#so sorry if there seems to be any weird overlapping

[soullessjack]

oh my god like. the stark contrast between mob’s inner self — saying that everyone around him held him back, everyone was afraid of him, everyone treated him differently, everyone only saw him as something to use and that he was never accepted by anyone at any point; that he would never be accepted for who he really internally feels he is — vs all of mob’s friends and family repeatedly saying “we aren’t scared of you because we know you and we love you, this is just a part of you that we can live with and accept,”— not to mention reigen fully admitting that he was using mob and apologizing for it, as well as telling mob that the only person who really needs to accept mob is himself..? It’s just. It’s so good man

[steddielations]

Upstaged | Part 2 | Part 1

It all makes sense.

When Eddie comes back from taking photos with the fans, he looks a little sheepish for the first time. Steve has about a million things to ask, mostly he just wants to laugh about the fucking odds, but he remembers the grace Eddie extended to him about the press ordeal.

Instead, he settles back with his lime soda and a simple question, “So, what kind of music are you into?”

A grateful smile breaks out across Eddie’s face, ecstatic to dive into that with Steve. Their lunch extends into dinner. Steve doesn’t have anywhere to be these days and Eddie practically jumps up and down when the meeting he was in the area for gets canceled. They stay there for a couple more hours, just talking. 

Their music taste overlaps at certain points, Eddie talks about how getting his first guitar from the pawn shop pretty much saved him, Steve recounts a little league story that makes Eddie laugh so hard he chokes on his soda.

It’s the most monumentally casual time Steve’s ever had with a new friend in public and he’s not ready for it to end. Even after exchanging numbers and promising to meet up again, they still linger together outside.

“So uh, I remember where I know you from now."

Eddie leans against the side of the building. It’s getting dark, they’re tucked away from any eyes so Steve freely scoots closer to Eddie, waiting for him to explain. He does after a moment, seeming nervous and fiddling with his rings.

“I hate to ask, but my Uncle is huge into baseball, especially you and your general all-around-awesome thing. There weren’t players like you to look up to when he was young, all that. I’ve seen you on his tv so many times, you’re basically part of the family— ah shit, that’s weird, sorry,” he cringes a little, scrunching his nose in a way that makes Steve’s chest clench with affection, “But he’s getting old and like I said earlier, he’s my rock, he raised me and I won’t forgive myself if I don’t at least ask you to come see him sometime.”

The way he rambles is pretty endearing, looking at Steve with a wide-eyed hopeful expression, as if there was even a chance Steve would say no.

He reaches out, gently takes Eddie’s hand to stop his restless fidgeting, “You want me to meet your folks already, hm?”

Eddie lets out an amused scoff, looking down at their hands and back at Steve like he can’t believe it. “You’re not as funny as you think you are, Steve.” 

Steve knits his brows, “Why’s that?”

“C’mon man. Y’know how hard it is to find someone who can handle this lifestyle, let alone all the shit that comes with me,” shaking his head a little, Eddie smiles but there’s something aching in it, “Then the nicest looking guy I’ve ever seen comes outta nowhere and saves my life, agrees to go to lunch, happens too know as well as me that life in the limelight ain’t always pretty and turns out to be one of the best people I’ve ever met.”

His fingers thread through Steve’s, holding tight like he’s not sure it’s real. “Even if I never see you again, I’m gonna write songs about you. I’d take you home and keep you right now if I could, but that’s not happening.”

There’s a part of Steve he’s kept shut down for years that comes pumping through his veins then, hot and alive. He realizes that he’s been trying so hard to keep his life as normal as possible that he’s been missing out on actually living it. Now he has this wonderful, crazy, wonderful man spontaneously in front of him and he’s not letting him slip away. 

Steve moves in, slowly crowding Eddie against the wall. Eddie’s eyes go a little wide with surprise then darken with desire. Steve watches his face shift through so many emotions, his mouth parting with a soft gasp, wanting this just as badly as Steve.

“Wanna bet?” Steve asks before he crashes into Eddie again. 

This time it’s a hot press of lips instead of a full-body collision, but it’s just as breathtaking.

Steve deepens the kiss, thrill prickling all across his skin when Eddie opens up for him right away. Steve licks passed the bright hint of lime on their tongues to get to Eddie. The heady taste of him makes Steve’s world spin, all the desperate noises between them going straight to his head.

“Want you so bad, Eddie, wanna keep you too,” he threads his fingers into all that hair, reveling in the shiver it elicits from Eddie, “God, just wanna have you.”

Eddie chases his lips, “You can, Steve, you can have me— please do.”  

Steve loves the sound of that, going in for a longer, more indulgent kiss before pulling back.

“You can’t take me home tonight,” he professes hotly against Eddie’s lips, “My place is closer, you’re coming with me.”

[roanofarcc]

THE OLD FASHIONED WAY

pairing. trevor lefkowtiz x alive!reader

summary. You had always regarded your ability to see ghosts as odd, until you met Sam and her eclectic group of ghosts.  

warnings. kind of/kind of not happy ending, ig? sad trevor :( angsty and a little flirty. reader gets stood up.

word count. 3.8K || masterlist

a/n. alive!reader HURTS but in the best way

trevor tag list. @marcos-scorpion , @youngdumbamericanteen

“I have one last, fun, interview question,” Sam said and you inwardly cringed. You had sat through so many job interviews that you knew a ‘fun’ question was normally anything but. Nevertheless, you smiled politely and nodded at her to continue asking. “What are your thoughts on ghosts?” 

You laughed, against your will. It was a reflexive response that you immediately regretted. “Sorry!” you rushed out. 

She didn’t seem put off by your laughing. “I know, it’s a ridiculous question. But the last guy that worked here…uh, this place may, potentially, be haunted. Not that I know, but there’s speculation. I just want to know how you feel about ghosts. Do you believe in them? Do you think it's all a bunch of mumbo-jumbo?” That was probably one of the oddest interview questions you’d ever been asked, but it was better than explaining how your weaknesses were really strengths. It also felt pointed. 

You didn’t know Sam and she didn’t know you, but the question made it sound like she knew your weird talent. And for some reason, you didn’t feel the embarrassment you normally did when someone brought up the concept of ghosts. There was something about Sam that compelled you to tell the truth, even against your better judgment. 

“Actually, that’s kind of a funny story-” you started, but were cut off.

“Samatha, when you are done, your assistance is needed in the television room. Someone believes it is his turn to watch another horrible film of space nonsense, but I distinctly recall it being my turn to watch those horrible women pick out whorish dresses for their weddings.” A woman appeared at the threshold of the entryway and the living room, dressed in a gown not from that century with her red locks pinned up in a curious updo. You were taken back, confused when your eyes fell on the man that stood beside her, dressed formally on top but lacking anything but socks and shoes on his bottom half. 

“First of all, Star Wars is not ‘space nonsense’ it's one of the biggest movies, like, ever,” the man started. “And second of all, you just got to watch your pick two days ago.” 

Sam cleared her throat, ignoring the two with a tight-lipped smile. You looked between the two, which seemed to confuse them. “I’m so sorry, will you excuse me for one second? I’ve got to take care of something really fast.” 

“Yeah, of course. Take your time. I don’t mess around when it comes to Star Wars either,” you said. 

The two people overlapped in with a ‘what?’ and an ‘excuse me?’ Sam stared at you wide-eyed, mouth slightly agape as she looked between the two figures behind her and you. “Hold on, can you see them?” 

It took a moment for you to understand why that was odd, which was too long if you were being honest. Obviously, no one was walking around in a gown like that or pantsless for no reason. You weren’t looking at cooky guests, but rather ghosts. Did nowhere not have any spirits lingering? It seemed like every job you worked or applied to had ghosts haunting the building. Though, you supposed out of all of the places, it did make the most sense for the old mansion to be haunted. 

But Sam wasn’t a ghost, but she seemed to be able to at least hear the ones in the threshold. “Can you see them?” you asked. 

“Y-Yeah. I can.” 

“Me too.” You have been able to see ghosts since you were little. As a child, most of your friends were the collection of ghosts that inhabited your childhood home. You thought you’d eventually outgrown it, but you never did. Now, nearly everywhere you ventured, you encountered dead people. It was interesting, a little obnoxious at times, and often made you feel like a freak of nature. But the woman in front of you could see them too; that was a first. 

Sam sat speechless for a moment before she said, “You’re hired.” 

--

You weren’t sure what to expect, working in the haunted mansion. In your lifetime, you’d encountered just about every kind of ghost, so you prepared yourself for anything when Sam introduced you. The Woodstone ghosts were an eclectic bunch, comprised of ghosts spanning nearly every decade. They were interesting, to say the least. But even if they had ended up being terrible, you were just happy to be around someone who shared your ability to see them. 

Sam and Jay had set you up at the front desk, putting you in charge of checking in guests. And when it was slow, the Woodstone ghosts often found their way to you if Sam was busy. 

One ghost in particular liked to hang around you, Trevor. He was the definition of an overgrown frat brother, with a lazy smirk and incessant flirtatious attitude. Every time he sauntered up to the front desk, calling your name, you made a habit of rolling your eyes. 

“Good morning,” you greeted, tone flat as you clicked away on the computer. 

Trevor leaned against the desk, his gaze burning into the side of your face. “How you doin’?” he said, and you sighed. 

“Watching Friends again, I see?” 

He blew air from his cheeks, deflating just slightly. “I’m a little rusty, okay?” 

“Rusty? At what?” 

“This,” he pointed between you and him. “Flirting.” 

You laughed and shook your head. “Is that what’s happening?” 

“Well, yeah. My flirting with Sam is useless because she and Jay are annoyingly sweet together. But you…” Trevor trailed on, a smirk on his lips and a certain cocky attitude wrapped up in his voice. 

“I hate to burst your bubble, no-pants, but we’re not exactly… compatible.” 

He raised his brows. “Because I’m dead?” You winced slightly. You didn’t want to be the one to say it; some ghosts were really sensitive to that, but Trevor didn’t seem too bothered. He shrugged like he saw it as no big deal. “I see that as a minor roadblock.” 

As much as you wanted to roll your eyes once more and shut him down, you were impressed at his relentlessness. 

-- 

You thought after a couple of weeks of working at Woodstone, Trevor’s ploy to win you over would fade alongside his attention. But he started to hang around you even more than when you first started, and you two had created a weird but kind of nice rapport of his continued flirting, peppered with more authentic conversations sprinkled in. He told you stories of his college days and the assholes he befriended before they ended up killing him in that every house. You told him about your own school days and how you were currently floating through the motions of young adulthood, trying to figure things out. 

“Scoring a job here was nice,” you said, comfortably resting your elbows on the front desk as Trevor stood across from you, listening intently. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Sam and Jay are pretty cool.” He paused, toying with the end of his tie. “So, you think you’ll stick around?” 

A small smile fell across your lips. “I think so. Things are pretty interesting around here.” 

“Well, if you ever want them to be more interesting, let me know.”

“Oh, yeah?” you asked, raising your brows. 

“Oh yeah. I could rile up the basement ghosts, convince Thor minivans are enemy warships, you name it.” 

You laughed, shaking your head. “You are something else.” 

“Careful,” he teased. “That almost sounded like a compliment.” 

“It was supposed to,” you replied, not missing a beat. 

Trevor’s eyes widened just slightly, the smirk wiped right off his face and was replaced by something that resembled confusion with a slight fluster. Clearing his throat, he managed to say, “Oh.” You didn’t know ghosts could blush until that moment, even with their lack of blood, because Trevor’s cheeks tinted a light shade of pink as he made up some excuse to leave, mumbling something about helping Sass before he hurried away. 

You chuckled, resuming your work as another guest popped in. 

--

To say your dating life was pathetic would be a polite understatement. It was almost nonexistent, which is why when an attractive-looking person popped up on the dating app you forced yourself to get, you got your hopes up a little too high. Sam had encouraged you to go out on a date with them, excitingly helping you get ready and everything. 

You had been excited, believing it was a fresh start for you. First a new job and then a new romantic interest. Unfortunately, after waiting at the restaurant, alone, for a solid hour, you realized your dating life had quickly circled back around to being pathetic. Embarrassment didn’t quite cover how you felt as you left the restaurant and headed back home to wallow. 

The following day at work, the second you stepped inside the mansion, Sam was there with an excited energy, ready to hear all about your date. She grabbed your hand and dragged you into the kitchen before you could protest. She had made tea and had left off sweets Jay had made for the guests yesterday. The other ghosts lounged around the kitchen too, and you felt even more embarrassed to talk about your total bust of a date around all of them. 

