#like i do think it's also just a wee bit less competitive

[batsplat]

so i’m kinda new to motogp, i started watching it from this season and your account has been very helpful. i have a question, i’ve seen a post on insta where they were comparing marc and pedro results from the first race to the fifth races (i think?) in their rookie year. and a lot of people in the comments where talking about the fact that you cannot compare their results because they’re two whole different situations. but are they? ‘cause at the start of the season everybody was calling pedro the next marquez and a lot of motogp legends were talking about how talented he’s. which i’m not entitled to discuss. but if you compare the results, i wouldn’t say pedro’s season is disappointing (because it’s still early and he has two podiums), but i think it’s pehraps underwhelming compared to marc’s. so what i’m trying to understand is why are their situations considered different and why some people kind of “discredit” marc rookie season when they compare it to acosta’s? (like i thought that winning a title in you rookie year was the most impressive thing you could do)

welcome to the sport, and that's really nice to hear!!

so, I did do my 'comparing between eras is impossible' thing here, but obviously this isn't particularly useful. I'll get over myself and give you a proper answer, but fwiw I still believe that direct parallels can only ever be of limited use. here's a few things to keep in mind when comparing the two:

factory vs satellite: factory teams will always have at least a little bit of an advantage over the satellite squads. even if it's not in equipment... it's also just about the amount of resources that are being mobilised to help you get your results, the experience of your team, etc etc. now, I put this first because I don't think this is a massive factor here. ktm's whole thing is that they want to essentially run four factory bikes, see the rebrand next year, and obviously they're very motivated to help pedro out. I'm sure he's getting a lot of backing - in terms of historical comparisons, it's a bit more valentino 2000 than it is casey 2006

bike quality: the honda in 2013 was the best bike on the grid. pedro's ktm is... well it's certainly not in the top four. after that, the pecking order does get a little tricky, but it's certainly not decisively clear of either the aprilias or the gp23's. we do know pedro basically has equal machinery to the other ktm's. now, those are the first riders he has to beat... and he's beating them! going into this year, binder was getting top three rider on the grid shouts and pretty much everyone thought he'd be outscoring acosta at least in the first year (not me tho <3). I think these acosta performances have sparked a bit of a debate over 'was the ktm better than we thought all along and the riders were just being overrated, or is acosta just that good'... makes it kinda easy to forget how people talked about binder last year. but crucially even people who rated pedro very highly generally didn't think he'd have the upper hand this soon. pedro is p5 in the standings (behind three gp24's and marc marquez), versus the other ktm's at p7, p...16? jesus. and p17. marc's teammate in 2013 was p3. now, yes, nobody is saying binder is as good as dani pedrosa and he's been having a very rocky season - but at least some of binder's issues seem to be bike-related... definitely a bike that seems to have some serious gremlins and pedro needs to be credited for mitigating those. also, this is an era in which the bikes are more complicated than ever and generally considered to be even trickier to adapt to than in times past, which makes pedro's immediate consistent pace pretty much everywhere, every session particularly noteworthy

spread of field: related to the previous point - not only is pedro's bike worse, but the field as a whole is more competitive. in 2013, if you weren't on one of four bikes, it was going to be really hard for you to fight for wins. in 2024, there are a lot of bikes capable of fighting for wins, and you see that in how mixed up the order is race to race. it's just a different era... from around 2007 to 2015, there was a clear disparity between a few bikes and the rest, enabled both through technical regulations and other external factors (e.g. the impact of the financial crisis and smaller teams struggling as a result). the average level of the field is also higher nowadays, there's a lot of very strong riders - which means if you're having a slightly rougher weekend, your floor is considerably lower and you will have to accept you might not be in the podium fight at all. the margins are smaller now in both qualifying and in races... small swings of performance in both bike and rider can have way more dramatic repercussions

the eye test: for obvious reasons this one's a bit harder to put words to. but... pedro just passes it, with flying colours. it's the way he throws himself around on the bike, the obscene amounts of lean angle, the ridiculously late braking and the way he somehow still gets the bike turned, how he keeps taking lines that nobody else is taking, how it's allowing him to fight his way through the field (notoriously tough in motogp these days)... in the same way in which marc in 2013 was clearly just riding differently to all the other riders that preceded him, you see this stuff with pedro, you see he's the next step. you can tell he's just got that special something that allows him to do stuff with his bike that nobody else can. also, this isn't quite the same as rating his rookie season, but obviously everyone already knew what a hyped prospect pedro was headed into this year. he hasn't shown any sign whatsoever of succumbing to the hype/pressure and letting it get to him, which is also a great sign for the future

how good his results are: so, obviously he hasn't won a race yet - even though he's now secured multiple podiums. but again, unlike with marc''s 2013 there is no single weekend in which the ktm has been the strongest bike. sometimes it's been a bit closer and sometimes it's a little further away... yes, pedro has started making a couple of mistakes, but also that may just be the result of putting the bike in places it doesn't really belong. marc only had one race crash in the rookie season, but he also knew he couldn't afford to make mistakes - he was in the title fight. pedro is playing around with a worse bike and if he thinks he has the pace to win, it makes sense for him to just push that little bit extra, come what may. it's now been quite a few weekends since pedro hasn't decisively been the best ktm on pace - and, really, what more can you ask for? unless binder's suddenly forgotten how to ride a bike, it's reasonably likely that the ktm is at least a little worse than it was last year, which makes these results even more impressive

the rookie title question: yes, a rookie title is uniquely impressive! it's a particularly tricky situation to deal with... marc really had to be operating on a very high very consistent level that entire year, and in no way should it be diminished what kind of performances he had to put in week to week to claim that title. (though, of course, marc did get a little bit lucky that year, in particular with his rivals' injuries.) the thing is, we'll never know if pedro would manage the pressures and travails and ebbs and flows of a title fight in his rookie season as well as marc did... because he hasn't had the opportunity to fight for it. we just don't know! which makes it a bit hard to penalise pedro for not being able to match that... you just have to find a happy middle ground where you acknowledge how impressive marc's title was, while also allowing that on pure performance pedro might be shaping up as every bit as impressive

marc is very marmite in most online motogp fan spaces, whether those detractors are partisan valentino fans or think he's too aggressive for their tastes or don't particularly fondly remember his dominance or just don't like his vibe... so I'm sure there's plenty of people on instagram who would like to discredit him!! but I don't think calling pedro's rookie season comparable should in any way be used to discredit marc - the only point is that if you look at his current performances, it's completely plausible to believe he can match/surpass marc in the future. what he's doing right now is really impressive! it's not quite the same headline numbers, but there's weekends where he's quite plausibly on. like. the joint 12th best bike or something. so it really is all very tight and he is doing very well! but also you can't compare eras and all of these comparisons easily break down and sometimes you can just treat two things as separately impressive without attempting to definitively determine which is 'better', especially in motorsports where so much isn't determined by the actual athlete themselves and instead by factors they have zero control over

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

Fanfiction of 2022 - Year in Review!

I like to do this every year just so it feels like I really got up to something. :D

Total number of completed stories: 13! (Er, if you count the one chapter of a Jane Eyre rewrite I posted for some reason in a fit of writer’s block madness. Which I shouldn’t, because it’s not complete. But I will anyway!)

Total Word Count: 32,000

Fandoms Written In: Jurassic Park, Killing Eve, Our Flag Means Death, Ted Lasso, Glass Onion, and Jane Eyre

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?: More, because this was a stressful personal year and I truly didn’t expect to write any at all. At the start of the year I was like, “You know what? This is just never gonna happen and that’s okay.” But I still busted some out when the fangirl inspiration overtook me, yay!

What’s your own favorite story of the year? I am torn between my Jurassic Park fic “and he feels like home”, my Ted Lasso fic “forget your troubles (come on, get happy)”, and my OFMD fic “my love a beacon in the night.” It’s a tie!

Did you take any writing risks this year? I participated in GrantlerFest with my Alan/Ellie fic “for me there is no other”, which I believe was the first time I’ve ever written a fic like that for a challenge in my 20+ year fanfic-writing career! I’m such a commitmentphobe when it comes to stuff like that, haha. And it wound up being a lot of fun! Year of Grantler, huzzah!

Do you have any fanfic or original fic goals for the new year? Fanfic: Just keep writing one-shots for fun when the spirit moves me! I do feel like I should write a Gilmore Girls fic this next year at some point just because it feels so weird that I didn’t in 2022.

Original fic: I have a few novel drafts I really want to get back to strengthening so I can do something with them; I feel like they deserve something better than just being an ignored file on my computer after the years of work I put into them! (Even though I’m really lazy and just letting them sit there forever is my natural impulse.) I also would potentially like to write a new novel project since it’s been a few years since my last. I think I’m going to try a comedy since I really want to hang out in silly land these days.

My Best-Written Story:  I think my OFMD fic “my love a beacon in the night” is, because it was a long time coming and because I worked on it really hard for longer than I usually do with fic! I wanted to do an “Oh my God, what happens after season one, how could you possibly fix this” fic like right after s1 ended in March, but somehow it took like the rest of the year and five or so rewatches for me to reach the point where I could actually write about it.

Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe: Just based on my own sort of irrational personal feelings, I’d say the same story as above, “my love a beacon in the night”! I think because I posted it so long after season one aired, the fandom excitement has maybe kind of cooled somewhat. It was just one of those fics where I felt like I was really putting a lot of ideas into the writing (rather than a more standard, like, simple bantery cute fic), and I suuuuper passionately cared about all those ideas just because I am so crazy emotionally invested in Ed and Stede, so I was curious to find out what other fans of the show would think about it. However: I did still get incredibly kind comments on it and it was wonderful to read people’s thoughts! In my dream life its reach would’ve just been a bit further because I’m just, like, itchy for interaction about that fic.

Most Popular: Coming in and clobbering all competition right at the end of the year, my wee little Glass Onion coda “here’s another place you can be”! It’s definitely because I was in the right place at the right time with that one. Fandom kairos!

Before that for most of the year, it was my little Killing Eve post-finale fic “darkness bright” where Villanelle lives because WHY WOULDN’T VILLANELLE LIVE. The finale is a lie, and my tiny fanfiction is the TRUTH!

Most Fun: My Ted Lasso fic “forget your troubles (come on, get happy)” where Ted mistakenly thinks Rebecca and Beard are falling in love and has Problems with it, just because I was in a state of pure hyper romcom nonsense writing it and it was REALLY enjoyable. And the reception to it really left me over the moon!

Most Disappointing: I had a few fics that I wrote a lot of – my first attempt at a post-s1 OFMD one from back in March and a Ted Lasso one that was a sequel to my AU fic “i once was poison ivy” – that just didn’t quite come together enough to be completed. That was a bit odd for me because usually when I’ve written a few thousand words of something, that fact alone is enough to propel me to finish it and post it. But I just couldn’t quite get those ones to work! (Although I did reread the OFMD one recently and I actually thought it was pretty decent. So maybe one day I’ll try to dust it off with the disclaimer that it was written by someone whose psyche had just been entirely shattered by watching episodes 9 & 10 for the first time. I also think the Ted Lasso one probably has some good bits in it, but it was on the more melancholy side a lot of the time and I don’t think my writing works super well in the melancholy zone.)

Most Sexy: I don’t ever really write sexy stuff in the traditional sense, but I think my sexiest fic from 2022 is my post-Jurassic World Dominion Alan/Ellie fic “and he feels like home”, for the reason of: WHAT IS SEXIER THAN THEM FINALLY GETTING BACK TOGETHER AND HAVING A BLISSFUL TIME BECOMING EACH OTHER’S LIFE PARTNERS AGAIN AFTER NEARLY 3 DECADES? Nothing!!

Story With The Single Sweetest Moment: I am embarrassed to say that I have sort of a hard time picking because my fic all tends to hang out in the “and then there’s a sweet moment this has all been building toward!” zone. For the sake of brevity: I did really like the idea of Benoit Blanc being able to easily set aside the insane experiences in Glass Onion and say and genuinely mean “Wow, that’s amazing!” at Phillip finally successfully baking something. That is the original germ that grew the whole little story!

I also really liked how Ted professed his Feels to Rebecca in “forget your troubles (come on, get happy)”. That kinda snuck up on me.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: I wrote a Killing Eve fic called “you’ll never leave me” (I’m not above pulling “Tell Me” lyrics for all Killing Eve fic titles!) that was meant to sort of explain WHY Eve and Villanelle were in such a different place at the start of season four than they were when season three ended, and it did help me to feel like I could imagine a smoother bridge between the two seasons based on what both of them had going on emotionally. Even though honestly, I think the writers of actual canon were just being lazy for no reason and that sucks. Sometimes you just gotta do the work yourself, SIGH!

Biggest Surprise:  Listen, I thought there was no way I would ever write fanfic for the Knives Out franchise. What could have ever compelled me to?? The answer, it turns out: Hugh Grant. Dear God, maybe he is my blorbo.

Hardest to Write: I don’t usually stick with fanfic if it’s hard to write these days, since the stakes are so low; I think the hardest time I had was writing the post-party conversation between Ed and Stede in “my love a beacon in the night,” just because it was really long and complicated and I really wanted to get it right and pick up where they’d left off with all their issues in s1. I did a lot of rewriting and reading it to myself and really trying to be able to vividly imagine each beat. I’d say I am at least 95% satisfied with it. Yeah!!

Most Unintentionally Telling: I don’t remember if I was thinking about it at the time or not, but for the general experience in my lil’ Ed/Stede fic “comfort in a bedfellow’d state” and the buzzy feelings of new love, I pulled a lot from the early days of my own relationship one million years (or, well, one decade) ago. D’awww!

Also, I feel like the fact that I started the year trying to rewrite Jane Eyre from memory says a lot about the writer’s block I was wrestling with at the time. But that’s more intentionally telling. I feel so lucky that some inspiration came along and I was still able to have fun writing fic this year!

***

Here is my Works page on AO3 if anyone’s interested in checking out any of the stuff mentioned above!

[1-800-hvrt]

* - may change | ENDED!

