#no need to explain the rotting thing also we all know every so often i start rotting

[the-acid-pear]

I really expressed this before but it's kinda sad I didn't find DSaF back when my sibling issues were at their peak bc I'd have been like straight up Branded if I met this guy who is a middle child and is rotting and has a strained relationship with his older brother and used to have to take care of his little sister who on top of everything is a redhead and 6 years old and is extremely guilty but also can have an awful relationship with her like my ass wouldn't have survived brother. My ass would have never came back.

[brittle-doughie]

Go Smell the Flowers (Flower City)

“Well, just let me know if the medicine I gave you isn’t giving you the desired effects. R-Remember, medicine may be sour, but it can also be sweet!”

Bitter Candy Cookie tried to lift up your spirits with her optimistic tone, but it was clear that she wasn’t confident in saying them. She sheepishly giggled before leaving the room and closing the door. Dumpling Cookie was waiting on her, leaning on the wall next to the door as she adjusts her glasses.

Heya @/iatemitomt0day

“How is Y/N?”

Bitter Candy Cookie sighed as she took her medical helmet off, brushing her sour belt hair.

“I’ve tried plenty of medicine, but nothing seems to be working to cure the sweating or the tiredness. They look like they’re sleeping well and their chambers are at normal temperature, it’s a real headache…”

“I see…you can run back to the infirmary. I’ll take it from here, ‘kay?.”

“Okay, but you better let me know if their condition gets worse or anything. It’s my job to heal!”

“Please make your way out…”

Bitter Candy walked down the hallway and out of sight, Dumpling standing up from the wall.

…

…

“I know you were listening, general. You can come out now…”

Salsa Cookie popped around the corner from a nearby hallway.

“Skip the formalities, Dumpling. I’ve heard it all, it’s making me worried for our majesty’s condition.”

“It goes without saying. Ever since they came back from Beast-Yeast by blueberry birds, their condition has been…flaring up. I don’t want to say it’s getting worse, rather..more frequent..”

“This can’t be a coincidence. This is happening every time they come back from their trips to the Ancient Heroes lately! Don’t you think they might have something to do with this?”

“We can’t assume that, but we can’t rule out that this is just any ordinary fever either-“

“This “sickness” gets worse every time they go with them and now I’m hearing them mumble to themself and the frequent visits to Chamomile Cookie?” Something isn’t right here…”

“I have my own thoughts, but I’ll need more time to gather them before making conclusions.”

“So what do we do? Let them rot in their chambers until the next Ancient Hero comes busting down our castle doors?!”

“No, what they need…is a break. To get away from all this. We can manage through kingdom while they’re away…”

“Y/N leaving the kingdom was the whole reason they’re like this!”

“No, not just anywhere, but a place I’ve visited a while ago. The Flower City…”

———————————————————————

Bold text = Dumpling Cookie

Dumpling Cookie opened the door to your chambers, she could see the medicine and therapist papers scattered about on your table. One bottle was meant to help have good night dreams, so it subtly shocked her to see that the bottle was empty.

“Y/N?”

You turned your body in bed to face her, Dumpling’s eyes widen to see your tired state. It wasn’t a sleep related tiredness, but rather..it felt like your soul was tired…Dumpling’s tone took on a more gentle and soft tone.

“Me and Salsa Cookie were talking about your condition…”

“I know, it’s becoming a bad habit lately, I’ve tried many things like medicine or sleeping during the day. I just feel..stuck.”

“Well, I might have something to help with that. I know a place that I’ve visited a whole back, the Flower City of the Fluffy Rice Cake Continent…”

“Oh right…you told me about that place before…”

“Yes, and I do believe that it might help with what ails you…”

“I can’t. I’ve been leaving the kingdom too often lately, I need to stay and tend to my kingly/queenly duties…”

“Me, Crowned, and Salsa will handle the kingdom in your stead again. Please, at least give it a shot…we will explain things to the others if they ask…”

Dumpling went to gently hold your hand in the bed, as she gave you a pleading look. You look around your room, seeing the state it was in.

Then you look at yourself…so enclosed, so withdrawn into your sheets…

…

…

No…

You were not going to let them win….

With a determined look, you sit up from your bed and take off the sheets.

“Maybe you’re right. A change of scenery from Crispía might be what I need to feeling better again…”

———————————————————————

And just like that, you were ready to hop on the airship to the Flower City. Picking up your bag of things, you made your way to port, looking down at the ground as you reflect…

“There’s nowhere you can hide, cookie….”

Of course….you can slightly see her snake slitted eyes out of the corner of yours…

“Put as much distance between yourself and us, it doesn’t change anything. Completely futile…”

“YOOHOOO! Trying to get away from me, you silly~? I happen to be quite the patient one, y’know! Especially with you~!”

And then there was two…it’s only a matter of time before…

“Ha! Squirm all you like, Y/N Cookie, it’s only a matter of time before you’re broken~ I will revel the day I get you on your knees~!”

You felt their hands crawling on your back���.her voice was sounding right behind you.

“You will always be..ours…”

“…..I know..…”

“Wait, really? It was that easy-“

“But we’ll see about that.”

You mustered up an air of your previous confidence. Something you haven’t felt in a while…

You didn’t feel the hands anymore.

You didn’t see the eyes anymore either. Their presence just wasn’t felt anymore as you approach the airship.

“Good afternoon, passenger! Are you joining us on this flight? It’s heading for the Flower City on the Fluffy Rice Cake Continent!”

“Yes, I have my ticket here!”

“Hmm..okay! Everything looks accordingly! Please take your seat, we’ll be taking off very soon!”

“Thank a bunch.”

You hopped aboard and sat down, instinct telling you to look out the window to watch the land around you. Sunny day, generous foliage, petals falling to the ground by the wind.

Peaceful…just like how you wished you could go back to being….

“Excuse me!”

You were snapped out of your thoughts to turn to your left, towards the aisle between both sides of the ship.

“Are you heading into the Flower City too?”

“Yup, going there for a brief getaway. Stress from life and all.”

“Stress? Don’t worry, maybe my incense can help?”

“Incense?”

The cookie brought her incense lamp out and gently lights it up, allowing the sweet aroma to flow.

“Ah, it’s a pretty lovely smell, I can tell you that! It’s…actually chipping away at my stress a bit.”

“Ehehe, scents can hold great power! Able to relax even the most stressed out of cookies!”

“Yeah, thank you. I needed that.”

“Since this is your first time to Flower City, I’d be happy to show you around!”

“Oh, there’s no need to do that. I brought a map of the continent-“

“It’s outdated, I know the city and I’m okay going with you!”

The ship intercom came on, halting the cookie’s talk with you.

“Attention, passengers. This is your captain speaking, the airship to the Flower City will be departing shortly! Please take your seats!”

“Oh! I almost forgot to take my seat. Please, if you don’t mind!”

The cookie went to sit down next to you in your seat!

Wasn’t she planning on going to another seat?!

[writing-for-life]

Nuance in (The Sandman) Fandom

Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!

I thought a lot over the past few days, partly prompted by discourse on here, partly due to a couple of “interesting” asks and messages I received (the type you don’t answer). I *think* they might have been prompted by engaging in discourse on topics like anti-blackness/racism, misogyny/sexism, TERF characters etc in The Sandman.

Fandoms are always getting super sensitive if someone shines a critical lens on their favourite works, authors and characters. So to make this clear (in case it isn’t already obvious from my brain-rot blog):

I love The Sandman. I love Neil Gaiman. I have an extremely soft spot for Dream (and Desire btw, who deserves a lot more character analysis than just being summed up as “villainous, sexy bitch”. One day, perhaps ;)).

I can read The Sandman and just get lost in the story, even after decades and many rereads. 

But I can also view it through a critical lens—these things aren’t mutually exclusive.

Not critical enough or too critical?

As fans, we can get trapped in certain thinking patterns, like:

“My blorbo can do no wrong”-syndrome 

“Characters with flaws are inherently problematic and imply authorial endorsement of those actions” 

“Characterisation and problematic subtext are one and the same” (aka overanalysing and looking for problems where there are none is the death of every story, but failing to see problematic patterns where they are clearly visible is a problem, too).

Don't say anything bad about my favourite character

I think this doesn’t need much further exploration. It’s not my personal way of looking at stories through permanently rose-tinted glasses (I always feel it stalls my experience, but my experience is not everyone else's). Some people prefer that type of escapism, and I’m good with that (although the downside is of course that by not willing to engage with issues, we can unwillingly perpetuate them). Live and let live, ship and let sail. But please, for the love of god: Don’t insult people via their inboxes or messages just because their opinions and preferences don’t align with yours. I’m not going to sugarcoat it or phrase it “nicely”: It’s infantile (and a form of bullying btw), end of.

How can you even like a character who's so horrible? And that author must be equally horrible, too

We have to separate flawed characters, even those who are written to be really problematic, from real-life endorsement of these actions. 

Author, narrator and character are three fundamentally different things, and don’t overlap as much as some people seem to think. 

We can write vile, despicable characters to make a point (for me, Thessaly was always a prime example for this, and I explained why here). We probably hate them as we write them. I don’t know what else to say, but this facet of writing seems to get more and more lost on people, and it’s a worry. Crying for sanitised characterisation is one step away from censorship. We explore what is problematic about people and humanity through story. That’s how we process and learn. It’s nothing new, but it becomes impossible if we can’t write flawed and even disgusting characters. 

Face value…

Since I’m mostly in The Sandman fandom, I often read that its ending is hopeless, and that’s supposedly the entire message. 

It is agonisingly sad, yes. But is it truly hopeless? I personally see it as quite the opposite, but of course that’s my opinion, coloured by my life experiences.

I also get that show-only fans often haven’t read the comics, or at least not the whole arc. And as such, their outlook from what they’ve seen so far (and choose to focus on) has to be different by default. I also understand that many people are quite new to the comics, even if they have read them in their entirety. I’ve sat with them for 30 years, and I still find new things on every reread (and I read it more times than anyone should 🙈), and I still don’t feel like I’ve understood it all. Perhaps because I still haven’t fully understood myself (and it’s unlikely I ever will). If there’s one thing The Sandman isn’t, it’s one-dimensional and easy to grasp in its whole depth.

I just wrote a ginormous meta on it, if you’re interested, it’s here:

Subtext, (not so) glorious subtext

This is where it gets complicated:

We shouldn’t mix up characterisation and story subtext. Overanalysing every line to death will always make us find something that’s “problematic”, when it really isn’t in the wider context of the story.

Zooming in is NOT always a good thing. Sometimes, we actually need to zoom out. 

But subtext *can be* (accidentally) problematic. Even in stories we love. And none of this negates what I previously wrote.

