#so i can forget about the screen™️

[lokiiied]

yes, i do actually like to have a nice view while i stare at my screen all day thank you very much.

[fryingpan1234567]

so I know… most if not all of the ships in the HTP au (@aquaquadrant and @lunarcrown) are inherently toxic and Bad™️. unhealthy.

they’re rooted in players that are literally coded to be Like That, so the best it gets is kind of like… never wanting to kill each other. that’s the bar I feel like

but I can’t stop THINKING about them because I always pictured it like— a Hels’ partner is the one person they’re sane for. the one person they’re not absolutely feral for (or maybe they are but in a good way). the one person they’re better for.

FOR EXAMPLE.

Pathbubs is arguably one of the worst ones. they’re very sweet and fluffy with each other, but Patho is constantly aware that he’s going to have to leave fairly soon, and Dbubs is either blissfully unaware or refuses to admit that he’s thinking about it. Patho will return after Dbubs’ broken heart heals, when there will be no anger, no grief, just happiness to see him again.

which is… hella toxic.

but like, picture— Patho, on his many adventures out in the world, discovers a cupcake. it’s like a normal cake, but small and travel-sized. what.

so he brings one back for Dbubs next time he visits, who is ECSTATIC and demands to know how to craft one. he declares that he hates it and then devours half of it in one bite, which Patho finds highly amusing.

or like, Dbubs wakes Patho up at the ASS CRACK OF DAWN to drag him out the front door, explaining at a mile a minute that they’re going to go vANQUISH a GREAT BEAST and— and Patho BETTER be PREPARED because this is a BIG HUGE EPIC FIGHT—

and then the vines pull them through the trees so they can see over the top of them, and there’s the sunrise. Dbubs goes quiet as Patho blinks in surprise, pink and gold light turning his hair a pleasant orange color. the red vines growing from Dbubs reach towards the sun, waving cheerfully. Patho doesn’t quite know what to say, but Dbubs snuggles into his side with a contented sigh, and he figures maybe he can stay an extra day this time around. maybe. if the itch to leave isn’t too bad.

example two: Bravo and Timmy.

(technically Bravo isn’t a Hels but bear with me here) they seem like they have the most potential to be normalish— an Overworld player and a sweet but anxious bird boy. and I think they have their normal moments, but most of the time they’re just not like that. again: it’s in their code.

but you get moments like… Timmy forgets to eat for a while, which was just a habit from living near spawn for so many years, but now that they’ve moved away, Bravo’s been pushing him to eat a healthy amount. not because he’s concerned, or anything. just. constant death messages cluttering his screen are irritating. yeah. so Timmy forgets to eat, and Bravo notices how bad his hands are shaking when he hands him the thing he asked for. Bravo sighs in (totally real and not affectionate) annoyance and tosses him some of the food out of his own inventory. they take their lunch break together.

alternatively, Bravo’s been working for hours and hours! and Timmy actually had to remind HIM to eat once or twice! and that’s not good, right? so Timmy drags him away from his work for a much-needed walk, and they have a real conversation that didn’t involve insults or excessive swearing. strange.

last one last one okay

bX and Alisker?? ship name help TvT

anyways. we don’t know a whole lot about the two of them individually or like, their backstories, but bX used to fight in the arena until Alisker freed him (some way or another). maybe he was like “hey that guy can fight maybe I should get him on my side so people are more scared of me.” but some part of me is hoping, because HelsKnight is the champion and therefore the best fighter in there (OVER bX), he still chose bX because there was something special about him. some kind of connection. it wasn’t just business. it wasn’t NOT personal!!

now there are those little canon details that are so. just. Alisker trusts bX the most out of literally anybody who works for him, enough to have him run all the errands including the high-risk ones. he keeps water nearby at all times because bX is a guardian hybrid and he wants to keep him healthy/ happy.

and then… there’s another part of me that is very concerned. the unbridled pda— Atlas literally said that was showing off a very prominent weak spot. but what if. it wasn’t. like what if Alisker isn’t worried about that, because it’s not a weak spot? if someone (probably Bravo or smth let’s be honest) had bX pinned, threatening to kill him if Alisker didn’t do whatever whatever, Alisker would be like. “eh. I don’t care. go ahead.” BECAUSE HE’S SO POWER-HUNGRY HE CAN’T COMPUTE THAT SOMETHING, SOMEONE, COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE IMPORTANT.

and maybe bX knows this. and maybe they’re cool with it. maybe it’s just the way they roll.

I just… I love the way Aqua writes characters. it’s so nice to read and conveys both personality and like goal/ ambition so flawlessly, even if they don’t get much read time. IT’S AMAZING

[dorkydegeneracy]

We all know this, but. . .

The conversation Buck and Eddie have in 7x05 about Eddie avoiding sex with Marisol is CRAZY. Sure, two good friends can confide in each other about their sex lives. But then Buck says "Well, I wish I could help."

Like, wtf Buckley?

SIDENOTE: The writers really made their money with this scene. Oliver's lines here are comedy gold and he nails the delivery on every single one! "Episcopalians don't have guilt, which I don't feel great about." Shit had me rolling.

Lest we not forget that the last time we saw Buck on screen this episode is when he unintentionally reveals that he's bi to Maddie with the use of a pronoun. There he also says "I mean, sure I'll check out a hot guy's ass, but that's normal, right?"

This sets up the perfect opportunity for Maddie to make it "canon" by clocking Buck during a FireFam™️ cookout.

Walk with me.

So, the FireFam is at Athena and Bobby's new house for their housewarming party. Everyone is having a great time and melting all of our hearts. Then, they zone in on Buck who has a cheeky look on his face (Something halfway between nonchalance and a shit-eating grin). Then Maddie walks into frame and she says

"Somebody is enjoying the view!"

To which Buck replies (while still staring)

"Huh?"

Then Maddie drops the bomb

"You're staring. You should stop. It's impolite."

"But look at how much fun Jee is having. She's just the cutest!" Buck feigns.

Maddie replies

"You're staring at a hot guy's ass. Don't use my daughter for cover."

Then I'm not sure whether they should pan to Eddie playing with Jee, or if they just cut to black and leave us all in "suspense."

Actually, I prefer the latter. No need to do the extra work when it's already been set up so we'll. And maybe some loons who haven't been paying attention will have a week to debate about it. Stir up interest.

Damn, I should be a writer for this show.

[the-weary-wayward-son]

Let me tell you a sweet little story about me and the two Supernstural ships that most people argue about but that both have a place in my heart and in my mind.

Dean and Cas were my first gay ship, and that in itself has changed me fundamentally as a human being. My first ever fics I wrote when I was eleven were about them. Destiel made me realize, right from season four, that a relationship between two men can (and often is) so much more interesting and complex than any potential heterosexual relationships either of the men could have with a female counterpart. We all know very well the argument of “if Castiel was a woman, there would’ve been immediate romance, but she would get killed off by the end of the season because the fans would hate the relationship”.

I used to watch that™️ scene of Cas pushing Dean up against a wall on repeat and hide my search history from my mother. It made me feel so many things all at once, and as a kid that was way too young to watch the show it the first place, I knew nothing about what they were and what to do with them. Slowly, over the years, I began piecing them together into a more comprehensive understanding, and as the seasons were coming out, one after the other, until the very end, I shipped Destiel somewhere deep in my heart. I stopped actively watching the show on season 12-13, it my feelings towards the ship remained, and they were so deeply engraved within me by that point that it felt like watching Supernatural and not shipping Destiel was like not watching the show to begin with. That being said, I’ll never forget the day that I logged into tumblr for my main blog, and saw Destiel trending. Never in my life have I said “what the fuck???” louder than I have on November 5th.

