#since I've been listening to counterparts a lot lately

[daytrippergilmour]

Stick It Out - Rush (1993)

[thebearemoji]

Thinking about kayn and his skins

I swear I'm gonna make it the length of this post without being a freak.

What is it about knock off Sasuke thats stuck in my craw? Its not like league has a shortage of edgy designs to choose from, so why does Kayn hit so differently?

For me the answer is pretty clear, the most interesting thing about kayn... is rhaast.

Kayn and rhaast deserve each other, a pair of power hungry killers fighting to consume the other and achieve incredible power. The never ending battle for control of kayn's body plays out every time you lock him in. Which of them will snuff out the other this time? Will kayn master his abilities? Or succumb to his demons?

There's no other champion like it, by playing kayn you actively play out his lore. It's so satisfying every time I see rhaast vanquish his naive counterpart or kayn purge the darkin once and for all. Genuinely never gets old.

Theres THIRTY-TWO MINUTES of voice over content, banter between him and rhaast that still makes me laugh even though I've been playing this skin for 5 years. To be clear, odyssey kayn is my favorite skin in the game, an absolutely perfect reimagining for a champion with so much potential.

The odyssey skin took it one step further. It made the characters... interesting. Gone are the try hard lines and grittiness, replaced with campe gregarious fun. Kayn goes from stuffy and dull in canon to a flamboyant and tyrannical space emperor. Rhaast retains much of the role he had before, the devil on kayn's shoulder trying to tempt him to embrace power until its too late. But as kayn let's his hair down, so does rhaast, letting him have a lot more fun dialogue as well. The amount of personality these two have crammed into them... Odyssey kayn and rhaast are an absolute delight to listen to.

My affection for odyssey aside, kayn has been fortunate. He's recently received a second legendary skin for the heartsteel event. This skin is a bit of a mixed bag for me, visually it's my favorite of the line, I love his loud colors and bright pink hair. I love the look of the scythe and the vfk. His verse in the music video was awesome, sounded just like rhaast rapping. But where odyssey succeeded in realizing the character's potential, Heartsteel falls short of the mark.

Heartsteel kayn only gets 11 minutes of voice over, which was already a red flag for me when I was hoping for more banter between the two characters. But a grand majority of this is base kayn peacocking, delightful to be sure, but... where's rhaast? Rhaast echoes almost every line base and odyssey Kayn say, he's constantly taunting him constantly chiming in. But he has maybe a quarter of lines that kayn does in heartsteel, and often they're standalone.

This skin takes a different approach to the relationship between kayn and rhaast, in the heartsteel universe, rhaast isn't kayn's enemy but more his... alter ego. If anything they seem to be allies in this skin, they even hang around after kayn's passive is completed and one usually dies. But this doesn't feel explored at all by the voice work.

If the purpose of this skin was to explore a scenario in which Kayn and rhaast are allies, then it's a failure. It seems more like this skin was meant to hide rhaast entirely, which is a damn shame since... Rhaast is the most interesting thing about kayn. It's a nice skin, but doesn't compare to odyssey imo.

(Cough cough) Also the voice over doesn't get new lines after transforming... which is a feature base kayn has... so its less that kayn/rhaast stick around after the transformation and more that this skin only has 1/3 of the voice work that base and odyssey do...(cough)

[purplesurveys]

1886

Do you like meatball subs? I've never had one, but I also don't like meatballs so I'm not feeling too good about what I'll probably think of it in a sandwich.

Are you severely sleep deprived? I wouldn't say severely. I still get a decent amount of sleep; I just have a terrible habit of pushing my limits and turning in between the hours of 2-4 AM.

What music are you listening to? I don't have music on at the moment but I do have a Weverse live in the background. It's the maknaes + Namjoon's live a few days before they simultaneously enlisted.

What is your favorite smell on earth? The fishy, salty-ish smell of fresh seafood. That, and the room scent of my favorite hotel.

What are you doing tomorrow morning? I have no idea. My first free weekend in a month! I'm so excited. I'll definitely check on our stray kitty rescue first thing in the morning; I'll play with him and feed him and take him for a quick walk and such. My sister also asked me to be her driver for her date, but I don't know what time we'll need to leave but that's part of the plans for sure.

What are you supposed to be doing right now? Nothing, so I'm taking this and might also play my game after.

Have you ever killed your elbows on an inflatable obstacle course? It wasn't an obstacle course; just this giant inflatable slide – but yes, I have. It was very hot that day and my elbow just happened to graze the inflatable at the worst time and with the worst angle, so I got a bit of a burn from that.

Are you aware that all these questions are being made up at 3:54 am? No, but thanks for sharing. It's been pretty good so far!

Ever gone a whole day without eating? Welcome to what was my life from September to December 2020.

Do you feel that you need to improve your spiritual life? I don't, because I don't believe in having one.

Can you curse fluently in Spanish? I probably don't know all of the curses, but colonization has taught us a cuss word or two that we use to this day.

If you go to school (HS or college) does your school have a rival? I wouldn't say we have a direct rival the way other universities here do - like how Ateneo's counterpart has always been DLSU. But we are part of the Big 4 so in that aspect we kind of view the other three as rivals, and vice versa.

The closest rival we have is probably UST, but tbh I don't feel the rivalry all that much and it's definitely not as established the way ADMU-DLSU has always been.

What’s your school’s mascot? Oble. it's a statue of a naked man with his arms outstretched and his chest slightly pushed outward, which is meant to symbolize selfless offering of oneself to the nation. We're the national university, so it checks out.

Do the numbers 44 and 53 mean anything to you? Not really.

Ever had banana pudding flavored ice cream? Nope.

If you have a sib, do you call him/her “brother” or “sister” sometimes? I call my sister "sis" or "siz" which where I'm from has been a trendy way to address literally anyone haha. Like I can call a straight guy "siz" and no one will bat an eye; I just happen to use it with my sister too.

Has the weather been odd lately where you live? It's the usual headache of humidity.

Remember “Kenan and Kel”? I have the vaguest memory of it, but ultimately I was too young to ever be its core audience during its heyday.

Does the mere mention of that show make you crave orange soda? No.

Are you *this* close to falling asleep? No, and I have no plans of sleeping any time soon. Don't wanna waste the weekend.

Do you own a Wii? We used to.

If not, do you want one? I would actually love to have one again since I had lots of fun with ours. I spent hours playing Mario Kart Wii even when I already finished the game.

Did you ever collect stickers? Yeah and I was the kid that stuck them all around the house... bless my elders, they never gave me shit for it now that I think about it.

Isn’t Hello Kitty just the cutest thing ever? Not into Sanrio.

Are there any songs you could just listen to over and over and over? Easily. These days it's Heaven, Come Back To Me, and Nuts by RM.

Do you have a favorite basketball team (NBA or college?) No.

Ever had chicken curry and basmati rice? Of course. Love them :)

Do you have a weird obsession with numbers? No.

Does your job (if you have one) involve sitting at a computer for hours? It does. It's like 80% work-from-home, but we also have days where we need to meet clients at their HQ, have events, do media rounds and visit the offices of different publications, etc. It's a good mix.

