#so i got so hopped up on people with the same interests everywhere

[drinker-of-paint]

Me entirely overthinking constantly for the past few days trying to remember exactly how I acted with everyone at the Magnus Premier and how they responded trying to figure out if they were just being polite or if I was actually being as cringe or annoying as I think I probably was and lamenting my social skills 😂😂😂😂

[rosestodreams]

Coworker! Jaehyun x f reader, heartbroken Jaehyun, friends to lovers...

Coworker - Jaehyun

You've been working for a pretty big company for almost three years now, and everything is going well for you, or almost everything.

Last year a new employee joined the IT team, someone you knew from the past, and made you feel a little curious about how he turned out. He was tall, toned body, with a great sense of humor and very handsome, as always, Jaehyun was the dream guy. Every girl in your department was head over heels for him the moment he started working, and as much as you want to deny it, you too couldn't keep your eyes off him. You knew him from middle school, many years ago, and yet he still had that same playful playboy vibes.

The big surprise? He was taken, had been for three years, so no chance for you to get a piece of him, which was good, you should be focusing on your future, your job and your career.

But there was just something in the way he talked to you sometimes, the way he looked at you with the brightest smile that melted your heart (and heated something else too), the way he made everyone laugh all the time. You knew better than to catch feelings for someone like him, more so if he was your coworker, but sometimes you just couldn't help think about him, and more often then not, you would imagine how his touch would feel on you? What was like having his big hands roaming over your body? You buried those thoughts deep in your mind, not daring to tell it to a single soul.

You've heard about his reputation a few times, how he loved to party with his friends and have fun with the girls. One more reason why you were surprised when you knew he was in such a long term relationship.

To your surprise, you weren't the only one to remember the school days, and when they introduced Jaehyun to your team, he recognized you, and was really happy to see at least one friendly face. As both your teams worked on the same floor, you all would often hangout and have lunch together,

One day, unexpectedly you heard a rumor saying that Jaehyun had broken up with his girlfriend. The whole office was in shock with the news, some saying she cheated on him, others saying that Jaehyun couldn't stand her anymore, since she wasn't the most friendly person on earth, and you didn't understand how they became a couple in the first place.

The next day, close to lunch time, you got a message that made you freeze:

- Hey y/n, wanna grab some food at that restaurant you like in 3rd street?

It was him, inviting you out to lunch. You were surprised and nervous, but you had to figure out what was that about, so you agreed.

By lunch time he was already waiting for you outside, with his motorcycle (as if he could get anymore hotter):

- Sorry to keep you waiting, I had a few documents to send before going out

- It's okay, I haven't been waiting for long

You could sense something different in his tone, but you choose to keep it quiet for now and just go with the flow.

He hands you a helmet and you both hop on the motorcycle and head to the restaurant, which takes about 15 min to get there. Jaehyun finds a table and you both order your food. Now you can't pretend to ignore the elephant in the room.

- So, why did you invite me to lunch all of the sudden? I don't want to sound rude, I'm just genuinely curious because we never hangout alone

- Yeah I know, I didn't want it to be weird, sorry about that

- No no, you don't have to be sorry

- I just needed to talk to someone, and thought of you for some reason

- Oh! That's interesting, okay so let it out, what is bothering you?

- It's just... With all this breakup mess I kinda feel lost and don't know what to do, you know?? Everywhere I go people talk behind my back, and it seems as if everyone else has an opinion on what I'm supposed to do

- I hear you, it must be a difficult situation to process, more so with everyone else talking about your life. Let's just make a deal, we go get some drinks later, and after that, whenever you want to talk, you can call me and we'll figure something out, what do you say?

- That's the best idea I've heard all day, thank you

Jaehyun chuckled and you could have a little glimpse of the smile that melted your heart again. The rest of the lunch was okay, you ate, chatted about other things to help ease his mind, and headed back to work.

As you both got off, you see your friend and quickly say goodbye to Jaehyun. Your friend Jess was your complete opposite she was really smart and extroverted, loved to party and date (not as much date, but a lot of sleeping around), and you had been friends since you started the job.

- Hey you, I see you are marking territory already the office most wanted handsome guy!

- Will you stop that? People are going to get the wrong impression!

- What impression? That you desperately need to get laid and you're calling dib's on Jaehyun already?

- Are you crazy!! No, we went to grab lunch as friends, because he needed someone to talk. Besides, I'm NOT desperate to get laid, stop saying that.

- Honey, your mouth says one thing, but your hole body tells me something else!

She burst laughing, and I started running away from her to try and keep the rest of my dignity.

You go out with Jaehyun to get drinks later and you end up talking for about three hours. He told you about the break up, how his now ex-girlfriend was really controlling and he felt like they were in very different places of their lives, so he decided to break up. Jaehyun told you that she didn't leave him alone since then, and was making up messed up stories to tell his family, and now everyone was on her side. He seemed pretty angry and sad about the whole situation.

- Jay, you want to know what I think? You have to ignore all of them for a while, keep your distance, especially from your ex, because when dust settles down, they will realize that believing in her was a mistake. And in the meantime, focus on yourself, so you can really know what is important to you

- Thank you y/n, really. You're helping more than anyone. I'll try to do that

Oh, there it was again, the deadliest smile. You swear that after all the drinks you had, you could just, kiss him right now...

You wake up from your haze with someone bumping into you and spilling half of their drink in your shoes. " Ops, sorry", said the blond that bumped you.

- Well Jay, it's been really nice chatting, but I should probably go home and try to get the alcohol of my shoes, or burn them, well see

- Hahaha, let me take you then

- No no, you don't have to, I'll just catch a cab

- Then at least let me see you out, okay?

And after a quick debate about who was paying for the drinks, which I lost even after insisting a lot that I was the one who invented him, we headed out to catch the taxi.

- Hey, I really appreciate you doing this for me, you are a really good friend y/n

My heart ached, it was like a slap in the face. I was his friend, the one he goes to when things are bad, and the one he will forget when everything goes back to normal. I needed that to put my mind back in place. After that my taxi came and we said our goodbyes. I don't know how I got myself into this situation, but I needed to get out, maybe Jess was right, I needed to get laid, maybe I just needed to get away from Jaehyun, or maybe I needed to get laid with Jaehyun.... Ughh, I can think straight, I'm so screwed.

_____________________________________________

A/n: Hey you 👋🏼, this is my first time writing here, so I would love to see if guys like it <3. I'm also thinking about making this a short series, so let me know what you think 🫶🏼

[kooktrash]

Please fill us in on this delusionship cause I'm so invested now. What in the world is going on with you and this guy? This is so interesting and Very fic worthy tbh

Ok ok im just gonna respond to this with the lore

and disclaimer: it is a long, meaningless, delusional story that has been going on for about a year. ask @joonberriess she gets weekly updates and yall are gonna get it all in one go 😭 A LOT OF SPELLING ERRORS

[key: the story is about 🩷, but there was a previous person 💙, and places are 🐸🦎🛑💨]

for background info: I work full time at a retail store in a shopping mall and lowkey good bucks 😗but anyway, I’ve been here since 2021 so you basically notice when stores hire new employees or people quit or new places open. you begin to know everyone working at your neighboring stores etc

Tbh it’s kinda like high school where you get bored and need someone hot to look at across the hall me and my coworker thought the guys at the shoe store were hot and they would flaunt their stuff if you know what I mean. And there was one man who stood out let’s call him 💙and we were on the same wavelength he knew we were just “window shopping”👀 but when he started dating a girl at the store directly across from mine I had to be a girls girl and find a new target

Around this time a barber shop was being built around the corner. Still a bit of a walk but on my side of the mall. It was out of the way so we didn’t really care bc it wasn’t directly in front of us. And the lore is about 🩷 who works at the barber shop. And when we first saw him I knew he was barber but I didn’t really care bc we couldn’t directly see them like how I could with 💙. I notice’s 🩷 was hot but not like “we work at the same place hot” more of “just a hot customer” type bc he went into my store with another barber and lowkey he didn’t look interested so I just didn’t care to talk to him

a little later we found out 💙 was a bum ass bitch,couch hopper and cheated on the girl with one of his new coworkers ( downgrade might I add. ) He was still on my radar but not really cause now he’s just a man.But the girl moves away and I have her on snap AND GET THIS when she was posting her good bye pics she posted picture of her at the club and 🩷 was in the background. But at the time I wasn’t delusional YETTT I just knew he was hot. and he wasn’t like PURPOSELY in the pic I think he just happened to be at the same bar as her.

Okay now during the summer I was in the streets 💅🏽and I kept running into him at the club and in my head I was like damn I see this mfer everywhere. The second time I really noticed him I was with my friends and my brother for context my stepbrother is gay but people mistake us for a couple bc we’re only a year apart and really close friends. I saw 🩷 at 4 different clubs 🦎🛑🐸💨. The first club we went to was 🛑 he wasn’t there at first but when he was there he was sitting a few tables away with a girl but you could tell he recognized me bc we work at the same place. Even though he was with a girl he was still kinda looking over at me to the point where my brother noticed. I had to explain a little bit of the lore. After awhile we didn’t see him anymore and we got bored of that bar and went to another — we like to bar hop. Anyways we ended up going to 🐸. And at 🐸 guess who we end up seeing !!! 🩷 with his girl and at that point I was like this a weird ass coincidence and you can tell the girl was beginning to notice too bc she kept glaring. he was still paying attention to the girl he was with obv but I could catch him looking over and it was getting annoying. (WAIT WAIT I FOR GOT TO TELL YALL MY BOTHER-IN-LAW USED TO GET HIS HAIR CUT BY HIM BUT I DIDNT KNOW) at some point I think he left 🐸 and little later we decided to leave.

