#season one was REALLY weird for shawn

[lassie-farce]

Henry when he only gave Shawn GI Joe figurines to play with: :D

Henry when 20 years later Shawn still plays with GI Joe (Carlton): :/

[daintylovers]

imagine moving to beacon hills around season one. right around the same time, allison moves in. it's nice not being the only new girl, so you two quickly become friends.

imagine meeting lydia for the first time. it happens in your fourth class of the day, you two are assigned to be partners for the semester. albeit, at first she isn't thrilled, but once she gives you a chance, everything changes. she's found someone like-minded for once in this small town. someone as intelligent, yet fashionable as her. she thinks for a quick second, if she liked girls, she would love you.

imagine seeing stiles for the first time. seeing- not meeting, because the boy can only gawk at you from across the hall. it's definitely weird and a little unsettling at first, but it's nice to be admired? right?

imagine finally talking to the poor boy for the first time. it had to be you who spoke first, his brain going a mile a minute. it happens a few days later, when lab partners are assigned. stiles almost faints when he hears your names paired together. scott has to be the one to push him out of his seat. it feels kind of how you imagine bella felt when edward and her first meet, awkward and stiff. does he not like you? maybe that's why he was always staring, it wasn't in fantasy, but with disgust. not being one to dwell on whether someone likes you or not, you push through, introducing yourself with a raised out hand. stiles is quick to latch on, spewing out his full government name. then once he catches the confusion on your face, he tells you that you could call him stiles.

imagine going to lydias house party, that very night. running into all your newfound friends, dancing and drinking a little. then seeing your shy new lab partner chasing after his drunk friend. but also allison chasing after the drunk friend. whats his name again? shawn? smith? stiles? no- wait stiles is yours. scott! its scott. but by the time you have that revelation, the three are already outside. so you watch as allison gets into some random car and stiles stands are dumbfounded. scott has seemingly disappeared, and there's an unease building in your chest. who was that guy with allison? stiles, sensing someone behind him, turns around to face the one person he doesn't want to see at the moment. not because he doesn't like you, but because he is pretty sure his best friend is a freaking werewolf.

imagine asking him if he knew who allison got in the car with, and getting an unsavory response. great, your new friend might get murdered and tossed into the woods tonight. the alcohol is catching up to you rather quickly, and the worry is only increasing. stiles starts to make a move to his car, eager to see if scott went back home when you wrap a hand around his upper arm. it's not harsh or anything, so he doesn't flinch, but he is confused. you ask him if he will give you a ride to allisons, because you guys live close together and you want to make sure she gets home safe. stiles immediately says yes, but tells you he has to make a quick stop at scotts. something about possible alcohol poisoning or something, which makes your head spin. oh fuck, what if you have that?

imagine being told to wait in the car as stiles goes into scotts house. the boy is very persistent as you try to help him out. he offers to get you fries from the local drive-through if you just please stay in the car. that gets you to comply, so you're left staring out the window. it doesn't take long for stiles to come running out of the house and speeding down the street. you don't even have to ask because he tells you that allison went home with this guy derek who is very very evil. you never get those fries. but the good news is that allison is alive!

imagine stiles walking you to your door because you and allison really do live right next to each other. you guys don't say much, the adrenaline rush already crashing. you guys are about to part ways when you stop him and ask for his number. he seems like a nice guy and you joke about how you'll harass him until he gets you those fries. his heart does cartwheels as you exchange digits, and makes a mental note to kill scott. in a perfect world, you two would have managed to spend the whole night together, but scotts newfound supernatural abilities are already infiltrating stiles life.

imagine waking up the next morning with a pounding headache and a text from stiles telling you to get dressed cause he is coming over in fifteen minutes. it has you smiling like a child and it feels so goddamn good. maybe this kid will be cooler than you imagined. he pulls into your driveway and you open the door to see him with iced vanilla lattes and Mcdonald's french fries. this guy might just be an angel. you let him in and for the rest of the morning, you guys eat and talk about nothing while lounging around your room.

[steveharrington]

can you elaborate more on steve being abandoned by the narrative?

yes <3 so i think there are two very unfortunate circumstances surrounding steve's character that have led to the current state of his plotline: 1. after not killing him in s1 like they originally planned, the duffers have never really had a plan for steve and 2. they are extremely influenced by audiences. when they were conceptualizing steve to fit in among the ensemble cast, the duffers were picturing him as a douchey boyfriend who unceremoniously dies. lonnie was originally going to come back to the byers house to save jonathan and nancy. there was no need to picture where he'd be 4 seasons down the road, so they just didn't account for that. then joe keery charmed them so hard that they literally couldn't bear to kill him, so steve ends season one still somehow alive.

but we've already established the nancy/jonathan plotline, because jonathan was once the duffers' self-insert who must defeat the evil jock and win over the girl. they couldn't just backpedal on that right away, so they needed to give nancy and jonathan a plotline alone, away from steve. but steve only ever functioned as an extension of nancy until this point, so what do we do with steve now? in an accidental stroke of genius that the duffers have admitted was a last second decision, they pair him with the children and make him into a babysitter. it almost instantly boosts steve into being tied with hopper and el for most popular character from the show, potentially even beats them both out. in 2017 when s2 aired, you could not escape mom steve jokes. it was everywhere, steve was everywhere, joe was everywhere, it was arguably the second coming of #justice for barb, which, in netflix business-y terms, was the exact viral meme type situation that the show wanted and needed to sell merch and remain relevant and say "see we still got it!!!"

you know who has the 2nd most lines in the entirety of season three? directly behind hopper? ahead of winona ryder? steve. think for a second about how absolutely insane that is. the character who was written specifically to die in season one. joe keery's name wasn't even in the season one credits, because he wasn't considered a series regular. and now he has the 2nd most spoken lines in the big blockbuster season because he rocketed up in popularity so intensely. season three marketing features the mall so heavily, creates a literal physical shrine to 80s nostalgia, and when the very first promo is released an entire year before the season airs, who's the star of that teaser trailer? and who, pray tell, is featured in the main brand sponsorship ad that plays in movie theaters worldwide? thats right its america's little darling steve harrington.

but here is the issue. the duffers look at what made steve popular and they see: funny exasperated babysitter, heartthrob action hero. they're like oh okay so we should keep putting him directly in the center of the action, bang him up every season to give him his classic bloodied aesthetic, but. he still needs to be funny. we can almost kill him, but we can't actually kill him because he's profitable. we can let him get horrifically injured because it's badass, but we still gotta let him crack jokes. it creates this very weird tone to steve's role in the story starting in season 3 because he's both the action hero and the comedic relief and protected by plot armor, so we get scenes where he's being literally tortured until he's begging for his life and gasping for breath but the tone is still.......fun? comedic? light and goofy? i think the duffers also forgot he's supposed to be a teenager.

now this is partially me making educated guesses but i feel pretty confident about this: once again, like gollum, joe keery uses his big shiny eyes and manages to evade death again in season four by being so likable and charming and marketable that netflix execs or shawn levy or maybe even the duffers themselves were like oh fuck we just can't do it. they were obviously tossing around the idea of taking mom steve all the way by letting him die sacrificially for dustin, so in season four they make eddie, transfer steve's relationship with dustin directly onto him, ctrl f steve's name in the death scene and just type in eddie instead, and once again steve is alive but he's directionless.

so what does he have now, in season four? i think the duffers have a whiteboard somewhere with steve's name and around it are little circles that say "funny" "cool" "DO NOT KILL" and steve is now stuck in this endless cycle of getting beaten up, popping back up somehow unharmed like a looney tune, saying something cute and oblivious, rinse and repeat. because that's what worked, that's what made him popular all the way back in season two. that's what the duffers are obviously keeping in mind when they're writing steve: popularity. not realism, not depth, not growth, just literally how to continue making him popular. meanwhile, other characters get to be part of the actual story. other characters get to serve a purpose other than selling merch. when el is bitten by a monster, she gets to actually feel pain and need help because that's realistically what any human would need. when hopper is tortured, he gets to suffer and ponder his existence and reflect on the relationships in his life. steve never gets any of that, because the writers just don't see steve as the 19 year old boy on his 4th straight year of traumatic events that he actually is.

they literally just see him as a money maker, there for cool viral moments and witty lines and maybe the occasional emotion experienced but only if it's about his romantic prospects. and the narrative that other characters get to have and be apart of just kinda runs parallel to steve. he's there, technically, but he's not really in the story. and it's like actually crazy because you'd think after all the funko pops he sold, he'd have earned an actual storyline!!!

[corvuschronicles]

finally gonna make a post better explaining my real fake psychic shawn spencer au so this might be a long one bc in the past it was mostly rambles as i came up with ideas and trying to make them fit together

i am in the process of actually writing a fic for this and it’s looking like it may be the first part of a 3 part series, below the cut are a lot more details to give context to my au

okay! couple of important things for the overarching universe:

the supernatural exists! though the population is not as prominent as it once was, so the supernatural world learned to adapt and stay hidden, basically for every 20 claims of something supernatural only one is real, and obviously some cities have higher populations compared to others

because of the dwindling population of the supernatural and the growing population of the mundane, it is expected that both would intermingle, so it is actually a lot more common than you’d expect for people to have supernatural bloodlines, though it is often insignificant enough that it doesn’t matter. sometimes that is not the case. sometimes people are born into still active bloodlines so they grow up in that world and sometimes people never know that they even had supernatural blood, let alone that the supernatural exists. sometimes, even though someone’s bloodline may be dormant (and they are or are not aware of the supernatural) unforeseen circumstances can sort of jumpstart said bloodline

with or without knowing it, people with supernatural abilities or bloodlines tend to gravitate to each other

there are few rules that the supernatural community follows, the most important being to not expose themselves to the mundane

within the supernatural community there are different categories; creatures/those with creature blood (vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters), those with abilities (psychics, druids, witches), sentries (those tasked with keeping the supernatural hidden, and hunters (mundanes who became aware and choose to fight it)

explaining the name, real fake psychic:

when he first started working for the SBPD shawn faked being a psychic to avoid arrest

after season 4, shawn has an encounter with the supernatural that essentially gives him real psychic abilities

he keeps up his fake psychic charade because he can’t really say ‘hey guys i was faking it before but guess what? it’s real now!’

now i will go a little into some of the changes/headcanon/general facts of some characters in my au, starting with the main man

shawn:

he’s mexican! this is not central to the story really but it’s my headcanon so i will work it in because i can

somewhere down the line there is maybe some kind of long forgotten supernatural family member, meaning shawn has supernatural blood

the combination of his childhood and eidetic memory and genius is all him but it definitely gets a small push from his possible bloodline, especially in how he visualizes

after The Incident™️ shawn gets real psychic abilities, at first it’s vague and he doesn’t know what’s happening, but then things get too weird and even he can’t ignore it

true psychics are rare, a lot of people only have some aspects (like divination, clairaudience, etc) but of course, shawn ends up with more than the usual

his abilities, especially at the beginning and when they develop more, are rather painful because he is receiving so much more input now, leading to headaches at least

shawn getting real powers is the catalyst to those around him awakening as well, and now that he and the others are aware of the supernatural, it seems to be more present than they realized

gus:

he’s an amplifier

his ability is kind of a paradox, on its own it doesn’t do much because it is mostly dormant outside giving him the supersniffer, but once shawn awakens it causes a ripple effect, they are now in the supernatural world and as a result gus in turn awakens as well

he can amplify his and other’s abilities; this helps shawn because gus can help him focus on certain visions or to make sense of some things he sees, this makes shawn claim that his is now literally magic head

it is a paradox because without shawn’s powers gus’ wouldn’t have come through and gotten stronger, but he also helps shawn’s get stronger, it’s a loop

gus gets the dormant bloodline from both his parents

shawn is not the only one gus helps

juliet:

she is an empath

she is naturally an empathetic person but once she awakens it gives her more of an understanding that she never had before

juliet gets her bloodline from her mother’s side

once they all figure it out, juliet can also help shawn in a different way, as she can now feel the emotions coming through his visions

gus is able to help juliet develop her abilities more, and she develops a type of danger sense, which comes in handy in their job

her bloodline is weaker so she’s not the strongest empath, and her prolonged exposure to a shield made it harder for her abilities to develop as well

carlton

he is a nullifier

lassie’s ability is that he is essentially immune to the supernatural to a point, things like curses, jinxes, telepathy, etc do not work at all or barely affect him, most physical attacks would still work because he is still human (like poisons or tactile telepathy)

however, this also affects positive things such as blessings or good luck charms

his ability is like an aura around him, meaning that those close around him may be affected as well, such as o’hara who, as his partner, is often exposed and it put a hamper on her own abilities

shawn is also affected, but in a good way; the constant bombarding of psychic readings stop when he touches lassiter, and even just being around him can ease the headaches

this is eventual shassie

unlike the others, lassie is an anomaly, he has no actual supernatural bloodline, he is the first in his (recent) line

henry

he is a non-believing, non-aware, mundane person

he notices shawn acting stranger than usual, he also avoids coming to the house more than usual

he has his own Incident™️ in which he witnesses something that shows shawn is now telling the truth when he says he’s psychic

madeleine

is a whitexican; not exactly relevant other than the fact if goes with my mexican shawn headcanon

it is her side that had the supernatural bloodline

just like her son, if she were to awaken she would probably develop some minor abilities, most likely clairaudience

SBPD

for the most part, unaware of the supernatural

anyone born into or active in the supernatural community stays away from the police as they tend to live outside mundane laws and prefer to police their own

few key players in charge of or above the police may be aware or are a part of the community

the fact that a psychic and friends with abilities work for the police becomes controversial

chief vick is unaware but someone close to her is not

if anyone wants to add anything or simply ask questions or talk about feel free to do so! i love talking about real psychic shawn <3

[transparentkinks]

What if the pre-war government censored all information on sexual health?

