#some semblance of normal comic

[squidinkedcreative]

i can feel my brain turning to mold 👍🏻 time to think about my blorbos <33

[somesemblanceofnormal]

me(mod squid) dropping new lore for the comic to the co-creator of the story(beanie) at the most random times throughout the day

[robinfollies]

Been really pondering Fantoccio and the cursed citizens lately… like, if you’re stuck in a city for 15 years with some of your only company being these cursed globby versions of the people that used to surround you normally, you’d start to Notice Things that remind you of who they used to be, right?

[kazzsk2]

Your sacrifice resurrection au is amazing i love the cringefail rizz of Narinder dealing with the lamb. Questions: Why does Narinder get suicidal and mentally unstable after the lamb goes kaput Is it just general loneliness or pining or something else? Whats up with the other bishops? Why did the lamb decide that they were done? Whats the crowns take on the situation? Whats rataus? Is there a betting pool?

Okay I didn't not actually expect questions holy shit (but in a good way) please ignore any grammar or spelling mistakes

1. Narinder becomes that way due to the trope of like "I've gotten what I was supposed to want but all I really wanted was you" type thing and the loneliness and wanting start to eat up at him so badly to the point he starts having like dreams and nightmares of the lamb speaking to him. Basically it's kinda because general loneliness but like heightened a bit.

2. The other bishops were all chilling and stuff so it was very clear to them when something was going on with narinder. Heket was the first to notice anything and advised him against doing something stupid. She was 100% off board with the idea of resurrecting the lamb as she knew they wouldn't be happy about it. Even when the lamb is resurrected, she at first doesn't want to help narinder fix his relationship with them as she considered it his karma for bringing them back.

(Even made a mini comic about the siblings giving advice and heket is the least helpful due to this. Mostly advising him to leave the lamb alone or let them die in peace.)

Kallamar is somewhat similar to heket as he didn't think what narinder did was a good idea, but he does offer some semblance of support after the lamb is resurrected.

Leshy did not really care, but he wanted narinder to be happy and he supposed that the lamb was the best way to go about it, so he chose not to interfere with narinder's plans.

Shamura was the only one to really push narinder to resurrect the lamb as they thought it was the only way narinder would be happy and go back to normal. They didn't not care what the lamb really thought about the matter as their focus was only on narinder at the time. When they see how much suffering the lamb went through during the failed resurrections, they regretted pushing narinder to do them, but at this point there was no stopping him.

3. They had the plan really from the start. After being resurrected and ordered to kill the bishops, they knew that they would have to give the crown back. Of course the plan changed a bit before the final boss fight with narinder as they wanted to give narinder a better life when they joined the cult. So they spared him, brought him in, and got narinder's siblings as well.

His main goal was to be reconnected to those he lost in death like his family, so they weren't at all joyed for that to be pulled away from them after giving narinder what he said he wanted.

4. The crown has sentience in this au and they honestly found no problem with the plan. The crown is selfish and did like the lamb a lot so it was happy to have them back either way.

5. Sadly ratau is dead in this au so he couldn't get the full picture of what's going on. All he understood was that one day lamb was there in the afterlife with him, and the next they were gone. Eventually, he manages to speak to lamb through their dreams, but even then he doesn't fully grasp the situation. He has mixed feelings about it.

6. Yes. Leshy is betting that the lamb will kill narinder before the 5 years is up and the crown is betting that they'll get married before the 5 years is up (both ain't got no money to bet).

[pod-together]

Pod-Together Day 1 Reveals 2024

Light up This Old Soul (Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Star Wars: Dark Disciple - Christie Golden) written by EustaciaVye, performed by AsterRoc Summary: As Obi-Wan heals, he learns more about the Nightsisters' approach to the Force, while Asajj learns more about her heritage.

Both a Blessing and a Curse [text, audio] (Star Wars: Rebels) written by wanderingjedihistorian, performed by flowerparrish Summary: His memory was both a blessing and a curse. Alexsandr Kallus had known this for many years. The date he’d first seen the name The Ghost cross his desk was forever burned into Kallus’ memory. And that date was getting closer.

View from a Pavilion (镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), 绅探 | Detective L (TV), 叛逆者 | The Rebel (TV 2021)) written by Martha, performed by SEF_podfic Summary: During the dark days of the occupied French Concession, Luo Fei helps an injured young captain of the Republican Military Intelligence. [text and podfic]

dream symphony (The Magnus Archives (Podcast)) written by Lua, performed by gracicah Summary: Simon Fairchild loves the sky, and, through his surprisingly long life, he feels loved back by it. It isn’t all that surprising that he has a good time as an avatar of his patron. After all, he is a man in love.

A Case of Identity Fraud (Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics)) written by DayenuRose, performed by Nymphie_Wolf Summary: After spending years of putting in the hard work and re-building his life and his relationship with his family, Jason Todd is not amused when he falls over a decade into the past. The Red Hood is in the middle of his vengence on his family, Tim's life is falling apart at the seems, and his family is in shambles. Jason misses his home, his family, and the ability to have a decent meal. After two months of (mostly) observing from the sidelines, Jason can't stand by anymore. If no one else will step in and help Tim, then he will. Can Jason help past!Tim without messing up the future for everyone?

Tenderly (Original Work) written by Hagar, performed by wilfriede0815 (with additional voices by stargateinmybasement, ChaosKiro, Juulna, Tipsy_Kitty, horchata, and flowerparrish) Summary: My name is Amalie Madsen. I’m a schoolteacher teaching sixth grade. Since I became a teacher, I’ve been told many times that my sense of wonder may fade with time but, in fact, just last year I ran into the greatest wonder I have encountered to date. Or, should I say, wonders.

Truth Comes Out Of His Well (Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types) written by TsarinaTorment, performed by stereden Summary: Lee Fletcher had a secret. Luke knew it, and anything Luke knew, Kronos knew. This had consequences, which started with Lee not meeting his end at the business end of a giant's club after all.

Letters to Jiejie [text & podfic] (陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)) written by FlutterFyre, performed by pezzax Summary: Jiang Cheng doesn't know what has gotten into Wei Wuxian and to be honest, he doesn't care. He just wants things to go back to normal. Stuck at the Cloud Recesses guest lectures, he vents to his elder sister as he alsways has, hoping against hope that she will have a solution that might bring some semblance of sense back to his foster brother.

Like a Hozier Song [text, audio] (Daredevil (TV), Daredevil (Comics), The Punisher (TV 2017), Punisher (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe) written by BurdenedWithPointlessPurpose, performed by 42donotpanic Summary: Matt never expected for Frank Castle to end up on his couch for months on end. He’d never expected to make a home with him, but nothing is as he’d planned. Life isn’t neat like that and his friend gets that more than anyone else ever has. It’s the reason he’s a little sweet on his friend… like the Hozier songs the guy likes to sing.

Phantom Friends (Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics)) written by Litra, performed by itallcomesbacktoandreil Summary: Five times someone in the bat family died and met Danny, and the one time no death was needed.

Room 505 (The Hotel (Podcast)) written by zombified_queer, performed by MistbornHero Summary: The Lobby Boy gets to flex his creative muscles. The Hotel Herself observes with a pang of surprise.

