#oh have i not mentioned that i am turning 40 this year because that is also a thing

[deathtodickens]

I am finally back in a sketching mood and getting my left-arm muscle-memory used to using my Cintiq and drawing in Photoshop. Am also still (still) working on the last bits of Ages because next year it will be TEN YEARS since I started that fic. And I intend to conclude it (part one, anyway) by (preferably before) 2024.

[pshcomforts]

➳ love wins all | yjw.

idol!jungwon x fem!reader

“is it a bad ending?”

synopsis: jungwon, once again, forgot an important date for your guys’ relationship, and you’re tired of it.

warnings/content: written in third pov. angst to fluff. argument! toxic if you squint really hard. mentions of breakup. poor boy’s stressed out :( cursing (i think) and not proofread.

comments, likes, and reposts are appreciated :)

word count: 1.8k

༘˚⋆𐙚｡masterlist⋆.✧˚

current song playing: love wins all by iu

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

1:05 ─────|────────────── -3:22

the time was ticking.

y/n constantly looked at the clock, noticing the minutes go by faster than she thought. she sighed, “he didn’t really forget did he..?” the soft mumble leaving her lips as she didn’t want to believe it.

[ 1:24 am ] — the phone beamed.

she was beginning to give up on him. “just a few more minutes…,” the girl murmured, pushing back the tears that threatened to fall.

[ 1:40 am ] — time turned.

her heart sank at how long it’s been. she then decided to clean up the big surprise she had for her boyfriend, putting things away messily while letting tears dropping atlas as she felt useless.

suddenly, the door was being struggled to get unlocked. y/n waited, knowing that it was finally him but had no hopes anymore.

the doorknob was soon unlocked and in came her dimpled boyfriend, still in his practice outfit and seemingly fighting the urge to sleep.

no words were said. she only looked at him with disappointment. jungwon made eye contact with her once he took off his shoes and gave out a long sigh.

“oh hey baby,” he whispered, breaking the long silence that felt like torture

y/n didn’t answer right away. she waited for her throat to clear from the tears she let out.

“won, do you know what today was…?”

the tired male sighed in defeat, giving a clear hint to her that he had forgotten. “um…,” his one word changed y/n’s mood.

“i know you’re tired from practice, but i waited… for 4 hours.., you gave no message whatsoever, and i even told you how important this dinner was for us. did you even know it was our anniversary?”

y/n finally broke loose, letting out what she had been holding in for the past few hours in his absence. she looked at him, seeing if there was any mercy in his eyes but he only looked tired.

finally, he hoarsely spoke, “i know… i’m sorry i forgot.”

the girl scoffed at his words, tears falling constantly down from her eyes that had become red.

“that’s all you have to say??”

jungwon sighed again, his arm falling over his eyes as he said, “what do you want me to say?” in a tiring voice.

y/n stayed quiet in disbelief that her boyfriend of two years was really acting like this. “wonie, you don’t even remember our anniversary and now you’re not even being sincere with me?”

“look babe, we got heavily yelled at today and-“

“and that’s supposed to affect how we are at home?”

“why are you making it a bigger deal than it should be?” he quickly shot back.

jungwon sat up, finally making eye contact with his girl after a while. his eyes stayed firm and serious, no longer looking like the adorable boba eyes she once knew throughout the years.

“won, for the last few months, i’ve been feeling like i’m the only one in a relationship and it’s been getting tiring. i understand you have a busy schedule but-“

“if you understand then why are you even bringing this up?” the boy exasperated with a groan.

she huffed. he wasn’t understanding her point, and it was getting to her.

“because i feel like you don’t even understand me,” y/n’s voice trembled. quite suddenly, won stopped and finally took focus into her after he heard it.

“for so long, i feel like i’ve been putting effort only.” she added on, heart crumbling apart piece by piece.

jungwon sighed as his fluttering eyes stayed glued to the ground while mumbling, “you know how important it is to me to be in enhypen. you know that it’s what i’ve wanted for so long.”

the girl sniffled and wiped her tears away. “i know.. i do, but lately, you’ve been so distant. every mistake you’ve done in this relationship, i’ve excused but now.., you forgetting our anniversary is something i can’t look past on.”

he rolled his eyes, getting tired of going back and forth on this argument.

y/n took notice. of course she did. that little gesture was something unusual from her boyfriend. “you’re not even listening to what i’m saying won-“

“because! what you’re saying is nonsense. i’ve been going through so much as the leader for our comeback — keeping everything in order, making sure all the members are prepared..,” he sighed in exhaustion before continuing.

“i’m tired, and the last thing i want is to come home to an argument waiting to happen, which has been going on for a while, for absolutely no reason at all.”

the long awaited argument was now out.

jungwon had finally exploded, raising his voice in frustration whilst cutting her off in the process.

she was taken back by it of course, not knowing what to say as she stayed silent to what he said. he still wasn’t listening to her.

the male put his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes, almost feeling guilty of his explosion.

y/n took notice, sighing with a heartache inside as she huffed, “if it’s always going to be like this then.. maybe it’s best if we’re not together anymore.”

the sudden suggestion jolted jungwon from his half-asleep state. he stood and walked to her.

“you can’t be serious, y/n??”

his voice rose again, causing the girl to close her eyes from it. he sighed, half in regret and half in frustration.

“you really think your solution to this is breaking up?” he questioned.

the two were letting tears fall now, breakdowns happening left and right.

his hand touched her gentle cheek, subtly wiping away her tears as he slightly pushed her cheeks up so she can look at him. a small smile attempted to display on his lips for reassurance but y/n only turned away from the skinship.

she knew that most of their fights always ended like this, and she couldn’t have it like that anymore.

it was quiet.

nobody wanted to say anything that could ruin the mood even more. it remained like that before the girl suddenly heard the ruffles of his clothing and keys, knowing he was about to head out of the door.

she dreaded to ask the question but she had to. “did you ever really love me?”

the question stopped jungwon from walking any further. they both swiftly turned to each other, locking their watery eyes with betrayal and hurt emerged on their faces.

“that’s too much!” his voice broke in the sudden yell, causing the two to tremble down into more crying tears.

y/n felt everything crashing down, pain entering through her body all at once.

“i used to never question that until now, won.” she uttered in a shaky tone.

finally, he approached her after what she said. his eyes were filled with just as much pain as hers as they sparkled.

the boy wanted to apologize but he didn’t know how with how far they had gotten into it. none of their arguments had ever been this bad.

“you know i love you y/n…, you’re my girl. i can’t even imagine a life without you. you’re the only thing that matters in my life right now. i enjoy being an idol but you? you come first. you always will.”

a few voice cracks happened in his message that showed his raw emotion.

he locked eye contact with her, showing her his tears that he couldn’t control through it all.

✩ ‘i carefully hold you in my eyes’ ✩

y/n didn’t respond. she still felt hurt that he forgot the big and small events he used to know.

the girl only hugged him, squeezing him in her embrace that made the two only cry harder in each others arms.

she still said nothing.

the two stayed like that for a few minutes as she let jungwon cry it out.

only soft sobs and quiet sniffles were heard throughout the apartment. he was going through so much as the leader and this hug was what he needed.

✩ ‘hold me tight until i can’t breathe’ ✩

y/n needed more though. she wanted to hear his usual whispers of sweet nothings, his unique voice that always tingled in her ear, his warm hugs that felt like home.

✩ ‘i want to be sad with you my lover’ ✩

so she let him continue to sob until he felt better, and it was then that she left his embrace.

his favorite girl placed her hand on his tear-stained cheek in the process, only giving a half smile and leaving to their bedroom.

there were still no words said after that.

jungwon stayed out in the living room, sitting on the sofa as he continuously rubbed his eyes in frustration.

he was tired, and he just wanted the night to end.

after sitting with his thoughts for a few minutes longer, he finally decided to look at the clock.

[ 3:16 am ] — it read.

won sighed, believing that it was finally time to head into the bedroom as well.

as he stepped further to their room, he saw y/n on the very edge of her side of the bed. his heart ached, knowing he messed up big time.

“are you awake?” his soft voice spoke, standing where the door frame was in hesitation.

his adorable lips pressed into a thin line, showing his dimples as he contemplated on whether or not he should be in the same bed as her after the argument.

‘please… stay with me..,’ his favorite person thought, wide awake as she pretended to sleep.

truth be told, she didn’t know what his choice would be. it felt like she didn’t know who jungwon was anymore.

y/n stayed on her side of the bed, heart trembling in fear of how things would turn when suddenly feeling a huge dip on her opposite side.

he stayed.

a relief sighed out of her, though remaining sound asleep in his eyes.

he laid down on his side, abruptly pulling his girlfriend closer to him.

she felt the pull and complied. his body ghosted over hers as she turned around to come face to face with him.

the girl’s eyes slowly opened to meet his, and all he could do was display his subtle surprise that she was awake.

but they quickly softened at her reddened eyes that cried for comfort.

tears welled up in the two again.

their pillows became wet with them as jungwon softly mumbled — “i love you, baby.”

y/n sniffled her snot back in before replying, “i love you too.”

he sniffled as well, moving to kiss her forehead and pull her closer to him.

the tall male wrapped himself around his girlfriend, holding her near to let her know that he wouldn’t let her go that easily.

jungwon and y/n let the last of their tears leave their tired eyes for the night as her hand rested on his broad chest, and his arms confirmed the reassurance she needed.

they were okay again.

✩ ‘our love wins all, love wins all’ ✩

★・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・★

[multific]

Doctor’s Secrets

Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary: During a very difficult and convoluted case the team stumbles into a secret. Soon they will figure out just how smooth Spencer Reid can really be.

"The man we are looking for targets lonely married women. Women with husbands who have jobs which keep them from home. The unsub is in his early 40s and has a criminal record of violence." As Gideon kept on going to explain to the officers just who they are looking for, Reid had a sudden realization. "This is his way of punishing the husband and the wife at the same time. In his eyes, the husband is guilty of not taking care of her and she is a cheater, much like how his parents were when he was a child. He is violent and often angry. Road rage and public meltdowns are common for the unsub."