You should know I wrote this with my entire p#@sy. MDNI

Nora never really considered herself sheltered. All things considered she thought she was rather open minded. Anatomy and burns never made her squeamish, she was a battle medic, and then a trauma surgeon for hell’s sake. When she served she was often praised for her ability to keep it together even in the most hellish circumstances. When it comes to injuries encountered in battle, especially in regards to prisoners of war or those left too long alone in drastic environments, Nora was who they called. When the wounds before them were so gruesome it got to even the most seasoned surgeon, Nora was one of the few members on staff that people could count on to stay composed till the patient was stable. The things she’d seen, god the things she’d smelled… and beyond just violence and gore, she’s cussed, heard locker room talk, mothered herself a child, and she’ll never really forget that time with her company crawling around in a field looking for the dismembered penis of the poor bastard who caught the business end of a pretty nasty car bomb. Despite the propaganda of her small town she liked to believe that she treated people the same no matter what they believed in or looked like. When she crawled out of that vault she managed to swallow down her grief and face the wasteland. She accepted that life would always be stranger than fiction and started collecting friends that looked like they belonged in comic books. She learned fast and adapted to a world that had changed plenty without her. 

So what the fuck were her friends talking about? 

“I mean it man, I swear to god when I went down on her that rug was braided”

“No way, who in their right mind spends time braiding down there?” Piper looked at Hancock like his ear just fell off. 

“I guess some girls in the capital are just different” Hancock shrugged with a tipsy grin before talking another sip from his beer. “Different strokes for different folks and all that.” 

“I call bullshit” Macreedy spoke up. “Some chick in the capital isn’t gonna have any more time to be so weird about her hygiene than anyone in the commonwealth.” 

“They do got that bigass water purifier down there, maybe they get to shower more and it does something weird to their brain” Deacon interjected, shit eating grin having not moved from his face since the second he sat down with the group with his bowl of stew and a bottle of whisky to pass amongst the group. In fact Nora was fairly certain his distinctive grin had only grown as the conversation got more confusing. 

“Before ze war, zhey studied people’s brainz and why zhey might do strange zhings. Some diagnozis did mention zat a persons’s environment can induze compulzive behaviors, especially vhen expozed to trauma. Most of zhe examples were concerning cleanliness and hygiene.” Curie spoke up, and finally Nora felt like she was understanding what was being said. Though, She wasn’t entirely sure how they got to their current conversation topic. “If a perzon feels such compulsizons and findz zemselves vith zhe means, zhey may indulge zhemselves even to zhe point vhere ve find zheir behavior strange.”

“Well, I guess she could be considered odd. Becoming a ghoul isn’t exactly non-traumatic, but if it really is because of the water purifier than I wouldn’t mind everyone getting a little more weird. She nearly tasted like water” Tasted??? Who tastes someone during sex? Well, she guessed Nate had liked sucking her breasts, especially after having shawn, but she thought it would probably taste more salty.  They had to be talking about sex if Preston's face was anything to go by. The man looked like he was simultaneously trying to hide behind his drink and shrink back into his coat. Hancock was looking away fondly when Cait slugged his shoulder. 

“Man I’ve seen you put a slice of cram in between two snack cakes and call it a fancy sandwich. And then ate it. I don’t trust your sense of taste” 

“Yeah!” Curie spoke up. “You zaid zath you can’t taste anyzhing since you turned ghoul!” A choir of yeah’s arose around her from Piper, Macreedy, Deacon, and Cait. 

“Those are the words of a person who has never tried a fancy sandwich.” John waggled a finger at Cait. “You should know that’s a ghoul delicacy.” 

“What are we talking about?” Danse strode over to the group following the cheers from the corner of the settlement bar. 

“Only the finest delicacies available to a person.” Hancock grinned at the synth cheekily.

“Danse you’ve been to the capital wasteland before, did girls start tasting different after that water drama?” Deacon stood to drag the synth down into the already crowded booth. Danse suddenly looked very much like he wanted to leave. 

“I’m not telling you about my sexual encounters.” Ah, so It was about sex. 

“Oh come on! You’re no fun.” Deacon laughed and shoved Danse as he squeezed into the booth. 

“You know for all your expertise on retrieving important information I'm surprised you’re withholding this essential data.” Piper jabbed, and with a wiggle of her eyebrows passed the whiskey to Danse. “No way this reporter can get a scoop?” 

“Wrong hands and all that.” Danse sniffed before taking a swig. 

“And therefore!” Hancock slammed his hands on the table and looked pointedly at Macreedy Curie and Cait. “None of you can prove that pussy did not taste different after that water debacle.” Nora was trying to put it together in her mind what they were describing looked like, fighting off a blush as her mind wandered.

“Does it even matter if there’s a difference?” Nick sighed past his cigarette, adding another puff of smoke into the already slightly opaque air of the concrete building. 

“Ov course it doze” Curie slurred. While she had yet to touch any chems beyond stimpacks and the occasional med-x after a rough fight, curie was clearly enjoying ‘zhe social ritual of zhelebratory inebriation’ as she had put it. Especially since John used his connections to find her some pot, a drug she apparently had medical reason to trust more than alcohol. The first time Curie tried a shot she spat it out and talked extensively about how it burned. Right now she was enjoying a small rum and nuka (The only way she could tolerate any alcohol) and passing a joint between herself, John, and Cait. “It could be a healtz indicator! In regardz to zex, zhis is important, yes?” 

“Or” Macreedy interjected, seeming rather done with this conversation. “Maybe we’re all a bunch of gross fucks and pussy tastes good if its hydrated. For all we know that was just basic pre-war and we’re just now catching up.” 

“Man, people really had it good pre-war if everyone tasted like that.” Hancock sighed whistfully before taking a puff of the joint as it was passed his way. 

“Vell, I guess ve vill never have the data on zhat” Curie sighed. 

“Nu-uh” Deacon spoke up, grin unmoving as he cast his gaze to Nora. Oh no.  “We got ourselves our own repository of pre-war experiences right here.” 

“Oh shit, yeah. What do you think sunshine? Do folks taste different after the bombs?” Hancock looked at her rather excitedly, and suddenly Nora felt quite a few eyes on her. What she wouldn’t give for a stealth boy right now. Or a much, much stronger drink. Speaking of… 

“Well I don’t know, I wasn’t exactly walking around licking people.” Nora huffed and snatched the whiskey bottle before it could reach its next destination. 

“What, Nate never let you get a taste of yourself? Kept you all to himself? Never told you what it was like while he was going down?” Cait jested, propping her head on her elbow and looking up at Nora with mischief written across her face. Taste herself? Going down? Nora was rapidly losing context as her anxiety grew. 

“I-... I mean not really?” Nora stuttered, floundering for something to say that wouldn’t tip off her friends that she had no fucking clue what they were referencing. Oh no, now Cait looked confused. “I mean, people didn’t really discuss sex like people do now…” She trailed off but the eyes did not leave her. Normally she relished sharing her better memories from before the war with her friends, loved how they listened to her no matter what she wanted to talk about, but this time she just wished they’d ignore her. She took another swig to buy herself some time. 

“Wait, Nate did go down on you right?” Piper spoke up, leaning forward in her seat with a look of concern and confusion. Damn her. Nora normally loved how quickly Piper could put pieces together before she could, but right now she wanted to strangle her. The table was silent. 

“I uh, that’s slang right?” Piper nodded. “I don’t really know what that means.” Cait started cackling and Nora felt her cheeks flush. 

“Girly it means eating pussy.” Cait giggled. Nora just blinked at her, embarrassment growing as she remained confused. Cait’s giggles died off, along with her grin. “Eating you out? Shit Curie you had a big word for it.”

“Cunilingus?” Curie studied her face. “Oral zex?” Curie probed fruther. How would she taste herself during a blowjob? “Providing physical pleasure to a woman by means of contact between the mouth and the vagina?” Curie clarified. When she just started at Curie confused John spoke up. 

“Hold on, you really have no clue what we’re talking about?” He looked bewildered. 

“...No” Nora wished the ground would eat her alive.

“Damn, you had that man’s kid and he never went down on you? Ever?” John looked shocked, and looking around the table she realized pretty much everyone was giving her some flavor of the same look. “Man maybe pre-war folk didn’t have it that nice of they didn’t go down on each other.” Hancock shook his head. 

“We had the notion of oral sex before the war.” Nick clarified with a furrow in his brow. “I’m sure you ended up reading about it somewhere. You were a nurse right?” 

“I mean, yeah…” Nora mumbled. “But it was mostly about ways people catch different diseases and how to identify symptoms.” The whiskey bottle was passed along, and Nora prayed the conversation would steer towards pre-war medicine. At least she could talk extensively about that. Curie suddenly looked a little mad. 

“On vhat anatomy?” She questioned with urgency. “Your medical textbookz must have explained zhe affects on men and vomen, yes?” A beat of silence passed. Shit, her textooks were basically all male anatomy. She racked her head. There were diagrams of women, she knew it. Yeah, when she was learning basic gynecology. She saw plenty of diagrams of female reproductive organs. And especially leading up to their unit on delivery. Did they talk about diseases in women? She knew they discussed pregnancy effects… 

“I mean I was first trained as a combat medic, so it was mostly male anatomy...”

“But they had women in the army.” Nick corrected. “Not just medics, they saw deployment. They were soldiers.” Nick stubbed out the last of his cigarette in the ashtray. “They didn’t really train their medics to only treat half of their army did they?” 

“Well beyond genitalia there isn’t much difference between male and female anatomy-”

“Zhat is not true!!” Curie exclaimed. She definitely looked mad now. “Surely treating soldiers so vould result in more female casualties, yes?” 

“Women in relationships were given the option to opt out of the draft, so it was a lot more men than women.” Nora explained. “And if you ask me the death toll of that war was pretty equal opportunity in the end.” 

Curie frowned. “Hold on” Hancock spoke up, tucking his tin of mentats back into his pocket as he looked at her contemplatively. Nora felt like she would not enjoy his line of questioning with those in his system. “So let me get this straight, you knew about oral sex, but not on women?” Why did he look sad?

“Yes?” Nora suddenly felt very uncertain. 

“Did you perform oral sex?” He followed her response rather quickly. If she wasn’t already clearly blushing she was certain she looked like a tomato now (Or she supposed, a tato fruit is the new word for the vegetable). She swallowed and felt like it was all too audible. 

“Yes.”

“I hope he was a good lay then, fucker better have caught up if you weren’t getting any head.” Cait grumbled, leaning her head on Nora’s shoulder. “-‘Nough men up here don’t care if a girl cums, I’did’d hoped it was different then.” Nora was silent. Girls didn’t have cum, right? She’d never produced any cum with Nate, and her teachers were very clear. Men produced semen and women produced eggs, and sex required the male to ejaculate to enable procreation. Women couldn’t produce ejaculate. Nora must have been quiet too long, or maybe she still looked confused because John spoke up again. 

“He did make you cum, right?” Nora sorta wished someone would just shoot her now and spare her this exchange. Still, they seemed willing enough to explain, right? And they were her friends, she trusted them. 

“I thought only men could produce ejaculate?” Nora clarified rather quietly.

“Fuck, man.” Hancock sighed dissapointedly, leaning back in his seat and pushing his hat back. Nick shook his head as their friends began mumbles of ‘That’s fucked up/ Damn/ Fucking pre-war assholes.’ She found the whiskey pushed back into her hands, a rather clingy Cait wrapping her arms around her as she indulged, but no explanation offered. Nora was thankful when Deacon changed the subject, content to listen to his latest exaggerated story rather than think too much about the pitying looks she kept catching from her friends. She wasn’t quite sure what to think about this newfound revelation that she had far less experience than she thought when it comes to sex. Clearly she was missing a lot. Everyone was weirdly more polite to each other and her after the whole conversation, not that Nora was complaining, but paired with the glances she kept catching between her friends it was all rather strange. 

She was one of the first to turn in, making her way to the large house she built with a room for each of her friends. Of course not leaving without everyone insisting on a parting hug, Cait planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek with a grin. It was a short but pleasant walk back to the house. She loved sanctuary and still kept a house there, but sometimes the memories were just too heavy. There was just something about the complex she built at starlight drive-in that felt so beautiful to her. Maybe because her only pre-war memories of the place were high school dates and the carnival that would come through town. Maybe it was because it had one of the best places to stargaze undisturbed. Maybe it was because it felt like she was building a new family here. 

The building was mostly concrete, with lead lining on the exterior to keep out the wastes when they came in on the winds of a radstorm. Everyone had their own room, each decked out to their own tastes. The settlement had huge walls and enough missile turrets to send a sentry bot to abu dhabi. It was safe, and cozy, but not nearly as lively and green as Nora remembered from her childhood. There were people aplenty sure, but pretty much just robots, synths, ghouls, and folks just looking for some peace for once showed up to her settlements. No kids. Nora would always lament shawn’s loss of access to many childhood cultural staples. At least he had his pip boy and her entire game collection, and what child-appropriate media she had downloaded on there before the bombs dropped.She tried to make the compound fun, but her settlers seemed to enjoy her amenities more than her son. It's one thing to build your kid a playground, it was another to get them to play on it. She really wished that ghoul family would move in, or really any family. She really hoped the cure they sent out to Macreedy’s son worked fast. It’d be nice to have him here. She guessed she couldn’t blame people for choosing not to bring a new life into this hellscape, and to not risk talking about any kids they did have outside of settlements. At least Shawn seemed content with picking up stories from residents and playing games with Ada, Codsworth and the robots Nora built. Whenever she had to take off to make sure the peace she helped build would stick, she felt a lot better knowing most of her friends would be staying behind, and they’d be looking out for Shawn. 

They understood how anxious she could get about him. Shawn wasn’t born to her, but her son never really bothered to consider the implications of what he made. Shawn did not ask to be built young, programmed afraid and terrified of abandonment. Nora had asked the railroad if they thought he could grow, mature, not be stuck as a kid for however many centuries he’d survive. No one had any clue, there were no other synths like him. She knew one day she would have to tell him, before all the years on ice caught up to her and he was stuck alone. 