𖤐note from ang / Hellooo everyone! I'm so happy to say that I have finally reached 900 followers on here, I'm so happy and surprised by this mark... Instead of taking requests and stuff like I usually do I will be releasing 5* fics: "Arcade", "Is this right", "At your service", "Get wit' it", & "Hey Emo Boy"! Below the cut there will be a description of each of the fics, keep in mind I may remove one or release it later than I say I will. There will also be *drum rolls* LYRIC PICKER*! (do not send in requests! do send feedback if you like anything<3)

edit: some of these may* or may not* be released.

# Arcade*

𖦹︎ p a i r i n g s / haechan x fem-reader

𖦹︎ g e n r e / smut

𖦹︎ c o n t e n t s / exhibitionism, semi-public sex, fingering, marking, maybe some impact play (just a smidge)

𖦹︎ s y n p o s i s / going on a date with haechan, you two get a little competitive and that leads to you taking him in a less crowded area.

# Is this right*

𖦹︎ p a i r i n g s / jeno x fem-reader

𖦹︎ g e n r e / smut

𖦹︎ c o n t e n t s / service top jeno, corruption if you squint, usage of collar + leash, oral (receiving).

𖦹︎ s y n p o s i s / shy boy jeno who wants nothing more than to make you feel good, he does all he can to make sure you do nothing but think about him.

# At your service*

𖦹︎ p a i r i n g s / mark x fem-reader

𖦹︎ g e n r e / smut

𖦹︎ c o n t e n t s / service top mark, nothing too extreme, might be some choking.

𖦹︎ s y n p o s i s / Mark who's a confident guy when it comes to sex, feels as if he isn't pleasing you enough so he tries letting you lead for once.

# Get wit' it*

𖦹︎ p a i r i n g s / jaemin x fem-reader

𖦹︎ g e n r e / smut

𖦹︎ c o n t e n t s / anal play, spitting, usage of toys on y/n (butt plugs), pet play, the usage of the word "kitty"/"kitten", collars, oral/snowballing (receiving)*

𖦹︎ s y n p o s i s / basically just a filthy fic that I've put together while listening to a certain song, so porn.

# Emo Boy *

𖦹︎ p a i r i n g s / jeno x fem-reader

𖦹︎ g e n r e / smut

𖦹︎ c o n t e n t s / hair pulling (receiving + giving), choking, titty fucking, a wee bit of cum play, spit usage, oral (receiving)

𖦹︎ s y n p o s i s / partying late at night and you catch the eyes of someone checking you out from across the room. after a little chit chat you two head to one of the rooms upstairs where things get a little spicy.

⌦ Lyric picker coming soon!⌫*

[grapecaseschoices]

5, 7 and 14 for Kendis and Nate?

ahhh, kete. lmao ty for the asks @serenpedac

lessie.

5. What is your detective’s and N’s dream date together?

ddddd ---- ehtuh. daaay ate? a fruit? why would she and nate be mutually dreaming of fruit? What is this duh-aytuh you speak of?

Kendis and Nate's dream date is the one where she asks Nate out on a (platonic! OR possibly nookie filled!) date! and he doesn't get the wrong idea.

Kendis is more activity prone and competitive than Nate, so ideally they'd love to go bumper car driving or playing a game of pool. So, a nice middle ground would probably be going through a drive in movie and then spend sometime walking in nature under the starry night. Or going out dancing then stopping for ice cream before going home/their separate ways.

7. What does your detective think of the glimpse into N’s past in the house of mirrors and their “not guilty” judgement?

Kendis is so got dang nosy. So she's very curious. I don't know that she puts too much merit on the 'not guilty' verdict as she puts merit in what NATE feels about it (she is of the mind that the jury of the maa lused is infinitely less objective than most. and that's saying something.) She's not fully surprised that Nate has some blood in his past but this is something that really upsets him, so she feels -- Kendis wants to know and will probably find out, but she is determined to step carefully in this. She doesn't have enough information to have a clear thought but it would be a lie to say she doesn't feel a tiny bit of ... relief that whatever tragedy happened isn't something Nate is guilty over (supposedly).

14. What do you think drew your detective to N? And when exactly was the moment, where it was “yes, I like them” (If they’ve admitted that to themselves, of course) And if not, what’s stopping them at this point?

Well my friends dared me to play Kendis with Nate and I was like oh hey this is not so bad, and I went with it.

Certainly not his thighs. He won’t let them see him naked. Asshat.

Probably his kindness and optimism ( @pearlysgates agrees with me so it must be true!) I don’t even know ... rotrgfd no. Um. It is. I always say this and people don’t want to listen to me, but Kendis is not a good person (yes good is not what you are, it’s a thing you do) ... They’re sometimes I feel too chaotic and too selfish to be “good” the way society likes to define good (ie, altrustic intent AND action). Kendis leans good because Kendis’ - as a friend of mine once stated - “respect for life is such that she falls over into good with strong neutral tendencies”

And I think that is where Nate meets her, where he draws her in. He has such a joy for LIFE - not just humans, but that too - and for people and small pleasures. And so do they.  She also loves that manifests in genuine, loving kindness. That he has such a spirit and determination in believing the best will turn out -- she finds him so genuinely adorable, even if sometimes Kendis was to be practical (even ruthless) and this bitch pulls his puppy dog eyes at her, and she’s stuck lmao erew.

Kendis hasn’t had that eureka moment just yet (tho saving Nate over Sanja has probably made it clear that they have more than a wee bit of fondness and preference for the man wertewa). They know they care about him but they’re not at a ‘yes, I like him’ state yet.

Why not? 1. They’re demiromantic 2. They barely know each other qwsedrwq23 (though yeah the intense situations they’ve been in together has certainly heightened the timeline) 3. Kendis isn’t looking for romance 4. The last time they were in love the person died. 5. Conceal, Don’t Feel. 

Wayhaven Route Questions!

[syubub]

How BTS flirt

Saucy disclaimer: this is for entertainment purposes only and not to be taken as fact! This is my interpretation of the cards!!

Lol this is gonna be a fun one so buckle up and hold on to your socks

Seokjin

Lol oki

I think there's two types of jinnie flirting. Casual fun flirting and flirting because he's actually intrested

When he is actually intrested in someone and is trying to flirt its kinda slow moving and not very obvious

Its little things like, "your hair looks really nice today"

Things that are complements but he means it in a flirty way

He'd probably get a bit frustrated bc his flirting tactics are too subtle

I think he would also flirt by showing things he's intrested or possibly things that he's gathered

Kinda like a peacock

He wants the person he's flirting with to know that he's cool and show them what he has to offer but doesn't want to be... showy

He wants to maintain some kind of poise

But I think its because he's a little too shy to be up front and honest

But oh man when he's having fun and flirting for the fuck of it his whole goal is get everyone in a 10 mile radius flustered

He enjoys seeing people blush (I think its because he doesn't always take true compliments well and wants other people to feel good about themselves)

Jin

My boi

His tactics might be a little... strange.. at times

It's endearing though

And smooth

I wouldn't be surprised if he has a list of mid 2000's pick up lines on hand as a plan b

Yoongi

Legit before pulling any cards I heard "like a penguin"

I can't

Now to the fucking cards

WHY IS HE SO ROMANTIC??

What a soft man

He's a romantic flirt that doesn't use many words because he doesn't have to

You best believe he has coffee orders memorized, take out orders memorized, favorite drink always on hand

You needed something from the store?

He bought it.

Very much service and gifts because he wants to provide and kinda show his worth

"Here's this rock I saw. I know you like them so I figured I'd polish it for you too"

Lol he's wrapped around that pinky so tight

He's also very considerate and aware that unwanted flirting can be creepy and uncomfy so he's very very conscious of how he goes about things

I think flirting like this is almost... healing to him?

I think he really enjoys having someone to take care of (he definitely wants the same in return)

Yoon doesn't flirt. He'd rather be courting some one

Don't get me wrong though

He can definitely flirt and shit like that but its his secret weapon

He's also very confident when he flirts

He prefers flirting to come with no expectations

If anyone gets courted by min yoongi I want to see your stack of "rocks" (idk it could be bracelet charms or snow globes or postcards but I wouldn't be surprised if its actual rocks either)

Hoseok

Oki if you don't want to read some not pg then come back when I say it's safe lol

Hobi you horny mother fucker

Flirting is 100% foreplay

I CAN'T

Kissing is definitely in his flirting book

He flirts and establishes his dominance early on (hobi is a dom fight me)

Very confident in his flirting

LUSTY FUCKER

I get vibes that hobi would 100% fuck on the first date

(Kinky mf)

Omg hobi what a fucking tease too Jesus

Blah blah blah his flirting is foreplay bc he's horny and really wants to fuck.

Istg hobi just wait for a designated 18+ reading

Oki it's safe now

On the off chance that hobi isnt using his ridiculous flirting skills as foreplay

He is still very confident

And slow paced

He's trying to win the war not the battle

He is very push-pull when he flirts

It's with good intentions though

He's just really good with people and sweet talking

Very touchy

Flirting can also be a way for him to sus people out and decide if they are cool or nah

Flirting with hobi can lead to:

A. New best friend

B. Increadibly one night stand

C. The love of your fucking lifeb

D. A failed vibe check

Lowkey hobi would be kinda like wolf... very... driven?

Namjoon

A lot of compliments and just general good vibes

Lots of personal questions

"I bet you're really good at that. You should let me see sometime."

Definitely uses his smile

A lot

Very much the type to keep eye contact and be very attentive to the answers that are given to his questions

Its a wee bit methodical

But not in a weird way

He just wants to know where to go

Lots of emotional intelligence

Probs buys flowers or something cute

Very much reassuring and probably would be most flirty over drinks of some kind (like coffee or fancy wine)

Doesn't always flirt for the sake of romance but its pretty obvious when he is

He's just perfect

He gives complements often just in general and I think he absolutely knows how to use his charms

Very smooth

So so so so so witty

Definitely can get some nice giggles going

The way he flirts is honestly entrancing

We all know he is a fantastic talker

Probably uses a lot of beautiful language

Jimin

Very flirty

Flirty flirty

Also a little flexing involved!!

He'd be dressed to the 9's and very obvious

I definitely see him making everything about the other person

Very much peak libra behavior

He'd definitely feel flirty when he's feeling himself?

Flirting is almost like a first defense

Its easier to control the situation when he's flirting and its something that he loves to do

There's a lot of intelligence here with chim chim

He gets bored easily so flirting with him would be something engaging and intellectual as much as it is fun and laid back

Fancy fucking dinners

Flirty boi would like to have his match

Flirting is a competitive (fun) sport

He'd be a bit more toned down and less flashy if its someone he's actually trying to romance

Very fun and very exciting

Taehyung

Sexc

Think mysterious and cool as fuck

That's his flirting style

Very much must pass his vibe check

Be careful its a test

The way he flirts is by not saying anything about himself

He'd drop bits here and there but he has to make sure that you're worthy tbh

If someone makes it past the vibe check this is when the real flirting begins

He'd be very attentive and almost dedicated?

Like he sees flirting as a stepping stone

This is an investment and flirting would be tailored to the person he's flirting with

He's very intuitive and knows what people need

Very very very delacate

Also he might seem a bit intense when he flirts but its not necessarily a bad thing

Homie be regal at first but once he's comfy and is sure that they're compatible then he'd be way more inviting and open and giggly

Oh god he'd be the giggliest flirt on the whole planet

Also very considerate of boundries

Jungkook

Lol

He'd only really be comfy flirting if there isn't anyone else around

Very blushy

Kinda soft ngl?

It's cute soft and shy but he also has very strong boundaries

Flirting is something that he's not great at?

But he is very very very good at learning so the more he flirts the better he gets

This is an oddly personal journey?

He has to get over some stuff to get rid of some possible anxiety

He's also a little unconventional?

He has his own way of flirting and it'd be very adorable

Things like

"You're hair would be really cool if it was blue. I like it now too. So you should do whatever you like with your hair. Because its yours. And its nice. Yeah"

Its so CUTE

He'd overthink a lot too

What do I say? How do I act?

He'd also maybe throw in a cheeky back touch or two every so often

Shoulder touching too

Its very much like best friend flirting but koo means it as actual flirting

Honestly, if someone notices that koo is flirting with them it'd be best to just take the wheel and take the stress away

[theji]

SDOC 4 Ep 1 Commentary

I told myself to wait till Sunday to watch SDOC cos it was getting late already and my Sunday is free. But no, the heart wants what it wants so... I ended up watching it till 5+ am. No regrets though I'm feeling a bit like a zombie now. 😅

Sharing some stray thoughts and observations. I'll keep spoilers to a minimum.

100% watching the show for DD's reactions. The dancing comes second.

DD and Bouboo = True Love

Poor Yang Kai but if his weibo post is anything to go by, we might see some changes in future.

I like how the 4 captains have distinct styles for their ice breaking sessions. Han Geng be like, come let's have tea and chat 😆 while DD is all business-like "Come, who wanna go first?" (But he is very respectful and truly excited to see his team mates perform. This is in line with his straightforward nature, to just get right into the groove of things.)

DD cueing Bouboo first cos he wants to see how he has improved/changed in the past year.

Henry seems like an easily impressed, overly excited kid. I'm looking forward to see how his team does.

I like the International mix of dancers and backgrounds. I'm hoping the production team won't skew things too much towards Chinese culture. Some of the dancers kept saying things like wanna show them the beauty of Chinese culture, show them the abilities of Chinese dancers, representing China etc. It's not wrong to be proud but I think first and foremost, it should still be about street dance, engaging with and learning from one another.

I'm quite liking the Japanese contestants so far. Especially ACKY. He seems fun.

AC seems like an interesting character. I'm hoping to see more of and from them.

I like how Ibuki held her own during the battle with Bouboo. And she's excellent. I've never seen arms move that fast amongst all the past waackers. #girlpower

DD and Ye Yin makes a cute team. Love the nugget of info that DD borrowed the hat from Ye Yin. It matches real well with his outfit.

Highlight of the episode was definitely DD's locking performance. And I had a proud mama moment when several contestants, even GOGO Brothers complimented DD on his skills.

I was grooving alone in my room in the dark in the wee hours of the morning while watching the show. Don't judge.

