#she's so important to me you guys just don't get it

[gold-onthe-inside]

contingency operations

n. def. - a situation requiring military operations in response to natural disasters, terrorists, subversives, or as otherwise directed by appropriate authority to protect US interests.

who? spencer reid (s7) x analyst!reader summary: when a former navy SEAL threatens your base of operations, your safety is the only thing on spencer's mind. content warnings: jealous and pining spencer, gun talk, spencer kind of manhandles you, spencer getting cockblocked by jj word count: 1.8k a/n: don't hate me, i didn't have his confession speech planned.

It’s not that far a stretch for you to be the first person he thinks of — while JJ’s negotiating with her DoD contacts to get them a look at a classified operation, he’s gone upstairs to look for you. Working in counterintelligence meant you had access to all kinds of information, whether that be domestic or international. Spencer carefully carried the cup of coffee, file pinned under his arm, aiming to find you at your cubicle, except you’re standing at another one, perched on the table while you talked to another person.

Spencer’s not the kind to get jealous, or so he thought, except the guy you’re talking to isn’t like the others who occupy the floor — he’s got broad shoulders and an easy smile, and at least if he was blond, he wouldn’t have been competition. He just had to be a brunet, charming to top it off. Spencer doesn’t know if he’s ever made you smile unless you were teasing him.

The longer he stands there, the more awkward he feels, and he eventually gets the nerve to knock on your desk and make you look up — an improvement to a year ago where he would have just pretended to look lost and leave. His stomach turns when he watches you place your hand on the guy’s shoulder, squeezing as you walk away.

“Is that a bribe I see?” you asked, the corner of your lip curling as you spied the coffee in his hand.

“Nope, it’s completely unrelated to the favor I came to ask,” Spencer said, earning a rueful look as you take it and sit in your chair.

“What do you need?” you asked, sipping the coffee that was made perfectly to your liking — he'd gotten to know your preferences better over the last year, spending more time together since the Doyle case. You'd been an escape from the suffocating emptiness of the bullpen, and he'd been good company when you had been barred from Penelope's lair for 6 months.

“Anything you might have on Dorado Falls,” Spencer said, his voice rising an octave in hope that you might help as you go through your files.

“And Pen can’t do this because?” you asked, pulling up your file directory.

“She doesn’t have clearance,” Spencer said, lacing his fingers together and twisting it in his nervousness. As expected, you turn your head to look at him.

“You want eyes on a classified op you don’t have the clearance for?” you asked, raising a brow at him.

“Yes?” He's got this puppy-eyed look, like when he asks if you have lunch plans, or if you want to see a 4-hour long sci-fi film that's only available in Russian.

“Reid,” you said with a sigh, rubbing your forehead. “I can’t just—”

“He killed 8 people in one day,” Spencer insisted in a hushed voice. “He’s got a U.S. General as a hostage, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.” He watched your folded lips, your contemplative look, and he can finally take a breath when you turn your chair and acquiesce.

“You people are gonna get me fired one of these days,” you muttered under your breath, Spencer leaning over your shoulder as you find the file you’re looking for. “Navy SEAL operation, 2003, this what you’re looking for?” you asked, his breath fanning over your cheek, warm and coffee-tinged. If you turned your head, you could probably kiss his cheek — not that you would. But the thought crosses your mind as he nodded.

“That’s the one,” he said, and moved when you had to reach for the drawer, copying the file onto a clean flashdrive before ejecting it.

“I like my job, Reid,” you said, turning to look at him, which you could do forever with his coiffed hair and blue sleeves rolled to his elbows, paired with a grey vest. “If I get fired, you’re paying my rent,” you continued, pressing the flashdrive into his hand and his lips break into a smile.

“You’re a lifesaver,” he replied, closing his hand over the drive and leaving you to your work, and you watched him walk until he got to the glass doors, holding back a laugh as you watched him break into an awkward run for the elevators.

The next time he goes to your floor, he doesn’t bother waiting for the lift, running up stairs as fast as he can to get to you before the unsub does — even though it’s wholly unprofessional. He needs to be with his team, ready to talk down the unsub at a moment’s notice, but his focus shattered the moment he found out you hadn’t evacuated yet. Instead, you were focused on activating a failsafe program, in case anyone other than the members of your division moved to access the network on your floor.

“What are you still doing here?” Spencer yelled at you, almost skidding to your cubicle.

“Almost done, give me a second,” you said, gritting your teeth, fingers flying over your keyboard as you authenticate yourself. “Jesus Christ, I need to make this program faster,” you muttered and Spencer swears that if the unsub doesn’t kill you, he might.

“Really? There’s a Navy SEAL breaking into the building, and you’re thinking of more projects to work on?” he demanded, his hands pressed to his revolver.

“There’s a Navy SEAL on his way and you think a cowboy pistol’s gonna save you?” you retorted sharply.

“What do you have against my gun?” he asked, his voice rising in octave again.

“Uh, how about the reload for one,” you said. “What, do you carry around spare bullets in your pocket? Plus the recoil rules out rapid fire. What are you gonna do if you get pinned down?”

“I’m gonna keep you from getting killed,” he said, reaching out to grip your bicep. “You’re right, I don’t have the firepower of an uzi, what I can do is get us out of this room,” he finished, tugging your arm.

"Hold on, it's almost done," you muttered.

"No, I'm dragging you out of here now-" He said, but you just shrugged, still tapping away at the keys with only your left hand free.

"No, you can't," you said idly as you continued to work. "You haven't the strength to get me to move without cooperation, and I'm not leaving until I finish this."

“I-“ he opened his mouth, then closed it. What was he going to say? That you were being stubborn for the sake of it? That your life was more important than this task? That you should get up, and run with him? That he’d save you? He couldn’t voice any of those. You both knew them all anyway, and you’d be able to rebuff them with ease. “Just hurry, please.”

He leaned closer to you, trying to ignore the soft scent of your hair.

"Oh, well, now that you've told me to hurry," you responded dryly, turning your face to look at him, inches away from his. The proximity surprised him, but he barely had time to think about it before you were hitting return and taking your hand off the keys.

“Done,” you announced, standing up. “Time to run. Unless, of course, you want to argue about that too?”

"Can we?" he asked, pulling you along the corridor. "I do have a list of complaints about your recklessness."

"You have a list of complaints about everything," you retorted as he opened the fire escape door for you. You stepped through, Spencer closing the door behind you both.

"Your general attitude is up there," He admitted, running down the stairs and pulling you after him. "Your inability to keep yourself safe, your tendency to throw yourself into danger for the sake of a project—"

"Jesus Christ, Reid, if we find out a rogue operative is going to break in, you don't think we'd have a protocol for it?" you argued, frustrated.

"Yes, I believe the protocol is to evacuate," he reminded you, reaching the landing. He kept you close, though he'd never admit that it was to reassure himself.

"God, for a genius, you really are daft," you muttered, rounding the corner to another flight of stairs. "You think we'd just leave the entire network open for him?"

"No," he allowed, following your hurried footsteps. "But I don't think your life should be worth the risk. No data is worth you dying."

