#suddenly i'm chidi

[littlebigmouse]

Same. I sincerely believe the introduction of their mother is the worst scene in season 2 so far, not only because the scene itself is pretty bad, it makes very little sense in context (in terms of the characters emotional states) and retrospectively harms S1Act1.

I fucking hate this, what do you MEAN it explains it, did Season 1 not already explain it?? Did Season 1 not make you understand it already?? Did Season 1 not focus on Vander's corpse and the emotions on Silco's face when Powder tells him Vi left her? Did you not get that Silco empathized with her because he knows how it feels to be abandoned by an older sibling? Did he not spend the entire season comparing Vi to Vander and his past to Jinx's? Were there not already multiple scenes depicting Silco and Jinx's bond and how he came to fiercely love her after years of taking care of her?? You stilI needed another hamfisted justification for his love for her?? He needed to be her godfather and friends with her dead mother for you to understand Season 1? I despise takes like this so muchhh

[writingbyshiloh]

I Love as Madly as I Hate

CW: JW universe (blood, reader kills and gets stabbed), ANGST!, Reader wears a dress, verbal fighting, dead marrage, Vincent being a dick and no beta (and Grammarly gave up halfway through), One sentence in French which means “leave us alone”, implied smut

AN: I hope this is angst, I don't really read angst myself. I overthought the tense this is in so much that words don't make sense anymore. FUN FACT! The title is from Les Fleurs du Mal which I want to have made an appearance in the other Marquis fic but I thought the title was fitting.

The bounty amount is in the sweet spot. High enough that it’s worth the effort, but not too high that half the world would also be trying to bag them with you. The only problem was with who set the bounty. That would be your ex, of six months. Well technically he's still considered your husband, and you were still legally married.  

That was your fault, bringing up the idea of a divorce, and waiting for him to sign. Wanting to get one last dig in while still married, you act surprised, reminding him he can’t get a second marriage, second changes are for men who failed the first time, remember? He took the papers from your hand, never for you to see again. Sometimes you think he burned them. 

The hit was for a mob member - Lukas Matthews, young and new to the underworld, not sure how things worked. He stole from one of his bosses, an acquaintance of Vincent. The younger mob man was distracted by all things flashy, expensive, and pretty. 

You didn’t have any trouble donning a sparkly dress, paying admittance to some dive club to stalk the man. As long as you push down the feeling that you were really just doing this to get a glimpse of Vincent, it was okay. Great even. Maybe if you were a normal person you could just call him. 

You watch the target for a while, sipping on soda from the bar so you could blend in. The man was still with his friends, and you figured it would be easier to take him when he was alone, probably outside, away from the other members of his group or innocent partygoers. 

—. 

Lukas ultimately lost, but he fought nasty. Maybe you were still rusty. The rest of your night now consisted of trying to patch up yourself or trying to find a black market doctor to fix you, depending on how bad your shoulder gets.

You were littered with scrapes, small cuts and sore muscles, but your shoulder got the worst of the battle. Lukas managed to cut quite deep with a broken beer bottle. Once it heals it will be a reminder of all the things you do to try and convince yourself that you’re over your husband. 

Pain flared every time you moved your shoulder, the wound being an inch or two below your collarbone left you trying to keep half your body still. You settle on taking Lukas’s hand, with the mob tattoo. You and Vincent know members of that mob would rather die than cut off their symbol. 

With the body shoved against a trash can, you place a few garbage bags to cover the mess. The hardest part of the evening was still to come. With your good hand, you fish out your phone from your bag. 

—

You assume he is attending some ballet dance or performance. You felt a bitter twist of jealousy. Was he there with someone? Has he moved on that fast? You think mind racing. When you texted the Accountants that you completed the bounty, you received a call from Chidi. 

“I hear you collected the bounty. Do you have proof of death?” he questioned. 

“I do. I have the hand with the tattoos, but the body’s here I can get something else” you rambled down the line, suddenly much more nervous than before. 

“Please hold.” 

The line was quiet, you watched people come and go from the club, secluded from the side street you were in. Backtracking into the club, hand in your bag you returned your coat check ticket. At least the jacket will cover up the bleeding, you can get the bounty and go home. 

“Hello?” Chidis's voice returned. 

“Yeah, I'm here.” 

“Tell me your address, the Marquis de Gramont will be sending a car.” 

—

The Marquis de Gramont looked amazing. He tried to always look his best in his suits, complete with an incredibly complicated knot, chains, and his signature pin. You still have your pin, hidden in a shoe box in your closet. Tonight was no exception to his looks. 

His suit was reflecting the lights in his mansion. You knew from the glitter, this was a suit he would were at a cultural outing. Bitter jealousy bites at your insides. Was he there with someone? Did he move on that fast? Is it a mistress? You think. The jealousy dies when you still see his wedding ring on his left hand. Your wedding ring feels heavier on your right. 

You both look at each other, his gaze lingering on your exposed legs, no doubt covered in blood. You felt exposed standing in the center of the large room. 

Vincent was the one to break the silence first “Did I buy you that dress?”

“No. I’ve had it for a while” 

He nods, stepping closer. 

“Proof?” 

You frown thinking he was asking about the dress, before remembering the severed hand. 

“It's here. Tattoos and all.” you struggle to get the appendage out of your bag without moving your bad shoulder. At least you had the sense to wrap the hand in a plastic bag. 

“Come to my office. We can talk in there” 

You do not want to “talk in his office”. The last time, you went to “talk in his office” about a bounty it ended up with you naked on his desk, the cold chain from his suit vest and his ring pressed against you. 

“I should go. You can just wire me the money or something” You reject. 

You can tell you surprised him before his face shifts back to a more neutral expression. 

“I have a nasty scratch so…” you trail off, hoping he leaves the issue. 

His gaze almost softens. The separation was less than a year ago, you guess that he still cares for you. He still keeps tabs on you, your neighbour works for him you’re almost certain of it. 

“Where?”

You gesture with your chin to your shoulder. 

The pressure from his stare makes you break down and shrug off your jacket, the inside sticky with blood. 

Already he is in front of you, pressing a cloth against your wound. 