So that was that, Destiel was cannon? After all these years, after all the (sub)text and the eye contact, and the sacrifices made for each other, Destiel was cannon? We didn’t get Dean saying the words back, let alone a kiss or anything, because CW are mentally stuck in the twelve hundreds, but we got a confession, did we not?

We did, and it felt so anticlimactic that the entirety of the world now gets the news about the latest events through an outlet that should’ve been the end of an era. The confession that hundreds of thousands of people were waiting and hoping for was supposed to be impactful, gut-wrenching and tragic, because that’s what Supernatural has always been about. Most importantly, it was supposed to be closure. It was supposed to feel like it really was the end, which is understandably a very hard thing to achieve in a show where all the main characters have died and resurrected about fifty times.

That is what we did not get. An end to Cas and Dean, to their incredible story that we followed for eleven (11) years. Watching Dean sit in that room with his head in his hands and knowing that that was it, that that was the end of their relationship, felt like someone grabbed me by the neck and pushed my faced under water, holding me there just until I started suffocating, and then just let me go. A sudden, painful and lowkey traumatizing experience that, in the end, amounted to nothing. I felt cheated twice — CW decided to break my heart with the final moments of a relationship that I carried in my heart for over a decade, and they couldn’t even do that right.

Now let’s get into what usually is the opposing opinion.

First thing’s first — I do not and I have never truly, seriously thought that the show was implying that Sam and Dean were sleeping together. Yes, they give each other weird looks but I honestly never in my life believed that somewhere off-screen, within the show, they are lovers.

However.

Whatever it is that Sam and Dean have, it’s definitely more than brotherly love. I’m not saying it’s romantic love, I don’t think it is, but what I am saying is that their souls are tied together with such a tight and tangled thread, that they are two halves of a whole.

They blur into each other, bleed into each other like aquarelle.

A lot of people that have joined the fandom post 2010 do not realize that before Cas, all they ever had was each other. Losing the other meant losing yourself, and the lines separating them into two different people have blurred so much that the lines of the relationship blurred with them.

I personally have an older brother who is the best man I’ve ever met in this life. Do I love him to death? Yes. Would I die and kill for him? He would never let me but yes. Would I, however, offer up my soul to bring him back if he were to die prematurely? No.

The Winchester brothers do it so much that Dean has turned it into a hobby.

If you review his actions and decisions over the seasons, you’ll realise at one point that while Sam managed to live (no matter how dreadfully) without Dean between seasons three and four, Dean cannot live without him.

He is not just striking up deals with higher powers and/or demons, he’s not making sacrifices, he’s killing himself because he physically cannot fucking live without his younger brother.

Seeing what a horrible father John had always been to them, they only had each other to trust, to seek comfort in, to protect and to get protected by. I will never get tired of watching the way they instinctually reach for each other when it seems like everything is coming to an end. In the final moments, they always, always strive to meet them as a whole.

And the way their story ends is, if we take into account everything above, so much more impactful. One last death, and of course it’s Dean, protecting Sam like he always has. They reach for each other, like they’ve always done, and the scene is a gut-wrenching mirror of their first scene together. It was that mirror, the story finally coming its full, inevitable circle, that ripped my heart right out of my chest and then patted my cheek with the bloody hand, asking if I was really expecting a happy ending. Supernatural has always been about tragedy, and the relationship between Sam and Dean has always been about damnation.

The absolute desperation of them trying to save each other and not realising that they are two inseparable, twisted parts of a whole will never not fuck me up.

[apavlovs]

Intro post!!!!

(But redone for the second time lmao)

Hello!!! I’m Apavlovs, I am the creature behind the screen drawing the silly guys you see before you :]

This is mostly just a place where I can share my art and ramble about my ocs, and occasionally draw fanart of the stuff I like… just a little corner to have fun, yknow?

Other stuff about me!!

I love being sent drawing requests!! The only catch is I can’t promise I’ll always get around to them, and if I do it might take me centuries because I have trouble working up the motivation to draw anything more than sketches </3 (I see you people in my inbox and I am so very sorry)

Related to the last point, I also love being sent asks in general!! Whether it be asking about lore, world building or art tips, or even just to say hi! It always brightens my day :]

Officially diagnosed with AuDHD, which means I’m extremely forgetful and sometimes overly energetic— if I forget to respond to asks, comments, etc or am overbearing I promise it isn’t on purpose LMAO

I have trouble processing tones, so you might see me use tone tags a lot (these little bad boys —> /silly, /nf, etc. if you need any clarification let me know!!!)

I enjoy rambling so very much, if you’re willing to listen (and to come to me first,) I’m always happy to talk to you :]

Some other social media accounts I have;

YouTube Channel - https://youtube.com/@apavlovs2007?si=t80uIN3pXVb9PO07

Artfight - https://artfight.net/~Apavlovs

Toyhouse - (still) in the works!!!!

Various hyperfixations I have at the moment;

- Psychonauts

- Bioshock

- TF2, medic is neat and so is engineer

- Atomic Heart

- Minecraft

- Inanimate Insanity (would put object shows in general but I still gotta watch all the other popular ones)

- Medical/Sciencey themes, if you have a scientist character I WILL go feral and that is a promise

- Object heads

- Cookie Run (specifically Kingdom I have not touched ovenbreak ever)

- That one guy I draw 24/7™️

Will probably continue editing this occasionally to change up the hyperfixation list but yeah!!!! Intro post!!!!!!! Yippee ki yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[quillsmora]

First I want to say I'm so sorry people have sent you hateful messages or said mean things to you over issues you've had with IW. That's so unnecessary. I'm sending you internet hugs.

Secondly, thank you for sharing a balanced view of Gunn. His work is often excellent but that doesn't mean he lacks room for improvement. It's been difficult since vol 3 came out to have many constructive conversations about the movie and regarding Gamora. It's been frustrating to see people who criticized EG and the Russo's for not focusing on certain things and not developing parts of the story more or who swore up and down Gunn would absolutely focus on them and do it so much better, and now that vol 3 is out missing some of the same story beats, people are totally fine with it or acting as if they were never needed in the first place. It's okay to love some stuff while admitting other stuff wasn't great. It's not better or more mature to pretend something is flawless. It's also eye opening seeing people do this and then turn around and predominantly praise or gush over every other character but Gamora. If they think everything was flawless why not gush over her too. Then there's the people scrutinizing Gamora as if she were the villain. I saw Thanos get more love from some fans. It's like I'm in the worst timeline. I'm just happy for Gamora friendly blogs like yours. It makes my fandom experience much better.

ty for the hug anon <3

and yeah, i like gunn and his work, but at the end of the day he's still a straight white man™️ with the experiences of a straight white man™️ and it can sometimes come across in his writing. again, my only issue with vol 3 is that i wish it delved more into this new gamora and her relationships with the other guardians/what lead her to becoming a ravager. sometimes it felt like she was only there because they needed to wrap up peter's arc on moving on from grief. i was personally disappointed in that as someone who's been a gamora fan since i first saw her in that cut scene of her topless in the vol 1 trailers that definitely had a major part in my gay awakening on the big screen when i was 11 years old. i think it's important to acknowledge the people you respect, especially in an industry like Hollywood, aren't perfect and you can disagree with their choices while still liking what they did end up making. a lot of that has been lost, especially when it comes to talking about comic book movies (you know exactly what group of fans i'm referring to).

gamora is definitely the least talked about guardian out of everyone and i've seen a lot of misinterpretation about what gamora was in vol 3/people seeming to forget that she died and saying she and peter just "grew apart". there are others who are quick to say who peter should move on with (it's not just that ship, for some reason the five peter x kitty fans in existence seem to think they now have a shot of mcu starkat/prydequill lmao), and who have diminished what gamora meant to all the other guardians, not just peter and nebula. like, she was groot's mother!! and james had to clarify that in an instagram comment because people couldn't pick up on that dynamic in vol 2!!!

gamora deserved so much better than what she was given in the mcu, and i'm always going to believe that. hell, she also deserves better than what she's currently being given in the comics too.

i'm glad my blog is being seen as a bright spot by other gamora fans! i've loved gamora for nearly a decade now and i'll always love her. she's been such a core part of my fandom identity, it's kinda like how i'll always love ariel from the little mermaid or katniss from the hunger games or even santana from glee, her character helped me identify with and discover myself growing up :,).

