#the other 20 hours i’m being cool as hell

[hier--soir]

How's the depression going? Are ya winnin' son?

it’s going!

[gr4veyardsblog]

Enemies to friends with benefits to lovers with hazel.

LOVE ME

Summary : hazel and reader have a weird relationship from fucking to hating each others guts but what happens when they start to develop something more for each other

Warning ⚠️: hinting at smut? , angst ?? Ig

A/n : to whoever sent this ma bad wrote the first half like an hour after they sent this in and forgot/ got busy but here it is more prouder of the second half rather than first but enjoy

“Hey get up it’s already almost 8:30” you said shoving ,the person next to you, leg and grabbing a random shirt to pull over your half naked torso

“Whats the exact time” groaned Hazel while slightly shoving off your hand off her calf

You roll your eyes, standing up and collect your things getting ready to leave “ just hurry the hell up I don’t need you blaming me for you being late to school” as you grab both of your shoes getting ready to put them on and turn around seeing Hazel putting on a button up and stop

“You wore that yesterdy” she looks at u confused and a slightly annoyed “and?” You scoff and roll your eyes again “AND if someone sees u in the same outfit they’ll question it I don’t want them somehow connecting me and you and this” you motion to you both

She shakes her head as she gets up and moves across the room and starts getting ready

You get up and start heading to the door but stop and turn around “remember don’t tell anyone about this you understand”

She turns while buttoning up her shirt “trust me wouldn’t dream about it”

You nod in approval and turn around to walk away but feel a presence on you back and hear close to you ear “got something on you skirt let me” and feel a soft pat on your bottom skirt but jerk away and continue to walk downstairs and out the door

——————————————————————-

“Hey you hear about that really cool club after school we were thinking of joining after school if u wanna come with?” Isabel asked you in the cafeteria

“Hello?” She waved her hand if you face trying to break the zoning out

“Huh yea sure” she looks and follows where you were looking at and smiles brightly “oh great so you’ve met the three girls who run it then?”

You look at her confused and tilt you head “why would you say that?” She furrowed her eyebrows and gestured in the direction of Hazel “just assumed since you were looking at the one with short hair” she turns to Brittany “Hazel right” Brittany opens her mouth to say something “yea” you cut her off and panic “I mean I least I think so I’m not sure”

“Yea well we were wondering if u want to go it’s for empowering woman” you cut her off with a scoff “what’s the matter “ you shrug ur shoulder and shake your head with an amused smile on your face “nothing just them three even just Hazel empowering woman?”

“They seem nice let’s all go after school yea?” You and Brittany both turn and slowly nod

“Okay after school” you bring out your phone and text someone

——————————————————————-

Hazel looks down at her phone with the words ‘meet me at the usual in 20’ and sighs while walking up to the broom closet that’s towards the back of the school.

She knocks three times and hears a muffled voice ask who is it. She rolls her eyes and scoffs “it’s spider man who else would it b-” the door opening in the middle of her sentence and a hand yanking her into the closet. In a matter of seconds the doors closed , locked and she feels your lips running sloppily up and down her neck

“Is this what you called me here for?” You groan against her neck and slightly shake your head yes against her neck “duh what else would I call you here for ?” She chuckles mockingly and shakes her head “thought we couldn’t risk getting caught at school”

You pull away and she looks at your face your lips swollen “just shut up and take off your shirt” you said tugging up her shirt and she laughs and helps you with it “eager are we?”

You ignore her and pull your shirt off and wrap your arm around her back fiddling with her bra to unhook it “so empowering woman eh?” You look at her as you unhook her bra and kiss around her exposed chest

She stops and looks down you looking up at her with a hint of amusement in your eye “you heard about that?” She scratches the back of her head. You pull away and nod with a teasing smile on your face. “You bet your ass I heard about that. Hazel Callahan empowering woman” “hey I love woman” “I’m sure you do” you go back to nipping at her chest “y-you can come to the club if you want” she says looking elsewhere but your direction.

You slow down and look up at her a faint blush on your cheeks “I-I mean pj and Josie want enough members to join so we can be qualified as a club” your shoulders slump and you pull away “I’ll see , now take your pants off.”

—————————————————————

“I don’t know if I want to go anymore “ you groan stopping a few feet away from the gym door “oh come on it’ll be a great experience” Isabel said while hooking her arm around yours and Brittany on your other “besides it’ll give u a chance to get closer to Hazel” you go to object to that statement but they open the door and practically drag you into the gym.

You walked in on pj talking to the other girls and what looks to be Mr. G? “Is this the right place ?” Asked Isabel as all the girls looked at you three but your eyes for some reason finding a certain brunette but catching yourself and quickly looking away when her eyes met yours.

Suddenly you guys were in a circle to fight each other after Josie punched pj right in the nose and basically breaking her nose. “Okay bitches let’s have our first fighters” pj looks around and smiles and points at hazel “how about you hazel” she looks around to pick hazels partner, you smile and spring up your hand and see hazel rolling her eyes and scoffing in disbelief with a hint of what might be a smile “I’ll go against her” pj looks back at you suprised but smiles. “Okay let’s get this going”

You both start to circle each other neither one willing to throw the first punch after a good couple of seconds “cmon one of you guys throw a punch this is a FIGHTING practice” you hear pj yell your eyes not tearing away from Hazel until pj says fighting. Hazel taking that moment to throw a sloppy right hook against your jaw.

You look at her in disbelief, Hazel standing up straight with what might be worry in her eyes but are wiped away once you land a hard smack against her cheek. You both go back and forth sock after slap after tackle until you wind up with you on your back and hazel on top “seem familiar” she whispers you roll your eyes and land a sharp punch to hazel right in the center of her face. She falls back with a thud and you quickly scurry to her as everyone gasps and start to walk to you guys.

You start to stand her up with the help of Sylvie “here I’ll go clean her up in the locker room “ you lean her against you and you both slowly walk past the gym doors into the locker room and into the bathroom sitting her against the sink and grabbing a paper towel and dampening it with water and start to bring it to her face “I…..can do it” she goes to reach for the towel out of her hand and you move it away “no I got it, it’s my fault anyway” you start to get closer your face a good couple of inches away from her face and slowly stop dapping her nose as you both connect eyes. You feel yourself slowly leaning in. Hazel panicks and swiped the paper towel out of your hand and pulls away turning and facing away from you towards the mirror starting to clean herself up. “I got it”

“Here let me help” you say taking a step closer your chest almost against her side “i said I got it!” She shouts “gosh just trying to help” she looks away from you through the mirror and shakes her head “We’ll don’t stop acting like you care” your shoulders slump and you look hurt “i-i do car-“ “i don’t want to have sex with you no more” your cut off by her statement and your eyes widen your hands falling to your side “in fact I think it’s best if we just leave each other alone” she continues to say not being able to make eye contact

“You don’t mean that” you try to reason “i don’t like you y/n!” She turns to you making eye contact but loosing it a second later “i hate you” she says in such a low tone you wouldn’t be able to hear it if anyone else was in the room. You turn your head eyes tearing up and shake your head “your an asshole Hazel” you throw the paper towel at her chest and go to walk out the bathroom and back to the gym hazel quickly shaking her head and going on your trail “wait - “

You walk into the gym and head straight to your backpack and grab it on. Isabel and Brittany walking up to you , looking worried and start asking you what happened “nothing just remember I have a huge project for chemistry “ they nod and say bye and to call if anything happens. You make it to the door when you can hear the girls asking Hazel if she is okay as you walk out the door and your school and to your car , tears running down your cheek as you drive home.

————————————————————

“Do I really have to be here?” You whine to Isabel and Brittany as you prepare your cheer for the big game. “Yes you do your part of the team”

After everything you still haven’t talked to Hazel and you’ve really wanted to especially after the whole tucker incident but she made it clear she wanted nothing to do it you.

You pick up your pompoms and start to do the routine when pj , Josie and the other girls from the fight club come over yelling about how they need our help. “If your dreams pj” says Isabel “ which you don’t deserve to have it should be ,like …… total darkeness” you cringe and continue with the routine wondering why they are so panicked

Suddenly they start to scream for the cheerleaders to kiss and I look up and see hazel on the bleachers screaming for us to kiss “maybe we should help them” I suggest turning to Isabel and Brittany “no they lied about everything to everyone” you look around and see them continue to panic and yell “screw this” you throw your pompoms on the ground running towards the bleacher stairs hearing faint “wait don’t” and “they’re just lying about this too” from Isabel and Brittany and rush up to Hazel yelling to get her attention.

“Hazel!” “What-“ you cut her off by grabbing her by the face and smashing your lips against hers not feeling her kiss back you go to move away but are soon pulled back in. “Can we cut this gay shit and get this show on the road” you hear someone say and pull away from Hazel

You say holding onto her face. Her hands on your face “I want to keep having sex with you” you drop your face “no! I want to keep having sex with you but together” you see a faint tint of blush flush her cheeks and tip of her ears “sorry that came out wrong…what I mean if I want-“ you cut her off with a another kiss and pull away “is hazel Callahan asking me to be her girlfriend? The girl she hates ?” You mock with a fake sad face. She laughs softly and lays a small kiss on the tip of your nose “I could never hate you” you hum and close your eyes “say that again” she smiles and leans in closer her lips grazing yours “I could never hate you no matter what” she whispers on your lips” you hum in pleasure “good” you end it off with a kiss.

[atsadi-shenanigans]

What Shall We Become 20 - Enlightened

The rogue has questions.

On AO3.

She’s choking. Not on something; this is a desperate, strangled sound, likely because the intruders are above her. The one holding the rope Astarion knifes first. The man—smells of cave and something like dust and that odd, almost leather his struggling leader is now wearing—gasps as the blade punches through a lung.

His gasp turns to a gurgle as Astarion’s other dagger finds his throat and opens it down to the bone.

Before that one can fall, he’s on the second. Leaves one knife still stick in the first man’s ribcage. His fingers find a flailing arm. He drives his left dagger up, under that arm, to puncture a vein and rip into a second pair of lungs as well. And then, because this is likely some form of thinking creature and he can still scent that maddening woman, Astarion wrenches this one close and bites hard on the neck.

His target sputters something, but then hot blood spurts to the back of Astarion’s throat. His unseeing eyes roll back and he loses himself a moment. Some time later, glutted and gasping, and he finds himself crouched over the warm but dead target.

“Darling?” he says.

She coughs and retches. Has been doing that a while, he realizes.

Hers is the only heart beating. He gives the closes body a swift pat down, finds the length of slim, silken rope leading to the edge of a small crevasse. They must have snared her.

He scrabbles down. Lands in a loose rockslide next to her. She’s on her knees, still making awful sounds. Being noosed will do that, even to someone who doesn’t need to breathe.

He finds her pack, wrenches it open, and digs around until he finds smooth glass. He’s not sure what kind of potions she has, exactly. He certainly hadn’t been the first person brought to that half-mad little shit with the knife. Gods know what she looted as he lay healing.

“Drink,” he says, using the simplest verb form (which makes it rather a rude command).

She reaches out and taps one of the bottles in his grasp. Tries to take it. But he doesn’t let her. Dangling from the neck hurts like the hells. And even being undead, that sort of thing revives dim instincts of living that overrule things like thoughts.

He uncorks what he assumes she was clever enough to choose, a healing potion, and hands it over. As he thought, her hands shake so hard she nearly drops it. Has to take small, careful sips, making unhappy noises as she swallows.

