and quickly greeting the man.

You quickly glance at his shoes and smirk. "Cowboy boots?"

He laughs, head falling back and exposing his thick neck. "You can take me from Texas, but you can't take Texas from me, baby."

"You're from Australia." You deadpan, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I grew up in Texas, baby." He winks, looking around the place.

"Still got that cowboy hat in your apartment?" You take a sip of your drink, turning to Max again. Sitting in the middle of the bar side and managing the whole three-way conversation turned out to be a bigger challenge for your drunken self than it actually was.

"Even better, I probably have like 5 cowboy hats." He smiles, dimples visible on his cheeks, curls falling on his forehead. It's been only couple of years since you last saw him, but he has changed a lot. "Can't believe I met you guys here. I mean I'm here every weekend or so, but it's been too long since I was met with familiar faces."

"I'm not hiding anywhere, just getting drunk in less expensive places." Pug shrugs, side eyeing the bar for any signs of Johnathan and a new drink.

"Well... I've been busy with work.. in Hell's Kitchen." You cast your eyes down, watching the bubbles rise in your glass.

"That hole?" Max asks, not really surprised, but maybe a bit disappointed.

"Yep, that hole. It's just as bad as LA but a lot less fancy."

"Augustus you're still into the law?"

"More 'in' than 'into', but yes, still there." Pug replies, somewhat sourly. He wished to spend as much time with you as he could before you leave again for God knows how long but of course, Max was ruining everything.

"So, what are you doing here, Max?" You ask, saving Pug from another awkward answer.

"Oh, just making my way into the hierarchy of the prison." He says, eyes glinting, "I'm kind of an important person there."

"What, they let you sleep in the top bunk?" You ask, pretending to be shocked.

"Haha, very funny. I'm second to the head chief, so, you know, I can do whatever I want."

"No wonder you're so... Bulky now." You reply, eyes sliding down his chest.

***

You force him on his knees, locking the doors of his apartment behind you and leaning on the nearby wall. "Oh, I like it." Max smirks, kneeling in front of you, smiling. Leaving the club with Max and ditching Pug with a mysterious blonde was a huge mistake, but now you weren't thinking; alcohol was doing it for you.

"Wanna like it more?" You ask, fingers messing with his dark curls. He nods, eagerly placing his hands on your thighs and giving a firm squeeze. He looks at you, asking for permission and you nod slowly, because if you did it faster, you were sure that your vision would be lost. Strong fingers lift the end of your dress and Max starts kissing your thigh; you hold your breath, waiting for him to acknowledge the obvious under your dress, but when he continues teasing, you grab a fistful of his hair and push his face on your center. He looks at you from below, eyes unfocused from the alcohol, the sudden pull of his hair causing him to jerk his hips forward.

He knows how you like it. Or liked. It's been too long since he felt your body underneath his, tightly pressed together and desperate for more. Yet not long enough for him to forget how you liked your pussy to be eaten. Max eyes you one more time before lifting himself up more to grab the hem of your underwear with his teeth and starts pulling it down. You watch the scene unfold between your legs, still tightly holding onto his hair. As he pulls your underwear down to your knees, they fall on the floor on their own, making him smirk. You gently pull him back and he takes the hint, diving to suck your clit. You almost moan out loud at the contact, but swallow it harshly. Max sets a relentless pace, making you tug at his hair harder. He tries to hide it, but you can see the way he's moving his hips, trying to make some type of contact with his pants and you say something that surprises you both. "Touch yourself."

He finally pulls away, breathing heavily and looking at you with a dazed expression, your wetness glistening on his lips. You release his hair, pulling him up by his chin to your eye level. "What?" He asks, blinking more than necessary, perhaps slightly sobering up.

"I wanna see you touching yourself when you eat me." You say more confidently now, kissing his cheek for reassurance. You didn't want to kiss him on the lips and continuously refused to do so in the taxi. He puts his whole body weight on his palms on the wall to keep his balance.

Max groans when your hands start unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his pants and you teasingly lick his neck. Max's eyebrows knit together, waiting for the desired contact with his cock, but you pull away, holding the hem of your dress instead. He looks at you in question, but then awkwardly pulls his pants down, exposing his already hard dick. "I want to see you cum when you lick my clit." You say, feeling slightly lightheaded when he spits into his palm and wraps his hand on his dick, groaning loudly at the contact, his breath near your neck tickling your skin. "Get on your knees." You say, watching him continue to stroke himself for a brief moment before you pull his head to your center again, letting his tongue do the rest.

You lay on the bed next to Max, ashamed that you just faked your orgasm, staring at the ceiling in thought. Both still fully dressed, feeling too hot for your liking after the previous incident (that's all it was in your mind), you were both looking at the same dried spot of yellow on one of the ceiling tiles. Max turns his body towards you, lying on the side, his head resting on his palm. You pay no attention to the shuffling beside you, still staring with an empty gaze. The alcohol was still buzzing through your veins, creating an unpleasant feeling in your head.