"Yeah, how about dozens of classified operations and cover identities that need to be kept under wraps?" you snapped at him. "I was doing my job, you're the one who came looking for me when you should be with your team."

"The team knows my priority is with you," he admitted, then immediately regretted it because that was information that he hadn't been planning to tell you.

You stopped in your tracks, staring at him. "What does that mean?"

His eyes widened and he backtracked. "The team knows that if you're threatened, the likelihood is I'll disregard protocol," he said. Well, it was the truth, even if it wasn't really what he'd meant. "We should keep moving," he said.

"No, you can't keep doing this," you demanded, pulling at his arm. "Every time, every time, you say this cryptic coded thing that I don't know what to do with. Just say what you mean, already!"

"I-I don't..." Spencer's heart was hammering in his chest, his eyes wide. The truth was, he wanted to tell you. He wanted you to know where you stood with him... but the fear of rejection would stop him every time. He was in love with you. He hadn't had the courage to admit it yet. His earpiece interrupts him, and for once in his life, Reid is almost glad to have his earpiece interrupt his thoughts.

“Reid, we’re seeing movement on the 7th floor, where are you?” JJ asked, her voice rushed.

"I'm in the stairwell with the most stubborn woman in the world," he said, looking pointedly at you as you scowled at him.

“Get back up here,” JJ replied. “We need all hands on deck.”

"I'm coming," he said, and looked at you. "So much for getting you out," he murmured. "If you run now, can I trust you won't go back to your desk?"

“Believe it or not, I have no interest in facing a 6 ft Navy SEAL,” you replied dryly.

"So that's a yes," he says, smiling despite his attempt to remain serious.

I'm in love with you, he thought, but he wasn't brave enough to say.

I don't want to lose you. He was even less willing to voice that.

"Don't stop running till you're out," he told you instead, his voice as firm as he could make it.

"Don't get killed by a SEAL," you replied, your sense of humor never failing you as you add, "Although, it would be a cool way to go out."

"I'm sure you'll be very smug about it at my funeral," he said, but neither of you were really smiling anymore. "I'll be okay," he promised you. "Get out of here."

You take one last lingering look at him, then started running down to the exit, leaving him behind.

It took him a full 5 seconds to start moving after you finally left, and the feeling of emptiness in his chest only grew with each step up the stairs.

He was in love with you, and he was determined to tell you.

Just not yet.

[tinylilacbun]

even after jj gets caught by the mercenaries the only thing he worries about is his baby...୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ

This was not what JJ had planned. To be caught, by the same guys that tried to off him and Kie when they got that amulet, because of Groff was the last thing he had on his agenda after his crash out.

Now, after being shoved into an engine room he paces back and forth, stopping to point a finger at Groff with a glare on his face. "Listen, I don't care what you got going on with those guys but I have to go back home, a'ight? You may not give a fuck about me, I can live with that, but I got a kid that that's expecting me to tuck her into bed later."

There's a beat of silence as Groff sits down on top of the metal steps, his hands intertwined together, seemingly shocked at this new information. "You got a kid?"

JJ sighs, leaning against the railing with his back facing Groff and crossing his arms. "Yeah...she's- god, she's the best thing that ever happened to me, actually. I mean, I did a lot of fucked up things. But she's the only thing I never regret in my life."

Groff nods with a smile that's everything but genuine which the blonde didn't notice at the moment. "What's her name?"

JJ says your name with adoration, smirking to himself as he can only think about how much of a fuss you're probably giving the others right now.

"She just turned three. A hyperactive little rascal, something she got from me apparently, at least that's what everyone says." He shrugs, scratching the back of his neck.

That describes it lightly.

You're basically a mini version of him, the same crazy locks, a dimple that is always seen on your chubby cheek, the mischievous and adventurous behavior.

Everything about you screams that you are JJ's kid, and you you can be sure that he's more than proud of that.

"Guess there's never a boring day then." Groff chuckles, trying to get on JJ's good side by doing small talk.

"You wouldn't know it." JJ remarks, turning his head to face him. "Since you gave me away to a drug addicted alcoholic before I could even crawl but who am I to care. I got someone worth fighting for and waiting for me to come home right now."

He adverts his eyes from him again, running a hand through his messy hair with a heavy sigh.

"She's a good kid...always polite and helping whenever she can even though she's still so small, probably thanks to Kie's and Pope's influence." He chuckles lightly, looking down at the matching bracelet that's designed in a mix of yours and his favorite colors that Sarah made for you and him a while back.

Groff stays uncharacteristically silent, taking in how JJ talks about you as if you're the most important thing on earth, which you are, to him at least or all the other pogues that watched you grow up.

"Just know, that if you pull any shit with me, I swear I won't hesitate to kill you before those mercenaries can." JJ suddenly threatens him, not planning on growing any kind of bond with the man who couldn't give a damn about him when he was just a baby.

The only thing that matters to him is you, his baby.

[blacknedsoul-blog]

Social climbers and the relationship with power: Ada's tragedy

You buddies don't dimension how much I raised my eyebrows when I saw this scene:

Ada climbing on top of a deer (a very typical symbolic representation of noble masculinity) who is trying to fiercely shake her off while she desperately clings to him with all her might...

And is THAT what makes her have a flashback of her relationship with Tamerline? Buddy, I'm putting on a hat to take it off.

Anyway, this means I have enough material to talk about Ada.

Social climbers and power

Ada is, apparently, a social climber: she longs for a social space to which she feels she is entitled, but to which she considers herself not to belong. This is something that can give us clues about her socio-economic situation in life: social climbers are extremely common in spaces such as, for example, the child of a first generation of professionals or of parents who have been able to provide better economic passages despite not belonging to social elites.

So, one thing to be clear about the way Ada relates to people in general is through this lens: the way she tries to move up socially (i.e. to power) is through her relationships with people, if she is close to a person who has power or belongs to an elite, then she is accessing these spaces. If that person does not have it, then she uses the relationship to reassert the position she wants to have.

Ada's personal tragedy is that this way of relating to the world puts her in an extremely vulnerable position with respect to her interpersonal relationships because, if they were not asymmetrical from the beginning, she makes them asymmetrical. It's as true that Ada gets into complicated relationships willingly as it is that she is a victim of people like Tamerlane. You know, the same logic of tragedies.

So let me do a little review of all the relationships Ada has had in the comic, how they go and what is the pattern they follow.

The triad of discord

There are three things that all of Ada's relationships have in common (except one, but we'll get to that): 1) She seeks to get some sort of validation from the other person. 2) She tends to push the person's boundaries, even if they were explicitly stated. 3) Even if the person has some degree of affection or sympathy for her, Ada will never be her priority over other things. Be these things other people, personal desires, etc, etc.

So let's review this a bit.

Let's start with the bastard of Thomas Tamerline. If anything their interaction during chapter 110 makes clear to us is that the guy is quite explicit with the fact that this relationship is purely sex for him (and he possibly enjoys the degree of control he exerts over her), Ada repeatedly tries to get some validation or affection from him and the guy barely complies with the bare minimum.

That he ends up murdering her indicates that, regardless of motive, he sees her as an inconvenience to his personal desires that must be gotten out of the way and, as the icing on the cake, puts the responsibility on her.

