#sadly this band is no longer together :(

[wickmitz]

Do u actually ship rocky and mitzi?

to try and be as simple as possible, i suppose i do ship them ; i’m particularly drawn by their dynamic and have long since grown enamored with it … so, naturally, i enjoy turning them over in my head and shoving them together, seeing all the possible ways they fit and how they function when glued together. rocky’s feelings for mitzi are so intense and metaphorical that there’s a lot of ground to run with, honestly. it’s not a black and white relationship where they fit neatly under one label or another either, hence my constant use of the term ‘a secret third thing’ for them overall. there’s romance, obsession, desperation, platonic associations, and a thousand other factors embedded into what they have. rocky simply ‘seeing mitzi as a mother figure’ or ‘being totally in love with her in a traditional sense’ just doesn’t capture them with the justice they deserve. it’s more … muddled than that. rocky, at this point in time, is completely incapable of maintaining love anyway, and mitzi certainly isn’t any better either. in a context where i envision them together, that aspect is a big part of things : where they click together due to their inability to sustain a healthy and stereotypical romantic bond, and thus accidentally fuel each other’s unhappy paths. it’s easy to see how mitzi does this to rocky! but rocky is capable of doing it to her as well, what with his all-consuming need to be who she relies on and to restore the lackadaisy to it’s previous glory for himself and her. he enables her and she enables him, even if it’s subconscious and accidental. while there is undeniable fondness and care there, they are also walking down this path hand-in-hand, tugging each other along when one of then falters or pauses. so, to me, it’s not hard imagining things becoming closer and more intimate … who doesn’t want to be smashed together against someone who gives you all the validation you crave and never shuns you, twisting all your awful deeds into something good and believing you righteous at all times. it’s addicting! and natural. while rocky obviously would enjoy such a relationship, so would mitzi at this point in her life. where she’s exhausted and feels particularly ugly within, and is currently all alone.

they also would click in ways that wouldn’t force them to abandon how they currently go about romance. mitzi needs to spend a good portion of her day thinking about her dead husband and nobody else, meanwhile rocky is very enamored with being a knight in shining armor so to speak, only able to express himself through extreme devotion, a thing that ( as said by crew members on stream ) can’t singlehandedly keep a relationship afloat … normally. but mitzi can deal with rocky’s rather eccentric and destructive behavior, can take the only thing he can offer and accept it wholeheartedly, because she couldn’t handle anything more normal or mature right now. and rocky, despite his occasional displays of territorial behavior, never bats an eye at or feels inferior to mitzi’s atlas obsession. this wouldn’t be the case in other relationships, where both of them would have to change or grow in some way in order to keep the love stable and secure. there would be things they’d have to give up, or be vulnerable about, and both of them are too stubborn for that at this point. a random lover would always be a second thought compared to the lackadaisy.

( now, of course, i ship mitzi and rocky with other people! and i’m very interested in these bonds forming during canon’s events. but it’d either be an unhealthy relationship, due to everything i said above, or a happier sort of take on things : where mitzi and rocky are pulled from their minds’ unraveling edges and are both given the care, patience, and understanding they both need. one where they can set aside the lackadaisy for a moment or two, and can find genuine happiness somewhere else. i never see them as fully moving on from it, nor do i see mitzi fully giving up atlas or rocky fully giving up mitzi, but things can be softened and less insane. sometimes! )

now, is this healthy? no. but is this me saying they should be surgically removed from one another because they make each other ‘worse’? also no! i adore them in every sense of the word and acting like there aren’t positives attached to their dynamic would, frankly, be stupid of me. they are there for each other in their worse moments and approach each other with kindness, something they don’t really get from others anymore. they are genuinely happy to be in each other’s presence and have a habit of lifting each other up, or providing each other some much needed warmth on a bad day. you see it many times in the comic, situations where mitzi is devestated, and rocky rushes in to comfort her ; and he always succeeds in some way, wiggling that severe expression off her face and getting her to smile, even if it’s small and weak. and rocky loves that! it makes him happy to be able to ease her heartache and worries so. it makes him feel useful and needed, and she’s one of the only people in his life to give him even a sliver of praise here or there. here are some examples i can remember off the top of my head :

and while there isn’t many examples of mitzi praising rocky, she is also still one of the few people who shows concern over him and asks after him. there are also two scenes, in the pilot and in the comic, where rocky messes up big time, and mitzi has every right to be frustrated with him. she could yell, she could get mean, like rocky is so used to, but instead … she sucks it in and simply lets it go. this happens with the pig farmers, but also in the pilot most notably! where the second she realizes how hard rocky is taking her words, her reasonable and sympathetic irritation at things not working out, she backtracks. she forces those emotions away and simply says this, earnestly and kindly, and wipes the devestation off rocky’s face :

as much of an accidental negative influence they can have on each other, there’s also a more purposeful positive influence that is inherent in their dynamic. i wouldn’t ever want to dismiss that, nor do i enjoy when other people rush to do so themselves, claiming they’re simply no good for each other. well, they claim mitzi is a manipulative person who only sees rocky as a pawn, but i’ll pretend fans are critical of rocky’s many faults as well. the point is : they’re good for each other and to each other! they just happen to have a great capacity to cling and stay where they are rather than doing anything more beneficial or productive. any dynamic in lackadaisy can become toxic in a sense, given the fact that a majority of the characters are prone to indulging in their flaws and chasing what’s familar, what’s most comfortable, with little regard to anyone else. but i find that aspect interesting, and i love rocky/mitzi all the more for their accidental enabling and vastly obscured views.

the more romantic aspects aren’t really something i care too much about, overall. i play around with it and find scenarios where things can bloom in such a way, but them calling each other ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ isn’t something i care for. i do not think mitzi would ever be attracted to rocky in a sappy lovesick way -- she’s above fawning as it is, and is rather methodical about things like passion or adoration nowadays anyway. her eyes can’t exactly sparkle upon seeing rocky spilling syrup all over himself nor can she sigh dreamily at his nonsensical, improv poetry spiels that just burst out of him like water through a broken dam. but they could soften at the corners and she could convince herself of something romantic if it held her the right way. if she felt battered enough to give into it, or was lonely enough to indulge herself in a place she knows she’s wanted. rocky, on the other hand, is a bit easier to imagine here! he would never say no to miss m. and actively wants to ‘keep’ her already … if they were to become an item, an obscure, happenstance item, than he’d embrace it full heartedly! it’s been well established rocky isn’t one to turn down love or affection, so to get it from mitzi of all people? it’d be extremely ooc to even pretend he’d regret it or shy away. he loves her, of course he does, his beautiful dionysus : who unlocks her doors for him to enter, who smiles upon him with her wine soaked lips, who brushes a dainty paw across his shoulder and sings him praises like it doesn’t pain her to say them. she is warm and comforting and soft, and rocky is possessed by a maddening desire to wrap every spaghetti limb he has around her, and never let her go. again, his love is nothing short of all-consuming and obsessive where mitzi is concerned. her devoted acolyte! it would be simple to see how he’d get here in comparison to mitzi’s more wounded and guarded heart. i don’t think rocky fully loves her in only a romantic sense, however! i’m a firm believer that it is a mix of romantic and platonic feelings, an awkward and intensive blend of the two, this sort of combination that isn’t easy to sort through. he does take comfort in the fact she reminds him of a motherly figure, just as much as he genuinely finds her attractive and appealing in a puppy love kind of way. there’s also the fact that rocky is keen on lying to mitzi and wearing masks around her in the name of seeming more amazing in her eyes -- the fact his love for her is metaphorical and personal in equal measure, and the fact mitzi hides herself away from everyone around her. there would be a lot of untangling! a lot of pretending. this is a ship that will always have a multitude of layers and caveats attached to it, so to speak.

but that excites me! i like it! i love a dynamic that i could write endlessly about no matter the context it’s being framed in! how utterly unsurprising it is that the first lackadaisy fic i thought of was one that would focus heavily on these two and what’s happening between them, what could happen. mitzi wallowing in her self-inflicted misery while rocky prowls around her, begging to be useful to her while simultaneously chasing off a suitor of hers that he cannot stand to let near, is quite the image in my mind, and is one i always have looping around in the back of my head. the parallels to atlas/mordecai are an added bonus to this! if rocky is doomed by the narrative then mitzi is the narrative to which he’s bleeding himself upon, you know? that, as well as his own insecure delusions. mitzi, similarly, would easily waste away to nothing or get herself killed while trying to pursue her nostalgic ambitions if it weren’t for rocky being so willing to do the dangerous stuff for her. i think about how mitzi almost got herself killed in skedaddle and how rocky rushed to save her. while zib and ivy care for mitzi, and viktor is obligated to protect her, they are not as quick as rocky is -- nor as recklessly devoted to the point of readily given sacrifice.

anyway! i’m very fond of them, and there are so many scenes and other aspects of their characters that i could spend ages pouring over. this is, genuinely, merely a fraction of my thoughts on them. although i do hope i answered your question, anon! i got a bit carried away and i’m sure a lot of this is hard to parse through by default, but oh well!

[quevadilla]

I forgot how fucking emotional this song makes me

[hazelsmirrorball]

Rockstar Girlfriend V. | Hazel Callahan

Rockstar! Hazel Callahan x Popstar! Reader Summary: Hazel Callahan and Y/n L/n have to be in a pr relationship, but both of them can stand each other.  Warnings: Enemies to lovers! Enemies to lovers! Enemies to lovers! Angst, Fight (not physical) Not proof read. Sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my main language.  a/n: I swear things are going to look up in the next part. Thanks you so much for all the love and support. 

part one. part two. part three. part four. 

Hazel Callahan wasn’t the type of girl to believe in spiritual things yet she was praying to God to take her out of the situation she was currently in. Hazel wanted to scream, pull her hair out and let the ground eat her away. But there she was living her actual hell. She was certain that hell was real. Hazel had heard the phrase  “Go to hell” a lot of times in her lifetime.  Sometimes directed to other people, sometimes directed to her by her bandmates in a joking and serious manner, her mom would occasionally slip a “go to hell” when she got tired of her shit, haters online would comment on it everyday, she was used to it by now taking it sometimes as a compliment. But what Hazel never knew was that her living hell was going to become a reality. 

Going on tour. 

Don’t get her wrong. She loved being on the road, meeting fans, getting to know new places,  selling out stadiums, having fun, but as of right now she wanted to walk outside and let the tour bus smash her into little pieces. Management thought that the PR thing should stop but that they were going  to  use the advantage that it brought to make both bands tour together. It didn’t make sense to Hazel at all, why would someone pay to see a rock band and have to deal with some little pop girls as the openers. If you asked her that would be her second hell, her first hell being stuck with Y/n in the damn tour bus. 

Even though Management claimed that they were doing amazing when it came to money. Both bands couldn’t understand why they only had one tour bus for six people and they also couldn’t understand how they couldn’t do two separate tours instead of one. If they had all the money they claimed they had, management could’ve done several tours, not just one big one, let alone have the necessity to share  a bus. 

Hazel really needed to get her mind off things with her managers bitching and moaning about the tour, PJ and Josie not deciding what songs to pick for the set list, Isabel and Brittany waking her up at the crack ass of dawn practicing their dance moves and just Y/n’s mere existence made her blood boil. She had been sucking up everything for the past week and she couldn’t hold it any longer. If she had to hear someone else fighting or hard footsteps she was going to throw herself off the bus.  She was on edge and she needed to let loose. 

So when they made their first stop of the tour near a club, things started to look up for Hazel. She had managed to slip away from one of the bodyguards' grasp , ending up having the best night at the club. Alcohol, sex and drugs. The rockstar dream, Hazel was enjoying herself pushing past the fact that she was going to regret everything on tomorrow's show. But as of now she felt on cloud nine and she didn’t want to leave. As she tried getting in the bus as quietly as possible not wanting to gain anyones attention but sadly as she opened the door her eyes landed on e/c one’s. Hazel quickly rolled her eyes watching how Y/n’s beautiful skin glowed, while her ears were covered in her headphones. Y/n’s eyes wandered Hazel’s face placing the guitar she was holding down next to her. 

