#remembered what they ended with in season two said oh shit gotta make up some reasons for all that

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

That's the day that Chad and I found out that the show wasn't coming back. Or the, that I'm sorry, I take it back. That the show was coming back just without us. -Hilarie 

Wait, the day you were shooting your flaming Amy's flashback. Tell us everything. -Sophia

Well, we'd shot everything else. Right? -Hilarie

Wait, wait, wait. So you were doing these flashbacks, these like this deep nostalgia episode, not knowing that it was teeing up the exit. -Sophia

I was put in the blonde wig again as punishment for having red hair. Right. And I noticed a conversation with like Brooke and Victoria where it was like, are you really gonna leave the company and ruin the careers of all the people that you've been?  Like such a pointed conversation for you to have to have 'cause we were all in contract negotiations at this point, except me. I had never gotten a phone call from anybody. And so they were making offers to everybody and everyone was trying to hold the line. And all they needed were a couple people to sign on in order for the show to come back. And Chad and I never even got phone calls. So we were seated in that diner booth and we're like, it's our last day of filming. We did all of the present day stuff, we did most of the flashback stuff. And all of a sudden our producer Greg Prange is like, all right, everybody like pause what you're doing, circle up. Just wanted to make the announcement. The show is coming back. We've been picked up for a seventh season. And Chad looks at me and he's like, have you even gotten an offer? And I was like, no. And he's like, I haven't gotten an offer. And so around us, everyone around us is like hugging and high fiving. I mean, it felt like balloons were dropping from the ceiling. Everybody was so fucking pumped. And he and I just kind of sat there and we knew it was coming. We had, you know, Peyton got hit by a car in the last episode. She's on her death bed, you know, and he and I were the highest paid actors on the show. And we knew we were on the chopping block. And so our bosses, Voldemort and other Dipshits were in town. And we said, can they come to set? They were at the production office and we were at Flaming Amy's. We like, can they come to set? It's only, it's two o'clock in the afternoon. Can they come here and just like explain to us what's going on? Is there something, can someone just talk to us? They refused. They would not come speak to us. And instead they took other actors out to dinner that night to celebrate. And so Chad and I wrap work and I gotta take that fucking wig off. and you know, there's a sense of betrayal 'cause you're like, huh, okay cool. We didn't hold the line and so we'll go be the expendable ones. Fuck it. And Chad and I decide for the first time ever in our time together in Wilmington, that we are gonna go out together and we are gonna tie one on. And so Chad and I ended up at the Whiskey, which was like a bar right on the corner of downtown. You know, and like metal bands played there. And Bibis, our friend would play there all the time until two o'clock in the morning. He and I are just like sweating and smoking and drinking and dancing. And Chad's a very good dancer and every college chick in the place is like, oh my God, it's Lucas and Peyton and they're really together and this is so crazy. And it was insane. And so then from two to three o'clock in the morning we sat on, on like a retaining wall downtown and just really discussed like, we're out. We've had this shit dangled over our heads. There's no one here who's fighting for us. You know, the friendships are fake. It's not real. And we're gonna go and we're just gonna do some other stuff and we'll always tell each other the truth. You know? And so he walked me home and I remember that also being kind of weird. It felt like a date. It's the one date that Chad and I went on and it was very platonic. And then I called him a cab. And even the cab driver was like, I'm picking up Lucas Scott from Peyton Sawyers house.  It was crazy. But from that moment on for the whole rest of this season, it was, it was hell. It was really bad. It was really bad. 'cause it was, it was so pointed, you know, I'd been the person to do every upfront, every TCA every advertiser dinner party. I hosted the launch party for the CW  I had been the company girl and it was the biggest fuck you. -Hilarie

But Chad and I had this magic night. We still laugh about it. I mean it was, it was probably the hardest I ever partied in Wilmington. And he didn't really drink, so I remember being shocked. Shocked, That he was drinking his like vodka cranberries or whatever he was drinking. We were both just so blindsided by it.  Like we, we knew it was coming, but until it happens. -Hilarie 

[katshelluvacritic]

Not sure if you've seen the finale of the show yet because I'd love to hear your thoughts on how absolutely useless Charlie was once again

I’ve pretty much all the eps for season 1 so you don’t have worry about the spoilers.

As for the ep, I’mma just immediately rip the bandaid off and say that I had to watch it again to remember what happened, yet my brain is still kinda processing it again so I’mma type this to the best of my ability and if I do miss some parts I do apologize.

To start off with one of the things I didn’t like that included Charlie (mostly a personal nitpick) was her “battle fit” (if you could even call it that)

I feel like it should be self explanatory but I’ll explain anyway; for one, the fact that Charlie wearing what I like to call “the evil star butterfly cosplay” just doesn’t make sense to me. Like even though I don’t like Vicky’s fit either, at least she’s wearing something that could cover her skin to lessen the risk of cuts and injuries.

Charlie however is not only wearing a dress but also HIGH HEELS, which realistically would prob have her dead from the spot because for one, you can’t run in heels and two, like I said before she’s at higher risk to be injured compared to Vicky.

Like I’m honestly shocked that she only got a few rips from her clothing and a few bruises, like I get she’s the princess of hell but damage is still damage.

Not only that since Charlie is a princess then, wouldn’t she have access to wear royal armor??? Assuming she did (because there’s gotta be a reason to where she got that shield from), why didn’t she just wear that???? I feel like it would’ve been the most logical thing to wear since after all, YOUR GOING TO WAR AGAINST DEMONS.

Also speaking of the shield, why does she only have a shield and nothing else? You would think that since she’s the princess of hell she’d have some sort of weaponry but no.

She just guards herself a shield while occasionally throwing up magical fireworks like if that’s gonna do anything. Like, I get all niffty did most of the time was stab already dead angels before she killed adam, but at least she actually tried to do some damage compared to Charlie.

And then Razzle and Dazzle.

Listen, I can understand her not being able to save sir pentious because she was trying to protect Vicky and a lot of stuff was going on but why did she summon them? Isn’t she the daughter of lucifer? Wouldn’t she have transforming powers or something to get up there

I mean we’re shown in this gif that he can transform into different animals as he so pleases and can EVEN GROW WINGS.

Wouldn’t Charlie technically have those abilities? And even if she doesn’t have those abilities, these fuckers have guns and cannons with them that could shoot/blast Adam down.

Also gotta love the fact Charlie just stays on the roof of the hotel and watches the Lucifer and Adam fight happen UNTIL ADAM RAY BEAMS THE HOTEL IN HALF, ONLY FOR HER TO BE SAVED BY LUCIFER was so dumb. Women do SOMETHING WHY WERE YOU JUST STANDING THERE????

then like the ending. Omg the ending…

“Omg guys I lost sir p and the hotel guys, I failed” PENDEJA. YOU DID JUST DICK ALL DURING THAT WAR OTHER THAN WAVE SOME SHIELD AROUND WITH SOME FIREWORKS. CRY HARDER. BOO HOO I GUESS.

And I just gotta say, I doesn’t entirely include Charlie but like these parts of the lyrics

What???? Tf you mean redemption may take a while???? We’re still going with that??? After the war against heaven you guys just had??? Did Charlie forget what happened in episode 6, where like there was some shit about heaven being a lie and this evil place???? Why are you guys still trying to redeem sinners when YOU Charlie, realized heaven is evil???

But don’t worry, they rebuild the hotel guys! They can live happy ever after right?

Even though like… let me check my notes…. Oh right! Angel is still stuck with valentino, husk’s soul is still taken away by alastor! Oh yeah, I guess viv forgot about that part I guess.

I know I’ve already said this to friends of mine but ngl this episode especially just reminded of this one page from sonichu where Chris and his chars execute a guy in an electric chair but make it viv’s characters and Adam/heaven.

But uh, yeah. I don’t like Charlie, I don’t like this episode, I don’t like this series. I don’t know anymore.

[lollythelazyperson]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR LEGO MONKIE KID SEASON 5

so I’ve finally finished watching all of lmk season 5, and…

…I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THAT SHIT… 😭😭😭

LIKE- (starting w/ ep. 7 here since ep. 6 doesn’t have much happen in it iirc) we FINALLY get to learn what MK is/how he was created, LBD sorta shows up and the eye demon guy reveals to mk what all those visions meant(yk, mk literally sacrificing himself for the world n all), the show references wukong and macaque’s fight thingymajigy in jttw, then in ep. 8 mk can control the jade emperor’s power(or was that ep. 7? idrk man), the fuckin uh snake demon guy reveals the first two things i said to everybody else, but he also reveals/mk figures out that [snake guy] actually FREED MK FROM THE STONE WAAAAY EARLIER THAN NEEDED(snake guy also has some lore which kinda makes him interesting but that isn’t the point here)…

and in ep. 9, well- there’s no big lore drop except at the end, but so i’ll kinda summarize it instead. macaque first tries to stop mk from doin the whole sacrifice but fails, and eventually the others have to stop/stall snake guy while wukong tries to stop mk instead. he fails and mk encounters nuwa, who reveals the whole… “pillars in peril? pillars saved by mk? oh, well, that means the whole world has to start over cuz there are no more beings strong enough to handle the stones now, so the world’s gotta make new ones.” thing to him(which is the lore drop basically).

finally, in ep. 10, well(i shall also summarize this one)…

everyone thinks mk died(but macaque mutters “wukong”… 👀👀), meanwhile mk goes “NAH, IMMA DO MY OWN THING, ANS YOU CANT STOP ME!!!!!!!!” to nuwa basically, and comes out of the pillar alive. wukong catches mk when the latter starts to fall, so (mostly) everybody goes in for a group hug- but considering the world’s basically ending… they hold hands for the last time- and wukong is LEGIT ABOUT TO GET MACAQUE TO HOLD HIS HAND, WHEN FUCKIN SNAKE GUY INTERRUPTS THE MOMENT SJ2JZIWISIAOLAKAKAJQJSI LET THEM HAVE THEIR MOMENT SMH- …….oh right anyways. they(the others, not snake guy) decide to share the power of the stones with everyone due to mk convincing them of it, but then snake guy drags mk into the pillar- and they have a weird conversation that’s basically snake guy goin “…this has only just begun. good luck, kid. you’ll need it.” to mk and then literally pushing him off and back outta the pillar.

the last few minutes of the episode is basically the aftermath of that. people now have cool magic powers(nobody is gonna use em for bad, definitelyyyyy /hj /lh), flyingbark reference through a flying dog, and some of the monkie kids(everybody but the monkeys themselves basically) are just chillin n talkin. meanwhile, mk n wukong talk bout what’s gonna happen next or sum(can’t exactly remember what specifically, I just remember mk startin the convo like that) but when mk starts to cry wukong hugs him.

then, we get an outro-monologue thingy from tang- and what we see durin it is basically this;

1; macaque is in court with the ten kings(?)- his powers have been affected by snake guy.

2; pigsy n mk are just havin a nice time addin a new photo to the photo album.

3; nezha and his dad are helpin handlin stuff in the celestial realm,

4; finally, the monkie kids/mk’s crew + redson + the two monkeys are havin a lil celebration somewhere… but in the very end, macaque sees how mk’s staff is also affected by snake guy’s powers(?).

so like- YEAH, I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THAT CLIFFHANGER. ……OR LEGIT ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THE LATER HALF OF SEASON 5.

but it’s preeeeetty late for me rn and I cannot stay up(gotta wake up early tmr) today, so if I have anything else I wanna say I’ll probs just will do that in another post.

so gn! drink water, eat food, and have a great day/night! :D

cya’ll in the next post!

[magicalqueennightmare]

Sins & Amends Chapter 7

(Gif by @ banditthewriter)

Billy Russo x Female Reader (60 part story)

This follows pre- the punisher into the storyline of daredevil, punisher season 1 and beyond

This is NOT Canon Billy. This is decent human being Billy left with bad options over worse decisions

This was also posted to A03 under: WaywardGaPeach. That account and this one is the only place you'll see me post this. If you see it on any other platform/account know it's not me.

Chapter Summary: Billy spends one of his last nights stateside helping you through the aftermath of a rough call. When he calls you Alice decides she's tired of you and Billy tip toeing around your feelings

You didn't know how long you'd been sitting on the bench in the locker room. You'd gotten out the shower and changed out your uniform but your hair still hung down around your shoulders and your socks and shoes were untouched in front of you. 

It wasn't the first time you'd lost someone on a call. Hell it was just a fact that not everyone would make it to the hospital. You'd never had to pronounce someone while their wife was being loaded into another rig begging you to save her husband. 

"Y/N?" Alice calling your name softly made you jump. She sat down gently next to you and put her arm around your shoulders  "We couldn't do anything for him. It's hard I know" you leaned over on her and nodded "He was twenty two Alice. God he was a kid" you tried not to take calls home with you but some were simply worse than others and that wife's screams were still ringing in your ears. "Wanna come home with me and Kenzie? I won't be sleeping too well tonight either and we can keep each other company"

You appreciated the offer but didn't want to intrude considering they hadn't moved in together but a month before. "No but I will take a ride home when she comes to pick you up" you replied and she nodded "I'm gonna head out front. Just come out when you're finished up"

You finally slipped your shoes on and heard your phone ringing when you were finishing throwing your stuff in your bag. You picked it up and actually managed a smile when you saw it was Maria then you remembered what day it was "Shit your mom and dad are leaving tomorrow" was what you ending up saying in place of hello.

"And I'm guessing you didn't remember?" She asked and you knew the moment you let out a breath she knew something was wrong and big sister mode kicked in "What happened?" You picked up your bag and headed out the locker room before answering "We had a hard call. You hear about that car going under the semi?"

She was silent for a moment before saying "Oh honey. I'm sorry. Do you want me to come over?" You shook your head then remembered she couldn't see you "No cause when you tell Vivian and Jon I had a bad day they'll want to come too and while I love them for that I'd rather all of you have a nice dinner and I'll come over tomorrow to see them off"

Instead of arguing like you half expected her to she sighed and said "promise to call if you need us before then?" "Yes ma'am" you replied then spotted Kenzie pulling into the parking lot and Alice looking around for you. "Gotta go Ria. Alice and Kenz are giving me a ride home. Give everyone my love and I'll be over for coffee come morning" "Bye sweetie"

--------------------

You waved as Kenzie and Alice pulled out onto the road before heading into your building. You smiled at Ms Johnson the eldery lady that lived with six poodles on the second floor. "Have a good day?" She asked so you nodded "Yes ma'am" and continued on to the elevator.

You leaned against the wall watching the numbers until it stopped on the third floor then pushed yourself off the wall to step off. The moment you were out the elevator you froze. Billy was leaning against the doorframe of your apartment obviously waiting for you. How the hell did he manage to look like that doing something so mundane? God he looked like he'd just stepped off the cover of one of the magazines plastered around the many stands you passed in a day's time.

