#it just feels like a contradiction that got put in there last minute

[cup-o-cat]

i think my roman empire is how it feels like the buckley parents' redemption isn't supposed to be in the whole coma storyline. buck's desire to stay in the coma world being fundamentally rooted in how there he had that classic nuclear family growing up with parents who love him implies that he still doesn't have that in the real world. at the end of the episode, he says that his family isn't in the coma world, and makes the deliberate choice to step away from this perfect family he always wanted and toward the 118 family he already has. but if we take the redemption (specifically how the show framed the simplicity of their redemption) seriously, they are actually around and buck has a great relationship with them, discounting their role in buck's coma. i'm not saying the buckleys being around completely contradicts what buck went through and realized in the coma i actually really love the arc! family is much more nuanced than there/not there so buck's desire to have parents who always showed their love for him rather than parents who showed up after 29 years, even if they are trying now, does actually make a lot of sense! but the weight the episode puts on how the buckleys are magically fixed and buck instantly brings them back into his life.

in the thematic core of the episode as well as the show as a whole, bobby (and athena too) has a much larger role than the buckleys in shaping buck, helping him find the way out, showing him that he's wanted. buck realizes his own importance through his relationship with bobby, and how even when they fought he still cared about him and his actions were able to change both of their lives for the better. it's not simple, it's not always positive, but there's always this unconditional aspect that they keep fighting back to. and yet the episode still ends with the buckleys back in buck's life, without much of a fight to reach a common ground of conversation. yeah, they may not have ever been around before but now they're offering to redecorate his house 👍 all's good here problem solved

it's a truly fascinating contrast between bobby and buck's hard-fought growth and connection over the course of the series culminating in this ep, and the buckleys' past issues with buck largely ignored in favor of easy, clean resolution because "well, they're trying this time". one of these feels deeply connected to the themes of the show and the progression of its characters, and the other sticks out from the show's narrative like a sore thumb.

tldr fuck the buckley parents all my homies hate the buckley parents happy belated father's day bobby nash <3

[shaisuki]

📌 day twenty-one: sex pollen + nanami kento

with every step, the world seems to spin more around him.

he needs to have the treatment of whatever he was feeling. the weather wasn't hot that day as the weather forecast had predicted but why was his clothes feels warmer around him and why does his heart beat seems to run a mile and sweat trickling down his forehead.

the mark behind his palm, just above the knuckles is a splotchy tint of pink similar to a stain of spilled wine. extending to his arm that is hidden by his shirt, his silver watch glinting in the light. there's also the unmistakable heat pooling in his stomach. one that he's familiar with. it was beginning to bother him at this point.

“nanami?” a voice called out to him and it was an angel's voice he must be hearing. it could be and it belongs to you.

why you must appear at this time. looking so regal and ethereal and looking like you're a sculpture of a greek artist that had come to life. the light from the sunny weather outside glares at you and it place you on the spot with the light acting like halo above your head. you must be angel and before he can control his actions. he crashes his lips into yours.

groping whatever skin he can touch and reach. reveling in the softness and squishiness of your flesh that feels like clay for him to mold and smooth against his touch.

he was tainted with lust that he didn't think of the aftermath and what's little of self control went to you. you were a little bit shocked at what just happened and nanami was already apologizing. his cheeks flushed like he had been drinking.

“i'm sorry. i didn't i was thinking.” he says but his words are contradiction to his actions. he was still glued to you. hands roaming all over your supple body. “i just need you.” it was the influence of the curse that was talking but it was real. part of it was coming from him. the whole thing.

the heady scent of your perfume mixing with your won sends him teetering over the edge and all he wants is to bite you and taste you on his tongue.

the blonde got you trapped in his grip. “i'm sorry. i promise i'll make it up to you.” he says in between groans and he's already lifting you up. spreading your legs to place himself between them. you have no choice in this but to take what he's about to give.

despite the neediness growing in his pants. arousal evident with the painful bulge. he made sure to kiss you. savor the open mouthed kisses that leaves you gasping and mewling for him. “fucking beautiful.” he curses under his breath. tugging down at your pants and revealing the mound of your fat cunt.

it only took him a quick zip of his pants and it's pooling in his knees. pulling down his boxers. his cock springing free. leaking with beads of cum. awaiting for the relief that was supposed to ease it.

“just bare with me.” he whispers. pulling you into a kiss. repeatedly tapping the tip of his cock to your clothed panties before pushing them aside to accommodate his length that is being painful as the minute goes by. a groan escaped his lips. the strands of blonde hair sticking in sweat to his forehead.

“ssh.” he shushes you as he slowly puts his hardened length to your awaiting heat. “you're so good around me baby.” rubbing soft circles to your soft thighs to distract you from the pain of his cock intruding your cunt.

he kissed your round cheeks again and again and then to your lips before delving his tongue past beyond your lip and then his tongue is exploring whatever part he can touch before sucking your tongue. leaving you drooling and lewdly moaning at his ministrations.

he grinds his pelvis against hers. his cock rubbing all over her sweet spot and that made his cock throb and pulse. he's not going to last and with a groan. his lips still attached to your mouth he cummed. spilling his seed and painting your walls white with his spent. a pleasurable relief sending shivers up his spine.

it was only temporary, the effects of the curse that hit him hasn't fully gone down and added by the addicting taste of you and your body being made for him. he won't be calming any time soon.

by the time that you both are covered in each other's arousal you were still both fucking each other's brain out and nanami made sure after this, he will pamper you. spoil you after this.

[loser364]

Rory Keaner Imagines

-the one where he feels alone.

Rory saw his girlfriend Y/n standing at her locker. He walked up to her with his signature bright smile that rarely left his face

"Hey! Do you wanna hang out?" He asked with a smile. Rory had got blown off by Ethan and Benny again. He didn't really want to admit it but he was lonely. He looked at you as he waited for an answer.

“Sorry Rory, I have to babysit after school.” Y/n says feeling a little bad, but it quickly goes away when she remembers that it’s Rory and he’ll bounce back, by next minute.

Rory's face instantly fell but he nodded "Okay. Just- well- have fun, I guess." He said as his smile faded and he walked away. What had once been his happy mood was now replaced with a deep sinking feeling of worthlessness. He tried to brush it off but it stuck with him all the way to his desk.

Y/n gets to lunch and sits with Ethan, Benny, Erica, and Sarah. Y/n looks over and sees that Rory isn’t here. “Uhm guys have you seen Rory?” Y/n asked.

A wave of silence washes over the entire group as they realize that Rory wasn't there. Benny turns toward the door and stares before speaking "No. But I'm sure he'll be fine."

“But he seems really off today, I don’t thin-“ Y/n tries to finish but they push her concern down.

Ethan sighs and speaks "Look, Y/n/n, I know you care. And I know Rory's a great guy, but he has to learn that there are just some things he can't get involved in." Benny and Sarah nod in agreement. They all look at you with expressions of sympathy but also firm resolve.

She leaves the table and goes to look for Rory. After an agonizingly slow class period, school finally let out. Rory walked toward his locker, a miserable look on his face. He was still thinking about the conversation with the group and his mood had only diminished. He heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see you.

“Rory, uhm are you okay?” Y/n asked concerned for Rory, he was never like this. Rory's expression softened as he looked at you. He managed a small, weary smile "Uh, yeah. Yeah. I'm fine." He replied as best he could. He didn't want to admit he was unhappy. He was very embarrassed by his feelings. The last thing he wanted was to look like a coward Infront of you.

It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Rory was upset “Baby you don’t have to lie to me..you can come over while I’m babysitting,” She says trying to resolve the situation.

Rory blinked a few times in disbelief. This was an opportunity he had been dreaming of but he had been certain he wouldn't be this lucky.

"Really? You mean it?" He asked as a smile spread across his face. He began to walk toward you but stopped as he thought of something. "Are you sure that's okay with the people you're sitting for?"

She nods and smiles. Rory's heart soared at your response. It took everything he had not to wrap his arms around your waist as he replied"Alright then. Lead the way."

They get to the house she’s babysitting for. The parents explain everything and head off. Y/n sits on the couch and Rory joined her. “I’m really sorry, for making you seem unwanted,” she says.

Rory looks over, “It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to love.” Y/n gets closer, “How about I make it up to you.” She says seductively. Rory chuckles.

She gets on her knees before him, and messes with his belt. He stops her hands, “Baby we can’t,” Rory says. “Yes we can, you just have to be quiet,” Y/n says and takes off his belt and he pulls away his hands and puts them beneath his head. He watched his girlfriend get to work.

She pulls down his jeans so he’s only in his boxers. “Someone’s eager, huh?” Y/n teases. He smirks down at her.

She pulls down his boxers and his member comes out hitting his lower abdomen. Y/n kitten licks his tip, which earns a throaty moan from him. He immediately covers his mouth. Y/n smiles. Such a contradiction, she smiles so sinisterly but still has those innocent eyes.

She takes him fully in her mouth and goes at a slow pace. This earns his hips to buck up and he started fuckign her throat.

She gagged but let him do it. She just sat there as he fucked his cock deeper in her throat. She gags a little. The vibration earning a moan from him.

He started thrusting at a relentless pace, trying to reach his peak. He abuses her throat.

His thrusts get sloppier, and he gets faster. His cock twitching in her mouth. She looks up to see him throwing his head back and he hangs his head low showing that face. The face he made before he came. She loved that face. A little crinkle of his nose and a twitch off his lips. He moans breathily. Y/n pulls away and swallows his load.

He threw his head back. Y/n pulls up his underwear and his pants. He buttoned them and put on his belt. Y/n kissed him passionately. Which he easily returned.

“I’m really sorry,” Y/n says sincerely. “You’re okay, stop saying sorry��let just watch a movie, love.” Rory smiles and turns on a movie.

[byizoyas]

DECEMBER 4TH. — streets by doja cat

nsfw | afab!reader | jealous!wrio | smut | car sex

the party you were holding for your birthday was going great, many people seemed to be having fun and despite your boyfriend not being with you yet, you found it quite entertaining.

you spent pretty much your whole night with another man, laughing at his jokes and giggling at his flirting skills.

you had to say, wrio and you never made your relationship official. and if you used to consider him your boyfriend, he wasn’t yet.

perhaps his single text warning you he’d be late was enough to make you think of testing him. after all, you were already pretty annoyed of how careless he could be sometimes and his absence wasn’t helping his case.

only after a few ten minutes more of waiting, did you glance over the counter, and noticed that he had arrived at last. but you ignored the look you two shared and instead of welcoming him, focused back on the guy who was obviously more than interested in you.

his hands found their way to your hair, caressing them softly. ‘you’re beautiful’ he even said, before lowering his touch towards the bottom of your back, sending a few shivers down your spine.

‘come with me.’ wrio said, taking your hand in his. he had just interrupt the moment you were sharing with the other man and you quite liked to see him get so jealous.

he tried to speak softly but his natural leader aura somehow made him feel really strict; as if he was commanding you to follow him.

‘what are you doing ?’ you finally managed to ask him when the two of you got inside his car, isolated from the rest of the guests, and all alone together.

‘mh?’ you insisted before feeling his lips on yours, stealing you a kiss, but despite being interrupted twice you didn’t mind it.

his lips were soft, his tongue caressing yours felt warm and hot, genuinely arousing you.

‘wrio…’ you moaned between two kisses, when his head buried into your neck, planting several kisses and licking your skin.

‘stop okay ! talk to me. what‘s gotten into you?’ you asked, pushing his head away from your body.

his staring was so intense, you felt your cheeks burning. ‘i want you.‘ he whispered and a smirk slowly formed on your glossy lips.