“You do know you have a show tomorrow, right?” Y/n said breaking the silence while pushing her headphones off. Hazel muttered a river of curse words while imitating Y/n’s voice in an annoying  manner. The only thing Y/n could hear was Hazel’s whines escaping her lips but aside from that all of it was gibberish. Hazel rolled her eyes once again as she stumbled in taking her shoes off while her gaze stayed on the floor looking at the shiny guitar that was next to Y/n’s leg. Her eyes took in the guitar, noticing her name engraved at the top. 

“What the fuck are you doing with my guitar?” Hazel said angrily, snatching it from Y/n’s side and placing it back in her case. Y/n watched Hazel’s toned arm flex as she put the guitar away. She quickly shut the book she was currently writing on, snapping herself back into reality. 

“I thought you wouldn’t mind since I’ve used it before” Y/n replied nervously as Hazel turned to face her, visually alarmed. 

“Actually, L/n. I do mind. Don’t touch my fucking things. I don’t want you near my things let alone touching them. Everything you touch you fucking ruin. Don’t you think you have ruined enough things in my life already ” Hazel exclaimed loudly pulling on her hair while towering over her. Y/n looked up from her seat nervously scared of what was to come watching Hazel’s uneven breathing and pissed off face. 

“You don’t mean that Hazel, you’re just high” Y/n replied attempting to stand up but instantly Hazel pushed her down trapping her on the couch with her hands on Y/n’s shoulders. Y/n froze dead in her spot not knowing the things that were going through Hazel’s head. 

“Oh, I meant every single thing. Do you think I forgot what you did? You know what… You’ve always hated me for having everything, everything you ever wanted. But there’s a difference between you and me. Everything I have, I’ve worked for it. Never had I made someone fall in love with me so they would write me songs. I would never waste someone’s time. At least I’m actually talented to do my work. At least all my awards and all my fame is because I’m actually talented.”  Hazel yelled, taking Y/n by the chin to make her look at her.  She was pissed and she needed to take her anger on someone. 

“I just did the same thing your mom did” Y/n replied nonchalantly while looking up from her lashes. 

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Hazel asked confused, leaning down, inches away from Hazel.

“I fucked the person in charge just to get what I wanted. Just like your mom did so you could have the success you have” Y/n replied softly, but as those words left out her mouth she instantly regretted it watching the life leave Hazel’s face. She angrily let go of her face, taking a deep breath and picking up her guitar case. 

“Go to hell, Y/n. You’ve changed, all  this fame has gotten way past your head” 

“Where are you going, Hazel?” Y/n said standing up from the couch and following close behind. 

“If I'm such an untalented person and I’m in the band because of my mom. I bet they don’t need me for tomorrow's show. You’ll do a great job explaining that to management. Now do me a favor and go to hell” Hazel yelled, slamming the tour bus door on Y/n’s face. 

...

thank you for reading!

previous imagine

[zivazivc]

Did Les ever dated in the past? Also is he with anyone recently?

Les quit school really early, like 10-years-old early, and he started working soon after, so he didn't really have friends his age. That kinda puts a buffer on a teenager's social and love life. Though there was something that happened at a house party once, that was, uh... a bad experience, and it left him with a lot of issues. Also, partially because of this, he's not really someone who acts on his crushes. So he never dated before.

But at one point the band spent a few months in the same location (dunno the reason yet, but maybe they weren't getting enough gigs and they had to take up some part time jobs for a while), and Les developed a crush on a bartender at a nearby club.

She's the only OC of mine who's visually a bigger weirdo than Les, and he definitely saw a little bit of himself in her, and hoping for someone with some shared life experience, it's what initially attracted him toward her and vice versa.

So they had a thing going on for a short time. It never developed into anything serious because sadly they are very alike, which means they are BOTH morons who are shy about making the first move. And after a while they came to the agreement that they were better as just friends.

Floyd with his persistent crush was not happy about the possible romance at first, but he ended up being happy for Les, and he finally decided to give his hopeless longing a rest, since the only good it was doing was growing a rift between his and Les's friendship.

Funny enough it was Floyd backing down which allowed the two to grow closer. Les lowered his guard since he no longer had to overthink if Floyd would interpret anything he did or said as some kind of flirting or act of love, and he no longer had to brace himself for any uncomfortable romancing coming from Floyd either.

They were already good friends since the start but they became much more casual with each other and began to understand each other on a deeper level as years passed. As Floyd got older and more mature, and became an equal with the rest of the bandmates, it was actually Les who fell for him, hard. He didn't really do anything about it though, but Floyd eventually realized this and you know he did something about it. Though Floyd's crush had gone from looking at Les as this cool experienced older guy when he was younger to now seeing him as a shy innocent teddy bear compared to his lewd self ksjhdkjs.

So technically they became each other's first proper all-encompassing relationship. And by that I mean that besides the lovey-dovey obvious stuff, they were also best friends and helped each other grow a lot. Also Floyd by the time they got together, already started a habit of hooking up with strangers at parties, so being with Les forced him to slow down and progress through a relationship slowly and at a healthy pace for someone his age (since you can't really get anywhere with Les without a lot of patience). And Floyd got Les to become comfortable with opening up and talking about his deep-rooted feelings. They talked about issues they faced, many of which were related to Les's childhood trauma, instead of him just ignoring or suppressing it all. (Floyd also opened up about his own family trauma with Les obviously, but he talked about it even before they got together.)

The relationship, especially at the start, could still be considered questionable from an outsider's perspective, but so was the band's lifestyle in general. They were good for each other during that period while they were growing up and figuring themselves and each other out, which is what matters I think.

It was honestly mainly Floyd's undiagnosed bipolar disorder that made the relationship suffer toward the end of Floyd's days in the band. It created a lot of trust issues between Floyd and Les, and also Floyd and everyone else, heck it even made Floyd distrust himself, since he and none else knew or understood what was happening with him. This led to a lot of misery and anger that he mostly ended up directing at Les, and it was what eventually made them break up and Floyd leave.

[yandere-writer-momo]

Immortal

Yandere Lich x Afab Reader

There was no such thing as magic or monsters. They were old tales once used to scare children… or so she thought.

What stood before her could not be described as a man… no. This was no man, but a monster parading around in the flesh of her lover. An undead monster with malevolent glowing ruby eyes in his pitch black eye sockets.

“You weren’t supposed to see me like this, my dear…” The creature’s husky voice whispers. He outstretches his hand to try to tuck a strand of hair behind her face, but she flinched away when some of the skin falls off his hand to reveal more skeleton. “This skin had started to decay too quickly… I don’t mean to scare you-“

(Your name) could only scream as she tried to flee, but something invisible held her in her place. Her feet now stuck to the ground like a tree as her body trembles like a leaf under his intense gaze.

“W-who are you?”

“It’s me, Aeron.” The undead creature gave her a bow, his rotten hand now tenderly caresses her face. “I’m your lover of course-“

(Your name) fails to shift her head away, her body convulsing in sobs when he presses the teeth of his skeletal face in an attempt to kiss her. More of Aeron’s flesh fell off in the process, the soft skin now sat on her shoulder. Tears spill from her eyes in horror.

“This is quite a sight for your eyes, my dear…” ‘Aeron’ pulls back with a sigh, he peels off the rest of the skin off his face to reveal an entire skeleton save for his ruby eyes. “I sadly do not have the same appealing appearance I had a millennium ago… but I simply could not stay away once I sensed you were back in this world.”

Aeron grabbed her hands and held them up to his rotted chest. The black metal band on his skeletal ring finger terrifies her to her very core. This monster was not her fiancé… “My heart may long be gone but I swear it beat only for you. I had no reason to have flesh or organs once you ceased to exist…” Aeron pressed his teeth to her soft hands with a cry. “I miss being able to touch you… to feel you. I envy that man who was in my place for a brief time but he is no more. He hasn’t been for a few years now actually.”

Aeron then sat back, his terrifying face tilted to the side when her tears didn’t stop falling. “My dear why do you cry? Do you not remember me? My name? I… I don’t quite remember my name either so I borrowed your temporary lover’s.”

“W-what are you?” (Your name) stutters out. This monster has been by her side for three years and she never noticed… how could she not notice?

“Well I am what you would call a lich. I sacrificed my humanity for immortality so I could meet you again once you were reborn. I was once your lover over a thousand years ago.” Aeron threw his hands up in the air. “I eliminated all other magic in this world so nothing could ever harm you again. I didn’t want something as silly as priests to stop us from being together again. How lucky was I that you weren’t chosen to be the saintess again.”

(Your name) watches the lich ramble. She was lost and didn’t have a clue on what he spoke of. They were lovers a thousand years ago and he waited a millennium to be reunited with her? She was a saintess? Then what was he?

“My dear, don’t question it too much. You’ll hurt you head.” The lich snapped his fingers, the flesh flew back onto his body and repaired itself. A familiar handsome man with dark hair stood before her now. Aeron smiled at her. “We can just pretend this never happened again… just like he have for the last three times you found out.”

“The what?” A hand was waved over her face and (your name) no longer knew what she was about to say… or why she was upset in the first place. “Aeron? What happened?”

“You just had a bit of a headache my dear. How about I make you a cup of tea to help?” Aeron rubs her back in a reassuring manner, his red eyes filled with love. “Just sit on the couch okay? I’ll take care of everything.”

(Your name) nods her head and goes over to sit down on the couch. She plops her body down while Aeron fetches her a fresh cup of tea.

Aeron smiles at his reflection in the window. Yes… this human face will do for now. All he has to do is convince her to stay with him forever. He wouldn’t fail this time… he had her wrapped around his finger rather than on opposite sides during a war.

Aeron was no longer an enemy necromancer but her lover. Her fiancé.

He’d burn the whole world down again if he had to. Aeron would do anything for his love… he’s already sold his soul and waiting a millennium for her. What was another thousand years to a lich?

[bloatedandalone04]

Wrapped Around Your Finger - Part 0.2

Series Masterlist | Original Fic

➪in which anakin returns home from the band meeting with some exciting information about his future while you also receive some news regarding your own.

PSA: strongly suggested to read the warnings before proceeding.

WC; 5.6k | Do not repost this anywhere, reblogs are fine ♡

It was nearing eight when Anakin finally returned home. You look up at him from your place on the new couch when he enters the living room, a small smile on your lips when he meets your eye. “Y/n,” he rasped as he braced his hands on either side of the doorframe. “That was a lot longer than I expected it to be. I’m sorry.”

Shrugging, you place your phone next to you on the couch and gesture for him to come over. “It’s alright, I figured it must be something important if your manager was keeping you,”

He walks further into the room and eyes the dark velvet couch. “When did this come?”

“A few hours after you left,” you answer as he sits next to you. “It came with a coffee and side table, but the delivery guys couldn’t put them together for me. I told them my boyfriend would.” You give him a teasing grin and he shakes his head. 

“Yeah, alright,” he mumbles and leans back. “I’ll have one of the guys come over tomorrow or something and we’ll put together all the new furniture.”

You nod and move closer to him. “Okay,” you trace your fingers up and down his arm that didn’t have any tattoos at all and debate on whether or not you should tell him that you ended up sending in an application to that school in London. If you told him now then didn’t get in, you’d be embarrassed, but then again, you knew he would never let you feel embarrassed about anything, so what the hell. “I sent an application in for that program.”

Anakin lifts his head and looks over at you. “For the one in London?” He asks and you nod. He gives you a somewhat forced smile and reaches over to lace his fingers with yours. “That’s great, baby. You’ll get accepted, you’re too smart not to.”

You grin and press a kiss to the back of his hand. “Still down for coming with me?” He stiffened a bit then tried to play it off, but you caught onto it. “What? Did you change your mind?”

He shakes his head. “No, it’s not that. London would be so fucking fun to go to with you, but I’m not sure I’d actually be able to,”

You furrow your brows. “Why not?”

He looks conflicted for a second before finally meeting your eyes as he sits up straight. “Helena says we’ve been given a few extra locations to perform at. They’ve been added to the tour, basically,”

You give him a confused look. “But the tour is over. It has been for months,” 

“I know, but it’s been extended as of the end of this month,” he says and you break eye contact in order to stare at the floor in slight shock.

“They can do that?” 

“I guess so,” he mumbled. “She also wants us to record more songs as soon as we’ve got a draft ready. Something about needing to keep the hype alive and to get people excited for the new tour locations.”

