#not a comprehensive list of characters obviously just a good handful that i personally enjoy

[santapedra]

Here's a fun game

Spin this wheel of Pasithea characters, and then vote whether you would fuck, marry, or kill the character that you got:

For example, I got Anders (my beloved) and I would absolutely marry that boy in a heartbeat

[dragqueenstarscream]

drag queen's monsterformers au masterpost

this post is gonna be a comprehensive list of all of the characters, settings, and ideas i have for my monsterformers au because it's been on my mind for about a month now. if i come up with any more major ideas, i'll rb this post and tack it on, but for now, this is the general gist of things.

something to note is that while this is primarily inspired by tfp, it's not a perfect one to one retelling. there will be major changes such as different backstories, my own personal ships, the ending, and characters from other continuities. just something to keep in mind.

setting

since this is a fantasy au, this will be set in a sort of faerûn/dnd style world, with any major locations (ie washington dc, russia, greece, or anywhere else that pops up in the show) to be rewritten to reflect the setting. as such, jasper, nevada is now a village on the edge of a broad kingdom, hidden within an arid mountain range. it's still called jasper, though, because come on. that already sounds like a fantasy name.

the characters

obviously, since this is a monster au, all of the robots are now mythical creatures. despite how wildly different they are from each other, they all share the same level of sapience, so characters like phoenix!ratchet and firbolg!bulkhead, despite one looking more animal and one looking more human, are mentally at the same level of sapience. the other major difference is that, rather than disguise themselves as vehicles, they hide as regular humans. where the voices of primus autobots) and the talons of unicron (decepticons) differ is that the voices typically disguise themselves as working class people to blend in better and learn more about how their new home works, while talons typically take on more upper class appearances (royalty, military authority, businessmen, aristocrats) in order to effectively infiltrate and influence this new world.

the voices of primus

optimus prime - a gargantuan firedrake (a dragon without the wings) and the last of the primes, ones who have spoken with primus himself. despite his massive size and strength, he's one of the most gentle of all monsters. like all dragons and their relatives, he has a tendency to hoard; his den is full of magical artifacts and ancient books he's unearthed or bartered for over centuries. as a human, he takes the form of an old librarian, both because he was an archivist back home, and because he enjoys the unrestricted access to as much information about humans as he can get his hands on.

ratchet - a cranky old phoenix whose feathers have gone mostly white with age and stress from war. he's the oldest of the voices by far, and is a couple hundred years away from his next rebirth. he may not be the largest monster, but those wings pack a punch, and he's not afraid to use his talons and beak on the battlefield. despite all of this, deep down, he has a gentleness to him, especially with the children and optimus. as a human, he's a doctor, because with how often the children get in trouble, he needs that extra knowledge on human anatomy.

bumblebee - a strong willed pegasus who enjoys spending time with humans the most out of all the voices. incredibly fast on land and on the wing, he loves to push himself to constantly get stronger for his team. he's also the monster most humans gravitate towards because winged horses are more approachable and familiar than, say, manticores or gryphons. he can't speak due to a nasty curse placed on him by megatron, so he whinnies and nickers like a regular horse. thankfully, the other voices understand him after knowing him for this long. as a human, he's a hired farmhand who puts his strength and speed to good use. he often helps out on raf's family farm and is able to keep a close eye on him this way. he communicates via sign language or writing in this form.

bulkhead - a massive firbolg with a heart of gold. giantfolk have an undeserved reputation for being stupid, but bulkhead is wise beyond his years; he just prefers to use his size and strength when fighting. talk to him long enough, though, and you'll see centuries of wisdom and experience shining in those big blue eyes. one of his favorite things is to use his might to protect and impress miko, whom he sees almost like a daughter. as a human, he's a construction worker, which allows him to do what he does best; build things and break things.

arcee - a sharpshooting manticore who takes no nonsense from anyone. manticores can fire venomous barbs from their tails, and arcee is especially gifted in this department, hitting her targets with alarming accuracy. that, combined with her wings, makes her a nightmare in battle. she may seem as prickly as a thornbush, but in reality, she cares deeply for everyone around her; she just has a hard time showing it without applying a liberal dose of snark. as a human, she works as a bartender at a pub, which is how she met jack. she initially viewed him as a troublemaker, but now is more of a mentor and has taken him under her wing. literally.

smokescreen - a proud and noble gryphon who's determined to prove himself. gryphons often come off as haughty, and smokescreen may appear to fit that bill, but in reality, he's just eager to make his idol proud. he... doesn't quite get that humans are, for the most part, afraid of monsters. why should they be afraid of him? he doesn't wanna hurt them! but he's getting the hang of it. as a human, he's an adventurer who longs to see more of the world he's found himself in.

wheeljack - a wisecracking wyvern and a menace to anyone who crosses his path. he may be smaller than other dragons, but he more than makes up for it with his speed, agility, toxic gas breath, and his ingenuity with crafting weapons. his hoard mainly comprises of weapons and supplies to make them. his favorite thing in the world (besides bulkhead) is anything that goes boom. as a human, he's a bit of a mad scientist, living on his own so he can perform his experiments in relative peace.

cliffjumper - a goofy minotaur who's able to bullshit his way out of any situation. unusually chatty for a minotaur, he loves to crack jokes and tease his fellow teammates. some find it annoying, but others, like arcee, find it endearing. behind the goofiness, cliffjumper is a calculating warrior able to make quick decisions on the fly - though that boldness often gets him into trouble. as a human, he's a farmhand like bumblebee and often works alongside him with more labor intensive jobs.

the talons of unicron

megatron - a dracolich whose lust for power has driven him down a terrible path. once a proud gladiator, centuries of practicing dark magic have corrupted his body past the point of no return, and his mind is following suit. he was mated to optimus back home, but that was a lifetime ago, and all megatron feels towards him now is loathing mixed with twisted desire, a sick mockery of love. as a human, he poses as lord of fortress nemesis whenever interacting with other human nobles. oddly, though, no one can ever find this mysterious fortress, as if its location is always changing...

starscream - a cunning harpy who's always trying to stay one step ahead of megatron. haughty and full of himself, starscream loves to flaunt his accomplishments and terrorize the sky in the heat of battle. deep down, though, he's trying to relive his glory days as lord of the skies from back home. he joined the talons to try and regain some of his old power, but after being megatron's whipping boy for so long, he's grown jaded and is now searching for a way out - even if it involves defecting to the voices. as a human, he's a commander, though he won't disclose his military achievements to other humans...

soundwave - a masked naga with a frighteningly accurate memory and a will to use it. silent as snow and with scales as dark as the night sky, soundwave has eyes all over fortress nemesis; nothing escapes his surveillance. strangely, whenever he talks, he parrots what others say in a perfect mimicry of their voice. he's also never taken his mask off; it's believed that only megatron has ever seen his true face and heard his real voice. even as a human, people don't really know what he is. most assume he's an assassin of some sort. he also keeps his falcon laserbeak as his familiar, making sure his control extends as far as she can fly.

shockwave - the battle damaged tiefling with a mile long sadism streak. calculating and cold, despite his infernal abilities, shockwave is a true terror strong enough to send shivers down the spines of even the strongest warriors. he may be blind in one eye, but the glare in his remaining eye can send even other talons running. not only is he physically imposing, he's also highly intelligent, using a combination of magic and science to create new warriors to fight for the talons. as a human, he's a businessman, using his know how to gather the supplies he needs for his experiments.

breakdown - the vampire bruiser who leaves no mercy. contrary to the usual slender, aristocratic vampires, breakdown is nothing short of a brute, using his raw strength and terrifying visage to strike fear into the hearts of his opponents. he drains the blood of those he kills in battle, which is how he got so strong to begin with. the only one who's truly well and safe from his wrath is a certain werewolf. as a human, he serves as a bodyguard for said certain someone.

knock out - the self obsessed werewolf who's unafraid to play dirty. despite being a fierce, savage predator, knock out prefers to spend his time at fortress nemesis, dissecting anyone megatron puts on his table. he also tends to be quite the hypocrite; he'll gladly tear someone apart in battle or on the operating table, but will then whine and complain that his fur is filthy. he'll snap his teeth at anyone who touches him, but then turn around and beg breakdown to rub his belly. as a human, he's a wealthy aristocrat who proudly indulges in human luxuries and flaunts his image; he's very "look, don't touch."

skyquake and dreadwing - twin gargoyles whose only loyalty is to each other. they joined the talons to ensure each other's safety, and with their combined physical strength, they quickly rose through the ranks and became formidable warriors. skyquake isn't able to use magic like most monsters, and thus, doesn't have a human form. as such, dreadwing uses his magic to protect his twin in battle, though it wears him down significantly. as a human, he's a mighty warrior with the battle scars to prove his worth.

this is about as far as i've come with character designs, though there's definitely gonna be more to come, as i have ideas for characters from other continuities, like tfa and g1. i'm pretty excited to start writing fics for this au and just play around and have fun!

[azsazz]

Little off topic but which sjm character do you think is best in bed?

Hm, this is a great question but also a very difficult one because i think that each character can be so different...

apparently i've decided to make a comprehensive list of all of their sex lives so enjoy lol. it's long as fuck. I tried to put them in order of personally who i think would be the best to the "worst" (this is just my opinion its cool if your roster differs):

i'm getting the vibes that rowan might be the most well rounded in a bedroom scenario. he can definitely be dominating if you've had a busy day and just need to be fucked. he can manhandle you into any position he wants, whisper filthy things in your ear while he fucks you deep. you're a sopping wet mess for him, cunt clenching and back arched when he commands you to cum. like i can't picture, say, dorian or chaol doing this kind of thing...personally. but i also think he's so sweet that he would be the aftercare king. there's also instances where i can see him being so kind and gentle, or if you're wanting to give him a ride or try something new, he's the best person for that.

az is also high up on the list because obviously. i think he can both be dominating and gentle, adventurous and soft. he knows exactly what you need when you need it, not because he's so attuned to your bond, but also because of his shadows. you're having a bad day? let him fuck it out of you. you're angry? he'll let you tear his skin with your nails, bite him, ride him to expel all of that negative energy on his cock. then you'll be all pliant and soft again while he cradles you to his chest. feel like you're two seconds from bursting into tears? he'll go nice and slow, wiping the tears that escape your eyes while you're overwhelmed with emotions and stuffed full with his cock.he knows your limits and he might tease that line sometimes, but he wouldn't ever cross it because your safety comes first.

let's see...sex with cassian is always a good time. he's so confident that it makes you squirm. and he's not afraid to try new places. you won't even make it to your room at the end of the date, cassian's pressing you up against the foyer wall and lifting your skirt to shove his cock into you because you've been teasing him all night with that fucking dress. i think he's so confident that he'll let you do anything, try anything. you want to peg him? he's already on his knees for you. you want to add a third? he's already calling out to azriel or nesta or anyone who has your attention. you're not afraid to tell him anything, ask him anything in regards to the bedroom because he's that caring.

rhysand, well, we all know what he's all about. they don't call him high lord for nothing. and those fuckin mind powers can drive you nuts, though, i know rhysand doesn't like to use them all of the time, because he's worried if he does it too much it will skew your reality and memories, and fuck, he needs you to remember the way he's fucking into you the way you're screaming for him. he often allows you into his own head, to share what he's feeling. it's almost like you know what it feels like to be dipping your hot cock into your own cunt, and down that open a realm of possibilities in the bedroom. also, that silver tongue we know so well does an excellent job against your clit, whispering encouraging words as you reach your crest. rhys has moves that no other character has and that puts him pretty high on the list.

eris i think can be a really soft lover that can fucking go for days. he's addicted to you in every meaning of the word. he could eat you out all night, fuck you until you're a weeping mess for him. but he hates seeing you cry, yet that raw feeling deep down in his chest has him torn, because he never wants to stop. he's soft because no one has ever been soft on him, except you. on the other hand, eris has a temper. we know this. when he's in a mood, he will not hesitate to go rough on you, bending you over his desk, the war plans covered by your body as he fucks you and fucks you hard. had a run in with his father that put him in a shit mood? he's taking it out on your pussy. had to go meet with the night court and cassain made a snarky comment that hit a little too close to home? he's fucking you so hard you don't have the breath to question why he's in such a mood.

lorcan my hate-fucking king. he's grumpy as fuck, knows what he wants. gives me major ghost vibes (iykyk). he'll take what he wants from you whenever he wants but he won't leave you without a few orgasms yourself. he's not as vocal, grunting and using his large hands to move you how he likes, guide your hips while you're riding his cock, a palm flat across your back that he presses into to make you arch for him more. gods, the way he fucking manhandles you because who can compare to this mans sheer size? he's hung as fuck, and he spends a lot of time stretching your cunt for him. it's not often that he forgets, but if he does it feels like you're being split in fucking half on his cock. you may have suffered some internal bleeding somewhere down the line because he went a little too hard with a little less prep than you were used to.

ruhn is another confident male who knows exactly what he's doing in bed. he's a player, cocky, arrogant, thinks he has you wrapped around his little finger but it's quite the opposite. he's the one that's had to chase you, and oh wow, was that fun. when you finally reach the point where he can show you what he's got, there's no going back. he's all over you from that point on. you're walking across town? he's right next to you. you're at one of his parties and didn't tell him you were coming? well, you little tease, he's just going to have to punish you for that, pulling you into a closet or bathroom for a quickie even though his bedroom is literally right upstairs. he's always got his hands on you, ready to spread your legs and feat or dunk his cock into you like some horny teenager whenever he wants. he's always hard for you.

lucien is hard for me to figure out, and i'm not really sure where he'd fall on the list because i don't think i have his personality down. i love that he would be so sarcastic and snarky, making little quips to both annoy you and turn you on. he's knows what he's doing, letting those long fingers brush across your exposed skin. he's teasing you the entire way through it; a brush of a knuckle against your swollen clit, a tease of his tongue in the same manner. just the head of his cock resting at the very opening of your cunt, hot and needy for you. it's torture for him too, but to see you squirming like this, gods, he'll hold off his own orgasm for ages to see you like this.

aedion i bet would be killer in bed. he gives me lucien vibes a bit, with the sexy comments that brush across your skin like his skilled tongue. i feel like he's really open with his sex life, not in the sense where he's telling everyone what noises you make in bed or how when he lifts your leg at a certain angle, you scream so much louder for him, but he makes it clear when he's hungry for you. at dinner, he openly looks at you through lowered, lazy lids. the lust oozes from him and everyone at the table knows that he's going to be taking you back to his bed as soon as that last bite leaves your plate.

hunt is just a good man. kinda makes me want to cry a little bit. he's definitely a giver, isn't worried at all about himself until he's thoroughly taken care of you. uses his wings to his advantage, letting the soft feathers brush across your hard nipples. his hands are strong, calloused from wars, but the way that they're gentle, scraping across your skin has you in a frenzy. i know hunt has the best thighs (besides cassian), and his ass is amazing too.

fenrys. my mans. he loves anything wild and free, so i have the feeling that sex with him would be much the same. i think that he's been through some horrible things, torturous things, so he'd never tease you to the point of tears, because that's just not him. sex with fen is fun, easygoing. you don't have to think hard about anything because it's naturally good.

dorian i gotta say is not super high on my list either. for the phantom hands alone he'd be a great lay. it might be a little overwhelming, but they definitely come in handy (haha). i can see him being a little arrogant, though he sees it as confidence. he's a prince, gets what he wants when he wants and that's no different with you. oh, how he loves how obedient you are for him, those pretty lips wrapped around his cock while he lies back, watching you with those sapphire eyes. but when you're really in a mood not to listen, gods, it makes him harder than a rock. when you're being a little bratty, he loves fucking that out of you until you're clinging to him again, begging him to let you cum.

tharion im not too sure about either. i like how funny he seems to be, and he also seems really open about his sexual prowess. i think he knows his way around a pussy and a cock, he's open to trying anything. he also seems like a giver...like i can picture you down by the marina hiding between boats, your ass perched precariously on the edge of the dock while he eats you out from the water. anyone can see, but tharion is just that convincing, needing to taste you right then or there, not caring that he could easily drag you down into the waters below. he likes the thought of someone finding you like this, all whiny and messy from his tongue.

chaol's probably further down the list. he is a man of order, he follows the rules to a t. you know what you're getting when you take him to bed, but that doesn't mean it isn't good sex. that's why you've chosen him. he knows what he's doing, and although he might not be as adventurous as some of the other characters, he knows his way around your body so that you're never dissatisfied.

ithan...i'm sorry, i just really can't picture him that well. i know that i wrote a breeding kink for him but the entire time i was like "this isn't him this isn't him." i can't help but to think of ithan as like a 19 year old lol (ik, he's 22). i don't think it would be awkward sex, but i do think that he has the potential to be a soft lover. he gives me the vibes of cocky college students but sweet on his girl.

[kordyceps]

OK I mean obviously I'm reading your steter stuff on AO3 but I'd love to know if you have an all time favourite? Either your fave of your own work, or fave of another author's that you rec/reread/still think about a million years later (or both lol)

Oh man, okay, sorry for taking so long to reply to this ask! But it's such a good one and I unfortunately have the memory of a gold fish, so I needed to do Research™ (aka reread all my favs again lmao) so I could answer it properly. 😂

I only have one Steter fic of my own atm, so I guess that's my de facto personal fav for now…

But as for other folks' work, god, there are sooooo many great Steter fics out there!! So these are just a handful of my top favs, and definitely not a comprehensive list!

