#there is no conclusion i just wanted to talk about him

[hitlikehammers]

The One Where Wayne Munson KNOWS BETTER Than to Lend Air to IDLE GOSSIP

(and does it anyway on accident and ends up thinking his 💕boy's boy💕 might be ✖️stepping out) ——(1/3)

Wayne Munson’s lived his life mostly free from the hubbub of small town gossip. Some was unavoidable in his tiny holler as a boy; more was part and parcel to the service, and plain keeping half-sane in war—anything for a distraction. After all that though, Wayne’d had more’n his fill of even a teaspoon of hearsay, and compared to where he came from? Hawkins, Indiana was small potatoes for keepin’ his nose clear out of it.

Which is all to say he don’t mean to collect any of the latest scuttlebutt on his way just to town after he gets off his shift with the sun barely a glimmer, just past 5 for Leah’s to be open for a better cup-o-joe than the sludge he gets on the floor. All he wants is a hot nightcap because he knows damn well his boy didn’t pick up more grounds before Melvald’s closed last night, and Wayne doesn’t want to see his bed until he’s had a full mug of fair-to-middling coffee.

And honest: he don’t think that’s more than he’s earned to ask.

But it is more than he bargained for signing’ up to, when he sees the only other people in the diner at this hour on a Saturday.

Because the only other people are a girl he don’t know, though he can’t see her real well from the back, which only really means he sees her coffee date full-on and much too well in exchange because they’re leaned in and they’re being all touchy across the table, voices low but not too low—he don’t think they even noticed him come in, let alone come to wait close enough to hear ‘em while he insists on saving the lovely Leah herself the trip to a table when he can damn well carry his own drink, thanks kindly.

“You’re gonna have a coronary if you keep hiding this.”

The girl sounds…she sounds the way Wayne remembers his Mamaw sounding when she was about to hit his Grampy up the head over some harebrained such-and-such. Exasperated, but all from a deep well of unshakable loving.

Which is what perks up Wayne’s attention, and then churns his insides quick right-next, because—

Well. The boy this young lady’s being all over-fond at for his antics is Steve Harrington.

Who, for all that Wayne understands, is meant to be his boy’s boy.

“No, no,” Steve’s shaking his head, tone bowstring-taut; “I’m gonna tell him.” Kid sounds resolved for all of half-a-second before he’s groaning, running hands over his face: “Or, I mean—”

The thunk of the boy’s head to the tabletop clatters the cutlery, and if Wayne weren’t already clued into their conversation, he’d be wholly absolved for dropping eaves given how the noise echoes through the mostly-empty establishment bar-to-door.

“Dingus,” the girl says, and it drips with concern, with affection, with a deep choler that, again, sings loud of married-couple.

Which twists Wayne’s guts all the more to hear.

Because she’s talking to Wayne’s boy’s boy.

“I’m gonna, I promise,” Steve sounds not unlike a man on his way to the gallows, even more when he sighs deep as anything and traces out his lips with his fingers, hands shaky even out the corner of Wayne’s eye for a distance as he hisses low:

“Fuck.”

And Wayne, see, he don’t like borrowing trouble. He meant it about keeping his nose clean of the gossip and the hearsay. So he makes sure he reminds himself good in his own head that he don’t know the facts here, and jumpin’ to conclusions don’t do no favors to nobody.

It don’t do nothing for the way that what he does know, what he sees and hears with his own god-given senses in the now, don’t add up too kindly for the Harrington boy.

Not least because it seems to be adding up poor indeed for Wayne’s boy.

“Do you think he’ll—”

“Steve,” the girl’s voice goes softer, but also frantic almost, as Wayne sees her reach across the way and gather Steve’s hands with a familiarity to the motion that wouldn’t make sense unless…

Unless they’re something special to each other.

Wayne’s watched Eddie reach out for Steve that way. He’s watch Steve do the same. So it…it just don’t make sense—

“You’re shaking,” the girl says, all kinda pitiful, and Wayne’d seen it before, but now he chances a look again and: oh.

Boy’s a leaf in a cyclone.

“It’s a big deal,” Steve rasps out near under Wayne’s ability to hear it.

But he does hear it.

“You need to just lay it out,” the girl tells him, earnest now and more of that than any irritation, any frustration put-upon or otherwise; “be up front with him.”

And it ain’t fair, yet, even if all the signs are pointing that direction; but Wayne likes Steve. He doesn’t want to think the worst of him. And he doesn’t, really, in his heart, think Steve could do or be the worst, from all he’s learned and seen—Wayne’d had uncharitable thoughts about it he kid, before he knew better, based on hearsay which one more time, he don’t countenance as a rule, and he’d been taught better and quick from the second he saw Steve at his nephew’s bedside, and heard the only thing he’s proud and happy to have dropped in upon uninvited:

You nearly fucking died yourself dragging him out, Steve, what the hell—

That Henderson squirt, scolding Steve something fierce.

So Wayne reminds himself this boy loved his boy enough to risk himself to bring Eddie home. Before they were anything to one another. And Wayne knows damn well they’re both something to each other, now. It don’t make sense that Steve wants to…be up front about a notion with Eddie that could hurt.

But then: care can look a lot of different ways, and can change over time. Ain’t nobody to fault for that. And much as Wayne can’t quite believe the Steve he’s gotten to know these past many-months could swallow hurting his Eddie…

Wayne’s been proven incorrect about people more than enough in his life to know better than to think it’s impossible to be wrong about a man’s heart.

“Oh, I’m sure that’ll go over fucking fantastic,” Steve’s huffing, rolling his eyes—apparently he don’t want to be up front with the person they’re talking about. Wayne tries to remind himself that they’ve not flat out said it’s Eddie yet. Wayne shouldn’t go making assumptions.

“Why not?” the girl’s pressing him. “Be honest, with him,” then her tone does go a little judgemental; “you can’t honestly think he doesn’t suspect—”

“I really don’t think he does,” and it’s a strange thing, because no matter the words themselves, it don’t sound like Steve’s meaning to be deceitful about a thing. Kinda sounds a little like he’s mourning, like he’s just in a kind of pain. “If he did, then at least maybe I’d have some kind of,” he waves his hand in the air, looks frantic, at loose ends all around; “heads-up for where his head’s at.”

And they’re both quiet for a spell, and Wayne looks for Leah in the back, knew she was getting food ready and was happy to wait—for better or worse with the conversation he’s been privy to without permission unspooling at his side—but he’s starting to feel antsy for all that he’s hearing, and the way he can’t quite tamp down associating it all with Eddie, with touchy things Steve might have to tell Eddie—

“Tell him by the end of the weekend.”

And now: think he might have to tell, encouraged so damn strong and single-minded by his lady friend with her hand on his arm.

“That’s fucking tomorrow!”

“End,” she’s narrowing her eyes sharp enough Wayne notices more in the shift of the room than to see it head-on; “of,” and then she’s smacking Steve’s arm to emphasize hard enough it rings out; “the weekend.”

Then Wayne notices how her posture shifts, and she leans closer again, so much affection, and easy with it, and welcome for it, no doubt about it:

“I don’t like seeing you like this,” she says low and earnest; “especially not when the thing you’re like this about is,” and then her tone shifts to something bright, near-on hopeful, even:

“It’s such a good thing, Steve.”

“I mean,” Steve mumbles, kind of miserable really; “of course you think so.”

And Wayne don’t like where his head goes for things the girl who’s watching Steve with such soft eyes might think to be good, might think while she’s touching him so close and —

“He’ll,” and she huffs a touch before going all heartfelt again: “Eddie is going to—”

And the moment his plausible deniability about the subject of the discussion is gone, Wayne gives up waiting for his coffee at the counter and…retreats to the corner by the door, far as he can get from whatever’s said next. He’d leave, honest, but the truth of the matter’s this:

He can’t be expected in good faith to figure out how to bring any of this up with Ed if he don’t have no caffeine in him.

☕ 👀 ☕

✨ part ii >>>

For @thefreakandthehair, who requested 'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.' at my HOBBIT-STYLE BIRTHDAY MONTH PROMPT FEST—and since this is almost a YEAR LATE, could I possibly offer it as a normal-amounts-of-late birthday gift, more than as an egregiously-and-unforgivably-late prompt fill for you?

✨permanent tag list: OPEN (lmk if you want to be added/removed): @askitwithflours @awkwardgravity1 @bookworm0690 @bumblebeecuttlefishes @captain--low @depressed-freak13 @dragoon-ze-great @dreamercec @dreamwatch @estrellami-1 @finntheehumaneater @goodolefashionedloverboi @grtwdsmwhr @hiei-harringtonmunson @hbyrde36 @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @live-laugh-love-dietrich @mensch-anthropos-human @nerdyglassescheeseychick @notaqueenakhaleesi @pearynice @perseus-notjackson @pretend-theres-a-name-here @pukner @ravenfrog @sadisticaltarts @samsoble @sanctumdemunson @shrimply-a-menace @slashify @stealthysteveharrington @swimmingbirdrunningrock @theheadlessphilosopher @theintrovertedintrovert @themoonagainstmers @theohohmoment @tillystealeaves @tinyloonyteacups @tinyplanet95 @warlordess @wheneverfeasible @wordynerdygurl @wxrmland @yourmom-isgay @1-tehe-1

NOTE: it's important to me that you know that Wayne's accept belongs to nowhere, and is just the voice of someone I knew as a kid, who also sounded like a little of everywhere and then again nowhere. so if you think some turn of phrase doesn't fit what you think you're reading in terms of dialect? it's just that this way of stringing words together is—with intention—its own amalgam of places and times

divider credit here and here

[tossawary]

Qijiu's reunion at the Immortal Alliance Conference could have so easily gone differently. If Yue Qi had had the time to express joy over Shen Jiu's survival, before Shen Jiu got angry at apparently being abandoned for a better life, and before Yue Qi then assumed that the failed rescue was the unforgivable harm rather than the apparent failure to return at all, they might have gotten somewhere.

But, you know, another way things could have gone differently is Yue Qi and Shen Jiu not coming face-to-face and recognizing each other at the same time. It could have been one or the other.

Wu Yanzi presumably can't slip into the conference because he's (not invited and also) a wanted criminal, but he might have been able to send his apprentice in to walk around, with Shen Jiu pretending to be just another random disciple among the crowd. If Shen Jiu had disguised himself to enter the conference early, he could have easily seen Head Disciple of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect Yue Qingyuan in a position of dutiful prominence during some opening speech, without Yue Qi noticing him in return.

The conclusions that Shen Jiu would jump to without any indication Yue Qi even remembers him? Bad. Obviously, the only thing to do there is take furious revenge and completely ruin this Yue Qingyuan's beautiful new life somehow.

Likewise, if Shen Jiu had been wandering around the conference to scope out the valuables, Yue Qi could have seen him through the crowd without being noticed in return. Maybe CQMS's head disciple is better situated making the mingling rounds rather than standing up somewhere with the talking heads. Before Shen Jiu knows what's happening here, he's being accosted in a quiet corner by some young master on the verge of crying on his stolen uniform. He just barely manages not to stab this guy about it.