"Ria call you?" You asked once you talked your feet into approaching him. He glanced up and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips when he saw you "She may have mentioned you had a bad day but in my defense I was already halfway here when she called me" your eyes narrowed in confusion at his words. You'd originally had plans to go over to the Castles for dinner with Vivian and Jon. How the hell had he known you'd be home? 

Apparently he knew along the lines of what you were thinking because he explained "Curt passed the scene you were working earlier. Figured you'd not be in the mood for a dinner party so I came by to check on you"

"Thanks Billy but you don't have to waste one of your last nights home on me. You and Frank ship out again in ten days now"  he stepped out the way to let you unlock your apartment then walked in behind you. "Waste one of my last nights? Spending time with you? How the hell is that a waste?"  He asked stepping around you taking your bag off your shoulder in the process.

You watched with a half smile as he walked into your bedroom and laid your bag down next to your dresser then came back out with a grin. "Now how about you sit right there on that couch, we'll order some form of food and see what decent movies we can find to laugh at?" "Billy I'm fine really..you don't have to stay" you tried but he grabbed his chest in mock hurt "Oh come on sweetheart. You're hurting my feelings! Am I unwanted here?" 

For the first time that day a full grin slipped onto your face "You're always wanted here Russo. If you insist on staying you choose the food, I'll choose the movie" he gave you a wink then flopped down on the couch and patted the cushion next to him "That's my girl" 

When the day came for Frank and Billy to leave you were once again standing with Maria and the kids at the airport while your group said your goodbyes to the men. It had become so routine to you that you barely registered that Billy was standing with an arm around you while Frank and Maria had their final moments in each other's arms for the next ten or more months. 

You stepped away from Billy to hug Frank and whispered in his ear "I got Ria and the kids so don't worry about them" "Thank you Y/N" he said softly back before giving you a light squeeze then moving onto the kids for their hugs and goodbyes.

You smiled at Billy who pulled you into a tight hug "I'm gonna miss you. Remember to write me. I'll call and Skype when I can" he spoke into your hair and you nodded enjoying the feel of being tucked against his chest. You could feel the beat of his heart under your cheek and closed your eyes for a moment before saying "Make it back in one piece Russo and bring Frank home safe" he kissed your forehead then stepped back and gave you that smile that always made your heart do a flip "Of course sweetheart. You and Maria aren't getting rid of us that easily"

-------------

You stood with an arm around Maria while you both had an arm around one of the kids and watched until the final person stepped onto the plane and it started pulling away from the gate to turn to leave. You always stayed with them the first night after Frank left and this would be no different "so where are we thinking for dinner?" You asked and saw Maria crack a small smile when the kids started listing off several different places at once.

Deployments were something you were by far used to. As an extension of Maria you'd been connected to the Marines as long as she had. From the very first time Frank had to ship out you were right next to her supporting her when he walked onto the plane.

Deployments after getting so close with Billy started feeling different. When he was home there were few days you went without seeing him. You found yourself missing his presence even in small moments. 

You now kept your laptop next to the bed so if he got a chance to Skype and had also downloaded a video chatting app on your phone. There was a shoebox full of letters under your bed that was overflowing from ones you'd kept over the time you'd known him yet you couldn't bring yourself to throw even the simplest letter away.

----------------

You were on a twenty four hour shift so you'd just settled into your bunk when you heard the chiming on your phone that was a video call. You picked it up and saw the photo of you,Billy and the kids that always popped up when he called and slid to answer. 

You pushed yourself into a sitting position before his face appeared on the screen. "Hey sweetheart!" He greeted with a smile. You fought back a yawn as you said "Hey Billy" he squinted a bit at the screen then muttered "Shit you're on your bunk meaning I either woke you up or I'm keeping you from catching some sleep on shift"

"Billy it's fine. I just got back from a call so it's not like i was going to be able to go straight to sleep. How are you and Frank?" He still seemed skeptical but said "We're good. Frank is actually on with Maria but the kids are already in bed so I figured I'd see how you were and get out from over his shoulder" "oh so I'm just a second option to the munchkins I see how it is Russo" you teased and got that signature smirk in return "Well the munchkins aren't as distracting as you are. Even in your uniform you're still one of the most beautiful women in New York" 

"One of? She's the most beautiful woman in New York well besides Kenzie" Alice interrupted draping herself across your shoulders from her bunk behind you. 

He rolled his eyes playfully "Alice you have a girlfriend remember?" She shrugged "Your point being? Kenzie agrees with me that it is insane that Y/N here is still single. Like what the hell is wrong with men in New York well women too for that matter. If I hadn't been her partner for this many years and with Kenzie I'd be trying to date her. Anyone that had a chance with her and didn't take it is a damn fool" 

You shook your head at her and gave a gentle shove "Back to your own bunk Hendrixs. You need sleep" she grinned at you "Yes ma'am" then waved at Billy "Bye Russo. Get back in one piece ok?"  "Bye Alice keep an eye on her for me"

Once Alice was tucked back into her bunk you turned your attention back to the screen and smiled "She gets weirder the later it gets sorry about that" "no problem. I've been friends with Frankie this many years I'm used to weird" Billy laughed then you heard Frank's voice  "I heard that asshole" right before his face appeared next to Billy's "Hey Y/N" 

"Hey Frank. You talk to Maria?" You asked and he nodded "Told me you and Jr blew up a science project in the backyard and you're helping Curt start a soup kitchen for vets on his days off" you smiled then said "Well the science project was a volcano so that explosion was a success and yea it's a slow go but I'm trying to help him with whatever I can" 

"You're a damn super woman Y/N" Frank replied and your smile grew "Anything for my family Frank. You know that" before either of them could say anything you heard a voice call out "Castle! Russo!" And Billy cursed under his breath. "We gotta go sweetheart. Give the kids a hug from me" Frank said and you nodded "Always. Stay safe both of you"

Billy smiled and said "You stay safe too. I'll try to call you in a few days" you managed to say "I'll be waiting" before the screen went black.

You turned around and popped Alice on the forehead "Ow! What the hell?" She groaned even though a grin was playing at her lips. "What was that rant about?" You questioned and she shrugged "I'm sick of seeing you two dance around each other. You're both grown. Russo needs to either make a move or you need to find someone else to be heart eyed over. Figure I could remind him how amazing you are" 

"Me and Billy…" you tried but she quickly interrupted "Are just friends. Yea I've heard that bullshit before. Look you two spend more time together when he's home then most couples i know. He looks at you like a puppy and you're not much better. Way I see it confess feelings now. If he chickens out you have many months to get rebound sex and be over the sting by the time he gets stateside. I love you and I want you happy. Take a chance mami!" You rolled your eyes and laid the phone down on your charging pad next to the bed "You're insane and I'm tired so on that lovely note"

You started to lay down but time your head hit the pillow an alarm rang out about a woman in labor and Alice all but giggled "On that note we're gonna go possibly deliver a baby at two am"

-

@weallhaveadestiny @intothesoul

[aloneinthehellfire]

Chapter 5: Leave A Message

Season One | Season Two | Season Three

[Raining Hellfire: Season Three]

Word Count: 1499 words

Warnings: swearing, mentions of visions, actual visions?, kind of horror at the end idk

[A/N: Can I get a round of applause for not having ridiculously long chapters anymore? Yay me]

also thank you all so so much for the asks and the theories ur sending me, i feel less like a robot publishing a fanfic and more like a person sharing an interest she loves with people so thank you x

Leave A Message

The week is long.

The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west.

The words were in front of you as you leant on Steve out of laziness while his other shoulder rested against the wall, arms folded.

“They’d make good song lyrics.” You said, Robin smirking at your comment.

“But what does it mean?” Dustin asked, pacing.

“Steve, we gotta shut down the shop.” Robin suddenly said, pointing to the clock.

“Oh shit.”

You all make your way out of the shop, Steve closing it behind you.

“I mean, it’s just…” He says as he slams the metal shutters down and locks it, “it just can’t be right.”

“It’s right.” Robin declares. You believed her.

“Honestly, I think it’s great news.” Dustin declares and you frown at him.

“How is this great news?” Steve shakes his head, standing up. “I mean, so much for being American heroes.”

“You realise that there could still be something going on?” You say and they look at you, “Look, if you were planning something would you just say it for anyone to hear or would you create your own code?”

“You’re right, it’s too specific.” Dustin adds, walking just in front of you with Robin beside him.

“What do you mean, a code?” Steve furrows his brows as he matches your pace.

“Like a super secret spy code.” Dustin explains briefly.

Your best friend just raises his eyebrows. “That’s a total stretch.”

“I don’t know, is it?” Robin asks, “Listen, just for kicks, let’s entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. Like Y/n said, they wouldn’t just say it how it is. You think they were gonna say ‘fire the warhead at noon’?”

“Exactly.” You and Dustin agree.

“And my translation is correct. I know that for sure, so… ‘the silver cat feeds.’” Robin starts fidgeting, waving her hands in the air as she pondered, “Why would anyone talk like that?”

“Unless they were trying to mask the meaning of their message.” You nod along, yawning.

Steve looks over to you while Robin and Dustin continue their conspiracy spiral, pulling you to a stop.

“You’ve been yawning a lot lately.”

“What else is new?” You chuckle, eyes drooping as you fight for energy.

He frowns softly, shifting between your eyes. “You need more sleep.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” You looked at him, “You telling me you’ve been sleeping like a baby since last year?”

“No.” He shakes his head, “But I also don’t have evil monsters from another dimension swarming in my head.”

You twist your face, nodding. “Yep, yep. That’s a good point. I bet all that goes through your head is shampoo and ridiculous little tunes.”

Steve laughs in surprise, “Tunes?”

“Yeah. Like I imagine you just have some random songs in your head, no lyrics, just…” You pick the first melody that comes to mind and start humming it.

Steve stops, grabbing your shoulder as his eyes widen. “That tune.”

“Okay, there’s no way I could have guessed that perfectly.”

“No. The music!” He exclaims, spinning around and running to the carousel horse.

You look around dumbfounded, meeting Robin’s confused gaze from a few steps ahead of you.

“Hey, Steve?” She calls out as Steve stares at the horse, pulling out his wallet. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, it’s a quarter. I need-” He looks to you, “Do you have a quarter?”

“Is now really the time to ride a children’s horse?” You raise your brows but he just holds his hand out to you.

“I know you have a quarter, you bought your ice cream today and I specifically remember giving you a quarter in your change.”

“Jeez, fine.” You pull out change from your back pocket, sorting through the coins until you found what he wanted. “Where was this memory when you owed me money for your damn hairspray?”

You held up the quarter and he quickly took it from your hand, slotting it into the machine as the others crowded around you.

The horse starts to move, a small melody playing. You shake your head at first until you really listened, eyes widening. No way.

You step back, shaking your head for a whole new reason. You glance back at where you sat at the fountain, the memory replaying.

“You need help getting up, little Stevie?” Robin joked and Dustin laughed but Steve just shushed her.

“Would you two just shut up and listen?”

“Holy shit.” Dustin realises, crouching down beside Steve. “The music.”

He played the tape and sure enough, the music matched perfectly.

“This code, it… didn’t come from Russia.” Steve says, looking back at the group, “It came from here.”

“Like, someone working here?” Robin asked and Dustin glanced around as if they would suddenly appear.

“The janitor.” You break the silence and they stare at you, confused. “I saw them.”

“The Russian?” Dustin scrambled to his feet. “Who is he?”

“I- I didn’t see his face.” You shake your head. “But he was stood right here. I was sat there. And he had a radio on him, I just- I guess I didn’t think any of it at the time. But he walked away, grabbed his cleaning supplies. Whoever they are, they’re operating inside the mall.”

“But where?” Robin asked what you were all wondering.

Maybe you weren’t so paranoid after all.

The Scoops Troop, named by Dustin himself despite the protests, decided to call it a night and continue working on the conspiracy tomorrow. You believed there was probably something to it and hell, if you weren’t having terrifying visions every other day, you’d be more than happy to have something to do. But you really hoped they didn’t expect you to help them from now on. You knew Billy needed your help, urgently.

You get home to see Max and El laughing together on your porch, jumping to their feet when you approach.

“I thought I gave you a spare key?” You frown at Max and she shrugs.

“I lost it.” She clocks your expression, “Hey, I was trying to hide it from Billy and I hid it a little too well.”

El giggles as you open the front door, leading them to your room.

“Okay, you guys dump your stuff here and go pick out a movie to watch.” You smile as they happily start setting their stuff down, running through the house to the living room.

You walk to the kitchen, rooting through the fridge for any food. You notice a blinking light from the corner of your eye before you realised it was the voicemail machine your uncle had been able to afford after expensive work on a client’s car. You walk over, press the button, and continue your search, pulling out various items.

The machine beeps, a feminine voice talking to you.

“Hey, Y/n. It’s Heather. Sorry to bother you but you asked me to let you know if I think Billy’s getting worse?”

You dump the stuff on the counter, lunging over to the machine box.

“I thought I heard crying from the showers earlier and he’s the only other one working today. He’s been in there a real long time now.”

A distant yell echoed through the machine and you freeze.

“Wait. Oh my god, he’s screaming, what do I do? Do I call an ambulance?”

“Yes!” You immediately exclaim, praying she called for help.

“Actually I’m gonna go check on him.” You furiously shake your head as if Heather was right in front you, “Okay, I’ll call back later and let you know what’s going on. See you tomorrow.”

And just like that, she hung up the phone, the machine echoing in your mind. You wait for the next message, but nothing came.

“Shit.”

You back away from the machine, trying to rationalise everything. It was fine, right? Maybe she just forgot to call back. You’ll see her tomorrow.

You knew deep down that wasn’t true.

You walk back over to the phone, scrambling through a box of phone numbers you had scribbled down onto notes over the past few years before finding Heather’s name. You grab the paper, turn back to the phone and see the light begin to blink again.

Frowning, you set the paper down on the counter and stare for a moment. You reach out towards it, pressing the button. The familiar beep sounded before there was complete static. You were about to hang up when you thought you heard a gasp.

Leant towards to the machine to hear better, you held your breath as you waited for another sound.

Heavy breathing, a woman. Whimpers.

A scream.

You jump back from the machine, hitting your side on the counter with such force you were sure it was gonna bruise. You run back and try to replay the message, but all that replayed was Heather’s phone call. You skipped it, but nothing else came.

A bone-chilling fear struck your mind; something bad happened to Heather.

