#its not like i care about the difference much anyways ww

[serashii]

Anxious 20 y.o. w/ daddy issues goes on a journey with his best friend(🤨?) to meet king Menelaus of Sparta

A bit I love is when Tele gets shy in front of Menelaus and Peisi takes over and does the talking lol. that's so me. He's just like me fr!

[moonstandardtime]

i want to put link in isat. im sure hed do fine. the heros spirit endures

[simp999]

I feel this is cringe but it itches the back of my mind like no other… since it’s late 60s early 70s in tf2, mercs reaction to there being a new recruit who is a female pilot? I’m sorry if this sounds like? Hyper specific ? But she’s like hot biker/pilot bitch who is like the epitome of Cool Girl (tm) flared ripped jeans and tight tank tops yk?

GOING INSANE OVER THIS ITS SUCH A COOL IDEA

I'm so sorry about how long it took to make this and how short it is, I'm trying to do all my requests in order of what I received em ww

TF2 Mercs x Badass Fem Pilot! Reader Headcannons

Wc: 730

Themes: uhh Fluff? Romantic and platonic depends on character

A/N: Sniper bias whoop

A/N 2: okay so. I try to stray away from fem reader stuff but this THIS is a complete exception because I love the idea sm

Taglist: @emotionally-alive-sniper @moopy-milk @skeleton-stomper-xoxo @emotionallyunwellmedic @physically-robotic-medic

Masterlist

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Scout: 

-God,, he is immediately in love with your style and vibes.

-Yes, in a simpery way

-Will absolutely fumble on words and flirt miserably

-"Hey girl are you a pilot cause uh you’re really cool"

-Absolutely will find clothes that he thinks suits your style and be your #1 hypeman 

Soldier:

-Wants to touch all the buttons

-"SHOW ME YOUR MEDALS!!!!!!"

-Does respect the effort and time you’ve put into training definetly. But is always asking you to prove yourself

-Okay you can pilot but can you do 30 pushups. Right here right now.

Pyro:

-Doesn’t think of you any differently if you’re female

-A new cool friend!!

-Just an adorable little goober. Okay maybe they get to sit in the front sometimes

-Loves loves loves making drawings of you and them and planes!!!! And clouds

Heavy: 

-Protective older brother.

-He is SO overprotective of you. You remind him too much of his sisters.

-You’re strong just like them but,, it’s just scary, y’know? He misses them

-Often just kinda chills around- and won’t stand for ANY harassment or anything rude. AHEM spy AHEM

-And the clear bias for you? It’s honestly funny at times

-He definetly makes you sandviches and just. Silently takes care of you

Engie:

-Rocket boosters for the planes. He’s gonna bring it up on multiple occasions

-Makes you little plane trinkets out of wood and stuff!! Pyro paints them :]

-Is so interested in infodumping about mechanical stuff with you- he’s glad he has somebody that just. GETS HIM yknow?

-If you need someplace to go chill away from the chaos that the mercs usually bring, the workshop’s your go-to. Late night convos are the best with this man

Demo:

-Roughhouses!!

-Treats you like one of the guys

-Respectfully ofc but. You’re getting noogies

-Will be offering you beer n stuff, he treats you like a really good friend

-Lives for your vibes

-He thinks you’re so badass!! Hell yeah!!!

Medic:

-Kay so. You probably had to go through lots of training right?? So!;

-Rivalry for first aid.

-Hear me out

-Everyone all of a sudden wants you to help make them feel better when they get small injuries because of the one time you mentionned you had to do a buttload of first-aid courses

-So. Lots of who can make it to the scene and get (injured person) back on their feet the quickest

-Does ask you if you’ve ever expirinenced or witnessed anything wild- such as big crashes, and how people dealt with the situations

-Loves your stories despite pretending to hate you- it’s just a friendly rivalry!

Sniper:

-He’s not one to really apprach you, but he does definetly admire you from a distance.

-He thinks you’re too cool for him :( 

-But eventually one day, you’ll ctach him stargazing- and you’d have the amazing idea of bringing him for a ride just the two of you so that you can see the stars

-.God maybe he just fell in love I MEAN WHAT????? ANYWAys

-He LOVES stargazing with you!!

-You get to tell eachother stories and it’s overall really calming- a nice from the hectic mercenary life

-He also happens to know a fair bit about constellations, so he’ll infodump unconsiously if you let him :) 

Spy:

-Spyyyy… dislikes your ideals, and has traditional values

-Not a fan of the way you hold yourself, but will eventually warm up a bit

-Im sorry,, I just don’t like Spy aheh anyways

-You probably end up showing off your skills- not of purpose though, just- you seen a natural at what you do, and that’s when he sees that maybe there’s a reason you’re such a big deal

(Bonus!) All:

-They all fight over who gets to sit in the passenger seat. Some are more civil about it, for example Engineer or Heavy- but they still want to sit in the front for their own reasons. You may have walked into the room only to find all the mercs fighting iver who’s calling shotgun for the next ride.

“I AM GOING TO PRESS ALL THE BUTTONS!”

“NO WAY CHUCKLEFUCK, I’M SITTIN’ NEXT TA THE HOT CHICK!”

“No. Heavy will sit next to pilot for protection. Is only fair.”

“Ya’ll- I have some things I’d like to see up close in the cockpit, I think I should be next.”

“Mmhhph!!!”

.

.

.

Sep.20.23

[magpie-sherlock]

Ooo, a hyperfixation you say? adfkajkdljafjfdsdjkhj

Umm this includes spoilers for TotK, not sure if you have played it; if not feel free to delete this, its a long rant anyways lol (and just let me know if there's a different hyperfixation you want me to send I'm so sorry)

Right now I have this whole big theory about the Zelda timeline. I actually think that BotW/Totk is its own parallel timeline to the one that we've all accepted as canon. I also think that the downfall timeline is its own parallel timeline as well due to the legend of the creation of the Master Sword being different to the one shown in Skyward Sword. But don't get me wrong; all of the games I consider canon (because I've heard that a lot of people don't consider the games outside of BotW/Totk/AoC(?) canon) and they somehow influence the other games due to parrellel legends or circumstance, hence why there's so many references in BotW to each of the other games, even more so in TotK. Plus, I find it odd that only Skyward Sword and BotW/TotK mention Hylia when all of the rest of the games (if we don't take into context that these games were the more recent additions to the franchise) seemed to have forgotten about her.

In short, I think there are three timelines: The Goddess Timeline (Lttp, Loz 1+2, etc), the Hylia Timeline (SS, OoT, TP and WW etc), and the Zonai Timeline (TotK, BotW, AoC) that make up the games. Two of which Hylia gets forgotten about, the other basically a parellel when Hylia isn't forgotten but there's also a magical race of people who I think may have actually been descendent from Hylia.

ACTUALLY, scratch that; I really like the idea of Sonia being the descendent of Hylia because I've heard somewhere that the descendants of Skyward Sword Zelda, aka Hylia, have become priestesses carrying her sacred power, hence one of the reasons why Sonia married Rauru. So maybe Skyward Sword actually caused a timeline split, just one of the timeline people evenually forgot about Hylia and the other people honored her (I mean, the Zonai are basically gods in the Zelda universe so that may have been the reason for them to keep on worshipping her).

Sorry for the long thing; the Zelda timeline is just a really big puzzle to me and I really like taking about it

thank you for the infodump!! don't apologize, this is really cool! (i will tell on you to Silver, be careful)

so i don't know as much as i should about the Zelda timelines, but i like this idea a lot actually. correct me if i'm wrong, but you're saying that instead of the timeline splitting at OoT, it may have split at SS? hm. goodness gracious there's so much religion involved in this!

[dullweapons]

𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭. asked by @sidxras & @nihlkahn ♡

𝟎𝟎.  𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥 :  what are your muse’s thoughts on new beginnings ? does it frighten them or  excite them ?

there is no new beginnings . the world is trapped in a cycle & will always circle back to the same events in different fonts . dawn believes in anew beginnings & has hope for brighter futures but ray is too caught in the reality that the pain the kingdom goes through every few decades will happen again & again so them moving to a different part of hyrule for ' new beginnings ' or when war ends ⸻ it's just a waiting period for the next painful part of the cycle . neither excitement nor fear ... just waiting .

𝟎𝟏.  𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐧  :   how does your muse feel about fate ? do they believe they can change their own destiny ?

hates it ! hates it so much . he wants to drag the gods from their heaven & snap their necks with his bare hands . the cycle is fated to happen due to the curse of the gods & he wants to see it broken . a few times he's taught about getting the triforce himself to shatter the cycle so that he can finally be free but so far has failed each time . i do have a small webcomic / fanfic idea where ray does make a whole plan to trap the three triforce bearers in a painted world so he can get the triforce & finally free the world but idk ! for his own destiny ... he isn't sure he has one ? he simply operates on what he is good at : fighting & killing .

𝟎𝟓.  𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭  :    what are your muse’s morals / ethics ? do they follow their moral code strictly ?

moral code is ... difficult to pin down when ray's own ideals shift through the timeline . from the beginning up until OOT he is a die hard lover of hyrule & will do anything to protect it & its people . hurt no innocents . slay monsters & always uphold the rule of the royal family with pride . then the civil war begins to shatter his mindset of ' hyrule is good ' . he shakes it off but downfall , he loses it mind & hates the kingdom of hyrule & vows to destroy everything . child era he continues to keep his love for the kingdom but is growing tired of the cycle & begins to wonder if the kingdom will ever be happy but remains a loyalist . adult era is tricky . is a bit of a mix . he refuses to leave as the kingdom drowns but grows resentful of new hyrule ⸻ believing it to be a bastard version of the kingdom he loves . still a loyalist but a bitter one who spits in the face of progress. then BOTW happens & all timelines reconnect & ray has memories of all three eras & .... he has no more morals . he kills what he wants , joins the army just so he can fight & talks down to the royal crown when he can get away with it . truly a man with nothing left . beyond the cycle : he upholds honor in fights , refusing to fight someone not on even ground ( they must have a weapon , they cannot be hurt already as that's unfair to them , 1v1 is possible ) . through most timelines he doesnt hurt kids & tries his best to be kind to them . ( ww is on sight with link & tetra tho he gonna fuck 'em kids up ) & for the most part he doesn't break the law ... a lot . yeah he kills ppl but usually someone who deserves to die like an abuser or p/edo . last he tries not to eat people , opting for rats or wild animals .

𝟎𝟕.  𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐭  :    how much does your muse care about winning ? are they a sore loser ?

o yeah he loves to gambling / card games & yells " YOU CHEATED " when he loses lol . bit of a sore loser unless he playing with kids then he'll grumble under his breath & reward the kid for winning . during fights he doesn't care so much about winning but it being a good battle that makes him feel something passionately for once in his life .

𝟏𝟏.  𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞  :  does your muse find it easy to be impartial in emotional situations ?

he isn't a very emotional person , outwardly anyway . he has feelings & that muddy decisions but as a general / captain / queen he is able to put his feelings aside to do that is best for the many over the few . some may see his choices to be heartless but he understands some situations require pain or bloodshed to protect the greater good . that being said .... he does lose his cool during the downfall timeline & attempts to bring back ganon himself in a fit of rage @ god . but that was after thousands of years of pain & suffering . so he got a big buffer of what bullshit you can toss at him before he loses it & makes rash choices .

𝟏𝟑.  𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡  : is there anything in your muse’s life that they should be letting go of ?

girl calm down about the cycle pls just live ur life . the anger he feels towards his father / maker . their relationship is backwards to him . a loving father turned into an abusive master when for lamatar , he learned from the horrible treatment he gave ayrin/ray during the ancient battle & tried to be the best father he could be -- unaware he fulfills the prophecy of ayrin becoming ray . ray blames him for everything bad in his life & that is only partially true ? lamatar loved him greatly but its ray who continues to throw himself at wars over & over again , reliving his trauma instead of allowing himself to heal & grow past it . not saying ray should forgive lamatar or invite him back into his life but to finally allow that wound to close .

𝟏𝟕.  𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫  :    what does your muse take inner comfort in knowing ? what guides your muse ?

great question !! i'm not sure he even knows what guides him ?? for a good part of the timeline where he is a loyalist he takes comfort in the fact he can help protect the people of hyrule . but has stated above that love dies as the timeline goes on ... beyond hyrule ray is simply the idea of ' survive ' . no matter what , ray will remain even when nothing else stands ... ray will be there . he does take comfort in his long list of past lovers . it reminds him that he is loveable even when he reject the idea he is something worthy of love . they remind him of better moments of his life , times when he was able to at least pretend to live a normal life where he got married ( & in some verses have kids ) . ray has a collection of items from these lovers that he keeps with him .