"I have to make a call." Reid told Hotch as he suddenly rushed out to make his call.

The team did notice that Reid was rather nervous the entire day, he kept fidgeting and he was uncharacteristically weird. Spencer kept on staring at his phone as if he was waiting for a text or a call. 

But no one questioned it.

"You good, Kid?" well no one except for Morgan, of course.

"Yes, I am. I'm only worried a little."

"What this unsub got you scared?"

"I'm... kind of..."

This is when an officer walked over to the room where the team was, knocking on the door.

"Dr Reid, as you requested, your wife is here."

The entire team looked at Spencer.

"WIFE?!" called out Garcia through the phone before she ran to find them.

---

You were sitting at home, working when your phone rang.

"Hi Babe." you said as you started to drink your tea.

"Y/N, I sent a car to you, there is a serial killer out there, his profile... he is killing women like you, the police car will be there soon, please just go with them, they will bring you to me." he sounded extremely worried, and you knew what you needed to do. 

"I will be fine, Spencer, they just arrived, I'm coming to you."

You heard him let out a long sigh and without another question, you gathered your purse and headed to the cop car.

When you arrived at the station you had no idea what to do.

Spencer always kept you very far from his job so you won't be affected like he once was. 

You never minded him keeping you so far from his line of work it did help a lot for you to help him through the harder times.

Spencer and you have been married for the last three years and before that dating for years, his team didn't know about you because he chose not to mention you to any of them. 

It was the reason why he always kept his wedding band at home, you weren't really a fan of him not wearing it but you understood.

But now, when he called you, he did make you worry a lot.

Talking about a serial killer who targeted women like you.

"Y/N," you heard your name being called and when you turned you saw Spencer, a smile find its way onto your lips.

"Hi." he went over to you and gave you a hug. "I'm all good." you said when you felt him tighten his grip around you.

"I'll introduce you, come on." he grabbed your hand and guided you into a room. The room was filled with files and photos on a board but for now, you tried to focus on the people as all of them introduced themselves one by one.

"Hi, my name is Penelope, very lovely to meet you."

"Hi, I'm Y/N Reid, nice to meet you as well."

"While we figure things out, Garcia please look after, Mrs Reid." said Hotch.

"OH! I will show you my magic room!" the kind woman chirped as you nodded, you understood they had a job to do.

Penelope was a very nice woman, her room, was filled with monitors and she kept on going over them.

"Can-Can I ask you something?" you asked as you rolled over to her in your chair. 

"Of course,"

"Spencer said that the killer targets women like me. Can-Do you know what he meant?"

"From what I heard, the killer targets women with husbands who stay away for longer periods, this is his way of punishing the people who are like his parents were."

"I see, I was trying to think if I have seen or heard anything but-"

"This is not your fault, Spencer did well on protecting you as he should."

"I know but, there are women out there who don't have a husband with such knowledge, they are in danger. I cannot help but think that while I had the opportunity to run away and hide, many of them don't."

"Don't blame yourself, Sweetie. This is not your fault at all. And you being here helps Spencer concentrate so they can catch the killer faster."

"Thank you."

"Of course," she smiled as the phone rang, she picked up, it was on speaker.

"Talk to me, Hot Stuff."

"Garcia, can you check on a Dr Thomas Jones?"

"Works in New Jersey, family medicine doctor, no criminal record, divorced, his wife now lived in California... guess she ran as far as she could."

"Oh God." Garcia looked at you as you said that. "I know him."

"Y/N? What do you mean?" Derek said on the phone. 

"He was my doctor, I used to go every other month for a check-up. He-He tried to hit on me many times but I told him I'm married. I always thought he was weird."

"Good, thanks, we can use that against him. Thanks, Garcia, Y/N."

Derek hung up the phone as you looked at Penelope.

"One time, I went because I had a fever, he was touching me but I thought I was only imagining it because I had a high fever. I didn't go to him after that."

"So, that's how he chooses his victims. He knows about your husband, he has all of your info."

"The sick bastard. I should have told Spencer."

"It's okay, Y/N. We will catch him now." you nodded as she began to type. You moved back to the table but you couldn't concentrate. You just hoped the horror would end.

You and Penelope went to get some coffee when Spencer barged into the kitchen.

"We got him." he smiled and you saw him letting out a long sigh. You smiled at him as you put your mug down, heading over and giving him a hug.

"I'm proud of you." you said as you pulled away, returning to your coffee.

"SO, as I was saying, the store had a sale but the bag I had my eyes on for months, just disappeared." Penelope groaned behind you as you turned to look at him, sitting down by the table, you turned to Spencer.

"I can wait for you, if you have paperwork."

"Okay, I'll try and be quick." he smiled and you nodded before you returned to the conversation with Penelope. 

Spencer run to his desk as he sat down he noticed Derek looking at you from where he was sitting by his desk.

"You got lucky, Reid." Derek said. "But why keep it a secret?" Morgan now looked at Spencer. 

"I thought we were friends, you could have told us." Emily now also sat down at her desk joining the conversation.

"It was a small wedding, only her parents and my mum, that's all I had time for. But she didn't mind, she said she understands that I'm busy. She often says she wouldn't have married me if she didn't know what it comes with." Hotch hearing that, really felt a pain in his chest, but everyone else could only smile at Spencer.

"Let's go out for a drink sometime, so we can get to know her like Garcia did." said Jason Gideon as he grabbed his bag and left for the weekend.

Spencer could only smile as he soon finished his report.

"Let's go home." you turned around at his voice. 

"Let me grab my bag." you headed back to Garcia's room. "It was nice meeting with all of you." you said to everyone as you waved goodbye. Spencer's hand was on your waist as he guided you to the elevator.

"Garcia?" asked Hotch as everyone looked at him.

"She is perfect, so kind and smart." Hotch nodded before heading back to his office.

Everyone was more intrigued now, they all wanted to get to know you.

No one could believe that their boy-wonder was keeping such secrets.

As Spencer started to drive, you turned to him.

“I really like your team.”

“They like you too.” he smiled.

“Do you think I could get to know them better?”

“Of course, Gideon already wants to go out for drinks so he could talk with you.”

“Oh great, cannot wait to get profiled by him.”

“Well-”

“Shut it! I know you already did but I don’t want to know!”

“You got it, Darling.”

“Penelope is a sweetheart, she gave me so many names of stores to get clothes.”

“Please don’t start dressing like her. I like your style already.” you smiled at that.

“Thank you, Spencer. I know I should have told you about Dr Jones... but you are already so busy.”

“I’m never too busy for you, Love.” he grabbed your hand and kissed the back of it.

You soon arrived home, took a nice shower and hit the bed. You were always very worried that his team won’t like you, but now, after meeting them, you felt at ease.

You just couldn’t wait to meet them once again, after all, they are your husband’s second family.

Taglist: @fleursirvart​ @greenarrowhead​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @sincerelyfan​ @theoneanna​ @aestheticsandmarvel​ @rororo06​ @castellandiangelo​ @destynelseclipsa​ @spilledinkindumpster​ @capsiclesdoll​ @puknow​ @alwayshave-faith​ @alex12948​ @lxdyred​  @imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl​ @anonymoussherlockandmarvelgeek​ @praline357​ @trshngyn​ @avengers-r-us​ @violet-19999​ @top1bbgloak​   @manduse​   @jacalineiscomingforyou​  @mandoloriancookie​ @noname2246​

~Masterlist~

ˇAO3ˇ

DO NOT STEAL, REPOST OR TRANSLATE ANY OF MY WORKS  

[hannicorpse]

ʚ♡ɞ hopelessly devoted to you : episode one - see? you get me!

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pairing : frat members yang jungwon x female reader

warnings : mentions of cheating, and jungwon jokes that he will unalive himself

wc : 0.9k + smau

preview : jungwon was always known as one of the more persistent members of the epsilon nu frat. so when he ran into you for the first time, he just knew he couldn’t get enough of you. even if you couldn’t be together because of your warring friend groups. but that doesn’t mean they had to know. right?

taglist ! @firstclassjaylee

you were never one for lectures. especially when your teacher doesn’t move fast and often goes overtime. but, at least class was over now. all you had to do was sprint over to the cafeteria since you were already running late.

like always, your friends were sitting down at your usual lunch spot, their trays already full in front of them.

“you’re late again,” karina complains as you sit down next to winter. “you should consider changing your schedule.”

“i don’t see a reason to change it though.” you spoke with a confused tone.

“karina has a point. a lot of your classes end up going overtime, and you only have a single class with us.” aeri points out, waving her fork around before going back to eating.

“yeah. and, you have at least one epsilon nu member in every other period. you see them more than us during a regular school day.” karina says.

“fair points all around. but, they’re not so bad.” you shrug. “besides, with ning and minjeong as my roommates? i think i see you guys enough..” you joked, ignoring their complaints in the background.

“i get where y/n’s coming from though.” says ning. “one time, i had to be partners with jay in bio. and he’s actually a gentleman, he’s pretty nice.”

“yeah, most of them are actually pretty chill. but, i’m sure karina can’t say the same about.. heeseung” minjeong agrees, before she whispers the man’s name.

karina immediately looked up from her plate, but her facial expression was unreadable. her neutral appearance was more nerving than the face she makes when you know she’s upset.

the core members of alpha epsilon and epsilon nu were not always rivals, seeing as heeseung and karina were once a power couple. but after heeseung decided to cheat on her at the beginning of their sophomore year, things began to take a turn.

the table remained silent until karina began to continue eating.

“i’m gonna go get lunch since i was like.. 25 minutes late. can someone come with me?” you announce, looking up at the clock to see you had a little less than 40 minutes left.

