#im like the biggest descendants fan ever

[hanjsquokka]

stray kids as descendants characters !

BANG CHAN . . . as BEN ! 👑🌹🔔📚☕️

LEE KNOW . . . as MAL ! 🐉📖🫀🖤🗡

CHANGBIN . . . as JAY ! 🧞‍♂️🪔🐯🌙🕌

HYUNJIN . . . as EVIE ! 🍎🪞🏰✨️👗

JISUNG . . . as JANE ! ✨️🧚‍♀️🎠🪄📜

FELIX . . . as CARLOS ! 🚬 💄 🐾🖤🤍

SEUNGMIN . . . as AUDREY ! 🎀💋🥀🏰🦢

JEONGIN . . . as DOUG ! 👸🏻🍎🌲⚒️🏠

something i've been thinking about for a while asjsksk

tell me you guys see it too!!

[hyunrun]

i love pooping

[nrdmssgs]

Golden days of winter

Masterlist

Hurt/Comfort/Fluff

Summary: Christine 'Riot' Vega (belongs to @gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot) has a little vacation and Nikolai and Olga 'Zhar' Samoilova show her St. Petersburg.

TW: Description of a panic attack.

AN: This may be out of character for Riot, but I really wanted to talk about the fear of loss and old wounds, that will never heal completely. Christine is not a crybaby - she is just facing one of her worst pains. And it's a songfic. Meeting @gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot is one of the best things happened to me this year and I wanted to express my gratitude for her. I dont know, how much it hurts, but Im always here for you, when it does.

When Nikolai asked Riot, when would she like to see his hometown – she didn’t hesitate for a minute.

“January! The very start of it, please!”

Christine was ready for Nik to deny such a wish, since it was one of the coldest, harshest times to visit St. Petersburg. But he just smiled mysteriously and typed in something in his smartphone. A few months later, one evening, when Riot returned to her room on the base, she found a fresh bouquet and an envelope on her desk.

“Crazy man,” she murmured under breath, pulling a ticket from an envelope with a small sun scribbled on it.

***

So now here she is, dragging Nikolai towards yet another sculpture in the next hall of the Hermitage museum.

"Nik, look! It's Diane, the Goddess of the hunt! Oh, I was her biggest fan back when I was still a kid!" Her breath is uneven from constant chatting, laughing and pulling quite a big guy after her, but Christine doesn't care. She is thriving on every moment here.

"And look at you now - you could take that lady down in any challenge." Nikolai rests his chin on the top of her head, hoping to slow her down, but it's useless - Riot already has top ten her favorite facts about Diane ready.

He naively believed, he has to be Christine's guide here, but that was before she crossed a threshold of the first hall. A few hours in, this little ray of sunshine was still full of energy and didn't want to stop even for a brief pause.

"Gonna have to explain my sudden death to Olga and Price yourself, little one. Do you ever get tired? " Grumbled Nik on their way to the next sculpture.

"C'mon, old bones, one more hall and you're getting a beer. My treat!" She chuckles, watching as Nikolai forgets about his sudden weariness.

***

Start of the year is a bad time. The dark one, the too loud and incense one. The time to clutch her teeth and just endure through.

But not when Nikolai's around.

Because with him, Christine can let herself be small again. Jump around him and start snowball fights, laugh so load, as if they are alone on the street, or get tired in the middle of a huge square and be sure, he'd gladly lift her up and carry around. It was a tad strange feeling, but a good one - go back to her childhood in this strange place.

This is a strange-strange place. It snows almost always, but snowflakes do not descend to the ground separately from each other - instead, large but weightless lumps of snow fall on her shoulders and rest on her eyelashes. When locals demonstrate their hospitality – they try to shake her hand, not switching from familiar to them death stares even for a second. She knew that people here are not very accustomed to constant smiling, but the expressions she saw here so far reminded her of times when Simon had to calm Johnny down by force.

This place smells of cold fur, fancy fragrances, and old rusted exhaust pipes. It tastes like a bitter liquor, you snitched from your grannies drawer. It sounds like homeless dogs’ bark and intricate piano symphonies. It is so otherworldly.

There's a huge hole, sucking in all the joy, waiting for Christine in every January. It's a hungry animal with myriads of dirty fangs and claws, it sleeps somewhere deep behind her reflection, caught at a bathroom mirror in the middle of the night. It waits to remind her of something, she never forgot.

But Nikolai is always there to help her fight this creature. As soon as he sees a shadow of sorrow in her eyes - he puts his glass of beer back on the bar counter and opens his arms, already knowing, how good his embrace scares the creature off.

"Talk to me, little one. Let's remember some good stuff, that you're thankful for, yes? Something from the last year." Nik murmurs softly, as Riot presses her face further against his chest.

The first thought she gets sounds awkward, but she is so desperate to draw her own attention away from bitter memories, that her mouth vocalizes it almost automatically.

"That Slaughter to prevail T, you got me, was nice. I'm thankful for that."

"Solnyshko*, I’m flattered, that my gift is a more highlight, than all your operations with Price and meeting Si-" Nikolai is being cut off by a friendly but firm poke. He immediately shuts his mouth and listens to Riots further memories, patting her back softly.

"... and of course, i'm thankful for you being back with us after the capture and all. Now your turn!" Christine pull away and sit back on her chair.

Nikolai speaks about the things, he is thankful for so casually, as if he is retelling his shopping list. He draws a little invisible line with his finger on Riots hand every time, he 'checks out' another point. He remembers everything: from meeting Riot, to helping 141 with every single 'incident' they had this year. The list goes on and on, until it ends with an unsettling "and the last thing, I'm thankful for is that my love is still around."

Christine's mouth falls open under the mask. Somehow, the beast, they two were trying to banish is now so close, she almost feels its breath in her hair.

"You had a fight? You let Olga, my Olga, down?... W-why?" Normally Riot is much calmer about her friends having their ups and downs with their beloved ones. Life happens, and she knows, that a good couple is not the one, that never fights, but the one, where the two are always willing to talk things through even after a fight.

But when it comes to Nikolai and Olga - it hits harder. Christine can't even explain this, but she needs these two to be together. They are like a pier to her, a solid cutwater, that withstands everything. And them not being happy with each other would mean, that something is very wrong with this world.

"No-no-no, solnyshko, no fights between us, never. We are too old to waste our time on that." Nikolai smiles innocently, as if they were speaking about some funny incident. "Its hard to explain, you see-"

"Ty snegurochka?*" A thin childish voice and a small hand that tentatively touched Christine’s sleeve made her shudder. She looked back and met bright blue eyes, looking at her with the same admiration with which she ran through the halls of the museum just an hour ago. A boy, not older, than seven. Dark hair, sticking out in a different direction from under the hat, a little face full of ave.

Riot was absolutely lost and didn't even understand, what the boy asked her about, but Nikolai was there to help her.

"Da, nastoyashaya snegurochka. Ty uzhe podarok poluchil?*" He started talking to a boy, smiling widely. The child nodded and looked back on Christine with a pure exitement.

"Vot teper` nado khorosho sebya vesti ves` god, chtobu snegurochka peredala tebe podarok na sleduyshiy Noviy God. Poidem iskat` roditelei, otdadim im obratno khoroshego mal`chika." Nikolai stood up, took boys hand in his and walked with him further in to the reastaurant, looking for childs parents.

Riot knew Russian to some extent, but when it was spoken that fast - she could understand only the topic of conversation and not the fine details. So when Nik came back alone and congratulated Christine with becoming a Snow maiden in boys eyes - she still was confused.

"A what maiden?"

"The "Snegurochka". Here we tell children stories about a beautiful young girl made of snow or ice. Her origins vary across different versions of the story, but generally, she is believed to be the daughter of Winter and a spirit of winter and frost. She's often depicted as beautiful as you. A-a-a-and you've got wet eyes once again..." Nikolai helped Riot into her jacket and started wrapping a scarf around her. He insisted on doing it every time, they were heading out, because according to him, Nik knew better, how to keep a little thing like her all warm and cozy even in Russian winter.

"Why are you having such sweet kids here?" Christine was sniffing, but did her best to not start crying.

"You should have seen me, when I was that small. Oh no, wait, you shouldnt - I was a little demon." Nikolai opens the door and takes her back to the cold streets.

***

They are back in their apartments only in the evening. Nikolai proceeds to tear Zhar off her work laptop and Christine goes to her place next door to warm up in a hot shower and write Simon, how her day went.

They have two apartments on the last floor of an old building rented. Riot can see Nikolais apartment from a window in her kitchen. She doesn't even try to peek on what is going there, but sometimes, especially in the evening, she catches a glance at their happy and cozy life. One of them is usually still working, when the other is slowly drifting to sleep on a couch. These simple scenes warm Riots heart.

But when shes back from the shower to her kitchen to warm up some cocoa, something is different - Olga is sitting on the windowsill and enthusiastically looking at something on the screen of her laptop, while Nikolai is nowhere to be seen. She notices Christine and calls her with a gesture to their apartments.

Riot smiles, but something makes her feel uneasy. Maybe it's that unfinished conversation with Nik, maybe the goddamned creature awakens once more. In any case, she quickly dresses and within a few minutes knocks on the next door.

"Hey, you want to blow shit up?" Not the most common greeting, Christine ever heard, and one of the last things, she awaits to hear from Olga.

"Always!" Riot grins wide and hugs Zhar. "What and when?"

"Enemy warehouses." Olga touches the keyboard and the laptop monitor comes to life, showing a broadcast of aerial footage taken from a drone. "Now."

Riot comes closer and her eyes widen.

"Wait a min- Thats not a simple combat drone..." She never forgets, that Nik and Zhar have a whole private army, but still such a warbird makes quite an impression.

"My man spoils me, I know." Olga lands on a couch and pulls Christine down, so that she almost falls on her. "But what's the fun of playing with these toys alone?"

Riot listens to the details of the operation Olga is commanding. The two of them have to wait for the signal from the Chimera men and launch the warhead, waiting for its moment on the drone. 'Easy endorphins', as Zhar says.

When the right moment comes - Olga pushes the laptop towards Christine, letting her hit the final command button. Riot smiles so wide, as if she's five again and it's her birthday. She pushes the button and mutters 'ka freakin boom, baby'. The warehouse blows beautifully - as if Christine planted an enormous flower of fire and smoke and now it blooms widely.

"You're a menace, Christine 'Riot' Vega." Olga plants a small kiss on the top of Riots head and lifts from the couch.

"And you guys love me for that," throws Christine, still watching the aftermath of an explosion.

Zhar makes a few calls and throws her winter coat on.

"Ok, love, I'm going to the café across the street to grab a coffee, you'd fancy one too?"

Riot nods and turns back when Olga is already on threshold, leaving the flat. She notices, that her friend, unlike her, is barely clothed for such a cold weather. But when Christine calls Olga - it's too late, and she is left alone.

Riot closes the laptop and puts it away. Suddenly her friends' apartment feels too big, too cold and empty. She looks around, stands and walks to the door to their bedroom. She already knows, Nik is not there, but she knocks nevertheless. Nobody responds and a light shiver runs down Riots spine. Suddenly her head feels flooded with unsettling questions. Like 'where is Nikolai?', or 'why is Olga leading this operation alone?'. And then another question pops up.

What did happen between them? What is so complicated, even Nikolai, can't find the right words to describe it?.

Christine pats a sweater left on a chair - its Nikolais, she recognizes it. But the overwhelming feeling of loneliness and fear only grows stronger with every next second - no matter how hard Christine tries to switch her attention to anything else.

"Come on, it's nothing. Everything is fine, Olgas going to be back soon." Riot hisses to herself, while her hand automatically grabs onto Niks sweater.

The world around starts turning, then blinks and goes to black. A deafening noise mixed with the pounding of her own heart hits her ears. She loses count of minutes, gets lost in space and barely breathes, trembling like a leaf on a wind.

It all ends as abruptly as it started. The first thing, Christine sees are giant snowflakes descending on her. Then she notices Olgas face right before her. At last, she looks down and sees Nikolais sweater, that she clings to with all her strength.

"Christine, love, look at me! Look at me, my little one! It's ok, everything's ok, you're safe." Its strange to hear Zhar calling her little one. Riot looks around and finally understands, that they are standing in their court: it snows and it is dark, they are alone, two steaming paper cups stand next to them. Olga covered Riots shoulders with her winter coat and massages her cheeks to help the blood flow.

"I... You left so fast, and I was scared, you get cold, and Nikolai was nowhere. I-I.." Christine feels her cheeks turning warm with tears.

"I lost someone very dear once. The most dear! I lost them in January. I-I cant lose you too, please! Please, Olya!" She doesn't even care anymore, if that is oversharing. Her beast, her hungry nightmare, is hard on her heels and she will anything to fight it away - even if it means showing her vulnerability to her. So she goes on, forgetting the cold and the tears, rolling down her face.

"I need you both. You and Nikolai. Together. Please! Never leave him! Please! If he ever does something stupid - punch him or come to me and I will punch him. Just don't part ways! I need you both! I can't lose you!"

Zhars face is growing from worried to understanding. She listens intensely and nods slowly.

"Love, I am staying with this man for as long as he would have me. And I'm with you forever. I promise, you won't lose us. Ever. We will follow your steps." Riot keeps sniffing, but catches every word, leaving her friend's lips.

Zhar hugs her and starts rocking them both back and forth slowly, humming some melody, Christine never heard. And as she does that - the beast slowly leaves Riot alone, no shame or regret litter her heart. All the sad things are getting covered with a snow, which doesn't feel so cold anymore.

Solnyshko (here and further Russian) - Sunshine

Ty snegurochka? - Are you a snow maiden?

Da, nastoyashaya snegurochka. Ty uzhe podarok poluchil? - Yes, its the snow maiden. Have you got your New Years gift already?

Vot teper` nado khorosho sebya vesti ves` god, chtobu snegurochka peredala tebe podarok na sleduyshiy Noviy God. Poidem iskat` roditelei, otdadim im obratno khoroshego mal`chika. - Now you have to behave, so that snow maiden brings you a gift on the next New Years Eve. Lets go find your parents and give them back their good boy.

