#it's more like 20ish year later

[thejunkyardafewblocksfromhere]

I tried to keep things in perspective As I hunted down the perpetrator Loaded up my toolkit with every hateful instrument Now here we are thirty years later -Getting into Knives, The Mountain Goats

[blues-valentine]

I think some people that are so convinced Tashi doesn’t love Art are so fixated in portraying her as a heartless manipulative woman that only cares about him in the sense of Tennis and that can all be true but she also does love him in her own twisted self absorbing ways, implying the opposite feels offensive to Tashi who isn’t the type to submit herself to a relationship of 15 years with someone she could barely tolerate.

She is absolutely living vicariously through Art as a Tennis player, but you also get the sense of intimacy and small moments that Tashi is Art’s wife and partner, not just his coach. It’s subtle, but it’s there. Them cuddling on the coach could easily be them on any Sunday morning when their relationship isn’t at odds. And you can see Tashi smiling a little in that moment.

Their relationship was also build on a genuine interest — they didn’t get together right after Tashi’s injury since she was in a vulnerable place. They got together years later on a date where Tashi was like a flustered 20ish year old that allows him to see some of her defenses down. Tashi also asks Art if he’s still in love with her (as she is now and not the fierce tennis player he once knew) because here’s the thing about Tashi, she says she doesn’t want to be loved but later asks him if he’s still in love with her cause she wants love not matter how hard she convinces herself she doesn’t — and Art is someone that can give her that feeling of this unconditional love. Someone pointed out Art is the person she has vulnerable scenes with and I believe he does bring that out of her even if she resists that to put on a stronger facade. As opposed to Patrick, that usually lights up her impulsive side. Art is more like the steady calm.

(Which is why Tashi and Patrick would’ve never worked in a relationship because they’re both too impulsive and he would’ve never allow her to control him and his career like she wanted).

I believe Tashi’s real true love is Tennis, but she does love Art. I think she’s full of bullshit saying she would leave Art if he stops playing because I think she would never leave him. She would’ve ages ago. Their relationship feels odd because we are only seeing their marriage falling apart because Art doesn’t want to play anymore and has lost its passion for it but makes you wonder how their marriage would normally be in all the good days where Art had a passion for Tennis.

And a lot of people be like “but she cheated on him with Patrick twice!” but she can love Art and still pursue the thrill Patrick provides. First, Tashi has never been implied to be a constant cheater, it’s just Patrick (in throuple we trust). This people are all morally questionable but a thing that is common about Tashi’s encounters with Patrick is that she’s always on a bad place. The first time in Atlanta was after she saw Anna (the girl she played with and won the same day she meet both Art and Patrick) is in the first place without a rival, a place that could’ve been hers if she was still playing — she sees Patrick being a loser (affectionate) and is low key resentful of Art because he’s being a successful tennis player so they bond over that, about the feeling of being a failure. And then later, Tashi is in another bad place because Art doesn’t want to play Tennis anymore and if he stops playing then her link to Tennis is also over. The game with Patrick is her last chance to make him love Tennis again. And when she sleeps with Patrick, she’s frustrated because she’s seeing how Art lost confidence in the game and so she goes there to ensure Art doesn’t lose. She tells Art she would leave him if he loses, but then goes to beg Patrick to ensure that doesn’t happen. And that sealed the deal for me. Yes, she could also be doing all that just because she doesn’t want to lose since she’s basically living through Art — but I think that’s a very one dimensional take because Patrick asked her in the original screenplay if Art winning would make her love him again, to which she responds she never stopped loving him. Because, even if he loses the game, she would love him. And one thing she has in common with Pat is their love for Art.

Like, Tashi resents Art because he is living the life she should be having as a professional tennis player, that’s what Patrick was referring to when he told her she hated Art, and while she hates being seem as just the wife and not the tennis player herself, she also hates the fact she would never truly leave him. Let Tashi have feelings, not everything is so one dimensional.

[sugurusdiscordmoderator]

your writing is so goooood wahhh the nanami fic had me on my knees, could you write a pizza delivery boy gojo x reader? maybe he's always picking up reader's orders so he can see her or something hehe (can be fluff or smut) ❤

WOOOO ANOTHER GOJO FIC

another college AU - slightly inspired by a story that actually happened in my life (it was less romantic irl and more creepy lmao)

reader is 20ish gojo is 22ish

cw: masturbation, sex?

-

Your sophomore year of college you absolutely scored when you found your apartment. It was on one of the main streets of the city so you could walk anywhere you want to go, hosted parties, and just had fun! The first floor of your building was a pizza shop which you occasionally stopped in; the owner of the shop owned the whole building so he was also your landlord and was a sweet older Italian man.

There was a tall employee that always caught your eye, but he was always working in the back. Most of the time you were picking up pizza your landlords sweet daughter was working the register so you never talked to the white haired beautiful man. However it seems like l you had caught his eye too? No you were just being delusional, he wasn’t staring at you… but how could you be mistaken with those bright blue eyes that you seem to look away as soon as you make eye contact with?

It’s not that you’re shy. It’s just that this man is so attractive your cheeks immediately blush and you can’t even try to talk to him. (hey Siri queue Gorgeous by Taylor Swift)

That is until one day, when you texted your landlord and asked if the delivery guy or someone could bring your order upstairs because you were “sick” (you were just hungover but you looked the part of being sick so whatever). He responds with a no problem and about 15 minutes later you hear an imposing knock on your door, almost entirely too loud for your tiny apartment building. It makes your head pound and even though it’s 4 pm and your hangover is still lingering around.

You mosey on over to the door, sweatpants, Ugg slippers, an ex boyfriends hoodie you kept, with your hair in a braid that definitely needed washed. You open the door, squinting at the fluorescent overhead lights before realizing just who was at your door.

The white haired man with the beautiful cerulean eyes was looking down at his phone waiting for the door to be answered and when he looks up the two of you lock eyes. Suddenly you become aware of just how bad you look and your eyes grow wide at your downstairs crush at your door.

“Are you…y/n? The boss asked me to bring this up to you.” The mystery delivery man asks with a shy smirk and hands you to box.

“Oh thank you yes I’m y/n,” you say fumbling in your pocket for the $20 bill you put in there earlier. “Um here…keep the change,” you awkwardly stick your hand out with the money in it, realizing how hot the pizza box is in your other hand.

“What if I asked for your number as a tip instead?” He smugly asks, now leaning his lanky frame up against your door frame. You bring your eyes up to meet his, trying to find if he was joking by the features of his face. He stuffs the $20 in his pocket and pulls out his phone and wiggles it in his hand, as if to say ‘see?’. Your lips draw into a slight smile seeing his goofiness, “sure,” you giggle making his smile grow wider.

He hands you his phone for you to type your number and name in with your free hand, your other hand still holding up your pizza you’ve been looking forward to.

“Thank you m’lady,” he winks at you when you hand his phone back and pushes off your doorframe and walks away down the stairs. “Text ya later,” he yells up at you from the bottom and you just smile and close your apartments front door, leaning against it and smiling as you open up the box and take a bite.

-

You anxiously await a text from the pizza boy only after realizing you still don’t know his name or his number but he has both of those pieces of information about you. The half eaten pizza box lays on your coffee table while Netflix drones on with a reality tv show in the background. You scroll through Instagram liking everyone’s pictures from the previous night out and daytime party shenanigans. You’re drawn out of your trance like state when you feel your phone vibrate, a message from an unsaved number popping up.

‘hi pretty lady 😘 - your favorite pizza boy’

He still hasn’t given you his damn name so you can’t look him up anywhere. Suddenly all flirting skills have gone out the window and you have no idea how to text back.

‘You’re such a flirt, do you treat all your customers with such kindness?’ you ultimately respond with.

‘only if their name is y/n and they live in apartment 2b :)’ he responds too fast and you’re immediately apprehensive. Why is this beautiful man flirting with you so brazenly out of no where? This smells like a fuck boy situation, but hey, what’s wrong with a hook up or friend with benefits? Maybe it’s time to up the ante and play with some fire.

‘Funny, I haven’t even gotten your name yet and you’re already laying it on thick. Seems to me you’re quite the flirt.’

*one image attached*

‘Am I still a flirt if I made this while thinking about you?’

‘yes actually, more so than before.’

‘fine :( but i need someone to share this with?’

‘I’m literally still working on the pizza you brought up here earlier, take it to the other girls I’m sure you’re also flirting with rn’

‘ouch shots fired’

You stare at your phone screen smiling like a teenager, kind of wanting to get to know this guy a little better. You smirk to yourself before typing out:

‘fine. I don’t want more pizza but I do want to hang out.’

The pizza boys only response for now is ‘😱😱😱’ so you decide to get off the couch and shower for the evening. Washing your hair, shaving your legs and other areas, exfoliating, and making sure you smell extra nice. At least if you don’t see a guy tonight you can consider this self care? After a relaxing 15 minute shower you wrap your hair in one towel and your body in another. You head into your bedroom and proceed to brush out your hair and put on some sweatpants and a sports bra while you get ready. Sitting down at your vanity, you put on a light amount of makeup before blow drying your hair to look “natural” as if you didn’t just spend an hour getting ready.

You start to get dressed as well, taking off your sweats first, when you hear a knock at your front door. Confused, you walk over and look out your peep hole. Oh god, of course the beautiful white haired man knew how to get into your building and just showed up at your door. You crack the door just a bit to stick your head out, embarrassingly saying, “Hey I’m sorry can you give me two seconds I don’t have pants on.”

Without waiting for his answer you close the door again and run back into your bedroom and put on the sweatpants you just took off as well as a light weight tank top that was laying on the bed next to it.

‘Did he really just show up to my door unannounced?’ You think to yourself reaching for your phone. It turns out he did respond earlier while you were in the shower, you just hadn’t looked until you picked up your phone right this second.

‘sounds good, what do you want to do this fine evening?’

You stared at the text, mouth opened, slightly resembling a fish out of water. At least you had gotten your hair and makeup done but it took you an hour of not texting him back. Rushing back to your front door you reopen it to him leaning against the wall on his phone playing a game.

“I’m sorry,” you sigh, cheeks flushed, swinging the door open for him to come in before stopping him in the doorway, “You’re not like a serial killer right?”

He throws his head back with a boyish laugh, meanwhile you just want an honest answer, you didn’t think your question was all that funny.

“No, I’m not,” he finally answers after noticing the apprehension in your face.

When you move to let the stranger inside your apartment, you throw caution to the wind and think, ‘well if I am going to die, at least it’ll be by this beautiful stranger?’ (damn reader, I think you would have LOVED Ted Bundy back in his day)

The man stands looking around your joint living room kitchen area, one hand in his pocket, one hand lifting his round black sunglasses from the bridge of his nose to on top of his head, resting among the snowy tufts of hair. He must have just got off an afternoon shift, smelling of Italian food wearing old jeans, a tshirt and converse.