“You need to see the doctor, mon amour.” 

You hate yourself for leaning into his touch, but at least he has good contacts for an underground doctor. It won’t be that hard to get in and out right?

—

The doctor arrived fast, not wanting to piss off the Marquis. You knew him from your early days of dating, long before your marriage, when Vincent insisted you quit. You wonder if the doctor remembers you. If he does, he doesn’t show it. 

You just didn’t think Vincent was going to join you. He watches the doctor tend to your shoulder first, sewing neat rows of stitches to hold your flesh in place. You stare at your jacket on a spare chair, no doubt forever stained in blood. The good doctor already gave a warning about closing your eyes, so you keep your gaze on the jacket, your nails on your good hand leaving imprints on the chair arm from the tension between you and Vincent. 

The doctor moves on to more minor wounds, mostly cleaning them, and patching them up if needed. Ignoring your soft hiss when the cleaner he is using hurts more than you expected.

Vincent is watching the doctor, scowling when you flinch in pain. 

The instant the doctor pushed the tray with his tools and bloody tissues away, Vincent speaks for the first time since the three of you sat down.

“Laissez-nous seuls” 

The doctor protests, wanting to give you instructions on caring for his work, making sure you don’t rip anything open. 

Vincent glares at the doctor, who places down some gause for you to take home and leaves without another word, closing the door behind him. 

The Marquis drops to his knees for a better look at your injury. One hand cups the back of your shoulder blade to keep you still, as he inspects you. You’re sure you smell disgusting, the smell of the bar soaked into your dress and your hair. The doctor cleaned up most of the blood, but Vincent never really cared about literally getting his hands bloody if the time was right. He would just wipe them on a cloth and toss it aside for one of his housekeepers to pick up. 

You turn your whole face away, as much as your shoulder will let you, sure he can feel how hot your face is across the distance. The feel of his eyes is heavy, and almost magnetic, pulling you to look at him. His other hand is on the armrest of your chair. 

“Don’t,” you said softly, trying to preserve any of the dignity that you had left. 

“Don’t what, mon amour” he whispered, still looking at your shoulder. 

“This.” You were mostly saying this to yourself, knowing that you only had seconds to get out of his personal space before you give in. You’re tired and hurt and he's right there, acting how he did when you first fell in love with him. 

You tilt your head back almost automatically to give him more access to your throat. He moved slowly, pressing kisses against your jaw like it would be the last time, before working his way to your mouth and kissing you properly. 

—

It’s like a bomb waiting to go off, not only having sex with him but also having to navigate yourself out of his bed without one of you making a gripe at the other. 

Well, not technically his bed. This was yours, in a guest room you made your own while being married, now empty. You moved your stuff out during the separation. Sometimes you regret not taking the bedclothes with you, but now you’re thankful you can feel them, cool and soft against your skin. 

You had no choice but to stay lying on your back, trying to keep your injury still. He was next to you in the same fashion. 

“You are still wearing your ring.” He speaks quietly. As if to prove his point, he toys with your wedding band. 

“I helped design it, of course, I’m going to show it off,” you reply not being able to look him in the eye. 

He kissed the back of your hand.  

“I believe I designed it, you just suggested the stones.” 

Hand flexed to fully show off the stones, you had to agree. 

The stones were suggested by you, on a date to le Musée de Minéralogie. It was just the two of you, and you had been taken with the rubies. Vincent walked alongside you, filling you in on information you might not have known. It was an off-handed comment from you, how red is a colour for both blood and love, very fitting in your line of work. 

“You have good taste,” he says while you think had instead. 

His hand skimmed your bare side, nimble fingers finding a small bump that was not there before your flight with Lukas. 

You flinched at the dull pain, not surprised if he “accidentally” poked it. 

“You should let me take care of you, mon amour.” 

That was it. The same words that started and ended your marriage. Being taken care of by Vincent made you feel like a doll, sitting on a shelf, never allowed to do anything. 

“Vincent,” You spoke with caution, the pain slowly seeping back into your body.

He held your chin gently, commanding your gaze to look at him. You softened looking at him. 

“It is true. Do you think I like seeing you like this?” he asks. 

“I don’t know what you like” you retort, steeling yourself for the argument to come. 

“I like you.” 

“Oh, you do? Is that why you made me quit bounty work?” you snap. 

“I asked you to stop because you're not very good at it and I did not want a dead fiancé.” 

Ouch. 

“If you were a better fighter, you would take higher bounties.” 

You don’t look at him as you leave the bed. You know he's sneering at you. 

But you’re not going to shrink away even though you’re naked. You know you have to get dressed in front of him but you can put on a brave face.

 “Thanks for this lovely reminder of why our marriage failed.” You spit out. You know the failed comment will piss him off. 

You leave without a second look, cheap shoes squeaking against the floor. 

—

You felt the lock slide open under the key, your apartment slightly cold and quiet. You still smelled like his cologne, only now the smell reminds you of the recent bitter memories. You discard your bag as you make your way to your bed in your apartment. Away from Vincent. 

As you take off your dress for the second time you feel your phone buzz. 

[Unknown number: Wire Transfer Sent. Deposit for Lukas is confirmed.]

Seeing him mixed with the rush of adrenaline after the fighting was too much, especially with the separation so fresh. Maybe he was right. Maybe you should go after higher bounties, especially not those set by him. 

Taglist: @heartrot666, @soraya-daydreams

[yourpalmickeymouse]

Hello again, Mickey! Wasn't planning on asking a question again so soon, but there was one in particular on my mind that has me curious. I'm not sure if anyone has asked about it before, so apologies if you've talked about it, but how exactly did you meet Mortimer Mouse? In other words, what's the origin of your beef?

Hiya angrysausage,

It's always great to get a question from you.

You wanna learn more 'bout Mortimer huh? Mortimer...

I think I already shared 'bout my feelin's on him, but I only briefly brushed on how we met in the first place. I s'pose I could give a l'il bit more detail, just for you fellas. 😉

Well, it started many years ago, back when I... was in Mouseton Middle School. Oh boy, was that a time of hormones and high emotions🙄. Now I know for many people middle school was a bit of a tough time. And it was. But it wasn't like that for me... at first.