Now on to Prospero. His resemblance to Thomas is obvious enough to understand why Ada would be attracted to him and constantly seeks to touch him or be near him, no matter how much Prospero tells her that he is not interested in her. This is an attitude she has even before Annabel encourages her by saying that “Prospero is just being shy”.

Eventually it happens what it does: Prospero is fed up with her and doesn't hesitate to tell her so to her face. We can argue whether or not he's justified in being this cruel, but by the standards of this argument that's irrelevant: the important thing here is that Prospero doesn't care about Ada's feelings enough to be nicer.

Let's go now to Lenore. Ada is extremely mean to her until Lenore demonstrates that she was able to pass the maze test on her own. This is, in Ada's eyes, a demonstration of power and she, as she is wont to do, will not pass up the opportunity to get on the good side of a person who could be a potential rising star.

This is cut short by her same group, but they reconnect at the mansion trial. Since Lenore is not interested in relating on power terms (for better and for worse), here they have the opportunity to share on more equal terms on both their parts. Yes, Lenore is also doing this for personal reasons, but it doesn't take away from the merit.

Ada ends up overstepping boundaries and betraying Lenore at the end of the trial. And after she learns of her Ada's involvement in Duke's kidnapping, well, all she has to say when Pluto fills her in is says that shitty relationship is strangely appropriate.

Yes, Lenore may have come to have some degree of affection for her, but Ada is no more important than her friends and after getting into something like that, to hell with her.

With Annabel things start to get more interesting. These two have a cocktail of projection and resentment between them: Annabel is all Ada wants, so she treats her like a pretty accessory that gives her status (something that definitely oversteps Annabel's boundaries, even if she hasn't expressed them because it doesn't suit her) and, to Annabel, Ada is little more than an important piece she can take advantage of.

This take it with a grain of salt because there are some “buts.”

On Ada's side, that she seeks help from Annabel when Montresor is being a fucking psycho is an indicator that she felt, at least, protected by Annabel. But as is often the case with her, the plan Annabel is carrying out is no more important than Ada, she just lets it happen.

Twice. Under the circumstances, Annabel chooses to help Prospero over Ada.

However, Ada is not indifferent to Annabel: she is definitely furious with Montresor after what he did (In fact, this is the only scene so far where we have seen Annabel exercising any form of physical aggression)., she is uncomfortable when Prospero is mean to Ada, and there are a few small frames where she looks at her with sincere pity.

But again, that won't make Annabel prioritize her over her own plans.

Finally, we come to the most interesting relationship here.

Ada definitely cares about Morella, but that won't make constantly denigrating her a reaffirmation of the position she believes (or wants) to have: making comments like Morella's food “is poor.” Ada pecks at the boundaries with a stick, yet these things -for some reason- don't seem to bother Morella, who is able to see the good in her despite her bad attitudes. Until she stops doing it because not only participating in Duke's kidnapping, but also trying to play cool by making excuses is out of bounds even for Morella.

But an interesting thing happens here too, remember how Ada is never a priority for anyone? Well, for a moment in her relationship with Morella it looks like this is going to be different. Morella makes a feeble attempt to defend her when Montresor makes her bark and puts a shield in her face when Prospero attacks her in the mansion trial.

Unfortunately for Ada, Morella is someone too lacking in backbone and too concerned with following the rules to stand up for her when it really counts.

After Ada manifests and bursts into tears, she pushes Morella away from her with a shove.

Morella says she wants to help, but all it takes is for Poppet to remind her that she needs to get back the Merits she lost for Morella to finally give in.

The two people Ada considered her friends have left her: Annabel has chosen to help Prospero and Morella has left.

That's when Montresor enters.

And here begins the first break in Ada's toxic pattern of relationships...but not for the better.

Ada and Montresor

Oddly enough, these two are a good match...for horrible reasons. Montresor, like Ada, is a social climber who uses interpersonal relationships to get closer to power, only in a different way: where Ada sticks it to people who hold power, Montresor uses others to reassert himself in a position of power. So, Ada feeds Montresor's ego, while he can pretend to like her enough to keep Ada happy.

Because yes, Ada and Montresor's relationship fulfills most of the bad patterns in relationships that Ada usually has: she seeks validation in this relationship and Montresor definitely doesn't prioritize her (she constantly has to compete with Will for Montresor's attention, for example). But the important thing here is that, for once, Ada isn't the one constantly pecking at the other person's boundaries: it's Montresor who does it.

He pushes her around, teases her, calls her by other women's names, and it's probably only a matter of time before this starts to get worse. What's interesting is that Ada is able to get upset when this happens, unlike what we see in the flashback to her relationship with Thomas.

So there is something changing here.

Conclusion

I'm not sure where this is going to lead, but one thing is for sure: Montresor is a reflection of a toxic pattern of behavior that Ada has in her relationships and if she's starting to get uncomfortable with it, it's not just because the abyss is staring back at her, but because she's getting herself into a situation too similar to her relationship with Thomas to not know how it might end.

Add to that this:

This is the first time in the comic that Ada has had such a selfless gesture for another person. And that selfless gesture is something as big as putting herself in danger to save someone. As if all this wasn't enough, it's been to save Annabel: one of the two friends who turned their backs on her when she needed them.

I don't know if this will be the start of her character development or we should interpret it as deathflags placed over her head, but one thing is for sure: whatever is going to come out of here has quite a bit of potential.

[utilitycaster]

Wait. So CR3 ended with Liliana, Ludanis, technically Predathos (within Imogen or something?), and all the gods all still alive (though technically in mortal form)?

I understand that sometimes it's journey before destination and the story is more important than the finale of the story but....W-what was the point??? If the BBEG Cult Leader who kicked this whole thing off to kill the gods and the gods are both still alive what was the point??

So Liliana was alive, Ludinus was alive (having used Clone or similar), and Predathos ran away because the gods assumed mortal form and there was nothing to eat on Exandria.

Really, while again I have my many critiques, the actual only part of this end state I think is a genuine mistake is Ludinus.

I think that Imogen deciding to join with the Volition and assassinate Liliana would have been a compelling character moment for Imogen; when she didn't do that I felt that Liliana dying when she chose to defy Ludinus would have been a compelling character moment for Imogen. When that also did not happen, my general feeling was "I don't really care about her fate, but it doesn't matter at this point," so her ending is one of the many "yeah, that's fine I guess" ones this campaign delivered. I don't think she's a good person, but I also think that now that she's just a regular-ass sorcerer and her cult leader tried to horribly murder her and then disappeared she has no motivation to continue committing crimes so yeah wandering around figuring out who she is now makes sense. It's still not interesting; most of my criticism in the end is "this wasn't very interesting."

The gods becoming mortal was genuinely interesting and any critique I have is how poorly it was signaled, how irrelevant it made any of the excruciatingly dull circular discussions throughout the campaign (and how hypocritical and stupid it made the characters as a result, not that that wasn't a problem from the start), and how malformed the logic of what this means mechanically for clerics was. But that is an interesting change, to me, especially since the Divine Gate is now down. Idk I think it's possible for the cycle to genuinely begin again; I mean, wizards figured out the rites of ascension before. Will one of the gods-become-mortal undo their own bindings, or will some wizard studying this phenomenon hit on the formula? The party (and fandom) discussion of Who Gets Power was rendered completely pointless but like, the actual concept is great.