Given it’s about 6 o’clock at this point, the sun has begun to set, setting golden hour aflame through your west facing windows of your apartment. The white walls glow orangish-yellow with tiny refractions from your little plants and decorations lining the windowsill, creating rainbows in random areas across the room. Your tv still hums in the background with a garbage show, before this potential murderer finally speaks up, as if he’s fully comprehended and assessed the room.

“The names Gojo, Satoru Gojo.” He smiles, only needing to take one of his large strides before he’s in front of you ready to shake your hand.

“Thank you for finally telling me your name,” you smirk, having to nearly crane your neck to make eye contact with him.

He wiggles his eyebrows and licks his lips before asking, “so no pizza but you wanted to hang out. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I missed your text when I was in the shower so I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. We can go somewhere to grab a drink or do something or we can chill out here?” You try not to seem too bossy but not too submissive either, and by the looks of it Satoru is as confident as ever.

“Well the boss man gave me some free bottles of wine that I have in my car I can grab and we can watch some of whatever you have on, and maybe re-evaluate in a little if we want to do anything else?” He accentuates ‘anything’ with a wink and you swear your knees could give out.

“That sounds great.”

-

You make some popcorn and grab glasses of wine while Satoru goes to his car and grabs his duffle bag with wine and clean clothes and comes back inside.

“Sorry to ask, but can I take a quick shower? I kinda feel gross after an 8 hour shift.” A slight blush creeps across his cheeks while he pulls out four bottles of wine. He notices the shocked look on your face, “Oh sorry I didn’t know how much you drink so I just brought all 4 bottles he gave me, I figured we could have two each.”

“Two each?!” You laugh as he makes his way towards your bathroom. He smiles back at you before closing the door behind him. You stand up to head to the kitchen counter to uncork one of the wine bottles when you realize that the extra towels aren’t in your bathroom, they’re in the dryer right now! The last thing you need is a naked wet man in your apartment right? You grab and fold one of the towels quickly and hurry over the the bathroom door before knocking politely.

“Satoru?”, you question. “Sorry…I forgot to give you a towel earlier-”

You’re cut off by the door swinging open. The pale man’s almost completely naked save for his boxer briefs which he has no shame showing. You notice a scar across his chest, his perky man nipples, the defined pectoral and ab muscles atop his beautiful v-line, accentuated with a white happy trail running down the middle leading straight to… a bulge.

But like he wasn’t hard no, his soft penis must have been so large but even then he had a pretty big bulge. You wonder what it would look like when it’s -

“Well you answered the door with no pants earlier so I didn’t think it would be a problem here,” he cuts you off, smirking as he watches your embarrassed features. He totally just saw you checking him out, you feel no better than a man!! You hand him the towel before reaching over to close the bathroom door for him, walking wide eyed back over to the couch with a glass of white wine.

You can’t get the shape of his body out of your mind, god you can’t believe he was in there, using your shampoo and soaps and being naked while you’re right here on the couch, not able to witness it. You let the perverted thoughts take over your mind some, thinking about the way his pale skin would look covered in your nail scratches and bite marks. Or how about how perfect his cock must be? Everything else about him was absolutely gorgeous, so his cock has to be the perfect mixture of girth and length with a nice vein or two, and a cute pink tip leaking his precious pre cum right? You think back about his long deft fingers, and much better they’d feel inside you than your own. Being under the spell of your own horniness, you slip your left hand under the waist band of your sweat pants and lace panties thinking about this Satoru guy…slipping your tiny fingers around your swollen clit, giving it a pinch before sliding up and down your folds, collecting your wetness before slipping your middle finger in your tight hole. You close your eyes, slipping the throw blanket from the back of the couch over your lap as another layer of protection in case Satoru is quiet coming out of the bathroom, but he’s not a very quiet person so you’re not toooo concerned.

Although you’ve had intercourse fairly recently, you feel like you’re in the midst of a drought, a withdrawal from being touched. Your skin feels almost itchy, so aroused by this man even though today is the first time you’ve actually talked to him. You alternate playing with your folds and rubbing your clit thinking about how good he must look with the water running down his abs and through his glistening white hair. You think just maybe, you might have time to make yourself cum before he gets out of the shower. After all with how excited you are, it should just take a few minutes. You scurry from the couch to your bedroom gently shutting the door behind you, before throwing your pants off and reaching into your bedside drawer to grab your hot pink little vibrator to help hurry yourself along.

You think you can hear Satoru singing in the showering, making you sigh in relief a little knowing he still probably has another few minutes. Sticking your hand down your lace panties, you press up against your soaking hole area with your middle and ring fingers, while using your other hand to press the vibrator on and turning it up to the medium setting. You rock in and out of yourself at a steady rhythm, thinking about this man being on top of you. God, he just looks like one of those guys that is good at everything he does so you know he must be a great partner.

Letting go of yourself perhaps comes a bit too easy, laying your head back against your decorative pillows, letting out just a tiny whimper. Muffled whistling comes from the bathroom followed by what sounds like something squeaking. You think it’s the water shutting off, and proceed to panicking and switch the vibrator to high to finish while he’s drying off. You feel yourself getting close, reaching extra deep to find your own g-spot. Pushing against it your eyes immediately roll back and you feel yourself getting close to the edge. You do your best to bite down on your lip to keep noises from escaping, with both hands being other wise occupied.

Your thoughts return to the man in your bathroom, drying off, wondering if he’s gotten off to you in the shower right there, before getting a little sad because you wish he would let you take care of him! A particularly loud whimper escapes as your back arches off the bed, your legs threatening to shake violently.

“Y/n…?” Your bedroom door swings open, Satoru Gojo walking in right as you reach your peak. Your jaw drops half out of ecstasy and half embarrassment, closing your eyes and riding out the last few seconds of your orgasm. There’s no point trying to hide or make excuses, you got caught. Not only that, but Gojo’s jaw is also on the floor, the blood rushing to his lower region as he is still slightly moist from the shower but only wearing a new clean pair of boxer briefs.

“I’m - so - sorry -” you pant to him with your eyes still closed, slowly removing your fingers from inside you and turning the vibrating off.

“Fuckkkk, that was so hot!! ,” Satoru wines striding over to join you on your bed. He takes the fingers you were about to your juices off of and pops them in his mouth, staring you in the eyes as he swirls his tongue around your petite digits and groaning in pleasure. “I can’t believe you couldn’t wait for me! Naughty girl, I just - wow- you’re so wet??” Satoru stammers to you, leaning his large frame over your body, blush creeping across his cheeks, but you know your face is even more red.

You sit up and lean back from Gojo, “sorry that was an..accident. You weren’t supposed to see that uh, um, I have a medical condition!! And I have to - you see…,” your embarrassment just digging you deeper into a hole as you reach for your panties and sweatpants on the other side of the bed. It’s not that Satoru seems to mind though, he actually seems kind of impressed.

As you slip your panties on, he sits on the bed giving you space but wraps his arm around your waist, “Hey..y/n… you don’t have to make up a really shitty excuse or anything, I kinda thought it was hot. Like if you want to fuck me you could just say it?” He says almost cockily trying to lighten your mood.

“I’m sorry I just like it’s not lady like? And I didn’t even like go on a date with you or anything yet…not that we have to go on a date first! I just like met you today and I feel like really bad!” You ramble on, both of your heads leaning closer and closer as he strokes your hair to calm you down. He gently guides your head to rest on his shoulder, “don’t be embarrassed babe, it’s not like I haven’t heard you have sex before.”

Your head shoots up, a new wave of embarrassment coursing through you. “Huh - what do you mean?” You stutter out.

“You realize right under your cute little room is the office in the back of the restaurant…right? And the nights when I’m in charge after the old man goes home…let’s just say some of the men you’ve brought home don’t seem to have good rhythm.”

Your jaw drops at this revelation, immediately growing defensive. “And who’s to say your rhythm is better? Besides - I -”

You’re cut off by Satoru taking the lead, his finger up to your bottom lip as to get you to quit nervous mumbling. “Hush hunny, just let me prove it to you.” He gently pushes you back against your bed, his lips finding yours before you can protest. You give in to making out with his cute pink lips, he guides a hand to the back of your neck, taking power over the kiss. You nip at his bottom lip at which he takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss further, pushing his tongue into your mouth. His other hand comes to grab at your chest through your sports bra as you grab the sides of his face with passion. He breaks the kiss just by an inch, enough to breathlessly ask, “you’re okay with this right?”

Satoru smirks, knowing he has you in the palm of his hand. Instead of answering, you kiss back, this time taking initiative to swirl your tongue with his. The heated make out section reaches a tipping point as Satoru leans more of his body weight against yours, now your pelvic regions touching. His harder member through his boxers rubbing against your soaked lace panties. The fabric on fabric contact in the sensitive region has you whimpering into his mouth.

“Oh sweetheart,” he says with fake sympathy, “I already have you whimpering and I’ve barely touched you.” You roll your eyes as he uses his long fingers to brush the hair away from your neck ghosting his lips leaving a fraction of a kiss from your jawline down to collarbone. His breathing against your skin makes goosebumps form, before licking a specific spot halfway down your neck, right next to your jugular. He sucks down, ripping another whimper from you, rolling your hips up to cause more friction against his erection.

He smirks against your skin, “I think I found your sensitive spot-” and you cut him off pushing him back up to attach his lips to your neck again. You moan a little more freely this time.

“Uhnnnn, Satoruuuu…please, I need more!”

You whine removing your hands from his hair and creeping down his muscular back, feeling every single defined muscle. You decide to have a little fun, scratching a little harder as you run your hands down before grabbing the waistband of his boxers. “Off,” you whisper and this time he moans, seeming just as affected by you as you are by him.

He sits up to take off his boxers and you take the opportunity to remove your panties again, and your bra this time. You swear Satoru’s pupils turn into hearts when he sees your chest.

“Oh my god I think I’m in love,” he whispers, before leaning in fast and attaching his mouth to the right nipple. He used a lot of tongue and a little teeth, making your buds feel so much better than you ever thought possible. As he switches to your other nipple your eyes roll back.

You reach down through your legs to start stroking Satoru’s hard member. Although you can’t see it with the way his body is situated you can tell it’s massive. Like barely can wrap your hand around it massive and when you go up and down there’s sooo much!

“Can I fuck you please?” Satoru looks up at you with lust filled eyes, a sheen covering his lips and your nipples. He looks like what you could only imagine as a milk drunk baby looking up at its mother.

