#the characters have literally grown with us and to reflect that they uh literally grow with the audience

[cherrysnax]

hope people chill out soon, your take was immaculate and actually the reason I followed you initially bc i am an adult who likes cartoons and little kid shows but also doesn't get in internet fights about them and thinks adults who do are... wild, for lack of a better term..

but!!! now I wanna know about your comic (???maybe its a comic not sure) that you've mentioned, I couldn't find a tag to search but do you mind sharing about it? tysm either way have a good one

hi nonnie!! first of all ty for the well wishes and compliments! i'm sure once all the jokes and the offense die down, people will be relatively normal again... i hope.. lets get into the meat of the ask under the cut

EDIT: this got long so if u just want the basic gist, go to the very end!

soooo my girlfriend @pokemonleague and i decided back in...2018? to make spidersonas due to our love of comics and the movie into the spiderverse, but since we're nerds that totally span out of control. it went from a fan rp with several spider-man themed characters to a completely original concept with new characters, our own setting, power system-- the works. it is about superheroes, so it might not be your thing. okay so first backstory stuff

it used to be called the phillyverse and if u go into the tag u might find some old art, but its all extremely outdated (and bad. im not the bessst artist). after some delegation we decided to start making it a comic (we spent YEARS debating it) and named the project around last year. its uh called Show Your Spine!

I'm the worst at describing things but we have like 3 whole seasons entirely plotted out so I can pull somethin like a pitch together: while the vigilantism is a core aspect, with the main overarching plot being a group of unlikely heroes, old and new banding together to stop their city from being overrun by the mob, supervillains, and other threats. it's really about finding love and community in a city at war and finding the strength to protect and nourish it. all the while unlearning all the shit the last generations have taught us, to stop us from perpetuating the cycle of hate... while also beating the shit outta some baddies

in short its abt cringe-fail women doing cringe-fail things lmaoo. its a like a superhero-action-soap opera taking place in the retro-futuristic city of Chesire Grove, new jersey.

in this world, there's people with powers called Augments, who are just like you and me but due to changes in their DNA due were born with the ability to manifest different abilities (think mutants or metahumans). the tension between augments and humans is a little.. high right now, but allegedly better than they've ever been before. It's a newish era of human-augment relations, for better or worse.

we have an ensemble cast, and we intend on taking the main characters from the ages of 16 to eventually 25. the characters are aging in real-time.

OKAY PLOT TIME: The first few arcs focus on a delinquent teenage girl, Leo, trying to find a cure for one of her best friends who has fallen ill after trying a new drug, by all means necessary. during her quest for it, she meets the elusive newer vigilante Spitfire, who had saved her once before. Despite a rocky start, the two start a mentor-mentee type thing, in hope that the other can help them find what they're looking for. For Leo, she's looking for info on the man who made the drug that's been killing people, desperate to make him reverse engineer it. For Spitfire, they're looking for Chesire Grove's longest-running protector: Nightingale, who has suddenly gone missing. Spitfire's a bit new in town but lucky for them, the kid knows the city like the back of their hand.

At the same time, a sheltered augment teen's life is changing, as her overly protective father has finally realized that keeping her inside wasn't protecting her at all. freshly enrolled in a school for STEM students, Bobbi (also known by his nickname Retro) has to learn how to navigate the world for the first time and solve the full mystery of her past, all while her powers are on the fritz.

there's so much to this world, and we're so excited to share it with everyone!! i tried to be pretty vague cause of spoilers, and like i said, bad with words

[divineprank]

Uh oh, Parli’s on her bullshit again. Prepare for another novel.  Thematically, Ocarina of Time is a coming of age story -- quite literally, as, well... We see Link grow into an adult. I know, I’m actually a genius here for pointing that out, someone give me a literary medal. But what I mean is, there are many story beats and characters that might reflect particular aspects of growth and natural changes that happen to us and the people and the world around us as we get older. It’s especially present in the six sages:  Rauru/Kaepora Gaebora reflects the last whispers of older tradition, the older generation that anchors us to our roots but casts us off into our future. This is likely why he’s the character that introduces us to both versions Hyrule, why he literally leads us through the bumps and bruises of our childhood, and trusts us enough to set out on our own into the world of adulthood, even though things are a little bit harder and the consequences are a lot more real. 

Saria, the childhood best friend, grows into that person you care very much about but as you’ve grown older and your paths begin to break into different directions, you naturally see less and less of one another even though you love each other dearly. Personally, I think the best representation of this in the game is when Sheik is the only person that meets a newly-awakened Link at the Sacred Forest Meadow... Saria isn’t there, the trees aren’t illuminated by her fairy’s light, and the wind isn’t carrying the echoes of her ocarina. The staging of that scene leads you to believe that something serious has happened to Saria, and even though seven long years have passed without each other, you want to find her and help her. 

Darunia's story demonstrates responsibility, getting your shit together and doing what you have to do simply because you have to do it. We quite literally meet the man in the middle of a tantrum the size of Biggoron: pouting and lashing out at anyone because of his problems. And still, when the people who rely on him are starving to death, he bounces around the room to music and sends someone else to take care of his bullshit for him. The next time we meet him, the next time the Gorons are in serious trouble, however, Darunia is already gone, well into the temple to deal with the problem himself even though he feels unprepared, and even though it poses a great personal threat to his life. 

I’m getting really far away from my point, so for the sake of brevity, I won’t bore you with full analyses of every sage, but I will encourage you to consider Ruto and Impa and think about how their stories might align with concepts of growing up.

We’re a little boy when we meet Nabooru, in fact, she takes it upon herself to remind us of that, even though we’re almost at the end of our adventure at this point and are practically traumatized by what we’ve seen and done while walking in our big boy boots. She’s quite dismissive of Link, informing him that the temple is no place for kids, and she’s a little mocking of him, too, laughing at the insane idea that a kid could perhaps be one of Ganondorf’s followers. She doesn’t take him seriously, acting condescending when learning his name, and again at the notion of him wearing the Silver Gauntlets, and insisting that he be a good boy and bring them to her when he finds them. As a lone-wolf thief, she vaguely describes a reward for him, telling him that she’ll do something great for Link if he accomplishes this favor, but very likely, she probably doesn’t intend to do a damn thing for him. It isn’t until she awakens as the Sage of Spirit when Link grows up does she finally acknowledge Link as a grown man. Teasing him gently while finally calling Link what he is: a competent swordsman. She even needs to correct herself, instinctively referring to him as “kid” again before stopping herself and calling him by his proper title: Link, the Hero of Time. All of this preamble about Nabooru to get to my point: we hear the last whispers of her voice as we leave the Sacred Realm, musing to herself about how handsome Link has become in his adulthood and jokingly kicking herself for not keeping the promise she made to him seven years ago. This has always been a hotly debated line in the Ocarina of Time circles, because it’s a bit awkward and might come across as a little creepy but I really think that line lends itself to the point I’m about to make. If she hadn’t made the remark about how handsome Link has become, it would have read as Nabooru realizing that she shouldn’t have dismissed Link so much, because his strength obviously makes him someone she should have had on her side. But, Ocarina of Time is a game that tells its story without telling its story, it relies super heavily on subtext: there’s a lot of plot and hidden symbolism behind it presentation of itself. The remark about her finding Link attractive is an example of what I’m referring to. This isn’t to necessarily say that Nabooru’s creeping on Link but instead to help hammer in the bullet she represents in the larger idea Ocarina of Time is trying to explore. Nabooru reflects sexual maturation. 

It’s really easy to break Ganondorf down into simple themes of power and greed and maybe hubris and the folly of man -- which, I mean c’mon, look at the guy and his centuries-long resume. But Javed Sterritt of Good Blood presented this interesting idea that in this grand growing up scheme that Ocarina of Time is plotting, Ganondorf is more indicative of everything Link isn’t: adulthood. He can get to places Link can’t, reach people Link can’t, do anything he wants without limitation, he’s more capable and has abilities Link can hardly even fathom... It’s those kinds of things that a child might fuss over, reasons that children usually want to grow up so fast. Ganondorf’s Castle is the last stage of the game, facing Ganondorf is the last task, and defeating Ganondorf demonstrates Link reaching adulthood. 

So what the fuck am I talking about, what the fuck does all this nonsense have to do with a simple OOC post about wishing more artists would draw Nabooru and Ganondorf holding hands? Well, they’re right -- it’s a hugely, hugely missed opportunity from BOTH the fans AND Nintendo to not totally acknowledge the relationship Ganondorf and Nabooru probably had together. 

Thematically they tie together very well: sex is something adults do, adults are sexually mature. Even without making it about sex, when contrasting the two of them against some of their other familiar symbols, heat, red, orange, desert, thievery, survival, the sun... these are all symbols that reflect passion and strength and intensity, which both of these characters possess. Hell, going back to the game’s dialogue, they both regularly refer to Link as “kid”, and both of them dismiss him, and both of them respect Link’s “guts”. Nabooru and Ganondorf are mirrors of one another (hah, mirror shield) and I genuinely don’t understand why so little people actually take the time to acknowledge that. 

She’s Ganondorf’s second-in-command for fuck’s sake. Story-wise, it makes sense. Subtext-wise it makes sense. Fight me, nonbelievers.

[I haven't been OOC in a bit over here, which is probably some kind of record, so I'm using this as an excuse to be whiny on main.

I really wish there was more Nabsgan art out there. 🥺 I need more of my tragically beautiful otp.]

[starshine-effendy]

Goddess with the long hair x Levi Ackerman~

A/N: Here I am again... Writing Levi x Reader. Uh yes... I’m sorry I’m an awkward person

Summary: you’ve been alive since... well the start of the universe! You’re a lonely person because people would die in a blink of an eye to you since you’re immortal. You somehow earned a favor from God so now with your powers combine you can grant 1 wish. Anything your heart desires. You have really really really REALLY long hair because you can’t cut your hair and because you’re blessed with hair that doesn’t fall out so, no hair loss for you. Levi catches a sight of your beautiful (H/c) hair and he got interested. Once he found the source of the long hair he saw you sitting in a field of flowers and your hair was EVERYWHERE! He approached you and saw how beautiful you are. Your eyes were reflecting the galaxy itself and your skin was deliciously smooth soft.... Oh and you’re the Goddess of earth.  I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS FROM AOT THEY BELONG TO Hajime Isayama Pairings: Levi x you

Warnings: MILD SWEARING! ... Long hair? Floating? (Is that a warning...? I’m not sure actually... but uh if you guys have... any fear or floating or long hair then click off) 

The expedition has come to an end and the Scouts were getting ready to go back inside the walls. Levi flying across the air to regroup with Erwin and Hange when something caught his eye. Something on the trees was (H/C) hair. ‘What the hell..?’ He thought. He had enough gas to take one more titan down so he went towards the shiny (H/C) hair. Only when he reached it he realized that it wasn’t titan’s hair. It was like a hair with someone on the end and the hair was Really REALLY long. 

How could someone grow such long hair? Sure if they didn’t cut their hair it’d be long but they can’t be THIS long! 

He couldn’t believe what was happening next because he never thought curiosity could get the best of him... But before he even knew it... He was following where the hair to reach it’s end. He looked below to see his horse following him so he hopped down and rode his horse trying to reach the end of your hair. 

The sky was white, yellowish pink with some fluffy clouds covering the sun as it sets. It seems like a good time to sit and rest. Everything was peaceful, the atmosphere was quiet and the breeze wasn’t too strong. You were sitting below a pink blossoming tree you weren’t leaning on it, you simply used it’s flowers and branches to shadow you a bit. Your smooth (H/C) hair fell on your back on to the smooth soft green-colored grass. It was neatly in group except for some strands. One strand was swirling around on the tree and another was the one Levi was following. Being a Goddess meant you could control the atmosphere of the earth and you could always admire your work quietly. 

Levi reached a different side of the forest. There were gentle hills everywhere each covered with soft, fluffy grass and soft pink trees. He saw more of the (H/C) hair but in one group swirling around each other. His horse slowly walked towards your figure that was sitting in the middle of the hills staring at the sky. Levi’s eyes soften at the peaceful scenery. It somehow made him feel calm.

You heard something approaching but you couldn’t take your eyes at the sky. Levi’s horse neighed quietly alerting you on what was coming. Levi hopped down from his horse and approached you. He stood by your side and you turned to your head to face him. 

The first thing he realized about your face were your eyes. They reflected the stars in the sky; They reflected the galaxy. If he was already impressed with the night sky he’d be astonished by your eyes. It wasn’t until you blinked that he realized he was staring.

He didn’t know what to say... What was he supposed to say to except marvel at your flawless features. Your smooth (S/C) skin, your soft cherry lips, your smooth eyelashes, your cute nose, your smooth, luxurious (H/C) hair. He tried to get the words out he wanted to ask who you are, what you are but all that came from his mouth was...

“Hi,”

You blinked and tilt your head gently in confusion but nevertheless you responded, “Hi,”

Damn even your voice was the definition of melodic and it would put sirens to shame. 

You scooched over and patted the grass, motioning him to sit down. He didn’t know why but he complied and sat next to you. 

There was nothing but silence. The wind started to get strong for a while and it blew some leaves and flowers off the trees. 

“Y/N,” You cooed. 

Levi looked at you for a moment before answering back, “Levi,” 

“It’s nice to meet you, Levi,” 

Levi hummed and looked at you for a bit. He didn’t know how someone could be so flawless and beautiful (I know right reader-chan... How are you so flawless ;) )

He took a moment before gently asking, “What are you?” 

You took a moment to think about your answer not looking away from the calming skies before replying, “I’m an immortal being that could float and control the weather,” 

That... Was definitely not what Levi was expecting for an answer.

“So you’re a God?” Levi asked sarcastically. 

“Goddess,” You replied with your gentle calming voice. 

Levi watched your expression and realized you weren’t joking. He stared at you with his mouth opened for what seems like a full 8 minutes before you began to speak again, “You know... Levi Ackerman...” You paused, “Dark times are coming... I hope you’re prepared for them,” 

Levi stared at you questioningly before finally asking, “You’re a Goddess... Why can’t you change that?”

The wind blew stronger once more. 

“I guess... Because things happen for a reason,” You replied gently.

Levi wanted to scold you, to tell you off but he couldn’t something in him prevented him to. 

You sighed and got up. Levi stared at your figure who was just standing still pondering about something. You turned to him and causing him to flinch. You looked like you wanted to really say something... But no words came from you. Instead you patted him on the head and started walking off. 

Levi was still processing your gentle touch before yelling to you. 

“Y/N!” 

You stopped in your tracks and looked back at the stoic man. 

Levi didn’t know why he wanted to say this but he couldn’t stop the words from coming out of his mouth, “If I survive this I want to meet you again!” 

You floated towards the tree leaving Levi in shock at your literal power to float. You plucked one flower off the tree and floated down. Your feet touching the soft grass once more. The flower had turned grown an entire branch with more flowers covering it. You handed the branch of flowers to him and gave him a gentle smile. 

“You’ve been through so much” you cooed.

Levi’s eyes shifted downwards. 

“You can spend eternity with me if you survive,” You continued, “I can make you immortal with the help of God... It’s your choice,” 

Levi’s eyes shifted towards you. 

“Once all the nine titans are gone, come back and place the branch back on this tree,” 

Levi nodded. 

You reached your hand out and Levi’s horse came to you. 

“Go back now. Your comrades are waiting,” 

You sighed and starting walking away but you stopped, “You interest me Levi,” And you continued to walk away. Leaving Levi with the flowerful branch and his horse rubbing Levi’s upper arm. Levi’s eyes shifted towards the hair that clung on the tree. It wasn’t there anymore. You had disappeared right before him. 

Levi nodded before riding his horse and continued to his journey back to Erwin and Hange who questioned his disappearance. 

[cutesuki--bakugou]

Switched

Main Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x Koge Naegi (OC)

Story Rating: Explicit

Genre: Fluff / Romance / Domestic / Humor

Story Warnings: Body swapping, Foreplay (fingering / hand job), Masturbation, Sex (vaginal), Implied oral at the end, Alcohol, Intoxication, Cursing, Degrading dirty talk

Words: 7,447

a/n: This was incredibly difficult, awkward, and confusing to write, but I had a lot of fun with it and I hope it’s not too all over the place! I also hope no one gets too confused reading it but... either way, enjoy!

Written for the @bnhabookclub​​ ‘s members bingo event!

Crossed off: Body Swap

Bingo Masterlist

BTW, please blacklist the tag cutesuki-lemons if you do not want to see this content from my blog. I will no longer be tagging with specific keywords for this type of content.Thank you~

Due to the nature of this post, the characters are 18+

Art in banner by me

“Uh… Katsuki-” Koge choked on her own voice, covering her mouth as she peered down at her lover in complete shock. Or, well, she was technically staring down at… herself? What had happened? How the hell was she staring down at herself, her own pale blue gaze locked on her with just as much confusion. Her eyes that she had only ever seen through a reflection grew from surprised to absolutely horrified, skin growing pale - or, paler - as her body began to tremble.

“W-what the fuck, why do I-- wait, that’s not--!” Mimicking Koge’s previous movements of covering her mouth, the petite woman took a few steps back, looking up and down the body that Koge herself currently inhabited. “Not my voice! Why are you--? How did we--?!” 

Taking in a deep breath through her nose, Koge finally looked down at her body, squeaking out in shock at the view she had of a muscular torso clad in a black tank top. Next, her large hands moved up into her hair, feeling around the shortness of the soft locks that she was highly familiar with. 

“Don’t make that sound with my voice!” 

“Your voice?” Koge looked back down at Bakugou, and she could now, without a doubt, confirm the horrible and shocking truth. 

The two of them had switched bodies. 

“Katsuki, how the hell did this happen?” Koge took a few steps forward, placing both of her hands on Bakugou’s cheeks, though the size of them threw her off, nearly poking him in the eye. With a scoff and a snarl that Koge had never seen on her own face before, Bakugou smacked her hands away, frantically looking around them for the source of what had caused this catastrophe. 

“That person that bumped into us earlier! It had to have been them! Where the fuck did they go?” Bakugou began his trek back down the sidewalk the way the couple had originally come, white hair flipping and bobbing in its high ponytail as he looked around with snappy and rushed movements. People around them were also quite confused, stepping out of his way to avoid the fuming tiny body. Not wanting him to get too far away from her, Koge trotted after him, her newfound long legs making it quite easy to catch up. 

“Wait, wait, wait! Katsuki, we didn’t even see what he looked like, we can’t just go storming through the streets like this.” 

“No, I saw what he looked like!” Bakugou tried to look back at her, though his gaze instinctively went down, instead landing on Koge’s thighs. Embarrassment flashed across his face before he looked up, catching Koge’s gaze only for a moment before becoming visibly frustrated. “We can’t stay like this!” 

“I know that we can’t, Katsuki, but there are literally hundreds of people out right now. And you… don’t have a quirk that can get you up high anymore…” Koge timidly fiddled with her unfamiliar blunt nails, brow furrowed in worry. “I don’t know what to do about it.” 

“He was a fucking bald dude. And don’t pick at my nails, they’re short enough as it is!” Bakugou slapped her hands, though he did step in closer. “Take us up onto that building! I have my hero license if someone tries to stop us--” 

“I can’t use your quirk!” Her voice went higher than she had ever heard Bakugou’s in her panic, and the annoyance was visible on Bakugou’s face as his nose scrunched up. “Katsuki I wouldn’t even know how to activate it. And what if I did too strong of an explosion? I could kill people!” With a shake of her head, Koge shoved her hands into her pockets firmly. “No, I won’t even try--” 

“-- But we gotta find that asshole!” 

“I know we do, my love, but that just isn’t safe! We still have to be responsible…” 

“Then what do we do?” 

Koge looked up and down the sidewalk, giving a heavy sigh as she gazed over the bobbing heads of the packed crowds walking around them. “We just… we’ll have to look for him on foot, I guess. Let’s just go down the way we came from and I’ll try to spot him. You said bald? Anything else?” 

Falling oddly silent, Bakugou’s face flushed in agitation, both of his hands clutching onto the hem of the skirt Koge had worn that day. The longer he stood there silently, trying to coordinate his thoughts, the more his body began to tremble. 

“I… can’t remember…” Bakugou grumbled, eyes falling to look down at the sidewalk in defeat. “And there’s a million bald bastards in this city. Fuck!” 

Frowning, Koge caressed Bakugou’s arms gently, momentarily surprised at the way his entire hand could easily wrap around her body's upper arm. She truly was a tiny woman, though seeing it from this point of view was shocking. “Katsuki, let’s just… Why don’t we go to the police? If I was paying attention correctly, he seemed to bump into us very purposefully… I wonder if he’s doing these things to couples and random people to cause trouble.” 

Suddenly, Bakugou’s eyes lit up, as if a lightbulb had gone off inside his brain. “Ah, wait…! Shit.” Fumbling with the small purse slung over his shoulder, Bakugou pulled out Koge’s phone, poking the screen with lightning fast panic before holding the phone up to his ear. While they waited for whoever it was to answer, Koge used her grip on his arm to pull him off to the side into a little alleyway between businesses, so that they wouldn’t be in the way and she could possibly hear the conversation as well. 

“Put it on speaker--” 

With another glance up at her, Bakugou did so, holding the phone between them as they listened to it ring. Finally, a ring cut off, the cheery voice of their close friend ringing through the air. 

“Koge! Hey, how’s it going?” 

“It’s not Koge, shittyhair, it’s me!” 

“What? You sound like Koge, but she never calls me that.” 

“It’s me, Bakugou!” 

“Bakugou? Uh… Koge, is this like… a prank?” 

Tensing up with teeth clenched in a snarl, Bakugou nearly looked like he was about to throw the phone on the ground, even squatting down slightly in his typical aggressive posture with his other hand held up in agitation. “No-!” 

“N-no, Eijirou, it’s not a prank. Just… something happened, I’m not sure why Bakugou called you--” Koge interrupted, stepping in a bit closer to not only make sure that Kirishima could hear her clearly, but also to keep Bakugou from breaking her phone. 

“Okay, this is really trippy, man. You’re not messing with me?” 

“Just listen to me!” Bakugou barked loudly, startling Koge enough to make her jump. “You know that fucking guy we got a report on yesterday? The bitch that is making people switch bodies?” Koge caught Bakugou’s gaze, though the glare he gave her told her to hold her tongue for a moment. “What’d it say? It wasn’t in my jurisdiction, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.” 

“That’s not very hero-ish of you, man, you should pay attention to all of--” 

“I don’t need a fucking lecture, asshole!” 

“Wow, it’s so weird to hear Koge talk like this! Okay, okay. Yeah, I remember, what about it?” 

“Did they say anything about the quirk? How long it lasts or what to do if you get hit by it?” Seeming comforted by the fact that Kirishima knew what he was talking about, Bakugou’s posture relaxed, standing up straight with his free hand firmly on his hip. Koge had to admit that seeing her body acting out all these familiar reactions was very trippy, especially since she had grown quite desensitized from years and years of being with Bakugou. 

“Oh, wait, did you really get hit with it--?” 

“Are you shitting me right now?!” Bakugou barked, even somehow producing his signature growl using Koge’s meek voice. “Would I be asking if it hadn’t happened?!” 

“Oh, true, I guess. Uh, yeah, they said that it goes away on its own after a few days-” 

“Days?!” 

“Yeah, man. Just lay low for a while. You’re on vacation anyway, aren’t you? No one has to know! I won’t tell.” 

“Don’t fucking talk to anyone about it. Not even Curls, got it?!” As he gave an aggressive point at the phone screen, Koge had to hold back a laugh and keep her snide comments to herself. She couldn’t help a little snort from escaping, however, and Bakugou’s finger moved to her, as did his warning glare that this statement applied to her, too. 

