#so don't judge it TOO harshly

[argothiathedreamer]

that feeling when your self imposed deadline for a fic is tomorrow and you've got like a full 3rd of a chapter left to write let alone edit.

[dei-lab-assistant]

Ethoslab Vampire Hunter AU

Reader-Insert version can be read here. Anyway, I hope you can enjoy this little 924 word fic! _____ “You’re up late.”

She looked up from her work maintaining the chapel’s pews. “Etho!” He looked tired, green and black clothes splattered with dark stains, cloak hanging off his body in ripped shreds, and reddish brown smeared all over his bare hand and forearm. 

Adjusting the mask covering the lower half of his face, he smiled with his eyes. “Sister.” Like all her friends, he called her by her title rather than her name—just as she preferred. As far as she was concerned, Sister was her name, not the pretentious mouthful assigned to her by the Church when she came here years ago. Hiding her identity was a drag, although preferable to being claimed by the powerful vampire queen who had marked her as a child.

“I take from the bloodstains all over your clothes, your hunt was successful?” Tossing her screwdriver onto the wooden pew beside where she was crouched, she leaned back to get a better look at her friend; it seemed none of the blood was his this time. Good.

He laughed, almost sounding embarrassed. “It doesn’t feel successful.”

“Rough kill?” She threw her long hair back over her shoulder, keeping it out of the way as she returned to work.

Running a blood smeared hand through his white hair, Etho’s mood darkened. “Even when I know my target has lived for over sixty years, and killed seventeen innocents, it’s not easy to drive a stake through the heart of a creature who looks like a ten year old girl…”

“The abbess always says you’re too kind for this work.” Picking up the screwdriver, she gave it a little flip in the air, catching it neatly. Gently running her left hand over the pile of screws, she grouped them as she counted in her head. 

Etho walked towards her. “Uh huhh. It’s hard to tell when she sends me out every week to kill monsters.” Sighing, he squeezed past her kneeling body to tiredly sink down onto the pew. “I shouldn’t have specialized in vampires.”

“Etho, don’t sit—!”

Splintering wood and the crash of ancient planks smacking beautiful tilework flooring interrupted her warning, as the pew gave way beneath him. “Ohhhhh.” He sounded pathetic as he lay on his back on the floor, gazing up at the decorative ceiling and gripping the pocket watch hanging from his belt. While she knew Etho must be a fierce and capable warrior, Sister found such an image hard to combine with the slightly hapless and very nice guy she had befriended over the years.

She groaned. “I had removed most of the screws attaching the seat to the end of the pew, so I could replace them with slightly wider screws, ‘cause the whole thing’s been getting loose, and had already been jury rigged before I ever came here…”

“Sorey.” His accent always came through when he apologized. “I’ll explain to the abbess it was my fault.”  

“Thanks.” Leaning back against the chapel wall, Sister mulled over how long it would take her to fix the pew, assuming she had the skill to properly fix something so old, delicate, and ornate—which she doubted.

“And speaking of the abbess, I got permission to take you with me on my next assignment.”

“Really?” At his words, all exasperation fled her body. Usually she was forbidden from leaving the abbey, on account of the mark on the back of her left hand. “Why?”

“You’re good at clerical work, right, Sister?”

She nodded eagerly as he continued.

“My target tonight had quite a library, and chests of saved correspondence. I needed someone to help me catalog all of it tomorrow, and since they made the mistake of letting me choose my own assistant…I chose you.” Propping himself up on his elbows, his eyes crinkled in a smile. “You do want to see more of the world, right? I don’t know why the abbess always keeps you cooped up in the church compound, but I figure I ought to show my friend a bit of the outside world if I can.”

Without thinking, Sister gripped the back of her left hand, imagining the green symbol on the other side of her half finger glove. “I’d love that.” 

Rising from the rather destroyed pew, which now littered the floor, Etho stretched. “I need to wash up. Wouldn’t want to talk to the abbess looking like this.” He pointed at her. “Now go get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow.”

“You’re going to talk to the abbess now?”

“Some of us aren’t night owls by choice, Sister.” Etho laughed. “If I have to work this late, she can wake up to talk to me in the middle of the night from time to time.”

