#maybe things will look different in another generation. who knows?

[starberry-cupcake]

LAST CHAPTERS!!! I have to make another one for the extra story and all that but these are the LAST OFFICIAL CHAPTERS!!!

previously in ice cube barbie de la tumbita(1):

this happened

this is the general tag of all the collection of recaps

(1) Note: "tumbita" means "little tomb" or "little grave", there was an audio meme going around some years ago where a little girl told another little girl that santa was "en la tumbita" aka dead, which was why parents were the ones who actually bought the gifts

I'm bringing back the very niche cultural slang meme thing that I started the nona recaps with here at the end

also because that audio gives me 'nona and the kids' vibes

CHAPTER 30 (the tower!!! in tarot it means upheaval, disaster, sudden change, ESCÁNDALO)

nona aka ice cube barbie de la tumbita aka AL aka annabel lee wakes up and sees how the truck is swimming in grey stuff

THE RIVER BABY!!!

also, Annabel Lee pause, this quote from the poem, upon knowing what I know now, really hits

And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

coronabeer is talking sweetly to judith

sorry, j o d y

coronabeer 👏 and 👏 judith 👏 sitting 👏 in 👏 a 👏 tree 👏

individually, I feel mid about them but, together, I'll defend them forever

nona looks at camolyctor paul atreides and says "I'll take it from here"

"hold my chewed half-eaten eraser"

ice cube barbie, who is still nona for now, keeps feeling like her body is not her own

which maybe has to do with the fact that it isn't her own

funny how that works

nona tells pyrrha and camolyctor paul not to ask her questions and not to "say things that aren't said like a question but are questions"

she says "take it away" and they decide to indulge her

since she's the one who seems to know what to do in this river surfing situation

she says that the water "doesn't want to touch them" while coronabeer asks judith to come back

nona also feels a lot of people crowding behind her

pyrrha asks "what the fuck is that" and gideon goes "Told you so"

and so the tower comes up from the water, like it did for harrow, last time we heard of her

nona is trying to stay as nona by grasping the "middle of the brain" thoughts that aren't "above" and "below"

the thoughts that know what the tower is

but if she looks at those, she's gonna stop being nona

judith starts talking in that not-judith way again and goes "He left them too long—You left them too long, my salt thing"

to which nona responds "You are here. Okay, good —the water really won't touch us."

at this point, we can do nothing but trust whatever she comes up with, so buckle up

nona has to reach the accelerator but, because harrowcita's body is smol, she's like

she's also kind of having a heart attack in harrowcita's body at the sight of the tower, so everything's f i n e

"The more she thought, the more problems she had"

AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH

DON'T WE ALL

judith keeps repeating "the hole" which is kinda funny

everyone either collapses or is losing it, except for nona, who continues on

because someone has to

they are sucked into the current and a crack appears in the glass like in jurassic park 2

camolyctor paul comes in and asks nona if she can get them to the ninth

I don't know how I feel about camolyctor paul atreides yet

they don't feel camilla enough for me idk I'm feeling abandoned again, but this time I don't think I'll get my love back

unless camolyctor paul pulls a vegetto and unfuses inside the stomach of some entity

but that's highly unlikely

so I'm unwell

I know there was no other way around this and camilla wouldn't have survived anyway but I'm not handling this well you folks

I WOULDN'T PULL A RESSURRECTION FOR HER JUST BECAUSE AND RUIN THE UNIVERSE THOUGH

RIP DR REV EMPEROR JOHN BUT I'M DIFFERENT

this book series is about learning to let go huh

it's about necromancers who, for all intents and purposes, thrive in bringing back dead things but, in some clever irony, is about actually letting go, not bringing back

every book you start, you have to let go of what you were used to in the previous one

you have to let go of characters you grew to care about

of povs you got used to

of things you thought you finally understood

you have to let go of preconceptions of characters who end up showing more than you thought they would

and all this mess started because one man wants the power of never having to let go of what he wants to keep to himself

even if it isn't something for him to have in the first place

*colors of the wind from pocahontas starts playing in the background*

ANYWAY

NO PHILOSPHY IN THE MIDDLE OF A LONG RECAP

BAD LULY

uber driver nona says she can get them to the ninth but she's tired and doesn't want to let go of nona, she knows that this is what's gonna come down to

AGAIN WITH THE LETTING GO

THIS IS WHAT I'M SAYING

nona doesn't want to let people go or let herself go

even if judith is "gone, forever probably" and gideon is "used to" being dead

nona is considering letting it all go then and there and dying with the body she's using

but then camolyctor paul atreides reminds her that noodle is in the back

and BY GOD we're not letting noodle die

middle nona thoughts are brought to the forefront by the presence of noodle

and nona "drove the truck home"

CHAPTER 31 (NINTH SKULL BAYBEY!!!!!)

nona's chakra thoughts align and she wants something

they all find out they're alive and well and gideon rises

nona has lost the ability to move and doesn't quite remember how she was able to do what she did

pyrrha proceeds to carry her around again

like the 0 years baby she actually is

and gideon goes "Home, sweet home"

WE'RE BACK!!!

WE'RE BACK WHERE IT ALL BEGUN

camolyctor paul atreides asks gideon where they are and congratulates nona for her parking precision

pyrrha wants to ask what that was in the river, since it wasn't an RB

but gideon hears something nobody else can hear and decides to just go on her own

so that leaves camolyctor paul and a pyrrha carrying nona to chase after her

nona asks about tsundere pash but she has to stay with angel teacher, who got scrambled around in the landing

don't know what good would tsundere pash do in this situation and I think she wouldn't even want to be there if asked, but nona has a crush or whatever this is

how tsundere pash managed to attract the earth personification or whatever, idk, but I also know nothing about attracting anyone, so who am I to doubt game

nobody can see shit and pyrrha says anastasia should have added skull-shaped fairy lights to the ninth

how many of you lovely freaks went and bought them

nona sees the light, but a literal one for now, because they find a tunnel with light inside it

they find gideon in there

gideon: found, sword: drawn, blood: on it, bodies: scattered

in moments like this, I miss camilla

nona then sees a man that looks old as sin

at this point, I had forgotten crux's name ngl

he didn't matter enough to me to give him a nickname and I just forgot his name and also maybe that he existed

camolyctor paul atreides wants to help him but he doesn't want to be helped

also, there are weird corpses that gideon tells them to look at

weird as in body horror territory again

as in some magnus archives level bs

nona keeps pointing out how different camolyctor paul is to both camilla and palmolive, which makes me sad

and they say they find it all interesting

which is very spock of them, palmolive would approve of that

gideon says that "he said they'd only be on Antioch"

camolyctor paul asks gideon where they've seen that before and gideon says in duracell bunny nephew

remember duracell bunny nephew? I was thinking about him the other day, actually

he's a character I wish I had known more about, poor kid

anyway, duracell bunny nephew had his soul detached too far from his body and Other Stuff took over, so I guess that's kind of what this is

gideon is very shocked and upset at the fact that they're there because dr reverend emperor john said they couldn't travel

I'm holding gideon's face in my hands, putting my forehead against hers and asking her patiently in which universe does she think she can believe a word that man says

gideon says that the entities use revenant magic and that they're waiting for crux to kick the bucket to use him as well, so they'll eventually get to him anyway

if they're waiting for crux to die, they can join the congregation of people who've been waiting, with gideon at the front of it

crux has time and energy to be rude af to everyone around him, especially gideon

nona interrupts the family reunion to announce that there's more of these guys coming soon, so they have to grab crux and move on

gideon is about to stay around and throw hands with a bunch of revenants but pyrrha tells her that "any kid in the Cohort knows the mission comes first"

since when is gideon's priority the Cohort, I asked myself at this point, but anyway

nona sees a figure with dark robes and a pale face swaying in the archway, which doesn't look good

nona starts the description of something that took me a minute to understand was an elevator

gideon asks crux, who had been promoted to seneschal before they left for canaan house, where aiglamene is

remember aiglamene? I liked her

crux tells her she's dead and gideon would have had a heart attack if that would still affect her body

but nona tells her he's lying

what's the point in lying if we're going where the remaining ninth is, you dramatic old bastard????

they ask crux how long the thingies have been in town and he says he has to answer because they're holding "the Reverend Daughter"

which, they technically aren't, but anyway

says they've been there for about a day

they're looking for the youngest of them, which gideon thinks is tough luck for them

they use bodies but don't seem to be interested in bones

BAD HOUSE TO GO TO IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT BONES

camolyctor paul is still trying to fix it but gideon says that, since it's "spirit shit" (technical term) the only thing you can do, if you're really good, is ward people so that they aren't taken

I am assuming this is a River imbalance that's going on over here, things are Happening in the River

gideon is about to say "how bad are we" but corrects to "you" in the last second, in another way to attempt to cover up the fact that she cares deeply and isn't fooling anyone

catching the tsundere-itis from tsundere pash

it's a family thing, commander wake sounds like she was very tsundere as well

pyrrha says she was there before it was known as the Anastasian and that she "painted a nursery mint green" which ????????

forgot people were born in the ninth at some point

without baby blending required

gideon makes an ass joke and nona laughs, which makes crux suspicious

pyrrha thinks nona isn't doing that badly if she's laughing at ass jokes

nona is actually falling apart, but doesn't want to bring down the mood of the operation

also, her arm gets scratched with pyrrha's zipper

they end up in a corridor with a bone gate and gideon asks for aiglamene

aiglamene arrives and nona compares her to what she thinks sriracha girlie will look like if she grows older

I can see the vision, actually

aiglamene passes a pike to sister berta, who nona says might be honesty's age, and I am reminded there were supposed to be new people in the ninth, according to dr reverend emperor john in book 2

I can't keep up with everything, so much happens at all times

aiglamene says they welcome back the reverend daughter and it's like that scene in mulan

gideon then reveals that she's very much not alive and goes "You always said I'd come back in a box"

:'(

so aiglamene goes all feral with nona, believing her to be harrowcita

which is a nice change of pace, I missed people getting angry on gideon's behalf

but gideon tells her that it isn't harrowcita in there, it's just her body

and what's left of it, because it's getting complicated to keep it alive

pyrrha starts flirting with aiglamene

(pyrrha has a type for women in command who get angry quickly)

and she calls her a "brandishment baby", which I felt like a generational name

the ninth also seems to not be in good terms with what the emperor might want and aiglamene says last time they dealt with that was thirty years before

nona is laid on the ground next to a heater to warm up a bit and someone kisses her shoe, which she thinks is very unhygienic, to the point that not even kevin would do it

we love kevin

last "we love kevin" of the nona recaps :'(

pyrrha asks what happened to her arm and nona tells her about the zipper

nona realizes that's her first wound and everyone realizes they need to keep it moving

crux calls her "harrowhark" and nona tells him she's not her

he asks her who she is, then, which is something nona is trying very hard not to think about

"There's a box and...and there's someone in that box who isn't me. I'm me. I don't know who's in that box, not really, only—when you open it—I'll be gone, because I can't survive...knowing. And I think—inside that box—there's something that looks like a girl"

I talked about this back in chapter 11!!!!!

I'm considering doing a Top 10 Best Recap Moments, this one might have to go in there if I do it

camolyctor paul is calling nona's imminent collapse "interesting" and pyrrha says their bedside manner is shit

nona says that the more she goes back, the less harrow resists because she wasn't made for it, she isn't "the right shape"

she also tells them that, when she's back, she won't help them and she'll be different, because knowing makes her not be nona and she won't be able to love anymore

pyrrha says that she was loved and liked by a lot of people and goes "what's like except a love that hasn't been invited indoors?" because the time to make sentimental speeches is here

she went "Gideon liked you" and I was like "no, she doesn't" and then remembered she was talking about og!gideon lmao

pyrrha also tells her she had bought her a birthday present she didn't get to give her

it was a tshirt that advertised "cheap moustache rides"

I had never heard that euphemism before, but now I know

camolyctor paul says palmolive and camilla wouldn't have let her wear it but they think "moustache rides should be free"

I don't know what to do with that information, so let's continue

nona says she's gonna make herself remember and promises to use the tshirt and that, then, they'll know it's her

I'd love to see THAT

she's about to not be in a cumple anymore, and we're all gonna be worse for it

CHAPTER 32 (TOMB TIME!!! LA TUMBITA!!!!)

nona can't see in the darkness but recognizes gideon's voice

the doors she's opened

in more ways the one

crux says nobody should be going in there but the Daughter and her cavalier

and gideon says "The Reverend Daughter has no cavalier living"

:'(

suddenly there's light and they feel a weird noise at their feet

nona thinks she sees coronabeer but nope

she describes yandere twin as a "washed out coronabeer"

coronabeer with the desaturation on

yandere twin starts talking in that way in which she says stuff, that tries to seem she's unbothered and everything is beneath her but she actually cares a great deal about it

she reminds me of those youtubers who think that acting like they don't care and making a show of having to drink wine in order to get through what they're talking about will make us overlook the fact that they made a 1 hour video about the topic in question, which means they do care a great deal, and acting in a "non-fangirl way" won't make them seem "more credible"

we're all nerds and losers, it's fine to care

it's ok to care, yandere twin

ANYWAY

she calls camolyctor paul "hectus", which is very uninspired, in my humble opinion of a nickname expert

btw the stuff they're standing on is "Adipose fat and mucous membrane" which I imagine kind of like the grease that collects from the grill after an asado

yandere twin is finally introduced to pyrrha and asks her whether what happened to her and og!gideon normally happens

she's relieved to hear it isn't, because probably she doesn't want chad to be using her body, even if she got to use his

pyrrha tells gideon not to do anything stupid, to which gideon replies that she's too late for that

also, yandere twin isn't drinking wine like the youtubers I mentioned, but is smoking, which serves the same purpose

gideon tells her that coronabeer is outside and she didn't have to use her charm to get her there

yandere twin calls her sister an "ill-shampooed slut"

which is A Lot

and then nona realizes gideon and yandere twin are wearing "friendship bracelets"

yandere twin pulls gideon outside the pool of goo and they do a friendship handshake

my brain is short circuiting a bit at this because last time I heard of them, they were at each other's throats

so ?????????????????????????????