“Haha, don’t worry, Nene won’t hear it from me! Ya need anything else, man? I actually have a villain like… tied up right now-” 

“And you still answered the fucking phone?” 

“Well yeah, why wouldn’t I?” 

Bakugou gave a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, mumbling to himself at the idiocy of his best friend. “Alright. Thanks.” 

“No problem! Later!” 

With the farewell, Bakugou hung up the call, turning his annoyed glare up to Koge, who released a small sigh in relief. “Well, Katsuki, I guess… We should do that?” 

Putting the phone away, Bakugou shook his head, turning his glare out to watch the people passing by. “I fucking hate it. I want to be able to catch that fucker.” How antsy he had become was visible, as if he were hanging on the tips of his toes to run off again and search the entire city himself. That would be a fruitless venture, and if Koge didn’t come up with some way to pull him back, he was going to go trotting around in her body and cause who knows how much trouble. 

“I know, love.” Koge took both of his hands again gently, unable to help the small smile on her lips at how Bakugou’s cheeks flushed at her touch. “But don’t worry. It’ll pass. How about we just continue on with our day?” 

“There’s no fucking way I’m going to a movie and shit like this, Utsuro. Let’s just go home.” How quickly he gave in was quite surprising, his brow furrowing in helplessness. “I feel fucking weird standing out here in a damn skirt, anyway. Couldn’t you have worn hose or leggings? Something besides just these fucking underwear that are all the way up my crack!” 

Koge instantly burst out in a choked laugh, covering her lips with one hand to try and hide her amused smile. “Well, someone told me to wear those earlier while we were getting ready. They look cute, but they’re really uncomfortable.” 

“Then why do you wear them!?” 

“Because they’re your favorite right now. Though I bet that’s gonna change now that you gotta walk all the way home in them.” Koge placed both her hands on his cheeks, pushing white bangs out of the way to press a sweet kiss on his forehead. “Or, if you really want, just slip them off and put them in the purse. No one will know unless the wind blows the skirt up.” 

Growling as his face flushed a dark crimson from the affection, Bakugou gripped onto both of her hands, digging the tips of his fingers between her palms and his cheeks. “Don’t use my body to kiss yours! It’s weird! And no, I’m not going to pussy out and take them off. If you can deal with them for me, then I can take it.” Even though his voice was aggressive, the softness in his gaze as he looked up at her gave away how appreciative he was of her calming and distracting him. 

Ignoring his command, Koge gave him another smooch on the forehead before releasing him, though one of his hands stayed clutched onto hers tightly. “Let’s go home, then. We can just get tipsy off whisky and watch stupid horror movies instead.” 

“I need to get fucking wasted to handle this shit.” Bakugou began to storm out of the ally, tugging her along by the hand, even though he was nearly pulled back just from the sturdiness of his muscular original body. “Fuck, walk, would’ya!?” 

“I am!” Koge kept up with him, though she let out an audible groan only a few steps down the sidewalk, shoving her free hand into her pocket nervously. “I’m going to bump into all these people, I know it. I’m not used to being this huge!” 

“And you think it’s easy for me to be this small?!” Bakugou scoffed, glaring up at Koge out of the corner of his eye. “You’re a shrimp! I feel like anyone could just step on me. I hate it.” 

“Your dick is also super weird feeling,” Koge mumbled barely loud enough for Bakugou to hear. “It jiggles around when I walk, why do you wear such loose pants and boxers?” 

“Maybe because I like the freedom? Be grateful I even wore boxers today, you know I usually don’t with sweatpants.” 

“It’s weird! I feel like I need to walk with my legs spread-” 

“-Don’t, you’ll make me look like a dipshit!” 

“Oh, hm. Then I’m gonna do it, all the way home, and tomorrow there will be reports of the great Ground Zero walking around like he has a stick up his ass.” 

“Utsuro…!” 

…

They returned home within the hour, having bickered most of the way back on how to properly carry each other’s bodies and basic etiquette concerning skirts, which Bakugou failed to follow, as he demonstrated quite well by nearly flashing everyone while not holding the skirt down as a train flew past in the station. Koge was quick to hold it down for him, even if his initial reaction and bark not to touch his ass pulled in more attention than a little cheeky peek would have. 

Otherwise it was a cacophony of “don’t slouch”, “you can’t just reach into your shirt to fix your bra in front of everyone”, “pull up your pants, they’re too far down your ass”, “don’t play pocket pool, everyone can see”, “stop frowning so much, you’ll give my face permanent wrinkles”, and whatever other little thing the couple could find to nitpick. 

By the time they walked through the door to their apartment, Bakugou was beyond agitated, taking off his shoes before storming into the kitchen. “I’m not leaving this damn place until we’re normal again! Not for anything!” 

With a small roll of her eyes at his attitude, Koge took her shoes off as well, leaving them at the entrance. Following her lover, she immediately burst out into laughter at the sight of him trying to reach up to their alcohol stash, which was on a cabinet shelf that she could never reach, not without the help of a chair, a stool, or a strong man. “What’s the matter, Katsuki? A little short, aren't cha?” 

“I fucking swear Utsuro, I will destroy your stupid ass!” 

“So you’ll destroy yourself? Doesn’t sound very productive.” Smirk on her lips, Koge slipped her hands under his arms, grabbing him by the armpits to easily hoist him up. “Up you go!” 

Flailing, Bakugou didn’t even bother to grab the alcohol, snatching the skirt and holding it against his hips as a shocked squeak left his lips. “Hey! You bitch, put me down!” 

Koge sputtered a chuckle, giving a roll of her eyes as she nudged him towards the cabinet. “Oh my god, Katsuki, it’s literally my body, why are you hiding yourself! Get the whisky!” 

“I don’t need your help!” 

“Love, I know better than anyone that you do need my help.” 

“I’m not a fucking child-!” 

“-Just get it and I’ll let you down!”

Huffing in defiance, Bakugou glared up at the bottle of alcohol before snatching it, holding it tightly to his chest before slamming the cabinet door closed. “Put me the fuck down!” 

“But you’re so light! I could just carry you forever. Like my own little pocket Katsuki,” Koge plopped him down onto his feet, putting her hands triumphantly on her hips as she smiled down at him, though all she received in return was a flustered glare. 

“Don’t ever pick me up again.” 

“No?” Smile turning sly, Koge placed both of her hands firmly against the edge of the countertop, arms on either side of his body and trapping him in place. “I promise I won’t do it again. If you give me a kiss.” 

Bakugou’s cheeks flushed all the way to his ears, immediately shaking his head. “No! Utsuro, that’s weird! That’s like kissing myself.” 

“Nuh uh, you’re just kissing me.” 

“You could kiss your own body and not be creeped out?” Glowering up at her, Bakugou popped the cork out of the whisky bottle, holding it tightly by the neck. Koge sighed, letting her head hang for a moment as she met his glare with one of her own. 

“Katsuki. I want you to think of all the other weird shit we’ve done. You shove your fingers and your dick in my mouth during and after fucking me all the time. You eat me out - pussy and ass - and then kiss me. Honestly. You think I’m scared of kissing myself? Also,” Koge shifted her weight to the other foot, smile returning to her lips. “You have no excuses to be grossed out, either. You literally ate me out the other day, even after you had already cum in me. And you let me kiss you after sucking you off and everything else, too. No excuses.” 

Falling silent in contemplation, Bakugou brought the bottle up to his lips, taking a decent swig of the dark liquid. “Why do you always have to have a rational reasoning for everything? I love that about you, but sometimes it pisses me off, ‘cause I can never win!” 

“Soooo?” Koge’s smile grew, eyes growing brighter with her victory. “Kiss?” 

Aggressively snatching onto the front of Koge’s shirt, Bakugou yanked her down, allowing their lips to press together in an awkward and uncoordinated mess. Koge was quick to try and recover it, however, taking hold of his cheeks and using her memory of the way he kissed her to mimic his movement and position. Bakugou wasn’t quite able to do the same, his smaller mouth a bit awkward for him, but neither seemed to mind when Koge pulled away. She nearly burst out into laughter at how incredibly red his face was, giving him one more peck on the lips before pulling away. 

“Don’t be so shy, Katsuki! You have really soft lips, you know, you should enjoy it.” 

“Yeah but your mouth is so fucking tiny, I felt like you were going to eat my face.” 

“Well, we have a few days to practice. Maybe it’ll make us better kissers when we’re normal again.” 

“You’re not getting another kiss, that was it.” 

“I dunno, Katsuki. Who knows what that whisky will make you feel like in my body.” 

…

As the sun set, the couple sat on the couch in their living room, watching whatever movie looked the most absurd. By now, the two of them had finished off the bottle of whisky, with Bakugou being the one to really go at it. Even though Koge had just as much as he had, she wasn’t feeling anything more than a little buzz, her body relaxed and eyes feeling heavy with the weight of alcohol. But, at the other end of the couch from where she sat, Bakugou seemed to be barely holding himself together. 

Koge had warned him, though. She had told him that she was a total lightweight, and getting drunk was incredibly, and almost frighteningly, easy for her. Still, here he was, drinking like he was still in his own body. Pushed right to the edge of no longer being coherent or truly conscious of his actions or surroundings, Koge had taken the whisky away and put it up, leaving Bakugou to pout and whine. She could deal with it, since it was better than having to take care of him while he puked on the floor. Thankfully, they had a lot of snacks, too, so that helped to offset the intoxication just a little bit. 

That didn’t help his attitude, though. Frustrated that she had taken the whisky away from him, he plopped himself on the other end of the couch, a permanent pout on his lips as he watched the television with hazy focus. She had tried to get him to return to cuddles, but he was being stubborn, so in the end, she let him sit alone to pout until he got lonely on his own. 

“This movie is the worst.” Koge mumbled as she plopped some popcorn into her mouth, giving a sigh as she stretched out her legs along the couch, giving a small groan as they crackled and popped at the joints. “Jeez, Katsuki, your body is so sore! What the hell have you been doing that’s different with your workouts?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Bakugou mumbled, ignoring her feet as they rested against his thigh. “Whisky thief.” 

With a roll of her eyes, Koge tossed some popcorn at him, hitting him in the cheek and making him jump. Huffing, Bakugou picked up the piece and threw it back, only to be pelted with at least five more pieces. “Stop, ya salty bitch!” 

“You’re the salty bitch tonight.” Koge tossed another, only for Bakugou to somehow successfully catch it in his mouth despite his incoordination. “Ooh, nice one, babe. Even shitfaced you can still catch popcorn.” 

“I am not shitfaced.” Bakugou began to pick up the pieces of popcorn that had fallen over his body, though one was particularly difficult as it fell between the impressive cleavage he now sported. “Damn you and your big tits!” 

“What?! You love my tits, don’t act like that.” Koge’s attention was pulled back to the television with the sound of a particularly horrific scream, the gruesome death scene doing nothing to perturb her. “Aw, poor thing. Getting chopped up by a meat cleaver.” 

“Oh damn, is that the sexy one?” 

“Nah, it’s her friend. The sexy one is still off with her boyfriend.” 

“The sexy one needs to come back, she looks like you.” Bakugou let out a belch, reaching out to grab the bottle of water Koge had given to him to drink. “I can’t look at you, so I have to look at her instead.” 

Koge gave a small chortle, having to control herself to not burst out laughing as water accidentally dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin, once again landing on his chest and slipping down into his cleavage. “Katsuki, you can look at me. Just look down, you are literally in my body.” 

“It’s not the same… Fuck!” Wiping his chin with the back of his hand, he grumbled in annoyance to himself, nearly missing the table while attempting to put the water bottle back in its place. “Why is this table so fucking far away.” 

“It’s not. You drunk.” 

“Fuck off. Ooh damn, there she is. How much she looks like you is fucking crazy. Oh shit, they’re getting frisky.” Bakugou settled back against the couch, intently focused on the TV to his highest capability. 

“Do you love her more than me?” 

“I want to fucking bone the shit out of you, Utsuro, but I can’t, so all I can do is stare at this cunt who looks like you.” 

“So vicious. What if that was me? What if I’ve been a secret actor my whole life?” 

“I said that she looked like you, but that doesn’t mean she’s exactly like you. You’re way fucking hotter than that bitch. Also, her fake moans sound like shit.” Pulling out another piece of popcorn that he had previously forgotten on his lap, Bakugou ate it, effectively ending that conversation as the hated fake moans filled the room. As the sex scene went on, Koge found herself watching for when they would be attacked by the murderer, but there was something that bothered her about it. 

It was so damn long and more realistic than what she was used to seeing in B-rated horror movies. Usually they were quick and to the point before the couple got interrupted or murdered while fucking. But this seemed to be going on forever, and she was about to make a snide comment about it when she noticed something out of her peripheral. 

Bakugou was moving, however miniscule, and how long it had gone unnoticed wasn’t something Koge was sure about. From what she could tell without looking at him directly, he seemed to have his hands up inside the tank top he was wearing, massaging and squeezing his chest. What was more, she could hear his more hitched and deep breathing behind the sounds coming from the TV, truly giving away exactly what he was doing. 

Is he seriously touching my body? He really must be horny. 

Holding her breath so she could hear him better, Koge clutched on tightly to the bowl of popcorn still sitting on her lap, a heat rising into the tips of her ears. Why would he be doing that with her sitting right here? Could he really just not wait, or was this some kind of signal that he didn’t care about the circumstances and wanted to fuck anyway? There was also the possibility that he was so wasted that he just completely forgot that she was even there. 

With a particular loud hitching of his breath, Koge felt an unfamiliar twitch between her legs, becoming quite hyper aware of the pulsing presence pushing up against the bowl. Oooh god, I have a boner! Damn, this is bad! 

Adjusting the way she was sitting so that she could put the bowl down, she tried to sit with her legs in different positions, but in the end, she found that any position didn’t hide her affliction. Faster than she could even prepare herself, the cock she had always adored and craved was hard and pressing up uncomfortably against the sweatpants she wore. It was so sensitive, every little twitch to shifting of the fabric against it making her body tingle and crave for contact. 

She had always wondered what it felt like to have a boner, but now that she did, she could understand why Bakugou got incredibly frustrated and impatient. The urge to fuck that came with it was familiar to her, but damn was it difficult to not just start stroking it. 

“You got a fucking boner, Utsuro?” 

Koge nearly jumped out of her skin at Bakugou’s voice, finally finding the courage to look at him. Leaning back and sunk down a bit with feet placed firmly on the floor, Bakugou was still playing with his breasts beneath the tank, the shape and movement of his hands visible beneath the thin fabric. Although Koge wanted to watch, her gaze was locked with his, the heat in her ears spreading across her cheeks to the tip of her nose. 

“I… So what if I do?” Koge huffed, once again trying to hide her hips with her arms. “I’m not the one touching myself. Look at you, squeezing your - my - tits like a horny teenager who’s never seen them before. Are you even listening?!” 

Bakugou leaned his head back, mouth open in a choked moan and eyes fluttering closed, fingers clearly clamped down tightly around his hard nipples. “Fuck, your tits are so perfect and sensitive. No wonder you scream when I bite them.” 

Koge’s stomach began to bubble with nervous arousal, wishing so desperately to scoot over and join him. “What… made you want to start that?” 

“I don’t fucking know. I think… that even though I’m in your body… It still naturally reacts to things that would turn you on before, on top of my attraction to your body, I just… Fuck, I just needed to feel something!” 

At first, the theory that he proposed seemed reasonable, especially with the way Bakugou’s original body reacted just to hearing the soft and sensual gasps he had been making. Normally, just a sultry little giggle could turn Bakugou on like a furnace and his hands would be latched to her body in seconds. He adored her voice, and she loved his, but it was such a strange sensation to be turned on by her original sounds. Or maybe that wasn’t the case, and this entire theory was just drunken ramblings, his mind trying to come up with anything to rationalize what he was feeling. 

A fire rushed down Koge’s spine as Bakugou pushed the tank up over his chest, letting his breasts fall free before he took hold of them again. In the dim blue glow of the TV, Koge could see that his nipples were puffy and dark pink from the abuse, telling her that he was really going strong. The cock between her legs once again twitched impatiently at the sight, strained against the fabric that concealed it. Unsure of what else to do, she cupped it in her hand, trying to hold it in hopes that the touch would at least help a little. All it did was make the blush on her face grow hotter as she could feel it pulsing, only able to imagine the way it always felt so good being shoved down her throat. 

“How’s it feel, Utsuro? Huh? To have a dick so hard that you feel crazy, with no pussy or mouth to stick it in.” One of Bakugou’s hands left his breasts, slipping down between his legs to rub his sex on the outside of his underwear. A simple stroke to the unfamiliar and sensitive clit had him trembling, biting lazily at his bottom lip. “Fuck… You have such a slutty body. It’s weird to see it like this… To touch you as you.” 

Koge began to palm up and down the length of the cock in her hand, watching him continue to pleasure himself. “You’re the worst, you know that. You go on and on, refusing to even let me kiss you, and now you’re over there touching yourself and saying all that dirty shit.” 

“Fuck off. I don’t need you to get off, I can make your body cum myself and be done with it. You can go jack off in the bathroom or right there, I don’t fucking care.” Being familiar with her body and how to touch her, Bakugou’s hand was quick to slip inside his underwear, fingers immediately starting to plunge in and out of him. Though, Koge was immediately able to recognize the slightly confused furrow of his brow as his fingers defaulted back to his clit. 

Koge couldn’t get off on just her fingers. At this point in her life, having been with him for so long and growing used to either him getting her off or using toys, there wasn’t ever anything she could do using her own hands or fingers to truly get her off. Sure, it felt good, but very rarely and only in times of true desperation could she get herself to cum. And, if it was her body still getting turned on and not necessarily just his own horny thoughts, Koge knew that her stubborn body would want either thick fingers or a fat cock inside her, and nothing else would suffice. 

Knowing this fact could be her chance, Koge shifted herself in just a bit closer, still softly rubbing and teasing her cock through the fabric of her sweats. “What’s wrong, Katsuki? Did you forget a little something about my body? You seem a little surprised.” 

“I said fuck off! I can’t do it with you staring at me like that!” Bakugou’s hazy glare was only set on her face for a moment before it fell to her hips, the already fierce blush growing darker. He wiggled, as if his body had begun to ache for the source of pleasure it craved before he had to forcibly tear his eyes away. “I don’t need your help!” 

“You do, though, Katsuki.” Moving to sit right up beside him on her knees, Koge placed one hand on his bare thigh, feeling the corners of her lips twitch in excitement as his legs spread further open instinctively. “You’ll never be able to get off on just those little fingers. My body needs more… Why don’t you let me show you?” Moving slowly, Koge’s hand began to travel up towards Bakugou's hips, the urges within her only growing stronger by the feeling of such soft skin against rough and calloused palms. So focused on trying to persuade him, she barely noticed her other hand shifting her sweatpants out of the way, setting her cock free. 

Bakugou's eyes were immediately on her hips again, that familiar hint of contemplation in his gaze. “Utsuro, what makes you think I need your help?”

“I know you do. Just look,” It took very little pressure for Koge to slip her hand into Bakugou's underwear, finding no resistance as she replaced his fingers along his soaked cunt. With the first rough roll of her large fingers against his clit, Bakugou’s body immediately reacted just as she expected, giving a light jerk inwards with a moan slipping unrestrained from his lips. Smirk crossing her own, Koge used her memory of what he always did to her, rolling the puffy and sensitive button with hard pressure. “See the difference? See how good it feels…”

Bakugou’s chest began to heave with his breathing, eyes locked on the form of Koge’s hand moving beneath the little lace underwear. “I-it doesn’t feel any different- a-ah, fuck, I said I don’t need you!” One of Bakugou’s legs lifted to unconsciously give Koge more room, his foot slamming firmly onto the table. Taking the hint, Koge slipped her middle and third finger into him, her entire body flushing with a fierce and burning heat at the moan that left his lips. Just watching him come undone so quickly with just the deep and rhythmic movements of her fingers made her want to immediately sink her cock into whatever orifice he’d allow, but she kept control of herself. 

“You do need me, Katsuki. Look at you… Just admit that it’s amazing. That it’s exactly what my body wants. I know what my body wants.” 

Giving a click of his tongue in between his deep breaths and moans, Bakugou took hold of Koge’s cock with the hand he had been using to pleasure himself, using the slick that still coated his fingers and the dripping precum from her tip to start stroking. “I know, too! You couldn’t handle my body on your own, either!” 

Unable to resist the shuddering of her body and the deep groan that left her lips, Koge leaned forward a bit over Bakugou’s body, using her free arm against the back of the couch to hold herself steady. With every tight squeeze against her tip, Koge felt her body become more overwhelmed with the pleasure and desires for more, her hips lightly bucking up into his touch. Although it felt amazing, her eyes wandering his body and head filled with the sounds of his moans only pushed her buttons further. She needed more. This wasn’t going to be enough. 

Though, before Koge could even make another move, Bakugou cursed out loudly, putting both hands onto her chest and pushing her back roughly to force her to down onto her back. “Fuck this! Lay your stupid ass down! I’m going to take care of this, now!” 

“W-what? Wait, Katsuki-!” 

Not even giving Koge a moment to fix her position, Bakugou climbed up on top of her all while stripping off his underwear, straddling her hips. “No more waiting! I swore I wasn’t going to do this shit, but your fucking body is so slutty it can’t survive not having my cock inside it. You damn fucking whore.” Bakugou took hold of Koge’s face roughly, his drunken and horny rage making him very uncoordinated and rough, though Koge wasn’t going to complain, as the feeling of his nails in her skin made her cock ache and twitch impatiently. “You’re a whore, aren’t you? You’re my little cock hungry slut.” 

“Y-yes, Katsuki-” Koge bit down onto her bottom lip as Bakugou sat firmly down onto her hips, her cock squished between her abdomen and Bakugou’s dripping cunt. With a slow rolling of his hips, Bakugou began to grind his clit along her, from the base to the tip. “Fuck-!” 

“What’s that?” A wicked smirk crossed Bakugou’s lips, putting more pressure with each grind of his hips. “What’s wrong, Utsuro?” 

“I-” A hiss left her lips as Bakugou released her face, both of his hands resting against her stomach with nails digging into her skin. In response, Koge gripped onto his hips tightly, wishing so desperately to just shove herself inside him. “Stop teasing!” 

“You say that, but my body fucking loves it, right? Isn’t that what you’ve been going on about? And yours… fuck!” Losing his composure, Bakugou made rough and small movements right against the tip of Koge’s cock, using the ridges along the underside to pleasure himself. “Yours is on fire! This damn… fucking slutty body of yours… Only one way to deal with it-!” 

Finally lifting his hips, Bakugou wasted no time in beginning to lower himself down onto Koge’s cock, but he barely got past the tip before he had to pause. Koge might have had a bit to do with that, as the initial squeezing against her tip and the heat felt as if she might lose control of herself that instant. So, she kept a tight grip on his hips, using her strength to keep him from moving another inch as she let herself grow used to the unfamiliar pleasures. 

“Bitching out already, Utsuro?” 

Breathing heavily, Koge glared up at Bakugou, who’s smug smirk made her immediately quite flustered. “Shut up, Katsuki. You don’t even know what’s about to come.” 

“Don’t be so fucking cocky-” 

Koge didn’t allow him to even catch a breath before she pulled his hips down with a thrust of her own hips upward, bringing his hips down flush against hers to bury her cock completely inside him. All the air knocked out of his lungs, Bakugou barely even got a squeak out, nearly collapsing forward onto Koge’s chest. Eyes wide and mouth agape with shock, Bakugou’s began to tremble, struggling to take in a breath or get out a single word. Koge, however, couldn’t stand waiting a single second longer, the feeling of being so deep inside him already driving her crazy. “A-ah, Katsuki! It’s so hot!” 

“D-don’t, don’t-!” 

