#so maybe it’s possible he did the same here

[scoops-aboy86]

Here’s an out of the ordinary career option for Steve: teppanyaki chef. You know, the guys at Japanese hibachi restaurants that do the whole show of cooking your food right there at a big grill on the table and tossing food into people’s mouths and flipping their cooking implements like it’s no big. 

Inspired largely by the fact that I had teppanyaki earlier this week and the chef, in addition to flipping eggs into his hat and then onto his spatula to break them, was making shrimp fried rice and spelled “I” with the shrimp, “❤️” with the rice, and “U” either the veg and egg. 

Just picture Steve, in the goofy tall hat that does even fewer favors for his hair than the Scoops hat, doing that with the same goofy grin on his face as during the lightsaber handshake bit.

Maybe rockstar Eddie comes in with the band and an entourage one night. He notices Steve making silly faces back and forth with Robin (one of the bartenders or a seating host or something) across the room, and thinks it’s cute. He joins in making silly faces at Steve, who is *delighted* and 100% starts doing it back because usually the customers are too wrapped up in their own lives to notice. 

Robin is a little annoyed that her work buddy has been co-opted for the night, but once she gets a better look at Eddie she just rolls her eyes and laughs under her breath because he is definitely Steve’s type. Then her eyes move a fraction to the left and she notices Corroded Coffin’s manager, Chrissy Cunningham, and immediately goes 😍 for the rest of their stay.

Steve is supposed to spread his attention equally around the table, and he sort of does, but Eddie definitely gets more food tossed in his mouth than anyone else. Maybe he brought a date (possibly a groupie, possibly just someone willing to put out for a celebrity, he’d just sort of shrugged like “okay, sure” when they attached themself to him) for the evening that he’s totally ignoring, because as far as he’s concerned no one else is as interesting as the pretty chef. The date gets visibly more grumpy, which the rest of the band definitely notices, but they all just sort of roll their eyes and sigh because Steve is definitely Eddie’s type, sorry friend, don’t know what to tell ya. Eventually the date gets up saying they’re going to the bathroom, but they take their coat. It takes Eddie, like, half an hour to notice. 

And Steve keeps doing those little flippy things, like with his ice cream scoop and the nail bat, all. The. Time. It’s not even a gimicky restaurant thing, he’s just Like That. He says he can do it with anything and Gareth immediately produces drumsticks (I have never met a drummer who did not have drumsticks on them at all times, often even when another pair has been confiscated), and Steve takes about three seconds to figure out how to twirl them like a pro. Eddie is already removing a ring to propose. Chrissy makes some sort of comment about being in the color guard for marching band (in addition to cheerleading) and speculating whether Steve could spin a saber or rifle and he’s so confident he could do it that Eddie is like, “When is your next break, that could be our honeymoon baby” because he is going to eat this man alive. 

Suffice it to say, Steve ends the night with his dick sucked and within a week he’s gotten Chrissy’s number for Robin, who he’s been talking up incessantly. A month later, he puts Gareth in touch with Will about some sort of artistic commission that Gareth wants, which eventually leads to Will finally ending his pining over Mike streak. 

Steve has to formally apologize to Jeff and Doug for not having any more single friends to introduce them to, but he promises to keep an eye out. In the meantime, have they ever tried Purple Palm Tree Delight? Because he knows a guy…

[stealingpotatoes]

POTES SEMI-LIVEBLOGS KOTOR!

ive been writing my thoughts in the notes app but due to popular demand (one person asked for it) i'm posting my liveblogging DO NOT SAY/TAG/COMMENT SPOILERS PLEASE i read tags

warning im a yapper, im 10 hours in and theres a lot already (separated into sessions):

SESSION 1

whos this clown i thought i would be playing as revan

ive been too spoiled by dragon age origins this character creator sucks ass

only human???? ): fr?? ill just imagine her different in my brain or some shit

my life is being mansplained to me. is this bad writing or do i have amnesiacs

hes meta now??? hes talking abt the screen controls?????

omg a jedi and an evil jediii

omg their asses suckedddd they both died immediately

i <3 bringing a sword to a gun fight

WHY R THERE SO MANY SITH WHERE IS TJE RULE OF TWO

i clicked a workbench and it said lightsaber so either i get a lightsaber or i get a jedi friend whose lightsaber i can steal if im careful

I assume u play as revan in kotor2 so im gonna buy that now so i can play it when im done playing w this clown

i got light side points im getting a good grade in game morality which is something both normal to want and possible to achieve

everyone keeps saying revan is dead but thats my friend revan from tumblr hes clearly alive. or they???

my characters ass is distractingly present onscreen

huge fan of the way everyone collapsed drunk what the FUCK was in that wine

ok these sith ppl might be the bad guys but their armour is DRIPPY AS FUCK

ideologically i dont agree w the sith but they kinda went off w the fits

googling how to become a sith without being evil cause they have Drip

SESSION 2

i paid £1.19 to see revan he better show up in this game at some point

all these sith n i still cant find one revan….. stop faking ur death rn come out n talk to me babygirl this isnt like u….

why can i be light/dark side if im not a jedi. give me a laser sword

maybe this jedi gyal will know where revan is faking his death. or give me a fuckin lightsaber PLEASEEE

was just thinking 'does this game have romance' and then carth called me beautiful. i dont think im gonna romance anyone until i get this amnesia sorted

why is carth questioning me so much abt the crash im pretty sure i have amnesia

why tf did the jedi lady have me transferred to this ship are we in lesbians with each other???

carth's not wrong it is suspicious but i lowkey have amnesia so i coulda done that i coulda not

a lot of clone wars voice actors in this. was lucasfilm so broke in the 2000s that they could only afford the same 3 VAs for every project

mission is 14??????? we need to get my girl back in school

SESH 3

tale as old as time i fucking suck at racing games

ok i didnt realise you had to mash click i won

REVAN!!! REVAN!!!!!!!!!

why am i dreaming abt revan tho. real as hell but ?????

lmao cringe revan getting blown up. i thought the jedi beat rev-meister in a fight but no. accident

"such visions are often a sign of force sensitivity" COOL YAY GIVE ME A LIGHTSABER

BASTILLE LOST HER FUCKING LIGHTSABER??

CARTH IS RIGHT THATS LIKE DAY ONE JEDI SHIT. ok i still love her even tho shes a bit of a bitch and also doesnt have a saber

if we find a lightsaber im taking it first tho

whys carth getting weird abt me being weird that he doesnt trust me. i just wanna be friends mate

SESH IV: A NEW HOPE

'i mean no disrespect, but perhaps one of the male slaves could serve you better' i went in here to start a slave revolution and instead got called a lesbo

LMAO THERES A SPICE LAB???? WALTER WHITE WHERE ARE YOU

thats insaneee they blew up BILLIONS of people to get to one jedi?????? these sith arent fucking around theyre scary

UM THIS IS CRAZY GRAPHICS THE LIGHTING IS CLEARER/DARKER WHEN I COVER THE SUN W THE SHIP EDGE?? 2003 IS THE YEAR OF THE FUTURE

someone just called me padawan i kinda assumed i was in my late 20s do i just have baby vibes

all the jedi in the movies are so chill but every kotor jedi i've met so far has been a bit of a bitch

YO THEY HAVE A YODA!!! its not THE yoda but

cool so these guys are just the regional managers at best. your asses are not the council

why can everyone smell my force juju so strong

THATS STRAIGHT UP YODA'S CLONE WARS VA

why does fake yoda not blink both eyes at the same time. im calling him master tortimer he reminds me of the animal crossing mayor

bastila there was no need for such a fancy bow

malak is like evil aang

revan is so much shorter than malak omg

are me and bastila sharing dreams. are we both obsessed w revan

poor mission ):

WHAT WAS MASTER TORTIMER ABT TO SAY????????? EVER SINCE WHEN??? DID WE KNOW EACH OTHER BEFORE MY AMNESIACS????? DID BASTILA TELL U SMTHN MORE WHEN I WASNT IN THE ROOM???

im intrigued i like this whole hidden jedi shtick its very compelling. so is whatever theyre hiding from me

kinda surprising no jedi found me before tho given my force juju is so strong

IM A LEGIT JEDI NOW??? SICK!!!

does revan rlly not have pronouns i thought that was a tumblr thing but they straight up are a nonbinary icon ive never heard a single pronoun used. revan's pronouns are revan/revan's

damn revan seems so cool in these stories (charismatic war hero that convinced their troops to join them as conqueror?? julius caesar) and yet all we've seen them do onscreen is get blown up and die by accident

A YEAR AGO? the way they were talking i assumed revan died like. a week before the game started

master uh i forgot his name he has martin scorcese vibes said revan was a paragon of the jedi so what im getting is that all jedi gifted kids turn evil

even if i didnt know revan as a tumblr darling id KNOW revan has to be alive somewhere they way everyone talks abt them is too cool for a character who exploded and died. i think. i hope. I PAID £1.19 TO MEET REVAN

'only you and bastila can stop malak' seriously????? just us two?? ive been a jedi for like, 6 minutes and you guys keep calling bastila young???? do you guys not wanna help??

omg im getting carth to traumadump! <3

HE WAS ON REVAN'S ARMY>??

i totally knew the jedi code and did not have to google it whatsoever

they rlly said fuck going to illum heres a crystal from the bin

he told me id be a great sentinel and i was like i know but i want blue cause i dont wanna be matchies with bastila

OGH!!! I HAVE A LIGHTSABER!!!! THIS IS GAME OF THE YEAR!!!!

omg i made my lightsaber perfectlyyy which is rare <3 getting a good grade in jedi

maybe i was a travelling lightsaber salesman before my amnesia

seriously though WHO was i everyone's kinda stopped acting like i have amnesia since the first mission BUT IVE PLAYED DRAGON AGE THAT GIVES YOU OPPORTUNITIES TO RP UR PAST. THIS DOESNT. EITHER THIS GAME IS BAD (but i love it so its not) OR I HAVE RETROGRADE AMNESIA

also everyone keeps being like "Oh ur force juju is so strong" AND NOBODY FOUND ME TIL NOW??? suspicious. did getting a really bad concussion activate the force in me

im too confused and amnesiac'd to think abt anything except the fact i have a glowing stick now

FSESH FIVE:

big fan of using aliens to avoid having to get VAs to read every line

oh so carth's boyfriend saul betrayed him and became leader of the sith fleet so he has trust issues

well he needs to calm down. i can't betray him cause i dont know what the fuck is happening

yooo i love the design differences on the mandalorians

oh my god this lady wanted to fuck her droid cause it was her husband's. and then it killed itself. wtf. game of the year tho

wtf they jebaited this juhani person into going dark side but then i talked her out of it. that seems a bit mean of them

i hope she can join my party she looks too unique to be a random npc

ive been thinking and I might be going crazy but there was a loading screen tip ages ago that said jedis could wipe ppl's mind and all i thought at the time was 'fuck the shitshow acolyte didnt make that up'. but what if one of them wiped MY memory and i used to be a jedi or smthn ????????

cause they keep being like ur weirdly good at this??? did bastila steal my memories??????????