I wasn't super popular, but I remember bein' generally liked by everyone. I was kinda the class clown of my year and fell into the role of keepin' everythin' fun and makin' everyone feel good and laugh. Sure, I got in trouble once or twice for goin' a bit too far, but nothin' too bad and my teachers even seem to enjoy havin' me 'round. Now, Donald was still in Duckburg and Goofy, Horace, and Clarabelle went to a different school in Mouseton. So my inner friend group during school mostly consisted of Minnie and... Gosh, who else. There was another kid. He was my partner in crime when it came to pranks. Chucky? Chester? I dunno. I'll have to ask Minnie. The point is things were good. That is... until HE arrived.

Ya see, halfway through my first year, my class was introduced to a new kid who moved here with his family. You can take a guess on who that kid was. But he was actually really different at first. He was shy and nervous. He sorta kept to himself and ate by himself durin' lunchtime. Though, it didn't help that he tripped when introducin' himself in homeroom, which probably hurt his first impression with the other kids. But of course, Minnie and I felt really bad for the guy and decided to invite him to our group to hang out. Which ended up bein' a HUGE mistake.

Now the problems didn't start immediately. For the first couple of weeks, we actually were a solid friend group and I really thought that we were friends. But then like a switch, he just suddenly changed overnight. Mortimer just started to treat me differently. What was once playful teasin' turned into targeted bullyin'. Things that I told the group in secret, ended up at every corner of the lunch room. Mortimer even just straight stopped hangin' out with me and the other kid (Chidi?), cold turkey, and would only hang out with Minnie and a couple of other snobby kids.

And that's not bringin' up every single time I would do somethin', he would immediately try to upstage me, which was really easy givin' how much money he had. I remember when I drew a sketch for Minnie to help her feel better, he hired a professional artist to paint her portrait. He would humiliate and make fun of me constantly. And downplay all my achievements. And try to convince all my friends to leave me. And... actually, everything he still does now. Before I knew it, I felt less like a class clown and more like the butt of the joke. Middle school went from an okay experience to a nightmare. Luckily by high school, I was able to have more friends 'round like Donald, Goofy, Clarabelle, Horace, and even Clara who had my back.

I, to this day, am still at a loss for what happened. I don't think I said anythin' hurtful or did anythin' to upset him. Maybe it was hormones, but he still acts the same way as an adult. Maybe it was all part of his nefarious plan to begin with. The only plausible thing I can think of is that maybe he saw me as a threat when it came to Minnie. He seemed to get along with her the quickest. But we weren't datin' at the time. I don't even think I had a word for what feelin's I had for her. But maybe he sensed somethin' and pulled every trick in the book to get Minnie to date him before she could even date me. It didn't last very long. But it still hurt givin' how awful he was to me... and Minnie didn't seem to take that into consideration.

Well, I feel like I'm startin' to get into a weird territory 😅. I think I'm gonna stop here before we go too deep. But I hope this reveals at least a little bit more detail on what happened.

- M.M.

[madwomansapologist]

TAYLOR SWIFT (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

Mary's Song (Oh My My My)

Aragorn: Elrond wanted you to remain in Rivendell, but you needed to represent the Vale Elves in the Fellowship of the Ring. And you needed to make sure Aragorn was okay.

I'm Only Me When I'm With You

Arisu: To live in a land without rules, but the one that forces everyone to keep playing, is to live in hell. Except for a few moments.

FEARLESS (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

Untouchable

Queen Maeve: You fell in love with Margaret, but all you can do is watch her on TV wondering if one day you won't feel so alone.

Mr. Perfectly Fine

Petyr Baelish: You should've know that he would break your heart. You just didn't knew he would be so indifferent. But Varys sees a very different thing.

SPEAK NOW (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

Ours

Amy Santiago: When your precint found out about your relationship with Amy, suddenly the best place in the world turned into a gossip den. synopsis: When your precint found out about your relationship with Amy, suddenly the best place in the world turned into a gossip den.

RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

Come Back... Be Here

Carmy Berzatto: You spent months telling yourself "Don't get attached." But when the feeling sinks in you realize: you don't wanna miss Carmy Berzatto.

1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

I Wish You Would

Sidney Prescott: After a fight, you both chose to never ever talk to each other anymore. And so you both did, until the night mists take over your minds.

REPUTATION (TAYLOR'S VERSION)

So It Goes

Charles Boyle and Richie Jerimovich: A night out, with alcohol and the man you want.

Dress

Richie Jerimovich: People may not understand why you both decided to not let anyone know about your relatioship. They wouldn't understand how exciting it is to share a secret with someone you love. Or how funny it is to tease him on public.

LOVER

Cornelia Street

Jason Voorhees: If he ever broke your heart... you don't think time can mend that.

FOLKLORE

cardigan

Richie Jerimovich: Richie was fine with being left. After all, he wouldn't marry himself either. Richie gets that he's hard to love and easy to leave. Then why didn't you leave him yet?

exile

Shan Yu: It's done. Done. But why does it hurt so bad?

EVERMORE

it's time to go

Chidi Anagonye: The only way to guarantee that people on The Good Place could live a meaninful afterlife was to make sure that they could die. You just didn't imagine Chidi would ever make that decision.

MIDNIGHTS

Mastermind

Daenerys Targaryen: Daenerys had to confess something to you, a sin that she carried alone for to long, but little did she know it wouldn't surprise you.

@ madwomansapologist.tumblr.

[rockinlibrarian]

Year End (okay, Beginning of Following Year) AO3 Wrapped/Fic Writing Summary Thing!

My Scrivener files are in limbo right now because I'm in the long process of transferring computers (longer because the new computer I got for Christmas turned out to have a faulty motherboard), so most of my end-of-the-year round-up drafts are having to wait. But it finally occurred to me that I CAN do some other roundups in the meantime!

Like my AO3 Wrapped For Writers!

I saw several such lists of questions this year so decided to consolidate them, and most (but not all) of the questions had been in the list I did last year anyway. But I also switched the order of questions so they flowed more logically! Without further ado...