So as soon as she finishes that, he says, “Which one Chondathan?”

He almost expects her to argue. Save them for some “true” emergency or some such nonsense. But she is a practical sort (when she’s not infiltrating a fish cult trying to murder him, only hours after seeing a memory of his abandoning her to her death). And they need to talk.

She downs that one slowly at first, before gulping the rest.

“Jesus fuck,” she says and only half of that translates (her people swear so charmingly).

“What happened?” he says as she picks herself up.

“Dunno. Got my water, was heading back. Then it was like walking into a spider web, but face first, and then the web turned into a fucking noose.”

He finds said noose on the ground. Smooth and cool and well made. Feels almost like…silk.

And a horrible thought occurs to him.

The man said something as Astarion drained him. Gurgled, actually. And his blood had smelled similar to that lingering on the carnage field they’d discovered. Plus, he’s gotten a feel of the man’s armor as he tore that throat out, and it felt exactly like the strange leather he’d altered for his hardy leader.

“Darling,” he says. “Those elves you found. The dead ones you looted. What did they look like?”

“Elves,” she says, like it’s obvious. “Pointy ears, pale hair. Them statues was maybe a couple inches shorter’n us?”

“I meant what color were they?”

She pauses. Then, slowly, “Y’know, that kinda question has some real nasty implications where I’m from.”

Which makes absolutely no sense, so he flails a hand about to speed her along.

She sighs. “I really hope this ain’t a race thing. They was kinda purple, I think? Gray-ish?”

He was right to be exasperated. “And you didn’t think to mention that part?”

“Karlach is red. Lae’zel is green. I bet you was eggshell pale even when you did have a pulse.”

He was, actually. With a silver undertone, even.

“There aren’t any purple elves, darling. Not out on the surface, anyway.”

He has the distinct impression she stares at him, flat and unamused. “And I’d know that how?”

She’s from a different plane and can’t even tell the difference between a gnome and a halfling (even he struggles now and then—at least the taller races have the good graces to have more pronounced distinguishing features; one isn’t going to mistake a human for an elf).

He rubs a hand over his face. It feels wet. Why…right. He’s not a terribly fastidious eater in battle.

“Take us up there, then,” he says.

So she does. She’s moving faster than before. He wonders if the healing potion did anything for whatever symptoms she’s having. The blood scent only thickens, though. And then he wonders if she took anything after she insisted he feed from her, because they lose blood during all of this, and if she was traipsing about with blood loss of top of all that…

But that makes him feel bizarre again, and he has to redirect his thoughts.

“Do these ones look like those others?” he says after they make their way over to his kills. It’d be easier if she just let him use her eyes, but after what he let slip last time…and her feeble, human sight is horrifying. She’s spent her entire life running about half-blinded, the poor thing.

She shifts. Scuffs a boot against the ground. And he knows she’s going to say—

“Yeah?”

“Gods below,” he mutters. And fine, yes, she wouldn’t have known the difference. And fine, yes, he should have wondered which was more likely: a band of sun elves prancing about the Underdark, or his companion not recognizing, “Those are called drow, darling.”

“The fuck’s a drow?”

“That’s a long answer, but the simple version is a group of dark elves who live in the Underdark.”

“…so a type of elf.”

“I wouldn’t ever say that to any other elf you meet. They’ll take it as a rather serious insult.”

She makes a low sound. It’s usually accompanied by an eye roll, her throwing up her hands, or some version of I hate this realm.

“Do I wanna know why, or is this gonna be another stupid racism?”

The last word translates…oddly. He’ll think about that later.

“They’ve a reputation,” he says. “Mostly for abject cruelty, manipulation, scheming, and murdering. That sort of thing. It’s rare to come across one that doesn’t at least try to stab you in the back once or twice.”

“Is that a generalization? Cause generalizations fall into ‘stupid racism’ more often than not.”

He nudges the nearest body with his foot. It flops. Then he kneels down to trace the chest plate down to the clasps on the side and get to work freeing it. “I’ve only met a handful myself, and every one of them tried to kill me. Even when I was at my most charming.”

Next the shoulder clasp. This is the one he drained. He’d noticed they were of similar height and build, which was unusual for a drow, but oh. A chance to wear drow armor? He’ll not pass that up. It’s a literal tragedy he doesn’t have the sight to admire himself in it.

“I notice you said ‘other elves,’” his intrepid leader says. She has a talent for wringing her words utterly dry. “I take it that don’t mean you?”

The last shoulder unbuckles like it’s been waiting for him. Astarion tugs the armor free of the now-cooling corpse. Yes, this is going to fit him beautifully. “A people known for murder and backstabbing? Darling, I’d be flattered.”

“Shouldn’t even be surprised,” she mutters.

Still. They’ve run into two groups of drow down here. Which means that this must be a highly trafficked area. And for all he admires the deep elves, they hold a historical hatred for his kind. And they’d likely kill his leader sooner than speak to her.

“I suggest you grab anything you can and we get well clear of here,” he says. “Best be long gone before any others turn up.”

[heavenlyhoundoom]

Sun and Moon show incorrect quotes.

1.Eclipse: I’m totally useless. Moon: You’re not totally useless. Moon: You can be used as a bad example.

2.Ruin: Don't have a bookmark? Try ketchup instead!! Bloodmoon: What makes you think I read?

3.Lunar: I am very small and I have no money, so you can imagine the kind of stress that I'm under.

4.Ruin: Watcha doin? Bloodmoon: Stealing my neighbour’s cat. Ruin: Scandalous. Ruin: Can I help?

5.Bloodmoon: Who wants to make fifty bucks? Eclipse: How? Bloodmoon: I need someone to take the fall. Eclipse: What did you do? Bloodmoon: I can't tell you. Yes or no, no questions asked. Sun, from the other room: Oh my god. Bloodmoon: … Sun: OH MY GOD! Eclipse: Make it a hundred. Bloodmoon: Deal.

6.Earth: Do you know a turtles only weakness? Moon: No… well, their slowness. Earth: Their weaknesss is they can't roll over when they are on their backs. Earth: Now I have a plan. Earth: If I duct tape two turtles together, they'll be unstoppable.

7.Bloodmoon: You're a lying piece of shit! Eclipse: Oh yeah? You're the idiot that thinks you can get away with everything you do, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD! Earth: I'm leaving and I'm taking Lunar with me! Sun, gathering cards: Aaaaand that's enough Monopoly for today.

8.Ruin: I wanna sleep for 40 hours. Eclipse: You know that's called a coma, right? Ruin: Ruin: That sounds so refreshing, I could totally go for a light coma right now.

9.Eclipse: When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Eclipse lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the person who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!

10.Moon: So, Bloodmoon and Ruin. Moon: According to this, you two are being accused of: Armed Robbery, Vandalism, Drug Abuse, Grand Theft Auto… Bloodmoon: We had a bad day. Moon: And… MURDER?! Ruin: It was a pretty bad day…

11.after the Squad has been separated for a few years Eclipse: So what have you been up to recently? Lunar: Leading a revolution with Earth. Eclipse: Good for you two! Me, I've joined the mob. Lunar: nods Oh, how cool! That's awesome! Eclipse: I know! Anyway, have you heard from the others? Ruin? Lunar: Happily living as a hermit in the woods. Moon? Eclipse: Wrongfully locked up in an asylum, which reminds me, we need to break him out later. Bloodmoon? Lunar: Cult leader. Eclipse: Yeah, that sounds about right.

12.The Squad is playing Chess Ruin: easily beats everyone because they know how to play Bloodmoon: doesn’t know the rules, but wins anyway Lunar: doesn’t know the rules, and loses Moon: knows the rules, but still loses to those who don’t Eclipse: Actually, you can’t do that, because I said so. Earth: They named a board game after cheese?

13.Eclispe: It’s illegal to look better than me. Bloodmoon: I guess we’re all going to jail then.

14.Ruin: When I get Doordash I order 20 Cheeseburgers at a time and heat them up throughout the week so that I don’t have to pay the delivery fee multiple times. Moon: I hope you understand how food poisoning works. Ruin: I hope food poisoning understands how I work. I never met a burger i couldn’t eat.

15.Eclipse: I’m telling you, my team is competent. Ruin, rushing in: Eclipse! Bloodmoon tried to make pasta in the coffee pot and now it's broken!

16.Ruin: I’ve only ever said ‘I love you’ to two people in my entire life: Bloodmoon and a guy in a dark club who I mistook for Bloodmoon.

17.Bloodmoon, after sneaking into Lunar’s bedroom: Hey, wake up! Lunar, half awake: Huh!? Bloodmoon: I just murdered your entire family! Lunar: …But I live alone. Bloodmoon: Huh? Then who are these people in your house??? Lunar: There’s people in my house? Bloodmoon: Well not anymore! Dumb bitch! You could’ve died! You’re welcome!

18.Sun: I want to be like a caterpillar. Lunar: Explain. Sun: Eat a lot, sleep for a while, wake up beautiful. Earth: You know they have a lifespan of a week, right? Sun: Sun: That's just another highlight!

19.Eclipse: I need some help with my homework, Earth. Earth: What’s the assignment? Eclipse: I’m supposed to write a paper that presents both sides of an issue and then defends one of the arguments. Earth: What’s your issue? Eclipse: That’s the problem. I can’t think of anything to argue. Earth: That’s hard to believe. Eclipse: I’m always right and everybody else is always wrong! What’s to argue about?!

20.Bloodmoon: Who else is hiding in the laundry room trying to listen to Eclipse and Lunar's convo? Moon: Me. I'm in the laundry basket. Earth: I'm in the washing machine. Sun: I'm in the closet. Moon: We accept you Sun. <3 Sun: No I'm literally in the closet. Moon: Love is love. <3

[burnthoneydrops]

Blonde (r.b. x reader)

pairing: robin buckley x female!reader, band au

word count: 2.4k

warnings: language, use of she/her pronouns, reference to time appropriate homophobia

a/n: had this idea while I was at a concert last night and really wanted to write it so here it is! hope you enjoy!! <3 (also not proof read haha)

You’re nervous. You’re shaking your hands out in front of you and you’re nervous. You can hear the crowd chatting to each other out by the bar, the sound of low mutterings and glasses clinking echoing off the wall and into your ears. Running your hands through your hair, you smooth some pieces down before fluffing up others, trying to give your shaking hands something else to focus on. It’s not even the biggest show you’ve played and yet you’re nervous as all hell. 

Morgan, the drummer, walks into the dressing room. “Woah dude, are you ok?” 

“Huh? Yeah fine, totally fine,” you mutter. 

She scoffs, “your hands are shaking and you keep moving your foot like you need to crack it or something. What’s up?” 

“Just pre-show nerves. It happens all the time,” you try and brush her off. 

“Have you talked to Robin yet?” She asks, sitting down on the couch. 

“No. Something about her shift getting moved and Keith would be weird about her being on the phone during work hours or something,” you respond. That’s what it was. You haven’t talked to Robin yet and your nerves are out of control because of it. Pre-show nerves are something that happen before every gig you’ve played thus far, even when you were just an extra vocalist for Corroded Coffin when Eddie lost his voice for a week. But something else that usually happens is you calling Robin on the public phone outside so she can talk you through it and reassure that you’re going to be amazing like she always says you are. Just hearing her voice through the phone makes you feel better; even if you know she can’t be at every show physically, talking to her before you go on means she’s going to be bouncing around in your brain in the best way possible, which makes things feel all that much better. 