[ghcstao3]

prompt from @dhampiravidi

“I've read lots of Werewolf!Soap, but what about him meeting Vampire!Ghost? Especially when Simon's recently turned & supernaturals are still a secret to humans?”

-

Just when Simon thought he couldn’t get any more alone in this world, he discovers that he is now immortal, and with a bloodlust that is decidedly not normal.

It’s just his luck, really. Between being tortured, buried alive, losing his family, being legally dead—somehow this has to be the worst of it all. Because it means living with his faults forever, and that has to be just the picture perfect idea of his kind of hell.

Who would have thought that this was the universe in which vampires—or some semblance of them—are real? Certainly not Simon.

And as he barely learns to cope with his newfound appetite and the abilities that come with it, he wishes he could have remained a little more ignorant, and a little more human.

Because becoming a vampire, as it turns out, meant barely scratching the surface of everything supernatural he had never been privy to, in his multiple decades on earth.

*

Born and raised a werewolf, John has always been well-immersed (and versed) in the world of the supernatural.

And being so, John thinks it’s very possible he realizes that Simon Riley is a vampire before the man himself does. Or, at the very least, John is first to understand what Simon is.

Because, in all honesty, Simon carries himself like someone who doesn’t quite know how to consume blood more so than spill it. That, and he stinks like the undead to John’s sensitive nose.

So, meeting him is quite an… event.

But it’s also a pleasant coolness to a bright heat, two fanged grins even when one is obscured. John can imagine Simon’s nose wrinkling beneath his mask at the werewolf’s scent, as if he’d never realized there was anything unlike him that wasn’t human.

It’s funny. Comical, even, when John indulges Simon in the otherworldly. But the naivety is also sweet in the way someone as imposing as Simon has no right to be.

And if a little later down the line, John tells Simon that werewolf blood is better than anything a human could provide, then, well. It’s no one’s business but John’s, and Simon’s enthusiasm about not having to find strangers to get himself fed.

[freesia-writes]

Chapter 1: Family Dinner

Enjoy a riveting tale of romance, suspense, adventure, and self-discovery as Hunter finds his path after the events of TBB. With engaging imagery, emotional depth, comic relief, and some fun twists and turns, the story will take you on a delightful ride with our beloved Sergeant, leaving you satisfied as he finds his happily ever after… eventually. 😉 Rated PG-13 for some mild suspense, suggestive talk, alcohol and drug use, and adult themes. Banner and dividers by @pinkiemme Master List here

BEFORE WE DIVE IN... Now that we’re past the finale, I’d like to make this fit in as well with that as possible. But I also want to enjoy it. ;) So here’s where this lies… Tech was found alive and well (living in a hut in the forest on Tantiss? lol) and came with the boys after they BLEW IT ALL UP. Omega is living with them as well, for now, because they all thought it was wise to give her a break and some semblance of “normal life” while the rebellion continued to build. She might seem a little less like a full soldier here and more like a typical teenager on the brink of adulthood, and that might be a bit of a shift from her development throughout season 3, but I think it’s still reasonable to think that some of the typical adolescent stuff might come up once she was immersed into a more typical adolescent setting. Maybe not, but again… it’s just for the plot. ;) 

I’m changing the setting for a variety of reasons, but they left Pabu out of fear that the Empire might still have it on their radar. You’ll learn more about the island of Xylo in a couple chapters. Crosshair didn’t lose a hand, but he’s still got some lingering effects from his time on Tantiss. Echo opted to spend a year with the Batch before rejoining the rebellion. The events of this fic may seem relatively domestic after all that the Batch endured, but I really just wanted to have a warm and fuzzy story with family, humor, love, and some plot twists. Ultimately, the purpose here is to enjoy a romance adventure with Hunter, so please forgive any plot holes and just enjoy the ride. ;)

Chapter 1: Family Dinner (Word Count: 2.5k) Fanart by @nika6q

The balmy sea breeze ruffled the tablecloth and made the string lights dance merrily above the jovial scene below as the clinking of silverware on plates punctuated the steady hubbub of conversation that rose and fell with the emotion of what was being shared. Some overly-optimistic sea birds hovered above on a swell, fastidiously watching for any dropped crumbs before swooping gracefully into another updraft. Crosshair was looking at them down the edge of his finger, which he had shaped into a gun with the help of his thumb, and his focused squint was interrupted by a smack on his arm. He flashed his partner a wry grin as they chuckled, shaking their head at his “murder noodle antics”, as they’d come to call it. 

“Stop traumatizing the wildlife and eat your fish,” they laughed.

“This looks an awful lot like traumatized wildlife too, you know,” Crosshair answered, picking at the fillet with a fork. “I mean, what horrors did this thing have to endure at the end of Wrecker’s line?”

“I’m starting to feel like traumatized wildlife,” his partner jabbed, grinning ear to ear as they took a bite of their brightly-flavored steamed vegetables. 

“If it decreases any potential reservations you may yet hold,” Tech interjected, “As far as neuroscience has yet been able to distinguish, this particular genus of sea creatures do not possess the pain receptors necessary for the experience of pain with which humanoid species are familiar.”

“Thanks, Julia Child,” Crosshair muttered, a hint of fondness flickering beneath the dry humor.

“If you are metaphorically comparing me to the infamously accomplished chef of the Core Worlds, it is hardly an insult, Crosshair. You are losing your edge.” Tech’s savage burn was delivered at a slightly louder volume than usual, and Wrecker’s boisterous laugh immediately broke through. The massive clone pointed a gleeful finger at Crosshair as he finished his bite between hearty chuckles.

“That one’s gotta hurt!” Wrecker exclaimed, pulling his hand back as Phee smacked it away. 

“You tryin to resurrect the grumpiness? Come on, big guy. Think it through,” Phee said playfully, arching a sharp eyebrow at Wrecker, whose unabashed grin remained unfazed despite her mockingly stern correction. “Or I’m gonna kick you out of our house.”

Omega giggled, sharing a glance with Hunter across the table, who gave her a half-smile and wink before turning back to Echo, who was filling him in on the newest developments at his Defense Training Academy.

“I didn’t think it would fill up so quickly,” Echo mused, tearing apart the large fish filet on his plate with his fork. “I guess the Empire’s got everyone spooked, even out here. But it’s a good thing, I think… They’ll be ready to fight if it ever comes to that, but Maker willing, it won’t.”

“They’re doing the same on Pabu,” Phee chipped in, leaning forward to nod at Echo. “Shep’s got a whole daily regimen of exercise, strategy, and drills for any possible scenario he can think of. You should talk to him; he could use your military expertise.’

“I’d be interested to hear what he’s doing,” Echo nodded in return. “Maybe we could make a trip that way sometime soon.”

“Can I come?!” Omega said brightly, tugging Echo’s arm from her seat beside him. “I’d love to see Lyana. I wish we’d been able to stay there.” 

“Me too, kid,” Hunter said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair after resting his wooden utensils on his plate. “But you know trouble follows us wherever we go. It’s better for them this way. Besides, Xylo is pretty much the same–”

“Aside from an entirely different subset of ecosystems and a much larger diversity in flora and fauna due to the greater size of the island, yes… Xylo is similar to Pabu in that… they are both islands,” Tech interjected, wavering at the end as he caught sight of Phee's fondly arched eyebrow directed at him.