Five Times Peter and Stiles Troll the Pack by taylorpotato Rating: M | 2.5k | requires an AO3 account to read Stiles and Peter yell at each other in Polish, misleading the pack into think they're fighting, when in reality it's all just like completely fuckin' filthy dirty talk lmao. Short, but very funny, and such a perfect capture of their mischievous dynamic. 10/10, would recommend!

The Devil You Know by Twisted_Mind Rating: E | 11.6k Peter is there for Stiles when no one else is, and uses that to slowly manipulate his way into earning Stiles' explicit trust. And ooooh boy, is it so delicious and spicy. God damn! Cards on the table: this fic definitely won't be for everyone since it wades into some darker waters. But oh my god do I love love LOVE Peter's characterization in it. God, I feel like I could write a whole damn essay about this fic, but then I'd just end up spoiling the whole thing LOL. Just--if you like darker, manipulative Peter and enjoy your sweetness just a wee bit twisted, then 10/10 would recommend!

The Prince and the Pease by luulapants Rating: E | 47k | requires an AO3 account to read Medieval/Royalty AU where Peter is forced to cede his claim to the throne and become a "guest" of King Deucalion's as part of a peace treaty between the two kingdoms. Stiles, who is suspiciously far too mouthy for your average servant, is gifted to Peter as a bedwarmer. This one does such an incredible, masterful job at translating the characters into its setting and time period. The sass, the wit, the wordplay! You can definitely tell the author knows their shit, and my god is it fantastic. The plot itself is also so satisfying -- lots of great ups and downs, and, ugh, just so good! (Be sure to read p2 for the full ending btw!) Needless to say, 10/10, would recommend!

Keeping him (It's all about intent) by sittinginmytincan Rating: M (& E for oneshot sequel) | 121k Stiles winds up slingshotted into his own future, where it turns out he's married to Peter Hale of all people. His only way back is with Lydia's help, but she's gone mysteriously missing somewhere on the east coast while investigating some strange disappearances. Man, this fic….. I feel like the writer for this one must have received a checklist of things I'm into and decided to mark nearly every single one of them lol. Time travel, woke up married, magical theory, an enthralling af plotline -- and it's so thorough. Like, everything is so incredibly well thought out, the characterization is on point, and the development of Stiles and Peter's relationship is just chef kiss. Definitely 10/10, would recommend!

The Striking Complication by aurevell Rating: T | 118k I don't even want to write a summary up for this one because the mystery of it all and peeling back what's happening piece by piece is, imo, the best way to experience it. This story is intense as fuck, near relentlessly oppressive, and impossible to put down. It keeps you constantly at the edge of your seat as you try to figure out what is going on and how Peter and Stiles will survive it, with these heart-wrenchingly sweet breather moments sprinkled throughout. If you enjoy time loop stories, this one is an absolute must read! 10/10, would recommend!

build-a-beau by veterization Rating: E | 41.5k Tired of his dad always worrying about him being single, Stiles decides to pay for a fake boyfriend service so he can finally get his pops off his back about it. It goes about as well as one can expect a fake texting boyfriend you accidentally catch real feelings for can go lmao. This fic is wonderfully witty, with really fantastic banter between the two of them, and it's just so very fun getting to watch the pretend part of their exchanges slip more and more into something genuine. 10/10, would recommend!

Under the Songbird's Wing by mia6363 Raing: E | 87k Stiles is captured and held in captivity alongside Peter, Deucalion, and Satomi Ito. To survive, Stiles runs through lacrosse drills and tells stories, eventually persuading his fellow cellmates out of their shells and establishing a profound, unbreakable bond between them. This one is HEAVY, folks. Like, heavy heavy. But, god, it's also such a beautiful exploration of the characters and the bonds they develop through shared captivity. I don't even know what more to say, really, it's just haunting and lovely and awful and wonderful all at once. In the mood for something that hurts? Then 10/10, would recommend!

[deexchanel]

TFATWS

Word Count: 2,923

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x BlackFem!Reader

Warning: Swearing, arguing.

Summary: Y/N rides along with Sam, Zemo and Bucky to Madripoor.

A/N: I know this episode is over used but I write this and I just wanted to give you guys something after been absent for so long. My birthday is next week and I’m excited. Enjoy this one-shot.

They followed Zemo to his personal jet. An older man stood at the end of the stairs waiting on their arrival.

"So all this time you've been rich?" Sam asked looking at the jet. Y/N walked between him and Bucky behind Zemo. She hasn't really been talking to Bucky because of their argument.

It was basically about how he disappeared on her. He left without warning. The only reason the previous couple is around each other now because Y/N was there when Sam gave up the shield and decided to stay by his side through the journey. That’s how she ended up here on a plane with someone that broke her heart.

The reason why Bucky left because he’s scared to love. He’s scared that’s she was going to leave him because of his past since it was too much for her. So Bucky left and still hasn’t told her the reason why he did.

"I'm a Baron, Sam. My family was royalty until your friends destroyed my country." Zemo replied then spoke to the older gentleman in Russian. After the men greet each other the trio followed Zemo into the jet.

Bucky placed a hand on Y/N’s lower back to help her up the stairs, but she pushed his hand off. She had every right to be mad at him. Y/N really loves Bucky but he can't just leave her whenever he gets the chance.

Y/N sat in the chair in front of Zemo with Sam beside him and Bucky beside her. She nervously looked out the window, Y/N isn’t a big fan of heights.

"The fridge is out. But I will see if there is some good food in the galley." The man said to Zemo who replied in Sokovian. My nerves were getting really bad, She starts to fumble with her fingers.

"Y/N you okay?" Sam’s voice laced with concern. She turns to see them staring at her like a worried parent. Y/N gave them a small smile trying to ease their worries.

"I'm fine."

"Just checking Y/N. Why don't you tell us about where we are going Zemo?" Sam asked looking at Zemo for answers.

Zemo opened a book, "I'm sorry, I was just fascinated by this. I don't know what to call it but this part seems to be important." He pulled a little book that was inside the bigger book holding it up.

"Who is Nakajima?"

Bucky swiftly gets up wrapping his gloved hand around his neck. Y/N’s eyes widened from seeing how worked up he got up from that. All the nervousness about flying left her body.

"What the hell James??"

"If you touch that again, I'll kill you." Bucky seethed then unwrapped his hand from around Zemo's neck sitting back down. Y/N rolled her eyes at how dramatic he was. Deep down she wished it was her he was putting into place but no one needs to know that. (Our little secret.)

"I understand that list of names. People you've wronged as the Winter Soldier." Zemo said obviously not phased by what just happened.

"Don't push it," Bucky warned glancing at him then towards Sam.

"I've seen that book. It was Steve's when he came out of the ice. I told him about Trouble Man. He wrote it in that book. Did you hear it? What'd you think?" Sam amused but Bucky kept a straight face.

"I like '40s music, so..."

" '40s music? You definitely need to put me on some good music then." Y/N said engaging in their conversation. She thought it was kinda cute that he held on to the book Steve had. Bucky gave her a small smile.

"Whenever I get the chance, I will. Just for you."

Y/N bit her lip to keep from smiling to keep up the ‘I’m mad at him' act. But it wasn’t working.

"You didn't like it?" Sam asked shocked.

"I liked it." Bucky said giving him the face of 'duh I liked it.'

"It is a masterpiece, James. Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience." Zemo said in the most formal way possible. Y/N gave a humorous smile nodding her head.

"That was one of the best ways to explain it."

"He's out of line, but he's right. It's great. Everybody loves Marvin Gaye" Sam agreed as if Bucky didn't agree. Y/N laughed at what he was doing.

"Sam, why are you still going on about it? James literally agreed."

"I like Marvin Gaye." Bucky continues looking at him.

"Steve adored Marvin Gaye," Sam said bringing up another memory of Steve.

"I have to go to the bathroom. Excuse me." Y/N held up the finger going to the mini bathroom. She struggled so damn hard in that small ass bathroom trying not to fall on her ass. Y/N soon came out to hear them talking about Madripoor.

"What's up with Madripoor? You talk about it like it's Skull Island." Sam questioned looking between the two who used to be villains.

"It's an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago. It was a private sanctuary back in the 1800s." Bucky starts while Zemo finished telling them the information.

"It's kept its lawless ways. But we cannot exactly walk in as ourselves. James, you will have to become someone you claim is gone."

Y/N glanced at Bucky who tensed up at those words. I knew it was going to be hard on him. Sitting back down in her seat, She moved the hair that was in her face.

"So who do I go as?"

"Miss Sapphire, one of the richest lady there. She models for every company you can think of." Zemo said showing Y/N a picture of a woman who looked exactly like her.

"Ooo I think I'm going to like this," Y/N smirked looking at the outfit that she was going to have to put on. She knew Bucky wasn't going to like it but oh well, its part of the job.

——————

Y/N was beside Sam as they walked down this empty bridge. She kept sneaking glances at Bucky because he looked so good with his new arm. Y/N didn’t know she staring too long when his eyes linked with hers. She quickly looked away, face turning really hot.

"We have to fix this. I'm the only one who looks like a pimp." Sam complained touching his suit. Y/N rolled her eyes, her feet were starting to hurt from walking for so long.

"Only an American would assume a fashion-forward black man looks like a pimp," Zemo said. Y/N’s walk began to turn into limping which made her fall behind a little.

A little "Ow." came from her mouth, grabbing Bucky's attention. He slowed down walking beside Y/N.

"You okay?"

"I'm good."

"No, you're not. You just said 'Ow'. What's wrong?"

"None of your business James. I'm okay."

"So you’re calling me James now? And I know your feet are hurting Y/N. Let me help."

Y/N decided to be stubborn even though she wanted to get off her feet so badly. "It's always been, James. I'm able to handle myself, I can take the pain."

Bucky rolled his eyes, in a matter of seconds, Y/N was in his arms bridal style. Not in the mood to argue, Y/N looked everywhere but him.

"And it's Bucky to you. It's always and forever going to be that to you."

"Before you left, it was Bucky. Now it's James. You know what, I can walk myself." She moved but his grip tightened not wanting her to get out of his arms.

"No, I'm going to continue to carry you," Bucky said but Y/N didn't respond which made it quiet between them. She fought the urge to look at him since she was mad.

"I saw you looking at me and my arm."

She looked up at him fulfilling her urge and they made eye contact. Y/N quickly looked away nervously "Um, no I wasn't."

Bucky let out a laugh, "You indeed was."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Guys! for the love of God, shut up!"Sam scolded from in front of them.

"He started it!" Y/N replied back like a little kid. Bucky laughed a little then sigh.

"Y/N, you've barely said a word to me today. Did I do something?"

She scoffs getting irritated from that dumb-ass question. "DiD I dO sOmEtHiNg?? Huh? Bucky stop talking to me before I say something I might regret."

"What? Y/N I just asked a question." Bucky said in defense. She huff rolling her eyes, 'a dumb ass question at that'

"No matter what happens, we have to stay in character. Our lives depend on it. There's no margin for error." Zemo explained as the car came into view on the bridge. Bucky placed her down on her feet when they neared it, opening the door for Y/N who climbed in the middle seat.

——————

"Here we are."

Walking into the bar they could feel the intense stares. Bucky glared at anyone that looked in her direction. Y/N had to fight off any instinct to grab his hand. It wasn’t the appropriate time to do it.

You could hear the whispers of the crowd looking at them. "Is that the Winter Soldier?". Zemo guided them directly to the bar. A tall dark skin man walked over to the trio so they could order.

"Hello, lady and gentlemen. Wasn't expecting to see you, Sapphire and Smiling Tiger."

"His plans changed." Zemo nodded towards Sam. "We have business to do with Selby."

The bartender looked at Sam,"The usual? Anything for you Ms. Sapphire?"

Sam nodded his head while Y/N replied, "No, Thank you." The bartender turned around grabbing a dead snake out of a glass jar. She covered up her mouth to keep from gagging. Y/N turn to Bucky shaking her head no.

"Ah, Smiling Tiger, your favorite." I heard Zemo say from behind Y/N. She would’ve laughed but Y/N wanted to puke at the moment. She knew Sam had drunk it when Bucky looked the other way to keep from I guess laughing.

Y/N moved to the side of Bucky when a man walked up to Zemo from behind. "I got word from on high. You ain't welcome here."

"I have no business with the Power Broker, but if he insists, he can either come and talk to me." Zemo then pointed towards Bucky.

"New haircut?" The man asked but Bucky just stared.

"Or bring Selby for a chat." Zemo continued his deal. The man walked away not even giving an answer.

"A Power Broker? Really?" Bucky finally spoke up.

"Every kingdom needs its king. Let's just pray we stay under his radar." Zemo explained.

"Do you know him?" Sam whispered not wanting to give himself away.

"Only by reputation," Zemo replied. "In Madripoor he is judge, jury, and executioner."

Y/N leaned against the bar with my back facing the crowd. She felt a hand being placed on her lower back. The other hand moved Y/N’s hair from the side to show her neck.

"Sapphire, baby, we didn't get to finish from last night. Let's get out of here."

Y/N prepared to punch him but stopped herself when she heard Zemo say "Зимний Солдат, Атака" ( Winter Soldier, Attack.)

Y/N turn around to see it was a different man this time. He had a smirk on his face, as his index finger touched her bottom lip slowly then used the rest of his fingers running down her exposed chest.

Y/N had never felt so disgusted in her life. His fingers stopped on her boob when Bucky's metal hand swiftly grabbed it, crushing his hand.

You could tell that Bucky was so angry for him even getting close to Y/N. The man grunts out in pain as both of them walked away from her while Bucky still clutched on his hand.

The pair shared a quick look. The way he eased back into his Winter Soldier character bothered her a bit. Maybe he had it like a switch?

Y/N winced not really wanting to see none of the combat taking place so she turned around with her back facing the crowd.

She didn’t want him to feel he can protect her all the time. Y/N didn’t want to seem so dependent on him especially if he isn’t going to always be in the picture. When Y/N needed him, he wasn't there. Getting out of her thoughts when Bucky slammed the man that touched Y/N on top of the bar holding on to his neck, eyes never leaving his face.

Everyone around them starts to take their gun off safety. Y/N’s heart starts to pound as she looked around. Zemo placed a hand on Bucky's arms whispering.

"Stay in character or the whole bar turn on us."

Zemo says something else in Russian which makes Bucky let go of the man. "Selby will see you now." The bartender announced.

"Thank you," Zemo said then walked off.

"You good?" Sam asked Bucky concerned. He looked at me but Y/N quickly glanced at them then followed behind Zemo not uttering a word.

—————————-

Turns out Y/N wasn’t the one she wants to talk to since she was just some famous model. She had to stand in the hallway and wait on them. Y/N was so uncomfortable, especially with what she had on.

Y/N heard a gunshot which makes her kick in the door. Both Bucky and Sam aimed the gun at her then lowered it.

"What the hell happened in here?!" Y/N asked seeing the bodies on the floor.

"We'll explain later, let's go," Bucky said grabbing her hand and they all walked out of the building. They walked through the streets hearing surrounding people phones going off

"This is not good," Zemo said looking around at the people who looked on their phones. They near the end of the street when bullets aimed at us. Bucky pulled Y/N to him as they ran in one direction.

"I can't run in these heels!" Sam yelled while he ran.

"You better learn today!" Y/N yelled back holding on to Bucky's hand since it was in the heat of the moment, not wanting to let go.

——————

Sharon help killed off the bounty hunters they had on us. At the moment Y/N was in the bathroom getting ready for the party she was having. Finished with getting dressed, she walked out of the bathroom running into a hard chest.

"Oops sorry!"

"It's an okay doll."

Y/N gave him a small smile then began to walk to the room where everyone else was until Bucky grabbed her hand.

"Why didn’t answer my question from earlier? What did I do?"

"You know what you did Bucky. Is there I need to say?"

"I think I know what I did? I don’t know Y/N. Just talk to me. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

"To answer your dumb-ass question, you did do something wrong. You act like everything's okay between us when it's not! Bucky, you left me. Like disappeared on me without explaining why!"

"I knew telling you that I was leaving would crush you. I didn't want you to be hurt over the fact that I left." Bucky rubbed his hand over his mouth.

"Leaving you was the best way to protect you. I'm feared by many but that still doesn't mean you aren't going to be a target to hurt me."

"Best way to protect me?! You leaving hurt me way more than what you think it did. You're worried about protection but not focusing on my feels. You said you love me but you left like it wasn't nothing." I groan flustrated raising my voice. He couldn’t look at Y/N and it raised her suspicion.

“You’re lying Bucky? What is it? What is the truth.”

“Y/N... Please.”

“Bucky tell me!”

"I was scared Y/N! Scared that you were already planning to leave because of my past. I know I shouldn’t have left when you needed me but I didn’t know what to do. You deserve better than me Y/N.” Bucky confessed as his head dropped. I placed my hand under his chin so he could look me in the eyes.

