#it’s been a bit of a wacky evening but i’m good now i’m feeling good other than my legs hurt

[autism-disco]

ghhhghhggghggv ok one last go one last stretch and then i rest. what happens from there is the universe

[evienicks]

In Dreams

Summary: The reader is a therapist for the academy; aiding any student or faculty member within it, she’s also Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr’s adopted daughter. One of her favorite patients is a newcomer to the school — Logan Howlett. He’s been having nightmares and asks her for help.

A/n: this is a little drabble from a series in the works for Logan x Fem!Original Character, however, this is a good Y/N insert for anyone to enjoy! Please be kind ✌🏼🤍 Also, Vatti is Dad in German(sorry if you don’t ship CharlesxErik but I do)

Warnings: Mostly fluff, some angst involving Logan’s past and guilt of being vulnerable around Y/N.

—

Click!

“So, Logan, how can I help you today?” He slightly bites his bottom lip and grunts; the one thing, the only thing, that feels like could possibly help Logan is sitting across from him, scribbling in her teal notebook. It was you. From the moment he saw you, Logan knew he would move heaven and earth for you.

But you’re his doctor. Worse, you’re also the only daughter of the men who graciously invited him to stay and offered him a steady job, food, and a place to sleep.

Sleep — the other thing that could help him. Since moving in, Logan has been having nightmares of a time he can’t recall, in a place he can’t describe; but he was there, covered in wires and tubes, in a glass tank encased in water…

His eyebrow twitches and he sighs, rubbing his face slowly with his left hand, “I can’t sleep, Doc.”

Click! He flinches, you gently place your notebook aside and give him a concerned look. “Is it the nightmares again?” He nods and you scooch your chair closer, giving him a gentle pat on his shoulder with a smile, “Well, if you’re up to it, I think I know something that can help. Or at least, give you some time to relax.”

His eyes widen a bit and his cheeks get flushed — if he wasn’t so sleep-deprived, he would reply with a cheeky innuendo, but his brain is currently frazzled by the stunning woman empathizing with his pain.

You respond with the same expression, your cheeks and ears developing a light pink glow, and laugh nervously. “N-n-no, no! Logan, no!” I would if I could. You sheepishly admit to yourself, thank goodness Logan can’t read your mind. You can, as well as lift him up with a thought, quite literally. “I mean, I can help you sleep.” You let out another chuckle, “Have you ever heard of hypno-therapy?”

“Is that a band?” Poor Logan can’t keep up with all of these musicians anymore, “Because, Y/N, I don’t think I’m in the mood for any of that techo-wacky-nonsense.”

You bite your bottom lip to try and hold back a cackle, “Oh Logan…”

He tilts his head back in confusion, “Wha—oh!” You lower his seat back with a snap, then dim the lights with a wave of your hand, and scoot back in your seat. “What in the fuck was that, bub??”

“I’m trying to create a peaceful ambiance.” You light a few scented candles then apply some eucalyptis hand cream, “I’ve had many success stories with this method; while you’re asleep, I’ll overlook what’s going on in your mind. That way, I can get a better idea of what exactly is making you feel distressed. With your permission, of course.” You scooch over to his head and place it in your lap, Logan’s breathing starts to get shaky.

“Hang on. Who exactly?” He looks up curiously, “Can you tell me?”

“It’s not Scott, Lo.” He snorts and you playfully pat his cheek, “It worked for my Vatti, Storm…and Jean…” Now he’s even more curious, “Jean?”

Ugh, of course he’s into her… “Yes Logan, even Jean.” Your smile fades and you take off your glasses, “So, you wanna try it? I promise I won’t hurt you.”

He gives you a little half-smile, trying to relax but growls a bit in exhaustion. “Go ahead Doc,” he yawns and closes his eyes, “I’m willing to try anything once.”

Who knows why, but that remark made the poor doctor turn beet red. You shake it off and gently place your hands between Logan’s head, your index fingers gently rubbing his eyebrows. He groans, “what are you doing?”

You stop, “I-it’s supposed to help relax you. My papa use to do it when I was a girl, and my clients seem to enjoy it.”

“I ain’t complainin’, doll…” he sighs in content, “just don’t stop…”

You are at work, you are at work. Don’t think dirty, you are at work. You continue and Logan lowers his hands to his chest. “Now Lo, you’re going to start feeling warm, like you had a nice cup of coffee.”

“Mhm…”

“Whatever comes in your mind, just know I am right here.”

“Mmm…”

As you gently rub his eyebrows, you can’t help but admire his features; his brown hair freckled with gray, the lines on his forehead, his well-kempt sideburns, those pale-pink lips…

A low noise snaps you back to reality and you couldn’t help but giggle; Logan was out like a light, and his snores slowly start to grow louder in your lap. You can’t help but run your fingers through his hair and smile, how lucky you are that he feels comfortable enough to let his guard down for a second in your care.

You place your right hand gently on his forehead and close your eyes.

Click!

You are now within his dream; you walk along the lab hallways until you find two metal doors. Walking through them like a ghost, you encounter a giant room filled with different machines and tubes; one of the machines encased a silver liquid which had two big tubes attached along to the subject in the tank besides it. You look over into the tank and immediately are taken aback at what you find; it was Logan, the tubes were injected into him, and he was briefly lifeless in the tank, his heart monitor revealing a faint flatline.

No… You could feel tears starting to form when suddenly, the line starts to move. Slowly, then quite rapidly. The tank starts to bubble from the thrashing within, he jolts upright with a warrior-like scream, his claws unsheathed. He rips the tubes out of him and jumps out of the tank, toppling a few lab techs and slashing them to pieces.

You follow him with every move he makes, every life he takes, every cry of agony he exclaimed. His hands were bleeding from the claws, throbbing and shaking. He lets out one more howl then runs for an exit.

Okay, I think it’s time.

You snap back to your office, with Logan still in your lap but now panting and tossing as much as he could. You gently shake him, “Logan, you need to wake up.” He keeps tossing in your lap, his claws slowly poking out. You get up and levitate Logan to the couch, keeping a distance in case he strikes, “Logan!!”

He jumps up in a shriek, claws unsheathed, and looking around the room in distress. You get a bit closer, “Logan, you’re okay. Take a deep breath.” He shakily looks over towards you, claws slowly going back into his knuckles, trying to catch his breath.

You sit besides him and grab his shoulders, “Breathe.” He obeys, shakily through his nose and slowly out his mouth. After a minute or two, he sighs and lays back on the couch, “d-did I…” he gulps, “did I hurt you…?”

Your heart breaks. “No Logan, you didn’t do anything wrong.” With that remark, he holds back what sounds like a sob. He quickly stand up and heads for the door, “I-I gotta go.” He quickly closes the door and heads to his room, needing to kick the shit out of something for almost crying in front of the woman he admires. More so because he ran out of there without even thanking her, You blew it now, you idiot. He groans and kicks his wastebin.

Meanwhile, you were still in your office, going over the notes you’ve obtained during the session. You’re tempted to go over and talk to him, but he needs his space, especially after that jarring session.

You sigh, lean back in your chair, and open your teal notebook. There’s a knock at the door and a new mutant walks in, sheepishly taking a seat across from you, in the chair that once had Logan there.

“So, how can I help you today?”

Click!

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

We are up to seven live airing QLs from Japan! Five of these are on Gaga and two are being generously provided via fansubs.

A brief interlude for me to climb on my soapbox: if you are a fan of Japanese queer media who is not based in Japan, you really should be supporting GagaOOLala. They are the sole international distributor of most of these shows and the only reason international fans can watch them as they release. They’re a queer-owned Taiwanese company specifically focused on providing international access to global queer media, and their monthly subscription is much cheaper than other streaming services. They’re not perfect but they are quite responsive to feedback about their catalogue and approach; please consider subscribing if you love these shows!

I’m really loving most of these shows and I highly recommend jumping in to the weekly watch!

Takara's Treasure

I fall more in love with these two every week. We finally got some answers on Takara's backstory, and as expected, it is the mother who abandoned him that has been harassing him. Taishin blazed in to give that lady a piece of his mind before even realizing who she was, and it only made Takara love him more. The revelation that Takara is holding back with Taishin because he doesn't want to be covetous like his mother sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I loved Taishin getting his moment to reciprocate Takara's care, as well as Takara's amusement that Taishin still hasn't pieced together what they are to each other. I'm excited for it to finally click for him soon.

Sugar Dog Life

I'll be honest, this first episode did not hit right for me. I always struggle with copaganda heavy romances, especially when the show is intentionally framing cops as benevolent and explicitly linking that to the romantic arc. But I liked the cooking parts of it a lot! We'll see how it proceeds. This one is being fan subbed, so if anyone is having trouble finding it feel free to hit me up in DMs and I'll point you.

