#they'd probably be pretty cheap- maybe like $3 or so

[dagmartoons]

just posed this question on my youtube community page and i'm gonna ask here too

[nightlyrequiem]

Latrodectus

II. Fragmented

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

AO3

Latrodectus Mactans, otherwise known as the Black Widow, are known for their uncouth treatment of their partners. The 'widow' part of their name stemming from the common occurrence of the female devouring her partner after mating.

Tags/Warnings: Abduction, Violence, Emotional Manipulation, harassment, A Dabble of Psychological Torture, Drugging, Breaking And Entering, Fem!reader

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Valeria learned to adapt, like any good animal. She mastered the art of mimicry, and her peers were none the wiser. She studied their faces and mannerisms and copied them to perfection. In hindsight it was pointless. Once puberty hit and she grew into her face and body nobody cared that there was something just a little off about her. Being pretty and physically developed meant she could get away with a lot more. No longer would she be shunned for her off putting ways. In fact, it just made her all the more desirable to her hormonal male peers. Their attention was wasted on Valeria, who spent most of her time chasing girls she found 'special.' Marie Sanchez turned out to be very unremarkable. Not as deity-like as Valeria thought she was. Then came Elle Minote, with her honey blonde hair and mousy round face. Her good looks rivaled Valeria's and she quickly swooped in to claim her. Crowning herself as Elle's best friend. 

Even before their friendship fell apart, Valeria's treatment of Elle was far from appropriate. She smothered her. Elle wasn't allowed to hang out with other people when Valeria was not pleasant. Elle wasn't allowed to have other friends. If she refused to stop hanging around them Valeria would throw guilt-tripping fits. Valeria would harshly criticize any boy Elle showed interest in. Making her feel foolish for even considering going out with him, why would Elle want a boy like that? She's far too pretty and likeable for someone about as interesting as a cheap handbag. Elle couldn't handle the overbearing weight of being Valeria's object of affection, though. She drifted away and found herself a boyfriend. Heartbroken and furious, Valeria vowed to ruin every relationship Elle ever got. It's not like she had any issues doing so. Boys are simple creatures after all.

You didn't eat the sandwich. Valeria stares at you with disappointment and you glower right back at her from the corner. Your skin is looking dull. Probably from the lack of nutrients and sunlight.

"Why are you being so difficult?" Valeria asks sharply. Why does she even bother with carefully handmaking your food if you're going to be so unappreciative?

"Why am I being so difficult?" You repeat. Voice hard with anger. "Gee, I don't know, maybe it's because you kidnapped me and locked me in a fucking cell!" Your hands grip your iron chain tightly.

"A cell?" Valeria scoffs incredulously. How dare you call this a cell. It's clean. You have a nice, soft bed with blankets. It's far more luxurious than any prisoner would get. She storms up to you and grabs your face. "You are so incredibly ungrateful." She whispers dangerously. Dilated eyes locked onto yours. 

You were an artist. In the background of one of your pictures, barely in frame, was a half-painted canvas. It took her a while of staring at the photo to realise you were painting a lamb. After some digging, she found out you did commissions. You didn't make a whole lot off of those though so to make ends meet you worked at a bar. Wasting your talents and life away serving up elaborate cocktails for ungracious patrons. Valeria became a regular. The bar was subpar and hardly worth the money she spent there but with you behind the chipping counter, illuminated by the sickly glow of the old hanging lights, she could spare a few pesos.

Her blood pressure would spike every time a male patron would flirt. She seethed even more whenever you'd giggle or smile at whatever stupid remark they'd make. You were only doing it to get tipped, Valeria knew that, but it still angered her to no level. No man was deserving of you. They would never be able to appreciate all your little intricacies. Not in the way a woman could. Not in the way she could. She had to walk out one night when you were laughing a little too hard at something one of your coworkers had said. She crouched in the alley behind the bar, stiff with hatred, fingers clutched in her hair. She hated him and she hated you.

Your nails bite into the skin of her wrist. Valeria shakes her arm harshly before grabbing your wrist and wrenching your hand away. Your nails scrape against her flesh as they're moved away. Leaving thin raised lines in their wake.

"I could show you what a cell really looks like." She growls. "I could leave you in a cold, dark, damp room. No bed, no toilet, maybe I should let you starve too." Valeria feels hurt that you are comparing your room to a cell. You're throwing her hospitality back into her face. She's doing her best with a shitty situation. She sees the fear coursing through you. The way your brows twitch down and the way your breathing hitches.

"Why are you doing this to me?" You ask. Your voice breaks, a warning that you're going to start crying. "... Is it sex you want?" Valeria releases your face. She has to take a step back to stop herself from slapping you. She already explained everything to you. Are you stupid?

"No." She snaps. Glaring at you. "I already told you why I'm doing this."

"You don't love me, don't stand there and try to convince me you do." You hiss. You press close to the wall.

Valeria is appalled by your words. She hates it when people try to claim to know what she feels. They could never begin to understand her feelings. Not even her parents could begin to understand it. The violent screaming and crying fits followed up by weeks of numbness. Valeria loves you so much that she didn't give up after you turned her down. She has so many plans for your life together. She takes a deep breath to calm herself down. Those plans won't ever come true if she kills you.

"I know this is scary and that you don't understand," She explains slowly. "but I am doing what's best for you." And, what's best for her. She can't function like she needs to when she's constantly on the verge of snapping. All because the woman she wants isn't hers.

You aren't receptive to her words at all. You put your face in your hands. Your body is so tense that she can see a slight quiver in your shoulder.

"Let me OUT!" You screech. You throw your back against the wall and scream. Hands sliding up your face and into your hair. "Let me go you fucking PSYCHO!" You claw at your own arms and hyperventilate. Valeria watches silently. She knows you'll scream your vocal cords raw for the next few hours then curl up in your bed, unmoving for the next few weeks. Your behavior is repetitive and resonates with Valeria in a way that nothing else ever could. She sees herself in your rage. In the intense anger you direct onto yourself. She turns and walks out of the room.

Your screeching stops being audible at the top of the stairs. She locks the basement door and walks into the living room and sits down on her expensive dark grey couch. Her back aches in protest. She didn't realise how sore it was until now. She leans back with a sigh. Silence rings loudly in her ears as she thinks. You've been here for a month now, yet you aren't warming up to her at all. Perhaps it's the lack of stimuli. Animals kept in captivity develop zoochosis when under stimulated. Her gaze shifts to the painting she hung above the mantel. The beady eyes of a lamb stare unfeelingly back at her. She taps her fingers on her knee. She commissioned that one from you. 