Do you get major shoulder/upper back pain from that? Or think you would? It's my shoulders and lower back that have the hardest time. It's the reason why I always keep a stock of Katinko now.

Do you have someone who will give you a massage when you need one? My grandmas :)

Ever seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? I haven't.

Do you own any diamond jewelry? Nopes.

Is this survey random enough for you? Sure!

Do you have an American-made car? No, it's Japanese.

Have you been baptized in any religious tradition? I was baptized Roman Catholic, yes.

Do you drink alcohol at all? Sure! Mostly socially, but I will sometimes have a drink on my own.

If not, do you like the smell? Depends. There are some that I think smell like poison, lol.

Are you in a chair, on a couch, in bed, on the floor, what? I'm on a sleeping bag.

Can you eat just one potato chip? That's definitely possible, like if I try a new kind and don't like it.

If your best male friend got a mohawk, would he look good or ridiculous? Probably ridiculous.

Do you love the smell of sunblock? Not particularly but it does evoke some positive emotions here and there. Like how it reminds me of the beach.

Does the computer you’re on have Vista, XP, or something else? Mac OS.

Internet Explorer or Firefox: which do you prefer? I don't use either. I've been on Google Chrome ever since I learned how to use the internet.

What are you going to do now? I feel like looking for a new one to take, so I *might* do that then spend the next few hours on Rhythm Hive haha.

[rosered2018]

New Podcasts

Since the Magnus Archives ended, I've been listening to a lot of new ones, looking for something just as good and, to be honest, just as long.

I figured I'd let you know what I've found.

SCP Archives. It's been around since 2019, and is based on the entries located at the SCP Foundation website. The episodes I've listened to are basically half drawn directly from the web site and half stories fleshing out the background of the objects in question or the experiments related to them.

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality. This one comes out of Australia, and is almost a gentler version of the SCP foundation. The items it deals with are always supernatural in nature, but the stories behind them, as narrated by the audio guide, are not necessarily tragic. Each season has its own story arc, but they all tie together. As a bonus, the titles in each season form an acrostic that forms a word summing up what's happening in each season.

Old Gods of Appalachia. This one is awesome. It's basically cosmic horror set against the backdrop of the poorest parts of West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and down into Tennessee in the early 20th century. It gives you the feeling that you're sitting by a campfire and actually listening to the narrator tell the story, and I think he may actually be from that area. The stories are all connected, but you don't have to have listened to them all to follow what's happening. I found this one through Rusty Quill.

Midnight Burger. This one, I discovered when I was searching something else on Spotify. It's about a woman who lost her job during the pandemic and stumbles into a little diner about an hour and a half outside of Phoenix, AZ. She quickly finds out that it travels in time and across dimensions, and to a different place every night. It's comedy mixed with science, and a bit of philosophy thrown in for color, and well-worth your time. I don't know how much it matters to anyone reading this, but the lead is a Latina woman. It just recently finished up its first season.

Out Of Place. To be honest, I very nearly turned this one off at first because it sounded too much like it was trying to be the Magnus Archives. The main character was a snarky Brit who worked in an archive with a lot of weird shit he really doesn't want to cope with. The nature of the weirdness was what made me keep listening - artifacts that celebrated or were part of events that didn't happen in this timeline. He's given the opportunity to join the organization that's been sending him these artifacts, but refuses because he doesn't want to lose the people he loves.

The second season, which just finished, picks up with his much lonelier counterpart in the organization that had been sending the artifacts. He is still an archivist, but this version of him records the mission reports from reconnaissance teams who have traveled to timelines where the human race is dead and/or dying.

Bridgewater. I literally discovered this one last night. It focuses on a folklore professor who starts trying to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance when his father's badge appears forty years after the man vanished. What initially caught my attention was that it stars Misha Collins (the Angel of Thursday himself) and Nathan Fillion. I've only listened to three episodes out of seven, so I don't know how this one ends yet.

Chickenman. This isn't exactly a podcast, but they were these 2-3 minute comedy shorts that ran on the radio back in the late '60s. Each of the eight albums runs about an hour with roughly 25-30 episodes each. I actually discovered this through my roommate in college, who had a copy of the Best Of Chickenman on tape, and I took a chance and looked to see if it was on Spotify. They deal with a bottom-of-the-barrel superhero (a guy who makes like a chicken on the weekends), the equally bottom-of-the-barrel police commissioner, and the commissioner's secretary who seems to be the one with the brain cell most of the time. As a warning, the weekend segments have an extremely heavy-handed environmental message (again, this was the late '60s and progress hadn't been made on that front yet), but they work as period pieces.

[brawltogethernow]

So, I don't think I've ever asked you this... what IS the whole point of the Spider-Sense? It really seems like something that only exists for writers to ignore or work around when they want to inject Legit Tension into a story.

I’ve thought about this power so much, but never with an eye to defend its right to exist, so I needed to think about this. The results could be more concise.

Ironically, given the question, I have to say its main purpose is to ramp up tension. But it’s also a highly variable multitool that a skilled creative team can use for...pretty much anything. It does everything the writer wants it to, while for its wielder always falls just short of doing enough.

I went looking through my photos for a really generic, classic-looking example to use as an image to head this topic, but then I ran into the time Peter absolutely did not reimburse this man for his stolen McDonald’s, so have that instead.

A Scare Chord, But You Can Draw It

That one post that says the spider-sense is just super-anxiety isn’t, like, wrong. It’s a very anxious, dramatic storytelling tool originally designed for a very anxious, dramatic protagonist. I find it speaks to the overall tone of the franchise that some characters are functionally psychics, but with a psychic ability that only points out problems.

Spidey sense pinging? There’s danger, be stressed! Broken? Now the lead won’t even KNOW when there’s a problem, scary! Single character is immune to it? That’s an invisible knife in the dark oh my god what the fuck what the fU--

Like its counterpart in garden variety anxiety, the only time the spider-sense reduces tension is in the middle of a crisis. But in the wish fulfillmenty way that you want in an adventure story to justify exaggerated action sequences, the same way enhanced strength or durability does. Also like those, it would theoretically make someone much safer to have it, but it exists in the story to let your character navigate into and weather more dangerous situations.

For its basic role in a story, a danger sense is a snappy way to rile up both the reader and the protagonist that doesn’t offer much information beyond that it’s time to sit smart because shit is about to go down.

Spidey comic canon is all over the board in quality and genre, and it started needing to subvert its formulas before the creators got a handle on what those formulas even were, and basically no one has read anything approaching most of it at this point, so for consistent examples of a really bare bones use of this power in storytelling, I’d point to the property that’s done the best job yet of boiling down the mechanics of Spider-Man to their absolute most basic essentials for adaptation to a compelling monster of the week TV series.

Or as you probably know it, Danny Phantom. DON’T BOO, I’M RIGHT.

DP is Spider-Man with about 2/3 of the serial numbers filed off and no death (ironically), and Danny’s ghost sense is the most proof in the formula example of what the spidey sense is for: It’s a big sign held up for the viewer that says, “Something is wrong! Pay attention!” Effectively a visual scare chord. It’s about That Drama. And it works, which won it a consistent place in the show’s formula. We’re talking several times an episode here.

