#she terrifies me too much to be a stan

[cult-of-the-eye]

i can already sense the lady "matriarch" mowbray stans

[cloudysfluffs]

--And Once with Tickles!!

A/N: BLARHG i havent posted a fic of any kind in like four years. and i havent written a TICKLE fic in like SIX years!!!! so i might be a little rusty. but this fic has been in the works for OVER A YEAR NOW and itd be a shame if only my bf gets to see it :P so im posting it to da world!!!!!

Summary: basically just if the tickle scene from Sock Opera was longer ^^'' its literally my favorite tk scene of all time so now you can have an entire fic where i stretch it out for 5k words!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

Lee: Bill? Dipper? Bipper <3

Ler: Mabel + Stan

WARNING: THIS IS AN SFW TICKLE FIC!!!!! KINK/FETISH BLOGS DO NOT TOUCH!!!!! MOST OF THE CHARACTERS IN HERE ARE MINORS AND ALL OF THEM ARE RELATED!!!!! DON'T BE WEIRD!!!!!

“Whoah, whoah, hey-- hey, HEY!”

SMASH!

The cake prop crashed against the ground with a horrible crackling sound, breaking apart beneath both of their weights. There was a collective jump and gasp from the startled crowd. Even the puppets themselves-- or, at least, the soul piloting them-- seemed taken off guard.

Despite the panic and destruction, neither Bipper nor Mabel took too long to shake it off. Bipper landed on the ground, on his stomach, just a few feet away from Mabel, who’d landed on her side. Instantly, he pushed himself up, eyes wide, feeling around the floor for the journal. A stagelight swiveled, reflecting off the shiny gold cover, and both of them leapt for it with the determination of a starving animal on a hunt. They touched down at the very same time. They wore matching, angry glares, each gripping the journal so tightly that their knuckles were turning white. Mabel knew, as she squinted to avoid the spotlight, that there was no hope in saving the show. But there was hope for saving her brother! And if that meant sabotaging everything she worked for, then…Well, it was about time she sacrificed something for Dipper. 

They rolled across the stage, tumbling over one another, until Bipper’s head reached the edge. If he craned his neck backwards enough, he could see the confused and terrified face of the audience. Something he would’ve found amusing, if the stakes weren’t so high. Mabel was on top of him, her knee on his stomach, and both hands on the journal, tugging and yanking with all her might. He just held on, harder, gritting his teeth. The very same thought was in both of their minds. I’ve almost got it!

“Get out of my brother’s body, you evil triangle!!” Mabel yelled, pressing her leg down even harder. Enough to be uncomfortable, but not enough to cause any lasting damage. She really had to engrain that thought into her head. Once Bill got out of here-- and she would get him out of here-- it would be Dipper’s body suffering the consequences. He’d already been through too much. It turned out to be just enough to get the book to slip out of his hands. Both of their eyes widened in shock, but before Bill could give too much chase, she made sure to whack him with the journal. Just for good measure. She’d wanted to do that this whole time!!

Mabel stumbled to her feet, running back to center stage, just as Bipper was starting to sit up and rub his forehead. He growled, in a way she hadn’t heard since she was in Stan’s mind, in a way she knew her brother couldn’t replicate if he tried. Fascinatingly, she watched as his face seemed to heat up, reddening his skin even more than it had been already, as he pushed himself off the ground. If he were human, she may have assumed his failure had embarrassed him. But this was Bill, they were talking about…so, if she had to guess, this was his human-body equivalent of his yellow turning red. Kinda cute! In a weird, gross way. 

“Grrr…You can’t stop me!” He scowled, his eyes narrowing on the book. Mabel looked behind her. The set pieces blocked access backstage from this side, and while she could move to the stage stairs, or even jump down, that’d take a good amount of coordination. Before she could decide…she was leapt on. She gasped, feeling the air leave her lungs as she was tackled to the wooden floor. The journal slipped from her grasp, and landed on the floor beside her. Both she and Bipper placed their hands on it at the same time, hers on the edge, and his on the palm of the cover. Bipper was sitting on top of her, straddling her waist, his chest heaving as he panted. She felt breathless, too. But, as she stared up at him, still pink in the face, and with a tired, yet satisfied grin on his face…It was as if something clicked in her mind.

“I’m a being of pure energy, with no weakness!”

Mabel stared at him, almost in disbelief. It seemed so obvious. In any other circumstance, it would’ve been the very first thing she thought of, when searching for a method to gain the upper hand in combat, without actually hurting the other person. She did it to Dipper all the time! So often, in fact, that she figured the townsfolk wouldn’t bat an eye, if they saw her do this at her own show. For the first time, it was her turn to get to wear that smug, knowing smirk. She brought her other hand around to rest over the journal like a seat belt, just so he couldn’t snatch it while she talked. 

“True…But you’re in Dipper’s body!” She reminded, to which he huffed, as if offended. What, did she think he forgot? For once, it was like she could read his mind, because she picked up for him. She lifted the hand that wasn’t protecting the journal, and wiggled her fingers.

“And I know all his weaknesses!~”

Bipper quirked a brow. In the split second between her final comment, and what she was going to do next, she could see the cogs visibly turning behind his eyes. He wasn’t used to not knowing what was about to happen. Typically, at a glance, he could look at a person and see right through to their mind, where he could pluck their thoughts and plans right out. Sometimes, he knew what someone was about to do before they did. Having to rationalize like a human made it so he had to manually run through his own mental database, for what she could possibly mean…It was such a broad assessment. He was human, for christs’ sake. What wasn’t a weakness to them, really? They couldn’t handle being stretched too far, or bleeding too much, and their limbs could only bend to a certain point. Humanity was so fragile! It was honestly a mystery how they survived so long. But he’d pinned her like this for a reason; how could she possibly hurt him? 

“What do you mean his--?”

Before he could finish, Mabel lifted her wiggling fingers…and slipped her hand into his jacket, pressing them just underneath his arm. 

Bipper felt as if his entire body seized. In the half-second that the sensation touched down, he was overcome with a surge of physical reactions he’d never experienced before. First, he shivered, goosebumps freckling over his skin. It was as if every nerve in his body ignited, with an odd, fluttery tingling. Worse, perhaps…was the way he vocally reacted.He gasped, and squeaked, an embarrassingly high-pitched noise leaping from his throat. The glare, which he’d taken pride in withstanding, was forcibly wiped from his expression, replaced by a shaky smile. It felt like his insides were bubbling. But when he opened his mouth to express that concern…he realized what it was.

“GaHhh--! AAAaahhahahahahaha!” It was the urge to laugh. Uncontrollable giggles poured out of him like bubbles to a heated cauldron. The heat he felt rush to his face only made that metaphor seem all the more accurate. Mabel and the audience might’ve heard Dipper’s voice, but he heard his own. The helplessness in his tone disgusted him. Out of his own control, his reflexes went haywire, demanding that he get anywhere as long as it was away. Robbed of the motor skills required for any complex movements, he found himself toppling backwards, pinning his arms to his sides. He’d hoped falling would be enough to put distance between him and his tormentor, but it seemed like the opposite had occurred. The moment he was down, she took advantage, by climbing on top of his waist, instead. She wriggled the fingers of both of her hands under each of his arms, ruthlessly scribbling for long enough for him to feel as if any attempts at fighting back would be futile. And then, she slid both hands down, grazing his ribs, before settling on his sides. The motion elicited another yelp, and another full-body shiver, before he settled back into the helpless giggling that had possessed him before. 

It was unusual. It was unbearable. It…tickled.

“Tickle tickle!~” Mabel cooed, and for some reason, Bipper felt a heat rush to his cheeks. In fact, the burning sensation stretched all the way to the tips of his ears, making him feel compelled to wrench his eyes shut and turn his head away. The words-- or was it that voice?-- made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Somehow, it seemed like her touch only tickled more, the teasing worsening the odd hypersensitivity afflicting his nerves. His hands locked around her wrists, and he arched his back, shoving pitifully while he used his heels to kick at the ground. Whether it was due to the tickle-induced weakness, or the pose was just that effective, he didn’t get anywhere. Mabel smirked, baring her braces like fangs, like she could see just how much the comment worked on him. Dipper couldn’t stand that, either!

“Awww, whatsa matter?~ Does it tiiiickle?~ Are you too tiiicklish to handle it?~ Kitchy-kitchy-koo!~”

“S-StahahaAAahahahahahahap!” He hissed, scowling, cursing the stutter in his voice. Damn Pine Tree’s twitchy little body and his squeaky little voice! How did he live, being so sensitive?? He couldn’t bear to listen to another word of that teasing, bringing his hands up to cover his ears. And, in retaliation, Mabel’s nails skittered upwards again. They passed over his ribs, before again settling into a gentle scratch just under his arms. It got the exact same reaction the downward motion over the same spot had caused; a gasp, a yelp, and a full-body shiver, all before his arms snapped right back down again. Both of them seemed irritated by that last response.

“AAGhh-! Whyhyhyhyhyhyhyhy cahahahahahahahan’t I mohohohohove my ahahahahahahahaharms?!”

“Reflexes!” Mabel chimed in, instantly, as if it were obvious. To a human, it may have been, but for Bill, ‘reflexes’ were an entirely foreign concept. He’d never felt so…effortlessly disarmed. And that was coming from someone who spent a good chunk of his life in the second dimension, and, the rest of the time, was confined to the mindscape. He was already relatively harmless. But somehow, when he had a physical body to interpret reality with, being helpless was so much more torturous. He knew the human body was pathetic, but really, how had they survived this long as a species, if all it took were a few pokes to entirely collapse them?? Perhaps it was a combination of how unfamiliar the sensation was to him, and how sensitive Dipper’s body was, anyway…but he felt he reserved the right to mentally complain, anyway. He felt naturally more whiny. As if Mabel could tell, she grinned, and retracted a hand.

“Here, let me help you!”

Her now-free arm shifted backwards, so her hand could lock around his wrist…and force it upwards, pinning it to the ground beside his head. The other hand, that had been trapped in place, wriggled its way out. She crossed it over his body, and switched which side she was attacking, her claws now slipping into his jacket to scratch beneath the arm she’d pinned. It all happened so quickly, Bipper hardly had the chance to look horrified…before he fully squealed, his laughter ratcheting up another octave. 

“EEEEeeehheheheheek!! ‘Hehehehehehehehehelp’?!” He echoed, offended, the bite of his tone lost in his giggling. He wanted to argue more thoroughly, but good god, that tickled so much more!! He arched his back, jerked at his elbow, and turned to one side, desperate for something-- anything-- to put distance between his skin and her nails. Talk about feeling disarmed! He thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, and yet, here he was. 

“Yeah! Help! Now you don’t have to flail your arms around; you can just lay back and take it!” Mabel interjected, with an innocence that seemed far too natural for how cruel she was being. Bill saw some of himself in her, sometimes. With that kind smile, and flattery. So, sweetly deceptive. He had to hand it to her, she knew how to get ‘em! This girl was brimming with potential; the unicorns and butterflies and rainbows were just a thin blanket to mask the chaos that she was capable of. The little brat. Maybe he could use that someday. But now, it only aided in annoying him. 

“You’re welcome!~”

He wasn’t an idiot. He saw what she was trying to do. But just in case he didn’t, she told him, anyway. Mabel leaned down, eyes narrowed, so they were practically nose-to-nose. 

“Get outta Dipper’s body, or I’m gonna tickle you until you pass out!!”

He growled, trying to force the corners of his lips down into a frown. She wished it would be that easy! He may be weakened, and disarmed, but please! Who did she think he was? As if he suddenly realized he had control over his not-pinned hand, he reached over to try and grab at her wrist, to pry the hand attacking him away from the spot. It did work, partially, as the tugging would occasionally slide her hand downwards…but that only meant her wiggling fingers would graze his ribs, instead, and he’d be possessed by that yelp and full-body shiver that seemed to trigger every time. The reaction weakened him. As if he wasn’t weak enough! 

“Nehehehehehehehever!” He insisted, with just enough bite in his words for him to feel a swell of pride. He was starting to get used to it! His smile suddenly seemed all the more smug, practically a smirk, despite the fact that it was hardly warranted, in his current state. He was still laughing, and squirming, his entire body leaned to one side to reflexively counteract the nails scratching away at him. Mabel huffed. 

First, her eyes drifted to the stage. She wished she could see Dipper. To everyone else here, she was tormenting her innocent brother in front of an audience for no apparent reason. Worse, none of them, not even their most loved ones, would get an honest explanation. Whoops. She’d apologize to him later. In the meantime, she turned her head in the other direction.

Everyone out there seemed absolutely captivated. Well, for the most part, at least. Some seemed confused, others seemed shocked. A shocking amount seemed pretty flustered, while others sported the exact opposite mood. She could just barely see Candy and Grenda confusedly flipping through the script just off stage. But, generally, most of the crowd was enjoying this thrilling multi-media masterpiece. Even those from the Mystery Shack. In fact, maybe especially those three! Mabel couldn’t help but smile, as she met their eyes through the smearing, colorful stage lights.

Wendy was leaning back in her seat with her boots kicked up on the empty chair in front of her, an amused smirk on her face. Though she couldn’t hear anything coherent from the crowd from up here (and wouldn’t be able to, anyway, over Bipper’s high-pitched squealing), she could tell that Wendy snickered, as she elbowed Soos in the side. Soos was one of the members of the audience who seemed a little flustered over the whole endeavor. Even in the low lighting, Mabel could see just how red his face was. He was grinning nervously, and fanning himself with his cap, and flinched just a little too hard as he was nudged. It was all very sweet. Truthfully, she didn’t care if this ruined the show for most of the audience, because it wasn’t for them anymore. It was for Dipper! …But it did make her feel good, to see them enjoying themselves. And no one seemed to be enjoying himself more than Stan!

Earlier today, he seemed to be a little skeptical about coming. He was swayed incredibly easily though, which was rare for him. He was probably the most stubborn man the twins had ever met, and yet a good puppy-dog-eyed stare and a promise that the end would blow his mind was enough to convince him that maybe this memory was priceless. He’d even brought a camera to film it. Even with one of his eyes obscured by the pop-out window of the old recording device, she could see how widely he was grinning, the expression on his face one of fond amusement. He must have assumed that this was the ‘spectacular closing act’ that she’d been bragging about just a few hours earlier. It wasn’t, but if this went well, he’d never have to find that out! He caught her looking out upon the crowd, and tilted his head so more of his face was visible, his grin seeming all the more proud. He gave her a reassuring thumbs up, and she felt a new wave of confidence wash over her. She could do this.

