#listen i’ve always been the kind of blogger where you just know what i’m about when i’m about it

[hinadori-chan]

low key wanna like

set up a queue for posts i like that don’t circulate anymore so that way the recirculate but also i don’t spam but like

i don’t think i’ve ever used a queue before tbh lol

[jerzwriter]

Sometimes it’s hard to know the best thing to do, especially when dealing with people who hide behind cloaks of anonymity. Yesterday, another blog was birthed by someone who could have hit the DM button and had a conversation, but they chose not to. To my knowledge, I have never interacted with its creator. So, I don’t believe I have any issues to work out with them, publicly or privately. 

While I was not directly named, I was named by association because I’m one of “the sheep.” The blogger wants to know what being a “sheep” entails. I intended to ignore it, but since this does not seem to be going away, I want to help demystify. But, before I do, I need to make it abundantly clear that I am speaking for myself only. I speak for no one else, and no one else speaks for me.

If there is a secret underground society that wields control over our small and dying fandom, I am unaware of it, and I am certainly not part of it. 

When words like “selective”, “elite”, and “exclusive” are bandied around to describe me and some fandom friends, I scratch my head. Trust, such a group would not have me. I’m far too unimportant and annoying.

I became friends with “the sheep” the same organic way I have with every other group of friends I have, both in and out of the fandom. There is no selection process. I am in other friend groups, but they don't have a name and no one cares about them. However, the dynamics are exactly the same.

🐑 has been explained numerous times now. It was an inside joke that resulted because we’re a bunch of idiots who type RAMsey far more than any sane adult ever should. It’s as far from sinister as you can get. (For the record, I type CARrick more than any sane adult ever should, so 🚗 is a thing with me, but no one cares.)

Except for the friendships themselves, there are no benefits or privileges to be had. We’re just friends – far from the only group of friends within the fandom.

The blogger wants to know why others are left out. So I ask, left out of what? See above about no special privileges. I have never intentionally excluded anyone from anything. I try to be kind and welcome newcomers, as I was welcomed. The world is harsh, and this place is an escape for most here. Why anyone would want to take that away from anyone else is beyond me.

That’s all I can offer on that topic. I have many friends here, I treasure each of them, and I don’t categorize them the way others seem to want to categorize them for me.

Regarding my MC's race. No one has ever approached me about this. Ironically, this is the only story where I have a white, blonde sprite. It’s usually not my preference. Initially, I wanted my character to be of Irish descent because there is a large Irish population in Boston, where the story takes place. I later changed her background to Scottish/Italian, but I was attached to my sprite then, so I didn’t change it. I usually prefer dark hair, but I didn’t like the options offered in OH. It’s as simple as that. 

In real life, I have been actively involved in causes for social justice for longer than many in the fandom have probably been alive. That said, I am always open to discussions and listening because unconscious prejudice and microaggressions exist. I appreciate the opportunity to learn more and improve. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US CAN LEARN AND IMPROVE. Even those who levy accusations against others. There is no pinnacle, no degree to be received, it is a lifelong process and learning never stops.

In my own experience, I’ve learned it is best to approach someone with respect and the desire to inform and/or educate rather than ridicule or shame. Conversely, it is best to listen, not merely react, if someone approaches you. Unfortunately, that is not what I have seen in the fandom. If we could all adopt that approach, I believe it would provide the best outcomes we all should hope for.

The atrocities taking place in the world around us today are mind-numbing. This past weekend alone, I was horrified, though sadly no longer shocked, to see the events in Buffalo, NY. There are real-life, serious issues that desperately need our attention. I genuinely hope that each of you is working in your own community to effect positive change. If you’re not, I hope you will consider doing so.

I’m happy to discuss any of these issues with anyone– IF you make yourself known. I’m willing to go on record, be candid and vulnerable with you, but I insist on the same in return; otherwise, any conversation is futile.

[jaskiersvalley]

Send this to ten other bloggers you think are wonderful! Keep going to make someone smile💛✨

You are far too sweet, Nonnie. I'll be sure to be passing the smile on when I get a chance. In the meantime here's a little ficlet of thanks for being so kind and thinking of me with this ask.

Real Monsters

Winters were long, cold and not always the happy family time people wanted to imagine. Some nights were downright morose and the group huddled together over drinks, talking about the darker times on the Path. The times where contracts didn't go so well or decisions without a happy ending had to be made.

Eskel was staring particularly deep into his tankard, drunk enough to finally share what had been bringing him down for much of winter already. He sighed, took another swig before swilling his ale miserably and watching the swirl of liquid.

"I ended up killing a man," he blurted out with much prompting. The others sat up a little straighter, all eyes on him. Eskel's own eyes closed as he worked through the memory. "He'd been extorting the settlements and villages, had a route so he could pick up 'his dues' for keeping them safe. Not that he did anything, couldn't even deal with the lone nekker. Despite the locals pleading with their viscount for help, nobody was coming."

"You don't tend to get tangled in the affairs of humans," Cahir said softly. "What changed?"

Sighing heavily, Eskel shurgged a shoulder. "I saw him intimidating a widow. Made her hand over the only necklace her late husband had given her. I couldn't stand and watch her begging him, she had such little of value and he still wanted to take it."

"I can't imagine you marched up and just slit his throat then and there. You're much more thoughtful than that." Lambert held his drink in one hand, the other hidden under the table and clutching at Aiden's. It was so rare for Eskel to slip up or stray from his task, to hear about it was a little disconcerting.

"I didn't." Of course Eskel didn't rush in with rash actions, that wasn't his way. "I cornered him, tried to talk to him, help see the error of his ways. He refused. Boasted about all that he'd taken. About how much more he'll have. All I could think about were the families he'd left starving, taking their harvest, selling it at a hefty price elsewhere, stealing their valuables, their rainy day funds and day to day living. I saw red. I ran him through with my silver sword because silver is for monsters. Then I returned all I could of his hoard. But he brings my total to 15."

Cahir was the one to shrug it off first. "He had it coming. World's better off without him. But what's your 15? I don't get it."

It was Lambert who answered. "Number of humans killed. Though I have to say, as mine's 23, you have a bit of a way to go."

"You're not that far ahead. I'm at 18," Geralt piped up. "Blaviken didn't really do me any favours."

"Well, you know Cats take a variety of contracts." For a change Aiden looked less than confident. "So I'm well ahead of you all at 30 something. But I've been much more selective since Lambert's been in my life."

Leaning forward, Jaskier peered at them. "So you're telling me that over the course of, what, 90 years you've killed that many people?"

"70 for me," Lambert replied.

"And you feel like monsters because of that?" Jaskier seemed a little incredulous as the others nodded, looking ashamed. He laughed softly. "Oh my sweetlings, if you're monsters what does that make me? Over 20 years I've probably poisoned, slit throats, drowned, once even burned down a building on someone. I've killed more than 70 people." There was stunned silence as they all looked at Jaskier like he'd grown two heads. He merely shrugged. "What? I work for the Redanian Intelligence. Assassination is part and parcel of that. Nobody ever suspects the bard who has been performing all night."

Clearing his throat, Cahir drew attention to himself. "I don't have an accurate count. But including battles, it's well over 300. And a lot of them were good people who didn't do anything to deserve to die. Their only crime was to be in the opposing army."

"How many?" Lambert asked, voice a hoarse whisper.

"Over 300. I've also looted, stolen, cheated, embezzled and incited riots."

While the Witchers sat back looking at him in a whole new light, Jaskier leaned in with a grin. "Now this I have to hear about."

Just drunk enough to be loose lipped, Cahir grinned. "Foltest's crown. That's all I'll say."

"That was you? It was a genius move to swap it out! I'd only heard stories about his screeching but it was legendary. But tell me, Emhyr's sceptre, did that make a bit of a splash?"

Laughing, Cahir almost fell backwards off the bench, only Eskel's hand on his back kept him upright. "Heads rolled for that! He was so pissed. What made you leave behind a stick with a marble on top in its place?"

"I'm a funny guy," Jaskier replied. "My favourite was seducing the prince of Thurn on his wedding night. And then his bride too. It threw Maecht and Gemmeria into a bit of turmoil for Nilfgaard."

Growling, Cahir shook his head. "You made such a fucking mess there. I got sent in to try and sort things out. Ended up having to break off the alliance and settle trade agreements along with sanctions. Both the prince and his bride were exiled in the name of peace."

Around the table the others listened with growing horror. The men they loved and were very much loved by in return were showing a side of themselves they'd never seen before. Their history wasn't just speckled by mistakes and bad decisions but was drenched in terrifying competency and cold blood. Lambert swallowed thickly and looked between Eskel and Aiden. Even between the three of them they didn't have as much history as Cahir had amassed in his short life. Meanwhile, Geralt was staring at Jaskier in a whole new light. Gone was his naïve and happy-go-lucky bard. In his place stood a wolf in sheep's clothing.

To be caressed by hands that committed such atrocities, to be loved so softly by such a hardened hearts, it was enough to make their heads spin. But it didn't weaken their relationships. If anything, it made it stronger, knowing that they'd been chosen by Cahir and Jaskier, picked to be doted upon and all their love poured into. In a way, it made the Witchers feel safer, more relaxed to know that their lovers were so capable and competent. Sure, they held a new and healthy dose of awe and fear but it was a very welcome change from the worries of having a squishy human for a lover.

[wangxianficrecs]

Hi Mojo, I also wanted to share my thoughts on this concrit and commenting discussion, particularly the etiquette of asking permission before identifying racism part. I think there are two conversations here: the concrit and comment etiquette on fics, and POC being able to speak up without having to adhere to etiquette. Of course you can stop reading this message if you would like to as I’m mindful of your argument that you should ask permission first. But if you could read this (not even publish!) then that would be appreciated.

I am a Chinese diaspora. As a Chinese diaspora your comments affected me rather more than I expected them to. I’m being really careful about my own tone right now - because I’m worried that if I come across as angry or even remotely impolite, that my message might get dismissed by a reader thinking I’m just angry and reactive. I’m coming from a personal perspective on this, but I can’t not make it personal as this is something that affects me, and my friends and family, as people.

With your message to be kind in all interactions with authors, all that runs through my mind is the implication that as a POC person, is is MY job to be kind and understanding and polite, and it MY job to willingly teach another person of how their actions and words have impacted me. That if I am angry or offended and speak in a less than nice tone, that somehow this is a petty tit-for-tat move on my part? Of course in an ideal situation we should not react emotionally - but I can’t be expected to stay unemotional in the face of micro aggression and racism, even if it was not meant to be malicious. I’m sure your intention wasn’t this but then the idea that WE must then kindly educate the racist party (accidentally or otherwise) is a huge emotional and mental burden that we can’t be expected to partake in every time.

I know I cannot say ‘us’ in this situation, but this isn’t an issue that only affects an individual. I KNOW I am only one person. I know I may not be the ‘mouthpiece’, as you said, for everyone who is Chinese diaspora. But I can say for certain that I share the same lived experiences of at least some who will agree with me. I’m challenging the idea that an individual can’t be somewhat reflective of a population - otherwise it would be ridiculous to suggest that all people of a similar background must agree on everything and have a spokesperson.

I’m also sure you didn’t mean to or I could be wrong, but I get the sense that you are considering this issue predominately from the perspective of a non-POC (non-Chinese, in this case) author and how we should try not to upset them. It feels that we must consider that the author is coming from a place of no bad intentions or malice and must therefore speak to them in that way - but that is a very idealistic process that POCs and marginalised people can’t always rely on. Ignorance - especially wilful - can be just as harmful and hurtful as direct aggression.

Luckily my experiences in this fandom has demonstrated that authors who are non-Chinese or POC almost always start their fics with an apology and a reassurance that they are receptive to corrections of any cultural inaccuracies they may have. And I think that this is the crux of the etiquette issue that we shouldn’t offer unsolicited criticism without first asking permission. These authors have acknowledged their different background and own potential shortcomings and are open to criticism in this aspect. In these more common cases, there is of course no need to ask for permission - the author has already anticipated conversation around this.

The etiquette issue is when an author has not prefaced their work with this sort of disclaimer - and I am aware it may be unfair to expect this of all fic writers. That’s where this issue of etiquette comes up. The author hasn’t appeared to welcome comments on cultural insensitivity - so I have to think about if I now need to ask nicely for permission to speak. As a reader, specially as a Chinese diaspora, if cultural insensitivity or discrepancies appear without the disclaimer of ‘please let me know if there are any inaccuracies’ then the implication may be that the author simply didn’t care or bother about offending anyone. If they do, then I know it’s just a mistake and that they haven’t been dismissive or uncaring. Without it, the authors intentions become much more ambiguous.

Even worse is when an author blatantly says they’ve made mistakes or haven’t researched and don’t care for feedback. My culture and heritage isn’t a playground for you, and I don’t think fic writers should be exempt from being respectful for the sake of a quick fic.

Like I said earlier, this is not a hypothetical exercise for POC. We’re faced with microaggressions constantly in our real lives, so our patience for this sort of situation runs a bit thin and it is difficult not to react with emotion. I also dislike the idea that I need to ask permission to speak about something that impacts me so profoundly.

A message to prefaces a written piece of work saying that the author is not of that ethnicity or culture and that they welcome comments to fix it always helps. Then the lines of communication aren’t blurred and the onus doesn’t fall on the marginalised or POC to become a teacher.

Mojo, this is actually the second draft of a message to you. I have spent over an hour and a half of my time crafting this message - trying to get the tone right, trying not to come across angry or impolite, trying to say everything I want to say. Your replies to the blogger in the replies of one of the last anons was what really sparked this huge essay- I came away from reading them really effected, and not knowing why I was upset by it. I think you really missed the point that they were trying to say - that obviously, unsolicited criticism can be hurtful and unnecessary, but valid criticism of hurtful practices should not be shut down. Instead, you explained (and I know interpreting tone through text is difficult but I could not read it in a non-patronising way) that in short, if I am mean because they’ve been (allegedly accidentally) mean first then I shouldn’t expect them to listen to any of my concerns or understand why I was upset. Because I was mean back. For me, this felt like a dismissal of something that is profoundly more complex - that it wasn’t a conversation about etiquette anymore, but somehow became one about silencing marginalised people and coddling fragile white egos.

Mojo, I’ve followed you for ages and love all the content and hard work you put out and am infinitely and considerably grateful for your achievements. You are truly a wonderful person with such great ideas and intentions. The fandom would suffer greatly without your dedication. It’s just that on this occasion I think you may have missed the mark a little and had to say something. Others may not agree with me, I know, but I hope you have at least read this.

Lots of love, from a follower

Let me start by saying that I’m very sorry you felt you had to moderate your tone so much in order to be heard.  I really do strive to make my blog a welcoming environment for everybody, and I regret that you’ve felt excluded:  that was never my intention. I am always interested in everyone's point of view.

You've got some really great and specific points here that I think will be helpful to all authors in this fandom -- like ways to introduce your fic and/or be respectful as well as small things that come across as offensive.

The conversation this morning veered way off track from bookmarks to racism, and like I said then, I am not qualified to talk about that. I do not have your history or your experiences: all I can do is listen and empathize and learn. Which I try to do!

What I am qualified to discuss is how writers might respond to comments: I've had lots of experience with that! So my point is: if you approach an author with anger, they are very likely to close themselves off to you. I'm not attaching a value judgement to that, to say that they are right or wrong to do so... it's just a statement based on my observations over many years.

I can imagine how easily a lifetime of tiny (and large) insults and slights would build up and spill over in anger, frustration and resentment. That's very human. Please don't think that I am belittling or denying your experience or your right to feel this way, because I am not.

I respect you. I respect your experience. I respect your right to be angry and to talk about it. Period. I really, really do. I think it's important for your voice to be heard: this is how you feel valid as a person with your feelings, and it's how other people learn!

So let's go back to reading a fic where you find portions (or all) of it racist or insensitive or culturally tone deaf. What is your goal? I ask this just as a student of psychology (and also a parent). Do you want to educate them, or to shame them? Again, I'm not attaching a value judgement to either response. The way you introduce your topic will affect how the author will react. It's not about 'white fragility'... there's no way for you to know who penned that story, just as there is no way for the author to know anything about you when you comment. This is just about humans and how they interact with each other.

This is tough. This is thorny. THIS IS NOT A SIMPLE MATTER. There are always, always going to exceptions, gray areas and straw men: you (and any reader) should always use your judgement. Are you saying this to someone who is hateful and bigoted and cruel with it? Or are you saying it to a 12-year-old girl from corn fields in Nebraska? Are you unsure?

So this isn't about silencing your voice, not at all. It's about judging who you're speaking to and whether or not they'll hear you.

I absolutely do not think that unsolicited or angry fic comments (or bookmarks) are a productive forum for educating people... if that is your goal. And it may not be, which is fine. As you pointed out, the burden of educating people should not rest solely on you, it shouldn't be your responsibility.

I will say again that a place like this, right here - this very letter which I am answering and publishing - IS a great way to educate people. Use it freely, speak loudly, say your piece and share your experiences. Arrgh, I really hope that doesn't come across as condescending. I'm being utterly sincere. I am nearly 50. I've seen a lot of change happening. This is how it happens.

I do not want to silence your voice - or anyone's voice! I want to hear everyone's opinions and thoughts because that ultimately makes me a more well-rounded and considerate person and the world a better place.

I do however, passionately believe that positive change can be affected best through positive interaction. It's not a rule everyone is required to follow, not at all. But is the one that I speak of, and the one that I try to adhere to.

I could never speak for any minority, to say what you should or shouldn't do - as individuals or as a group. But I can speak from the experiences and feelings of a fic author. That's it, that's the limit of my ability. And you may do with that whatever you feel is right.

Let me wrap this up by saying that I really appreciated this letter and Nonny - you were very brave to throw this out into the forum, thank you! You had some extremely useful and important points that I am very happy to share. I am sorry my comments hurt you, and I hope that you feel a little better now.

Having said all this, I would really not like to start a huge discussion on racism in the fandom. I am the wrong person to conduct that conversation: I don't know enough about it, nor do i have the proper experiences or point of view.

With that, I must go, and I'll see you all tomorrow!

[joezworld]

📁

Specifically, any headcanons of the Sodor Engines interacting with the internet, or the internet in general?

For some reason, I’d imagine that podcasts and the like are popular among vehicles in general.

That is a question that I've been working on for some time - because I'm workshopping my own Tornado headcanon (and boy oh boy does she use the internet a lot) - but I have some ideas for the Sodor engines as well: 

Henry is probably the most "plugged in" engine on the island, weirdly enough. One of his drivers gave him an iPod back in the early 2000s, and kindly preloaded it with a bunch of torrented music.

 BTW, that works because all the engines are now equipped with automatic train warning systems, and the little on-board computer has a USB port - as a nice side effect it allows music players to work with the engines in the same way as bone-conducting headphones do. The computer also acts as some kind of computer interface, which I am not going to explain how that works because Jesus Christ I don’t know how it does either.  

 Henry has managed to upgrade his iPod a few times since thanks to hand-me-down units from NWR staff, so he eventually got his buffers on a wifi-enabled iPod Touch and now downloads new music from the station wifi. He does listen to podcasts, but as every other engine will tell you, you could show Henry ten thousand new and exciting songs from the best artists in the world, and his top ten played songs are still going to be Genesis, Phil Collins, and Yes. Bear considers it a win that he managed to convince Henry to regularly listen to Rush after a mere twenty years of convincing. 

 Mavis and Daisy listen to a very interesting program called The News, because as stated elsewhere, they invest a shitload of money and need to be on top of things. Thomas and Percy wish that Daisy would use headphones or something similar to that, instead of listening to Bloomberg TV at loud volumes in the middle of the night. Toby frankly doesn’t mind, as it’s very nice to be kept up-to-date on the outside world.  

In a move that surprises no-one, Bill and Ben have a podcast where they talk about whatever they think about at that moment - usually horse-racing, investing, and clay mining. As such, they have a wide audience, almost none of whom know that they’re that Bill and Ben, as their podcast is audio-only.  

 In an also unsurprising move, Edward and BoCo have been made very much aware that Bill and Ben have a podcast, but are still unsure as to what the hell a podcast is, despite being frequent guests on it.  

Of the main line diesels, only Bear has shown any real interest in the internet, and was immediately put in charge of the Amazon Alexa when a unit was installed in the diesel shed. He also has an iPod that he got for Christmas a few years back. (The NWR has a very good personal  electronics recycling program called give it to Henry, he’ll make use it.)  

Bear does listen to podcasts as well as music, but his choices are so insufferably boring that even Henry refuses to listen to them. (I don’t really listen to podcasts - despite making one - so insert the most boring podcast you can think of here.) 

 As for other internet uses... 

Gordon is very up-to-date on the newest social media trends - somehow - but only really cares when he is involved. He won’t admit it, but he’s been trying to figure out how to work a camera/selfie stick for some time so he can start up his own Instagram account. So far he has been unsuccessful, but one day he will manage it. 

 James has had an ongoing feud with his own Wikipedia page for about a decade now. The article sourced most of its information about his construction off of some out-of-print book about the L&Y. The book in question is accurate about James’ class, but not James himself - as he was a prototype engine. There’s no other primary sources available, so the very dedicated Wikipedia mod who created the page won’t change it - no matter how much James complains that he was there! He knows what happened! 

Every now and again a TTTE fan blog/tumblr will make a post about hypothetical “ships” of the Sodor engines. Most of the time it’s shipping the core characters like Gordon and Henry, much to Gordon’s bafflement and Henry’s amusement! 

Only one blog (a ttte fan tumblr by the curious name of @mean-scarlet-deceiver  ) has gotten it right. Henry actually reached out to congratulate this blogger, but was unfortunately mistaken for a very dedicated roleplay account.  

James is very annoyed by these blogs, as they have never once correctly guessed who he is “shipped” with! He has tried several times to be seen in public with Delta, but these events have never gone as planned - the “best” instance is when Edward rolled by at exactly the wrong moment, leading to months of speculation that JamesxEdward was the ship to look out for! 