I KNOW I HAVE AMNESIA!! EVEN IF EVERYONE DOESN'T BRING IT UP BC THEYRE PROBABLY TRYING TO SAVE MY FEELINGS

if i dont have amnesia and im just deeping the fact the opening had my life being mansplained then im gonna look real stupid

anyway time 2 go to the fuckshit ruins cave where r-dog and malak went to

"it must be referring to revan. the dark lord and malak--" revan's pronouns are revan/thedarklord

bastila said theres no mention of the Builders in the archives. does she just know every text off by heart

THIS DROID IS 20K YEARS OLD ???

omg i can equip 2 lightsabers at once. game of the year

OK I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING I SAID ABOUT THE AMNESIA BASTILA IS ASKING ME QUESTIONS ABOUT MY BACKGROUND THAT I CAN ANSWER. I REPEAT I DO NOT HAVE AMNESIA

ok i didnt get choices and i didnt really uh… say anything that i didnt already get told im still not ruling out amnesia

also booo i didnt get to find out how old i was

master tortimer rlly looks like the ultimate ketamine yoda

LMAO THERE WAS A DIALOGUE OPTION 2 CALL JUHANI A CATGIRL

omg kashyyk from jedi fallen order!!!

I CAN UPGRADE MY LIGHTSABER THIS IS JUST LIKE JFO

omg this ship is fun i wish everyone had personalised bunk spaces like hfw… a game which came out 19 years after this i should probably just take what we have

im gonna start w manaan cause im p sure thats what B-dog said n its the same language the droid was speakin

omg hyperspace from star wars

THE GUY THE BUILDING FELL ON???

am i having dreams abt revan bc bastila killed revan and im connected to her this is so roundabout

maybe i'd sleep better if my ponytail wasnt clipping into the pillow

[kiwi accent] six

carth needs a xanax every time i think we're friends he stops trusting me

also lmao he actually pointed out how wild it was that a day one padawan is being sent on this uber important mission and HES RIGHT IT IS WEIRD!! i thought it was main character logic but he's calling it out

i really really like the sense of unease that's setting in like at first i thought it was just cause im not used to 2003 games but no this is on purpose bc carth my friend carth keeps calling it out

THERE IS A CHILD ON MY SHIP ??????????????????

lmao the representative for menaan is roland wann. its like poetry it rhymes

there are no cameras in the sith hangar <3 rookie error i can commit crimes now

bastila's favourite hobby is getting shot and walking into my grenades

this isnt a combat system this is a missing system

I GOT ARRESTED???? IM JUST A GIRL

nvm i had a datapad that said the sith were evil so theyve let me go free and we're besties

why do i feel like ive just walked into an underwater horror mission

this suit waddles at the speed of a penguin on fentanyl

i tamed the beastie this is like how to train your dragon

MALAK FIRED ON REVAN?????? WERENT THEY BEST FRIENDS???????

but maybe revan escaped when bastila wasnt looking THEYRE FINE THEYRE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE. I BELIEVE

so hopefully when we run into revan they'll be like agh i changed my ways cause of the being shot thing and they'll be my bestie

great news i successfully communicated w the ship child and gave her back to dantooine. my girl has shockingly good linguisitics skills

bastila is so dour "oh watch out for the dark side" GIRL I AM. I NEED TO GET THE BEST GRADE IN GAME MORALITY

ok OFF TO KASHYYK i hope cal kestis is there… thru the force i guess… bc he wont be born for another 4000 years but its whatever

omg you'll never guess what. another vision. wow its one of the thangs. cool this is a tomorrow me problem

[whateversawesome]

Spy x Family Ch. 110: Is Donovan Desmond a Mind Reader and Most Importantly, Is Twilight Doomed?

Nah.

Twilight isn't doomed, this isn't the end. Calm down, there's no need to panic about that.

Think about it for a second, if Donovan Desmond could read minds, the SSS would have arrested Twilight the minute he said bye to Desmond on that first meeting.

A few months ago, when we saw a young Donovan Desmond appear, I did a poll/analysis about whether or not he could read minds.

Even after the most recent chapter, my opinion is still the same: No, he can't.

Some people think that maybe he can get a glimpse into people's past. Although that would be a super awesome power (and it would be one hell of a plot), I don't think it's the case, because that wouldn't really tell him much and I don't think it would have affected him to the point of forcing him to distance himself from everyone.

I do have a theory about him. I've mentioned it before but here it is again:

I think he can tell when someone is lying.

Yup. That's it. A human lie detector. It made sense a few months ago, it makes even more sense now.

It fits his personality, his fixation with liars as a child, it also fits the theme of the whole story (everyone is a liar in sxf, everyone has something to hide) and most importantly, it fits his behavior.

We know that Donovan Desmond did not initiate war with Westalis. Chapman was Prime Minister when the war started and Desmond followed after him. There's a big chance war ended while Desmond was in power. If I'm not mistaken, the war has been over for about 10 years. I have the feeling that Desmond may have launched Project Apple as a means to protect peace.

And how would someone who is obsessed with lies do that? Of course, by wanting to know how others really think at all times.

My guess is that he volunteered himself to participate in the experiments, that would also explain the scars he has on each side of his head (which he didn't have as a child). It's unlikely he was a war veteran, because politicians and people in office never go into a battlefield, so he didn't get those scars in battle.

I think he really tried to obtain mindreading abilities and he failed, but not completely.

Imagine how it would be to have that awareness of people lying ALL THE TIME. How awful it must have been for him to get this power and realize than even his family, the people he felt closest to were lying to him. I think that's the reason why he isolated from everyone. It also fits what Melinda describe in the last chapter:

Let's look at that Desmond family dinner from that perspective. He cannot read minds but he can tell his wife is lying (because she's scared of him and doesn't want to be there!). It also makes sense that Demetrius keeps his mind blank because he suspects his father knows what he's thinking, so he's train himself to not think in front of others.

His behavior shows a person who has completely lost faith in humanity. He pushed everyone away because he didn't want any more lies, and to protect himself but, by doing this, he also ended up hurting his wife to such an extent that she doesn't recognize him anymore.

Since another theme of sxf is getting closer to and relying on people while forming bonds despite their masks and lies, I can totally see this could be Donovan's story, also parallel to Twilight's by the way: You can distance yourself from others to protect yourself but it'll be a lonely life.

Yes, Donovan is safe, guarded from everyone's lies, but he's also missing out on his family's love and also on the possibility of changing the world for the best.

Twilight is going in exactly the opposite direction of him. He's becoming alive, tearing those walls down, learning to rely on others, and loving his family.

Another Important Thing to Consider...

Everyone is so worried about Donovan Desmond possible mindreading powers that no one has mentioned one very important thing: Twilight's purpose for Operation Strix!

THIS is what WISE and Twilight really want to do: to find information that would allow them to remove people who seek war from power.

It's one hell of a strategy and a tough one for sure. And I agree; scandal, especially in such a conservative society like Ostania could do a lot of damage to politicians like Desmond, parties like the National Unity Party, and institutions like the SSS.

It wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the story it actually works. However, I don't think Westalis is as clean as we think. Food for thought.

[blueishspace]

Hero, Villain God 55

(Prev) (Next) (First)

*Grian's pov*

You sigh in relief, that was close... too close, you almost had to think about some of the stuff you really don't want to aknowledge.... Hopefully Joel doesn't get funny ideas from that.

Sure, you might have gotten a slight bit attached to one mortal...or two...but it's just more fun this way! Yes! Nothing more to it. Nothing at all... And well you don't need to justify yourself to him anyway! Who is he to question you? ... Outside of like being the literal sky.

You are digging your metaphorical hole deeper at this point.

...

ANYWAY, It's time to go back to your vessel now, It's been a long enough time that it shouldn't be too weird for you to wake up... Well it might still be but at this point you are too bored to care.

You just give it a bit of a push and you open your eyes.

Ugh, It's way too bright in here and now that you are back inside the body the pain has somewhat returned, going to have to fix that at one point tll. You never understood why humans were made to be so fleshy and weak and sickly in the first place...

You push yourself up on the medical bef, the muscle mass in the arms is mostly intact with minimal athropy luckily, the legs are pretty much the same so not an horrible state by mortal standards at least... The door to the room opens, It's a nurse... She seems shocked to see you awake, she quickly dashes to your bedside to check on some monitors near you...then after a few minutes of questions that you really didn't care about she nods and leaves to make a call...

Soon after Cub burst trough the door, covered from head to toe in water.

"Grian? I was told you were up."

"That I am ..."

You should probably be asking questions right, they think you have been unconcious for the last week or so.

"... What happened? The uh nurse that found me when I woke up didn't explain much."

There! Perfect! Now he thinks you are clueless and your divinity is once more kept secret, good job you!

"You ...got shot protecting Hotguy from a sniper"

"And how long was I...?"

"Oh just... A bit more less then two weeks"

"Hmm."

...

The silence that follows is akward, you just want to get this over with so you can leave and the two of you barely know eachother... You really want to ask about what the associations current plans are for you but you can't just ask that, you already made Cub suspicious with the blood samples way before everything went down...

...Ok maybe you can phrase it in a non-suspicious way, It's a better option then laying on the bed for who knows how long.

"So... What now?"

"Uh?"

"Can I like ...leave now?" That should sound earnest enough hopefully.

"What?"

Cub is not the expressive type, you have gathered that from the little you have seen of him. This is not an exception, he just tilts his head before giggling a bit, you really can't tell if It's genuine or not.

"Grian, you just woke up from a coma you- you can't just...you can't just get up and leave."

"Oh..."

Well then, you messed it up, he's -

"Where would you even get that idea? Is that something you have done before? Wake up from a possibly life ending injury and just leave?"

There is a right answer is. . . You don't know what that is, you have no clue what he wants you to say. So you do a bit of gambling.