So why does it work?

It’s a little counterintuitive, but it’s strong storytelling to tell your audience that something bad is going to happen before it does. A vague, punchy spoiler transforms the ignorant calm before a conflict into a tense moment of anticipation. ...And it makes sure people don’t fail to absorb the beginning of said conflict because they weren’t prepared to shift gears when the scene did. Shock is a valuable tool, too, but treating it like a staple is how you burn out your audience instead of keeping them engaged. Not to go after an easy target, but you need to know how to manage your audience’s alarm if you don’t want to end up like Game of Thrones.

The limits of the spider-sense also keep you on your toes when handled by a smart writer. It tells Peter (everyone’s is a little different, so I’m going to cite the og) about threats to his person, but it doesn’t elaborate with any details when it’s not already obvious why, what kind, and from what. And it doesn’t warn him about anything else-- Which is a pretty critical gap when you zoom out and look at his hero career’s successes and failures and conclude that it’s definitely why he’s lived as long as he has acting the way he does, but was useless as he failed to save a string of people he’d have much rather had live on than him.

(Any long-running superhero mythos has these incidents, but with Peter they’re important to the core themes.)

And since this power is by plot for plot (or because it’s roughly agreed it only really blares about threats that check at least two boxes of being major, immediate, or physical), it always kicks in enough to register when the danger is bearing down...when it’s too late to actually do anything about it if “anything” is a more complex action than “dodge”.

Really? Not until the elevator doors started to open?

That Distinctive, Crunchy Spider Flavor

The spider-sense and its little pen squiggles go hand in hand with wallcrawling (and its unique and instantly identifiable associated body language) to make the Spider-Person powerset enduringly iconic and elevate characters with it from being generic mid-level super-bricks. Visually, but also in how it shapes the story.

I said it can share a narrative role with super strength. But when you end a fight and go home, super strength continues to make your character feel powerful, probably safer than they’d be otherwise, maybe dangerous.

The spider-sense just keeps blaring, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! God, why aren’t you doing something about this!?”

Pretty morose thing to live with, for a safety net! Kind of a double edged sword you have there! Could be constantly being hyperattuned to problems would prime you for a negative outlook on life. Kind of seems like a power that would make it impossible for a moral person to take a day off, leading them into a beleaguered and resentful yet dutiful attitude about the whole superhero gig! Might build up to some of the core traits of this mythos, maybe! Might lead to a lot of fifteen minute retirement stories, or something. Might even be a built in ‘great responsibility’ alarm that gets you a main character who as a rule is not going to stop fighting until he physically cannot fight anymore.

Certainly not apropos of anything, just throwing this short lived barely-a-joke tagline up for fun.

One of my personal favorite things about stories with superpowers is keeping in mind how they cause the people who have them to act in unusual ways outside of fights, so when you tell me that these people have an entire extra sense that tells them when the gas in their house is leaking through a barely useful hot/cold warning system that never turns off, I’m like, eyes emojis, popcorn out, notebook open, listening intently, spectacles on, the whole deal.

It also contributes to Peter Parker’s personality in a way I really enjoy: It allows him to act like an irrational maniac. When you know exactly when a situation becomes dangerous and how much, normal levels of caution go out the window and absolutely nothing you do makes sense from an exterior standpoint anymore. That’s the good shit. I would like to see more exploration of how the non-Parker characters experiencing the world in this incredibly altered way bounce in response.

It’s also one of many tools in this franchise hauling the reader into relating more closely with the main character. The backbone of classic Spidey is probably being in on secrets only Peter and the reader know which completely reframe how one views the situation on the page. It’s just a big irony mine for the whole first decade. A convenient way to inform the reader and the lead that something is bad news that’s not perceivable to any other characters is youth-with-a-big-exciting-secret catnip.

Another point for tension, there, in that being aware of danger is not synonymous with being able to act on it. If there’s no visible reason for you to be acting strange, well...you’re just going to have to sit tight and sweat, aren’t you? Some gratuitous head wiggles never hurt when setting up that type of conflict.

Have I mentioned that they look cool? Simultaneously punchy and distinctive, with a respectable amount of leeway for artists to get creative with and still coming up with something easily recognizable? And pretty easy to intuit the meaning of even without the long-winded explanations common in the days when people wrote comics with the intent that someone could come in cold on any random issue and follow along okay, I think, although the mechanic has been deeply ingrained in popular culture for so long that I can’t really say for sure.

It was also useful back in the day when no artists drew the eyes on the Spider-Man mask as emoting and were conveying the lead’s expressions entirely through body language and panel composition. If you wiggle enough squiggles, you don’t need eyebrows.

Take This Handwave and Never Ask Me a Logistical Question Again

This ability patches plot holes faster than people can pick them open AND it can act as an excuse to get any plot rolling you can think of if paired with one meddling protagonist who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. Buy it now for only $19.99 (in four installments; that’s four installments of $19.99).

Why can a teenager win a six on one fight against other superhumans? Well, the spider-sense is the ultimate edge in combat, duh.

Why can Peter websling? Why doesn’t everyone websling? Well, the spider-sense is keeping him from eating flagpole when he violently flings himself across New York in a way neither man nor spider was ever meant to move.

How are we supposed to get him involved with the plot this week???? Well, that crate FELT dangerous, so he’s going to investigate it. Oh, dip, it was full of guns and radioactive snakes! Probably shouldn’t have opened that!

Yeah, okay, but why isn’t it fixing everything, then? Isn’t it supposed to be why Peter has never accidentally unmasked in front of somebody? ('Nother entry for this section, take a shot.) That’s crazy sensitive! How does he still have any problems!? Is everything bad that’s ever happened to characters with this powerset bad writing!? --Listen, I think as people with uncanny senses that can tell us whether we are in danger with accuracy that varies from incredible to approximate (I am talking about the five senses that most people have), we should all know better than to underestimate our ability to tune them out or interpret them wrong and fuck ourselves up anyway. I honestly find this part completely realistic.

*SLAPS ROOF OF SPIDER-SENSE* YOU CAN FIT SO MANY STORIES IN THIS THING

The spider-sense is a clean branch into...whatever. There is the exact right balance of structure and wishy-washiness to build off of. A sample selection of whatevers that have been built:

It’s sci-fi and spy gadgets when Peter builds technology that can interface with it.

It’s quasi-mystical when Kaine and Annie-May get stronger versions of it that give them literal psychic visions, or when you want to get mythological and start talking about all the spider-characters being part of a grand web of fate.

Kaine loses his and it becomes symbolic of a future newly unbound by constraints, entangled thematically with the improved physical health he picked up at the same time -- a loss presented as a gain.

Peter loses his and almost dies 782 times in one afternoon because that didn’t make the people he provoked when he had it stop trying to kill him, and also because he isn’t about to start “””taking the subway’’””’ “‘’“”to work”””’’” like some kind of loser who doesn’t get a heads up when he’s about to hit a pigeon at 50mph.