You're frustrated and need an outlet. Valeria understands that now. With you being so deprived of anything you enjoyed pre-capture you'll probably jump at the opportunity to do anything other than stare at the depressing stone walls of your room. Painting is a good way to relieve stress and it's also a good way to bond. The sun shines through the window. Warming the little lamb. Highlighting the delicate paint strokes. She imagines how you must've looked while painting it. An engrossed look on your face as you twist your wrist in a delicate arch to capture the soft woolly curls.

When she was in primary school, Valeria would eat alone at lunch. Kneeling in the itchy grass beneath a large tree. The grass would leave indents on her calves and thighs. She had to come up with ways to entertain herself. She would read, play with bugs, tear strips of bark from the tree that shaded her. For her twelfth birthday her mother bought her a small, coiled notebook. It was pink and had bees on it. The best part was that she didn't have to use it for school. She filled the lined pages with drawings. Some of her favourite memories are of her sketching away at lunch, tuning out the joyful noises of her classmates. She knows how good art can be for the soul.

She browses through the paint section at a small craft store and wonders if she should get you your own sketchbook. The thought is tempting, but she'd have to give you something to draw with and she's unsure if she wants to provide any potential weapons. The paintbrushes she's getting you is risky enough. Her eyes scan over the coloured tubes of acrylic. Each one fighting for her attention. The whole store smells faintly woody. It's a little disorienting. She grabs twelve colours. The basic ones as well as a few different shades. She grabs some canvases too and walks to the front to pay. The little old lady at the front gives her a judgmental look. Valeria doesn't break eye contact as she hands over the cash.

Back home, she sets down the art supplies on the dining room table. She spreads them out and inspects them. The paints, the canvases, the brushes. She can feel her own creative spark flaring up at the sight. She puts all of it back into their respective bags and carries them over to the basement. She sets them down by the door and continues further down the hall. She walks into her bedroom. The room is tidy and free of dust. The queen bed with its light pink sheets is made, the pillows arranged against the headboard with care and precision. The day is on the hotter end, and she's sweated through her shirt. Jeans and a black long sleave clearly weren't the way to go. She digs through her wardrobe and settles on a comfortable pair of black cotton shorts and a t-shirt made of a thinner material. She gives her reflection a quick check, admiring the tattoos visible on her arms. She quickly combs her fingers through her hair then walks back out.

She picks up the bags and walks down the stairs. She reaches your door and presses an ear against the wood. There's no screaming or crying. She unlocks your door and peers inside. The light is off, but your shape beneath the covers is slightly visible from the light behind her.  You don't so much as shift when Valeria steps inside and turns on the light. She spots a few red droplets over in the corner. She's worried for a second that you did something to yourself, so she sets down the bags and speeds over to you. She grabs the edge of your blanket and yanks it down. There are a few red scratches on your forearm already beginning to scab. She relaxes when she realises it's nothing serious. She will need to cut your nails though. 

Valeria looms over you as she softly calls your name. Trying to coax you into sitting up. Despite your eyes being closed she knows you aren't sleeping.

"Hey." She murmurs. Grabbing your shoulder and giving it a small shake. "I know you're awake. Come see what I got for you." For a few seconds you remain still. The prospect of receiving something intrigues you enough to open your eyes though. Valeria respectfully steps back and watches you sluggishly rise up. You focus your blank gaze on her and then to the bags behind her. Valeria turns and drags them towards you. Setting them beside the bed. She walks back and sits down on the ground. The cement in cool and pleasant against her bare skin. You lean over the edge of your mattress and look through the first bag. Fingers grasp the rough material of a canvas, and you pull it out.

Valeria stares at you intently. Trying to discern what you're feeling. She feels frustrated at the lack of reaction. You hold the blank canvas in your lap and simply stare at it. Valeria decides it's because you're picturing what you could paint. You set it down to the side and to Valeria's pleasure, continue to look through her gifts. You take your time looking at the other canvases and all of the paints. At the sight of the brushes, you seem to perk up. She bought you ten, wanting to give you a little variety. You hold the largest brush and turn it over. Inspecting it at every angle. You softly trail a finger down the wooden handle. Raising your head, you lock eyes with Valeria.

"I know you liked to paint." Valeria says calmly. You look cute like this. You're not baring your teeth in a gleeful grin but Valeria can still tell you're happy and for that she feels smug. A month without anything for entertainment means anything new will seem far more interesting than it normally would.

You look back down at the paintbrush and Valeria takes the opportunity to approach. She shuffles over and rests an elbow on your bed. You look back at her and she gazes at you. Feeling awed by the sight of you. She has you within her grasp.

"I did." You murmur. Eyes glazing over as you retreat into your head. "I was - am - good at painting." You tell her. 

"I'll go get a cup of water; we can paint something now if you want." She says. Hoping you can't hear the satisfaction in her voice. You nod. Features soft for the first time since she took you. Valeria smiles and gets up, leaving your room. She doesn't bother locking the door. She won't be long.

Valeria hurries back down to you. Spilling some of the water on the stairs in her haste. You're sat on the floor with your paints spread out around you. Valeria realises that she forgot a palette. You don't seem to care though. You're hunched over a canvas. Dipping one of the brushes into a small splotch of green you just squirted onto the cement floor. Valeria feels the need to grab a rag and wipe it off, but she can't do it when you're finally starting to warm up to her. Valeria sits down across from you and places down the water cup between you two. Eight brushes sit off to the side and Valeria grabs one and a canvas. Starting her own painting.

Her eyes periodically shift back up to you. You're so focused that you don't take notice. Valeria is glad. She doesn't normally feel embarrassed but there's something vulnerable about painting the woman she loves. She does her best to mix colours to perfection. She remembers the detail and texture you created for the lamb painting. She tries to imitate it. To give your skin and hair life.

"Hey... Valeria?" You speak. She looks up again and stares. "... I need your opinion on something, could you come here and look at this?" Valeria sets down her canvas and moves towards you. Twisting awkwardly to look at your painting. It's a beautiful, lush landscape. She can see the brushes in her peripheral. She can hear your slightly fast breathing.