Cosmetic Playlover

This one is coming in hot with two episodes a week, because Japan is trying to kill me. I like the concept and vibe but the execution is a bit all over the place; it feels like they want this to be a dark story but aren’t willing to fully commit to that, so dark things happen but then get treated too lightly. The pacing also feels a little wacky and we’re rushing through plot and relationship development in a way that leaves it all feeling a bit ungrounded. Sahashi went from harassing and threatening to out Natsume to kissing and claiming to be serious about him in the space of 15 minutes, and then suddenly in the next ep there’s a new villain and suspense plot. This one is just not clicking; I’m tilting my head with a furrowed brow.

I Hear the Sunspot

Sigh. I really didn’t need another arc about a third party interloper coming between the boys, but here we are. Maya is a throwback to the bad old femme fatale archetype steeped in misogyny and I don’t love it. She’s arrogant, manipulative, and mean for no good reason, and she doesn’t feel like she fits in this story about decent people trying their best. There was a way to do this plot with a more sympathetic portrayal of her, but unfortunately they didn't take that route. I’m disappointed that she’s with us for multiple episodes, and it’s hard to believe this rude little girl can really come between them. I said last week that it felt like they regressed Kohei and Taichi’s relationship in the time skip and I’m feeling that even more now. Aside from this mess, I really liked all of Taichi’s scenes with his friends this week as he continues trying to work out his feelings for Kohei. I hope we get back to Taichi and Kohei spending time together again soon; that’s the real heart of this show and I already miss it.

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

Sigh. Last week I was mad at the characters around Hiroko, but this week I am forced to be mad at the show for how it's dealing with this entire plot involving Hiroko's decisions about her privacy at work, Risa's inappropriate interference, and Ayaka's bizarre conclusion that she should announce her love for Hiroko to the whole office. This whole love triangle and forced outing plot was ill-considered and it's dragging the show down; we should not have had Risa being so wrong and manipulative or ventured into queer workplace politics at all if the show wasn't prepared to take it seriously. On the plus side, we finally got the backstory for Hiroko, and it was surprising in a good way. I hope this show can get back to the zany comedy it was doing so well before it got bogged down in all this mess.

Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

Episode 3 just went up on @isaksbestpillow's blog, and it's a fantastic one. I was howling watching Mitsuya wailing on his ex and poor Ishida trying to process this new rival on the scene. Shige continues to be the MVP and I loved the way he encouraged Ishida with a mix of sage advice and sexy sass (also loved that Mitsyua immediately knew that gossip ratted him out). And I screamed again when Ishida got worked up and confessed; I didn't expect that to happen so fast and it was excellent! This show feels so mature in the best way; I really feel like I'm watching adults who have lived.

Tagging @bengiyo to add the anime update!

[sehtoast]

That episode was insane. I’m getting tired of Firecracker’s ass she needs to get on somewhere. The racism the human centipede references the SA jokes like wtf..? I think that was one of the worst ones in the show.

Yeah, i’m… not entirely sure what the point of that episode even was beyond trying to expand their shock factor?  Hands down my least favorite episode to date, and i didn’t think i’d ever have an episode that stood out like that bc i’m honestly a pretty easy-to-please viewer. Hell, till now i’ve felt like s4 has been pretty strong with just a little bit of wavering in ep 5, but this was just… straight up bad. Sure, it feels like a season of pure filler, but the filler was at least strong– especially episode 4 since it gave us such incredible background on homelander.  Anyway, spoilers for s4e6, talks of SA, etc. following under the cut:

I haven’t been a fan of firecracker’s since she walked on screen, and i don’t think that’s going to change. Her character is incitement for the sake of it, which, given the state of the US irl, isn’t unwelcome commentary.  There was a flicker of hope when she did her little “i say this stuff because this is what the people who have nothing else in life need to unite.” For a fraction of an episode, she was interesting!  She was a strong show of how political grifters prey upon ignorance with outrage to turn otherwise normal, lonely people who are desperately seeking unity into the just… trainwrecks they’ve become today.  And then they dropped it. It’s like she lost the awareness of it just as much as the writers did.  She could’ve been really neat, but she’s nothing more than your average outrage manufacturing machine.  I mean… “jewish space lasers?” C’mon man.  Combine it all with the anti-trans rhetoric and it just is… overall sour (i have many thoughts on the anti-trans and other shit they’ve had homelander say insofar as how little he even believes in the shit he parrots [and i do mean parrots, because he has no idea what to do or say when it doesn't work, which we saw again very clearly in today's episode] for the sake of preserving his demos and appealing to politicians, but that’s for another time– maybe?)

As far as the racism and anti-trans stuff (hell, even the word for word parody of that politician who said “legitimate r*pes can’t become pregnancies because the body has ways of shutting it down,” or whatever it was verbatim)-- i think we’re to the point where the writers and kripke have begun to forget that these are things done and said to real people in real time. I understand the point is to show the audience how foul these things are, but there comes a point where it crosses a line and ricochets back to hurting the audience.  For myself, i’m trans. Every other episode containing a line that directly correlates to the real world dehumanization of us for political points is a stomach dropping moment because we’re being actively reminded that our rights are under constant attack. All three times have had like… non existent context relation to anything going on in the show and just feels… baffling? And then it feels bad.  And then it hurts.  The show has done this a couple times where they try to make commentary on the oppressive and cruel shit said about marginalized people (race, gender, etc) and it falls flat and just becomes a slap in the face to the viewer who it was perhaps trying to represent.

The human centipede deal with splinter, i could cope with. I actually laughed, because i can see people with cloning powers doing wild shit like that.  It didn’t seem far off from the context of the show that superhumans with superpowers will do wacky shit with said superpowers.  What we got in today’s episode was… not that. And it wasn’t good.  What we got today was an episode riddled with sexual abuse via CNC that was played as a joke the whole way through.  No, tek and ashley did not know that hughie was in that suit. However, hughie started yelling random words at one point. I’m not versed in kink culture particularly well, but i would think anyone partaking in that sort of act would recognize that as perhaps the sub has forgotten their safe word and they would call it off. That they’re yelling out random, out of context words would be a major, major red flag to cease. But they didn’t. So what we got was extremely unsettling, especially as it settled in more, and it gets played as a joke until hughie cracks at the very end.  Maybe the goal is to make people understand the gravity of sexual abuse toward men since society does tend to treat it as a joke. Maybe, and that’s strong if so! But i’m finding it difficult to understand how a show that put school sh**ting warnings in Gen V, warned of b*astiality during the Deep’s shit, and even just, y’know, hinted at what herogasm would be, could somehow not manage to warn that viewers were about to see someone sexually abused to such an extent.  I have an extremely strong stomach for media. I’ve seen a lot of fucked up shit online that i wish i could unsee, but it’s never made my gut churn like it did after this episode.

I have… a lot of feelings about this episode. I could even probably go into detail on why i think the whole breast milk thing at the end was less than stellar as well (which i'm almost positive i'm standing alone on), but i don’t want to stray too far off the ask content.  I’m just… yeah. This was hands down the worst episode i think the show has, with like two exceptions for a-train's scene with the kid and how hard i laughed at the webweaver shit (but the thing is, WW WANTED help boofing that stuff!!!! difference!!!). Based off critic reviews, i think the next two will be floating around the same degree of bad as well.  Given the last few episodes set the aftertaste of everything, i think the reviews being so negative are probably based upon eps 6-8 being awful.

As usual, we’ll fix it in fanon.

edit: i also need to know what the fixation is this season in making important things happen off screen. starlight gets pregnant off screen, has an abortion. it is central to the plot of starlight v. firecracker, but we're not shown a lick of that exposition. homelander and sage are plotting internment camps??? but we're TOLD, not shown-- which is the ultimate sin in storytelling. like... what is this season actually trying to do beyond just compound shock value?

[mushroomwarning]

A sorta long post on why I believe Lightbulb SHOULDN’T win season 2 and instead, the other three should be the candidates for winners

Before I start this off, PLEASE DONT BE MEAN TO ME WAUGHHH I’m just respectfully sharing my thoughts as someone who loves writing and I don’t even hate Lightbulb. I just don’t think she would make a good winner to make the story feel satisfied! So this isn’t LB neg, okay? Also keep in mind, I haven’t seen S2 in a hot minute so maybe I might get SOME things wrong but I’ll try my best to go on with my side.

Lightbulb

To start off, I’ll say it, Lightbulb as the possible winner of II S2 will be the most predictable and bland of the four possible contenders. Out of the four, she’s the one who’s managed to get the most out of the show, new friends, enjoyable experiences, a new pet, etc. She also has gotten a lot of screen time ( I think? ) and is a fan favorite for her wackiness n such. Yeah, she’s a little sad her friends are gone but she could always go and be with them if she just quit.

Her friends are waiting for her, honestly I’d say that’s a prize enough For her story, being able to go back and be with her friends, enjoying her time with them without worrying about the game anymore. She’s shown to be distraught with TT leaves, just go and be with your friends to stop being in this game that’s made people way more miserable. She’s got the winner attitude but it’s just. Boring. Predictable. Something that would not be that fun by a story standpoint tbh, at least in my opinion

The other three, I feel would make great winners in their own ways.