"Xiao-Jiu, you're alive! I came back for you but I was too late and found that awful place burned to the ground! Nobody knew where you'd gone. You're a disciple of Huan Hua Palace now? I'm so happy for you!" this person says, beaming with ugly joy- wait, is this...? "I'm so sorry that Qi-Ge was so useless."

Shen Jiu barely manages to stumble out of this conversation without passing out. Yue Qi gets dragged away by some Cang Qiong master for some social responsibility, clinging to Shen Jiu's hands and swearing to find him later, and he thinks Shen Jiu is a Huan Hua Palace disciple. What was Shen Jiu supposed to say to that assumption? That he's actually lying scum?!

Shen Jiu now has to survive this conference without Yue Qi finding out the truth and without Wu Yanzi finding out about Yue Qi. Upping the tension of this fic idea: maybe Wu Yanzi does find out that Shen Jiu knows the head disciple of CQMS. (Maybe Wu Yanzi was lurking around the edges in disguise as well. Maybe Wu Yanzi witnesses some later conversation between Qijiu.) Wu Yanzi now wants to use Shen Jiu as an "in" to rob or otherwise harm CQMS.

If Shen Jiu is the one who saw Yue Qi first and jumped to angry conclusions and revenge plans about it, maybe the spiteful Shen Jiu likes the idea of reuniting with Yue Qi just to fuck him over like that. He's going to regret that pretty quickly, though.

[rainy-day-revelry]

As many people have mentioned, Dream is very good about framing things to make himself sound right and other people sound reasonable. But not a single video or post he has made so far can convince me that he is doing this with good intentions, because of the way he speaks towards everyone else involved and those he dragged in.

Now I mainly picked up on this with Tubbo and Tommy, but there are hints of it towards his viewers too: he speaks to us all like we’re children. The way a parent talks to a child they’re trying to gently reprimand, or the way a teacher talks about a subject in class. He speaks like we would never be able to come to these conclusions without his help and that he needs to guide us through it all or we’d get lost in the sea of information. And sure, plenty of his viewer base are kids, but the majority of people who would be watching this drama are fans from the Dream SMP era who knows all these people and remembers when they all used to talk and hang out. We may have been kids back then, but it’s coming up on half a decade since that server began; we’re not kids anymore. I myself started watching the DSMP when I was a underclassman in high school, I’m in college now. All the people he called the R-slur, the people who were offended and wanted an apology that he took days to properly deliver, most of us are adults. We can form our own conclusions, and we’re not an amorphous blob of opinions and views, we’re our own people.

This is especially bad when talking about it to Clingyduo, especially Tubbo. In his 3 hour stream he continually talks about Tubbo being misguided, and despite saying he has great respect for Tubbo and his opinions he skips context and actual criticism multiple times or, as Tubbo mentions, tunnel visions on one part of the criticism he can target and tosses the rest out with it when he’s done. He doesn’t give two shits about what Tubbo says unless it’s something he can use against the people criticizing him to make them sound disingenuous. With Tommy it’s worse, because when he’s not villainizing him beyond belief he’s using that condescending tone to talk about how proud he is and how he thought Tommy was special, which explains why Tommy felt so much pressure from him and like he owed him his success, or at least that Dream thought as much. He holds his approval over his head, like an abusive parent who just spent hours screaming in your face about how much of a disappointment you are before telling them “Of course I still love you.” It has the underlying tone of “you’ll make up for this slight, won’t you?”

And don’t even get me started about the DMs to both Tommy and Sarah. It’s fine to explain your feelings, but you’re not explaining them, you are blaming these feelings and reactions on them and telling them “You are the reason I’ve been suffering, it’s your fault for all of these horrible things that other people have been doing to me.” That’s not explaining your feelings, that’s guilt tripping and expecting an apology. That’s how long texts like that come across, that you don’t want the other person to be able to interject, you don’t want to make this a conversation, you want to drop your feelings and leave them to clean up the mess.

Dream’s a manipulative jerk, that’s all this has proved to me.

[xotyx]

Okay sure rosekiller have the most insane sex, obviously, but they’re also absolutely ruling at aftercare. The activities, as listed on Wikipedia under “common aftercare practices” (don’t ask why I was there) are:

Cuddling, aka getting as close to your partner as physically possible without actually climbing inside their body - Barty would absolutely love this. He needs his face buried in Evan’s chest while he lazily sucks bruises in and his entire body is covered by a blanket so he can pretend he’s a wild animal being somewhere cozy for the first time

Rehydration and snacks - they have so much food. Evan picks out half of it (healthy things with good vitamins and nutrients to force some good food into Barty for once and prevent either of them from dropping (I don’t know if that works, don’t come for me)) and Barty picks the other half (all his favourite junk food, necessary because, in his words, “having food I like makes the aftercare more effective”)

Addressing minor injuries - more something they’d need to do than something that I think they’d really really like, but you can’t tell me they wouldn’t both be morbidly curious about what kind of thing causes what kind of injuries

Sleeping together - Barty would always be absolutely fucking exhausted after scenes. Just because Evan pushes him so hard all the time (he’s a brat and it’s the consequences of his own actions). And Evan would adore watching him sleep after he fucked the daylights out of him (creep)

Watching a movie - they are watching shitty horror movies and Barty is laughing at the bad acting and plot and Evan is explaining how the murderer could have improved and why they definitely should have gotten caught

Recounting the scene -basically this is just Evan getting Barty’s feedback so he can put it into a spreadsheet. Also this is maybe just Evan filling out his spreadsheet. They talk about it in great detail so Evan can make sure he didn’t miss anything, and Barty gets all worked up again thinking about it

Kissing or slow sex - please see activities four and six

Words of affirmation - Evan who is a good evil scientist and wants to make sure he gives the rat (Barty) cheese (praise) when he gets to the end of the maze (finishes the scene) so he’ll want to participate in similar things in the future. Barty who never received praise as a child and is absolutely starved for it now and soaking up every single thing Evan tells him about how good he was and how proud he is

Massage - honestly Evan just wants an excuse to poke and prod at bodies/muscles, and if that helps Barty feel better after an especially taxing scene he guesses that’s a bonus

In conclusion, Evan and Barty are the best at aftercare. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[the-amber-raven]

Snippet Sunday

I don't usually post snippets for fics that I'm already in the process of posting, but I'm aware it's been an age since I updated it feels like home to me (writing has been a struggle but it's coming this week, I promise - most likely on Tuesday) so I thought I might as well post a fun fire-fam snippet from the wedding in this story!

--

“Oh, no, please do feel free to spill, baby brother,” Maddie said. “I want to hear all about the pigtails that were pulled to make this happen.” 

“There were no pigtails,” Evan groused. 

“Uh, excuse me,” Eddie said, raising his hand to interrupt. “But as the person who almost ended up with a broken ankle for the high crime of having Tommy’s attention, I beg to differ about the lack of pigtails.” 

“What?!” Hen asked, looking torn between concern and delight.

“You realise you just called yourself a pigtail?” Evan sniped at Eddie, pouting at him. 

“Wait,” Nash said, frowning, his brows furrowed.

Tommy froze, willing his brain to come up with something to distract Nash away from the conclusion he was inevitably drawing, wanting to spare Evan from being on the receiving end of his captain’s wrath on his birthday. While Nash was never anywhere near as harsh as Gerrard, Tommy knew that he was no slouch in the discipline department. 

He was somewhat surprised that Eddie had even brought this incident up in front of him but Tommy knew that he was also operating on very little sleep (he’d gotten some hilarious messages and videos from the failed bachelor party) so he likely hadn’t thought the comment through. 

“That was how you injured your ankle and had to call out of work for a week?” Taking the silence as confirmation, Nash sighed exasperatedly and turned to give Evan a disappointed look. “Buck.” 

“I ended up going over to Evan’s house and kissing him,” Tommy blurted out, flushing when all the attention immediately diverted to him.

“Really?” Eddie said, staring at him. "That was how it happened?"

“So, what, he opened the door and you just laid one on him?” Karen asked, confused. 

“No, we were inside,” Tommy corrected. “And we spoke about – things –” 

“Buck going Full Buck and maiming Eddie because he couldn’t just ask to go to a basketball game,” Chimney supplied helpfully. 

“I asked you,” Evan retorted. 

“Kid, do you remember the conversations we’ve had about talking to the wom – the people you’re dating?” Nash asked. To Tommy’s surprise, he didn’t look upset – more resignedly amused. “You realise that applies to the w – people you want to date as well.”

“See, it’s not my fault that you didn’t make that clear,” Evan said, slinging an arm around Nash’s shoulders and giving him an innocent smile. 

[kosher-martian]

Man something about this specific antisemitic accusation gets under my skin. A few minutes ago I reblogged something I sent in to @jewishpositivity18 from back in December, wherein my Hindu doctor was showing some compassion and solidarity with our local Jewish community.

See screenshot below:

And like sure, antisemites blaming Jews for attacks by deranged fundamentalist Christians and Muslims is nothing new... But blaming Hindus? Hindus have NO connection to this! Neither do Jews mind you, but they blame us for random stuff we have no connection to all the time. Blaming Jews is nothing new, Throwing Hindus under the bus for * checks notes * not hating Jews... that's a new level of antisemitism that really REALLY gets under my skin.

The attacker had no connection to Hinduism. He was a practicing Muslim (or as some reports indicate, a guy who had stopped practicing as much and had recently returned to his faith with renewed fervor).

Hindus and Jews had nothing to do with this dude pledging himself to ISIS and hurting/killing people. That's 100% all him and even his former faith community wants nothing to do with him.

Side note for clarity & fairness: He might not have gone to this mosque specifically growing up. It's likely but not guaranteed. The Muslim community of the area has changed a bunch in the last 30ish years as immigration to the area has shifted the demographics. It went from one small Islamic center off the highway serving several neighboring cities and even neighboring counties to a palatial mosque and at least one small masjid in the same city, and I think a few more places in the surrounding cities. There could have been a short-lived congregation of some kind in his youth that just wasn't widely known, but if that was the case it hasn't been publicized. And since this specific mosque is the mosque that will talk to the news media (and by far the largest in the area), they are the go-to for interviews. It would be like interviewing a megachurch to get the pulse of the Christian community. You're really only getting the position and views of the people you're interviewing.

So in conclusion: Antisemites, leave Jews and Hindus out of this. We had nothing to do with this guy going nuclear after a bad divorce. If it's a reflection of any faith community, it's a reflection of radical fundamentalist Muslim youtubers and podcasters who preach hate and spout conspiracy theories. But more accurately, it's a condemnation of the radicalization pipeline algorithms employed by YouTube and other websites that bring people to exactly the same conspiracy theory and hate laden milieu you find yourselves in. Get some professional help. Be better.

I hear now the far left and right have come up with a new term. “Judeo-Indian”.