"Yes yes, many times, all the time"

His smile falters a bit, this somehow feels more like genuine confusion or thought...he just looks at you, did you say the wrong thing? You should have just done the mind reading trick... No, you gave yourself a challenge, if you just used all your powers this wouldn't be any fun anymore.

...

He doesn't even say anything else he just keeps looking, you tilt your head a bit and it seems to bring him back.

"Right... Well, I'll be speaking with the medical staff then."

"Sure."

He slowly gets up and after a few seconds goes to open the door and leave... He stops just as he reaches for the door.

"And Grian?"

"Yeah?"

"Scar is worried, should -"

"Tell him to come by."

"Alright"

And like that he's gone.

*End of Chapter 10*

[ohara-n-brown]

So what are we gonna do now that Tiktok is genuinely very very indebted to Trump?

If you think this was the end of it, it's not.

Trump doesn't do nice things without a reward or incentive. If Trump does something for you, you OWE him. If he helps you out - he expects nothing less than total servitude.

And Tiktok thanked this man BY NAME TWICE.

They said 'Thanks to President Trump, we're back up.'

And to that, what I hear is 'What President Trump says goes. We're here because he likes us right now. And we'll do a lot to keep it that way. Even pulling a nationwide stunt days before the inauguration'

Because let's be honest -

The stunt was Trump's idea.

Tiktok wouldn't do this - unnecessarily hault all operations before both the ban and inauguration - unless they were directed by Trump's team to do it. Which is probably why they directly refer to him as 'President Trump' both times - because that was the condition given to them by Trump.

Tiktok had to have already been working with Trump behind the scenes to co-ordinate this. This means there were closed door talks AWAY from the eye of the public in order for TikTok to orcastrate this propaganda stunt.

I repeat -

Tiktok and Trump are already in private talks with each other.

And Trump is the one controlling these talks.

Tiktok is working for Trump now.

When he's in the oval office, and he wants them to censor a certain topic, or deplatform certain groups - whose to say they won't?

If he threatens to re-instate the ban lest Tiktok does what he wants - whose to say they'll resist? They CAN'T.

TIKTOK OWES TRUMP NOW.

And if you think Trump will not try to leverage that, or interfere with the app past this point, you're sweetfully naive.

I hear people saying 'I'll go back to Tiktok but if it starts going downhill I'll leave-'. It's already going downhill.

They are openly supporting and under the thumb of the fascist we hate most.

The same way Elon feels like he's 'saved' Twitter, and therefore can push whatever message and agendas he wants -

I bet Trump without a doubt feel the same. He 'saved' Tiktok, it wouldn't be here without him. So wouldn't he feel the right to mold it to his ideal, just like - his literal bestie bud - Musk did?

If Trump demands Tiktok hand over their data to him - and they did - that could be SO dangerous. For queer people, for trans people, for POC, immigrant communities.

So are we really going to go back to this app?

Please tell me you're not. Please tell me the brainrot dopamine hit and cool influencers are not enough to get you to use an app that's now one of Trump's biggest supporters.

Tiktok is no longer safe.

And if you think Trump, who now feels responsible for saving TikTok, will allow TikTok to protect his opposers you're nuts.

If you think Trump will be the president while also letting dissenters run freely on the app he 'singlehanded' saved - you don't know Trump.

Tiktok didn't sell. They sold out. And they didn't to the worst person possible.

Are you going to go back to that? Do you genuinely think Trump won't manipulate TikTok?

We were all arguing that TikTok matters because it's our gateway to free speech and community.

But now that Tiktok has bent the knee to the man that hates both of those things, people are still running back to TT without a second thought.

We're we defending TikTok for the free speech - or was it for the dopamine?

Because if it was for the free speech - you probably shouldn't go back. If we were just for the dopmine this whole time, then...

Just a thought.

[gremlinpenguin]

Some semi-coherent analysis threads bc my dumb ass needs bullet points to stay organized:

—SEASON FINALE SPOILERS BELOW!!!—

I’ve been dissecting some of allegorical elements of the story- I’m not sure if these are intended or even completely accurate to the story, just my interpretation of how every single narrative element potentially ties together, which is insanely impressive. Some of these are speculations or extrappolations; it’s hard to confirm some things until we know Buddy’s backstory, but this is based on his statement that he’s “never been the hero in any story, not even his own” (AAHHAHAHLSJHSKHSSKJ)

Sorry if some of these thoughts make no sense feel free to me for clarification lol, and I might be repeating things that have been said before but idk. And if i quote anything then I pulled it from the finale

BUT THE WHOLE STORY WORLD IS A METAPHOR FOR ROLES, CONVENTIONS, AND BREAKING EXPECTATIONS

The stories and their roles parallel the characters’ interiority

- chase is defiant of his role

- Buddy believes that his role defines him

- “What the stories want” > the characters wanting to break out of their roles

“Maybe this isn’t the ending that was supposed to happen” > DEVELOPMENT

- difference between who we are vs. who we think we are

- Think we’re “supposed to turn out” one way according to roles

- World where hero <3 villain = breaking conventions and expectations

- Ties in with the roles were given

“Our roles are gone, the world is gone, but we’re still here”

- we are our cores, not the roles we’re assigned

- The world cannot change who you truly are

- The world/roles getting destroyed = allowed them to be themselves

- Buddy became the hero

- Chase showed his vulnerability

Character complexity: buddy is and isn’t a “hero”

- there is no black and white answer

- He’s a complex person who made mistakes that he deeply regrets

- At the same time, he never caused any physical harm to chase- and when he did, he was instantly remorseful

If you think about buddy’s perspective, he fits the role of a hero

- in a bad situation

- Needs something to fix that situation

- Someone is in his way of achieving that goal for what he’s been trained to believe are selfish reasons

BUT THE METAPHORICAL PARTS!!!

Every storybook fantasy world was fake

- literally the entire setting wasn’t real

- The whole story is a giant metaphor

- Roles in stories = roles we think we fit into

- How roles inhibit you from who you really are

We can all be heroes or villains, regardless of what role we’re given

- chase defies his role as a kid who can’t go to college and needs to make money > still dreams big despite the hand he’s been dealt

“Stories just want an ending even if it’s not the one you’d expect”

- direct metaphor- ppl want to be themselves regardless of their roles

- You can’t control who someone is going to be

- All that matters is that they like themself, no matter what they expected

- They want to be enjoyed > people just want to live

The story ending = just living regardless of roles

- the stories are all fake but a direct parallel to the human personality

- We put up walls and fake facades to hide what we actually are/want

- The roles don’t matter as long as we just live

- Roles are put in place to try and create smoothness/structure

- we confine ourselves into fantasy book roles - ie deacon being the helper - without realizing that we have full power to get out of those

- We tell ourselves stories of what’s real/what we’re capable of

-the stories themselves are confining to the multi dimensional nature of human possibility

And Chase was literally invented to defy the stereotypical isekai tropes. Every character is strongly defiant of what someone might expect a stereotypical hero, villain, and sidekick to be- they’re so much richer, they all have motives and desires. And they each want to feel like “the hero” but it’s so far out of their grasps. The storybooks set an expectation of what a hero is - by literally fitting people into roles - I mean come on how much more symbolic can it get than literally ASSIGNING ROLES with the keys - but they all have a complex idea of how “being a hero” fits into their lives.

But as silver said, people love the hero because they tried- and Chase, buddy, and deacon are all trying so hard to find peace in their lives.

Back to the finale-

All the story wants is a true loves kiss > it just wants them to be themselves

- love is love lol

- Roles don’t matter, you matter

Roles > chase never fit into his role

- strong foil for buddy, who fully defined himself by his role

- Chase believed he could choose his role regardless of what life gave him

Chase is all about breaking conventions and doing the impossible

- Embodiment of unconventionality

- First to break out of role/callous hero expectation

Buddy is the embodiment of surrendering to his role

- letting it control him through fear and low self-esteem

- Surrendered to his role because he feels like a villain irl

Something always goes wrong in the stories- people are not meant to fit into roles

- chase defying the stories = rebelling against societal roles and expectations

- Buddy being a stickler for accuracy- he doesn’t know how to escape his role

“Our roles are gone, the world is gone, but we’re still here”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHSJDKFKSDJFHSKSKSJFJSJSHAHDJGKKSJAHSHDHD

- BIG HEALING MOMENT BC NOTHING IS THERE TO CONFINE BUDDY AKA HIS BELIEF SYSTEM THAT TELLS HIM HES THE VILLAIN HES LITERALLY SHEDDING HIS ROLE BC THE WORLD HAS BEEN DESTROYED SO THEIR ROLES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED TOO AAAAHHH THIS QUOTE NEEDS TO PAY RENT BC ITS SPENT WAY TOO MUCH TIME IN MY HEAD

- I mean come on. Yes I am a simp for metaphorical apocalypses but THIS. THEIR ROLES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED. THE TWO OF THEM ARE LITERALYYYY ALL THATS LEFT

anygay

Dreams by night episode-

- the hero’s dreams come true- but not really

- In real life, your happily ever after doesn’t always happen

- The coffin: Buddy is mentally trapped in his villain role

- He doesn’t know how to get out

- The coffin is an emotional box that he’s stuck in

- Doesn’t believe he could be anything but the villain

- Buddy’s dream could be a flashback

- Blood on his clothes- possibly had to fight other “contestants”

- I think buddy was pit against other ppl but there was one who he really cared about and let down

- He’s definitely missing someone in his life who’s no longer here

- Fighting could have convinced him he was the villain

- Or failing to save the person he cared about

- Could have made him think he’s selfish = villain

- Or survivors guilt

- Mirror = reflection of himself

- Sees chase in his reflection = sees the part of him that he knows isn’t a villain

- Chase is making him believe that he could be good/worthy of kindness and love

- Chase symbolizes the part of himself that’s fighting to break out of his villain role

- Chase gives him hope

- Not even fully aware of his internal journey

- Chase is so clearly a fresh and new viewpoint in his life

- Surprised bc he hasn’t been cared for like that before

- “This is how it has to be” - he cannot break out of his villain role

- It’s been so deeply ingrained in him

- He doesn’t think there’s any way out

- Mirror is dark > conforming to the darkness of his role

Buddy was never the bad guy > he has a very strong motivation for getting the keys back, aka turning human again

- he never lied to chase

- He helped chase finish the stories

- He told him that he needed the keys back and Chase refused

- His pranks were only ways to accomplish his goal

- Trying to get chase’s location in beach boys > couldn’t comprehend why Chase would be genuine

- Used to humans being manipulative and unkind

- Why should he think Chase is any different?