Chapter 6: A Yellow Whistle ->

taglist: @gnnnne / @beepisbeep / @paintballkid711/ @eddiesbirdie/ @livasaurasrex/ @darktimelegends / @jackierose902109 / @mvrylee / @chervbs/ @eternallyvenus / @nervouscatsuit / @f1nn-wolfhard / @hereiamhereigo

[aprillikesthings]

HELLO EVERYONE

it is Thursday night which means it's my weekend which means IT'S SHE-RA TIME

On a related note a bunch of the stuff for my cosplay (like, clothes) gets here tomorrow and then I can put it all together and look in front of the mirror and make weird noises at myself and take terrible selfies, so stay tuned for that yeah? Yeah!

OKAY

I'M STARTING SEASON FIVE oh god

s5 ep1 Horde Prime

My semi-frequent reminder that these are a re-watch, spoilers ahoy, I make a lot of dumb jokes

I'm going to tRY to scale back on how much of the episodes I like, describe. Those last two eps of s4 I ended up just telling the whole thing, to the point of copy/pasting a shit-ton of dialogue from the damn fan transcripts.

BUT THERE WAS SO MUCH LORE AND STORY AND SHIT and I want to remember everything uggghhhhh

okay I just noticed the rating, and I can't screenshot it bc it disappears when I pause, but the show is rated for age 7 and up and says "fantasy violence, fear"

Fear??? I mean that's...not wrong. But it feels like a weird way of wording it?

This was pretty, but then the damn Horde Prime ships showed up.

you broke the sword, girly

(for good reason! but still. also the music actually starts the little rah-rah transformation tune and then cuts off)

I hate it when creepy dudes watch me via bot soldiers

I remember reading that there are parts of the intro that change multiple times across this season, and I know Daci and I just skipped the intro every time when we marathoned this season back in 2020, so I'm watching them all this time, and

O_O

And she's not She-Ra! Just Adora!

the shards of Narsil....wait wrong fantasy story

Ohhhh they're all hiding under some kind of invisibility/protection shield constantly maintained by sorcerers. That makes sense.

ALSO I remember noticing this the first time, but you can tell they got a higher budget this season.

ugggh let it go

Everyone else says the same thing lol (along with "literally we can't because we don't have She-Ra anymore")

Adora's obviously still engaging in her self-sacrificial bullshit and Perfuma's like "no u gotta take ppl with u" but then

NOT. HELPING.

I mean Glimmer's room on the ship is nice (if sterile and too brightly-lit) but oof

oh, are you also lonely? do you also long for someone at least a little familiar? Hm????

;_;

Horde Prime just like "yo my bro hated your guts when I showed up lol did u know that"

(referring to the Heart of Etheria) yeah sweetie that's not gonna save your ass for long

He's so fucking creepy!!

Also I know they were inspired by megachurches and conservative Christian stuff when making Horde Prime's ship, but the music here even sounds kind of like an organ!

(...which is funny when you remember that megachurches usually have, like, rock bands)

Stop doing your self-sacrificial bullshit....without us!!

Does anyone else always wonder what they use for bathrooms?? The ones in the Fright Zone didn't have obvious restrooms either. Anyway.

So I know people were shipping Glitra for obvious reasons before this season but this whole storyline was just fucking great on that front lol

But also look at how fucking SMUG she is!

bahaha the "how's it going, Princess?" line is said almost as unnecessarily sexy as the "hey, Adora" thing

HAH. Glimmer is RIGHT.

Catra: nah man I'mma kick my ass to the top like I did last time Glimmer: u will get crushed like a BUG you DIPSHIT Clones: COME TO DINNER

oh sure, NOW you're looking at her for sympathy pfft

Clone: PRAISE THE LORD Everyone else: oh please shut the fuck up

("April aren't yOU Christian" yes but like, not that kind.)

Who else read A Wrinkle in Time? Remember that meal they had on Camazotz where everything tasted like sand to Meg because she was the only one who was completely resistant to the hypnotism bullshit IT did? Anyway that's what I'm reminded of.

the little she-ra doll :(

Even Catra's not thrilled to see this. (That or she saw Scorpia fighting and feels guilty)

When says "Adora," Catra scratches the table

GLIMMER GOD DAMMIT (but also look at poor Catra's face)

OH RIGHT because if he knows this he has no reason to keep Catra around.

But she can't stop looking at the screen where Adora just was ahahah

YOU COULDN'T DO IT ALONE BEFORE

lol Bow says it. "You're not alone. You've never been." But he's nicer about it than me.

Catra: oooh, princesses and their *~feelings~* Horde Prime: lol you're not any better

I am actively resisting the urge to make a BBC Sherlock reference. IYKYK.

"Adora means something to you." 👀

His little speech about "you Etherians are all alike, such strong connections to each other...it's what makes you weak," is such a great way of contrasting him to the actual Good Guys. Empathy and compassion, caring for others--those aren't weaknesses!

But if your goal is ruthlessly destroying everything in the universe for your own power, then yeah, they would be.

And of course, Catra does think her connections to others is what makes her weak, at this point in the story.

augh

"Now that I know about She-Ra and the weapon, what purpose do I have for you? Your little ploy of parsing out information like a bartering chip was never going to last long out here... I see all. I know all. But fear not. I have great plans for you. Every part of the machine is of value. Even you...little sister."

AAUGH

(and that's why the rating for this show warns for "fear" lol)

And then Adora has one of her weird dreams about She-Ra and shattering the sword but while awake, and clearly it pains her--and then she passes out, end of episode.

Anyway I managed to make it all fit in one post but only barely, I had to go back and delete a few, lol

TBH I should probably just assume these are all gonna be two-parters, there's so much plot.

[prettytanuki]

s02ep00 of Mushoku Tensei

This episode feels like a side-story. Not as good as MT season 1 but I guess you should watch if you want to watch season 2.

Spoilers & my thoughts on the episode below.

So the episode starts with a royalty talking about cake with her guards, except cake is codeword for tits, because this is mushoku tensei and all roads lead to perv.

Then we see Sylphy getting teleported into the sky and we're reminded that, yeah, this would kill most people normally.

So how the fuck does she survive this? What does this have to do with that princess? Is she just going to fall on a tree and they'll help her or something?

And then all of sudden a huge pig goes rampage and brutally kills one guard... wait what.

What's up with this pig all of sudden? Where did it came from. Why does it decide to go on rampage the exact moment Sylphy is falling down in the sky? In hindsight, was it that water spell she tried to use earlier and almost drowned in it?

So as it seems that the other guard is actually fucking dead, and the second guard is prepared to die and tells the princess to gtfo, maybe... just maybe... this pig is the real deal, so I guess Sylphy will kill the pig, the princess will be like "hurray" and the story continues from there. The only problem is how is she going to land.

What the fuck? HER HAIR JUST TURNED WHITE? SHE JUST PULLED A KANEKI???? I was wondering who the hell was that guy white haired elf at the end of first season and it was JUST HER WITH WHITE HAIR???

This was dirty. Dirty and cheap. Can't believe I fell for that.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS???

ARE YOU FOR REAL RIGHT NOW??? SHE JUST... FALLS RIGHT IN THE EXACT SPOT LOL

Okay this was awful. I guess it solves the issue of how it happens but holy shit this was awful. This is some looney tooneys shit.

Okay so the princess takes Sylphy in on the condition that she wears these glasses... I guess that explains where the glasses come form but... why tho...? Is it the eye color? I guess that must be it because I can't imagine it being anything else. I don't really remember eye color being that important though. I thought it was the hair color.

Messy writing aside I gotta say this looks pretty badass. Sunglass white-hair elf ftw!

Some royal bullshit happens in the ball. Silent Fitz, huh? I guess that explains how she maintained low-profile despite having no court training. Was Sylphy an elf...? I don't really remember. I think she was supposed to be a demon, so she's pretending to be an elf.

Fitz seems traumatize. I guess that makes sense considering this is MT.

I guess that makes sense but I was sort of imagining she would just keep "Fitz" around for herself and make no effort in finding her family.

Wow a theater scene. Crazy to think people watched these before animes were invented.

So it sounds like the princess was just trying to get people to search for Fitz' family but the other royals misinterpreted that as her training to raise to the throne... or was she????

A fat bastard noble with a collared sex slave??? This is so cliché.

But I love it.

I'm sorry, what are they saying? I can't concentrate on the words.

"We will not nip the buds, but reap the one who sows them."

Okay, so ur gonna kill her. Why not just say that, explicitly and in plain English, you fatass smirking bastard.

I was so focused on that perv noble I forgot about this other perv noble. ARE YOU GUYS ALL PERVERTS???

RUN FITZ RUN!!!

oh no.

Oh, she's actually one of the decent ones. She wasn't going to attack Fitz. She, just like she said, was just going to sleep on the bed, together, and never had any plans for otherwise. That makes sense.

What a nice emotional scene deepening the relationship between two girls, I'm so glad nothing perverted is goi

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! NO!!! NOOOO!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Blushing Fitz is a cutie.

Oh fuck no. You in bed and open your eyes and a stranger is standing there? This stuff gives me nightmares!

It's an assassin!

Fitz can fight hurray!

Wait a sec... that's fat bastard's girl. She looks smaller than I thought. Why is she an assassin. That doesn't make sense.

*fighting ensues*

Cool moves!

What did she do.

WHAT DID SHE DO???

I mean it looks like she just pushed the assassin with her two hands but honestly that's some SLOW assassin if she just let Fitz attack her full of opening like that.

And blast!

And...

NOOOO!!! FAT BASTARD'S GIRL!!! What the fuck!!!

Why would you do that for, Fitz??? JUST CAPTURE HER ALIVE! Needs an interrogation scene!!!

Is that so? Is she part of the dark guild? Because I'm pretty sure I saw this in Cheat Skill already.

I hope she survived the fall.

I'm glad there was poison in the blade. Sick of half-assed assassins who won't even coat their blades in poison.

So with the assassination the princess leaves for "studies" abroad, which means Fitz goes to magic school, and that connects to how she sent Rudeus a message at the end of last season. That makes sense, I guess.

WHY ARE THEY CLIMBING MOUNTAINS LIKE THAT??? JUST GET A CARRIAGE OR SOMETHING! You telling me the princess of a kingdom can't even get a proper transportation to cross the mountain range?

Okay, fine I don't really know a lot about how royalty works, iirc the average royalty was way poorer than what it looks like in a fantasy show because they only reigned over small domains but surely there is fancier way to travel through a mountain than three people in capes, right? no idea what it would be tho

[kosi-annec]

[HAIKYUU!!] Season 4 episode 1

Damn really decided to continue watching right when school's coming back up

Oh right the art style is diff from here on out. Gonna need some getting used to- i feel like Hinata's face is to sharp(?) like his eye shapes are too squared, it doesn't fit him

Ah yes, kagehina competing about everything, good times lmao

Omg did someone try asking coach ukai out HSKSHJ

"I grew one more millimeter than you!" even made growing height a competition lol, "at least there's one math hinata's good at" LMAO

Holy crap tsuki's TALL tall

Oh hey it's the scene from last season, they reanimated it. Ig they had to cuz the style was completely diff from before. What are these randos even doing at the court??

Mmm yeah without kage, hinata can't really pull those high jumps as much cuz not every setter can do crazy sets like kage. He hasn't learned how to be reliable outside of being a wing spiker n wat not yet

Ooh so this is the other training camp arc. DAMN this shit's a big deal. Oof right, hinata didn't get an invite cuz he, again, hasn't shown to be skilled outside of being a wing spiker that heavily relies on kage for their special quick attacks

Yeah, tho he is a very good libero, they weren't gonna invite noya considering how he acts

"I'll call back and let both the organizers know: you guys are in" LMAO completely ignored tsuki's refusal

Ah, so it's tsuki's fault for suggesting the idea of sneaking in lol

Yknow i feel like hinata has a slight fear of being left behind while everyone else is moving forward and improving. While kage had fears of being alone becuz no one could catch up to him (might be inaccurate, don't remember much from se1), hinata, compared to everyone, hasn't shown any skills that make him reliable outside of his special quick atk, and that shit NEEDS kage for it to work. So, i can def picture him having a slight fear of being left in the dust as everyone else improves

Oh god my poor boy can't read it, he is so getting lost

LMAO HINATA LITERALLY JUST STANDS WITH EVERYONE IN LINE WITH FULL CONFIDENCE HSKHSKS

Tsuki is so done lmao poor guy, really regretting what he said huh

God i just love everyone basically going "that fucking dumbass" HSKSHKS

Wait shiratorizawa coach vouching for hinata?? Didn't see that coming

HOLY SHIT OMI-OMI!! HE'S HERE! Yes, I'm a SakuAtsu shipper, I blame ColeyDoesThings (she's great btw, go watch her vids if u haven't)

Ah right, these are all the players of teams karasuno beat... Yeah, they're not gonna last around hinata for at most 2 days, everyone ends up liking tangerine boy in the end

Ohh so he's not actually gonna be training, he's just gonna watch. That's basically torture for him hskshs, but old man coach has a point, he's gotta learn to be reliable without kage's sets

I already like this Olympic coach guy, really is about person's skill than just physical attributes

OMG OMG ATSU HERE ALSO, MY TWO JERKS ARE HERE AAAA

[rise-fall-rage-and-repeat]

AFHDJCKSCJEO SOMEONE ELSE HEADCANNONS THIS TOO???????? IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!!!! HANG ON I GOTTA WORD VOMIT!!!!

ALSO THIS ART IS SO CUTE?! LIKE???? PLEASE!!!!

An Analysis of Gargoyles, Season 1, Episode 7, Temptation:

And yes, I mean the WHOLE episode, fight me!

(Skip to the asterisks if you want to just get to the analysis of Brooklyn and Demona’s relationship.)

Gotta love the shade the trio throw at each other in the beginning of this episode. And setting Brooklyn up as the character that ABSOLUTELY stole the show is 👌🏼 *chef’s kiss* Setting him up as the “bad boy” trope is quality shit with such a snarky, but kind character, and I WILL die on this hill. Am I biased? MAYBE. I neither confirm nor deny.

Anyway.

A liiiiiitle sus that Brooklyn knew IMMEDIATELY how to ride a motorcycle. Love you boo, but what kind of sorcery?

Did Elisa not think to mention to the trio about speed limits? Like, it took some time for Lex to learn how to and then BUILD the bike. It actually took 4 days (Yes I realize Brooklyn could have learned to ride a motorcycle in this time shut up-). Remember, he can only work at night. (I’m just now realizing how fucking GENIUS Lex is cause what?!) Anyway my POINT here is: Girl, did you not think to tell the gargoyle equivalent of college age boys about SPEED LIMITS?! Also where’d they get the gas from? And Jesus when did they fill the tank?! Cause the beginning of this episode Lex was using a blowtorch! ON THE BIKE! DID IT HAVE A FULL TANK THEN???? HIS ASS IS NOT BEING SAFE.

ANYWAY.

