#my top 100 is basically my work playlist

[chibisatou]

[dckweed]

NEXT THING YOU KNOW, gator tillman

in which gator tillman and his arranged bride figure out life and each other and what a real relationship means to them.

warnings: mentions and depictions of abuse, mentions of bruises, arranged marriages, romance, humor, dead parents, slow burn relationship (not completely but not not), basically we know the tillman men are asswipes so i 100% see Roy forcing gator into this kind of situation for money for his militia, eventual smut with kinks such as thigh riding, gun play, choking, spanking, lots of marking and possible spit play.

okay don't ask how i got this out so fast, im literally so fuckin obsesessed with this series right now.

series masterlist here, series playlist here.

PART THREE: the weekend

thursday.

“What in the hell did you put me up to?” Gator’s voice rings out across the barn a couple of hours later. You wince, hearing the anger swirling under the tense tone as his footsteps thunk closer to you across the wooden floor. You’re still facing Bubbles, trying to get her untacked but it’s not easy when you don’t have a step ladder, you didn’t check if there was one in the trailer when you left and you didn’t feel right going snooping around the Tillman barn, afraid it might get you in trouble. 

“It’s just a few days,” You roll your eyes, grateful that he can’t see you because something tells you that the Tillman didn’t take kindly to bratty behavior like eye rolling. Not married yet or not, you were pretty much belonged to Gator now in the eyes of society in Stark County, nobody would bat an eye if he reprimanded you for it. “And i put us up to it, genius.” 

“Well gee, Pearl, you could have fuckin’ consulted me first, dontcha think?” He’s right next you in the stall now, his much larger hands moving yours out of the way as he could actually see over the top of your horse to undo all of her stuff. “Why the hell would i want to spend my weekend babysitting my sisters?” 

You scoff, turning to face him with your hands on your hips. You roll your eyes again and you know he sees you as his eyes narrow. “Ya know what asshole, you’re fuckin’ right!” You say, not going to put up with any of his damn attitude. “I shoulda slid right off my horse, left your daddy right out there in the field and come find you just to ask if it was okay.” He opens his mouth to retaliate, or maybe to tell you off for cursing at him or getting cross with him. “I may be younger than you but i’m still an adult, Gator, i’m gonna be your wife not your fuckin’ kid, don’t ever expect me to wait and ask your fuckin’ permission to do shit unless it’s necessary. That isn’t how this is goin’ to work.” 

He doesn’t say anything but pulls the saddle off of the horse with a huff and you turn on your heel, leading her out of the stall and out to the trailer. Gator stands in the stall for a moment after you’ve gone, listening to the clip clop of the horses hooves as you guys go. He closes his eyes for a second, readjusting the weight of your heavy ass saddle before guiltily following you along. You weren’t wrong, he was being an asshole. He hated being wrong, and he hated apologizing even more but he couldn’t let you go around stomping your feet and being mad at him all damn weekend, something told him that probably wasn’t in his best interest. And besides, he did actually feel bad for snapping at you like that, you didn’t deserve it. He did like seeing you get all riled up like that though, the storm that started brewing in your eyes..it was a nice change from your normally friendly and people pleasing personality. He liked that you obviously knew how to stand up for yourself too.  

The door of the trailer was open by the time he had finally meandered his way out of the barn, and he can hear you getting the horse settled into it. He makes quick work of putting the saddle into the back of your Jeep, closing the door and making his way to the trailer. He watches you, one arm braced against the metal door as his eyes follow your movements. You pat your horse on her long nose and then turn around, hands on your hips as you step down onto the ground of the driveway. 

You’re staring up at him expectantly, chewing your plump bottom lip with your hands on your hips. It took all the will power he never knew he had not to put his thumb on your fucking mouth, stopping you from what you surely couldn’t have realized was a surprisingly sinful act. He licks his chapped lips, looking off to the side before sighing. “I’m sorry for bein’ an asshole.” He says quietly, brown eyes searching your face for any sort of reaction. “I shouldn’t have snapped at ya like that..” 

Your face softens and something close to a smile graces the corners of your mouth as you push his chest lightly, your hands no longer defensively on your hips. “Apology accepted.” You say, meaning it. You had forgiven him the moment you had snapped at him too, you knew he was just as new to this whole situation as you were, you guys were still learning one another, that wasn’t any excuse to be yelling at each other but it was a reason to never let it happen again without at least trying to talk first. “But i’m not sorry for snappin’ back at you. You deserved it.” 

He laughs, a genuine, hearty sound coming from his throat and brings a hand up to muss your hair as he helps you close up and lock the trailer. “Alright..suppose we better go get that lunch you were talkin’ about earlier and then go pack up your stuff for the weekend.” The sun was fully up now, and even though it was only nine thirty in the morning, and he had all of an hour and a half of sleep under his belt, he was ready for lunch with you, and he was ready to get his dad and his wife out of the fuckin’ house so he could maybe relax just a little bit, maybe get a few more hours of sleep..

After a small squabble about who’s going to drive the Jeep you’re pulling up to the curb of Gator’s favorite diner in town, and he’s letting out a breath of relieved air as he steps foot on the ground. 

“Oh stop bein’ so dramatic!” You laugh walking side by side with him up to the door of the busy diner. He had spent the whole ten minute drive with one hand braced on the back of your seat and the other braced on the dash, telling you to slow down or to not hit your brakes so damn hard or to stop taking corners so fast and sharp with a damn horse trailer attached to you. You rolled your eyes after every comment, but found them more and more endearing as you heard the actual fear in his voice. That wasn’t the first time a boy had been scared to be in your passenger seat before. 

“Stop bein’ such a bad fuckin’ driver!” He retaliates, brown eyes wide as he holds open the door of the diner for you, you cackle and duck under his arm, breathing in his cologne and the smell of that damn fruity ass vape that he keeps puffing on. “You’re a menace to the road, Pearl, i swear!” 

He hears you mocking him and pushes the back of your head gently as the two of you find an empty space in the busy restaurant, a booth in the back corner next to windows where the light shines in. He insists on taking the side of the booth that faces the rest of the diner, wanting to have a good view of any potential danger (though he doesn't tell you that). 

A friendly waitress sidles up to the table as the two of you settle, you giggling after he mutters something more about your driving. “Mornin’ Gator, miss.” She says, nodding at the two of you. She’s plump and motherly, her hair brown and curly. You can tell from the smile on her face that she clearly knows the boy across the table from you. “Coffee for you, hon?” 

“Yes Ma’am,” Gator nods, one of the friendliest looks you’d seen in your whole short time of knowing him on his face as he looked up at her, his brown eyes filled with warmth you hadn’t seen towards anyone before. “And..i’m feeling lunchy today, how about a patty melt and fries, please?” You realized he must come here pretty often if the waitress knew his coffee order, and he didn’t need a menu to order. 

“You got it Gator,” She says warmly, turning to you next. “And for your..friend?” 

“Fiance, actually.” He says before you have the chance to speak, you’re stunned for a moment and so is the woman. This is the first time anyone outside of your families and the people directly involved with the wedding planning had been told that you guys were technically engaged, your face flushes as the realization and the weight of the title actually being out in the open for the first time. 

You can tell that she wants to ask more questions by the furrow in her brow and the hesitation before she clears her throat, but she thankfully doesn’t pry any farther. “And for your fiance?” 

You give a sheepish smile, that quickly turns to a deep rooted frown when the friendly woman tells you that they don’t stock flavored coffee creamers, or serve iced coffee. “Dr. Pepper then,” You say, the smile returning back to your face as Gator makes a mental note to stop by the local coffee shop for you on the way back to the Augastine ranch. “And I’ll do chicken tenders, with fries please!” 

She gives a smile and says she’ll be back soon, as soon as she gone Gator cracks up laughing at you. “What?” You pout, and he only shakes his head at you, causing your pout to deepen. “It’s not nice to laugh at people, is there dirt on my face? Gator!” The way you whined his name struck a different kind of chord in him and he quickly stopped laughing, shaking his head as he situated himself in his seat. 

He knew most men would have found the whining annoying but it was clear you didn’t do it on purpose, and it sent a tingle down his spine when you said his name like that. “Flavored coffee creamer?” You roll your eyes and kick him under the table, which only makes him laugh more. 

You had to admit, you liked how young and happy it made his face look when he laughed, and you wished he would do more of it. 

A couple of hours tick by as the two of you sit in your cozy little booth in the diner, eating and bickering and laughing at each other as customers come and go around you. He was sweet in his own rugged, rough way, your own personal diamond in the rough. You didn’t mind, it just meant you could have fun chipping away at him and softening him up around the edges. The more you got to know him over the past week, the more you started to think that maybe this marriage thing wouldn’t be so horrible. You could both learn to love each other over the years, and who knows, maybe you would fall in love in the way that all those people in the movies did. You had always wanted a silver screen romance..