Apparently the terror attack in New Orleans late last year was a “Judeo-Indian” plot to scapegoat the Muslims by using Isis.

I mean, what a fucking world we live in.

Edit: by ‘indian’ they mean ‘Hindu identifying Indians’

[shitposting-fox]

I'm going to go into detail quickly about the Dream video the best I can below the cut so YOU don't have to watch it. Tried to avoid injecting most my opinions (except for a few times where the editing and phrasing/tone was intentionally done to effect the meaning of the video)

Apologized for using a slur in his tweet

Moved onto Tommy's video

Claims Tommy and Co. Have been spreading disproven lies for over a year and a half

Uses clips from Tubbo's response stream, captioned "Tubbo, Tommy's Best Friend"

First clip: Tubbo reading through Dream's reddit post and saying "I understand why he would be upset about the lies"

Context, when talking about the reddit post: Tubbo discusses how he doesn't agree personally with Harry and Tommy (and other friends) making pedophile jokes, but also emphasizes that it is up to each person to make their own conclusions about the allegations and evidence provided in Dream's video ("The Truth" ~ 40 minutes long addressing the allegations against him)

Second Clip: Tubbo discussing how he does think his friend group needs to stop calling Dream a pedophile online/on their platforms

IMPORTANT NOTE: No one brought back up the pedophile allegations except for Dream during his stream. As far as I'm aware, no one brought up the allegations in regards to the current drama. (I'm unsure when Tommy has last said pedophile jokes around Dream, as I haven't seen any recently. I don't follow him on X/Twt or his streams as much recently. They may have been making jokes recently, but I'm not sure how recent. If someone knows please share in the comments!)

Both in Dream's stream and video when he reacts/uses these clips he skips over all of Tubbo's criticisms, commentary, and takes multiple small clips without their proper context being mentioned. During both streams Tubbo emphasizes how he doesn't agree with Dream and, while he does understand his frustrations with the pedophilic allegations, Tubbo discusses how people hate Dream for more than just that.

Makes fun of Tommy saying his friends are idiots but have big hearts, "I know you're upset because my friends called you a pedo BUT they have kind hearts"

Claims to not know what Tommy is referring to when he says Dream and Co are sexist behind the scenes

Attempts to make a comparison by claiming Tommy is racist, but does not specify this is meant to be a joke

Claims Tommy is making false allegations because he is just mad that Dream made a three hour live stream "showing their bad behavior" and criticizing his friends

Mentions how Tommy recently interviewed SapNap and didn't appear to have an issue at that time

IMPORTANT NOTE: A common point Dream makes throughout this video and his stream is often Tommy being courteous or respectful. It is proper interview etiquette to be respectful and not shown any bias or dislike with the person you are interviewing

IMPORTANT NOTE: This video was released five months ago, coming up on half a year, and was filmed almost seven months ago. It was "I Fixed YouTuber's Mental Health" which featured multiple influencers Tommy was able to talk to during VidCon 2024 (end of June)

Captions the clip with "really doesn't want to be here" as Tommy leaves SapNap, implying he made SapNap uncomfortable

Said George walked away because he didn't want to be in Tommy's video

Claims this means that they are either not bad people OR Tommy doesn't care as long as he can profit

Shows the various 2023 Logan Paul screenshots with Tommyinnit, but then says he will turn on them if it is beneficial to him (clarifies this is in 2024)

Says he only gave Tommy YouTube advice because he could tell Tommy was talented and hardworking

Shows select screenshots where they get along and Tommy is grateful for advice

Shows a clip of Tommy saying "Dream's awesome. For the past 8 months or so we've been having- like- one a week a two hour call and he helps me with shit"

Says Tommy cannot actually believe what he is saying in his heart, points out no direct examples or screenshots were shared

"if my intention wasn't to help you what was my intention?"

Says Tommy's "egotistical sentiment" about the Dream SMP not being as big if he hasn't joined is the same thing he is accusing Dream of saying

Says the Dream SMP was made by everyone (NOTE: Tommy also acknowledged this in his video, and Tubbo has mentioned this on stream too)

Dream says his merch brand is a family business, and shows an unboxing clip of Tommy with the merch (does not specify when this video was taken)

Says Tommy's merchandise branch utilized child labor (does not provide evidence), scammed multiple users and influencers (no specifics again), said they did not get paid and the company went bankrupt

Uses the fact that lots of issues arose from the brand to make Tommy appear unreliable or negligent in his support of various brands

Uses the Coffezilla video as evidence for the brand scandal, which also shows multiple other large-name influencers also unknowingly being partnered/scammed by the brand (Corpse Husband, Anthony Padilla, Karl Jacobs, and Valkyrae are briefly shown in this clip)

Quickly plugs Dream's merch shop

EDIT: Just found out dream edited the clip so have Tommyinnit instead of Mr.Beat, where the original showed Mr. Beast in the lineup

Says Tommy tried to belittle what Dream does and that Tommy implied his content (books, podcast, etc.) are more valuable/important than Dream's ("which I think is just a little... Sad? I'm happy making videos...")

Claims Tommy had an "editor sweatshop" and shows cropped screenshots about editors getting paid (around £50 per video), but does not show either users mentioning who they work for, just titles "this is about his friends with big hearts"

Shows more cropped screenshots without any usernames discussing how some fans occasionally would help edit videos for free

One of said screenshots appears to be in a tone of neither Tommy nor the editors ("yeah I mentioned thinking about doing that. Like getting Tommy stans to do rough cuts for him or smth")

Uses music and phrasing to downplay the massive message Dream sent to Tommy's mom during her divorce, emphasizes it's just one message albeit long (it's around 4 paragraphs long)

Starts to bring context to the message and how it was a response to her replying to upset dream fans (relating to the video Of YouTuber's Were Honest I believe)

Says that Tommy's video had no screenshots or evidence because "it would make him look ridiculous he did"

Mentions how Tommy was 16/17 and Dream was 20/21, and didn't treat Tommy like a toddler

Says he treated Tommy like a friend and colleague and they had occasional disagreements because he treated Tommy like an equal

Downplays the impact of their age difference by saying that Tommy's phrasing makes it sound like one of them is twelve and the other is "an Evil overlord"

Shows another clip of Tommy saying everything on his channel you can thank Dream for (and subsequently Tommy not taking any credit for his success)

Says Tommy doesn't care enough about the slur to make the video, but that he can use it against Dream and go promote his items

Points out that Tommy has left up old videos with Dream and his family, and says that since Tommy "dedicated an entire video to hating on [Dream]" he can go ahead and take down all the videos that Dream is in while Dream does the same for Tommy

"if you have a backbone you wouldn't want to show support to such a no-good person"

Says he's proud of Tommy, and that he doesn't need to "put other people down to lift yourself up"

[oopsiedaisiesbaby]

Okay so I was thinking about canon Clegan where they’ve been sleeping together in secret for most of the time they’ve known each other and a lot of the other guys have probably caught on or at the very least suspect it but none of them say anything or even bring it up, probably not even to one another as to not disrespect their majors, who they all adore and admire and think the world of and have the highest upmost respect for. And the Buckies are always just so happy together and their happiness as a two-some does wonders boosting overall morale.

But then they get to the stalag and it becomes clear early on to everyone that something happened between the two since arriving there besides just the frustration of being stuck in the stalag. Something is wrong with their friendship or relationship or whatever they have going between them. From what they can decipher between the two of them who won’t tell them anything when asked or will just say there’s nothing wrong/everything’s fine or to stay out of it, they can tell that both of them seem to be pushing the other away. It seems like Gale is walking on eggshells around Bucky (they all are these days but for Gale of all people to do so as well is absurd), and like he almost seems guilty of something. Bucky seems to be acting like he’s been wronged in some way and his behavior is in retaliation of some sort, and also a desperate cry for attention from Gale. So they come to the conclusion that Gale broke off whatever was going on between them when they arrived at the stalag and Bucky is hurt and losing his mind over it. It’s clear his needs are not being met like they were pre-Stalag. Even if they aren’t correct on who broke it off or who is in the wrong, they know that it’s Gale who has to be the one to fix it and it NEEDS to be fixed SOON. They need their Buckies to be back to normal again. And so they designate one of them (idk who would be best), to go and talk to Gale in private to ask him to please fix whatever is going on between him and Bucky. And in the lamest terms possible they basically ask him to please fuck Bucky again so that they can all stop tiptoeing around him without getting their head snapped off. Basically “For the morale and overall wellness of the group we are please asking you to fuck Bucky again. Please. Do it for the war cause. It would be greatly appreciated🙏 We will even cover for you and keep everyone out of the bunks for an hour each day for you to take care of his needs. Please.”

This isn’t canon?! 😱🤣 Pre-coffee thoughts so bear with me as always lol

(CW: some SI mention but it’s canon, bit of choking)

The Buckies were like the heart of the 100th so whatever they do in their free time to be who they are? No one’s going to interrupt that, especially because the Buckies give them hope too. Hope that everything is going to be okay, hope that they’re gonna get home to their sweethearts and families, hope that love like that really does exist.

Cut to the stalag and we still have that emotional, love sick reunion, but afterwards they get into the nastiest of arguments. Brady and Crank told Gale about John’s erratic and callous behavior/talk before the mission and Gale confronts him.

Gale tears into him (because he’s scared) about how John can’t just off himself if Gale dies. That they both have too much to live for outside of each other even if they are the love of each other’s lives. He wants John to want to live for him to not want to die for him. What the hell was he thinking?

John hears that he’s not good enough.

He thought they were each other’s everything. What does Gale mean he wouldn’t die for John? That he would be okay if John died? He just doesn’t get it because he hasn’t had to sit and stay and twiddle his thumbs while John went and tried to burn himself in.

Gale hears that he’s not good enough.

They’re both completely missing the other’s point because they’re tired, hungry, scared, understimulated, in pain, you name it, but their message is the same. They love each other and they can’t bear the thought of the other dying.

On and on the argument goes in exhausting and unproductive circles until Gale shuts down and John’s just like, “guess that’s it.” They are now just Gale and John. No more of the Buckies.

It’s toxic and uncomfortable and everyone is basically ill with the bad vibes Gale and John are pumping out.

I think they would draw sticks or something to see who has to bring it up and Crank unfortunately draws the short stick. They know better than to approach John right now who seems one breath away from snapping at all times and so he dutifully trudges over to Gale in the library and gives his speech about “please fuck it out of him.”

Gale is trying so hard to keep his cool as Crank is talking about Gale’s sex life to his own face. But the fact that the men have spoken up means Gale is failing as a leader and so he stiffly approaches John in the barracks, with no intention to actually fuck him but to try and at least smooth things over.

Except the tension has been building for months at that point and the discussion turns into arguing turns into yelling and then it gets physical. No actual intent to hurt (think scissor sister stalag scene) they’re still stupidly in love, but they are knocking shit over, breaking stuff, and throwing out insults that they know will cut deep.