Buddy has never done something outwardly bad and not apologized for it

- so fast to apologize when he cut chase’s face

- He’s aware of the line between good and bad

He never fights back when people attack him

- Just accepts all the bad things that happen to him

- Doesn’t try to stop people from hurting him

Both buddy and Chase have done “good” and “bad” things but Buddy has never had bad motivation

- all his motivation was in self-defense

- Chase also triggers him in many ways

- Reacting to his own past through his experience with Chase

Buddy doesn’t get <that> upset with Chase when he finds out about the key - “you think I’d kidnap a poor child?”

- he’s aware of others’ perceptions of him

- The fact that he doesn’t seem super betrayed or disappointed is even sadder

- “Why would anyone think that I’m good/trust me”

- Matches his original expectations and views of himself

- Probably felt like Chase was too good to be true

- He’s used to humans betraying him

- Chase lying = affirmation that his belief system is correct

Why buddy is kinda mean to chase at first- he thinks he’s the same as the ex libris guys

- Thinks chase is making selfish wishes

- Associates him with the people who (presumably) abused buddy to get their wish

- He sees chase as a threat

Chase is threat = have to fight back

- his pranks on Chase are meant to tire him out but also to look stronger

- Insulting Chase over his weaknesses = trying to be the tougher guy

- Literally boxed and suppressed

- Matches his need to be in control of situations

- Needs everything to go the right way > triggered by his helplessness irl

main reason why he’s mean to chase- thinks chase is privileged in the ways he’s not

- calls him a brat- oblivious, doesnt think he’s suffered

- thinks chase is just playing around, which buddy can’t afford to do

chase triggers one of his deepest insecurities- having what buddy doesn’t (or so he thinks)

- don’t know buddys backstory but it has a lot less kindness/goodness

- jealous of chase but also resentful of his attitude (initially)

why buddy messes with chase - he’s a pretty big attention seeker

- he gets annoyed when deacon is around

- wants his “rivalry” with chase all to himself

- attention seeking = byproduct of surroundings

- given a lack of positive attention

punko confirmed that buddy is lazy > lack of motivation

- people without love/support can lack motivation to accomplish things

- buddy is mistreated > no reason to strive for what he wants

- Could possibly feel undeserving

- Especially if he failed to save someone he cared about

- “laziness” is interloped with symptoms of depression

Chase uses the stories as escapism

- his real life is much harder

- Mom is sick, family judges him for not having a corporate job

Buddy insulting his voice on the heels of his visits to the aunt and uncle’s house- OUCH

- chase is so strong fr I’d prolly react more like franny

Buddy starts saving chase / being the hero after beach boys

- sick day- saves deacon and brings chase to safety

- Jailer- rescues chase from creepy guy

- Still waters- saves chase’s and everyone else’s lives

That’s all I have now! I love dissecting stories and picking them apart, but oh my freaking god the storytelling in this webtoon is next-next-tier. I’m just stunned at how incredibly detailed the characters are and how every scene is packed with subtext and emotion- funny moments, sad ones, heart wrenching ones, devastating but hopeful ones. I’ve been trying to find what makes Chase + buddy’s dynamic so strong between characterization, internal conflict, belief systems, behavior, backstory, etc. and I’m sure it all comes down to punko’s imagination and her unfettered love for the story. But if you’re a chronic overthinker and obsessive analyzer like me I’d looooove to hear your thoughts, theories, analyses, or anything at all!! Especially about the dreams by night episode IM GONNA CRACK THE CODE I KNOW I WILL

[corvid-language-library]

A life-changing moment

I was thinking the other day about how I came to be in Japan, and how my life could've been so very different had I not gone with my brother on the day he left for university.

You see, I had no interest in going to uni at age 16. Mostly because I was severely depressed and figured I wasn't going to make it to the end of my teens. My plans largely revolved around my band getting famous, or getting a book published, or being discovered by some acting talent scout (despite having exactly zero talent for acting) or something. I hated school and the thought of doing more school just sounded unbearable. My brother was the clever, academic one; not me. So when I went with him that morning in late September, I didn't expect anything to change.

Except I fell in love with the place. It wasn't school; it was a whole new world, with a lake and stunning architecture and gardens and people walking around in the kind of clothes I got bullied for wearing. So I did a complete 180 and decided (much to my father's despair) that I did want to go to uni after all.

While I was at uni, I made friends from all walks of life. All corners of the world. Specifically, Norway.

A couple of years later, I decided I missed being able to speak a second language (my French had been pretty good years before, but I'd forgotten most of it by that point). It was a toss-up between German, Norwegian and Finnish. German because I already knew some, had a cousin living in Cologne and figured it would be useful. Finnish because my music and pole dance idols were Finnish. Norwegian because I had a handful of friends I met at uni from Norway. I decided I wasn't that passionate about German, which left Finnish and Norwegian.

I decided on Finnish.

Went to the bookstore ready to start my journey. I went to the language section and... not a single book on Finnish. But there was a single Teach Yourself Norwegian book. And so, I picked that up instead, and thus started my Norwegian journey.

Fast forward a little and I find myself on langblr. I make lots of langblr friends and even, for a time, run a semi-popular blog. Norwegian was my one true love, of course; nothing could change that. Until someone I'd admired for years started learning Japanese. It was a language I'd always been somewhat interested in but completely adamant I could never learn because it's "too difficult". But seeing her study it made me curious. "Maybe I'll just try to learn some hiragana," I told myself.

If you've known me long enough, perhaps you'll remember that phase I went through where I completely denied I was learning Japanese. "I'll get bored of it," I kept saying. "It's fun right now because I'm in the beginner stage, but as soon as I have to put effort into it I'll give up."

And then I bought a nice notebook and a Japanese textbook and I started making flashcards and practising kanji. Oops.

Covid happened. I started teaching English online because I couldn't teach pole from home and I needed a new source of income. I liked it, but I hated being stuck behind a desk. I wanted to teach in a real classroom. I knew the possibility of getting a TEFL job in Norway was next to zero, especially with Brexit and all. But Japan...

And so I looked into it. And now I'm here.

I wonder how different my life would have been had I, on that unassuming Sunday morning in late September, opted to stay at home and play video games. Would I have ever gone to visit my brother at uni? Probably not; I didn't drive, and that's the year my mum got cancer and I got my first boyfriend, so it's not like I'd have had much inclination to go visit. And had I not seen that campus for myself, would I ever have gone to uni? Would I have made Norwegian friends? Would I have chosen to study Norwegian? Would I have stumbled upon langblr? Would I have made the same langblr friends? Would I have felt inspired to just try learning Japanese?

Maybe I would've found a different route here. Maybe I'd have found myself somewhere completely different.

It seems so silly to think that my life-changing moment was, actually, just the choice to leave the house one day. And yet.

I don't really know what I'm trying to say here, if anything at all. Perhaps all I'm trying to say is that life-changing moments don't just come up to you and punch you in the face; they're the result of long chains of actions that spiral wildly out of control, all starting from an unassuming Sunday morning when you decided to leave the house instead of rotting at home.

[berryispunk]

She Keeps His Shirt, He Keeps His Word

pairing: Frankie Morales x f! reader

This is the final part of the "Complete Mess" series readable here. But definitely also enjoyable as stand-alone.

summary: This is not the way it’s supposed to be, or the time it’s supposed to be. Everything seems wrong. Maybe they will find a way to make it right.

tags: explicit ! 18 + ,unplanned pregnancy, talking of abortion, arguing, angst (lots of it), smut, unprotected PiV, sprinkle of dirty talk, nicknames (hermosa, baby, mi amor, mi vida), inner turmoil, mention of addiction, some (possibly) childhood trauma, social class talk (kind of), did I mention angst?, idiots in love, breakup, established relationship, getting back together, slight pregnancy talk, brief mention of birth, all the feelings, love confessions, ALL THE ANGST, fluff (a tiny bit), soft Frankie, Frankie and his girl, angst and smut

notes: It's happening guys, my series "Complete Mess" is ending and we're finishing like we started with ALL THE ANGST. The title is part of a TS song, thanks to my bestie who suggested the title months ago. If you didn't read the other parts I highly recommend reading them first here and here !!!!

word count: 4,4 k (oops)

That’s not how it's supposed to be. This is not how you wanted this to happen. 

It’s too soon, too much, not enough. 

This should be one of the most important moments in your life, you should overflow with joy but instead you stare at the second line wishing it’d disappear.

Fucking fuck. 

It’s been two weeks since your encounter with Frankie in the club, two weeks since you got back together. 

Five days since your period should’ve started. You’ve taken three tests, all with the same outcome. 

One unmistakingly has the word “Pregnant” on it. Pregnant, as in, a little life growing inside of your womb. It feels like a sick joke. A twisted turn of events. 

You sink to the ground, the last test still in hand as tears start to blur your vision. 

Your head feels like it’s spinning, the weight of it all threatening to crush you.

You feel numb, but at the same time you feel every emotion imaginable.

Anger, frustration, fear, sadness, all mixed up in a dangerous maelstrom of feelings.

You wanna scream, but you also wanna say nothing at all. 

Your hands are shaking as you start to sob and the test hits the ground with a noise. 

This is rock bottom, you think. You’ve hit the ground, both figuratively and literally. 

How the hell could this happen? 

How could you have been so careless ? 

You’re almost 28. You should’ve known better. 

You curl up in a ball, trying to soothe yourself but it’s to no use. 

Your sobs shake your whole body and your head is so loud, screaming at you.

The chaos of voices inside you raging. 

One voice is clear, overpowering all others. It’s repeating one simple thing, a name, one thing you can’t mistake for anything else. 

Frankie. 

You pull yourself together and frantically search for your phone. 

You finally find it on the sink, the lockscreen of it like a punch to your gut. 

It’s you and him, happy, in love, with not a care in the world. A fragment of happiness you both long for so much, but never be able to reach fully. 

Tiny glimpses of it scattered through your mess of a relationship.

With still shaking hands you dial his number and he picks up on the third ring, your stomach dropping.

“We have to talk,” you simply state. “Can you come over?” 

“Sure, hermosa. Everything alright?” The worry in his voice is palpable and you feel like you suffocate on the sob that leaves your throat. 

“I don’t know… Just come here, okay ?”

“I’m on my way,” he says with conviction and the line goes dead. 

Only twenty minutes later the front door opens. He’s let himself in with the spare key you gave him a while back. 