1. How many words have you written this year? As I said, my Scrivener files are in limbo, but AO3 says I POSTED 65,857 words this year (meaning 2023. This Past Year). But this is not what I've WRITTEN, since that includes three chapters of "A Captain With Seven Children" and two of "Not Just Stupid Kids" I actually posted last year, not to mention the nearly 9,000 words of the "Pipeweed Mafia Epic" I wrote a decade ago but only POSTED in 2023. And on the other hand there's all the words I wrote and DIDN'T post, but again, can't get into Scrivener to tell you about those.

2. How many works did you publish this year? 8. Though two of those are just ones I added chapters to. And one's still anonymous, because it's too tangentially smutty to have blaring away on my main page (but you can read it here. Don't worry, it's not actually that smutty, it's just LINKED back to a smutty fic).

3. What’s your longest work of the year? "The Magic Man of Oz" at 15,004 words, which even beats out all FOUR chapters of "Captain With Seven Children" (14,754 words).

4. What’s your shortest work of the year? Posted on AO3, "In Which Jason and Chidi Rob a Bank" at 2,785 words, unless you count the rather short chapter I added to "Not Just Stupid Kids" that actually began life as a comment on someone else's fic. But I think my actual shortest fic is what I wrote for @sunnymarbles after we finished reading Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious series. I had not posted it on AO3 because I thought I had to fill it out more, but now I'm thinking it's complete as it is, so here, in its entirety of 61 words, is "But Where Is the Moose?" 

The moose of the Green Mountains knew to avoid the place they called the Unstable Slope, or “oooOOOOOOoooo” in their native tongue. Ninety generations had passed since the first BoomQuakes broke the mountain, and still young moose were warned away, despite tales of a mythical lake that appeared suddenly there for several years, only to just as suddenly dry up again.

Okay, I guess that doesn't really have a beginning, middle, and end yet. But what more does it really need? It's moose folklore.

5. What work was the quickest to write? That one, probably. Or that bonus chapter of "Not Just Stupid Kids," which was, after all, drafted in someone's comments section.

6. What work took you the longest to write? Considering I did add a LITTLE bit to "The Pipeweed Mafia Epic" before I posted it this year, and I started that on March 26, 2011, I'm going with that.

7. What work of yours got the most hits this year? It SAYS "Not Just Stupid Kids" with 958, but again with the most-of-that-is-from-2022. Entirely published in this year's is the two chapters of "Morning-After Meltdowns" at 509. But I really have to give the prize to "4th Place"'s "In Which Jason and Chidi Rob a Bank" for earning all 332 hits in just the past week!

8. Top Fic by Kudos: "Not Just Stupid Kids" hit a nice round 100 after its year and a half existence; but with the same caveats as the last question, "In Which Jason and Chidi Rob a Bank" earned 87 kudos in just the past week, so can you really call that second place?

9. How many kudos in total did you get this year? Approximately 309. Counts old chapters and doesn't count old fics, so...

10. Which work has the most comments? "In Which Jason and Chidi Rob a Bank" at 26 unique comment threads, which brings us  to:

11. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? See above. Yuletide readers are the BEST commenters!

12. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? "The Magic Man of Oz" is brilliant, dangit, even if I'm the only one who can appreciate it! Do you know the thought that goes into seamlessly merging two seemingly completely different stories? Not to mention all the meta format-bending involved in this particular work?

13. Favorite work you wrote this year? Hmm, yeah, probably that one. Though all those commenters telling me I'm funny have increased my own appreciation of how well "Jason and Chidi Rob a Bank" turned out.

14. Which work of yours have you reread the most? Might be that last one, on the premise that I tend to reread my fics whenever I get a new notification about them. But really that IS just the past week. I honestly don't know.

15. Most written fandom this year: Umbrella Academy at 5 out of 8

16. Most written rating this year: Teen, mostly on account of swearing and drug references I think. A surprising amount of both, coming from me.

17. What’s your most common category written this year? Gen! Beautiful gen! I have not entirely forsaken you for Fiktor! (Which is confusing enough to categorize when you keep writing scenes that take place entirely when a trans man was presenting as a girl! It reads as F/M! Unless you happen to know that in the broader context it's really M/M! Stupid romantic relationships! Gen is so much more straightforward!)

18. Pairing you wrote the most for this year/most written relationships: yeah, even IF you factor in "&" relationships (which I usually forget to mark, except this last one because "Chidi&or/Jason" was specifically what my Yuletide person asked for), no pairing dominates like my Five/Viktor Hargreeves obsesson. If you're just joining me, no I don't know where that came from either.

19. What’s your most common/favorite “Additional Tags” tag? Overall it's still "backstory," but I don't think I actually used that one THIS year. But when you filter it to just the past year, the tags are all spread out, so there are a bunch of twice-used ones and a bunch more once-used. I think we need to shout out to twice-used "pseudo-incest" though because, HAH... But my FAVORITE of the Twice Used tags has to be "crack treated seriously," because that is something I truly do endorse.

20. Your favorite character to write this year? This year I can confidently say Oliver Bird, since he narrated my longest and most experimental (completed) work. But a close runner-up is Jason Mendoza, who is so gifted in the art of the non-sequiteur! (And I would have loved to have written more Janet, but what you got was the most I could squeeze her in).

21. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year? Strangely, Kerry Loudermilk. I still think she reads too young in "Magic Man of Oz," which is probably because I'm so used to writing her younger-than-canon, and the tone of the story did fit with that younger Kerry, but I'm still a little frustrated with it. I saw some Tumblr post a few months back that was like "People who are obsessed with writing a character either know the character in excruciating detail, or they're in love with a completely different headcanon character who's so far removed from the original, and if you think you're both, you're not, you're just the latter!" And I was looking at Lioness-Kerry like, no, I AM both, I swear I know who she really is, she's just coming OUT all headcanony!

22. Favorite title you used: Of whole works, "How to Catch Up with your Therapist after a Couple of...Busy Months." But last year I said my true favorite was probably chapter-in-progress title "High On a Roof Stood a Lonely Seven" and this year I actually POSTED that chapter so HEY.