Somehow, maybe Gale trips over a knocked over stool, John gets the upper hand. He’s got Gale pinned to a wall, face against the splintering wood, hand around his throat, and pressed up against his back, and when he squeezes his hand around Gale’s throat in warning to just stand down, Gale moans.

It’s on from there.

John’s got a hand down Gale’s pants, he’s rutting against Gale’s ass and they’re kissing so sloppily spit is smearing down their chins and across their cheeks but they don’t care. They’re being so loud but it doesn’t matter because they feel like they don’t come they might actually die.

Gale keeps trying to goad John into fucking him but they have nothing to ease the way so he just keeps grinding against Gale until he’s just so fucking close and he finally agrees to just the tip. John presses the wet head of his cock into Gale and Gale is basically clawing up the wall because it’s not enough but he gets a hand around himself and he can hear John working himself and he tries to rock himself back on John’s cock but John’s got a firm grip on his hip and won’t let him.

Gale’s groaning about how it’s not enough and John’s nearly blind with pleasure fighting every instinct to not just sink into Gale dry. They start confessing all kinds of stuff. How much they’ve missed each other, how they didn’t mean any of the terrible shit they said, how they love each other, how scared they are…

It’s too much and John accidentally shoots off inside of Gale and it startles them both so much that he does actually slip halfway inside of Gale and Gale comes all over the wall. They collapse on the floor in a pile of limbs and when they catch their breath, Gale pulls John into his arms and they just lay there and bask in the afterglow.

It’s not perfect after that because they’re still POW’s. But they’re not infecting everyone with their angry broken hearts anymore so occassionally the men will orchestrate silly elaborate ways to give the Buckies alone time in the barracks.

So fun to wake up to ❤️

[whoops-all-jennas]

Past Lives pt. 10

Wednesday x witch!reader

"I've got this strangest feeling."

"This isn't our first time around."

Summary: You and Wednesday try to prevent the Hyde from stealing the mayor's body.

Warning: Descriptions of blood and injury, specifically cut injuries

I find myself staring out my window, the pitter patter of raindrops being the only sound besides my thoughts.

Wednesday told me the mayor was investigating the Gates Mansion yesterday when she was there. He was on the way to tell the sheriff something before he was hit by a car.

Of course, someone discovers too much and they get killed.

My thoughts are interrupted by Wednesday opening the door. "Hey Wednesday, the funeral was faster than I imagined."

Wednesday puts her umbrella up before looking back at me. "Whenever the dirt hits the coffin I'm gone."

Wednesday takes a few steps towards me. "Tonight we'll stake his grave. They will pay for what they did to Eugene."

I find myself dazed under her statement, my heart rate accelerating at the thought of having to use the death curse on anyone or anything. I push back my anxiety, forcing a nod in response.

"We need to talk about the books they stole from us Wednesday."

Wednesday is silent for a moment. "What is there to talk about?"

I sigh, a bit of my stress carried in my air. "More specifically, the book of curses. If they can perform magic we're in serious danger with that book. That is if they haven't memorized some of the spells from it already."

"We'll deal with this before it's an issue." Wednesday states, naively. "What spells should we look out for from the book?"

I sigh again, looking at the ground. "First there's the spell you told me study, the death curse. That one's kinda self explanatory."

I look up to find Wednesday's eager eyes on me, thirsty for more information. "Next one is the imperious curse, it makes the caster in total control of whomever the spell was cast upon. Some times, if the will power of the castee is strong enough they can fight back the curse. Which is where this last curse comes in."

I'm silent for a moment, the anxiety of the power the enemy now holds settling in further. "Lastly, the torture curse. This one is also self explanatory, it causes an excruciating pain all over the castee. It's also used on people under the imperious curse to attempt to destroy their will."

Wednesday looks to the side, letting the information sink into her brain. Her eyes soon find mine again. "We won't give them a chance to perform these spells."

She looks at me with confidence and reassurance in her eyes. "Tonight, we'll end this."

I look down from Wednesday's eyes to find the necklace I gave her around her neck.

"There's someone else we have to deal with before tonight." I say, meeting her eyes again.

The sun is beginning to go beyond the horizon. My fist meets the wood on Xavier's door, soon met by Xavier on the other side.

"Hey Y/n, what's up?" Xavier gives me a slightly anxious look.

"Hey, uh. Can I come in?"

He stares dumbfounded for a minute. "Oh, yeah! Sure." Xavier takes a step back, giving me space to walk past him before closing the door. "Did you think about my apology?"

I'm silent for a moment, finding a seat on Xavier's bed. "I haven't come to a conclusion yet." My eyes meet Xavier's.

"So, why'd you come here then?"

I take a deep breath. "Wednesday and I want to ask you a couple questions about your latest vision."

Xavier looks to the ground for a moment. "I uh, yeah I can do that. Where's Wednesday?"

"We want to discuss it at your art studio if that's alright" I ask, my voice shaky.

Xavier examines my state for a moment. "Are you okay?"

I quickly nod. "I've just been anxious about why I've been banned from leaving the school." I lie through my teeth. "Wednesday is waiting for us at your art studio."

Xavier examines me one more time, his eyes looking me up and down. "Shouldn't keep her waiting I guess."

Xavier opens the door to his art studio to find Wednesday set up a chair and cooler full of a random assortment of snacks and drinks.

Xavier quickly turns around, confusion in his voice. "Y/n whats-"

"I'm sorry, Xavier." I pull out my wand, pointing it at him. "Stupefy."

A red light emits from my wand, the projectile hitting Xavier in the torso. He falls backwards in the art studio unconscious.

I sigh while putting the wand away. "Let's get this over with."

Wednesday and I struggle to drag his lanky body fully inside the art studio, leaving the light on as we lock him inside.

Wednesday and I are hiding behind two different tombstones. I look at my watch, reading the time is 12:30. My heart rates accelerates as the time comes closer, having lost slight control of my breathing.

The chirping of crickets fill the air, soon gone silent in the presence of vicious footsteps entering the cemetery.

Wednesday looks at me expectingly. I stand, my legs shaking as I reach for my wand with a trembling hand.

I'm a good 20-30 feet behind the Hyde, it's already digging in front of the mayor's fresh grave. It flings the dirt behind him, landing near my feet. The fog met with the light of the full moon creates an ominous atmosphere.

I point my wand at it, unable to keep my wand steady.

I go to shout at it, my voice restricting itself along with my airway.

More dirt flies by my feet, soon followed by Wednesday's voice. "What are you doing?!"

The sound of scratching on wood fills the air. The Hyde turns around to find me standing there, pointing my trembling wand at him.

My vision starts to get blurry as my eyes become glossy. Why can't I do it? "I- I-" My voice is trembling with anxiety.

"A- avada. A-a-" I find the incantation impossible to utter, a tear streaming down my face.

The Hyde starts to ignore me, the cracking of wood filling the chilled air as it breaks through the casket.

"Y/n! Do it!" I hear Wednesday shout, muffled by my thoughts.

The Hyde pulls the mayor's body from the grave, looking at me one more time before turning away to run. The sound of his footsteps fading as the crickets return.

I tightly grasp my wand in both of my hands, bringing it close to my chest, feeling the anxious beat of my heart worsen. "I couldn't do it." I utter quietly to myself, looking at the now comfortable looking ground.

Wednesday quickly stands, running to me. "Y/n what happened."

Her steps slow down as I drop down to my knees, my sobs taking dominance over the chirping of the crickets.

"Y/n?" Wednesday asks in a worried tone.

"I couldn't do it." I say between sobs, the tears meeting at my chin before dripping to find my trembling hands. "It hurt so many people, and I couldn't do it."

Wednesday is silent for a moment, finding her way in front of me. She's looking down upon me. "I'm sorry Y/n, I shouldn't have ask-"

"Why couldn't I do it?!" I my neck straining from suddenly looking up to see her face, my voice trembling between the sobs. "Why, I don't-" I find myself lost for words.

Wednesday kneels before me, putting her hands on my clenched ones. She slowly pulls my hands away from my chest, resting them on my legs. "Do you remember when we first met?"

I find myself silent, returning to reality at the sound of Wednesday's stoic yet comforting voice. "You healed a small cut on my forehead, even though you never met me."

Wednesday gently prys at my tightened grip around my wand, starting with my index finger. "And then in the woods, when you saved Eugene's life."

My brain remembers that night vividly at the mention of him. Wednesday is now prying at my ring and pinky fingers.

"If it wasn't for you, he likely would have died." The sound of my wand landing on the dirt reaches my ears, as Wednesday loosened my grip.

Wednesday stares at my red hands, tense from gripping the wand so tightly. "It's your hands, they're not meant to kill."

I find the tears rekindling, my red puffy eyes tensely closing.

"They're meant to give life. I'm sorry I asked you to do this"

I find the sobs uncontrollable, practically shouting into the wind as Wednesday grabs my hands. I throw my head into her chest, met with her arms moving to hold me comfortingly.

I wake up on the ground of my art studio, my head throbbing. I sit up, resting my head on my hand. "Ugh, what the."

I soon stand, wobbling back and forth trying to restabilize my footing. I nearly fall as I approach the door, finding it locked on the other side.

"You can't be serious." I utter to myself, pulling my phone out. I scroll through my contacts before finding Bianca. I stare at the icon I set of her for a second before calling.

"What do you want?" I'm instantly greeted with Bianca's remark.

I take a deep breath. "Y/n snuck out."

"What?! Where to?!" Bianca asks, worried about how Weems is going to act.

I find myself staring at the painting. "I have an idea. I think we should tell Weems, she'll know what-"

"I think you're insane." Bianca overly announces the I. "If she knows we failed, she'll personally disband the Nightshades."

"I think whatever reason Weems is trying to keep Y/n on school grounds is probably more important than our roof parties and virgin drinks." I state sarcastically.

Bianca takes a deep breath, pausing for a moment. "Where are you now?"

I hold Y/n close, her tears running dry. "Are you ready?"

You nod, grabbing your wand off the ground before standing.

"I hope I'm not interrupting your date."

Y/n and I turn towards the voice to find Tyler at the entrance of the cemetery. You rub your eyes in an attempt to wipe any forgotten tears.

I see an opportunity to make something useful out of tonight. "Tyler, we need you to take us to the Gate's Mansion."

I find you standing next to me with a new found courage at my words.

Tyler looks at us for a moment, biting his tongue as he weighs his options. He sighs. "That wasn't really a request was it?"

We start to walk towards him till we're a few feet in front of him. "Where's your car?"

The engine cuts off, parking in front of the Gate's Mansion.

We all get out of the car simultaneously, approaching the garage door.

You pulled out your wand, making a circular motion with your wrist as you point it at the doorknob. "Alohamora."

You went to turn the knob, met with rattling. "It's stuck."

I approach from behind, You give me space as I try to force the door open. The door doesn't budge.

"Let me try." Tyler states, before shaking the door with full force. Still nothing.

"We'll probably have to find a different way in." He says, as you pull your wand back out.

