#like. the two second snippet you get to see of him in season one makes him more gold and pink than season two

[skeletallii]

honestly i’m still so incredibly pissed off that they made Sunfyre larger than Syrax in hotd.

like, you’re telling me Syrax, who’s thirty-three years old or possibly older (around the same age as Rhaenyra, her cradle-mate) and was large enough to ride when Rhaenyra was seven, is somehow smaller than Sunfyre, who’s twenty-five at the most and grew up in the dragon pit while Syrax has been on Dragonstone with Rhaenyra since she was sixteen??

i don’t want to hear about sexual dimorphism since it’s directly stated in the book that they couldn’t even tell if dragons had genders or not, and they only classified the dragons who had laid eggs as female.

[firewasabeast]

Seeing the Maddie gif just reminded of all the wasted potential and storylines they could have had with Tommy and the bucktommy relationship. Because let's face it, for all of the mains it's the same storyline over and over again - we're not learning anything new about them. But then here we have a character who we sort of already know, who they've teased us with a bit of his history and it was like finally! A chance for something new! We could have learned more about his family, maybe see how Buck reacts meeting his father and then having to deal with his homophobic reaction to him, the man he loves and their relationship. He clearly sounded like he didn't have a lot of close friends/family/support outside of Buck - we could have explored that, have Buck be there for his man and show him how, you have me and the 118. We never got to see the whole "dating a fellow first responder and the challenges that come with that" - we've seen Buck in the hospital so many times, it would have been interesting to see Tommy in that hospital bed and Buck having to deal with the one being by the bedside for once, worrying about someone he loves, maybe making him fully appreciate everything his family had gone through in the past when HE was the one injured (like all the effort Maddie went into to look after him). We could have had Tommy and Eddie bonding over war stories - was Tommy discharged due to DADT? If so, we could have had conversations with Karen, who also was affected by that. Hell, if they were gonna do the stupid "he was engaged to Abby for two years" story, have Chim and Hen be like, dude, you were working with us all that time, how did we not KNOW (that story still makes no sense - he never mentioned her name to them? Because if he did, surely it would have clicked when they met her in S1 "oh, you're Tommy's Abby". But Tim acknowledged he retconned their relationship from an ex-boyfriend to ex-fiances so he clearly doesn't care.)

But most of all, despite being together for SIX MONTHS, we never saw Tommy and Maddie interact. Maddie was clearly excited for Buck ("tell me about the hot pilot"), she's married to Tommy's old friend, there was the perfect opportunity to see them start to bond over family dinner or something. We've never seen Maddie really click with any of Buck's LI's before, so it would have been nice to see Buck's whole world start to come together. And it could have led to family orientated stories for Buck for once - we always assume he wants kids because he says he loves kids and we see that with Chris, Jee etc. There could have been discussions for the first time about Buck's future - does he see himself getting married, having kids (and ugh, so annoyed that the first time Buck mentions the possibility of getting married is 30 seconds before his heart is crushed).

And that's not even going into the small things I wanted to see on-screen. I knew we were never gonna get anything too intimate - 911 is a bit prudish, they don't really do sex scenes, especially not since the first season, and hell, all their other main couples barely kiss as it is. But things like holding hands as they're walking down the street, talking about their day while making dinner together, waking up in bed together - small little domestic things that show how their relationship is developing. SHOW it developing. (Because while the snippets they showed of their relationship showed that they were growing more comfortable as a couple, a lot of that development happened off screen.)

This was the first time in a long time, maybe ever, that we saw Buck truly happy (that man was GLOWING, even covered in boils). For the first time, we could have seen his story GROW, instead of doing the same lather, rinse, repeat that has happened in all his relationships (Buck falls for someone, goes too hard too fast, they abandon him, he doesn't bother fighting for the relationship). We could have finally had a sprinkling of new storylines (Tommy wasn't a main, we obviously weren't going to get a hell of a lot, but if Karen can have her own stories/backstories, so could he). All that down the drain for what, Buck 1.0 again? Him jumping back on that hamster wheel of "find new love interest, it goes nowhere, he's single again". It's boring, and this show is on its 8th season - not only has this been played out for too long, who knows how much longer the show is gonna last. If it only goes until say season 10, that would have been two and a half seasons worth of seeing Buck be able to grow, get the love he always wanted (hell, maybe even get engaged, finish the series with a wedding implying he gets his happily ever after). Buck is only one member of an ensemble cast - they can't focus on him every episode, so two years is plenty of time to draw out only a handful of fresh stories. After 8 season, keeping him perpetually single for this long only works if he's always been played as like Joey off Friends - someone who is happy playing the dating game, not looking to go anywhere. Except Buck has been shown to be looking for love all this time - he doesn't want that single life (he doesnt want to "explore" Tim - screwing random men and women isnt going to help him find that love he's always wanted, especially when he already had it). But instead, they take it away from him AGAIN, and now they're back to square one. Sigh.

There’s so much i agree with here! They’ve tried to cram soooo many storylines into each episode that there’s no room to breathe. Everything feels stunted and half-assed. Tim said they didn’t want to ignore everything that happened at the end of 7, wanted to pick it back up, but they spent these first few episodes either destroying the storylines they built on, or ending them so abruptly it doesn’t feel satisfying. Nothing feels connected anymore. In early seasons you’d have them all working together on certain major storylines, but I’d doesn’t really feel like that happens now outside of calls. And the calls are so quick (besides the damn plane) that you don’t really connect with that either.

It would have been nice to see tommy and buck develop more, nice to see him involved with the group instead of just Eddie, nice to see them keep their word and try to make this love interest different from the rest. They did none of that.

[diegosumbrella]

My observations from s4 of Umbrella Academy

I dont even wanna talk about the main plot of whatever the fuck that car crash of a season four was, but heres some plot discrepancies I noticed while watching Umbrella Academy.

!! Season four spoilers under the 'see more' !!

- Luther's unnecessary body change

It's stated so clearly in s1 that Luther never gained his body from the marigold or developed it along with his powers. When he was up on that mission on the moon, he had an accident and Pogo had to donate his blood which resulted in Luther having that monkey body we all know and love.

So as Luther drank that said marigold, why would he suddenly gain back the blood donated from pogo and the body that comes along with that..? It's as if the writers themselves forgot why he had that body. Why write in unnecessary body dysphoria for my poor baby?

- Diego's sudden appearance of ab's

Listen. I am the last fucking person to complain about a Diego Hargreeves shirtless scene, where you see his pecs quite literally bounce BUT why did he change so drastically from 'dad bod' to suddenly 'ripped'?

I read an article interview with Steve Blackman and saw a few snippets from a podcast that explained that David (Diego's actor) didn't want to gain weight for the role, which is totally understandable. But if you have an actor who doesn't want to gain weight for this role, why not just keep Diego as fit?

Due to the short six episodes, it's extremely easy to miss how Diego slowly becomes more fit as time progressed. For most, and also myself at first, that fighting scene just looked confusing as fuck. Like two episodes before, Lila was calling you 'tubby' (or whatever the fuck she said), so why do you have abs now?? Where did the dilf diego dad bod disappear to :(

- Allison's beloved Ray just leaving her

I'm not sure if i'm taking this the wrong way completely but... In the scene after Allison had given Klaus the marigold against his wishes, but also to save his life. As Klaus is calling out every member of the family, he mentions how he 'took care of Allison when Ray walked out'.

Like i'm sorry but the fuck do you mean Ray just walked out?? Why did he leave Allison if she had no powers. She'd clearly built a better life for herself and began to change her mindset for the better, compared to s3 she's drastically better.

It's never explained (probably again for the lack of episodes) and it's never even mentioned again. Like does Allison share custody of Claire with Ray? Does Claire even see her father? I have so many questions and once again, a severe lack of answers.

- Klaus breaking his five year sobriety

As much as us as an audience are aware of Klaus' addictive tendencies and his utter thirst for form of drug in the former seasons, but why establish that he's not only been sober for three entire years but he's also now a huge germaphobe just for him to ruin it in five seconds.

The main problem I had with this is the fact none of the siblings, including and most importantly Allison, had zero reaction to this. They weren't upset, angry, disappointed or fuck it even happy. They practically ignored the fact their brothers three year detox went out the window.

Five's ability to time jump

Before I get you all jumping up my arse, i'm fully aware I could discuss how they completely just fucked his character development and his entire personality as a whole for a shitty romance that made absolutely no sense but I'm gonna make a separate post on that because oh boy do I have some shite to say.

ANYWAY.

I can't even go into much detail with this one but why is it that every time five attempts to do his time jumps, he ends up in that subway but when he does it with Lila in that end episode.. he can suddenly just jump..?? normally?? Like why. Why can he now only just time jump as he used too. WHY WAS THE SUBWAY NEEDED FOR OTHER THAN FOR THAT AWFUL FIVE X LILA PLOT????

It's as if the writers couldn't come up with a way to get the brellies into that building with Ben so instead of using critical thinking and writing them breaking in, they just said 'fuck it make him time jump with Lila'. Like no I have questions??

[rebeltigera]

Haiii!! I got question:

Do you have any head-canons for mk? Mac? Wuk?

And what is your personal opinion on season 5?

I am responding second time because the first one didn't send :'D

Pls end me.

I don't remember the headcanons I've mustered out the first time damnit -

*sigh*

Those are general ones , I use the design of the character most of the time to show headcanons

For MK

-He's wasted after one beer.

-his tail subconsciously curl against legs of his friends or person he trust

-he chirp subconsciously

-he don't like bitter things like dark chocolate

For Wukong

- he got thick , strong curly fur . When fluffed up texture it reminds of the dust brush

- his body temperature is much higher due to the furnace punishment

-gets headaches due to the circlet (phantom pain)

-he speak and read fluently ancient Chinese , however he got problems with modern language

-he usually sleeps with lil monkeys around

-he can't get drunk.

-monkeys take care of his fur

For Mac

- his ears are too delicate for piercings. They would hurt.

- thin , straight/wavy fur like smoke . He can't stand cold

- he can always hear past and present but future is randomly whispering to him

- he got lower body temperature (due to the shadow nature)

- when drunk he looks like a beast but he's a snuggly wuggly teddy bear

-he takes care of his fur regularly himself

For Mei (because it's lacking in other categories and I don't remember more :'D)

- When she fights she tunes into imaginary music in the background. Like Gwen from spiderverse 2

About S5

*sigh* Vent warning. not directed at anyone in particular

I am unable to put up presentable opinion on this season

Also warning to everyone that will read it

If you are here to defend/ you are touchy on subject of S5 please avert your eyes.

The season was mid at best. , script was rushed, the core of it was S3 with meek antagonist, the most evil character there was a bug demon with many eyes, and SACRIFICE was basically word for this season.

Other things I remember from it is a burnt dumpling and Nezha's mech. Oh and Wukong being useless, Mac carrying season on his back , MK being even more stupid than usual. A random guy with a pagoda and a Twink snake. Nothing else .

Let's put my opinion about the animation now :D

Flying Bark got sacrificed just like MK in this season lol

The animation was a pure nightmare, it's like Seven deadly sins Incident

And if you guys think it will get much better from that in one year (let's say for example they will produce another season next year) you live high on copium and delulu.

Our juicy yummy frame by frame animation was taken away and they gave us RAGDOLL animation.

What does it mean? -AND HERE TUMBLR DECIDED TO CRASH ON ME AND IM WRITING IT 3rd TIME :D- you know how hieroglyphs are animated? Ye, that's basically it with extra steps! HOW FUN. NOW WE HAVE PUPPETS 2D. A FREAKING GACHA FROM YT IF YOU MUST. THOSE IN SOME CASES ARE EVEN BETTER ANIMATED THAN OUR SHOW ITSELF BTW. This has it's perks! I guess. It's cheaper and easier to make episodes! :D the cons are we will no longer see good battles in the show. yay "But we saw Wukong vs MK! And snippet of Wukong vs Mac fight!" please, spare me. If you are telling me those were good fights , that is half assed animation they have no idea how works and two dots clashing with eachother you should go rewatch other seasons. the fucking disgrace and audacity.

But no matter. That i can live off, that i can gulp down.