Gator pays for the both of you before you can even dig your credit card out of your stupid little purse, which causes you to pout. “Hey, I was the one that asked you to come eat!” You argued and boy just sighs, giving you a pointed look that clearly said to shut the fuck up. You pout but don’t push on the matter, letting him steal the Jeep keys off of the table top as you slide off of your fluffy, overstuffed bench. 

“Alright, lets go pick up your stuff for the weekend and drop your trailer off,” He had work tonight again and he was hoping to get a couple extra hours of sleep in before his father left. The nights were always longer when he was tired, but he wasn’t going to complain. Gator loved his job. 

You follow him through the crowded diner, staying right underfoot. You hadn’t realized before but people were staring at the two of you, it made your cheeks flush when eyes bored into you as you walked and nervously, you grab onto the back of his shirt. He stiffens beneath your touch, and cranes his neck to look at you, eyebrows furrowed under the brim of his hat. “People are staring.” You whisper, he purses his lips and looks around before shrugging as you get closer to the door. “Why are they staring?” You weren’t used to attention like that, and you were afraid that somehow it would get back to Boyd that you were here with Gator and you would somehow get in trouble for it, fiance or not. 

“Because i’m the Sheriff’s son, and this is the first time i’ve been out in public with my fiance.” He says, as if it wasn’t that big of a deal. “Sherry probably went and spread the word while we were eating, it’s no big deal Pearlie, the whole town was gonna find out one way or another.” He pushes the door of the diner open with one hand, and with the other he grabs your hand off the back of his shirt, using his grip to push you in front of him out the door. 

“I figured they would have done an announcement in the paper or somethin’ by now.” You mutter, hands in your pockets as you walk side by side to the jeep with him. You don’t argue when he opens the passenger side door for you, but you do give him a shit eating grin as you step up onto the running boards to climb in. 

“Yeah, well, they’re probably leaving that up to us too.” He mutters as he closes your door and quickly walks around the front end. You thought it was rather sweet of him, opening the doors for you, but you wouldn’t say anything, you didn’t want to freak him out. He wastes no time in pulling away from the diner, casually driving your car with one hand while the other rested on the gear shift on the center console. 

You studied his hand, how much bigger than the gear shift knob it was, you could barely fit your own around it but his smothered it, leaving no trace of it under his palm. His thick fingers tensing and untensing around it, as if he were squeezing it like a stress ball. You bite your lip, looking up as the car comes to a stop and he throws it in park. “What are we doing?” You ask, noticing him lifting his ass out of the seat out of the corner of his eye, shoving his hand in his pocket. 

“You ask a lot of questions, you know?” He quips, grabbing a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet holding it out towards you. You simply stare at it, and then lift your big ass, curious eyes to stare at him. He sighs, sagging against the seat. “Go in and get your damned flavored coffee, felt bad they didn’t have it at the diner..” 

You feel your cheeks start to flush, and though you were tempted to argue and tell him he didn’t need to stop, you felt yourself unbuckling your seatbelt because that was just too damn sweet. You start to get out of the car, grabbing your purse when he clicks his tongue at you, shoving his hand at you again. You decide it’s best not to argue, you don’t want to annoy him anymore than you clearly already do without meaning to, you take it, using the grip on his hand to pull him across the console. You kiss his cheek sweetly, pulling away with a smile. “Thank you..” You say, turning and jumping from the Jeep as quickly as you could without hurting yourself. 

Gator is stunned by the show of affection, his neck flushed red from the interaction. He shakes his head, fighting back the smile on his face by putting his vape to his mouth as he watches you happily skip into the fucking coffee shop. “She’s gonna be the death of me..” He grumbles to himself, running a hand down his face after breathing out the fruity flavored vape that he filled his lungs with. 

You’re grateful that he’s with you when you go home because you can sense Boyd’s mood before you can see him, the house is still and quiet, the girls off at school for the day, the nanny is not needed until this afternoon. You walk through the front door with Gator laughing about the way he had narrowly avoided a hoof to his head when he was walking with Bubbles, you giggle at him as he exaggerates the scene that you had had your back turned to, shaking your head as you start for the stairs. 

“Where have you been?” His voice is cold and sends a shiver down your spine. You stop in your tracks, one hand on the bannister and turn to face him. You don’t dare look at him, but you put a complacent smile on your face nonetheless. You can feel Gator behind you, his hands sliding into his pockets much like they were on the first time he had been to your so-called home. 

“I was on that ride with Roy,” You say, calling Gator’s father by his name, he tenses behind you at the mention of the man, and you’re tempted to glance up at him and offer him a comforting smile. “And we got to talking about the wedding and what not and how i would like his girls to be in it, and he thought it would be a great idea,” You’re starting to babble, and you begin to worry that your words aren’t making any sense because of the way that his face changes. “So now Gator and I are here to pack up a bag for me because we’re going to be watching his sisters while their parents are gone for the weekend..” 

“We stopped and got an early lunch first,” Gator steps in, you feel his hand on your lower back and it brings a sense of calmness to you for some strange reason. “She was hungry..sorry, i shoulda had her call you or somethin’ didn’t mean to make you worry, Sir..” 

Boyd is quiet for a long beat, his jaw ticking like it does when he’s angry and trying not to show it. You swallow back your fear knowing that you’re safe with Gator here. 

“When will you be back?” He narrows his cold eyes at you, they hold no emotion other than the contempt that you know he feels for you, and that makes you nervous for what you’ll endure when you come home Monday afternoon, but grateful for the time you’ll have away. 

“I’ll be back Monday afternoon, after his parents come home.” You say, tired of the conversation and no longer wanting to be involved. You turn and start heading up the stairs, knocking Gator’s hand from your back as you leave without being dismissed, something you’re sure you’ll hear about next week. “See you then.” 

Gator is quick to follow behind, giving your step father a friendly smile as he clambers up the stairs behind you. “What was that all about?” He asks in a hushed voice as he follows onto the second floor landing. 

You shake your head and walk past your sisters’ room and farther on to yours, locking the door behind you. You don’t notice the way Gator’s eyebrows pinch when he notices you’ve barricaded yourselves in the room by locking it. 

“He’s an asshole.” Is all you say, shrugging off the encounter before heading to your closet to find your suitcase. 

When you come out you see Gator with his hands in his pockets again, looking around your bedroom, the one area of the house that was completely and utterly you. Pink and red accents, white frilly lace..teddy bears and fluffy pillows and blankets..the room was so..you. He had gotten his attention caught to a smattering of photo frames on your big white dresser, all of them held you in them, smiling that big beautiful smile of yours (sometimes it would be reaching your eyes, lighting them up happily, but most times it wasn’t), all of them held different people, your sisters mostly, and whom he assumed was a friend from school, a tall brunette with killer legs in a bikini with her arms around you. There was another guy in the photo too that he tried not to be jealous of, but he had his arm around your waist and was grinning down at the two of you as you guys stood on a dock in front of a boat. He loved how happy you looked there in that moment, like your mind wasn’t laden with such heavy burdens like planning a wedding you were legally bound to, or dealing with a clearly tense situation with your step father. His favorite picture though, was one of you and an older woman, your mama, he assumed. You were laughing in the photo a mess of birthday cake frosting smeared across your cheek and some pink tinsel in your hair. The silver balloons behind you said ‘15’. 

“That’s my mama..” You said, sliding up behind him. He jumps, slightly scared. “That’s the only picture i have left of her..Boyd has all the rest, wont let me see ‘em. I think they’re up in the attic somewhere.” You sniff a little, trying not to cry as you turn away, hands on your hips. “Right, lets get this stuff together.” 

After about an hour or so you’ve stuffed the whole suitcase with more clothes than you really need for an entire weekend, Gator had lightened the mood by teasing you when you tried to hide your panties and bras as you packed them, telling you it’s not like he hadn’t seen any before, and he would be seeing yours for the foreseeable future, and then making you laugh at his genuine confusion at your array of shampoos and body washes in the your shower. 

“Oh no, don’t tell me you’re one of those 3 in 1 off the shelf at the grocery store kinda guys..” You laugh, looking at him looking at the four different bottles of soaps in his hands. “Please tell me you use something that costs more than ten dollars on your hair! It’s too pretty not to use cheap crap!” You hadn’t really meant to call his hair pretty out loud, but it really was pretty, you couldn’t deny it.

He doesn’t mention it though and instead looks up at you bewildered. “Are you tellin’ me you spent more than twenty dollars on all this crap combined?” He asks, completely in awe. “Oh my god Pearlie, please tell me you’re not gonna be breakin’ my bank on fuckin’ shampoo- it’s shampoo!” 

The two of you burst out in laughter after a moment and you deemed it best not to tell him how much you spent on hair care quite yet, afraid that he would have an aneurysm if you did. He’s gentlemanly enough to help you carry the suitcase back out to the Jeep. 

He even carries it into his daddy’s house for you, and up the stairs where he shows you his bedroom. He tosses the case unceremoniously onto his bed, where it bounces. You look around for a moment, eyebrows raised as you take in the scenery. It was messier than you had imagined, but it smelled so much like him and his damn vape that you couldn’t help but to take a deep breath of air. The room wasn’t too big, and his queen sized bed took up most of the space, the rest of it littered with his clothes on the floor and posters on the wall..you noticed some trophies on a shelf that you would have to ask about later. 

