#is more the focus

[izzy-b-hands]

"You'll bond," Ed says. "Jack and I did this too, because we didn't get along one hundred percent right away, believe it or not."

"I tended your wounds after those fights," Izzy sighs. "Him and his habit of breaking full bottles of cheap beer to fight with. But only cheap beers."

"I didn't think I could like him any less," Stede remarks dryly.

"Here we are!"

Ed stops in front of a gate and gestures them inside after unlocking it.

Then, with a clang, he locks the gate again.

"Ed," Stede chuckles. "You're on the wrong side there!"

"No, I'm not," Ed chirps. "See that hedge maze in the distance?"

Izzy turns, and sure enough, there it is. Huge, wide, dark green hedges that seem to go on for miles.

"Oh Ed," Izzy can feel his blood pressure rising. "Ed no."

"Ed yes," Ed says softly. "Jack and I came out of that maze friends and more. We got out most of our little quirks with each other, and learned to accept them!"

"After a few hours in a maze?" Stede frowns.

"Oh," Ed laughs. "No, they have supplies and bathrooms in there; that maze takes at least a day to get to the center of, then out. One of the most challenging worldwide supposedly! I rented it out, so it'll be just you two!"

Stede blinks. "Would us going to therapy together not have been cheaper?"

"Actually, slightly more," Ed replies. "Because I did look into that. If we need to after, we can set that up. Let's try this first."

"What if something happens in there?" Izzy asks. "If we get hurt or sick or who fucking knows?"

"There are cameras I have access to," Ed replies, and points to a small grey building adjacent to the gate. "From that little cabin! So if need be, I can come in with the map and get you out. Or have the paramedics get you out, or whatever."

"You aren't going to let us out until we do this," Izzy says. "Okay."

He turns to the maze. "See you in a day then. Coming, Bonnet?"

He hears Stede fussing softly with Ed, then jogging to him.

"We'll be done by tonight," Stede says. "It's what, about one P.M. now? That's plenty of time."

--

"At least it's pretty," Stede sighs. "In here."

Izzy checks his watch. "It'll be dark soon."

"I know," Stede says, an edge of panic in his voice. "I wish we could reach Ed, check in at least."

Izzy pulls his phone from his pocket. "Reception isn't great, but we can try."

They wander a few more green halls, until the signal seems as strong as it will get.

It rings. And rings. And rings.

"Ed," Stede scolds softly.

"Mhm," Ed finally mumbles. "Hey, how goes it?"

"Are you eating?" Izzy asks.

"Ramen! Cabin is full of them," Ed replies. "Sorry, I put it down, I promise. Seriously though, everything good?"

"It's cold," Izzy says. "I'm hungry. And I'm old, so my fucking knees hurt."

"You aren't that old," Ed scolds.

"Fine then, I'm a spring chicken and my fucking knees hurt," Izzy rolls his eyes. "Ed, can we please end this now?"

"Since when do you give up so easily?" Ed asks. "Have you guys not even found the food and drink stations yet? They're all over!"

"Ed, there's been nothing," Stede says. "Wh-"

The call ends as the reception cuts out.

"Food and drink and bathrooms first," Izzy says, and turns back towards the previous length of the maze.

"What about sleeping?" Stede asks huffily. "I'm not sleeping on the ground."

"I'm sure sleeping on the public bathroom floor is always an option too," Izzy growls. He's done. Ed is chowing away, warm and happy, while they freeze and starve, and he has to listen to Stede bitch even more than usual.

"Slow down at least," Stede grumbles. "Wish we could just climb over these things."

They stop dead.

"Could we?" Stede continues. "After the bathroom of course, or-"

"Yeah, please stop talking about it until we get there."

"Ah, understood."

It's a break neck race around a few more halls before a grey building with floodlights emerges.

"He could have told us how far in here the first station was," Stede sighs as they leave the bathroom. "Shall we try climbing before we eat?"

Somehow, despite Stede being the taller one, Izzy winds up with Stede sat on his shoulders, scrambling at the twisted and entangled branches of the hedge.

"Any luck?" Izzy shouts up, trying to avoid suffocating whenever Stede squeezes his thighs around his neck.

"What does it sound like to you!?"

They tumble down in a heap, breathing hard.

"My turn," Izzy sighs as he stands. "Come on."

"What?" Stede wrinkles his nose. "No! We already know it doesn't work."

"I dealt with you damn near killing me a moment ago trying to get out, the least you can do is the same for me!"

Stede stands and stalks off towards the other side of the building, and Izzy fights the urge to tackle him as he follows. Behind that door is a painfully small set of chairs and non-perishable foodstuffs.

"Well," Stede says. "Food is food."

They tuck into the bags of mostly junk food quietly, not a word exchanged between them.