Grateful for his friendship, and this opportunity to leave the abbey, Sister wanted to hug the lanky man before her, but decorum held her back. The last thing she had ever wanted was rumors of being romantically involved with anyone, and years of practicing such thinking left little room for nebulous gestures like hugs—no matter how platonically she intended them. “Hm, you’ve always had fun being a bit of a pain.”

“Just doing my job.” His smile shone through in his voice as she packed up her toolbox.

“See you tomorrow, Etho.”

With a jaunty little wave, he strode off, leaving her to wonder what the next day held.

[mvlionheart]

Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023 | Post-Race Press Conference Charles Leclerc understands that it doesn't matter how many points Max has; he will always push it to the limit.

[emlittly]

God there's some good fucking text posts on this site huh.

Inspired by browsing the v.ore tag at midnight:

Going to a mixed predator/prey bar, but it's subtle y'know? classy-like. The tables have nice linen on them and people are all dressed up in suits and skirts and all sorts of eye popping combinations. They've even got jazz music. Shit that's nice.

You find yourself hugging a corner near the emptier side of the bar, in fact there's only one other person: an ambiguously gendered, short-haired rocking predator who you can only identify as one because the last three buttons on their shirt are undone and oh my god you can see something squirming in there. There's a thin trail of hair that leads down to their pants but you can't help but stare at that soft imprint just that little bit higher up.

So you're a little freaked out right, it's not like you've ever sat down with one of these people before but they're nice enough and even offer to buy you a drink and, yeah, they're halfway through a tall glass of foamy alcohol that lingers on the corner of their lips and makes a nice big imprint down their throat whenever they swallow and the bulge in their gut squirms a bit harder when that delayed swallow of beer ends up inside that same stomach they're in right now.

And their teeth are just the most interesting thing (you can't stop staring at them). They're a bit jagged, canines like the kind you'd see on vampires in old TV shows. You ask if they bite. They laugh and wink and say only if you want to. You brave a question:

Did the last sucker you asked that answer honestly?

They laugh and run a hand along their stomach. You can just barely hear the sobs inside. They must be so cramped in there. A stomach designed to squeeze and churn food into calories - that'll treat a human no better than any other piece of meat you subject to an acid bath for hours and hours. So tight, so hot, so oppressive.

They offer to take you to their place tonight and, fuck, you're not sure you're strong enough to say no.

[barbieaiden]

2. Aiden: [Deep breath]

3. Aiden: Fuck.

4. Sam: For future reference, please, please, use butter. You're ruining my pans.

Aiden: Ooooh. That's why it ended up like this.

Sam: How—How did you forget?

Aiden: I mean, you should be impressed I even made something semi-edible.

Sam: ...sure.

5. Aiden: You slept longer than usual.

Sam: A whole six hours.

Aiden: That must be a record.

6. Sam: You shouldn't have done this. I can make my own breakfast.

Aiden: Well, I wanted to do it for you.

Sam: Yes, but—

Aiden: Making breakfast isn't going to kill me, I promise. If the doctor people say it's fine, it probably is.

7. Sam: But if you're also going to work... I just don't think you should overexert yourself.

Aiden: Making half-assed breakfast was not that strenuous.

Sam: You're serving me "half-assed breakfast"?

8. Aiden: Well, I mean, the bread is really dry, the pancakes are rubbery, and the coffee is probably bitter, but it was made with love. Enjoy.

Sam: Shut up, Aiden. It's perfect.

Aiden: You're so cute when you lie straight to my face.

9. Sam: I mean it. The pancakes aren't nearly as rubbery as they look.

Aiden: So I'm pretty much a professional chef now.

Sam: I wouldn't go that far.

10. Aiden: Did you sleep well?

Sam: Sort of. Are you sure you're able to work?

Aiden: I feel fine, really. Worst case scenario I'll go to the ER and Jordan will take care of me.

Sam: Comforting.

11. Aiden: I feel fine. Really. I'd tell you if I weren't.

Sam: Would you?

Aiden: Yeah. For sure.

Sam: Mhm.

12. Aiden: Seriously, I feel so trapped, you know? I'm going to lose my mind if I don't get to actually do things again. Not that I mind hanging out with you 24/7, but I'd like to go outside too. Breathe real air.

Sam: I understand.

13. Sam: Are you leaving already?

Aiden: Sorry. I'll go grocery shopping on my way home, do you need anything?

Sam: Didn't I just tell you to not overexert yourself?