You nod slowly and turn back to face him, giving him a weary expression. “So, what does that mean? You’re going back on tour?”

Anakin shrugs sadly. “Yeah, in a few weeks,” he confirms and runs his thumb over your knuckles. “But I don’t want this to affect your decision of going to that school, okay? I want to go with you, and I want you to come with me, but I also want you to do this for yourself. You’ve worked too hard to not give it a try.”

A silence passes over the two of you for a few seconds as you try to process everything. 

Anakin was going on tour again, and you had just applied for the writing program. He wanted you to go with him, but he also wanted you to go to London. The course would only be a few months, so you wouldn’t be away from him for too long, but it still didn’t make it any easier. 

“I might not even get in,” you remind him and move so you’re pressed against his side. “And I want to go with you. Who else will silently cheer you on from backstage?”

He pulls you tight against him and kisses the side of your head. “Hopefully no one,” he says. “Your spot backstage is just that, yours. It’s no one else’s….even if you can’t come with me this time.”

You hum and fist his shirt in your hand. “We’ll just have to see what happens,”

-

After you and Anakin spend the rest of the night on the couch and in each other’s arms, you end up heading to bed at one in the morning. It was nearing ten when you pulled yourself out of the empty bed and made your way down the hall, pausing as you passed by the living room. 

Anakin is busy hooking up the TV as you lean against the doorframe, eyeing his shirtless torso. “Wow, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” you tease and watch as he turns to look over at you.

“Wow, look who got up after me for once,” he teased back as he hooked up the HDMI cord. 

“I know, I’m surprised, too,” you say and push off the frame. “Why are you up so early, anyway?”

Anakin plugs the TV cord into the wall before pulling you into his side and pressing a kiss to your lips. “Vin called me a while ago,” he answered. “I answered it before it woke you up, too, and I couldn’t fall asleep after that. Figured I’d get a start on hooking this up.”

He gestured to the TV and you nodded, nuzzling closer to him. “Is he coming over later?”

“Yeah, him and Theo,” he said. “We’re going to write a bit after putting together the coffee table and your shelf, that was the deal I made with them.”

You shake your head and laugh. “Now that is not surprising,” 

He laughs and sets the cord down to give you his full attention. “Hey, have you heard back from that program yet? Did you check your email for any follow ups?”

Your smile drops a bit as you shake your head. “No,” you answer.

Anakin gives you a small grin as he presses a kiss to your temple. “I bet you had the best application that school has ever seen,” he hypes you up and it helps more than he probably knew. You were smiling by the time he added, “You’ll hear back soon, I’m sure, and with good news.”

You grin and he kisses you again, much deeper than the last one. It made it hard to pull away from, but you somehow managed to so you could go make something to eat. 

As you wait for the stove to heat up so you can make pancakes, you go on Instagram and immediately let out a scream at the first post that showed up in your feed. At the sound of your scream, Anakin practically sprints into the kitchen and looks around as if scanning the room for any sign of immediate danger. “What? What’s wrong?”

You look up at him and meet his eye as you say, “You, you’re what’s wrong,”

Anakin gives you a confused look as he takes your phone from you when you shoved it into his hand. He hesitantly takes his eyes off you in order to find out what made you scream like that, and almost immediately felt his face heat up at what he was met with on your phone. “I…oh,”

“When the fuck did you get those taken? And why the fuck didn’t you give me a warning so I could’ve mentally prepared myself to see that?”

Anakin’s lips sport an embarrassed smile as he hands your phone back to you. “I didn’t realize that they were posting those today,” he says, referring to the photos from the shoot he did during his last week on tour. He was called in for a quick interview with SLACKERS Magazine and had a couple pictures taken to go with the interview, but he completely forgot about it until now. 

It was done on the day you were stuck in the bus with food poisoning, so you really had no idea he had even done this, and he probably should have given you a heads up, but he genuinely just forgot. The photo that was on the cover was one of him shirtless and covered in mud, and he was surprised that he actually had a lot of fun taking those pictures. That was his first time on a photoshoot set, and he knew it wouldn’t be his last. 

“You didn’t realize? What the fuck, Ani! You look hot,” you gushed over him as you scrolled through the pictures again. “You really need to make an Instagram account so you can post these. Imagine all the likes you’d get.”

He instantly shot that idea down. “Not a chance,”

“Oh, come on, Ani, it’s fun! You can read all the sappy captions I’ve written about you over the past four years,” you teased and he just laughed. 

“That’s tempting,” he shook his head with a smile and pressed a quick kiss to your mouth. “I’ll think about it.”

You playfully roll your eyes and push on his chest. “Don’t be such an old man and get Instagram,” 

He softly glared at you. “I said I’d think about it,” he called out as he left the kitchen in order to get the TV working before the guys came over. 

-

“Quit being such an old man and make an account,” Vinny mumbled as he scribbled down a potential lyric onto a page of the notebook in front of him. 

Anakin sits up straight, pausing the flicking of his pencil as he looks over at his friend. “You’re the second person that called me an old man today,” he says and ignores the quiet laugh that leaves Theo from his spot on the ottoman. “Y/n called me that, too.”

Vinny shrugged, looking up from the notebook. “She’s not wrong, man,” he replied and tossed the book aside so he could lean back on the couch. “You’re missing out, that’s all. Our band’s account has over three million followers now, and I bet you had no idea.”

Anakin’s eyes widen in shock as he sets his own notebook down. “Seriously? Three million?” He asks and both Vinny and Theo nod at him. “Y/n updates me sometimes, but we were barely at two million the last time she told me.”

Vinny shrugged again and leaned over to sip on his beer. “That was probably before we released Sugar,” he thought out loud. “That song did really well and gave us a lot of exposure on TikTok.”

Smirking, Anakin looks away before he slipped up and told the guys what inspired him to write that song - as if the lyrics weren’t enough of a giveaway. A month before moving to this apartment, Anakin went down on you in the middle of packing and was instantly hit with a song idea after he got you off. He even postponed your offer of a round two in order to scribble out a draft of the song.

He refined it a week later and got the guys to add whatever they wanted to it, and a few weeks after that it was released. 

The song was very obviously about going down on a girl, more specifically, you, and he supposed that was enough to get them trending on that dumb app once again. 

“We should add Sugar to the setlist,” Theo suggested as he strummed the strings on his bass. 

Anakin perked up at that as he dropped the book onto the coffee table he and Vinny put together an hour or so ago and pulled out his phone. “That’s a great idea,” he agreed and knew that would probably be his new favorite song to perform live. He scrolled through the app store and muttered something under his breath before installing Instagram.

After messing around with the app for a bit, he had made his username ‘anakin_skywalker’ and uploaded a photo you took of him when he was looking out the window of the tour bus a few months back as his profile picture. He browsed through his gallery before settling on a selfie of the two of you he took on the last day of tour. You were both smiling and squinting at the camera as you tried to block the sun from your eyes, and it was probably one of his favorite photos of you and him. 

He made that picture his first post with the caption being a simple red heart. 

Anakin was still shocked to see that the band’s account did, in fact, have over three million followers when he followed it himself, as well as Vinny, Theo and you. Once he’s done stalking your account and scrolling through all the photos of you he had never seen before, he sets his phone down and that is when he hears the door to the bedroom open and the sound of fast paced footsteps coming down the hall.

“Anakin! You made an account!” You cheer as you throw yourself onto his lap. “I knew you’d give in.”

He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around your waist. “Not really, I just wanted to see if we really did hit three million followers. Thanks for telling me, by the way,” 

“Oh, whatever,” you scoffed and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Your first post is us! I love that picture.”

Anakin grinned down at you. “Me too, princess,” he kissed you quickly. “But I’m a bit annoyed that I had to put a stupid underscore in my username. Seriously, who the fuck took ‘anakinskywalker’ when that’s literally the most unique name ever?”

“Fan account, probably,” Vinny answered before waving at you. “Hey, Y/n. Will we be blessed to have you join us on tour again?”

You tense a bit in Anakin’s arms, something you’re sure he noticed but didn’t say anything about, thankfully. “Maybe. I applied for this program thing that is set around the same time the tour starts,”

“Ah,” Vinny nods and smiles at you. “That’s cool.”

“It’s very cool,” Anakin corrects him as he slides one hand up to caress the back of your head. “My girl’s the smartest one out of all of us combined.”

Theo tilts the neck of his beer bottle in your direction. “Now that’s very true,” he smiled at you and you shook your head, wrapping one arm around your boyfriend’s shoulders. 

“You think too highly of me, all of you,” you brush off their words and stand up. Anakin reluctantly lets you go and leans back against the couch, eyeing the small tattoo on the side of your wrist as you look at your phone. “Wow, Ani, you’ve already got nineteen thousand followers.” 

“Fuck,” he laughed and looked at your screen when you showed him. “Is it too late to delete it now?”

“Yes,” you confirm and lean down to place a chaste kiss to his mouth. “So don’t bother.”

Anakin tries to pull you back onto his lap, but you just grin at him before pulling away completely and shoving your phone in your pocket. 

“I’ll leave you guys to continue writing and go get dinner,” you say and begin to back out of the room “Any requests?” 

“Get Chinese food,” Theo suggests, adding a quick “Please” once he saw the glare Anakin gave him at his demanding words to you. 

You laugh and lightly slap Anakin’s shoulder, instantly making his glare soften. “Be nice, it’s okay,” you murmur. “Chinese food it is. I’ll be back soon.”

Anakin watched your retreating form until you disappeared around the corner and left through the door. When he turned back to the guys, he found them smirking at him. “Dude, you are so whipped,” Vinny laughed as he picked up his notebook. 

Anakin rolled his eyes. “As if I wasn’t already aware of that,”

“How will you make it without her if she does this program thing?” Theo asks, making Anakin look over at the blond.

He really hadn’t thought about it, simply because he didn’t want to imagine going on tour without you there to cheer him on from backstage. He wanted you to do this program and wanted you to make a career out of it, but he also wanted you with him every day. 

For nearly five years he hadn’t spent longer than a week away from you, and that was including all the times he had to sneak you into his parents house back when you were both seventeen.

He couldn’t imagine spending more than a couple months without you. In fact, he was sure he physically couldn’t be away from you for that long. “I don’t know,” he answered as honestly as he could, not wanting to come off as even more whipped for you. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

The guys just nod and go back to writing lyrics and notes, leaving Anakin to get lost inside his own head as he thought about the very real possibility of having to be without you in a few weeks. 

-

A week goes by and Anakin has yet to see what the hype about Instagram is. 

He had over five hundred thousand followers now and still only one post, and even that had over three hundred thousand likes. He really only went on it to do exactly what you knew he would, which is to read your sappy but very romantic captions about him. 

Your latest one was probably his favorite so far, and it was a harsh dig at him. 

Y/nY/l/n: my 21 year old bf finally got ig and already has more followers than me and i’ve been here for seven years. seven. years. let that sink in, show off. you can delete it now.

The picture was one of you and him on the couch, both your tongues sticking out and hazy looks in your eyes. 

He had to laugh because you both looked high, despite neither of you ever touching a drug a day in your lives. Alcohol, on the other hand…well that’s a different story. 

“Maybe making an Instagram account was a bad idea,” Vinny commented as he looked over at Anakin from his place on the chair. “The dude won’t stop stalking his girlfriend’s account even though he lives with her.”

“What did you expect? More than half our songs are about Y/n,” Theo added and Anakin just shook his head and pocketed his phone.

“You’d be the same way if you landed yourselves a girl like her,” was all he said as he sat up in his own chair. 

“Hey, Clara is amazing, too,” Vinny defended his girlfriend, but there was no doubting that yours and Anakin’s relationship is a lot stronger than his and Clara’s. “And Theo is just a lost cause.”

Theo stuck his middle finger up as the two other guys laughed. “Thanks, asshole,” he mumbled as he looked back down at his phone. 

Vinny narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been looking at that all morning, man,” he points out. “Is everything okay?”

Anakin, too, noticed Theo’s recent phone obsession, but isn’t as vocal as Vinny is about that kind of thing, clearly. Vinny had no problem calling people out, and Anakin had to appreciate it to an extent, because he had been called out by him more times than he could count on one hand. It saved his ass many times when he got into disagreements with you and Vinny was the one who told him he needed to apologize.