[maydaymayramble]

my final opinion on Fashion Dreamer as a devoted fan of style savvy

so as my initial deep disappointment started wearing off, i realised that it was unfair of me to immediately compare Fashion Dreamer to the style savvy series so harshly because they are simply not the same! Fashion Dreamer IS co developed by synsophia and it IS a game that revolves around fashion, but otherwise, they’re two completely different games.

you dont have a boutique to run, you dont have any customers to assist, you cant make connections with people and gradually make a name for yourself, you cant improve the community in the setting you live in etc etc. your just an influencer doing vague fashion related tasks and irl “influencer” would do.

tl;dr once i separated the two and started to see Fashion Dreamer as its own game instead a style savvy without any charm i started to really enjoy it for what it is

there’s no real tangible story here at all, only faint goals to achieve very early game and then thats it, and its obvious that they were never going for that in the first place because this isn't style savvy! its a completely new game that only has SynSophia working on in collaboration with another company. im sure if nintendo didn't decline SynSophia's request for another style savvy game on the switch this im sure this conversation would not exist but unfortunately, they did, and now we only have Fashion Dreamer, which serves as a descendant of a successor to the style savvy games.

now that i've managed to separate Fashion Dreamer and style savvy as two completely different games i want to talk about what i actually /like/ about Fashion Dreamer. i was super super disappointed my first time playing not only because i immediately held it to exact same standards as a style savvy game, but also because by itself it felt quite unfinished.

with my very first time playing i felt like after 2 hours or so i had already seen all the game had to offer. and while i wasn’t wrong and the gameplay just had to grow on me, still i wasn’t all that motivated with the goals you had to complete or the rewards it gave you. it also doesn’t help that there isn’t anything all that challenging about creating lookits for other muses, or any way to fail them.

yes, you have to create lookits to get epoints to make more clothes for your brand and level up so you can unlock even more clothes for your brand but ah, that part isnt really all that impressing. its just fine

i can appreciate all the effort that went into the clothes making process though, that’s definitely the most impressive part of this game. i’d say its the most impressive thing out of all the fashion games ive ever played. i have soo much fun making my own clothes! as an artist i feel like my creativity has no limits and i can literally make whatever i want, however i imagine it. for me, this one amazing feature alone is enough to carry the rest of the games mediocrity.

once i have an idea for a piece of clothing i think would look nice, i can just take out FD and create what i thought of immediately. even though i forgot about it for so long, for a brief period as an adolescent i really really wanted to be fashion designer and this feature reminded me of my silly wish and made me love it all the more

i also like the photo egg stuff, the poses are all super cute and i like the expressions the muses make. im very glad that they put in a scrapbook feature that allows you to save specific ensembles (that and no way to filter clothes by color were probably my biggest complaint) i already have a bunch of outfits saved in my notebooks that i absolutely adore. i do wish they were prettier backgrounds for notebooks though

and the event stuff.. is just fine. it's not the worst thing in the world, i enjoy creating outfits for character or player muses out of all but it also isnt that fun. a little grindy and annoying, but just fine. if this game had a story or plotline to follow i think i would be able to enjoy it alot more maybe? running around cocoons doing vague influencer-like tasks just isnt all that engaging for me.

the last thing i'd like to say about FD is that i actually do get happy when ppl like my stuff. like wow, they actually like my product! it does make me kinda feel like i do have a semi successful brand that people are paying attention to. ofc most of my reasons for designing clothes is because i was inspired too, but getting those fake like notifications make me want to display them just in case others would like them too.

in conclusion, all of this to say what exactly?? i enjoy Fashion Dreamer now! i like it quite a lot, i find it enjoyable and satisfying, and it scratches those fashion related itches ive been having but didn't know how to make them go away. i really love being able to create clothes exactly how i imagine them, and i enjoy being able to dress my oc's up so prettily and accurately. i also really enjoy the overall art direction of this game, the backgrounds really caught my eye and they all stand out individually in my mind.

im not 100% sure but i think FD is popular in japan? which makes me happy because i know overseas and english speaking fans of style savvy really dislike this game, especially upon initial release. i was one of them but now i can say i dont hate this game at all anymore. once i stopped comparing everything to style savvy, for what it is, is just fine. the reason why i made this long ass post in the first place was because FD already gets SOO much hate online from everyone, and i think its a little unwarranted. if this me talking about everything i dislike about FD this post would probably be much longer lmao, but i didnt want to add to all the flack it gets. if you stopped playing after a few hours like i did i'd say its definitely worth a second chance! just see it for what it is and you'll have a much better time

[m0tel6mxzzy]

a rant on monet de haan and “but og gossip girl was old money”

not to bitch abt racist og gossip girl fans but im gonna bitch abt them. i REMEMBER yalls tone when the show first got promo before it even aired, and weren’t even willing to give it a chance, u just made assumptions bc the entire cast wasnt white. 

 ppl, specifically og gg tiktok fans, were saying the old show “gives old money” and the new show doesnt, conveniently forgetting chuck’s dad wasn’t born into wealth but became wealthy when chuck was young, making him new money. his dad is worth 22 billion dollars. 

monet’s parents are heirs to a new york pharmaceutical company and on her wiki its listed that her family descends from old money. johnson and johnson is one of the biggest and has a net worth 435 billion as the wealthiest pharma company in the us. bc im lazy and dont feel like counting means and stats for the top 10 pharma companies in the us relative to ny, im assuming the de haan company has a networth of 100-400+ billion. whatever her family’s networth is i will happily believe it is more than chuck bass.

and monet’s parent’s donation of the wing had to occur sometime after everyone in the og show including jenny’s grade had graduated constance bc it wasnt yet canon, but just before monet had gone there. if we’re talking as soon as jenny’s grade had graduated, thats between june 2010-aug 2018, and monet would be 5 to 13. i’m going to average that the time the wing was planned to be built was 2014 when she’d by 9 bc i love the idea of little monet dreaming of going to constance with absolute certainty, and bc 2014 is a prettier number. my theory is that greyson and camille were planning to have monet go to CB St Judes ever since she was a child, hence the early donation.

anyway her parents literally paid for wing in constance and it has their names on it w the money from an old new york pharma company they own. and yall are like,,, dying on the hill she, bc she’s part of the reboot, wasnt born into wealth??? and even if she wasnt i know yall didnt just forget the og gg had poc on the show who were also old money or otherwise so loaded rich they could afford constance, but usually they were background characters like the minions, nelly yuki, and raina. the minions who literally only served to do blair’s bidding, and nelly yuki who was opposed bc blair saw her as an academic rival and was willing to sabotage her.

 and then raina thorpe whos one of the only black girls in the show w a prominence in the og series, but idk. she’s moreso there bc she was w/ nate and chuck, but also her dad is basically a “villain” in the show and raina gets the short end of the stick and has to suffer for it, which is when she leaves the show. im just saying ofc someone the same race as monet or luna or aki would be happy to see themselves represented on screen and not as a background character or recurring character there only a short amnt of time if they loved the og gg. 

and if you personally aren’t? cool thats ok but let ppl who are be happy. you dont need to mount some moral high horse pretending u care abt poc to defend why u hate us being represented in media. yall complain whenever poc are shown in media even when it isnt a reboot but rather an extension of the franchise such as star wars, so i find it hard to believe ur crapping on new reboots in media for having poc bc u actually care abt us being properly represented. 

like, factually racism is the only thing convincing yall the old gg is “old money” and the new one isnt. also we need to have a talk abt what yall constitute as old money, bc hf twitter stayed hating on alexa demie for her early 00s fashion for being “cheap” as if paris hilton also wasn’t dressing kinda like alexa currently does in the early 00s while also happening to be an heiress to a hotel brand. and as if hf twt doesn’t constantly worship the air bella hadid breathes for wearing low rise jeans and baby tees which is just as much y2k inspired as what alexa wears. 

like,, yall think all rich people, w/in ur very narrow view of what rich old money ppl look like, only ever dress in ralph lauren polos,,,and it’s not even like yall read the gg books to know the og characters wear burberry and ralph lauren which any tiktok old money “connoisseur” would hate for being “flashy,’ but because its in the list of their weird arbitrary rules of crap all old money rich ppl apparently do. if the reboot characters wore burberry scarves and ralph lauren polos w giant logos on the front yall would complain they arent following ur made up rich ppl rules u think applies to everyone who’s an heir to fortune. 

yall just forget abt raina and hated gg2021 before it even aired all bc it starred poc, and bc its weird seeing a rich it girl in a position of power who doesnt look like blair or serena. for the de haans to have the money to donate a wing to the school and pay monet’s tuition on top of that and live in the excess monet does simultaneously kinda shows like,,how fucking rich monet is. therefore the attitudes of the students make a lot of sense. and if blair was treating a teacher the way monet does bc she had a wing dedicated to her parents, yall would eat that shit up whether blair was old money or not!!!

listen im a huge gg fan but i also pay attention!!! i am not letting monet de haan slander slide!!!! im all for her being as entitled due to her wealth and carefree as blair was!!! bc blair did some f’ed up shit yet monet being snide w a teacher gets yalls feathers ruffled...and we all know why yall wouldnt have the same reaction if it were audrey doing the same but thats none of my business 

[koishua]

First impressions of your moots vs impression now

part one, because i have another same ask <3

𝘽𝘼𝙍

@yyxgin was always someone i had admired from afar, seeing how immaculate her writing skills and her entire essence was as an online persona. like, oof- she was amazing and so bright!! now, we have evolved from being a fan and idol relationship to being a mother and daughter one lmao pls keep taking care of me <3 she is genuinely such a kind soul and very easy to get along with!

𝙕𝙀𝙏𝘼

@whiteprincessofnohr think we first met through a mutual chat group for a friend group. she was a mutual of my mutuals and i went through her super cool make a wish themed blog and thought she was such a cool and badass person. now, she is one of the people i interact with the most often and i love talking her! she doesn't intimidate me one bit and I'd fight anyone who says so /j

𝘽𝙄𝘽𝙄

@imkyunies was also a mutual of my mutual and i think she first introduced herself to me on my blog through an ask. she was extremely sweet and friendly and i was in awe, because she is studying medicine and working in the field as well and that's still super cool for me. now, she is someone who always takes care of me like a motherly sister and i love her so much :(

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@oifelixcmerebrou and i go back way earlier than 90% of my mutuals haha. i don't exactly remember how we became friends, but I'm so glad i did! she was such a cutie oml i adored her even while first getting to know her! she was, for a while, the only person i would talk to and rant about stuff on this site, kind of my saviour. i love her to death and even though we don't talk as much these days, she always has the softest, warmest place in my heart. she is such a fun and wild person and i would adopt her irl if i could. like, either I'm flying all the way to where she lives, or I'm buying plane tickets for her to come and be my actual sister >:( will protect her from anyone and anything that tries to hurt her even if I'm not right next to her.

𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙄𝘼

@fairyjunn angel that i really don't remember how we met :( she was always one of the kindest and sweetest person i have ever met here. a piece of our souls are just hanging up in the air, connected: my soulmate, basically. we shared so many things in common and i remember us freaking out about our exactly same taste in music ahhh good ol' times. today, she is still the same pure soul i remember her being all those months ago. she has given me so, so much love up till now and I'd be lost without her encouragements. I don't know how I'll ever repay her kindness.

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@nakamotocore ah yes, i think we bonded over badminton and how our mothers don't want us getting buff with martial arts bahaha. i came into her blog blindly when i saw her reccommended to me. im so glad i did, though! she was calm on the first few days i met her, but oh boy, she is a force to be reckoned with. good luck handling her wildness that we all live for.

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@mochiable don't know how i followed her, but she had the most calming of aesthetics and had an impressive masterlist. i didn't interact much with her until i ranted about some stuff and she came running to my help. she was a literal heavenly being descending upon a child in need :( she always listens to me and she is such a gift to everyone here, including me. i now see her as the fun older sister figure that i can talk about absolutely anything with, be it boys, entertaining interests, or mental health. she is also weak for this one man—

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@channoticedmeuwu she and i had tumblr's biggest showdown smh. first thing we do is pick on each other and fight in front of everyone bahaha it was super entertaining. after a while, we ventured out of the enemies area and more into a duo zone. we have established that the child is my cute little spitfire devil (trust me. she deserves this glorious title) and im her own mini angel <3 my precious kai :( i really cherish her so much. she is one of my oldest moots on this site and i love her to death. will POUNCE on her for a bear hug the moment we meet irl.

𝘼𝘽𝙃𝙄𝙀

@jaemotel oh wow another one of my tumblr kids. a while ago, i had followed her for her fics, but never really talked to her. one day, i was adopting lin and she asked if she could join as my child bahaha ofc i said yes and then suddenly, i became her representative parent. then, we fell out of touch and she forgot that she had a mother smh i am HURT— /j haha my babies. i love you all <3 she was very cool back then, but now I'm just thinking that she needs some sleep :(

[staylavendertea]

young avengers characters and relationships as songs

billy kaplan : season of the witch by donovan and mr. sandman cover by joe p, it’s fun, there’s that groove, it’s witches and it’s dreams; a total billy kaplan jamming out in his room in his boyfriends too big shirt 10 at night moment with that magical and just like ,, witchy billy vibe i can’t explain through words that i love dearly, it also just gives me a connection between him and wanda i really love, the family witches between soul mother and soul son and that bass in mr sandman for some reason screams billy

teddy altman : space girl by frances forever need i say more, that song screams smiling golden tall boy theodore in overalls and sweaters, prince charming of space deserves the song space girl, the song is soft like teddy is, all hugs and kisses, that is until “stupid boyfriend putting himself into stupid danger all the stupid time” and “why do i try he never listens” “i heard that” “sure now he listens” then it becomes all hugs, kisses, bickering with the boyfriend, and threats of mauling people, but that’s for childrens crusade and family matters arc to tell

tommy shepherd : rebels by call me karizma but also steady, as she goes by the raconteurs mostly just for that guitar and music, i heavily head canon billy as the pianist and tommy as the guitar and bass player all the way and steady, as she goes screams tommy’s kind of music, the song rebels because that boy is the biggest rebel around and i wouldn’t be surprised if he was an arsonist

eli bradley : i just wanna shine by fitz and the tantrums i honestly had a bit of a hard time finding a song that really perfectly fit eli, but i think this one really hits the spot - eli is totally the boy that’s just trying his best and live up to his and everyone else’s expectations, i think he’s actually a softie and repressed nerd that believes heavily in doing what is right and i think that this song encompasses that, i really miss eli bradley thank you for coming to my tedtalk

cassie lang : blackbird by the beatles (cover by dodie) cassie gives me total adorable and soft but such a cool person dodie vibes, but i think the song blackbird fits cassie on so many levels, especially the lyrics as growing up after losing her dad, getting and learning to control her powers, and growing as a super hero she knows her dad would be so proud of, i love every single one of the young avengers but mygod cassie

nate richards : run boy run by woodkid and something better by hidinin i feel for nate, that poor kid literally is running away and trying to kill his future because he knows it’s a bad road and honestly he’s so brave for that and it’s all thanks to nate that we got all the young avengers in the first place so credit will be payed where credit is due, nate is really just a clumsy teenager thats a total nutcase and a bit clueless without that common sense sometimes that will think a pack sour troll gummies and a bottle of gateorade is a well rounded training diet but he’s also a descendent of sue and reed richards and what’s there to expect from child geniuses

kate bishop : love club by lorde and ribs by lorde i kinda just stumbled upon these honestly forgotten songs in my playlist and was pleasantly surprised how perfectly kate bishop these songs are, the lyrics most likely mean something else but i see the love club as the young avengers and “go get punched for the love club” just sounds like a kate bishop thing to say, these songs give me vibes of kate bishop in a rolled sleeves black and purple flannel and black jean shorts with scuffs and bandaids on her elbows and knees, probably also a developing black eye and bloody nose but lookin badass per usual