𝟐𝟏.  𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝  : is there one thing in life that your muse must accomplish ? what will they do when they complete that goal ?

no idea again !!! maybe its kill god !!! get the triforce ?? who knows !!! problem with ray is that he just kinda exists to suffer this cycle !!!! my man is just surviving .

[wonderland-in-bloom]

wolf!male!reader confessing to the savanaclaw boys w/ baked goods

@nikis-restaurant asked: yo yo yo! if possible i'd love to request hcs of the Savanaclaw boys with a wolf!male!reader who's in the same dorm, is v cheerful, enjoys baking sweets and ends up confessing to them with a cake (or another baked good of some kind) in their favorite flavor? i've thought this was a super cute lil' idea and i've had it in my head for weeks but w/o any idea how to go about requesting it to someone ww

this is so cute aaa!! tysm for requesting this!! i’ll do my best to make you all die over how incredibly cute the savanaclaw boys are (even though they’re supposed to be the most manly lololol)

♡

leona kingscholar

you’ve been crushing on your senpai for quite sometime now

being a first year, you didn’t see him often in classes, but you saw him plenty in the savanaclaw dorms and early magift practices 

due to having such a hard time approaching him, you decided it was best for you to bake something for him (one of your specialties!)

you weren’t too sure if he was going to like sweets or any kind of fruit pie (seeing as he hates vegetables you figured he wouldn’t be such a big fan of fruits too) and so you baked a meat pie especially for him

you delicately placed the pie in a basket along with a letter

luckily he was currently in magift club so you sneaked into his room and placed the basket on top of a table (after moving all of his cluttered stuff)

before you left, you quickly cast a spell on it so that it would stay warm throughout the day and so that it doesn’t spoil

you then quickly made your escape and retreated to your own room

that afternoon, leona came back from magift club with a sore body and honestly, he was just ready to pass out 

however before reaching his bed, a heavenly aroma filled his nose and it led him all the way to a table (which he actually forgot he had because he dumped basically all of his stuff on top of it)

he saw a basket he never saw before and just decided to see the contents inside. it was a perfectly baked meat pie with a letter resting beside it

dear: leona-senpai, you may not know me...that much...well, this is (y/n), a first year. senpai i look up to you a lot! you’re an amazing magift player! you’d do anything to reach your goals! i aspire to be like you senpai! i...like you a lot senpai! please accept this meat pie i baked especially for you! we don’t have any classes together, and i know how busy you must be being the dorm leader, so i decided to bake this for you! you must be tired so why not wind down and enjoy :)) signed, (y/n)

was this a confession? he thought to himself but smiled anyways. he folded the letter carefully (something which would shock ruggie if he saw him do this) and placed it in his pocket

all the savanaclaw students had the daily, early morning magift training and you were lined up with all the other students

unlike usual where he would just be watching by the sidelines leona stepped forward and stood in front of all the students

“(y/n) (l/n).” you flinched “follow me.” you followed him with a confused look while he left ruggie to take care of the rest of the students

once you two were in the bleachers, he sat down and pulled you down to sit beside him. “thank you for the treat yesterday. it was amazing.”

“ah, it was nothing.” “by the way...the letter...” your eyes widened. “you’re right...i don’t know much about you.”

he then suddenly rested his head against your shoulder and slowly started to drift off to sleep “let’s change that”

was that an indirect reply to your confession..? oh well, that didn’t really matter. all you could do was stay perfectly still while your crush leaned their head against your shoulder and well, of course you stared at his beautiful, sleeping figure multiple times

ruggie and jack would be like wtf but eh they’d be chill with it 

ruggie would lowkey highkey take pictures to blackmail leona lol

ruggie bucchi

you were cooped up in the kitchen, currently making donuts for your senpai and crush, ruggie

you planned to ask him later that afternoon when he’s done with all his tasks to enjoy donuts with you 

as soon as you were done with the batter, you heard the door to the kitchen creak open 

“oii! (y/n)! nice seeing you here!” your eyes widened and you tried your best to come up with a decent lie if he asked

“uwaaaa, what are you making?” “just some batter to fry some things later!” you were a horrible liar “what about you senpai? what are you doing here?” “leona-san asked for some recipe they used to cook at the palace all the time. so here i am.”

he got started on cooking the meal and left you a little confused, dazed, and flustered

the whole kitchen was quiet and it was that way for the remainder of the time you two were there

you put the donuts in the fryer and had prepared the icing, by then ruggie was almost done with whatever leona asked him to make 

when you were done dipping all your donuts in various different icing, ruggie was about to leave the room before you called out to him “uhm, ruggie-senpai! if you don’t mind...do you wanna join me for some donuts in the botanical garden...?”

he looked shocked for a while before chuckling. “sure! i’ll meet you in ten minutes!” he then scurried off to give the dorm leader his order

you started to make your way to the botanical garden and set a little picnic-like setting for both you and ruggie

“wow (y/n)! this looks amazing!” “eheh, thanks!”

you both started to munch on your homemade donuts and ruggie was complimenting you after every bite he could

“you know ruggie-senpai, i could continue doing this for you if you want. i’ll do even more things than just bake for you. i’ll be there every step of the way!! because...well...i like you...” you whispered the last part

ruggie paused before he bursted into laughter

“you sure are an interesting fella, (y/n).” his laughter died down. “but...i’ll consider...”

jack howl

being jack’s best friend all your life, you knew something was wrong with him throughout the week. he was much more moody, quiet, and distant.

you wanted him to forget whatever he was thinking about and just make his mood better

so you took it upon yourself to bake a pear compote pie especially for you best friend...and crush

you admitted that you had this ‘little’ crush on jack since you were both really young, and you decided to confess today out of all days to just hopefully make him think about something else than whatever he was thinking about

you happily skipped to your shared room with the pear compote pie in your hands. once you entered, jack’s ears twitched and his tail started wagging

this made you smile and chuckle slightly. “i made your favorite...” you took a seat beside him in your shared work table. you started to cut pieces of the pie for him and just admired him while he was eating

“what?” “eh? what what?” “you’re staring” “OH! sorry!” 

“jack, what’s wrong” he looked up from the plate. “huh?” “you’ve been kind of...off this past week. is everything alright?” 

jack placed the plate down and scooted closer to you 

“i’ve just been really homesick...” but his little frown turned into a smile. “but (y/n), you being here reminded me that...a little part of home will always be here with me. from your amazing, signature, pear compote pie to...well...you being here beside me.”

“and i’ll continue to be with you every step of the way, jack.” you placed your hand on his cheek. you took a deep breath. you were finally going to tell him. after all these years. 

“jack...listen...i really think--” you felt a pair of lips crashing onto your’s, the taste of pear compote infiltrating your mouth

when you both pulled away, jack started to chuckle 

“you really think i wouldn’t know? after all these years? come on (y/n), i know everything about you. besides, you really need to improve your lying skills.” 

“NO FAIR! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SAPPY AND CHEESY AND--” “there, there. at least you got a kiss.”

he was right. at least you got a kiss from the love of your life :))

♡

its 12.50am here and im screaming over the latest chapter of owari no seraph omg ;-; mika and yuu AAAAAAAAAAAA MY BABIESSS anyways enough of me rambling lol,, i will update ‘wish upon a star’ chapter 2 tomorrow! have a good morning/day/noon/afternoon/evening/night/early morning wherever you are in the world! and remember to stay safe!

love, a♕

[dreamingofscully]

6x10. “Tithonus” - X-Files Rewatch

“You know, most people want to live forever.” - Scully “Most people are idiots. Which is one of the reasons I don't.” - Fellig “I think you're wrong. How can you have too much life? There's too much to learn, to experience.” - Scully “75 years... is enough. Take my word for it. You live forever, sooner or later you start to think about the big thing you're missing and that everybody else gets to find out about but you.” - Fellig “What about love?” - Scully

The last episode showed Mulder sitting at the desk in front of Scully. I love that they’re sitting near each other now. Mulder totally paid off or did SOMETHING to get the other guy (that we see in “Triangle”) to vacate so he could sit next to Scully.

More of Mulder’s little rebellions - feet on the desk. Contrasted with Scully sitting neatly. But look at her messy post-its... she’s also got her little rebellions, even though she takes her work much more seriously.

First it was fertilizer checks, which at least let them spend hours together talking about ‘anything and everything’ in cars. Next was the interviews, which they were supposed to do together. Now, phone background checks. Mulder’s right their next stop on this trajectory is cleaning toilets.

Their banter when Scully gets called into Kersh’s office. 😍

Scully’s unimpressed face at Ritter’s theory.

“Agent Mulder and I will begin immediately.” Scully KNOWS Kersh doesn’t mean to include Mulder when she says this, but this is her way of rebelling, of shouting at him: WE ARE A TEAM.

Mulder’s so jealous Scully’s off to check out a case without him, one that he can tell has a certain ‘paranormal bouquet’. I love Scully’s assurance that this is just a one-time thing. Mulder knows she can do what she wants, that she doesn’t need to stay with him. “If she does a good job” (of course she will and he knows it). Despite wanting her near him… he DOESN'T want her to waste her talents, so tells her it’s okay if she leaves him (that he’ll be okay if she moves on - which is a LIE and they both know it). Love this little interaction.

I love that Scully has such a sixth sense when it comes to people - Deep Throat, Diana, now Ritter. She can tell that he doesn’t care about the truth, about justice. He only wants a promotion. This is something that she’s always had, but once she got partnered with Mulder she only really became aware of how important it was to her. Mulder doesn’t give a shit how he looks in front of his superiors, he flagrantly does the complete opposite of what they want if it’s the right thing to do. She admires his ability to not care so much and has adopted that into herself, and has learned to listen to that voice inside herself now that tells her when someone’s dirty.

I LOVE how blase Fellig is about everything. Reminds me of a more serious Clyde Bruckman. He’s just tired of life, has given up, but has no ability to do anything about it.

Scully following her instincts and trying to get the truth of the case. She couldn’t care less if her ideas or line of questioning doesn’t fit with Ritter’s narrative.

“I thought we were looking for the truth.” - Scully

Mulder’s “we used to sit next to each other” and their conversation is so sweet. Scully adores him.

What things did Ritter say about Scully in his report to Kersh?

Mulder’s being so cute and helpful. He wants a part of something strange and to feel like he’s working with Scully not just beside her.

Scully’s briefcase in the surveillance car. ❤️ Hopping over the centre console. So smol. ❤️

Scully’s sense for people, again. Knowing that Fellig isn’t a killer and Ritter is a snake.

“What, do you want me to cry for them? You want me to make like I feel sorry for them? I don't. Lucky bastards. Every one of them.” - Fellig

I love this line. Vince is SO GOOD at making characters that are likeable despite being unlikeable (Crump in “Drive”, Fellig… his characters in Breaking Bad, particularly WW)

Scully being a complete badass and arresting the pimp. Smacking him upside the head when he calls her “Red”. 😍

Ritter calling Scully “Dana” is just… gross.

Then coming out to be the rotten person Scully thought he was (he doesn’t care if he’s wrong, if justice isn’t served, he just wants to interrogate a confession and railroad this guy. He “knows the judge” - what an entitled prick.)

That Kersh sent Scully on this case with this guy - calling him a “promising young Agent” and “what she used to be”

She was NEVER like Ritter. But it is SO Kersh to think that a guy like Ritter is the ideal - he presents himself in the best light, sucks up to his superiors. Kinda like Fletcher when he was Mulder…

Scully telling Ritter to call her Scully instead of Dana. What is a tender name when used by Mulder is a professional one to all others. 

Mulder being helpful ❤️ and trying to be sneaky in the crowded office. No wonder he chose to slack off, play basketball and do anything except work during the day, but came in late/early to do the stuff he actually wanted.

“Mr. Fellig, I know... that you know more about photography than I do but this is just a lens flare.” - Scully “You're right. I do know more about photography than you do.” - Fellig

When Scully offers her usual pragmatic alternative to the ‘apparition’ in the photograph, I love Fellig’s response. He doesn’t disagree, just responds to her like he’s bored.

Scully finding a clue, so calls Mulder.