23. If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? Which again brings us to Rogers and Hammerstein, but that was the ONLY lyric-inspired title posted this year. I did quote a variety of song lyrics WITHIN "The Magic Man of Oz" though, which brings us to...

24. What do you listen to while writing? Besides the Instrumental playlist, I did specifically listen to Dark Side of the Moon a lot while writing "The Magic Man of Oz"

25. Fandom fic events you participated in this year: Last year I would have had none, this year I did TWO! Umbrella Academy Masked Author in May, Yuletide in December!

26. Did you do any collaborative works this year? I would count "The Magic Man of Oz," because that was the product of a Discord server brainstorming session, and a lot of ideas came from other people. But no sitting down and writing a story together sorts of collaborations.

27. Did you write any gifts this year? Yes, "In Which Jason and Chidi Rob a Bank" was my Yuletide assignment, and I'm halfway done writing an additional belated Yuletide treat as well. I also Gifted "Magic Man of Oz" to the person who suggested the AU to begin with, but I'm not sure they ever actually read it.

28. Did you receive any gifts this year? Yes, my Yuletide gift was a very Snickety All the Wrong Questions bonus scene, "miscommunications" by carterhaugh

29. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? Again, Scrivener's in limbo.

30. What WIP are you taking into next year with you? Well, last year I PROMISED I'd be posting "Child of Hypnos" and the rest of "Tesseract," and I didn't, so this year I'll try again, and hopefully also add at least one chapter to "Captain with Seven Children"

31. What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? Rather than any specific pairing, I think I'll make more of an effort to mark "&" relationships. I recently was talking to a Loudermilk fan who'd never read my fics because they'd just clicked right to the Cary & Kerry tag! Whoops!

32. Favorite dialogue you wrote this year? “Nobody uses money in the Good Place! You just walk into Steak On a Stick and say, ‘Hey, I want some of that Steak on a Stick!’ and they say, ‘Here you go,’ or, if you’re thinking, you go, ‘Hey, Janet, can you bring me a grande basket of Stupid Nick’s Garlic Pepper-Spray Attack Wings,’ and she goes—”

“Fresh from the fryer!” Janet held out the basket of wings.

“Oh, dip, Stupid Nick’s! Thanks, Janet! How’d you know I wanted some?”

“You just asked me!”

“She’s so smart!”

[...and a few paragraphs later...]

“It’s like, this one time, me and Donkey Doug were gonna rob a bank for my birthday, right? We had all the tuna and stink bombs ready to go, but then a crew of rogue pirate reenactors from St. Augustine attacked Ponte Vedra so they had to close I95 for hippo infestation, and yeah, that was kind of a bummer for a ten-year-old kid, but in the end we got to go to Sea World, so—”

“You were te— actually, I’m not sure what part of that story I should question more.”

33. Favorite non-dialogue passage you wrote this year? A certain fight scene about 3/4 of the way through "Magic Man of Oz," which wouldn't work if I copied and pasted it here, so go read. Luckily, Oliver is full of delightful bits of narration (is it cheating to pick favorite "non-dialogue" passages from a work with a very strong narrative voice?) in the rest of that story, too, like

"Beneath the ice is a young boy, ostensibly, entirely in grayscale and with an overly large head— possibly papier mache. He looks very, very angry. Or perhaps, looked very, very angry, because he is also clearly very, very dead,"

"Sydney and Matilda follow the road for several days…no, seconds. No. Sydney and Matilda follow the road for several amounts of time,"

"And so, either because her understanding of scarecrows is such that standing unsupported is less surprising than talking, or simply because something inside her remembers how this story is supposed to go, Sydney sets Matilda on the ground and unties the straw man, whose long limbs slide and glide and ultimately straighten,"

"And, perhaps unwisely, as one never knows what might be powered by a mysterious plug in the woods, she pulls it,"

"They both lead to a man. A Ptin Man. The “P” is not silent, despite what your previous understanding of ancient languages might suggest,"

and "Frankly I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing now. A narrator requires something to narrate, and my characters are…just…lying there…like worms forced upward by a downpour."

And shout out to this bit, which is technically also not dialogue, but lyrics: “Ha ha here, ho ho there/

and you will quickly find/

we know exactly what you need/

it’s something for your mind!"

Which, iykyk.

34. Biggest surprise while writing this year? That I'd never actually written for any of the main Good Place characters before. It felt so natural! But I hadn't! I'd only written for Shawn and Bad Janet and Vicky in that Community crossover!

35. what you learned from writing this year: to pay better attention to Yuletide deadlines. From writing itself? Have fun trying new things! Strange formats ate fun!

[monday4econlive]

A COSTLY COVID

Music Produced by:

Chukwuka Chidi, 18377063, Tuesday 7-7:50

Minh Nguyen, 50744880, Monday 4-4:50

Thomas Lim, 65217729, Wednesday 5-5:50

LYRICS:

I'm stuck inside I can't go out

I'm all alone and without a doubt

every day feels the same

Frustrated so I scream and shout

Inside my bedroom so I plea and pout

waiting for someone to else to blame

She only 19 but covid kinda bad

I thought I would be fine but now I'm feelin sick and sad

Cant go out to see my friends

it's crazy what we had

Can't go out to see my family from my room I miss my dad

Our demand to be with loved ones is strong

But the social cost of our actions is stronger

Personal and consumer demand on the rise

Opportunity cost is the ultimate prize

Missing hugs and kisses too

Can't remember the last time we said "I do"

Zoom calls and texts they just don't cut it

Our hearts are yearning for a real visit but i dont think that anyone gon front it

I feel like theres been time when ive been sittin in a circle

surrounded by the the fire and the rain its turning purple

surrounded by the losses and the gains i feel like erkle

With these overalls, I think that overall covid is hurtful

Our demand to be with loved ones is strong

But the social cost of our actions is stronger

Personal and consumer demand on the rise

Opportunity cost is the ultimate prize

Our elastic demand for masks suddenly became inelastic just like that

Cover up our faces with the string and plastic from the lab

but im sure well make it through yes we can

We'll get through this, I know we can

Together, and together, we'll make a plan

The cost is high, but the reward is greater

We'll be with our loved ones, sooner or later.