“Please, Satoru, fuck me,” you respond, running your thumb over his tip and spreading the precum. He leans back to line himself up, and now you can see the full image. The muscular upper body, now littered with a few scratches from you. The snowy fully hair, his eyes blown out with lust looking like he could devour you whole. Plus that beautiful cock you got yourself off to not even 15 minutes prior. It’s just as amazing as the one you made up in your head thinking about him.

You bite your lip and smile as his tip touches your entrance, him squeezing your hip with one hand as the other grips his base. He pushes in slowly and gently, letting you adjust with gentle shallow thrusts until you’re able to manage. “Oh-ohhh my god,” his breathing hitches in his throat? “Oh my GOD you feel so fucking good!” He is acting like he has just won the lottery, taking his time with his thrusts.

You smile up at him as he holds your leg, calf up against your shoulder. He places a tiny kiss along your leg before grabbing your other leg and placing it on his his other shoulder.

“Baby, can I please show you my rhythm now?” Satoru practically begs.

“Mhmmm, please,” you moan, already feeling full to the brim with his cock but needing more pleasure. He excelerates slowly, snapping his hips with high intensity. You feel his skinny hip bones make contact with the back of your legs every time, along with the feeling of his heavy balls slapping against your lower region. You’re in love with his little babbles, you’ve never met a more vocal man in bed. Every few seconds he’s saying “fuck yeah baby,” or a grunt/moan, throwing his head back, or “shit y/n”

Your toes start to curl and he notices, along with the slight tremble growing in your legs.

“You close baby?” He stammers out lowering one hand to stroke your cheek lovingly.

“Yes -toru,” you stammer out, only able to get half of his name out with how out of breath and white hot you feel. His eyes roll back in pleasure at the nickname, moving the hand that was on your cheek down to your clit, rubbing tiny circles on the puffy mound to help bring you over the edge.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” You half moan half chant, barely having possession over your own body at this point.

“C’mon, let go for me y/n, please pretty girl go on and cum,” the combination of Satoru’s words and how he says your name sends you over the edge, pulsing around him, eyes rolled back gripping white knuckled on the sheets.

Seeing how pretty you looked cumming on his cock, Satoru is so close to follow, not even caring that his cum his going inside you (I mean hey you didn’t tell him not to?) he grips your sides as he lets go, a grip that you know will leave 10 little perfect oval bruises tomorrow. All he manages is grunts that border whimpers “so so good, fuck,” he says out of breath, laying down comfortably with you with his cock still in side and giving you both a moment to process what just happened.

“You proved me wrong,” you whisper and he looks at you confused. “That was the best fucking sex I’ve ever had, I don’t fucking care about rhythm or any other man at this point,” you continue, covering your face with your hands and giggling.

He chuckles along with you, “I think that’s the best compliment I’ve ever gotten, I maybe should get an award for ‘sex dick given to y/n’”

You giggle more, both of you in your post orgasm mood, just being silly and romantically pillow talking.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” satoru says after a few more minutes of banter, and before you and even go to sit up, he is too fast and picks you up bridal style to carry to the bathroom. He sits you on the toilet and lets you clean yourself as he gets a washcloth with cold water and washes his face, before washing off his now flaccid penis (which still looked good which is really fucking hard to do). Upon returning to your bedroom, putting on clothes again and regaining your composure, you watch Gojo going through your closet.

You tilt your head at him and he answers before you can say a word. “Listen I know this is like the opposite of gender norms but can I borrow a tshirt?” You giggle and show him where you keep them and let him pick.

You settle out in the living room with your glass of wine, bowl of popcorn, and a blanket, resuming your prior plans. He joins you a few seconds later, wearing an old tshirt from high school that has one of the United States presidents on it in a rocking chair that says “JFK ROCKS”

You bust out laughing, not only at that fact it was almost a little too short on him, but also you had no idea where that shirt was or how he found it. He laughs along with you, opening one of the other bottles of wine.

He sits on the other end of the couch so both of your legs are all tangled and cozy , covered by your blanket. “So,” he then takes a bite of popcorn, creating an awkward pause.

You decide to interject first, “I’m sorry that like you saw me getting myself off and that I had sex with you like right after meeting you… you probably think I’m a slut but I’d actually like to get to know you.” You blush and take a sip of wine as he looks like a crazy person, before repeating himself.

“So,” he starts, “what I was going to say is that we need to get some real food and stop at the store and get a plan b, then come back for round 2,” he sips his wine, “also you’re not a slut and even if you are I’m a slut so oh well,” another tiny sip of wine and popcorn, “so this is me doing things a little backwards. Would you be my date for this evening?”

“You’re asking me on a date?” You gawk at him on accident, just surprised with how this whole day turned out.

“Yes I am sweets, now go get a jacket.”

—

very sorry anon February was a rough month (and so is March) for me this has been in my drafts 4ever

[wolfythewitch]

Genuine question, what about King Saul? Cause I’m not really familiar with his story

Okay so this ended up pretty long so I'll put it under the cut

So he was anointed king when he went to look for his father's missing donkeys, and on the way they decided to visit a nearby town where Samuel lived. Samuel saw him and god told him that Saul was his appointed king, the first one to ever rule (before the kings there were only judges) Which was wild for him because

So he was anointed king the next day, in public. Which was also really funny because my man was hiding. He was stealthing. He actually came back to his father's house and worked the land until he was called to lead the army

So he does some king things and he does alright. I think his reign lasted two years, though some scholars say it must have been closer to 20ish. The thing is, he makes two mistakes.

First, he did not wait for Samuel before going through with an offering before a war

Second, he was sent to attack the Amalekites, and to not spare anyone, man, woman, or children, livestock. But he spared their king and their cattle.

An interesting thing here is the relationship of Saul and Samuel, as Samuel genuinely mourns that Saul is no longer to be king. And while they never see each other again after this, they both seemed to have cared for each other a lot.

So afterwards, David is anointed as the new king. At that time, Saul hasn't been made aware yet. He had David in his employ as an armor bearer, and when he was troubled, as he so often was these days, David would play the lyre to soothe him.

Now there was another battle between the Philistines and the Israelites, which you're probably more familiar with. This time they had a very special guy, a giant named Goliath. You probably know of the story, how David killed him with a slingshot. What's notable here was that Saul was genuinely fond of David, even lending him his own armor, even if it did become too heavy

David had befriended Jonathan and they became very close two, "knit his soul with his as if they were one". Saul have him a high rank in his army, as anything David was sent out to do he did successfully and well.

The first time we see him think negatively of David was when the people praised his deeds over Saul's, which most likely fed into his growing paranoia as well, knowing that his time as king was almost up

This time, fully convinced that David was to usurp him, he repeatedly ordered for his death, once even sending soldiers to where he lived with Saul's daughter(David's wife), though David managed to elude him.

David finally runs away with help from Jonathan (note this was a very emotional moment between the two and isn't very relevant to the story but it's great) and becomes a fugitive. He gains temporary refuge at a house of priests, who send him off with food and a weapon. Saul put these priests to death.

By now David has amassed a group of supporters who believed that he should be the rightful king. While Saul was pursuing them, they hid themselves away in a cave. Saul went to go take a piss and the men try to convince David to strike at his back. David spares Saul however, cutting off a piece of his cloak and showing it to him later on. He still believed Saul to be the rightful king and didn't want to hurt him.

8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 9 He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? 10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. 12 May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. 13 As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.

I can't post anymore photos sorry HAHA.

Overcome with remorse and guilt, Saul swears that he will stop chasing David and goes home.

But again, Saul goes after David, making camp near the wilderness where he stayed at. David snuck in under the cover of night and stole from Saul a water jug and a spear, which he showed to him when morning came.

8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.” 9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? 10 As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. 11 But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, David my son?” David replied, “Yes it is, my lord the king.” 18 And he added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of?

And so once again guilty and remorseful, they part ways.

At this point, Samuel had already passed away. Desperate at an oncoming war, Saul seeks out a medium (which were forbidden) and asks to see Samuel's ghost

8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” 9 But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10 Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.” 11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said. 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” 13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure[a] coming up out of the earth.” 14 “What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

But Samuel only repeats what has been said before, and says that he and his children will be delivered to the hand of the Philistines, and that tomorrow, he and his son will join Samuel (will die).

The next day, they were fighting and losing. While being pursued and knowing that they were close to defeat, Saul runs himself through his sword and dies, reasoning that death is better than captivity. His three sons died that day too.

(notably, he was still alive after impaling himself. A nearby soldier passed by and Saul begged him to finish the job, which he did)

His line does still live on, as David had taken in his only surviving grandson, Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth.

And yeah! That's a summarized version of his life. I just find his story fascinating, how his reign slowly grew more corrupted and paranoid, and how even the people closest to him turned on him, helping instead his greatest enemy, who wanted nothing but to serve him. It's really tragic haha. And presumably, he didn't even want to be king. After Samuel anointed him before the people, Saul went back to his home in Gibeah. He continued to work on his father's land until he was needed to lead the people in battle.

[evilcoconutz]

How I met Neil Newbon.... Twice

TLDR at the bottom. This literally has 2,944 words so I totally understand if you wanna skip around, I tried adding little chapters to help chop it up a bit. I'm a very details kind of person lol.

This took me like two days to type out, still can't believe this happened to me.

I just wanna say that I got a very unique experience and got extremely lucky. When I say I got LUCKY, you have no idea.... I have a shitty memory and will forget this if I don't type it out. This is mainly for myself to come back and re-read again and again. This is my memory of Fan Expo Dallas and meeting Neil Newbon.

I decided to go all three days because Neil had two separate panels I wanted to attend. One on Friday and the other on Sunday. I went dressed as a Sith on Friday with lil Batstarion on my shoulder with a tiny magnetic lightsaber (Space Cowboy of course). We did some shopping and walking around before trying to get my signature with Neil that I had scheduled for that day. Neil's panel that evening was like 7:45 pm and so we joined the line to get the autograph well before then. Around 5ish I think. I get to the back of the line with my husband, we sit there about five minutes and only one other person lines up behind us. (I only uploaded pics of my druid outfit and not my Sith, just imagine the same shit but with a black dress and black and red pauldron, I also carried my personal lightsaber)

I cannot explain how long this line was. it would be at least 2+ hours before we could get through the line on a Friday, I couldn't imagine what Saturday would be like.

It's been a few years I have been to Fan Expo, the crowds would not get better, and I knew that much.

Having every intention of standing in line and waiting multiple hours just to get his signature, I looked around and saw so many amazing Astarion, Karlach, Gale, and Shadowheart cosplays. Not too far from this amazing cosplay!

We also saw a Damon and Karlach hanging out, a couple of Alfira's too!