“It’s not much, and it’s usually not so messy..” He says, you think he might be a little embarrassed by the red flush of his cheeks. “I’m sorry you have to sleep in here with me, but it’s better than the couch or crashing on the floor in the girls’ room..” 

“I don’t mind, Gator..” You say, giving him a little smile as you turn to face him. “It’s a fuckin’ pig stye though.” You laugh and he follows suit, nodding along with you. You had a pretty good idea of what you would be doing to keep yourself busy while Jessica and Maude were at school tomorrow, or until they would come home this afternoon. 

The rest of the early afternoon was spent with Karen giving you a run down of the girls’ schedules and how to feed them and dress them. Something about the woman irritated you to your core, maybe it was the way she clearly held nothing but disdain for her step son, or maybe it as the way that she spoke to you like you were stupid and couldn’t possibly be capable of taking care of her children, either way, it made your eye start to twitch the more you thought about it. 

You were grateful when Roy seemed to have finally had enough of hanging around after he had dutifully packed their bags into his old chevy and got a little snappy with his wife, who quickly scurried out of the door. He gave you a friendly squeezed of your shoulder, his giant hand engulfing your shoulder, before mentioning something to Gator in hushed tones that seemed to only upset the boy as his voice turned tense and cold and his back stiffened like it did earlier in the day. 

The house was quiet once the door shut, creepily quiet once the old Chevy had meandered it’s way out of the gates of the house and down the road of the ranch. You stood in the doorway of the kitchen, not quite sure what to do with yourself as you kept your eyes on your fiance. He’s watching out the windows next to the door, his back muscles still tense. You wondered if he would be upset with you if you asked what his father had said, if you asked if he was okay. You decide against it though. “Gator?” You ask, your voice soft, small and quiet. He hums in response, hands on his hips as he glances back at you. “Shouldn’t we go pick up the girls?” You noticed it was nearing time for school for your own sisters  to be out, and while Gator’s went to a private christian school you figured they probably had the same start and out times as your sisters’ school. “It’s almost three..” 

“Yeah..” He runs a hand down his face, clearing his throat. “Yeah, let’s get going.” 

taglist:

@ruth-barnes @justherebecausesafarisucks @daisy-is-a-writer @xxbookdrunkdemigodxx @girlwiththerubyslippers @keerygal @lilllbabyyy @boa-hemian @sweetdazequeen @emilyj444 @whisperingwillowxox @babyqnn @lou-la-lou @aestheticaltcow @finalmoondragon @boxofsmittens @pollyspocketdimension @kassy-munson @frostandflamesfanfic @mysticalstar30 @totally-bogus-timelady @nerdypinupcrystal @emmiecrush5-blog @witchcovenboys @starksbabie @marrowfrog00 @boop369 @lelenikki @xmalfoyweasleyx @girlwiththerubyslippers

[ther3alsweetheart]

Milo/Sweetheart hc because I need to get them out of my head

sweetheart is like 1 inch taller than Milo and that's what makes it so funny when they tease him about his hight

Milo and sweetheart definitely share clothes but its mostly sweetheart wearing anything of Milo's

Sweetheart can pick up Milo and they do it sometime while their cloaked to scare him

Sweetheart convinced Milo to let them braid his fur in his wolf form but Milo ended up really liking it and now begs sweetheart to play with his fur all the time

I like to think that Milo shifted for sweetheart before they had to fight a shade together so that he wouldn't scare them (kinda like how he did with aggro)

Sweetheart always makes Milo go shopping with them (because they want his opinion on clothes) and if he doesnt go they spam his phone with photos of the clothes they want

When Milo does go shopping with sweetheart they make him go into the actually fitting room with them and he gets super flustered about it

Vap Milo's house is like the most bland thing ever all grey and basically no furniture (sweetheart would definitely decorate)

Sweetheart draws aggro all the time and gifts the drawings to Milo

Milo is a jewelry guy (which sweetheart loves about him) and he sometimes gets matching jewelry for him and sweetheart

When Milo is working around the house or doing some outdoor work he puts his hair into a little ponytail at the top of his head (sweetheart has a collection of pics of him with his hair like that)

Sweetheart mocks Milo's accent all the time and they have gotten surprisingly good at it (not to be mean most of the time just because they like they way he says things)

Sweetheart makes playlists for Milo

Sweetheart is really good at finding things and Milo always thinks its because they hid them in the first place (to be fair sometimes they do)

Sweetheart fazed through a wall while them and Milo where still holding hands because they forgot he couldn't go through the wall with them (this totally happened more than once)

Sweetheart sits on the floor while doing work and it always makes Milo laugh because they have a couch right by them

Sweetheart has a few tattoos and Milo didn't know about them until they where intiment for the first time

Milo also has tattoos and after him and sweetheart decided they weren't going to get married he got a ring tattooed to show his commitment and so did sweetheart

Sweetheart used to have a problem with cloaking on accident when they were younger and when they get really stressed they cloak (sometimes it takes hours for them to de-cloak)

Milo is a terrible texter

Sweetheart sends Milo memes all the time and says "this is so us" and Milo literally never understands it

Milo has a gold tooth (he lost a tooth playing with the pack and had to get it)

Milo carries aggro like a baby

The first time sweetheart met Marie (Milo's mom) they cloaked because they where so nervous

Milo 100% holds sweetheart by the waist when they are walking together

Milo and sweetheart have the BEST couples Halloween costumes ever (aggro is also included)

This is my first post and I love redacted audio (especially Milo) so I hope you guys like my head canons :)

[rainbowmothed]

︵︵ MISC. HAZBIN HOTEL HEADCANONS

╰ ⋯ ➢ just some random hcs i thought of off the top of my head!! ♡ as always, reblogs and likes appreciated! includes both main cast and heaven hcs. :3

𝜚 ₎ MAIN CAST HCS

Vaggie says stuff like “rad,” “dude,” etcetera unironically and definitely gets made fun of for it. Mostly by Cherri and Angel– Pentious says it is ‘hashtag trending awesome sauce.’

Vaggie sets 6 alarms in the morning, all with custom minute intervals between the snooze alarms to make SURE she doesn't sleep through it. Charlie doesn't mind, though, mainly because she wakes up at four in the morning to work on projects anyway.

Charlie has made playlists for everyone in the hotel on hell's equivalent of spotify; Vaggie's is the most well thought out, but they all describe them very well. Alastor never listens to it due to his dislike for modern technology/apps, but he appreciates it– or at least acts like he does– nonetheless.

Charlie definitely rides on Alastor's shoulders like a little kid bro IDC WHAT U SAY

Vaggie has cried ONCE in front of the rest of the hotel after being genuinely dogged on repeatedly on one of the worst days of her life, and they all just stared at her in shock. They hate on her so much because it never impacts her– or so they think so, because Vaggie always shrugs it off. They refuse to talk about it.

Vaggie's spice tolerance is unmatched.

Each night, Charlie visits Pentious’ memorial and wraps a weighted blanket around it, saying that maybe it'd remind him of the Egg Bois and the way they snuggled around him in the afterlife.

Vaggie is a huge Hunger Games fan. 90% of her personality derives from Katniss Everdeen.

Adding onto the last one, if Charlie and Vaggie were to have a child, I feel like it'd have the personality of Lucy Gray Baird.

Niffty definitely writes strange fanfiction. Also has BL as her header on the Hell's equivalent of Twitter. She's a little twisted, but we love her.

Cherri is an absolute menace. That is the best word to describe her.

Angel and Cherri did the “screaming in public restrooms” prank once.

Everyone assumed Charlie was mid-20s until she dropped the bomb that she's over 200 years old. They were all flabbergasted (minus Vaggie, who already knew. Angel also called her a “gilf lover.”)

Angel asked Vaggie about her body count once to tick her off, and she answered “around 1,000 or so, roughly estimated,” thinking he meant kill count. Charlie was shook.

Vaggie is a Paramore, Flyleaf, Evanescence, etcetera fan. Proud listener to 2000s emo girl music.

Charlie's guilty pleasure is punk/metal/rock music. She says she only listens to “Taylor Swift and musicals,” but she has a hidden playlist with KORN, PTV, and all of those bands on it.

Angel wakes Husk up by blasting Ayesha Erotica songs into his ear occasionally since Husk is a heavy sleeper and refuses to get up sometimes.

Pentious calls himself a “semi-proud father of the Egg Bois.”

Charlie ran a hate page about Katie Killjoy. She has since moved on from it... probably.

𝜚 ₎ HEAVEN HCS

Vaggie definitely played about 100 sports back in Heaven. Fencing, soccer, and, bare with me here, she definitely did ballet. She refuses to admit so, however.

The exorcists actually aren't brought into the world as adults. Instead, they're raised by volunteer parents of Heaven their entire lives, starting fighting training at age 6 or so. They claim that “children's brains are easier to mold.” Basically, they're taught to be murder weapons from a very, very young age. It's also instinctive, but it's the training that truly brings it out.