camolyctor paul reminds them that harrowcita's body is on a time limit

yandere twin says harrowcita would want to die rather than open the tomb, as if she hadn't opened it already once

she asks for gideon's opinion but gideon suddenly can't read

they keep acting like besties, which's got everyone and me shocked and weirded at

they're super friendly until gideon goes like "anywayyyy gotta open the tomb, though"

yandere twin does not like that idea

she calls gideon a "three way double crosser" which is one level lower than pyrrha's quadruple crossing record

gideon is saying a bunch of stupid ass stuff

that dr reverend emperor john doesn't care if they kill ice cube barbie, that she'll be his cavalier

yandere twin also thinks all of that is bs and she can't really believe that

idk if this is actually about that or about harrow, honestly

gideon says dr reverend emperor john is very depressed and yandere twin starts talking about who he's sleeping with, which I don't care to know

gideon also doesn't want to hear it, but she's ageist about it because he's allegedly sleeping with a sixty year old guy

that's the least of anyone's concerns

yandere twin is the one making more sense, which scares me tbh, and says she doesn't know what he'll become with ice cube barbie and asks what I'm also wondering: "Is this about Harry, after all?"

gideon gets all defensive without answering the question and tells yandere twin to leave with coronabeer and stop bothering her

gideon insists on dr reverend emperor john wanting to kill ice cube barbie and yandere twin slaps her

yandere twin says he loves ice cube barbie and needs her and without her he's nothing and they need to keep him that way

which again makes me feel like I've lost part of the narrative while looking through nona's perspective

and, at that, nona starts losing her nona-ness

she begins to fall apart, exploding from the inside out, and both yandere twin and gideon run to her

someone says "Keep it together. Wherever you are, idiot, I know you can hear me. Keep it together"

I thought that was gideon talking to harrow, but I'm not sure

camolyctor paul tells pyrrha to "go" and pyrrha shoots yandere twin with a magic bullet

a magic bullet which isn't the blender they made harrow in, another magic bullet

pyrrha says she was saving the bullet for dr reverend emperor john, which would have been a much better use for it, but anyway

gideon and pyrrha carry nona while camolyctor paul instructs to "open the door"

nona, who starts talking more like ice cube barbie, refers to harrowcita as "the baby", which is funny but also accurate since she was The Baby, you know, the Ninth Blender Baby

she starts remembering when she was there before, with dr reverend emperor john, who took her there saying he wanted to show her something

I WOULDN'T PUT IT PAST HIM TO HAVE GOTTEN INSPIRATION FROM IT, TBH

the corridor has things that were disabled and others that are yet to be disabled, but pyrrha says they need fresh thanergy for it

gideon says they should kill her but, since she's already dead, it won't work

pyrrha goes all mushy for wake again and says they should kill her, that if wake had asked her she would have died with her for this

pyrrha always gets very emotional in stressful moments

meanwhile, ice cube barbie no longer nona keeps remembering that she was dr reverend emperor john's cavalier and that she loved him and he loved her because he loved "the world"

idk about that tbh but ok

ice cube barbie no longer nona says she hadn't come on purpose, she was brought by harrow, the kiss and the tear

lots of fairy tale kissing in this book series

crux says they should kill him instead

everyone wants to die suddenly

except for nona, which is ironic

gideon goes "Die for her...it's the only goddamn good you'll ever do her"

aiglamene and camolyctor paul keep insisting if crux is sure and gideon is like "can we kill him already?"

not with those words, but she's like metaphorically pointing at her watch like judge judy

ice cube barbie no longer nona keeps remembering how johnny boy cask of amontillado-ed her and she asked where was anastasia while he was doing it

crux and gideon keep arguing and gideon starts reading her pedigree receipts

she says "I want you to know who I am!" and crux goes "You died as you lived, Gideon Nav—a disappointment to me—and to God"

idk if he was being an asshole on purpose so she'd kill him already or if he just wanted to be a nasty bastard until the very end

also, I don't know if gideon really believes all this, because we haven't seen her perspective in this book, but it'd be sad if she does

I mean, I get it, she lived without an identity and being naruto-ed in the ninth for it, and suddenly she's princess amelia mignonette thermopolis renaldi

but it'd be very sad if she thinks that what makes her worthy is who she was born as or who her father is and not who she actually is

we love you for you, gideon sweetie

more so in spite of your dad than because of him, actually

you're worthy just for existing and you've done good and brave things just being you, before you knew of your background

don't fall for the emperor propaganda

gideon kills him but feels terrible still, because there are a lot of issues to unpack that killing a dreadful old man can't fix

ice cube barbie no longer nona keeps remembering and there are beetles in her memory, as well as a pool of salt water from which she drank

ice cube barbie no longer nona steps into the cold water, with harrow's heart freezing, as she remembers doing the same back then, when she first came into la tumbita

she hears yandere twin coming closer as she sees herself lying there

WHICH I CALLED???? BACK IN CHAPTER 11???

YAY ME

she says dr reverend emperor john made her ugly, which is slander to one of my favorite barbies ever

but anyway, celebratory screencap of the reason I called her ice cube barbie this whole time

she hears someone shout "No" from the shore, which I think is probably yandere twin

and she says she sees anastasia's body, all bones, ready to close the door whenever it was opened

wasn't anastasia the one who "never made it" into the bolthole? whose room was empty? who had "figured out" the lyctor thing? whose cav was killed by the emperor?

did she die there guarding the door or...?

I'm sure you'll correct me in the replies

unless it's a spoiler for the story or the stuff I have yet to read

nona, who is now more ice cube barbie than nona, says her last nona thing and goes "well happy birthday to me, I guess" and head dives into ice cube barbie body

EPILOGUE (first house skull means trouble every time)

ice cube barbie proceeds to break her chains

now here it all turned into shakespeare all of a sudden so I had to go over this a couple times

and the descriptions of the people are like "child 1" "child 2", so

be patient with me here

these books make me feel very dumb very often

yandere twin comes in for the kill but harrow stops her and says that, if she tries to kill ice cube barbie, their vow will be nullified and she'll kill her

yandere twin tells her she doesn't know what she's doing and harrow says "Not lately, but now"

yandere twin says she's half dead to which harrow replies "I am as one half-dead, but you would be two-halves dead, bitch"

I feel like I'm having a stroke

I feel like they're not really talking like shakespeare in the park, that's how ice cube barbie hears it, but idk at this point

yandere twin goes into her mocking flirty kinky territory and says "I only die of longing for thee"

and harrow goes "Then perish"

ice cube barbie then gets up and smacks yandere twin across the tomb

skeletons start coming up but when ice cube barbie lifts the sword, they all go like "better not"

now we're stating to call ice cube barbie "alecto", which I'm not gonna do, because that nickname was signaled upon me by apollo himself

and, now that I think about it, if this book was gonna be part 1 of alecto and then author got carried away, makes sense that it's the same bitch

anyway, pyrrha calls to ice cube barbie and she goes "he has never appeased me, and now all he has done was teach me how to die"

ice cube barbie remembers "the vow" and turns to harrowcita

she raises her sword, but then remembers her from her dreams and doesn't strike her

harrowcita tells her she's loved her all her life and that she can kill her if she wants

which would make this a very very bad day for gideon

ice cube barbie is angry but lifts her up and kisses her and draws blood, because she can't be not feral about anything

ice cube barbie is confused of why harrow isn't appeased by this because that's "how meat loves meat"

gotta teach this earth entity about different kinds of love

through harrow's blood, ice cube barbie understands what she is

at this point I went "a blender baby?"

but she says she's "the blood of the tomb keeper"

so then I got that she meant anastasia lol

ice cube barbie apologises for dr reverend emperor john killing anastasia's cav

testing my memory, these people, had to double check who samael was

she swears to harrowcita the way she swore to anastasia and says "I am in your service until you bid me the favour, and whatsoever you appoint I shall perform, and consider the vow rendered. This is what I promised, until such a time as you deal with me as you see fit"

what was going on between ice cube barbie and anastasia????

harrow thinks she's not worthy of the vow

but ice cube barbie kneels, offers the sword and cuts harrowcita's hand so her blood is on the sword and goes "Notwithstanding, I offer you my service"

and then gideon, very angrily, shouts from the shore "Get in line, thou big slut"

we love gideon

there's a time skip then and ice cube barbie ends up in dr reverend emperor john's ship

she says she still finds the river dead

dr reverend emperor john is butt naked, drunk and looking a mess

ice cube barbie seems to be carrying an unconscious harrow around in one arm

which means we keep separating gideon and harrow and this is the slowest burn ever

I don't even know if they're endgame, at this point

that tagline I really have issues with, the one about the "lesbian necromancers in space", made me expect something entirely different by this point in time

ANYWAY

ice cube barbie is carrying the sword in her other hand

she uses it to stab dr reverend emperor john in the heart

but that just wakes him up and he says "Annabel, good morning"

I reached my quota of images per post for the second time in the recaps lifespan

BUT THAT'S IT!!!! Next time, I'll have the story and the other extra stuff that's at the end of the book and we'll see what we do next!

Some of you have said you'd be interested in me doing Alecto when it comes out, even if you'll be busy with more important fandom input than these silly recaps at that time, others have been interested in me potentially doing this with Murderbot, but before any of that, I'm thinking of doing a couple extras of some stuff, like a top 10 Best Recap Moments, maybe with the best things I predicted or something, you guys can cast votes if you want!! Until next time!!! ♥

[your-lady-thief]

"there is nothing about han sooyoung beside her identity as a writer and relationship to kim dokja"

I agree that some of the fans just butcher her personality down. (Especially that toxic homophobic dudebros who see han sooyoung as their wife and hate joongdok) And yeah, Han Sooyoung could've been expanded better, BUT there is a difference between being completely bland and flat and being a character with more closed layers. As I stated in a previous post, This might be a metaphor for being the "writer" in a story. Secondly, Han Sooyoung is a character that has been neglected since childhood. Her parents didn't even wanted her and kept her as a secret. Despite people admiring her for her leadership and writing skills, she felt lonely. She didn't trust anybody, because she never truly bonded with people in her life. People relied and admired her skills. Not herself. As once again i stated in another previous analysis, Han Sooyoung relies on her skills but not her personality and her as a person in general. So expecting her to be more open emotionally like Yoo Sangah is completely unfair. Plus it is throughly shown that Han Sooyoung shows her affection differently. She shows it with her actions, because outside of writing, she isnt sure how to communicate. Writing was this girl's tool of conveying her emotions for many years, lets acknowledge that. Some of you all just want it written all open like a manual and it shows... Or maybe its because I relate to her on a personal level having the same relationship with writing /or my skills so it doesnt bug me much that her character's major theme is being a writer. Another thing i saw was that Han Sooyoung only had a proper bond with Dokja like it isnt the case with most of the characters. Kim Dokja is the person who glued KimCom together in the first place. It is mentioned that they cant properly function without him. It is like that because the novel focuses on their bonds with Dokja. Also she had pretty good moments with yoo joonghyuk, jung heewon and yoo sangah aswell. Some of yall acting like shes all about kim dokja and im about to lose it. I wish authors expanded her character more (like i wanted to see more of her emotional world, we had a moment like that in Kaizenix but I wish it lasted longer) so I didnt have to deal with this stupid mischaracterization. same with my girls jhw and ysa too. They deserved more focus!! Maybe I should do the same thing with ysa too because I have seen to much Yoo Sangah hate lately. (They made on of my fav editors archive all her posts like genuinely tf) Also I know I kinda rambled, and this looks really sloppy but,, just wanted to let it out of my system.

[ahappydnp]

Hey so I hope this is okay to ask as i’m a bit confused and crazy atm. In the WIQYT screenshots going around again about the doc, the last one talks about Dan having self image issues. I was curious if you could possibly help spread some light on the subject maybe? I remember always seeing him posted on the proana blogs back in the day frequently, and even in Dan and Depression he says his lexapro made him “gain loads of weight” but it never seemed like anything visually changed. I know you’re not a mind reader and trying to understand another persons self image is impossible, I guess I just maybe don’t understand where this comes from. I know he used to rag on himself in videos by putting pillows down his shirt to signify that he was chubby as a kid even tho he never was from the pictures available. I’m aware this is very parasocial but I’ve been going through a lot self image wise and he never got to make his documentary where he talks about it and idk. To me, Daniel is lowkey a philosopher and i’m so desperate to hear what he has to say on the subject. Can you think of any times he’s talked about this kind of stuff? (Sorry for this being such a downer anon i just kinda feel like i need to hear about it rn and i don’t know where to look)

I hope your weekend is amazing and filled with joy and laughter!

like you said, no one knows what goes on inside someones mind especially things like insecurities. but i do think it's two seperate issues that dan has talked about (under the cut for sensitive topics)

i think it's important to remember how society treated weight in the early 00s, obviously it was muuuuch worse for women but boys would also get ridiculed for their weight regardless of their size. i assume that dan did get picked on for being bigger (more than likely he was probably just taller than his classmates but kids just really like generalizing words like "fat" and that sticks in your brain). it was such a shitty time for body acceptance as a whole and he was bullied so much i'm sure people did throw in weight comments just to add to the blow.

and like everything else that's going to stick and then when you're a little older you just repeat this truth that other people told you that "i was a fat kid and fat=bad just like gay=bad so i'm going to agree with them" of course that was suuuuuuper toxic and unhealthy and dan definitely did even more damage peddling casual fatphobia and making insensitive jokes online. but he was pretty openly struggling with his body image from the get go (all the ED comments he made in 2009) and as we know, there's generally another root cause. dan's talked about his self hatred when he was younger (particularly stemming from the bullying and his internalized homophobia) at length and it makes sense that manifested into body dysmorphia the second part is in that screenshot from WIQY he was specifically talking about gay men's beauty standards which is a whole different issue altogether. he's talked a lot about his baby face and how he's felt insecure about his lack of "masculine" features and build. he's talked about how people don't take him seriously because he doesn't look like "a man". there's also the added layer of him being the poster child for ~pretty boy twink~ who's now getting older and aging out of those very rigid beauty standards solely because he's no longer 21. but gay men can be incredibly toxic when it comes to labels and what's attractive (i mean think about the fact that grindr literally has a body type filter so you can exclude whole subsets of people). so he's not saying that he's not attractive or not the general beauty standard, it's that he came out and fell face first into gay standards discourse because he was actively engaging and consuming queer community in a new light

allll of this to say i COMPLETELY get how it can instinctively rub people the wrong way when dan howell, who was famously coined "the hot one" for years and has had people drooling over him his entire adult life, says he's insecure. it can feel like a slap in the face if you don't consider his own struggles but i do think he's self aware and healed enough to know that he's very much within societal beauty standards (tall, straight sized, white, eurocentric features) and has actually benefited greatly in his career because of his looks. and he's unpacked a lot of his fatphobia and has made a point to be vocally body positive even going back to like 2016/2017

[this-blog-screams]

One Step Closer Next to you

Yan! Concubine/Knight x King! Gn reader [a/n: Not proofread, 2.4k words!!!]