"Step back." You point your wand at the door as we follow your demand.

"Bombarda!" You shout, met with a loud explosion on the door, forcing it open. You walk inside with Tyler and I following behind you.

I take the tarp off the car in the garage. "This is the car that hit the mayor." I state flatly.

"This just took a dark turn." Tyler says, looking between both of us for a moment. "I didn't sign up for this."

"Feel free to wait in the car." I state, before heading to the door that leads inside the house.

You have your wand emitting a light from the end to light the hallway. The house is decorated with cobwebs and dust, the only other light being the pale moonlight of the full moon through the dirty windows. "This is the night I'm gonna die." Tyler says as we find our way to our first room to investigate.

We end up in the study. The room lacks any windows and is decorated with animal head mounts on the walls, cobwebs between the antlers of the deer heads.

I find my way to the bookshelf, inspecting every inch under my flashlight for any sign of disturbance over the dust. I point the flashlight up to notice a square design at the top of the bookshelf is clean.

I push the design, it caves inward with the sound of gears shifting. The noise of wood scratching against the floor fills the room as a hidden door is opened.

Behind the bookshelf reveals a shrine dedicated to Joseph Crackstone. Next to the painting of him it says in red text on the wall.

THE MOON WILL BLEED

WHEN I RISE

Y/n and I make eye contact for a moment with Tyler behind us. "Who doesn't have a family alter in their study?" Tyler says sarcastically.

"Ours is in the living room." I say before touching the wick of a candle. "It's still warm."

I find a necklace in front of the painting. I grab it, instantly met with the feeling of electricity coursing through my veins. You catch me as I fall back, entering a vision.

I find myself on the soft grass within an old cemetery. The full moon lighting the scene. There are people in pilgrim attire and masks surrounding a casket with some sort of runic marks on the floor surrounding it.

I look to the side to find Elsie hanging on a hook by the rope tied around her wrists. Her white hair flowing in the wind.

The figures start to place jars of body parts on top of the runic symbols until all the runic marks are covered.

"Draw her blood." One of the masked figures state. Another one unsheathes a dagger before approaching Elsie's vulnerable figure.

"Please don't-" I hear her cries, unable to do anything. The man grabs her legs, sliding a big cut across it. Her blood streaks down her leg, staining her clothes.

"Stop, please!" Elsie cries through her winces of pain.

He lifts the dagger, before starting another cut down her other leg.

She releases a bloodcurdling scream, unable to contain her pain anymore. Crows flock at the sudden exclamation.

One of the figures grabs a cloth, wrapping it around her mouth muzzling her. "It'll be easier if you bite." He says.

The man with the dagger has now given her multiple cuts on her legs, the blood pooling to her bare feet. The blood trickles to a bucket beneath her.

He draws the dagger to her arms next, gliding the dagger across her skin. Elsie's screams of pain are muffled by the cloth in her mouth, drenched in her saliva.

After cutting on both arms equally, the blood staining her white bed dress, he leaves one more cut on her arm as the pale light of the moon shifts into an ominous deep red.

The light illuminates the foggy graveyard, giving everything a blood red glow. The runic symbols begin to glow a pale blue, contrasting the moon. All the figures stand around the casket as a black fog emanates from it.

It suddenly makes sense to me why Weems wanted to keep you protected on school grounds. Fear fills my body as the vision continues.

Goody runs into the graveyard, quickly but quietly approaching Elsie. She grabs her by the waist, lifting the rope tied around her wrists off the hook, causing Elsie to collapse onto her as Goody struggles to run under her weight.

Goody runs past me, carrying Elsie over her shoulder, her blood staining Goody's clothes. I look back to the casket to see a figure I recognize on the other side of the fog. If the Hyde and their master succeed, it won't be Joseph's first time coming back from the dead.

I soon turn around to follow Goody and Elsie. After a few minutes of running they go inside a building, placing her on a bed.

Goody pulls out her wand, interrupted by Elsie holding out a necklace. Her blood trickles down the chain. "I- I want you to take this." Goody slowly grabs the necklace by the talisman attached to it, the chain slipping out of Elsie's grasp.

The talisman is decorated with black tourmaline against the silver of the rest of the talisman. A shield is inscribed in the reflective metal.

"It is a protection talisman, enchanted and given to me by my parents." Elsie says, her voice strained from her screams. Goody holds the talisman tightly in her hand before putting it over her head. She hovers her wand over the edge of one of Elsie's wounds, guiding her wand across it.

I open my eyes to the carpet of the study in the Gates Mansion. I quickly stand. "We need to leave." I look around only to find Tyler in the room.

"Where's Y/n?" I ask, fear in my voice. I put the Elsie's protection talisman around my neck.

"She went to investigate the rest of the house." He says calmly, in contrast to my panicked state.

I rush outside of the confined room to find the pale moonlight from before replaced with the harsh deep red I saw in my vision. I rush to the window to confirm what I'm seeing, finding the moon to be an unnatural red.

I turn my head to the noise of an engine of a car turning on from the garage. "Wednesday what's going on?" I hear Tyler frantically follow me.

"Y/n's in danger." I state flatly, trying to control my emotions.

I run outside, slamming the door open, to find the blue car that hit the mayor screeching past the gate of the mansion.

My eyes are stuck on the silhouette of the car as it makes more distance.

Tyler runs past me to his car, stopping in front of the driver seat. "Are we following them or not?"

His voice brings me out of my daze, running to go into the passenger seat. The sound of Tyler's engine fills the car as he twists the ignition.

His wheels kick up dirt as Tyler presses on the gas. After the car stabilizes, we quickly catch up to the blue car.

Fear and worry find shelter in my eyes as I stare at the car in front of us, reflecting the ominous light drawn from the blood moon.

Part 11.

Past Lives Masterlist

a/n: hoho things are happening. one of the moments in this part is heavily inspired off of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Idk if it's just me, but my writing feels kinda off in this part? I can't place it, so sorry if the writing is weird.

taglist

@oishiiiz @jessiemariano21494

[iminyourwallsbabe]

Okay so I was thinking about Melvik last night because the streets(one person) asked for a Melvik playlist and I wanted to make sure I did it right and I think I've come to a conclusion about what the hell is going on with those two. There's so many different ways to interpret it, so I'm not saying this is objectively correct. We're in the corkboard with strings and pictures stage of shipping rn.

Okay so if we're being honest, there's not a lot to work with in terms of character interactions but there are clues in other places. One of the things I noticed is that they mirror each other. Mel has freckles in similar spots to Viktor's moles, she's the sun and he's the moon, she's covered in gold while Viktor has a lot more silver in his palette, she's a princess while he's some guy from Zaun but they're both fighting for legitimacy.

So they probably didn't like each other at some point.

Think about it, sometimes people who hate each other are exactly like one another. That bothers them. Maybe that was the case here. Then you add on the layer of their individual goals and I could see how they might clash. I could see how they might not understand each other at first.

I feel like after that, it probably became a game of cat and mouse. A rivalry if you will. It could've been academic, depending on how long they knew each other (we don't know). I could see there being a lot of competition in their relationship, but the thing is, it was never a fair fight. How is a man from the undercity supposed to compete with an exiled royal? You can't. People are more likely to give her what she wants than even consider your position just by default. And then you also have to consider that this is Mel we're talking about. A goddamn mastermind if I've ever seen one, if she didn't already have privilege on her side, she definitely has the people skills to compensate. It was probably frustrating, in a lot of ways.

But wait! There's more. There's something to be said about how the "evolved" humans are white and gold, Mel's colors. Even the way the gold is placed is reminiscent of her. Perfection, the peak of humanity, in Viktor's mind is Mel (and Jayce too if you remember that his little husk still kept a lot of his features, but his look was still inspired by her).

So in Mel, I think at first he saw everything he lacked and it was pissing him off. That probably stemmed from his need to get where he wanted to be quickly, because he knew his time was limited. Like fuck, I'm gonna die and you're in my way by being better at everything.

For Mel, I think she saw everything she wanted to be. Self assured, with direction in life. Peace is such a broad goal to have, living up to your mother's standards is a little more specific, but what does she want to do for herself? Where does she want to be when it's all said and done? Wherever she's been told she needed to be? In a throne or a seat at the council's table? Viktor knows what he wants, he sees it clearly, and he couldn't care less about anybody's standards or expectations besides his own. There's something so ruthless about that, and Mel envies it.

What I think changed with them is an understanding, realizing that it would be more useful for them to work together and be on the same team rather than continue to compete with one another. But how do we get there? Judging by how most of the romance in Arcane works, it was probably sex. I'm not even joking, this is a consistent thing. Jayvik? One of their key moments together involved Viktor saying "wait this isn't my bedroom", Mel and Jayce's relationship was kind of confirmed with a sex scene, Vi started flirting with Caitlyn in a brothel of all places and then LATER there was the whole thing in the prison cell, are we seeing the trend here? Sex and arcane go together like Jinx and explosions.

Anyway, right, back on topic. So yeah, I think unlike her relationship with Jayce, things were not nearly as thought through with Viktor. It definitely feels like a spur of the moment kind of thing, probably involving alcohol. Let me explain. I'm probably not going to phrase this right, but somebody else explained the bond between these two sort of like magnets. They attract and reject each other at the same time. They're so similar that by all means, they could be together, but something keeps pushing them away from one another. Knowing Mel's relationship with trust, and Viktor's relationship with time, this could make perfect sense. This could give way to some very complicated feelings. Knowing Mel, that wouldn't have been good. But then you start to remove those inhibitions, either through something artificial or just heightened passions, next thing you know shit happens.

Now we're in what I wanna call the situationship era! Because god forbid our favorite metal eugenicist has a committed relationship ever.

Mel doesn't know what she wants out of this so it stays casual for a while, Viktor wants more but he's scared to ask because he doesn't wanna scare her away. He knows she's conflicted about it, otherwise she wouldn't act the way she does. Still, it drives him fucking insane. He could die within the next few years, he doesn't have time to be playing will they/won't they. Especially not when the most perfect woman- no, person, he's ever seen in his life is right there in front of him. It's several months of "maybe we should stop doing this", that attracting and repelling I was talking about, with no conceivable end, but eventually it does. Eventually they both find they have better things to focus on than this. Not that they don't love or care about each other anymore, but the stress just isn't worth it. The world needs them, and they can't keep holding each other back.

However, that's not quite the end of their story.

In the words of our Lord and Savior, Shadow the Hedgehog, the light still shines even when the star is gone. They do try to keep their relationship as professional as possible, at least when there's eyes to see it. Outside of that though, it's clear that they're still attached somehow. Is it romantic still? That's up for interpretation, but regardless, no matter how much distance they put between each other, they'll always be drawn to one another.