“Bucky I could’ve told me. You leaving hurt me more than what you think it did. I love you and that means that I’ll understand anything you’re going through. I don’t deserve better, and I don’t want better. I want you Bucky. You’re not alone in this baby I swear.”

Bucky pulled Y/N to his chest, as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m so sorry baby. I love you too Y/N so much.” He kissed Y/N’s forehead.

“Oh and I wanted to kill him so badly but I knew you weren't going to like that so I stopped."

"You know me so well."

Bucky apologized again, “I’ve missed you so much. I can’t wait to make up.” He began to kiss on her neck making Y/N tilt her head to the side so he could have more access.

"Hm, I'll accept it if you dance on the dance floor with me."

"No! God no. I'll do anything but that. You know I don't like dancing." Bucky pulled back groaning but she gave him the puppy eyes.

"Please? Or I'm going to stay mad at you."

Bucky rubbed his hand over his face, "Fine."

Y/N smiled jumping in his arms and they rested under her butt to keep her held up.

"Yayyy!! This is going to be fun."

"I’m only doing this for you baby.”

“That’s the best part.”

———————-

This took a long ass time to edit but I hope you guys like it. Like I said earlier I know this episode is overused but I had written this when tfatws was still airing so yeah.

I’m posting something since I haven’t posted in so long.

If this one-shot doesn’t make sense let me know cause it’s almost 3 am while I’m trying to edit and add stuff to this and I’m so sleepy 😂

Thank you for reading!

Stay slutty my friendsss 💕

[televinita]

Earlier this month dollsome posted a poll of some favorite TV shows, and there was a space to write in your own favorite, and I had an immediate crisis of conscience upon realizing I do not know anymore.

(this got kinda long)

In high school and for a few years after that the obvious answer was X-Files, but lol no to that; even if the revival hadn’t tainted it, it’s been handily surpassed by way too many better shows at this point.

Up until the early 2010s it was definitely a CBS procedural, probably one of the CSIs or maybe NCIS. Now the only ones that have a chance at that title are Criminal Minds* and maybe Numb3rs; the rest are all uniformly like “you want me to watch cases? about strangers? when I could instead just make the episodes 10 minutes long by reducing them to the important parts, i.e. regular-character personal moments??” (...I actually do still have pretty good memories of the cases on CSI: NY and Cold Case, but I digress)

*which I joined up with in season 8; still haven’t seen huuuuge swaths of the entire first half of the series

I guess I could say The Office, which is a rare blend of strong character/shipper moments and episodes I genuinely enjoy watching again in their entirety, but also, how can a sitcom (even a smart one) be my favorite show*?? (even though sitcoms make up the vast majority of “shows I can watch over and over,” I’ve ruled most of them out because Office is honestly one of the only ones where I have beloved characters, let alone ships. And my favorite show of all time HAS to come with an OTP, it just has to.)

*especially when I hate Michael Gary Scott with every fiber of my being, or at least 96% of them!

So now I’m like - oh god. Is it Glee? Maybe it’s Glee?? Has anything after that so thoroughly eaten my brain and made me happy watching both as whole episodes (season 666 not withstanding) and as short scene clips years after the fact, complete with fanfic consumption? But I am certainly too old for Glee to be my all-time favorite show, aren’t I? And/or too straight? How could my favorite show be one in which the heterosexual rep is less than 90% of the ships, and also not the best one.

Part of me genuinely thinks it could be Revolution, something smartly done but also action-packed that I have now watched 4 times in its entirety, and on which I have a top tier OTP to boot. Seems an odd choice for favorite, given that I don’t actually think I watch a lot of shows in this genre, but maybe? Same goes for Pushing Daisies.

Another part of me is in such a fannish fugue state right now that I’m like “OBVIOUSLY Blood and Treasure. OBVIOUSLY nothing has ever been better than this beautiful couple on this glorious cracky treasure-hunting ride,” but I’m too close to it right now to make a judgment call, given that I once had this same feeling about Zoo. (which was fun, mostly, but also no. definitely not my #1 fave. I haven’t watched so much as a scene clip since like, 2018)

Then there are a lot of single-season shows I loved, but single shows simply cannot be my favorite. No one remembers most of them, for one.

Maybe I would feel better if I made a top 10? Or if I listed my top 10 rewatchable sitcoms, deliberately excluded them, and then tried to list a top 10??

Spiraling!!

tl;dr SUPER JEALOUS RIGHT NOW OF ANYONE WHO KNOWS THEIR FAVORITE SHOW, OR EVEN TOP 3-5 SHOWS, OF ALL TIME.

p.s. I came across this lovely book in the library, What to Watch When: 1000 TV Shows For Every Mood and Moment, which very much impressed me with its organization, comprehensiveness and ability to deliver on the subtitle while spanning decades all the way up to 2020 -- and I gotta tell you that as much as I cherish this one’s content, I am also very tempted to write my own personalized version. I think that might be the only way I feel okay. “what if I told you my thousand favorite shows? *hands you a Tome*” 

[vallkyr]

June: What a view

Stray Kids take a little vacation and Minho has a plan for how he and Jisung can pass their time.

Prompt: surreal mountain landscape

Characters: Lee Minho, Han Jisung, Bang Chan is mentioned

Pairing: Minho x Jisung

Rating: Teen and up audience

Warnings: mild wearing, thunderstorms

Genres: Romance, Slice of Life

Tags: Fluff, Established Relationship, Cuddling & Snuggling, Minho and his obsession with butts (especially Jisung's), very vaguely set in the Alps because why not, Jisung can’t say no to Minho for the life of him

Word Count: 3.809

Writing Workshop Masterpost July: A morning at the pool

Hello, dear people. I've started doing a writing work shop with a few of my friends and will try to post my result here every month. I have no idea what the fics will be about since we take turns picking prompts. I hope you'll have as much fun as I do!

“Jisuung.” Oh god. He wants something. Minho always gets that specific tone when he’s about to ask for something he knows Jisung would otherwise turn down. Damnit, they just had breakfast with the others. Jisung was hoping for a quiet day in bed and a movie or two, but he highly doubts that’s what Minho has in mind. Minho wouldn’t use his please-I’ll-do-anything voice for being lazy in their hotel room. Jisung looks up from his phone, finding Minho kneeling on the bed right next to him and looking at him with a way too sweet smile. Mr. resting-bitch-face is up to something big. Fuck, this is going to be a tough one.

“I told you, I’m not holding your phone while you video call your cats. Get a tripod or something.”

As expected, the joke breaks Minho’s façade a little: he rolls his eyes “First of all: how dare you? My children will hear about this. Secondly, that is not what I was going to say.” Jisung raises his brow but decides to believe him. One horrible request is off the list, thank fuck. Feeling generous now that he knows he won’t be used as a stand, Jisung puts his phone aside. Whatever Minho has on his mind can’t be that bad, right? “I would like to go hiking with you.” Boy was he wrong.

“No.” And just like that Jisung is back on his phone. Fucking hiking. That’s what Minho is using his persuasion tactics for? This is supposed to be a little vacation for their group to get some rest after the tour. They came here to relax with their friends not to walk around without an aim for hours on end. How Minho ended up with hiking on his list of hobbies is beyond Jisung’s comprehension. Isn’t fishing already boring enough?

“Please?” With that Minho is back to his cute smile and honey dripping voice and Jisung can already feel his resolve crumble a little under the weight of Minho’s warm eyes.

Jisung groans. No, Minho is not going to wear him down on this. “Can’t you go with someone else?”

“I want to go with you,” Minho stresses and takes Jisung’s hand into his. “Isn’t it obvious? I want to see you move your sweet ass up the mountain.”

Does he really thing compliments are going to help him with this shit? “Chan-Hyung has a sweet ass too.”

Suddenly, Minho breaks into a laugh. Oh fuck, his laugh is way more effective at softening Jisung’s heart than all of Minho’s persuasions. “You want me to go hiking with Channie-Hyung and stare at his ass? Did you really think that one through?”

Okay, yes, well played. “I did not,” Jisung admits while starting to laugh himself.

“Does that mean you’ll come with me?”

For fucks sake, Minho. “No, it’s boring and I hate moving.”

“It’s relaxing!” Minho tries to argue. It’s cute when he tries to convince Jisung of doing physical activities with wildly inaccurate opinions like that.

“If you think very hard you might be able to come up with a relaxing activity that doesn’t require us to go out into the middle of fucking nowhere.” For emphases, Jisung lets the fingers of his free hand slide along Minho’s thigh. Minho hitting his arm cannot stop Jisung from grinning. Considering the amount of time Minho spends with his hands on Jisung’s ass, he should really be able to take a dirty joke.

“Okay, how about this: You go hiking with me and when we get home again, I’ll make you a chocolate cheesecake.”

“Now we’re talking.” Jisung puts his phone down – it’s not like he had been paying attention to it anyways – and leans into Minho’s space. “When you say chocolate cheesecake do you mean chocolate mixed into the creamy part or do you throw chocolate chips into a regular cheesecake?”

Minho blinks at him. The little smile on his face tells Jisung Minho knows exactly he’s about to win Jisung over. Honestly, a chocolate cheesecake might just do the job. A little trip with his boyfriend can’t be too bad anyways, right? “I was going to make a regular cheesecake but with chocolate crust and put chocolate glaze over it.”

Fuck, that sounds good. “You’re a genius.”

“I’m aware.” Minho grins and leans even closer. “So do we have a deal?”

Jisung ponders on it for a moment. He still thinks hiking is going to be boring as fuck. Besides, he’d definitely prefer staying in their room, having dinner with the others and watching a movie together afterwards plus maybe some relaxing activities. But Minho seems really insistent on this. Maybe hiking will be somewhat bearable together with him. Plus, the cheesecake sounds amazing. Why stop at one cheesecake though? Minho might even agree to two if Jisung plays his card right.

“I don’t know…” Jisung turns his head to the side, away from Minho.

“Please?” Minho places his hand on Jisung’s cheek, turns Jisung’s face towards his own and puts on that same sweet smile again, which makes Jisung feel weak in his knees even if he doesn’t want to admit it. “We could watch Spirited Away afterwards, you know? Please Jisung…” Yeah, okay. He can’t say no to Minho’s smile. Jisung tries to lean closer and kiss Minho but is stopped by a hand on his chest. “Answer first.” Of course Minho wouldn’t let his guard slip.

“Okay. I’ll go.” Minho beams at Jisung before going in for the kiss. Yup, this is a good deal. Cheesecake, Spirited Away and a content boyfriend, what else could Jisung possibly need?

🏔️🏔️🏔️

“I should have demanded way more than a fucking cheesecake,” Jisung grumbles while fanning himself with his – Minho’s – shirt. Obviously he put on Minho’s shirt for this. He’s not going to get his own clothes sweaty for Minho’s nature kink.

“Come on.” Minho pats Jisung on the butt before continuing on without mercy. “Get your act together, we’re almost at the summit.”

Asshole. Why did he want Jisung to come along so badly? He really should have known Jisung would only slow him down. “You say that like we won’t have to go back home after that.”

“Well, we can spend some time at the top and rest a bit. That’s kind of the point, you know? Relaxing, enjoying the view and all. It’ll be nice, I promise.”

Yeah, sure, nice for Minho. “Not if I die before we get there. You’re way too fast for me.”

Jisung doesn’t have to see Minho’s face to know he’s rolling his eyes. Pretentious country folk. “Crybaby.” And now he’s insulting Jisung too. Really, Jisung should just turn around and leave. But he doesn’t have the energy for that and would probably get lost on the way back, so he quickly ditches that thought.

“Can’t you give me a piggyback ride?”

Minho turns around and raises his eyebrow at Jisung as though he just said something crazy. It’s ridiculous for him to react that way. By now, Minho should be used to far more obscure ideas. They’re part of the all-inclusive deal of being in a relationship with Jisung. “You’re too heavy.”

“Oh come on! Why the fuck do I date a person who willingly spends time at the gym if they don’t even carry me?”

“Are you saying that you want me to stop going to the gym?”

“Don’t you fucking dare!”

Minho laughs at that and finally stops. He turns around and beckons Jisung over. As soon as Jisung is close enough, Minho grabs his shirt and pulls him in for a kiss. It’s surprisingly sweet after all the bickering. Usually Minho just slaps his ass or gives him a quick kiss on the cheek after an “argument” like that. Jisung enjoys the little treat though. He lifts his hands to Minho’s hips and pulls them closer together, which lurs a little giggle form Minho.

After a while Minho ends the kiss and leans their foreheads together instead. Jisung sighs contently when Minho suddenly caresses his cheek. “Just a little longer. Okay, baby? I promise the sight is worth it.”

A little grin tugs at Jisung’s lips. “Maybe I like the sight right here better.”

“That’s it. I’m going alone.” Without any bit of hesitation, Minho turns around and starts walking again. As though their kiss never even happened. What a dickhead. Just when Jisung thought this trip was getting nice.

🏔️🏔️🏔️

“What a sight.” Minho beams while looking out into the mountain range. Finally, after what felt like a small eternity to Jisung, they arrived at the mountain top. After all the hassle, Jisung feels obligated to follows Minho’s gaze. Despite his earlier reservations, he has to admit Minho was right about the nature. He lets his eyes wander over the jagged mountains, the deep green conifers filling the valley, the lush grass underneath them and the little flowers scattered across it like stars in the night sky. Jisung has never seen anything like it. And he had no idea air could be this fresh. He closes his eyes and fills his lungs. Soft gusts of wind caress over his skin like silk. Jisung takes another deep breath and feels his entire body relax. Maybe Minho was right about that part. When Jisung opens his eyes again, Minho still looking at the nature. His smile is so bright as he enjoys the sight in front of them. Honestly, seeing Minho this content is really making the strenuous way up here worth it.

“Usually you say that while looking at my butt.”

Giggling, Minho turns away from his beloved sight and looks at Jisung. “And I mean it.” Minho pulls Jisung closer and kisses his cheek – the one in his face – before tugging at his hand. “There should be a table up there. We can take a break and eat lunch.” Jisung lets Minho pull him along. Sure enough, they soon come to an old wooden table with benches on the sides. The whole thing looks a little shaky from years of being exposed to the elements, but Jisung figures it will survive a simple lunch. He sits down on the bench cross-legged and watches Minho unpack everything. At the very least, his boyfriend had the decency to carry all their food since he already talked Jisung into this exhausting trip. Jisung hadn’t realized just how hungry he was until he sees the food.

Jisung doesn’t know whether it’s the exhaustion or the breathtaking view, but the food tastes incredible. He leans his head onto Minho’s shoulder as they enjoy their lunch and the view. Sadly, they’re soon done eating and Jisung is already dreading hiking all the way down again. “Can I take a nap here?”

“No. I know your type of naps and I’d like to go back to the hotel before it gets dark.” Jisung would love to protest, but Minho does have a point with that. Which doesn’t mean Jisung is about to give up.

“You’re so damn cruel. You’re really going to make me go home without a nap?”

“Unless you feel like staying here all by yourself.” Damnit. It’s useless, Minho isn’t going to agree to a nap. Of course, they’re going to stay here for a while longer, but Jisung doubts the bit of rest will charge his batteries enough to survive the descent. How can Minho still be so unbothered? It’s like the hiking didn’t phase him in the least. No, Minho has energy for two. Jisung smiles when an idea hits him. He holds onto the table while moving to straddle Minho’s lap and sitting back on his thighs.

“What are you trying to pull?” Despite his obvious suspicion, Minho holds onto Jisung’s waist and gently caresses Jisung’s sides.

“I’ll earn myself a piggyback ride home,” he announces with a grin. Minho may be good at persuading Jisung, but the same is true the other way around.

“Not happening, Jisung.”

“You say that now…” He’s about to kiss Minho when he feels something wet on his back. For a moment he considers if Minho tried to purr water over him, but then more and more drops seem to land on his body. “Is it seriously starting to rain now?” Jisung glares up, finding a dark grey cloud right above them. “We should find somewhere to take shelter.”

“Knew it,” Minho mutters while squeezing Jisung’s butt. “Your ass is made from sugar.”

Jisung sighs. Shitty weather isn’t enough, of course Minho has a dumb comment to add. “That remains the worst pick up line you ever pulled and excuse me for not wanting to catch a cold.”

“Relax, I’m sure it will pass soon.” Of course, Minho stays completely unaffected. He pulls Jisung closer and nuzzles his face into the crook of Jisung’s neck. “Whatever happened to earning your piggyback ride?” Jisung tries to ignore the rain and go back to kissing Minho, which seems to work for barely a minute. The occasional rain drops become bigger and bigger and more frequent until a cloudburst breaks down on them and drenches them to the bone. They gather all their stuff accompanied with muttered curses of ‘What the hell.’ and ‘Fucking shit.’ As soon as everything is inside their backpacks again, they make a run for a group of trees, hoping that it will keep at least some of the rain away from them.

“That much on ‘It will pass soon.’ Fuck!” Jisung tries to shake off the water, which proves rather useless. They’re completely soaked. “What do we do now?!”

“Sit here and wait?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?! I knew we should have stayed in the hotel.” Jisung crossed his arms. Hiking sucks by itself and now they’re stuck up here in the rain? Shit. This is what he gets for not being able to tell his boyfriend no. Stupid handsome face and sweet smile.