Ludinus, however; honestly it makes no sense either way because not only did he do nothing to narratively earn any kind of redemptive ending [if I say "earn" know it's narratively because he is a pretend guy and the people who act like fictional characters are real and should get capital punishment are Calvinist freaks]; I don't see why he'd just hang out making tea unless he somehow thinks the gods are genuinely gone, having missed out on the happenings after his form was killed. Like, look. I do not believe that you have to kill the bad guy to have a satisfying ending, but you do need to follow through with the implications and this doesn't seem to have done so. The only possible ways this fits with his character are either that he's biding his time to do some other bullshit (possible, and if he pops up in a one-shot or miniseries to do villainy and get murdered I'll grant this), if he somehow hasn't found out and thinks the gods are dead (less likely but admittedly pretty funny, and if he lives out the remainder of his life in an isolated cottage, blissfully ignorant, thinking he got his revenge when he never did, that is a boring option but see above, this campaign usually went with the boring option for character development so what else is new), or if we somehow managed to get an ending that is more unwilling to give someone any kind of follow-through in the end than Ted Lasso, which is embarrassing, and I liked Ted Lasso for what it was.

[moonchildridden]

CirPhu and the delights of proactive intimacy

Hi, hello, good morning, good afternoon, good night, I hope this finds you well. You may be asking, "why is this woman greeting us like she's writing an email"? Well, today is Friday, in less than an hour ThamePo will be sharing their first kiss, my brain will be consumed by that even and I will become a mindless person, busy about spreading the strength of that even. But, before that happens, and while I'm on this adrenaline rush, I will get rid of another brain consuming event, that was CirPhu first intimate contact and how beautifully done it was. Do you guys think I can write a well put piece in less than an hour, while my brain is scrambling to form coherent sentences and interesting takes? Let's try.

It's been a while since I wrote something related to a series (WOY era Moonchild, I miss you so dearly) and lately I just didn't have the time to do something like this (I was away for a while and my head was not exactly ready to obsess over queer media like that) but after missing the chance of writing a good post about the first episode about The Boy Next World, I decided to NOT let this pass and just get it done. It should be well suspicious that what's making me get back to business is a NC scene but, honestly, a thinking piece is a thinking piece, no matter the subject.

Giving the subject matter, this post won't have my usual shenanigans, but it will be more of an explanation as to why that scene left me bitting my pillow and overanalyzing every second of it since Sunday night. So, bear with me, there'll be a lot of missteps and turns until I finish what I have to say.

So, let's talk CirPhu and proactive intimacy.

For what I have to say to make sense, I need to make a very brief introduction to Phu's character and then continue from there. For all intents and purposes, Phu is a cute man, who likes cute things, is babied by his friends, kinda naive, who believes in superstitions and have a doll as a physical representation of his "guardian angel". I could describe him as a less airheaded version of Rain, because he can be more aware of his surroundings, even if that takes a while to kick in, specially when he's with his friends, and he's more cautious about things (I mean, he didn't automatically believed in Cir when he said he was from a parallel universe, and even consulted his friend about it, albeit in a "hypothetically situation" manner). Even when his friends talk about him, they describe Phu as "cute", because that's the image he gives to the world: someone to take care of carefully, and not just jump in with aggression.

It's important to talk about that because when we are presented with a character like this, when it comes to intimate scenes, almost all of the time, they act like they are scared or don't really want to be doing anything remotely sexual with their partners (don't let me start about the fact that almost ALL the characters that act like that are the "bottoms" of the relationship, and how that behavior is something that seems to be linked with the idea of what a bottom should act like: all innocent and hesitant, while the top is aggressive), which gives the impression that they are not happy with the idea of sexual relationship with their partners, which in hindsight becomes a very problematic interpretation of how should queer men behave when in a relationship with another man. And, to be honest, we are wired to, somehow, expect that behavior on the perceived bottom of the couple, because that's how they have been behaving since the dawn of times.

However, Phu is different:

First, we see that even if being intimate with Cir is not something he's very comfortable with, because of the parallel universe thing and all that entails, physical reactions are not exactly new to him and he even sees them as normal reactions to intense physical activities (when he got on top of Cir and ended up giving Cir a boner), so when they are kissing in his bed, or even better, making out in his bed, and Cir stops because Phu was sick, the only reaction Phu has when Cir sees his physical reaction is to hide it with his blanket.

Second, according to some spoilers that I got (unwillingly, of course), Phu is not new to sexual pleasure, albeit is more on the "self" pleasure that he's venturing in, because he used to jerk off once in a while, so the novelty here is intimate act with another person and not the intimate act itself.

Third, when Cir says that he could help Phu get rid of his boner, the only answer Phu gives is a "I don't know", repeating in when Cir says again that he could help. That answer is not a negative, like in a "I don't want you to do that" but more of a "I'm not sure about it". So, when Cir says that he should take his medicine and Phu refuses, stating that he wouldn't take them until "it [the boner] goes away", that was his way of saying that he was giving permission to Cir to do what he thought it would be best to help him with that problem (and, to be honest, I knew that there would be a blowjob scene in the series, because there is one in the book, but I didn't expect it to be so fucking soon), and probably thought that it would be a simple jerk off session, instead of a blowjob.

Forth, Phu simply handed himself to Cir the moment their lips touched. He put his arms around Cir's shoulders, kissed Cir with the same intensity Cir was kissing him, opened his legs to give room to Cir, enjoyed all the ministrations Cir was giving him, and, the cherry on top, the moment Cir started sucking him off, and I mean it, he out his hand on Cir's hair to guide him during the blowjob. I kid you not, when I saw how quickly Phu did that, how he simply enjoyed what was happening to him, how he became proactive during the blowjob (moaning, looking that Cir during the blowjob, etc), I simply lost my shit.

Because, having bottoms being so active, instead of just reactive, during intimate scenes, it's not something that happens regularly in our BLs. When that happens, it's because the bottom has already some experience with sex (Fiat, from Don't Say No, for example) and not when the character is characterized the way Phu was. We were seeing a man, in a bear patterned pajamas, being sucked off by his future boyfriend, being proactive in said act, actively engaging and enjoying the act, and still maintaining his cute and innocent side.

And to add to the already incredibleness of the scene, that blowjob wasn't only Phu's first intimate act with another person but also Cir's first intimate act with another person, but both of them simply decided to let their mutual desire take care of what was happening and simply enjoyed. Honestly, I watched that scene between my fingers, and I still do because it feels so intimate I feel like I'm interrupting something and I need to leave them alone in their endeavors.

I could wax more poetry about that scene but I think that my main point was made (I could even add more things in the future, who knows) and I will forever be grateful to how well made that scene was (thank you BossNoeul, for your artistry and commitment to your job. Thank you), because it was a piece of art, an event for the history books. So, now, excuse me, because I will go straight to my Friday obsession and find another brain consuming event to deal with this weekend.