“I know,” Omega said, “It’s just hard making friends wherever we go and having to leave them… Jek and Shaeeah, Hera, Lyana… But everyone at school is really nice so far too.” She was so sweet, so earnest, always trying to look on the bright side while still being true to her feelings… Hunter’s heart warmed in his chest as he listened to her thoughts. 

“Yeah, how’s that going?” Wrecker asked. He was the best uncle, ever-vigilant about her experiences on the island of Xylo since they’d made a decent attempt to integrate into society. It had been the better half of a year already, and they felt as though things were just now settling into some faint hint of an established life. 

“I love it!” Omega exclaimed enthusiastically, causing infectious smiles to appear on several of her family members’ faces. “It was the best year for me to join – it sounds like everything before this was all just academic units, but now they’re getting to really live it out and see what they want to do in life!”

“Academic units are highly useful building blocks for success in individual endeavors, Omega,” Tech reminded her. “Or for saving one’s life when careening toward the earth at fatal speeds in cargo containers…” he smirked, enjoying his own dry humor for a moment before falling silent. Phee was the only one who caught the slight flash of a frown at the corners of his lips and the way he subconsciously rubbed his thigh – echoes of the pain of the past. 

“I know, Tech, but I’ve been studying everything, and now it’s time to actually do stuff! The forestry section just wrapped up, and this week I get to start shadowing Madame Dreyfus – she’s a seamstress who dyes her own fabrics! I heard that if I do well, she might let me make my own outfit for the Advancement Ceremony at the end of the year!”

“I’m sure you’ll do great, kid,” Phee said confidently, smiling warmly above the table while her hand joined Tech’s beneath, gently placing it on top of his where it rested on his thigh. 

“Maybe you could make Wrecker something to wear so he has more than two shirts,” Crosshair suggested, squinting at his brawny brother, who rolled his eyes, unfazed, and brushed a few crumbs off his open-chested brown tunic.

“Maybe you could make Crosshair some pants that aren’t so kriffing tight so he’s not acting like he’s got a wad of fabric up his–”

“Language, Echo,” Hunter growled, and Omega wasn’t the only one who enjoyed a hearty chuckle.

“You know I hear worse than that at school,” she giggled, eyes sparkling with delight as Echo gave her a wink. 

“I know…” came Hunter’s answering grumble, and Omega reached across beneath the table to give his leg a little tap with her foot, watching his face soften as their eyes met.

“Anyway,” Echo continued, “With the number of sign-ups at the DTA, we’re going to need some other instructors and guides soon. I don’t suppose any of you are interested in donating some of your time and expertise to whip these locals into shape?”

“DTA?” Crosshair’s partner whispered.

“Defense Training Academy,” he murmured back, rubbing an idle hand up and down their muscular arm. “It’s what the cool kids call it.”

“Then I will definitely not call it that,” they snickered, and Crosshair smirked as he turned back to Echo.

“They’re gonna need more time before they can handle anything I’ve got to teach them,” he said. “But I’d pay good money to be able to watch them fight Wrecker for sport. Er, practice.”

“That’d be fun!” Wrecker laughed, smacking his closed fist with his other hand. “Gonna have to wait though. I’m swamped with projects after the last mudslide. Everyone wants things added or changed to their rebuilt homes so it’s all takin a lot longer.”

“They’re keepin you busy, huh?” Phee asked, knowing that Wrecker loved every minute of it. He’d never had the opportunity to put his skills to use outside of his service to the Republic, and she’d been privy to many a conversation filled with his enthusiasm for craftsmanship. It helped that he was able to lift and move most everything by himself, too.

“Yeah! Now if I could just get Hunter to stop freaking out the locals when he’s out huntin,” Wrecker said, narrowing his eyes at the Sergeant, who smirked and shrugged.

“Look, the whole island is open access. It’s not illegal. Besides, I think they’d be complaining a lot more if their favorite meats weren’t available at my shop anymore…”

“That’s for sure!” Omega chipped in, wearing a wry smile. It struck Hunter in that moment just how much she had changed in the short time they’d known her. Especially since the Tantiss rescue, where they’d successfully extracted her along with Tech and Crosshair before blowing up the entire facility and everything in it, her face had gotten more angular, her hair longer. She was wildly intelligent and had an enthusiasm and warmth that was unmatched, but as she’d grown, they’d had their share of conflicts. Hunter couldn’t relate, having had his entire life planned out for him as soon as he’d reached “adulthood” with his rapidly-accelerated aging, but there were endless nuances to a young woman that he was having to figure out as they went along. Sometimes he forgot how much she was aware of – she’d been so sheltered from certain realms of civilian life, but having nestled into life on the island, she’d become much more connected and “up with the times”, so to speak. She continued, a glimmer in her eye now, “I heard some office ladies talking about you the other day!”

“Yeah?” Hunter asked, squinting at the mischief on her face.

“Yeah,” she echoed, idly rolling the last piece of sushi on her plate. “One of them said she loved your butcher shop and that you’ve got the best meat on the island,” Omega said slowly, face straight as a board. “The other one said she couldn’t agree more, and a third one said she hasn’t been to the shop but would love to have your meat in her mouth.”

Echo choked on his drink, Crosshair’s toothpick fell out of his mouth, and Wrecker exploded into a guffaw that sent the sea birds tumbling through the air before quickly regaining their graceful hovering. Hunter pressed his lips together, focusing his gaze on Tech’s completely impassive face to try to stabilize himself before replying.

“You’ll have to point out the third one next time I take you to school,” Phee said quietly, nothing but innocence painted across her features. 

“Seemed like an odd way to say it,” Omega muttered, twisting her mouth to the side, and Hunter genuinely couldn’t tell if she was pulling his leg or not. 

“You will find that there are many nuances to speech specific to geographical and cultural areas that might make one phrase sound entirely different than it would in another place. I would not worry about it. The point is that we should congratulate Hunter on his successful business,” Tech suggested, speaking loudly over Wrecker’s continued laughter.

“Yeah,” Echo agreed. “He sure is satisfying his customers…”

“Apparently not all of them,” Crosshair prodded, and his partner elbowed him again.

“Moving on,” Hunter said emphatically, “Wrecker, when can you fix the chimney? Winter will be here soon and I can only keep it so warm with that draft…”

“Yeah yeah,” Wrecker said, waving him off amid residual chortles. “I’ll come by this week.”

“Taungsday?” Hunter pressed.

“Mmm, Centaxday maybe. Taungsday is the “Grand Re-Opening” at the tiki bar. They got new freshers! Supposed to be all fancy now.”

“Anything would be fancy compared to the pits they had,” Tech sniffed. “While wildly inconvenient for relieving oneself during a raucous night of imbibing, they could have been permanent fixtures in the cultural museum considering how primitive and dated they were.”

“I’m sure the locals would be thrilled at that exhibit,” Phee affirmed, rising to her feet to begin clearing the table. The Primeday tradition of dinner at Tech and Phee’s had been one of the first things everyone had agreed on, and in the months since they’d arrived on Xylo, it had been the grounding activity each week that allowed them to feel a sense of belonging and routine. 