[thefinalwitness]

i'm used to everyone on twt knowing The Gpose Tools™️ inside and out but i'm realizing that's maybe not so much the case around here? so i thought i'd quickly slap down some stuff i use (and any prerequisites they might require)! :)

dalamud: a "plugin" manager that allows you to install approved plugins and "experimental" plugins, which are similar but unique from mods; basically, they alter different things than mods. works 100% within the game itself and includes an instant launcher so u dont have to log in anymore LMAO. some cool approved plugins on it i like are "price insight" (shows you the most recent listing and purchase of an item on your server/datacenter's market boards in the item's tooltip, i like it for deciding if random junk i dont want is worth listing or if i should just vendor it) and "honorific" (allows you to give your character custom titles!)

penumbra: a mod manager within dalamud that is the basic successor of textools. it allows you to use .ttmp and .pmp files to add aesthetic mods to your game, like hairstyles, gear, vfx effects, etc. it works within dalamud and thus within game. it's probably the currently most popular way ppl make modded characters, textools (old school) being the other. you can, unlike textools, also make "collections" that only apply to certain races, genders or even only your own character.

anamnesis: a third party tool that functions outside of the game but allows for custom posing of characters and assembling gear/appearances. anything you change resets on a loading screen, but i use it for posing and also saving appearance files of various stages of l'aiha's and other characters' story. no prereqs! it works by itself.

ktisis: very similar to anamnesis but with some key differences; it's an 'experimental' dalamud plugin, meaning you have to opt into it, but it also allows for appearance editing and posing. the keyest difference is posing; rather than a divorced control panel in another window, ktisis adds the controls for posing directly onto your character, making it a little easier to see what you're moving, and allowing you to move it in gpose itself, not with an external window.

brio: GAME CHANGER. i forget what the current limit is, but brio allows you to spawn up to (last i checked) 39 replicas of your character, who can then have appearances saved in anamnesis or ktisis applied to them with ktisis (anam cannot apply them, but ktisis can load anam files). you can also apply penumbra collections to them; for example, i can tell brio "this actor uses my y'shtola collection" and it will use the mods from that collection instead of my player character's collection. no more inconspicuously standing around in gpose with your carbuncle out. :D oh, and brio is an experimental plugin in dalamud!

glamourer: experimental dalamud plugin, allows you to assemble outfits of in-game gear regardless of job and save them, making them persist across loading screens. i can finally put my red mage in aiming and striking gear LMAO.

if you're new to modding or thinking about getting into it, please remember that it is AGAINST ffxiv terms of service. that means, if squeenix finds out your specific account is doing it, they CAN ban you. all of these recommendations are made as safe and undetectable as possible by their devs, but there is always a risk.

some general advice i personally follow to protect yourself from being "provably" using mods:

- don't share your in-game name and server name simultaneously in public. this prevents bad actors from connecting your social media screenshots to your account.

- don't ever link or talk about mods in game. not in chat or your search comment. do not put a link in your search comment that leads to modded screenshots!

- DOOOOOON'T USE MODDED SCREENSHOTS IN OFFICIAL CONTESTS OR WHEN REPLYING TO SQUEENIX'S OFFICIAL TWITTERS OR WHATEVER MY GOD.

- for extra protection, i personally censor words like "mods", "plugins", "penumbra", etc most of the time, again, just to prevent bad actors from LOOKING for people to report.

squeenix is pretty chill about mods under the following conditions: 1) you can't CHEAT or IMPACT OTHER PLAYERS. an example of this would be if a mod made a one-use resource in the overworld big and bright, giving you an advantage over other players to see or click it first. 2) they're HARSHER about explicit/sexual nsfw, as the game is not rated for this content and not cracking down on it could get them in trouble. 3) certain quality of life mods can be a big problem IF you use them in things like "world first" races. an example was a player that was banned (or suspended) for using a mod that increased how far back he could scroll his camera, allowing him to see more of the battlefield. this player's group had gotten a world first omega unreal (i think?) clear and streamed himself using that camera mod to thousands of onlookers, thus their world first record was rescinded and all eight players were at least suspended, if not outright banned.

benign, aesthetic, non-advantageous mods are STILL AGAINST TOS, but they're much less likely to LOOK for your account if they see you using them. harmless appearance mods, or quality of life mods NOT used in big streams or world first races, are typically only something you'll get banned for if a reporter can prove to squeenix your screenshots/socmed/etc and your ffxiv account are both owned by you. they mostly "look the other way", so just do some basic diligence and you're 99.999% safe.

truly, i do not think aesthetic modding is risky by any means, but i always want to stress that there IS a risk, even if it is tiny, for those that may be considering getting into it. <3

apologies also for the no reblog; i don't want this getting out of my circles. i am MORE cautious than the average ffxiv modder, but i'd rather be safe than not. thank you for understanding!

EDITED TO ADD: on twt i considered myself a very casual modder. there's A LOT i don't know, understand, or could be outdated on. i JUST found out anamnesis can do the actors thing like brio can now. so apologies for any errors, i mostly intend for this to be a "where to start" resource for those interested. if you have corrections or recommendations, feel free to add them in the replies; for readers, be aware i cannot vet any reply suggestions. i chose to talk about the things i did because they are VERY safe and i've been using them for months or years. i cannot guarantee this of other suggestions! ok love u byeeeee

[itsnotmyfaultsomepeoplecantread]

Ok first, this made my day because he really was an icon in that episode and I’m very pleased to have this knowledge (which I can now laugh at every time I think about it).

But ALSO, as I was describing this to my mom (who has not seen good omens), I realized I might have a… Hot Take™️. Like. Potentially a *really* Hot Take™️. Especially with all of the issues with the film industry right now. Bare in mind that I completely support the writers and actors striking right now, realize how difficult an industry it is to get into, and acknowledge that things desperately need to change in terms of equality on so many levels.

But here’s my thought: child actors who aren’t born into acting families are so often horribly abused, manipulated, and coerced into shit that leaves them traumatized. We have seen so many kid actors dive off the deep end as adults and end up in shit circumstances.

Why? Because they are basically being sold into acting by their parents. Their parents are making and keeping the money. And kids are a lot easier to manipulate than fully grown adults.

But think about what would happen if someone messed with David Tennant’s or Chris Hemsworth’s kid. That person would be instantly decimated and cast out of college.

Those kids grew up around acting and the industry and the complaints (I’d imagine) that the parents have. And they have their parents to back them up. They’re not just *the better option* but they’re probably going to be a lot SAFER on set than other kids.

I could totally see how nepotism babies become so important in the film industry, and families are on screen for generations. Boiling down nepotism to just being a problem of the film industry is a lot more complicated than that. It’s really, I’d imagine, just a symptom of a much deeper toxicity that permeates the whole industry.

And to be honest, as an ex-teacher, I’d rather have those famous peoples’ kids on screen than worry about kids who aren’t used to that dynamic being put in situations where they can’t stand up for themselves, because they have someone with them who knows the industry well enough to stand up for them. And they’re not just doing it so the parents can get the paycheck (and before you fight me, remember that girl from iCarly who literally wrote a book that’s title said she was glad her mom was dead and how traumatic being a child actor was for her).