A Fan Expo Staff Member goes through the back ends of the line and picks out those who have an "All Days" pass, which included us.

He pulls about 20ish of us aside and explains that if we come back tomorrow, we had two options. *Checks Neil's itinerary on phone* "He's got nothing scheduled before noon tomorrow, if you see him at the table early don't hesitate to get in line."

-----The red ticket-----

So if we accepted this red ticket our options were:

Come back between 10-10:15 am tomorrow and get in line asap, to be first in line, they usually only allow VIP to line up during this time and if we had the ticket, we would be allowed through.

Come to the VIP booth tomorrow between 12:30-1 pm and MAYBE get a spot if there are any left.

Don't accept ticket and rejoin the line.

-----Saturday and the virtual line-----

Obviously we wanted to come back the next day to be there before 10:15, but between traffic and trying to find a parking spot we were late. My hubby almost insisting I get out and go stand in line while he wait in traffic <3 Soooo sweet, but I didn't wanna be there with out him!

Before we even get to the sign floor... yeah... it is so crowded we be sardines. We bee line it for Neil's line and immediately get told we need to come back in an hour because the line was completely full. BUMMER. We decide to walk around a bit more to kill time for said hour. There is so much to do and see at Fan Expo, do not sleep on some of these panels! Free programming and cosplay building, it's amazing!

We come back an hour later and are greeted with a virtual wait line! Yay!

I have nothing against these, but as we accepted our virtual wait ticket, we asked about our red ticket from the day before.

We were then told our best bet was either to wait until 12:30-1 pm to go to the VIP booth or wait for our number to be written on a white board they had put up (virtual wait list number in which we could line up). I wish I had a picture of it, but it was incredibly crowded.

-----Let's Go, Baby!-----

12:30 pm just rolled around and we were curious what the white board number was, it wasn't close to ours so my husband asked where the VIP booth was (we had no idea what this meant btw) and were directed to the other side of the celebrity signing area. As we approached, there was only one couple before us. The Staff asked who we were there to see, "Neil Newbon, we have a red ticket." The couple ahead of us was there to see Jim Cummings, which was the booth next to Neil's. There was a brief walkie talkie moment, I had kinda spaced out and my husband tapped me and said "Let's go, baby!" I was like "Uh, where?!"

"To Neil" The staff then swept all of us through a maze of people, we formed a small train apologizing to any one we bumped into. The very kind woman who was in front of us commented on my dress and metal halfling ears. She said she had seem them at Renfair and always wanted a pair (I told her go for it next time, I highly recommend! <3)

They pushed us into a small waiting line next to those who had been waiting for hours. This felt so weird, like I had skipped the line or something (which yes, but like... not for sinister reasons). I probably had about 10-15 mins max to think of what to do or say.

Right before it was my turn to approach the signing table, one of the workers noted "Yall don't have to be so nervous, I can see yall shaking, he's really nice!" Even while standing at the front of the line one of the other staff members came over to chat with another staff, pointing at Neil saying "He's one of my favorites! So nice!"

The girl that was right in front of me, she was trying to load her QR code and the signal wasn't the best. My heart would have hit my stomach if that were me. Imagine waiting all that time and now your phone won't load! Yikes! She did finally get it, I'm glad I had mine printed. Take screenshots of your QR codes if you can't print them!

So now it's my turn to walk up to the table, but just before meeting Neil, they ask your name + spelling on a card, they ask if you want to add a small quote (5 words), large quote (more than 5 words), table picture, signature, that kinda thing for an additional fee. He has prints you can choose from (unconfirmed but possibly free if you pay for signature, looked like Streamilyish prints). She asked "What are we signing today?" I then asked if cloth was ok, and she said it was fine. I told the lady behind the table my 5 word quote and she was a bit stunned, lol. Looked at me like I was crazy or something.

The person in front of me was one of those whom had been waiting quite a long time in line, she was so nervous to get her words out to Neil, like she had been rehearsing all day what to say. She looked proud afterwards and happy.

I honestly didn't know what I was going to say, I'm one of those people who cross that bridge when I get there. I was not prepared at all, but I was confident I wouldn't say anything stupid.

I cannot tell you how hard it was to look Neil in the eyes. I am 5'0" and this guy is tall, his eye's are very blue and it's really hard to keep eye contact, at least for me.

We walk up to the table and he immediately held his hand out and said "HI! I'm Neil!" I shook his hand and told him my name, he said nice to meet you and looked at my husband.

"And you are?" He held his hand out as well.

"Dakota, I'm her husband." My husband got to shake his hand too!

In the loudest Astarion voice, "HER HUSBAND?!? Oh there's nothing to see here, err umm side eye" He kinda did this looking away motion with his hand. We laughed and he leaned on the table and said "What's going on guys?" Nobigneil? Verytallneil! Even with him leaning on the table.

I chose to introduce my Batstarion first. I plucked him off my shoulder and placed him on the table. I told him I missed him yesterday as a Sith because Batstarion was a Space Cowboy. I had Batstarion hold the lit lightsaber and Neil said "Surely I'm not going to sign him..."

"No, you'll sign the material I made him out of!"

"Alison

Feeling cute

might decapitate

later! Astarion

Maker <3"

Immediately, he smiled and said "That's from one of my recent live streams."

"It is!" I replied with glee.

He asked me to hold the fabric so he could sign it. As he wrote the quote, he read it out loud just like he does on his signing streams. he warned me the marker would bleed horribly and I did not anticipate what he meant...

I thanked him but I wasn't expecting what happened next.

Neil held out his hand again after finishing the signature for a handshake, but then met the top of my palm with his other hand "See you in the Streams" He spoke so genuinely. His eye contact pierced my fucking soul. Dedz. I honestly don't think I even said anything after that, it stunned me.

I quickly swept my things off the table to make way for the person behind me, not paying attention to exactly what I was doing. I was just trying to not waste anyone's time, I only had to wait a few minutes for Neil but everyone else waited hours. It didn't feel fair for me to stay longer.

I am not kidding when I say people waited for hours on end. When he was swept away to a photo op or to a panel he was involved in, people waited. I don't think I ever saw his line short.

We walk away from the booth to an empty corner to wrap up my cloth, I brought like 1/4 of a yard of fabric so I could wrap it up on itself. That's when I notice Batstarion and honestly wasn't even upset.

It so bled....

He meant what he meant...

Batstarion got bled on... lol... accurate.

TBH I'm shocked the cloth survived all of that, the ruffle and shuffle of bumping in to others through that traffic on a Saturday...

I had the idea of going to see what number was, up on the white board it was at 1030. I wouldn't have even been able to line up yet. This felt unreal.

-----The Waiting-----

So! Now it's time to take a photo with Neil on the SAME DAY.

It's almost 1 pm at this point and it was so crowded, we decided to go ahead and make our way to the photo op area. Neil's photo op wasn't until 2:30 pm so we decided to just wait it out.

Around 1:30 my husband noticed a spot had opened up closer to the entrance of the photo op line area. They started calling for last call for Mads Mikkelsen, in booth A. I noticed some people in a hurry to get there, I looked up and I see one of my favorite Youtubers!

FunkyFrogBait! I only got like the side of their face, but the glasses and hair were unmistakable. Here's their channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@funkyfrogbait

Seriously though, if it wasn't them, it was a damn good cosplay! Really wish I could have said HI and spread the love, but I never saw them again.

Anyway...

I bought my FanExpo tickets on mother's day and added the signature for Friday and the photo op for Saturday. This put me in group A for the photo op. Depending on when you buy your tickets and how many people buy them is what group your are put in.

I don't remember what time they started calling for VIP line up for Neil NewBORN. This made me laugh, no one corrected this poor man the whole time.

I think there were three people total that lined up in VIP. As soon as they called for group A line up for Neil Newborn, we were off and got in line fairly quickly. Only a few moments waiting in line and an older man that was just passing by, stopped and asked us what we were in line for. My husband said "We're in line for a photo with Neil NewBON." He just said ok and waved his hand as he left. The lady behind my husband snickered and said "Newborn" as if mimicking the announcer.

"Pfft! I know right!?" Suddenly, I was approach by someone who had this in their hands and they gifted it to me!

I'm actually still wearing it as I'm typing this.

I squealed "OMG!!! Thank You!!!" Seriously! So cute!

The energy of all the people waiting in line, it was very comfortable, we all knew why we where there. Soooo many amazing cosplays waiting in line, we saw a Heisenberg, and several Lady Dimitrescu's, a couple of Astarion's.

-----The Photo OP-----

The line is FULL. We have maybe six people in front of us including VIP.

This doesn't feel right, it feels like I just cheesed and speed ran my way into meeting Neil in the shortest amount of time possible without being VIP on the busiest day of FanExpo. WHAT?!?

Granted, I bought my ticket way in advance for the photo op and we got there early, I never thought I would ever be so close to the front of the line like this!

It's time to start the photo op so VIP goes first, but we where right behind them. They bring you, along with 4-5 others into a small room with a table, that you can set your bags on. My husband just held onto ours.

The process of this was so amazing to me, I have never taken a photo with a celebrity before and had no idea what was going to happen. There is very little preparation they give you to take the photo.

Back to back, they give you maybe 10 seconds to prepare. SNAP. Go. SNAP. Go. SNAP. Go. SNAP. Go.

I got a glimpse of the first photo, she had a stuffed Astarion, she had Neil hold upside down. All the others just walked up, posed, left. By "pose" they just did a side hug.

I didn't know what to do so I just did the same thing as everyone else. I walked up and immediately, he went "Heh, Druid..."

At first, I thought we were going to take the same picture as the ones before me, but to my surprise, he touched my antler and said "Ooo pointy" When they called for the picture to be taken he literally yelled

"HORNY!"

I'm sure my face went bright red after that. I said thank you and turned to walk away. He even said "Nice to meet you!" as I left. I was again shocked and didn't say anything! Ugh... Kicking myself a little over that.

As we left, my husband pointed out, Neil really didn't say anything to anyone else. They sent us down a winding pathway to get our prints. We came to a small area and prints started shooting out of the printers so fast, it was actually amazing. (Six Flags take a fuckin note!) Anyways, here is my photo with Neil, my face blocked out because I look like a deer in headlights lmao!

So yeah, if you ever get the opportunity to meet him, you should! 10/10 nicest dude ever. Those bracelets he's wearing are the ones his fans have gifted to him in case you were wondering.

So what's really great about this photo, it looks like Batstarion is leaning on him! <3

I zoomed in and you can really see the red from his signature and his cowboy hat!

This is what he looks like today, it's almost completely gone, dunno if I want it fully gone though tbh.