Except he wouldn’t be, Nora reminded herself. Her friends, they’d listened to her on many dark nights, listening to her grief and fears and anxieties. Nick had held her, promised her that no matter what reality lay in store for Shawn, if he was functional he would be there for him. John had similar sentiments, with the addition of a few corny ghoul jokes and a radioactive punchline. Strong, well… ‘No cry!!! Crying Weak. Human not weak. Strong is Strong! Strong smash anything that try to smash tiny robot child.’ Which she supposed was reassuring at least in regards to his safety. He was good at that, any time he was stationed at the drive in he insisted on guarding the front gate. She would have thought it would be easier to get a super mutant to party, but he generally did not enjoy any situation with too many humans he couldn’t yell at. In all honesty, when it came to helping keep her kid sane she trusted curie the most. She had taken her worries so seriously that she found a new research focus after her stimpack breakthrough. 

Nora stopped by Shaun's room on the ground floor, peeking in the door happy to see him in bed, his desk still littered with nuka cola bottles and the various pieces of whatever technology he could get his hands on to fiddle with. When she had started construction he had insisted on having his own door out into the little village so he could look around for scrap without Ada or Codsworth lecturing him for tracking mud water dirt or oil into the house. It worried her sometimes, and seeing him safe and at peace always helped settle her. She knew that with Ada in charge of the household and the many robots she had built to help the community nothing would ever happen to him. Realistically, It would be really hard to even approach the settlement while presenting a threat without getting nuked to hell by the space sentry bot her son had lovingly named Jupiter. Still, she always indulged herself in checking on him before she turned in whenever she was home. 

Four floors up the complex of concrete lead and steel, her room had a beautiful view of the gardens below, beyond them the marketplace. She watched as her friends spilled out the bar, one by one. Chatting amongst themselves as they made their way back to the house. John slung his arms around Nick and Cait’s shoulders before making a broader gesture towards the top of the house. The group paused and lingered, chatting in a large circle. 

Looking down on them, Nora figured it didn’t really matter if they all were more experienced than her. None of them would think less of her for it. She trusted them not to tease her, they dropped the whole conversation when they found their answers. No one said anything teasing afterwards, and she felt more confident now that if she had questions they’d be forthcoming with answers. She felt some of the tension from earlier leave her as she changed into comfortable sleep clothes and crawled into bed. 

‘So there has to be a way for women to ejaculate by their reactions from earlier’ Nora thought. When they were talking about tasting earlier, she now realized they meant tasting a vagina. ‘There’s nothing wrong with experimentation’ She assured herself, looking up at her ceiling she had painted with yellow stars and feeling herself over her clothes. Her hand felt a little cold as she braved the elastic of her waistband, feeling herself clumsily as she remembered what Nate had tasted like when she gave him a blowjob. 

‘What do I taste like?’ She dipped one slow finger into her heat and collected what wetness she could find there. She raised her hand up out of her pants to examine her fingers in what little light that made it through the windows. They were covered in fluid, but that was lubrication, right? She sniffed her fingers, and she didn’t smell bad. A bit like water left in a metal bottle out in the heat. Bringing them to her mouth she was surprised at the flavor. She wasn’t quite sure what she expected. John had described it as water at the bar, but this was definitely not water. She wanted to say it was salty, but It had this sort of tang that tasted similar to some pre-war sour candy without any of the sweetness. It almost tasted a little meaty? Thinking back on her assessment of the smell, she supposed it tasted like salt water left out in the heat in a metal bottle. She had a pretty fancy water purifier setup at the settlement, so if that really effected taste she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be right to say it tasted ‘just like water.’ 

A knock sounded at her door and she yanked her finger away from her face with a jolt. 

“Hey blue, can we talk?” Nora sat up quickly and climbed out of bed to greet Piper. Except it wasn’t just Piper she saw when she opened the door, it looked like most everyone were settling down further along the hallway in the sitting area near the stairwell. 

“Yeah-”Piper stepped inside and just as quickly closed the door behind her, the quiet murmur in the stairwell dampening beyond audibility with the soft thump of the door. Nora could feel her face flushing again and felt grateful for the night. “Is this all about earlier?” 

“Well, yeah, and some other stuff..” Nora could feel her stomach drop as she watched Piper turn around and sit in her desk chair. Piper seemed to notice something was off with her and quickly amended. “It’s nothing bad I promise! At least I hope so. Listen, first, personally. I need you to know that its really, really fucked up that from what it sounds like, you’ve literally never cum in your life.” Piper looked at her with a question clear across her face, like she was still expecting Nora to tell her that she had actually came before, because of course she has. Except she hasn’t, and Nora really didn’t know what to say. 

Piper sighed and continued after a beat. “Things are different in the commonwealth now Blue, and I know you know that, but I don’t know if you understand the extent of it- culturally.” 

“What does that mean?” Nora questioned, having found a seat on the edge of her bed. Piper leaned over, grabbed her hand and lacing their fingers together. 

“Well Blue, for one. Not only did you walk into the commonwealth like a hurricane, but you started just helping people for no real apparent reason other than they needed help. People don’t really do that here.”

Nora chuckled. “You know Cait and I already had this talk-”

“Yeah, and we don’t think you really get it. Preston has told you something similar too. And you brushed them both off, and me just now, why?” Nora looked down at their hands. 

“I-” Nora wasn’t sure she had an answer. It had to be her past, right? She did it because she knew it was right, it was what worked. “-just, its what you’re supposed to do where… I guess when I’m from. Politically, you know, at the time. Helping people became a form of rebellion. Helping one another, building up the people around you knowing they’ll do the same was the biggest fuck you the average person could manage without risking imprisonment.” Nora couldn’t quite meet Piper’s eyes. She’d spoken plenty about good memories, favorite movies and shows and songs, dances and the relative luxury afforded most people. It still felt illegal somehow, to talk about such seditious thoughts out loud. To speak the thing that held the little neighborhood of sanctuary together until the very end. Piper nodded along. 

“So It was still dangerous then?” Piper asked. Nora chuckled and shook her head. 

“Not in the same way it is now. It was freedom on the line, not necessarily lives.” 

“Which brings me to the point, you know we all really care about you, right? Whatever you need from any of us, we’re there.” Piper squeezed her hand, placing her other hand over top of their two hands already intertwined. Nora grinned.

“Yeah, I know.” 

“Which brings me to my next point. Blue, you’re beautiful. Its some sort of crime against nature that no one has ever gone down on you. I don’t know where you are with your husband stuff, if you’ll ever really feel ready to try and be with anyone ever again. That’s gonna be all up to you. But we were talking, after you left. Commiserating, really, over i'm sorry Blue, but the tragedy that is your sex life, and we all came to the in retrospect very unsurprising discovery that we are all heads over heels for you. You don’t really flirt back, so everyone kinda thought you were still caught up over Nate.- And don’t get me wrong! If it is still is about Nate, no shame that’s just the assumption.- But now we also realize it is completely possible you just still don’t understand that we love you a lot.” Fuck, was Piper trying to give her a heart attack? “And Im not saying this with any expectations blue. We love you, and that means we’re here for you anyway you want us, especially as friends. But that also means we want you to see all the cards on the table.”

“Piper, what are you saying?” Nora’s brain felt like it was going a mile a minute and everywhere this train of logic seemed to lead was confusing and quite flustering. 

“I mean that me and everyone back there in that room, we all want you to have what’s best, we want you to be happy, and we’re happy when we’re with you. And I know this is probably insane to you, by your pre-war standards but if you wanted to be with any of us, for some forever after or one night stand or anything in between, you can, no hard feelings. No friendship lost. All you have to do is ask.” 

Nora nearly felt at a loss for words, just staring at piper. How could that many people love her like that? She’d always found them all attractive in their own ways, but it felt wrong somehow. Wasn’t she technically a single mom now? None of it felt like it made sense. “Why? How?”

“Well, apart from single handedly taking down the institute, the brotherhood, restoring the minutemen, terrorizing raider groups and wiping out packs of feral ghouls and super mutants, freeing any synth you can, being the most thoroughly loyal and kind person any of us has met, skilled enough to build huge settlements across the commonwealth and face down some of the scariest shit i’ve seen, have you looked in a mirror lately?” Nora was at a complete loss of words. 

“I know its a lot blue, we just felt like we needed to tell you. You know, you have options.” Nora nodded in awe. She realistically liked them all, and had equally squashed any notion of such relationships being possible for her. Women like her, they weren't supposed to move on, were they? Would Nate want her to move on?  Nora honestly felt she couldn’t chose to date any of her friends with a clear conscience. It’d be horrible of her to choose one relationship and then go pining after any of the others, especially since she has learned the truly meager extent of her ability to lie the hard way out on her adventures into the commonwealth. Nora was certain her face was flushed as red as could be. 

“I don’t know what to say I - Im so flattered.” Nora tried to steady her thoughts. “I just couldn’t though you’re all- You’re all really attractive.” Nora couldn’t meet Piper's eyes. Piper gave Nora’s hand another squeeze before Nora heard her giggle. 

“So you do like us?” Piper said in a teasing tone.

“I love you guys, Its just that-” Nora wasn’t sure how to phrase it. 

“Romantically?”

“Yea-Yes.” Nora stammered out. God that was so stupid to admit. Why would she-

“You mean it blue?” Piper had risen out of her seat, now gripping Nora’s shoulders. 

“Yeah, so-”

“So what?” 

“So isn’t that unfair? To be with one person and secretly harbor feelings for others?” Piper was looking at Nora now at eye level. Piper frowned at her words. 

“Who said anything about one person?” Piper smirked, a determined look in her eyes as she stood and strode to the door, opening it. “Deacon, come here right now!” 

“A please is always nice.” He teased as he made his way in the room. “What do you need me for?”

“Explain polyamory to Nora.” Piper commanded, closing the door firmly behind him. Deacon suddenly couldn’t stop smiling, looking between Piper and Nora before finally directing his thousand watt smile at Nora before taking a seat at her desk. 

“So, I know when you’re from people pretty much exclusively only dated or were romantically involved with one person at a time, and having more than one partner at a time was taboo.” Deacon was watching Nora’s face, so she nodded. 

“Well, I'm sure you noticed what was taboo then isn’t always taboo now. Being happy, even momentarily, in whatever way a person can is expected of people. You know how much people in the railroad have each other’s backs, right? A lot of people were together.” Nora looked shocked and she knew it. 

“I never noticed.” Nora mumbled. 

“Well, you know, when a hot lady busts into your base in the fanciest power armor you’ve ever seen and a goddamn plasma rifle, and instead of opening fire tells you they wanna help, you let them do what they want and leave out any details until it's pertinent or they ask.” Nora could feel herself growing flustered. Intimidation was nowhere on her mind when she strolled into railroad HQ. She’d followed the trail, and it wasn’t a safe or easy trail. Of course she wore her armor. She did walk around in power armor a lot for the fun of it, she mostly saw it as a more efficient way to traverse the Commonwealth. Before her in her time it was just another piece of military hardware like any amount of the rather absurd guns she now had access to. Stepping into that power armor felt just like the medic armor, and on the battlefield everyone knew what it meant to see medic battlearmor. She never really considered the intimidation factor. Looking back, the only people who reacted like that anymore were minutemen or settlements. It kinda made her want to laugh, thinking about a raider shiting themselves seeing her in her x-2 armor. 

“So wait, who was together?” Nora questioned. 

“Tinker tom, Carrington, Des, and I.” He paused, his grin going bittersweet. “And Glory.”

“I’m sorry Deacon.” Nora held out her hand and Deacon took it gladly. He shook his head but his grin didn’t fall completely. 

“Thank you.” He paused. Nora knew Glory’s loss was a huge hit to the railroad, she didn’t realize the extent to which it impacted its top members personally. Everyone was grieving when the institute fell. “But you see what I mean. Happiness doesn't always last long, so if someone out here wants to love someone else no matter how complex we do it, no questions asked.” Piper snorted. “Well, some questions asked.” He added. “The problem is never really the number, but prejudice is still alive and well. A person would have an easier time keeping a harem than publicly being in a loving relationship with a synth, ghoul, or any other non-humanoid.” Nora nodded solemnly. 

“Not to say that isn’t worth the risk.” He mentioned. “If you ask me any of it's worth it, however long it lasts.”

“So, Piper,” Nora started. “You’re- You’re saying that I can… or should, uh.”

“I’m not telling you to do anything Blue. I'm saying, we’re all saying, I think, that if you want something you should have it.” 

Nora took a moment to think. Did it really matter what Nate or anyone from her past really thought? If they didn’t care that she was a widowed mother from a clearly different culture than the rest of them, then why should she? 

“You think real loud Fixer” Deacon spoke up, apparently unwilling to go too long without attention on him. He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm, looking at her and taking a deep breathe. His gaze seemed focused on hers, as if daring her to look away. 

“You” Nora started, shifting her jaw as she measured her words, praying her flustered mind wouldn’t say something too stupid. She turned her gaze to Piper. “-You all, feel this way?”

“Why not bring them in? Let them tell you themselves.” Piper looked pleased, and rather mischievous. Nora paused, glanced back at Deacon, and nodded. Piper strolled back to the door before throwing it open. “Why don’t you all come tell Blue what we came her to tell her. A quick shuffle of feet brought most of her friends into her room, pulling over her desk chairs and sitting on the edges of her bed and other furniture to make room in her room. 

“So,” Nora panicked a bit over what to say. She felt many gazes on her, and her eyes inevitably fell to her lap. “You all feel this way towards me?”

“What way?” Cait teased, having claimed the spot on the bed to the right of Nora. She heard Deacon snicker before Hancock spoke up. 

“Yeah sunshine, how do we feel about you?” 

Nora felt a bit conceited even entertaining the idea that this many people would fancy her, but here they all were, in her bedroom telling her as much. Damn, how did this many people like her like that? Eight people? “You like me?” She spoke it as a question. Some of them laughed at her response, Cait included. 

“Way more than like, love. You’re in my dreams, especially the naughty ones.” Cait leaned over to speak gently in her ear. 

“I second that” Hancock raised his hand with a grin, apparently enjoying whatever look Nora had on her face while she processed perhaps the most flustering thing possible being said to her. 

“My favorite dreams are spent covering your six when you’re wearing that tight ass blue suit” Macreedy spoke from his place leaned against the wall. 

“I’ve had that same dream” Danse spoke with a smirk.

“God, don’t get me started on that suit” Piper sighed wistfully. 

“We may need to lay off before we give our poor girl an aneurysm” Nick nodded towards Nora, her eyes big, face red, and utterly speechless. Preston nodded solemnly from beside Nick. 