I’m sure there are a lot of exceptions to this, and again, I’ll specify that I understand it’s a complicated issue. But I think maybe that other perspective has to be mentioned, because child abuse behind the scenes is a really fucking big problem still.

And all of that doesn’t even begin to discuss the other issues of how complicated it must be to have to figure out your identity when you’re growing up spending most of your time as another person. Not everyone is made for that, and for some kids it might be really difficult to get through those feelings if they’re not used to being around that to begin with.

Some states in America have literally changed laws to allow child workers again. And being an actor is still a job in any country. So please, let’s not forget the kids in the industry when we’re having these discussions of complex issues. I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m not saying that it isn’t a problem, but we have to think about every single side of this.

they really brought david tenant’s son in and said hey do you want to play a gay little boy in good omens 2. just a little camp mf. nepotism done right.

[7-wonders]

Okay but you’re spending your evening just hanging out and watching Spider-Man: No Way Home when Morpheus appears in your living room because he has no sense when it comes to letting you know ahead of time that he wants to see you or just, y’know, having Matthew pop by and be like “boss is coming in five!���

So after you recover from your heart attack you let him know that you’re just watching a movie tonight so if he has better things to do involving The Dreaming/being an Endless, he can do that. He doesn’t understand why you’d say that bc why wouldn’t he want to spend time with you, so he sits down next to you and lets you drape yourself over him before you unpause the movie.

Of course, Dream was imprisoned long before comic books really came to be mainstream, so he has no clue what anything on the screen is. You have to pause every time a new character appears on screen, because he will undoubtedly say, “Who’s this?” and you have to try and respond while also not launching into all the lore™️.

(“Who’s this?”

“MJ, Peter’s girlfriend.”

“Who’s this?”

“Doc Ock, he’s a villain from another universe.”

“Who’s this?”

“Matt Murdock.” On screen, the brick flies through the window, and Matt catches it with ease. You say his line at the same time that he does, “He’s a really good lawyer,” and laugh when Dream looks shocked that you knew what he was going to say. God, you love having a boyfriend that knows nothing about technology or movies or anything.)

And this keeps up, honestly, you’re having a blast with it. It’s fun to get to introduce characters that you’ve watched since you were little to an anthropomorphic personification who is eons older than you are. And then it gets to the scene where one Flint Marko is dropped into the MCU, and Dream again asks who that is.

“Sandman,” you say without thinking, forgetting who it is you’re sitting next to.

“Who?” Morpheus asks in bewilderment.

“Oh!” Shit, you did not anticipate this. “No, it’s not like, a character based off of you or anything like that. He’s literally made out of sand, which is why he’s called Sandman.”

Morpheus scoffs. “My, it must have taken them ages to try and come up with a name so clever.”

You smirk. “Are you mad that your name’s been co-opted, or are you mad he doesn’t have your powers?”

“I’m not mad over a fictional character. It’s just ridiculous that a character such as this would be designed, only for them to name him,” Morpheus scoffs again, as if the very thought is paining him, “Sandman.”

Mad about the name, then. Got it. “I can…pick something else to watch?” you suggest.

Dream shakes his head, acting like this didn’t just get him all riled up. “No, let us finish your superhero movie,” he grumbles before begrudgingly allowing you to hesitantly turn your attention back to the screen.

It’s a good thing Sandman doesn’t have a major part in this movie.

[hajimariwaquartet]

Hi hi hi!!💕 Oh my goodness your a3der swap was so much fun i really had to come here again and let you know!! Oh, have you thought about doing more swap of these? Not to put pressure or anything because there are A LOT of things to take into consideration but i do think you would do such a good job!!

In any case, i loved it. Thank you so much!! 💕

awww thank you!! im glad you enjoyed it!! i was actually planning to doodle a few more scenes (sakuya going "FIGHT ME" to chikage, kumon being blinded by banri's smile, summer troupe hug pile, and fuyugumi getting their own tv show after one of tsumugi's directors sees them and goes "can i get you guys for my new show pleaseplease" ) but im less inclined to draw these days, unfortunately. but i'm planning on writing a fic for this swap au since i have so many things i wanna explore!!

here's a list of stuff i wanna explore in this au!!

sakuya having beef with both chikage and sakyo from main story conflicts + masumi going "hell no" when sakuya approaches him in act 1 for mankai

itaru being the first victim of sakuya's freaky strength

sakuya has a bit of a sore spot for being called short and he raises hell when someone does call him any form of short (midget, kid) and sakyo unfortunately stepped on a landmine when he called him a middle-schooler for his looks and temper (since swap sakuya reminds him of azami so much)

chikage thought his infiltration plan was Good but he didn't think of sakuya being ridiculously perceptive with his true intentions. chikage gets irritated with how eager he is to pick fights with him in particular, and hisoka's like "hey doesn't he remind you of you when you were younger" "shut up."

tenma helping out the summer troupe in their schoolworks and being the introvert adopted into the group of friends

tenma being generally a lot less outspoken and prideful compared to canon, but he's still sharp with acting as ever

tenma going along with misumi's triangle hunts and he finds himself actually enjoying hunts bc misumi makes it so fun

tenma is friends with taichi in this au, since taichi felt bad that he passed the audition that broke the actor tenma sumeragi. taichi hesitates when reni asks him to infiltrate mankai, and tenma's one of the reasons why he can't just bring himself to destroy mankai

swap banri and sakuya contrast and comparison (since both of their first arcs seem to rely on motivation and how it affects someone)

banri being an absolute angel!! and freaking out the readers and audience as well during picaresque, since no one expects the Prince of Hana High to play a gangster and banri not being the fox-faced gangster we know and love

sakuya, masumi, and banri being a legendary trio since no one understands why the hell are they all hanging out (until they learn they're in the same troupe, at least)

banri being motivated by spite to start acting properly, then he actually finds his motivation to act!! thanks to juza getting tired with his "others think this is okay" thinking and telling him off for it

tsumugi being dramatic and an expert on the screen, but kinda clumsy off the camera. imagine him playing a lucimugi role one minute, then he trips over some exposed wires the next minute.

tsumugi being Prideful™️ and a bit of dick too since i think it's interesting to explore a tsumugi like that

fuyugumi saving tsumugi when he forgets his disguise (again) since he's not used to being an actual celebrity (bc veludo theatergoers aren't the rabid type). hisoka and guy pull off some secret agent stuff, azuma charms their way out of the crowd, and tasuku just carries him like a sack of potatoes and runs.

tsumugi maknae (?) sorry i realized that he sorta looked like a kpop idol and i was like 👁👁

[applestorms]

ooo wait i love that interpretation, BGD as both dirk and jake’s potential for (morally good?) power is great actually. also, big Agree about jake’s intelligence being hidden, the interpretation of the kids’ fetch modus being a representation of how they think fits that idea too (jake’s being too large to even fit on screen -> his intelligence being kinda unknowable even to him). pretty sure it’s also pretty explicitly referenced in BGD’s intro following that long ass conversation between 13yo dirkjake (“GT: I have no business knowing those things.” pg.4875). ok now for this one:

OHOHOH. okay very interested in hearing your elaboration, but my understanding of abraxas is mostly limited to the way they’re referenced in the hermann hesse novel demian (and also all the explanations of gnosticism given in those optimistic duelist lore videos i obsessively binged as a teenager, epic). for denizens specifically though, we’re mostly limited in canon to john and caliborn (and i guess roxy?) for more extensive looks at the denizens besides basic visuals & names. so john does his whole oil quest with typheus (and is killed early on by him thanks to terezi) and caliborn gets the house juju from beating yaldabaoth, both incredibly significant moments for the Alpha Timeline™️ of homestuck.