Her eyes fell back to the demon pinned beneath her, who hadn’t stopped giggling and struggling since she shifted her attention a few moments ago. He’d probably been yelling insults she’d been too distracted to hear. She squinted at him suspiciously. If this were Dipper, she’d be jumping to his spot about now. Heck, that’s probably what she’d do when wrecking anyone! But…this wasn’t Dipper. It wasn’t ‘just anyone’. This was Bill! He already seemed to be getting the hang of this sensation, with how consistently now he was shoving at her hands, and how successful his thrashing was becoming. If she let up for even a second, he might even be able to wriggle away, or worse! She needed to not only tickle him to death, but she needed to make the session intense. What was something Dipper wouldn’t be able to stand…? 

Her gaze flickered to the crowd again. And, suddenly…she stopped.

Her smirk returned. Her wiggling fingers ceased, and instead that hand grabbed Bipper’s opposite wrist, so she was now pinning both to the floor. The demon-possessed vessel gasped the moment he felt a moment of solace, obviously annoyed by the fact that his giggle-fit didn’t immediately die. Every time he inhaled, or exhaled, he found he couldn’t stop laughing, like the feeling was still there, under his skin. But he was too out of breath to do anything about it! He fought with this natural, human response, while Mabel sat up as straight as she could.

“For my next act, I’ll need a volunteer from the audience!” She announced, proudly, as if it made any logical sense. The poor crowd was going to be so confused. But she didn’t need most of their approval. She only needed it from one. She grinned, and shut one eye, so she could point directly at her grunkle.

“How about you, good sir? You look like you’d make a fine actor!”

Stan lifted his head away from the viewfinder, visibly startled. He glanced to either side of him, pointed to himself, and brightened when Mabel nodded in approval. He didn’t hesitate any longer than that, handing the camera over to Soos (who fumbled with it for a moment, before giving a reassuring thumbs up) and climbing out of his seat. 

Bipper was only just starting to regain his composure, when he realized what was going on. He shook his head, and blinked open his eyes, squinting out at the crowd. Jesus, had the kid’s eyes always been this bad? He almost missed Sixer’s glasses. But, the very moment he processed that Mabel’s hands had released his wrists…thick, strong arms wrapped underneath his, scooping him up into a sitting position, pressed against someone’s chest. He felt like a cat being hoisted into the arms of their owner, unable to do anything but twist his shoulders and try to wriggle out of his grasp. Mabel was still sitting on his legs.  He glared over his shoulder. The light reflected off of Stan’s glasses, obscuring his eyes, and for some reason that made him look intimidating. Or maybe it was just the fact that he was in such a small, wimpy body; anyone could look like a threat, when everyone towered over you. His hands balled into fists.

“Wh-What is this?!” He scowled, stammering, trying to roll his shoulder to free it from the old man’s grasp. But it seemed like every inch that he managed to unwind, Stan just pulled him back even tighter. It was so effortless, it was hard to feel anything other than pathetic. No wonder this kid was getting tickled constantly! Everyone in town had a leg up on him!

“Let go of me!”

“This is called a grand finale!” Mabel declared, straightening her back and cracking her knuckles. The smirk on her face was downright sinister. An evil that Bill couldn’t help but think rivaled his own. She was an expert at this, wasn’t she? She knew this would up the game, considering the strength difference between them. Even with her best efforts, she wasn’t strong enough to keep him fully still. And even if she could, she’d lose leverage by being unable to use both hands. But the addition of another person-- him, especially-- had immobilized him completely, without her ever having to lift a finger. Not to mention how calculated this whole trap with her ‘grunkle’ had been. She hadn’t even had to speak word to him, for him to understand exactly where his place was, in all of this. Maybe they were psychic. Or maybe they really just did this that frequently. Man, he’d almost pity Pine Tree, if he deserved it! But he hardly had time to dwell on something like that, anyway. Not as he watched Mabel lift her wiggling fingers threateningly. 

“Last chance!”

She was bold, too. But so was he. And that would be his first mistake. Daringly-- challengingly-- he smirked.

“Pssh, yeah, right!” He chuckled, rolling his eyes. Mabel glared, as he turned up his nose, quirked a brow, and scoffed. Anyone who thought this was Dipper might almost see it as in-character behavior. He’d been similarly snarky, around this point in sessions. Stan even rolled his eyes right back, and tightened his grip, as if he’d found it predictable. But anyone who knew the truth, knew he wasn’t doing it for any reason other than to call her bluff. This was a pathetic excuse of a torture attempt. He thought smarting off would prove as much. When, actually…it did the exact opposite.

“Like I’d be convinced by a little tihihiiihihiHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHICKLING--!!”

Mabel’s wiggling fingers finally dug into his ribs. And it felt so distinctly different from the other spots, or even from how it felt when she was just grazing them earlier. It was like he’d been electrocuted, from the way his body jolted uncontrollably, and the way the sensation gripped him like a shock. The yelp of terror that jumped from his throat broke in the middle, fully replaced by helpless cackles. 

…Okay. Maybe not his proudest moment.

Maybe he should’ve known better. Maybe being in this body too long was getting to him. Maybe the stupid, human impulses that he’d gotten so good at ignoring also included this vessel’s apparent desire to talk himself into corners just to get himself tickled. Whatever the case, the whole time this had been going on, the more he felt his resolve…slipping. Exhaustion tugged at his eyelids, like his body suddenly remembered that it hadn’t gotten proper sleep in over twenty-four hours. Every part of him was sore, not that pain could even begin to compete with the tickly jolts shooting through his ribs. He considered the pro’s and con’s of dislocating a shoulder just to weasel out of here, but he couldn’t properly think. He swore he could literally feel circuits shorting in his brain, glitching and sparking and stuttering where the neat rows of coherent thought used to be. It had been a beautiful process to watch, from the other side…but was miserably frustrating, when it was your plans getting thrown out of whack! 

He wanted to growl. To kick, and scream, and either kill this vessel or one of the two holding him back. Whichever came first! But, all that came out was…

“SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUT UHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUP!!”

…A very pathetic attempt at defiance. Enough that each of his attackers dared to snicker at him in amusement. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter, thrashing and twisting in the restraints.

“W-WHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEN I GEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHET OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOUT OF THIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIIS, IHIHIHIHIHIHI’LL--! IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI’LL--!!”

Mabel couldn’t help but notice just how…not-evil he looked, like this. Bill’s base form had no mouth, and yet he somehow always seemed to be grinning. Earlier, she’d seen that condescending smirk in Bipper. But now it was gone, and she was seeing a face she’d never quite seen before. It wasn’t quite the flustered, giggly look she got from her brother, but it was far from the invisible, malevolent smile that Bill was always wearing. It was something in between. It might’ve fascinated her, if she was any less focused on the task at hand. Her nails, while dull, knew how to press just right, to tickle as much as possible without translating into physical pain. She scratched at the spaces between his ribs, and played the bones like a piano, watching in satisfied amusement as every motion elicited the same, predictable reaction. Cackles, squeaks and voice-cracks echoed through the auditorium, almost sounding musical against the backing-track of her rock-opera, that no one had bothered to turn off. If anything, Bill was even squirmier than her brother was, which was certainly saying something. This was usually the point in the session where Dipper gave up fighting, especially when Stan was helping, since he obviously didn’t have a chance. But Bill still had some fight in him! 

“I don’t know what you did to deserve this, but clearly you’re gettin’ what’s coming to ya!” Stan accused, glancing over Bipper’s shoulder in an attempt to make eye contact. The kid was clearly avoiding it. But he still peeked up, for just a moment, if only to make a point to glare. Stan took advantage of his disorientation, knowing he was disarmed just long enough for him to be able to let go of his arms. Instead, he grabbed both wrists, and pulled them behind his back, like how a cop would while handcuffing you. But he didn’t need handcuffs, because his hands were big enough in comparison to grab both of the kid’s wrists in one of his palms while still having his fingers touch in the middle. And, with one hand free…he was able to pull out one last trick. 

Fingers skittered up Bipper’s spine, spurring out an involuntary shiver that was so intense, Bill was a little surprised it didn’t jolt him out of this body entirely. He didn’t get to dwell on how scarily close that had been to breaking him, though. Because in a second, that single skittering turned into a consistent, unrelenting scribble, and any coherent thought that was left slipped out through his fingers.

“AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! NOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!”

Right. Almost all of the Pines’ were ticklish here. Maybe he should’ve seen that coming. 

It was positively overwhelming. Every curl of his blunt nails against the spot had his nerves lighting up in a frenzy, activating the useless instinct that had him squealing and laughing like this whole ordeal was the most hilarious joke he’d ever been told. But no part of this was funny!! Not when it was him! It was humiliating, at best, and a total disgrace to his reputation at worst. He was glad the folks at home couldn’t see this, because they would never let him live it down. 

“Ooh! Good call, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel praised, finally looking back up to meet his eyes with an approving smile on her face. She wished she could give him a thumbs up, but her hands were kinda busy. Bill couldn’t help but bristle at how unfair it was, that Stan could restrain him like this. He couldn’t lean forward even if he wanted to, and leaning backwards only pressed him further into that hand! And, somehow, despite the trap being objectively more simple, it was more confining! Now, he didn’t even have the privilege of flapping his hands, or making vaguely threatening gestures. And it all just tickled more! It was cruel, and unusual. He wrenched his eyes shut, and felt tears build in the corners. Crying had always been an annoying, uncontrollable thing his puppets did, but it felt especially humiliating in this context. Way to rub salt in the wound.

“MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAKE IT STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!”

Whether it be a blessing or a curse, neither of the two around him had a chance to respond to that miserable display of emotion. Because, somehow mockingly, his body turned against him. When he tried to catch his breath, he felt a hiccup of air in his chest…that caused a snort. 

The two at either of his sides brightened. And the crowd aww’ed.

He’d forgotten they were there. He was on a stage, and yet, the fact that there were more than four of them here had slipped his mind. Earlier, if he’d remembered, he would’ve shrugged it off. Whatever, who cared if they saw him like this? It wasn’t his reputation that was going to suffer for it. It was Pine Tree’s, who now had to go home and live the rest of his life knowing that most of this town had seen him get tickled on stage. And that was still, objectively, true! He knew that. He knew none of them would think twice about it. So why did the sudden realization have his face blushing hotter? Why did he feel this horrible, anxious fluttering in his stomach, like he was full of spiders? He didn’t know. But he knew it had to end. 

He couldn’t take it. It wasn’t just his self-inflicted injuries that ached, now, it was others-- his sides, and his throat, and the corners of his lips, were all begging him to just stop laughing. Other than the ache, he was pretty sure he could feel this vessel overheating. Being put in this embarrassing position had struck a match inside of him that was slowly cooking him from the inside out. But more than that, he was tired. And that was hardly a feeling he even understood. Alas, the human urge to melt into a puddle and sleep for eight hours was, apparently, real. He was on the verge of uttering a genuine please, if this didn’t end soon, and he didn’t want to pull that card unless it was a life-or-death situation. So, apparently, he only had one choice left…

Damn it. It wasn’t fair! He’d let them have this win, but his fun wasn’t over. This plan was only the first of many tricks he had up his sleeve. He glanced up at Mabel one last time, eyes narrowing, as if he could glare at her very soul. But she only countered it with a smirk. She knew she couldn’t lose. She’d never lost a tickle fight against her brother! 

Suddenly, the sound of his laughter began to taper off. It quieted into a fit of twitchy, broken coughs; it almost sounded like he was glitching. But then he slumped in his spot, quiet…and all four hands retracted. Dipper’s body melted into his Grunkle’s chest, eyes closed, as if he was out cold. Both attackers pulled back for a moment, visibly tense, and met eyes. Mabel, because she was testing to see if this was a good sign…and Stan, because he was genuinely startled. Jesus, he’d never passed out like that before! Usually he called it, when he knew he was getting to the end of his rope! Did they kill him on accident? There was a beat of silence that was just long enough to raise concern...and then, quick enough to be startling, Dipper sat up. He gasped, and clutched his chest, panting like he’d been awoken from a nightmare. And, well…he sort of had! Both of his family members jumped.

“Ahh!! He’s back!!” Mabel accused, lifting her clawed hands in preparation to strike again. She didn’t expect her brother to scream, flinching backwards in horror. 

“AAHHhh, M-Mabel!! It’s mehehe, it’s me, it’s me!!” He pleaded, bringing up his arms to protect himself in a panic. The squeaky, nervous little voice sounded different than it had, just a moment ago. Less confident, less angry, and more…well, like her brother. If it was an act, it must’ve been a pretty convincing one, because she lowered her hands. Slowly, skeptically, Dipper lowered his, too…and she saw his round, brown eyes staring back. Her posture fully relaxed, and her grin returned to her face. It actually worked!! Tickling always worked. 

[qierxing]

Determination

A/N: Finished the LaDs story if you couldn’t tell. If you asked what came over me to write this, I could not tell you because truly I think I was in a trance because I’m not exactly a Sylus stan Yan! Sylus/Qin Che x Reader Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. CW/TW: Dub//Con touching, Manipulation, Power Imbalances, Disability issues, Unhealthy relationships, Obsessive behavior, Reader is not in-game MC but MC is referenced and reader is lowkey Longing(THEY HAVE TWO HANDS OKAY), kind of Alt! AU following the storyline

—

From the moment you were born, your life had been planned out to the end.

You would grow up, become useful, and then once you lost your usefulness; be ushered to handling petty things to earn your right to exist, and then you would die. Just like everyone else in the N-109 zone. Cremated or dissolved, of course. No one is dumb enough to leave behind evidence or traces, or even worse, parts for grave robbers with no morals and a penchant for quick gold. That was simply the circle of life here. 

Your future had been set in stone as soon as your father had settled here. On some particularly trying days, you resent him for it. Other days, you know enough that he had no choice. 

“Is the old man in?”

The voice makes you tense reactively before you relax, recognizing the familiar low cadence. 

“He’s out on an errand, should I pass on your message?”

The leader of Onychinus and your boss by proxy, shakes his head. You didn’t bother to ask twice. Your focus once again is drawn back to the shiny red protocore on your desk. It’s a tiny thing; requiring meticulous care, lest it be shattered by too much pressure. 

“Is there something I can do for you while you’re here then?” 

A shuffle, then several clinks in your hearing peripheral. He must be looking through the backlog or the recent projects. It’s a habit whenever he felt restless and after some time, you learned to push down the feeling like your work was being dissected bit by bit by his intimidating eyes. 

The prolonged silence makes you forget your own question, too engrossed in the protocore in front of you. When Sylus speaks again, a tremor runs though your hands and make you almost lose your grip.

“What do you think I should do with a kitten that keeps hissing at me?”

You look over with wide eyes. Of course, there can only be one thing he’s referring to–the fact that the Onychinus’s leader is in possession of a valuable asset is not a secret. An outsider, of all things, too. Some would shake their heads in pity, others would sneer and say she had only herself to blame, and even more would only care once her dead body was laid bare and the aether core in their hands.