BUT WAIT I didnt know he was standing out side getting ready to go back to 🛑. Keep in mind 🐸 and 🛑 are down the street from each other and 🦎is across the street from both, but 💨 is blocks away. As we’re walking back to 🛑 we see him near 🛑 and 🩷 stops to talk to someone he knew or whatever. We end up passing him and go to 🛑 and later he also goes back to 🛑 still with the girl. at this point I think he thought it was

Getting a little weird and left 🛑 immediately and idk where he want nor did I pay attention. But when we got bored of 🛑 again we decided to go to 🦎 and you wouldn’t believe who we saw again —🩷!!!. But as we got to 🦎 he was leaving but a few moments later he shows back up to 🦎— after seeing us go in. And my friends were confused bc every bar we’ve been to we’ve seen him. I’m trying not to be delulu but it was still weird.

anyways the night ended with a bunch of weird encounters that I’m telling myself were just coincidences BUTTT like I said we work at the same shopping mall so I was still bound to run into him at work yknow? one particular time he had to pass my store to go to the food court for lunch I’m assuming and I walked to the escalator trash can to throw a drink away right as he was walking walking back (but I fr didn’t notice it was him and I doubt he did either) TELL ME WHY I’m over here trying to be mysterious and not look at him like I know him and this mf FULLY whipped his head the other way to not look at me. At that point I was offended bc one) it’s not my fault we keep running into each other and two) I’m just as confused as him lmao 😭

after that I was basically like ew fuck that weirdo bc like I said I’m not intentionally trying to run into 🩷 especially not if I think he’s got a girl

anyways so weeks go by with little encounters like this at the mall and let me keep it a buck, 🩷 would see me with different guy friends all the time so as far as he knew I was taken too yknow?

yall remember 💙? Well he started looking GOOD again and like yeah he was a bum but he understood the assignment <3 he knew it was just flirting staring and nothing more. 🩷 was just tooo… approachable? I like my men like 💙 where I don’t have to expect anything out of it I can just stare and that’s it. so I had told my coworkers idc about the barber aka 🩷 and I was back to being delulu for 💙 and KEEP IN MIND THIS IS ALL IN GOOD FUN nothing serious, but at this time since 🩷 would purposely try and avoid I didn’t care about him enough to be bothered

but I think the universe got something against me bc anytime I would go a long time without talking about 🩷 or seeing him, he’d just magically appear again like the universe was trying to force him back (delulu i know)

so for instance, the next time I saw him he wasn’t with the girl from last time. he was with some guy friends and I was with a full different set of friends than the ones I usually go out with. when I went out with this group

I invited one of my guy friends over and I remember we were walking past 🦎 bar and I didn’t realize 🩷 and his friends were just hanging out around there and I drunkenly made my guy friend tie my shoe. So 🩷 is watching my guy friend get on his knees outside and put my leg on his lap and tie my shoe 😂I’m telling you such Y/n moments

but isn’t it weird how after I was like fuck this man don’t care he just kept showing up? and any time I was out after that he didn’t have a girl with him anymore and he would pay extra close attention to whatever guy I was with

I was out of town for work for a whole week and the one night I came back to go out with my friends I just happened to run into him over and over and over again AND now at the mall he’s not even bothering to avoid me

like I remember once I was standing at the entrance with another coworker and he just stared me down like 😳 and even she was like “WHYD HE LOOK AT YOU LIKE THAT” And I’m like girl idk I thought he was in his avoiding me era

but from then on he would dead stare me but me being mysterious 🎀I would ignore him bc like I said idk if he had a gf or not anymore and also tf I look like approaching him first. even when I’d walk past his barber shop I could see him staring at me

at the club he was getting bolder, staring me down, staring at anybody I talked to etc etc

I remember on Halloween I was dressed as the white rabbit and we do a candy crawl at the mall for kiddos so I had been dressed up all day, I’m walking to the front of my store and I can see into the store across from mine. I remember they have a mirror right at the entrance and 🩷 was definitely trying to look at himself through the mirror when I saw him (bc I could see myself through the mirror too) and I swear the second he saw me he whipped back around to make sure

I would see him talking to other girls every now and then but I feel like it was always if we went a couple weeks without running into each other and like I said I’d talk to diff guys at the club so I couldn’t say anything I’m just delulu

I’m trying to speed this up but once I went out with the group of friends I don’t usually run into and we were at 🐸 which is a two story club. we were at the bottom and my friends and I were about to leave. it was around Halloween time still so we were dressed in costumes and I was wearing this big ass white cowboy hat. there’s no way he didn’t know it was me when I was right by the door, he recognizes my face, and I’m in a big fucking hat BUT GUESS WHET THIS MF DID. There was all this walking room between me and the wall and he deadass pressed up against my back just to pass me by slow and I even turned confused as hell like me being delulu but this man will do anything to be noticed instead of talk to me.

another time at the mall I passed by the barber shop to go to the makeup store and listen y’all I’m crazy so I’m aware the barber shop has mirrors all over so I could see if he’s at his station through the mirrors and HE WASNT. So I walked past, went to the makeup store and ignored the stares from the other barbers. tell me why as im leaving the makeup store 🩷 is standing right outside of it “on his phone” but right as im going to pass him this man does a full 180 degree angle to look at me !!$ 😭 im crazy I kno but if this ain’t giving wattpad idk what is

Basically, we kind of did this back-and-forth all summer all fall too . We would see each other at the club? multiple different clubs and we kind of keep an eye on each other. If he was with a girl, I would notice that he was with the girl if I was with a guy, he would notice that I’m with the guy and we kind of just kept each other in check the whole time but never actually talked which is where I’m saying I feel delusional. Like one time at the mall, I was walking to the food court, and I saw another barber from the shop and he looked at me and then he turned away. Then he looked at me again then he got his phone and started typing. Then he looked at me again, typed again, then put his phone away and turned his back to me and IDK y’all this is where I’m saying am I crazy because I swear it felt like he was texting about me And considering the way all the barbers look at me anytime I walk past I’m fully convinced 🩷’s talked aboutme before to them l not necessarily like that he likes me or anything like that. Maybe he just talk about me in a sense that we run into each other constantly and he thinks it’s weird. Also, I’m feeling lazy so I’m sorry to just use voice to text.’

The last time I fully ran into him was when he like rubbed up against my back that one time I was wearing a cowboy hat and I remember telling one of the girls I was hanging out with about it and to be fair she was drunk so I don’t think she was fully listening, but we were walking outside and I remember her like pulling on him and saying That she knew him and to be honest, he looked more shocked at the fact that I was standing there then he did when she called him out because he didn’t even really react when she called him out, but that was the last time I fully saw him like that

So recently, I haven’t really been running into him that much and honestly, I’m not that mad about it just because at this point it’s been like an all year thing. It’s getting annoying. I can’t tell if I’m being delusional. I I feel like I’m delulu for a reason And it’s it’s like I’m not even gonna lie to you. I Hang out with other guys. It’s just I’ve wasted too much energy thinking about this one 🩷 guy when he’s never gonna even talk to me, but it just feels like the universe really want us to be in the same area it’s pissing me off LMAO.

and this previous weekend I finally asked my friend who said she knew him how she knew him and she basically told me that they were talking for a minute, but they never dated or anything like that. They just went to the club one time together and some other girl approached him and was like yelling at him, and my friend was trying to mind her business, but then I guess the girl talk to my friend and yelled at her telling her that she don’t know why she’s messing with him if he has a girl, I don’t know how long ago this was I was kind of drunk. I don’t remember asking it wasn’t that serious so I just moved on , but I don’t know he’s just too weird and low-key I’m weird. I move weird and so I like a man that moves weird because then I don’t feel guilty about moving weird with them, but he moves too weird I might just ditch 🩷 for 💙

Except today, I literally said I don’t care about 🩷 because of what my friend told me, but then I end up running into him at my at work again and I’m like Bruh I swear to God the universe plays this weird manifestation game where they want us to run into each other for no reason because we don’t even end up talking

And to end this essay, I want to say it’s so stupid and like I said, it literally sounds like a fanfiction just because no nothing of it makes sense and I’m definitely being delusional, but I feel like I’m delusional for a reason because he has done a lot of things that I might’ve forgotten to even add in that have just made me so confused but I try not to read into it because sometimes im the problem 💀 idek delulu but self aware and for a reason

what do yall think

OH AND ONE TIME I HAD A MF DREAM ABOUT 🩷 and tell me why in my dream he said “I’ve been wanting to talk to you but you’re always with other people” and idk weird 😭😭😭 this is definitely a hard read bc of all the errors but sorry yall my head hurts

ask me questions if you got any and tell me what you think 💀like I sound crazy I know

and what I think is funny is I’ll have a full roster of men who I’ll go out with yet I’m more tripped over a man I don’t even talk to lmao

[clownieboidi3]

Set-Up

Gareth x fm reader (not completely edited)

Dustin Henderson was enraged. He was mad at his mom and the utterly ridiculous rule she made. Dustin was not allowed to date until his sister started dating. Claudia Henderson knew exactly what she was doing when she made that rule, she knew that her daughter was not the dating type so it would be a while until she finally got a boyfriend. Claudia knew it was selfish, but she wanted Dustin to stay as 'young' and 'innocent' for as long as possible. She just didn't want to lose her youngest child, her baby. Now, Dustin had no problem with keeping secrets, but he wanted to be able to speak openly about his girlfriend without having his mother react negatively.

Ophelia Henderson, wasn't a shy, closed-off person. And with the past events dealing with the upside down and all the crap that has happened in Hawkins, she has become more mature. She was not afraid to speak her mind when it was needed and could easily start up a conversation with a stranger if she felt like it. The only reason why she didn't date was because no one ever really spiked her interest. Of course, Ophelia had crushes before but never felt that those feelings were strong enough to act on. So, when she heard the bizarre rule her mom made, naturally she felt bad for her brother. Ophelia knew about Suzie, and Dustin frequently complained to her about not being able to discuss his first girlfriend in front of Claudia.

Ophelia had been home from school for quite some time now and was studying in her room; Duran Duran who was playing in the background made it easier to stay focused. Ever since the start of her junior year, she made a promise to herself to study extra hard in prep for college, even though it was still a while away. Ophelia would like to think of herself as a confident and determined person who loves being challenged, so setting goals has always been fun for her. There was a light knock on the door which she could only assume was her mother and quickly got up to open the door.

"Hey Hun, Dustin asked to be picked up. You wouldn't mind doing it would you?" Claudia asked with pleading eyes and a small smile.

"Yeah sure, I can do it. I don't have much going on anyway, but I expect an extra slice of pie after dinner tonight." Ophelia and her mom have always been close ever since her dad left. Being the oldest child and Claudia's only daughter there was an unspoken bond that caused them to get along well. But like every family, they did have their disagreements from time to time.

Claudia let out a short laugh, "Of course, whatever you want, sweetie." Ophelia grabbed her keys and hopped into her small Ford Escort. Ophelia thought it was a cute car and practically begged her mom to get it for her when her 16th birthday came, since then she has treated it like it was the most important thing ever. So naturally, she kept it tidy, the only super distinctive thing in the car with her was her bag that she brought everywhere because it has 'everything' in it. It took a decent amount of time to get to the school since they lived basically in the middle of nowhere, usually, that didn't bother Ophelia since she spent her life here, but the drives could be a bit tedious at times.

𖦹Earlier𖦹

Dustin was in a sour mood the entire morning which followed him to lunch. He was staring at the back of Ophelia's head hoping somehow telepathically she could feel his anger, they coincidentally had the same lunch period (they sat with different people). Lucas and Mike have been talking about whatever until Mike finally spoke up. "Why are you staring at Ophelia?"