Bakugou’s voice was a choked whisper as Koge began to thrust upwards into him, overpowering him to keep control so he couldn’t move away. Although he was being defiant, Bakugou couldn’t stop the moans that spilled from his lips, completely overwhelmed with the pleasure. Koge was the same, the feeling of being squeezed like this with each thrust so blissful that she already felt the urge to cum. But, within a few moments, Bakugou gathered himself, giving a frustrated yell as one of his hands came to rest roughly and firmly on Koge’s face, two of his fingers plunging into her mouth to get her attention. 

“I said don’t!” With the momentary confusion, Bakugou began to take over the pace, bouncing his body. “I said I was going to take care of this! Don’t fuck me unless I say so!” 

“W-what are you saying?” Koge’s ability to speak was inhibited by his fingers, but she was too overcome with wave after wave of pleasure to care. “I am fucking you! Ack, don’t-!” Koge pulled his hand away from her mouth. “Your body has a weak gag reflex! You can’t stick your fingers down my throat right now, I’ll puke!” 

“No shit! I don’t suck cock like you do every day! Fuck, it’s already in there so fucking deep, how can your body want more?!” 

“A-ah, mm- wait! Wait, Katsuki!” Koge felt completely helpless as Bakugou rode her with vigor, bouncing his body rougher and more eager than Koge could ever remember doing herself. He was completely smitten, the pleasure only intoxicating him further until he wasn’t holding himself back. “I-I’m not sure I can hold out! How do you hold it in?!” 

“Shut the fuck up and clench your balls, Utsuro!” 

“That isn’t how it works!” 

“I don’t fucking know, I can’t think! Distract yourself-!” A squeak left his lips as Koge snatched onto the tank he still wore, yanking him down and pulling him into a kiss to do just that. Bakugou was quick to reciprocate, only having to pause his hips for a moment before he began to pick back up the pace, moaning and gasping into the kiss as both of his hands buried into Koge’s hair. His nails in her scalp and how eager he was didn’t help Koge’s condition at all, and just hearing the way his voice hitched in that familiar sign of getting close to his peak made her body tense in frustration. 

Wrapping her arms around his waist, Koge once again began thrusting upwards into him, matching his pace and rhythm. Bakugou’s voice immediately spiked, his head resting into Koge’s shoulder, though he didn’t do anything to stop her. “Utsuro! I said… I-... I said don’t!” 

“Shut up, Katsuki! Just let me do it! It’s obvious you’re enjoying getting fucked by your own cock, so take it!” 

“I’m not! I’m not- it’s your fucking slutty body! It has nothing to do with me! Oh shit, that spot there! There- fuck!” 

“A-ah, Katsuki, don’t squeeze, I can’t-!” 

From that moment on, there was nothing Koge could do to restrain herself. His moans, the slapping of skin and the feeling of his walls constricting around her like a vice pushed her over the edge, a burst of pleasure rocketing from the pressure within her hips. It was unlike anything she was used to feeling, the singular powerful pop of pleasure bringing her body nearly to a complete halt, gasping and groaning into Bakugou’s hair as her hips bucked up hard and deep into him. 

With the last twinge of pleasure, it felt as if all the energy had been sucked out of her body, falling limp as she struggled to catch her breath. “Damn… That’s… Nothing like normal. Not as strong as what I’m used to either but- OUCH!” Koge winced as there was a sudden harsh yank to her hair, peering up at Bakugou through one clenched eye as he sat up, though the dark look on his face immediately made Koge’s stomach churn nervously. “Oh no-” 

“I didn’t cum yet, Utsuro.” Bakugou’s glare was dark, as if he were about to go on a murderous rampage. “You fucking scum.” 

“K-Katsuki, wait, I couldn’t help it!” Koge nervously grabbed onto Bakugou’s sides, unsure of what was about to happen. Of course, she knew exactly how he was feeling, and how badly she probably just edged him would have been unbearable. “I’m sorry! Let me, uh… Just let me get hard again, I can finish you off!” Suddenly, there was a hitch of Bakugou’s breath, his eyes growing teary and face flushing from ear to ear. Now, Bakugou was truly going through the torment of edging and dissatisfaction that Koge had to suffer through on a daily basis because of him and his teasing, and even if he had a strong consciousness, the intoxication and feeling of his new body wasn’t going to let him have all the control. 

“Bullshit! You bitch! I was so close!” 

“Oh what, does it hurt? See what I suffer through, Katsuki?! Maybe now you’ll never edge me again!” 

“Oh, oh no.” Bakugou’s frustration morphed into true malicious intent, his mouth quivering as a smirk stretched across his lips. “You torture me? I’m about to make sure you go through hell until I’m satisfied.” 

“What? You can’t torture your own body, Katsuki-- Ah! Wait, no, don’t sit on my face, I- mmph!” 

“I’m not in my body right now, Utsuro. I’ll do whatever I want to you until you’re fucking begging for me to stop. Now drink up, I’m sure you’re thirsty after that huge fucking load. And look, you are already hard again. No matter what body you’re in, you’re nothing but a slut… and I’m going to treat you like one.”  

Tag: @gallickingun​

[bigskydreaming]

Lemme get the timeline right, so Dick was about 15-16 when first Teen Titans happened, then he came back to Batgirl's debut, some time later he left for college & that was the issue where Bruce is kinda teary, looking at Dick's prizes, Dick teases him a lil? Or was that golden age? Then he's recruited by Raven, NTT happens, but the firing... I'm confusing these parts. He got fired after getting shot by Joker? He was Robin then so before Jason, but was he with NTT or in Gotham?

LOL don’t worry about being confused, because it very much IS confusing thanks to so many continuities and retcons.

Personally, I tend to go with pre-New 52 timeline and then just later stories like that timeline never ended and just kept going with New 52 and Rebirth stories....with any discrepancies being like....’flashback stories’ retroactively inserted at the appropriate point in the characters’ histories. That’s just my approach though, doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.

But pre-New 52, the ages up until Dick is around 16 or 17 are pretty flexible.....you can kinda pick and choose when you view the first Teen Titans having formed because there aren’t any hard age milestones to use as a marker. So regardless of what you go with, up until Dick was about sixteen, maybe seventeen, he lived full time in Gotham with Bruce, was Robin, and ‘moonlighted’ with the Teen Titans, who in their early years were kinda more an excuse to hang out with their superhero friends rather than like....a specifically focused team.

THEN is when it gets confusing, because enter the Age of Retcons:

ORIGINALLY, pre-Crisis of Infinite Earths, aka Retcon-Palooza, Dick went on to become Nightwing while he was still on good terms with Bruce. Bruce took Jason in and adopted him, but there was zero conflict with Dick over this....in fact, at this point in the comics, Jason was ALSO an orphaned circus acrobat whose family had been friends with Dick’s family, and DICK was the one who helped him after his parents were murdered, and took him to Bruce, which led to Bruce adopting him. 

(Fun fact, and part of why I side-eye people who dismiss retcons as ‘not counting’......Jason’s extremely iconic and well-known history as a street kid who Bruce found stealing his tires......only spanned about TWELVE ISSUES. Before his death, he literally only existed with that origin for about a year’s worth of comics....as opposed to pre-Crisis, when he existed for SEVERAL years worth of comics as the plucky acrobat who adored Dick and was always doing his homework and saying “Robin gives me magic” and stuff. Fandom lives mashing these two versions of Jason together, which is fine, but they have zero problem plying his twelve issues of having grown up as a street kid for angst, while being dismissive of other characters’ retcons, and that’s right up there when talking about Things That Make Me Go HMMMM).

Anyway, so originally, pre-Crisis, Dick moved on to become Nightwing when HE was good and ready, of his own volition, because he felt he was entering a new stage of his life and wanted to reflect that. And then HE gave Robin to Jason HIMSELF, like, literally bequeathed it to him, brother to brother, with Jason being appropriately grateful to HIM for that rather than crediting Bruce with it, who had absolutely nothing to do with it other than looking on fondly and proceeding from there with Jason as his partner. Dick then transitioned to living and working with the New Teen Titans full time in New York. 

He also briefly went to college at this time, but dropped out after just one semester or one year or so......which other people often skew to make it sound like he’s lazy or spoiled or just wanted to live off Bruce’s money all of which makes me gnash my teeth, lol.....nah, he already had the equivalent of several college degrees just from growing up being trained by Bruce. Dick dropped out for one reason only: nothing he wanted to do with his life benefited from a college diploma specifically, and none of the jobs he went on to work later required one. He’s a kid who comes from a family who never went to college either because they didn’t NEED to in order to do what they loved....and Dick was no different. People love to cite that Dick was already fairly old when his parents died and that’s why ‘he didn’t need Bruce to be his parent as much specifically’ or whatthefuckever....but then they turn right around and act like he should live his life more according to the expectations and standards of Bruce as opposed to.....in keeping with his first family and their priorities and whatnot. BUT I DIGRESS.

But anyway, at this point, he mostly lived in New York and came back to Gotham every now and then to visit or to help with cases. Babs had at this point been Batgirl for some time, before he became Nightwing, but again, the timelines are messy, so the only real marker that’s important IMO is that her history with Bruce and Dick as Batgirl predates Jason joining the family, AND post-Crisis, when Jason had his street kid origin.....I think she interacted with that version of Jason maybe once?

My point there is there’s a lot of piling on the angst and pointing back to Dick as the ultimate culprit, with people making a big deal about how Barbara and others were constantly comparing Jason to Dick and resenting him for not being Dick and this made Jason’s childhood even with Bruce especially difficult....but again, nah. The vast majority of the time Babs/Batgirl co-existed with Jason/Robin, it was pre-Crisis Jason, which meant that he was on great terms with Bruce AND Dick and Dick was on great terms with Bruce, all of which means....NOBODY WAS RESENTING ANYBODY OR COMPARING ANYONE TO ANYONE ELSE, THEY ALL COEXISTED JUST FINE.

NOW.

ENTER THE RETCONS.

This is where it gets messier and more complicated, because JUST LIKE the comics retconned Jason’s origin to make him a street kid - and which NOBODY has trouble acknowledging or balancing......the comics ALSO retconned Dick’s departure from Gotham. Now it was because there was a story in which Dick was shot by the Joker, Bruce freaked out about his safety, and decided the best way to express this was by firing Dick as Robin and alienating him. Dick lingered for a few weeks, its said, in the hopes that Bruce would change his mind, but when Bruce didn’t, Dick finally packed his bags and left to go live with the Titans full time, where he became Nightwing. Its further said that this was the last contact they had for about a YEAR AND A HALF.....with Dick being the one to make the first move to resume contact.....when he found out from the papers both that Bruce had taken in a new kid (Jason) and adopted him already, AND made him Robin.

(A name which no matter WHAT origin you go for in terms of what it means to Dick, is regardless HIS CREATION, the mantle HE made for HIMSELF, and was never Bruce’s to give away, whether or not you go with the take that it was Dick’s mother’s nickname for him, or it being a reference to Robin Hood, Dick’s favorite childhood hero).

Anyway, Dick confronted Bruce about this, and Bruce basically just....acknowledged this without actually ever putting the words “I’m sorry” or “I messed up” in there, and that was Dick’s one and only ON THE PAGE interaction with Jason post-street kid origin before A Death In The Family....which occurred like two story arcs later. 

(However, something I like to point out is the issue where Dick and Jason meet after both their respective retcons, was a FLASHBACK issue. It literally starts the issue off with the caption “One year ago”.....meaning that even though Jason died only two story arcs later and we never saw Dick and he interact on the page again, that issue was deliberately scripted in such a way as to allow for a good couple years to pass IN UNIVERSE....which, IMO, is where Dick and Jason’s sibling bond and dynamic had more than enough time to form. Just because Dick was on bad terms with Bruce doesn’t mean he ever took this out on Jason, and we know from later stories that they at least interacted a few times we never saw, like when the two of them went skiing together - so while people act like they barely knew each other because Dick was never around, IMO there’s literally no reason to assume that Dick wasn’t just as good about reaching out to Jason and forming a sibling bond with him after that first initial meeting, as he later was with Tim and Cass and Damian. In fact, given how familiar Dick and Jason seem to be with each other after his return to Gotham years later, IMO the thing that ACTUALLY strains credulity is the idea that before Jason died, he and Dick only interacted a bare handful of times. Nah. That doesn’t track.)

ANYWAY. That’s how all that played out those two different times, and why there’s so much confusion, BUT I maintain a huge part of that confusion is artificially produced.....by people deliberately trying to mix and match continuities in a way that just flat out doesn’t work. Sooooooo many times over the years, we’ve heard takes on how Dick ‘quit’ being Robin and then Bruce made Jason Robin and Dick resented both of them for this, but uh.....that’s the one version of things that DIDN’T ever happen. There were two distinct ways it played out. In the first, Dick quit voluntarily, and then made Jason Robin himself, and he and Bruce and Jason were all on great terms. In the later version, (the definitive version, because just like Jason’s street kid origin, it was the retcon, yes, but it was also never refuted or contradicted, the way it would have to be to ‘reset’ canon to that earlier sequence of events/state of affairs) - but yeah, in the later version, Dick was fired, Bruce made Jason Robin, and Dick resented BRUCE for this.

But people keep trying to play mix and match so Dick both quit - thus ‘giving up his claim to Robin/theoretically having no basis to object to someone else being Robin’....AND Bruce made Jason Robin - thus getting ‘credit’ in Jason’s eyes for giving him this mantle, responsibility and trust - with Dick then resenting Bruce for giving away the thing he ‘gave up.’

And that’s so disingenuous and obnoxious, when people try and play that game. They don’t want Dick to have ‘the right’ to the same complaints they have about Jason and Tim being ‘replaced’ but they also don’t want him to get credit for giving Robin to Jason because that would imply a strong brotherly bond and connection between them, one in which Dick clearly loves his little brother, and its just....uggggggh. So annoying.

BUT I DIGRESS.

Anyway, that’s the scoop, the buzz, the happening.

[vaguely-concerned]

Mass Effect Initiation thoughts

In short: this book is actually really good, N.K. Jemisin is, as we all know, an excellent writer! It’s the story of how Cora met Alec Ryder and joined the Initiative, and it has SO much good good SAM content and I am full of emotions. 

- poor cora is so continually out of her depth, I want to give her a hug. the points made about her in the main game are true though -- she is not ready for leadership yet. (and that’s fine! she does much better with something or someone to belong to and that is so Valid. she’s an honorable Loyal Knight!!! one of the sexiest things to be, as we all know)

I think I’ll actually like her a lot more on this new playthrough now -- she must have been quite hard to write compellingly in the game because at the end of the day she’s really very straightforward and honest and loyal, it’s quite hard to uh ‘hide’ things in her character  

- alec ryder deadass installed an unspeakably illegal (and did I mention experimental?) AI in cora’s head with no informed consent whatsoever. d A D 

(when cora is like ‘are you actually going to another galaxy because they don’t have laws to stop you from committing fully to your craziness in public’ and alec is like *...maybe so meme* fadsfhkj he does literally say ‘this is why I’m going to another galaxy’ out loud at a later point of the book)

- this book is giving me the good good SAM content ;________; I love SAM so much, the scene where cora thinks she’s dying and SAM talks to her? when cora asks SAM if he’s okay being connected to her because if he’s sentient that matters to her (cora is a Good)? SAM explicitly having inherited alec ryder’s sense of humour and sarcasm and alec a) doesn’t know how it happened, b) distantly thinks he should probably track that process down and turn it off (and never does) and c) regrets all his life choices when his robot kid mercilessly snarks at him and questions his life choices? please bioware give me an me:a sequel with more of this stuff I’ll eat it up with a spoon

- body diverse asari! HUGE BUFF ASARI! Short stocky beautiful matriarch asari with one krogan and one turian trophy husband fast asleep in her bed in the background of a vidcall fkdjshfkjsdlhfkjsdah god I love mass effect with my entire heart

- OLD LADY INFORMATION BROKER VOLUS WORKING OUT OF ILLIUM!!!! this is not a drill what the fUCK this is the coolest shit 

- fasdklhfsjkdalfhsdjk okay in Alec Ryder POV: “I don’t think [Cora] likes me very much.” Which probably meant she had good judgement. AFLSKJDHGJSDKF ALEC 

he has a weird flip-flopping sense of self -- he is uncompromisingly (one might even say... astoundingly arrogantly) secure in his own intellectual superiority and that most other people are idiots not to be trusted and that he needs to do things himself because others would mess it up, and yet there’s this clear seam of self loathing around basically everything else about himself too. (You know who he reminds me of, in a more military and less visibly anxious way? Rodney McKay. Alec Ryder is like a slightly unfortunate outcome for a McShep lovechild. I think we just figured out why I have sort of a soft spot for him even though he’s a certifiable dick lol) 

- this book really makes it hit home that cora grew up incredibly isolated and dirt poor. I’ve seen some people say her backstory is all sunshine and daisies compared to kaidan and especially jack’s, but honestly her background is complicated and fucked up enough that I’m just like ‘shit baby :(’ all the time

- well I have successfully solved the puzzle about whether alec ryder is an idealist or not; he absolutely is. a grouchy, bad-tempered one with no people skills, but an idealist nonetheless. alec ryder is in fact a storm of 150000 emotions in a trenchcoat, barely held in check by a thin fragile outer shell of iron lol, SAM was absolutely right to say that he was mostly governed by his feelings. (and I mean if anyone would know it’d be SAM I guess). I found some of it sort of sweet actually: he reflects in passing that one of the biggest reliefs of no longer being in the alliance is that he’ll never have to risk other people’s lives again. he fundamentally wants to build something good to help people live and be happy instead of destroying things. (he also is quite bad at predicting how other people could corrupt and use his innovations precisely to be destructive b/c he doesn’t think that’s the ~*logical*~ thing to do, so... y’know haha, maybe it’s good he went to another galaxy, the milky way could not contain his chaos) 

also he thinks a lot about his wife, even though she’s been dead for years at this point. o u c h (she truly does seem to have been a tether for him in so many ways though -- like a tie to the real world/normalcy/possibly sanity, and that’s a bit how he still evokes her)

additionally: alec ryder did fistfight at the very least one dude in the line of bureaucratic duty, and perhaps more, enough for SAM to have a list of warning signs ready and at hand jdfsklfhasdjf. he did, very much, throw a dude through a table. (at least it’s implied said dude was an asshole) I LOVE that alec’s SAM is  the snarkiest iteration we’ve seen and that he’s perfectly willing to call the old man out on his bullshit (alec stresses that SAM is supposed to do what he says at the end of the day, but his SAM is also less subservient and more willing to argue and discuss things than any other we get to see -- and this is of course the SAM Ryder inherits, but I don’t think SAM is as confident in being able to read the PC correctly until a bit further into the game and the twin is of course a different person who’ll respond to different things so he’s not quite as... blunt? I guess? in confronting them about things. (the whole concept is just! so! interesting!!) anyway I feel like all of this says something about alec’s parenting style, for better or for worse haha. he sort of tries to be authoritarian but his children (well canonically at least Sara, she references having yelled at him a lot over the years) aren’t afraid to fight back or scared of the consequences of disagreeing, so I get the distinct feeling his temper never flared violently like that with his family at all, I think he’s more prone to just pulling away in disapproval.) 

- I enjoy how casually diverse this book is  -- Jemisin has done such a good job making sure especially the human characters are from different backgrounds and places, as they would be lore-wise in the Mass Effect universe, though the games often skew unfortunately white. (andromeda much less so than the trilogy, though)   

- my heart. is so so soft for the fact that a huge reason for cora to join the initiative is how much she bonds with SAM-E. and I am so sad for her because she just wants someone or something who’ll stay, something that won’t disappear on her without closure like her parents; she’s so insecure and scared under her competence (and WHY THE FUCK WOULDN’T SHE BE holy shit her parents just. weren’t there one day after she left home so she wouldn’t accidentally crush their ship with her untrained biotics and kill them all). and she chooses alec and his dream. and then alec goes and FUCKING DIES at the first opportunity Y____________Y alternate universe alec please drink your victor sullivan juice and survive, all these dumb children need you  

- I am so surprised about how much fond respect alec seems to have for cora and how quickly he developed it. I suppose he has a harder time with his own children because it’s closer to home? he is a complicated man lol, this last part of the book where he shows her the ark and everything is weirdly sweet. again I think he has the potential to be a good dad somewhere in there and that just makes it so much worse that he wasn’t. (also he staunchly considers himself still a married man. god help me) 

they’ve both grown to honestly love their sams T________T fml. (well alec has sort of bound up all of himself, the things he loves and their future in SAM, so it’s a bit more complicated but my point still stands) alec advocating for a consensual synthesis is very heartfelt and convincing; you really want to believe him.

cora seen through someone else’s eyes is also SO AMAZING!!! after this whole book in her head and she feels so flailing and uncertain and adrift and other people naturally view her completely differently. I especially like alec picking up on her not talking a lot. (I think this is why she responds so well to SAM, who’ll be there always and can be in her head. I wish this part of cora was more evident in the game, the fact that she has this sibling-like connection to SAM seems very important. sequel where both SAM and Ryder grow closer to becoming her actual family? please? I keep begging for ME:A2 into an empty aching void haha) 

- alec ‘I don’t have time to die’ ryder still talking about everyone else being idiots as he’s slowly catching fire while saving SAM fhdjfhsdlfhasdhlfsjd he is an asshole but it is hard not to stan 

- nO SAM-E D:D:D: oh well at least he’s still alive within SAM, in a way?

- hey. hey you know what’s fun. alec tries to use his last words and last thoughts to ask cora to tell the kids about ellen being alive this time too. haha. ha. fuck

he consistently goes out thinking of his family despite all his bullshit and I’m not okay

- CORA IS A PERFECT BODYGUARD/SECOND IN COMMAND AND I’M EMOTIONAL 

- alec is. surprisingly afraid to hurt people emotionally? he keeps putting off telling cora the bad news about SAM-E, to SAM’s stated disapproval lol (I must repeat again: I love SAM so so much). this supports my thesis that in his personal life he’s avoidant rather than confrontational/aggressive. (professionally... again, he did very much throw a man through a table) 

- man I hope we some day get SAM being this comfortably close and sarcastic with Ryder too. thinking about SAM-E and the small differences between him and uh SAM ‘prime’ it really must have been a huge thing for him too to become someone else, especially after the last person died like that. and he kind of has no choice but to experience that loss and death intimately. (now that I think about it that’s. fucked up, man. he literally felt alec go like it happened to himself.) 