Theo sighed and placed his phone on the coffee table. “It’s my mom,” he said as he crossed his arms. “She’s been feeling really sick lately and my sister and I are getting pretty worried about her.”

“Damn,” Vinny said under his breath, suddenly feeling bad about calling out his friend now.

“Is she okay? Should you be going back on tour right now with her feeling sick?” Anakin asked as he leaned over and braced his elbows on his knees. 

“She’s just not well, man,” Theo shrugged. “I told her about the tour and she said that I should go have fun and that Mary can look after her while I’m gone.”

Anakin nods and shares a look with Vinny. “We can ask Helena if we can push the tour back a few more months,” Vinny offers, but Theo just shook his head.

“No, it’s alright,” he waved his bandmates off. “I want to go back on tour. It’ll take my mind off it.”

“Okay,” Anakin said and leaned back in the chair. “Just keep us updated.”

Theo nodded as he asked, “Where is Helena, anyway?” 

Vinny shrugged and leaned back. “She’s usually on time, so whatever is keeping her must be important,” 

As if on cue, the door to the lounge opens and in walks their manager, done up in dress pants and a blouse. Her heels are loud against the floor as she makes her way over to them, a smile on her painted red lips and a folder in her hand. “Sorry, boys,” she apologizes as she sits next to Theo around the coffee table. “Traffic is no joke in this part of the city.”

Anakin laughs in agreement as he, too, got held up earlier this morning but still managed to make it to the studio by ten in the morning. “No worries, we get it,”

She gives him a grateful smile as she places her papers onto the table and leans over to scatter them around. “Okay, so you all know that you’re the first band I’ve ever managed, so we’re really learning how to do this together,” she starts, looking up at the three of them. “I was thinking that we need to do something to promote the shows that have been added. The tour ended a couple months ago, and I’m sorry to say this, but Sugar can only get us so far. It was a hit, yeah, but the fans need more. I’m really going to need you guys in the studio and making more music than you have so far. If you want to keep doing this for many years to come, we need more songs out by the time the next tour comes around.”

The thought of not singing or making music in the future was one Anakin didn’t want to think about, so he quickly pushed back his witty remarks and sat up even straighter, giving Helena his full attention as she began to go over a possible option for promo. 

-

You were at home alone and bored as Anakin had been whisked away to yet another band meeting. 

You were organizing your books when your phone went off from its place on the desk. Standing up from your crouched position and pushing away the box of hard covers, you grab your phone and click on the notification. It brought you to your email and your eyes widened a bit when you read the subject. 

Y/n, Congratulations!

Your hand was shaking a bit as you clicked on the email and read the first sentence.

Dear Y/n, 

We are thrilled to congratulate you on your acceptance into the Writing Program here at the Dun-Walsh Academy. 

You nearly dropped your phone as you read through the email about ten times before it really hit you. 

You did it. You got accepted. You did it.

You squeal a bit and jump up and down on the spot while hugging your phone to your chest, wishing that Anakin would hurry up and come home so you could share the news with him. 

Anakin.

You stopped jumping instantly as you remembered that he is going on tour again in a couple of weeks and wouldn’t be able to go with you to London like he wanted to.

“Shit,” you curse to yourself as you read the email again. 

You wanted to attend this school a lot more than you initially thought, but you also didn’t want to go without Anakin. You wanted to go on tour with him again and be his quiet cheerleader backstage. 

“Fuck,” you curse again and walk out of the shared office and into the living room. Sitting down on the couch and picking at your nails, you debate your options.

One; go to London, take the program and miss out on Anakin’s tour.

Or,

Two; bail on the program and go on tour with him. 

You were missing out on something either way. 

There will be other writing opportunities, right?

As awful as it sounds, you would rather choose Anakin over your own future, and that was a scary thought, but it was true. 

You were sitting there for about fifteen minutes before the door swung open and the sound of footsteps was heard. “Baby?” Anakin called out and you sat up a bit and set your phone aside.

“In the living room,” you called back and watched as your boyfriend entered the room not even a second later. “Hi.”

“Hey, pretty girl,” he said back as he leaned down to place a deep kiss to your mouth. He caressed your face as he pulled you back in for another quick peck before grinning down at you. “I missed you.”

“I missed you,” 

He smiled again and moved to sit next to you. “What’d you get up to today?”

You shrugged and picked up your phone again. “Nothing too exciting,” you answer. “Just sorted through a few more boxes.”

Anakin nodded and ran the tips of his fingers along the skin of your bare thigh. Your shorts did nothing to cover your legs from his intense gaze, and you swallow harshly as he mumbles a “That’s good,” in his deep, raspy voice. He leaned in to kiss you again, a much deeper one than before, and you moan quietly against his mouth. He hummed as he pulled away, “I love that sound.”

“Some would say you love it so much that you would put it in a song,” you teased, referring to the fact that he did include a recording of your moan in a song. 

He shrugged, smirking at you as he said, “The world needed to hear how hot you sound in bed,”

“Mhm, sure,” 

Anakin shrugged again before dropping the smirk a bit and moving to hold your hand in his. “Something’s on your mind,” he commented, lacing your fingers together and resting your joined hands on his thigh. “What is it?”

You knew he would be able to read you like an open book as soon as he returned home, so you didn’t bother hiding how you were feeling from him. “I heard back from that school,” you say and watch as he nods, urging you to continue. “I got accepted.”

Anakin stays still as his eyes flicker all over your face. His hand tightened around yours just slightly as he exhaled through his nose before smiling over at you. “I knew you would,” he brought your hand up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I’m so proud of you.”

Unable to stop yourself, you move so you’re straddling him and his hands are on your hips instantly. “But you’re going back on tour,” you point out. “You can’t come with me to London.”

Anakin gives you a forced smile. “We’ll figure it out,” he assured you, but it didn’t help much. “Yeah, I’m going on tour, but that’s my future. This is yours.”

You bite down on your lip as you process his words. “But we’ve never been away from each other for that long,” you nearly whisper. “Not since we were in high school.”

“It’s okay, baby,” he promised, kissing your forehead. “We’ll be fine, we always are. It’s only a few months, and I think Helena said that one of the new tour locations is in London, so you can come see that one. I’ll need my biggest fan at one of the shows, at least.”

You nod and wrap your arms around his shoulders. “I’ll give it up for you,” you murmured. “You know that.”

“I know you would,” he responds and pulls you against his chest. “And I love you for that, but I can’t hold you back from making a potential career out of this. I couldn’t, not after you’ve been so supportive of me and the band.”

You sigh and rest your head on his shoulder. “We have two weeks until the tour,” you inform him. “Two weeks until I need to be in London.”

Anakin pulled you even closer, inhaling your sweet vanilla scent he knew he would be missing for months. “Then we better start making up for lost time now,” 

And that was how you found yourself completely exposed to his lust filled eyes as you break in the new couch by fucking him on it. 

Your clothing was strewn around the room and some of it hung off the couch as you sunk down on him at a fast pace. You were both pent up and anxious about having to spend three months away from one another, and you were putting that frustration into the way you fucked yourself onto him. “I love you, Ani,” you promised as you grind your hips against his. 

Anakin tilted his head so it was against the backrest of the couch, his firm grip on your waist helping you move on him. “I love you, too,” he said under his breath, sliding one hand to the front of your body so his thumb can rub harsh circles onto your clit. “I’m so fucking proud of you, princess. I always am.”

You sigh as you lean down to connect your lips in a kiss. “You feel so good, Ani,” you whispered, brushing your lips against his as you spoke. “Gonna make me come.”

“I want you to, baby,” he rasped, pinching your clit in a way that left you shaking against him. “I want it all over me.”

Your body shook a bit as your orgasm ripped through you, the rolling of your hips stalling as you cried out against his mouth. “Fuck, Ani, fuck,” you whine as he grips your waist to be able to thrust up into you. 

“That’s my girl,” he murmured as he kissed all over your neck, the relentless clench of your walls making his vision blur a bit. “My good girl.”

His sweet praises make you whimper and cling to him tightly. “Anakin, please,” you begged. You were so sensitive, but you also needed to feel him fill you up because you would be missing out on the feeling of him for months. 

You seriously couldn’t believe you were considering leaving him for three months. That’s a whole quarter of a year. Your five year anniversary is coming up next month, are you really willing to spend your half a decade milestone away from him?

“Please…what?” He teased, but his voice wasn’t mocking at all. “What, pretty girl? What do you need?”

Your body shook as you tried your best to hold yourself up. “I need you,” you whispered and wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling his body right up against yours. “Need it.”

“Yeah? You need it?” He asked, sliding his hands up your back and pulling you roughly down against him. His lips press against yours with every fuck of his hips and he filled you so well, you didn’t think you could ever get enough of him. “Need me to fill you up? Keep you nice and full for when those London boys think they have a chance with you?”

“God, Anakin,” you moan, rarely ever getting to see his jealous side come out. He never had a reason to get jealous as yours and his relationship was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes, so no one ever tried anything with either of you. Sure, people looked, but that was as far as it went. “Do it.”

And Anakin was never one to deny your wishes. 

With a couple more thrusts he was spilling himself deep within your wet walls and painting you white. “There you go, princess,” he grunts. “Take it.”

You moan breathlessly and release your tight grip on him, softly running your hands through his hair. “Fuck,”

Anakin laughs quietly, wrapping his arms around you and gently rubbing your hips in his large hands. “We’re going to have to do that non-stop until we’re both satisfied enough to be able to not have sex for three months,”

You smile at him, brushing your nose against his as you say, “I’ll come visit whenever I can. Honestly, I don’t think I can go that long without you,”

“Me either,” he agreed. “Please, come visit me whenever you can. I’ll buy the plane ticket or whatever you’ll use to come back to me, but please, come visit me.”

You nod and nuzzle your face in the crook of his neck. “You know I will, Ani,”

While you were both reassured for now, doubts and worries were beginning to linger in the backs of both yours and Anakin’s heads, but neither of you would ever admit it.

[hanhonymous]

The Trainee’s workplace authenticity

One of my favorite things about workplace TV shows is when the characters actually do work. AND when the details of such work are not only relatively accurate, but also essential to how the characters relate to themselves, the world and each other. So far, "The Trainee" is giving that to me in the first two episodes.

Having interned/been an assistant at a TV production company and later moving to entertainment journalism and managing interns/junior writers there, I can appreciate both Ryan's and Jane's POVs. Here's what I liked so far:

Good Pick's pink tube slide and movie theater seats in the lobby - A lot of these entertainment-adjacent companies take a cue from Silicon Valley and have this frivolous, frat-boy design aesthetic -- bean bag chairs, foosball tables, etc. I worked in an office that had a ping-pong table. The idea is to make it fun enough that people want to stay in the office and work longer, which isn't really all that great. You stop seeing that fun stuff after a while and just want to get home. That said, I'd love to work in a company with a fire pole in it, but that would be too much of a liability.

Ryan's fluke hiring - Baimon totally hearing what he wants to hear from Ryan in that sham interview is hilarious but sadly not all that unusual. What sucks is that this is unfair to the manager who then must work with the unqualified person, and unfair to that person hired also, who isn't the best fit for the position. I've been the person saddled by the unfortunate hire and have had to make do … and sometimes you can figure it out, but often you're left doing extra work to make up for their deficits. If it's just an intern, no problem -- they'll be gone in a few months. I felt Jane's pain!

Ryan's uncertainty & silence - That said, Ryan clearly wants to do well but is out of his depth since this was not even what he was learning in school. I remember the first day as a journalist for a small company where I kind of was on my own, and nobody told me what to do. I was like, "WTF??" Part of you doesn't want to ask questions lest you expose your imposter identity, but you're also wondering just how long you can do nothing before someone notices.

The printer always breaks down -- always. You get pretty good at troubleshooting everything until resorting to calling a technician

Jane's prickly demeanor - The fact is that in any company, people who are competent can move up, but that doesn't automatically infuse them with good managerial skills. I think workshops, etc. are a must for anyone who gets promoted and suddenly have people reporting to them. Everyone can get frustrated when they're overwhelmed, so I do have some sympathy for Jane. He does have one skill that I think is essential to be a good manager: identifying and acknowledging the strengths of an employee. It really makes all the difference that he finally sees Ryan as an asset, not a hindrance.