Stories have real-life implications of sorts, and we need to be able to talk about it. That’s where those slightly flabbergasting, hostile inbox messages come in, and I want to expand on that "topic of contention" a bit:

Neil himself confirmed that the Endless basically warp reality, and that this is why, after Dream’s failed relationship with Nada, many black women in his vicinity suffer terrible fates (Ruby and Carla in particular). And that this spell is only broken when he dies, and that it is the reason why Gwen doesn’t suffer the same fate. And said Gwen then gets used as a plot device to basically absolve Hob (who canonically really is a problematic character, whether show-only fans like it or not) from his slaver past. Once again, very clearly: No one is making this up. Neil confirmed it (for the comics, and that was over 20 years ago. It remains to be seen if his stance has changed as we move into that arc in the TV show).

I don't think it is correct to imply that Dream as a character is racist (I've read that, too) because he logically can’t be. He holds *all* the collective unconscious. He is also, strictly speaking, not white. He is everything and nothing, and he shows up in many different ethnicities throughout the whole arc, depending on who looks at him. But Neil played with a subtext here (reality warping due to a bad relationship which then affects everyone with similar physical traits) that will read very differently to a black person than it reads to a white person, and we have to understand why that is an *extremely* slippery slope.

Plus, we are supposed to see Hob, who *was* a racist at some point (you can’t not be if you’re a slave-trader—it’s impossible by default) as redeemed. And yes, he *does* regret deeply, good for him (and if I were saying this aloud, you would hear the sarcasm in my voice, because it is indeed all about him. We are to sympathise/empathise with him and his character growth while there isn’t much mention of the people he maltreated). But also: it was a black woman who basically forgave him (with dialogue that personally makes me cringe). And that black woman who offers forgiveness is not truly a black woman—she is a character written by a white man. And as much as author and character are not the same (see above), there is an inherent sensitivity in that power imbalance that we can't brush under the carpet.

I don’t think Neil is racist. Probably quite the opposite, and I can even see that his intentions were good from a storytelling point of view. BUT intention and impact are two fundamentally different things, and telling the story this way (comic version) betrays blindspots only white people have. Just like women have blindspots when they tell stories about men, and men have blindspots when they tell stories about women (and there are a few of those in The Sandman, too). And and and…

As storytellers, we can’t always speak from lived experience. It’s impossible. And that also means we occasionally make mistakes that look bad in hindsight, even if our intentions were good.

I guess the proof is in the pudding: What do we do when people who *have* that lived experience tell us it looks bad? If they inform us why it is hurtful, plays into old stereotypes etc?

Are we willing to listen and yield (both are the foundations of allyship btw), or are we insisting that our viewpoint as someone *without* lived experience is right? That lived experience extends to all lived experiences (sex/gender, sexual orientation, age...), and from all we’ve heard from Neil so far, it seems important to him to rewrite what he sees differently today. Whether they’ll always get it right for the show—we’ll see. At the moment, it looks a lot better than in the comics, and certain issues are already being handled with a lot more sensitivity, but a few problems remain.

Pushing back on criticism that comes from people with lived experience is problematic—I’d encourage us to think about what it looks like if a white majority in the fandom is basically saying that the opinions of POC are essentially “overreactions” (and yes, that happened).

It’s complicated. The Sandman was written in a different time, and I think we have to distinguish between things that weren’t really problematic at the time but have aged poorly (again, Thessaly springs to mind, and I have lived experience as a queer person during that time, so I can see it in context while at the same time acknowledging that I would make changes to bring it to the present day), and things that were always a problem due to blindspots. They were a problem in 1990, and if they don’t get changed, they are still a problem today.

This fandom is generally so much more open and nicer than others I know. But that doesn’t mean it’s infallible, because it’s full of humans. 

Nuance is sorely needed, in both story interpretation and interaction between said humans.

[fismoll7secinv]

15 questions, 15 people:

I was tagged by dear @a-very-fond-farewell 💚I hope you get your lobster sanctuary! 💚

-

1. are you named after anyone?

nope

2. when was the last time you cried?

I don't know, I don't really cry

3. do you have kids?

never

4. do you use sarcasm a lot?

yeah, quite casually in everyday life, but I try to tone it down

5. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

I'm bad with faces, I might not recognise someone who's new to me after interacting with them every day for 2 weeks (based on a true story) xdd so what I notice at first is the overall vibe they present, which is a combination of their posture and body language, clothes and accessories, facial expressions etc. This doesn't tell absolutely accurately who they are, but it shows how they want to be perceived mixed with some unconscious elements they might not notice themselves, which is interesting to me

6. what’s your eye color?

eh idk, people say they're blue when I'm in a blue pool, green when I'm among greenery, grey when it's a bit dark. I guess they're a subtle mixture that looks like nothing until there's something external that brings out one of the colors. it's a bit annoying tbh, so I usually just say grey

7. scary movies or happy endings?

i love horror, very high on my list of fav genres, but I also love happy endings, just not necessarily in horrors. In media other than horror I need HE or I feel down. So i'd say: both

8. any special talents?

I've had a music talent since I was little, couldn't understand how other kids didn't know how to play the flute or keep the rhythm. I've also heard various ppl say that I somehow know how to arrange things to be aesthetically pleasing, but I could never explain how to do it, it just looks better a certain way. A bit for drawing, considering how fast I improved compared to some other people, but I haven't pursued it farther than sketching. Sport comes pretty smoothly to me and my body, I've always been "the athletic girl"

I may sound like i'm bragging but i try to be objective for my own self. After all "talent" means nothing and is just bitterly wasted if you're not practising, so for me it can be more of a shameful thing that I let rot rather than something to be proud of. It's also so useless when teaching others, because you don't know how to explain shit when you do it intuitively, which tripped me a lot of times while trying to teach someone. Very annoying and sometimes isolating in a sense that you just vibe with yourself instead of sharing the experience with others

9. where are you born?

in a hospital

10. what are your hobbies?

reading, writing, taking care of plants, pen & paper rpgs, collecting weird trinkets and paintings, drawing, horror movies, detective stories, listening to podcasts

11. do you have any pets?

we have a dog but I moved out of my family home recently and the doggo stayed there, I still visit often and walk him, but it doesn't feel like he's really mine anymore :(

12. what sports do you/have you played?

I did gymnastics and horse-riding for a few years as a kid, used to jog in middle/high school, I also go on a trip to the mountains at least once a year to hike bc I'm obsessed with it. Recently I like to do yoga and fitness to bring my body to its limit and stretch all the pains that keep accumulating. I almost didn't move from my desk for over a year some time ago because i was too busy with uni, work and a few other big things, and it ended up in a neck injury that escalated to a few months of rehab. Now I move a lot so those nightmarish pain and several contusions don't repeat

13. how tall are you?

taller than most women and many guys

14. favourite subject in school?

all languages, math, biology

15. dream job?

neuroscientist, astronaut or pilot of small planes

-

I have no idea who did this already, feel free to ignore as always. Tagging @prommethium @miyakuli @still-gathering-roses @carmine-sunlight @wikipedie

[blackberriebrambles]

The thing that's fun about the Vees is that they're all just horrible people. Like, genuine scum-of-the-earth evil. They feed off of each other's terribleness (and idiocy) and it's just such a recipe for disaster.

Like, everyone knows that Valentino deserves fire and brimstone and everything in-between. He's a predator, he's abusive, he's violent - that is all very evident onscreen.

But Vox and Velvette are bad too! They're all toxic as fuck! It's why they all get along so well!

Vox, especially - so often he's made out to be this guy who got caught up in the wrong crowd (and to each their own! You don't have to agree with my interpretation - that's part of the fun of it!). But, as far as I see it - the man is obsessive, manipulative, unstable, and he does not care who gets hurt so long as he gets his way. He volunteers the "lowest earners" as cannon fodder for Valentino's temper tantrum, for fuck's sake. His whole thing with Alastor, as funny as it is - HUGE red flags, there. This is not a good person.

Velvette - we don't know much about her history, but we do see her onscreen as impulsive, brazen, unapologetic, and bloodthirsty. She has a very "I do what I want, fuck you" attitude, which in and of itself is not necessarily evil, but combined with her involvement with Vox and Valentino - it spells trouble. I'm excited to see more of her next season.

And I mean, the show is set in hell, and these are Overlords. It's kind of a given that they're not gonna be saints. But every so often I see a take that seems to try to soften the sharp edges so to speak, and I just. Yeah, sure. They're people - that means they're complicated and complex. They can hurt, and they can also be hurt, and sometimes it's fun to explore that. But also, I think it's really fun to let them be evil and explore that, too.

A lot of people seem to be afraid to talk about or explore toxic/abusive/morally abhorrent characters. They seem to feel the need to either justify/explain away the bad things, remove them, or very explicitly state that "Character does bad things and so I hate everything about them and also anyone who likes anything about them deserves to rot in hell" (hyperbole here, kids). It's okay to write about characters doing bad things. It doesn't hurt anyone, and it doesn't mean that you approve of what they're doing. Also, it's okay to explore characters that are morally despicable and their complexity. Evil characters aren't always evil all the time. Bad people have feelings, emotions, likes, dislikes, passions, and hobbies. Bad people can be hurt and suffer and be likable. Exploring this in fiction is not bad.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here, in a roundabout way, is write whatever the fuck you want. It doesn't hurt anyone, and if they don't like it, they don't have to read it. They're fictional characters. Go crazy.

[moon-lv3r]

for our love to bloom °.*ೃ✧˚.

🦋 category: fluff, flower shop au, no jujutsu au, aged up characters

🦋 characters: miwa, mechamaru (referred as muta), mai, momo, todo, kamo

🦋 summary: in which a high school reunion brought two people back for a second shot at sparking a relationship

🦋 warnings: tooth rotting romance, why do i keep writing those??

🦋 notes: they deserved better so i wrote this. i love flowers

Miwa Kasumi was a humble woman, her small flower shop was all she needed. All she led was a peaceful life. Her flower shop was a way for her to help her family ease their monetary issues ever since she gave up on her chance of going to a University.

She was going to do all she could to help out.

The doorbell rang as the door opened to reveal another customer of the day. It was Zen’in Mai, one of her friends from the highschool she went to. Mai and her older twin sister, Maki, were famous throughout their school back then.

“Mai!” Miwa cheerfully greeted her dear friend.

The way Mai was dressed, it was obvious that she was out on a date. The black, tight, sleeveless dress was perfect on her.

“Just thought I’d stop by,” smiled Mai as she placed her crossed arms on the counter, bending down as she talked to Miwa. “How’s business?”

“You know, nothing much really,” Miwa replied.

“Maki and I can always help you promote,” Mai suggested. “Or we could ask Nishimiya to help. Just not Kamo, and especially Todo. I am so glad I don’t see them anymore.”

Miwa let out a soft laughter as she heard Mai’s complaints, “I still remember when you used to complain about every single boy in our class.”

Mai could only sigh in return as memories of their former class came flooding back into her mind. “They are all weird,” Mai replied. “Muta, Todo, Kamo, all weird. I still don’t know why I went with Todo to that Takada meeting…”

“But you did say the meeting wasn’t so bad,” Miwa added. Mai responded with a small nod as Miwa technically wasn’t lying. Mai did find the meeting to be better than what she had initially thought.

“But it is also Todo we’re talking about,” Mai explained.