To you, though? You thought she was amazing. 

She was like the chivalrous heroes in the few scrappy picture books your father had. Dashing, fearless, and always fighting for justice. What was it like to be a hunter? You’ve never seen her, yet you daydream constantly about the life she led, and how you wished it could be yours.

“I feed some stray cats here and there. They usually warm up once they realize I’m not a threat and I’m trying to help them.” The sincere advice has him snorting in cynical disbelief. 

“And if that kitty still shows their claws?” You shift uncomfortably at the way his voice dips. When he was angry, Sylus was terrifying. But he wasn’t angry, not yet, and you wish you weren’t the factor that could change that right now.

“Usually time will do its work.” You try to sound casual, but you can feel Sylus’s eyes piercing through you. You try to swallow the saliva clogging your mouth. You don’t want to imagine what kind of methods the boss would utilize to make people talk. You distanced yourself from such violence, even if it was naive and stupid to do so. Still, there was a clear difference from self-defense and actively inflicting violence. The twins that shadowed Sylus made that crystal clear.

“Hmm…if you say so.” The heavy gaze lifts off of you and it’s like a weight lifts off your throat, letting air back into your lungs. 

Another few seconds pass in silence, with you praying for nothing else of note will happen.

”The old man told me that you’ll be benched soon.” 

The pointed sentence makes your hands freeze. The bright gold protocurve gleams in the dim workshop, and for a moment, the blood rushing your ears is all you can hear. 

“I’ve been unable to keep up with the workload, sir.” You keep your eyes firmly fixed on the ruby red core, forcing your hands to keep moving while you modify the curve. “I don’t think I can be any more help to my dad.”

Not entirely a full lie. You’re not sure if it’s because the rough and tough life of N-109 is wearing you down like sandpaper or if it’s your body collapsing in on itself due to its condition, but most days it’d be a miracle if you could get one modification done without mistakes. 

One time when you were still an immature child, you disobeyed your father and snuck out of the house during dawn. Your life had always been the pitch black of night, with the brightest natural light being the moon and its silvery clouds wrapping around it like a translucent shawl. When you asked your dad what happened when you slept, he simply stated the moon also went to bed. So then, what exactly happened while it slept?

The sun was blinding. It seared you to the bone as the heat increased with the hours passing and it rose above the horizon. It was so hot, yet you could not help but feel at peace, as if the rays were cleansing you. The landscape under its light was depressing as usual; metal scraps and rusted junk scattered and embedded in dull colored dirt and rocks. This much didn’t surprise you, but it still reminded you of the bleakness of your world. 

It made you feel helplessly trapped.

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you talk to me?” 

You blink once, then twice at Sylus standing in front of you, with an unreadable expression on his face. He had stated it as if it was common sense to bring up a grievance with him. As if he wasn’t the most terrifying power within the N-109 zone. As if you and your father weren’t subject to his whims.

”I…I’m sorry,” your eyes cast downward in guilt again. You wish your boss was as evil as some of the rumors make him out to be. It would make things so much easier. “I just didn’t think you need to be bothered with something this trivial.”

If possible, the expression on his face sours even more. “One of my researchers is not trivial. You help me, and I help you.”

You bite your tongue. Of course he was practical. It is true. Without you and your father, he would lose a quarter of his manpower in tech. But this just hardens your resolve even further. 

“Thank you for your concern, sir,” you plaster a sickeningly polite smile on, straining to keep the facade of a lackey who was happy to live another day. “But it’s alright—even if I can’t directly assist my father anymore, I can find other ways to be helpful.”

Why you were significant enough as a cog in his many machinations is still plain weird. But that doesn’t matter. Soon enough, you won’t be one if at all.

Sylus gives a bark of harsh laughter, startling you and making you drop one of your tools. Your skin crawled, but you willed yourself to stay calm, to maintain a calm demeanor that belied none of your true thoughts. It had been the only thing you kept from the many street smarts of N-109 when you grew up. 

He reaches out his hand. His evol wraps crimson red smoke around his outstretched fingers, and when it clears, there’s a slip of crinkled white notebook paper. Your heart immediately plummets into your stomach.

”Are you sure it’s not because you finally found an out to this hellhole?”

You hadn’t fully realized it, but you’re no longer sitting, and the next thing you know, the world has flashed into white and ringing. You’re no longer even thinking at this point, running on pure adrenaline and instinct. Sylus may be the one running the show, but even he couldn’t know all of the labyrinth of secret exits this workshop had. 

You got exactly ten steps in the direction of one before your face met the concrete floor. You don’t need to look to see what’s pinning you down. It’s almost insulting, but most of all, it’s aggravating to know how close freedom was in reach, only to be stopped short of it.

“You really thought something like that could stop me?” Sylus’s voice drawls above your struggling body. You’re wrenched up to stand in front of him, arms held up like a crucified deity. He fiddles with the now broken protocore in his fingers, turning it this way and that, so that the dim lights caught the cracked grooves and threw reflections on the grungy walls around you. Finally, he drops it and with a crack, his polished shoe has grinded it to nothing. “Well, it’s certainly a novel idea.”

You don’t bother to say anything, but a sob nearly wells up, just barely held back by clenched teeth. You were so, so close. Now you’ll never know what it felt to be in bright city lights and live a normal life. 

“I thought it was clear that the only place you had was by my side.” Sylus clicks his tongue, tilting his head. You’re forced forward, and then your head was buried in his shoulder as his hands found their way onto your waist, tight and unyielding. The acrid smell of gunpowder and alcohol from his ironed button up makes your nose wrinkle and although you try to turn your head away, one of his hands presses your head even closer. “I should’ve known better that you would get your hopes up when that hunter came.”

Hot breath ghosts your neck, sending goosebumps up your skin, and before you could stop him, his teeth are buried inside tender flesh, making you cry out in pain. Your struggling starts up again, but Sylus doesn’t acknowledge it, instead lathering a lithe tongue over the wound, causing pleasurable shivers up your spine. 

“Then, if you want to leave so badly, how about you stay with me?” he whispers with a tenderness that makes your head spin.

No matter how much you want it, you could not fight the fate that was set for you.

[jedimasterbailey]

Tales of the Empire Thoughts (Mostly About Barriss)

I know I’m a little late to the party in terms of laying out my thoughts on Tales of the Empire but honestly I needed a few days to process and digest what happened (not to mention being on vacation delayed that process as well). Obviously as a Barriss stan/fanfic writer/blogger y’all know that those episodes were the upmost priority for me and I will be rewatching those episodes on repeat like no other since it’s been far too long since Barriss has had her time to shine. 

The majority of this post will be centered around those specific episodes because I’m just gonna just go ahead and say that the Morgan Elsbeth episodes were boring and didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know about the character. Also the bullshit reasoning as to why Morgan doesn’t obviously look Dathomiran is so dumb in that my brain will malfunction if I think about it too much. If the “magic going away” thing was true then how do you explain Merrin and Ventress who still have power and retain their clear Dathomiran appearance? Either way, there is no way Darth Felonious could explain his “logic” to me there because it is all too clear that Morgan was never meant to be Dathomiran in the first place. She was just a bad lady with a spear and that’s that. Love the actress, but the character is just lame. Furthermore, it is so clear that the hat man knows absolutely nothing about Thrawn and I’m not even a Thrawn stan but why even if the guy involved if he just says a few words and leaves? Now before y’all come for me, yes I’m aware these episodes are shorts and the time is precious but to me they could have dedicated more time into explaining to me why Morgan is so loyal to Thrawn. Her reasoning for wanting to join the Empire is empty too in that the Separatists that annihilated her race is now the Empire so…to me that’s not enough reasoning for Morgan to be so dedicated. The only parts that had me engaged were the Grevious bits which were both beautiful and frightening at the same time.

Now onto the meat which is the Barriss arc which has me both elated and frustrated at the same time. Let’s begin with the stuff I absolutely love.

1.) Barriss proving herself to not be committed to the Dark Side/Empire is a huge win for me and other Barriss super fans who have been preaching this for over a decade. We knew from the moment the trailer came out that Barriss was just going to do what it took to survive and even though she was forced into doing things she really did not want to do, she stayed true to herself and escaped before it was too late. The light in her never left nor did it ever leave her and I just know that Luminara would have been so proud of her. Barriss constantly questioning the Grand Inquisitor and the Fourth Sister had me smiling because that is just Barriss. She will always question things that seem off and will defend her beliefs and values no matter what the danger to herself may be. The line of reclaiming her position of a Jedi is my absolute favorite line and gave me all the feels I get whenever Luke tells Palpatine that he is a Jedi like his father. On a final note, I loved that she showed genuine concern/fear for what was happening to the Jedi when Order 66 was happening and demanded an answer. 

2.) Barriss being a healer and a protector. It is so satisfying to see it canon on screen that Barriss remains to be a healer after years of being obsessed with the Legends Medstar lore. I absolutely loved that Barriss took off her mask to the terrified boy in the village and protected him against the Fourth Sister’s unnecessary wrath only to save the non-binary (yay representation!) Jedi from death later that day. It all just makes me so happy to get that validation that Barriss has always had a big heart which makes her stand out from other Jedi in my opinion. 

3.) Barriss sporting that lesbian pixie cut with the adorable laugh/smile lines and being a healer in the mountains helping Force sensitive and the sick/injured just makes my day. It warms my heart to see Barriss be at peace and doing so much good after so much pain and trauma from her past. Though I do miss her hood and would like to see a head covering on her again. Also doing the math, Barriss should be in her thirties during the third episodes so why did they age her up so much? I’ve heard the theory of the Force healing taking her life force but damn Luminara was in her late thirties during the Clone Wars and she had like nothing 😅 One other note that makes me smile is that Barriss is referred to as a “wise mother” and that’s just everything.  Also she looks and acts like just like Luminara they truly could be mother and daughter it’s so sweet 💚💙

4.) Barriss defeating an Inquisitor without a weapon of her own and catching a blade with the Force is so fucking badass, I could re-watch that sequence on repeat forever. 

5.)The vague Ahsoka mention had my Barrissoka heart exploding. I demand an animated Barrissoka show immediately. 

Now here are the bits that have me frustrated and I demand that Darth Felonious fixes them later.

1.) The lack of closure between Barriss and Ahsoka/Luminara. Barriss hurt a lot of people from her actions but at the very least it would be nice to see her repair the damage she inflicted on the people closest to her. We never saw anything in regards to Luminara’s reaction to the bombing and knowing what gruesome fate awaits her in Rebels, I was so hoping the two would meet again, make amends before Luminara inevitably sacrificed herself as a final act of love and forgiveness for her Padawan. As for Ahsoka…if the two are able to work together in the future, could we at least see how exactly that came to be? I’m personally growing tired of major developments happening off-screen and we as an audience are just expected to roll with it. Again I’m aware these are shorts, but why do they have to be shorts? Why can’t we just delete the boring Morgan episodes and get like a movie or limited series on this exact journey? 

2.) The return of yet another ambiguous ending for Barriss. I am a firm believer that Barriss is alive granted that people seem to get stabbed all the time in Star Wars and they get to live so why not Barriss? I understand what they’re doing with Barriss getting through to the Fourth Sister to show us that Barriss has come full circle in her journey from dark to light, however since I’m forced to believe that Barriss had some sort of relationship with this random Inquisitor pre-Empire instead of someone who did have a significant relationship to her, it falls flat for me and it enrages me that if Barriss were to die from this….well I just don’t have words for that. So now I’m wondering if I’m going to have to wait another 10 years to get answers. Thank the Force for fanfic and fanart to get me through. 

3.) Does Barriss even know what the Empire did her Master? Because… I feel that’s another huge story thats being missed here. Ahsoka was able to get some closure with Anakin, why can’t Barriss have the same with Luminara? 

4.) Never getting anything in terms of what pushed Barriss to bomb the Jedi temple in the first place. That’s my biggest beef with the original Clone Wars series since we see no development as to how Barriss goes from a kind gifted Padawan healer to mastermind of a terror plot. That could a book or show on its own. 

5.) Star Wars continuing to miss what a satisfying redemption arc is. Not only do we need to understand what got a character to do the crime(s) but we need to see the growth that comes from it. That’s what makes the Obi-Wan Kenobi show so good to me is that I now know how Obi-Wan grew from RotS to where we meet him in ANH. I would love to see the same for Barriss, because you just know she’s been on very spiritual/emotional journey to get to where she was at the end of the show. 

6.) Why was Vader even in this? Given the history Barriss and Anakin share, it is incredible that nothing happened between them post ROTS. And this is like fresh Vader still full of grief and anger by what’s happened so I doubt seeing Barriss even as an Inquisitor initiate would be anymore soothing. I just don’t understand…what a waste. Something more epic and cathartic could have come out of that interaction.

Well I’m done ranting for now, I’m curious to know what your guy’s thoughts are. Otherwise my brain is buzzing with fanfic story ideas and I’ll be getting back on the writing horse as I re-Watch the Barriss episodes into oblivion. 

[mullet-stan101]

Werewolf Stan x Reader

Chapter 4, tw: some mentions of body transformation

Ford huffs and shakes his head, despite his annoyance he doesn’t want to leave her alone with Stan. He settles into the armchair next to the couch and scribbles in his journal as y/n aimlessly pets the big wolf. Eventually all three of them drift off, the only sound being the steady breathing of the big beast. The next morning Stan wakes up in a groggy haze, completely unaware of his surroundings…and the fact that he still has his head in y/n’s lap. He blinks and sits up quickly, blushing deep red despite her still being asleep. He groans as the motion causes his head to spin and he goes to get up but his eyes widen seeing that he’s naked under the blankets.

“Aw geesh-”

Y/n blinks slowly as he speaks and rubs her eyes as she’d fallen asleep sitting upright. She looks over, and seeing Stan that way embarrasses her just as much, flushing red.

“Oh- uh…”

Stan wraps the blanket around his waist with shaky hands as he stands, holding the blanket tight. 

“I-uh…I’m gonna change…”

A few minutes later he comes back in a t-shirt and jeans, obviously a little shaken up as he glances over to Ford.

“He drug me or something? I don’t remember anything…I didn’t hurt you did I?”

Y/n shakes her head as she stretches, her back popping as she’d been sleeping in a weird position. Despite knowing that Stan is nervous she can’t help but smile a little.

“No and no…I don’t think you’d hurt a fly.”

Stan frowns in confusion and chuckles dryly.

“Uh…you’re joking right?”

“Nope. You were a big baby.”

Stan flushes at this and despite being grateful he didn’t hurt you…his ego is bruised a little as he sits back down.

“I don’t believe you.”

Y/n laughs softly.

“You scared me at first, but once you realized Ford and I wouldn’t hurt you, you were a big sweetheart. You laid right here in my lap all night while I pet you.”

Stan rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment but his eyes soften as he hears how you comforted him.