"I was wondering if I should add a cabin." She glances at the brushes again. Seven lined up side by side. She furrows her brows.  

"Um... Yeah a cabin would look nice." There should be eight.

The first time Valeria was ever stabbed was during an offence mission. She was cornered by an enemy. The feeling of his steel blade passing through the flesh and tendons of her hand didn't hurt as much as she imagined it would. It didn't hurt much at all. It just felt cold. Maybe because of the adrenaline rushing through her at the time. The rattling of your chain is the only warning she gets before the jagged edges of broken paintbrush pierce through her arm. You were quick but Valeria was quicker. Had she not blocked your attack you would've stabbed her in the side of the neck. 

The wood drags against her skin, leaving slivers as you pull it out to stab at her again. Valeria roughly grabs your arm and wrestles you into submission. You struggle and cry. Writhing beneath her. She squeezes your wrist until you're forced to let go of the paintbrush. Red runs down her arm. Dotting your painting with little red puddles. Valeria's movements are fluid and smooth as she wraps her hands around your throat. You wheeze and feebly try to fight back but Valeria only tightens her grip. Valeria feels betrayed and hurt. You attacked her, after she tried to do something nice for you, you attacked her. You start going still when she suddenly releases your throat. She glares down at you as you pant and cough. Her heart is hammering. Valeria needs to leave before she kills you. She aggressively grabs the paintbrushes and storms out of the basement. Locking the door behind her. She's given you too many chances. You're starting to run out.

[fishmech]

It's just like, damn man communication and getting info cost so much around 2000.

You wanna look up some information on the phone so you can call someone that isn't in your phone book? That's like $4 in modern money.

You wanna call your aunt who lives a couple of states away and you're not paying the extra monthly landline cost for unlimited long distance? $15 in modern money for a 10 minute call in daytime hours, still like $3 nights and weekends, and these are both like "you got a pretty good deal" cases. Worse for most people.

OK so you just want to call your buddy who moved like 25 miles away? Maybe it's free cuz you lucked into still being in the same local call zone, but maybe you're still paying $3 in modern money for a 10 minute conversation because you managed to hit through two long distance zones. Especially if you're on opposite sides of a metro area or something. And if he had a cell phone you were calling, it might mean you paid even more because it registered as a further call.

But that's landline, let's say you were going cell. You might be paying the equivalent of $50 a month in modern money for 120 minutes of call time and no included texting. This service would likely charge you extra for "roaming", that is being out of your designated home calling area, as well as exceeding 120 minutes of talk time (and you would be billed a full minute minimum for any call that connected, mind), and texting once might be 75¢ in modern money on a cheaper provider, as much as $2 modern on others. Your excess call minutes might cost between 50¢ and $3 in modern money per minute and roaming calls would cost similar amounts even when you were within your plan. And on such a plan there was no cell data service so it would be an addon around $5 a month in modern money to have it at all - and prices of between 35¢ up to $5 in modern money per kilobyte transferred. Even if you were using strictly plain text that piled up quick.

You could of course move up to significantly more expensive plans per month in fixed costs to have much bigger pools of call minutes, freedom from roaming charges texts, and data. And to have significantly cheaper per-unit overage charges if you exceeded those. But that would quickly take your bill beyond $100, even $200 a month in modern money for a single line.

And of course if you wanted a couple songs from favorite singer? You ain't streaming it on a cheap monthly plan or likely even paying individually: your ass is paying nearly $38 in modern money for the whole album on CD, maybe $23 in modern money if you got a good sale price. And the artists still got a fraction of a penny off it cuz music royalties have been fucked forever. (of course you could pirate it probably... If you had internet service, if it was fast enough, if you could afford it for generally $36 a month in modern money for slow dialup, often much more if you had broadband available at all)

You wanna watch TV shows? Well like now you could watch the over the air stations for free. With tons of ads on the non-public stations ofc. But this is generally pre digital so there's much fewer stations on the air.

Or you could pay around $85 modern a month to get a pretty decent cable or satellite package and well you know, hope the time the shows you like line up with your schedule and of course it's full of ads too. Maybe you will setup a vcr or DVD recorder to catch what you couldn't be around for, and if you're not willing to wipe your old recording then you're going to need to drop serious cash to have fresh tapes and rewritable DVDs to keep that stuff around.

You want the higher end cable/satellite stuff? Well HBO alone back then was like $28 in modern money for a month on top of the rest of your bill - and most other similar no-ads premium channels were similar.

And let's not forget that this was still a time where getting official copies of shows on any kind of media often just Didn't Happen. Or they'd do it but they'd only put out random single episodes, maybe one full season on a multi season show. You might easily pay $26 in modern money for two half hour episodes or one full hour episode on a tape or DVD. Maybe you'd get lucky and instead be buying a whole season set for $75 in modern money, admittedly a much cheaper price per episode. Otherwise though, it's record it yourself in often pretty bad quality or trading and copying recordings from other people who liked that thing, if you got in touch with any.

And on-demand cable/satellite was just getting started and often required upgrading to a higher package, including paying more to rent a higher end TV box, with miniscule libraries. And the pay per view costs were often like $5 modern to watch a single movie squished to fit your TV, sometimes up to $35 modern for "new releases". Similarly, typical rental store costs were in the ball park of $7.50 to $30 in modern money per item, depending on overnight versus all week and sometimes old release vs new release. That shit added up quick! And Late fees could easily double up or triple up in just a few days.

And of course newspapers and magazines and books all cost money. We generally expect most of these to have some at least limited amount of free access on demand today, whether it's the free few articles a month before the paywall or getting free access digitally through your library. But of course back then, that's no such thing. A lot of online versions of publications were strict pay only, others only posted summaries for free, and that's if you were even online. It may not sound so bad to shell out 65¢ to $2 in modern money for a newspaper issue, or $4-$15 in modern money an issue for various magazines, but you'd be buying them pretty often if you wanted to keep up with things in more detail than they got into on TV. Even if you subscribe and get that discount for everything in a year, that's like maybe $90 a year in modern money for a major city paper, or $70 to $150 in modern money for a magazine depending on its frequency and size and content.