Synopsis: Introduction of Sebastian, a knight who experienced his fair share of battles but yet to defeat the hardest one; his love for you. One thing led to another and he ended up being your concubine. Not to say he’s complaining though.

Not precisely what he was expecting. Growing up as the son of the former general, Sebastian thought that naturally he’ll be succeeding his father. Training everyday and polishing his swordsmanship, sometimes going with his and your father on their different trips and expeditions, he figured he was experienced enough to climb the ranks amongst the soldiers. He marches through the open hallway of the castle besides the indoor castle, his friend beside him tries to convince him to not make a big deal out of the situation but how can he? If after 4 years he’s still not promoted to a higher rank yet he hears the new recruit who’s ‘coincidentally’ one of the counselor's son, was now a rank higher than him? His ego can’t take it, if he has to take this problem to you then so be it. He makes a beeline for the council room, where a meeting was being held. He has another reason for making such a disrespectful intrusion, recently defense and attack plans for the kingdom have been nothing but a failure. Sebastian has a sneaking suspicion that this may be a plot to sabotage the kingdom because of some very fortunate circumstances happening inside the castle. Ascending the throne too early after your father was killed, these old bastards are taking advantage of your inexperienced reign of the kingdom. They may be planning to overrule you and he can’t have that happening now can he? 

You sit at the end table with your hands pinching at your brow as you listen to the council members try and persuade you to take certain actions that you know will play at their hands. Despite their shallow judgement of you, you were very aware that they were trying to take advantage of your naivete. But you let it all happen, you don’t know why but maybe it’s because of your recent father’s passing or your disinterest in such matters like expanding territory.

‘The land covered by our rule is far enough, no?’ you thought to yourself as you sit up straight, still observing the debate between members. “Silence, I have decided a plan of action.” With your hand raised up, in an attempt to silence the room but a hast swing of the door that resulted in a loud bang instantly stole their attention from you. The council came into a halt, heads turned to the door with a shock and confused look amongst their faces; taken aback at the intrusion. At the door stood Sebastian, along with two knights and his friend convincing him to retreat back to the barracks. It was too late though, as Sebastian can never be convinced once he made up his mind. “[Y/n]!” he speaks out, his voice loud as you see him walk towards you. The informality of his greeting shocks the people in the room but you only raised your brow at him. “Your highness, if we must ignore this intrusion, we need to decide on a move to Izbeltt!” One of them cries out, Sebastian notices this. “Make a move? Like what, send another one of our troops to die in a meaningless fight for land?” He starts, ticking off some of the council members. Before they can rebut him, he continues on. “We have been on good terms with all our neighboring kingdoms, but ever since King [L/n] passed all you greedy fools have been scrambling to sever connections!” Sebastian accuses them, You sit with wide eyes. You were under the impression that both Izbeltt and Sezaria were the ones to have made the first move, threatening your kingdom. “You little- agh, your highness! Punish this man for intruding on a private meeting!” one of the men tries to plead with you, but it feels more like a command that you ignore. You look towards Sebastian and he walks up to you with soft eyes but a determined face. He tries to speak but- “You are dismissed Sebastian,” You cut him off before he starts. A look on your face has him understand that you mean to meet later privately instead. He turns around to leave with his friend waiting for him by the doorway.

Later in the evening, while you were sitting on your desk scanning through various materials of reports from your subjects alike you hear a knock on your door. “You may enter” you speak, the door clicks as the knob is twisted. Sebastian enters your room, marvelling at the intricate details around the area. You look up at him from your desk and set down the papers in your hand, he walks up to you sitting at one of the chairs opposite to your table. “Good evening Sebastian,” You greet, eyes crinkling as you smile up at him. He gets stunned for a moment. “Good evening, your highness” he greets back. ‘Damn you and your beautiful smile’ he thinks as his brain processes your marvelous smiling face.

“Drop the formalities, we’ve known each other long enough for you to call me by my name right?” you chuckle, finding the irony in calling you by name in public yet by status in public. “So, what brought you to disrupt the meeting from earlier hm? Miss me much?” you joke but Sebastian can’t help but agree to your latter inquiry.

Sebastian relaxes in your presence, feeling just like two old friends that come to reunite. Nothing like the gritting formalities and fake reverence that has to be kept within the castle walls. It wasn’t that you guys weren’t friends but you’ve come so much further than him now, if only he was the general then maybe-

“The council is failing you, you know?” He cuts that line of thought, instead speaking what he wanted to tell you so many times before but never finding the chance. “They’ve been failing my men, sending them out to die like cattle on the battlefield. Barely any information or preparation for them, I can’t keep seeing them die and our forces dwindle.” He continues to explain the situation in the military.

“Hm, they also have lied to me about certain information so that I can appeal their decisions, I’ve only discovered that we were never threatened by Izbeltt and Sezaria” you ponder, putting a hand on your chin as you look down on the papers on your desk but your mind is in a different place, wondering what other information have they been withholding to you.

“I suspect they may be sabotaging the kingdom, may it be to turn you to a puppet king or to give a different kingdom an advantage to us.” Sebastian brings out possibilities on what the council’s schemes could be. “Not only that but Sir Velyarde (council member) has a son who’s high in the ranks of the soldiers, that cheating bastard.” He says with annoyance this time, glaring to the side where his reflection glares back at him in the mirror. “How can we stop them? We can’t really identify all those who have been plotting the downfall of this kingdom,” you ask Sebastian “There’s probably a huge portion of the council who work with them for their decisions to be agreed with,” You continue, trying to pick off which ones suggest questionable plans. But it seems impossible to detect, you can’t recall any consistent men who have suggested reckless plans. 

‘They must be good at hiding it among themselves’ you concluded. Sebastian looks at you with a slight blush on his cheek, seeming a little embarrassed to say something. “It's embarrassing to say this…but I think there’s also someone that's hindering me from ascending to general.” He stumbles a bit on his word, trying to speak his mind clearly while trying to also avoid sounding entitled. “It is a little weird.. With your experience and talents, Sir Lavryes would have announced you a high position if not a general like your father.” You consider this thought, Sebastian's heart quells at the mention of his father but he’s thankful for your consideration of his personal matter. He swears this problem is actually a conspiracy and he definitely didn’t bring this up to your attention so you can personally announce to him your general nodefinitelynotthathaha-

“I think this may play into our advantage though” You brought up, looking at him with a smile. It stops his spiraling train of thought and he opens his ears to your idea.

“Say Seb, why don’t you be my concubine?” The statement was blunt and unexpected, It gave Sebastian’s heart a little jump at the idea. Sure you guys are childhood friends and he spent his whole life yearning for you and maybe because you broughtthisideacoulditmeanyoualsolikehim?

He shakes his head, finding himself spiraling again. This probably has a different purpose in relation to the contents of your conversation earlier. He tries to stop his beating heart that he could almost feel climbing up his throat, a slight blush on his face as he tries to remain stoic towards you. “What do you mean?” He questions a small part of him hoping this may lead to something bigger. “Well, if you think about it you could always be by my side during council meetings.” You start explaining your plan to him. “I can’t assign you to be my personal bodyguard right now and if we use the excuse for my lack of concubines at the moment then we could both observe their behavior in the meetings.” you continue explaining. “And with your experience on the battlefield, having seen it with your own eyes. You can also give me advice on what decisions to accept or reject or even bring up” Your eyes light up at him, proud of yourself for this plan you brought up. “Then, we can promptly sort through which ones can potentially be the rats in our council!” you snap your fingers. Sebastian gapes at you, seemingly on board with the idea. Not only can he take a break from knightly duties but he could also be around you from time to time.

“I think that's a good idea, [y/n]” he speaks up, voicing his agreement to your plan.

“Your highness, isn’t this-” Sir Velyarde tries to inquire only to be hushed by you. “Shush, May the council meeting begin.” [Y/n] announces as the council members gapes at the knight beside you. Sharp eyes observe every movement among the crowds as you continue the meeting from yesterday. Trying a little hard to ignore the revealing outfit he’s wearing, it might take a little while to get used to it, especially since he’s used to the armor that barely leaves any skin to be shown when worn.

“For the mission,” He thinks, he focuses on the crowd before him. “What about…!” A council member pitches an idea. Underneath the table, Sebastian draws an X on your thigh and soon the idea is immediately rejected by you. “Then why don’t we…?” Idea rejected. “I suggest…” Idea rejected. “We should…!” Idea rejected. Soon the council room was like the battlefield in itself. Its members fought for [y/n] to accept their plans and suggestions, but with the battle-ridden knight towering before them they failed to take advantage of the king. All the proposals that proved to be a future failure or proposals that hid a scheme were all turned down. “I say we must do a peace treaty with Izbeltt or Sezaria.” Sir Vallyaris speaks up. A proposal that caught both you and Sebastian’s attention. You urge Sir Vallyaris to continue. “Your highness, rather than surrendering that each kingdom seems to strongly stand against, then I suggest we mend our ties with them by a peace treaty.” He continues with the proposal, some members of the council start considering his plan and nod along his words.

“But your highness we can’t-” A council member tries to debate Sir Vallyaris but [y/n] quickly shuts them off, allowing Sir Vallyaris to continue. “We haven’t caused them major damage and since we already have a long history with them, we should be able to persuade them easily for a peace treaty. I can’t guarantee it will solve tensions but it could at least stop all these meaningless battles.” Sir Vallyaris explained. “But what could be provided as the symbol of the peace treaty?” Sir Ellayn asks the man.

“Your highness, since it seems like you’ve begun appointing concubines, why don’t you also accept the prince of Sezaria and princess of Izbeltt as your concubines? I’m sure King Zolos and King Attypus will be more than happy to settle this with just their sons and daughters.” Sir Vallyaris turns to you and looks at Sebastian behind you. You lean on the tall chair you're sitting at and give the idea some thought, this could definitely solve the issue but what would the man next to you think? Unbeknownst to you, Sebastian was seething. First day as YOUR concubine and he’s already about to have some competition? Prince or princess, peace treaty- It doesn’t matter! He’s your childhood friend and he’s known you ever since you were little! He earned that concubine title more than anyone! If they’re going to be concubines, might as well assign him to be your spouse.

You look over to the man next to you, looking at his shocked expression can’t help but make you worry. But this seems like a chance you couldn’t turn down, what’s a few more concubines? 

After the successful meeting, some of the council members can’t help but discuss among themselves about your new concubine. “I can’t believe the king’s taste to be so..” One of the men started. Earning some scoffs at what they said. “I thought the first concubine they’d take would be a beautiful lady from a distinguished family but a knight? From the Llyais heritage of brutes?”  “I expected them to be like their father, taking in beautiful men and women despite the background, not like- a battle hardened knight!”

“I can’t see anyone from house Llyais to be a concubine, even their daughters end up as knights! And that previous general, Veldar, always scared me..”

“Good riddance! I hope he never comes back!”

The small group of council members discussed among themselves as they went back to their own rooms in the castle.

Meanwhile, in his own new room, Sebastian paces back and forth thinking about what Sir Vallyaris suggested earlier. He couldn’t even begin to understand why you agreed to it; he couldn’t blame you though, it was a good proposal that could fix the tense relationships amongst the kingdoms. Still, deep inside the selfish part of his heart, a childish yearning bloomed back like a warm explosion in his chest, he wishes that you rejected the proposal for his sake.

[Based on that prompt going around tiktok, it was originally from tumblr but i can't find it anymore </3]

[lies-unfurl]

On Thunderbolts*

I honestly don't know how to rate this. I feel like if I was a casual fan, it would be a solid 8/10, but obviously I'm not that. It was a tight story that cohered well and had some strong character dynamics. It also had issues, particularly with regards to how it related to the larger MCU, that I have a lot of thoughts on.

What I liked:

Yelena. Just in general.

More specifically, the way Yelena's depression was portrayed resonated with me a lot, mostly in ways that I don't feel like discussing in a movie review on tumblr dot com.

I honestly don't know how anyone could watch this and come away thinking John did nothing wrong, lol. Props to Wyatt Russell for playing him so unlikable.

I generally enjoyed the character dynamics. The scene in the back of the truck where Yelena and Ava were making fun of John's guns worked really well.