Baseball

I’ll start with Baseball, definitely an underdog and a guy nobody expects to win. That’s why he would be a wild card as a possible winner! It would shatter people’s expectations completely, but here’s the twist…If Baseball were to win, it could possible tie back into his story with Nickel. with Baseball probably thinking Nickel would pressure him to share the prize with him and his thoughts of how much of a doormat he’s been for others, Baseball could make his own decision without others influencing him, giving up the prize and giving it to the second place winner, which could be Suitcase or Knife it doesn’t matter.

THAT WOULD BE COOL WOULDN’T IT? Something that ties together Baseballs story thematically eh eh?

Knife

Anyways, Now onto Knife. He’s different from the other three in that, while he hasn’t lost anything like Suitcase or Baseball ( if I remember correctly), unless you count his dignity, he hasn’t gained anything either, unlike Lightbulb. He’s very much a pretty intelligent and strategical person, very much someone who could easily win if it played his cards correctly. There’s also a bit of a lesson he learns from S1 to S2, due to Trophy.

He learns to become less rash, mellowing out after Trophy gave him a bit of a reality check to the way he acts, even if the way he showed him wasn’t the best in the slightest, Knife learns to control his temper, mellowing out and instead uses his smarts to advance more in the game without relying on others and even gives advice to people Like Suitcase, Pickle and Microphone as he goes on.

He learns to be a better person and would honestly make a good contender for first, to reward him for his growth and change, or maybe second place if you want to show his new found humbleness in regards to his emotions

Suitcase

As for suitcase, while she’s sort of predictable as well, she isn’t as predictable as Lightbulb due to the events that she’s gone through and honestly is sort of the most deserving thematically to win out of everyone. Unlike Lightbulb, she’s lost a lot, not really gaining many friends excluding Balloon and gained mental health issues due to the treatment Nickel was giving her. This game has not treated her well in the slightest and she gains growth as time goes on, learning to stand up for herself and speak on her own.

She very much deserves the prize but at the same time, I don’t think she would care if she won or lost. She’s lost a lot and learned from her experiences in the game

Conclusion!

BUT YES. these are my reasons for why Lightbulb should not win. The others have very nice thematic reasons for why they could win but Lightbulb basically gained way WAYY more then they have out of the experience

But yeah, my ranking would go

Lightbulb- not a winner, Fourth place

Baseball - First place ( gives up prize) or Third

Knife - First or Second place

Suitcase - First or Second place too

[sadie-bug345]

greasers when they’re sick

i myself have been deathly ill for the past week so whilst i am bedridden i’m writing this🤡🙆‍♀️🤩 ANYWAYS LETS GO

ponyboy:

hates missing school solely cause my guy despises talking to teachers abt what he missed

also cause he thinks he gets super behind when guy just skipped one day of school😭

probably holes himself up in his and sodas room and when soda comes in to check on him after work it’s like PITCH black and pony is just sitting in a pile of tissues

”what do YOU want?” says pony with a voice similar to kermit the frog cause bros nose is SO stuffed up

and soda just assumes pony is in one of his moody, poetry reciting moods again and slowly exits the room, leaving only a baloney sandwich in his wake💀🤡😭

johnny:

def the type to not accept help

like he would go to school sick and the second someone brings up how his voice is screwed up he’s like 😐”what’re you sayin bout me?”

if the gang does quarantine him to a room he’d def just be able to entertain himself and prob come up with his own secret language and fictional multiverse or smth

idk he just gives the type to be fully okay with being alone for a bit but the meds he’s on make him all wacky too so it’s an interesting mix for sure

sodapop:

i’m sorry this guy has the most nastiest cough 😭

idc if he doesn’t smoke a lot he just got those mucusy coughs

other than that everyone’s having a good time, making jokes and feeling good and then soda pauses his laughter and unleashes the most rattley cough and then everyone just goes quiet and he just looks like 😃

definitely unfazed by sickness in general

until one day my guy just has the worst time and breaks downnnn🥰

we’ve all been there too esp when you’re sick and shit just goes downhill and everything sucks and you hate everything and everyone

darry:

now johnny doesn’t accept help but that’s NOTHING compared to darry

he has peak older-sibling syndrome and is just used to only helping other people

so when those people that he takes care of flip the script, my guy is just weirded outtt

like he def appreciates two trying to make him soup but he just doesn’t know how to react

goes lowk crazy with not being able to work or straighten up the house just cause he always feels like he’s gotta do SOMETHING productive with his time

dally:

i’m sorry but guy is def the type to go to school FULLY sick and either not say a word about it or complain like a lil bitch the whole time

also he totally smokes while he has a cough like soda which is so unhealthy i can’t even😭

just overall his habits and life doesn’t get upended by “some fuckass cold” (his words, not mine)

like bro please you just gotta rest sometimes😭

the gang is able to get him to stay at the curtis’ couch one day and bro just WIPES OUT

istg he’s out for like 15 hours straight in the full daytime and everyone is scared to walk past in case they wake him up

but dally is a crazy heavy sleeper so he actually gets a lot better after calming down for once🥰

two-bit:

honestly stays home from school like a normal person

except bro gets one cold and then just doesn’t show up to school for like two weeks😭

and it’s not cause he’s a wimp it’s just cause guy finds an excuse to skip out for a so called “vacation” and he rolls with it

and then he’ll just spawn back in on campus like a month later like nothing happened and everyone just expected two to take a dare too far and end up in the hospital🤡

steve:

CANT STOP WONT STOP

bro just pushes thru the pain😭

he probably takes way too much of the recommended dose of general meds (don’t do this please🧍‍♀️)

and then goes all loopy for hours straight

and people are kinda sus about it but honestly it’s steve so who is really all that surprised

LMAO THAT SOUNDS MEAN SORRY STEVE

ANYWAYSSSS i think imma post a romantic kinda sick reader x greaser thing so that’ll hopefully come out soon while im still coughing my lungs out🫶

[glitcheslikeslego]

Show Me Your Moves! (Chapter 9)

AO3 STORY

tw: reader uses a knife at the end

Chapter 9 : Sketch

Sketch is a non-damaging move that allows the user to copy the opponent's move permanently, replacing Sketch. 

You internally cursed Tang out in your head as you spotted an energetic MK painting along with Sandy. 

For a second, you were glad that MK appeared to be back to normal, but then you remembered the madness that was his Artist Clone. You remember that it only took 15 hours for Porty to go on his power trip, and you were pretty sure Artist was earlier than Porty, and that’s why you felt that off feeling as you watched MK take two paint brushes and begin painting even more.

“How long has he been at this?” You whisper-asked Sandy, who whispered back that he’s been painting for about Five hours now. You shuddered. Five hours already? Ten hours or less left to go…

Two hours.

The clone lasted for two hours.

“It needs to be better. It needs to be better.” The Artist Clone muttered to himself as he painted an intricate mural of MK dancing, surrounded by clones playing different instruments.

Despite its beauty, Artist didn’t seem pleased with it.

“I think it’s pretty good, MK.” Sandy said, and you felt fear strike into your very soul when Artist MK turned to the two of you with an insane look on his face.

“Pretty good? Pretty good!? That’s not good enough.” You and Sandy cowered and hugged each other as Artist MK yelled at you two. “You asked me to help paint your boat and that’s what I’m gonna do. I won’t stop until it’s perfect!” 

“I think it’s already perfect, MK.” You decided to stay, and he glared at you, making you even more nervous.

There was a small beat of silence, Artist MK’s eye twitched, then he attacked.

Sandy stood in front of you, hoping his natural strength could hold Artist MK back, but Artist MK’s funky mystic monkey powers easily kicked Sandy’s butt. Startled, you were powered up again, much like how you were back at the Weather Station, instead this time, the waves of the water became harsh, rocking the boat.

This didn’t intimidate the Artist Clone, and he ended up tying you and Sandy up before returning to his painting.

“Hey.” Sandy whispered to you, tied up suspended in the air. “Since when could you do that? The water thing?”

Ah, you forgot he was technically a water demon…

“The water thing? Just now, but apparently I’ve been unlocking these wacky abilities since Red Son took over the Weather Station. Remember when I punched that Bull Clone?” Your boss nodded. “Well, I also was covered in electricity, which totally short circuited the clone.”

Sandy nodded in understanding, and for the next few hours, you sat on the ground uncomfortable as Artist MK constantly painted over the murals he made over and over again, complaining about imperfections all the while.

“Yes, yes, the art is seeping into my pores!” Artist MK dragged a pink coated paintbrush across his face with an insane grin. “Just needs… One. More. Coat.” He turned to you and Sandy slowly, scaring the heck out of the two of you. 

“You missed a spot!”

“Where!?” Artist Clone then disappeared in a puff of dust and hair, and the real MK appeared. 

“Hey, MK. Mystic Monkey business?” Sandy asks knowingly, and MK nods. 

“How many of those clones did you make?” You ask curiously, maybe he’d give you an actual answer as to how many he actually made and not just the main three clones from this episode. 

Instead, he yelled out about Mei and rushed off, and you remembered that he’s better off saving her before she probably gets actually obliterated by that claw machine if he didn’t make it like last time. 