Peter’s starts tuning into his wife’s anxiety and it’s a tool in a relationship study.

It starts pinging whenever Peter’s near his boss who’s secretly been replaced by a shapeshifter and he IGNORES IT because his boss is enough of an asshole that that doesn’t strike him as weird; now it’s a comedy/irony tool.

Into the Spider-Verse made it this beautiful poetic thing connecting all the spider-heroes in the multiverse and stacked up a story on it about instant connection, loss, and incredibly unlikely strangers becoming a found family. It was also aesthetic as FUCK. Remember the scene where Miles just hears barely intelligible whispering that’s all lines people say later in the film and then his own voice very clearly says “look out” and then the room explodes?? Fuck!!!!

Venom becomes immune to it after hitchhiking to Earth in Peter’s bone juice and it makes him a unique threat while telling a more-homoerotic-than-I-assume-was-originally-intended story about violation and how close relationships can be dangerous when they go sour.

It doesn’t work on people you trust for maximum soap opera energy. Love the innate tragedy of this feature coming up.

IN CONCLUSION I don’t have much patience for writers who don’t take advantage of it, never mind feel they need to write around it.

[art-morelike-fart]

Here's an early concept animation of my OC Euphorbia for a story I've been working on :) This is from February and never really finished the aniamtion, started colouring and just got lazy haha. Still figuring out a name for the story and stuff, I've been sick lately so just wallowing in self pity and listening to music while trying to nap gave me lore ideas so ima dump them here since i always keep this stuff in my head

RIGHT. major spoilers if i end up going anywhere with this and making a webtoon or something lmao

in this world, vampires and monsters live in the mirror dimension that i need a name for. this is why vampire's don't have reflections. the idea is when people die, their reflections are left behind- which become vampires. they are able to travel through mirrors to get between worlds- I'm thinking they call the human world "the flipside" since it's a reflection it's reversed- but since they live in it then it's the human world that's flipped. i'm thinking people's shadows that are left over turn into a lil monster bat, which is like spiritually intertwined with the vampire with how my other OCs as seen in other posts (Abscess, Crescence, Cinder) all have bat counterparts. Instead of the standard "vampires turn into bats", the vampires swap bodies with their bat counterparts to be able to fly. this also means the bats' brains go into the vampires' bodies- think she-ra infected by first ones tech drunk kinda thing,, also- vampires will have powers. their powers are in the venom of their sharp teeth- vampires can control how much venom comes out when they bite. they can release enough to kill, or varying amounts for strength of what their power is. for example, a vampire could have an aging power. if they bite someone and release a bit of venom, it could make the person they bite instantly age like a year. if they release a bit more, it could be a couple years. if they release a lot, the person will age instantly many years. or, they can release loads of venom and kill the person, turning them into a vampire. still figuring out if this applies to non-humans and how it works on other vampires. powers will probably work but not killing.

also since vampires are immortal, i need to figure out what the boundaries of their immortality is.

some prequel lore to the story will be that the human realm was wiped out. there was some sort of fight between giants and it caused the apocalypse and stuff and so the monster realm is left. these giants are extreme vampire forms, similar to the bats but huge and extremely powerful. the vampires who are carriers of the giant capability will have some name- it can be passed down somehow but there's specific conditions yet to figure out.

within the timeline of the story, i'm thinking there's something wrong with euphorbia as she's introduced. she doesn't have any memories of her human life while all the others do. it's gonna turn out that the antagonist- yet to be figured out the name and design of- is a powerful vampire able to possess others. around the climax it's going to be discovered that this antagonist created euphorbia. the shapeshifter wants control of all the giants and had control over all of the current carriers, but one of them had died in the apocalypse on earth and so the antagonist had to create a new vampire herself to be the new carrier because they need to be pure vampires or something so it couldn't be a normal vampire. since the beginning of the story, the antagonist has been possessing all of her family members to spy on all of them- which will be extremely subtly hinted by maybe drawing the corners of certain characters eyes as black in random panels. the antagonist wants control all of the carriers of the giants as she had done back in the apocalypse in the human realm. i've always liked the idea of a villain who just does evil out of boredom. a villain who destroys for no reason other than amusement. this could create an interesting arc in euphorbia wanted a reason and not being able to accept everything and needing a reason for closure. however, this could likely make the story awkward and unsatisfying to conclude the conflict. maybe this could be the initial presentation of the antagonist, then we discover that there actually is a reason. i think maybe she destroyed the human realm out of resentment for not being accepted among them which made her want power to put herself above them. then her motivation for wanting the power again could be not being accepted among other monsters.

then- individual character info for cinder, abscess and crescence

abscess (she/her)- ambiguously 13-15 years old in appearance. actually hundreds of years old.

personality- sweet, bubbly, overbearing, stubborn, high energy.

backstory- became a vampire before the human apocalypse because humans are dead now so there can't be any new vampires since. she is Cinder's sister- siblings when they were human and were killed together. she has big crush on euphorbia. she is a lesbian.

power- in my head, because of her colour palette and everything i think she should have a love-focused power but it might be a lil lame and plus strange for character that clearly looks like a minor. her power should be tooth related like her design and name and i also want it to play well into the story. controlling teeth alone might just be a little lame and idk if i want it to be super violent like being able to rot people's teeth.

cinder (they/them)- ambiguously 17-21 in appearance. actually like hundreds of years old

personality- definition of a cinnamon roll. super caring super sweet. cries over people stepping on ants. aroace icon.

backstory- sibling to Abscess. they are a witch- like in the way witchcraft is practiced to day by loads of people in reality. i want to incorporate witchcraft and wicca in this world in a way that's respectful and not demonizing it and not sensationalizing it into some fantastical vampire thing and tainting people's perception of it. they're going to practice ordinary witchcraft like today with focusing on intention, using herbs, charmbags and spell bottles, all that amazing stuff. their unique understanding of intention is what will be incorporated into the plot. they will help euphorbia manage being a giant carrier. they will also help other vampires, particularly abscess, take powers to the next level using intention by teaching abscess how to do more than one thing with a bite and maybe not even needing to bite at all to use powers by using intention. this makes Cinder extremely powerful. also a part of me is imagining a villain arc for cinder and breaking everyones hearts with the cinnamon roll of the story turning evil.

power- in cinder's original doodle, they were covered in burns then i got carried away rendering them and forgot to include the burns. maybe it happens later in the story. but their powers will be fire related. i think it works well with how they will be able to master their powers with intention using ideals of witchcraft and fire is seen as very powerful.

crescence (she/her)-ambiguously 27-35 years old in appearance. actually hundreds of years old

personality- shy, jumpy (? idk the word like she scares easy), motherly, sweet, has her moments where she can be really scary though

backstory- she is trans mtf. she's not related to cinder and abscess but is a mother figure to them through found family. (we love wholesome queer found family). She has a big cloak- i thought maybe she could be hiding tentacles. maybe she's cursed or maybe a monster that was bitten then turned into a vampire. then i thought, i want her to be a giant carrier. i imagine her giant to be very bat-like. maybe she could have big fluffy bat or squirrel lower body. but now i'm thinking i could give that to another character and make Crescence's giant be an octopus. but i really like imagining her with fluffy soft mammal legs like a squirrel or something. i love the idea of the bat giant being like a giant skeleton but with a bat heaad and fluffy legs and wings that it scrambles around the floor with like a dragon. i could always have this on different cahracters to have loads of carriers but i like all of these being crescence. to summarise, crescence is a giant carrier and will be half of it in her vampire form and it might be a bat, squirrel, or octopus. i can always make the two i don't choose other characters.

power- her name comes from the word excresence which is aligned with scars. she should be able to scar people with bites somehow but that's a little lame. working on it.