Shits just so fucking easy and cheap these days for real. You want to call someone you don't think about distance charges or roaming, you just fucking call. If you're calling overseas you probably use some app or program on a computer to call for free. A text message does not cost more than sending actual mail, it's nothing. Even all those stupid streaming services, which I don't use personally, you can have like 5 of those damn things, have way more to watch for less than cable back then, let alone modern cable prices, and have somewhat more reliability in what will be available next month!

Even when you're stuck on something like a strict budget, using prepaid cell service with blocks of minutes now, like some Tracfone "I only can afford $15 a month" stuff? It's like shlt at least that's 500 minutes/texts/megabytes of data. Like you're still getting screwed but it's much less so than what you got for that 10 or 20 or 25 years ago, and a lot more places have wifi you can use to stretch your data usage out.

[moodymisty]

Hello. I'd like to leave a request. So recently I was listening to "River" by Bishop Briggs so I thought, what if someone danced to this song for Crosshair? The idea is, reader is Batch's doctor and enjoying a few days on land she goes out with some friends to 79. The boys arrive later and they all sit together. It's happening live performances at 79, singers, dancers, but none can really rock the bar, you know? Reader's friends comment on her dancing skills, making Crosshair laugh and daring her to get up on stage and dance. Pissed with him, the reader accepts the challenge and during the performance comes to dance exclusively for him, teasing him. I would be the happiest girl if you could finish it with a smut. xoxo

Author's note: I find it so funny when people come into my asks with such specific prompts, I feel like I'm trying to make someone's daydream come true XD I hope you enjoy kind anon. I'm not a going out night type of person, but I hope I captured that fun confident energy this prompt has :3

Relationships: Crosshair/Fem!Reader

Warnings: NSFW, dancing, Mentions of alcohol, Sex in a bathroom, Slightly rough Sex, Unprotected Sex, Porn with just enough plot i can barely saw it's not pwp

Sometimes you wonder if there's a specific word for how you feel whenever you get back to Coruscant after a long while away.

Time feels like it passes so fast, but yet so, excruciatingly, slow.

It's been roughly two months since you've been back on solid Coruscanti ferrocrete, and it feels like you've been gone for two years. When you'd once joked about it, Hunter mentioned that it was how they'd all felt shortly after graduating from cadets and being send out into the field, so maybe it had something to do with light speed travel. Or something of the sort.

Either way, unimportant. There's drinks that need to be drank.

Some are just water while some are varying degrees of hard liquor, all spread across the table in a lazy, unorganized fashion.

You'd first told your friends about 79's after the Batch had invited you here for the first time, and you were eager to share. It's a nice place all and all, you enjoy the energy. Some of the other dive bars around the nearby districts, at least the ones that don't charge half a fortune for every sip, tend to attract not so friendly people.

79's is cheap, easy going, and the troopers are flirty- but keep their hands mostly to themselves.

Before you'd left Hunter had mentioned that they might be coming close behind to get a bit of a rare break as well, gods know they probably need it just as much as you do. So you've been glancing at the doors every now and again, looking for that brushed black armor for the past hour.

"Are they even still coming?"

You'd casually mentioned their potential coming a few minutes ago; And one of your friends, the one with a real penchant for bad boys and not the best decision making skills when five or more drinks deep, is very eager to meet them.

They know which one to avoid flirting up, anyways.

"They'll be here. They're usually pretty late anyways. If something came up, I'd be getting the same call as them." You are in their squad after all, so if they have to go out on a sudden mission, it would be extremely doubtful they'd even consider leaving without you.

But speaking of them...

Not minutes later you finally see them enter, easily spotted by their dark palette contrasting with the sea of white plastoid. They always stand out, and at least in this particular setting, they enjoy it readily. Quickly you all move to find a spot where you can all sit together, making sure to bring your drinks, both new and already half down, with.

Needless to say the Batch livens up the party significantly, which was a much needed boost given the slow state of the night so far.

For awhile the live music and show had largely been existing in the background; A good show, but nothing worth maintaining your entire attention. Especially since now that your favorite troopers are here, it's even less so important.

But now that it's currently between acts, it seems one of your friends has gotten herself a devious idea.

"Why don't you get up there and show them how it's done? Like at that one bar on-" You quickly shush her before she manages to regale a tale you don't exactly want retold in this state, rolling your eyes. But it seems the mention of a story has already caught particularly Crosshair's interest, and she quickly goes about spilling the memory once you no longer stop her.

"There was a open mic night at this one bar, and she killed it. Everyone thought she was a paid performer." Quickly she gestures to the stage, which is surrounded by tipsy, flushed faced clone troopers. They're awaiting the next performance, if there's even going to be one. Your friend speaks up again, pleading with you while Crosshair and the rest of the Batch look on curiously.

"Come on! It's open! Go up there!"

You're not exactly opposed to the idea, but you also don't feel like leaving the party behind so to speak. You're just about to shake your head and refuse again, when Crosshair speaks up at your side. He's been leaning back in the seat the whole time, one of his arms lazily against the back of the seat elbow close to your shoulder and forearm dangling down.

"Oh come on, gonna leave everyone guessing now that we know your little secret?"

Crosshair has his eyebrows raised, watching you. It's clearly bait as he sets it out like this all the time, but you're in the mood for taking a bite.

"Maybe I will. The mystery will make me seem even better than I am."

He rolls his eyes, and with a distinctly sarcastic flavor to his voice, responds.

"Whatever makes you feel better, Doll."

Now a little miffed despite you are the one who bit his fishhook, you scrunch your face and look at him, while he seems almost overwhelmingly smug. When you ask why, he responds with:

"Mystery?" A scoff. "Why don't you just say you're too scared?"

Well now he just wants a fight.

You don't know what comes over you at that point; Maybe it's the vibe, the drinks, something else or all of it combined, because it feels like a blink from being there under Crosshair's arm, to convincing the bouncer to let you at the mic.

Thankfully it doesn't require much, as it seem all the rehearsed performances were finished for the night, and now the mic was pretty much open to anyone willing and able to give it a shot.

Considering you that person, you take it into your hands and decide to give it 110, hoping to at least shut Crosshair's fat mouth.

The rest of it is all a blur; A series of sung words and perhaps some dancing that might not of been entirely appropriate, had the crowd not absolutely ate it up.