‘you want me huh ? and do i want you ?’ you teased him, you loved to do that and he found it quite cute how you tried to hide your desire but somehow failed.

he smiled. ‘i know you do.’ he opened his shirt, showing off his muscles. the scars on his chest made him even hotter and how you wished to kiss every single scar on his body, as you knew he loved it.

wrio never said it but he actually liked pretty much everything as long as you were the one doing it. and right now he expected you to touch him.

‘so ? what do you say ?’ he said as he unzipped his pants, freeing his hard cock from his underwear.

‘you’re so fucking annoying.’ you grumbled, pushing him back on his seat, slowly moving to sit on his lap. ‘no more teasing. fuck me.’ you commanded him, taking off your dress to be more comfortable to move.

‘as you wish’

a loud moan escaped your mouth when he first thrusted into your tight pussy. ‘mhh wrio~~ let me lead please’

to that he simply put his hands on your waist, guiding your moves, following your rhythm as you bounced up and down his cock.

wrio kissed your hand softly, contradicting with the obscene way he was fucking you. ‘keep moving love, use me like your toy’ he whispered, his voice making you go insane.

‘mhh call me a good girl wrio’ you almost begged for him to call you that way, but he decided not to fulfill your request.

‘good girls don’t fuck in a dirty car, love’ wriothesley pulled your hair, messing up your hairstyle but you couldn’t care less when he made you feel so good ‘you’re a fucking whore, aren’t you ?’

you couldn’t say whether his words were the reasons or if it was just the overall intimate atmosphere surrounding you but you were so close to come that you subconsciously sped up your pace.

you kept on fucking yourself on his thick cock, buried deep into you. the air was filled with the scent of sexual energy, and the only noises that could be heard were your moans mixed to the lewd sound of his balls clapping against your ass.

you were so focused on the moment you didn’t notice the playful smirk wrio wore. little did you know he was actually staring right into the eyes of the man who was trying to seduce you earlier.

and he was showing off, because you were so desperate for his cock while he, was standing alone in the dark, only able to look at you being fucked so hard by another man.

[beforetimes]

what's irritating about jean's character in the original trilogy is that when she's first introduced through her interaction with senator kelly in x-man (2000), she's very clearly depicted as an intelligent and capable woman. it's very easy to assume that she's the de facto face of the school because she went as a spokesperson for mutants despite charles also being in the crowd.

so to take this character we become acclimated to independent of her relationship with other characters and to suddenly switch-up to have her become a plaything for scott and logan to fight over is very jarring. and i'm not trying to say that i thought she could only be discussed in the context of her relationship with logan and scott but outside of that initial scene where she's speaking up for her fellow mutants, there's very little care given to her as a character.

in x-men (2000), 90% of her dialogue feels like it's solely dedicated to this flirting game going on between her and logan. she barely feels like a character and exists solely to be a roadblock or the 'sexy lamp' archetype in the movie. we just barely see her at all. i feel one scene where her presence would've made sense and built up more of her character would be where storm goes to speak to senator kelly so he's not alone when he dies. since we're introduced to kelly through an argument with jean, wouldn't it be a full circle moment to go back to him conversing with her before accepting his death and they both make peace with each other? i just feel they really wasted her character in this first film.

i feel like in x2 (2003) they became somewhat aware of the criticism (i'm assuming as much at least) because she exists as a person outside of the context of her relationship with logan and scott. but even then it's very little and the most we learn about her is she's conflicted/having trouble concerning her powers and wants scott.

now, at the end she has her moment of nobel sacrifice where she knows the only way she can save everyone is by dying herself. and it feels like an incredibly shoehorned in last-minute decision to get her out of the way as well as having something to point at to say 'see, she has more depth here! would a shallow character do this?' which like, if executed right could have given her more depth. but at this moment in time the only reason we're sad about jean dying is because logan and scott are sad. not because we lost a particularly fleshed out character.

even at the end of x2 where charles gives this speech and declares she made a choice to save everyone at her own expense in the attempt to add some posthumous value to her character in the series, 'her choice' is immediately co-opted by logan to centre around the two male love interests again. i don't understand this insistence that jean grey can not exist as a character without having her tied back to logan and scott in every aspect again and again and again.

x-men the last stand (2006) is the worst of the trio for her character. boiling her down to this character who kills scott, tries to manipulate logan with sex, has a dark alter ego, and kills the man who raised her feels like a blatant attempt to just entirely ruin her character to make people who might have even liked her a bit just hate her. which sounds cartoonishly evil but is genuinely the impression i got sometimes. she swung from this character who existed only as a love-interest to this seductress-type character where she tries to satiate lust or something like that through logan after killing her long time lover. and she needs to be 'put out of her misery', cycling between this evil sexual version of herself and this innocent sad person that's appealing to logan to fix everything for her.

x2 ended with her dying for everyone. the last stand has her asking logan why he would die for everyone, directly contradicting her final statement in the last movie. it's like jean doesn't even mean anything to the writers anymore. she's a love interest. she's a sacrificial lamb. she's an evil seductress with no remorse. she's only evil because of an alter ego and otherwise she's still pure and innocent. like what the fuck is going on.

she dies begging to be saved. she gets put down like a dog after logan says he loves her. and that's all we get. just ridiculous. the original trilogy treats her character like absolute garbage.

at least in the days of future past-verse she's allowed to be a character. she's snarky and has a developed camaraderie with someone other than her love interest. her powers are displayed more before immediately spiralling into her being destructive and we get an emotional connection with her built up. she feels like an actual character. dark phoenix was still awful but we at least get a more complex version of this arc which is something she takes control of.

by the time we get to dark phoenix and jean sacrifices herself again it feels much more earned. she has quite literally no other choice but to stop herself and she isn't left to herself to spiral out of control. she doesn't need someone to come in and kill her to put her out of her misery because she is a character who is repressed and angry with good reason and has people who love her more than just romantically. she has a connection with these people, a reason to save them and to give herself up rather than having to ask someone to do it for her.

like, whatever man. it's five in the morning and i was thinking about this and just got so frustrated. the original trilogy was so deeply committed to making her the shallowest character they could manage. maybe in a misguided attempt for her to act as an audience stand in with logan and/or scott? i don't know. i wish we got to know the intelligent woman we got introduced to in the beginning of the first x-men movie instead of whatever plot device she became.

[oleander-nin]

Hello I really like your work, do you think you could yandere Leo/Donnie with a reader that cries really easily?

A/N, not important: YES I KNOW I HAVE A SCHEDULE NOW BUT LEON SAID I COULD IGNORE IT ONCE A MONTH AND I AM SO PROUD OF THIS. This was so fun to do because I am the most emotional person, and I cry so much it isn't even funny. I apologize for the headcanon bit, I really suck at writing them and Leo's contradicts himself left and right lmaooo. Maybe I'll go back and rework them one day. Am VERY proud of the fic portion though. Once I finish a last couple fics, I might do Raph and Mikey for this as well. Any criticism is welcome, constructive or not. This is supposed to be a gender neutral reader, so if I screwed up somewhere, please tell me.

-Ollie

Tw: Needles(Donnie), kidnapping, restraints, crying, dark themes, yandere

Words: 3629

Summary: Yandere Leo and Donnie navigate trying to deal with their darling who cries easily

Leo:

He finds your sniffles and tears a bit endearing, and it plays into his hero complex. You’re just the cute little human who can’t handle the real world. That’s why he saved you, whisking you away to the lair to ‘keep you safe’. 

Teases you relentlessly for it. He finds it funny, albeit a bit worrying. He knows how easy you cry though, and isn’t all that concerned. He’s been watching you for years, he’s well aware how easily you’re set off.

He knows you’re only crying because of him, so he feels safe poking fun at you. It’s not like you’d willingly let him help, so he might as well have some fun if you’re going to be ‘dramatic’.

He’s determined to make you smile one of these days instead of breaking into sobs when he gets too close, but until then, he’ll just pretend your tears are from the joy of seeing him.

While he does find your puffy eyes slightly adorable, your countless tears do slightly annoy him. He doesn't like that you cry at the sight of him, or whimper at his touch. You’re supposed to love him. He usually ends up guilt tripping you after a few minutes, trying to make you feel bad for your emotions.

If he goes too far in his teasing and realizes what he’s saying is actually hurting you, he immediately changes gears and starts pampering you instead. He loves you, you’re his darling. He was just trying to get back at you for crying whenever he touched you. He didn’t mean to actually upset you. He just thought you were a crybaby.

Instantly pulls you close and starts actually trying to comfort you. He holds you in his arms while whispering apologies, letting himself be more vulnerable with you. You love him after all, you’re just confused. If he can’t be vulnerable with you, how can he expect you to ever trust him.

His favorite thing to do is kiss your tears away, trying to comfort you through bouts of affection. He knows you’re more sensitive, so once he realizes it’s serious, he’ll take care of you.

If you cry for a reason other than being scared of him, he’s quick to help you with your problem and comfort you, even if his form of comfort makes you cry more. It’s not his fault you hate his amazing hugs. He can’t deal with you crying for another reason, it means you got hurt or are thinking of something that’s not him. He can’t have that.

If you’re crying from a person or because you’re hurt(either emotionally or physically), he gets more serious and takes care of you. He’ll put on a movie and burrito you in blankets until you can’t get out, then snuggle up with you and whisper sweet nothings while you’re stuck. He finds it sweet and caring. You find it nerve wracking.

If a person makes you cry, he’ll gladly go remove them so they’ll never bother you again. If it was one of his brothers, he’d mess with something they enjoy and be as petty as possible to them for the next few days. He doesn't want you to truly be upset.

I let out a small groan as a buzzing sounds through my head and rattles my skull. I slowly shake off the sleep, trying to ignore how heavy I felt. My skin tingles uncomfortably, as if there were bugs crawling just underneath the skin. I stretch in my bed, confused to feel a plush comforter on top of me. A distant rattling sounds as I move and my wrists are tugged painfully back into place. My eyes flutter open and I look around, panic coursing through me. This wasn’t my bed. This wasn’t my room.

Where in the world was I?

I feel my throat start to tighten as a heavy weight settles on my chest. This was wrong. I pull uselessly at the restraints connecting my wrists to the pole that stretched from floor to ceiling. No matter how hard I tug, it didn’t give. All it did was make the skin on my wrists red and inflamed. They were starting to burn. I look around my prison with misty eyes, trying to figure out my surroundings. It looked as if I was in a refurbished subway car.

I blink away my tears as I suck in a shaky breath. Crying wouldn’t help. I couldn’t cry, not now. I needed a clear mind to get out of here. Swallowing back the building tears, I scan the room for something that could possibly clue me in to what was happening. I was obviously kidnapped and restrained, but why?

Ransom? I shake my head. I wasn’t the most well off considering I was just a college student. That same logic applies to robbery. I wasn’t wealthy, and sure didn’t look at it. My family wasn't exactly the cream of the crop either.

I shakily exhale. Was I just brought here to be tortured and murdered? Just an unlikely victim of a crime of passion? I shudder at the thought, new tears brimming my eyes. This wasn’t fair. I just wanted to go home. I wipe a few tears off my cheeks as they fall, the salty liquid leaving small stains on my cheeks. I sniffle softly, trying to keep it down. Crying in front of my captor would not be the best.