david alleyne : karma by ajr i picked this one for david because the second i heard it david was immediately the person i thought of when listening to it, i haven’t read many comics with david in them, i’m searching tho, but i am reading the current x factor and david just goes through a lot poor dude just wants to learn and help with what he can and i love him every moment for it

america chavez : a good song never dies by saint motel and dead girl in the pool by girl in red i honestly don’t know much about america besides some basic background stuff and some her character and personality since i haven’t been able to get my hands on some ya v2 issues besides what i’ve seen online but what i have seen of her i already love her and know she is so badass and a bit chaotic but in the best way possible from the little i do know about america’s character i think these songs just fits both the vibes of how she presents and holds herself but also her personality, america is a good song that just never dies are vibes i will happily live with

loki : run the world!!! by dayglow i haven’t really read much of loki in the comics, the versions of them i know the best being the actual norse myth god and movie loki and i know how the movies can be with their comic book characters, but from what ive heard about kid and teenager loki is that they’re a little punk and this song seems to just fit that perfectly

jonas : growing pains by coin i honestly didn’t know that there was more to jonas besides ya v1 and childrens crusade but now i’m intrigued, but this song just speaks jonas to me who i was also calling judas for like ten minutes without realizing i had a totally wrong name, but from what i read and his whole thing with cass, i think growing pains very much fits a mr. jonas

now for the relationships/ships - this post is so long i am so sorry for all the reading but i’m having fun -

david and tommy : affection by between friends im not even sure completely why but the music just screams david and tommy’s vibes, especially how tommy is usually head canonized in relationships, *chiefs kiss* of a song

nate and cassie and jonas : in the middle by dodie this song is literally the three of them, like perfectly, the lyrics fit to a t and it’s literal perfection for them

billy and teddy : pleaser by wallows for how much i love them i surprisingly had a hard time finding a song for them, i know at one time i heard and had a song that was perfect but i can’t remember it all, but i think pleaser fits just as nice, it fits their personalities and the music itself is the vibe they give off to me : imma make an edit from this post previously cause i’ve been thinking about and i would like to add the song leaves by joe p cause it just fits too well, especially when looking at billyteddy fan art whilst listening to it, it’s too good : HI THIS ANOTHER EDIT IMSORRY but it literally took weeks to remember but now i remember what the original song for them i had picked - electric love by borns - it also gives me billy lightning powers vibes and i do adore some billy lightning powers, i think it would be so cool to see them mixed in with his reality warping ones

eli and nate : talk too much by coin honestly it’s them, it’s a vibe they both argue and to each other, talk way too much, i’m calling it they kissed like at least once just to see how that would go - probably arguing who was the better boyfriend when they were both single

eli and kate : falling for u by peachy! and mxmtoon this song is very eli and kate for me, especially the beginning of their relationship not relationship, was that ever really established what was happening there ?? but this song fits perfectly amongst the bickering and racking numbers of how many times they’ve saved each other’s asses

kate and america : given it all by hayley kiyoko and midnight love by girl in red i love this ship and i have no idea if there was ever a thing happening between them or if it was pure fandom but it’s amazing and i love it, hayley kiyoko and girl in red is an of course and i think these songs speak them

- now just the young avengers as a group -

leaves by joe p a song that is totally just a hang out and drive all around all night as teenagers without a care in the world song and can totally see the gang jamming out to it

hey barbara by IV of spades this song literally speaks “hey did you watch that one beach episode” sunny and everyone vibing and hanging out, i can totally imagine tommy trying to get david to dance this and the attempts made is hilarious

teenagers and na na na by my chemical romance now last but certainly not least mcr because of course mcr, these kids can definitely be punks when they wanna be, especially when they’re mutant/alien/super hero teenagers that will literally do what they see fit, all in good manners of course

whhoooopp this was a lot longer than what i was initially expecting to make but after a few hours of song surfing and trying to make tumblr typing fonts work with me we’re finally here, this was just something fun for me since i associate music with everyone, but if you’ve read this far and wanna mention a song you think fits, totally put it out there, share the music !!

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

Eccentricity [Chapter 5: I’ve Lived The Life And Paid For Every Crime]

Series Summary: Joe Mazzello is a nice guy with a weird family. A VERY weird family. They have a secret, and you have a choice to make. Potentially a better love story than Twilight.

Chapter Title Is A Lyric From: Some Kind Of Disaster by All Time Low.

Chapter Warnings: Language, references to drugs and violence.

Other Chapters (And All My Writing) Available: HERE

Tagging: @queen-turtle-boiii���​​​ @bramblesforbreakfast​​​​​ @writerxinthedark​ @maggieroseevans​​​​​ @culturefiendtrashqueen​​​​​ @imnotvibingveryguccimrstark​​​​​ @escabell​​​​​ @im-an-adult-ish​​​​​ @someforeigntragedy​​​​​ @imtheinvisiblequeen​​​​​​​​​ @deacyblues​​​​​ ​ @tensecondvacation​​​​​​ @brianssixpence​​​​​ @seven-seas-of-ham-on-rhye​ @some-major-ishues​ @haileymorelikestupid​ @loveandbeloved29​

Please yell at me if I forget to tag you! 💜

Easy Questions, Evasive Answers

“So it was nothing,” Archer said, glancing up from where he was tinkering around beneath the hood of my 1999 Honda Accord, checking hoses and belts and dipsticks. “This is pathetic, by the way. That you can’t change your own windshield wiper fluid. Dishonor on you. Dishonor on your cow.”

“I never had my own car in Phoenix!” I objected around a mouthful of a Starbucks pumpkin muffin, my first of the season. And that was true: Renee and I couldn’t afford one. “I didn’t have to learn about car things!”

“No, it’s great, I love it, I have a customer for life.”

“It was totally nothing,” I told him. Meaning the photograph in the newspaper article from 1979. Meaning my paranoia surrounding beautiful, brooding, certifiably lethal Benjamin Lee.

Not Lee, I reminded myself. Benjamin August Hardy, born November 3rd 1893.

“Was it really?” Archer asked, skeptical.

“Uhhh, you were the one who was making fun of me for thinking he might be a time traveler. Or a bigfoot.” Or a vampire.

“Yeah, okay, true...” He let the hood of the Honda fall shut with a bang, then wiped the muddy streaks of motor oil from his hands with a stained rag. “But you were freaked out. Like super freaked out.”

“I was, yeah. But it wasn’t him in the photo. I took another look, there were freckles and, uh, like, uh, some other things that didn’t match up.”

“Huh.” Archer watched me with an expression I couldn’t read. “I didn’t notice that.”

“Ben laughed about it. Probably thinks I’m an idiot. A stalker and an idiot.”

Archer smirked slyly. “He must not have held it against you too much. I’ve never seen that guy laugh in my life.”

I took a moody bite of my muffin, rolled my eyes, feigned shallow schoolgirl angst. “Trust me, he’s not my biggest fan.”

“Ohhhh, and this bothers you?” Archer sauntered over and stole a crumbling hunk out of the pumpkin muffin. “Does someone have a little crush on the gorgeous, grouchiest Lee?”

“Definitely not.” I sipped my chai latte, contemplative, debating telling him more.

“Uh oh. There’s something else, I can see it. Spill the tea, you walking college-chick-who’s-obsessed-with-fall stereotype.”

“I’m so excited! I’m going to get to see changing leaves this year!” Cacti are majestic, ancient, intrepid, and they remind me of home; but they never change. They’re like desert earth that way, like the ocean. Like vampires, actually.

“We’ll have to do all the Instagram-worthy stuff. Pumpkin patches. Hay mazes. Apple picking...you can even bring that Ben guy if you want to. If he promises not to murder me with his mysterious time-travelling demon powers.”

Oh, kid, you have no idea. “So...I am kind of into a Lee guy. But it’s not Ben.”

Archer gasped, inhaled pumpkin muffin morsels, bent over as he hacked them out of his lungs. “Who?!” he rasped, scandalized, and then coughed again.

I couldn’t help but smile as his name spilled out: “Joe.”

“Which one is that? The Middle Eastern Men’s Vogue model one?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “No, not Rami. He has a girlfriend, by the way.” And has for the past half a century.

Archer wiggled his eyebrows. “Just because there’s a goalie doesn’t mean you can’t score.”

“Oh my god, please never say that phrase again.”

“Joe is the...” He closed his eyes as he drummed his fingers against the metal workbench, trying to remember.

“The Italian one,” I finished for him.

“Ahhh. The annoying one.”

“He is not annoying! Why do people keep saying he’s annoying?! He’s hilarious, and sweet, and lowkey wicked smart, and, and, and...”

Archer whistled, grinning, his dark eyes sparkling. “Damn, girl. You do like him. You really like him.”

I sighed in defeat. “Okay. I really, really like him.”

“Like him as in would swipe right on Tinder, or like him as in you want to get married and honeymoon in Hawaii and have twelve pasty, angular babies?”

“Oh wow.” And for the first time, I was confronted with the singular enigma that was a future with Joe. Vampires had relationships with other vampires, obviously, even marriages; but that didn’t mean the same rules applied to humans. Did he like me? Could he like me? What would that even look like? How would it end? And it would have to end, of course, eventually. Unless somehow I stopped aging too. “More than just a right swipe. We’ll see about the twelve kids.”

“Just make sure he wraps it before he taps it. I’m too young to be an uncle.”

“Stop,” I pleaded, gulping down my latte, averting my gaze across Archer’s small garage filled with customers’ vehicles, pretending not to be intrigued and yearning and petrified. I couldn’t imagine hooking up with someone as faultless and—presumably—experienced as Joe and being anything but a disappointment. I’ve never hooked up with anyone. At all. Ever.

“What?” he asked, concerned, thieving another piece of my pumpkin muffin. Powdered sugar dusted his fingers like the snow I’ve only seen two or three times in my life.

“Nothing. I just really wish you went to Calawah too.”

“And give up all this easy money from clueless suburbs people like you?” Archer beamed, wily and proud and affectionate. “Not a fucking chance.”

No More Sad Spaghetti

Joe gawked in horror, chomping noisily on his Big League Chew bubblegum, as I unwrapped the peanut butter sandwich I’d packed for lunch. It was mostly cloudy in the early September sky overhead, but he was still wearing sunglasses. He had traded in his ubiquitous U Chicago apparel for a Cubs t-shirt. Squirrels scurried through the bigleaf maple trees that dotted the campus, snatching up acorns with tiny clawed paws, wriggling whiskered noses in our direction.

“What’s your problem?” I asked, taking a bite. “It’s not sad spaghetti.”

He blew a small pink bubble, then popped it with his teeth. “Yeah, but it’s...like...mangled.”

“It got trapped between my textbooks!” I protested. Admittedly, the accordion-shaped peanut butter sandwich—my vegetarian alternative to fishstick Thursday—kind of sucked.

“You can’t eat that. Oh my god. It’s making me so sad. Give it to the squirrels.” Joe pulled out his iPhone. “What’s your preferred pizza topping?”

“I can’t tell you,” I replied, tossing my sandwich towards the nearest tree. A hoard of squirrels immediately descended upon it and proceeded to battle for dominance, emitting shrill, peanut-butter-crazed shrieks.

His brow furrowed. “Why can’t you tell me?”

“Because you might not like me anymore.”

“Why would I not like you because of pizza...?” And then he knew. “Oh no, oh god, please don’t say pineapple.”

“I’m a pineapple pizza person.”

“Baby Swan,” Joe said, deadly serious, pressing his palms together. “That is straight up sacrilegious. You can’t put tropical fruit on a pizza. You realize I’m Italian, like an actual Italian. I’m so Italian I’ve killed other Italians for being the wrong kind of Italian. That’s how Italian I am.”

“I feel like maybe I shouldn’t socialize with literal mobsters. It’s unsavory.”

“Settle down, I’m ordering the half-pineapple pizza, you freaking barbarian.”

I watched Joe as he tapped his thumbs against the screen, humming to himself, amused, perpetually buoyant. And I couldn’t picture him as a monster, as a killer: pulling triggers, slitting throats, digging blades into soft vulnerable love handles, feeling for the mortal puncture of a lung or kidney. I asked him, my voice quiet, hesitant, almost lost in the autumn wind: “Did you actually hurt people?”

“Nah. I didn’t have the stomach for it, even back then. I was on the deal-making side of things. The business side. I was a people person, a smooth talker, astronomically charming.”

I smiled, mischievous. “That’s difficult to imagine.”

“Okay, so no cheesy breadsticks for you.”

“I’m sorry, mob guy. Please order the breadsticks. You’re so charming I can’t stand it. My jeans are unzipping all by themselves.”

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “So you’ll sacrifice your dignity for breadsticks. Good to know.” He finished typing and laid his iPhone on the grass. “Alright, next question.”

“Does your hair grow?” Joe’s hair—I couldn’t help but notice—seemed longer than it was the day I met him a week and a half ago, disorderly and auburn-tinted, ruffling in the breeze.

“It does, yeah. Hair and nails still grow. So you have to shave, but you can’t get razor burn. And any nicks close right up.”

“Very cool. How often do you need to eat? You know...actually eat.”

“It varies, but generally twice a week.”

“And what kind of animal has the tastiest blood? Besides...well...” I gestured towards myself. “The upright two-legged kind with opposable thumbs and a partiality for pineapple pizza.”

He blew another bubble, then leaned in towards me. And I realized, for the first time, that he had his own inherent, exclusive, totally Bath-And-Body-Works-worthy scent as well; Dr. Gwilym Lee was sandalwood and campfires and log cabins, Mercy was roses and vanilla...and Joe was pine trees, peppermint, cold night air, like all of that eternally youthful magic of Christmas Eve sieved into a bottle. I popped the sheer pink bubble with the cap of my blue pen. Joe asked: “Do humans like chocolate or vanilla ice cream? Coffee or tea? Baseball or something hella lame?”

“Depends on the human.”

“Exactly. Same deal for vampires. I prefer bears, especially grizzlies. Lucy and Mercy like deer, elk, moose, animals like that. Ones with hooves. Weirdly, Rami’s favorite is crocodile, I think because it was the first thing he ever tried in Egypt. He doesn’t get it very often, but has been known to buy them on the black market on occasion. Scarlett likes mountain lions. Also domestic cats, but you didn’t hear that from me. Gwil is a wolf guy, but he won’t kill the endangered kinds. Such a gentleman.”

“How about Ben?”

“Ben’s still coming around to the whole eating animals thing. I don’t think he has a favorite yet.”

Joe isn’t a killer, and he never was; I could believe that. But Ben... “Why is he so different than the rest of you?”

“That’s...kind of a long story,” Joe replied carefully.

“It wouldn’t be such a long story if people stopped talking about how it’s a long story and actually told it to me.”

He flashed a grin, revealing white canine teeth filed into points; they were subtle, yes, but they were there. Fangs. I envisioned pressing a fingerprint against them and feeling the flesh split in two, the blood dripping down onto his tongue like Washington rain. And unlike Joe’s skin, mine wouldn’t knit back together on its own. “But then I wouldn’t have the pleasure of tormenting you with the prospect of incredibly juicy yet confidential information!”