Overall, besides literally the last minute before the credits, the story felt like it was put together well. The pacing worked and events flowed in a way that made sense.

I liked Val as a villain, though I wish we'd get more of her motivations.

The scenes inside the Void were really cool. The second one with Yelena and her younger self was one of my favorites in the whole movie.

I obviously want Bucky to survive Doomsday, but if he goes out, at least he's got a banging costume and hairstyle for it.

What I want to be a hater about:

I have mixed feelings on Bucky's role in this. I think it makes sense for him to be in a more stable place than the rest of the group. My overall issue is that we're given no info whatsoever on how he went from TFATWS to where he is now. With Yelena, I can easily see how her character moves from Hawkeye, where we saw her last, to now. Ava, idk, sure, it's not explained how she ended up working for Val, but I can see how Val would take advantage of someone who has her abilities and probably not a lot of other job prospects. But Bucky? There's just nothing to foreshadow him going into politics in TFATWS. If the end of TFATWS sets up anything, it's him and Sam working together in the future. So how did we get here? Like, I do genuinely think it's kind of funny that the MCU didn't even try to explain things, but it's also bad writing. And yeah, I do wish we'd gotten more of Bucky. idk. It's an ensemble film, but they could have inserted a Void sequence for him without fucking up the flow too bad. Also, he just looks so unhappy for most of the movie, and I want to know why! Just the circumstances? The fact that he really hates politics? SebStan not enjoying himself? idk.

The pacing worked; the timeline didn't. How the fuck did Alexei get from NYC to Utah overnight in that limo. (Bucky maybe flew himself and his motorcycle in, but Alexei obviously didn't.)

I don't like Alexei in general. I feel like the movie missed a chance to reckon with his responsibility for what the Widows went through by just treating him as either comic relief or a supportive father for Yelena.

It was also a little weird that no one mentioned Melina?

I'm ambivalent about Taskmaster's death. I'm not that mad about it, but part of me feels like it was done mainly to appease the fanboys angry about her not being Tony Masters.

Bob was fine? idk, I didn't feel too strongly about him one way or another. I see some people in the tags blorbofying him, which isn't surprising, but... I just keep thinking about how he was supposed to be played by Steven Yeun. And I know Sentry was white in the comics, but sorry, it's a little weird to me that they replaced an Asian-American actor with a white guy. Val's whole thing with dyeing his hair blond would've hit much differently.

We should've gotten a Sam mention before the post-credits scene. It makes no sense for Val to say there are no superheroes around when Sam has been Captain America for years at this point, and he's been working for the government! When you pair that line with the implications of the hair dye, with apparently no one remembering that there are existing heroes who work for the government, it's... telling. And that's something that could've been brought to the forefront more by just having someone remember that Sam Wilson is Captain America.

I already wrote my thoughts on the post-credit scene, and they haven't really changed upon seeing the movie. That said, I do feel like the ending undermines the movie somewhat by falling into the same old trap where every MCU movie is an advertisement for the next movie. It just like... doesn't work? for Yelena to have the "We own you" line, and then the end credits and the PCS all confirm that actually, no one respects the New Avengers, so like... what's the point of them working with/for Val. And this will probably get expanded on somewhat in Doomsday and/or Secret Wars, but the casts for those movies are so bloated, I'm not sure how much consideration that element will get.

So, yeah. I don't know. I think it was a good movie on a technical level, but as a (reluctant) MCU fan, I don't know how much I enjoyed it. I feel like I can't form a full opinion because it ultimately doesn't feel like a movie that stands on its own; it's going to depend on how upcoming movies contextualize it.

[citrusilly]

*taps mic* ok this one's for u evil two tem uhh i was sleeping before this but now i will yap hehe

so first off, although two time isnt technically my #1 fav, i still really really like their reincarnation motif cause i think characters with that sort of motif is so damn fascinating and because reincarnation in itself have a special place in my heart due to my own personal feelings that slowly build up from my childhood

i tried to play around with that part of two time's character and here's what i got;

METAMORPHOSIS

(ive yet to read the book by kafka btw but i dont have any money to impulsively spend aughhhh)

so from what i understand from metamorphosis in general is that you basically evolved into something new and better to combat your previous form's flaws (correct me if im wrong here), for ex. like caterpillars and butterflies, those two are very different creatures but also the same thing if you get what i mean

and that's what i did for two time too. their first and second form are VERY different people (with different personalities, mannerisms, the way they talk, etc) but are generally the same person

okay to make things easier for myself, im gonna call the first life for two time, one time and the second life as obviously two time

ONE TIME

this is gonna be hard for me to explain but one time is NOT two time. uhh what i mean by that is before two time get indoctrinated by the cult, you know, THE CULT, that's two time, the original two time.

but after they sacrificed Azure and finally got indoctrinated basically, they gained like a second skin. a new person that started to take over their head and become the skin they wore for their first life. THAT'S one time (idk if im making sense here... PLS ANYONE UNDERSTAND WHAT IM TRYIN TO SAYY)

one time's basically the ideal persona of two time, the one the cult would've prefer rather than the original two time themself. one time is more uncanny than two time, smiling all the damn time and never blinking, they have those big bug like eyes that stares at anyone creepily yknow. their speech is eloquent and always speak about the spawn but the way they talk is very unnatural and not human basically (or robloxian, whatever you guys call it)

TWO TIME

and if one time were to die to any killers or whatever that kills them, they will basically shed their skin and out comes the original two time from their body, like how a butterfly come out of a cocoon (is that what you call it??)

OBVIOUSLY it's gonna be painful because two time is ripping their skin out of their previous shell and basically reborn anew.

another way to see it is that two time is peeling away their fake persona (one time) and revealing how they truly were. two time (during forsaken) is also kinda hard for me to explain but theyre just as, if not, even more insane than one time.

not like in a killer deranged way but more like a fight or flight type of way, a constantly paranoid kind of way. Now that everyone knows who they truly are, they can't help but feel anxious under everyone's stare. but they're at least just less uncanny than one time and could actually talk normally when theyre not in a bad headspace

ANATOMY

this gonna be short since there's not a lot to talk about but in the first life, one time doesn't have any tail, or halo or those spawn like wings around them, making them look like a normal looking person. one prominent thing though is that one time have some sort body stitch, the one that's like from your collarbone to your stomach??? think of sniper from tf2 in the comics if you get what i meant

and that's all!!! if i have any other ideas, i might expand on this. also feel free to give your thoughts on my interpretation or maybe give your own!!! i wanna know what you guys think,,, ok yeah that's all lel *skips away*

chucks a handful of two times at you,,, did you catch them

i draw them so goddamn differently everytime,,, also does anyone wanna hear me yap about my interpretation of two time....? no....? aw shucks... walk aways with my hands in my pockets....

[kuntya]

This may be a moment of weakness, but I'm starting to have more sympathy with female separatists.

"Women are people and deserve the same rights as you" didn't work. The first generation of men to see first-hand that equal rights means they won't get a wife/mommy/slave went hard right.

50% of marriages end in divorce. 70% of divorces are initiated by women. For every 2 divorced men who want to remarry, there's only 1 divorced woman who wants to remarry. 1/3 of men 18 - 24 haven't had sex in the last year.

Men are better off with you barefoot and pregnant. And they know it.

The incentives and opportunities for men to enslave women are just too strong. I don't know what to do about this.

[jorvikzelda]

mothers be normal about trans people challenge (impossible)

[noxcorvid]

help im getting mod ideas beyond my skill level

[nieloxychen]

not to have a moment in another posts tags so im venting in my own tags <3

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: The Fawn Instinct.

Pairing: Yandere!BatFam x Reader (DC).

Word Count: 5.0k.

TW: Implied Non/Con, Implied Dub/Con, Kidnapping, Prolonged Captivity, Social Isolation, Stalking, Obsessive Behavior, and No Actual Incest, But Boy If Those Freaks Aren't Trying. Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.

If it’d only been Bruce, you might’ve been able to live with it.

You didn’t love him, but you could imagine a world where you tried to. Most of it was circumstance; as upset as you were about the whole kidnapping thing, it wasn’t exactly a Herculean feat to endear yourself to the idea of being a handsome vigilante millionaire’s stay-at-home captive-spouse. You had no room in your heart for the stoic, reclusive, untouchable Bruce Wayne, but you could remember the adoration you’d once held for your masked hometown hero, the pride that’d once given you the force of will to all-but carry a half-conscious man in a torn cowl and a familiar suit into your apartment and lie to the cops when they came knocking. If the conditions had been different, if he’d spent a little more time as something more intimate than a stranger and a little less damning than a captor, then maybe, you could convince yourself to love him. Or, convince yourself to try, at least.

But, the conditions weren’t different, and you’d never quite had the time you would’ve needed to align Bruce Wayne with his more heroic alter ego. It’d been doomed from the start – Icarus jumping from his tower, already knowing his wings were destined to fall apart.

That aside, though, there was the more glaring issue: all his fucking kids.

Calling them kids might’ve been too generous, actually. Only Damian and Duke were younger than eighteen, and as far as you were concerned, they were your saving graces – Duke for meeting the bare minimum requirements for human decency and Damian for adamantly denying you were anything but an unwanted burden on his father. The rest were more-or-less adults, as little as you wanted to acknowledge the nonexistent age-gap between you and your gaggle of stepchildren. They were grown. They should’ve known better.

Tim, for example. He had to be… what? Nineteen? It wasn’t the pinnacle of maturity, sure, but he should’ve known you’d be able to hear your own sheets rustling through the bedroom door, should’ve assumed that you’d know he’d know Bruce would be out on patrol until sunrise. He should’ve known to wait until you were in another wing of the sprawling Wayne estate, somewhere far away from the master bedroom, or better yet, skipped rummaging through your things entirely. You knew better than to dream, though.

The door was still shut, but what was happening behind it and who was responsible were both foregone conclusions.  It was Tim, because of course it was Tim, and he going through your meager possessions, because what else would he wait until Bruce was gone to do? Cringing, you rested your shoulder against the steady wood and knocked gingerly. “…Drake? Are you in there?”

Immediately, the rustling stopped. You went on. “I think Bruce is out, if you need him. Is there something you’re trying to find?”

It was a good out. An easy out. Thankfully, he was smart enough to take the bait. A few seconds later, the door cracked, a disheveled Tim emerging with a dark blush spread over his pale cheeks and his hands shoved conspicuously deep into the pockets of his hoodie. It was a struggle not to roll your eyes. He couldn’t have been more obvious if he’d come out with his dick still in his hand.

Your cheeks ached as you put on your dozenth unstrained, unworried, everything’s-fine-because-why-wouldn’t-it-be smile of the day and moved aside to let him out. “I’ll let him know you were looking for him when he gets home,” you assured, like you couldn’t see the way his bright eyes were fixed to the carpeting. “I’m sorry I can’t be more help. You all are just so heroic – it’s still a little hard to believe I’m a part of this at all.”

“You’re perfect,” he muttered, and you pretended not to hear him, cocking your head to the side. When he corrected himself, his voice was a bit louder, a bit clearer. “Don’t worry, I… I found what I was looking for. You don’t have to bother Bruce.”

“Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He’s so proud of you and your siblings, after all – it’s practically all he talks about.” A lie, but a fair one to tell. There was no reason Tim should have to know Bruce spent the majority of your time alone with his teeth buried somewhere in your neck, muttering paranoid fantasies about how many different ways you could be killed, mutilated, or otherwise indisposed by the members of his rouges gallery. “Honestly, sometimes, it’s hard not to feel like I’ve been here for years, rather than just a couple of months.”

You only realized your mistake when those bright eyes shot to you, suddenly wide and blown out with desperation. A hand darted towards you, and you stumbled out of the way, but not quickly enough to avoid Tim’s vice-grip on your forearm, to spare yourself the feeling of something cold and wet sinking into your sleeve. “You’re leaving?” The words seemed to slur together, spilling out too quickly to be restrained or refined. “You can’t leave. Bruce won’t be able to handle it, and Steph, she’ll—I mean, security-wise, we won’t be able to make sure you’re—”

Internally, you were keeping up a steady mantra of ‘Thisissogrossthisissogrossthisissogross.’

Externally, by some miracle, your smile never wavered, only growing sweeter as you cut him off with a chirping laugh. “I’m not going anywhere,” you promised, and then, after a slight lapse, “Would you mind letting go of me? It’s—uh, it’s kind of starting to hurt.”

As if on a switch, he let go of you entirely, pulling away as abruptly as he lashed out. There was a mumbled ‘I’m sorry’, and he made a swift retreat, disappearing around the next corner before you could so much as think about bringing up Bruce, again. You watched him go, only letting your expression fall once you were sure he was out of sight.

Without further caution, you slipped into your bedroom, glazing over the mess of pulled-out drawers, overturned clothes and scattered dirty laundry in favor of falling into bed, rolling onto your chest, and screaming into your pillow as loudly and for as long as your lungs would allow.

~

You tried your best never to be alone. It was a little draining, to be honest – having to keep a running chart in the back of your mind of who you could trust and who you couldn’t, constantly trying to guess whether it’d be safer to be alone with someone or if you were better off taking your chances on your own – but you’d learned your lesson the first time you’d fallen asleep in the Wayne’s at-home movie theater and woken up to Cassandra spread over you like a human weighted blanket, staring unblinkingly at your face and playing half-consciously with your hair. You tried not to leave yourself unguarded, after that.

Alfred was your first choice, Barbra your second, with Bruce as a distant third. Sometimes, you could get away with loitering near Damian (something you hated nearly as much as he did – you could only stand to be addressed as his father’s “jezebel lover” so many times), but Bruce was at one of Damian’s school events, leaving them both conveniently unavailable, and Alfred would be locked inside of his underground shooting range for another hour and a half, an activity you knew better than to interrupt. Meaning, you were on your own.