Each exterminator is based on a different bird breed, but the most common are eagles, falcons, hawks, and generally predatory avians.

The Exterminators are also very fast flyers, and they establish the quickest flyers through racing. Vaggie was formerly the fastest until she was cast down to Hell. Now, the fastest is Lute.

Adam also referees these races, and instead of a gun or whistle to start them off, he uses his guitar.

[shepscapades]

I thought you would appreciate to know someone is coming back to your blog daily excited to see more of your DBHC au. No pressure to make more mind you just love your art and stuff. All of it honestly is amazing.

Wahh, thank you so much!! I get a lot of asks like these and I struggle to sit down and answer them because i hate to sound repetitive/don't know what to say, but know that if any of you have sent me a sweet ask, dbhc or otherwise, it is read and appreciated so so so much!! I appreciate you guys so much and you're all way too sweet :( so thank you for your kind words, it means the world!! <3

I was really hoping to work on Destruction over my Thanksgiving break, but i ended up with covid :( so i've been sickly and slowly working on work things that i need to catch up on, and I haven't had so much time to work on dbhc as much as i'd like to, unfortunately ;.;

BUT!! since spotify wrapped is out, i'm planning on rearranging my Top 100 Songs playlist to include some dbhc character playlist songs and basically compile a top-100 playlist full of songs i'd like to draw stuff for, that way we can do the Spotify Wrapped Drawing challenge again this year :D So!! Look forward to that :D I'd honestly like to stream and work on that! so we'll see >:3

But anyway, short little life update aside, thank you guys so much for your kind messages and things :] I appreciate it so much! <3

[polaroid-sorcery]

Hey hey, anybody else feeling like their Spotify wrapped is straight up gaslighting them?

For this entire year (technically since december '23) I have been listening to Nachtwacht and thought that FOR SURE it would show up on my Spotify wrapped. Like, I have the same couple of songs of them in each and every playlist I listened to in 2024. I listened the songs every day. When cycling to college, when in class, when getting ready in the morning and every evening while spending hours behind my laptop. For the whole last year.

And not one of their songs show up in my wrapped? Or even as a top 5 artist?

Same goes for the girlgroup K3 by the way. I listened to them a lot this past year because *nostalgia* and they were also featured on the 3 Biggetjes musical recording which I had on repeat for basically the whole year as well.

And they did not show up on my wrapped either. The only K3 content in my Spotify wrapped is the orchestral version of Ya Ya Yippee and 3 Biggetjes medley.

And the thing is, I did not nearly listen to the songs at the bottom of my 100 most listened songs list as much as I listened to Nachtwacht and K3.

This is not a "oh fun I didn't expect to see those songs in the list" wrapped, but a "where did my entire history of the last year go??" type of wrapped.

Also, this is what my most streamed songs look like according to statsforspotify.com (which has been accurate for as long as I have been using it). This is a much better (and what I predicted) list of the last year.

It's funny because this way it seems like they cut out all the Nachtwacht and K3 of my year because this my top songs according to Spotify itself:

Anyway, that was all. Just needed to let that out. I probably shouldn't be so worked up about this and usually I love my Spotify wrapped and love to see a reflection of my listening behaviour, but this just does not reflect me at all.

If you made it this far, thank you and I hope you have a good day. *sends virtual huggies*

[cacodaemonia]

20 Questions for Writers

Thanks so much for the tag, @lyntergalactic! :D I feel like I've done this before, but it must have been a while ago. It looks fun! (also, I'm pasting just the questions at the bottom of the post if anyone wants to copy those)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 247, though I'm not really sure what the ratio is for images versus fics... Okay, apparently, 97 of them are tagged with 'fanart' and have fewer than 100 words, so somewhere around 100 image-only works and 147 fics.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 1,141,145; which includes a few collabs and fics for which I just contributed an image.

3. What fandoms do you write for? TCW exclusively 😅 Though I've done a handful of images for other things like Arcane, Dune, Trigun, The Expanse, House of the Dragon...

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? A bunch of my works with the most kudos are images, but if we're talking fics, then I think it's just some of my oldest ones...

That’s Not How It Happened (This Is How It Happened) - Fives arc fix-it and my first fic.

Orbital Decay - Codywan that I haven't edited since I posted it, so I can't vouch for the quality.

Modulation - Another one I haven't touched since I posted it, but it's an 'Echo gets rescued much earlier than in canon and he and Fives reunite' fix-it of sorts.

Will You Walk With Me? - Waxer's pov from the start of the war to the (fix-it) end, and it mostly focuses on his and Boil's friendship (Waxer & Boil or Waxer/Boil pre-relationship - take your pick). Even though this certainly isn't the best thing I've written, it's my baby. 🧡

Interference - Umbara fix-it featuring minor canon characters and some necessary OCs in the first chapter, then more major canon characters later.

More stuff below the cut, since this is a long list...

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably You're Just Harder to See Than Most, which ends very sadly on its own, but it's part of a larger fix-it including Modulation above, so Fives and Echo get reunited.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Pfff like basically all of them, idk XD;

8. Do you get hate on fics? No, just on one sketch dump, where someone went through 6 chapters of spicy cloneshippy images and then decided they needed to complain about it being gross and immoral 🤣 It was hysterical kjlksahfg

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh yes, I'm a certified smut goblin. Not really sure what the question means by 'what kind,' but I guess 'porn with feelings' is probably the AO3 tag that would most accurately describe all of the smut I've written XD

10. Do you write crossovers? Nope.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! :D

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Hm, I suppose if we're defining that as like, "what ship have you intensely shipped for the longest amount of time," it would be destiel? I was veeeeeery into that ship for many years.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I've had one wip sitting around for over a year, and for a while I was thinking I wasn't going to get back to it ever. But I made a little vibes playlist for it and had some help brainstorming, so I'm hopeful I can start tackling it again after I get some current stuff drafted.

16. What are your writing strengths? Starting something and working on it until it's finished.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I have a lot of trouble generating ideas on my own.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I think it's fine as long as it's either A. very short and clear from context or B. for some reason, the writer is intending to confuse the reader and obfuscate what was said. I know I've said it before, but I'm not gonna scroll to the bottom of a fic every few paragraphs to find the translations for whole phrases or sentences. If the amount of 'other language' starts making the dialogue difficult to follow, I'm just gonna nope out.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically, I wrote one thing for Gundam Wing back in like 2000, but I can't even remember what I did with it or what it was about, exactly. Other than that, TCW.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? flsdlfg that's really difficult... idk man, if it's quality we're talking about rather than sentimentality, I'd say it's a toss-up between these three 😅:

My Heart's Red Muscle - Canon-divergent AU where Waxer is a cyborg.

Kinktober 2022 - Character studies/development through smut, where Waxer and Boil find a list of sexy things to try out, so it's kind of meta. It's from my main Open Skies AU, and I'm weirdly proud of this one XD;

We Could Breathe Underwater - Force-sensitive Waxer and Boil AU

Phew! Okay this took me like three sessions to answer, but it was fun :)

No-pressure tags: anyone who sees this and wants to do it, plus @lizardberries @elismor @bilbosmom-belladonna @valkeakuulas @petrifiedforests @marbled-polecat @writegowrite @sophronist @marbled-polecat @ivalane

20 Questions for Writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

[karliahs]

For AO3 wrapped: 3, 10, and 27?

ty for the ask!! let's gooooo:

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

ahhh...probably testing, testing or break something?

break something I wonder if there's a recency bias involved, and maybe a bit of a sense that I need to love it harder myself because it is - numbers-wise anyway - definitely the least popular thing I wrote all year

but after having to basically abandon its old draft for a few months because I wasn't getting anywhere, I then had this electrifying editing & rewriting session where it just suddenly felt so easy to see where I'd been going wrong before and how to fix it. the final draft is just so, so much better than what came before, and while obviously no one else can see that, I'm really proud of what I turned it into. at least to my eyes, there's a maturity in the writing there that I don't think I could have achieved until recently

testing, testing similarly feels strangely like the more grown up version of the very first aizawa & midoriya fic I wrote, swan dive (and oof I cannot reread that one anymore, though I'm glad people still seem to like it). it was long and heavy and slow to write, not at all like the bolt from the blue way a lot of my fics come into existence, and I still feel that heaviness when I read it. that panic attack section is one of my favourite things I wrote this year for sure, and I also really liked integrating autistic lived experiences without it being a fic about autism

honourable mention to unwanted also <3

10. What work was the quickest to write?

ten of swords was written in four days. I've said it before but: that fic was a haunting. it happened To me. I was barely involved in the process

27. What do you listen to while writing?

a mix of:

lyricless stuff. particularly I went through a phase where I mostly wrote to the night in the woods soundtrack

a playlist I have of music where I don't feel the need to pay much attention to the lyrics (this became most of my wrapped top 100 honestly)

just my regular music on shuffle and then I'm either so caught up writing that I don't notice/get distracted by the lyrics, or I keep stopping for a second to irritatedly skip through songs because they are distracting me but I don't want to stop for long enough to locate one of the above things instead

that last one is objectively the worst option but it's probably the one I do most frequently recently

[nomsfaultau]

(Potentially) Daily ask №6

Music edition!