But you slouched down in the one empty seat and let Sam push a mug of tea in front of you. 

“Tell me everything!” she insisted. 

You smiled politely but it didn’t stay on your face long before it morphed into a frown. “There’s not much to tell,” you sighed. “They stood me up.” 

“Wait, seriously?” Trevor said, seated beside you, brows furrowed. 

“No call, no apology, nothing. I sat there for an hour, like an idiot.” You rubbed your forehead, a scratchy feeling in your throat. There was no way you were going to cry in front of your boss and the ghosts. You tried to swallow down your emotions as you stared at the steam curling up from your tea. 

Sam’s frown deepened. “I’m so sorry.” 

“That is why you should meet suitors the old-fashioned way; not on the web,” Hetty said. 

“People meet online all of the time,” Sam said. “Bad dates happen, but you’ll find someone.” 

“At this rate, I’ll die alone,” you muttered before realizing your audience. “Sorry.” 

“Dying alone not so bad,” Thor said, in his own odd way to cheer you up. “Die here!”

“Thor,” Sam sighed but you laughed lightly. “I’d prefer no one else to die in the house.” 

The Viking shrugged. “Just suggestion.” 

You picked at your fingernails, the same pit that’s been in your stomach since your ruined dinner last night turned. 

Someone called from the entryway, the newest guest at the mansion. You moved to stand, but Sam waved you off. “I got it. You stay here, finish your tea.” You started to object, but she left before you could. With a huff, you sank back down in the chair. 

“You’re young, you got plenty of time. If I learned anything from being alive, dating in your twenties is usually a, what’s that phrase Jay uses?” 

Flower piped up, “A shit-show!” 

Alberta nodded. “Yeah, a shit-show. Brush it off and get back out there, while you’re still young and hot.” 

You smiled. “I’ll try. But you might be right, Hetty.” Maybe dating apps weren’t the way you were going to find someone. Old-fashioned dating sounded a little bit like a nightmare, but you figured it’d pay off more than mindless swiping through apps until another asshole stands you up. 

“I normally am,” Hetty said. 

The ghosts dispersed, going about their day-to-day while you lingered in the kitchen. Trevor stayed with you, quietly drumming his fingers against his bare knees. “At least you didn’t get catfished by a dead dude.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“I did that once,” he said. “Catfished Jay’s sister, actually. I didn’t know she was Jay’s sister at first, obviously. But, uh, yeah. It was a whole mess. I tried to possess her friend’s body, but he ended up almost dying, so it was a total bust. Then Sam started putting the iPad in the drawer.” 

You laughed, that pit in your stomach easing just a little. “That’s insane,” you said. “A ghost on a dating app. For all know that’s why my date stood me up.” That sounded a little better than them just not being interested in meeting up with you in person. “But I doubt it.” 

Trevor shrugged. “It’s possible.” 

“I think it might just be me. I’ve never been great at the whole ‘dating’ thing.” 

“I find that hard to believe,” Trevor said. “Looking like that, I’m surprised you don’t have every weekend booked.” 

You shook your head, a little flattered and a little exasperated. “Definitely not. But by the sounds of it, you did.” 

He smirked, throwing his hands up in a ‘what can I say’ gesture. “I got around, if that’s what you’re implying.”

It was odd, being around ghosts. To you, it never felt super different than hanging around livings. Besides the ability to touch them, the ghosts were every bit as real as Sam and Jay. You had started to forget that the Woodstone ghosts were just that, until they did something that knocked you back to reality. Trevor, being the most recent death, made it even harder to tell the difference. You could almost convince yourself he was living. 

“Did you ever have a serious relationship before you died?” you asked, curious. 

Trevor thought for a moment before he shook his head. “Nah. I was having too much fun being a bachelor and screwing around with my buddies to care about anything serious.” He paused, his smug attitude slipping away a little. “I didn’t know I was gonna end up dying before I could, though. I guess I would have liked to.” 

“You guess?” 

He looked a little zoned out, staring at something across the kitchen with his brows slightly knitted together. “I don’t know, I didn’t think much about it until I died.” 

Sympathy fell hard against your shoulders, and you itched to reach out to Trevor and offer some kind of comfort but you couldn’t. Instead, you said, “I’m sorry.” 

He tried to brush it off, regaining his normal composure but it didn’t shine in his eyes like it usually did. “It’s whatever. I don’t ever have to worry about going on a first date again, which is nice; those were always awful. And getting your heart broken probably sucks, so at least I’ll miss out on that.” 

“You never had your heart broken?” you asked, impressed. Even though you’ve never had a super-serious relationship, you had a tendency to fall for your crushes hard, which usually resulted in a broken heart. 

“Nope.” 

“That’s pretty lucky,” you said. If you could go the rest of your life without a broken heart, you thought that’d be nice. 

--

“It’s an interesting choice for a bachelor party, don’t you think?” Alberta said, but you had to ignore her because of the group of men you were checking in. You did agree though. The B&B was perfect for weddings and romantic weekend getaways. It was the kind of place you brought a family or your parents, not a bachelor party. But the men didn’t look like the kind to get too rowdy. The groom, in your small talk, had said they were just looking for a quiet weekend to unwind before the wedding chaos. They wanted to play video games and board games, drink whiskey, and catch whatever game was on TV. It was rather sweet, you thought. 

“You’re all set. Is there anything else I can do for you?” The groom said no before thanking you and leading his small group of friends up the stairs. They weren’t up there for long though. After they carried in their bags and settled in, the group was back in the entryway, waiting for a car to take them into town, where they planned to bar-hop for the evening. 

One of the groomsmen found himself at the front counter, handsome and smiley as he met your gaze. 

“Do you have any bar recommendations? So far, our ‘bar-crawl’ only consists of two bars,” the groomsman asked. 

You hummed in thought before replying, “The Black Dog is nice. It’s right on Main Street, if you’re heading downtown.” 

“Do you hang out there often?” 

“Sometimes.” 

“So it has pretty company then, huh?” Your eyes widened and a flustered laugh fell from your lips.

From a couple of feet away, some of the ghosts had gathered to observe the new guests. A loud scoff sounded from Trevor before he said, “Seriously?” 

You ignored him in favor of not looking crazy in front of the guests. “Oh, uh, no-” 

“Oh, come on,” the groomsman said. “I’d say you’re pretty, really pretty, actually.” 

Your face felt hot, and you tried to focus on the man in front of you, but the ghosts refused to stop talking. 

“Get a load of this guy,” Trevor huffed. 

“He’s got game, I’ll give him that,” Alberta said, to which Trevor scoffed once more. “What? Look at him.” 

“Thank you,” you said. 

The groomsman tilted his head to the side, pausing for a beat before he said, “Would it be too much to ask when you get off work?” 

“A little.” 

He held his hands up and chuckled. “Fair enough.” 

“This can’t seriously be working on you?” Trevor said. “Look at this guy! He’s got khakis and a polo on!” 

“At least he is wearing pants,” said Hetty. 

“Unbelievable.” Trevor got closer to the counter, much to your disdain. It was hard enough trying to look sane in front of the guests when the ghosts were talking to each other, let alone you. “You’re clearly out of his league-”

“Enough!” you said, raising your voice regrettably so. 

The groomsman looked at you oddly. “Whoa, sorry I-” 

“No!” you quickly cut him off. “Not you! I was, um, I-” 

“Dude, let’s go! The car’s here!” the groom shouted from the front door, beckoning the groomsman over. 

He shot you one last smile, dipping his head in goodbye as he followed his friends out of the mansion. The door closed loudly behind them before the house was drenched in cold silence. The ghosts all stood quietly as you glared. “How many times have you asked you guys not to talk to me when I’m helping guests?” 

“I don’t know if that counted as helping-” Sass started but shut his mouth when you shifted your glare onto him. 

You mumbled under your breath before you left the front counter and bee-lined for the kitchen. Sam and Jay were out for the evening, leaving the mansion in your hands. 

You only got a singular second to yourself before Trevor appeared in the room with you. Rubbing your fingers against your forehead, you asked him. “What was that?” 

He pressed his lips into a thin line for a moment before he shrugged and said, “He was flirting with you, clearly, and was out of your league like I said.” 

You stared at him, the way he fiddled with his tie and avoided your eyes. Then it hit you. “Are you jealous?” 

He blinked. “W-What? No…” By the way, his voice trailed off, you felt a terrible knot tangle in your stomach. 

“Trevor…” 

“Don’t,” he quickly said, shaking his head. “Don’t do that. I don’t…I don’t need that,” he gestured to the very clear glaze of pity in your eyes, but you couldn’t help it. You felt bad, really, terribly bad. 

A heavy breath slipped from your lips as you walked toward him, placing yourself right in front of him. His lips tugged downward in a still sadness that made your heart ache. “I’m really sorry.” 

Trevor sighed, “Don’t be. It’s…ugh.” He pressed his hands against his eyes, laughing bitterly at himself. “I’m dead,” he said. “You’re not.” 

“Yeah,” you breathed out, unsure of what else to say. Maybe if you had met him in a different life, one where you both were either alive or dead, you’d take his flirting more to heart. But that wasn’t your current situation. You existed in different realms, untouchable but on each other’s paths. You’d never described your ability as cruel until that moment. 

“And I’m an idiot,” he added. 

“No, you’re not. If things were different…” Even saying the words aloud, they felt bitter on your tongue, doing more harm than good. You could tell by the wince that twitched in Trevor’s face. 

He smiled sadly, recovering from just the implication of your unfinished sentence. “But they’re not.” He let out a breathy sigh before he nodded his head toward the kitchen door. “I’m gonna go,” he said, slipping away before you could say anything else. 

-- 

The next couple of days passed uncomfortably inside the mansion. Trevor barely showed his face, and you felt worse and worse by the hour. Hetty and Issac kept you company at the front desk, making light conversation between their reassurance that Trevor would be okay. But your guilt weighed on you. You didn’t know how to make it better; you feared you wouldn’t be able to. 

But things came to a turn on the last day the bachelor party was there. The handsome groomsman had left his number on a slip of paper that you crumbled and shoved in your pocket, heavy on your side. You watched as they pulled out of the driveway and when you were alone, you unrolled the paper with his number, staring at it so intently you missed a presence appear beside you. 

“You should call him.” Trevor’s voice started you. You yelped and clutched your heart, which brought a small smile to his lips. 

“What?”

He sighed, shifting in his shoes and looking a little unsure of himself. “That’s his number, right?” You nodded. “You should call him.” 

“Oh, no-” 

Trevor cut you off. “Why not?” Because you felt bad, but you didn’t need to say that for Trevor to understand. “Don’t not call him because of me. Seriously, I…I lied when I said I’ve never had my heart broken.” 

You peered at him, confused. “Why?” 

“Because it sounded a little pathetic to say I crush hard. I liked my recess teacher so much that I cried like a baby when I had to move to fourth grade. In high school, my girlfriend of two weeks broke up with me because she was moving schools and I faked sick for three days because I was so, embarrassingly heartbroken. It’s just how I am,” he admitted, much to your surprise. “But I’ll get over it. It’s like not it would have worked out with me being dead and all. It was stupid.” 

“It wasn’t stupid,” you said. “And you’re not pathetic. It’s sweet, actually. Really sweet.” 

Trevor shrugged. “I’m glad someone thinks so.” He pointed a finger at the paper in your hands. “Call him, okay? You deserve a good date, the old-fashioned way.” 

And so you did, the old-fashioned way.

[moonstruckme]

Hello lovely!!

I very humbly request decorating the christmas tree with peter and for some mysterious reason he keeps finding reasons to kiss you

the holidays and peter, a perfect combo

-🔮

Hi gorgeous, thanks for requesting!!

cw: weird/rapey song lyrics

tasm!Peter Parker x fem!reader ♡ 982 words

“Peter.” You’re doing your best to sound firm, but it’s an impossible task to keep the laughter from your voice. “Be careful.” 

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Peter holds up the ornament he’s just knocked off the tree, placing it back in its spot. “I’ve got it, don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to your stuff.” 

“That one’s yours,” you remind him. “May got it for you last year, and she’ll totally know if you break it.” 

Peter makes a sheepish face, but the facade breaks as soon as you laugh. He surges forward to kiss you, your smiles a mirror. He tastes like almonds. 