My head shoots up as I hear the faint padding of footsteps outside the door, a loud voice shouting to others in the area. I thickly swallow. There was more than one. I was outnumbered, chained, and alone. I quickly settle back into the bed, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment before letting my face relax. I take a couple deep breaths to calm my tears. Years of crying at the slightest inconvenience sure helps when you need to calm down quickly. Although, I would argue this is a perfectly acceptable situation to cry over. Not that I wanted to.

The fluttering of a curtain being pushed to the side sounds through the room. I hear my captor walk towards me, a soft tune being hummed as he nears. His voice was smooth and crisp, way too happy to match the fear coursing through me. I feel a wave of disgust wash over me. This guy kidnapped me, and is now humming a happy little tune like everything was right in the world. I wanted to jump up and scream at him, hit him with everything I had. This wasn’t fair.

I stay still on the bed despite my violent desires. Doing such a bold action while I was chained would only result in my own injury. I try my best not to tense as I feel his presence near and the humming grow louder. I make sure to keep my cheeks soft, trying to keep up the facade of a deep sleep. Maybe if he saw I was sleeping, he’d leave me alone.

I feel a finger caress my cheek, tracing the tracks of my tears. I hold back a shudder at his touch, trying not to shake. I forgot about the tear tracks. My pulse thunders in my ears as every part of my body begs me to run, but I can’t. I was stuck, a loop of chain keeping me grounded. There was nowhere I could go. Nowhere to run, nor hide. I was trapped with a monster, awaiting my demise.

“You were crying.” The voice pauses for a moment, seemingly thinking. I try everything to keep my breathing steady. I hear a small chuckle from above me as the voice speaks once more, this time in a more teasing tone. “Aww, did you miss me that much?”

My breath hitches in my throat and I don’t breathe, trying to convince him of my unconsciousness. It doesn’t work. I feel a couple more quick taps to my face, each one sending a chill down my spine. I hear another chuckle above me as he continues to poke at my face, watching it scrunch up from my inability to control my muscles.

"Open your eyes, I wanna see them." The voice demands, despite his tone being surprisingly soft. I hold out for a moment more before I feel a sudden wetness and pressure in my ear cavity. I jolt back, glaring at him while I wipe my ear with the heel of my hand. I open my mouth to complain, to try and hold my ground, but all words leave me the moment I meet his eyes.

He was a turtle. A large, smug, humanoid turtle. His arms were muscular and the limited part I could see of his build was strong. Two stark red crescents peaked out of his blue mask and stood out against his green skin. I could barely understand what I was looking at. 

I gape at him for a moment, trying to process what I was seeing. A scream builds up in my chest, fear upon what I saw. His eyes were big and held a strong ego, scanning me up and

down for my reaction. 

"What, don't like what you see?" He asks, still grinning. It was if he thought this whole thing was some huge joke. Nothing more than something to laugh over as the years go by. I swallow the lump in my throat, trying to control my breathing. Too much was happening at once and I could feel my chest starting to constrict on me. The pressure keeps rising and my heart thumps loudly in my ears, drowning out the words I watch him speak but cannot hear. New tears prick at my eyes, quickly falling down my cheek and gathering at my chin before splashing onto my clothes and lap. The turtle's grin widens as he sees my tears, a small coo sounding from his throat. "I know, I know. This meeting was bound to get a bit emotional. It sure is shocking to meet your soulmate for the first time."

I pause at his words, blinking as more tears fall. I try to hold back the choked sobs as I hurriedly wipe away my tears, feeling weak and pathetic for crying in what was possibly my killer. In the least, he was certainly my kidnapper. Showing any ounce of emotional vulnerability in front of him made me feel like I was falling further into his grasp, the chains around my wrists rattling quietly as I move my hands. I jolt back as his three fingered hands move to cup my cheeks, holding my face tight to keep me from squirming away. Tears continue to roll down my cheeks, completely out of my control. His blue masked face just smiles, wiping them as they fall with his thumbs.

Donnie:

He gets really upset at your constant stream of tears. You’re supposed to be happy with him. He doesn’t understand why you insist on throwing a ‘tantrum’ every time he comes near you or something slightly inconvenient happens. Your emotions don’t make much sense to him, even if he realizes the pattern.

Donnie’s not the best at empathizing with your tears. He finds them annoying and proof of you not settling him in. In his mind, the tears equal his own failures as a lover.

The more you cry, the more intense he’ll get. It’ll start with him trying to find solutions and devolve into threats. He just wants you to stop crying. Why won’t you stop crying?

Despite knowing you will cry at anything, he still takes it personally every time. It starts to annoy him and stress him out as he desperately tries to figure out what’s wrong.

Will probably lock you in his room if you keep crying. He doesn’t want to deal with it. Your tears stress him out and make him feel bad, which he doesn’t want. You’re supposed to love him, not cry at the sight of him.

If you’re crying about him or something he did(in his mind, something you made him do), he’ll just ignore your cries. He may snap at you to shut up a couple times, but just grumbles under his breath other than that.

The reason he hates it when you cry is because it makes him feel bad. He learned pretty quickly the way he tries to comfort you doesn’t help much, so instead he just ignores you. He would love to hold you close and keep you occupied so your tears stop, but you never let him touch you. At least, not without a fight. He usually gets fed up enough to leave you alone, but he’ll probably ignore you for days afterwards as a punishment.

If you have a ‘valid’ reason to cry(according to him), he’ll step in and actually help you. He’ll try to comfort you to the best of his ability. He doesn’t want anyone else to bring you pain, so he’ll take care of the problem and make sure to help you. He’ll pull you close as he works and let you cry into his chest for once, ignoring the way you fight him.

He wishes so badly you’d just stop crying. Sometimes he’ll even go to Mikey for advice on how to make you not so scared. It hurts him to see it, and it makes him more agitated with you, which ends in more tears. He wants it to stop.

He tries not to physically punish you for crying. He hates your tears, but you are doing a relatively good thing by trusting Donnie enough to cry in front of him. He’ll usually end up building you a quick item to keep you occupied or have SHELLDON spend time with you until you calm down. He doesn’t want to make your sobs worse.

If he wants affection, and you cry, he’ll just not care. He’ll spoon you from behind so you don’t get your tears on him and hold you close. He’s not willing to give up his own needs for your dramatics.

Bright lights shine into my closed eyelids, my body recoiling as my eyes start to open. I keep them squeezed shut, trying to minimize the damage to my sight. To my left, soft footfalls could be heard paired with a low muttering. I try to move my limbs, my breath hitching once I realize I was strapped down. I feel my breathing quicken, my blood running cold. I let my eyes flutter open, ignoring the way the bright burned my retinas as I force my eyes into focus. Tears built up in the corners of my eyes while my chest tightened.

I couldn’t move. My head was stuck between two large pieces of padding and my limbs were strapped down. The cold metal of the straps burned into my skin, the padding pressing uncomfortably against my cheeks. My face grows hot with tears as I try to force them down, not wanting to alert the presence at my left to my consciousness. A small gasp sounds, and I realize I was too late.

A large, humanoid turtle moves into my vision, my heart pounding in fear as he looks me up and down. I couldn’t help but gasp at his appearance while he towers over me. A purple mask covered the top half of his face, only showing his cold eyes. I look at the purple metal on his back, watching the light catch it to make it shimmer. The purple markings on his shoulders and thighs seemed to glow with the screen he had in front of him, glancing between it and me. His face is scrunched up in thought while he stares down at me, the look of surprise in his eyes morphing into one of confusion. I stay silent, unable to wipe the tears trailing down my cheeks away, unable to keep my dignity in front of this monster.

I couldn’t help but wish for my parents, for freedom. Silent tears continued to build up and fall while the figure in front of me stared me down. His eyes were glued to my cheeks and my expression, one I could only imagine is of terror. He raises his hand to grab my face and I flinch.

I press my head against the headrest of the chair, trying to dodge his approaching hand. He ignores my attempts, grabbing my face firmly and frowning as he stares into my eyes. He wipes my tears before dropping his hand down to cup my chin. I struggle as he forces my face up to make me look at him, a short whimper being pulled from my throat. I blink back more tears, unsure what to make of the turtle in front of me. He continues to stare down my shaking form for a moment, his bottom lip jutting out.

“Are you… Crying?” His surprisingly smooth voice asks. I scrunch my face up, confused why he was even asking. His question took me a bit off guard. Why was he confused about my tears? Sure, I cried more easily than most people, but this situation wasn’t one I would consider something I shouldn’t cry over. The turtle continues to stare me down, seemingly waiting for me to answer. I don’t. I had nothing to say. My voice wouldn’t let me either way. He drops my chin with a glare, rolling his eyes. I let out a breath of relief when he backs up, my limbs still shaking slightly from the fear. I watch him move around the room, not sure whether to be relieved or worried when he ducks out of my sight. 

"Your tears won't phase me." He says, the clinking of metal and glass punctuating his words. I hear a small beep along with liquid being swirled around, my fear rising. Was I about to be experimented on? To be ripped apart and killed brutally? What would something like him even want with me? "Cry all you want, but it won't stop me. You're mine."

His words make me pause as I try to decipher the meaning of his words while he comes back into my line of vision. He's absentmindedly pulling a medical cart with him, staring down at the screen on his wrist. I try to look at the contents of the medical cart, but his body is blocking my sight. I gulp. What could he possibly want? The pads around my head feel sticky from my tears. I wanted to be away from this dreaded chair so bad. I wanted to go home. The turtle looks at me again, smirking at my discomfort. I take a deep breath as he drops his wrist and wheels the cart in front, ready to show off the torture he planned on putting me through.

My breath leaves my chest when I see four syringes lined neatly on the surface of the cart, a sharps container and needles off to the side. I feel as though I had been doused in cold water, new tears springing to my eyes. I was right, I was about to be experimented on then killed. There was no way I could fathom getting out of this alive. I grip the armrest of the chair I was strapped to, my hand cramping and my knuckles turning white from the force. His eyes meet mine and narrow slightly, tsking at the new tears rolling down my cheeks. He didn’t comment on them, but he seemed obviously relieved I wasn’t making much noise. If I could, I would thank the heavens I was a silent crier.

His gaze follows mine to the medical cart holding the needles, a thoughtful hum sounding from his throat. He turns back to me, he drawn eyebrows raising. “I am aware of your allergy to penicillin, and I can assure you there is none in any of the injections I’m about to give you.”

I pause at his words, trying to understand how he knew that. Did he run tests on me while I was asleep? Access my medical history? I shudder at the thought, my mouth too dry to scream and shout all the things I wanted to. My eyes widen as he comes near me with the first shot, his three-fingered hands covered in latex gloves. I struggle violently against the straps, trying desperately to escape. A loud sob is pulled from my chest as more tears pour down my face, fear crashing over me in strong waves.

The turtle pauses, looking down at my mess of a form. A minute goes by as he watches me panic, his right eye twitching. He looks down at the needle in his hand and frowns, tapping his thigh repeatedly with the unoccupied hand. He looks back at me, ignoring my teary face. “I was not aware you had trypanophobia. I apologize, but I really need to do this. If you close your eyes, it’ll be easier. Your struggling will only make it worse.

I suck in a shaky breath, trying to speak. I blank at his words, my eyes still trained on the needle. I assumed he thought I had a fear of needles, and not of being injected with a mystery liquid. Hopefully my death would be quick. He reaches out with one hand and stabilizes my arm, bringing the needle dangerously close to my flesh. I sob harder, trying to jerk away from him, but to no avail. I take one last look at the world around me, expecting to not be able to see it for much longer. I close my eyes and try not to scream as the needle enters my skin.

[the-sprog]

I think a Batman/DetCo crossover would be perfect especially in the context of how fucking insane Shinichi's parents are.