Thomas, being a generally oblivious sort of engine, was totally unaware of the online fan community around the TV show until he started getting actively harassed by vloggers and Instagrammers in the early 2010s. He’s fine with it now, but it was a deeply unusual experience for most of 2012.  

Toby has developed an unexpectedly popular following on social media following his collab with Stormzy. His official twitter is huge now, with over a million followers, even if he has no idea what to do with it. He posts rarely, but usually manages to make an incredible post when he does.

No-one is sure who told Oliver what a “fan-production” is, but if you manage to get ahold of him for any period of time and ask him nicely, he will lend his voice to your TTTE fan-project, so long as it isn’t about [INSERT TERRIBLE SOCIAL/POLITICAL VIEW(S) HERE]. This means that he has 100% voiced dramatic readings of NSFW Fanfics before, which is always an absolute riot to spring on people unannounced.

There is a series of slice-of-life TTTE fanfics on Ao3 that have been written with such accuracy and innate railway knowledge that people are sure it was written by a Sodor engine, but nobody knows which one.

The Culdee Fell Railway has very active Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts, with all of the engines and coaches showing up regularly. It’s about the closest any of the railways on Sodor have come to what those outside the UK would call “normal locomotive social media”.

The Skarloey Railway has social media accounts too, but they don’t really feature the engines in any meaningful way, instead being used as a normal service announcements page.  

 The SR is a real working railway that doesn’t rely on tourism money as much as the others do, so they get a bit of a pass here.  

 The Arlesdale Railway has Twitter and YouTube, which didn’t usually get a lot of hits until 2020, when Ivan and Amanda Farrier started badgering the staff to make some videos just to alleviate some boredom. So far the most popular videos on the channel are a front-mounted camera video of the entire line slow-tv style, Bert explaining how steam engines work, and a video of Mike complaining about Justin Bieber for a solid half-hour.  

 That’s about it as far as Sodor goes, but before we’re done, I want to take a moment to talk about Tornado, because I have some fun ideas for her... 

First of all, we need to establish that Tornado is very young. Her construction only started in late 90′s, and she was steamed to life in 2000, putting her firmly into the “Zoomer” category. Add in the fact that she was built by a bunch of old men who didn’t really know how to treat a new engine, and she was raised much more like a human than a locomotive - I’ll get to this much more in the proper Tornado Headcanon post, but what this means here is that when social media started being a thing in the mid-to-late 2000′s, the people at the A1 Trust decided that they needed a young person to run things like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace... and, well, Tornado was the youngest person in the trust by a large margin.

I should state here that in the rest of the world, locomotives are on the internet at roughly the same level as humans are, so there’s plenty of equipment to connect a phone/computer/camera to an engine - being English, the A1 Trust didn’t know how common it was, but they managed to get it up and running just the same.

 So Tornado has very quickly become attuned to the internet, just like any other teenager would. (yes, let’s let that settle into our minds for a moment - Tornado is barely old enough to drink in the US!) Quite naturally that means that she knows social media inside and out, and is actually quite a proficient social media manager for the trust, managing all of their social pages. More than one person who has complained about the trust on twitter has unknowingly been complaining to Tornado herself! 

 “On the internet, nobody knows that you’re a dog Engine”. 

 Tornado has her own personal social media accounts too, but most/all of the time she gets mistaken for a very dedicated role-player, as the general perception of British Locomotives is that they don’t tweet. This has resulted in some amazing reactions from podcast hosts (because, as you might expect, Tornado is very knowledgeable about steam traction in the 21st century, and tweets about it often, so train podcasts want to talk to her) when she gets invited onto video calls, turns on her webcam, and is met with screams from people who suddenly realize that her profile picture is accurate.  

 By far the best instance of this is when she was invited onto a video call with a railfan podcast. She was at the NRM at the time and managed to convince them to let her use their Skype setup. A wide-angle lens was needed because she was on the turntable in the Great Hall, so that podcast quickly got sidetracked when her webcam was turned on and revealed Tornado, with Mallard, Evening Star, City of Truro, and Green Arrow visible behind her. Whatever the original topic was quickly got thrown out in favor of a 2-hour Q&A with some of the most famous engines in the UK. 

[bitchesgetriches]

Noble citizens of the aspirationally decadent Conglomerated Nation of Bitches Get Riches: let’s have a lil’ chat, shall we? It’s been a while since we chatted about our favorite topic: ourselves!

We hope you’ve enjoyed season two of the Bitches Get Riches podcast. Recording it was a bright spot for us during this dumpster fire of a year, so thank you all for listening.

As we wrap up another season, we had a few notes to share with you. Including some more personal reflections about how we’re doing, where we’re at, and what the future holds.

Let’s get into it!

Merch is back online

If you visited our Etsy shop in the last few months, you might’ve noticed the physical merch—tee shirts and coffee mugs and tote bags and such—wasn’t listed anymore. Basically, when lockdowns started, it caused a lot of disruption and delays on orders. Not wanting people to be stuck waiting for stuff, we decided to take it all offline, and only offer digital merch.

As of today, we’ve reactivated everything! But please keep in mind that there may still be delays, depending on what’s happening in the world! We appreciate your patience, if patience is indeed called for.

Visit Our Etsy Shop

Season one transcripts

Next, we wanted to let you guys know that we now have transcripts available for season one of the Bitches Get Riches podcast!

We’re committed to making BGR as accessible as we possibly can. We know that some people can’t hear, or struggle to absorb information aurally, so transcripts were something we’ve always wanted to offer.

… But, you know, at the end of the day, we’re just two people! Transcribing and editing audio is time- and labor-intensive work, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day for us to do it along with the fifteen million other things we have to do.

We were able to offer season one transcripts thanks entirely to A Purple Life, a peerlessly talented and wonderful fellow blogger who selflessly made it happen. (If you don’t already read her stuff, you’ve already disobeyed us, as we commanded you to in 10 Rad Black Money Experts to Follow Right the Hell Now. And for that, we’re strongly considering smiting you.)

We’re incredibly thankful to Purple for her hard work on this. But we also feel strongly that this DESERVES to be paid work! So the release of season two transcripts is dependent on getting more Patreon donors to offset funding it.

Season 1, Episode 1: “Should I Tell My Boss I’m Looking for Another Job?”

Season 1, Episode 2: “How Should I Behave on My First Day at Work?”

Season 1, Episode 3: “My Parents Have Bad Credit. Should I Help by Co-signing Their Mortgage?”

Season 1, Episode 4: “Capitalism Is Working for Me. So How Could I Hate It?”

Season 1, Episode 5: “I Don’t Love My Job, but It Pays Well. Should I Quit—or Tough It Out?”

Season 1, Episode 6: “I Lent My Boyfriend Money. He Took It to a Casino.”

Season 1, Episode 7: “I’m Terrible at Budgeting. Do I Suck It Up—Or Is There Another Way?”

Season 1, Episode 8: “My Mother Demands Information About My One-Night Stands.”

Season 1, Episode 9: “I’ve Given up on My Dream Career. Where Do I Go From Here?”

Season 1, Episode 10: “I Want a Pedigreed Dog. She Wants a Rescue Mutt. It Turned into a Fight… and the Fight Got Ugly.”

Season 1, Episode 11: “I Feel Cornered by a Friend Who Keeps Asking to Borrow Money.”

Season 1, Episode 12: “Should I Believe the Fear-Mongering about Another Recession?”

Bonus Episode: Merry Bitchmas! The 2019 Star-Studded Holiday Spectacular

For transcripts, scroll to the bottom of each episode and click “episode transcript.” Or read them directly in the podcast player of your choice!

Podcast reviews

We also super wanted to thank all the people who’ve etched their names in blood upon the dusty pages of our dark grimoire written reviews for the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and other places!

We are beyond flattered by the kind things you guys have said about us. Like MoonPetalLily, who described us as “the snarky older sisters [they] wish [they] had.”

FunshineKelly said our “advice helped [them] land a $20k raise and a signing bonus without crying even a little bit.” GOOD! We don’t support tears in the workplace! Not even in the sanctity of your car parked way in the corner of the parking lot. Keep it together!

And God bless MelHubbs, who said, and I quote:

They’re prepared, and still relaxed; informative, and still light-hearted; comforting, and still sexual. It’s everything you could ever want in a podcast, in an internet personality, in your sisters-in-arms against the terrible war between capitalism and what humans actually need to survive & thrive. One of my favorite things about them is that they don’t have any corporate sponsors or ads, so you know what they’re saying is what they mean, not what their advertisers want them to say. If you’re able, support them on Patreon! If you’re not, listen to their podcast, take their advice to heart, reflect on your options, make your moves, then, with your newfound financial independence, become a patreon!

MelHubbs, you joyful sonnet!

Your review is so good that it reads suspiciously like something we paid you to write! But we’re too cheap for that—IT REAL!

Bitches Get Riches at the crossroads

All right. Time to level with you guys.

In keeping with 2020’s overarching theme (“everything is pure shit”), this year has become a real “shit or get off the pot” moment for the two of us.

Although I’m comfortable and doing fine, Piggy is still unemployed. And last week she received the last unemployment check she’s entitled to. It sucks. And it’s scary.

Being a partnership is awesome in almost every way. But one way that it sucks is that we have to earn double the amount of money to be truly profitable! (And no, before you ask, it’s not possible for us to only pay Piggy. Believe me, that was our original plan—but it turns out that’s not allowed in a 50/50 legal partnership. We must pay ourselves equally, or Uncle Sam will spank us. And he doesn’t do it in the sexy way—only the traumatic way!)

Piggy is doing okay for now. She has freelancing work, and an intact emergency fund. But understandably, anxiety and worry take their toll. She’s pushing through it, but it’s hard. Creativity and passion can’t thrive for long without some measure of safety and stability.

During these scary times, our Patreon community has been a lifeline. As more and more of you have joined us, it’s slowly crept up from grocery money to grocery and utility bill money! So thank you, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts thank you to those who’ve stepped up and joined.

But we’re kind of at a crossroads. Because of Piggy’s situation, we really need it to become “paying the mortgage” money. And it’s gotta get there pretty fast. Otherwise, it’s just not fair to ask Piggy to invest so much of her time in Bitches Get Riches, when she could be taking on higher paying freelancing work to keep herself afloat.

And trust me, you do not want a BGR that’s too Kitty-heavy. I am longwinded af, slowly losing my abilities to think and spell, and take every possible detour to inject disgusting sexual comments wherever they are least germane (although idk maybe you’re here for that).

Our new goal for ourselves, and you

With all of that in mind, we have a new goal: to produce season three of our podcast, we need 500 total Patreon donors.

Today we have… 294. So that’s, uhhhhh… a really ambitious goal!

It’s probably too ambitious. We’re probably gonna fail. Who cares, it’s 2020! The planet is on fire and god is already dead, so we have no reason not to give it our all!

We are leaving this in your hands. We—Piggy and I—believe that the world would be a better place if people could hear reliable, relatable financial wisdom funded by regular people, untainted by corporate sponsors with deep pockets who want us to push their capitalist crap upon you. And 294 of you have already demonstrated that you believe that too. Thank you, thank you, infinity thank yous to all of you who are already a part of our Patreon community. You are shining stars that smell faintly of vanilla.

For the rest of you: if you like what we do and you want us to keep doing it, please show us that you believe in it too. You can do that by joining us at the Bitches Get Riches Patreon.

We hope to be back soon for a third season. Until then, stay safe, stay sane, wear your masks, triple-check that you’re registered to vote, and save room for dessert. (What’s for dessert? So glad you asked—it’s the rich!)

For now, Bitches OUUUTTTTT!

Join the Bitches on Patreon

Join the Bitches on Patreon

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep6: Joey Wheeler is on Fire, Yet Again

Came down with a little sickness-not the biggie, just a little sly guy. But I took some meds, I’m a little floaty, I’ve only been listening to baroque music all morning for some reason? And I hate baroque music usually? But I’ll leave it to bro to tell me if this is fluid enough.

Just so you know, these caps were kind of a hot mess for a while and some of them read like that Garfield in of hot eat the food comic until...today. So pls don’t judge me, Judge my damn DMV where no one was following Covid regulations because I’m pretty sure that’s where I got this damn cold.

We start off with Roland getting more attention than he ever has in his entire life. Like honestly, I don’t know what Roland’s job really is...but he’s got a very diverse set of very useless skills. One of which, is knowing how to announce sports games that aren’t really a sport, while those games he’s announcing slowly fall into chaos.

Anyway, Roland’s taking so long cherishing his sweet time before everything goes to hell, that he’s boring Joey, who’s kinda turned into a ball of stress in the waiting room.

A lot of this episode is us watching them watching Joey having a break down moment by moment, TBH.

(read more under the cut)

Yugi telling Joey to study his cards and straight up--what?

Like at this point they know what’s on the cards, right? Like there comes a point where even Yugioh cards have a finite amount of words and I’m just going to assume that like...Joey probably knows them all in his own deck, right?

(bro note: they have no limit on what they will put on a card)

Then again, maybe Yugi doesn’t know what “study” means?

Also, appreciate how some artist crosshatched the hell on Joey’s nose there and I zoomed out and ruined it.

Now for some reason every duelist is hanging out in the duel lodge, including our current arch-villain guy who’s brought a book. I want to know what book this guy even reads so no one could suspect he’s actually a hacker who uses computers. He’s reading romance, right? And I don’t think he’d even be into Twilight, I think he’s straight up into hard core Mom romance like a lame ass Nicholas Sparks over there reading “Dear John” for the millionth time because he is completely un-phased by anything else happening in this room.

Joey, our hero, just out there being an asshole for no reason.

After Tea is pushed into a locker or something screaming about her need for female friends (which she screamed in earshot of Rebecca again, who I figured was on friends terms with her after last episode...but I guess not) Leon hops up to remind us that we should be caring about the fact that his character exists.

And like, I love Leon’s hair color--that’s a good choice, and legit that is the color I tried to dye my hair at the beginning of the epidemic (it didn’t work PS, my hair cannot take dye for the life of it) but also like...he just kinda feels like a weak Rebecca as far as characters go. He’s young, he’s good at cards...I think he goes to a private school? That’s all I can think of about Leon.

He mostly just reminds us that the big prize of this tourney is to duel Yugi, who anyone could have dueled at any point even without the tournament.

On the way out of the...duel room? lounge? Area? Joey decides to like...make peace with Zigfried, and I gotta tell you, I kinda have to side with Zigfried, because Joey spent the last ten minutes being a freak in the dressing room/lounge/bathroom and at one point looked like he was going to hold the entire locker room in a stranglehold.

I would also want some space from Joey Wheeler, is what I’m saying.

After insulting Joey’s style (which honestly, Joey...has a style? He pops his collar, that’s his entire style.) Zigfried assures us that Joey’s gonna lose and like...

...probably, right? Just looking at the plausible direction this season will go.

Anyway, Joey is such a mess (which is the theme of the episode, that Joey needs to learn to chill in order to win at card games) that Rebecca is like “I understand if all of you leave me to go help our poor baby Joey.” And no one felt bad for her.

Mokuba comes over to tell everyone all of the Kaiba family secrets because Mokuba has no filter.

Seto has devoted himself to staring at a computer screen for the rest of this episode. I guess he’ll put their names into Google, realize that social media hasn’t been invented yet, and then just lie his head down on the desk and take a power nap until the tournament is over. Much like I did after taking Dayquil this afternoon.

I like how Seto dressed for success and then locked himself in the server room for most of this arc so far. Maybe he’s just...really tired, I dunno. I don’t really blame the guy, he’s had a hard time.

And then Yugi was like “DAMN IT MOKUBA, JUST ONCE CAN YOU NOT INVITE THE ILLUMINATI???”

And we had a weird scene where Yugi just started talking to the ghost and it was while he was talking to everyone else, and the show didn’t treat it like that’s a weird thing to do...but it was a weird thing to do.

This show does that sometimes, where I guess they imply that Yugi’s Pharaoh conversations are split second conversations but...they’re not, right?

Also this chick ain’t gone yet, and Mokuba is just failing at his entire job for not zeroing in on vibes coming off this chick like stinky cheeseman.

So listen.

Did the Kaibas make like 3 types of Blue Eyes Caboose to one up Noah? Because Noah made one choo choo dragon, and then Mokuba and Seto were like “how dare” and then made sure that everyone ride every single version of the blue eyes caboose just to see how proud of them they were.

How many months of troubleshooting was the train? Like how long in development did Seto and Mokuba spend on these? A lot right? Like most of the time?

I did not check the subs to see if Roland said Jumping or Champion but I like to believe that Roland thought it was a cool new name he gave him.

Then these guys all showed up.

Hey so...can we talk seating arrangements?

Tea decided not to sit next to Yugi after complaining about not spending time with him for like how many episodes? Or was it too awkward to sit on top of what was probably Pharaoh?

Or did Mokuba go like “please, Tea, I cannot sit next to the others because I’m pretty sure one is a mole that is about to go cray” and was Tea like “Good, I need female friends, these ones are driving me crazy!” and then was Mokuba like peering desperately over the edge of his self made dragon train prison realizing he has to listen to Tea complain about boys for the rest of his ride across molten lava?

Headcanons abound about this weird seating arrangement that the animators drew for the reasons they did...but reasons I cannot fully understand. That and the Dayquil is making me overfixate on random stuff.

And also, Tea is kind of the Kaiba’s security’s understudy. Just there to always protect Mokuba with her ass because she’s the strongest woman alive.

PS I missed the tumblr wars because at the time I was trying to like...run a proper business on blogger. When Blogger died and I jumped over here it was like a weird ruin where everyone was like “tumblr is the most toxic place alive” and...I’ve had a really nice time here, actually. Completely missed that civil war period and I have no regrets.

Now I was there for the Petz wars (warz, I guess) where people were very militant about Petz abuse (abuze?) where apparently people were using the spray bottle on their catz too much and people were very, very upset about it to the point that they were like campaigning about it on their angelfire websites with the most bizarre grassroots campaigns that I still recall, to this day because they were like...well they looked like this:

PLAPA. Not only am I 100% positive that only this one guy ever called this movement PLAPA, but I’m 100% positive that not only are Catz not real people, but also this wasn’t actually happening and we never had any proof that it was. Either way, if people knew or suspected that you hadn’t deleted the spray bottle from your game (which at the time I had no idea how to do because I was a wee child) they would basically assume you were on a one way road to being a mass murderer in real life.

In real life we were 7 years old so like...thanks?

But that’s the closest I got to toxicity and at the time I was too young to make an email account and actually converse with these people. I was just there to download their Petz hexes, and I already made a post about how wonderful and incredible Petz Hexing was.

And y���all, I heard, just now after a little deep dive into the Petz Abuse debacle (which yes, is on the wiki), that apparently, like gardening, Petz Hexing came back in a big way during the epidemic--and I have found an active Petz forum in this the year 2021. The only problem is that I no longer remember how to use old timey forums...and I think I’m locked out of seeing most of these threads (and like this forum is so old I think I have to send them a letter in the physical mail to apply). But, I’m pretty sure they’re hosting a picture contest for who’s dogz poses the best. And I’m pretty sure someone created a hexxed Pickle Rick. Or it’s a photoshop that was made to look like a hexxed Pickle Rick.

Dammit why did it have to be Pickle Rick? That’s not worth re-installing Petz and getting it to run on Windows 10...

Guys is this the Dayquil? Is this really happening? I feel like I’m losing my mind for so many reasons...

Anyway, speaking about useless hexing it’s about time that our villain did something that was actually dangerous, so Zigfried decided to install a new virus that does more than turn off the lights. (it still turns off lights)

the Spreadsheet Virus!

Confounded by the spreadsheet software, it...um...it does this:

Straight up how does Excel make a volcano erupt? Is that why I have to pay for Microsoft office now?

All this because Joey made fun of Zigfried’s naturally pink hair? Which is the most normal hair on this series outside of like...Tristan?

Hey guys...Joey’s fine, right? Like how many times has Joey been on fire? And once in an iron cage next to like...a Fire Golem?

Joey’s fine.

MAN I miss Fire Golem. He had a good mug.

And then we just kinda watch chaos go across the park, chaos that includes: Too many ghosts in the haunted mansion (which honestly--you’ll get your money’s worth, sounds great!), the Ferris wheel goes kinda fast and thus might accidentally be fun, the lights turn off at some concert stage that only had 2 people on it (so it might just be motion detector lights and not even a virus), and um...literal fire and magma are going to set Joey Wheeler on fire.

Just...one of these events does not seem like the others. In fact most of these things sound like good improvements to the park and they should just hire Zigfried at this point.

Roland puts down his microphone and jogs across the stage, about a mile through the audience bleachers, and into the staff lounge, to go and bother Seto Kaiba, who is in a room that has a hi-def classical painting copy-pasted on the wall and I can’t look away from it.

I almost did a Google search on this painting but then thought better about it. There’s like...a billion classical paintings that look exactly like this, and they wouldn’t use like a Monet, they would have to do something that’s harder to catch to avoid copyright issues (because yes, even old ass paintings have copyright issues, but no one tell NFT’s which are going to be so freakin screwed and was such a bad idea, that I can’t even start).

Anyway, I have no idea who it is and it is legitimately driving me up a wall, but I’m on too much meds to do the effort of putting it in a reverse google image search.

Plus, a reverse google image search would only pull up Seto Kaiba.

So Kaiba takes us on a little flashback to his weird ass past, a weird ass past that just...doesn’t follow any of the established timelines, but I assume was shortly after adoption but before Seto got into a phase where he wore his school outfit everywhere and tried to shove his MMO off onto his Dad as a business model.

Seto is like 8 for some reason. I don’t know why, they kinda drew him younger this season anyway, like maybe they got a lot of fan mail and realized “Hey I think we made the 16 yo boy too sexy?” And they just toned Seto the hell down. That, and it’s a different animation team, and maybe they looked at Seto’s character design and were like “we don’t get paid enough to draw this well.” So...since Seto actually looks like a teen again, I guess his 12 year old self has to look like he’s in Elementary school.

Also, I only recognized this, because at some point in S3 as I was roasting Noah Kaiba’s weird fashion:

I remember distinctly roasting that little bow tie. I don’t remember when I wrote it, I think there was a version of this outfit that was in color...but I don’t remember where.