“You’ve been eating my cookies,” you accuse. 

“They’re really good when they’re warm.” 

“Peter!” You try to push him off you, but he bands an arm around your waist, freakishly strong. You’re forced to make your complaint against his lips. “Those are for my coworkers.” 

“I’ll leave enough for them.” 

“What, like two each?” 

“Maybe three. I might be feeling generous, season of giving and all.” 

You scoff, setting your hands on his chest to push him off. “You’re awful,” you say, no small amount of fondness seeping into your tone, “and I know exactly why.” You head for Peter’s ipod, sitting in a mug to amplify sound. “It’s this song, it makes you feral.” 

Peter tracks your trajectory and chases after you, snagging you by your belt loop. “Whoa, whoa, let’s not be so hasty. This is the song of our city!” 

You give him a deadpan look. The song of your city has been on repeat for nearly a half hour now. “We’re not celebrating Christmas in Harlem.” 

“Queens is close enough!” 

“Sorry.” You reach over, pressing skip despite Peter’s hold on you. 

He groans, releasing you. 

“Now can we get back on task?” You give your half-bare tree a pointed look. You’ve been trying to decorate for nearly an hour now, and your boyfriend (ADHD personified, bless him) keeps getting sidetracked. 

But Peter’s listening to the intro of the new song, a smile unfurling across his sweet face. He dances his way over to the tree, singing the lyrics. 

Well, you think, at least he’s putting on ornaments. 

You resume too, and for a minute, you’re wonderfully productive. You join in on the duet, picking your favorite ornaments out of the box Peter had hauled out of the back of your coat closet and placing them delicately on the tree. It hasn’t snowed yet in New York, but you’re feeling so giddy with holiday cheer you’re thinking of going to the corner store after this for hot chocolate mix. 

When Peter whisks you away from the tree this time, you’re a bit more amenable to it, though you roll your eyes for show. He spins you across the living room, his hands warm around yours. He croons the lyrics to you, and you play along, batting your eyelashes up at him when he pulls you close to his chest. 

“The neighbors might think,” you sing in an overly coy voice. 

Peter’s overlaps with it at the end. “Baby, it’s bad out there.” 

“Say, what’s in this drink?” 

“No cab’s to be had out—whoa, this is kind of messed up, huh?” Your boyfriend’s eyebrows raise as he pays more attention to the lyrics. “Are they saying he roofied her?”

A laugh bubbles out of you. “You’ve never noticed?”

“Jesus.” Peter looks so shell-shocked you can’t help but run your hand along his stubble, a comforting touch for him and an indulgence for you as a bonus. He breaks from his reverie to smile down at you, kissing the tip of your nose. “Just for the record,” he says, dipping lower to capture your mouth, “that cider I made earlier was one hundred percent fruit, sweetheart. No alcohol here.” 

“Mmm, guess you won’t be getting any then.” 

“I don’t like what you’re implying.” You smile, and Peter kisses the corner of your mouth quickly. “I seem to do just fine without shady tactics.” 

“I don’t know—” you start to tease him further, but then he nips at your bottom lip and it’s pretty difficult to carry on speaking from there. 

Your hands have minds of their own, one gripping his shoulder while the other tunnels its fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck. Peter all but sucks you in, devoting his attentions to your bottom lip while he pulls you closer by the waist. He gives the soft inside of your lip another gentle nibble, and the sound that escapes you is so humiliatingly needy that you force yourself to pull away. 

“No,” you say, trying to catch your breath. Then, more firmly, “No. We’re never gonna finish decorating tonight if we keep…doing this.” 

“We can finish tomorrow,” Peter suggests helpfully, one hand coasting up your back while he noses at your cheek. 

“Peter,” you chide, laughing. “We’ve already put it off for too long. At this rate, the tree’s going to die before we get ornaments on it.” 

Your boyfriend heaves a great sigh, pressing a final, consoling kiss to the skin beneath your eye before stepping away from you. “Alright, alright. We’ll get it done.” 

“Thank you,” you say weakly, tucking some string lights more securely into the tree’s branches while Peter stoops over the box. You do your best to calm your heart rate and try to get back into the flow of decorating. 

A second later, there’s a thwick, and you look up to see a green and red sprig webbed to the ceiling above your head.

You look over at Peter, who is also staring up at the mistletoe. 

“What?” His brow wrinkles, and he looks between you and the ceiling with his palms tipped guilelessly upward. “How’d that get there? Damn, sweetheart, I really wanted to stay on task, but you know, rules are rules, so…”

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 51)

N carried Tera in his arms as she chewed on her toy, his other hand intertwined with his girlfriends as they walked to the WDF office. N still sometimes got stared at, but the inclusion of an adorable little toddler in his arms seemed to put those people at ease if the badge on his hat didn't first.

Despite this, Uzi still felt weird about holding his hand in public, but his fingers were like a vice that refused to let go, keeping her at his side. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't a grip she could easily get out of.

When they got to the door, N released her hand to knock, in which Dale opened the door, looked up at N's smiling face and the toddler about eye level, and let them inside grumbling something about “have to be going crazy.” As he sauntered over to his office and slammed the door behind him.

A good portion of the office's attention was suddenly all on them, Uzi felt a pang of sudden anxiety as she felt eyes peircing her from every angle, an anxiety that she quickly pushed down before throwing up her normal edgy persona as a protective wall.

Or… she would have. If N hadn't gently squeezed her shoulder like he had read her mind, and she felt those walls come down a little but.

“Awww! Is this your daughter N?” The same lady with green eyes and glasses that had waved at him his first day came up to him, leaning down and adjusting her glasses to look at Tera, who didn't stop chewing her toy, but did follow the woman with her eyes.

“Aren't you a doll?” The lady brought her hand up to Tera's head, seemingly going in to try to give her a head pat, but Tera's eyelights furrowed as the woman's hand got closer, very clearly a warning.

“Uh! You may wanna introduce yourself first… she's been getting a little grumpy with strangers.” Uzi suddenly said, probably stopping the woman from getting her hand bitten just like Guy.

“Oh! I'm Emily! I'm sorry that was rather rude of me.” Emily laughed to herself, looking between Tera and Uzi before smiling. “And you're Uzi. Khan’s daughter! I've heard so much about you!”

“Uh huh… I'm sure.” Uzi replied, having locked in her mind that what she had heard wasn't pleasant, and she wasn't about to prove any of it wrong to someone she didn't know.

“Well there's certainly a resemblance between you two, look at that glare!” Emily laughed again, but had no chance to do anything else before more people began to pile in around them, making the air around them feel slightly claustrophobic.

“Awww, isn't she cute?”

“Is she teething? Is that a disassembly drone thing?”

“Isn't that Khan’s daughter?”

There were too many people and not enough space. And N was currently trying to make his coworkers give him and his family some space while Uzi found herself getting pushed further into N's side, trying to get away from all the drones.

She wasn't used to all the attention.

And neither was Tera.

The toddler popped the chewtoy out of her mouth and looked around at all the eyes on her before her eyelights furrowed again. She began to growl lightly, more warnings to get away, but she wasn't heard over the overlapping voices.

After a moment of realizing she couldn't be heard, and becoming ever more frustrated, her emotions flipped, and a loud arrant cry rung out from her mouth that made everyone go immediately silent;

“MAAAAMAAA!!” She wailed, tears falling down on the inside of her visor as she lifted her arms out towards Uzi to be held by her mother, Uzi reacted instinctually and immediately, hoisting her out of N's arms and into both of hers while she cradled her head.

“Alright! Everyone back off!” Uzi growled, only barely restraining her tail from making a swipe at everyone, and only because it was N's workplace.

The crowd backed up, the few drones closest to them looked embarrassed and sheepish. Even more so when Tera continued to cry into Uzi's chest, upset and not knowing how else to react.

“You're okay honey…” Uzi hummed, forgetting that she was in front of people and should be embarrassed at herself for sounding so maternal. Before deciding that yeah, she was a mother. She could sound maternal and that was other people's problem now!

“What just because someone has a baby you think you're entitled to crowd them? All of you can bite me!” She yelled, covering Tera's audio receivers to block herself out, she didn't want to upset her daughter any more then she was.

N on the other hand, was looking at her almost as if he'd fallen in love all over again, he loved seeing her go a little bit “mama bear.” And she'd done it beautifully.

The crowd dispersed, heading back to their desks or previous tasks slowly, leaving only two people that were in the back, Khan and Hal.

Khan was leaning back, a smirk on his face that looked almost foreign there, when he realized he was being looked at he laughed lightly.

“I could've sworn Nori was in here! Haha!”

Hal shared his look, and was chuckling to himself, pulling on his beard as he chuckled. Uzi felt herself blush, but had no time to dwell on it as Tera was still sniffling into her jacket, so she turned her attention to consoling her.

“You okay?” N kneeled down, a hand on the back of his daughter’s back, rubbing calming circles into it to calm her down, but he was really talking to his girlfriend. Who he knew didn’t exactly love attention either.

“She’s fine… I think she just got frustrated.” Uzi replied, combing through Tera’s hair with her fingers and the girl nuzzled her face into her collar as she calmed down. Uzi looked back up at her dad and Hal, face unamused.

“Why exactly did you want me to show up?” She asked Khan, who suddenly seemed to light up in apprehension, he chuckled and cleared his throat. As if he wasn’t expecting to get this far.

“Err I uh… well I wanted to give you this.” He pulled something out of his vest pocket and handed it out to her. She grabbed it and looked it over before realizing what it was. A cap, the framing steel and the tip thick rubber that was form fitted to slide perfectly over N’s tail. She turned it over in her hand, to find N’s name (or letter) engraved on one of the sides.

“You had it engraved?” She asked quietly, making Khan stammer a little bit.

“Just in case he lost it somehow…”

Uzi turned and handed it off to N, who did the same thing she had done. Looked it over before smiling happily. He reached back to grab his tail before gently sliding the cap over the needle of his tail, there was a click as it rested there, and with a flick of his tail he confirmed the fit was snug enough to keep the cap on even if he was moving his tail rapidly.

“Thank you so much Mr.Doorman!”

“Please… at this point N. Call me Khan.”

Hal looked over and down from the desk her sitting on at the toddler curled up in Uzi’s arms, startled at the fact the little girl was staring at him rather intently, he cracked a small smile and gave her a little wave, not wanting to make her upset again. She smiled back and while Uzi was busy talking to her dad and her boyfriend, she reached out trying to touch his long beard, clearly intrigued by it.

Hal chuckled lightly, his large frame seeming to bounce with each laugh as he watched Tera with interest, she became laser focused on trying to reach out and touch his beard to the point she was now trying to wiggle out of Uzi’s arms, catching her mothers attention.

“Tera? What are you-“ She turned to look at Hal, who was smiling down at them, although he looked a little apologetic.

“Sorry lass… think she’s after my beard.”

“Well she’s never seen one before. Can she?” Uzi asked, for now holding Tera back from the fake facial hair making said toddler more determined then ever to worm out of her grasp, making tiny grunts as she tried to manipulate her arms and legs to do as she wanted (though she still lacked fine motor controls).

“You’d let me? Didn’t she bite Guy?”

“Guy was being creepy, I just think she didn’t like his vibe. You can hold her.”

Hal hesitated before lifting the tiny tot out of her mother’s arms and into his own where she immediately shoved her entire face into his beard and hugged it like it was some scruffy stuffed animal. A content chirp left her mouth and she looked up at his face with a huge grin.

Hal began to laugh, bouncing up Tera as he did causing her to squeal and giggle as she sat on his lap. Whatever vibe she was getting from Guy she certainly wasn’t getting from Hal. He put a hand on her back to stop her from toppling over.

“Hi! Hi! Hi!” She repeated over and over, and Uzi was never happier that Tera seemed to share N’s knack for getting over things quickly. At least she wasn’t overwhelmed anymore.

“Hello there!” He spoke down at her and she laughed at his booming voice. She was vibrating, as if she was trying to wag a tail she didn’t have.

“She’s already learning some words? Isn’t she a little young for that?” Hal directed towards Uzi, who seemed to shrug a little before looking sheepish.

“A little? Her developments a little off since we put her in a toddler body early. But she’s always been good with names.” She explained, glancing over at N and Khan now engrossed in a conversation of their own.

“Hmmm… Hey little one, can ya say my name? Hal, Haaaal.” He drug out the last syllable slowly, speaking to the toddler on his lap, she looked at him for a moment, so he did it again. “Yeah? Can you say Hal?”