I rolled my eyes, sipped my can of Diet Coke, returned my attention to our lunch plans. “So garlic doesn’t repel you. That part of the lore is completely made up.”

“Yup. Thank god. Eternal life would be worthless without pizza.”

“Can you do drugs? Get drunk?”

“We can’t overdose, but we can get the effects of anything we consume. It’s not a good habit to get into though. If you’re nodding on heroin for like four days at a time, it’s pretty easy for some other vampire to find and murder you.”

“So a vampire can be killed by another vampire.”

“Absolutely. Next question.”

I consulted my mental list. “Do you sleep?”

“Yeah. Well, kind of. We nap for a few hours a day.”

“What happens if you don’t?”

“We get bitchy. Really bitchy. We essentially turn into Ben.”

I laughed, chewing absentmindedly on the end of my pen. “So that’s his problem. He hasn’t napped in a century. Now it all makes sense.”

“Something like that,” Joe said. “You gonna come over tonight?”

“I don’t know. I’m supposed to present The Walruses And Me tomorrow and I still haven’t started the book.”

“What do you know, I can tell you all about The Walruses And Me!”

“Seriously? You’ve read it?”

“No, but I can enthusiastically narrate the Wikipedia article to you while you pet Mercy’s alpacas.”

“That sounds like a terrible idea.”

“Terrible for your grade in Marine Mammals. Good for your development as an interesting and happy human.”

“Nice try, but I’m already both of those things.”

Joe reached out suddenly, jarringly, and ran the back of his hand across my cheek. My favorite Lee, I thought, thoroughly transfixed but trying to hide it. Oh no. “Interesting, definitely. But I have this gnawing, distressing suspicion that you’re still working on the happy part.”

“I miss the desert,” I confessed. That wasn’t quite all of the problem, but it was accurate: I missed the heat, the sun, the parched prehistoric air I had always called home. Although I was beginning to find reasons to like Forks, Charlie and Archer and the promise of a Pacific Northwestern autumn; and then one big reason in particular. A very old, pale, chatty, Italian reason.

“A bit of a quandary for a future marine biologist,” he replied gently, perhaps apprehensively.

“I always figured I’d live somewhere like San Diego or Los Angeles or Galveston. Someplace on the ocean, but also sunny and hot and with palm trees. The best of both worlds. But you couldn’t go there with me, could you?”

Oh no.

Oh NO.

Oh fuck, this is definitely a crushing-on-Lee-boys zone.

Joe stared at me through his sunglasses, chomping on his Big League Chew, the corners of his mouth turned up and etching lines like parentheses into his face, pleased and nodding slowly and triumphant somehow. Then he struck out his hand again, this time with his pinky raised like a flagpole. “No more pathetic depressing lunches.”

“You got it. No more sad spaghetti. No more sad peanut butter sandwiches. You have my solemn, human vow.”

He smiled as his pinky entwined with mine. “No more sad anything.”

“So this vampire thing sounds like a pretty sweet gig. No dying, no consequences for a hellacious diet or wild condomless orgies, literal superpowers, perfect hair...why doesn’t everyone get to live that way?”

He shrugged; and there was an unfamiliar, meditative tension in his face. Almost sorrow. “It’s not all pizza and orgies and heroin. We have weaknesses too.”

“Like what?”

“Hey, look!” Joe piped cheerfully, twisting around towards the parking lot. “I think our GrubHub guy is here.”

Bad Blood

I was definitely regretting that fourth slice of pineapple pizza as I waddled into Chemistry, navigating sluggishly around the hulking frat boys and giggling sorority girls and mousy bookish types who lugged around colossal backpacks that were always threatening to knock an unsuspecting passerby off their feet at each unthinking turn. But while I was arriving in the classroom—physically, anyway; emotionally I was standing in an empty field somewhere screaming I cannot be falling in love with a hundred-year-old mobster vampire!! into the void—Ben was a countercurrent darting through the crowds and towards the hallway door.

“Where are you rushing off to, old guy?” I asked him. “Bingo? To renew your AARP membership? To walk vigorously around the inside of a mall?”

Ben responded in that deep, low, humorless voice. “They’re doing some kind of blood typing experiment today. I probably shouldn’t be around for that.”

“Oh.” I glanced over at Professor Belvin, who was indeed hunched over the table at the front of the classroom and laying out rows of Q-tips and rectangular paper cards and alcohol swabs and bottles of clear liquid, whistling what sounded like Time Of The Season.

Ben sighed irritably, rubbing his crinkled forehead. “I already used up all my absences. I’m gonna have to make up a compelling last-minute tragedy. Tell Professor Belvin my grandma died or something.”

“I mean, technically, she did at some point.”

“Ugh,” Ben replied, not consoled at all.

“Wait, I got this.”

I gripped my belly, sank into the nearest chair, and groaned dramatically. It really didn’t require all that much acting. Ben watched with huge green eyes, confounded.

“Miss Swan!” Professor Belvin cried, rushing over. He was wearing khaki pants, a white shirt, and suspenders and a matching bowtie patterned with bubbling multicolored test tubes. Belvin had been Charlie’s classmate from kindergarten through high school, and still palled around with him over Bud Lights and low-quality nachos on bowling league nights. Bowling was, evidently, the sport of choice for middle-aged Forks dads. Also for Welsh vampire pseudo-dads born in the 1400s.

I whimpered in reply.

“Are you alright, Miss Swan?” Professor Belvin asked worriedly. A few students had begun to congregate around the scene. I felt a pang of genuine nausea as perspiration beaded at my temples. You better appreciate this, Mr. Hardy.

“I’m okay,” I said, in my most pained and martyrish voice. “I don’t want to miss...today’s lesson...it looks so fascinating...but I didn’t wash my kale thoroughly last night and then I had a salad for dinner and now I might have food poisoning.”

“You poor thing!” Belvin exclaimed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about class. You can just answer some textbook questions or something, no problem. Please go get checked out to make sure you’re alright.”

“Could someone...maybe...help me get to the campus clinic...?” My eyes listed towards Ben. “Maybe...my lab partner?”

“That’s a good idea.” Professor Belvin turned to Ben. “Mr. Lee, would you be willing to escort Miss Swan to the clinic? You can do an alternative assignment as well. If you don’t mind missing the blood typing lab.”

“I’d be delighted to help,” Ben responded, still puzzled. I offered him my hand, and Ben took it, grimacing as he led me out into the hallway. As soon as we were alone, he dropped my hand and opened up several feet of space between us.

“Thanks so much, Miss Swan, you are a lifesaver,” I said, imitating his morose, rumbling British accent. “Oh, you’re very welcome, Ben. You can repay me in basic courteous conversation and Starbucks gift cards and by maybe not killing me.”

“So you’re totally fine?” Ben asked flatly.                

“Of course. Nobody with taste eats raw kale.”

Frowning, frustrated, he started puffing on his vape pen. “You need to stop doing nice things for me. It’s extremely disorienting.”

“This may be difficult for you to come to terms with, but you, Ben Hardy, are worth being the recipient of nice things.”                          

“No, you still don’t get it,” he snapped, grabbing my wrist, spinning me around to face him in the empty hallway. “That’s all I’ve ever done. Kill people like you.”

The Fire

“Who is the cutest little alpaca I’ve ever seen?!” I cooed in a squeaky falsetto, scratching her wooly brown chin. “Who’s going to come home and live with me and Charlie forever?!”

“That’s illegal, ma’am.” Joe was watching me, arms crossed over his Chicago Cubs t-shirt, smiling wistfully.

“It is not!”

“It actually is,” Rami added. He was lying on the grass and gazing up into the roiling, grey, late-afternoon clouds with his fingers laced behind his black hair. None of the Lees were wearing sunglasses now. “A house has to be zoned as farmland to have alpacas, which ours is. Yours, tragically, is not.”

“What are you, a lawyer?” I shot back.

Rami grinned. “I was once. And I will be again, in approximately...let me count...five years.”

“That’s what you want to do with your boundless time and energy? Be a corporate shill?”

Joe cackled. “He tried that already. It lasted about five minutes.”

“Manhattan in the 1980s,” Rami reminisced dreamily. “Hundred-hour workweeks. Cocaine everywhere. What a time to be alive. And I hardly ever left the office, so the sunlight thing wasn’t a problem.”

“Okay, so you’re not in it for the Maseratis or the drugs...”

“I’m going to be an immigration attorney,” Rami told me. “Help refugees apply for asylum to come to the United States. Arabic-speaking refugees, in particular.”

“Wow. I stand corrected. That’s wonderful, Rami. I now feel like a total tool for only aspiring to save sea turtles.” But it made sense, of course. What would any good person spend eternity doing? Making the world just a tiny bit better. I glanced at Joe, teasing him. “And you just study how to get rich, huh?”

“I’m a venture capitalist,” he said brightly. “I invest in small businesses, counsel them, encourage them, connect them with other people in the industry, help them grow. And I don’t need the money, so I take a practically microscopic equity stake. I’m basically a professional charitable donor.”

“And you get to put all of those charming mob-guy skills to use.”

Joe winked. “Exactly.”

“Doesn’t it get old?” I asked both of them. “Being college students?”

Rami shrugged. “No really. The world changes, schools of thought evolve, our own interests fluctuate. Every few decades we circle back and go for another round, fresh degrees, maybe new professions entirely. You learn something new every time.”  

“And I’ve been waiting for all my old professors to die so I could go back to U Chicago for fifty years!” Joe shouted. “I’m fucking pumped!”

“But...don’t you already know everything...?”

Joe chuckled. “We’re vampires, Baby Swan, we’re not prodigies. We’re sharper than the average person, sure. But it still takes effort to learn. And we all have things we suck at.”

“Like not being obnoxious,” Rami said, nodding to Joe.

“Like not minding our own fucking business,” Joe hurled back.

“I cannot control the fact that I��m a literal mind reader—”

“You boys behave yourselves,” Mercy called in her relaxed, drawling Southern accent, swinging a basket of carrots and zucchinis and cabbages that she’d dug out of her garden, wearing a long flowing yellow dress and her hair tied up in a scarf. She plodded over in her bare feet, handed me a few carrots, then pointed to the chocolate-colored alpaca I was petting. “That lady there is Athens. And the black and white one by Joe is Augusta. Then there’s Norcross, and Alpharetta, and Savannah...and that real chubby grey one heading into the barn is Marietta.”

“I adore them,” I replied, beaming. Mercy had sheep and pigs and a couple of cows too, all ambling contently around the emerald green field as the first threads of fiery, rust-hued sunset were lighting up the horizon.

“We used to have ducks, too,” Mercy mused. “But they disappeared recently...”

Rami passed Joe a knowing smirk. Joe mouthed back menacingly: Do not.

“Hey mom,” Rami piped.

Joe jabbed an index finger at him. “No, don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare—”

“Joe ate the ducks.”

“You bitch!” Joe cried.

“Oh, Joseph,” Mercy sighed mournfully, lifting a brush out of her basket and dragging it down Athens’ fuzzy back.

“I’m sorry! It was one time! I was weak!”

“I’m not angry, sweetheart,” Mercy said. “I’m just disappointed.”

“Mom, that’s worse!”

Rami climbed to his feet and swatted grass and leaves off his cardigan sweater. “Alright folks. My work here is done. Peace out.”

“Oh no, you don’t get to do a hit and run like that, hey, Rami, hey, hey, come back here!”

Joe trotted after him, shouting a litany of insults, as Rami laughed hysterically and careened into the house. Lucy and Gwil were in the kitchen baking chocolate chip cookies; Scarlett was in the garage changing the brakes on Ben’s Vantage; Ben was noticeably absent from the Lee household and presumably out hunting. It was remarkably easy to picture his fingers closing around bloodied flesh, a wolf’s or a bear’s or an elk’s, lowering his fangs to a pulsing jugular.

“So you’re really into this whole farming thing,” I said to Mercy, looking out over the field rimmed by towering western hemlock trees. I didn’t know exactly how many acres of land the Lees owned, but it was a lot. Mercy adopted rescue animals, donated vegetables from the garden to local food pantries, and occasionally rented out the barn as a wedding venue.

“I’ve always loved it. I had a farm, you know. Before I met Gwil.”

Before she died.

“I didn’t know that,” I murmured, wanting to learn more, afraid to ask, never meaning to pry or offend. “I remember you mentioned the Civil War, and a barn...being...well...being trapped in it. When it burned down.”

Mercy nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, that’s the polite version of the story, isn’t it?” She set down her basket in the tall grass, tugged distractedly at a dark strand of hair that had escaped her scarf, stared glassily out into the sunset muted with cloud cover as Athens moseyed away. “Do you want to know what happened? I’ll tell you if you do. But I don’t want to upset you, dear.”

My voice was barely a whisper. “I’d like to know.”

“We had a little farm out in the middle of nowhere,” Mercy explained. “My husband Arthur and I.”

And it felt so outlandish to hear her say those words. Husband. She had a husband before Gwil. She had a whole life before this one.

“He had a bullet in one leg and a limp from a hunting accident when he was a boy, so he was never called up to enlist. It was a rich man’s war, but it was the poor men they sent to die in it. That’s how it always goes, I expect. And how it always will. We had two daughters, twelve and fifteen. I won’t tell you their names. Don’t take that personally, dear. I haven’t spoken their names in a hundred and fifty years.”

She turned her murky eyes—like homemade bread crust or coffee or the wood walls of a log cabin—to me.

“When the Union Army came through, they were beasts. Men like that...men who have been killing and looting and burning their way across hundreds of miles...all they want to do is get blood on their hands. That’s all they remember how to do. So that’s exactly what they did. They slaughtered our cattle for meat. They burned the house down. And then they took me and my girls, and they...they...well, you know what they did. What men do when they’re monsters. And when Arthur tried to stop them, they shot him in the chest and spit mouthfuls of chewing tobacco on him as he bled out in the dirt. Called him a coward and a deserter. Told him everything they were planning to do to me and my girls. And when they were done doing all of those things, they locked the three of us in the barn and set it ablaze. I was the only one still alive when Gwilym got there. And believe me, I didn’t want to be.”

“I’m so sorry,” I breathed, my throat burning for Mercy, for her family, for this divinely kind and benign and tender woman.

She patted my cheek fondly. “It’s alright, sweetheart. It’s not your fault. I got a second chance. Gwilym gave me a second chance. That’s what he does, you know. He finds broken people, fixes them, loves them fiercely. He gave me forever. Two more daughters. And three sons.”

Three sons, I thought. Rami and Joe and Ben. She counted Ben.

“Does someone have to be dying?” I asked her softly. “You know. To become like you.”

“No, honey. That’s just how Gwil does things.”

“But...why? What’s the possible downside? Why not change anyone who wants it?” Why not change someone like me?

And Mercy peered over at me, contemplative, curious, like tiptoeing gingerly over rotted floorboards, like weaving through a minefield. Like she was trying to figure out what I’d already been told.