Have you got a Fault playlist? Or a playlist for any of your works for that matter?

If the fault crew were songs, which songs would they be?

What style of music would each character listen to? Despite the fact that they probably don't have much time for it on the run

Enemy (the arcane version) animatic of fault. Yes or no. I won't be able to make it just got the idea

Slowly pushes Welcome home, Honey, Revived, Injustice/Voices (I couldn't choose cause voices is more epic but it's not rly about him is it) and Doomsday towards the crew just to see the reactions (presumably while explaining the concept of alternate universes)

Also update on the whole being afraid of insects and reading fault. I might have accidentally stopped being afraid of bees- which I think is an amazing confusing side effect

I use randomly generated playlists on YouTube when doing anything, so not really.

Got this one down! In this post that (I'll probably also rb) I discuss the top 3 songs I have for each character. But for bonus, I also like Sugar Pills by idkhbtfm for Phil since it captures his confusion/obsession/spiraling in the amnestic arc; Envy Green by the Arcadian Wild for Wilbur and his relationship with humanity; Ghosts by Danny Schmidt for Tommy. Not so much the part about killing the guy cheating on his wife, but it absolutely captures that guilt and self loathing, plus the extra juice of Tommy being both the hangman and the gallows. "If you've never touched someone you love/It'll burn them if you try"; and a general Razzmatazz by idkhbtfm for the Hallway Massacre/Foundation in general. I think it's about fame but it's also about fascism so idk. I mean the Foundation notoriously doesn't have a dictator but it checks off basically everything else.

Philza is probably really deep into some genre that died centuries ago and is like 'oh yeah you've never heard of it....it's really underground..' and people think he's a music snob but literally an avalanche wiped out the one village doing it, erasing all records. Tubbos' is very hectic given the Hivemind. There's definitely Disney princess songs in there for Jasmine which everyone just grits their teeth (..bees?) and deals with. Some old stuff from the 50s. Tends towards lowkey stuff. Tubbo canonically is bad at singing. The Blade canonically is a Swiftie. Or will be once that part is out. He avoids violent music bc the voices will ensure he literally never gets it out of his head. Tommy feels like he mostly listens to pop hits that are all on the billboard 100 list. Wilbur goes for literally anything. His exposure to music is mostly like. Walmart shopping tunes while he's robbing the place, so he doesn't exactly have an understanding of just how much is out there. But it adores creating its own music, and sings to calm itself down and control the void. Phil discovered the love and nurtured it by helping Wilbur get and learn a variety of instruments. The first was a woodwind Phil carved from cane. Wilbur's last mentioned instrument was a guitar with everyone's names written on it. Well. Besides the stuff the Foundation did...

ohhhhhhh yes. I can deffo see pieces of it. "Your words up on the wall as you're praying for my fall/And the laughter in the halls and the names that I've been called" with a shot of all the dehuminizing language used on the anomalies smeared in Tommy's Red, "The road is long, so put the pedal into the floor The enemy on my trail, my energy unavailable" capturing their constant fleeing, and just that leaving with "I'll never be a saint". Mmmmm delicious.

Mmmm dangerous games you're playing here with void madness, but I'll allow it. Welcome Home: Tommy finds it crushingly relatable. The part about colors turning Grey is a gut punch to him. I mean what hahhaha that guy is so depressed, he clearly can't be me.

Honey: Tubbo is just like. Muffin this other Tubbo clearly has nothing going wrong in their life- his? huh ok. Wait he isn't a bee?? Why is he so obsessed with honey then???? That's thievery. We're gonna sue.

Revived: Wilbur: .....this guy sounds like an edgy lil muffin. (Phil in the distance: mate you are an edgy lil muffin!) Shut up. Why is he so mad about dying? Like kinda inevitable with my -our?- lifestyle. And does this imply I'm going to die soon? (Phil: NOT ON MY WATCH). Whatever. The part about everything being mine sounds nice tho.

Injustice: At first The Blade is like uhhh this guy sounds a LOT like The Blood God and is on way too good of terms with the voices, but the line about yearning for peace wins him over, reframing it as purposeful violence in his eyes. He's entranced with the idea of committing violence as himself, almost.

Voices: The Blade: man it's like having a double dose of madness! Guys why can't you be cool like these voices? You never harmonize! Get good! These are clearly the superior voices. Also...am I really a scrawny pink haired nerd in that world?? bruuuuuuuh...

Doomsday: Philza: is it justice? I don't really know the context, but- (gets smacked by Tubbo) -ah, murder is illegal, even if it's rather effective at solving most prob-(SMACK) Ow! Muffining hell mate...I thought you were the one preaching that violence isn't the answer.

[pathetic-girlwoman]

Okay okay, so your favorite songs from spoitfy wrapped, AND one you didn't expect to be there.

LET'S GOOOO.

Once again, I will take this as an excuse to yap.

I'm going to exclude my top five songs and anything from Charli XCX/brat for obvious reasons. 😔

Big One by Flyana Boss, 9/100. I will never fail to bark with this one. It's so good lmfao.

I Like What I Like by RealXman, 14/100, because I LIKE EM REAL SMOOTH. I LIKE EM SCRUFFY. I LIKE EM THIN, I LIKE EM FIT. I LIKE EM CHUNKY. I EVEN LIKE EM OLD, BUT I DON'T LIKE EM RUSTY!!!

Pinata by Only Fire, 20/100. Only Fire, my love, my liege. His music is my lifeblood. He has done more for me than any SSRI or any amount of therapy will ever do. I will live and die for this man. Only Fire has been in my top five artists for the past five years. I'm being generous and only linking one Only Fire song, but I basically love every song he's released. Anyway, I'm the swamp and you're the Shrek. <3

BRING WET CUNT by Zheani, 21/100. I LOVE THIS BITCH!!! BRING WET CUNT!!!

Lipgloss by Charli XCX feat CupcakKe, 36/100. Okay, so I said I wasn't going to include any Charli songs but this isn't about her. It's about CupcakKe and me being untruthful and a liar. CupcakKe released Dauntless Manifesto this year (2024) and while I was waiting for the full album, I remembered this gem: "never trust a man who wear briefs 'cause he gonna wanna fuck and keep it brief.' AND that's not even mentioning 'Used to call you Daddy but now I call you my majesty' !!!

Cvnt by Bebi Monsuta, 47/100. Four plus four, that equals eight. It's CUNT!!!

mwah :3 by rusowsky and Dinamarca, 60/100. Okay, I just love Dinamarca and his work (especially his SHIT WITH LA FAVI!!). This was the default 'page loading' music for my brain this year.

Silly Boy by Lynks, 68/100. "He's a dick, he's a piece of shit, he's a fucking piss-slit! He's the end bit of the banana when you peel it." Poor little straight boy. :(

Red River by SALEM, 75/100. I have a lot of feelings about Salem. I was a teenager when they were most active, and I associate a lot of Salem with darker times in my life. But this one? This one makes me so grateful to be alive. It's been in my top 100 for the past four years. Red River feels like looking up at the night sky after being inside for too long. "These vultures circle 'round the dead and want a crown for it. Sing the same songs, but it's different words no. Salt your own grounds, now nothing will grow. Wash over me. Angels with burning wings, watch over we."

Go Hard (La.La.La) by Kreayshawn, 80/100. HEY BITCH, DO YOU REALLY REALLY REALLY WANNA GO HARD? GO IN THE CRIB, STEAL YOUR STEPFATHER'S CREDIT CARD, AND TAKE YOUR CAR AND DO CIRCLES IN THE PARKING LOT. SCREAM AT THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS LIKE 'LALALA' I found this on instagram a few years ago and it's been a weekday morning staple since lol.

GTFO by Doechii, Fetish, 87/100. GET THE FUCK OUT MY WAY, BITCH!!!

My completely unexpected song is POWER UP by Strawhatz? I don't really have any memory of listening to this so it was probably on a playlist I kept looping. It's not bad... I guess? But like, not really my thing. It's literally song 100 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, I just spent like two hours on this because I got way too caught up lmfao.

IF YOU'RE STILL READING THIS, HAVE A GOOD MORNING/DAY/NIGHT!!!

[askaniritual]

ok here's my nobody asked spot of fy top 10 2024 list plus directors commentary

Be Nice to Me - The Front Bottoms

yeah yeah most of my top songs r from my iconic playlist tfb songs about shatterstar organized by how unwell i think you have to be to agree thats because my third eye is open and i am receiving messages directly from the heavens or something. i got to see this song performed live this year and it really hit let me tell you

Red Wine Supernova - Chappell Roan

im well aware this is a deeply basic pick but i really do think this song is the song of the summer fr. its just a perfect pop song idk what to tell you

Lipstick Covered Magnet - The Front Bottoms

im gonna get on my knees/could you kick me in the face please/it'll make whatever i say sound like poetry

a shatterstar song. obviously. but also a vash song.