This show isn’t too far from Hawkins, seeing as you and your band were looking for bigger venues and Hawkins definitely doesn’t have those. It’s still a shitty bar in the middle of a city, but it at least fits more people and has more stage room so Hannah, your bassist, doesn’t fall into the audience again. She claims it was her attempt at crowd surfing, but you all know she just wasn’t watching where she was going, too busy thrashing her head around as Morgan kicked up the energy on the drums. 

“Damn, that nerd has them on that tight of a leash huh?” Morgan asks, pulling you back to the conversation at hand. 

“Yeah, I also get the feeling he doesn’t like me very much so it wouldn't really help if she tried to explain”. 

“Does he like anybody?” Morgan snorts back and you shrug, not really sure. 

“He gives me the creeps if I’m honest,” you answer after a few seconds, going back to adjusting your hair in the mirror. 

“Hey, I doubt it’s changed much in the 15 seconds since you touched it last, leave your hair alone. Don’t go messing up all my hard work,” Morgan stands up and grabs your wrists before you can touch your hair again. She did in fact spend 20 minutes with you making sure it looked ‘cool’ enough for this crowd of what you were expecting to be mostly drunks. 

“There you guys are!” Victoria, your lead guitarist, announces herself as she walks into the dressing room, “we’re on in 5!” She sounds exasperated and you and Morgan share a look before Morgan drops your hands, assuring you you’re going to kick ass no matter what happens. 

You try to take in her words, but all you can think about is how much you miss Robin and how much you want to hop in the van and drive to Hawkins just to see her again. You know she’s proud of you, as she tells you that every time you call her, but it feels weird living your dream without her. Before history class sophomore year, your dream had been exactly this, performing on stage to an audience who knew your songs and could sing it back to you (well this one would be at least a partial audience but it was close enough). But then you met Robin, the girl who made you smile and laugh like no other and who’s hug felt like home wherever you were, and she quickly snuck her way into your dream as well. Steve was the one who convinced her that you actually did like her like that, even after you dropped some not so subtle hints that the blonde girl had you absolutely wrapped around her finger. 

“Y/N, come on! Time to show them what we’ve got!” Victoria calls as she realises you’re not following them. You crack your knuckles, looking in the mirror one last time before running out after them. The crowd is already applauding and hollering when you take your place on the stage, and you can’t help the smile that etches onto your face at the reaction. People are walking to and from the bar, drinks in hand as they clap for the four of you. Hannah smiles at you as you two make eye contact, the familiar adrenaline carrying you past any stage fright from before. The same thoughts linger in the back of your head, but you try and turn the nerves into excitement, fuelling the adrenaline like Robin told you to. 

“Um, hey everyone!” The microphone squeaks and the feedback sends hands over ears. You clear your throat awkwardly before gripping the microphone softly. “Sorry about that,” you laugh, trying to brush it off, “we’re the Suburban Rejects and we just wanted to thank you guys for coming out tonight. How’s everyone feeling?” The crowd cheers once again, though you notice a few people already drunk off their asses. 

“You guys ready?” You turn toward your band and they all nod, Victoria smirking as her fingers trace over the strings in anticipation. “Alright!” You shoot your attention back to the audience, “this is our first song, Violet Summer and I hope you enjoy!” 

“One two three four!” Morgan whisper-shouts so the rest of the band can hear before shooting off into her usual drum induced trance. Hannah is soon to follow, building the bass line as Victoria strikes out the familiar power chords. You tap your foot along to the main beat as you look out over the crowd, noticing some people nodding their heads and tapping along with you. Another rush of adrenaline hits you and as the first verse starts, you’re practically smiling into the microphone as you begin singing. You turn to look at Victoria as you sing, taking the microphone from the stand and walking closer to her, leaning from behind her so your head fits between her shoulder and her neck, the smile on her face growing as you sing into her ear. She turns to the side slightly so you can be back to back, and she rests her head against yours, your side profiles exposed to the audience. Next you cross the stage to Hannah and she jokingly flips you off, causing you to turn to the audience with a sad face before smiling again and making your way back to center. 

A few songs into the set and you’re starting to feel much more comfortable. You’ve gotten the audience on your side, except for the already mentioned drunks, and you can finally feed off of the energy enough that you don’t have to worry about a little voice crack here and there. Morgan crashes her drumsticks on the cymbals repeatedly as the current song comes to a close, and you finally stop jumping around long enough to introduce the next song. 

“Alright, now we’re going to get a little more sentimental. But don’t worry, we’re keeping the energy up as always. This song is called Blonde and I hope you guys like it,” you smile at the audience before Morgan counts you guys off again, the familiar chords from Victoria’s electric guitar bouncing throughout the room. The crowd had gathered closer to the stage as the set went on, and you lean forward to run your hand through those that were sticking their hands up, trying to give each a little high five. This song is so very obviously about Robin, but you had framed it as if you were someone else looking in on the relationship, hoping that it would keep the homophobic responses you were trying to avoid at bay. As the chorus kicks in and you start jumping around again, you do a little circle around yourself and glance out into the audience again. In a moment that you couldn’t have planned any better, Hannah nudges you in what you think is a joking manner before she tilts her head, wordlessly instructing you to look in a certain direction. 

There she is. 

The muse herself is standing at the back of the audience, her arms crossed against her chest and a proud smile gracing her face. She looks so beautiful you almost stumble over your feet. Victoria laughs and you flip her off, closing your eyes as you continue to sing, trying to keep the blush trying to show itself as undetectable as possible. 

“Lips so sweet/they’re dancing on the rooftop/Angel face almost makes her heart stop,” you sing as you make eye contact with Robin. You hadn’t gotten a chance to play this song for her yet, and you hope that she gets the reference to your first “date”. Steve had invited a bunch of people over for a party when his parents were away and when the stuffy house had gotten too much for you and Robin, she grabbed your hand and took you to sit on Steve’s roof with her. The sun was setting and it was creating the most beautiful halo around her face. “I’m going to kiss you and if you hate it then we can pretend it never happened and I’ll never talk to you again ok?” You had asked, not usually one for rambling with nerves but that was just something she did to you. Without responding, she grabbed your face between her hands and made the first move for you, connecting your lips and kissing all the nerves out of you. 

A knowing smile crosses her face as she lets out a quiet laugh, blowing you a small kiss from her spot in the audience, which causes you to quickly wink back in recognition. You look just to her left and see Steve standing next to her, waving at you with his car keys in hand. Your heart almost melts at the effort these two must have put in to make their way here. 

“Get yourself together lover girl, we’ve got three more songs to play!” Morgan laughs at you as you turn to her to have a moment to collect yourself. 

“Shut up!” You laugh playfully and turn back to the audience as the song comes to a finish, Victoria strumming out the last few chords as Morgan smashes the cymbals again. 

Now it was as if the last few songs couldn’t finish fast enough. You rush off stage as soon as you can, thanking the audience quickly before heading back into the dressing room anxiously. The rest of the band follow soon after you, already making fun of your current state, teasing you about how in love you are. You’re grateful that you have the bandmates that you do, seeing as they don’t care that your relationship is with Robin and not Steve. You hear the backstage door open and two pairs of feet scurrying in before it can close and it takes all of you not to run everyone over to greet them. 

“Hello?” Steve calls as they round the corner to the dressing room. 

“Go be a lovesick idiot,” Hannah smiles at you, giving you a light shove. 

You run toward the pair, Steve scooting to the side before he gets run into. Robin smiles widely at you, wrapping you in her famous hugs before putting a little space between the two of you, her hands still around your waist. “That was absolutely amazing!” She compliments you, but you barely process it, only thinking how lucky you are that she’s here. 

You can hardly keep yourself together, so instead of trying to let out whatever mumbled garbage would spill out of your mouth, you pull yourself closer to her, kissing her with all the pent up emotions you’d been holding since the tour started. “What am I? Chopped liver?” Steve complains sarcastically, causing Robin to shove him with the arm that she unwrapped from your waist before quickly putting it back in its original spot. 

“Alright guys, break it up,” Morgan calls as the rest of the band make their way over. 

“I can’t believe you made it,” you whisper to Robin as you turn so she has her arm around your waist as you stand shoulder to shoulder. 

“I wouldn’t miss my best girl for the world. You killed it like I told you you would,” she smiles down at you before turning to face the rest of the band. “That was an awesome show you guys. Seriously awesome”. 

“Thanks Robin, glad you two could make it. This one was an absolute wreck before we went on. One night without her usual phone call and she was going to flip her shit,” Victoria motions to you, a playful smirk on her face. 

“Hey! I was not going to flip my shit!” You try to defend yourself. 

“It’s ok, you don’t have to hide it around us,” Hannah chimes in. 

“Don’t be ashamed Y/n!” Morgan starts, “be who you are!” She sings in an awful voice, purposefully doing a horrible job of staying in whatever key she picked. 

“You all suck!” You call to the group of them before turning your head into Robin’s shoulder. 

Robin’s laugh causes her shoulders to shake against you, “I love you” she mutters against your hair as the group bursts out in laughter. You flip them all off with your head still buried in Robin’s shoulder, thankful for the height difference she usually teases you about. You might be incredibly embarrassed right now, but you wouldn’t trade it for anything.

[theforgottenmcrmy]

live reactions to house of the dragon season 2, episode 7

as always, this is just for fun🖤

spoilers below the cut

Has EVERY episode’s intro been slightly different this season, or am I losing it?👀

Getting right into it.

I’m going with others on this one in saying Rhaenyra initially might have believed Laenor had returned🥲

Syrax and Seasmoke reunion is probably not what they would have imagined either…

Addam: “you gotta believe me, this dragon chose ME😅😅😅”

Alicent talking about women being cast aside or hated as though she did not facilitate BOTH of those things being done to Rhaenyra many times over🫥

So it was Seasmoke Rhaena tried to claim previously, and it “nearly devoured her”…. And yet they expected better results with someone who had even less Targaryen (AND Velaryon) blood than Rhaena?😅

“What if the rider? Do we know who he is?” YOU should know him, Corlys😂

I love you Rhaenyra but Syrax isn’t give Aemond and Vhaegar any second thoughts😅😅😅

“A common shipwright vows to serve you, while your brother seeks to destroy you.” Nothing but facts here 🫡

“Let us raise an army of bastards.” POETIC JUSTICE, IM HERE FOR IT 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

“Well done” is all Corlys has to say. Not sure why part of me expected more.

I love how Oscar Tully isn’t scared of Daemon. Tell him like it is, my lord.

The fish scale looking armor is so cool.

Ser Simon’s looking nervous as hell😅😂

“The King in the Riverlands!” “The King in the-“ oh wait, wrong show😅

Wait, what’s going on👀👀👀

Wowwwww, Daemon’s really just gonna stand by while this goes down?!?

Oh wait, it’s even WORSE, WTF——-

See, I’ve let most of the changes slide without comment, but now this is a change that I HAVE to comment on. How are we supposed to believe that House Blackwood won’t be bitter with Daemon now after what happened to Willem?! And they were one of Rhaenyra’s most steadfast supporters in Fire and Blood, no?!?!

Aegon’s looking 20+ older😅

I wish I could feel more sympathetic for Aegon. But I remember what he did in season 1, and I’m not willing to overlook it.

Alicent gave up on parenting her Aegon, so Larys is stepping up😇

“I am of salt and sea.” Isn’t that almost verbatim what Baela told Corlys the heir to Driftmark needed to be?👀

Noooooo, please don’t send the children to Pentos😭

Rhaena “time to shoot my shot” Targaryen. Just like her mother with Vhaegar.