“Hey Baby Swan,” Joe said, startling me. I whirled to see him waiting with a patient smile and his hands buried in his pockets. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

He led me upstairs to Gwil’s 1960s-style office, where Dr. Lee had cleaned and stitched the tiny gash in my forehead after my misadventure with Ben in the woods outside Calawah University, where the wall above the sturdy oak desk was adorned with a massive painting filled with gorgeous, unfamiliar, inhuman faces. Joe took a deep breath, and then he began.

“This,” he announced, introducing the painting, “is the vampire version of the mob. They can trace their existence back to before the Roman Empire. They find people who they think have potential, have talents. They turn them. And then they offer them a hundred-year contract. You sign it, or they murder you. When your term is up, you get to decide whether to renew or leave. But almost no one ever leaves. After a century of taking orders and guarding and killing, what else do you know how to do?” He pointed to the terrifying woman with long white hair and red eyes. “That’s Liesl. She’s literally Satan, only blonder. The chick with the tattoos is Akari. She can meet a human and tell what powers they’ll have once they’re changed. Very useful, obviously. The dude who looks like Idris Elba is Cato, and he’s actually an okay guy, he’s the one currently assigned to keep tabs on Gwil’s coven...”

I soaked the names in like rain into dark, lush Washington earth as Joe relayed them to me, strange and beautiful names: Aruna, Phelan, Morana, Adair, Zora, Araminta, Honora, Victorien, Rigel, Sahel.

“Who’s that?” I asked, gesturing to the young man standing at the center of the painting, the one with black hair and eyes so light and luminous a brown they were almost gold and a sinister, unmistakable magnetism.

“Very good question,” Joe complimented. “That’s their Al Capone. That’s Larkin.”

“And what’s his vampire superpower?” He has to have one. I know he does.

“How do I even put that into words? It’s more than charisma. It’s slightly less than mind reading. He can see through people, what they want most, what they fear. And he can make them do things.”

I gazed into those omniscient glowing eyes, feeling myself getting caught there, feeling some primal dread swelling in the capillary beds of my heart and lungs and bone marrow. “Joe, I’m thoroughly enjoying this captivating backstory, really, but...why are you telling me all of this now?”

“Because you asked why Ben is so different than the rest of us. This is why.” Joe waved broadly at the painting, at the closest thing his world had to a mafia, to unrepentant killers, to actual demons. “This is where he came from.”

[vitosscaletta]

1, 2, 6, 8, 22, 25, 28, 34, 42, 50 for Christian and Peggy!!! Give me that lore pls...

THANK U... im gonna do Christian bc i’m too tired to do both 😳

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

Omg they honestly didn’t really have much to do with each other?? Christian’s father (his name was Charles) was deeply religious and very practical, he didn’t have much patience for frivolous things like art or whatever his eccentric wife was into, so they never bonded that much. He gave most of his attention to his eldest son/Christian’s older brother as he was the heir and all that, Christian on the other hand was too irresponsible and a bit of a disappointment in his eyes :/ I mean there was some sort of love between them but he never really bothered to bond with any of his children and least of them all Christian

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have?

He loved her!!!!! Little Christian was her favorite child, the one she bonded with the most 😳 She had a great love for theatre, dance and art & would have wanted to be an artist or musician or something, instead of marrying a man she doesn’t love for his status but you know, 17th century france was like that. Christian got his love of the arts from her so out of her children he was the one she connected with the most!!! She used to play him children’s songs on her harpsichord when he was a toddler & he smashed the keys of it with his little chubby baby hands 🥺

She was devastated after her favorite child “died” and sunk into a deep depression that she never recovered from until her death in the 1690′s 😰 Of course she’s long dead but Christian still misses her a lot & regrets not being able to tell her that he didn’t really die. She’s probably his biggest influence - he takes a lot after her and she’s the one he got his love for the arts from.

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

Definitely affection from his mama!!! She pretty much showered him with it. His father... not so much but he was this way to his other siblings too. He just wasn’t a very affectionate person in general, he would show them a bit of love but only in the form of an approving smile and maybe a shoulder pat 😓

8. How does your character feel about religion?

He’s catholic lol, definitely not as religious as his father. He never really gave religion much thought, maybe there is a god, maybe there isn’t 🤷‍♀️

22. Who are their friends? Lovers? ‘Type’ or ‘ideal’ partner?

When he was alive.. his mom of course, his little sister Marie Anne, a few random nobles 🙄 His family was kinda close to the king (mostly thanks to his charismatic mom) so he was always surrounded with fake friends I suppose. I’d also say his sire, Simonetta - an italian noblewoman who he met at court (she’s a fictionalized version of a real person so lore is kinda cringe.. maybe i’ll share one day.. maybe not dkjkjdf). They were good friends & she eventually embraced him to save his life after an illegal duel, after that they lived in rome for a while, she eventually grew tired of him due to his behavior & was like “come back when you’re less of an asshole 😤” 

In modern nights, his friends are his ghoul Claude, a descendant of his favorite sister who I mentioned, they met in paris during the belle époque; the hollywood anarchs and Jeanette... he’s.. kinda frenemies with Gary, more enemies though? Like they’re both like 😏 @ each other when one of them makes fun of the prince or something but most of the time their dynamic is this

As for lovers.. there were a LOT!!! Most notably Lo/uis’ mistress, his ex-boyfriend in the 19th century aaaand miss Helena, his childe 🙄 but you know how that ended! Generally I think he’s drawn to charismatic people (like him lol), someone who can captivate everyone in the room with their presence or something like that.. someone who shares his love for the arts of course. I think he always imagined his ideal partner to be someone sweet like Helena and Simonetta, but those relationships obviously didn’t work out so..

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

Like his late mother, he’s a big fan of theatre  even though he doesn’t do any acting, he himself enjoys dancing (ballet... there wasn’t any stigma attached to it back in the 1600s, iirc it was even one of the requirements of being a gentleman? can’t have shit in the 21st century :/) and fencing 😌 he’s also a very social person & enjoys being around other people. Which means he’s mostly making fun of others 🙄

28. Who is your character’s mate partner? How do they relate to him or her? How did they make their choice?

of course you’d ask that.. hoe 😒 just kidding.. you know... Miss Lucrezia 😌 They met in 21st century Los Angeles where he’s the Baron of Bel Air & kinda important I guess so she started rumors about him for fun. Christian decided to confront her about it and that’s how they met babey!!! They had a pretty antagonistic relationship in the beginning but it eventually blossomed into a very passionate romance in the 1970s that ended as quickly as it began when Lucrezia left for Europe (corny casablanca ending kinda goodbye but it’s 1977 and saturday night fever just released). He’s heartbroken over it and drowns his sorrow in creating messed up art about abandonment & losing the only person he’ll ever truly love but eventually picks himself up again. He eventually meets miss Helena & has a short romance with her, thinking she’s his soulmate or something but his feelings for her, as intense as they are, are the result of some toreador obsession, not real love. There was some sort of connection but as infatuated as he was with her, it wasn’t the same as he felt for Lucrezia 🙄 He spends weeks just moping around in his mansion when she leaves him but immediately forgets her when he hears that Lucrezia is back in LA :) 

Like I said, he thought his ideal partner would be very different but in the end Lucrezia is the one who truly understands him, they’re different in a lot of regards but very similar at the same time, she’s been his best friend all this time, she made him truly happy the way no one else could and Christian is a big dumbass for not realizing it sooner but!! here we are!!

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

What does he want most... his character sheet says to find his soulmate ❤ jhsdjhsd really he’s a toreador, so he’s always chasing whatever he’s obsessed with at the moment, then gets bored of it and throws it away - mostly it’s art, sometimes people lol. He’d do anything to get what he wants - not like randomly killing innocents of course but. stabbing others in the back. stealing. taking advantage of people. you know

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?

Mostly his charismatic fake smile that he's always wearing in public, also often a slightly bored frown AND the “got invited to venture tower & has to listen to Lacroix spewing his bullshit again” eye roll. here’s a Theo James in Sanditon gif to illustrate my point

[takerfoxx]

An entirely too long ramble about how much Imperfect Metamorphosis means to me

(Tumblr please actually show that submissions are not just text posts please)

So. It’s almost the last day of the decade. I usually get weirdly sad and nostalgic in the last 30 minutes of New Year’s Eve, but this time it’s been like, a whole week, and I’ve been reflecting on this decade as a whole as well as like, my path in life.

The 1990’s were the decade of my birth and early life.

The 2000’s were the decade of being REALLY into Harry Potter.

And my 2010’s were, wholly and singularly, defined and shaped by Touhou. 

I got into Touhou sometime around Easter 2010 when McRoll’d came into my YouTube feed, and something about the music was just so god damned catchy I just had to know where it came from. So I discovered Flandre’s fight and from there, I learned just how great the music of this weird bullet hell game made by some rando in Japan. It quickly became my Thing. When I wasn’t playing sucking at the games, I was listening to the music, and if I wasn’t listening to the music, I was at school (where I’d probably not be paying attention let’s be real here).

So there I was, happily consuming fanart and fansongs and fangames and doing that little smile in appreciation when you see a reference to a thing you like (shoutout to raocow for also playing a few Touhou fangames way back when). It expanded my gaming interests into the sphere of “modding games to make them harder can be fun and cool”, which then lead to a general interest in playing modded and moddable games. It even made me interested in visiting Japan (on my bucket list), not in that stereotypical “weeb” way of visiting all the anime and manga stores, but more in the “something I like put a country on my radar and holy shit some of those restaurants, l want to eat at ALL of these places because they’re gorgeous” way.

You’ll notice that I specifically withheld from mentioning Fanfiction. See, as a teenager who did have the “try something once and if I don’t like it I’ll probably hate it forever because it’s always like that” mentality, I had the unfortunate experience of coming across My Immortal. 

That, and the fact that one of my close friends in High School had taken to reading Twilight Fanfic (and complaining at almost every story she read and their bad use of tropes) kinda solidified fanfiction as “something dumb and stupid written by people who solely want to roleplay fucking the protagonist”. And on that pedestal sat the entire concept of fanfiction for a long-ass time (actually it was about a year and a bit).

Fast forward a while. Patchouli had cemented herself as All Time Favourite Character, I’d begun to grow out of my Harry Potter phase in search of new stories, and I’d made some new friends, one of whom said they read fanfiction all the time and some of it was actually better than original, published books because they had the freedom to explore ideas that weren’t entirely publishable. But also to roleplay fuck their waifus.

At some point in Summer 2011, not too long after it came out, I decided to replay Portal 2, and something about the story left me feeling… incomplete. Empty. I sought people discussing what they thought of the story and hidden nuggets of info peppered throughout the game, and at some long buried comment section on YouTube, someone mentioned how some fanfiction went into a headcanon and took it further. I read it, considered it for a moment, deemed it worthy of being called “not trash”, and immediately set to looking at the Touhou section on FF.net.

The first fanfics I read of Touhou were… Well, they were. There were some good ones and not so good ones. But they were all, in some way, at least interesting. I quickly discovered the frustration that New Friend had brought up once, of when you discover something great but it’s over all too soon. Setting FF.net’s search to include only 100k and up fanfics, I was delighted to discover that there was a fanfiction called “Imperfect Metamorphosis” that was over 350,000 words long. And then my carefully crafted plan of going to bed at a sensible time to maximise Summer Gaming Time was devoured by staying up until 4:30am, reading fanfiction on a shitty laptop that could barely run UFO. Thank fuck it was the summer holidays.

There was something special about Imperfect Metamorphosis. The characters all had their own personality, their own history, their own implied history beyond what was written, they had goals, thoughts, feelings, and different takes towards other people working to further their own goals. And it was all wrapped up in a package that started with a simple premise, grew to encompass a world more broad than mere canon or fanon, and then billowed into an eldritch monster of ungodly size (hi, Yuuka!)((kind of like this post huh)). 

I was so fucking hooked on IM. I went back to school with theories buzzing about my brain as to what was going to end up happening, my mind wandering to the latest chapter and the bits I thought were cool, actually having the drive to focus and actually learn something about story structure in English Literature. I suddenly had the tiniest flame of interest in creating. Maybe one day I could write fanfic, and do my tiny part in expanding the universe of fan-content.

Regardless of the fact that my own attempts at conjuring stories weren’t successful (for a while), IM was there to be read throughout my last years of Normal Schooling, and it served as both a rock and an escape from the stress of school. I laughed with the jokes, I took Marisa’s death harder than the sum total of Harry Potter’s entire bodycount, and I could never hear Soulja Boi without thinking of Mima trolling Satori.

Just like how Touhou expanded my gaming and cultural horizons, Imperfect Metamorphosis expanded my horizon with Literature. I got into reading Neil Gaiman’s work, I read some Lovecraft, I consumed all kinds of works of fiction, across a multitude of genres, which all felt, in some way, like I was reading them because of IM. I mean I only started watching Madoka, and any anime beyond that, because of Resonance Days. Interesting way of coming across a show filled to the brim with spoilers.

It’s been three years since you put Imperfect Metamorphosis onto hiatus, and I have never read anything that has filled me with such emotion to the same extent. Other things have come close, some of them were even written by other people! (the most recent mega-update of Walpurgis Nights hit me particularly hard). And Swiftly Descending Darkness has been such a great read thus far, the slowly ramping tension is so. god. damned. good.

And as I think I mentioned a while back, I finally managed to start grinding out a touhou fic at my own, absolutely glacial, pace. I always find myself asking “is this canon to Touhou, or is it just canon to IM?”. The line has forever blurred in my mind.

I’m not asking anyone to read my work. This isn’t a plea for you to return to the original IM at any speed, I just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you for writing Imperfect Metamorphosis. For the work that’s been a steady constant throughout the vast, vast majority of this decade. For inspiring a wealth of emotions and ideas in the mind of a British guy who you’ll never meet. For just, plain writing a good story.

And for making Marisa the biggest badass to grace the land.

Here’s to the 2020’s not sucking, and to the ever expanding list of stories written by Internet user Takerfoxx. Here’s hoping you find great success.

Thank you.

P.S. Oh, and The Friend Who Said Fanfic Was Good Actually? They’re now my Fiancée, as of last month. Funny how the world works like that.

@diggertron, dude, you honestly have me feeling pretty humbled right now. I have to admit, it’s getting harder and harder not to see anything but the flaws when I look back on IM or RD, to the point when anyone compliments me about my writing my reflexive response is to be self-deprecating about my weaknesses, but this has helped me gain some more perspective about my older work, and for that I thank you, and am glad you have stuck around for so many years. 

And congratulations on your engagement as well!

[diziar]

LinkedUniverse: Sky’s Fears

Again, I had a really cool idea for this, I loved the concept and writing out small parts of it, but as a collective... Im not a fan at all. Im honestly my biggest critic but still I’ll probably write more like this for some of the other Link’s eventually.

Falling…

The sound of wings flapping aggressively, Zelda screaming were what followed after the bang in the sky field. The wind being knocked from his chest, unable to breathe. The air rushing past him in all directions and unable to make heads or tails in which direction he was falling, and then…

Darkness.