“We can’t overwork her” Preston warned with a tone of authority. Curie, having climbed onto the bed behind Nora, touched a cold hand to the back of Nora’s neck and Nora nearly jumped out of her skin. 

“She is greatly flushed” Curie concurred, her hand not leaving Nora's skin. 

“Oh, she’s fine” Deacon spoke, playing with her hand held between his. “She wasn’t too flustered to have some fun before we showed up. Isn’t that right Nora?” Nora tried to pull her hand back, but Deacon held it fast, pressing a kiss to the finger she had used to feel herself. She swore she felt his tongue flick out and touch her skin. 

“I just-” 

“Wanted to know what it felt like?” Deacon finished for her. The bed creaked as Hancock grabbed the footboard of the bed and leaned over it. 

“Do you want some help with that sweetheart?” Hancock asked with mirth in his voice. 

Nora felt herself work her jaw, finding the right words. “ I like you all like that, but I don’t really have the experience and I don’t know how well I’ll-” Deacon squeezed her hand as Curie wrapped her arms around her waist and began pressing kisses to the side of her neck with an excited giggle, with Cait seconds after doing her best to pull nora to her and press kisses under her chin. Nora had to fight down a rather undignified noise at the attention. 

“We don't need you to do or be anything Blue. You’ve already done a lot. We just need you to tell us what you want. Now, do you want us?” Piper walked over to Nora, fingers lifting he chin a touch to give Cait more room for her conquest. 

“Y-yes” Nora croaked out. 

“Do you want us to make you cum?” Piper looked her in the eye in a way that turned the butterflies in her chest into something warm and intense pooling in her gut. She was suddenly very aware of her heartbeat. Nora swallowed before answering.

“Yes” 

“All of us?” Piper clarified. 

“I-” Nora paused. Would doing this make her a whore? Did stuff like that matter anymore? She can’t have sex with eight people in one night, she wasn’t sure her body could take it. “I can’t have, -Can’t have sex with eight people in one night.” She spoke worridly, and suddenly felt very embarrassed at the laughter that bubbled up at her response. 

“Baby, she said make you cum, not have sex.” Cait clarified. 

Nora furrowed her brow. “What’s the difference?” Curie suddenly pulled her back onto the bed. Deacon let go of her hand in favor of leaning over and grabbing her ankle. 

“Why don’t you let us show you?” Cait leaned over and licked a stripe up Nora’s neck, forcing a gasp from her. 

“Fuck” She heard Preston mutter somewhere off to the side of her. 

She felt a sudden tug at her hair, and Cait forced her head up to lock their lips together. Cait quickly pressed a tongue into her mouth, and when Deacon leaned over and slowly pushed her shirt up she let out a particularly undignified noise into Cait’s mouth. Nora wasn’t sure when she closed her eyes, but she opened them in shock when two pairs of lips began working over her stomach. Looking down, Deacon was running his hands over her ribs, pressing kisses to her sternum and inching her shirt ever higher with his nose. She was suddenly all too aware of the noises around her.

“Fuck baby” Below him Hancock had climbed his way onto the bed and began kissing down over her belly to where the waistband of her shorts rested. Curie pulled Nora further onto the bed, lying back and resting Nora’s head on her chest. Many hands maneuvered her body into what they deemed an acceptable position. 

“Good girl” Deacon praised. Her hands were pulled over her head as her shirt was stripped from her, and with another breathtaking kiss stolen by Piper she lost her shorts and underwear. 

“So pretty Blue” Piper remarked, moving down her body and sliding a hand up her thigh. She hardly had a moment to be embarrassed at her naked state in front of her mostly clothed friends when Preston and Piper each took a leg and pulled them apart, kissing and biting as they wished at her flesh. She nearly jumped at the contact and fought back a yelp of surprise. With Cait occupied with her mouth and neck, Danse and Nick had their fun with her breasts, palming and rolling her till Nora let slip whimpers. 

“Don’t hold back that voice baby, let us hear you” Deacon encouraged. Deacon took hold of her hand once more, and she could feel kisses pressed to her fingertips. Macreedy stole her other hand, lacing his fingers with hers and running a thumb over the back of her hand. 

“I want you to sing for me sunshine” Hancock returned to his place nestled between her legs and Nora was glad for something to hold on for dear life to. Cait pulled away, yanking her head back so that Curie could kiss her forehead and so that she may return to kissing and licking Nora’s neck. Nora let out a groan, deep and gutteral and she felt herself arch into Curie’s grip around her waist.  Hancock began running a hand over her, sliding just over her entrance and back up to her clit before repeating his path, and Nora couldn’t help but whimper each time he traced his path, the movement accompanied with a wet clicking sound. 

Nora immediately felt embarrassed at her noises, doubly so when Nick pointed out her blush spread to her chest while he toyed with her pebbled nipples. However, looking up at her, well, she wasn’t sure what to call them right now, she felt a little less embarrassed when she realized they all seemed to be feeling even more aroused than her. And oh, she could see-, Danse and Preston, pleasuring themselves to her. She could hear Cait grunting against her throat and a light squelching sound that didn’t seem to be coming from what Hancock was doing to her. They were making noises right along with her. 

Hancock slid a finger into her and she couldn’t help but wiggle her hips at the pleasure he was forcing upon her. He began thrusting, sliding in another finger before lowering his head and sucking. Nora had never felt anything like it and she damn Near screamed while he hummed atop her. Piper and Preston had to force her down where her legs met her hips to stop her from bucking away from the onslaught of pleasure Hancock was causing with his every move.

“I don’t know how you can be this cute and so damn strong” Preston mused as he held down her hips. He nipped at the skin of her inner thigh in mock punishment and a shudder ran through her. Nora began registering the growing states of undress of her friends. It just wasn’t fair how hot they were. It honestly felt like they were toying with her.

“Taking this so well” Cait paused her onslaught of kisses to whisper praise behind her ear. She could feel Hancock’s tongue work at her, felt the little puffs of air over her mound as he grunted into her flesh, and damn if the noises he made didn’t make it feel all the better. Nora had never felt anything like this before. With Nate, sex, it felt intimate but without fanfare. This, Nora felt like she could hardly stand it. Her toes curled, a heat in her belly got heavier by the moment, and it left Nora damn near sobbing at the pleasure of it. She had never heard anything like the noises she was making, it was involuntary and visceral with every suck and thrust. 

“You’re shaking like a leaf doll” Nick spoke as he smoothed a hand over her ribcage. 

“You’re feeling good?” Curie questioned her. She gripped the hands holding hers with a deathgrip and moaned when Hancock added a third finger. She nodded aggressively and was rewarded with a flurry of kisses wherever she was being held down. Her legs began shaking when Hancock picked up the pace, and the heat in her stomach coiled. She had no control, nor much awareness of the noises she was making at this point. Despite being held down, with the pleasure she was experiencing and the praise from her friends rolling around in her head she almost felt like she was floating. 

“Please what?” Danse asked with a rough squeeze of her nipple. Coming back to reality a bit, Nora realized during her whimpering and moaning she had started to beg. Please what indeed. 

“I-” Nora panted through another string of moans. Hancock was too skilled at this. “I don’t know”. 

“She’s gonna cum” Cait giggled into the skin under her chin. 

“Fuck” Piper cussed, looking down her body Nora realized that everyone was either watching what Hancock was doing to her or watching her face. While holding her down, most of them were working at themselves too and she couldn’t tell if it was embarrassing or arousing.

“Cum for us baby” 

“Give us a show doll” 

“Good Girl”

 The coil building in her gut suddenly got more and more intense in a way Nora was unprepared for. She hardly had a moment to register her shock at this new bodily experience when It all came down suddenly, like being hit with a ton of bricks straight to the brain.

“Oh, Oh FUCK!” Nora screamed out, body convulsing and head flying back. Her eyes closed but her vision went white. White hot pleasure shocked through her, before turning into waves of bliss. When she opened her eyes she felt like she was floating. She felt curie tucking strands of hair behind her ears. Hancock worked her slower and lighter till she shook. Looking down she met his eyes and his hands and mouth finally left her with an embarrassing pop and a slight smirk before taking the fingers that were within her and sucking them into his mouth with a pleased groan. Nora could only whimper and close her eyes. She faintly heard the moans of some of her friends, felt Cait shake and groan into the crook of her neck. 

“So, how was the first orgasm of your life?” Deacon teased, himself sounding a bit out of breathe. All Nora could manage was a grunt in response, apparently enough for him as he and some others began chuckling. 

The world seemed to come more into focus as she took some deep breaths. What did this mean now? She’d never felt like that before, her friends went out of their way to make sure she felt like that. They enjoyed making her feel like that. 

“You did so well” Piper praised, and many kisses brought Nora out of her thought process. Piper sided up to Nora, shoving Danse out of the way. Cait took the cue to so the same to Nick, and Nora was suddenly being held by three women. 

“You guys are hogging her” Deacon whined, making movements to tug Nora his way and tuck his face into her neck. 

“Says the guy who wasn’t shoved off” Danse ran a hand over her hip.

“Are you feeling okay?” Maccredy checked in on her. Maccready sat down on the bed next to Cait and began playing with Nora’s hair. Nora nodded. She felt boneless. It felt like her veins were buzzing. Beside her, she could hear whatever kept Nick running humming loudly.

“Any words?” Preston teased, rubbing at her ankle. 

“-Wow” Was all she could manage. Giggles erupted around her. Nora tried to get her thoughts straight. “So, what now?” 

“Like I said” Piper spoke up. “Whatever you want.”

“And- You all feel like that?” Nora checked, looking around at her friends, or were they lovers now? That’s a lot of lovers. 

“Yep”

“Whatever you want baby” A chorus of agreements spoke up. Nora looked around, only to see those that were silent nodding. 

“So I guess that just begs the question Blue, what do you want?” Piper questioned, and damn was that a hard line of questioning. What did she want? Piper talked about this all like it could be a casual thing, but would they be down for what she actually wanted from them? They all had lives to live, despite what she’s built here. Nora took a steadying breathe. 

“I want us to be family” Nora spoke. “Like Shawn and Nate and I were, but bigger.” She felt a bit afraid of what they would say, suddenly very aware of her nakedness in comparison to her mostly clothed lovers. 

“Oh Blue” Piper raised a hand to Nora’s face. “That sounds perfect to me.” 

“I like the sound of that” Preston spoke with a smile. 

“Me too” Maccready. 

“Oh, vhe vill be zhe best family!” Curie spoke cheerfully, squeezing Nora around the waist. “I can make you packed lunches vith little notes and you vhill have to kiss me before you leave for vork”. Nora couldn’t help but giggle at the image. Before the war, that’s what she was expected to do. Now her synth, doctor, girlfriend? Wife? Did she just propose? How did that even work in the wasteland? 

“I can’t think of anything I would want more sunshine.” Hancock spoke with a grin. 

“Wait, did I just propose to you guys?” Nora spoke with an amount of shock. “How does this even work nowadays?” 

“Well, considering you currently are the head of government, unless you want to join a religion or go do paperwork at diamond city, if we all agree to it that’s a marriage”. Nick explained. 

“Oh god” Nora threw her head back and closed her eyes with a long-suffering sigh. “I’m the government and I married y'all after we had sex once. Why is the law like this?” Her companions quickly dissolved into laughter. 

“Well I’m definitely not complaining” Deacon reassured. 

“Me either” Spoke Nick. 

“Isn’t this fast?” Nora asked. “I mean, I’ve been unfrozen maybe four years”. 

“People feel lucky to be able to spend even a year straight at a time with those they love. People marry fast.” Deacon explained. 

“Things move slower in the brotherhood, but I’ve known you over two years, and you’ve saved my life multiple times. Unless a brother has taken a vow of chastity, that’s more than enough time to decide to marry for them, and a lot of the wasteland considers them prudes.” Danse spoke up. 

“So as long as we love you, and you love us, you could call us married. Or fiances, or dating, the label doesn't matter. I just know that I love you sunshine, I think we all do. Do you love us?” Hancock asked. 

Nora felt very warm, surrounded by people she cared for, people who made her feel safe, people she would die for. She couldn’t help the small smile creeping on her face. “I love you all too.” She sighed. “I like the sound of married. I like the promise of it. But I think I’d want to do a ceremony or something. And I- I also want what you guys want. If we’re gonna call this that, we’re in this together, right?” 

Amid many agreements and sounds of excitement and some of the best cuddles Nora had experienced in her life, Cait leaned forward to whisper in her ear; “I want to eat my wife’s pussy till she screams for me again. Care to make that happen, love of mine?” 

Nora could feel the flush all the way down her chest. “Now what did you say to her Cait?” Maccredy questioned.

[under-loch-n-key]

hnnng i'm not even done with house md yet but should i get into psych??

Absolutely! Psych is a very very good show. Even though it is a lighthearted show, it still has some serious moments and elements to it. Psych is the kind of show I can watch over and over again at any time because of how light and funny it is. The characters are absolutely loveable. The cast is so precious. Just everything about it is so perfect. Psych is eight seasons long. They also have three movies and a podcast together. The cast really wants to make more movies together.

I adore House MD, obviously, but it is more heavy than the show Psych is. Which sometimes I am not in the mood for. Psych has an episode for everyone. They have a musical episode, Bigfoot episode, cowboy episode, a Christmas episode, uhhh, they have an episode where they all had a late night out together and cannot remember anything that happened to them, a demon possession/“Exorcist” parody episode, a parody of Stephen King’s “The Shining”, a vampire episode, werewolf episode, etc.

There’s so many characters in the show that I just adore. Lassie is my favourite, Woody, Gus, Shawn, McNab, etc. There’s a character for everyone to enjoy. I just adore this show so much and the cast included.

It’s not mentioned in the show, but on Twitter a while back the creators of the show just randomly posted something along the lines of “Oh, yeah, lassie? Not straight. He’s actually pansexual-“ I do believe this was from the actual creators account. So, I thought that was cool.