“Mongrels.” *”really?!* look from Rhaenyra😂

“Did you think I would have dark hair?” WE CANNOT HAVE THIS CONVO RIGHT NOW, please. My heart cannot take this….

I stg if this is there last serious convo before the Gullet…

Jace begging Rhaenyra not to pursue the lowborn dragonriders in order to protect his own claim in the future… echoes to young Rhaenyra arguing with Viserys about being replaced with Alicent’s children💔

Also, Jace foreshadowing almost verbatim as to what will happen with the two Betrayers…

I’ve decided Ulf isn’t a Targaryen bastard at all, just a drunk who crafted a clever lie to keep him drinking for free.

Now Hugh, on the other hand- I’m more inclined to believe his story. Regardless of what happens.

Really? The dragon keepers abandoning Rhaenyra in her hour of need? It’s a good thing they didn’t exist in the book, because something tells me if they did, they wouldn’t have done that🤷🏼‍♀️

Rhaenyra’s outfit though👌🏻

As happy as I am to see Baela present and offering her support, Jace’s absence is even more apparent🥲

Also, and this is extremely random, I love how whenever we have Dragonstone scenes, we can always hear dragons in the background. Makes the emptiness in GOT scenes in Dragonstone heavier.

Loveeee that some of these “Targaryen bastards” have dark hair. Lends weight to Targaryen white/silver hair need not always be dominant as proof of parentage.

I wanna know how they summoned Vermithir TO the cave… or are there like different caves/“nests” for each dragon?👀 because if that’s true, that’s cool as hell and also extremely practical

RHAENYRA, THE DRAGON WHISPERER/QUEEN🖤

They really all dipped as soon as possible😅

Did Ulf just get swept away, or-

The amount of foreshadowing with Rhaenyra this season is actually insane

Oooo, calling it now, Ulf is gonna go wandering out, and find Silverwing along the way.

Damn, Vermithor really out here just having a snack until he finds who he’s looking for👀

Hugh being claimed by trying to save someone else’s life says something… still wandering what on earth goes wrong

Aw, Vermithor looks kinda happy. Do you think he’s been lonely all these years without the Old King?🥲

Silverwing really just casually nudging Ulf away from her eggs like😂😂😅

Then immediately going, “we gonna go for a flight now, or?!”

Imagine being a peasant in King’s Landing, being on the brink/in the middle of war, knowing almost all Targaryens (that you’re aware of) have dragons of their own, and all the sudden seeing the dragon of Good Queen Alysanne with a new rider, just flying about King’s Landing…

That ending shot though!!!!!🖤🖤🖤🔥🔥🔥

King’s Landing, a certain queen is coming for you🤭🖤

DREAMFYRE?!?! FINALLY?!

I will not survive next week if the Gullet is now moved to season 3. Please💔💔💔

[peach-coke]

Yesterday I watched some totally random horror movie called "Under The Bed", that my prime told me I'd probably like. Fair enough, it's horror, and there's brothers in it - That tracks.

But then it started. And it's just... Okay, so there's cool-guy big brother Neal, with his tousled blonde hair and his half-denim, half-leather jacket who got send away to avoid prison, ‘cause he set their house on fire, right? So he's coming back from his "exile", running right into a welcome-back party that his dad (who he has a strained relationship with...) and his new step-mom throw for him. Because, you know. Their actual mom died in the before mentioned house fire. Uh-Huh.

He then ditches the party (and the girl he "came back to" apparently) to run around the house, frantically searching for his brown-haired baby-brother Paul (which he alone calls Paulie. Unless he’s angry at him, then it becomes a very stern “Paul!”. Because of course.) screaming his name like a maniac for... Reasons? How would I know? Neal just needs to find him asap??

And when he does, they hug it out for a minute or two. Very important stuff? I get it, you're close. Thanks for taking like... Ten minutes of screen time to establish that. It’s only the first. Of many, many, many hugs to come.

They then BOTH ditch the party to hang around in a diner. And we have wonderful dialog like: "I really missed this." - "What did you miss more, the diner or me?" Yes. Normal brother things - Like come on LOOK AT THEM y'all are doing this to me on purpose at this point?

But then. THEN. Neal just whips out a fucking leather-bound diary with monster-scribbles in it and at this point I'm fucking certain that I'm just tripping on my pneumonia meds.

But IT JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE?!? Sammy Paulie has weird premonition-like nightmares that come with an extra cool hell-filter

While Dean Neal is just out there being very normal, scribbling pictures of the two of them in his diary while his baby-brother is at school without him

Thorough the movie both of them just keep constantly reminding us about the fact that they're brothers (by saying it like, 20 times as if we could've missed it) and would never hurt each other and do everything for each other. They share beds and we get the actual Baby-camera-pan I’m just- while their dad is just out there like????? Y'all are weirdos maybe stop sleeping together (because this movie is actually about a monster under their bed and not them being weirdos lmao)...

...until Paulie gets hurt by the monster and John Dad forcefully separates them because he assumes it’s Neal’s fault. Obviously they can’t have that and sneak out and break locks to hug it out. I mean, they’ve been separated by a door for like, maybe half an hour in realtime. Can’t have that.

Dad is really not amused to find them like this. Again.

AND THEN THEY GEAR UP TO HUNT THE MONSTER UNDER THEIR BED (where Neal shows little Paulie how to properly hold a gun a screwdriver just because... hands??) 'cause what if they end up getting permanently separated because of it?! THE HORROR.

In the end Neal is absolutely ready to sacrifice himself to get his brother back from the nightmare-realm where they do some reunion-forehead-touching, Dad dies on his first hunt in the final confrontation and they beat the monster by throwing their mothers ashes at it (which was totally Paulies idea because you know - He‘s the smart one)...

TLDR this is not just a random Horror Movie, it's a canon divergent Winchester/Teenchesters Fanfic unfurling right in front of my salad and I AM OBSESSED and I need someone to watch this movie to confirm that I am, in fact, not losing my entire mind.

[averageartistamber]

So, my thoughts on Side Order

Okay, so Side Order’s been out for a few days, so I may as well give out my thoughts on it. Obviously, this post is going to contain spoilers below as I go into more detail about my opinions and observations.

I’ve completed four runs so far (almost got five but failed near the end).

Overall, Side Order’s pretty good. It’s a lot of fun, a little rough in some areas, but worth the wait.

 First, let’s talk about mechanics.

Splatoon’s gameplay works well with a rogue-lite gameplay loop, and it’ll easily keep you occupied for at least a couple of hours (Some folks have 100% completed it on release day, but for the average player I’d reckon maybe 15-20 hours?). The permanent upgrade system allows a degree of control over the difficulty (even if it can be a grind to unlock things).

The chip system is cool, especially later on when you’ve made some really goofy yet strong builds. The Pearl Drone is some of the most fun stuff we’ve seen in the series so far. Letting her be almost as overpowered in the gameplay as she is in the lore is just really funny.

One thing that I feel does bring it down though, is the lack of variety. After a few hours you do start to notice that there’s only about five different floor objectives, and there’s not that much in terms of enemy variety either (although later floors add a mechanic where Battering Lentos can carry other Jelletons around on their backs…Which is a thing. Definitely would have preferred a few new guys instead.)  

As for the Jelletons…they’re…eh. They don’t really have the charm of the Octarians or Salmonids, but the devs seem to have intentionally singled out some of the worst aspects of those enemy rosters to design these dudes. With such a small bestiary, about half of them are annoying “screw those guys” (the flying sprinkler assholes and the Stinger But Even Worse dudes come to mind)…Which I’m not sure if that’s bad game design or really good game design honestly. They do their job as obstacles and video game enemies, and the designs are solid.

At least it’s not reskinned Octarians again.

There only really being five different bosses, with three in “rotation” (and one you only fight once), which honestly feels like a huge wasted opportunity. Would have been cool to have maybe a handful more options. Maybe even have an exclusive boss for each palette on Floor 20 where Eight has to fight a screwed-up version of whoever the palette represents. In this case Parallel Canon would be exclusive to Agent 4, and Marina would have a slightly buffed version of her fight, maybe with a different barrier mechanic to differentiate her from Overlorder.

And as always, the soundtrack absolutely slaps.

Not sure if I’m personally going to bother with 100% completion, since apparently the reward is a few secret lore files that I’ll probably find and read from the wiki or something.

Story, Lore and Characters

The story is serviceable, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from Splatoon’s storytelling at this point. There’s interesting stuff there which either isn’t explored in detail or is relegated to background lore files you can unlock and read. That being said, the lore we got is cool. Like, we all guessed that the Spire of Order was some kind of VR thing Marina made, and finding out she made it in order to heal victims of KamaboCo and restore the sanitised is both in-character and a very nice tying of ends from Octo Expansion.

I will say that if you haven’t played or are otherwise aware of the plot of Octo Expansion, some things might not make the most sense (ie. you’ll probably scratching your head over who the hell Acht is and why they’re neon green.) so it’s best experienced after reading or watching a video on the previous DLC to have the full context.

Thank Cod they didn’t make Marina the villain or have her be locked away for most of the game waiting to be rescued. Although she did get put under mind control, which I kinda expected…Seems to be at least one the Story Writer’s favourite trope at this point. Or just an odd choice of running gag. This story feels more character-focused than events and plot-focused, so not much really “happens”, but we get some substantial character interactions that make up for it.

The limited cast of characters works very well in the story’s favour. Adds to the weird lonely and isolated vibe of the Memverse. Pearl and Marina are great as usual, and there’s a surprising amount of scenes and dialogue for Pearlina shippers to lose their minds over. Acht/Dedf1sh is an effective straight man to all this, providing a foil to the other characters. The vibe of “Can we please talk about literally anything else” after the aggressive Pearlina banter is entertaining. It’s just really cool that the background musician characters are starting to get more relevance.

Cipher doesn’t do very much, but might have one of the best character designs in the franchise so far. It’s alright (I think the character uses It/It’s pronouns).

On the other hand, I personally think Order/Smollusk might be the weakest of the Splatoon big bads. They don’t really have the charisma and backstory intrigue of Octavio, the presence and build-up of Mr.Grizz (who to be fair had two a whole game prior to his stint as a villain) or the menace/“creep factor” of Commander Tartar.

In fact, Order kinda feels like a toned-down or Bowdlerised Tartar, as in which Order’s goal is similar and similarly horrifying, but they haven’t been getting away with it for god knows how long and you don’t ever see the result of their plans, (No ghastly Bad Ending cutscene of everyone getting their minds destroyed by the Memverse or anything), unless you count the thing they turned Marina into. I guess the whole Virtual Reality setting makes them feel like less of a threat? Maybe it’s just me.

And I dunno if this is just localisation weirdness, but did they HAVE to make his weakened form converse in Uwu-speak?

Although this seemingly isn’t what happens, I do quite enjoy the idea of Order/Smollusk slowly getting rehabilitated and redeemed as the gang hangs out with him (and kicks his ass) several times. Unfortunately, dude seems to be really clinging hard to the “Evil Overlord” shtick, which ultimately turns the character into a one-note laugh when we could’ve had a fun little arc.

One more thing about characters….

WHERE IN THE FRESHLY FRIED AND FILLETED FLIPPER-FLOPPER IS AGENT FOUR!?