Someone… someone was calling his name. He felt weightless but also as heavy as a stack on pumpkins at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to move. He could hardly see anything in front of him it was darker than any night he'd ever seen, and then there was a light so bright he struggled to see the figure of purple and blue speaking to him. That somewhat metallic and heavenly voice calling out to him once again, the only thing filling his senses, echoing all around him.

“You are vital to a mission of great importance.”

Zelda. She was there, falling along with him. He reached out for her, extending his arm as much as he could possibly manage. Her scream once again filled his ears, it was the worst thing he could ever hear. That fear so evident in voice. He was helpless to do anything as she was consumed by…

Darkness.

Sky found himself zoning out more and more recently, always thinking back to the same event that kick-started everything for him. Most of the time he could get away with it; sitting around the campfire with his bowl on his lap, startling and dropping his food when someone called out or touched him. Drifting away into sleep and his dreams being filled with that black expansive void, only to jolt awake covered in a cold sweat.

Sometimes though, the thoughts came at the worst of times. Whilst wood carving was a relaxing hobby he had, those small thoughts of fear would plague him and make him jump and catch his hand with his knife, causing far too many little cuts in his skin. Or perhaps when holding his bow he may had let an arrow loose prematurely once or twice, with stern words from Legend following.

If any of the others had noticed, they hadn't said anything yet, and he was grateful. He wasn't sure how he'd explain it if they did. They all had something from their adventures which instilled a sort of fear into them, and most of them refused to talk about it for reason he understood completely now.

They all had it: the Triforce of Courage, but still there were things that went past even what that could do to dull some of the effects of what had happened to them. Physical wounds healed, but mental ones were a bit trickier.

Sky definitely wasn't the closest to Time, the two of them saw things very differently regarding certain matters, but they still got along well enough. It was the way that Time never really talked about himself, in any matter until it was absolutely necessary. Even after they all met Malon, they all found out they really knew less about him than they realised. That was out of a fear that the eldest of them all had going back to his past.

He struggled to admit it to himself, let alone would he ever to Zelda, but from the first moment he had jumped from his bird to descend into the unknown surface beneath the clouds, he had been terrified.

It was a terror that ran icy cold from his head to his toes, numbing every part of him. He could see the trembles from his hands on the hilt of his sword or fingers clutching into the fabric of his sailcloth after skydiving down. When his feet hit the solid ground beneath him, it was instinct to pull his sword out and be on guard.

Fi was always there, helping him calm even without him needing to call her. She was a constant throughout all his trials. It almost seemed, looking back on it, that she grew just a little bit more human every day. Her speech patterns changed and some of the things he had to comment on about people or creatures on the surface made him laugh a few times. He… respected her more than he could ever say in words. He was…

Thankful. To her.

Something's he struggled to forget... No matter how much time had passed.

He understood now how Time felt a little bit more. Talking about what had happened was hard. Painful.

His journey with the other Link's hadn't been at all peaceful, though none of them had exactly expected that. They all had scars to prove the travels they had all experienced in some way or another. Physical reminders or not.

"Ahhh! Link!"

He could hear his name being called over the sound of the two birds screeching and the rushing wind past his ears, his hair blowing out in all directions from the tornado and he reached his hand out for her form that quickly disappeared under the clouds.

"Sky! Sky!? Hey get your head out of the clouds and come on!"

This was different. His name, it sounded so different. Odd. The voice that carried it was also not the one he heard before. It wasn't… her voice.

Metal clanging together and shouting flooded his ears, it was almost too much. The heavy feeling of his sword and shield in his hands returned once again, as solid as the ground beneath his feet and the wind once being knocked from his chest, gasping to catching his breath as the air rushed past him. He couldn’t help but look down at his hand as it trembled around the grip of his sword, his fingers losing all feeling as he nearly dropped her.

“Sky!?”

Fi? Where was she? Why… Why wasn’t she coming out? No matter how much he wanted her too, no matter how much he stared at his sword inwardly begging her to make her appearance, she would never show. No matter how much he tried or how much he prayed, she wouldn't come out. The dowsing wouldn't work, her voice wouldn't ring throughout his head, and her metallic body wouldn't float before him. He knew… He knew she was asleep but that one thought rung out in his head loud and clear. That one question he hated asking himself.

Had he been abandoned?

“SKY!”

A chorus of voices called out. It was to no use.

The others couldn't reach him in time as wooden club was swung at him, hitting him square in the chest with absolutely no reaction. Whilst he held his shield, Sky had no been protecting himself and he was hardly aware of the battle going on around him. Bokoblins were never much of a challenge, especially again nine heroes, but the never ending stream of them only had reminded Sky of something far too vividly.

Moving hurt. The tree he had bashed into hadn't made for a very soft landing and whilst the ringing in his head has stopped, the shouting had escalated. Eight voices all so different so similar called out to him, but the effort to open to his eyes and move had completely disappeared.

His ribs ached. His back ached. His head.. ached. Everything was flaring up in agony and it took everything in him to move and to reach for his sword that he had dropped.

She wasn't going to appreciate that at all.

At least the darkness clouding his vision had stopped finally allowing the bright sun to appear again as he looked up to the sky above him. There was no blustery winds pulling him about, just a soft breeze rolling through the trees. He was on solid ground. The dirt he could feel through his fingers was proof of that.

Breathing still hurt. No longer because of phantom gusts blowing him about like a leaf in a storm, but because of a bruise forming in both the front and back of his chest. The scratches on his hands and back from the twigs poking into him stung something fierce, but at least he could tell he was mostly unharmed.

Sky teared his gaze from the bright blue sky with soft clouds rolling across the field, down to the eight figures catching their own breathes in the clearing before him, and then to his sword. She still shine beautifully in the light, the blue hilt reflecting the sun like a crystal, many different shades bouncing across the blade. She was still so immaculate after so much time.

“Hey! Earth to Sky! What in the Goddesses name was that all about?”

Legend had been the first to call out. None of them had been particularly surprised by this at the least but it prompted them to all now turn towards the one in question who was still propped up against the tree, staring down at his sword rather than his companions. Eight pairs of eyes stared at Sky, all showing an variety of emotions. From curiosity, to annoyance, and worry, all of them could tell something was up with their friend.

Time was the first to approach him fully, even though both Wild and Twilight accompanied the old man to assist where and if they could. Twilight, after quickly looking over Sky could see that the slightly younger man was struggling to hide the pain on his face and turned back to the others.

“Hey, does anyone have any potion-”

“I’m okay. I just...”

Sky finally speaking up and startled them all, and still he hadn't looked up from the ground as he got himself up slowly, propping himself up the entire time on his sword and dusted himself off. Both Wild and Wind shared the same facial expression of uncertainty, but no one said anything as a heavy collective sigh went across the group and Twilight moved forward to lead the charge once again. After all, they still had places to get to. They couldn't wait around all day.

“Are you sure?”

Time had stayed behind with Sky as the younger of the two took one of his potions out from one his Adventurer’s Pouch, drinking down the red liquid in order to speed his recovery. Even he could admit to  already feeling better the moment the substance touched his tongue, and he had to be carefully swallowing it as to not choke in surprise.

“Yeah, I’m okay now. Just.. I had a moment.”

“I think it was a bit more than just ‘a moment’ don’t you think?”

Really he didn’t need to be called out on it, he was aware of what had happened. He had been find with the first few Bokoblins, cutting them down along with the others with no issue, but when he noticed that more and more kept coming that feeling of dread washed over him and he froze.

Once again the two started walking to catch up with the others. Being left behind would have done neither of them any good, but they still kept back a little bit. Sky because he didnt want anyone over hearing - it seemed like Link, no matter where he was from, had the habit of being a bit of an eavesdropper - and Time because he could trust Twilight to lead the others. He knew where they were headed.  

“I miss her sometimes.”

“Who? Your Zelda or-?”

Time nodded his head to the sword on Sky’s back. He was well aware of the being Sky spoke of on occasion as he cleaned his sword, always a small happy, but pained, smile on his face.

“Both. Fi was a blessing from the Goddess who accompanied me the entire time when I was looking for Zelda. She was… Always there for me. And Zelda… Every time I got to see her, she’s gone again only moments later. I just…”

“You’re worried. I get it. Being away from the one you love is dreadful, not only you, but also them are filled with that fear of what if you never see them again. No one ever knows what can happened whilst you’re off out on another adventure. And you’re allowed to miss those who aren't around anymore. Its natural. All of us understand that.”

Sky was at a loss for words. Everything his elder had just said was exactly true. He looked up to the seven backs walking in front of him. The seven, eight including the man next to him, versions of himself who had all been on perilous journeys, singular or multiple in some cases, and had all gone to find or save someone or something, and had all lost someone or something at some point.

“All wounds heal with time. Some just take longer than others.”

Sky couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped him, and even Time’s raised eyebrow and unimpressed one eyed glance couldn't stop him.

[cyrusgoodboye]

(1) I have so many prompts 😩 how about a supportive bf Cyrus at one of TJ’s basketball games

His Biggest Fan - a Tyrus fanfiction

I’m shook, I actually wrote this relatively fast (which I know you sent this in a long time ago but I just started working on it).  Hope you enjoyed this (I also hope no one minds that I kept with this basketball theme, whoops).  And let’s all collectively hope that I actually got this basketball lingo right, and if not then you can all laugh at me.  Anyway, on with the story:

“Whoo!” Cyrus cheered from the stands, clapping incessantly.  “Go T.J. and Buffy!”

Andi cringed at her best friend’s exceptionally loud volume.  How could a boy so small cheer so loudly?  “Cyrus, do you have to be so loud?” she exclaimed, shrinking away from him.

Cyrus smiled at Andi sheepishly, and he lowered his voice a fraction in order to appease her.  “Sorry.  You know I love it when they score a touchdown!”

“It’s a basket,” Andi corrected.  She drew her eyebrows together, pausing as she second-guessed her own correction.  “I think?”

The two friends were currently gracing the gymnasium with their presence, just like they did with every other Jefferson Middle School basketball game.  Neither of them were ever exactly sure what was going on, but they were always there to support Buffy, and, more recently, T.J., so understanding the game wasn’t usually their top priority.

“Really?” Cyrus asked in confusion.  He shook his head exasperatedly, and he scrunched up his face as he whined.  “I can’t keep up with all of these sports terms!”

Andi laughed.  “Don’t worry, no one’s asking you to,” she assured him.  Andi turned her attention back to the game with a twist of her head.  As her eyes focused on what was unfolding in front of her, she frowned and squinted uncertainly.  “Is there a break?”  

Cyrus followed her line of sight, where each separate team had gathered on the opposite sides of the room, staying within their own group.  He searched for the ones clad in the blue-and-white uniforms, and he saw them all pat each other on the back supportively as they wiped the beads of sweat from their brows.  “Is this the intermission?” he asked in confusion, tilting his voice up on the last syllable.

Andi shook her head at him.  “No, Cyrus, they only have intermissions during plays,” she said, typing rapid, slurred keys on her phone (with probably a few typos in the search engine bar).  After a few seconds, she hummed in understanding.  “It’s actually the game’s ‘halftime,’ like their halftime show,” Andi elaborated, clicking her phone off and stuffing it back inside her jacket pocket.

“Oh, okay.”  He only ever watched the halftime show on the Super Bowl.   Why watch football when you could watch Lady Gaga’s spectacular rendition of her own greatest hits?  “We really need to go outdoors more.”  

They both exchanged a glance before bursting out into laughter.  Like that was going to happen.

As the halftime show commenced, Cyrus examined the court once more, his eyes sweeping over Jefferson’s players, and he found T.J. skimming his eyes over the crowd in concentration as well.  When their eyes finally connected over the vast crowd, Cyrus waved excitedly at his boyfriend (his boyfriend!  It was still so exhilarating to say) from the bleachers that were overlooking the gym.

T.J. beamed back from his spot on the court, blushing bashfully, and Cyrus smiled in return.  “Do you think we should start chanting with our posters for the second half of the game?” he asked Andi, keeping a light gaze on T.J. as he spoke.

Andi shrugged.  “Why not?”  

After the cheerleader’s impossibly complex cheer routine (how did they bend that way?), Andi and Cyrus each held up a sign, one for Buffy and the other for T.J..

“Clever!” Andi remarked on the poster Cyrus’s holding up: T.J. KIPPEN IS ALWAYS DRIBBLIN’!

Cyrus grinned, proud of his poster.  It was decorated with bold, black letters, and the ‘i’s were even dotted with tiny little basketballs.  “Thanks!  I had to ask T.J. to make sure that dribbling was a good thing, and then he went into a long spiel about basketball that I didn’t understand at all,” he told her, his brow furrowed together.  He then smiled at the memory; he hadn’t exactly grasped what T.J. had been getting at, but it was still cute to see him ramble about something that he so obviously cared about.  “So I’m pretty sure it’s right.”

Andi snorted.  “Even I know what dribbling is, Cyrus,” she said, holding up the other poster for Buffy.  YOU CAN’T OUTUFF THE BUFF’!

“Hey,” Cyrus defended himself lightly, “we all have our strengths and weaknesses,” he pointed out in a teasing manner.  Andi smiled and gave a gentle shake of her head in response.

As the game started back up again, the two friends started cheering for Buffy and T.J. again, both of them wishing the best for their friends.  Ever since Cyrus and T.J. had gotten together, Buffy and T.J. had (to everyone’s immediate surprise) been getting along, and T.J. now willingly passed her the ball multiple times a game if he had the chance.  Whether the two actually enjoyed each other’s company or were just doing it for Cyrus’s sake, Cyrus was grateful.  He didn’t know what he’d do if his boyfriend (he grinned as he thought of the word; he didn’t think the effect the word had on him would ever wear off) and best friend despised each other.  

Jefferson snatched the ball from their green-and-white enemies, and Buffy dribbled strategically away from the defense.  She stealthily maneuvered herself out of the grasp of the Knights, but more and more of the players began to surround her, reminding Cyrus of how gnats surrounded a piece of spoiled fruit.  They were unrelenting.

Buffy glanced towards T.J. helplessly, and Cyrus could practically see the conflict in her eyes.  Should she try to make the shot herself, or should she try and give T.J. a try?

“Come on, Buffy,” Cyrus whispered desperately under his breath.  Buffy was one of the most athletically inclined people he had ever met, but sometimes she needed to trust and rely on her teammates.  While being confident in your skills isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Buffy could be too sure of herself at times, and it got her into trouble.

Finally, after Buffy could no longer fight off the Knights’ defense by herself, she wildly hurled the ball to T.J., her last alternative, in desperation, and he caught it with ease.  He dribbled the ball against the gym floor swiftly, but, as he jumped up to make a two-pointer from his side angle, a Knights player swiped the bright orange ball from T.J.’s hands, knocking him down in the process with a sickening thud.  

Cyrus gasped at the action, standing up in shock as the entire gymnasium held bated breath.  In the distance, the whistle that normally hung around the coach’s neck was brought to Coach Anderson’s lips, causing a sharp hiss to echo throughout the gymnasium.  The referee then turned to the anxious crowd and made a ‘T’ with his hands, and Cyrus felt a hand land softly upon his shoulder as his stomach whirled.  “Does that mean a timeout?