DD's outfits choices are excellent. The white singlet should make another appearance.

Compared to S3, DD seems more relaxed and chill, more at ease and familiar with things. Can tell that he's really enjoying himself there even though it's tough. He looks like a happy and excited kid all the time, whooping and giving his teammates ample cheers and encouragement etc. Last season he was more reserved and tended to defer to his cool personna, at least on screen. From his opening dance we can already see the difference. That dance was more playful compared to his usual ones and his expressions were super on-point. This reminded me of what he said to the girls during P101, that expressions, and not just dance moves, are also important part of a performance.

I think it's also obvious that winning is less of a priority for DD this time round. Of cos he's still competitive and would try to win again but more importantly, it's the experience, the learning and street dance spirit and culture that take precedence. Last season he was all about choosing team members who are strong in battle, cos he wants the strength. But this time round, he allowed Ye Yin to go against GOGO Brothers instead of the other expected choice. On one hand, it's to sort of fulfill Ye Yin's dream (a good captain takes care of his team and listens to their opinions). On the other hand, it shows that he's confident of his other pairings, esp Bouboo and his own locking performance. And he's reserving his ammo for round 2. He's strategic and willing to take risks. He's smart. And I hope more people can see this part of him, instead of just thinking that he's a pretty face and good dancer.

I'm really happy to see DD's growth and just to see him doing things that he likes. Seeing him in his element. Seeing him shine. I can't wait for the other episodes to air!!

Still a boy. A cute, happy little boy. Love him!!

[pricklerick]

Okay, let’s talk about Beth.

I think the fandom tends to forget how fucking young she is.

Beth got pregnant with Summer when she was seventeen. Canonically, Summer is seventeen. That means Beth can’t be more than 35 in the pilot. At the risk of sounding like an old fart: dude, she’s just a baby. 

Let’s see what we can infer from this information. 

Did you guys know that the prerequisites for veterinary school and medical school are pretty much identical? Basically, it’s four years of undergraduate biology and chemistry, with maybe some math and physics thrown in for fun.

With this in mind, ti’s likely that Beth still planned to go to medical school after she had Summer. We know that Summer is Beth’s favorite child (Morty’s Mindblowers). On top of that, there’s evidence to support that Beth had a pretty big hand in raising baby Summer, while Jerry may have had more of an influence on Morty. Remember this little exchange in Raising Gazorpazorp?

Morty: What do I do if it cries?

Beth: Then you put it down and let it cry itself out.

Jerry: Yeah, right, we tried that technique on Summer, and she's gonna end up stripping, isn't she? Yes, she is. She's gonna strip for attention because she was denied it.

Beth: Stop filling it with your own insecurity! You're gonna turn it into Morty -- uh, mm -- more  -- more of you!

This suggests that Beth kept baby Summer at hime during the day while Jerry worked. It’s easy to imagine Beth taking night classes as the local university, studying like mad to keep a competitive GPA, and justifying her indifference to Summer as “good parenting.”

Beth has Morty when she’s about twenty. This falls a little into headcnon territory, but I think that Beth was a year ahead if her peers academically and probably started college at seventeen. Based on this headcanon, I’m going to say she’s a junior in when Morty is born. 

I think the show makes it pretty obvious that Morty is a mistake. If you really want to get dark, I kind of like the idea of Jerry sabotaging Beth’s birth control in order to get her pregnant because he’s resentful fo her desire for a career in medicine. He sees it as abandonment or some shit, and he also can’t handle the ego-blow of his wife being a doctor. But that’s just a personal theory. Regardless, I think it’s clear that Beth Smith didn’t want to be saddled with another kid.

She probably didn’t want to be saddled with the first. 

Making it through medical school with a toddler is a fucking challenge. Making it through medical school with a toddler and a baby, with a husband who is nebulously supportive at best; well, Beth is a smart woman. She knows an impossibility when she sees one.

Beth is twenty years old, and her dreams have been shattered by her husband and children. I’m sure Jerry makes her feel pretty guilty about how much their family would sacrifice if she continued to pursue her goal of being a surgeon.

Four years, Beth, and the five more years of residency! And you’re talking about fellowship after that! The kids would be teenagers! And how are we going to pay the bills??

Beth settles on vet school for several reasons. First of all - and you better believe she tells Jerry this - what the hell is she going to do with a bachelor’s degree in biology? Teach high school? Even Jerry knows that’s off the table.

But Beth’s already got the prerequisites for acceptance into vet school. Unlike medicine, there’s no residency required to practice as a vet, just four years of graduate study. Some of that is clinical rotations, a much better schedule for balancing family life and academics. Beth tells herself that being a vet is the same as being a doctor; after all, humans are just primates. Besides, there are less than one tenth as many vet schools as there are med schools in the United Staes - it’s just as competitive, more competitive, vein, to become a vet than it is to become a doctor. Sure, she’ll take a pay cut, but she’ll rack up considerably less debt in the process. 

Beth convinces herself that it will all balance out in the end.

She’s a competitive student with a stellar GPA. At barely 22 years old, Beth is accepted into one of the top veterinary promos in the nations, no problem. Jerry pretends to be proud. They don’t even have to move far from Muskegon, but Jerry takes a lower paying position that allows him to take care of the kids while Beth attends class. 

Summer is five years old and startlingly independent. Already, she despises her father. Jerry tells himself that he’s always wanted a son anyway. Morty is young and impressionable, and Beth is never around. 

“It’s just you and me, buddy!”

Beth finishes school in four years. She’s 26, Summer is nine, and Morty is five. She takes a job in a clinic, and for a while, things are okay.

But when she turns 29, something inside Beth snaps. Her twenties are gone. Here she is, mindlessly writing antibiotic orders and spaying cats. Summer is a preteen, Morty is whatever he is. Jerry got a promotion at work, despite his useless civics degree? And Beth?

Beth is bored. 

She briefly entertains the idea of returning to medical school, but dismisses it instantly. Her classmates would be so much younger. They’d find out about her background as a vet and they’d laugh at her. Jerry would whine incessantly. It feels too much like starting over.

So, again, Beth settles for the next best thing.

“I’ve applied for a residency program,” she tells Jerry one evening over a glass of wine.

Three years, she promises. Three years, and then I’m done for good. Equine Surgery, she gushes to Jerry. It’s prestigious, the highest paying specialty in veterinary medicine!

“We’ll have to move!” Jerry protests. Beth justifies it by saying that the salary for horse surgeons is highest in the northeast.

It’s surgery, she tells herself. It’s what you’ve always wanted to do. Horses are big mammals, just like humans are big mammals.

They move to Washington. Jerry takes yet another pay cut. Beth is 30. Summer is 13. Morty is nine.

Washington State’s equine surgery residency is tough. Beth is challenged. She wakes int he wee hours of the morning and falls into bed, exhausted, in the wee hours of the night. 

And for the first time in years, Beth feels alive.

Rick shows up on the doorstep on Morty’s thirteenth birthday. It’s a day of dual-celebration. Morty is finally a teenager, and Beth is finally finished with school.

Beth already feels like she’s in mourning. She’s 33, and she’s at the peak of her career  (you’ll never be smarter than you are in this moment, her favorite mentor had reminded her the day before boards). She starts a job and the horse hospital next week. She’s signed a contract, already received her hefty sign-on bonus.

Then Dad shows up, and all of Beth’s accomplishments fall hollow from her lips. 

She thought he was dead, for christssake.

She introduces Rick to her family: Jerry, her loser husband (cringe, cringe, cringe); Summer, basic teenage bitch (does poorly in school because the would rather be popular than smart); Morty, the fuckup with some learning disability that Beth had never bothered to pay attention to (the real reason that I never lived up to the potential you saw in me, Dad).

It’s enough to drive any woman to drink.

I don’t think I’m too far off the mark here. Beth is so tetchy and self-conscious about her job because she’s relatively new at it - remember the “we’re losing him!” scene in the pilot? She’s incredibly resentful fo Jerry, for all of the reasons. Summer is her favorite child because Beth spent more time with Summer when she was a baby, and she is independent and self motivated - traits that Beth values. She regards Morty with vague disdain, to the point that she hardly remembers his existence, because she was absent for the majority of his childhood. Beth view Morty as “Jerry’s child,” and Summer as hers.

(Quick headcanon that Beth thinks of Morty as looking like Jerry, which just adds to her aversion, when actually, he looks a lot like young Rick. Beth has no way of knowing this, though, because there are no photos of kid Rick Sanchez).

I don’t mean for this post to sound sympathetic toward Jerry, because I’m really not. He’s a hot mess, too. I just wanted to flesh out Beth a little bit, and maybe justify Rick’s choice to clone her. Beth is young; she still has a whole life to live, and she never got the chance to be the woman she wanted to be, or the mom that her kids deserved. 

Rick chose to give her the opportunity to succeed at both.

[poesparakeet-fics]

Additional Critickle Role Headcannons

Realized that I had some headcannons in the comments of my Ao3 fics that I wanted to keep track of for future purposes, so I'm putting them here:

Love and Somatics:

I like to think that Essek's original hesitation in initiating things probably had something to do with the big sign over Caleb's head that says "Emotionally Fragile, Handle With Care" and that in that split second where he decided to kiss Caleb he also decided how he was going to deal with that.

In most worlds, most elves have some interaction with humans, but Matt's made it pretty clear that generally, Roshona is a no-humans zone. Treasons aside, Essek hasn't really gotten close enough to a human to notice things like how quick facial hair grows, and honestly? I can remember being a pre-teen and going "Woah, it grows HOW FAST?" and it amused the pants off of me to imagine Essek having the same reaction.

I think Caleb and Essek are probably equals for strength, but Essek is definitely smaller. I imagine it was fun for him to take the ler role a little considering what he goes through with the Nein. And if you're going to emulate a Ler, he's going to emulate Jester. Duh.

Evil ler Essek has been on my MIND because of that smooth voice and that "young man" in the recent episode, the confidence and control from that whole conversation. Also, you know Caleb wants approval from older men. We all know how that trauma go.

Caleb's a little proud of his ability to give up control and take a bit of punishment from a lover. It dulls some of his most self-punishing tendencies.

I'm fully on board with the idea that Caleb is more ticklish the more he's thinking about it. I wanted the threats to keep him there. BUT ALSO PRAISE KINK TELL HIM HE'S A GOOD BOY.

Wizards in Dnd are well known to be competitive with each other, so I thought the idea of making it into a magic competition would fit well for these two. It's also one of the relatively few things that Caleb gets really, immovably stubborn about.

Finding Peace

I feel like a big theme of Yasha's character arch is her not knowing her purpose anymore, and the stormlord giving it to her: protector. So I feel like in this behavior plays into that. She knows everyone has their roles, and this is just her doing hers: Look scary AF and keep people safe. The rest of that stuff? Those are pretty-boy problems.

I feel like Cad would have grabbed him if Jester didn't do so again. They have so many good reasons to think Trent wants to kill Caleb and will try to do so. Also, I don't think Yasha really understands pocket dimensions and is thinking "Our house is in the same building as them! They're practically IN OUR HOUSE." And she's got a sword called magician's judge sooo.

In the Ploy Nein verse, Beau has more of a "Beloved BFF I share lovers with" relationship with the men in their party. Molly's fluidity means he doesn't count and she'll fight anyone who says otherwise. She and Caleb are very good at teamwork.

That different relationship is what lets Beau's tickle attacks slip past Caleb's submissive side into a "You're not my dom! You don't get to tell me what to do!" Space of defiance with no self preservation.

Beau helps it along. Her bullying, taunting teasing is meant to make him provoke more tickles. Caleb falls more it more or less every time.

The fun of Caleb now being a pretty impressive wizard is that the brawny ones can still take him down a peg because they know he wouldn't hurt them. Most wiz spells would be like bringing a bazooka to a wresting match or next to impossible to cast when being tickled into a wee little ball. Muscle girls do not have that problem.

Beau's Dope Monk shit making him more ticklish gave Caleb an "oh no what did i get myself into" moment and then probably an "oh god what if the tieflings find out she can do this" one later.

After hearing Yasha tease Caleb when he was a spider, I think that might be Yasha's signature ler move. Just declare that she's hungry for "[class or race] body part" and chase some poor ticklish person around going "I'm going to get you! I'm gonna eat you! Yes I am!" While they plead for mercy.

[maggotmouth]

          hillo sexthy legends !!   i’m nora and i’ll be writing margo colby n probs sm1 else bcos lets be real, i lack self-control. u can find her pinterest here n some info abt her sexy self below the cut. plot with me on discord ( hot girl midsommar#8664 ) or in my ims !!  x o x

     * CAMILA MORRONE, CIS WOMAN + SHE / HER  | you know MARGO COLBY, right? they’re TWENTY-THREE, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, ELEVEN YEARS? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to SCRAWNY BY WALLOWS  like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole BLEACH WHITE SNEAKERS POUNDING ON A GYMNASIUM FLOOR, USING THE SAME BLUNT SCISSORS TO HACK THE SLEEVES OFF AN EXES T-SHIRT THAT YOU USE TO CUT YOUR 3AM FRINGE, A WALNUT-SHAPED ACHE IN THE PIT OF YOUR STOMACH FOR THE PERSON YOU COULD HAVE BEEN thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is AUGUST 8TH, so they’re a LEO, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( nora, 25, gmt, she/her )

CLICK ANYWHERE ON THIS SENTENCE FOR SEXII GOOGLE DOC!!

bullet point summary of margo.

—   born margaret but NOBODY calls her that. its colby, coach or margo, and go to the privileged few. margo grew up in the creek commune n then dropped out of school cos of a teenage pregnancy so she was a bit of a cautionary tale back in’t’day (said tht in my yorkshire accent). she now works for summer camps coaching pee wee soccer and pee wee cheer, as well as helping out her beekeeper dad on his honey farm, which is jst north of abernathy creek, and working at scuba on the off seasons.

—  its just her and her dad, and has been for as long as she can recall !! everything she knows about her mum could fit on the back of the weathered passport photo she keeps in her wallet of a stranger who shares her face - her name’s melody, or at least tht was name she used when working as a dancer, she’s from argentina and dropped mag’s dad as soon as someone w more money came along.