“So… now what?” Sandy wiggled a bit, making him swing side to side. 

“I think I can do something…” You replied. You wiggled around some too before one of your LEGO claw hands popped out of the ropes. You grabbed a knife from your pocket. 

“Since when did you have that!?” Sandy helps out in alarm, and you chuckle. 

“Since you hired me? You have quite a few of these just laying around in the store. I actually feel kind of comfortable walking around if I have an unreasonably sharp object to protect me.” You replied, easily cutting the ropes that Artist MK tied you in before freeing Sandy. 

“I don't think that’s a good thing.” Sandy said as you freed him, easily landing on his feet. 

You shrug. “Eh, what else do I have?”

He grabbed the knife from you with an unimpressed look on his face. “Those super strong powers you just admitted to having?”

You stared blankly for a second before pointing finger guns at him. “Touché.” 

~~~

<PREV ~ NEXT>

[sacr3d-joeyxx]

The new hire pt. 2

Slipknot x Reader

TW: Alcohol

“Then you’ll really see the band in a different light~”

That circled through your head, over and over again until you knew that you should probably join them for the night out..The way Paul said it to you; it seemed to not be an offer but more of a demand for you to show up…

It’s barely even 10pm but it’s pitch black.. but you were told to meet back up at the green room, they had a change of plans and the supervisor of Slipknot asked them to just stay in the green room instead of going out and spending god knows how long out there. There was subtle music playing it wasn’t loud but you could hear it from outside

*Knocking*

The music was turned down a bit but you could still hear it… The green room door opens and your surprised by the tallest member, Jim there in the doorway with..no mask on..

“Y/N it’s so good to see you…”

He had no mask on, why did he have no mask on? Did everyone else have their mask on or was it off like Jim’s? Why would they show you their faces so early on..it’s barely even been more than ten hours since you met them in person…

“What’s the matter? Thought we would have our masks on?”

You looked at him, his eyes locking with yours..it was like that for what felt like hours..but you broke eye contact once he stepped inside and offered you his hand to lead you into the green room. Your question about if they were still wearing their masks was answered..the masks were off but you could still see to stage makeup they wear underneath the masks..it was all smudged and the makeup would follow their trails of sweat down their faces.

“Hey there~ Y/N”

You now were just trying to learn which one had you already met when they had a mask on…there’s no telling who is who besides Jim..he looks like a lamppost for crying out loud..in the mask and even outside of it..it’s funny how he looks so much more laid back without the mask. He could tell you were trying to find out who was who so he cleared his throat and clapped his hands together.

“Do you actually want to meet them? Y’know outside of the mask?”

You paused.

“Yeah, it would help a lot..”

Jim chuckled and looked at Paul.

Someone clear his throat and it sounded fairly familiar, but you can’t be for certain yet.. He stood up, then proceeded to stretch and walk over towards the cooler they had in front of the small tv in the room. He bent down and opened it and grabbed a beer then opened it for you and walked over to hand it to you…His presence was nice and comfortable..you think it’s Paul..

“Oh..thank you Paul..~”

You guessed correctly because he smiles and he says you’re welcome, his eyes are a lot prettier when they are outside of the mask..you took a sip of beer..then another one…You feel like something is missing so you look around and begin to count all of the bodies in the room and you count up to 8..someone is missing..but who..it doesn’t matter because Paul somehow reads your mind.

“Mick, doesn’t really join us when we drink..he just stays away when we do this”

You chuckled at the fact that you didn’t even ask the question yet but you got an answer..creepy you guess..you take a couple more sips until you end up finishing your beer..

“So, y’all just drink your asses off before traveling again?”

Paul chuckles at the fact that you finished your beer already and her goes over to the cooler again to get another beer for you, but you stop him and ask him if he has something more…y’know something alcoholic not just beers.

“Well, well, well~ you like harder stuff like the rest of us?”

You nod softly

“I’ll go shot for shot if someone is up for it”

The room goes silent for a sec until Sid stands up, it’s easier to tell who is who if you watch their body movements..Sid looks you up and down sizing you up to see how many shots he’ll have to take.

“You’ll be out in 13 shots~”

Sorry, if the formats are still wacky, I’m still deciding on the layout!! Xoxo

[scarlettsabetlondongirl]

GQ magazine

By Jimmy Page and Scarlett Sabet

22 January 2021

Scarlett Sabet: So, a year since Catalyst, what are your thoughts?

Jimmy Page: Well, my thoughts on Catalyst being a living entity a year on: I’m really pleased that we did it and relieved that we did a project that I had in my mind. I had it in my head, at various stages, the characters of the poems. To arrive where we arrived, with something that was really avant-garde, that had not been done before, was really thrilling. It was a “catalyst”, but also a milestone that others hadn’t got to yet.

SS: I think that’s it. You were so passionate and fired up about it and your vision was so clear and distinct, so although before we did it I couldn’t fully comprehend it, I never questioned what you wanted to do. During the recording and production of the album I trusted what you were doing implicitly. We created a new language. Each poem on the album was an important landmark. With the exception of “Rocking Underground”, which I wrote in 2012, you were the first person to hear all the other poems.

JP: Yes, yes, that’s a good point. I was the first person to hear all of those poems. But I also had the pleasure to hear you read on numerous occasions, in a variety of circumstances as well. So I got to feel these poems and to recognise the character of each one and certain cadences you would employ during your readings. I don’t think you ever read one poem exactly the same, because you were breathing new life into it every night. All these things were registering with me. What I didn’t want to do was what people assumed it would be: poems with music behind it. Well, that’s what everyone would think. And I certainly didn’t want to think in the normal sort of way. I wanted to think of it in another way altogether. Let’s do what I know is right and that you know is right, so I presented you with something that, yes, will be musical, it will sound orchestral, but it’s all done with the human voice. And that’s where we arrived at the territory of things that hadn’t been done before.

SS: Yes, that’s really well said.

JP: “Rocking Underground”, I heard you read that at your first poetry reading at World’s End Bookshop in Chelsea and that really got to me. I thought, “Wow, she’s really living this,” and not only that, but that’s a really fine poem. It was a narrative and really interesting. From that point on, having seen your writing and your publications, I thought it was really great you self-published so you didn’t have other people getting in the way of it.

SS: Well, that was thanks to you. I took your advice to self-publish.

JP: “Rocking Underground” was the first poem. I got you to record it on an old Sony cassette player and once you’d done a performance you were happy with, then I got you to track it. Now, this is where the unexplained comes into the equations. I’d used the cassette before, but on this occasion, it played back with this noisy, metallic sound, like an announcement on an underground tube, and, of course, it was written on a train.

SS: Yes, it was written on the Tube in London and I think there is a misnomer that “Rocking” in the title is a reference to rock music. It isn’t. The word “Existing” could replace “Rocking” in the title and the meaning would be the same.

JP: Yes, I’m pleased you said that. And what was played back on the cassette gave an atmosphere that gave an identity to the piece, almost like an invocation. I wanted you to double track it. I knew you’d be able to do that. So there was a metallic-sounding voice, then a more natural sounding voice on top. So that was a great start and you could see that my ideas were a bit wacky. Interestingly enough, when Catalyst was released Phil Alexander played “Rocking Underground” on his Kerrang! Radio show and then he played a Led Zeppelin song afterwards and I thought that was really cool.

SS: It was “Dazed And Confused”.

JP: Well, that’s even better, because that’s the more avant-garde side of what I’ve managed to create in the past, something akin.

SS: You really captured the atmosphere of that and, on a personal note, it was the first poem you saw me read at my first ever poetry reading, so in that way it was a landmark. Also, when I wrote it it was unusual compared to what I had previously written, so that poem was the beginning and you were at the beginning with me, in a way. “Rocking Underground” was also the title of my first book, which I self-published on your advice, to keep creative control. So I think we both knew this poem was going to be opening this album.

JP: The other poem I knew I wanted to try with you was "The Fifth Circle Of Hell”. Every time I witnessed you read that poem, there was such a response, people holding their breath and then a spontaneous applause. I knew how strong it was. So for the recording of it, rather than putting too many textures on it, because of the vocal performance and what was being said and what was being covered in it, I wanted a more locked-in double tracking, not just the power of one voice saying this, but two voices riding all the way through, to make the message even stronger. And you felt at home with these experimental techniques.

SS: I remember so clearly writing it. It had been forming in my mind and then it all came out in one sitting.

JP: Yeah, you did do it in one afternoon. You were channelling, like it was inside you and it had to come out and it did come out. The first time you read it to me I was really impressed, I’ve got to say.

SS: I was really excited to read it to you, because it was so different and really long and it was the narrative of what I wanted to say and I caught it in this rhythm. You were in a meeting in another part of the house and I remember once you had finished saying, “I think I’ve written something.” It was a creative landmark for me.

"To arrive where we arrived, with something that was really avant-garde, that had not been done before, was really thrilling. It was a “catalyst”, but also a milestone that others hadn’t got to yet."

JP: The thing is, it’s as relevant now as it was then.

SS: The tone of the poem on Catalyst is very aggressive. It’s almost demonic.