“Maybe we should have checked the weather forecast…” That idiot really didn’t check the weather? Jisung can feel Minho’s gaze on him, but he refuses to turn around. Minho sighs behind him. Suddenly Minho’s strong arms wrap around Jisung’s body and Jisung finds himself trapped in a hug with Minho pressed against his back. “Baby, are you mad at me?” Yes, Jisung most definitely is.

“You’re going to need way more than Spirited Away and a chocolate cheesecake to make up for this bullshit.”

Minho hums in thought and snuggles even closer. “Ponyo and a chocolate cheesecake?”

“No, you idiot. Howl’s Moving Castle and a chocolate cheesecake.” Jisung can’t help but smile when he feels Minho tremble with laughter behind him. Fuck, he can’t be mad at his boyfriend when he’s adorable.

“This certainly explains why we saw so little people on the way up.”

Jisung groans. “How come we never realized that?” Now that Jisung thinks about it, it really should have struck them as weird that not a single soul was up here.

Minho leans over Jisung’s shoulder to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m sorry, baby. Next time I’ll definitely check the weather forecast. Now come on, if I remember correctly there’s a hut a bit further down the path.” They shoulder their backpacks and get going hand in hand. As though this shit wasn’t enough yet, lighting starts to flash in the distance. Just great. They go from walking to running, which makes Jisung’s hood bounce around his head. He laughs as he grabs it and tries to keep it in place while running behind Minho. More and more water splashes around his feet as they run, but at this point it really doesn’t make much of a difference.

Luckily it doesn’t take too long until a wooden hut comes into view. The final spurt towards it drains the little bit of energy Jisung still had. They almost crash into each other under the roofed over entrance. Jisung leans his head against Minho’s shoulder and tries to catch his breath again, which is difficult when both of them are laughing. With all the noise and his eyes closed, Jisung almost misses the rattling of the door.

“Closed,” Minho comments with a pained laugh.

“Of fucking course it is.”

“Stay here.” As if Jisung even considers moving. He leans against the closed door and watches Minho snoop around, lifting the doormat and pushing potted plants around until he triumphantly raises a key in the air. “Knew it!”

Jisung raises his arms and cheers as he watches his boyfriends unlock the door. They trudge inside and get rid of their backpacks. “By the way, are we even sure this is legal?”

“Would you prefer going back into the thunderstorm?”

Just in that moment, another lightning flashes outside. What a nice way to avoid decision making. “Fuck it. We’re staying.” Jisung throws the door shut.

Minho laughs before grabbing Jisung by his jacket and pulling him into a kiss. It feels a little like kissing in the shower with how wet they are. Except they’re usually far less dressed when they shower together. Minho pulls away with a smile. “I’ll see if we have towels or anything here.”

Though a little hesitant, Jisung lets Minho go and starts to get rid of his soaked clothes. There’s a small table pushed against one of the walls with three chairs around it. The perfect place to spread out their clothes. Hopefully they’ll dry until it’s time to leave.

When he hears footsteps, Jisung turns his head only to freeze right away. Minho is staring. He doesn’t bother with being subtle in the least. Well, Minho never does. Especially not if Jisung is almost naked. Minho fucking grins and wiggles his eyebrows at Jisung when their eyes meet. “There we have the sight again.”

“Shut up, give me a towel and get out of those clothes you’re going to catch a cold.”

“So demanding,” Minho complains. He gives Jisung one of the towels and slaps his ass as soon as his hand is free. Jisung wraps himself up in the towel and returns the favor of blatant staring while Minho sheds his clothes.

“Oh what a sight,” Jisung mimics his boyfriend, laughing when Minho starts to make a show out of it. Minho puts on an exaggerated sexy expression while stripping down piece by piece. In the end Minho even throws his shirt over to Jisung, who catches it and starts clapping. “We should get caught by rain more often.”

“I don’t need rain for this.” Minho grins before putting the towel around his shoulders. “We should probably let the others know we aren’t coming back any time soon. With how much it’s raining, we probably wouldn’t make it home before dark.”

“You’re planning to stay?”

“I could imagine worse than spending a night in the mountains with my boyfriend.” Minho places a kiss on Jisung’s cheek before getting his phone. They quickly call Chan to let him and the rest of their friends to tell them everything is fine and that they’ll return tomorrow before slipping into bed. There’s no wood to make a fire, so they snuggle up against each other underneath the blankets. Because he’s so tired, Jisung feels sleep clawing at him faster than usual. He fully wraps himself around Minho – almost like a koala – and closes his eyes.

“Good night, cheesecake-maker.”

Minho chuckles quietly. He sounds tired too. Very softly, he runs his hand through Jisung’s hair and kisses his forehead. “Good night, my favorite view.”

🏔️🏔️🏔️

Jisung groans and tries to turn away from the light that stings in his eyes. It’s way too early to wake up. At least, Jisung supposed that. He has no idea what time it is. What he does know is that he isn’t even close to being rested enough to get up and hike down this fucking mountain.

“Minho, can you close the curtain or something?”

Minho unlocks their legs and removes his arms from around Jisung’s waist. For a moment, Jisung thinks he’s actually going to stand up and close the curtain until he hears a low, rough voice from beside him. “You’re free. Go do it yourself.”

“Asshole.”

“Love you too.” Jisung pouts when Minho does a kissy face into his direction with closed eyes. Fuck, the asshole is cute and Jisung still can’t say no to him. Jisung immediately misses the warmth and comfort of the bed and Minho’s embrace when he gets up. Damnit. Just hurry and close the fucking curtain.

Jisung has already grasped both of the curtains and is about to pull them close when his gaze falls out the window. Is this really the same mountain range they saw yesterday? It looks like an entirely different world. The mountains emerge from thick layers of fog. The sun is just peaking out from underneath it, coloring everything in a beautiful pink-orange glow.

“Minho!”

“No.”

“You wanted to get a view so come here and look at it!”

Minho grumbles and rolls out of bed while keeping the blanket around himself. Of course, Minho would never willingly abandon the warmth of the bed. He waddles over to Jisung. He can barely keep his eyes open against the sunlight, but obviously he’s immediately able to locate Jisung’s ass and give it a firm slap before stepping up behind him.

“Woah…”

“Yeah.”

Minho brings his arms around Jisung from behind and wraps both of them up in the blanket. A little smile dances over Jisung’s lips while he snuggles back into Minho’s body. This is what heaven has to feel like. It’s so peaceful in this cabin. Everything is quiet and bathed in the golden sunlight of the morning sun.

“Maybe, but really just maybe, hiking wasn’t a bad idea after all.”

“Oh?” Minho places a soft kiss on Jisung’s neck. “Does that mean I don’t have to bake that chocolate cheesecake after all?”

“You don’t have to, you should want to. You still forced me to hike and caught me in the rain, you know?”

“I’m deeply sorry.” Minho sounds sly, amused, smug and anything but sorry, but Jisung can’t be bothered to get annoyed by that. There’s something soft and magical about the moment, about the scene stretching out in front of them like a door into a whole new world.

“Is this real?” Jisung whispers while letting the tips of his fingers dance over his forearm. “It doesn’t feel real.”

“Starting reality check.”

Jisung yelps when Minho suddenly pinches his ass cheek. “Ouch! Asshole!”

“No actually, that’s a bit more to the left.”

Jisung blushes. “Shut up. Please just shut up.” Of course Minho only grins stupidly when Jisung slides his hand into Minho’s neck and yanks him into a kiss. He’s a fucking idiot, but Jisung would give him or his weirdness or his stupid plans for anything in the world.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Mae Catt’s Cyberverse Q&A

Here’s a neater version of some key Q&A responses from Mae Catt’s Cyberverse stream. 

Please note: not everything is verbatim, and also note that Mae Catt said “Don’t take things I say as the end-all be-all.” She’s a big supporter of fanfic writers!

This Q&A session contains spoilers for Season 3 of Cyberverse. For a (somewhat) more comprehensive transcript, please refer to this post.

Q: Megop rights?

“Oh absolutely, duh.”

Q: What does Optimus do when he’s not giving speeches / being a leader when they were all hanging out on the ARK?

I think he reads, he seems like a heavy reader. It’d be cute if he read really bad Earth romance novels. He seems like a guy who needs a break from everything.

Q: Does Optimus have hobbies?

Not to borrow from Rung, but doesn’t it seem like Optimus would make model ships? Very quiet, very focused detail-oriented hobby. *pauses* Oh duh, he also plays basketball.

Q: How did the Decepticons learn to stream? 

Because they’re deceptive! Megatron knew he should dedicate some time to winning the hearts and minds of humans. Starscreams’ funeral was not the first time they streamed. Optimus would use the official media channels (like the news), not a streaming service. Megatron would try to speak more directly to the people.

Q: Is Optimus the type of streamer who would take 10 minutes to figure out how to un-mute his microphone?

Optimus is a dad. He has no idea what’s going on with streaming. Optimus would say embarrassing things while Bee and Hot Rod were in the middle of streaming something.

Q: Is Megatron dead?

In discussions we wanted to kill him. We wanted to do a reverse Optimus death. However, in the final product, I kinda enjoy the ambiguity rather than the final decision. Can’t remember if we were decisive about that in the script.

Q: Did the Titan mind Decepticons living in them?

The Titans want to be cities. They want citizens. They want to be lived in, that brings them joy.

Q: Does Megatron do anything for fun or is he too angry?

I want to say he’s too angry, he has fun beating people down but I don’t think he’s had fun for a long time.

Q: How would you feel about a female Optimus Prime? 

[GAY LAUGHTER] 

The question is: do you turn Optimus Prime into a woman, or do you take characters like Elita One and uplift her? I would want to lean more into giving Elita One more oomph, I do love how Optimus doubts himself and if he’s worthy of being a Prime.

(Mae Catt talked a lot about representation and later mentioned how there's more pressure to write the girl characters well, especially because of the need for better representation. They wanted more girls in the show, and they planned to have Jazz be a girl).

Q: Elita prime when?

All the time, in my heart!

Q: Did you plan to have ___ character in the show?

Almost every character was discussed at least once. 

She really regrets that they didn’t get to have Beast Machine Obsidian or Rumble and Frenzy in the show, and says she would’ve loved a MTMTE-style Ultra Magnus / Minimus and Transmutate. She didn’t know what Obsidian’s personality would be, it was just a “Look how cool he is!” sort of thing.

(Note: We have Mae Catt to thank for Whirl getting into Cyberverse)

Q: What was your favorite episode?

“I Am the AllSpark” because of the Megatron and Starscream dialogue (which she wrote). Also S2 04 Soundwave and Shockwave.

I enjoyed writing Starscream most, Clobber and Hot Rod became a joy, S2 E4 was my first episode, and it was fun getting into Hot Rod’s voice. It was hard doing Optimus’ voice, I’d always pass it off to someone to look at it.

Q: Did you ever plan to have Hot Rod become Rodimus?

Rodimus was never considered for the show because Optimus dying has been covered to death, but we were adamant about portraying Hot Rod as someone who wanted to be a leader. Hot Rod is someone who is learning to be a leader.

(On that note, when someone asked if she thought Bee would ever become Prime, Mae Catt said:)

I don’t think Bee would be a Prime. Windblade and Hot Rod would be a better Prime. He wouldn’t want to be a Prime. He’s the #2 to Primes!

Q: Did Megatron always plan to return to Cybertron?

Megatron’s priorities changed when he saw his doppelganger. Realizing he was a horrible tyrant, that scared him enough to return and not kill Optimus and make peace no matter what.

Q: Which death hurt you the most?

Starscream. (Slipstream’s hurt too).

We didn’t want to kill people off willy-nilly for shock value, but in certain instances it made sense. Like, the audience will fall in love with Slipstream because she’s becoming good, so she has to die. (She apologized for that sounding harsh). We killed Prowl because it was Shadow Striker doing the killing and he’s a self-sacrificing lieutenant. I almost wanted Starscream to emerge from the Judge’s head untouched, but I’m ultimately glad that idea got shot down.

(She circles back to this comment later, so I’m making note of that here since it wasn’t a direct response to a question)

When I was desperately trying to save Starscream’s life even though I brutally murdered Slipstream, I wanted Starscream to have amnesia and have a redeption arc. I wanted him to have a Windblade shard and have it be kind of like Castaway, where the only person he talked to was that (and the shard only had 5 phrases it could say). Eventually Bee would befriend him and he’d wind up with the Autobots.

I wanted to write Starscream kind of like an abuse victim who expects the worst of the Autobots, but I wanted him to warm up slowly to them. I wanted to have a Starscream and Optimus episode where Starscream messes up on something and Optimus is like “you did your best and that’s what counts”, a response which is totally new to Starscream. But obviously we didn’t have time for that.

Regarding redemption arcs (a continuation from the previous question, and a huge highlight from the stream):

Re: the potential for Starscream’s redemption arc “A redemption arc needs to be facilitated by a character acknowledging that what they did was wrong. He would have had a laundry list of excuses for it, even if there was all that evidence to the contrary, but the character needs to acknowledge that reasons don’t matter because people got hurt [by their actions]. [The character] needs to intend to do better. Let them try and let them fail, they don’t need to do a 180, it’s hard work to be a better person.”

NOTE: Mae Catt also made a few more comments re: the idea of a Starscream redemption arc on her Tumblr page.

Q: Did Megatron really kill Starscream?

The Starscream beatdown was super severe and they were like “holy frick they’re really going for it” when they saw the storyboards. According to Maecatt, Megatron didn’t kill Starscream when he slammed him down (which is a bit confusing since the show definitely made it seem like Starscream died). 

Q: Did Drift die? Why was he a double-agent?

According to us, Drift did not make it, but I fully endorse whatever you want. We needed a double-agent, someone who would (seemingly) kill Hot Rod. (She says they went with Drift because of his history in the comics).

(Later on in the stream)

Maybe Drift is alive, maybe he’s rethinking his decision and he’ll come back later. Drift would’ve been helpful in S3 for sure, maybe he’d come back with Repugnis or something.

Q: Why are you so mean to Percy? 

He's so mature and pragmatic that he can take it, and is willing to take one for the team bc he understands that it's what he needs to do. (In response to someone’s comment about his personality) Yes, he’s calmly feral.

Q: Is Skullcruncher Percy's bouncer now that he's running Maccadam's? 

Oh totally.

(She later mentions that Percy has permanently taken over Maccadam’s. Also: Skullcruncher is a lady! She misses Mac, but Percy takes good care of her).

Q: If Tarn is the perfect Decepticon who's the perfect Autobot? 

A firetruck alt mode, and an Autobot insignia as a face. Nat (her fiance) and I talked about it a lot. Optimus SHOULD be a fire truck, it makes the relationship between him and Ratchet a little more fun since Ratchet is an ambulance, and Optimus has an ax. It just makes sense! 

(She agreed that the perfect Autobot would be Thunderclash after the chat said that).

On that note, Mae Catt said they used Tarn for the show because: “OBVIOUSLY (the perfect decepticon) should look like this guy. A faceless mindless Decepticon that only serves Megatron”.

Q:  What sort of documents DID Optimus work on in the archives? 

Probably historical archives and working on stuff about all the Primes. Something like the French / American revolution equivalent, which informed his speech writing for Megatron and his own ethics.

Q: Did you always plan to make Optimus socially awkward? 

We “found” the social awkwardness for Optimus. Optimus was depicted as a father figure in S1 (implying it’s because S1 is from Bee’s perspective), S2 / S3 we were able to explore more and found the limits [writing him] and found it was hard to maintain that level of heroic dialogue. Optimus would feel awkward about it too. Randolph did an impression of Optimus’ speech for the Party Down episode. “[Optimus] can’t not be in war-mode.”

Q: Were Optimus and Megatron ever friends, or did they just work together on the speech stuff? 

Oh hell yes, I think [the story] is always enhanced when they’re friends and when Optimus really believes in what Megatron was working on. Optimus’ rejection of Megatron is what pushes him over the edge, his best friend rejecting him pushes him into a place where he becomes a tyrannical person.

Q: Does Maccadam know we love him? 

Mae Catt: *puts hand over hear heart and looks off into the distance dramatically* Yes.

Q:  What’s the best selfie Arcee’s ever taken? 

I like the one with the giraffe. Or maybe a selfie with some humans. I like the idea of Arcee having a bunch of human friends. 

Q: What do the Transformers think of the Florida Man? 

They can’t really tell the difference between humans, they don’t really get it. It just sorta looks like all the normal stuff they see on Earth (or something). 

Q: Who’s the Florida Man of the Transformers? 

Rack ‘n Ruin. But he’s too nice. Hmmm.

Q: What was most important to you personally to put out in each episode? Like humor/characterization/arcs 

I wanted to make sure I didn’t write dialogue that was condescending to kids, wanted to be true about the character. Dialogue needs to be true to the characters, and gay. (Laughs)

Q: Do Transformers know what memes are?

They know what they ARE, but they don’t get it. We wanted Hot Rod to be super into Earth culture (winning races and driving off before humans could realize no one was in the car), but we never had time to really get into that.

Q: What music does Soundwave like?

We had a cut joke from S2 E5 [where Megatron and Optimus are popping through portals all around the world trying to find the All Spark] . Soundwave pops into Brazil where there’s a music festival and he crashes the concert and hang out. He likes EDM the most? 