“Mmm… al? Al?” Tera repeated, missing the “H” entirely but still getting close, Hal looked ecstatic, his pink eyelights growing wide as she said his name, he smiled and laughed again. “Close enough!”

“She’s a bright one! From what I heard, so are you.” He handed Tera back to Uzi much to the little girls disappointment, she wanted to play with the bouncy man with the furry face and big voice!

“Oh… eh… not really. Just know the basics.”

“The basics? It takes a lot more than the basics to make a railgun.” He replied, detangling the knots Tera had made in his beard when she’d been playing with it.

“Took me months to make it, then it broke and I can’t for the life of me get it to work again…” There was a reason for that of course, there was simply no power source powerful enough to supply the amperage she needed. Unless of course, she went grave robbing and stole another drones core. Which… somehow sounded a lot worse then just drinking their oil.

“Hmmm. Why don’t you show Khan, I’m sure he would have some pointers.”

“He’s… never really been interested in it before, he’s more into doors. If you couldn’t tell.”

“Oh I am just as sick of hearing about doors as you are, I assure ya,” Hal gave a very tired laugh that portrayed just how immensely sick of it he was.

“But I mean it, worse thing he can do is tell ya he don’t know squat.”

Uzi thought to herself for a moment before sighing and looking over at her dad, which my the looks of it… was showing N her baby pictures.

Oh hell to the fucking no.

“Uh… I’ll get back to you on that.” She stammered out before running up to N and doing her damndest to cover his visor even though she was well aware of his five more eyes on the top of his head.

“Good on ya.”

Next ->

[arceespinkgun]

alright I know you haven't talked about this in a while but you're pretty correct about the way jazzprowl is written usually being weird. One or both of them is always portrayed in a weird offensive way (it's either racist towards jazz, portrays prowl as an ableist stereotype, BOTH, and MORE)

I agree with this. It took me a while to think of what I could add to this and I think I'd also say: it's important for everyone to know that when I see people injecting bonus ableism into fics with these characters in them, Jazz is also normally portrayed as an ableist stereotype (racist as well as ableist)! Whenever Jazz is written as being super disruptive, lazy, and chaotic, or when he's written as super violent and scary and people use terms like "schizo" (I'm sorry but I've seen it) to describe him, these all fall into the overlap between racism and ableism. It's the same bigotry that in the real world results in Black men and boys to be deemed disruptive and violent over their peers. And I probably don't need to say it at this point, but the character Jazz has never been portrayed like this in any media, not even close. And there has also never been canon media where Jazz disrupts an ultra-rigid Prowl into changing anything about himself (and there never should be because that sucks). Hey, is now a good time to point out that in the G1 comics, as far as I can tell Prowl is just one of the many, many Autobots who are massive Blaster fans and they have nothing but positive interactions, and Blaster in those comics actually is a super disruptive, loud, angry, sometimes violent character? I mean, they have to be friends because they both hate Grimlock....

I also think something I haven't discussed as often but is equally important is that we should all be looking at canon with a critical eye as well. If you look at the way some IDW writers like James Roberts, Nick Roche, and John Barber wrote the characters, they utilized a lot of extremely problematic tropes as well. For example, I personally balk every time I see someone saying that Barber did Jazz justice, when what he did to him was make his entire story center on cops and police brutality and barely let him grow or find any community. He also decided that Jazz's backstory would be that he was a beat cop on Cybertron... I think it's bizarre for anyone to look at how Jazz has been portrayed over time and think it makes total sense for that of all things to be his backstory. I'll also just never forgive Barber for writing that issue where he had Prowl point a gun at Jazz's head to get his attention, and had Jazz making fatphobic jokes about Prowl (weird in context for SO many reasons), and also tried to resolve the issue with some kind of friendship moment despite all of that.

Roche, JRo, and Barber also knowingly took every trait Prowl had as a character before their stories—ones easy to perceive as signs of disability—and twisted them into signs of cartoonish evil (I know Barber seems to think he did not write him as a flat evil character, but he's kidding himself). Understandable meltdowns about stressful situations and injustice get turned into a running gag and scary villainy, a lack of social awareness and literal thinking get turned into the most flatly evil dialogue I've ever seen ("You can apologize later," anyone?), a drive to make everything just and fair and better for everyone gets turned into arrogance (Barber, the fact that you wrote this character saying something like, "What's morality got to do with any of this?" means you failed). I especially hate these decisions because these writers also showed a ton of favoritism towards this character. You could feel how much they LOVED making him as revolting as possible while also making sure that instead of facing reasonable consequences he'd always go through the most disturbing, traumatic, worst shit ever so there wasn't even the catharsis of fair consequences... while also giving him tons of prominence.

I say all of this because both canon and fandom works should be examined critically and that IMO it's not only a good idea to not make things worse in fanworks, but also probably a good idea to go along with the better parts of canon and not the super problematic parts.

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima 01x09 - Thieves

Alright, one Dragon Ball down. What's next?

It's a perfect plan. I'm not hearing any objections. Look at those eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who likes this plan and is excited to be a part of it.

Worst case scenario, we get caught, Goku fucks up a few more cops, and then we can fall back on sleeping on rocks. He just defeated a Tamagami. It is pretty firmly established that there is nothing in Daimakai that could ever touch him.

Yeah, it's the Nyoibou that stands out here. Only nyoibou. Out of every single thing about Goku's appearance right now, the stick is the part that will make people jerk straight up in their seats and go "Holy shit, it's him."

Thank you.

These clowns were legit about to walk right in there, flashing the spoils of Goku's unprecedented and historic victory against a Tamagami around. I'm glad Kaioshin, at least, has two brain cells to knock together.

Goddammit, Kaioshin. You know better than to leave Goku unsupervised during a stealth mission! This is on you!

...from who?

Who would buy one Dragon Ball out of a set that still requires you to defeat two impossibly powerful ultra-foes to collect the others? This is a terrible plan.

The Three-Star Ball in Goku's bag is invaluable. But also kinda worthless. I can't imagine there's much overlap on the Venn Diagram of "People capable of claiming the other two Dragon Balls" and "People buying stolen goods from the black market."

These guys really want to risk an altercation with the guy who defeated the Tamagami in order to steal an artifact that no one would ever buy. They'd be better off calling the cops and asking if there's a bounty on Goku's head.

Appropriate response. You're nasty, Goku. At least ask Piccolo to teach you Clothes Beam so you can conjure fresh dogis out of thin air.

Okay, so we are now using Panzy's Not-Dragon Radar to track a Dragon Ball.

Is it weird that I'm kind of proud of them for this? Like. Someone went out of their way to contrive a new way in which Panzy could be specifically Bulma-adjacent and make it work in-universe. It was a long walk to this pier, and I don't know why they wanted to come to this pier but I'm proud of them for making it.

Is it, though, Banana Beak?

I think Goku's the one making a lot of sense here. And you should probably feel ashamed of yourself when you're losing a debate to Son Goku.

Goku has to be letting them play Dragon Ball Keep-Away for shits and giggles. He can teleport.

Spoilsport.

Aww, she won his approval. I mean, he sucks and who cares what he thinks, but still. D'aww.

The funny thing about Glorio, now that we know what his deal is, is that he thinks he's going to be allowed to betray them. He honestly seems to think that is a thing that will happen.

Sorry, my dude. Once you're in an anime nakama, there's no going back. Just ask poor Vegeta, who once made a temporary alliance to face the Ginyus together that spiraled wildly out of control, and now he's Bulma's himbo arm candy. This team owns your soul now.

"I'll stay up and keep watch" says a person whose only interest or hobby is one that physically fatigues him. Goku made bad choices.

XD It's good to know that Makai #3 is just fucking lousy with plane thieves. Bulma and Vegeta's first day in Daimakai is exactly the same as Goku and Kaioshin's.

XD That's really all he knows about it.

Why do I feel like this is going to be important?

Gomah really thought he could just go zap all the people who vanquished Majin Buu with cosmic fuckery, kidnap their deity, and then fuck off. And they'd just... let him go.

Oh, there we go. I forgot about that. That's definitely the thing on Hybis's belt.

At last, the most important characters meet.

They will either instantly hit it off or ironically hate each other.

When Team Goku was landing in the cop shuttle, I was half expecting for it to be actual cops and then there's a big mistake altercation.

Team Goku seriously just came to say, "Hi, how ya doin'. Anyways," and then fuck right off. The two parties are remaining separate even though we just reunited. XD Why is Team Bulma even in the show? Comic relief?

Oh, that's... actually a pretty cool idea. Bulma and her crew will go handle the plot while Goku's off fighting the unbeatable Tamagamis. And then, presumably, they'll come back together for whatever Next-Gen Majin Buu thing Dr. Arinsu is whipping up.

I'm here for this.

Now that he's officially part of the show for realsies, Vegeta gets an establishing fight that's basically the same as Goku's bar fight, just more.

And also Piccolo is nearby, getting to throw exactly one punch. To be fair, I made a point before of how Goku technically did defeat Majin Buu but really doesn't actually, like... He can throw hands with Buu, but he's still sorely outclassed. Gohan's the only one who can face Buu in a straight fight and win.

But on the spectrum of characters who can throw hands with Buu, Piccolo is....

...not.

Piccolo is just not. He peaked in his Android 17 fight and ceased to be a relevant fighter afterwards.

Since we're in the area of "Less than Cell" for most of the powers we're going to encounter here, excluding the Tamagamis and Dr. Arinsu's project, that's fine. Being able to throw hands with 17 makes Piccolo reasonably well-leveled to this environment. But being attached at the hip to Vegeta? ...yeah, it makes sense he only got to throw one punch.

...they're not seriously saying that Saibamen are Majin too. They can't... No, I refuse. Do Saibamen even have ears!?

Oh goddammit.

Not everything in the Dragon Ball universe has to be Majin. Can't wait to find out that Frieza and Cold were secretly Majin all along too, and their... whatever's going on there is just a fancy version of pointy ears. Somehow.

Namekians and Kaioshin, I was like, "Yeah, okay, sure, whatever. This was already kinda-sorta canon." But this one actually bothers me.

I still love that Dr. Arinsu's witch's broom is a hookah. She's just over there getting stoned while Marba works.

He looks like Golden Frieza.

Why.

Why is he Golden Frieza.

I was being sarcastic. So help me, if this does end up being somehow linked to Frieza I will throw things.

[thecoolerliauditore]

This is kinda hard to articulate, but i was thinking about scott and his teams throughout the seasons and team dynamics in general. and i just wanted to ask your thoughts on which players you think tend to 'take point' in their alliances over the seasons?

Also to preface this the last time i watched everybody’s series of the previous life seasons was like four months ago and this is all from memory, so like take it all with a grain of salt. Also also sorry for the block of text i won’t be hurt if you skim it lol

There are three main factors which I feel dictates whether a person assumes a leadership role or not: whether they naturally are inclined to act that way, who they’re teaming with, and how big the alliance is (partnership vs 3+). 

If it’s a partnership, it’s more likely the role is more evenly spread out between the two people (although it seems like the opposite is true for some people). It’s also sort of hard to determine where somebody falls if they’ve been alone or missing for a season or two (ie Scar or Lizzie). I feel like there’s something to note about how differently winners of previous series tend to play in future seasons, which thereby kinda alters whether they lead the convo or not. 

It does feel a bit arbitrary to try and isolate specific people who take up a leadership position because the vibe of the life series alliances are mostly a group of friends working together rather than an actual organized group, and members of the group tend to split up mid-episode, but I do feel like there are some people who noticeably conduits their alliances throughout the series. This does overlap a lot with cc territory since it has to do with where the natural dynamics of a group fall to.

Scott's alliances have mostly been partnerships, but even with that in mind, i've always felt like Scott tends to control the direction of where his typical group meetings flow. He likes to have control. In terms of partnerships, there really is big difference in whether he leads more if you look at Jimmy vs Cleo, or even with Martyn, at least from what I can remember. Martyn’s and Cleo’s partnerships are alike in a lot of ways, but I can’t help but also see them as distinctly different. 

If I had to put my finger on it, it felt like Scott stuck a lot more with Cleo throughout the episodes compared to Martyn. If I had to put my finger on the partnership where Scott feels the most ‘equal’ to his partner, it would probably be Cleo. Martyn is somebody who I think Scott also respects, but I always felt there was a degree of… distance? Scott’s and Martyn’s are really both clever/witty and smart at surviving, and they both Know that, so I felt like they always let each other act mostly independently, even with Martyn being really protective over Scott. Either way, with those two, there’s definitely more of a distribution of leadership compared to Jimmy, but in different flavors. 