Whats the point in singing and not dancing anyhow? You think, hips shaking from side to side in a slow but perfect pace with the beat of the music. Once the first song finishes, you feel enough of a high that you decide to do another, and it doesn't seem anyone is going to complain at you for doing so. It's a bit of a slower one, so you can't exactly help the way your body sways unconsciously back and forth with the music.

Mid-song however you take a look upward and spot the Batch far in the back, Hunter, Wrecker and Tech turned at the waist an arm over the back of the seat to watch. Crosshair however as you eyes locked right on you while you sing-

And he is fucking furious.

At least it seems like he's fuming, it's sometimes hard to tell. Though it's pretty safe to say he's more affected by this little stunt, to say the least.

You don't go back to the booth once you finally manage to sneak off stage through demands for more, as by the time you enter the hall to go wash up in the bathroom quick, you find Crosshair is leaning by the wall waiting. When he spots you, his body rises off the way in a way that gives away how tense his body is, shoulders straight.

He must've come back here the moment you left the stage, intent to cut you off and steal a moment with you alone.

"You looked like you were having fun up there." His tone is tense, but you respond to it with your usual quips.

"I did. And did you like the show?"

Normally saying those sorts of things is how you try to disarm his attitude, but it only serves to make it worse this time, as you smile at him with the confident smirk of a job well done. You feel positively bubbly now after having that much fun, and seeing Crosshair stewing over what you assume is his failed dare.

The show had all been for him, so he better have enjoyed it. Not to say you didn't enjoy preforming. Maybe your friend didn't have such a bad idea after all; You wouldn't be so resistant to doing so again if the opportunity arose.

You take a few steps closer to Crosshair, anymore and you'd be brushing chests, seeing his pursed lips.

"What?"

You barely have a chance to say anything else before he grabs you shoulder and kisses you, his other hand reaching for the handle of the refresher door. It's empty, and so he pushes you in, locking it behind him near instantly. By the time he does his mouth is already back against your own, teeth brushing against your bottom lip.

There isn't much room to maneuver at all in here; It's so tight being really only meant for one person. As such in order to get a bit of breathing room you end up on the countertop, knees parted to let him in the moment you're able.

You'd originally come with a coat, but having long since shed it before going up on stage, Crosshair has unimpeded access to the soft skin of your neck.

"Cross!" You say when his hands grip your thighs tight, squeezing the soft flesh beneath his gloved palms.

"Everyone's gonna wonder where we are..." Your sentence fades off, feeling his lips on your skin and the coldness of the mirror on your back. The hem of your skirt has already gotten pushed up nearly to your hips from sitting in this position, and it only takes one tug from Crosshair to fully send it there and reveal your underwear.

"I don't care."

You didn't really expect him to, but his strained comment is still amusing none the less.

His lips roughly trap yours again in a kiss as he fumbles to remove the one piece of armor he needs to, throwing it aside with a loud thunk as it hits the ground. There's not a care in the galaxy for it right now, as all of his attention is on you.

You can't help the soft sigh that leaves your lips as you feel his hand brush over the heat of your cunt, as he tries to tear away your panties. When he realizes you have stockings on over them, he lets out something you can only describe as a growl in frustration.

"How many fuckin' things you got on under there?" You can't hold back the small giggle you let out.

"In a hurry?"

It'll be easier- and faster, if you kick off your heels, doing so before Crosshair loses his patience and just tears runs all the way through the razor thin fabric. The heat of his fingers is palpable through it, as he pulls your stockings and underwear in one bunch down to your hips. You have to rise up on your palms a bit to try and help, before they get yanked down enough that they dangle around one ankle.

Swearing that you can feel his nails make little dents in the skin of your ass even through his gloves, he grasps your hips tight and yanks you to the edge of the countertop and even a bit over, legs dangling precariously before they wrap around his hips. In that moment you can feel his hips grind against your almost of their own accord, and the feeling sends a jolt right to your clit.

The fabric of your dress is a deep red, perfectly matching the splash of worn red paint that adorns his armor; Exactly what you'd thought when you'd bought it. You're glad it's served you so well so far.

"I'm pleased you liked my little dance so much,"

You say with a laugh, feeling him fumble with the fabric of his body glove just out of view. One arm wraps around his neck, fingers playing with the short grey hair at his nape, while the other tries to keep you steady and on top of the countertop. Not as if Crosshair would let you fall, anyhow. But it still is in the back of your mind, within the tight confines of the refresher this isn't much room at all and if you stretched your legs out fully, you'd just be able to touch the opposing wall.

"Everyone did. They couldn't look away from you."

Oh, so he's a little jealous, you think. Never thought you'd hear him near admit he was fuming over some drooling shinies, but there's a first time for everything.

"Who cares about them; It was all for you." You didn't care that anyone else had been looking at you but him, even beyond the stupid dare.

Freeing his cock from his body glove you feel the heat against your bare thigh, stealing a quick kiss and feeling the tiny bit of stubble dotting his jawline. It'll be gone tomorrow so it's military appropriate, but for now you can enjoy the rough feeling on your skin as his fingers brush against your cunt.

You have to inch even closer, more precariously so his cock can press up against you, teasing your entrance as as your cunt drips. Your legs are lazily wrapped around his hips, and only tighten as he slips inside of you, the rough edges of his armor stiff against your skin.

He doesn't really have much else to wear beside it, not that you mind its being on.

"You're the one that dared me,"

He hears you whisper his name under your breath as he pushes his way into your cunt, over the sounds of more random music outside the door. Though you can't hear it for much longer; As it's drowned out by the sound of rough panting and clothed skin on skin, muffled by the fabric of his body glove. It quickly becomes stained a darker black from where your cunt drips onto it.

"I dared you to go up there and sing," He grits his teeth in a rare lapse of stoicism, hissing through. "Not do that." A rough jerk of his hips cause you to gasp, as he feels like he's going to drive right into your stomach. The angle makes everything tighter, so much closer, and your cunt flutters around him.

"So I can't do that again?" You sound breathless, but the mirth in your voice still shines through.

He scoffs, lips on the corner of your mouth.

"Just do it where only I can see you."

The air between you both is thick with hot breath and flushed skin, and you'd love nothing more than to rip this dress off if not for the fact that you aren't at your apartment- you're instead getting railed in the bathroom at 79's.

Your chest feels like it's going to bounce out of your bra from the way he's fucking you; Having to adjust top of your dress to avoid it spilling out. It's not back in presentable fashion and would be quite easy to tell how your evening's been going, but right now you could barely care.