YOU KNOW WHAT I CAN'T? THE SHEER AMOUNT OF MISTAKES ON BASIC LVL IN ART. I am sitting here looking at those colors, those lines this fucking scenography and ask- what a fucking newbie did this .

YOU CAN'T EVEN GET COLOR RIGHT

AND BEFORE ANY OF U F NERDS WILL COME TO ME AND SAY "UUU ACTUALLY ITS LIGHTING FAULT-" NO ITS FUCKING NOT.

THEY CAN'T EVEN USE SAME COLORS AS IN THE PRIOR SHOT , THEY CANT EVEN SAMPLE IT PROPERLY . BETWEEN THOSE SHOTS NOTHING CHANGE THEREFORE THE LIGHTING IS THE FUCKING SAME

IF YOU DON'T DRAW , AND HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT , JUST -

we have a shiny wukong here

What is this scene , please someone can explain to me the scenography of this

Why this perspective is wrong, the shading, the lack of lighting

Here characters don't even stand properly

WHAT IS WITH THIS AWKWARD SCENOGRAPHY ?

WHY THEY ALL LOOK OUT OF PLACE. AND IM NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT THIS SHADING BECAUSE ITS SHIT.

HAVE THEY MISSED LIKE ALL BASIC LESSONS IN ART SCHOOLS? OR SOMETHING? LIKE THIS IS A JOKE. NO WONDER PEOPLE THOUGHT TRAILER WAS FAN MADE.

Now this- this is just hillarious.

Just add to it some dramatic intense sound effect and we have another nightmare.

The voice acting was great tho

[niterose]

thank you so much for tagging me in the wip challenge!! 💞 i wish i could participate but unfortunately my wips aren't even wips, they're iip (ideas in progress) 😭😭 i have 7 pages of ideas and havent written a word for any... executive dysfunction is kicking my ass.

but i was reading through your wips and it was so difficult to choose one because they all look so interesting! but i was intrigued by "patience is a virtue" and "dark side of the moon" 🫶

u can choose whichever you want to share a snippet (or maybe both if you'd like!) 💖💖

Aw, that's okay!! Sometimes the ideas need to percolate a bit more before they make it onto the page! I look forward to hearing about them when you get to the point where you're ready to share 😊 And honestly, even some of the ones I shared are hardly more than semi-coherent thoughts😅

reingkings got to Dark Side of the Moon before you, but luckily that just means you get to see the answer for that one as well!

Now, for Patience is a Virtue- eh it's another crack fic idea!

This one really tests both In-ho and Gi-hun's sanity. Basically, it's my version of a Gi-hun knows In-ho's identity before entering the games fic. Except it's just them being really shady and passive aggressive at each other to the bafflement of all the other characters. They can't decide if these two guys hate each or just need to "work out some frustration" if you know what I mean.

This idea really came from my utter annoyance at all of In-ho's little manipulative side comments he makes in season 2, and I wanted to give Gi-hun the opportunity to make him suffer just as much.

Luckily this is one that has some written, so I can do a snippet! This might look a little familiar because I share like two lines of it a while ago but now it's revamped ✨

916 days. Gi-hun has spent 916 days dedicating every waking moment to bringing down the games, and it’s all about to go up in flames because of Hwang. Fucking. In-ho. “Some people chose umbrella?” Player 001 scoffs, his eyes lit with amusement. Gi-hun’s eye twitches. Jun-ho’s brother is single-handedly the most insufferable person that Gi-hun has ever had the misfortune of meeting. “916 days,” he mumbles to himself like a mantra. “Those unlucky bastards must have bitten the dust.” Gi-hun’s hands fist in the polyester of his track pants. He is going to kill Hwang In-ho before they even make it to the second game. No, he can be patient. Even in his own mind, the words are starting to sound a little desperate. Fine. Gi-hun looks up and stares him dead in the eye. “I picked umbrella.” In-ho’s eyes widen at Gi-hun’s admission, but the man recovers quickly. His gaze fills with concern, which Gi-hun admits would look sincere if he didn’t know any better. “Oh, you must have been so terrified.” The fake sympathy is grating, but then his expression turns thoughtful. And Gi-hun knows without a doubt that he’s not going to like the next words out of his mouth. “There’s no guarantee the shapes will be the same, but if the game is dalgona, then you must have some special techniques you can share.” He pauses and his lips quirk up ever so slightly. “Especially if you survived something as difficult as umbrella.” “Oh that’s true, how did you manage that?” Gi-hun jumps at Jung-bae’s voice. He’s a little embarrassed to admit that he’d completely forgotten there were other people present. “Uh,” he mumbles out the answer, heat rising to his cheeks. “I’m sorry, 456. I didn’t quite catch that.” Gi-hun sends the man a withering glare. “I licked it.” The Frontman has no excuse to look so delighted by Gi-hun’s answer. “Yah, that’s embarrassing.” He chuckles, the laughter is echoed in the players standing around him, but Gi-hun only smiles. “Not as embarrassing as being one of the sickos who got off on watching me.”

*916 is an relatively arbitrary number because the SQ timeline is confusing don't look at it too closely 👀

[mattrempeswife]

fia’s work in progress.

named ‘work in progress’ but let’s be real… it’s actually just a collection of a few requests i said yes to because sometimes inspiration hits after someone drops a spicy idea in my inbox so shoutout to you guys for that!

also, even if some of you sent your request without anon, don’t worry i won’t include your username here! i totally get that it might make you uncomfortable, so your privacy’s safe with me.

last update: april 23, 2025

matt rempe

↳ REQ 1: Hope I’m not to late to the request but I’ve had this in mind for a bit. Where maybe Matt Rempe and reader are were teen parents. But Matt was just starting his career so he wasn’t as involved with their kid and broke up with reader. Fast forward a couple of years. They’re now co-parents who have found the groove so they now have a good relationship co-parenting. Out of nowhere Matt is like “okay I’m ready” totally confusing reader. He basically says he’s ready to be an actual family. Of course the reader is upset. You can take it from there. I would love a happy ending but with lost of angst but it’s totally up to you!

quinn hughes

↳ REQ 1: Reader and Quinn have an older boy maybe 6 or 7 and a daughter who's like 3 or 4 and they're all mic'd up for the playoffs last season when they Canucks made it and then Quinn makes a little penalty box for the kids (my fav req)

↳ REQ 2: How about Quinn finding out he’s going to be a dad and some snippets from the pregnancy (like the first scan, finding out the gender, telling his family, etc.) (☑️)

jack hughes

↳ REQ 1: Request a TikTok type one where reader with Jack or Luke as the bf does the TikTok trend passing the phone (I know Luke has actually done this trend before and I can send you the video of it for reference)

luke hughes

↳ REQ 1: Maybe launching his gf of years at the family skate for the stadium series but she's extremely private? (☑️)

↳ REQ 2: kinda an idea of the hard launch of luke and his gf.. now they are public she can wear his way jacket for playoff… luke is one happy boy. (☑️)

↳ REQ 3: Reader sits with his parents whenever they come to his games and reader where's one of his flannels and a small number 43 necklace & REQ 4: Luke and reader leaving one of the games together and fans go crazy when seeing her and all the teen boys ask for a photo with reader in it. (☑️)

↳ REQ 4: whispering gentle reassurances to lukey after he has a bad day while you think he’s sleeping but he’s awake and all he can think of is how incredibly lucky he is, you don’t even realise he’s awake till a tear slips out the corner of his eye. (☑️)

↳ REQ 5: Okay so Luke Hughes request... just a super fluffy friends to lovers where Luke's completely obvious to his feelings and him and reader are like doing a movie night at his and Jacks apartment while Jacks out and they get to talking about kissing styles or something and blah blah blah somehow they get on the topic of kissing each other and reader asks if he's ever thought about kissing her and he's like "oh yeah, like all the time." And she just stares at him. And he's like "what? Do people not think about kissing their best friends?" And she kinda smiles and she's like "no... but I guess we've been doing 'best friends' wrong.." and then they kiss and it gets a bit deeper... and then Jack walks in.

↳ REQ 6: I would love myself an angsty fic of the reader being asked out, but only because Luke’s friends dared him to. The reader has really low self esteem and when she finds out he has to GROVEL to get her back. There’s tears, there’s pain, but there’s also a happy ending because the world is already hard enough.

fraser minten

↳ none

macklin celebrini

↳ REQ 1: macklin is the softest boy ever like he’s so so clingy you could be talking to someone for like two seconds and he’s hugging you waiting for your attention to be back on him

↳ REQ 2: Yes my bby Macklin ❤️ how about him teaching you to skate or bringing you to family skate and being so cute and gentle with you 🥹

↳ REQ 3: okay but I can picture macklin having such bad baby fever but he and his gf are too young even though he tried to convince her (puppy dog eyes are his secret weapon). flash forward to when they actually have a baby and he is just beside himself with joy (maybe sheds a tear)

↳ REQ 4: childhood bestfriend to lovers

will smith

↳ REQ 1: Hi! I loved the Macklin fic you posted... like I was full on giggling to his adorable jealousy, so I wondered if you'd write something similar for WS#2. But like instead, it's Will stealing the reader away from dream!Macklin because he's like our childhood friend and the first time reader met Will, he thought Reader and Macklin were dating, before they told him they were not

wyatt johnston

↳ REQ 1: Tyler Sequin sister and Wyatt have been dating since Wyatt joined the Stars

frank nazar

↳ REQ 1: omg frank nazar is on your list! i never see him anywhere! anyway, could you do frank nazar bringing his new baby to family skate and skating with them for the first time?

[zombee]

I feel like the luckiest Our Flag Means Death fan in the world after the season 2 finale. By a series of incredible circumstances - including a significant metatextual realization that came in at the 11th hour - it was close to perfect for me.

This essay has everything. Completely normal behavior over a television series. Steven Universe references. The David Jenkins School of Whatever is Best for the Bit. Humbling catharsis.

First: this piece does not exist with the central thesis of “it’s okay to not like something but that’s not the same thing as it being bad.” I feel like thousands of words have already been written on this since Thursday, so I’m going to try to not get too in depth on that.

Second, cards on the table, because it’s relevant and I don’t want to waste your time if this is going to sour your ability to hear me out: I’m an Izzy Canyon hater. For MANY reasons, but from way before the concept of the Canyon existed, (some) Izzy fans pinged me in the same way as Snape/Kylo Ren fans did, and before May 2022 was over I went from genuinely enjoying Izzy’s character and place in the narrative to hating him because his fans made it impossible for me to enjoy him anymore.

(SOME! of his fans. Please don’t keep making me say this, although I’m not going to talk about the Canyon directly anymore after this. I know there are a ton of normal Izzy Enjoyers and even Canyonites, I am literally friends with many of them, please take this all in the good faith it’s intended and if you’re not One Of The Bad Ones then you’re fine! I very carefully don’t go anti-Izzy on main, and when I stopped enjoying his character, I stopped writing him into fics. I’m not trying to be a dick, I just want to be honest. Anyway.)

The season 2 finale made me weep over Izzy Goddamn hands.

ALL season long, I was disgruntled. All season long. I really, truly, DEEPLY appreciated what they were doing with his character and arc, I thought it was wildly on brand for the themes of community/queerness in the show, I saw the vision, I liked it!!! But. I wanted a fucking apology, yall. I needed three seconds of “sorry I called you a slur, Ed :/” and that would have been enough. But I had to let it go. It was poisoning my enjoyment of the whole season, which I loved with very little exception (not none!) and I just had to let it go. I wasn’t getting an apology. That didn’t negate what they were doing with his character.

Yall. They withheld the apology on purpose.

THIS FUCKING SHOW!!!

Let’s go back a bit. I was at the episode 6 + 7 screening, and the breakup shook me. Probably a LOT more than if I had watched it alone in bed at 3am on my laptop - five days of no sleep after NYCC, lots of emotions, seeing it on a big screen with a hundred other intense fans, etc etc - but I did see other folks reacting in parallel ways to me when the episodes aired to the regular public, so maybe I would have felt the same way. Regardless, I was mad at Stede and to a lesser extent Ed. I NEEDED AN APOLOGY FOR THAT FISH LINE. I needed it! “Whativah” autocorrects to “WHATIVAH” in my phone. I was going through it.