Cyrus couldn’t even answer; his mind was too busy reeling with worry for T.J..  What if he was hurt?  Or worse, dead?  His eyes darted around wildly in panic, hungrily searching for any shred of evidence that T.J. was okay, but he found none as Jefferson’s coach and the referee were both blocking the view of the basketball player.  Why wouldn’t the referee and coach just move?

“I’m going down there,” Cyrus said, determined.

Andi’s eyebrows drew together.  “Cyrus, I’m not sure if you can do tha—”

“I just want to make sure he’s okay,” Cyrus assured her, trying to ignore the frenzy going on in his belly.  Cyrus snatched the towel he had brought (you’d be surprised by how much basketball players sweat!) just in case and some extra supplies before he descended down the steps, making sure to apologize to anyone he bumped into.  Once he finally hopped down onto the outskirts of the court, right next to the team huddle, he caught Buffy’s eye.

“Is he hurt?” Cyrus asked worriedly, a nauseated feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.  He hoped that she would reassure him; he did tend to imagine the worst things possible without her and Andi’s redirection.

Buffy shook her head frantically, shrugging as her hand came to comb back some loose tendrils that were obstructing her view.  “I don’t know.  They won’t let me over there!” she said, her arms crossed in annoyance.  Cyrus raised his eyebrows in surprise; maybe Buffy actually cared about T.J. more than he’d thought.

Cyrus opened his mouth to answer her, but the coach’s piercing whistle was blown again, shaking him from his train of thought.  As T.J. hobbled his way over to his teammates (plus Cyrus) with the help of Jefferson’s coach, he tried to give Cyrus one of his famous, sweet grins, but a sharp wince was drawn from his lips instead.  

“Ouch,” T.J. scowled as the coach eased him down onto the front row, the referee setting a chair by his feet.  He turned toward Cyrus, a slight grimace on his face.  “That guy made me twist my ankle,” he explained, and Cyrus let out a sigh of relief.  He’s not dying, he told himself.  Cyrus breathed deeply as if to get rid of any  leftover tension in his body.  What worrying could do to a person!

Coach Anderson cast T.J. an apologetic look, but it was soon replaced with a stern expression.  “Driscoll, you’re filling in for Kippen,” he informed as T.J.’s carefully propped his leg on the chair in front of him.

Buffy looked shocked, albeit pleased.  She glanced towards T.J., expecting him to be furious.

“Go ahead,” he told her, a mock tone of exasperation lining his voice.  The mirth dancing in his eyes gave him away.  “I know you’re dying to.”

Buffy smirked.  “I was going to accept whether you were happy about it or not,” she told him.  She turned to the coach, her demeanor changing from being smug to ecstatic within seconds.  “Thank you so much, Coach!” Buffy said, not bothering to hide her enthrallment.  “I won’t let you down.”

Coach Anderson nodded once, seeming impatient as the delay of the game drew on longer.  “I wasn’t expecting you to.  Now, go! We need to continue this game!”

Buffy bobbed her head eagerly, racing back onto the court with the rest of her teammates.  Cyrus sat down next to T.J., careful not to bump into his injured foot, and smiled at his best friend happily as he watched her give orders to her teammates.  “Thank you.”

T.J. glanced at him, and a soft smile grew on his face as he studied Cyrus’s face.  He raised his eyebrows at his boyfriend.  “What for?”

Cyrus cautiously shuffled closer, tugging the towel he had draped around his neck and bringing it to T.J.’s forehead.  There were probably a million eyes on them, but Cyrus’s tried not to care, instead trying to focus on wiping away the moisture from T.J.’s brow.  “For trying to get along with Buffy.”  

T.J. shrugged.  “She’s actually bearable,” he admitted.  “Getting along with her isn’t as hard as I thought.”

The corners of Cyrus’s mouth tugged upwards. “I’m glad.”  After wiping the beads of sweat from T.J.’s temple, Cyrus lowered the towel, carefully folding it and setting it aside.  “I brought you some water,” he offered, handing a bottle to T.J..

T.J. grinned lazily, but he winced when he leaned forward to grab it.  “Thanks,” he said, brushing over Cyrus’s hand so subtly that no one else but them would be able to catch it.  He gripped the bottle, gulping down its contents before wiping his mouth contently.  “Thanks for cheering for me,” he mumbled into Cyrus’s ear, casting a shiver down the boy’s back.

Cyrus shook the feeling off, and tried for a wide smile.  “Would you expect anything less from your biggest fan?”

T.J. shook his head.  “Of course I wouldn’t.”  He scooted over as well as he could manage, bringing him and Cyrus side-to-side, and Cyrus had to hide his smile.  He’s sly, I’ll give him that, Cyrus thought to himself.  As T.J. casually slung an arm around Cyrus’s shoulders (Cyrus noted that that was sly, too), he turned his attention towards the game.  “Looks like Buffy’s managing pretty well,” T.J. observed aloud, gesturing towards the court with a dip of his head.  

Cyrus glanced in the direction T.J. had signaled to, and a proud feeling bloomed in his chest at the sight.  Buffy had just made a shot with the basketball, and her teammates patting her encouragingly on the back after her amazing toss into the basket.  “And you said she wouldn’t make the team,” Cyrus teased.

T.J. sighed.  “I was wrong,” he admitted, glancing at Cyrus.  His hand absentmindedly reached up, brushing against the nape of Cyrus’s neck, and Cyrus blushed in response.  “Don’t tell Buffy that, though,” T.J. added as an afterthought.

Cyrus laughed, and the two kept a steady gaze, causing a ripple of butterflies in Cyrus’s stomach to flutter.  I love his eyes, Cyrus noted dreamily.  And his smile, and his hair, and his mouth…

A wave of cheers erupted from the stands, breaking the two boys from their stare; Buffy had made another shot for Jefferson.  

Cyrus’s gaze flitted back over to the court, and he gave a slightly delayed response to Buffy’s basket.  “Go Buffy!”  He noticed T.J.’s amused expression, and he grinned.  “What?  I can still manage to cheer for her without my posters.”

T.J. just shook his head with a slight grin on his face.  His boyfriend could be so adorable.  “I know, I know.”

For the rest of the game, Cyrus asked T.J. questions about the sport that he wasn’t for sure on (the list included “What does a shooting guard do?” and “Why doesn’t the basketball team wear better uniforms?”), all to which T.J. responded to almost automatically, and Cyrus was glad that the boy was humoring him.  

After Buffy made the winning shot for Jefferson (Cyrus’s voice was still hoarse from the shouting that had induced), Cyrus aided T.J., wrapping an arm around his boyfriend’s torso while T.J. slung his arm around his shoulders.  The two walked as seamlessly as they could manage, but, with Cyrus controlling both of their movements, it didn’t end up so well.

“Ow, ow,” T.J. winced as Cyrus tripped over the threshold, and Cyrus paused by the wall.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he apologized, rubbing a hand over his flushed face.  Luckily, before he started to move again, an elated Buffy found them, nearly squealing with excitement.

“We won!” Buffy exclaimed, throwing her arms around Cyrus.  She accidentally hit T.J. in the process, and he grimaced at the action but didn’t say anything.

“I know, I’m so proud of you!” Cyrus said, just as enthused as she was.  “Did you hear me cheering for you?”

Buffy raised an eyebrow incredulously.  “Hear you?  Cyrus, you were the loudest one out there! Of course I heard you.”

Cyrus smiled.  “Thanks, I try.”  He glanced over at T.J., who had an amused expression adorning his face at the two’s exchange.

Buffy’s gaze shifted to T.J., and she had a smug smile on her face.  “I did good, didn’t I?”

“I don’t know about that,” T.J. protested, but he grinned, showing that he was joking.  “Nice job, Driscoll.  Don’t get used to being captain.”

Buffy said cockily, “I’ll be taking over soon enough.”  As she spoke, the scanned the two boys questioningly.  “Do you need help?  I don’t think Cyrus can manage to walk you out by himself.”

Cyrus heaved a sigh of relief.  “Yes, please!”  

Buffy laughed giddily, the last few moments of the game still ticking behind her eyelids, and she took over T.J.’s other side.  Fortunately, with Buffy acting as T.J.’s left crutch, the three of them managed to get to the outdoor picnic tables without too much hassle.  

“Ugh,” Buffy grunted, removing herself from T.J.’s side.  Jeez, Cyrus was really no help when it came to strength.  “So, are you in for some post-celebratory tater-tots?” she asked her best friend hopefully.  

Cyrus grinned.  “I’ll be there!” he promised.  

As she stalked off, leaving them with one last squeal of excitement, T.J. awkwardly straddled the picnic table bench, allowing his wounded foot to settle on Cyrus’s lap while his other one was tucked underneath him.  

For a moment, the two of them sat in silence, watching Buffy talk to Andi animatedly about a play-by-play of the game as they walked to The Spoon together.  Then, once the girls were out of their sight, Cyrus squeezed T.J.’s shoulder comfortingly.  “Hey, I know you didn’t get to play a lot today, but I’m proud of you, too, you know.”

“So I’ve heard,” T.J. quipped.  He glanced around at the vacant space around them and, after making sure there were no prying eyes around, he kissed Cyrus chastely on the cheek.  “Thank you for always being my biggest fan.”

Cyrus felt his heart drum rapidly in his chest at the action, and he beamed at him.  “Of course.”  After all, would T.J. expect anything less from his boyfriend?

This was just a little fluffy prompt, one that I certainly appreciated!  Thanks to everyone who reads, it means a lot to distribute my content for other people to view and enjoy.  To show me what you thought of it, please reblog or comment below, or check me out on AO3 or fanfiction.net.  Thank you!

~emmagrace13

[kpoptimeout]

My Top 10 K-Dramas of 2017 - What’s Yours?

2017 is ending soon and K-Dramaland has once again brought us so many goodies this year. As per our blog’s tradition [For 2016 faves click here] , below are my Top 10 favs of the year (my faves in alphabetical order so it might not be yours so please don’t judge)

My only specific criteria this year is that the show must have had started in 2017 to be considered a 2017 series (Hence, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bookjoo and Goblin were in last year’s list)

Chicago Typewriter (tvN)

Ever thought of a haunted typewriter that will slowly help you recover stories of your past life? Maybe not but this innovative drama does just that. Featuring talented movie focused actors Yoo Ah In and Im Soojung (HER FIRST DRAMA IN 13 YEARS SINCE THE LEGENDARY “I’m Sorry, I Love You”) as lovers separated from the past life but current bickering duo and rising talent Go Kyung-Po of Reply 1988 fame as their half puppy-half manipulative ghost friend from the past, the drama is one rollercoaster of emotions jumping between two equally interesting timelines of modern South Korea and Japanese occupied South Korea. I really enjoy the combination of working out the characters’ mysterious past life and also the commentary on the modern literary world. If you want an intriguing and fun story-line with revolutionary history shenanigans and early 20th century speakeasies, Chicago Typewriter is the drama to watch!

Duel (OCN)

Finally, CLONES ARE PART OF K-DRAMALAND. After many dramas on multiple personality disorder and twins switched at birth etc., we see the concept of genetic copies and the ethics of such science finally pursued in this well-written and exciting thriller. Yang Sejong plays the clones in question and as a newcomer who only debuted in 2016, he is one to watch out. He expertly played the two dramatically different clones and honestly got me super freaked out watching the show. OCN continues their amazing run with thrillers and I cannot wait for more new content from them.

Fight My Way (KBS2)

Every year there is one bomb slice of life drama and this year it’s “Fight My Way”! Inspired by the real-life romance of mixed martial artist Choo Sunghoon and his wife Shiho Yano, this rom-com about a UFC fighter and his childhood love is sweet, funny, and poignant, touching on realistic experiences of everyday couples. Park Seojoon excels as the fighter Ko Dongman and I think he honestly does the best when acting in these common man roles like in “She Was Pretty” and “Witch’s Romance” versus the over the top hero ones like in “Hwarang.” Kim Jiwon proves she is no one-hit wonder and here to stay after her “Descendants of the Sun” fame in this relatable role of a girl who has to abandon her dreams due to practicalities of the real world and Ahn Jaehong continues to be a pure delight after “Reply 1988”.

Hwayugi (tvN)

Only 2 episodes in, the Hong Sisters already prove that once again they are the producing queens of K-Dramaland and Hwayugi is going to be scoring home runs like their earlier supernatural dramas “My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox” and “Master’s Sun”, whilst riding the wave of another widely popular mythical tvN drama “Goblin.” Reinterpreting the Chinese fantasy story “Journey to the West”, this drama plays with characters already well-known in Asian folklore and throws in interesting ghost/demon/monster fighting side stories along the way. Having worked with the Hong Sisters many times, Lee Seung Gi shines in his first role back from the military, playing the mischevious Monkey King Son Oh Gong. The other castings are also great - with Cha Seungwon fittingly being the eccentric and mercurial Bull Demon King, FT Island’s Hongki as the super flirt Zhu Bajie, and Oh Yeon Seo as the pure but strong-willed reincarnation of Xuanzang. If you need a fix after “Goblin”, just watch this already.

My Secret Romance (OCN)

OCN’s first ever rom-com is a fan favorite locally and internationally and for good reason. It is one of those expected rom-com plots with chaebol male lead, awkward grassroots female lead, BFF with a crush on her, etc. but just done very well. It does do something innovative - going around all the awkward will they kiss or not KDrama stuff to a male and female lead who meet three years later after an awkward one-night stand. Additionally, the chemistry between Sung Hoon and Secret’s main vocalist Jieun is great and made the drama all the more fun, cute and entertaining. Also, THE OSTs ARE AMAZING BECAUSE BOTH LEADS ARE GOOD SINGERS.

Ruler: Master of the Mask (MBC)

One of the K-Dramas I looked forward to the most this year was “Ruler: Master of the Mask” because of the amazing cast of Yoo Seungho, INFINITE’s L, Kim Sohyun, and Yoon Sohee and boy I was not disappointed. Going with a Prince and the Pauper-esque plot in Joseon Korea, Yoo Seungho and L did a great job in the delivering the two roles respectively. While some people complained the show was kind of slow, I rather the PDs slowly build up the story than rush a lot in the first few episodes then drag on forever at the end.

Strong Woman Do Bong-soon (jTBC)

Following the popularity of another tough female lead drama “Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo��, “Strong Woman Do Bong-soon” also made a strong impression on viewers. The story surrounding a cute and petite girl with supernatural human strength, played by popular actress Park Boyoung, made for a lot of laughs and also led to some fun romantic moments with male leads ZE:A’s Hyungsik and Ji Soo. The pairing of Park Boyoung as Hyungsik’s bodyguard was a well-done flip of normal K-Drama gender roles and I am excited about more female empowerment in K-Dramaland! 