I was thinking and I realized they're a mix of the Drakes (neglectful in the "never being home" kinda way, rich but it doesn't seem like their child sees a lot of that money) and Bruce ("how'd you learn how to shoot a gun" "my father spent a summer with me in Hawaii to teach me" what an insane scene that was. Not to mention the "yeah. It's a good idea to traumatize our child via fake kidnapping to teach him a lesson about stranger danger :)" and "Shinichi, dear, I know you're 6yo but come investigate this suicide with me sweetie") but they're also above worse (willing to falsify police and government documents for son).

Would Bruce love the Kudos or hate them? On one hand, Yusako definitely has them figured out. He's kinda like Alfred that way.

The Kudos get invited to an event, something like an award ceremony or some kind of cinema festival. They decide to bring Conan as a decoy for Shinichi related questions (usually they'd just use school as an examination why he wasn't there but they've been saying Shinichi is traveling for a case nowadays and it wouldn't do well to contradict that).

Bruce is the one that organized whatever event this is. I wanted the Drakes alive but I also want Damien to meet Conan. So. Sorry Janet and Jack. I'm going full Batfam for this.

Clark Kent is there, though he's technically a plus one. Cat is doing a piece for the event, specifically she wants to interview the Kudos, which is a feat as of late, and needed a last minute plus one (the Kudos are volatile and no one knew if they'd actually show up. When they did, Cat had to rush to get to Gotham before they decide they got bored and fucked off).

Of course, Cat immediately latches onto Conan's existence and assumes that he is why the Kudos have been out of the public eye. But not in the actual real way. She starts by asking general questions about them, their careers, and the event they're at at the moment.

And then she hits them with: "so. I see you've expanded the family. How does Shinichi feel about having a little brother?"

Which breaks just about everyone involved in the conversation.

Immediately Yukiko goes into actress gear. "Oh no he's- this is Conan, Conan Edogawa. He's our nephew. He's been staying with a friend of ours in Japan, but we thought he'd like coming back to the States for a bit!" All while smiling. Meanwhile Conan goes through all the stages of grief and is already building up the script for when he's gonna have to kiss ass to Ai for ending up in the Daily Planet.

Yusako senses this and tries to mitigate the situation a bit. "I'd appreciate if you didn't put him in your article. He's just a kid. And the focus is supposed to be on the event and our achievements, not a gossip piece about our private life"

But then Clark speaks up. Unfortunately he's been listening to the conversation and keeping track of everyone's reactions to everything. And he has a good memory. He has also listened to enough rants from Batman about the KID Thief to know more details than the average person.

"Aren't you the KID killer?" Everyone blanches. "I mean, that child from the KID Thief heists?"

"Uhm..." Conan is stumped. He's really bad at this. Of all the things his parents did, they never left him to deal with the vultures alone. But that also means that in his entire High School Detective career he had more of a "avoid at all costs" kinda mentality when it came to talking to the press directly. Sure they've made articles about him, but he's never met anyone interview him directly.

But again, Yukiko to the rescue. "I think that's enough. I hope you can respect our wishes." She puts her hands on Conan's shoulders as she redirects him away from them.

Clark is a little worried, a little suspicious. But he stops Cat from following them by reiterating that he's a kid and the Planet is not a tabloid newspaper.

Of course pt2, things go as things go when Conan is around a respectable amount of people and someone dies. Immediately Conan is on high alert, but so is Bruce who's worried about how someone could've managed to successfully commit a murder under his nose.

So, the investigation begins. On technically 4 sides. Yusako is doing his own detective work, but he's staying on the sidelines and letting the others be at the center of it all. Conan's special interest has been activated so he's in full inspection mode and putting himself in everyone's business. Bruce immediately contacts Commissioner Gordon, and starts distracting the people at the event while sussing out anyone who might have had a motive and/or opportunity. Clark has engaged his investigative journalism side and is already gathering evidence.

Meanwhile Damien is trying to convince Bruce to let him threaten people with unimaginable violence to make them comply and confess. But then he gets distracted by Conan and starts trying to babysit him but in a "I'm better than you tsk you're so immature" kinda way. Keeping him out of the way by yelling at him and dragging him away physically. Conan is not deterred.

All in all, it's a regular day for Conan, a particularly interesting day for the Kudos, a surprisingly weird day for Bruce, and a very annoying day for Damien.

[frost-queen]

Uninvited guest (Fem!Reader x Lorraine Moran)

Requested by: anon  Forever tag:@missmelodramatic, @merlin-dahlia,  @elllie-does-the-posts, @alex--awesome--22, @floatlosers, @merlieve, @queen-of-books, @glimmering-darling-dolly@denkisclown, @wildieflower, @meyocoko, @bubblybrianna, @justanothercoco@subjecta13-thefangirl, @m-rae23, @harleyquinnswifeyfrfr, @swampthing07, @imagines-by-her, @vviolynn, @melsunshine,  @evilcr0ne,

“Y/n honey are you all set?” – Lorraine called out purse in hand. – “I’m not rushing you, but you know I hate being late. It’s all about….” – she continued suddenly interrupted by you. – “First impressions.” – you said weakly followed by a cough. Lorraine’s eyes widened seeing you still in your nightwear. She immediately dropped her purse rushing over to you. Her arm went around you to support you. – “Darling you are burning up.” – she concluded having touched your cheek and forehead. – “I..I…” – you said coughing loud.

“I’ll be ready in … two…” – more coughs came out as it shook your entire body. – “Oh no, no not such a thing.” – Lorraine insisted upon. – “You are sick. I’m not risking your health.” – she said helping you back into the bedroom. – “Lorraine… I…” – you tried to contradict but she wouldn’t hear it. Pulling the covers up, you got gently nudged back into bed. – “You are sick darling. I understand and so will our clients.” – she said tugging you in.

"But what about…” – you started as Lorraine tsked her tongue with a shake of her head. – “It is just a first conversation. An exploration nothing bad would happen to me without my beautiful wife and her equipment.” – She smiled brushing her knuckles down your cheek. – “Are… are you sure?” – you questioned. Lorraine hummed. – “I need you to stay here and get better.” – she pressed on not wanting you to worry any further. – “Okay…” – you almost dozed back off, feeling terribly exhausted.

Lorraine leaned down to press a kiss against your forehead. – “I’ll be back before you know it.” – she whispered. She smiled down seeing you had almost gone back to sleep. The sickness exhausting you. Lorraine snuck out of your room. Before she headed out she placed some medicine, water, and some cookies on your nightstand in case you needed them. Giving one last kiss she left for her meeting with a family. The family had called Lorraine and you days ago. Asking to come and investigate if their house was haunted or not.

They needed to be sure, being able to put the blame on that otherwise they’d have gone mad. Normally you’d go with your wife as you were the technical woman. Having several equipment to record voices, pick up frequencies and so on. Now with you being sick, she wouldn’t have that. Not that she needed it, but it was always helpful to help the family. Like Lorraine said it was just an exploration conversation so normally nothing much would happen.

Lorraine found herself at the house after driving for about 45 minutes. The house was remoted from the busy town life Lorraine, and you lived in. She got out of the car, headed up to the door and knocked. A lovely couple in their forties opened. – “Good day, I am Lorraine Moran. You must excuse my wife but she has fallen ill this morning so she couldn’t accompany me.” – Lorraine said with a warm smile. – “Oh, I hope nothing bad.” – the woman replied concerned. Lorraine shook her head. – “She is the strongest of the two of us. It is nothing severe. May I come in?”

The woman nodded moving back for her to enter. Lorraine entered following the husband into the living room. Their house was decorated cozy and comfy. Two sets of sofa’s face each other with a coffee table in the middle. An interesting carpet spread out underneath it. Lorraine took a seat with a pleasant smile. – “Shall we begin?” – she offered once the couple had taken a seat in the sofa before hers. The man looked worriedly at his wife as she nodded reassuring. The man cleared his throat and hesitantly began his story.

Explained what they were hearing. How things moved in their house, and they’d see shadows in the corner of their eyes. Once they turn to look it is gone. Lorraine listened with much interest, scribbling a few things on a notepad. About an hour later got Lorraine a chill down her spine. It made her move uncomfortable in the sofa. She tried to focus again on the story till a flash image crossed her mind. It flashed through her mind in a split second making her furrow her brows in pain. As if getting a severe headache.

Blinking rapidly more images flashed before her mind. In one of them she recognized her bedroom. – “Are… are you alright?” – the woman asked seeing Lorraine touch her forehead. Lorraine hummed soft trying to be polite. She slightly tilted her head to the side, hearing a loud scream in her ear. Followed by the images of you crouched against the wall on the bed. Long fingers stretching out over the matrass like a shadow, trying to grab you. 

The second the shadow fingers came in contact with your ankle, it pulled you with a sudden snap. Lorraine gasped for air, her heart beating out of control. – “What is wrong?” – the husband asked as Lorraine jumped up. – “I have to go.” – she said packing up quickly. – “We’ll continue this, but there has been an emergency at home.” – was the only thing Lorraine concluded taking a run for it.

You slowly woke up not sure how long you had slept. You weren’t even aware you had fallen asleep. Adjusting to the light in your room, you turned your head to see the time. Exactly an hour or so had passed since you remembered the last time. Seeing the items on the nightstand made you smile soft. Reaching for the medicine, you glanced up seeing that the door was half open. Taking out a strip, you looked back at the door frowning. Was it your imagination or was that door more open now. A few inches.

Looking back down you took out a pill, hearing soft creaking. Frantically looking up, you saw the last of the door move. Staring at the door, you so hoped you were imagining things because you had a fever. It was normal for people with fevers to see things. To imagine stuff happening that wasn’t really going on, but you should at least know better. You quickly took the pill with some water. You nearly choked on the water hearing a loud thud.

Like something had fallen down. You didn’t want to look, but your curiosity took over. You got out of bed slowly, walking slowly over to your closet. It seemed like the sound had come from there. The closer you stepped to the closer, the louder your heart started to beat in your chest.

Breathing getting shallow as you reached your hand out. Lowering it to the handle. Your gaze fell on the creak between the two doors of your closet. Staring at it, something felt alluring. A sudden eye looking back at you made you jump out of your skin. The eye color the only thing illuminating against the darkness in the closet.

You threw the closet doors open ready to fight whatever was hiding in there. Some clothes moved from your action, but other than that the closet was empty. Feeling extremely exhausted you returned to bed, touching your forehead. Closing your eyes once more, you hoped the medicine would work soon. Quickly you had fallen asleep again. Yet this time it felt like you were half awake. Unable to open your eyes, but still very alert. Your mind buzzing.

Strange visuals planted your mind. Your mind tripping. You felt like were hallucinating vividly where the world spun around. A dizziness overcame you. You wanted it to stop. Breathing shaky you tried to speak. Tried to tell it to stop. – “St…sto…stop…” – you whispered. Clamping onto your blankets it felt like your bed was spinning mindlessly around. The pin in a compass spinning out of control in all directions. – “Stop…” – you said trying to sound louder. Clamping harder onto your blankets. – “Stop!” – you shouted loud finally able to open your eyes.

They flashed open with a loud gasp. The room suddenly darker. You got up, crawling closer to the wall at the head of the bed. – “Show yourself!” – you called out knowing something was taunting with you. – “I know you are watching me so show yourself!” – the bed shuddered as you grabbed on to your blankets for grip. The shaking stopped as your eyes widened. At the end of your bed rose slowly a shadowed hand from the ground. Long boney fingers rising up from the grave. It made you gasp loud, watching in fear. You wanted to scream but no sounds came out.