"She got asked out again, and it wasn't even like some nerd. It was a jock and she still rejected him! Why can't she just date someone and make my life easier?" Dustin was still staring at her with an annoyed look on his face. He just couldn't understand why his sister had to have such high standards.

"Do you really think a jock is her type? And if you're so mad at her rejecting everyone, why don't you just try setting her up with someone who she will like?", Lucas said while picking up a French fry from his tray.

Dustin looked over to Lucas, "Oh my God, I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place. But what do you think her type is?"

Lucas thought for a moment, "Well she's smart and likes to read, she listens to a lot of music too. So, we just need to find someone who's like that." The guys collectively thought of some who kind of matched that description. Mike looked down to the other side of the table where the rest of the members of the D&D club they're a part of, sat.

"I think I've just thought of the perfect person." Both the guys look to Mike and then over towards the person who he was pointing to.

"Do you really think she'll like him, of all people?" Dustin questioned Mike. Mike shrugged; Dusting looked at his sister again. He decided that he would do whatever he can to push Ophelia toward the idea of dating his club member.

𖦹𖦹

Ophelia pulled up to the high school, parking in a spot nearest to the entrance. There were a few cars scattered in the parking lot from staff and members from other clubs. This wasn't the first time that she had picked up Dustin, so she had little to no trouble finding the club room. Usually, the meetings were over before Ophelia could get to the club room, however, today she could hear voices coming from the room. It was muffled but still loud enough to make out different voices. She knocked on the door and was greeted by her fairly shocked bother.

"Oh, Ophelia. You're early," Dustin coughed out, almost chocking on his spit at the sight of his sister at the club door.

"Didn't you call Mom", Ophelia rightfully questioned. Dustin thought for a second and shut the door.

"Uh- rude", she scoffed. Ophelia heard a conversation start up again from within the room but quieter than previously. Ophelia just leaned on the wall near the door waiting to resume questioning her brother. When the door opened again the girl was greeted by a different face.

"Well, well, well, you must be Henderson's sister that I've heard so much about. I am-", the new face started to say.

Ophelia quickly interrupted, "Yeah, you're Eddie Munson. You're supposed to be the leader of this group, right?" Of course, Ophelia had heard of Eddie, it was hard not to when he makes quite a stir at lunch; plus, the rumors of Eddie the 'Freak' were hard to ignore. Being 20 and still being a senior is a hard feat to accomplish, and doesn't go unnoticed by the school oriented girl. She did not really approve of her young impressionable brother hanging out with a grown adult like that, but it's not like she can do much. All she does is tell Dustin how much she would rather see him hang out with Steven. The smile on the eccentric 20-year-old grew as the girl Henderson's went down.

"You know who I am? I'm honored. As you can see our campaign has been, well, prolonged. So, you're going to have to come back another time, or you can wait and watch" Eddie said. Ophelia thought for a second, drive home just to come back later? As much as it pained her to have to spend any more time with Eddie, she had her mind set on her brother (and gas money) so she decided to stay.

"Yeah, no. I didn't drive all the way here for nothing. I'm definitely going to take up your offer." Eddie happily opened the door wider. With the door out of the way she could see a perfect view of all the club members and them staring right back at her. 'Yeah, totally not awkward at all', Ophelia couldn't help but think. Dustin who sensed the awkwardness radiating from his sister decided it was a good time to introduce her.

"So, guys, this is my sister, Ophelia. Ophelia these are the members of Hellfire." Ophelia had recognized his brother's best friends, Lucas and Mike, but she didn't recognize the three other members, but she assumed she'd meet them later. Her brother grabbed a chair and went to set it next to him but was interrupted by Eddie.

"Henderson, you can come set the chair next to me." Ophelia looked at Dustin, her brother mimicked her actions but just shrugged and went to go set the chair next to the dungeon master. Eddie's smile was still as wide as it was when she insisted on staying which she didn't give a second thought to because it fit his personality. Ophelia didn't hesitate to get comfortable and pull out a book, she missed the look Dustin gave to Eddie as if a plan was working just the way he wanted it to. But she did notice the guy sitting on the other side of her who seemed to have incredibly fluffy hair. She noticed the curve of his jaw and the deep shade of his hair, taking short peeks from her book, trying not to come off as creepy in the cute guys peripheral view. She said a small 'hi' to the cute mystery dude to be polite and went back to reading her book. The rest of the campaign didn't last long, and Ophelia was honestly a little annoyed with Eddie trying to spike up a conversation while she was attempting to read. She thought it was strange, like if he is supposed to be the dungeon master, why is he expending so much of his attention on her? Ophelia was fighting the urge to roll her eyes far back into her head at every comment pointed for her to hear, his lackeys also beginning to get irritated.

When the campaign ended after a grueling 10 minutes, she decided to get a head start and go start the car, not noticing that she left behind her book which lay in the chair where she previously sat. Once she got to the car, she grabbed the keys from the bag noticing the missing book almost immediately.

"Go ahead and wait in the car, I forgot to grab my book." Ophelia threw Dustin the keys who was almost nice enough to comply but decided to go socialize with Mike and Lucas who were by the bike rack, instead. Ophelia just rolled her eyes, she passed by two of the three guys she didn't recognize and Eddie a while after them.

"Henderson, you're still here? Don't tell me you missed me?"

"You wish, I was just unfortunate enough to leave my book behind."

"Well, if you need help, I'm sure Gareth will be willing to help you, it's his turn to clean up the club room." Ophelia didn't know who he was talking about but just assumed it was one of the three mystery boys she didn't get a chance to ask names of. She didn't think much about it and just focused on getting her book.

When she got back to the club room, she saw the guy Eddie mentioned but was surprised to see it was the fluffy-haired guy. He was in the middle of wiping the now cleared table, caught surprised.

"Oh girl Henderson, funny seeing you back here", Gareth commented stopping mid swipe of a rag on the now cleared board.

Ophelia replied, I guess that's me, and you must be Gareth."

"Wow, you know who I am, that's a nice surprise", the boy coughed back, shocked. Ophelia smiled, she remembered what she had heard during the campaign and thought it would be funny to tease Gareth a little. Sitting next to him didn't give her the best chance to get a good look at him, but now face to face she could see his bouncy hair, blue eyes, and even the necklace that dangled over the table with the pirate charm weighing it down. Ophelia caught a couple of glimpses of his side profile when she looked up from time to time when she was reading her book and already thought his side profile was cute, but now getting to see him in full let her appreciate his beauty.

"Whaaat how could I not know you, aren't you Gareth the Great?" Ophelia purposely prolonged the 'what' for an added effect. The boy who was still trying to brush the earlier embarrassment tried to laugh it off as a new fire was added to his cheeks. Ophelia could see a light blush on his cheeks, she found that cute and made her more interested in getting the Hellfire member more reactive.

"Of course, you heard that totally not embarrassing at all. But at least I wasn't reading some sappy romance novel with the name 'Beginners' Love'." Now it was Ophelia's turn to be embarrassed, she laughed slightly trying to think of a comeback. Of course she had to pick to re-read her favorite cheesy romance series at this time, of all the books on her shelf.

"It's a good book, I doubt you read anything at all", Ophelia fired back.

"I actually do things with my life so no I don't get a chance to read much", laughed Gareth. He had caught onto Ophelia's playful insults and decided to throw one right back at her. He did not mind one bit as long as it meant he got to keep the pleasant interaction going.

'Finally' , Ophelia thought, she was finally talking to a boy who wasn't afraid of a little sarcasm. Ophelia knew she was a pretty girl, she wasn't blind on the advanced of the boys in her grade (and sometimes underclassman that got a quick firm no), in fact, Ophelia was too aware of how all the boys who would come to her where well... bland. She knows it's hard to be picky in a small town like Hawkins, but with as much as this girl has read it was hard for her not to dream of that 'perfect man'. Quickly Ophelia fired back, "Oh yeah? What do you do, Gareth besides Role-play 24/7?"

"For your information, I am in several different clubs AND I'm in a band", Gareth said with a quick smirk forming on his face. Ophelia would have never guessed that Gareth was in a band, but she could see him being in chess club or something equally nerdy. Now hearing that, she could only imagine what his role in the band could be. She imaged Gareth playing different roles, scream-singing into a mic, sliding his fingers down the cords of an electric guitar, or even playing slamming down onto the keys of a keyboard.

"You're in a band? No way, do you have proof?"

Gareth let out a quick huff, "Do you just expect me to carry around drum sticks everywhere? If you want proof you can come to our practice, tomorrow." The cat was out the bag, Gareth was a drummer. Ophelia almost found it fitting for him to be the one to let all his anger out onto the instrument, she started to imagine him playing on it. His hands getting sweaty as the callouses formed from the wore out sticks, sweat dripping down his forehead getting flung all over the set as he banging his head to the beat of his drums. Henderson was now full on blushing as she tried to shake the thoughts of him out her head.

"I'm definitely going to be there; I have to see this to believe it." Ophelia and Gareth continued their banter about books and Ophelia brought up how Gareth just caught her with a good-bad book and telling him to 'just wait and see' when it got cut short by Dustin barging in.

"Ophelia, how long does it take to find a b-" Dustin noticed both his sister and Gareth looking back at him, this was not the guy he hoped Ophelia found interest in. When Dustin set up Ophelia to sit next to Eddie, he was hoping that she would see the charisma and charm of his character that he felt was obvious. He spent a good time talking his sister up to the dungeon master to even get him to agree with the idea of a set up, now it could all get messed up because the older Henderson couldn't just do what Dustin wanted her to do.

Trying to quickly end any ideas he quickly chirped up, "Oh, Gareth I see you've met my sister, but we should be on our way now." Ophelia gave Dustin a look and he took the hint and went ahead without her.

"Sorry about him, but he's right I should get going", she said as she grabbed her book from his calloused hands, confirming her daydream, and shoved it in her bag. Ophelia didn't know what compelled her to do it but she impulsively pulled out a small piece of paper and quickly wrote her number. When Gareth got the paper, he was surprised, he has never got a girl's number before, and with such ease. Maybe he should mention his band more.

"Call me so I can get the details of your band practice" Gareth nodded and Ophelia smiled leaving the room.

[gingerteafairy]

shout to my boys. i love lemon sm, he deserves more. @redcherryflavourr, I'm feeding your delulu with your bf

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 – 𝐋𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧

Style & Aesthetics:

Lemon loves mixing different clothing styles and eras, creating unexpectedly stylish combinations. He makes sure to keep up his tough-guy appearance but has fun experimenting with different looks—like an ‘80s gangster with heavy chains or a modern cowboy in a leather jacket. He knows he looks good in anything and isn’t afraid to go bold.