Ryan's skills aren't that bad at all - As soon as Ryan tells his family that he's no help to anyone at work, he immediately shows five different ways how much he's relied on by his family. Yes, people who are competent, reliable and can anticipate needs (like how his sister needs to be reminded to charge the battery after using the camera) will be able to apply those skills to other situations and can go far. Ryan just needs to familiarize himself with the industry first in order to know how he can fill in the gaps. (I believe in being able to change careers and taking big pivots in life.)

The interns banding together - OMG I remember sometimes just being unsupervised while trying to get a project together, and there is a strange bond you have being the youngest and least experienced. And you do have the most stupid conversations.

Being one cog in a bigger machine - I really appreciate how they show all the different departments that have to come together to make one project work -- especially when last-minute changes need to be implemented or a persnickety client has opinions. You complain, you worry, you put in extra late hours and have to make 11th-hour fixes -- but it's so satisfying to see it all come together. Shit goes down, and you fix it.

Hiring extras - The hiring of extras at Good Pick was different from what I've experienced. I actually have been an extra, and what I'm used to is being part of a company or agency that has you in their database, and then you get picked or cast by that company and sent to your gig. But that's in Hollywood and for TV shows & movies. It's probably different for ad houses or in Thailand, but I did like how they showed that it is still a casting process. There are deliberate decisions made, and certain looks sought out. I thought it was hilarious that Ryan's first thought for hiring the salaryman was to get an uncle from the same restaurant as the auntie. If he had his way, everyone in that restaurant would be hired for some gig or another.

Ryan getting scammed by the extra - I was screaming at Ryan as soon as he offered to pay that scammer extra. Just … no, boy. You had to have known that was shady. BUT despite being duped, he was willing to think on his feet and try to solve a problem by being proactive, and that does happen. And so do mistakes. He just needs to calibrate his radar for what is OK. (I'm glad Jane saw that.) Ryan is lucky that it only cost him 1,000 baht for that lesson.

Extras must be on hand and wait - OK this is a scene in the preview for Episode 3, but I was so happy to see it: Extras in Hollywood actually cannot just spend 5 minutes or whatever to do their job, even if that's how much you see them onscreen. There's a ton of hurry up and wait on film sets, and so extras have to stay in Holding -- usually just a designated area with some chairs (sometimes you get tables) -- until you're needed. And production schedules never run on time, so it can be hours or even days. You're lucky if you're there long enough to get a meal, if the temperature is nice, if you're able to make friends with the others and if there's wifi. Sometimes you bring your own clothes for wardrobe based on what you're told, and sometimes the wardrobe department supplements your wardrobe with extra pieces to help complete a specific look. And yeah, you're not able to leave except for the bathroom, so Ryan definitely shouldn't have let that one extra wander off.

"Ryan After Work" - I like these post-credit sequences that give extra insights into the job. And while the first one was more instructional, explaining how the production house differed from an agency, the second was more about the cohort camaraderie (and hinting at Ryan's positive feelings toward Jane). I hope the romance aspect of the show doesn't overshadow the work specificity going forward!

[z0mbiefrank]

MCR5 Theory: Secretary Gerard is a character called The Widow

I'm unsure if everyone is thinking along the same lines, but I have yet to see anyone talk about it, so I've put together this post with evidence and links. (this will expand on the 9/11 theory. also special shout out to @autistme who made a spreadsheet with all the aus eagles lyrics) MCR performed Eagles at all six Australia shows this tour. At five of them, Gerard was dressed in a grey suit and skirt, commonly referred to as the secretary or office lady by fans.

(📷 Dough Peters) Here's a quick reference table for the things I will be talking about here. (Not necessary to read, I will explain it all)

At Brisbane, the drumheads read "everything under control" followed by "here comes the airplane". The planes have yet to hit the towers, but disaster is imminent. Eagles has evolved a lot over the tour but the Aus dates heard a new consistent change in the first verse.

All along the river bends All along with all my friends Yes, all around the river bends All together with my friends

There is minimal change for Brisbane 2. Notice how gerard is dressed as the secretary and says "my friends".

Next comes Melbourne 1. The drumhead reads "TErrOR". The plane has hit and there is a dramatic change to the first verse.

All night long the widow sends Valentines to bitter friends Yes, all night long the widow sends Valentines to all my friends

This character with friends now has a title, and it is The Widow. She has lost her husband in the attack. Her friends survived and she is sending them letters of love during this terrible time.

Melbourne 2, Gerard breaks the outfit chain. He is wearing jeans and a t-shirt, there is no hint of office wear, he is no longer playing the widow, he is playing himself. The drumhead also seems unrelated to 9/11 "BARK BARK BARK". They sing the same first verse as the previous night with minimal change, except for the last line

Valentines to all her friends

This is the only instance where Gerard does not refer to the friends as "my friends" at all during aus eagles, and it is because they weren't in the skirt suit that night, they were not the widow.

Next comes Sydney. The Widow is back and she's covered in blood! Something awful has happened to her, she's dying. But the drumhead reads "UNKILLAbLe". (This was written by Frank, an extremely powerful thing for him to do considering his accident in Sydney and PTSD. MCR has always used concept albums as a vessel to speak of things the band has been through.) The widow continues to write her letters during eagles despite the blood on her face.

(📷 Jess Gleeson) Sydney 2. The Widow again. She is in the exact same outfit, down to her boots (sports mode), but this time she is not only covered in blood but her eyes are WHITE. She is dead! The drumhead now reads "Unkillables", this is no longer specifically just one, but multiple people. It could be mcr as a band, mcr as individuals, or mcr fans themselves. In the context of a concept album, unkillables can take on a whole new meaning. It brings to mind the supernatural, ghouls, vampires, werewolves. How is it that the widow is dead, yet she is walking on stage right in front of us? Staring at us with blank eyes on the big screen? Is she a ghost, a zombie? I'm not sure. But she is still the widow. Even in death, she is searching for her husband.

(📷 ashymcr , expiiredglitter)

Which leads me to Summertime. The piece of evidence that drove me to write this long-ass post. As we know, it is a love song about Gerard's marital partner. Before they played, Gerard spoke in a breathy and musically haunting voice "I'll find you. I'll find you. come find me." Definitely something a lost and ghostly widow would say. They also bring out a white handkerchief, they do not have it in any other songs. Throughout the performance, Gerard clutched it to their chest repeatedly and held it lovingly in both hands.

In the third picture, he is looking down sadly at the handkerchief singing the line "If you stay, I would even wait all night." (video)

This is very clearly The Widow. She is mourning her husband, she is dead, lost and searching for him. Perhaps the handkerchief is all she has left of him, or it is simply to dry her tears, but she is clearly in mourning for her marital partner.

And finally, Eagles at Sydney 2. The first verse stays the same except for the third line. "Yes, all night long the widow sends" becomes

Yes, all day long the widow sends

She is writing night and day. She does not rest. Her outfits in Sydney are exactly the same. Every single other secretary's outfit is subtlely different, but now she is dead, she is stuck in the same clothing like a ghost. The Widow also makes an appearance later in the song.

We found the widow And hit her with a baseball bat

I have less ideas of what this could be about, but I think if some dead lady was walking about being unkillable, people would get freaked and attack her with a baseball bat. The concept of "unkillables" is something I could write a whole other post about but I'll spare you for now.

To conclude, I think The Widow as a concept album character would fit right in with MCR. They are no strangers to lovers separated by death. Others on here have spoken on how the feminine outfits Gerard has chosen this tour have often been of women scorned or living in the shadows of powerful men. I believe The Widow would fit right in. Even after her husband has died, she is only talked about in reference to him. She is The Widow, something that tells us more about her husband than herself.

[cielles-random-vault]

brain empty just thoughts full of miguel having a soft spot for you and hobie's relationship

like if you were in different dimensions hobie would beg for miguel to let him visit you.

and if you were in the same dimension he would beg miguel to send him on missions with you

wait now i want to make it a lil fic

kind of a drabble? idk

ok afterthought this is way longer than a drabble lmao mb

word count : 561 😭

it was a peaceful day at the spidersociety's headquarters. all the anomalies you and hobie have caught while patrolling were imprisoned in their cages, you did your daily patrolling chores and now boredom seemed to have gotten the best of you.

sometimes when you're bored, you wonder what your boyfriend was doing. well, factually speaking he was not quite your boyfriend, because of his "i hate labels" stuff, but it was most likely the two of you had something

sadly you spent most of your time wondering how he was going. you couldn't communicate because your communicator broke and miguel decided hobie had to give his to you.

you know what? fuck that hierarchy thing, just because some vampire spider man didn't want you to multi dimensional travel doesn't mean you wouldn't.

you then left your small apartment and headed to the headquarters.

"don't even think of it." firmly said miguel.

"what? i didn't even say anything yet-" you say.

"your backpack. it's the one you always bring with you when i send you in missions with hobie. considering the disaster it made when i left gwen visit miles last time, i am not letting this happen a second time." he said firmly.

"please." you try to beg. "it has been weeks since you last sent us on a mission together. plus it's soon our birthday and we celebrate all of them together. please? i promise you won't hear anything from me next."

"fine" he sighed, "but only for three days."

"four days? please?" you try to negotiate.

(i don't know how to describe it but imagine him pinching his nose yknow the thing he did In the movie)

"if i let you go, will you stop harassing me ?" he asked, visibly annoyed.

"pinky promise!" you exclaim, "thank you so much!"

he then opened a portal which led you to your boyfriend's dimension. you walked a bit to the bar where he probably was, as usual.

once you arrived, riri, one of hobie's best friend, warmly greeted you.

"glad to see you around!" she says with a warm smile. "if you're here to see hobie, he's in the back!."

you then headed to the room in the back of the building. you did find him practicing with his band. taking care to not disturb them, you sat on a small table in the back of the room.

you couldn't help but admire him. despite everything he went through, he always kept going.

"hobes", said a member of the group."i think someone's waiting for you."

as soon as he noticed your face, you could see his instantly lit up.

once his practice went all smooth, the two of you headed outside. a fresh breeze greeted you as the two of you tried to catch up on the lost time.

"i can't believe miguel let you come there" he says in disbelief. "i ain't complaining though, i missed my sunshine a whole bunch" he continues before kissing you.

"i missed you too, hobie," you murmur with a soft smile.

the two of you kept wandering in the streets, talking about random things.

"you down for cuddles, sunshine?" he asked as you came back home.

the two of you sat on the floor, your head on his chest, feeling his soft heartbeat.

eventually you both drifted to sleep, his hand playing with your hair.

yoooo 🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻 call me the ceo of ooc hobie atp x)

uhhh yea sorry the end is a bit rushed but 😭😭 also im in an agsty mood so i'll write smth when reader finds out hobie is cheating on them when they come to his dimension 😈😈

ALSO if you want some sleepy hobie hcs you can find them here ! :D

[memoiich]

Hey you 🫵🤨

Maul is a complete gentleman around you, you will never have to open a door ever again. You dropped something - don't worry he's picking it up, you need something that you can't reach - you bet your damn ass he is getting it for you.

He is literally the perfect husband...

Modern Husband!Maul and his wife go grocery shopping? And he is just doing everything and being so helpful?

He totally is and i would marry him so quick. Just let me and my man be together please <3

Raspberry’s & Blood oranges

Word count : 1,2k

Ao3: link

Sadly today you had woken up with a desperate desire for blood oranges and raspberries and your husband being who he was , a saint wanted to go to the store to get them . You tried to roll over and sleep a bit more per maul’s request but that didn’t work. So you tagged along to your lover's enjoyment.

That brought you here to the parking lot ,in mauls black Pontiac firebird that he got from savage as a wedding present. He gave you a quick peck on the lips and walked out to open your door . You remembered thinking that from day 1 , Maul was a gentleman. In the beginning, he tried to hide it a little bit. Slamming the door a bit louder than normal when closing it or pulling his hand away when you reached for it . A month later you would kiss him under the stars . You took mauls hand that he had extended to you and stepped out of the car . “ thank you, my love”you said. He gave you that one grin, he was so proud of himself.