Ginger - The Front Bottoms

i moved on my own this year and literally the only way i got through it was by thinking abt ginger, sleeping on the floor of a hardwood floor apartment

Tattooed Tears - The Front Bottoms

the part of this that makes it a shatterstar song is the part that goes

i'm gonna have to learn that this love will never be convenient/it's not like a movie when we kiss/there'll never be no music when we kiss

Your favorite sidekick - underscores, 8485

great fuckin song man. soooooo fun for like jumping around your apartment alone in your underwear type of thing.

Godlight - Noah Kahan

i'd never heard this song before but he played it when i saw him live earlier this year, and he said it was one of his favorite songs but that he was embarrassed that it never really took off. thats crazy to me because this song rules. to know me is to hate me is to hate what i've become. crazy fuckin line!!!! anyway sorry for liking noah kahan it is my vice

HOT TO GO! - Chappell Roan

im ngl i used to really like this song but at this point i am kind of sick of it. it's fun but red wine supernova is the far superior song imo

leaf pile - The Front Bottoms

hot take but in sickness & in flames might be my favorite full length tfb album. rose is my favorite EP tho.

Hollywood Baby - 100 gecs

probably their best song that's not bloodstains? this or sympathy 4 the grinch.

Bonus round #11

Locals (Girls like us) - underscores, gabby start

this is such a good fuckin song dude this should honestly be higher i love everything abt this song i think the production is fun the lyrics are fun it all just really works.

[an-ivy-covered-summer]

ooh what are your favourite christmas songs? (I started putting together my christmas playlist today!)

ooooh i love this question! i’m also working on my 2024 christmas playlist!

so. okay. i’m very passionate about christmas songs, so buckle up, this might become a long post lol

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

first of all, special shoutout to christmas tree farm. i would’ve been ecstatic to get it as a surprise song, and my show was well into april lol so that should tell you a lot! now that that’s out of the way, some of my other favs haha

i actually dig christmas albums a lot, so i’m gonna start with those!

- sabrina carpenter’s best project fruitcake. buy me presents is my fav, probably, if i had to pick one!

- a very kacey christmas by kacey musgraves. all-time fav, and my fav song is present without a bow!

- you make it feel like christmas by gwen stefani. the whole thing <3333

- a legendary christmas by john legend. 10/10. bring me love is 100/10.

- and as basic as i am, christmas by michael bublé lol it’s a classic for a reason! cold december night stan forever

now, a lot of standalone songs i reallyyy like in no specific order:

- merry christmas by ed sheeran and elton john

- glittery by kacey and troye sivan

- make it to christmas by alessia cara

- blue christmas. every single version, but bublé’s is on top

- last christmas by wham!

- all i want for christmas is a cowboy by megan moroney. actually the ep. it’s 3 songs! i got the feeling you’ll like her!

- santa baby, but specifically the version by ariana grande and elizabeth gillies. also all of ariana’s christmas songs tbh

- together this christmas by maisie peters

- christmas without you by ava max

- one i’ve been missing by little mix

- christmas magic by perrie

- underneath the tree by kelly clarkson

- run rudolph run by chuck berry

- jingle bell rock. any version

- merry christmas, please don’t call by bleachers

- you’re a mean one, mr. grinch. i love jordan smith’s version

- winter song, specifically the version by reeve carney and eva noblezada from the hadestown holiday album. also great album, btw!

and idk lol i love all the classics tbh. i love all i want for christmas is you, and the christmas song, and santa claus is coming to town and i better not keep going bc this is already long enough lol. unless you wanna keep talking christmas music, then obv hit me up! :D

[rosalind-hawkins]

Yay, my first ever ask to someone!

Because I know you love him as much as I do, I'm sure you'll probably won't even have to think very long about the answers: Of course, I'm choosing Duke for the character ask game :D I'd be very much interested in 4, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22, 24 – but of course, choose wichever ones you like or make it everything <3 And for the freebie question a little headcanon: What would be a typical phrase you imagine him saying all the time?

OMG Honored to be your first! <3 <3 <3 And you're right, I always love talking about Duke. Sincerely shocked how little attention he gets overall. And as predicted, I answered way more questions than you asked lol. Enjoy!

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

The cheerleaders. I just, oh boy, wow. Please tell me those girls put those uniforms on themselves and he didn't ask them to. That would be so cringe. >.<

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

So, his English VA, Marc Thompson, does the audiobooks for the Star Wars "Fate of the Jedi" book series that my husband and I are listening to, so I find myself frequently picturing Duke in Star Wars outfits during my Duke Devlin Star Wars Storytime. XD

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Cherry Pie by Warrant, cause I imagine him jamming out to it in his classic car. See also Question 12.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Fandom doesn't do enough with him for me to have an answer to this question, but I have seen people giving him new outfits, which I adore. Yes, dress this boy up, he loves it!

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Yes, I appreciate the YGOTAS theme song jokes as much as the next dude, but if you try to find Duke scenes on Youtube, that's all you can find. :(

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Absolutely. I headcanon that he's really tidy with his personal space, and we could take turns making dinner (thank you Season Four for telling us that he's a good cook).

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

Quite possibly, yeah. I have some creative indie side projects of my own, and I feel like he'd have good feedback if I needed another set of eyes on some new character designs or plot-points. I will also be hitting him up for haircare tips all the time lol.

11. Would you date this character?

If I weren't married and I had a chance, absolutely yes. Don't know if it would work out long-term, but it would be fun.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I headcanon that he's a big Adam Lambert fan and sings his music in the shower (and everywhere else he sings). Try listening to the Adam Lambert cover of Holding Out For A Hero and try telling me it doesn't have Duke-like levels of drama and flare, I dare you. Other AL songs I think he'd specifically jam to are Fever, Strut, The Light, and Pop That Lock. I don't always have headcanons for a character's taste in music, but I just get really strong vibes on what he's into. I also think he'd listen to a lot of classic rock.

Another few songs that will go on my Duke playlist when I get around to making it: You Put A Spell On Me and Dangerous Hands both by Austin Giorgio, Fangs by Neoni, 100 degrees by Kenzie, basically everything by Steven Rodriguez (there's not a lot, but it's all so sexy), and Play With Fire by Sam Tinnesz ft. Yacht Money.

Okay, I admit defeat, Duke Devlin Playlist Post coming soon. (Songs he listens to, not songs about him.)

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

I'm not going to pick just one, I can't, but I'll give you my top ships: Mastershipping (Kaiba), Minorshipping (Ryou), Snareshipping (Joey). Poly ships: Mumbleshipping (Kaiba + Ryou), Rollshipping (Joey + Ryou), and Petshipping (Kaiba + Joey). Okay, that's just... all my Duke ships. XD But they're all so good!

I'm intrigued by the idea of Ishizu x Duke, which doesn't have a name. I'm not sure they really know what to make of each other, but I think that keeps them intrigued with each other. I think a first date with them, or even just a flirting scene, could be real fun. She's serious and scholarly, he's fun and free-spirited. They could balance each other.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Him and Tristan, Chaseshipping I think. I think they could be friends just fine, I just don't see the chemistry there.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

I'm leaving out ship characters for the sake of this question.

I actually think he and Mai could be really good pals, they'd go shopping and talk about bfs/gfs and have a good time. They also both own convertibles, so you know they have some of the same tastes.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

One thing that's always fun for me is Duke's flirting. Can't say I'm a master of writing flirtation, but I do my best to make Duke look like a master of it, because he is. I do generally just love writing him so much, though. He's one of the least angsty characters that I write, so he always puts me in a happier headspace.

In my fic Rock Bottom, he's a solid friend to Seto without being too nosy, which Seto appreciates so much. They understand each other on an intellectual level, but even after Seto's like "no thanks" to a relationship, Duke makes it clear that he's always free to change his mind in a no-pressure way. He's supportive but not nosy. I've got a chapter coming up (spoilers) in RB Season Three where Seto just needs somewhere to chill and lay low, hide from reality, and Duke's like, "I won't say a word to anyone that you're here, it's fine, no explanation needed, just take a deep breath pal." Doesn't ask what's going on, just takes him in for the night. (Also negotiates him into cuddles, but that's separate lol.)

He's just there for people, doesn't need answers (unless things are bad enough that some kind of involvement is just necessary).

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

I like when people fill out the details of him balancing his responsibilities between his game shop and managing DDM, or flesh out his relationship with Pegasus even if it's not central to the story. There's just so much more to this boy that we don't get to see, and that stuff just feels like such a necessary backdrop to the rest of his life.

23. Favorite picture(s) of this character?

DSOD did this boy right. He's just so pretty. :')

But also, look at this boy pretending to read while he eavesdrops. And he set up that hammock so dang high off the ground? Looking down on everybody? No, boy has the high ground, tactical advantage. I love him.

And wait, what's that? The most Mastershipping moment in the entire anime, you say? Show me!