Despite all his street style, at home, he’s the complete opposite. His home wardrobe consists of old sweatpants, faded t-shirts, and holey socks. He swears it’s all about comfort, but deep down, he’d be embarrassed to be caught looking like that. Has Tangerine ever teased him? Absolutely.

"Bloody hell, Lemon. You went to the fucking war and didn't call me. Look at all those big ass holes."

"Oh, shut the fuck up. You're always using the same suit everywhere you go."

Accessory Collector:

He has an obsession with rings, bracelets, and necklaces. His collection is huge, and every piece has a story. He’s always wearing at least one flashy accessory—whether it’s a skull ring, a gold chain, or a leather bracelet.

"This one? I got it from a guy I killed 'cause he called me stupid. Tangerine got the other one. Beautiful isn't it?"

Personality:

He’s really shy at first, but if someone catches his interest, he can talk to them like they’ve been friends for years. He always has a witty comment ready to go.

He has that effortless charm that hypnotizes people. The way he talks, his intense gaze, that little smirk… It’s impossible not to fall for him.

"Uhm... why are you looking at me like this? Is there something in my teeth? Shit, where's my toothbrush?"

Music Taste:

His music taste is extensive, but he has a clear preference for hip-hop, rap, and trap. His favorites include Post Malone, Eminem, Tupac, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator.

He listens to Drake and Kanye West in secret. He’ll deny it to his grave, but if you catch him playing Flashing Lights, he’ll change the song instantly.

"What? Hotline Bling? No, I was just... Beatboxing."

There’s a side of him that few people know—he loves brazilian funk. If Ai Preto comes on, he instantly goes into main character mode. His favorites includes L7NNON, WIU, and Xamã.

"I don't understand a word they're saying, but it's fire."

Despite his tough-guy vibe, he has a refined taste for jazz and blues. He enjoys Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole, and Jimi Hendrix. "I'm a cultured man, after all."

Advanced-Level Gossiping:

He uses Thomas’ theory (yes, Thomas the Tank Engine) to analyze everyone and spill the tea with you. He knows exactly what “train” each person would be.

"I bet that girl from your job is a diesel. She can't keep her shit together and fucks everything. Take care."

The Perfect Boyfriend:

If you date Lemon, get ready for VIP treatment. He’s a gentleman, affectionate, funny, and the perfect amount of protective. He knows exactly how to give compliments, showers you with sweet little gestures, and always makes you feel like the most special person in the world. An angel.

He's a demon in bed, but this is content for another story.

He loves spoiling you with gifts, especially jewelry and clothes. He carefully picks out each piece, always making sure it matches your style—or at least what he thinks suits you. Basically, he becomes your personal stylist, taking you shopping and making sure to approve or reject every outfit with a critical eye and comments like, “This? Nah, way too basic for you,” or “This. This is so you.”

Likes and Dreams:

He loves driving with you, especially at night, listening to music and talking about life. But his true passion? Trains. If you ever take one together, get ready for random locomotive facts, railway history, and all sorts of train trivia. He always finds a way to get you interested, too.

He has a list of destinations he wants to visit with you by train, ranging from short trips to luxurious routes that look like something straight out of a movie. He’s already picturing the two of you sitting in a panoramic carriage, sipping drinks, and taking in the scenery.

Family:

He complains when Tangerine starts messing with you, throwing in a “Dude, give it a rest, will you?” but deep down, he loves the dynamic between you two. Watching you argue or joke around makes him feel at home. At the end of the day, you and Tangerine are the most important people in his life. Even if he’ll never say it out loud, he loves the chaos you bring.

[marlynnofmany]

Too Many Limbs

“Wait — hold still,” I said. “Waterspheres by your foot.” I readjusted my grip on the broken storage crate and tried to free an arm to sweep the floor clear. “Don’t step on them.”

Zhee’s many bug legs froze in place, his own armload of supplies making it hard to get a clear view. Even compound eyes can’t see through that many layers of alien silk. Sounding irritated, he asked, “Which foot?”

“Jeez, I can’t tell.” I leaned back, trying to get a better view, and bumped into another crate. “A front one? I don’t know how you keep track of this many limbs, honestly.”

“You think this is a lot?” Zhee laughed in a deliberately human fashion as he felt around with one foot at a time. “You say that within earshot of a Strongarm?”

Blue-black tentacles shoved a plastic tub aside. “You called?” asked Mur.

I sighed as Zhee cheerfully ratted me out. “The human has opinions about how many limbs are too many.”

“I did not say that.”

“Oh really?” asked Mur, clearly looking for a distraction. He clambered on top of the tub and curled up like a squid who’d been raised by housecats. “Do tell.”

I wrestled a safety strap around the broken crate. “All I said was that it’s hard to keep track of which foot I’m looking at when I can’t see the rest of him for context.” I jerked my head toward Zhee.

Zhee folded the cloth into a smaller bundle, looking for all the world like a praying mantis trying to eat a Kleenex. “Yes, how rude of me not to color-code them for your sake. You were so kind as to do the same for us.”

I finally had a hand free to point at him. “You know full well that the cat put a hole in my other blue sock. You were there when I told Paint about it.”

“What, it wasn’t a deliberate fashion statement? Shocking.” Zhee was warming up to this. “Clearly you need the help in telling one limb from the next.”

Mur waved a tentacle in my direction. “You realize your own limb arrangement would be baffling to a Solo, right?”

The crate secured, I sat back and took a breath. “Which ones are those?”

Mur folded his tentacles in a way that meant nothing to me. “The species with unilateral symmetry.”

Zhee added, “Amphibious, usually seen with humidity masks.”

“Ohhhh, right,” I said. “The one-eyed, one-armed hopping purple people aliens.”

Mur settled his tentacles. “They’re not all purple.”

“Some are,” I insisted.

“Only the classiest,” Zhee said. He glided forward, stepping carefully through the scattered waterspheres and cans of offworld tuna or whatever those were. I hadn’t bothered to read the labels. At any rate, he didn’t step on anything.

I shook my head and started gathering up waterspheres. My shirt was long enough that I could make a basket in the manner of fruit-picking kids everywhere. Well, everywhere that kids wear shirts.

Mur, who did not wear humans clothes and who was apparently not interested in getting back to cleaning, watched for a moment. Then he said with a smile, “We could get you ankle bands with ‘left’ and ‘right’ on them.”

I threw a small watersphere at his head. He caught it with one deft spiral of tentacle, then popped it into his mouth like a grape and slid off the tub, chuckling.

“The floor’s dirty!” I called after him.

“No it’s not!” he replied. “I cleaned it right before the gravity hiccuped!”

“Well, it’s got Zhee’s foot germs.”

“I’ll take my chances!”

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!

[slimeyslimeyballsack]

A Very Crossover Crime

Fandoms: Suite Life on Deck, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, Criminal Minds, My Little Pony, My Babysitter's a Vampire

Written for @tom-hunter-summah

Parties that may be interested: @whatthekidscallbolt @diagnosed-crazy @calico-kiwi

Warnings: terribly ooc writing, swearing, violence, death, major character death, mentions of SA

Notes: for the sake of clarity the teens are all roughly 19/20, pronouns are whatever i want them to be, fuck bailey all my homies hate bailey, ive never seen my little pony

"Hey Erica, I don't know if this is a good idea."

Rory yelled over the noise of the wind as they flew over Washington. He only kind of knew what was going on as Erica had interrupted him in the middle of his game, announcing she was hungry before promptly leaving again. In the time after the Whitechapel explosion, something had changed between them. Maybe it was because they were the only person she knew, but Erica was choosing to be around them more and more often. Of course, she was still Erica, but the scathing comments became more lighthearted. They were truly becoming friends. Which is why Rory followed her after her surprise outburst; they knew she expected them to.

"It'll be fun. I've always wanted to try zombie blood," she tossed a wink at them as they landed.

"I just think The Council-"

"Bup bup bup. Who do you trust more, the council or me?" she fluttered her lashes.

"Well, you of course," their grin huge.

"Then let's go."

They landed just outside of Seabrook, Washington. Hopping a tall fence placed them in a rundown section of the town, decorated in scrap metal. From what they understood the town was divided into two, humans and zombies, or it was before things got complicated. It was loud and quiet at the same time. There was remarkably little wildlife. It almost unnerved Rory, though they supposed the two vamps may have spooked the local critters, instinct telling them to run and hide. On the other hand, there were voices everywhere. Some were hushed, others big and boisterous. Rory plodded along behind Erica, puppy dog posture contradictory to her cat-like posture. Her sharp eyes, looking for someone that wouldn't be missed.

After what seemed like a hundred hours of searching, well, it's hard to say Rory was searching, but, after a hundred hours of walking, they found two young men smoking a cigarette. Erica gave Rory a look, signaling the attack.

"Oh my god; this is delicious!"

Rory simply nodded enthusiastically in response.

"Now this I could get used to."

_

Two Weeks Later

"Sixteen bodies found in the last two weeks. All in Seabrook, Washington. All victims have been zombies with two puncture wounds in the neck. They were drained of blood." Hotch lectured.

"So what, we've got a vampire on our hands?" Morgan quirked an eyebrowm

Reid piped in, "Or someone who thinks they are. There's actually a popular subculture filled with people who identify as vampires. They wear fangs and sometimes even drink blood"

"Well, whatever they are they're not slowing down. The Seabrook police department has asked us to come in. They want us in by morning."

Hotch's statement signaled they were finished and he dismissed the others to get ready for their flight.

Several hours after their initial briefing, the group sat in the jet, reviewing the case. Everyone was at least two and a half cups deep into their coffee, deciphering eyes staring at the case file. Opinions being thrown back and forth.

JJ spoke up, "Look at the bruising around the neck. It almost looks like-"

"Hickeys," Morgan quirked his eyebrows at the realization.

"According to the autopsy report, the bodies showed no sign of sexual assault. They declared that the bruises were from strangulation." Rossi added, not entirely believing the statement, simply trying to relay it.

Emily, unhappy with this answer, kept on. "Yeah, but I think they might be misidentifying them. Look at the layout of the bruises. Does that look like a human hand to you?"

"It very well could be a misidentification," Reid spoke slowly, eyebrows furrowed as he flipped back and forth between the photos of the victims. "Understanding of zombie biology is very limited. In fact, humans in Seabrook didn't start interacting with them until the "Z-Band" was invented in 1985, and hardly at all beyond that until 2020 after an act passed allowing zombie children to attend regular high school."

"So you're telling me we're working off of nothing?" Morgan said, exasperated.

"Well, not nothing. Look at the puncture wounds on the victims. They're different sizes. That, coupled with the fact that the victims are killed in pairs..."

"We're looking at partners," Rossi finished for Reid.