Lassie and his partner detective Juliet O’Hara are such an amazing example of shows portraying male and female friendships properly. They actually make them friends and have it remain that way. I’m not saying that two people of the opposite sex cannot be together or anything, but it seems every time I watch a show they never make the guy and girl just be friends. There’s always tension and sex and then that’s all it becomes. They are just such an amazing duo and a perfect example of two people of the opposite sex just being besties without any weird tension or sex. I adore it.

I just so so highly recommend Psych to anyone. It’s one of my comfort shows. It’s so nice. Psych, the show and movies, is available on Peacock and Amazon Prime for free. Another show along the lines of Psych but is more serious is called The Mentalist. That show is also SO good. I highly recommend Psych and The Mentalist to anyone looking for something to watch. [:

(I will be making some more Psych and Shassie art in the future. They are one of my favourites to draw. Even the actors ship it. Which is hilarious. Lmao.)

[herestomyhaters]

i have remained silent for too long. i forgot to post this so here are my thoughts on 2x06/2x07!! as always brought to you by a bisexual black girl 🫡

i understand it's a teen drama so cheating is bound to happen but lorddd i was really hoping they wouldn't do that w/ noa cause i hate that bi stereotype. atp it's just bad writing bc why would she want to be w/ jen after all the batshit crazy things she's done ???

call me crazy but i Do Not think shawn punched that whole in the wall and even if he did i still don't trust jen (why would anyone 💀)

also were they expecting him not to react after noa's been cheating since JUVIE, all the lying and the stealing ???

hope i won't need to backtrack here (that'd suck) but why are ppl so obsessed w/ christian being evil/related to bloody rose somehow?? like besides being too obvious i really don't think they would do that to tabby again. also it feels jarring that ppl want to assume the black guy is the threat

i want more 1:1 moments between the girls!! the only dynamic that's been explored so far is tabogen (we got faran/imogen crumbs last week). praying for that in s3

is it me or are all of imogen & johnny's scenes just her trauma dumping myyy god. don't get me wrong i like them together but it just sends me, i also wish they'd explored the whole "player" trope a bit more it could've been interesting to see. i just don't know how believable it is to go from THAT to loverboy in the span of an episode but i guess we have the 8-episode season aspect to blame

redemption house was CRAZY. it was giving "is this fucking play about us?" tbh it ate

speaking of crazy kelly has fully lost it. imogen clocking her was one of my fave moments in the episode. looove imogen she's easily become my top 3

there is also no way kelly's dead

"HENRY, you're a dancer. most of your friends are GAY"

faran and greg: where to even start. i saw this ship coming before the season even started and (hear me out) i do not think they'll be endgame. i personally don't hate greg (maybe it's just elias' charisma) but it feels very contradicting to the show's values to pair faran & greg together. still, it is a semi-realistic situation. i just hope they proceed with caution & are smart about whatever happens next. i do not want faran to be babysitting him into becoming a decent human being

just need to bring up the "my cousin kevin, who lives in riverdale" moment cause i was crying w laughter. this show is so unserious sometimes (shoutout kevin keller tho)

speaking of gays i was quite surprised bi noa wasn't canon already?? might be bc maia has spoken about it many times but i always assumed she was already out 😭

besides that, the fact that NONE of them called noa out for cheating??? they were like "yesss queen slay 😍". i can't, feeling so sorry for shawn atp

also imogen bursting out laughing when noa brought up the "throuple" thing even she was weirded tf out

bloody mary playing while they raided redemption house was ICONIC

that bloody rose reveal was INSANE. imogen tearing the mask off??? bailee's emmy worthy scream queen moment (AGAIN)??!

do y'all have any theories for tabby's final girl moment/who br is? how are u liking the season so far? lmk your thoughts and we can kiki 🫶🏽

[pinazee]

Season 3 time!

Ghosts!

And oh baby are they coming out swinging with all that juicy drama. Prepare yourselves ya’ll, im about to read way too much into things.

How come we’ve never seen Ray?? He’s henrys partner; given cop lore i would think he’d be a pretty significant person in his and probably shawns life, especially since he seems to be a voice of reason trying to get henry not to go through with arresting his son. Does he show up later? I don’t remember.

“Oo i have rights, thatll be new and fun” -i know that this line is probably just shawn being a bit dramatic but like, it cut me deep.

“This officially ends your chances of being a cop” -its just really sad that henry thinks thats whats going to make him rethink his actions. But also, i think this means Shawn was thinking of going down that path up until his mom left, because maddy even says when she left she thought he was going to be okay. Given Shawns character its kind of surprising he didn’t rebel against his dad long before that. Personally, i think shawn knew his arguments with his dad made things worse between his parents so he did what his dad wanted to keep the peace. Then when maddy left, well, there was no reason to keep the peace anymore.

Now, the henry of it all. This just makes me so sad. And i know they kind of say it’s the reason he retired later, that he regretted it, but i cant believe he ever thought this would “scare him straight,” and the way its shot certainly doesn’t seem like henry ever tried to connect with him. Like, if they wanted us to sympathize with henry later, they could have given us a shot of henry having second thoughts or even explained how Shawn was using the fact that henry was a cop to get away with breaking the law because he never thought his own dad would arrest him. They could have explained how shawns actions were becoming more and more reckless and henry didn’t know what else to do. But i think the reason they didn’t was because shawn is our protagonist and they didn’t want to muck up his character that much. I think it could’ve added some depth, personally. The way its shot though, it just makes henry look like an ass, sticking to the law unwaveringly without any remorse. (Sidenote-i can see how gus’s parents would think shawn was a bad influence)

Hes so rough with him :( (also baby lassie! Aww look at his little mustache)

I had to look up pinochet. Thats a heck of a reference.

Completely overlooked that haversham warmed his hot coco in a teapot. What an idiot (thats brilliant)

I love that each person in the show is like a dork for something. Juliet has weird football facts, carlton has westerns and guns, shawn has a few but i think favors movies, and gus has literally everything

I love the mystery of this ep! They make you think shawns solving one case (the ghost), and then you find out he is the ghost and they make you think Shawn had that one plan but then psych!turns out hes really looking for dirt the whole time. Also, shawn has to know quite a bit about business to pull that summary out of his hat. I might add it to his list of random skills.

Why would she have to clear henry for twisting his ankle? Also, now that i think about it, henry doesn’t seem the type to 1. Actually talk to a shrink or 2. Think highly enough of them to want to date one. So i have to imagine young maddy was a smoke show and he lost all sensibility.

I love that she calls him goose. Thats such a cute little nickname- that i need to know the origin of. Was this a goose and maverick thing? Was she maverick? Also, we get some more insight into shawns gifts because it implies he can remember everything hes heard thanks to his mother. So thats neat, and a cool way to show his “powers” didn’t necessarily all come from henry. Its nice to see maddy gave him something other than abandonment issues.

Ohmygod its so sad that shawn thinks his dad would sabotage him with his own mother jesus christ this family.

I wanted to end this with my thoughts on Maddy. I love that we see bits of shawns personality that came from her. He got her charisma, certain aspects of her humor, certain ways of speaking (like when carlton says, “then you wouldnt be opposed to me patting you down,” and maddy deadpan replied, “actually im very opposed to that.” It just sounded like something shawn would say). i love how the episode frames the narrative from shawns perspective too by putting maddy on a pedestal. Shes a very likable person. She takes his side when he tells her henry never told him she was coming, tells henry to buy him a phone, goes toe to toe with lassie and keenly gets him to open up.

But come on. This lady sucks.

First of all, SHAWN HASNT SEEN HIS MOM IN 3 YEARS, mind you the show says they’ve been doing Psych for about a year, so thats two years where he’s bouncing from job to job and not once did he visit her. And she was out of the country apparently and never told him she was back- why wouldn’t you let your kid know you were coming back to the country? She couldn’t shoot him an email or texted?

I would argue she is almost a worse parent by the sheer neglect alone. She gives off the impression of someone having never wanted to be a mom. she never seems to be around when shawn was little, we never see or hear of shawns mom sticking up for him against henrys teachings, and she straight up abandoned him the first chance she saw. And then on top of that, fails to communicate with him.

Lastly, I cant believe maddy (a psychologist mind you!) never talked to shawn about any of this years ago. She assumed henry would explain it all, but what part of his personality ever gave her the impression that henry could have an open and honest conversation with Shawn? And shawn says they used to talk all the time, but, like, how long ago because it seems like they haven’t had any real conversations in a long time. So its not just that she left him physically, but she also left him on his own to handle the emotional burden, because his dad certainly couldn’t talk about it. Shes the one who left shawn to pick up the pieces, not henry.

I mean its no wonder shawn struggles to form long lasting relationships.

P.S

Boneless shawn! Boneless shawn! My heart is filled with so much warm nostalgia it might burst! I remember when this first aired i laughed so goddamn much!

[unstable-spychy]

One of the things I love the most about psyche is Gus’s personality growth, not in the sense that he has a big character arc but that he gets more personality as the episodes progress.

He wasn’t supposed to be a big main character Shawn was always supposed to be the main focus but when they realized how much people love Gus they made him a much more dynamic character.

Comparing him in the pilot to even just the second season he is so much more animated and important to the story. At the beginning he’s sort of just the comedic fall guy, the butt of all Shawn’s jokes.

As the show progresses Gus really becomes more separate and has his own story line. He’s less of an accompaniment to Shawn and more of a paired team.

If you can’t tell I love Gus and would die for that weird little nerd<3

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

This relationship now has been so rushed through these first, we're now supposed to care a lot about the friendship that they are deep friends as opposed to just roommates. -Danielle

Well, at this point, they have spent more time together than him and Marsden...I mean, in the first five episodes, they're trying to now. And no longer with Shawn. Like they've already pivoted off Shawn and Jack. -Will

But the difference is, when we met Marsden, he was an established character in Eric's life. We literally watched Eric and Jack meet. So I think it's just like, yeah. Yeah. But it's, it's fine. I guess if, if the opening had been, what's so weird is like the, the idea of the two of you doing the, the run to the rocky steps is a better way to start. Because that is like, oh, we had a plan as, as friends and it gets ruined by a girl. Whereas like, you literally open the scene, look, we're going to get ladies, we're gonna go meet girls. And then he meets a girl, and then it's a conflict. It's like, wait, like you should have had some like guy's night plan or some fun friendship thing and that would've established like, oh, and then it's getting ruined by this. Really? But it's just so funny in the world of Boy, Meets, World, how quickly the, the any relationship ruins male male friendships. Like it's just, it's a threat. It's a threat to the order of life that a guy is gonna get into a relationship with a woman. And she is going to it. It's so, it's such a trope that we hit on over and over and over. And it's from season one. It has always been a thing. And I, yeah. I can't, yeah. It, I guess it just made sense to us all at the time. -Rider

Yeah. It also though, one of the things I'm, I'm realizing, and I think I kind of realized it as we were watching as we were doing the show, but I'm really realizing it now and I'm really realizing that it was actually a detriment to the character. Is there is no reason for Jack and Shawn to be brothers. None. And if they didn't make them brothers. It could have been interesting to bring him into the world via Eric. To then establish that relationship. That's what mean that what I mean. Establish that relationship. -Will

Imagine also if, if you take away that he's Shawn's brother, when you introduce him, you have to create a character. 'Cause it's like, then he has a, a reason to be he's the rich guy or the smart guy or anything. Instead because they relied on the Shawn thing. It's like he has a reason to be there and there's no character. Matt Lawrence was just given nothing. -Rider

But there's just no reason for you guys to be brothers. None whatsoever. -Will 

[love-byers]

Hey! I love love all your analysis that center on cinematography, writing and the themes of the show, but I really think Byler analysts should stop with the eyewitness parallel! The scenes are actually not identical at all, they just look similar in the wide shot with the car in the background, but that's it. The "I'm not gay like you" line isn't even in that scene, the whole thing has just been widely exaggerated by Bylers. I doubt Shawn Levy has even seen this show, it didn't have great ratings and was cancelled after one season. If we need compelling Byler evidence, I think it has to actually come from the show, or everyone else will discredit us. But many that's just my opinion, I don't know... Anyway, sorry for the rant!

it's not just the wide shot and the car, it's the silhouettes and the desaturated gloomy coloring

and you can't just write off the car. remember this is a tv show, everything has to be decided beforehand and placed there. or if it's cgi a team of people have to spend hours and hours creating it. with something as big as a car it just isn't an accident.

why put the car there? what was the reason? is has no relevance to the scene. it's in a weird place. it takes up so much of the screen behind will and mike. so why even put it there at all?

they did it because it's a reference to a piece of queer media. the show having some bad reviews and being cancelled doesn't mean it can't be paralleled. i remember seeing philkas A LOT in 2016-17. and at that time there wasn't THAT much blatant queer representation, especially rep where the show is all about them.

and shawn levy is a director, a film person. you can't just assume he hasn't seen it because it wasn't the most popular show ever. the ST writers showed us a board with every inch of it covered in names of different movies and shows that they took inspiration from for s4. and a bunch of them are obscure, unpopular, low budget movies i guarantee you've NEVER heard of. because that's what film people do, they watch and study film.

and i do know about bylers exaggerating what lukas says in that scene, and im assuming you said that because yesterday i posted about the parallel and used a picture where it references that. i shouldn't have used that picture, i honestly didn't think anyone would read it. i just wanted a pic where it at least said that phillip and lukas are gay and explained eyewitness.

and if you're right and this is just a coincidence, then it doesnt even matter because there is piles and piles of evidence within ST that supports byler

[thespiritssaidso]

Secrets, Secrets

Summary: Lassiter needs Shawn’s help grabbing fall decorations from the attic. Whilst up there, Shawn makes a discovery, revealing new lore about his boyfriend.

Or the fic where Lassiter used to play drums.

Notes: based off a few conversations from the psychos discord (link in endnotes)

Flufftober day 13: Attic, Cellar, Hidden Room (I didn’t do the hidden room, but whatever) 

—————

“Shawn! Come help me grab some of these boxes!” Lassiter shouted down the ladder. 

“One sec!” 

Lassiter grunted under the weight of the cardboard box he was carrying. It was full of fall-type decorations, both heirloom and store bought from the previous years. If he had had any say in it, Lassiter would just keep his house the same every year for the spooky season. He never really got into the festive mood all that much. It was a hassle to get everything set up and looking nice only to tear it down again in a month to prepare for thanksgiving. And then after that Christmas. 