—  margo’s father is a beekeeper with his own organic honey company. margo and her dad moved to irving in the early 00s, the summer between grade school and middle school, because her dad had heard about the communal living in abernathy creek and wanted to lend his skills there and live off the fatta the land in a very lenny from of mice and men kinda way.

—  for a few years of middle school margo was bullied for living with the ‘freaks from the creek’, but when they realised how chill her dad was with underage drinking, margo ‘keg-bringer’ colby soon gained popularity among the more renegade students. every so often, the high school parties would happen at her end of town, occasionally with members of the commune even offering the high schoolers a spiritual experience they’d never forget (often in the form of mushrooms) which meant people tried to stay on her good side. to get an invite to a margo colby party handed you a free pass to make up the most ridiculous shit about the commune you liked and nobody else could say anything, because they’d never been to the creek.

—  at school, margo had a lot of ‘behvioural issues’ bcos of undiagnosed adhd, she found it difficult to sit still for hours n write down huge chunks of information n her restlessness was seen as laziness. she was encouraged to do sports, as were most of the kids who weren’t that academically inclined, but she turned out to be pretty hot shit at sprinting, because she grew up surrounded by bee houses and he who runs slowest gets stung, baybeyy!! so yea, in school sports became her LIFE. she was gonna get a sports scholarship to college but ended up dropping out of school in senior year n becoming one of those kids who could have had it all but lost it.

—  she had sex with sutter at a house party when she wasnt really ready because it felt like the right thing to do at the time and everybody else was doing it. she’d attended health class, she’d seen the corny videos. she knew about all the statistics, but she also knew that it had never happened to anyone she knew and the pull out method was basically safer than the morning after pill and way less expensive.

—  a teenage pregnancy knocked her out of the runnings for prom queen and meant she had to leave school early. she didn’t go to college when her friends did, instead she spent the time interviewing potential foster candidates and eating her weight in lindt chocolate while marathoning love island in her room.  

—  she had a son, who she passed off to someone else a couple of towns away.  it was a closed adoption which seemed like the best idea at the time, but she now wishes she had access to his life.

—  after peaking in high school and jumping between jobs for a few years, she got a more permanent role at scuba which she loves with all of her heart and soul, but unfortunately a bar job doesn’t pay the rent.  

—  she works at summer camps coaching  junior soccer and netball on the side. she’s extremely competitive and takes it very personally if her team lose. the kids all call her, coach colby n write her longwinded letters about how they’ll never forget this summer camp before they go back to their suburban picket fence houses n she keeps all the letters in a drawer n takes them out to read when she’s feelin depressed.

—  enjoys surfing and worked for a number of years on resorts like mila kunis’ job in forgetting sarah marshall. she went on to work 18-hour days as a stewardess on luxury yachts which is a part of her backstory i added after watching season one of below deck because i guess i really am that fucking impressionable. met most of her surf friends doing tht but said she’d never in her life do it again bcos it was mostly just picking up after rich white ppl for shit pay. she came back to irving n thats when she started doing the summer camp jobs so she could move out of the creek n get her own apartment. 

—  she never actually finished senior year so she’s currently going to night school at the community college to get through her exams and is trying to save to go to college or open university. she wants to major in criminology. she’s super ambitious but also super adhd so she fluctuates between thinking she can achieve anything to just feeling like a failure n thinkin whats the point

—  used to shoplift to feel joy and as an act of resistance to her hippy commune routes, but now sees herself as a reformed, bin-diving freegan (sims 4 eco living can i get a hell yaaaa). also she thinks it’s totally wrong to steal when you have enough money and clearly don’t need to steal to survive, ppl risk imprisonment for basic necessities, so for her to do it for a brief thrill and some new shades felt a bit derogatory

—  was raised jewish. became a vegetarian as a child because it seemed, at the time, easier than having to explain which foods she was and wasn’t allowed to eat together, so she just cut out meat entirely. still a vegetarian now and dabbles in veganism, although its become less about not eating certain meats in the milk of their mother and more about her global impact / carbon footprint

—  nurses little animals to health in her garden. has a hedgehog name OJ short for orange juice not the other one filthy pig. her and her dad have always been huge animal rights activists and existed on a vegetarian diet. the only one in their house who isn’t vegetarian is their cat, auggie. (short 4 augustus gloop)

—  has a lot of stupid ass stick and poke tattoos. there was a phase during her years as a barmaid where she wanted to train as a tattoo artist n would mostly practice on herself or any friends who would let her

—  she doesn’t form many long lasting friendships cos she tends to be super excited when she makes a new friend and just see them all the time but then it wears off and she can ghost a bit. she’ll always coming pinging back but she’s not the most predictable or loyal friend, sometimes she’ll sleep in your house every night for a week and then you won’t even get a text from her for a month. her best friends are elderly neighbours and houseless people she meets when volunteering at the foodbank. she thinks they’re more authentic than most of the ‘fake posers’ she meets down the vela pier

—  calls herself a butch lesbian but still has sex with men when she wants validation. sexually attracted to some men, especially effeminate men, but only romantically attracted to women. very possessive of the gals in her life.

—  stopped giving a shit about getting older or adhering to anyone elses bullshit standards, realised it was all fake p much as soon as she dropped out of school and one by one her friends just stopped texting her

—  lives in one of the lofts in port apartments. it’s open plan with rugs and lava lamps everywhere. she has a palette bed. its all very ‘sustainable chic’. like, oh wow, a pallet bed that im supposed to think you made from scratch but i KNOW you got it  off ebay because you thought it looked trendy

—  constantly says shes poor but still buys clothes from urban outfitters. sus.

—  frequently found at fannies flirting with the cute bisexual bartender with a choppy black bob.

general vibe / personality

vibrant, vulgar, self-absorbed, tenacious, veers bewteen apathetic and dogmatic, temperamental, flighty, unreliable, magnetic, charismatic, passive aggressive, likes to play devil’s advocate, takes the moral high ground. estp and a leo

likes: 70s music, john wayne movies, black mirror, philosophy, cowboy chic culture, dc comics, the smell of locker rooms,, deep red lipstick, lacrosse sticks, smoking weed from a bong, dogs, karaoke, pet rats, kate moss, late-night strolls, hawaaiian shirts worn open over a bralette, skinned knees, thai food, picking the apples at the very top of the trees, zip-lining, cigarettes, the idea of pegging but not the practical application of it, decorative lamps, LGBTQ+ pin badges, worn-out furniture, twangy electric guitars.

dislikes: girls who call other girls ‘pick me’ girls, woody allen movies, mental mathematics, wealthy children, quentin tarantino, ironing, institutionalised misogyny, the imaginary future, french literature, ‘dump him’ feminism, wes anderson films, spoken word poetry nights, college-educated bar staff who act like they’re better than you,  indie softbois, the general mentality of cheerleading squads.

aesthetics

orange peel, the smell of bleach, skeleton drawings in the margins of a journal, thumb holes poked through the cuffs of your sleeves, bleach white sneakers pounding on a gymnasium floor, setting dumpsters on fire for the hell of it. a hit flask of vodka decorated with hello kitty stickers, split knuckles, alien conspiracy theories and sci-fi paperbacks, doc martens with fraying laces, a child in an oversize bee keepers suit, scabbed knees, not eating your greens, smiling with a mouthful of blood, and piercing your own ears with a safety pin when your dad wouldn’t take you,  a tennis racket you punched through in a fit of temper, feet pounding the earth until your soles bleed crimson, sleeping in a cherry lip balm and scrunchies to keep the wild locks from your eyes.

hoo boy this is getting LONG AS FUCK but here are my wanted plots

wanted plots

ok margo’s been in irving since she was like 10. she’s quite a vivacious person?? she dresses completely instinctively without any sense of cohesion so she stands out. a guy once told her she was wearing the ugliest outfit he’d ever seen and he thought that was so cool and brave of her. but anyway where was i going.. she grew up in the abernathy creek so stuck out like a sore thumb,,,, maybe ppl who were super interested in the creek or maybe poked fun at her bcos of it idk.....

b4 she dropped out, margo used 2 b in with the cool kids at school bcos her dad would buy them booze and rarely ask for the money. maybe a fun plot cld b with some of the ‘it girls’ she used to hang around with b4 she got pregnant n dropped out and they all went off to college n stopped texting her.

frinds !! unlikely friends !! toxic friends !! some1 she feels like she knew before irving ???

since margo literally can’t differentiate between romantic and platonic love, she’s got off with so many of her mates, so i want awkward friendships where they nearly dated, or exes that have now just turned into weird friendships. fwbs. enemies with benefits. all the angst. all the slow burn mutual pining we hate each other narratives

locals who play sports. margo wld be all over community soccer n take it way too seriously. maybe ppl she plays hockey with. girls who she’s like, weirdly intimate with but its not a thing cos the other girls straight !!! what do u mean !! aha just fun !

she works part time at scuba. i want a mate that just goes and sits in there talking to her until her manager gets angry.

she's also a surf instructor and occasionally works as a lifeguard!! gal has like 7 jobs ik but regular swimmers hmu

ppl she coaches at the gym !! she wants to be a personal trainer

i reckon she might have recently started meditating to try and calm down her mind cos its always bustling with thoughts, n i think she’s p interested in buddhism so if anyone’s a buddhist hmu

someone she’s trying to make a zine with on female empowerment and women in film and art, etc. just a very feminist zine. 

TLDR:  angry sports gay, former high school track prodigy turned drop out, who likes feminist literature, wearing leather jackets over slip dresses, and smudged red lipstick.

this was so long !!! im sorry !! if you’ve read this far have a biscuit, love x

[vancilocs]

Ive got a headache so im not gonna read every single option presented so top half for fuckerswoods wolf vampire hunter polycule aaand neja and yecal (or dana and hecca if neja and tecal have been answered for this already)

have a paracetamol and a lay down xx

1. Who's the one who's reckless and always getting into trouble while the other gotta pull em out

If anyone gets into trouble it's Kältre, but the others keep him so well in check that if he's even thinking of sneaking into the forest during new moon Soren will either go along or pull him back by the hood

2. Who's the one to send the other "I love my gf/bf" memes

Nanoha would send pictures of piles of cats cuddling and just go that's us!

3. Who's the one who listens to a music genre the other doesn't like and how does the other react

They all play well together, nobody hates the music the other listens to

4. Which one spoils the other more and do they ever get competetive to show the other more love

Everyone is very spoiled with four pairs of hands on them, nobody gets left out so it doesn't become a competition

5. How many years did it take to get married or was it just not for them

Given how open their relationship was in the beginning nobody really considered marriage, and now it would just be such a hassle with five people

6. Is their friends/family supportive

It's... a little weird to them but hey, everyone's happy and the relationship works so why not. If anything, Soren's family is weirded out by him shacking up with a vampire and Striga's parents being likewise mistrustful of a werewolf

7. How does one comfort the other when the other is in distress/having a panic attack/crying

In wildly different ways, ranging from Kältre arming himself to kill a bitch and Nanoha starting to make soup. Virve and Striga are the types to hug or hold hands if allowed and ask what's wrong, Soren is the type to just hug. One of the five starts crying and there's a swarm of comfort around immediately

8. Which one dissociates

Striga and Soren tend to during new moon/full moon respectively, best to just leave them to lay in bed for the day bc their energy is at 0

9. Which one stares at the other's booty like "damn" and how does the other react when catching them

Nanoha and Striga are a bit flustered, Virve and Kältre like it, Soren is indifferent. All do look at butts tho

10. When they live together what kinda place do they live in? What does their home look like?

It's an old hunting hut that was converted to a living space by Virve's family when she moved in with Kältre, it's kinda small for five people but it's cozy, it's warm, it's pretty cluttered and one of the corners has been turned into a mattress/pillow/blanket/fur pile that fits all five

11. What do their dates look like

Walks in the forest, grabbing some food and walking to a meadow or stream to eat, going for a swim, going to the nearby village for a drink, staying home when the three others are gone and enjoying peace and quiet for a while

12. How does each act when getting drunk

Kältre gets loud and clumsy, Soren gets sleepy and cuddly, Virve also kinda loud but less so than Kältre, Nanoha gets giggly and sloppy and has to be looked after, Striga barely drinks because it hits her so hard, she gets emotional and very clumsy

13. Which one rolls over in the morning to wake up the other one just to give them a kiss

Striga and Nanoha give kisses but don't wake the others up, Virve will wake them up if it's almost noon and it's time to get your butt out of bed

14. Have they saved each other's lives before

Striga is fairly sure she would have made it out of the blizzard during new moon if by just huddling under a rock, but Soren finding her and bringing her to a warm spot didn't do any harm for sure

15. Does one have an interest the other thinks is weird but wants to listen to it regardless

Not really, whatever little crafts they do is something the others are always interested in and willing to hear about

16. Which one uses cropped hentai as reaction images

Virve and Kältre, and Nanoha uses one by mistake and Kältre informs her that it's from a hentai and she goes and how did you know that you wee cunting man

17. Does one of them kinkshame the other

Nanoha thinks Virve and Kältre have too much interest in Soren's werewolf and Striga's full vampire forms

18. Is one of them self conscious about their body? If so how does the other comfort them

Not really, Striga is a lil ashamed about her cold hands and feet sometimes but it's fine to the others, put on some woolly socks and put your hand on Virve's tiddy, it's soft and warm

19. What kinda joyrides do they go on? Relaxing ones or wild ones?

Soren agrees one time to let Kältre sit on his back and come along to a proper werewolf hike, very very wild ride

20. Where would they vacation for a honeymoon

No time for vacations, the grind never stops --------------

21. Do people ever get annoyed of their PDA

Honestly sometimes yeah, hands off his tiddies for once woman

22. Would they live in the city of the country

They live in the city, Neja grew up in a city too so it's comfortable for her

23. Are either of them mentally ill, if so how do they help one another cope

Not really? I can believe Yecal having some kind of PTSD from some events but nothing very severe. Neja will cuddle and pet feathers if needed

24. Does one have a spot on them where they would melt when the other kisses them there

General tender spots for Neja are the sides, inner thighs, neck, nothing unusual

25. Do they dance together

Neither really knows how to dance but it doesn't stop them

26. Do they sing together

Ditto, it's not super pretty but they have fun

27. Which one is better at cooking than the other and makes most the dinners

They are both alright at cooking, Neja makes some mean spicy noodles and Yecal some proper sauce, if one is running late from work then the other can have food ready just fine

28. Are they a reckless couple or safe

They began as very reckless but have toned it down a lot for each other

29. What be they kinks and do they try each other's kinks

Yecal gets pegged

30. What would their Valentine's gifts be to each other

Neja with a ribbon on her boobs (maybe some wine if she wants to splurge, some candy), she enjoys flowers and candy and wine herself

31. Do they get into fights often? If so what do they fight over and how do they make up

Not often, if anything it's small arguments about money of if Yecal tried to fix something he doesn't know how to and made a mess when Neja was gone. They make up with kisses and hugs every time though, nobody stays mad for long

32. Which one's top, bottom, verse

They switch flawlessly, sometimes a small girl wants to be small girl and sometimes she wants to ram her husband into the mattress yanno

33. Who would fight in honor for the other if someone would insult them

Yecal will defend Neja in anything, she needs to be held back also because she do be smol

34. Which one has a favorite movie that they have the other watch with them again and again

If either then Neja

35. Do they want kids

Nah, neither dislikes them but they don't want any of their own. They struggle keeping a houseplant alive so no way they would have a kid

[heretherebedork]

Hiya there! x2 because I forgot to add it last time! Fair enough, I’ll try to make less dark premises then :)

Premise: Pool setting where there’s a lifeguard and a ML who’s very, very passionate about swimming. When they meet, ML and their friend make a little trouble and Lifeguard approaches them. Lifeguard and Friend coincidentally go to the same school and are talking while poor ML’s just watching them awkwardly. Lifeguard is quite impressed with ML’s skill and asks if ML could teach him after his shift until one teaching leads to 2, then 5, and so on..