Everyone got up to help clean up except for Wrecker and Hunter, who lingered behind to finish their drinks. Tech had not only developed an interest in cooking, but had also discovered quite the knack for mixing drinks. He couldn’t stand the local tiki bar down on the beach, insisting that their proportions were all wrong and they were using nothing but cheap garbage to try to make as much profit as possible. However, considering the beautiful waterfront location and the fact that it seemed to be the main gathering place for the entire town, no one seemed to mind quite as much as Tech. 

“Headin out early tomorrow?” Wrecker asked, swirling the liquid in his wood cup.

“Mhm,” Hunter answered, mimicking the movement before taking a sip. “The Kod’yok are migrating and the locals love their flank steaks. You good to walk with Omega?” 

“You betcha, although she’s getting old enough that she probably doesn’t need it anymore, ya know…” 

“I know, but let’s let her be the one to suggest that, eh? I don’t want her feeling thrown out on her own in a new place. Plus, we can never be too safe.”

Wrecker sighed. He’d been able to let go more quickly of the paranoia that still seemed to rest on Hunter’s shoulders, although he was aware of the crippling responsibility the Sergeant felt for all that had transpired, from Crosshair being separated from the squad back on Kamino to the rescue attempt that had cost Tech his life, or so they thought. Recovering the rest of the team had been a harrowing fiasco, but they’d emerged victorious… barely. 

They’d found a planet in the middle of nowhere, uncharted in most of the records Tech was able to find, and it had been a welcome respite from the increasing turmoil across the galaxy that accompanied the spread of the Empire. Xylo was similar to Pabu in its feeling of safety and anonymity, unknown by virtually anyone outside the island, and there were a handful of other similar islands scattered across the rest of the planet, most of which was covered by water. Xylo was the largest island on the nameless planet and had so far been a good place for everyone to settle.

It was late by the time everyone had finished their cleaning and conversations, and Hunter was the last to leave, thanking Phee again for her usual hospitality as she disappeared around the corner with a wave. Tech saw him out, pausing on the doorstep to fiddle with one of his pouches.

“I finished this today,” he said, handing a small bag to Hunter. “It will function excellently anywhere on the planet. I can assemble others if you feel a need, but I believe our existing comm devices suffice.”

“Thanks, Tech. One is good for now. I appreciate it.” And with that, they went their separate ways.

~ Master List ~ Next Chapter

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[mikodrawnnarratives]

TW (IMPLIED) CHARACTER DEATH

TW BLOOD

(not graphic blood but I'll still tag it just in case)

@naffeclipse

Might want to turn up your brightness for this one fellas

This is Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Extra

(might end up being three parts actually lol)

(my script is like 3-4 pages long so....)

Long post under the cut

I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you.

Take me back to the night we met.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Haunted by the ghost of you

Oh, take me back to the night we met

- The night we met by Lord Hurdon

This comic stems from my need for them to have a satisfying conclusion OKAY

I mean it's bittersweet but at least they make up (to a degree)

Explanation below (kind of spoiling next part) (kindof almost not really idk):

After being dangerously injured by a cryptid, Vanessa managed to contact the one person she wished she could have said goodbye to the most.

I'll explain more about why Vanessa is the way she is in the next part but without spoiling, Vanessa has grown a little since the last time she saw y/n. That, in combination with the fact she's bleeding out and taking on the mentality "fuck it why not", has led her to this decision.

This comic kinda goes off of the idea she gets an inkling of doubt in her mind about whether y/n is still "alive".

The next part will go into it more but that doubt mixed with her resolve leads her to at least try.

She tries to call y/n. They don't answer. She sends a text and no longer has the strength to hold on to her phone.

I don't think she'll be completely resolved to Vampires having actual consciousness but in her last moments she's also just wishing for her friend back. Her human friend. The one who has been dead all this time. Vanessa has a history with seeing ghosts so

It's worth a try

I'll let you decide which phone of y/n's she tried to contact.

Assuming y/n unblocked her on their previous phone at some point

So yeah, Vanessa in this comic is going back and forth on whether this is y/n or not. She's bleeding out, so does it really matter?

It's almost selfish how much she wishes to be free of the ache in her chest. The fact in the end, she couldn't free her friend.

You'll see more of this in the next part. I don't want to spoil it too much.

She doesn't wish to carry this burden of failing her friend. She reaches for a conclusion. She wants this to end well. She wants her friend to be okay. She wants to believe everything has worked out. She wants everyone she cares about to be okay without her.

She'll throw out her wish to the world. And hopefully, it'll come true.

She'll throw out her wish to you.

It is you.

Right?

I may have spoiled the next part a little bit oopsies

I just want to explain why Vanessa's different y'know

And y/n has their own conflicting emotions.

Even when things are a semblance of normal, it can't be. They are a vampire now. It tears them up inside.

But. Vanessa lets them touch her.

They've been afraid to do that. For the entirety of this reunion cut short.

She lets them touch her.

And again, Vanessa wouldn't be this way if... it weren't for a few somebodies.

But that's enough spoiling the next part.

[iiwaijime]

introductions

masterlist

tooru oikawa

without them, i am nothing. so i pick up the pieces they've left behind and try to put them back together just to feel like myself again.

tooru oikawa is... weird. in a time and place where staying in solitude is the worst possible thing you can do to yourself, he does just that. no companions, no allies. all he has is an ever-growing collection of things that don't belong to him, and the faces that come back to haunt him every night. and somehow, despite all that, he's probably the most outwardly amiable person you'll meet on this side of the earth.

exhibit a: dog tags. he and his best friend bought matching ones from a fair. they got their names engraved and everything. the ones that he wears around his neck now aren't even his.

exhibit b: photographs. he has a fairly large collection of them, and he treasures every single one. a life that he can't go back to plays out within.

exhibit c: comic books. a childish part of him is still seventeen, poring over old superhero comics in his best friend's bedroom. he probably knows every single line by heart now.

y/n l/n

if the music is loud enough, and i close my eyes, just for one second, everything is okay again.

y/n l/n's life is gray — an endless cycle of sleep if you can, eat if you can, repeat. like tooru, she's alone. unlike him, she has no set base. music is her escape; yet she doesn't get to listen as often as she likes. but when she does, she goes places. sometimes she's doing maths in her friend's basement. sometimes she's fighting with her parents — she misses that, too. and sometimes, tooru oikawa, six years old, shoves a volleyball into her hands and makes her play.

exhibit a: digital camera. it's out of power, and does not function with what minimal energy is still available. but she takes it along with her anyways, in the hopes that it'll be able to turn on again one day, and unlock all the memories inside.

exhibit b: notebook, pressed flowers. she writes in the notebook every now and then, but she'd rather not waste the ink and lead she has. instead, she picks out the prettiest flowers she sees, and tucks them in between the pages. one day, she wants to show them to someone she loves.

exhibit c: walkman music player. the one she has is quite old, and thankfully works with her scavenged energy sources. she'd probably be lost without it. it's her most prized possession, an emergency exit from reality when she needs it the most.

author's note

🎵 y/n, tooru and hajime were pretty close until middle school, when she moved away. they lost contact afterwards.

🎵 the earth is super desolate rn: no laws, no electricity, no actual civilization — but there are small groups of people here and there, and parts of old machinery are sometimes just okay enough to be modified to produce a little bit of something.