The hand kept stretching up to the ceiling till you saw the wrist and some of the arm as well. You yelped loud when it snapped onto your bed. Then like a snake it slithered closer to you. Finally you found your voice, screaming loud as you pulled your feet up to you. – “Lorraine!” – you screamed out calling out to your wife as you were terrified. The fingers almost reached your ankle as you tried to pull your feet away. Then the door slammed against the wall. Lorraine panting loud. 

“Get away from my wife!” – she shouted throwing a vile of holy water at the hand. The skin sizzled at the touch of holy water, making it pull back. Lorraine pulled out her cross, holding it up. – “I gave you no permission to be in my house!” – she yelled out pushing it back with the cross. – “Be gone or I’ll send you back into the fiery pits of hell!” – she threatened throwing more holy water.

Lorraine kept coming closer not backing down. You stared in awe at your wife. She threw another vile, speaking in Latin as your bed started to shake again. You held on as the shaking got wilder. Then it stopped. The room cleared up. A heavy weight lifted. Lorraine exhaled deep. – “Y/n!” – she called out running over to you. She jumped onto the bed, falling into your arm.

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left.” – she said hugging you tightly. – “You couldn’t know… You couldn’t.” – you replied reassuring her. – “I am save now.” – you told her, making her look at you. Lorraine smiled. – “I am not leaving your sight.” – she answered before kissing you deeply.

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Read more of my fics on my Masterlists!

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Conspicuous Absence

Do I get to have this moment? The Two-Week Void. Right as we're pulling away. I just want to take a moment to really break down the structure of what we're seeing here. First, I'll just get it out of the way by pointing out if it bleeds into two weeks ago specifically for the Straw Hats...that would be roughly around when they're playing with armor in the grove and such. This is not a new concept to us with Egghead & Wano, it was the same with York's POV on all this. How it lined up well with the existing confluence of the Samurai's and Straw Hats's timeline. We're also doing this at the end of an arc that opens with rewriting a scene from Wano.

When these scattered threads start to make sense, time will be rewoven. I still have that vibe that line in "Us" is a promise. Remember I was looking at the arc this way before we saw the anime theme. Our first flurry of scenes that cleared misconceptions about known events ended and gave way to the revelation we skipped last night. Our mid-arc massive flashback that showed off the structure gave way to a reminder of that through showing Vega/Bonney apart from it. Now? Vegapunk's broadcast has concluded and we are seemingly getting away but taking the bulk of the chapter to go backwards. Fill in the gaps to re-contextualize the events of Egghead Island. It's my time to shine. Yay.

How much more will we see this style of storytelling going forward? Who knows, this could be the only chapter. If you've been following along with me though, you probably know what I'll say here. There's a lot of sides to Egghead you could do this with to great effect...and if you wanted to actually moonshot this shit into crazy twist territory Wano sorta left us with the perfect character to play these games around in Okiku. This is why I care about Drake so much, because he's a bridge too. And one that is well suited to have a chapter just like this right now. Stussy's kinda the same way; we got a great taste at the start of the broadcast that has been left hanging.

Last time we talked a bit about the connections to Whitebeard and by extension Oden/Izo in Emeth's sacrifice. Did anyone else get a tone of Yasuie out of Vegapunk's decision here? I could have done the "If I must die, I'll sell my life dearly" panel to really nail that. But it was the overall tone around that I couldn't unsee. How much it hammers the sides of Oden I've always compared Vegapunk to. We undercut some of the very serious element to all this and that type of storytelling invites comparison to another big Wano face who you can find on the cover.

This moment right here was where it all really hit what I was seeing. First off, that bit in the letter is ironically very amusing. Between that and Vega Coffee...Vegapunk is a man of the highest highs and lowest lows. This shit is soooo funny to me. The latter side though is on display too.

Anyone else get really annoyed at how quick he was to assume Lilith? That was scummy and it felt like the scene was highlighting that. Vega Prime was aggressive about accusing Lilith. That, undercutting the death speech, only a little self-reflection when you learned it was York, and even this letter like, contradicting somewhat the point of wiping your memory. In the exact same way your message whipped people up. It feels like the theme of this chapter is showing Vegapunk's flawed side very clearly. Seeing this after Oden by the way reminds me of a very iconic Brook line, death isn't an apology. It's not this panel by the way that does it, but the end of this letter does get cut off. A concept we've looked at a lot here and is also used...

It's subtle and could be a dead end, but this bit about preserving the cloud loft last minute was interesting because it is doing something special. Introducing a goal that was always there but we're only now learning about it.

I'll be watching Lilith and potentially Stussy closely going forward, but this chapter really did put us squarely in the territory I wanted to see right as we're finally coming out of the transmission.

[ukulelevillainwrites]

who follows the rules anyway?

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9

complete

pairing : anthony lockwood x she/her reader

word count : 3.4k

notes : with this part the plot actually takes off, more will happen in part 3 obviously i'm just getting started ;)

The following day they met again at the client’s house to take care of the final details. They explained that the clock was the source and that they had to get rid of it for the haunting to cease. She simply needed to open the case and they would be on their way. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as it should have been.

“This clock has been in my family for generations. I don’t care what you say, you are not taking this heirloom to be burned among other rubbish.” Mrs. Overton was very upset. She didn’t want to hear any advice given and categorically refused to open the case.

“I understand your disappointment Madam, but if you want your house to be safe again, I really don’t see any other solution.” Mrs Dufour explained.

The conversation had been lasting for hours. Well, metaphorically at least. It really had been 15 minutes, but hearing a client complain about the source wasn’t what y/n liked about her job.

“What if you got display cases made out of silver glass?”

All eyes turned to her.

“Maybe we could find a compromise, we keep your clock while you install new displays and put it back once everything is made safe. That way you can still enjoy your family’s history without the creeping fear. Would that be possible Mrs. Dufour?”

“I don’t think-”

“That is an excellent idea!” Mrs. Overton exclaimed.

“But Mrs. Overton I’m not sure it could be that simple. I really think you should consider giving up your clock.” Mrs. Dufour objected.

“I’d rather keep it. Hopefully you oversee young people with practical solutions! You should listen to them.”

Kipps and Bobby had smiles on their faces, but Mrs. Dufour glared in her direction.

They agreed on a date to bring back the clock, signed a few papers and soon after the team was on its way back to the Fittes headquarters.

“You did a great job keeping our client satisfied today y/n. I’m really impressed.” Kipps said.

“Th- Thank you. That means a lot.” She looked down at her feet, she felt incredibly intimidated. Somehow, she still wasn’t used to receiving that many compliments. She finally got those four words she had waited a month to hear. Her dream of taking on more responsibilities was getting closer, she could feel it.

“Miss y/n, could I have a word with you?”

Her happiness was cut short. Was she really in trouble because she tried to keep a client happy with their service?

“Your behavior today was extremely disrespectful. Contradicting a supervisor in front of a client is beyond unprofessional. What image of the Fittes organization does it send? I hope you won’t do this again.”

“I was just trying to keep Mrs. Overton satisfied. But I understand.” She tried to remain civil. But really she had a hard time not rolling her eyes.

“Good. Now I must leave, I have another appointment.”

“I can take the clock back to Fittes’ if you want. It’s where we’re headed anyway.”

“Thank you but it won’t be necessary.”

“Really it’s no trouble at all.”

“I’ll take care of it myself, no need to insist. Good day.”

What a nice and pleasant person. Clearly if she considered this insubordination, she must have had her hands full when she had to supervise George. As she thought about him, she noticed how insistent she was on bringing the clock back herself. Especially if she had another meeting before…

---

“You should break into her office too.”

“Haha very funny. Will you ever stop making fun of George? He really was worth knowing if you gave him a shot. You shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss him.” she told El.

“I’m not joking. If he’s such a great guy maybe, he was onto something. And her behavior with you was in fact very suspicious.”

“I think I might be reading into some things. I was tired, I’m probably not even remembering it right. Plus, it would serve me right if I got caught and ended up like George. How am I supposed to become a higher up in the Fittes organization with that on my record?”

“Yes, but you don’t see the bigger picture. If you expose her activities, you get all the praise and move up the ladder even faster.”

They couldn’t be serious. How could they even offer to do this? On the other hand, she was very curious to see what Mrs. Dufour could be hiding.

“There’s no way I’m doing this.”

“I wouldn’t let you do this alone! I’ve got your back. I would be on the lookout; you take five minutes inside her office and you come out without being seen. It’s no big deal. And if she is at a meeting right now chances are she won’t be back for hours. Now’s our chance!”

She considered their offer. How could she even think about doing this? But if she didn’t find anything, it would put to rest her suspicions. And if they did find something, it would benefit her in every way possible.

“Okay let’s go right now. But I’m only staying inside for two minutes, non-negotiable.”

“As you wish.”

They located the office easily. It was on the first floor, second office on the left after the elevators. It was lunch time, everything was quiet. y/n couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. Her mind dissociated from her body. It went totally blank and watched as her fingers methodically picked the lock to Mrs. Dufour’s office. El stayed outside to warn her if someone came nearby. She entered the room with determination, trying to remain calm. Her heart was beating atrociously fast. What was she doing? As she stared at the desk in front of her she realized she had no idea what she was looking for. A source from another case that hadn’t been burned maybe? She opened a first drawer, and a second, a third… Nothing. That was such a bad idea. She had to leave. Now. As she turned around the door slammed. Oh no. Was Mrs. Dufour back already? Would El be able to distract her long enough for her to exit discreetly?

“I heard her mumble something about sources being stolen and suspicious behaviors, I didn’t catch all of it but it sounded like nonsense.”

That was El’s voice. What were they doing? She heard steps coming her way. She needed to hide. As she stepped behind a coat hanger near the door, Mrs. Dufour entered the room.

“Miss y/n, I know you are in here. Come out. Right. Now.”

She was holding her breath. There was no escape. She took a step forward. El was standing next to Mrs. Dufour. But they didn’t look panicked. In fact, they were smiling.

“I can’t believe this is the second agent I find here illegally this week. Between your behavior this morning and your break-in, insubordination isn’t enough to describe your insolent attitude.”

No words came out of her mouth. The shock she felt froze her in place.

“You are of course fired, that goes without saying. You can collect your things, I want you gone by the end of the day.”

“I’ll walk her out.” El said, a proud look on their face.

This wasn’t happening. It was just another vivid dream that merged with reality. She was going to wake up in her bed, the sun slowly rising in her window, and none of this would have happened. This could not be the end of her career. Her dream could not be crumbling in front of her eyes in just an instant, to be replaced with a horrific nightmare instead. No this wasn’t real.

“I can’t believe you followed me that easily to be honest.”

She looked up at El, tears now starting to blur her vision. She could only frown.

“But I guess when you’re that naïve and gullible you can’t possibly be qualified to be a supervisor. People like you shouldn’t be put in charge at all to be honest. I’ll never understand why you of all people were selected to be on Kipps’ team. Well now I guess there’s a spot open.” They said with a wink.

She shoved her “friend” aside.

“You betrayed me to get my job?”

“I would say I was smart and did my job correctly, betray makes me sound like a villain.”

y/n had shared a room with El for the past 4 months, she had grown to like them. Of course they were close, they basically lived together. Trust was part of the deal. How could she ever sleep next to that person again? Oh. Right. She wouldn’t have to. As of now she didn’t have a job and didn’t have a place to live either. She would be kicked out of the Fittes housing. She needed to get out, to walk, to breathe. She felt the walls closing in on her, she couldn’t breathe.