Then here comes MC Hammer, and now the situation is like this. The moon (Viktor) revolves around the earth (Jayce), who revolves around the sun (Mel). They're all so interconnected now and if you take one out of the equation, shit gets messy. Can't take out the sun, the whole galaxy will collapse. Can't take out the moon, the earth will be in ruin. See what I mean? As Jayce and Mel get more serious, I think both of them wonder what could've been. They're happy where they are romantically but it's always something to ponder. What would it have looked like if Viktor was the golden boy, not Jayce? If they were the ones holding it down in those council meetings? What would it be like if her warmongering mother knew she was in love with someone like Viktor, someone so physically weak? Would she be rejected again? Would she approve based on the false notion that he was only a pet to her? That he meant nothing?

Maybe it's for the better that things are as they are, but when he thinks of what humanity can be at its peak, all he can see is her. When he's gone all she can hope is that he comes back to her. It's so beautifully tragic.

[evanvison]

First Impressions

I got into the show Lego Monkey Kid this past year. But I had been aware of the show since it first came out. I had always had it on my list as something to potentially watch but it took me until season 5 came out before I finally sat down to watch it. So I decided to talk about the ideas and theories I had formed before I watched the show because they were really funny.

To start: I saw a poster for the show (I don't remember which one) pretty early and after looking at it I immediately thought that MK and Mei reminded me of Kai and Nya from Lego Ninjago. So I had assumed that they were reusing their character concepts but in a new show. This was the only impression the poster I saw gave me. None of the other characters stood out to me and I never thought much else about it.

A year or two after the release of Season 3 and its end of Season movie, I saw clips from the show popping up in my YouTube recommended. I finally cracked a decided to look at them with ZERO context. I saw the Season 1 fight between Macaque and Wukong, I saw the release of the Sumadhi fire, and I saw Mei training with Red Son and the fire, as well as some scenes of the crew on the flying ship in Season 3 Ep 1.

The first scene I remember was in the Season 1 monkey fight when Macaque released the shadow clones for the first time. A good first scene to witness! I watched the whole fight but only remembered bits and pieces. Through that scene, I was able to pretty accurately guess both Macaque and Wukong's personalities, dynamics, and how they would affect each other as characters (the only accurate guess I made).

Then I saw some flying ship scenes. I mostly remember them just talking and not much stood out in my memory.

Then I got to the release of the Samadhi fire. I made the assumption that the reveal here was that Mei was a Samadhi dragon. Like a dragon that specifically produces Samadhi fire. Mostly because I saw the dragon rising from her fire and assumed dragon + fire = that's the dragon's fire. So you can imagine the shock I had when I started watching the show and saw how quickly they made it clear Mei was a dragon. Then how sad I was that I was spoiled on the actual Samadhi fire. But I did learn from those scenes that Mei was very different from Nya and wasn't related to MK. So that misconception didn't stick till the end. (Sorry the picture is small for some reason.)

Now for the part that I find hilarious and I have no idea how my brain came up with this idea. I somehow came to the conclusion that Tang and Red Son were the same person..... I guess I saw that they both had glasses (very different glasses) and jumped to the idea that Tang was his normal form and that he was some sort of professor who had some curse that caused him to transform into Red Son and this gave him fire powers. I assumed they were like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or something and that's why Red Son was so angry. I don't think I saw any scene where they were in the same shot so I had nothing to steer me away from this.

I just thought he had some alternate fire demon side or something. Then I watched Overly Sarcastic Production's summary of Journey To The West and saw Red Son and then I guess I just forgot about this theory until after I watched the show and realized that I was so very wrong!

I do kind of want to write a fic where this is what happened just because I find it funny. Or if someone else wants to include it in a fic I would love to read it!

But that's it! That's my early misconceptions and guesses about the show that I made. I didn't really have any thoughts on Sandy or Pigsy though I don't think I saw that many clips of them so I didn't really get the chance to think about them as much. Hope you all enjoyed it! If anyone else had some funny guesses about a show that wound up being wrong or funny please tell me!

[mediocrecowboyhat]

Set in sand - Chapter 17

We mark the year 1934 and a peculiar journal falls into your hands. It's telling the tale of an outlaw and the downfall of a gang. Some pages are torn and others are downright unreadable, but nevertheless, you are still able to make out some parts of the tragic story.

With the help of a certain time traveler friend of yours, will you be able to save the author of the journal or will you be the cause for his demise?

Previous chapter - Next chapter

Word count: 3.9k

TW: end-game spoilers will be mentioned very early on in the story, 18+ MDNI, sexual themes, violence, gore, death, misogynistic themes (anything that happens in the game as well), she/her pronouns

Note: An important part of this chapter is inspired by the wonderful and talented @pyersiki and their post <3

The next morning you feel lighter than ever and there is a certain spring to your step. A wide grin is glued to your face and it only gets bigger everytime you recall the events from last night. Sitting by the campfire with Arthur and having his arm wrapped around you is about the only thing you can think of at the moment.

"Someone's happy.", you hear Mary-Beth say with a smile. She's sitting comfortably on her bedroll, an opened novel in her lap. Her brown locks fall elegantly around her face, framing her soft features.

Karen isn't too far away either and she places her hands on her hips as she eyes you with a knowing smirk. "'Course she is! Shoulda seen her gettin' all cozy with Arthur last night durin' the party."

"Oh, I saw that, alright.", Mary-Beth confirms and clasps her hand over her mouth to mask the giggle escaping her. "I knew it from the start that they was sweet on one another."

The two women's teasing makes the heat rise up to your face and you shake your head in disbelief. You know better than to indulge their banter and you wave your hand at them. "As lovely as it is chatting with you, I gotta go now."

"Aw, don't be like that! Tell us all the juicy details at least!", Karen yells after you, but you ignore her completely. Yes, last night's actions confirmed that there is more going on between you and the outlaw, other than pure platonic feelings.

It also kind of feels like that his public show of affection kind of established something, but you don't want to jump to any conclusions. As official as it feels right now, you don't want to set any rumors free into the world as long as you haven't talked to him about what exactly you are.

Leaving camp was also not an excuse to get out of that uncomfortable conversation. Yesterday you didn't have the opportunity to get engravings for your new weapon and so you thought it would be good to get it done now. After Jack's return and the party, everyone is kind of slow and lazy today, so you won't be missed too much.

Mounting Penthesilea, you leave the camp and ride through the heavy morning fog. With this weather, it will take longer to reach the city, but that also means that there might not be too many people on the road.

So far it does look very empty and everything seems peaceful until you spot two men on the side of the road who are headed into the trees. Usually you wouldn't pay them any mind, but the green bandana around their necks makes your inner alarm bells ring.

Sure, any and every fool can wear that ugly shade, but you've never seen it on common folk. The wet dirt road dampens the sound of your horse's hooves and thanks to the fog, they haven't noticed you passing by. There is a slim chance that these men are just two ordinary people, but you want to make sure. Just in case.

You hitch Penthesilea at one of the trees and follow them on foot. The crouched position you're in makes your thigh muscles burn and your back cramp up slightly, but you fight through the pain.

"I just don't understand why we couldn't have ambushed them last night.", one of them says in a thick Irish accent. So they are O'Driscolls, but what are they doing here in Lemoyne? This isn't their territory at all.

"You heard the boss. We was to only get that two-faced traitor.", the other responds and you watch him disappear between the shrubs, leaving his partner behind. "I'll just take a piss."

"For Christ's sake.", the first one mutters aggravated and walks a few steps away from your hiding spot. Their words spin around in your head. Obviously they are talking about ambushing Dutch and the gang, but you have no idea who the traitor could be.

That's when you remember that you in fact do have a former O'Driscoll with you and now that you think about it, you don't remember seeing him after the party. Usually he's one of the first people to be up and about in the morning. We'll, there is only one way to find out.

Quietly you take your gun out of your holster and sneak up behind the first man. You ram the handle of your pistol into the back of his head and he falls into the mud with a wet sound.

One down, another to go.

"What the hell?!" You whip your body around, facing the man who re-apeared from the bushes without you noticing. While he fumbles to get the gun out of his holster, you lift the Volcanic and pull the trigger.

It's a clean shot through his chest and he comes down to his knees with a gurgling sound emanating from his throat. You really hope that no one has heard the gun shot, but there's no one living close by and the roads are quite empty today anyways.

Quickly you jog back to Penthesilea to get a rope and return to tie the unconscious O'Driscoll to one of the trees. You have to take care of the body as well, but that will have to wait. With a slap with the back of your hand, you wake the O'Driscoll up and he gasps.

"Fuckin' hell-" His words die down in his throat as you point the barrel of your pistol right between his eyes.

"What did you assholes do in our camp last night?", you ask, your voice cold and controlled. His gaze is fixed on your gun and he bares his teeth like a dog.

"None of your damn business.", he snarls and you strike him with your weapon. The man grunts in pain and blood runs down his face from the now open wound on his eyebrow. Your patience is wearing thin and you're not sure if you have the stomach to full on torture him.

Hopefully he will spill the answers willingly before it has to come to that. "I won't ask again."

The man's chest rises and falls heavily as he pants and he glares hateful daggers at you. A sigh escapes your lips as you step aside so he can have a clear view on his dead partner. A dark red puddle is beginning to form under him.

"Your friend over here also refused to give me answers.", you lie. Maybe intimidating him by threatening with death will do the trick. Anything is welcome as long as you don't have to take more violent and drastic measures. His eyes go wide once they fall on the other man and he shakes his head hastily.

"We was only to kidnap one man! That's all!", he cries out in panic and you push the barrel of your gun harshly against his temple.

"Kidnap who?"

"K-Kieran! Kieran Duffy!"

So you remember correctly! He indeed wasn't anywhere at the camp this morning. A sting of guilt pierces your chest at the fact that you didn't notice it sooner, but then again, the others didn't catch wind of it either. It's no use to beat yourself up over this right now though. What you need to focus on is getting him back.

"Where are you keeping him?", you ask, your gaze fixed on the man under you.

"I don't know!", he exclaims, rather desperate. Too desperate to be convincing and your expression turns sour. "And even if, he's probably dead by now or at least wishes that he is!"

"Don't play stupid with me now, boy. Do you wanna end up with a bullet in your head?" It's as if the words that are coming out of your mouth aren't yours, as if someone else is speaking through you. You're spending way too much time with outlaws.

To give your threat more weight, you disable the safety of your pistol and a high pitched click can be heard from it. The sound makes the O'Driscoll flinch and all resistance crumbles away like ashes being carried away by the wind. "Okay, okay, okay!"

He drops the location of their camp, including the exact spot Kieran is being held at and how many men are guarding him. This moron proves himself pretty cooperative with the right motivation.

Just as you're sliding your gun back into the holster and turn to walk away, he yells for you. "You can't just leave me here! Untie me!"

Letting him go would be a mistake. He'd either ambush you or run straight back to the others to warn them and then all your hard work was for nothing. But you don't want to kill him. It's your personal rule to only do that in self defense and well, he's tied up.

If you just leave him at the tree, then he will scream and curse until someone finds him which probably won't take too long. This spot is quite close to the road after all. After contemplating it for a few seconds, you grab a handkerchief from your pocket and shove it deep into his throat. He throws his head from side to side in a futile attempt to stop you.