🎵 "one day, she will show them to someone she loves" isn't about a specific person. she just hopes that after all this, after losing everyone and everything, she will be able to achieve some semblance of a normal life where she does not have to be alone.

🎵 tooru has really bad nightmares almost every night. he's scared of forgetting, so he tries to keep as much physical evidence of everything that ever happened in his life as possible.

🎵 there are some things like zombies in this universe; known as the infected? they go around and act feral and bite people and shit. the first few were infected by a freak explosion and then it spread like wildfire. the two main dangers are the infected, and then "pirate" groups who go around attacking people.

🎵 tooru and hajime pooled together all the money that they had to get y/n that notebook. she uses it way too sparingly, because she feels like if she finishes it, she'll lose the last connection she has with them.

🎵 tooru usually has a stable amount of supplies because he can store the excess, but y/n is always running out.

🎵 i made a friend beta read the tooru pov of the first chapter and she said it's good :3 she wanted the next bit and it was so embarrassing to tell her it's fanfic. she don't judge tho <3

🎵 inspired the stand by stephen king icl. it made such an impression on me omfg

taglist — 7/50, add yourself please — form

@akaakeis @mikauraurr @dawnisatotalqueen @smellysluna @akaashislovee @lulumi1u @anqelkoz

[kojitheopossum]

bdubs hears "They're gonna be the death of me" and takes it as a challenge. He wants Etho to be the death of him and he'll take it when it comes for him... just thinking about them.

-🦆

You can’t keep doing this to me i haven’t even gotten to them speaking to one another you’re like . ten steps ahead of the comic it’s impressive but also i’m so so sorry because it’s gonna take so long to get to the point

I will say he does develop this mindset over the story, but he’s still very much split, i mention before at some point that he really doesn’t want to feel this way, he knows any semblance of a normal relationship is impossible and he knows realistically it’ll only end badly, but god its certainly fun in the meantime. None of this will show up until so much later in the story tho so i really need to lock in (hard to do while on vacation)

[maxwell-grant]

Fuck it, can you expand on your thoughts regarding What Can We Know About Thunderman?

One of the funniest and most horrible things I've ever read partially because like 60% of it is just pages and pages of Alan Moore stating industry facts and names with the serial numbers filed off, and if you have enough comic book brainworms to be reading Thunderman in the first place there will probably be at least one or a dozen references here and there that will spring out of nowhere and hit you like a punch in the gut (the one I remember was the Jack Cole one). A lot of the stuff in Thunderman that reads as absurd funny parody or metaphors too stupid to be real are actual industry facts that Moore has knowledge of, and even the stuff that isn't you can trace a direct line of what exactly it's referring to or who exactly this is referencing.

This is a story in part about how horrible it is to be a sicko with comic book brain worms that is mainly understandable if you're exactly that kind of person. Besides all the references to real-life people and events, most of the modern stuff he's making up are still just as incisive and accurate because literally nothing changed, not even in regards to the movie paradigm ("At last he has attained a semblance to a religious figure. Can we stop now?"). Much of this is Moore dunking on Certain Industry Guys he probably knew and interacted with and indirectly bullseyeing on more recent guys, because a lot of these guys are the same. There are your extremes like the one con-goer here who is pretty much just Max Landis verbatim, but there's also so much that's brutally on-point for industry practices and writers ("What if we had Thunderman do something, and then something happened?") that you can fill in your own names.

It's also an incredibly personal and tragic piece because the core story of it, in between vivid descriptions of Greg Land's office space porn oceans and self-destructive daydreams and rolling catastrophes, is about a guy who deeply loves his art form, deeply loves the creators and artists who gave him so much for so little in his life, and deals with so much horrible toxic bullshit that the only way he finds to live, the only way he finds to not be complicit in the pigsty, is to leave it all behind and work the poison out of his system forever. Like he very openly talks about the protagonist leaving it all behind to go write the next big novel and writing that note, and the non-superhero ideas that will come after, as something that nobody is going to care about, but that he has to do. I don't think I could fully appreciate the sequence where he quits his job at comics and walks out of the office feeling better than ever, until I myself got fired from an incredibly stressful job that made a thing I love (video editing) into the bane of my existence, and no amount of money worries in the world could make me not feel at that moment like I was walking home to the sunniest day of the year.

It wasn't only how much better life was without comics that had startled him, but also how the comics business looked, viewed from outside. How small it was; how cruel and how ridiculous. All the warped personalities the industry either attracted, or else bent and fashioned for itself out of naïve enthusiasts who'd been expecting something else. He couldn't understand why he'd not bailed out of the business years ago, though in a way he could. Part of the answer was just plain human inertia, and part was the fact that, from the inside, comics people and their weird behaviour could seem almost normal.

Dan was grateful he'd escaped in time, though he'd admit that even that escape was qualified. Removing himself from the comics field was one thing, stopping thinking about comics was another. Constantly, he'd find his mind alighting on some decomposing gobbet from the mental garbage-tip of trivia that his career had left him with, when that was the last thing he wanted to be thinking of. He probably should have anticipated some sort of reaction - thirty-something years in any field would leave you with a lot of baggage, and especially an enterprise almost designed to be obsessional, like comics -

His fantasy that he could be a proper literary author, living miles from anywhere and shunning interviews like Salinger or Pynchon, had congealed over this last few months from idle dream to psychological necessity. He'd put his farewell dossier together, and it was published without eliciting much in the way of a reaction or response, but the important thing for Dan was that he'd written it. His lip was better and he could speak normally again, since, for some reason, having quit the comics world, he was no longer trying to eat himself alive. Dan was committed, now, to his new life, and there could be no vacillating. Change or die, those were his options.

And putting aside the fact that "Dan" is killed by the Vince Coletta stand-in and the story itself ends in a much bleaker and more horrible note, to me that feels like Moore being very honest, as depressing as it may be, that nothing else he ever does is gonna get the kind of buzz and following and money and praise that he did for his corporate superhero droppings, and he still doesn't regret one bit what he left behind, and he's going to make the weird magic lizard stories he actually wants to do until he dies and try to not think about superheroes ever again even though he will obviously never fully succeed. Not just because it won't leave him alone, but because it's a part of his life. He loves stories, he loves art, he loves comics, and if not now, he very clearly deeply loved superheroes once, and maybe he still does if he can put aside the sheer nightmare bullshit toxicity attached to them that he's dealt with. I'd even point to a recent occasion he did try just that, with the character of Captain Universe, who accomplishes maybe the only real heroic act in LOEG: Tempest when he stops an atomic bomb from leveling England and ends the story with his big heartfelt wedding.

LOEG is the dead last place you'd expect Moore to place a heartfelt send-off to his superhero work, and much of it gets obscured by that asylum sequence where he savages existing IP capes and the farcical elements of the team and other criticisms at the genre, but it's there, and it's maybe the only story that has a happy ending in the book even. With Captain Universe, a character who has no real history, Moore is able to put all feelings for superhero IP and the big two aside and do this platonic ideal of a superhero and the creative possibilities and hopeful fantasy of a superhero. He's willing to poke holes in the guy and ruthlessly make fun of his shitty allies and villains, but LOEG affords Captain Universe an almost shocking degree of dignity (plus the existence of the canceled Superverse, which was going to be a LOEG-esque project with superheroes done with Rick Veitch tying in to The Show, showing Moore had plans to try writing superheroes again on his own terms even after everything). I think Thunderman in large part is about conciliating these feelings with a large degree of autobiography.