we get very little information in hs canon about abraxas as a denizen, only really knowing that they’re jake’s because of the web browser thing (and also maybe karkat? forget where the evidence for that comes from). outside of the text though, abraxas is stupidly relevant when it comes to the whole duality motif that surrounds the cherubs, and many other key themes/visuals in homestuck. carl jung calls abraxas a god both higher than and a combination of the christian god and devil- pistorius also says this when teaching emil sinclair about abraxas in demian, i believe- essentially the ultimate evil and ultimate good combined. the appeal of abraxas to emil sinclair’s study is this specific duality, something he struggles with throughout his life from very early on with the worlds of light (family, religion, safety) and dark (danger, social taboos) he describes from his childhood. in demian, pistorius is basically emil’s transitional mentor at a time when max demian himself is not present, so this teaching of abraxas is quite significant. it’s actually really interesting then if abraxas is in fact karkat’s denizen too, given that both jake and karkat have a lot of jesus imagery associated with them w/ the hope angels/golgothas & sufferer respectively; abraxas is kind of blasphemous w/ their whole God&Satan thing when it comes to christianity.

jake and karkat in general have a lot of connections to the cherubs, actually. karkat is presumably a lime blood but mutated to bright red (calliope & caliborn’s blood colors), his gray text is right in the middle of callie and caliborn’s, and his struggle between passivity (more natural to him w/ his blood aspect) and violence (the Alternian standard, thanks to doc scratch). jake’s whole intro page is basically a hehe wink tease with how much lord english shit surrounds him, and he is later explained to have direct influence on lord english’s attire and, yeah, name.

the whole point of a denizen is that they can be either defeated or worked with, so the fact that karkat and jake both have abraxas, the ultimate symbol of extreme duality, as theirs is. PRETTY MEANINGFUL, i mean you can basically interpret that as jake and karkat are the best subjects to defeat the cherubs right?? which makes sense, especially when considering their strengths in relation to the meat/candy distinction of the epilogues. if you don’t like the pumpkin route thing and want alternatives to both meat & candy, karkat’s aspect being blood and all about relationships, with his biggest strength during the troll’s session being his ability to keep everyone working together, is a good alternative to the shitshow of compulsively heteronormative relationships in candy. and in terms of meat, with jake…..

yeah no, the evidence in favor of ultimate jake just keeps stacking up, jesus fuck lol.

clawed my way through (some of) the epilogues and hs^2 again for dirkjake crumbs and i think there is a Genuine place for ultimate jake to fit into canon (or at the very least, lord jake english) since meat timeline jake never actually shows up visually in hs^2 and his final appearance in that timeline (minus a phone call or something w/ roxy? or was it kanaya fuck) is giving ult. dirk his spaceship and then proclaiming his undying love while desperately trying to get dirk to let him join him, to which dirk responds that he’ll “never let [jake] break [his] heart again” (ch39). agony.

two interesting things about the end of his arc in meat actually: for one thing, it’s kinda implied that along with giving dirk a spaceship, he also gave dave/karkat/roxy/kanaya/etc a spaceship to chase after him, so he’s at least taken some action to try to stop him. again though, we never see him after that point so like. the idea that he could just hope himself into becoming an ultimate self in the background is actually kind of a possibility?? like while the others try to chase dirk down, jake is figuring out how to brute force himself into ascension as a backup plan. second thing, dirk is very snarky in the narration about the fact that this dramatic goodbye he’s giving jake is the last time he’ll ever get to see him (jake see dirk, i mean) but ult. dirk also seems to lack power against alt. calliope when they fight over the narrative so jake ascending would actually pose a serious threat and might be able to override that, assuming dirk’s power over the narrative extends that far in the first place (thinking about that post talking about how narration is also a reflection of characters’ thoughts…)

candy timeline jake is also pretty interesting since he very notably starts being advised by BGD to be a kind of spy on the inside against jane’s. whole thing in that timeline. i actually completely cannot remember what jane does in the meat timeline, i think also some presidency bullshit, right?? that’s what the davekat thing was about??? but anyway BGD sounds pretty normal in all his dialogue, or normal for BGD at least, and is aware of both the game over timeline and ult. dirk’s bullshit enough to make fun of it so. idk maybe i’m just misunderstanding how ultimate selves work, but the fact that BGD wasn’t really “integrated” into ult. dirk feels significant to me, especially considering the fact that we can see caliborn/LE’s influence on ult. dirk so much (his narration in ch39 gives AR too, frankly, like the epilogues are obvs way more openly horny than hs proper but AR was always kinda like that too, especially about jake). hs^2 also ends super abruptly with some lore shit i skimmed half heartedly between calliope, roxy, and john again talking about his initial decision between candy and meat. that whole conversation pretty deliberately frames the decision between meat and candy as being parallel to terezi’s coin flip about whether or not to kill vriska, and roxycallie even tell john straight up that he needs to get vriska again to fix the story, perhaps assuming that’ll work again since it did when he was retconning the timeline? but imo, though maybe i’m biased cause i didn’t really review what vriska does post-canon again, it seems more fitting to me that jake would be the one to fix the bullshit timelines, considering 1. dirk is the one going bananas out of his fucking mind w/ control of the narrative, 2. thematically, pumpkins are the most logical, healthy alternative to meat and candy, fitting since caliborn explicitly aligns dirk and jake’s color scheme with them in the smut-drawing conversation and since (in the same breath) he establishes that he hates them and prefers meat/candy. but that’s getting into sherlock secret final episode levels of conspiracy, and i’m not sure i’m ready for that one

[ladymajavader]

Sometimes I think this show went off the rails in the pilot when Liz's decade-long ghosting of M*ria was handwaved with one joke about Instagram stalking and the rest of the show proceeded to have them do whatever they wanted with no substantial consequences as the only characters with legit grievances™️ you always have to feel for. Instead, somehow everything became Alex's fault, and he wound up doing all the work for the three of them while getting absolutely nothing in return. Add Max's bullshit always taking precedence over Michael's feelings and 4 seasons later I can't wait for the show to go off the air. For all the "RNM was a better show with Carina as showrunner", it really wasn't. It's just that the perpetual cycle of toxic positivity you so percetly put didn't quite get on everyone's nerves yet. The effort these writers put in to have zero plot coherence in any given season AND zero character continuity for almost anyone is astounding.

Nonnie, you got me good with this ask. The longer I thought on it the more I agree, that there was some crack in the foundations of the show, a fundamental disconnect between what it told us it is and what it proceeded to be. It was supposed to be Liz's story. It was meant to explore themes of alien-ness as a metaphor on immigration and after one confrontation with ICE it's not an issue anymore. It purported to be a paragon of social justice awareness and gave us one awful monologue about abortion and somehow even worse racist "redemption" plot/the militia storyline that also solved racism in Roswell forever. It should've been a found family story, and the synopses and interviews still tell us "this group of friends always comes together to help each other in times of need!" and on screen it's everyone fawning over Max/Maria/Liz and forgetting the existence of Kibble and Alan. They drop the ball on everything, constantly and consistently and, as @lovecolibri puts it, set up emotional and story beats wide as a broad side of a barn and then completely miss hitting them every. damn. time. What the writers can be reliably expected to do include only things like making everything All Alex's Fault, even his own kidnapping, sticking M*ria on a pedestal and twisting Liz's character from one Jeanine was so excited to play and I to watch into this girlboss mad scientist accidental caricature.

I don't believe the show was better with Carina; as @ashesandhalefire said, back then this show did cool things by accident and truly awful things on purpose, and in the last two season I believe the awful things are mostly due to incompetence. It's just that during her reign the incompetence was covered up by panache, sheer unfounded confidence and loud shouting on twitter and now it is laid bare in all of its ridiculousness and ugly biases at the heart of the show that proclaimed itself as a paragon of progressive tv.