JP: Yes, it is. It takes on a different character from how you read it. “Cut Up” was the third track we recorded and you came out with a way of reading it that I had never heard before.

SS: I realised that I needed to adapt the performance for the format: we were making a record. It wasn’t a live poetry reading, where that poem becomes very impassioned.

JP: It was a totally different pacing and it was incredible, the whole hypnotic, mantric quality to it, and as you were doing it I knew I wanted to use an effect that I had used way back in the days of Led Zeppelin.

SS: On which track?

JP: Well, I did it on “You Shook Me”, which is at the end of the first album. You can hear it, but I used it differently on Catalyst. With “Cut Up”, I wanted it to be there, faintly in the background, and it to be an entity to creep in and become more and more audible as things go on, until at the end it builds and it’s almost like a conflict. Again, I knew this hadn’t been done before with spoken word.

SS: That had started as a super-long draft of a poem, written by hand, and it got to the point it was almost 20 pages. I couldn’t really stand it and felt I wanted to do something radical, destroy and dismantle what I had written, then rebuild it. So I remember I cut it up with scissors and because there was rhythm in the pre-existing phrases, the rhythm remained and it incorporated its own dark rhythm as well.

JP: It was remarkable and you were really on fire at this point. But this is how it was in the studio between the two of us, sparking off ideas.

SS: The actual recording was amazing and we were lucky to do it at home, being so comfortable, literally at home, and being with you: the trust between us, it made me brave. I wanted to meet you in that moment.

JP: And we did that. We arrived at that. To hear you do it in a different vein and rate and tempo, it was inspiring for me to come up with ideas. It was powerful.

SS: The first tracks are intense and really confront the listener and then “Euphoric Kiss” comes in and in the version on the album you can hear me laugh at the beginning. It was May when we recorded it, so after a long British winter, everything was coming alive again and I was filled with the joy of creating this piece of work together and it’s a poem I wrote as I was falling in love with you. It’s a love poem, but defiant, and a code between us and it felt joyous to record it.

JP: Yeah, that was beautiful. This was one of the tracks where the poem alone would speak volumes. It needed just the naked honesty of it.

SS: Yes. When I'd perform that poem live, sometimes I'd improvise parts of it. The audience wouldn't know, necessarily, but you would.

JP: I think improvisation is the key to live performance, the people that know your work can see that you're not content to just go through the motions, that you're really hitting it every night in such a way that you're creating and changing the inflections of the poem, the song, whatever it is. Certainly within your poetry I could see you were capable of doing this and moulding things as you were performing them.

SS: You've created these phenomenal, electrifying live performances throughout your life. Are there some that stand out more distinctly to you, especially in terms of live performances, whether it be in a huge stadium or smaller venues or a studio?

JP: On occasion I've reviewed some work I've done in my own environment, from the home studio I had in the 1970s, where I had the facility to multitrack and layer guitars and other instruments as well. Whatever fires that off is the initial inspiration to create a piece. I'm sure it's the same as writing a poem. You get the inspiration for it and you build it and it takes shape.

SS: Yeah.

JP: And it's not necessarily a really long process. It's something that's really coming out. So under the circumstances of a live situation, I've heard versions of “Dazed And Confused”, for example, four nights a row on tour and I was surprised just how much improvisation there was each night, which I didn't repeat on any other night. To hear them decades later and hear what the mindset was... It was just allowing things to come through. They're unreleased.

SS: Do you have specific memories of when you've walked off stage after a performance or improvisation and just known, "Wow. That one was really..."

JP: Well, I particularly went on stage to do that sort of thing, so even though there was a set list, just walking up the steps to go on stage I knew what the numbers were going to be and I knew that there were little signs for the improvising sections that meant to the other, "Right this is going to change gear," and it was going to be something new, so they were just going to have to pay attention to these signs that would occur. So these whole passages would come out and then I would change it again into another one and that's really living by the seat of your pants, but I really enjoyed doing it and fortunately I was able to. I've really built my whole reputation on improvisation and spontaneous music. I can appreciate it in somebody else, certainly you. I could see you were breathing new life into poems every night.

SS: “Possession” was very intimate. I also adapted the performance of that piece. I wanted it to be intimate and it’s sensual and spiritual. I guess that’s why it’s just presented as it’s recorded.

JP: Yes. Then it goes into “And My Lungs Fill Ecstatic Song”.

SS: Oh, yes! Well, that was written when I was walking by the River Thames in Sonning. I was inspired by the landscape. I wrote some notes. It wasn’t until we went away that December that I started experimenting with those lines and cut them up, rearranged the structure. In that poem I also wanted to evoke almost the muscle memory of writing the poem, the feeling in my legs and the adrenaline, trying to capture it in lines. In poetry readings, I accelerate in the last verse, but in the production of this track you really accomplished what I wanted to convey. But we didn’t even have a conversation about it. You just knew and you did.

JP: Given the way you read this, it felt quite mantric and, as you say, there’s a pacing to it. I definitely wanted to bring all of that out, and make it quite orchestral in the way that it starts and develops and really pulsates. It has such a dynamic to it. And this is really what I meant when I said the album wouldn’t be with instruments, but it will sound orchestral and going into areas no one has done before.

SS: Ah, and then the next is “For Jack”, which is a love poem or eulogy for Jack Kerouac. I started writing it in the months leading up to The Town And The City Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, which is Kerouac’s birthplace and where he is buried. So the poem’s inaugural reading was in Kerouac’s birthplace. I’m so moved by his work. He was so sensitive and spiritual. He tapped into something in the zeitgeist, expressed it in this new freeform way and he got huge praise and ridicule for it and he bore the brunt of both. He’s always affected me and I wanted to try to capture him. The word “You” is the opening of each line, addressing Kerouac directly. When I read it at City Lights, Peter Marvelis said that I had really captured [Kerouac] and what had happened to him. I think we knew we had to include this poem as part of Catalyst, because this album is kind of in the spirit of the beat writers.

JP: There was this whole movement going on in the 1950s and 1960s in literature and in music.

SS: What was the first poem that stood out to you as a young person ? I remember at primary school age, under ten, I remember Robert Louis Stevenson poems and then, after that, when I was older, WB Yeats and Coleridge. Then I discovered Bob Dylan, then Allen Ginsberg then Kerouac.

JP: Yes, I was introduced to poetry when I was at school and I realised reading poetry in the class room, en masse, that it went into another dimension and then I appreciated the metre of it, the construction. I was quite taken with the Victorian Romantic poets, Byron, Keats, Shelley. When I was in my mid-teens, I paid a lot of attention to Christopher Logue. He released an EP called Red Bird in 1959. I absolutely adored it. I adored what they were doing. It was actually jazz, with Logue reading his poems, but it wasn't freeform, it was really constructed and really exciting.

SS: I remember when you played me that.

JP: I was really impressed with the way that he read his poems, sometimes really fast and other times in a melancholic way. It meant a lot to me when I heard it. I took it in, because it was someone who had done something new and not only that it was absolutely amazing and not many people knew of it. And, of course, Christopher Logue performed at the International Poetry Incarnation in 1965 at the Royal Albert Hall.

SS: You were there that night.

JP: I was there. Allen Ginsburg performed that night with some of the other San Francisco beat poets. I had come across “Howl” and read it and when many people read that poem it changed their life and I was one of them.

SS: Same.

JP: Burroughs and Gysin experimented with cutup and I know they had done work at the BBC, literally cutting up analogue tapes and putting them together. That’s something I considered to be really moving things in a different direction from what they had been before. That was exactly how I thought about music. And at the same time, you had Krzysztof Penderecki, his ode to Threnody, to the victims of Hiroshima. That texture of the orchestra had such an effect on me, all through my work, in Led Zeppelin and what I was trying to do with the bow and sonic waves and my ideas for what we did on Catalyst. I also liked The New Music – a later album of Penderecki. Also during that time in the late 1950s early 1960s, I discovered electronic music records by John Cage, Luciano Berio, Ilhan Mimaroglu. It all had such an effect, these textures. And what they were doing in musique concrète is what I feel we were doing with Catalyst, an extension of that. The whole adventure of Catalyst was done over a few days and I’m really thrilled we did it in such a compact amount of time. We spent exactly the right time on each thing, nothing was laboured. It was all so enthusiastic and inspirational.

SS: Yes, it really was. We knew where we were coming from with this project and your passion for it was like a suit of armour. I’m so proud of what we created. I always want to do something experimental and the one thing I’ve always tried to do is keep challenging myself, push myself creatively, not keep doing the same thing over and over again. To stay “alive” and connected as an artist I think it’s important to keep being brave and do different things.

JP: Yes, that’s absolutely the way to go about one’s work.

SS: You’ve never played it safe and gone down the commercial route.