Miwa laughed as Mai continued to rant about things that happened throughout their school years. Those days seemed so… distant yet also so close. It felt like it had never ever been over. Sometimes it just felt as though they were once again teenagers chatting their lives away while eating, not having to worry about putting a roof over their heads. Sometimes it just seemed so unbelievable that this was what adulthood had introduced them to. Worries after worries.

But Miwa braced those struggles. She was a hard worker. It was important to get through tough times, was it not? She was still helping her own family out, and running her business gave her such a peace of mind. She loved being around her flowers. The beauty of it all seemed to intrigue her to no end. She loved the different meanings each flower had. She loved how different colours represented different things as well. There was just so much to learn.

“Also,” Mai continued. “We’re having a class reunion soon. Nishimiya and I are planning on shopping for dresses, wanna join?”

Miwa smiled and gave her dear friend a small nod. Of course Miwa couldn’t say no. How could she? She enjoyed being with the girls of her former class. They all had a close bond with each other. Miwa often heard Momo and Mai talk smack about the boys in their school, it was almost a daily thing. Suddenly she missed those days where they were teenagers with no worries.

Miwa had missed those old days when they were all so carefree.

Now she had a new worry. Finding the right outfit for their reunion dinner.

She managed to get a dress that she really liked. A knee length blue dress with a thin strap. It was layered really well and seemed to have some volume to it. Both Momo and Mai encouraged Miwa to get her hands on it, so she did.

Now she just had to wait until the day of the reunion to see what everyone was wearing. She was curious about how much they changed. She hadn’t seen most of them ever since graduation. She wondered how Muta Kokichi was doing. They never talked much but she always had her eyes on him. There was something about him that drew her towards him.

It was another normal day at her flower shop. Another day of guiding customers to which flowers they should purchase, talking about the story and meaning behind each and every floral. Every petal was important.

She enjoyed her job. It was simple, just the perfect job for her. She wouldn’t trade it for the world. Being around her flowers and seeing people walking out with joy was enough for the young woman. She was still making enough to support herself and her family, that was all she needed.

Miwa Kasumi was a simple girl. That was all that she was.

A simple girl craves simple things, never will she expect much. Low expectations that get fulfilled easily, sounds like such a dream, doesn’t it?

The night of the reunion approached, Miwa felt nervousness building up in her body as she put on the dress. People she hasn’t seen in ages… she was afraid. How different would everyone be? Who would remain the same?

Those thoughts seemed to scare her. Maybe it was the answers that freaked her out. Who would change for the better and who would change for the worse?

Todo seemed to remain the same. He was still as buff as ever, his scar remained equally noticeable as it was in the past.

Kamo had a different hairstyle. It was chopped a lot shorter, the complete opposite of what he used to have.

Muta Kokichi however, looked different. His hair was let down now, no longer in the high ponytail it used to be in. He had glasses as well. He was unrecognisable from his school days.

“Of course Todo never changed,” Mai scoffed. “Pineapple head. Bet he is still into that idol.”

Miwa seemed to only have her attention on Muta. He seemed so different. What caused his change?

The classmates gathered for a talk. Their respective careers, romantic life, anything that they could talk about. Muta seemed interested in Miwa’s new life as a florist.

Mai and Todo seemed to somewhat clash, as usual. Kamo was more talkative than usual, mentioning how he and his mother were moving to a more luxurious home. Kamo worked hard to provide for his mother and to thank her for all that she helped with in his life.

Momo talked about potentially moving overseas, to America. That was where her father was from and she might be moving back due to family reasons. Mai was talking about how she met a new girl recently, which started up a fight with Todo because he did not believe Mai’s claims of a girl prettier than his idol existing.

It seems as though some things just remained the same. As the reunion ended, everyone parted ways. Promises to meet up and chat again were made, though none knew when it would be.

“Can I drive you home?” Muta asked, standing shyly beside Miwa.

She gladly nodded and accepted his offer, handing her address over. The ride back home was somewhat quiet. Muta wanted a conversation, but he did not know how to start one.

He ended up asking about her flower business and where it was. Miwa gladly gave the location to him. He said that he would visit, only to realise that he did not have much to do at a flower shop. He did not need flowers.

At least he found out that Miwa was single. That was good enough for him.

He had liked her ever since their school days, but never had the courage to ask her out. Now that the opportunity seemed to have risen, he was thinking about taking it. He had feared rejection. He still does.

He ended up dropping Miwa off without asking her on a date. Stupid.

Utterly stupid.

The chance was right in front of him and he just blew it like that. He didn’t even manage to get her damn number.

What was the point in starting a business and selling various different types of puppets when he can’t even man up and have a normal conversation with the girl he liked?

At least he knew where she worked…

A flower shop.

Don't girls like flowers? Since Miwa worked at one, surely she knew what different flowers symbolise right? With that thought in mind, he drove home and turned on his laptop after showering.

He decided to settle on pink lilies. It allegedly symbolises femininity and admiration. He did admire Miwa, so he felt as though it was the perfect flower for him to use.

It was simple. But from his knowledge, Miwa was a simple person. He can give her the more grand things next time, he just wanted to be let in her heart.

Now he just needed to mentally prepare himself to ask out the woman. The one thing that never changed about him was how he’d never ask her out.

The chances of hearing a no haunted him.

It took him at least two weeks to drive in front of her shop, and another week to muster the courage to enter. He was pathetic wasn’t he?

“Muta?” Miwa greeted, a little surprised by his sudden appearance. “What brings you here?”

Muta rubbed the back of his neck, looking around nervously. “Uh I need a flower… bouquet…”

Miwa giggled, “Who’s the lucky one?” She asked. “What flowers do you need?”

Muta went silent. Awkwardness filled the room as nervousness took over him. Why was he like this? All he had to do was just ask her out. A simple task. One which he had procrastinated for years. He was over complicating things.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

“Pink lilies,” Muta managed to mutter.

Miwa gladly got to work as she started making the bouquet. It was either now or never. He had to ask her now.

Yet he had the guts of a paper bag. He just simply could not. He had not realised how lucky he was to be granted an opportunity like this. He would be a genuine moron if he just let it go out the window.

When Miwa handed the bouquet over to Muta, he decided that it was now or never. He was as awkward as hell.

“It’s uh… for you… Miwa,” he uttered, barely maintaining his eye contact.

She was confused at first, before eventually getting the hint. “Are you asking me out?” She asked, a hint of excitement that was almost undetectable in her voice.

Muta could only give her a small nod.

And it was set.

A cafe date. On a weekend. Muta would be picking her up. It was going to be on a Saturday afternoon. He was nervous. He hadn’t expected it to go this well.

When the actual date arrived, Muta did his best to style himself in a normal way. His hair was tied up. A large shirt and long pants, with a nice belt. That should be good enough.

When he drove up to Miwa’s apartment to fetch her. He was greeted by a simple, yet breathtaking sight.

Miwa’s blue hair flowed alongside the wind. Her white dress swayed gracefully among the gentle wind. Her light makeup look paired perfectly with her outfit. She carried with her a small shoulder bag.

It was so simple, he loved it with all his heart.

He did everything that a gentleman should do. Held the door, let her sit, paid for the meal despite her saying not to. He did it all.

They decided to go for a walk. It was a simple stroll recall. The only hard part was trying to hold Miwa’s hand. Their fingers constantly brushed past each other as they walked and made small talk.

Muta could not bring himself to even glance at her. He was too shy. The soft breeze brushed their faces gently. The sunshine resting upon their faces gracefully. It was a peaceful day. Muta’s mind was not peaceful.

“Look at the birds!” Miwa chanted happily as she pointed at some away in a distance.

“Hah… yeah,” Muta responded, looking at what she was pointing at.

Muta decided to take a deep breath. “Miwa…” He began. The smiling girl turned to look at him, making him speechless, once again.

“Look I… I am serious about wanting us to be together… If you know what I mean…” Muta stammered, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks heated up.

Miwa nodded, getting the drift. “I’d like the same thing. Let’s take it slow, shall we?”

Muta immediately looked up, his eyes glistening with hope. He had never nodded so quickly in his life before. He was glad that she agreed.

Holding her hand as the date went on. Small steps, one by one. Taking it a day at a time. What could be better than this?

[lovetogether]

In defense of, or “who’s afraid of aeomorphs pooltoys and T F”: notes (you could say) on the fetish community.

Ever since we were young, about tween age, we’ve been deeply fascinated by the online fetish community. Not bdsm or any of that though, we were much more drawn to the unnatural, the unobtainable, whatever you may call it (insane?). We had first encountered all this through classic vore, we’ve since grown a muted feeling towards vore, almost as if we had been oversaturated with the stuff, it’s nothing to us. Nonetheless the stuff fascinated us a kid, we’d google search and tab to images constantly, memorizing every photo that came up first, noting specific artists, learning about sub cultures, what have you. From there we just kept on discovering new things. inflation was big of course, TF especially caught our eye. TF meaning Transformation Fetish, this art left us completely entranced. We wanted to know all the intricacies, all the reasons to make what we now saw on our screen, the reason one may - as you know - get off to this? Sexual desire was foreign to us, it’s always been. It feels detached from meaning to us almost, a scrambled up mess of a concept we’d rather examine from a true analysis way than in a mocking or disgusted way. We’re not disgusted by it, we had used to be ace sex repulsed but we think this was a side effect of viewing so much sexual content, to have to overlap into our actual real life upset us to no end, it was meant to be secret. We also didn’t like being desired, actual sexual acts confused us and didn’t interest us, somebody coming on to us felt like a breach of trust, we of course quickly learned we were ace. Our sexuality was ours and ours alone, only we understood ourself if even a little. Our journey through online spaces molded us, we grew completely dissociated from any other form of sexual activity. We were only interested in the unreal, because with it came so deep fascination, something tangible we could explain to ourself. TF was wish fulfillment, an idealized self if only to, feel good, and that made sense. It goes without saying as an even younger child we read animorphs and ended up deeply affected by the detailed transformation scenes written out, but that’s neither here nor there. With the phrase furry comes an assumption that one enjoys this ridiculous fetish content, we understand why, we’re in the community and in no way agree with labeling a whole group, but fetish is undeniably an important facet of this group. TF, vore, inflation, macro, micro, objectum, it was all part of this. Aeromorphs are a type of furry, anthropomorphic planes, most of the worlds introduction to these furries was through fetish art, people often gawk and instantly assume it’s fetish when they see it, I don’t blame them. Cause well, it often is. With sexuality and fetishes comes this underlining idea of impurity or “breaking the rules”, like it’s unjust, taboo in an almost evil manner, we hate this too! Fetish is not to be assumed of as inherently evil, people freak out when they discover a creator has a fetish, or have this gag reflex to any idea of the sort, this is bad. People say don’t equate everything to sex but the truth is the act of rejecting libido is in of itself a rejection of humanity. It’s sad to us an expression of passion is seen as something which needs to be behind lock and key. Of course there’s actual concerns, like grooming, but one does not equate to the other, and there’s grooming in almost every community, it’s a wide spread rot which does not come from somewhere specific (and we think this scares people, but it’s the only way to combat it). Lately we’ve enjoyed pooltoys, the easy going look and an ability to just “let go”, it’s nice. We think the added fact to all this that we’re ace and do not apply a complete sexual lens to our interests may put some at ease but don’t get us twisted, we’d want only respect even if that wasn’t the case, for us and all in these communities. Fetish is deeply rooted, it’s been around longer than some would even think, traces everywhere, this voyeuristic desire. We think we have what’s best described as a post modern look on fetish art,

[protags-fic-blog]

hi!! omg I love how you write for the amnesia boys, fan content is so scarce. I was wondering if you had any hcs on what each of their “ideal type” or “ideal s/o” would be? aside from mc

this is such a brain rot topic for me, and I’m so happy I’ve got a request!! i've got a bit of second/third person switching but we are rolling with it bc I’m too sick to think hard about it

———

Amnesia Memories - Ideal S/O

Shin

such a sucker for childhood friends. chance raises by a lot if you're friends already

definitely likes people who don't judge, especially because of what happened with his dad and such

could go for either sensitive or rebellious people

enjoys being able to protect you every so often, but also wants someone who can hold their ground

probably in to ride or die type people, but he doesn't want them to change their entire philosophy based on what he wants

Toma

level headed people are people he naturally gravitates to because of his irrational side

loves being a protector, even for the smallest things. it's not that he would want someone weak, just that he wants someone who understands that he wants to keep you safe

likes people who take academics decently serious, or someone who likes to learn

the person he loves is his best friend. you guys do everything together, even if it's not an official date.