That's one emotional core of the story, but mainly I remember Thunderman for being really fucking funny. The EC Comics hearing. The porn ocean odyssey. Stan Lee Stan Lee-ing so hard he nearly gets killed by gangsters over it and one chapter detailing his transition from person to Character. Marvel was all along a CIA conspiracy to promote radiation poisoning. The chapter that's entirely dedicated to Moore stopping the story to riff and review the Superman movies. This books swings widly and it's an incredibly entertaining read.

And maybe the most horrible thing about Thunderman isn't in the way it's protagonist meets it's end or in the final chapter or even *gestures broadly at all of it*, it might just be the chapter before Alan Moore drops his Superman movie reviews, because with it comes the realization that yes, Alan Moore has been to Reddit, and has looked enough into reddit superhero discourse to be able to plausibly imitate it, which means he probably has sat through at least one argument about him too many. The stand-out of that chapter is the bit where he's riffing on Cavill's mustache fiasco and the DCEU, but it also includes some bits that now read as pretty perfect bullseye jabs at the MCU's current state of affairs.

[drsunshinestapeworms]

yesterday, I posted about how I don't like certain ways paul danos riddler (aka Edward nashton) is characterized in some fanfics. So I'm gonna share some things I do like and some of the ways I write him (in my drafts because I can't write an ending L)

1) I really like it when people write Edward trying to better himself and failing. Like I co-wrote this fic for my friend (idk if she ever published it), and I wrote in that in Edward's apartment subtle signs of this. Self-help books with torn pages, those therapy CD sets. Notes of affirmation stuck to walls. All being visibly neglected or partially destroyed.

Something I find so engaging with Edwards character (from the comics and the movie) is that he tried for a very long time to fit in with day to day society, tried to be normal. Because he believed that is what would satisfy him. And yet he is miserable in his day to day life . Only ever becoming some semblance of happiness when he's formulating his plan & persona . Becoming the riddler if you will.

2) I like it when authors pair Edward with reader insert/oc that is as Cynical as Edward. Don't get me wrong, the whole beam of positivity over Ed's Metaphorical Storm Cloud is adorable, and I enjoy that too. But I'm a hater born and raised, and there's nothing that makes me love someone more than hating together. There is also a nice romantic nuance to that dynamic. Edward has given up on the city, MC has also given up on the city, and he wants to make better not just for himself now but for them. Of course, in a really twisted way, but it's the thought that counts.

3) I like when people actively write the mental gymnastics Edward takes to blame Bruce Wayne for his childhood. I don't want to just read, "I hate Bruce Wayne he ruined my life." I want to read the jelousey turn to envy, envy turn to resentment. Resentment turn to fury.

I'll probably make more of these. Also, if you have any suggestions, I sincerely would love to hear them.

[somesemblanceofnormal]

lol said i’d cook at work and post some character intros and then. did not. at all. barely even looked at my phone pffff

ANYWAY

The Twins aka My Baby Angels

identical twins— josiah (m, he/him) and johana(f, she/her) crownover— born to a mother and father who were part of what is considered a Legacy Hunter family. these people have been hunting the supernatural that dwells the surface of the earth, isolated in forests and woods across north america and some of europe, for hundreds of years. children are raised as soldiers, obeying their parents every will. those who dont agree with the way of life end up dead more often than not, as it’s essentially excommunication from the family. only one crownover in recent history has tried to leave— their uncle— and no one talks about him anymore. their mother tried to get them out when they were toddlers— once the “training” began shortly after they could walk— but she failed, and the twins ended up growing up without her.

josiah is a hot headed, incredibly smart, daddy’s boy. he does exactly as his father tells him every time. he likes to think the comments and looks from his father dont bother him, but then why would his knuckles be bruised when there hasnt been a mission in weeks? why would he feel compelled to spend time fucking off in the woods around his family home rather than be at home when his father is drinking? he has desires that would get him beaten and isolated even further if his father knew about them, things he doesnt think will ever be able to see the light. but he has resigned himself to this life, thinking its better this way because at least he has his family, and at least he’s making everyone proud with his work in the family business.

his twin sister johana feels very differently about it, though. she’s never really enjoyed the idea of harming another creature, human or not. she enjoys the physical activity part of it, and learning new techniques, new lore on the creatures her family hunts. the first time she had to deliver the finishing blow to a werecat, she had nightmares for months that kept her up all night. her father went extra hard on her, trying to “toughen her up”, as he put it. but all it did was further confirm her suspicion that there was something deeply wrong with her. she sees things she shouldnt, things that end up happening in front of her eyes, on top of that. her entire life has been spent feeling like an outsider, always looking in and never being fully present. she longs to know what lies outside her family and the walls they have built around themselves. she wants to experience life the way a normie would, even if she never truly could because of her extensive knowledge of the things that go bump in the night. shes never felt loved by her father and her brother, being the only person in the entire family who knows her in and out, cannot fix that by himself.

the two of them share that typical twin bond seen in majority of media starting twins— a sort of sixth sense as to what the other half is feeling/thinking/etc, working better together than individually alone. their father was never one to play with them, or be emotionally intelligent enough to talk to, and while their older sister, cecelia, was cool most of the time, she always sided with their father. this left the two of them to their own devices, only trusting one another in full. they are each others biggest supporters and confidants, knowing how to help in times of need without ever needing to ask. josiah is very protective over his sister, even though she towers over him slightly. she’s always been there for him, but he also knows how she struggles so much on a daily basis and wants to make things better for her. she knows how far the brainwashing goes in her twin brother and tries to undo it, little by little, no matter how many setbacks there are because of their father and environment.

anywaaaaaayyyyyyy—

I LOVE THESE GUYS!!!! i hope this was enough info to get u invested ;3c theres many more characters that i’ll get to doing intro posts akin to this for as well, but these two are the main focus of this story, and are two of the first characters you meet!!!!!!!! i could ramble forEVER about them, but i’ll save that for another time ;P

if you are interested in more, give us a follow!

[peaches2217]

if you're interested in talking more about it, I'd love to hear more headcannons/musings about mareach expecting/being parents!! everything you've posted has been extremely precious and adorable

I’m in the midst of formulating some second-time parent scenarios, so do look forward to that! But until I’m ready to bite the bullet, fight past my shame, and post those, have some more first-time parent floof: The Big Day edition~

✨ The closer and closer Peach gets to her due date, the less and less Mario sleeps, to the point where in the final week or two before their baby arrives he’s getting maybe thirty minutes to an hour of rest each night, and rarely all at once. Eventually Peach gives up on trying to talk him down herself and gets a bunch of their friends involved in an elaborate plot just so he can get some sleep (which I’ve discussed here 😌). The plot works, and he sleeps for like a solid twenty-six hours! And it ends up being very good timing, because she goes into labor the following day.