JP: I think it’s more satisfying to throw down the gauntlet to yourself, take on the challenge and then come out with something where you’ve really pushed yourself. To actually do something unique and new. Les Paul said to me, “You know what you can do? Same picture, different frame.” So you never lose the main part of your character, that’s recognised, but you adjust the framing of the picture.

SS: Wow. You’ve definitely done that.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Crafting A Comic: Frog Alarmclock And The Fabric Of Time

For a long time, I’ve wanted to make a webcomic.

I’ve written two webcomics, Legend of the Hare and Saffron and Sage, but I didn’t draw either of them. And I’ve always been a little self-conscious about that, and harbored a desire to make a comic all by myself, art and all. This desire has been inflamed lately by the success of ForEach, a comic made by one of my discord mods. It’s getting kind of popular, and already has more interest and engagement that Saffron and Sage, something I’m very normal and well-adjusted about, and I’ve been thinking this is something that’s in my power to make. My art, while still limited, is finally at the point where I can do this, and I’ve been writing forever. All I need is a plan.

I have never been a good planner, and it shows a lot in my comics, so I want to have a lot more of the comic written out and planned before pencil comes to paper than I traditionally have done, and I‘d like to turn this brainstorming into Content for you all. It’s a critical part of the writing process, and one that gets glossed over a lot, in part because it leads to slightly rambling essays. But I do have one thing to start with: a protagonist.

(Art by HolyHandGrenade)

Frog Alarmclock is a young woman being trained to join a coven of powerful witches who stitch the fabric of time. She has very little interest in this grand destiny, and is a bit of a stereotypical NEET loser despite her great magic power. Her name, Frog, comes from a knitting term referring to a way of correcting mistakes, but obviously frog-the-animal theming is cute and marketable. I’ve posted a bit about this character on my discord, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, so I think there’s some potential here worth mining. So far, though, the only plot element I’ve been able to come up are

Frog lives with her Grandma, who trains her. Grandma’s power level has fluctuated wildly in my rough drafts, from “generic witch” to “personally gets into fights with Satan in hell”, and I’ve been leaning towards the higher end. Frog and Grandma don’t get along. I’m giving her the placeholder name “Batra”. It sounds witchy, sounds batty, and it comes from batrachia, which means Frog, so it fits the theming subtly.

Frog lives in a Florida suburb. I don’t remember why I settled on Florida specifically, and that may change, but I do like the idea that this cosmic entity lives in kind of a slummy neighborhood. I may move them to Lowell, MA, which is closer to home and an aesthetic I know better.

Frog has a crush on a pink biker chick with pig theming, the Miss Piggy to her Kermit. For the time being, lets call this character Susie Pepper. Susie from “Sus” the latin word for pig, and Pepper because Peppa Pig. It’s a placeholder name.

That’s all I got so far. Even the name, “Frog Alarmclock and the Fabric of Time” is placeholder I made up just now while writing this. I’ve written a few random short stories of this character, trying to get a feel for her, and I even made her my character in a weekly Pathfinder game. But it’s time to try and get a proper story going. With Legend of the Hare, I had a huge over-arcing five-year plan for each layer in the tower, but little sense of where the comic was going to be in three pages, which led to a lot of problems. With Saffron and Sage, I set out with a vague over-arching storyline of “Saffron must rescue her prince”, and kept the comic to short episodic self-contained stories, taking heavy inspiration from Gunnerkrigg Court. Saffron would go on wacky adventures, and rescuing Faunus would be some vague future goal she was theoretically working towards in the same way Ash Ketchum wanted to be a Pokemon Master but took 20 years to get around to that. This worked better, but led to the comic feeling very aimless and meandering, which is part of why it’s turned increasingly farcical. In some ways, my two comics would be better served by switching protagonists. Saffron is very driven in a way suited for a somewhat goofy battle shounen, and if Jill set out on an adventure to rescue Riley she’d be distracted more easily and it’d lend itself better to an adventure-of-the-week format.

Frog, being a NEET loser, is closer to Jill than to Saffron. And suddenly, just from that sentence, I know what I want to do with this comic now. Writing this essay has given me one of those Eureka moment that happens sometimes, when you go from no ideas to the entire plot of the comic all at once. Frog is Jill if she was the Rabbit Champion for a few years before the story started. They’ve got different personalities, of course, Frog isn’t just Jill with a big hat, but this is the throughline I needed. I can work with this, get a first draft done, get an editor to look at it, and report back to you with more detail.

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (The Dark Souls of comic strip reading assignments) – October 1956

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

October 5, 1956

An interesting week of philosophical discussion contrasting the values of optimistically living in the moment vs cynically hyperfixating on the negative aspects of the future. The kids loved it.

October 7, 1956

I don’t think I’ve ever seen time get played with like this in a comic this old. Schulz’s willingness to experiment like this really does a good job both keeping the strip feeling fresh and (somewhat) modern decades later.

October 10, 1956

Oh come on! “He’s always felt that nobody really liked me either!” is RIGHT THERE!

October 16, 1956

These kind of “kids say the darndest things” strips are starting to feel a bit out of place. For one thing most of the cast feels a bit too old these days to be having these sorts of wacky misconceptions. Second, most of this kind of humor has now been offloaded onto Lucy and Linus with Charlie Brown acting as the mature straight man. So when Charlie Brown suddenly doesn't know how pants work it feels a tad out of character. 

It kind of explains why Schulz kept introducing very small children into the cast even very late into it’s run. Eventually a character just has too much history and experience for these kind of jokes to feel authentic anymore.

October 18, 1956

I’m not explaining who Lassie is. I refuse to believe that much time has passed.

October 28, 1956

First off, I appreciate that pumpkin. 

Second, Charlie Brown’s dad is either a massive asshole or having financial issues in a very concerning way.

Third, I think Shulz should have leaned more into Shermy being the neighborhood rich kid. Maybe not Richie Rich levels of wealth but giving him some more explicit “my dad makes 6-figures” energy could have been a fun gimmick and justified keeping him around.

October 31, 1956

Actually, he’s just a really big fan of Lovecraft.

[hope-to-hell]

Winter’s bite. Helmut Zemo x Reader. Smut, bondage, s/m dynamics, brief wounds/broken bones, post-unsnapping. This is a conversation, a persuasion, an attack on dignity and a breaking-open of the hollows left inside those who were gone-then-not. Zemo has some trouble dealing with loss.

—-

Hey, yeah, listen. I know it’s been a while, and I guess maybe you’re not so thrilled to see me but here we are and you said talk, so I’m gonna talk and you’re gonna listen; maybe you’ll find those little tells you’re hoping for. There’s been all this running and hiding and yeah, sure, a little bit of dying— but don’t hold it against me. It’s like this: here one minute and gone the next, which doesn’t matter much because if you’re nothing then you’ve got nothing to worry about, ya dig?

Well. Until everyone and their dog gets unsnapped and suddenly you’re looking at your own shinbones all wet and sticky because you were thirty feet up the side of a building that doesn’t exist anymore. Listen, I didn’t want to see my own marrow and I know you don’t want to hear about it either, but I’m one of the lucky ones. Lot of people were falling out of the sky, you know. They came back but their airplanes didn’t. And there’s others, too: so many of us were in the wrong place all of a sudden, part of the miraculous rebirth for less than a heartbeat before dying in some stupid way or other.

Maybe we just should’ve stayed gone. Maybe then there’d be at least an ending even if there was never any closure, but like. Coming back has been this weird no-man’s-land where I’m legally dead, physically alive, and mentally still five years in the past. So yeah. Maybe bringing us back was a mistake. Z doesn’t agree, but then again he’s real close with loss; he wears it on his chest in bloody ribbons and he’ll tell you no no, nothing personal, don’t take it so hard when he’s stepping on your neck. ‘Course it’s personal, though. It always is with him: he’ll take your eye for a slight, and for losing a loved one? Christ, he’ll burn the world. Don’t make him angry, and for fucksake don’t take from him, because he’s got a long memory and a hell of a lot of imagination in the whole pain-and-suffering department.

So anyway. I’m laying there with pins in my legs and my ears all full of beep beep beep every time my vitals go a little wacky, and this motherfucker comes strolling in with a face like he’s filing taxes— you know, that neutral if I must with just a tinge of murder underneath— and all he says is hmm. No hi how are you, no thank the stars you’re safe, just that look. He’s gonna take whatever’s in his head and let it eat at him until it all comes pouring out, and when it does— oh, it’s really gonna be something.

Like now.

Do you know why you’re here? he’s asking, but it’s not a question, not really. It’s a trap. Not like there’s anything to do but see this through; he’s real fucking good with rope and he’s made sure to get the knots right over the most painful pressure points. And it’s cold; everything he says hangs solid in the air, like he could grab hold of his you were gone, you left and drive it deep, past bone and meat right down to where my heart’s beating hard enough to crack ribs, and listen. Listen. Fuck. I know maybe this part makes you feel all icky but you’re gonna hear it anyway. And hell, maybe it’ll get you feeling all antsy. Maybe you’ll be jerking off to this in the middle of the night. I don’t mind.

I just wanna make sure you know he waited til all my bones were knitted together, all those strands of shredded muscle repaired and revitalized— and I don’t want to see another treadmill as long as I live; I walked backwards on that fucking thing for hours— he waited with the patience of a thousand fallen saints so he could wake me up one midnight with his gloved hand heavy over my mouth and and his breath carrying ice into my ear. You are well, he said, like he was talking about the weather, but you know it’s always winter wherever he goes. You are well, you are whole, but through all those years there was a rift in the world in the shape of your flesh.