When Mulder finds information that Fellig is dangerous but can’t reach Scully, he calls Ritter and TELLS HIM SHE’S THERE. He still goes in guns-blazing. What an idiot.

Scully’s first concern, after saying that if you lived forever you could learn and experience so much, is love. The one thing she lacks at the moment. If she could turn back time and do things all over again, perhaps things would have turned out different with her and Mulder. As it is, they’ve wasted so much time. :( She looks so sad when Fellig says “You don't want to be around when it's gone.”)

Scully is concerned when Fellig looks at her strangely and prepares his camera. As much as she protests, she DOES believe. She’s afraid of dying more than she is of believing in this instance, reacting as though she doesn’t believe that Fellig can predict death.

At the hospital, how much self-control did Mulder have when facing Ritter? He probably knows the guy is getting in deep shit so doesn’t want to interfere with that. I don’t think Scully would have pressed too much for punishment, but Mulder DEFINITELY would have, because he KNOWS that this guy KNEW Scully was there, and shot blindly anyways.

The secret handshake, playing with each others’ fingers, it just makes my heart hurt. ❤️ Sitting on the bed, he places his arm over her on the other side, leaning closely. Gazing at each other.  ❤️

“I just think that … that death only looks for you... once you seek its opposite.” - Mulder

Death only matters once you have something in your life worth living for. (?) There are a few ways to interpret Mulder’s words here, but I think this one fits.

Side Note: When Mulder is doing his phone call the person he’s talking to is called “Ms. Ehrmantraut”, which Vince uses later for Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad. ❤️

[susiecarter]

WW 2 y/n?

Yes! :D Very much yes, anon. It took me a while to get to it, but I've finally watched it, and I adored it! I think I liked the first one better, mind you, and there were definitely some decisions it made that I did not understand or thought should have been made differently (the Steve situation is the big one—it's magic, guys, you can make it happen any way you want! Why do that??? Also, I'll admit I'm not enamored of the "only joy" line, although I can buy it, grudgingly, in the context of Diana's character arc). BUT I loved Barbara, I loved everything about her, I loved everything about her and Diana! That was a magnificent meet-cute, and I will never be over her explicitly calling Diana sexy and implicitly considering herself analogous to Steve. I need ten million words of fic immediately. And Max Lord! Pedro Pascal is such a good dad, bless, and I felt like I could really get where he was coming from without that excusing him for screwing up, which is how I always want to feel about people who do the wrong thing. ♥

Also, just in general, I will always be here for any WW movie where the lasso saves the day—not by capturing anyone, not by strangling anyone, but by being there to allow Diana to reach out to people and ask them to acknowledge the truth. I loved the opening sequence with the Amazons, and I loved the ways it tied into the overall message of the movie, both in terms of Max Lord's character and in terms of the plot as a whole: stuff you get without earning it, because you want it in that selfish childish place in your heart where you want things without caring about the consequences, isn't enough. It isn't enough, and it won't make you happy. It won't mean what you want it to mean, and some part of you will always know that, and you'll just end up piling more and more stuff up on top of it, trying to make it sit right, trying to make it stick, when what you need to do is let go of it and give yourself something real instead.

*clears throat* ANYWAY. It doesn't hurt that I love the thought that the deepest truth in the hearts of all humanity, when you dig down far enough, is that we care about each other and are willing to give up what we want most when we understand that it's going to cause a problem. That's not reality, but I think it's closer to reality than we sometimes believe it is, and the reminder that that might be the case was something I needed.

So, yeah. It wasn't perfect, but I love the movie it was trying to be, the movie it was in the truth of its heart, and there were a lot of things about it I really enjoyed!

[daggerzine]

Celebrity Mixtape Party #1 with Steve Michener (Volcano Suns, Dumptruck, Big Dipper) Part 1

Steve (far left with Big Dipper) 

Mixtapes. They're back! Or maybe they never went away? What happens when you make a mixtape for someone who MAKES music? And then they talk about that mixtape? Well, dear reader, let's find out in..

Okay!  First song. Side A. So I'll give my impressions and then we can talk about the song. Okay? Then the reveal, when appropriate.

Sexy

Thanks for this tape, Matthew, I've really been enjoying it.  However, I gotta say the first song is my least favorite.

What is it pray tell

I don't know but I usually love that style of song.  Very Love/Byrds-y but there was something cloying about that hook of 'Let's Get Together'

Oh yes. Justin Trouble.

Can't tell if it's authentic 60's pop or revival

Early '80s. He was friends with Johnny Thunders.New York City area guy

Never heard of him but I'm not inspired to search him up. Too many words.

Aw man he's just riffing

Anything you wanna say in his defense?

I mean I could. I think that song and the whole record is genius. To me it's the very essence of rock and roll.

Okay, maybe that's just one song that I wouldn't like. I'll check it out. I know you love your 60s stuff  but to me it's just too twee. But if you were using this as a "courtship tape", the relationship is over.

Since we can't "get together" on that song?

Courtship tape. I think they were called love mixes back in the day my friend.

I'm older than you. We used to bring them and play them in the parlor. So this second song is right up my Alley. Great guitar sound, great drummer.  I love that it's poppy but it takes a minor key/dissonant turn when he sings the tagline 'Solid Gold'. Kind of a Fall vibe to that hook.

So what is that second song?

Boston band....Real Kids...1974 demo...EARLY REAL KIDS

I knew you'd get a Real Kids song on there but that is very 'Unreal' real kids.  Sounds like they were way ahead of their time

Yeah. That song is unhinged. Nothing twee about it.

Amazing band.  I would have maybe guessed that but that chorus is so left field.  If I knew about that song back then, I would have had the band cover it. Real Kids sounding like the Fall. They should have been as big as the Ramones.  Worse drug and ego problems I guess.

To me it sounds like The Dolls. A little bit of Glam in there.

I saw them a few times at the Rat.  Always a reliable live band. I hear the 60's thing in there but that turnaround into the chorus is at least 5 years ahead of its time. I need to hear more of those demos.

It's on vinyl.

Next song- One thing that I know about you is that you love your 60s stuff.  This sounds like an authentic acid rock band. Roky?

I don't have the tracklist

Ah, okay.  It's by Girl Trouble-"Storm Warning'. Don't know them but I love the song.

The pride of Bellingham

Kind of like the Seeds meet Nick Cave. What year?

1993 on Empty

Love the sax and guitar interplay at the end.  Wow. I would have placed that in 1965

Yeah except for the production. I think he's one of the Great rock and roll vocalists of the '90s

Yeah, great singer.  Are they still around or mutate into something else?

Kurt Kendall. No, I don't think they really play around much anymore. There was a reunion show not too long ago but I missed it.

Great stuff, I'll check it out. Next song? Okay, this one I knew from the first note--the great NRBQ. The greatest rock and roll band ever, at least in this incarnation.

Green Lights?

Yes.

I saw them around this time with the WW Horns, opening for Thorogood.

Another great vocalist

I didn't appreciate them back then cuz I was too into the alternative scene (tho still loved GT) but when I saw them in the 80's I was amazed.

This is a band that should have played the bar band in every '80s movie ever made

Exactly.  they were my template for 'a band'

That's Joey singing that one? favorite bass player ever, favorite drummer ever.

I'm not entirely sure what that guitar is in the solo. Sounds almost like a pedal steel or something.

Big Al could make anything sound like anything.  Genius band. Shoulda been huge.

The YouTube comments say Joey.

Yeah, Joey wrote the hits. Like most bass players.

Lol. The album is called nrbq at Yankee stadium and it's funny because the picture shows an empty Yankee stadium with them far away in the bleachers...a play on words...clever

I see.

I'll explain humor to you another time.

Make me a 'humor' mixtape

Okay next song

The 5th song on side A is called Buried Alive.  A 3 chord slab of brilliance.  Sounds like another Boston Band.  More Real Kids?

Hmmm

Should I peek?

It could be Avenged Sevenfold. Yes peek.

Oh no, it's the Nervous Eaters!  Born to Die.  I thought he was singing Buried Alive.

Ahhh!!

I knew it was Boston, can't believe I missed the Eaters.  Loved that band.

Another Boston band you didn't ID! You are 0 for 2

I wrote down it was "the Lyres without keyboards" so I get half credit.

Okay so one of the cool things about this band is it had one of the Paley Brothers. Who never did anything this "heavy" outside of this band?

I had their singles and saw them live a few times.  They were great. Just Head is a classic.

The major label debut was a bit of a disaster:  slick production, terrible cover art. I swore that I'd never let that happen to any band that I was in.

This song for some reason reminds me of Judas Priest.

I thought Saints at first but Priest would work

Next song?

Ok

This is one that I will probably miss too. Sounds VERY familiar and my first guess is Rockpile/Brinsley Schwarz.  "I'll have another drink and then I tried to crawl out the door.."

"I never did know a thing about it." It's got that Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds vibe.

Take a peek

Status Quo-Lies

Ah yes

Wow, I don't think of SQ sounding like this. This is pub rock, I thought they were harder

Very boogie

Don't you get the Rockpile thing tho?

Oh absolutely

Great song.  I'd cover this. Was it a hit?

That status quo song is from 1980. I think so. They did it on Top of the Pops

Good. I'd be depressed if a song that great didn't get an audience.

Agreed

Next?

Yes

I also don't know this and I'm not sure what the hook is but it sounds like what I imagine the Muffs sound like. Be my baby.?  Sneering female vocals, 3 chords, loud guitars.

Fastbacks - Read my Letters

Yeah, another band I completely missed out on.  From the PNW?

Seattle

I've seen them quite a few times and they were always amazing. Big fan.

I'm sorry I missed them live. I don't care much for this song but I'll bet it sounded good in a sweaty club.

Ok

Did you like the Muffs?

Not really. I mean I respect them a lot but they never resonated with me. I think Kurt Bloch is a great lyricist. And I love that he didn't sing his own lyrics.

Wait, that was a guy singing?

No. The guitar player Kurt wrote the lyrics for most of their songs.

Got it.  So he left them to join YFF?

He did both simultaneously. Kim Warnick is the singer and bass player.

Too talented.

Definitely.

I saw the Fellows quite a few times also.

They opened for us in Seattle in 1990. I loved them but, as an east coaster, had never seen them.

Also amazing one of my favorites. During that time that both the Fastbacks and the Young Fresh Fellows were active it made me envy Seattle because Portland didn't have bands like those bands.

This is a different convo, but Seattle is a much more rockin town than Portland.

Full disclosure in the '90s I was not a fan of Portland's music scene. But I did like Hazel.

They were so cute!

Alright, let's not get distracted!   Next song I recognized easily , though I may not have a few years ago.  This is Sparks - Something For The Girl Who Has Everything. Brilliant band but one that I missed out on until recently

You know I never introduced you at the beginning of all this. Dear readers, I am discussing a mixtape with our esteemed guest Steve Michener from Skid Row.

Skid Row UK, legally. Not to be confused with those dorks from Hollyweird. Michael Cudahy was my roommate back in the day and he was way into them. I could never get past the vocals.Recently though, I have come to appreciate them and now I am a big fan.

I love the vocals. It's its own thing. Who is this Michael you speak of?

Michael was in Christmas at the time and then started Combustible Edison.  Now he does movie soundtracks.

Have you ever seen the video of Ron Mael singing karaoke to a Sparks song?

No, I'll google it.

Next song?

Ok

Well, I didn't recognize the song itself but it's hard to miss the unique guitar sound of The Wedding Present-The Boy Can Wait

Fastest wrist in the west

Trademark double strum. They're one of those bands that I just love the sound of but never bought any records.

That's a Peel session by the way.

They were around last year but I failed to attend.

I like the lyrics. They're clever. Kind of misanthropic but not in a Morrissey way. More humorous.

I'm not a lyric guy but I do love a good Morrisey couplet

The dude could pen a tune

Stephen I mean

Moz

The Moz

Himself.

He should pull a Prince and just change his name to Himself

Next song is one that you would never get past me, tho I'm 0-2 with Boston bands before this.  Heading into a Boston binge here.

Ok. Just another band out of Boston

I was the world's biggest Peter Dayton fan for years.  I moved to Boston the week that LaPeste broke up so I never got to see them.  So I made up for that by seeing every PD gig for years. 'She's a Girl' by LaPeste, probably one of the best bands out of Boston ever.

I like how evil La Peste sound. They sound like they carried shivs.