“You did, huh? Takin’ care of the overgrown dog. You shoulda been a little more cautious.”

“Oh I was terrified at first, but it was like…you recognized Ford and I…you got my scent and it was like the flip of a switch.”

Stan smiles softly at this, breathing a sigh of relief as well.

“Well uh- thanks for not shootin’ me with a silver bullet. Lord knows Ford would…”

He trails off at this as he looks over at his twin sleeping in the corner, and y/n can see the pain in his eyes despite his nonchalant tone.

“What…what happened between you two…?” 

Stan sighs softly as he didn’t realize you could see the way he was feeling.

“It’s a long story…”

“I’ve got time…” 

An hour later the two of them sit over coffee as Stan tells his story, Ford continuing to sleep as he definitely needs it. Y/n sighs deeply as she didn’t realize the full extent of Stan’s hurt. 

“I’m really sorry you’ve had to go through all that…”

He scoffs and waves a hand dismissively as he sips his coffee.

“Ah don’t mention it, the past ten years have really been my fault. I’ve been too focused on proving myself to my pa…that I haven’t just focused on supporting myself. I’ve given up on bein’ a millionaire now…I just don’t wanna die alone in ditch.”

She nods softly and looks down at the cup in her hands. 

“Y’know…I was the same way. When Ford and I were in college we both dreamed of making a name for ourselves, famous scientists and the discovery of a lifetime. But now that I see how much Ford’s work consumes him…I just wanna be happy.” 

Stan’s eyes soften in concern. 

“Why don’t you tell him…? Why don’t you leave?” 

“Because I hoped for something…I hoped that we could just be normal…”

She trails off as she glances over at Ford sleeping, not really wanting to expose her original feelings for him. Stan of course can already tell, and he feels bad for her  and his brother…he didn’t used to be this way. He taps his fingers anxiously as he doesn’t want to steal her from Ford, but from what she’s said whatever affection she had for him is fading. Stan loves his brother, but he can’t help but be drawn to the bright girl that he’s ignoring. 

“So uh…I’ve told you my whole life story…tell me about yours.” 

She raises an eyebrow but smiles a little, despite all of the stuff he’s dealing with right now he still cares. So she tells him all about herself, the two of them talking and joking for a while until Ford wakes and shuffles back down into his lab. Stan chuckles softly as she goes into full detail about how he acted last night.

“Well I’m both embarrassed and relieved…you don’t mind dealin’ with me like that huh?”

She smiles softly as she meets his gaze.

“I don’t mind dealing with you at all…” 

Stan blushes as she meets his gaze and he feels hope blossoming in his heart. 

"You're real sweet, y'know that? You don't mind having a homeless werewolf living with you?"

She laughs softly. 

"Not when he actually talks to me...I like him a lot."

Stan smiles at this as he sips his coffee, oh he likes her an awful lot. He talks to her for a while and despite enjoying what she says he begins to zone out a bit as the words "I like him a lot" repeat over and over in his brain. A pretty girl actually likes him, better yet just someone actually likes him...And somehow these horrible circumstances have becomes better, despite his insecurities about his new condition he's slowly getting cocky. He forgets his situation and just grins at her, he's falling for this girl.

Stan finishes his conversation with y/n reluctantly as she has research to do. As Ford finally wakes up he watches as he goes into his study, following him quietly. Ford glances back with a frown as he goes to his bookcase, but stops as he doesn’t want to reveal what’s behind it.

“What do you want?

Stan frowns back, rolling his eyes. 

“Geesh you act like you’re hidin’ a dead body or something. I know you’ve got some secret lab down there, I was just wondering what you were doing.”

Ford sighs and he steps back from the bookcase.

“Stanley…this is serious research, I just don’t think you could handle it.”

Stan barks out a laugh.

“You forget that I spent last night as an overgrown dog. I’m pretty much part of your “serious supernatural research” now. Are you really just going to hide from both of us?”

Ford huffs and closes his journal roughly.

“Both of us? That early, huh? You’ve been conscious for two days, Stanley.” 

Stan raises an eyebrow, looking confused as to why that phrase made Ford upset. 

“Uh…I’m lost…what’s the problem?”

Ford chuckles dryly as he sits down.

“Don’t pull the naive card, Stanley…you think you know y/n better than me but you don’t…”

Stan rolls his eyes at this, knowing he struck a nerve, and he can already feel the jealousy in the air. 

“Oh that’s the problem. Well I’m sorry that I acknowledge there’s a second person in the house, it’s kinda hard to deal with turning into a little movie monster on your own…”

Ford sighs and he adjusts his glasses, sitting upright.

“I’m sorry…it’s just- I don’t know what I’ve done wrong to have her hate me so much…”

“She don’t hate you…”

Ford shrugs a little. 

“Maybe not…as long as she doesn’t hate me enough to leave, that’s alright.”

Stan frowns slightly at this, not liking how Ford only sees y/n as a colleague rather than a friend. But he doesn’t say anything because he can’t help but feel a little excited at this…this kind of leaves the door open for him.

“So- uh…how’d you two meet anyways?”

Ford glances up as he didn’t expect Stan to be this curious.

“We- uh…we met in college. I helped her with chemistry and she helped me with my biology courses. I suppose we were good friends at one point…”

He trails off a little as he says this and sighs.

“She’s a nice girl…you like her don’t you?”

Stan blinks in surprise, attempting to hide his blush. 

“Yeah- um…she’s pretty nice. Even if she took care of me like a pet…”

Ford chuckles softly, his mood lightening a little.

“Yes, she’s always been fond of animals, and speaking of which- do you think I could run some tests? I’d like to get some samples tonight.”

Stan shrugs as he plops down next to him.

“Yeah I guess so, as long as you don’t prick me and all that junk.”

An hour later Ford has taken some hair and DNA samples, restraining from getting Stanley’s blood at this point, even though it’s vital. He decides to try and get some tonight as well as some of the wolf’s fur. Stan isn’t fond of changing again and he can’t help but think of y/n, wondering if she’ll care for him like the night before. He doesn’t want to force her too, but it feels pretty nice to be taken care of for once, even if he can’t remember a thing.

“Hey, Stanford…? You think you got anything- for the pain?”

Ford frowns softly as he thinks, flipping through his journal.

“I don’t know…I have tranquilizers but I don’t really know if they’d work. But I don’t exactly want to use silver either. If I get some more DNA samples I might be able to see what reacts to it.”

Stan sighs in defeat. 

“So I gotta go through it cold turkey until then, huh?”

“Unfortunately yes.” 

That evening Stan sits anxiously tapping his fingers on the couch armrest. He glances over to y/n as she reads next to him, but she notices how anxious he is without looking up.

“You alright?”

Stan stiffens as he didn’t know she noticed.

“No…the suspense sucks.”

She nods and closes the book she was reading and looks at him. 

“I know…does it hurt?”

He hesitates as he tries to remember, but then the memory of body contorting and changing comes back.

“Yeah, but it’s like a crazy dream at the same time. One second I feel all of it, I can look down and see all the freaky crap that’s happening to my body, and the next- it’s like I’ve been asleep the whole time.”

“So you don’t remember anything after you’ve changed?”

“Nope, it’s like I’m knocked out.”

She frowns a little in thought, obviously wondering what part of him is conscious when he’s changed. It’s obviously a more childlike part of himself. They’re both quiet for a few moments and she glances out the window before looking back at him.

“You can stay out here with me if you’d like…”

He looks up, his eyes a little hopeful. She can’t take away the pain but he’d sure as hell feel a lot better, she cares about him more than anyone ever has.

“That’d be nice, even if it’s kinda freaky.”

She chuckles softly.

“I’ve seen walking trees, wendigos, zombies and a ton of other freaky stuff, I’ll be ok.” 

He smiles softly.

“Ok, well…thanks-” 

He abruptly stops as his hands start to shake, and he shoves them under his thighs.

“Well I guess speak of the devil…” 

Y/n frowns in concern as he starts to shake.

“Hey…hey…just relax, ok?” 

He nods quickly and grits his teeth, his eyes as fearful as they are soft.

“C-can I sit closer…?”

Her eyes soften and she nods, within a moment he scoots close. She rubs his arm a little as he takes deep breaths, and she doesn’t shy away as he groans, his body making a strange sound as he begins to grow. But her eyes widen as she looks down at his hand gripping her, already large enough as it is, it grows enormous and claws form. Fur starts to grow all over his arms and his clothes stretch and tear. He groans and shakes, his body burning as he tries to stop it even though it’s no use.

“M’sorry…it hurts…”

She doesn’t hesitate to pull him close, his head buried against her neck as he growls in pain. She rubs his back even as it grows big and covered in fur, speaking to him quietly even as a muzzle starts to press against her shoulder. 

“It’s ok, Stanley…I’m right here.”

Minutes later his body stops shaking, the enormous wolf still holding her tight, her smaller body pressed against his bulk and nuzzles her cheek with a quiet rumble, as if to say ‘thank you.’ Y/n chuckles softly as his cold nose touches her cheek and she reaches up to rub his ears. 

“You’re welcome.” 

He pulls away from her, smiling in its own way as its big brown eyes have a child-like innocence in them. He looks around the living room, empty except for y/n, and she chuckles again as she knows he’s looking for Ford. 

“He should be done with his work soon…”

A few minutes later Ford trudges up the stairs from his lab and enters the living room. Immediately Stan's ears stand up and his tail wags quickly, excited to see his brother. Ford raises an eyebrow as he stops, still surprised to see him there again. His eyes widen as without hesitation, the wolf stands on two feet and pads over to him. 

“W-when did he learn how to do that???”

Y/n laughs as Stan towers over Ford and squeezes him up in a hug. Ford stiffens as he’s pulled up off his feet, his glasses askew as he’s picked up like a ragdoll.

“What the-? Y/n help me out here!”

She takes a minute to contain herself and grins. 

“Bring him over here big boy.”

Stan grins and carries him over, plopping down next to y/n with his brother in his lap, excited like he’s his new toy. He sniffs at Ford’s glasses and coat to which his twin huffs and pushes his snout away.

“Aw, Ford be nice…he’s just curious.”

“Curious, my behind! I don’t like being squeezed like a toy!” 

Y/n smiles softly as Stan holds his brother tightly, as if afraid to let him go. Despite the innocent look in his brown eyes, it’s obvious that he wants to protect his brother. Ford sighs as he eventually loosens his hold, and he gets up to sit on the chair, Stan of course watching to make sure he stays close. With Ford out of his grasp he smiles at y/n and reaches a paw over to tug her close. She chuckles and sits close to him, his head immediately going back into her lap as it’s obvious that’s his spot now. Once Ford is settled he pulls out his journal and starts writing fervently.

“It seems he’s biped and quadruped…though I can’t tell if he has a preference yet.”

Y/n lifts up one of Stan’s paws and looks at it closely, rubbing the soft pads. Despite the claws and usual black pads of a wolf or dog they’re on his palm as well as one on the bottom of each of his fingers.

“Huh… he has five fingers too…I didn’t notice that last night.”

Ford nods and writes this down as well, Stan just smiling blissfully as he’s happy to be touched and cared for, even if he has no clue what they’re talking about. 

[daeneryspilled]

It absolutely gets me that the whole thing about Rhaneyra putting her siblings to the sword was made up by Otto, Rhaenyra did nothing to indicate that she would; Alicent just fixated on it like- how do they forget that they literally pulled that crock of shit out of thin air? 😭

it gets me too, especially show-wise. the only time rhaenyra shows any bit of fire against her siblings is during the driftmark incident, where it is blatantly obvious to anyone with a brain that she was bluffing when asking for aemond to be sharply questioned. granted, should she have done it? no. is she also a mother trying her best to protect her kids? and not being a super uber-perfect person in the process? yes to both. this is yet another change from the book i don't like, considering alicent demands luke's eye in retribution first, and rhaenyra retaliates against that rather than starting it.

i'm also adding some significant points that make no sense in the greater context if alicent truly thought her children's lives were endangered; which is how she actively antagonizes rhaenyra. in both medias. she raises her children to hate rhaenyra, to view their nephews as inferior and subhuman to them due to their blood, she instills fear for their lives as a part of their everyday activities, she tells her children that aegon will be king no matter what (which is treason, so she doesn't seem to care that badly about her children being found out as participants of those efforts). she does not act like someone who believes her children are going to be murdered once rhaenyra ascends the throne. it's why i can't take her stans seriously. none of her actions make sense in the grand scheme of things. she purposefully makes an enemy that is (TO HER) capable of cold-blooded murder. what terrified mother would do that?

there's also this fetish for infantilizing and victimizing alicent and co. otto manipulated her when she was a teen, which is a fair take. otto was also ostracized from court for TEN years. ten years with minimal to no contact with alicent. she is no longer a child during that time, she is a grown woman with four children to raise and a perfectly good brain to use. we're not shown or told once that rhaenyra *ever* showed an ounce of violence towards her siblings, and at most, she was indifferent to them. it is stated, however, that during that time skip alicent bullied and harassed rhaenyra, to the point where she abandoned the capital to have peace of mind and safety for her own children. still not the actions of a terrified mother (she also wasn't manipulated into doing any of that; it was all of her own accord because she hated that rhaenyra was afforded more freedom and leeway than she was).

what's more, there is minimal, if any, precedent that rhaenyra would be forced to kill her siblings to secure the throne. viserys was only the fifth targaryen king, not exactly enough time to really establish any killing family as a basis. maegor is the only one to have done so, and he's reviled for it even up to the current timeline. it is even thought that his death was the consequence of kinslaying. it's not normal. there has technically been some sort of succession crisis for almost all the rulers up to this time: aegon the uncrowned and maegor, rhaena and jaehaerys, baelon and rhaenys, viserys and rhaenys/laenor. there are, once again, many ways for aegon, aemond, and daeron to renounce their claim to the throne (night's watch, kingsguard, maester); but that would take away the power alicent and otto wanted to have, so not an option.

i wouldn't even consider daemon that much of a threat if rhaenyra had ascended peacefully. they've changed his character significantly in the show, but daemon explicitly states in fire and blood that they need to find a peaceful way to end this dispute, and not resort to fighting dragons versus dragons (a line they gave to rhaenys in the show) because it would only end in disaster. he doesn't resort to any brutality until after the first blood is drawn by the green's.

basically, it's just another ploy, a 'red herring' if you will, to distract from the true reason why rhaenyra was usurped (and hook, line, sinker; it's working fantastically for some in the fandom).

[burninglesbian]

Okay so here is my personal review for venom 3 (no professional review, merely rambling thoughts).

Spoilers down below:

I have mixed feelings about this one. It's not the best one of the trilogy. Movie bros hate it but it's a venom movie, what the hell did you expect, dude? I have my issues with it but I enjoyed it more than the average person.