(When I rewatched the episode when it aired it was not nearly as bad as I remember, lol)

So now the episode 8 screeners go out and the reviews drop and I think I catch one half-glimpse of a “What a heartbreaking ending!” kind of snippet, and some of my friends who are spoiler fiends unintentionally drop little hints about similar ideas (devastating/heartbreaking/split the fandom) type shit.

And I was a fucking WRECK! about it.

I do love this whole show with my whole chest. I do!!! But I’m not rotted because this is an excellent television show, I’m rotted because two old men kiss each other! On the MOUTH!!! in an excellent television show. You get it, right? I’ve written 700,000 words across almost 100 fics and 98% of them are dedicated to those two men falling in love in different universes. 

So it just did not even occur to me the “heartbreak/devastation/fandom split” would be about anything but Gentlebeard.

Another piece of this that was fucking me up - David Jenkins and his “satisfactory” ending biz. My brain was reacting like this show was ENDING ending, even if I knew logically! that this is just season 2!!! And I wasn’t ready for that, because what if it wasn’t personally satisfying, and I’m a mess about it? Why was I so worried about not liking it? I’d liked the whole season! Even if they didn’t nail the landing I wasn’t going to stop writing fic or hanging out with my pirate community & friends. 

…is what I kept trying to tell myself, but the way anxiety disorders work is funny like that lol. What if I did stop writing fic and hanging out in pirate spaces? That would hurt much more than a show I like disappointing me. And for anyone who’s having that experience with ofmd s2, I’m so very, very sorry. It sucks and that’s where my epiphany came from on Wednesday before the finale.

Because it has happened to me before.

I flit from hyperfocus to hyperfocus, as ya do when you’re spicy, but the last thing to get its hooks in me PROPERLY like pirates was Steven Universe. And I did NOT like the way the regular season ended!!! (I actually really did like most of Future; that’s not what I mean. I mean season 5). I don’t like how they handled the Diamonds, tldr; I think the scope of their villainy got too out of hand, and I was left grieving the thing that had meant enough to me I ran a fan convention for four years based around it. 

Side note: imagine if I had channeled the hyperfocus of almost a million words of fanfiction into an American OFMD con instead. We could have made magic :( I did consult with Our Con Means Death though so I am at least a teeny tiny bit of that one!

I did not like the way Steven ended… but I do respect the story they were telling and think they told it well.

I’m still sad about it. Steven is still one of my most beloved, it will always be beautiful and great to me, but that experience did and does sully my memories. There is so, so, so, SO much more good than bad from being in that fandom, and I cherish it. And I hope, if you’re having this experience with OFMD right now, that you’ll find similar comfort.

But, like I said at the top, “it’s okay to not like something but that’s not the same thing as it being bad” has been belabored already by people better at writing about it than me. I just had the incredible privilege to remember my brush with lower case T trauma and having that experience in my last REALLY big deal fandom. That’s why I had been so extra anxious about being disappointed. Because it happened to me before. It helped so much to connect those two.

So the finale happens, and it’s actually about twelve hours of me going from “eh, rushed but fun, whole season was great” to “THIS MAYBE IS THE BEST SHOW OF ALL TIME, ACTUALLY!”

BECAUSE THIS SHOW MADE ME CRY OVER IZZY FUCKING HANDS!!!!

They literally told me this was the story they were telling this season. “Men can change” “The end  of piracy” “Ed leaving Blackbeard behind (ish).”

As for me? I didn’t get an apology for the fish. Instead, I got “Sorry I was a dick.” “You weren’t a dick. Life’s a dick.”

Just… fuckity BAM. THREE FUCKING SENTENCES resolving that fight. Saying so much in so little.

In real life, should these two men have an actual conversation about this shit? Sure!!! But that’s not how OFMD tells its stories!

It works in symbolism. It works in vibes. It works in an hour’s worth of content into each half-hour episode, and for how much lamenting I have done about the pacing, I would prefer that 100x to having to stretch it out too much.

I have said since March 24, 2022 that OFMD wields anachronism as a weapon. First and foremost, it’s fucking funny, but in addition to that, it’s stating clearly: “This is a fantasy world. This is not real history. This show is about romance (and so much more than that), and the rest is just VIBES!!!”

Sometimes vibes can be historical accuracy. Sometimes vibes can be true emotional poignancy. Sometimes vibes can be Ed finding his sunken leathers in the sea, changing underwater somehow, and coming out of the ocean like the Birth of Fucking Venus, because water and rebirth and mermaids and shit is all very prominent this season. And ALSO, and this is very important! BECAUSE IT LOOKS FUCKING COOL!

I don’t want to do much real Izzy meta here. It’s been said by others, and better than me. But it was telegraphed and it was symbolic – he was the paragon of Traditional Piracy in season 1, for goodness’ sake, and Traditional Piracy is Toxic Masculinity, and he was a part of Blackbeard and Ed had to leave Blackbeard behind (yknow, ish), and he got this ABSOLUTLEY FUCKING LOVELY! storyline about appreciating what a (queer) community can do, and god fucking shit fucking dammit… most of all, best of all (for me), was Buttons landing on Izzy’s grave at the end. Men can change. And Izzy DID!!! He did it for Ed. For love. For community. I am puzzled by “it’s fucked up to use Izzy to further Ed’s storyline” because… this was Ed’s season, in the way that season 1 was Stede’s. And Ed cannot be removed from piracy as a whole (neither can Stede!) so to have this old, set in his ways, coded-queerphobic character blossom to the point he can give this gift to Ed and to piracy… idk man. I just find it so fucking beautiful.

It is okay not to like what they did. It’s okay!!! It’s okay, and it’s okay to mourn, and while it’s not okay to do [insert vile behavior here], it’s okay to carefully examine what you think is “bad writing” vs “what you would have preferred to happen” and give good-faith, textually-based criticism on that.

But I want to remind you over and over and over again, this show works on vibes. It tells its stories leaving many, many, many gaps. There are many things I would have liked to see, and y’know what? I would have told the Izzy story differently. I would have personally done it differently. But it’s not my show! It’s not my show, and I am humbled and delighted to remember that, and to appreciate Our Flag Means Death for what it is and not what it isn’t.

Other words have been written better than I could about the 18 months between seasons 1 and 2 and what that does to us as rabid fans with expectations of how things will go. Millions and millions and millions of words have been written about OFMD, fictional and non, and that is going to color our expectations and experience. We had built it up SO MUCH in our minds and along the way I think some of us forgot (INCLUDING ME!!!) that it is first and foremost about Vibes.

The vibes of Izzy’s death are about rebirth and forgiveness and leaving traditional piracy behind. And he got to die in Ed’s arms, knowing (HAPPILY!) that he had been wrong, and giving Ed the gift of letting him know he is loved, and being a part of something. We had a funeral but we also had a wedding. The only constant is change. Men, piracy, Blackbeard; it all changes. And Izzy found peace in that.

Before my last point, I want to @ myself on things I felt versus realizing in the end it is (I will say it until I’m blue in the face) about vibes.

· I was convinced they left Buttons’ transformation ambiguous because they wanted to leave room for it not having been real. NO!!! It is real, until they decided it isn’t. Magic in the OFMD universe? Fucking why not!!! IT’S SYMBOLIC!!! IT’S IMPORTANT TO ED’S STORYLINE AND THE CENTRAL THESES OF THE SHOW!

· I was unhappy, and still am a little, about the Polycule Situation, but now that I realize Oluwande is Zheng’s Stede… I am less so. The Zheng : Auntie :: Ed : Izzy vibes, btw? Fuckin immaculate.

·        Obviously they touched on Stede/Ed’s “killing people trauma” but I’d reallyyyy like Stede to address it, and even though I think Ed’s is left on a very satisfying note, I’d like him to dip a bit more into it as well. But if they don’t, oh well! It’s not like they ignored it, they just didn’t have a Deep Dive like I Wanted Them To!

· They didn’t deal with Ed throwing Stede’s shit away. They just ignored it! Stede started to collect new trinkets, and I believe that was as much about giving the audience back the old feeling of the Revenge as it was anything important (not to say it wasn’t also important thematically!!!). Just like Ed going back to his leathers is both Extremely Important thematically and about putting Taika back in the leathers because that’s what Blackbeard should be wearing for the epic final scenes for the sake of visually keeping the show consistent. That’s Blackbeard’s uniform.

· Stede’s frilly little outfits my beloved. God I hope they give him back some of his frippery in season 3. I think they will re: cursed suit BUT his journey this season was about something else, so!

· Ed’s stupid little non-profit non-apology, oh my god. It was so funny. And there is a transition from eps 5 to 6 where Ed is back in his leathers and the crew is more comfortable around him. They didn’t have to have him do a Real Apology, it’s implied it was all settled. What was the timeline? A day? DOESN’T MATTER, BABY, VIBES!!!

· Lots more, I’m sure, but now that I’ve tried to let it all go, I’m remembering less of what I wanted and appreciating what I got!

And, last point here, I think it is also very very very important to remember that a lot of people are normal about this show. In fact, WAY more people are normal about this show than aren’t. And that is EXTREMELY! IMPORTANT!!! because otherwise it wouldn’t be profitable and we all know what would happen then. We are the core of it, to be sure. Without word of mouth that stems from our intensity, this show would not be NEARLY as successful as it is. I truly, truly believe that.

But.

Do normies need deeply emotional discussions dissecting the central relationships? No. What normies need is Ed and Stede running dramatically toward each other on the beach and kissing. And I am happy, so fucking happy, to realize that’s what I need too. I’ve got fanworks for the rest.

I love this fucking show and this fucking fandom and its fucking creators so much. Fuck.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hihi slug, I love your work, and thanks for everything!! Since Matenro season is nearly upon us, I was wondering if we could get your opinion on the solo snippets🤞🤞

Matenro's new solo previews are SO GOOD, what do you think of them?

Thank you both for notifying me about them! Taking a look now...

(The album is probably already out now, but... better late than never...)

Jakurai's A Majestic Figure

Title note: 4-kanji compounds are like the SAT vocab words of Japanese; they're not super common in everyday speech and can evoke a literary or sophisticated feeling. This one is...interesting. To the best of my knowledge, it isn't a standard compound (I'm also not getting any hits when I Google it) and I wonder if that's significant. It's just two words strung together to make the appearance of fanciness, perhaps. I couldn't say for certain. At any rate, both 威風 and (especially) 颯爽 describe a majestic, often captivating appearance. This isn't to say that such qualities of dignity or majesty aren't real, but I definitely feel like both terms are defining a subject from an outside perspective. These aren't terms I would ever expect someone to describe themselves with, which makes the song title sound like it's an outside observer commenting on Jakurai instead of Jakurai talking about himself. We see this happen a lot in Hypmic, with people putting Jakurai on pedestals or Jakurai struggling to see himself as the same grand figure others perceive him as. As a result, I wrote the song title as "A Majestic Figure" to emphasize the appearance of majesty, whereas the character of the figure is unknown. Anyway, let's dive in and see what this is all about.

(10 seconds in) Vibing with these instrumentals

(19 seconds in) Not vibing with these "ah"s... but we can't have everything in life

(43 seconds in) I'm a little too tired to fully keep up (I'll look up the lyrics when I'm done) but I REALLY like the urgency in the delivery, which is so at odds with the flowing, dignified background music. In JPN fiction as a whole, flusteredness/desperation is contrasted with calmness as a synonym for imperfection and perfection. Jakurai is, honestly, really kind of a desperate character...yet one that appears outwardly calm/perfect to most of the rest of the cast, so it's interesting that we get to see his desperate nature on full display right at the start of the song.

(1:26 in) Hand motif mentioned *Cinemasins ding* (of

(End) Thank you uta-net for having the lyrics up already; ily. Let's see now... Interesting. I'll have to read them again in more depth later, but it looks like a call to forgive past wounds and seek out a better, less painful way of existence--in a societal sense, a religious (as in like, ascending or becoming enlightened) sense, and a personal sense. All great things to see Jakurai expressing. Again, it's interesting to see Jakurai expressing this with such urgency, even if these are things we know he really, really cares about. That coupled with the background music seems to match a bit in the lyrics that says "And [to end war within society, paraphrased] I take grand, dignified action mixed with the discord and noise of Shinjuku, a samsara spiral of cacophonous echoes." Mixing the stately and the chaotic, the "imperfect" and the "perfect." Really interesting stuff!