Until Izzy stands back up.

"Bathroom?" Stede asks. "Take a flashlight with, just in case."

"The door is maybe four steps away."

"And it's dark now!"

Stede holds out a small flashlight, pulled from the box in between their chairs.

Izzy yanks it out of his hand and heads outside. Past the bathroom, and down the next long hall of hedges.

--

"I just don't know, Ed," Stede sighs. "He and I are wonderful in bed together, but outside of it..."

"I'm telling you, let the maze do its thing," Ed's voice crackles as the reception to his phone flickers. "You'll both be surprised."

"We already nearly hurt and screamed at each other."

"And?" Ed snorts. "Everyone gets pissy and shouty in mazes. That's part of what they're designed to do, I think."

"To test relationships?" Stede scoffs. "Ed."

"Well obviously I don't have an academic source or anything on that but," Ed sighs. "Keep trying. I think you two just need something like this. I might be wrong. If I am, I'll own it. I'll hate it, but I will."

Stede chuckles. "I know you mean well. Okay, I'll keep trying. I'll go see if he's lost out there, since I'm sure he didn't turn on the flashlight I made him take."

"Good," Ed says, and Stede can hear his smile. "Get some sleep, then start fresh in the morning. That's how Jack and I did it."

"Alright. I love you, sleep well."

"Love you more, make sure Izzy actually sleeps!"

--

"Stupid fuckin' Bonnet," Izzy mutters as he follows the flashlight's thin beam on the ground. "Stupid fuckin' maze."

A snapping sound makes him jump, and he cringes at himself. There are woods outside the maze's fence, and surely plenty of nocturnal animals wandering them. But they can't get into the maze, and he can't get to the woods, so they have no reason to bother each other.

"Y'know Ed, I don't even hate him," Izzy continues aloud. "I think you think that. But I don't. He has his redeeming qualities. He's just irritating as fuck about them half the time. Even if he didn't know how to fuck me well enough to shut my brain down, there are a few other things that might make me want him still. But you don't trust me to even take the time to bond with him on my own, to let it take as long as it takes. No, instead we're doing this forced, reality showesque bullshit. It worked for you and Jack because you went in stoned and drunk with more to get you well through the maze and after! Who wouldn't have a good time then, even with someone they weren't getting along with entirely?"

The sound of his steps takes over the space, turning to squishing as rain pours down.

"I should have figured," Izzy sighs. "At least Bonnet is warm and safe. I'll find the way out, mark it somehow, then go back and drag him out."

--

Stede wanders the maze, hood of his jacket now flipped up to shield him from the rain.

"Israel, I swear when I get my hands on you," Stede grumbles, glaring down briefly at the mud all over his shoes. "I should have known better. Of course he'd pull some shit like this!"

Thunder echoes, and he can't help but shake.

"Keep trying," he sighs. "For Ed's sake at least."

His jacket is thin, and essentially useless after another ten minutes.

"He'd better be ready to fucking cuddle," Stede mutters. "Out here freezing my ass off for him. That is the least he can do!"

--

Izzy pushes at the hedge. "No, I already ran into this one. So I need to go back-"

He turns and stares down the pitch black hedge lined hall. His flashlight, cheap by texture of the plastic alone, had died quickly.

"Fuck," he sighs and drops to the grass. "Screw it; I've slept in worse places."

He snuggles into his coat, grateful for the borrowed hoodie from Ed that's underneath.

--

"Izzy, this isn't funny!" Stede calls into the dark. "Either follow my voice, or shout so I can follow yours!"

Nothing but the whipping of the wind, the clatter of the rain drops on his hood, and another clap of thunder.

"Fuck this," he shouts into the wind, and walks down another length of maze until there's the lee side of a hedge to huddle into.

"If I die out here Israel, I swear-"

--

Ed stares at his phone and wills it to ring.

A notification beeps and he nearly drops it trying to view it.

Not a text. Just a reminder to send in the mortgage payment.

"They're probably fine," he says aloud, despite the rain falling hard enough against the cabin's metal roof to sound like bullets. "They were going to stay inside for the night."

He peers out of the small front window into the darkness, as if he could somehow see them from the front of the maze.

"Shit," Ed mutters as he rushes to shrug on his sweatshirt and coat.

--

His joints hurt. Then again, everything hurts since he slept on the literal fucking ground.

Izzy sniffles and stands and tries to resist the urge to shake a little bit dry like a dog. It probably wouldn't do much, but it would be satisfying.

Instead he stumbles back out to another hedge lined hall, then down another, and another and-

The way out. A way out, at least. No, he didn't find the center like they're supposed to first, but he's not staying in here any longer.

Izzy looks back. No Stede. Maybe he's already out?