“they’re not gonna let us back in line. last time i went with winter after i already got food, they thought i was getting seconds and they sent me out.” aeri reminds you.

“fine. i’ll just go alone.” you roll your eyes.

the cafeteria food at decelis academy never disappoints. it was more than exceptional for such a prestigious college.

you grabbed a bowl of kimchi stew and a side of rice, along with some melons to go along with your meal.

at the end of the line, you reached for the last strawberry milk, only for a boy behind you to take it.

“oh- i’m so sorry. did you want this? here.” he spoke, handing you the single carton.

“oh no, it’s okay. i’ll just find something else.” you smile, waving your hands.

“i insist.” “are you sure?” “of course. i’ll just have banana milk instead.” the guy assured.

your hands briefly touch his as he places the milk into your palm.

“you look familiar. do i know you?” he asks.

“maybe. y/n lee. what about you?” “ah. as in alpha epsilon?” you nod to his question.

“yang jungwon.” “epsilon nu?” “the one and only.”

you chuckle at jungwon’s response.

“where are your friends anyway?” “they didn’t want to get lunch with me since i was late. you?” “same.”

“you wouldn’t happen to be mark’s sister, would you?” jungwon questions, again.

“i am. do you know him?” “yeah. heeseung’s on the basketball team with him.”

you smile nervously.

somehow, the atmosphere grew awkward at the mention of heeseung. however, he continued to smile. not an awkward expression, but a genuine one. you noticed the way his ears grew red when you held eye contact for a few moments.

“so, epsilon nu? you’re not as scary or mean as karina described.” you joke, breaking the silence.

“thanks. yeah, i guess karina and heeseung kind of butcher our groups images, huh?”

“yeah, she never mentioned how handsome you were either.”

jungwon’s cheeks turn into a rosy pink, as he brings a hand up to scratch the back of his neck.

“are you gonna eat the stew warm or will you just continue flirting in my line?” the lunch lady interrupts, cutting off your train of thought and bringing you both back into reality.

“sorry miss!” you both bow, moving down along the line.

“so, i’ll see you around?” he questions.

“yeah. i hope so.” you smile, before walking in the opposite direction.

“bro, you were gone for like 15 minutes. where were you?” jake asks as jungwon sat back down.

“the line was just long.” he shrugs, making up an excuse, hoping his friends will buy it.

everyone goes back to eating, but jungwon doesn’t notice the way sunghoon and jake look at him, their suspicions rising.

“y/n, i know you’re slow, but it does not take half of the remaining lunch period to get food.” aeri jokes.

“sorry. i didn’t expect the line to be so long.”

“yeah, and mr hwang has a big class. maybe it was just y/n’s other classmates getting lunch too.” ning adds on, causing you to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

ningning leans into your ear to whisper, “you’re lucky karina’s in the bathroom, or i wouldn’t have been the only one to see you talking with yang jungwon.”

[topsyturvy-turtely]

turtely's OTP challenge

read day 23 "The Beekeeper and The Book Author" on ao3!

(prompt: being old together)

summary: Beautiful. Quiet. Nice.

Gen, 360 Words, Retirement. John Watson's blog, Fluff.

✨imagine this little baby but 40 years older✨

or read it on tumblr:

✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑

Dear readers,

This will be my very last blog entry. I don’t even know if you young people still read ‘blog entries’ – this is for the people who have followed my blog from years ago, really. Maybe this will be a nice surprise for you.

Here is a little update on our life: Sherlock and I married in the year of 2024. It was a beautiful ceremony, small but meaningful. Not many people – neither of us ever really was a ‘people person’.

We continued our detective work until Sherlock turned 67 years old. I don’t really know how we managed with little Rosie, but we did. She turned out to be one of the most intelligent scientists in Britain and both of us are extremely proud of her.

After Sherlock finally retired we moved to a cottage in the countryside. It is beautiful here. Quiet. Nice. Words, the young Sherlock Holmes would have despised. Let me tell you now, that this man has the softest and biggest heart, you could imagine. He always has had it, he just didn’t show – to protect himself, I believe.

I am getting side tracked… Sherlock is a beekeeper now. He loves bees as if they were his own children. Puts all his research into bees as well. Even sells honey, my old boy. I am proud of him. Really, I am.

Skdico ,kjdkojoaoooooooooppposipoi

I apologise, I got distracted by a white haired and bearded (oh, yes he wears a beard now – I quite like it…) cat purring into my ear. He told me to mention my books. So, I will because otherwise this gorgeous lfjklalaaaa

Where were we? Oh, yes my books. What is there to say? I turned my blog into a book. Book series, really. You can buy the books on Amazon – just search for “Sherlock Holmes Books” and they will be suggested. It’s funny, they sell as if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had written them himself. Which of course, he didn’t, they are all written by ordinary old me, Dr. John Watson.

So this is us. Retired consulting detective and doctor, now beekeeper and book author.

It is beautiful. Quiet. Nice.

✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑✒︎✑

comment on ao3!

tags under the cut :)

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[scribe-of-hael]

im definitely either going to not have Aftermath and Spitfire in Ignited at all or im going to revamp them in a way that make sense

Atm i think the chaos shards are just hella forced and AM and SF are just ....not ...Interesting. AF is just useless and he looks like a old man Mecha not a young rowdy teenager. Spitfire is snappy but she has nothing about her besides a "metal sonic" moment of, "oh im the upgrade baby, I am better than everyone eles."

The pacing on this shows s2 is just God awful. Filled with moment that have no pay off or suspenseful moment that feel so misplaced and unearned.

The most useful think AM and SF did in the show was die. Which why even go through the effort of making them of ten just die. Even if they come back its gonna feel so forced.

You're telling me the step up from Mandroid who was honestly a pretty solid villain who acutally felt like a threat. Is...The Cons doing what they've been doing for like 40 years. Yeah OK Hasbro, I beleive it if it was SOUNDWAVE DOING NOT FUCKING STARSCREAM. Or shockwave TBH

Soundwave showed to acutally be mad at Megs way more, attack him vengeful. Starscream left peacefully with his trine and ONLY ATTACK BECAUSE MEGS ATTACKED HIS FIRST.

It make zero sense that Soundwave would now just follow Starscream's orders. Not to mention that every con basically takes a back seat. Nova and Skywarp having suchba presence reduced to just luckiest of star.

Also someone PLZ give Hardtop back his arm. I like how we saw Swindle for like 2 socnds for that wierd episodes that randomly decided "oh yeah btw Cosmos is here!"

But no one even cared Cosmos was back because it was literally OUT OF LEFT FEILD.

I literally said "if that ride turns out to just be fucking cosomos-"

I can't even be HAPPY to see him dude. He was there then fucking disappeared never to be seen again. Maybe cause have not 1 but 2 celebrity voice actors in ine episode.

[sophieabigail2021]

I am in a good mood so let's salt on this interview because why not

"Sébastien explains that they always plan the scenarios well in advance. For example, what happens in season 6 was already planned when season 3 was written. They've already written two pages of ideas for the Season 7 finale."

Considering these are the same people that admitted that the whole "Adrien doesn't confront his dad or know anything about his villain persona" was planned since the beginning of the goddamn show..........yeah expect the worst from them

"Thomas says they have ideas to go to a season 12 but it will all depend on the success of the series."

And then decades later when season 68 is in the work they will be like "Oh well we really need 40 more seasons to expand our ideas because they're just so many"

"Miraculous will never evolve into an adult series, it will remain a children's series. But they will always try to satisfy the fans who have been following the series for years."

Oh yes the same fans that Thomas complained for years about how they don't get his "amazing" and "masterpiece" of a show and kids understand it better (Sure Jan) to the point of having an episode about that, which wow really meta of you Asstruck /s

"Sébastian teased us that there will be a song in season 6"

If Cristina Vee isn't the one singing it y'all will hear from my lawyers

"Thomas sincerely believes that season 6 is better than season 5, which was off to a bad start because he wondered how they were going to do better than season 5."

"Buckle up because Season 3 is going to be better than Season 2" and then Season 3 turns out to be underwhelming

"Be excited for Season 4 because it will be more amazing than Season 3" and then Season 4 turns out to be a giant waste of time and potentials

"Y'all taught Season 4 was amazing, well prepare yourself for Season 5 because it's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions" and then Season 5 turns out to be the most painfully unwatchable season of a show known to man

Stuff like this doesn't make me hyped for the upcoming season, it's instead making me scared for what bullshit these writers are going to do next

Also it will be really funny and embarrassing for the writers if Season 6 turns to be worst than Season 5

"As season 6 begins a new arc, they consider it a season 1."

So more pointless and boring filler episodes got it 👍

"Sebastien says we'll appreciate season 6 even more when season 7 comes out."

Stop just........STOP!!!!

"Thomas hints that he didn't write the Shadybug and Claw noir universe to exploit it in a single special. But he remains very vague."

Bet you 10$ they will only show up in the Season 6 finally just like Lady dragon and the American heroes

"Thomas explains that there are many details in previous seasons that fans didn't understand, but which will make sense in later seasons."

Making sense has never been this show's strongest suit so why even bother

"There's a reason why Lila is a mythomaniac, and they'll tell it one day in the series. Thomas even says they've already told it in the series, but we haven't figured it out yet."

You mean her being born evil yeah we already knew that

"Thomas says that Chloe will remain an important character in the coming seasons, as she has always been in the series."

BITCH WHERE???!!!, Chloe is the biggest waste of time so what even is the point in bringing her back?????, Thomas we all know you have a deep hatred for this girl but for the love of god stop, you're just beating a dead horse that has already been dead for years just let this shit go

"They will soon be meeting to decide whether Miraculous will be made into a live-action series or not. It will be different from the series. Thomas mentions kwamis in particular, which are complicated to integrate into live action. Thomas has already written the concept. For the series to see the light of day, it will mainly be a question of budget."