His favorite song is Despacito. He thinks its so sad.

Q: Were you surprised that Jake Tillman was in his 20s listening to his Optimus voice the first time?

She apparently listened to his vines a lot when he was in his teens so meeting up again like that was a cool coincidence. 

Q: What other dimensions or places did you want to be in the show?

I would’ve liked to have the other Transformers series show up (TFP, TFA, G1, Shattered Glass) but we don’t have those assets or budget. 

“This will quickly become unclear to audiences who aren’t (you people).” They couldn’t have all these references when some of their audience wouldn’t get it. 

Q: What about ____ ship?

Mae Catt says she doesn’t want to yuck anybody’s yums. For example, someone asked about Arcee/Grimlock, and while she said she sees them more as friends, she didn’t say they can’t be in a relationship. (Mae Catt also said she doesn’t ship Bee with anyone because she sees him as a little brother).

As she said several times in the stream, “Don’t take things I say as the end-all be-all”!

That being said, she did say she likes Dead End / Perceptor and Windblade / Slipstream.

Q: Why are there no humans in the show?

From the show’s conception, there were no plans to include any humans. They didn’t want humans distracting from the Transformers.

Q: Why did the Scientist collect Soundwaves?

He collects Soundwave because Soundwave is COOL! Wouldn’t you collect a single father of 5 who carries them around in his chest?

Why does anyone collect what they collect? “That’s a really angry dad who’s got five children he carries around in him and he plays music. Gotta have that!”

(Later on, she circles back to this question)

All the Other Universe Soundwaves the Scientist collected also had their own Laserbeaks. I wonder if the scientist would’ve taken them out. He might’ve just gotten rid of them.

(And of course, here are the boyfriend questions from the stream:)

Q: Is Dead End a good boyfriend?

Dead End is a work in progress, but maybe Percy is patient enough to get him there

(Mae Catt says she really loves the Deadceptor ship. She knew people would ship it, but she didn’t ship it herself until she saw the fanart for it).

Q: Is Astrotrain a good boyfriend?

No, no...he’s not a good person, really.

Q: Is Percy a good boyfriend?

Absolutely--WAIT HOLD ON. He’s very blunt, he doesn’t mince words, if you can handle his bluntness then you’re good. He is what he is and you have to deal with him.

Q: Is Soundwave a good boyfriend?

Soundwave is not a good boyfriend. He’s a good casual romance but he’s not a good boyfriend. Soundwave would be a terrible listener. He hears a lot but he’d tune you out.

Other information tidbits:

- If Thunderclash was in the show he and Jetfire would HATE each other. Thunderclash would be a rival reality star (maybe) to Media Fire.

- Mae Catt said “A lot of intelligent life is inherently mechanical” in space, explaining why so much of the non-Cybertronian life we saw in the show were robots.

- Knock Out was considered for the show, but every Transformer under the sun was discussed at some point in the writer’s room. (Ex: “Rumble and Frenzy are always considered in my heart, but there wasn’t enough time or space or assets to do so”).

- “The brand team had grown up on the toys as we had grown up on the ‘toons, so we just wanted to make the best thing imaginable.”

- They decided Optimus would be in the Other Universe’s Matrix and have a plinth because they wanted to show he was dead. “Logical backflips because he needed to be among the 13 to talk to Windblade.” 

- Dead End’s eyes are white.

- The team wanted Jazz to be a lady (!!!!!!!)  

- These characters have their own lives that we don’t see. Lots of stuff happening between episodes that we don’t always necessarily see.

- Developing Sky-Byte’s character was simultaneous with Jetfire’s character. “We knew we wanted Sky-Byte to be a poet, and we wanted him and Megatron to be chummy”.

- Percy did permanently take over Mac’s bar.  

- Her favorite VA is Jeremy Levy, he’s a really cool guy.

- She thinks Starscream and Cheetor could become (not necessarily friends, but connected?) because of their connection to the All Spark. Mentions how Starscream acknowledge Cheetor as the “Guardian of the Allspark”.

- Mae Catt describes Starscream as an “Awful gremlin” several times.

- Astrotrain and the Insecticons are from Megatron X’s universe.

- She thinks Cliffjumper and Bee wouldn’t get along, solely because of the IDW2 comic stuff. (They had a cut joke about someone telling Bee he should paint himself red and Bee saying, “But then everyone will think I’m Cliffjumper!”).

- Cyberverse got 26 episodes for season 3 because they had the 4-part episode movies.

- Megatron cares about his troops, but not in a way that we would notice that care. 

- AcidStorm is genderfluid. 

-  Cold Construction doesn’t exist in this show. When asked why all the Seekers look the same then, Mae Catt says “Maybe there’s one jet mode all the seekers really like”.

- She loves the idea of Wild Wheel robbing Astrotrain in train-mode, totally Wild West-style.

- One of the things she’s proudest of was turning Lugnut into a gal (and having so much body diversity and gender-neutral designs for a lot of characters). They wanted to include many more girls in Cyberverse (Nickel and Lightbright among them). She also mentioned that  Shadow Striker is taller than Optimus or is his height.

- She describes Cosmos as “R2D2, but a Transformer!”

- Maccadam looking like a buff Rung was just a strange coincidence.

- Blurr really was the fastest.

- Mae Catt says we absolutely SHOULD write fanfic. Fanfiction made her into the writer she is today. She wrote non-stop Matrix fanfic from the age of 12-20 years old. It helped her learn a lot about writing.

- She uses “They” pronouns for Rack ‘n Ruin when referring to both of them, but says that individually they both use “he”.

- She’s really sad that Skywarp didn’t get a speaking line.

- Mae Catt won’t say whether Ratchet finished medical school or not. (She laughed when someone commented "I don’t believe that man has ever been to medical school”). She also says she wants “I choose to believe Ratchet has never been to medical school” on a T-shirt.

- When asked why Rack ‘n Ruin were captains of the Ark in one universe, she says they’re probably the Prime in that one weird universe (lmao).

- She loves the idea that Transformers have siblings / families.

- In a world where they had an unlimited budget, it’d be fun if Cybertronians were constantly shape-shifting and changing their forms. Example: she’d like having Transformers who “grew a beard” and decided to “shave it”.

- She doesn’t understand cycles or astrocycles, she doesn’t understand the weird Transformers time stuff. (mood)

- She loved Beast Wars Inferno, she loved that Inferno called Megatron a Queen. It was played as a joke because the 90s weren’t very socially conscious, but she liked that Megatron never corrected him or beat him down.

- Shockwave altered his spark to have maximum bad vibes to destroy the All Spark.

- She said it’s hard talking about writing a show because you’re designing the experience and you have to make sometimes what sounds like cold and pragmatic decisions (eg: "we need a cold and spunky female”) which sucks, but they need to balance out the show. She says she’d never do that just for the sake of doing it, but it’s part of something that they do need to be aware of while working on a show. “It starts from a weirdly cold pragmatic place, but we try and put truth in it”.

- They didn’t want to have Unicron in the show since he’s the default “big bad”, but if he was in the show, Mae Catt says “If you put the proverbial budget-gun to my head, I’d keep Unicron in planet-mode because it’s more mysterious, but I want both alt modes”.

- Her favorite Megatron is Beast Wars Megatron.

- She doesn’t like Sky Lnxy’s design, it’s creepy. “He talks in the G1 episodes and the voice makes it worse.” She can’t get over his face.

- “I’d love to see more jets [who aren’t our usual gang] and find out all jets are kinda snobby, which explains why Starscream’s the way he is”.

- Everyone on the Autobot side are friends with each other.

Thanks for your time Mae Catt! We’re lucky to have you. Thank you for all your hard work on this amazing show.

[videoplanchette]

Okay to avoid ranting to legitimately everyone on my discord contact lists. I am a pretty big Goosebumps fan. I'm not going to say the largest there was. But one of my first impulse purchases, when the pandemic started, was getting a bunch of assorted Goosebumps books from the original 90s run. Goosebumps were one of the first series of books to get me interested in reading aside from Guardians of Gahoole. I was always intimidated by the Fear Street novels as a kid bc they looked way too scary from the lens of a 3/4th grader. I never got the chance to read them. Now that I'm quite a bit older I hope to one day get all the way through the R.L Stine books in production order. All this to segue into the new Fear Street adaptation on Netflix.

I'm not the pickiest person when it comes to movies, I don't approach them with the mindset that I'm going to hate something. I'm rather the opposite, I find that approaching something with a positive attitude typically gives me positive results. That being said I have a weird relationship with these movies. I feel like this should be something I really enjoy. Anyone who knows me knows I love horror, I love the 90s/80s vhs nostalgia punk setting, I love R.L Stine's both whimsical and clever approach to writing horror (which this movie did borrow from in the last installment.) I don't want to say I hated it, because I didn't. I really enjoyed what it had to say and the commentary it had about the systemic inequality between both towns, even if it was a little basic. It borrows a lot from the pages of Wes Craven when it comes to saterization and critique of horror tropes. I love the attitude the films had. I loved the soundtrack. I loved the representation this gave to poc without making it solely into racial trauma. In that regard, it was a total breath of fresh air. I loved most of the performances and I loved the jittery editing style that was still comprehensive. The characters while starting off unlikeable did eventually grow on me.

I don't want to dissuade anyone from watching the films, I implore everyone to watch these movies and reach their own conclusion.

Personally, for me, these films range on the side of a strong 6-7 out of 10. I live in a town very similar to Shadyside, not as much murder obviously, but still written off as white trash drug-addicted criminals. And there's something almost kind of like wish fulfillment about "it's just a curse" or "its just one bad guy" conclusion the movie comes to, where it feels really immature. Like the movie clearly has a lot to say about systemic injustice but the thing about systemic injustice is that it doesn't suddenly become unwoven after a person of power dies.

and the thing about Sunnyvale is that despite those people profiting off of a curse they didn't know about, there is very little done in the way to make them sympathetic. I don't think the narrative of the movie wants us to come to that conclusion esp since Sam (the main love interest of the film) is relatively harmless and moreso used as just a prop character is supposed to be "good". She is unwillingly moved to Sunnyvale after her mother divorces her father, so I don't think her or her family is the rich single entity the movie wants us to seek vengeance against. Yet it feels messy. Really messy. I'm going to link to a video from the channel folding ideas talking about the book of henry to sort of better illustrate my point about framing versus actual direction.

The way the movie also sort of scoffs at drug use, especially marijuana almost seems out of character for a movie made in 2021. I feel like that could be its separate post. Like it feels in character for a horror movie in the 70s and 80s, but with the more educated perspective in 2021, I feel like we all know that most of the over-policing on drugs came from the US government actively flooding the ghettos with narcotics in order to police them better?

If you didn't know that I'm going to link to a couple informative videos. I suggest researching further of course. these just provide the broadest strokes as to why the "war on drugs" was largely used as xenophobic and homophobic propaganda.

But maybe that discrepancy was intentional? Like its baked in so many layers of irony, I just can't keep up with it? I dunno. Like it wants to say something about addiction, it wants to say something about the over-policing of drugs, it wants to say something about the opioid crisis-- but I couldn't tell you what it was. I legitimately couldn't tell you if this movie was on the side of addicts and drug dealers as the means of using any method you could for escaping poverty-- or actively finger-wagging at addicts for like... being addicts? And the self-harm thing in part two... I-- I genuinely don't know what to say about that other than it felt exploitive. like the ending of part two felt so... fucking weird? like it was funny in the way it just totally caught me off guard but it was out of keeping tonally with the rest of the work. I don't expect a horror movie of all things to get its commentary 100 percent correct-- that would make me an idiot. But I guess I am particularly tired of seeing this one trope repeatedly crop up. this post is getting a little out of hand so maybe next post I'll talk about the comparison between Fear Street, Goosebumps, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

[c-atm]

Dere

Ok..Venom?"

"Marvel Venom..or Guilty Gear Venom?"

Steven looked at Connie quizzically, arching an eyebrow. He pursed his lips self-deliberation.

"Guilty."

"Yandere...Completely.  He tried to kill Milia over Zato's dead body."

"Pssh! That's not how it went and you know it."

Connie wagged her finger while clicking her tongue. "Subtext Mister. Subtext...You don't believe it was just because Milia killed him now…"

"Venom didn’t try to kill Milia for Zato when he was alive. Doesn't sound yandere-ish to me, just complete and utter loyalty to Zato”

“Uh-huh, live in your denial Bisky...We all know the truth. All you need to do is play his story mode and read the ‘Night of Knives’ LN.”

It was another peaceful day in era-3. Within Steven’s home, Connie(Heart Berry) and Steven(Mister) were laying face up on his bed, enjoying the lazy sunday afternoon. Hands intertwined as they played a little game, where they named a character from any type of media and decided what type of 'Derek's they were. It was stupid, senseless, humorfilled fun and they enjoyed it so much.

Steven shrugged with a smug smirk. “I don’t agree but, since i’m such a nice guy, I’ll let you have that.”

“In other words you have no retort..” Connie shrugged with a smug chuckle. “But I'll take the W.” She pursed her lips in thought  as she tried to come up with a character. “Wizemen.”

“From underneath the overpass?”

“Yuppers.”

Steven kissed his teeth before smirking. “Total tsun, you know this..We agreed on this when we reread the series. Especially with prophet Kyle...He was always one line away from the classic ‘baka’ line.”

Connie wavered her hand as she sucked in a breath. “I concur, but he did threaten lady Aqulia with live embalming more than once. That's more of the yandere side of the die.”

“But Aqulia was a damn psycho to begin with..She’s the yandere. He was just protective.”

“Oh yeah, no doubt. She actually made good on some of her threats.”

“Yeah, she’s completely nutso.”

Connie looked at Steven, his tone of voice was not mocking but almost appreciative. She raised an eyebrow.and hummed suspiciously, catching Steven attention. He arched his left eyebrow, seeing that impish glint in her black eyes.

“What’s up Heart Berry? You look like you’re scheming something.”

“I’m curious Mister,” She let out a playfully accusatory chuckle while poking his cheek. ”Name your top three fictional crushes.”

Steven's eyes widen at the sudden command. “What? Why?”

Connie kissed her teeth and rolled her eyes as she layed on her side. Her hand now teasing his chin whiskers. “Just trying to find something out. Now come on, out with it. What fictional person did you have the hots for?”

Steven  narrowed his eyes before pointing at her. “ No judgement?”

“No, painful judgements..I still withhold my right to give opinions.”

Steven rubbed his chin before giving Conie forehead a kiss, making her smile just a bit. “Deal.”

Connie bounced her shoulder up and down waiting anxiously.

Steven shook his head before he listed the first three names to hit his mind.

“Rena Ryuga, Yuno gasai, Anna..”

Connie looked at him wide eyed before falling into gigge. “OH my stars..You have a yandere fetish!”

“You said no judgement!”

[[MORE]]

“I’m not ..PFFT!... I’m not.hahaha.”  Connie took a deep breath trying to calm down..before breaking out again in laughter again. ”It’s so off-base Bisky! I can’t see the connect here...I thought you were more of a ‘dere-dere' fan with how schmaltzy you are.”

Steven kissed his teeth before smirking.  He lifted his left index finger up and pursed his lips. “Look, I love all ‘dere’ types, ok..I don’t discriminate.”

Connie side-eyed at her Mister retort, Her lips held in tight accusations. “Off the top of that curly dome of yours came three yandere names..One of them being queen yandere herself. So don’t spit any lies about you being indiscrimative, when you obviously have a type.”

Seven chuckled as he shook his head. “No, no, not gonna admit to that.”

“It’s ok..You like crazy female characters, everyone has their types.” She reassured with an impish grin, her hands up in surrender, before placing her hands on top of her head. “But really...Yanderes? Where did this fetish come from?!” Connie laughed, still trying to keep her mirth low.

“Ok. First it’s not a fetish...It’s a preference and not even in my top three.” Steven corrected

“It’s a fetish, Bisky.” Connie retorted with a smirk.

“Second, Have you seen the people I grew up with...The people I was raised by, the women in my family. With the exception of Amethyst and Peridot, each and everyone of them have yandere-like tendencies. I was conditioned.”

Connie snorted at his playful puppy eyed look, tapping him in the chest giving him a jesterly captious look.

“Yeah sure, blame the gems for your type.”

“It’s true!.” Steven offered. “Think about it. Ruby and Sapphire are so crazy about each other, they decided to literally exist as one person to the end of time. Pearl did everything and anything out of love from my mother. Not to mentioned the whole ‘fight a fucking war’ in her name thing."

Connie arched her eyebrow in incredulity. "You believe Garnet is the perfect example of eternal love."

Steven smacked his chest, smirking at his Heart Berry ."And I'm not denying that...I'm saying Ruby and Sapphire would shatter for one another and could be obsessive when it comes to the other...Obsessive to the point of not being able to operate. Do I need to tell you about the baseball game again?"

Connie squinted her eyes and squeezed her lips tight letting out a small growl, before nodding in resignation.  "Ok...You got that."

"Thank you...Do I need to explain Pearl?"

Connie let use a dry chuckle holding her hand up ."No need. I will take your word…"

"Again, thank you."

"Though it does bring up a question?"