"Fuck," Izzy mutters. "Fucking Bonnet."

He turns, only to smack directly into Stede.

"Watch where the fuck you're going!" Stede shouts. "This is what I get for going out to save you-"

"I didn't need saving, if anyone did, you-"

Their phones ping with a text notification.

A group chat with Ed, and one message:

WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO

"Mhm," Izzy sighs. "I think we fucked up."

"I think we did. Shall we go rescue Ed?"

"So he can kill us? Absolutely."

--

"First, I'll make sure they're clean and warm and fed," Ed fumes. "Then, I'm killing them."

His shoes are covered in mud, his clothes soaked through, and the map so wet the ink running as to make it useless.

And he hasn't done this maze in years.

"Maybe we should have started with the couple's therapy," he moans to himself and drops to the grass. "Fuck it. They tell kids to stay in one place while lost, right? What is an adult but a really tall child with bills?"

--

"Just call him," Stede sighs. "I know, it means-"

"An entire afternoon and night with Jack," Izzy interrupts. "I can't drink like that anymore."

"Me neither, but what other option do we have? We're lost, Ed might be lost too, and you said Jack has an excellent memory for things like this-"

"Fine," Izzy mutters as he fusses with his phone. "Jack?"

The sound of hair metal bashes them in the face from the phone's speaker, and Izzy rushes to put it on speaker instead.

"Izzy! Iz! The Iz Man!"

"Oh sweet christ-" Stede groans.

"Let him finish."

"Uhhh. Fuck, that's all I got today, Iz. How goes it?" Jack asks.

"Bad," Stede replies, leaning in towards the phone slightly. "We're lost, and Ed too, in the maze you and h-"

"That bad boy? Y'all should have invited me! We could have speed ran it!"

"Yeah, next time," Izzy says. "Jack, we need a favour. For you to come here, find us, help us find Ed, and get out."

"Aww," Jack chuckles. "I would love to. But I'm in Tampa."

"Why?" Izzy and Stede ask in one confused and disgusted voice.

"Why not? Beer, babes, boys, beach, uh...hang on I gotta think of a food that starts with B, one second-"

"Baked goods?" Stede suggests and Izzy snorts.

"Uh. Sure, man," Jack hesitates. "Anyway, I'm stuck here. Also, too drunk to be allowed on a plane. With Spirit at least, and that's all I fly, baby."

"Why would we care about-" Stede groans and looks to the sky, seemingly for a caring or uncaring god. "Okay. Thank you for picking up, Jack. We appreciate it."

"Good luck on finding your lost love," Jack burps. "Sorry, we got-brats! That's what we're grilling up here, fuck yeah!"

Izzy ends the call. "Well."

"Mhm."

"Maybe we'll be fine on our own."

--

"Fuckin'," Ed grumbles. "Come on! Don't-agh."

With his last turn on the mobile game, his phone battery finally dies.

"Damn," he sighs deeply and leans into the hedge he's laid up against. "Hedge, we're really in it now. You know that meme?"

The hedge says nothing.

"That's fair, you guys can't use the internet," Ed replies. "I think maybe I actually hate this maze. I thought I loved it! With Jack, I did..."

"Oh. Different things to love, with all the different people you love."

He glares at his dead phone. "Wish I could record that sappy shit in my Notes, but SOMEONE can't handle a few rounds of Candy Crush."

--

"I know that sound," Stede hisses. "That's Ed! Either his phone died, or he lost at Candy Crush."

"Those two do sound similar," Izzy says. "We're close then. Wait. If we're so close-ED!"

They run, up and down hedge lined halls until-

Ed. On the ground, leaned up on a hedge.

"Oh god," Stede breathes as they rush over and kneel by him. "Ed, we're so sorry-"

"I can carry him out," Izzy interjects. "You call an ambulance."

"What for?" Ed's eyes open. "I was resting my eyes. Are you guys hurt?"

"No!" Stede shouts and stands. "Why were you laying here like fucking lightning hit you?"

"I'm tired from searching for you two!"

"Well, we didn't ASK you to-"

"I think I understand now," Izzy interrupts softly, laying by Ed. "Why Jack Nicholson's character in The Shining let himself freeze to death in that maze. You can't come back from an experience like that. We belong to the maze now."

Stede sighs and flops down by Ed's other side. "How long until someone else comes to use the maze?"

"I gave you guys two days, so we have all day today."

"Think they'd deliver a pizza to the maze?"

Ed snuggles them close as Izzy pulls out his phone yet again. "Let's find out."

[pencildragons]

bro i LOVE indigenous fusion music i love it when indigenous people take traditional practices and language and apply them in new cool ways i love the slow decay and decolonisation of the modern music industry

[soupexpertt]

I want someone to make a quiz featuring random Dream's quotes where you have to guess whether it was a quote from his villain minecraft rp five years ago or from his recent drama stream. The level of difficulty would be unreal

[rameiixo]

another animation exercise, with okarun !