DAMN! Nice moves Brooklyn! (*cough, conveniently placed ramp at the end of an alley, cough* What? I didn’t say anything…)

Love Morgan’s “cop loves doughnuts” joke. (As the daughter of a cop it feels like it resonates… idk... Lmao)

These bikers are REALLY dumb if they didn’t realize Brooklyn wasn’t human until he took off the helmet. Like really? The beak wasn’t a give away? Like if it were Lex or Broadway, with more human looking faces (the colour of their skin could be explained by a mask or paint or the lighting), then sure, okay. But. The beak…

Never mind…

It’s a conveniently placed ramp at the end of an alley…

PLOT ADVANCEMENT!!!

We carry on…

This sweet boy literally says “I was just trying to fit in!” And then gets literally DOG PILED. (Gargoyles are strong but. That was a LOT of BIG men. I know, I know “it’s a cartoon”, “it’s a joke”. But, that’s not really Gargoyles’s vibe or style. It just feels really out of place…)

This fool really thinks a WRENCH is gonna do ANYTHING in this situation. Brooklyn literally FLIPS this man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes (Brooklyn said YEET).

When I tell you the very first time I ever saw this episode (I was like, maybe two?) the GASP I made when the bike exploded would have broken a kazoo it was so forceful.

Core memory.

I really wish they had tried to hide the fact that it was Demona a little better.

I DESPERATELY need to redraw the scene of the chain wrapping around Brooklyn’s arm. That shot is GORGEOUS.

Honestly this fight is one of the coolest in the series to me. Even though it’s short it’s beautifully choreographed and the art is stunning. The lighting is amazing when the bike blows up. *chef’s kiss*

I was always sad I couldn’t climb up walls like the gargoyles could. Even broke my nails back to the quick trying one time when I was I think five?

Another core memory.

Anyway.

TENSION! WHO COULD IT BE?! lol (Seriously thank you for reading all of this if you did.)

***

Okay! So! When Brooklyn backs away and says Demona’s name, the tone of his voice has… almost a hopeful edge to it? More like “is it actually you” rather than “oh god it’s you”. Like he knew she was bad news but… maybe…

Brooklyn is shown to be an extremely intelligent character. So WHY was he so easily convinced when Demona asked to talk? (“Don’t be afraid. I just want to talk.”) He went from on the defensive (the amount of times I quote “last time we met you just wanted to blow me away with a bazooka” in my childhood and even now honestly is astounding) to somewhat relaxed FAR too quickly after all Demona said was “I saved your life just now. Doesn’t that at least entitle me to a moment of your time?” Brooklyn is far too smart to be manipulated by ONE LINE ALONE no matter how true it may be.

Even after that, why did Brooklyn follow her? Rationally, the best thing to do would be to get away from Demona as quickly as possible. It’s shown later on in the episode Demona is stronger than Brooklyn at this point in the series, and there’s no way he doesn’t know that. Why would Brooklyn want to be alone with someone who tried to KILL GOLIATH, and who is physically stronger than him? Because maybe, MAYBE, there’s some connection there from before. MAYBE there’s a hope that she’s still the same gargoyle he knew back then. So when she CASUALLY drops that she’s been “dealing with the humans” “for hundred of years” he believes her. He probably doesn’t fully comprehend the fact that she’s been alive for over 1000 years, because for him, it’s only been THIRTY-EIGHT DAYS since the massacre!

For Demona, it’s been in the hundreds of thousands.

She no longer remembers what happiness feels like. Glee, sure, every human she kills (because let’s be real, Demona did NOT live for 1000 years without killing humans (possibly even for fun)) FILLS her with glee. But it’s not true HAPPINESS. She doesn’t feel almost anything but rage anymore.

And then Goliath wakes up.

We saw how much she loved him in her backstory arc and ‘Vows’ so it’s not unreasonable to think that something reawakened in her after holding her literal long lost love in her arms again. To touch him again; hold him; SMELL him again! To stroke his horns and hair and be with her MATE AGAIN. ANOTHER GARGOYLE after 1000 years to hold.

Demona let her guard down too much with Goliath and she wasn’t able to manipulate him the way she hoped. But someone YOUNGER than her? Who LOOKED UP to her? Demona is bitter and jaded now. She has NO QUALMS using her past connection to Brooklyn to sway him, because she remembers how smart he is because she KNEW HIM. She no longer feels what she felt for Brooklyn because she doesn’t REMEMBER WHAT IT FEELS LIKE. She doesn’t remember any other love than Goliath’s, because she severed the ties in her heart to her memories but, apparently (a fact that makes her angrier than anything else), Goliath’s to keep herself sane LONG AGO (“Even after all these centuries you still carry a torch.” - Puck to Demona (while looking at GOLIATH’S IMAGE), Season 2, Episode 5, The Mirror).

But she DOES remember she USED to feel some kind of love for Brooklyn, because they were CLOSE. And she remembers Brooklyn is an emotional gargoyle as is shown MANY times in the series. It’s not unreasonable to think she used this fact to her advantage. She played with his emotions, showing him the WORST humanity had to offer while playing the part of a concerned elder trying to steer his path right, and she honestly believes her words. She soothes him and scares him at the same time. She has a rebuttal for every ‘if’, ‘and’, or ‘but’. She STROKES HIS BEAK. Physical touch and affection are INTIMATE acts in gargoyle culture. They are the equivalent to kissing. You CANNOT tell me that didn’t affect Brooklyn. Again, he’s a very emotional gargoyle. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s a little bit touch starved either. The only other gargoyles around are his rookery brothers, his leader, the only remaining ‘father’ he has, and a beast. The likelihood any of them showing INTIMATE affection for him by stroking his horns or tangling their fingers in his hair is probably low. So for Demona to touch him in such an intimate way could easily have swayed him.

Everything she said made sense after what she had showed him. She showed him how lazy the justice system can be (“He’ll be out of jail and back on the streets in a day.”). She showed him how families treat each other at home (“They can’t even share their own homes without fighting. And you think they would share this world with us?”). She showed him a MURDER (“They hold each other’s lives completely without worth.”).

**First of all, the TRAUMA, because it’s not really confirmed WHEN Brooklyn and Demona arrived at the scene of the murder, who knows how much they actually SAW. It wouldn’t have been the first dead human Brooklyn saw obviously, he’s a warrior after all, but maybe it WAS the first SENSELESS dead body he experienced. The first MURDER. (I don’t get the impression that gargoyles really went around killing each other very often but maybe that’s just me? And Castle Wyvern seemed pretty peaceful before the Vikings (though I suppose that could change with the new comics)???)**

So when she touched him, he folded and agreed to help her.

Brooklyn is also shown to be VERY ANGRY about Demona’s betrayal (“Brooklyn is still too angry at Demona. I need someone I can rely on.” - Goliath to Hudson, Season 1, Episode 11, Long Way to Morning). Sure, you could argue anyone would still be angry after only 2 months and some change, but he’s RATIONAL too. He doesn’t jump head first into anything and he’s loyal to a fault. So to be so willing to go BEHIND HIS LEADER’S BACK for someone who TRIED TO KILL HIM, Demona HAD to be someone whose word held A LOT of weight for Brooklyn. She betrayed his trust and hurt him DEEPLY, FAR deeper than just the former-mate-of-Goliath-and-former-second-in-command would have.

***

Anyway I’m high and Gargoyles is basically my Roman Empire so I word vomited a little. I hope it makes sense. XD Beyond this point is just more ramblings for the rest of the episode.

***

I feel so bad for Brooklyn here. Like I know he screwed up but he had the BEST of intentions. He REALLY thought he was doing what was right. And he was betrayed by someone who he thought he could still TRUST. (Because also, who knows what all Demona may have said to him since it seems like he was out all night seeing as how they all turn to stone very shortly after Brooklyn arrives back to the castle.) He just sighs, knowing he has to face his family. And it takes a WHILE for Elisa to figure out the loophole (it’s canonically the day after that she figures it out I believe).

The end. Of this episode. I stg my friends and I (shout out to @timetravelerspayupfront) used to quote:

“Hey! What happened to the motorcycle?”

“Um, it blew up…”

“Oh… WHAT?!”

All. The. Time. Gotta be one of my top quotes from the show!

A younger Demona with a child Brooklyn, because I headcanon that the two of them were once very close before everything happened

[loptrcoptr]

Yknow, season 3 of bsg was not as messy as I expected.

spoilers, etc.

—————————

I super did not expect four episodes of love rectangle bullshit to be the alluded to big-cringe-point of the season, because what writers in their right minds would lean so hard into that??? damn, I almost quit after the eye of Jupiter two-parter, ugh. There is a reason television shows dangle romance in front of viewers like a cat toy and yank it away constantly. It’s because the promise of what could be is exciting, and making that exciting thing a part of every episode completely nullifies the excitement. That whole four episode shitshow was just miserable to watch, I’m not sure what part of the clusterfuck was supposed to be enjoyable to any viewer.

The character writing has been patchy since season two, so it’s not like that was new. I think it was just easier to focus in on in this season because they kept timing things so poorly too, revealing plot holes, which reveals weaknesses in the characters as people and firmly yeets them back into the “two dimensional” category. For instance, if they just hadn’t mentioned the love rectangle crap for four episodes after Unfinished Business, no one would’ve bailed on the show out of misery, I imagine. They dug in when they should’ve backed off. If they had sprinkled some more angst in after a sizeable break, the average viewer would have dealt with it much better. Also? Kara’s “death” and the subsequent lack of a grieving-themed episode, they totally showed their hand on that one. By rushing through it–no funeral, no one crying but Bill, just Lee looking sad and Sam being drunk– they made it painfully obvious that she wasn’t dead. If they had just “killed” her a few episodes earlier, dragged the viewer through a sad aftermath episode, and then moved forward, it would’ve stuck! They clearly either a) didn’t have any clue how they were gonna finish the season, or b) they did but couldn’t figure out how to get there until the last ten or so episodes, because they had a lot of chances for really solid foreshadowing that they absolutely ignored, or just didn’t know enough about at the time to be able to factor them in. (The final four out of five. They could’ve been setting up for that since new caprica, throwing in weird details, things they know, etc. but no! And why four at once, that’s so stupid, it should’ve been three so they still had two surprises left that they could work out later!! The only hints at those four were planned to be Cylons since the beginning of the season, that I can think of, are maybe that Tigh fought off Bulldog fairly easily, and Galen beat the shit out of Bill in the ring and also did better after the airlock disaster than Cally did. But they sure didn’t have the group planned out in season two, because in season two Anders was briefly dying of pneumonia, which is not very Strong Cylon Type of him.)

So it all felt half-baked, most of the time, which lets you, the audience, hone in on the things that don’t track. Like.... Seelix going from determined executioner to friendly local ray of sunshine. Bill thinking Lee would throw Saul under a bus just because Bill’s lawyer father was kind of an asshole and of Lee is interested in law, so now he must be a cunt too. Laura throwing dissenters in jail for protesting poor working conditions when she herself is as staunchly pro-union as they come. Bill threatening to have Cally murdered just because she helped Galen organize a strike. Lee ruining his relationship with Laura just because some lawyer he met is charismatic. The list goes on.

Case in point, I think, that proves how little consideration for each character’s motivations went into this season: Kara’s reason for promising to be with Lee and then asking Sam to marry her a few hours later is never given. The show spends a ridiculous amount of time focusing on this “plot twist”, but never, ever gives a reason for why it happened at all. How can they expect the audience to both engage with this storyline and ignore the fact that there’s no motivation for it? Why would they treat their audience like morons who haven’t been paying attention? This was the Big Drama for the whole first half of the season (ugh, gag me) and the powers that be don’t seem to have invested any time or effort into the whole debacle at all. Maybe they’ll come up with the rationale for Kara’s decision in the next season, but they sure don’t have it figured out as of the last ep of season three. (And, actually, it seems implied in the finale of season two [when Tigh tells Kara “that was a long time ago, people change”] that something else went down, I mean unless Lee or Kara told no one else in the fleet... but told Tigh?)

I mean I guess any season that begins with a fat suit, sham marriages, and a time jump was bound to be a little messy.

[magicpotatoobsession]

GIVEN | 5 things I adore about Take-chan

There is no denying that I love my Given babies. But there is also no denying that I am godforsakenly

IN LOVE WITH TAKE-CHAN! 😍😍😍

Let's talk why Yatake Koji is literally husband, best man material, and the healthiest bean on the planet! As well as...actual evidence pointing towards how Take-chan potentially liked Haruki at some point! 😮

(anime/manga spoilers ahead!)

1. He is reliable as fuck

In the Given anime, Take-chan was hinted as the event organiser of the first-live as he asked the Seasons to play at the venue that Mafuyu worked at. So when Haruki was having a freak-out and asked Take if he could cover for them, he said,

This, my friends, is what we call, TAKING ACCOUNTABILITY.

Whenever there is a new band member, trust me when I say that it takes a while to adjust, even for professional musicians! Music is all about reading non-verbal cues and it's really hard to be in sync straight away with each another! Also, at this point in time in the story, we gotta remember Mafuyu had literally been learning music for like 3 months and probably only agreed to properly join the band for 2 out of the 3. Take-chan knew the risk of asking the Seasons (which we in the music industry would define as emerging artists) to play yet he still wanted to give them a platform to perform. WHAT A FREAKING CHAMP. And he delivered! He got the crowd going and gave them 2-3 extra songs so that Mafuyama could gather themselves! Bless that boi <3

In the Given Manga, it's not as clear that Take was related to the organisation of the event or even to Mafuyu's workplace, but he still said to Haruki,

"But if you need it, I'll cover your ass".

You seriously can't get more reliable than that.

2. He is an acts-of-service man

Take-chan should really bill Given for the shit does for them! Like this is lowkey a joke but not a joke 'cause dudeeeeee the amount of stuff that Take-chan did for Given for free is absolutely ridiculous! Let me just quickly run some numbers for you.

Staying up and editing a video from a live show?! Bruh, easily $800 - 1000 US minimum industry standard, even more if it's multi-angle with special effects and colour corrections etc. Video-editing is also his major, he's gotten his undergrad degree and if he's already working for a company, he would be charging industry standard.

Also he was performing in the live AND filming for the live?! My man, when do you catch a break?!

Next person who laughs should owe you at least 5000 yen, Take-chan! A professional photoshoot in a studio with lighting set-up and backdrop should at least be worth $1500 - $2000 US min. Oh my goodness, then Take-chan actually said

"Do they suck, do you not like them?"

My angel, you are a professional doing them SUCH A HUGE FAVOUR, Given should take you out to dinner 5 times over!

So that's a total of almost $3000 US worth of marketing promo material that he just did for FREE!