Meaning, you’d picked a very bad time to need something to drink.

The kitchen was deathly quiet, but you still made an effort to keep your head on a swivel as you made your way carefully to a corner cabinet, like stepping on the wrong tile would trigger a pit trap, or a flurry of arrows, or one of another million terrible things you hadn’t thought were possible before Bruce dedicated himself so entirely to proving you wrong. Mentally, you reviewed your haphazardly assembled schedule as you fumbled with the wood paneling and reached for a mug from the highest shelf. Tim was definitely out, touring local colleges on Bruce’s behest, Steph was supposed to be in class, and Dick—

Your fingertips made contact with cool ceramic half a second before another, larger palm wrapped around yours, a broad chest pressing into your back as your mug was stolen out of your hand. You didn’t have to look to know who it was.

And Dick was on bed rest with three broken ribs. Right. Of course.

You really shouldn’t have bothered leaving your room at all. Suddenly, dehydration didn’t sound like such a bad way to go.

“Let me get that, baby bird.” You cringed at the petname, but nodded, letting Dick confiscate your mug and with it, your ability to make a swift exit from a conversation you’d rather not have. “Green tea, right? I know it’s your favorite.”

“On the mark as always, Dick.” There was just enough enthusiasm in your voice to overshadow the despair. You waited until you heard the muted click of an electric kettle before turning around and settling against the counter. “I wish you wouldn’t dote on me, though. I already feel useless enough as it is.”

“Don’t sweat it, I’ve been going stir-crazy all week.” He flashed you a quick smile – toothy and beaming – before pulling open the silverware drawer and rummaging through it, like Alfred would keep his teabags with his cutlery. He was topless, wearing the same pair of black sweatpants he must’ve slept in. He didn’t plan to go out, clearly, and it wasn’t like you had much of an alternative. “This is just the basics, too. For a while there, I had your breakfast, lunch, and midnight snack preferences memorized.”

You forced yourself to smile, albeit, not as brightly as him. “…did you, now?”

“Mhm. B had us running in-person surveillance before he finally bit the bullet and brought you home, and—” He cut himself off with a sudden laugh, shaking his head. “And, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that part. Oops.”

Mercifully, the kettle whistled before you could start to consider the implications, and you reached behind you, fishing two bags out of a teacup-shaped jar. It was easy enough to edge him out of the way, but not having to worry about pretending he’d ever made himself a cup of tea meant he could devote more of his energy to talking, so you still managed to lose, in the end. “He’s stingier with the surveillance footage, now. I’ve never seen him so jealous.”

“He can definitely be a little overprotective.”

You tried to keep your tone even, polite, but Dick was like his siblings – quick to action and slow to take a hint. A hand curled around the counter next to you, and you dumped an extra spoonful of sugar into the darkening water. “It’s just us in the manor, right?”

Another spoonful, just to be safe. “I think Alfred is—”

“Out for the day. Wayne Enterprise emergency – I let him know as soon as he finished down in the range.” In your peripheral, you watched his other hand come to rest on your opposite side, caging you in. “I wouldn’t mind the company, if you were starting to get lonely.”

Another spoonful. It’d be too sweet to drink, but anything not to have to look at him. “I’m afraid wouldn’t be a lot of fun, Grayson. Honestly, I was just planning on getting a little sle—”

“That’s perfect,” he cut in, too eager to wait his turn. “I’m a great cuddler.”

You curled your hand around your mug, hoping the warmth would be enough to ground you. Instead, it only burnt your palm, and for a second, you could imagine a world where your teeth weren’t buried in the plush of your cheek, where you didn’t have to remind yourself that turning around and splashing boiling-hot water on an all-but superhero’s face wasn’t a good idea. For a second, you genuinely considered it.

And then, a sound not totally dissimilar to thunder filled the kitchen; loud enough to leave your ears ringing and your adrenaline spiked. You flinched into yourself, but it only took a moment for fear to shift to relief as you noticed the bullet lodged into the wood less than an inch from your head. Your expression lit up just as Dick’s fell.

Without waiting for him to let you go, you slipped away – sprinting across the kitchen and throwing yourself into Jason’s – brave, bold, beautiful Jason – chest. He caught you one hand and finished re-holstering his handgun with the other, laughing as you hugged him as tightly as you could manage. Dick huffed, playful offense failing to mask real agitation, and you felt Jason brace against you. “Jerk off and shut the fuck up, Oedipus.”

Dick’s smile turned uneasy. “It’s good to see you too, man.”

“I didn’t come here for you,” he snapped, as short-tempered with his siblings as you wished you could be. He looked down, holding you that much tighter. “How’s my best girl holding up?”

“I’m just fine, Jason. I do think we have to have a talk about how you treat your brother, though.” You glanced over your shoulder to Dick. “A little privacy? You really ought to be staying off your feet, too.”

Reluctantly, Dick slinked out of the kitchen, hesitant to go but eager to nurse his wounds. You only went on once you were sure he was gone.

“It’s been awful. I found another hidden camera in my bedroom, and I think Tim’s tapping my—”

“I’ll do a sweep.”

He let you go, but you caught his arm. “Please, I know it’s important, but—” You cut yourself off, swallowing. It was irrational – the way you let your guard down so quickly around Jason. The mask never slipped around anyone else, whether you were afraid of them or they were one of your rare, precious exceptions. Jason existed outside of the Wayne family, though, outside of Bruce’s corrupting influence. He wasn’t going to hurt you. More importantly, he wasn’t going to let anyone else hurt you, either.

“But I really don’t want to think about that, right now,” you finished. “Just… just for a little while, alright? I don’t want to constantly feel like I’m walking on eggshells, at least not while you’re here.”

Jason stood strong for all of three seconds. With the fourth, he sighed, buckled, and shook his head, his exasperation brimming with affection. “How long until Bruce gets home?”

“Six more hours. He’s not due to check-in for another three.”

“I’ve got my bike out front. How do you think he’d feel about a joy ride?”

And just like that, you lit up. “It’d give him a heart attack.”

Jason pulled you close, kissing the top of your head.

“Perfect.”

~

Unfortunately, Jason’s visits were few and far between. You had to find ways of fending for yourself, in the downtime.

“I miss the city.”

Bruce glanced over his shoulder, gaze flickering over you before returning to the buttons of his dress-shirt. You sunk that much deeper into the mess of sheets and pillows, taking some small amount of solace in the way the cool silk felt against your warm skin.

(Sex wasn’t something Bruce came to you for often, but when he did, you gave it to him willingly, albeit with no more enthusiasm than was absolutely necessary. You rarely enjoyed it and always regretted everything you did or said during the act, but it was better than the alternative. Part of you trusted him, trusted Batman, enough to believe that he’d take your refusal for what it was, that you wouldn’t have to say anything more than ‘no’. The remaining overwhelming majority was able to look around you, to remember the way he’d held you down as he forced a needle stocked with medical-grade sedatives into your throat, and recognize that your opinion probably didn’t mean very much to him. Still, you couldn’t let things get that bad. Even if you had to surrender every other facet of your being, you couldn’t let things get that bad.)

“You hated the city. You said your landlord was a tyrant and that even the criminals were living paycheck-to-paycheck.” And then, after a second of thought, “And that there were more rats in Gotham than people.”

“Well, he was, they are, and you know I love animals.” You pushed yourself up, keeping a sheet bunched against your chest as you slumped against the headboard. “I was tired and overworked – you could see that. But, things would be different if I was staying with, say, my wealthy trillionaire boyfriend in one of the penthouse apartments that I know he has because his youngest son got in trouble for bragging about them in school last week?”

Bringing up his kids was a dirty tactic – the fastest way to get Bruce’s undivided attention. This time, when his eyes shifted in your direction, they stayed there, and he made his way back to your side of the bed. He collapsed next to you and, with no resistance on your end, pulled you into his lap. He didn’t seem to care whether or not his immaculately tailored, freshly pressed suit was creased in the process, but you did your best not to squirm. “You want to leave the manor?”

The first half of a frown tugged at the corner of your lips. “That’s not what I—”

“Elevated pulse, avoidant eye-contact,” he muttered. “Something’s bothering you.”

It wasn’t a question. He wasn’t wrong, either, but still. You would’ve preferred to be asked.

“…it’s your family,” you admitted, feigning guilt. “They’re all—” Horny, depressed, creepy little orphans. “—great kids, but it’s just been so much so quickly, and I think it… I think it might’ve been too much too quickly. For them and for me.”

“They adore you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Dick was close to moving back in when I decided it was too dangerous to leave you to your own devices.”

You melted into his chest, sighing. Reflexively, he curled around you – a good thing, if a bit claustrophobic. Bruce liked feeling like a shield between you and harm, between you and the world he couldn’t control. Hopefully, eventually, he’d realize he had more to shield you from than greedy landlords and villains who always seemed to be just out of sight. “It’s not that easy. It’s just been such a rocky adjustment period, and…” You curled your hand around his wrist and squeezed, hoping the force would be enough to communicate what you couldn’t put a word to. “I’m really afraid something bad might happen, Bruce.”

For a moment, he seemed to consider it. There was a kiss to your shoulder, solemn and lingering, then another to your cheek, more fleeting. “I’ll talk to them. They’ll give you space, if they’re told to.”

If he told them to. You doubted you held much authority, here. “And the apartment in the city? On the highest floor, tall enough to see from Gotham to New York?”

Bruce smiled, and your heart soared.

Then, he started talking, and it crashed back down, dying upon impact. “Once I know it’s safe for you, sweetheart.”

There was another kiss, this one to the nape of your neck, then another, lower down on your spine. A calloused hand slipped underneath the sheet still hugged against your chest, and you allowed it to.

Honestly, it would’ve been kinder if he’d cut you into pieces and fed you to the wolves himself.

~

You made a run for it as soon as the arguing started.

Arguing, not yelling – the distinction was minor, but significant. Yelling would’ve meant an injury, or a mission gone wrong, or something else that signaled a sudden complication that couldn’t be smoothed over with sugar-sweet sentimentality or orders issues with an ice-cold strictness. Yelling would’ve meant Bruce didn’t mind letting you overhear, which usually meant you didn’t need to be involved. Arguing, all hushed whispers and hissed explanations and vague warnings, was different. Arguing meant, more often than not, that they were arguing about you.

It was Tim’s fault, as far as you could tell. Barbara had been the one to find the conspicuously encrypted file on one of Dick’s civilian devices, the one to mention it to Stephanie as a point of concern who went to Tim within the hour, but it was still his fault. He’d gotten Bruce involved, let his need for approval tip the tenuously balanced scales that kept his family whole and you safe. He’d talked them all into waiting until Dick was close enough to confront in-person, stopping by for his weekly equipment pick-up and check-in. He was the reason you’d gotten close enough to hear something about ‘pictures’ and ‘inappropriate use of reconnaissance material’ before fleeing to the mansion’s foyer – the only part of the house you could be sure wasn’t occupied. If you were lucky, you’d only be there for half an hour or so, enough time for them to compromise on some non-solution and return to your carefully maintained status quo. If you weren’t, you’d spend the early hours of the morning—

Something small but forceful hit the nearest window, shortly followed by another projectile, then another. The glass was too thick and the world outside too dark to make anything out, but you didn’t need to see anything to know who’d come to your rescue.

Jason.

You rushed to the door, then hesitated. Jason would only get a slap on the wrist for luring you out of the estate, and Bruce could never bring himself to be that strict with you, but now might’ve been a bad time. Tensions were already running high. Your little disappearing act wouldn’t—

A sudden rush of footsteps clattering through the ceiling from the floor above you, hushed voices raised just to the point of audibility. None of it was entirely coherent, but Dick’s came the closest. You managed to make out a half-choked “If you’d just let me—” before someone cut him off.

With your better judgement reduced to buzzing static, you pried open the closer of a pair of huge, mahogany doors and slipped out of the estate entirely.

Of course, Jason was waiting outside, a small stock of pebbles still in his left hand and, of course, you threw yourself at him, letting him catch and spin you twice before setting you back onto your feet with an airy laugh. A pitch-black sports car was waiting at the end of the driveway, the engine purring loudly enough to drown the rest of the world out. “Rough night?”

“You have no fucking idea,” you muttered, breathless. “I don’t care where we go, just get me out of here.”

There was a reason Jason was your favorite. There was no argument, no prying, just his arm around your waist as he herded you into the passenger seat. Fifteen minutes and a little over fifty miles later, the mansion was little more than a dull glow on the horizon, and you could pretend you’d stopped thinking about Bruce entirely.

There was no effort to make conversation, as bad as you felt about pulling Jason into your prolonged tryst with self-pity. Instead, you sunk into the leather of his seat and fixed your gaze on the passing landscape, clinging to any detail you were able to latch onto as it flew by. It was possible, between the subways and boarded-over windows and perpetually overcast skies, to go days without seeing the sun in Gotham. Still, your life had felt brighter there than it ever did in Bruce’s estate.

Jason turned down a road you didn’t recognize, and you managed to find your voice. “Are we going into the city?”

“Even better.” He flashed you a smile, the engine purring as he accelerated. “You’ll like it, I promise. Just sit tight.”

As if you had much of a choice.

Road gave way to forest, forest to empty plains, and empty plains to the dilapidated remains of what you could only label as a long-abandoned amusement park – like Disney World if there’d been some terrible, possibly nuclear accident followed by twenty or so years of absolute neglect. Jason’s car glided past the rusted remains of an iron gate, past the corpses of rides buckled under their own weight, and came to a stop in front of a paint-stripped merry-go-round almost entirely sheeted be vines and weeds and overgrowth. You let out a low whistle as he threw the gear shift into park and, for the first time in any vehicle you’d ever shared with him, pulled his keys out of the ignition. He’d always left the engine running while visiting the mansion, but then again, you’d always been pretty eager to make a hasty escape, too.