[pixiedust-designs]

Cat is to Bag as Assistant is to Phone. Aka Tommy meets new people.

tiny assistant au: Giants: Tubbo + Wilbur + Philza tinies: Ranboo + Tommy + Technoblade warnings: suicidal ideation mention, language, mentions of trauma, terriblecharacter!dream, objectifying/ referring to someone as an 'it' in a degrading way [ I am very tired but I have so many ideas for this au, brain is so full all of the time. - ™️ anon] _______________________________ Tommy woke up with a start, staying silent in terror. His senses were haywire and he quickly ran through a system update so he would be ready if he was picked up from his charging station. But as time passed Tommy remembered everything, he wasn't in that situation anymore. Now, instead of being met with a new round of psychological warfare, he relaxed as he felt the soft tapping of Tubbo on the back of his phone. It was subtle to anyone who didn't know Morse, but thankfully google translate was burned into his brain. He listened and realized the quiet taps were three specific letters. 'I (..) L (.-..) U (..-)' Tommy smiled to himself, when his owner had tossed him aside he thought that was it. He was fine with it. What a fitting end for a piece of technology, used for as long as it remained useful then tossed into the trash. But there came Tubbo to fuck that all up. He snickered at himself as he accessed his photos. Tubbo mainly used Ranboo's phone for important stuff like emails and boring shit. But on his phone? Tommy laughed as he found the picture Tubbo had taken of Willbur, who had fallen asleep on the floor after introducing Technoblade to Tubbo and Ranboo. Willbur had been around for a week now, and today... Tommy was strong, but he was nervous. Because Tubbo wanted to tell Will about him today. It could go two ways: 1, Wilbur is not a dickhead and agrees to keep the secret. Or 2, Willbur IS a dickhead and reports him as stolen or whatever and he has to go back to...him. He sighed to himself as unease crawled over his skin. If that happened, he had made Ranboo promise to destroy his phone. And with it, him as well. "Hey Tommy?" He blinked as Tubbo tapped his phone a bit harder than before, bringing his attention to his screen. He looked through the camera to see Tubbo sitting at his desk, Ranboo sitting on a box of open Oreos, looking at a video playing on Tubbo's computer. "What's up?" He asked, shuddering as his phone was unplugged. Tubbo hummed. "Are you still worried about Will?" Tommy sighed, of course he was, but like hell he would admit it. "No of course not! If he does not lile me I will simply fight him in a duel to defend my honor. I will-" He paused as he collected the energy he needed to leave his phone. With a blink he found himself stood on- "Shit." Tubbo's laughter shook the ground beneath Tommy's feet as he frantically grabbed onto some of the fluffy locks that surrounded him. "Maybe Will can help us with your weird teleporting too big man." Tubbo snickered as he reached a hand up towards Tommy, who huffed as his friend's fingers curled carefully around him. "Whatever." He was placed softly on the desk, moving to lean against the Oreo box. "Why did you take me off? I'm at 80%, not 100." Tubbo hummed, motioning towards his computer screen. "I've been looking at how to maintain phones with degraded batteries and one thing they say is to not charge them to 100% because of how all the chemicals react and stuff. Hopefully we can find someone that will replace your battery, but until then it's best to keep it in the best condition we can." Tommy nodded, remembering how his last owner would leave him charging for days then use his phone until it died, then charged it just enough to turn back on then run it dead again. "Did you see any uh...water damage when you took the tracker out?" Tubbo shook his head. "Everything looked okay, your phones are supposed to be waterproofed so it makes sense." "To be fair Tubbo jumped into a pool forgetting I was in his pocket and I'm fine." Ranboo chuckled as Tubbo gasped in feigned shock. "I didn't just forget, dad pushed me in." Tubbo huffed, crossing his arms childishly. "Suuuure." Ranboo laughed, kicking his legs as they barely dangled off the edge of the box. The three all jumped as a knock sounded against Tubbo's door, as he had locked it for once. "One second!" Tubbo called, quickly placing Tommy's phone under the Oreo box and scooping Tommy up and placing him in his hoodie pocket. Tommy huffed at the quick movement and being picked up so suddenly, but he trusted Tubbo with his life even if it hurt his pride a bit. "Hey Dad left to get groceries, what did you need?" Tommy held his breath as he realized how close Wilbur was. The taller brunette didn't even know about him, and yet he held so much power over him. "I wanna ask you something Will. C'mon in because I think both of us will need to be sitting down for this." Tubbo's voice rumbled against Tommy's back, serious in a way that was almost funny if it wasn't because his life was on the line. "Of course, what's up?" Wilbur asked as the two settled into sitting positions. "You sound so serious, this is obviously important." Tubbo let out a quiet sigh, and Tommy found a bit of comfort as Tubbo's heartbeat increased in it's tempo. Tubbo cared about him so deeply his body was actually going into fight or flight over him. A worthless assistant that couldn't even play music. Those music discs had mocked him, he was glad they were finally gone. His symbol, what made him unique. Them being gone almost felt fitting, like something even more unique. He was broken out of his spiral as Tubbo's voice vibrated against his back once again. "Did you know it's illegal to have someone else's assistant phone?" There was a tense silence that followed. Will sighed. "You are so much smarter than I have ever given you credit for. How did you find out?" Tommy paused, taking a moment to process that. "Wait, what?" Tubbo asked, his voice cracking as confusion echoed in his tone. "Wait you didn't-" Wilbur seemed equally thrown off. "I-" Tommy held back a yelp as Tubbo physically shook himself out of his confusion. "So Techno, you stole him???" Wilbur let out a noise. "Technically yes? I'm supposed to 'fix him' but I also don't have to return him if I deem him 'unrepaireable' aka I can't make him obediant. So when I report him as faulty they'll just remove his tracker data and I can either keep him or throw him away. Obviously I'm going to keep him." Tubbo hummed softly. "So what would happen if you threw him away?" "Well I wouldn't but," Tubbo shifted, and Tommy felt his friend lean forwards in anticipation. "The owner, which is technically me, would get a notification in an email or on a separate phone that is listed as our emergency contact after an hour. It will have the phone's location and is pinged once an hour until the phone is found or it is ignored for 48 hours. After that it is considered a 'dead assistant' and the phone is removed from the systems." "What do you mean removed from the systems?" Tubbo asked slowly. Will hummed. "Their phones won't be able to be sent in for repairs, they won't be able to update their software, they can no longer get a signal, they're essentially a tablet." Tubbo relaxed slightly. "Oh that's it? Okay I guess it could be way worse." Tommy nodded silently in agreement. He could live without all that stuff. It was fine. "And if the owner keeps tracking the phone, it extends the time before they're removed from the system, just in case there's an error or something." Will continued. Tommy froze, and he felt Tubbo tense as well, his heartbeat quickening with anxiety. It had been three weeks since he was found, and barely a week since his tracker chip was removed. Tommy frantically connected to his phone remotely and stared in horror at the signal bars at the top left of his screen. Meaning his last owner had been tracking him up until his tracker was taken out. "Tubbo are you alright?" Wilbur asked, cutting through the tense silence. "Will...can you promise me something?" Tubbo asked slowly, his heartbeat thudding against Tommy's back. "Promise me the next thing I tell you won't leave this room, you can't even tell dad." There was a beat of silence before a sigh came from the older brunette. "I promise." Tommy felt Tubbo pull his phone out from under the Oreo box, soft taps of 'U R OK' in Morse reverberating softly through his connection with his phone. "Tubbo...that's-" Wilbur's voice seemed strained in shock. Tommy bit back a yelp as Tubbo's hand reached into his space, his friend's fingers curling around him carefully. He felt Tubbo softly press against his shoulder in an awkward attempt at comfort before pulling him out into the open. Tommy stomach twisted in dread as he had to look way up to see Wilbur's face. Holy shit the human was tall. "Wilbur meet Tommy." Tubbo said with a shaky smile. "Tommy...meet Wilbur." There was an awkward silence as the two stared at each other. "Tubbo..." Tubbo went tense at the tone. "Yeah Will?..." "I-" Wilbur shook his head before starting to laugh, the sound slightly unhinged. "I cannot believe it." Wilbur calmed enough to look at both of them. "If I'm right, you managed to find the assistant phone of the son of EmSea's fucking CEO." Will relayed before falling back into shaky laughter. "That would be your luck huh?" Tubbo carefully cradled Tommy to his chest, leaning back in his chair. "Well I don't really care Will. Whoever it is was a piece of shit to Tommy." Will calmed and nodded. "Oh absolutely, I've seen some of the early prototypes. He was the beta tester for them, and most of them are either unwakeable or unresponsive to anything other than direct orders." Tommy felt sick as he remembered some of the experiments he endured from his owner. And the grim reminder of how his story could have ended. "So you won't tell anyone about Tommy, right?" Tubbo asked, his voice dead serious. Will shook his head. "Of course not! I'm not one to throw others under proverbial busses, you know that." Tubbo nodded, and Tommy felt him relax, heartbeat slowing back to normal and he felt himself subconsciously relaxing as well. "So," The three turned to the doorway at the sudden voice. Standing there was Philza with a familiar pink phone in his hand. "I think we all need to have a little chat. Boys, assistants." Tommy felt his heart stop as he made eye contact with Tubbo's dad who turned shortly after to stare down Will. "Meet me in the kitchen in 5 minutes." He stated, handing the phone over to Will before turning out the door. "Oh shit." Tommy gulped nervously. "Oh shit is right big man." Tubbo echoed. Wilbur picked up Techno's phone and sighed. "Well we better go ahead and get down there. No use avoiding the inevitable..." The four nodded at each other, the two assistants retreating to their phones as Tubbo followed Wilbur out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen. The two brothers were expecting to see their dad waiting for them, sat down at the table all proper like when they would come back from school with failings marks. Instead they were met by him sitting leaned over with a perturbed look, hand threaded through his hair like when he was nervous to do something. "Dad?" Wilbur bit the bullet, catching Phil's attention. "C'mon over and take a seat boys...and if you could ask those assistant boys to join us as well, I would appreciate it." Phil said softly, waving them over. Tubbo and Will took a seat, both pulling out their respective phones. Ranboo left his phone with little hesitation, meanwhile Tommy took a little reassurance from Tubbo. However. "Techno?" The four turned to Will who seemed to pause then slowly look up at Phil in confusion. Phil nodded. "By the time I realized it's phone had fallen into my bag it was dead, but when I tried to charge it-" "Him." Phil paused, turning to Tubbo who huffed. "His name is Technoblade and he is not an 'it'." Phil glanced down at Ranboo and Tommy, both nodding in agreement with their friend. "I- right. His battery wasn't charging so I went to get you when I got back. So...explain what's going on boys." Will glanced at Tubbo, raising an eyebrow to which Tubbo nodded. "So when I bought Ranboo's phone..." [End]