You noticed it immediately when you walked into the store . People were staring. At first you thought it was pretty normal, you normally shopped alone and were a bit of a regular . Then you thought it was because Maul was such an attractive guy. if he wasn’t your husband you would hit on him in a heartbeat . That's in fact exactly what you did all those years ago. But then you spotted something in an old lady’s eyes, Judgment. You looked over to your dearest and he grinned back.

The red zebrak in question was way too alternatively dressed now that you were looking at him . He clearly wasn’t used to grocery stores and the way u dress for them . He was wearing one of his favorite band t-shirts that was slightly ripped on the side showing a fair amount of tattoo and waist , you were definitely not complaining about it. On Top of that was his metal spiked leather jacket covered in homemade pins , that hugged him just right. The metal didn’t stop at his clothes either, He also had multiple studs and a nose ring and a very secret and hot tongue piercing. Patches were covering about 90% of his pants and chains were hanging from every loop he could find . He definitely stood out .

It didn’t help that Zebraks were still a bit more uncommon but Maul and his 2 brothers had been living here longer than the 2 of you were together . They even had their tattoo/piercing parlor here. You took Maul's hand in yours and gave her a bit of a judgy look back and she scurried away.

Maker ,your husband was the most beautiful creature alive no judgy looks would ever take that away. You heard an amused giggle coming from your left. “ Normally you aren’t so feisty, my love “ Maul said while grinning at you . You felt a bit embarrassed by Maul's notice. You took one of the blood oranges in front of you , they needed to be as red as possible. You liked them that way . You also took them in hopes of ending mauls joking and getting him back on track for the mission of grocery shopping.

A red hand covered yours and took the red-orangey fruit out of your hand. “ Blood oranges are believed to bring power and wealth to their consumers by the people of Dathomir” Maul said to you with that hint of wisdom to his voice. You took the fruit back from him ,” I need to eat plenty then , in case you divorce me “ you said jokingly. Maul rolled his eyes , he hated that little joke of yours. Not only were you one hell of a person , that could perfectly support herself. He would NEVER divorce you , you were the best thing that happened to him.

While Maul was mopping ,You tried to reach for one of the bag dispensers that were set unreasonably high for you and you weren’t even getting close to it . Maul came up behind you, you felt his chest against your back and saw his long tattooed arm reach for the beg . He had laid his other hand on your hip and you forgot what you were even doing until the man turned you around while dangling the little bag in front of you with that smug look on his handsome face . “You needed this right ?” He spoke so smoothly. You let out a giggle and walked back over to the blood oranges display. You took about 16 oranges and put them in the cart.

You looked over to where your husband had been standing mere seconds ago but he had disappeared in thin air . Glancing past the corner, you saw him standing at the berry bar .you walked over to him , only to be met with Maul staring intensely between a couple of boxes full of raspberries. The annoyance was clear on his face, nightbrothers were know to see colors a bit duller mainly reds and oranges since dathomir would otherwise be a bit overwhelming.

“ Don’t torture yourself, Maul” you grinned “ That's my job” . He looked at you utterly in love “ I was trying to find the reddest”he said, a bit defeated “ Why, are they sweeter?”. Maul knew you liked your fruit sweet “ they are, but that's not why i want the reddest fruit “ “ Then why” You were quite curious right now. “ Dathomirians believe that raspberries strengthen bonds, how redder they are the more romantic they become “ maul uttered a bit embarrassed . You thought it was adorable how your scary looking husband was so soft and sweet .” You don’t need raspberries to strengthen our bond, maul . I love you regardless, my dear “ You grabbed 2 boxes out of the 9 lined in front of him” These are the reddest “ you put them in the cart.

The check out went extremely fast and you and maul were outside in about 5 minutes. You were looking at the masterpiece of a husband you had , you wanted to tell him that you deeply enjoyed the trip to the grocery store and how much you loved him but the rights words wouldn’t come to you and when they finally did…

he said “ you are dearer to me than all the blood oranges and raspberries in the world “ . The exact words you had thought of . Again at a loss of words you just leaned into him and kissed his cheek. Maul flushed a deeper shade of red immediately , which was ironic since you two had been married for more than 5 years and had done a lot more than that. Grocery shopping would definitely become a together thing.

I hope this was what you had in mind , it was a bit hard to make grocery shopping appealing so i made new Dathomir lore up ( i love doing that teehee).

{Masterlist}

[just-s0me-stranger]

Statement

I wish to make a statement regarding what happened on the 14th of April, 2023

I, at first, wanted to move on from what happened and start again

But, seeing as some people aren't willing to let go of what happened, I feel I have no choice but to give my side of the story

I'll admit, I haven't been perfect in all this

I made mistakes

Many I wish I could take back, and would do if it was possible

But, whether I'm forgiven or not isn't up to me

That being said, however, the person who started all this in the first place isn't innocent either

I wish to address the accusations against me regarding, defending a transphobic person, racism, me fetishising trans men in my Perfectly Imperfect roadrat fanfic, and my conduct with minors, in that order

First, the accusations of me defending transphobic person

These accusations were first brought against me on the 14th of April, 2023, when user @sodapoptisms dug up a tweet from someone who said the following

Link

They then followed up with a quote tweet saying the following

Link

Now, I knew the person being screenshotted

I don't defend how they said what they said

Out of context, it's very poorly worded

What I DO defend is the fact that I took issue with Soda wanting the roadrat fandom to "band together and force the bigot out"

In other words, Soda wanted to rally a mob against this person for their political beliefs

I took issue for several reasons

The first one being like I said, I knew this person at the time

I knew they weren't anti trans rights

But forcing someone out for not agreeing with every aspect of the trans community can cause someone to become anti trans out of spite

Which brings me to my next point

I knew not speaking out against Soda could have a detrimental effect on the support for trans rights on the grassroots level

How?

Because this person had said they'd had many bad experiences with members of the trans community

Many people have sadly come out against the trans community for those reasons as well

Including many gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and even some transgender people

Clearly, bullying people for not holding your exact political views isn't working

And may actually be making things worse

That isn't to say that you win rights by coddling people's feelings

But you don't win people over by bullying and demonising them either

There is a balance that needs to be met, which isn't at the moment

You can't just demand people be your ally, then treat them like shit when they refuse, or don't live up to your standards

The second accusation I want to address is the one of racism

I was accused of this after writing an open letter to Soda shortly after what happened on the 14th of April, which no longer exists

But in it, I used the term Flying Monkeys to refer to the mob Soda had rallied against myselfand the other person

The term, Flying Monkeys, is commonly used as a nickname in pop psychology for the friends of narcissists

However, because Soda has many friends who are black, they twisted the words to accuse me of referring to them in a racially derogatory way

This was despite me pointing out the fact that I did not know Soda's friends were black, as even if they have that in their bios, I don't tend to read bios in detail, if at all. So, I was unaware unless I saw a photo of them

Thirdly, the fetishising of trans men in fanfiction

I never thought I'd have to bring this up

After all, no artist or writer should has to explain or justify why they made the choices they did in their works, but here we go.

Long story short, I tend to write stories with mpreg in it

You can think ill of me for it if you like, I don't care

But, I do not write these sorts of fanfiction for fetish fuel

I wrote Perfectly Imperfect for several reasons

The major one being that I have a lot of unresolved Daddy Issues

I won't get too much into my personal history, other than my father wasn't much in the picture when I was growing up

The few times he was in the picture, he was abusive

Not just to me, but to my mother, my sisters, & his previous two families, which he had left prior

I was estranged from him for eight years until I learned he had cancer, & I decided to reconnect with him two years before he died

I began writing Perfectly Imperfect a year prior to my father's death

Why use Mpreg to deal with Daddy Issues, you may ask?

The answer is twofold

I want to have my own family one day, & I tend to project that desire onto my favourite characters

I'm also fascinated with the father/child bond I guess

Particularly those that, while they may not be perfect, they at least are there for their child/ren, and don't abuse them

As for the fact that I've written Junkrat giving birth

That tends to be how a pregnancy concludes

But, I always focused on Junkrat himself, & what he's going through while giving birth

Such as his the pain he's in and how scared he is

How he looks to Roadhog for comfort

And how Roadhog helps him through it

It's about the emotion & vulnerability of the scene, in other words

Birth is messy, & can be gross, I can understand why many are squicked out by it

But it's a fact of life, much like death

Fourth, I'd like to discuss my supposedly inappropriate conduct with minors online

As many of you will know, I used to run Roadrat server. This server was an 18+ server, as I didn't feel I could, nor did I want the extra responsibility of, keeping minors safe within it

However, I would ask around to see if many people wanted to join, provided they were of age

As at the time, there was a content drought, & I wanted to keep the fandom as active as possible through it

Which I felt I could do through Discord

Unfortunately, not everyone has their age in their bios, which is fine

I understand not everyone feels safe showing people their age

But, it does sometimes mean I'm unsure, & have to ask about the person's age

This person there were a minor & then asked if they knew of any other Roadrat servers

I didn't really know of any that were as active as mine was a the time, so I made them an offer

They tell me when they come of age, & I'd let them into my server on the day

As you can see, nothing inappropriate took place, & the conversation pretty much ended after that

So, that is the context of everything that happened

Lastly, I want to address @sodapoptisms aka @sodapopblast directly

I'm sorry

I'm sorry I ever had the misfortune of knowing you and your friends

I'm sorry I ever thought of you as someone worth my time

I'm sorry I never saw how much you use your gender identity as a sheild to bully and harass people who step out of line

I'm sorry I never saw how much of a manipulative and cowardly bully you are

And I pity your friends who don't see you for the worm you truly are

It's because of you that I've had to endure being mischaracterised and demonised by your false & deliberately misleading accusations

For months

I've endured multiple accounts of abuse, and many death threats because of you

I lost my standing in the Overwatch community

All of this took a major toll on my mental health & general well-being

It not only affected my ability to perform my job as a care worker, which I was so scared I'd lose because of you

But also my self-confidence & and self-esteem, which I had painstakingly built up by writing my Roadrat series over five years

Only for you to tear it down in the span of one day

I used to hold such ill-will towards you for a long time

But that's only stooping to your level

You deserve to get better as much as I do

But the sad thing is, you probably won't

You're way too comfortable where you are right now, surrounded by your fandoms & your Yes Men

I doubt you'll find true happiness while you're where you're at

And that's enough for me

[offbrandkyoya]

89 star

previous | masterlist | next

[] = flashback

[Kaeya and Albedo had the typical high school sweetheart love. They were pure and honest and the perfect pair. Kaeya encouraged Albedo to pursue his talents and in return, Albedo encourages his.]

[“I got scouted to be in a band.” Kaeya tells him one day in his room. Albedo looks at him in surprise. “Woah really?!” “Mhm.” Kaeya was always shy when it came about expressing his accomplishments. Albedo scooches closer to him and kisses his cheek. “That’s great!” “Thanks.” Kaeya rubs his neck. “They heard some songs Diluc and i made so…”]

[Albedo pulls him into a hug. “I’m very proud of you, Kaeya.” “Thank you but..” He pulls away, “But what?” Kaeya looks down at his feet. “What if I don’t do good?” Albedo frowns and caresses the scar that was imprinted on Kaeyas eye. “You will do good, love. You’re super talented! You don’t give yourself enough credit. Everyone’s going to love you.” Kaeya puts on a small smile and rests his head on Albedos shoulder. “Thanks.” “Of course. Did you tell Diluc?” “Yeah. They scouted both of us, though I’m a little nervous since we’re entering our college lives soon.”]

[Albedo looks up, “Ah that’s true.” He looks back down, smiling. “Don’t worry. Everything will work out.” Kaeya smiles too and they share a kiss.]

[Such an unfortunate turn out it became to be.]

[Now freshman in college, Kaeya has been busy with the band lately. They haven’t debuted yet but he’s still got work to do. So much work that he’s barely able to make time with his boyfriend. Albedo sits on his couch with a huge frown. He was visiting home for a while and today was going to be a date night. Obviously, that wasn’t happening as Kaeya was 20 minutes late.]