Tunnel (OCN)

After tvN’s “Signal”, I was not sure if I can find another amazing time-travelling thriller of that quality to watch. But OMG OCN is back at it again with their thriller generating machine and they delivered me with “Tunnel.” The male lead, played by the honestly still underrated talent Choi Jinhyuk, is a detective from 1986 who finds himself in 2016 after traveling through a tunnel. Discovering the case he was working on is still unsolved, he joins forces with a modern police officer played by Yoon Hyunmin and a criminal psychologist played by Lee Yooyoung. This show inspired by the Hwaseong serial murders is very good and deserved to be the major hit it was in South Korea, being the most viewed OCN drama of all time. 

While You Were Sleeping (SBS)

Suzy and Lee Jong Suk is one drama already sounds like aesthetic goals but this drama also had good writing and plot to carry itself well. With Suzy playing a journalist who can dream of future deaths and Lee Jong Suk being a prosecutor who acquires her ability after moving into her neighborhood, the two form a likable team and really took us on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. While I am not the biggest fan of Suzy’s acting in the past, she has definitely improved a lot and I think people who are avoiding the drama just because of her should really give it a try.

Whisper (SBS)

Legal dramas with strong female leads are always fun to watch, be it tvN’s “Good Wife” or SBS’s “Punch.” Another such drama is “Whisper”, which is supposedly set in the same universe as “Punch” according to some eagle-eyed fans, and it follows the alliance between Lee Bo-young’s charismatic but debt-ridden female section chief police officer and Lee Sang-yoon’s virtuous elite judge in their journey to uncover defense industry corruption at Taebaek, the nation's biggest law firm. These two top actors of course delivered great performances and Kwon Yul continues to rise on my list of second male leads to watch out for.

Honorable Mentions:

Circle (tvN): An ambitious exploration of dystopian futures by tvN featuring a talented cast including Yeo Jingoo, Kim Kangwoo, Gong Seungyeon and HIGHLIGHT’s Kikwang.

I’m Not a Robot (MBC): Yoo Seungho aka #BAE? Count me in and ready to watch all the episodes. Also, the robot thing is a newer drama trope that has lots of potential.

The Liar and His Lover (tvN): While the storyline is the expected K-Drama rom-com fare, this was a solid debut performance from Red Velvet’s Joy and damn the OSTs were great. Crude Play needs to debut as a real band real quick.

Mad Dog (KBS2): Another amazing action-packed K-Drama thriller starring the amazing actor Yoo Jitae of legendary movie “Oldboy” fame. Also, K-Drama fans need to watch out for Woo Dohwan as this young actor is very talented and has huge potential.

Suspicious Partner (SBS): The final drama of Ji Chang Wook before his enlistment, this is a feel-good rom-com with a great cast of Nam Jihyun, Choi Taejoon, and Nara.

What’s your Top 10 K-Dramas of the Year? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and may the drama sharing begin (and the road to more excuse for holiday procrastination!)

Also, if you want to check out underrated K-Pop songs of 2017, here are the lists for idol songs, artist songs, and OSTs!

[captainshyguy]

for the ask meme, dimentio ! (u knew this was gonna happen)

hhhhh thank u…bless u

favorite thing about them:

ok i cant choose so im listing a few hfdjhnkdfjhdfh like not to be basic but i REALLY love how he manipulates the WHOLE story and the characters and comes out o be the actual bigger bad it’s still my favourite plot twist in ANYTHING EVER and like????? speaking if i sill love how he’s just the ONE villain in mario games who has?? zero redeeming traits, zero ability to feel love or empathy or compassion like he’s just! vile and that would be REALLY boring in more serious franchises, like star wars or marvel but!! because it’s in mario it makes his character feel so fresh to me, like this one guy whos just absolutely awful and the biggest threat they’ve faced and is the only one who (kinda) actually killed the main cast he just rly helps fuel my edgy hcs for the other characters rly?? plus!! he’s theatrical and thats rly fun and has BANGING theme songs so

least favorite thing about them:

i mean i’d say what he does to luigi but that helps me project on luigi and find comfort in thinking about luigi getting support from friends and moving on so???

honestly probably whenever he refers to princess peach as ravishing like ‘sHUT UP U CREEP 🔪🔪🔪’ 

favorite line:

‘And so i strike, like an unseen dodgeball in an echoing gymnasium!!’ 

brOTP:

dimentio x me beating his ass with the ultimate show blaring in the background (like GOD what a final boss)

OTP:

dimentio x being condemned to the underwhere for eternity for his crimes

nOTP:

literally ANY genuine romantic ship with him (ESPECIALLY him with mr l/luigi or mimi :/ bc they’re the ones i see the most smh ) 

random headcanon:

well with the information we’re give about him and the past/worldbuilding in general, i definitely think he’s the son of the guy who made the pixls, or at least a descendent (since only dimentio, the guy who made the pixls, and the son of that guy are referred to as magicians in the game, despite other people clearly using magic) which would also make the pixl queen/possibly shadoo his sister! 

also another one but the son of the guy who made the pixls was said to be in an accident that the mother died in, and he was thought to be dead and miraculously recovered….i dont think that was an accident…i think he killed her, and it was the first time, but certainly not the last 

unpopular opinion

this is less of an unpopular opinion and more of a 50/50 one among mario fans but i REALLY hate when people try to make him (in canon) any way sympathetic, or try to justify his actions, or imply he cares about ANY of the characters bc he doesnt!!! he’s evil and horrible!! like…if it’s sorta done in a way like ‘kinda shitty backstory and he’s more complicated than he seems but he’s still a fucking ass; then like im fine with that, even if it’s not how i see him (aka the way you write him is rly good c; ) bc it’s not trying to excuse his actions!!! 

song i associate with them

uhhhhh hmmm i mean aside from the ones already associated with him, probably be prepared from the lion king fkjdhnfdhjdh (the hyenas are just millions of his clones hfdhjdkf) 

favorite picture of them

i mean of official art probably this one bc like i know it’s meant to be him bowing but he looks like he’s about to dab and i have the sense of humour of a 12 year old hjdkfnhjdkf 

fan art wise there’s…a lot but i rly like when people draw him like this 

i’ve seen two like this and its just…perfect….like…the Ultimate Gremlin

[theriverdalereviewer]

okay so im gonna give my opinion on all of the musicals that Disney released from 2003-2018

2003: the cheetah girls - the biggest girl group of our generation and even though I barely remember the plot anymore I know it was good also great songs

2006: high school musical - set the standard for what a great Disney musical should look like literally could not have been better casted and iconic af

2006: the cheetah girls 2 - the best film in the franchise the plot was excellent the songs were excellent I can’t find a thing to complain about

2007: high school musical 2 - the most iconic Disney channel movie ever it cannot be beat there literally isn’t a song on the soundtrack I don’t love

2008: camp rock - had good songs, and the casting was a1 but the movie literally screamed “we wanna be high school musical”.

2008: the cheetah girls: one world - dear God this movie had so much potential if only raven was in it the only positive was the music

2008: high school musical 3 - since it aired in theaters and therefore Disney doesn’t play this one as much, I don’t have a perfect memory of the plot but can I just say that the movie was the perfect end to the best franchise in Disney history every song on the fucking soundtrack was fantastic you can also just see the improvement in quality in this one

2010: starstruck - lmao this movie made me fall in love with sterling knight’s voice and I’m a sucker for plots about famous people so I’m a fan of this movie

2010: camp rock 2 - good af plot twist but the songs just weren’t as iconic besides introducing me and the movie got a little tiresome imo

2011: lemonade mouth - I was pleasantly surprised by the movie since it had a more nuanced plot than other films the songs were either great or decent

2012: let it shine - I never watched this movie so I have little idea about the plot or songs but I can say that don’t run away is a good song

2013: teen beach movie - it was a nice self aware take on Disney’s part but the songs were either great or awful..,, and that weather shit was just embarrassing

2015: teen beach 2 - like camp rock 2 it also had a pretty good twist at the end but the movie and songs overall were pretty forgettable

2015: descendants - I thought it had a really intriguing plot and it had likable characters but it took some getting used to how silly the movie is 

2017: descendants 2 - the songs were a fucking bop literally each and every one of them but the plot was low-key confusing/pointless at some parts

2018: zombies - never watched this one but the movie had 2.6 million in ratings so it doesn’t seem like I missed out on anything

[ryanmeft]

MCU Final Battles, from Worst to Best, Part One

Avengers: Infinity War is upon us, and for both millions of Marvel aficionados and the tens of millions more who don’t give a rip about comics but loyally turn out for each new movie, it’s a big event. The trailers portray it as one big battle, the fight that encapsulates everything that has come before. Whether it will make good on grandiose promises to change the makeup of the MCU remains to be seen when the film opens this week, but either way, it should be a good dust-up.

With the biggest Marvel battle in movies upon us, I decided to take a look back and rank the final battles of every MCU movie to date. The list is below, but first some methodology. Only the final battles are included, and I judged them almost entirely by themselves; the quality or lack thereof of the overall film was not a factor. The only way in which that isn’t true is in whether the row-de-dow at the end fit well with the overall feeling of the film. My decisions include only the time from the beginning of the confrontation (not necessarily always the first punch thrown) to the conclusion of it, and I watched most of them again on Youtube, isolated, to try and make it easier to do that.

Here we go, then.

READ THIS FIRST, YOU MARVELOUS BASTARDS

This list contains heavy spoilers for every single film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you haven’t seen one yet and you blast past this part and spoil it for yourself, that’s just what you get for being impatient.

18. Iron Man 2

 What Happens

Iron Man and War Machine easily kill a bunch of drone robots and then beat the big baddie with, basically, the same move as Ghostbusters.

Why it Sucks

Well, for starters, the entire thing lasts less than four minutes. Avoiding the obvious joke there, the first “phase” is IM and WM being surrounded by robots who mindlessly fire terrifying ordinary bullets at them while they fire back and Stark ends it with an actual for real kill-all-the-enemies video game special move. I wanted to hit “A” through this part. Then Whiplash fights them for a minute and a half and they beat him by---both of them shooting him at once. Really? You went to all this trouble to kill Tony Stark and your masterpiece of death can be taken down by…two lasers? It’s as though he literally thought “There’s no way a guy who builds things for a living would have TWO suits of weaponized armor.”

17. The Incredible Hulk

What Happens

Hulk and Abomination beat on each other.

Why It Sucks

This was before Marvel really realized that the big showdowns needed to be more visually interesting than just two super-powered people beating the snot out of each other. At the time, it thrilled the kind of fans who didn’t want anything from a Hulk movie except “Hulk Smash!”, but as the Avengers films have since shown us, there’s a lot more potential for creative moves from the Big Green Guy than is shown here. The one really creative aspect, Bruce leaping from the helicopter to summon The Hulk, was lifted almost wholesale from a Mark Millar/Bryan Hitch comic.

16. Thor: The Dark World

What Happens

There’s a storm, and some Deus Ex Machina-type technology, and then Thor throws his pole at Malekith and Malekith catches it.

Why it sucks

Does anyone know what even happened here? Malekith’s finale plays like one of the most ridiculously convoluted Mortal Kombat finishers ever. I’ve seen the movie three times, for some reason, and I can’t even recall why there needs to be a storm, or how a guy who teleports between dimensions can’t figure out “stop catching the teleporty rods”. And then a giant thing falls on him because he doesn’t run five feet to the side, otherwise known as “The Prometheus Effect”. The one creative element is the way Thor and Malekith knock each through all those portals, but it isn’t really taken full advantage of, and GLaDOS isn’t even around for it.

15. Avengers: Age of Ultron

What happens

Ultron, a robot with almost infinite power over robotics and the internet, needs to stop the Avengers from stopping his extinction event, and all he can think to do is throw a bunch of copies of himself at them.

Why It Sucks

Look, I’m a defender of this movie as a whole. I think it had a lot of nice touches, like starting out in the middle of a fight with the Avengers already working together. That was exhilarating. The final showdown is not that. It’s pretty clear Joss Whedon had grown tired of the franchise by the end of the film, and while the character banter and interaction is mostly as good as it could be, “A bunch of tights fight a clone army” feels like a retread of the first movie. The Avengers still work well together, but it doesn’t make great use of the Scarlet Witch or Quicksilver’s additions to the cast, and thus mostly feels like something we’ve seen before.

14. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

What Happens

The Guardians have to descend into the core of Ego’s planetary body to destroy his heart, while pursued by a fleet belonging to a shockingly tunnel-visioned secondary baddie.

Why It’s Just Okay

Again, a case of a movie that was really very good with a fight scene at the end that, for the most part, lacked some punch. Seeing Star Lord and Ego have a battle of the gods is undeniably cool, but for such an off-the-wall franchise it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. The banter between the Guardians is still good, and yeah, there’s that Heroic Sacrifice (R.I.P. Yondu), but for the most part it feels more like a 90’s auto-scrolling space shooter mixed with Street Fighter than a genuine high stakes fight (Man, I’m old. And a nerd).

13. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

What Happens

After a movie full of mostly more subtle spy stuff, the bad guys launch a bunch of floating warstations and there’s a gigantic battle above the city.

Why It’s Just Okay

There’s nothing the matter with this fight in and of itself. It’s just unoriginal and notably out-of-place with the rest of the film. Winter Soldier is one of the best MCU movies, and most of the movie is subtle-for-Marvel, with the heroes infiltrating hidden bases and staying undercover. The core of the final battle is a more personal duel between Cap and Winter Soldier, but all around it are ships falling out of the sky and massive battles with heavy numbers. It feels mandated by formula rather than a natural outgrowth of the film’s tone. If it had just been the extremely effective fight between Cap and Bucky without all the surrounding fireworks, it would have been better.

12. Iron Man

What Happens

Obadiah Stane has his own suit of armor made, and he and Tony beat the snot out of each other.

Why It’s Just Okay

At the time, this was pretty darn good by superhero standards. No one really expected more than just “Hero and villain fight” yet, and some of the touches, like the freezing trick, were cool. Unfortunately, it has the same issue as Winter Soldier: it feels a bit obligatory and not entirely in step with the movie that produced it. The rest of the film is a mix of character building and a very subtle battle of wills between two men who both feel their views are right. The movie has to make certain to irredeemably evil-ize Stane by the end to fully justify his beat down, with a twist that sort of sucks all the complexity out of him, because ethical middle ground is not what these films excel at. It’s a rock ‘em sock ‘em robots match attached to the end of a cleverer film, and watching it today, it feels somewhat dated.

11. Captain America: The First Avenger

What Happens

Cap and Red Skull fight for the Cosmic Cube, which then absorbs the Skull.

Why It’s Not Half Bad

The stakes on this one feel less comic book-y and more personal, with Cap and Skull exchanging actual blows instead of a series of fancy gymnast moves. Sure, the blows are super-powered, but it still sticks close to the more pulp feel of the film. And Skull getting absorbed by the Cube is probably one of the coolest Marvel deaths, even if Hugo Weaving shot down all our hopes about him being imprisoned in Asgard. But this list only considers the battle itself, and the really emotion-worthy part---Cap voluntarily crashing the ship and going on ice---happens after the Skull is defeated.