The fact that they have a sort-of presence (being the Splattershot is explicitly called Agent Four’s Palette and not, like, Squidbeak Splatoon Palette, as well as the Parallel Canon boss) really seemed to be hinting at Agent Four making a physical appearance. Maybe it’s cut content? Maybe they’ll find their way into the Memverse in an update (like with Callie in 2’s Hero Mode)?

Them being the only Agent not to appear in Splatoon 3 just kinda sucks. Like, even Nintendo themselves seem to in on the joke with them being the un-favourite (see the “supposed to be a [BIG SHOT]” line from Pearl). But I really hope that one day Agent Four gets to be something that’s a bit more than a joke, y’know?

…So this ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. Might come back and maybe discuss some of the new lore a bit more, but that’s my thoughts about Side Order. I ended up really enjoying it, and I’m pretty excited to see if this leads to more experimental stuff with Splatoon going forwards. I’d give it a 7/10.

[idealisticrealism]

TCL 3x01 thoughts

I think it's clear that I will never not have thoughts about this show (even if my days of wordvomiting 10k words per episode were over the moment we lost Arman) so here's some short(ish) notes about 3x01, which include heavy spoilers.

The main things:

The title of the ep is Arman which is both accurate and devastating

Adan is credited at the start with the rest of the cast, and don't think about how this is likely the last time we’ll see that or you'll cry

Where's Arman? is the catchprase of this ep. Everyone’s asking it; Thony, Nadia, Arman’s mother, Fi, Russo and the FBI, Ramona and Jorge…. 

Okay, I expected the use of the body double, but oh man when he turned around and had Arman's (CGI'd) face? God that hit me right in the chest. Overall it was done unexpectedly well for a show of this budget, even if the facial expression was more neutral than how Adan would have acted it in that scene. Honestly though, it was not getting to hear Arman's real voice that was the hardest part to bear

The Nadia & Thony of this ep was honestly everything I dreamed of. Nadia (unintentionally) saving Thony's life. Both of them escaping together and therefore being complicit in 'abandoning' the man they both love. Thony going to check on Nadia and looking after her like an older sister. The two of them bonded by their fear and desperation. Nadia hearing Thony’s sincerity when she told Arman’s parents that she owes Arman everything (proving that she wasn’t just using him like Nadia had previously accused her of). Them trying to come up with a plan in the office at La Habana, a place where they were both so connected to Arman. Thony stealing the cartel medallion so she could make the risky search for Arman without Nadia being endangered too. Like seriously, I’m hoping like hell this alliance continues for the whole season (and even beyond) because I’m legit so here for it

Wanna cry again? Think about how Arman technically saved Thony’s life twice in this ep, first by drawing the gunfire at the hangar to allow her to escape, and then by saving her from Sin Cara through her association with him. Which means that saving her was both his first (aka the night in the warehouse with Theo) and last acts towards her, and if that doesn’t capture just how deep their connection was, I don’t know what does 

“This season is dedicated to our beloved friend Adan Canto” it’s fine I was already crying anyway

Ok but seriously, the main takeaway here: I don’t think it is possible for anyone to watch this ep and not believe that Thony truly loves Arman. Not after seeing her sitting on the floor, half-drunk and ugly crying about losing him and leaving him behind. Or after she left Luca to spend hours searching for him. Or after she stood up to Arman’s father about the kind of man he was. Or after she literally lied to Jorge, even under threat of death, to protect him. Or after she told Ramona that she and Arman are “not exactly” together, while making it clear how important he is to her?? Other than the Thony & Nadia alliance, my only other desperate hope for this season was for it to show us even more evidence of Thony’s love for Arman (because both S1 and S2 already gave us plenty of proof, imo), and this episode already gave me that in spades.

Some other stuff:

Nadia definitely has access to RK's money despite it not making any legal sense, and it sounded like she was planning on leaving Arman, since she was buying a house just for herself

The Manila flashback where Fi and Thony are demonstrated as being 17ish years younger (aka in their mid 20s) purely by having different haircuts? Hilarious lol

"You're still protecting him? Even though his interests lie with another woman?" wow Russo calling it as she sees it re Thony/Arman

The re-use of the motel from when Arman and Nadia were in hiding in 1x09 was a really cool throwback (especially for me, as I've literally been in that room). Also, Arman's fake passport being under the name Eduardo Sanchez? Aka his father's birth name (as it seems his father took on his mother’s surname maybe?). Anyway help I'm crying again

Speaking of his parents, damn they haven’t seen him in 23 years? Since he was literally like 17 or 18?? Jeez. Also his dad’s eyes and mouth actually do remind me of him; definitely well-chosen casting

But tbh this family tree makes no sense. Arman’s dad has an older sister who’s 70 (as mentioned in S1) and yet apparently also has a younger brother (Jorge) who is maybe 45 at most???  Only a handful of years older than his own son?? It’s possible of course, but it would have made much more sense for the writers to have them be Arman’s mother’s siblings, yet Ramona refers to Eduardo specifically as their brother… anyway, ngl the whole idea of Arman being Jorge’s nephew (and so Jorge’s kid being Arman's cousin) feels weird to me. Why couldn’t they have just made Ramona & Jorge be Arman’s cousins????? 

Ohhh so the price on Thony’s head is in The Philippines, not the US. That changes some things with the cartel situation. Also looks like Thony is definitely never going back there then lol

The warehouse place where Thony meets the guys from the first cartel looks a lot like the crime scene Thony has to clean up in the trailers… maybe some gang war stuff happens?

I totally called it weeks ago that Paolo is Chris’ dad. The timeframe is weird though bc they make it sound like they were actually together right before she left, though he surely would have noticed her being very pregnant, since she gave birth to Chris while still in The Philippines… plus Fi told Chris he was the result of a one night stand, so who knows what’s going on with this continuity lol

I also called it about Ramona being Sin Cara. (Well, I had thought it might be Jorge until finding out the other week that she was the older sibling, but after that i called it lol)

Ngl I did not see Chris going to The Philippines coming but I should have haha. Makes sense that he’s now going to do the Mexico crossing with Fi, which is why we see him in the desert in one of the trailers.

Well, good thing the child protective services lady didn’t show up while Luca was there for hours alone lol. Looks like this season’s Luca drama is going to be less medical and more custody related, though tbh I’m hoping the Luca stuff will be kept to a minimum in general… 

Anyway the TLDR is that I thought the ep was really good, and was a fitting tribute to both Arman and Adan. I'm interested to see where S3 goes, and I just hope that they manage to keep Arman feeling ~present~ in the storyline of the season even now that he's gone.

[dangraccoon]

Oyuba'din - Chapter 20: Reclamation

Summary: The Batch worries about Jaine in her unconscious state.

Warnings: Unconsciousness, physical confrontation, emotional tension

Author's Note: It feels good to be able to be back! I’m very excited to show y’all what I’ve been working on!

« Previous Chapter Next Chapter »

Crosshair was in the same place he had been for the past few hours; pacing in front of the medbay door. He knew he couldn’t go in; the rest of the squad were on strict orders from Hunter not to let anyone else in if they weren’t supposed to be watching over Jaine, and he knew Wrecker would follow that order.

It had been three hours since Jaine went unconscious, and he was doing his best to follow her instructions to not panic, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. 

It was also becoming difficult not to throttle his twin. Tech was sitting at his workbench, fiddling with some spare parts, his leg bouncing under the table. He knew Crosshair was blaming him for what had happened, but what was he supposed to do? Not treat his brothers’ injuries?

“Maker, Cross,” Echo groaned from his seat at the table, a cup of caf cooled and untouched in front of him. “Pace any harder and you’ll wear a hole through the floor.”

“Funny,” Crosshair deadpanned, rolling his eyes. 

“Will you please just sit down? Worrying isn’t going to make her wake up.”

Crosshair stopped, his arms forming a tight cross over his chest. 

“Echo is right. You’re only making yourself more nervous,” Tech added, not looking up from his scraps.

“Stow it, Tech,” Crosshair growled, but took a seat next to Echo. 

“It’s not his fault you know,” Echo said quietly. 

Crosshair’s jaw set tight, stopping himself from making a comment. 

Echo bumped Crosshair’s shoulder. “He couldn’t have known what she was going to do. None of us could.”

Crosshair sighed, looking from Tech to Echo. “I know,” he relented. “But he didn’t have to be such a dick to her.”

Echo chuckled humorlessly. “Can’t disagree with that. How’s your hand?”

Crosshair held his palm out in front of him, inspecting it again. “Like nothing ever happened.”

“That is, of course, due to whatever it was that Jaine did before she lost consciousness,” Tech called, still not bothering to look up.

Crosshair rolled his eyes before standing up and leaving the room.

Echo was left with his thoughts as the sound of Tech’s tinkering continued. 

Jaine went from being a simple puzzle to a full on enigma in a matter of days. The two months she had spent with them felt like it had barely been a few hours now, and Echo was honestly at a loss for words. Taking a deep breath, he decided he needed to sort himself out. 

Tech had once described Echo’s post-mission ritual as “a session of meditation” saying that he sorts through thoughts and memories as though he were going through flimsiwork and placing them in the correct spaces. 

Maybe it was enhanced by his modifications, but Echo had always done this. Ever since he was just a cadet he wanted to organize any and all information he took in. That’s how he was able to memorize the reg manuals so easily and recite off whichever best suited the situation. When he joined the Bad Batch, remembering their numerous numbered plans? Child’s play. 

But these past few days had been almost too much for him. A few injuries, Jaine being unconscious - not once but twice, batch twins barely able to look at each other, everyone on edge; it was a lot. 

And Jaine. He had no idea what to make of her. She didn’t fit into any of his boxes. Jaine had some kind of power, but not like the Jedi. She was cool, collected, confident, but so afraid and still running from her past. 

She lied to the squad and the GAR, but she did it to protect herself. And yet he didn’t care. His strong moral compass only indicated that she’d made the right call. 

What made Echo the most nervous was just how similar she was to someone he once knew. Hell, he’d accidentally called Jaine by the wrong name once already, and even if it was said in a semi-conscious state, he still felt bad. They were just so similar. Their smile, their laugh.

No, Echo thought. Don’t go into her box.

He needed a distraction, so he got up and went to look over Tech’s shoulder. 

-

Wrecker was getting bored. That’s not to say that he wasn’t okay with watching over Jaine in her near comatose state; he was perfectly content to do so, though he’d much prefer if Jaine was awake. Then they could talk or play a game or…

Wrecker blinked a few times. He probably shouldn’t think of the squad’s medic like that, especially if she was sick like this, but it was getting harder not to. She was too pretty, too smart, too funny, too kind to him. He didn’t care about what happened in her past; he simply just liked her. But it was more than “liking”, wasn’t it? He wished she would wake up so he could talk to her about it. 

He was pretty sure she’d listen to him. She was so sweet. He knew that she had gotten closer to Crosshair lately, but he liked the relationship they were developing; a warm friendship filled with kindness. She was gentle with him whereas others were rough. He was supposed to be rough - it’s what he was designed for, but with Jainey? She let him be soft and quiet and all the things he wasn’t allowed to be in his line of work. 

Wrecker didn’t know much about love, but sitting here, watching over Jaine’s sleeping form in the low light of her little corner in the medbay, he was fairly certain he loved her. 

She stirred a little, her arm moving lazily to find the edge of the blanket. 

“Here, ad’ika,” Wrecker whispered, pulling the blanket up over her shoulder. 