"What's on your mind?" Max asks, carefully inspecting your facial expressions.

"Everything." You simply say. Words were not enough to explain what was going through your mind, and Max, staring at your face, didn't make it all easier.

"I thought you hated Hell's Kitchen." He says and looks at you questioningly.

"I did." You sigh, closing your eyes, "still do."

"But he makes it bearable?" Max asks, his finger gently touching the scar on your arm, where the bullet grazed your skin.

***

"What incident? What happened?" You demand, watching Foggy stumble with an answer.

"He got into a car accident." He lies.

"What?" Your voice gets higher.

"He's okay now, pretty beat up but he's okay... At home." Foggy finishes awkwardly, eyes scanning the floor.

"When did that happen?" You pull up the jeans that Foggy brought. New ones. And they fit perfectly. If he wasn't a lawyer then he would've been a great retail worker.

"Last night."

"Were you even going to tell me?"

"The same way you told me about that party?"

Checkmate. Foggy has finally caught you in a corner. "Tell Matt if you see him that I'm really sorry about lying and... I hope that he's okay." You pull on a hoodie and grab your phone. "I'm getting out of here."

"Y/n!" Foggy shouts when you slip out of the ward, knocking the vase with flowers down on your way. You had to leave, you had to go to LA. You couldn't stay here this weekend, and once again, your gut feeling was right - it was best to leave Hell's Kitchen and Fisk, yet not the best decision to leave Matt wounded and alone.

***

"I think so." You reply, turning to look at Max.

"Jeepers, you're down bad for him." He laughs lowly, chest rumbling with the action.

"You weirdo, no one ever says 'jeepers' in a normal conversation."

"Well, in my defense, your Honor, this is not a normal conversation." He mocks and you slightly punch his arm.

"It's such a dick move from me. I didn't even visit him, and his best friend told me about the car accident. I think he hoped I was going to visit him."

Max looks at you intently, calculating his next words. "Do you think he'd want you to visit?"

"I don't know. I kind of wanted him to visit me when I was in the hospital... But at the same time I was glad that he didn't. I mean... We're nothing. We just work together and share the same fucking table in the office. And we had sex..." You rub your face and exhale loudly. "But it's not like we're in a relationship."

"Do you want to be in a relationship with him?" Max asks, a soft smile on his face.

"I wouldn't mind that... But you know me."

"I know that he's not me," Max begins, sitting on the edge of the bed, his back turned on you. "I couldn't win you, and I'm sure you've never had a thought about me that was similar to what you just said about him. So..."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that he has more chances than me, which means that you two can at least try to create something."

"You're somehow both making sense and talking complete nonsense at the same time."

"Hey, it's the alcohol talking." He smiles, leaning back on the bed, his head almost resting in your lap. "But seriously, you should try it."

"Try what?" You chuckle, slowly messing with his curls.

"Being happy."

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2023: #14 & #13

14. ESTONIA Alika - "Bridges" 8th place

Decade ranking: 40/116 [Above Circus Mircus, below TBA]

Tweak some bangs, Alika's Shart.

It is amazing how a few on-point tweaks can make a song significantly more appealing. I went up and down on Alika throughout the months, but a year after I've put her low on the pre-show ranking I am ready to lock in my final verdict: Bridges is kind of really good.

Ofc there were huge problems down the road cuz you know, vocal masturbation ballad in a BorisBubbles ranking, and also, clear jury carry the year after Marius Bear and Nadir Whatshisgjon, but Estonia ironed out their most glaring flaws, so what else can I ask for? I got what I wanted.

Estonia's problem for me, as I've come to realize once I started liking Alika again, was always one of aesthetics, and specifically visual aesthetics (keep that in mind when I rank Europapa low for the lack of bags-over-head (lol if I rank ESC2024 to begin with (I mean, I probably will (I am not readly to enter that discourse yet tho (regardless, that haircut is a capital offence))))). A big inherent flaw of vocal flex ballads like "Bridges" is the lack of dynamism and emotional gravitas (as the vocal technique goes against these principles - "loud" is a pitch, not an emotion) - it's a flaw that comes with the genre and that's something only charisma can fix. Pre-show Alika looked like she'd been dragged out of a river and then SHOUTED into a mic without moving, so yeah, that's where I bail. Slimane your way into someone else's simple and easily-impressed heart please, I Am Not The Demograph. (-- Alesia Michelle).

The version in Liverpool though was - by textbook definition almost - a glow-up. Alongside her Jenevelle hair, Estonia actually put Alika in a beautiful gown and made her move around. Observe:

NOW I SEE MAHSEEL BEELDING UP A WOALD OF BREEECHEEEEEEEEEES

Apparently a lot of people were mesmerized by the self-playing piano but for me the biggest factor in selling "Bridges" was just Alika herself. Props are nice embellishments but the true art of live performance is when score and vocal come together via the power of Personality. Which she finally showed in Liverpool after what felt like an eternity.