Kent

he's a little dogmatic, so he would probably like pragmatic people like ikki who see the world in a lens different than him.

he thinks book smarts are very cool but street smarts ultimately win him over (think taking the shortest route on a map vs taking all the hidden side roads to avoid traffic)

likes independent people. he can take care of himself, but when someone he likes can take care of themselves *well*, that makes a big difference

for him, opposites attract is actually true!! probably had a big mental crisis because it is shown that similarities are part of the basis of attraction, and you respond that the world works in mysterious ways

Ikki

'my hot witch wife' 'me doing whatever she wants'

loves people who set him straight. he wants someone who isn't a doormat

all of the guys love people who don't change to get them to like them, but ikki in particular loves it. he's not against change, but after seeing so many women change entire personalities to date him, he thinks that being stalwart and having a concrete identity is so hot of you

probably likes introverts too. to me, ikki seems like an introvert, so someone who enjoys a night in would be really nice. (i can explain more if y'all don't see ikki as an introvert)

Ukyo

loves quiet people. not people who don't speak, or can't speak their mind, but people who can enjoy silence

probably is drawn to other artists (writers, sketchers, painters, sculptors, etc) or people who can appreciate beauty

already a very worldly person, so he wants someone with similar life experience. doesn't mean they need to be world travelers, but people who have experienced and enjoyed other cultures, or someone who won't shy away from trying new things

if you're a fan of his and aren't shy about talking about his photography, he's head over heels. especially if you know what you're talking about

[maranull]

MARAAAA!

cookie for you: 🍪🍪

For reasons which totally aren't fic related (don't trust me I'm a liar), could we have some hcs on what Malenia, Miq, and Loretta are like with children?

(Ik loretta has no ingame character so if its hard then you can leave her 👍👍)

👋👋

BOOMBOOMBIM!!

Thank you for the cookie!

YUM!

We don't like liars in this house, I'm getting the bonk hammer 🔨🔨

~

Malenia:

Malenia adores kids. They remind her of Miq when he was younger and she was free to dot on him.

She'd love to play with them, like doing spins, throwing them in the air, tickling and playing peek-a-boo if they are babies.

BUT!

She doesn't go close to any kids she doesn't know if their parents trust her.

Mostly she's scared of the Rot somehow effecting the kiddos, so she only approaches if the parent/s invite her close.

If she is, she likes ruffling their hair.

Talking with kids, she always sits down to be as close to their eye level, and always treats them with as much respect as she does Miq and takes any word they say seriously.

If any kiddo challenges her to a sword fight with sticks (which many Haligtree-born kids do) she'll lose 100% of the time. (she's only undefeated when battling people using actual weapons)

Miquella:

When he was still living in Leyndell, Miq didn't actually like kids. They reminded him a lot of how most people saw him, and it was one of the few things that angered him.

He grew a bit fond of them as he build the city in the Haligtree.

He still kinda avoids them, mainly because most of them think he is their age and try to befriend him. Sometimes he just doesn't have the energy to explain that he's actually centuries old and he just looks like them.

What he often does though, is read to many. Sometimes, he'll notice a parent needing a break, at which point he'll arrange a reading session for the kid that drives said parent mad.

He loves how their eyes shine in wonder at things that are now mundane to him, like dragons and giants.

In the end, even if he doesn't always enjoy his time with kids, a good amount of his efforts in creating the Haligtree are for them to have a future outside of the Golden Order's constraints.

Loretta:

She acts like kids are the biggest pain in the world.

Then does her absolute best to help in whatever they need, while mumbling "kids these days" to keep up appearances

She fails btw, everyone and their mother knows Loretta is very fond of kids.

She's more of the "let them get hurt, that's how they'll learn" type of adult.

Having said that, she will do all she can for that "hurt" to be as painless and fleeting as possible. Like, a kid might want to ride a horse much bigger than it can. She'll let it and let it slide off as well, but she'll place her hands right where the kiddo falls, softening the fall and preventing any actual damage.

Also every kid in the Haligtree learned how to curse from her.

~

We know Loretta is protective and loyal, so I used that as a base for her. And also a bit of the characterization I'm stealing (hehe, get it?) from Stolen 👍

Hope you like them and they are useful for those non fic related purposes <3

(￣︶￣)/

[decompose1]

Hey so, I have a question about Amanita if you're okay with answering! I wantex to ask, how do other objects (besides Crt and Amanita's family I'm assuming) react to aer strange diet consiting of rotting organisms? Does the average stranger/passerby/acquaintance usually react with disgust? discomfort? Do people usually try to atleast be polite about their negative perceptions? More subtle? How many-

(cont) Times have people been more openly rude about it? Did Amanita get shamed or harassed over it very often? I'm just curious to know more about that! <:)

OKAY SO!! this is a sorta fun topic, because it has a lot to do with my ideas about object specbio/culture/etc, particularly with fungi, which i've thought about SO much.

so!! consumption of rot is pretty normal for fungi- essential, even! here's a like. short diagram

Fungi are specialized for consuming decaying material, and not doing so would be sort of difficult for them!

So it would be expected.... if you . really knew anything ABOUT fungi. Which is not necessarily that widespread- for a reason!

Fungi tend to be rarer in regular cities- they often live in clusters, in their own sort of dedicated towns. There are two primary reasons for this, mostly boiling down to their mycelium networks + their tendency to totally wreck buildings with fungus/mold/humidity/etc.

So they're kind of!! Not an object you see every day in a regular city, although they definitely CAN and do live there sometimes, most just. prefer not to for the listed reasons (and i'll explain further in another post but i'm already rambling a bit more than i need to here, hehehe).

... Anyways! Ama moved out to a big city, which is where ae met CRT + others. And- yeah, most people thought it was kinda weird and gross. Ae IS eating straight-up mold and rot, and a lot of other objects just aren't used to/aware of the dietary preferences/the science of fungi, so. It's. A little shocking sometimes!! I implied this a little in the comic where CRT meets Flowerbox (here).

CRT was already aware of Ama's needs/prefs because they studied mycology! So this wasn't surprising to them, just fascinating, since it had to do with their own passion for biology/mycology/etc.

Honey Fungus + Amanita's family are also fungi, and came from the same town, so they all have the same diet :o)

I thiiiink. Uranium Glass would've quietly found it really strange, and might've mentioned, like, "that's spoiled, you know", but would probably just stop questioning it if ae confirmed that was the intention. Whatever, Ama can eat whatever weird stuff ae wants, it doesn't affect him so he doesn't care that much. Flowerbox, as you see, thinks it's kinda weird and gross, but changed his mind a little when CRT talked about it. Still weird, but CRT's gesture was sweet. Skirt might've been the most understanding? Her general attitude is "oh, well, we all have our things, i'm not about to go judging! That's what makes you special!". Skirt is very nice.

Milk was probably the hardest sell on this because she's just generally kind of stubborn and opinionated. She's the most likely to have complained any, but she, as Ama's closest friend in the city (Honey being the closest from aer hometown), would've warmed up and eventually kind of. Quietly given aer dishes she "didn't eat in time". Admittedly, she probably made it for aer and didn't wanna say so. Ama knew this. Milk is just tough.

Anyways! Other than the Defined Characters, i think most public reactions were either quiet disgust or people just politely attempting to ignore the weird thing happening in public. Probably some occasional mocking/questions/etc, but honestly, Amanita likely never quite understood why this was so weird to anyone. It's just what fungi do, naturally!

sorry this is Entirely Too Long! i've got to make a more organized post about my fungus object thoughts

[alyosiuscreightonward]

Dear Diary. Just the other day I had learned that someone I know is in a state of mental distress. I’m not sure what there support system looks like but I also know that there are several people who just want the drama and they then go at it.

It sucks that you are going through this but it really does irritate me to know that trying to parse something down to the molecular level isn’t going to help the situation and also doesn’t offer up solutions nor provides tools to help. MF dealing with shit is definitely harder than putting together something from fucking IKEA. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Yeah I can go back to a place that hurts me and explain the trauma.

Yeah I can go to YouTube and find a video for whatever you are feeling but that’s not gonna solve anything.

Yeah I can then go to the interwebs and find a quote for you and it still won’t solve the anything.

Yeah I also know that I sometimes don’t take the advice that I dish out.

In my world, I allow myself to have these feelings and I allow myself to vomit my feelings. In my world, I believe that shit happens and yes, I’ll hold onto them until I realize that these great big pieces of emotional luggage needs to be checked through never to be seen again.

At the job, I’m usually in a foul mood because of the people I have to interact with because I don’t have time for them nor am I able to deal with their manufactured drama. I don’t want to give them my time or effort. Even the ones who should know better are still attempting to stir the pot meanwhile they’re trying to make it look like they don’t have a ladle or a paint brush and a 55 gallon drum of black paint.

I come here to say shit all the while knowing that lots of people who are on this app don’t read nor comment on my verbal diarrhea. Bitch please. I do read their posts and I don’t comment either. It’s very much like TikTok or Instagram, scroll on by.

Regardless of whether or not I deal with shit or not is my prerogative. The only thing I can do is fight. I fight with all my demons and my feelings and eventually I do come through.

People blather on about how they can communicate and all that rot but I also know that they have their problems and yeah pretty much.

I’m able to say that I have been homeless junkie prostitute and thief and a Shitkicker and I wanted someone to pay attention to me as playwright Arthur Miller scribed the following sentence in “Death of a Salesman,” ‘Attention must be paid.’”