[solarpotato]

My first fanfic would love to know what you guys think. Also, English isn't my first language.

One small fight -

The room was buzzing with restless energy after another rufless game. (y/n) has just returnd from the bathroom making her way towards her group of freinds. she was lucky in that regard, finding some good people in the form of the former Winner and the group that formed around him. While some dismissed him, other were drown by the fire in his eyes. and you wanted to belive in his cause, saving people and stopping the madness of the games.

while making her way through the labyrinth of beds and People, she was stopped by players 350, 240 and 211. A small group that formed early in the games. "Hi sweetheart" player 350 said looking her up and down with appreciation. "We were just about to sit for lunch, you should join us" he gustard towards a secluded area.

"Thank you, but I'll have to decline" (y/n) said amicably trying to sidestep them, but 240 got in her way smiling. A smile that send a shiver down her back. She saw this group before, they were loud and volatile, and she made sure to keep away from them, somethings she was successful in, untill now. "Come on sweetheart, you can't keep hanging with those old geezers, they are liability in those games" 240 stepped closer making her take a step back. Player 211 stepped behind her, making her back collide with his front. 211 brought his hand up running them up and down (y/n) arms. Shit, she was surrounded, and her meek knowledge in self defence, would not be useful against those three, she coursed and looked around trying to catch someone gaze, but her luck run out, most people were still in line for food, she was alone with them.

"Come on don't be shy". The grip on your arms tightened almost hurting, she knew that it will leave a mark. "I really should go, my friends are waiting for me" (y/n) tried once again "don't be like this we won't bite..much" the chuckles made your skin crawl. In this deadly environment, could people really be this cruel?

Call her naive but (y/n) wanted to see the best in people. Even in places like this there were the like of Gi-Hun who tried saving others. Or player 069 who give his place to number 222 the pregnant lady, there was always hope as long as there were good people around. A debate she kept having with Young-Il, she could rell he didn't believe in this, but was polite enough to entertain her musing.

"That quite enough" Young-il apperd next to them. He came looking after you, worrying what took you so long. And good thing he did.

The sence in front of him made him angry. (y/n) was surrounded by the three players, obviously uncomfortable and skittish. While they were way to close too comfort.

He could see the relief in her eyes and she let a soft breath out. He always made her feel safe. Something about him always so clam and collected, the way his eyes fall on her made her relax, she was safe now, she will always be safe when he is next to her.

Player 350, you realise you didn't even know their names, nor did you wanted to, the less time around them the better. Eyed him "this is a private conversation, get lost".

"Yea old man mind your own business" 240 said. Young-il sigh, young people those day had no respect. (y/n) made a move to join Young-il, but the hold on her didn't relent. Young-il eyes locked on heres for a second, making sure she's okay, and then to 240 hands on her. He gritted his teeth and decided not to waste any more of his time on those numbers. "Manners" Young-il said tearing 240 hands away from her. "Are very important" with a quick twist 240 fell to his knees, his hand held painfully behind his back. 350 lunched forward throwing a punch that Young-il dodged without a problem. Holding 240 with one hand he punched player 350 straight in the nose. 350 stumbled backwards, hand flying to his bleeding nose "You bastard". 240 tried to shake 001 off him just as 211 went on offence. With a sharp move 240 was shoved into 211, a quick and strong kick to the the back of the knees send them both stumbling down.

The fight was over as fast as it started. The three players laid on the floor, with a last glare in their direction. Young-il turnd to you, "Are you okay?" He asked. She nodded "thank you" you offered a grateful smile "come" he said hesitating for just a second before putting his hand on the small of her back, guiding them away from the mess "You took too long and we got worried". With his hand still comfortably holding her, she finally felt herself relaxing. "Thank you, that was too close to comfort," she shivered. He looked at her, eyes brown and warm, "Like i said, Manners are very important. You really need to choose your company more carefully," he kindly said. "Shut up, I keep a great company, I keep you around, aren't I?" He chuckled, and the sound helped her shake the last of the nerves. As long as he was around, she was safe. She just knew it.

[raincoatpng]

Link loses his arm and just... doesn't have an arm anymore AU. Thoughts??

Thinking about the end of the game when Rauru's spirit moves on and just takes his arm with him and NOW Link can't hold a sword, off balanced, having to re-learn how to do so many things. Starting with eating and getting dressed but then moving toward gardening, riding and grooming his horse, *climbing.* Luckily his fish boyfriend will carry him around but

Anyway. Been rattling that around in my head lately but I wanted to see what your big noggin would do with it!!!!

HI FRIEN!!! :D thank you for the wonderful ask lemme take a crack at this...

I've always thought it was a shame there wasn't any lasting consequences to the shit the characters go through in TOTK. I'm thinking about Zelda and the supposedly irreversible draconification but indeed also Link and his fucked up arm being brought back to normal like nothing happened. If it was a result of time reversal magic then surely they should have lost their memory of the game's events, which is an interesting concept but not the topic. Besides Link has gone through the amnesia thing already, so. Let's focus on the alternative which is: Link's fucked up arm indeed remains fucked up and he loses it altogether.

I think Link would take losing his arm horribly. He is an independant person at heart and suddenly losing so much autonomy would be like getting slapped in the face by a Hinox. Losing his ability to fight like before would be especially trying for him, I think. Not only is he independant, he's a protector. What good is he if he can't defend people? If him losing the use of his arm happens gradually as opposed to all at once, I feel like he wouldn't tell anyone until the last possible minute where he physically cannot move or feel his arm at all.

Purah would make a prosthetic for him, but that wouldn't magically make things go back to how they were. Even though Sheikah tech is cool as fuck and way more advanced than what we have in the real world, I don't think it could perfectly replicate a limb. Link would need some time to get used to it and that would be pretty frustrating for him.

As for the prosthetic itself, I imagine it would function in a similar way to the Divine Beasts. Now hear me out— I didn't see any steering wheels inside those things, so I think it's safe to assume the Champions piloted them via some sort of mind/spirit connection. So in Link's case, he'd have to force his own body to make this connection to this lifeless, inert metal thing, and that would be difficult for anyone – way more difficult than, say, being magically connected to the arm of a dead guy, cause at least that had been alive at some point.

Even when he does manage to make the connection, it still wouldn't be all that simple for him because he now has to learn to control it. Which would probably end up in embarassing or even potentially dangerous situations if the arm only obeys him half the time. (Imagine trying to keep a secret if your main mode of communication, sign language, has been hijacked by a limb that's intent on accomplishing your every thought and impulses! or, trying to sign something important when your prosthetic has decided to go limp and dead. And that's not even touching on how dangerous fighting or even cutting vegetables could become.)

By the time Link gets even halfway used to the prosthetic he's horribly out of practice in archery, climbing, horseriding, even cooking, and basically everything he enjoys doing, and that supremely pisses him off. OH and also. He's just gotten used to compensating for the unfamilar balance of having just the one arm and now he has a heavy metal thing strapped to him and he has to compensate all the opposite ways and it's a mess for him. Not to mention a lot of his horses aren't fond of this weird spooky new thing when he tries to pet them or offer them a snack, which is just the icing on the cake (not Epona though, she's a trooper and she loves carrots too much).