By allowing Alika to just do... idk, Alika things with her body lang, face and hands, Estonia broke the monotony of "three minutes of loudness" and made it fun, camp and digestible. If theres anything The Gays (me) like, it's a neat lady doing silly things with fierce confidence. Yasss Go Slay Queen.

Ultimately, a lot of people think Alika's top 10 is nonsense and a strike against juries and here I disagree. That a strong glow up and performance such as Alika's went unappreciated by the televote is a huge strike against the televote, not the other way around. I am happy she got her spot in the limelight, and 8th place is a good, if somewhat generous representation of what she brought. I'll never be a huge fan of the song "Bridges", but at the end of the day Alika really ate that live, and that's something worth rewarding.

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

13. POLAND Blanka - "Solo" 19nd place

Decade Ranking: 39/116 [Above Alika, below Stefan]

"ARIANA GRANDE IF ARIANA HAD NO TALENT" -- my immediate instinct when i first heard "Solo"

Were my instincts wrong, though? Her lack of performance skill and talent, the online response, the severed heads of Jann and Iru she keeps mounted on a pedestal in her boudoire. Blanka was the Mery Bass of 2023. She has no business being this good.

btw yes, lmao so hard that THIS ENTRY was somehow one of the more controversial ones in recent ESC. Honestly, the 13th place I'm giving here is at least half thanks to the controversy which made "Solo" feel iconic - it is exceedingly funny to me that it caused so much outrage for... existing? What did Blanka ever do? Certainly not rob better acts - Listen to Jann and listen to Iru and tell me straight-faced they were better.

BEJBA! IS KINDA KRAJZA!

As a song, "Solo" was always fun femmetrash. Ever since Eleni the majority of the Eurovision girlbops have been attempting to recreate Fuegos with varying successes - Competently staged with intricate choreographies to commemorate our inner faggotry. "Solo" represents a style of girlbop that's gone out of fashion - the "Aphrodisiac"-like basic bop by useless bitches for useless cigs. (Fuego is what gays see themselves as, Solo is what they actually are). Aphrodisiacs have become nearly extinct at Eurovision because they nearly always lose the NF nowadays. So thank you Jann for performing 'Gladiator' in Scooby-Doo vocals so that we could witness Bejba fullfill her beautiful destiny in Liverpool.

And what a destiny it was. In a way, most of the things I wrote about Alika also apply to Blanka. A few small tweaks to the performance can make the whole a lot better. Unlike Alika though, who ampted up the sophistication, Blanka went a route I respect more: She listened to fan feedback.

Slight paraphrasing:

Fans: "EWW BLANKA HAS NO TALENT, CAN'T DANCE, CAN'T SING, WON BASED ON MONEY!!!" Blanka: "... so? 🙂"

I don't know WHEN Blanka decided to be everything the fans accused her of (talentless, washed-up, plastic), amped up to comical levels, but thank fuck she did because it made her instantly epic. It is rare for a Eurovision artist to address her online haters by Now I Betta Troll'em, Troll'em, and Blanka as it turns out is masterfully skilled at trollery. She elevated it into an art.

The Cheap VFX <3

The badly performed wooden choreos <3

The Dutch angles <3

Doing the Eleftheria thing of having your backing vocalist sing over you, while you mug the camera with semi-fierce faces and placeholder hairflips.

Accused to having no performance skill or talent? Add in a cheap dance break anyway, and enjoy every second of it, live your dream while they fume on Twitter, angry that Poland qualified over Georgia.

Guess where I am, honey? 💋 I'm in the final. 💋 And I'm here to stay 💋 :dramatic cymball:

"Solo" was incompetent, plastic and a huge mess, and that was great because it was all deliberate. That made it epic. Poland really took all the negative criticism they received and yanked it up to 11 and it made the entry better. If that isn't a taunting flex in the face of toxicity, I don't know what is. Given how venomous the fandom has been since the pandemic, that is an approach to life I can totally get behind.

THE RANKING

AND WITH THAT WE MADE IT OUT OF THE MILD LIKE ZONE, HOO-fucking-RAY. Now bear in mind that the next few eliminees are very LOW lush greens and there's quite a few of those before we get to the really good stuff, but eh. Soon I'll be able to talk about the songs I loved, and that's always a treat.

[jayflrt]

HAI USER JAYFLRT it's been so long huhu ㅠㅠ was lowkey reading yfi786 silently during exam season ... BUT IM HERE NOW TEEHEE disclaimer : i have so many thoughts but idt it makes sense even in my head TT

the recent chapter was SO GOOD like plot aside, i can never emphasize enough how much i love the way you write. sometimes i revisit your fics that i've alr read and sit in front of my screen and try to understand ur pattern of writing ?? mostly bc i have a terrible habit of incorporating repetition everywhere in my works and that is something i usually don't notice in ur fics so :O js want u to know that ure rlly someone i forward to when it comes to writing ( and like, absolutely fucked up humour too bc ure so funny )

back to the smau, CHAEWON WHEN I CATCH U ... i thought she and yn were getting along, at least to some extent ?? but it made me so mad when she brought it up although i sort of understood where she was coming from idk like maybe bc she had/has some unsolved beef towards yn which mostly roots from heeseung ... but still crazy af to say that in front of everyone!!!! lowkey scared for jay i think everyone will jump him when they know him and yn almost fucked TT

and the hazing ritual had me shook i don't think i would've ever survived that if that happened to me lmfao, tho thanks to svt for being the comedic relief. STEALING THE GOAT PART WAS SO SKJDHKJHDF aaand i loved the heejay cuddle part too i know they're the main pairing and everyone else is js secondary