Hifumi's The Beginning of the Last Song

Title note: "Last Song" is English and written in katakana, which is a sharp contrast to the style of Jakurai's title. Creates a much younger and casual feel appropriate for Hifumi. Not much else to say here, so let's jump in.

(10 seconds in) Modern indie pop song on the radio feel. I'm not a fan of autotune in general so I'm not in love with this, but I'm hopeful it'll pick up soon.

(22 seconds in) I listen to so much "soft hiphop" (for lack of a better term) during work that my brain instantly catapulted itself into work mode and stopped paying any attention to the words. Coffee mug? Check. Emails? Check. Anxiety? Check. Let me rewind and listen to this properly.

(32 seconds in but for real this time) So far, very Hifumi. Opening verse has some fun figurative language but essentially says Hifumi's suit is pure courage he dons like a suit of armor. In doing so, it masks him and makes him become like a whole other person. From there, he switches to addressing a listener: "I want to soothe your mental wounds. I want to change your frown into a smile. I won't let go of your hands, and no, I'm not doing this for a reward." It's something that Hifumi should be saying to himself (something Hifumi wants to hear, maybe?) and yet he says "To [Host!]me, this is happiness."

(59 seconds in) Hmm... I was going to say this song feels sad to me, because all these positive messages of "Keep going! You're safe now!" are framed as being directed at other people, and I was like..."Hifumi, who's going to say that to you? Who's going to help you feel that way?" but then the line "You made me realize I'm not alone" radically flips the framing so that it DOES become things Hifumi is saying to himself, too. How nice. :) I would not want to translate this, personally... Haha it's using the vagueness of Japanese grammar and lyrical conventions to great effect, but I don't feel comfortable touching that personally.

(1:02) Hell yeah, belt that shit, homie

(1:32) So it's a last song in the sense that it's a farewell or the final song of his old self. Now he's the new, healing Hifumi. We love to see it 10/10 bravo. The song is also a happy, heartfelt thank you to the unspoken listeners (presumably Matenrou) who helped him feel less alone. That's cute! I like it. I probably shouldn't go here, but I find it intriguing how the vagueness of listeners is utilized. The first time the listeners are addressed, the language is...if not borderline romantic, pathos-filled to the point where it's definitely evocative of his host job (hence why he's not seeking compensation for handholding, an often romantic gesture). Yet it's borderline enough that it wouldn't be inappropriate to imagine it being addressed to Matenrou instead of his patrons. Hahaha. Again, another reason I don't want to go near this one.

(Overall) I like it! A nice ballad for Hifumi.

Doppo's Andante

(5 seconds in) For a song called Andante, this has a faster tempo than at least one other song on this album lol. But it's much less frenetic than Doppo's other solos, so there's that, I guess.

(7 seconds in) This delivery is giving me anime ending made by a 2010s rock band vibes lol.

(14 seconds in) Damn there's a baller line here that I'm stumped on how to convey in Eng in a way that's both baller and sensical. Meaning wise, it's like "I want to take back the things I shouldn't have said and give them as a present to you" and in figurative language it's like "Once, I used to fire words into the air [speak things in anger or carelessly]. Now, I want to gather them up [esp. like a bouquet of flowers] after their flight and use them to decorate you [again, like flowers or like a piece of jewelry--it's a positive connotation]" Pop off, Doppo

(40 seconds in) Oh this is killer and also going to need some major explaining. Doppo's name is literally "he who walks alone" which is usually considered a positive thing--someone who "walks the path of life" alone would have gotten there by outstripping the rest of the pack. In Doppo's case, though, this is a negative thing. I think it's not as obvious to Eng-only fans, and I know I didn't really think about it for a long time myself, but Doppo considers himself a "loser" bc he didn't follow a conventional life path. It's considered atypical to switch employers, especially very early on in one's career, as he did when he stood up for Hifumi and got himself fired at his first job. Part of why he puts up with shitty treatment at EL Medical is because it's one of the few places that would hire someone who switched employers at such a young age. (Sidebar: My (probably flawed, as I don't live in Japan) impression is that this is becoming less and less of a thing as time goes on and the economy goes to shit, but I think it's the self-stigma more than anything else that's affecting Doppo. To me, it feel similar to the societal pressures in the US to attend and graduate from a four-year college. Plenty of people don't for all sorts of reasons, but because that's so ingrained as the default life story for Americans in a lot of communities, Doppo's dealing with the kind of disappointment and self-hatred someone who dropped out before getting a four year degree might feel.) Doppo beats himself up about that a lot, but here we get that lovely line of "In the waves of people (hitonami) passing all around me, I no longer see anyone who looks like me. It's a shame, because I always wanted to be just like everyone else (hitonami)." Outside of that beautiful wordplay on hitonami, we're also treated to the figurative language of hitonami being literally "in line with others." Doppo, a character who walks through life alone, wanted to walk through life at the same pace/reaching the same milestones at the same time as everyone else.

(1:04 in) "Life is a tightrope act; it's like walking a balance beam [lit. "average beam" aka a beam where everything is averaged/balanced]. In a country where not everything can be average (narasarenai) and where even if the things that [I] can accomplish (narasareru) don't matter [in the eyes of society], sometimes the sounds I want to make don't come out right (narasarenai). When that happens, I can call myself pitiful--or I can feel the breathing of the beautiful flowerbed that is this city, and when someone's humming under their breath disturbs that short break [lit. breath], I ask them 'So, what is this happiness thing anyway?'" I would rather die than TL this song but I'm LOVING the creativity and depth of the lyrics.

(1:27) WILD! FUCKING! CHEERING!!! "You fake smiles in a mirror to make other people happy and call it love. It's a form of hypnosis, and I've made a go of falling under its spell because I just want to be equals [on par with, balanced], and so if you and I can walk these crowded streets together, then I think I don't mind as much that I'm always walking alone." THE GROWTH! THE GROWTH!!!!

Damn, this album's lyrics go hard. What a feast.

[23fallencomets]

Comets Fic Snippets

ranging from the oldest drafts I have to the newer ones so sit tight because this is pretty long :)

Made in the A.M

It takes Jenson a few minutes to realize what he’s looking at. In the dim lighting of his home office, with the sunset as a golden backdrop, he finds that Williams is screwing over their rookie. The data basically shoves it in his face with a taunt, look and see how they’re destroying this boy from the inside out. It takes him another second to gather himself, to put the papers down and look at the data from the sim racing and the on-track racing.

It’s bad, is what he’s getting at, so fucking bad that he’s surprised no one has said anything. He picks the papers up again, raising them above his head so they can catch the light like if the truth would reveal itself, like if it can convince him Williams isn’t sabotaging their only rookie.

Blue (Navy and True)

pairing: Max/Logan (inspired by that one edit one is the loneliest number followed by two ifykyk)

He wakes up a few hours later, 6:47 am exactly. His head swims as he goes to the bathroom, momentarily forgetting where he is exactly. By the time he remembers, he’s way too hungry to really care.

Max is still asleep and it reminds Logan that Max is still only three years older than him. He looks calmer, peaceful. Logan moves away and finds Max’s meal plan sitting on the table near the phone. He calls in room service that falls within their diet before moving around and picking up the mess he had made in attempt to get Max in bed.

Twenty minutes later, breakfast is on the table and Jos Verstappen at the door.

Endzone

“A boy born in the Sunshine State of the United Staes who left his home at a young age to pursue a challenging career in racing, who has been doubted again and again has shown up today in the red and white of the American team of Haas to bring them their first podium of the season! Logan Sargeant who has had to fight tooth and nail to prove himself over and over again showed up today and became the first American to win a Grand Prix since Mario Andretti in 1978! Logan Sargeant passes the checkered flag and wins in Suzuka!”

Logan sits in his car for a moment, hands still shaking around the steering wheel. His eyes are blurred by tears, a heaviness he didn’t know he still carried around suddenly loosening as he forces himself out, going through the motions. He stumbles to stand on the nose of his car, the red and white livery that helped deliver him first across the checker flag.

You Are More Than Just a Dream

Pairing: Loscar

OG mentor!logan fic i had posted about

“Do you want to go back? I’ll drive you.” Logan said, his Italian just a bit stilted. Whatever tension Kimi had releases as he leans heavily onto Logan. Logan had picked up Italian quicker than anyone Kimi had known, even Ollie still struggles, and they were teammates for the entirety of their time at Prema.

Kimi’s debut race could have been worse, like Oscar’s who had to DNF after a gearbox issue. There was no shame in Kimi finishing in tenth, unlike Logan who got lapped and ended in twelfth. Logan understood the stress of wanting to finish better, after all Logan was consistently below P15 for the first half of the 2024 seasons.

“Can I sleep in your room?” Kimi asks quietly. Logan nods, hands on his shoulders as he leads him out of the party. Their hotel isn’t that far, and the air is nice on their flushed skin. The whole walk back is silent, Kimi still in his head while Logan just makes sure Kimi gets in safe.

One in A Million

pairing: ??? i think it was implied carlos/logan ngl

Logan sighs, simultaneously relieved and dreading the briefing. It had taken them a week to post a proper goodbye post across their social medias. Logan didn’t exactly care since there wasn’t much he could do about it besides film a one-minute goodbye video. The media team had basically begged him to look happy and all Logan could have managed was a tense smile.

He didn’t really understand why they were making such an effort in getting content out of him when it wouldn’t matter in the next ten races. The only things he was looking forward to were the Team Torque videos and the little ten minutes challenges that were cut down to three or four minutes.

Meet Me Halfway

dad!logan, pairing undecided (toss up between loscar and sargebon, any suggestions of any logan ship is welcomed :)) , healthy co-parenting with female oc

Steph wasn’t lost, he just happened to lose sight of Miss Wendy and was now sitting next to a tall man with a funny accent. He watches the screen intently, keeping an eye out for his dad’s car. He rocks himself slightly when he catches sight of the Williams.

“That’s my dad’s car.” Steph says seriously, nodding as Logan overtakes another blue car. Toto blinks, pen moved from where it was pressed against his mouth. He looks at the little boy, his blue-green eyes and messy blonde hair, a natural down-tilt smile. He kind of looks like a baby version of Nico, and there’s only one other person on the paddock who sometimes looked like Nico.

Fred appears at the moment, a cup of coffee in his hands and freezes when he catches sight of Steph Sargeant sitting cutely next to his boss. He looks around, sees a camera focus in on him and he quickly steps forward, quickly drinking the warm coffee before he swoops in.

Let Me Wrap my teeth around the world

supernatural, past loscar, sargebon, parents!loscar, siren!logan

The fledging flinched; one hand gripped into the sweatshirt of the vampire next to him. The dark toned vampire looks between them, braid beads clinking almost beautifully; the leader, by all means as the others flank his sides.

Logan feels sick to his stomach, feeling it roll like storm waves, dangerous and painful. The fledgling—Oscar, his brain chants, Oscar, Oscar, Oscar—whines, eyes squeezing shut and trying to hide behind his leader.

Logan takes a step forward, shakily, and so fucking angry. It’s a few more steps until he gets his hands on him, tan skin against the sickly paleness of Oscar’s skin. The coven hisses, teeth bared in a pathetic mimicry of intimidation.

“You died.” Logan says, almost so quietly he’s not sure he can hear himself, “I buried you; Lia and I buried you.” At the mention of their foster child turned daughter, he flinches hard enough his leader grasps his hands, gentle and loving.

Rage boils under Logan’s skin.

Close to you

sargebon, post 7/28, dating-but-not-knowing-they’re-dating, redbull reserve driver!logan

Alex makes it home before midnight, the apartment as empty as he had left it. He drops his things off by the door, figuring out that he’ll move it later when he spots the first thing out of place. It’s nothing big, but Alex has always been good at keeping track of his apartment and that blanket wasn’t there when he left.

He walks over, running his hands over it and his fingers bump over the embroidered LS on the corner. He holds it in his arms, the heavy blue material making his arms ache as he looks around the living room. His movie center thing was moved around and there were droppings of popcorn on the floor near the couch.