Now I know I've yapped a lot but this is where his support system comes in clutch (that said I'm not gonna describe every sage's reaction cause it pretty much boils down to worried but supportive and helping in their own way). Even though Link is a stubborn little shit who wants to do everything himself and keeps forgetting he's able to rely on his friends, Zelda does her best to help him day to day, even though she's dealing with her own trauma (and in my mind, the aftermath of being a dragon for fuck knows how long).

When they are together, Sidon makes a point to show Link how amazing he still is and always will be in his eyes – not because of things he can do but because he's so determined and never gives up. Neither Yona or Sidon are as skilled at healing magic as Mipha was, but they both try to soothe Link's phantom pain as much as they can, and Sidon has been learning a lot about his new powers while doing this, which is incidentally a convenient excuse – if you want to trick Link into letting you help him, you have to make him think he's the one helping you ;)

Okay that's all I've got!! hope this was a nice read despite how long this was :)

[the-way-astray]

wait explain why you hate the alden is part of the neverseen theory

because it’s bad

alden shattered because he accused prentice, then later found out the black swan were the "good guys". this is also confirmed to not be a misunderstanding of any sort since sophie heals alden by telling him she can fix prentice. so we know for a fact that that is the reason he broke. so then. why would he break from accusing prentice if he was part of the neverseen the whole time? he wouldn't feel guilty over getting a black swan member shattered. he would be fine

it would be boring after alvar. we already have a vacker from the main vacker family as a traitor. it would be repetitive for it to happen again, especially since the implications are exactly the same as with alvar. it would be the same story again: wow, he's a vacker, i didn't know vackers could commit crime -> they're ruining our family -> oh, shit, he had access to so many important documents and was one of the council's most trusted nobles -> oh shit, he was close with black swan members -> fitz and/or biana and/or della spiral -> the rest of the vackers blame them for bringing shame to the family. boring. repetitive. we did this already. the only difference would be that sophie was a lot closer to alden than she was with alvar, and even then in later books you can see that their bond has rusted a bit

alden is not some master manipulator. he has not manipulated or meddled in a single affair the entire length of the series up until this point. yes, even in the short story. yes, even with telling sophie not to worry all the time. he's literally just a guy. now, if he was revealed to be part of the neverseen, that would speak to his manipulation abilities. but like. i feel like people who believe this theory think that because alden has supposedly already proven to be so manipulative, it's proof that he could be manipulating everyone into thinking he's good. and he is not some master manipulator, guys. he's not even a manipulator. he's just some dude

motive: why the hell would alden want to join the neverseen. tell me why. he's a high-ranked emissary. he's a telepath. he's privileged and a vacker. and yes, he sees the world is unjust. but he's also affiliated with the black swan already, and he can see they're trying to make a change? like. where is the motive here. especially since the neverseen carved up every single one of his children to the point where all of them have permanent scars. i guess the people who believe this theory would argue he doesn't really care about his kids, even alvar, but sophie brought back alden partly by showing him how much his family needs him. so he must truly, genuinely care about his family. and it would be boring for him to be a purely evil, cackling villain anyway. so like

at this point in time i truly don't think shannon has the ability to pull off another betrayal storyline and have space to work through the complications and implications because that would have to be something she follows through on. there will only be a maximum of two more books in this story. she needs to get around to answering actually important questions, not meandering around shoving a betrayal that fully doesn't even make sense in our faces out of nowhere for shock value and shock value alone

also a couple of things would become plotholes. if alden is part of the neverseen, why would they need alvar to go through that entire intricate scheme to get into everglen? they could just have alden open the gate for them, even without revealing his identity; he could "accidentally" leave the gates open before going to the festival or give them his dna or do something that could make it so that the neverseen could get into everglen easier than the way they actually did. if alden is part of the neverseen, why would gisela, brant, and alvar talk about being scared alden will find sophie before them in a memory she erased out of keefe's head (and was shattered, so you know they didn't want keefe seeing that)? it only makes sense if they were truly worried alden would find sophie first

quite literally nothing about this theory makes any logical sense with the canon we're given. i swear i’m not saying this on account of being an alden defender, i’m saying this because it doesn’t make any sense . . . i hate the della is part of the neverseen theory as well but at least the theory is plausible and makes sense . . .

[radiantrookie]

Desserts Flavor Texts (1/2)

Hooray! It's time for the desserts! Mother says it's important to eat properly, so I make sure to finish my meals. She also says desserts are a "sometimes treat," not an "all the time treat." That can be hard sometimes. Mother and Miss Amy bake the best treats!

Chip's Sundae Supreme

A bit back, I traveled the world with a good friend named Chip. He was quite the foodie with a big sweet tooth. And a "savory tooth." Honestly, the little guy loved all sorts of food. Of all the things we sampled together, his favorite was the Sundae Supreme in Apotos. Every so often I'll get one and think of him. Here's to you, Chip!

Tails's Mint Candy

Mint candy has been my number one favorite treat my whole life! Just one and I feel like a I could fly forever. I love the crisp, refreshing way it fills my mouth, and it makes my breath extra minty! I'm happy to share with my friends, too (since I have my own secret stash elsewhere, heh heh).

Amy's Sweet Passion

Amy: I love to bake! Cake, pastries, breads-you name it! They make lovely gifts for my friends or a nice treat after a hard day's workout. This one is inspired by Sonic and his signature Spin Dash technique. I'll make a pink one for myself one day... once I figure out how to do that darn tuck and roll consistently.

Omochao: Be careful! This dessert is only inspired by Sonic! Please don't try to roll it into any Badniks!

Amy's Seven Rings in Hand

I love sharing joy and love with all my friends, and baked treats are a surefire way of doing just that! These versatile little rings of deliciousness can be topped with all sorts of frostings, glazes and sprinkles. You can customize them any way you want!

Blaze's World Uniting

The food in the imperial palace followed a certain decorum. These gooey disasters were completely foreign to me until I traveled to Sonic's world and made new friends there. They've shown me many new and wonderful things-including these treats.

Silver's Cream in a Sweet Conclusion

No matter how dark things get, I've sworn to never give up and to bring hope to those in need. That's why this dark cupcake has a white sweet cream inside. It's... it's symbolic. I-Is it okay that I put this much thought into a dessert?

Shadow's Edge of Darkness

Shadow: I don't partake in indulgences... often. I make an exception for this.

Rouge: It's rare to hear you talk about life's little pleasures. It is really good, but why do you look grumpy?

Shadow: Because happiness comes from within.

Images by Codename Catfish

[lavenderstobins]

I’m curious what your pet peeves are when it comes to Steve’s characterization in the st fandom 🎤

Oh man. I have a very particular view of Steve that does Not align with like… 70% of his fanon characterisations so please keep that in mind 😭 I can already tell this is going to be long, so I'll add a cut.

Pet Peeves about Steve’s Fanon Characterisation

Woobified Steve.

Oh, my god, I can’t stand when Steve is reduced to this poor heartbroken insecure guy with no self esteem who has been forever ruined by his evil ex girlfriend calling him bullshit :(( like come ON. I can see it for s2/post s2 fics but by the time of s4??? No way.