It means "the pest"

Perfect

"la" is "the" in french

Waow

I don't know if you knew that. Anyway, this must have been an Ocasek demo?  Sounds like they were trying to go pop. I had a live tape of them from the rock and roll rumble in 1979 that I wore out. Just a great pop punk band. Next song is also LaPeste- Die in My Sleep.Ric got involved with them later in their career and produced some demos.  Or maybe it was Greg Hawkes.  But Ocasek worked with him solo for a few years.  Dayton's EP, which came out the same time as Panorama by the Cars. It's a fun record.Better off Dead is an amazing single.

I'll check out solo Dayton.

Jim Janota on bass. I think he was in some of those early boston punk bands

But Ric was the producer guy then . Alan Vega etc

Yeah, Ocasek was cool.  He had Dayton's band open for The Cars at the Boston Garden.  Big supporter of smaller bands.

Next two songs had me stumped. I just wrote 'Sex Pistols'.

I would never put a sex pistols song on anything ever. But I do love a lot of things that Cook and Jones were on later

This just has a Pistols energy and sneer. Hey Hey! Hey Hey!

Hmm

3 chords, English. Fall-like but harder.

Not ringing any bells

Ha! I looked at the list--Naked Raygun-Roller Queen.

Yes

"trying" to be british

Nooo

I tuned this band out early.  Not my cup of tea.

I love the Raygun. Midwest thing

Just like Soul Asylum.  I was (and remain) a judgemental asshole when it comes to music.

Hard. Arty. Humorous.

I lump them together.  Prejudice.  But this is why I like the idea of listening to the tape blind.

Throb Throb is fantastic

It can blow up my preconceived notions  or reinforce them. I know they were hugely popular in the scene and it's probably my loss that I didn't explore their stuff. I was probably reacting negatively to the Big Black thing.  Lots of competition and jealousy-fuelled listening bias.

Eh no biggy. I never really liked Big Black. To me they were great in theory but not in practice.

I prefer Shellac

Great band

But i think BD covered 'Bazooka Joe'. Not my idea.

There was another Chicago band from that time that I like a lot called Breaking Circus.

Yes, I liked Breaking Circus.  We played with them.

Yay

Next song. 60s sounding psychedelia

Ok

Didn't recognize it, but liked it. reverby guitar,

Hmm

La Luz- I Want to Be Alone. Cool sound.  What's their story?

Ah. Seattle. Then moved to LA. 4 women. On Hardly Art (label). Started in 2012. They have three lps. Saw them at The Aladdin.

Short but sweet. I'll check them out.

Very very good band

I like good bands

No bad songs. They were VERY GOOD live. Jealous of the drummer's speed and dexterity. They play with a lot of feeling.

If we ever get to see live music again, I'll check them out.

You need to.

Next song is a classic Boston number called 'No Place Like Home' by The Neighborhoods. Such a great power pop song. B-side to Prettiest Girl, which was probably the biggest indie single of the time in Boston.  That and Academy Fight Song. Both on Ace of Hearts records

Oh really? Nice that I got airplay in Boston. I mean it. I didn't get any airplay in Boston

Yes, it was huge! (sorry about your lack of airplay)  top song on WBCN, the local rock station. They should have been huge-they had it all.  Cute guys, great songs, amazing live show. I woulda bet on them

Despite looking like a reggae album I've read good reviews with their first LP. The thing with a lot of these bands is they're from a time when there were regional scenes period and if they didn't make the jump to Major label then a lot of what they were about might have been lost on people outside of their scene

Honestly, I don't remember that LP at all.  Maybe I had dropped them and moved onto hipper stuff. They were kind of a high school crush for me. They got progressively more hard rock as time went on. Yes, probably a common theme with local bands. Some focused on getting a 'deal' and making it big.  Thank god for labels like Homestead, who gave smaller bands a chance to make mistakes and grow

If you had any anecdotes about any of these guys share away.

Anecdotes? I do

'dote away

Dave and Lee worked at Harrington's Liquor, the biggest booze shop in Allston and were always in there when I went to buy cheap vodka. Then, one day, they were fired. Word was that they tried to lift some expensive champagne from the shop to celebrate a record release party or something.  They were both dating members of Salem 66 at the time and Dave married Judy.  They were very nice guys.

Lee?

Lee Harrington, Beth's brother was their bassist in the late 80's. Beth Harrington was in Jonathan's band.

That's a good anecdote.

Jonathan?

Richman

Oh I thought I recognized her voice from Jonathan Richmond records. She was a backup singer. She had kind of a classically trained sounding voice

Yes, her and Ellie Marshall. Beth married my old roommate, whose girlfriend when I knew him, left him for Steve Forbert.

Ellie Marshall was related to who?

Something related to Paley Bros. It'll come to me.  Barry Marshall.

The next song is the Office Supply song. Swivel Chair. I don't recognize the song but it's gotta be something like Fountains of Wayne or Weezer.

Nothing Painted Blue

Oops. Hope they aren't insulted!  I kinda knew of NPB but obviously didn't get into their stuff.  Sounds like a certain pop band from Boston in the late 80s. Where were they from?

Franklin Bruno. Great songwriter in my opinion. Great band. LA

Oh, I know Franklin.  Of course.  I confuse them with that band from Boise

Franklin bears a slight passing resemblance to Bill? Cool that you know Franklin.

Well, on FB at least.  Very nice guy.  He's probably gonna unfriend me if he reads this.

I can edit it out. Celebrity mixtapes is about bringing people together, not about fighting.

No, it's fine.  It's part of the process. I'll take my lumps.

Ok

I just thought it was a little bit of a novelty song.

I just think it's adorably nebbishy

Not that we didn't veer close to that sometimes. It's a risk when you are trying to write songs that have humor in them.

Singing about office supplies. One of my favorite things about Big Dipper is you guys never crossed over into parody even though you were slyly funny.

Yeah, it def sounds like something I would write. I was an office supply nerd.

Maybe I sensed that. Dilbert Rock

Thanks. It's a fine line between clever and stupid, as the Tap says. Anyway, super catchy but maybe a little too clever for me.

NEXT!

Next song has to be Scrawl. Apple of his Eye.

Nope

Very Gang of Four with female vocals.

I did like Scrawl back in the day though. Bratmobile-Queenie.

Ah, well they should write a check to Sue and Marcy. Sounds like early Scrawl. Catchy song but a little derivative to my ears.

Yeah Scrawl predates the Bratmobile.By a few years.

You could steal from worse.

True

Scrawl were an amazing band.

Pride of Columbus

Really had the goods live and on record.

Never saw them live unfortunately.I always thought they were on Homestead but it turns out no.

You had your Homestead goggles on.

"I like everything that comes out on Homestead..."

Well that was me back then too

Last song on side A.  Permanent Wave.  No idea who it is, a short, catchy, new wave song.  Mo-dettes?

I do like the Mo-Dettes but no.

Oh Ok. From Athens

Ah!  i had their single, was this on it?

Michael Stipe's sister

Sister of Stipe

Matthew Sweet was in the band for a minute too, later on.

I bought it, I think, cuz I thought I could resell it when rem got famous. Retirement investment

I think the single and the lp are both amazing

Kind of twee, to revisit a theme

The lp is not as twee

That song sounds a little thin

I like the production. it sounds live.

I see that. Okay, I've gotta run.  This was fun.

Ok. Thanks for doing it.

https://www.mixcloud.com/matthewkenneth9/steve-michener-mix-pt-1/?fbclid=IwAR2hhMS8KXo51QjlpJ__ANfdmKY3Ux7vRyIqHHOxGfY_UK4H6tz6vIXyaxE

[only-by-the-stars]

the annotated Tome of the Wild

Part 7: The Wild!

- Link didn't open his eyes. A twist on the beginning of BOTW, where you hear Zelda telling Link to open his eyes. I couldn’t resist.

- Hestu’s cameo was a lot of fun to write too. I always found him adorable, first in BOTW and then in AOC as well, and the idea of him waking up Link with his maracas was too amusing not to do. I also had to include his “shimmy shimmy” battle cry from AOC because I always laugh my head off whenever I hear it.

- This also reveals that Midna brought Link to the Great Deku Tree, a character that debuted in OOT and made further appearances in WW and BOTW.

- Something tickled her arm, breaking her out of her gloomy thoughts. Midna lifted her head and looked down. New growth was sprouting from the branch she was sitting on, wriggling its way up onto her. Nothing like this happens to Beatrice in the show, but I had to put in this chilling little moment of Midna nearly succumbing to the dekuwood. It provides a way later to introduce Rhoam’s presence in his scene, as well as some horror at what could’ve happened to her here.

- Note to self: never visit Tabantha if you can help it... Tabantha, of course, being a very cold region in BOTW’s Hyrule. Link’s newfound hatred of snow mirrors my own, and now he’s going to associate it with this horrible experience.

- “It's a bad habit, I guess.” He laughed softly. He’s referring, of course, to how he casually greeted Riju and Medli back at the school pool and they gave him a bit of a hard time about it.

- “You...” Midna stared at him for several seconds, stunned. “You...” She slapped his hand away and starting swinging her tiny fists at him, which he easily dodged. “You oaf! You idiot! What the hell—what the hell is wrong with you? How can you forgive me so easily, when you're still in a shit situation because of me? Neither one of us would be out here groping around blindly in the fucking snow if not for what I did!” I set up Midna and Link to be parallels of each other in a couple ways. One of which is that while Link has isolated himself from Mipha, hurting and confusing her, Midna is on the other end of something similar with Zelda. And here we see something they both struggle with: forgiving themselves. Midna can’t understand how Link can so easily forgive her actions towards him, while Link utterly despises himself for his actions towards Mipha and cannot forgive himself for causing her pain. He’ll later struggle with the fact that Mipha forgives him easily, just as Midna is having trouble understanding his forgiveness of her here. All of them find it easier to forgive their loved ones than to grant that same grace to themselves.

- “She told me that while she appreciated how much I cared, I should think a little more and be less reckless. I know she'd never call me stupid, but...” Link shrugged. “Honestly, I kind of am.” Another reference to Mipha calling Link reckless, and how she hates seeing him get hurt. He is indeed not the smartest guy around, but she does describe him as being very kind and determined to help those in need, so I tried to emphasize that aspect of his personality in this story. Although the “I kind of am” line is also intended to be a subtle red flag. We’ve already seen that Link thinks very little of himself and his abilities, even when it’s clear from the words of others that he’s very talented. And we’re about to soon see him use a bit of intelligence he very much does have, in order to save the day. He would never believe himself capable of such a thing, but he does it anyway.

- “Even just a few branches could be processed... enough to get us through this storm...” Note the use of the plural here. This is leading up to the revelation about his belief that Zelda is in the lantern. His desperation to find more oil anywhere is because, of course, he believes that if the light goes out she will die. And he wouldn’t be in this scarcity if not for what happened back in chapter one, with Link and Aryll and the dog accidentally wrecking the mill and his oil supply.

- He was soon rewarded with a most welcome sight: a single dekuwood branch, growing out of that of a normal tree. It seemed sickly, withered, and it waved feebly in the air, but he rushed forward and hacked it off anyway. The very same branch that tried to attach itself to Midna, sickly and withered precisely because of that failure.

- And now we come to the confirmation that the dekuwood is made from the people who succumb to despair and exhaustion in the woods, right as we see it growing all around Aryll. Rhoam has been unaware this entire time of all the souls he’s sacrificed over the past several months, and now that he knows, he refuses to do it any longer. For he, like Midna, recognizes that Zelda would never want anyone to be harmed for her sake.

He’s also right that Link would never leave Aryll to such a fate, recognizing Link’s love and protectiveness towards his little sister. This is a point where my characterization of Link wildly diverges from that of Wirt, the protagonist of OTGW. I pulled some things from Wirt for Link and his arc, but one thing I didn’t keep was the resentment and initial callousness that Wirt displays for Greg, who is revealed in the tavern sequence to be his half-brother thanks to his mother remarrying, something Greg frowns at when Wirt mentions it. Aryll is also technically Link’s half-sister, as I revealed in the letters that his mother remarried some years after his father’s death and had Aryll with her new husband, but I could not for the life of me see him being resentful or unkind to his little sister. Whatever his faults, I’ve written him as being, at his core, an incredibly kind and deeply loving person, and his adoration of his sister is a part of that. He doesn’t view her as a “half” anything, she’s just his sister and he’ll do anything to protect her. Which of course is a big part of what led to his breakdown: his feelings of guilt over not doing as good a job of that as he thinks he should be doing.