You just want to cum fast and hard, eager to chase that peak as Crosshair tries to drive you into the mirror at your back.

You're going to feel it in the morning if he keeps this up, feeling the way his cock grinds against your already battered, oversensitive nerves. Hell, you're already feeling it right now; Your muscles ache tight, fingers prying at the edges of his plastoid armor. If he didn't have it on, he'd surely have nail marks on his shoulder blades.

"Gods, fuck Crosshair, I'm so close,"

Your stomach is tight and twisting in knots, and your swear you can feel your heartbeat in your cunt your thighs shiver and shake. Your head lolls back hitting the mirror as you moan, legs tightening around him as your orgasm wracks your entire body.

He keeps fucking you through it even if slowly, driving his cock as deep as he can given the position. But even if he did slow, there's still an aggressiveness, a desperation to it all. Everything is in the heat of the moment, even his almost incomprehensible mumblings, some that are your name, and others praises that he'd feel to open saying out loud without an aura of cockiness.

His hand grips the back of your dress enough to leave wrinkles and probably be close to busting one of the seams, pulling you bottom close as he fully bottoms out inside of you. His hips slow to an inconsistent, shallow movements as he finishes inside of you, some of his own cum leaking out around his cock as he slows to deeper, longer thrusts while his body ratchets down.

When he finally stills, body now far loosen and relaxed than he'd been minutes ago, you still feel the way your cunt flutters as your muscles ache from use.

"Let's go back to your apartment." He suddenly utters out, still slightly out of breath. Your head rests against his shoulder, the cold plastoid cool against your flushed skin.

"Can I get my coat and say goodbye to my friends before you usher me into a taxi?" Crosshair rolls his eyes and the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. You don't disagree that perhaps somewhere more private is a better place to be, and you slowly attempt to pull up your stockings and underwear enough to hop off the counter; Crosshair not helping, but ready in case you stumble. Once on the ground you're slipping up your underwear, feeling the slickness of your cunt dampen them ever so slightly.

"Was that dance not good enough farewell?" You roll your eyes. Your one heel is easy to find, the other takes a moment to slip on sounding strained as you bend over to put it on.

"Like I said; That was just for you." Crosshair doesn't respond, looking away as his pursed lips twitch in thought. It takes a moment to adjust the hem of your dress, before you feel ready enough to reach for the door.

You quickly rush to grab your things and say goodnight to everyone, attempting to defuse any curious questions as to your absence post performance. Tech tries to inquire as to Crosshair's absence, but the sniper quickly snips the conversation stating he just needed to tell you something, before saying he needs to grab a taxi and removes himself from the firing line for anymore questions.

And now he needs to bring you home, conveniently enough.

Wrecker seems disappointed that two members of the party are leaving, but once more food and drinks arrive in front of him he quickly gets over it. He'll probably be too drunk to remember most of the night anyways, and Hunter will end up the same if Tech doesn't cut him off.

After getting a 'stay safe' from Hunter it's a quick jaunt outside into the cool evening air, when Crosshair is standing with a hailed Taxi stopped right behind him. He's looking right at you, leaning against the outside as you come closer.

"All finished?" He says, arms crossed. You watch as he moves to the side to let you in, and you just look up at him and smile as you slip in, saying:

"Maybe."

Join the taglist here: @seriowan @simp-legend @nekotaetae @chad-something @coffeyorky @merkitty49 @lokigirlszendaya @totesnothere04 @get-wr3ckered @rebel-finn @mandoloriancookie @therealnekomari @loverofclones @notthatfanfictionwriter @lucyysthings @jennrosefx @fxlsealarm @crosshairs-wife @sinfulsalutations @Rennyboo9 @pb-jellybeans @jediknightjana

[spaghett-onaplate]

Oscar my good fellow, does your house include a fan system? how do you stay cool in the summer?

We don't have any built in fans! There is an aircon system but this is a rental that has remained largely unchanged since the 70s so it does not work, probably has not ever worked during this century. Ok so granted all the following will be from anecdotal experience, but as far as I can see this is how other houses in the area operate:

Well apparently the ideal Australian house has a metre wide wraparound porch and awning to keep the heat out. Don't think I've ever seen a house meet this, inner city at least. More rural areas maybe? And that is where they'd need it more

So to keep cool in the summer my house has a lot of tabletop fans and a big fan on a floor stand. Also use wet washers on the back of our necks and just experience general suffering. Most houses aren't well insulated for the cold or the heat!! Even tho our winters aren't nearly as bad as many places, my brother's gf from Siberia and my family that moved between here and Canada find Australian winters unbearable compared to the Russian or Canadian winters just bc the houses are barely warmer than the outside!! Often in the morning it's colder inside than out

A lot of houses (from anecdotal experience I would say maybe half? most new houses would) do have aircon tho, which is enough to keep things cold or warm enough. By aircons I mean these ones, units rather than built in ones

But houses do have the inbuilt aircons too, the nonfunctional one in my house has vents in each room like this (in ceilings other than the tile ones pictured here tho)

It's not uncommon but I'd say not a massive amount of houses have them? I think newer builds would be more likely to have these ones. Tho idk all new houses kinda look the same like. Wait I remember a further out gross looking suburb I'll find it on Google maps

this is like, 2 hours out from the CBD?? a lot of developments are popping up further out as the city expands. cheap* and uglay housing it reminds me of the american suburbs tbh

anyway. that is mostly unrelated to aircon and fans. yeah i dont think we have thermostats? at least i've never seen anyone call it that but im assuming the built in aircons work like that. bc they do can do heat or cool temperatures

i did have one friend who lived in a big house that had all three - an aircon unit in the parents room, inbuilt aircon throughout the house, and fans in most/every room. never seen that anywhere else tho and i considered her to be pretty rich, plus i'm sure they did renovate to include some of those.

yeah overall to stay cool in the summer people without aircon kinda. don't. i miss my first house with its aircon unit </3

*cheap to build, expensive to buy.