She rushed back to her room, tears streaming down her face. She opened her suitcase and bags, filled them with her stuff without taking the time to fold anything. She had to get out of here fast, she couldn’t look El in the eyes. She didn’t want to see their face at all. How could they have pretended for so long, putting on phony smiles and cheering at her success when really they just planned on replacing her one way or another? What did she do to deserve their hate? Was she really the problem? Maybe El was right. Maybe she was too naïve to ever be successful. Maybe she had brought this on herself.

She put on her backpack, took her rapier and her suitcase and exited the room. As she closed the door, El was coming back.

“I see you can’t get out fast enough. Good for you. Enjoy the night watch!” They had an arrogant smirk across their face.

She dropped her luggage, took one step closer and punched her dear friend in the face. They brought their hand up to stop the bleeding and looked at her with pure hatred in their eyes.

“Enjoy the broken nose!”

----

That helped relieve some tension. But she still felt like shit. What was she going to do? She couldn’t just go back home. Her parents would be so disappointed. Not because of the career but because she got fired. And because of the reason why she got fired. She was so ashamed of herself. How could she do something so stupid?

She wandered the streets of London, luggage in hand, for hours, lost in thought and mostly beating herself up. Aside from her life falling apart it was a beautiful day. The leaves were starting to change color, the light was still warm and golden. A fresh breeze rustled her hair as she crossed the street. She had no idea where she was going. She didn’t know that part of London well. She had passed Mayfair at least 15 minutes ago and was now in a more residential part of the city. The white houses had lavender at their balconies and most of them had an iron gate in front of the stairs that led to their door. The neighborhood was quiet and everything was still except for two crows hopping around at the end of the street. She was staring into space when a sudden loud noise made her jump. It was a malfunctioning ghost lamp that had went off even though curfew wasn’t for another couple of hours. It made her look up and she saw a sign reading Portland Row. That sounded familiar. Where had she heard of that street before? Wasn’t George living nearby? What was the number he had told her… 45? No, 35. She could always pay him a visit. It’s not like she had any place to be.

She hesitated. He would probably laugh at her. Though the situation was ridiculous. At least she would make someone smile. And she would get a cup of tea before wandering some more for the whole night. She looked for the number 35 and saw the sign across the street. She stared at the house for a while. She felt nervous for some reason. She looked at herself in a car window. She looked like a mess. Her hair was tangled, her eyes swollen from crying so much. George would probably take pity on her. That was so embarrassing. But given how her day was going she didn’t really care anymore.

As she opened the iron gate, she noticed a wooden sign that read “A. J. Lockwood & Co. Investigators”. The name didn’t ring a bell. The sign looked brand new. She vaguely remembered George mentioning a friend he was working with, but it didn’t look like she had met them before.

She felt lost. She wanted to run away, her shame growing with every step she took towards the door. It was almost unbearable. Burying herself into the woods in the middle of nowhere sounded more appealing suddenly. She forced her hand to knock on the door. She waited a few seconds that felt like hours. After a minute she figured they might be out. She turned around, ready to leave. This was a terrible idea. It was getting rid of the last tiniest bit of dignity she still had. As she stepped back one step the door suddenly opened.

“Hello, welcome to Lockwood & Co. Do you have an appointment?”

She turned around, surprised by the voice behind her.

“H-Hi George…”

“y/n? I didn’t expect you to come by so soon.” He looked at her and realized she didn’t look as proper as she’s used to. “Are you okay?”

“Not really if I’m being honest. Could I come in?”

“Of course, yes please”

He showed her inside.

“I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Don’t worry it’s a slow day, I was just cleaning the kitchen.”

The hallway felt welcoming and seemed traditional at first. But as she walked deeper into the house, she noticed the masks hanging on the walls, the rapiers in the umbrella stand, the ancient weaponry on the shelves. The atmosphere was homely but also unsettling. It wasn’t unpleasant or threatening though. She felt strangely at ease.

They settled in a living room with the same atmosphere as the hallway. He brought her some tea and doughnuts she felt really grateful for.

“So, do you wanna talk about what happened to you? You clearly look like you’ve had a rough day.”

“I got fired from Fittes.” She blurted out. There. She’d said it out loud. It was official. George opened round eyes and looked at her in total disbelief. As he was about to say something she added

“For the same reason you got fired.”

George stared at her. His eyes couldn’t get any wider. They looked at each other for several minutes. After what felt like an hour George burst out laughing. y/n quickly followed. She relieved all the tension and stress she had been accumulating today. They laughed, laughed and laughed until they were out of breath.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Unfortunately, I am.” She said wiping a tear. At least this one wasn’t from sadness or anger.

“But what? How?” He could barely articulate full sentences.

She told him the full story. How she hadn’t believed anything he had told her. How Mrs. Dufour’s behavior had been strange. How she got talked into breaking the rules. How she was betrayed. How stupid and gullible she felt. How guilty she felt. For once it was her turn to talk. George found himself on the other side and listened closely to the whole thing.

“You really go all out when you break the rules.”

This threw them into another fit of laughter. At this moment, they heard the front door close.

“Hey George, sounds like you’re having fun. Who’s your friend?”

She turned around to look at the guy who had just entered. Her smile dropped. Could this day get any worse? Standing in front of her was the most arrogant and pretentious guy she had ever had the displeasure of meeting.

He took a step forward, putting out his hand as he said

“I’m Anthony Lockwood, pleasure to meet you. You must be y/n, George told me you would be stopping by.”

She stared at him; her anger rekindled. She didn’t shake his hand and simply waited, remaining perfectly still. After a few seconds he casually took a seat in a sofa opposite the couch she was sitting on.

“You look familiar, have we met before?”

She couldn’t believe him. Of course he didn’t remember. If the doughnuts hadn’t been that good, she would have gotten up and left without looking back. But she was desperately hungry, and she wasn’t so eager to spend the night wandering the streets of London with no place to go.

“You might have seen me around near Fittes, but I don’t think we’ve met.” She answered politely. He looked at her with a strange intensity, his expression briefly unreadable before changing into a complaisant smile. “It’s nice to finally meet George’s colleague.” She concluded.

“Well, more like his employer technically.”

For heaven’s sake. She mustered all the self-control she had left to not roll her eyes. She forced a smile, but it looked cold and stiff. The room fell silent, but it was probably for the best.

“So how are things going over at Fittes?” Lockwood asked her. He was trying to start the conversation again but there was a certain disdain in his tone that she didn’t appreciate.

George shot her a glance before turning insistent eyes towards Lockwood. It was sweet how considerate he was trying to be.

“Not that great actually since I was fired a few hours ago.” She said in a nonchalant tone.

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that.” He looked at his shoes, avoiding eye contact. “Having heard you laugh so much I expected a much happier context.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“No, I didn’t mean-” He stopped mid-sentence. He looked defeated and just drank his tea in silence.

George turned towards her.

“So what are you gonna do now?”

“I haven’t got the slightest idea…” She admitted. “Maybe wandering the streets of London tonight will inspire me.”

“You don’t have a place to stay?” George asked, a certain worry in his voice.

“All the trains were booked, so I couldn’t go back home.” She lied. She didn’t want to admit that she was scared to tell her family about her situation. “I could always find a hotel I guess.”

“Don’t bother, you can stay with us tonight. Right, Lockwood?”

“Um, sure. I have an extra room in the attic.”

Fantastic. That was just what she needed. To stay even longer in his company.

“I really don’t want to impose. I’m sure you’ll be better off without me.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, it’s just one night. It’s the least I can do after putting those ideas about Mrs. Dufour in your head. It’s all my fault really.”

“Why would you say that?” Lockwood asked, intrigued.

“I sort of got fired for the same reason he did.” She admitted. She couldn’t help the shy smile that appeared on her face. She genuinely wanted to laugh at herself.

Lockwood laughed at the situation too. He looked at her with a charming smile but she felt like he was laughing at her for being so naïve.

“Rule number one around George is to do the exact opposite of what he does.”

“I had my reasons for acting like this. I wasn’t blindly imitating him, she was being suspicious.” She said defensively.

“Maybe next time, or at least if there is a next time, don’t let George’s wild theories get to you.” He said with a wink. There was another face she wanted to punch.

She took a deep breath to keep her urges under control. Giving in to anger would only get her kicked out and then she would really be wandering the streets all night. She could always find another plan tomorrow but for now she needed to eat and to sleep soundly. The day had been exhausting.

[fate-motif]

i’ve found it that sometimes getting the hater shit out the way so you can fully enjoy something is the best way to be whole in your emotions so without further ado, here is my prodigy s2 hater shit i’m so sorry for this i still think it was one of the best seasons of star trek since ds9

i would have appreciated maj’el’s heel-face turn to have been a little more coherent than “we survived together so they can’t be that bad” + “zero is cute”. i don’t know how they would have found the time, but i just think her change of heart came a little too sudden.

petty nitpick: i understand her name is a reference to majel barrett but i believe it would have felt a little more natural if her name had just been majel since vulcans can have one element names okay, and maj’el really stands out in a series of names like t’pol, t’pau, t’pel, etc. like, it feels more like funky scifi-cation.

i can’t believe i’m saying this but so much of this season would have been improved if there had been more voyager characters. the emh was a decent choice for guest role (he was certainly very convenient), but it really wasn’t the best thematically. the ideal choice would have been b’elanna, to me, as chakotay’s best friend. also, i appreciate wesley, but the ideal guardian angel would have been kes guys. okay? the voyager that was left behind? one who would care about the desperate in the delta quadrant and would really care about chakotay’s survival?

(sidenote: there was a moment i was convinced that adreek’s death was going to be undone when the time paradoxes became resolved and i just thought harry would have been the ideal pick for chakotay’s fellow castaway, given their history in timeless, but apparently i was wrong and i’m glad harry is not dead and crystallized at the bottom of a cavern)

once again they skimped development for poor jankom pog. like, disappointed as i am that they didn’t develop rok, she got their development last season. jankom doesn’t have development in either season! season 3, you better deliver! not just for jankom (he’s becoming besties with the guy who told him his last name is a slur??) but because tellarites are so underdeveloped? why did he want to be polite at first? that plot thread was dropped so unceremoniously. it really is a shame.

the alternate universes episode would have been more appropriate in a show where the episodes reach 50 minutes. we barely have time to feel much about being in a timeline where janeway’s dead before we’re catapulted to another, and the mirror universe detour not only contradicted the ds9 mirror universe state of events, but just felt like a corny excuse for us to get the closest thing to physical intimacy in jc when the real thing would have been completely fine. that said i forgive them for the stupid evil whale gag. that was hilarious

i concur with what other people are saying. i doubt the versions of ascencia and ilthuran after the events of s2 would grow up to become the vindicator and diviner we know, and their decision to follow the wormhole and commit atrocities is just as paramount to the creation of gwyn and rediscovery of the protostar as the fact that the protostar needs to be on tars lamora. for that matter, solum needs to be in a state of devastating civil war 52 years in the future for them to capture the protostar and outfit it with the living construct. so is solum still doomed to destruction? are we supposed to accept that, even in the face of the destruction of reality? wouldn’t gwyn be more devastated by that knowledge?

i think i prefer s1 better than s2 in terms of serialization. maybe i wouldn’t feel this way if we’d gotten weekly releases and a midseason hiatus, but s2 felt incredibly dense, to the point of being exhausting to get through at the very end of the season. 

listen i understand picard put prodigy in the worst possible bind, where the status quo for the next twenty so years is going to consist in an apartheid state for synths and the leadership of starfleet will be responsible for the death of so many romulans. but i feel that janeway miraculously pulling an insane amount of strings to give an entire starship to kids who barely got a chance to stay at the academy is stretching my suspension of disbelief. maybe say that she’s made an argument for stashing the prodigy away because it’s so unstable, and promise it to the kids once they’re through the academy, and so we can have a very understandable timeskip until they are actually crewmen? 

while i think it’s very consistent with voyager that janeway and chakotay’s affection is very physically restrained in public, i feel like it was bordering in comical how much they were holding back in a show where they no longer have the limitations they did on voyager. actually, scratch that. i didn’t need them to kiss. i needed them to explicitly say that they were in love. that was what was needed to actually commit. and they didn’t do it?? dal and gwyn got to kiss last season twice but we can’t have janeway and chakotay profess their love?? come on.

damn it i was promised chameleon dal and we did not get him!!!