[syrooo]

This is so me 😭🤚 one time I'm a jjk poster the next I'm suddenly into brooklyn 99- (I love chidi sm)

me, posting stuff for over 7 different fandoms at random all on the same blog:

[moonyslesbian]

HI!! for the weird ask game 98, 62 & 1

98. favorite historical era?

OOHHH that is a lovely question!! i'm a bit of a nerd, actually.... so i'll be cheating a bit and naming two instead of just one :P first one is, ofc, the one and only, love of my life... the french revolution. THE HOLD that this specific historical event had on 12yo alice.. oh it changed eveything. something shifted in the universe. there's just something about the splendor and magnificence of versailles and the nobles put in juxtaposition with the poor starving country.. AND HOW COOL IT WAS!! THE WAY THEY REVOLTED AGAINST THEM!!! french revolution my beloved... OK second one is more of like. an exact period of time in a particular place. i'm talking about the austrian empire in the middle of the 19th century. ok yes i'm talking about princess sissi. LISTEN.... i'm honestly more attracted to her as a person than to the historical period like yeah sure classical music was fire those days, and the dresses were amazing, and they would have cool balls in castles, and schonbrunn is stunning... BUT SISSI!!!!! i've had a bit of an hyperfixation on her during my last year of high school like she was not made to be empress.. she was kind and sensitive and she'd fuck off to her garden and she would always be alone in that big ass place and she always felt misunderstood OHHH i love her i love her

62. seven characters you relate to?

GOD that's hard...... alright in no particular order

remus lupin - ive always been a remus girlie like sorry but i just have this unexplainable spiritual connection to him. joker voice You wouldnt get it

james potter - always showing people your best but never your worst is sooo crazy haha.. thinking you're not allowed to have negative feelings is sooooo crazy...... ahaha... being the therapist friend and always trying your best and not telling people how you really feel is sooo crazy..... hahahaha... like who would do that!!

leo valdez (percy jackson) - oh funny guy!! Oh there's trauma there

fleabag (fleabag lol) - no words needed for this one

chidi anagonye (the good place) - if someone asked me to choose between two different hats i, too, would have a mental breakdown

nick (new girl) - hes just like me fr

is it silly to say rory from doctor who - LIKEEEE... dude is just there.. not really that importat to the plot.. thinks he's always the second choice and doesn't deserve stuff... He Speaks To Me

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

listen. LISTEN!!! you can't tell me holding a wine glass in your hand doesn't suddenly make you feel powerful and important. i could be drinking an energy drink from a wine glass and i'd still be swirling it around and taking tiny tiny sips to be elegant

[mingie222]

The Costs of Covid

MEMBERS:

Name, Discussion time

Chukwuka Chidi, Thursday 7-7:50

Minh Nguyen, Monday 4-4:50

Thomas Lim, Wednesday 5-5:50

LYRICS:

I'm stuck inside I can't go out

I'm all alone and without a doubt

every day feels the same



Frustrated so I scream and shout

Inside my bedroom so I plea and pout

waiting for someone to else to blame



She only 19 but covid kinda bad

I thought I would be fine but now I'm feelin sick and sad

Cant go out to see my friends

it's crazy what we had

Can't go out to see my family from my room I miss my dad



Our demand to be with loved ones is strong

But the social cost of our actions is stronger

Personal and consumer demand on the rise

Opportunity cost is the ultimate prize



Missing hugs and kisses too

Can't remember the last time we said "I do"

Zoom calls and texts they just don't cut it

Our hearts are yearning for a real visit but i dont think that anyone gon front it



I feel like theres been time when ive been sittin in a circle

surrounded by the the fire and the rain its turning purple

surrounded by the losses and the gains i feel like erkle

With these overalls, I think that overall covid is hurtful

Our demand to be with loved ones is strong

But the social cost of our actions is stronger

Personal and consumer demand on the rise

Opportunity cost is the ultimate prize

Our elastic demand for masks suddenly became inelastic just like that

Cover up our faces with the string and plastic from the lab

but im sure well make it through yes we can



We'll get through this, I know we can

Together, and together, we'll make a plan

The cost is high, but the reward is greater

We'll be with our loved ones, sooner or later.

[useryoumna]

preferred tropes

thank you for the tag @theythinkimabitch ❤

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt/comfort or amnesia  // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi chapters // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle aged romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbours or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or genderbend // angst or crack  // apocalyptic or mundane

tagging @acetoshikosato @cece-parekh @2minutes2midnight @jemmafitzsimmons @ofitzsimmons

[littlesciencebabies]

i just spent the last 30 min acting as if i’ve never had a conversation before in my life

[akaroot]

uhhh look ok again I love The Good Place and I'm still going to see where this goes but uh, can you guys like, pls not with Tahani and Jason??? I don’t want it take it back pls. 

[konako]

#by far the greatest missed opportunity in OUAT was#emma swan#NOT being romantically paired with regina#so they raise henry with two moms#who are married and blah#and this is coming from someone who doesn't even ship swan queen That's just the biggest truth bomb ever though. I was a bit scared how fast that ship took of in S1 and I felt a bit iffy about it. This thing of "Snow's daughter bangs the Evil Queen for the greater good". There is a vibe in the idea I don't like. BUT the show went on. And gave us scenes with Emma and Regina. And the whole sharing-a-son-part came in. Regina's change was very slow and gradual. Emma was the outsider who didn't know all the really, horrible, murderous Evil Queen part and saw Regina in the now. And while Emma totally became Snow's kid and the mother-daughter bond between two seemingly same-age women made sense, the certain iffyness of the implications that Snow's womb brought forth Regina's true love vanished. Because they accidentally built the greatest potential relationship ever. But... heteronormativity AND Disney AND ~f a m i l y s h o w~ ugh............ like this and Rizzoli & Isles (and begrudgingly gonna add Sherlock to that list, because a list with three things is the golden standard) are THE shining examples where the best romantic storyline to tie up lies in the very obvious homo ship in the center of it. But no, friendships are suddenly important... no, if you really followed the story that sneaks up and is so good you HAVE to tell it, than you'd have to go there.