Exactly. The character Willie Loman had been overlooked for most of his life and in his career but now that he’s passed…we’ve got to stop and see that he is and was a human being who existed.

I’ve got my own feelings about this but I also know that some folks don’t care if I have feelings about this that or third. Then I do know that there are some folks who actually care about me because I’ve touched their lives.

I’m going to tell you one story about me and the guilt I often feel.

I honestly forgot exactly how old I was at the time of this incident but I know that I had not moved to NYC yet. My family had a dog and her name was Tabitha. She was a former show dog and was just so beautiful and so sweet. Also she was skittish about herky jerky movements. That night I was given the task to take Tabs on a walk and she’d do her business. I walked down the street, I took a right turn and we walked to the parking lot behind my house. Since it had snowed the night before we were left with a huge pile of snow at the opposite end of the parking lot. We ran like fools. We both had run up the snowbank. I lost my footing and I slipped and fell. I screamed out and Tabs got freaked and bolted away from me. I immediately chased after her. Tabs was a Saluki and she ran like the wind. She would easily outrun Usain Bolt. The next thing I knew, a car appeared out of nowhere and she got hit. I freaked the fuck out and bellowed every single swear word I could ever muster at the occupants of the car. Tabs ran back to the house and I found her on the front porch. I began to wail as to bring my family onto the porch. I screamed and cried and the whole house shook. Eventually my mom and, I think, my brother and sister came out. I told them what happened and as I was explaining it all to them, the occupants of the car were standing on the porch watching me lose my shit. Tabs had a broken leg. She came through it all with flying colors. She wasn’t afraid of me. I thought she’d just avoid me because of the trauma she went through. I’m not sure what happened after that but I did come to learn that my mom had made the decision to to rehome Tabs. From what I remember, Tabitha lived out her life on a 25 acre farm in Vermont.

That was one of many things slash trauma I went through with the dogs and cats in my life.

There are many other things that I’ve experienced in my life that have made me feel numb. When I was with my brother over the weekend, I nonchalantly said that I no longer cry. He said something about how I should cry etc but I ignored him. He has no clue what I’ve been through and why I rarely cry.

Recently my husband’s dog, CoCo passed away. It hurt me deeply but I still love that little fucker to no end. It’s now just myself and my Harry.

I have my moments but I absolutely refuse to let the world know that I’m in pain. I put on the blinders and march forward. Though in my private life, I let the emotions run amok. Then the next morning, I’m able to deal with this shit and I don’t allow it to absolutely consume me anymore.

The one thing I do want you to know is that, you should find an outlet to vomit your feelings and not give permission to control you. Like I said before, I don’t always listen to me and do the right thing or the correct thing. There’s no wrong or right way but if there’s one thing that you can take away from this, it’s a learning experience that will help you build a stairway to paradise. I may never get there but I will fight for me and that’s all that matters.

Lastly, I will leave you with some lyrics to a song that hits my heart and was playing on my iPod when I drove up to vets office with CoCo in my lap and before I said goodbye.

“Well, I wasted years,/All the useless, bitter tears./If I'd known I'd have stopped it at the start./I knew life was long,/And I knew life could go wrong,/But I never knew my life would break my heart./'Cause I made, and I'm gonna lie in my bed of roses./Bed of roses I believed my life would be./Bed of roses I believed my life would be.” written by Bonnie Hayes & sung by Bette Midler.

Rage. Feel some kind of way. Scream. Break things. You do you. Fuck them all.

Then there’s this piece of sage advice that I adhere to on the daily, “Pour yourself a drink (or beverage of choice), put on some lipstick and pull yourself together,” so said Elizabeth Taylor.

😶

[sailing-through-hawkins]

tagged by @xenon-demon @rogueddie and @a-little-unsteddie (≧∇≦)ﾉ

this took me SO LONG to compile because not only did i change my username to be like three times longer but i also added a challenge for myself to use songs i associate with steve (and tumblr deleted my drafts. three times.)

i've also added why i associate them with steve because some of these options may seem odd and also because i love going off about my steve thoughts (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

edit: FORGOT TO ADD THE RULES -

put a song for each letter in your url! either in a reblog or new post!

S: Solar Powered by Fulton Lee, Jacob Sigman

(i imagine a very light-hearted rollerskating session with Steve and Max during summer time, both pulling fancy moves while the rest of the UD gang cheer them on)

A: A Little Bit Happy by TALK

(this gives me Steve talking about how Robin sees him, major self-esteem issues, etc etc)

I: I Was Made For Lovin' You by KISS

(this is the one KISS song i put on loop, and like to me, steve feeling like he was made to love just hits different)

L: Lovely (cover) by Lauren Babic

(i ADORE this artist and this particular cover makes me think about separated stobin in the russian bunker, major angst, 5k with a happy ending -)

I: I'm on Fire by Bruce Springsteen

(i started listening to springsteen after reading this fic that i highly recommend, and this song just got me, it felt so appropriate for steve)

N: Not Alright by Pink Sweat$

(very big steve coping all alone after he deals with the latest UD incident vibe)

G: Golden Hour by JVKE

(i will always promote sun-and-gold-coded steve, always)

T: The One That Got Away by Katy Perry

(okay this one's a little tricky, but after i started this blog i listened to this song and was struck by a steve-centric animatic concept that would take way too long to explain but the Story is There)

H: Her Song by Kaylee Federmann

(same situation as above but this animatic would be a college au ft. Steve's serial dating)

R: Rot by DBMK

(SUCH A STEVE SONG IF YOU LIKE STEVE BEING GUILTY/INSECURE OVER HIS OLD REPUTATION THIS IS THE THEME YOU NEED)

O: On and On by Djo

(i'll be honest this one is purely because it's by Djo but it's a good vibe!!)

U: Untouched by The Veronicas

(OKAY THIS ONE this one gets me it gives me pining and touch-starved friends-with-benefits steddie, the chorus goes so hard for me)

G: Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen

(it's by queen, it's called lover boy, need i say much more?)

H: Holding Out for a Hero by Adam Lambert

(i was struggling and went through charlie's wonderful playlist and was like oh OF COURSE how did i miss that?? but i went for this version because it really does remind me of steve back in the junkyard)

H: Here's to Being Single by Lost Stars

(ooooh this one!!! it makes me think of stobin lamenting over not being able to get their romantic relationships just right together)

A: Ashes (cover) by Lauren Babic

(again UGH this artist sings so beautifully and this cover really makes me think of the desolation spreading after season 4 and the whole UD gang doing their best to push it back)

W: When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going by Billy Ocean

(i imagine steve thinking about leaving hawkins often and listening to this song while he drops Dustin off just so he can daydream about it)

K: Kids In America by Kim Wilde

(more of a general UD gang vibe, like the camera cuts to each of them prepping for battle and then fighting against every UD creature that comes their way together)

I: (I Just) Died in Your Arms by Cutting Crew

(once again provided by charlie's playlist after i was struggling to find a good match, like hello self-sacrificial steve anyone)

N: Night Vision by Drives the Common Man

(i loooove the chorus in this, and it also makes me think of monster!steve which we know is what i'm all about)

S: Stranger Things by Survival Kit, IAMCOUCHSURF

(yeah this one was purely for the title, also more monster vibes ( •̀ ω •́ )✧)

i'm too tired to tag anyone so if you see this and wanna try it out yourself, consider this me tagging you!!

[flamingo-writes]

Fade to Black (part 2) — e.m.

Eddie Munson x Wheeler!Reader (she/her pronouns)

(Prequel)(Part 1)

A/N: I know Henderson!Reader’s fics are very common and popular, but something about Eddie dating the oldest Wheeler is so appealing. I love writing Wheeler!Reader fics samskdkdc I also love this man. This is fluffy I swear. Im gonna keep writing fix it scenarios, to keep coping with that ending 💀 Also, I gave Eddie a tattoo on his ribs.

Title based on the Metallica song by the same name.

Summary: Coming home from college for the spring break, you find yourself tangled in whatever messy situation Mike’s friends are involved now. However, you’re not expecting to find your ex, Eddie Munson, involved in it as well. Things take a bad turn, and in a stupid heroic moment, Eddie ends up terribly wounded, and you’ve got to do something soon, and taking him to the hospital is not a viable option, as he is wanted for murder.

Warnings: vol 2 spoilers, mentions and descriptions of wounds and blood, cursing, mentions of reader having an active sex life,

Genre: hurt/comfort, angst, fluff

Word count: 2.8K

Tag list: @daydreamin1220 @fangirling-4-ever @theeblackbarbiesworld

I love this man, I don’t ever want my Eddie brain rot to end. Pls.

"We need to get him to a hospital" The doctor said.

"No hospitals!" You snapped. "He is gonna get arrested! He was framed and is wanted for murder, but he is innocent!" You yelled.

"We have to take him–"

"No! Proving his innocence will be very fucking hard, and the entire town hates him!" You cried.

"What the hell do you intend to do, then?"

"I don't know! But I'll figure it out. I can improvise here, keep him here for a day or two and then move him and hide him elsewhere" You said.

"Hopper's place! That place is abandoned!" Dustin said.

"We've got a pulse!" One if the paramedics said, turning to look at the doctor.

"I'm trusting you on this, I'm going to let you keep him here, as long as he's stable. If something happens, you take him to a hospital, you hear me?"

You stared into the doctor's eyes, clenching your jaw as tears kept slipping down your cheeks. You nodded hesitantly.

A loud rumbling, followed by a strong earthquake shook the trailer. Dustin freaking out, as the entire paramedics team cursed, but remained glued to Eddie, exchanging terrified looks, but without actually letting go of him. The trailer shook for several seconds, as you cried out Eddie’s name, his safety first thing on your mind rather than your own. Your heart beating nervously in your head as you

And when finally the earthquake stopped, the two paramedics exchanged looks and confused questions before they both snapped back and continued attending Eddie.

The doctor gave instructions as you guided them to Eddie's room, managing to improvise a decent set up. His mattress on the floor, next to the closet doors, hanging from the handle the IV therapy, you watched anxiously from a corner as Eddie lied unconscious, IV going into the back of his hand, and one of the paramedics was giving him meds through the plastic IV tube.

Dustin explained everything that had happened to the paramedics, as they every so often looked at Dustin incredulous and asked questions. Only believing him because of the gate they all saw upon entering the trailer.

Dustin’s explanation was cut short when Steve's voice echoed.

"Henderson!"

"Shit! Sorry doc!" Dustin said rushing to the living room.

"Henderson! What the hell happened to our way out?" Steve asked furious, as Dustin stuttered and started telling them what happened, as some of the paramedics followed Dusting, their puzzled looks only growing wider in horror as they saw people abnormally standing on what would be the roof.

"Eddie cut it"

"What?!" He barked.

"He bought more time for us and cut it once we jumped back, and left to fight the bats!"

"What?! Where is he?"

"What the hell is going on here?" The doctor said, interrupting Dustin and looking up at the ceiling.

—

You remained in Eddie’s room. Now, everyone looking a lot calmer, as you kept your eyes glued to Eddie. He was looking slightly less pale, as he slept, perhaps high on morphine and other pain killers.