So yeah. I just wanted all of my memories in a place I could keep them. I don't play with Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Snapchat, or any other social media, so I only post here. I hope you enjoyed my rambling!

The serotoneil was very high this whole weekend! Sunday would be the best day to go if you have kids!

BTW both panels he was in was very entertaining! This clip was from Friday's!

TLDR: I got to skip big lines to see Neil Newbon and maybe saw one of my favorite Youtubers? Batsarion got red ink from Neil's signature.

My Druid cosplay:

https://www.tumblr.com/evilcoconutz/752031078643040256/druid-cosplay-update?source=share

My Batstarion build:

https://www.tumblr.com/evilcoconutz/751141069044023296/lets-write-these-wrongs?source=share

[girls--complex]

Been enjoying your art for quite a while now! I really need to see and know more about transgender warriorprince, it almost could be a drawing of current me irl, and i'm amab. Definitely one of my goals in a sense, long story. Thanks!

Well I was actually going to do a lore sheet of the current character "within" that archetype soon I'll do this later I'll say a few things though...

First I have a Tezuka star system or Fate/like saber face type way of looking at this where there's the visual archetype that forms the basis of different mind soldiers... So maybe the more interesting thing to you is the archetype versus the specific guy.

Also that I think amab Tboy can be a real gender if you want. It also doesn't matter if you're a real thing or if someone else tells you you're a real thing or not bt I want to put it out there the reality that sometimes a Tboy is a Tboy regardless of the mundane realities we consider essential to Tboy izm

Transgender warrior prince guy as an archetype is someone who Has kind of an earthen perspective and an emphasis on well-being and balance that can translate to pragmatism or to reductive worldview. A great capacity for nobility and valor and also like greed and reactionary patterns and violence. He's broadly solar. If I want to learn more about his medicne I have to let him ferment longer in my mind bunker I think. Here's some of the "in character" knowledge:

In his capacity as Michal's yaoi consort (momentary scizzoring and crying based yaoi that collapses amicably due to incompatible goals/both being stone (?)) he functions as both relational ground to reinvent herself after first 20ish years of her life overshadowed by weapons grade socially fuckin shattering mental illness and also an initial object of compassion that disrupts tha cluster B malicious destroyer patterns. Conversely she as his yaoi consort demonstrates a human soul with ready access to the absolute fucking depth of misery and despair and the golden gleaming heights of ecstasy and genius which disrupts his sort of comfortably narrow affect N points him to inward spiritual portal ....

Oh his name is Gregory "Gory" Slaughter with the baptismal name "Ataraxio", selected by Michal as translation of masculine Sanskrit name Ananda, one of her hobbies is pretending to understand linguistics. Begins to practice syncretic woodland catholicism on tail end of 1st saturn return.

Helping? Interesting? Maybe. It's a cartoon so modular glyph that can be ensouled by spirits peculiar to each viewer (grimoire on metaphysics of cartooning forthcoming). Interested in your response or elaboration but it's allowed to be secret. More pictures?

Playfighting with lunar syzygy (want to do a real version of this pic sometime)

Girl and boy forms, as Gory

Thank you for aksing me ? Love excuse to rant and rave

[void-occupation]

hi! I'm trying to get other peoples opinion on this-

what do you think alastors human life was like?

sorry it took me so long to answer this one, I've been busy lol

are we talking about what I think for canon, or the headcanon backstory that exists purely for angst? Because those are two veeery different answers lol. I'll just answer the canon opinion, and maybe do another part about my headcanon if anyone's interested

As far as I know, it's been confirmed that Alastor's mother was colored, and at least hinted that she practiced voodoo. I think that his father is also confirmed to be white, and I know we're all pretty sure by now that he was abusive. We know Alastor likely became a radio host, and was a serial killer (obviously lol) who hung around Mimzy frequently enough. For simplicity's sake, I'll say that Alastor was born in the year 1900, making him 33 when he died

Now, for the speculation. I feel like his parents only married when his mother got pregnant, which resulted in her being outcasted from the Vodun community. I believe she still would have taught her beliefs to Alastor, which probably angered his father, who was most likely Catholic based on the most popular religions in the area at the time. I don't know if it would be ore likely that Alastor's father killed his mother and Alastor killed him because of it, or if Alastor killed his father because of the abuse and lived with his mother until she died of illness. Either way, his father ends up out of the picture. For this, I'll say that his mother lived.

Something I don't usually see people take into account is that the US got officially involved in WW1 in 1917, and started drafting 18yo boys in 1918 - ironically enough when Alastor was 18. The law that prevents "the only surviving son" from being drafted wasn't even thought of until 1964, so Alastor wouldn't have been spared from the draft. I believe draft contracts were about 2 years long, so unless he was injured, Alastor would have spent about that much time in combat. He likely had PTSD from that, but they didn't know what that was at the time, so it would have gone untreated.

He gets home when he's 20ish, and eventually becomes a radio host, befriending Mimzy in the process, but he struggles when he comes home. Nothing seems to alleviate the awful feeling building in him since he came back, and then his mother dies. He snaps. Based on that pre-canon comic, Alastor typically targets predators/abusers ("I do hate those who can't show a little more respect towards those of fairer means"), which makes it pretty ironic (or purposeful) that his name literally means "Avenger".

He hears a woman screaming late at night on his way home, and sees a man cornering her in an alley. Maybe the screams remind him of his mother, or the things he saw overseas, or maybe he's just angry, but he picks something up and bludgeons the man to death. Later, he can't stop thinking about how good it felt to end such a miserable creature, so he does it again. And again. Until eventually, he's killed dozens of men just like his father, and he's reporting his own murders on a news broadcast for the police.

I like to think he didn't practice cannibalism until he got to hell. But if he did practice while alive, it probably would have been during the Great Depression. Times have gotten hard, and while he still has his job, money is tight, and it would be so much easier if he just took a cut or two from the man he just murdered.

However, he still has to dispose of the less edible bits (clothes, hair, bones, etc), and he does so in the bayou behind his house. One day though, there was a hunter who for some reason thought he was a deer. Barking Alerts Alastor of his presence, and he takes off, dogs close behind and baying loudly. Then a gunshot cracks through the air, and Alastor feels a split second pain in his head before collapsing to the ground. The bullet somehow didn't kill him, but it did paralyze him, so there's nothing Alastor can do to fight when the dogs eventually begin tearing into him. In the end, it was the blood loss that killed him as he was mauled, and it seemed like an eternity before he finally succumbed to that. (this is what breeds Alastor's severe dislike (read: fear) of dogs

this is pretty rough, but I figured I'd probably better just get it all out at once lol. Let me know what you think!!

[vaicomcas]

I have a question

So Cas took over the garrison from Anna right and Anna found a woman to birth her before falling

Anna must be in her late 20s early 30s when they find her again.

But everyone acts like she has been gone for a long time and there are a few lines in the show that make us feel like Cas was head of the garrison for centuries

But like 20-30 years must be less ke a block nk to the angels right? So like did Anna have a few lives? Or how do you think that time frame works?

Hi! First of all, I can say without needing to extensive research that there will be no explanation in canon, like many things (especially with angels or demons) there is no effort at all for things to "make sense". They'll say whatever they need at the moment for whatever plot point they want. They only remember angels and demons are different from humans when the plot needs it.

That said, this is an attempt at reconstruction of "garrison leadership" timelines based on a few crumbs from the show.

--We know Castiel once was in Ishim's garrison (which is a different one from the S4 one we saw) in 1901 from Lily Saunder episode

--Ishim said after that Castiel got his own garrison

--~20ish years before S4 (1990s?) Anna was the leader of Castiel's garrison

--This means, between 1901 and 1990s, he led his own garrison. This could be before 1990s, when he led the garrison with Anna, Urial, Balthazar etc reporting to him; then maybe he did something and got demoted and Anna took over. Alternatively, he led yet another garrison but somehow got demoted and transferred over to Anna's garrison.

--They also have confused Castiel's S6 civil war with his previous role as a military commander. In S6, Castiel was the top leader of his side (must have been at least thousands of angels). But in Captives Bartholomew talked about serving under Castiel but that Castiel was just a low-level captain reporting to multiple other superiors. They meant to refer to S6 but that is a complete impossibility and I therefore declare that there was a pre-canon civil war in heaven when Castiel possibly led a garrison as well (or some other military unit).

--They implied Hester and Inias worked under Castiel but Hester clearly referred to S6 civil war/godstiel (you gave an scary speech and then left), so I don't think that meant they were in Castiel's "garrison".

----All of that is recent history. For Castiel to be a famed commander among angels, he must have served in different military units throughout millennia (see previous point about another civil war). Given his rebellious nature and how many times he got mind wiped, he probably got promoted and demoted and banished and transferred multiple times.

--Of course, this implies that, although he reported to Anna between 1901 and 1990s at most, he was likely as experienced as Anna or more so. But Anna was portrayed as if she was Castiel's commander for a very long time, and Castiel couldn't make any decisions without her leadership. Of course when writing S4 Castiel's history was an open book, so at that time, it was plausible to think Anna was the commander for a long time and Castiel was always a lower level soldier. But the show went on and the later canon contradicts with this.

Sorry for the rambling and trying to reconstruct pattern where there was none, bottom line is I think we are free to explain the show's events however we want.

[queerofthedagger]

there is something so interesting to me about how the eagles came to actively help fingon (and maedhros) in the very early days of them being in beleriand, and then 450ish years later they come once more to at least bring fingolfin's body to safety (and there is something, too, how they bring him to gondolin and not back to fingon), and then another 20ish years later fingon dies and gets beaten to dust and no one is coming anymore. turgon only makes it back to gondolin thanks to the men, but the eagles still help protect the city. until they don't. i don't have one great theory or conclusion to this, somehow it's both telling and completely arbitrary at the same time, but it's rotating in the back of my mind at all times like. man

[arcanusarchieves-if]

I like to think mc didn't forget about Ollie, send him every birthday and special dates a little gift with a funny note. Will mc be able to have a close relationship with him in the game? Was mc able to hold him as a baby? Could you tell us more about the parents of Ollie?

Being able to send Oliver gifts is going to be an option within the game! Probably not letters though because I was going for a more “distant but still cares” vibe when it came to the relationship - but not to the point of being completely cut off from him! To answer the rest of your questions…

1.) Yes, MC will be able to have a close relationship with Oliver! It’ll be a requirement for a few routes (all of Caspian’s as well as a few others) and you’ll even be able to decide what type of relationship he forms with MC (aunt/uncle/entle, older sibling, parent, etc).

2.) MC was the first person to hold him after his parents and Caspian - so yes, they were able to hold him! I imagine that they were roped into babysitting duty pretty often as well!