Oh man, I have been meaning to write this and then getting distracted by... existence. I don't even have a good excuse, honestly. I just thought about it, had ideas and then wandered off. Summer is getting to me, okay?

ML is a swimming star. He's the kind of guy who basically lives swimming and his friend is as well. They're both highly competitive but still best friends. That's why they get in trouble. They're racing in the public pool and Lifeguard blows the whistle on their antics.

When Friend recognizes Lifeguard, he's super excited. Lifeguard was on their swimming up until an injury took him off the team. He's working right now but just hasn't managed to get back into competitive shape. And that's what he asks for help from ML and Friend for: to get back to where he was and to be able to compete again.

Friend has to back out, he's too busy, but ML agrees to help him out. He's more than happy to work with Lifeguard and to get him back for the next season.

At first, all they really do is practice swimming. ML gets very focused and doesn't really have a life outside swimming, so he's always available and makes sure Lifeguard knows that. So they meet up at odd times to work out together. Like, really odd times, since Lifeguard can open up the pool whenever.

And then Lifeguard starts to question why ML never had any plans. They're been working out for weeks and their friendship has grown. ML admits that he really doesn't do anything else besides swim and exercise and, rarely, do something with Friend when forced.

Lifeguard finds that sad and becomes determined to force ML to have fun. Their next practice ends with an invitation to the bar and ML reluctantly accompanying him. And soon that's the routine. Swim practice and then hanging out, partying and drinking and talking until wee hours.

And, soon, Lifeguard starts calling ML even when he doesn't want to practice. Just to talk. Just to chat. To check in on him. ML's mostly used to his swim friends, like Friend, who might hang out with him and swim with him but don't really bother with.. checking on and hanging out without a reason.

Hanging out turns out to be fun. But ML struggles with feeling like he's wasting his time... but he's also struggling because he's finding spending time with Lifeguard is amazing. It's worth the 'wasted' time. They hang out almost every night, drinking and dancing and ML finds that his favorite thing to do is to sit in Lifeguard's lap and just listen to him talk.

Then school starts. And then ML loses a swimming race. And he freaks out more than a bit. He loses by more than he usually does and he blames it on his newfound life.

So he flees. He can't stand the idea of losing or of not being the best and he starts to practice again, all the time. He still practices with Lieguard but there's no more hanging out, no more drinking, no more parties.

He misses it so much. He misses Lifeguard and he misses being held and he misses sitting in his lap and he misses it so, so much.

And then he loses again.

He loses even worse. He nearly comes in last because he's thinking about Lifeguard the entire time.

After the race, he sits in the locker room and cries. He's lost both the things he loves, the races and the affection.

Lifeguard comes into the locker room and, before ML can say anything, picks him up and into his lap. He holds him silently, just letting ML sit with him and his lose.

After a little while, Lifeguard convinces ML to come with him. They go for a walk, a long walk, and they talk about what it means to lose and how much they miss hanging out and just... everything.

In the end, Lifeguard walks ML home and asks him out on a date.

ML is rather disbelieving. He's a loser. He's a failure. He keeps losing at the races and he stopped hanging out with Lifeguard and lost him too.

But Lifeguard just makes it very clear that ML has never lost him. And can't lose him. Because he loves him.

ML agrees to date sheepishly, awkwardly, with a yes that he needs to repeat several times because Lifeguard can't hear him and then can't believe him.

The scene cuts to a race later. ML loses, again. But Lifeguard is right there, waiting for him to come out of the water and to gather him into a hug and a kiss that they both smile into.

[phoebehalliwell]

how would you rank the seasons from least to most favourite?

alright okay right off the bat worst season season 7. for starters i think this season has no staying power i mean like since i’ve been running this blog 4 so long now my knowledge of charmed is encyclopedic and insanely vast more than like it ever need be but for the longest time. i could not remember season 7. like wtf even happened there?? evidently leo became human??? cole returned? the avatars??? like all of it was just. it’s not even necessarily forgettable it’s just i straight up could not remember it for the longest time. and i’ve said it before the concept of utopia was way to advanced for a show like charmed to tackle i am not watching charmed for moral philosophy i am watching bc i love these girls ♥ hee hee hoo hoo magic adventure ✨ tho if i am to offer a single comment on utopia: it’s awfully rich for a show to go on about destiny and fate and then take a stand against utopia in the name of free will. but w/e. i don’t like leo in the avatars i don’t like his dynamic with piper in this season i don’t like whatever phoebe’s doing this season there’s like leslie?? maybe there’s someone else? boring & flavorless they should have been setting up her endgame instead of puttering around. and kyle. zoo wee mama. could have been a great antihero. morally gray. duplicitous. self serving. but no. they gave him all those traits and called him hero/love interest. s7 left a lot to be desired out of the characters and their relationships also gave us phat L’s such as the charmed ones are werewolves don’t worry about it and feminism peaked with naked women. shout out to zankou: demon, dilf, dub & the noir episode.

you know what? fuck it i’ll say it second worse season 5 genuinely fuck season five. this is probably a Very Specific beef 2 me But. i hate what they did to the charmed universe. this was the season that marked the transition of charmed from supernatural drama to campy soap which like. i love camp! i do! but fr. fuck this season and what it did to the worldbuilding. the early season have Such A Vibe to them man with warlocks and witches and just a couple niche monsters from assorted lore that the show took and made their own. season five opens with mermaids goes directly into fairytales then gives us superheros whatever the fuck was going on in that mummy episode the sandman leprechauns and nymphs. and i hate it for that. it takes away from this urban fantasy things that go bump in the night what lurks in the shadows of the back alleys of san francisco in favor of the ugliest cinderella dress ever put to television and an onslaught of horrible irish accents for a full episode. other issues with season five: cole’s still here? why? they don’t know and neither will you! we’re not redeeming him! phoebe’s not getting back together with him! yes he died we just refuse to let him go! the cherry on top of course being a cole-centric 100th episode. shout out to. hmm. lemme think about what i actually liked about this season. i like jason dean as a love interest i don’t remember what he did in s5 but i know he was there. the season finale i’ve talked about how stupid & shitty it was but idc i still love that episode and then shout out to bacarra the only original villain this season that was a proper serve. the crone gets second place.

next on this come on we all saw it coming season 8. it’s a bad season! and i get bts there was a whole lot happening budget cuts missing actor etc. but it goes beyond that. it was a bad season. billie and christie were bad. and i’ve said this before but billie in herself is not an inherently bad character. she was just the literal worst for the show. she was a dollar store buffy blonde confident cocky skilled and ready 2 fight evil But. we are not following her like we followed buffy we are following her mentors. it’s like if we had a show called giles that aired for seven seasons And Then buffy showed up. billie was insanely irritating to watch from our perspective and in general wasn’t like. well written. attempts to humanize her / give her more depth often fell flat. and then christy. oh nelly. oh my god. barely a character. not well acted but hey it would have been a miracle if she was. negatives include dumain who was a mess omg bringing back the triad bringing back the source billie & christy obvi and also involving homeland security. which is season 7′s fault which is why it’s the worst. dubs on the other hand include both coop and henry i really liked them the shoehorned love interests weren’t great but i like their characters i though the way the got rid of leo to save on the budget was really creative and gave us a great piper episode and of course the sugary sweet finale i love it i do what can i say.

yet another controversial choice aptly coming in fourth is season 4. i respect what season 4 set out to do. i think it was a good idea. long form narratives, keeping a darker tone, focusing on character-driven drama and growth. too bad it fucking failed miserably at all of this. cole as the source and phoebe as the queen of hell was just so so botched. they had a very unique opportunity following the death of prue to explore these characters and what it means to them to be charmed, to be witches. they saved the world but the cost is insanely high. they’ve lost an older sister. they’ve gained a new sister. how do you even begin to cope with all this? episodes such as hell hath no fury and brain drain fuck so hard because they work with exactly that. had the whole season been like those episode season four would sit at number one with flying colors absolutely no competition. but alas. we can’t have nice things. the show got so bogged down with phoebe & cole, in a way that was just so, so messy. for starters, whether you loved cole or hated him before, we can all agree source!cole sucked. he was such a strong 180 from what we had seen that the show had to make the source some type of possession to justify half the shit they were trying to pull. and then to pit phoebe and paige against one another over a man was just. disgusting. and the ending of course felt rushed because it was! they wrapped up that entire issue in a nice little bow much faster than they reasonably should have been able to. it could have been a great season. it was definitely not. shout out to the seer an iconic mastermind on barbas levels, as previously stated brain drain and hell hath no fury Specific shout out to piper’s scene at prue’s grave shout out to paige as a character i like what they did with her and um. yeah that’s it.

okay we’re exiting the shit tier in favorite of the good tier welcome to the upper half. kicking us off is season 6. season 6 did what season 4 could not in that it gave us a long form plot that still left plenty of room for like. normal demon of the week episodes. i love phoebe early in this season with her faboo haircut her brand new empathy power and her relationship with jason dean. obvious strikes against for whatever the fuck that baby crazy stint was and also the mata hari episode. yikes. i love paige’s hair color in this season nothing paige as a character necessarily stands out to me however i like how they seem to have hit the blend of work-magic with paige where she wants a life and career outside of magic however she still loves the craft and embraces is with an open heart and mind. season six also gives us chris who was a very fun male lead imo we really didn’t have many like him he’s bitchy. he whines and bitches a lot he’s got an agenda he’s a bit secretive but at the end of the day he just wants a family i like him. i like the character growth we see out of piper i like seeing her try to move on from leo i love seeing her get back together with leo i like her dynamic with chris and her fears about motherhood. i also liked richard but that one takes a lot of justification. L’s are witchstock hyde school reunion used karma off the top of my head also the paige/richard/addiction plotline was so tone deaf. also the girls were mean to darryl : ( he deserved so much better. dubs were chris as a character, tbh the episode little monsters, phoebe with empathy specifically saying i love you too to jason i could write a dissertation on that line alone also the courtship of wyatt’s father and i thought the reveals of evil wyatt and chris being piper and leo’s son were both fun and interesting plot twists.

coming in third is actually season 2 a season i really do love it’s just. it lacks structure. imo there is a lot to love about season 2 morality bites and pardon my past are both delightful time travel episodes we get jack sheridan and bane jessup two of my personal favorite prue love interests we get p3 h2o and a great prue plotline regarding the death of patty we get the super cute cupid episode it’s a great. collection of episodes. it’s not a great season. there’s just imo not a strong enough thread connecting the stories together it’s mainly held together by having the same characters in it over and over again i really liked dan personally but like. i knew we were wasting time there. he was just an obstacle. a super cute loving and caring obstacle who’s great with kids but lbr piper and leo were always endgame. wasting our time on dan was stupid. i do love the sister dynamics in season two “gotta hand it to those pesky little demons they sure have brought us closer together” but again. this season could have benefitted from a rex and hannah type or even like a cole or zankou. this season is less of a season and more of just like a handful of episodes, and while there are some fat dubs, there are also some definite swings & misses. shout out to the time travel episodes the prue centric episodes phoebe’s character growth and maturity throughout this season (e.g. her going back to college) and i also think the fashion got a lot more fun this season.

second place i’m saying season one season one was a really strong start and gave us these really compelling characters with interesting relationships between one another But. a lot of it just kinda falls flat. and credit where credit is due it was a brand new show getting its feet under it but the fourth sister feats of clay which prue is it anyway they just simply aren’t dubs imo. also i don’t like that 70′s episode bc again i am an asshole concerned about The Lore i can’t believe one bitch ass warlock caused the Charmed Ones to grow up without powers. it just really bugs me. all in all the plots as a whole like aren’t great imo they’re nothing to write home about (save for from fear to eternity) it’s really the characters that make this season so goddamn good.

first place congratulations to the one the only season three. this is just because it kinda hits all my requirements in that it has some banger one offs (e.g. all halliwell’s eve, the good, the bad, and the cursed) it has an overarching plot at the exact same time as the source becomes more prominent and obvi cole is also there with murderous intent i like the character growth we see especially from prue i like piper and leo finally get married overall i really like the aesthetic of this season that blends a darker urban fantasy tone with still some charmed fashion and whimsy. strikes against tbh phoebe and cole’s relationship i am insanely picky with my enemies to lovers and the do not come remotely close to cutting the mustard in fact they are almost immediately disqualified however from afar i can see and respect The Drama. shout out to recasting victor prue with pistols death as a character and shannen directing episodes