_

"Now kiddos, before you get off the boat I want to remind you that we're only staying here for a couple days. Don't forget the buddy system, and please be back on the boat by..."

Miss Tutweiller trailed off, the group already having left her sight.

"I can't believe she's still calling us kiddos. We graduated a year ago," Cody remarked.

"Yeah, well maybe if you stopped acting like one she would. I mean, look at that fanny pack," Zack pointed out.

"I'll have you know that this fanny pack—"

"Would you two shut up? You're both acting like kids," Bailey sniped.

Zack, Cody, Woody, and Bailey walked around the Main Street square of Seabrook, Washington. It was abnormally barren, considering the gorgeous weather. Only a few lonely bodies walked the streets. Most of them were people from the ship. Actually, looking at it Cody realized they were all people from the ship.

"Ooh, frozen yogurt. I hope they have double seaberry swirl," Woody grinned excitedly.

They ducked into the frozen yogurt shop, relieved to find at least someone from the town occupying it: A teen couple, a gray-skinned, green-haired boy across the table from a white-haired girl with healthier-looking skin. They looked frightened if she was being honest. That is until a hand was shoved into their faces.

"Well howdy there. I'm Bailey. Wah wah wah. Wah wah."

She continued introducing them. She was speaking. He was sure of it.

"So you haven't heard," the girl, Addison, spoke.

"There's been murders here in Seabrook. Everyone's scared out of their minds."

If murder wasn't enough to make her jump out of her seat then murders plural sure was.

"Hehe. What?" Zack chuckled nervously, mouth left open, hand hanging loosely in half protest.

"That's it! I'm out of here, seaberry swirl or not!" Woody ran from the parlor.

Zack followed after him, "Hey, Woody. Wait—"

He was cut off abruptly after running into something. Or someone, it would appear. It was a blonde guy about his age, a little shorter than him.

"Well, hello there good lookin'," Zack smirked.

"Well, don't you look tasty," came another voice.

A blonde girl was standing beside him, their tongue gliding across their lower lip as they studied Zack.

"Wow, double babe alert."

"I'm Erica, and this is my..." the girl did a once over on the guy next to her, "friend, Rory." Rory gave him a grin.

"I'm Zack."

"You know Zack, it's not safe to be out here all alone," Erica dragged her finger down his arm, "Things are pretty scary around here."

Zack, only slightly distracted by the touch, responded, "Aha, but I'm not alone. I've got my pal Woody with me," he looked around, "Woody?"

"You were saying?"

"Zack, there you are. Why did you run off like that? Didn't you hear what that girl said? People are getting murdered. Where's Woody?"

Cody quickly interrupted the tension. Whether or not that was for the better, Zack couldn't tell yet.

"You guys look a little lost," Erica said, eyeing up Cody and Bailey, "Let us show you around. We can help you find your friend."

Bailey spoke some words of confirmation, and Erica pushed herself between Bailey and Cody, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders. Rory placed themself next to Zack, and they began walking.

_

Hotch stood in front of the entire Seabrook police department. He despised their demeanor, how little they seemed to care about the nightmarish events happening beneath their noses. As if every zombie in this town could be killed and they still wouldn't give a damn. The whole town was just a tad too cheery, the pastel exterior simply a facade, hiding terrible horrors inside. Something was off, but he couldn't tell what. He cleared his throat, gathering the attention of the room.

"You're looking for a pair: a man and a woman between the ages 18 and 25. They are going to be very close to each other, possibly siblings or partners. They are incredibly loyal to each other and will die before turning the other in. The woman is going to be the dominant partner. She is calling all of the shots," Hotch finished presenting the profile and stepped off the podium.

"You think they'll listen?" Rossi asked.

"I'm not sure."

"They don't seem too interested in catching these guys," Emily added.

"We need to be out there. We need to be doing something," Morgan said.

"No. We've been instructed to stay at the station. We are going to stay at the station," Hotch retorted.

Morgan stormed off. He found a bench outside of the station and sat on it. Huffing, he picked up his cell phone.

"Babygirl, what can you tell me about Seabrook."

_

"Erica! What are we going to do? There's police everywhere. I can't go to jail!"

Rory was panicking. The other three had all needed to use the bathroom and Rory had taken the time to panic.

"Relax; they're on our side remember?"

Erica placed a soft grip on her shoulder, physically comforting her but still giving a look that said 'Dude, duh'.

"Oh. Right," Rory chuckled embarrassedly.

"Now as soon as the cops get here, Bailey and Cody are going to attack us, and the cops are going to arrest them, and then we get to go home with some major cash in our pockets," they winked at her.

"Well, not home."

Even Erica seemed a little dejected at that statement. She missed Whitechapel. She missed Sarah. It had been three years. Three years of wandering. The two had never really assimilated into the group, always kind of outsiders, never making any real friends.

Erica noticed several officers loitering, several with hands hovering their weapons.

"Hey guys I—"

Bailey and Cody quickly grabbed Rory and Erica, bearing their teeth. There was a look of fear in both of their eyes. What the fuck was going on?

"Help!" Erica screamed. The two began to let out cries.

"What are you doing?" Cody whispered. "How are you doing this?"

Erica looked at her and gave a small grin before continuing her yelling. The police officers, now aware of the situation raised their weapons, pointing toward the scene.

"Step away from them and put your hands in the air," an officer shouted.

Erica released her hold on Cody, panting slightly, two people under her control was pushing her limit. Cody quickly removed herself from Erica, taking several steps back, hands in the air.

"Ma'am, step away from the man."

Bailey opened her mouth and—bang! Bailey crumpled to the ground.

"Bailey!" Cody screamed. He fell to his knees, sobbing.

The police took the opportunity to run in, cuffing Cody before lifting her, dragging her across the pavement before they pushed her into the back of the car.

_

Zack stared, horrified at what had just happened. Cody and Bailey had attacked Erica and Rory. Why did they do that? Why did they do that? Why didn't Bailey let go when the police showed up? Why did she try to bite Rory? Bailey was dead. They shot her. He watched it happen. He didn't do anything. He just sat and watched. What the hell happened? It was a blur as the three of them were escorted to the station for witness statements. He had half a mind to think that there should've been an ambulance, but he didn't have the voice to ask why there wasn't. Where was Woody? He hadn't seen him since the yogurt shop. He noticed, not only the police as they entered the station. Is that the FBI? They sat him at a table in an interrogation room. He was given some water and snacks.

"Now son," an officer sat in front of him, "tell me what happened."

"My friends attacked those guys."

In the lobby, Erica and Rory were talking to another officer.

"Well done, you've done much to help with our little zombie problem. You two can go ahead and go home."

Erica gave Rory a high five and a grin. "Let's go home."

A bright purple light flashed just outside of Seabrook. Twilight Sparkle looked around at her friends and their new human forms. They had made it to Seabrook. "Come on everypony; there's a friendship crisis that needs solving!"

End.

[stupidmonster988]

HI! First post- so um- I’m here to introduce you to my welcome home OC!

But first, I wanna give you a little information about myself!

I don’t feel comfortable stating my age unless we are close. So if you would like to know that I feel free to leave me a message and become good friends with me! You can call me Barnaby/Bippy! These have been my names before Welcome home has even been created- I’ve had many people ask if I took it from the character, but no I did not! I have autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety/depression, and DID/OSDD!  My interest include; five nights at Freddy’s, happy tree friends, musicals, welcome home and the amazing digital circus!  Now allow me to go onto my Sona/OC!

TRAVIS SUNSPOT LADYS AND GENTLEMEN!(this is not my art! My amazing friend made it for me!! I did still come up with the idea and concept though)

Travis can be heard being called Tracy around the neighborhood. It’s a little nickname!

They are gender fluid, which means you might see me mixup pronouns here a little bit, but I promise I’m still talking about the same person! Tracy is 27 years old and runs the local train station there! Sunspot station! He is a very kind and bubbly neighbor, who is always willing to help. Standing at around 8 feet tall, he is a part of the more taller gang! He is very good friends with Eddie considering they both have jobs where they have to move around a lot and they often times help each other out! Travis will only wear their train station conductor outfit during work time, but out of it it really depends how he feels! He has been seen wearing, suits, oversized hoodies, etc. etc.

Travis has a major interest in trains! They could go on and on about them for hours. Travis has certain cars on the train specially made that way people can draw on them. He lets Wally and the other neighbors do so. He is very good friends with Barnaby! He laughs very hard at his jokes— they have kind of like a brother bond relationship.

Travis has a Australian accent!

How he got to the neighborhood;

Travis doesn’t have the best memory, considering he is a dog. A golden retriever to be exact. But he grew up with his parents who were train conductors in a small city that would take him everywhere with them! He had been going all around the world to different towns cities and countries, even!  But one day he ended up getting on the wrong train. He ended up stopping at a city that he didn’t know and got off there thinking his parents would be there for him as well. But when they weren’t there He had panicked, and finally realized he had gotten on the wrong train! Considering there were too many trains around to locate the exact one, and he was so young he just kind of attempted to make the best out of things, and started taking care of himself. He would hop from train to train country to country in order to find the one that would take him home. Before he came across a little neighborhood- when he opened up the gate, he couldn’t help but feel so relieved.

It was home.

[daincrediblegg]

movie buff questions: any number with a 6 in it. <3

6. Favorite movie from the 90’s? Literally the first one I thought of was Hocus Pocus. So I'm going with that. It's goddamn incredible anyway.

16. Ever watched a movie just because you heard the effects were awesome? YES! Dawn of the Planet of The Apes. saw it in theaters like 10 times throughout the summer after graduating high school bc the theater was right down the block. shit is insane.

26. Best experience going to the movies Honestly the most recent was Everything Everywhere All At Once. My first viewing was on opening week and that was a PHENOMENAL audience to be a part of- especially recently. Also I will never forget the energy that was in the theater after The Grand Budapest Hotel. shit was awesome.

36. Movie quote you live by? lmao it's not from a movie but for years I had this quote up on my facebook page from Westworld "You can't play God without being aquainted with the Devil". Facts man. Thanks A-Hop.

46. Favorite cop film? Gonna go with Fargo on this one I think. Feels right.

56. Movie you completely nerd-out over every time it’s mentioned? Lord of the Rings. You will always get me with Lord of the Rings. No question. No doubt. I have so many lotr related facts and anecdotes and prop replicas.

60. Most visually stunning movie you’ve seen? God I can't choose. I really can't. so many movies are too beautiful I cannot pick just one. help me god.... OK 1917. that bitch has so much going for it.

61. A movie your parents introduced you to? lmao so many. kudos to them tho for taking me to Spirited Away at the ripe old age of baby.