Anyway, it’s not the same jacket...but man that’s kind of awkward, ya? Like the maid who dressed Mokuba deffo got fired?

He um.

Turned the lights off a little bit.

Guys this villain is like...

...why does he think lights are scary? Like look at little Seto here. The boy is already bored. Seto duels on the edges of cliffs...he doesn’t care about the freakin dark.

We had a guy who killed everyone on the planet last season, and this season we have a little fashion gremlin standing in the corner and flicking the light switch going  “wooooo you never catch me!” and it’s like...

...I’m starting to think this guy isn’t a witch.

Like we’re at Episode 6, there’s still time for this guy to be a witch...but I really am starting to think this guy is just...straight up not a witch. It’s everything Seto wanted, a rival who isn’t a freakin magic person...and sets Joey only fake on fire instead literally on fire like last time...

and Seto is just completely unhinged by it.

Anyway, I’m off to go drink a bowl of soup and pass out. If you’re new here, this is a link to read these in chrono order.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[superleeleehipster]

Theories on Season 11

Hey! So, as I’m sure you all are very aware, Find Me is out, and I can honestly say that I’m somewhat relieved it did. I was tired of all the theories and anxieties I was feeling about it. At least now we know what we’re working with officially.

I don’t want to make a review, as most blogs have already done their own. For this post, I’m going to jot down some theories on what Leah’s role will be in Season 11. Some of these theories I’ve thought of and others I’ve seen from other bloggers, but I just wanted to get my thoughts down. 

Of course, it’s just my opinion, and if you don’t agree, that’s perfectly fine.

Spoilers and theories under the cut... 

So is everyone ok after 10x18? Yes? No? No worries on whatever your answer is; your emotions are valid.

Anyways, even though the episode was a bit painful to watch as Caryl shippers, I really don’t think it sunk the Caryl ship. If anything, the subtle (not really) parallels between Caryl and Daryl and Leah just showed that Caryl could very possibly happen despite all the naysayers saying they could never sleep together. 

Also, can I say that the whole fish scene was freaking hilarious.

But I digress... I have a few predictions on how Leah’s going to fit into the storyline for season 11. I might hit the nail on the head, or I might be so off that I break my thumb instead, but that’s ok. It’s what makes it fun.

1) I’ve made this first part into a group of theories instead of just one. These are theories that I’ve heard about or read, but I really don’t think are going to happen. They’re just interesting enough for me to list them, but they’re unlikely in my opinion:

- Leah is in Season 11 but in flashbacks - I don’t think they would go this route, because it would be even lazier writing than what we’ve gotten, and it would be more interesting to have her in person instead of being in flashbacks. If they went that way, it would be incredibly obvious that she is a plotpoint for Daryl and that’s it, and that’s pretty crappy writing even for TWD.

- Leah is in Season 11 but she isn’t real - Now this one is an interesting concept admittedly. What if Daryl was in such a crappy mood in the woods, and is thirsting for companionship, so he makes someone up in his head that is pretty similar to Carol, but doesn’t look like her b/c he wouldn’t want to be that kind of creepy friend. Then in Season 11, the viewer realizes one way or another that she was made up, that he made her up in his head to help with his woes, but now that he’s better and with Carol he doesn’t need her anymore. Really neat theory from a mentality standpoint, but I highly doubt that’s where the writers would go.

- Leah is in Season 11, but she dies - I know some folks have said this before, and I get it. Some of us are so done with the drama, we’re just thinking the worst case scenario at this point. What if Leah comes back and Daryl’s all happy and thinks that he’ll spend the rest of his life with her but then Leah dies somehow and he decides to go on a roadtrip with Carol to help with his man pain. I know some peeps feel like that would happen, but in my opinion, I really don’t think so. Angela Kang does have a lot of respect for Daryl and Carol (I know we don’t feel that way right now b/c of 10x18 but bear with me), as she’s said that this is about their story and their journey I really don’t think she would have the story go as low and as misogynistic as that. I honestly don’t.

Now these next two theories are the ones that I believe have a much higher chance of happening in season 11:

2). Leah is in Season 11, and is a part of the new antagonist group (Reapers) - So it wouldn’t be a season of the walking dead without some sort of antagonist being around. The Reapers have already made their presence known with the first extra episode, and I’m sure is going to cause issues throughout the season. An interesting theory that I’m a fan of that people have thought up already is that Leah is part of the Reapers. Whether she’s the leader or one of the followers, it doesn’t really matter, for she’s still a plot device for Daryl. 

The current fantasy I’m having is that Leah comes back and tries to get close to Daryl, which Daryl isn’t necessarily against but is still wary. But then Carol notices things about Leah and catches her doing stuff and she’s like “wtf?” and she tells Daryl her concerns but he brushes her off because he doesn’t trust her judgment very much right now. Most ASZ peeps think Leah is a good person but Carol’s like “mehhh something’s off”. Then the reveal happens where Leah is a double agent of sorts and betrays them all by having the Reapers infiltrating Alexandria or some crazy shit like that. Then it looks like she kills Carol in some way and Daryl’s absolutely gut wrenched because his Carol just died at the hands of his crazy ex girlfriend that he believed more than his best friend and what the fuck is wrong with him?? But then Carol comes back and butchers the Reapers cause she’s a goddamn queen and Daryl looks at her like she could fart fairy dust and gives the biggest smile we’ve ever seen him give on the show. Then he hugs her fiercely and starts sobbing, telling her how sorry he was and how relieved he was at her being alive and... same old story that’s happened on MULTIPLE occasions with other shows and books.

Now considering how Leah is made out to be in 10x18, I would say this theory is ‘less likely’ than what I thought it would be originally, but there’s still a decent chance. I don’t think Leah’s a cold blooded/narcissist, but it’s possible she could get roped up with the Reapers... and lets face it, Daryl isn’t the same person from who he was in the woods, so there’s a good chance she won’t be either when she comes back.

3). Leah is in Season 11, and pushes for a relationship with Daryl - Admittedly, this one would hurt to watch, but I think it’s a fair possibility we can’t rule out. Daryl is arguably at a better headspace now than he was way back when in the woods, and he knows he belongs with his family. But then Leah shows up and wants to start things over with him, and it could go multiple ways. He could realize right away that he doesn’t want that, and maybe he and Leah both get closer together. Or maybe he will give it a try for old times sake, but then he realizes that she’s not the person she was, or whom he thought she was, and they’re not actually a good pairing, and then he realizes “you know who I really want? That grey haired queen”... it would probably more emotional than that though.

I mean, we’ve all been there. We break up from a long term partner and it hurts like hell but we heal and we’re stronger for it. But then the ex comes back and is wanting to be with you again, and you’re at the very least tempted to give it a go b/c you were happy with them at one point. But then you’re with them and you realize that maybe this wasn’t a good idea, and maybe you should’ve listened to your goddamn gut all along b/c it was warning you that there’s a reason why it didn’t work out the first time.

Arguably, this theory would be more satisfying than the last one, because it would be Daryl who would choose who he would want to be with in the end. Think about it. We were initially bummed that Ezekiel wasn’t going to get his comic death in season 9 (and of course we were pissed about Henry), but then it turned out for the better because Carol willingly chose to leave him instead of being forced out of the relationship via death. So for Daryl to choose Carol over Leah in the end would be incredibly satisfying, albeit looooong overdue...

I still very much think Caryl is endgame despite the tough road we’re facing. I know folks are taking this last hurdle really hard because it’s been ingrained in our heads that Daryl is a “one woman kind of guy”, but... maybe that’s still the case. Maybe his heart is a “one woman kind of organ”, but Daryl’s been able to move past his traumas enough to be physical with more than one person. At least that’s how I’m seeing things at the moment. Obviously, it’s not good taste to go completely backwards on what is “known” about a character and assume that the audience would catch on as to why it would happen (like how Daryl reading the “children of abuse” book was never addressed in the show, but we’re having to assume he did b/c Norman said he did). Hoping the audience assumes the things that the writers are thinking of has always been an ongoing issue with TWD, so this whole shindig wasn’t necessarily surprising to me.

Anyways, that’s my two cents on things. I still think they’ll happen, and I still trust Kang. I’m just thinking of this as just the angsty part of a fanfic that I love and adore, and I just have to grit my teeth and wait for the author to finish writing the next chapter before hauling ass to my computer to see the update and breaking my desktop in the process. We’ll get to the healing part, I promise.

And if the spin is anything like the playful banter between them in this episode (albeit more mutual and fun), then sign me the fuck up and let me be a voyeur in their passionate travels.

Cheers my loves! 

[ot3tropetober]

Eliot and Hardison are travel journalists for rival publications who keep showing up in the same places 

Fic for this (~3500 words) is below the read more! Some notes: 

[backstory on why Hardison is writing these comes from this post]

[Eliot, Parker, and Hardison are all commenting on this document, think of it like the chat in Google drive? In-document comments from Eliot are italicized, from Hardison are in bold, and from Parker are plain text] 

By the time Will Coffey stepped off the plane in Dallas, all he wanted was a nice long shower and to sleep in his own bed for once. Being a travel journalist for a leading travel magazine had its perks– a month-long trip across Mexico, for example, all expenses paid or at least reimbursed – but after a month on the road he was dead tired and ready to be home. 

Is this supposed to be me? Why am I living in Dallas? 

Yes, and also, you don’t actually live in Dallas, Eliot, you live here, in Portland, with us. 

I know that, I just– you know what, never mind. 

Well, Will Coffey likes Dallas. 

I am Will Coffey!! 

That’s the spirit. 

The other thing about being on the road for a living was that sometimes it felt kinda lonely, and as relieved as he was to be home, the first couple of minutes after he walked in, turned on the lights, and looked around at an empty place, that was always a little bittersweet. But the only other person he’d really seen in any kind of serious capacity the whole time he’d had this gig was a fellow traveler who spent just as much time on the road as he did, so it just kinda was what it was. He set his keys and his bag down and headed to the kitchen for a beer, but he hadn’t even opened his fridge when his phone buzzed a couple times. It was a text from Sarah, his editor. He’d known her forever– they shared a couple classes in college. Now they shared the stress of managing a print publication in an increasingly digital world. 

“Did you see this?” she had written. There was a link in the next message. “How does this guy get this stuff up so fast?“ 

Will already knew what he was gonna find before he clicked the link, and sure enough, it directed him to a popular travel blog called The Travel Geek, which was a ridiculous name for a travel blog but people absolutely went wild for it. Will liked it too, not that he would ever really admit it, but that probably had more to do with the guy who ran it than anything else. They had…not a thing, exactly? It was hard to explain whatever was going on with Jeremy Edwards, who by rights Will should probably hate for stealing his stories and his audience. But the problem with that was mainly that the guy was so goddamn likeable. 

I’m guessing that’s you. 

You would be correct. 

You think I think you’re likeable? 

No, I know it. 

he is pretty likeable

Yeah, yeah. 

Will had met Jeremy a couple of years ago, right when he was just starting out with his blog. Jeremy said he’d been reading Will’s stuff for a while and would love some advice from a pro. It wasn’t like Will didn’t know it was a little bit of flattery, and it wasn’t like he didn’t know it was a little bit of flirting, either. It also wasn’t like Jeremy was bad to look at. So Will said sure, he’d be glad to, and they were in Belgium, so they shared some beers, ate fries from a baraque at one in the morning on a park bench, shoulders pressed together, while Will tipsily rhapsodized about gaufre de Liège while Jeremy laughed and laughed. 

I have never *rhapsodized* about anything in my damn life. 

Have you heard you talk about food? This is not a criticism. I could listen to that all day. 

Nothing really happened, in the end, just a good conversation and the promise to keep in touch. That turned out to be easier than it should have been, because they started covering the same damn things, all the time. One big world, and somehow they were always sharing part of it: Will was in India on a camel safari through the Thar Desert, and Jeremy was there, keeping Will up at night tappity tapping on his keyboard. Or Will was in Oatman, Arizona, for a piece on Route 66, and there was Jeremy, taking selfies with the wild burros roaming the streets of the town. Or Will was traveling around Japan, doing a feature on onsens, and Jeremy was there, too, acting like he wasn’t looking in Will’s direction while they sat, very naked, in the soothing hot water. It went on like that for a while until finally one night in Barcelona, in front of Sagrada Familia, he looked at Jeremy, tall and handsome in this absurd brightly patterned scarf, and said, “This is ridiculous, man,” and pulled him in for a long, lingering kiss. 

Do you honestly think it would have taken me that long? 

I don’t know, baby, it took your cowboy ass five years in real time, so Will’s doing a lot better than you. 

OoooooooOooo 

We had a lot goin on!!! And what is that supposed to be, parker? are you some kind of ghost? 

it made more sense in person 

I’ll take your word for it. 

It wasn’t a relationship, exactly. It was just something they did, sometimes, if they happened to run into each other on the road. It wasn’t like he was getting invited home for the holidays, or anything, and he was fine with that, really. The long and short of it was, they’d basically been circling each other for years now, professionally, personally, whatever, but the professional stuff was definitely getting in the way of anything else. Because Will would sit down and write out his long, detailed articles with carefully selected photographs that would look just right on the page, while Jeremy had already turned out quick blog entry after quick blog entry, listing off places people should visit with witty little one sentence summaries, and people just ate it right up with a spoon while Adventure., Will’s magazine, slowly saw its sales circling the drain. It stung a little. Maybe more than a little. It wasn’t like he could say the guy wasn’t working hard, but damn. Hell, the best selling issue they’d had in a couple years was the one where Sarah had masterminded a collaboration between Will and Jeremy. Blogging was definitely here to stay. 

That night in Belgium was five years ago, and at the time it seemed impossible that the internet would ever really fully overtake print. But bloggers and phones had both gotten smarter over the last five years, and now everyone wanted their news in little chunks that they could read on a screen during their commute, so travel blogs were the hot new thing. Will grimaced as he looked at the blog entries Jeremy already had up from Mexico, where they’d run into each other at least half a dozen times. 

Five Reasons You Need to Visit Mexico City Right Now; What You’re Missing Because You’re Not in Monterrey; Everything You Wanted to Know About Agave But Were Too Afraid to Ask 

“You gotta be kidding me with this,” he muttered, staring at his phone and thinking about the half-written article he had saved on his laptop detailing the history of agave and how to experience Jalisco as more than just the birthplace of tequila. 

He pulled up Sarah’s number and dialed. 

“I don’t know how we can compete with this,” he sighed, when she picked up. 

“We’re going to have to adapt,” she said. “You know that. I can hear you making a face." 

"I don’t want to blog,” he complained. “I like print." 

"I know,” she sighed. “I’m working on it. Anyway, I’m glad you called, I was going to call you. I need you to go to Italy. Flight leaves tomorrow." 

"No way. Not interested,” he told her. “I just got back to my apartment, Sarah, I’ve been in Mexico for a month. I’m beat." 

"It’s not my fault that you spend half your time on extracurricular activities,” she teased. 

“You can just say sex,” he said. “I won’t be offended. And it’s not half my time. Like, maybe twenty-five percent. Anyway, I get the job done." 

"Yeah, and you’re very good at it, which is why I need you to go to Italy,” she said. 

“I’m not saying yes,” he told her, “and I’m not interested. But what’s in Italy that’s so important for me to get to?" 

"You’ll love this one,” Sarah promised. “It’s a food festival." 

Okay, maybe he was a little interested. "Oh?”

“Yeah,” she said. His phone buzzed in his ear. “I just emailed you the details. Including your flight info." 

"Dammit, Sarah–" 

"Oops, emergency, the printer’s on fire, gotta go!” she chirped, and the line disconnected. 

Yeah okay that’s Parker huh

Yep!

I do know y'all a little bit. 

“Dammit,” Will said again, and opened Sarah’s email to read up on his next destination. 

+ 

The food festival turned out to be a week long international celebration of local food from around the world. It only happened once every few years in October, when a world of people descended on the city of Torino, and more specifically the park by the River Po, where they set up tents and stands and served pretty much every kind of food you could imagine, and Will loved food and could imagine a lot, so that was saying something. It was pretty cool, seeing all these people from all over the planet showing off food that was important to them, sharing it with strangers. It really was the whole planet, too, the way the park was set up you could walk through a continent at a time, with all the countries on it represented at their own space. He figured he’d pay his respects to the hosts first and start with Italy, which was definitely the largest section. Halfway through the displays he found a stall with some folks from Campania selling fresh mozzarella di bufala the size of his fist for a Euro. It was speared on a stick like a candy apple so he could walk around with it, nibbling on the sweet cheese as he checked out the festival’s other offerings. Aged cheeses covered in mud and straw from a little town in France. A swanky tent with wood plank floors where the Filipino agriculture offices had a set up with big displays dedicated to traditional food and heirloom crops. Six different kinds of wild rice were layered in a glass display bottle in the booth dedicated to Indigenous agriculture in North America. There were folks from the Yucatan peninsula displaying cured meats and wild honey. There was a whole series of displays about preserving, protecting, and raising Maasai red sheep, from Kenya. The whole event was really impressive, actually, and even though his body had no idea what time zone he was in, he didn’t feel too tired– although that might have been more because he’d been downing every cup of coffee from anyone selling it. 

Okay, this actually sounds pretty cool. But now you gotta fake a whole food festival like this if we ever use these aliases. 

I don’t have to. That’s a real thing. Happens every couple of years. I was gonna ask if you wanted to go to the next one. Parker can probably find us a job after, anyway. 

I’d love– like that. 

Hardison. HARDISON.

Why isn’t this deleting the things I tell it to delete??? 

Ooh, forgot to tell y'all, this chat records your keystrokes? You know. Just in case you happen to type something sappy about how much you love me, and then delete it before you send it in the chat. Pretty much exactly what just happened. 

Dammit Hardison I’m gonna delete YOU

Baby, that doesn’t even make any sense. 

im w hardison on this 1. it’s ok if u love things eliot. especially food . or us 

Just let me finish reading Hardison’s make believe story so I can get back to dinner prep, ok? 

(he loves us) 

I know :) 

Will strolled around the park, snapping photos here and there, jotting down notes. He talked to folks from all over who came here to run their country’s booths, locals who had come out to enjoy the day, and people who had traveled long distances to be there. After a couple of hours and a really good lunch, he found an unoccupied bench near the river and posted up there for a while, notebook open next to him as he flipped through photos on his phone, the story he could tell about this event already starting to take shape in his head, and he had to admit, at least to himself, that Sarah had been right about this one. Nobody else on their staff knew food enough to get this right. But even though he had a good idea where to start, he couldn’t help feeling a little overwhelmed, too. You could spend two weeks here and still not talk to everybody, and it seemed important to try, somehow. 

“Well, well, well,” said a voice, and Will looked up from his phone and his notes to see the tall form of none other than Jeremy Edwards. 

“Dammit, Edwards,” Will swore. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Again?" 

Yeah it’s pretty much EXACTLY like that every time

Mmmhmm. You talk a big game, man, but no one here believes you. 

What he said ur like that stuff u put on the dessert u made 4 us last wk

Stuff on dessert– the Italian meringue? You really comparing me to Italian meringue?! 

Is that the stuff that was kinda hard and crunchy on the outside but actually really soft and sweet inside? 

Yep that’s the stuff

This is the worst conversation we’ve ever had. 

It’s weird how I can hear you smiling right now, though.

Shut up, Hardison, I’m reading.  

Got him! XD 

"Looks like it,” Jeremy said. He took a seat next to Will on the bench, despite the fact that Will had absolutely not fucking offered it to him. He grinned. Will looked back at his notes before he smiled back. “We’ve really gotta stop meeting like this." 

"Yeah, well, trust me, I’m working on it,” Will grumbled, and risked a look at Jeremy again. Still handsome, and still smiling, unfortunately. He thought about the blog a little and made himself frown. “So, you’re here to blog about this, huh? How many blog posts have you done already?" 

"None so far,” Jeremy said, scratching his chin, “but I am working on one right now. Tentative title, How to Tell The Guy You’re Casually Seeing And Have Been Chasing All Over the Globe That His Boss Sent Me Here To Work With Him." 

Well, there was a lot of information there, but Will decided maybe sticking with the professional stuff was better for now. "I’m sorry, you’re here for what?" 

Jeremy shrugged. "Sarah really liked that collaboration thing she got us to do last year, I guess, wanted to try it again for this. I said yes. It’s good for your magazine and it gives my blog some credibility with all you snooty print folks." 

"We’re not snooty,” Will said, although that wasn’t exactly true. Maybe they were, a little. He unlocked his phone and saw the email from Sarah, the subject line of which read: “DON’T ARGUE IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU/US/THE MAGAZINE.” He sighed and looked back at Jeremy. “I can’t believe she sent you to a food thing." 

"I’m offended,” Jeremy said, although it didn’t much sound like it. “I know food." 

"Oh really? So last year when we were in Beijing and you were looking for a McDonald’s that was just you knowing food, huh,” Will drawled.

“Sometimes you just really want a Happy Meal,” Jeremy joked, and Will just shook his head.

“I guess we should figure out what we’re doing, then,” he said, and Jeremy raised his eyebrows. 

“About the story,” he said, “right?" 

"Yeah, about the story,” Will grumbled. 

“Whatever you say,” Jeremy said affably, just like always. 

+

It was actually pretty easy to figure out how to cover the festival now that he had a partner in crime. They worked out a plan that afternoon, sketched out a couple of pieces, a collab for Adventure., a short guest piece for Will on The Travel Geek, and a short story in the magazine for Jeremy. Sarah signed off on everything from afar– “What time is it where she is? Does that woman ever sleep?” Jeremy asked, as they both got email after email. “I don’t think she does, man,” Will laughed– and they got to work pretty quick. There was plenty to do and they were both here for a few days, so they wandered through the park as they worked, stopping occasionally to sample food or take photos.  Eventually they walked all the way out of the park and into the city, up to a big plaza, Piazza Castello, in the center of the historic part of town. They got gelato from one of the many carts set up nearby for the festival, and sat outside, eating and talking as the sun set. 