Ok ok ok I know that not everything is about money and that Kizu did mention that Take-chan "does make music videos for bands he's chummy with" in his character profile but I just wanted to point out that without Take-chan, Given wouldn't have the amazing video that got them the crazy amount of online votes which probably wouldn't have gotten them such great results in the first two rounds of CAC, and subsequently the opportunities and approaches from record labels.

Take-chan's support and reliability kickstarted Given popularity and will be crucial to the success of all their careers!

He was even the first one to follow Given's Twitter! I think this also shows that Take-chan's main love language is probably ACTS OF SERVICE, which is very cute! But he also practices all the other forms of love languages as well, my goodness Take-chan if you were real I would not hesitate and ask you out immediately. <3

3. Has his own opinions but doesn't internalise other people's problems

In one of the comedy panels at the end of Chapter 13, we find out that Take-chan's never been a fan of Akihiko but this little side story is really interesting.

I was chatting to @edragoon and @raine-kai way back in Sept 2021 about this panel and they said that the word that Take-chan used to describe Akihiko here is really interesting. It's not hate, it's also not dislike, as @edragoon puts it,

"that sort of feeling that you have for a person that you know isn't a bad person, but your vibes just don't check."

This is because from Take-chan's perspective, the way that Akihiko and Take-chan treated Haruki back then were completely different.

Take-chan was all ACTS OF SERVICE

Akihiko was all "TAKE TAKE TAKE from Haruki" (sorry I had to make that pun LOLL)

So of course our angel Take-chan was completely unimpressed with how Akihiko was taking advantage of Haruki, especially knowing that Haruki wasn't getting enough sleep already as it was!!! 😩

---

Western vs. Japanese "Personal Dislike"

The three of us ended up discussing something that was quite fascinating that I think more people ought to know!

In Western culture, when we dislike someone and we say it's personal, it can be seen as a big deal and can be akin to a form of hatred where one may feel like they have the strong urge to "avenge" or "revenge" something.

But in Japanese culture, not so much. Take-chan's dislike of Akihiko is personal, but it's more like "my dislike is my business. And I personally wouldn't hang out with Akihiko one on one or work with him. " So it's not as much of a big deal where he wanted to fight Akihiko but rather he wouldn't be at the mix if it wasn't for Haruki.

Do you see what I am saying? So Take is saying that his personal feelings towards Akihiko is his own so it shouldn't concern Haruki because Haruki is a grown man and can take care of himself. As much as he dislikes what Akihiko is doing to Haruki, Take-chan is NOT INTERNALISING Haruki's issues and trusts that Haruki can take care of himself. and Haruki appreciates him so much for it!*

*I'll discuss this in detail later.

(edragoon and raine-kai please feel free to add further or make corrections, you guys probably have a much better grasp on this than I do 🙏)

-> Also, Take-chan is perceptive AF, that very bottom line is a HUGE HINT that he had a feeling that Akihiko was using his good looks to use himself as a male prostitute to get money from women. (Take-chan and his big brain energy let me tell you).

4. He respects other people's boundaries

When I was younger, I was often consumed by media which portrayed love as "we gotta sacrifice this and solve our loved ones' problems for them".

Over the years, I realised how wrong that mindset is because adulthood is learning that you can't solve everyone's problems for them.

Take-chan is the definition of a healthy bean because he is so good at asking Haruki for what he needs as well as respecting Haruki's personal boundaries.

Firstly, In Chapter 18 after Haruki's illusion of Akihiko got shattered and he was really shaken, Take-chan immediately asks,

Take-chan KNOWS that Haruki's low self-esteem means that he is always directing his attention onto everyone else so he makes sure that as a good friend, he CHECKED IN on Haruki to make sure he's ok.

But he is so amazing because he didn't push it when Haruki didn't want to share the details. He RESPECTED Haruki's privacy and instead, makes a suggestion,

"Why not play support for another band as a breather?"

I love that! Rather than forcing Haruki to tell him and potentially making him uncomfortable, he took a different approach of making suggestions.

Same thing here, when Haruki came over to Take-chan's place after THAT INCIDENT,

1. Take-chan asked Haruki what happened 2 times.

2. But he noticed that Haruki was not listening. He respected that Haruki was not in the mindset to talk about it and didn't push him and just offered what Haruki needed.

Let's recap Take-chan's internal monologue.

They just sat in silence. Take-chan took care of Haruki in the best way he knew how. ACT OF SERVICE. Haruki was not in the space to share so he respected that and cared for his friend in other ways

offered him tea

gave him a haircut

GIFTS - brought him green peppers from the countryside

QUALITY TIME - checked up on Haruki

5. Take-chan has secure attachment style

Take-chan upon finding out about Akihiko staying over momentarily couldn't hide his true opinion of the guy, and he accidentally slipped lollllll. But then he PATIENTLY LISTENED to Haruki explaining himself as to why he decided to take Akihiko in.

3. Take-chan then said this,

SO FREAKING HEALTHY!

Take-chan is displaying important qualities in a healthy individual who has secure attachment style:

lost his cool for a second but able to regulate emotions and feelings and regain his calm

*showing TRUST in Haruki knowing that he knows best how to take care of his own situation.

*able to hold space and allow Haruki to open himself to him when he's ready

*And Haruki appreciates the heck out of Take-chan for it! You don't have to do everything or solve everything for the people you love. This is something that all the Given characters should learn from Take-chan! Everyone else feels overwhelming emotions and internalises their loved one's problems. Take-chan is so freaking healthy because he loves Haruki knowing that Haruki is just trying to figure shit out.

Trusting them and being there for them is LOVE.

Can I just marry Take-chan already? ❤️

------

Ok I have a theory....

Take-chan potentially romantically liked Haruki at some point

A lot of people think that Take-chan is straight and I dunno,

I always got a bi/pan-vibe from him.

I was so glad when I saw in one of @a-voice-of-my-own posts that he thought the same! After some digging for this meta, I actually have some proof as to why I feel that way.

A) The Hair Token

Take-chan and Haruki met in college because they share the same undergrad film major. In his character profile, Kizu writes

"Film editing - mixing both his interest and the chance to make money"

From this, it is clear to me that he is a man with ambition, dreams and goals, he doesn't care if he doesn't fit the status quo, he would rather retake his exam and do what he actually wants in life than conform to societal norms.

This is the cover of Chapter 13 and a picture of Haruki and Take-chan from 2 years ago. Take's hair didn't seem long enough to be tied into a man-bun back then....

From what we find out in Chapter 20, Take-chan cuts his own hair and now he can tie it into a man-bun.

Remember in Given, the growing of long hair symbolises hope for love to be reciprocated. (scroll to "Tokens in Given")

So the fact that Take-chan grew his hair a little but maintains it himself at a man-bun length could mean that he has always liked Haruki however

kept his feelings in check rather than let it get out of control because he understands his sense of self worth.

Yes he liked Haruki but he's not gonna chase after someone who didn't feel the same. All the stuff he does for Given the band isn't actually for Haruki but because Take genuinely likes Given's music. He has such a great sense of self that he's not the type to chase Haruki like that. If he does do something nice for Haruki, it's because he genuinely cares for him and loves him, he doesn't need any sort of reciprocation. He does it because it aligns with his values and purpose in life WHICH I JUST ABSOLUTELY ADORE BECAUSE IT'S SO HEALTHY. 😩🙏❤️

Take-chan let me be your wife please! ❤️

B) The Mario Joke

Ok I think maybe it wasn't just me that found it a bit ~fruity~ when Haruki was major blushing as Take-chan gave him the USB of the live-video that he stayed up all night editing lol. But it seems like a lot of people still thinks that Take is straight, which is fine. That could just be healthy masculinity. I accept that interpretation.

But ok ok ok hear me out. Scroll up to the Chapter 13 side panel where Take-chan, Haruki and Akihiko are at the date-mix!

Take-chan flirted with the girls using the Mario joke!

Scroll up again and go back to the Chapter 22 panel that I posted!

In chapter 22, Take-chan, consciously or subconsciously, flirted with Haruki by using the Mario joke!

AND AKIHIKO HEARD EVERYTHING!!! Remember Akihiko was there at the date mix too so he knew that Take's go-to flirt line is the Mario joke! 🤯🤯🤯

That's why in that same chapter, Akihiko began to open up to Haruki that things are almost over between him and Ugetsu!!! Akihiko wanted to heal Haruki's broken heart and reignite any remnants of hope that Haruki had left in him!

Also, back when Akihiko said to Haruki in Chapter 17,

"You're more popular than you think you are,"

I 100% believe that Akihiko, being also the incredibly perceptive bean that he is, was referring to Take-chan liking Haruki. 😎Bruh, trust me.

------

Take-chan's journey of moving on

Ok let's just get one thing straight. Take-chan may have had feelings for Haruki but he was never holding out hope for Haruki to like him back. He just wanted to care for Haruki and he continued to live HIS LIFE and follow HIS PASSION.

However Chapter 22 is a pivotal turning point for him. Of course he personally didn't like witnessing Akihiko staying with Haruki but when he realised that Haruki finally stopped running away from his problems, he supported that and he realised that

Akihiko staying with Haruki was good for Haruki's personal growth.

That's why he said,

"If Haruki's ok with it, Take-chan is ok with it."

MY GAWD someone give that man a cookie I love him so much. Take-chan's love comes in the form of understanding and trusting that Haruki knows what is best for himself and that if Haruki does need anything from Take, Take will be there for him. Guys this is true love, true healthy love. We may never full confirm if Take's love was platonic or something more but this is true love right here.

-----

Then comes CAC live where Yoru Ga Akeru had such a positive impact and changed EVERYONE - Haruki, Akihiko, Ugetsu, and that's also where

❤️ Take-chan and Yayoi met ❤️

Take-chan and Yayoi are literally so well suited and healthy for each other because Yayoi is also someone who has a great sense of self-worth. Let me know if you want me to do a meta on them, they are so interesting as a couple!

---

I also really love this Given Movie extras panel:

LMAO Take-chan has the exact same reaction as Uecchi which is HILARIOUS HAHAH but now Akihiko is a changed man and finally we see Haruki being treated how Haruki should be treated. Also notice the differences between Chapter 13 extras panel and here?

PAST Akihiko crashed at Haruki's house whenever and ate Haruki's food, basically taking advantage of Haruki. Yes Akihiko was fighting his own demons but he was not treating Haruki very nicely. Two things can be true at the same time.

PRESENT boyfriend Akihiko keeps in touch with Haruki round the clock because Haruki is Akihiko's home, buys Haruki coffee, never late to rehearsals and practises hard at music .... wait

Akihiko becomes a man with his own ambitions and goals .....a man like Take-chan!

I wonder if Akihiko not only got inspired by Mafuyu's song but also by Take-chan??!! He secretly looked up to Take-chan and after hearing that convo between Haruki and Take-chan in Chapter 22, he's like holy crap I need to start pulling my shit together or I am seriously gonna lose Haruki forever. This is quite a plausible "take"! 😛

In Conclusion,

my love for Take-chan could be that I am literally Yayoi as I also have an adorkable little brother so I can't help but see Uenoyama and all the other characters in Given as my babies. However, there is no denying that Yatake Koji is such a wonderful guy and should be someone we all look up to for inspiration on how to form healthy bonds and secure attachments with other people!

😍WE LOVE YOU TAKE-CHAN!😍

--- Masterlist of my Given Metas

If you like what you read, all I post is basically Given analysis content! Give my blog a follow to be notified of future posts! #metapotato

[bloom-ribbon22]

(reblogging this because I don't think I ever reblogged a post before, also because there's a number of text limit with the messages so I gotta rely on with reblogs) Alright after reading, I totally agree with this post so much because it actually opened my eyes, no seriously, it did..and now I'm gonna get this off of my chest

Reading this, I feel really guilty that I'm one of the people that kinda gives too much love to the villains of this show, D-Structs and Skrap-itt especially

I really love Skrap-itt and this is mostly because I relate to him on a, like, personal level but I would be lying if I said Skrap-itt is.. let's just say... "a good guy who's just too stupid to realise what he's doing is wrong"

He did a few bad things as well, I guess the reason why some people(myself included..) keep forgetting he's a bad guy too is because he suffers a lot throughout the show, most characters that are often treated as a punching bag/suffers so much are often liked and sympathised by a lot of fandoms

This is going to sound pretty weird but he's sort of like Squidward, he's often being thrown around here and there and has a terrible boss the difference is that Squidward isn't like, fully evil(he does show his more nicer side but only in the earlier seasons..he doesn't seem to have it anymore in the newer ones but I haven't watched the modern seasons in a while so I'm not entirely sure) he's just a guy who wants to be left alone with peace and quiet so it's mainly the reason why everyone really loves him to the point they relate to him too, the two also always suffers a lot from their boss's treatment and their own life as well which is another thing that makes them relatable

and another reason is probably this: while Skrap-itt is evil, some people don't see him as the same level of evil as D-Structs is, because D-Structs is often seen as way more evil and done a lot more awful stuff than Skrap-itt did

the only time I could think of Skrap-itt doing something bad is that my guy tried to scrap a few other trux(Ty, Ton-Ton, other characters and I guess D-Structs too..) and another moment where I could think of him almost successfully taking them down was the episode where Skrap-itt got smart, but after he turns back to his original self he can't remember it anymore so I dunno if it counts, but honestly that's pretty much it, tho He and his intelligence are literally the size of a pebble so not many views him as threatening and also, Skrap-itt is FULLY AWARE of what he's doing and I don't think he regrets any of it (at least to me..) and besides, taking someone apart is obviously not nice so yeah, he's AIN'T innocent, he's a BAD boi.

Next up D-Structs, oh boy..where do I even begin? I will admit, remember that "D-Structs getting a redemption arc AU thingy" post on my old account? I'm gonna scrap(haha) that fanfic lol because looking back at it right now, D-Structs doesn't really deserve it(even if it's just going to be a silly scrapped au of mine) and also I regret making that ending on my fanfic that I posted here because again, he doesn't deserve it cuz like he doesn't show many redeeming qualities and the only genuinely good or at least decent thing he did was putting Skrap-itt on his tread but that's about it, the treatment he gets from the fandom is quite similar, they sympathise with him and often see him as a guy who does bad things because he was hurt by D-Stroy, probably because of the scene where D-Stroy said "you've always been weak" or some shit idk(and also he does mock D-Structs most of the time in the show), so you could say that it is, or at least, *implied* to be true that D-Structs has an awful experience with the guy

But I am going to be really honest and I'll probably get shred to pieces for this but, I honestly don't see D-Structs as a "poor dude who got hurt by his bro" at least not anymore and same thing goes to D-Stroy

Because NOW I see BOTH of them are sorta awful to eachother in their own way and they just see of themselves as the victim in their own perspective, your own sibling leaving you to possibly die under a rubble TWICE is shitty but being a total asshole to your brother is also shitty, tho I will admit, first one feels a bit..way crappier because imagine helping your brother get rid of the T-Trux he despises the most and his build-it-up bunch too(even tho in the final episode, the two were about to get their asses kicked) and your brother pays you by leaving you behind again...BUUUUUUT! we, well specifically *I* don't know much about the two's history with eachother and it was never told if one of them does actually care for eachother(uhh mostly D-Stroy) so I'm not entirely sure if D-Stroy deserves D-Structs abandoning him or nah...and I'm not sure if D-Structs was also a huge asshole to his brother too(well there were times where D-Structs was the one sassing his brother back) or most importantly if they did, at least, used to care for eachother or if they were already evil in the first place(tho, having names like that would *probably* imply the second statement..) so uhh I could be wrong with my little opinion on them..