His brows are furrowed in confusion, his dark eyes scanning the room for you in the dim light.

“I am here,” you say quietly, standing in your small kitchen with a glass of water in your hand. 

“Baby?” he hesitantly asks as he steps closer to you. You don’t need to look up to feel his questioning eyes on you. “You scared the shit outta me on the phone… What is going on?”

Without saying a word you point towards the kitchen counter where the three pregnancy tests lie, offensively all spelling out the same result.

You don’t dare to look up. You’re not strong enough for whatever reaction he’s having. 

You expect the same emotions you experienced just minutes ago. 

But as Frankie stays threateningly silent, definitely uncharacteristic for him, you turn around to watch him look at the objects on the counter. 

His dark brown eyes are analytical, searching and possibly confused.

His brows lift up high before he looks at you. His gaze flickering from your stomach to your face, gauging your own reaction before there’s a wide smile spreading over his face and it throws you off way more than any anger could. 

Is he… happy?

“Is this real?” he asks and you scoff. 

“I peed on three of these dumb sticks, so I’d say so.” 

His smile only widens as he closes the distance between you and lifts you up, swirling you around like you weigh nothing as he exclaims, “We’re gonna have a baby!!” and his voice is so full of genuine joy it makes your stomach twist. 

You wrap your arms around his neck but your energy definitely doesn't match his.

“Wait- You are.. Are you happy?” 

“Of course I am happy! We’re having a baby, mi amor! This is probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He takes a short breath and then adds, “Besides meeting you of course,” he laughs and the corners of your mouth twitch in the slightest hint of a smile. 

You wish you could mirror his excitement. 

But you can’t.

“Frankie, I–” You break off and pat his biceps to signal him to let you down again so he obliges and you take a small step back.

“I don’t know if… If I wanna keep it.”

His facial expression switches from joy to pure shock instantly, his eyes darkening.

“What?”

You suddenly feel so small under his intense gaze.

“What do you mean you don’t know if you wanna keep it?” 

You can’t look at him so you focus your gaze on the wall, on the kitchen counter that serves as your breakfast table. Anything other than his face. 

“I am not ready to be a mom,” you mumble.

“Nobody is ever really ready for this,” he objects and you sigh in response.

“You still struggle with the whole drug stuff…”

“I’ve been clean for weeks and you know that.”

“Yeah, but what if you relapse? Then what? I can’t take care of a newborn alone.”

He frowns heavily at this.

 “You won’t have to do it all by yourself. I am here and I will be with you every step of the way.”

“Your job?”

“I’ll quit.”

“We’re already struggling to make ends meet as it is, Frankie. Now imagine a baby on top of that. All the diapers, clothing, furniture,…” you drift off, trying your best to reason with him.

He crosses his arms in front of his chest, his face hardening, taking on the defense. 

“You’re just searching for reasons that this won’t work out. You’re not even considering it, are you?”

Ouch.

“Frankie, I–” 

But he stops you by lifting his hand. 

“Look, my parents were immigrants. We never had much but there was still nothing lacking, most of all there was love. Love, baby. That’s what created this new life in the first place…”

You scoff. 

“You mean your childhood in poverty was worth it because of all the love? Love isn’t enough, Frankie. It doesn’t pay the bills and it doesn’t feed another mouth.”

He looks at you as if you hurt him. His sad soulful eyes make you regret your harsh words instantly. 

“Besides,” you add, “I don’t know if you remember but I also come from a lower class family with a single mom. I remember vividly all the times I had to go to bed on an empty stomach. I don’t want this for a child. Nobody deserves that.” 

His mouth opens but you interrupt him before he can speak up.

“And don’t tell me about how this formed you as a person, how it made you resilient. That’s romanticizing. I don’t want our child to experience the same shit.”

He runs a hand over his face in frustration. 

“Fine. But you’re not alone in this. I am here and I will do anything to give you and the baby a good life.”

Your eyes narrow on him. 

“Yeah? How’re you planning to do this? Taking another of these risky and highly illegal jobs?”

He frowns again. 

“No, smart-ass, I will look for a steady job. One with decent pay.”

You snort sarcastically. 

“Yeah, right. Because your criminal record is so clean!”

The moment the words leave your mouth you realize it was a low blow, even for you, but it’s too late to take it back now. He looks hurt, defeated and lost as he looks at you. 

“Why did you tell me about this when you already decided to get rid of it?”

“I haven't decided yet. I just…" 

You don’t even know how to finish the sentence.

He takes a few steps back, pacing around the kitchen, the gears visibly rattling in his head.

“What can I do to convince you to prove that I’m serious about changing?”

“Frankie, I know you’re trying.”

“Yes, I am trying. And I will try harder because I have a reason. A reason to do better.”

He’s sounding so sincere and confident that for a millisecond you dare to dream about the three of you as a family. Maybe a life in a little condo apartment. Or even something with a backyard, so the tiny human can have a sandbox to play in and their own puppy. But reality catches up faster than you’d like and you’re reminded why this won’t work out, no matter how much you want it to. 

“Look, if things were different I’d be over the moon given the prospect of having a baby with you. Yet, in this life, you know as well as I do that the circumstances we’re in right now are far from ideal to start a family. We just got back together-”

“And?” “And, given our history it’s only a matter of time until we fight and break up again. You know how it goes.” “I would never leave you alone with a baby. You’re thinking that lowly of me ?”

You immediately shake your head no.

But Frankie already tenses up as the words begin to spill, every one of them more hurtful than the other.

“You’re thinking I am a lost cause, right? Doomed to repeat his own mistakes again and again and too dumb to learn a lesson for good. Is that it?” His voice is trembling with emotion and you feel like the biggest douche.

You open your mouth to say something, but Frankie interrupts you. 

“You claim you love me, that you’re proud of me for even the small victories but still you treat me like a damn child, wrapping me in bubble wrap afraid I might implode first chance I get. But let me tell you, I am trying. I am working so hard to be a man deserving of your love. Showing up, going through withdrawal, even considering therapy and all you do is think of me as the big screw-up, worth less than the dirt under your shoe.”

You feel hot tears building in the corners of your eyes.

“Frankiiiieee…” you whine but he shakes his head, his expression hard and  unapproachable.

The warmth in his eyes is gone.

“For you I’m just an idiot who’s in love with you but to me you’re all that matters, all I ever think about. The reason why I do all of this crap because hell, it’s fucking hard. But I constantly think about you, about your pretty smile and your soft words whenever I feel I am not strong enough. And now you’re standing here in front of me, telling me you’re pregnant with my child and you don’t wanna keep it because, still, after everything I’ve done I am not good enough, not worthy enough for you and it fucking hurts.”

You’re speechless for a moment, his monologue hitting you like a ton of bricks, taking your breath away so you just look at him, taking him in. His brokenness, his sadness and all you wanna do is to hug him, make this right. Do him right, like he deserves. But you can’t. Maybe the two of you were never meant to last anyway, maybe your fate was already sealed long before this moment in time. Your heart breaks the longer you look at him and you’re surer than ever of your decision. 

You are both too broken to be parents. Too caught up in your own wreckages that calls itself life. You can’t bring a baby into this. A life whose survival depends solely on the two of you, each struggling themselves to stay afloat. 

As your gaze finds his again, every emotion you’re feeling is mirrored in his eyes. You inhale sharply before you step towards him to wrap your arms tightly around his midsection and he holds you close, his face nuzzled in your hair, placing tiny soft kisses on your neck.

You’re equally searching for comfort in each other, even though you’re each other's reason for breaking in the first place. 

“I am sorry,” you mumble, your voice muffled against the fabric of his shirt.

You feel him shaking his head, hugging you just a little bit tighter, his face in the crook of your neck. All your broken pieces squeezed together even if only for this moment. 

You feel whole, you always do. His arms are your home and nothing beats the feeling of his body heat enveloping you and making you feel like maybe it’s all gonna be okay. His familiar scent fills your nostrils, so earthy and musky, so unmistakingly him, you’ll never tire of it. Sleeping in his worn shirts is the closest you have to tranquility when your mind is troubled yet again and you want to forget the woes of the world.

Eventually Frankie nuzzles his face against your ear, placing a feathery kiss against the sensitive spot behind it before his mouth wanders along the side of your neck and in a habit you tilt your head to give him better access, your hands finding his tousled locks which is always his weakness. 

“Frankie…” you mewl, your voice already betraying you. “What are you doing?”

He smiles against the skin of your neck before he whispers hoarsely, “Let me have this. Please, hermosa…” 

You shake your head but it’s a weak attempt at protest.

You could never say no to Frankie, no matter the circumstances. 

The two of you attract each other like magnets. Never really complete without the other. 

He gently pushes you towards the kitchen counter until the back of your legs are reaching the edge and you sweep the fucking test off the countertop before you hop onto it, not caring where they land. It’s not as if they would change anything now. His hands immediately find your hips as he stands between your legs and continues his assault on your neck. His mouth explores every bit of your skin taking his time before he helps you take off your shirt over your head and his mouth immediately latches back onto your skin, sponging hot open-mouthed kisses on your now exposed chest. 

Your every nerve ending is already on fire at this point as you eagerly open the zipper of his jeans and pull it down so it hangs onto the back of his knees, quickly followed by his black boxer briefs. Your hand finds his hardened member, pumping him a few times to which he answers with a hiss at the mere feeling of your hand around him. You kiss him messily, swallowing his moan as you keep stroking him, his hips bucking into your hand. 

One of his hands finds your hair, tangling in it to deepen the kiss, pulling your head back a bit and making you moan. The whole thing is a mess of tongues and teeth at this point and you don’t even remember the last time you were kissed like this. 

“Take this off,” he commands as he tugs at your shorts and you lift your hips so he can pull them down, revealing nothing underneath. 

His hand that was on your hip just moments ago finds your center, already wet and leaking for him and he hums in appreciation. “Always so ready for me,” he purrs as he sucks at your neck again, coaxing the neediest moan out of you as his hand simultaneously starts to explore your folds. His thumb on your clit drawing circles paired with the slightest bit of pressure before two of his digits sink into you and you gasp in response, your hand pulling at his shirt in a desperate attempt to hold onto something. 

“Fucking beautiful,” he praises as his fingers curl inside of you and find the spot that makes you see stars instantly. 

“Frankie, please,” you whimper frenziedly. 

“I know, baby. I know,” as he places another, now way softer kiss on your neck, before he tilts your chin with his free hand and with the other guiding his cock towards your entrance. 