1mil AUD for a house hours away from the inner city!! for a very soulless, gross, not particularly big (all those rooms look pretty tiny) house. our housing market is absolutely fucked

anyway yeah a lot of houses have aircon to help endure the summers and winters, a lot do not. prolly the same most countries? lmk how the US does compare tho

i think my second/previous house was better in summer than this current one bc it was an old (by our standards - 100 years?) house with double brick walls that somewhat kept the heat out, whereas this one isn't as old so the inner walls don't have brick. summer is a big blur of lying down with a fan constantly pointed at me with a wet washer on the back of my neck rip

[typically-untypical]

im craving spontanious roadtrips/cheap motels/running from the law stories so im passing the prompts/vibes onto you <3

(if you want them)

I know you normally like Loceit but I took a different direction for this pairing ^_^ I wrote a Virus fic!!

Spontaneous Planning

AU: Criminals

CW: Remus typical conversations and behavior

WC: 1349

Date: August 1st, 2023

Virgil pulled up to the cheap motel in his even cheaper car. This was the third they had cycled through this week. He was glad his fear of losing his keys had made him learn how to hot wire a car but there was a small part of him that felt guilty about taking something that didn't belong to him. Then again, the car had been abandoned on the side of the road. That was a pretty good sign that no one was coming back for it. However, it was less of a good sign that the car was "clean". It had been the easiest thing they could get to while under chase so they'd probably have to dump this one after a few days as well. Trying to think five steps ahead, trying to figure out how they were going to get out of this situation, it had Virgil exhausted. He was running on fumes, but as soon as they got across country they would be fine, right? They could stop running once they made it to Virgil's contacts, they could hide and maybe even start over. 

"Race you to the front desk!" Remus shouted as he bolted out of the car, not bothering to grab any of his stuff. Remus, his lover, his partner in crime, was chaos incarnate. This was why they balanced each other out, Virgil was the planner, he had all of the ideas, knew all the best routes to travel, but Remus was spontaneous. It was impossible to plan for the things Remus did and it helped Virgil get out of his own head sometimes. He didn't think, he just lived in the moment, excitedly doing whatever caught his fancy. Virgil loved that about him. Even if it was maddening at the same time. Right now, for instance, Virgil was exhausted. He wanted to curl into bed and get some rest before their early morning, but he was the one lugging the bags in while Remus ran about like a chicken with his head cut off.

Pulling both of their bags out of the car, Virgil made his way toward the front; Remus was already being handed a key to a room and ushering Virgil forward. How did he have so much energy this late at night? He didn't nap in the car, Virgil would have noticed. Maybe it was because Virgil had insisted on driving the entire day. Remus wasn't a bad driver, but he was reckless, and with them already being hunted, Virgil didn't want to add any other reason for the cops to chase after them. 

"I got us the nicest room possible." Virgil knew it was a lie, mostly because they were trying to save money and splurging on the nicest room, even in a place like this where they obviously didn't ask questions, was more than they should be spending right now. 

Remus led him to a room down the outdoor corridor, practically skipping down the way. He unlocked the door, throwing it open without a care to their neighbors. Virgil flinched. He wanted to be indiscrete, hardly a memory in anyone's head so they'd be harder to track. Remus was anything but indiscrete. 

"See, whad I tell ya? Their finest room." He flopped onto the bed and it crunched in a way sheets weren't supposed to crunch. They were stiff, when was the last time these sheets had been properly cleaned? Virgil was beginning to regret having suggested this place, but they needed to save their money. Still, he couldn't help himself as the frustration oozed off of him. "I am not sleeping on that," He muttered, throwing open the closet door, to put down their bags. At least that looked clean enough. There were no roaches that made him shiver or suspicious stains that would have him up all night.

"You don't have ta," Remus said wiggling around on the bed, messing up the sheets and somehow making the space look more appealing. "You could always sleep on the floor, but then I'd have to join ya." He gave Virgil a flirtatious wink, causing a bit of red to run up Virgil's skin as he quickly turned back to the closet. Remus' insinuation almost made him forget about the place they were in, but as he looked down, surveying the carpet, it was easy to remember.

"I am not sleeping on this floor either." He wondered what color the carpet had been before it turned into this dingey faded gray.

"Well I don't know what other options you have Virgie. Sleeping in the car probably isn't the best idea since we are on the run and all, and I doubt that arm chair over there is any cleaner. So what do you suggest, Mr. Grumpy gills?" There was a playful suggestiveness in his voice. "Do you wanna sleep on me?"

Virgil slammed the closet door shut, balling his hand tightly. "Remus, could you stop, for just a few minutes?" 

Now that caught Remus' attention and he sat up on the bed, pushing himself toward the edge. "Virgil-"

"No, stop, before you ask I'm not regretting what I did, I'm not upset that we're on the run together I just..." He sighed, walking over to Remus and looking down at his boyfriend before collapsing into the other man's arms. "This is a lot for me, okay? This place isn't very clean and it has my anxiety spinning. It's a big change and you know I don't do well with change. There's a lot of uncertainty and I don't do well with that either. I just need to know everything's going to be okay."

Silence fell between the two of them as Remus began to gently rub Virgil's back. "I can't promise you that, I don't know what's going to happen next but I can promise to be by your side. I got you into this mess and I plan on sticking with you until we are out of it."

Virgil let out a shaky laugh as Remus wrapped his arms around the other man, pulling him closer. "You better, thanks to you I've got no where else to go."

Remus laughed. They both knew it wasn't completely true. They were running to Virgil's brother. Virgil had people he could rely on. Remus also had a brother but they hadn't spoken in almost a decade. "You can always come back to my arm... or cum on my arms. I'd like that too."

Virgil snorted and at that moment there was a knock at the door. It wasn't fair that their little heart to hear was being interrupted but before Virgil could panic, Remus shushed him. 

"I was expect this knock, don't worry." He got up, scooping Virgil up as he did. Next thing Virgil knew he was being plopped onto the messy bed and Remus was walking away, giving him a little smirk. "I've got a surprise, just wait there."

Remus opened the door and another man's voice filled the room. Virgil was already going for the pocket knife in his boot, just in case.

"We have brought this up per your request."

"Thanks!" Remus chimed, shuffling around before he shut the door. It wasn't long before he came back into view carrying a military cot. 

"I knew you weren't gonna wanna sleep in the bed, but I wanna keep you by my side so I had them bring up a cot, and I stored one of our emergency blankets in my pocket like a condom when you weren't looking." Remus cackled. He was spontaneous, but he had started thinking things through for Virgil. It made him melt. 

"Thanks Re."