I will never stop screaming about Red Beauty as the best possible Beauty & the Beast the show could have told. But if I take a step back and set my preferences aside. No, Swan Queen would have been the true heart of the show and it is the far bigger misstep. It's a ship I like, but I'm not overly invested in. But my god, it's there, it's all fucking there. (Even SuperCorp is a harder sell, because the writers kept saying that Lena and Kara are super close friends and then forgot to write friendship scenes, but that show is terrible with a lot of different types of relationships.)

All of that! Yes!! Ugh, the world........

I’m confidently NOT a shipper of this ship, but even someone as obsessed with Red Queen as I am can see that Emma and Regina make the most poetic, interesting pair to subvert the genre. It’s right there! They wrote it!! Just PUT THE DAMN PIECES TOGETHER YOU MORONS. It sucks that all those things had to come between such a great potential and the realization of a truly good story.

They went out of their way to find some guy for Regina (ANY GUY, QUICK, FIND A FAIRYTALE GUY FOR REGINA, SHE CAN’T BE SINGLE FOR LONG OR FANS WILL START TO THING SHE’S A............. RUBY) to shup people up. Did people shut up? Of course not. People will ship, you can’t stop them. See, the second most popular wlw ship for Regina is with Ruby, a woman with whom she exchanged under five lines of dialogue. No amount of heteronormativity and forced canon “rules” will change what fans see and want. 

Now, RED BEAUTY. My god. MY GOD. Look, Swan Queen would have been the main pair, sure. The Jake & Amy, the Leslie & Ben, the Chidi & Eleanor (the nice central pairing, hopefully inspired by Michael Shur couples, a believable romance whose relationship drama isn’t the focus of the entire show). They would have been it and it would have been nice and inspired, the show would have felt fresh.

BUT RED BEAUTY would have stolen the show!!!!!! A twist in the revelation of Red being the Big Bad Wolf, THEN ANOTHER TWIST, with her also being the Beast to Belle’s Beauty??? No one would have stood a chance. It would be done. OUAT would have reached peak status of (wlw) writing. World hunger (and... thirst)  would have been solved. LGBT+ hearts would have been healed forever. 

But of course they had to...... *fart sound* 

I’m tired. Thank god for fanfic.

[roominthecastle]

I can't help but think you're being a bit too hard on Eleanor because of ship bias. I mean, why would you called her 'her worst self' and 'selfish' when she's always been one to throw stuff to get in heaven (even with the character development)? But suddenly she's being sappy and depending on someone who isn't Michael and the whole M/E fandom is at her throat. I'm as unconfortable as the next shipper with all the C/E scenes but is it really Eleanor and her characterization that's at fault?

Yes, of course I am biased (to a certain degree). When the show caters to my preferences, I’m more docile and much less likely to nitpick and complain, when it doesn’t and it drops the ball to boot, I get grumpy. So I’m your garden variety fan, basically. But I don’t believe I’m “at Eleanor’s throat”. Her and Chidi being together doesn’t make me uncomfortable bc it’s her and Chidi and not her and Michael (+ I often see things popping up in the C/E dynamic that can have potentially interesting implications for Michael’s development and for M/E, too. Generally speaking, the three of them make up a curious whole for me).

I know the chances of (2-sided) M/E happening are somewhere btw zero and never, so I’m not exactly eyeballing C/E as some kind of obstacle to my personal shipper nirvana, jumping at any chance to “punish” Eleanor for choosing the “wrong” partner. But I do feel uncomfortable with the way the C/E romance is written this season. “They are sidelining my no. 1 dynamic”, while frustrating, is not the reason for this, it’s not why I’m not crazy about Eleanor’s behavior and Chidi’s OOC-ness.

Eleanor + character development always resulted in stuff like her being emotional and vulnerable w/o getting aggressive and demanding, her accepting it when Chidi turned her down w/ dignity despite feeling heartbroken, and her being considerate of others to the point of volunteering to go to the Bad Place to save them. This is where she was a year ago and the year before that at the end of each season. This is not where she is now. I’m not saying being selfish and throwing stuff is not in her character make up or her problem-solving toolbox. Her overcoming these impulses, however, is the very point of her character development (made blindingly obvious last season when she lied about passing the Judge’s test and refused to go through the portal to TGP). What we have (currently! so it can change any time) in S3 is the opposite (see the in-your-face door to TGP that won’t open for her), it’s her completely giving in to these impulses to the point of seriously endangering everyone, meaning that she has, in fact, regressed. I suspect it is a point the show is trying to make but we’ll have to wait and see.

In “Janets”, all Janet asks is that they stay put until she and Michael deal w/ accounting. Eleanor works herself into a state over Chidi not opening up to her on command, putting Janet through hell and almost erasing her friends from existence while her own self is also disintegrating. Despite the serious consequences, this harmful behavior carries right over into the next ep where all Michael asks is that they lay low bc folks in TGP are so rule obsessed, they can send all of them right back to TBP. Eleanor immediately smashes stuff at the door to TGP bc it doesn’t open up for her when she demands it. It’s her bullying of Chidi from the previous ep all over again, only in a vase-meets-door form. Even Chidi has to be all about her now as he magically turns into a grossly idealized version of himself (see in S2 how she rejected a similar “fake Chidi”), spending the entire ep trying to prevent her from blowing up again while the rest of the team is cleaning up the mess in the mail room and Michael is away trying to fix the calculation issue. Despite the crazy-intense circumstances, everybody is trying to do something for somebody else except her - she is still hyper-focused on herself and it stands out to me bc this is a version of her I’ve never seen before and it’s def not the best one.

Again, it’s not because she is w/ Chidi but the issues become especially apparent within that dynamic since the second Michael showed her those memories, she just latched onto Chidi, expecting him to fill the void left by her screwed up upbringing that’s been freshly dredged up thanks to her not-dead mother. They made her lurch from “I’m incapable of love” to “I’m madly in love and nothing else matters”, hand-waving determinism while failing to provide any other reason why these 2 are suddenly together again. They are trying to play it as romantic/funny but it’s not romantic when someone’s whole identity has to be propped up by another person and it’s not funny how that other person has to repress his own identity/issues to be able to do this. It’s a suffocating, unsustainable interplay. Or if it’s meant to be interpreted as “love cures mental illness and erases every character flaw in 5 minutes, so you can finally be the proper romantic partner”, then it’s even worse. You don’t have to be a shipper of another ship or look too deep into this story to see these (imo) legitimate problems (but it helps, yes, since it’s natural to be more critical of sth you’re not emotionally invested in and gloss over stuff to preserve the fun potential when it’s your OTP or sth, I do give you that).