✨ Mario’s overseeing preparations for some upcoming festivity (Toads have at least one major holiday each month — party people, they are) when he catches sight of Toadette approaching him. And his stomach lurches into his throat before he can even see her face or she can even get close enough to say anything, because he knows. As her lady-in-waiting and one of her closest friends, Toadette hasn’t left Peach’s side in the past few weeks unless Mario’s been there, and why else would she do so now unless something major was happening? What ensues is exactly the sort of spectacle Toadette had been hoping to avoid: Mario barreling through the crowd, sending Toads flying like bowling pins, abandoning all decency and rationale in a bid to get to Peach as quickly as possible.

✨ As soon as he reaches her, he’s showering her in kisses and inquiring about her mental state and her pain levels and telling her that he loves her so much and he’s going to be right here with her no matter what. Considering she’s been in labor for an hour tops, Peach isn’t even too uncomfortable yet; honestly she’s a lot more collected than her husband at that moment. So she giggles and lets him get it out of his system because she’ll never turn down an opportunity to be lavished in love. Stars know she’ll need that support soon enough.

✨ “Your hero just about caused a national panic,” Toadette snarls twenty minutes later, returning to Peach’s room after joining forces with Toadsworth to calm the understandably alarmed crowds. Peach finds it significantly more amusing than she does.

✨ Daisy’s already there because she was part of Operation: Go the Fuck to Sleep, Mario (“We’re not calling it that,” Peach said. “I’m calling it that,” Daisy said back.), so she insists she may as well make herself useful — Peach could benefit from having a backup buddy in the room in the off-chance Mario completely flips out. And also she wants the bragging rights of being the first of this baby’s many aunts and uncles to meet them, because that’s something she can hold over everyone’s heads for like, ever.

✨ Little-known fact about Peach: she’s got a low pain threshold, and the longer it’s crossed, the more rapidly she loses any semblance of composure. She goes from chatting normally with everyone in the room to seeking out Mario's hand with every contraction to clinging to him like a koala and shaking and moaning in agony, all in the span of like thirty minutes. I can't over-emphasize how dramatic she gets. Which, yes, it's justified, because childbirth's near-universally considered the most painful mammalian experience, but dear God, it's almost comical how quickly she loses her cool.

✨ Mario, of course, doesn't find it comical in the slightest. Seeing her like this is heartbreaking and mentally exhausting. There's not really anything he can do to ease her suffering, and that kills him, but he can't let himself dwell on it because she needs him, and he's gotta be strong for her. So he holds her close and does his best to make her laugh or at least take her mind off of it.

✨ Once that stops working, he starts singing to her, quietly, stroking her hair and pressing little kisses to her cheeks. And that works wonders! Until he starts humming one song in particular. Peach recognizes it as a favorite of his; he sang it to her while she was curled up on the bathroom floor months ago, unknowingly suffering her first bout of morning sickness. It seems like so long ago, and they've come so far, and now here they are — the sentimentality paired with an intense contraction makes her burst into tears. Mario may as well have just been shot. Actually that would probably hurt less.

✨ Daisy tries getting him to take a break, maybe step outside and get some fresh air, because she's never seen him look so distressed and it's honestly starting to worry her. So she makes the suggestion, and she hasn’t seen him look so offended since she desecrated his mother’s sacred Pizza Margherita recipe with thick slices of pineapple. Being at Peach's side is about the only thing he can do for her right now. Leaving her, even for a fraction of a second, would be unforgivable. “Okay,” Daisy relents, “just keep torturing yourself, dude.” He's keeping Peach calm for now, but if that changes, she figures she can just drag him outside herself.

✨ Luckily it never comes to that. As Peach becomes less and less consolable, Mario gets more and more focused... to the point where he gets outright bossy for her sake. He pretty much takes over half of the nurses' jobs, ordering anyone and everyone to get her a glass of water, get him a cold rag so he can wipe away her sweat and cool her off, get her some more pillows so there's less pressure on her back and the base of her spine. Hey, makes their jobs easier.

✨ "You're a badass, Peach Pit!" Daisy says at one point very near the end of the ordeal. "She's right you know," Mario tells Peach. It gets a laugh out of her for the first time in several hours. They absolutely high-five in victory.

✨ Peach immediately goes from inconsolable to overjoyed once their baby's in her arms. "It's okay," she shushes, kissing her still-crying daughter's dark hair, "it's okay, mommy's here. I love you so much." In contrast, Mario completely freezes up. It still hasn't processed yet, the fact that this is their little girl, the same one he's talked and sang and read to for the past several months. In his mind, she's still just a faceless entity, an almost metaphorical representation of his and Peach's love and their hopes for the future, except she's real, and she's always been real, and now she's here, and — and that's a lot to process when you've had one solid night's sleep in the past month.

✨ It doesn't really sink in until a bit later, when Daisy's helping Peach shower and get into fresh clothes and Mario's holding the baby, all swaddled in blankets after passing her health check with flying colors. She looks a lot like him, from her dark hair to the shape of her jaw — she may as well be Mario with a smaller nose — but it's not until she blinks sleepily up at him that it finally hits him. Those are Peach's eyes looking back at him. "Oh," he says, calmly, and then he's crying so hard he can hardly breathe.

✨ That's how Peach finds him when Daisy helps her back into the room: kissing and snuggling their daughter with a big smile and fat tears rolling down his face, babbling "Ti voglio bene! Papà ti vuole tanto bene!" to her softly. She thought she already loved him as much as one person can love another, yet here she is, falling even harder.

✨ As soon as Peach is settled in bed, Daisy rushes to find all of their loved ones so she can gather them up and give them the big news: "I'm already her favorite aunt! So suck it!" (That is, in fact, how everyone finds out it's a girl.)

✨ Peach and Mario are given some privacy to bond with their baby girl and decide whether they want any visitors or whether it would be best to let Peach rest; she holds her new daughter close, and he in turn holds her, full of reverence and praises. Peach has never been so sore and exhausted, yet she's never felt so peaceful. Everything is perfect in her world.

✨ Well, almost everything. "I want to see Toadsworth," she requests, her voice so hoarse from all the bawling and screaming that even those few words make her throat burn. But Mario kisses her gently, lingering for a moment before calling a nurse over to pass on her request, and she relaxes further into his hold with a dreamy sigh. Her husband is with her, their daughter is asleep in her arms, and her father will be here any moment to meet his granddaughter. Now everything is perfect.

[roughentumble]

i wonder if they(wade and logan) did do the whole "healing together to form one body" thing, if the healing factor and immune system would initially try and kick the other one out, before eventually realizing the threat isnt going away and deciding to "stand down" as it attempts to regulate them back into some semblance of "normal", because i mean. wolverine's body got used to having metal on his bones. it seems like the healing factor has a bit of a comic book mind of its own, deciding what is thd "natural" to revert to, and trying to adapt to everything it encounters. so i wonder if they would initially have an immune response, that slowly "gets used" to the invasion and stops freaking out

idk what the science would be behind it, and i feel like instead their immune response would just go into overdrive fighting harder and harder and harder to fight off the competing cells, but also like. if the healing factor CANT heal it out, it'll eventually try a new technique for dealing with the problem, and there is allergen immunotherapy, so could having someone else's liver in you act as "repeated exposure to try and change the body's immune response" when the body in question is immortal and cannot die?