OH GOD NO, I will be nice to you Hawkdaddy just please don't make a Miraculous live action series

Also raise your hand if you think Thomas made that decision to rival Zag's Miraculous Awakening movie ✋✋✋

[yawnderu]

About the COD fandom. I just came across a fic that was labelled 16+ yet it was explicitly porn! The blog was something like "Coquette" or whatever with no age in their bio. And I swear you can't explain to these kids WHY you have to label shit appropriately because they just don't get it. One has to state it's 18+ because if you brazenly let minors view explicit content, YOU (in general) can get into major shit.

There are too many minors in the fandom. Too many blogs writing and liking fics with no age in their bios. I remember when teens were told to shut the fuck up in fandoms, at least when they tried to encroach on the 18+ side of it. Yes I am old and yelling at the clouds lol

Oh and I've seen "AKCHULLY Price would date an 18-year-old! He would so nah nah! He's not real so I can write what I want!" Write what you want but it's still gross. Especially because they really make a point of bringing up an age gap. there are alarming pedophilic themes in said fics of price fucking/dating 18-year-olds.

"Controversial young reader!" has 11k notes. "DBF Price/Simon/Konig" and the fics are revolting in nature because the reader is heavily implied to be young and very inexperienced and not in an "I have no interest in this shit" kind of way.

TLDR it's like fics are being written by minors, for minors. Just seems that way...

There's a meme w this same format that goes ''I wish all minors a very get off my blog'' but I can't find it bfehbjefbjhfe

YES!! istg it's always the coquette lana del rey stan girlies who are into weirdly pedophilic things. It's even worse when they're actual adults purposely targeting minors with NSFW content, such as saying Price would date a barely legal girl or wait until she turns 18 to date her like... are you insane? fejnfejhbh This man would definitely want someone around his own age OR with at least a fully developed brain. Sure, everyone can write whatever they want, but people can also talk about it when you're making these men straight up predators.

HEAVY on the too many minors in the fandom, TikTok viralized the masked men and now you have minors commenting sexual things on the media of cosplayers or people who simply like tactical gear. Not to mention they RARELY respect a ''MDNI'', saying things like ''oh but I turn 18 in 2 years'' hbfehjbef PLEASE. And I get it, I've been on many different fandoms ever since I was like 11, I understand wanting to interact with creators and their content— but at the very least respect what they ask if they don't want to interact with minors.

That goes to the other point of kids developing parasocial relationships with the VAs. God, the comment section of the VAs is pure nightmare fuel full of kids saying they're gonna marry them one day or straight up commenting weird sexual things to people who are in their 30s. It's WEIRD, especially because it's so painfully obvious the parasocial relationship they develop is fully one-sided 😭 like why are you commenting how much you want to fuck this married 40-year-old man with kids on a post with his WIFE? Not to mention the hate people close to them get, such as Alain's girlfriend.

I have a small series of DBF!Keegan, but I imagine the reader to be at least in her mid-20s rather than an 18-year-old (or even younger, I've seen some DBF stuff making the reader a minor). It's honestly a bit bizarre to see ADULTS making pedophilic/predatory content targeting a young audience bfehbjfewl

[daydream-believin]

Like a Boiled Frog (you don't even scream) [ch 3]

Start here! + [Next Chapter]

Chapter summary: Hear a horrible story from Mikey's childhood. Play (more like fight for your life) some air hockey while interrogating him. Figure out he's a walking corpse. Meet Helpy :)

Warnings: I mean you can see the graphic imagery right there in the first paragraph lol. canon-typical violence.

Word count: 3920, but quite a lot happens

A/N: Im sorry if this ruins it for anyone but part of this au is that michael and henry have a good relationship lol. uh also the mention of the trope "Final Girl" is gender neutral. Don't have to be a girl to be a "Final Girl", promise

Taglist: @spirit-of-the-hollow (thanks for being so sweet, btw)

“And then I did the worst thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. I lifted him up to the bloody thing’s mouth,” Michael leaned down, pushing his face into your personal space in some half-assed effort to scare you, “And I do mean bloody, not in the British way. That wretched animatronic worked like a clam, opening and closing to look like it was singing. The jaw was spring-loaded. Popped his head like a balloon,”

Your gaze briefly flicked behind him to the garbage sculpture that had a balloon for a head, and you let out the breath you hadn’t realized you were holding. This lungful of air hitting his face caused him to close his eyes and retreat from his little intimidation tactic. Yeah, your breath had to smell nasty right now, sorry man.

He violently raked a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath himself. Thankfully, despite the callous way he presented the facts, he didn’t seem to be proud of this… accomplishment. You could see it in his eyes. He was just trying and failing to act tough and scare you away.

His hair was slightly off-kilter now. Yeah, that was a rug. Hmm. Weird, he didn’t look old enough to already be balding to the point of needing one. But, from what you’ve seen, he might be some kind of cyborg or something. If he “got gutted like a fish” and his eyes glowed in the dark.

“He died in the hospital not even a day later...”

“Oh,” was all you could offer.

 His tone had been angry, but you could perceive that it was more with himself than anything. Which you could understand, you’d be incredibly angry with yourself if you were responsible for the gruesome death of a child. Damn. You clumsily put a hand on his shoulder in some attempt at comfort. Michael, in defiance of your expectations, didn’t immediately try to shake it off. But he did glare at you briefly.

Silence settled over you two as you tried to gauge if he was going to keep adding on to this awful story or if he’d hit the limit on what he was willing to relive. You gently patted his shoulder. Michael looked back at you, mouth open like he was about to say something else, but then closed it in a deep frown. Alright, your turn then.

“I am so, so sorry… I—I don’t even know what to say.”

“No one ever does,” he chuckled to himself, as you used the hand that was already resting on his shoulder to pull him into a full embrace, “What are—”

He stiffened up, clearly not used to the physical contact. That’s okay, you weren’t either. But you needed this. For some reason. It was a bit awkward, still being up on the stage, but that was okay too.

“Mate, you don’t have to—it happened 40 years ago, I’m okay,” his tone had the annoyance of someone tired of telling the same old story.

You squeezed Michael a little harder. He was so cold, even in the summer heat. Probably because he kept it like an icebox in here.

“Maybe you don’t feel like you need a hug after all that, Michael, but I do,”

You didn’t even know him. But just the thought of something as horrible as this happening made your stomach churn. The worst kind of horror story: a real one.

He shook you off of him, brushing himself off as he left the stage.

“You want to play some air hockey? I just fixed the machine this morning and need to test it out,”

Okay… So y’all are obviously done talking about this, apparently. You wouldn’t hold it against him. You wouldn’t want to keep talking about this either and would want a quick distraction like this too. Suppose this was technically him getting right back to work. Which was getting a little suspicious, like he was a little kid who was scrambling to do all the chores he procrastinated on because he could hear Daddy pull up in the driveway.

----

Michael fired up the machine and breathed a sigh of relief when it actually stayed on for more than a few seconds this time. He had in fact fixed it. Good. That would’ve been embarrassing.

The machine hummed, providing some kind of background noise to cut the silence. Perhaps Mike would consider turning the radio back on over the PA system, if he wasn’t planning on quickly smoking you at this little game and then shoving you right back out the door again. If he turned on the music, you might get the wrong idea and think you’re being welcomed.

You just... Needed to get out of here, okay? The longer you’re here the worse it’s going to get. Even though you were stubborn as a mule, you did seem to care about his brother in some capacity. It was probably a side effect of whatever manipulation that toy bear had used to get you in town, but caring is caring. Unfortunately, sentimentality had no place here at Fazbear Entertainment. As ironic as that statement is, the restaurant being a children’s birthday venue.

“So, um,” you placed your hand over the mallet to draw it back towards you as it began floating away, “you know how I mentioned, um, how Evan was, like, really scared of this one dude?”

“Yeah,” Michael tossed the puck onto the table and almost violently hit it in your direction. 

He wasn’t pulling any punches, and he really didn’t like where this conversation was headed.

“And that dude looks like you,” you barely managed to hit the puck back at him.

“Yep.” He popped that P hard. 

Michael’s annoyance at grown-ups fussing at him and telling him how handsome he was going to be one day because he looked just like his father had blossomed into a full blown feeling of hatred and disgust as an adult. Especially if it was some stranger like you, throwing the fact in his face like that.

The puck zoomed to him, and he shot it straight into your goal. He was not even looking at you. It looked like he was just preoccupied with whether or not the scoreboard was actually displaying the right numbers, so you didn’t hold it against him. 

You took a breath, annoyed that your prompting didn’t get a bite, “Well, would you mind me asking who that dude is?”

You tossed the puck back onto the table and sent it his way. You should’ve held it against him, however, because he was blatantly avoiding your gaze on purpose, actually, cross that you were pushing this topic.

“I would mind, actually,” he once again took no prisoners, spiking the puck. 

You narrowly escaped him getting a one-hit kill on you, “Well, normally I would respect that,”

“Good, then respect it,” he said through gritted teeth, trying to shut this whole conversation down.

“But given the circumstances, I don’t think I will, no”

He hit the puck so hard it flew off the air table and rolled under a neighboring arcade cabinet. Shit.

“So, are you his cyborg clone or something,” you watched as he shuffled down onto his knees to reach under the cabinet.

He sat back on his haunches, “What?”

“You said Evan died 40 years ago, and you are very much not an old man right now.”

“That’s because I’m dead,” he said as if it were obvious, walking back to his battle station at the air hockey table.

Christ almighty. Is he… Is he doomed to run a pizza restaurant for all eternity or something? Because that’s how these stories normally go. Someone commits an egregious sin, and they’re cursed to walk the earth, righting their wrong. In his case, having accidentally killed his brother, he now has to make sure all the children at Freddy Fazbear’s have perfect birthday parties. Is this Utahn Chuck E Cheese rip-off his purgatory?