ANYWAYS im so so excited for the next chapters and the chapters after that too >< got me praying for jay bc i dont see the light at the end of the tunnel for him ... but im gna take ur word when u said u dont rlly like sad endings so jayn r going to end up together ( _ _; )

HI CAEL!! i was saving this ask for when i planned to answer all of the ones in my inbox and kept thinking of getting to it whenever i'd see you on twt 🤧 but here i am sorry for the late response!!! and i hope your exam season went well! manifesting you passing with flying colors 💗

i'm so glad you liked the chapter!! (i think this was for chapter 40 if i'm not mistaken 🥲) but omg please that's so sweet 🥹 but no pls i have that same problem myself, it must be a universal writing habit 🤧 but what i try to do is fix it as i go, like i'll write what comes to mind and tweak my sentences if i catch some repetition LOL idk if that helps but that's what usually works for me!!! and omg it makes me so happy to hear that you look forward to my writing 🥰

chaewon's always been sidelined when it came to mc (especially by heeseung) so she definitely did not have good intentions when she brought that up 😔 another reason for mc to be Very careful about the people she surrounds herself by

i physically cannot add jeonghan in a story without making him a little silly goofy <33 svt are such pookies i had the most fun writing that exchange between hannie and hao LMFAO and omg so true this is actually just a heejay fic and jay/n is just a side pairing sorry guys :/

DONT YOU WORRY i have spent countless hours agonizing over how to flesh out this ending in the best possible way and i am 97% sure i have covered all the bases to get us there (the 3% will be accounted for after i finish the act 2 finale trust 🙂‍↕️) but although i haven't posted a chapter in a hot minute i've been racking my brain to tie all the loose ends together and i think i've done it!! so i'm hyped 😁 it will be a ride ,, i'll hold everyone's hand for the drops

[blueysoda]

That One Guy

Cherri Bomb and Sir Pentious

By BlueySoda

Cherri Bomb was well known in Pentagram City, especially after that news broadcast on the fight with that snake prick. What was his name again? Pretentious? Pension? Whatever his name was, it wasn't important enough for Cherri to remember. That was weeks ago, anyway. To a lot of demons around the city, she was recognized as the infamous "spunky powerhouse" that caused the small, random explosions around the city and was responsible for a lot of property damage.

It was more than vandalism, but in Hell, arson was just like graffiti. An everyday occurrence, and not something that can be stopped. Not unless the culprit was caught by someone mean and rich and powerful. Luckily for Cherri, she's too quick for someone like that. She blew up billboards, signs, even a couple of their smaller establishments. Whether the demons inside survived, she didn't pay any mind.

The thrill and adrenaline of a chase or a fight was something she'd been craving for weeks, now. The fight against Prentice was too much fun, and she'd been aching for something action-packed like that again. Maybe even with the same guy. Wouldn't that be funny? Well, she and Angel did find him again a couple more times, once even finding smoldering, ruined cardboard cutouts of themselves scattered about rooftops. Someone clearly didn't drink their coffee that morning.

Cherri was out in the city by herself, perched carefully on the roof of a tall building. She was vigilantly scanning the skyline and in between buildings for stuff to add onto the list of places and/or things to blow up. Arson and explosives were her thing, and she felt in an especially chaotic and destructive mood that night. All day, she had been itching to try out the final product of a new bomb she'd been developing. It was actually a personal request from Angel Dust, her closest friend, and how could she say no to him?

As she looked around, something moved in the corner of her eye. She turned, aware that she was perceptive enough to know that it wasn't just a car on the street down below. Besides, it was up higher. And in the sky. It was… getting bigger? Then, she recognized it. A devious grin grew on her face as she eyed the vessel carefully, watching as it grew larger and larger, closer and closer.

A loud, maniacal laugh that was far too easily recognizable, for someone who'd heard it before, echoed through the atmosphere. This signaled a huge grappling hand to emerge from the dark airship, going down and trying to grasp her. It succeeded, and Cherri's smile changed slightly as she grunted and struggled violently to try and free herself.

"UGH- hey!! Let me go, ya damned pervert!!" She demanded, but was ignored and held up to the massive glass windshield, where a speaker started broadcasting at max volume right in Cherri's face.

"WELL, WELL, WELL, LOOK WHO― what? Is it? Am I not supposed to hear an echo? But.. I turned it all the way up! Well how in Hell was I supposed to know that?!"