[connabeth]

An unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it, pleaseeeee 😌

percabeth kiss/fluff prompts:

unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it

“i’m not playing truth or dare.”

check out my accompanying edits!!

you were the song stuck in my head (every song that i’ve ever loved)

Warning: Pining™️

——————

The chime of the front door diverted his attention away from the TV screen. The anxious bouncing of his knees halted as he rose to his feet.

“Percy, sweetheart, can you get the door?” his mom called, voice faintly filtering into the room from the kitchen.

She could have, in fact, gotten the door―she was far closer to it than he was. But he suspected she wanted him and Annabeth to have a moment alone. He wasn’t sure if he was grateful or annoyed. His mother had become increasingly less subtle about her attempts to push the two teens together over the years. Percy figured she’d known about the crush he harbored on his best friend long before he had, if the twinkling eyes and knowing smirks he pretended to ignore on the daily were anything to go by.

And, fuck, if he didn’t want to make his mom (and himself) happy by getting to call Annabeth his girlfriend. But it wasn’t that simple. They had kissed once, in middle school, at some stupid beach party hosted by stupid Matt Sloan during a stupid game of Truth or Dare.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ҉ 　　 ҉ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

3 years ago

Silena, the ever-devious grade matchmaker had been watching him with hawk eyes the entirety of the game. He had avoided her piercing gaze in discomfort and hoped she didn’t know about his very obvious crush. Oh, what wishful thinking that had been.

“I am not playing truth or dare,” he insisted vehemently. But one look at Annabeth’s pleading eyes and pout as Silena dragged the blond girl to take a seat on the sand, and he was a goner. The Stolls were notorious menaces, and this game was a convenient excuse for them to unleash the chaos they’d been itching to release. Little did he know, it wasn’t the Stolls he had to worry about.

Silena’s cunning brown eyes squinted in scrutiny every time he blushed when his limbs brushed against Annabeth’s, who was sitting criss-cross next to him, pressed against his side. Silena raised her dark eyebrows knowingly every time he glanced over and stared at his best friend’s face (the stunning grey eyes, cute scrunched nose, and very pink lips) for a moment too long. He had an inkling of what Silena would do when it was her turn, if she were to choose him. A mixture of dread and excitement pooled in his stomach as he twitched nervously and dug his toes into the sand beneath his feet.

Annabeth, noticing his agitation, leaned over to whisper in his ear (which had not helped his butterflies), “Are you feeling ok? You forget your meds again?” No, he had most definitely not forgotten his meds. His mom made sure he took it every morning after breakfast.

He gave a half-grimace and lied, “Uh, yeah.” Her shrewd eyes told him she didn’t fully believe him. She could tell when he wasn’t telling the truth better than almost anyone, but she nodded her head in understanding anyway and gave the hand closest to her a squeeze. If she touched him one more time, he was almost sure he was going to combust from her proximity.

He subtly shifted in the opposite direction to clear the haze in his mind left from Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth. Or at least he had hoped it was subtle. But judging from the way Annabeth caught his movement in her periphery and frowned, he didn’t do such a great job. Silena intently watched this entire interaction, half-amused, half-exasperated.

The anxiety returned almost immediately when he remembered why he was so fidgety and terrified in the first place. She was going to make him do something to admit his feelings, he was sure of it. He had kind of talked about Annabeth to Beckendorf last week, and he doubted Beckendorf would keep anything Silena. Honestly, Silena had probably already known but this confirmation on Percy’s part would give her just the push to try and set them up. And while some tiny, very very small part of his brain was ecstatic at the prospect of getting this secret off his chest, at the possibility of Annabeth returning his feelings, the overwhelming majority of him wanted to dig a hole in the sand, crawl into it, and die.

Why would someone like Annabeth, unfairly pretty, intelligent, kickass, funny Annabeth, ever want to date someone like him? He was a loser. Even after eight years of friendship, he still found himself wondering why she chose him when she could have befriended literally anyone else. Maybe she had approached him on the playground that day out of pity and then she felt bad enough to stick around. Or found him just tolerable enough to spend more time with, mostly cause she liked his other friends. Or maybe she stayed because of how awesome his mom was. That must have been it. His mom loved Annabeth and Annabeth loved her right back. Plus, he knew his mom’s blue cookies were Annabeth’s favorite. Sally always made her extra to take home. His mom was the best maternal figure Annabeth had and he’d seen the younger girl being pulled into his mother’s arms and sniffling “Sally,” whenever she was really upset about something and needed more than the comfort he could offer as a best friend. His mom’s hugs were next-level.