“I love it, Jason. I’ve always wanted to get tetanus from a broken down carnival.”

“A fair, actually,” he corrected, slipping his keys into his jacket pocket. Like he expected you to try and steal them while his back was turned, or something. “My parents used to take me here, before I met B. There weren’t a lot of Ferris wheels after that.”

There was a short lapse, the sound of lips moving against teeth. You made the mistake of humming, of glancing over to him, of leaving yourself open for another question, and Jason, as nice as he was, was more than happy to take advantage of you. “So, when did you and B start…”

He trailed off, drumming his fingers against the wheel. You filled in the rest with a breathy chuckle. “When did I start sleeping with your dad?”

He jabbed an elbow into your side. “First of all, you can admit you’re fucking him or call him my dad, but you’ve gotta pick one.” You opened your mouth, already ready to spit out some dumb joke about what Bruce would’ve preferred to be called, but Jason cut in, sniping your stupid joke out of the air. “Secondly, answer the question. I get enough of your diversions back at home.”

“Being a buzzkill must run in family,” you sighed, but gave in quickly enough. “It happened once before the whole kidnapping thing, when he was staying at my apartment and sleeping off a broken leg. I hadn’t even seen him without his mask on at that point, but I figured it was a sign – destiny, or something.” You did your best to smile, slumping against the door. “It was dumb. He gave me a couple weeks after bringing me to the estate, mostly because of the crying and stuff, but things started up again pretty quickly.”

“Do you… like it?”

“Do you like asking about your dad’s sex life?” He flinched back, and laughing, you went on. “I guess I don’t care. There’s not a lot else to do.” You swallowed. “Would it matter if I didn’t?”

For someone with so many questions, he didn’t leave a lot of time for yours, the hypocrite. Moving on swiftly, he asked, “And the others, have they…?”

“No.” And then, after a beat, “Not yet.”

He seemed to relax, at that. His back was still straight, his shoulders still squared, but his grip on the wheel loosened, his jaw unclenching ever so slightly. You tried the handle – locked. Obviously. As if you’d ever get that lucky.

His voice was soft, sweet. The kind of tone you’d use on a child, or an animal, or a doll. “This would probably be easier in the backseat, right?”

“Let me out.”

“So you can go where,baby? It’s just us out here.” He laughed, resting a hand on your thigh. You slammed your shoulder into the door. It didn’t budge. “Hey, hey, this doesn’t need to get rough. I’m not going to be like Dick. The others – they’ll do it wrong, treat you like a cut of meat they have to get to before anybody else. I just need to make sure you get out of this in one piece.”

Nails embedded in leather, body crammed as far from him as you could force it be. You weren’t hyperventilating, but only because you’d stopped breathing entirely. “Let me out, Jason.”

“I love the way you say my name. It’s pretty, and delicate – just like you.” He sighed, shook his head. “I know you don’t get it, but I’m just trying to take care of you, like you’ve been taking care of me for the past few—”

“Stop acting like I’m your mom.” A sob fractured the final syllable, another bubbling up from deep in your chest a moment later. Your body was beyond the point of rationality, but the soft, preservational part of your mind wasn’t so beyond the point of seeking refuge. There was a way out of this, as ghoulish as it seemed. You couldn’t stop it from happening, but you could make it better. You’d regret it in an hour, when it came time to explain yourself to Bruce, but what happened in an hour didn’t matter, not if you couldn’t survive the next few minutes.

You might’ve done it, too – or, you might’ve tried, at least. You wanted to. You planned to. And yet, when you opened your mouth, there was only one thing you could seem to say. “I don’t want to do this, Jason.”

His nails bit into your thigh, his smile easing at the corners. For a second, you almost thought he’d pull away. For a second, you almost thought he’d sigh, straighten back up, and admit this was all part of some cruel, unfunny joke that the two of you would remember fondly, later on.

Then, he laughed and leaned forward, lips brushing against the top of your head. You felt him speak before you heard his voice, but the cloying reverberation alone was enough to tell you that you would’ve been better off never saying anything at all.

“Welcome to the family, sweetheart.”

[batboyblog]

Copy Right and Public Domain in 2025!

It's January 1st 2025 which means it's my favorite unsung holiday! Public Domain Day! This is the day once a year when, in the US, copyrights expire and things enter the public domain, meaning they belong to everyone! even you, Steve!

American copyright for books, movies, art work, and musical compositions (but not recordings, more on that later) runs for 95 years (way too long!) so today works published in 1929 join us in the public domain.

So whats free? so glad you asked.

Popeye the Sailor Man

Many people assume Popeye originated as a cartoon character but thats not true, he comes from a comic strip. The strip was called Thimble Theatre and Popeye was something of a late addition. Thimble Theatre was first published in 1919, so Popeye's girlfriend Olive Oyl has been in the public domain since before the big 20 year copyright freeze of 1998-2019. Popeye first appeared as a minor character 10 years into the strip's run but was so popular he soon took over and the strip would be renamed Popeye less than 5 years later. Now as always whats public is only what appears in 1929, later developments, remain copyrighted. Such as, while Popeye always had super strength its not till 1932 his superpowers were tied to eating spinach, and Olive Oyl originally had a different boyfriend named Ham Gravy, who she dumped for Popeye when he became the main character. It looks like Popeye is following tradition for famous now public domain characters and getting a quicky horror movie this year.

Tintin!

This is personally very exciting as someone who grew up with the Belgian boy detective. Like Popeye I expect a lot of people don't know that Tintin started off as a weekly comic strip. Indeed Tintin appeared as a part of a weekly youth supplement in the Catholic newspaper The Twentieth Century. Any ways, Tintin was first published in there in January 1929, and soon would start what would become the first Tintin story, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. Now only part of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets was published in 1929, the story line wrapped up in May 1930, so only those 1929 stories and what appears in them is free and clear and Tintin was published in black and white not color. Tintin's author Hergé had no idea what he was doing and was really learning on the job so In The Land of the Soviets is generally seen as his weakest outing and the only one he never opted to redraw in later years. Even so it's nice to see the character free in the world. No word on if Tintin will star in a horror movie.

Buck Rogers (but not really)

The original futuristic space man was published, again a comic strip, in 1929 which means he should enter the public domain today, but he won't. That's because he already is public domain! Before the Copyright Act of 1976 copyright was 28 years with the option to renew for another 28 years. The copyright on the original comic strips was not renewed so ran out at the end of 28 years, 1958. So Buck Rogers has been free and clear for close to 70 years now, whatever you hear about him today.

What else?

Famously last year Mickey Mouse entered the public domain, but all the entered public domain was one (maybe two) animated short, Steamboat Willie. Well this year a dozen Mickey Mouse animated shorts enter the public domain, including the first time Mickey has his iconic white gloves, and the first time Mickey speaks (the first thing Mickey Mouse ever says, voiced by Walt Disney himself, is "Hot dogs! Hot dogs!" in case you were wondering) This will give creators much more to work with if they want to use Mickey in their works which is exciting.

Speaking of Walt Disney, The Skeleton Dance is entering public domain, you likely don't know the title but I suspect you've seen at least part of it at some point

so look for this showing up on TVs in the backgrounds of films and TV shows in the next year or so

Books

The iconic novels of World War I, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front enter public domain. In fact All Quiet on the Western Front entered public domain last year, but only in the original German, the 1929 translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen is whats entered the public domain now. John Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold, William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, and Agatha Christie's Seven Dials Mystery (always get an Agatha Christie novel on this list for the rest of our lives). Dashiell Hammett published both Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon, later made into one of the greatest films of all time, in 1929. Future children's book author E. B. White (who's go on to write Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little) and future New Yorker cartoonist and humorist James Thurber teamed up to write the delightfully titled Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do a book of spoof essays making fun of popular books on Freudian sexual theories at the time. The Roman Hat Mystery the first of the long running Ellery Queen mysteries was published, Queen would keep publishing mysteries into the 1970s (and Ellery Queen was a pen name for two people). Richard Hughes' A High Wind in Jamaica and Oliver La Farge's Laughing Boy also came out in 1929 and are in the public domain now. There's much else but those are the highlights sorry if I missed your favorite 1929 novel.

Movies

Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille's first movies with sound, Blackmail and Dynamite respectively, came out in 1929. Marx Brothers' first feature film The Cocoanuts joins the public domain. Other comedy land marks are Harold Lloyd's first sound film, Welcome Danger and Buster Keaton's last silent film, Spite Marriage (which Keaton also directed). John Ford's first sound film, The Black Watch, which also is 21 year old John Wayne's first appearance in a film, as an uncredited extra, he worked in the art department. Hallelujah the first studio film to have an all black cast came out that year. Also worth noting is The Hollywood Revue of 1929 a singing and dancing review, one of the earliest and the movie that popularized the song Singin’ in the Rain, maybe the first time a movie made a song a hit.

Musical compositions

musical compositions, ie the lyrics and musical notations you might see on sheet music are governed by the 1976 Copyright Act, and music written in 1929 is public domain. Music recordings are governed by a whole different law (we'll get there). Songs written in 1929 include Singin’ in the Rain by Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Black and Blue by the legendary Fats Waller, What Is This Thing Called Love? by Cole Porter, Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Alfred Dubin, You Were Meant for Me by Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown, and also Happy Days Are Here Again by Jack Yellen which would become FDR's campaign theme song in 1932.

Art!

a number of pieces by Salvador Dalí including:

Illumined Pleasures

The Accommodations of Desire

The Great Masturbator

are entering the public domain as is René Magritte’s The Treachery of Images.

Art is hard because while movies and books are clearly "published" and put on sale, what counts as "published" for a piece of art? the law is not totally sure.

Musical Recordings

as I promised, we got here. Till 2017 there were no federal laws governing the copyright of music recordings before the 1970s, it was governed by a confusing patchwork of state laws and it was not totally clear what was or was not free and clear even from the very earliest recordings ever. Now the term of a music recording's copyright is set at 100 years (way too long) so music recorded in 1924 is now public domain such as. Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen by Marian Anderson, Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don’t Love Nobody But Me) by Louis Armstrong, California Here I Come by Al Jolson, Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, Shreveport Stomp by Jelly Roll Morton, Mama’s Gone, Good Bye by Ray Miller, and It Had To Be You by Marion Harris. Now many recordings a lot less famous can finally be preserved and digitized to save them for the next 100 years. Many abandoned works are literally rotting away since without the copyright holder's permission digitizing a work isn't legal.

[peachesofteal]

Raspberry Girl Previous + masterlist + AO3 Simon Riley/female reader CW: 18+ intoxication, sexual content, daddy kink, caretaking, blurry lines of consent.

You’re painfully unaware, though to you, he’s sure it's bliss. 

In your own little world, you stand at the long wooden table, fingers moving across the trackpad of a laptop, a pair of too big glasses sliding down your nose. The left lens is smudged, the smear only getting worse every time you push them up with the back of your hand. There’s a whirlwind of stuff around you, bowls and bags and measuring cups, cracked egg shells and sprinkles scattered across the wood, multi colored icing separated into different containers, and you're so into your work you don't even realize he's in the doorway. 

He almost feels bad for scaring you when he clears his throat. Almost. 

“Oh my god,” you whirl, hand pressed to your chest, half ready to bolt. “S-sorry, I didn’t- I didn’t know you were there.” 

Is that anyway to say hi to your daddy sweetheart?

“Good morning.” He eyes the twenty four ounce mason jar to your left. It’s one quarter full, coffee and cream swirling to the bottom. Too much caffeine. 

“Good morning, hi.” You smile, sweet and shy but more emboldened. It’s been a few days since he fed you bites of lemon meringue pie, a few days since he went home and stroked his cock to the memory of your mouth parting for him, eyes half lidded looking up through your lashes. 

Since then, you’ve a bit more brave, encouraged by his careful coaxing, text messages at night and throughout the day to check in, visits in the morning as he heads to base. 

He’s leading his little lamb right into her shepherd’s arms. 

“What’re you working on?” 

“Funfetti birthday cake.” You slide your glasses back up your face. They’re a mess and he can’t resist fixing it, pulling them off, wiping the lenses with bottom of his shirt. You freeze. Little deer in his headlights. 

“Didn’t know you wore glasses.” He places them back where they belong, righting them when they slip, and confirming what he already knew. They’re too big. You need new ones. 

“Th-thank you. I do for reading. And… er, screens. Reading on screens, mostly, though I need them for books too so I guess just… reading in general.” He understands the pause now, the moments when you’ve become self conscious, embarrassed, or you’re looking for the words you need, anxiously trying to piece it all together, step into a skin that doesn't quite fit. 

A rhythm the world doesn't understand. Too cruel, impatient, cold, it has no care for fragile things, too easily reflecting a mirror of his former self. 

He files the bit about you needing to wear glasses when you read, another notation in the long list he’s already memorized, organized, and moves onto his next inquiry. “Who’s the birthday cake for?” 

“Mara. It’s her birthday. They’re…” you make a face like you’ve sniffed spoiled milk, “we’re going out to a pub to celebrate.” He stiffens. On one hand, he’s proud of you. On the other, the idea of you in a pub raises the hair on the back of his neck, has him a bit out of his mind. 

He’s not interested in clipping your wings, but going out to a pub with no one to watch over you? Not bloody likely. “Tonight?” 

“Mhm.” You’re rubbing a stick of butter in a round pan. “Funfetti is the classic birthday cake. You know, the vanilla cake with the sprinkles?” He shakes his head. “Oh. Well, um, it is. It's mostly a kid thing now, but I think it's the ultimate birthday cake. Birthdays are supposed to be fun but you know... they kind of suck when you're an adult. Anyway... funfetti is fun so, that's why...” 

“Maybe you can save me a slice. Where are you going?” 