"Which is?"

Connie sighed hands on her cheek. "Do I have yandere tendencies? Am I also a reason for your yandere fetish?"

She watched as Steven's face went blank and doe-eyed, before he snickered, chuckled and belly laugh. The sight of her Mister happiness made her heart warm and fueled her with pride, as it always did.

She pouted playfully, with her arms crossed. "Hey, it's a legitimate question."

Steven only laughed harder before sitting her across his hips. His hands on her own as he looked up at her. Still snickering, this time at her cute pout.

"I don't think you have yandere tendencies, though some of the things you’ve done are crazy..."

"Hey!"

He laughed as she slapped his stomach with a smile.

"Come on, tell me I'm wrong.  Back talking the diamonds, taking on monsters, leaping from Lion to try to stab blue and again to belly flop on my snout just to give me a kiss…Actually now that I think about it.. You've got them. The aspects of yandere that I find attractive.”

Connie grinned in jest crossing her arms across her stomach. "Oh and what are those? the violent outburst, the obsessive behavior. "

“I mean, you are a little firecracker.” 

Connie pointed at his smug smirking face, waving her index finger with a small blaze in her eye. “Boy, watch it or i’ll show you how yandere i can really be.”

“Promise?”  

A teasing grin enveloped the woman's face. “You’re pushing it.”  She shook her head, her nose flared a bit as she exhaled in jovial impatience.” So..Those aspects?”

He arched his eyebrow and he rubbed his chin. "Thoooose aspects."

"Yes! Speak or I'm taking your tongue."

"Then silence works in my favor."

Connie smirked impishly. "You would think so, but you don't know the reward for your compliance. Besides never said it would be with my own."

"Is there any other way?" 

"I could always hold it between my thumb and index." She pressed the digits tips together a couple of times in demonstration.

"We both know you'd prefer an oral operation. So, Nehh! Ack!"

Connie watched with mild amusement at Steven's surprised squawk as she snatched and held his tongue with her left thumb and Index.

"Aspects."

"Well, I can't verily tell you with my tongue captive now, can I?" His words were muffled but still comprehensible. He wiggled his tongue after she released it, going through dramatic  and exaggerated jaw exercises.

Connie kissed her teeth but  couldn't help the smile on her face. "Oh come on! I didn't even hold it for a minute, Steven."

"My tongue is very sensitive, thank you." Steven retorted as he continued his antics.

"Big baby."

"Oh, ouch. My pride."

 The two playfully and giggly sneered at each other, before Steven reached up to stroke her cheek.

“You’re sweet, protective, caring, dependable.”

Connie nodded as she slowly snuggled into his palm.“That’s the ‘Dere’ side.” 

“Focus, cunning, calculative, dangerous,”

She gave him a playfully ‘dark’ grin. “That’s the ‘Yan’, I suppose, hehe.I”

“Seductive, amorous, bewitching.”

Connie pressed the tip of his nose with her index finger, before trailing it down to his lips, hovering it a millimeter a way. “See now, you’re trying to butter me up.” She gave him a chuckle before kissing his palm and giving him a half-lidded smile. “Continue though.”

Steven chortled at the gentle instruction. “You’re quite unpredictable at times,and quite commanding....Actually, you might be more Kamidere/ Mayadere mix.”

“Ok, You know...I’ll accept the Mayadere classification. That’s fine but, Kamidere? I’m not that brash and you’re just being a punk.” Connie retorted as she flipped his bottom lips a few times. 

“EY!  Kahanni Maheswaren, ‘Story of the lord of the universe’. Your name is the perfect title for a Kamidere manga. Really couldn’t blame you if you did have a bit of a complex.” 

“Kiss your lord finger. Show the proper respect.”

Steven scoffed a laugh at the faux haughtiness of Connie's statement, the waving of her finger above his lips, and her cheshire smirk. 

“Such a teasing lord I follow.” With a husky breath he complied thrice, getting a blushing giggle from her. 

“Maybe, but I'm also very rewarding towards my most dutiful subjects.”

Steven arched an eyebrow before giving her hand another kiss “Really now, my little Teasedere.” 

“Teasedere now, huh? First, I’m a yandere, then a kami/mayadere mix...Now i’m a teasedere.” She leaned down a bit closer. “Are you just listing off your ‘preferences’ now?”

“You wanted to know them and I only said you were a teasedere.”

“You stated I had aspects of the others.”

Steven shrugged. “They’re your sub-categories.”

“Sub-categories, he says!” Connie laughed at his smug jesterly look. “You are on top of your game today. Hitting me with zinger after zinger.” She nodded her head, clapping her hands together. “I respect that, Mister.” She chuckled again before sighing. “Making me sound like I'm a multi-class RPG character or something. Sub-categories..Cute.”

“It is my middle name after all.”

“Your third one right, Cutie-pie? ”

Steven slightly shivered at the seductive tone of his middle name through her lips. 

“So.. What about you? Mr. Universe.” She bit her lip as she traced her index on his  chest. “Where do you fall in the ‘Dere’ spectrum?”

“Come on. I’m so Conndere with sub in deredere and teasedere.”

“Conndere huh? Aren’t you being extra charming today.”

“Well…” Steven pulled her down a bit closer, a certain smile and glint in his eyes “Just being a dutiful follower.”

Connie teasing ran her thumb upon his bottom lip. “Trying to get a reward, Bisky?’

Steven nodded playfully before giving the thumb a kiss. “I think I deserve it.”

Connie gave him a quick peck before sitting back up. “Don’t you tell anyone I did this.”

Steven watched as she took a deep breath trying to ease the embarrassed blush on her face.

Connie closed her eyes, as she held her face in her hands slightly pushing up against her jaw. Both her pinky fingers and her left ring finger on her cheeks. Her right ring and both her middle fingers standing up. Her index fingers resting against her temples gently. She parted her lips slightly as she opened her eyes looking down giving him a lovestruck and slightly faraway look.

“ It’ll be alright Steven. Connie will protect you. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

Her voice was breathly laced in adoration, inflexibility and a bit of insane obsession. She watched as his face turned red as his breathing became haggard. She smiled gently with eyes still holding the same faraway look as she leaned down to his ear and whispered to him in the same tone.

“Your Heart Berry will always protect her Mister.” She heard him very quickly groan as he breathed through flared nostrils and bit his lip.

 “I’ll love you and only you, forever Bisky.” 

“TEASEDERE OF A MINX!”  

“Uh-oh!”

Connie screamed out a laugh as Steven sat up, rolled over and pinned her under him.

“Was it too muuu-” She was interrupted by him nipping at her collarbone, causing her to  sigh and moan through the laughter as her hands.found his upper back and stroke the back Of his curly haired skull; her knees squeezed against his sides keeping him in place.

“Told  you...Hhmmh! It was a fetish.” 

Her breathless teasing got him to break away from her neck. He rested her head against her and looked at her straight into her eyes before speaking very coolly and  with a trace of authority. 

“Tease me again.”

The unvocalize challenge was heard as loud as a blow horn. 

““Feeeettttii-MMMM~MMM!” Her song of a taunt was cut short as he kissed her heatedly, His tongue twisting with as they held and pressed against each other, making her melt under him.

Needless to say, their game and discussion would be on hold for the time being. 

[missmentelle]

I keep hearing "if you're worried about being a bad person, you're not a bad person" and just wondering if that's true from a psychology perspective? The line of logic goes, a "real" toxic/abusive/narcissistic person wouldn't care that their actions hurt others, so if you're worrying about it, then you're definitely not one. Is that really the case though?

It’s... complicated. But no, not really. 

So, for starters, there’s no such construct as a “bad person” in psychology. Or a “good person”, for that matter. “Bad” and “good” are value judgments, and psychology tries to avoid making value judgments; we simply aim to identify and describe certain patterns of symptoms of behaviour. The fact of the matter is that everyone does things that could be considered “bad” and “good”, and no one is perfect. We have all hurt other people in our lives, both intentionally and unintentionally. It’s also important to remember that morality is not black-and-white - many, many things fall into a moral grey zone, and different people will have wildly different perspectives on what is right and wrong, and who is a “good” person or a “bad” person. A doctor or psychologist cannot tell you if you are a good person or not. That is something that you ultimately have to decide for yourself, after carefully comparing your own actions to the values that you hold. 

You are right that there are certain diagnoses that make a person much more likely to harm others in their lives without really examining their own actions too closely. People with narcissistic or anti-social personalities tend to center their own feelings, and disregard any hurt they cause others. Narcissistic people specifically think of themselves as being highly important, special, and deserving of recognition and success. They tend to enjoy being in a position of power over others, and they are comfortable manipulating and harming others for their own gain. People with anti-social tendencies and disorders, on the other hand, are easily bored and enjoy antagonizing others to get a reaction - any reaction. They are chronically irresponsible, deceitful, and uncaring, and they have no empathy for the people they hurt. If you find that you are chronically unable to feel any empathy for the people around you, or to regard their feelings in any way, that’s definitely a huge red flag that you’re probably harmful to the people around you - although of course, you won’t really care. 

Unfortunately, though, caring if you hurt people is not a guarantee that you aren’t doing it. Life and mental health are just not that simple. Many people who behave in toxic or manipulative ways toward others are anguished about it, and constantly worry about it - yet they continue to do it anyway. I think most of us have been in the awkward position of having a friend who didn’t treat us very well, possibly due to serious mental health concerns (maybe too clingy, dropping in and out of our lives without warning, flaky, not interested in our problems, overly critical, etc) who also asked for constant reassurance that they weren’t a horrible person and that you didn’t hate them. My boyfriend has an ex with untreated borderline personality disorder; she constantly, constantly agonized over the possibility that she was a “toxic person”, while doing nothing to change the fact that she was actually being extremely toxic to the people in her life. She harassed my boyfriend for more than six months after they broke up, while still continuing to make public social media posts of herself crying and talking about how she never wants to be a bad person. Although it’s fictional, another good example of this phenomenon can be found in Bojack Horseman - the main character spends the entirety of the show grappling with what it means to be a good person, while also consistently hurting the people around him. It would be nice to believe that simply worrying about hurting others is a guarantee that we don’t do it, but it’s just not that easy. 

Figuring out if you are being hurtful to the people you care about is a ongoing process that requires constant honesty with yourself, vigilance, and self-reflection. Being worried is not enough - you have to dig a lot deeper than that. For instance, you need to consider:

What does my relationship history look like? Everyone has relationships that end poorly or just don’t work out, for a wide variety of reasons. But it’s important to examine your relationships as a whole, to see if any troubling patterns emerge. When your relationships end, do you tend to just drift apart and lose contact, or do they tend to end with dramatic blow-ups? Do people tend to remain on okay terms with you after losing contact, or have you had a lot of people specifically block you and cut you out of their life? Again, everyone has had relationships go sour, but if there is a consistent pattern of people dramatically severing ties and relationships turning hostile and toxic, it’s typically a sign that there’s a problem in there that’s worth examining.

How do I react when I realize I’ve wronged someone? When you realize you have done someone wrong - either by your own realization, or by them telling you - how do you react? Do you accept responsibility and apologize, even if you think the incident was no big deal? Do you ignore the situation? Do you do something to try to make it up to them? Have you ever gotten angry or upset with someone for telling you that you hurt them? Again, fuck-ups and mistakes happen - we are human. It’s how you deal with those fuck-ups that matters. 

How were the last few arguments I’ve been in resolved? Think back to the last few times you had a serious disagreement with someone. What happened? Were you able to resolve the issue in a way that worked for both of you? Did the argument escalate? Did one person steamroller over the other? Disagreements are inevitable, but the way that we handle even the most serious difference of opinion says a lot about who we are. 

Am I generally reliable in relationships? Do you show up when you say you’re going to show up? Do you remember the things people tell you, or do you have to constantly be reminded about the basic details of other people’s lives? Do you send birthday greetings, answer texts most of the time, and make a point to be there for important events in others’ lives? Again, no one is perfect at this, but making an effort to be consistent about this stuff - and giving others a heads-up or apology when you are struggling to do it - is important. 

Have I been insensitive with others? Are you sensitive to other people’s needs? Do you generally manage to use tact when discussing delicate topics with people? Do you remember to avoid certain topics with certain people, and avoid airing people’s personal information in front of others? Nobody has perfect manners, but it’s important to make an effort to consider the comfort and feelings of others.

How do I treat people that I dislike? How you treat the people you dislike - or don’t know - is almost as important as how you treat the people you do like. Do you ever behave vindictively toward people you don’t like? Do you gossip about them? Have you ever gone out of your way to make someone’s life harder in some way because you didn’t like them? It can seem satisfying or justified to get our revenge on someone who wronged us, but this can quickly reach a point where it’s unproductive and cruel. 

Do I take no for an answer? Do friends and loved ones feel comfortable saying no to me? Do I tend to accept it when things don’t go my way, or do I tend to push and try to convince others to change their minds? Have I ever gone behind someone’s back after they’d already said no? It can be difficult to face rejection or an outcome that you don’t want, but being able to take it gracefully is important.

Obviously, this isn’t a comprehensive list of what it takes to be a “good person” to others, and you don’t have to hit every point on it all the time. We all have times where we are stressed and tired, or where we just drop the ball. Shit happens. But it’s important to keep examining ourselves in an honest way, and looking for places we can improve. Best of luck to you!Miss Mentelle

[nomadicbeard]

Hi! I saw on one of your posts you said that you used to be a stucky shipper. I actually started off as a stony shipper but then absolutely fell in love with stucky but I like both . I was just wondering what made you "jump ship" on stucky lol. Sorry if this comes across as annoying or anything im just curious!

Hey! As you can see a couple of people have asked me this over the last couple of weeks and I’m really lazy and haven’t got around to responding yet, but the people deserve an answer so here we go. Before we start a quick disclaimer: I’ll only be talking about the ships themselves, not the communities or any of the discourse surrounding them. This is not a ship-bashing of any kind and please do not take it as such, it’s just my own personal experience surrounding these characters and these relationships. 

 Buckle your seatbelts kids, this is a long one.

I first got into Marvel c. 2015. I’m European so I’d never really watched any marvel movies before that, I watched Age of Ultron on a plane and remember being vaguely aware the Steve/Tony was a thing (what is pretty interesting is that to this day I have no clue where that knowledge came from) but was mostly just excited by the superhero stuff. I then got home and watched The Winter Soldier and fell in love. I love the Winter Soldier, it’s probably still one of my favourite marvel movies (it got kicked out of its top spot by Black Panther last year unfortunately) and to me no other marvel movie could hold a torch to it at the time. So I came onto tumblr, searched up The Winter Soldier and was just inundated with Stucky stuff, as expected. I rolled with it, got invested just from constant exposure (it was also around the height of the Stucky ship) and as far as I was concerned, that was that. I was super into Stucky for almost six months and was pretty much your average shipper, I didn’t understand stevetony, loved Steve Rogers, was close to creating a Stucky sideblog wit some ridiculous pun as my username, I was gone over this ship.

Then one day, I sat down and read the man on the bridge by boopboop on ao3. You’ve almost definitely heard of it, but it was the most popular fic in the Steve/Bucky tag on ao3 at the time (for some reason I had just never got around to reading it until then, it was long and I didn’t have the stamina I have now). It was your pretty standard Stucky fic, Steve gets Bucky back, they have to deal with his trauma which results in Steve and Bucky declaring their long lost love for each other etc. etc. What was different about this fic, was that it was all told from Tony’s point of view, and since Steve and Tony were on the same team at that point, their dynamic was a huge part of the fic. And I found myself falling completely in love with Steve and Tony’s dynamic. I went back to the fic for this post (and god it is a good fic) and pulled up the first couple of chapters and instantly just found so many instances of that dynamic

(grade A stevetony arguing over each other’s safety with a side of flirting from Tony)

(Idk why but the image of Steve and Tony not going to sleep, but rather staying up and brewing coffee together was such a vivid one when I first read this fic, I still remember it to this day. )

(Tony picking Steve flowers while trying to desperately play off that he didn’t aka. Tony caring while trying desperately not to care)

(Everyone knowing that Steve would definitely come to Tony, apart from Tony himself.)

Now obviously, this is a stucky fic and I went into it knowing this, but I found when Steve and Bucky finally got together I felt honestly a bit bored, a bit cheated. I had no idea why at the time. I remember very clearly x-ing out of the fic at the end and feeling really uneasy, I came onto tumblr, went straight back into the Stucky tag and all was well.

When I next went back onto ao3, I started out with a couple of oneshots in the Stucky tag, but for some reason it wasn’t working for me anymore. I remember sitting there, a little bored, not at all invested in this relationship and just missing something. I figured I was probably missing Tony’s presence in the fic and so filtered in Tony Stark’s character tag. I read a few of those and all was well but I realised the same thing was happening as had happened in man on the bridge, the moment that Steve and Bucky got together, the fic lost something for me. Desperate at this point, and a little annoyed at myself I conducted an experiment and went into the Steve/Tony tag on Ao3 and as they say, the rest is history. If you go onto older posts on my main blog there’s a pretty drastic, almost overnight shift c. January 2016. I have to admit, I expected Civil War to be a conversion so I enjoyed stevetony without consequence for five months, while still labelling myself as a Stucky shipper because I expected to be pulled back to Stucky after civil war, the reality was that somehow I came out of civil war shipping stevetony harder than ever before. From there, I spent two years reading my way through the stevetony tag on ao3 and finally set up this blog in 2018, with a really obscure reference as my username and it’s been stevetony til I die ever since.