- “Link, I don't... I don't think that's natural light. It looks more like...” This has a double meaning. The fire in the lantern is not the “natural light” of the sun, and it is also deeply unnatural, given that it’s the Beast’s soul in there.

- Speaking of that! The confrontation with the Beast plays out a bit differently here than it does in the show, thanks to Midna’s personal connection to all this. Rhoam’s mention of Zelda gets her attention, and the Beast uses her love for Zelda as a way to try and turn her and Link against each other with his attempt to make them choose which soul will go into the lantern. He’ll get fuel and kill Aryll either way, but why not pit these two against each other as a way to manipulate them into doing what he wants? Except it backfires, because Midna won’t harm anyone for Zelda’s sake, and Link figures out what’s going on anyway, thanks to remembering the words of Rhoam and Telma.

- Link stood up, his mind racing. It was like when the solution to a puzzle finally presented itself in a moment of stunning clarity. For all that he’s not that bright in so many ways, it’s important to remember that he’s canonically able to solve all those tricky puzzles we do, without benefit of a guide, just using his wits and the tools he has at hand. And so too does he solve this particular puzzle, by remembering what he’s been told and piecing it together with what he sees here, thinking about the fact that the Beast’s story doesn’t add up. Which saves the day, in the end.

- “Am I wrong?” Link repeated, his voice shaking with barely suppressed fury; he took a few more steps, forcing the Beast to retreat further. “No more lies. Tell the truth for once, Beast.” Referencing, of course, the fact that Telma told him the Beast lies. He’s absolutely furious right now because of the attempt on Aryll’s life; you do not mess with Link’s loved ones. The Beast, too, fucked around and found out the hard way.

- In the show, Wirt gives the lantern back to the Woodsman to blow out after the delivery of the “Are you?” line that I kept (and had Link nail the delivery of on his first try, unlike Wirt, because that’s what makes sense for both their characters). Here, I chose to let Link kill the Beast, because he is, after all, the legendary hero who slays the villain. But even more importantly, I felt he deserved and had earned such a moment with his growing courage over the course of the tale.

- “See you later, Link.” Hey, remember how Midna broke all our hearts by saying a similar line to Link in TP as she broke the mirror and went back to her world? I sure do!

- “Sleepers wake, dreams will fade... although we cling fast..." This, and the lyrics that close out this section, are the first few lines of the vocal version of Ballad of the Wind Fish that was done for the LA remake.

- There were lights and shadowy figures coming closer, and voices—was someone calling his name? As I would later reveal in the prologue of a place to start, Mipha was screaming his name as she ran down the hill towards him.

- The words he wanted so badly to say to her hung on the tip of his tongue And it shows on his face, that desire to express the love for her that is all but bursting out of him in this moment, and Mipha sees it. She sees that love shining in his eyes as they stare at each other, giving her her hope back and then some. In a way, Link was right: if he hadn’t hidden from her, she would’ve realized what his real feelings for her are. He just didn’t know how happy it would’ve made her. But he will soon.

- “—and that's how we got away from the evil possessed lady!” Out of the corner of his eye Link saw Aryll shake the frog triumphantly, and Mipha, distracted by the sudden commotion, looked away from him. A small, muffled chime sounded, and the amphibian's stomach glowed. “The ringing of the bell commanded her! Though she wasn't really evil, just...” The series is never clear on just what the otherworld the brothers enter is, but it is clear that it really happened to them, and I preserved that ambiguity in the same way, by showing the bell as still being in the frog’s stomach.

- Link nodded. “Yes.” It didn't matter anymore how it'd gotten into her pocket; he'd made it, and brought it with him tonight, with the intention of giving it to her. There was no more question of taking it back or denying it. Courage has been achieved; he’s no longer going to hide or pretend, or try to take back the gift he worked on so hard. Midna is right: he’s been so brave in the Wild, and it’s time to apply that bravery to confessing his feelings to Mipha and letting her know that he loves her. The words will have to wait till the next day, but for now he’s doing all he can to face his fears and stop running, by hugging her and holding her hand and wiping her tears away, letting his love show in his expression as he looks at her without avoiding her eyes. Plus, of course, admitting to his intentions with the tape and inviting her over to listen to it together. They’re finally getting a breakthrough after two months of separation and pain.

- The doctor, Syrup, is a recurring NPC throughout the series, a witch who brews up helpful healing potions for Link to use on his adventures.

- I'm home, Mipha. Calling back, of course, to Midna’s line about there being someone waiting for him and to go home to her. Not only that, but in Mipha’s letters, I had her mention wanting him to “come back to her”. And now he finally has.

and that wraps this up, as the epilogue is composed strictly of Miphlink fluff and sweet, sweet payoff. if you took the time to read the fic and these write ups, thank you, I hope you enjoyed them! ❤

[themyskira]

Based on that WW #750 (which sounds like I need to buy mostly for the good parts), I take it you don't like 5G's idea of having Diana be the DCU's first superhero. At least, I think you do? How do you feel about that and the whole 5G thing as a whole? Just curious.

I have less than zero interest in 5G because I haven’t read a single thing about it that suggests it’s any different than the New 52, or Rebirth, or any other Capital-C-Crisis over the past fifteen years.

Dan Didio and his cohort of graduated comics fanbros have this utterly boring preoccupation with creating a Grand Unified History of the DC Universe that takes all the messy, sprawling, sometimes contradictory stories and characters across the last eighty-odd years of comics and organises them all in neat little lines and boxes.

It’s an obsession they’ve argued is about accessibility for new readers -- and both n52 and Rebirth did offer a superficial degree of accessibility by creating clear jumping-on points with fresh story arcs in new #1 issues -- but in practice it looks a lot like Dan and his bros reconfiguring the universe around what they think matters (while erasing or simply ignoring anything they think doesn’t).

It’s the reason the New 52 retained all four male Robins and their key character arcs while erasing two Batgirls and infantilising the remaining one.  At the end of the day, Dan Didio, Jim Lee and their pals made the decision that every male member of the core Batfamily (along with their somewhat complex histories of adoptions and assassin babies, deaths and resurrections, and growth into their own iconic vigilante identities) was Important -- and that the three Batgirls and their comparable growth arcs were not.

The past couple of reboots have been riddled with these kind of value judgements, privileging what Dan and the boys see as worthwhile (or what they see as appealing to their narrow target audience of white, heterosexual, cisgender 18-35 year-old men) while sneering at everyone else. They’ve also been plagued by poor planning, poor communication and poor follow-through: in both the New 52 and Rebirth, writers would regularly contradict or confuse the new canon simply because it wasn’t clear to anyone on the books what was and wasn’t in continuity.

So when I yet again hear the words “new timeline” and “Dan Didio” in the same sentence, I don’t care how awesome 5G is as a concept on paper, I don’t trust that it’s going to be implemented with any particular care or aptitude.

And, well. This is just a personal view, but I don’t find it a particularly interesting concept. I don’t read comics for overarching metaplots and crossover events. Nothing turns me off a book faster. I follow characters and I’m drawn to stories that build on a hero’s personal arc, their relationships, their world. It doesn’t particularly worry me exactly how an individual book or arc slots in with the broader timeline of the universe. Shared comic book universes have always been tangled, convoluted places and I’m cool with a bit of handwaving; like a lot of comics fans, I’m long accustomed to flat-out ignoring the bits of canon I don’t like (it’s so sad that Barbara Gordon hasn't appeared in a single DC comic since 2011, don’t you think?).

I much prefer a big wide sandbox, with all its oddities and contradictions and forgotten treasures for writers to draw upon to build interesting stories, over a prescriptive crossover event that derails stories and character arcs in favour of a meta story I’m never going to read anyway.

As for making Wondy the first superhero, I’m... ambivalent. The idea of Diana being an early source of hope who saw the potential in all humanity and inspired others to stand up is lovely, but the more I reflect on it the less comfortable I am with re-anchoring her origins in WWII-era America and the patriotic narratives that are likely to come with it.

It’s of course possible that a writer might use this opportunity to thoughtfully interrogate how the Wonder Woman we know would navigate and push back against the violent bigotry of 1940s America -- but we’re more likely to see a retread of the original propagandistic Golden Age narrative of a heroine who helps the virtuous Americans topple the evil Axis powers, both because of a likely reluctance on DC’s part to get too ~political~ (you know, by acknowledging America’s racist history exists) and because the DCU’s history is intended to follow a similar path to our own world’s (which means Wonder Woman can’t be allowed to change society in any noticeable way aside from ~inspiring~ other heroes... and that immediately creates a rather depressing vision of the eighty years she’s spent in Man’s World).

And that’s the real problem: they’re moving her origin story back to the forties not because they have anything new to say or any particular story they want to explore with the character in that era (like, for instance, Superman Smashes the Klan is doing brilliantly at the moment), but because the five-generation scheme they’re going for requires that Diana (as a designated first-generation hero) appear in the forties. Because Dan and the bros have a Vision and their Grand Unified History of the DCU takes precedence over piffling things like good storytelling and rich characters.

oh and the other problem I have with 5G is the dumbass name because it just puts me in mind of those fucking Telstra ads.

[insertdisc5]

Yet Another Zelda Roleswap (the masterpost)

✨what's this AU?

Check THIS POST I DID that started it all and also the AU’s tag

✨in this au, the previous legends about the triforce are the same, aka “zeldas are princesses links are heroes and ganon/ganondorf is always the same guy and the big bad”! BUT THIS TIME DESTINY DID AN OOPSIE and ganondorf forgot all about his previous lives while link is the one who remembers them all!!! zelda just wants to travel and read cool legends and didnt expect to be part of one

✨ZELDA STUFF

-trans girl, found the name zelda in very very very old royal records

-she's like 16 or something

-seventh heir to the throne who wants to prove herself, so she goes on an adventure to save the world!!!!

-adventurous and impulsive and naive

-main weapon is bows, she also knows magic and sheikah techniques

-has six siblings who dont really pay attention to her. shes probably the youngest

-her point of view is very black and white at first

-even when she gets in the middle of link and ganon’s story she still doesn’t believe she is The Zelda of legend

-how could she she’s just a zelda, one among many, just a kid playing at being a princess

-(she IS the zelda)

-she gets a bird AND a white horse!!!!

-if she sees a weird cave she WILL go into it 

-would probably eat moss if dared

✨LINK STUFF

-genderfluid, uses he/they

-hes in his early twenties

-a man zelda meets during her travels, who seems to know a lot about old legends

-he can see koroks and fairies, who can’t be seen by most people

-gets all his past lives' memories after he gets the master sword, over a period of a day or two

-maybe link does remember his past deaths along with his past lives, but past deaths are maybe more muted…. less like he experienced them and more like someone told him about it. still fucks him up tho

-i feel like he’d be pretty nice and sleepy all the time, until you mention something that has to do with his memories (aka, ganondorf, but also like “oh ive heard some hero in the legends went back to being a kid to save the world or whatever) and he’d get this super serious, focused look… something like that, little things that would make zelda go :^?

-he just really wants to kill ganondorf ya dig

-SO MANY BOSS FORMS probably one per main title (kinda like xant’s battle in TP) (strongest/hardest to fight is majora’s mask link), and final form is definitely some twisted looking fierce deity

-as for his past selves he has all of their memories and its kind of… they’re not him, he’s him, they’re just memories that he has, but when he is very very stressed its “memories become actual personalities for a sec” time. 99% of the time its just him and then ganondorf is there and its like WILL EVERYONE SHUT UP IM TRYING TO MAKE A MURDER HERE

-he’s not controlled by malice or anything because it would feel like a deus ex machina to me

-in the end he doesnt die and he gets redemption because he didnt hurt anyone he just tried to kill ganondorf a few times hes good, and also zelda is his friend and an heir to the throne he’s got immunity. poor guy just needs help processing all those lives and needs a cabin in the woods with some fairies!!!