[thegreymoon]

hi! feel free to ignore this if you don't want to get into it, I totally understand. but I'm confused why some people are feeling certain i*mmortality (or any bl in fact) won't air anytime soon? of course I've seen some of the unfortunate news lately, but nothing specific about bl has been mentioned right? wouldn't t*gcf not continue filming then? sorry if this is annoying haha I'm just confused 😅 thanks for reading whether or not you answer! 😊

Hey, anon!

I think that it's highly unlikely that HYX will air this year. It very obviously was supposed to air, but things are what they are and all we can do is be sad and disappointed about it now.

With that said, I do think it will air eventually, once things settle down. I believe that the current situation in the c-ent industry is unsustainable in the long run and that it will go back to being (somewhat) normal, but that this initial phase is dangerous, so everybody is laying low. The fact that TGCF is still filming definitely tells me that the people who know way more about the situation than you and I are also expecting things to settle down.

I think that Tencent got the wind of what was coming back in April, which is why HYX was delayed. It is expected that there will be a fandom meltdown when this drama airs. The fandom in China is frankly insane and the few BL fandoms that I've been involved in and have seen up close are easily the most toxic disasters that I have ever encountered (the i-fans are also doing their best to compete with their Chinese counterparts in this respect). Exposing the actors to all that in the midst of a CCP crackdown on toxic fandoms and the entertainment industry in general would be the same as painting a target on their backs.

Tencent sunk a lot of money into HYX and even if they were willing to throw the actors under the bus, they would not risk the drama itself, considering how much profit it is expected to earn them, provided it doesn't get banned. Another thing that makes me hopeful is the fact that this CCP crackdown is not aimed at dangai in particular, but is way more widespread and also political in nature. However, if HYX was to come out and start making waves in the middle of all this, I have no doubt they would not hesitate to make an example of everyone involved. It is simply not safe for the drama to air until the Chinese government is done with whatever they are doing right now.

Please take anything I say with a grain of salt, though, I'm not from China and I am nowhere close to being informed enough about the whole situation to give any kind of intelligent commentary on the subject, but with that said, I personally don't think that things are completely bleak.

Please don't listen to the shit-stirrers (especially on Twitter). There are all kinds of insane people congregating to cause panic and fandom infighting. Some simply thrive on the drama and want to see the world burn. The especially toxic side of the S/HL-only fandom is hurt and vengeful because their own faves got nuked and other BL adaptations are a convenient target to vent their hate, since CCP itself is off limits. Then there are antis of all kinds taking advantage of the situation in a multitude of ways. Also, there are trolls patrolling everywhere, at all hours. And last but not least, there are simply fans who are stressed themselves and are unloading their own existential dread by spreading hysteria.

Let's just wait and see. HYX cost a lot of money to produce and is set to earn back even more. That makes me super hopeful that it will not stay buried for long.

[omni-scient-pan-da]

People I talk about in my original posts

Theater Boy (he/him): Made me a Trollhunter sign out of engraved wood, gets very hyped about musical

Murphy (he/him): An absolute cinnamon role, legitimately started talking about bunk beds when asked about top vs bottom a few years back, also in musical, in a throuple with him and Mystic

Genevieve (they/them): My gay awakening who I was madly in love with for like 7 months before confessing, we're still good friends and we talk like every day

Michelle (she/her): Had a crush on Genevieve the same time I did but agreed not to let a girl get between our friendship and basically were each other's wingman until we both confessed and got rejected, we now have a secret code to avoid any confusion about whether or not we actually like each other romantically considering pre-covid we said and did a lot of romantic-y things, might also be my roommate at college?? 👀👀

Mystic (they/them): The asshole (affectionate) that decided they had to hunt down my Tumblr in order to find my wesper fic 🙄, also in a throuple with them and Murphy (@/mysticalninjaearthquake)

Bisexual Girl (she/her): A girl in musical that I low-key thought had a crush on me but was probably making it up in my head

Tall Boy (he/him): Golden Retriever personality that started being friendly to me and it did not compute because of how little interaction I have with the opposite binary gender

May (they/them): Basically me but in a slightly different font, went through a pining arc with them that lasted from February 2023 to July 2023 after I wrote them a letter a day to read while they were on an overseas vacation and included a confession in the last one and then was politely but officially rejected a few days after they returned to the States

Mona (she/her): On the bowling team with me for two years, literally everyone talks about her behind her back, and is too full of herself

Hetty (she/her): Mildly better than Mona, also on the bowling team, still annoying though and gets on my nerves

Florence (she/her): Says she's cishetallo but is the most aroace coded person I have ever met until she's around Mia, in which she then becomes the most lesbian coded person I've ever met. Known her and been friends for almost seven years now, surprised I haven't blogged about her sooner

Mia (she/her): Florence's counterpart that makes her act way more gay, they're always in a package, literally any time we invite Florence and Mia out together they disappear together with no explanation as to where they're going

Beatrice (she/her): My first ever college friend!! Or, at the very least the college friend I'm closest to, she was willing to watch Bungo Stray Dogs with me and listen to my rambling about my gay blorbos and still put up with me which is how you know she's a real one

Phoenix (any pronouns): My ex partner, I've known them since fall of 2015 but it took us til October of 2023 to actually truly interact, and then from there took a month to hit situationship(?) status and then forewent my six step plan in favor of talking about my feelings and officially got together towards the end of December 2023 and broke up in late April 2024 because I don't think we ever would have worked as an actual relationship

Ryn (they/them): College friend I met my first semester of college through the musical I did, and then gradually got closer to as we neared the end of the semester and now they're like my closest friend in college and is also way too cool to be friends with me but they don't seem to realize this so uhh no one tells them

Bella (she/her): Michelle's ex-girlfriend, she went to high school with me and Michelle and was one of the sweetest people I had ever known until I witnessed her and Michelle's breakup and now she's uh.... Interesting to say the least

Thea (she/her): College friend that's currently in a homoerotic friendship with Michelle

Annie (she/any): Directing the musical I'm writing! Dating Raine, a friend from college, one of the kindest most outgoing people I've ever met

Raine (she/her): Assistant directing/art directing the musical I'm writing! Dating Annie, a friend from college, I know her tumblr @ but she doesn't know mine, also obsessed with Scum Villain and is my favorite person to bounce fanfic ideas off of

[braindeadskeletons]

Speaking of music, I really like to sing, and I think I'm actually pretty good at it. I don't open up very easily at all, so if I'm honest with you I really trust you. And I've been described as the friend everyone comes to for comfort/advice, and I take that role with pride. In public, I can be very affectionate, or not affectionate at all. It really depends on what my S/O would like. But when we're home, I'm usually pretty clingy. (I hope thiat wasn't too much, or too little, info!) (2/2)

okay so I did a huge whoops and deleted the first half of this ask. Here's the first part of it:

Hi, I'm here for a matchup! (Sorry in advance if I do a lot of asks to fit in all my info). My name is Viper, I am Genderfluid, Pansexual, and Polyamorus. I am an ambivert, who normally doesn't leave my house unless asked, but once I do my inner extrovert comes out. But I can only take so much, and after a couple of hours I'll need some alone time to relax. I like to read adventure/sci-fi/horror books when I get the chance. I also am an amateur artist, who listens to music 24/7. (1/?)