Oh. Oh dear. ;P But, for so many reasons, I'll genuinely never get over this scene.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

I'm gonna try to stick to canon behaviors and traits for this and not let headcanons influence it too much.

ZEN/Hyun Ryu from Mystic Messenger has the same "I'm pretty and I know it" vibe as Duke and shares the casual-but-constant flirting behavior (also ponytail bros). This is a fun comparison for me because their hair and eye colors are also exact opposites.

From Nanbaka, I'd have to go with Uno, who can be abrasive at times with his enemies/rivals, doesn't let his friends fight alone, and shares the "ladies love me, I know I'm pretty, look at how well I take care of my luscious long hair" confident attitude. Also like Duke, there's a good few times where a friend is doing something/rash or unwise, and he tries to talk reason to them. Also obsessed with games, so they have that hobby in common. He also compulsively flirts with every woman in the vicinity (except the warden, because she's terrifying and he knows better). Real smooth operator, even with the dudes.

From UtaPri, I'd have to go with Ren Jinguji. Look, they're even hammock bros! Exceptionally confident, but also a bit mysterious. Flirty with the ladies, not that he even needs to try that hard. Actually pretty laid back and down to earth most of the time.

He also just moves the way I imagine Duke moving, with that fluid grace of a man's who's totally comfortable in his own skin. Just look at him!!!! LOOK AT THE HIP! *chefs kiss*

Another thing all these boys have in common is a strong fashion sense in addition to a strong sense of showmanship (ZEN as an actor and Ren as an idol, this is obvious, but Uno just can't help showing off lol), two great traits that Duke also has.

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

Honestly, I can imagine him using "yo" a lot, not exactly a phrase, but a slang term. If anyone tells him something like "that's not cool anymore" he just responds with "it is when I say it ;)"

If we're leaning into my headcanons of him as a good cook, maybe he sometimes uses "now we're cooking with gas!" He probably has to explain this to Tristan and/or Joey, which launches him into the discussion of gas vs electric stoves. He's a strong believer in gas stoves being superior. I wouldn't say he's a snob when it comes to cooking, but there's certain things in the kitchen that he has a strong opinion on.

Bonus Headcanon

Duke Devlin's top Halloween Costumes: some kind of imp/demon/devil (let your imagination run wild with this one, because he definitely did), one of his Monster World OCs, the Phantom of the Opera, vampire, ninja.

[thesinglesjukebox]

SABRINA CARPENTER - "ESPRESSO"

It's I! hi! Me espresso it's I!

[7.41]

Joshua Lu: Sabrina Carpenter has positioned herself as the industry's premiere deliverer of fancy nonsense: "dream-came-true'd" rhymed with "perfumed" rhymed with "Mountain Dew'ed"; a reference to a video game console that actually sounds grounded in the current decade, a possible first for the Hot 100, and of course the titular claim to be "me espresso." Even the song's most memorable line, where she blithely states her occupation as a singer, becomes camp through its sheer banality. This tactical quirkiness elevates "Espresso" from being a decent reinvention of "Say So" to welcome playlist fodder in the months to come. In a time when calling music "brainless poolside summer noise" is used to justify mediocrity, it's pleasant to hear actual brainless poolside summer noise with legitimate thought and personality behind it. [7]

Hannah Jocelyn: Sabrina Carpenter has found her niche by being a total goofball, and I have to respect it. She sings like she knows how dumb “that’s that me espresso” is as a line but also knows that it's a catchy hook. Good thing, too, because Julian Bunetta’s production is unremarkable nü-disco that makes me wonder what to call it when it’s not nü anymore. [7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: "Say So" is the Urtext of 2020s pop music: often imitated, often matched, but rarely surpassed, which is a shame because, as previously noted, that's a hot loop not a hot song. Carpenter swaps nonsense for missense; every line here is mutated in a way that (intentionally?) evokes Italo disco and Swedish factory pop, and it basically works. I wish it were a little less self aware; both here and on "nonsense," Carpenter feels the need to remark on the stupidity of her own songs in a way that suggests a lack of confidence in the broader act. Even with that slight dissonance, though, it'd be pointlessly contrarian to deny the quality of the groove and the schtick. Just because she thinks it's stupid doesn't mean I have to agree. [7]

TA Inskeep: Jeremy D. Larson is right to suggest that this is like Carly Simon's "Why" pulled inside-out, and then, I think, perhaps stretched a bit like taffy left out on a hot summer day. This isn't as good as "Why" -- few songs are -- but it's got a similar vibe and smartly turns disco into easy-to-swallow pop. Carpenter sounds like she can't be bothered, which helps. [9]

Oliver Maier: It's easy and not entirely unreasonable to dismiss "Espresso" as more of the diet disco fare we've been inundated with for the past half-decade, but it's arch and queasy-sounding in a way that's more Neon Indian than Doja Cat. The mosquito-whine synth riff in the pre-chorus sounds like it could've graduated from the Vega Intl. Night School. I don't know whether I'm totally won over by Carpenter -- the lyrics strike me less as so-dumb-they're-brilliant and more as just dumb -- but I'm taken by the way everything in this song sounds. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: Julian Bunetta returns to our shores, now sipping the espresso of Amy Allen and Sabrina Carpenter. His drums here are a bland 1984 rehash; they sound nice enough but don't really push the envelope. Thankfully, the swirling rubbery synth bass and spectral keys of the chorus are a nice touch, as are the guitar filtered down into a dusting that's revealed in bits and pieces in the mix, and the neat little keyboard riff around the pre-chorus. The voices of Carpenter, Amy Allen and Steph Jones create a lush harmony that allows Carpenter to descant at the top of her range without it feeling jarring or irritable. Very good cup, but it's a medium-size one. [7]

Alfred Soto: I liked it the moment the distorted/sampled/real guitar squealed at 0:52; I loved it when the bass and percussion track hopped into bed and didn't let go. In the last two days I've heard "Espresso" blasting from an F-150 as it screeched past me on my morning constitutional and at my favorite watering hole. The mood lifted. Key is Sabrina Carpenter, heiress of a vocal lineage that includes Andrea True, Kylie, and Annie.  [9]

Isabel Cole: Stupid, she mutters near the end, amused, ostensibly about her affair; but it’s hard not to hear it as a moment of breaking kayfabe about the whole endeavor and be inclined to agree, but cheerfully, in the spirit of: I’ll drink to that! I like that she sings it like her mind is elsewhere, to the extent that she intones “I guess so” so weirdly it sounds like she’s learned the line phonetically. And I really like the little fembot yes-es in the pre-chorus, a mini-posse of Sabrinas programmed only for fun in the sun. "Espresso" is frozen yogurt in song form: sweet and weightless and refreshing enough that if you’re not paying attention you might not even notice how empty it is, and if you do, well, on certain sweltering Sundays that’s part of the appeal.  [7]

Katherine St. Asaph: No thoughts head empty type beat. [7]

Ian Mathers: Aggressively competent, and a fine addition to the annals of delightful pop semi-gibberish in the form of "that's that me espresso." Docked a point for "I know I Mountain Dew it for ya" because come the fuck on. [6]

Taylor Alatorre: "Stupid," indeed, in the most generously and joyfully pre-meditated of ways. But not so stupid regarding the relative caffeine content of different brands of soda -- as Carpenter is no doubt aware, Mountain Dew is by a good margin the most caffeinated of the major brands, with a 12 fl oz can providing about 85% of the caffeine contained in a single shot of espresso. Celebrities: they read the Nutrition Facts when they're bored just like us! [8]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Hot, sweet, smooth, tasty but not particularly substantive, and with playful notes. Not unlike… [8]

Will Rivitz: A Nespresso pod of a song: shiny, cheaply produced, and considerably worse than the thing it's trying to imitate. Probably bad for the environment, too. [3]

Will Adams: Is this the five thousandth "Say So" retread to enter the pop arena? Yes. Was "Say So" itself not that innovative? Yes. Does "Espresso" get away with it by virtue of being dumb as hell? Yes.  [7]

Kayla Beardslee: Sweet but with a bite like macchiato / Served up just how they like it on the radio / Dear pop girls, can you please move on from "Say So" / Sabrina’s sense of humor makes this land, though. [7]

Rachel Saywitz: “Espresso” is ridiculous, braggadocios, and a bit idiotic, but it also sounds so lived-in: in the way you psych yourself up in the mirror when you’re nervous (“that’s…that’s that me! Espresso!”), or the way you vent to a friend about someone who ticked you off (“like, literally, that’s that me espresso, and I fucking told them that”), or the way you start bawling during a therapy session after uncovering some deep personal truth (“it was me *sob sob* I was the espresso all along *sob sob sob*”). It’s a communal inside joke that gives each of us our own grandiose thrill. [8]

Michael Hong: Originally mistook this for a K-pop song, but no group gets the dumb rush of "I know I Mountain Dew it for you." It's the part of a crush where you're bending over backwards to be whatever they need: a dream come true, their ex, a warm shot of espresso. [7]