So final part, I guess it's okay to like a villain without supporting/justifying their actions, painting them as innocent or trying to make up an excuse for them, however I honestly don't really mind people still picturing them like that or making fanfics/AUs having a sad backstory of why they were villains or give them a redemption arc or some stuff idk because I, well at least try not to think about these kind of stuff so what I'm trying to say is uhhhhhh you know what? If it makes you comfortable or you're at least cool with it if not many agrees with it then...you just do you.... ┐⁠(⁠ ⁠˘⁠_⁠˘⁠)⁠┌

(sorry if this was so long, really wanted to get this off of my chest..and I apologize if there was too much "probably", "I guessing", and "at least"ing here and there..)

I never understood why people try so hard to justify the actions of villains, not only in Dinotrux, in many series or movies.

It's like, gurl, liking a character a lot is no reason to make him look like a strawberry shortcake, he's mean and cruel.

I love Skrap-it, but I would never justify the actions he does and the damage he does, I wouldn't want to be friends with someone like that.

Facts, not opinions

[skellebonez]

Happy Birthday Winter!

Hey @winterpower98 it's your birthday! I really hope you enjoy this, I know I had a ton of fun writing it for you! Actor AU is one of my favorite AUs you've made and coming back to play around with it again was a blast and a half!

Painter MK cackled, taking the brushes filled with bright pink paint into his fists.

“Yes, yes!” He exclaimed, brushing them against his cheeks and bringing another to run up the center of his face. “The art is-OW! OW, THE ART IS IN MY EYE!”

“Cut!” The director yelled, bringing the entire film production to a halt in an instant. “Xiaotian, what happened?”

The young actor dropped the paintbrushes into the hands of a stage worker to rushed over to help him, one hand covering his right eye as he tried to keep himself from laughing. “I think some of it splashed when I waved the brush at my face. I guess the art really IS-”

“Don’t say it,” Heshang said from the other side of the set, doing his best not to join his co-star in laughter.

“-seeping into my pores!”

The entire cast and crew groaned as Xiaotian cackled again, with a few added ows, before another stage hand came by with a bottle of water.

~3…2…1~

“Uh…” Xiaojiao pulled, attempting to pull the prop sword from above her head out of the wall only to be met with… a lot more resistance than should probably be there. “UH…? It’s stuck?”

She stood, attempting to pull it out normally only to be met with just as much resistance.

“It’s stuck!” She laughed, out, bracing a foot on the wall with no change.

“Let me try,” General Ironclad, or rather Red in the costume of General Ironclad for the episode, offered, attempting to do the same with the exact same result as his co-star. “What did you use to hold this in place? Cement!?”

“It should have only been stuck in with force!” A stage hand yelled as Xiaotian and Heshang joined in, both failing to pull the sword out from the false wall and Heshang nearly toppling over backwards with his additional costume pieces.

“Whoever stuck that in there needs to be moved to making sure the safety equipment stays connected!” Xiaotian offered, watching as even more people tried to remove the sword. “That is not coming out.”

~3…2…1~

Heshang held Mo in his arms, waltzing around the set as he waited for places to be called for with the shockingly content feline in his arms.

~3…2…1~

“You are selling beautiful vegetables today?” Pigsy said, leaning over the the display to give an awkward smile to the disguised Spider Queen.

Tang looked over the produce from where he knelt, looking back up at his companion with a concerned and confused look. “Are you… a-are-PFT-FUCK.”

Everyone on set burst into laughter as Tang did, both of his fellow actors holding back from laughing themselves.

“Why is it this line!?” Tang yelled in frustration as he continued laughing. “It’s not a hard line! I wrote this line! Why do I keep laughing at the last word!?”

“Maybe if Ganglie wasn’t making goo-goo eyes at me you’d keep straight face,” Zhi-Zhu Jing managed to get out through her laughter.

“That’d be the only thing straight about me.”

~3…2…1~

Dicky Cheung, or the actual Sun Wukong disguised as a human actor in full costume of himself, took a running leap and jumped onto the counter of Pigsy’s noodles, sliding to a perfect stop with a wink toward the camera.

~3…2…1~

“MK, there’s something I wanted to tell you…” Mei said, looking at MK with sparkles in her eyes before snickering. “Stop looking at me like that, it’s hard enough to keep a straight face during this scene!”

“Sorry!” Xiaotian yelled to the camera. “I can’t help it! How are Jin and Yin this wrong about these two in the show?”

“Himbos!” was the shouted answer from Tang at the other end of the set.

~3…2…1~

“One of the rare talents that no one knew the great Sun Wukong possessed…” Xiaojiao said ominously, camera panning over to Mr. Cheung in full costume. “Surprisingly good peach juggling!”

“Gotta keep myself occupied somehow!” The actor laughed out, catching two peaches in either hand while the last one was caught perfectly in his mouth to the applause of everyone watching.

~3…2…1~

“Thanks for the Key los-AH!”

Red flung his arms wildly, key flying into the air as Tie Shan rushed forward and caught him just before he face planted into the ground.

“Mine!” Mr. Cheung yelled as he caught the key mid air and rushed through the frame.

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN IN THIS EPISODE!”

~3…2…1~

“Thank you… for giving me all o-ooh, whoa!” Lui Er Mihou, or unbeknownst to nearly all Six-Eared Macaque in disguise much the same way as Sun Wukong was, yelped as the cable that was supposed to gently raise him and make him look like he was floating yoinked him as good 4 feet off the ground way too fast. “That’s too much power!”

“SORRY!” The line operator shouted, fiddling with the controls. “Someone loaded the weight setting for Xiaotian into your line instead of yours.”

“I already feel bad enough treating him like garbage and beating him up in this role, this is just rubbing salt in the wound,” Liu Er muttered, leaning back and swinging limply much to the amusement of everyone who couldn’t hear him before raising his voice. “When will my beloved friend Sun Wukong come to rescue me?”

“SPEAK MY NAME AND I SHALL APPEAR!”

Liu Er yelped in surprise as Mr. Cheung rushed in and grabbed him from beneath to hold him bridal style with a shit eating grin. He couldn't help the flush on his cheeks in response.

“HOW DO YOU KEEP SHOWING UP IN SHOTS WHEN YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE YET!?” The director yelled with more than a little amusement in his voice despite the disruption.

~3…2…1~

“You!” DBK said, rounding on Red Son. “You have brought me nothing but failure! Time and time again! I keep telling you I… shit, I can’t remember the next line when you look that sad, I am so sorry.”

“Nothing but disappointment?” Red offered helpfully, immediately breaking out of his downcast somber gaze to the floor with a wide smile.

“It is scary how fast you get in and out of character sometimes, kid,” Niu Mowang laughed out, clearly resisting the urge to ruffle the younger actor’s hair lest he ruin the styling job that took far too long every time they got dressed.

~3…2…1~

The White Bone Spirit stood at the entrance to the Silken Web Cave, looking at the camera before far too much time passed from when she was supposed to say he line. She moon walked backwards out of the frame without changing her expression one bit as the other actors devolved into cackles.

~3…2…1~

“The Year of the Spider starts tonight!” Spider Queen proclaimed from her high vantage point before she muttered something under her breathe, narrowing her gaze and then looking off to the side. “Or next year ‘cause I don’t remember my line.”

~3…2…1~

Huntsman slowly lowered into frame, upside down and gripping the rigging holding him up like Spiderman.

~3…2…1~

“Oh yeah?” Sun Wukong said, appearing in frame as he walked down the wall MK was embedded in. He grabbed his staff, yanking it out of the wall and jumped down and smacked the wall with it.

… only for it to go through the wall once again and crack it. Or, rather, the false wall that was on a tilted angle to make it look like he was talking down it, rather than a heavily slanted floor.

“I’m sorry!” Mr. Cheung yelled, looking at the damage he caused. “I must have hit at weak spot!”

He hoped no one noticed that when MK offered to get the prop staff for this shot and put it into the wall… he grabbed the real one by accident.

~3…2…1~

Nui Mowang held the little bird that was Wukong’s transformation stand in for one of the final scenes, gently petting the little head with a big goofy smile on his face.

~END~

The entire cast sat around on various travel tables right outside the small Lunar New Year Festival set they had set up, various extras that had answered the open invitation for the shoot going about and getting the free food that was available at the functional stalls provided by the catering they had hired.

It was an odd sight to see Red Son and Spider Queen and Sun Wukong and everyone else sitting around together, but Liu Er Mihou being there outside of his Macaque costume broke the illusion a little bit.

It was the final day of shooting for the season 2 opening special to Monkie Kid, Revenge of the Spider Queen, and everyone was there. Even people who didn’t have to come in wanted to give a temporary farewell to Tie Shan, Nui Mowang, and Red before season 2 proper began shooting. There was still a chance they could bebcalled in for bit roles, the scripts weren’t entirely finished yet, but as far as anyone knew the Demon Bull Family wasn’t going to be returning properly any time soon.

Maybe in season 3, Tang had teased, holding the begun scripts for that in his little tablet away from prying eyes. And they were always welcome to help out in bit roles, background characters or voice over or to use their other talents to work other jobs that were needed around the set.

But even before then it would be a while.

And so that’s how Red found himself sandwiched between Long Xiaojiao and Qi Xiaotian, with the newly added member of their quartet in her full White Bone Spirit costume hanging over his shoulder to watch the compilation that Xiaojiao had expertly edited on her phone for them all.

“The director gave me permission to use whatever I wanted and I though that… maybe we could all have it for ourselves,” Xiaojiao offered, pulling up the wireless transfer option on her phone. “To watch when we miss each other being on set together. I know we’re going to probably be back together with Red Son eventually! But…”

“I’ll miss shooting with you too,” Red said smiling softly as he pulled out his own phone to accept the file. “Hopefully Mr. Tang isn’t just teasing us about season 3.”

[sincerelyella]

I already requested this from someone else but I love your writing so much and I wanted to request this from you too! After Olivia’s kiss in book 1 in Lythikos, Liam just breezed over it and it wasn’t brought up again. But what if he kissed Ella to prove to her he doesn’t have moment with anyone else?

Book: The Royal Romance AU

Pairings: Liam x MC (Ella); Drake x MC

Summary: Olivia kisses Liam and Ella sees and gets very insecure.

A/N: Thank you for this Anon! I love getting requests. Ya'll really make my day with these. Hope you like it!

A/N2: Participating in @wackydrabbles prompt will be in bold (the correct prompt - I’m a mess!)

@ofpixelsandscribbles and @alyssalauren thank you for prereading, and Lis, for coming up with this title. To @ao719 thank you for reassuring me about the pinky promise. Love you guys!

Warnings: maybe some angst

Words: 1672

Ella and Liam switched partners during the Cordonian waltz in Lythikos.

“Little Blossom, you’re doing gr-”

The crowd around her gasped, Maxwell stopped mid-sentence and gawked. Ella turned and saw Liam and Olivia in the middle of a kiss. Ella’s chest ached, her stomach churned and her eyes welled with tears. She quickly blinked it away, she was not going to cry in front of the entire court.

“El, you okay?”

She vaguely heard Max speaking to her. “I … yes, I’m fine. But I’m a little tired, so I'm going to go to my room.”

“Okay!” He leaned down and kissed her on her head. “I’ll see you later Blossom!”

Max had no idea how that kiss affected her and that’s how she wanted it. She squeezed her friend’s arm and slipped through the crowd to her room.

A little while later, Ella answered her door and there stood Drake with a vase of red rose blossoms in his arms. There was a note hidden in the bouquet from Liam asking to meet him in his suite.

Drake was munching on some candy as he stepped into her room. “Brooks? Did you hear me? Are you going?”

“No,” Ella buried her face in the roses, taking in their scent. “I’m not in the mood right now.”

“What’s going on?” Drake crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Ella until she looked up at him. “You left the banquet early, you’re avoiding Liam … which is odd because you’re all the time locking lips.”

Ella didn’t answer. She just stared back at Drake as she chewed on her bottom lip.

“It’s because Liv kissed him isn’t it?”

Two can play that game.

She stood on her tip-toes and pressed her lips to Drake's. Ella felt his body tense, but after a moment he relaxed and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Brooks," he whispered after he pulled back.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"Kissing you," Ella opened her eyes and met his gaze.

"Why?"

She let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I know how you feel for me and-"

"You're trying to get back at Liam," he arched his brow and let go of her.

“I know it’s really stupid,” she blurted out. “I already know, and I don’t need you to tell me that I’m acting irrationally.”

“Hey,” he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Brooks, it’s not irrational. Well, you kissing me was. But … you know he’s not with anyone else like that but you right?”

“How am I supposed to know that, Drake? You Cordonians are not monogamous.” Ella began to pace the room. “I know that’s why I’m here. For him to … get to know other women but … I forgot the part where I’m in love with him and my chest hurts when I see him with someone else.” With her last words she felt it, her voice wavered and her tears began to fall. She clamped her hand over her mouth in surprise and Drake’s eyes widened.

“Oh shit,” he pulled her to his chest. “Fuck, Brooks, don’t cry.”

“I-I’m … sorry,” she gasped out as she sobbed against him.

“Don’t apologize.” He was stroking her hair and telling her it would be okay. Finally, when she was a bit calmer he pulled away. “Better?”

"Yeah, thank you."

“Alright. Get some rest and I’ll see you tomorrow,” he moved towards the door, opened it, and then turned back. “No more of this crying business okay? That was your only ticket for me to console you."

Ella let out a watery laugh.

"Also,” his eyes softened. "Even though I enjoyed that kiss, I know you love Liam. No more of that alright?"

She nodded. Drake smiled and shut the door behind him.

The next couple of weeks, Ella did her best to avoid Liam. It wasn’t all that difficult, he was busy tending to social season balls and gatherings. Every time Max or Bertrand would tell her Liam was somewhere she would go the opposite way. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, God, she did. With everything in her. But it wasn’t her place to be jealous and insecure, she knew she was here for this. She just wanted to be left alone in her feelings.