If I were to summarize the differences between the SAMs we have seen, cora’s SAM-E seems younger, more exuberant, shyer and more -- what’s a non-shitty word for needy haha? it’s very firmly established that cora longs to feel needed, so this makes perfect sense. alec’s SAM is blunter, snarkier and more prone to questioning things, and hilariously is sort of alec’s emotional intelligence. (probably serves a similar role to what ellen used to, actually. ow) scott/sara’s SAM feels more worried/focused -- which also makes sense; he’s just experienced losing his person/pathfinder, in a real way he’s also recently orphaned and must be Extremely aware that he now has an enormous responsibility, not only what he was built for but for what remains of alec’s family. ...poor SAM 

(come to think of it I guess one vibe I get from in-game SAM is a little bit of ’harried and anxious yet loving and responsible uncle’ hahaha)

- so at this point alec knew cora could never be pathfinder after him, and he never told her. *accumulation of asshole points continues, though I suspect this might have come from a place of not wanting to hurt her again (b/c he’s the only one who has a right to know these important things amirite)* but I’m also strangely touched that the reason he’s hesitant to involve his children in the whole thing isn’t that he doesn’t have faith in them, it’s that he doesn’t want to burden their lives with something so heavy, a burden he created. can you just imagine... if this man had managed to take the time to explain himself, his motivations and his feelings to his children just once. just one fUCKING time. am I laughing am I crying I honestly don’t know

- this book makes me ache all over for the potential of Andromeda. and I don’t think it’s too late to salvage it either. I know a sequel probably won’t happen, at least not any time soon, but... *sits by rainy window like a wife wistfully wondering if her husband will return from sea*

[mynameisdreartblog]

Vacation Resorts 1

Aries: Adare Manor. “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.” I don’t know who said that, but me makes me wanna act ballistically. «And why do you suspect that phrases like these trigger a response within you?» <Réamoinn pauses for a moment, stretches their arms into the air while using this opportunity to crack their knuckles further.> I honestly don’t know. I know saying ’I don’t know’ is a copout, but… «There’s no such thing as a copout here; this is a therapy session.» Right, right, but I feel like this is highly transactive, and I’m not offering anything of value: There’s “nothin’ in me noggin” as my mum used to say. «Well, just understand that not having the right thoughts available at the pristine moment is a perfectly normal thing in sessions, so don’t beat yourself up over it… However, I will inform you that I only have so much time for a single session of an entire day, so the more time you spend, the more you should ensure that your words are, uh, ‘quality over quantity’ as we say.» [,] <Réamoinn slouches to the side of the therapeutic sofa and begins to do that weird quirk where they jitter randomly: Likely an operative test of the body’s stimulate functions.> «Are you shivering? You look like you’re shivering; are you cold?» Aye, no. A thermostat’s not gonna heal the cold of my heart, doc. «Uh-huh, and what do you mean by the “cold of my heart”?» I thought the simile was obvious, but it basically means that I feel as if my ability to change things by myself has frozen over, and now I need something external to thaw it out of its icy state. «That sounds quite dramatic, so it must be a real detriment for you, I’m guessing.» Oh, you don’t know the extent of it, doc. You feel like a human time-capsule: Absolutely divorced from any power you have in the present to do something about the pit you’re being sucked into, and you have to accept it because there’s literally nothing you can do but wait for time to change your situation. «You know, I think what you’re describing is really applicable to a lot of other people.» I don’t doubt it, aye.

Gemini: Awanjiwo. <Thinking to themselves> I spilt goat’s milk all over my transistor, but it’s not like I needed that anyways: There’s a map of this entire scheme in my head, and it’ll be relevant so long as I keep using it. <A sudden change of psyche emerges> I could’ve given this back to that poor boy I saw earlier who had nothing for entertainment other than rusty cans, dirty footballs, and his flesh and blood companions. That kid could’ve grown to appreciate the internal workings of the radio, and who knows what education he could pursue after that… That kid could’ve became a stellar engineer! He could’ve founded the cure for cancer, mild discomfort, or working in general! No, what I decided to do with my time on Earth was keep something to myself that I never really needed: How will that reflect in eons when I’m gone? I won’t be relevant after that, but it still matters in the moment, right? But why does the ’moment’ matter; what even is the moment? Does anybody else experience the ‘moment’ differently? <A bird comes by to lick up the milk, now spilling onto the cabin floor: Rambling ensues in Truce’s mind as they contemplate why they’re here and what the radio’s dysfunction means for the ripples of the future.> [,] <A distant yelling is heard across the beach, and like that, all of Truce’s tangents cease and they perk their ears towards the sound.> Oi, what the bloody hell was that? <The signals become louder and resemble static more and more, beginning to overstimulate Truce.> Aargh, cut that crap out! Who the goddamn hell is there and why are they loud! <Truce’s hand-radio starts crackling, making them pick it up and inspect it. Suddenly, a rather clear transition comes through.> «Truce! Yes, you: The Truce who just came here from the western tip of Japen Island. Come in… Respond to me! I can see you right through my binoculars.» Then what’s the purpose of using the damn radio? Just yell at me if you’re that close for Christ’s sake. Lord knows you’re not the first stalker I’ve dealt with in my life. Fuck off, will you? […] «I mean regardless, we’re at a plane-crash site not far from where you currently are, so we’re at least worth interacting with, right?.» <Truce sets up a makeshift fire.> Yeah, get back to me before the plastic I melted collapses my lungs. <Truce throws his radio two feet out from him.>

Scorpio: Hanhwa Resort Seorak Sorano. Now, I interact with a lot of weird counselors every day, but the one I remember the best was from last year, and their name was Sonnim: They were short (as far as I’d know compared to my view), they’d always show up at the weirdest times, and they were always bossy but she said she’s like that because “you need to balance prohibited and bad behavior.” She made a big deal out of the most silly things, and I always wanted to say to her that I wasn’t really hurting anyone by doing it, so it’s not really bad. It’s worse because she also punishes me when I do truly hurtful things: She’s consistent! <Juyeon kicks her legs into the air from her spot on the bench, flicking one of her shoes off and narrowly hitting another kid.> It gets worse when I try to talk to her about it: She doesn’t seem to like honesty. <A cohort of red squirrels gather around Juyeon’s position at the recess bench.> Did I mention she’s short? I know my mom told me not to mock people for their height, but boy, she is short. I mean, I’m short even compared to other girls, but I take one glance at her and she makes me feel more confident about myself. <Juyeon kicks her legs into the air a second time, this time her other shoe remains on while the contrast between that and her shoeless foot is still present.> I’m bored… I don’t know, I think I liked it better before when there was less politics in all of it: It was about the raw fun of it all. <One of the squirrels from earlier returns to Juyeon after she kicked up an acorn beneath her feet with acorn in its cheeks: It stares down her contemplative reflection for a solid amount of time before moving onto another site in the playground.> Those weren’t even the worst parts of the whole thing… <Daylight fades and a moody night envelopes the sky: Colors start to glisten intensely as the emotions become stronger.> I don’t think she was even justified despite what she always told me. She was pretty mean all things considered. I remember her saying to me once “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”, and I respond with “I don’t kiss my mom on the lips if that’s what you mean; that’s gross.” <Electricity surges through the landscape which now looks like a mental breakdown visually translated. That one red squirrel from earlier races against the corruption with great finesse: This scene seems to be one of trauma, but that isn’t the case. All that’s there is just profound confusion.>

Capricorn: White Point Beach Resort. I hate just hearing the word “neat” in response to something positively eventful happening in my life, like showcasing the class a odd and interesting fact: “Odd and interesting” being the phrase I ingrained into myself to make me feel better. Just saying the word “neat” provokes an emotional response so barren and dreadful that one might as well not have said anything. There’s no desire to dig deeper into the cave of knowledge presented in front of people, and it’s especially more insulting when you discover that cave for them. I present my work to other people because I want to hear their perspectives too, but not everybody’s inclined to give their own unique perspective: If only they understood how truly irreplaceable and ephemeral it is, then they’d take stronger advantage of it… Back to how much I hate the word “neat”, if I just wanted to hear a word that invokes such a boring and unemotional character, like myself, then I would just recite what I think my character is in a mirror, like myself. What’d be more imaginative is the filler of words you’d usually associate with cussing, also conveniently monosyllabic, like “shit”, “cunt”, “fuck”, or “merde” if you’re feeling poignant. These words imply an insulting quality, but that’s arguably more unique than the thousands of “neats” I hear that become unique in their own collective nature. [,] I have no other emotions besides founded frustration and unfounded frustration, and that’s one painful polarity to define your life by, right? Good thing I don’t do that: Why would I? [,] If you’re gonna ask whether or not I know I sound like an asshole, I do. I think I do, but the subjective values of what makes someone an asshole are flipping my judgment to and fro. [,] I… I’m growing exhausted by all of this: It must be because of my exhaustive personality or the fact that this music is far too energetic for the situation at hand… Perhaps it’s because I camped out in freezing weather last night? No, my body is too resistant to the cold for something like that. [,] Am I in the wrong here? Nah, my students need to understand the value of liberal education through the brutality of its strict twin.

[imnotcameraready]

chivalry is dead (7)

A/N: y’all ., ., .,,. . ..  we’re finally getting to the Good Shit. my hand was literally Over the “post” button and then i remembered “oh shit this is supposed to be touchstarved roman”, so, uh, that’s not reflected in this chapter at ALL. but it’s still filled to the brim with angst. but like, hurt comfort angst. i think i can call this a hurt comfort, right? right

WARNINGS: cursing, arguments, yelling, like a lot of yelling, Complex Emotions, self-hatred (implied) — if I missed anything, please let me know!!! <3 <3

Words: 6575 

Pairings: im proud to say that this has some Logicality. only 20,000 words into the story and we’re finally getting small tastes of ships. still DLAMP endgame but by god. 

Part 1 (chivalry is dead) — Part 2 (i’m wishing) — Part 3 (the bells of notre dame) — Part 4 (honor to us all) — Part 5 (i’ve got no strings) — Part 6 (god help the outcasts) — Part 7 (go the distance)

AO3 link!

@starlightvirgil @forrestwyrm @daflangstlairde @marshmallow-the-panda@askthesnake @k9cat @patromlogil

i hope y’all like this one!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 

______(tumblr’s not letting me put a line so ive manually created it)______

It seemed that, without Roman’s focus, the Imagination sustained a regular day/night cycle. Logan made a mental note about it as they watched the sun go down behind the forest hills, perfectly in tune with his internal clock’s knowledge of the real world’s time. The sky, however, was darkening more rapidly than it would normally. While walking through the forest, he hadn’t noticed any incline changes, so perhaps the forests were thicker than he’d originally thought. The map didn’t indicate that, anyway.

It was a fascinating place, the Imagination. It seemed semi-sentient — at least, based on how the Playwright described it and from what they’d seen so far. Logan regretted not asking to see more of it when Roman was….

No. He’d ask Roman to show him once Roman had returned. His chest hurt a tiny bit to think of it. Nothing was out of reach.

He faced forward again, marching silently. Patton was humming, had been for the whole trip, humming Disney songs.

The Child was staring at Logan still. It was unnerving, for many reasons (A child? Roman was a fucking child? Why was he staring so much? How much less formed were each of the Romans? How did they select what they looked like? Who was the Child based upon? What did he believe?) so he looked away.

“Stop,” the Child patted Patton’s back, “Stop here.”

“Ooookay,” Patton stopped, and Logan stopped behind him.

They’d been walking towards the castle this whole time, away from the sunset. It was clearly huge now, with multiple large spires with red and glittering gold flags. Patton thought it looked straight out of a medieval movie, almost too grand to just be based on Disney alone, though it did bear some resemblances to the castle in Disneyland. It was incredibly pretty.

Oh, sure, he’d seen the Imagination before. Patton and Roman had sat at the window in his room and Patton would listen to Roman as he talked about the various worlds he created. Sometimes it was a balcony with seats and a tea set, but he liked the window sofa more, since he and Roman could sit in each others’ laps and bundle up beneath a pile of blankets. Patton could recognize this castle from a distance. He’d seen this setting before, with the forest and large lake and glittering dual rivers that Roman’d named and then renamed and named again, though Patton couldn’t remember what names he finally chose.

Logan seemed surprised by it all, though, and Patton didn’t want to make it seem like he was rubbing his friendship with Roman in his face. Plus, he’d never been inside. Things were a lot bigger up close.

Yeah, he could see how Logan kept frowning around the world. How he’d been glaring at the Child for the whole walk. Patton’d made a pun — “This sure is a magic kingdom, eh?” — and he hadn’t even groaned!

Patton shifted his weight on his feet, casting Logan a worried look as the logical side inspected the building before them. Whatever was eating at him, he hoped it’d settle soon, because Patton knew they’d need Logan thinking properly to get Roman put together.

“We’ve gotta go in here,” the Child pointed to the building.

It was an unassuming door with two steps leading up to it, attached to a building that looked exactly the same as the others. Besides the door was a wooden sign, fixed to the stone wall, that read “Art Museum (Ages 3–6)”. It was a fairly unassuming building, similar to the other stone buildings to the left, right, and other side of the road.

“Okay,” Patton reached out and touched the door’s handle, just to be interrupted by the Child waving his arms up.

“No! No, no, not yet!” he put his hands out.

“Not yet? Well, what’re we waitin’ for?” Patton put his hands on his hips, watching the Child with a small smile.

“The sun is lowering. It will be night soon,” Logan added, giving the sky a quick glance again.

“But the Artist can’t know that you’re Dad and Mister Logic,” the Child said, mirroring Patton’s hands-on-hips position.

Logan, on the other hand, crossed his arms in thought. “Why can’t he know? Is he a danger?”

“Nah,” the Child shook his head and pointed a finger at Logan. “The Artist doesn’t like you most.”

Logan exhaled sharply. His brow furrowed, nose scrunched, as he processed THAT. Of course,the Playwright supporting him meant there was a counter. Of course Roman didn’t harbor only positive feelings towards him. Logan knew his and Roman’s opinions differed on a multitude of topics, often resulting in unpleasant quarrels. He knew. And, yet, it hurt. “Come again?”

“The Artist doesn’t like you. Don’t worry, he doesn’t like Mister Anxiety either. Or Mister Deceit. He kinda sorta likes Dad?” the Child made a so-so motion with his hands, before letting his shoulders drop with an exaggerated groan. “Not really. He doesn’t like Dad. It’s okay, he barely likes Thomas!”

Logan looked toward Patton with a frown, now thoroughly confused, and was greeted with a similar confused pout. There was a part of Roman who just didn’t like any of them. Not even Thomas. That upset Patton fairly well, but Logan….was almost relieved.

The Child waved his hands again, sticking them up in between the two adult Sides. “Hey! Like I said, that’s okay! We just gotta walk around him and he probably won’t notice you.”

“Do you think he won’t notice that three people have entered his house? Especially two adults. Two full Sides,” Logan couldn’t keep the disbelief from his voice.

If the Child noticed, he didn’t let on. “Yep! He barely looks up from the whatevers he’s working on, anyway,” he bounced on the balls of his feet, “Maybe….hm.”

He looked up at the sky and rubbed his hands together. Above them was a thick cloud. It would probably rain that night; they were still looking for him, anyway.

The Artist was probably getting worried. Right? Curfew was coming up soon and if Child got caught, Thief and Bard would be upset, and so Artist would be upset, too, right?

“We have to go in. If he asks, uh,” an idea popped into the Child’s head, and he snapped his fingers. “You can say you’re Dad guy and Teacher guy!”

Logan’s eye twitched. “Do you mean the characters from Thomas’ short videos?”

The last semblances of seriousness Logan held inside himself was shattered by the Child’s enthusiastic nodding. “Yeppers! They’re really nice! Teach is really good at making Dad laugh, and since this all happened, they’ve been—”

“The Shorts characters are alive inside the Imagination,” Logan wasn’t even trying to hide his disdain anymore.

He’d been half angry, half curious as they marched through the sleepy town. He could accept magic, sure, he could suspend his disbelief. It made sense that the Dominoes guy was in here. That was backed by science. But what in the name of Newton did the Shorts characters—

“Logan,” Patton held his hand and gave it a quick squeeze, “This is the Imagination.”

—okay, really, why the FUCK were the Shorts characters real in here?! — and the Child was now just rambling on about characters who were actually fictional. Characters who were characters. Scratch his curiosity from earlier, the Imagination followed no reason and he wanted out. Immediately.

Patton squeezed Logan’s hand again, in a rhythm, one two three four, tight, and raised his other hand toward the Child, who was still talking.

“Hey, kiddo,” the Child immediately quieted, looking up at Patton, “This all sounds fun, but can we talk more about it when we’re inside?”

Patton immediately regretted interrupting him. The Child’s lip curled inward, eyes growing wider as he nodded silently. He looked at Logan, who was scowling at the door, and wilted.

“Yeah. Not important. Okay,” the Child took the door handle and flung it open.

Before Patton could respond, he darted in. Logan looked at Patton, scowl replaced with a confused raised eyebrow, oblivious to the quiet tension he’d missed while internally monologuing.

Patton just slouched. The Child was more skittish than he’d anticipated.

The museum was dark and dusty, though not unintelligible. Patton entered first. There were drawings everywhere, some on actual pieces of paper, some on torn-out notebook pages, some on the wall itself. All of which were children’s drawings, of course, scribbles and splotches of paint. In the halls were also some sculptures on pedestals, most seemingly made of Playdough.

He stopped by a drawing of a house, two windows and a door, and read the placard beside it. Patton was pretty sure he had the same drawing in his room, tucked away in an old photo album.

“Thomas and Roman Sanders. House 41, 1994. Crayon on cardstock.”

Patton felt tears coming to his eyes. Thomas was only five, oh those were good times, learning about the world around him! Such a soft era. And Thomas’ grown so much since then, too.

This was an interesting place for someone to live, but considering his name was Artist, it made sense for him to live amongst his work. Patton turned around, a bright smile on his face, and motioned Logan to join him. “Logan! Come look at the art!”

Logan was standing just inside the door, which was closed behind him, eyes examining the exhibit. It was disorganized and clearly unkempt. Roman must not have visited in a while. Or maybe he didn’t have a curator for this museum. Before he could respond to Patton’s call, the Child’s voice echoed from down the hall.

“Are you coming?”

Logan and Patton shared a look, one disgruntled and one sheepish, and hurried down the hall lined with childish artwork. There were more houses, some family drawings, a fun looking self portrait with bright colors.

“Hurried” is an overstatement. Logan had to pull Patton away from a drawing on more than one occasion.

“Down here,” the Child’s whispers bounced along the walls.

They entered a room, still lined with drawings, and found the Child standing in front of one of the artworks. He held out a hand to them. “C’mon, we’re going in,” he said.

Logan squinted at the painting in question. Yes, painting, done in “Crayola Washable Paint on Cardboard,” according to the placard beside it. “Thomas and Roman Sanders. House 118.”

He looked at Patton for support that this was absolutely ridiculous, but was only met with another shrug. “It’s the Imagination,” he said, as though that explained everything, “Don’t think too hard, or you’ll get a headache.”

Too late for that, Logan thought, though he stopped himself from pondering. Instead, he grit his teeth and held Patton’s arm, determined to get to the bottom of this figurative rabbit hole. Patton himself took the Child’s hand.

The Child gripped Patton’s hand and leaned toward the painting. He pinched the painted door’s handle, tugged.

They all felt a pulling sensation, the Child pulling Patton who pulled Logan.

And then there was a door before them.

It was as though someone poured white paint all over their surroundings, from every angle, wiping away the museum they’d come from and leaving a blank emptiness behind them, all within less than a second.

Logan stared at the door. Then he turned, slow and steady, overlooking the blank white expanse. Like an empty page.

Something wasn’t computing. It’s the Imagination, he repeated in his mind, like Patton’d said earlier.

Directly behind them was the only piece of “world” they could see other than the door. It was another painting, of the museum, of the room that they’d just left, hanging in the middle of nothing.

Social realism, Logan thought. The painting’s placard read “Roman Sanders. The Art Museum repaint, 2019. Oil on canvas.” A reverse portal, created recently. Logan almost wanted to touch it and see how dry the paint was.

“C’mon, we gotta go inside,” the Child whispered, giving Patton’s hand a tug.

Patton, in turn, tugged Logan, who turned back around. “Sorry, this is just….” fascinating? Interesting? Enchanting? Something I would like to experiment with Roman on further? “Different.”

Patton watched the Child as he watched Logan. Roman was clearly still in there, Patton thought, and he didn’t want to be. And, to be frank, Patton understood that feeling. There were many days where he wanted to curl up into his hoodie and be young again, if only to hear a good joke once more. Those were the two-cookie kinds of days!

Maybe Logan couldn’t see what Patton was seeing? The Child’s big wide eyes, staring at Logan and Patton as though searching for approval. Or how he tried so hard to ignore Logan’s obvious contempt for the situation. It was obvious that the Child was actively trying to ignore it, but Patton didn’t miss how he flinched at Logan’s tone. The Child wasn’t naïve, not entirely — in certain turns of phrase and side-glances, the Child revealed his thirty years of life experiences.

But the Child also didn’t seem to notice that Logan wasn’t angry about the world. No, Patton thought as Logan turned back to the museum painting quickly, he was more upset at himself for not being able to understand it.

“Different,” Logan repeated, brow furrowed. It didn’t feel like the right word. He wasn’t usually one to have vocabulary troubles, but he couldn’t find a more adequate word.

It satiated the Child. Or, rather, the Child was thinking of something else. His hand was stiff on the doorknob. Patton leaned in, letting go of Logan finally to put both hands on the Child’s shoulders. “Go ahead,” he whispered. He hoped the Child could feel how much Patton loved him.

Perhaps he did, because the Child calmed down. Enough for him to open the door.

The most notable thing was the mess. There were a lot of things inside that door. Canvases, sketchbooks, pens, pencils, paint sets, notebooks, cups of water, all in piles or scattered about the floor. Some canvases were hung on the walls, too, and some were laid flat on the ground. Others were stacked atop each other or leaned in bunches against the walls. There was a clear path through the mess on the floor, that branched to the stairs on the left and then into the kitchen on the right. Logan could see a drawing tablet over there, too, propped against the wall. Where the laptop was, he couldn’t tell. Patton could see that most of the paintings were unfinished. Whether it be sketch lines still showing or just clearly half-painted, half-white canvases, not a single finished piece was in this clutter.

The second most notable thing was the person painting.

Another Roman — the Artist, most likely — was sitting on a stool in front of a painting on an easel. It was also only an assumption that he was another Roman, because he absolutely did not look it, clad in a white hoodie covered in paint splotches and red sweatpants, hood pulled up and covering his hair. The only thing that indicated his Roman status was the golden waves adorning his sleeves, the same as the waves on Roman’s crest.

He held a large painting palette in his right hand and a brush in his left, dabbing oil paint against the half-finished canvas in front of him. Another work in progress, it seemed.

The clutter and the painting didn’t bother the Child. He closed the door behind himself, being careful to not slam it, and cleared his throat.

The other Roman didn’t move nor speak. Just kept painting, dabbing his brush on the palette and swiping it along the canvas. The painting was unfinished, but it looked so far like an impressionist piece, Logan thought.

The Child coughed again, yet the other Roman didn’t flinch.

“I’m back, Arty,” he said.

“I heard you,” came the impatient reply, snappy and fast, the Artist not turning to speak to them, “Who’s with you?”

“Dad. And Teach. Dragon was mean today,” the Child was playing with the hem of his shirt

“Mhm.”

“It’s curfew. They couldn’t go back to their houses.”

“Mhm.”

“So they’re gonna sleep here. I’ll keep them in my room.”

“Mhm.”

The Child took Logan and Patton’s hands into his own again and pulled them toward the stairs. “Good luck with your painting,” his voice teetered off into silence as the Artist failed to turn again.

Patton opened his mouth, but the Child squeezed his hand and shook his head. Logan took a little more tugging, as he stood by the bottom of the stairs, trying to look at all the paintings. Some were paintings — oil impressionist, pop art, surrealism and cubism, even some De Stijl paintings — some were simple figure drawings on lightly-crumpled paper, some even….was that a painting of Virgil?

The Child tugged harder and Logan stumbled after him.

They made it to the top of the stairs. The Child let go of Patton and opened the door, ushering both of them in before slamming the door shut behind himself.

This was probably the most regular room they’d seen so far in the Imagination. A small twin bed sat in the corner, with a big canopy and fairy lights overtop. There were streamers and drawings and posters hanging all around the walls, even some stickers and some drawings done directly onto the wall. A wardrobe sat in the corner farthest from the bed, a desk and vanity mirror besides that, and five bean bags were arranged in a circle around a circle rug in the middle of the room.

There was an air of magic around the room, too. The fairy lights bobbed up and down slowly, despite being hung on wires, and the clouds painted onto the ceiling seemed to move. The ceiling was fairly low, too; Patton reached up, eyes stuck on a cloud in the shape of a heart, and found that he could actually touch them. The heart swirled around his hand, glowing light blue before dissipating entirely.