Alex feels hope bloom in his chest when he spots a familiar navy blue suitcase in the hall by his bedroom door. He opens the door, a familiar tuft of blonde hair visible from where Logan is buried under Alex’s blankets. He drops the one in his arm on his desk chair as he carefully grabs his things. He still has to shower so he does so quickly, a million questions running through his head as he tries to not to slip.

Logan Sargeant and the Inconveniences of Crushes

In hindsight, this isn’t the worse thing that has happened to Logan; being friends with Arthur Leclerc takes the cake. Either way, Logan has a life-long history of falling in love with people he will never have so just like all the others, he doesn’t do anything about it.

He really should’ve taken in account how persistent Alex Albon and George Russel are.

And done! If you got to the end, thank you very much. Most of these fics have at least 1k words written, but keeping up with all of them isn’t easy especially with writers block. If any pique your interest and want to know a bit more, please don’t hesitate to shoot an ask and i’ll be more than happy to share more 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[tasty-littl-snack]

Hey lil question: I was scrolling the shyan tag and saw an ask on your blog that referred to ryan and shane having some kinda fight after/during their investigation of Waverly Hills on Ghost Files. I hadn’t heard this story before so I wondered what the OG source for that info is. Just for science and the ethics code of ghost hunting’s sake ofc 🫠 Not doubting just ravenously curious!

(The ask and the post it spins off from in question)

Oh yeah sure no problem. Some of these anecdotes are now lost to time because their patreon is now gone so no easy way to see the sources but, this one has three sources including one from Shane Madej himself.

Before the streamer and up to June this year they had a patreon and the bonus content on there for higher tiers was one of the crew doing audio commentary on the episode (think dvd commentaries where people share behind the scenes). Sometimes to incentivize people to see what is available on higher tiers they posted some of Shane's commentaries for all paying patrons. In 2022 they also had the sick and unrealistic shedule of posting Ghost files ep every week, so Ryan was busy and couldn't do it for the first ep. Therefore Shane did that even tho his only working on the show was being there brainstorming for how the boonker would look like (off-topic but here is a fun interview of them comparing this to furnishing a house together wtf) and editing the ghost files outro so the music is as haunting as it is. Since the commentary was created as a watchalong (I listened to it as a podcast bc I find Shane's voice great to listen to, but that's just me), at the end of it he goes into explaining why he didn't tell Ryan where the walkie was. (according to him he asked the crew beforehand and they didn't say he couldn't do it). So when we see Ryan being angry you can hear Shane say "He's genuinely mad here by the way, and I meant it when I said it's good to be a ghost hunter but internally I was like "Is Ryan mad at me? yknow". In that commentary we also hear Shane's impression of their car drive from Waverly and while Shane tries to talk, Ryan is answering him in short phrases. He was also mad at him the next morning apparently, but I guess they made up. So that's the primary source for that, and I swear I heard a snippet on this on tumblr, or maybe some people posting about it back in the day but I couldn't find it (if someone has it then feel free to share that snippet).

The second source that I have that this happened is Hinsdale House Debrief (Ghost Files season 2 finale), (around 23.30 with the 'solo investigation' part of the video) when someone asks Lizzie if she'd go on a solo and she admits that a location like Waverly would be out of the question, and so Ryan is like "Now imagine if your pal didn't tell you where the walkie is and you have to do the solo investigation for an hour" so like a year maybe two after this we can see that he still remembers this and while Lizzie and Shane say "You chose this life" Ryan is somewhat upset about it. Lizzie then says "He didn't talk to Shane after this for like a week" and since she is their coworker and has to deal with them I find that really fascinating.

Third source is this Really no Really podcast interview with Ryan and Shane, (Around 23,00 minutes in, segments: the relationship and the first episode) when they ask them about their relationship and then they go into recounting the whole thing again (here Shane once again makes the impression of Ryan being mad at him in the drive back). In general I reccomend watching this ep because they are really cute together and you get to see them interact with mr Jason Alexander who is a fan of them and it's really cool to see.

Also if you have the streamer, in Mystery Files bloopers Ryan also explains why he did the blob prank on Shane, and it was to get back at him for the walkie thing from Waverly so I think this is really their one serious fight that they will allude to for the rest of their friendship.

Thank you for asking, hope it clears things up a bit <3

(also I'm sorry for clogging the shyan tag I just sometimes remember to tag things and sometimes I don't so random asks end up in the search)

[instructionsnotincluded]

I was rereading wild winds and I lovethat kiaras got a crush on Logan and I was wondering if Rafe or JJ finds out and their reaction to it.

The anonym from before was talking about peoples reaction to Logan and Rafe. I was wondering if we could get a snippet of something similar. No worries if it’s not possible tho❤️❤️

Rafe and JJ do find out! Hahahahhaha! I think JJ’s probably shocked, he strikes me as the last person to realize when someone is into someone else and the fact that he thinks she’s into John B is probably still in his mind.

Rafe’s probably pretty neutral to it, mostly because Logan’s not into girls, and it’s a harmless crush. But Kiara making comments about how she can’t believe Logan settled for him when they’re at Singh’s house are going to happen, hahahaha.

We can’t get a snippet, unfortunately, about reactions to Logan and Rafe, going public, mainly because there are a lot of really crazy and dramatic things going on, and it would be a major spoiler. Like, I’m not sure I can share anything from the end of season one or the first half of season two without giving it away. But I can give you a snippet of Sarah finding out!

18+ MDNI | Language, suggestive content, mentions of mental health issues, drugs

“What time is it?” Logan slid off him, Rafe groaning as he watched her move naked around his room, searching for the clock that fell behind the nightstand when he tossed her onto the bed earlier, “Shit, that’s what I thought. I gotta take my pill.”

“Pill?” Rafe shook his head. 

“Birth control.” Logan reached for her purse, rifling around before pulling out the plastic holder and setting it on his desk, “Do you have any water?”

Rafe shook his head, moving to throw his legs out of the bed, feet landing on the rug, “No, let me get you some from downstairs.”

“I can get it,” Logan reached for the shirt closest to her, one of his that reached her mid thigh, “no one’s home, right?”

“Shouldn’t be,” Rafe watched her walk around the bed towards the door, his eyes glued to her wearing his shirt, mouth going dry at seeing her piercings through the thin material, his dick hardening more than it had a few moments ago when they were making out, “You sure…?”

“Mhmm.” Logan reached for the handle, sending him a playful wink as she opened the door, “Save your energy while you can.”

Rafe’s laughter echoed as she closed the door, Logan padding quietly down the hall, the wood cool on her bare feet. She took the stairs easily, hand gliding along the railing and she briefly wondered what it might be like to grow up in a house this big. So many rooms, so many things to explore and get lost in, she could only imagine the games they must’ve come up with. Even she and JJ had come up with dozens in their small bungalow. She reached the kitchen easily and pulled out one of the normal water bottles, leaving the sparkling glass bottles alone, before she turned to make her way back up the stairs. She just reached the second floor landing, in the process of unscrewing the cap when she saw none other than Sarah Cameron make her way down the stairs from the third floor. 

It was too late to hide or hurry, and Logan felt her cheeks flame as Sarah walked off the last step, eyes just as wide as her own. “Um…” Sarah glanced around in concern, clearly trying to process what she was seeing, “Are you here with Rafe…?”

“Uh…” Logan swallowed the water hard, nodding, “Y—yeah, I’m just uh…well…” Logan motioned to what she was wearing and Sarah’s cheeks tinted slightly, “There’s really not a lie that would fit, so I won’t insult your intelligence.”

“Thanks…” Sarah glanced down the hall towards Rafe’s closed bedroom door, “I’m staying the night with Scarlett, I just didn’t remember to pack a charger…”

“Hate when that happens,” Logan cleared her throat, wincing at how awkward this was, “glad you remembered…”

“Um…” Sarah shifted, a slight frown appearing between her eyebrows, “Are you and Rafe like…a thing…?”

“Uh…” Logan wasn’t sure what they were, but she knew she didn’t really want to discuss it with Rafe’s younger sister. Especially after everything she knew about their family dynamic and relationship, “I—we’re…together sometimes…”

“Right…” Sarah took a step closer and Logan gently pulled on the hem of the shirt, hoping with everything she had that it covered everything important, “Just…be careful, ok? Rafe’s not ok a lot of the time and I don’t want you to get hurt or anything.”

Logan frowned, eyes searching Sarah’s face as she tried to figure out what was happening, “Hurt?”

“Yeah, I mean, Rafe’s kinda a lot, you know? He gets really angry, he breaks things. Just…be careful. That’s all I’m saying. He has a lot of issues, the drugs…”

Logan shook her head slightly, searching Sarah’s face about as hard as Sarah was searching hers, “Your brother has a lot of things he’s working on, Sarah, but he would never hurt me…”

Sarah lifted a shoulder and Logan felt her heart sink as she tried to understand what was happening, “He got kicked out of school for drugs, he’s had screaming matches with dad and Rose literally my whole life. Look—I’m not trying to diagnose him or whatever, but he needs a lot of help, Logan. He’s bi-polar or something, at least. Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying.”

Logan tried to process what Sarah was saying right now, her frown only deepening as she stared back at Sarah, someone she knew Rafe definitely had a strained relationship with. She thought back to the conversations with Rafe about his mom and life growing up, how Rose came into their lives and how Sarah and Wheezie just went with everything because they were so young, and her heart hurt for them all. Especially now, seeing the clear division that Ward and Rose created within their own family. 

“Sarah…” Logan bit her lip, “Rafe’s not a bad guy, you know that right?”

Sarah took a step down on the steps, looking wide eyed at Logan, “Do I?”

[stolasbuckzo]

Proof that Huskerdust have feelings for each other

• In 1x04 Throughout the entirety of the song Loser, Baby Husk becomes consensual , gentle, and chivalrous with Angel (who pretty much joined in after being accepted for who he is with a “Baby, that’s fine by me”

<> Husk protectively told Angel to “stay down” (very boyfriend-coded if you ask me 😏) and then seconds later became awestruck by the fact that he could defend himself (whilst showing his true colours)

<> However at the end of the episode the tension of sexual attraction between them is definitely there

• In 1x05 it’s a little bit harder to tell since the episode “Dad Beat Dad” was mainly focused on Lucifer’s father/daughter and Charlie’s relationship.

But we do see two snippets of Angel and Husk on the sidelines comically eating popcorn as Alastor defended the hotel later on (after Lucifer caused it) and another scene where Lucifer and Charlie are arguing.

<> Husk makes a pre-drink for Angel without being asked whilst he talks to Mimzy (which I thought was actually really cute ☺️)

• In 1x06 When at the club Consent first off Angel listened to Husk’s advice after Cherri suggested they get “fucked up” by doing drugs

<> After Niffty gets drunk Huskerdust literally become her parents 😂 (also Husk praised Angel for standing up to Valentino before placing his paw on back)

• In 1x07 Again, similar to “Dad Beat Dad” there’s a brief Huskerdust moment where two things happen; 1. Angel wraps his arm around Husk. 2. Husk frowns shortly at Vaggie before it changed to a smile and his eyes dilated (slightly) after Angel embraced him

• In 1x08 Before the war with the angels (Exorcists) Angel decided to spend his last night at the hotel with Husk who had flirtatiously acknowledged that he had really changed

Bonus:

You can also hear the instrumentals of Loser, Baby in the background!!! (Like… come on you cannot tell me THIS isn’t a romantic atmosphere. The Husk’s tone of “you really have changed” that’s held with so much sexual tension! Their song — literally — playing in the background?! Angel’s Anthony’s soft and hesitant “Hey…”)

<> During the amidst of the war Husk makes a social faux pas about “too many fucking angels coming” only be teased by Angel in response (which come on, let’s face it, they definitely were flirting 🤭)

<> The minute Angel got knocked down by one of the exorcist (after selflessly saving Frank one of the Egg Boiz) Husk looked feral at the person who had harmed the latter ~ like were talking “you just hit my boyfriend , how dare you.” level of protectiveness

References:

There are hundreds of meanings of the word “Likes” in this list down below (just to show evidence that it can mean “find attractive” etc as well)

Season 2: (2025)

[fayedartmouth]

Hi! 2 questions!