The Regatta was rescheduled by the royal family which was unheard of, but it turns out King Constantine’s health wasn't great and he was in the hospital. The court continued to the next stop which was Applewood. Ella, Max, and Bertrand arrived ahead of everyone else and were quickly shown to their rooms.

“I’ll meet you in a bit, Blossom, I gotta unpack and find something to wear.”

Ella nodded and watched him skip off after shutting her door. As she rummaged through her luggage a knock sounded and it startled her. “Max, how did you forget something already?”

She reached for the door, opened and saw a smiling Liam. “Oh!”

“Hello Lady Ella,” he quickly glanced down the hallway. “May I come in please?”

She stepped back, allowed him inside, and shut the door. Ella turned to face him, her heart was beating a thousand times a minute. “Your Highness,” she curtsied. “This is a surprise.”

“Ella,” Liam stepped towards her, concern in his eyes. “Why are you so formal with me? We aren’t outside.”

“I just-”

“Are you avoiding me?” His baby blue eyes gazed into hers and all her resolve dissipated.

“Truthfully, yes,” her voice trembled.

“Why? I’ve missed you, and I apologize for not coming to see you sooner. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen you since Lythikos and” - Liam’s eyes widened - “Lythikos. This is about that kiss.” It wasn’t a question; he had figured it out without her explanation.

“I know I have no right,” Ella turned away and walked towards the bed to sit before her knees gave way. “You’re not mine,” her voice hitched. “I just needed time alone, that's all.”

Liam’s heart turned over in his chest. He followed her to the bed and kneeled in front of her. “Ella, you have every right to feel how you’re feeling,” she arched her brow and he chuckled. “You heard me. I have been meaning to tell you this but” - he wrapped her small hand in his - “I love you. I have been in love with you for a while now.”

“You …” Ella whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “I love you too, Liam.”

He grinned. “Really?”

“Really really.”

“Promise?” He looked up at her, a vulnerability in his eyes that she never saw before.

“Promise,” she held up her fist, her pinky finger out.

“What is happening?” He asked as he did the same.

“It’s a pinky swear,” Ella’s laughter filled the room as she wrapped her pinky around his.

“Why are we swearing on our pinky’s?”

“You've never done a pinky swear?” The look on his face said it all. “Nevermind,” she shook her head. “So, did you talk to Olivia?”

“I spoke with her outside after she kissed me. I told her she shouldn’t have done that and I don’t return her feelings. I wish you would have talked to me about it.”

“I should have …”

“This is why you didn’t meet me that night.”

Ella nodded.

Liam lifted her hand that was already in his and kissed her knuckles softly. “I’m yours, Ella. I don’t meet anyone outside of these events but you, I don’t kiss anybody else …” his lips traveled up her arm, slowly, ever so slowly. “… and you are mine.”

After hours of Liam proving to Ella that he meant what he said, he slipped out of the room later in the early hours of the morning. The events in Applewood the next day were kind of fun, baking, being crowned Apple Queen, throwing apples at Drake, and then having Liam come to see her that night in her room. Passionate lovemaking was an understatement, especially when a stoic prince that’s supposed to be proper and polite, dirty talks until she explodes.

The next day, the Apple Festival was winding down as Ella sat on the small swing in the garden maze, Liam gently pushing her.

“You seem happy here,” Ella mused as she pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

Liam smiled. “I’m always happy when I’m with you. I love you, Ella,” he leaned down to kiss the top of her head and let out a small sigh. “But it was less … stringent here. My brother and I never wanted to leave.”

“It has a bit more of a relaxed vibe here,” Ella nodded. “I like seeing this happy, carefree side of you.”

“You bring it out of me, you know,” he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. “You bring a lot out of me.”

Ella turned and craned her neck up to make eye contact with him. “Like the dirty talking?”

Liam smiled and his cheeks and neck turned red. “I’m not sure what you mean,” he waited a beat. “But yes.”

A loud whistle blew and that signaled the end of the festival.

Ella sighed. “I think that means-”

“It means, we head over to dinner,” Liam pulled her up to her feet and twined his fingers with hers.

“Yeah, but you always go first,” Ella tried pulling her hand away from his but he held on. “Liam, what are you doing?”

“We’re going to dinner together,” he said simply.

“Wh-what?” She stammered. “You can’t … I mean-”

Liam stopped and turned to face her. His facial expression filled with determination and … resolve. “You don’t want to go to dinner with me, my love?”

His nickname for her went straight to her core and it took her a moment to answer. “I-I mean, yes but-”

Her words were cut off by his lips against hers. When he pulled back, her eyes were still closed. “I’m … I don’t remember what I was going to say.”

Liam chuckled and pushed Ella’s hair away from her face. “I don’t care what happens or what they say. My choice is you. I’m telling everyone about us. If this isn’t what you want, say so now.”

“Why are you doing this? You know they’re not going to let that happen before the coronation,” she whispered.

“You felt insecure in how I feel for you; it made me realize that I need to show you that I love you. Sneaking around and hiding my feelings doesn’t help matters. I can’t lose you, Ella. It’s just not a risk I’m willing to take. Will you have me?”

Ella didn’t even have to think about it. “Always,” she smiled and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go.”

[cinnaminsvga]

🌷 social media au where y/n posts an advertisement looking for a new place to stay that is closer to campus, causing seven upperclassmen to make it their mission to recruit her into their dormitories 🌷

A/N: THIS TOOK FOREVER AND I KINDA RUSHED IT AT THE END BUT HOPEFULLY IT MAKES SENSE?? anyway, yoongi didn’t do anything stupid (depending on your definition of stupid) so no need to worry about him being cringey,,, i spared you all from the secondhand embarrassment but i won’t be so kind next time!! anyway... enjoy || W.C. 3.8K

prev // part 11 // next masterlist here.

By the time Seokjin’s phone begins to ring, Yoongi can already feel the dread settle deep inside his bones. The familiar coil of anxiety tightens around his throat like a vice, and Yoongi has to remember how to breathe to keep himself from fainting like a corseted Victorian lady. 

“Well, that must be her!” Seokjin chimes, promptly declining your call without a glance. Yoongi catches a glimpse of your contact photo anyway: it’s an unflattering angle of you from below your neck, giving the illusion of a multitude of chins. If it were any other time, Yoongi might have smiled like a lovesick fool. 

“Don’t you dare let her in here,” Yoongi seethes. He tries to sound menacing, but the effect is severely diminished by how badly his voice cracks. He tugs at Seokjin by the sleeve, but the older man refuses to budge. “Hyung, I’m serious. I know what you’re trying to do.”

“Are you done live-tweeting your confusion now? Finally got the memo? I always knew you were a smart boy,” Seokjin laughs, patting Yoongi on the shoulder with his tomato sauce-covered tongs. “Since we’re on the same page now, why don’t you change clothes while I finish cooking? I know your entire wardrobe is composed of the free t-shirts you got from job fairs, but it would do well to wear a clean, unstained shirt.”

Yoongi swipes at him, hissing like the catboy that he is. “You’re the one who wiped shit on me, asshole. And yes, I figured out what you are trying to do. You think you’re so slick, but I know that you’re just trying to embarrass me in front of Y/N!”

Seokjin shrugs. “It isn’t like I’m trying to be slick. I embarrass you all the time. Besides, I’m setting you up on a date with the love of your life! You should be thanking me, if I’m being honest.”

Yoongi stammers, his jaw dropping in shock. “Love of my–?”

Seokjin waves his tongs in his face, silencing him. “Oh, hush. Don’t even try to hide it, Yoongi. I figured out that you like Y/N. Your weird behavior finally makes sense! After years of you avoiding her, I always thought you were just bad at forming human connections, but turns out you’ve got a gigantic heart boner for my best friend!”

“Please don’t phrase it like that,” Yoongi groans, smashing his head against his kitchen counter. He hopes a few brain cells might have died, just so he can stop processing the words coming out of Seokjin’s mouth. “Actually, just please stop talking.”

Seokjin snorts in exasperation as if Yoongi was the dramatic one between them. “Point is, this is a favor that I’ve chosen to grant you from the goodness of my heart! As I said, I’m giving you the love life you deserve! So stop whining and get moving before Y/N gets up here.”

“There isn’t any goodness nor a heart inside of you. And more importantly, when was the last time you did anything for free, you capitalist bastard!”

Seokjin clicks his tongue, shaking his head. “That’s where you’re wrong, Yoongi-chi. You’ve already paid me for my services by offering me front row seats to watch you lose your fucking mind. And that, my friend, is priceless.”

“Aha! So you do admit that this is all just a ploy to humiliate me!” Yoongi shouts. He grabs a knife from his scabbard, pointing it threateningly at Seokjin. He doesn’t even flinch, instead gently guiding Yoongi by the wrist over to the chopping board where he had placed some garlic cloves beforehand. Without prompting, Yoongi’s hand begins to move, his culinary instincts taking over.

“Yes and no,” Seokjin admits as he grabs Yoongi’s cast iron pan from the top shelf (which he has never gotten to use since he bought it, ever since Seokjin had borrowed it once and placed it too high for him to retrieve.) “I’m honestly trying to help you out here, my dude. Besides, even if shit hits the fan, Y/N isn’t gonna think any less of you. She’s too much of an idiot to resent anyone.”

“Speaking from experience?” Yoongi huffs, eyeing him with intense vitriol. “Can’t say I understand how she’s gone this long without killing you.” The next time the two of them are alone together in the wilderness, he can’t promise that his hands won’t find their way around Seokjin’s throat, and it won’t be sexy.

“Hmm. Yeah, definitely,” he says, nodding absentmindedly. As he begins to season the steak, he hands the cast iron pan to Yoongi. “Start preheating this. We need it to be smoking hot before we can place the steak on there.”

“I know how to cook a steak, fucker. And who said you’re allowed to serve my Wagyu steak? I was saving that for a special occasion!”

Seokjin looks up from his ministrations long enough to raise a brow at him. “So going on your first ever date with Y/N isn’t considered a special occasion?”

Yoongi falters, eyes widening. “N-no, that’s not what I mean!” he defends hotly, but he quickly snaps out of it. “Wait, no! This is not a date! Not when both parties did not agree to any of this!”

Seokjin pauses from his cooking to place a perfectly manicured hand on his hip. “I mean, Y/N agreed to it, so are you going to reject her? Huh? Too good for her and my spaghetti?”

Yoongi scoffs, rolling his eyes. “No, she did not agree to this. She doesn’t even know you’re forcing her to eat lunch with me.”

“How can you say that with such certainty?” Seokjin challenges, puffing his cheeks. “You don’t even know what I told her!”

Except I do know what you said, Yoongi thinks darkly to himself. And more importantly, I know what she thinks you were implying. He is pretty sure that the words “crush on him during high school” have seared themselves underneath his eyelids forevermore.

But instead, he says, “Yeah, well. If what you told her is as vague as what you told me, I have a pretty good hunch that this is going to blow up into a huge misunderstanding.”

Like the absolute menace that he is, all Seokjin does is shrug nonchalantly. “Suppose you are right… Who cares? It’s not like the two of you are strangers, so I’m sure this is going to go great!”

“What the fuck? She is a stranger! I’ve literally only spoken two words to her in the past four years!” Yoongi seethes, his temple throbbing from an oncoming migraine. 

Seokjin ignores him, as per his want. “Grab that plate, will you? I gotta plate the pasta before Y/N starts calling again to let her into the building,” he says, nudging the tongs into Yoongi’s hands. Yoongi squawks, quickly turning the stove off to keep the food from burning. 

Seokjin tears off his (read: Yoongi’s) apron off, wiping his hands on his jeans with a quick smile. “Great! While you finish up here, I’ll distract Y/N for a bit in my room before I lead her in here, alright? You better hurry unless you want to keep her waiting!”

“Oh, like how you kept her waiting downstairs for the past–” Yoongi checks his wall clock, “–seven minutes?”

Seokjin cackles madly, rushing out the door. “Well, that’s where you and I differ, Yoongi-chi! I give no shits about how Y/N thinks about me, so good luck!” After sending Yoongi three flying kisses for good measure, Seokjin slams the door shut, leaving Yoongi to simmer in his bad life choices.

The worst choice that he’s ever made? Being friends with one (1) Kim Seokjin.

“God, just end me,” Yoongi mutters, placing his $80 steak on his pan. It sizzles deliciously, much like how his (nonexistent) love life is about to get burnt to a crisp.

x x x x x

“Took you long enough.” You watch as Seokjin taunts you with a funny little dance by the lobby of his dormitory, the building receptionist not even batting an eye at his eccentricity. That’s the sad side effect of living in close proximity with Seokjin: you start getting desensitized to most things, not even flinching at the sight of a man without a functioning central nervous system.

Seokjin slides his card to open the door, finally allowing you entry. “Sorry. Got busy preparing your lunch! Which by the way, you should be thanking me for.”

“The moment I thank you for anything is the day that you slip on your own cum and die,” you grouse, nudging past him to get on the elevator first. You punch the button for the 5th floor before rapidly trying to close the elevator door on him. Unfortunately, Seokjin makes it in time before his ass gets clamped by the two steel doors.

“Thinking about my cum? Oh my, Y/N… I know you’ve had a dry spell for too long, but I didn’t think you’d be that desperate for some of my butter,” Seokjin says, leaning closely to wink at you.

Against your will, your cheeks brighten furiously, weakly pushing Seokjin away from you. “You wish. At least I don’t spend my spare time loitering outside the campus gym to ogle all the sweaty hot people.”

“And the invitation to join me still stands by the way!” Seokjin singsongs, leaping out of the elevator once you reach his floor. You walk side by side until you reach his room, but you catch him shooting a furtive glance at his next-door neighbor.

“Is Yoongi joining us for lunch?” you ask, failing to keep your curiosity from showing in your voice. If Yoongi does end up joining you for lunch (which has never happened in the past four years, convincing you that he must have a personal grudge against you), then at least it can confirm to you straight away that whatever this “date” is just another prank by Seokjin. You don’t know if you should be disappointed or grateful if it is just a joke.

Seokjin beams in response, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “You know what? He is going to join us, actually!” 

He had been in the midst of unlocking his dorm when he changes direction, leading you to Yoongi’s door instead. He rifles through his other keys, and you notice one of them looks similar to his own house key, except with a Hello Kitty sticker on it. He pulls that key out and promptly unlocks Yoongi’s door without missing a beat.

What kind of weirdo must Yoongi be to give Seokjin a spare key to his dorm? You’d rather shit out a cactus than let Seokjin have free entry to your home whenever he pleases.

You hesitate by Yoongi’s door, feeling nervous all of a sudden. “Um, Seokjin? Are you sure it’s okay for me to–?”