It was nice. It was always nice, when they ran into each other. That wasn’t the problem. But they’d been stuck in the same routine for years now: they’d find themselves in the same place, Jeremy would laugh, Will would pretend he was annoyed, and then they’d spend a good chunk of their time together enjoying each other’s company in as many ways as they could find, and then they’d head to the airport and go their separate ways. And that was that. This shouldn’t be any different, but somehow it was. Maybe it was the sunset lighting up Jeremy’s skin, or maybe he’d just been lonely too long, but maybe they needed to figure out what they were doing with more than just the stories they were here to tell. 

“You wanna get dinner?” Will said, before he could talk himself out of it. 

“Yeah,” Jeremy said, smiling again, and this time Will let himself smile back. Just a little.  

They asked around for recommendations and ended up at a little restaurant in the city, a few blocks from the Piazza. They split a bottle of wine, a margherita pizza, and some perfectly fried fish, and they didn’t really talk about work at all. 

“You know,” Jeremy said, about halfway through the wine, “not for nothing, but I’ve gotta say, this looks and feels a lot like a date." 

"I wasn’t under the impression that you’d be opposed to that,” Will said.

“Oh, I’m not opposed,” Jeremy told him, “I’m just a little surprised you’re asking. I figured at this point it was gonna have to be me who said something." 

Will eyed him carefully, thought back to a lot of nights on a lot of trips. "How long exactly have you been waiting around?" 

"I mean, don’t get the wrong idea, here, I haven’t been pining away for you like some Victorian in a bad novel,” Jeremy said, and Will snorted. “But yeah. I played a long game, man. I gotta say, though, after that fishing boat incident in Guyana I really thought you figured out we had a thing." 

"Yeah, well, I didn’t have time to notice, I was too busy taking pictures of you hiding behind that skinny British guy when that big old fish jumped out of the water,” Will snickered. 

“Big old– that thing was two-hundred and thirty-four pounds of ichthyological torpedo headed straight for yours truly,” Jeremy said, and Will chuckled. “Big doesn’t really describe it.”

“Hmm. It was kinda wild he thought we were gonna get in the water with it,” Will mused.  He winked. “Glad you finally remembered you owed me dinner for keeping him from pushing us into the river." 

"Ha. You know Sarah wants us to work with that guy again, right?" 

"Aw, hell,” Will said. “Really?" 

"Yeah,” Jeremy confirmed. “She said she was gonna talk to you about it when we got back from this. Canada this time, so when Mister Fisherman tries to throw me in the water at least the hypothermia will probably get me before the monster fish does." 

"Nah,” Will said. “Don’t worry about that. Nobody throws you off a fishing boat. Except maybe me. No. Well. Maybe. No,” he concluded. 

Hah. I mean, okay, that does sound like me. 

Oh, I am aware, trust me. 

“Sarah maybe also mentioned we might do a few more of these little…collaborative things,” Jeremy said, drawing invisible circles on the table. “Maybe even in a more formal capacity." 

Will raised his eyebrows. "No way she talked you into giving up the blog." 

"Oh, definitely not,” Jeremy said. “But funnily enough, people keep sending me emails about wanting a print version of some of my photographs? But I don’t really have the publishing connections. A magazine, though…” he shrugged. “Me and Sarah figured we might come to some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement, somehow. Might be seeing more of you, is what I’m trying to say." 

"Can’t say I mind that,” Will said, and reached out across the table to cover Jeremy’s hand with his. 

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Jeremy answered, and this time Will didn’t try to hide his smile. 

/end 

Okay? 

Okay, what? 

Well where the hell is the rest of it? 

What rest of it? It’s clearly implied that they’re dating now. They’re dating, they’re happy, they’re gonna work together for real, happily ever after, et cetera. 

they should have at least kissed. i would be into that 

This is what I’m saying. Where’s the resolution, here? 

Baby, anytime you want a kiss, you know where to find me. 

What I want is for you to take this seriously since you’re making us read all of it. 

Wow, okay. Here: 

They walked around the city for a long time after dinner, still holding hands, and the kiss they shared later under the moonlight felt like a promise. The Actual End. 

Y'all happy? 

too sappy 4 me but idk what eliot thinks

Not your best work but it’ll do, I guess. 

Are you still in the kitchen? 

Yeah, why? 

I’m gonna come give you a demonstration of my best work, that’s why. 

Bring it on, man. 

do i get a demo too

You know it.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

The Video

Alrighty, so as promised, I listened-slash-watched-slash-backtracked the video over making and eating dinner, with a break in between to take a phone call from my sister, so I may have missed and misunderstood/misheard a few things and may need another rewatch to fix any presumptions I make in this mini (?)-review.

Two things I do need to correct from my last post:

One is that I actually was sent the video to pre-watch before it was posted; I found it in my emails two days later but because I was swamped with day job stuff (as in I was working until 11 PM both days, and I didn’t even sit down until 4 on Saturday), and my fandom email is NOT a primary address so it’s not hooked up to my main Mail server on my MacBook (limited space), I hadn’t checked my emails since Thursday afternoon. So yeah, technically I should’ve known it was out, so apologies: technically I knew it was coming out; my sorry arse just didn’t check my emails.

Second, is that meta I did send her did get referenced and used; some of it word for word (like the discussion about the difference between Johnlockers and TJLC)��so meta was read, my bad on assuming it wasn’t before watching.

C’est ça on that front.

A few things that ruffled my feathers and maybe I misheard, but I’ll mention them as I remember it:

I did find it slightly bothersome that the assumption was that Johnlockers that we were a bunch of teenagers (we weren’t – most of the people I talked to were in their 20′s and 30′s and many were academics of varying sorts). SZ was younger than many of us in our little corner of the fandom, I think, and it was filled with amazing meta and university-level papers on queer history, ACD canon history, subtextual writing and literature.  EDIT: I did skim back over to a bit of the beginning since I missed it over making dinner, and I guess a lot of the people who contacted SZ were teens at the time of the airdate, so again, my little bubble and all that and apologies for assuming. :P

This is a totally biased view and probably indicative of how deep down the rabbit hole I was: A bit annoyed at the implication in our belief that Mofftiss weren’t trying to deliberately imply the Gay Sherlock / BiJohn thing especially paying special attention to it during Q&As and meet and greets and interviews; That the cues weren’t there. Though she did point out the queerbaiting aspect of it. I don’t know. Maybe I misunderstood since I was stuffing my gob with pasta and wishing I had a cheesecake.

I think SZ should’ve worded her Twitter callout post a LOT better, because the cons were only mentioned for about 10 minutes, and in only in relation to the drama. She did praise the cons as a positive experience for people, so I’ll give her that.

The Twitter stuff pre-vid-posting still rubs me the wrong way.

Still feel that selling the shirts is tasteless. Mug is cute, though.

Things I did find interesting / good / stuff I didn’t know:

I know I’m a minority in this regard, especially since I am a fence sitter, but I feel... relieved? sorry I can’t think of the word... that SZ essentially did accuse Mofftiss of queerbaiting by the end of it – that it’s not just us who see it. I’ve always said without an S5, it IS queerbaiting, and given that S5 probably won’t happen anytime soon... well. Like I’ve said in the past, I hold out a glimmer of hope. Not holding my breath though.

The mentions of some of the fandom theories and speculations were done tastefully, light jesting but not mocking them.

The discussion section about AA / Mary... Yikes. I forgot it got THAT bad.... I guess because I was always in the “Mary’s a kickass villain” camp so I was blissfully ignorant about that stuff until a few years later. 

The ace stuff, 100% true, and I’m glad it was brought up.

The term “Ragnalock” got a chuckle out of me, will admit that. First time I’ve heard of it.

I had no idea the ARG theory was anything more than thelostspecial website. Somehow I missed that whole thing about it being part of the series itself.

And, a lot of things, in hindsight: just an overall, “yeah. :|”

And some additional notes I can’t really classify one way or another:

Cringing at MYSELF because of some of the post-S4 theories that, looking back: oof. Apple Tree Yard specifically. 

AND cringing at myself because I know I perpetuated a lot of the “IT WILL HAPPEN” in my corner of the fandom pre-S4 because I wanted people to be excited for a new season. For that I am very sorry to everyone who were hurt by my belief. S4 was a brick wall and I hit it hard, thought I do enjoy theorizing about how fake it was. It’s the only way to cope for me, LOL.

Ooof the drama stuff, a lot of it I didn’t know the entire deets about, only about the PPG being involved. I tried to stay out of it when I could and focused mainly on meta writing, my own healing processes, and making people feel welcome. It’s what a few bigger bloggers did for me when I joined by interacting with my posts and offering their kindness, and I wanted to return the favour. Inevitable it had to be covered, but yeah, dark times.

LOOOOOOOL the critique about TFP. Literally stuff that we’ve talked about in our “something’s fucky” tag. 

And to address the elephant in the room: Yes, I DID give SZ meta, but it was the link to fandom meta that is essentially on the header of my blog on desktop, just as I do with anyone interested in the fandom.

Overall, it was a thought provoking vid, a bit of a nostalgia hit to be honest. I thought that it was a good video, interesting in that strange way where you relive strange moments of your past. I feel it was a fair analysis of the fandom, but please, please remember: I can’t speak for those directly involved in the events mentioned, because I WAS NOT THERE. Not my place to disregard their feelings if they have a different opinion than I. 

That said, I think it’s worth a watch if only to see what the fandom WAS. But it’s informative and respectful, I think. Though, I think she could’ve left out the bit at the end just before the credits.

And finally: to anyone who are coming here from the vid: I have been here since S3, joined because of LSiT, and later I wrote villain Mary meta and TAB meta. These days, I primarily have focussed my attentions on curating content, offering my advice on stuff, introducing newbies to the series, and trying to spread positivity, all peppered in with the random theory from time to time, and trying to atone for my... “enthusiasm”?... in the past. I like promoting community and open discussion from all viewpoints, as long as it remains respectful. So yeah, I do have some meta you can check out, just let me know what you’re looking for, and I do lots of fic recs, so if you’re looking for something, hit me up.

Cheers, all. I’m going to bed. 

[lululawrence]

do you know any good abo fics! ty

sad;gkhas;fdlksaj HELLO! i’m so so sorry i haven’t made the rec before now! but YES! i have LOTS of excellent a/b/o fics for you!

first of all, you can check out previous a/b/o fic recs i have made here: rec | rec | rec | rec | 

and i also have a masterpost of fics i’ve written that are a/b/o here

that said, last time i made an a/b/o specific fic rec was apparently about a year and a half ago, and when i checked my bookmarks for a/b/o fics i saved just since that time, i found almost 80 fics. i am NOT going to list all 80 here. lol as much as i would like to. instead i’ll share the 20 most recent fics i have bookmarked with the a/b/o tag and hope that suffices for now! You can find them all under the cut :D

A Distant Hazy Light by @greenfeelings / green_feelings - this fic blew my mind and is the first part of three she has planned and i just cannot recommend it highly enough??? the whole concept of the fic as well as the way it all unravels and various things come to light is beautiful and compelling and i adored it.

Like Candy In My Veins by @littlelouishiccups / littlelouishiccups - this is an oldie but a goodie! it was deleted a little while ago, but the author reposted it for us, which i’m very pleased about. it is such a fun fake relationship christmas fic that i’ve always enjoyed.

the way that you're thrilling me by @hereforlou / hereforlou - love me some non-traditional a/b/o pairings! this one is omega/omega and the self discovery as well as exploration with each other is just lovely. i very very much appreciated the way it was all handled and described and i am so very fond of this harry and louis hehe

don't know if i could ever go without by @lovehl / ifthat - okay this fic is so much fun, i love the world building. omegas are not equal to alphas and therefore have a hard time finding a job and louis ends up hiding he’s an omega in order to get a job at an alpha only firm. except he isn’t doing as good of a job as he thinks he is and that is just something i really really enjoy reading hahaha

I Should've Known by @28vinyl / nikogda - this is another omega/omega pairing BUT it’s a poly fic! there’s SO much pining after their alpha neighbor, liam, and he’s attracted to them too, but doesn’t thin he can do anything about it and the way the alpha and omega dynamics are played with are just... it is SO much fun. i loved this fic so much too.

First Moments of Freedom by @jaerie / jaerie - i feel like it’s a common caution i give to anyone i’m reccing jenna’s fics to, but i’ll repeat it once more: please read the tags. haha i loved this fic and as with all of hers it is so well written, but it covers some dark and triggering topics, so just please take care of yourself. if it is something you are still interested in reading after traversing the tags, then you’ll be taken on a journey, that’s for sure.

Rose Pink Omega by KatnissPotter1 - this one was a lot of fun because so much about the fic felt like a/b/o fics from 2014/2015, back when they were harder to find. it gave me such a sense of nostalgia haha! it’s omega harry and his twin alpha marcel, and omega louis is roommates and besties with harry, and then on top of all of that Louis is a camboy and it’s a uni au and... yeah. there’s just a lot all shoved together in this and it felt like a fun throwback reading it!

When Tomorrow Comes by @jacaranda-bloom / jacaranda_bloom - okay listen. i am a SUCKER for fics that focus on scenting, and this fic is such a fun way of looking at all of that, PLUS it has ALPHAS nesting!!! i’m also a sucker for nesting, but alphas??? omg i looooooved that. and the idea of soulmates all as a part of it, it just was such fun and i really loved it.

Shadows Come With The Pain That You're Running From (Love Was Something You've Never Heard Enough) by hlftanna - another secret omega fiiiic! this one is more canon compliant, but i really really love when the secrets build up to tension and misunderstandings and just really like seeing how it all plays out and comes together and seeing what all makes it fall apart and i got that in this fic so it was defo fun! hehe

Confessions of a Fabricated Alpha by @jaerie / jaerie - another secret omega fic!!! in this one louis works for a phone sex line and harry calls in to get the kind of stability he craves that he can’t get as a famous, secret omega and omgggggg the way it all unfolds is so lovely and i wanna protect and cuddle and love both of them and i told jenna that while i read it i wanted to wrap myself around harry and snarl at everyone surrounding him in the fic hahaha so yeah, it evoked a clearly emotional response in me which imo signifies an excellent fic haha

Home (It's You) by sunniskies - okay okay okay! miscommunicationnnnnn due to making a poorly timed joke with someone who misunderstands because of previous traumatic experiences? YES PLEASE. seeing them have to get past that hurdle when it happens not just once but a few times just has me all excited lol they are neighbors in this one and it’s so fun to see them interact when they are feeling awkward and gah yes love

Tastes like Strawberries by @sadaveniren / SadaVeniren - the classic i texted the wrong person kicks off this fic and i love how it turns out anyway. it’s so funny because louis just needs cuddles so so bad and harry just wants louis to have what he needs despite the fact he hardly knows him and then... well. it’s sada so if you’ve ever read any of her fics i’m sure you can imagine where it goes lol it’s wonderful, as per usual.

We Both Got Nothing to Hide by @chloehl10 / lovelarry10 - AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES!!! hahahaha seriously though, this one features pining! in the form of a SECRET NEST!!!! i just. a secret nest? so vulnerable i love it so much and don’t really know what more to say without giving plot away. secret nesting. roommates. what more do you even need?

If you let me be your man by @lightwoodsmagic / lightswoodmagic (sarah_writes) - sarah hits SO HARD with this fic and i LOVE it!!! zayn is so close to his heat that he doesn’t even realize he’s literally sniffing out an alpha based on his scent being so appealing and the way it all comes together is so so great. liam is so soft and wanting to be so good and zayn just WANTS HIM SO BAD i cannot. i cannot handle it. love.

Unplanned Circumstances by @haztobegood / haztobegood - a/b/o zouis!!! secret agent zayn! accidental pregnancy with a one night stand! ohhhhh this is so so so great and it’s once again the first part of the story! we have been promised more! i cannot wait because we have been promised a happy ending, we just don’t have it yet and i am here for it.

Promise Me You Won't Run Away by @thinlinez / thinlines - royalty au! it isn’t so much famous/non famous, but harry is just a knight and defo of lower status than prince louis, and ohhhhh!! it’s childhood friends to lovers secret relationship that also features HURT COMFORT and anticipated genders that don’t necessarily pan out and it’s just. oh goodness it is so much and i love it

i'll be by your side (anytime you're needing me) by genuinelylarry - omega/omega! friends to lovers! and they were ROOMMATES!!! featuring hurt/comfort and not wanting to overstep boundaries and not knowing about their ~preferences, and gahhhhhh the pining and longing and ahhhhh so many wonderful components all coming together in this one as well.

The Prince and the Thief by @jaerie / jaerie - an a/b/o take on tangled!!! it is even written in a way that has it read like a fairy tale. it’s so so so fun and silly and innocent while still being sexy and intense and they somehow find their way to their own happily ever after. it’s so lovely and soft and spoiled prince harry is just wonderful hahaha

Compete Against the Stars by @daggerandrose / amomentoflove - I LOVE THIS! SO MUCH! i am a sucker for a good shifter pack fic and in addition to that louis is the “rising omega” of his pack and ends up in an arranged marriage with the rising alpha from another pack and has never met him. then he goes to uni and meets harry and wants him so bad and i’m sure you can see the twist coming but how they get there?!?! is so great!!!! omg i cannot even... it’s just so so so great. i loved every second.

Dare you to move by @shining-louist / Whoopsiedaisiesss - omega activist louis! meets alpha harry at one of his marches! harry is so insecure and a blogger and louis is so strong and fierce and the way they kind of revolve around each other is so lovely. i really enjoyed seeing how louis helped harry come out of his shell and the way it came together in the end.

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 46

Three akumas, one sentimonster and Mayura in this one chapter! It was a lot but I think I pulled it off. I also feel like I've foreshadowed Lady Blanc quite a bit here and something else :D One person will know exactly what I mean when they read this as this is something we've talked about for ages but I wonder if the rest of you will. We will see but feel free to hit me with your theories. Now there is a number of things that are different from the actual episode and something that appear the same but are not. One those things are Mayura and the sentimonster's appearance. Unlike the episode, Mayura isn't going after Chloe. Her and Hawkmoth were testing the waters so to speak. They wanted to get a rough idea of how Anatis and Lady Noir would defeat a sentimonster to see if it is worth using the peacock miraculous. I always imagined Mayura would be the one to try and tempt miraculous holders to join the bad side because she is way better then Hawkmoth. She's pretty and knows how to booth an ego. Anyway, I hope you guys like this episode! It took a lot to work out how to adapt it and it was very challenging but I'm really happy with how this turned out :D

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Chapter Forty-Six: Miraculer

"Isn't this great? I have so many views!" Alya grinned, proudly holding up her phone that showed the photo of Anatis and Lady Noir kissing. Marinette felt sick upon seeing it. This morning, Alya had came to the bakery and dragging Marinette to school. They had gotten there so early that only it was only them and Chloe in the classroom. "I have so many more views then before and everyone loves this. Like this comment... 'Anatis and Lady Noir are my otp and I'm so glad my ship is sailing'... isn't it amazing?"

  Alya clearly was happy and proud of the image but not everyone was impressed with it. From what she knew, Nino and Alya weren't exactly on talking terms again. They had briefly made up after the whole Puppeteer incident but right now, they weren't talking. Marinette frowned to herself as she wasn't exactly sure why but she had a feeling it had something to do with that photo. She felt sick every time she saw it. Not because she was kissing Anatis in it. She did not regret it, even if she couldn't remember it as she had been attracted to him from day one. No, she felt sick because Alya had posted it, despite been told to delete it. She couldn't help but feel betrayed. Every time she saw the image, it just reminded her of the betrayal and it wasn't making their job easier. Anatis had been on butterfly watch for the past couple of days since the image had been released. Luckily, he had caught most of them that had even dared to come near her. A couple of them had tried to get her outside of the mask but she had transformed and captured them in jars that Master Fu had provided then brought them to Anatis on their meet ups. They had become few and far between but seeing the image again and the way Alya was so proud of it was making her feel sick and hurt all over again.

  "Alya, Lady Noir and Anatis did-"

  "Marinette, not this again," Alya sighed, interrupting her. "If they didn't want to be photographed then they shouldn't have kissed in front of me. I mean hello I run a blog about them! Of course, I'm gonna take a picture,"

  Marinette had no words for her but she felt like she was gonna be sick. She got up and rushed over out of the room, causing Alya to roll her eyes and mutter something about been dramatic. She ran downstairs and into the girl's bathroom before locking herself in a cubical. Plagg flew out of her purse and gently hugged the side of her head as she curled up on the seat. 

  "I'll keep an eye on for butterflies," He muttered, frowning. He really wanted to cataclysm the crap out of Alya. Hell, he'd get Tikki to use a cure to bring her back, just so he could do it all over again. Marinette sniffed and looked up at him as she wiped away her tears.

  "I'm ok, Plagg... I'm just..." She muttered, looking down. "I don't think Alya meant to be mean but it's just... it hurts... I know that she only post a picture but we told her not to and she didn't even listen... I know I shouldn't be so upset. She's a journalist after all,"

  Plagg snorted at that, making her look up at him.

  "More like a tabloid," He smirked before they heard the door open. He quickly flew into her purse as she tried to wipe away her tears. 

  "Marinette?" Chloe's voice surprised her, causing her to gasp. She heard the heiress' shoes tap on the ground as she walked over to the cubicle that Marinette was in. She heard her sigh before she knocked on the door. "Marinette, come out. I know you're in there,"

She let out a sigh and unlocked the door, making Chloe huff. She had her arms crossed and didn't look too impressed but her expression softened when she noticed Marinette's red eyes. She let out another huff and took something out of her own purse before handing it to Marinette. She blinked and carefully took the handkerchief, looking up at her.

  "Thank you," She whispered, dabbing her eyes. "Don't tell anyone I was crying,"

  "I won't but I'm curious as to why?" She asked, making Marinette sigh. "Marinette?"

  "Um... well... it's kind of weird," She admitted, getting a try me expression from Chloe. She sighed and looked at her. "Lady Noir and Anatis didn't consent to that image and it upsets me that Alya won't take it down,"

  "How do you know that?" She asked, eyeing her up. Marinette blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh my god... you're one of Anatis' spies!"