Then, there’s Pearl, which… yeah. You Know. I’d feel a little like a peasant lecturing to a professor of physics about blackholes if I were to try and explain the Scott-Pearl dynamic to you. The difference between the dynamic between solely Scott-Pearl VS Scott-and-somebody-else-and-Pearl is something that I felt like could definitely be talked about. Overlapping a bit with that, the only group alliances Scott’s ever had are in Secret Life and Wild Life. It still does feel like he makes or suggests a lot of decisions for the group, but to a much lesser extent. Gem & the Scotts mostly had Gem make the major decisions, which I feel like was a bit predestined from the point they picked that name, but also because it was Gem’s first time in the series and he wanted to make sure she had fun. It feels weird to say Gem also has a bit of a strong personality, especially since she tends to handle any social situation first with niceness (except Pearl this season lol) , but I do feel like Gem always makes sure to have her voice heard out, especially among people she’s comfortably with. When she’s determined or unimpressed about something, she isn’t afraid to say it, which I feel like is also why she was able to take a leadership role so easily in Secret Life. Scott more acted like her evil advisor or something, but in the end, he was the one to make her kill him. I wonder if there’s a noticeable difference in how much Scott dictated parts of the Gem & the Scotts conversation before and after Gem ‘betrayed’ him? 

There’s also the layer of Scott being a winner, which means after Last Life, the way he plays the game is different from other players. I wish there were more winners so I could say this definitely, but after they’ve won, winners tend to take on an ‘advisor’ role in their alliances. If I had to extrapolate from what I’ve seen, Scott plays pretty much the same between Third Life/Last Life and Double Life/etc, but only in the early-mid episodes of each series. He’s still very much focused on surviving himself, but during the latter part of each series, you can tell it’s only so he can set up somebody else to win. I feel like he had more sway in the decisions in Gem & the Scotts compared to the GGGGimpluse (do. Do they have a name), and I’d say that, apart from the fact he’s in a group with more people making it that way, it’s because he’s also sorta deferring/sharing with Cleo. Kinda. To summarize, Scott takes point a lot in his alliances, a bit noticeably less so in 3+ groups.

Scott also probably has the best record for teaming with different people each season (Jimmy-Pearl-Cleo/Pearlkinda-Martyn-Gem/Impulse). If we’re going by official teaming, this season is the only actual season where he’s had duplicates. It does speak to his irl role of knowing So Many Dang people, which is actually why I was thinking about this in the first place — if the fact that Scott is the one who organizes a lot of people together for games is noticeable in the Life series, apart from the fact he’s good at manipulating and the overall social game.

The person who I feel like automatically assumes a leadership role the most out of everyone, even more than Scott, is definitely Grian. Throughout the seasons you can very much see he’s a Manager, starting each episode with a group meeting and dictating what the goals are for that day. You can definitely see this in the Southlands and the Bad Boys (Joel sometimes too), but it is noticeably toned down in Secret Life w/ Cleo and Etho. This is probably because of his comparatively less familiarity with both of them and the obvious heightened respect he has for Etho, but even despite all of that, there were also a few moments where he did dictate what the Roomies were gonna do. Regardless, in contrast to Scott, it seems he becomes more like a leader in larger groups. It didn’t really dawn on me before, but Grian’s only partnership alliance has really only been with Scar, unless you count Secret Soulmates with BigB. This lack of partnership alliances with other people is really interesting to me, especially since it feels like a lot of other people have had a couple different sole partnership alliances. However, it is tough to say how exactly Grian acts in partnerships because Scar has been his only partner. Scar is interesting because, if he is in an alliance, he tends to turn/need one or more of the people in his alliance into his ‘vetoer’ or facilitator. The dynamic a lot of the time is Scar proposes an off-the-walls idea while the other person/people modifies it or denies it. Who would you say is more of the leader — the person who proposes the ideas or the person who makes the final decision/veto on whether the alliance does it? It’s hard to say, and again arbitrary to strictly define the positions in the alliances as strictly leader/follower compared to partners, but I’d say the vetoer who facilitates Scar does come off as becoming the person who tends to take point in his group. You can see this with Cleo in the Family and sorta even with Joel. As such, Grian falling into this role of facilitator does partly have to do with that Scar effect. However, he definitely takes a big proactive approach to leading the partnership, like with making plans to help Scar kill people, which indicates he would do the same for partnerships with different people. Going back to that thing where I said previous winners tend to become advisors for other people after their win, Grian definitely doesn’t fall under that generalization. It’s probably also due to the fact he’s hasn’t made it as close to the end in future series compared to some of the other winners, so he’s never had really the choice on who he wants to support to win. Still, I can’t think of a time where he’s assumed a more supportive role for another player, always aiming to either get himself or all of his alliance to the end, and creating kinda crazy plans while he’s at it. Whereas winners Scott and Pearl tend to accept their deaths well, Grian dies fighting and screaming to reach the end (Not to say that Scott/Pearl don’t try to reach the end, but Grian feels a little more vicious about it compared to how Scott/Pearl are after their season.). This is probably due to Grian’s competitive nature and bringing entertainment to his series. Grian tends to continually team with people he’s already pretty close to (Scar-Mumbo/Martyn/Jimmy/BigB-Scarkinda/BigB-Joel/Jimmy-Etho/Cleo-Mumbo/Skizz). They’re pretty much all in the same group of people, with Secret Life probably being his biggest divergence from his usual circle. As said earlier, this probably makes him more comfortable to lead the people in his alliance, since his brand of leadership can be a bit jokingly-mean/demanding sometimes. In fact, you can kind of tell he gets quiet when he’s in a group of people he doesn’t really know.

uhhh this is getting too long so i’ll hold off on an entire paragraph for the entire cast but here’s quick thoughts: 

Cleo plays middle-ground with taking point a lot? She’s kinda like Scott in that you can tell a difference between her Etho/Scott/BigB and Scar/Bdubs alliances. Scar and Bdubs facilitator, while being on more ‘equal grounds’ with the former people. 

Pearlito is. Gosh. It’s interesting how the way she played the game is so starkly different from before she won is so different after. at least from what i remember when I watched her? How she acts in the Nosy Neighbors & the Mounders is just. Aaaaaaaaa. She also spent one her seasons as a ‘loner’, a status she earned alongside other people like Scar, Lizzie, and BigB. Obviously those people did have alliances with individual people, but none that was main. I definitely feel like when players spend one or more of their seasons alone, it kinda changes how they play and how they drive a conversation.

Martyn!!! Loves to act on his own, but does play a huge role in whatever alliance he’s in usually, probably cause he spends a lot of creative juices trying to make everything entertaining. Made a lot of rules in Southlands, right hand and planner for Ren, etc etc. 

Speaking of Lizzie, I wish she were in more seasons, but I noticed that it seemed like she was the one kinda took point and made goals in the BAM alliance. This might be her thing about I haven’t seen her Last Life series in a hot minute, but it makes me want to go back and check if she did the same thing for the Fairy Fort. 

Skizz also feels like a notable person who leads the group talks sometimes, like with BEST or TIES or even this season, with Grian even deferring to him to make goals during the group meetings sometimes. In fact, I’d probably put him on the same level as Scott/Grian. Skizz's brand of leadership is very distinct to me, he does it in a way where it's obvious he must have had to take a lot of company leadership seminars in the past. 

I feel like Bdubs tends to... not quite lead, but moreover set a lot of the dynamic for a group he's in? It's strange. Like this season with the Tuff Guys, or with Last Life, his inflated personality and jokes guide a lot of the actual alliance discussions.

Etho and Tango are in groups of lot, but tend to do their own thing or listen to other people. (Tango/Cleo alliance save me… that like five minute alliance they had and never brought up again…). When Etho does talk, though, people are really likely to listen to him. 

Impulse… my brain isn’t working to Articulate, but his history of playing multiple sides and mostly taking a listener role during group discussion. 

Insert all the other players here, running outta brain room but i’m feral about all of them

i also can't claim to be a pearlboy or scottgirl or really be a super analyzer or any of them, so i'm really sorry if i mischaracterized somebody's favorite lil guy

Anyhow yeah. Sorry for the incoherentness i just love thinking about the general trends and patterns these guys fall into. What do you think? Who do you think naturally gravitates towards being a leader in their alliances, and why? It also makes me wonder how players like Grian and Scott would work together if they were in a strict partnership alliance. 

I don't really know what to add I think this is just a rlly good post. I almost feel a little bad posting this like I'm stealing your good take for myself rn but this is good this is good

(also please don't feel threatened by my supposed knowledge on scott/pearl or ethubs or any other character or ship for that matter. My view often fluctuates with rewatches as new context is added, I read my own old writing and think to myself "this guy is insane" all the time. And by my own admission it's been a long time since I've watched LL despite that being my favourite season and where a lot of my takes form. I'd also feel like the number one hypocrite in the world if someone told me what they saw in a ship and I went nuh uh incorrect buzzer when like a good quarter of my posts are analysing analysis and interpretation as concepts in this fandom in of themselves)

Actually I lied I do have stuff to add. Although this is literally like. already a really good post just on its own this is more for flavour

Right on with Grian's leadership-oriented personality, I think it's really cool how that's literally the thing Skizz applauds him on in LimL with affirmation station.

There's several things interesting to me about that scene, mostly in regard to Skizz's surprising social awareness and ability to read people, but also the fact that it's one of the few (if not only? Someone fact check me) Skizz affirmations that gets cut in the receiver's POV.

Which I think, following meta analysis rules, implies some fun things! From my perspective, it's implications are:

Grian's just a dick and didn't really care about Skizz's affirmation, it just wasn't important enough to him to show up in his POV.

Grian didn't feel deserving of the affirmation, which I think would go very well with how all of the people he leads (Scar included) tend to go towards disaster sooner or later.

Evil option which I will talk more about with other characters. Grian might have complicated feelings about the position of "leader" because while leaders are respected, they are also more visible and therefore vulnerable to becoming a target.

That third one leading to my next point about how I think it's interesting with Scott/Martyn how they are both people who could in theory be very effective leaders and seem to want power/control yet shy away from those roles. You're so right about Scott being Gem's evil advisor he's definitely the more subtle out of the two in terms of putting himself in control, whereas Martyn is pretty much always a little bit blatant with wanting to lead and protect his teammates but never actually adopts a "leader" role. He actually more co-leads than anything else with the bigger groups he's been in, with Ren in 3L and Grian in LL which is fun especially when you consider his complete lack of loyalty in either. The one person both seem completely comfortable holding power over is Jimmy which I think is. Fun.

To make yourself a leader is to make yourself a target, and I think both Scott and Martyn are smart enough to know that and manipulate it to fit their needs. As such they both adopt "puppet leaders" (Gem for Scott and Ren for Martyn) to give themselves to while finding ways to pull strings. I think that's what made their duo work so well, they both understand what the other one is about with this whole "alliance" business.

I think there also might be something really fun you could get from this when considering Ren and Lizzie's dynamic the next season, but like you anon I haven't watched the Fairy Fort POV in awhile and don't really feel confident saying anything. However I do remember Ren being the one who establishes the Shadow Alliance through his bond with Martyn, as well as the one who comes up with the whole "Queen of Shadows" thing, so take that as you will.

But people who pursue leadership in this setting aren't just stupid or naive, it takes a certain level of courage and confidence and mayhaps belief in your allies to be able to do that. Something that someone like Gem is perfect for, since she pretty much hits all the notes.

Skizz is what you get, I think, when you have the confidence and the love and trust in your teammates, but not the ability to hold onto your own authority (or even see that your teammates are disregarding it). BEST you lovely, lovely mess you. TIES is pretty much BEST but more stable but even then I don't think TIES so much respected Skizz as authority as much as they saw him as a friend who needed to be protected. With every season he seems to become more and more aware that he isn't taken seriously, I know he dropped it almost immediately but his "no more mr nice guy!" routine at the start of WL reads as acknowledgement of that to me.