Her eyes opened ever so slightly as he pulled his hand back, and he smiled warmly, happy to see the gray-green of her eyes if only for a moment as they fluttered shut again. 

A near silent tap on the door alerted Wrecker that Hunter was there to trade off shifts, and he tried his best to not to feel disappointed. He knew his brother would alert everyone when she woke up, but he wanted to stay by her side. He wanted to be there when she really opened her eyes. 

Hunter slipped into the room, doing his best to stay quiet, which was second nature to him. He looked over Jaine’s sleeping form. 

“Any changes?” he whispered. 

Wrecker shook his head. Hunter could tell the big guy was on edge, but he sensed something further. 

“You okay?” he asked, his concerned gaze shifting from Jaine’s face to Wrecker’s. 

“Yeah,” Wrecker shrugged. “Just wish she would wake up.”

Hunter noticed the way Wrecker watched Jaine, the softness in his eyes, the way his hands tensed a little, as though he were stopping himself from reaching out to touch her. Hunter knew the feeling all too well.

“She will, Wreck,” Hunter said, but he wasn’t convinced himself. 

Wrecker gave a solemn nod, rising from the chair, and giving Hunter an affectionate nudge on his way out. 

Hunter eased back into the chair next to Jaine’s bunk, letting out a heavy sigh. 

“Jaine, what am I going to do with them all?” he whispered. He wasn’t sure if she could hear him, but he hoped she could. 

“If you could see the state we’re all in, I’m sure you’d whip us all back into shape,” he chuckled. “Got Cody to sign off on extended leave for us; made up some story about picking up some kind of stomach bug and needing to quarantine. He even got the General to sign off on it so no one comes poking around. Tech’s got us floating above Coruscant, until we can figure out what to do.”

Jaine’s fingers twitched a little, and Hunter’s heart sped up. 

“Jaine?” he gasped hopefully.

Her face scrunched up, and she let out a quiet groan. 

Hunter kneeled next to her, needing to be closer to her. Hitting the comm on his wrist, he whispered into it, alerting the others that Jaine might be waking up. 

Her eyes opened, unfocused as she looked around. “Hu-Hunter?” she mumbled, her voice raspy. 

“I’m right here,” he assured her, taking her hand, despite the way his were shaking. “Welcome back.”

Jaine chuckled quietly as the door whooshed open, Crosshair, Echo, and Wrecker piling into the small medical bay. 

“Easy, boys,” Hunter warned, a soft smile on his face. 

“T’salright,” she smiled, weakly yet warmly. 

“We missed you, Jainey,” Wrecker explained. 

“Missed you too,” she whispered, her eyes closing slowly, before opening again to look up at Hunter. “How long-”

“Three days, 16 hours, and 42 minutes,” Tech informed, pushing his way past his brothers, scanner in hand. He shooed Hunter away, starting to take Jaine’s vitals. 

“Three-” Jaine sputtered, trying to push herself up off of the bed. 

“Lay back down,” Tech ordered harshly. “I need to examine you.”

Jaine gave a look to Tech, brushing his hand off her shoulder. “Where are we going?” she asked Hunter. 

“We’re not-”

“We have been unable to take any mission because you were incapacitated. If you would like to get back to work, you have to let me examine you.”

Jaine scowled at him now. “I don’t need an exam, Tech.”

“Lieutenant-”

“Get that thing out of my face,” she growled, pushing Tech and his scanner away from her face. 

Echo stepped forward. “Jaine, you should really just-”

“Lieutenant, you will submit to examination or-”

“Or what? You’re going to report me?”

“Precisely; perhaps your head is intact.”

Jaine, displaying an anger the batch had never seen before, let out a humorless, incredulous laugh, launching herself at the bespectacled clone. 

She became a hurricane of frustration and anger. The squad watched on out of pure shock as she landed a full, clean hit to Tech’s cheek, before each of them grabbed a half of the grappling pair. 

Hunter squeezed between his brother and the medic in an attempt to diffuse the tension. Crosshair wrapped his arms around Jaine, doing his best to speak soothingly to her as tears started down her face. 

Wrecker scooped Tech up in his arms, the smaller clone ranting about being let go, but his pleas went unanswered as Echo looked around, unsure of what he should do. 

“Would both of you shut up!” Hunter shouted, stunning the room into silence, Jaine and Tech no longer fighting against those restraining them. Jaine whimpered a little, her hand coming up to touch her temple, and Crosshair let go of her.

“Wrecker, get him out of here,” Hunter pleaded, his voice filled with exhaustion.

“I still need-”

“We’ll do the damn scans,” Crosshair snarled, marching over and grabbing the scanner out of Tech’s hands, who only scowled in return.

-

“Crosshair, I’m fine,” Jaine groaned as he started up the scanner. Again.

He ignored her, eyes focused on the scanner. She sighed, completely exasperated, at Hunter. “Hunter, please?” she pleaded. 

“You’ve already scanned her three times, Cross,” Hunter reminded his brother, placing a gentle hand on Crosshair’s wrist.

Crosshair fidgeted with the device. Each time the damn machine read the same; a clean bill of health. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to believe that she was okay, it was just that he didn’t see how she could be after the past few days.

“Cross?” she whispered, concern covering her face as her eyes searched his. 

Crosshair, as upset and worried as he was, felt like he was going to melt in the green-gray of her irises. She wasn’t making this any easier on him, looking at him like that. The idea that maybe she cared about him more than as a member of the squad she was serving with, that maybe, just maybe, she cared about him the way he cared about her increased his heart rate, which he was sure didn’t go unnoticed by Hunter. 

“The scans were normal,” he mumbled, quickly looking away from her piercing gaze. He stood then, rushing from the room.

“Crosshair?” Jaine called after him. When he didn’t stop or turn around her eyes met Hunter’s, face full of worry.

Hunter only looked puzzled. Whatever his vod had been thinking of as he stared into Jaine’s eyes had his heart beating faster than Hunter ever remembered hearing it. He could only imagine. That day she’d heard them talking about her, she’d run from them, but Crosshair followed her, and brought her back. 

Hunter didn’t know what happened then, not detecting any…foolishness on either of them as they came back to the ship; only that Jaine had been crying. But after that something had changed in his brother. As snarky as his youngest brother typically was, he knew that it was to hide his own sensitivity, something Hunter knew hadn’t seen the light of day in ages. Something was different now. Sure, he still held up that old mask, but it fell whenever she was around. When she was near him, Hunter saw the hints of how Crosshair used to be as a cadet.

He knew he’d been staring at her for too long, but at the moment he didn’t care. The effect - the hold she had on him and his brothers was remarkable. She laughed and goofed around with Wrecker. She helped Crosshair open up and stop hiding, even if it was only for short moments. She was gentle with Echo, but didn’t pity him. She listened to Tech, no matter how long he would ramble and no matter the topic. Even if he seemed angry now, Hunter knew it was a facade, carefully engineered in an attempt to protect himself. 

And Hunter? Well, she’d consumed his thoughts every waking hour since she marched into his life, reading him and his squad like an open book. Since she didn’t blame the squad for the trouble they’d gotten into. Since she pulled him aside to speak directly and candidly with him. He knew that deep down, in the core of his being, he was her’s. But he also knew that she could never be his.

“Hunter?” Jaine’s voice buzzed in his ear, bringing him back to reality. “Are you okay?”

“Sorry, Jaine,” he mumbled. “Just been a long day.”

“How’s your side?” she asked nervously. 

“It’s fine,” he smiled softly.

Jaine took a deep breath, fixing him with her patented look of disbelief. “Hunter, I swear if you’re lying to me right now I-”

He chuckled. “I’m not. Promise.”

Jaine rolled her eyes. “Sure,” she smirked. 

Hunter held his hands up. “Swear, officer,” Hunter challenged. “You can search me if you want.”

“Easy, Sergeant. I’ve only just woken up.”

The air in the few inches between them felt like it was crackling with electricity. Hunter froze in place as time seemed to slow around him. She was smiling at him, the exhaustion and pain nonexistent in her features now. His heart ached as he kept himself from reaching out to touch her, and a quiet voice in the back of his mind wondered if she felt it too.

“I should let you rest,” Hunter whispered, breaking the spell, and standing up. 

Hunter wished he hadn’t noticed the way her face felt a little. 

“I’m alright,” she shrugged, praying that the slight sting of disappointment she felt wasn’t showing outwardly. “Just a little topical bacta in the bloodstream is all.”

“Just a- Jaine!” Hunter sputtered. 

“I’m fine now, as you can see,” she said, pushing off the bed. “A little stiff and probably dehydrated, but I’ve had worse.”

“Kriff, woman. You’re laid out for three days and suddenly you’re fine?”

Jaine sighed. “Hunter, you saw the scanner,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but-”

“You saw the scanner show that I was fine multiple times.”

“I did, but-”

“No ‘but’ then! I’m fine,” she assured him. 

He looked at her incredulously - the look she typically would give the rest of them in this type of situation.

“What do you want?” she groaned. “The scan was clean, I feel perfectly alright, what more do you need?”

“Take off your shirt.”

Jaine choked. “I-I’m sorry?”

Hunter’s eyes were boring into her as she desperately hoped that her face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Show me that you’re okay,” he demanded. “Show me that you didn’t take the burn somehow.”

She blinked at him, her face dropping into an expression pleading with Hunter not to make her do this.

“Jaine,” he urged.

“Hunter, I-”

“You said you had bacta in your bloodstream,” he spoke with his voice low and expression unreadable. “How did it get there?”

She swallowed, a string of curse words in various languages filling her brain.“I can’t,” she stated simply after a few more moments of tense silence, refusing to meet his eye. “I can’t tell you that I didn’t do that.”

Thanks for reading! - Dang

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[thychesters]

ok backlog of thoughts on the one piece arcs i did not think to liveblog! putting a bunch under a read more because this got long and i don’t want to make a ton of separate posts for retroactive takes.

- luffy really just set out to sea with the thought process of ���if i die well lmao.” decidedly unlmao, but don’t tell him that. he also immediately decided koby made a perfect punching bag

- the entire exchange with zoro was basically “join my crew!” “no.” “i think you should.” “guess i have absolutely no choice but to join.” and that is now their entire story

- luffy getting anyone to join his crew is basically just that gif that cuts between bryan cranston dancing and pointing at himself. luffy isn’t asking, either. welcome to the crew, you start in an hour.

- also, love this dinghy. two dudes, chilling in a small boat two feet apart because there’s no room. luffy’s having a blast with his two man crew and zoro’s just along for the ride. completely unfazed. gonna work on his tan and nap.

- also, also. they showed it later in the anime but it was the first thing in the manga, but luffy stabbing himself in the face. see, i remember reading the first volume in middle school so i was waiting for that scene. i also had vague memories of other characters like zoro and sanji, so it was nice to see them appear again. not so nice to remember my first introduction to one piece was the 4kids version lmao

- i love makino. this woman is like 20 on the outside but you know after dealing with luffy and shanks & co. she’s gotta be feeling 50 on the inside. i hope she gets to hit someone with a broom at some point. or go on vacation.

- shanks is like the cool uncle you’ll let watch your kid for a few hours, but only because you called another adult to watch shanks. the dude leaves a devil fruit on the bar in plain view of a hungry child and goes yep, surely nothing will come of this. of course he fuckin’ ate it. freaked out for a minute and went damn, well what can you do lol this is inconvenient

- these bandits coming into the bar and giving shanks shit, only to have luffy give the leader shit back and the guy decides well! guess i, a grown man, have no choice but to beat up a child.