"Hey," One of the paramedics, a guy named Rick, called your name softly. "He's stable now, the morphine will keep him knocked out for a long while, got somewhere to write down? I'll tell you the instructions of his treatment…and I'll leave you some morphine and penicillin…okay?"

"Thank you, Rick…" you said as you stood up weakly and grabbed one of Eddie's notebooks lying around and the first pen you saw.

"So, the infamous Eddie is the Eddie you always told us about when you were on call with us?"

"Yeah, that same one…"

"Is he seriously innocent?" You glared at Rick.

"He is innocent, that I'd take the blame for the murders for him, as long as it clears his name, even if I end up in prison…"

"You love him"

"You've got no idea" You said opening the notebook in some random blank page. "Okay, treatment…"

Rick proceeded to list medications and instructions, when and how much of which medication to administer. He asked you to keep the wounds clean and dry, change the bandage at least once a day, and to check his vitals every hour at least until he woke up. You wrote everything down as Rick handed you the meds and a couple of syringes, some more IV fluids, gauzes and bandages.

"Thanks Rick" You whispered.

Before Rick could reach the door, you saw the rest of your friends rushing in the room, looking at both of you. Eddie passed out, shirtless and covered in bandages, and IV connecting him to the volume expander bottle hanging from his closet door, hair disheveled on the pillow. And you, sitting on the floor next to him, your eyes swollen and red, as you had a couple of cuts on your arm.

"Is he alright?" Steve asked, as you nodded.

"He's stable for now…" Rick said. "Anything happens, you give us another call, yes?"

"Thank you guys…" You purred. "Tell the doc," You sighed. "I'll…call him tomorrow morning after Eddie wakes up, and…I'll pay for…everything. Please tell him to not tell my parents…" You purred.

"They don't know you're back with your murderous boyfriend?" Rick joked, managing to steal a chuckle from your throat.

"They never knew. They would've never approved of Eddie, even though he's the best to have happened to me…"

"Yeah, I guess you must think highly of him if you're willing to go to jail for him…" Your friends all turned to Rick, confused and alarmed by his joke as you nodded. "Excuse me, guys…" Rick said moving along and leaving the bedroom.

"Hey," Robin said, as you looked up and met her stare. "He's going to be okay," She assured you.

Nancy walked and knelt besides you, hugging you. She knew what Eddie meant to you, and she knew how hard it was breaking up with him after you moved away, trying to keep a long distance relationship, while trying to get into med school was rough. She was the only one who knew Eddie had been your first many things, first boyfriend, first love, firs kiss, first time; and the good 3 year relationship you had. And she could only imagine how rough it was for you right now looking at Eddie like this.

You sobbed silently against her shoulder, clinging to her for comfort. While you were considerably calmer now, you still were hurting from seeing Eddie in such a state. Wishing you could speed up time until he woke up.

After a while, the paramedics had left, having to attend more emergencies after the unexpected earthquake, Steve, Nancy and Robin told you what happened. Eventually, Erica came to the trailer, letting everyone know what had happened to Max and that her and Lucas were on their way to the hospital.

"What?" Steve snapped at the news.

You spent the night at the trailer, barely letting Eddie out of your sight. Dustin and Nancy stayed with you, keeping you company, and offering to take turns to keep an eye on Eddie and check his vitals. However, the anxiety was keeping you awake, knowing that you wouldn't be able to fall asleep until Eddie woke up, or something else happened.

You kept track of time to check his heart rate, pulse, temperature, and breathing every hour, but you didn't really kept track of how long it had been. You felt stuck in a never ending cycle of obsessively looking at him, waiting for something to happen, almost as if you were watching the grass grow. It made you sick, and more often than not, you sobbed, scared that he might not wake up at all.

You finally felt your soul return to your body, as you were dozing off, leaning against the wall, next to his mattress. Eyes closed and breathing deep, and slightly asleep, although every single noise would make you flinch wide awake and immediately looking at Eddie. This time, what made you snap out of your sleepy state was Eddie’s voice.

"Babe?" His voice was deep, husky, even tired.

Your heart skipped a beat and raced instantly as you looked at him. Your stomach twisting with a tickling euphoria as tears immediately filled your eyes.

"Eddie," You whispered happily, as you leaned on your elbow against the mattress besides his head as you kissed his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Hmm…" He hummed closing his eyes, and grunting, "Funny…"

"It’s the morphine…"

"Oh, I’m on morphine?" His voice was coarse "Nice, I always wanted to try it…" He purred, making you chuckle softly.

"Well, your sense of humor is intact, so…that’s good…" you chuckled and kissed his forehead again.

"What’s the damage, doc?" He muttered weakly as you sighed and leaned back, looking at him. The blanket he had over his body was mostly covering him from his waist down, as he lied shirtless, and covered in stitches and clean bandages.

"Well, that sexy tattoo you’ve got on your ribs and the one on your chest are ruined…but you can get them redone after you’ve healed…the one in your arm and your bats are mildly compromised, but don’t worry, your Metallica tattoo is fine…" You joked, feeling your chest lighting up as he chuckled.

"The Metallica one is my favorite, so, I guess not everything is lost…" He murmured looking at you and smiling.

"You’ve got pretty gnarly wounds…but, I’ll help you get them clean. You’re currently on morphine, and will stay like that until tomorrow, a few more painkillers, antibiotics…Oh and you needed a plasma expander…"

"That sounds nasty…" Eddie sighed.

"It’s a kind of an IV fluid that’s a wannabe blood transfusion basically…" You explained as he frowned softly.

"Oh shit, it was that bad?" He said trying to sit up, groaning.

You immediately stopped him, resting your hands on his chest.

"N-no, baby. Lay back down…" You murmured, gently pushing him back on the mattress as he sighed defeated and rested his head against the pillow again. "E-Ed…" You purred. "At some point I thought you were really going to die on me…" You whispered, your voice shaking. "Your heart rate got so low, I gave you atropine, but…I should’ve done that earlier…I gave you CPR because your heart sounded pretty…slow and far away…"

"Oh…" He sighed softly, noticing the way your voice faltered and your eyes teared up slightly.

"Yeah…" You sighed as he reached up to cup your cheek in his hand.

"I’m sorry," He mouthed.

"N-no…don’t apologize…" You sighed, a tear managing to escape your eye as Eddie wiped it away with his thumb "I told you I was going to tear the world apart if I needed to, in order to keep you alive"

"You said that?" He inquired.

"You don’t remember?"

"I don’t remember a lot of things…" He began "I remember something about Blondie…And…verbs? Did we talk about school or some shit like that?" He asked, smirking as he kept looking at you.

You chuckled softly and leaned forward, kissing his cheek.

Truth was, he did remember that bit. He remembered telling you he couldn’t see himself with someone who wasn’t you, and how you’d told him to not use verbs in last tense. He just wanted to see you smile, and that soft chuckle, warmed his heart, making it beat strong.

"I love you, Eddie" You muttered,.

"I love you too, sweetheart" He purred. "Thank you…I’m here thanks to you…"

Your eyes teared up again and you shook your head. Leaning closer, your lips met his sweetly. Gently melting against his, as he moaned in surprise and instantly kissed you back. Lips locking shyly for the first time in a long time. Sure, your last proper kiss was the last time you came over to Hawkins for the summer break and went out with Eddie, reliving good times, going to the drive in movies, and making out at the back of his van, only to return to his place and finish what you started. But every kiss with Eddie felt like the very first one. The way you were so deeply in love with him, made it hard for you to lay eyes on anyone else, even after breaking up. His lips were soft and warm, and tasted like every good memory you both shared. The butterflies were still in your stomach,me even after all this time.

Breaking the kiss, you laid on the mattress. You snuggled next to him, slowly, trying not to hurt him as you rested your head against his chest and he wrapped his arm around you, keeping you close to him as he kissed your head. You ran your hand gently over his exposed skin, avoiding the bandages and the bruises, as he hummed, hypnotized by your touch.

"Hm, this is nicer than the morphine…" He murmured. "I missed you a lot, princess…"

"I missed you too, Ed…" you replied, kissing his chest, right next to the wound over his tattoo.

"It kinda sucks that we had to…see each other under these circumstances…but hey, I’m alive because of it" He added brushing his fingers delicately on your scalp.

"I know we both agreed to break up and perhaps try again after you graduated, but…it still sucked being away from you…" You whispered looking up at him.

"I mean, when you came over for the holidays we'd see each other…"

"I mean, yeah, but we’d hang out as friends" You chuckled as he raised an eyebrow and gave you a cheeky tired smirk.

"You do that with all of your friends? And do you kiss them goodbye? Damn, and I thought I was special…" He teased watching you roll your eyes.

"Shut up," you giggled. "You are special,"

"I know it’s not the best timing, and that I’m wanted for…god knows how many crimes by this point…but let’s get back together, babe…These two years have been…not the best…And when I’m with you, everything’s better…" He sighed.

You looked at him, and cupped his cheek.

"Your timing has never been the best, Ed. But that’s alright, it’s one of the reasons why I'm still in love with you…" You chuckled.

Looking into his beautiful black eyes, he smirked, winking at you. You leaned forward, kissing him again. Sweetly, slowly, the kind of kiss that made you melt with love and tenderness, making you think that you'd never be as happy with anyone else but him.

Surprised that the freak outcast metal head nerd Eddie Munson could captivate the heart of the straight A’s goodie two shoes you were. Despite the both of you being do different from one another, you two got along just perfectly. He reminded you to loosen up every once in a while, and humbled you down, reminding you how different backgrounds put you into a predetermined path, or made your life simpler or more difficult in certain aspects. You on the other hand, helped Eddie to keep his feet on the ground, and that sometimes enduring things that might be boring or too complicated, in the end rewarded you greately.

Nancy and Dustin knew Eddie had woken up when they heard the both of you talking. Wanting to go see him, but at the same time respecting your space, Dustin and nancy waited outside his room, as they had caught a glance of the both of you kissing, meliting into the sweetest kiss.

"I didn't know they were together…" Dustin sighed.

"Everyone in school knew…but she never talked about it outside of school…mostly because of our parents…" Nancy explained. "You've heard the things my dad says about Dungeons and Dragons…"

"Yeah…" Dustin sighed. "How long were they together?"

"Three years…" Nancy said "They actually had a reputation together. Eddie was the outcast, she was the sweet girl everyone got along with, and despite Eddie’s reputation, no one could deny they made the cutest couple…" Nancy explained.

"Why did they break up?"

"They tried keeping a long distance relationship…But because she wants to go into medical school, she spends a lot of time studying…And from what she told me, she felt like she was keeping Eddie from experiencing other things while staying loyal to her…They broke up, but I've never seen Eddie even in the slightest interested in seeing other women…"

"Yeah, Eddie never really showed interest in anyone…" Dustin sighed. "I'd never seen him like this. These last days, I mean, ever since we went to Skull Rock and they saw each other…He also said, several times, that he was going to move to Indianapolis after graduating…"

"Because she's there…Yeah. She told me…" Nancy sighed.