“Sorry about him,” Patton and Logan looked down at the Child — he’d gone to the wardrobe and was taking off his cloak, revealing a plain white shirt with the crest’s sun emblazoned across his back. “Artist’s, uh, not a people person.”

“So we saw. His work, however….it’s breathtaking,” Logan stepped aside as Patton went for one of the beanbags, “I didn’t realize Roman was that much of an artist.”

The Child snorted. He sat down on one of the other beanbags and started untying his shoes, chubby fingers unlacing them down a few notches. “Yeah, well. You never seemed interested. No one was. Arty doesn’t like leaving his art all alone, so ever since we formed he’s been in here with it.”

“Yeah, you said somethin’ like that.” Patton crossed his legs on the bean bag, leaning forward on his elbows toward the Child. “The Playwright also said something about everyone having different thoughts on what’s best for Roman.”

“Playwright!” the Child tossed his shoes into the corner behind the door and laid back in the bean bag, spread out with his arms open. “Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen him in a while, is he okay?”

Logan let his shoulders loosen and slouch. It….did feel good to unwind, after the events of the day. Maybe the adrenaline and shock were wearing off finally. He sat down on another bean bag, bending his knees as though he were in a normal chair. “Yes, he is fine. He is, ah, backstage, as he called it.”

“Yeah, I thought so. Artist doesn’t like Playwright at all,” Logan and Patton shared another confused glance at that, “Thief says it’s ‘cause he doesn’t like mister Logic, but I think he doesn’t like you ‘cause he doesn’t like Playwright.”

“Why doesn’t he like the Playwright? That seems counterintuitive, to not like yourself,” As soon as the words left Logan’s mouth, he realized how hypocritical it sounded. And how obvious the explanation was.

Patton seemed to notice as well, because he grimaced, putting a hand on top of Logan’s knee. The Child, however, just shrugged. “Well, I don’t like all of me, you know? I wanted to figure out what parts of me I could live without, but every part of me has an opinion about what part’s important.”

“I?” Logan asked, softer now.

The Child nodded. “Roman. I,” he made a gesture up at the air, and it reminded Patton a little of the hand flip Roman typically did when rising. “I’m Roman but I’m not Roman.”

“How does that work, kiddo?” Patton coaxed him.

“It’s like….” he trailed off, resting his hand on his chin as he thought. After a few quiet moments, he continued.

“Okay,” The Child sat up and patted his own chest. “Me. I’m the Child. AND I’m Roman. I’m all….”

He flopped backward again onto the bean bag, making vague gestures with his hands as he wrestled to find the words, only to find that there were none. No words truly.

The Child let his hands fall onto his stomach with a groan, staring upwards. Patton and Logan shared a nervous glance. It was clear something was bothering the Child, something integral to this Hunger Games of Romans situation.

“Take your time, kiddo,” Patton tried to comfort him, but his words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

The Child was just looking up at the sky ceiling. After another few seconds, he heaved a sigh.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The sky?” Logan and Patton both looked up as well.

“With all the clouds that look like pretty things. And even if they don’t look like things, they look soft and fluffy and wonderful. And then, when there aren’t clouds, it’s the most beautiful shade of blue or a dazzling red, like how a nice summer night makes you feel?” The ceiling had been full of fluffy white clouds, meandering across the painted blue expanse, but as soon as the Child mentioned “dazzling red” the clouds began to glow pink as the ceiling’s paint color changed to red. He clapped.

“Or, or! Even better, sometimes, when it’s really, really late, and there are stars out? And every star is like a gem on a glittering cloak that the world’s putting on you?” the ceiling changed once more, painted black as the clouds vanished. One by one, twinkling stars seemed to glow from nothing against the ceiling backdrop. In actual constellations, no less.

“It’s all so….” the Child exhaled, “Beautiful.”

Silence followed. All three of them were now laying on the bean bags, looking up at the twinkling stars and the occasional barely visible line that connected them. They just starred, Logan and Patton unsure of how to break the silence, until the Child continued himself.

“That’s what I want Roman to remember,” Patton looked at the Child, who was watching the stars. He spoke with a strong determination, voice set. “That’s what I want to see. The beauty.”

He faltered, closing his open mouth and gritting his teeth. Logan looked away from the sky now, too, and watched the Child as he closed his eyes. Wiser than he seemed. “But that makes me really childish, doesn’t it? If we just see the beauty, then that means we’re ignoring all the bad stuff. And if we’re too childish, we don’t get taken seriously, and we really need to be taken seriously. I mean….”

The Child glanced over at Patton, and he could have sworn that the Child had tears in his eyes. Oh, he hoped he wasn’t crying. Patton reached out, offering his hand to maybe comfort him, but the Child just shrugged, unwilling to look at him anymore.

“We see how you get treated, Dad,” Patton’s brow furrowed in confusion, hand retracting a little, as though the Child’s words hurt. “No one takes you serious and you always have to prove yourself. We don’t take you serious, either, a lot of the time. ‘Cause if you’re childish, then you don’t deserve to be taken seriously. That’s what Roman tells himself. Tells me. But it’s wrong.”

Now the silence was just awkward. Patton lowered his hand into his lap as the Child looked back up at the sky. There was no denying now, now that the Child’s quiet breathing hitched and stuttered, that he was crying.

“It has to be wrong,” he whispered between gasps.

Slowly, the Child pulled his hands up to his face, rubbing his eyes and sniffing into his hands. Patton was going to start crying himself, watching the Child cry. He turned to Logan with a bitten lip. He knew, deep down, that the others didn’t always take his opinion seriously. Heck, it was a running theme! Patton the childish, the inner child, the baby. But Jesus, that was point blank.

“You’re correct, Roman. I don’t always understand you both, but the things I don’t understand aren’t…they aren’t unimportant. Occasional immaturity does not equal insignificant. We….” Logan faltered and looked up at Patton, who was staring at him now, tears dotting his eyes.

They really did walk on him, didn’t they? Logan considered the times he had helped elevate Patton’s concerns, and the situations in which Patton’s concerns were elevated. No one took the puppet suggestion seriously, until it was proven successful, and Thomas himself had to step in to get them to even consider it as an option. Along with that, Deceit was able to mimic Patton by, what? Literally saying he was a fan of cartoons and was silly? It was so easy to character Patton into a caricature of immature glee that he, Roman, and Virgil barely noticed.

That was the insult, wasn’t it. Childish. Not to be taken seriously. Silly and immature. Was that what he thought of Patton?

Patton wiped his tears and looked away. “I….guess that’s true. But hey! That’s what comes with being Thomas’ inner child, isn’t it?” there he went, voice heightening in pitch as he tried to make it sound as though he weren’t so upset with Logan’s silence and the Child’s assessment. “Your dorky ol’ Dad can be a lil’ goofball a lot of the time.”

“Your goofball-ness is welcome, often appreciated. We….do have a lot to learn, about having fun and seeing things anew.”

Patton looked over at Logan, who was watching him with determination. The Child, too, was watching Logan with both eyebrows raised, having grabbed a pillow from his side to press his face into. His eyes were two large spotlights.

“I do not understand the Imagination. I cannot claim to. But there IS immense beauty in this world you’ve created, and I see that it would be a waste to focus on making logical sense of it rather than take in the world around as a work of art. It might be childish, but sometimes….a little childishness is what we need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and a healthy headspace. Your input is appreciated.”

If Roman was having these sorts of concerns, about being perceived as childish or not, then Logan knew it was likely Patton had similar concerns. He chided himself mentally for letting this self-consciousness fester but a direct approach was always the most efficient.

And it was all worth it to see Patton smile and remove his glasses, wiping the tears from his downcast eyes.

“Thank you for sharing your concerns with us, kiddo,” the Child smiled at the nickname and rubbed the back of his neck, turning away for a bit. Patton smiled at him, then at Logan, beaming like the sun. “Logan put it real well.”

Logan fixed his glasses, pleased with himself, and the Child patted his arm. “Thank you, Logan,” he said.

They sat in silence, eyes flicking with new brief understanding between each other, until there was banging from below the floor. Patton squeaked and Logan stiffened, but the Child just groaned into his pillow.

“WHAT’RE YOU TALKING ABOUT UP THERE?!” the Artist’s voice boomed from below.

“JUST TALKIN’ ABOUT THE OTHER SIDES WITH TEACH,” the Child shouted back, voice muffled by the pillow.

“WELL, SHUT UP ‘BOUT THEM! THE DRAGON BITCH’LL HEAR YOU!”

“YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”

“YOU BRATTY LITTLE—DON’T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!”

The Child leaned his back, groaning loud and angrily. “FINE! SORRY!”

Logan and Patton exchanged worried glances. Had the Artist heard that whole conversation? They looked to the Child for any thoughts or input, but he just shook his head.

“He won’t come upstairs. Ugh, I was doing real good at not saying your names,” he rubbed his face, rubbing the tears into his skin to hide them, “It’s–It’s like the taboo system. Dragon, he put a curse on your names so all of us can hear it when someone says them. The others aren’t really scared of that, they–they….Artist doesn’t want anyone finding this house. He heard me say your name, mister Logic.”

Before either of the adults could respond, however, there was another crash from downstairs. The Child frowned and climbed off the bean bag, kneeling on the ground with an ear pressed to the rug.

“What—” Patton was cut off by the Child shushing him harshly.

They weren’t confused for long, though, as the voices grew more raised and angry.

“—TOLD YOU—FUCK OUT!” they heard the Artist shout.

“I WILL ONCE YOU STOP TALKING SHIT ABOUT THE OTHERS! THEY’RE IN OUR REALM NOW, THEY COULD HEAR YOU!”

Patton raised his eyebrows. He looked at Logan, who was frowning at nothing. When he noticed Patton, Logan mouthed “Playwright.” He didn’t seem like the type to be so….explosive.

“WELL TOUGH, PLAYWRONG. I DONT GIVE A FUCK IF THEY HEAR ME! I JUST DON’T WANT DRAGON SHOWING UP, THOSE UNGRATEFUL CRITICAL ASSHOLES—”

“THEY’RE MUCH MORE THAN THAT, THEY’RE BETTER THAN ALL OF US COMBINED, YOU STARVING STEREOTYPE—”

The Child stood up slowly, stepping carefully on the rug and sliding his feet along the wooden floor. He slid all the way to the door. As slow as he could, he clicked the lock in place, and let out a breath. The yelling died down immediately to a whisper, as though locking the door disconnected the room from the whole house.

“That’ll keep them out. They’re probably not gonna come up here, can’t get into my room now, but if they find you then we’re all fucked,” he mumbled.

“Language,” Patton mumbled, and the Child giggled at him. “No swear words when there’re children present, you know that!”

“Yeah, yeah—” the Child cut himself off with a yawn, shoulders hiking up slowly.

He shuffled back to the bean bags and collapsed into the one he’d been sitting in. He curled into a ball, huffing a small sigh. Patton yawned, too, and smacked his lips. Logan had to stifle a yawn himself. They were contagious.

It had been a long day. They were due for a sleep, especially after the arduous experiences they’d had throughout the day.

“Y’know, I didn’t think the Playwright’d let y’all in,” the Child’s words jumbled over each other, and he covered his mouth as he yawned again.

“What makes you say that?” Logan pressed.

Despite the tiredness, he knew there was something wrong with his initial read of the Playwright, and this situation didn’t leave space for those kinds of errors. The Child shrugged. “I….from what I know, he’s more….he likes things done his way. He really wants all of you approve of him. Mostly mister Logic, but all of you. And he really, really, really doesn’t like Princey. Him an’ Dragon an’—an’—” the Child yawned again, mumbling the rest of his sentence incoherently, but Logan didn’t process that.

There was another mention of this “Dragon” character. Logan rubbed his cheek, arms crossed on his knees as he ran the new information through his mind. The Playwright was volatile — he scoffed quietly, of COURSE Roman, with his boisterousness and exuberance, wouldn’t be able to contain his energetic nature into something reserved and quiet. He had his quiet moments, but he couldn’t maintain stoicism forever. They would have to assess him again, it seemed.

“I thought….” Patton whispered, and Logan looked up at him.

Patton’s eyes were downcast at the ground, brow furrowed in anguish. He’d thought they’d gotten at least one part of Roman, one bit to understand that they were accepted. That Roman was LOVED, damnit, because that’s what it was! He was loved, Roman was loved, and by God it felt like he’d failed if one of his friends doubted that so much that he couldn’t believe that.

“I’m gonna sleep. Just right here. Y’all can take the bed if y’all want,” the Child’s voice slurred together, halfway asleep already and cutting into both adults’ trains of thought.

Patton sighed. He slowly switched into Dad Mode as he pushed himself up and rolled his shoulders. “Nope. You’re a growing boy, kiddo, you’re goin’ in the bed.”

He stooped down and picked the Child up, chuckling quietly as he groaned in dramatic despair. Still, the Child wrapped his arms around Patton’s neck lazily, snuggling against him once more. Logan crossed his legs on the bean bag and watched as Patton sat on the bed, rubbing the Child’s back, and tried to pry him off.

“You need to get in bed, kiddo,” Patton whispered gently, “You’ve gotta sleep. A prince needs his beauty sleep, right?”

The Child giggled. “I’m not a–a–a,” he yawned again, “A prince! I’m a child!”

“But you’re gonna grow up to be one! You’re gonna grow up to be a great prince, ruling over all the Imagination,” Patton was whisper shouting, putting on a grandiose voice full of gusto.

He mimicked blowing a trumpet with one hand and the Child laughed, patting Patton’s hand down.

“Nuh uh!” he hummed between tired giggles.

Logan stood up behind Patton and gently took the Child’s hands. The Child looked up at him, squeezing Logan’s hands sleepily and giggling.

“You will be a valiant prince,” he lifted the Child’s hands away from Patton, and he took the cue to start tucking the Child into bed, “You will be a prince, lion-hearted and loved. But tonight, you must sleep.”

The Child squeezed his left hand, then his right, and laid down in the bed he’d been placed in. He looked so comforted as Patton pulled the blanket up higher around his face, big brown eyes questioning as he looked up at Logan from beneath the edge of the blanket.

“Will they listen to me?” his voice was thick as he teetered between unconsciousness and lucidity, “Will–Will they care, when I’m a prince?”

Logan nodded at him, and Patton nodded too. They were both sure, sure as the sky is blue. “Yes,” Patton whispered, “Everyone will hear you. And you’ll live happily ever after, my Prince.”

The Child giggled quietly. Slowly, he snuggled into the bed, and his hold on Logan’s hands relinquished, now gripping the blanket as he curled into a ball. Within mere seconds, he was snoring softly.

Patton stepped back and stretched. He looked up at Logan, who was removing his glasses in preparation for sleep.

“Wanna sleep on the floor?” Patton asked, “Or should we stack the beanbags in a square and use those as a bed?”

Logan considered the bean bags for a moment, actually, before deciding the morning back pain wouldn’t be worth it. “I think we can suffer the floor for a night,” he said, taking his coat off and spreading it out on the ground.

Patton followed suit, throwing his cat cloak down and spreading it out like a bed mat. They both slowly climbed to the ground beside each other, fitting themselves into the space that was to be their sleeping mat, grabbing some of the pillows and stuffed animals strewn about. At least the carpet was soft, adding extra padding. They both laid down, heads resting on some of the Child’s pillows, staring up at the stars on the ceiling.

Though they were both tired, Patton wanted to clear one thing up before letting himself drift off.

“....Lo,” Patton asked, voice soft. “Lo, are you awake?”

Logan sniffed. He was actually partway asleep already. “Yes, Pa—er. Patt.”

Patton giggled. It wasn’t always that he got to hear Logan call him by a nickname. He sobered up fast, though. “Did you mean what you said? About…about appreciating the childish things.”

Ah. Logan opened an eye. Patton smiled sheepishly at him.

He still had his glasses on. Logan turned to his side, facing Patton, reaching a hand out and taking his glasses off carefully. He slowly folded them and set them aside on the ground, with his.

“Of course I did. You provide important opinions and insight, often noticing details I….overlook,” Logan rested his hand on Patton’s shoulder, “You are appreciated.”

Patton beamed with a wobbly lip, more tears threatening to spill over. He slowly took Logan’s hand and pressed it to his lips. Not in a kiss, per se, but more to hold him close. To show that he was so thankful, so grateful for this acknowledgement. Plus, he was afraid that the tears would spill if he opened his mouth.

Logan didn’t seem to mind, though his face did turn a brighter shade of crimson, just barely visible in the starlight.

After a few seconds, Patton regained his stability. “Thanks,” he whispered. “We...we’re gonna get Roman back.”

Logan nodded, discombobulated. Patton’s breath on the back of his hand was comfortingly warm. There was that feeling in his chest. What was that?

He let go of Logan’s hand and rolled back onto his back, letting out a sign of contentedness. Their little prince was fast asleep and the next day would bring more trials. They had to find Virgil and Deceit and hopefully the Roman who’d been on the roof. They had to talk to the Artist. They had to confront the Playwright. They had to find the OTHERS and talk to THEM.

And Patton knew they’d be able to face it all head-on. He knew it in his heart. “Goodnight, Lo’. I love you.”

Logan exhaled beside him. Perhaps….things would be okay. He looked over at Patton, whose eyes were already closed, legs crossed and hands interlaced on his chest in a peaceful manner.

There was that feeling again. The data points — he was too tired to be thinking coherently, look at him, applying statistics knowledge to emotions of all things — indicated that he felt warm and fluttery near his lungs whenever he considered the other Sides. It felt as though his lungs were clenching, breathing constricting and carbon dioxide exhalation warming. That couldn’t be literal, though, or else he’d be ill. On this particular adventure, in this particular day, it’d happened a few times.

Perhaps he was just tired. It had been a long day, all of this just in one day. Logan would consider this issue more in the morning. However, he would indulge in the working hypothesis just once, whilst muddled in this warm-chested comforting confusion. “....I love you, too, Patt. Sleep well.”

It may have been a trick of the light or his mind, but Logan thought, just before he closed his eyes, that he’d seen Patton smile at him.

[aabaker1]

Costume Quest Season One Part Two

A few days have passed since the rest of Costume Quest season one dropped, but I’ll stick to the Spoiler routine just in case. 

Brief non-spoiler thoughts. Wow, this was good. They didn’t do a couple of things I thought they would, they did do a couple of things I thought they would, but in ways I didn’t expect that were ten times better. And I got at least one thing spot on. 

Anyway, the rest below the cut off.

Oh, wow did that get epic. I admit it started off a bit week and there were some odd things I didn’t quite get behind. Since when does the president of a candy factory run a town? Okay yeah, Auburn Hollow is literally a factory town, but I’m pretty sure they would elect a mayor and city council at some point. Also, since when is a company president chosen in a public election? I get that they needed to put the nougat supply in Bob’s hands, but yeesh. Anyway from here on episode by episode.

Breaker/Breaker:

Yeah, the plots for this one and Factory Tour were spoiled by IMDB. Still, nice to see how they played out. I like to see Everette getting super serious about his dad. This does lead to the lead to the standard-issue with shapeshifters becoming, vehicles, though. Um, you do realize you’re riding inside someone's body, right? 

 Also, since when do people get seasonal allergies for a day or two at most? Okay, Nougat is a mineral that can be processed into candy. Okay, fine. But, now it’s also a crystal that can reflect sunlight and make a rainbow? Look, can we just pick a method of making science cry and stick to it, please?

Factory Tour:

Yeah, IMDB spoiled Oona as the dragon, but it was still nice to see her in action. It was also nice seeing Wren get a taste of humble pie. Hmm, you know Ren, maybe the hundred plus-year-old monster hunter who can become a dragon doesn’t need your help? Just a thought.

Stuck in the Middle with Toots:

Sigh, yeah I know Wren had to learn not to put too much faith in idols. But, I was really pulling for Rudy to be a decent person, here. It’s not to see Wren give someone the benefit of the doubt, even though it came back to bite her in the end. 

Scout’s Honour:

What...was this? We see Reynold’s role as secret-keeper wear on him and Norm cover for him, okay, that’s fine. But, Reynold retreats to the history wing of the factory again? I thought we covered this, already. Plus Scout just comes out of nowhere. And we’re stuck with a cliche plot about someone making a friend, only to have the friend betray them the first time an opportunity comes along. Scout’s design was nice though, gave me an old school Real Monsters! vibe with the foot hands. 

 But, am I the only one thinking Reynold dumping her on an island was massively out of character for him? Okay, yeah desperation moment, but still. Though the woman’s reaction to Reynold and Scout in the bathroom was priceless. Also, good call going with healthy snacks, Reynold. Especially since everyone’s been binging on nougat for the whole show.

Schmooz Cruise:

Okay, I’ll just say it. I thought this was going to be Lucy’s mom going on a singles cruise and Lucy getting jealous. Turns out it was Everette getting jealous of Benji. It’s a nice Iron that Everette, who is the tallest of the four, is also the most prone to act childish. And it’s nice to see him start to grow out of it. Also, I was wondering when that girl was gonna show up, I mean she’s in the opening credits. Hey, Lucy gets in on the crossplay with Wren. And she makes a fine pirate, though it looks like the Gorton’s Fisherman has let himself go a bit. :) And is it me, or is Reynold having far to much fun with that merman costume.

Perfect Vision:

I had no idea what to expect with this one going on. Nice to see the kids getting creative with the costumes to campaign for Oona. But, then we go into another cliche plot, this time someone having a vision and becoming paranoid about it. Someone should have told Lucy you can’t force fate.

A couple quick points. We got a tease of Lucy’s mom being a monster. And it’s nice to see that Lucy would be cool with it. Though we get some foreshadowing with Ren’s attitude. And did Lucy not catch Wren threatening her mom, or is Lucy just used to Wren? How the heck does an ice cream give itself brain freeze? And Wren plays up the stereotype that geese are evil. Also nice to see those two monsters again. They seem to be a bit of a couple, which is an unexpected bit of character growth.

Dragon’s and Dry-cleaners:

Once again, Wren’s recklessness comes to bite her. And we finally get Oona’s personality as a jaded loner who doesn’t think she needs anybody. I really thought Wren was going to learn a lesson here, but no. That was saved for later on. Still, cool fight scene. 

In the mouth of Badness:

Buckle up, kids, here we go. The rest of the episodes are a straight shot to the finale. They almost pull a 24 here. It’s such a shame that it had to start on a sunch a mediocre note. I mean seriously, an eating contest? It was basically an excuse to resolve Scout’s plot, but at least it’s nice to see that Bob can be too arrogant for his own good. But, the main fight, inside of Bob’s mouth? I mean just why? That was some major cringe material, especially for people who are allergic to bee stings.

Deal With It:

And this gets real, quick Nice touch calling back to the Fun Room. I knew Ren using the doggy door would bite her eventually. It’s nice to see Norm step up and get active, though he’s not really good at it, or making deals to help people. 

And the secret is blown, in the worst, way possible. I honestly wonder what Reynold was thinking in that moment. Not hard to know what Wren was thinking. But, it’s nice to see that Everette and Lucy were willing to be reasonable. And really nice to see Norm get some action. Speaking of action...

Sibling Showdown:

I felt fairly cathartic when I read the title of this one. I knew Wren’s bossy, aggressive, attitude would push Reynold too far at some point. And it’s nice to see Reynold actually hold his own, here. He may not be all that good with the physical stuff, he’s been living with Wren his whole life, he knows what buttons to push. Sadly, I thought the two would hug it out here. I should have known Wren could never let something go so easy.