Especially when people make out he has a negative reaction to hearing the word ‘bullshit’. In s3 he references that exact scene himself! He doesn’t blame Nancy! He knows he was a shitty boyfriend to her, and they were going through things, and their way of dealing with their trauma didn’t align with each other!

Which also, the self esteem thing—Steve takes care of himself. He cares about his appearance, about looking good, etc etc. I get that, it’s important to his character. But… he knows he looks good. He knows he’s hot as fuck. That’s kinda why his whole ‘fallen from grace’ thing works so well—he IS hot and he WAS popular until he stopped bothering to maintain his popularity. His insecurities aren’t about his looks I promise you!

To me, Steve is a charismatic, bitchy jock with a heart of gold and a tendency to put his life on the line for others. He’s confident in himself (as shown when he helps out Dustin re: getting a girlfriend) and he’s good at athletic things. He’s not book smart, or nerdy smart, and that’s okay!

His insecurities, in my opinion, should be related to his self-worth overall (especially ‘cause like, I can see him seeing himself only as a pretty face and a guy to take the hits, but not valuing himself outside of that) and thinking himself stupid, not being called stupid. A lot of fics tend to make out that everybody calls Steve stupid or dumb (usually ~until Eddie comes along~, which... is a whole different point to make) but they... don't? Off the top of my head, the only instance I can think of is Nancy's "You're an idiot, Steve Harrington", which she's saying when he's being silly! That's not a slight on his actual intellect! She's even shown to be insisting that he's not stupid when she helps him with his essay in s2!

Dustin is also supportive in this s2 scene:

He gets what Steve's trying to say, and yeah! Totally!

Steve characterisation is sooo much richer to me if it's from his own head rather than reinforcement from the people around him. He thinks he's stupid, so he thinks everyone else must think he's stupid. I much prefer that to the characterisation of everyone calling him stupid and Steve being all ':( I'm a big stupid guy :( I have no redeeming qualities :('

Bimbo Steve.

Kind of related to the above point, but I also can't stand when it sways the other way and people make him completely head empty, no thoughts. He gets stripped of all the things that make him him, usually in instances where he's someone's boyfriend and the focus is on the character he's dating, not him. He's not dumb. He's just not book smart.

Secretly smart Steve.

I do not get the obsession with wanting to make him a secret genius. This one is much rarer, though, and thankfully I don't see it too much. I like when he's smart in other ways, but when he's made out to be, like, a secret maths genius or whatever... that's not him! He's rejected nerdiness his whole life.

(Also, like... there's a weird emphasis in fandoms to make everyone smart, even if they're not. Not just the ST fandom, fandoms in general. I don't love it.)

Desperate, slutty Steve.

This one is, whatever. I see why people do it. They make him sex-obsessed and only ever thinking about that instead of actual relationships.

He's a romantic! He wants a fulfilling relationship! He's already having sex, he's looking for connection. He has wants and needs! I do think he's a people pleaser, but I specifically think it pleases him to please people.

Since I'm a lesbian and have no physical attraction to him, I don't like it personally when people strip him (ha) of everything else and essentially make him a sex doll. That being said, I don't read Steve smut, so, like, go wild. I know I'm not the target audience there.

(Though I also only read smut for the characters. If they're OOC, I duck out. I understand I'm in the minority here.)

Steve changing his entire personality to fit his love interest.

I'm indifferent to Steve/Eddie, we know this. I write them sometimes, I think they can make a nice couple, though I prefer Steve/Jonathan. Being that they're much more popular, though, I see this a lot more with Eddie. Steve gets watered down to sharing Eddie's interests (though I've seen it happening with Dustin and Robin too) and lets go of the things he likes.

That man is a jock! He's a bitch! And I like him so much!

I can see him playing D&D, and listening to metal music, etc etc, but it's not his preference. I tend to like splitting the hobbies so it's give and take, like, I write a lot of Steve & Robin, so I like to have Steve often watch movies with Robin. Robin's also jock-adjacent, though, so I think they'd go on runs together, or play sports, or whatever it is that jocks do, I don't know. I was never a jock person. Point is, Steve's hobbies and interests need to be engaged with, too!

(They definitely watch sports together. I do love the headcanon that Steve and Robin go to Eddie's trailer specifically to watch the game with Wayne.)

Mama Steve

It was funny initially, but it's definitely gotten tired over the years. And I get it! I used to run with it, too! But I'm over it.

Steve is the epitome of a big brother. He snipes at the party, he makes jabs, he has back-and-forths with them. He'll give them rides and make sure they eat, but he's also calling them shitheads and threatening to give them a noogie for being annoying.

He doesn't care what rating the movie they're renting is. He lets them borrow tapes without formally renting them from Family Video (to the chagrin of Robin, who needs this job, Steve!)

He's not treating them like he's their actual mother. He looks out for them, sure. Like an older brother does. I can take a couple of characters making a joke about Steve being a mom or a dad to the kids, but when his entire personality is boiled down to being Mama Steve and acting like he's fussing over them and treating them like his kids... no. He's dropping Dustin off back to Claudia's and thanking god he gets to do that!!!

Also, there's been instances of people headcanoning that Steve treats Robin like one of his kids, which... Huh? She's not even a little sibling figure to him, she's his friend. There's a difference!

(Trust me. I'm an Eldest Sibling. I had younger kids I looked out for when I was a teen. They are very different dynamics to being friends with someone your age. And that's okay!)

Steve hating Nancy/being upset that Robin has a crush on Nancy

This ties in with my obvious headcanon of Nancy being a lesbian, but I don't see Steve being upset about her dating Robin. I can see him being a little wary, and concerned for Robin, but overall? He trusts Nancy. He's aware of the circumstances. They're not exactly living normal lives.

I like when Robin thinks Steve's going to be upset, but Steve's stoked. He works it out before Robin even works out that Nancy likes her. He's observant, he notices things.

In the same vein, this is more Nancy-adjacent, but I hate when people have her apologise to Steve for the bullshit scene. They were both in the right, and both in the wrong, and more importantly they were traumatised teenagers. Nancy was actively grieving Barb, and feeling guilty about Barb's parents selling their house to fund their search for her when she knows Barb is dead! That would fuck anyone up!

I'm so-so on the 'she cheated on Steve' thing. I personally think that they were broken up, but neither figured it would be a permanent breakup, and then the Jonathan thing happened, etc etc etc. Emotionally cheating? Probably. Do I care? No. They're messed up. They were 16-17 years old. I was a hot mess at 17 and that's without my best friend being eaten by monsters and the walls trying to eat me. Cut them some slack.

Honestly, there's probably even more pet peeves, but this alone has taken me like two hours and I think I've rambled more than enough, so. Thanks for the ask, sorry the answer is so long!