62. Favorite genre? Gothic (clearly- and it's not the same as horror writ. large- there's a difference, even though many horror films overlap with gothic films as well and the whole horror genre literally owes everything to Gothic fiction but I digress)- also because there's lots of elements that go into gothic from other genres like romance and comedy that people tend to forget about- and I'll always take a good genre mix any day over just... one plain old thing? I like a Genre Ensemble if you will and Gothic covers that the best I think.

63. Least favorite genre? Hallmark Rom-coms. sitcoms in general. or reality tv shit or documentaries (lotta people say they're "unbiased" but the nature of perspective and subjectivity in film is bias. never as fully informative of facts as they purport to be and I can't stand the fuckin things. boring as sin).

64. Comedy movie that you didn’t find funny? First one I thought of was Bridesmaids. Deadass. I don't think a lot of mainstream comedies do humor very well anyway. Also fucking anything written by James Gunn that man literally only knows how to write one movie and it was guardians of the galaxy vol. 1 and literally everything he's done since has been copy-pasted from that script (and especially suicide squad. hate that move so much forever and always what a piece of shit).

65. Horror movie that didn’t scare you? Most don't??? not that bad anyway. Fucking M3gan was literally the most unscary shit I've ever seen recently tho. but then again I grew up on Child's Play like I'm immune to freaky doll shit.

66. Favorite remake of an old movie? ok but dicks out for the planet of the apes remakes. I'm so serious. Andy Serkis put his whole pussy into that monkey.

67. A movie that started a passion for you? um... this is kindof a hard question to answer because movies/shows made me want to persue writing/directing as a career. There have been a lot of them, and the more I see the more I want to do it, so the list is ongoing, but LOTR and Joker 2019 are the two biggest contributors that I can think of off the top of my head. LOTR bonus features are what I lived for and got me passionate about the actual filmmaking process and special effects and stuff, Joker is the one that solidified for me the career choice.

68. A movie that sparked an interesting conversation? in my household The Godfather will never not be the film that sparks interesting conversations- bc my dad worked with a guy that was up for the part of sollazzo, and he was on the books and getting payed and everything when Marlon Brando requested that a guy he knew play the part instead, so he got the boot. BUT!! since he was on the books there was a term in his contract that he get residuals anyway- and so he still does. he was at my parent's wedding and everything. crazy shit.

69. The main movie you remember from your childhood? my childhood was filled with them. Can't be specific about this one I'm afraid. Just trust me. Many.

MOVIE BUFF ASKS

[kiwikarpart]

My Color Wheel

HOLY FUCKING SHIT I FINALLY GOT THIS DONE

It's far from the prettiest color wheel, but I expected that it wouldn't be from the start, so I used it as an excuse to experiment with my art style a bit(that's why there are inconsistencies in shading, rendering, line weight, etcetera). I'm still glad that I did it despite the lackluster quality because I have a hard time letting myself be loose with my art. If I attempted to make this with my perfectionist mindset, it would've taken 3 times as long to finish without getting me any closer to what I want my art to look like. So if you're an artist that wants to try making a color wheel but are afraid you won't like how it turns out: don't be! Use the challenge to try out a certain brush, shading method, color palette, whatever! You might not love the final result, but you will get something out of the experience.

Before I end this post, I want to talk about the characters in this wheel and why I picked them[WARNING: LONG].

Flare: Tbh, I don't have a strong connection to Flare, she's not even my favorite Panel de Pon character. What I do like about her is her official artwork and character themes, the girl's got confidence, sass, and a banging critical theme. I also really wanted to draw a character from Panel de Pon because there's so much to love about the franchise despite lacking on official content (I'd be upset at IS for that, but I can't blame them too much when any original IP that wasn't Fire Emblem or Advance Wars didn't sell well).

Daisy: You don't need me to tell you who Daisy is. All I really need to say is that I love her for the same reason every other Daisy fan loves her. Saying Daisy rules because of her (relatively) bombastic personality is nothing new, but that really is why I like her so much. That's also why some people hate her, but that makes me appreciate Daisy more. I think it's great to have a character that people either love or hate in a franchise with simple characters.

Mew Pudding: Despite Tokyo Mew Mew aging like milk imo, I wanted to include a character from it because it was the 1st magical girl series I read, and I love magical girl shows SO much! I drew Pudding because she's my favorite girl in the group. As a kid, it was just because she's funny, but as an adult the juxtaposition between her role as a caretaker for a bunch of little siblings and the youngest member of the Mew Mews was pretty interesting. Dare I say, she would've been a better protagonist than Ichigo.

Rina: I couldn't hop off the magical girl train yet, especially since Mermaid Melody was my 2nd introduction to the wonderful world of magical girls. Most Mermaid Melody fans prefer Luchia or Hanon, but as long as I can remember my favorite was Rina. I never got a chance to re-read the series so I can't remember why, but knowing what I know about myself now, the reason might've been...formative.

Frosty Puff: Probably the most obscure character on this wheel, due to the triple whammy of being a minor character in one generation of a series most people don't care about. No disrespect to the Strawberry Shortcake fandom, I like looking at your posts here, but to the general public, Strawberry Shortcake stonks are pretty low right now. That didn't stop me from drawing Frosty Puff though, because of...well she...ok I admit it was just because of her design. As far as I know, Frosty Puff never got any meaningful characterization. But I was really hyper fixated on the 2003 Strawberry Shortcake era when I started this, and I wanted a character in cyan that wasn't showing up everywhere. Her in-show design doesn't have a drop of cyan, but her official doll's hair did so I merged the two.

Undine: If you don't know who this character is, that's fine :] but it also means you haven't read Sleepless Domain, and it's worth it just for her. Won't elaborate because there are a few twists and turns I don't want to spoil, but if you want to see more magical girl stories for a slightly older audience, check it out.

Amethyst: I drew Amethyst from Steven Universe because of the small arc she has involving Jasper. The 1st time I watched it, I really resonated with Amethyst for a reason I couldn't articulate. Something about her struggling with then coming to terms with the genetic differences between her and Jasper was surprisingly real, and I shared her frustration with Jasper being this seemingly unbeatable opponent...then I watched it again and realized some of the stuff Jasper said was REALLY ableist. That might have something to do with it.

Caitlin: And to top it all off, my favorite psychic user in the pokemon franchise. Won't go into it because this post got way too long, but I think her backstory makes her a certified badass.

[keefiswhoiam]

June 05 2024 - Wednesday

10:24pm

5/10

This morning I wiped down my mirror/sink and shelf that holds most of my bathroom stuff. I also cleaned each individual item so it was all spotless. For breakfast I made a breakfast sandwich with rice and it came with 2 slices of cheese instead of 1.

For work I warmed up with what I attempted to be quick color studies of bedrooms. Then I completely finished the next commission, nearly putting me a day ahead. AL was being weird in stream today, clearly emotional about something but luckily I didn't have to intervene.

After stream I hopped on desktop VRchat while I looked for the songs sampled by a lot of the vaporwave I listen to. There were a few good ones I simply couldn't track down but I got a few. As usual in chaotic public VRchat lobbies, there were a lot of teens trying to be edgy/funny. For lunch I made tuna spaghetti.

Real quick, theres a lot of small things that happen that I just don't talk about and I think it's because I think it's embarrassing that they are even notable enough to write down. It makes me feel like I have so little going on that *this* was a landmark of my day. I also think I really didn't care about a lot of these small things I did so I don't want to talk about them like there were important to me because they weren't. They mostly stick out because of how unsatisfied I was with what I was doing but its what I DID so thats all I have to talk about. Id rather stick to documenting things that were actually important to me.

In the afternoon I did today's request and hopped into VRchat again to continue a painting "from life" I was doing. The world I joined had some guys in it, all mid-teens I think. They were an edgy little bunch aside from the 1 guy that stayed after the others left. We conversed for awhile, and by that I mean I asked him a billion questions since he didn't seem to know how to keep a conversation going. They a couple more of his friends joined to talk. It was decent company while I painted.

I hopped off to focus on working on my pony avatar. I took a few minute break, at a cookie, and got to work. I did some weight painting and attemped baking some ambient occlusion on it to see if it would be an improvement. I think it'd be better if I manually painted on any shadows/details I want.

After work I took a short desk nap while watching FLoB stream. I was mentally tuckered out so that helped. Then I joined BR's server to watch them play Minecraft for a bit. I also got whitelisted for their server so I can hop in when I'm ready to start. Then I hit up DS to chill.

We watched a furry con vlog and poked fun at some of the interesting people we saw while discussing other topics. She was gluing pieces of her fursuit foot together but had a lot of trouble with it and had to put it off until tomorrow. Before she headed upstairs, we perused this scent oil website to see what would be best to make a spray for her fursuit. I was sold on one called "secret garden." Also put some thought into what I might smell like, I think something associated with 'brown' like coffee or a kind of nut.

In bed we did puzzles and chatted some more. We talked about what it means to be evil and what it might take to be someone that works with dead bodies. After she went to sleep I browsed around everywhere before my nightly routine, nothing in particular.

I had the same bad thoughts and feelings as usual today but I am just staying aware of them and thats it. Its helping in the sense that I still maintain at least some degree of mental clarity separate from whatever is going on in my head. This is defusion at work.

[casspurrjoybell-32]

*Warning Adult Content*

RECESSIVE WOLF - Chapter 1

Toronto is a lot different than Peace River.

For one thing, most of the werewolves were lone, or they formed pseudo packs like the Calgary wolves that moved down to rural Alberta.

The rogues picked up ranks and regularly fought each other for them.

They weren't very stable and people in command changed all the time because wandering wolfs did just that, they wandered and traveled without staying put. 

It made sense.

Toronto was a city and it was hard to keep yourselves away from humans when they were everywhere.

It wasn't uncommon for wolves to opt-out to live with humans and repress themselves.

So, it wasn't a surprise that there were many hybrids and recessives. 

And I think Adyen is recessive.     

"Pheromones? My wolf? What the fuck are you talking about?" the darker boy stepped as he pulled his hand away from me.

His other hand was grasping no to the box that held his drawing board and tools.

Some people paused to give us a brief look before they continued on their way.

No one seemed too interested in two random dudes arguing in the middle of the main quad.

It happened all the time. 

Ah, the University of Toronto.   

I've only been here for six months for a degree in architecture but I've bumped up to all sorts of werewolves.

Grey wolves like myself, eastern wolves and many foreign wolves who seemed to be immigrants or international students.   

"Now you're mute when you were screaming shit at me just seconds ago," the boy continued and I just stared, not knowing what to say or where to start.

Yes, I had chased him on a whim when I couldn't take the almost magnetic feeling of being drawn to him anymore.

I had to meet him and get the process over with before my wolf carved me from the inside out.     