  "Well... yes but that's not how I know..." She mumbled, making Chloe raise an eyebrow. "I'm also one of Lady Noir's informants and she came to be the night after that image had been posted. She asked if I could talk to her about removing the image since I'm her friend. I did try but Alya refused to take it down,"

  It wasn't a lie. She had asked Alya to take it down, claiming that Lady Noir had asked her but Alya had brushed her off, claiming that was the price of fame. She had reported to Anatis about her reaction later that night as Lady Noir. To say he had not been impressed was an understatement. He had even commented that he was looking into laws regarding photography to find out where they, as public figures, stood and what they could do about it. She was ok with that. They wanted to know where they stood before fully dealing with Alya but she knew that they would. It was a matter of time. 

  "She what?!" Chloe pretty much screeched before storming out. Marinette gasped and quickly followed her as she rushed into the classroom. Most of the students were in now, including Nino and Adrien. Both were happily talking to each other as Chloe slammed the door open. Everyone quieted down as Chloe glared at Alya and Lila. "You!"

  "What?" Alya asked as Chloe glared at her with daggers.

  "How dare you!" She growled, slamming her hands on the table and making everyone jump. A few people were concerned that Chloe was going back to her old way. "How dare you post that photo!"

  "Oh, I see," Alya replied, looking at her calmly. "You're just jealous that I was able to get it,"

  "Jealous?! Me?!" Chloe gasped, shocked. "I'm not jealous! I'm pissed off because you post that photo without their permission!"

  Alya snorted as she looked at Chloe, making the heiress frown.

  "Of course, you're jealous," She replied as if it was a fact. "I mean why wouldn't you be? After all, I'm closer to Anatis and Lady Noir then you are,"

  "How are you closer to them then I am?!" She gasped, annoyed that Alya would even suggest that. She was their friend. She could flag them down at any point. "I'm their friend!"

  "Sure, you are," Alya laughed but then she noticed that Chloe looked serious. "Ok... if you're their 'friend' then answer me this. Why hasn't Anatis given you a miraculous yet? Oh wait... because you stole from him,"

  "At least, I was able to admit my mistake and give back the bee miraculous," Chloe stated, glaring at her. "You don't even realize you're in the wrong,"

  "How am I in the wrong?!" Alya gasped, looking at her. "I have every right to post the photo!"

  "Expect you don't," Chloe smirked as if she had won. Alya glared at her. "Need I remind you that you need permission to post an image of a person or persons when they are the subject which they are in that photo. Oh and you didn't get their permission,"

  "Ok... so I don't have their exact permission to post this but this is proof that they are in love and they didn't exactly say no," She declared, making almost everyone look at her in shock. Nino shook his head in disgust as Adrien frowned deeply. The couples of the class looked pale and a number of them looked angry. "What?"

  "That is so wrong," Rose gasped, looking upset. "Why would you post such an intimate picture?!"

  "Because I'm a blogger who blogs about them and this is the best thing I've ever come across?" She replied, frowning. "Besides, like I said they didn't exactly say no,"

  "Expect they did," Nino stated, making everyone look at him. "Both of them told you to delete it and Anatis warned you that if you posted it, there would be serious repercussions. Not to mention they didn't remember it,"

  "They didn't remember?" Sabrina asked before glancing over at Alya. "You took that while they were under the effects of Oblivio?"

  "Well... I..." She gasped before Adrien looked at her.

  "Did you at least let your followers know that they had no memory?" He asked, crossing his arms. She huffed but didn't answer, causing him to frown deeply. "You did let them know right?"

  "I... I decided to let them make their own assumptions..." She gasped, making everyone gasp. "And they should know I would take a picture. I'm a blogger! It's what I do and they know that!"

  "No, they didn't," Marinette argued, making everyone look at her. "They were under the effect of Obivio, meaning they had no idea that you had a blog or even who you were. They probably didn't even realize they were superheroes at first. They wouldn't have remembered who they were or anything linked into their hero identities. They don't remember the kiss. Lady Noir told me so herself as she came to me to ask you to take it down so I'll tell you again. Take it down!"

  "Why should I?!" She gasped, getting annoyed. "I have every right to put up that photo so stop hating me for it! Anatis and Lady Noir are public figures so I have every right to take the photo!"

  "Alya, calm down," Adrien stated, making her frown and turn to him but she failed to miss a black butterfly fluttering towards her.

  "Calm down?!" She shouted, clutching her phone. "Why should I?! You people are questioning my integrity at journalism!"

  Before anyone could argue, the akuma entered her phone and the purple mask appeared over her face. Adrien shouted for everyone to scram, causing them to rush out. Marinette took her chance to escape and transform, returning as Lady Noir. She jumped down and began to attack Alya, now Lady Wifi as she waited for Anatis to get to there. He arrived, just before Lady Noir got captured and together they made very quick work of Lady Wifi, defeating her in record time. Lady Noir crossed her arms as Anatis released the cure and Lady Wifi turned back into Alya. She blinked and looked up before squealing with excitement and began to live steam.

  "Oh my god! Anatis and Lady Noir!" She gasped, holding up her phone before noticing their expressions. "Is something wrong?"

  "Is something wrong?" Lady Noir repeated in a mocking way, making Alya frown as she glared at her nails. "Oh no... other then the fact that you posted that photo of us kissing without permission!"

  "I-"

  "I don't want to hear your excuses," Anatis stated, narrowing his eyes. "We explicitly told you to delete it and that you didn't have our consent to post it yet you did anyway. You didn't care that we didn't want that posted or that we didn't have our memories. No, all you cared about were the views! You don't see me and Lady Noir as actual people! We're just masks to you but we are real life people, Alya! We have a life beyond this one but you never considered that! You just saw a new scope and you jumped on it without a single care about who you hurt! Well, I hope you're proud of your actions, Miss Cesaire because this is the last time we'll be doing any videos for you,"

  "What?! But-"

  "No buts," Anatis growled as Lady Noir glared at her. Alya gulped. She had seen Anatis' speeches before but she never thought she would get one. "If you're gonna act like a child then we're gonna treat you as such. So until you can prove to us that you are actually worth our time and trust, we will no longer be doing interviews for you. You can start by taking down that photo and explaining to your viewers that we are not a couple and that you took and post that photo out of context. You have one day to do it and if you don't, we will take legal action,"

  "L-Legal action?" She gasped, a little pale. "But... you're public figures..."

  "French Law states that to post a picture online you need the subject's consent regardless of if they are 'public figures' or not. Also you need to ensure that the photo doesn't not contain something that is potentially harmful to the subjects. Given that photo can damage our reputation and could be used by Hawkmoth to exploit what he thinks is a weakness, I'd say that comes under potentially harmful but of course, you didn't think about that," He replied, smiling harshly as she looked devastated. "I warned you, Miss Cesaire but you chose to ignore that. Now you have to deal with the repercussions of your choice. Lady Noir, let's go,"

  "Fine by me," Lady Noir replied, jumping away from the scene. She landed on the roof next to Anatis, who let out a sigh. "You ok?"

  "I'm fine," He replied, turning to her. "Are you ok?"

  "As best as I can be," She muttered, holding her arm a little. "Can you really get legal action?"

  "Yeah, Master Fu helped me research it and he said he can act as a third party to get a good legal defense if we need it..." He replied, making her nod. "Are you ok with that?"

  "I am but... honestly, I don't want it to go to that," She sighed, making him nod. He understood where she was coming from. "I just hope Alya decides to actually listen this time,"

  "Me too, Kitten," He sighed before his earrings beeped. "I better go... meet up later?"

  "Yeah," She nodded, getting a smile off him before he ran off. He stopped before he dived off the building and gave her a wave. She waved back as he dived off the building before leaving the roof. Her transformation dropped and she headed back to the class room, feeling a bit lighter then she had before the fight. 

  ~Later that Night~

  Marinette stretched as she got up from her sewing machine. She folded up her current project before poking Plagg, waking him up. He had been snoozing while she worked but now it was time to meet up with Anatis for patrol. He blinked and yawned as she took out a piece of cheese. Instantly, he flew out and grabbed it off, swallowing it whole.

  "Hmm... yummy..." He grinned, rubbing his belly before flying up to her and landing on top of her head. "Time to meet bug boy then?"

  "Yeah," She nodded as she climbed up to her bed and out of her skylight. "Did you enjoy your nap?"

  "I did," He grinned, flying up. "I had a wonderful dream about cheese,"

  She giggled before holding out her hand.

  "Plagg, claws out," She declared, transforming into Lady Noir before jumping on the edge of her balcony. She smiled a little as she felt the wind in her hair before jumping off the edge. She landed on a flag pole and jumped back up, landing on a rooftop before breaking into a run. She extended her baton and used it to jump across gaps in the roofs before landing on Notre Dame. She put away her baton and walked over to Anatis, who was sat on the edge of the church. She sat down next to him, making him look over and offer a bag.

  "Cookie?" He asked, making her smile and take one before begging to nibbling on it. "I have some good news,"

  "Really?" She asked, looking at him as he put down the bag and took out his yoyo, opening up the Ladyblog before turning it to her. She blinked as she saw a new post named An Apology. "S-She actually took it down?"

  "Yep. I checked through the blogs while I was waiting for you," He replied, making her smile. "The apology isn't exactly what I hoped it would be and it seems that she just took it down to avoid a law suit but it's a start,"

  "Let me guess she claimed not to know that the photo was taken out of context?" She asked, eating her cookie. He chuckled but shook his head.

  "No, she covered that it was taken out of context and was posted without our permission but it was just short and to the point," He explained, making her nod as he closed the yoyo. "But I'm glad never the less... we'll still have people trying to ship us and chances are a number of people have downloaded that picture but now they know the truth about it..."

  "Yeah... I get taking a picture of your favorite couple and maybe I did overact but-"

  "I don't think you did," He replied, making her look over at him as he looked up at the moon. "What she did was wrong and just because she's young doesn't mean her actions should go unpunished. I just hope she learns from this,"

  "Me too," She mumbled, looking down at the cookie. "I'm sorry that you had to be on butterfly watch,"

  "Don't worry about it, kitten," He replied, shrugging. "You've helped keep me calm when I was going through the whole abandoned by Ryuko and Aspik thing so it's only fair I help you with this. Besides, you're my partner and best friend so of course, I'm gonna be on butterfly watch. You're the last person I want to fight as an akuma,"

  "Annie..." She mumbled before hugging him, catching him off guard. He returned the hug, laughing as he heard her purring. She grinned and pulled back. "I'm glad you don't want to fight me,"

  "Of course, I don't. You'd kick my ass," He replied, making her laugh. "We both know you'd be a terrifying akuma. For one thing, you're small and everyone knows small girls are scary girls,"

  "Really?!" She grinned, making him give her a cheek smirk. "Well, maybe I should kick your butt now!"

  "Ooh, is that a challenge, kitty cat?" He asked, making her smirk and nod before she got up. He jumped up as well and walked off to the middle of the roof, clicking his neck. "Are you sure you want to take this on?"

  "Pft, like you scare me," She grinned, circling him. He returned the favor. "Besides, it's been ages since we've sparred. Rules?"

  "Hand to hand only. No powers and no weapons," He replied, unhooking his yoyo. She nodded and placed down her baton. They had sparred with their weapons before but they don't use their powers. That would be too easy. "You sure you don't want to back out? I won't judge,"

  "Aww, is Annie scared he'll get his ass handed to him by a girl?" She teased, making him roll his eyes.

  "I'm not afraid of that... kind of use to it to be honest," He replied, making her giggle before taking a bow. "Shall we dance, my lady?"

  "Bring it, bug boy," She grinned before the two of them charged at each other. They gave it as good as they got, landing in hits and blocking each other but in the end, Lady Noir won. She used her body and height to her advantage and pinned him down with her legs wrapped around his arm, causing him to surrender. She let him go and jumped up, laughing as she did. "And the winner is the cunning and amazing Lady Noir!!"

  "Hey, I didn't do too badly," He protested, making her laugh and turn around as he got up and walked over to her before he ruffled her hair. "I'm glad to see you're feeling happier,"

  "Damn right I am," She grinned, poking his chest playfully. "I just kicked your ass! Hey, I guess you're right. I would be a very scary akuma!"

  "My point exactly," He shrugged before picking up her baton and chucking it to her. She caught it as he picked up his yoyo. "But there is one thing that I'm better at,"

  "Oh yeah? What's that?" She asked, leaning on her baton. He grinned at her in a playful way.

  "I'm faster then you," He grinned before dropping off the edge of the church and swinging off. Lady Noir gasped and jumped after him as they raced toward the Eiffel Tower. 

  ~A Few Days Later~

  Marinette hummed to herself as she walked with a spring in her step. Since Alya had taken down the picture, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She walked into the courtyard and waved to her friends. Luka was stood next to Juleka and Rose while Adrien was stood talking to Kagami and Nino. She walked over and glanced around, noticing Alya wasn't there.

  "Where's Alya?" She asked, getting a sigh of Nino.

  "She went into the classroom with Lila," He replied, making her frown before he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Best to avoid her, dudette. She's still sour about the whole photo incident,"

  "Oh," She mumbled, nodding as the bell rang. Despite been happy that it was over and done with, part of her couldn't but feel like it was her fault. She had been the one to tell Chloe that she didn't have permission. She was the one who questioned Alya's journalism skills. She was the one who lead to her been akumatized. She jumped as she felt Luka placing his hand on her shoulder.

  "It's not your fault that Alya decided to post that photo and evoke the wrath of our heroes," He smiled, making her smile back shyly. She wasn't surprised that he realized she was feeling guilty. "She chose to do that and now she's facing the price,"

  "Yeah..." She mumbled before jumping as the bell rang. Luka chuckled a little, making her pout at him before she decided to gently kiss his cheek, making him blush a little. She giggled and rushed off, waving at him. "See you at lunch, Luka,"

  "Y-Yeah," He gasped, waving before heading to his classroom as Aurore teased him a little. Marinette caught up with the rest of her class and walked in to the class. Alya was sat in her normal seat but Lila was sat next to her. Nino briefly glanced at her but she ignored him, making him sigh and sit down next to Adrien. Marinette decided to sit at the back since Alya would more then likely blame her. She began to walk to the seat as Lila leaned over to Alya.

  "Oh, Alya, I'm so sorry about the photo," She whispered, making Alya frown. "It's such a shame that it had to be taken down,"

  "Yeah... well, it was either that or face a lawsuit from Anatis," She huffed, making Lila gasp.

  "A law suit?" She gasped, making Alya nod. "That's just so awful. I don't understand why they would blame you for this though,"

  "Apparently, it was inappropriate and I didn't have their consent," She sighed, poking her paper with her pen. "So I had to take it down,"

  "I understand... but it's still a shame," Lila nodded, making Alya sigh. "But I guess they aren't ready to go public with their relationship,"

  "What?" Alya gasped, looking at her. Marinette stopped and rolled her eyes. Of course, she would lie about this. In fact, she should have expected it. "What relationship?"

  "Their relationship," Lila replied, making Alya frown. "Anatis and Lady are dating,"

  "But... they said they weren't?" Alya asked, confused but she held her pen to the paper. "Right?"

  "Why do you think they freaked out so much?" Lila replied, making Alya gasp. "They don't want to go public with it,"

  "What?! But everyone would support them!" Alya gasped, making Marinette grip her fist. She walked over, making both Alya look at her. "What?"

  "You don't seriously believe her, do you?" She asked, causing Lila to gasp. "Anatis and Lady Noir are not dating,"

  "Of course, they are," Lila smiled sweetly. "Anatis told me himself but Lady Noir's parents don't approve of him- oops,"

  "You know their identities?!" Alya gasped, looking excited but before she could say anything more, Chloe chuckled, causing her to glare at her. "What's so funny?"

  "Oh, only that the liar is at it again and you're lapping it up," She smirked, making Lila grit her teeth a little bit. "Marinette is right. Anatis isn't dating Lady Noir. They're best friends and have a great dynamic but they are definitely not lovers and nothing you say or do will change that but honestly, Cesaire, I'm amazed that you're still believe Lie-la when everyone knows she's a liar? I mean Anatis himself outed her. It's ridiculous how much faith you have in her. Utterly ridiculous,"

  "Shut up, Chloe!" Alya gasped as Lila sniffed and her eyes began to water. "You're just jealous of Lila because she's hundred times better then you!"

  "Why would I be jealous of that lying vixen?" Chloe asked, making Lila sniff a little more. "For one, Anatis actually acknowledges my existence and two, he knows I'm not a liar,"

  "Lila may have lied in the past but she's been honest with me since then!" Alya argued, making Chloe snort. "And yeah, she is way better then you! She actually cares about her friends and isn't a spoiled, bratty bully like you!"

  "Chloe is not a bully!" Sabrina gasped, jumping to her defense. "She is super kind and-"

  "Sabrina, it's ok," Chloe smiled, making Sabrina look at her with awe before she turned back to Alya. "I may have been a bully but unlike Lila there, I realized my own faults and have been working on them or did you forget that I've pointed that out before. After all, I may not be perfect but at least, I can say I'm not a liar,"

  Alya went to argue but before she could, the akuma alarm went off, causing her to gasp and grab her phone. Marinette frowned deeply as she ran off before following the rest of the class out as par the procedure. As she lived near by, she was able to go home and let her parents know she was safe but as soon as she was upstairs, she climbed out of her skylight and transformed, jumping across the roofs until she saw a pile of dust and smoke. Anatis landed down next to her.

  "The akuma is called Destructor. Similar powers to Destroyer but definitely more powerful," He replied, making her frown before he let out a sigh, causing her to look in the direction that he was looking in. She frowned deeply as she saw Alya on her bike cycling towards the akuma. "And Miss Cesaire is naturally running straight for danger,"

  "Should we get her out of there?" She asked, making him frown as he looked around.

  "She's not in any immediate danger," He replied, noticing she was far from the akuma that seemed to be moving east. "Let's head there and see what we can do,"

  "Sounds like a plan," She nodded, jumping off the building. He followed, swinging across the cityscape. They got there, just as Destructor destroyed another building. Anatis jumped down and threw his yoyo, catching the falling building as Lady Noir got the people underneath it out. With everyone safe, he lowered the bricks before jumping out of the way as Destructor went to attack him. He landed on a lamp post and frowned as another building broke down. Once again, he used his yoyo to stop it from falling on innocent bystanders, allowing Lady Noir to get them out but it left him open for attack. Destructor roared and slammed his hand onto the ground, causing it to shake and crack but he jumped away, scoping up the last bystander as Lady Noir grabbed the other one. They dropped them off before he frowned. 

  "It's almost like a cataclysm," He muttered as he jumped back, making Lady Noir frown. He landed on the police cruiser before throwing up his yoyo. "Lucky charm!"

  He caught the small tea cup as Lady Noir jumping away from Destructor's beam. She managed to jump away from it but it hit a building behind her that began to fall. He threw his yoyo and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her to him and away from the falling debris.

  "Thanks, Annie," She grinned, noticing the lucky charm. "A tea cup?"

  "It's a hint but I think I need to get us some friends," He replied as they jumped out of the way of Destructor's beam. "Keep him busy til I return,"

  "Sure thing," She grinned before jumping back into battle. He jumped off and headed to master Fu's home. He got there in record time and detransformed in the alleyway, giving Tikki a cookie before heading up into the apartment, knocking on the door.

  "Ah, Luka, come in," Master Fu smiled as Luka entered. He closed the door and knelt down on the rug as Master Fu walked over to the gramophone. "I assume the lucky charm lead you here,"

  "Yes, Master," He replied, frowning. "Destructor has a beam that acts like a cataclysm. He's already destroyed a number of buildings and is using it a distraction to try and attack us,"

  "I see," He replied, kneeling down with the miracle box. "Luka Couffaine, you must pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you on this mission. Once the mission is over you will get the miraculous back and return them to me,"

  "I need to distract Destructor but also trap him..." He muttered, glancing at them before he grabbed the fox then looked at Master Fu. "Master, I'll need to borrow Wayzz and the turtle miraculous for this mission,"

  "Of course," He nodded, taking off the bracelet and placing it in his hand. Luka took it and got up, grabbing a couple of boxes from the draw and placing them in. "Good luck, Luka,"

  "Thank you, Master," He smiled, placing them in his pocket before leaving. As soon as he was back in the alleyway, he re-transformed and jumped on the roof. He knew Juleka would be on the boat with Rose but Anarka wasn't in so he headed there first, landing on the deck and going down into the living area. Juleka jumped up in alarm as soon as he walked in. "Sorry to interrupt, ladies but I need Culpeo,"

  "Of course," Juleka mumbled, taking the box that he held out. She opened it and greeted Trixx before putting on the necklace. She transformed, leaving Rose gushing before turning to Anatis. "I take it that this akuma is harder then usual,"

  "Yes," He replied, taking out his yoyo and checking where Lady Noir was. "I need you to head to Arc de Triomphe and meet up with Lady Noir. I have to go find Leatherback. Sorry, Rose but Abeille will be sitting out on this one,"

  "No worries, Anatis," She smiled before giving Juleka a kiss. "You go kick that akuma's butt,"

  "I'll try my best," Juleka muttered before leaving. Anatis gave a nod of Rose, who waved before leaving. He headed straight for Ivan's house, getting there in a short amount of time. He knocked on the window and waited. Within a few seconds, Ivan opened it and let him in.

  "You need help?" He asked, getting a nod of Anatis. He took out the next wooden box and handed it to him. Ivan took it and opened it. He placed the bracelet on and greeted Wayzz before transforming. "Alright, let's go,"

  The two of them jumped into the city and headed to where Culpeo and Lady Noir were. The two were doing their best to kept civilians safe and out of the way but it was hard for two people to do. Destructor fired his beam towards Lady Noir while she was trying to get people to safe but Anatis jumped down and blocked it with his yoyo before Leatherback threw his shield, knocking Destructor back, causing him to growl and fire a beam at him as he caught his shield. He lifted it and blocked it as Anatis and Lady Noir got the rest of the civilians out of the way.

  "Any idea as to where the akuma is?" Anatis asked as Culpeo jumped down and helped them. 