Hello there! Don't worry about it at all the more information on you the merrier. Reading this you honestly sound like such an awesome person to be around with and just hangout. Like I could just say something that's been on my mind for a really long time and it's pretty heavy but you completely just listen and understand. You're just someone everybody gets along with you know? Immediately when I read everything two boys came to mind instantly and though they may be the most basic answers I'd say I got the match pretty accurate. Or at least I'd like to think so lol. Thank you so much for sending this in!

I match you with Horrortale!Sans and Undertale!Sans

Alright so immediately off the bat you may be thinking 'how the fuck did I get here?' and honestly that's a valid question. You don't exactly see the two and think that they're best friends who could both share a very cute human. Axe reflects Sans in such a way that really disturbs him. If the human just made one different decision Sans would've been left in the underground to starve with every other monster. He also isn't very fond of how Crooks appears and it kind of haunts him that in another timeline he failed Paps. Axe on the other hand isn't fond of Sans because he feels like he always acts high and mighty. He doesn't like how Sans can sit around and act like Axe is some sort of freak when Sans isn't even a completely innocent monster himself. He just acts like a lazy idiot but he isn't. It also doesn't help that whenever Axe looks at Sans he's just reminded of how his Frisk wronged him. He's reminded that he isn't the monster he used to be because of the head injury he endured and the hardships underground. As mentioned before, one wrong move and at the end of the day Sans and Axe are one of the same. They both reflect the parts of each other that they would rather live without confronting.

There's immediately a lot to unpack here from the start. Getting the two to even begin to compromise on a poly relationship with you is admittedly going to be a challenge. It would require you to be able to firmly hold your ground and get them to sort their shit out. It's a lot of conversation and trust needed in order for this to work out. In the end, they both come to the compromise after a lot of discussion and setting boundaries of what is and isn't alright with them. Sometimes they might clash a bit and have those issues resurface (its very rare since both skeletons when needed are amazing at concealing their emotions) and you'll need to act as the middleman. At the end of the day it's all worth it to them just to see you happy.

Let's start off first with Sans. It's amazing how I've gone on for a bit and I haven't even technically started. The fact that you don't really like going out of your way to go out unless asked to is a bit of a relief. It's not that Sans doesn't like socializing, it's just that a lot of the time he really needs a break to just relax on the couch and nap with you, you know? He's got a lot on his mind and Papyrus often scolds him for sleeping and with Grillby's it can at times be overwhelming when he just needs peace and quiet. Just knowing that his cute datemate isn't going to do any of that helps him relax. It's going to be a lot of just enjoying each other's company even if it's quiet at the start. The silence between you two isn't ever uncomfortable though, just enjoying your company is enough for him. Of course there will actually be times where he does offer you to go to Grillby's and when you say yes he's always really happy to share his favorite bar with you. When you two sit together at his usual spot it's a lot of him joking around with you and absolutely looking at you with heart eyes when he gets a certain genuine laugh out of you. He's actually teased about it a lot the few times you don't accept his offer to go to Grillby's. Sans lives to see you smile with his jokes and he just tells them that they're jealous he ended up with such a cute datemate and they didn't. If you ever find yourself exhausted and you need to go home after you're bone tired just tell him and he'll teleport you right home no hassle.

Once you reach a certain point in your relationship Sans will start to gradually accept your affection. You'll need to ease him into it, since he's really not used to anybody besides his brother showing him any sort of affection. Of course before this he's absolutely bombarding you with flirty puns numerous times but physical affection? That's going to take a while. However once he's used to it you can absolutely smother him all you want. He'll only get embarrassed if it's in a public place like Grillbys but he's good at hiding it for the most part. In front of people like his brother he'll still be a little unsure but for the most part it's like a running joke where Pap yells at him to knock it off and Sans pushes his buttons a little. It often goes a little like this:

Papyrus: SANS! I DEMAND THAT YOU UNHAND THE HUMAN THIS INSTANT!

Sans, a hand on your waist: what human?

Papyrus: THE ONE IN YOUR POSSESSION

Sans, pulling you closer: this human?

Papyrus: SANS

Sans: this one right here?

Papyrus: SANS STOP

Sans, moving his hands a little lower:

Papyrus: SANS PLEASE WE'RE SURROUNDED BY CHILDREN THIS IS A HUMAN CHILD'S 5TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

It's all in good fun and he never goes further than that. The one place he'll draw the line is if you get a little too sexual for him in public. Especially if his brother is right there. He prefers to keep that stuff just between you and him.

Okay now onto Axe! Unlike Sans, Axe would rather stay inside for the rest of his life than go outside. His appearance discourages him from wanting to do so. If you're with him this mentality will probably be projected onto you as well. He won't really ask you to go out anywhere (unless it's somewhere he specifically knows will make you happy) so in terms of that don't expect much from him. Axe is really happy that you don't really like going out either way and you'd rather spend time with him inside the house where it's safe, warm, and he can keep an eye out for you. It's comforting to him that he can know where you are and that you're happy with him. His favorite moments with you are when you've got your head in a book and he sees your face relax as you get lost in your own little world. It's just the cutest thing. Axe absolutely adores the fact that you're clingy because unlike his counterpart (assuming that at this point he obviously trusts you) it doesn't take time for him at all to want to cuddle you, hold you in his arms, kiss you, etc. He's shy about none of it. The only thing you'd really need to look out for is when you try and initiate affection yourself. It's not that it's unwelcomed; he just doesn't take surprises well due to the nature of his underground. Make sure that you let him know what's coming and you'll both be perfectly fine. During the few times that you two are in public together he's not shy about showing the world that you're his. The only time where he might ask you to step back a little is when you're with his brother. He doesn't like Crooks seeing stuff like this because he still has an instinct to protect him from things. Not that you'd ever try anything of course.