He once again tossed the puck back onto the table, sending your way in a flash, “But you’re asking about my father. Our father.” he said this incredibly coldly. 

And normally when people said “father” and not “dad”, there was a reason.

Welp, there’s that one-hit kill. You didn’t even register it, too wrapped up in this case now, like you were Fred Scooby Doo or something. Freddy Fazbear Scooby—Anyway.

“I uh, I don’t get the sense you liked him very well either, then,”

He laughed, that laugh that reminded you of said father, apparently, “You could say that. The man is a homicidal maniac, Y/n. I’m not exactly concerning myself with buying him the right tie for Father’s Day. Although, I did buy him one shaped like a fish as a joke one year, but his fashion taste is so horrendous he wore it like it was normal,” 

You clumsily hit the puck to the wall, and it lazily bounced between walls in a way that told you Michael was about to have to lean over the table to reach it.

Honestly, what were you expecting? Eh, that’s not entirely fair to Mr. Coveralls Senior. You thought he was abusing his kids, sure, but ‘homicidal’ is new territory. You could easily see how one could fade into the other, however.

Even more alarmingly, you couldn’t help but notice the present tense.

Maybe Michael wasn’t the only one doomed to walk the earth here, and the idea sent shivers down your spine.

Mike did in fact have to lean over the table to hit that puck straight into your goal once again.

“Come on now, I feel like you’re not even trying.”

“I feel like I’m at an appropriate level of trying, all things considered,” even so, you redoubled your efforts.

You hit the puck as fast and as straight as you could get it. Unfortunately, he parried that easily, like he could do it in his sleep. Considering he might be bound to pizzeria arcades for all eternity, maybe he could’ve.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘homicidal maniac’,

“I mean that we still don’t have a solid number on his victims, and let’s leave it at that. Just try not to be one of them, okay?”

You swallowed hard, keeping your eyes on the puck.

That did maybe provide some insight on Michael’s renovation frenzy, however. Was Daddy pulling into the driveway soon?

“So, like,” you managed to go four hits in before he won the point this time, “I’ve noticed you’re working pretty hard. Is this whole… Family thing the reason you were up all night? Is this a “hammers ever cease” type situation?”

“A what situation?” he effortlessly sent the puck back to you the second it was on his side again. No moments of respite when it came to air hockey, apparently.

“Okay see there was this lady, who had this house built with a bajillion rooms,” he raised his brow in playful question, “I can’t remember the actual number on command, okay?”

He shot the puck into your goal ruthlessly, “sorry, continue,”

To be honest, as much as you were annoyed, you were just grateful to be interacting with another human being for as long as you two had been.

“Anyway, her husband and his father ran a rifle company, right, so when those two guys died—plus their daughter also died as an infant—she consulted a medium,” you once again had the opening shot, that he also once again deflected like second nature.

One goal, you just want one goal on this guy, it’s all you’re asking here.

“Oh, we’re not a fan of those medium types around here, they like to break in and harass the ghosts, causing disreputable property damage,” 

“The medium told her that she was cursed by the ghosts of all those who had been shot with those rifles they sold. And she told her to start adding on to her house, as a way to, I don’t know, trick the ghosts or whatever. But the medium said that if the hammers ever ceased, then she would die. So, Mrs. Winchester hired enough workmen to be building at all hours, even through the night.”

“As in, mother of Sam and Dean—”

“No, not those Winchesters. This lady was real.”

Anddddd two more points and he wins. You know what, fine. You needed to use his phone to call a mechanic soon anyway. Assuming it isn’t already past five. Suspiciously, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria didn’t have any clocks anywhere, just like a real-life adult casino.

“Strangely, you’re kinda not wrong about the family thing, but the reason I’ve been going non-stop lately is actually because I need this place open by Friday, for the Peach Days heritage festival.”

“OH, yeah that makes sense,” now less distracted, you hit the puck very fast. You were proud, even.

And you got one-shotted again.

“I’m really banking on this rush,” he raked a hand through his wig—sorry hair, “I’ve maybe run out of money…”

“Maybe?”

“So, I’ve very surely run out of money,”

“Yeahhh,” one more goal and he wins this, so it’s time for psychological warfare, “I can tell.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah man,” you successfully parried his shot, “you have trash sculptures on a stage. You’re missing half the lightbulbs. And that ball pit over there is a cardboard box.”

“Okay, so I may have put a little too much of my funds into a certain project a little too soon,” YES, and now he’s too busy thinking about his project to hit like a demon anymore.

Even still, he had you scrambling to keep the puck out of your goal box, “What kind of project?”

Yeah, no. It didn’t matter. 

He spiked the puck into your goal one last time, triggering the end of game music to play from the scorekeeper, “You want to see him?”

He sounded so excited. Alas, you had to go through the five stages of grief before you could return to playing your part in this conversation. You looked up at the big flashing 7-0 on the scorekeeper. Man, you didn’t even stand a chance in hell of winning, did you? Fitting, considering you might be standing in a certain zombie’s personal hell right now.

“Come on, I’ve got to show you this,”

Always full of surprises, this Mr. Michael A. Coveralls, grabbed your hand and led you off to a backroom of the restaurant. And you followed obediently, like a big dummy. Perhaps you are not exactly “Final Girl” material… His hand was cold. Cold like the dead, you supposed.

----

You passed by a couple private party rooms as he tugged you into the third one, that he had co-opted into a workspace. The place looked all decorated and ready to go, if not for the scattered mechanical parts and smears of motor oil all over the table. 

In the center of the table lied what you could only describe as The Birthday Boy. A colorful little robot bear, about the size of a toddler. Not activated, of course. Many parts were exposed still, wires sticking out of odd places.

“This is Helpy,”

“Awww, Helpy,” that was so cute.

“Yeah, he’s gonna be a real good helper,” Michael fiddled with the wires even as he spoke with you.

“Did you make this all by yourself?”

You adored robots, but could never in a million years design and build one yourself. That was a feat only dream-you could accomplish. You had plenty of talents, of course, but you had to admit engineering was not one of them. So, needless to say, you were pretty impressed.

“Well, the design is pretty derivative of the ones Uncle Henry used to make, as you can probably tell,” he motioned for you to sit at the bench with him so he could continue tinkering with the bear without someone standing over him, “but yeah, other than that, I’ve built him from scratch.”

“Dude. That’s so cool.”

He snickered, trying to hide the ego boost he got from that small little praise. 

“He’s only a little thing.”

Mike started messing with some kind of fuse box type thing, you didn't know. He was bending some wiring with needle nose pliers.

“Hand me that tape?”

You obliged, giving him the roll of electrical tape that had been on your left, “No, seriously man, I mean it, this is amazing. I wish I could figure out robotics.”

You propped your head up with your elbow, watching him work. He didn’t notice you staring, too wrapped up in his project.

“You could…” he trailed off, not liking how he almost offered to give you lessons.

That was… an incredibly selfish thought, just then. Sure, you were the first real person he’d gotten to really interact with since he burned down Fazbear Frights last year. Sure, you didn’t appear to be put off by his whole deal in the slightest. Sure, you acted interested in his work. He should stop thinking about this. About you. You needed to be on the next bus out of Hurricane.

“Heh, nah, I don’t think so. But thanks for being supportive,” you nudged him with your elbow.

He smiled at you sadly, before returning his focus to the part in his hands. He screwed the box back shut, having finished up the inside. 

“I think I’ll be able to get him up and running by tomorrow,”

“Oh, cool! Can I come see?”

Michael placed the tool in his hand back down onto the table with a dull thud. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to relieve some of the stress. It didn't work.

“No, actually, you can’t come see,”

“Why? I promise I won’t be very distracting,”

“No,” he said more firmly, more harshly, “You have to leave.”

“I’m not–”

“You have to get out of this town now before it swallows you, Y/n,” he grabbed your shoulder, making eye contact, “Go to Vegas, go to LA, go to Salt Lake even,  I don't care. Just get in your car and leave.”

You just stared at him for a moment. You knew he wasn’t wrong. You knew, at least for the last few hours of your trip here, that you had been walking right into some kind of ghost’s trap. Everything within you agreed on heeding his warning.

Alas, there was still one little problem.

“My car broke down in your parking lot.”

He slowly closed those glowing eyes of his, letting go of you in favor of rubbing his temples. Of course. Of fucking course.

“But you’re a mechanic, right? Fixing one little station wagon isn’t nearly as complex as building robots, right? I’m sure you’ll figure out what's wrong with it and fix it easily. Ten minutes, tops.” you were aware you were rambling at this point.

—-

Yeah, no. It had already been way longer than ten minutes. Try close to an hour. You stood in the Utah heat, sweating and trying not to feel so guilty about taking up so much of Michael’s time. You waited there, wanting to help but unable to provide anything more than handing him a wrench occasionally.

“Okay, so I think I’ve figured out what’s wrong with it,” he wiped a bit of oil from his cheek, and you tried not to stare, “Good news is, the parts shouldn’t be more than $300, if we get them used,”

You cringed, “ohhh, uhhh, see now,”

“What?”

“You know how you said you were out of money? Well, twinsies,”

“Not even—”

“No, I just paid rent, and rent takes up like 90% of my paycheck,” you felt the need to explain, embarrassed.

“Ohh,” he sounded tired, “Okay.”

He once again slowly closed those glowing eyes and rubbed his temples. You felt really bad for the amount of stress you were causing this poor man. Zombie.

“Yeah,” you stuttered nervously.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, I know how ridiculous the housing prices are getting, it’s just that, well, that was the good news.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“...Why don’t we go inside to talk, I can’t be out here in this heat too long without consequences,” he started for the restaurant, with just a quick glance back to see if you were following.

Okay well now you felt even worse about all this, if that was even possible at this point.

You followed him into the pizzeria like a puppy nipping at his heels, “Michael. Michael. What’s the bad news?”