What about Norm?:

But, it did lead to this nice episode. Wren starts off in practically a berserker rage. I love that that had to dump her in the fun room just to get her to listen. So now we get Norm’s backstory. It’s nice seeing the original four kids, again. But, really, Oona’s the only one we get to see out of costume? I know budget limits and all, but would it have killed you to at least give us a glimpse of the other three? Man, Norm had a harsh life. And if people didn’t hate Bob before, they do now. Also only Oona gets pissed at Norm, the other three see angry Oona and just nope out of the whole thing. Honestly, both Wren and Oona give me a bit of a Lucy vibe. I just wonder if that was intentional. And Lucy finally realizes how dumb she was being. It’s nice to see them make up and also nice to see Wren’s tantrum come back to bite her. “Uh, where’s Reynold?” “Oh, crap.”

O Grubbin, Where Art Though:

Not that Reynold needed any help. I admit I thought Lucy would use her Edit form to start a grubbin uprising, but no, leave it to Reynold to think his way out of a problem. The two monsters Lucy made friends with are back and Oona finally starts to thaw a bit. Nice to see Rudy get a big damned heroes moment, even if it did get him grubbinized. And it’s especially nice to see Reynold throw Bob’s arrogance back in his face. But, this is only the wind-up to the final act...

All Hallow’s Eve:

Hoo boy, did they pull out all the stops? Wren learned that you shouldn’t put your faith in idols, but she also learns that sometimes people can surprise you. And the kids left their best battle costumes home. Hey, at least this way it gives them time to spend a few moments with their parents and Oona and Norm a chance to settle things. I pretty much knew Oona was going to be the friend Norm lost. But it’s still touching to realize that Oona never forgot Norm, even if she never forgave him.

Okay, brief quality time moments. Wren and Reynold carving a pumpkin together. Wren could never quite spit out an I’m sorry, but in the end she didn’t need to. Reynold gets her. Also nice to see the mom warning about no fighting and the twins looking very sheepish. If she only knew.

Nice to see that Everette has gotten over Benji’s girlfriend. And it also shows that Benji hasn’t grown up too much, while Everette has grown up just enough. I Wonder if that Masked Rider costume is going lead into anything?

And now my favorite moment of the whole episode, maybe the whole series. Lucy and her mom sit down and hash things out. And Lucy reveals all. The mom just thinks she’s playing pretend of course, right up until Lucy turns into Edit. Yeah, there’s no real arguing with that. Also, Lucy just turned into a monster and told her mom she and her friends are going to battle monsters for the fate of the entire world and the mom’s immediate response is, you know it’s getting chilly out, maybe take a jacket? It’s not as bad as it seems. The mom just had a traffic jam in her head at that moment and that happened to be the first thing that worked itself loose. I just wish we could have seen the talk they had later.

And factory Brawl! In this corner, four kids, an old woman with magic costumes and a friendly monster with a lot of determination. And in this corner, a factory load of monsters with an unlimited supply of power-ups. Even though it was obvious this wouldn’t go anywhere, it was still cool as hell.

Also, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself! That gag will never get old. It looks like Oona was doing a little prep work. And Norm finally gets to follow in father’s footsteps with the portal juice.  Also, wren taking a page from Reynold’s book and using her head, nice touch.

 And Rudy pulls a double, shutting off his own movie premier and rallying the kids to the amusement park. Of course, Wren points out they don’t have a bunch of magic costumes for them. But, then Lucy remembers Mr. Elephant. Now, I thought they would go giant robot, here. But, they did one much better. Turning the park rides into king-kong sized versions of the original costumes, much cooler. Is it me, or did Bob kinda go down like a chump a little bit? He got in a little defense, but not a whole lot of offense. Still, it was the culmination of the kids working together and Bob’s arrogance getting the better of him. Anyone else think the portals weren’t open for very long? How are they supposed to organize an invasion when they have access to their reinforcements for an hour tops?

And a new day dawns. Nice to see everybody getting on with life. Oona and Norm in the factory, the kids commenting on the cool monster fight. And Rudy and the other two Grubbins are still around. Can that blonde kid ever catch a break?

Wow, this was epic But, there’s something I’ve got to wonder. Lucy told her mom the truth and proved it. A theater full of kids and at least one teenager participated in a giant monster fight. And pretty much half the town saw four park rides get up and beat down a giant monster. So, is the lid off at this point? I mean it’s going to take some CIA level covering up to put this genie back in the bottle. Also, are Wren, Reynold, Everette, and Benji going to have conversations of their own with their parents? 

Well, that’s all for now. Looking forward to Heroes on Holiday next month. Now I know it’s a Christmas special, which are usually standalone stories because networks usually play them at holiday time instead of the regular rotation.

But, this is Amazon Prime and that rule doesn’t apply anymore. It could be a standalone story, or it could follow up on All Hallow’s Eve. And this a possibility it could do more. 

Now, I know that this is a totally different continuity from the games, but still my mind goes to three words. Grubbins on Ice. An expansion of the first game that is set at Christmas time and sees the kids dragged to Repugia. I don’t know if Costume Quest has earned a second season, or not. But, it makes you think. It’s awfully convenient they picked a Christmas special. Anyway, if there is a season two I just hope we don’t have to sit around and wait seven months for the second half. That did not work, at all!

[abundantchewtoys]

HS Epi Meat, p5 reaction

Meat Page 5.

We might be due another perspective switch - unless the plot stays with John until he's assembled all his friends.

When John goes to pick up Rose, it’ll probably be on LOLAR. Terezi might still be there, if she hasn’t gone clownhunting just yet.

If so, perhaps we’ll get to see whether Rose ‘n Terezi’s migraine was really due to the substance abuse + caleidoscopic colours of LOLAR + glitches… Or whether it was due to the GO timeline “supposed to” have gone differently, with John’s current retcon being the thing missing to happen. It takes a bit of effort, remembering what everyone was exactly up to on this part of the GO timeline and what would be a fortunate time for John to take it off the rails. For Kanaya, that might very well be the moment Jane set up her literal shop on LOFAF, selling her all those blood potions, for instance.

For Dirk, it might be before his conversation with Arquiusprite.

I'm getting the feeling that John might be jumping to exactly those moments in the scenes where the characters were at their lowest, self-esteem wise. Giving them a literal second breath. ;)

Not sure what we can expect from the ghost side of things though. I think they might not be duplicated, leading us to meet up with (Vriska) as we knew her, punk cut and all. Even though GO Terezi's ghost will be there with her too.

I'm half convinced Calliope will get copied somehow, but not entirely sure. The only 'real' duplicate Calliope had already, besides Alt Calliope, was her dreamself. He could snatch the body, but I was under the impression Caliborn consumed it in a literal sense to establish his dominance over the body.

Meanwhile, it occurred to me to that Andrew Hussie (the author avator) will make a comeback, probably a background cameo. I've only now realized that he's a literal ghost writer of his own story right now, in-canon. While outside of canon, he’s more becoming like Stan Lee, executive producing stories using characters he designed.

Anyway, let's start this up.

---

"The stands of the Cantown Memorial Arena" Okay, my first thought was this takes place on the meteor, but yeah, it's a building named presumably after the literal Cantown WV build in his station, back on Earth. Or the Exile Town that Bec Noir massacred. Though, does this indicate a perspective switch back to Roxy... Or is the CMA where Rumble in the Pumpkin Patch is recorded? Probably the latter, meaning the perspective is switching back to Dave! Uh, the alpha version, I guess I should call him? Post-canon, adult Dave?

"His shit eating was so brutal that no one, except maybe Jake, cares that he’s taking a phone call in the middle of a live broadcast." So, was it staged, or did Jake really get a power boost, coming into his role as the Page?

Also, I feel like if Karkat's run for president gets announced by Dave on live television, "and the crowd goes wild" will apply here.

"Dave takes a seat on the couch, right in Karkat’s butt groove." Okay, so he's not going just yet. ... Karkat's butt groove is available because the latter absconded the fuck out last we saw him, hahah.

"a piece of absolute garbage." Callback secured.

"DAVE: while the beatdown you just received was as thorough as it was humiliating im afraid as usual the solution to this problem should probably not involve your decapitation" While Dirk might be the one to keep this beaten dead horse of an in-joke going, Dave isn't going to be the one to cut its head off and end its misery. :P

"DAVE: jake just kicked your ass DAVE: thats really all there is to say on the matter" AWWWWW yessss, hahahahah. Dirk's laid down, on the ground, on his smartphone, just like Dave was after his beatdown by Bro. Awesome callback.

"DAVE: its really amazing how this meme we have going here continues to be exactly as funny as the day it was established DIRK: Isn’t it always though? DAVE: yeah" That's Strider Irony at its finest for you. You never can be entirely sure non-sincerity is what's taking place here.

" DAVE: how DID you get your ass kicked so bad DAVE: jake sucks and his raps are fucking awful" Oh, scratch that thing about his power level, then. ... The rapbots didn't join in to beat Dirk down, did they? ... Though I would like to see either them or their zilly versions again. :P

"

On the TV, Dirk makes an elegant hand sign that once might have represented solidarity with some ancient coastal rap group but now has been utterly divorced from its cultural context here on Earth C." Is it a sign associated with... the ICP? Yes, I guess whatever 'references' the kids make get picked up as divine decree...

"The camera pans away from him and over the crowd. It zooms in on a young crocodile wearing an oversized T-shirt with Jake’s highly marketable ass plastered over it and the phrase “Tally ho” written in big bubble letters." ... including stuff that was already dated when the gods were still actual kids. (By which I mean the phrase, not Jake's marketable ass.)

"DIRK: Holding back a little to achieve certain results doesn’t necessarily mean you’re participating in a farce or rigging the event. DIRK: We do this all the time. We hold back our thoughts, our true feelings, our full potential. We disguise how much we know about what and when, for many purposes. To ease relations, to let others behave naturally and make up their minds without undue intervention. To wait for the right moments to show our hands, to pick our battles. " Dirk is still overthinking things. :P He's also still a schemer, even though he's grown more mature. I think in this case, he might be trying to keep up Jake's taste for adventure and hone his skills? That might be related to the fact that he's one of the few in the know of what John is up to (also a thing he's withholding right now), and he might be trying to get Jake battle-ready in case he needs to be. ... In case he doesn't believe they'll stay irrelevant to the plot.

"DAVE: my dog you are full of some SHIT today arent you DIRK: Absolutely." It's a good thing Dave can see Dirk typing, otherwise I might have asked whether Dirk may have reinstated an autoresponder to answer when he's busy. :P

"DIRK: And when it comes to theater, there are just as many reasons for restraint. To build tension. To set the stage. To give the people someone to root against." Okay, that's actually kind of meta. Also, in-story, it might mean Dirk is deliberately trying to come off as weaker, to get people to boo at Jake so he can play hero?

"DAVE: i can see you on tv DAVE: theyre booing you dude" Okay, never mind.

"The excitable salamander manning the camera switches to a fish-eye lens for some unfathomable reason, giving the whole exchange an air of demented absurdity. Dirk’s sunglasses distort and stretch to dominate the entire screen." I'm all here for NPC races doing menial labor half-way competently. :P Also, I feel like there should be some sort of visual callback to that image of Dirk's sunglasses. Something to do with the black hole from Problem Sleuth expanding to suck the entire universe up, which was reflected in the Stiller shades, and the event in itself is being called back to now, in the Black Hole sucking up the Furthest Ring!

"JAKE: What about the agitated rabble? Theyre starting to throw things. DIRK: I don’t know. Do a dance or something. Sing a song. DIRK: They love anything you do. JAKE: Ummm. JAKE: Ok sounds stupid but ill try." Using Jake's charisma as crowd control? Dirk, you beautiful mastermind.

"Jake tips an imaginary hat toward center stage and begins doing the Charleston." Hah, right, this might be a callback to that other Page dancing old-time dances, hahah, Tavros after he assembled the ghost army.

"Just as Dirk predicted, the crowd immediately loses its shit, except for a single carapacian in the front row, who continues to glower at Dirk with an expression of absolute and total contempt." If Jack hadn't remained in the session, I would've designated this guy as his great-whatever-grandchild.

"DAVE: why do you want people to hate you so much DAVE: its fucked up DIRK: You’re reading way too much into it." I don't necessarily believe that.

"DIRK: If I wanted another round of embarrassingly indulgent and mutually masturbatory psychoanalysis, I would have called my daughter instead. DAVE: hm DAVE: do i need to point out how fucking weird what you just said was or can that start going without saying at this point" This. This is Homestuck. This entire exchange.

" DIRK: The point is, playing myself up as a villain figure in this hacky rap pageant has nothing to do with getting people to dislike me. Besides, everyone loves a good villain. When they boo, they don’t really mean it." That has me thinking of Thog, a villain from Order of the Stick, actually. But yeah, Caliborn, Condy and others were really good villains. Doesn't mean we didn't mean it when we cursed them, though.

"DIRK: I think you’d be surprised by how popular I actually am. DAVE: i dunno man" At some point, playing the villain stops being a role, if you're too thorough in antagonizing the crowd. Dirk may have gone overboard here - in his role in the pageant I mean, I don't think anyone loves their god any less. Just one more way to show that, victory state or not, their original issues still come into play and challenge them to grow.

"DIRK: The point is, this is much less about me, and more about providing a foil for Jake’s heroism and charisma. DIRK: It’s very important that his popularity continues to be cultivated, to maximize his political capital. DAVE: political capital" ... Oooooh! Thinking three steps ahead of everyone again, nice going Dirk! I think Dirk might even have foreseen Dave rallying Karkat to stand against Jane, but I wonder which side he'll be choosing!

" DAVE: what the fuck are... DAVE: ok how long have you known about the jane thing DAVE: i mean is this something you have been planning for like DAVE: a long time or DIRK: Planning is such an intense word." Oh, he's trying to pull the strings again, is he? What game is he playing then, what policies does he want to instate, if any? ... Is Dirk a supposed xenophone too, or just playing to the tune of the largest group of swing voters?

" DAVE: jane is a shitty candidate dude DAVE: shes going to be so shitty DIRK: I thought you’d feel that way." ... Pfff I just realized Dirk wasn't typing, since this was a phone call. He's saying this all out loud! Typing's the old way of conversation, we discarded it for the most part, everyone has their Gift of Gab now. Well, hopefully at least Dave's part isn't being recorded and broadcast.

"DIRK: I respectfully disagree. DAVE: i get shes a good friend of yours and all but even you have to admit how far up her own ass she is DIRK: Of course. I consider it to be among her best qualifications for the job." Dirk might just be thinking: a self-absorbed candidate won't notice being pulled around. Even though she's, you know, his dear friend and all, he's still planning on manipulating her. :/ Old habits and such.

"DAVE: christ DAVE: ok if nothing else have you at least taken into account the DEVASTATION to the economy this will cause???" Strider Irony(tm).

"DIRK: Dave, I think if you search your soul, you’ll come to the same conclusion I have. Jane is just what this planet needs. DIRK: We’ve all had our fun here, but it’s easy to overlook the fact that civilization on Earth C is hardly a sustainable proposition. DIRK: Just beneath the surface, it’s quite a dangerous and unstable place." Oh, cool, so Dirk was acting on the same things Dave noticed, just having drawn different conclusions. Guess there's more to playing god as a winner of Sburb than sitting on your butt all day long, huh?

"DAVE: i know that DAVE: which is why actually i think it would be cool to have a president that is good instead of bad DIRK: He’s not as great as you think. DAVE: what" See, I know Dirk'll say Karkat, but I kind of wish he'd say Obama. :P

"DAVE: who DAVE: obama?? DAVE: how dare you" XD PFFFFFffffhah, okay, should've seen that coming.

"DIRK: I’m happy for both of you, really. It’s nice that you encourage and support each other in this way. But you’re sending him on a fool’s errand which can only end badly." Like, I understand where Dirk's coming from, we know how unbalanced Karkat is at his worst. But Dirk's seems to be the conservatist route, while the current status quo is so unbalanced someone with at least a little liberal thinking should try changing policy, little by little. ... Okay now Homestuck has me doing political discourse. Hussieeeeeeee! ... Why am I now picturing a Homestuck AU about the climate change truant student marches of Europe?

"DAVE: wait DAVE: how do you even know hes entering the race DAVE: we like just decided this DIRK: A competent political operative has his ways. DIRK: Besides, it was always pretty obvious to me you’d react this way the moment the announcement was made." Okay, not ruling out entirely Dirk has something spying on Dave, but that would verge too much on what Bro would've done in his place. He probably just cold-mindedly assessed his potential response.

"DAVE: cause if youve already got jake on your side then i guess we might as well just fucking quit DIRK: I wouldn’t worry about that. DIRK: He and I don’t quite have the rapport we once did. DIRK: He’s “over me” and doesn’t spare opportunities to make ostentatious demonstration of this claim. DAVE: um DIRK: Basically he doesn’t like being told what to do. Especially not by me." Cool, okay, so... Jake is needy in his own way, in showing he can fend for himself, at least that's how Dirk sees it. Guess they still hang out a lot though, just no longer "like that". That must be a letdown for the shippers, but a boon for the people that felt betrayed at seeing Dirk & Jake back together in the Credits. I like that middle road, actually! And hey, the versions of Jake & Dirk in the New Game Plus timeline, or whatever we should call it, are still fair game!

"DIRK: So it’s fair to say as of now, he’s still fully in play. DIRK: Not that I should be encouraging you, really. DAVE: you are one doubletalking son of a bitch you know that DAVE: i cant tell if you dont want us to run or are reverse psychology mindfucking us into running" Very true, that. Why would he share the truth about Jake if he wants to win, unless he wants fair competition? Best not to dwell on it too long on this neverending stairway of hidden intentions, lest we fall down it.

" DAVE: not like i can just stand around and wait for president crocker to like DAVE: write fucking grammar laws into the constitution" Pfffff, yes, I had forgotten about Jane's grammar practices, hahah. Guess she has a good running mate in Dirk for that, at least, capitalization and everything in order when he's not rapping.

"DIRK: Sorry to cut this short, but diapers are starting to come down pretty hard right now, and some of them haven’t even had their babies removed. DAVE: what" what. I hope it's at least consort babies, they're arguably the most resilient, as semi-sapient animals.

"DIRK: That was a joke." Ah.

"Jake can’t help but watch the motion, raking his eyes over the muscles shifting beneath the skin of Dirk’s neck and arms.

There is something implacably magnificent about Dirk Strider, Jake thinks, untamed like a wild game beast of incredible size and strength." ... Well then! I didn't think the narration would offer us this view from the perspective of Jake, thought it would be reseverd for John! Not entirely sure how I feel about the privilege of seeing Jake pine for Dirk, though. :P At least it clarifies where the allure is in it, for him. It's an extension of his taste for adventure and his upbringing on an island full of terribly powerful beasts.

"Of course, their history together is never far from Jake’s mind, however many years it’s been since their last tussle of an amorous nature. The old dramas and triumphs in the days of Sburb. Dirk’s companionship has been taxing to the heart, to say the least, and yet he’s taught Jake so much—about combat, philosophy, life, love." Okay, that is just such a Jake thing to phrase it like this. I'm glad we get to see he's not so oblivious or un-elloquent in his mind as he presents himself to the outside world, consciously or not.

"But sometimes, despite their checkered and problematic past, Jakes wishes that he could seize Dirk by the proverbial horns and wrest him bodily into becoming a much more agreeable fellow." Heheh, so Jake actually would like to impose on Dirk some manners. At least with him it stays with desires, while Dirk really did try to impose on Jake when they were together.

"DIRK: How about you kick off the next round? DIRK: I bet this crowd will settle its shit right down the moment you drop the latest rhymes you’ve been tinkering with." This is going to be painful to read, isn't it? ... If we're going to read them at all. ... I swear, this might just lead into them having "the xest rapoff in the history of Earth C".

"Jake’s face lights up. He composes himself, adjusting a bow tie, although he is not wearing one, and making a vague gesture like he’s twirling one end of that mustache Dirk has not yet let him grow. Dirk lets him go with a gentle smile, like the sort you’d give to a dog for performing a trick adequately. Jake responds to the signal like an Olympic athlete hearing the starter pistol. He was born for this." All the best and worst aspects of Dirk & Jake as a couple are basically summarized here. I mean, Dirk is not even WITH Jake and vetoes some of his choices. Then again, Jake really does have TERRIBLE (but hilarious) taste in mannerisms.

"JAKE: Tally ho its me, jake mcgee! JAKE: Popping my pistols off, two shots and a kiss JAKE: My aim is tops, i never miss" ... I'm not disappointed, this really IS almost physically painful to read, as expected.

... Okay that was actually a very amazing rap. Well thought out, good use of the vocabulary, dated though it is. I liked "jake-eng's" and "jape-slings" in particular, especially since that was what Vriska dismissed him as, a joke, a jape.

"The crowd, as Dirk rightly predicted, has settled its shit right down. This is not due to any accidental brilliance on the part of Jake English, but rather due to an abashed but loyal brand of pity, the kind a devoted fan cannot help but feel when they see a beloved celebrity make an ass out of themselves during a live broadcast they have waited two and a half years in line to buy a ticket for." I think this might be Dirk's POV. Not everyone's tastes in rap are as dignified as his, after all. :P Consorts in particular might love this. Then again, we saw John embarass carapacians not too long ago, they're not immune to pitying people. But hey, on the brightside, maybe some of the audience <>'s Jake now. :P

"Dirk’s phone begins going off again." Unless it's something more ominous, this is probably Dave having the last quip.

"With a casual flick of his wrist, Dirk snaps out a bright red tranquilizer handgun and shoots Jake in the neck. Jake’s glasses crack when he hits the mat. A chorus of boos rises up from the crowd like groundwater. Dirk artfully dodges a bucket of obscene troll fluid to field yet another very important personal call." ... Did Dirk actually use a Crockertech tranquilizer on his co-god? What the hell, Dirk? Guess all is fair in the ring.

And I suppose it's not Dave then that is calling him this time, if he takes such drastic measures.

"DIRK: Yo Rose, what's up?" Oooh, if we get to see this, that would be early we get to see Rose again! Dirk and Rose'll probably be planning their next move now that John has left. (Which I take Rose to already know about, through her Seer powers, or a call with Roxy.) ... Maybe some of their plans only could have worked IF John left, if they wanted to regain some measure of relevance through them.

[space-unicorn-dot]

SSO HTTYD AU - Jaime Ravenshield

YEET, I was actually semi-around for the talk about this one and am actually here to show up on time with a developed character to actually participate. And this is perfect because Jay is perfect for this and I guess it’s not hard to tell I’ve been literally all over getting to develop and write him more. So, without further ado!! @sso-trainyourdragon Uhhh... I also realize this isn’t done, but if I save it just to my drafts, I’m gonna lose it, not know where it went, and never finish it. So, yeah, I’m gonna tag this, and please hold.

MEET MA BOI

Name: Jaime Ravenshield - Jay to friends

Age: Twenty-three

Occupation/Trade: Adventurer, mercenary

Magic: Illusions (disguising and masking things as something different, usually something a little more “normal”), Moon Circle/prophetic visions, water manipulation

Physical Appearance:

Yeah, I do genuinely think his hair would be longer in this AU verse, and, I mean, ignore that this doll creator was obviously kickass Viking woman (Iloveit) and, y’know, I did what I could. BUT ANYWAY.

He’s a bit of a human tower, standing at least six feet in height, and probably some change (read: I haven’t decided an exact, so just know he’s tol), with light blonde hair and heterochromia. His left eye is a warm brown and his right is a pale blue. I went with pale blue in the doll thing because you can’t choose two different ones, but you get the idea. I do really like how this turned out, lol.

Clothes & Style: Jay is on the move often and his typical style reflects that, and his preference for functionality. He’s often carrying at least a blade with him - either a sword or a dagger/some throwing knives, but also carries a bow and quiver for easier hunting. I may or may not have found myself mildly influenced by the presence of Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey lately in my life. >.>

Uh, yeah, he’s also probably almost always in long sleeves, the light armor, boots, and pants. It gets a bit cold out there. The headpiece/helmet is probably mostly only when he’s actually flying, and the cloak is probably under a similar sort of use.