[sugar-omi]

(swiftie asker - i love that this is how i've cemented myself here) I'M GOING TO SCREAM TYSM??? HELLO???? WRITER'S FREAK HAS BEEN MATCHED AT 3:30AM ON A THURSDAY????? YOU'RE TELLING ME /THEE/ OLBA BOYS CEO LIKES /MY/ WRITING??????? YOU DON'T GET IT I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE STIMMING SO HARD MY GIRLDICK MIGHT FALL OFF /QUOTE, POS

OHHHHHHHHH YOU MADE SUCH A BIG MISTAKE BRINGING UP TSMWEL. THIS ISN'T EVEN A "HEAR ME OUT" SITUATION IT'S A "YOU WILL SIT DOWN AND YOU WILL LISTEN GODDAMMIT" SITUATION. and to that my ass is FIRMLY planted in this seat and i am slamming a comically overstuffed manila folder onto the table as we speak. starting with "they just ghosted you - now you know what it feels like" and how this line was written for baxter alexander ward. in this essay i will

THE BRIDGE OF THAT SONG. FUCK DUDE I WAS LISTENING TO IT DURING ONE OF MY REPLAYS OF THE BAXTER DLC AND I WAS LITERALLY IN TEARS. MY KEYBOARD WAS GETTING WATERLOGGED AS I SAT THERE. I AM SO GLAD YOU BROUGHT THIS UP BECAUSE BOY OH BOY DO I HAVE SOME SHIT TO SPIT.

"in fifty years, will all this be declassified? and you'll confess why you did it, and i'll say 'good riddance'." FIFTY YEARS IS FIVE IF YOU SQUINT. IT JUST MATCHES UP TOO PERFECTLY SO IT OFFICIALLY WORKS NOW. THAT'S GIRL MATH. the way baxter eventually tells mc why he did what he did and by then it might be too late for mc to forgive him (cough. 'and i'll forget you but i'll never forgive...')

"you crashed my party and your rental car" IT'S LITERALLY TOO PERFECT??? HELLO????? THE PARTY PLANNING MOMENT AND THE CHAUFFEUR BULLSHIT HE WAS ON???????

"you said normal girls were boring, but you were gone by the morning" YOU WERE GONE BY THE MORNING. YOU W. WWWHAHATT THEF UCKKKKK.

you're literally cooking up a fucking FEAST with the prechorus lyric though because was that his goal? it very well could have been - baxter could have stepped out of that cab, taken one look at mc, and decided they would be the one he strung along. because what if he was well aware of just how much it hurt others for him to become a normalcy then a novelty all over again - and he still couldn't stay away from dangling their heartstrings from his fingers like ribbons, if only to at least feel some semblance of control over his life anymore? he was just some hurt kid - barely, if at all, but semantics - but that never gave him the right to hurt those around him in the way that he did. what right does the smallest man who ever lived have to strike a deal with the devil, then act surprised when the blood's on his hands?

COUGHCOGUHGVOCH BUT AHAHAHA ANYWAYS. making those little shoo motions with my hands, go rest up silly!! i'm more than thrilled that you've stuck with me and my brainworms for this long, and you most definitely deserve the best of rests omgomg 🫶🏼🫶🏼

LMAOOO NO NOT THE QUOTE. I HAVENT HEARD THAT IN FOREVER

idk about ceo but I'm honestly happy my words are worthy of such a happy reaction 🤭

ALSO "what right does the smallest man who ever lived have to make a deal with the devil, then act surprised when the bloods on his hands?" I WILL LITERALLY JUMP OFF A BRIDGE. STOP. IM IN TEARS??? GENUINELY?????

someone put that on a billboard, I'm so serious.

but omg, to ride off the "you said normal girls were boring, but you were gone by the morning" and everything you said about baxter doing it on purpose...

baxter stepping out and seeing you wait with cove for your new neighbor for the summer, maybe remembering you sneaking into the soiree with derek or sneaking into your soiree and dancing with you charmingly.

either way, regardless of if you snuck across the lawn or shared a dance with pre-teen baxter, he finds you charming. ethereal. captivating.

no one would wait for a random neighbor if they weren't sweeter than pie, and no one should welcome him so warmly, approach him even if shyly, if they weren't special.

you're special. he can see it. he feels it.

and I've said it before, baxter knows your life has been small. confined to this little street in this little town, so small it's hardly a blip on the map.

he knows you're curious, enthralled by this mystery next door to you. but if you had grown up next to him, you wouldn't be so curious.

you'd have known how pompous and arrogant he was. how simple his thinking was.

and he tries to keep his affection with you surface level. tries to keep it to just a summer fling, something to satisfy your curiosity, to get you to stop looking at him like that. to make his heart stop yearning and for his eyes to stop wandering to you...

holds your hand, visits you in the middle of the night to tell you he's home, but too shy to say he misses you. doesn't wanna give you that inch over him, doesn't want to make this more than what it is. because it's just a fling, and you're just temporary warmth for him cold heart.

won't admit you're the only one to make him feel this warm. will never even think to himself that you are full of love and he's willing to step into the ocean of your loving arms, for fear that he'll drown in it.

everything is about money. everyone uses each other. his parents taught him that much.

love is fickle, love is too sensitive, and baxter knows he's a bulldozer. his edges are too sharp for such tenderness.

but in front of you, in the end, he does as he wants as he always does.

he doesn't take it further in the hotel room, doesn't tell you he missed you, doesn't keep his "confession" to himself.

because he's selfish. he knows this could end badly, not all his break ups have been smooth. but he wants to know what it feels like to be loved by someone special. what's to know what it's like for someone special to call out to him, touch him, yearn for him. seek him out and still pull him closer for more...

he just wants it to be like a movie, just for a little while. he wants that coming of age summer love that the movies produce, and he wants to live out fairytales that his baby sitter read to him.

even if it's at the cost of you... maybe that dark part of him hopes he leaves a dent in you so deep that you feel it years later and still remember his name. he wants you to yearn for him like he yearns for normalcy, for human warmth and affection.

but he also hopes that you forget him and that he's the only one who yearns so painfully. that his heart is the only one who aches at the end of the night, and you forget these summer nights.

it's selfish. he's so selfish. he wants too much even though he tries not to want anything at all.

that's why, even though he hopes you'll just let him go easily once summer ends, he wants some nice memories. he wants to be genuinely happy, wants to "love" and be "loved" in return.

and you're right. he striked a deal with the devil and signed away his tiring fate for "control" over his life, even if it meant trading broken hearts and morality, his humanity for it.

but even though he knew the deal he signed, seeing you cry or get angry is much different than imagining it. it hits much harder than he never thought, having chosen to ignore the fate of your summer fling. he couldn't bare to imagine it, but he didn't think about how to bare seeing it.

and even though his heart aches, he feels bad for you. feels bad for himself in many ways, a mix of self hate and guilt and desperation sinks its teeth into his stomach and gnawed on his insides with a gluttonous hunger.

even with those feelings, he glares at you, reminds you cruelly that this was the only fate for this relationship, and it wouldn't end any other way, and that you are the one wasting your energy getting upset over a fate he "predicted."

but even though he says that... even though he slams the door on you... even though he's the one who blocked your phone number... why is he the one who is unable to move on? why is he the one who sees your face and hears your voice and feels your touch in every person that tries to fill your place.

and why is he the one looking at your window, hoping the lights are still on and you're still waiting.

(and why, after all these years, does he cry when he sees they are off.)