Cherri listened to a very loud, one-sided conversation between Pentium and his Egg Bois, watching as they helped him for well over three minutes with the control panel. Eventually, they turned it down by about 40%, which was just about perfect, even though it took them a second to get there. The cyclops had a very amused expression on her face, thinking that the absolute idiocy of this man that was so egotistical and high-strung was hilarious. Pendulum looked back up at her and cleared his throat.

"Oh, where was I- ah, yes!" The snake's voice changed back to its insane hissing from before. "Well, well, well, look who― "

"I'm gonna stop ya right there, edgelord. This ain't a fair fight. Just put me down so we can finish this the fun way." She smirked, a twinkle in her eye showing her urge for battle. The snake scoffed.

"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MISSY!! How DARE you interrupt me!! Ahem! I'm aware it's an unfair fight, that's why I've bonded you this way!"

"Snrrk― you'd be in a lotta shit if Ange were here, pea-brain. But, uh." In one swift move, Cherri loosened herself from the machinery and dropped down through it, then grabbed the edge and swung herself to land on her feet right on top of it. "I didn't mean unfair to me."

Then, before the inventor could physically react, Cherri Bomb threw a regular round bomb out at the airship, which crashed through the glass and landed in the cockpit. Just like last time. The girl laughed as a taunt, yelling out.

"Three… two… ONE!!"

The bomb went off at the count of one and filled the cockpit with rainbow smoke and glitter, and knocked some debris loose from the mechanics. Cherri Bomb exploded with laughter, hands on her knees as she stood on the hand that held her captive moments before.

"You're such a fuckin' idiot!! Holy shit! I've met stupid people but jeez! This- pfft- this is the second time I pulled this shit, and I was in fronta ya this time! How the fuck are ya this dense?!"

The Australian teased and belittled him for minutes on end, just making fun of how stupidly he was handling the situation. And of how his Egg Bois were just sitting there, some even trying not to laugh along with Cherri. She sat down where she was standing, legs dangling down despite being without any safety gear. She really was a daredevil, this girl.

[andromedaexists]

I've had a lot of friends reach out to me the past couple days and I just don't have the spoons to respond to all of y'all so I'm gonna say what I need to here:

I love you and appreciate you all. Your condolences and well wishes were received and mean a lot to me.

Now, for those who are not in the loop, I would like to take a moment to tell you about why I haven't been around for a hot minute despite really trying my best to be (under the cut, because good lord are there a lot of heavy topics on the table such as pet loss, depression, mental and physical health and the degradation thereof, stress and anxiety and more)

So, just in a brief bullet point recap, since about july of this years I have:

been switched onto a project at work that put increasingly more important responsibilities on my shoulders despite me saying that i never want to be in that position again

been switched back to my normal project in the middle of a hierarchy shift, therefore not knowing who to contact for literally anything (we're still working this out, btw)

started my final semester of college with 4 classes (reading & translating dead language #1, reading & translating dead language #2, novels in dead language #1, and the history of my native tongue that requires reading in the dead ancient form of it)

found myself being forced into monthly outings with my mother (a test in repairing our relationship that is going... okay)

somehow became integral in a discord (not upset, just not sure how i ended up here frfr)

being told on the first day of classes that i am having surgery ASAP on a cyst (we all know my history with cysts here.. it's not pretty)

the absolute atrocity that blue ridge ended up being. that was supposed to be my relax time, my time to unwind from everything else and i still have not recovered my loss of sleep from being up for 40 hours straight because of how horrible that weekend was

had my surgery cancelled because i'm too fat and then being ghosted by the doctor

had my heart absolutely demolished by a guy I thought I could love, only to be reminded that love is a luxury not afforded to people like me

broke up with my primary care physician because my health is degrading so fucking bad that i literally woke up feeling like i broke my wrist just because. and he still won't take me seriously. i can barely walk at this point, let alone stay awake and functioning longer than 4 hours at a time

had my employee review (that actually went well, but i did get my ass chewed out for low production)

had the world fall apart around me as any hope i had for humanity is shattered

release my book 3 days later because it was too late to change the release day by then

bury myself in a depression hole that i'm learning is normal for authors after their book releases

have to move my grandma into assisted living/memory care

have to immediately move myself out of my apartment with a weeks notice because the stress of living next to violent neighbors was finally getting to me (triggered my past with domestic violence) AND they started harassing me

had to undergo a medical procedure because i can't even eat food without my body rebelling

missed a month of classes because of depression

failed 2 latin tests in a row followed by bombing the midterm which was... great of my mental health especially considering i haven't received anything lower than a B or a C on an exam since ever (i was an honor roll/4.0/gifted studies kid)