He leaned against the prize counter, wiping off his hands with a chamois. His hands were pretty rough, calloused, and yet dextrous, as you saw when he was working with the wiring. 

“The bad news was that there was no way I was going to have time to fix it before the weekend, so I was going to suggest calling some other mechanic to do it so you wouldn’t have to stay here that long, but it looks like that’s off the table now,”

“Yeah, uh, you’re going to have to do it, no way I can afford some other guy,”

He looked at you with an expression you could only describe as a mixture of playful and exasperated.

“NOT THAT I WASN’T GOING TO PAY YOU,”

“It’s okay…” he trailed off, staring off into space.

You were kinda worried he hurt himself outside earlier, with the sluggish way he was acting now. The silence stretched on. He was definitely just, thinking, that was all. You tried not to become too concerned, lest you start fussing over him. Something told you he wouldn’t appreciate that.

God. What were you gonna do? You were broke. Your car was broke. Thankfully you had enough for a night or two in a seedy motel, but you were leaning more towards just sleeping in the car. Mike may not like someone camping in his parking lot but you needed to save what little you had so you could actually eat something. Maybe you could mooch off of the pizzeria, get Michael to give you the trash pizzas. Yeah.

He shook his head, sighing in frustration. Apparently whatever argument he was having in his head wasn’t going well.

Michael chuckled to himself. You weren’t sure what was funny.

“I cannot believe I’m about to say this, but how would you feel about working the festival with me to pay for the parts?”

“And your service,” you looked at him sternly, “I’ve caused you enough trouble as is, least I could do is pay for your time, sir,”

“Don’t call me sir,” he raked a hand through his hair, a nervous tick, you’ve noticed, “It would actually be a big help, since, well, I’m currently understaffed at the moment–”

“You don’t have any employees, do you?”

“I have two, thank you,”

You laughed, “That’s not counting Helpy, is it?”

“No, it’s not counting Helpy,”

“I suppose you’ve got yourself a deal then, Mr. Coveralls,”

You held out your hand and he took it gingerly. You ignored how cold it was this time, focusing more on how it felt in yours. A firm, professional handshake, and the arrangement was sealed. You just hoped you hadn’t just made a deal with a demon. A charming demon, but a demon, nonetheless.

“It’s… It’s um.. Emily. By the way,” he stuttered.

“What?”

“My last name… It’s Emily.”

“Oh…” you smiled, “Very nice to meet you, Michael Emily.”

[edwinspaynes]

lore drop gimme

Okay so when I was in undergrad I went on a date with a 28 year old woman. I'll call her K for the purposes of this story. I was 19-20(F) and worried that I would be too young for her and that we would have a maturity gap that left us with little in common.

K picked me up from my apartment and immediately things were a little weird. I knew her from my classes, but she started talking about yaoi within 5 minutes of getting in the car. I was like, fine, I don't mind yaoi. Sure.

We get to the Barnes and Noble for our date. Things fall apart fast.

She points out 50 Shades. I say "lol 50 Shades of Shit." She gets really angry and tells me it's her favourite book and Christian Gray is a hero. I'm 99.9% sure he stalks his love interest and coerces her into BDSM, so I'm a little disturbed by her continued adamancy that he's a hero. She stamps her foot. I drop it because I don't really care.

I quietly sit there watching her go through the yaoi for like 20 minutes. Then I tell her I'm going to look around and come back. I do. I get a couple of books and walk back to the yaoi. She's been there for about 40 minutes.

I have fainting spells and immediately start to feel one come on. I tell her I want to go to dinner as planned. Our exchange was as follows (possible paraphrasing because this was almost a decade ago):

Me: I feel faint and would like to go to [restaurant] soon. Maybe we could finish up and head out within the next 10 minutes or so? K: Oh my GOD. OH MY GOD. I have a better idea. Let's go to the cafe! They have cookies! Me: No, I want real food with, like, protein. K: COOKIES FOR DINNER! It's everyone's dream come true! Me: Maybe when I was like, 10? But anyway I feel like we should go soon, so... K: I can't believe you don't want to fulfill this literal dream with me, but okay.

We check out. In the line, she sees a little polar bear plush in a box that says ADOPT ME. She picks it up and tells me that she had to buy them all at another Barnes and Noble because "they needed to be adopted and it was sad."

She tells me that we should order a pizza one day next time we have a date. I'm like, uh huh. She's like, "OH! But we should wait until we move back in with my mom, because then she can order the pizza for us while we sit in the basement and watch anime without interruptions. :)"

We start to go to the car. I'm faint and at this point know there will not be a second date. I tell her we could just drop me off. Screw the restaurant, I have food at home.

She takes me to the restaurant anyway. I do not want to be there, but besides that we actually have a nice-ish dinner up until the end. At some point I mention I have a crackling candle from Yankee Candle in my room. After dinner:

K: I want to go to Yankee Candle. Me: I don't think that's something we need to do right now. K: I want to see the CRACKLING CANDLES. Me: Okay, well, I think it's closed. K: (Actual pouting face)

We drive home. Thank God. We're sitting there silently in the car while she drives and I sit in the passenger seat.

I want to stress this is a silent drive. I am clearly no longer vibing the date. Like, I am being openly anti-date. She turns to me and BREAKS THE SILENCE with:

K: Did you know that men can break their penises? Me: Um... what? K: I was thinking... Me: K: I said I was THINKING... Me: K: I was thinking. If a gay man broke his penis, would he have to become a bottom forever?

I said literally nothing until we got home. I was speechless.

When it was time to get out of the car, she had child-locked me in. She began to jump up and down and tell me that she WANTED TO SEE THE CRACKLING CANDLE.

She would not un-child-lock me until I agreed, very snappishly, that she could "come up, see the crackling candle, and leave." I stressed that this was NOT a euphemism as well.

She comes up. I show her the candle and start ushering her out the door.

She starts talking to my hippie-dippie Republican hippie conspiracy theorist roommate who I hate. This roommate is very homophobic and asked one of my future girlfriends if she was going to shock therapy. She thought demons came into the apartment through the lights and filled it with angel statues. She had a cat that she disciplined by spanking over her knee who she also refused to spay. She thought milk was made when humans fucked cows.

Anyway, the roommate and K somehow HIT IT THE FUCK OFF.

I went back to my room seething. I came out about 3 hours later, thinking K left. K is sitting on the floor playing video games with my roommate

On Valentine's day, months later, I had not spoken to her since the date. She walks up to me and presents me with a MASSIVE plastic heart necklace from Clare's

[himluv]

DA: The Veilguard Predictions/Theories, pt. 3

Okay, last one, I promise. And this one is, uhhhhhh, real strong on the tinfoil. Bear with me.

Read part 1 here :)

Read part 2 here :)

3. DA:D’s Real Big Bad™

Okay, this is probably my most outrageous and unsubstantiated theory - but it’s also the one I’m most excited for. Buckle up, kids, because I think The Architect is back! 

So, when Bioware released the Dragon Age Day 2023 Thedas Calls trailer, Mark Darrah mentioned in the corresponding blog post that there was more to the trailer than just location reveals, “for those who listen closely.” Well, lemme tell you, I listened real close over and over again until something struck me.

“All the world will soon share the peace and comfort of my reign.” 

That voice… I know that voice, don't I? 

“I do not seek to rule my brethren. I only seek to release them from their chains.” 

The Architect told the Warden in Dragon Age: Awakening that it intended to use Grey Warden blood to return self-awareness and “freedom” to the Darkspawn, freeing them from their tethers to the Archdemons. 

But this was not The Architect’s first plan. No, its first plan was much, much worse. In The Calling, Maric, Duncan, Fiona and the other Grey Warden’s meet The Architect in the Deep Roads and learn that its plan is to spread the Blight over all of Thedas, thus ensuring a “lasting peace”. Nevermind that two-thirds of the population wouldn’t survive the process. **stares in solavellan**

A “lasting peace.”

“The peace and comfort of my reign.”

Now, sure, The Architect has stated that it doesn’t want to rule over its brethren, but that was in 9:31 Dragon. It’s been working on this plan since at least 9:10 Dragon (when The Calling takes place) and Dreadwolf is likely to take place somewhere around 9:52 Dragon. The Architect has had 40 years to scheme and experiment and come to the bitter realization that – if there is to be peace – it may have to rule after all. 

And I’m sure Corypheus’s rise and fall did not go unnoticed by The Architect. With Solas’s machinations putting a ticking clock on Thedas’s existence, perhaps The Architect feels the pressure to end the Blights once and for all, and bring its corrupted brand of “peace” to Thedas.

When you need to spread the Darkspawn taint in record time, what do you do? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe awaken two Archdemons simultaneously and unleash them upon the world? (as a treat?) After all, there can be no more Blights once all the Old Gods have been corrupted…

Which would directly pit The Architect against Solas AND the protagonists of DA:D. And, basically everyone, because no one wants a double Blight and/or to suffer a continent-wide Darkspawn plague.

So, yeah. That’s my super-duper tin-foil hat theory for Dreadwolf (now The Veilguard). Obviously, I could be completely wrong about everything. There’s so much lore in Dragon Age, and yet so little of that lore is unequivocally proven true. It’s all in-world texts that can be – and frequently are – wrong. So, even with exhaustive research and codex mining, there’s ALWAYS a chance that some fundamental piece of “evidence” turns out to just be… incorrect. 

In my opinion, that’s part of what makes this series so. effing. compelling. The whole world feels like an excavation, one where every interaction holds the potential for yet another clue. So, even if I am wrong, I can’t wait to learn the truth.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Helping Hand 3

Warnings: non/dubcon, mentions of divorce, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

Characters: Jonathan Pine, 40s reader

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

"Andy, I'm on my way to work," you say, almost breathless as you charge across the parking lot, "you know, I gotta pay my rent, my water, my electric--"

"Not that easy, is it?" He sneers.