“Save you…" your brows crease as you try to process what he's said. "Doc’s.” You’ve dropped the stick of butter abruptly, greasy fingers gripping the edge of the pan. Doc’s. It’s a younger crowd, a bit posh, but still a bit dark. Has a bit of an edge. 

It’s been a few weeks since he’s gotten a pint with Kyle and Johnny anyway. 

He smiles, strokes the backs of his knuckles down your cheek, satisfied when you lean in for more, disappointed the few minutes he had to drop in are now over. “I’ve gotta go baby, be good for me.” Your mouth drops open so wide he thinks he might be able to fit his cock in it. 

“Oh, okay. I- I will.” 

What did you forget?

Daddy. I will, daddy.

“That ‘er?” Kyle motions with his beer bottle towards the table where you stand nervously at the edge, floral flecked dress swaying just above your knees. You've looped a white ribbon through your hair, the beacon of a gentle soul that seems to be calling out to every muppet in the building, every wandering eye fueling a fire burning in his blood. 

“Yeah.” His stomach is sour. Even a neat pour of whiskey and pint didn’t settle him. 

You’re trying so hard. Smiling and nodding and listening to everyone, clutching your drink like it’s a lifeline. Mara seems to understand the grace you need, but no one else in the group gets it, and some of them give you weird looks, or worse, look at each other when you’re not paying attention in annoyance. Your only friend at the table catches a few of them and shoots stern glares as she shakes her head, but it doesn’t change much. 

“She looks uncomfortable,” Johnny grunts, his scrupulous eye never missing a thing. Someone asks you a question, and you stumble over your answer, looking away to the wall when a girl to your left blatantly smirks, and then sneers directly in your face. Simon’s blood boils. 

“She’s different from them, it’s hard for her.” It's the easiest way to explain it. You’re one in a million. His one in a million. 

The table laughs at something, and you frantically flick over each person’s face, trying to pick up on a joke you clearly did not understand. Eventually, you just settle for another smile, resigned to watch it all from the outside as conversation flows from person to person, but never towards you. 

Sweet girl. He wants to take you home where you’re safe and happy and carefree, where you can be yourself and not have to worry about trying to keep up or facing everyone’s judgement. Where he can hold your perfect and precious heart in his hand and protect it. Where he can fuck the memory of this night right out of you, bounce you on his cock until the only thing you know how to do is come for him, over and over again. 

He misses the exact moment the cake appears among the stacks of shot glasses. Your anxiety ramps up as everyone starts to eat their slices, shoulders high beneath your ears, fingers knotted together too tight. It’s an eternity before the first person looks at you, mouth half full and thrilled, their enthusiasm alleviating some of the weight that's been sitting on his chest, and yours. Whatever they say seems to lessen the weight because you’re smiling again, excited, and as more people turn your way, the smile turns to a full on beam, your words from the other night echoing in his ears. 

I like feeding people. 

Another hour passes before he decides to call it, the group now spread across the pub, scattered around different tables, at the bar, outside smoking. You’re in a corner with your back to the room talking to Mara, and when he appears in her line of sight, she spots him immediately, grabbing your arm, mouthing something he doesn’t catch. 

You turn- 

And light up like a fucking Christmas tree. 

“Captain Riley!” The alcohol has made you bold, slow synapses firing less rapidly, providing a longer lead time, somewhat preventing you from second guessing or withholding yourself. 

“Hi baby.”

“I’m just gonna…” Mara tries to move away but you reach for her. 

“Happy Birthday Mar. Thanks for inviting,” you hiccup, “me.” She gives you a squeeze. 

“Thanks for coming, and for the cake, it was amazing. Made me feel like I was kid, ya know? When birthdays really mattered.” Sadness flickers in her eyes, and then disappears in a glaze of intoxication. “Anyway, see you Monday?” 

“Yep.” She gives you one more hug before slipping away, and you sigh. 

“She loved her cake.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” You’ve got this dreamy look on your face, sleepy and sweet, a little kitten who’s ready to curl up for a nap. 

Cast a line. See if you’re biting. 

“How’re you gettin’ home?” 

“An uber?” You lick your lips. “Or… uh. A Lyft?” You lurch to the side and he darts forward to steady you, movement too fast for you to track, all of it ending up as a surprise, like you weren’t even in your body for a moment. “Th-thanks.” You study his hand, where it sits on your arm. “You know you’re so big?” His lips twitch to the side of his mouth. 

“Yeah sweetheart. I’m big.” You’re still staring at his hand. “D’you need a ride home?” 

“Huh?” He's held this in the back of his mind all night as a possibility, built a tentative plan for this opportunity too golden to pass up. No fucking way are you going home in a rideshare or with anyone else. 

“I’m taking you home.” You shrug at the declaration with little trepidation and take his hand. 

So sweet and full of trust. 

He never specified which home. 

When the gravel of his driveway crunches under the truck’s tires, you don’t stir, and you don’t wake up when he turns it off or opens the passenger side door, your head lolling against your shoulder. 

“Sweetheart,” He keeps his voice low, reaching across your lap to unbuckle your seatbelt, brushing against your breasts, soft exhales puffing little clouds across his skin. “We’re here.” 

“Hmm?” you crack an eye open and then shake your head, “no ‘m sleeping.” Your cheek is warm in his palm, and he kisses it, trying to rouse you, gauge your reaction. Your awareness. Your nose wrinkles. “Stop.” 

“C’mon, you'll be more comfortable inside.” You whimper when he jostles you, pinning a palm to your temple. 

“My head hurts.” Poor baby. 

“I know,” he pulls you up out of the seat and into his chest, carefully supporting your balance. He’s taking liberties now, wrapping an arm around your waist, curling his fingers along the nape of your neck, brushing his lips across your forehead when you whine, high pitched and crackled, broken under the weight of too much alcohol and need for more sleep. “I know baby, Let’s get you into bed.” You lay your cheek on his chest and sigh. 

“Okay.” 

“Spit.” He holds the cup under your lips and you do as he asks diligently, bubbly white toothpaste getting caught on the corner of your mouth. 

Getting you upstairs and into his room went just as he anticipated. A little anxiety, a little uncertainty, all of it gently soothed until you were sitting on his bed and he was taking off your shoes, reassuring you, promising everything was okay and you were right where you belonged. 

“You’re safe with me sweetheart. I’m going to take care of you.” 

Now, you’re perched on the closed toilet lid in his bathroom as he finishes brushing your teeth, sleepy and serene, naked thighs peeking out from beneath the hem of his t-shirt. 

You’re completely unguarded, vulnerable, another layer peeled back, another piece he lays claim to. 

His sweet little fawn. 

He knew all along this was underneath the weight you carried. That when you finally felt safe and cherished and cared for, you’d bloom, be yourself without the pressure of everything else. Deep down, beneath the expectations of how everyone thinks you should talk, or act, or behave, behind all the coping mechanisms you’ve taught yourself, buried under mountains of complexity, is his precious little girl who needs her hand held and her tears wiped. Who’s brilliant and beautiful and different, and has never had the space to just be. 

Now, you'll be able to do just that while he takes care of the rest. He'll decide. You’ll have boundaries. You’ll have rules. You’ll have daddy and he’ll take away the endless pressure that closes in on you from all sides, he'll ensure you get what you need. There will be less worry, less fear and unlimited opportunities to be. 

“My face.” You tilt your chin back with your eyes closed, and he chuckles. 

“What about it?” 

“My,” hiccup, “makeup.” He turns the tap on warm, testing the temp until he’s satisfied, and soaks a washcloth. 

“Keep your eyes closed.” You sit still as he works, dabbing away everything on your eyelids and lashes, wiping underneath to catch anything he missed. “There we go.” You sway in his grip and slur.

“Bed now?” 

“Last thing.” There’s a glass of water and naproxen on the counter, and you swallow them without question. He hides his grimace. That will need to be addressed in the morning. When you try to put the glass back on the counter, he shakes his head. “All of it,” you manage to get the rest of the water down, and he squeezes your hip. “That’s my girl.” 

“You’re warm.” Your arm is slung over his middle, a cold foot tucked between his knees, mouth half open on his pillow. Completely uninhibited, nearly asleep. 

His cock is hard against his stomach beneath the waistband of his sweatpants, aching with a fullness he can’t relieve. He’s been hard since he undressed you, peeled your bra off and held you to his chest as he unhooked it, felt your perfect, pretty breasts and nipples against him as he tugged his shirt over your head. You were bashful, buried your face into his neck with a trembling giggle, but refused to let go, sunk your fingernails into his biceps as your hands shook. His sweet, shy girl. 

He rubs your back, works his fingers in the knots between your shoulders, watching your lashes flutter as you try to fight sleep.  

“Tomorrow…” There’s a last minute flash of uncertainty, and he presses his lips to your forehead. 

“It’s okay, we’ll talk at breakfast sweetheart. It’s time for bed.” Tomorrow. You'll be fighting a battle tomorrow, a hangover, anxiety, an endless spiral of confusion and doubt, but he'll be here to guide you through it. 

The only way out is through. 

It will be a lot easier on both of you if you're able to get some sleep. 

“Yeah, ’s past my bedtime.” You whisper with a hazy, playful smile on the wisp of a giggle. "We should have pancakes for breakfast." Your easy, peaceful state encourages him to go a step further. Cast a line, see if you’re biting. 

"If you close your eyes and go to sleep, Daddy will make you pancakes in the morning." You nod with a yawn, tucking your face between the pillow and his shoulder. 

"Mmkay then. Night." It's not a protest, it's not a flinch, it's not a moment of disgust, and satisfaction roars, rips through him like bullet, this instinct and desire long honed finally settling in the place where it belongs. In you. 

"Goodnight baby." He stares at the ceiling as you disappear into dreams and plans his mission. Plots his checkpoints, sets his objectives. Lead, decide, control. 

Bring you home. Permanently. 

[gay-dorito-dust]

Can’t stop thinking the tall horror men of homicipher. I’m like 5ft something, so I know damn well these men tower over me…am I discovering something? Maybe 👀👀👀but I know I ain’t alone. TRUE STORY: Also there was this guy that came into my place of work moths ago with his family and he was TALL, bending down to get through the doorframe TALL but he was lovely.

So how do I imagine these boy would react if they see that you’re clearly ogling them for how tall they were.

Mr crawling

Given the fact that you’ve only seen him stand once, it was enough to have your jaw dropping to the floor. He was taller than the fucking doorway that he had to manoeuvre himself under it, and suddenly you’ve forgotten that you were being kidnapped by Mr Stitch, too intrigued by his height and now understanding why he had lied to you about his ability to stand.

He thought he would scare you but in fact made you feel the complete opposite, you loved how tall he was and you couldn’t get it out of your head, even when he’s back on his hands and knees to comfort you. The illusion had worn off and now you wanted to see him tall all the time, but you didn’t want to pressure him into doing so unless he felt comfortable.

‘You’re tall, really tall.’ You said in awe as Mr crawling coddled you against his chest.

‘Scared?’ He asked as though he was fearing your answer, which broke your heart as you nuzzled your face against his shoulder in an attempt of comfort.

‘No, handsome.’ You replied as Mr Crawling made chirps and purrs of happiness as he held you closer to him.

While he’s still not fond on standing to his full height, the fear of his intimating stature would chase you away one day embedded in his heavily, he would find some comfort in knowing that you loved his tall stature and love you even more for not forcing him to do something he clearly was uncomfortable with; preferring to shower him in kisses and remind him that whether he’s standing or on his hands and knees you loved him regardless.

Mr silvair

The man can feel your eyes on his back constantly. He knows he’s taller than most but the way you looked and admired his full height like you wouldn’t be able to anymore.

He wonders whether this was something only you seemed to have or whether other humans also felt possessed by the need to gawk at people above a certain height. Or was it just you that has this particular expression upon seeing his tall stature in general.

He would take notes of how his height seemingly did something to you that then triggered a chemical reaction within your brain to make you find his height appealing and possibly a requirement in finding your perfect romantic partner.

Or more specifically people of similar height to Mr Silvair himself or anyone close enough to his height to qualify. Mr Silvair soon deduced that you liked the domineering presence of someone much bigger than you, someone who’s able to drag you wherever as though you were nothing but weightless to them, almost like a ragdoll.

He’d soon find that this is in most cases considered a kink amongst you humans who found the height difference between partner rather erotic.

Mr Scarletella

Finds your content ogling of him flattering and thinks that it means that you were finally, finally reciprocating his obsession with you for your own obsession with him.

He’s another one who takes note of how you like how tall he is in comparison to you, always looking at him whenever he was entering the room, eyes widening when you see him having to bed down to get through the doorway, and your eyes never leave him even as he’s walking towards you; seemingly getting taller with each step until he’s in front of you and you’re looking at him in awe and hitched breath.

He’s obsessed with your expression each and every time and uses his height to his advantage. Such as doing things like putting his hand above your head and on the wall, looking down at you with those obsessive eyes of his as his smile seemed to widen upon hearing your breath hitch and eyes widen once more.

His height continued to elicit a reaction out of you that Mr Scarletella loved and adored and wanted to see more of in the future.

Mr Hood

Finds your constant ogling of his height interesting.

He didn’t know why you were so surprised he’s this tall, he’s been with you this entire time and it was only recently did your mind seemed to inform you of your Incredibly stark height difference, and bam! Suddenly he’s the subject of your constant staring and ogling as though it would be the last thing you did.

It was humorous to say the least and will earn you some head pats and cheek caresses that has you leaning towards his comforting and gentle touches.

It wasn’t something that you hide from him as half of the time you didn’t realise you were doing it until Mr Hood pointed it out with curiosity, meanwhile your left flustered as your mind held certain thoughts towards his legs, thighs and large hands.

Poor Mr Hood, he understood to some extent but after a certain point it’s better to explain to him that you find his height rather appealing to you in more ways than one.