Failed a History of the English Language exam because i cannot code switch between German, Latin, and English quickly enough (those are the 3 that comprise middle english btw)

a week after moving into my grandma's house I almost burned it down

found out that someone I really respected and looked up to as a friend was a Zionist

and finally: on Saturday I had to put down the cat I have owned for 15 years. She's undoubtedly older than that, but I was her owner for 15 years. She was my first ESA. I was able to tell my prof I wouldn't be in for the SECOND LATIN MIDTERM on monday because of it so now i have to take it tomorrow, but i couldn't get out of the greek exam or work. I asked for one (1) day off work and was told that my cat dying was not sufficient enough reason for the time off without using PTO (that i don't have because I used it on the absolutely horrible weekend that was Blue Ridge)

So yeah. I haven't been around. I've been more around on twitter but that's mostly me just reposting a bunch of posts about Palestine rn and other posts that my friends make. I'm so fucking exhausted and nauseous and just done. I haven't really written anything either because my work up until now has shown both the horrors of humanity and the underlying hope but I do not have that hope anymore and it hurts

Ironically since I've started working on Desecrate I've started wondering if this is my punishment for straying from God all those years ago. I don't think so but not I gotta add re-working through my religious trauma and my Catholic Guilt to my never ending list of things to do.

If you read this whole thing, kudos to you. I appreciate you all and I'm sorry for dumping it but I have not been able to really say anything about what's going on in my life because i just.. idk I don't have the words for it most days. I'm just tired.

[asksuccubussides]

(Hi, me again. Sorry I don’t think it went through the first time. These are directed at anyone.)

I’d like to hear about 3, 12, 16, 17, 21, 23, 24, 34, 35 and 40.

Sketch

3. Who had the gum selling empire in middle school?

As a response Janus did a coy little gayass pose while Virgil rolled his eyes.

"Not only did this asshole" Virgil knocked his hand against Jan's shoulder "Do that weird gum selling scheme in middle school, he had me drawing fake copies of pokemon cards!"

"And I had the most wonderful idea for a pseudo assaination service where I would 'accidentally' trip people up at the most embarassing moments during gym class...for a steep price of course. But Someone stopped those plans"

He eyed Virgil who just rolled his eyes again.

"You'll poke your eyes out with those rolls one day"

12. Who would have sex in a church?

"It's actually on my bucket list" Janus replied.

"Not in a church, though I am maybe open for a graveyard smash. If Mary Shelley can do it, so can I" Virgil added.

-

"A church is just a house right?" Remus looked around at his friends who nodded "So I would do arson in there, just like with any other house"

"Churches are usually quite empty and easy to open so it is a very oppurtune place for quickies" Emile explained with the tone of someone experienced.

"Lots of places to lay around on too really like goood" Remy agreed. Emile scrunched his nose at them to which they bonked their face against theirs "Except for on Sundays"

"Indeed, Churches are always weirdly full on Sundays. Not sure why"

"Guys c'mon, do i have to explain religion to you all again?" Roman sighed "It¨s the thing the humans think demons are involved with for some reason. There was this dude named God and all that?"

"Ooooh right that that yes"

16. Who would be best at drag?

"Humans have assumed I'm in drag both when they've seen me as a woman and man so I think I have to stand this question aside else I'd be the Very incredible obvious winner!" Roman humbly said.

"I think you'd like totally be great as like a 60's chick femme lesbian" Remy said while moving their arm around Emile.

"Aww and you'd be so good as a Britney impersonator"

"I could piss blood on stage" Remus butted in.

Roman interrupted with "Nevermind. I do deserve to win this one! I would be the best at drag at any time! Whether it's the middle ages, the roman times or now! I win!"

21. Who would teach their kid how to steal?

"Stealing is an important part of life in this capitalistic system. Not only would I teach my hypothetical kid how to steal I would also teach them to pretend like they didn't see anything if they do caught someone trying to steal" Janus said while Virgil shuttered at just the thought of kids.

-

"I would never teach my child to steal!" Roman exclaimed "I would however teach them the arts of plundering and scaveing! There's a difference I promise!"

Remus furrowed his eyebrows "...Can we like....Have kids?....???"

"Not the question girlie" Remy replied. "If we could likee procreate the earth would have a totally serious population problem by now"

"I'm not sure because no one from the downer lows have let me do an autpsy yet" Emile muttered while his lvoer patted them on the back.

"Well you two nut in each other all the time" Remus squinted while pointing at Emile and Remy "Either of you ever felt pregge-"

"Remus like go chew on your toes for a minute will you"

23. Who would try to eat fire?

"Me! I've done that!" "This bitch of an idiot already tries that! On a regular basis!" Remus and Roman said at same time.

24. Who goes to a haunted place only to start yelling at the ghosts to try to challenge them?

Emile, Remy and Roman all turned to look at Remus "Me! Again! Me! I would win in a fist fight against a ghost! I just know it!!"

34. Who’s been accused of murder?

"Me! Hey I got it thrice in a row! Do I get a prize?"

"Well I was accused of being the axemurderer of New Orleans once back in the 1910's" Emile said in a dead serious tone.

"Oh riggghhhttt, yeah when you were like beefing with Sigmund" Remy added "....Freud"

"Not to be confused with Sigmund Ruuf who I also had a few disagreements with, though in the 1920's"

35. Who bites shoulders?

"A classic first move. Humans like go wild when you bite their shoulder" Remy replied.