"Excuse me!" You bluster, barely dodging a car as you go to cross to the sidewalk embankment in front of the store, "how dare you--"

"I did you a favour. Accept it. You needed to grow up, be out on your own--"

"Why the fuck did you even call?!" You throw your hand out as you pace along the window of the store. Only he can get you like this. Good riddance, it really is a favour.

"My mom's party--"

"Oh, fuck off. I don't have time for that. I'm working overtime trying to scrape by because you gave me nothing, Andrew! You took everything and gave nothing!"

You tear the phone from your ear and hit your finger against the screen. End call. Bastard. He has you all worked up before a twelve. Probably exactly what he wanted.

You stop and force yourself to catch your breath. You can't walk in like this. You're close to tears. You don't even realise until your nose tingles and you feel the sheen threatening to spill over. You cover your face and huff.

"Oh, dear, are you alright?"

You don't move at first, hoping the voice is talking to someone else. It's too familiar. You slowly drop your hands and look at Jonathan. He must have quite the library if he's here so often. You swallow.

"Yeah, yeah," you like. You are not okay. You wasted twenty years on a man who never loved you. "I'm just about to get started."

You force a smile, cheek twitching as it bulbs. You turn to peek over your shoulder at the purple logos behind the glass. Thank god the barriers hide you from view.

"Ah, well then, shall we go in together? I'm just headed in myself."

"Uh, sure," you nod and drop your purse from your elbow to your hand, stuffing your phone inside. "Thanks."

"Allow me," he rushes ahead of you to the doors, "darling."

He gestures you in first. You precede him, hiding the chagrin that tugs at your forced smile. You see Heather, another trainee, and give her a small wave. She's behind the till doing her morning half-shift before classes.

"Well, uh, I should go put my stuff in the hub," you say over your shoulder, "I have to clock in for the--"

"Mr. Pine," Marcia, the morning manager appears from the Best Sellers display, "how are you?"

"Oh, hello," he greets her brightly, "just another check-in. Holidays are fast approaching. Any word on the truck?"

"Not yet but we're scheduling for it's arrival--"

Your head turns buzzy as you short-circuit. Pine. As in Pine Shelves, the story. He's not a customer at all, he's your goddamn boss. Oh god, as if the day couldn't get worse.

"Pardon, we'll discuss that later," Jonathan tells Marcia, "I was just speaking with this lovely employee. Always so helpful. I see training is going well."

"Ah, she's one of Giselle's, but thank you, sir."

He nods and she takes her cue. She retreats as he faces you. You can't speak. You're stupid with shock and embarrassment.

"I hate to make you late," he grins handsomely, "I wanted to tell you though that my sister loves the bookmark, no word on the book yet."

"Your sister?" You blink.

"Ah, yes, she had a birthday recently," he explains, "I must thank you for your suggestions."

You nod, fighting back the blaze behind your eyes, "no problem, Mr. Pine."

"Oh, dear, Jonathan suits me fine," he fixes his pocket square.

"Alright, um, sorry, I..." you look pointedly at the clock, "can't leave them hanging... sir."

"Hard worker," he praises, "as you will."

He stays as he is as you back away. You spin, nearly walking into the shelf of pens that stands centre of the wide aisle. You quickly skirt around it and scurry into the forest of paperbacks and hardcovers.

You get it. It was all a test. You just hope you past. Certainly, you will know once your probationary period is up. For now, you'll just painstakingly agonize over every word you said to the man.

💙

Your shift finally ends but brings with it little celebration. There is no relief in going home to an empty apartment. The rush of customers kept your mind off of the disaster of your life and now you have nothing to keep you from facing the mess.

You cross the lot, checking the time on your phone as you head for the stop right at the edge of the road. You see the orange letters of the bus banner approach. Shit, it's early.

You break into a run. Oof, you're a bit old for this. As you get to the curb, you're left in a fog of exhaust. The driver doesn't see you as he pulls away and you curse at the moonlight. Of course.

You deflate and fall onto the bench. Your feet hurt, your hips hurt, your back, neck and shoulders. Forty minutes for another bus or you could walk down twenty minutes and catch the connection.

You don't know which is better. Once more, indecisive to a fault. You lean forward and cradle your head. You can't even afford an uber or taxi home. You're better off walking for two hours.

So that's what you'll do. You get up and drag your feet down the unmaintained and crumbling sidewalk. You get to the large intersection and wade through the chaos of lights and impatient drivers.

On the other side, you head towards the light of the Walmart with several stops outside. It will at least be safer than standing in pitch black. As you come up to the edge of the large shopping plaza, a pair of headlights flash over you. On, off, then on again. Then a short toot.

You squint at the sleek black paint and the interior light flicks on. Oh god. You cringe as you make eye contact with Jonathan and he gives a small wave.

Just what you need.

He rolls down his window and sticks his head out, "need a lift?"

You shake your head, "my bus is coming." You point over him.

"Bus? Darling, I insist." You hear the locks slide back, "do get in."

You stare, a deer in actual headlights. You can't afford a taxi, so you sure as shit can't afford to tell your boss no.

[ducktracy]

Does it ever feel pressuring (no pun intended) to work on a show with such a legacy and history as SpongeBob?

VERY much so, but in a good way, if such a thing exists! one of our mantras on our little storyboard plussing team is “pressure makes diamonds” and it is a very applicable saying

when i first started, i was TEEEEERRRIFIED! i really felt like i had no idea what i was doing, and there have been so many times where i’ve turned in a section and genuinely thought “oh my god they’re gonna fire me for this it’s so bad.” working in animation is frazzling enough! but not only are we working on a cultural mecca, with not only the kids of today to entertain, impress and inspire, but to maintain the integrity of the series and entertain/impress/inspire the kids like us who grew up with the show, we are also working with literal animation legends and animation veterans!! it’s pretty surreal to be working on the same show as someone like Bob Camp, who’s been in the industry for 40+ years… and even more surreal when he says he’s a big fan of your work 😵‍💫‼️‼️‼️‼️

THANKFULLY, i’ve made a lot of strides in curbing some of my storyboarding stage fright. it used to be really bad when i started, like genuinely panic attack inducing! the constant patience and guidance and encouragement of my peers and consistent practice from these past three years have really allowed me to grow and blossom. now, when i feel a bit claustrophobic in remembering the pure scale of what we’re doing, i weaponize it for good!!

i think of how inspired and amazed and obsessed with SpongeBob i was as a kid. how it inspired me to draw, how i remember drawing along to episodes and commercial breaks. my brother and his wife are both elementary school teachers and routinely update me about how their kids are still crazy for SB (and they both brag about me to their kids heheh). i think of all the kids watching, all the kids realizing that getting to draw these characters and interact with them and live in their world is something you indeed can do, all the kids who religiously catch each new episode like i once did… it just fills me with so much confidence and hope and love, and that motivates me to deliver and do my best and try to do what i can to help make each episode be better and more fun than the last

SpongeBob is for everyone, obviously! that’s one of the great things i love about working on it: i get just as much enjoyment watching our finished episodes as our target audience. but i do bring up the kids particularly often because, at the end of the day, that is who we are doing it for and i also just can’t help but think back to how my SpongeBob obsessed self as a kid would have had her world rocked to know i’m doing what i’m doing. i want to give those kids, who i used to be and still essentially am, the same joy and spark and all consuming inspiration i felt and still do

there are definitely some days where the gravity of what we’re doing hits harder than others! some days are a lot more difficult than others. this is an absolute dream job, i’m not just saying that, i always fantasized about maybe one day being able to work my way up to working on SpongeBob and now it’s my first animation job—but it is very easy to get overwhelmed by just how big of a legacy we’re carrying on our shoulders! how many other mega talented people work on this show! there’s a lot to juggle. but we juggle it well. there is so much love and heart and care poured into this show. we do everything we can to maintain the integrity of the characters and the show’s core, and it just makes me love what i do all the more and makes me more determined to do it

TLDR: YES! but i’m much better off for it, because it reminds me of why we’re working so hard to begin with. we all want this show to be the best it can—to maintain its core 25 years later, but still have fun doing it. i mentioned this on Twitter, but when i met Bill Fagerbakke last month he was saying how cool it is that fans who grew up with the show are now able to work on it and i couldn’t agree more. it’s the greatest honor imaginable being able to carry such a monumental torch, and i hope i’m able to keep at it for a long, long time.

[tobbesdiscordkitten]

hello, I am one of your mutuals but wanted to be on anon for this.

I took a paralegal program in college and studied criminal law. I have done my research on little michelle and shelia. although I don’t have access to tiktok I read many articles and this is what I think. 40+ years is a LONG time to wait to prosecute axl. If something happened in the 80’s there would be evidence at the scene. first, where is the evidence and if there was any, like dna it would be destroyed by now. I also read some where that axl originally rejected her because of her age at the time. nothing makes sense, it would be an open and shut case even now. finally, why, is she putting on tiktok bio what happened. That’s really bad, make it make sense. right now it’s he said/she said case with zero evidence.

I think she needs therapy and needs to learn to forgive axl, he gets so much hate he doesn’t deserve. he deserves children and a family 🥺😞

Hey, that's alright! I'm glad to still see you in my inbox ☺️

I agree. I'm not a big fan of digging up dirt from somebody's past, especially if it happened 20 or 40 years ago. I am, however, a big advocate for fixing things right away, ideally within a span of 10 years, if the victim needs time to recover and heal from traumatic events. But why even bother bringing it up now, in 2024, when it won't solve anything?

Michelle's best chance was filing a lawsuit against Axl in the '90s when both Stephanie and Erin did, but she didn't. Another good time would've been during the early 2000s when Axl was out in public and touring, but, again, she didn't. She's wasting her time and breath on him when she needs to be an advocate for survivors - educating people, raising awareness, and providing legal support to families of SA victims. She's focusing too much on one man when she needs to turn her focus to a larger group of individuals who share similar stories. That is what will make a huge difference, NOT taking Axl to court.