[unwillingtoreachout]

once again thinking about my ex-raven Neil au and 36 year old Neil meeting Ichirou's 15 year old daughter at a fan event

[luna-loveboop]

I want. Four to get appreciation. Because

Four gave a ton of unnoticed help when Twilight was injured

The fight with Wild was difficult, and I know we're all concerned about his negative view of the shadow crystal

But Four did something that no one else really thought of to help- He took care of Twi's stuff

From the beginning he told Twilight to not worry about them

So Four took care of pretty much everything but the others (that Sky and Wars handled)

He took care of Epona

Which is so very important- he took care of Twilight's horse. After her arrival at the stable Four followed up on her

And for Epona, a horse so attached to her human, having some company can help so much for reassurance

He took care of Twilight's stuff

He got Twi's shield- his bags and equipment, and organized it into one place

And he was worried. He obviously found the shadow crystal while handling Twi's stuff, but his negative reactions to it were out of concern.

Also- because of his placement in this scene

I'm fairly convinced Four was ready to start cooking before Wild showed up (since he's beside the counter with food supplies). At the very least he had the basket of fruit out for everyone -but he was literally standing with food behind him- he thought of everything

And he did housekeeping!

Wars payed for the inn, so Four took care of the inn

Realistically these boys were probably not too concerned with tidyness. Four got all of Twi's things on one table, and took care of the room they stayed in

Organizing tables and Twi's things, having food supplies ready, and opening the curtains- overall he was the one tidying up the inn

Four helped in a huge way! He took care of Twi's horse (Epona is so important), his equipment and shield and bag, as well as the other rooms in the inn

Four filled in all the little tasks that others didn't think of. He helped in ways that were needed, but not obvious

There's a lot of problems with the shadow crystal and with Wild, and I don't know what's gonna happen in the future

But don't forget this- don't forget that Four was one who stepped up in an almost unnoticeable way

Don't forget that when everyone was barely holding it together, Four visited Twilight's horse and took care of his things

No matter what develops in the future- this amount of care shown is important ya know?

.

Art and comic from Jojo @linkeduniverse au :)))

[marzipanilla]

lol I was gunna ask if you'd seen the new eps yet. The answer is apparently yes

If you think how Mark and Eve get together in the show is bad !! Wait until you hear about how in the comic she dated William first (he doesn't come out as gay until later) and straight up tells Mark that she did it to be close to him. The stupid future her speech does get brought up between them and she is upset about it but like... I don't remember her having such meta commentary about the future her not being her and how weird it all was. Like. If you writers were aware how stupid it was WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LEAVE IT IN. it gives nothing. truly. nothing to the narrative. Instead of inventing stupid shit to put in, why not just naturally let the two of them bond over their fucked up family situations? Eve could be all hey, I was made as a government weapon, and Mark could be all my dad wanted to use me as one !! and they could party. But no. A sad middle aged woman cries at you after an insanely traumatizing moment in your life so now you gotta date her proxy.

To keep adding on to the lack of platonic relationships... fucking Samson once again desperate to call them all family when he's still barely spoken to any of them. Did something happen to you man ??? you an orphan??? you having flashbacks to the OG GoG getting rid of you??? why are you so determined to use that word ?? did someone just say it once to you and you thought it sounded cool ??

Also Imma laugh my ass off if they force me to watch Immortal and Kate get married and that girl still doesn't get another outfit. fr I think she has had the same wardrobe for all eps now.

What if the team had actual team dynamics : \ what if they gave us that. instead of one liners. what if there was an indication these ppl actually liked working together. what if there was an indication of who didnt like working together! what if they... had to... communicate with each other !! tbh, I was amused by this sort of happening in the recent ep batch, but then I remembered it was so intermittent in the narrative that it feels jarring when it does happen. pls I need more than two scenes a season if you are going to keep telling me these characters are important as a group.

Art having immunity bc he knows everybody. lol don't try and shake down the tailor, its mutually assured destruction AND you'll have heroes and villains on your ass who just dont want to have to find a new guy. Is having a Rosenbaum costume like having a Gucci bag?? is he considered lower end to others?? does he try and keep a very strict schedule to keep things separate or do nemesis run into each other sometimes at his place picking up stuff?? How did he become friends w Nolan ?? the man tipped him w books ! books he never read ! did he just find Nolan's alieness charming? did Debbie make them hang out? did he just figure a guy who came here from another planet might be lonely so offered to hang?? is he so used to seeing villains that Nolan's offness just didn't bother him? like he didn't even realize he was picking up unsettling vibes ?? also it seemed like he didnt get the Omni-Man suit until around when Mark was born, so what was he tailoring for him then? copies of his Viltrumite kit?

Its funny how little time Mark actually spends around other heroes. On one hand it would make sense that a fair number would want to avoid him, but thats really only reflected in Immortal. Literally nobody else seems to give a fuck. He really is the special nepo baby of the GDA. Monopolizing all that Cecil time.

Yeah normal until not only works if the ppl involved were normal at some point, and space alien hiding the fact he's here to do a lot of murder, and woman who is apparently fine w marrying a god creature ARE NOT NORMAL. How did they produce such an average child. Why is the scope and depth of this universe only relative to Mark's existence. whyyy. it squishes so many compelling things down into nonsense.

While I'm not too familiar with the DCU- your batfam meta posts are intiguing- so in transfering some of the broader strokes from them- I think you tackling a 'Mark isn't Nolan's biological son' fic would be fascinating. Sort of a step to the side of the 'what if Mark never got his powers' fic that sometimes pop up in the fandom

OOOOOO chewing on this currently, hm, the much a distinct flavor of exactly what you’re talking about, but the potential for more family drama depending on WHO knows. Does Mark know?? Is he waiting every day only to be crushed? Does he confused non-Debbie features with Nolan’s? I suppose I’m not the most enthusiastic about non-power AUs, but I think there’s something very fun to explore about Mark having to settle with, if he knows all his life, he will never have powers? I think the trajectory of his dreams will obviously shift, I can see him still having that distinct fatherly idolization, but perhaps embraces being useful to the GDA? Cecil’s number one intern—only intern—curtesy of nepotism, ha! There is something tickling me about Mark taking the Robin Route/Role for the Teen Team in terms of having no powers, just insane skills, BUT there’s something way more delicious about intern Mark when s1e01 happens and Mark tries snooping around to find out the truth about what happened to his Dad.

I wonder if, with Mark having a whole another father, if they’re more or less distant relationship, depending on WHEN Nolan entered Mark’s life? Like if Debbie met Nolan later for this, or just for fun, they dated once, separated (Mark being born during then), then they happened to stumble into each others lives again and Mark’s already been born, anywhere from tween to teenager so there’s a gap in how close they are. I feel like one important aspect of the whole Family Drama is how close they’re supposed to be, a functional, loving family turned upside down? So I wonder what more distance does. I wonder how Nolan copes when his family is entirely human and he can’t project onto Mark.

I love thinking about these, omg.

[separatist-apologist]

Feyre: Rhysand is my mate and I'm telling you this to your face.

Also Feyre: If you try and break my mating bond, I'm going to ruin your life.

Also Feyre: If you drag me back to Spring against my will, I'll destroy everything you love.

Tamlin: Break her mating bond so I can drag her back to Spring and we can start over.

Also Tamlin: I can't believe you destroyed everything I love and ruined my life!

[rotisseries]

it's amazing how frequently on the internet you'll see people just. somehow completely unaware that cait is wasian😭😭😭

[front-facing-pokemon]