3.) Oliver’s parents were named Alistair Vale and Helena Monroe. They got together when they were sixteen and ended up having Oliver when they were around 19-20ish years old.

Alistair was Caspian’s brother and MC’s best friend. He worked as a healer and was overall a pretty great guy. He was the first person to really accept MC and their condition!

Helena was another close friend of MC’s. She worked as a Cursebreaker (like Caspian and Solaine) and was a pretty impressive duelist. She was a bit more bold compared to her husband but equally as kind!

They both died during the first war after being ambushed on a retrieval mission. They were around 23/24ish when it happened. The war ended six days later because of their work.

[burningvelvet]

analysis on the character of billy bones as depicted in treasure island and black sails, particularly his dynamics with flint & silver:

billy bones is such a tragic character and i think he may be overshadowed by the larger personalities of silver and flint, who we see much more of and are led to sympathize more with. but from billy's perspective he really is a tragic character who initially had a strong sense for right and wrong which was later corrupted as he subconsciously/unwillingly "inherited" flint's worse characteristics. in billy's story, flint

billy is a skeptic and a dissenter, just like his political protester parents were according to his black sails backstory. he believes he is opposed to tyranny and injustice. he is therefore opposed to flint, who he has caught lying and acting unjust, and later on he is opposed to silver, who he sees as having echoed those same qualities.

yet, we learn in treasure island (and see somewhat in black sails toward the end) that billy inherits flint's obsessive tunnel vision, and he is driven to a mad sort of existence because of it, which sometimes leads him to align with those tyrannical qualities he detested from his youth. in black sails we learn he was forcefully conscripted to the navy, and was tortured by them after his disappearance in black sails. for a while he's still willing to align with flint because of how much he hates the english.

yet he ultimately ends up aligning himself once again with the english because of his hatred for flint ultimately wins out; he becomes a totally different person after this, toward the end of black sails we see him shooting his former men in revenge. just like flint, billy has become overwhelmed by his desire for revenge, to the point that it drives him to do immoral things he would have previously shunned.

his friendship with silver doesn't work out because silver is more aligned with his own interests and therefore with flint's interests, knowing that flint is the stronger personality over billy. i think billy and silver possibly could have taken flint down together if they were both truly in it, but silver didn't want to risk that chance because he knew the power of having flint's name. in the beginning of treasure island we see that 20ish year after flint's "retirement" his name is still feared even in england. bones was well-respected as a youth, even by vane in black sails, and had a good trajectory - but ultimately his sense of justice, an initially good characteristic, quickly became his downfall on the walrus as he became obsessed with the injustices of flint, to the point where his own potential for greatness was shattered in trying to overcorrect "the sins of the father." that concept, "the sins of the father," really applies to flint/billy overall.

in contrast, i see silver as flint's "true heir" or "chosen heir," and the better half of his son-duo in this interpretation. where billy inherited the revenge theme, silver has inherited more of the cunning. although as we see from his account books in treasure island, and from his command in black sails, billy is also known for being extremely intelligent, he is not as intelligent in the ways of manipulation/cunning as silver is, precisely because of his sense for justice which later becomes his achilles heel as it morphs into a sense of revenge. billy's attempt at righting flint's wrongs, & ultimately overcorrecting, is also a common type of error for children of neglectful parents irl.

(Below is taken from an earlier draft of this post & is possibly repetitive but not enough to not include it)

the decisions of the black sails creators to adapt billy for us billy as an adorable aspiring youth and show us their interpretation of how he was slowly driven mad from flint because of the trauma induced from the moral dilemma that flint put on his shoulders (the murder of singleton & the blank page, gates, etc. from the beginning), the injustice and guilt of which slowly sucked all the innocence out of him and turned him into (as we're told from others) a bitter captain who has essentially inherited a lot of flint's worse traits, like being hard on his men, being obsessive to the point of delusion about injustice and about the gold, and being a drunk like we're told flint ends up as in treasure island.

billy inherits so much from flint and it's tragic. i love flint in black sails, but in billy's story in the series, flint is his villain. to him, flint is an imposing, king lear esque fucked up father figure (as he told billy "i am your king" after billy said they had no kings).

also marvelling at the black sails creators decisions to make both flint/billy tied to the navy, and to make billy's parents progressives who protested forced conscription - the fact that billy was forcefully conscripted considering his background is just so similar to the injustices faced by flint(mcgraw) and the hamiltons imo.

i think billy coming back into the story after being kidnapped by the royal navy was sort of a wasted opportunity to explore his character & how he became further embittered/mad/disenchanted with life. i also think flint was sort of haunted by billy a little in black sails the way billy is haunted by flint in treasure island.

i also find it so interesting that billy and the other pirates visited flint before he died - i quote-searched the book to re-read passages mentioning flint but whenever the other pirates talk about his death, even when silver is present, i don't think it's ever made explicitly clear if silver was there at flint's death or not, but i think we can possibly assume so from the way he's otherwise certain that flint is dead, and talks about his blue face, referencing how the other pirates who were there said flint's face turned blue before/after he died. but what's really interesting is that above anyone else it was billy that acquired the map and not silver...

so in a way billy is his actual heir in the end and not silver... maybe because billy never went looking for it unlike silver, who he feared til he died? did flint tell billy not to let silver have it, and if so, why? in the end of treasure island silver takes only part of it and disappears, as jim says, presumably to live a quiet life with his wife and parrot, a life all the pirates wanted, whereas billy died alone and more miserable than flint (aside from jim, the closest thing he had to a friend).

i just love thinking of billy and flint's dynamic through billy's eyes. him becoming totally obsessed with this tyrannical captain and then sort of inadvertently becoming like him. god.

but at the same time i marvel at how billy still retains a lot of his fire to the end, like his singing (which we dont see in black sails lol) and his insistence on doing whatever he wants (like drinking himself to death, or in black sails, not giving in to silver's plans/refusing to ever trust flint or align with him). and all this sort of applies to silver and flint too but silver inherited more of flint's entertaining, less tragic aspects like his leadership skills, manipulative skills, charm, etc.

flint brings out different qualities in people. does he make silver stronger and billy weaker - or were they both going those routes anyway? does flint actually lead to various characters to doom or would they have gone that route without him? how much of billy's story is he responsible for and how much is flint responsible for? these are really philosophical questions about free will and what we can and cannot control. billy's story is all about moral dilemma and how sometimes in life there will be difficult questions that have no easy answers, or that we are never capable of answering.

[ninjastar107]

more misc megaman AU stuff, same AU as the last post:

For both Both Rock and Roll, Light did not fully leave the learning to his new memory structures. He injected a decent chunk of prior data from his latest attempt so that they both wouldn't take long to catch onto new things. - Blues learned everything from the ground up, from walking to gravity to visual and mathematical processes. It was this basic data set that he injected into his second and third kid. - There is an oversight in that memory data transplants often have leftover memory pieces that transfer over. Rock starts piecing it together after encountering Protoman, where he winds up asking Light about it. Roll puts it together as well, saying that she's talked to him before (much to the surprise of the other two).

Dr. Light does not know what to make of Blues' return. on one hand he is very happy and relieved to see his son is okay and functioning, but on the other he doesn't feel very good about Wily arming him and making modifications. - Blues comments that the Sniper Joe model is basically Light's version of that anyway, to which Light sadly agrees. - Blues also makes comment how it seemed inevitable that someone would change him and that it was probably really dumb to push against that notion, much to the surprise and concern of Light (and two eavesdropping kid-robots).

The other Robot masters drop by from time to time! Gutsman and Cutman often are accompanying Iceman for moral support when he's getting tuned up. Iceman tells fun stories of his time in the arctic. - Iceman has several different coats to wear thanks to Roll. - Sometimes Tempo gets assigned to arctic duty and she accompanies Iceman with retrieving glacial cores.

Speaking of Robot masters, Dr. Cossack did a good amount of studying under Light after Wily left. He was sort of an intern for the time being and picked up a lot about how to build them and tinker with AI. They are good friends, and it is only when Cossack visits with Kalinka that Light thinks about building another kid again.

Blues experiences some form of temporal displacement for a period of time after reactivation. He experiences it again upon seeing Light, and when he goes to places that don't exist anymore. In the grand timeline of things, Wily found and repaired him relatively recently. - Light was probably like, mid 30s when he finished and activated Blues. Light finished and activated Rock and Roll about 20ish years later. - Blues only functioned out on his own for about a year before he ceased. Wily only found him by completely accident when one of his construction robots found him in the area Wily Castle was being built, and he was quite weathered.

BASS. Bass is built for speed, and has little jets on his feet and back that allow him to dash forward very quickly. - The heels of his feet are wheels, again for faster mobility. - He, like Blues, has only one default state, being his usual fully armored look. His helmet is attached and does not come off. - Wily programmed him with high confidence and gave him a lot of prior data from various robot masters. Due to this, he's highly skilled in combat, but lacks a lot of soft skills. Treble accompanies him everywhere, and he becomes aloof when Treble isn't around.

[candeathbereal]

Just a small roast of some placements

If a person has Leo and Aries placements then that Virgo Venus means meh imo. Idk I’ve met so many with that and they don’t act like people with Virgo Venus that I’m used to. The impulsive and dumb manner of us fire signs are a moment. I can roast these motherfuckers cause I got all three fire signs in my chart. Quite literally a fire dominant with a Virgo moon. That Virgo moon is fucked but she is trying her hardest. I think if I didn’t have my Saturn in my tenth house I probably would have a shitter work ethic than I do now. I have no proof but ehh fuck it.

Also cancer placements don’t pack the punch I thought they would have. Scorpios aren’t mysterious they are just dumbasses who know how to keep their mouth shut. Yeah I said it! Plus Pisces I got nothing for you sorry. I got Pisces in my eighth house so you guys are confusing to me. I can’t roast without proper interaction. Like you guys are delusional but so are us Neptune dominants.

All the fixed signs have an odd stubbornness which is to be expected from them. And yet it surprises me how much it’s there. Mutable signs have the fun parts of going with the flow and all the lovely vibes of not properly dealing with their emotions especially mutable moons. I don’t blame us for wanting to try new shit but dealing with our emotions in a “healthy” manner is not one of the ways I’m going to be trying. I have to deal with my trauma first before I even try to grasp the idea of crying in front of people unless I intensely trust them. Don’t even get me started on the idea of comfort while going through a mental breakdown. I try to take care of my shit before I get to that point because it’s either that or having a mental break and being extremely exhausted but still having shit to do. Like bruh how can I get better if I have to depend on others emotionally? The Virgo moon is busting out of me rn. Like I know it sounds dumb asf but I feel like ranting and roasting at the same time. This is how dumb we sound but it’s just the brain functioning like it has to.