[Klee walks to her big brother and hugs his legs. “Where’s Kaeya?” She asks with a pout. Albedo smiles softly at her and ruffles her hair. “He’ll be here soon.” Klee’s frown grows. “You said that twice already!” Albedo frowns too. “I know.” Was all he could say. Disappointed, Klee goes back to her coloring activities in her room.]

[Albedo slumps on the couch and throws his head back. “Where are you?” He asks to seemingly no one. After a few minutes, Albedo takes out his phone and checks his messages. Kaeya hasn’t even read the couple he’s sent in those 20 minutes. He frowns even more and distracts himself by going on social media. What a mistake that was. His stomach drops when he sees Kaeya’s post of himself, hanging out with his brother and members.]

[Albedo grunts and clicks out right away. He gets up and rushes straight to his room. Albedo slams the door shut and throws himself onto his bed. “That asshole…” He mumbles into his pillow. The door slowly opens with Klee sticking her head in. She fully enters with a big tears welling into her eyes. “He’s not coming, is he?” Seeing his sister in pain was enough for him so burst out crying. He shakes his head sadly.]

[Klee runs to his brother and hops on the bed, immediately hugging him tight. “Don’t cry.” She tells him even though she was crying too. Albedo lays her down with him in sobs. They held each other for a long time and in the end, fell asleep.]

[“I think we need to break up.” Kaeya stops dead in his tracks.]

[The two were on a date and Albedo moved on ahead, back facing him. Kaeya’s hands start to shake. “W-What? Albedo, why?” Albedo sniffles since he couldn’t hold in the tears any longer. “Because Kaeya!” “Because??” Kaeya takes a step forward. “You can’t break up with me! Not before I’m about to debut tomorrow!” Albedo grits his teeth and turns his head around.]

[“Is that all you care about?!” Kaeya immediately swallows and shake his head. “No! No, of course not! I just want you to be there! To see me in action!” Albedo looks to the side. “I’m sorry, Kaeya, but I don’t think being together is working.” Kaeya’s lips tremble. “Albedo…” “Kaeya, you have bigger things to worry about. It’s clear that I’m not at the top of the list.” Kaeya doesn’t know what else to say.]

[He stands there frozen which doesn’t help Albedo at all. The blonde lets out a shaky breath, “Goodbye, Kaeya.” “No!” He runs to him and held his hands. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to leave you alone! I was busy and-“ “That’s always your excuse and I’m tired of hearing it!” It took everything in Albedo to pull away from him.]

[“I’m happy for you but I think we need to stop seeing each other and do our own thing.” He didn’t stay to listen to Kaeya’s response. Instead, he ran away.]

[Diluc sits on his bed, reading a book he was assigned to analyze. It had started to rain and he decided to stay up a while longer to wait for Kaeya. A knock at the door and the redhead immediately puts his book down. “Finally.” He mumbled and heads to the door. He opens it, “Seriously, Kaeya. Stop arriving late-“ He paused as he sees his little brother drenched with a miserable expression. The raindrops blending into his flowing tears.]

[With a hushed voice, Kaeya says, “We broke up.” Diluc gasps and his brother starts to cry. Diluc pulls him into a tight hug. Kaeya grips onto him for dear life and continues to cry. “I’m sorry.” Diluc spoke. At the time, he didn’t know what else to say. He wasn’t with anyone at the moment but as his older brother, it’s his job to provide him comfort.]

[Diluc shared no words but he knew and Kaeya knew, that being in each other’s arms was enough.]

Albedo continues to sob outside. What a pathetic guy he looks. Kaeya pushes open the doors and spots Albedo right away. He rushes to his side but doesn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure if he was even able to touch him. Kaeya gulps and continues to stand right next to him, letting Albedo cry his heart out.

“I think that moment was my favorite too.” He whispers. “A bright day until it started raining but that didn’t really stop us.” Albedos cries start to slowly quiet down. Kaeya looks up at the sky. “You remind me of stars. So bright and shiny. You’re small but you’re still able to showcase what you want people to see in that big brain of yours.” Kaeya chuckles. Albedo sniffles and wipes his eyes. Finally, he looks at him.

“Why’re you here?” Kaeya shrugs and smirks at him, “I guess I just wanted to see you.” Albedo blushes but turns away. “Kaeya, we’re not together…” “I know.” “I broke up with you.” “I know.” “I hurt you.” “I know.” “So then why?” Kaeya tilts his head. “I already told you why.” Albedo shakes his head and another set of tears starts to arise. “No! Why’re you being so nice to me?! Why are you acting like nothing happened?? Like we’re friends?!” Albedo wipes his eyes again.

Kaeya faces his whole body toward him and grabs his chin, lifting his face to see his eyes. “Albedo, you shouldn’t act like you don’t deserve to be cared for.” “But-“ Kaeya squished his face to stop him from speaking. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. You were sad that I wasn’t giving you the attention you needed. I left you alone and I’m sorry.” Albedos eyes water again and grabs Kaeya’s wrist to pull it away from his face.

“I shouldn’t have said that. I regret it so much.” Albedo begins to cry. “I should’ve talked to you about it but instead I broke things off with you! I did it because at that moment, I truly thought you didn’t care. If told you, you would’ve continued to ignore me anyways but I know you’re not the person to do something like that! I was just so sad…” Before Kaeya can answer, Albedo hugs him, clutching onto Kaeya’s shirt like it was necessary.

“Oh Kaeya, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry for not talking to you about how I felt! I’m sorry I broke up with you instead of hearing you out! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! It hurt me seeing you on TV all the time because I wanted to be with you! I wanted to congratulate you for your accomplishments but that never happened! I let you down! Im sorry, Kaeya!“ He dug his face into his shirt with tears staining it. Kaeya’s heart beats fast at hearing those words. He smiles, tears coming out of his eyes too.

“Albedo, I’m sorry too.” He wraps his arms around the short one. “I should’ve made time for you. You were my boyfriend and you deserved to spend time with me even if it wasn’t for a long period of time.” He tightens his grip and plants a small kiss ontop of Albedos head. “I love you, Albedo. I never stopped thinking about you. I’m glad you’re still doing art.” Albedo slowly lifts his head and smiles, “I never stopped thinking about you either.”

The boys let go for a moment to wipe their tears away. “You still love me?” Kaeya asks with flushed cheeks. Albedo nods, “I still love you.” They both smile. “This time, let’s not be shy about what bothers us.” Kaeya states, holding his hand out to him. Albedo nods and holds it. “It’s a promise.” Kaeya smiles wide and they hug each other again.

“Let’s not kiss yet.” Albedo says. “I want us to go slow.” Kaeya nods. “Of course but can I at least kiss you on the cheek?” Albedo laughs, “Yes. You can kiss me anywhere but my lips.” “Anywhere?” “Don’t ruin the moment.” “Okay okay!”

Kaeya pulls Albedo away from him a little and rubs his cheek. “Thank you.” Albedo smiles more. “You’re welcome.” “Albedo!” The boys jump and turn to the entrance and see the instructor with her arms crossed. “First Yn, now you! No making out with your boyfriend till this is over!” Albedo turns red and nods. “Y-Yes, ma’am! I apologize…” She walks back inside.

Kaeya stares, starstruck. “Wow, we’re boyfriends again…” “Uh huh. Klee is going to be very happy.” They hold hands and walk inside. “I miss her. She’s doing well?” “Mhm. She might come.” “Sweet! I can’t wait!” Kaeya kisses his cheek as Albedo leads him to his painting.

- I feel like I’ve been writing sm it’s not even a smau anymore…

- also im not sure WHY but my inbox says I received an ask but it’s not showing who…maybe it’s a glitch or something but if you asked me something: it’s not showing up and saying I have no messages

- kaebedo nation you’re welcome

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[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

I don't even know what to call this AU, but... the one in which Amphibia times passes different from Earth time, and when they come back it's been 10 years, and the Wus are gone and Marcy ends up being fostered the Boonchuys... some more thoughts on it (original post here).

As you would expect, Marcy is the one doing worst here. She has PTSD and is working through it in therapy, but it's not easy. Anne's constant presence helps, though. Being alone with her thoughts isn't easy. When they first came back, she stayed with Anne in her room for a few months until the Boonchuys finished building another room for her (they expect her to stay for a very long time, sadly), but while having her own space was nice, nights quickly became very rough. She slipped into Anne's bed most times. Anne always made a point to always use the softest sheets these days, the ones she knew Marcy liked because they had a soothing texture.

Since Marcy and Sasha are still in middle school and Anne in highschool (their new age gap was a little weird at first but they got used to it after a few months), those two become incredibly close. Sasha could have very easily become one of the popular kids, what with her charm and beauty and cool scar with a cool fake backstory, but she'd rather hang out with the weird little nerd that likes C&C way too much. She still doesn't understand half of what Marcy says and most of it is kinda boring to her, but she tries to give it a chance and find interests in common. Gonna steal the headcanon from awiw that Sasha secretly likes anime, so they bond over that. They both try to get Anne into it now.

Likewise, Anne is sometimes questioned by her highschool friends how come she always wants to hang out with these two middle schoolers. Honestly, Anne doesn't see it as "hanging out with middle schoolers" because she doesn't really perceive much of a gap in maturity. They've all grown so much in Amphibia, and they grew together. Those two are frankly more mature than most of Anne's new classmates. Plus, the age gap isn't even that big, it's only a year and a half.

When people at school learn the Boonchuys are fostering Marcy, some start refering to her as Anne's little sister. Anne doesn't want to think about why that feels so weird and gross. It's an unexpected feeling - she and Marcy pretty much grew up together and were closer than most siblings, surely she'd be happy that people gave their bond such a huge importance, but the idea of Marcy as a sister... eeew (don't think about why, Boonchuy, just don't think about it).

New fear unlocked! Anne doubles down on her efforts to locate Marcy's parents, scared that, if they don't find them, her parents will end up adopting Marcy.

Marcy has read way too much weird manga to be phased by the implication until Anne spells it out for her, and she blushed red as a tomato. She doesn't sleep in Anne's bed that night, rolling the implications inside her head like a kaleidoscope.

Anne and Sasha are pretty shaken by the knowledge that their parents are 10 whole years older. Marcy still hasn't processed that her parents will also be 10 years older when she finds them but... one thing at a time. They make a promise to always be there for each other.

Marcy helping Anne with her high school homework. Sasha standing up to high school bullies.

Anne is so happy when those two finally get to highschool like oh god she missed them sm.

Anne and Sasha are devastated to find out all the music and boy bands they used to be into are no longer popular. Marcy is elated with how far videogames have come. Skyrim 24 year anniversary Ultra Delux Exclusive 4000k Return of the Dragonborn Special Edition looks soooo good!

Sasha's parents, in a surprising twist of events, are now friends. They get along fairly well and even take Sasha on little outings together. It feels suuuuuper weird to her but she missed them, and they clearly missed her and want to make up for lost times. It feels childish to go to the movies with her parents, but she'll accept it. It's kind of nice.

Marcy struggles a lot with being underwater, after the rejuvenation tank. Showers are fine, but baths are no-no. One very hot day of summer, though, they all go to the beach, and she tries to convince herself that it's fine, that she can get in the water, but as soon as it reaches her chest she's already scrambling to get out. She didn't want to make Anne and Sasha worry, but she just can't. Not even allowing herself to be distracted by the sight of Anne in her swimsuit helped. She's worried that she ruined a perfectly good day, but her friends quickly reassure her that she didn't. They all get cleaned and go to the mall for some ice cream instead.

Sasha hits one hell of a growth spurt two years after their return, now she has two inches on Anne, and teases her over it. That leaves Marcy like half a head shorter than them, which seems hilarious to those two for some reasons Marcy doesn't understand. Makes cuddling comfy though.

If Marcy was clingy before, she's even clingier now. She's always holding either Anne or Sasha's hand. She also becomes surprisingly affectionate with Anne's mom, after she found her crying or panicking several times. She's not scared to go for a hug whenever she's happy or excited, and they're always welcome. She's earned the privilege of being called "family", with scoldings and all. Anne's mom is very strict on "no gaming in the kitchen", and if she ever catches Marcy with her console while cooking, she'll take it away for the rest of the day. It's annoying, but for Marcy, it's oddly heartwarming to have an adult pay so much attention to you.