But his boyfriend had insisted on going all out every year for halloween, and consequently the neighboring holidays as well. And really, how could he say no to Shawn’s begging face? 

And so every year for the past three years of them living together, he’d put up with going to the store with Shawn and getting new decorations and filling up the attic with more and more stuff. Although Shawn himself never got around to going up there, claiming it had something to do with the dust and his allergies, forcing Lassiter to be the sole carrier of cardboard boxes that were very full of decorations. 

This year, however, Lassiter had managed to convince Shawn to help him this time. 

Footsteps sounded from the bottom of the folding ladder as the psychic himself clambered up. He faked a sneeze the moment he got to the top and into the attic. “I dunno, Lassie. I definitely shouldn’t be up here. I’ll go ahead and go down-”

“Shawn. I dusted the entire attic a few hours ago. There’s literally nothing for you to sneeze on.”

Immediately, he cut the act, and groaned. He finished climbing up the stairs and stepped into the attic, looking around the room. He stopped when something grabbed his attention. “Woah. Hold up. What is that?” Shawn pointed at the large cardboard box in the corner of the attic. 

It was unlabeled, and a little dented up. There were thin spots where small layers of cardboard had been ripped from continuous placing and removing of tape. But even after all this time, Lassiter knew immediately what was inside it. He saw it every time he went up here, whether it be to grab decorations or camping equipment. “It’s not important. Here, grab this box-”

He was swiftly interrupted by the sound of Shawn making an incorrect buzzer noise. “Wrong! All things are important, Carly. Especially that mystery box over there.” He started bouncing on the balls of his feet. “And I need to see what’s in it.”

“D-No!” Lassiter blurted just a little too quickly. “I mean, uhm. It’s really not that interesting. Just a bunch of… more… boxes…”

Shawn eyed him suspiciously. “You’re acting weird. You only do that when you’re hiding something.” 

Lassiter didn’t know what to do. Should he lie? Should he just admit what was in the box? On the one hand, Shawn was bound to find out at some point or another. But on the other… it had been a long time ago, at least twenty years since he’d used it, five years since he’d touched it, and that was to move it into his house because his mothers were sick of it taking up space in their attic. Lassiter doubted he even remembered how to use it. 

At his silence, Shawn’s eyes went wide. “Is it? I’m right, aren’t I? You’re definitely hiding something. Is it full of handcuffs? Sex tapes? Weed?”

“Wait, hold on, hold on! Weed? Why in the name of- why would you think I, of all people, have a stash of weed in my attic?”

“I dunno, I’m just throwing out some ideas.” Shawn was shaking now. “I gotta know what’s in there. It’s a box and it’s got stuff that I need to see!”

Lassiter knew there was no point in trying to keep it from Shawn anymore now. He’d just ask about it nonstop until the detective broke and let him go and see what it was. Best to just rip the bandaid off right now. He sighed. “Alright. I may or may not have… played the drums for a time, back in high school.” 

Shawn stood for a moment, processing what he was just told. “Wait, so you’re saying…” 

“Yes, Shawn. That’s a drum set.”

Without missing a beat, Shawn made his way over to the old box, gingerly lifting the lid up. If possible, his very apparent giddiness increased at the sight of what was inside. “Woahhhh…” He pulled out a folded up stand wrapped in cloth. Then he turned to face Lassiter. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Lassiter sighed. “I don’t know. It just didn’t really seem too important. And it’s not like this topic comes up in conversation organically. So I didn’t really feel the need to tell you.” He walked over beside Shawn, and looked inside the box. He could make out the shapes of his high hat laying on top of the pile of other drum pieces that had been laid inside with utmost care. “Besides, it’s not like I can actually play it anymore, it’s been too long.” 

“Uh, I call bull. I bet you can still play.” 

“What? No, Shawn-”

“It’s muscle memory! It’ll be like- like riding a bike!”

“Okay, that’s definitely not how that works.” 

“Oh come on, Carly. Please? For me?” Shawn looked at him with big puppy eyes. 

There it was. Lassiter’s weakness. He hated it when Shawn used it against him, it got him to do things he’d rather not have done. But damn it was always effective in the moment. 

He was only able to resist it for a minute before he caved. “Okay, fine. Just help me get it downstairs.” 

Shawn whooped, immediately grabbing the box and dragging it over to the small ladder. 

—————

Notes: very short, i know. But it’s cute, and personally I like it.

psychos discord

ao3 link

[obsidiancreates]

One Undead To Another (Chapter 16)

(Trigger warnings for graphic depictions of injury/dying, blood, nightmares)

Gus tips the delivery person and walks back into the main room of the office with two still-steaming burritos in a bag. Shawn feels the memory of salivating at that same smell– god, not even a week ago. Somehow it feels like it’s been years since he woke up cold and starving, but at the same time it’s been seconds. Is that a vampire thing, an ADHD thing, or a trauma thing? Is it worth figuring out? Not right now.

His mouth is bone-dry as he accepts the burrito. It smells good, great, and the way the warmth of it seeps through the tinfoil into his hands is heavenly. He feels no excitement to bite into it. 

“Alright.” Gus sits down at his desk. “Test number one– garlic.”

“I dunno about this, man. I told you I get hungry after I get hurt.”

“Shawn, we need to figure out your supernatural weaknesses before going back to taking cases.”

“I think we can consider garlic a lock!”

“Sunlight isn’t.”

“... Fair. … Fine. But only if you make some posters to hang around so we get some more private cases.”

“Why? Are you hungry again already?”

“...”

“Do I need to pull out the pencil rosary again?”

“Maybe? It’s not… bad. It’s just kind of… there. Can we just– I’m taking a bite, if I burst into flames or turn into a pile of ash just know my text about my Tears for Fears vinyls still applies.”

“Shawn.”

“Just making sure.” Shawn unwraps the burrito. It’s weird, to know something smells so delicious and know it should be making your mouth water and know you should be excited to eat it, but none of that matters. It’s like the whole experience is hitting a glass wall, clearly there, just barely out of reach to him. 

He takes a bite. Shredded pork, salsa, guac, there’s even roasted corn in this one. It’s loaded, incredible, and he can’t really enjoy it because even though it all tastes exactly like it did when he was human it doesn’t mean anything. Nothing is satisfied by it. In fact, the pang of hunger sharpens as the taste of the pork specifically floods his mouth.

It’s meat, and it’s wrong. Close, so close to what he needs, but not right.

“So?”

Shawn swallows. “Didn’t even burn.”

“Alright, garlic is a no.” Gus crosses it off his list. “We’ve gotta find some garlic flowers next and see if those do anything.”

“Garlic flowers? Don’t be silly, Gus.”

“Garlic flowers are another classic vampire ward, Shawn! They’re used in the original Dracula novel!”

“It’s a novel?” 

“We had to read it in the seventh grade, remember?!”

“Not really. I do remember watching one of those old uh, black-and-white movies with Count Dookie.”

“Count Dooku, Shawn.”

“Gus, he was one of the bad guys, let’s not sweat over his name.”

“You’re trying to distract me.”

“Am not.”

“You are! You’re deflecting again!”

“Deflecting? Please.”

“We agreed, last night, that if you got uncomfortable with focusing on the vampire stuff or the psychic stuff you’d say it outright and we’d switch gears.”

“... Alright. Alright, yes, I’m… wanting to change the subject for a while.”

“Fine. Psychic stuff still fine, or no supernatural stuff at all?”

“None at all, man, I just… let’s watch a movie or something. Least that won’t be different.”

“Alright. Hey, I think American Duos is on.”

“Really? … Wow. Their ratings must be terrible, it’s the middle of the afternoon on a weekday.”

“The guy they replaced Zappato with is kind of lacking, and they had to replace Emilina last season and she’s not great either. I think it’s only still on because the producers are afraid of telling Nigel St Nigel he’s off the air.”

“Really? It sounds awful. Let’s watch the entire season.”

“You know that’s right.”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Nice of you to join us today, detectives.”

They both freeze in their tracks. Lassiter turns around first, adjusting his tie nervously. “Ready to get back to work, Chief. It was just a 24 hour thing, and I’m firing on cylinders today.”

“We both are,” Jules jumps in.

“Good, because your homicide case wrapped up the other night and we need a few closing details from you both. You’ll find the paperwork on your desks–”

“Chief!” Buzz jogs over. “We just got a report on the wire, body pulled out of a lake. Looks like drowning.”

Jules makes eye contact with Lassiter. Shawn’s abilities really have evolved. 

“Oh, detectives!” Buzz grins at them both. “I’m glad you guys are feeling better today! Oh, um, Detective Lassiter, I put any remains of journals or anything we found from the mansion in a box and left it by your desk.”

The Chief turns to Lassiter with a disbelieving, you-better-explain threatening smile. “Uh, detective, when did you ask Officer McNab to do this?”

Crap. “Uh, over the phone yesterday, Chief.”

“And you heard about the mansion burning down… how?”

“... Well, uh… Spencer! Yes, Spencer called me in the middle of the night, said he had a vision. Normally I would’ve told him to screw off but I… humored, him, when he asked me to tell McNab… that.”

“You… humored… Mr. Spencer?”

“I blame the fever, Chief.”

“Well, then… I’ll blame it as well. If Mr. Spencer thinks something additionally important is in those journals, I’ll let you hold onto them for the moment, but it’s looking like this case is pretty much completely shut, at this point in time. Right now I want this drowning case to be your top priority.”

“You got it, Chief,” Jules says, giving a too-wide smile and overly enthusiastic thumbs-up. The Chief eyes her oddly for a moment, and then walks back to her office.

“Keep it together, O’Hara, you’re the one who convinced me to play along with this crap,” Lassiter whispers as they quickly walk to his desk.

“I’m trying! The bigger the secret, the harder time I have keeping it!”

“Then why in god’s name are we doing this?!”

“Because Shawn doesn’t deserve to go to jail or a mental facility for something he had no control over!”

“You do realize–”

“As soon as I said it. But Shawn’s not one of the the bad guys, Carlton. It’s different. He’s one of us.”

“... Yeah, alright.” Lassiter tries to sound unconvinced as he agrees. They reach his desk and he takes the lid off the box, frowning as he looks inside. “This is what McNab considers salvageable? He’s more off than I was before the divorce.”

“Oh, Carlton.”

“... My therapist says turning the situation into humor could help me move past it.”

“Alright… well, if you think it’s helping.”

Lassiter looks back into the box, slightly flushed with embarrassment now, and carefully looks through. “I don’t know that we’ll get anything helpful from this.”

“Well, maybe they’ll trigger some kind of… psychic revelation for Shawn.”

“We’re bringing him evidence now?”

“He’ll probably steal it out of evidence if we don’t.”

“You finally caught him doing that?”

“No, but, we both know he does.”

“... Fine. At least this way we can ask for it back. … Let’s focus on this drowning thing instead. You were lying when you said you’d call him, right?”

“No, I was not.”

“O’hara, you saw him this morning. He’s not even close to ready to work on a serious case.”

“... Fine. I’ll wait until we have evidence of foul play. If nothing suggests that, I’ll just tell him it was an accidental drowning case tomorrow.”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Henry closes the door to the security room and gives himself a moment to chuckle, tossing his badge up once and tucking it back into his suit pocket. He forgot how much he enjoyed flashing the badge to get into places.

He pulls up the security feed from outside the store on the night in question. He scrubs through, trying to pick out any suspicious details.

There. 

Just before 3 AM, a motorcycle is caught speeding by. It’s too blurry an image to tell if it’s Shawn’s bike, but Henry’s always considered ‘confirmation bias’ to be something that applies to other people. His investigations have never suffered from such a thing.

He scrubs through some more. Cars, cars, it’s too dark and blurry on the camera to tell them apart by make or model, much less license plates. The motorcycle is all he’s getting from this. 

He stands up, straightens his suit, and leaves. Maybe he’ll get something better from a more expensive store’s security feed. 

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shawn scoots a little further away as Gus lets out a snore and mumbles something flirtatious in his sleep. He thinks he’s getting an okay handle on the hunger thing– his throat is shot to hell again already, the temptation of Gus’s blood a little bit like that time his dad put a marshmallow on a plate and told him if he didn’t touch it for fifteen minutes he could have two. Comparisons keep drifting through his head, all the different things he can taste from having Gus so close, even when he does his best to stop breathing it in. 

Again, the movie snacks aren’t helping whatsoever. He keeps eating them anyway.

His mouth aches again. Pulses with pain in time with Gus’s heartbeat. He should really stop setting up situations where he’s alone with one or more of them.

He leans his head back on the couch and closes his eyes. The sound of the movie is sharp against his ears, just adding to the headache, getting less and less comprehensible as he slowly drifts off to sleep.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Juliet doesn’t have Thornburg.

Juliet doesn’t have Thornburg.

So why is she dying?

Shawn is holding her hand, trying to confess, but the words are stuck in his throat. Jules is wheezing, her eyes bleeding, looking into his with a fear dulled by a thick glaze of illness. Jules is dying. Jules is dying.

Lassie doesn’t get shot in the graveyard.

Lassie doesn’t get shot in the graveyard.

So why is he dying?

Shawn is holding Lassie as he bleeds out– no, he’s holding Mary Light, no, he’s holding Lassie, no, he’s–

Lassie’s blood is spilling out of his chest. He’s looking at Shawn with a level of terror that Shawn never ever wants to see from the detective, never should see from him.

He’s holding Mary again. “Wake up, Shawn.”

Lassie is dying in Shawn’s arms.

Lassie is dying in Shawn’s arms.

Gus doesn’t fall off a cliff when he grabs onto the extreme sports murderer.

Gus doesn’t fall off a cliff when he grabs onto the extreme sports murderer. 

So why is he dying?

Shawn holds Gus at the bottom of the cliff. Gus’s blood coats the rock beneath them. His eyes are completely sightless, his mouth trying to form words that will never come, not with a head injury like this. Gus’s hand grips Shawn’s so tight it hurts, a silent plea to save him.

Gus is dying and Shawn can’t save him.

Gus is dying and Shawn can’t save him.