  "We think it's in his helmet," Lady Noir replied as the three of them jumped up, dodging a beam. "But we can't get close to it,"

  "We did notice he seems sensitive to sound though," Culpeo explained, making Anatis look at her. "Officer Roger tried to intervene with his microphone. The sound of it made Destructor roar before he blasted it out of Roger's hands,"

  "That's good to know," He smiled as they landed on a building next to Leatherback. Anatis threw up his yoyo and summoned his lucky charm, which was a rubber duck. He frowned as he caught before jumping out of the way of Destructor's beam. "Leatherback, Lady Noir, can you distract him while I work this out?"

  "Of course," Lady Noir grinned before jumping off the building with Leatherback. The two of them fought against Destructor as Anatis looked around, trying to work out his plan. His luck vision landed on Culpeo before highlighting the Eiffel Tower then the Rubber Duck and finally Leatherback and Lady Noir. He smirked before turning to Culpeo.

  "Kit, I need you to use mirage to make an extremely loud noise," He ordered before whistling and getting the other heroes' attention. He pointed to them then to the Eiffel tower before getting a nod of Lady Noir. He nodded over to Culpeo who played her flute and summoned her mirage, causing a number of car alarms to go off. Destructor screamed and covered his ears, allowing the heroes to retreat to the Eiffel tower, where Anatis located the room where the sound system was. Lady Noir rose an eyebrow. "Leatherback, you'll need to use Shell-ter to protect us when he gets here as he will probably end up destroying the tower,"

  "Ok," Leatherback nodded as Lady Noir looked over the edge. Anatis recorded the sound of the duck squeaking on the sound system and looped it so it would repeat before hooking the duck to his belt.

  "Annie, he's on his way," She declared, making him nod. "And we still don't know where his akuma is,"

  "We'll work on that," He replied, setting up the sound system to repeated play the sound of a rubber duck. The heroes jumped down as Destructor got there. As predicted, Destructor began to destroy the tower in an attempt to destroy the sound of the duck. Leatherback used Shell-ter to protect them from the falling debris, allowing Anatis to watch Destructor as he destroyed everything around him. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed a darkened bracelet around his wrist. "Lady Noir, his bracelet,"

  "I see it," She replied as the tower fell. Leatherback lowered the force field before charging into battle with Anatis and Culpeo. With Destructor focusing on the three other heroes, Lady Noir sneaked up on him. He turned just before she could grab his bracelet and when to punch her but she blocked his arm and threw him over his shoulder, knocking the wind out of him before summoning her cataclysm and tapping the bracelet with her finger. It crumbled and the akuma fluttered out, allowing Anatis to capture it before he threw up the rubber duck and released the cure, fixing everything. His earring gave off their first warning, causing him to turn to Lady Noir who grinned. "You three get going. I'll take care of him,"

  She pointed to the man who was Destructor, getting a grateful smile of Anatis before him, Leatherback and Culpeo jumped off. She smiled, shaking her head a little in amusement before turning to the victim.

  "Lady Noir?" He asked, looking around confused. "What happened?"

  "You were akumatized, sir but don't worry. Everything is ok,"

  ~Meanwhile~

  "Thanks for trusting me, Anatis," Juleka smiled as she gave back the fox miraculous. Anatis placed it in the box before putting it back in his yoyo. "I better get back to Rose but if you ever need my help again,"

  "I'll come and find you," He smiled before giving her a salute and jumping up to the roof where Leatherback was waiting. The two of them made their way to his house before he dropped his transformation and handed back his miraculous. "Thank you for your help, Ivan,"

  "No worries, Anatis," He smiled, clapping hands with the hero. "If you ever need help, you can rely on me,"

  "I'm glad to have such reliable friends," He smiled, making Ivan go a little shy. He did not expect the hero to consider him a friend but he was truly honored. Anatis waved to him before heading back to Master Fu's. He landed in the alleyway and dropped his transformation before heading up into the apartment. Master Fu glanced up from the miracle book as he walked in. "Hi, Master. Doing some translating?"

  "Yes," He nodded as he walked over to the gramophone and unlocked it before taking out the miracle box. "I assume the mission was a success?"

  "Yeah but Destructor was really tough," He replied, placing the miraculous back inside. Master Fu nodded and placed the miracle box back. "Have you learnt anything new?"

  "Ah, not much yet but as soon as I do, I will let you know," He replied, getting a nod of Luka before he bid goodbye. He was tired from Destructor and still had homework to do as well as a patrol later. Master Fu nodded, understanding before he left, heading straight home to do his homework and get some rest before he went on patrol. 

  ~The Next Day~

  "I got some pretty decent footage," Alya grinned as she showed the group her footage of the battle. Rose was gushing about Culpeo, causing Juleka to blush. She was trying not to give away her identity and trying to hide her blush. Luka was also trying not to laugh as if he did, it would give away his identity. Marinette was happily chatting to Mylene and Ivan as Chloe walked over with Sabrina. She stopped in front of Marinette, making her look at her.

  "Marinette... um.... ho-"

  "Hi everyone!" Lila called, interrupting her as she walked over. Both Marinette and Luka rolled their eyes as she walked over. Everyone else pretty much greeted her, expect for Chloe who completely blanked her and began to talk to Marinette. Luka hid a smile as she asked how Lady Noir was doing. However, Lila wasn't done yet. "Oh, are you talking about the heroes? I'm close to them, especially Lady Noir. She's my best friend,"

  "Funny how she's never mentioned you," Marinette deadpanned, crossing her arms as she glared at her. Lila did her fake laugh before flipping her hair.

  "Well, she doesn't know me as Lila obviously," She giggled, making a number of people look at her. Luka frowned deeply as he noticed the fake fox miraculous around her neck. Apparently, Alya noticed too as her eyes wide wide. "Anyway, I can't tell you how I know her obviously but let's just say we're super close,"

  "Yeah right," Luka snorted, making everyone look at him. Lila faked laughed before flicking her hair again.

  "Oh, Luka, you're so funny," She grinned before turning back to Marinette and Chloe. He gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm so amazed by you, Marinette. Been able to talk to your bully and treat her like normal. I just hope she's really changed,"

  "Of course, I have!" Chloe gasped, making Lila look at her and hold up her hands. Marinette gave her a glare, noticing she was inching closer to Luka. She hooked her arm into his and suggested they go study, causing him to nod and happily walk away. Lila wanted to glare daggers at her as the rest went to do their own things before turning back to Chloe.

  "Oh, I didn't mean to offend," She gasped, trying to look like the picture of innocence. "But old habits die hard. I would just hate if you went back to your old ways. I'd have to tell Anatis and he would be so disappointed,"

  "You don't know Anatis," Chloe declared. "Or did you forget that he called you out on that video?"

  "Oh, that was nothing," Lila laughed, shrugging it off. "He was just trying to protect me from Hawkmoth since he was worried about me but we've come up with an arrangement so I can protect myself and of course I have a magical command that summons him to be every time. Would you like to know what it is? I don't mind sharing it with you, Chloe,"

  "I'm not interested," She replied, causing Lila to frown. 

  "Oh but what if there's an akuma?" She gasped, faking concern.

  "I can just alert him with the akuma app,"

  "Oh but that app can be so unreliable," Lila gasped, frowning. "But my magic command works every time but maybe you just don't want to be friends with him. Probably don't want to disappoint him,"

  "Anatis isn't disappointed with me and I can see him anytime I want!" Chloe gasped, causing Lila to chuckle a little. "What?!"

  "Well... I'm not saying you're wrong...." She replied before glancing at Chloe. "But... well, he promised to give you a second chance and yet he really hasn't, has he? So maybe it's better to be safe then sorry right?"

  She stepped forward and whispered in Chloe's ear before she could argue.

  "I promise if you do that and he doesn't come then you'll know that he's not really your friend," She smirked before turning on her heel and walking away. Luka got up and walked over to Chloe, making her look at him.

  "Whatever she said to you, ignore it," He advised, making her frown a little as Marinette joined them. "She's a liar,"

  "Yeah, yeah, I know," She sighed, waving her hand. "Don't worry, Luka. I'm not stupid,"

  "Didn't say you were," He replied, making her nod before the bell went. "We better go to class. See you guys at Lunch,"

  "Bye," Marinette waved as he walked off before letting out a sigh, causing Chloe to laugh. "What?"

  "You have it so bad," She grinned, making Marinette blush and try to argue. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna say anything so let's get to class,"

  "A-Alright," Marinette nodded as the two of them walked off. "Hey, what did you want to ask me?"

  "Oh, I wanted to know how Lady Noir was doing since you actually know her,"

  ~Lunchtime~

  "I think Lila might be Culpeo," Alya gasped as she walked with Marinette, Rose and Juleka to the bakery. Marinette instantly rolled her eyes, making Alya frown. "Come on. She's friends with Anatis and Lady Noir but they don't know her identity and she has a necklace that looks exactly the same as Culpeo's,"

  "Firstly, Anatis called her out for been a liar and secondly, he and Lady Noir are the only ones to keep their miraculous full time," Marinette countered, making Alya frown. "Why would Anatis trust her with a miraculous?"

  "Why wouldn't he?" Alya countered back.

  "Because she's a liar," Marinette replied back, noticing Rose and Juleka were super quiet. "Rose, Juleka, what do you think?"

  "There's no way she's Culpeo," Rose gasped, getting a nod of Juleka.

  "For one, she looks nothing like her but Lila claimed not to be in Paris when Culpeo first appeared and wasn't she akumatized on heroes day?" Juleka pointed out, making Alya frown. She had a very good point. Sabine greeted the girls as they walked into the bakery and brought some food before heading to the park as it was a nice day. The four of them grabbed a seat before beginning to eat their food. Marinette kind of wished Luka could join them but right now, he was in detention for forgetting his homework and the other boys were gaming in the library. Normally, she would join but it was such a nice day so she wanted to sit outside. Luka did promise that he would join them once his detention was done. Luckily, it was only half an hour so he would have an hour and a half left of lunch. Marinette let out a little sigh as she thought about him before noticing August and his mum walking by. He was crying again, wanting a lolly pop and his poor mother was trying her best to get him to calm down as he cried. However, a blue smog suddenly appeared before turning into a lollypop monster. The girls gasped and jumped up before it went to slam it's fist at them. Marinette dived to one side as the other three went the other way. Naturally, Alya began to film, causing Rose and Juleka to try and pull her back. However, the lolly monster turned it's attention to Marinette and stomped towards her. She scrambled to her feet and tried to run, only for her to trip up. The monster went to hit her again but before it could, she was pulled out of the way. Anatis landed on the roof and put her down.

  "Careful, princess," He smiled, making her blush before diving back down and began to fight the monster. She quickly transformed into Lady Noir and jumped down to join him. "Lady Noir... glad you could make it,"

  "Is that an akuma?" She asked, jumping out of the way. "It doesn't look like an akuma,"

  "No, I don't think it is!" He replied, diving and landing a kick to it before back-flipping away. As he did, he noticed the dummy on the ground. He threw his yoyo to capture it but the creature began to defeat it. He summoned his lucky charm, getting a bag of marbles before throwing them on the floor as Lady Noir distracted the lollypop monster. She back-flipped away, causing the monster to follow her and slip on the marbles. Anatis jumped onto it's back and trapped it with his yoyo, causing it to step back. Lady Noir extended her baton and placed it between two trees, allowing Anatis to force it towards there. It tripped and fell forward as he jumped and grabbed the dummy. He broke it and frowned as blue feather escaped instead of an akuma. He caught it in his yoyo and released, grabbing the now purified feather. Lady Noir grabbed her baton and moved over to him as he held it up.

  "A feather?" She asked before gasping. "It's like the one from heroes day,"

  "Yes," He muttered, frowning as he let it go. "An amok... the peacock miraculous user creates them to infect someone in a similar way to akumas but instead of the person been transformed into a super power villain... the emotions instead take a form of their own... a sentimonster... the lolly pop monster must of have been the frustration of a child been denied sweets and that moth we saw on heroes' day... it was the embodiment of Hawkmoth's despair at almost been defeated..."

  "That is worrying," Lady Noir admitted. "But why make a sentimonster on it's own?"

  "I don't know," He admitted, frowning before picking up one of the marbles and throwing it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!"

  It burst into the cure and fixed everything that the sentimonster had destroyed. He frowned to himself as he looked to the rooftops, wondering if the owner of the peacock miraculous was near by. He frowned deeply as his earrings beeped. 

  ~During the Battle~

  "Chloe, are you ok?" Sabrina asked as they headed up to the roof for lunch. She had been super quiet since Lila had talked to her about the 'secret' command. She frowned as Chloe let out a sigh before she looked at her.

  "Do you think Lila is lying about been friends with Anatis?" She asked, making Sabrina frown a little.

  "Well, he did call her out on her lies as Volpina so I imagine so... but... Alya seems to believe her," She replied, making Chloe frown and look to the city. "Maybe you could ask him yourself,"

  "Yeah... I guess," She muttered, frowning before shaking her head. "Anatis would never be friends with that fox,"

  "That's the spirit," Sabrina smiled, feeling a little annoyed that Lila would suggest that Anatis didn't trust Chloe. Sure, he hadn't given her a miraculous yet but even if he did, she wouldn't be able to tell anyone anyway so for all she knew she did have one but she just couldn't say. Her phone vibrated, causing her to look at it and gasp. "Chloe! Anatis and Lady Noir are fighting a lolly pop monster!"

  "What?!" She gasped, looking at the phone. "That's insane!"

  "Ooh, it makes me want to play as Lady Noir and Anatis! Should I go get the outfits?" She gasped, making Chloe wave her hand a little as she nodded. She was too fixed on the battle. "Yay!"

  Sabrina ran off as Chloe watched the battle. She thought about flagging him down after the battle to ask about Rossi and her second chance but there was a high chance he wouldn't go this way. Her mind drifted back to Lila's command. If she did the dance now, he might come after the battle.

  "No, that would be ridiculous! Utterly rid- hmm..." She hummed, thinking to herself. The chances were Lila was lying but Lila's comments about how he hadn't really gave her a second chance echoed in her mind. Frowning to herself, she glanced around, seeing no one around. She wasn't stupid. She knew Lila was probably lying but a small part of her questioned that. If there was a small chance that it could work then... well, she should try. She lifted her foot up and placed one hand near her stomach and the other over her head. She took a deep breathe before hoping around on the spot. "Anatis, Anatis, Anat-"

  She opened her eyes and saw her butler watching her. Embarrassment flooded through her mind as he rose an eyebrow before he held out a silver plate and presented Mr Cuddly to her.

  "Mademoiselle seemed a little upset earlier," He explained, making her frown deeply. She knew he meant well but his sudden appearance made her feel stupid. 

  "Get lost!" She shouted, making him step back a little at her tone. However, he nodded and left, causing her to take a deep breathe a sigh. It would be worth it if Lila's command worked. Even if it didn't, she would flag down Anatis and prove to Cesaire that she was worth it. Anatis believed in her... right? She frowned as he released the cure but seconds turned to minutes and he didn't turn up, making her gasp and grip the edge of the railing. "That smart Alec was lying again! First she accused me of framing Marinette and now she wormed her way into my mind... but I am worthy of a second chance... aren't I? Anatis wouldn't forget all about me! Right?"

  She felt tears filled her eyes as she took out her picture of her and the two heroes. It hurt her to think that Anatis would ignore her but maybe Rossi and Cesaire was right? Maybe he had given up on her.

  "Of course, he wouldn't Chloe," Sabrina gasped, making her jump and turn around. "Why don't we play-"

  "Play?! With you?!" She gasped, annoyed. "Why would I want to play with you?! You can't give me a second chance or make me a hero! All you do is follow me like a dumb, lost sheep! You're nothing so just leave me alone!"

  Sabrina's eyes filled with tears, causing Chloe to gasp as she realized what she just said. She turned on her heel and rushed out, causing Chloe to gasp.

  "Sabrina!" She called, reaching out to her but she lowered her hand, looking down. She knew Sabrina wouldn't forgive her and neither would Anatis. Cesaire was right. She was a spoiled bully. "I didn't mean it..."

  She looked down as she gripped the photo in her hand. She was a monster and Sabrina deserved better then her. Suddenly, she felt a familiar buzz fill her mind, causing her to gasp in silent horror as Hawkmoth's voice filled her mind.

  "My dear Chloe Bourgeois, this is Hawkmoth," He stated, making her shake as he spoke in her mind. "Embarrassed by your classmates and feeling powerless and abandoned by Anatis? Well, I can empower you for good and all I ask in return is his and Lady Noir's miraculous. What do you say, Empress?"

  "Na... No, Hawkmoth!" She cried out as she gripped her head, surprising him. "A-Anatis hasn't abandoned me! He believes in me and I will not disappoint him again!"

  "But you already have," Hawkmoth laughed as she tried to fight him. "After all, you lashed out at your best friend,"

  "And I regret it!" She gasped, taking a deep breathe. "But I'm still learning and that doesn't mean I'm a bad person! It means I made a mistake but I'm human and I will make it up to her! I will not let you control me! I will never work for you! Ever!"

  She threw the photo aside, feeling the connection disappear as the butterfly left it and flew off. She took a lot of deep breathes before grabbing her photo and logging onto the akuma alert app. Anatis needed to know that an akuma was lost. It would probably go to the nearest person with negative emotions. Her eyes widen as she realized that would be Sabrina. She was upset at the fact that Chloe snapped at her. 

  "Oh no, what have I done?" She gasped, covering her mouth in horror. She had to find Sabrina now.

  ~Back at the Park~

  "Huh?" Anatis muttered as his yoyo buzzed. He took it out and frowned as he saw the notification from the akuma app. He went to open it but before he could, a pale looking girl with bright pink hair landed on top of the carousel. She was wearing a black body suit that covered her neck and torso but cut off half way down her legs. She wore elbow length gloves that started pink and faded into black with a pink outline. Her shoes were similar designed and she had a pink outline on the collar, armholes and lower legs. Her eyes were blue with pink sclera and she wore a black mask with a pink outline. In the center of her body suit was a pink hexagon with a black question mark in the middle. Anatis frowned as Lady Noir went on edge.

  "If you're here for the battle then you're running a bit late," She replied, getting into her fighting stance.

  "Ooh, you're running a bit late... Well, the battle is right now!" She mocked before jumping down before tapping her tonfa against her hand. "You've neglected Chloe for too long, Anatis!"

  "I'm sorry but what?" He asked, clearly confused.

  "I'm sorry what?!" The girl mocked again before looking at him angrily. "Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!"

  Anatis frowned as he heard his earrings beeping before he turned to Lady Noir.

  "Lady Noir, I'm gonna transform back soon," He muttered, getting her to look at him. "I need to go recharge. Are you ok-"

  "Oh, help me, Lady Noir!" The girl mimicked in a mocking way before suddenly charging at him. He jumped back and when to throw his yoyo at her but she ducked and slammed her tonfa into his ribs, knocking him back a little before she jumped back and laughed. Several ladybug themed circles appeared on her suit, making him gasp before she threw up her tonfa. "Lucky charm!"

  Both heroes gasped as she summoned a giant sword and caught it.

  "What have you done?!" Anatis gasped as she laughed before she charged at him. Lady Noir jumped over and blocked it before knocking her back.

  "She's stolen your power!" She explained before giving him a wink. "Get out of her and recharge. I'll keep her busy,"

  "Be careful," He replied, throwing up his yoyo and retreating as Lady Noir smirked and summoned her power. The girl charged at her, ready to cut her in half. She blocked it with her baton but the akuma took the chance to slam her tonfa against her, stealing her power. Lady Noir gasped as her cataclysm disappeared and some of the circles turned green with a paw print before the akuma straightened up, causing the sword to disappear as she made a thoughtful look.

  "What's the phase again?" She asked before smirking darkly towards Lady Noir. "Oh, yeah. Cataclysm!"

  She slammed her tonfa into Lady Noir's ribs, sending her flying into the fence. She smirked and began to stalk over to the weakened hero but before she could, Anatis swung by and scoped Lady Noir, swinging away. She jumped up on the roof and glanced around to look for him but somehow he had disappeared. Frowning to herself, she jumped away to give powers to Chloe.

  ~In the Sewers~

  "Lady Noir?" Anatis gasped, lowering her down to the ground. She carefully opened her eyes and gave him a soft smile before glancing around. 

  "T-The Se-Sewer?" She asked, hissing in pain. He frowned and moved his hand against her ribs, causing her to gasp out in pain. He frowned deeply before scoping her up again. She leaned into him as he walked through the sewers. "W-We need help..."

  "I know," He replied, coming to the area they hid in from Desperada. He kicked open the door and gently laid her down on the bench. "Rest and recharge Plagg. I'm gonna go get help,"

  "O-ok," She gasped as he glanced at her worried. "H-Hey, don't w-worry about me,"

  "I can't help it," He muttered, frowning a little before he gently moved a strand of her hair. "I'll get my power back and then I'll heal you. I promise,"

  "I k-know..." She muttered, making him nod before he jumped up and left the room. She let out a small sigh and coughed a little. "P-Plagg, claws in,"

  She detransformed, causing Plagg to land on her stomach as he gasped in pain. Marinette groaned and held her ribs as she tried to take a breathe. However, the cataclysm had broken her ribs. She was lucky that a lung hadn't been punctured. She was certain that if she hadn't wore her supersuit, the cataclysm would have killed her.

  "S-so that's what it feels like to be cataclysmed..." He gasped before looking up at her. "I swear I won't ever call the dinosaurs wusses again..."

  She laughed but hissed in pain, making him frown.

  "Th-there's cheese in my p-purse," She muttered, making him pull himself over. "E-Eat up... we'll r-rest t-til An-Annie c-comes back,"

  ~Back to Luka~

  Almost as soon as he ran out of the room, his transformation dropped and he caught Tikki as he ran. He gently placed her in his pocket and climbed up the ladder, pushing open the manhole and climbing out. He put it back and ran towards Master Fu's apartment as fast as he could. He ran into the building and up the stairs as fast as he could before bursting through the door, making Master Fu look at him in surprise.

  "Luka?" He asked, a little confused. 