The man let's out muffled grunts as you walk back to Penthesilea and you hoist yourself up onto the saddle. If anything he said is true, then you don't think you have the time to ride back to camp and get a group together to join you on your rescue mission. Knowing the O'Driscolls, they don't tend to show mercy, so you have to act fast.

You signal your horse to ride towards the location the man told you about and truly, there is a fire burning. It seems to be a camp and you hitch Penthesilea at one of the trees nearby. Finding yourself in a crouched position once again, you sneak closer, keeping watch for anyone coming your way.

Soon enough, you spot Kieran tied to a tree with his hands on his back and his head hanging down. It doesn't look like he's awake or maybe he's simply too weak to keep his head up. That's when you notice the alarming amount of dried up blood on his white shirt and your heart picks up in pace.

Thankfully, the fog provides more than enough cover, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to do this during daytime and you really didn't like the prospect of having to wait until nightfall. With a hunting knife in your hand, you begin to cut through the thick rope and Kieran finally lifts his head.

"What...?", he mutters and looks around until he sees you. A shiver runs down your spine the moment you catch a glimpse of his face and your mouth stands open in shock. One eye of his is completely missing and you fight down the urge to let out a startled yelp.

"Oh, what have these animals done to you?", you whisper horrified and you force your attention back to cutting him free. It only takes a couple seconds, but to you it feels more like several minutes.

Every muscle in your body is tensed up and your heart is practically beating in your throat. If you get caught now...quickly, you shake off these thoughts and grab Kieran's wrist to wrap his arm around your shoulders. While he leans on you as support, you stumble back to Penthesilea, undetected.

"You really came for me?", Kieran asks breathlessly in disbelief and you bite down on the inside of your cheek. You leave the fact that you didn't even notice his absence at first, unspoken.

"Of course.", is all you manage to bring out instead and you both climb ontop of your horse's back.

He clings to your coat like a lifeline and sways around so much that you have to be careful with speeding up. If you go too fast, he might just fall off. After a while, the silence becomes too unbearing for you and you ask the question that's been bugging you this entire ride. "How did they even get to you?"

Kieran doesn't respond at first and for a moment there you worry that he actually did fall off somewhere along the road. "I ain't so sure. I was piss drunk durin' the party last night."

You nod to yourself when hearing his words. You recall how later that night he came up to Arthur, telling him how happy he is to be a part of the gang. It makes you feel all the more guilty for not noticing that he was missing this morning.

People throw you puzzled looks as you get close to Shady Belle and enter the camp. Kieran almost slides off Penthesilea and you have to offer both your hands to him to help him down. Steps can be heard approaching you from behind and once the man is down, you turn around.

"My goodness, what happened?", Mary-Beth gasps in worry, but her expression quickly turns into one of horror the moment she gets a proper look at Kieran's face.

"Get bandages from Strauss' wagon and bring us some water.", you order without answering her question and bring Kieran to his tent.

As Mary-Beth returns with the things, more people join around you in curiosity and concern. Bill is the first to speak up. "What the hell happened to him?"

"The O'Driscolls got him last night. Overheard two of them talking on my way to Saint Denis.", you tell him over your shoulder as you focus on treating the man's eye or rather the lack of it.

"The O'Driscolls were here?", Javier exclaims, almost in disgust and hisses some insults and cursewords under his breath.

After your work is done, you get up from your position and go wash your hands in a barrel filled with water. Soon Dutch takes notice of the commotion outside and steps out of the house, demanding to know what's going on. You fill him in on what happened from when you left camp to now and he nods with a grim look on his face.

"That poor bastard.", he comments with his gaze set on Kieran's tent. Most of the people have left to give him some space, but others like Mary-Beth are staying behind, watching over him. "You did good bringin' him back to us. Well done."

"Thanks." Your answer comes out short and you place your hands on the edge of the barrel, observing your reflexion. The woman staring back at you has dark rings around her eyes and a few blood splatters across her face. It's like looking at a stranger.

A new presence shows up beside you, less welcoming than Dutch's and you don't even want to turn your head in their direction. Micah leans with his back against the wall of the large house and spits on the ground. "Ain't you the hero of the day again?"

"What do you want, Micah?", you ask, wanting to sound irritated or at least mildly annoyed, but there is nothing besides exhaustion in your voice. The man snorts.

"Ain't it funny how you somehow always manage to arrive right on time? Somethin' goes to shit and you're right there to save the day. Ain't that convenient?" His words are oozing with both venom and suspicion and you close your heavy eyes.

"Are you trying to say something or are you just talking nonsense?" A voice inside your head is telling you to back off, that this isn't a battle you should be fighting, but you're tired.

The energy from this morning has left you entirely by now and this conversation is only making things worse for you. Micah raises his hands and pushes himself off the wall. "Nah, just statin' what I'm seein', is all."

With these words he finally leaves you alone and you make your way to your tent. Perhaps your accomplishment of bringing back a gang member from the clutches of the O'Driscoll will get people off your back. That way you could rest for an hour or so without anyone complaining.

Before you even make it to your bedroll, you hear the quick sound of hooves approaching and you look up to see Arthur, Miss Grimshaw and Tilly. The first two look quite angry and so does Tilly, but she seems to be a bit shaken up as well.

Curiosity gets the better of you and your legs carry you to the small group. "What happened?"

"Anthony Foreman, that bastard.", Tilly snarls, spitting her words out like venom. You remember her mentioning him and his gang a while ago, telling you that she used to ride with them. She didn't say how they fell out, only that it happened.

"They took her.", Miss Grimshaw adds and your eyebrows shoot up in surprise. This is the second abduction for today and you shake your head at the realization. Seems like getting kidnapped is more common in this line of work than ending up with a bullet in your chest.

It also seems like the security around here should be improved. No way should this many gangs be able to just waltz in here and snatch people away without anyone catching wind of it. Your worried gaze is set on Tilly and you pull her into a hug. "I'm happy that you got out of there."

"Me too...me too.", she mutters in a low voice and slowly pulls away from the embrace.

As the two women make their way towards the tents, you feel Arthur's warm hand on your back. "You don't look too well."

A dry laugh escapes you and you give him a smirk that doesn't reach your eyes. "Well, aren't you a charmer?"

Your response earns a low chuckle from him and he starts rubbing circles on your back. "You know that wasn't what I meant." Of course you know, but you have no idea where to begin.

You repeat to him what you've been telling everyone else, but intentionally leave out the last bit with Micah. There is no reason to pit Arthur against the man at the moment and you'd appreciate a little break.

Being as exhausted as you are makes you feel bad. Kieran is the one who got kidnapped and not you. He went through a shit ton of pain and you don't feel like you deserve to feel this tired. A sigh escapes your lips as you rub your eyes with the palm of your hand.

"You should lay down." Arthur's words get another dry chuckle out of you and you shake your head. Yes, it was your plan to lay down on your bedroll, but you don't know how much rest that will bring you with everyone being out and about. "I don't know if I can."

"How about a bed? A real one.", the outlaw suggests and you raise your eyebrow in disbelief as if he just told you a dumb joke.

"I don't really feel like booking a hotel room just for a nap is a good idea.", you answer and cross your arms infront of your chest.

He takes off his hat, revealing his hazel colored hair and runs a hand through it. "I was thinkin' that you could use mine."

Now that comes as a surprise to you and your arms fall down to your sides, but you catch yourself quickly. A teasing smirk begins to take form on your lips. "Mr. Morgan! Are you trying to get under my skirt?"

Barking laughter erupts from his throat and he raises his hands in defence. "That weren't what I meant. I thought maybe you'd wanna rest in it, away from all the noise."

His offer is sweet and you're about to take it as well until Karen walks up to you from the side with some paper in her hand. "I got a letter from Mary Linton here."

"Mary?", Arthur asks in disbelief and goes to grab the letter, but Karen snatches it away. Both you and the outlaw look at her with puzzled expressions which only intensifies after she holds it out to you instead.

"It's for me?", you confirm with furrowed brows and slowly take the letter from her, afraid she might snatch it away again. When she doesn't, you read the name on the envelope and yes. It is in fact addressed to you.

As Karen leaves, Arthur steps closer to you, searching for your gaze. His eyes keep flickering from you to the letter and then back to you. "What does Mary want from you?"

"I don't know. I mean, I saw her the other day in Saint Denis."

"She's in Saint Denis?", he exclaims, almost interrupting you and runs his hand over his beard. "When?"

You study him thoroughly, trying to read the meaning behind his tone and expression, but you can't decipher it. Clearly he's quite floored, but you can't tell if it's in a good or bad way. "Right after you left the gunsmith. Her and I went for a drink."

"So y'all are friends now? Since when?"

His question makes you take a step back and the corners of your mouth curl up. "Are you worried or something?"

Arthur's answer comes shooting out like a bullet and it's as clear as daylight that he did not intend to do that. "No!" He takes a deep breath, relaxing his shoulders and putting on a casual mask. "'Course not. I don't care 'bout the company you keep."

"Sure." You drag out the word as long as you can, you're voice oozing with sarcasm. Then your gaze falls on the letter in your hand again. "Do you want to know what's in there?"

It's obvious that he's beyond curious about the contents of her letter. It's written all over him, but much to your surprise, he shakes his head. "No, 's alright. This is your business and I won't stick my nose into it. Not more than I already do."

"I'm serious, Arthur. I really wouldn't mind."

"I'm serious too." His features are relaxed, not betraying a single thought or emotion. His eyes on the other hand tell a different story. You can see that there's a conflict within him, but can you blame him? You too would be quite stunned if an ex of yours would suddenly write to him.

Mainly because they exist several years in the future from now and it would be quite the astonishing news, finding out that they can travel through time as well. Arthur places his hat back on his head and tips it in your direction. "I'll leave ya to it then."

Before you can even think of protesting, he walks away and with a sigh you go to find a quiet spot to read. The handwriting inside is just as delicate as the one on the envelope and your eyes trail over the words.

My dear friend,

I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to thank you again for helping me with Jamie and for the nice chat we had at the saloon. It was very kind of you to walk me back to the hotel. I just wish that the reason for this letter was a happier one.

You might have noticed during our conversation that something was troubling  me and seeing how you handled the drunk man made me want to confide in you. I am certain that you're very capable and can handle yourself.

I am afraid that we have got ourselves into another mess. It's not my fault, but I need your help. Could you meet me at Hotel Grand when you have the time?

Sincerely,

Mary

Taglist: @shackspossum @abducted-cowz @heloixe

[laura1633]

just hear me out :

Charles and Max are together mostly very happy over years now but then there is a rumor that Charles celebrated his Monaco win with some other woman and then she got pregnant and it turns out this rumor is true so of course max is heartbroken, Charles totally lost and overwhelmed. They kind of figured it out between them but it was long nights of crying, screaming and miscommunication but the relationship survived and Charles own his mistake and even meet his daughter. She is a absolut sweetheart and got even max heart so everything is fine now isn’t it?