14.

Aiden: You know what, just text me a list of everything you need.

Sam: Aiden...

15.

Aiden: Have a good day I'll see you late love you byyyyyye.

16.

Sam: I love you too.

[kindalikerackham]

okayyyyy fine (I say to the maybe 3 people interested) I'll talk about Dr. Tanaka, and the show's (Bones 2005) response to them

[disclaimer: my perspective is someone late 20s, white, & nonbinary, as well as biased to see the good in this show. I may not have the same perspective on these examples as someone else]

[also I wrote this for fun! so it's not like an airtight argument or anything]

so.. I wasn't surprised by the team's reaction to a person who doesn't conform to gendered standards (obsession with figuring out if they were really a man or a woman, culminating in a hug just to feel their chest), for 2 main reasons:

I. Bones is a show about awkward (usually contextually privileged) people with good hearts, and it expresses this core sentiment over and over again using microaggressions:

The little person from the State Department (Alex Radziwill) is called a midget, and Bones ignorantly accosts him about how he approaches his job. It's done in the context of Booth and Bones reacting weirdly to him. By her saying ignorant things that force Booth to confront his own weirdness, they eventually reach an equilibrium with Radziwill, where they treat him like a normal contentious coworker. It's really uncomfortable, and Radziwill has to sit through them getting over themselves.

The He in The She. Do I even have to mention more than the episode title? It takes forever for the cast to wrap their heads around Pastor Patricia Stephenson, a woman whose bones suggest a male, but whose anatomy suggests a female!! Oh no! Booth struggles with using her correct pronouns, and many characters flip flops between, often settling on the masculine pronouns. And yet, the show itself gives credence to how Patricia lived the last parts of her life. It finds the beauty and honesty in how she lived, and we get to see that honored. But not necessarily through the characters, especially the main squint squad.

Arastoo Vaziri. This poor man is just a Muslim who works in the lab. Bones expresses disdain for him being visibly religious. Hodgins straight up discriminates against him, tells him to his face that he doesn't like Vaziri because he's Muslim. Vaziri has to actively attempt to bond with Hodgins to overcome this bias. Cam barely steps in here, and ultimately Vaziri has to suffer the ignorance of those around him. He has to push back about his people being associated with bombs, because white people are terrorists too! He brings out a list!

And these are just main plot points. There are definitely other examples of how these characters awkwardly microaggress their peers and civilians.

II. The interpersonal logic of Bones is predicated on gendered relationships

I cannot count the amount of times a character on Bones said "It's a woman thing," or "It's a guy thing," or "Alpha-male." The more socially adept a character is (Booth, Angela, Cam, Hodgins), the more they lean on these constructs for explaining personal relationships and the more they use gendered constructs for what's permissible in their relationships. Brennan, Zach, and other squints are often actively taught what's okay to do based on gendered rules. "She's a woman," Angela says to Zach, who doesn't understand why a girl isn't calling him back. "It's a guy thing," Angela says to Brennan, confused about something Booth is doing. "It's a guy-hug," Booth says, manipulating Bones into accepting comfort by explaining a gendered rule that he's making up.

In an environment so saturated with these rules, the characters have no idea what to do with the interpersonal reactions they have to Dr. Tanaka (as Clark has established, the characters are constantly using their interpersonal lens at work). So, this mystery makes Dr. Tanaka into a site of intrigue. I'd say both Hodgins and Angela interpret this intrigue as attraction, based both on their desire for/interpretation of Dr. Tanaka as a woman or a man, respectively. The surprise/rethinking that occurs after feeling up Dr. Tanaka's chest is consistent with this mystery/intrigue/psychosexual anxiety of not knowing a gender. (To digress a bit, it's reactions in this vein that created the Trans Panic Defense for murdering trans people).

I'm also unsurprised at Sweets. From his defense of Dr. Tanaka presenting as they want to him standing alongside the hug onlookers out of curiosity, he's the part of the show that's looking forward. He's the planted seed for this episode: that people who don't want to share their gender, it's not your business, even if it's hard to resist the part of you that thinks that.

And honestly, I think that's kind of the core to it.