-re: his past lives, oot link SUPER HATES ganondorf while ww link is more sympathetic. links who havent fought ganondorf are ambivalent about him

-endgame ship is either with ganondorf OR beedle. beedle is the secret ending

-will eat moss

✨GANONDORF STUFF

-he's in his twenties i promise he just has resting old man face

-zelda’s old childhood friend

-doesn’t remember anything about his past lives

-gerudo king, very serious but fairly well loved

-lets not talk about malice it either doesnt exist/this ganondorf doesnt have any/this ganondorf knows how to control it. either way its not gonna affect the story

-”what are you wearing today king” “oh, just whatever” (its not whatever he spent hours finding the day’s outfit)

-found out about his past lives while reading a very very very old book, probably read it and stayed in his room for a week and then promised himself to never ever ever turn out like that

-genuinely a good person

-would never eat moss

✨RELATIONSHIPS STUFF

-zelda and ganondorf actually knew each other as kids! Both being royalty and all. legends do talk about a hero a princess a beast or whatever but don’t use link or ganondorf’s names since it’s been so long- it takes zelda and ganondorf both finding old, old books on their own to be like “AH OOPS”!!! Ganondorf learns about his past lives much earlier than zelda, who finds out during her adventures, and she goes from seeing ganondorf as a dear friend to being like “…but what if he’s really bad though”

they’re old childhood friends, you know, the kind that were best friends before and then grew up and saw each other less often (different kingdoms and all) so they kinda grew apart, and then zelda starting her quest made them reconnect again! Ganondorf is a little older than zelda so he always saw her more as his little sister who just jumps into mud because she totally saw a sword there i promise, and zelda sees ganondorf as her cool older brother who actually pays attention to her, unlike her actual siblings

-when link and zelda meet, zelda’s like “weird dude but probably harmless” and link is like “weird girl but probably harmless” and then she’s like “oh my name is zelda” and link goes “ah just likeWAIT” and he kinda observes her to… gauge her abilities? My Zeldas Were Better kinda thing. i guess during their final battle he’s like “you’re really a zelda, after all” and its bittersweet

the second zelda figures out link is also part of those legends she goes full hero worship mode, which makes link’s fall from grace… really… hard on her. ive been admiring you and wanting to be a hero like you all this time, turns out you’re not a hero and also Not Okay

-re ganondorf and link, after everything that happened uuuh

human brain: it probably takes them both a long while to get used to each other, given that one was almost killed by the other and the other has vivid memories of having their world(s) destroyed by the one, but after a while they probably bond over their shared uuuuh memories i guess. link visits gerudo city once in a while and they catch up and become friends and

lizard brain: after 100k words they DATE

no i wont write how it happens you will NOT make me embarrass myself in front of everyone because i earnestly wrote about how link visits ganondorf every time he’s in gerudo country and at first link just passes by to give ganondorf news about how zelda is faring as queen and news about the world, and as time goes and years go by  they start talking about their lives and struggles and just taking walks across the desert together and having sand seal races and everyone in ganondorf’s court is like “so when’s that little voe coming back” and ganondorf is like “i neither know nor care that its been three months since his last visit” and everyone’s like (smirk) “okay” and when has he even started to look forward to link’s visits anyway how did this happen and then link comes back and smiles gently and shows ganondorf this cool rock he found that looks like ganondorf’s face and ganondorf is smitten

takes them both Y E A R S to realize their feelings and then date tho. slow burn or bust

✨WORLD STUFF

-takes place in a time where the games’ adventures are only known as legends where they didnt even write down ganondorf’s and link’s names

-now that im thinking about it it wouldnt happen like THOUSANDS OF YEARS after any game because then ganon and link wouldnt be that worried about their destiny??? so maybe like 100-200 years after a game??? and the ppl writing down the legends were just terrible bookkeepers who couldnt even think write down link and ganon’s name

-(smash voice) EVERYONE IS HERE!!!!!!!! tingle and agitha the bug princess and sidon and especially groose who is uuuuum zelda’s rival who is totally not in love with her

-i think in botw its implied koroks are only seen by people like link and zelda??? so id say only people with uuuuh magical power??? can see them???? so koroks are just doin their thing, playing pranks, helping people without them knowing, and, in the case of makar, playing romantic music around couples

[eddie-boii]

Never Let You Go (part 12/14)

Fic info: Both Eddie and Stan live because I do what I want. Multichapter.

Rating: Teen and up (may change). Language.

Pairings: Reddie, Benverly.

Ao3 link: here

Summary: The Losers prepare for a wedding. Bill’s big speech. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14

*

The Losers sat either side of Ben and Bev at the grand table at the head of the dining hall overlooking all the other guests, and Audra and Patty sat with them beside their respective husbands, honorary Losers in their own right.

Eddie was seated beside Richie, much to the amusement of the others who he still hadn’t forgiven for their little betting pool. As far as he was concerned, Ben, Audra and Patty were now his only friends. That was until Patty had quite seriously asked him how long he and Richie had been together and Audra had spat her drink all over his food when he’d said they weren’t dating. Ben was his only friend now.

Richie, for his part, didn’t seem at all embarrassed by the fact that the others had a betting pool or that Bill had revealed his childhood crush on Eddie. At least, he didn’t show it. He was too busy spouting off his usual terrible jokes to whoever would listen to him. He’d had a few drinks at this point, though seemed to have actually listened to Eddie’s rants about his liver for once as he wasn’t as drunk as he usually tended to get. Or maybe he just wanted to actually remember this day.

Eddie couldn’t deny that he was a little disappointed that Richie hadn’t properly danced with him, but he was a little relieved too. Being that close to Richie after just finding out that he’d had a crush on him as a kid, plus the fact that the others seemed to think that crush was still ongoing, that Eddie’s feelings were actually reciprocated… It was more than he felt he could handle, honestly. He wondered if Richie would actually participate in that ‘talk’ Ben had mentioned, or if he’d chicken out as he usually did when things got serious. Part of Eddie hoped he would and they’d never mention it again, but another part of him wondered what would happen if they did, if it turned out mutual feelings really were shared…

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Bill standing and tapping a fork against his glass to get everyone’s attention, and Eddie guessed it was time for his big speech. He’d been kind of worried about it, honestly; Bill’s stutter still hadn’t gone away after returning to Derry and it tended to get worse when he was nervous, and he just knew this room full of uncaring strangers would think he was stupid or something because they wouldn’t understand. He didn’t want to have to watch the flickers of amusement followed by careful, polite blankness to pass over their faces. He knew Bill got plenty of that already.

But he should’ve known Bill wasn’t the type to let such things get to him. He smiled at his audience, standing tall and proud, the confident leader he always was.

“Hello, everyone. The b-b-bride asked me t-to say a ff-few words.”

Eddie watched the exact expressions he’d predicted flicker across the crowd and he scowled.

“Thh-thing is, I know n-no one wants to sit there ll-listening to me sss-st-stutter for an hour,” Bill continued and a wave of slightly hesitant laughter swept over the audience. Bill only smiled. “I ww-won’t make you,” he said. “See people like m-me, we have a way to cheat.” He picked up his drink and swirled it around contemplatively. “Some people d-don’t stutter when they’re d-d-drunk or alone or ss-singing.” He grinned. “But I won’t ss-subject you to that either. My w-wife will tell you I can’t ss-sing to save my life. There is one thing I can do ww-without s-st-stuttering, though, and that’s tell stories. So, h-here’s one I wrote specially for tonight. I just hope you like the ending.”

Here cleared his throat as silence fell over the room. No one cared about his stutter now; here was the famous author William Denborough about the tell a story he’d written especially for this night. An exclusive tale that would only be heard by the people in that room.

“A long time ago,” he began in a manner befitting many fairy tales, “back when TVs were boxes and shoulder pads were the epitome of fashion and people were really excited about the thought of Star Wars prequels, there lived seven kids. A kid with an awful stutter, a quiet Jewish kid, a little hypochondriac with an overprotective mother, a four-eyed weirdo with a loud mouth, an orphaned black kid in a town of white republicans, a fat new kid who looked like fresh meat to a pack of monsters, and a girl who people whispered nasty things about, who the men in her life saw as a toy.”

The Losers looked at each other as he spoke, smiling a little at the way Bill had described them. Characters in a story, heroes in a fairy tale.

“By all outward appearances,” Bill continued, “these kids were unremarkable. They were losers, in fact, something they heard shouted at them so often, spat in their faces as they were beaten down, that it was ingrained in their minds as simply a fact. 

“The town the kids grew up in was a place ruled by a monster.”

A chill went over Eddie as he realised where this story was going. He didn’t need reminding of those events, but the way Bill told it had him listening intently anyway.

“The monster was a terrible thing,” said Bill, “a devourer of worlds that knew every one of their secrets, all their deepest darkest fears. It lurked around every corner, watching and waiting to dig Its claws in and feast on the kids, feed on their fear. It changed Itself, shifted into the things they were most afraid of. A lost child blaming his big brother for his death, a warped and twisted painting with soulless eyes, a gruesome leper consumed by its disease until it was barely human, trapped parents screaming for their child as they burned in flames… So many things, but Its favourite form was that of a clown. You may think that’s far less scary than the other forms It took, but this looked like no ordinary clown. Its limbs were disproportionately long for Its body and Its head far too large, Its painted smile as dark red as blood and stretching up Its cheeks right up to Its bug-like eyes that never looked straight. And when It smiled, Its drool dripped like a waterfall down Its chin, so hungry It was for the kids, so eager It was to devour their delicious, terrified souls.

“But for all the taunts and threats and beatings the kids dealt with, it turned out that, more then anything, they were brave, and even braver still around each other. They grew close, fought off their shared enemies together, became friends, the kind of friends who leave a mark on each other, one that never fades. And they came together to fight this monster, to send it back where It belonged, where It couldn’t make them afraid anymore. They tried, at least. One got hurt-” To his right, Eddie felt Richie twitch ever so slightly, and when he looked over, his mouth was set in a thin line- “but the others made sure the monster didn’t get him. They fought It off and It slithered back into Its hiding place, but it didn’t go away, not completely.

“The kids may have won that fight, but they were scared and hurt and one had almost died. So they fought, and they split up, and they went back to being losers.

“Until the monster took the girl.”

Eddie glanced over in time to see Ben swallow thickly and Beverly took his hand, squeezing it gently beneath the table.

“It snatched her away,” said Bill, “and took her back to Its lair. But the girl was strong, stronger than the monster had bargained for, and she fought It. She told It she wasn’t afraid and It realised It would go hungry without the sweet meal of her fear, so It trapped her there, locked her away inside her own head, sleeping like a princess in a fairy tale.

“When the others found out, they put aside their differences and came together to rescue her. They stole away down into Its lair, defeating one of Its minions along the way, and they found the girl suspended in the air and gazing blankly into space like she was lost to the world. They pulled her down, but try as they might, they couldn’t get her to wake up. Then one boy, the little fat new kid who no one thought would ever have any friends but who had found them all the same, remembered the fairy stories of his childhood and how the sleeping princess could be woken with true love’s kiss.” 

Ben now smiled shyly at this, a light blush spreading across his cheeks which Bev pressed a kiss to before resting her head on his shoulder.

“This girl had been his first friend out of all of them,” said Bill. “The first one to be kind to him when no one else was, and he loved her dearly but knew a little fat boy had no chance with a pretty girl like her. Still, he was desperate, scared, in a horrible place where the monster could be hiding anywhere ready to pounce, and he needed to save her no matter what it took. So he pressed his lips to hers, and for a moment it seemed like it had done nothing and it was just a notion better left to fairy stories after all, but then the girl blinked, and the blank look faded from her eyes, and she looked at the boy and smiled, for she realised that in that town of horrible men who saw her as meat and treated her as such, this boy truly loved her.”

Bev smiled, little pinpricks of tears beading on her eyelashes and she looked down at Ben’s hand in hers, resting in her lap as she played idly with his fingers. 

“The kids were all together once more,” Bill continued, “and when the monster came for them, they were braver than ever standing together. It took one in Its clutches - the stuttering boy - and told the others It would leave them in peace if they went away and let It devour this boy alone, but they refused. They would not abandon him, for he was their friend, and when they were all together, they weren’t so afraid of this monster anymore. The loudmouthed boy attacked It and the others followed suit, and It had to let go of the stuttering boy to defend Itself, but it was no use. The kids were strong, they were brave, they were fearless. They’d been beaten down their whole lives, had the word ‘loser’ screamed at them, but now they owned it. They were the Losers, and they always would be, but that didn’t mean they were anything less than anyone else, that didn’t mean they weren’t smart and strong and beautiful and wholly, completely incredible.”

Every one of the Losers was looking at Bill now, up at their fearless leader as he effortlessly captivated the room, his words flowing from his mouth seamlessly as he spoke of his friends, his voice and expression filled with pride.