Build: Fit, healthily(?) muscled? You can tell he’s active and he practices his trade well enough to get more than by on the skin of his teeth, but he’s no hulking Stoick the Vast, ya feel?

Defining Characteristics: Typically wears some sort of blue paint in a few varying patterns - either something like the stripes in the picture or some runic designs. He has some claw scars on his left arm from a bit of a closer call with some ~disgruntled wildlife, and some more with scraps of the more human kind on his torso, not that anyone will be seeing that without some platonic bonding beforehand. Don’t get too excited, kids. I mean, there’s also his heterochromia. That probably gets noticed a fair bit.

Signature: Is this talking about like writing style? Signature feature? Weapon? Style? I don’t know and I’m not a cool kid that can do that fancy make your own font sort of thing because I’m lame, lazy, and don’t have any of that fancy tablet stuff, so you’re gonna have to bear with my vague description. His writing probably has a slight slant to it no matter what he’s writing - not necessarily the “I can’t write in a straight line without a line of reference” kinda slant, but like... a stylistic one? And he’s pretty neat. Probably mildly fancy. Because that shit’s pretty.

Personality: While “mercenary” might sound contradictory to all of this, “vigilante” might work a little better for a true description of what he does. Most people just end up calling him the former, anyways. He’s grown independent and self-sufficient out of necessity, considering he was an orphan, but he’s quite the compassionate individual, almost always willing to detour from the task at hand to help someone in need. He’s typically pretty soft-spoken and understanding. He’s not a particularly open book about himself, but he’ll take time to listen. Incredibly loyal and protective of those he cares for.

Talents: In free time, he’s been fond of sketching - lots of Star, but also of some of the scenery they’ve seen on their adventures. And, he’s a bit shy about it, so he won’t really admit to it unless you really press, but he likes to sing - again, mostly to Star.

Fighting Skills/Style: Jay has always been able to rely on Star to work with him in combat situations - as a distraction, with his strength, as a quick escape option, you name it, Star and Jay would trust each other to help. As for him alone, though, he prefers a shield and a trusty bow with a good range for his combat. In a sense, he likes to fight light on his feet - nimble and dodging or parrying incoming strikes so he can work quickly with his sword and daggers instead of depending on a shield for protection. If tackling a large group, he’d prefer to move with his bow first, to reduce the enemies he must take on and reduce his change of getting detected and stuck in a fight where he’s too outnumbered to take care of himself.

Relationships: Jay’s spent a lot of time mostly on his own, mainly with just Evergray, his mentor as company. Look, ‘cause I can. I love that bastard.

As for romantic, I have no idea, lol. Jay hasn’t really been on the market for a love interest, but that don’t mean he wouldn’t be open to one if something came up.

Pets: A light gray fox with a particular fondness for puddles, splashing up water, and who simply adores when Jay allows him to come with him and Star. His name is Ash.

Miscellaneous:

STORY

Origin: Somewhere high in the mountains; his memory’s a little blurry since his parents were killed when he was very young (and he’d, thus, rather not think too hard or long on it), and he was taken in after by the occasionally odd, but ultimately kind-hearted Evergray when he was young, maybe no more than six. Idk, I’m indecisive. xD Don’t make me number things.

Motivations: It’s not that his life is bad. But something feels likes its missing. The idea of seeing the world was a nice one, too, but, really, he’d also like somewhere he felt like he belonged.

DRAGON

Name; Starstone, usually just Star

Age: Mid to late-teens, probably, maybe an upwards of 20.

Species Name: Stormcutter

Description: Dark blue scales cover most of his body, with a very light blue undertone on his belly and his face that fades into the darker blue. His wings are also the light blue. His eyes are a deep gold color. Jay found him when he was still a young, barely full-grown dragon, with a bit of growing left to do, injured and a bit sickly, but they seemed to trust each other almost at first sight. Jay nursed the dragon back to health almost entirely on his own, only taking advice from more experienced elders, but letting few (if anyone at all) lay a hand to help.

Personality:  He’s very wise, old-soul kinda friend, compassionate, supportive, and, above all else, would do anything for Jaime and to keep him safe. While he moves and holds himself with experience showing, he’s also soft-spoken and doesn’t mind trying to keep up with the occasional antic from other younger or more energetic dragon friends. He’s the kind that would sit there with a straight face while you wave a Twizzler in front of him and, just when you’re ready to begrudgingly give up because it looks like he won’t play with you, tackle and roll you into a gentle scuffle. Would ten out of ten use his tail as a playing lure for kiddos and let them practice pouncing on them. Loves soaring in the night sky, and regularly lets Jay sleep on him in various ways. Sometimes just on his back, sometimes under his wing, sometimes even wrapped in them when he hangs upside down. Overall, really chill, loyal ride or die. Also a wise counsel; Jay regularly consults and takes his advice.

Markings & Scars: He has some grayish-white stripes running down his neck and back, narrowing as they reach his tail and only going down the first bit of it. He has some scarring on his chest and some lighter ones across his hindquarters from close calls with his faithful rider.

Fighter or Passive?: Typically passive, like his rider, but, also like Jay, not afraid to “throw hands” when push comes to shove.

Anything Else Notable?: He has never been ridden with any sort of saddle or harness. Jay’s relationship with him is founded on trust and respect and, therefore, the only thing he’d ever maybe consider would be additional armor for his friend if they were getting into something he worried his dear friend couldn’t take, but they’ve made it this far without, so it’s not very likely.

[whateverisbeautiful]

Richonne in Retrospect

#20: The Track (4x15)

So um, no joke, I’m a mess rn. 😭😥😭 Like I was not at all ready to see those pictures for 8b pop up and it really messed me up. How does a TV show hurt this much!? 😭

This wasn’t how I was planning on starting this post but man those pictures just really took me out. 😥  Like seeing Michonne clearly determined to be by his side til the last second. (And I didn’t even catch that they were holding hands at first, and seeing that just broke me even more. 😭) Seeing Rick clearly in shock that the very engine of his entire life, before and after the apocalypse, is basically coming to an abrupt halt. Seeing both of them be there for their son one last time as the place they called home burns. It’s seriously too much. 😔

And as was very rightfully mentioned in a comment, we never even saw a substantial post-canon scene with the four members of Grimes Family 2.0 just in their house in ASZ, except in Rick’s dream world and now that’s just never going to happen. 😢 

It’s interesting timing that those pictures would come out on the day I was going to reflect on my all time favorite Grimes Family 2.0 scene. Like this is literally what I had originally written as the opener for this post:

“Alright so this 20th moment is definitely a big one! This lovely scene with Grimes Family 2.0 on the train tracks is so perfect and it’s my top favorite moment with the three of them. 😍”

And then those pictures came out and it literally felt like a punch in the gut. 😣

But rather than see this post as painful timing I’m going to try and look at it as perfect timing.

Cuz I think this is the time when remembering how happy, and familial, and just all around great these three were together is needed most. 😭😭

Those three characters are clearly about to go through something extremely painful very soon and it’s hard cuz they have been through so much together and survived it. But that’s why this moment in season 4 is so special cuz it reminds you that while yes they’ve been through a lot of traumatizing and tough things together, they’ve also had some really sweet and happy moments too.

So I feel like because it’s still true, and perhaps even more true now, I’ll still go into this break down by saying...Alright so this 20th moment is definitely a big one! This lovely scene with Grimes Family 2.0 on the train tracks is so perfect and it’s my top favorite moment with the three of them. 😍

It’s also a moment that I consider to be a major turning point in the making of Richonne.

See from my observations, I consider this moment to be the moment when Rick realizes he might love Michonne in a different and deeper type of way. 🙌🏾🙌🏾

To me, 4b was when Rick and Michonne realized they had serious love in their hearts for one another. Like there was a spark from their very first meeting at that prison fence and the love was always brewing but I feel it’s in this latter half of season four that they both become more aware that this person could be the love of their life.

And while the love between them grows all throughout 4b, I think it’s in this scene specifically where Rick becomes more self aware about his feelings. So we don’t just have to break this one down. We have to break it all the way down. 😋

So the scene starts where we just see Rick talking and then he turns around to see these two cuties preoccupied with playing a game of balancing on those train tracks.  😊

The shot of Rick turning around to see his family just enjoying themselves is beyond precious. #Art 😭

I love that we get to see how Carl and Michonne’s friendship is so fun and lighthearted even in this world. She’s so good at connecting with Carl and even though we know she’s grown and mature I love that she has such a child like heart with him. ☺️

Rick’s delivery of the line, “What are you doing?” is so great. 😋 Cuz he’s amused and also sort of like “so this was more important than listening to me talk about our resources?” lol.

And I love their playfulness when Carl says he’s winning a bet and Michonne says “In your dreams.” Like all they need is some train tracks to actually have some fun and a moment of levity in all this darkness.

But what makes my heart melt is Rick’s smile when he sees this. Like you can tell he is so appreciative of this lighthearted moment and the happiness Michonne is able to give to his son.

He did after all say Carl needs her and he’s seeing firsthand how true that is and how Michonne really can give Carl a friendship that he can’t quite give him. And I love that you see how much this moment means something to Rick. 😊

It’s also nice cuz it serves as a reminder to Rick that life doesn’t have to be strictly business all the time.

But it does have to be some business lol so as Rick walks to them (which I appreciate cuz it means he’s willing to let them take at least some time for fun) he gently suggests that they might have to speed up the process.

And Michonne validates that by saying “Yeah you’re right. We shouldn’t be fooling around” cuz Homegirl’s mature too 👏🏽 But she’s also fun cuz she turns that into an attempt to get Carl to lose but instead she ends up falling off the tracks. And again I love that we’re seeing them just have fun and be silly. 🙌🏾

And Rick just keeps watching and smiling cuz he knows he and Carl are so lucky to have her. Like they’re seriously a family now. 😭

And since Carl won fair and square he’s adorably like...

Lol, but fr it’s so cute that their little bet was over a candy bar. And it’s also cute how much Carl enjoys the little games she’ll come up with. Cuz in reminding her that she said “winners choice.” it lets you know this bet was at least partly Michonne’s idea.

It’s also so stinking adorable that when she takes out the two candy bars she’s so clearly trying to hint that he should take the one that’s not the Big Cat lol. 😂

Michonne and cat related things is like Richonne and cars, it always makes for a great moment. 👌🏽

But Carl goes for it anyway and Michonne playfully says “Oh come on” before sweetly acknowledge that he “Won it fair and square”.

And y’all I love that Rick is literally just taking it all in and smiling. Like I don’t know that he ever thought he’d see his son get to be this lighthearted again and yet here they are in this super normal and happy moment.

Also I appreciate that while he could have rushed them with their little candy exchange, he instead lets them have this whole little moment as he happily third wheels lol. 😋

And then he watches his good little son kindly agree to split the candy bar cuz they always share. It’s precious cuz in saying “always” that means they do this type of stuff often. 😊

And I love that she actually takes it and cutely says “fork it over” cuz she’s like it’s true tho we do always share. 😂 

Their dynamic is perfection here and, as casual as this moment is, you can still tell that Carl and Michonne mean the world to each other. 

So this scene has always been so special for the Grimes Family 2.0 aspect of it. Even when I first watched this, I loved the friendship Michonne and Carl had.

But now in retrospect, this scene has become crucial to Richonne cuz, as I mentioned earlier, this is where I think we get to visually see the moment Rick realizes he loves Michonne a little differently than he thought.

Cuz y’all, a lot of people think this look right here, seconds before Richonne went canon, was the first time that Rick looked at Michonne like this...

But uh...they thought. 😊

Cuz in this season 4 scene Rick is watching this little candy exchange between Michonne and Carl and then he looks at Michonne like this...

Looks familiar to me. 😋

And y’all that’s just the first time he looks at her like this in this one single scene! Cuz then the scene ends with him looking at her like this...

Re-watching these episodes I really wanted to see if I could track down the moment when Rick and Michonne first knew they might be falling in love. Like I wanted to see if I’d see when Rick and Michonne first seem to know their love for each other went from friend-love to really falling in love. 

And y’all, to me, that lingering look is the moment for Rick. So when I saw this I was like...

(And to me, Michonne’s moment of becoming more self aware is in the next episode,which I’ll def be talking about soon 😋)

I love the little look Rick gives Michonne cuz I’m telling you Homeboy’s slowly but surely becoming self-aware about just how special Michonne is to him personally. Like that look just felt like an “I think I might love you for real” look.

Not just “oh I like her”, or “I love her relationship with Carl”, I think in this moment Rick is realizing I love her. 💯

And now, if this look just happened once you could probably overlook it, but for him to do this twice, it lets you know he’s definitely become more self aware of his feelings for her. 

Like when he looked at Carl, that’s him thinking “aw this is a sweet moment”.

When he turns to Michonne tho...there’s def something different communicated in that look.

And again, for him to look at her like this twice it just confirms that this is different. 🙌 🏾😊

So basically, to make a long story short, this look right here is all the proof needed to let the world know these two have been in love for a long time lol...

They still had a journey to go on in terms of being 100% aware of their feelings but these are just the moments where I think the thought and the notion of being in love first crossed their mind in a much more direct way than before. 

And I love that the scene ends with Rick’s smile as he realizes this is actually a great family moment. Like they make him so happy and that makes me so happy.

Honestly they could have just spent the rest of their days in this little family unit. I would have still tuned in lol.

Also, it’s crazy that this is their only scene in this episode but it makes such a lasting impression and it’s the best scene of the episode in my humble opinion. 😋 

And I love that the episode is called “Us” cuz those three became an “us” in 4b and never looked back.

And y’all! This train track scene I think is even more confirmed to be the moment Rick realized he could have a deeper love for Michonne when three seasons later it’ll be the first thing he recalls about her during the season 7 premiere.😭

Rick recalling this moment during that intense season 7 premiere lets me know just how special this moment was to him and considering it’s, I believe, his earliest memory of her in those season 7 flashback memories, I’m pretty sure that could suggest that this is when he started to fall in love. 🙌🏾☺️

And how could he not, cuz this moment made it crystal clear that Michonne belonged in this family. 👌🏽😊

I love so much about this scene and I’m so glad we got this moment, even if from now on watching it will always make me teary eyed. 😭

And one of the things I love most about this scene is that it illustrates just how true Hershel’s words were. “Things break but they can still grow”. 

And in this moment Rick got to experience the whole new precious plant that’s taken root and grown right before his eyes. 👌🏽🙌 🏾😊

[stabigail]

11 questions meme

1tagged by @myrkks, tagging....... @pentaughast @ghoste-catte @beamkatanachronicles anyone who wants to ig :V

1. how would you describe your writing style or “voice” as a writer?

HONESTLY i still feel like i’m growing into my style, lol! and i often feel inconsistent, but i think part of that is a lack of confidence, still, forever #justwritingproblems. being more realistic, i would say that i tend to write from a very firm point of view and my narrators tend to be quite unreliable; i also tend to focus a lot on sensory details. generally i’m very much a stream of consciousness writer! it’s what i love 2 do.

2. do you prefer to write in first person, second person, or third person, and why? which tense do you prefer?

it depends on what i’m working on, and i definitely flip-flop some, but i almost always write in third person. for me, first person works really well for Very Unreliable Narrators who are trying to skew their story in a certain light, or for stories that are literally one person talking to other people. i love love love first person in podcasts! alice isn’t dead is probably my favorite podcast that utilizes first person, and i really love the depth of emotion that it conveys as a result, so i am more likely to us first person for projects like that.

generally, though, i struggle with first person because it limits narration in a way that i struggle with at times. second person kind of creeps me out as a writer because i feel like a soulbonder?? WHICH IS NOT A KNOCK ON SECOND PERSON, i think it makes for beautiful work, but it’s just not for me. so 3rd person limited is my favorite and has been for a while!

as for tense, i used to write exclusively in past tense but now i write exclusively in present tense and i couldn’t even tell you why. is it because the focus on the present makes for more dynamic writing? is it because i’m pretentious? is it both? likely.

3. what is one thing that inspires/motivates you as a writer these days?

oh man haha . . . spite . . . no not really, it’s a little spite but more feeling a lack and a motivation to fill it! my original work right now is based around a lot of feelings i have about both personal and global uncertainty, and while it isn’t a political piece at all, i’ve definitely found motivation to explore topics that i wish were easier to talk about. when it comes to fandom stuff, it’s usually “i love this pairing, but i never see work for it” or “i love this pairing, but i wish there was more diversity of work around it,” because i like filling gaps and also just always fall for pairings few other people care about. i’m also deeply motivated to write character exploration pieces for fandom because holy shit, nothing makes me happier than picking apart a character’s motivations and rearranging them in a new form. i’m the sylar of other people’s characters.

that being said, sometimes my motivation is “why are there only like 2 smut fics of this lesbian pairing and 238974293874 of this pairing of 2 dudes” and that is spite and i’m not sorry for it.

4. what is one of your strengths as a writer?

uhh,,,, i think i have a good attention to detail? is that a cop-out answer? maybe. i have a good grasp of figurative language, i think, and i actually am quite proud of that now that i think about it. i used to write super purple prose, and through the past few years i’ve been able to really neaten my writing up so that it’s . . . still flowery! always will be! not sorry! but it’s not overbearingly so, and the figurative language i use enhances the story rather than drowning it. shoutout to @pentaughast who has been writing with me for like five years and giving me feedback until my writing stopped being a horrible disaster thicket of metaphors, you’re a pal.

5. what is something you’d like to improve about your writing?

(rolls out scroll)

no but seriously: my number one thing to improve right now is learning to stop editing while i write. every writer is their own worst critic, but i will literally write half a sentence and then go back and change the whole thing, because i’m convinced that everything has to be Perfect the First Time. which is in fact a microcosm of my entire personality. so, anne, don’t edit while you write! also, your first draft is not your final draft! i don’t feel a need to just barf out a certain number of words per writing session, but i do think it’ll benefit me to have momentum and iron out kinks later.

6. what is one genre you enjoy writing in, and why?

hmmm this is interesting because genre is such a broad and subjective thing. that said: urban fantasy is and has always been my jam! i wouldn’t say i’m particularly good at it simply because 1) it is a super vague genre with few hard and fast rules, so i’m not sure how much of my stuff is urban fantasy even, and 2) i’ve been struggling a lot with writing original stuff over the past few years, which is where i have written urban fantasy stuff in the past.

overall i enjoy writing in fantasy or fantasy/sci-fi most of all genres, but never high fantasy because it causes me physical agony. aspects of f/sf i like a lot are basically f/sf as a mirror to our world or otherwise connected to our world (without necessarily using f/sf components as a substitution for actual discussion of oppression cuz, nah,) as well as f/sf as satire, that is my FAVE. discworld (t. pratchett) was the first fantasy series i really locked onto and it was v formative, obviously; also gaiman, stiefvater, jemisin. this question was not about my influences but too bad here they are!!!!!!!!!!

7. what would be the biggest compliment someone could give you about your writing?

the biggest, biggest compliment would be: while i was reading this, i forgot the world existed. because that has always been the biggest thing for me as a reader! the way reading can just take you somewhere, so no matter how shitty things might be in your actual situation, you can just take a break from that and follow bilbo around, or whatever. another really excellent compliment that i actually have gotten (both in writing fic and rp) is “i can hear their voice,” either in narration or dialogue. that’s huge! and it makes me really happy to hear. basically i would love for my writing to be an immersive experience for people, and that’s what i’m always striving to improve.

8. what is one piece of advice you’d give someone experiencing writer’s block or feeling stuck with their writing?

READ

idk, for me, fighting my writer’s block literally does not work. just staring at a piece of paper or a computer screen makes me upset and frustrated. reading, though, is both enjoyable and relatively passive; you don’t have to come up with ideas, you just have to take in someone else’s. as a writer, too, you can read both as an audience member and as a fellow writer observing. what does this author do that works or doesn’t? how does this style work in this context where it might not in another? how does it relate to your style? etc.

more generally, do something nice for yourself cuz sometimes that will boost your creative spirit. self-care is huge!

9. what is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you started writing?

lskdjfskld uh . . . don’t follow any of the advice people give you because most of it either only works for specific people or is entirely bullshit? i suppose more specifically i wish someone had been more supportive of fantasy/sci-fi as a legitimate genre with meaning, although of course that is a societal view rather than a specific one that surrounded me as a kid. it’s shitty, though, because until fairly recently i viewed the type of writing i enjoyed as “less than”/less meaningful than like, i don’t know, anything written by racist old dead white guys.

also, young adult fiction is fucking valid and doesn’t make you a less “serious” writer. i, a Fucking Grown Up, am still most captivated by YA fiction because there are fewer restrictions on it and writers tend to experiment more and, most importantly, because stories about transformation and trying to figure out who you are will never not be compelling.

10. what is a common piece of writing advice you disagree with, and why?

rubs hands together

one: write what you know. what the fuck is that, i want to know who came up with it because fuck? you??? definitely it’s fine to write about things that you have a personal perspective about, or to write in a way that reflects your worldview or emotions or whatever. but write what you know is literally the stupidest, most limiting garbage, and i have met so many grown ass adults who believe in it so strongly. curse that mess.

two: you must construct x type of work in y format following z formula. a lot of times this is really great and works well for people, but other times it can be, again, really limiting. beginning-middle-end is great, but even that can be inappropriate for certain stories, depending on what they are? for me, strictly following writing formulas made me overly focused on “”accuracy”” and less focused on writing what i enjoyed.

three: this one isn’t quite as cut and dry as the previous two, but: write protagonists that people can relate to. here’s the thing: i feel like this often gets translated to “protagonists that are charmingly aware of their own assholeishness, totally perfect and always right, or bland,” and it’s kind of a shitty trap to fall into? this is another reason i love unreliable narrators, bcause you can have that nuance and imperfection without the entire story being about how shitty the character is. their imperfection is part of the story and perhaps even a driving force, but they aren’t just sort of a paper cutout used to drive the story along. hello i’m anne and i struggle writing protagonists.

11. what writing projects are you working on these days?

excited buzzing. a couple! i am really shy about talking about original stuff, but i am working on scripts for (tentatively) a podcast about a very apathetic and cynical gal who is one of a very few survivors of a series of natural disasters and also may?be the one who made them happen. Whoopsie.

fanfiction-wise, i am working on finishing . . . christ on a raft let me count. four! one-shots. there’s a fifth one that i wrote 10k words of in like 2015 and still haven’t finished and i don’t know if i’ll trash it or not lol. regardless, i am working on those! there is a fic that i started working on a while back that was meant to be a multi-chapter fic called reverse about giorno tripping into vampirism and fugo having 0 idea what to do about it; i’ve let it dangle for ages, but i am slowly fleshing out the plot again and getting it going. i’m very excited to do this! i love giorno having to figure out how to vampire and i love fugio.

finally, @relares and i are starting to work on a reset fugiomis fic which, weeps into tea, will kill us both.