[sabertoothwalrus]

Beach(?) Day!

loose idea I had where Chilchuck takes Senshi to one of the Kahka Brud beaches he used to take his kids to, but there's. y'know. no more ocean. are we seeing the vision

[tossawary]

This is petty fandom salt, BUT... I've been chewing on this phenomenon that I've been calling "Fandom's Darling". It is related to things like "Author's Darling" and "Mary Sue / Gary Stu" and "Protagonist Halo" and all that jazz, where one character gains a peculiar narrative weight in a story.

"Author's Darling" is when a writer has a favorite character, and the world and all other characters sort of get... warped to put the Darling in the spotlight. It's most noticeable in TV shows with multiple writers, when a character you personally like suddenly has their previous characterization destroyed to make another character look good somehow. Every other character might become weirdly incompetent. The Darling's feelings are treated as The Most Important Feelings in any given situation. The logic of the fictional world seems broken past suspension of disbelief in order to validate this one character's beliefs or skillset or some other fantasy. And so on.

"Fandom's Darling" is what I've been calling the pattern where a fandom essentially crowns a New Protagonist for their fanfiction stories (it's often a side character rather than the original protagonist, but it can also happen to protagonists). This character becomes the self-insert for all sorts of indulgent fantasies, gaining special powers or backstories, and/or becoming the focus of extreme whump, and/or hooking up with all the various hotties, starring in all sorts of tropey AUs, and so on. They're not always an obvious Mary Sue version of themselves, but the character's original personality and interpersonal relationships tend to get warped or dropped completely, and other characters tend to become a little flat around them. I call it "Fandom's Darling" because it's not just one self-indulgent fantasy fic (you do you! Have fun!) with characterization choices that I don't vibe with (I have neither the time nor the desire nor the authority to police anything, I am just venting), but rather a prolific mini-fandom of sorts revolving around this empty doll / fanon version of the chosen vessel character, so it becomes a little unavoidable.

I am salty about this (mildly frustrated) (imagine a soft sigh of disappointment before I just go do something else) because you are FUCKED if you actually liked the canonical version of this character and their interpersonal relationships. It's almost worse than liking an obscure character that no one cares about. There's about a thousand fics starring your fave, but maybe only about a dozen of them are actually rooted in any kind of recognisable canon.

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF mimic just likes bullying Vanessa..

[xxplastic-cubexx]

brain please wake up and draw

bonus :

[kbluebirdart]

I need a game where I travel Hyrule with Zelda or outside of Hyrule...

[sermna]

theres an unhinged little voice inside me that sometimes asks me to do difficult things like "make croissants" or, in this case, "illustrate some key shots from the Snow/Coin assassination scene"

Maybe I'm imagining it but Katniss has this deranged little smile as she's being hauled away that just 👌

[juney-blues]

For the last time, the Diamond Authority in Steven Universe isn't a stand-in for actual fascism, it's a vehicle for the queer power fantasy of getting your transphobic grandma to understand.

[weepynymph]

are people seriously not understanding that the whole point of colin's arc this season is him trying to be something he's not??

like sure the brothel scenes are a little weird and jarring but like they're meant to be??? because he's not actually that into it, he's just trying to do what all the other men his age are doing so he can fit in??

the writers aren't trying to 'turn him into anthony or simon' or make him a rake because that's what we're used to - HE'S trying to turn HIMSELF into anthony or simon or basically any of the other guys who this comes naturally to; who enjoy sleeping with lots of different people somewhat emotionlessly and don't get lonely because of it (and no judgement to that it's just not him)

he literally kisses Pen ONCE and absolutely loses his mind over it because its obviously never felt like that for him before. that moment is his 'oh so that's what that's supposed to feel like' moment and that's how he knows he's in love with her its literally so good???

i understand people feel like its rushed but honestly to me it feels perfectly in character for him to discover the solution to his loneliness he's been searching for all this time and immediately dive into it headfirst. that moment right at the end of ep4 where he asks her to marry him is the most authentic colin i think we've seen all season. he's sweet and funny and playful and passionate and impulsive - he's finally stopped trying to be someone he's not and now that he knows who he is and what he wants he's all in.

[artkaninchenbau]

People keep on asking for more Baby Robin and Papadile so here is more Baby Robin and Papadile. Now never ask anything from me ever again

[yomeiu]

いまに、ここから出ても、自分はやっぱり狂人、 いや、癈人という刻印を額に打たれる事でしょう。

[mikurinkuwu]

i made a non traditional omegaverse office au does anybody gaf