To sum it all up emotionally we can deal with it later cause other people need a good/easy time. Sag moons do it by staying positive and fun and I love them for it. They just gotta learn that crying your eyes out can be fun. Just make it a game you fools! Geminis have a similar vibe but idk how to describe them. I think they are more likely to have a decent upbringing compared to sag moons. Idk most sag moons I’ve met have some of the worst upbringings oddly similar to cap moons. The key difference is how they cope with those emotions. Cap moons can be workaholics whereas sag moons probably can but not really ya know?

-I am wondering how people can say moon square moon in synastry shows short term. I can grasp it to a certain degree but general this aspect can stay together. It just seems that the common theme is that they have something shared like a child or a pet. Maybe even a business but ehh. For instance my own parents have squared moons and stayed together for years before their divorce. They argued a lot sure but in the end, shit moved on. Traumatizing a little bit but overall could have been worse for sure imo. Oh and they were together for 20ish years but married for 18 of them I think.

That’s it for now

[redrydersrequiem]

Wandering canary

Heyyyyyy first one piece fic, love the show and glad its doing so well, the oc character is about 32 to be closer to shanks and buggy’s ages this will be a buggy x reader fic because like so many others i love Jeff ward and his portrayal of buggy was “chefs kiss”

The strawhat crew finally landed on a seemingly normal island.( For once.) Finally able to restock their dwindling supplies and stretch their sea legs.

“Finally land!” Nami states pop in her back and relishes the feel of solid steady ground under her feet. “That storm was crazy, we're lucky we made it here.”

“Yeah it's nice to finally be somewhere that looks seemingly safe.” Usopp says looking around at the nice port and colorful looking town.

“Yeah, think of the new local ingredients we can find around here or all the beautiful island women just waiting for a dashing chief like myself to come along.” Sanji says straightening his tie about to walk further on the pier however he's almost pushed into the water by Zoro's yawning form, walking off the ship

“I'm ready for a nap, huuuuh”

“Damit zoro watch where you're going.”

“What was that waiter”

“Why you broccoli headed piece of”

Before the two can argue further luffy plows through them effectively pushing them into the dock below.

“Ohhhhhh I can’t wait any more, come on guys lets gooooooo.!”

Luffy wait nami call out but it's too late the captain of the going merry is off dust trailing behind him as the crew all quickly try to catch up before luffy accidentally destroys something

A short time later the merry was restocked and no threats were found (or had been created) so the crew decided to treat themselves to a night out.

The local bar was nice, not as nice as the Baratie but not run down either. Drinks and food flow, the crew having a grand time when a spotlight turns on illuminating the bars stage. Everyone claps as a person the crew assumes is the owner based on how nicely the old woman is dressed steps forward.

“And now for the event of the night, our very own wandering songbird, ms Canary.”

The room erupts in applause and cheers. The straw hats all look on expectantly slightly apprehensive of all the clapping after the last time the. Had to endure a spotlight and clapping, except for luffy he was full on cheering with everyone else.

The curtain opens and a woman dressed in shimmering jewel tones, coins and bells added to the hems of her skirts to make them jingle, she stands in the middle of the stage a tambourine in her hand posed for the music to start. But its not her outfit or pose that draws the straw hats' eyes. No, it's her blood red hair.

“Hey! Her hair looks just like shanks.” Luffy points nami quickly shushing him and lowering his pointed hand as the music starts.

*Think this outfit but of course character is not Esmeralda

Canary’s pov

* I changed some of the songs lyrics

{ rhythm of the tambourine starts playing}

The music starts and I begin my first movement. My tambourine mirroring my movements perfectly in time,

Hey, soldier boy, I see how you stare

Hey, fisher man, I see you admire

Come gather 'round

Hey, Jack and Pierre!

Come see me dance to the rhythm of the tambourine

Flash of ankle

Flip of a skirt

Feel them excite, enflame and inspire

Come see me dance, hey, what can it hurt?

It's just a dance to the rhythm of the tambourine

The regulars are all in the front row while those from out of town have sprinkled around the bar. One table is filled with younger ones all maybe 16/17 to 20ish years old all smiling at the performance, they definitely look out of place amongst all the Old beer gutted or wind beat sailors and fisherman of the island, but its the youngest looking one that makes me pause, or more specifically the hat on his head.

Memories resurface quickly. The call of my name comes from a fuzzy figure in front of me. I can’t make out any of their features besides their red hair and the straw hat on his head. The sound of someone yelling wait up idiot comes from beside me as blue infiltrates my vision. Their faces and voices are still blurry but hey at least I remembered something. I quickly shake my head and move back into my dance trying to appear normal

Straw hats pov

As she dances around the room coming to stand in front of. The table her eyes taking us all in with a smile on her face till she sees luffy. That’s when she freezes. A confused and distant expression crosses her face quickly, but as soon as it appears it disappears, the woman quickly regaining momentum and spins back into her dance. The straw hats all (besides luffy) silently look at one another making sure they all notice the pause. The music comes to an end, the woman exiting as a band replaces her now playing soft bar music, as everyone goes back to eating and drinking. The straw hats finish and decide to head out.

“Ahhhh that was amazing” luffy laughs rubbing his engorged belly.

“Agreed but did you see that woman's face when she saw luffy.?” Nami asks the group

“yeah she like froze or something” usopp adds

“Wait what?” Luffy asks

"Yeah when she was near our table did you really not notice luffy?” Sanji asks

“Yeah it was weird. How she,” but before Zoro can get out the rest of his sentence a yell of wait cuts him off. The crew all turn towards the voice to find the women now wearing a normal outfit jogging towards them.

“Please wait” canary says catching her breath

“How can we help you, miss?” Sanji Asks ever the gentlemen.

“Um, I'm sorry to bother you all but I was hoping I could speak to you, privately if possible.?”

The crew all look at each other before luffy interrupts and gladly invites the lady to the ship happily dragging her along the rest of the crew following

Canary’s pov

Night had fallen and the kitchen is filled with warmth, tea and snacks being handed out as the crew settles into listen to my story

“To start thank you for not thinking I’m insane, and let me formally introduce myself my names canary”

“Nice to meet you, canary. I'm monkey D Luffy and this is my crew.” The energetic brunette stats arms wide as he gestures to the others each one going down the line to introduce themselves

“Canary huh, got a last name to go with that?”, the green haired boy named Zoro asks.

“I don't actually that's kind of part of the reason I wished to speak to all of you.

“Zoro dont be rude go ahead ma’am start at the beginning”. Sanji scoulds Zoro before turning back to me

“Can you tell us why you need to speak to Luffy so badly?” Nami asks

“I know this is a strange question but none of you would happen to recognize me would you?”

The crew all look at eachother once more before all answering no.

“I should have known better.”

“Why do you ask?” Luffy asks now, invested in my story.

“Well about twenty years ago I was found on a beach after a storm. Some of the villagers nearby found me, treated my wounds and took me in.” I move my hair to show the kids the scar on my temple. “ I don't have any memories from before the storm but sometimes i get flashes of the past and one of them was a red haired boy wearing that hat.”

“That has to be shanks! Luffy says so excitedly, his whole being lighting up at the mention of this Shanks person.

“Shanks”

“Yeah hes the best,hes the one who made me want to be a pirate, hes also the one who gave me this hat.

“Really! then he could possibly know who i am.

“I mean yeah probably. He never forgets a face”

“Do you know where he is now or how to get ahold of him?”

“No unfortunetly, I haven’t really seen shanks in a little while. Hes out there sailing the grand line like us.”

Oh, is all i can get out a immense sense of sadness overcoming me at the possibility of knowing who i am is snubbed right in front of me

Strawhats pov

Looking at canary’s face luffy can help but to think of how to help her.

“Oh hey! I have an idea. why dont you join my crew?”

Everyone’s heads turn eyes going wide as they stare at the rubber boy.

“Really?” Canary asks the young kid

“Yeah any friend of shanks is a friend of mine besides were bound to run into him eventually i know it.”

Before canary can speak Zoro interrupts the over enthusiastic boy

“Luffy the grand line isnt a place for just anyone to travel around its dangerous especially for someone who’s just an entertainer no offense canary”

“I’ll try not to be but I will correct you and say I'm not just an entertainer. I happen to be a petty good sailer and im a marksmen, i'm not exactly defenseless” canary says pulling out the mini Gatling gun on her thigh

“Wow that's cool you know how to use that

“I do i even make my own ammo and everything, I can use a sword too but I'm not really an up close fighter unless I have to be.

“I want to see, I want to see” luffy cheers.

“I would be happy to show you all my skills if that would ease your minds, and besides I’ve traveled a lot looking for where I came from, and I've made friends at every island I’ve visited I can help you get around the grand line, help navigate which islands to go to and which to avoid.”

“Well guys i don't know about you all. But a beautiful talented woman is always welcome to travel with me,”Sanji says with a stricken look on his face as he gazes at Canary.

“I wouldn’t mind having another female around to Be honest.” Nami says wistfully.

“Hey im always for new friends” usopp joins. Everyone turns to Zoro the first mate being the final decider

“If she can actually defend herself and keep up then she’s fine by me”

“ALRIGHT!!!!” Ms canary welcome to the going merry.”