They looked back at the both of you, as you were snuggled together, foreheads bumped together, staring into each other with endless adoration.

The door was pushed open, Steve storming in, as Nancy and Dustin flinched lightly and looked at the door.

"Hey," You heard Steve’s voice echoing, followed by loud steps approaching the room and calling your name "How’s Ed— Oh," Steve stopped poking inside the room, as he saw you two cuddled on his mattress, his IV going from the back of his hand to the bag hanging from the closet handle.

"Hey Steve…" You murmured.

"Hey, man…" Eddie sighed.

"It’s good to see you awake, man" Steve said.

"Thanks Harrington…How did it go? Did the little bitch pay?" Eddie asked, as you felt a bitter taste in your mouth. Steve's face dropped.

"Yeah…about that…" Steve sighed and leaned against the wall, and crossed his arms over his chest. "We’re fucked…"

[shuttingupwards]

Mae’s issues. (NITW SPOILERS)

I should preface that I am a huge Mae fan, she is my favorite character. So there may be inherent bias however there are concrete things in the story that don’t have bias that I’d like to point out in the complexion of her own character. To start let’s say that Mae has many issues that kind of go under worked on. It’s obvious that she’s reckless, adventurous, and a little oblivious. However core issues seen in her is her lack of mindfulness, apathy, and general privilege.

Her black and white vision is troubling as she doesn’t think clearly on what is correct or true about other people. She lacks filter, she doesn’t have consequences and this is a huge part of her character. Her lack of consequences is due to her childish like nature and her privilege she has unlike characters like Bea, Angus, and Gregg. She is of course aware of some things, similar to how she is aware about the fact that her friends just deal with her because she is all they can get.

She’s learned not to ask for help, and this is mostly through some form of miscommunication through childhood. We see her parents to be extremely supportive. They talk to her and ask her caring questions, but It could be the possibility that she through her extreme tunnel vision was never clearly taught what to do. This is common in every parent to make, even small mistakes, but specifically with Mae was she grew up surrounded by reckless people and wanted to stay in that childhood. Where she could smash things and have fun, and not deal with the consequences from her parents. This is especially normal throughout people you see growing up.

However one of her largest flaws is her ineptness to ask for help. We see her rot away often despite the support she has, however this recklessness could quite be the same answer to explain this conundrum in her character. When characters grow so used to something, it becomes that coping mechanism. It could be very well that she genuinely believes help just isn’t something she needs. Just because it’s an option doesn’t mean a character is comfortable to take it. Mae likes short, easy things. She doesn’t like the long route, and because people around her have enabled her to have it she doesn’t see the point in reaching out. That even means helping others, which is why she’s so apathetic.

Mae is another thing, incredibly blunt. Not only does her black and white thinking interrupt any form of interaction with other people, she has odd dialect and views everything as something not as serious as it is til it effects her personally. She thinks Bea is “badass” for her moms death, or dealing with the shitty situation she’s in. This is a harmful mindset that she applies to herself. She’s extremely self destructive and stuck in her own head about her own fantasies.

This is most likely a cause of her dissociative disorder she seems to have. Dissociation is a feeling more then just feeling outside your body, it’s like being stuck in it as well. Even when your thousand of miles away you’re still stuck in your own bias. Mae realizes things often, but chooses to stay ignorant to them til it hurts. Like her knowing half the time her friends only stick with her because they are all they can get. They know her for her childish and dangerous attitude and know that it’s something that she needs to move on from.

Mae holds extreme privilege from everyone else in her life. Bea is poor and has to work emotionally and physically constantly for her father and the business, Gregg works a bad job with constant fear that he’ll lose Angus, while Angus is still dealing with his own emotional turmoil of his trauma but also his want for something more then where he is. All of them have that theme, wanting more then what they have but having to cling onto what they have no matter what happens. Which funny enough happens to be each other. They rely on what they are given, and they are given Mae who is to ignorant to be a genuine person around them. Half the time she’s a clueless asshole, but apart of her is charming in that it helps reflect a newer perspective to others. Which is half the reason the three stick around her.

Not only does Mae lack social cues with other people, but mindfulness of her own actions. She’s constantly self destructive and hating herself that little does she realize the pain she causes herself. It’s a painful process of self harm that affects other people in ways she’s not aware.

Now there’s the elephant in the room, which is her dissociative break in high school where she attacks a student almost to death. She doesn’t have consequences for this, rather is shifted into shitty solutions that heightens and again, enforces her mental anguish. She does not have the resources to help herself and doesn’t even know how to obtain them because of lack of understanding of how being a person works. This is definitely an important thing to remember about her is that she’s only broken the shield of ignorance when everything gets the worst that it gets.

Finally, when her consequences catch up to her and she meets the weird cat god and the cultists, does she have her realization. While in a realistic situation, having the realization after all of this isn’t recommended. Having to make sacrifices to realize something about yourself is an extremely destructive thing to do, but it fits Mae’s narrative and that’s why it works. It shows the theme of her own self destruction build up and finally bite her back down. As a story plot, it works that she only comes to the epiphany here. Then, does she apologize and work towards a better self. She feels bad for her actions and the way she’s been affecting Bea and Gregg especially. Bea seems the most affected as she has her always tagging along, and Bea has her own situation that with Mae’s blunt force doesn’t help.

I think what people forget about Mae is that she’s not a comedy joke and nor is she a good person. She’s done awful or just mean things to people because of her own mental issues, but that’s what is so important about her character. Is that she’s such a complicated and working person, that from there one does she realize her need for help and how she could help her friends.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What would a cw adaptation of Harry Potter look like?

Having not watched too many cw shows myself (I just hear about their nonsense), I phoned @therealvinelle who made the poor life choices of having watched much more of The Vampire Diaries than I have and watching any Supernatural.

The following is her beautiful response:

So for starters, we merge Snape and Tom's characters. This is because Snape isn't hot, and because Tom needs to be near the kids. Tom still looks like Tom Riddle, and he's a teacher who seduces Hermione. At no point are any thoughts about the fact that he's a teacher sleeping with a student had

Harry is a blond now, and he's also dating Hermione. A love triangle ensues, one where Tom will hover sexily but dangerously in empty classrooms and make vague threats that Hermione find very sexually arousing.

The love triangle is the focal point of this show.

Voldemort is Tom's evil alter ego, who killed Harry's parents over that prophecy. He wants to kill Harry as well, but it's not the season finale yet so he's not actually doing anything about it. Too busy seducing Hermione.

Instead he just does vaguely sinister things, like release a basilisk that Harry heroically saves Hermione from.

He every so often has charged conversations with McGonagall (Who has been aged down and is in her thirties. She's still considered ancient), implying they had an affair once.

Harry and Hermione piece together that Tom and Voldemort aRe ThE sAmE pErSoN.

(Piece together meaning that Dumbledore, who only appeared in the second half of the first season and the show never bothers to clarify what his job actually is, gets a focal episode where he tells them the story of Tom Riddle through flashbacks. Terrible flashback wigs and costumes galore.)

Tom will later, in season 3 where he goes full woobie and we learn that none of his evil deeds were ever his fault, reveal that there's more to the story. That orphanage he grew up in? It was a special school for muggle-borns where they trained a future wizarding militia. Tom was the only one who broke free of their oppressive regime. The other children... GREW UP TO BECOME THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

But I'm skipping how season 1 ended. The answer is that Hermione disavowed Tom in the season 1 finale since he was evil, he was too sexy bad boy to care except subtle wigglings of his eyebrow told the captive Tomione-shipping audience that he did in fact care. Harmione shippers think they're all delusional. She then jumped into Harry's arms.

Which was poor decision making on her end, because in season 2 Harry joins the dark side. This lasts for half a season, mostly because the arc featured so much filler. Tom, who was imprisoned in season 1, becomes Hermione's supportive pen pal through this ordeal and she starts to wonder if maybe there's good in him after all.

Sirius Black is introduced, he's a lawyer living in the Muggle world and he was in love with Lily. We get a flashback showing us how sad Sirius was when she married James, and there is buildup for an arc where Harry's paternity will be questioned. This arc is scrapped, and Sirius is written out of the show altogether, never to be mentioned again.

Ginny gets pregnant by Neville. Neville dies tragically shortly afterwards, killed by Harry because Harry is a dark wizard now. This is actually the spinoff door episode to the new show the CW is trying to launch, "The Weasleys".

Neville's death has no real consequences, Harry returns to the light and is forgiven in time to become the child's godfather.

Oh, and can't believe I forgot: they've all been aged up to 17.

End of season 2, Tom escapes prison.

Season 3, we get the whole "DUMBLEDORE is the real villain!" arc. Tom killing Harry's parents in season 1 is forgotten, the show doesn't outright retcon it but it doesn't want the viewers to remember it either.

Hermione is once again in a love triangle, only this time Tom and Harry have both done bad things (but we'll only bring up the 2 bad things Harry did (killed Neville and said a mean thing to Hermione) and none of the 282985204592 bad things Tom did) so Hermione has a hard time.

Hermione also discovers that she's a uniquely powerful witch. She has the power to make windows shatter, candles flicker, and wind blow all about. Everyone is frightfully impressed with this.

Mid-season 3 finale, Dumbledore destroys Tom's body. It's terribly dramatic, but then turns out to only be a mild inconvenience as he is resurrected four episodes later. He's resurrected by Hermione's window shattering powering, she closed her eyes very intensely and bam, he's back.

We learn about the horcruxes, which by themselves are shockingly similar to the horcruxes of the original books. The big change, however, is that this Tom didn't know he had horcruxes, those evil bastards at the orphanage split his soul in the night through ominous rituals (another flashback here). He has no idea where this other half of his soul is.

Season finale, we learn that Hermione is in fact his horcrux. This is why they had so much in common (they don't have anything in common) and why she got through his bad boy persona (he hasn't been a bad boy since season 1!). They were soulmates this whole time!

Harry despairs in the face of this, and he and Hermione have a teary conversation where she confirms that yes, the Tomione shippers won.

He also has a pleasant conversation with Tom, as a bromance has bloomed between the two.

Alas. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, as the door flings open dramatically. Dumbledore walks in, bearing proof that Tom made an Unbreakable Vow to always serve the Order, a Vow that was obliviated from him. He drags Tom kicking and screaming away from a crying Hermione, the season ends with her resolve to find a way to save him.

(Sorry, I'm on a roll here)

Season 4, a year later. Harry and Hermione have been searching ever since Tom disappeared. They've become closer than ever, but apart from three or four moments of extreme sexual tension per episode, Hermione is Faithful™

News of Tom's terrorist actions as an Order member reach them with regular intervals. Hermione remains convinced that he's being forced to do all this and doesn't actually want to hurt anybody, Harry's not so sure.

They catch up to him in Minneapolis (did I mention this entire show takes place in the states? All the actors are American.) and he tells them to stop trying to save him. Hermione, devastated, takes this to mean he never loved her, he was only ever a psychopath playing with her feelings. She tells him as much, and Tom confirms, yeah, he's a cold-hearted son of a bitch (Harry's favorite insult for him).