Henry is not the victim of a plane crash.

Henry is not the victim of a plane crash.

So why is he dying?

Shawn struggles to keep his father’s head straight with one hand as he tries to get the radio working with the other. Henry is barely awake, wheezing, mumbling incoherently. Shawn can’t make the radio work. He can’t call for help.

He looks at his dad and sees regret shining in his bloodshot eyes. Henry reaches out with one bloodied arm and grabs Shawn’s bicep. There’s a tree branch impaled through his abdomen. He looks Shawn in the eye and opens his mouth–

“Wake up!”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shawn sits up with a gasp! His grandmother’s voice screaming through his father’s mouth echoes in his head as he pushes off the couch and runs to the bathroom, splashing cold–

No, no, he’s colder than it is, he switches the tap and splashes warm water on his face. It’s unnatural, it’s wrong, it’s not something his skin should be anymore– the warmth shocks him into full wakefulness.

“Shawn?!” Gus’s footsteps are like hammers against his skull, his quickened heartbeat like a jackhammer. Shawn presses his hands over his ears.

“Shawn!” Gus’s hands are so warm, so warm, warm warm warm blood spilling into Shawn’s jeans from Gus’s skull at the bottom of a cliff–

“WHAT THE–!”

Shawn finds himself presses against the bathroom wall, Gus standing in the doorway with the makeshift rosary held up, wet handprints on his shirt. Gus is shaking. Shawn realizes he feels fangs poking his lip.

He gulps in a breath, pressing his hands to his torso, then his face, holding them out– he repeats until he feels like he’s in his own body again. Gus watches, poised to run.

Shawn shakes his head, trying to knock the last echoes of the nightmare out. They won’t ever go away. They won’t ever go away.

Something clicks. He looks up. “Oh, god. I didn’t–”

“You lunged right for my neck.”

“I- Gus, I’m so– I didn’t–”

“I could tell.” Gus relaxes a little. His heart is still pounding. Shawn realizes belatedly that his voice has gone raspy again. Gus keeps the rosary held up. “What was that?”

“I-I… don’t…” Shawn swallows. They agreed he’d be honest. They agree he had to be honest, at least between the two of them. “I had a nightmare.”

“... About?”

“I don’t… want to talk about it.” If he talks about it he’ll relive it, he’ll have the images take over the real world again and if that happens he’s not sure he won’t try to–

“... Okay. Okay, but– Shawn, that was terrifying.”

“Yeah.”

“And your voice is all messed up again.”

“Noticed that too.”

“... You know, when I went out with Willow–”

“You guys actually went out?”

“Yes! A couple times! Anyway, she told me about this vampire bar place for people who pretend to be vampires.”

“So?”

“So… do you think you could handle just having a little from someone, uh… consenting for their own reasons?”

Flash of white, film grain, stalking up behind the burglar, covering his mouth, sinking his aching fangs into warm soft flesh and drinking–

Shawn shudders– he wishes it was because he disliked the feeling of the memory– vision? … Memory. God, he wishes he disliked it.

“Not doing that, Gus. First of all that’s not my kind of kinky business–”

“Eugh! I was trying not to say it outright, Shawn!”

“I know you were, that’s why I did. Anyway, second, that’s… too, vampire. Way too vampire.”

“... I could see if someone there is willing to donate blood.”

“Gus. You’ll pass out just trying to get the bag here.”

“I can handle it.”

“You don’t want to.”

“It’s that or you drinking me!”

“I won’t drink you!” Shawn doesn’t mean for it to come out panicked– but the way Gus tenses and raises the cross a bit more shows it did, in a bad way. Shawn shakes his head again, looking down and trying to regain some composure. “You– you just shouldn’t have to do that, buddy.”

“You shouldn’t have to be undead. It’s not a fair situation to any of us, Shawn.”

Jules, Lassie, Gus, Henry, bleeding bleeding bleeding dying dying dying Dying And Leaving Shawn Along FOREVER–

“I’m going.” Shawn is snapped out of it by Gus digging his car keys out of his pocket. “You just zoned out again and started shaking. If you don’t get blood, one of us is going to be in big trouble, and either way it goes it’ll be bad.”

“Gus–”

“I’ll just close my eyes or something! I’m putting this in front of the door on my way out, I’ll be back as soon as I can. And I’m letting Lassie and Jules know what I’m doing.”

“... Could you uh, leave out the–”

“Don’t even have to ask. Just… try to relax a little while I’m gone, okay?”

Shawn doesn’t agree or disagree. Gus leaves, and Shawn splashes his face a few more times before going back to the couch. He sits in the spot Gus had fallen asleep in. Maybe he’s imagining it because he’s so cold, but the spot still feels a little warm.

His cell rings a moment later. Crap. He lets it go to voicemail.

“Shawn, call me back, would you? What’s the point of these damn things if you just ignore it all the time? Look, I got a letter about your bike insurance and they’re raising the monthly payments. You put the damn bike on my card so I think I’m entitled to know how well you’re taking care of the thing if I’m going to keep paying for it.”

Shawn groans. He tosses his phone to the other side of the couch. He’ll reply later– or maybe never. 

Henry wheezing, staring with dull bloodshot eyes, reaching out–

…

He’ll reply later.

[zaxal]

Self-rec time! What are your favorite five fics that you've written and why? After replying to this ask, feel free to tag five other writers to spread the love. 💗

thanks for the tag @ripeteeth !!! i've been sitting on this for a few days because i have not had the fortitude to say nice things about myself or my writing without also being incredibly critical, but i think we're there today.

all of these are the ones that i remember being the most fun to write, the most fun to reread, and the ones i'm proudest of :}

Breaking But Not Yet Broken - Psych, Shassie, M, ~8.1k, 2012

After being held captive and hurt, Carlton's relationship with Shawn starts getting complicated.

this was my first ever whump fic, and it was so fun to write that i have simply never stopped writing whump since lol. like, yes, technically this is me projecting on lassie for 8k words, but it is also an exploration of the loneliness of healing after trauma (even when someone went through the same traumatic event as you!) and allowing yourself to Be vulnerable when you already feel that all your defensive layers have been forcibly removed from you.

both shawn and lassiter are characters with a ton of these defenses, and they try to default back to them or find comfort in them (with mixed amounts of success) but even when they aren't working (and they can recognize that they aren't working), they can't simply Stop their bullshit.

Mistakes We Never Made (Until Today) - Psych, Shassie, E, ~3.6k, 2015

Things pick up from where they started. His marriage is on its last legs, and Shawn Spencer comes waltzing back into his life.

so this is a post-canon fic where happily-ever-after fails, the canon relationships break up (and it IS the men's fault to be clear; juliet and marlowe have never done anything wrong in their lives--), and these two decide to use each other to self destruct.

and i love it kdsjfksd. look. i love fluffy shassie. i love romantic shassie. i love slow burn shassie. but they are both capable of being such unrepentant assholes, and writing them being their worst selves is so much fun. an extreme vibe of 'bitter exes but they just started dating.'

everything lost - Good Omens (TV), Aziraphale/Crowley, Gabriel/Aziraphale (One-Sided, Abusive), E, ~33k, 2023

For two-thousand years, Aziraphale was sexually harassed and assaulted by the Director of Heavenly Operations. Years after Aziraphale and Crowley break free from Heaven and Hell entirely, Gabriel shows up on Aziraphale's front step with no clothes, no memories, no divine powers, and an inexplicable, unshakeable attachment to Aziraphale. Old and new trauma alike plague Aziraphale as he struggles to get rid of Gabriel without bringing the wrath of Heaven down on him and Crowley both.

i saw the GOs2 trailer and lost my mind. this plot bunny sprung forth from my mind fully formed like athena. she was written and published before the season dropped because i felt in my heart that gabriel would get a face-turn and people would get weird about dark!gabriel fics, and because i wanted it to be irrefutable that i knew nothing about the season before writing.

which didn't need to be a thing i was worried about at all lol. but i had a trailer, a poster, a feather duster, and a dream, and i made it work.

aziraphale whump, my beloved. love using aziraphale's kindness, pragmatism, and manners to keep him locked in a deeply unpleasant situation that's slowly whittling away at his nerves and sanity.

i also really love putting crowley in an outsider position. aziraphale hasn't told him what happened; it's supposed to be over. when crowley wakes up and starts to help him, the presumption is that they'll get this settled and then never see gabriel again, so what point is there in bringing up old hurt? i love writing crowley and aziraphale as a Team, but they spent 6k years pretending they aren't, and i like thinking about the residual habits that they're gonna have to work to get rid of.

Ash and Blood - Psych, Shassie, E, ~61k, 2015

A string of identical murders leads Lassiter down a dark and treacherous path.

in 2012 @inouken asked me to write a lassie vampire fic and i emerged three years later with a novel. like a normal person!

this is really long lassie whump with some shawn whump thrown in for spice. it could count as case fic, if you're good with knowing who the killer is in the first 5 chapters.

because this is one of zax's first wordcount monstrosities, i had a lot more room to play around with characters. shawn and lassiter's relationship develops fast, but i had more room for them to become serious about each other instead of it being right away immediately (even tho those feelings were already there). i played around with some OCs and tested them against the main ship. my biggest regret is not doing more with gus and juliet, but the bits of them that are in here really lead towards the strong relationships they have with their respective partners and are v in character and i'm proud of them.

but OVERALL i really love this fic. i feel like there's a good balance to psych humor vs being in lassiter's head (when babygirl is naturally grim and grumpy when he's Not dealing with suddenly dying and becoming a vampire), relationship fluff vs people dying and figuring out how to fight back, and developing an understanding of the OCs i introduced (feds and santa barbara vampires) and how they fit into finding/taking care of The Killer.

Lambs To The Slaughter - Good Omens (Book/TV), Aziraphale/Crowley, Lucifer/Aziraphale, E, ~142k WIP, 2019 - Present

An angel and a demon dance along the knife's edge of destruction together in an eternal waltz. The demon who had been Aziraphale and the angel who would be Crowley answer to powerful forces that care not for the individual cogs in their celestial machines. This will be their undoing.

twirling my hair, so this is lambs, my reverse omens fic where aziraphale is the sheep demon azram and crowley is the star-spinner seraph corvai. it's my pride and joy and wouldn't exist without @transfemmbeatrice for brainstorming, obsessing with me for YEARS, writing large portions of the middle-end and end with me, and making corvai and azram Real with me.

i go into many AUs with the mindset that i want to push my faves off script. i want them to still be recognizable as themselves, but i wanna see just how far i can twist them around the core of Who They Are.

and i went into lambs with the idea that i wanted azram to be someone terrible but not irredeemable. the idea that he would be simply 'evil' and written off as such didn't appeal to me. i wanted to ask Why a character like aziraphale (a blended form of book and tv; this is why god uses they/them pronouns to set them apart from both) would become harsh, cruel, possessive, sadistic, beyond just Falling and just Being that way after. and how to balance that with the softer parts of who aziraphale is (as said earlier in the bit about everything lost: kind, despite everything, and so capable of loving both crowley, humanity, and earth to his own detriment).

corvai is, similar to aziraphale, a good angel. she is what a good angel should be. unlike aziraphale, corvai is a punk with authority issues and a lot of anger at heaven, at god, and at themself. trade in canon crowley's anxiety for constantly simmering anger and a lack of experience dealing with demons other than azram that means corvai lacks crowley's defensive layers of cool. he's very open and earnest, even when he knows it's a quick way to getting hurt.

i originally wanted there to be some question about whether corvai was secretly raphael but i added the tag to clarify later that they're not. azram will take his time learning this, because azram is an idiot even though corvai, unlike the rest of the seraphim, cannot heal, and raphael is, famously, the healer.

i could keep going but i'm going to cut it off there bc this post is long enough and our power blinked so i'm scared if it'll even post and if you read this far, congrats! i'm sorry!

tagging: @transfemmbeatrice @anethara @andithil @alivingsaint @christocentricqueer

[td-brick]

hmm. Opinion on the entire cast of pahkitew island.

Thanks for the ask! These might not be super detailed bc honestly pahkitew island is my least favorite season (such a hot take, I know!*) and i haven't rewatched it much but here (in elimination order, so it's under the cut in case of spoilers):

Beardo: not much to say bc he's the first eliminated but i thought his gimmick was fun! i wish he stayed a bit longer

Leonard: I know he's in rr too but i haven't watched it yet 😞😞 he was cute i guess. again i dont have many thoughts on him

Amy: she's fine i guess.... like whatever idk... i wasn't super fond of her and sami's gimmick or whatever

Rodeny: idgaf about him and he was also kind of annoying

Sami: same was amy basically but at least she was nice idk

Ella: She was adorable and i KINDA love her... or at least the concept for her character.... her singing thing + being friends with animals thing was really cute and yeah i enjoyed her concept like i said. but her thing with dave was kinda weird and out of place, i don't know what they were doing with that.??

Topher: he's funny! i don't have much to say about him but i like him

Dave: Okay I know he's like super widely hated but honestly i dont have much against him. hes annoying and his thing with sky was super weird on occasion (although i feel like near the end they were just fucking around because iirc i can't really imagine dave earlier in the season doing all that) but i don't really think about him that much he's just there. but i kinda have a soft spot for him bc he shows ocd traits and i have ocd

Scarlett: I LOVE HER I LOVE HER SO MUCH scarlett fever is one of the only memorable episodes in the season for me. I love her gimmick i love her design she's so awesome idk. My friend also really likes her :^) which isn't important but i think it's funny she's both our fav character. i can't explain it but i just like her evil scientist thing and she's sooo cute. and also lesbian. obviously.

Max: he's annoying to me sorry i judt didn't like him that much

Jasmine: I really liked her, she's so sweet and i think shes so adorable. i know she made it far but i wish she made it even further lol i think she was a great contestant

Sugar: she's fine i guess idk

Shawn: I liked him a lot, i also think he shows some traits of ocd and he's just a very nice guy so i thought he was cool. i dont have much to say on him though. him lying to jasmine about the prize money and stuff kind of irked me but like it's whatever. he's cool

Sky: SHES REALLLYYYY COOL!!! i dont have much to say about her though sorry. also i forgot about this until my mutual brought it up the other day but i think the "boyfriend at home" reveal was so fucking tacky and a terrible way to deal with her and dave's relationship it was just so. whatever idk

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x06 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x06 of Summer School + the trailer for the final 3 episodes.