Pros:

-I like the action. It was tense and the first two acts were creative with the concept of Venom not being able to transform entirely.

- I liked the trashy jokes as did I in all the other movies.

-The xenophages were amazing, I loved them. Every POV shot of them and every time we saw how agressively they switched into kill-mode as soon as they found Venom was blood chilling. *Muah, chefs kiss* They were truly terrifying and brutal and I want to see more.

-I liked some of the film making and cinematography.

-Venom's face was so expressive in this one and I couldn't help but laugh and melt from adorableness.

Cons:

-While I totally understand and support killing off your favorites, the way they did it with venom rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn't emotional enough and Eddie didn't seem to be as wrecked by it as he should have. He should have screamed and cried out for him, for heavens sake!

- Also it felt a little too queerbaity but I don't know how much was from the script and how much was cut. It feels like a lot of gayness had been cut. For example the helicopter scene? It definitely feels like there was an "I love you" that had been removed after the longing stares.

- Some of the choices were questionable. The dance montage was non-sensical. Venom was terrified to be found by the xenophages that he avoided transforming at all cost. Why would he make an exception because he really wants to dance? I know, it was Dancing Queen by ABBA and he's gay but he could dance by controlling Eddie's body or just dance with his tentacles.

-I also didn't care about the scientist plot. When you have these two silly idiots and their silly road trip story I don't want that to be interrupted by scientist drama.

Other points I have that were neither pro nor cons and are merely just ranting of my tiny human brain:

-Christmas scientist lady and blonde scientist lady are lesbians, you cannot tell me otherwise.

-I adore that the Xenophages are called "she". We stan a terrifying monster hunter queen. I support women's rights and women's wrongs.

- Now that I have seen so many symbiotes I can confidentially say that Venom is the prettiest one. Clean skin? Check. Big eyes? Check. Symmetrical face? Check. A true beauty in every way.

-Eddie wears his Hawaiian shirt for 75% of the movie and this is the best idea they every could have done.

Overall I enjoyed myself and I was entertained which is the only thing you need from the Venom movies but it's far from the best of the trilogy and it left me wanting more from what we have got. The film bros hate it and I never want to be associated with film bros so I will loudly say that I liked the movie. I also have an alternate version of the movie franchise in my mind that follows some of the same plots but changes it so every movie would actually be good. If you want to hear more of that feel free to tell me and you might motivate me in writing a VERY LONG fanfiction or merely ramble everything into one big textpost (in my head it would be 5 movies instead of 3)

Thank you for reading if you've gotten so far. Peace out.

[rosemariilovesyou0922]

WHAT DID I JUST WATCH???

SPOILERS TWF4 !!!

It was the best thing I could ever experience rn, I'm pretty much ascending. The fact that there was ANIMATION?? ON IT??? Martin is extremely talented I swear to god.

Personally I think a Lot of My questions we're kind of answered. Deffinetly not the "Where the hell is Jack?", No I'm Even more confused about that... I THOUGHT LIKE- FELIX GOT RID OF HIM OR SOMETHING I DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD TELL THEM WHAT HE DID? I honestly thought he would hide it and kill anyone who knew (he didn't need to they're all pretty dead). I honestly felt slightly Bad for him, HE DUG A HOLE FOR HIMSELF 😭. I swear I was SHOCKED- mouth open eyes wide type of stuff, I COULD FEEL HOW AWFUL HE FELT, He reeks of guilt, desesperation and actual negativo emotions, where before I honestly think he only transmited me the smell of alcohol or something; I deffinetly feel Bad for him now.

Okay so aside from the whole Felix thing here's a few things I really enjoyed/noticed:

Beggining ANIMATION with Ed and Molly; knowing what happened that night it was honestly really sad and I felt like it was the Best way to start pt4

THIS HAHAHHA:

ROSIE VOICE REVEALL!!! Girl I swear, it's extremely obvious how hard I Stan Rosemary Peony Walten SO You know I started levitating ‼️‼️

"Bon" appears in the video early on so that's cool, aside from that uhhh Tv Guy is deffinetly going to be quite the goofy silly guy so stan

SUSAN AND CHARLES BEING SILLLLYYY!!!

Charles struck me as kind of a manager? Someone who does stay in the establishment and is involved but isn't actually like- an engenieer or chef.

Susan You wonderfull woman I swear the strong ass mecanic lesbian is all I needed in my life.

So the whole animatronics moving around and facial recognition actually clear up a bunch of stuff for me, for instance: How the hell would Bon be able to tell who Sophie was. Also I was screaming for them to run whenever an animatronic was lowkey near, scary stuff.

AWOOPPPP TIME SKIP!! Or something skip I have no clue, Charles and Susan talking about Rocket being there. Rosemary and Jack did not know Félix was an alcoholic aparently, that explains why Jack would ever let him drive his children anywhere from somewhere there would be alcohol at.

JACK?? JACK BANGING AND KNOCKING ON THE DOOR FOR FELIX TO OPEN ACTUALLY GOT ME SHOCKED TO MY GODDAMN CORE?? HIS VOICE IS CHILLING.

Félix and the whole cliff scene really broke me not going to lie, You dumbass of man, you're stupid and reckless but I feel awfull for you.

Felix told Rosemary and Jack what happened which actually throws my "Oh yeah Felix deffinetly sent killer animatronics to kill his Best friend and his family so the business wouldn't crash" theory down the drain. Also Rosemary asking for the doll, I cannot imagine how devastated She would have felt, She does not deserve that.

Alright that was terrifying!! Scary imagery actually got me bit scared at atimes, which is good, the show keeps me on My toes.

WHO THE HELL IS INSIDE OF BON?????? WHO IS THAT...

The fact that: We could actually SEE how he KILLED Susan but ED AND MOLLY HAD TO WATCH TOO 😨

Poor children, god.

The animation actually scared me really Bad, it was so unreal and disturbing in a sense that Made You feel like you'd get jumpscared at any moment, that's what makes this kind of horror amazing.

The whole conversation between "Bon" and Susan/Banny is something You have to watch for yourself.

She was ALIVE in the SUIT, GOD 😭

The fact her 'Wonderland' for has her neck snapped and everything, it looked so disturbing, it was really clear how she got killed.

THE MUSIC WAS CELESTIAL, I PRAISE WHOEVER PLANNED THE SONGS THAT PLAYED BECAUDE EVERY SINGLE ONE MADE IT TEN TIMES BETTER.

Ed and Molly at the end :[

[sebstanaddict]

Rewrite The Stars

Sebastian Stan x Reader Story

Summary: Reader is a woman trapped in a loveless and abusive marriage, struggling to keep herself together for the sake of her daughter, when she meets Sebastian. Despite his Hollywood star status, he unexpectedly shows her the love and care she's been missing and her world begins to shift.

Days and weeks passed and reader's relationship with Sebastian deepens to the point she dared to share everything with him, but they never passed the invisible line that is her marriage, until one day her loyalty to her husband was tested as they find themselves alone and desire creeps in. Will she give in to the temptation?

A/N : This story deals with topics of domestic abuse and SA, as well as infidelity (of course I don't support infidelity in any way but in this story I have a very good reason to include it). So if you feel you can be triggered by these topics, it's best to not read it. The topics are heavy and aimed at 18+ readers so if you're under 18, I advise you not to read it.

Chapter : 4/15 (May add more)

Chapter List >

Word Count : 3.3k

---

Chapter 4

Warning: depiction of the aftermath of physical abuse

Y/n sat on the edge of her bed, her body aching from the fresh bruises her husband had left. Each breath strained her bruised ribs, and the dull pain from his grip on her arm throbbed under her skin. He had twisted it so hard earlier, she was sure something had cracked, but the fear of making any noise had kept her silent as he raged. And now, he was sleeping beside her, peacefully, as if nothing had happened.

Her thoughts were a whirlwind of emotions—shame, anger, desperation. It had never been this bad. Each blow had hit harder than before, and for the first time, she wondered how much longer she could take it. But she couldn't leave. Not yet. The thought of disrupting her daughter's life, of losing everything, kept her rooted to this miserable existence.

The apartment was still, the ticking of the clock deafening in the silence of the night. Her phone lay in her lap, the screen dark, as she wrestled with herself. She shouldn't do it. She shouldn't reach out to him—not now, not like this. But Sebastian was the only person who had ever made her feel safe, the only person who had been kind when the rest of her world was filled with cruelty.

Before she could stop herself, she opened her messages. Her fingers hovered over his name for a long moment before she finally typed the words she had been holding in for far too long.

"I'm sorry for texting you this late. I just... I don't know what else to do. He hit me again. Worse this time. He grabbed my arm and twisted it, then slapped me so hard I fell. I can't even breathe properly from how hard he hit my ribs. I feel so stupid and pathetic telling you this... but I don't know how to leave. I'm scared. I don't want to drag you into my mess, but I feel like I'm drowning and you're the only person I can reach out to. I hate him, Sebastian. I hate him so much, but I'm terrified. I'm sorry if this is too much."

She stared at the message after sending it, her stomach twisting in knots. She had just unloaded her darkest truth on him, and she wasn't sure how he'd react. She had told him how her husband treated her but never in too much detail, and usually her husband was never this brutal, but something snapped that night. Maybe because his business was getting worse and worse, or there was something else she wasn't aware of. In any case, she had never told Sebastian this much detail and she wondered whether Sebastian would push her away? Would he think less of her for staying, for being too weak to leave?

The minutes dragged by, and she was almost certain she had scared him off when her phone buzzed in her hand. She looked down, her heart pounding as his name lit up the screen.

"I'm so sorry, Y/n. Are you okay? Tell me everything. I'm here. Please."

Tears welled up in her eyes. She hadn't expected this—hadn't expected him to care so much. The dam inside her broke, and she poured out the full story in her next message, telling him about the years of abuse, the constant fear, the bruises, the threats, the way her husband made her feel small and worthless. She vented every bit of rage and shame she had been holding in for so long, afraid it would all be too much for him.

"I feel like I'm suffocating," she typed. "I hate myself for staying, but I can't leave. Not yet. Not with my daughter. I don't know how to protect her."

The silence that followed made her chest tighten. She had said too much, been too raw, too vulnerable. Maybe Sebastian didn't want to deal with this, with her broken life. But then, her phone buzzed again.

"I'm coming to you. Right now."

Her breath caught in her throat as she read the words. He was coming? Even after everything she had just told him? A part of her wanted to tell him not to come, that it was too dangerous, that her husband might wake up—but another part of her longed to see him. To know that someone cared.

Thirty minutes later, another text came through.

"I'm outside. If you want to go to the hospital or the police, I'll take you. Whatever you need."

Her heart swelled with a mixture of relief and fear. She wanted to leave, to go with him, but the idea of stepping into the unknown terrified her. What if her husband found out? What if her daughter got caught in the middle? She couldn't risk it—not yet. But she couldn't ignore Sebastian either. She needed him, if only for a moment.

She quietly slipped out of bed, pulling on a sweater to cover her bruised arms. Her husband slept soundly, his snores filling the darkened apartment. She tiptoed out, checking on her daughter for a brief moment before stepping into the cold night air.

The street was empty, the faint glow of the streetlights casting long shadows across the pavement. And there, standing under one of the lights, was Sebastian. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his jacket, his expression filled with worry as he looked up and saw her.

She approached him slowly, her heart in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, to tell him something—anything—but before she could get a word out, he gently took her hand, leading her into the narrow alley between two buildings. It was quiet there, hidden from the world, and for the first time that night, she felt like she could breathe.

"Y/n..." His voice was soft, full of concern as he looked at her. "Are you okay? Let me take you to the hospital, please. You need to get checked out."

She shook her head, tears already blurring her vision. "I can't. I can't go. What if he finds out? What if... what if they take my daughter away?"

"You're not safe here," he pressed gently. "You don't have to stay in this hell. We can go to the police, file a report. You don't have to do this alone."

Her heart ached at his words. She wanted to believe him, to believe that she could leave and everything would be okay. But fear gripped her too tightly. "I'm scared," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I don't know how to leave. I don't know how to protect her. What if it's worse if I try?"

Tears streamed down her face, and before she could stop herself, she collapsed into Sebastian's chest. His arms wrapped around her without hesitation, holding her tightly as she sobbed into his jacket. All of the fear, the pain, the hopelessness she had been carrying spilled out in her tears, and he held her like he could shield her from all of it.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered between sobs. "I'm so scared, Sebastian."

His hand stroked her hair gently, his voice steady and calm. "You don't have to do it all tonight. Just know I'm here. Whenever you're ready, whenever you need me. I'll be here."

She pulled back slightly, looking up at him with tear-streaked cheeks, her heart breaking under the weight of his kindness. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't want to drag you into this mess."

"You're not dragging me into anything," he said softly, his eyes filled with nothing but warmth and compassion. "I'm here because I care about you. And I'll always be here, no matter how long it takes."

His words hit her like a lifeline, but at the same time, they terrified her. She didn't deserve his kindness, his patience. Not when she was too weak to even help herself.

"I just... I can't leave. Not yet. I'm sorry."

Sebastian's expression softened with understanding, though she could see the hurt in his eyes. He wanted to help her, but he knew that only she could make the decision to leave.

"I'll be here whenever you're ready," he repeated gently. "No matter what."

The silence between them was thick with unspoken words, with everything they couldn't say. He held her for another long moment before stepping back, giving her space.

"Take care of yourself, Y/n," he whispered before turning and walking away, his footsteps fading into the night.

She stood there in the cold alley, watching him go, her heart torn between the safety she longed for and the fear that kept her trapped.

But she knew, deep down, that he would always be there when she was ready.

---

One night, a mere one week after she had cried her heart out to him outside her home, something triggered a change in their relationship. They had just finished their usual coffee at their usual cafe when Y/n mentioned that her husband was out of town on a business trip. Sebastian's heart tightened at the thought of her being alone, and before he knew it, the words were out of his mouth.

"Do you want me to walk you home? After you're finished at the cafe?"

She hesitated for a moment but then nodded. "Yeah, that would be nice. Thank you."

They finished their coffee and walked together to the cafe. The tension was palpable as they walked, the connection and attraction building between them with every step that they took.

They finally arrived at Cafe Solace. Y/n stood on the familiar small stage at the cafe, the soft glow of fairy lights casting a warm light over her. The hum of conversations quieted as she picked up the microphone, her fingers lightly brushing its cool surface. Tonight, her heart was heavy, the weight of unspoken feelings pressing against her chest. She glanced toward the corner of the cafe, where Sebastian sat, his presence like a beacon in the room. Their eyes met, and a flicker of something passed between them, an understanding, a tension neither could deny any longer.

As the first notes of "Secret Love Song" played softly through the speakers, Y/n's voice filled the space, raw and full of emotion.