[guywithtime2kill]

What's in a name? S05E01/02 - S07E06/30 - S09E04 - S04E26 If the jumble of numbers and letters confused you, I am referring to the episodes: Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lady Rainicorn of the Crystal Dimension, Bonnibel Bubblegum, and The Lich.One of the best things about Adventure Time's writing is its ability to fully flesh out its characters without ever being obvious about it. In fact, if you want to appreciate it fully, you'll have to take a step back and think about what you just watched.When you do so, you should ask yourself: How come what happened, happened? Why did the characters act this way? How does it reflect upon who they are? And finally, most importantly, how did this affect them?Adventure Time doesn't hold your hand about it, and I love that about this show. The episodes I will be talking about today are great in particular, because, as their titles suggest, they are all about these characters we love and know incredibly well at this point.The titles aren't just titles, they tell you what each and every episode is about. And in these five, they are about these characters: who they are, why they are, and how they are.I wanted to share this with you all, and give a brief examination of these episodes based upon this idea.Finn the Human - The first episode of season five doesn't get a lot of love from the fandom, not consciously of course, but there's a reason why it's either grouped beside its second part, or the following installment is superior for being more entertaining.I don't disdain people for feeling this way, it isn't an exciting story, not a laugh-fest and horror movie mixture like Jake's episode, but that doesn't mean it's uninteresting.One of the most fascinating things about 'Finn the Human,' is how it's the first instance of the series where we are told, albeit subtly, that Finn has a greater purpose than merely existing. The fact that he exists no matter what, alongside a canine companion named Jake, is damning enough already - emphasized especially by there not being another familiar face, save for Marceline, who existed before the war, despite this being the "modern world" without the Lich ever existing (who is also destined to exist no matter what).Going deeper, we're shown that, no matter what, Finn is a "hero" in much the same way our Finn is a hero: he's kind, he protects his loved ones (his "family," both in Farmworld and in the original reality), and fights evil. And when he's given his sword arm, Finn even remarks that the sword "feels natural, like peeing outside." It's a funny little comment, but what he says rings truth: that, uh, activity he mentioned echoes man's origin from when we were just animals doing our business in nature. We've just become more civilized. Similarly, it feels natural for Finn to wield a sword, despite clearly never using one before, due to his abrupt failure to defeat Big Destiny.Big Destiny who, along with his crew, the Destiny Gang, are aptly named for the theme of "destiny" which permeates Finn's life: in Farmworld, with everything I mentioned, and in the real world, where we now know that everything involving the Lich has happened because of Finn's actions in the previous episodes.Both him and Farmworld Finn are responsible for the destruction of their homes. I am excited for the end of the show, to see if Finn will further the Lich's plans without realizing, like he's done since their very first encounter, and every encounter since.Jake the Dog - Whereas 'Finn the Human' was about who Finn is on a spiritual level, so is 'Jake the Dog,' albeit in a different, more Jakey way.This episode is the quintessential Jake episode, because it's all about the guy just being himself - literally and spiritually.On a literal level, it's Jake the Dog: ultimate bro. He's chilling with new friends who get him, he shares his personal wisdom about relationships and a bit about his childhood (two things which make up Jake's relationship with Finn), all while being his typical, forgetful self always getting caught up in the moment. And even so, he's still a dummy when it comes to solving big, heavy problems that involve potentially ending worlds.On a spiritual level, Jake is mingling with actual gods. I don't want to get into this too deeply, since people will probably think I'm crazy, but I feel like this is a subtle allusion to Jake's fate and role in the universe: to always be a companion for Finn's many incarnations, and his destined fate for his soul to possibly leave this and ascend to Glob-World, where he will he live with them.It may seem like I'm really reaching, but considering how spiritual Jake is, and what many of his stories involve, an episode bold enough to be named after him wouldn't be too far a stretch to assume they incorporated their bigger plans for the show's endgame into it. Especially with the last two episodes doing just that.Marceline the Vampire Queen - Unlike Finn and Jake, Marceline doesn't live a complicated existence. But she lives a complicated life, and that has to do with her identity as "the Vampire Queen" - a moniker she picked for herself, one that, in this miniseries, we realize holds no weight at all, and is therefore a playful joke she put upon herself. It was her own, Marceline-type way of coping with how she was actually turned into a vamp.But with the removal of this identity, Marceline, deep inside, is unsure of what comes next. It was such a big part of her life, and as symbolized in her dream, with the removal of her fangs she falls apart, and from those parts are her vampiric "pieces" which threaten to drown her themselves.In essence, from the beginning of the miniseries, we are shown that she cannot live without being a vampire, because being a vampire isn't Marceline's problem. She hasn't "grown up," coped, with what happened since the incident, and she is unable to move past it.The miniseries that ensues involves Marceline contending with the past while realizing what she has in the present. This experience affects her on a deep, spiritual level, and it's amazing.Lady Rainicorn of the Crystal Dimension - Just like with Marceline's we're going to be pulling into something far more "down to Earth."Lady's story is interesting, as well as her character put beside everyone else. She doesn't have a story borne of great aspirations like Princess Bubblegum, nor spiritual significance like Finn or Jake's or the Lich's. And she doesn't have an intricately woven identity originating from tragedy, like Marceline.But we all live complicated lives, whether we realize it or not; complicated lives which make us into the person we are today. Lady is no exception, and Lady is just like us. She's normal, she doesn't lead an exciting existence like everyone else in this post, in this show even. But that doesn't lessen who she is as an individual, and that's what her episode is all about.It's interesting how Lady looked exactly as she does now, minus the "free spirit flower child crown" she wore. She doesn't even act differently! But Lady, in this time, chooses to associate with a "bad boy", resembling a teenager. Remember how all Rainicorns, as we know, age fast, and they all find their own ways through life in this brief time they have to become adults.What's interesting about Rainicorns is, because they grow up so fast, their adulthood's trajectory seems to be shaped by a single outlook they latch onto:Viola wants to express herself, so she becomes an actress. TV just wants to not think about anything, and his entire being is consumed by projecting unto malleable games and, at one point, a faceless diary. Jake Jr. doesn't know what she wants to do with herself yet. Kim Kil Wan is the only "mature" pup, and I'm positive he sees himself that way and prides himself upon it - for better or worse. And forgotten Charlie finds her own way in the world with no one's help - no one's but the black arts.I'm bringing all this up, because this echoes in Lady's story and who she is. She had a naive worldview with Lee - she wanted a carefree childhood unrestrained from the very orderly society of the Crystal Dimension. But she's still a kind person at heart, which is why she's disturbed by Lee's cartoonish acts of terrorism and ultra-violence. She thought his actions were all charming until she realized how serious he was about hurting people. It's naive, but it was a realistic wakeup call for her.Which is why Lady went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure Lee will not start a war: where she takes the Crystal Mergence, and force herself to leave home and safeguard it in another dimension.Lady did all of this without her parents' help, and perhaps this is what shaped her view of parenting: she didn't force anything upon TV, because like her and the rest of her children, Rainicorns seem to find their way through lives through the experiences they have - for better or worse.And Lady doesn't stifle who she is when she gets to Ooo: she's still kind and caring and enjoys a carefree life, but she carries with her wisdom and responsibility about the duties of growing up.The title of this episode is interesting, because it makes Lady seem like royalty. "Lady Rainicorn," as if the name of her species is her family name, and her "first name" is her royal title: she's a lady of the Crystal Dimension. We're never given clarification as to whether or not "Lady Rainicorn" is her actual name. Bob and Ethel call her sweetheart/sweetie, and Lee calls her baby.It makes me wonder if that's just what she was first called in Ooo, she accepts her new identity and, down the line, it just became her name. We never see Rainicorns in Ooo besides her, and "of the Crystal Dimension" just sounds very regal for what is essentially just a modernized society.Bonnibel Bubblegum - Honestly, because of the breakdown of this episode I made last week, I'm not going to be saying anything new here.But to stick with the naming scheme of these episodes, the title alone of this episode is significant: "Bonnibel Bubblegum." It's her real name, without the princess moniker. On the outset, it's a reminder on the outset that there was a person before she was Princess Bubblegum, and that person wanted a family of people who were "like her": thinking and mobile, they could take care of themselves and she can consider them her mental equal.And inside, 'Bonnibel Bubblegum' is all about informing us on who that exactly is: why she is the way she is, and what that says about her.As we know full-well by this point, Bonnie would do anything and everything to protect her family. But because of this upbringing though, Bonnie was used to taking care of others through Neddy. But, being a thirteen year old kid, Bonnie didn't really learn from her mistakes here: how her reckless creation of life and forcing her own vision upon others, with no consideration for their own feelings, was what lead to her downfall.But Bonnie didn't think about that - her family just betrayed her and became something, she realized, was much easier to control while being just as emotionally gratifying as before. And she loves the Candy People, and she loves Neddy, but Bonnibel never got the family she really wanted until eight centuries later.In Neddy, we see the great but subtle impact Bonnie has on others, when she never even considers it, because she's so concerned with their immediate well-being. Because she left Neddy in a tower, for people make him uncomfortable and scared - and in 'Bonnie and Neddy,' he doesn't even recognize Bonnibel and becomes scared, when he was perfectly happy with her before, when she beside him every day.Bonnie never considered what locking him away would affect their relationship, and I'm wondering if that's another thing that will be brought up once Gumbald makes his move.The Lich - This one will be the shortest, because the Lich isn't a character - and the show knows it. He's a force of nature, and everything that's happened with him in the show has been because of this episode, which shows us the power his sheer threat has upon Finn and Jake, to not trust Bubblegum and move to steal from her and the princesses, and the influence he has upon them all.The Lich is aware of his purpose, and I think he knew exactly what he was doing when concocting his plan here.I hope you all enjoyed this little analysis! These named episodes are great, and similarly there are the double-named episodes, which are all about the relationships these characters share: Bonnie and Neddy, Simon and Marcy, Lady and Peebles, Hunson and Marcy. I'm hoping we get a few more of these before the show ends, like Finn and Jake (series finale?), Finn and Bubblegum, or Bonnie and Marcy.

[gaycatpark]

Roger Timothy, evens. I'll message you my muses so you can send me some too 😂

2. Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from theiruniverse in mind?

Timothy – He’s was the first character created for the story, soreally everyone else ended up being built around his concept.

Roger – He was built as the foil to Timothy’s love interest,Nathaniel. Both of them struggle with having to deal with the fact that theymade huge mistakes that impacted others negatively, and are trying to makeamends, along with abandoning loved ones who looked up to/depended on themwhile also being abandoned by loved ones they depended on.

4. In developing their backstory, what elements of the worldthey live in played the most influential parts?

Timothy – Timothy is the only normal human in the story, but he straddlesthe line of being both an insider and outsider, given that he grew up in a verysmall, religious town before moving to Seattle and was finally able to expresshis sexuality and have a community that accepted him.

Roger – I mean, Roger’s whole story is about generationalmistakes and stigmas around mental illness and being afraid to grow up to be yourparents, along with outsiderness, because before the story takes place heliterally doesn’t know that other “monsters” exist.

6. Is there any significance behind their eye color?

No, but I think both of them have brown eyes?

8. What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

Timothy – I think I relate to the whole “small/religious townkid” growing into their identity thing, and he’s pretty nerdy to boot.

Roger – A lot of the avoidance issues and fears of repeating hisparents’ mistakes/abuse. I think Roger really reflects be from when I was about18 or 19 and really struggled with owning up to my mistakes or accepting help.

10. If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to becompatible to that person?

I have no idea what an LI is, sorry.

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (anyform of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

I mean I can’t draw so there’s that, but I honestly have no ideawhat the fuck Roger looks like, so there’s that.

14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind whileworking with your OC, what would those things be?

Timothy – try not to talk with a “Minnesota Nice” after workingwith him, and despite his goofy demeanor he’s a grown man who has been througha lot and deserves emotional depth.

Roger – Uh, it’s really about finding balance. He’s kind of anasshole who makes stupid choices, but almost all of them are out of fear and he’sactually terrified of because he’s in the middle of realizing his mistakes andhurts, along with the way he’s hurt others [especially when it comes to hisdaughter, who he loves but he also doesn’t know how to relate with her and he knows he hurt her badly].

16. What is something about your OC can make you cry?

Timothy – Nothing much, tbh. He’s a sweetie who’s just tryinghis best.

Roger – I think, in a lot of ways, Roger is also partiallyshaped after my own father [sans some of the abuse] and so dealing with hisstory is hard in a lot of ways.

18. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

Timothy – I think I really need to work on his flaws a bit more.He’s not really in Sue territory or anything, but he could use more fleshingout.

Roger – I think he has the capacity to be a really sympatheticcharacter if I’m extremely careful how I write him.

Thanks for the ask!!!

[bigskydreaming]

I'm having a worse than usual day, so my go to moodlift method is making up headcanons for Dick that don't involve superheroing. You know, the romantic hero, the 'most eligible bachelor' aspect.. gets the focus. Because hey plenty of us had a crush on him growing up. Just for fun, I wanna ask you, do you think he's a slow burn romance kinda guy or intense fiery passionate romance from the get go kinda guy? One more, the age old question, is HE an ass guy or a tiddy guy? Imo he's a thigh guy..

Sorry you’re having a crap day, and uh, hope this didn’t end up not fun, I got lost in the headcanoning and character analysis and zigged and zagged per usual, so……I do not trust my ability to tell, overall. LMAO. But good question, made me think!

I think it depends on the person. I feel like Dick is capable of both, that sometimes feelings just creep up on him for someone over time, but other times he’s just drawn to someone instantly. For me, Babs and Kory is the proof - the instant crush on Babs from day one is more of a Reboot introduction to their dynamic…..in various older continuities, she was more a rival at first. Even as he advocated for Bruce to help train her and not stop her from being Batgirl at sometimes, he still very much was competitive with her, that sort of thing. You could argue it was the schoolboy kinda crush, that idea of a boy pulling the pigtails of a girl he likes because he doesn’t know how to admit he likes her or even realizes himself that he does. But personally, I find that explanation doesn’t really fit Dick, as its more fitting to someone who lacked his early maturity.

The thing is, a lot of people tend to focus on some of Dick’s more immature behaviors and actions, as a grown man and back when he was Robin with the puns and seeming innocence, and just see it as innocence and immaturity…..but I’ve always seen it as a coping mechanism. Dick grew up fast at a very early age, as much as Bruce himself did - they just coped with it in very different ways. People emphasize that Bruce took him in partly to keep Dick from turning out like he did, but they often forget at the same time that Bruce also took Dick in because he empathized with him, saw himself and his own tragedy reflected in Dick’s. Life-altering events had already happened to Dick before he ever set foot in Wayne Manor…..and Dick was altered. He was painfully aware of how cruel life could be, how serious things were, before Bruce ever actually had any ability to halt that realization from ever touching Dick.

The difference between Bruce and Dick and how they turned out, is that with Bruce’s support in those early years, Dick willfully clung to as much of his childhood as was left to him, even if at times it was the ‘fake it until you make it’ mentality. Many of his more immature behaviors are IMO a spiteful defiance of life’s attempt to make him grow up before he should have had to….and Bruce encouraged these things, IMO. He gave Dick the support and shelter, the buffer that allowed Dick to act immature even in the face of gravely serious and dark issues, because quite frankly, Dick cracking puns even while they were face to face with a life-threatening danger is probably a healthier coping mechanism than any Bruce had at the same age, at least in Bruce’s eyes if nothing else. 

But my point is, Dick’s youthful optimism and cheeriness even in the darkest parts of growing up Robin in Gotham City….none of that existed because Dick was truly childish and immature as befitted his actual age, thanks to Bruce taking him in and guiding him to turn out better than he did or whatever that line of thought might look like…..rather, it existed because Dick made the willful and deliberate choice to act as much the child as he could for as long as he could…..and I think that in the early years when things were really good between them and they were largely on the same page, Bruce recognized this choice for what it was, this defiance to the cards life had dealt Dick, and he encouraged and defended Dick’s ability to make this choice and act this way.

But you can’t see the kind of things all the Robins saw and actually be as immature and goofy as Dick acted as Robin, untouched by all of that. Dick was right there in the thick of it all along. How can you avoid being touched by Gotham’s darkness, seeing Gotham’s darkness, when you’re punching it right in the face, you know? You can’t. But what you can do, if you choose to, and which is what Dick chose to do….is not give it the satisfaction of knowing it touched you. The real testament of how mature Dick was or not as a young crime-fighting Robin, how aware he was or not of the grim realities of life, was not in how he acted when face to face with villains and criminals, but rather, how he acted when face to face with their victims. THAT’S where the reality of Dick’s maturity shined through, even LONG before he met Barbara in any canon.

Which is how this tangent brings us back to topic, lol….a schoolboy crush being the explanation for some of Dick’s earlier pettiness with Barbara and their rivalry at times, like, just doesn’t track with Dick’s actual maturity, IMO. The actual more likely explanation as I see it is that Dick did genuinely clash with her at times, in the very early years, that his initial attitudes were a confused mish-mash of feeling threatened by her and her possibly getting between him and Bruce, the partnership that was in all but name his unique form of father-son bonding time….but also at the same time still being Dick Grayson and feeling compelled to do the right thing and respect and thus defend her being given the same chance and training he’d been given, to do what they both felt needed doing, that they were driven to do.

So I don’t think he and Babs were instant friends, and I don’t think she was his instant crush….I think it was slowburn with her, he gradually grew to develop feelings for her over time, as his respect for her mind and capabilities grew to outweigh whatever conflicting emotions he felt about her being around, and then eventually blossomed into actual love.

Then in contrast, you have Kory. And I think Dick was instantly attracted to her from the get-go, and their relationship was the very epitome of intense passionate romance and all the ups and downs that go along with it, as befits too of the most primal and passionate people in the DC universe. Dick was drawn to her pretty much from day one, and Kory was as well, and it wasn’t an opposites attract thing so much as two beings resonating on the same wavelength, even if at times from different parts of the same spectrum. 

Because here’s the thing about Dick that I think links the two kinds of relationships and makes them both fitting for him…..he is very much a creature of instincts. He goes with his gut, he responds to things on an automatic and visceral level. But at the same time, the other truth about Dick is that his mind is no less exceptional than anyone else’s in the Batfamily, and his instincts are guided by a hell of a lot more intellect and processing power than most peoples’ are. He’s been trained from the time he could walk, even long before he met Bruce, to have exceptional situational awareness, to adapt to changes in his environment and predicaments with a moment’s notice, to take in every possible relevant detail at a glance when the stakes are literally those of leaping off a high trapeze. Dick trusts his instincts, because Dick’s instincts are exceptional, and with reason.

And this applies to every part of his life, not just the superhero parts. So when Dick feels drawn to someone like Kory, I think he trusts his gut and goes with it….he might not necessarily even know yet on a conscious level why he’s attracted to them and they’re someone he could really fall for and have a relationship with, he just knows that he does feel that way, and trusts that its for a reason. And then at the same time, with someone like Barbara, he likely had those same instincts about her, leading to the times he defends her to Bruce even though he might have clashed with her just minutes before, but he knows there’s a reason for him to do that, act that way, even if it takes much longer for that to transition from a mere possibility of actual compatibility to conscious feelings of actual attraction and love. 

Its all instinct to him either way….but the person he’s instinctively reacting to has the definitive role in whether or not its slowburn or instant passionate attraction….because the other deep truth about him that I feel is relevant here is that Dick feeds off other people, their energy, what they show him and give him to work with….and his instinct is usually to meet them in kind, give the same energy back, unless say, he makes the conscious decision to override his instincts and power through an antagonistic reception and try and forge a positive bond, like with building his sibling dynamic and mentorship of Damian.

But in regards to his romances, as I said, I think the same instincts might be in play with both Barbara and Kory, but it played out very differently because Babs wasn’t initially drawn to him, not in that way at least. She wasn’t putting forth a romantic energy, and so it took awhile for Dick’s own romantic feelings to emerge and for them to finally be reciprocated in time. In contrast, it was hot and fiery from day one with Kory, because Kory was drawn to him from day one as much as Dick was to her, so there was nothing to slow down or stop those instincts from transforming into attraction and romantic feelings from the second he felt them.

As to the rest of your ask, lololol, sorry to be a cop out, but I don’t think there is a specific physical draw for Dick. I’ve always headcanoned him as bi, which is a bit of projection on my part, sure, but also I just genuinely don’t think gender or even physicality at all has anything to do with what draws to a person, or makes him attracted to them. Yeah, sure, I think he absolutely has physical attributes he loves and might put forth as their best attribute for any partner he’s with, but I think its different with each person because Dick is all about individuality….not just with himself and his own independence, but just….people aren’t interchangeable for him. At any level, I think. 

Every person who’s important to him is uniquely distinct in his mind, and I think with his romantic partners, this results in him liking something distinct about them physically, that separates them in his mind from any other partners he’s had. Because I don’t think its physical appearance that’s Dick’s primary source of attraction with his partners….he’s attracted to them first, and then he settles on something physical that’s uniquely attractive to him as well, that’s different in his mind from anyone else.

Because I think the thing that draws Dick to people in all forms of his relationships, but is particularly true and evident in his romantic partners…..is Dick is both drawn and attracted to competence, skill, power, intellect….all the things that make someone hardy. Durable. A survivor in the context of the world of superheroics that he lives in, specifically.

He’s drawn to people he feels he’s less likely to lose. And he’s attracted to people that this is equally true of, and even moreso, to the degree where he doesn’t feel any need to protect them….not because he doesn’t want to, but because it isn’t relevant. He feels and trusts that they’re more than capable of protecting themselves just as well if not better than he ever could.

And he knows better than anyone that nothing’s a guarantee, and even as he surrounds himself with family and friends and romantic partners that all have in common the fact that they’re incredibly skilled, capable and powerful…enduring…..he still knows that doesn’t mean he can’t lose them, that he won’t lose them. And thus IMO they all wind up in distinct categories in his mind.

His family, he’d kill for. His friends, he’d die for. And his romantic partners, the thing that makes him attracted to them, rather than just drawn to them, are those that he has no doubt would kick his ass for ever presuming to do either of those things for them, because they’re more than capable of taking care of themselves, thanks ever so much. He’s attracted to people he feels safe around, in the sense that he’s not always on guard, always worried about losing them, because he trusts in their ability to endure, survive, and thrive. And that he also can relax around, in the sense that he’s not always feeling like its on him to protect them, defend them, that he has to be always to be on guard or watching out for…because its not his job to protect them and it doesn’t have to be, because there’s nothing he can do for them that they can’t do for themselves and wouldn’t prefer to be left to them. And thus with them he can just…be.

Dick Grayson IMO is attracted to one type of person and one type only: his equals in body, mind and spirit. The ones he can stand beside and not feel dwarfed by or lost in their shadow, and at the same time never have to look back to make sure they’re following him because he knows they’re right there next to him keeping up. He’s attracted to those who challenge him, intellectually, emotionally, that he respects on every level, but who respect him on every level too…..with this part being especially key, and the problem he’s had in his canon relationships - they ONLY fall apart on his end of things, make him lose faith in the relationship, when he feels disrespected, that they’re not valuing him or his capabilities or contributions. 

Dick KNOWS his own worth, which is why he’s such a unique blend of confidence and insecurity….he can weather a whole society of people looking down on him because he knows their opinion doesn’t mean shit to him, but still be stricken with insecurity when he feels someone whose opinion he DOES value, like a romantic partner, family or friend, seems to question his worth or what he’s capable of. 

Dick and Kory are my preferred canon relationship because when they’re ALLOWED to work without editorial mandate to break them up or keep them apart, they embody this most fully for me. Because Kory is massively more powerful than Dick, but never regarded Dick as anything other than her equal in the field in spite of that. There was no question that they both regarded each other as fellow warrior spirits that they trusted to have their back in battle above all others. Kory and Dick work so well for me, because with everything else I said kept in mind, they SHOULDN’T work, not as total equals, and yet they DO. There SHOULD be a power imbalance there, and yet there never was. Not one that was felt, anyway, and not one that was ever in any way responsible for any of their romantic problems. Their issues were disagreements born of competing ideologies….but that both felt equally strongly about. Or issues of trust but only that were externally imposed by brainwashing and shapeshifting and bad shitty writing and editorial mandate that I’ll be ranting about on my deathbed. 

BUT I DIGRESS.

Anyway, enough rhapsodizing about Dick and Kory, lol, like that’s anything new. I mean, I could insert rhapsodizing about the potential for Dick and Kyle based on all of the above and other reasons, but that’s nothing new either. And also, whoops, this got super fucking long.

OH UNKNOWABLE UNIVERSE, WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN SUCH A THING.