Eleanor having to coerce love and attention out of Chidi will never be cute, either, or proof that those feelings were there all along. People pushed some quotes from WJH into my face about how Chidi calms down bc he finally has what he always wanted - interesting choice of words, btw, given the pin Michael gave Eleanor - but 1) an actor’s opinion will not automatically replace my own (no, not even if it’s Ted’s or some other big fave’s) and 2) how exactly were we supposed to glean that Chidi wanted to be with her so much in this reboot? Was it when he went steady w/ another woman despite Eleanor being an option all along? was it when he refused to give private lessons to her bc he was just too busy? or was it when he - despite witnessing her meltdown - sent her packing bc they already had enough material for his study? For some reason the writers missed every opportunity to build this up properly and make this extremely syrupy display stick, but I’ve already said everything about that in another post.

This whole idea of “he felt this way all along, he just didn’t actually show it, so we can skip actual development” is a lazy, corner-cutting approach which reminds me of the worst kind of fanservice attempts I’ve had the misfortune of experiencing with several of my favorite shows recently. I have very low tolerance for that stuff now bc it never ends well. I did not expect to see this particular brand on this particular show, but here we are, I guess. Or if it’s a case of creative exhaustion/boredom where this billion times rebooted couple is concerned, then maybe it’s time to park them and give a not yet over-explored dynamic some attention instead to keep things fresh and fluid as opposed to stale and forced - again, not an unreasonable request, even if it comes from someone who is invested in another dynamic, given the lack of care that was apparently put into developing C/E this season.

I don’t like not liking things on this show (and it’s not Eleanor I don’t like, it’s the way they deconstructed her in order to write her back into a relationship as if she couldn’t exist w/o it), and I am sorry if I disappointed or offended bc it was not my intention. I hope they flip things or introduce a new angle that will make me re-evaluate. I am always open to that whenever new material arrives and I honestly hope they will make me eat my words soon. I will merrily absorb the suckerpuches. But for now, this is my opinion and “you just don’t like that she is not with your fave” - while a natural factor - is not the main reason why I made my comments.

[serendipitouscontaminant]

Re: the gifset when Eleanor declares they should be tested together, yeah I also thought Tahani did not look very convinced! Interestingly, imo neither does Chidi, although it could be in a more 'ahhhh this is a complicated decision to make so suddenly and now I'm a bit frozen THINKING about it' face. In any case I think it's super cool/fascinating that Eleanor & Jason are the only 2 who seem completely for this "we're a unit" thing (which is also a far cry from end-of-S1 Jason.)

Right?!?! Agh this is so interesting!!! I think you nailed that Chidi’s more anxiety-paralyzed than anything, because I do see him steel himself and think ‘I can get behind this’. I just think that Tahani never seems to do that.

And yeah, the thing about s1 Jason is that I think his empathy was a bit underdeveloped and considering how literal he is, he didn’t consider that he was supposed to feel bad about someone sacrificing themselves for him. He’s the one who wasn’t completely convinced about giving himself up for the others. We actually do see that in that he considers someone else giving themselves up for him a get out of jail free card. I personally think that he didn’t totally understand exactly why he was supposed to feel bad when he went back to help the others. I actually think that we can go a step further and say that he didn’t consider Chidi and Tahani his friends, because think about it— he doesn’t really bond with the two of them in s1.

Out of everyone, he was the least close with the other three. We have really limited bonding moments with Jason in s1. Eleanor clearly shows affection towards him (she uses nicknames aw!), but he’s not to the point where he cares enough about Chidi and Tahani to care about their suffering as it relates to him (as in—they suffer, I suffer, ergo I do not want them to suffer and am willing to suffer instead). He cares about Janet in this situation, and cares about Eleanor, but it’s also pretty much a foregone conclusion to him by the end that Eleanor is leaving. Who he’s really focusing on is Janet.

In s2, he’s much closer with the others because he’s not completely silent for very long. He bonds with Tahani. He’s far more willing to learn. He’s changed over the past 800 reboots to someone who cares deeply about other people. I mean, in s1 he never would’ve left a party he was having fun at to go comfort an upset Tahani, especially since he wouldn’t have noticed she was upset in the first place. It’s one of the reasons I’ll always insist that they had loads of lowkey character development over the reboots they don’t remember.

I think that by the end of s2 Jason is much more connected with his friends and he wants them to be happy, but he still wants himself to be happy too. Without his friends, he can’t be that. He understands that if he gets into the Good Place and they don’t, that’ll be sad. I don’t know if he totally understands that there’s a big chance that none of them will get into the Good Place. I think that if he had, he might’ve thought ‘maybe if I fail, I’ll just let them go and I’ll stay behind’. But he definitely understands that when Eleanor says that the Good Place wouldn’t be the Good Place if they weren’t together, he agrees.

This became Jason meta, but I love Jason a lot.

[lisbonsteresa]

no lie i'm kinda disappointing because i thought the episode would progress differently. i didn't expect chidi to profess his undying love in a musical number to eleanor but... at least something in that direction lol :/ especially since eleanor is clearly affected by chidi in this timeline

I’m kind of disappointed too, nonnie. But at the same time, this is pretty classic sitcom stuff (and as others have pointed out, very classic Schur). Just when one half of the couple is ready to admit their feelings, suddenly the other half doesn’t have/won’t admit to having feelings. 

I think we’re going to see a lot of reevaluation on both Eleanor and Chidi’s parts, and I really really think that it’s gonna end with Chidi realizing that what he feels for Eleanor is romantic, and Eleanor finally admitting that she has feelings for him as well. Basically, I’m definitely rooting for a happy ending for these two - Schur hasn’t let me down yet.