So, anyway. Buckle up, big guy; I know you’re desperate to know where he’s gone, and I know it’s more than anger, more than vengeance; you think I can’t see it but it’s all over your face. You’re not as good a liar as you ought to be after— well. Don’t let me get off track here, not when I’m about to get to the juicy part. Now, where was I? Right.

So there I am buck-ass naked— ha— with my knees going all pitted from kneeling on concrete, tied up tighter than anything, and he’s even got mirrors all around because you know how Z is. You know he wants you to see exactly what he’s doing to you from every angle but it’s more than that: this way he can see the effect of every little thing he does, every tiny detail he adds to make sure he’s got you exactly where he wants you to be. If I could move enough to look down, I bet I’d see rice all over the floor, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it was thousands of tiny garnets. Like I said, details. If he’s gonna make it hurt, you can bet he’ll do it beautifully.

Have you ever been fingered by a man in leather gloves? Listen. It’s— it’s a lot, especially when he’s crouched down right there with me, one hand wrapped around the ropes at my back and the other one two fingers deep and thrusting hard. No warmup, no preamble, just the sound of his boots, then that nasty spit-slicked do you understand grief? Have you felt the bile that chokes, or the bruises that bloom across your ribcage from the inside?

Five years. Maybe I can’t fathom it, but fuck can I ever feel it; the next time he moves that hand there’s another finger and he’s got to be spreading them wide as he can because between that and the leather I’m gonna split apart. Five years. Can you picture it? God, I hope you can. I hope you think about it later, when you’re alone and needing to get off so bad. Maybe I’ll think about you thinking about me and him, touching myself and feeling your eyes on me even from another room. Would you like that? Or would you like it better if I was bound, squirming and helpless, desperate for what I can’t have?

Either way, I want this right at the front of your mind: Zemo with his punishing hands, composure in shreds, pulling me apart from the inside and neither of us has any words left, just these snarls and whimpers all mixed together til it doesn’t matter who they’re coming from anymore. He made me come, of course he did; he ripped it right out of me with a twist and shove, every bruise tied together with this bright-burning silver thread.

You know I couldn’t help leaving; we’re alike in that regard, but has anyone ever given you what you’ve needed so badly since you came back? No. I can see it: you’re so full of guilt you haven’t earned, and sorrows you haven’t let yourself begin to feel. But you can take that rawness and put it to work; you’re a good man who got a bad deal and you have to know that. I see it; he sees it.

He’s on his way; any minute now those doors will open and he’ll be there with that half-smile, the one that says I’ve got a little secret; for all your efforts, you can’t find him until he wants to be found. You’ll see him dressed for the cold, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles of his left hand. It’ll look artless, casual, but you know what it’ll mean. He’ll make you an offer— and you really, really oughta take it. After all, I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t worthwhile. And yeah, I know you were expecting to have to pry it out of me, maybe reach down deep for those parts of you that you wish you’d burned away, the parts of you that get answers out of tight lips, but here we are. Everything is on the table— well, not everything; there’s got to be something left for later, but I think you’ll find it in your favor— and everything I’ve said tonight is true.

It still aches, even now. I can still feel the stitching along the sides of his fingers, not to mention all those tiny pocked bruises on my knees, all those knots pressed deep, his coat buttons imprinted on my spine from where he fell against my back and let his words fall wetly on me. I will move heaven and earth to keep you here. You mustn’t doubt that. And I believe him, James. I really do.

[argumentativeaxolotl]

Cowboy Samurai RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS⁉️

Hear me out now Y’all- I haven’t seen it done in the slightest and it’s prolly already like taken or something, but like hear me out. Enemies to lovers?!? Kenshi x Johnny type shit here??? Perchance???

Samurai: Honest, compassionate, polite, fantastic swordsman, selfless, respectful, rooted deeply in tradition(?), strong moral compass, would much rather not fight, possibly a bit uptight depending, good etiquette(?), really loyal, possibly good in different forms of martial arts if you wanna add more to it??, extra points if they’re recovering from being “evil” or from hurting a lot of people/have a dark and mysterious past

Cowboy: The over the top, gunslinging, firecracker personality, extremely creative and outside the box thinker, possibly good in fistfights(?), fantastic aim(guns n shit), possibly more “modern” ways of thinking(less traditional), very much rowdy and easygoing, good with animals and such, bonus points for Southern Drawl, also really loyal, brawler

Idk yall im running on like three hours of sleep and I’ve been thinking abt this lol. I have no idea if this already a thing but if not then it is now bitches hyeheheyeyehye.

Anyways- how I pictured ppl could use this dynamic is maybe in a sort of Johnshi(Johnny Cage x Kenshi Takahashi from Mortal Kombat) relationship dynamic- could be platonic or romantic up to writer ig. But yeah so I could see it as the wild, golden-hearted cowboy meeting the emotionally drained/tormented samurai somehow meet and they just fucking HAAATEE each other. Samurai thinks Cowboy is waaayyy too free-spirited and way too open with his speech(possibly insulting a person of importance in front of everyone? Maybe this even earns the royal’s respect and the Samurai is appalled and confused!) whereas the Cowboy thinks the Samurai is way too uptight and rooted in traditions.

Perhaps they even get into some wacky ass fucking shenanigans which forces them closer together until they have to face their feelings towards each other. Idk man this sounded better in my head lol

I haven’t had the pleasure of playing MK1 yet so if this is literally exactly what fucking happens in MK1 I’m gonna shit myself 😭😭😭

[pirdmystery]

sylvain jose gautier for the ask game

oiuhgggghhhggggggggggg…

first impression: it is important to note that i literally got into 3h because i knew it as “that game with sylvain in it.” i didn’t even know what to expect from him other than that. so when dimitri introduces him as “a bit of a skirt chaser” or whatever i’m like lol ok?? what??

impression now: if anyone is interested… go through my sylvain tags to get a feel for this. i’ve been spiraling lately. suffice to say i am SO sick about him like more and more every day. christ alive talk about a guy with problems. the way he is so smart and so soft but he is absolutely determined not to let anyone know either of those things… noooo I’m actually just a wacky little guy don’t worry about me… i’m just the comic relief… doing fine… yeah i know i said “burn until we meet again” and “see you in hell i guess” but that’s just because I’m being soooooo funny and normal… i’ve also never cried in my life btw…

fav moment: there are so many blink and you miss it unhinged sylvain moments in this damn game. i’ve talked about it recently but the fact. that if he does badly on a lesson and you pick console instead of critique he gets really bitchy and pissed off. like jesus christ. sorry for trying to extend you some gentleness buddy will not make that mistake again.

also let’s take a moment to recognize the iconic “it killed my brother and now it’s mine.” certified sylvain moment

idea for a story: i have billions. i never stop emotionally tormenting this man. got a 20 years post cf angstfest about he and felix coming. beyond that i am obsessed with the prospect of a sylvain/mercedes/ingrid ot3 and someday i am going write a fic with them that isn’t just the extensive smut that currently exists in my google docs

fav relationship: i have got to go with ingrid. i do very much ship sylgrid romantically and they make me sooooooooo unwell but even if i didn’t their friendship is just so important to me in a way i really struggle to put words to. the way they understand each other perfectly but that makes it almost harder for them to get through to each other because of all the layers of bullshit they have built up around the true version of themselves that the other sees. they bump heads a lot but the way it’s so obvious that under whatever they might be clashing about and the baggage of their years of friendship there is this foundation of unconditional love that is not going anywhere no matter what oh god suddenly i cant see the screen and there’s something happening to my eyes oh god

a fun thing about sylvain is that i could write equally unhinged paragraphs about his relationships with mercedes and dorothea!! something about girls he would normally flirt with and their response is :) hey i see you btw! and sylvain is forced to crumble like a little baby. i cannot get enough of that shit. get seen idiot. i’ve also been known to enjoy some yurivain and dimivain and claudevain for not dissimilar reasons.

unpopular opinion: once again idk what is popular!! i feel like my shipping tastes with him are not the most popular but everyone is nice to me when i talk about them so. it’s all good

favorite headcanon: most bisexual man on the planet. i also love making him work service jobs lmao. he works at subway in my sylgrid fic but there are so many other things i want to subject him to. he should have to sing happy birthday to people at applebees. he should be a barista at a shitty coffee shop. mostly this is because it’s funny but i also think would be deeply in character for sylvain to plant himself somewhere far below his skill level and languish there as if there were nothing else he could do about it.

tysm for letting me go off about him… man. sylvain.

[blupenguinz]

I don’t want to sound whiny but I can’t help but feel annoyed at how the majority of the Batman fandom on tumblr just flat out ignores comics.

Like you can’t even make the excuse that they can’t afford comics or they don’t know where to start reading for their favourite characters as there’s literally websites where you can read comics FOR FREE and there’s multiple detailed reading lists for basically every major batman character.

Like I don’t understand how people can easily read a 300k word fanfic but can’t be bothered reading a 200 page picture book. Is it because they don’t like the characterisations of certain characters in the comics and other pieces of batman media for that matter?