An aspect about you that both skeletons greatly appreciate is how you're very honest with the people that you love and that you act as the friend who listens. They've both found themselves in the same position as you and now that you're dating both of them it's a wonderful change of pace. You all can sit down and vent to each other instead of only listening to others rant and you all absolutely trust each other. Honesty and integrity are both traits the skeletons really look for in a datemate. There's basically no secrets between the three of you and for your skeleton boys thats definitely new for them. As for your talent with singing and art? They genuinely can't get enough of either. Whenever you draw something? Sans will literally stare and wonder how he ended up with someone as talented as you meanwhile Axe has already grabbed the drawing and put it on the fridge. If you ever try and talk yourself down both of them are immediately on your case about how you shouldn't put yourself down and that everything you make is a masterpiece. Axe will literally also ask you who the fuck made you think like that and where do they live. He isn't joking. Sans won't be as vocal about it as Axe is but he's listening in as well. With your singing they both love your voice to pieces. Sans will hype you up to every single person at Grillby's and even encourage you to let others hear your talent. If not, that's cool too. He can just sit and listen at home. Axe mostly likes to ask for you to sing to him when he's having a really rough day or when it's late at night and you're both alone. What can he say? It helps him sleep.

[toomanyfandoms02]

The Transporter ~Part Three~ // Spencer Reid x Reader

Sorry this took so long!! I have been so busy with work lately, but here she is.

Word count ~ 2,900+

Hope you guys like it :))

I stepped back through the transporter to be met with an empty room. I glanced at the clock on the wall. It read 10:15, that wasn't *that* late. Christine is probably still awake.

I made my way to her room, which wasn't incredibly far from mine. Her door was cracked open and I could see her laying in bed, reading a book in the semi dim lighting. I knocked lightly, pulling her out of her fictional world of Harry Potter.

"Oh! Y/n, I didn't think you were coming back tonight. How was everything?" She gently set her bookmark in the book, placing it on her nightstand.

I couldn't hold back the smile on my face. It was the coolest day of my life, what could I say?

"It was so amazing Christine! I accidentally set myself right into an investigation that I knew about. I met all of them, and it felt different than I thought I would-"

"Did you talk to Spencer?" She asked, nudging my side. I could feel the blood rush to my face.

"Uh, yes." I smiled, looking down at her star clad comforter. "It was incredibly surreal and I can't wait to go back. It was kind of a funny interaction, the first one. He asked me to profile him, which was obviously easy because I know him like the back of my hand. Well I thought that was gonna be the end of our interaction that day. But I accidentally left my laptop at the Bureau."

"Oh yeah *accidentally*." She smiled, throwing air quotes.

"Shush, it was actually an accident." I giggled. "Anyway, he looked up my address I guess and he brought it to me. It was sweet."

"I guess now he knows where to send flowers." I shook my head with a smile. "Well I'm glad you had fun. I hope everything works out well, don't forget there's an actual case though." She winked.

"Thanks Christine, for everything." I waved as I slinked out of the room and down the hall.

I flopped down onto my bed with a simple grin, quickly falling asleep after my eventful day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I slapped my hand over my phone as the alarm began blaring at 9:30. I wanted to fully commit to this whole thing, just like I was in real life. But in reality, I was waking up pretty late, considering I was going to go into their universe at 8:30.

It appeared that Christine was already awake, she was softly knocking at my slightly cracked door.

"Hey sweetie, I take it you wanna head out soon?"

"Yeah! And I'm gonna have to be gone for a couple of days for the case. Get all integrated and such. Is that alright?"

"Yeah of course! Just document some experiences, or anything that seems weird or off about their universe." Chris left the room, shutting my door with a light thud.

I slipped on a white button up, putting a maroon sweater over it to add my own little touch. I looked in the mirror to make sure my dress pants were fitting me correctly and stepped into my two inch black heels.

Since I would be gone for a few days, I grabbed a suitcase plus my go-bag that I had already had from my time interning. The navy blue bag was slung over my shoulder as I walked out my door, immediately bumping into someone. I looked up to see who I remembered as Violet Glynn, who went into the Zombieland Universe.

"Sorry, Violet, right?" I shook her hand. "How's your universe going? I've always loved that movie. Please tell me Columbus is just as sweet and endearing as he is in the actual film?"

I could see her eyes light up with glee, clearly she hadn't had anyone to fangirl properly to, I could tell she was about to explode with information.

"Yes! He is incredibly kind. Talahassee is already trying to dad me, Little Rock and I are already pretty good friends but Witchita is still kinda weary of me, which is understandable. I talked to Ryan, and he said I can only change a few major things so one I chose to do was to keep Columbus from killing Bill Murray. Bill is so fun to live with so far! I just - I am totally talking about myself for too long. How is everything going for you?" I offered her a kind smile of reassurance.

"It's completely fine, I get your excitement. It's really cool, kinda different from the real job I was working. Maybe that's because I'm permanently gawking at one of my coworkers." We both laughed for a moment. "But I'm gonna be gone with him for like 3 days straight so, I guess I'm gonna have to figure something out. When I come back we should talk more." Violet nodded enthusiastically and waved as we walked to our Transporter rooms.

"Of course! See you in a few days."

I could hear Christine's heels clicking not far behind me as I began typing in the date and time.

*February 12th, 8:30 am. 2009*

"Good luck, I will see you in a few days time, yeah?"

"Yep!" I shoved my 'Come back device' in my go-bag and turned on it's much larger counterpart, nodding at Chris as I stepped in.

I was immediately greeted by my apartments bedroom, I could hear my phone buzzing on my side table. I lifted it to see a text from a certain favorite person of mine, and she didn't even know me yet.

*Penelope G*

*Hey sweets! The plane will be ready to be boarded at 9:15. The team is meeting at the BAU first for a carpool, so be there or be square! Have a good time on your first mission, from what I've seen, you're pretty amazing. :)*

I held back a small smile from my lips, this world is just as good as I always wanted it to be.

*Thank you M'lady. I've heard amazing things about you. I hope we can gossip sometime! ;)*

I sent the text and slipped my phone into my back pocket. I chucked a piece of toast in the toaster, quickly spreading peanut butter on it and checking my watch.

*8:45*

I began my walk to the BAU, probably looking extremely weird walking down the street in work attire and a piece of toast slathered with peanut butter. But I was pretty content, continuing to eat it as I reached the doors of my favorite place.

I brushed my hands together to rid of the many crumbs that had accumulated there, seeing JJ and Penelope talking at Jennifer's desk.

"Y/n! Come over here." Penelope waved me over, I pulled at the sleeves of my sweater as I walked over as confidently as possible. "Are you ready for your first case?" She leaned in a little, clearly trying to search my face for a quicker answer.

"Yeah, I think I'm pretty ready. I've done this kinda stuff before but, I'm way more nervous about this."

"I wouldn't worry to much about. I think you already impressed Hotch and Spencer, you read people extremely well. Did you seriously gather all that stuff from Reid just by knowing him for a few minutes?" JJ was clearly now invested.

"Well, yeah. He's relatively easy to read, as long as you're paying attention." JJ nodded with a smirk.

"Well, you certainly made a good first impression, you honestly sound a lot like Reid, maybe you can..." I watched as she peered behind me, her words trailing off. Her eyes darted back and forth between me and whatever was happening behind me. I whipped my head around to see Spencer walking in, he was distracted my a book, which made me smile. But that smile quickly faded as I scanned my eyes over his outfit.

He was wearing a white button up with a black tie and a maroon vest over it with black dress pants. Sound familiar? All but the black tie.