I think you could make an alignment chart out of this. But just off the top of my head:

players who are happy to play leader:

Ren

Lizzie

Skizz

Gem

Grian who will act as leader, but avoid gaining a reputation for it

Cleo kind of falls somewhere around here too with the mother clocker stuff, I don't think she really thinks of herself as a leader though.

players who are shrewd enough to avoid the risk of being leader, but still want some level of control:

Martyn

Scott

Bdubs kindaaa? I haven't quite figured out what his deal is in WL yet, but I think he's aware Tango and Etho won't take him seriously as leader and he also literally said their alliance operated by every man for himself, so I don't really take his assertions of leadership seriously. Either way he is more manipulative than most people realize and I think if you wanted to bring HC into this, his thing with Mayor Scar and King Ren is pretty much as evil advisor as you can get.

players who are shrewd enough to avoid leadership But Also don't really desire control of their teams as a whole, they value their own survival as individuals more and while they don't necessarily see their teams as expendable, they're playing with the idea that they're gonna disband or leave eventually in mind:

Etho

Impulse

Bigb kinda because he really just seems to want to vibe but keeps getting pulled into these big ass alliances

players who don't really go in with any agenda and usually just end up being followers:

Jimmy (<- kind of complicated because he's frustrated about the Ecosystem and Will backstab his teammates if he's desperate but at the same time it's not because he's manipulative it's because he's desperate)

Tango

Mumbo

wild cards

Pearl, who you already summed up very well. She very much would rather vibe before DL, and after DL seems more willing to be a sword than a companion for whoever her chosen guy is. I think you could say more about Pearl's sense of agency here but. Yeah weird girl.

Joel, who is actually very passionate and loyal to his teammates, but will also maul Jimmy to death when he gets mad. He's also had like. No friends so this is harder to judge. I will say he kind of took on leadership amongst the reds in LL though, with Lizzie acting as his Martyn.

Scar. Who is Scar

Anyway. interesting interesting. group dynamics yay

[es-draws]

Why are so many of us are so turned on by weight gain? Where do kinks come from? I'm curious if there's any science behind it. Which part of the brain is involved? Sorry for the multiple questions in a long ramble

No worries, I had the same question! Probably the top thing I think about with this kink. I've done a lot of research, and what I found is that we really don't know where fetishes come from.

Psychologists are split into two camps - it's either something you develop and learn, or something that you were innately born with.

Some research suggests that fetishes are developed in childhood, and are learned through exposure to specific scenarios and instances that end up "triggering" a sexual response. The most common example here is spanking - Freud and those that subscribe to his theories believe that spanking during childhood leads to sexual urges for spanking as an adult. With feedism, I've heard people say that being exposed to fat admiration at a young age triggered their kink. Listen to Fat Bottomed Girls if you want to hear an example of how a fat naughty nanny can cause you to enjoy big butts.

But many psychologists now believe that fetishes are innate. There's some prominent research on foot fetishes that shows that the neurons for feet and genitals are close enough to overlap. But just like how we once thought that anything that wasn't heteronormative was "learned", it is now much more commonly believed that sexual preference is something people are born with. The precise cause can't be easily found neurologically, but it seems likely that some are innately attracted to things that aren't as common as others.

As for me personally? I have always found weight gain attractive. I can think of no life experience that triggered or developed this kink for me. And I know many, many other feedists who say the same thing. So I personally would ascribe to the "born this way" hypothesis, but I also know that others might disagree, based on their own experiences.

And as a final note, I think we should be wary of the "fetishes develop in childhood" theory. Why? Then it becomes easy to say that this fetish is something that "went wrong" with you. You were exposed to trauma around your body weight, that's why you have this weird kink! You had an ED and body issues - see? It's all just a mental problem. Your feedism fetish is just another disorder. You should get therapy so we can "fix" you. Sounds a bit like how they used to treat other marginalized folks, don't you think?

This is just my opinion, but I'd be curious to hear other people's experiences too, of course!

[fanficfindereks]

Percy Jackson Outsider POVs

Only a glimpse into the lives we lead- With all the wars and prophecies finally compete Will decides to take up his mom’s offer to return home for the school year for the first time since he was nine. After everything he’s been through it’s a little strange to go back to the mortal world once again, and people in his town take notice of how different he seems. Or… A series of interconnected one-shots of people from Will’s hometown noticing there’s something different about him throughout the one year he spends going to school in the mortal world.- Archive Of Our Own

A strange string of disappearing children: cult or coincidence?- "So you guys know how Drew and Lacy are big true crime fans?" Piper said, biting her lip to hide the amused smile on her face as she addressed all the demigods who had gathered together in Rachel's cave. Drew and Lacy were currently sitting with their hands over their mouths to hide their own smiles as they waited for Piper to reveal what they had discovered a few days ago, "Well one of their favorite channels did a video about us." Instantly everyone was rushing to crowd around the laptop she was holding to try and see the mentioned video. Piper shushed them quickly, fearing the noise would alert one of the patrol harpies that they were all out of their cabin after hours and with mortal technology no less. Once everyone quieted down, Piper looked at the group with a grin, "Lets watch it. " Or... Buzzfeed unsolved make a video looking into a handful of different demigods and how their disappearances all seem to mysteriously overlap with one another. When the Aphrodite cabin finds the video they gather all the other cabins together to do a watch party and maybe to cause a little chaos once they learn just how interested the country is in their current whereabouts.- Archive our Own

we'll pass around the easy lie of absolutely no regrets- Nell Brackman has been a high school guidance counselor for a long time. She’s seen troublemakers in every variant, dealt with more kids with shitty situations than she likes to think about, and practically has the understanding, comforting, yet firm tone on lock. Her wife thinks the job can be too tough on her, being the one to see Nell deal with the frustration of not being able to do more for kids who just won’t help themselves the way that they need to, but at the end of the day, there is nothing she would rather do more. That’s what she thinks most of the time, at least. The sheer chaos of Percy Jackson’s file might be something that ticks today over into one of the times where she starts feeling differently, though.- Archive of our Own

Introducing: Dock Guy- “I thought we were going to the lake?” Fern turns them around, fidgeting nervously. “Yeah, sorry. Maybe later. Just… you should stay away from the guy on the docks.” That doesn’t sit right with Mel, but they mutter, “Okay.” They’re not really sure what’s gotten into Fern. He befriended Mel, the Crazy of Casper, after all. They're pretty sure that Fern could get along with just about anyone. Mel glances back at the docks. They hadn’t noticed before, but there’s a person sitting at the edge. Dark hair and facing away from them. A pair of shoes are set aside and his feet are dangling in the water. Even from here, he looks deep in thought. They wonder why people, why Fern, is avoiding him. Or, a new camper is told to avoid Percy. They think it's because Percy is the 'weird kid' of camp. They're wrong.- Archive of our Own

Think of the Children- Lauren Bennet has dealt with plenty of overzealous parents before, but this one takes the cake. Maybe they could skip the holiday pageant next year.- Archive of our Own

someone's halls are getting DECKED- “Paul, school let out 3 days ago, and I know damn well you just showed those kids The Muppet Christmas Carol the last few days instead of assigning them any actual work you’d have to grade. Just come over! It’s Christmas, and the last time you saw any of the family was at Thanksgiving 3 years ago. We’re your family, sweetheart, we’re supposed to be together for the holidays. You shouldn’t be spending them alone in your apartment with a cheap fake tree you bought at Lowe’s. Give me one good reason why you can’t come home, no shoddy excuses.” Cynthia said with finality. On the other line, Paul let out a shaky sigh, then went quiet for a minute. “Well?” “Mom, uh… You might want to sit down. I have some… news.” or the blofis family don't know about percy or sally. that is, until paul brings them home for the holidays.- Archive of Our Own

[aishangotome]

Elbert Greetia: Mad Love Chapter 23

Mad Love Chapter 22

♡———♡

Kate: So...even if Lord Elbert were to commit some grave sin in the future...

Kate: I want to accept Lord Elbert, along with that sin...

Kate: I want to love Lord Elbert.

Alfons: ...What a fool you are.

Gray eyes slowly approach.

(Huh...?)

At the moment when a complex and twisted sweet scent wafted strongly - my lips were stolen by Alfons.

(Huh!?)

Reflexively, I push back against Alfons's chest.

Kate: What was that all of a sudden...!?

Alfons: Hehe, that's a new reaction from you.

Alfons: Sorry, I was just envious of you two looking so good together.

Alfons is wearing his usual dubious smile, as if to say that this was just a greeting.

Kate: Are you... making fun of me...?

Alfons: I live by spinal reflexes, so if I feel like kissing, I do it the next moment.

Kate: I thought we were having a serious conversation...

Alfons: Don't you just want to ruin the mood when it's serious?

(It was Alfons who asked the serious question...)

Kate: This kind of joke... please stop it. Lord Elbert will be sad.

Alfons: Aha! It's too late for that.

Alfons: If El finds out we went out alone, he'll be jealous and crush you in his arms, whether we kissed or not.

Kate: Crush...?

Alfons: If he's going to be jealous anyway, we might as well have a kiss or whatever, right?

Looking at his nonchalant attitude, I feel like I'm the weird one for being angry.

Alfons: Don't worry. I have no intention of taking you away from El for real.

Kate: That's... good. Please really stop it.

Alfons: I can't promise that. I don't intend to take you away, but I do intend to play with you and El.

Kate: Alfons...!

Alfons: Come on, just let me join in a little.

Kate: I think Lord Elbert trusts you.

Kate: And I do too. So, this is not okay.

Alfons: Trust...huh?

Alfons: That is a grave situation.

Alfons dramatically placed his hand on his forehead.

Kate: A grave situation...?

Alfons: Yes. At this rate, I've started to think it wouldn't be bad to seriously make a move on you and get killed by El.

(Huh...?)

Kate: Why...?

Alfons: ...The title of "trusted and important person,"

Alfons: It's a burden too heavy, I feel like I'm going to be crushed.

(Alfons...?)

For some reason, those words felt like the truth from him, who always seemed to evade his true feelings with suspicion, and I inadvertently gazed into his grey eyes--that's when it happened.

Alfons: --Oh my

Kate: Alfons? What's--

Alfons: Get down!

The moment our words overlapped, a sudden gunshot pierced our ears.

-

At the same time--Roger spotted the dazzling golden hair rarely running down the hallway and called out to its back.

Roger: El?

Elbert: Roger...!

Roger: You're back already? That was faster than I thought. So, what's the rush--

Elbert: Where's Kate? She's not in her room... not anywhere.

Roger: Kate? I heard she went out to town with Alfons... Did something happen?

Elbert: ...Jeffrey escaped from the mansion.

Roger: Jeffrey? What are you talking about...?

Elbert: I have a bad feeling--

Roger: Hey, wait!

Ignoring the restraining voice, Elbert once again rushed out into the night.

-

(What was that gunshot just now?)

I try to calm my ragged breathing in the back alley where Alfons and I took refuge.

Voice of Man with a Gun: Where did the woman go? She was here just a moment ago.

Big Man's Voice: Tch, she must be hiding somewhere. Find her!

(The woman who was here...?)

Kate: Could it be... they're after me...?

Alfons: It seems so. Any ideas?

Kate: N-no...

Alfons: That's unfortunate. If it were Jude, he'd pop right out.

Alfons: Honestly, if we're going to play chase, I'd prefer a more enjoyable way.

Kate: This is no time to be leisurely...!

Alfons: My apologies.

While hiding behind cover, I observe Alfons and the men.

Their numbers don't seem to be decreasing, if anything, they seem to be increasing.

(At this rate, they'll find us here soon...)

Kate: Alfons, this way.

Alfons: ...!

Whispering, I take Alfons' hand and urge him further down the path.

Kate: I know the back alleys of London well. I'm a mail carrier.

Kate: Leave this to me.

-

We continued through inconspicuous back streets, running for a while.

(We've put some distance between us, but they're probably still close by...)

(I know the streets well, but I'm not familiar with being chased, so I need to stay alert.)

Still, we finally reached a point where the footsteps and hushed voices were no longer audible, and I let out a relieved sigh.

Kate: Who could they be...? To target me like that...

Alfons: Shall we make a guess?

Alfons: Kidnappers hired by someone consumed by their burning passion for you.

Alfons: Habitual human traffickers who would take any woman.

Alfons: Assassins hired by someone infatuated with Elbert, aiming to eliminate you.

Alfons: Which one do you prefer?

Kate: N-none of them...

Talking with Alfons somehow eases the tension in my shoulders.

(Maybe I should forget about that kiss earlier...)

(Though it might be playing right into Alfons' hands.)

The more time I spend with him, the more I understand why Elbert is with him.