  "Master Fu, we have a troublesome akuma," He gasped, stepping in and closing the door. "She's stolen both of our powers and used Lady Noir's against hers,"

  "Oh no," He gasped, jumping up and rushing over to the gramophone. He took out the box and placed in front of Luka before opening it up. Luka glanced over at the miraculous as he thought about what he needed but his mind kept going back to one conclusion. "Luka Couffaine, you must pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you in this mission. Once the mission is over, you'll get the miraculous back and return them to me,"

  "This akuma has stolen our powers and injured Lady Noir," He muttered, reaching for them before he began to grab all of them. "We're gonna need everyone,"

  "Are you sure?" Master Fu asked, getting a nod of Luka as he got up and grabbed several boxes. He filled them with the miraculi before looking up at him and nodding. "Well, I trust you know what you're doing,"

  "Thank you, Master," He replied as Master Fu took off the turtle bracelet and handed it to him. With all the miraculous on his person, he ran back outside and headed down the alleyway, coming to a manhole. Glancing around to make sure no one was around, he opened the manhole and climbed in. As soon as he was in the sewer, he transformed into Anatis and rushed back to where he left Lady Noir as fast as he could. He came to the door and stopped outside, gently knocking on it. "It's me. I'm back,"

  "H-Hang o-on," She gasped before he saw a green light. The door opened, making him frown as she smiled up at him. She was leaning on her baton and her smile was pain filled. "T-That was quick,"

  "Let's get to the surface," He mumbled. She went to walk forward but hissed from the pain of her broken ribs. Anatis instantly rushed over to her. "Put your arm around my waist and lean on me,"

  "Th-thanks, Annie," She smiled, doing what he told her to. With his help, they headed to the exit. He stopped and looked up before turning to her as she leaned on the wall, breathing in. It hurt just to walk with his help. "I d-don't think I'll b-be able to climb up,"

  "Hang on," He muttered, climbing up and throwing his yoyo to a street light that was directly above the manhole. It wrapped around it, allowing him to climb back down. Lady Noir hobbled over to him. "Ok, hold onto me,"

  She blushed a little as she held onto his shoulders before he wrapped his spare around around her back, securely holding her close to him.

  "Does that feel ok?" He asked, not wanting to hurt her. She nodded and leaned into him as he pulled on the yoyo, causing it to pull them up into the street. She hissed a little bit when they landed, causing him to look at her with concern but she gave him a soft smile. He took out two miracle boxes and gave them to her. "I need you to go and get Aspik and Ryuko,"

  "Su-Sure," She nodded, taking a deep breathe but he gave her a worried expression. "I'll b-be fine,"

  "I'll heal you," He stated again, getting a smile off her. "I promise,"

  "I know," She replied before hobbling off. He gave her one more glance before jumping up and running across the roof, heading to Ivan's house. He jumped and landed on the window seal, looking inside. He frowned as he noticed Ivan wasn't there before thinking. He probably out with Mylene, which might make it a little difficult to collect him but he had a rough idea where they would be. He back-flipped off the window seal and swung off to Place des Vosges. Mylene and Ivan mentioned they would be collecting rubbish that day. He landed on a nearby building and saw Ivan with Mylene. Luckily for him, Ivan said something to her and walked off on his own. He smiled before heading to the alleyway next to the shop he was heading to before whistling, getting Ivan's attention. He looked behind him before rushing into the alleyway, quickly dropping a text to Mylene. 

  "I need Leatherback," Anatis stated, holding out the box. Ivan nodded and took, putting on the bracelet before transforming. "Head to the Grand Paris hotel but just observe what's happening for now,"

  "Alright," He nodded before jumping up and heading that way as Anatis went the other way. He tracked down Juleka and Rose near Andres' ice cream cart. It appeared that they were training, making him smile before he whistled, getting their attention. They rushed over to him, taking the miraculous he held out for them. They took them and transformed into Culpeo and Abeille. The three of them headed to the Grand Paris hotel but as soon as they got there, they saw Lady Noir, Leatherback, Ryuko and Aspik fighting the akuma and another person. Anatis narrowed his eyes as he didn't recognize the other person but she seemed to targeting Lady Noir while the akuma kept the other three heroes busy. He needed to get his power back and interfere with the fight. He glanced around and noticed Chloe hiding from the fight. He tapped the two heroines before pointing to her. They two of them nodded and followed him over to behind Chloe. He glanced over and narrowed his eyes, noticing that the akuma's outfit had the shell-ter symbol as well but neither the dragon or the snake. Aspik was staying back and jumping to avoid been hit but directing Ryuko and Leatherback with his second chance. Lady Noir was battling against the older miraculous holder, making him frown before turning to Abeille and Culpeo. "Abeille, I need you to keep yourself hidden until you see an opening to use venom on the akuma,"

  "What do you want me to do?" Culpeo asked as he grabbed Chloe and pulled her near to them. She gasped and went to say something but he covered her mouth and made a shush sigh with his finger. She nodded, causing him to let go before in a very hushed voice explained to him what had happened. He listened and nodded before turning to Culpeo.

  "I need you to make me into her. Both look and voice," He whispered, pointing to Chloe. "Think you can do that?"

  "I think so," She replied, taking her flute and playing it quieter then normal.The light ball appeared on the end and she directed it towards Anatis. "Mirage,"

  He instantly turned into Chloe and gave her the thumbs as the real Chloe remained hidden with Abeille and Culpeo. The Fake Chloe got up and walked to where the real Chloe previously was. Lady Noir was still fighting against the new comer while Aspik dived out of the way of Miraculer's attack. Leatherback threw his shield knocking her back before she could hit him with her tonfa. Ryuko then dived in, taking her on while Leatherback helped Apsik up. He went to help out Lady Noir but Miraculer threw Ryuko into him. She went to charge towards Aspik but Chloe stepped out.

  "Sabrina, I've changed my mind," She stated, walking over to her. "I do want Anatis' power. Since he hasn't really given me a second chance, I've decided I rather play with you and if he won't give me power... well by rights I should have his,"

  "Ooh!! I'm so happy!!" Miraculer declared, holding up her tonfa. It had a strange glowing ball on the end that resembled the ladybug symbol. "We're gonna have so much fun. Oh, here's Anatis' power,"

  'Chloe' held out both her arms and closed her eyes, ready to embrace her new powers. Miraculer tapped her with the tonfa, causing the illusion to drop and Anatis to smirk as he took out his yoyo and threw it as she stared at him in shock. Culpeo jumped out from behind the brushes with the real Chloe.

  "Thank you, Miraculer," He smirked, throwing the yoyo up again. "I needed that back,"

  "No!" Miraculer shouted, going to hit him again but this time Anatis dodged and kicked her back, allowing Culpeo to charge at her. Ryuko and Leatherback were fighting the new comer who was trying to get at Lady Noir. Narrowing her eyes, she jumped up to the roof before throwing a feather towards Miraculer. Anatis gasped and threw his yoyo, capturing it before it could land in her. The woman, who he now realized was the Peacock holder, narrowed her eyes and jumped over the two other heroes before going for Lady Noir. The two heroes went to stop her but Miraculer threw Culpeo into them and trapping them with Anatis in a shell-ter. The villainess knocked down Lady Noir, despite her best attempt as Anatis charged at Miraculer. She summoned a cataclysm and when to charge at him but he grabbed her and slammed into the wall of the shell-ter, causing her cataclysm charged tonfa to hit it and destroy it. He threw her towards Ryuko who instantly engaged as the peacock holder stepped on Lady Noir's arm. He threw his yoyo and knocked her back into one of the sun chairs before rushing over to Lady Noir, who was laid on the cover of the swimming pool. She was breathing but he could feel that she was severally weakened from her injury. He glanced at her then towards his team. Miraculer was still able to summon lucky charms and was combining them with a cataclysm, keeping his team busy. He frowned deeply as the peacock holder got up and smirked at him.

  "So you're the mysterious holder of the peacock," He stated, glaring at her as she lifted her fan to her face. 

  "I am Mayura-"

  "I don't care what you call yourself or what you have to say,"

  "Oh but you should, Anatis. After all, your team is weak... just look at them," Mayura replied, making him frown and glance at his team but he didn't see weakness. He saw determination. Sure, Miraculer was giving them a hell of a time but they weren't down yet. Not even Lady Noir was. She was hurt and weak but she was using her baton to stand. "You should join me and Hawkmoth. The three of us together would be unstoppable. What do you say, Anatis? Why protect a city who won't even thank you when you can join us and be a god among men,"

  "D-Don't, Annie," Lady Noir gasped, causing Mayura to look at her with a ferocious look. Anatis instantly took a step in front of her in a protective manner.

  "So protective of her," Mayura laughed a little. "Yet it would be so easy for you just to reach and take her miraculous,"

  "I would never do that to her," He replied back, causing her to frown. "Just like I've never join you and Hawkmoth... Oh and my team isn't weak. They're brave and determined, unlike you and Hawkmoth... You're both cowards by the way,"

  "How dare you!" She growled, diving towards him. He blocked her attack with his yoyo but widen his eyes when he suddenly got hit with a terrible feeling. He suddenly felt so weak and tired before he suddenly began to cough like he was sick, causing Mayura to look at him with horror and surprise. Lady Noir gasped and tried to rush over to him as he caught his breathe. Seeing her chance to escape, she jumped off as Anatis straightened up.

  "Ryuko! Aspik! Go after her!" He ordered as Lady Noir checked on him. The two heroes nodded and ran after her. "I'm ok,"

  "A-are you sure?" She asked, frowning. He nodded before throwing his yoyo in the air and summoning his lucky charm, which was rope. He frowned deeply as he looked around. Miraculer went to dive at him with her tonfa charged up again but Lady Noir pushed him out of the way, getting hit with another cataclysm. She went flying across the swimming pool lid, landing on her back. Miraculer smirked and went to attack her again but Leatherback and Culpeo attacked her, stopping her from getting to Lady Noir. Seeing his chance, he glanced around before his luck vision lit up. He gave a nod to Abeille, who gave him a thumbs up before he moved two of the sun chairs and tied to the rope between them. Culpeo and Leatherback destroyed her illusion selves and forced her to back up, causing her to trip over the rope as Abeille waited behind the bushes, quietly summoning her power. Anatis grabbed her arms and pinned her down as Culpeo and Leatherback grabbed her legs but she kicked Culpeo off, followed by Leatherback. She freed herself from Anatis and kicked him into one of the sun chairs before she began to stalk over to him, summoning a lucky charm and charging it with another cataclysm.

  "I'm gonna take your power again and this time it will be painful," She grinned evilly, lifting the tonfa but before she could, Abeille dived at her and slammed her spintop into her back, freezing her at the spot. Anatis got up and walked over to her, taking the tonfa from her. He snapped it in half and dropped it to the ground, freeing the akuma before he took out his yoyo and captured it. He released the purified akuma and walked over to the rope. He picked it up and threw it in the air.

  "Miraculous ladybugs!" He shouted, releasing the cure. It flew straight to Lady Noir and swarmed around her, causing her to gasp and sit up before she flipped up and did a cartwheel. It swarmed around the rest of the affected heroes as she rushed back over and hugged Anatis, causing him to hug back. "I'm glad you're ok,"

  "I feel as good as new, all thanks to you," She grinned, pulling away and lightly punching him in the arm. He grinned before turning to Miraculer, who had turned back to Sabrina. Almost instantly, Chloe rushed over and threw her arms around the smaller girl as she cried.

  "I'm sorry!" She gasped, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I am so sorry, Sabrina! I didn't mean for you to be akumatized!!"

  "Sabrina, do you remember why you were akumatized?" Anatis asked as she hugged Chloe back. Both girls pulled away from each other. Sabrina looked down and went to answer but Chloe stopped her.

  "It was my fault, Anatis," She admitted, causing the other heroes to glance at her. "I... I was upset and I snapped at her... and the akuma that came for her... it.. it was suppose to be for me..."

  "Can you tell me what happened?" He asked as she closed her eyes. She explained that it all really started with Alya and her reaction to the photo. She went into details of how Alya's reaction to her telling her off for posting it resulted in Alya accusing her of been jealous and calling her a thief. She explained that a couple of days later Alya once again had a go at her and calling her jealous again because of her reaction to Lila's lies. At the mention of the liar's name, Anatis groaned. "What did she say this time?"

  "Oh, she was claiming that you and Lady Noir are actually dating and the reason you freaked was because you're not really to go public with your relationship. She said that apparently Lady Noir's parents don't approve of you," She explained, making him groan again as Lady Noir sighed and shook her head. "She also claimed to be your best friend and apparently the reason why you called her on that video was to protect her,"

  "No, it's because she's a liar," He groaned, making everyone nod in agreement. "Anyway, continue,"

  "Anyway, earlier today that liar brought up mine and Marinette's past. As you know, I use to bully her and Lila tried to make people question if I had changed. She had the nerve to turn around and be like oh, I've hoped you changed and when I told her I had, she was like 'old habits die hard' and 'i would hate it if you went back to your old ways'. She insisted that she would have to tell you and you'd be disappointed then when I pointed out that you didn't know her, she brushed it off like it was nothing. She claimed that you were just trying to protect from Hawkmoth and that you had come up with an arrangement so she could protect herself. She even hinted that she was a superhero, claiming to be super close with you and Lady Noir,"

  Lady Noir snorted at that.

  "She then told me that she had a magic command that summons you every time," She mumbled, looking to the floor. "When I told her I wasn't interested and that I would use the app to alert you, she called it unreliable and said that I didn't want to be friends with you and that I'd probably just disappoint you. I argued that you weren't and that I could see you anytime I wanted but she... she then pointed out that I hadn't really been given a second chance by you and then she told me the command, saying that if you didn't come that I would know that you weren't my true friend. The thing is... I know she was lying but what she said... it got to me. I started to think 'what if you were disappointed in me' and I decided I wanted to ask you myself but you were so busy with that lollypop creature and you probably wouldn't have past the hotel so I stupidly did the command, hoping that maybe for once she wasn't lying... of course it didn't work and even though I knew she had been lying, I felt like that maybe they were right and that you had given up on me..."

  She sighed before looking up at him.

  "I then snapped at Sabrina. I had a go at her, asking her why I want to play with her and saying that she couldn't give me a second chance or powers. I called her a dumb, worthless sheep and she ran off crying. I realized what I did and called after her but it was too late. That's when Hawkmoth tried to akumatize me. It was horrible hearing him in my head but I thought him off and send his akuma away but he took advantage of Sabrina because of me! I'm a terrible friend and I failed all of you," Chloe gasped, covering her eyes with her hands as she cried. Sabrina looked at with sympathy but was unsure what to do along with the rest of the heroes. Anatis, however, knelt down in front of Chloe as she cried. The heroes held their breathe as they half expected him to have a go at her but to everyone's surprise, he pulled her into a hug. An expression of shock came across her face before she closed her eyes and hugged back. Gradually, he pulled away, making her blink. "Y-You're aren't mad?"

  "Chloe, I want you to listen to me," He stated, holding her shoulder. "I'm not expecting you to be perfect and change straight away. Changing yourself takes time and it can be exhausting so no I'm not angry at you. I'm not saying what you did was ok either but you clearly regret your actions and feel bad about it. You literally broke down in tears and rushed over to Sabrina once we freed her,"

  "But I snapped at her..." She mumbled, looking down. "I messed up,"

  "Making mistakes is normal," He stated, making her look at him in surprise again. "What happened today is called a relapse and they happen to everyone but the important thing is you learn from your mistakes and for kwami's sake, don't listen to that liar ever. Her words are poison,"

  "B-But I nearly got akumatized..."

  "You resisted. I'm proud of you for that," He smiled before turning to Sabrina. "Are you ok?"

  "I am thanks," She nodded before turning to Chloe and hugging her. "It's ok, Chloe. We're ok I promise,"

  Chloe sniffed and nodded as an echo of beeps got their attention. Anatis moved his hand to his earrings as Ryuko and Aspik landed on the swimming pool cover. He glanced over at them and noticed their sour expressions as Sabrina led Chloe away from the scene, suggesting they get some hot chocolate and have a girly night. The two reptiles walked as Chloe and Sabrina disappeared into the lift. 

  "Anatis, Mayura got away from us," Ryuko stated, bowing her head as Aspik did the same. "We're sorry,"

  "It's fine, Ryuko. You two did your best," He smiled as his earrings beeped again. He turned to Culpeo, Abeille and Leatherback as Lady Noir walked over to Ryuko and Aspik. "Great work everyone but time to go home,"

  "Right," Culpeo nodded as the three of them followed Anatis while the other three jumped off the building. Anatis led them to an alleyway near where everyone had been. Leatherback waited on the rooftop as he hadn't actually used his power while Abeille and Culpeo detransformed, handing over their miraculous. Juleka frowned as she lightly grabbed his arm. "Lila was pretending to be me and Alya lapped up everything she said,"

  "I will definitely be having a word with Alya, Kit," He nodded before ruffing her hair. "Now don't you two have ice cream to get?"

  "Ooh!! Yes!!" Rose gasped, grabbing Juleka's hand and rushing off but not before waving to Anatis. Once they had disappeared, Leatherback landed next to him and called off his transformation.

  "I'm sorry that I disobeyed your orders," He muttered, handing the bracelet back to him. "When I got there, the other three were already fighting against that woman and the akuma and they were losing. If I hadn't-"

  "Ivan, I'm not mad at all," He smiled, placing his arm on his shoulder. "You saw your team mates in trouble and you helped them. I also know that you would only disobey my orders if you had to so don't stress about it ok?"

  "Sure, Anatis," He smiled, nodding. "I better get back to Mylene. I told her my mom asked for my help with something,"

  "Nice cover," He nodded before Ivan jogged off. He placed the miraculous into yoyo and leaned against the wall as his transformation dropped. He caught Tikki and took out a cookie for her. "That was a very tough akuma. Hey, Tikki?"

  "Yes?" She asked, looking up for my cookie.

  "Can the miraculous amplify natural abilities?" He asked, making her look at him. "During the battle, I had a sudden coughing fit when I was near Mayura and I felt so tired, like I was drained..."

  "Are you sick?" Tikki asked, worried. Luka shook his head and smiled, gently stroking her head with his finger.

  "That's the thing, Tikki. I was fine seconds beforehand and after she left..." He muttered, frowning. "I think it was my empathy... it's been getting more powerful recently... that's why I wanted to ask if miraculous can amplify abilities,"

  "Well, the miraculous amplify things such as speed and strength. You're more flexible and practically invincible so it makes sense that if someone like yourself used a miraculous, it would amplify your natural empathy but why did you get sick and tired?"

  "Mayura... something felt wrong..." He muttered, making Tikki frown. "I... I think she's sick, Tikki and it's much more then just a physical sickness... it was like there were cracks on her soul as well... I need to talk to Master Fu about this,"

  "You can ask him about the empathy thing too," She replied, finishing the cookie. He nodded and transformed back before jumping up and heading to Master Fu's. He climbed through the window as Lady Noir placed the dragon and the snake in the miracle box. She looked up at him and smiled as he walked over and took out the other miraculous, placing them back in as Master Fu joined them with some tea. He poured out a cup and handed it to Lady Noir before handing another to Anatis. 

  "I'm glad to see you're ok Lady Noir," He smiled as she slipped her tea. "Quite the tough akuma,"

  "Very," Anatis agreed. "But she wasn't alone,"

  "A sentimonster?" Master Fu asked but Anatis shook his head. "A code purple?"

  "No," He replied, sipping his drink. "Mayura turned up instead,"

  "Mayura... the peacock holder?" Master Fu asked, getting a nod of Anatis. "That is most unusual,"

  "She tried to convince me to join their side," Anatis muttered, making the old man frown. "I said no but something happened that concerns me,"

  "The sudden coughing fit?" Lady Noir asked, getting a nod of Anatis and a confused look from Master Fu. "Annie started to violently cough in the middle of battle like he was seriously ill but what confused me was the look of surprise on Mayura's face,"

  "I saw it too," Anatis nodded, frowning. "It was weird. I felt so drained and tired like I hadn't slept for days... I honestly think she's sick..."

  "Really?" Master Fu frowned, clearly surprised. "What else did you notice?"

  "It wasn't that I noticed," Anatis replied, frowning. "It was more like I felt it. It felt like she was broken. Like she had cracks in her soul and it didn't feel like a natural illness. I don't know why but I feel like it's because of the miraculous. Something is very wrong with it... like it was broken or something. Master? Are you ok?"

  "I... the peacock miraculous was damaged when I lost it but I never told you that..." Master Fu replied, clearly shocked. "How did you know?"

  "Well, as I said... I felt it..." He muttered, making Master Fu frown. "It actually brings me to a question I wanted to ask,"

  "Go on,"

  "If someone's natural ability be amplified by the miraculous?" He asked as Lady Noir slipped her tea. "I asked Tikki but she wasn't sure and suggested I ask you,"

  "Well, I imagine so," Master Fu nodded. "But what kind of ability are you talking about?"

  "Well.. for me... it would be empathy,"

  "You're an empath?" Master Fu asked, getting a nod of Anatis. "Well, I've never came across a miraculous holder who is naturally an empath. Not even the holders of the butterfly and the peacock are that way naturally but I would imagine it would be amplified. Perhaps that is why you were able to feel the damage on the peacock miraculous,"

  "Maybe," Anatis muttered, frowning. It wasn't that he doubted that it was to do with his empathy, it just felt bigger then that. Much bigger. "Well, we should head back. Thank you for your help, Master Fu,"

  "A pleasure as always," Master Fu nodded as him and Lady Noir jumped up. The two of them waved and headed back in the window. Master Fu made a thoughtful look as he placed the turtle bracelet back on, causing Wayzz to manifest. 

  "Are you ok, Master?"

  "Oh, yes I'm fine," He replied, putting the box back into the phonograph. "Wayzz, do you recall the mage who created the miraculous?"

  "Yes, I do,"

  "Wasn't he a very powerful empath?"

  "Oh yes, he was. In fact, that's how he sensed us and came to see. After all, not everyone could see could see Kwamis before he invented the miraculous," Wayzz replied, nodding. "He was such a nice man... anyway why do you ask?"