1. Do you have an update on your progress with your fix it? There are so many good ones on ao3 right now, but i check your page every day just to see if you comment on it or post a snippet! I literally can’t wait! So i would love to hear where you are in that process!

2. Something i just started thinking about. I remember in season 1. Kie talks about her kook year and she mentions how she got so depressed she was starting to consider self harm. It’s like never brought up again, but it is something we know she has struggled with in the past. Obviously we know JJ struggles with some similar things. It felt like such a waste to me that we never saw those two characters talk about it. especially considering everything jj went through in season 4 and the fact they were dating. I would loved to see them connect over that and talk through and heal together from that. Sooooo I was wondering if that’s something you plan to address in any of your future fics and if not if you would be willing to write a one shot about it? Either where they talk about it or where one of them tries to hurt themselves and they talk about it? or it could be on the boat in season 4. You know when he’s fully spiraling and nobody does ANYTHING.

Anywayyyyy, I love all your fics so much! You’ve been a huge part of this grieving process!

I wish I could write faster, like so much faster. Fix-it is currently pushing 150k. That's good! I just think it's probably only like half complete. And since I don't post unfinished fics to AO3, it just means there will be some waiting involved.

(As an aside, I'm also working far too much on the SECOND fix it fic because I keep talking to @woudsohfiv about it and she keeps asking me to and now I have 25k of THAT fic done as well. And I'd be lying if didn't say I had written a few scenes for the THIRD fic as well. I just like some scenes, lol.)

So I will have to post snippets to keep people interested -- and believing that I am, in fact, writing this monstrosity.

I'll dump one below.

As for point two! I hadn't really thought about it BUT arc 2 is going to have a lot of Kiara's struggles. She's in a very bad head space and she hits her rock bottom in arc 2. So I can probably definitely weave that into her POV. And arc 3 is reconciliatory for JJ and Kie, and they will both be confessing a LOT of secrets -- I can probably also bring that in. Given what JJ has to confess to her, her sharing that might actually really help and make sense, all things considered.

Okay, so snippet below! Let me ask this -- I'm never unsure of how much is too much -- or if spoilers are a problem. Do you prefer snippets that don't reveal too much? Or do you like snippets that provide key plot points? I'm just really bad at picking them!

The scene below is set at the end of their stint on the OBX in season -- when they set out to sail for Morocco. One huge thing I'm working with is providing more insight into the characters -- so we're getting more of JJ's trauma and a lot more concern from the Pogues. Everyone will be more likable and sympathetic than whatever it was we saw on screen.

“It’ll be the last time we see her, I guess,” JJ said.

John B looked at him, a little taken aback.  JJ’s face wasn’t colored with hurt; if anything, he seemed calmer than he had been.  As if looking in the face of the inevitable had solidified him somehow.

It was unsettling, to say the least.

But could John B say it was surprising?

Was any of this surprising?

He was pissed at JJ – he <i>was</i>.  JJ had cost them everything, and he had put them all on the line.  

But he’d said it before, back when they were just kids.  It didn’t matter whose fault it was.  This was a relationship, and JJ was his best friend.  JJ was his brother.

JJ was hurting; JJ was reeling.

He was watching JJ unravel in front of him, and anger didn’t get him anywhere.  Not when JJ’s troubles came from a place of pain, a place so deep in JJ that he hardly let it show.  A place so encompassing for JJ now that he didn’t know how to hide it.

His heart ached, then, as he watched JJ’s face.  Staring at the only place he’d ever felt happy.

The only home he’d ever had.

JJ wasn’t bidding goodbye to Poguelandia.

He was bidding goodbye to the very idea of home.

The very idea of family.

“JJ,” he said, and he wet his lips, looking for the words.  “We don’t know that.”

When JJ looked at him now, his expression was funny.  There was something there, seated deeply in his eyes.  Not quite amusement; not quite reassurance.  Almost like he wanted to believe John B – but knew he couldn’t.

It was almost pity.

“John B, I’m wanted for murder.  I burned down the town.  Breaking, entering, looting, arson–”

John B felt his chest start to tighten.  “Shoupe said we could make it go away.”

JJ smiled.  But tired.  Small.  <i>Weary</i>.  “The things I’ve done can’t just disappear,” he said, and he nodded back at the retreating view of Poguelandia.  “I’m the reason we can’t go home.  I’m the reason it’s gone.  Me.”

Back on the beach, with Shoupe on their tails, he had wanted to hear that.  He’d needed JJ to take responsibility and own up to it.  For losing their home.  For putting them all in danger.  For putting Sarah – and the baby in danger.

But that was the problem, in the end.  JJ knew his faults.  JJ knew them better than the rest of them.  He had internalized them all his life.  Luke had made sure JJ understood that much:  that he was the problem.

So much so that JJ made himself the problem.

During the last 18 months, John B often let himself forget that those memories still haunted JJ.

Standing there with him, looking back at the wreckage of the last week, he reminded himself how willfully naive he’d been.  Like 18 months could undo what JJ had spent 18 years learning.

JJ didn’t need to take the blame.

JJ needed to believe – for the first time in his life – that he could do better.  That he had a future.  Not the one Luke beat into him.  Not the one Groff had left him behind for.  But they one they were going to build – together.

Blame and fault – that was what went before.

Hope and change – that was what had to get them forward.

JJ had plenty of the former and, John B realized with a growing dread, almost none of the latter.  

JJ lips quirked up, his smile wry.  It didn’t reach his eyes as he shook his head and looked down again.  “I’m the reason we lost it,” he said quietly, and there was no condemnation they could make that matched what JJ already felt for himself.  “I’m the reason we lost everything.”

John B swallowed, and when he blinked, his eyes were burning.  “It was just a house, JJ.  It was land,” he said.

JJ looked up, eyes wide.  He made a choked off laugh, pointing to the shoreline behind them.  “It was our business, our home – <i>everything</i>.”

It had never been just a house.  It had never been just land.  John B knew that; that was why it’d been so easy to forgive JJ after he blew so much money buying it.  He knew what it meant then, to own it, to take it back for himself.

He knew what it meant now, to lose it.

Denial, though, was the only friend John B had, more long-lasting than JJ.  He drew himself up, shaking his head.  “Well, we’ll find the Blue Crown.  We’ll get another fortune.  And we’ll make another one.”

He spoke it with conviction.  Did he believe it?  Was it something he was sure of?

He had to believe it.  They’d done the impossible before – so many times.

All because John B told them they could.

JJ had never doubted him.

But now, standing there on the deck, he could see the change.  JJ doubted him now.

John B’s passion had always been enough for the both of them.

JJ had lost too much, though.  Passion, hope, belief – not even revenge.  John B had the growing fear that none of it would be enough for JJ now.  People weren’t inexhaustible.  Spirit wasn’t indefatigable.  Humanity had limited resources, and everyone ran out when pushed too long and too hard.

Even JJ.

Especially JJ.

“You make it sound easy,” JJ said finally, and his voice was small.  There was no anger; there was no vitriol.  But the sound was laden with regret.

The life not realized.

JJ had seen it for a second – a fleeting second – the possibility.

Now, he was standing face to face with a bleaker reality.  One he could no longer see his way past.

He couldn’t bullshit this.  He couldn’t pretend like it wasn’t real, not when they were running from the law, making a last-ditch effort to save everything.  “It wasn’t easy last time.”

John B knew his own hubris had started this.  It had been his insistence that set them on this path, putting all of them in danger time and time again.  JJ had wanted him to stop once.

Now, he wasn’t sure JJ could keep doing this at all.

For all their sakes, he had to.

“B, that’s the point.  I don’t know if we can do it again – if we can capture that same magic that got us here,” JJ said with a short, hot exhale.  He shook his head, gesturing helplessly to the horizon, where land was growing distant. He looked down, seeming to shrink into himself.  “I don’t know if I can do it again.”

JJ had always been able to do that, to make himself smaller somehow.  The way he held himself, the way he tried to make himself disappear.  As if he could will himself out of existence once and for all.

John B reached out, taking JJ by the shoulder to keep him from retreating further.  “We’re going to find that crown.  We’re going to fix everything.”

Looking out across the water, JJ seemed to sigh.  He knew JJ, better than anyone.  He knew JJ had a finite ability to fight.  He knew that his defenses only last so long before they just fell.

He was pretty sure they were almost there.

Or, as he looked at JJ’s face, looking tiredly across the water, he thought maybe they were already there.

“I want that,” he said softly.  His voice was quiet over the sound of the engine almost lost in the churning of the water beneath the hull.  He looked at John B.  “For you guys.  I want that.”

John B felt the twinge in his chest.  “For <i>us.</i>”

He said it with force and certainty.  It was an effort to convince JJ.

But JJ just looked away again.  “I don’t know anymore.”

The admission was small – and huge all at the same time.  That twinge deepened, and John B felt the flutter in his chest send a wave of panic down his spine.  “JJ, I’m serious,” he said.  “This is for us.”

It wasn’t enough to bring JJ’s gaze back to him.  If anything, the sadness seemed to settle.  It seemed to take hold.  “Maybe it shouldn’t.”

The words were soft.

They hit <i>hard</i>.

There was something about them.  Something futile.  Something resigned.

Something like giving up.

All the years, he’d known JJ.  JJ hadn’t quit.  He’d gone through so much shit – too much shit – and always got back up swinging.

Something had changed.

Looking at JJ, he worried everything had changed.

And he didn’t know how to undo it.  He didn’t know how to fix it.

John B didn’t know how.

“What?” he asked instead.

JJ shrugged with a quiet sense of loss.  “You said it yourself,” he said, giving John B a tired look.  “This is my fault.  All of this.  Is <i>exclusively my fault.</i>”

It was true, was the thing.  John B had said it.  He’d practically demanded it, pinned JJ down, backed him into the corner until the admission was forced out of him.  In the moment – as it all came crashing down – he’d needed JJ to take that accountability.  He’d needed JJ to stop and realize what he’d done.

With emotions high – and stakes higher – it had mattered.

Because JJ didn’t think.  He never thought.

But then, John B had always known that.

And he knew why.

JJ didn’t know how.  JJ had no means for it.  He had no emotional grounding for it.

When most people were drowning, they saved themselves.  It was normal human reaction to put yourself in the lifeboat first.  It was what they all did.  It was what John B did.

It wasn’t what JJ did.

When push came to shove, JJ would jump out of the boat every single time.

JJ would drown so they could float.

And sometimes, it was easy to let him.

“I know,” he said, sighing heavily.  “But I didn’t mean–”

JJ looked at him.  The look on his face was hard to explain.  It was something John B hadn’t seen before.  JJ had been beaten down a lot in his life.

But John B had never seen him <i>broken</i>.

Not like this.

“You did,” JJ said.  There was no malice; there was no anger.  Just acceptance.  “And you were right.  All of you were right.  I ruin everything.  Everything falls apart because of me.”

John B felt his gut twist.  That had never been his point.  “I just wanted you to think about the consequences of your actions–”

“I know,” JJ said.  “I’m a moron.  I’m just stupid.  I mean, come on.  Luke wouldn’t have beat a kid who did it right.  And Groff – he wouldn’t have tried to kill me if I was <i>worth anything</i>.”

The self loathing now rippled just beneath the surface.  JJ’s face was taut with his, his voice heavy.  “JJ, shut up,” he said.  He inhaled sharply, curbing his emotions as best he could.  “That’s bullshit, and you know it.”

But JJ didn’t.

JJ didn’t know it.

JJ didn’t know it at all.

The funny thing about it all was that JJ didn’t need accountability.  No one hated JJ – more than JJ himself.  Luke had beaten him down.  Groff had broken him.

And John B had scattered the pieces all across the OBX in a self-righteous haze.

It wasn’t his fault.

But what was it he’d said?  That it wasn’t about blame?

It was just about the way two people who loved each other could hurt each other.  It was just about how two people who loved each other owed the other one everything, just for one more chance to make it right.

“JJ, good things are going to happen,” he said, stepping closer and holding his gaze.  “I swear, J.  This is going to work out.  It <i>is</i>.”