They break up, and Hermione gets back with Harry. They return to their home city in North Dakota.

At the very end of that same episode, Tom is able to visit Harry for 15 seconds in the form of a specter and very dramatically tell him how he does love Hermione but he's not good for her, better to make a clean break, yada yada. DON'T LOOK FOR ME.

Harry agrees, sure no problem, he can do that. Just one noble bro to another.

Tom nods, thanks for having sex with my girl while I rot in hell, bro.

It is in this same season premier episode that the show introduces the Blacks. Remember Sirius Black? Yeah, this is sexy family.

They become instant fan favorites, and one of them is shipped with Tom (the fans now hate both Harry and Hermione).

Pandering as always, the show lets said character run into Tom. And it's not Bellatrix, oh no. It's Athena, a CW original Black. She's indistinguishable from the original Bellatrix and it's unclear why she's not just Bellatrix.

Tom is ordered to kill her, but they have a moment of truly intense eye contact so he only injures her (the killing curse doesn't exist in this show. Don't ask how Harry got his scar. No really, don't ask, the show never explained it). Shippers go wild.

Tom is eventually able to break free of the Unbreakable Vow through the power of true love (book fans are sobbing, this show gets nothing right), and he returns to Hermione, begs her to take him back. She rebuffs him, and he goes to get drunk at a bar. This is where Narcissa (aged down to 25) finds him. They have sex.

He has a brief fling with her, only to get into a more serious relationship with Athena. This leads to Hermione getting jealous.

We're now dealing with a love pentagon, of sorts. Harry and Tom love Hermione, Tom also loves Athena, Narcissa wants Harry but she has undeniable sexual chemistry with Tom.

The show descends into back-and-forth-ing, and does not get renewed.

The end.

POST SCRIPT:

The oddly popular side character that the CW never wanted to be popular at all and keeps having to make mysteriously vanish for half a season so that the plot(?) can avoid being derailed is Draco.

He's super competent but the show will never admit that.

Later, Athena plays this same role.

- @therealvinelle

[rayofsunas]

s/o goes on a mission with them.

A/n: so, as you may or may not have seen by my recent “updates” I’m obsessed with genshin, and I’m pretty sure for one day I played for a solid 5 hours- my eyes hurt pls. but I did miss writing, I’ve just been unmotivated and busy with college stuff (mainly stressing, I haven’t even started my essay yet shh). n e ways, here’s an update, I hope this quenches your thirst 🙊

Summary: s/o goes on a mission with them. 

Parings: Kaeya/Reader, Diluc/Reader, Xiao/Reader, Scaramouche/Reader (all with a fem reader)

Warnings: crack, swearing, worrying Teyvat bois

Word count: 1.7k

Kaeya

when you’re assigned to be on a mission just the two of you, you assume he’s happy, and don’t get me wrong, he totally is!

usually you’re never on missions together, deciding it was better that way because you both get distracted (you realized after marrying, space was always nice too, space was healthy)

though the decision mainly came about because you two good around a lot... and other things 😏

no but deep down he’s worried when you go on this mission together, it’s been a while since the two of you have, a little too long, and the nerves came back

he’s always worried whenever you go on missions, and sure he’ll always be there to protect you when he’s with you (not that you need it) but anything can happen

sure taking out a bunch of Hilichurls was deemed easy, especially together, but he still worried

he never said a word about it though, he’d always keep a watchful eye on you (he does have a reputation to keep after all)

“Ya know, you did well today.” You said plopping down beside your husband, using your pyro ability to light the twigs and leaves in front of you.

“Of course I did,” he boasted, eye lighting up in the dark of the night. “What kind of Knight would I be if I hadn’t, babe.”

You groaned in annoyance, this was the ever so haughty husband you knew.

“Please, I could’ve easily wiped your ass if it weren’t for the fact that we haven’t been paired together in a while; I forgot about your skill.” You teased. The cryo user glared at you.

“Skill? Surely, I have more than one.” He snipped teasingly. Your head shook, feigning innocence. “Are you sure?” A hum sounded in your throat. “I couldn’t tell... Maybe if you hadn’t been staring holes into me every time I used my sword, I could see your progression.”

Kaeya visibly tensed, but he tried to make it go unnoticed, you saw his shoulders raise slightly. 

“Hmm?” You laughed wholeheartedly. 

“Don’t ‘hmm’ me, mister.”

Despite having been caught, a grin spread across his face, he was enjoying your teasing tonight it seemed.

“There’s a reason we don’t go on missions together, but, I did have fun with you today, despite the worrying part.”

Diluc

um, the ever so stoic and emotionless fire boy is WORRIED AF

and he accidentally lets it show

he’s totally fine if you’re only going against a few low-rank Hilichurls and Slime, but against any of the Hypostasis’s, he’s worried for your wellbeing (after a few days of trying to beat one of the Hypostasis’s I finally did, APPLAUD ME PLS, I was crying)

the very first mission you went on together, the job was done quickly and without much trouble, but before and after, he would not stop asking you if you would like to be escorted back to the Knights headquarters

he said it was his duty to protect any and every Mondstadt Citizen

you knew he was also just particularly worried about you

despite being worried, he is happy you’re here, though wishes it were under different circumstances other than battle 

he rarely sees you, so it’s a nice change to be placed on a mission together instead of alone, you missed each others company

BUT HE’S STILL WORRIED

“I’m a Knight of Favonius, I don’t particularly need to be escorted back, I appreciate your concern though.” Poor Diluc, the face he made looked like pure defeat, you used the Knight of Favonius card on him. And yes, you were capable, but he did know a certain Knights of Favonius Captain who he loathed a little too much,

“That’s why I’m worried.”

You scoffed at his jab, though it didn’t necessarily hurt too much.  

“Please, I can handle myself. We’re not all like Captain Kaeya, but even then give him some credit!”

“I know you’re more than capable but-”

”No buts! Let me do what I know how, please. Or else I could slip up, and then actually put myself in danger.”

“Okay...” You nodded, sending a soft thanks to your lover's way, but he just stared at you before muttering, “But let me escort you back to Mondstadt.”

👁 👄 👁

“I’m sorry, did you hear a word I just said?”

“I see your skills darling, but-” He paused, noticing how your arms folded across your chest. You were annoyed. “I’d much prefer if you took care of the greatest battle of all; Kaeya.”

“Kaeya does not need my assistance.”

“He’s probably in a ditch somewhere, and it would be much appreciated by Jean if we did not leave him to rot there,” Diluc explained. 

You had seen Kaeya earlier, and yes although he usually frequented the bars and whatnot, he was surprisingly sober. He hadn’t promised he would stay that way, but it would take hours for said man to get completely drunk to the point where he was immobile. You had only left Mondstadt four hours ago. 

“Amber can find him. She did last time,” He watched in disbelief as you sauntered off towards the hill in front of you, dead set on continuing your mission. “Come on I see an Electro Hypostasis ahead.”

“Also, you could’ve just said you were worried about me, instead of trying to send me back home! Kaeya is fine, worrywart.”

Xiao

it’s not that he’s worried about you and it’s not that he shouldn’t be worried either 

he can be both given the right moment

the only reason he doesn’t want you going with him is because he claims he focuses better on missions alone

you could understand where he was coming from, but you would’ve liked to have gone with him when he first left

you mentioned going on a mission with him in Liyue the night before he locked you in your Liyue Harbor Guesthouse room 

you were still asleep when he’d snuck out and had found a note in the sheets where he’d previously been sleeping hours ago

it read, went on a quick mission, be back soon. - Xiao

...one of the cleaning ladies had come to your rescue after seeing various lounge chairs from the hallway stacked and pushed against the door (she was supposed to clean the room that morning after having seen Xiao leaving, figuring it was empty to begin cleaning)

she was shocked to see you hurriedly throwing your shoes on and grabbing your spear, confused obviously

she’d asked if you were being held against your will or if you were in danger, but you’d dashed off before you could give her an answer

eventually after asking a few Liyue Harbor Merchants, you were able to get a rough estimate as to where your boyfriend went

when you finally caught up to him, out of breath, he was somewhat shocked to see you

“Hey!” You called after the ancient man, watching with glee as he turned around with wide eyes. “Locking me in the room seriously?”

“I didn’t think you’d catch up. I left hours ago.”

“I thought so too. But one of the Merchants gave me a shortcut to your destination.”

“Interesting.” He said, hand going to his chin in thought. 

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?!” 

“Interesting.” You mocked 

He stared blankly, without a doubt the gears working in his brain, spinning and ticking at an unbelievable rate. 

“No, one more thing... How did you get out of the room? I barricaded it.” 

👁 👄 👁

Scaramouche

you better be someone who can handle yourself, and you probably are, or else he would not be able to stand being with you romantically AT ALL

he’s had you practice with him, just to show him what you’re capable of, before he ever allowed you to travel with him

after deeming you a worthy opponent, he decided you would fair well with him

he would’ve never allowed you to come if he knew you’d be a burden, slow him, or get hurt

after you proved yourself, he does not doubt you so he’s not going to be worried at all

he’s only worried if you start slowing him down, then he’ll think you’re incompetent to be traveling together

if you slow him down, you’re being sent home, no questions asked

though because he does love you, you receive a bit of a less severe punishment for doing something wrong on a mission

he may ask you once or twice to keep up with him, or take your enemies out without less hesitation, but that’s if he feels particularly generous, most of the times he’s harsh and will not tolerate your mistakes, no chances given

fortunately for you, he felt extremely generous today

It was truly evident that you were slowly pissing off the sixth Harbinger and he was losing his patience with you. Yet you continued flirting with him to get a rise out of said man (yeah, same); he often reacted, and you enjoyed it when he did. You liked seeing him react and appear differently than always being so uptight and mean.

It was a common belief that he often traveled with a young woman, who had Pyro for a vision, and she was strong but often loved to distract and tease her fellow Harbinger. You were not so surprisingly, that young woman.

“Keep up, I won’t ask you again.” 

Today, you were on a mission together which wasn’t rare, but your other mission was to piss him off as much as you could. So, you purposely walked behind him, very slow. Pretending to take in the chilly scenery of Snezhnaya, although you had seen it thousands of times, acting as if it was something new. 

“You said that the last two times.” You said, cheerfully laughing to yourself when you heard him growl lowly. He didn’t pay any mind to your retort but began showing more signs that he was aggravated.

He hissed, “There’s not much to admire, you can barely see.” Yes, he was right, he’d caught onto your antics very fast, but that didn’t matter.

“As I said, if you keep slowing me down, I’ll continue without you.” Your eyes rolled. Would he?

“Leaving a member of the Harbinger behind wouldn’t be very honorary, but if I must, I will.”

A pout took shape on your lips. “Please, you wouldn’t leave your lovely girlfriend out here to freeze would you?”

“You have pyro abilities, you would fair just fine.”

“Hmm... I suppose so, but I’d get lonely.” 

“Then be quiet and walk faster.”

1.13.21, rayofsunas