Bones is a show about privileged professional folks who are often ignorant, but it attempts to plant seeds in their moderate liberal audience about cultures and subcultures. It planted the seed that Radziwill (a little person) was just a coworker using his own advantages, and it's important to treat him like you would another coworker. It planted the seed that Patricia (a trans woman) was right to transition and live her fullest life. It planted the seed that Arastoo (a Muslim) is just a coworker, one who has his own religious life, and Hodgins was the one acting irrationally.

Finally, it planted the seed that Dr. Tanaka is just living their life, and the awkward must-know-their-gender drive didn't really mean anything in the end, except for the team feeling weird about it.

[dangerousdan-dan]

I can already tell this show is going to consume me body and soul

[yoinkschief]

If Amy is not in the Sonic 3 Movie I will commit sinister things

[koushuwu]

Kakashi Hatake

*:･ﾟ✧ for @peskyfirefly! happy belated birthday. ily you deserve everything <3

[genocidalfetus]

Consequences Part 1

To Be Continued....

[mydaylight]

I was looking at this picture again and it got me thinking... could that be the Van Rhijn house? 😳 I am 90 % sure the man in the back is Larry, and he's standing next to a woman with reddish hair in a mourning dress. I feel she could be Ada - mostly based on the shape of the hat, which reminds me of the one Cynthia Nixon is wearing in some BTS photos we have seen so far

[eyesmadeofpearls]

So me and my boyfie were on vr and he managed to snap this photo of me and him! I thought it was such a cute moment! P.S : To any artists, i inspire you to draw the two in this if you'd like! ( Please ignore the background lol we were watching from the fog together on yt 😭😭)

[issylra]

Please write the it guy Hob fic !!! I mean if you can! It would be iconic

Here's a rough little snippet I shouldn't have written but did anyway!

--

The first thing Hob notices are the cables. Cables everywhere, tangled into a haphazard knot under the desk, and hanging in a ball over the too-plush carpet. 

"This is blasphemy," he says, sounding so forlorn that Dream's head tilts at him quizzically. Dream looks like Hob imagines a cat would after it's pushed a glass of water off the countertop: curious, but entirely confused about why he's being chastised. 

"Have you discovered the problem?"

Hob pinches the bridge of his nose, has to look away before his stomach does that traitorous fluttering thing it tends to whenever Dream stands too close, or speaks, or does anything at all. 

It's become a bit of a nightmare working with Dream, and the irony isn't lost on him. The problem isn't the work itself. Dream's calls are by far the easiest of the ones Hob takes. The problem is Dream. His earnestness. The fact that he's probably the most beautiful person Hob's ever seen. He's distracting, and he overpays, too. Which is nice and all, but Hob can't really stomach the idea of accepting half a month's rent because one of Dream's ridiculously long legs jostled the power cord on his monitor. 

"The problem is you've got legs like a gazelle," Hob tells him, "and the state of your desk is enough to drive a man to tears."

Dream's mouth twitches. So close to a smile, Hob feels a spark of pride. "Legs like a gazelle?" 

It's the same low rumble of a voice that had shocked Hob the first time he'd heard it, and Hob would blush at the way Dream's staring, dark eyebrows raised near to his hairline, if he weren't already so desensitized. 

Hob clears his throat instead, and tucks a stray bit of hair behind his ear. "I'm coming back tomorrow. You're due for a lesson in cable management."

[gottagobackintime]

Ted doing that weird analogy thing isn’t that strange, even in this situation. He always does these things. Talks about something that seems totally irrelevant but that has a core message. You can hate his analogy as much as you want and sure, it was messy. But what he really tried to say was actually really nice and something that you don’t hear that often. “We care.” Because yes, as the players say, they don’t care that Colin is gay. And it IS supportive but at the same time, it IS kind of dismissive. And this is what Ted is trying to say, Colin has faced so much hardship because of who he is and will continue to do so whether or not he comes out to the public. So they should care. Because that’s what true allies should do. They should care. Because not caring could lead to indifference. (Not saying that the team would end up feeling indifferent, they would probably kill to protect Colin tbh.) It's such a small detail to include but I think that it's beautiful. Because it's so true, "We don't not care.". Yes, we don't care that you're queer, you are still you, but we DO care about what you've been going through and will go through. I don't know, I just think that it was a great thing to adress, how seemingly accepting words can be interpreted.