[villca]

* RICARDO HOYOS, CIS MAN + HE/HIM | you know CHASER ‘CHASE’ VILLCA, right? they’re TWENTY-THREE, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, ONE YEAR? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to TRUTH by ALEX EBERT like, a million times this year, which makes sense, ‘cause they’ve got that whole COWER OF A DOG AROUND FIREWORKS, FULL BODY FLINCH OF A HELD HAND & CAKED MUD IN THE KNOTS OF THEIR HOODIE’S DRAWSTRINGS thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is NOVEMBER 10TH, so they’re a SCORPIO, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( tasha, 22, est, she/her)

hullo!! my name is tasha and i Hope Everyone is Doing Well During these Unprecedented and Uncertain Times n also having a happy ny x my second lockdown quarantine fixation of choice was degrassi n it shows FJGHK anyways b4 i go back to binging more (it’s all on youtube?? iconic??) here r the deets on my boi! i look forward to plotting w all of u :~) my discord is tasha#3566 pls feel free 2 add me!! tw for cults and brief mentions of violence/neglect/abuse. 

backstory !

was raised in a traveling commune, which bounced between state parks and forests. all intense survivalists but also...not, like obvs can’t have sustained agriculture traveling from park to park, so the group’s leaders would often detour alone to pick up supplies every now and then. 

but a horrible place to grow up, not that he knew that ‘cos it’s the only life he’s ever known. was just a pretty violent / toxic atmosphere with a hyper survival of the fittest mentality, a lot of sparring that would go too far, not nearly enough resources for the weather conditions, or anyone with actual medical training for when anyone got sick or injured - all under the guise of self sufficiency.  

also very poorly homeschooled, chase barely knows how to read, and stories/info was often read to them or recited by memory. 

at eighteen he’s given more responsibility, gets to go on supply runs. goes to like, cvs, for the first time. hates it FJHG, really just has no desire to explore more of the world even though he knows for sure it’s out there now. his ‘family’ are thrilled about this - knowing they basically have him for life.

trains and mentors the younger members, unwittingly encourages violence, sort of pushing them to their limits because for the group it’s less about winning and more about being able to survive - endurance and being able to endure is so wrapped up in reverence which he mistakes for love. 

when he’s twenty the whole commune gets busted, apparently they had been secretly under investigation for a while. his parents were in the commune too but never make that distinction known so the cops tell him and he’s like ok and ? just like, doesn’t know that that’s meant to mean anything.

goes to jail directly to jail does not pass go ... takes a bit to go to trial, but he ends up serving two years. and that’s what you missed on glee ! currently living with his grandparents at lilac ridge, which is weird. they feel very much like strangers. also on parole still, f in the chat.

personality !

hates it here, feels like shit just wants to go vibe in the woods again. is a lot more quiet than he used to be, truly flopping like a fish out of water.

always saying the wrong thing then getting frustrated at himself bc humiliating ! and if no one respects him, ‘cos he knows nothing about anything anymore then how can anyone ever love him ! this thought depresses him - finds it super hard to make friends ! doesn’t understand any pop culture references.

can be a bit rude, a wee bit hostile, physically aggressive, immature. just doesn’t think before he speaks smh. won’t admit when he’s wrong either will just be like, ya that’s what i meant. 

competitive as heck ! catch him trying to out chin-up the person next to him at the outdoor gym down at the beach. loves games too, but not like board games, think he’s only ever played cards anyways ... but like, duck duck goose. 

for all the survivalist training, not even that street smart (and not book smart at all). like ya he can identify types of mushrooms and wipe his ass with a leaf in a pinch but i mean he doesn’t need to do that now rip. 

easily influenced but pretends he isn’t, his grandparents were like chaser ? that’s no name. we’ll call you chase. and he was all like whatevs ... but now he introduces himself to people as chase.

fun facts !

other song choice for app was cop car by mitski, but chase doesn’t listen to music. or particularly like it, but he’s had to get used to his grandparent’s excessive radio use.

has dimples, very cute when he smiles. this is a fact and i personally find it very fun.

will eat anything. tho his fave food is honey on toast the cottagecore girlies are quaking !

favourite story is jack and the beanstalk which he still thinks was made up by the commune. doesn’t know it’s an actual book/tale bc they’d always recount it by memory.

everyone called him chaser because he was good at chasing people FGHJ, king of tag !

begrudgingly saving up for a phone, doesn’t see the point of it but apparently it’s imperative for his “ future life prospects ” ???

wanted connections !

really feels out of the loop with everything like he’ll never be caught up but, someone give him a pop culture 101 lesson ! 

someone to get him into music, film, art etc ... 

makeover montage ? rly do imagine him with the worst style !

someone who gets him out of his shell a lil, makes him has fun, takes him to a party or the arcade, endless possibilities truly. 

a future roommate, he simply does not have the funds to move out yet... but imagine...if they let him stay with them for free KFGH or let him crash whenever. honestly probably the worst housemate, just pacing at all hours, leaving the fridge door open. 

alternatively people who either know his grandparents ( who i imagine as a muriel and eustace FGJKH ) or live in lilac ridge ! 

people he gets in fights with...grew up where violence was a first resort unforch so the moment things get heated he’s throwing hands. or like, him asking who do you need me to beat up to someone sad over an ex or smth and actually meaning it...

co-workers ( where he works tba ).

and all the usual jazz, friends, enemies, hook-ups, unrequited crushes.

also stuff specific to the locations could be rly cool !

[sunflowerdigs]

Soldier Boy Spec/Meta based on Homelander

Assuming SB is mostly going to be interacting with Homelander and used for his character development, maybe a good way to speculate about what SB is going to be like is to consider where Homelander's character arc is going and what it needs to get there.

For the past two seasons, Homelander has been paired with women. It's like we're sort of seeing him grow up in a sense? Madeline was a mother figure. Stormfront was pseudo parental as well, but they also shared almost a teenage rebellion/immature first relationship? It's notable that neither of them removed all clothing in any of the sex scenes, making them oddly chaste despite their explosiveness. They were kind of like...fumbling angry teenagers.

Anyway, I suspect s3 may be more a reflection of S1 and that Soldier Boy may fill another parental role for Homelander in a way similar to Madeleine. Especially since SB is basically the Homelander prototype. Do we know who Homelander's bio dad was? There's a part of me that's wondering whether this could be why rumors about the Homelander/SB sex scene have been so stridently denied even before script writing started - it would be literal incest, so they know it won't happen or will it for that reason, lol?. After all, if you're going to try to build a new generation of supes, wouldn't you start with genetic material from the first generation?

Even if he's not his bio dad, I suspect that SB will at least fill that role for Homelander. Kripke loves his horrible, abusive, narcissistic, nearly-sociopathic dads. Homelander has just had his dreams of fatherhood smashed (for now) after making his first fumbling attempts to really try to reach Ryan. Now would be a good time to bounce a father figure off of him.

Plus, John Wayne to me is kind of the ultimate toxicly masculine dad figure. The kind who dies at like 45 of alcoholism or lung cancer from smoking and drinking all the time because he has no idea how to deal with his emotions if he's not doing something destructive. The super rugged masculine one whose approval every son desperately wants and never gets because dad is incapable of being vulnerable enough to love anything.

Maybe Homelander will want SB's approval desperately on some level, but that will collide with his other burning desire to fight authority and rules as hard as he can due to the events in s2. They're in competition from the start obviously - there can only be one stud duck in the pond (nice oedipal complex continuing to develop). But if SB is more powerful than Homelander, Homelander's own biases mean he has to try to respect and learn from him at first (because that's what he feels like anyone less powerful than he is should do to him). Like, I expect Homelander's reaction to SB to be both "who the fuck does this asshole think he is?" and "I should be respecting that he's even colder than I am but for some reason I'm not". Also, "I need to be a team player and work with him because I'm a wee bit scared about my position at Vaught rn" and also "DADDY PLEASE LOVE ME".

Also, if SB is going to be a foil to Homelander that Homelander eventually beats, I suspect SB will be like Homelander in every way except SB will be, at his core, a complete and total coward. Homelander, for all that he's complete garbage on the surface, is incredibly brave at his core. His first interaction with Madeleine, maybe one of the most formative scenes for his whole character, told us that. "Say what you mean"; Homelander doesn't instinctively hide from hard truths, he works through them. I think SB will be the opposite and that will be the reason for his tough-as-nails front.

He might also be gay and terrified of it. That's another grand Hollywood leading man tradition. JS.

[lihikainanea]

Could we please have some angst?? Maybe Bill was spotted out with a beautiful actress or his ex, but Tiger wasn’t aware of that meeting which breaks her heart because she thinks that their thing is probably going to end now that Bill is interested in going out someone else.

oh fuck, my poor wee heart.

I’ll bet it kind of happens when he’s away too, right?

Follow me down this angsty rabbit hole. Let’s go with the ex theory. The Case of The Ex (where my early 2000s kids at? Anyone?). Maybe it’s one of those terrible ex’s too. I low key kind of love Alexis Knapp--girl’s got some fucking edge to her, something just a little insane--but apparently she’s the one he was talking about when he referenced some seriously fucked up, dangerous relationship in a few interviews. Which isn’t cool--but let’s go with something like that. Maybe it was when Bill was in his early 20′s, there’s still a lot you learn about yourself in that time and you get into bad relationships. Damaging relationships. You’re still figuring yourself out, still figuring out this whole adulthood thing, and you’re bound to make mistakes. I don't think anyone can be faulted for being a shitty person on some level in their early 20s, and for some reason I think Bill might have been a big time shitty dude.

But look--his ex is some big time actress. Beautiful, by all accounts. Maybe their relationship was pretty hyped by the press too--the paps would legitimately follow them, mostly for her, whether or not they were called. And tiger’s at home, missing her big dude, catching up on trashy reality TV and that’s when she starts to see it--pictures. A picture of him, hugging her. Laughing. A lot of pictures.

And what tiger doesn’t know is that Bill was out to dinner that night, a cast dinner, and his ex happened to be at the restaurant. What tiger doesn’t know is Bill’s blood ran cold when he saw her, he tried to avoid her, did anything he could to just leave before she saw him--but it didn’t work. What tiger doesn’t know is that Bill cringed, gritted his teeth, tried to step away from the hug but the girl flung herself at him with too much enthusiasm. Tiger didn’t see his grimace, didn’t see that the hug lasted barely a nano second before he pulled away and stepped back from her. Tiger didn’t see his eyes noticing the paps in the bushes, tiger didn’t see that that’s what made him force a smile. Tiger didn’t see that the entire interaction lasted about 4 seconds.

And tiger didn’t hear the conversation, didn’t hear the girl tell Bill that they should reconnect, go for dinner while he’s in town.

Most importantly, tiger didn’t hear Bill’s venomous response.

“No,” he deadpanned, “And get fucked.”

Tiger didn’t see him walk away and not even spare the girl a glance.

Tiger only saw the pictures.

And listen, I talk a lot about tiger wallowing in her own emotions, becoming a martyr. But let’s talk about tiger’s fire here. Because she’s still her, she’s still every bit the terrifying ball of fury that Bill fell in love with, and the one thing that will get tiger’s blood boiling every fucking time is competition. And women don’t compete with women--that’s lame. But tiger only ever HEARD of this girl from Bill, knew how she hurt him, knew the kind of hell he fought through, and this girl is now thousands of miles away putting her hands on what is tiger’s.

Tiger wants to kill them both. And she doesn’t even bother taking a few calming breaths before she calls him--is it a FaceTime? Oh, it’s a FaceTime. She wants to see his face while she destroys him.

And he answers--happy and cherubic, a big smile on his face.

“Hi kid,” he says cheerfully.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she seethes.

Bill is confused.

“You tall fucking fuck,” she says, “Fuck you, you seriously think that--”

“Whoa, kid,” he grimaces, “Easy on the fucks.”

“Easy?” she spits, “Oh, okay. Let’s talk easy.”

And I’ll bet she just goes off. And somewhere in there, Bill finally figures out what’s going on. Because in between all the fucks, she relays the story as she knows it--just you know, it’s a much more elaborate version than what actually happened. And Bill? Ohhh, tiger’s anger is revving him up. But it’s revving up every single dominant trait in him, and all he’s trying to do is get to a place quiet enough where he can snap back--put her in her place the way she’s practically begging for it, and not be heard. He finally ducks away somewhere isolated.

“Enough,” he interrupts her, “You really think this is the way it’s gonna go, kid?”

“You’re the one who--”

“Listen to me,” he hisses, “Tiger, there is going to be a boarding pass in your email in the next hour. If you want to come at me like this, then you can fucking do it to my face.”

“Fuck you,” she spits, “I’m not fucking--”

“You’re getting on the plane, tiger,” he snaps.

“Fucking make me.”

“Fucking try me, kid,” he growls.

She hangs up. The boarding pass comes in 10 minutes later, without a note. And later on that night, before bed, Bill calls her again--because he won’t ever let her go to bed without calling her, but tiger is MUCH more petty and she lets it go to voicemail.

“If you’re not in my hotel room tomorrow night, you’re in big, big trouble kid,” his velvety smooth voice threatens, “Goodnight, I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And she almost doesn't do it. She almost stays home--but her only motivation is that she wants to look at him, wants to stand there in front of him and rip him apart for this.

And Bill’s not stupid either--he recognizes her anger, but he also recognizes its true form. Insecurity. Vulnerability. (And it’s not ever an excuse to yell, but tiger isn’t yelling at HIM. She’s also not calling him names, because that’s never okay.)

And ohhhh boy, when tiger gets to the hotel room the next day, Bill is just waiting for her. Already nursing his third glass of scotch, tiger opens the door and unceremoniously throws her bag to the floor. Whips her jacket off, slams it on the bed.

“You want to talk, bud?” she snaps, “Let’s fucking talk.”

“Oh no no, kid,” Bill says with mock amusement, “You seemed to have so much to say to me yesterday, so you’ll be doing the talking.”