[melminli]

I LOVEDDDDDDD your Thanos “bang bang bang” post and it made me very curious abt how they know eo and stuff and like I’d love to read more about it in general if you don’t mind. It’s so great and I love your writing <333 have a fun day / night 🫶🏻

BANG BANG BANG ll

summary - thanos was always just such an easy person to argue with. you really hated the guy and that was something that was never going to change, even if your life was on the line and it fucking was.

pairing: (thanos) choi su-bong x fem. reader

word count: 1.8k

contains: violence, angst, death, drug use and addiction, dark content - just usual squid game stuff really

a/n: ty so much! this turned out kinda freaky but that is because thanos is a freak so, i didn't really have a choice.

prev. | next. | masterlist

There was an eerie silence among all the participants for the first few seconds after the first death happened. The realization of what this meant for everyone present slowly sank in, and you thought that maybe the crazy man with all his screaming, wasn't quite as crazy as you originally thought. The real madman was probably the person somewhere upstairs or - you didn't know exactly where, but you knew that they were watching you.

“Don't move!” His voice shouted again, but this time with a completely different force. It may be that this was the most logical conclusion one could draw from what had just happened, but some seemed to throw all logic out of the window as soon as the fear of death hit. It only took one person to panic to set off a domino effect and from one second to the next loud gunshots could be heard, following the fearful screams of one person after another. The participants were being slaughtered like frightened animals in a cage, what kind of sick game was really going on here?

You too began to tremble as you looked down at the floor, dissociating and trying to ignore your surroundings as best you could. You had to stop yourself from flinching when the person right next to you was killed, even as you felt his still warm blood covering your cheek, even as a small river of it started pooling around your foot. You were most likely going to leave a trace of him all over the ground as soon as you started walking again - whoever he was. It didn't take very long for everyone who had moved to be shot, maybe half a minute - and yet it must have been the worst half minute of your life so far.

“Don't you dare move,” Thanos said in a voice you weren't used to hearing from him. “I'm serious, don't make me mad.”

You just looked at his back from behind, with a tense posture while you tried to regain control of your breathing again. Finally, there was complete silence on the pitch again. Even if it wasn't an entirely welcome silence.

The voice from the loudspeakers began to speak again and you already knew that this would be a voice that would haunt you in your nightmares. “Let me repeat: You can move forward while the tagger shouts, Green light, red light. If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

Ah, so that's what you meant with eliminated. A bit literal but no biggie! The game continued, but no one really dared to move a muscle even when the puppet looked away. You then saw Thanos shift slightly out of the corner of your eye and noticed that he was pulling his cross necklace out of his t-shirt. Safe to say, that you could barely believe what you were seeing right before your very eyes. You've got to be kidding me, they took everything we had from us, but he was allowed to keep that old thing? “Are you seriously going to take that stuff now?” you whispered in disbelief but didn't really judge him for it. You were this close to just laughing out loud at the absurdity of the scene, but you didn't.

“You don't have to be jealous, sweetheart,” he replied with slightly shaky hands as he stopped his movement abruptly when the doll finished talking. He just stared longingly at the colorful pills in front of him. “I don't mind sharing with you, you know that.”

You sighed inwardly at the thing you were about to do. You had been clean for maybe about three years by now and quitting drugs of any kind overnight was fucking hard - definitely one of the hardest things you had to do in your life. On the other hand, your life was still as shitty as before, the only difference being that you were now consciously depressed and unhappy, so who cares? You could die every second anyway. “Thanks.” you just said after taking the pill out of his hand and threw the thing as quickly as possible in your mouth as soon as the doll looked away. Yeah, you were the biggest hypocrite on earth, old news.

It only took maybe a few seconds after that for you to feel the effects of the pill and then finally, all the stress started to dissipate. Your muscles relaxed, all the shouting about whatever felt like a soft pillow hugging you and the weird laying positions of the dead around you suddenly seemed incredibly funny. These were really strong pills, you could practically feel your whole body tingling. “Why are they all suddenly forming a line?” you asked with a grin and Thanos just hummed, not knowing the answer himself. “No idea, but watch this,” he said and waited until the puppet had turned towards you to push the person next to him, causing everyone in front of them to fall over too. “Ding! You lost,” he told them while wiggling his eyebrows and smirking after he watched them get shot.

You didn't even try to stifle your laughter at the scene. “You really are such an asshole.” you replied, shoving him aside this time after the doll averted its gaze. You then ran away as fast and as far away as you could so that he couldn't take revenge on you for what you had just done. However, you quickly stopped moving with both hands in the air as soon as the girlish voice emitted red light as if you were surrendering to her. You stifled your grin and pretty much failed when you noticed a slightly older woman standing relatively close to you. “Hey, are you trying to hide behind me to use me as a shield?” you spoke out without moving your mouth much and watched as she began to sweat more after you realized what she was doing. Still, she didn't pay you any further attention. “And now you're ignoring me too?” you spat out annoyed and grabbed her by the arm when you were free to move and pulled her in front of you against her will.

She tried to fight you off but you forced her further forward while she tried to defend herself. “You're older than me, aren't you ashamed of yourself?” You asked her and stopped walking before the robot's face turned towards you.

Number 57, who was still resisting your grip, stumbled a little to the side when you suddenly let go of her. She was about to howl in delight when she noticed how everyone else stood still. “No…” she mumbled out fearfully. “It's because of that bitch! I didn't -” she tried to defend herself to someone as she looked around the room, but her head caught the bullet before she could even finish her sentence.

“I may be a bitch, but at least I'm still alive.” you sang to her dead body on the floor before running past her. You didn't know how much time was left, but you had almost made it to the finish line anyway. You stopped with your back to the robot girl this time and it didn't take you long to spot the purple hair in the crowd. “Su-bong!” you shouted his name, since you had somehow gotten separated while running. You waited until he yelled back with a what?! “Last one there, gets fucked in the ass!” you yelled out without any shame or filter and saw his facial expression turn serious at the challenge. “Let's Go!”

The whole game went by relatively quickly once you took the pill from Thanos. It was actually quite fun, you thought to yourself as you both jumped around like two crazy people with grinning faces, waving your arms around wildly. I know it's not socially acceptable to say this, but I fucking love doing drugs! It was like everything around you was happening in slow motion and all the decisions you made felt foggy, like you didn't even realize what you were doing.

You loved being this person, it felt great to forget everything and just - not think. “I have won! No, really! You crossed the line two steps after me, I saw it!” you exclaimed before Thanos could object to a single thing. “Didn't anyone else see that?” you exclaimed in disbelief as if the others weren't busy staying alive while watching several others die right before their faces. You didn't care about the looks they gave you as you waved your hand. “No, they definitely saw it. I won.”

Thanos just gave in with a heavy sigh and a roll of his eyes. “Yeah yeah, I'm getting fucked in the ass which is gay, very funny.” he just mumbled to himself annoyed, and continued to avoid your gaze, but couldn't help grin again when you slapped him on the shoulder laughing. “Hey, why did we stop doing all this again?” he asked you when he couldn't remember the reason. All he knew was that he hadn't had this much fun in a long time, even though he knew that he always had a great time with you - no matter what.

You laughed. “Oh, that's because you promised me that we'd both get clean together, and then you spent the money I gave you for rehab on more drugs behind my back.“ you laughed along with him, even if Thanos frowned a little at the memory and you started to smile forcedly after remembering again how he had betrayed you. “Or what was it again? Was it something about that Youtuber you told me about…” you mumbled to yourself obliviously, feeling any sense of happiness begin to fade. You finally gave up, the details weren't that important anyway. “It doesn't really matter though, right? In any case, you used the money for something else, whatever it was. Even though you knew how hard I worked for it - hell, I didn't even eat most days to scrape it together, man.” you stated while you looked him in the face, even though he averted his gaze from you. “That's just fucked up dude.”

Exactly. You actually hated being this person. You might not remember it right now, but you would as soon as the effects of the pill wore off, which hopefully wasn't soon. You really hoped it wasn't soon, because you didn't want to be aware of anything that had happened today.

next.

[luveline]

if it’s at all possible, i’m requesting the fluffiest, giggliest fic with poly!marauders where reader is just sad and teary so they get in a big cuddle pile and tickle her and kiss her until she’s a giggly mess and all cheered up 🥹 thank you lovely jade!! <3

ty for requesting angel! fem, 1.1k

You watch yourself in the mirror. At your vanity, a cotton pad soaked in toner in hand. You wash down your face gently, your eyes hot and heavy and waiting to fill with tears. 

Maybe it’s because it’s Sirius who’s sitting on your bed that you end up crying. It’s hard to explain why it makes a difference, why he’s the one out of everyone who you can’t hide from when you’re sad. It’s not as though James or Remus are any less understanding than he is. James is the most generous person you’ve ever met, he’d let you cry into his arms for days on end without complaint, and Remus understands better than most what it is to be in pain, but Sirius won’t make you talk about it. When you’re feeling better, you’ll realise that it’s the complete lack of pressure to confront your feelings that brings them to the surface. Sirius won’t ask you to explain yourself. 

The tears fall down in discordant waves. One from the left, two from the right. Your nose grows hot, an uncomfortable wetness gathering at the back of your throat. 

You put your cotton pad aside, sniffling. 

“You okay, my angel?” Sirius asks, turning another page of his novel. 

You take a shaky breath. “Yeah,” you say, voice thick with tears. 

“You don’t sound okay.” You watch in the mirror as he puts his book down. He stands up quickly, and you’re presented with how good looking he is. Even through tears, he looks pretty. “What’s wrong?” 

You bend in on yourself, pressing your fingers to your eyes. “It’s nothing.” 

His hand falls against your shoulder, warm, the other not far behind. He leans on your back. “Come on, sweet girl,” he whispers, “don’t cry by yourself. Come to bed with me.” 

He doesn’t push you. You knew he wouldn’t. 

You let him usher you into the bed, where he sits with crossed legs and you fall into his chest. Your shoulders ache with your crying, shaking as the tears turn to sobs. You think about everything too much. And, despite the best intentions, Sirius’ gentle patting and hugging makes you cry harder. 

It’s a quiet house. The sound of your breakdown attracts another boy. He climbs into bed in front of you both. You know it’s Remus because James’ would’ve exclaimed in fear at the door, his hand tentative on your thigh. “Is everything alright?” he asks softly. 

“She’s okay, just a rough day,” Sirius says. 

It isn’t a lie. You wrap your arms around his waist like a clamp and lay there, face slipping down against his stomach, all bent and hurting as tears soak his dark t-shirt. 

“Really rough, it must’ve been,” Remus says. He rubs your thigh. “It’ll be okay. We’re here.” 

That makes you cry worse, too, but eventually the sentiment is driven home. No matter how bad the day is, or what happens to you, you’ll always have people to come home to who love you, and who want to rub your back for you when you can’t calm down. 

Remus pats your leg in a rhythm. Sirius stays very still. They both, somehow, know what you need. 

A little later, you lay with your face pressed to Sirius’ chest just shy of his armpit, Remus’ patting turned to light tickling, his voice a low constant. “You’re just so beautiful it intimidates people, that’s your problem, dovey, you’re scary because you’re that pretty. You think I’m blowing smoke, but I’m serious, and Sirius agrees with me, and James would get down on his knees right here and now and testify to that same thing.” His hand slides between the soft upper insides of your thighs to squeeze one reverently. “Everyone is jealous of you.” 

“Stop it,” you mumble. 

“She’s smiling,” Sirius says, drawing a loop behind your ear. 

“Stop.” 

“Everyone is jealous of me,” Remus furthers, “at Books and Coco, whenever you come with me, the boy behind the counter always gives me that stupid chauvinistic look like I’ve done some great service to men-kind in landing you.” Remus leans down to kiss your leg. “And it’s silly that he gives me that look, but his sentiment isn’t wrong. I can’t say I landed you, but I am lucky.” 

“Stop,” you say again, laughing as his breath further tickles your leg. 

The door to the bedroom clatters open. You jump, having not heard the front door, but Sirius rubs your arm and you quickly calm. After all, it’s James coming in. He’s far from scary. 

“Hello,” he says, a little breathless, “you guys wouldn’t believe the photo I just took at the pond. The sun was setting and there were all these colours coming through the trees and over the water.” He gives you a funny look. “Have you been crying?” 

“Just a bit,” Sirius says gently, hugging you a half inch closer, “she’s alright now.” 

James frowns. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” 

“It’s okay,” Sirius answers for you. To some, his speaking for you might irk them, but right now it’s exactly what you need. It’s less embarrassing to have him talk for you. “Remus has praised her half to death, and he keeps tickling us both.” 

“Oh, you’re tickling him too?” you ask. 

Remus squints at you. “Well, just a little bit.” 

You put upon a forlorn sigh. “I’m not as special as I thought.” 

“Sweetheart, you are the most special,” James says, climbing into the bed, making you the centre of their flower, “you’re gorgeous. Let’s have a kiss.” 

“That’s what I said,” Remus says, laughing as you lean away from James’ kiss, even as big hands find your cheeks to hold your face. 

“Come on, lovely girl, just give me a kiss so I know you’re alright,” James says. 

You evade to tease him. You can’t help laughing as you turn your head one way and then the other, quick to dodge him, his lips pressing half kisses against whatever bit of skin he can as you move. 

“This is harassment!” you laugh. 

“Just one kiss…” He holds your face steady, and he looks at you long and hard. When you move your chin up to kiss him, he moves away. “You’re okay?” he asks softly. 

“I’m fine,” you laugh, kissing him quickly. 

James collapses atop you, all his weight and smells. “Thank god for that.” 

“Well, thank Sirius,” Remus says, “he did all the back-rubbing.” 

Sirius groans and tries to get out from under you. “You’re all very heavy.” 

“James? Can I see your photo?” you ask. 

He squeezes you half to death in answer.