It also disturbs me how she puts everything on her TikTok bio. She wants to forever be remembered as the girl who was r*ped by Axl Rose, which is kinda sad because she could have the potential to change her legacy and be remembered as a strong leader/fighter for r*pe victims. Unfortunately, she wants the public, and her audience on TikTok, to see her as this fragile woman who is hanging on by a thread. Oh, the sympathy!

Which leads me to my next point that you mentioned earlier, she does need help. She needs to talk to a therapist, find coping mechanisms, learn to forgive the past, and move on with her life in order to help other people, as l've mentioned before. It would make her have a purpose in life instead of wallowing in her own self-pity. Axl learned to heal, why can't she do the same?

Michelle mentioned that she's speaking out now because of the lies she's read about her incident. But this just begs the question, had she not read those lies, or had Slash not written about her story, would she still speak out, or forever hold her silence? 🤔

Axl already talked about her story a long time ago, saying how she was crazy and ran out of his place, down the street butt-naked, not being able to remember her own name, probably because she was strung out on drugs. Yet, that's not the reason for her speaking out. It's because of Slash's book and what the other GNR members said over the years, not what Axl said.

Another question I have for Michelle is: how far long were you when you had the miscarriage? It seems she's only mentioning having a miscarriage because Erin had one, and I think - maybe - she's trying to fabricate her story so Axl can FOR SURE pay his dues 😒

I explained in another post that Michelle might be trying to "cancel" Axl or take him out of the music industry, but some people took my words out of context 😅 So, to clarify, here's why I think that might be her intention.

On Michelle's TikTok, she shared a news video about women, from four nonprofit organizations, who were "hoping to bring changes" to the music industry. There is a report they compiled called Sound Off: Make The Music Industry Safe and it's “being released as sexual misconduct lawsuits" that accuse "some major names" in the industry like “Danny Elfman and Axl Rose.”

four nonprofit organizations (left), Sound Off report (right)

Below are the women's goals they want to execute with this report:

"NDA's (nondisclosure agreements) are one of the many tools that the music industry uses to silence and suppress survivors."

Although Michelle isn't part of these organizations, she still supports the report, and I can't help but think that she's using her own voice, in a similar fashion, to try and take Axl out with her story.

I will always question the universe on why Axl didn't deserve to have a family and kids of his own. It's all he ever wanted, and it could've fixed him 😭

[nukenai]

So I love chatting with vendors at cons, especially TFCon. They're always Cool Dudes in their 40s/50s who have been collecting Transformers since the dawn of time and they like meeting fellow weirdos, especially younger people. Especially absolute freaks like me who run up dressed like Rodimus while wearing booty shorts.

I was at this one booth and I was looking for a specific figure so I asked if he thought he had it - he said maybe, so I started to look. I shuffled through my purse and vaguely held up my Drift figure, and said "it's for him", like haha joke. (Looking for Jetstorm)

He instantly made a confused face and said, "I don't recognize that Drift". And I said oh, he's the regular American deluxe release, I just repainted him. He asked very politely if he could see him. GOD HERE WE GO

I've had lots of people go "Wow that's really cool! Great job!" about my repaints and custom stuff and I appreciate the comments so much. I don't have much confidence in anything I do, but I am very passionate about when I do custom stuff to toys or Gunpla.

THIS MAN. He was legitimately stunned. He told me my Drift repaint was amazing, and the detail work was incredible. I very shyly thanked him and said I customized my little Fixit, too, and he went NUTS WHEN HE HELD HIM. Then he literally CALLED HIS FRIEND OVER and said "Hey man, come here! You have to see this Fixit she painted!"

The three dudes at the table were legitimately gawking at my, I thought "pretty good, but took a lot of time because I'm obsessed so there's A Lot" repaints. Fixit in particular he was VERY impressed by, because I had filled in the indent in his chest. To be fair that was a nightmare but like omg? And he REALLY loved that I added the blue details to the wheels, and was impressed by my straight lines. I mentioned I totally disassembled Drift, painted the pieces individually, and put him back together, and the guy looked like I'd just shot him LMFAO. HE'S A VERY SIMPLE FIGURE IT'S NOT SUPER DIFFICULT...

So then he asked me the most insane question I've ever been asked in my life:

"Do you have a business card? Do you do this professionally, like as a paid job?"

UHHHHH EXCUSE ME SIR I JUST ADDED DETAILS TO MY ORANGE HUSBANDS AND MADE ONE OF THEM THE CORRECT(TM) ORANGE... HELLO...??????????

So I told him no. He asked if I had a website where I posted them, or social media. I mentioned how I started using my Instagram for that stuff but got lazy and forgot and I just share reels all day. The guy insisted I take HIS business card, in case I was ever looking for parts, or things to customize... He really wanted a place to go see more of my work, and I was very sorry to tell him that I am not actually someone who really knows what I'm doing... but I didn't totally deflect the compliments. I was so unbelievably thankful and told him that no one had EVER reacted this way to my work before. (even saying "my work" is bizarre like it's just a thing I do... it's not My Thing...)

He joked about wanting me to paint some of his minis, LOL, and I said a lot of my friends do that but that's kinda beyond my scope. I started when I was disappointed with a lack of details in some of my figures, like my TMNT 2012 Metalhead, but then I was like. I can add some black on his shell. I can fix him up... and it kinda spiraled. My second significant custom was turning my Stegosaurus Chase figure show-accurate. You can tell it's an early one bc it's ROUGH and I almost wanna get another one to redo and compare...

Buuuut anyways. He was legitimately having customers look at my stuff and one guy wanted to show his wife. I was deeply confused but extremely flattered.

Then a 20 year old kid I had talked to about RiD earlier found a Drift I didn't have (the one that fucking launches his children across the room), and I laughed and said I'd take it. Table guy said "For you it's half price, 5 bucks!"

Then he gave me a Rodimus Robot Heroes for free. And one of those old blind bag figures of Drift for a dollar.

This was one of like 20 amazing interactions I had just in the dealer room. I wound up buying THREE NEW DRIFT FIGURES because I am EXTREMELY NORMAL AND COOL ABOUT HIM

I mentioned this in an earlier post but it got to the point where I rounded a corner and a random fucking guy ran over to me, brandishing a Drift figure, and called out "ARE YOU THE PERSON LOOKING FOR RID DRIFT?" and I was like OH MY GOD?? I HAVE THAT ONE BUT THANK YOU??? WHAT??? and he was like OKAY I HAD TO MAKE SURE! and ran away and I never saw him again. I have no idea who that guy was. He was not working a table he was shopping.

But I am The Rodimus Woman Looking For RiD Drift, For Some Reason now, I guess.

What a fucking con

it's 2am goodnight

[rowanfalls]

No joke, I think dungeon meshi has seriously impacted my desire to be healthy for the better. A very long and heartfelt (but spoiler free) essay is under the cut.

I have Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Because of my OCD, some foods are safe and some are not and I would literally rather starve than eat an unsafe food (i know because it happened once on a trip to Switzerland). This means I mostly eat chicken nuggets, buttered noodles, donuts, soda, the like. The only vegetable I can eat is cooked broccoli and the only fruit I can eat is apples (smoothies not withstanding).

I'm also physically disabled in a way that makes it hard for me to exercise or do physical activity, not to mention how my ADHD and Depression fuck with that as well. I'm 'lucky'* in that I have a genetic disposition towards being very thin and probably will stay that way until I'm in my 40s (my dad was exactly the same at my age).

So I eat mostly junk food and I sit at my computer all day every day and for a long time, I've been happy with that. When I tell people about my Eating Disorder, they usually say "oh, is there a way to fix it?" and my answer is always "why would I want to?" Its not like an allergy or a medical dietary restriction. I don't LIKE any of the foods I can't eat. I don't have any reason to want to learn how to eat them.

Besides health reasons of course. I know in my head that not eating any vegetables isn't good for me but I also know that I don't really want to eat them and, for most of my adulthood, I've lived with the mindset that I think a lot of people my age have where they hear so many people say 'just eat well and exercise!' as a solution to every problem and so they tend to hate the idea of doing that. The health industry is full of too many people who are fatphobic assholes or who think a green smoothie can cure your depression for good or who just want your money or whatever and I hate that. And so I've kind of felt above exercise and nutrition.

But then I read Dungeon Meshi.

Even in the beginning, the manga was super inspiring. The way Senshi talks about taking care of your body so you can go on adventures makes it sound like something I might want to do. So much of today's health advice is shame based and, as someone who grew up in and left a high demand control group, I work hard not to tolerate shame in my life. But Dungeon Meshi posits a new view of health and nutrition, one that is centered in love for the self, love for your friends, and love for your food. It resonated with me in a way that I really wasn't expecting it to.

Over the last few years, I've been working really hard to become a compassionate person. This year, my new goal is learning to turn that compassion inward and I've been trying to do that in several different ways. When I finished reading Dungeon Meshi I knew that one of those ways was going to have to be improving my diet and exercise.

I want to be able to go on adventures (as tame and simple as they may be). I want to live as long as possible to spend time with my loved ones. I want to be able to walk around and exist without pain for as much of that time as I can. I want to love my body and act accordingly, making sure it is well fed and cared for. Hell, I've always loved the idea of cooking but haven't had the energy to really learn, especially since I can't eat most foods, but now the idea of taking the time to cultivate a skill like that, one that I can be proud of and that can be used to care for my friends, fills me with a sense of hope and excitement.

So thank you Dungeon Meshi, and thank you Ryoko Kui. If you haven't read the manga, I highly recommend that you do.

*by lucky I mean that my diet hasn't forced me to deal with the stigma that comes with being fat. I have no idea what kinds of problems it's been causing that I just can't see. I am not saying that it would be bad if I were fat, just that not being thin would mean I faced a lot more stigma and discrimination in my life, which is bad.