“Look at me, I want to see you when I fuck you like this.” 

His goddamn fucking filthy mouth. 

You just nod and without another word he pushes into you, torturously slow at first, your eyes still locked and you feel like your whole body burns up with need. 

You wrap your legs tightly around him as he’s bottoming out, giving you a moment to adjust to him, taking him as deep as you can. 

He starts moving because you start wiggling impatiently, his hands on your hips as he pushes in and out of you.

This feels different, even if you can’t quite pinpoint why. It feels like a confession and a redemption at the same time. Like he knew all along how this would end.

You let your bodies talk and explain where words aren’t enough as your lips find his again, your hands slightly pulling at his hair as you keep kissing him like you’re drowning and he mirrors it perfectly. Without even noticing tears start streaming down your cheeks as he picks up the pace and fills you completely, satiating the void only he can fill. 

As he notices the tears on your face he stills for a moment, his brown eyes full of worry. 

“Are you okay?” he asks, brushing a strand of hair out of your face. “No,” you breathe and you’re not able to look him in the eye so you bury your face in his neck. 

“Did I hurt you?” 

You shake your head.

How can you explain to him that this feels like a goodbye?

“Don’t stop,” you whine, your voice thin. 

You can feel his hesitation, his hand gently caressing the back of your head but you can’t look at him, you simply can’t or it will shatter you completely. 

“Please. Frankie.” Are the only two words to make him nod and start moving again. 

It doesn’t take long for the two of you to find your release and you would lie if it doesn’t feel like coming home, like this is supposed to be like this, two people connected in the simplest but also most powerful way. He pants against your collarbone, trying to take back some control over his breathing again. You just hold him tight, your hands caressing his back gently as you place a kiss on his hair, inhaling his scent. 

But then something changes, the softness of the afterglow gone as he lifts his head, his dark brown eyes boring into yours. 

“This is it, isn’t it?”

You frown, not exactly grabbing the magnitude of his question, but you nod as tears blur your vision once again. He shakes his head, lost for words himself as he puts his clothes back on and hands you your clothes as well. 

The silence is heavy between you, so much to say but there are no words to pinpoint how you think or feel right now. 

“I wish things were different,” you finally say quietly. “Yeah, me too,” he answers shortly, way too distant given the fact how close you two were mere moments ago. 

“I am sorry.”

“That’s not enough,” he retorts, his voice hoarse. 

You lower your gaze as you finally hop off the counter to put your bottoms back in their place.

He walks towards the front door, his steps heavy and you follow him mindlessly. You don’t want him to leave, but open the door for him, both of you standing in the doorway now. You look in his direction, but you don’t look at him, as he looks outside. There weren’t any clouds earlier but it has started to rain and it’s literally pouring now. 

How fitting, you think to yourself. 

His gaze shifts towards you again before he takes a step towards you, his big hand resting on your cheek, his thumb caressing it and makes you look at him for a long moment, really look at him. 

Are you trying to memorize his features or is he trying to memorize yours, you wonder and try to give him a weak smile before leaning more into his touch and kissing his wrist. 

“I love you, mi amor. I always will, no matter what.” 

You take a shuddering breath before answering with a shaky voice, “I will always love you too, Frankie.” 

You watch him leave, the rain soaking his clothing, drenching him completely in the time it takes him to reach his car, he takes one last glance towards your front door before you close it, sinking down on the linoleum floor and drowning in your own tears as the sky mirrors your agony. 

—

Abortions aren’t glamorous and they aren’t easy. 

The whole process is longer than you’ve thought it would be and all the questions are draining. 

Is the father involved? Did you ever have an abortion before? When was your last period? Were you sexually active in the last four weeks? Did you have sex without contraceptive? 

You grumble slightly to yourself while filling out the questionnaire. You didn’t tell anyone about this, because you were convinced you’re fine on your own. 

But as your gaze drifts around the waiting area you see that almost everyone brought someone along and you feel more lonely than you ever did before. 

Your leg impatiently bounces up and down and without giving much thought you cover your stomach with your palm, lowering your gaze and whisper, “No worries, little bean. We’ll be fine.” 

As you look back up again you pray that no one heard you talking to yourself. 

What the fuck was this? You talked to this little bundle of cells like it could hear you. 

You clearly lost your mind, finally. 

As you look back onto the paperwork again, your vision starts to blur and a single tear drops onto the paper. You’re caught off guard. Why are you so damn emotional all of a sudden?

In that instant you wish for one thing only.

Frankie being here with you. 

He would hold your hand, caressing your back in soothing circles and tell you he’s here for you. 

Shit. 

You miss him more than you’d like to admit. 

You fish your phone out of your pocket, your thumb hovering over his contact. 

What are you even going to say? 

“Hey Frankie, I sit at the abortion clinic and guess what, I am not so sure anymore. Did you know their heart starts beating at 6 weeks? A whole fucking heartbeat…” 

“I know,” a familiar voice suddenly ringing in your ear. 

“Frankie?” you ask back, still in disbelief that you really called him absentmindedly. 

“Hey,” he chuckles softly through the speaker and your heart skips a beat.

“Hey yourself.. Sorry, that was… I don’t know what that was.” 

“It’s alright,” he assures you, although you are pretty sure it isn’t but you can picture him smiling faintly. 

“I sit here all alone filling out that damn questionnaire and I swear I never felt more alone than I do now and all I wished for was…” You can’t finish that sentence, because if you’d do, you’d give in. To him, to everything you desperately fought for to forget, trying to not feel anymore. 

But the second you heard his voice it felt like all reason flew out the window. Your mind subconsciously decided for you.

“I wished you were here with me, holding my hand,” you press out of your lips, your voice nothing more than a whisper. 

“You want me to accompany you?” 

“No. Yes… Urgh, I don't know,” you stumble over your own words. 

There’s a laugh at the other end. 

“Make up your mind, hermosa.” 

And in this very moment you do. You see clearer than you did in weeks.

Him kissing your baby bump, massaging your feet when they’re too swollen to walk on. 

You painting the walls in the spare room, him admiring you and stating you’re glowing, even if you feel like a damn whale. 

Him with your baby in his arms, rocking it gently, soothing it back to sleep and your heart hurts, it physically hurts to even think about it because you long for it, you crave this new life more than anything else. 

“I did. I have,” you finally say. “We’re having a baby, Morales.” 

—

9 months later you’re giving birth to a baby girl. The perfect mix of both of you. His dark brown curls crowning her tiny head and your bright eyes looking back at you. 

Her first cry is powerful, announcing her arrival, taking her rightful space in this world and you never saw something as perfect as the baby that rests on your chest. 

Frankie is a crying mess next to you full of pride as he kisses your hair. 

“You did so good, mi vida,” he praises and his voice is nothing more than a muffled whisper against your hair before you start to cry yourself. 

“She is beautiful,” you say in awe as you take her teeny tiny hand in yours, kissing it gently. 

“Almost as beautiful as you are,” Frankie whispers, watching his two girls with nothing but tenderness. 

You feel like you’re exploding with love, your heart suddenly living outside of your body and you swear to yourself no matter what, your daughter will have a good life. 

One worth remembering. She’s the center of your universe now and as you tilt your head to Frankie you smile softly, leaning against him. 

“We’re a family, Frankie,” you say as your voice chokes up with all the emotions. 

“We always were, but now we’re parents too,” he answers and the weight of his words hangs heavy in the air. But you’re not afraid of the responsibility anymore. 

You are happy, truly happy because for the first time in your life you feel like you’re exactly where and who you need to be. 

my masterlist in case you’re hungry for more :)

[crossroadsangel67]

MDNI. NSFW. 18+

as always, dean takes you out for a drive and… other stuff in the backseat of the impala.

warnings: car sex, piv, gentle sex, not really much else, passionate, slow, romance, fluff, lovey-dovey type shyt

REQUESTED

nights like these are your favorite.

dean doesn’t like to show it to anyone but you, but he’s a romantic. you’ve known it since the day you met him. he puts thought into every little thing he offers you. whether that be a picnic, a movie night, or simply a drive in the impala.

he always did it the same on nights like these. he’d ask you to go out for a drive with him, you’d ask him to take you, doesn’t matter which. either way, going for a drive late at night meant dean putting that cheesy mixtape of love songs—the one he made for you on your first anniversary—into the tape deck, and very badly singing every lyric to every song.

your laugh is what kept that going. he knows that when the day comes where he’ll be sent to heaven, your beautiful laugh is the first thing he’ll be greeted with. if not, he didn’t make it to heaven at all.

dean parked at your favorite spot, as usual. out in an old abandoned lot that hung over a lake. that lake was always littered with twinkling lights in the distance. the stars, porch lamps from the other side, people out on their boats, you name it.

you’d both start off giggling as he kissed all over your face and neck, not daring to miss a spot. that would quickly turn into you cackling as he bites at your skin, exaggerating growls and smiling through them.

he’d take his sweet time with you, pulling off every piece of clothing like he was unwrapping gold—because he was.

dean always took care of you first. that’s who he is. and you let him, because you know it’s what makes him happy, and it for sure makes you happy.

you were incredibly lovesick for each other. so much so that you were sure a love like this only existed in the romance movies and novels you yearned to have a love like. only to find that, later in life, everything you ever dreamed of was personified.

dean winchester was everything to you. and maybe he’s not perfect, but he treats you like you’re perfect. and that’s what matters. it’s all you could’ve ever asked for.

“god, you’re so perfect, baby…” he breathed out against your bare chest. your head rolled back as he sucked on your nipple, twirling his tongue around to make it hard.

your fingers were tangled in his short locks, and he groaned at your nails lightly scratching his scalp. he pulled off of your tit with a pop, a string of saliva connecting his lips with your hardened nipple.

dean pulled his t-shirt off, carelessly tossing it to the floor as he pulled you against his body. you straddled his lap, slowly grinding against the growing bulge in his pants. he gasped against your lips, your breaths mixing as the heat grew between the two of you.

his hands, splayed across your back, pulled you impossibly close to him, your bodies pressed up against each other, fitting perfectly like a completed puzzle.

his lips lightly brushed over your neck. you took notice of how he seemed to be extra gentle with you tonight. his touch was soft, a contrast in the roughness of his hands.

lust was an awesome thing. pretty damn enjoyable, to him and you. but what made it so special was that the love was prioritized. you could feel it.

the way he touched you, the way he smiled, the way his eyes sparkled in the moonlight at the sight of you on top of him while the two of you are in the backseat.

you felt so warm, so content here with him.

tonight in particular, it was almost as if the two of you were cuddling. you were as close together as you could possibly be. skin to skin in all places once the rest of your clothes were discarded to the pile on the floor.

dean whimpers softly, his breath hot over your neck as the two of you slowly rolled your hips together. your arms were wrapped around each other, and every word of praise, every small noise, every movement felt like a pure piece of heaven.

it all made you wonder how something that’s supposed to be sinful could feel so unmistakably innocent.

he lifts his head, resting his forehead against yours as your mouth drops open wider in this fuzzy state of ecstasy.

small whines leave your lips as you soak in the feeling of him, in every aspect.