I would understand it a bit better if that was the case. But here’s the thing, Batman has been around for nearly a century. Multiple different writers and artists have worked on him for the past 80+ years, you can’t seriously be surprised that not every interpretation meets your liking. It’s not bad writing when Batman doesn’t kill the Joker or when Bruce and Dick don’t get along. Batman can’t always act like the tired but loving father to the wacky and quirky batfamily .

There will be times where the characters don’t act like themselves, especially right now where it honestly seems they’re just regressing the batfamily at this point. But as someone who has been reading the comics for a year now and is massively enjoying it I can definitely say that the good outweighs the bad. Collecting and reading comics is really fun and satisfying in my opinion and the best part is that it helps you understand and appreciate your favourite characters more.

For example, let’s say your favourite character is Cassandra . Wouldn’t you want to consume as much media as possible with her in it. Stuff that understands her character the best and gives you the most accurate portrayal of her character? A medium that isn’t plagued with stories of batcest or stories saying that adoption doesn’t make people legitimate members of the family?

I don’t know man I’m not trying to say you can’t enjoy fanfics or bits of fanon, but I BEG that you give comics a try at least.

At the end of the day we are all fans of Batman and I think we should start appreciating canon for all the good it gave us over the years.

[disastrous-table]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

————————————————————————————

A/n: The “random” ahh drabble I came up with all on my own…definitely not someone else’s. (Shoo go away). Also yes there is a Nod to Deadplate bc this is basically inspired by it lol. Sue me.

Warnings: GN! Reader, G/t (Giant/Tiny), blood, injury, canabalism(?), Yandere-ish behaviour, obsessive behaviour, implied canabalism, implied romantic/platonic relationships with tiny and giants, trauma, not proof read, written at 4am, and more that might have been missed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

————————————————————————————

“Just a taste~”

How could things get any worse than it was…a question you found to be stupid to ask in the first place. You thought all was well in this wacky world you live in, managing to find a nice paying job that would go down the career path you wanted.

It was here that you met your boss, a very, very, very,tall man who looked to be around his late 20’s. He was kind enough to offer you a job when most places turned you down because of your height? (Sizeist much?) thinking you incapable of managing on your own as well as being more of a liability rather than any help.

Rather your boss saw you as any other employee, already having a few others at your size (a mere 4 1/4 inches). The kitchen being accommodated for their size such as mini elevators or ramps/steps to reach higher areas and if anyone needed some extra ingredients they would as a larger member of staff to go grab it for them and they would comply. It was…new and refreshing for a start, a nice and healthy workspace.

So why was it that you was caught up in this mess? Why was he doing this?

…Then it hit you. The many red flags that started to appear: the lengthy stares he would give you, showing more of an interest in you than your fellow co workers, the whispers amount co workers about a sudden change in behaviour…

It all started to make sense now! You were too blinded by this new job and a false hope of a happy life, you failed to see the alarming mannerisms of your boss within 6 Damm months! Thinking back, you only wish you can go back and reverse the damage, yell at your past self to get out while they can.

You wanted to sob, to scream but doing that would do no good other than aggravate your now ex-Boss. You suddenly hissed as phantom pain hit you in where your leg should have been, the wound still being recent—fresh, even!

That fucking psycho bit your leg off! You don’t wish to remember the scene…the sound of bone being crushed under blunt pressure. The only thing keeping you from dying due to blood loss is a mini version of a tourniquet which was just a zip tie. Being locked in a cage of sorts while he’s away put you on edge, obviously enough. You don’t know when he might pop up or if he could be testing to see if you would make some sort of stem or to get out or scream for help.

You wished that he would just give you a speedy death. You feel helpless to do anything.

…

A few hours passed by, maybe even more than that before you heard the sound of a door lock shifting…right, you was kidnapped and taken by some possible serial killer canabal! Each step your captor took, getting closer with each stride, awakened your fear again and you scrambled to get away from the front of this rodent looking cage into a corner to only shrink in on yourself more. You hated feeling this weak, you didn’t want this—no one should go through this, ever!

thud…

Thud…

THUD…

The steps only grew in volume. You swore that the ground shook so violently your head started to spin making you see stars. Your breathing picked up in an irregular pace as you started to hyperventilate.

“This was it.” You thought to yourself as tears made your vision blurry. “I’m going to really die aren’t I?…to some stranger who basically kidnapped me.” You could only let out a dry chuckle at the thought. You didn’t feel like strangers before all this, you would dare to consider yourself friends at some point but that was all. Oh, how laughable this all is.

Suddenly the door opened to a familiar face. He walked over to the light switch to the room and in an instant the room was suddenly bright causing a small hiss from you as your eyes felt as if they were burning from the brightness. Being in the dark for so long can do that to you. A smile grew on his face as his body straightened up from its previously slouched position as he looked at you.

His eyes felt as if they bore holes into your very being, never leaving your ever shrinking form as he approached the cage and bent down to be eye level. “No hello? No welcome home? My, I thought you would be more welcoming than this dear [Name].” He said though his tone made it seem like it was more of a playful remark than actual pouting or any feeling of offence. You only stayed silent trying to even your breathing to stay as calm as you could though images of his more…darker side showed up in your head and that scene, proved to make it difficult as you could only whimper at his words.

His smile faltered as he let out a small sigh before he stood up to his full height “No matter. Not like I expected much, especially the state you’re in. I was surprised that you’d don’t just pass out from shock after what I did.” He said as he pointed to your missing limb. Your only response was silence followed by shaking. His presence intimidated you and rightfully so! That bastard is just talking so calmly about all this!? Sure it pissed you off to know that he didn’t feel guilty about his actions but to just hear him sound as if this was normal?

You gripped your sleeve of your shirt tightly in anger as you grew a tad bit irked over all this. He seemingly took no notice of this or he didn’t care to make it known. “Have you ever wondered, [Name], what life would be like for people like you and me?” He started, which caught caught you off guard a little. What on earth could he be going on about? “Don’t get me wrong, I know there are couples out there that manage despite this size difference, but… A relationship like that could never truly be whole, could it?” He said before grabbing the cage making you wobble and a small yelp coming out form your vocal cords. Now his little monologue was making so sense at all, probably some more crazy talk.

While holding the cage his brought it to his chest and held it there as if he was trying to do a hug of sorts as he sat down on a bed. His bed. “I always thought it would be impossible to have that final piece, the missing ingredient of such a relationship. Then when I laid my eyes on you…I had begun to realise that I had a deep yearning, a desire to hold you close , to keep you at arms length.” He continued on as you only sat there confused where this could be leading. It was all unclear with his motives, that and the facts he’s acting as if he’s confessing to a childhood crush he’s been holding in for years. “It was all so sudden but not exactly unwelcome. I thought that it was simply a one-off thing and that these weird feeling would go away. Haha but you know that isn’t the case, hm?” You could hear a soft chuckle at his own words making you cringe internally. If he is going to confess his undying love to you, then you would rather choke on poison as you stepped on hot coals bare foot than hear what he has to say, wether it be to justify his actions or his own sick twisted way of showing “affection”.

“You see [Nmae], these feels spiraled out of control, I went from wanting to keeping you at arms length to wanting to be closer—to be one of the same. That was what I found out what was missing, specifically for us. To be whole is to be one after all. And I’ve only just completed the first step to this journey for us!” He purred out in a sickeningly sweet tone as he held the cage closer you thought he was going to crush it making you yelp again. As he said those last words though, you notice one of his hands travel to where his stomach was, making you cringe, and paying it softly.

“Having a part of you feels rewarding for this effort, [Name]. Just having a taste of what we could be? It just sends shocks to my very core. Don’t you feel the same?” The question felt rhetorical but still, you didn’t feel inclined to answer this deranged man.

“It saddens me when you stay silent [Name]…I thought this would work, that you would warm up to me…” saying those words to himself must have made him realise as he looked as if something struck him. As if that something was supposed to be obvious.

“Of course, of course how could I forget my own words!” He laughed out, jolting the cage as his hand that patted his belly lifted up to cover his eyes. “To become whole we have to become one.” Sending the danger of those words and tone you attempted to pushed yourself against the bars of the cage, painfully so as he lifted the cage to eye level. His eyes filled with a crazed look, an obsession taking over it seemed as he pondered over the thought and was thinking deeply.

You weren’t sure if you would make it out alive, whatever it was…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

———————————————–

Decided to call quits because 1. I’m getting eepy and 2. I was starting to lose inspiration as well as motivation. Didn’t go as planned since I wanted to open with the whole biting leg off scene but idk how to open up to lead up to that so meh. It is what it is. Hope you enjoyed since this is my first piece of writing since like early 2022 :p