“HONEY I’M HOOOOME!” Seokjin’s loud guffaw cuts you off before you can finish your question. He bursts through the door and leaves you by the hallway, and you watch as he nearly tackles Yoongi to the ground.

Yoongi, despite looking like he’s half the size of Seokjin on a good day, manages to keep upright despite how his back is now bent parallel to the floor. “Get off me!” he yells, roughly pushing Seokjin off of him. 

Seokjin tumbles to the floor, but the shit-eating grin on his face hardly wavers. He points at you by the doorway, a cheeky grin on his lips. “Look, Yoongi-chi! I brought a guest!”

Yoongi spares you half a glance before returning his attention to whatever he was cooking. “I suppose you did.”

Okay, this date is definitely a joke. Why the hell did you even think for a second that Seokjin might have been into you?

“Um,” you stutter nervously. You grind your heel into the carpet self-consciously, your gaze downcast. “Hello, Yoongi. Sorry for the intrusion, by the way…”

“It’s fine,” Yoongi replies, albeit a little curtly. He clears his throat, his face still tilted away from you so you can’t tell if he’s genuinely annoyed or not. 

You point a glare at Seokjin, who looks shamelessly pleased with himself. After taking a deep breath, you take your first steps into Yoongi’s home before gently closing the door.

As you look around at your new surroundings, you notice that his home is a lot cleaner than you would have expected, though you’re not exactly sure what you should have expected in the first place. It’s minimalist, but not in a barren type of way; it’s seems like Yoongi is fond of simple designs more than anything. It’s certainly a nice change of pace compared to Seokjin’s abomination of a room, with his vaguely yellow-stained bedsheets. 

The smell of freshly cooked pasta and meat being grilled catches your senses immediately. You watch as Yoongi flips over a hefty piece of steak, the aroma causing your mouth to salivate instantly. 

“I… What is… Huh?” you start, not knowing what to ask. You catch Seokjin snickering quietly to himself, but promptly shuts up when you mime punching him in the dick.

“It’ll be finished in a second. Why don’t you sit down?” Yoongi announces quietly, his gaze still fixed away from you. Confused but left with no other choice, you tentatively make your way to his couch, unable to relax as your spine remains ramrod straight and your jaw stays clenched. 

You hear Seokjin shuffling behind you until he eventually makes his way to sit with you, plopping onto the couch as if it were his home. “Ah… I’m soooo hungry. Smells good, doesn’t it?” he asks you, his brow wiggling too much to be considered normal. Either that, or he was having a stroke.

“Yeah, it does,” you say, greatly uncomfortable. You peek at Yoongi once more, who is still dutifully attending to the steak. Making sure he isn’t looking, you twist Seokjin by the nipple, causing the elder to let out a high-pitched squeal. To an outsider, it might have almost sounded like he was being pleasured. 

“Ouch! What the fuck was that for?” Seokjin whines, rubbing his tenderized nipples. 

“You know what that was for,” you hiss, keeping your volume low. “What the hell are we doing here? Why are you making Yoongi cook for us?!”

“For us? It’s for you!” Seokjin snaps back. “Didn’t you say you would only come over if you got fed? Well, this is how you get fed!”

“I was under the assumption that you would be feeding me, not him!” you seethe. You check back on Yoongi, who still hasn’t looked your way once. “The poor boy… No wonder he doesn’t like me! He must think I’m as bad as you!”

Seokjin snorts. “Of course he likes you! This whole lunch date wouldn’t have even fucking happened if he wasn’t assdeep in lo–”

“Lunch is finished,” Yoongi interrupts loudly, his spatula rattling loudly against his pan. The sudden noise makes you jump away from Seokjin, who appears vaguely triumphant. 

“T-thanks,” you stutter, standing up and resisting the random urge to shake his hand. Everything about this situation is so tense and awkward that it feels like you’re being filmed for a prank Youtube video or something. Knowing Seokjin, the odds of that happening are great. 

“That’s my cue to leave then! Bye! You guys have fun!” Seokjin says, jumping to his feet. 

You vaguely hear Yoongi gasp quietly when you launch yourself at Seokjin, just narrowly keeping from escaping. “Oh no, you don’t! Who said you could leave? You’re not going anywhere!”

But like the slippery snake that he is, Seokjin manages to wriggle out of your arms and hop over Yoongi’s coffee table to get to the door. “Too bad! I have classes to get to, so I gotta blast! Use this time to get to know each other or whatever it is that kids do these days,” he says, winking salaciously. With one final sputter of (evil) laughter, Seokjin makes his exit, leaving you and Yoongi to fester in some good ol’ fashioned discomforting silence.

“Um,” you say, just as Yoongi opens his mouth to say something too.

“No, you go first–”

“You go ahead–”

The two of you pause mid-sentence, staring at each other. You grin sheepishly at him, motioning for him to speak first. 

He returns your smile half-heartedly. “So, um… I just wanted to say I’m sorry for letting Seokjin rope you into this. I tried stopping him, but… You know how he is.”

You laugh, sounding a little crazed even to your own ears. That’s the longest sentence you’ve ever heard him speak! 

“Yeah, believe me… I am intimately aware of how he is. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t,” you joke. 

Amazingly, your little quip makes his smile widen, his cheeks puffing up imperceptibly. “Glad we can agree that Seokjin has the amazing ability to ruin people’s lives. It’s almost welcoming to find solidarity in a shared experience.”

“Shared experience? Try shared trauma. That dude is a walking serotonin sucker,” you say dryly. 

You don’t think what you said was remotely funny enough to warrant a laugh, but it causes Yoongi to let out a loud snort regardless. But the amusement on his face is short-lived, his cheeks going red in embarrassment. He slaps a hand to his mouth, breaking eye contact once more. “Oh fuck, that was so unflattering,” he groans, clearly mortified.

His blush, multiplied by his shy demeanor, makes you want to coo at him, but you doubt he’d take that too kindly. So instead, you change the subject to save him. “So, uhh… The food? You don’t have to give me any, by the way. I wouldn’t want you to waste your lunch on me or anything.”

Yoongi snaps out of his previous embarrassment, returning to the more familiar stoic expression you’ve come to associate with Yoongi. “No, that’s fine. Seokjin–er, rather… I made enough for two people, so it would be a waste if you didn’t eat at least some of it. But I don’t care either way if you want it or not.”

For two people? you wonder. So Yoongi had known Seokjin wasn’t going to join for lunch?

“Oh, if it’s fine with you…” you trail off, meekly making your way towards him. The spaghetti and steak look absolutely delicious, though you don’t need to tell him that when your stomach speaks for you. “Oh shit, that’s so embarrassing,” you say, your cheeks heating up this time.

Yoongi chuckles, shaking his head. “Haven’t eaten breakfast yet, I assume? That’s pretty stupid if you ask me. Don’t you have class until 5? How the hell would you have survived until then?”

You choke in surprise. Where did all that sass suddenly come from? “Excuse me? I’m not stupid! I would’ve been fine with a sandwich from the cafeteria if you must know!” you say indignantly. You’re too busy being offended that you don’t fully comprehend his words, failing to notice how he had known you had class until 5 in the first place.

“Sure, whatever you say.” Rolling his eyes, Yoongi starts shifting through his cupboards and pulling out a pink tupperware. He begins to load them with food, nearly overflowing the containers with how much he tries to stuff in them.

“H-hey! What are you doing?”

“Packing your lunch. You have class in a bit, yeah? It’s almost 11:50 and it takes around 15 minutes to get to the main campus. You won’t have time to eat here and make it in time,” he says, pointing you with a look. “Wait. Did you have coffee this morning?”

“Yeah? So?” you ask, defensive. “Are you gonna call me stupid again for not having caffeine or something?”

“No,” he grunts. “If you’re caffeinated, then that means it should only take you 7 minutes to get to class.”

“That doesn’t even make sense!” you exclaim, but you can’t help letting out an incredulous laugh. “Wow. You’re kinda weird, did you know that?”

“You barely even know me, so how would you know?” he retorts. He finishes placing food into the tupperware and promptly clicks the lid in place. He offers it to you, smirking slightly.

You huff, but your ire is all for show. You aren’t actually annoyed by him–he’s just… different from what you expected. A little shy, a little rough around the edges… but you can tell he isn’t a bad guy. You understand why Seokjin loves to torment him; he seems like a fun person to tease. 

“That can be amended,” you respond, taking the tupperware from him. Your fingers graze the backs of his hand by accident, causing him to quickly retract his hand as though he’d been burned. You nearly drop the container in surprise, but luckily your reflexes save your precious food just in time. 

“Sorry. About… you know.” Yoongi gesticulates wildly, his gaze darting anywhere but at you. 

You smile secretly to yourself, amused. Ah. He’s like a human seesaw. Blushy one second and grumpy the next. “No worries, Yoongi. I’ll be sure to return this container soon, so don’t you worry.”

Yoongi shrugs. “Keep it if you want. I don’t care either way.”

Says the guy who has an entire cupboard full of color coordinating food containers. “Roger that, Yoongi.”

Yoongi walks you out the door, pausing outside the hallway with you. “Do you…” he hesitates, swallowing loudly enough for you to hear. “Do you… want me to walk you out?”

His sudden offer almost makes you want to laugh, but you have a feeling he wouldn’t find it amusing at all. Instead, you just shake your head with a smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t get lost. I think I remember where the door is.”

He pouts, his lips jutting out cutely. “Yeah, well. I was just trying to be nice, but you do you.”

You giggle lightly, patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. You were more than nice,” you say, winking for added effect. It does more than you thought it would, causing Yoongi’s cheeks to bloom once more.

With one last wave, you make your way out of the dormitory, your heart a little lighter than before. 

“Huh. That was weird.” You glance at the pink little tupperware in your hands, its warmth keeping your hands safe from the winter chill. As you walk to class, your thoughts are filled with nothing but a shy boy with soft hands and even softer cheeks. Maybe Tuesday isn’t going to be so bad after all.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Haven't been able to answer asks recently cause I had "work" (a last minute project) & completely missed Barb's bday🥲 (someone tell me about it?) but I was able to binge tma while doing it and....

@ 🌹 who asked me about my thoughts on it back in June:

I'm not okay :)

This was literally me finishing #200

Waited like this "😀" till the entire video and credits played out waiting for the second click of the tape recorder that'd give a more definite answer to the question of "Hey, what the fuck just happened"

It never came.

I'm just

:)

Spoilers for tma and my usual unhinged rambling following;

I don't think a show has ever left me feeling so satisfied??? Like it rewarded the listeners for picking up on or remembering the smallest things from previous seasons? And that leap-up-yell-&-fist-pump feeling when you make a correct connection/theory and they confirm it!!!????? Or the wildly-slamming-your-palm-on-to-the-table-&-screaming-"YOU!!" feeling when they start describing an encounter with a character and you recognise them from a previous statement!!!!????

Don't even get me started on the absolute tragedy that is Jon's character, the feeling of horror and sorrow when you look back and realise that this man never had a chance???? For all he struggled and fought back he was always......I can't think of anything other than "a fly caught in a web" so I'm gonna let that sentence trail off. I mean when the only time within 200 episodes your character gets to have genuinely cute/happy moments is during the actual apocalypse you gotta look back at some point and go "yikes?" And that's not a complaint! I love tragic characters! I genuinely love ambiguous ends that make my brain itch with thoughts for months!! It kills me but I adore every second of it!

Speaking of which do you think they survived? Honestly I think there's enough evidence/pre-established rules that it could go either way. Plus there's always that law of fiction: no body = not dead. And off the top of my head I can't think of two characters who need a happy ending more than Jon&Martin

ALSO????

You know how people who already knew about the ship from tumblr watched Our Flag Means Death, then the homoerotic subtext starts getting stronger & stronger and they go "wow this is a lot" and then Stede&Ed kiss and they go "WAIT!? IT'S GAY GAY!?" that was me with TMA😭😭😭 I'd already seen the ofmd kiss on tumblr so I didn't get that full experience (though it still managed to shock me when I actually watched it??? & I still sobbed during it like an idiot??? Granted it was 3am at the time & my emotions are usually all over the place at around that time but still). I knew that people shipped Jon & Martin, in like a peripheral way? Like I'd occasionally see people reblogging about them and I'd know what show they're from but that's it, the thought of it gone as soon as I scrolled past. I didn't really think of it when I started the show, only remembered it during the heart-to-heart at the end of S1, thought it was the sweetest thing ever and figured the whole ship was built from small moments like that but HOLY SHIT!?????????????? It becoming canon didn't even come out of nowhere, hell there were hints you could trace all the back to the last couple episodes of S1, but even after religiously watching and rewatching ofmd I'm so used to shows no-homoing the deeply homoerotic connection between the two male leads that having it go canon was like getting hit by a semi

Speaking of being utterly fucking gobsmacked

I accidentally spoiled myself during ep 38? One of the youtube comments on ep 38 read something along the lines of how Sasha was said commenter's favourite character and how they hoped nothing happened to her. They had then added an edit to the comment which said something like "edit: I finished the series and I'm sobbing" and I thought "oh no! Sasha's gonna die in S5 :( " AND THEN SHE DIED IN THE VERY NEXT FUCKING EPISODE AMBDYSNBGYJFDJLZJD

Funfact: I picked up tma on a whim while looking for something to watch, I've never listened to a podcast before, I had no fucking idea what it was about. Let me reiterate: I HAD NO FUCKING IDEA IT WAS HORROR. Be me putting on a cute little podcast in the dead of night that could hopefully lull me into a peaceful sleep. Be me 16 minutes & 43 seconds later wide eyed and staring into the darkness in horror wondering what the fuck I just listened to

Anyway I'm now watching Welcome to Night Vale for the first time (about time too considering my Fictif's Last Legacy MC was named "Vale" back in 2020 after "Welcome to Night Vale".) It took me longer to get into it that into tma but I'm hooked now!

The fact that it has so many similar themes to TMA but from the pov of someone who sees it all as run-of-the-mill is fucking hilarious

Cecil's voice whenever he drops the radio announcer voice and gets excited!!!!?????

The FUCKING 2 PART ENDING OF YEAR 2!!? I WAS HYPED! I was supposed to be working while listening to it but I couldn't sit still & was literally doing a bouncing-skipping pace around the room in circles

Carlos' little "hi cecil" !? Just his voice in general❤

How insanely healthy their relationship is!? Setting up boundaries and supporting each other!? "I know two things..." shoot me dead

I just finished "Best of?" in Year 3 and the mystery!?!? The unravelling of the lore!!!!???? The fact that the unravelling of the lore just gives you more questions!!!!????

Anyway,

tldr:

I'm fine :) Wondering how long I should wait before I binge tma again. If a couple weeks is too soon. If I'll laugh in sadistic delight or sob in stricken horror because this time around I'll know what inevitable fate they're all marching towards despite all their struggles & seeming victories