No it isn’t.

Even if Max absolutely adores her he is broken inside because they where trying about some years now but max can’t get pregnant. They had the talk about maybe just let it die down and focusing on the proposal (but it never came because the rumor startet). Max got nobody to talk about how he is feeling all his friend at the Grip or home already started they family.. and he doesn’t wanna brother Charles because he seems so overly happy with his daughter. At nights he laying awake not able to sleep, kind of oversteps with sports just to get his mind somewhere else and nobody seems to realizes it until his mom show up. They have a talk and max can finally talk about it just to come to the conclusion that maybe max need a break from all of this ?

Of course they come back together in the end but just wanted some realistic break up. 😂

Oh my Lestappen heart always struggles with the angst 🥺😂

That would be a huge ask for Max to forgive Charles cheating on him, and not even that but then finding out Charles now has a baby! Ahhh I don't know how they would move past that happening!!! This fictional version of Charles would have to put in a lifetime's worth of work I think to fix this!

This is why I always struggle writing angsty stuff or slow burn because I need them together hahahaha I know some people adore some angst though so would definitely eat up a Lestappen break up story (with a potential reunion after they have worked through things).

Love that Max does eventually open up and talk to his mum. You've definitely captured all the angst of a break up anon!! This would be a super emotional fic and definitely be a rollercoaster of emotions ❤️

[doodler16]

Viv's 2018 apology post was 100% about herself and reeked of Logan Paul vibes. She said a lot of shit that aged particularly bad.

She spent most of the post complaining and trauma dumping rather then explaining her controversies. She claimed she made "weird art" which has tons of different meanings. Weird art can range from borderline NSFW abstract art, TAWOG Various Art and the obscure media. Not drawing porn of a 17 year old and trying to claim the person you falsely accused did it.

Viv forced Dollcreep to draw uncomfortable art which gives vibes of BhaalSpawn forcing Nintendogal to do most of Stolkholms content. (BhaalSpawn is Lily Orchard.)

Viv interacted heavily with DaniDraws who drew in their own words Statutory Rape Art, yet Viv's against the art itself.

She is so controdictory that I'm certain she was always a proshipper who lies and appears to have changed when she did not. The apology is proof of that. She never apologized again after that because she genuinely can't apologize at all. She has to make it about herself. How can this be acceptable at all? Also she said that people were complaining about caring for cartoons rather than real life people which is ironic.

Time is truly a flat circle.

Vivziepop’s 2018 “apology” said nothing and something at the same time. While yes, throughout the post, Vivziepop does tell her side. But it’s done in such a vague fashion that the only way you would know what situation she is talking about was if you were there for those moments in real time or a YouTuber like Ayy Lmao made a video about the drama.

An example of Vivziepop’s vagueness is in the first section of her “apology” (not counting the introduction). In this section she talks about an ex-friend and called him abusive. Mentioning several aspects such as credit, contracts, and being accused of stealing a character.

When I first read the “apology” I was thinking this could be about Kendraws but then that wouldn’t make sense since the two fell out around 2020 and were still in contact during 2018. Vivziepop used he/him pronouns and would misgender Ken using she/her.

So, the only other person I could think of who potentially fits the description Vivziepop described is Doll Creep. If that first section of the “apology” was hypothetical about Dollcreep, then she needs to provide proof that he is an abuser.

Not everyone follows Vivziepop and many are left in the dark of what happened. And forced to do their own research and search for what happened. If you understandably don’t want to do research there is not much to do besides to take her word for it.

I’m skipping the second section of her “apology” which is about Zootopia and Disney rumors which I don’t care about. But the third section is about transphobia and racism. The transphobia allegations were never debunked.

(Vivziepop misgenders Kendraw who uses they/them).

Vivziepop knew how Blair White and Shoe0nhead were controversial, yet still drew them and posted it on Twitter. Vivziepop should’ve taken the “L” and just admit that she shouldn’t have drawn them in the first place and moved on.

Interestingly enough she mentions not supporting blackface in an edit. Yet, she never disavowed the blackface that happened with an Alastor cosplayer.

The only time Vivziepop utters the word “sorry” is regarding this post being serious.

Like you mentioned, Vivziepop was also vague regarding her “weird art.” In conclusion, Vivziepop gets a F- for her “apology.”

[maxdibert]

As somebody who literally grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same high school as the daughter of Steve Jobs, I have interacted with a lot of people who vaguely fit into the intersection of James Potter - and let me tell you NOBODY would be defending him if they did the same. You haven't known sheer evil until you've seen an incredibly wealthy, white, who despite his parents' and society's efforts instill good values in him, has no moral compass whatsoever, teenage boy commit atrocities against his poorer classmates. You can just see him smile because he knows he won't ever see any consequences, because his parents are rich and they've probably donated a building to the school, and he's athletic so they wouldn't dare to compromise his position on the water polo team.

And from somebody who was a gay male in the 2000's California, I couldn't imagine the horrors the other James Potters of the world would have inflicted in 1970's England. The Marauders absolutely would have bullied anyone who has the gall to defend them to the edge of hell and back. The cognitive distance from these people is absolutely insane.

ALL of us who have known someone like that. All of us who have ever interacted with rich people from progressive families and suddenly a kid appears who, despite having everything to be a good person—including supposedly good ideas from his parents who supposedly educated him with values—turns out otherwise. All of us. Absolutely ALL of us can see James Potter in that person, and it horrifies us that he is defended. Even if we weren’t the victims, even if he never did anything to us, just knowing the case up close is enough.

I’m going to go a little further since we are talking about personal experiences. I started militating in left-wing political groups when I was 15, and why not say it, at that time I started with the communist youth. Well, I remember this guy (who later turned out to be a not-so-rare profile within the different unions I’ve been in) who, when we were about sixteen or seventeen years old, was the most committed person in the world. He always took the lead and was the first to get into fights with ultra groups at demonstrations (because many ended in fights due to political tensions), and people held him in high esteem because he was super committed despite coming from a mega-rich family. His parents were involved in the traditionally left-wing party here in my country and had always been in politics, but they also came from money. Well, the fact is that I got to know his parents, and they were really charming, especially his mother, who was involved in issues against gender violence and things like that. So the kid had everything to be a decent person because not only did he have everything, but his parents also had decent values. I always though he was a prick but because i found his personality awful but that’s another story about me and men on my life trying to be the leaders all the time lol

Years later, I coincidentally ran into one of the people who is now a great friend of mine. It was already in university times, and I had lost track of this guy. This girl had gone to the same school as him (a typical private school for kids with rich but progressive or left-wing parents, as you want to call it, that tries not to seem elitist but is lololol), and we happened to talk one day and came to the conclusion that we knew him. WELL. She told me all kinds of crap, especially about how he actively participated in mocking and bullying a girl in their class, tormenting her FOR BEING FAT. And he and his friends spent the day calling her nicknames without stopping. The thing is that my friend told me this girl had a tough time because at that time her house was a mess with her parents divorcing very badly, and she couldn’t really count on them. My friend told me that it was the other students who had to stop the bullying because they made her cry several times, and my friend later found out that the girl had developed an eating disorder that almost killed her.

I ran into that guy again sometime later; he was still actively involved in left-wing politics and had even opened an Instagram and was posing as a feminist ally because that was what was trendy then. He was involved in a very progressive political party in this country that anyone from Spain can guess which party it was around 2018 lol. Well, the guy wasn’t a well-known public figure but one of the minion supporters who probably aspired to someday become something within that party (to give more details, that party is in shambles today, but this is a reference for my Spanish folks). He was sent to debates from time to time and podcasts and hated the right and crapped on contemporary fascists and was super belligerent with his socially focused ideology and hating businessmen. Well, let’s say I knew one of the top guys in that party in the Madrid area, and let’s say that asshole was kicked out, and we even did a public shaming on Twitter, showing his face and ruining his career. I guess if he wants to become a politician now, he’ll have to go for the right.

But social justice aside, what I want to say with this is that the guy was a James Potter type. He was a rich kid with parents who supposedly educated him with values, and he decided to torment a girl and mock her and mess with her to the point of causing her a disorder just because he COULD. Because he knew he had power over that girl, and that girl wouldn’t be able to defend herself properly. And the guy at the same time (like many James Potter fans argue) was super into politics, fighting “the bad guys,” and had “the good ideas.” But the moral of this story is that it doesn’t matter if you go to war against the Nazis or directly confront fucking fascists; that doesn’t mean you can’t be a piece of shit. Your quality as a person isn’t shown by having progressive ideas; it’s shown in how you treat people. And well, I’ve known several similar cases to the one I just mentioned; my issue with the James Potters of the world is something very personal.

And sorry for this rant, but well, it’s seven, I have to go to work, and I don’t want to lol.

[the-flower-ranchers]

i would love to know how tango and jimmy found out they both liked scott, was it an accident or was it a comment that slipped out? how did you guys react? :3 -💥

Tango: "Oh, hey! Jimmy, this one's from 💥!"

Jimmy: "shh! We gotta try and be quiet, I want to make sure Scott gets to sleep in."

Tango, nodding: "Yeah, good idea. This one's for the two of us anyways."

Jimmy: "Alrighty, what's going on with our buddy 💥?"

Tango, giggling a bit: "She wants to know how we came to the conclusion that we both liked Scott."

Jimmy: "Oh, okay! Why don't you start with the day you got your crush?"

Tango, flame flicking: "Well, to summarize... (the moment Tango started crushing on Scott)."

Jimmy: "When Tango walked into the kitchen, wide eyed, sparking, and most odd for him- quiet, I knew something was up, but it took me a couple episodes to figure out that Scott was making my rancher all flustered. So I did what any reasonable boyfriend/ex husband would do, and I talked with Scott about the situation. I figured out pretty quickly that Scott had regained his memories from 3rd life, and... hearing him talk about our relationship made something inside my mind click. It's kinda hard to miss someone you can't remember, but hearing about what we used to have from him..." *stopping for a moment*

Jimmy, sighing: "Yeah, of course I was doe eyed for Smajor for the second time. So once I got that Scott was messing with Tango because he thought he was protecting me, and that Tango was getting completely mixed signals, I explained what I could to my Rancher, and then offered that once the season was over, we could all chat over dinner sometime."

Tango: "Jimmy failed to tell me until the last second that chat over dinner really meant a date. I was obviously surprised when Scott came out of nowhere- I guess I should have connected the dots when Jimmy set our dinner in 3rd life. Once I calmed down a bit, and Scott put me at ease, it was the best evening I'd ever had."

Jimmy: "I distinctly remember a moment during dinner... Scott had just said one of his flirtatious quips, and Tango had laughed so adorably when he did. A second later Tango looked over at me, and I knew exactly what he was thinking."

*they both look over as the bedroom door opens and Scott sleepily walks over to the couch*

Scott, crawling into Jimmy's arms: "Mmm... morn'in."

Tango, giving Scott a kiss on his cheek, whispering: "We knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with him."