But look, tiger is just...tiger is a little less bold when she’s there in front of him--just like Bill knew she would be. She’s a little less courageous, like he knew she would be. And the power dynamic is shifting again, back to its natural state when it comes to these two, and both can feel it. Bill stands then, draws up to his full height. He walks slowly towards her, glaring her down the whole time, and suddenly tiger is losing her nerve in a big way. He doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of her, glowering down at her, their chests touching.

“Talk,” he demands. Tiger swallows hard, tries to grasp on to any ounce of anger that is rapidly leaving her body.

“She--”

“Who?” Bill snaps. Tiger makes a frustrated noise.

“You know who,” she says, shoving at his chest and turning away--but he grabs her elbow, whips her back around to face him.

“Who, tiger?” he asks harshly.

“Her,” she barks out, “Your ex.”

“What about her?” he says.

“The two of you,” tiger tries to keep her tone harsh, accusatory, angry--but it’s not working.

“What about it?”

“Fucking having dinner like old times, eh?” she snaps and shoves him away, but Bill’s not having it. He regains his footing and slams her back into the wall, grabbing her face in his hand.

“What did you see?” he asks. Tiger tries to shake out of his grip but it’s too tight.

“The two of you,” she snarls, “At dinner, having a great time.”

Bill jams his knee between hers, pinning her.

“What did you see?” he demands again.

“You and her,” she says, “In love like you used to be, you fucking--”

“Tiger,” he snaps, “I don’t give a shit what you think happened. What did you see?”

He’s trying to get a point across. Trying to make her realize that her mind filled in a million blanks for her, and blew this entire thing way out of proportion.

“Photos,” she says, and her answer this time is much gentler, “Photos of you and her. You were laughing, and you hugged her.”

He steps away from her then, shoves down on her shoulders to put her on her knees.

“No,” she fights back, swats him away. But he overpowers her, hooks a foot behind hers so she falls in a heap, and he grabs her face in his hands. He looks angry, he looks like a man on fire, and his grip is harsh.

“Four seconds,” he growls, “That entire interaction lasted four seconds. I wasn’t at dinner with her, I was at dinner with the cast and she happened to be at the same restaurant.”

Tiger swallows hard, but he’s not letting up. She reaches a hand up to try and touch him in some way--his chest, his arm, but he smacks it away and grabs her face again.

“Look at me,” he demands, “I didn’t hug her. She saw the paparazzi and went for it--I tried to step back, step out of the way, but she lunged. I laughed to not cause more of a scene, tiger.”

His eyes are unblinking, intense as they bore into hers.

“And when she asked to see me again, you know what I told her? I told her to get fucked, tiger. I don’t ever want to see her again,” he says.

Tiger stays silent, tries to hold his gaze.

“Four seconds,” he repeats.

He lets her go then, releases his grip on her face and stands back up. He goes to pour another scotch, but when tiger puts a foot on the floor to stand he snaps his fingers at her.

“No no, you can go ahead and stay like that for awhile,” he says. But tiger can’t.

“Yellow,” she mumbles, and Bill turns to her immediately. He softens, walking over to help her stand and she keeps her hands on his arms so he stays close.

“Is that really what happened?” she asks lowly, “That’s all?”

“That’s all, kid,” he says.

“I thought that...” she pauses, takes a deep breath, “I thought that you maybe started to want...something else. Someone else.”

“I don’t,” he says softly.

“I thought that maybe we were...that this was done.”

“It’s not.”

“I thought that maybe you didn’t want me anymore,” she says, and it breaks his heart. He ducks his head, bending to catch her gaze. 

“I do,” he says, stroking his thumb across her cheek.

“And god she’s such an asshole,” tiger says, and Bill chuckles at that.

“She is,” he agrees, but then he takes her face gently in his hands again and gives her a sweet kiss.

“You, kid,” he says simply. 

Tiger sighs, nodding as she pulls him in for another kiss.

[hellowkatey]

The Plights of Force Vision: Chapter 4

Rated T for language and depictions of violence

Summary: Obi-Wan is running on fumes. Anakin has a bad feeling about this. They go into battle anyway.

Read it on AO3

Chapter 4: General Kenobi

This morning, a shiny asked Obi-Wan if he preferred General Kenobi or Master Kenobi. It was a question that earned him a slap on the back of the head from one of the more experienced men. "He is your general, newbie, only the other Jedi call him Master." The men laughed it off, giving the kid trouble, and Obi-Wan walked away before they noticed.

An innocent question, yes, but one that sent Obi-Wan into a bit of a tailspin. The war has been getting to him. He hasn't had proper sleep in days, living off stale caff and wherever he can curl up for a thirty-minute power nap.

Do you prefer General Kenobi or Master Kenobi?

He wants to say master is his preferred title. The title he has been working his entire life for. Master Kenobi is a Jedi who worked hard to come back from less than adequate beginnings. One of the youngest members of the Jedi council (and they certainly like to remind him of the fact). A master of Soresu and the only Jedi that actually enjoys instructing the youngling Aurbesh class. After spending months teaching a padawan as stubborn as Anakin to read when he was nine, three-year-olds are a breeze.

But Master Kenobi isn't here right now. General Kenobi is.

General Kenobi is a smooth-talking, always rational, master of strategics. The Negotiator, they call him. Even named a ship after him and signed him up to command the whole of the Third Systems Army. High General Kenobi-- Who fights alongside his men on the front lines, coordinates the attack plans for other Jedi Generals, and somehow finds time to learn the names of thousands of troopers that look almost exactly the same. As much as Obi-Wan wants to be Master Kenobi, he simply is not. There will be a time and a place for that man, and one day he will get to take that place.

But not today.

Not as they prepare for battle. Not as Cody is assigning positions and handing out blasters to men who haven't been alive but ten years. Not as he overhears his former padawan challenging a sixteen-year-old to a competition on who can decimate the most battle droids. Certainly not as he looks at the plans and can tell this is going to be a bad battle where no matter how well they fight they will lose many troopers.

Because underneath Master Kenobi and General Kenobi is Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan is simply tired.

He feels Anakin approaching, so he pushes aside his weariness and pretends to be going over their starting positions. A strong hand clamps onto his shoulder.

"I know I didn't just hear you two planning another one of your silly competitions," he says before Anakin or Ahsoka can say anything.

"It's called efficiency, Master," Anakin replies cooly, plucking the datapad right from Obi-Wan's hand. He rolls his head to the side so the knight can better see his dissatisfied expression. Ahsoka chuckles, looking between the two generals in a staring match.

"We have to beat Master Mundi's record!" Ahsoka says, nudging her master in the ribs. "C'mon Skyguy, Rex is waiting for us."

"What have I told you about-- nevermind, let's go," He turns back to Obi-Wan and gives him a one-finger salute. "May the Force be with you, Master."

Obi-Wan smiles. "And with both of you."

The pair takes off toward a gunship on the opposite side of the staging area where Captain Rex is waiting as patiently as a trooper dealing with those two can be. Obi-Wan can't help a small smile as he watches the Master and Apprentice pair talk with animated motions the entire way over. Ahsoka is simultaneously a good lesson in responsibility for Anakin, and so much like him, they might as well be quarreling siblings. In a certain way, he feels like they are both his padawans-- kids thrust into war too young. He feels responsible for them no matter how many times Anakin is insistent that he is not "a padawan anymore" and he can "take care of himself".

Right. I'd like to see him trying to make that claim while he curls up in my bunk after a rough mission or having a bad dream.

(Truth be told, Obi-Wan doesn't mind when Anakin shows up at his door in the wee hours of the night, his eyes bloodshot and watery from another horrifying premonition within his dreams. It's a feeling Obi-Wan knows far too well. He is pleased his quarters are a place where the young knight can feel safe.)

"Ready, sir?" Cody says. Obi-Wan hadn't noticed he walked up next to him. He looks at the clone commander he's come to consider a good friend and puts on his best look of confidence.

"Of course, Cody. Gather the men."

_________

As Anakin and Ahsoka take off, leaving the staging area to get to their drop point, Anakin keeps his gaze fixed on his former master until they are too high for him to see him. He frowns, earning a mirrored look from his padawan standing across from him.

"What is it, Master?"

He can't really explain it. Something is nagging at him and he isn't sure why.

"I just have a weird feeling."

"To be honest," she says, placing a hand on her belly. "I think those rations this morning were expired...I've had a weird feeling all morning, too."

He squints. "Ahsoka, rations don't expire."

"Then why did it taste like cardboard?"

Rex, who is standing next to Ahsoka starts to laugh. "Did you have the taco salad one, sir?"

She looks up at him with wide eyes. "Yes!"

"That's just how that one tastes. We usually leave those for the stray cats."

Ahsoka looks disgusted, and Rex and the other nearby troopers look amused. But Anakin stares back out the open door of the gunship trying to puzzle through what could be feeling so strange in the Force.

________

Obi-Wan is quite literally knee-deep in battle droids. Some of them had the misguided programming to attempt to dogpile him, which resulted in about ten battle droids being sliced through their midsections with a quick spin of his saber. Coincidentally, a few tanks and another battalion of battle droids decided to show up at that moment, so the area around him quickly turned into a battle droid barricade.

Anakin would find this hilarious, Obi-Wan thinks, managing a smirk as another battle droid gets added to the pile. The battle is going well, allowing him some respite. The Separatists had a good position, but their strategy was weak. The 501st managed to push the forces that threatened Obi-Wan's pursuit the most into retreat, freeing up significant resources to aid the main front. Their casualty numbers have been minimal so far, and he can feel the confidence and energy of the men increasing as this daunting battle quickly turns in their favor.

And then, Obi-Wan feels a familiar prickle down his spine and the faint smell of mint. Surrounded by battle droids bleeding oil and shooting sparks, the fresh scent should be the last thing he should come across. His eyes widen as he frantically turns to find Cody.

Thus far in the war, Obi-Wan has gotten lucky.

Now, luck is not necessarily something he believes in-- everything is the will of the Force. However, since his visions are also the will of the Force, he figures the fact that a bad one has not struck him in the midst of a battle is something he can consider lucky. At least, luck attributed to the Force being not in the mood to see him incapacitated while getting shot at.

Of course, the reason Obi-Wan doesn't like luck is that it runs out.

And of course, it happened to run out today.

As he turns to find a place to retreat to ride out this vision, a blast manages to slip through his cleverly constructed wall of droids, ricocheting off the durasteel and slamming into the back of his shoulder. He yelps in surprise, crumbling to the dusty ground. As his vision starts to blur he manages to press a code on his commlink and bring it to his face.

"Code Ginger," he rasps. His body goes limp as he hears the faint yelling of troopers running toward him.

"The general is down! Repeat, the gen..."

An explosion ricochets off the side of the mountain, sending Obi-Wan flailing into the open air. An animalistic, shrill shriek echoes off the rocks around him, and it takes a moment for him to realize it is not his own scream but that of a varactyl falling a few meters below him.

Falling. I'm falling! He realizes as the world around him rushes past. Through the wind whistling, he can hear his men yelling.

"The general is down!"

But...

If he isn't mistaken their tone is not one of fear or anxiety, but of celebration.

The general is down.

He's plummeting toward a body of water at an alarming rate. Many times, Obi-Wan has fallen from great heights, so his reaction is automatic. He stretches his arms and legs out, attempting to create as much drag as possible as he tumbles through the air.

But pull in before hitting the water.

Obi-Wan draws the Force around him, cradling his body to slow his descent. He's going too fast to stop himself, but it's enough he could survive this fall.

Probably.

Closer and closer the water comes.

How long have I been falling?

Luckily and unluckily the varactyl hits the water first. The animal, unfortunately, unaided by the cushion of the Force dies with a high-pitched gasp upon impact. He has just a second to feel the sudden blip of Force presence cut out before he pulls his body into a straight line, takes a deep breath, and plummets head-first into the water.

From the surface being broken by his fallen companion and his manipulation of the Force, Obi-Wan opens his eyes to find himself still alive. He is deep in the water, the pressure aching against his head and lungs. Even with his rebreather, which he quickly shoves into his mouth, it will be a slow-going way up to equalize the pressure. Obi-Wan watches sorrowfully as the lifeless green blur of the varactyl sinks into the bottomless abyss below him. Had he fallen below the animal he would most certainly be dead.

I almost died... and how? Cody and the others had the platform secure. The blast had to have come...

Screaming. Bellows of agony echo through his mind in a sudden crescendo of fear. Screams he shouldn't be able to hear so deep underwater if they were coming from the surface, so they must be--

Death. So much of it. It wraps its dark fists around Obi-Wan's throat, and even with the rebreather allowing oxygen into his lungs, he sees dots before his vision. The Force is imploding, writhing as he can physically feel inky darkness staining the delicate tendrils of light.

He kicks as hard as he can, trying to find his way to the surface but everything in him is saying Stop!

Stop.

Rest. Finally, rest.

Panic spreads through him. His head is whirling as pain shoots through it. A shooting pain he hasn't felt since Qui-Gon was killed and their bond was forcibly--

Help us!

Young voices cry in agony, and he feels something irreparable within him shatter as the galaxy cries out with a haunting mourning song. Help us! Save us! He's coming! He's going to kill--

And then silence. Silence so jarring he stops swimming in hopes he will hear anything.

A faraway voice. A woman speaking in hushed tones. "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." And then she too is silenced.

He feels like he might puke. Or faint. Or just fade into the Force right there.

But the Force wraps around him like a blanket, warming his shivering body and urging him upward. Onward.

You're their only hope.

And so he swims.

Obi-Wan awakes gasping, staring at the burlap roof of the med tent at base camp. He's not underwater. Not falling. The screams turn to the familiar yelling of his troopers, and the occasional echo of blaster fire.

He breaths heavily, letting reality melt back to him... but as it does, involuntary tears well up in his eyes.

__________

Cody was the first to see the general drop. Tucked up near the very front lines, the Jedi curated an impressive pile of clankers and was, per usual, keeping the large bunk of the battle droids occupied. The Commander was already watching him when he saw the Jedi suddenly stiffen and stagger back. Cody has been in enough battles with Kenobi to recognize it's time to send in backup.

"Waxer! Gearshift! With me!" he commands, and the two men fall into formation behind him.