(karma said lmao)

- nami showed up and said she’ll fuck luffy’s shit up if she has to. and then she did. good for her.

- i think the introduction of buggy was the first time i really went oh, so we’re weird weird here, huh. i mean, with a name like “buggy the clown” being taken seriously that’s when it clicked. AND THEN HE STABS THE STRAW HAT? sir you’ve crossed a line. luffy’s gonna chop chop your head clean off and drop it in the ocean.

- when i got to the syrup village/kuro arc i was like damn, how long is this battle. oh you fool, you pathetic fool. you knew nothing.

- jango got sent after some kids to go kill them and like. not for nothing but if i had a nickel for every time someone went after a kid in this show ...

- ok but when kuro was doing his whoosh whoosh invisible move or whatever the hell it was, why didn’t someone just get out a stick and trip him. fight’s a lot shorter then.

- zoro’s backstory thus far is just here’s his friend! and now she’s dead! he has no friends but he has a dream! he + the others need therapists.

- see when we got to sanji i knew him!! i remembered this man. 4kids also gave him lollipops instead of cigarettes. lolly suckin’ loser. love zeff too. between the anime and manga i’m not sure which canon i want to lean into more: him severing his foot to save sanji, or him eating it.

- mihawk fight!! the way luffy SCREAMED when zoro nearly got slashed in half and the weight behind “i will never be defeated again. YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT, KING OF THE PIRATES?!” ohhh these two boys in a dinghy. there are a lot of promises being passed back and forth.

- the don krieg fight! idk that guy was just annoying. not much else to say about that aside being glad when it was over. also hilarious how for each of these fights everyone took their turns. like no, no, like mihawk and zoro fight, and then we’ll go next. and meanwhile those not involved are just pivoting to watch each fight.

- i feel so bad for baby sanji. i still want to study the grown man like a bug, but that baby has been through a lot. (hey, so, does this show hate kids or something.)

- arlong park! ok this was the first arc that really shows how deep the story can get, i think, or at least the first glimpse into it. this was more than “i took over this town to get some money.” this was using a young child to get something he wanted and her using him in return. and she had to work for the man who murdered her mother! who he shot right in front of her and then laughed and dragged her away!

- zoro beat up a bunch of fishmen because he got BORED. luffy told him to wait and “what do you do while i’m gone?” “wait for you to get back” except there are bodies everywhere

- NAMI STABBED HERSELF IN THE ARM SO MANY TIMES how does she not have serious muscle pain after that? AND THEN LUFFY GIVES HER HIS HAT. that’s the first time we’ve seen that one. oh my god

- also zoro is still heavily wounded from his fight with mihawk, arlong rips his bandages off and even he’s shocked he’s alive, nami and the others are horrified, and then luffy just fuckin’ tosses him into the ocean

- luffy’s secret move in a boss battle is just to piss them off. what’s the difference between their species? idk, noses? he’s going to break arlong’s. AND HE DID.

- luffy: “huh, maybe we should get a doctor on our crew first instead of a musician.” zoro, getting his innards sewn back in: “why do you say that?”

- he’s so excited about his bounty! good for him. he’s a wanted man.

- i like this smoker dude. seems like an okay guy.

- roronoa “can i borrow money but also jk i got two swords for FREE” zoro who has so much debt his credit score has plummeted. he’s never going to be able to financially recover from this.

- usopp v daddy fight. words i didn’t think i would say and yet.

- only luffy would nearly get executed and treat it as a “WHOOPS LMAOOOO” only to have an act of god save his life.

- the millenial dragons arc. oh my god. why does apis SCREAM LIKE THAT. they spend five episodes going back and forth to two different islands. “is this the right one? oh jk actually it’s the one we just came from.” is this what hell is like

- because sailing UP a mountain into the grand line makes perfect sense

- THE WHISKY PEAK STORY AHHHH the first moment where luffy jumps to conclusions and zoro doesn’t get a chance to explain himself, but also why should he have to? and luffy yells that he’s going to kill him? they’re supposed to trust one another implicitly! since day one! and then luffy punches him in the face and he’s not holding back and neither his zoro

- luffy says “i’m going to beat the shit out of you” and zoro says “go ahead and try” and nami says “WATCH THIS”

- love that vivi’s like don’t say his name too loud! and luffy immediately goes “who, CROCODILE?”

- an island with dinosaurs. because it just makes sense.

and that’s about caught up to where i started blogging during little garden

[demonspawnshell]

The Evil Goobers Quotes

Alex and Phillip come from @alice-angel12x

—————————

Phillip, walking in with blueprints:Hey Boss I got a new— WHAT THE HELL?!

Alex, casually sitting on Phobus’ lap as Phobus sleeps: What? He said he couldn’t sleep alone.

He has no idea how it can be interpreted.

—————————

Phillip: So, what, now I’m just supposed to do anything that Phobus does? I mean, what if they jumped off a cliff?

Alex: If Phobus were to jump off a cliff, they would’ve done their due diligence regarding the height of the cliff, the depth of the water, and the angle of entry, so yes. If you see Phobus jump off a cliff, by all means, jump off a cliff.

Phillip:You jump off a cliff!

Alex: Gladly. Provided Phobus did first.

—————————

Phillip, walks into the kitchen to see Phobus: Phobus, it's 3 in the morning! Why on earth are you making chocolate pudding?

Phobus: Because I've lost control of my life...

—————————

Phobus: Get in, loser, we’re committing vehicular manslaughter!

—————————

Phobus: How do you want your coffee?

Phillip: Black, like my soul.

Phobus:...

Phillip:...

Phobus: Phillip, your soul is a latte.

—————————

Phillip: I know one person who finds me funny!

Alex: Okay, who?... and you can't say yourself!

Phillip: Okay then I'm out.

—————————

Phillip: Capitalizing every word in a sentence is vomit inducing.

Phobus: Enjoy Your Trip To Puke Land, Boy!

—————————

Phillip: CHARACTER. FLAWS. ARE. FUCKING. IMPORTANT.

Phobus: Me when someone tells me to stop eating mayo packets like they’re gogurt tubes.

—————————

Phobus: Do you want to play 20 Questions?

Alex: Sure!

Alex: Whats your favorite color?

Phobus, laser fucking focused: Triangle. Do you like men?

—————————

Phobus: You’re overthinking this.

Alex: You don’t know the appropriate level of thinking, Phobus. What if I’m underthinking?

—————————

Phillip: I have a bad feeling about this...

Alex: What do you mean?

Phillip: Don't you ever get that little voice in your head that tells you if you're going to get into trouble?

Alex: No?

Phobus: That actually explains so much

—————————

Phillip: Alex said its my turn with the brain cell.

Phobus: Square up.

—————————

Phillip: I feel like I can be myself around you.

Alex: You’re weird and quiet around me.

Phillip: Yes.

—————————

Phillip: Astrology is fun because i can pretend that all of my behaviors are just a result of being a Gemini and not symptoms of mental illness.

Phobus: Being a Gemini is a mental illness. That’s not hate it’s just a fact.

—————————

Phobus: I’m really glad “fight me” has replaced “sue me” in the common vernacular because I don’t have money, but I do have fists and I am always angry.

—————————

Phillip: Oh, here’s my award for the most rules broken!

Phobus: That’s not an award, it’s an angry letter from our boss.

Phillip, hanging it on their wall: Well, it has the word ‘most’ in it, so I’m calling it an award!

—————————

Phobus: When I said bring me something back from the beach I meant like a conch shell!

Alex: *Struggling to hold a seagull* Fucking say that next time

—————————

Phillip: Well, needless to say. Uh-oh Spaghetti-os.

—————————

Phillip: Look, Phobus! It's the good Kush!

Phobus: It's the dollar store, how good can it be?

—————————

Phillip: You look like a corpse that was just pulled out of the river.

Phobus: Wrong. I look like a cool rock star who just OD'd in their own pool. Big difference.

—————————

Alex: I hope you have an explanation for this.

Phillip: We have three, actually!

Phobus: Pick your favorite.

—————————

Alex: I like to play this game called nap roulette. I take a nap and don’t set an alarm. Will it be 20 min or 4 hours? Nobody knows. It’s risky and I like it.

—————————

Alex: If I die, my funeral will be the biggest party ever and you're all invited.

Phillip: "If"

Phobus: Great, the only party I'm ever invited to and they might not even die.

(Foreshadowing :0)

—————————

TBA; Most quotes came from

Others are from me :]

[imdoingsortagay]

because @our-blood-is-our-ink said yesterday to expand on my Wagatha x r idea yesterday

Milf!Wanda who’s very much married to Vision ( for tax reasons) and is very lonely in westview til some new neighbors showed up that seem to be in their mid 20’s.

Just be aware SMUT BELOW THE CUT 18+ So if I see anyone below 18 I’m blocking you

Just newly married Agatha and R who moved in to the right of her to “ live the sitcom life” but also due to the fact that you got given money by your company to move to Westview. Your wife of course convincing you it would be so cool to move and both of you pack up whatever you have to move to Jersey.

Milf!Wanda taking a liking to both her new friends but mostly you, finding you do drop dead gorgeous even if she knows you’re gladly taken. Agatha catching onto what the older woman is doing while you’re totally unaware because work and Agatha are your main focus a lot of the time.

Agatha deciding to make this a fun game by setting up a day once a week where the three of you go out to spend time together.

First time you all go out is to see a movie, Wanda being put right in the middle of you too, trying so hard not to seem nervous even when the scary movie makes you hide in Wanda’s arms as “ Aggie really wanted to sit with you I guess >:( so you’ll do to protect me “.

Wanda going crazy with you as Agatha places her hand on Wanda’s Barr thigh( she wore shorts). Leads to poor Wanda going straight home and fucking vision even though she wants the both of you. Once Vis falls asleep , she fingers herself while using a small vibe from the local sex shop to make herself cum.

All three of you hanging out goes on for a couple of months until Dottie decides to throw a little get together at her house, fancy as hell which means Wanda is on edge seeing both of you looking so sexy.

Little does Wanda know Agatha had dragged you an hour into this boring ass party to fuck in one of the empty guest rooms cause she’s always horny duh. She has you on your knees rn sucking your strap.

Not to mention she was packing incase it got boring but also sweet mrs Maximoff would be there with her dumb as hell husband. Vis is talking with his homies while his wife decides to explore the rest of the house. Different old paintings, vases and plants later she hears moans coming out of a room. Out of curiosity, she’s met with the sight of Sweet Agatha fucking you on the bed.

“ look at you bunny , making mommy fuck your needy pussy at this party , imagine if you were caught acting like such a slut”.

Wanda immediately freezing up that she’s been caught right away but she doesn’t realize that one of her hands went to hike up her dress, the older woman deciding to not use underwear.

“ no I’ll be quiet mommy-“

Before she’s shoving her fingers in your mouth 😵‍💫 to let you to be quiet, Wanda doing the same as she covers her mouth with one hand while fucking herself.

But oops!

Agatha heard one of her moans and she decided to have some fun with the three of you.

“ Wanda honey if you wanted to see me fuck my bunny you could of just asked, “ you hear her say and start blushing when want comes to the other side of the room.

“ I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-“

“ shut the fuck up Wanda , sit in the corner” Agatha orders the older woman to do which you find hot asf.

“ look at our new friend baby,” she says as she lives your body up enough to see Wanda in the corner of the room already touching herself , no underwear in sight.