“dean,” you let his name fall from your lips in a desperate whisper, your way of asking for more. more of what? you don’t know, and you don’t care.

just more of him. that’ll do just fine.

he chuckles breathlessly, smiling through the heavy amount of pleasure coursing through him.

“y’sound so pretty, honey. keep talking to me.” he mumbles out, his eyes opening to be met with yours, foreheads still resting against each other.

your cheeks redden as you bite your lip, holding back a smile. you tend to get shy when he gives you compliments like these, and he finds it crazy adorable.

he giggles as you hide your face in his neck, the blush evident on your face.

“awh, c’mon, baby. no need to get all shy on me,” he fake pouts, pulling back just enough to get a good look at you. his eyes are glowing with a lovesick sparkle.

you blush harder when the two of you make eye contact again. and he takes the opportunity to tease you even further. one delicious roll of his hips and a whine leaves your throat as you squeeze your eyes shut.

“how’s that?” he mumbles, kissing you on the cheek. you mumble a response in your daze, but it was barely loud enough for him to hear.

“mmph… s’good…” you lift your head up and start meeting his hips again, sighing a breath into him as your lips brushed together.

his head rolls back against the seat and yours rolls back the opposite way as you let out a groan. your arms tighten around his shoulders and when you bring your head back down, your forehead smacks against his. looks like he also happened to be lifting his head.

“ow, shit—you okay, baby?” dean winces.

you just start uncontrollably giggling, which leads to a snort, which has dean bursting out into laughter in a second.

dean gets caught in the moment while you’re laughing with your head on his shoulder.

you’re so magical. he doesn’t deserve you. at least, he really thinks he doesn’t. but he’s too selfish to ever let you go. you were too immaculate in that man’s eyes.

you made nights like these special for him. sex in the backseat of the car. it’s sounds silly, like you’re teenagers sneaking out in the middle of the night, praying your parents won’t catch you.

but you turned it into something romantic, something that can be fun and enjoyable, while also slow and steady. the two of you could stay in this car all night, and never get sick of it.

dean used to get sick of it. he started getting sick of all the women who wanted a quick fuck in the car. did he want it too? absolutely. but it was different for him.

he’s a person of intimacy, of connection. not just a quickie that doesn’t mean anything with someone who can’t remember his name. it was never fun, and he could never take his time to treasure anyone in the backseat of his beloved car. and he got tired of it.

then came you. and just like most things in his life—you changed this for him. you made it more enjoyable than he could’ve imagined. and your laugh is a heaven sent.

he suddenly stops laughing, but his smiling remains wide as he admires you giggling. he often has moments like these where he’s just so irrevocably in love with you.

your laughter slows and you’re in awe by the way he’s looking at you. the way that he’s not at all afraid to show it is what makes you smile wider.

the heavy weights that you carry in your day to day lives, yet he’s the most lighthearted, kind, careful man you have ever known.

and he’s never been afraid to cherish every part of you.

“you can’t even begin to fathom how much i love you.” he shakes his head, scoffing in disbelief, kissing all over your face as your giggling picks back up again.

he carefully flips the two of you over, laying you down across the backseat as he rests on top of you, kissing you deeply on the lips.

“you love me?! i didn’t notice!” you gasped in a sarcastic yet lighthearted tone.

now dean was the one with red cheeks and a shy expression. he nuzzled his face into your neck as your smile grew wider.

“no need to get all shy on me, sweetheart.” you mocked playfully in a gruff voice. a chuckle escaped his lips and he lifted his head again. his eyelids hung low as he scanned the details of your face.

“i ever tell you how much i love nights like these?”

sorry i’ve been so inactive these past few weeks—i promise more one shots and reqs will be out soon :3

love you, fellow freaks

MASTERLIST

[thepachy]

Some little wips

Just a very quick sketch/redraw of old Jacob now that i have tge perfect muse

Honestly i have no idea in which canon or au this is, like who survived, did the dep came or anything. Idk probably just the main old au

(the big spaces it’s because it’s missing parts)

In the new world. Joseph, the Father of what was once a big family walked to a distant place, away from his own garden, in the remaining mountains of the old Hope county

The old man walked to a sort of cabin, build by the two men he came seek for a possible help. He looked around at the porch, the little garden, some dog houses here and there. Rustic but they made it their home. Joseph continued his way toward the side of the house to where he saw one of the men. Still thin but looking healthier, with a kind of mullet like his younger days. There, trying to paint with some rudimentary paint he made. The old Father walked closer and let out a little greeting. "Oh ? Joseph ?" The man turned and gave him a little smile. The man was older, his burned marks still there but healed after so many years. They were placed at the same spots as his partner and the similarities made Joseph smile. All the more so as, as he grew older, the old painter’s beard became ginger. What was a little spot few years ago, grew to almost all his chin.

E- What is this visit worth, dear ?

J -i wanted to come visit you two. It’s been a while

-yeah… a while. so how’s the others ? In your new Eden ?

-it’s going well. My son can be difficult sometimes but one day he’ll grow in maturity, I’m sure

-Ethan ? The very few times i saw this one he looked like a little troublemaker

-sure he can be… and how are you ? You two are… pretty nice here uh ?

-yeah we sure are. Jacob really managed to build our own little Eden

-i see it. And where is The man ?

-oh, him ? Hunting our dinner with his pack

-his pack ? What did i missed ?

-well, while you were rebuilding your family and new Eden, the old man decided to uh… return to his experiences

-the judges ?

-yeah kinda but no. He made a bond with a little pack, raising them and all. Truly impressive if i wasn’t the one having to clean their mess

-i see you still pain ?

-yeah i try to do with what i have. Try making my own paint and yeah try to paint with the fingers i have left

-oh… what happened to these ?

-these ? A trap. Or maybe a wolf, i don’t remember well. Oh but look who’s finally here !"

Here came the mountain man in all his glory. The old wolf came from the woods with his little pack and a buck on his shoulders. He looked stronger, well fed like if he was scared he had to eat someone else. The old age made him hairier and loose his colors, more grey and white but some ginger hair were still visible. He aged well, we could say.

_________

E- Joseph we told you that we both decided to quit all this a while ago. So we’re no-

Ja- I’m still the one deciding here in case you forgot ! I told you that if you needed something I’ll still be there okay ?

Jo- i appreciate brother.

E- but we-

Ja- we will find a solution okay ?

E- okay. Whatever you do, I’ll follow you

Ja- i know, honey…

Jo- Listen brother, i just want you to come check us as you rarely do it and by the way help us find a way for the security

Ja- the security ?

Jo- yes. Recently, strangers came to steal things and i refuse to let’s them harm my family

E- yeah it’s true being pacifist doesn’t really help in that, uh ?

Jo- no. So i just want you to come and maybe help me find a better solution, okay ?

Ja- …. Fine

Jo- thank you broth-

Ja- BUT. My husband and I will com-

E- wait wow! Husband ?

Ja- what now ?

E- so we spent almost 10 years here alone without doing nothing about this because you didn’t wanted to make any celebration and then your brother comes and you say we’re husbands just like that ?!

Ja- … surprise ? Anyway, so we’ll come with you, find a solution then come back to our Eden. Understood ?

_________

Jo- thank you very much my chil-

E- Don’t. Don’t call me like that.

Jo- … excuse me…

E- I’ll go prepare this buck and clean the pack. Give me this… and uh, do your things.

Ja- thanks honey…

…

Jo- so he’s still angry at me uh ?… with how he greeted me earlier, i though maybe he-

Ja- you know he’ll never forgive you, Joseph.

Jo- … i can understand

Ja- you can’t. You’re not the one who spent 6 years locked in the same bunker as him, seeing how he hated himself for all the things we had done and forced him to do. You’re not the one who had to see his guilt for keeping me alive, literally eating himself alive.

-brother i know how hard it was

-listen. I decided to sacrifice a lot okay. Just like you and just like my man sacrificed everything to keep me on this earth, that’s why i took the hard decision to move away from you… so we’ll come to help you and the others because they’re still part of the family but you’re little trick to bring us back to your flock will not work, you hear me ? I finally have another reason to live other than war so I’ll not let you put me in another one.

-… fine. You help me and my Eden then I’ll leave you to yours

-good.

…

now come inside and stay for the night but quickly. Before the pack start eating our dinner

_____

That’s it for now !

[vidavalor]

Look at all these lovely details to ponder! 😍

re: the wedding ring--

I mean, I know you'll be as surprised as I am to find that there's not much info on how pregnancy works in fictional supernatural bird angel humans 😂 but, given the effort in the story to show how human the supernatural characters are, I'm assuming that it's probably not much different from human pregnancy. Conceivably, this could mean that Aziraphale would have been pregnant for months and, while he probably kept a low profile during that time, he'd likely have to leave the bookshop at some point.

To be an unmarried and pregnant in the 1920s was the height of scandal. To avoid issues in the human world, he'd have had to wear a wedding ring. The height of irony, right, since neither the supernatural world nor the human world he was living in would recognize him and Crowley as married. (We're possibly circling towards the same rationale behind "Mr. Fell" here where taking a version of The Fallen as his last name was the closest Aziraphale thought they'd ever get to being married.) But Maggie's great-grandmother's ring had to come from somewhere and can't you just see Crowley showing up at the bookshop with that ring? Not exactly a proposal because they can't so it's just for practicality, just when he goes out while he's pregnant, just for safety, etc..

How long did Aziraphale keep it before he passed it down to their family? Did Maggie get it from one of her relatives or did Aziraphale maybe pretend he found some of her great-grandmother's things when cleaning out some old papers of his relatives in the bookshop one day?

There's also Maggie wearing two chains around her neck all the time and one of them being a wedding ring at the same time as there's also her paralleling great-everything, Crowley, who has been wearing the same tied knot necklace everyday since sometime after same-sex civil partnerships became legal in England.