"When you hold me in the street, and you kiss me on the dance floor..."

Her voice was soft but filled with yearning, each word lingering in the air as if she was singing the thoughts she could never voice aloud. Her gaze flickered back to Sebastian, and the connection between them was undeniable. His eyes never left her, and in them, she saw everything she had been trying to suppress—desire, longing, and the ache of a love they could not openly embrace.

"I wish that it could be like that, why can't it be like that? 'Cause I'm yours..."

Her heart clenched as she sang the lyrics, the words striking too close to home. They both knew what it meant—the impossibility of their situation. The love that simmered beneath the surface but could never fully emerge. And yet, here in this cafe, surrounded by people who had no idea of their secret, they shared a moment of silent confession. With each glance exchanged, the air between them grew thick with unspoken promises.

Sebastian leaned forward in his seat, his intense gaze locked on her. His hand rested on the table, fingers curling slightly as if resisting the urge to reach out to her. Y/n felt her throat tighten, her voice catching in her chest for a second before she pressed on, pouring every bit of her emotion into the song.

"Why can't I say that I'm in love? I wanna shout it from the rooftops..."

Her voice rose with passion, the pain of hiding, the yearning for more—every emotion she had buried deep inside spilling out into the open. The cafe seemed to fade around them, the soft murmurs of the crowd becoming a distant hum as they remained locked in that shared moment. She could feel her pulse quicken, a mixture of fear and anticipation buzzing beneath her skin. Something was going to change tonight. They both knew it.

As the song neared its end, Y/n's heart ached. Her voice softened once more, the final lines filled with a bittersweet edge.

"And nobody knows... We got a love that is hopeless..."

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to steady herself, but when she opened them again, Sebastian's gaze was still there, unwavering. His expression held a quiet determination, as if the night had revealed something neither of them could ignore any longer.

The last notes of the song faded into silence, and the audience erupted into applause. But Y/n barely heard it. All she could feel was the rapid beating of her heart and the way Sebastian's eyes held hers, full of the promise that something between them had shifted. She knew then—tonight wouldn't end like all the others. Something had changed. Something was about to happen.

---

The night was quiet as Y/n and Sebastian walked side by side, the silence between them heavy with unspoken words. The cool air brushed against her skin, but it wasn't enough to temper the warmth that seemed to radiate between them, an invisible pull neither of them could ignore. Every step they took toward her apartment felt like a step toward something inevitable, something dangerous, and yet, neither of them stopped. Neither of them dared to break the fragile silence.

When they reached her apartment, Y/n hesitated at the door. Her heart was racing, her mind spinning with the weight of everything she was trying to suppress. She wanted to invite him in, but she knew it wasn't right. Still, the thought of letting him walk away felt unbearable. As she fumbled for her keys, the door opened, revealing her neighbor, Mrs. Carter, standing in the entryway with her daughter's sleepy form nestled against her shoulder.

"She was perfect, as always," Mrs. Carter smiled warmly, handing the little girl over to Y/n. "She fell asleep a bit ago."

"Thank you so much," Y/n whispered, taking her daughter in her arms. Her heart ached at the sight of her daughter's peaceful face, so innocent, so unaware of the storm brewing inside her mother.

Mrs. Carter glanced at Sebastian with a curious look but said nothing more before gathering her things and slipping out the door with a final nod. As the door closed behind her, Y/n turned back to Sebastian, her daughter cradled in her arms. His eyes softened at the sight, the tension momentarily easing as he watched her with a mixture of admiration and tenderness.

"I'll just be a minute," Y/n whispered, her voice barely audible.

He nodded, watching as she carried her daughter down the hallway toward her room. Y/n's heart thudded in her chest as she laid her little girl down in bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. For a moment, everything felt normal. The weight of the world disappeared as she tucked her in, brushing a few stray curls from her face.

"I love you, baby girl," she whispered, her voice trembling as tears threatened to spill.

Her daughter stirred but didn't wake, and Y/n lingered for just a moment longer before slipping quietly out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

When she returned to the living room, Sebastian was standing near the window, his hands in his pockets, his gaze distant as if he was trying to control whatever war was raging inside him. But when he turned to face her, the tension returned in full force. The air between them felt thick, heavy with everything they weren't saying, everything they were too afraid to admit.

"I should go," he said softly, his voice strained. But his eyes told a different story. He didn't want to leave, and neither did she.

Y/n stepped closer, her heart hammering in her chest, and opened her mouth to say something—to end this before it spiraled out of control. But before she could get the words out, Sebastian closed the distance between them in one swift, desperate motion. His hands cupped her face, and he kissed her.

The world seemed to stop. His lips were warm and soft, full of longing and need, and she felt herself melting into him despite every alarm going off in her mind. It was wrong. It was all so wrong. But it felt like the most right thing in the world. His kiss was tender, filled with emotions neither of them had dared to speak aloud, and Y/n's hands instinctively clutched his shirt, pulling him closer, returning the kiss with a fervor she couldn't suppress.

Her mind screamed at her to stop, but her body betrayed her, giving in to the overwhelming desire that had been building for months. This was Sebastian. This was the man who had shown her kindness, who had seen her pain and loved her despite it all. She wanted this—wanted him—but deep down, she knew it couldn't be.

She pulled away suddenly, her breath shaky, her heart pounding with a mixture of guilt and desire. "We can't," she whispered, her voice breaking. "My daughter's in the other room... and my husband—"

Sebastian's grip on her tightened, his face inches from hers, his eyes searching hers with a mixture of desperation and pain. "Y/n," he breathed, "I love you."

The words hung in the air like a lifeline, but Y/n felt them like a weight pressing down on her. She had wanted to hear them for so long, but now that they were out in the open, the truth of them terrified her. She couldn't say it back. She wanted to, but she couldn't. Not with her husband, not with her daughter in the next room. The walls she had carefully built to keep her life intact were crumbling, and the reality of what they were doing crushed her.

"I can't..." she whispered, her voice barely audible as tears welled up in her eyes. "I can't say it, Sebastian."

His face fell, the hurt flickering in his eyes for just a moment before he masked it with understanding. But the heartbreak was clear, even in the way he tried to keep his voice steady. "I get it," he said, though the words seemed to pain him more than anything. "I get it... but I meant what I said. I love you."

Tears spilled over, and Y/n turned away, unable to meet his gaze. She loved him, too. She loved him with everything in her, but she couldn't say it. She couldn't do this. Not like this. Not with her daughter just a few feet away. Not with the weight of her marriage pressing down on her. It was too much.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking as guilt tore through her. "I'm so sorry, Sebastian..."

He didn't say anything for a long moment. When she finally turned to look at him, his face was filled with pain, but there was also a quiet understanding. His eyes softened, and he nodded, though his heart was clearly breaking. "I'll go," he said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sebastian moved toward the door, each step heavier than the last, as if leaving her was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Y/n stood frozen, her hands shaking as she watched him walk away. She wanted to call out to him, to tell him to stay, to tell him that she loved him, too—but she couldn't. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak.

He reached the door, his hand resting on the handle, and turned back to her one last time. "I love you," he whispered again, his voice thick with emotion. Then, without another word, he slipped out into the night, leaving her standing alone in the silence of her apartment, her heart shattered into a million pieces.

Y/n sank to the floor, her sobs muffled by her hands as the weight of what had just happened crashed down on her. She wanted to run after him, to take it all back, to tell him that she loved him—but she couldn't. She couldn't. Because as much as she wanted to be with him, as much as her heart ached for him, she couldn't destroy the life she had built. Not like this.

And yet, as the door clicked shut behind him, she knew that something had changed. Something between them had shifted, and there was no going back. No matter how much she tried to pretend otherwise, her heart was already his. And that realization terrified her more than anything else.

[esther-dot]

i'm a sansa stan first and foremost, and i tried to ship s@nsan so hard lmaooo but when they start saying shit like "sansa has wet dreams about the hound" and "sansa actually likes older men", argh, i just can't. do. that. i know george said something about playing with it in the books, but i also think that he wanted to raise a few questions with the relationship, one of them being "who protects sansa from her protector?". like, there's TRAUMA in there. it's funny that they accuse jonsas of using sansa as a self-insert bc i don't know if you ever read a s@nsan fic or saw the fanarts, but they REALLY wanna bang that man 😭

(about this ask)

Nothing in the fandom horrifies me as much as Sansan. I’ve had nice Sansans come into my inbox, so I do distinguish between my feelings about the ship and the shippers, but I hate the reinterpretation of the Hound because it minimizes what he did/tried to do to Sansa. Instead of the later scenes where Sansa thinks of him being about her processing the trauma of his assault, suddenly, they become a gross villain whitewashing, victim-blamey, “actually, she wanted it.”

I once even highlighted that whole "who will protect us from the guards" idea you mention because I think it was meant to emphasize what a travesty the Hound’s assault was:

(link)

This isn’t a romance, this is a pattern. The Hound saves her than tries to rape her, Tyrion is kind to her then agrees to marry her, a child, a prisoner of his family, and LF rescues her but then starts to sexually molest her. All the same, in each of these instances, Sansa is grateful, she thinks kindly of them, and I think that says a lot about Sansa that you completely miss if you romanticize it and pretend that the Hound is someone, something to her, that he isn’t. I also talk about the whole cloak thing in that post too because I think the more contextualized reading is the one we’re meant to adopt.

When I did take a look at the meta, I was so creeped out by the nature of it and the art. Although, I want to give credit where it’s due. Apparently they were some of the first people to start taking Sansa seriously and created the reading of Sansa becoming a political factor, so they did change the fandom’s perception of Sansa in a good way. But imo their love of the Hound causes an imbalance in how they read their scenes. The point isn't that the Hound wouldn't have hurt Sansa, the point was that he very well might have but Sansa's actions stopped him which ties into a much bigger idea and important aspect of Sansa's story:

Even after the Hound assaults Sansa, later, she thinks of how terrifying the fire was, as in, even then, she is able to empathize with him, the man who held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. It’s laughable to suggest a man who mocked her relentlessly for who she was is capable of the same consideration. In fact, it is in a state of terror that the Hound attempts to rape Sansa and his fans use that to excuse his actions, and yet, while he is assaulting her, Sansa sings of mercy, gently touches his cheek. It’s almost like the very obvious interpretation, that the way to create a better world is Sansa’s method— not his— is what Martin expected people to understand, and his surprise people have turned it into something else altogether is genuine. (link)

As for Martin admitting he "played" with it, here's a clip. It's very short, and he's expressing surprise that his female readers like villains of which the Hound is one, and I think you can tell by his facial expression that the idea of the Hound and Sansa as a couple, is absolutely not where he ever intended to take things, not what he meant when he said he played with it. There are countless old monster movies with the monster being fascinated with a young girl or beautiful woman which humanizes him/shows a soft side. That's similar to Beauty and the Beast, the girl is what allows the monster to become human again, but in these variations, it isn't a romance. You can play with/reference tropes and ideas without it actually being a direct reiteration of the original story.

Anyway, filter and block and curate your fandom experience! 😅

[underfaller]

in his house of mind, dead cipher waits dreaming

Chapter 4: We'll Meet Again

Rating: T

Synopsis:

You really think you won that day/You packed your bags and sailed away/You think you left your past behind/But trust me/I'm still on your mind

A year has passed since Weirdmaggedon and the Pines family, victorious in the end, are happier than ever. Stan and Ford are adventuring at sea, making up for lost time. Dipper and Mabel are now freshmen and are ready to take on high school-- geometry, bullies, (student eating?) clubs, and all! However, things take a turn for the worst when Dipper and Mabel receive of horrific message from Ford:

Bill is back.

Stanley Pines is dreaming. 

He's in his family's old kitchen, sitting at a creaky, wooden table and teasing Ford about something long forgotten. The room is cramped and messy with a strong smell of meatloaf wafting from the oven. His mother sets down an after school snack for them, which Stanley instantly scarfs down. He regales his mom through bites of how he caught a possum in the schoolyard. He named it Jeremy. She laughs. 

This is nice. 

When Stanley's eyes snap open, he is no longer in that familiar kitchen, but rather in total darkness. The void of his own mind. 

Oh that's right, he isn't home, he's still lost. 

Stanley Pines is lost. 

Stanley groans, slightly annoyed to have awakened prematurely (or perhaps in reality, he actually has slept in-- it’s impossible to know in this state). After being locked away here, Stanley finds that sleeping is much more entertaining than being conscious. It passes the time quicker, almost like his short stint in Colombian prison.  However, as Stan tosses and turns, he is unable to fall asleep once more. 

It’s goddamn annoying. All of this is. 

The sensation he feels is similar to that of falling into the bottomless pit-- terrifying at first, then mind numbingly boring. The only difference is the gnawing anxiety that fills his mind about what Bill is doing in his body. Stanley thinks of his brother. The last time that Stan saw him was for a fleeting second with Stanford pointing his gun at him, absolutely terrified. Well, if Stan hasn't seen the pearly gates yet then Ford didn't kill him. 

Then did Bill get him? No, Pointdexter is much too clever to fall for his tricks again. Stanley has faith in his brother-- and in himself. It's going to take much more than a washed up con-triangle to take down this duo. That sliver of hope keeps Stan from slipping into madness. This nightmare will end; you can’t truly imprison Stanley Pines. 

And when it does, I’ll beat the devil out of that little shit Cipher. 

As time slips by, Stan’s thoughts wander and he thinks of his dream. For the first time in decades, Stanley thinks about his mother. It's an unexpected thought, but with nothing but reflection to do, his mind begins to drift to her. 

She'd had a soft spot for Stanley. Whether or not it was still true after he'd been disowned was another question-- one he didn't have the answer to. Stan reminisces of the lonely nights drifting between state lines when he still missed her-- almost as much as he missed Stanford. He’d always secretly hoped that she'd try to contact him during those nights. She never did. 

When Stanley faked his death-- did she attend his funeral? He always wondered. Part of him had hoped she did, just so that someone would be there-- so that someone remembered him kindly. The other part of him knew that was a shrewd thought, even for him. 

What good are thoughts like these at a time like this?

“This is bullshit,” Stanley says, aloud. Hearing his own voice in the midst of complete silence is slightly comforting. It echoes for miles before fading. 

“What’s bullshit,” Bill replies. “Is that you’re still here. Seriously, how difficult is it for one roach to die?”

Stanley whips around to see Bill Cipher frowning as he examines his fingernails. 

“Augh, seriously? It's one thing to be stuck here, but to be stuck here with you,” Stanley rolls his eyes. “Just kill me now.”

“You know I would if I could,” Bill states, curtly. 

“Can you just get this over with? What the hell are you here for?”

“Your brother was just in here looking for you,” Bill says. “It was a hassle hiding your consciousness from him.”