"You never bite my shoulder" Their lover said in return.

"That's cause I know what you like. I just use the shoulder bite as a wild card to get humans horned up"

"I bite shoulder too" Remus leaned over and bit into his brother's shoulder.

Roman smacked him on the head "Stop eating me!!"

40. Who sobbed so hard for so long that they fell asleep on the bathroom floor?

Remy, Remus and Emile all glanced over to Roman who did an overly dramatic gasp before holding her hand to her forehead while blinking innocently.

"Me?? Crying on the bathroom floor?? Why would you my trusted legoin accuse me of such things! I am a brave knight who Does not sob on the bathroom floor!"

"Girlie you don't piss. The whole squadron knows why you spend so much time in the bathroom!"

Roman huffed and puffed "I just...spend a lot of time...meticously powdering my nose...." He lied.

[brick-a-doodle-do]

It's been forever since I've been on tumblr so have an ask for the ask game thing, 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 10, 121, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50

-Small brain anon

sb. you've struck again. just for you, since i haven't seen you in a while, i will answer all of them. except for the ones i have asked: 2, 3, 8, 12, 15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 27, 33, 39, 44, 45, and 50!

answers under cut,,,

1 : if you have a lighter, what color is it?

i have one, but i don't really use it. also i have no clue where it is. it's blue tho!

4 : how often are you on tumblr?

oh god. i have a horrible addiction to like constantly checking it, which i am not proud of and it's really annoying. but i'm not on tumblr for longer than 5-ish minutes before i decide to close the tab. but that cancels out when i open the tab again a few minutes later. trying to fix it. but i am pretty much always on tumblr and check it at the most every 5-6 hours :/

5 : are you only doing this because you're bored?

mmhh when i rbed it, yes, but now i want to do something with my fingers and this is a good fix :D

6 : what blogs do you mostly interact with?

depends on what "interact with" actually means but in terms of actually interacting with blogs that also interact with me, (moots, essentially), it's really only becky and squishy on a day-to-day basis. sometimes 3d and sloth pop up tho. i interact, (in terms of liking, rb-ing, etc.), with a whole bunch of ppl tho ,,,,

7 : can you swim?

yes!

9 : which do you prefer, cotton candy or funnel cake?

if i've had funnel cake, i don't remember it. so cotton candy. but honestly funnel cakes look way better ,,,

10 : have you ever used a fork as a bookmark?

no i have not! i'd easily consider it though ,,

11 : bass or drums?

god both are so awesome. but i'd say bass. BUT my exception for that is mark boardman that man makes their songs so fkn amazing have you HEARD the drums in golden hour or oyygc? LIKE MCXMCMXN his drums with wil's voice is just so lovely.

13 : can we be friends?

yes!

14 : do you admire the clouds and the color of the sky?

all the time. being in a car is so lovely because MMMM SKYYY !!!

16 : a netflix series that's your favorite?

the haunting of hill house/bly manor and midnight club are all beautiful shows and i fkn love them ,,, i also love orange is the new black even tho it isn't a netflix original ,,

17 : an earliest obsession you can remember?

g/t. it's a basic answer but looking back on my life, all the way from when 4-year-old me asked my dad what he would do if i shrunk, to writing a story about a giant when i was in 3rd grade to whatever the hell my fanfiction writing has turned into which started in 2018—it's a BIG part of me and has been for a while

20 : have you listened to the crane wives?

UGHMGDS,VXMCM qasdvkmdscMDFFSDVCX I LOVE THE CRANE WIVES. I AM CONSIDERING ASKING TO GO TO ONE OF THEIR SHOWS CAUSE IT'LL BE IN PHILLY !!!!! I LOVE THEM SMM

21 : your first celebrity crush?

aiden gallagher . don't ask. and it only worsened with tua. but i am out of that phase now ^_^

24 : what have you learned about yourself?

that i'm more like my mother than i ever thought i'd be eueue (in a /neutral way cause she's a great mom i just find myself doing the habits of hers that i never liked)

25 : can you tie a cherry stem with your tongue?

ah, no. i've tried once and gave up ,, i hope to eventually be able to do it tho !!

26 : do you believe in aliens?

in a way, yes, because there is a lot in the universe and i refuse to believe there isn't some type of life out there, but it's my same response with ghosts: i want to believe

28 : an unusual song that's your favorite?

LOTS. to narrow down on one, any of my favorite broadway songs. in any scenario i would never put it on a playlist but i fucking love broadway sm it itches something in my brain. probably something from heathers cause that's such a dark humor-ed thing,,,,

also a tv show called earth isn't my favorite but it's really sweet idek why i enjoy it sm <3

29 : the last thing you ate?

candy cigarettes !! the chalky ones

30 : do you have a favorite time to write?

mainly at night, from the hours of 12-1 when i really want to sleep but there's a scene in my head that won't leave >:)

31 : have you gotten bitten by a dog?

of course,, but nothing dangerous just when they accidentally bite while playing

32 : do you write better with a pen or pencil?

my handwriting is better with a pencil but it's easier to write with a pen imo

34 : when you hear "peace" what do you think of?

mmhghh satisfaction on everyone's person.