Something else about Ted's clumsy analogy I want to bring up that I find interesting is that they cut to Trent’s reaction when Ted says “because I didn’t care” with air quotes. And Trent is smiling. Because I believe that Trent understands Ted. Sees what he’s trying to say. Trent picks up on what Ted is saying before Ted spells it out for Colin (and the team) and we also get to see Trent’s reaction to that moment. But Trent already knew that’s what he meant. Colin and the team just needed Ted to speak clearly. And perhaps he should have done that from the start, but he got there in the end. But Trent already understood.

[ihave-toomanyfandoms]

So uh what if Etho and Bdubs' actually manage to be final two?

***

Etho was fraying at the edges. It was evident in the constant jittering of his hands, the churning of his stomach at the mere mention of food. There were days were he woke up so hyper aware of his surroundings that he wanted to pull himself apart, every sound echoing tenfold in his head, the cacophony drowning out every thought. It was suffocating, paralyzing and he could do nothing but to stay rooted to his spot on the edge of the bed, desperately trying to keep himself from unraveling completely. Bdubs usually kept his distance on these days and Etho was grateful for it. The thought of him hovering around him, or even worse, touching him in this state made his skin crawl.

There were other days, where he woke up but didn't feel like he did, a thick blanket of fog between him and the world. Etho had regarded these as his good days, even though he sometimes startled back into his body in strange places with no memory of how he'd gotten there. It was dangerous, of course, to be so disconnected from himself, from reality. Once he had found himself standing on Bdubs' side of the bed at night, hands hovering inches away from his throat. He had stopped thinking of these days as his good days after that and lived in silent, agonising fear that one day he would wake up to his hands around Bdubs' throat or a bloody knife in his hands.

It was on one of these days where he had snapped back to the sound of his own name ringing in his ears and a hand gripping the back of his jacket, choking him as he leaned precariously over the edge of a ravine. He had a moment to marvel at the swooping feeling of vertigo in his stomach before he was yanked back, nearly tumbling to the floor. Bdubs' hand was steady against his back.

"Woah there, watch your step." He said and pulled his hand away again. Etho turned around to face him.

"Bdubs." He rasped, his throat itching like he hadn't spoken in days. Judging by the way Bdubs' eyes lit up at the sound he probably hadn't.

"There you are." He whispered with a smile and reached up to cup Etho's face with his hands. "Thought I'd lost you there for a second."

It wasn't clear wether he was talking about the ravine or the static that was still threatening to suffocate him again.

"I'm still here." He muttered and let himself be pulled down into his arms.

That night, they spend two tense hours lying in silence, Etho feeling less like a human and more like a loose collection of strings, trying it's hardest not to shake apart, until Bdubs' finally gets up with a sigh and pulls him outside.

It's a moonless night, the star seemingly twice as bright in its absence and Etho is unsure if lying out here on the grass is better, his mind threatening to untether itself to float up into the endless sky above them. He clings to Bdubs' hand like a lifeline, the weight of the body next to him the only thing still grounding him in this world, in his own body.

"Etho." Bdubs' says into the quiet and Etho rolls onto his side to look at him. There's a quiet, exhausted smile on the other's lips as he carefully reaches out to smooth his hand over Etho's forehead. He nearly winces at the contact, his skin burning where Bdubs' fingers slide over it. He still leans into the contact.

"I'm sorry." Etho forces out around the lump in his throat. Red static dances at the edges of his vision. "I don't think I can hold on any longer."

"It's okay." Bdubs whispers and leans forward to press a burning kiss to his temple. Etho let's go of his hand in favour of cupping Bdubs' face. He stares at him, searching for a hint of resentment, of anger, of anything that would make this any easier but there is nothing but understanding and forgiveness there. Etho has never loved him more than in this moment and he hates himself for it

"Thank you for trying anyway." Bdubs says and splays his fingers against Etho's cheek, wiping away the tears in the corner of his eyes. "I know it was hard for you."

"I'm sorry." Etho repeats, because it's the only thing he can say right now, the only thing he has left to say.

"It's alright." Bdubs says as he grabs Etho's wrist and pulls them down, forcing Etho's hands to curl around his throat. Red floods his vision as his fingers dig into the tissue, nails breaking the sensitive skin.

"I told you I wanted you to win anyways."

Etho squeezes.

[marshiiicake]

Aphmau: Hey… Em? ….Can you tell me more about…. Irene?

Emmalyn: Hm?