(Being around Alfons helps me not get swallowed by anxiety and fear.)

(His attitude of taking a step back and enjoying everything has saved me...)

(Elbert must have experienced this many times too.)

Alfons: ...What is it? Staring at someone's face like that.

Kate: Oh, it's nothing.

Alfons: Oh, you want another kiss?

Kate: No...!

(I'm trying to forget about it...)

Alfons: Don't reject me so harshly, it hurts.

Alfons: Come on, let's go further in. It's still dangerous here.

Kate: U-understood.

As instructed, I quietly follow him deeper into the alleyways.

(...This alley seems darker than the others.)

Just as a slight unease crept over me, it happened.

Alfons: Oops, my hand slipped.

Kate: Huh?

He forcefully pushed my shoulder--and the next thing I knew, I was shoved into an unfamiliar warehouse.

(Wh-what!?)

Immediately after, I heard the sound of a lock being fastened from the outside, and I rushed to the door in a panic.

Kate: A-Alfons!? Let me out!

Alfons' Voice: Heh, it seems you didn't know, but I'm also quite familiar with London.

Alfons' Voice: Especially places like this, hidden from view, where one might do unsavory things.

Alfons' Voice: I apologize, but I'd rather not be killed by your pursuers, so I'll be taking my leave.

Alfons' Voice: You can just play dead in there until they give up.

Kate: But... what if they find this place...?

Alfons' Voice: Well then, I suggest you stay quiet so they don't find you.

Alfons' Voice: Farewell.

As if to fuel my anxiety, the tightly shut door wouldn't budge.

From beyond it, I could hear Alfons' footsteps fading away.

(...Alfons...)

I don't know Alfons so little as to take his words at face value.

(This is probably to protect me.)

Above all, the fact that Elbert has been with Alfons all this time convinces me.

("Trust is a burden," he said... but there's no way he'd betray me like this.)

Kate: Alfons is just like Lord Elbert, after all.

The dark and dry space is like a coffin, but it's also a cage protecting me.

(I need to find a way out of here.)

-

Several men stood in Alfons' way as he emerged from the alley onto the main street.

Alfons: What a rough welcome...

Alfons: Honestly, associating with such riffraff makes me question your upbringing, Mr. Head Butler.

From among the thugs, a figure emerged--it was Jeffrey, his usually immaculate suit now stained and his slicked-back hair disheveled.

Jeffrey: Life is full of surprises, isn't it?

Jeffrey: To be lectured on upbringing by you, who appeared at the Greetia residence with unknown origins.

Jeffrey: --To begin with, it was unpleasant having to address someone like you with respect.

Alfons: How rude. I've always been known as a nobleman by birth.

Jeffrey: I have no interest in your life story.

Jeffrey: ...Where is that woman?

Jeffrey's eyes were bloodshot as he let out a groan.

Alfons: Now, which woman might that be?

Jeffrey: The woman you and Elbert brought to the mansion, Kate or whatever her name is.

Jeffrey: ...Ever since she arrived, everything has gone wrong.

Jeffrey: With no legitimate lineage, unloved by anyone...!

Jeffrey: After the master passed, I maintained that house in place of the young Elbert!

Jeffrey: I am the master of that house! And yet, I was the one cast out of the mansion...!

Alfons: Oh my, "cast out of the mansion"? Why would you think that?

Jeffrey: ...Elbert was looking for someone to take over the servants' employment at the mansion.

Jeffrey: It's information leaked from a noble who was consulted by him, I'm certain.

Alfons: Aha, I see. So, information was leaking from such a place. That was careless of us.

Alfons: El and I were proceeding cautiously, but it seems our skills are still lacking.

Alfons: We should have enlisted William's help.

Jeffrey: You were in on it too...!

Alfons: Surprised? But even if you eliminate Kate, your position won't be restored, will it?

Jeffrey: ...!!

Alfons: Oh! So, you're planning to take everyone down with you out of desperation. I see, you're quite cornered, aren't you?

Alfons' laughter echoed in the night sky, followed by the sound of a single clap.

Alfons: A grudge, is it? Blaming others while ignoring your own actions...

Alfons: Ah, but I don't dislike it, such shifting of responsibility.

Jeffrey: Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up...!!

Jeffrey: You never interfered before, why oppose me now!?

Alfons: Oh my! Could it be that you thought I hadn't done anything because you were a threat?

Jeffrey: What...?

Alfons' leaden eyes gleamed dully.

Alfons: --A pitiful boy who couldn't even go mad,

Alfons: His pathetic means of clinging to life were collecting beautiful things and enduring abuse...

Alfons: I thought if I took away those pains from him, he would be killed by guilt.

Alfons: I didn't believe that something like the power of love could free him from pain.

Alfons: People who truly have "love" are so foolish and wonderful, aren't they?

Jeffrey: What are you talking about...? I asked you where the woman is!

Alfons: ...I pitied you almost as much as Elbert, you know?

Alfons: Your inflated ego, your irredeemable twisted sadistic tendencies...

Alfons: To be able to control a child who was higher in status, had everything, and was beautiful and kind to boot,

Alfons: It must have felt so good.

Jeffrey's expression contorted with agitation and anger.

Unfazed by his imminent attack, Alfons looked past Jeffrey.

Alfons: --Ah, he's finally here.

Alfons: That child is now aiming for your life. How does that feel?

Jeffrey: Huh...?

With quiet footsteps, another shadow stretched into the dimly lit alley.

Alfons: Hey, Elbert?

.

.

.

.

.

Mad Love Chapter 24

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

[suzukiblu]

i want to write and post kinky things, but i can’t get past this base level of… shame, i guess. or embarrassment. or anxiety over judgement. it feels weird to ask just another blog, but yet i still am… how do you do it? did you have to get over the same thing? if you did, how?? sorry. i love your writing

You're good, friend, don't sweat it! ❤️ Honestly I don't remember if I was ever particularly ashamed or embarrassed by the idea of doing smut or not, but I WAS once ashamed and embarrassed by the idea of writing and posting things that I thought were too id-driven or too self-indulgent or just Too Much.

And then I thought, "okay, but if I'm not having fun and not being authentic and not doing what I want, what's the point anyway?"

So I just slooooowly step-by-step stopped reflexively reining myself in, and then I found out that actually the world is full of people who are exactly as id-driven and buck-wild as I am and they are both delighted and GRATEFUL to see my hyper-specific opinions about gender and yes they WOULD like to read about this character being the exact kind of queer I am interpreting them as and no there is NOT any such thing as "too much" hurt/comfort or too many fix-it AUs or too much focusing on your favorite character and yes they DO wanna see those kinks explored too; actually, you should probably write all your fave things a few MORE times and commit even HARDER this time. Like, the more niche and self-indulgent I get, the more enthusiastic and involved the people who read my stuff seem to get, in my experience. People LIKE the stuff I thought I'd get judged over. Like, a lot of people! Not EVERYONE, but still, way more people than I ever would've expected when I was regularly thinking "no one will like my stuff if I get too carried away and do what I REALLY wanna do".

I realize you're asking about specifically porn here, but that was sort of an overlapping thing for me in terms of the KINDS of porn I wrote, and like . . . I really do think making the things you really WANT to make is always gonna resonate harder than just making the things you think you're SUPPOSED to make.

I don't know if any of that was sufficiently helpful, but personally I always say you should just do what you want, in situations like these. You're not gonna be eighty and going "gosh I wish I'd had LESS experiences and tried FEWER new things!", you know?

(also if all else fails, there's always the good ol' "make a throwaway NSFW account to test the waters on your own comfort level and go from there" option)

[the-s1lly-corner]

Ookay this one is really really tooth rotting fluff level

Tadc x reader who just realized christmas is coming, and is freaking out with absolute glee and childlike wonder

TADC cast x reader who loves christmas!

AAAAAA im so so sorry i could have sworn i answered this but i guess i didnt??? i promise i didnt mean to leave this in the inbox this long on purpose i think i must have lost track of stuff </3 regardless, i hope you enjoy! admin must admit, asides from presents and the christmas tree, he doesnt do many holiday activities so... admin is underqualified for this but hes still gonna try! a lot of the character segments intertwine in this btw! like not in a "similar idea" thing but in a "they are actually overlapping and interacting with one another" way so !! side note unrelated to the post eheheheh the second batch of macarons have been piped! theyre now on the counter set out to dry, and ive got my ganaches out to get to room temperature so i can whip em up into a frosting :3

CAINE:

oh i just know that caine would lean hard into holiday stuff, plus i think he has the best sense of time in the digital world out of everyone.. plus he just seems like the kind of guy to celebrate all sorts of holidays, not just christmas! year round stuff, you know? not just winter... so you guys would likely team up and totally deck out the grounds to match the holiday spirit! sure caine on his own already puts in way too much effort decorating everything, he even makes it snow! but with you around he cranks it up to 11! lets just hope there arent any scrooges around, though.... also prepare yourself because he would definitely find a way to have christmas music play on loop in the background... somewhere... ambient music but its festive songs... i think caine is also the one responsible for most of the presents, since he can basically get most things with just a flick of his wrist! ooooo perhaps a date (platonic or romantic! up to you!) where you guys wrap the gifts together!

POMNI:

funny enough, while i usually think pomni would SUCK at cooking, i think she can make a mean hot coco. granted, hot coco and/or hot chocolate arent the hardest things to make, but... i dont know, its just different when she makes it... (recommendation from the admin, add a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg to your hot coco its a game changer frfr, this goes for a lot of chocolate stuff, actually. its like the chocolate-coffee effect but like. makes a different flavor profile. add a bit of nutmeg to your chocolate chip goodies. rn.)

anyways! pomni always keeps you supplied with hot coco, and honestly it benefits you both! keeps you nice and warm, plus its delicious; and it gives pomni something to do... i mean, its christmas... surely she can take it easy from trying to find the exit... just for the season... helps with her anxiety about the whole situation, you know? making digital food sure is weird, though...

RAGATHA:

as mentioned in gangles part, she joins you and gangle in helping making a skirt for the tree! keeping up with the idea of sewing things, i think she would also make stockings for everyone; leaving most of them blank so everyone can customize them however they like... but you and her get together to decorate your own together and just !! i just think thats sweet! depending on how soon caine starts putting the christmas stuff around, you and her might be able to make some ugly sweaters for yourselves! thats a christmas thing, right? oooo and they match.... OOOO YOU GUYS MAKE AN EXTRA LONG SCARF FOR YOU GUYS TO SHARE!!!! rolls around... she makes you mittens so you can go mess around in the snow caine put all over the grounds

JAX:

snowball fight. and i mean really intense once. in fact it wouldnt be too much of a stress to call it a snowball WAR! honestly jax might just be the type to put rocks in his snowballs.... but because this is meant to be nice and sweet, he wont... just this once, and because he feels TOO mean crushing your holiday spirit (even if your digital body would quickly recover from the possible injury...)

you guys make forts and go absolutely ham. the stuff ragatha had made for the two of you! i mean sure you guys cant succumb to hypothermia, buuuuuuuuuut being really painfully cold still sucks... but the sweaters help you guys stay out for longer to play! and you can perhaps ask pomni to make some hot coco

oh yes its all coming together

ooo perhaps you convince jax to make snow angels and snowmen with you... though, i think jax would make the snowmen purposefully unappealing... but maybe you think hes actually trying his best... oh you jolly little thing..

KINGER:

okay so i admit this one might be a stretch and its mostly because his robe already has the fur and he gives off grandpa energy (even though hes only 48 but hey some grandpas become grandpas young) but imagine somehow someway he dresses up as santa (and i say that loosely, his robe turns red and the fur turns a plain white), bonus if he wears a hat to tie in the entire look. while caine is the one getting the gifts and wrapping them, i like to think kinger would ask to be the one to put them under the tree at an ungodly hour. sweet man. chews

as for an interaction with the reader... hmm.. hes the last character im writing, everyone else already has their parts done... the one christmas activity i can think of that hasnt been taken yet is baking! honestly i can see him being a decent chef! maybe its the dad/granddad energy speaking to me again... perhaps its the admin projecting... buuuut imagine you two make shaped cookies togehter; stars, candy canes, trees, bells, ect... and you ice them together! sure they may not be the prettiest or look the most professional; but does that really matter when youre having fun? they still taste delicious!