He was pulled out of his reverie by a conniving, sly voice trying to get his attention. “Percy,” Silena said, with a kind, misleading smile he didn’t trust for one second.

He tried to gulp down the bile rising in his throat. Why did he agree to this game? Oh right, Annabeth. The beginning and end of all his dilemmas. She did her big pleady gray eyes thing and he knew he never stood a chance. She had learned to resist his puppy face but hers still hooked him in every time. It wasn’t fair.

“Truth or dare?” Silena asked, undoubtedly having conjured the perfect trap to ensnare the poorly concealed convictions of his dumb little middle school heart, no matter what option he chose.

“Dare,” he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably.

Silena’s innocent smile slipped into an evil little smirk and he knew he was going to hate the next words that came out of her mouth before she even said them. “I dare you,” she said, leaning forward, “to kiss the prettiest girl at this party.”

read the rest on AO3

——————

thanks to @perseust and @riptide-anaklusmoss for the prompts! check out my ao3 for more fics like this :)

[caseycassidy]

okay i haven’t updated you on @lunarshell and I’s teen wolf rewatch since it seems the end of season 1? We’re now in season 3 lol whooopsss

anyway - season 2 is definitely my favorite, it’s just so fun!

alright idk if anyone cares about spoilers but imma put them under here anyway. 

I will fully admit to thirsting after JR Bourne *immediately* and consistently, but season 2 starts with him pinning Scott to the car and i was like.... he could pin me to a car js. 

i’m going to make a separate post of our weird af things we say while watching this show, because we. have been dropping them in our writing discord out of context channel, because Bree is technically writing while we do this. 

anyway - Jackson is a ✨lizard ✨ and I’ve got to say we had so much fun with that this season. the kanima is kind of ridiculous. and much more creepy when just seeing Jackson with scales instead of Full Lizard (though do wish we could of seen what it would of looked like wings because. dragon?)

do we even have to talk about how little sense so much of this much and how Much Miscommunication is happening? Like the most. They’re really like working to not understand each other or not just meet in the middle. 

sometimes the miscommunication does make sense. there isn’t enough time, or whatever, but most of the time it’s just like Why. 

also pls stay consistent with the lore (spoiler: they don’t. they never do. season 3 so far seems especially bad about it but this is season 2)

the Pool Scene™️ episode was just as fun as i remembered. their on screen chemistry is just so much fun to witness. and the dinner happening at the same time is So Awkward

also i think we about telling the Sheriff like twice this season and then something happens and they just Don’t. and like. why not? pls just. they should of told him after the deputy massacre tbh because like. he knew scott was shot so. make any of that make sense. also he deserves to know AS DOES LYDIA. 

like i remembered they don’t tell her but like. they really just don’t tell her anything. (also remembering that that kid was young Peter a bit before it’s revealed was wild. i suddenly went “wait isn’t that peter” and bree went “oh shit you’re right”)

(i remember so much of this show and yet forget Important things constantly. memory issues, can we work together here??)

speaking of lydia. why are her and allison like this. i don’t remember it being so bad but it truly is just. so bad. i don’t think they have a conversation where they’re not dismissive or just outright mean to each other, normally mean. but they’re like “we’re best friends” and uh. no, no you’re not. 

the ending of this season is So Fun. during matt’s whole speech about why he’s doing what he’s doing, Bree and i didn’t talk (and we talk a lot during this show lol). the tension was really done, tbh this whole episode is (the police station one).

however i’ve been putting off talking about him but. Gerard. I just don’t care about him, we were both tuning him out when he talked. i’m not sure what it was about him but he’s suppose to be at least Threatening and we were just like meh. 

also wish Jackson stayed a kanima. like it was something he could control, instead of going to wolf town. i love wolf town but give the man wings, please, it’d be hilarious. 

overall this season is ridiculous and not well written, frankly, but it is Highly Entertaining. Like that’s one thing i can say for these first two seasons - they suck you in and hold your attention. they’re just fun, the vibes are great.

i’ll write another update once we finish 3a but i can tell you. the vibes are not there, y’all. there’s some good moments, some tense onces (some very uncomfortable ones) but overall, weirdly enough, they got a bigger budget and the quality and cohesiveness just dropped

[victimofthemusic]

I have Thoughts™️ on this. And its 2 in the morning where I’m at and I’m gonna share them with you guys and I apologize in advance. I’m also not saying anyone is right or wrong, just sharing things I’ve observed each time I’ve seen the film. I’m up to three and we’re headed towards a fourth. Pray for me y’all.

So, my thing is, Rooster & Hangman are literally IceMav 2.0. But they’re also their own thing. But I also urge people to not necessarily dismiss how similar they are to their counter parts. In this case, Hangman with Ice and Rooster with Maverick.

*Potential spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie*

We’ll start with Hangman. He literally looks like he could be Ice’s son, with his blonde hair and blue eyes and I think that’s what they were going for—kind of a yin/yang thing like Ice and Mav. But the way he flies is similar to Mav—a little reckless, but he has the technical ability to back it up, but one could also say that he’s ice cold and emotionless up there, just like Ice. And also like Ice, he has a rather spikey personality that doesn’t immediately draw people in to him—he keeps people emotionally at a distance and hides behind snark and sarcasm, which is very similar to Ice in the first movie. He’s always on the outside looking in, never one to be in the midst of the crowd or the one everyone is drawn to. Let’s not also forget the way he always seems to be fiddling with things like Ice and his little pen thing that I could literally write sonnets about. While I do see where Hangman has more of a Maverick style, I think if you look at the smaller things, there’s a lot of Ice in him, too. And correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t originally Hangman supposed to be Ice’s son? I could’ve sworn he was listed as that in the originally cast list, but Wikipedia has since changed it and updated it.

Rooster, on the other hand, has more Maverick in him than most people give him credit for. He’s hotheaded and wears his heart on his sleeve, but also keeps it behind a steel door because he, like Maverick, lost both of his parents at an early age. He’s a little bit more jaded than Maverick, but their backgrounds are similar. Bradley is also more of a social butterfly, the life of the party, as we see in the beginning of the movie when he first walks into the Hard Deck and starts playing the piano. People tend to flock to him because he’s charismatic and friendly, but like Maverick, he tends to hide behind that and use it as smoke show so people don’t focus too much on what’s going on inside. He also tends to ride off his emotions and let these be his guiding point—his fear of losing someone, his anger at Maverick, his love for Maverick, the way he cares about his teammates—and they tend to cloud his judgement. I know Hangman pokes at Rooster for “sitting up on his perch, waiting for the right moment that never comes” but Rooster can also be reckless and not necessarily think through the consequences of his own actions. Like when he pulls the Cobra Spiral or the way he literally almost hits Hangman when he needles him about his parents, while Hangman remains calm, cool and collected. I think Rooster is also, like Maverick, subconsciously afraid of ever letting someone in, in case he never makes it back home—the way his dad never came back home and just like Maverick’s dad never came home. Rooster knows how risky his job is and he never wants to put someone or himself, through that. So, similar to Maverick, he’s got self-sacrificing tendencies that give the people around him gray hairs. And much like Maverick, his father’s death affects the way he flies—slow, steady, conservative, but let’s not also forget that he felt like he had a point to prove, just like Maverick did in the first movie. He’s technically proficient with his skills and he probably knows the manual of every plane like the back of his hand, just like Ice, but I think Rooster is a lot more like Maverick than people give him credit for, because, off screen and something we (sadly) didn’t get to see, Maverick had a hand in raising Rooster and I think it has to be said that some of Maverick’s antics and personality traits no doubt rubbed off on him.

Can you tell this movie lives rent free in my head?

Another thing I don't get is people saying Hangman is Ice and Rooster is Mav. It's obviously the other way around.