“Is that why you look like that? Wait, are you-- are you wearing cologne?” Stanley crinkles his nose before letting out a sarcastic laugh. “Are you seriously still pining for him? Geez, get a grip.”

Stanford once confided in Stanley about Bill and his… complicated relationship. Call it his twinstincts, but Stanley already had a growing hunch that their relationship had been less formal than Ford initially let on. Still, Stanley can’t believe that his brother actually fell for this guy. The smartest guy in the world settles for this idiot? Though, as Stan looks Bill up and down, he has to admit, if Ford was anything, he was consistent-- he certainly had a type. 

“Of course anything smells like cologne when you smell like cat piss, old man,” Bill Cipher glares. 

It’s a feeble defense and not an outright denial. It makes Stanley laugh aloud. At least even here, he can still be entertained by the obvious patheticness of his captor. Bill snaps his fingers, reverting back to his triangle form. He leans against his black cane.

“Seriously though, you’re a pain in the ass to conceal. I can’t have Sixer getting hopeful because you’re actually still here.”

“Why all the griping? Someone with your power should be able to handle all that in a cinch,” Stanley crosses his arms. “Besides, if you despise me so much, why stay here? Just go back to whatever hellhole dimension you came from.”

“I can’t do that. I’ve got business to attend to here.” 

“Building the portal? It’s useless dimwit; you still need that equation and Ford certainly ain’t gonna give it to you.” 

“No, no. The portal plan is on a back burner. I’m talking about revenge.” 

“Revenge in my body? The one you absolutely hate? I know you’re pissed about that.” 

“Yeah, but it’s not like I can-!” Bill snaps, but before he can finish, he quickly shuts up, becoming silent. 

Stanley raises an eyebrow. However, it doesn’t take him long to put two and two together. He laughs again. 

“Oh this is rich. You're stuck here, just like I am! What a joke! Did I really punch you so hard that you lost all your weirdo magic?” 

Bill hisses. His obvious anger confirms Stanley’s suspicions. 

“Don't push your luck, Stanley Pines.” 

“Or what? You gonna put me in a void for eternity? Oh wait, you already did and I'm still clowning you!”

“That’s enough!”

Bill’s voice booms, deafeningly loud in the void. He grows a blinding red, enveloping Stanley in his shadow. 

“No. I'll just kill one of your loved ones. You'll get front row seats too. Do you want to feel their blood on your hands too? We can arrange that. How about that?”

Stanley stares into the demon’s eye, just as defiant and indignant. He’ll never back down from a bully, certainly not from one he’s already beaten-- but Stan also knows when the risks outweigh the rewards of his actions. He’s a gambler, after all. He decides it’s best not to continue acting so shortsightedly with Bill, especially when Bill still has his body.  Bill narrows his eye. 

“Yeah, I thought so. Now shut up and let me rummage through your brain for anything useful to get us out of here.”

As Bill searches, Stanley watches as a small screen flickers in his mind. Suddenly, he can see all around him. He’s tied to a table in Ford’s laboratory. Wait-- the Mystery Shack? They’re in Gravity Falls? Soos is certainly still here as well and Stanley’s presence endangers both him and his family. He thinks of Soos’s wide smile when he told Stan that he and Melody were expecting. Stanley had to pretend that he hadn’t shed a couple joyful tears when he heard but now, it feels like a punch in the gut. Stanley wants to kick Ford for bringing him here. What the hell was his brother thinking? 

But then again, where else could Stanford take him? The identity of Stanley Pines is dead in every corner of the world except here. 

“He's gonna stop you, you know,” Stanley says. He’s poking the bull again, playing with fire to quell his own fears. “You may have got me, but Stanford's a whole other story. You can't possibly win, Bill.”

“Stanford just needs a little convincing. He just loves to play hard-to-get ,” Bill answers.

Suddenly, the triangle scoffs. 

“Why do you have so much faith in him anyways? It’s hilarious-- if only you knew how inadequate you are in his eyes.”

Stanley clenches his fists. 

“Listen here you little prick. You don't know anything about me or my brother.”

“I know everything about your brother.”

Bill snickers. 

“I see that look on your face. You think one little sacrifice makes everything better? That you’re suddenly forgiven? You’re an idiot.” Bill continues. “There's a decades-long mutiny in Ford that he refuses to let go of-- I've seen it myself.” 

Stanley clenches his fists. He knows that Bill is only trying to get a rise from him. That’s just what Bill Cipher did-- sow seeds of chaos and rifts between loved ones. He did it for fun-- for the spectacle. Still, Stanley will not stand for such ugly words about his brother. 

“Cut the bullshit, Bill. You know that shit won't work on me. I can see right through your lies.” 

Bill clicks his tongue. 

“Stanley, Stanley, Stanley. I'm not a cruel god, only a truthful one. Stanford is the cruel one and he certainly does not forgive; he’ll live and die by malice.” 

Stanley opens his mouth but is interrupted by the actions of the screen: Bill has found a bobby pin behind Stanley’s ear and is using it to pick his locks. Stanley tastes the old metal between his teeth as the locks clink open. He mentally curses himself, for once in his life, Stan is angry that he has the means to escape and not the opposite.

“There! That was easy!” Bill yells, jumping off the table and stretching. “I gotta give it to you, Stanley, you certainly know how to pick a lock.” 

“Now what are you going to do? I know you aren’t going to sit pretty here and wait for Ford to get back.” 

“Are you kidding? Of course not!” Bill yelps. “I’m taking this body for a joyride. Let’s go to Piedmont!” 

“What? Why-?” Stanley’s eyes widen. He stiffens as a familiar fear fills his stomach.

This whole time, Stanley assumed that Bill’s revenge would be dealt upon him and Ford. He was so stupid. Bill didn’t want to kill him. Hell, he didn’t even want to kill his brother.

Bill is laughing. He revels in Stanley’s revelation. Stan chokes on his words in a mixture of fear and rage. 

“Don’t you dare-” 

He’s back in the void. The only voice here is his own. Stanley’s breath catches in his throat. Fear soon turns into fury, Stanley wants to punch something. He should be protecting his family instead of doing jackshit in the middle of nowhere. He feels so useless.

No, he is useless. 

Somehow, no matter what, he always seemed to be. He closes his eyes. 

Please. Please let them be safe. 

If this is a prayer, it’s Stanley’s first. He always believed that prayers were for fools. Now, he’s just about desperate enough to wonder if God gives specials to first-time customers. 

Stanley is right, Bill Cipher detests his body. He can’t wait until he can regain a more fitting physical form, something cleaner and less unsightly than Stanley.  

He peers at his disheveled reflection in a small mirror as he makes his way up the wooden stairs. His skin crawls like a thousand centipedes and  Bill grimaces. His reflection is a reminder that his only tether to revenge, his path to victory, his only escape is the one person that Bill Cipher hates the most. 

Could it be any more ironic? 

He punches the mirror and it shatters instantly, sharp shards of glass fall to the ground as pain blooms from his now bloody knuckles. He can’t even revel in it-- as he looks down, he now sees Stanley’s ugly face over and over, a hundred times in broken glass. Bill can barely swallow his bitterness.He considers ditching all his plans and just throwing this body into the nearest meat grinder.

This is truly maddening. 

To be fair, however, it’s much less maddening than Theraprism. 

Half of his consciousness is still stuck in that sterile prison, the pieces that the Axolotl believed were worth saving. Bill shivers at the thought that somewhere out there in the cosmos, there is a version of him still wearing orange. Ah well, he will surely make up for their lost time and karmic debt. Someone had to shoulder the burden of his sins and keep the Axolotl satiated-- and it certainly wasn’t going to be him!

Still, Bill Cipher has to wonder-- whatever the hell is taking his other half so long to break free? That derpy salamander may be all powerful, but he couldn’t possibly keep tabs on absolutely everything happening all at once in this chaotic universe. Surely, his other half has had more than a dozen chances to escape already. He huffs. 

When you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.  

Bill pushes back the vending machine. It creaks loudly, reluctantly giving way to his freedom. He takes a deep breath, inhaling the familiar, dusty Mystery Shack air. Despite such a rocky start, Bill Cipher has wormed his way back into this rotten dimension once again. 

Oh Gravity Falls, it is good to be back.  

He tiptoes through the cabin, slinking into the garage. His eyes light up as he spies Stanley’s 1965 El Diablo. It’s not his style-- Bill prefers the color yellow, of course, but the old hunk of metal will be sufficient enough for a nice scenic drive down the Pacific Coast Highway towards child homicide. 

How should I go about it? There’s so many ways to kill them. Stanley has a collection of guns in his closet, but what’s the fun in that? Stabbing is so much more entertaining and everyone’s got a kitchen knife or two! I can’t be too quick, though, I want to make them suffer, at least a little… 

“Mr. Pines?” 

Bill twists around to see Soos, holding a broom and a very angry gnome, still gnawing at the man’s chubby fingers. 

Question Mark. Well, there’s always tougher crowds to convince.

Bill gives him a smirk, waving slightly.

“Ah, Soos, my boy! How’s it-” 

Soos doesn’t even give the triangle a chance to finish his lies, instead dropping the gnome and racing towards Bill with a raised broom. It takes the demon by surprise and before he can even dodge, Soos smacks Bill against the head with it. Bill yelps in pain. 

“Dude, what the hell!” 

“I know it’s you, Bill! Give Mr. Pines back his body!” 

The two chase one another around the parked car briefly. Bill rapidly phases left and right trying to fake out the irate young man and his cleaning weapon as the hood of the car divides them. Bill Cipher holds up his hands. 

“Wait, wait!” Bill gasps. “Just hear me out; I can let you see Stanley if you just let me speak.” 

Soos pauses, narrowing his eyes. However, he hesitantly lowers his broom. Bill smiles, sighing with relief. 

“Wow! You’re actually a rational guy, good to know!”

“Show me Mr. Pines now.” 

Bill chuckles nervously. 

“Heh heh, well I can’t exactly let you see him right now per say, ya know with the whole need to keep control of this vessel thing,” Bill hesitates. “But if you let me take this car right now, I swear that I’ll-” 

Soos leaps over the hood of the car. 

“Shit!” Bill yells. 

Soos swings at Bill. Bill grabs the broom, ripping it from him and throwing it across the garage. He cackles. 

“Ha! Ha! Now what are you gonna do-” 

Soos punches Bill square in the jaw. Bill tastes metal as his mouth fills with blood. He chuckles softly as he wipes his mouth against his sleeve, leaving a crimson stain on the cuff.

Alright, Question Mark. I’m done trying to be nice. 

“Nice punch. Did your daddy teach you how to do that?” Bill jeers before preparing his own strike. 

However, for a brief second, Bill’s whole body freezes, as if someone else, someone deep in the recesses of his mind, someone he so very wanted dead, was pulling all his nerves to halt Bill’s attack. 

Stop backseat driving old man! 

Soos realizes it too. His eyes widen with surprise but Bill quickly rips back control, using that moment of hesitation to knee Soos in the gut. He coughs in pain, stumbling back, and Bill punches his attacker across the face. Hard. Soos slumps against the wall, unconscious. 

“Sleep tight, Question Mark,” Bill sneers. 

He hops into the car, pulling the keys out from the glove compartment and turning the ignition. The engine rumbles and shakes before starting. He looks at his reflection in the rearview mirror. For just a brief moment, his eyes aren’t yellow. 

“Get it through your thick skull-- You're not in control anymore,” Bill Cipher shouts. 

He means it. Bill Cipher may be a liar, but that is the truth. He’ll die again before he lets Stanley retake his body. He won’t let Stanley Pines overthrow him twice. 

“Soos! Are you alright?” 

Stanford rushes towards his brother’s former employee, shaking him harshly. Fiddleford stands behind him, looking concerned as he holds his “raccoon wife”. 

After their talk by the lake, the two stopped by Fiddleford’s mansion to get some equipment for their plan to recover his brother. It was all Fiddleford’s idea, really, Stanford had forgotten just how ingenious his old roommate really was. 

“It’ll take at least a fortnight,” Fiddleford says, scratching his beard as he taps his pencil against his workbench. “But I think I’ve got an idea of contraption to get your brother back.”

“Should I bring him here?” 

“No. I’ll just stay at the ol’ Mystery Shack for a bit. Just like old times.” 

A fat raccoon jumps on Fiddleford’s shoulder, chattering its teeth as if it were reprimanding the old man for staying out too late. Fiddleford grins as he holds her out towards Ford. 

“Of course, you’ll have to make accommodations for the raccoon wife!” 

Ford laughs. The racoon chatters once more. 

“Of course, F.”  

Soos groans as he regains consciousness, rubbing his head. 

“Ow. Mr. Pines should have been a boxer or something. Or was that technically Bill’s power?” Soos says. “Either way, it still hurts.” 

“What the hell happened? Where’s Stanley?” 

Stanford follows Soos’s eyes, looking at the smoky tire tracks leading out of the garage. He doesn’t need Soos to explain what’s happened. He jumps up. 

“Soos, do you have a car?”

“Yeah it's in the front.” 

Soos fishes into his pockets, throwing Ford the keys. He catches it, flying out the garage. Fiddleford bounds after him. 

“Just where do you think you're going?” 

“After him, of course.”

“Running after him like a chicken with its head cut off will do more harm than good!” Fiddleford answers. “Let me come.” 

“No way!” Stanford declares. “This is way too dangerous. I can’t; I’ve got to go alone.”

“Ford, stop!” 

Ford swings around. 

“What, Fiddleford?” He snaps. “I’ve got to stop him myself, he’s my brother-”

“You’re doing it again!” 

“Doing what?” 

“Being a… an absolute fool!” Fiddleford shouts. 

Ford remains silent. Under the shadow of trees and stars, he threatens to boil over, to explode at Fiddleford, to brush away his pleading words and race off into the night, alone. Stanford is a changed man, but he isn’t a perfect one. He’s backed into a corner right now. When he’s at his wit’s end, the scholar finds himself rescinding into arrogance and ego. His hubris is his comfort.

“Can you accept help this time?”  Fiddleford asks. 

It’s a tough pill but Stanford swallows it. 

“Yes.”

You don’t have to burden everything yourself. 

You don’t have to be a hero. 

Fiddleford lets out a relieved sigh before he smiles. 

“Then let’s go. I have a plan. I'll explain on the way.” 

“Maybe this is a bad prank,” Mabel says. She’s holding one of Dipper’s pillows against her chest, rockling slightly with a wry smile on her face. “Grunkle Ford may have picked up on a terrible sense of humor while dimension hopping.” 

“No, they wouldn't joke about that,” Dipper paces back and forth, brushing aside dirt clothes with his foot. “Still, how did Bill come back to life? It doesn’t make sense. Grunkle Ford was sure that he was dead.”

Could his Grunkle Ford been incorrect? Dipper finds it difficult to believe. Deep down, Dipper has placed Stanford upon a pedestal in his mind-- a man of science that can do absolutely no wrong. He idolizes the scientist as much as he loves him. 