In the dying light, JJ looked stripped down.  The color washed from his face and the pretenses gone in his eyes.  John B had a sudden, horrible thought, that no matter what happened on this trip, no matter what they found, it would never make up for what JJ had lost.

“I don’t think I get good things,” JJ said, and he exhaled, a small breathless smile with no humor.  “I don’t think I get any good thing, B.”

It wasn’t just the words, the fleeting thoughts.

It was the certainty.

It was the plain certainty written all over JJ’s face, carried like a weight on his shoulders that he would never shrug off.

And John B had wanted to place blame.

Like JJ hadn’t spent his entire life thinking it was his fault.

“JJ,” he said, his own breath catching.  He shook his head.  “Why would you say that?”

He knew why.  John B had known why since the first day JJ showed up at the Chateau, bloody and bruised.  The day he insisted, swore up and down that he was fine, that he was okay, that his dad loved him.

The only way to love a world that hated you, after all, was if you took the blame.

And carried it all your life, right down to the grave.

“I don’t deserve them anyway,” JJ said.  “I mean, I had a good thing — I had the best thing, everything I ever wanted.  I had you guys, I had the charter, I had Kie—“

His voice broke, the weight of his words filling the void between them as John B didn’t trust himself to speak.

“And I threw it away,” JJ continued, voice falling soft into the stillness as he looked back across the water.  He looked at John B, swallowing hard.  “And worse, I took all of you down with me.”

John B stepped closer, taking JJ by the arm.  “Hey, none of that bullshit," he said.

JJ frowned.  “But you said—“

John B rolled his eyes.  “I was mad.  I was stressed.  I didn’t mean it.”

JJ’s face contorted.  “You should have,” he said and quickly shook his head as he pulled out of John B’s grasp.  “You did.  You were right.”

“No, because this isn’t just you or me.  It’s all of us together,” he said.  “P4L, remember?”

JJ physically flinched at the familiar invective.

John B pressed it.  “We went down together, okay?” he said.  “We’ll get back up together, too.”

And for a moment, JJ held his gaze.  For a moment, JJ heard him,

For a moment, JJ believed him.

But the reality crashed back in, and JJ looked away, blinking hard as he breathed heavily.  “We’ll see,” he mumbled, wholly unconvinced.

He wanted to reassure him.  He wanted to fix this.

Because JJ was his best friend.  JJ was his brother.  John B had lost too many people. He couldn't lose another one, not JJ

It wasn’t the same, though.  It didn’t work the way it used to.

JJ was right here with him, and he’d never been further away.  John B had known this from the start.  JJ wasn’t reckless for the sake of pissing them off.  JJ wasn’t reckless because he was stupid or selfish.  JJ was reckless because he was scared.

JJ was reckless because he would rather choose his own pain than endure what others gave him.  The race had been a sign that JJ was losing control, and John B hadn’t done anything.  Then with Luke, Groff, the land, the riot.

John B had been so wrapped up in himself that he’d lost sight of JJ.

Now, even as he tried to steer them to salvation, he worried he might lose JJ altogether.  Death took many forms, he knew this from experience.  The worst ones happened while your heart was still beating and air still moved in your lungs.

Because JJ <i>was right here</i>.

But he felt further away than ever.

[itsallmouthwashing]

Dear Diary, Someone Smashed My Guitar Today (Band AU- Chapter 1 snippet)

CW: depictions of violence, blood, use of f-slur

Word Count: ~2.2k

Highschool!Jimmy, Highschool!Curly, Angst, (physical)hurt/comfort, slight instant pining?

Im officially working on the first chapter for the band AU fic, but in the meantime here's a scene I've been working on from it (that ended up being almost the full thing WHOOPS!) :) please enjoy, reblog are so appreciated :)

Curly hears rumors of getting jumped after school

Jimmy hears them too

Jimmy gets there first and takes care of it

When Curly gets there, JImmy is covered in blood 

_____P--L--E--A--S--E----E--N--J--O--Y_____

There's blood on his shirt. It’s pooled at his neck line and trailing up like a river to its source: his bruised nose. I can't tell from this distance if it’s broken or not, but he’s looking at me through the slits of eyes like he’s cursing me. Like this is my fault. 

Maybe it is.

“Do we have a problem?” I try my best to sound tough, to not slide into the part of me that lightens the mood and eases the tension by joking. No, I need to make a name for myself. So this doesn't happen again. If they get me now, I’ll be dealing with it for the next four years, and I’ll be damned if I become the target again.

 My hands tighten at my sides and my leg starts bouncing without my permission. 

“Took care of it.” He sniffles and covers his mouth with the back of his hand to cover the wince that follows, but I hear it when he sucks in through his teeth. Blood drips from his face to the ground and that's when I see the spatters on the concrete. Pools and streaks and drops of crimson and deep mahogany. 

There’s so much-

The hand that’s shaking at his side is cut and bruised and dripping. I can't tell if the blood that falls is from him, or another’s come to join itself again in the pores of the pavement.

My lower half won't stay still. I’m fucking buzzing with energy. I think the steps I take towards him are involuntary. 

“I was told-?” to meet here. I was told to be at this exact curb at this exact time or there would be worse waiting for me tomorrow. His face is familiar to me now. A crooked piercing at the left side of his lip, greasy brown hair pasted to his forehead, deep brown eyes narrow and warning through the darkness of his cave. Prey that cross its gaping maw, beware. 

“Not today, no.” He dabs at the corner of his nose with his finger, pulling it away to see it covered in bright red blood. 

“What… Did you do?” 

“Like I said. Took care of it.” He wipes his nose with the back of his hand now, gingerly, just below his still leaking nostrils. Either he got hit, bad, or this happened just seconds before I got here. “We’re even, by the way.”

“You smashed my guitar last month.”

I laugh. I have to because the look in his eyes and the blood on his shirt and the bruises under his skin are overwhelming. The reality of the situation slowly creeps up my spine. My mind can't ignore the blood anymore. 

All he has to say in response is nothing at all. He just nods his head and blots the blood again with his other hand. I scramble to my pockets, pulling out the wad of tissues mother gave me this morning after a sneezing fit. She said something about being careful about the pollen this time of the season, but I think blood leaking from one’s nose is more important than some boogers. He looks at it for a while before looking back at me. 

Then, “We’re even.” He sniffles again but doesn't wince. He’s not looking away, and somehow I can't. “Come find me if someone gives you trouble again. But you’ll owe me.”

“I can handle myself- uh…”

He’s walking away. I want to yell at him to wait, but I hear police sirens in the distance and he does too. He’s sprinting now, down the street and taking a left and I forget that we’re only two blocks from our neighborhood. I think I start running too, because suddenly there’s wind on my face and air in my lungs and my legs are on fire. My feet are pounding on the pavement and they’re desperate to take me home. To follow. To get his name. He’s crossing the street onto the next that leads into our complex. My chest is on fire.

My chest is on fire.

I think I’ve been hit by a bus. I didn't look both ways before crossing the street and now I’m paying the price. The asphalt is rough, bits of rock and debris dug into my skin and slicing me open. But the road is smooth, almost like tile.

I don't remember his name. I know his face but I never got his-

A knee hits my jaw and knocks me over fully, and just before I close my eyes I watch a foot speed towards me. My hands fly to my head, my knees to my chest, my cries to the air.

“Come find me if these guys give you trouble again.” 

I can't get up. There’s two more feet to my back and another to my head and my legs aren't enough to protect from the one attacking my face. 

I didn't hear anything today. No one came to warn me. No one talked about it around anyone that mattered. 

Why is no one doing anything?

Camera flashes and iPhone’s recording. Beeps and whoops and subtle encouragement moving through the people like a lion through tall grass. Circling me, prowling, hungry.

I try to open my eyes, find anyone in the growing crowd who will look at me and do something. Anything. 

And there’s someone in the audience who’s already staring at me.

The same look of disdain and hatred for the world he held when my guitar laid in pieces between us. When my parents took us over to his apartment and I found out he lives just up the street from me. When his parents made him hand over the wad of cash himself to replace it. When he got to the curb seconds before me and saved me from this fate once before.

It’s not his face in the crowd, but all at once I remember something. 

“James,” I say when a foot connects with my sternum and I’m able to hide it between the hurk that’s forced out of me. I remember hearing it during attendance. Mr Peter’s voice calling out and his annoyed correction in response.

“Jimmy!” I call out, more desperate now. My chest hurts. I think one of my ribs might be broken and I suddenly remember we don't have insurance here yet and I’m sick for a new reason. 

“JIMMY!” It’s four-to-one and I can't move. It's dozens of people against four and no one moves. My throat is closing and my lungs are expanding into shards of bone and glass.

Uproarious laughter and humored mutters coat me like darkness. Someone’s Chucks connect with my jaw and the pop echoes in my ears. 

“Patheic fucking britt can't even fight for himself!” They punctuate with dropping to their knees and ripping my hands from my face. My eyes stay open now. I can't look away when the person smirking at me has blood on their face. Is that mine?

“JIMMY!” I’m crying now. I promised myself that no matter what happened I wouldn't cry at school but I'm sobbing into my shoulder, looking away and struggling to cover my head again like there’s mortar fire in the sky. I hear it’s whistling through the air as it finds me through the clouds and rains down like holy retribution. 

Except, it doesn’t. I don't get obliterated into pink mist, my body and self left to be wondered about and longed for by my loved ones. No, it’s the one on his knees behind my head, ramming his fist into my skull and not caring if his knuckle bones shattered in the process. 

There’s commotion around me, voices yelling and screaming and struggling and bouncing off the narrow hallway walls. People running away, hands lifting from my arms and head and the legs that caged me scatter. 

I have to blink to focus on what's happening in front of me. The hallway is empty now, save for three people. One of them is on the ground beside me holding his face in his hands and groaning. His blood leaks onto the floor and pools between us. Someone’s standing in front of me and I can't make out much but their silhouette and that of the person they have by the throat against the lockers. 

But everything’s blurry again. Something red drips into my vision and I think there may be blood in my eyes. I hear something drop to the floor with a thud and then someone picking me up by my arms. 

“Up, up. Come on, we need to get out of here-”

What? What's happening? The voice is so familiar but in my dazed state I can't search for it. In the depths of my mind I'm shaking in the corner and sobbing into my hands. My throat burns, and I can't tell if I'm holding back tears or if the sobs are ripping me apart on their own.

“Come on, work with me. One foot then the other. We need to go-”

I don't know when we get outside but we do. The F hallway is close enough to the exit for us to slip out quickly, I suppose. The air is crisp and light and cold on my open wounds. It’s only because of the chill that I know I have wounds. The sun hurts. Everything hurts. My head is pounding and, oh fuck, what if I have a concussion? I'll need to go to hospital, but how much is that here? Are there special rules for immigrants?

Are there worse rules?

He doesn't peel my dead weight off of him until we’re a few streets away from school. He places me down so I can sit on the transformer that's between someones’ property, and it’s only when he knees in front of me with searching eyes that I see who it is.

“You… came…” It’s hard to speak. It’s hard to breathe. I can't breathe. 

“Well, yeah,” he says. “You called.” He hands me a pack of cigarettes, offering a lighter in his other, and I don't know when he had the time to light his own. 

“We’re 13?”

“Yeah, I was nine when I started smoking. So,” he gestures them to me again.

Fuck it. This day can't get any worse.

He smiles when I take one from the pack. There were too many smokers in Bath, but I guess copying the masters isn't enough because when I go to light the cig I catch my finger instead. Jimmy’s watching me through it all. Probably to see if I'm a poser or not. But he snatches the lighter from me, looks at me like I’ve got to be kidding him, and gestures me forward. I try to move my neck closer to where his hand waits but wince when all my nerves pinch at once. He rolls his eyes and takes the stick from my lips, lights it, and hands it back to me.

“First smoke?”

“Yeah, thanks for the fag, I guess,” I laugh, feeling like we’re twenty years old outside of a nightclub and I need nicotine to chase the fire in my veins. He rushes up to his feet, suddenly towering over me.

"What did you call me?”

“Wh-what?”

“I’m gonna give you one chance, since you just got your ass handed to you.”

“I-I said, thanks for the fag? The- the cigarette?”