[jalwyn21]

It is always so funny to me that the people that talk the most shit about Joe - looking at you “neutral” Swifties on Reddit - have the most to say about his career. They can name his past and upcoming projects, what the critics are saying, how big the roles are…and in the next breath be talking mad shit about him. Sometimes about him as a person (always prefacing it by saying “I have nothing against the guy and he seems like a nice guy, BUT…”) mocking the labels that his true fans would never put on him. Activist being their favorite lately. Sorry not sorry that Joe actually lives by his values and has never wavered and it took your fave being halfway to cancellation before she grew a spine. 💁🏻‍♀️

But their opinions about his career are mind blowing. The fact that they think he is boring and bland and not charismatic and a horrible actor and is getting roles only because he networks well and that nobody else wants to take on the roles of “rapists and bad guys” so they turn to Joe, is just so biased that I almost feel bad for them that they live so far up the blonde’s ass that they’ll never touch grass again.

Just had to rant. Timing is always so funny that they consistently take aim at Joe when things aren’t going well for their fave.

Copping? Yeah, they make up so much BS about him, and end up contradicting themselves.. Anything but admitting who the problem is.

Joe getting a job 1 week before filming only happened once wit SAN. But they act like it's the rule. It's why I love that Joe posted that Brutalist scrip dated October 2022

They really lost all arguments > She got him his jobs, nope, he still gets jobs, even better now without her... She made him... Nope, Ang Lee made him famous.

He gets the jobs last minute, nope..

He only gets bad characters that no one wants... Nope. If anything, the villains are the characters that actors want, because it demands more acting skills to play a baddie.

Stay bitter swiftards

[itsclydebitches]

I honestly have no idea how they intend to greenlight volume 10 if it's not been greenlit already. They've announced the final season of Red vs Blue and a lot of early day fans are in agreement that the end of RvB is the signaling of the end of RT in general. It's their second biggest money maker next to RWBY. After this new season, it's over. What do they do next? Do RT really believe that RWBY is popular enough to coast on for another decade? It'll be a miracle if it lasts even one more year.

Their viewership has been on a decline since Volume 6, they've abused so much of their animation department that there's almost no one left, most of their VA talent for RWBY's popular characters aren't coming back due to all the controversies, any spinoffs or soft reboots or whatever keep going back to the Beacon era and don't really do much to help with the overall problems that are down to the roots of the company.

They even made their biggest ship that kept what few fans are left canon and put out half assed merch that sold out in minutes, and somehow they still haven't managed to find enough money to greenlight another volume?

If they somehow miraculously get Volume 10 made, it's probably going to be the last.

The last few years of RWBY have really highlighted for me how challenging it is to define "popularity" and "success" nowadays. Granted, a good chunk of that is simply my own ignorance about how the production side of things are run, but it nevertheless feels like there's this intense level of ambiguity that wasn't there in the past (or at least wasn't as obvious). Fandom itself has always been an unreliable source because depending on the corner of the internet you're in, you can get a wildly skewed perspective without engaging with everything that contradicts how "good" or "bad" you think things are going. As you say, merch sells out in minutes, yet neither the finances nor the implied security of that seems to be enough to land another Volume. There are questions about whether this could be a marketing scheme, wherein Volume 10's future is simply being kept under wraps to drum up interest. There's the question of whether popularity matters at all when we've got companies cancelling and pulling undoubtedly successful shows, all according to their own, long-term algorithms. On the one hand the information surrounding RT is all about the abuse of their workers, another scandal, how this might all tie into the strikes... and yet most of this is nothing new and RWBY has still secured movies, a soft reboot, comics, and books. I agree completely with your list above of all the ways in which the series is struggling (massively) and yet RWBY has been "dying" for half its run-time. So is this the final nail in the coffin—the inevitable ending that's been a long time coming—or just another year where the fandom unintentionally cries wolf?

I'm not so naive as to believe that things were actually simple 'back in the day'—that's the nostalgia talking—but it still seems like things were simpler in comparison to what we've got now. TV and its media equivalents used to be—or at least felt like—a fairly straightforward journey of airing, ratings, syndication, cancellation, renewal, and then (eventually) the viewer securing a copy for themselves via VHS and DVDs. Now it's like, "What do I do with the newbie webseries eventually bought up by a major corporation and moved from a free watch, to a company-specific streaming watch, to a different, more expensive streaming watch, all of which has led to a decade of success with various spinoffs, but apparently this webseries still isn't making enough money to continue? Regardless, it and everything else I love to watch is inching more and more towards digital-only copies, a status that is inherently nerve-wracking, which means that if it does suddenly crash and burn (given that this is one of two series keeping the original company afloat) circulating this story and maintaining the fandom will be that much harder."

I find that depressing and I'm someone who thinks RWBY is pretty awful right now. I can't imagine what that ambiguity and the state of streaming media in 2023 feels like to fans still in love with the show.

So yeah. Idk how they intend to greenlight Volume 10 either.

[luna-rainbow]

Thanks for the answer to my previous ask about Dr Raynor in TFaTWS. Its sad that the writers didn't seem to know what they were doing and wrote so badly about that subject. Honestly, I am coming to hate the way that series treats Bucky full stop. Its like every single character is using him as a punchbag and taking out their problems or emotional issues on him in some way. Also at the same time they're doing nothing to challenge his horrible internal guilt monologue. Like, Bucky already clearly thinks he's an evil monster (In the series not in other materials per se) and can't be redeemed or change, and then literally *everyone* including Sam to an extent is telling him that too.

Just because S turns around at the last minute and says "you have to stop letting others tell you what you are" doesn't mean he wasn't perpetuating Bucky's guilt the rest of the series. One minute later he also says "you have to put in the work" to "make others feel better" as though Bucky was not already self-flagellating enough. Sorry if that's a long ramble.

Thanks for the ask!

Yeah, I think a lot of Bucky fans went into the series with open minds and the first two episodes were…well, they weren’t fantastic but they showed a man struggling with his mental health, and that made sense at least. It just never got better from that.

To be fair, Bucky also behaved poorly in much of the series, in moments when he was allowed to emote and choose. But a lot of his bad choices didn’t match his motivations, and the series frequently contradicted itself in logic and world-building, which is why I’ve completely erased it from works I take as canon. It’s also an overall unpleasant series? Like, no one was kind to each other. It was as though the writer had no idea what that looks like and how human relationships are sustained by that.

I am not sure there are specific incidences of Sam actively perpetuating Bucky’s guilt, though. There were a few (honestly OOC) puerile jokes, and he never objected when Bucky spoke self-deprecatingly. It was more a consistent inaction rather than any malicious action.

I am…not a fan of that “do the work” speech. Bucky was doing the work. In Sam’s words, he was going to Yori and making his life better. He just approached it entirely wrong. And honestly? My stance is always that Bucky should never have been encouraged, by Sam or by Raynor, to approach any of the victims on his own. It was multiple layers of inappropriate.

But yeah, it was very clear that the writers didn’t know how to handle Bucky’s story and he became more of a narrative tool than his own character. Which is a rightful shame when you have someone with such a complex back story.

[panyvivienda]

¹ Just for the night

summary: looking for a safe place to spend the night, joel and ellie come across a girl singing a david bowie song at the top of her lungs while picking carrots.

a/n:  sorry if there are any mistakes, english it's not my first language. part 2??or not??maybe?? feel like it could have been better 😪

Fatigue ran through every bone in their bodies, making it increasingly difficult to stand upright. Joel seemed to hide it better than Ellie, who every two minutes stopped in her place and said to him that she could not longer feel her legs.

"Just a couple more steps, I promise" he replied, knowing that they still had a long way to go. A few hours earlier they had encountered some hunters. Fortunately for them, they didn't seem to have noticed their presences.

"Well, that doesn't sound so convincing you know" she complained, throwing her head back with a grunt, gaining a sigh from him- You are being way to skeptical Joel, we are gonna be fine- she said looking at him this time, waiting for a "You're so right Ellie, how didn't I listened to you before, let's get some sleep" to fly of his mouth. Not a very Joel thing to say, but something among those words.

"You can ever be to sure" he shortly responded. Ellie opted to say no more, dragging her feet reluctantly behind him, following the road and occasionally glancing at the woods to her right. The moon being the only source of light in the cold starry night. Clearly they were not going to stop until he believed it was a safe place to settle.

The silence did not last long. From the woods they began to hear shouting, which at first scared them. It was someone singing. Joel told Ellie to stay close to him, slowly moving deeper into the woods. They were a little curious as to who was singing at this time of night like crazy. Maybe it was someone deranged who had completely lost their mind. They didn't know, but they did know that they would have to take care of it if they wanted to sleep peacefully and not with one eye open in case this person ended up finding them in the middle of the night.

The surprise they got when they found the person in charge, a girl picking carrots from an orchard, was a rare surprise. They shared an incredulous look, their eyes unable to believe what they were seeing. The girl went on about her business without noticing the two pairs of expectant eyes, singing with an immeasurable passion and stopping to complain about a carrot that didn't want to come out.

"She seems harmeless Joel, look at her" she told him pointing at her with her finger.

"Looks like she has a screw loose to me. Come on".

"That's such an old man thing to say".

Ignoring what he had said earlier, Ellie raised her arms and shouted "Hey you, girl with the weird beanie! Do you think you could give us a hand for tonight?". Flinching at the suddent voice, Amanda raised her head cursing at herself for being so careless. She slowly stand up with two carrots in each of her hands, shaking her head. "No!" she yelled with nervousness, making Ellie frown.

"Come on men, we are tired! Do you have any idea of how much we have been walk- "

"Okay, that's enough" grabbing her by her arm, Joel yanked her to the woods, having to stop due to the girl resisting "She doesn't want to help us Ellie, she doesn't have too either".

"Kinda has to now" she contradicted him "She was the one singing loudly that brought us here, besides look at that big ass house she got there! You're gonna tell me she ain't got space for us two?" she said the last thing more directed to Amanda "It's pretty late we just want to sleep, we ain't bad guys".

Amanda couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. The man wasn't wrong, she didn't have to help them, but because of her not keeping her stupid mouth shout she end up putting herself in this situation, so now she had to deal with it. What if she didn't help them and they end up dying? She couldn't do that. But what if they weren't good people? What if they killed her? Hell, she didn't fucking know them! And she really wanted to sleep with a clear conscience.

Frustration started to build up, and before Joel could even say something, she yelled "Fine! But if you two try something I... I" she failed to threaten, feeling dumb for trying to sound intimidating with a pointing carrot at their direction "Just don't try anything, I'm trying to do something nice, so don't make me regreat it" dropping the carrots to the floor, Amanda started walking to the door fence "Over here".