But even the best scientists leave room for error. 

“But that doesn't explain how and why he chose Stan to possess. It makes absolutely no sense,” Dipper says aloud. 

Unless…

“Well, we've got to go help them!” Mabel says. 

“How? They're out in the middle of the sea. Even if we knew where they were, it's not like we could get there.”

“Why not?”

“Do you know how to sail a ship?”

Mabel frowns, not answering. She sinks her face into her pillow, kicking her feet and yelling in frustration. It’s completely warranted-- Dipper wants to do the same, but he holds his emotions in, trying to think logically about their situation. 

Their Grunkle has been possessed by a demonic triangle, where is the logic in that? 

What would Grunkle Ford do…?

“Well we can't just sit here and do nothing! For all we know Bill might have already-” 

Mabel shakes her head. She’s close to crying. Dipper hugs her tightly. 

“We’ll figure something out, don’t worry.” 

The front door slams suddenly shut. The twins exchange confused glances before heading downstairs. In the hallway, they see their mother, still in her nurse scrubs and holding a bag of takeout. 

“Hey Mom!” Mabel bounds towards the woman, hugging her tightly. 

Dipper hugs her too but looks at their mom with raised eyebrows. 

“I thought you guys were staying at work late tonight?”

“We were, but we got a surprise visitor at the hospital. Your father and I have been working nonstop. It'll be nice for us to have dinner together as a family for once, right dear?” 

Their mom turns slightly as their father walks in, also still in scrubs and holding a heavy briefcase. He looks tired, pushing up his glasses as he brushes past his family towards the kitchen. 

“Huh? Yeah, yeah…” 

Their mom turns back towards the twins. 

“Besides, it's not like your Grunkle always makes his way down to Piedmont.” She beams. “We know how much you two missed him. What a surprise, hm?” 

Dipper and Mabel look at each other, faces whitening as they share confused and horrified glances. The front door opens once more and as Grunkle Stan enters the house, he looks at them with a familiar, uncanny grin and yellow-tinted eyes. 

“Hey kids. Long time no see.”

Previous Chapter

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i think someone already pointed this out but...

there were two instances in spop where catra “accidentally” attacks adora when they were on the same side. i see a lot of stans talking about how catra didn't mean to hurt adora, but her expression right after she does so says everything.

after she tases adora in s1, she clearly looks angry and spiteful. her expression stays that way for a while before she hastily apologizes and acts as if she didn't realize how strong the zapper was. when adora tries to get back up, catra zaps her again and acts as if it was a reflex.

it's already concerning enough if catra's reflex to adora doing something unexpected is to attack her, but it's obvious that this wasn't a reflex. catra was punishing adora. for leaving her, for siding with the princesses, for daring to do something different.

now let's come to the portal reality. here, again, when adora starts panicking about the distorted reality, catra gets a quick flashback and immediately slaps adora. “it was freaking me out” does she look freaked out in the previous two frames? no. she looks strangely calm.

remember that this is an animated show where every detail means something. the animators wouldn't animate catra's expression like that if it was supposed to be a genuine accident. they could have easily made her look shocked or guilty, but they didn't. these frames last a few minutes too, they're not a blink-and-you-miss-it thing.

compare these to the time when catra electrocuted entrapta.

this was accidental. it's clear by catra's expression that it was an impulse decision. catra is shocked at herself, she's panicking.

of course, it's not that she cared about entrapta more. it's that attacking or hurting other people wasn't as much of a habit for catra as hurting adora was. whenever catra hurt someone else, she had a clear reasoning. either she was jealous or she was feeling threatened or she had a goal to accomplish.

with adora, it was just a matter of control. ever since they were young, catra used physical punishment on adora whenever she did something catra didn't like. and this habit clearly didn't wear off, partially because there was no one around to tell her that it was wrong, and partially because catra refused to take responsibility for her actions.

it's still strange to me that spop portrayed abuse in such a terrifying accurate manner, and then proceeded to romanticize it. makes me wonder if someone in the crew was genuinely not on board with this ship becoming canon.

i honestly feel like s1-4 were written by a group of writers and then s5 was given to someone who had zero context about the show and had just finished reading a bunch of wattpad fanfictions.

[devastatinglygreen]

Unpopular opinion (?) but I think the reason fans keep holding onto and misinterpreting the entrapment line is that a lot of them were still waiting for him to “grovel” for the S2 finale. When they didn’t get that, the entrapment line has become the new sin to prove he isn’t worthy of her. Pen forgives him easily for the things fandom holds against him the most. She does not disparage him for not returning her feelings or “leading her on” like fans and antis like to throw in his face. She tries to reaffirm her love for him after the entrapment line, clearly understanding why he would come to that conclusion. I know antis are gonna anti but I cannot for the life of me understand saying you support a ship while hating either half of that ship. Penelope and Colin are too sweet and sexy for that nonsense.

i know a lot of people wanted him to grovel and i do think the show went a little too far with that line in the form they used it for s2. i also think 2 years is a long time to make up headcanons and decide what you want to happen and holding it up as an expectation and it's very easy to get mad when those don't get met.

also the man can't lead her on, he has no idea she's got feelings for him?? he offers her an out on their engagement because he doesn't think she loves him ffs, how exactly do they think he was leading her on?

i never understood hating half of a ship tbh while proclaiming to like it. like, if you don't like half the ship why ship it? if you can't see what the character loves about the other, what are you even doing here? stan the character but leave me out of your bad takes about their other half, ha.

and frankly, just as much as the s2 line is something they took from the book, the entrapment thing is also an idea brought in from the books. it's over a LW paper mistakenly delivered during their engagement ball and colin alludes to her doing it on purpose so it's not like they're just pulling insulting ideas out of the air. so, there's that.

this idea that penelope would just run off or that colin is some sort of hateful, unworthy man because of things he says in anger is...wild. ha. like the girl was never going to leave that man:

now i do not think that show penelope ever meant to entrap him and i don't think even show colin thinks that, he really does just say some nonsense out of anger and hurt when pissed off sometimes. but even book penelope knows he's not going to call off the wedding:

and she does what she does anyway. the show is a different scenario, ofc, it's higher stakes and colin feels far more betrayed than book colin but they're both absolutely furious and terrified for what might happen to her over the situation.

don't complain about the show not bringing enough of the book if when they bring in book elements you're going to complain nonstop about them.😩

even the whole he struggles to stay mad at her thing. like, yes? that's a colin trait:

he does get morose and then he gets mad and then he's mad that he's mad and then he's mad that he's jealous. the man struggles over those emotions a fair bit. but like, he says one twatwaffle line after his trust is quite thoroughly betrayed by the woman he loves and he's supposed to be punished for forever? was there a committee? a trial? a jury?

i'm putting this down here because i don't think anyone will read this far, ha, but truly the angriest takes i've seen come out of this come off as incredibly immature tbh.

you're right tho, they are too sweet and sexy for that nonsense.

[callmeklair]

Hey, excuse me, but did you read this? https://www.tumblr.com/yuikomorii/738629974149496832/ok-i-didnt-want-to-go-this-far-but-at-this

I genuinely want your opinion about this post, because I totally agree with your post, and thought this other one was a bit rude.

(sorry for my terrible English, I hope I'm not being rude to you)

dw, english is not my first language too so it's okay also you are not being rude. and yeah just like I said some people hate the "overhype" not Ayato hit this Ayato stans still convert it into ayato hate and start giving various reasons to prove their point. just like in this post. it's like if we go through other boys' contents more deeply like they did with Ayato, then we'll also find a lot of growth, development and plus traits in other characters. but nah they just wanna paint it on Ayato.

if we talk about Ayato forgiving Cordelia because he still hoped she got her feelings reciprocated, then Yuma forgiving Reiji is way more major and heavy, because we all know how bad Mukamis' experience was. and if Reiji wouldn't have burned down his whole village, Yuma wouldn't have ended on city streets, with memory loss and then you guys know the rest. orphanage was one of the most terrifying hell for them because of the war (and it's sad how it was so true) yet Yuma forgave Reiji and even wished for his happiness with Yui.

Reiji also had one of the biggest developments. he was someone with ambition but ignored and cast aside by never receiving his mother's acknowledgement. yet after meeting Yui he grew so much like, in Shu's LE route, he literally sacrificed himself to protect Yuma because he was guilty and even though Yuma already said he forgave him a long time ago why he did it, Reiji said no matter how many times Yuma forgave him, it wouldn't rid him off of his guilt and past actions. also he:

this is not even his own route! but Shu's DF route yet look at my boy. proof that Ayato is not the only one who is compassionate out of his route. and same goes for Mukami brothers, be it Sakamaki, their own family or even Tsukinami's route they are compassionate and that's really a big deal because after what happened to them, they laugh at things like "humanity" because nobody showed them such yet look at them in later games.

In other words, yes there are many reasons for Ayato stans to make Ayato the main hero because Rejet said it so but please stop putting other characters in the background, casting them aside like they didn't have it rough and are NOTHING compared to Ayato's sufferings and compassion. all of them had different environment. even triplets, ayato, laito and kanato were mistreated differently. and Laito only pushed away Ayato because of what Cordelia did to him, and remember, among vampires there is nothing like humanity and compassion that's why Laito never expected anything from any of his brothers and pushed Ayato away too. ALSO AYATO SAID IT HIMSELF IN LAITO'S DF THAT LAITO HAD IT WORSE FROM CORDELIA.

Yes Ayato probably killed Cordelia to protect his younger brothers + also what she did to him, and I really like that about him. but that didn't mean other characters didn't do anything. Carla sacrificed Shin's eye instead of giving up on his brother's life even if it meant Shin will hate him for his whole life but at least that'll still keep his little brother alive.

Ayato realised Karlheinz is the root of evil, so did Shu a long time ago but everyone have their OWN way with dealing things, and Shu just wanted a peaceful life with Yui that's why he never tried to ever mention his father or tried to face him head on. it was difficult for Mukamis to accept Karlheinz evil because he was their saviour yet they still took courage and betrayed him for the sake of evil. Reiji likes his father but in his CL good end, even he was speechless and finally had enough of his father's Adam and eve plan, rejecting the throne and taking Yui away.

now if I keep going, this post will become endless so I'll stop now

[hyperactivewhore]

Do you think if Cami was Elijah’s love interest, she would still be called Caroline’s clone? Honestly, the only two reasons why I can think of people constantly saying she’s Caroline 2.0 is because she’s Klaus’s love interest and she’s blonde. But in the show, she is literally nothing like Caroline at all. I see Caroline stans hating on Cami because shes apparently so awful, but then they go on to say she’s a carbon copy of Caroline. So what is it? Is Cami a selfish, awful monster or is she Caroline’s clone?

Cami, much like every other female character in TVD, deserves so much better than how the fandom treats her. She’s not some girl obsessed with Klaus. She’s not trying to ruin Klaus’s and Caroline’s relationship - in fact, Caroline’s not even a thought in her head. All cami wanted to do was live her life and help people.

The way the fandom treats Cami, Bonnie, Elena, Hayley, Aurora, and Davina is so disgusting. This isn’t me saying that Caroline doesn’t receive disgusting comments, but compared to the rest of the cast, she’s often portrayed as a saint and is labeled as “not like other girls”.

The fandom calling Cami a copy of Caroline is 100% tied to the fact they're both love interests for Klaus. If Cami hadn't been romantically paired with Klaus, she would have never been as hated as she is.

Is there even a reason to dislike Cami? I'm honestly asking, because I just don't think there is. She didn't do anything wrong, and if you're gonna bring up how she stole the only weapon that could kill the Mikaelson, then I don't care, because Cami never planned to use it against them. She just wanted her dark objects back, but Klaus, of course, had to be Klaus.

People will complain about how she constantly tried to put an end to the violence in her life, but completely changed her mind once she became a vampire because she wanted to kill Aurora. The same Aurora who killed her, terrified her and traumatized her, and to make it worse Klaus couldn't even bother to hurt Aurora back because he still had feelings for her, and Cami knew it. She had every right to be angry, scared, hurt, and vengeful.

However, knowing kalijah stans call Hayley a Katherine copy, I don't think Cami would have it much easier either. This fandom loves to bash women simply because the men in their ships fell for other woman instead of the one they wanted him with. Camille falls in love with Klaus? How dare she, she is Caroline's copy simply because of that, and apparently because they're both blonde too. Hayley loves Elijah? Ugh, Elijah just entertains her because she reminds him of Katherine.

If anything, Camille was more like Jenna. They were both humans who got involved in the supernatural world, two women who just wanted to help people but ended up dying ironically because of Klaus. Honestly, what do Camille and Caroline even have in common? Being blondes and their names starting with "ca"? To summarize it, Camille was a woman, Caroline was a girl. They were in different points of their lives when they met Klaus; one was an adult and the other one was just leaving her adolescence behind.

Thanks for the ask!

[the-overanalyst]

don't come for me tsukasa stans- i love him too and i know that with his sheer force of personality it would've been hard not to make him the main character BUT if the wonderland sekai has to be created by any singular character, it should've been emu. here's why:

first off, it's the wonderland sekai. phoenix wonderland, the wonder stage specifically, is emu's special place. it's where her feelings were born. it's the place she fought for, alone, because of those feelings. it makes perfect sense for her sekai to be based on pxl.

now, about those feelings. according to the main story, the feeling that created wonderland sekai was the desire to make others happy. and sure, tsukasa does have that desire, but whenever wxs discuss their dreams, emu is the one who wants nothing more than to make everyone smile. that's her end all be all.

both tsukasa and emu have underlying reasons behind their desire, but i think emu's reason is more resonant with the overall themes of wxs's storyline. making people smile is her way of preserving her grandfather's legacy and in turn, her memories of spending childhood with him at pxl. now however, making people smile has come to define her time with wxs, which we know will someday end as well.

the disbandment of wxs should devastate emu more than anyone. it's not much of a stretch to infer that a girl whose bedroom looks like it's been decorated the same way since preschool might be afraid of change and growing up, hence the childlike imagery of the sekai. not only that, but even as the other members pursue their dreams across the world, i can't imagine emu as she is now ever leaving pxl, her wonderland. she would be terrified at the prospect of having to protect the pxl of her memories all by herself again.

and what would that mean for the sekai if it did belong to emu? a sekai built around preservation within a narrative that demands progress would make for a very interesting dynamic. much like how empty sekai was built around despair and, well, emptiness, but the narrative of n25 heralds hope and fulfillment. in fact, there could even be a parallel between the two sekais created by an individual's feelings, with the other three members being invited to the sekai so they can inspire those feelings to change. i think the wxs disbandment and emu coming to terms with it would cause wonderland sekai itself undergo a dramatic change, ultimately for the better.