“The Losers fought the monster,” he said, “the embodiment of all their deepest fears, and they defeated It, of course they did, for the Losers could do anything when they were all together. And the monster slunk away into Its hole, into the darkest corners of the world where It would remain for many years, and where It would go hungry.

“The Losers stayed together afterwards, and they swore that if the monster ever returned, then they’d return too and defeat It for good. They’d defeated a great evil that day and forged something else in its place, something pure and wonderful. They were bonded, a bond deeper than most people could dream of. Even if they separated, even if the years stretched out and they forgot about each other, they’d never truly be parted from one another, and they would always reunite in the end. It wasn’t a friendship, not really. That word wasn’t deep enough for them, didn’t contain enough meaning. Family, maybe, but not quite. Their bond was something bone-deep, etched into their souls, stretching across the fabric of the universe no matter how far apart they were. They were the Losers, but that was the odd thing; they owned that term, accepted it as their identity, and it was a clear thing to everyone who met them. But the reality was, they never felt like losers when they were with each other.”

Bill smiled as he finished before taking his seat once more, and Audra kissed his cheek and squeezed his hand under the table. The audience before them wore a mixture of mild confusion and contentment on their faces, enraptured by the story but perplexed by its origin, before they all broke back into normal conversation or made their ways back over to the dance floor. 

But the Losers possessed no such blissful ignorance; they knew that story was no mere fiction, had lived it, but even so, the way Bill had woven the words and made them out to be heroes, people to be admired, it was… Eddie didn’t know the word for what he was feeling, but he knew it wasn’t bad. He thought being reminded of that time would be awful, would send him spiralling into a panic attack, but the way Bill told it, it wasn’t about the clown or the fear or the pain, it was about the Losers and the unbreakable bonds they’d forged together. He looked across at them all, at Bill, Ben, Bev, Mike, Stan, and Richie. His family, the people he loved most in the world, and who loved him. Who cared for him and looked after him more than his mother ever did.

“Not bad, Big Bill,” he said, breaking the silence that had fallen across their table even in the midst of all the chatter from the other guests. “Not bad at all.”

“Yeah, the ending didn’t completely suck,” said Richie. “Wild.”

Bill snorted and punched his arm lightly. “Ss-shhut the fuck up, Trashmouth.”

“It was amazing, Bill,” said Ben.

“Thank you,” said Bev, smiling at him softly, tears still pricking her eyes.

“Wait a minute,” said Audra, frowning. “Who was the fat kid?”

“That was Ben,” said Stan.

“What the fuck? No way!” exclaimed Audra, turning to stare at Ben and his defined muscles. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I lost a few pounds,” Ben mumbled, blushing.

“He was just as handsome back then,” said Bev and Ben blushed even more. “Totally adorable.”

“I need to see pictures, stat,” said Audra. “I still can’t believe I was deprived of Billy’s friends coz of that weird psycho clown.”

“How long did it take you to believe him?” said Richie, and Eddie grinned at the thought of Bill trying to explain all that to Audra. He was very glad he never had to explain anything to Myra.

“Not long,” said Audra. “Mike came round and gave me some weird drug.”

“I still wanna try that,” said Richie. 

“Not a chance,” said Mike.

“I believed Stan straight away,” said Patty. “What’s this about a drug?”

“You don’t wanna know,” said Bill.

The last thing to do was cut the cake, a glorious, towering masterpiece of white icing with little models of the bride and groom perched right at the top. Bev and Ben smushed pieces into each other’s faces, smearing the creamy white icing everywhere, figuring they’d at least keep the fun wedding traditions. The guests started heading out one by one after that until it was only the extended Losers left in the grand room. They milled about the room, chatting away to each other with the same ease they always had. No one ever felt left out or uncomfortable when they were all together like that.

Eddie leaned against the wall beside Richie, sharing a slice of cake between them.

“What’d you think of Bill’s speech?” said Richie with a mouthful of icing. Eddie grimaced at the cake crumbs falling from his mouth. “Pretty sappy, huh?”

“Super sappy,” Eddie agreed. “But I don’t know, I kinda liked it. Sappy fits with today, you know?”

“Guess so,” said Richie, his eyes moving to Ben and Bev who had the dance floor all to themselves and were holding each other close, swaying slightly to the soft music that still drifted through the room. He watched them for a minute then turned to grin at Eddie. “Really think you and I have a bone-deep bond stretching across the universe?”

“All of us, not just you and me,” Eddie scoffed. “You fucking wish, Trashmouth.”

“Aw, you know you love me, Eddie-spaghetti.”

“Don’t call me that,” said Eddie, not bothering to deny the love part. He hoped Richie wouldn’t notice.

“So, what are the sleeping arrangements tonight?” said Richie. “Ya know, now you can’t hide with Bev. You gonna take Ben’s room?”

Eddie focused on getting a bit of cake on his fork to avoid looking at Richie. “Um.” He coughed. “All my stuff’s still in your room, and I’m tired and- I mean - The bed’s big enough for two, right?” He glanced up at Richie to find him staring at him, but then Richie coughed and looked away.

“Yeah, it’s huge. We’d still be miles apart even if we shared,” he said, speaking too quickly.

“Not really worth the trouble moving then, is it?” said Eddie. “Plus-” He paused staring at the ground - “we need to have that talk at some point, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” said Richie and his voice sounded a little hoarse. “Yeah, I guess we do.”

They wandered around some more but then decided that the wait was more agonising than the actual talk was going to be, so they said their goodnights to the others and headed upstairs to their shared room.

Eddie was filled with nervous energy as they walked side by side. They didn’t talk - they’d do plenty of that in a moment - but still, the silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable, even with the dread of what they were about to discuss. It never was uncomfortable with Richie. Bill was right; all the Losers shared a powerful bond and Eddie loved them all more than he loved his own family, but Richie was different. Richie was… more. More special to Eddie, even as special as the others were to him. He always had been. He was always the one who could make Eddie laugh even when he was feeling really low, who could calm him down from a panic attack, turning his fear to exasperated fury at the flick of a switch with nothing more than a simple inappropriate joke. Eddie would often find himself on the verge of having a mental breakdown only to have Richie say something that got him ranting instead, forgetting all about his fear as he watched that familiar grin spread across Richie’s face. Eddie had never been really mad at Richie - it was impossible - and as much as he acted like it, Richie always seemed to know that. He’d always known Eddie so well, better than anyone else. He’d always known how much Eddie itched to let off steam, to scream like he always wanted to while being suffocated by his mother, and he gave him an outlet in which to do that.

Richie let him be who he was. He never tried to smother him the way his mother or Myra had, didn’t think he was a fragile little child in need of protecting. He looked out for Eddie, of course. Kept him safe. But he didn’t suffocate him, didn’t squash him down into a box, he let him exist. He let him live.

He wondered if he’d be able to tell Richie all of this, get it out in the open. Tell him just how much he loved him. He wondered if Richie really did feel the same. It was only a matter of time before he found out.

They arrived at their room and stepped in together over the threshold.

*

Previous Next

[meduise]

Whats some of ur fav dino, dino/hibari hcs?

finally i could reply to this ask!! which, anon, i still thank you for bc its the best thing i could ever be asked to talk about ww

reading will likely take some time, but i hope you and whoever else reads this post will share some hcs or at least find them nice ad interesting enough! and of course, i’ll be happy to answer more asks about it!! like the hibari-only post, i may come back to this one and update it over time

general warning for death mentions and spoilers from the novel “haneuma stampede”!!

hopefully this post wont be hidden from the tag search

dino headcanons

until i read about haneuma stampede, i pretty much always headcanoned dino’s hometown being naples, and this because i have neapolitan origins myself www in the light novel we get to know that dino’s hometown is a port city facing the adriatic sea (east) hence the opposite coast to naples, since this town faces the tyrrhenian sea (west). because of this piece of information, tho, i started thinking dino could be from bari, apulia’s capital city

being that a self projection, im still attached to that hc, so to keep at least a part of it i gave dino neapolitan grandparents LOL i mean, it’s not unlikely anyway

this is a recent hc but dino has a huge crush on is a big fan of immanuel casto, a gay italian singer whose most songs are explicit or suggestive and provocative

i think we all can agree that romario is like a second father to dino, right? their bond gets even stronger after cavallone nono’s death ;; romario will occasionally drop his habit to call dino “boss” and call him with his first name instead. dino will remind romario quite often how important he is to him beyond his role as his right-hand man

What Do You Mean Dino’s Tattoos Magically Appeared On His Body When He Was Deemed The Worthy Successor,,, i (falls on my knees) hc’ed that getting them done took A LOT and hurt A LOT and he yelled A LOT to the tattoo artist to stop inking and to his family that he didnt want to belong to that world,,,, im sorry dino

his tattoo and his duty as a boss in general dont give him much freedom (or should i say they dont give him freedom at all) so among the other hcs of situations where he has to cover his left arm, i have this one where dino cant but go to the beach when its empty and/or at night so that no one can see him but his men

the years may pass but he will still blame himself for his father’s death. and i mean. its pretty much true that it was his fault orz thanks light novel for giving me depress

onto the personality-wise hcs,, i talked about hibari’s enneagram type so i cant not do that for dino too. dino is 2w1, which gets called the servant. starting with the basic type: depending on the level of health, the two (”the helper”) ranges from being the most genuinely caring and helpful type to other people to being the type who gives expecting to be given something back to being the type who manipulates people into caring about them. i dont believe dino has fallen or will ever fall into the very unhealthy pit but he does get on the level where he thinks his generosity is the only thing that tie people to him and his people-pleasing attitude starts getting suffocating. he can be quite possessive, too. in a few words, type one is a very principled type, who fears being defective, bad and corrupt. therefore i assigned dino the one wing to kinda enhance the following paradox: being what he hates the most, aka part of a rotten system such as the mafia one. and with a role as a boss, to it. dino as a teenager never wanted to succeed to his father, and even now he wishes he didnt belong to that world but he loves his family, and even tho according to the moral he deserves to go to jail together with his men, he is self-admittedly too much of a coward to do that (theres so much more to add to this but if i do it will get REALLY long. there’s going to be another little enneagram talk in the d18 hcs anyway, lol)

_____________________________________________________________

dinohiba headcanons

these bitches gay good for them, good for them

advanced apologizes for being an angst fucker but for years my #1 headcanon has been a quite twisted one about dino and hibari not allowing themselves die by the hand of someone who isn’t each other’s. its a sort of oath. they feel like if one of them dies it will be unforgivable, and this will lead them to ultimately kill each other. in their mind, “it’s either both or none of them”, both know that they won’t be able to bear with the other being gone forever (yes, hibari too) and the only solution they find is leaving the world together, the same way they fought on it and against it together. the scenario i thought for this is a duel inside the reverse globe of needles. their last fight in hibari’s ultimate technique so that it’s literally just a world made of the two of them lol lol lol

tbh dino didnt like hibari at first, and with hibari being hibari it takes them long to warm up to each other. for long i mean some years w (years of anger, fights, hardship, trauma reveal, and so on)

their first bonding moment happens when hibari finds out about fon (yeah, all the stuff i talked about in my hibari hc post to which i have to add: i made my own timeline where the arcobaleno arc happens about 2 years later than shown in canon). dino is there to comfort him. dino hugs hibari and he lets him do. hibari cries. HIBARI CRIES for the third (3rd) time in his life there

i have this kinda specific hc of dino overhearing hibari sing hitoribocchi no sadame and getting sad about its lyrics

for obvious reasons even when they start dating they’re forced to spend most of the time away from each other but they make sure to be together at least on every anniversary

i love the established relationship trope so much therefore 80% of the times i think and write about them hibari is in his 30s and these two have been married for like 7 years 

i’ll get to the marriage proposal and ceremony another time hopefully in a fic too but of course romario and fon are chosen for their best men

idk if people consider ship playlists and such as hcs, but i associate savages by kerli and someone to stay by vancouver sleep clinic to them ;;

about someone to stay: the line will you fix me up? will you show me hope? is hibari -> dino, and the line can you keep me close? can you love me most? is dino -> hibari

and finally, to go back to the topic of enneagram: their compatibility according to their types. on the institute’s official site theres already a good description, which makes me cry everytime i go back to it because it literally starts with “These two types are more alike than they might appear to be at first”. part of this is given by the fact that unhealthy twos get the unhealthy traits of eights and healthy eights get the healthy traits of twos. i made a scheme for it:

i admit that i have no proof that the comparison is legit for the wings too, but finding out the stress/growth correlation even for them was very validating and satisfying, lol

some headcanons are missing from this post bc i decided to post the most important and my fave ones (the fave ones are those asked for in the first place but i cant shut up ashdjsdhfdjsdhfg)

but either way OVERALL i really, really love imagining both dino and hibari overcoming their hardships, individually and together, becoming the better versions of themselves the more the years pass, bringing their best qualities to each other and learning to accept and appreciate their different points of view. 

because of the way they are at first they... dont really start good, but with health and trust they make a powercouple tbh

[stusbunker]

WW - S06 E04 Weekend At Bobby's 😘

(Weird Wednesdays are brought to by bastardizing the wiki)

One year ago and shortly after trapping Lucifer and Michael in Lucifer's Cage, Bobby summons Crowley and demands the return of his soul. Crowley refuses and smugly quotes his contract, which states that he only has to "make best efforts" to give Bobby his soul back. He agrees to give Bobby ten years of life, but that is all. Bobby then reveals he has trapped Crowley in a devil's trap made with black light paint, but Crowley threatens him with his hellhound until Bobby releases him.