  "Ah, no reason,"

-------------------------------------------------------

Next Chapter: Chapter 47

[lesbian-vmin]

Welcome back, truly missed your no-nonsense longtime ARMY take on things. Watching Festa 2019, Hobi made me emotional. When the members were praising him, his little face 😔. He truly is underrated. Sometimes I think Jin & Hope hv similar personalities, but Jin has larger presence? Q. Recently there’s been ask/comments popping up about something being off with vmin. In what little unedited(?) content we have last year, there seems a bit disconnect, but being really new ARMY I am genuinely curious to know your feel. I have read btsandvmin’s posts, but wanted to hear your take. Thank you if you do decide to answer. Please don’t stop posting ❤️

He is so underrated, but I kind of like it that way. Hobi biased people tend to be the most amazing and wholesome people in the fandom (as well as Jin and RM biased people, honestly... though some RM biased are a little pervy for me lol)...and I think it's because they have the least fans/stans/solos or whatever. So you know, the less people you have...the less crazy people you have. In the words of Agent K. (I think it's sort of fitting) "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

Anyway. Before I move onto Vmin, let me just state one tiny little thing about Hope. Probably my favorite thing about him (there are so many things) but I love it when he talks about his passion. I wish we had more Hope on the Street lives where he talked about dancing. Because I could listen to him gush about his passions for an eternity and never get bored. Honestly. 

Now for the Vmin take on this ask. (below the cut)

I've read some posts around about recent Vmin, and...I'm not going to get into who said what and which specific details I agree and disagree with. Because I don't always (in fact I almost never) agree with larger Vmin bloggers. And I don't particularly....well. I'll just try to answer this in a way that (hopefully) isn't stepping on anyone's toes or anything like that (because I know that's probably not the intention of the ask), and this is something I've wanted to talk about for a hot minute. 

So. About the recent Vmin and how there seems to be a disconnect or whatever. I don't know. People keep using this "I've been around for a long time" bs to justify them saying they see what they see. And I mean. It's fine. People can see what they see. But "I've been around for a long time" too, and I don't think there's any sort of "disconnect" or anything really strange going on. I'm not saying that my view is better than anyone else's. In fact, I don't "read too much into things" or try to make something out of nothing/everything all the time. I usually take stuff at face value, and take the members for their words. I see Vmin talking. Being cute. Interacting. Posting about each other. Complementing each other. And everything they've always ever done? It doesn't seem weird? It doesn't seem off? What was it? Because of the birthday post? Because Jimin didn't gush and post a lot of words and just made a simple tweet? Or is it something else? (I mean, I can "delusional" about things if I want to, but I'm mostly joking on those things and just appeasing the audience, if you will) 

Either way. I don't think they're off? Or disconnected? Or anything like that. In fact, they actually seem closer to me? They always seem closer and closer to me. I think all of the members are a little off from what they usually are, if you ask me. Whether it's because of the Pandemic. The absence of fans. The fact that Yoongi was out of the game. Or what. They're all a little...I don't want say "off" (even though I just did) because it makes it sound bad. I honestly think that them being stuck in Korea and letting them have more time at home has allowed them to work through things and think about things they may have been too busy to give any attention to. That goes for all the members. Not just Vmin. If we're just observing Vmin alone....I guess maybe someone can say they're different than what they used to be. But they always are? They're constantly changing. But that goes for everyone. I don't know. 

I can do a whole analysis about this topic, but to talk about the Vmin last year alone, I'd have to dig up content to talk about. And to compare it to what we've been given before, I'd have to dig up further content. All I can say is. I see Vmin as being close. They haven't done anything recently to make me feel otherwise. And, I'm sure I've said in a post before, but it would take a lot to convince there's some "off" (in a negative way) about them. Because I don't take the few moments we see on camera as hard evidence. And I don't think that what they post or don't post publicly (see b-day tweet) is any indication as to what's going on right now. Does that make sense? 

I know this answer probably isn't helpful. This is something I do want to talk about more, but I also am not sure that my attitude or view toward things is what everyone wants to read. Because I'm just "eh" most of the time. I mean. I can analyze moments that we do get and talk about them all serious or playful as much as anyone wants. But I can't go beyond what we're seeing to try to justify my thoughts. And what I see is Vmin being close still....so....does that make sense?

[zet-sway]

@the-wip-project day 30

Did your main characters change as you wrote them? Was that the plan or did they surprise you?

The more time I spend trying to write Thane authentically, the easier he gets. Shepard, on the other hand...

I've already talked about how difficult it is to not write enormous parts of myself into her. It's still difficult but I'm trying.

The thing is, I'm not a good liar. So I'm also not a very good actor, either. In fact I'm pretty shit at thinking up believable, fictitious scenarios. This is one of the many reasons creating a character is hard for me.

But some of these daily questions really do help the old brain grease move. I've spent some time thinking about my Shepard and what makes her... her.

My last fic got me thinking about it a lot actually. There's always great opportunity in fanfic to throw in a little bit of context and memory when a character is being introspective. I had to ask myself - "when was the last time someone went down on this woman?" So I made something up. And yeah I did draw on my own experiences for it, but not exactly from my own experiences. I kind of blended some things together. How does any writer get away from viewing everything through the lens of their own life? Seriously if anyone knows this please enlighten me lol

Also I deliberately didn't write in pronouns for that particular partner because she's not straight.

Like I don't want to have this mary-sue character who's had no bad experiences ever, or who's had a normal uneventful life, because no one wants to read about that (including me). But I also feel bad handing her trauma or bad experiences that I haven't personally been through because I don't want to appropriate them (is that even a thing? mostly I just worry I will represent survivors in a bad way)? AND I don't want to give her my experiences because I don't want to write a fanfic about me. So ?????????

Anyway I'm going to veer off track a little bit here and say I'm wondering if maybe, in my canon, she will marry Thane? I've not really considered re-marrying Thane before, mostly I want to respect Irikah. I think Kolyat would be pretty irritated by it as well. But I think - maybe - after the events of Arrival, if Shepard knew she was going to Alliance Baddie Jail, she would marry Thane for the familial benefits. Marriage is about love, yeah, but one of the biggest reasons people fight for marriage equality is because a spouse enjoys certain legal benefits and considerations. I don't know how military prison works at all but I think given the canon representation of Shepard's house arrest, she might be allowed at least infrequent phone calls with her husband? (also I want to write a voicekink smutfic about this where James says he has to listen in on the call and she's like "are you sure you want to listen to this call?" and he's like, "no, but it's my job :( so I gotta")

I saw this interesting post yesterday - and of course I didn't like or reblog it because I was full tired - but someone had asked "what do I do if I have a scene and characters and emotions, but no plot?" And the blogger responded with "what do your characters want? Why are they there, what happens if they get what they want?" and a bunch of other stuff (I can't recall). But that's basically how I thought of this. If they really wanted to stay in touch that bad (especially bearing in mind it would be an indefinite incarceration), they might do it.

So I'm toying with the idea of them eloping? I hate that word so much. I'm mildly serious about this, but I'm having a lot of trouble deciding who marries them (and whether or not I even write this scene at all). I thought Anderson, but he has too many Alliance connections. Maybe Samara, but she might not be ordained to join anyone but asari couples? Udina? Any one of the council members? Bailey? Who the fuck knows, dude. I just don't want it to be some nameless law clerk on the Citadel. But Kolyat would be their witness, I think. Or he would tell his dad to fuck off. I think it would depend a lot on how I framed his character up to that point. So if not Kolyat, maybe Garrus. Fuck dude why is this shit so difficult.

And FINALLY because I haven't spat out enough words already - my Shepard spends her retirement as a farmer. Because fuck me I just think she would love that blend of fruitful but difficult labor where there's always something to be doing. Maybe she'll grow sunflowers and raise chickens. My husband and I even talked about whether or not she would be a farmer on Earth. Maybe that may years post-war she'll just fuck off to Tuchanka with Wrex and help them out. Or maybe she'll just be a fucking construction worker (much to Thane's horror lmao). I don't know man, the possibilities are wide open. All I really know for sure is my Shepard hates being bored.

[thattimdrakeguy]

I am very sorry for what you are going through, think that in adittion to that unpleasant people who attack you, there are also many more who enjoy, respect and follow your content, and want the best for you. I really like your reviews and opinions, and although I do not always agree with you, I respect and validate your opinion as much as anyone's because that is to be respectful with others and have common sense.--

--You should not take into account what people who are unable to respect another human being like them say, that they cannot even separate reality from fiction, all for a simple opinion different from theirs about a FICTIONAL CHARACTER, you cannot even take them seriously. If those people need to insult, despise and make someone feel less for a reason like that, it simply speaks of how miserable they are as humans on and off the internet.--

Please don't take into account what these people say, listen to those who appreciate you and show respect. I hope you feel better and I am sorry for what is happening in your life, but you can always forward with your will and the people around you.(Hugs)

I only read these ones this morning, or afternoon more accurately cause I have a very bad sleep schedule for weeks cause I been playing video games too late into the day, but I’m slowly working on it. I’m just really bad at it.

And all I can really say to accurately give my reaction to it, was that it was something I definitely needed to read first thing in the morning. If it wasn’t for those messages yesterday, and a friend helping me out I may not have even been calmed down enough to go to bed at all. I could’ve easily not gone to sleep literally at all and had been even worse today because of it to the point of having another meltdown of a day.

Like I don’t wanna make myself sound too good, because if I did, I’d feel like I was lying, because my mind feels like a bloody nose filled up with tissue paper, if that even makes a darling lick of comprehension.

I find it so entirely weird, and patronizing, and frustrating how the fandom can be, if not worse. Like I say something unpopular, I do it a lot, probably with literally every freaking character. Even Tim, because I know that quite a few Tim fans don’t like me either.

I don’t read every comic and go “Oh this must just be how it works”, because that’s not how my brain is wired. I’m Autistic, I go in-depth, I do a lot of research, that is how I am wired when I get a hyperfixation, I want to know everything. So I say a lot of unpopular stuff because I don’t just accept things, because I don’t work that way.

But it goes like this when it comes to people just being miserable, they have to make me out to either be a bigot or bias, they either don’t even read what I say, or just don’t acknowledge what I say.

My biggest point they will leave out completely to focus on other things that are either completely irrelevant and just there to make me look bad even though it doesn’t really make sense what it has to do anything once you think about it a lick more, or just make me look straight up like a crappy person.

I got really ranty and rambly after this, and I try not to take up people’s dashboards as much. So I’ll put this here. If it’ll work, cause one time I don’t think it did, and it made me panic once cause I felt really bad. But it just would not show up.

Because trying to make a bad face out of a real life living person isn’t that bad, compared to the horrors of having to acknowledge the arcs and actions that their favorite character been through evidentially.

Sorry to say and everything, but I don’t see how on Earth Tim cheating on Ariana has anything to do with a literal whole other arc of Steph being abusive and doing really horrible things, or all those “teases” that were actually flirts that were making Tim genuinely uncomfortable to the point of sexual harassment, and told her not to do, which she didn’t actually always listen to sometimes, surprisingly to some. I also don’t see why it’s so hard to comprehend that Tim kissing Steph just because he got ahead of himself because he was euphoric he was about to die, yet it was made clear he didn’t do sexually or romantically, isn’t as bad (comparatively because it’s still insanely inappropriate and weird, but I wouldn’t call him a pervert over it) to me as Steph literally pinning Tim down during a gun fight to kiss him against his will, or taking advantage of Tim believing she was dead and giving her CPR to do it again. Like I don’t really see why saying “Just read the comics” has to do with anything, because I don’t have the art skills to just make all those panels up like that. Which by the way, I don’t give a single fuck about what bad thing Steph has done. I don’t like her because a lot of her stories are badly written, and a lot of her fans are straight up assholes. Which they conveniently ignore, because I must be villainized, because they can’t handle me acknowledging something that isn’t their idealized image. But let me also state that there are assholes in literally every fandom, I just have certain ones that decide to be assholes to me. And I don’t remember the part where I said teasing was bullying either. I can’t find that on my list of thoughts in my brain. Almost like they don’t actually know how I think or what I meant. 

And I don’t know why on Earth Tim not trusting Damian to the point of being kind of scummy has much to do with Damian doing horrid things in comics they like as well. They’re their own separate people ya know? I’m not comparing characters, because I’m not actually trying to shit on the characters you should realize. Not every negative thing is formed out of toxicity. Toxic positivity where people act like not just enjoying everything is so bad is actually a thing. And I see it quite often in fandoms, and it comes from a good place, but my goodness, just let people express themselves sometimes. It’s not going to hurt anybody as long as they’re not actually an asshole or you just have a fragile ego.

It seems pretty irrelevant to me. Implying that I hate the characters because of these actions is also pretty dumb to me as well, because that’s not the case nor how it works. They keep acting like me not acknowledging the bad thing Tim does in the same posts is some showing of my bias, but no, I just view it as fucking irrelevant, because I do bring up when Tim does something bad when ever it is relevant. It is that simple. I think the only time I’ve ever even could truly come across as trying to baby and defend Tim was me saying Tim cheating on Ari with Steph was out of character, which I still hold that opinion too, but I don’t simply make shit up, I just notice how rushed it was, and how it goes against how Tim is about morals, Steph, and his literal stance on cheating. Stuff that you would actually judge what’s in or out of character on.

I just give everything the same standard. I’ve never denied Tim wasn’t passive aggressive or conscending to anyone, or has violated privacy, or was immature. If I had it was probably me caught up in the moment, and pretty weird, because I’ve actively talked about it before.

And I’m referencing stuff in the past with these oddly specific examples, that hasn’t bugged me truly in a while, but when I find a new example of stuff, I can’t help but have it come back to mind and make me question how people got to just be shivery little jerks over things like made-up characters.

I’ve acknowledged the fact that my blog was too anti-Steph plenty of times, even as it was happening, because it was mostly through anons and not me. Some of which I defended Steph on. I just had too much anxiety not responding to them, because I’d feel a sense of guilt for ignoring someone. Which I’m over and past.

I’m not going to be held down by stuff I already corrected about myself.

It’s been so heavily implied to me before, that groups just talk mad shit about me, and made up this horrendous little reputation for me among themselves, and it is so disheartening, considering I’m just this baby faced geek that read too many comics, simply explaining stuff that had happened in actual comics without actual bias. I don’t run DC Comics. I’m just a blogger that they really really don’t like, and take it as a personal attack of some kind, at least going off of how they act.

Maybe it’s what I get for expecting people to treat fiction as fiction and not a big freaking deal when I say something or don’t say something, because they’d understand the context I’m trying to explain literal events in comics as they are, and other things that happened in other situations have no relevance to what I’m saying, because I’m not making a bashing piece like they seem to think.

I know I take fiction very seriously, because I just really want good content again. But I don’t make real life people’s lives miserable. Do ya think I talk shit about Bendis all the time? Not really. I’ve genuinely probably sang his praises more than otherwise. I think Tynion’s the closest example of when I could’ve, but that was years ago at this point. I’ve made it so much more clearer it’s about the comics than them, because simply I’ve realized how scummy it is to mock an actual person, who’s probably actually a really cool guy to know. Do I fuck that up sometimes, probably. But I’m definitely not telling him to kill himself.

If they can’t acknowledge what I actually say, and continue to just try to make me look bad. I don’t personally view myself as the bad one. That’d be utterly redundant.

It always boils down to that I just acknowledge stuff they refuse to, and they just play ignorant about, and pretend they just can’t possibly understand why anyone would say it. I didn’t pull the stuff out of my ass, I have the panels. I didn’t skip anything out. At most I just don’t find the excuses they have to be freaking relevant or over power the action at hand or sometimes the literal motivation she/he had going into it.

And it’s 100% okay, but even though this is a space on the internet, and I’m practically a loser shut in. I still live in the real world and when I’m not having a bad anxiety attack or whatever else, I try to be as reasonable as possible.

I just look at it, look at the context and past contexts, look at the motivations, judge it for what I see, and move on. And never consider it a big deal until someone else makes a big deal about it.

I don’t even view every person that does it against me to be a bad person, some of them most definitely are because they go too far with it, but some of them literally have no idea proper context anymore, or they’re just very very insecure.

It’s very difficult to outright go ‘THEY’RE ALL EVIL’, but when there’s so many that are just putrid humans that want me to take my own life, it’s a wee bit overwhelming, and understandably so, yeah?

People sometimes just don’t properly process what they’re doing, because they’re so caught up in their insecurity, or possibly even a mild ego, but there’s others that will do it because they’re so quick to anger and hatred over fucking nothing.

Welcome to reality. It’s a lot like taking a train ride through a diseased rectum sometimes. But other times it’s like taking a trolley though a nice field. It’s a mixed bag, but it’s a ride that never stops but once.

An important thing I do wanna say though, is that I have everyone who supports me in my heart. I may lose my sight of that when I’m going through an episode I’m having a heckuva lot of trouble controlling, but I’d be in a much worse spot without them. Some of them are so dang respectful, and some are just so legitimately sweet and kind that it’s a blessing to have ever had an interaction of any kind or level with them.

I don’t take any of you for granted even if sometimes I seem ignorant of it during a terrible depressive episode.

You often don’t agree with me and can make it very clear, but it’s the respect you give me nonetheless that I take as precious, because it’s some of the best stuff to receive when all else seems so bleak and lifeless. It’s not an honor everyone sadly receives, so I treasure that a lot. And when I’m feeling so down and out, it sometimes can be the one thing that keeps me even near level, and that’s such an honor that even if it’s such a small amount, because obviously it’s a Tumblr blog I’m always aware of that, it just does mean a lot to me, because it genuinely is an honor to me.

I love you guys a lot. I hope that’s always obvious even when I’m making a mess out of myself. You guys are some of my favorite people on this planet.

[corancoranthemagicalman]

‘twas tagged by the beloved mutual @kamwashere for a mutual tag game! 💕

why did you choose your url?

I was on the Voltron Amino and ended up doing an art collab. Most of the others were on Tumblr, and since I didn’t have one I just created one to be tagged in the collab. I RP’d Coran all the time and had basically been going by that name as I do now on occasion. Coran was my man. @/corancoranthegorgeousman was taken (by a rocking blogger who I don’t think is a mutual so I shan’t at) and so I think it was @robbingroses (a wonderful person and artist) who actually made the suggestion that stuck.

any side-blogs?

/sweats

...None that I use.

As mentioned before, used to be heavy into RP’ing whilst I was in the Voltron fandom, so I’ve got a bunch in relation to that. I also have two URLs that I really like saved, but I could never switch from being the magical man.

how long have you been on Tumblr?

Early 2018? Or something? That’s how long I’ve had my own account. Been stalking Tumblr since at least 2012.

do you have a queue tag?

I do despite not knowing how they work! The tag is ‘cqueue’, a play on words of my AO3 username CBlue. 

why did you start your blog in the first place?

As I’ve already lore dropped (whoops), I did it because of an art collab! Made sense to do it since I was already snooping all over the platform, and then just slowly migrated from the Amino based community to here. Now I’m stuck in Turbo Hell.

why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Currently? Because it’s a recent art and I’m trying to convince myself I’m an artist. I’m going to be changing it soon though, haha.

why did you choose your header?

Because I made a funny and found it funny. Also I listen to Radio Company too much so I have to dunk on myself.

what’s your post with the most notes?

I don’t... know? I’ve lost the site that configures that for me :(( I get like five notes on average for original posts so let’s just say I’m very popular amongst my peers ✌️

how many people do you follow?

okay to be fair most of them are dead as I literally was scrolling through them this morning. But I won’t say. 

have you ever made a shitpost?

all day e’ry day

how often do you use Tumblr?

I used to be normal. Then who the hell knows went on a hunting trip and the finale happened and now I’m here daily. I get my global news through tumblr memes, though. Like the morning paper.

did you have a fight/argument with a blog once? who won?

I mean yes and no? I’ve butted heads and narrowly avoided getting into heated back and forths, but I think I back off before it escalates into arguments or fights. I don’t get involved in that stuff anymore. Like, if people just get too negative for me or if they’re aggressive to me, I unfollow and block. I don’t have time to stress over fighting with someone in a space where I come to relax and have fun. I’ve got enough in my real world life with my real world consequences without debating on whether or not I should tag that post with John Winchester only for you to also tag it with John Winchester when you rebloggeed it from me. This is my good times space, so I don’t want to taint that with arguing and fighting.

That being said, maybe this just means I’m the loser in fights because I refuse to fight.

how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this post’?

I think it’s terrible. I love informative posts. I love spreading information about important causes and even just different cultural things. But I cannot stand the anxiety-inducing pressure to reblog every little burning fire and asshole-CEO exposure or else I’m a terrible person. As mentioned before, I come here to relax. I know I said I get my global news through Tumblr memes, but I also try to stay strictly to the fandom side of blogging. Unless it’s a ‘cause that moves me enough to overlook the “you need to reblog this”, I hate facilitating that culture that I know causes people stress and anxiety.

do you like tag games?

Yeah! But I always feel bad because I’m terrible at tagging other people? Like what is a mutual? Is it a spiritual mutual? We follow each other but how active are we in each other’s notifs? Do they recognize my name like I recognize theirs?

So I just crumble and die.

do you like ask games?

Yeah I do! I’ve got a few asks from ask games still burning in my inbox. They’re only so late because I lost my computer for a bit like two months back when I kind of had the free time to answer them. Now the answers are slowly getting drafted so I can post them an awkward amount of time later and I hate it lol

which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

idk I think that @kamwashere blog might be pretty famous. Also again I wish I just... had an easier to view list of who my mutuals are? Not for this question but in general.

Mutuals sound off please I love you <3

do you have a crush on a mutual?

Hell yes ;)

[No I don’t lol. But I crush on mutuals in the sense of “please be my friend.” So friend-crush. I guess. But then the ones I actually actively think of as mutuals are my friends.]

Again, we’re supposed to tag mutuals. Here’s a few who I know are my mutuals, but no pressure to partake!!

@morai-the-swann-king @jitter-bugss @damejudyhench @you-cant-spell-subtext-without @blue-eyed-cutiepatootie 🌺