Cody watches in horror as a stray blaster shot smashes into the already-weary general, and he loses sight of General Kenobi beneath his pile of battle droids.

Code Ginger.

The commlink message rings out and Cody curses. He calls in for more cover fire, shifting some of the troops a further distance from General Kenobi to draw the Seppies away.

The three troopers arrive at the fallen general, immediately struck by the wake of carnage Kenobi has left around him. The Jedi are efficient in battle, but it's rare their casualties are so... concentrated. Gearshift nearly trips over the head of a battle droid.

"He's hit," Waxer says, examining the blaster wound. "Superficial."

Cody is suddenly aware that the Jedi's eyes are still open, making his stillness look eerie like a dead man. He tears his glove off and presses his fingers to his pulse point, instant relief at a strong heartbeat beneath his fingers.

"We extract him now. Gearshift, hold this position."

"Taking over the clanker cage, sir," Gearshift says, eagerly planting his long-range rifle on its stand to get some ground-level snipe shots through the gaps of the droid pile.

Waxer jumps to the other side of the man, kicking the fallen clankers out of the way to make room. He squats down and picks up General Kenobi as though he weighs nothing, throwing him limply over his shoulder. Cody grips his blaster, taking a deep breath. He and Waxer nod to one another, and then the lieutenant presses to a stand from his crouch, Cody laying down cover fire as they run back toward the base camp. Other troopers, momentarily pausing to take in the sight of General Kenobi being carried unconscious, jump into action. They join in on the cover, alerting others of the 212th to fill in. Supported by his brothers, Cody turns to focus on his running.

The shift in the attitude of his troopers is palpable. A moment earlier they were immersed in the battle, fighting well and yelling their usual battlefield jokes over the sound of blaster fire. Now, the men fight with a different determination. Their Jedi is down and they have collectively decided their opponents will be swiftly defeated.

Cody feels a pang of pride for his brothers and their quick response, but also mutual worry for their general. He's come to grow attached to the annoyingly reckless Jedi, and though he knows this is mostly Jedi Force stuff going on, he can't help feel concerned seeing his lifeless body.

Cody catches up to Waxer who is breathing heavily with exertion but shows no sign of slowing.

"'t's like Geonosis all over again," he yells.

"Let's hope that's where the similarities end," Cody groans. The dusty terrain of this planet already reminds the commander enough of the Point Rain mission. He doesn't need or want a third Geonosis.

The two troopers burst into the med tent, startling Kix of the 501st. The medic's eyes widen when he sees the general slumped over Waxer's shoulder before narrowing with intensity. "Bed two. What happened?" the no-nonsense trooper asks, grabbing a handful of bacta patches.

Waxer deposits General Kenobi gently on the cot while Cody explains the blaster wound.

"It's a flesh wound, but the general is in the middle of a... Force vision.. thing. He might be unconscious for a while."

Kix looks from General Kenobi to Cody again. He can see the gears in the medic's head turning with this new information. "Damn Jedi Force shit,"  Cody hears him mutter. "Sir, will he need... treatment? For...  that when he wakes up?"

Haar'chak, I didn't think to ask that. General Kenobi gave him a very brief crash-course on Force visions. "Sorry, Kix, I just know it's a Code Ginger."

"Code Ginger?"

"It's the tea Obi-Wan drinks to relieve his post-vision headaches," a new voice rings out through the med tent. Cody, Kix, and Waxer turn to see Skywalker standing with his arms folded in the doorway. "with honey. I came up with it," he adds. General Skywalker thankfully looks untouched beside his robes being quite dusty. "501st is back with reinforcements. Ahsoka is with Rex getting them in position. Looks like the Separatists have already started calling for retreat, though."

Cody nods and looks at Kix. "Do you have any tea on hand?"

"No sir, I'm afraid not."

General Skywalker walks further into the tent, pulling a small pouch from his utility belt. "I have some." He hands it to Cody, and Kix goes to work examining the blaster wound on Kenobi's left shoulder. Without the wall of clones obstructing his view, Cody is vaguely aware that Skywalker has a full view of his master. He watches the young Jedi, thankful he has his bucket on to hide his observations. Skywalker sighs deeply, his fist clenching at his side before relaxing. He is used to seeing General Skywalker worried when his master is injured-- Kix has grown quite comfortable pulling rank when he needs to by this point. But now, he is reacting differently than usual. The Jedi Knight is calmer like he knew something had happened and wasn't at all surprised. Perhaps it's just that he understands this whole Force thing. From how stocked his utility belt is with in-case-of-emergency Obi-Wan Kenobi supplies, this must be a frequent occurrence the commander isn't aware of.

Even so, Skywalker has freaked out over lesser wounds than blaster burns.

Cody stands by him silently for a moment, waiting for further questions about what happened, how Kenobi was shot... but it never comes. Instead, Skywalker turns, looking at him with a hollow expression.

"Thank you, Commander. For pulling him out."

Cody can't imagine a world where he wouldn't run into an active battlefield for his general. The apology catches him off guard. What else would he have done? He nods anyway.

"Of course, General... How long do these usually last?"

"Depends."

For as much as Skywalker talks, he certainly doesn't say much, does he? Cody thinks and then squeezes his eyes shut. Great, I sound like General Kenobi.

"Depends on what, sir?"

"How bad the vision is."

Cody isn't sure if bad is referring to bad like graphic scenes or bad like vivid and lengthy, but he gets the feeling the Jedi knight isn't in the mood to elaborate either way. He excuses himself to go find Rex and end this battle once and for all.

_________

Obi-Wan's quarters feel small. He lays in bed, staring at the ceiling with no intention of falling asleep anytime soon.

He's vomited twice. It worried Kix, but he convinced him to let him sleep in his quarters anyway. That he would return if he vomited again, though there is nothing in Obi-Wan's stomach that could possibly force its way up now.

Somehow, he still feels like he's falling. Like he'll hit the water at any moment now. He tried to meditate on these potent feelings clouding his mind, but every time he closes his eyes he hears the cries of agony and the horrible feeling of death tear through him like a damn lightsaber.

Obi-Wan curls onto his side, pressing his shins against the wall of his bunk. He tells himself the usual list:

1. The future is constantly changing.

2. His vision is not guaranteed to come true.

3. None of it was real.

He tells himself this despite the fact his visions come true more often than not. He was a padawan when he experienced their horrific landing at Point Rain decades before it happened. He was a youngling when he saw himself fighting amongst the Young on Melida/Daan. Both times there were these moments when reality collided with the dreams he had spent months trying to get out of his head. It was a strange sensation. Like he'd been there before, and knew exactly what was coming. (His vision did give him the foresight to bite down on something as Trapper set his dislocated leg back in its socket when that moment came around again.)

And there were many others. Somehow his visions have the convenient quality of not providing him enough context to stop the horrible consequences. He doesn't realize he's in the future he foretold until it is his present.

This terrifies him.

He doesn't know who is in agony or why. Where even is he? How did he fall? Why is he their only hope? His anxiety is peaking and attempts to quell it are not working. Obi-Wan draws his shields in, feeling the unanswered questions swirl about his mind.

Then there's a knock. Before he can say anything or even move, his door is opening.

"Master?"

He lets out a deep breath that betrays him, quivering with emotion. And then Anakin is beside him, a hand on his bicep gently rolling him from his side so he can see his face.

"Master Obi-Wan!"

"Anakin," Obi-Wan says, acting as though he woke him up though it is obvious that is not the case, "what are you doing here? Did you have a bad dream?"

"I--" the young knight looks conflicted. Tired and conflicted. "No, I-I wanted to check on you."

Obi-Wan pushes himself to a sitting position. "Well the bacta did its job, so my shoulder is quite alright."

Anakin swallows hard, sitting down on the edge of the bunk. "That isn't what I mean, and you know it."

"My vision?"

He nods.

"Well, it wasn't anything too crazy. Actually, it was quite unevent--"

"Don't do that," Anakin huffs. "I know what you're doing."

"And what exactly am I doing, padawan?"

"Bullshitting me!"

"Anakin langua--"

"It's bullshit, Obi-Wan and you know it," he crosses his arms over his chest. Obi-Wan half-expects him to storm out, but instead, his face softens. He's getting better at controlling his anger at least. "I had a bad feeling about today. Before the battle. The Force was trying to tell me something," he looks up at Obi-Wan. "Warning me about you."

Obi-Wan leans forward, placing a hand over his former padawan's. Anakin only slightly leans into the touch, still maintaining his hardened expression.

"It was only a blaster shot. Cody and Waxer were on top of it, and as for the vision I managed to use the code to--"

"I also felt you on the battlefield," Anakin interrupts (again), and Obi-Wan feels everything around him freeze. He is always on top of his shielding for visions-- has been since he was a young child. Sure, he's been tired lately but that shouldn't be an excuse to project. Unless...

"The blaster injury... might have compromised the hold on my shields," Obi-Wan says quietly, looking down at his lap. "Did Ahsoka feel my projections too?"

"She was shielded. I made sure once I started to feel it." Obi-Wan feels Anakin's hands on either of his shoulders. He looks up to see him staring at him with blue eyes full of worry and concern. "But master, I... I felt what you were feeling. How you reacted to that vision, and..." he looks away a moment, taking a breath. "it nearly made me lose my lunch in the middle of battle, and I couldn't even see it... What happened?"

For the second time today, Obi-Wan feels tears welling up in his eyes. Partially at the guilt for putting his former padawan through such an ordeal, and partially because the voices are screaming again, and he is afraid that maybe this isn't reality as he thought. He reaches up and wraps his hand around Anakin's wrist, feeling his flesh against his own and a heartbeat beneath his fingertips. Real... Real, this is real. Anakin is here and he is real.

"Honestly," Obi-Wan whispers, "I don't know what happened. I just felt... everything around me... the entire galaxy become shroud in darkness and death." he looks into Anakin's eyes, trying to make sure he believes that he is telling the truth. "So many-so many dying. So many in pain... it was horrible."

And then he's being pulled against Anakin's chest, Obi-Wan's face against his shoulder, and the knight's arms wrapping tightly around him. Obi-Wan shakes, weeks of exhaustion, and a day of battle, injury, and diving far too deep into the Force catching up to him all at once. The last time he cried in front of his padawan must have been after Qui-Gon's death, and even on that day Anakin wrapped his nine-year-old arms around him and hugged him tightly. Over ten years have elapsed since that time, yet he half-expects to open his eyes and find himself back on Naboo.

Anakin holds him until his body stops quivering and his tears run dry. And when he pulls away he sees silent tears running down the knight's own face.

"I won't let it come true," Anakin says softly, shaking his head.

"You know we don't have control of these things. As much as we would like to."

"I'm the Chosen One, though," he says, swallowing hard. "I am supposed to bring balance. I won't let darkness win, Obi-Wan. I won't."

He's speechless, only able to nod along with the young man that is unraveling before him. This is exactly why he picks and chooses what visions to share. He doesn't want Anakin to carry the guilt.

The future is constantly changing.

My vision is not guaranteed to come true.

None of it was real.

Anakin falls asleep curled in a ball at the end of Obi-Wan's bunk. He grabs his cloak and spreads it over him before slipping under his covers. With his legs pulled up to his chest, they both fit in the bunk. He doesn't mind the position.

The future is constantly changing.

My vision is not guaranteed to come true.

None of it was real.

He finally drifts to a dreamless sleep.

By morning, Anakin is gone from his quarters. He wonders if it was actually all a dream, but from his cloak unceremoniously bundled on the floor, he knows it all happened. Obi-Wan gets dressed and tidies his hair. As he finishes, he stops in front of his refresher mirror, gripping the edges of the sink as his reflection stares back at him.

Visions have been a part of Obi-Wan's life for thirty years. He's had bad ones before-- arguably worse in content. He can handle this one and move forward. He always does. He must. There are people relying on him. Battles to plan and execute. The war rages on no matter if he is having a nervous breakdown over a nightmare, so he might as well muster on.

Are you General Kenobi or Master Kenobi?

Somehow he sees neither. He looks in the mirror and sees only Obi-Wan Kenobi. Tired, weary, shaken by the events of the previous day.

That won't do.  

General Kenobi would throw himself into the next campaign. Distract himself until the screams fade to the back of his mind.

So he leaves his quarters, heading for the mess to grab a cup of caffeinated tea and some breakfast. He greets his men, assuring them that he is alright and they did a fantastic job in the battle. He sits next to Ahsoka and tries to ignore the pity smile Anakin is giving him.

"So," Obi-Wan turns to the young Togruta, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smirk. "What was the final tally on battle droids?"

Her eyes widen and flicker to her master before a wide grin crosses her face. "Sixty-eight."

"What!" Anakin bellows. "You did not get more than me again."

"You dipped early, Skyguy, not my fault."

"I was at the med tent, all the one's after don't--

"I suppose--" Obi-Wan interrupts, shaking his head at the two, "when I see Master Mundi I will have to inform him his record has been broken."

The table erupts in cries of protest from Anakin claiming a recount and Ahsoka rubbing in her victory. These two have much to learn. But as the knight and his padawan quarrel, Rex and Waxer slide down from the other end of the table, both of them holding back smiles.

"Seventy-four," Rex says, making Anakin and Ahoksa's heads turn in shock.

"Rex what! You got seventy-four battle droids?" Ahsoka says in awe.

"No, sirs," Waxer nods his head in Obi-Wan's direction. "Master Kenobi did."

That is enough to set off the other two Jedi over logistics of whether or not Obi-Wan should even be considered as part of the competition when he was the one making fun of them for it in the first place, and the troopers into fits of amusement. Obi-Wan lets them have their fun, sipping on his tea and letting the warmth of the drink and the moment spread through him.

The voices of his vision are still there. A constant reminder that no amount of his padawans' yelling at one another will allow him to forget the cold that spread through his every cell. In this instance, maybe the General Kenobi approach isn't enough.

Master Kenobi would meditate over these lingering feelings. Perhaps after breakfast, he will feed on this positive energy and take the morning to release his anxieties to the Force.

Maybe, being a little bit of both will help.

He just won't be Obi-Wan. Not right now, at least.