I just couldn’t read Stucky anymore. That’s what I mean when I say on this blog that stevetony has ruined me for every other ship, because it has. Steve and Tony’s firecracker dynamic pulled me away from what was fast on its way to becoming my favourite ship in 2015, all because they had a bit of banter on the side in a fic. It’s kind of depressing really, the sort of hold that Steve and Tony’s dynamic has over me, 

It’s strange you say you fell in love with Stucky, I fell absolutely out of love with it. I have thought a lot about how I ended up falling into stevetony and why I was so drawn to them instead of Stucky in the first place and I think it all comes down the the story itself. To me, Steve and Bucky’s relationship carries much more weight as a friendship, I still have no doubt that Bucky is one of if not the most important person in Steve’s life, but having that be a lifelong friendship is way more powerful and impactful to me, (especially since what I know I misconstrued to be Steve’s obsession with Bucky is actually Steve’s obsession over the past. I’m not saying Bucky isn’t dear to Steve and he does want to obviously rescue him, but looking back on it there’s more to Steve’s obsession with Bucky than just love, it’s a fear of change and it’s him desperately trying to hold onto a past that’s gone.)

Conversely, I feel like adding a romantic element to Steve and Tony’s relationship enriches the story being told, if you look at something like civil war (either MCU or 616 tbh) in the context of Tony being desperately in love with Steve, it makes a lot more sense, especially with things like The Confession in 616 or the stuff brought up in that strange conversation in the conference room in the MCU. There’s lines from Steve like “I’m home/you gave me a home” or even straight up “he loved you” and his tormented behaviour throughout infinity war and endgame that just really makes you wonder, not to mention lines from others like “you two still gazing into each other’s eyes/sounds like both of you got into bed with the wrong people” and they did have to share a bed at Clint’s farm after all lol. The tragedy of their story is heightened if you look at it through the context of them being absolutely in love with each other, just never having actually got around to telling it to each other’s faces. This tragedy is heavily implied in The Oath/The Confession in 616 when they confess their deepest darkest secrets to the other’s comatose/dead bodies, and apparently it’s always been that they love the other person. Actually you could easily introduce a romantic element by making relatively few changes to the MCU, but that’s a post for another time (I have a long and comprehensive list in my notes app on how little you actually need to change to make that happen, it’s literally the matter of a few lines of dialogue and one major story change at the end of IM3, an interesting thought exercise to say the least).

Finally, there’s a quote that came up on my dash the day I made that fateful venture into the ao3 stevetony tag, “your soulmate isn’t someone who comes peacefully into your life. It is someone who makes you question things, changed your reality, somebody that marks a before and after in your life. It is not the human being everyone idealized, but an ordinary person, who managed to revolutionize your world in a second” to this day, it resonates so strongly with me about stevetony. It’s everything I love about this ship just compressed into a quote. 

So yeah it was basically a bunch of happy coincidences, but thank god it happened. As a writer, stevetony has taught me so much about character and dynamic, stuff that is honestly invaluable. When you have long fics that basically detail the day by day life of Steve and Tony post-civil war in rural Italy and consists of them sleeping, crying and working through their repressed feelings (looking at you @silkspectred ), it is the characters and their unique dynamic that drive the entirety of the story. Steve and Tony, in the hands of a compelling writer, can keep me hooked over a frankly embarrassing number of words. I still have a bit of a special place for Stucky in my heart really, it did start me out in marvel after all and it was one of my first ever ships, but your first love is only so good until you meet your true love, not to get all sappy but stevetony has completely destroyed my ability to ship anything else. I might get a bit flirtatious with some other ships, like sambucky (I still love Bucky, and I love Sam!), or the riverdale ships (beronica and jarchie or bust), or even the game of thrones crack ships (daensa til the day we die), but I’ll always come back to stevetony.

So yeah this escalated into a far longer post than I intended to make but I’ve never really spelled out on this blog how or why I ended up jumping Stucky to Stony when I know it’s usually the other way around. I guess it just comes down to stevetony catching me out when I least expected it, and never having let go of me since. 

[sobdasha]

"I definitely updated my list of books I was reading on tumblr so it's all good" -me, a lying liar, right before spending several months finishing my reread of All The Discworld Books I Own But In Chronological Order For The First Time Ever Which In Fact Makes A Difference.

(and then I did it again after the libraries closed)

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin Hm, so. I definitely read this. At some point. It was not really for me, not bad, but not really for me. This particular edition had various notes before and after the text, all of which I read, which made it an experience I got more out of. It's important for me to know that the author is aware that the protagonist is a raging misogynist who's stupid, and yes this was on purpose so you'd realize how really incredibly stupid he is and thus maybe be tricked into changing your mind yourself. It is a legit tactic, but one I tend not to enjoy, so if I hadn't been forewarned I'd have been UUUUGGGGGHHHH MAKE HIM SHUT UP ALREADY and probably rage-quit. As it was, I was able to better appreciate what Le Guin was doing here, even if this book didn't win a place in my heart and I probably won't reread. I definitely preferred Ancillary Justice's take, with the feminine pronouns. For my brain, masculine pronouns = they might as well all be men = business as usual = I didn't really get any gender queering from it. I can't really remember much else now. Oh, it was also part "survival in the wilderness" story, which they're big on making you read in school (which I find very suspicious), and which I tolerated and read a few classic ones on my own until they kept assigning these kinds of stories for us to read and now I get nothing from them and mindlessly hate them. Anyway, as I said, not bad at all but not really for me.

Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin This one's a reread--I picked it up from the library during college because we were doing Titus Andronicus in class and it didn't occur to me that there might be more than one Lavinia???? But hey it worked out because later in college we did the Aeneid and then I had Background for rereading Lavinia. This is the book that is lyrical and beautiful and pulls me in and makes me care deeply about the world and the characters. This is the book of Le Guin's that makes me feel the way everyone else feels about Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness and etc. I would like to find more of Le Guin's work that makes me feel the same way, because as I've said you can really tell from her other stuff that she's a solid writer who knows her stuff. I just…don't enjoy any of the other things. Anyway I recommend. I always forget about this book, and then when I reread I'm like "wow why don't I read this more often?????"

How Long 'Til Black Future Month?, N. K. Jemisin I liked every story in this short story collection. I should just reread it and try writing this up again tbh but also tbh I'll probably do the rereading and then just not write anything up again. Just read Jemisin's stuff I love her writing so much okay. ETA: that’s exactly what I did, I reread this during my covid rereads and said “I should do a proper write-up this time” and lo and behold where is it

Tehanu, Ursula K. Le Guin Okay, this last Earthsea book treated me much better than the others. It's probably not for everyone else, which might be why it's for me. It's much more domestic, much less "plot" happening, full of introspection, and centered on women rather than men. This novel acknowledges and confronts the rampant internalized misogyny in the previous three books, engages it in a way that the misandrist in me finds satisfying even though it never comes to a good solution for the problem. This book is more like a reflection. Earthsea has never been about "light is always good, dark is always bad; be a hero, fight evil" etc. But this one I think shifts the tone a little farther; it's less about balance, and more...I guess I'd put it as, "actions have consequences." It's not concerned with right or wrong, it's concerned with people getting hurt. It's pretty somber and serious, without any humor to balance it out, tons of bad things happen to people, lots of PTSD...but this time I really cared about the characters, and I feel like it was all handled really well? In addition to critiquing internalized misogyny, it also critiqued victim blaming. Seemed like it handled disability pretty well too--was honest about how people are jerks about it in reality, while still being optimistic and treating Therru as valuable; made occasional mentions of considering work-arounds for having only one fully-functional hand, while mostly just having Therru go about living and doing chores and being capable and assuming she did find those work-arounds without having to draw attention to it; and Therru's terrible scars didn't get magically healed at the end, the whole book makes a point all the way through that her physical scars will always be with her the same way her emotional scars will be, and she's simply learned how to go on living with them. Tehanu: a book full of trauma happening to people, where what would normally be the plot in a fantasy novel ended up not even getting started to be resolved, but Le Guin's writing and handling of the subject matter helped heal my jaded soul.

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee A quick summary of my experience: Chapter 1 - ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh what is going on what even Chapter 2 - no, no this is just, this is what sci fi is like, right? Just give it a few chapters and then by the end of the book everything will probably make sense. I'm sure that's how it works. Remember how even in Ancillary Justice I ended up with two separate Battles of Valskay, but now everything is fine??? It's. Fine. Chapter 4 - (ohhhhhhh I still don't know what's going on) Several Chapters Later - still no clue what's going on, but hit my stride with the terminology, my foreign language instinct kicked in where words stopped sounding weird and while I could not for the life of me define any terms for you, I had a vague comprehension of how the words operated In Context. Sort of. And by then I had, without realizing it, begun page-turning and binging, so I guess I liked the book lol! Another serious-but-not-funny one, but with an extra dose of War Memoir and all the gruesomeness that entails (but probably, like any good War Memoir, probably not actually gratuitous and actually in fact the necessary amount of gruesome). Jedao was turned into a woobie at the last minute and, well, damn, guy knows the way to my heart. The novel apparently gripped me enough that I don't even mind that it only came into play at the very end of the game. And hey, there's two more novels to deal with that revelation, which I have picked up from the library to read immediately! Yay! Current personal theory: based on the heavy math references that made me want to cry at the start, but the almost entire absence of actual numbers, and a reference to "there's no way actual physics works like that, it was obviously a calendrical effect" or something…I'm going to throw out a wild guess that the calendar stuff (and all the social structuring that goes with it) is so that they can break and reinvent math. So they can effect a universe where 2+2=5 and therefore a bunch of people standing in this exact position makes a force field or bullets of rose thorns or whatever and some other dude can make himself immortal. This sounded like a pretty terrible theory already and it sounds even worse now I've typed it up but oh well.

Raven Stratagems, Yoon Ha Lee Guess who didn't write this up back when she read it!!! Also, I returned Ninefox Gambit to the library right before the libraries shut down for covid. So, I had Raven and Revenant on hand for months but I didn't have Ninefox on hand to do an immediate reread to see if that made the sci fi make more sense. (It probably wouldn't have, but I would have liked to do a rereading while the ending was still fresh.) By this time there is a lesser degree of visceral viscera. Lee is brutal, however, about continuing to be honest about what war costs and whether war is worth that cost (which depends, really, on whose lives you think matter. Very relevant for these times. Very much prepared me to shut up and not whine about the inconveniences of protests and their fallout. There is no pretty and clean way to have a revolution, since it involves destroying a particular [terrible] way of life, so we're all just gonna have to sacrifice together). Also I think by this point all the character development from the first novel paid off in the form of character dynamics being hilarious now despite, y’know, the gruesome shadow of war.

Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee Continues to discuss the honest price of war and the messiness of fallout. Shuos "The risks I took were calculated, but boy am I bad at math" Jedao. Oh I think this is also the one where every so often one of the characters thinks, "Okay so this person is a tyrannical murderous dictator but he is ensuring that there will never again be food shortages and no one in the space empire ever goes hungry." And then Lee turns around and is like, "Haha but don't forget this same person invented a form of vital infrastructural technology (and also immortality) that is optionally based off ritual human torture sacrifice. Like he didn't have to do that to make it work. He just decided to anyway. And that's always bad :) " (Also useful in our current climate of "Okay but we should consider the other person's circumstances and point of view" and also "Yeah but that doesn't apply if they're literally Nazis tho.")

Hexarchate Stories, Yoon Ha Lee A collection of short stories set in the universe of those three books. There's one story at the end that does satisfy the "But I wanted another sequel!!!" urge. And there's a bit of backstory for Jedao and Cheris. But by and large what you should be in the mood to read is flash fiction snippets that simply happen to be set in the same universe but have no bearing on the plot. Which is pretty cool and interesting if you are in the proper mindset! Even better, Lee includes author's notes at the end of each story to talk about the story, or the influences, or the context of his life at the time, etc etc. That is always my absolute favorite part of a short story collection. Also these notes told me everything I needed to know about why I liked certain things about his writing. "I wanted to write my own AUs," "If I get stuck I go on TV Tropes," "My only regret is that I had to cut the scene where Jedao goes to ~Halloween~ dressed as himself and trolls people" ahhhh that's also a regret I share.

Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee This one is YA! There is a lot less gore although I guess there was still genocide! Read this when you are in the mood for something that doesn't attempt to hide the fact that the plot is completely, conveniently contrived to give you fast-paced action and fun. Min sure has a lot of coincidental meetings that should stretch my disbelief but I don't care. Also, I am enjoying reading books with girls as protagonists that do what I'm tired of being told to love about boy protagonists--just keep barreling along with complete self-assurance that you are right and, if you run into trouble, you can egotistically figure your way out.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin Gods and mortal ruling family's messy soap opera sexcapades is not exactly my favorite genre, but luckily it is handled by Jemisin so it's all good. Lots of Souma Family Values. I'm really appreciating how Jemisin considers choice of narrator very carefully and uses it to brilliant effect in this trilogy. Stories are things told by a narrator to an audience; why should we rely on the artifice of an "impartial" "reliable" "omniscient" 3rd person narrator writing into the void? This trilogy was Jemisin's first, I believe, so it's a little awkward coming back to them now, only because Jemisin is such a powerful writer that the themes she's begun working with here have only gotten stronger with each successive work.

The Broken Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin This one I rated as I read for Protagonist Is Blind based on the scale of a sighted person going "but some of my best friends are blind!" In that regard, I think the book does really well! Blindness doesn't define Oree's life and value; Oree doesn't get magical powers that make her a blind person who isn't really blind; Oree moves away from home and gets a job and lives on her own which seems very accurate to me based on my knowledge of one (1) person who is blind; instead of being ~cured~, Oree actually gets more blind at the end of the story and this is considered a Good Ending. Also personal bonus points are awarded for references to her stick being handy for hitting people with. Some stuff was stereotypical, but Jemisin's intent was not. A+, will read again, please support including way more characters who are blind in media. Anyway I enjoyed this one.

The Kingdom of Gods, N. K. Jemisin First off, Jemisin directly up front critiques the narration choices she made in the first two books and then pays it off like a boss at the end. Like holy crap. I admit by now I was getting a bit bored of the genre, but the book was still very engaging because Jemisin is a master. It may also have been affected by how much increasing pain I've been in lately.

The Awakened Kingdom, N. K. Jemisin I'm dead. This one was way more my speed and you need the other three books to understand this novella but ohhhh my god it's perfect. I read a lot of choice passages of this aloud to my roommate because how could you resist. It's still heavy but it's hilarious. Bless Shill.

[sourwolfstories]

Hey! Can you rec some sterek university AUs pls? Thanks you!

Oh boy… okay so this is one of my favorite tropes and I have a crap ton of these. I couldn’t fit all of my faves on here (well i could have but it would have taken forever and the list would have been HUGE) but here are several for you to enjoy!! :)

No Homo by orphan_account

Stiles’ sophomore year starts something like this:3 FourLokos+ 1 peer-pressuring cat- 1 best bro to end all best bros= 1 Craigslist ad headline that reads “str8 dude - m4m - strictly platonic”.Derek is the fool who replies.

It Started With A Whisper by allyasavedtheday, warmth

“I’m Stiles, by the way. In case you did, you know, need something, cause Librarian is kind of an old lady term and… yeah. So, Stiles. S-T-I-L-E-S, like that one dude in that band from the UK.”

Or the one where Derek and Stiles are both in college, Stiles is the school’s librarian, and Derek is just trying to study.

The Company I Keep by secondstar

Stiles has a favorite table at the library. Then some asshole comes along and steals it from him.

Maybe by MellytheHun

Tumblr Prompt:

my fave overheard on campus moment of all time was the two guys who sat behind me in pop culture theory

as class was starting one of them was like “so… do you want a blowjob after this” in a rly bored voice, and then the second guy was like [pause][dejected sigh] “yes”

Not Mine to Love by Sabeley

It should have been awkward then, as the haze of lust left them, but Derek really didn’t mind the fact that Stiles was collapsed on his chest, breathing heavily. He didn’t care that he was naked in his roommate’s bed, coming down from the best orgasm he had ever had. He didn’t even care that he had just lost his virginity to someone who wasn’t Jennifer.

“That can’t happen again,” he said simply.

It happened twice more that night and it never really stopped.

The Hunt by HenryMercury

Stiles wakes up with a hangover and the phone number of the most attractive (and the frowniest) guy he’s ever encountered.

…Who also happens to be the front-man for the band Scott’s just joined.

Pushed to the Limit by kittylovessterek (kitty_fic)

Watching Stiles get ready to go out is torture. The universe is obviously testing him. There’s only so much temptation one werewolf can take.

I Keep On Fallin’ by xKookiesandCreamx

Ow fuck!“

Stiles sprung up out of his slumber, dazedly looking around for the cause of his roommate’s pained sounding exclamation.