Jackie Powell: “Espresso” is such a feat for Sabrina Carpenter. That can’t be understated. She starred on a Disney Channel show that was way past the prime of the network, then she was rumored to be the foil in Olivia Rodrigo’s breakout “Driver’s License," and now she’s on the precipice of having the song of the summer. Carpenter’s previous single, “Feather,” was an earworm that relied upon a steady baseline and a piano riff that intentionally flitters throughout each hook, and built her momentum by becoming a radio sleeper. It's impressive how effortless "Espresso" seems. The song’s grammar-defying lyrics could have made this an absolute mess, but "Espresso” is quite sophisticated in how it plays with appositives —a noun phrase that describes the one that came before it, as in the phrase “That’s That Me Espresso“— and conversions, when a word changes parts of speech, as in how Carpenter turns "dream come true" into “dream-come-true’d.” Carpenter uses caffeine as a symbol of her sexual power, and her confidence in her delivery of the absolutely ridiculous lyrics makes the listener believe her message. Is it just the super smooth rhythm guitar and bassline of Julian Bunetta that puts me under a spell for three minutes? Maybe! When I listen to “Espresso,” I can’t help but feel a sense of autonomy. It doesn’t matter how unrelatable the line “I'm working late 'cause I'm a singer” is. The headspace around moments when you have so much confidence absolutely is.  [8]

Mark Sinker: Natasha Henstridge diving thru the glass in SPECIES (1995): when the song break containment ????? [10]

Dave Moore: The pleasure I found in this too-arch-by-half bon bon early on was fragile, and commercial success has soured the fun -- it wants so badly to be an admirable flop. But given this is the Year of the Flop, maybe the true flop is success? [6]

Alex Clifton: "Espresso" has been stuck in my head for a solid three weeks, even to the point of keeping me up at night (just like a good caffeine buzz). You'd think that would be too much, but honestly I cannot get enough of it. I get buzzed on this like it's a drug. It's a perfect summer pop song -- frothy, cheeky, a little weird, and sunny, with both a beautiful earworm of a melody and lyrics that are just strange enough to question but sound good anyway. (Who would've thought to rhyme "Nintendo" with "espresso"? Now I'll always hear it.) Welcome to the big time, Sabrina Carpenter. So pleased to have see you arrive. [10]

Andrew Karpan: Somehow it took me the entire month of April to listen to “Espresso,” a song that was everywhere and nowhere, a collectively held memory of other songs and how big they used to feel. One misses songs that sound like this. Sabrina Carpenter may sound like Ariana Grande or may sound like Dua Lipa, but what she sounds like is the present day, the wind as the subway doors close, pigeon carrier of a message of hope, on the lips of everyone, at least somewhere. Me espresso, you espresso, we expresso.  [8]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[lookninjas]

Anyway, I made the decision earlier this year to take my bedtime playlist out of my taste profile, because it means the first 36 songs on my Spotify wrapped are basically always the same no matter what. And it worked! That playlist isn't in my top 100 at all -- the only songs from it that are are the songs off "7 Different Words for Love," which at one point I was just listening to on loop every time I went to bed. And it feels...

weird. IDK, I might have to put it back. Life just isn't the same without Roger O'Donnell fucking dominating my top 100 songs.

[liesonthefloordramatically]

A wild 2022 recap post appears!

Stuff I made this year:

Fiction: The only fic I wrote this year was the surprisingly underrated put a blue ribbon on my brain.  Not sure why more folks weren’t into it other than all the obvious reasons www.

Playlists: Apparently the only two playlists I remembered to share this year were Camp Fireside Lagoon (a soundtrack for our Sleepaway game) and ExU: Calamity (what is says on the tin).  I wish I could say that I have a bunch of secret playlists that I didn’t share but I mostly don’t.  Creativity really flagged this year, partially because of exhaustion.

RPGs: Wrote two Sleepaway supplements: The Emissary and The Phoenix.  Got to see The Emissary played live, which was cool!

Knitting: Finished baby’s first sweater and knit two shawls and three hats???  Maybe someday I will remember to upload pictures of stuff I knit.

Other stuff: Look, I was complaining about how little I wrote this year and then I remembered that I also finished my dissertation which was like 115k, so.  Yeah.  That was a thing.  Also defended my dissertation, so I’m now Dr. Queenie!  Went to Europe for the first time???  Moved across the country!  Started a new job, so now I’m Prof. Queenie!  Got diagnosed with new, exciting medical conditions!  Somehow made it through year three of the pandemic!  Have been mildly depressed since July and exhausted basically non-stop since September which might explain why my creative output has been miserable. 

Media I enjoyed this year:

Books: I read...A LOT this year (like 40 books, which is not a lot for me pre-grad school but is a lot post-quals).  Have really been taking advantage of the library’s ebook lending program.  Some favorites: The Murderbot Diaries (genuinely shocked it took me so long to read this because it’s painfully up my alley), The Stormlight Archive (absolutely understand how it took me so long to read this; you could kill a man with the length of these books), Dead Collections (meditations on memory and archives and gender, heck yeah), Several People Are Typing (the howling!!! the howling!!!), Spear (this book was written for Queenie age roughly eight), The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (highly recommend reading this one without knowing anything about it; it’s a delight, especially if you know anything about Hollywood history).

TTRPG: Winner for new TTRPG I played this year was The Price of Coal!  Also finished a campaign of Sleepaway and am currently running an extremely fun campaign of Blades in the Dark, but those are both in the Ol’ Faithful pile of TTRPGs. 

Video games: Top game was Disco Elysium!  Honorable mentions to Scarlet Nexus (deeply underrated--the monster design and soundtrack are both out of control and the characters are SO fun) and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.  Baffling honorable mention to Stranger of Paradise, which I honestly expected to hate and then wound up weirdly emotional about?

Manga/comics: Finally finished reading The Wicked + The Divine which was extremely good and made me feel emotions.  My inability to read things in hardcopy for fun is really cramping my style, though.

Fanfic: I actually didn’t read a whole lot this year--partially because I read a lot more published novels, which means that I have had a bunch of fics languishing on my Kindle for uhhhhh months.  Some fics I liked this year include (in no particular order) a man by any other face (CR C2--this might be my favorite fic I read this year), path of the traveled sun (CR C2), displacement (CR C2), Familiar (CR C2), you’ve haunted me all my life (Tales of Berseria), at the violet hour (CR C2), From the Mixed-Up Files of The J. Lavorre Catalogue Raisonné (CR C2), a sort of beacon where there used to be a dull roar (CR C2), separating salt from water (Our Flag Means Death), dreamers to come (ExU: Calamity), Man of Nothing (JJBA: JJL), and after the scripture (your mother beside me) (CR C2).  Special category for this year is “AU concepts that verge on crack but 100% work”: More Things in Heaven and Earth (CR C2) and the fire kept closest (burns most of all) (CR C2). Extra special nod to and from our own/live to ourselves (MDZS), a fanfic with a plot and setting so simultaneously unique, unhinged, and well-executed that it seized me by the throat for like a month.

Films: Everything Everywhere All At Once!  Which I watched...3 1/2 times this year.  Honorable mentions to Cyrano and Encanto.  Wow, I watched a film this year???  Shocking.

TV: Our Flag Means Death and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean.  Although we’re not done with the latter yet because we’ve been watching an episode a week (we are like...16 episodes from the end, I think? It’s been slow going).  I really need to figure out how to get myself to watch things on my own because there are things I want to watch.

Podcasts:  Continuing to listen to a lot, especially since I have an hour commute each way, plus I live alone so...need to hear human voices sometimes.  Top picks: Trice Forgotten, Second Star to the Left, The Silt Verses, and Exandria Unlimited: Calamity.  “Isn’t that just Critical Role?” Arguably, yes, but specifically naming that mini-campaign because it destroyed me (straight up made me cry on a plane in Sweden).  Honorable mentions to Enthusigasm, Keep It Steady, Within the Wires, Keeping It 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion, and The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality.  I think Within the Wires has made it onto my podcasts list almost every year that I’ve done this which is really a testament to how consistently good it has been across 7 (!!!!) years.  If this seems like a lot of podcasts, please know that this is only a fraction of what I listened to this year--to give you a sense, I tore through the entirety of Meiji at 150 (which is 150 episodes) in like...the first three weeks of term...while listening to all my other podcasts...

Music: Another weird year--Spotify refuses to give me Wrapped because I won’t download their wretched app, but apparently “Pepper” by Death Cab for Cutie was my top track for this year?  What happened here?  All I can really think is that I probably put it on loop for the 2-3 weeks of midterm grading when I was in a fugue state.  My other top tracks--literally my top 11--are similarly songs I listened to on loop while in a fugue state.  What does that say about my taste in music this year?  Unclear!  What does that say about my mental health?  Nothing good!  Anyway, you should listen to “We Have It All” which was #6 on my top tracks but does genuinely slap.  Also did a bunch of grading while listening to Foley Artist which was A Choice (it’s a great album, but there are sections that are stressful to grade to).

Anyway, あけおめ！！！ 良いお年をお迎えください (this is a threat)！！！