The sound of students walking past us filled what would have been drawn out silence.

I let out short breaths, watching their form in the snow as I adjusted my weight from foot to foot, crunching the snow under my boots as I tried to think of where to start.

How did you start explaining werewolves to a human?     

I swallowed the spit that had built up in my mouth before tucking my hands in my pockets.

I stared at Adyen who was still frowning at me.

My chest was squeezing in happiness even though he was mad at me.

I finally got to see him up close and my wolf paced in excitement as I took the time to look at him.

He was Afro-Canadian and just shy of my 5'11.

He was in think trousers and an even thicker jacket, so I couldn't tell how big he was right now.     

"You chase me saying shit and now you're just going to stare at me like a creep?" he said, making me blink before taking a step back.

My eyes went wide and my face warmed up when I realized what I was doing.

My dumb brain had to remember that Adyen was probably not a wolf and everything that I was doing that was driven by instinct just looked creepy.   

 "Sorry," I sighed, running a hand through my hair before licking my lips.

The winter air was dry,and I was starting to feel the gloveless hands I had buried in the pocket of my jacket go numb.

"I just need some time to collect my words."

I made up the excuse on the spot but he seemed to buy it because his expression softened.   

'He's so cute.'

Almost puppy like with his short curly hair and big doe eyes.

I had first seen him in my lecture last Tuesday.

It had been strange but in the class of over a hundred, my eyes kept wandering to one spot at the far right.

Since then, I haven't been able to exist in the same place as him without feeling a pull towards him and after a while, I learned his name from people calling out to him.

I wonder if he had just transferred to the main campus because it was weird that I was just noticing him now.

"How do you know who your mate is?"   

"You just know."     

I nibbled my bottom lip, remembering my mother's words before she hugged me and sent me off on the bus to Edmonton so that I could take a plane to Calgary before hopping into one that headed for Toronto.   

"I think we should head somewhere private to talk," I muttered, staring at the boy who was still frowning at me.

"It's important," I insisted.     

When I had started feeling a pull towards him I wondered why he never looked like he noticed it too.

Both wolves were supposed to.

I had started to think that maybe he was pretending to ignore me and I had followed him out of the library today, calling out to him and mentioning our bond and wolves and I had only realized there was nothing to sense from him when I got closer and managed to grab his hand. 

No wolf. 

No pheromones. 

No nothing.

He had to be recessive.

There was no other explanation. 

"I'm not going anywhere with you. You've been staring at me since last week. Fucking weirdo," he cursed, adjusting the strap of his bag before taking a few steps back.

No matter what he was saying he didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave.

He just kept looking at me with his deep brown eyes and I did the same matching his gaze.

I took the time to take in more of his features.

He had full lips with a cute cupid's bow.     

I looked away, deciding to put my gaze somewhere else before I did something I would regret.

'God, I want to touch him.'

My chest felt warm and I needed to take deep breaths to calm down as an itching sensation built up in my body.     

"Are you okay?" the voice was soft but it was Adyen's and the concern he felt for me was making my face warm up.

"I'm alright."

I looked up to find Adyen's frown gone.

He looked concerned and my out of breath tone probably didn't convince him I was fine.

If he was a wolf, he would understand it was just a pheromone overload I was experiencing and nothing serious but he clearly wasn't and kept pressing to see if I was okay.     

"Let's go sit somewhere private," he offered after a while, taking a hold of my hand before pulling me in the opposite direction.     

'His hands are soft and he has long fingers, just like Ahote's.'

I felt a prick of guilt at my thoughts.

No matter what I felt, my mind kept trying to compare him to Ahote.

Ahote was my first love, I couldn't help it. 

When Ahote had bonded to Alek and had a child with him, I knew I didn't have a chance anymore.

It was painful to watch him and Alek, so I studied hard because I wanted to leave Peace River.

When I turned eighteen, I had felt that slight tug every wolf felt so that they knew their mate was out there.

It had made me panic a little, even feel a bit sick at the prospect that I might ever like someone other than Ahote.   

I used to wish I'd never meet them and that if I did, I felt we wouldn't along but after seeing Adyen all those feelings had melted away almost immediately.

I wanted to be with him.

I wanted to know who he was and it seemed like a prank the Goddess was playing on me by making him recessive.

This was what I had wanted, right?

A partner I could ignore.

Adyen didn't seem to know he had werewolf genes at all.

I think whatever parent was the werewolf hid it from him.     

"Do you feel better now?" Adyen asked after pulling me into a small ally.

I frowned, pursing my lips before shaking my head. 

I heard him sigh. He seemed frustrated.

"Come on, don't do this. Why are you acting weird?" he asked.

My head kept pounding as my wolf felt overwhelmed by Adyen's presence.

Especially now that he was holding on to my hand and just inches away.

My body was pumping out pheromones to try and communicate my feelings to him but Adyen couldn't sense those either.

He truly seemed to be human except for his genes. 

This was going to be hard.     

"Why did you have to be recessive?" I said out loud, looking up.

Adyen was frowning at me now.

He didn't understand those words and it frustrated it.     

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, darting his eyes from me to the open area outside the alley.

He looked like he was trying to figure out an exit route for the worst-case scenario with me.

It pricked that he was trying to get away but I didn't blame him.

I had gone about all this in the worst possible way.   

"Of course you don't," I chuckled, shaking my head.   

"Why do you keep saying weird stuff?" he asked.     

"It's going to take a while to explain. I don't even think I can explain all of it here. You won't believe me," I said, taking my hand away from him before giving him space.

I didn't want to do anything weird.

He looked confused and tried to follow but I shook my head, pulling up the hood of my jacket as I rested my back on the brick wall.     

"Please don't touch me now," I said.

The cold had me shiver a bit, so I shut my eyes for a bit.

Canadian winters were a pain in the ass.

"I think we should talk about this later. Could you give me your number?" I asked him.

Adyen frowned but after some hesitation, he took out his cell-phone from his jacket and handed it to me.     

"Give me your number instead. I'll message you if I want to," he said, and I nodded, taking the phone from him before typing in my number and handing it back.

I had typed up my name as well so that he knew it.

I watched Adyen stare at his phone screen for a while before tucking it away in his jacket and walking out of the alley.

He paused at a point to look back at me and I smiled to myself, feeling my chest warm-up at the fact that he seemed to care about how I was doing.     

"I'm fine," I yelled and after a while, Adyen turned and continued walking away.     

'Why do you have to be recessive?' I whined in my head, sighing as I leaned off the wall, my pheromones calming down significantly since Adyen had left.

I had to sort them out in case of the next time when we met... if we met.

There was no guarantee Adyen would reach out to me but he seemed curious enough, so I stayed hopeful.

[babylonianpirate]

ninetailsofmisery​:

Well, Nine wasn’t expecting a deal like that, though did he really want to tell Atreya how he got here? The less people that knew about the Prism Shard the better and the fox was dealing with what appeared to be a group of pirates so they could also be a chance they’d try to take it. Of course he didn’t have many options at the moment so it all came down if he was willing to take a risk.

“Alright, I got here by a interdimensional portal I managed to make which lead me to some sort of Shatter Space with a bunch of broken crystals everywhere. While traversing it I had a close call with almost running into a large chuck of it, though one of my thrusters got hit. Ending up spinning out of control before I managed to regain control. When I did I was in front of an exit portal which I had to make a quick decision to go through hoping there was some solid ground to land on. After that I landed and you can pretty much guess the rest.” Nine managed to tiptoe around what he was using as a power source to allow him to travel to different dimensions and hoped they didn’t catch on to that.

Atreya listened in silence. Only giving the occasional nod here and there. “That explains the scrap then. Alright.” Once Nine had finished Atreya walked out of the room for a moment or two then returned with a small bag filled with the same raw metal she used for Typhon’s engine room. “This is metal my people once used. It’s sturdy and easy to work with once you melt it down. Should keep your portal machine together a lot better than what scrap would.”

“I normally would ask for the power source but I also got no interest in dimension hopping. What you gave already is more than enough. If that’s all you need I think I can land Typhon and let you off, Nine. Unless you’d rather tag along. Choice is yours.”

[a-little-ray-of-fantasy]

I saw your post about Stolas possibly being in the spectrum and I just wanted to ask for more details about your observation and reason. Please do not take this the wrong way as I'm trying to understand how to tell if someone is or isn't.

I'm politely disagreeing that him, jumping out of excitement is something to attribute to autism or neurodivergence. Can it not be a mannerism or habit of his? Or a common indication of him being happy over something thrilling? The same reason applies to his likeness to plants, specific book choices, and raptor hands.

Does it mean that everyone who shares the same mannerisms as Stolas and preference of book and knowledge is also neurodivergent?

I mean no offense, I genuinely would just like to know how you came upon that observation. Thank you :) Hope to be enlightened with a different perspective.

Hey! Thank you for the message! It's no problem at all! ^^

Ok, so, before I start explaining my reasonings, I want to be clear and say that Stolas being autistic is a headcanon: there's no official source that says he is, and it's mostly a thought supported by some canon elements I've seen in the show, and it makes me happy, considering I'm neurodivergent and have been noted I have some autistic traits.

Having said that, I want to explain what led me to this headcanon.

Autistic people often fidget, or stim, when they feel certain emotions, like being happy or agitated. It's a way to help the person release tension or energy by making repeated movements.

I've seen Stolas has made several movements when idle or happy: when he's seated he often moves his leg.

When on his phone his body, especially his hands, is always moving. When he talks with Blitzo on the phone, he's especially happy, and thus he plays with the cord, scratches around or moves around.

And, as seen in the last two episodes so far, when he's especially excited, he hops.

These are all actions that are rather frequent, coming from him. And stimming is usually an indicator that someone is on the spectrum.

As are raptor hands: from what I've read is a way of keeping your hands close to you chest, as if you were a raptor. It's a trait that's especially noticeable in people who are confirmed as neurodivergent, and Stolas has done this pose fairly often.

Infodumping is basically sharing everything you know about something you're especially passionate about.

Putting his finger up as he explaining something...

...and generally keeping his arms inward when he walks or feels happy...

...are recurring movements I've noticed in him.

Also: the first he does when Blitzo comes to his home, when they're children, is showing all his books and infodumping everything he knows about plants; he's especially sad when Blitzo states that books and plants are boring.

People in the spectrum have special interests, or hyperfixations, in which they're extremely knowledgable about, and it's especially good sharing that passion with others. More often than not tho' that interest is so specific, or the info is just so complex and detailed, that others struggle in following along, or are bored by it all.

Stolas loves herbology and is an expert in astronomy: there's plants everywhere and his palace has a star aesthetic. Even on Instagram he often shares what he knows about space or flowers. It's also suggested he read a lot, when he was a child. The fact that he knew so much about herbology and animals at such a young age, and got sad that he wasn't able to share what he knew, is a struggle that many autistic people often face.