He got his answer when he flicked his desktop lamp on and looked to see Derek sprawled in a graceless heap on the floor by Stiles’s bed.

~~~

Or a little college au ficlet in which a middle of the night accident actually turns out to be a not so bad thing after all.

Hot Nerd Alert by alisvolatpropiis

Derek can’t believe he’s actually doing this: taking a selfie snap of the guy he’s been crushing on for weeks to prove to Danny that one, yes, he really does exist, and two, he really is that hot and thus he is totally justified in being too scared to make a move.

Or you know, even talk to the guy outside of the class they share.

In his defense, this isn’t just any guy. This THE guy. Hot Nerd. The utterly adorable but still somehow insanely sexy freshman in his twentieth century American Lit class who he’s been lusting over since the first day of the semester. If there were ever a time for him to be that person who tries to be subtle while taking snaps of other people, this is it.

Love Comes in Spurts by talktowater

Stiles has always had sort of a hero worship thing going on with Scott’s step-brother Derek so moving into a house with him freshman year was basically fulfilling a childhood fantasy. Discovering how Derek was putting himself through college, well that was a whole other fantasy that Stiles didn’t even know he had.

Your First by Simone (fvckyourfandoms)

It’s Stiles freshman year of college and he decides to rush a fraternity. He becomes Vice President Derek Hale’s favorite pledge and they end up much closer than expected.

or

A story in which Derek can’t keep his hands off of Stiles’ sweet, irresistible, virgin ass and fails at not feeling him up.

A Comprehensive Study in Getting a Boyfriend via Persuasive Essay-Writing by Luddleston

Stiles is a junior Journalism major who takes Rhetorical Strategies because it covers his English requirement. He’s also trying to be subtle about the way he keeps checking out his professor.

Derek is a grad student teaching his first class ever. He also has the most annoying student on the face of the planet, and is done reading essays about the history of male circumcision.

Flirty e-mails are exchanged, Stiles spends way too much time in Derek’s office, and they fall in love over a mutual hatred for APA formatting.

take two and hit to right by gottalovev

Stiles enjoys ogling the very handsome shortstop of the varsity team while in class. One day, when he cannot have the seat he prefers to watch the baseball diamond, he starts a conversation on his desk (including cartoon characters and eventually sharing secrets).

Unfortunately, Stiles’ first meeting with the hot shortstop - crowd darling Derek Hale - doesn’t go well. When Hale turns out to be Stiles’ desk pen pal, will they be able to move past first impressions?

If You Wanna Be My Roomie (Lover) by xKookiesandCreamx

Realistically, Stiles knew that the local University’s popularity and commonality meant that many members of his graduating high school class would be starting the Fall 2016 semester alongside him, but he never expected his longtime crush to be one of them. Even more so, he never expected said crush to be assigned as his roommate…oh boy.

Just to See You Again by MellytheHun

A sterek college!AU where writing student Stiles specializes in love letters, runs a blog about it and can be commissioned to write love letters on behalf of lovers who are at a loss for words.

He makes some cash, he’s good at what he does (especially when he gets to be a little more explicit in his letters), it pays for his textbooks and that’s all he’s really looking for and life is fine. That is, until someone anonymously commissions him to write a love letter to mathematics student, Derek Hale.

It’s Happening by isthatbloodonhisshirt

Derek stopped listening to him, brain going a mile a minute.

Derek, it’s fucking happening!Derek, please!

He would recognize that fucking voice anywhere.

Two years. Two fucking years had passed, and now this little shit was standing in front of him, speaking his name, and grinning like an idiot.

“It’s you,” Derek said, earning him a confused look from Stiles. “The phone call. Two years ago. It was you.”

Beauty and the Ex by aggybird

Stiles doesn’t want to screw up his chances with Josh, so he does something he may regret: he goes to Derek Hale, Josh’s intimidating ex-boyfriend, for dating advice.

Things don’t go according to plan. But with a little magic (and werewolves) they might go all right.

We’re caught in stone, you know we might not make it by LunaCanisLupus_22

He does this thing then, while Stiles is watching, rolls his left shoulder a little as if he’s adjusting the books in his arms and suddenly Stiles recognises him from the gesture.

“Oh my god,” he cries, dumping his books, bag and coffee into one big mess on the ground and rushing over to them at once.

Or the one where Derek and Stiles are childhood buddies who lost touch and reconnect by chance at college. Only they end up doing a lot more than just reconnecting.

There is a Brotherhood by minusoneday

So far, college has taught Stiles three things:

1) Eight am classes are cruel and unusual and should be avoided at all costs, even if it means having to enroll in something truly hideous instead, like Econ 101.

2) Dorm security is just as tight as Stiles’ orientation leader had promised it would be, and the dude guarding Scott’s dorm in particular does not respond well to bribes.

3) Mrs. McCall clearly had no clue what she was talking about when she’d insisted that Scott and Stiles needed to branch out and room with strangers, so it’s all her fault that Scott ended up with a total dick of a roommate and Stiles got stuck all the way across campus with some guy who has a girlfriend two towns over and is thus never around.

‘Linski’s Late Night Antidote To Lame by WhoNatural

Where Stiles has his own college radio show, and the mysterious, faceless Derek is his number one fan.

Also there’s this really hot guy he keeps meeting in the library who totally hates his guts.

Inside This Place Is Warm by wolfcloaks

Coming down; One love, two mouths

Stiles Stilinski:

-Senior at Berkley-Double majoring in Human Biology and Biomedical Engineering-Student Librarian-Closet Artist-Basket case extrodanaire-Hopelessly crushing on Derek Hale (read as: pining)

Derek Hale:

-Grad Student at Berkley-Philosophy Major-Dog enthusiast-Does not cry during The Notebook, fuck you,Laura-Is definitely not pining over the librarian with the cute moles-Would very much like to tell the librarian’s curly haired boyfriend to fuck off

Or

Where Derek and Stiles are complete dweebs in love and jump to horribly inaccurate conclusions

Or

When your meet-cute turns into a bit of an (light) angst fest but it’s all ok in the end

———————

If you want to find more college/university goodness you can check out my tag for it here

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

hii. this one is for the "top 5" ask thing. top 5 book series or single books??? (no Tolkien or grrm pls) would love some recommendations

I have to admit that when you said no Tolkien or GRRM, it took me a moment to think of some books/book series lol. I’m too obsessed with those two and need to actually read something else. (My reading has dropped significantly in the last few years, honestly; life is so busy and I miss the days where I could spend hours at a time with a book.) 

In addition to these books, I also recommend the series that I mentioned in this post, although I didn’t include any of them in this list because I saw that you already reblogged that one, and I don’t want to be giving you the same recommendations over and over again. 

*In no particular order, because I suck at choosing :P

1. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

This book was heartbreaking, and I enjoyed it absolutely (I love suffering, what else is new >:D). In essence, the book is a retelling of the Trojan War in Greek mythology told from the eyes of Patroclus, with its main focus being the romantic relationship between him and Achilles, and in my opinion, executed this quite well while remaining mostly faithful to the original myth. I liked Miller’s Achilles for the most part, even though he was a prideful, insensitive, selfish prick who could honestly be somewhat horrifying without Patroclus’ betterment, and loved her versions of Patroclus, Achilles' closest friend and in most cases, lover, and Briseis, a woman who was taken as a captive by the Greeks and given to Achilles as a war prize. As you might predict, they are the major characters of the story, and their dynamics with each other were beautiful. Naturally, it’s not perfect, and I had my gripes, but I would still highly recommend it. 

2. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Another book based on The Iliad, I particularly loved this one because it gave a woman of the war a voice. In this book, the main character is Briseis, who provides us a window into the lives of all the raped and enslaved women whose lives were affected by the Trojan War. Briseis’ relationship with Achilles is much more antagonistic in this one as compared to The Song of Achilles, as The Silence of the Girls writes her as Achilles’ concubine. Achilles is also a POV character, and although we never get to know him quite as intimately as we do Briseis, Barker still creates a very fascinating figure who marks a stark contrast between ruthlessness and civility. All in all, I think this book was a very good depiction of the women of the Trojan War, who, in the original Iliad, seem to have been created solely for the advancing of the men’s arcs. 

3. The Witcher by Andrej Sapkowski

Not a series that I’ve actually read, but I’ve heard so many wonderful things about it, and I’m greatly looking forward to being able to read it when I get my hands on it. It was recommended to me by @marta-elentari, who says it’s like a perfect mix of LOTR and ASOIAF. The main characters are Geralt of Rivia, a man who makes a living by hunting monsters, Yennefer of Vengerberg, a sorceress, and Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, a princess whose blood gives her the power to cross space and time. I’m told that the plot includes dwarves, elves, war, Celtic and Slavic mythology, and political intrigue.

4. Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession by Alison Weir

As you can tell by the title, this story follows the second of King Henry VIII’s wives, Anne Boleyn, who is also my personal favorite among his queens. (By the way, Alison Weir is writing a series called Six Tudor Queens, obviously one book per queen, and this one is part of it.) I believe Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession did quite well in capturing Anne’s spirited and passionate personality; the personality that attracted Henry VIII as a mistress, but was considered distasteful for the wife of a king. I also loved its depiction of Anne’s dignity and courage during her final days, and even up until the moment that she died. Unfortunately, it can also get pretty repetitive with the constant Henry attempting to woo Anne, and Anne staving him off, and I didn’t dig Weir’s portrayal of Henry too much. He just seemed too … lovesick and lacking the complexity and charisma of the historical figure.

5. For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser

Yet another retelling of the Trojan War. XD I’m sorry, Greek myths are one of my favorite things to read about, especially since I first read about The Iliad and The Odyssey when I was a child, so I kind of grew up on them. (What I did not read were the poems themselves; that would have been way above my comprehension level at that age.) This one focuses on Briseis and Chryseis. You already know the former, whom I also mentioned in recommendations 1 and 2, and Chryseis was also a war prize who was given to Agamemnon, the king of all the Greeks (who was also an absolute pig in this book, he can burn in hell). The book does a good job in fleshing them out and giving them backstories, motivations, and personalities, as well as some of the agency that was stripped of them in the original Iliad. 

I have two personal complaints: Chryseis was implied to have been raped by Agamemnon, and Hauser seems to fail to capture the traumatic effect of this on her psyche. The other complaint is that the complexity in Achilles and Briseis’ relationship is rather nonexistent, and I honestly found it off-putting to see it treated like a love story; in that regard, The Silence of the Girls did it best. Overall, the reason I recommend this book has less to do with the relationship between characters and much more to do with the fact that I liked seeing these two women fleshed out and humanized. 

[inviouswriting]

i think would have asked you to pick all for the writer ask ^^lll but pick the ones you want to answer the most? XD

I think I will do all of them. I was thinking about it myself and feel like it. Thank you for sending this in.

ink: what do you do to “set the mood” when writing?

I start thinking about the setting I want to write before a title or a character pops into mind. It’s why I love one word prompts because they spark off instantly.

pen and paper: do you prefer writing by hand or on a device? why?

Computer. Spell check and punctuation checker. I recently purchased word for my new laptop and it has been so helpful. I rarely write by hand. (I have bad handwriting.)

diary: how many pieces have you written that are just for you or will never see the light of day? 

There are a few stories I have written that are personal and keep to myself. Mostly original stories because not a lot of people read my original works. Maybe some day I’ll post them.

journal: do you ever write just so you can enjoy something to read?

All. The. Time. You think I write for just the fandom? I write for myself because I have stories that no one has read. Others have stories I haven’t read before. I love writing as everything comes out different than it was in my head. Like Fire I just posted. I intended that to be longer, but settled for what I wrote here. Simple. I love re-reading my own stuff because it helps me figure out what and where to take the next drabble or story I write.

novella: do you prefer to write short stories, one-shots, or entire novels?

Short stories and one-shots are easier to manage. I wrote for the fandom of Undertale. I had a really popular story I was writing. I had everything planned out, everything going for it. I had daily reviews and the sort. Then it got too much. It felt like a chore than something I wanted to do. I like shorts, they’re fun to write, and I can complete them within a day or a few minutes of sitting down and starting to write. I have a whole novel in my head I want to write. But I just don’t know how the world will perceive it.

pulitzer: tell about/link a piece where you felt your writing was the best.

This would have to be “Heaven” it is a story I wrote for the Bleach fandom. It was my first major focused graphic smut story... (If anyone has figured I am one of those writers. I can write it without problems) It broke me out of the same ol same ol “Hey I just write pwps.” No I write amazing romantic stories now. 

genre: what genre do you prefer to write in?

smuts... romance. I am pretty good at them. I can also write horror really well if I ever entertain the dark side enough. My reaper~

narrator: what pov do you like writing in best?

Second and third pov. I can’t stand first person. I feel like I am writing a diary. It feels weird.

backstory: how did you come to love writing?

I am a reader. I love books and spent most of my youth in libraries. I have learned to love the fictional works. Fantasy is my favorite genre to read. (I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.) I started writing I think... around 12. Nothing explicit till maybe... 16-18. 

time-lapse: how long have you been writing (as a hobby or for work)? 

Since I can remember doing rp stuff. I think 11-12. It’s been like 20 years... (For those curious I am 31.)

characterization: describe your favorite character(s) you’ve written.

I’ll go by fandom where I’ve improved most

FF14. Aymeric is my favorite. I love writing things for him. Close second and growing is Estinien.

Kamigami no asobi - Hades. I love this guy. I learned I can write softly and beautifully.

Bleach - Ulquiorra. There is something about this particular character. I learned and grew as a writer because of Bleach. Ulquiorra is one of my favorite villains to write. 

Original work - My reaper Kiya. Kiya Shinikami (My black mage) stems into original works I do work on every so often. She is far from my own personality. I broke the mary sue stereotype with her. Whenever I am unsure of how I want to write for a fandom I do toss her in and see if I can make my writing work. How Trust came around. (I do have a story that would feature her in her full tilt self. Just how to write it.)

carnegie: what authors and/or books/stories have inspired you to write or influenced your work?

When I could start taking note of writing. Susan Fletcher. I enjoyed her Dragon’s milk series. (It’s an older children’s novel. but worth reading.) I enjoy authors like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and other fictional independent writers I see on sites and here. No one influences my writing because just like drawing. People need to focus on their own natural style of writing. Even if it is messy and uncoordinated.

faulkner: what tropes do you LOVE writing? which ones are your guilty pleasure?

Femme fatals. I have a soft spot for lovers at first sight...

o’connor: what tropes/genres do you dislike writing?

The “Came from a broken life and is obviously god’s gift to the object of desire” There is having a broken life. Then there is building the work and pulling through it. Going to Kiya here. In her story. She is someone who grew up in Elizabeth Bathory’s home. She was killed for her blood. In the after life. She rose to great heights then fell from her position only to ascend to something. She achieved her greatness through countless struggles and didn’t let her murder constrict how she goes through her life now. She was even Bathory’s reaper when it came time to collect.

dickinson: what insecurities do you have about your own writing? what do you think you should improve on?

Whether or not people truly enjoy my work. I have comprehension problems here and there. Punctuation has never been my best, even through school. I just can’t grasp it like others can. And I fear that is a put off for others.

playlist: what kind of music/songs help you write? do you have a writing playlist?

I tend to listen to trance or “mood” songs. Things that set a mood for the area I write in. If it is something longer than drabbles. Trance or instrumental music is best. (Specially for essay writing.)

record: have you written things based off of songs? do you like to?

I’ve written a few things. I do like writing songs with a music theme to them. 

nobel: have you published anything you’ve written? online or irl?

Yes! I am! I am published in an anthology for the pairing Ulquihime. https://www.deviantart.com/157yrs/art/Cross-Your-Heart-398611831 All the proceeds for this anthology are suppose to go to the children’s heart foundation. None of the writers or artists for this anthology make a dime off it. My story is called Ice.

notepad: can you write anywhere or do you have to be in a specific place and mood to write?

Drabbles are spot writing and they’re always on tumblr. I like the blue background as easier to look at than the white of my word.

parchment: how often do you or your personal life influence your writing?

Rarely. I keep my personal life from seeping into my writing. I want to separate myself as much as possible.

dedication: if you were to publish a book or multiple, who would you dedicate the book(s) to?

trope: what’s a pet peeve you have about writing? 

How easy it is. People who draw know how hard it is to perfect their skills. Same with writing. It isn’t “magic in words.” It’s time and dedication to improvement just the same. You don’t just wake up and go “I’m going to write the best thing ever.” without references, a thesaurus and dictionary. 

input: what’s something you hate that people say to you about writing/your writing?

“ It’s like someone else’s.” I kinda find it impersonal that way as I have strived to stand apart from others. I want to be remembered for me. Not remembered as a copy cat of someone else.

critic: what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about writing?

Be patient. It seems like it is hard to do, and yes it is. But spending time to write, and focus on it, keeping a steady patient flow of how you write is crucial so you never get burned out.  Also keep prompt blogs and lists saved always. They do help.

mifflin: what do you feel is your strong suit in writing? 

Romance. I’ve been told I have a way with words. I just like to write an emotion I try to convey.

houghton: what’s something you love that people compliment your pieces on?

Enjoying my work. compliments and comments tell me I am doing good. Silence kills writers and artists. 

This was a bit long but I loved taking a moment to write all this as a way to get to know the person behind the blog. I’m pretty easy going and straightforward.