"Maybe you are even more like Reid than I thought." JJ smirked at me. All the blood had run to my face and my feet felt bolted to the ground. Why this? Why on my first official day? I could hear Garcia holding back a laugh behind me.

"This is adorable I'm sorry." She said, giggling a little.

Spencer finally looked up from his book, hearing Penelope laughing. He furrowed his eyebrows, squinting a bit. Probably wondering why I looked like a deer in headlights. He looked down at himself.

Then back up at me.

Then down at himself again.

He just smiled at me and closed his book all the way, adjusting the go-bag he held on his shoulder. I nearly dropped mine.

"What just happened?" Penelope nudged my shoulder. I shrugged and shook my head.

This was clearly going to be quite the day.

I ended up carpooling with JJ, Morgan and Reid. JJ and I sat in the back while Morgan drove, Spencer spitting facts to him about cars and traffic.

"Well, according to the DC Department of Motor Vehicles, there are almost 450,000 active drivers registered in the District. However, millions more drivers commute to DC from neighboring communities in Maryland and Virginia. D.C. is also host to millions of tourists from around the world. In 2014, more than 20 million people visited D.C., many of them renting a car or driving their own vehicle to visit." He rambled.

"Reid, all I said was there was a lot of traffic today."

"I mean he's right though." I piped in. Spence looked back at me with confused eyes. "Washington D.C. is also home to some of the worst traffic in the country. Analysts estimate that the average driver will spend 7 hours a year in traffic, wasting 6 gallons of gas. However, for D.C. drivers, one estimate found the average driver is spending 67 hours a year in traffic, wasting 32 gallons of gas while sitting in traffic." I think hearing him so much on the show, made me a little bit like him in some ways, my friends always rolled their eyes at me whenever I rambled. The only real one who listens is my uncle. He had turned around, but I could tell he was smiling.

Success.

"Good lord there's two of them."

I'll take that as a compliment.

We boarded the plane and I decided on a window seat, leaning my head up against the cold glass. My hand was unknowingly gripping the armrest a little too tightly.

"Are you a nervous flier?" I would obviously know that voice from anywhere, but right now it was coming from right across from me. I leaned my head back on the headrest.

"Not necessarily, I've flown quite a few times. I've just never been in a jet."

"The key difference between jets and propeller planes is that jets produce thrust through the discharge of gas instead of powering a drive shaft linked to a propeller. This allows jets to fly faster and at higher altitudes." He loosened his tie a little. "So I wouldn't worry too much, it feels about the same."

"Well thank you."

It was silent for a bit, but once we were in the sky we began talking about the case. Emily was talking about how she wants to be cremated because being buried was gross and weird.

"I actually agree with you. I think cremation is more personal too, I want someone to sprinkle my ashes somewhere. Not have to visit my grave and waste money on flowers every year."

Me and Emily got into that conversation as the rest of the team slowly started to do their own things. Spencer was back to reading his book, one page every 5 seconds. He peered over his book for a moment, but only a moment.

"I like your outfit by the way." He mumbled, still focused on his book, he lowered it a bit. I could see a smirk creeping onto his features. My ears began burning as the blood rushed to them.

"Thanks." I really wanted to say more to him, but it felt like my jaw was wired shut.

Morgan was not so discreetly looking over at us with eyebrows raised. But I kept my eyes out the window.

We landed about 2 hours later. I had kept myself occupied by writing down everything that just happened, so I wouldn't forget, and for Christine.

"Morgan, Reid, y/l/n, you go with the police search party and find what you can. Prentiss and I will talk to their chief. Rossi and JJ, set us up in the station."

Once we were there, we were put on a search party with the police, they quickly found the body of another woman covered in mud and holding a cross necklace. We were bringing the evidence back to the station with the others. On the way back, Spencer was telling me about the history of gold cross necklaces. I could practically hear Morgan rolling his eyes the whole time, but I just loved hearing him talk.

Once we were there, Rossi showed his blatant coldness towards the psychic that was telling a scared mother that her daughter was okay. Hotch began sending us off again, and we were off to see the bodies.

Days here moved so fast.

Once we arrived I stared at the body on the table. I lightly touched her arm, cold as ice. Seeing these body through the screen was one thing, but knowing these are real people, it's even more sad. Of course I had seen many bodies in my time, but the thought that this wasn't fictional anymore made my stomach churn a little.

"I found trace amounts of seamen, but there is no sign of sexual assault."

"Are you saying this was consensual?" Spencer tilted his head a bit. No no sweet child.

"She's saying it's happening post-mortem." I said, looking down a little. Morgan nodded and Reids face scrunched. This poor woman.

I knew I couldn't change much, because that could royally screw some stuff up, si throughout the whole thing I decided I would change things little by little to move it along faster. What I did this time was make it so we didn't waste time and interrogate the random man who was accused of being a necrophiliac, because his timeline wouldn't match up.

We made it to the house just a smidge earlier, Brooke was found on the operating table in the abandoned home, completely fine.

The days had become exhausting, as soon as we got on the jet I sat in the same seat, dropping my bag down and grabbing a small pillow out of it. I set the pillow against the window and drifted off to sleep fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to JJ shaking my shoulder, opening my eyes to see a blanket that read *e=mc²* all over it.

"What is this?"

"Oh, I believe Spence put that on you while you were asleep. You were shivering and he happened to have it in his go-bag I guess." She shrugged. "Everyone is heading home, so you want a ride?"

"That would be amazing, thank you."

"No problem."

It was only 5 pm, and Christine wouldn't be expecting me back until tomorrow. So I decided I was gonna get some stuff done with my time, more specifically one big thing.

I grabbed the wad of money that Chris had given me and waved down a taxi. I had them take me to the nearest car dealership. I made a hasty decision and bought a 2007 Mini Cooper. Now I could do what I really wanted.

I looked up Spencer's address and grabbed his blanket, which I had neatly folded and threw on my coffee table. He appeared to live around 15 minutes away by car.

Once I was there, nerves had set in, but I ignored them as I reached the door and knocked 3 times.

I heard a faint "Coming!" From the other side of the dark oak door. He answered with his phone propped up on his shoulder, talking to someone.

"Sorry Mom, I gotta go, love you." He hung up and pulled his phone from his ear. "Hey, what are you doing here."

I presented his blanket to him.

"I figured I would return the favor of you bringing me my laptop by bringing you your blanket." I flopped it into his outstretched arms.

"We have got to stop meeting like this." He smiled, bringing the blanket to his chest. "Would you like to come in?" He brought his hand to the collar of his shirt, attempting to loosen the strain it clearly had on his neck. "I just made a pot of coffee. And since you're just about the only one who actually listens to my ridiculous amount of rambling, I figured we could ramble together? I mean I don't know you very well and I honestly want to be the first to befriend you, you're very intriguingly different. Not in any kind of bad way I just-" His face was slowly getting more red and I could see that his grip on the poor blanket was almost white knuckle.

"I would love to." I stepped into his apartment with a sigh.

Was this a dream?

Maybe.

If so, I wanna be asleep *forever*.

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