And finally, his struggle with relationships.

Stolas has no friends, and has little to no experience with bonding with people. Especially because his biggest problem is reading the room or realize that what he feels is usually not what the other feels, especially when he gets really caught up in something that brings him joy.

Stolas is compassionate, but his struggle to aknowledge Blitzo's distress over their relationship, or Octavia's fear of losing him, have caused a good deal of trouble for everyone involved. When Stolas realizes this distress, he's very quick to apologize and fix himself, but it's not an automatic response for him, it usually requires someone else to point things out to him.

Some people in the spectrum struggle with this, being able to read the other's emotions. It's not a case of lack of empathy or such: it's just that emotions are hard to read, especially if they're from someone else. And considering Stolas doesn't seem like he's had much experience with bonding even after meeting Blitzo for the first time, this wouldn't surprise me.

Emotions on his own are an interesting point about him: I sense the reason why he gets excited so easily is also a result of his status that imposed him to be as cool headed as possible, and often numbed himself down with drinks. Now that he's starting to find himself again, he gets giddy for any new opportunity as a way to make up for all the lost time. As someone who is neurodivergent and has been emotionally guarded for so long when she was young, I often do the same as him: reacting with glee and amazement even at the smallest new stuff I see, even if at my age such a behaviour could be considered childish.

And, not to mention his love for soap operas: he even ends up looking like the main character of his favorite Hellanovela by putting some white on his hair. It seems he enjoys replaying what he sees on his favorite shows and stories: as far as I'm aware, roleplaying or relating to fictional situations and characters is something that feels very good when you're in the spectrum.

And, I dunno, I think I said everything I had to say. I've stated everything I've managed to find, going off with what I know about the matter and how I personally experience as a neurodivergent person.

Again, not everyone in the spectrum acts the same way, no one acts more autistic than another. It simply means that many have different experiences with autism. And while there's no confirmation on whether or not Stolas is autistic, there's IS enough evidence that he's neurodivergent, considering his many quirks.

I'm sorry this got so long, I guess I'm really passionate about how Stolas is written and, as neurodivergent myself, maybe I do see something about myself in him. Maybe that's why I headcanon him as neurodivergent. But it still makes me happy that some fans headcanon him as autistic as well, so maybe everything I've said does hold some water. It feels validating, you know?

...sorry, I'm rambling, I'm starting to feel rather sleepy. ^^

I hope all of this answered your questions. Thank you once again for inquiring me about my post: it allowed me to further explore one of my favorite characters ever.

Wish you many good things. ^^

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Does...does anyone in Gen Z remember when the internet didn't completely suck? When there were communities?

You didn't used to have a million apps. You had your internet browser and it took you everywhere you wanted to go.

There were browser extensions like StumbleUpon that would take you to anything people had saved based on interests you gave it: news articles, memoirs, blog posts about the most random things, Cracked articles when Cracked was a thriving comedy site, and College Humor the same way, before Facebook killed them and now you kind of just hope someone on social media is funny sometimes and maybe there's The Onion. TVTropes pages. Fanfiction. Random sites designed to play exactly one game. Entire websites designed to have one button that did one thing. Yahoo! Answers questions that were funny or informative. Wikipedia pages. Other wiki pages. Fan wikis that didn't live on Fandom.

And you could just. Surf The Web as it were and wander aimlessly through it. Google wasn't totally ads, and it wasn't the only functioning search site, either. Yahoo! had games, and there were plenty of other sites just. Full of flash games. That you could browse through. For free!

People made websites for their fanfiction and their original fiction. Every interest had a forum and probably had a community and you could go sign up and chat with people about it. And you could find those posts again, until the forum died, which it might not even do! People had blogs that weren't attached to sites like Tumblr or LiveJournal or Dreamwidth.

There were thriving communities just for book and fic recs.

You could go places and do things and it wasn't all siloed. You didn't always have to have an account to do things or read things. You might have to sit through some ads, but not as many as now, and the Algorithm didn't steer you away. Facebook was usable. There were sites like Gaia Online that had forums and flash games and avatar design and dress up and videos and there were like 20 different sites like Flight Rising that operated for different silos and interests with different worlds to explore.

When chat rooms weren't privated up in discord and you could sign on anonymously in IRC chats. When NaNoWriMo had its own official IRC chat room! Just on the website! Where you could talk to anyone! And nothing would be saved once you left!

When not everything was paywalled and Exclusive Content and even if it was, you were on 50 different sites a day anyway hanging out with different people doing different things and exploring.

When social media wasn't the main way people got news and not the only place to hang out and talk and you could learn from other people a thousand other ways, and not everything linked to a locked Patreon.

The internet has always had problems. But it didn't used to be so siloed and locked and competitive and difficult to hop from one place to another and people didn't spend all day on three different sites.

And it used to be so much more interesting.

I think the good used to outweigh the bad of the internet. I'm not sure it does. It turned from a place to explore and talk to a corporate dopamine slot machine designed to extract money.

[lurkingshan]

Inspired by @waitmyturtles and @nieves-de-sugui, sharing my journey through BL! Putting this under a read more because I really found a lot of words on this topic. Feel free to skim at will - now that you got me going I have a lot to say!

First, a bit of background. Three big interests of mine really converged to make BL kind of a perfect storm for me:

Romance: I have been an avid consumer of romance stories as far as back as I can remember. When I was a kid I would read several books a week and before I even hit my tween years I always gravitated to the romance genre. Add in film and television and it's safe to say I haven't gone a week of my life without consuming some form of a story about two people falling in love. It is absolutely my shit.

Asian dramas: More recent but no less intense an obsession for me. I watched my first kdrama in 2019 - my favorite gossip blogger (shoutout to Lainey) was constantly posting about a drama on Netflix (It's Okay Not to Be Okay). So I decided to try it out and I instantly fell in love. Kdramas are written nearly exclusively by women, they respect romance as a genre, and they cater to female audiences. It was unlike anything I ever experienced watching Western media. I started watching them more frequently, then when the pandemic hit I found myself with a ton of time at home and a fun new focus issue, and watching dramas with subtitles was a huge help.

Fandom: Since I was a teen I was always kind of hopping in and around internet fandom. When I like something, I like to enjoy it with others and find community around shared interests. And when I'm frustrated with media, I really like to dig into that and explore ways to fix it, so I became an avid fanfic reader, as well. Fandom to fandom my level of involvement varied - sometimes I just lurk around fandom spaces, sometimes I actually develop a presence, and in one instance I even got deeply involved in a fandom community to the point where I was posting meta, writing fic, and leading fan activities.

ANYWAY, after that long preamble, I come to the point: Because I was so into kdramas, and had watched/read a lot of Western QL romances, when I saw Where Your Eyes Linger pop up on my Viki recommendations I clicked on it. I liked it, and immediately wanted to understand more about it, because it was the first kdrama I had ever seen with a same sex pairing, and the format was so different. So I did a bit of research, and that was the first time I ever heard of BL. I was a little mind blown - there's a whole genre of QL romances in Asia??? So of course I set out to find more. I did a general search and the first thing I found was 2gether. This was June of 2021, so it was already about a year following the initial frenzy of that show, but it was still hugely popular and there was fan content about it everywhere. So I journeyed to YouTube to watch it, and that was my introduction to Thai BL and the wider genre.

From there I started looking for guidance on what to watch, and because of my time in various fandoms tumblr was always a go-to place where I knew I could find other people watching whatever obscure thing I was into. I found @absolutebl quickly and started reading their history and analysis posts on the genre. That was when it really sunk in for me how much culture and history there was to dig into, and I was really intrigued by the different styles and industries of each country. So I started working my way through their lists of the top 10 BLs from each country and it all just kind of spiraled from there.

I will not go into detail about every show I watched, but a few highlights:

TharnType: This was the first high heat BL I ever saw, and because I came over from kdramas, the first high heat Asian show I had seen, period. This show is messy and the writing was a hilarious hodgepodge of strong character work alongside absurd plotting and what I came to learn was typical Mame problematic content, but the chemistry between the leads was off the charts. It really set the bar for me in that respect, and got me looking for other examples (which at that time were mostly from Taiwan).

Theory of Love: This one inspires mixed opinions in fandom, but for me it was the first time I realized a Thai BL could not only be fun, but also good (no disrespect to other early Thai BLs but... yeah lol). There was a coherent emotional narrative arc! Smart story structure! Believable character development and earned redemption! Good actors! This one set me on a path to find the good stuff.

I Told Sunset About You: Which led me to ITSAY, the drama that convinced me BL could also be high cinema and art. This show blew me way, honestly. And got me more interested in finding the other more cinematic entries in the genre, which I mostly found from Japan.

The Untamed: When I saw this one on the list for China, I was like wait why have I heard of that? The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi is one of those fandoms that is so big and ubiquitous, anyone who spends time online will have heard of it long before they know what it actually is. This show opened up a bunch of new fixations for me - a new all-time fav character, an introduction to cdramas and the xianxia/wuxia genres, and the discovery of Chinese web novels. It's a very expansive universe with a lot going on outside the romance, unlike most BLs. Which I guess can be good or bad, depending on your perspective.

Bad Buddy + Semantic Error: These are the shows I credit for fully sucking me into the BL fandom on tumblr. Before BB aired, I was just kind of lurking about (it’s right there in the handle, fam) checking a few blogs periodically for recommendations and watching shows at my own pace. But BB and then SE caused such a frenzy that I decided to start watching them live and checking tumblr every week for reactions. I found more excellent blogs (like @bengiyo @negrowhat @laowen @liyazaki) that were posting not only BB and SE content but also commentary about other shows. Eventually I gave in and created a new tumblr account so I could actually follow them instead of going to their blogs on web browser like a weirdo, and my participation in fandom escalated predictably from there.

By early 2022 I had pretty much caught up on most of the history of the genre (though not everything - I refuse to watch Waterboyyy, I do have some standards) and developed a fairly solid understanding of the cultural context around it. I then started trying to keep up with new shows. As a cishet, it wasn’t the thrill of representation that drew me into the genre as much as the thrill of finding a genre that brought together so many of my favorite things, combined with the excitement of seeing the community grow and getting the chance to learn so much from the brilliant people who were watching these shows. Checking reactions to airing shows became a weekly habit, and my watchlist kept getting longer and longer. I learned about which platforms I should be watching on and where to direct my $$ to support the genre. And I heard about so many shows I never would have known existed without this community.

So that’s me! If you made it to the end of this post you are a true champion. Thanks for inviting the conversation @waitmyturtles - it was fun to reflect!