*Spoilers for the Scream franchise

So. Many. Thoughts.

Okay, here I am trying a new method of breaking down this episode, because I don't think going girl by girl makes sense this time. Instead I'm going to try to group things by general topic, and then go in to further speculation.

PLEASE NOTE: I do plan to talk about some of the stuff we see in the trailer (the 2x06-2x08 trailer) and how that plays in to my suspicions/theories, so if you are avoiding that trailer, you may not want to engage with this post.

So, first up-

The Love Interests

We got a lot of time with the various love interests in this ep, so I'm just going to break all that down.

Henry - He's barely in the episode, I honestly don't think he's important. It's possible he gave info on the girls to someone at some point, but I don't think Henry is the mastermind behind everything.

Ash - We finally got a little bit more time with Ash! It did not escape me that if he were a killer, Ash does have a motive to kill Pastor Malachi (or anyone associated with the church). That being said, setting up Ash vs The Church (as they do with Pride vs Redemption House) with Ash ultimately being the villain doesn't feel like something this show would want to do. While far from perfect, it's too self aware to not see how that would imply a validation of the church's bigoted beliefs. I think the show is also very aware of the criticisms of Cece and would like to avoid falling into the same pitfalls.

Shawn - We don't see him too much this episode, and nothing has changed here. He is still behaving the way he has behaved all season, but whether or not that is genuine is tbd.

Johnny - Also not a ton to say about Johnny based on this episode (though there is one thing that I'll get to in my speculation section), as he continues to also behave the same as he has all season. Imogen did reveal a lot of personal and specific information to him, so I'm definitely keeping an eye open to see if Bloody Rose or someone else seems to utilize that information (i.e. Imogen tells Johnny about her mom's suicide being in the bath, but Redemption House stages it in her bedroom, presumably because they don't know where it was). He does also say that he understands "what that type of pain can be," when Imogen talks about her mom, so that's... interesting.

Jen - I am still very confused about what the show wants us to think/feel about this character. That is not to say that I am all that confused about how I personally feel, but the show seems to send so many mixed signals with her. Everything about her (her past, her current behavior, her motives, etc.) feels very unresolved, like every time I think I understand what they want us to think of her, they rip that rug right out again. She also seems to be getting the same weird benefit of the doubt that Christian and Johnny are (from the girls, I mean), and I have no idea why. All 3 of these characters should be under more scrutiny from the girls, for sure.

Greg - Listen, I think this episode makes it very clear (I mean, I've assumed it since the first ep, but I wasn't sure they were going to spell out this season) that Greg has a huge crush on Faran. That, or he really is trying to kill everyone, but it doesn't feel like we know enough about him personally for him to have a motive that makes sense. So, anyway, I'm just assuming it's the former. But if this is the case, it feels like set up for a potential season 3, not necessarily all that important in this season (unless he dies trying to help Faran or something, which honestly I could totally see happening).

Christian - As much as I didn't think Christian was involved early on, most of my belief of that was due to my assumption that the girls would suspect him, and that didn't happen. So, he has now shot way up my board of suspects. Since I don't believe Bloody Rose could possibly be doing all of this alone, having an alibi for a BR attack means nothing to me. Of course, the Wes stuff also makes Christian look more suspicious- Wes vanishes and then Tabby and Christian find "knock off" masks at his place? In my last episode analysis, I talked about my suspicions of Wes, and they still exist, but he also could be the fall guy, with Christian intentionally setting him up.

Redemption House/Pastor Malachi/Mrs. Beasley/Kelly/Mrs. Langsberry

Redemption House - I mean, it's not unexpected. We knew it was going to be like this, right? From the trailer, I thought that it was perhaps an indication that someone in the girl's inner circle had betrayed details of their trauma specifically (since, as they mention, the rooms feel "almost" targeted), but this doesn't seem to be the case, particularly because we never see anything like Faran's (which makes sense, it has nothing to do with the topics that would usually be covered in a hell house).

My main questions about Redemption House are- who booked it? (like Tabby's mom said it was an LLC, but as BR is feeling more and more separate from the church itself, and BR not being specifically involved in that seems like it would be a huge coincidence), and how was Rose able to take over/change the scene in Imogen's mom's room without anyone else noticing (like where was Kelly?)?

Of course, Imogen's mental health struggles and history of hallucinations is a problem for the audience here, because we don't know exactly how much of what she experienced was real. Was any of it? I tend to think yes, as what would be the odds she would imagine a letter visually consistent with the others? But we don't know for sure. It's just difficult to know how much we can trust Imogen's perspective of things.

Pastor Malachi - So... BR killed Pastor Malachi. Why? Because he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was it targeted? Considering the beliefs he's peddling, there are a lot of people who would have motive, but who knows? He clearly didn't know or recognize Bloody Rose, so that seems to cut him out as a co-conspirator.

Mrs. Beasley - She's still weird and suspicious, but would she have killed Pastor Malachi? What would be the purpose of that? I don't mean that she necessarily would have done that herself, but if she is the mastermind, then presumably it would have been done on her orders, and I just don't see why. I would have said, "maybe he knows too much," but he didn't seem to know anything.

Kelly - Okay, let's talk about Kelly. I know a lot of people have been suspicious of her possibly being Bloody Rose, and she does have some really weird behavior, so I get it. The problem is... I struggle to see who Kelly would be organizing with in order to pull this off. When I thought it was the church, then she had a lot of allies, but now that they don't seem to be directly involved, that really narrows down who she could be working with. She has to be working with someone if she's Bloody Rose because we know where she was during several BR attacks (she was with Greg during Sandy's, she was at the roller rink during Mouse's, etc.) so she can't be BR all the time. I guess this could play into the theories that Karen is still alive, but I just don't see how they've done enough to support that kind of reveal. Kelly is suspicious, but she also seems... very tortured? Even when we see her completely alone, she seems vulnerable, which just doesn't quite add up to the kind of cold calculation required to pull all this off, so... that feels off to me. No matter what, I don't think it's possible for her to be working alone.

Mrs. Langsberry - Well, she has finally reappeared. And she is religious. I get why people suspect her. I'm not locked in with her, but I've also not ruled her out.

Other Suspects

Rebecca - Nothing new here. The "reveal" of Imogen's mom certainly adds a layer to that story, but since she does not appear and is not mentioned, I don't know what else to say.

Dr. Sullivan - Also does not appear in this episode. I still think something about her personal life/past is going to come out, but I don't think it's going to be what the Liars think.

Wes - Okay, I'm finally ready to talk about Wes. Two weeks ago I talked about the belief that Wes was behind the SpookySpaghetti films, then last week I talked about the idea that Wes might be making a real life horror movie (explaining why Rose's "tests" are so theatrical and don't really make sense if you want to kill someone), and I still think this "someone is making a movie" theory holds water, but I waver back and forth on whether or not that person is definitely Wes. I very much thought that he was likely the "big bad" after 2x05. Now, with the attention drawn to him the way it is... I'm not so sure. In 2x05 when Wes didn't show up to work, and Tabby and Christian brushed it off, I immediately thought of Scream and what Randy says about Sidney's dad in the first film when they couldn't find him, "Because he's probably dead. His body will come popping up in the last reel somewhere, eyes gouged out, fingers cut off, teeth knocked out!" Randy's kind of right and kind of wrong. Sidney's dad does show up at the end, and something bad has happened to him, but he's alive because he's meant to die at the very end and take the fall for Billy & Stu. With all the Scream references this season, it would not surprise me in the slightest if whoever is behind all this has plans for who will take the blame instead of them. And, if someone is setting Wes up, Christian would be the most logical choice- he has access, Wes probably wouldn't hesitate to meet with him alone, Christian could easily plant the "knock off" masks, and other evidence, etc. That being said, whether Wes is guilty or not, I still fully believe that the Bloody Rose plot has a minimum of 2 characters, and possibly more than that. I also think it's very interesting that Tabby hallucinated Wes dead. If the girls begin to suspect something terrible has happened to him (instead of that he could be behind things), it might push me more towards, Wes is the one behind this. So we'll see what 2x07 gives us, I guess.

Misc. Thoughts & Suspicions (***seriously Spoilers for the 2x06-2x08 trailer***)

Okay, this one just jumped right out at me during the episode, and it could mean absolutely nothing at all (could just be a matter of the set dressers having certain supplies), BUT when Tabby and Christian go to look for Wes, we get this shot-

And in the trailer for 2x06-2x08, we see the inside of Johnny's bedroom, particularly this shot-

Do y'all see what I see?

Both Wes & Johnny have big posters of Edgar Allen Poe. In my trailer breakdown (I was mostly joking), I mentioned that it was kinda weird that Johnny has an Edgar Allen Poe poster when all the rest of the stuff on his walls seem to be band/music related. I probably would not have thought anything of it again, except for the fact that now we know Wes also has a giant Edgar Allen Poe poster in his place, too. This makes more sense for Wes, like he totally would be a Poe-bro, but this is weird, right?

Part of the reason I say that Kelly can't be BR by herself, and I'm reluctant to feel she is directly involved at all, honestly, (I mean, obviously she can't, she has an alibi for several of the tests) is due to the shots of her and BR from the trailer. Also, interesting that Kelly (who seems to have become absorbed into a cult) may be drowned by Rose (and possibly revived by Faran and/or Greg?) as it calls to mind a kind of twisted "baptism." BR may actually kill Kelly, but I also think that Faran will be in this scene (due to the shots of her from the trailer at the pool at night), and that she may rescue Kelly. We've already had a scene where Faran saves someone from drowning, she is perfectly set up to be able to possibly resuscitate Kelly. But maybe she just finds her.

Based on her outfit, I think it's safe to assume Faran was not planning to be at the pool, and something (a phone call? a text? a spookyspaghetti post?) has brought her here unexpectedly.

Imogen's mental state/Davie - I think we still have a lot to unpack here. I don't even know what to say about the ways Davie may or may not tie in. Motherhood is so central to the show, but particularly to Imogen, and it definitely feels like we have a piece of connective tissue missing from this storyline. I guess I should address the fact that it's not my first instinct to go, "Davie is alive!" based on 2x06, since we know Imogen's been hallucinating things.

Mouse's grandmother - just... where is she? not physically, I just mean, in what way does she matter? Does she matter?

Major suspects with no alibi during any of the BR appearances (I think) - Wes, Shawn, Dr. Sullivan, Mrs. Beasley, Mrs. Langsberry.

When we first got BR on screen, particularly when she fought Faran, I mentioned that I don't think we can trust the physicality of BR to necessarily match the person under the mask (like Ghostface). I also have always suspected that there may be different characters playing the Rose role at different times. That being said, we see slightly more "real" bits of Rose than we ever do of Ghostface (skin, hands, eye color, etc.) and if the reveals don't match that at all, it's going to annoy me a little bit.

Christian & Johnny = Billy & Stu? With all the Scream references lately, I couldn't help but have this thought when Tabby & Imogen are talking about how Johnny and Christian have hit it off. However, if they are both in on it, I think there has to be a third, as both Johnny & Christian have BR alibis at the same time (both at the roller rink, both outside in 2x06 with Ash & Greg, etc.), so then I think- Could it be Wes, Christian, & Johnny? Or maybe even just Wes & Johnny, with Christian as a possible fall guy?

Everything about the Jen/Noa/Shawn love triangle feels unresolved (I mean, obviously, since Shawn still doesn't know about the affair [or is pretending not to know], Jen robbed his house, and Noa didn't break up with him, despite wanting to) and I am still suspicious of both of these love interests (though kind of for different reasons) because why is this plot line taking up so much screen time if there isn't at least one big twist left with it? Tbqh, if I were Noa's friend rn, my advice would be, "I think you need to be single for a while," but obviously the rest of the girls don't have quite as much information as we do. That being said, I'm a little disappointed how much they all just brushed off the, "I've been cheating on my boyfriend," revelation. On the one hand, I get it, because if I were being told that at the same time as my friend coming out to me, I would want to be supportive of the vulnerability of that moment, and not make that experience negative for them. It would not feel like the right time to discuss the first part, particularly when it could come off as judgmental of their sexuality and not their actions. On the other hand, I can't help but think how absolutely merciless these girls would be if they had the same convo with one of guy characters. While I think they'd still want to be affirming of that guy's sexuality, I don't think they would ever give one of the guys a pass for cheating on his girlfriend repeatedly (much less if he were also asking his girlfriend for money for the person he's cheating with, etc. though they don't know about that). I mean, Imogen was pissed that Johnny was flirting with multiple girls when he was single and called his entire character in to question over it. While she admitted that was an overreaction, it's definitely a double standard. Sometimes I get a little tired of the feeling that the girls are allowed to behave in ways that we would find unacceptable for any other character (like honestly, don't get me started on Tabby and the locker room stuff from season 1 because I'm still not over it) and we're not meant to think too hard about it.

I can't help but wonder how Deputy Maroon is going to end up on the girl's suspect list, like I still barely know who that character is, and when you see the list in the trailer, everyone else on it finally makes sense (Dr. Sullivan because she was recording them and was Rose's therapist, the Beasley's because of their connection to the church, Mrs. Langsberry because she basically threatened them and has an obvious revenge motive, and Rose Waters because she is Rose Waters), so where does Deputy Maroon come from??

Other shots from the trailer I am most interested in-

^^ Tabby falling down the stairs at Christian's.

^^Someone (Imogen?) dragging someone's (Johnny's) body at the creamery. A nightmare? Or real?

^^ Noa discovering something (possibly a BR mask?)

I haven't forgotten about the Online BR cult, I just don't have anything new to add.

I have seen a lot of you talk about thinking it's Mrs. Langsberry and Wes, or Mrs. Langsberry and one of the other guys (usually Christian), and I want to acknowledge that I hear, you, I hear the Scream 2 references, and I get it! I have nothing new to contribute to that conversation, but I see what you're seeing!

So, yeah, I guess this is where I'll leave you this time! As always, if you wanna talk about anything specific, shoot me an ask!