Loved the things you brought in about the stuff on the necklaces! Lots to ponder there. Toucans, for whatever reason, also have had a demonic association in history. People were kind of afraid of them at times and said they contained the spirits of demons, as people often say about things they don't understand. There's also some etymology tied to one of their alternate names that translates as "beak of the fish", which is pretty Crowley & Aziraphale.

The "all-seeing eye" in a heart is a good luck and protection charm said to ward off evil and it's also an image that sometimes is part of a fuller picture where the all-seeing eye in heart is in a fruit tree. Very Crowley & Aziraphale again.

I still think the freemasonry is more of a wordplay thing because of how it's used in the Gabriel scene in The Resurrectionist. A mason is a builder, one who works to make things out of stone, but you can build both your own trap just as much as you build your own life. A free mason is one who is designing their own path and Gabriel was doing that in that scene. He is a free mason, even if he's not a Freemason. Eden & Aziraphale & the stone wall, the brick through the bookshop; burning down the M-25; recognizing that Gabriel is more than the stone statue of himself. Something about recognizing freedom through recognizing one another-- the all-seeing eye as part of the theme of recognition more than a conspiratorial thing.

I loved the plants you brought up with heart-shaped leaves. Silphium mention! Lotus plants have them, too. There is also an etymology connection there, too. The words leaf, leave, lief, belief, believe, etc. all share a root and have overlapping history with the word love. We're sitting on edge of a scene in which Crowley and Aziraphale first kissed under the leaves of a tree canopy that etymologically are interwoven with love because of course we are. 😊

I'm curious, What do you think Aziraphale and Crowley were doing during The Great Depression??

Wading their way through great depressions of a more personal nature, brought on by giving away their infant child-- Maggie's eventual grandmother-- to be adopted and raised by a human couple.

I mean, you want me to believe that Aziraphale let a random human woman start a record shop in his bookshop in the heyday of records when shops like that were crazy busy? The same Aziraphale who opens the bookshop for fifteen minutes every other Wednesday? 😂 The one whose bookshop is really a cover for his house and is also an angelic embassy... he can't have some human woman running another shop in there! And why ever would he when he owns the land for most of the street? Wouldn't he just get this woman her own retail space on the street, like he has been helping people do for centuries?

Then, there's that Aziraphale thinks it possible that Maggie should be able to sense the arrival of the angels the same way that he does. This can't just be because Maggie is musically-inclined. I mean... he thinks she might be able to hear or feel the angels arriving...

Presumably, that'd only be possible if Maggie's lineage involved angels... which is then when it might become notable that our lovely Maggie looks like if you gave Aziraphale Crowley's nose and mouth.

The record shop got started in the bookshop in the 1920s, alright... probably on some rainy night when a pair of old lovers who also happened to be supernatural human entities felt in the mood for the kind of love that could, technically, begin a whole other shop. They got a bit of a surprise when, a few weeks later, Aziraphale started being even more nauseous at daybreak than he usually is.

Aziraphale having Crowley's child in the late 1920s might also help to explain why he canonically developed a side hustle at some point where he was a music tutor. Yes, we know he loves music, but what better way to have an excuse to see their child without them ever knowing who he was than to be their music teacher? What better way to then happen to be in their world to eventually suggest when they became an adult that they might like to open a record shop in the spot next to the bookshop? You know that Crowley would pretend he wouldn't want to get too attached but would be subtly watching over their family just as much as Aziraphale.

There's also that Maggie already knows Crowley in S2. We never see a scene of them being introduced but, when Crowley is sent to fetch her for The Meeting Ball, it's established that she knows him and also established that her context for knowing him is that she sees him as Aziraphale's person, which he's aware of, as it's his dialogue ("he says to tell you...") that illustrates this. Crowley's already met Maggie before and there's this whole short scene where one of the main purposes of its existence seems to be just to show us that:

We think that no one on Whickber Street but for Mrs. Sandwich really knows about Crowley and Aziraphale but that's not quite true-- it seems like Maggie also does. Presumably, Maggie knowing that Mr. Fell is seeing The Ginger Goth (in addition to entertaining naked Don Draper stripadeliveragrams before he's even finished his morning coffee lol) is one of the reasons why she asked him for advice after feeling like she'd failed to connect with Nina.

Based on how Maggie later seems to think that Nina could be correct in her assessment of Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship, Maggie likely doesn't know the extent of it. She adores Aziraphale and knows that he's seeing Crowley but she also thinks they're human and clearly has no idea about their real history, let alone how she fits into it.

Maggie and Nina seem to see Crowley and Aziraphale as queer humans in their 50s who grew up in more closeted times, are commitment-phobic, and are secretly in love with each other but don't know how to get beyond being casual lovers. They're like maybe if we give them a push, they'll confess that they're in love!

Like this would be new information to Crowley and Aziraphale...

It went really well. Didn't give Bildad a migraine or anything. 😂

That fond, loving way that Aziraphale looks at Maggie... I mean... she's not just his favorite of the local shopkeepers. That's affection for Maggie in her own right, yes, but it's also such an oh, just look at the lovely person my love and I made look. It's the happiest Aziraphale looks all season.

[fortune-maiden]

Based on Bridon Ep 4, I’m starting to wonder more about how Lu Guang’s powers work

He took a photo of CXS and was apparently able to keep an eye on him through that

But doesn’t that raise some questions about the “12 hours into the future” that LG can see? He took the photo so wouldn’t it make more sense that he could see 12 hours into the photographer’s future? It would explain why he followed CXS to the pub rather than watch from the hotel room, but somehow it also looked like he was able to know exactly what CXS was doing in the pub so he knew the exact moment to call and summon him back

Is he just able to zoom in on the particulars as long as he’s physically present in/within some short radius of the location?

[keiicom]

If link click was a different genre or told from a different perspective Lu Guang could potentially be the villain, in this essay I will-

[palaceoftears]

Magnificent Century Rewatch: One Picspam per Episode

Episode 17: The Double Joy

-My dear mother used to say "walk barefoot on earth and it shall take away all your troubles and sorrows, earth shall give you happiness and joy"

-Your mother spoke well, one can only find peace in earth. But I'm not sure if it is on earth or in it.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

@storm-ismyusername

I think I'm leaning toward "The Lost Signal Ending" if we're gonna be fancy about it.

Definitely. Alastor can't stand not being able to communicate, and writing takes too long given how much he likes to talk, so sign language would be his best option. It's infuriating for him when someone doesn't know it and they're stuck at an impasse though.

Oh, he loathes them. This is one incident that Vox is never going to forget. He wants revenge, but right now his priority is helping Alastor recover. He struggles to retain details about the Vees themselves due to the directive that bans him from remembering them, but the fact that they hurt Alastor is burned into his mind. They aren't really individuals in his mind, just two halves of the same entity: the enemy.

The Vees definitely aren't satisfied (maybe if they finish the job and kill him, they'll feel better! Right? Right??), but they don't really have time to grapple with the morality of their actions. A full-on war has broken out amongst all the different overlords due to this development, and that's taking up most of their brain space. Their "plan" for this scenario has also gone screwy because whenever they pictured themselves successfully capturing Alastor, they assumed Vox would be safely in their care. They might've taken him too when they snatched Alastor (Vox would not react well to waking up in his old "prison" and hearing the sound of Alastor in pain over their shared frequency), but Charlie sure as hell wasn't going to leave him behind when she came to rescue Al. Knowing that Vox is out there, tending to Alastor's wounds, with his loyalty to him increased ten-fold... it's worrying, to say the least.

Husk doesn't know what to do. He isn't 100% sure whether Alastor still has the power to keep him here, but his gut's telling him to run while he can. He doesn't want to end up dying for Alastor of all people, but he can't abandon the rest of the hotel crew in good conscience. Husk knows he's not going to be able to convince Charlie to just throw Alastor to the wolves, so it feels "abandon your friends" and "possibly die for the person who's kept you enslaved for the past twenty years" are his only options. In terms of how he feels about Alastor as an individual though... I'm can't decide if Husk is mature enough to pity him or bitter enough to think Al got what was coming to him. Maybe both.

Vaggie's just disoriented at first. The truth about Vox and Niffty hadn't come out yet, so she had no idea why Angel's boss and his business partner abducted Alastor to torture him live on the air (or how they'd even accomplished such a thing since Alastor had been hiding the injury from his fight with Adam for the past several weeks/months). She was actually scared for him and felt real empathy when she saw the state he was in, as well as the effect it had on Vox and Niffty. And then she found out why this all happened. Vaggie feels like a fool for ever letting herself care about Alastor's wellbeing and is grappling with all the same stuff she has to deal with under normal circumstances when the truth is revealed. There might be a conflict between her and Charlie where the shock of the situation makes Charlie double-down and refuse to believe that this was all in retaliation for something Alastor did to Vox, while Vaggie struggles to make her accept reality. Could probably do something interesting with Vaggie and the whole "eye for an eye" thing, given how this is all taking place after she chose not to take revenge on Lute...

Um... this whole situation is... a lot, to say the least. They're relieved to have their dad back, but that relief doesn't last long. No matter what they do, they can't get Vox to calm down– he's beside himself with panic and grief and fury– and he flees back to the hotel with Alastor at the first opportunity. He might not even recognize them when he sees them, they've been apart for so long.

Fineas was 100% on board with the Vees revenge plan from the start. He didn't take part in it, but there's no doubt in his mind that it was deserved. Ondine went in when the Vees first captured Alastor and tried to get him to explain why he did all this. He may or may not have given her a truthful answer. Either way, she was so disgusted that she walked off and left him to his fate. She genuinely thought the Vees were going to kill him and might start having second thoughts when he escapes, though. The kid versions are basically the same, just slightly less involved.

The Vees don’t truly believe they’ll ever be able to accomplish this, but they’ve agreed that if they ever manage to capture Alastor (and are confident they can keep him from escaping), they want to put him through exactly what he did to Vox, and more. Days of torture, broadcasted live on television+livestream for all of Hell to see, until he completely snaps. They don’t know what he did to Vox to rewire his brain, but if they can, they’ll do their best to use their own methods of mental manipulation to humiliate him in the same way before finally killing him.

They’ve also promised each other that if they’re ever able to do this, no matter what Vox says or does, they won’t relent until the job is done. He can hate them all he wants; they’re taking revenge on his behalf whether he wants them to or not.

[sskk-manifesto]

Next time we should just skip over ep 3 and do a chapters 84-87 reread