Bobby’s junkyard dog, Rumsfeld, who everyone forgot about, perks up at the sound of a new friend and Crowley relents and summons Juliet for a playdate. The dogs run the perimeter of the salvage yard and the owner’s discuss training and stories of when they were pups. Bobby brings out some glasses and Crowley falls for the holy water in his scotch. Eventually, they laugh it off.

In the present day, Sam and Dean are in Wisconsin (namely Kenosha, where my husband was born) on the trail of a monster that cracks open the bodies of its victims. It leaves a large black claw in the chest cavity of the latest victim, and they call Bobby for help. Even though Bobby says that he's busy. And Sam always has wifi. Bobby steps up and spends hours researching, going so far as to break into a University library to find a book that he needs. I mean, they’re his kids, who else would he go to jail for?

And we wonder why he was the one with all the drunk and disorderlies...

It's early morning the next day when he calls Dean to tell him that they're hunting a lamia. Usually only in Greece, a lamia "juices hearts and chugs the blood." Which Sam quickly jots down, because that could be the next step in his smoothie fixation. Bobby tells them it can be killed by a silver knife blessed by a priest. What kind of priest? Who knows, who cares. Probably an acolyte of Apollo or some shit. But, they can do their own research now, moochers.

After he's off the phone, Bobby goes down to his basement, where he has a crossroads demon tied up and caught in a devil's trap. He wants to know Crowley's true name - the name he had as a human before he died and became a demon in Hell - so he tortures the demon by using a blowtorch to singe its bones. Finally, she admits that Crowley, who is now the King of Hell, was a Scottish man named Fergus MacLeod in life. The other demons call him "Lucky the Leprechaun" behind his back.

Which just goes to prove that demons are stupid and unofficially most Scots and Irish end up in heaven, because there is no way it was that funny of a joke.

Once Bobby has the information he needs, he burns the demon's bones, killing it and its host. And no one is really surprised, we are only allowed to worry about vessels when it’s a recurring character.

After killing the demon, Bobby answers phones and backs up other hunters posing as various law enforcement officials until Rufus knocks on his door. Rufus has the police on his tail and needs Bobby's help burying the body of a Snorlax, a monster usually only seen in Japan. They bury the body on Bobby's property and Rufus leaves just before Sheriff Jody Mills shows up with an FBI agent, Agent Adams. Agent Adams is looking for Rufus.

And as exhausting as this episode is, it just shows what Bobby Singer’s life really is like. It wasn’t a single week of annoyance, it was always like that. He’s a goddamn saint in a cantankerous facade. Bobby is a fucking hero.

Dean calls while the FBI agent is there and asks for help killing the lamia because they couldn't kill it with a silver knife blessed by a priest. Bobby tells him to find salt and rosemary and "blend the herbs, saute over a high heat, and cook well," and hangs up when Dean finishes his audition for Cutthroat Kitchen and flambes the lamia. Agent Adams is persistent, and Sheriff Jody Mills tries to distract him, but Adams finds the spot where the Snorlax was buried. Fortunately, there is no longer any evidence of a crime because the damn thing is gone. Unfortunately, Rufus didn't stab it enough times to kill it, and it has been feeding on single white gamers while they sleep.

Rufus and Bobby deserved a fucking spin off for this episode alone. Jesus these two were perfect.

While Bobby was interrogating the crossroads demon, Marcy Ward rang his doorbell with a homemade peach cobbler. She has been his neighbor for six months now, and seems to be interested in him romantically, asking him over for dinner and a movie and then, when he seemed hesitant, asking him to come over and take a look at her wood chipper, which has broken down. When he learns that the Snorlax might be after her, he breaks down her door with a shotgun, scaring her, but drawing out the Snorlax, which had been waiting in her bedroom to kill her. Her playstation still paused to the final boss.

When the Snorlax is killed in Marcy's (obviously functioning) wood chipper, she is covered in blood. Bobby still tries to salvage a relationship with her, but she turns him down. He never was as cavalier as he wanted to be and victims are rarely as grateful as they are in fanfic.

Rufus thanks Bobby for helping him with the pokemon, and tells him what his contacts in Scotland have learned about Fergus MacLeod, aka Crowley. Crowley had a son named Gavin MacLeod, whose signet ring is now on display in a maritime museum in Andover, Massachusetts. Rufus is already there willing to steal the ring for Bobby. Because, that’s what friends do. And no matter how annoying or argumentative they are, both of those ornery bastards listen when the other is talking or dealing with their own problems.

Dean calls to talk about Sam and how he's changed in the past year, Dean can’t stand his new manscaping regimen especially, but when Bobby puts Dean on hold to talk to Rufus (who is fleeing law enforcement after stealing the ring), Dean accuses him of being selfish.

I have seen people go off on Bobby for this rant and I just want you all to know, FUCK OFF. Bobby had every right to say what he did in this episode. We all knew Sam was “WRONG”, Dean should have picked a different way to unload on Bobby about it.

Bobby asks for Sam and he yells at the brothers over speakerphone, calling them "whiny, self-absorbed, sons-of-bitches" that he does everything for without a word of thanks. He reminds them Crowley still has his soul and tells them to "sack up" and help him for once. Sam says all Bobby had to do was ask. While Dean pouts in the corner because he didn’t want to talk TO SAM about SAM. He wanted to gossip.

As a favor to Bobby, Sheriff Mills extradites Rufus and allows him to "escape custody" so that Rufus can deliver the signet ring to Bobby. You just gonna gloss over how he got it to South Dakota safely? Really? That level of dedication is just overlooked these days.

Bobby uses the ring to summon Gavin's ghost, and they "have a chat." He then summons Crowley, who arrives and discovers he is trapped in another devil's trap. Which, why isn’t he always at this point? Summon him constantly gents, it’s like a round of musical Crowley. No? Too much? Eh, what do you know.

Crowley repeats his position that he won't give Bobby his soul, but Bobby counters by revealing his son Gavin's ghost. Fergus, aka Crowley, and Gavin hated each other so Gavin is useless as a bargaining chip, but he gave Bobby all the information he wanted about Crowley, including where his bowling shoes were buried. Which I don’t think Gavin would have known, but that’s just more confusing shit for a later episode where we time travel to find the real Gavin and not just a bitter old spirit.

Bobby hands Crowley the phone so that he can talk to Dean, who tells him that he and Sam are standing over Crowley's comical size sevens in Scotland. Bobby makes Crowley an offer: his beloved shoes in exchange for Bobby's soul, and Crowley agrees. Bobby makes sure that he will still have the use of his legs before releasing him from the devil's trap, with a pat on the ass for good measure.

Crowley appears in Scotland moments later, where Sam and Dean are still standing over his supposed grave. Dean threatens to burn the lucky bowling shoes anyway, but Sam tells him to stand down, saying "a deal's a deal." Crowley picks up his personalized bag and disappears, and Bobby thanks Sam and Dean for flying to Scotland and helping him get his soul back.

Dean was on a plane for 8 hours? Sam must have given him that good shit, because aint no other way that was happening....

[lumen-tellus]

Shiroi....Shiroi I want all the answers, 1-10

OTP Questions Meme 

1. Who likes to nuzzle their head into their partner’s chest?

i dare say its Al who seems to like the nuzzling, but that’s really only until Ange gets more comfortable with intimate physical contact after which she is DEFINITELY the nuzzly one compared to him lmao (shes v touch starved tbh rippo owo;;;)

2. How many and what colours are the blankets they like to snuggle in?

Ange used to have the bare minimum amount of blankets per season and then Al probs started crashing at her place more often and he probably either brought more (very nice quality) blankets with him to match his preferred level of comfortable opulence - orrrrrrrrrrr, most likely, he whined ridiculous excuses about needing more blankets bc its cold in winter before saying he needs More warmth and dragged Ange into his sky high pile of blankets for pure cuddling purposes.

so, as for how many - a lot. the colors? also a lot. tho probs not too many black or white blankets simply black blankets are boring and white blankets are a pain to wash unless ure a fairy with magic i guess ww

3. Who runs up and hugs their partner and who stands arms wide open to catch their partner?

deeeeeeeeepeneds, imo!!!!!

id say normally it’s Al who does the hugging (but he does Not run, no, have you never heard of brisk walking?? “al that’s called running-” No.) and Ange the receiver in turn, but i feel like in particular situations it might be the reverse. said situations would likely be if Ange is super worried and waiting for Al to come back, or if she’s super duper happy and forgets about her usual tendency to not be touchy-feely with people ww

4. Who would be more likely to get matching scarves for themselves and their partner?

Al, tho if Ange ever gets the idea before him, she’ll do it in record time and make sure the scarves are handmade.

5. Would they much rather go on a romantic date or a laid back date? Explain why.

hmmm i think it depends on where they are in their relationship!!

i think around the start of it, they would be going on v romantic dates a la Al being that kinda person and taking the lead, and Ange wouldn’t mind them either - probs thinks they’re excessive, sure, but cherishes the experiences nonetheless. being so grandly loved is nice, after all.

as they get more relaxed and comfy each other tho, their ‘dates’ probs become simple outings - partly to work better around schedules, and also probs bc Al eventually figures Ange doesn’t really care about the material grandness of his gestures more so than they happen at all, that she just likes spending time with him more than how they spend it.

(not that they dont have the occasional fancy rooftop candlelight dinner thing at least once a year anyway, because this is Alastor we’re talking here)

6. Who still gets butterflies after years of dating?

asuidhiuefhuiefhiufiuhriwu definitely Ange. as amusing as it would be to imagine Al being a sappy dork throughout their relationship, he nonetheless Does have a much greater experience at it so lmao

7. Who is the one who makes their partner laugh so much that their face hurts?

Ange, courtesy of saying something that sounds fine to her and instead sounds ridiculous to Al due to a different frame of context. he laughs that hard bc the amusement compounds with how silly-cute his lover seems to him in that regard.

8. How would each of them explain how they met?

Al: “Ah, it was a coincidence of fate.” *cue dreamy expression as he launches on a shakespearean monologue that is half him explaining and half him fucking with the person who asked through archaic grammar rules*

Ange: “We met when I was a kid. I instantly hated his guts the moment I saw him and yelled that his face looked stupid. Then he had the audacity to fucking laugh at that and somehow we became friends and stuff?”

(May: “My sister left out the part where she had no choice but to deal with him over several years because he worked at the only store that sold her favorite brand of candy, and that’s how they got on each other’s good side I guess. Yes, that’s weird, no, I have no idea why he was there. I have my guesses and they involve fae politics, which I do Not want to deal with, so I never asked.”)

9. Who accidentally drinks too much caffeine and who has to deal with their partner bouncing off the walls?

once Ange got into university and then the psych field, she Definitely got a habit for chronic caffeine binges at times. Al doesn’t really have to deal with a hyperactive person though - more a much more snappy and easily exhausted Ange though.

10. Where is a special place they hold close to their hearts? Why is it special?

(the tiny closet that sybelle magicked to trap them in until they both spat out their true feelings lmaoooooooooooooooo)

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH im actually not too sure about this one hmm…………………………. my best bet tho is wherever Al decided he had to go all out and have the PERFECT™ engagement proposal prepared for Ange. otherwise, wherever they got married……………………… or wherever they had their first date as an Official™ couple………………………………… hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…………………………………..

yeah idk but one of those options for sure!!!!!!!!!