ZOOBLE:

ok i get it, i tend to lean hard into the zooble being negative and/or unimpressed with things a liiiiiiiiittle too often, but again zooble doesnt strike me as the type to enjoy most holidays. they seem more of a halloween person to me, you know? though, i think that they would switch out their antennae for ones that resemble antlers more... or if they dont have those, they string lights up on them! all for you, just because they know how excited the holiday makes you. they dont care about many things, but they care about you... and if it means doing (harmless) things they normally wouldnt do, then so be it! dont expect them to get in on many holiday activities, though...

GANGLE:

you and her make decorations for the grounds and the giant digital tree caine put in the main common area! handmade ornaments, paper stars and snowflakes, things like that! you and gangle stay up take cutting each thing, applying the colors and the glitter and any small details.... dozens of times.... because caine chose a tree that was way too big than it needed to be.... oh you might have to have gangle on your shoulders so she can reach the higher points of the tree! sits and thinks.... ooouuuuuuuuugh you guys make a skirt for the tree together with the help of ragatha... little group activity... sobs...

[blueskittlesart]

Hello! Do you have any theories/thoughts about the mystery lady in the totk trailer? I am so so normal about her (and your painting of her made me EVEN MORE normal) and I keep looking up things about her but she doesn’t have a tag so I have to go into the HYLIA tag even though I really don’t think she is Hylia. Also I’ve been reading your loz doc and your takes are totally not occupying my brain at the moment. Sorry, all of that to say that if you have thoughts about the mystery lady I would love to hear them

YES. i am almost completely convinced that she's NOT hylia and is in fact the earlier zelda mentioned in botw. visually analyzing her character, we see a lot more similarities to other ZELDA designs than depictions of hylia (and yes i know there's deliberate overlap, but they do each have distinguishing features which i will get into.)

here's my breakdown of specific visual elements associated with hylia vs zelda. hylia portrayals will almost always have a double-layered dress with that specific overskirt drape, long, robelike flowy sleeves, and a deep U neckline. zeldas (when in formal dress) will almost always have that boxy neckline, a circlet-like crown with a gemstone inlaid in the middle, a belt with a large circular buckle/brooch in the middle, and a detached hanging drape over the middle of their skirt. several of the zeldas also have noticeable large earrings, and wind waker zelda specifically has little wing-like accessories on either side of her head.

comparing the shot of the mystery girl from the latest trailer, she seems to have a lot more in common visually speaking with our zeldas than our hylias.

from a purely character design standpoint, visually this character evokes "zelda" much more than "hylia." she also bears distinct similarities to the image we are shown of the long-dead princess in the botw cutscene:

notably, the long wavy blonde hair, darker skintone, and sleeveless white dress (again, assuming her dress is the same one we see OUR zelda wearing.)

this is consistent with other clues we've been given about the plot so far--we've seen link clearly wearing an outfit meant to evoke the past hero mentioned in that cutscene, down to the weird stuff going on with his arm:

so if we know that our link is gonna be taking on some of the appearance of the long-dead hero, i don't think it's too much of a logical leap to assume that the girl who's matching outfits with our zelda is the long-dead princess.

as for WHY she's shown and what her narrative significance is, well. i have theories. i think both she and her respective hero are gonna play a pretty big role in totk. more info here & here if you're interested. but tldr that's why i think she's a zelda and not hylia lol

[lollytea]

((Part One of my Showbiz AU exposition posts!! Sorry my demons took over. I have more to say but this was already getting too long so I have to chop it up. The actual meat of the AU coming tomorrow.))

Willow Park was discovered in a supermarket when she was two years old while happily swinging her chubby legs back and forth in a shopping cart baby seat, teething on a rainbow coloured set of plastic keys. Her parents were offered the opportunity to get her into commercial modeling for a fat check.

Maybe if the circumstances had been different, Gilbert and Harvey would have rejected the offer on the spot. However, things were not going financially well in the Park household. Harvey had recently been let go from his job and Gilbert was already disowned by his parents, so they didn't have their support to fall back on. And they were scared. They were scared of what would become of Willow if they couldn't afford to take care of her.

The rules they applied to this whole venture were simple. The second it appeared that this lifestyle was taking a negative effect on Willow, they pull her out of it immediately and try something else.

So Willow became a baby model. And the overlap between model and actor was thin enough that she quickly stumbled into the latter. Mainly commercials and movie/TV roles with anywhere from one to a handful of lines. But it paid well and even though she was little, she seemed to enjoy it. She had a captivating stage presence. She was silly and clumsy but directors and audiences found that charming.

When Willow was four, she began repeatedly bumping into another little girl at auditions and they drew little crayon doodles together on the edges of their scripts while they waited their turn. Soon enough, Willow Park and Amity Blight were best friends and lit up every time they saw each other in those high ceiling audition rooms with the weird squeaky floors.

But when Willow was six, going on seven, she did an awful lot of growing. And that changed everything.

Amity had always booked more roles than Willow, but that had never bothered her because she had never known any different. And besides, Willow had always gotten SOMETHING at least.

Willow enjoyed acting and her Dads made sure to never make her aware that they relied on her income for fear of putting that huge responsibility on her shoulders. To her, it wasn't a job, just a fun thing she did.

But once she reached a certain age, it became difficult to book any roles at all. Nothing. Nobody wanted her.

Amity, by comparison, seemed to be getting every role personally handed to her. And this was the point where she abruptly severed ties with her best friend, utterly shattering Willow into a million pieces.

Nobody wanted her. Not even her best friend wanted her. Willow didn't know what had changed so suddenly but it burned under her skin. There was something inherently wrong with her. Nobody wanted her.

Harvey and Gilbert quickly noticed the damage that acting had done to their daughter's self esteem so they quickly drew further away from the spotlight before things got any worse.

Willow did not retire from acting completely. There was still maybe one or two background roles a year. Usually no lines. Just to keep them financially afloat. By this point, both Harvey and Gilbert had found ways to bring home money. It wasn't a lot and they were still scraping by but ultimately, Willow's childhood, education and future were to be prioritized so sacrifices had to be made.

They hoped to retain some sense of normalcy to Willow's life. So, after a year and a half of Harvey's home schooling, Willow was enrolled in public school, where she remained from the ages of 7 to 13.

This was supposed to make things better. And in a way, it did. Or at least it gave Willow the necessary experience to navigate the real world and help her develop into a relatively gentle, wise and down to earth soul. But it was also absolute Hell.

Harvey had always presumed that his daughter was a late bloomer and never thought much of it when she was still reading at a kindergarten level at age 7, but it presented itself as a complete abomination of a problem once she was thrown into the public school system.

Willow was dyslexic. This severely hindered her academic performance, as well as severely hindering her classmates' ability to leave her the fuck alone.

Willow doesn't like to talk about the period of her life where she attended public school. Except maybe in therapy. Or to Hunter at 3:34AM after he's told her something debatably more fucked up about his own childhood. But this was the only point in her life where she felt completely and utterly alone in this world.

She had her Dads, she'd always have her Dads. But she kept the brunt of her misery to herself because she knew that they would make her problems their problems and they were struggling enough as it was.

It was for her. Everything they did was for her. She eavesdropped on the heated debates they had late at night (They should've been asleep too. They had work in the morning) over what the next move was.

They were both painfully aware that Willow's full time acting career brought in the most money but if she didn't want to be in show business anymore, they needed to do whatever it took to make sure she could stay in school and her future was bright. College, university, whatever she wanted. (Harvey had tirelessly studied the best career opportunities and not-so-sutbly attempted to get her on board.)

Truth be told, Willow didn't know what she wanted. All she knew for sure was that she couldn't stay in public school a moment longer. She didn't know how to feel about acting these days. It was a mixed bag. But it was definitely preferable to the torture chamber of a middle school girls bathroom.

When Willow was thirteen, she reactivated her acting career, and she did it with a smile on her face. She hoped that her parents could maybe sleep soundly for the first time in six years.

She got lucky. Miraculously lucky. She wasn't sure if she believed in God after the last six years but SOMEBODY out there was looking out for her. Because near immediately, they found a casting call that read: "Age 12-14. Female. Plus size. Non-White." A casting call that Willow had never seen in all her years in show business, (at least not the ones her Dads approved of) let alone for a gig in one of the most popular tweenage networks on television. And this was no background position either, but a lead role.

If Willow could book this, her family would be set.

So, she read for the role. Well, she memorized the script after staying up till 2am with Gilbert. And she put her acting experience to use by pretending to read a script.

And that was how Willow booked the role of Paulina on television's upcoming tween phenomenon 'Hexside', a series about wacky shenanigans in a witches high school.

She was quick to learn that while she would have a significant presence on the show, she was not the leading lady, but rather, the ditzy quirky best friend.

The actual protagonist and Willow's co-star who she'll be spending the next several months with? (and possibly years if season 1 is a success)

Amity Blight.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

I mean I would argue that the dame culture presented in game is at least comparable to drag, in the way that it's a very performative kind of gender presentation that is completely unrelated to the performers actual gender, but I totally agree that om is clearly presenting the event as something other than cross dressing or the traditional understanding of drag as a man in a dress and it's really nice to see! Its like- gender performance vs performative gender if that makes any sense? Idk lol but it's really nice to see men performing femininity without any shitty jokes

Also it's really funny to me that beel keeps breaking his heels because they absolutely make heels for drag with steel reinforcements so either he's breaking THOSE (wouldn't put it past beel) or they don't have that kind of heel in the devildom lol

Sorry you're getting weird terfs harassing you :(

No I get that!! I definitely see it as being comparable to drag (which is not a bad thing! Drag is great and allows for a lot of gender expression and there's different kinds of drag) but it also feels different? I think it's because the Devildom doesn't seem to hold any of the gender stereotypes of the human world? Which affects the entire event.

I've spoken about it in my previous posts and in some that are still on queue but;

The dressing up/crossdressing is never treated as anything other than normal. Even when the brothers have problems with it it's never with the actual part of becoming a "dame" - it's things like breaking their heels or being too lazy to put in too much effort.

Being a "Dame" is a character, just like how in drag most people play characters, and a Dame is characterized by "nobility" : the Dames are supposed to be kind, gracious, selfless, poised characters

This is shown in OM! by how Mammon loses his accent whenever he's performing as a "Dame". But there's a lot of intertwining/overlap between acting the part of the Dame and the brothers' everyday gender presentation

Barbatos and Asmo somewhat put an emphasis on show makeup (aka exaggerated makeup) versus everyday makeup, they're both well versed in both kinds

Asmo wears a lot of stereotypically feminine clothes & makeup & heels in everyday life without it affecting how he views himself as a man

Mammon and Lucifer both wear heels often enough that wearing them comes naturally to them

I think there's one card where Mammon's wearing (comparatively) light makeup and honestly I see it as being something that he's used to (you can't blend your eyeshadow as well as Mammon has in his recent card and be new to it, specially for someone who's not naturally artistic)

Mammon says that what he wears doesn't matter as long as he looks like a badass, which feels like it's more than just about this specific situation where he has to act like a Dame - it genuinely just feels like how Mammon as a person would see himself

Lucifer & Barbatos (two of the most serious and badass/dangerous characters in the game) are looked up to as "exceptional dames" despite neither dressing up for the contest. They are viewed as professionals in the area. But I don't see either Barbatos or Lucifer as people who would put on a character that is significantly different from their usual selves (the way Mammon had to)

I think what it comes down to is that drag (for most people) is something that you can at least somewhat take off at the end of the day? Like for Beel, I absolutely cannot see him wearing dresses/heels while out of his Dame character. But Asmo wears makeup/heels/stereotypically feminine clothes, Mammon wears makeup/heels, Lucifer wears heels, Barbatos apparently wears makeup often enough too, in their everyday lives while still all presenting as male that at this point it moves away from being a performance and becomes just a part of them and a part of how they present themselves/their gender. And so, at this point, because makeup/heels/dresses are just things that shouldn't be assigned genders of their own it can't really be considered crossdressing anymore. And in the Devildom no one bats an eye at that.

Does that make sense?

Also, just.... these characters are thousands if not millions of years old - of course they're not gonna stick to gender stereotypes or a specific gender presentation. Objectively, I don't think it's even possible - with the way gender & gender stereotypes change with time - even if you pick one gender and stick to it, what it means to be that gender would change over time when you've lived that long. So at some point you're gonna say "fuck it, I'm doing whatever the fuck makes me comfortable"

BEEL WAS GOING THROUGH IT. MAN WAS TRAUMATISED.😭😭😂

No listen he definitely was breaking through them as well!

🤷✌️