“Wha-?” He looks to the cig and then to me, then to the cig again, then back to me. 

“Uh, it’s just what we call cigarettes in the UK? I didn't mean anything by it- honest.”

“Oh. Kay. Uh… I knew that. Not used to hearing it in that context.”

“Sorry.”

“Just don't say that here. Ever.”

“What?”

“Fag. Or faggot. Just don't say it.”

“Right…”

“It’s like the n-word, ya know? It's just something you don't say.”

“You do realize that while you’re saying fag, you’re not sasying what the n-word is?”

“Okay, genius, you go around saying-.”

I choke on the exhale. It holds uncomfortable space in my throat and burns my sinuses with a feeling like an interrupted orgasm. I cough and sputter through the fire in my lungs, hack and spit into the grass when the charred feeling doesn't loosen. He actually says it. No cushion.

“You just said-”

He gives me a silent look as he takes a drag. Something tells me that someone else's reaction may be more visceral than mine. 

“Okay, whatever. I get your point.” He nods and looks away, letting his jaw hang open and letting the smoke pool out on its own like a lazy river. I don't know what it is about the sight of him blowing out smoke that makes me tingle. “Thanks for the cig, brah.” 

It’s not my best American accent, I’ll admit, but it gets him to look at me and crack the slightest of smiles. The chuckle he does blows the remaining smoke away, but the feeling remains. He shuffles in his pockets again, putting away the cigarettes and lighter and pulling out a black rectangle. He flips it to me and I’m not sure what to do with the phone that's suddenly in my lap. 

“Uh… not for me, is it?"

“Ha, no,” he scoffs, “Put your number in my phone. If I hear anything about those guys I’ll let you know. But I also need to reach you when I cash in my favor.”

He’s looking away again, hiding behind a curtain of thick brown hair and pretending to be interested in something on the block over. 

“Favor?”

“We were even last time. Now, you owe me.”

Oh, right. 

“I thought heroes didn't need payment for their good deeds.”

“Well, that's your first mistake. I’m not a hero." But what do you call the person who saves you life twice in the span of a season? What do you call the person who comes when you call? “‘D be nice though,” he inhales, sucks on the menthol taste stuck to the roof of his mouth, and says through the exhale, “To be someone’s hero.”

“You’re my hero. If that counts.” Ive been letting the cigarette burn between my fingers until now. The ash falls when I move it to my lips, and I can only take a baby hit before my mouth is burning, like I just swallowed unflavored mouthwash. The kind that's pure ethanol and none of the sweet. He chuckles, putting out the cigarette on the transformer. 

“Yeah, I bet your parents are heroes to you, too.” He leaps off and dusts the bottom of his jeans. “But they don't get you cigarettes after a rescue, do they? No, think that's more villain shit. Giving a kid cigs.”

“So, you’d rather be my villain?”

“I’d rather not be your anything, lad.” He attempts my accent and it's so shite I can't help but laugh.

“How about just being my friend, then?”

He shoves his hands in his back pockets and looks to the ground. Has no one ever asked him that before? Or am I just that shitty to be around? Am I just some kid who needs to be sheltered and protected to him?

Finally he looks back at me, but it’s at the worst time because I feel like I’m crying. Maybe he’s ignoring it, or maybe he doesn't care, or maybe I’m not crying at all. But he smiles and grabs his phone from my lap.

“How about being someone that owes me a favor?”

I smile too. I don't think he means it, not really, cause he can't stop smiling. Even when I hand his phone back. Even when he walks me back to the complex. Even when I invite him in and he declines. Even when he turns his back to me to walk to his building. 

[dazedantics]

So I finally got around to finishing Loki and I'm gonna talk about it

This isn't anything too deep or a big analysis on the show, just my thoughts immediately after binging season two.

Spoilers I guess if you haven't finished it

First off, loved it

Wasn't sure what to expect when it was announced but I was digging. For snippets of it, checking auditions, updates and posts about it, the date it'd come out, generally keeping an eye out for it since it was announced.

And then I watched the first season and I was intrigued. The concept of Loki essentially getting a second chance, but being his former self and having to see how his life plays out, the results and consequences of his actions? Brilliant, because Loki is pretty complex as a character, doesn't really seem to want to face himself. Then he is faced with himself, literally and figuratively, and we know we're gonna see a change in him just like Ragnarok Loki, if not more. I didn't think I'd be a fan of Slyvie though since she was -before this came out- theorized to be his love interest and I know that romance doesn't usually go so well for Loki -myth Loki anyway- or those involved with him, but I was pleasantly surprised. I liked their banter, she challenged him when he so clearly needed it, and was basically a mirror of himself. And because she is him -a variation of him, another Loki- I like how she also symbolizes the idea him learning to love himself, coming to terms with his faults, accepting how he is and gaining the chance to become better. And it wasn't just her he grew close to, learned to love, he started to notice and pay attention to others in the TVA, like Mobius, other Lokis. He can see people as more than beneath him. He changed for the better all while maintaining all of the mischievous qualities he is known for.

And then comes season 2

(Which I did slack on watching till today but don't worry about it)

This is where we see the extent of how much the people around Loki have changed him, how much they mean to him. He wants to make a difference and is actively trying to make one, not just for him but the world. He and Sylvie are closer than ever, just about to reach the end of their quest, one madman away from getting what they want. But as he hears the guy who is in control of it all give them choices, he hesitates. He begins to think. And we all know he's a smart guy so it's like "what's wrong here?" He tries to reason with Sylvie about their options, he doesn't want the bitter end they aimed for. They share that long awaited kiss. And then he's stabbed in the back. By the one he truly cares for and essentially himself, alluding to how he is the key factor to holding himself back, and he is presented with that reputation of himself who can't be trusted. He'll have to choose to accept that will always be a roadblock for him or continue to fight against it. And at this point I kept thinking back to the myth Loki, thinking of how he acted and the whole world built in that mythology, yggdrasil, the nine worlds, the "stunts" he pulled -and throughout the rest of this season there was jokes pointing back to the myths so I was wondering how this would connect overall. But anyway, he kept on trying to fix things, going back and forth, trying over and over again, trying to gain the "good ending." He showcased his cunning, methodical thinking, persistence and patience. Care. When confronted with "why" is he doing this, he hesitates. I expected him to say he wanted to be the hero, to finally get the chance to be more than he was expected to be. But he doesn't. He admits it's cause he doesn't want to be alone. He finally met people he cared for and was scared to lose them. I was taken aback, but happy to see this type of development in him. It was sweet. He wants to be around them. Saying it out loud though made him doubt if what he was doing was right for everyone. It was what he wanted, but was it what they wanted? He learns it is a good choice and then tries for literal centuries to fix everything. He fixes things. It was a good choice. But not the solution. And he struggles to make the life changing choice. Cause how can one put an end to the one they love. Get rid of the most difficult part of themselves? He wants to find a way out that won't have him lose any of the people he loves. And he finds it. He is the answer, the varient, the one who caused this mess in the first place. If he sacrifices himself, he can give everyone the freedom of choice. As he's walking to his doom, timelines dying before him, I start thinking "they kinda look like roots. And they're different worlds too. Kinda like that tree in Norse myths" And they were, they freaking were!! Loki takes them all, marching up to his final resting place. He sits on the golden throne. And the timelines bloom to life in a burt of vivid green, branching out like they were mean to be. A wide shot appears. And the image left behind is a tree teeming with life. Yggdrasil. It is a happier take on how Loki lives trapped under the tree of life in a loop of pain. In the myths he has Sigyn by his side to try and prevent acid from burning him. But here, he is alone, only able to remember the friends he left behind, to hope they happily lived out the lives they desired, a burden just as difficult to bear. A beautiful, beautiful ending.

Much better than his ending in Infinity War anyhow.

Him essentially becoming a time God was a nice shocker too.

And as much as I loved it, I hope this is the last we see of Loki because things were nicely wrapped up in the end and I don't want to see anything horrible happen to the character.

Though I don't know much about Comic Loki so maybe there will be more, who knows.

Overall, I liked how this show was handled, loose ends were tied, seemingly insignificant characters became important, things from episodes ago were remembered and used, the characters themselves were delightfully written and cared about and portrayed, and the visuals were nice.

I liked how they incorporated so much brown into it, don't know if that was symbolic for anything but it isn't used as often in films as much as it was in this.

And in my gut I knew this was gonna end with Loki being stuck in Yggdrasil for some reason. But somehow I missed the biggest hint, the one that Sylvie threw at us, she literally said "it's rotting" referring to the TVA, timelines, etc. And what else rots but trees?

Anyways, on a less serious note, I love Loki. Tom Hiddleston is great. Loki had them Ouran High School Host Club legs. Loved how fluffy his hair looked and the dramatic flips he always does with it, his little laugh, sarcastic quips, impish grin, melodic voice, the wise little book nerd shining though in the end, and him acting all calm yet just about to snap like a father with patience wearing thin for his learning son when giving Victor instructions was magnificent to see. Wearing my only Loki merch as we speak. My love for him has been reignited.

Also, why is it so funny that Sylvie was offered something usually desirable like power, the chance to be God, and she's like "nah I'm okay" and chooses to work at McDonald's instead?

This show was crazy, gave Doctor Who vibes, love it

[eldritchelfwriter]

So what does the Isobel and Aylin AU look like?

Well, it starts with Aylin being a fighter pilot and about to start a few weeks leave from the air force with her best friend, Lia. :) They had been neighbours, until Aylin's mother, Selune had her career take off and they changed neighbourhoods to somewhere much more upmarket ... the friendship continued however. Here's a lil snippet below. * * *

She shakes her head to clear away the old memories, and joins Cal and Lia, slinging the bag over her shoulder and following them into the house. But walking into their house is like entering the past in itself. Everything is just the same as it always has been, from the green and yellow wallpaper to the threadbare sofas and the photos on the mantel of the Halliwell children at different stages of their lives. There is even one of Lia and Aylin, aged 9, getting ready to go to the school disco together.

It’s almost a relief that something can remain so unchanged, after all this time.

“Well there you are then,” Mrs Helliwell says, stretching on her tip toes to try and pull Aylin’s face down to kiss her cheek. The woman was almost a second mother to Aylin when she was a child. She is shorter than her children, and all the years of putting up with their arguing has added grey flecks to her short, curly hair. She hadn’t been wearing glasses last time Aylin saw her.

“You’re looking well, Mrs Helliwell,” Aylin says politely. “Is that a new cardigan? Most seasonal, and warm.”

Cal sniggers behind her.

“Oh, this old thing!” Mrs Helliwell says, brightening at the compliment. “And you’re looking tall, as always. And fit, goodness! I bet you could lift me right up!”

“Oh please do Aylin,” Cal says with a mischievous smile.

Aylin ignores him.

“See what I have to put up with?” Mrs Helliwell says, confidentially, with the long-suffering air of an old grievance. “I keep trying to get them to leave home and they keep on coming back and giving me cheek!”

“Come on,” Lia, who has been rolling her eyes at the whole exchange, pulls at her sleeve. “I know you’ve been wondering.”

Aylin drops her bag off in Lia’s room, where a camp bed has been set up for her for the night and follows Lia into the garage. Her eyes immediately find a misshapen object in the shadows, bookended by travel cases and old buckets of paint.

Lia switches the light on, just as Aylin pulls off the cover.

“We haven’t touched it,” Lia says, watching her. “Promise. Cal wanted to, but I nicked his Playstation controllers til he promised to leave it alone.”

Aylin hardly hears Lia, as she gazes upon the gleaming Harley Davidson, her pride and joy.

“Shall I leave you two alone?” Lia says, teasing. “You look like you’re in love.”

Aylin ignores her as she makes her inspection. Not a nick on the paintwork. She turns the key and switches on the ignition to check it’s still running. The familiar deep putter throbs from the motor, and for a moment, she dreams of riding away, the wind on her face, feeling as though she is doing a different type of flying altogether. She switches it off, with a vague sense of disappointment.

Now isn’t the time.

“Thank you, Lia,” she says with a little bow of her head. “I appreciate your taking such good care of her for me.”

“Of course Aylin. It’s practically family too. All right what do you want to do?”