35 : a school subject you're good with?

honestly i'm pretty good at math. i'm not the best and it gets overwhelming but it always does ,,,,

36 : how many alarms do you have set?

one, (for 9:40 am), and i don't follow it. i mean not usually. i'll either wake up before it, sleep through it, or wake up to it and then fall back asleep eueu

37 : do you shop at thrift stores?

when my mom takes me to one, yeah !

38 : what's the meaning behind your url?

mm i have good stuff for this. my name is brick, of course, and then in the show derry girls one of the characters is constantly saying 'fuck-a-doodle-do' for a few episodes and then i decided to combine the two. it has NOTHING to do with cock-a-doodle-do, chickens do not deserve my respect.

40 : who's your favorite character to write?

i feel like tommy is my go-to, and yeah the narrator for him is fun asf but i like writing techno. he's fun. i like him a lot more than i did before which i'm really happy about because i found his character very intimidating to write :D

41 : you gotta have a favorite beatles song, what is it?

this may change, but it's twist and shout. it reminds me of my dad :D

42 : earphones or a speaker?

earphones for the quiet me-time, and speaker for the times when i'm feeling extroverted or when i'm in the car w my mom :)

43 : what do you remember from your childhood?

this is such a vague question. i uHNMM remember lots of stuff, but mostly my annual trips to disney world with my family !!

46 : a christmas song you secretly like?

there is no secret here, but i LOVE ¿dónde está santa clause? it's mildly racist but i love the ending sm 😭

47 : book stores or record stores?

book stores !

48 : how weird were these questions

i found them pretty neutral eueueu and fvcnhcjfdbbcx ahhhh finally i am at the end !!!!!

49 : what scents do you like?

gasoline and chemical-induced markers...i'm not ashamed to admit that. they're so bad for you but they SMELL SO GOOD why ??????? also i love pinapple scented stuff :D

50 : are there 20 new aus i have to catch up on?

ah, YES. yes there are. they should all be on my masterpost! but that's just the names of them, altho i'm sure if you searched on my page you could find them easily ,,,

,,, ah. well. i'd say thank you for the ask....but am i really thankful? /j of course i am. hope you are having a good day and are doing good ! <3<3

[idl3dreamer]

glad the moots are liking my twd posting lolol

Im not going to get to watch the last episode of The Ones Who Live until tomorrow night but on the upside I'm definitely going to get some writing done tonight

I didn't expect to enjoy this series as much as I am but now I'm excited for S2, whenever it comes out

I'm also stoked about the fact that, according to Scott Gimple, a certain death scene that's going to happen in my fic is "a classic Walking Dead death"

There's a lot of emotion and conflicting choices

Like when they were talking about Jadis' death I got all excited because the way they talked about it could 100% apply to what I have planned

I will not give details because it's a huge pivotal moment in the story and still a few chapters out

But clearly this means I have been able to pick up on patterns in the show's writing and have been able to translate them into my own, keeping a similar style to the source despite their stories being very different

But even my general formatting, the way the story is being layed out and the way that each chapter progresses, it feels very close to the way the show lays out the story and how each episode progresses. I'm likely also biased as the writer, but especially watching these much shorter spin-off series, I see my writing reflected back at me in the canon which is really good encouragement.

One of the things that Gimple talked about after episode 5 was how it mirrored an episode in the main series and had an almost "honeymoon" feel to it. A lot of what happened in this episode (between Rick and Michonne) was filler, but this is The Walking Dead: nothing is ever just filler. So even though technically I could have done without the 30-40 minutes of domestic Richonne, it ended up tying into the larger storyline and being responsible for Jadis finding them, and also built up pretty nicely to Rick's proposal.

This next chapter I have coming out is structured very similarly to "Become"

It's going to be a little heavier just because of what Carl is dealing with and there will be no proposal, but it's going to have the same feeling and there can actually be some parallels drawn. Where Rick and Michonne are enjoying their newly renewed relationship, Negan is going to be doing a lot of the same things with Carl in an attempt to build a rapport and get him comfortable enough to step into his role in the Sanctuary. I also like to build up drama towards the end of a chapter: even if it isn't going to land on a super tense note (like Chapter 2 did) I leave something for the reader to look forward to and build anticipation.

"Become" had Jadis giving Rick and Michonne the details about her dossier on Alexandria, and them discussing how they are going to take down the CRM. The episode didn't necessary end with a big dramatic cliff-hanger, but that promise of resolution builds anticipation.

As for my fic... I can't actually give details, I've said too much already, but it'll be a similar situation. You'll get some information, the end of the chapter will be fairly mundane, but you'll want to come back for the next chapter to see what happens as a result of the information you learn.