“ let’s see how good Wanda can be for you and me bunny”

[kerinne]

I was invited to and attended a girls only party the other night. It was in a high-rise in surfers Paradise. When I got there they would’ve been 20 or more girls there all in various stages of undress. Some were topless, some were bottomless and some were completely naked, it really was my kind of party.  I saw Lara on the other side of the room, but I couldn’t get her attention. She was concentrating on two girls who are 69ing on the floor in front of her. I sipped my wine and smiled to myself thinking that was right up Lara’s street.  I’d catch up with her later, if I could find her.  I went for a walk around the apartment, I hadn’t realised how big an apartment it was, it was four bedrooms with a couple of bathrooms. All the bedrooms were occupied, but I got a good eyeful at each.  I thought to myself that I am the odd one out, I’m the only one on her own, but I hoped that didn’t last too long.  I got a refill of wine, and I sat on the sofa, sure enough, I was soon joined  by a lovely young blonde cutie  who was topless and pretty pissed. She put my hands on her breasts and put her hands on my breasts, the only difference was, she was topless, but I was still dressed. She started unbuttoning my top, I wasn’t wearing a bra, and all too soon she was feeling my breasts skin on skin. It felt wonderful and sexy as hell.  she suggested that we go into one of the bedrooms. (This was all new to me, because I was usually the one doing the leading) and here I was being led around by this young blonde. We entered the bedroom which was quite dark, but I could just make out that there was already someone in the bed. My young blonde asked if it would be okay for us to join them on the bed? She received an affirmative reply, so she stripped off and so did I. 

How cool, the body already on the bed, turned out to be female. And what a female?? Donna yeah she turned into one sexy bitchin woman with a tongue that never stays still. Yummy….. …I’ve spent hours with her and she’s a machine eating pussy and licking clits, erect lifting the hood over your clit, so sensitive so wow. She’s good, damn……totally excellent.

After I played with Donna awhile I turned away from her and I saw next to me, my young blonde lay naked in the light from the door smiling at me her hands touching and feeling my body, wow my body is tingling all over as she is touching my rude bits but I seriously fucken love it.

We did everything we were able to imagine. She lay between my legs and she licked up all my cunt juice then starting on my clit licking it and sucking it nonstop until I begged her to stop. I’d had so many orgasms I totally lost count but it was like 11 or 13 or something and it was so cool, I loved it

But now I lay with my pretty blonde naked as was I, facing me smiling and asked “what d’ya think we should do?” I answered well what are our options?? We could try some tribbing is one or we could try 69ing right here right now ?? Is another option another is lots of playing with tits and nibbling nipples and lots of fun kissing each other’s lips and cheeks and necks and breasts. I’m in sexual heaven right now with this gorgeous blue eyed and platinum blonde haired Beauty who wants me to command her to do things to me like licking my vag and making me cum or tribbing with her, rubbing our clits together, it’s a very sexy thing to watch especially if it’s you doing it, I don’t have sex with my eyes closed, so of course I’m watching everything and doing it too. So cool I’m still tingling all over. Before I could say anything, she climbed on top of me in the 69 position and started licking my pussy, I had to reciprocate, so I started licking her. I could taste her juices, she tasted sweet and hot. 

My hips started to move to the same rate as her licking, as she started to bring me towards an orgasm.  my body began to clinch, my back arched and I pushed myself up towards her mouth. She started edging me, but I couldn’t stand it,I pushed myself up towards her mouth and gripped her head with my legs and finally, I was there, my orgasm flowed over and through me, it seemed to go on forever but soon enough, I was back on planet earth. LOL, I was licking her sweet pussy and I could feel her body clench as she approached her orgasm,  then she lifted up off, my body, resting on her arms. I felt her body climax, it felt wonderful,  her whole body, shivered as her orgasm rolled over her. 

Over the last year or so I have been invited to a few of these types of parties  but I’ve never gone thinking I’d be the odd one out being on my own. But I know better now, next time, I get an invitation I’ll say yes. 

Anyway, my darlings that’s about it for now, I’ll talk to you all again soon. Bye my darlings.

[attempted--eloquence]

Well now that I've seen the movie I guess the only thing I can do is re-read Handle With Care and pretend it never existed in the first place ! Do I dare ask what you thought of it ?

Oh boy. I TRULY am not even sure where to start. I’ll preface this by saying I didn’t have particularly high hopes, and was kinda just expecting to enjoy the nostalgia piece of it all.

However, it felt like the movie substituted substance (character development, coherent storytelling and plot continuation, etc.) for nostalgia? Like a washed up rock band coming back together for a one-night-only reunion show and trying to cram all of their biggest hits into a 2 hour, 20 minute runtime with a bit clumsy execution.

I think the first point that bothers me is the way that the logic/rules of the world that were established in S1 and onward just…don’t exist anymore. The wolfsbane being burnt out without needing the strain of wolfsbane that poisoned Scott. Peter Hale sniffing the ground like a dog (although ngl that was funny as fuck and I’m hoping? intentional) when werewolves can literally smell chemosignals from a good distance away, let alone blood. The nogitsune being Gerard who is already a werewolf, right? But also the nogitsune is not supposed to be able to be a fox and wolf? Also, Mr. Harris acquiring the jar for the Nogitsune from Liam and Hikari in Japan (how did it get there in the first place?), neither of whom he had ever met because he was presumed dead after s3?

I’m also really…confused about the repeated decision to introduce storylines without giving integral background information (or at least, a reason to give a fuck?) Parrish and Malia. Derek Hale having a son. Hikari and Liam in Japan. Gerard becoming a nogitsune.

Especially with Hikari…she’s like the first figure we see in the movie and yet by the end of it, I have no clue at all who she is as a person. Her and Liam (and MASON. What the hell.) are like cardboard cutouts with a button that you push to spit out occasional one-liners.* And I don’t understand the introduction of a new character when they’re essentially a nothing factor and have such limited, flat interactions with the existing cast. They let Eli Hale shine and become someone we root for. I want to care about Hikari! But I feel like I wasn’t given a reason to. I don’t know if the role was written for Kira and unchanged when Arden declined and was replaced, but it seemed like it was written as if we were automatically supposed to know, understand, and root for Hikari while essentially only knowing she’s a kitsune who is Liam’s love interest? and works at a ramen house with him. All her defining traits seemed to be about what she can offer to the plot rather than who she actually is.

Maybe I placed too many expectations on the ability to develop some of these things within the runtime of the movie…but I think if there’s an inability to make all of these plot points logical, some of them could’ve gotten cut. But, I’d really like to know other thoughts/feelings on the movie, though! Also I totally could’ve missed some things in the movie that would’ve alleviated some of my frustrations with it, but I dunno.

Positives! Oh babey I am so glad Theo fucking Raeken was not in that movie. Also the copious use of the word fuck was awesome lmfao. And I thought Eli was funny! (he’s, uh, very much like a Stiles Jr. but I have no comment on that). Also Finstock is Finstock which is cool. And thank the heavens for Alan Deaton. And the scene where Allison had to burn the wolfsbane out and having her mother over her shoulder as a callback to that one scene when she has to stitch up Scott was well done, I thought.

*on the note of characterization, I think I have this same gripe with a lot of characters in the movie. Jackson is essentially there just to keep Lydia company. Malia and Parrish are a thing because…reasons? Allison is undead after 15 years and working through amnesia and she’s somehow not that affected by it? (Yeah, she’s like, murderous and disoriented at first…but after realizing she’s been dead 15 years and remembering Scott she’s kinda fine?) Mason is just another familiar face on the police force. Derek seemed so UnDerek to me. And even after trying to rationalize that fatherhood changes a person, his timid ~just a father trying to do my best to raise my delinquent child of mysterious origins that I love very much~ just didn’t…work for me. Also HIM CHOOSING TO BURN TO DEATH IN FRONT OF HIS KID OMFG.

[hands-of-the-king]

Truthfully, few things have infuriated me more than having to go into the guts of this game and struggle to make it into something that it wants to be, only to fall short and realize that even if the framework IS better than it once was, the fact that it still requires six hour sessions to get anything done is a massive flaw.

I’ve been slowly falling off the LANCER design train as more and more stuff in the community has gotten more wildly toxic and echo-chamber-y, with outright bullying and beating people over the head with established mode of conduct being expected in the general discord.

Small little rant below. As always, if you’ve had fun playing LANCER? Hell yeah, good on you! None of this is pointed at you, nor the time you’ve spent enjoying the game.

TL;DR: Game’s mechanically imbalanced, dissonant writing has drawn in would-be liberals, LGBT, and facists all into the same community, without actually taking a stance one way or the other, despite how much Union is “Post-Scarcity Utopia.”

Between certain community ideations of balance versus what the numbers supply, there’s no pleasing people. Official content comes out that teaches players that their big fun gun can be no-sold once each round (Solstice Rain, LL0). That NPCs get to do More Cool Stuff than them (No Room for a Wallflower, Act 1′s NPC additions, notably the Lurker compared to the Balor). That they’re going to spend hours and hours playing the game and advancing their pilots, for what?

To play a Minotaur next to a Tortuga who has three times as much impact on the game than they do? Every sitrep in the game is solved by killing things better. Whoever takes Nuclear Cavalier, Overpower Caliber, and brings the biggest gun that shoots the most will Win Better(tm). Woe betide you if you want to be a hacker, for your option is H0r_OS System Upgrade I.

Skirmish is the King of the Game. The Most Damage per the Most Action will beat out ticking up 2 heat at a time each and every time.

I’ve spent the past three years playing and running this game, and the past one and a half trying to make it a real Tabletop RPG. That invokes narrative in the midst of the tabletop combat. That creates memorable moments backed by mechanics of clashes and ace maneuvers and PILE DRIVING TWO SEPARATE MECHS OFF OF A SKYSCRAPER.

I’ve pushed the system to its limits, torn out every gut and bone I can and readjusted it all. And still I’m not happy with it.

And I think it’s that the very foundation just isn’t geared to make a snappy mech game that makes you feel ‘Mud & Lasers.’ You get in the cockpit, and you get ready to stare at the grid for the next six hours. Or you stop at 3 or 4 and get ready to do it again next week. You can dress it up, you can use the prettiest of maps. But it’s not evocative. You play, you roll, you miss your shot or do piddly damage, and that quick action was a 12th of the actions you will take across the entire six rounds. You tune off for the next 20 minutes as everything else goes and then its your turn again. You perk up when your name is called because something is shooting you, and you have to readjust to every single change in th situation as you await your turn, hoping that you can still do your seven-step plan to ensure optimal gameplay.

You’re outgunned, but you’re tough enough to survive it and weather it. Or, you’re not. At which point, kick back and wait until the combat’s over, because ‘optimally’ you don’t want to risk your pilot like that.

All the while, people with wide eyes who want to play a cool little idea they had just kind of go ‘oh...’ when anything more than a cakewalk drifts their way. I’ve taught Lancer to so many groups by now, and it’s gotten to the point where it’s hard to recommend it.

Harder still, because customizing and tuning your mech is something that I’ve been chasing for years since Armored Core V came out.

Anyways, if you want the feeling of satisfying tactical combat in half the time, Apocalypse Frame is worth a look. It’s missing the crunchy customization, but I’m hoping to come up with something soon that can help with that.

If you come into my askbox trying to defend the mechanics of LANCER, I’m sorry to tell you that it is neither a tabletop RPG nor a wargame, but a thing that straddles the most infuriating line between the two to ever exist.