Ellie looked at Joel with a triumphant smile. Without much effort she had managed to persuade the yet girl of unknown name, getting them a roof over their heads for tonight . Following the girl’s instructions, they went through the fence, now facing each other.

"Hi, I'm Amanda" she presented herself, feeling uncomfortable with their eyes buried in her.

"I'm Ellie"  the redhead continued, expecting the man besider her to tell his, but he seem hesitant, causing her to roll her eyes "And he's Joel. Not a very talkative guy".

"Great, Ellie, Joel, would you like to come inside and have dinner? I was about to make it but I forgot the carrots and um you know this happend" she explained while moving her hands.

Ellie laughed, adding to the conversation "Yeah we know, what was it that you were singing?" at the question, Amanda couldn't help but feel quite embarrassed, they just had to be there at that precise moment? She was going to answer her, but Joel beat her to it.

"Space Oddity by David Bowie".

"Exactly".

"And that was?"

"Are you for real? He was a fucking icon! The best of the best! At least that's what my dad used to tell me all the time" as they spoke, they began to walk, heading to Amanda's house, the older one following them from behind. Joel's eyes darted everywhere, fearing that someone would jump out and attack them, although Amanda seemed nice, or maybe she was good at pretending "He didn't follow what at the time society expected from people, he challenged everything and cared little about what others may say. Everything he touched, he turned it into art. My dad got to see him performance, and he told me that his mere presence on stage was simply indescribable" Ellie listened attentively to every word that came out of her mouth, finding what she said interesting and wanting to learn more. She decided to not make questions about her dad. She imagined what she could say to her if she were to ask.

"That must have been fucking awesome! I wish I had the opportunity to hear artists performance in live" Ellie exclaimed content, turning to her left "Ever went to a concert Joel?".

"That was more of a Tommy thing to do" said sincerely, waiting for Amanda to open the door "Is there more people with you?"

"I've been on my own for a while now".

"Oh" that's all Ellie said to her, feeling stupid afterwards. Amanda gave her a small grin.

Before they entered, Amanda asked them kindly if they could take off their shoes "I got a serious problem with keeping things clean, sorry" she apologized, moving to a side to turn the lights, surprising the other two.

"You have electricity? How is that possible?" Amanda smiled at Joel’s questions.

"A little further back from home there’s plenty of wind towers. It's a pretty unpopulated place because of that, it has always been" she replied, crossing her arms behind her back, swinging back and forth.

"And how do you keep it working?" asked Ellie this time.

"I got not idea, it just does. My dad was the one in charge of that. Never explained it further because he said I didn't need to understand. In some point it's gonna stop working, I guess" she said, getting lost in thought, which didn’t go unnoticed by Joel "Anyways, I have to finish cooking dinner, meanwhile you guys could take a shower" seeming to have realized the double connotation of her sentence, she quickly said "Not because I think you guys smell, it's just because, I mean.. there's hot water!"

Ellie failed to contain her laugh, letting some chuckles escape, while Joel couldn't hide his smile.

"We know we smell, believe me. I'm gonna shower first. I haven't showered with hot water in like, forever!" following Amanda's directions and accepting a borrowed towel and clothes, Ellie went into the bathroom, leaving her and Joel on their own.

"I do not want to overstep, but" Amanda interrumped him before he could even finish.

"He died a few months ago, I think it's been five months by now, but I'm not really sure" she knew she was relying way too much on these two, but she decided to trust her senses, that until now, with her few years of life, had never failed her" Joel felt sorry for her, and Amanda hated it "I got so lost talking about David Bowie that I totally forgot to grab the carrots, would you mind boiling the water? I already put the water in the pot. The lighter is on top of the microwave".

"Alright".

"Great, we are eating some smashed potatoes and carrots tonight ".

After doing what he was told to, Joel took the time to appreciate every detail that adorned the house.All of the furniture was made of wood, mostly with antique lamps above them. Large pinturesque paintings hung on some walls, every one of them belonging to a same style. They shared the same signature "Fiona Wesley". There were also dried flowers upside down on some of the tiles in the kitchen, but what caught his total attention were the pictures on the fridge. He couldn't help but let thoughts of Sarah flood on his mind.

---

"God, it's been so long since I've had a proper meal" commented Ellie, happy with Amanda's cooking "You are so good. You don't know what it's like to have to eat Joel's cooking, he burns everything!" Joel gave her a dirty look, feeling offended.

"Thank you very much, it's not a such a big deal honestly".

"She's right, it's pretty good".

"Well... thanks" not used to receiving compliments, Amanda did what she does best, change the subject. "So...if you don't mind me asking, where were you heading to?."

Ellie looked at Joel to see if it was okay to be honest with her. He nodded.

"We are looking for Joel's brother, Tommy. We think he's in Wyoming."

"Shit, that's a long way from here, more if it's by foot. You're going to need plenty of food and coats, I should give you some."

"You helped us enough, it's not necessary" Joel denied, feeling that he was abusing her kindness.

"Don't worry Joel, it doesn't bother me. It would actually make me feel better if you took something for the trip. It's hard to get food with the weather like this, you rarely spot animals to hunt. It would be nice if you carried a couple of rations. Take it as what you guys owe me for letting you spend the night here"- she told him smiling, hoping he wouldn't deny her offer. "So, don't you want me to make up your beds? For what you guys have told me, you got a long way from here to Wyoming".

"Alright, but then let us raise the table in the meantime" Joel offered in vain, since Amanda wouldn't let them do anything.

"I will do it later, not big deal. Come with me guys, I'll show you your room" Joel and Ellie shared a glance, and then followed in the footsteps of the black haired girl.

---

"It was released on 11 of july in of 1969, five days before Apollo 11 set off to compleat his mission and land the first man on the moon, isn't that cool?".

"That's actually so fucking cool. Where did you learn that from?".

Once they got to the guest room, Amanda and Ellie couldn't seem to stop bringing up topics. They got along well, being able to talk easily with each other. Joel was already lying down, finding it harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He listened carefully to what the girls were saying. He didn't want to interrupt them, no matter how sleepy he was. Both Ellie and Amanda needed it. Especially the last one, who looked like she hadn't spoken to someone in a long time. Tomorrow they would be going their separate ways, so he thought that he should at least let them enjoy each other's presence while they could.

"I read a book called 'Artists you should know before you die'. I found it in the shelf over Joel's head, it's the one over there" she pointed, moving closer to Ellie, making her nervous "It has some interesting facts, this one was there".

"Do you know who Sally Ride is?" Ellie couldn't resist but asker her, wanting to talk about her. Sally ride was one of her biggest idols, and the idea that maybe Amanda and her shared the same admiration towards her, was exciting for her.

"Hello? How could I not? She was the first American female austronaut to go into space!".

"Finally somebody that knows what I'm talking ab-" snoring echoed off the four walls of the room, loud snoring. The girls laughed, turning to look.

"Well, it looks like we talked too much and bored Joel" whispered Amanda, slowly getting up. It felt good to have someone her own age to talk to. Ellie felt the same way, disappointed that she had to leave by the morning. She wished she could stay for a few more days with her and get to know her even better, but she had to make it to the fireflies if she didn't want all the losses to be in vain.

"Yes, we bored him quite a bit" she answered quietly, looking at his sleeping figure "He has been sleeping less than he should, he refuses to let his guard down."

"I understand" looking up from her feet, the black haired girl said with a sigh "You should rest too".

"Yeah I probably should".

"Goodnight Ellie."

"Goodnight."

[defectivefanboy]

(the one who asked for the oral hcs,,) AFAB male reader please !! hence why i didn't specify fems.

Thank you for responding! I realized afterwards (and from a commenter) that AFAB doesn't always mean fem reader, but my little itty bitty pea brain couldn't register anything else in the moment, Sorry 'bout that.

It may seem a bit OOC or something Crimson might not even do ,, but can we get some cunnilingus hcs with Crimson x AFAB s/o???

Overall notes: Stories written on this blog are GN until specified. While this story uses they/them pronouns, and while I don't mind female readers on my blog/interacting, love my girlies, hey girlies~, but I do not write for y'all, and if you are a fetishizer. fuck off??? ew. How would you even do that on an x reader???

C/W: Cunnilingus, Possessive Crimson, slight voyerism?? (sorry al), mentions of overstimulation, Degrading

Notes: this took a bit longer to write, and I low-key feel like it's dry. Im still a bit shy with smut and NSFW, other then that I hope you enjoy

Cunnilingus with Crimson...

never thought I would ever write that...

I'm just surprised as he is on how you two got here.

Let's state the facts he'll NEVER be on his knees, opting to have you placed upon the closest desk, table, shit even a tall wall. Anything he can find.

Other than the fact he's an old man and probably has bad knees. He's still believes he's took good for that.

He'll save that for his darling. You do look better down there anyway. <3

Continuing on....

He started off the day as a man hungry for power, guess he never met you.

It's like he's a starved man when he sets you upon the table, head tucked between your legs.

That high class and expensive front he puts on for show is stripped down to a sloppy mess.

His face is covered in your cum as his eyes roll into the back of his head.

I don't know who's pleasure he's doing it for anymore, yours or his

He will say it for yours as he forces another orgasm out of you, wiping his cheek on your thigh with a sly smirk,

"Tsk, look at the mess you made. Now who do you think is gonna have to clean this up? You need to be taught a lesson, brat..."

"taught a lesson" he says as he drives right back down between your legs, his tongue happily taking its place inside you once again.

And if you grab his horns to pull him closer, better not have anything planned for the rest of the day... or two.

You're just telling him to indulge himself in you, and who is he to say no.

Especially when the roll of your hips on his face contradicts the pleads for him to take a break or slow down.

Sorry, my love that's simply not possible.

Not when he just started jerking himself off as he licks you clean after another orgasm.

Oh he definitely keeps your underwear.

He’s a major pervert. Im sorry, but sir why do you know where to get an abundance of dildos? And who just INSTALLED WITHOUT QUESTION??

So remember to keep in mind every time he slips them off you. They will just end up in his pocket...

and if he doesn’t have pockets well, he’ll just hand them to Alessio, his right hand man/body guard.

“No need to worry about him, doll. He’s just here to make sure no can interrupt us.~ Isn’t that that right, Alessio.”

The shark would keep his eyes on the door, even the mob bosses right hand man wasn’t allowed to sneak a peak.

Last time that happened Crim almost lost a right hand man.

Crimson’s a greedy man, but if you were to ask either Al or you, he was a glutton.

and it seems the two became the perfect mix when it came to his darling.

All he needed you to do is to sit there and look pretty for him. You'll behave for him, right?

His only issue is he make it a priority to ruin you the minute you walk into his line of sight.

After all this mob work he deserves to have some down time, yeah?

Better not have worn anything that cost too much, he's not patient enough to have you to let you slip out of what your wearing.

He rather just rip what ever covers your body off instead.

You did get all dressed up for him didn’t you? He should be allowed to unwrap his gift in anyway he sees fit.

all you have to do is spread your legs for him, just for a little bit won't you? You don’t even have to get him off… at least not right now <3

Though, he’s not keen on asking twice and he’ll definitely not gonna beg.

If you tease him enough, a growl will rumble from his the back of throat as his gold tooth makes itself known.

But when he finally gets you, the grip on your thighs leave an angry bruise in its wake.

Two of his fingers slipping into your plush walls, while he gets lost in thought sucking on his favorite bundle of nerves.

And while this is all happening he'll stare up at you with a degrading look.

"Is that really all it takes for you to submit to me? A few fingers in you and you finally shut up for once. What a spoiled brat you are."