After they all came back, Anne's parents told her that, as the "oldest one" (yikes. It still sounds so weird), she had to be responsible for Marcy "as if she were her younger sister" (yikes yikes yikes yikes) and look out for her. She has no problem with the "looking out" part. It's what she's always done. But, seeing how poorly Marcy is doing during their first year back on Earth, she might exaggerate a little with the "responsability" bit, choosing to deal with a lot of things alone rather than burdering Marcy with them (or Sasha, who's now supposedly "younger" too). She's doing pretty well for some time, until one day she caves, and knocks on Marcy's door, teary-eyed, asking if she'd like to have an improptu sleepover. They watch a few movies, eat some snacks, play board games, read cringy wattpad stories to each other, gaze lovingly into each other's eyes while listening to romantic music, in a very no homo way. Anne curls into Marcy's chest and falls asleep like that. Maybe it IS better that her parents think they're more like sisters. They wouldn't be allowed to have sleepovers like this if they didn't.

[aesthetic-gamersnail]

General Thoughts and Feelings on Trolls Band Together (part 2)

The fight is a pretty interesting scene: It starts with all of the brothers just screaming at each other about their frustrations, John being too bossy and John on the other hand feeling too much pressure as being the oldest and having to take care of his 4 younger siblings. Branch says nothing and just looks at them anxiously (poor boy). When Branch says they have to practice to save Floyd, John says that he is right and they will go their separate ways anyway that, Branch looks super shocked. And John is like:' What? Did you think we'd all move in together after that?' And it just hits Branch, that this a one time thing and his brother don't want to spend more time with him or get to know him. He then says that he is leaving and John answers he should stop acting like a baby. Branch then confronts them about his struggles and their grandma's death and how he was forced to grow up and then he leaves after crumpling up the hideout plan and throwing it away. Poppy picks it up and sees it and says in realization that the bunker was for them. One of them says they didn't know and Poppy says that they didn't ask and goes after Branch.

It was pretty emotional to see, of course, but it kinda lacked a bit of an emotional impact because the brothers just did not seem to be very bothered by their grandmother's death and as I'm writing this I notice they never asked Branch why he was greyer. Also, they all never actually gave a good reason why they never came back (John checked once, ONCE, and he saw no one was there and he assumed that Branch was dead and only heard that he is alive because of the events of the World Tour) or tried to contact Branch in any way in 20 YEARS. When we later see them trapped, of course one could argue they were more concerned about Floyd or their own situation, but John only mentions from the fight that they were screaming at each other but overall no one mentions Branch or shows some kind of guilt after the fight (or anywhere later in the movie, except Clay at the end but it was also just used to make a joke about his sad book club). It just feels like they didn't really care about him, which I know is not true, but it feels like it which is just a shame. I wish we could see maybe something of that in the future, but in this area the movie is kinda lacking.

While being good, I wish the scene of Branch and Poppy talking after the fight was longer, but that is just my personal opinion

Also the newly introduced characters sometimes feel kind of flat, like I wish we could have seem more interactions between the brothers or some flashbacks because in the end of the day I don't feel any wiser about who they are as people. We just get descriptions and snippets of their personalities and that's it. I hope they will expand on that more in the future.

John is honestly a really interesting character who genuinely cares for his brothers (he came to Floyd's aid immediately after hearing he was in trouble) but just doesn't really know how to show it or to deal with his emotions. Maybe he is also someone who is scared to let people be close since he also did not expect them all to still stay in contact after the whole ordeal. (And he has a lot of angst potential) Just, you could really dive in his character

Floyd sadly also falls victim to that because we don't actually get to know him. From some heart to heart talks to Veneer and his reunion with Branch aside, he is just suffering and dying throughout the film so there isn't much we get to know about his character except that he is emotionally sensible and cares about his family

All the brothers could and should be expanded upon (for example how Clay met and coworked with Viva and Bruce meeting his wife, it would be so interesting to see)

But what we got was pretty cute, like the dynamic between Floyd and Jon, Floyd and Branch and Bruce and Clay

I sadly don't remember which word exactly Poppy said but Branch was like 'I love how you say this word' super flirty and I still thin about that (Poppy and Branch really worked so good as a team, and they were so cute throughout the movie, I love them so much)

Floyd's and Branch's reunion is super cute, because he is the first from his brothers to see Branch as a grown up and not as small child, so it is really heart warming.

I LOVED the whole chase sequence, it was candy for my eyes and my ears, really 10/10

John letting Branch take the lead was super cute actually and emotionally impactful

The rendition of 'Better Place' in the movie is godly, cannot wait to hear it again

Floyd's death was kinda ... weird? Because he dies and then he just comes back to life? Without an explanation? I thought the theory of the brothers lending him talent would be true because it made sense but nope, he just comes back from the dead, which is kind of a weird decision, but who am I to argue

Branch's and Poppy's kiss was sooooo soft and cute and it just felt so natural, like AAHHHHH

Viva accepts Branch into the family -> braids his hair (I see the logical conclusions made in Poppy's family are genetic)

The Nsync cameo was funny but it did throw me in for a loop wondering if it was canon in-universe

The fakeout proposal was really funny, but I loved how they were on the same page and not awkward at all with each other ('I have a small proposal.' '*gasp*You want me to join the band?' 'You know me so well :)')

Head canon: Veneer and Floyd become pan palls and Veneer sends him mail from prison

That are my thoughts for now, maybe I will write more in the future, if I think of more things. But yeah, genuinely a good movie and a fun experience with nice animation and good music, as previously written 8/10, I had a good time. But I really wish we either get a new movie, series or special because I really want to see more of the characters and to expand more on their personalities and dynamics

[thevelaryons]

CORLYS + LAENA

Following up from my other post where I compared Alyn & Laena, I wanted to delve a bit into the similarities Laena shares with her father. She's very much Corlys' mini-me too, in her own way.

ADVENTUROUS & DARING

Corlys Velaryon was a man apart, a man as brilliant as he was restless, as adventurous as he was ambitious. [...] At age sixteen, he became a captain himself, taking a fishing boat called the Cod Queen from Driftmark to Dragonstone and back. In the years that followed, his ships grew larger and swifter, his voyages longer and more dangerous.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

A fiery young maiden, freshly flowered, Lady Laena had inherited the beauty of a true Targaryen from her mother, Rhaenys, and a bold, adventurous spirit from her father, the Sea Snake. As Lord Corlys loved to sail, Laena loved to fly, and had claimed for her own no less a mount than mighty Vhagar, the oldest and largest of the Targaryen dragons since the passing of the Black Dread in 94 AC.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

MARRIAGE TO A RED DRAGON RIDING TARGARYEN WHOSE CLAIM TO THE IRON THRONE WAS PUSHED ASIDE

Rhaenys, at six-and-ten, was a fearless young beauty, and more than a match for her mariner. A dragonrider since the age of thirteen, she insisted upon arriving for the wedding on Meleys, the Red Queen, the magnificent scarlet she-dragon that had once borne her aunt Alyssa. “We can go back to the ends of the earth together,” she promised Ser Corlys.

— Fire & Blood, The Long Reign

Armed with Dark Sister, the prince made short work of his rival, and wed Lady Laena Velaryon a fortnight later. [...] Prudently, the prince and his new bride took themselves far from Westeros soon after the wedding, crossing the narrow sea on their dragons. Some said they flew to Valyria, in defiance of the curse that hung over that smoking wasteland, to search out the secrets of the dragonlords of the old Freehold.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

BEFRIENDING SOMEONE WHO COULD HAVE BEEN A RIVAL

Reports had reached the court that Corlys Velaryon was massing ships and men on Driftmark to “defend the rights” of his son, Laenor, whilst Daemon Targaryen, a hot-tempered and quarrelsome young man of twenty, had gathered his own band of sworn swords in support of his brother, Viserys. A violent struggle for succession was likely no matter who the Old King named to succeed him.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

In Daemon Targaryen he found a willing partner.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

Though Princess Rhaenyra had been proclaimed her father’s successor, there were many in the realm, at court and beyond it, who still hoped that Viserys might father a male heir, for the Young King was not yet thirty. Grand Maester Runciter was the first to urge His Grace to remarry, even suggesting a suitable choice: the Lady Laena Velaryon.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

Whilst Princess Rhaenyra misliked her stepmother, Queen Alicent, she became fond and more than fond of her good-sister Lady Laena.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

MORE INTERESTED IN BOATS/DRAGONS THAN ROMANCE

Daella became seasick crossing Blackwater Bay, however, and on her return complained that “he likes his boats better than he likes me.” (She was not wrong in that.)

— Fire & Blood, The Long Reign

Only Lady Laena herself seemed untroubled. “Her ladyship shows far more interest in flying than in boys,” the maester at High Tide wrote to the Citadel.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

DEATH UPON THE STEPS

For all these reasons, the realm suffered a terrible blow on the sixth day of the third moon of 132 AC, when Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, collapsed whilst ascending the serpentine steps in the Red Keep of King’s Landing. By the time Grand Maester Munkun came rushing to his aid, the Sea Snake was dead.

— Fire & Blood, Under the Regents

Sadly, Maester Gerardys came too late. After three days of delirium, Lady Laena passed from this mortal coil. She was but twenty-seven. During her final hour, it is said, Lady Laena rose from her bed, pushed away the septas praying over her, and made her way from her room, intent on reaching Vhagar that she might fly one last time before she died. Her strength failed her on the tower steps, however, and it was there she collapsed and died.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

[beoneofus]

beeeeeeeeeeeep.

“ hey... It's been a while. ”

shuffling could be heard, followed by the rustling of rough pants and the scraping of shoes against a hard floor.

“ I, uh... man, I don't even know why I'm calling you. ”

his voice was... it was raw. toned with what seemed to be sadness. acceptance lingered, but grief followed.

“ I guess- I guess I just miss you, y/n. ”

the sound of his shaky sigh and voice, that struggled to stay steady, made tears roll from your tearducts and well up on your waterline. you had to squeeze your eyes shut in order not to cry. the phone you held to your ear shook painfully, as did the strong breath you inhaled.

“ it's been so long, hasn't it? a year, this friday.. ”

the male on the other side of the phone let out a wobbly breath.

“ a year since you've been gone... ‘s funny how you were just here, like, two seconds ago smokin’ a joint with me and laughing... an’now you're not. ”

a pathetic, pain filled laugh was let out. you could only imagine him scraping tears from his cheeks furiously with the butt of his palm.

the thought alone had you slapping a hand over your mouth, a sob following after. muffled.

he sighed again, before a flop and the plop of something heavy was heard. he must've hopped over the arm of the couch, to lay on it... he always did that when you were around.

but.. now you weren't. you had to run away.

“ ... I'm not one to believe in heaven or hell, man.. ” he paused, and you could only guess to wrack a hand through his hair. “ but, I just know you're the prettiest angel in the sky right now. ”

god, here comes the hiccups.

“ I love you, y/n. just... keep rockin’, darling. I miss you every day... ” it sounded like he was sadly smiling now. “ and I always listen to the mixtapes you made me. ”

you sniffle, harshly wiping away your now falling tears.

“ guns n roses will always be our band, babe. remember, you're my little rose. ”

your breath was shaking violently by now, and so were your shoulders. you missed him so fucking much.

“ and... and I guess this'll be the last voicemail. ” another pause rang out. It was longer, however... because he didn't want to hang up. “ goodbye, y/n. please- remember to stay alive. that's all I ever wanted for you. ”

and then the voicemail ended with a beep.

your legs crossed criss-cross-apple-sauce, leaned back against the couch that sat you thousand of miles away from paul. your eyes were practically glued shut, squeezed so tight that your lashes bent upwards against the fat of your upper cheeks. your lips, trembling, pressed together in a suction tight bite.

it was so hard to keep it together, which is why you finally broke. the dam fell, leaving you to heavily sob. your hands, after dropping the phone, flew straight to your eyes. the butts of your palms press to your skin while you try to rub away the tears and itchiness so helplessly, but nothing works. you can't stop crying.

but, you had no choice. you had to fake tour death and get out of santa carla for personal reasons that involved not only your little brother's life, but your own.

the only biggest regret you had, was not saying goodbye to paul before you did it.