[change-the-rules]

we have all seen this photo we all love this photo and now I present for your consideration a meredith x chessy au idea that drop kicked me through a glass wall

so picture it, nappa valley, 1998, only this time meredith 'stays home to knit' letting the James-Parker coalition roll out on the camping trip without her

chessy finds her later on in the wine cellar when she returns from her non-romantic thank you very much excursion with martin

as well as the empty bottles surrounding her

meredith invites her to toast to her painfullly short engagement as she clumsily tries to explain that while she knows nick is set to return in a few days her fiance never will

they end up making it through half a shelf of wine and fucking

and then they sober up and do it again and again only they def get caught eventually, its bad, nick is a dick even though he dumped meredith Before he caught them and throws chessy out (sorry nick parker's character but it's the 90's and i need a villian)

chessy and meredith probably don't get together for real until at least one doomed marriage and a few years but then like 20ish years down the line meredith (who's either still in PR or maybe producing films) and chessy (who oft makes a whole production of just being a total if endearing jackass about being the trophy wife now) are married and walking the red carpet for some new film

hallie became a screen writer and she's also there and is Shocked to see them bc nick told the family that chessy died

Tie-dye girl is hallie's date

so everyone ends up doing the name thing like in Shrek until chessy spots nicole and is just like tye-die girl? and then hallie still reeling from the last two decades of thinking one of her *moms* bc im sorry but chessy is that girls' mom was *dead*

realizes that not only is chessy alive and looking at her like the day she came home from the hospital 6 lbs 11oz this is how she looks at her but 20 years later chessy Remembers her first camp crush, and of course when she was 10 hallie wanted to know her birth mom and annie was speaking hallie's own words when she said they were almost teenagers and needed a mother only hallie realized p quickly after chessy disappeared that she already *had* a mom (annie never got it, martin was her best friend, a big brother, wacky uncle, type not any sort of 'dad' stand in and even then he was the butler above all that)

and hallie just collapses into chessy holding on for dear life heedless of the flashing cameras her sobs coming uncontrollably

how many nights did a babydyke hallie lie awake wondering if her parents love would be conditional how many nights did she wish she still had chessy to confide in, chessy who loved her like more than a job like her own, chessy who was the only one who immediately knew that hallie wasn't hallie even if she tried to logic it away at first, chessy who she mourned and misses whos in front of her alive and solid and-

the 4 of them end up blowing off the premiere, chessy dragging everyone home to cook out her feelings and feed her girls,

hallie is understandably shocked that chessy married 'cruella' but 20 years is a long time and she's no longer a kid

besides meredith looks at chessy the way she looks at nicole so the woman had to have some redeeming qualities

plus nick and liz's had marriage imploded again on its own with no help from blonde she devils when hallie came out, nick had softened slightly from the man who threw out chessy and lied about it but no one improves that much that quickly without impetus and their relationship to this day is strained from those scars

honestly hallie's too happy to have chessy back at the moment to open that pandora's box [the alll consuming rage and bittersweetness at her father's actions will come later and in waves]

for now she's too busy inhaling a bowl of pasta(chili tasted too much like painful memories) pressed into an adoring chessy's side watching with an understated awe as the villian from her childhood makes her first (and if the ring in her burning a hole pocket has anything to say about last) true love laugh

anyway this turned more into chessy hallie family with hallie tiedye girl feels than meredith chessy content but I don't know that ill ever actually get around to Writing the fic thus releasing this unpolished word vomit into the wild

[trainsinanime]

tell me about french train headlights

They're all the same! Or at least they were, from the mid-1950s to about the early 1990s. They all look like this:

Okay, some context for why I find this interesting. Suppose you see a picture of a train, especially one made in the second half of the 20th century, and you want to know where the train is from. The key trick to telling this at a glance is having a bit of autism, but more specifically, the headlights.

In Europe, all major and many minor countries used to have their own government-owned railroad and their own train-building industry, which would build trains to the specifications of their railroad company. There has always been some exporting going on, but for the most part, the trains you'd find in Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and so on would be all completely different. This has changed drastically over the past 20ish years.

One thing about this old model is that railroad companies would standardise certain parts within their fleets, especially small parts that need servicing and replacing every now and then. It saves on how many different types of spare parts you need to have.

Headlights are the most notable among these by far: Every train needs to have some of them. All trains have basically the same requirements for their headlights, no matter how fast or slow or whatever they are. Before LEDs, you needed to service the headlights regularly to replace the light bulbs. Also they are glass parts at the front of a fast moving vehicle, they can get damaged, so spare parts logistics are an issue. And most importantly, we as railfans can easily see them. So you get something like this:

As a result, basically all railroad companies in post-war Europe standardised their head- and taillights for all or most of their trains. And all of them had completely different ideas. Fundamentally, all of them agreed that you need white headlights and red taillights, and since modern trains are easily reversible, you put both of them next to each other.

But do you make the white and red lights the same size (West Germany, Netherlands) or different sizes (Austria, East Germany)? Are they separate things, or do you combine them into one assembly (UK, Switzerland)? Do you make them anything approaching normal sized or gigantic (Poland)? Maybe I'll do an overview post over these later, but I don't have enough pictures in my library right now and I'd have to scour Wikipedia for them later.

The French headlight design shown here is in many ways just one of many, but also interesting in its own right: The actual lenses for red and white are the same size, but the white headlight gets this huge lens assembly that makes it look much more prominent. You can clearly see that different French designers had very different ideas about whether you align the center-lines (most of them), or the bottom of the lens assembly. Why is the headlight lens so big, and what are the metal tabs around the bottom half of the circle? I have no clue. My guess is to put some coloured glass panes in, but I have no idea why you'd need that. Also, note that the red taillight classically has a fresnel lens, that's unique as far as I can tell.

I've taken all these pictures in the Cité du Train, the big central French railroad museum in Mulhouse. (That's why I was posting about traveling to Basel early this weekend. Mulhouse is actually really close to Basel, and going via Switzerland is the most practical—and most scenic—route for me) The oldest locomotive I could find with these headlights was CC-7107:

During high speed trails in the early 1950s, this locomotive reached a speed of 326 km/h (203 mph). That made it only second best behind the other locomotive at the trials, BB-9004:

This one reached 331 km/h (206 mph), a world record that would not be beaten for a long time. The difference was nothing to do with technical performance. Instead, both locomotives melted their pantograph, the part on top that touches the overhead line to get power, at around 320 km/h (200 mph). BB-9004 had a second one that it could lift up to continue accelerating, while CC-7107 only had the one. For a long time, SNCF pretended that both locomotives had reached 331 km/h, to protect the reputation of both manufacturers.

What's notable for our purposes is that BB-9004 has different headlights. As far as I can tell, these seem to be an earlier standard design, also found e.g. on the CC-65001 diesel locomotive:

And even on steam locomotives, like this class 141 R:

So CC-7107 lost on the high speed world record, but it was the way of the future when it came to headlights. These headlights then started cropping up everywhere. From the detail pictures I've shown you above, we have e.g. Le Petit Gris (the small grey one, an EMU for suburban services in Paris):

A CC-6500, dressed up with a nameplate for the express train it was hauling. Fun fact: One locomotive of this type (not this one) was used in the US for a while, as Amtrak was trying out new electric locomotives to use. They weren't happy with it and bought a Swedish one instead, mostly because this locomotive's suspension did not work well with the American track quality.

A Z 2200, a diesel railcar for rural lines designed to be cheap first, second and third.

A BB-26000, which feels altogether way to new to be in this museum.

It's from the 1980s, so I guess the first are reaching retirement age. But at the same time: The train I took from Basel to Mulhouse was still pulled by one of these BB-26000.

Other favourites include the BB-25600 with its rare diagonal light arrangement:

Or the really terribly lit gas turbine train RTG, which puts the headlight on stalks:

Fun fact: Amtrak did end up buying a few these. They didn't use the same white headlights (although they did use the same stalks), but they did use the same fresnel lens red taillights.

And the headlights went all the way up to the top. To the TGV. Only these headlights aren't very aerodynamic, so for their high-speed train, SNCF decided to cover them up.

As far as I can tell, SNCF used these headlights in the TGVs up to the Réseau series, including the Eurostar. That meant that they're also found, though behind faded glass, on the TGV Atlantique 325 in the outdoor area. Number 325 is notable because it was involved in another high speed trial, and reached 515.3 km/h (320.3 mph) on May 18th, 1990.

That was a world record, of course; in fact only the French ever exceeded 500 km/h on conventional railroads. So these headlights did get their world record after all. They didn't get to keep it for long, though. In 2007, a newer TGV reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph). That one is still in service, though, and it was equipped with newer LED headlights. I think it's highly unlikely that this record will be broken anytime soon, but if anyone does, I wouldn't be surprised if it were the French again, they like that sort of stuff.

Some final odds an ends with the headlights, though: Here's CC-40101, which isn't actually relevant, I just like the way it looks.

Designed for service in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, with four different voltages and four different train control systems, and that with mid-1960s technology. It wasn't quite as successful as hoped, and in service it only ever reached Belgium, but still, look at that design. The front is supposed to evoke an athlete, a sprinter about to start, but this type of design has instead become known as "Nez cassé", broken nose.

BB-9291 shows a rare early version without red tail lights at all. Someone thought they were saving money.

This small work train has a free-standing version of the headlight, which shows us how deep it really is. Apparently, the French headlight is actually not that deep, and isn't that a nice summary for this post?

And a personal favourite of mine, I even bought a T-Shirt with it on it, the Z 600:

The design, in particular the side windows (recessed instead of flush, no outside visible gasket) says Swiss, the headlight and SNCF logo says French, it's narrow gauge and it has a third rail to provide power. Just all around a weird little train, for the weird little line known as the Mont-Blanc Express from France via Switzerland to the bottom of the Mont-Blanc mountain. The train was built in Switzerland, experts of building small trains for mountains, but for the French part of that rail line, so it got French headlights.

Headlights with exporting is a fun topic in its own right. Do you keep the headlights from the country of origin, or demand your own? You will find both approaches. Both Portugal and the Netherlands bought very similar electric locomotives from France. Portugal has French headlights, the Netherlands insisted on (less interesting) dutch ones.

These days, of course, you will still find these headlights, but they're getting rarer. They stopped being used in new trains around the mid-1990s. What's more, the ones you do find, like on this MI-84 in Paris, probably don't have the fresnel lens taillight anymore. Instead, those were replaced with LEDs.

LED lights for railroads make a lot of sense. They last forever and require less power. And since most railroads have standardised their head- and taillights, you just need to design one replacement light for most of France, and then keep building that one until SNCF stops giving you money.

(Since we're showing a picture from Paris, a quick note: These headlights were never used on passenger-carrying trains for the Paris metro. However, some work trains do have them.)

These days, standard headlights are completely gone. LEDs don't need a lot of replacing, and they give you much more freedom to do things like shapes and patterns and designs. Also, we don't have the "one country, one railroad, one rail industry" pattern anymore. Instead now we have multi-national rail conglomerates. Alstom is technically French, but arguably just as much German, ever since they bought Bombardier's rail division, nominally Canadian. Stadler is Swiss, except for the stuff they build in Germany or Poland or Belarus or Hungary or…, and some of their most interesting products right now are built and designed in Spain.

The end result of that is this:

That's a company I saw at a trade fair (Innotrans, Berlin, 2022) that makes LED train headlights, and specifically they make… all of them? Okay, I'm exaggerating, but this is a great picture to drive a European rail fan insane as they try to assign the different headlights to different trains. You get Stuttgart trams, German (and Turkish) high speed trains, lots and lots of Swiss stuff. Nothing specifically French that I could tell, but at least the German high speed train regularly travels to Paris.

The standard headlights, or their LED variants, were still in use for work trains until fairly recently. There are not that many companies that make rail grinders or ballast tampers, and those tend to just use whatever headlight their customer tells them to. But these days they go for shaped LED headlights as well, because they're just better, and because thanks to European standardisation, a headlight approved in one country can (generally) be used in all European countries.

(All pictures © me, feel free to use them under CC-BY-SA 3.0 DE if you want)