"Anytime, lovebug." Remus said, popping open the cot and setting it next to the bed so they would still be close.

Virgil shivered, "Don't mention bugs or I might not sleep at all." 

Remus cackled again, "I could give you another reason not to sleep." Virgil hit his arm gently but relaxed as Remus gave him another hug. They would get through this because they were together.

Tag List: @simplestoryteller @fantasticfangirl21 @joylessnightsky @glacierruler

[dingodad]

I like your ants a whole lot. Does Rimiduo as a planet/colony still exist? The Grazigazi were relocated to Gracilia, was there a specific reason THEY were the ant race that was moved instead of the other ant races? Was there just more loyalty to the empire in that group or were there maybe cultural factors/demographics that were more compatible with the empire or Gracilia? How different are Grazigazi from the other Rimiduot races? Do the others have Gamos or Polis or Drupes?!?

Plus from what I’ve picked out of your Gracilia tag, If I’m interpreting the info correctly there’s only confirmed references for an example member of the Wieze, Grazigazi, and Flambocca species. Where are the Frujgazi? What’s up with them! All dead? All too interbred with the Grazigazi to tell apart?? I don’t doubt the probability that it’s related to the Gracilia relocation..!

oh and I’ve got a crush on Kathlize 🐜<3

all A+ questions you have done your research well...

there is a kind of cultural narrative that when the alternian hordes descended upon rimiduo, the grazigazi lay their weapons at the trolls' feet and immediately became willing collaborators in the subjugation of their fellow rimiduot. gracilite warriors signed up to the ranks of the alternian colonial forces and earned their imperial overlords' earnest respect as highly efficient enforcers of alternian hegemony, and when it came time to establish a logging settlement on another, similar water world, the grazigazi had simply proven themselves the only right choice for the job.

whether ANY of it really happened that way, it's hard to be certain. but it's probably safe to assume that the true story involved a lot more nuance than what has found its way into folklore. if there really was an alternian-grazigazi alliance, it began and ended at the trolls' convenience; viewed as a whole, it seems unlikely that the grazigazi really suffered any less under alternian occupation than anyone else, and it's ESPECIALLY difficult to believe that the trolls ever felt like they owed any favours to any lesser races.

the trolls needed cheap labour to extract the natural resources from one of their newer colonies, and the seemingly neverending social unrest between the frujgazi and grazigazi was putting a wet blanket over the productivity of one of their old ones - one of the races had to go, with a simple handshake between colonial authorities they could kill two birds with one stone. were the gracilites really chosen because of the deal they'd made with the devil, as the version of events proliferated among the fruj dictates? or was it ultimately a coin toss? it's hard to say whether the grazigazi culture really made them better candidates, or whether their culture has been shaped over time to justify the arbitrarily-assigned atrocities of their own history. i think i'll let the audience come to their own conclusions on that one.............

as for all your other really great questions, a lot of this is still stuff i am thinking about LOL. i was going to save this ask for when i had a bit more to show but i've already gone on such a long tangent answering this one question... thank you for showing interest in the frujgazi though... i've already been cooking up an idea for some fruj content so you will just have to watch this space. for now i will just say that Rimiduo is still a highly active industrial colony, and just because they've been "left behind" doesn't mean the alternian empire doesn't have its uses for the frujgazi too...

(the main reason i haven't formally introduced any frujgaki yet is because i've spent a while figuring out how i want them to look! 2nd from left in this pic was one idea, though i also considered making them look kind of halfway between wieze and grazigazi, like the top leftmost ant in this post. when you do finally see the frujgaki you can probably expect them to look (at least to us and to trolls) pretty similar to the grazigazi, just with their own distinct antennae shape, which i think allows me to inject a lot of variety into their designs without worrying about making grazi who look "too much like fruj" or vice versa. that shield shaped head on the second sprite does look really stylish though...)

KATHY THANKS YOU FOR BEING AN EARLY INVESTOR IN GRACILIAN PALM OIL ! 🐜🍏

[blazehedgehog]

Video game merch feels more accessible these days with a lot of storefronts for every company to sell stuff. But how do you feel about overpriced video game goods, like the ones advertised here? https://twitter.com/SQEX_MD_NA.

I feel like Square is a bad example because if Square had their way they'd probably sell all their games at $100 each. The "Square Tax" has been a term circulated for decades at this point.

I don't like most video game collectibles. They definitely look nice but so many of them come out at this point that I don't understand who has the space for them all. It makes me think of like, LootCrate, which thankfully isn't around anymore, but how it was basically just a pipeline to flood Ebay with promotional junk.

Like you search "Play Arts Kai" (which I think Square owns?) on Ebay and there are 7,600 results. If you search Nendoroid, you get 66,000 results. I don't know who has the space or the money for all this stuff. And obviously neither do they, if they're selling it all second hand.

There's something I remember stumbling upon once. It was a company like First4Figures, but instead of making video game statues, they made like, busts of dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. Like you were a hunter, you killed a Velociraptor, stuffed it, and mounted its head on a plaque. Some of them were life size. And they were hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars. For what it's worth, they were very nicely detailed. They looked like movie props.

I found out about it through some Jurassic Park fansite. Maybe it was during production of the Jurassic Park SNES video. And everybody in the thread was over the moon with hype, talking about the ones they already had, talking about getting the new one, and I had the same question then: who has space and money for this?

As I thumbed through the forum thread, the conversation shifted, and I got my answer: at least some of these users had been cycling out old busts by selling them on Ebay as a down payment for the new busts. Instead of spending $650 on this immaculate and very heavy dinosaur head, they were only spending, say, maybe a third of that.

But then who are these being made for? If people are constantly chasing new pieces and flipping the old stuff, does the old stuff just end up in a landfill eventually after changing hands enough times? Broken, and unloved?

It's a world I can't understand these days.

Like I got these guys recently because import hobby shop Suruga-ya was having a "free international shipping" sale so a bunch of Japanese merchandise was stupidly cheap. I think Dedede was like $3 and the Goomba was like $2.50

Even them, I got them here and looked around my room and realized the one shelf where all my amiibos and figures and stuff go is getting pretty full and I don't have the room to put up another shelf.

So like I said, it's a world I don't get. A lot of it seems like junk nobody actually needs, but they get it in their heads that this is how they define their love for the fandom they're in. Like "Of course I'm a fan because I spent thiiiiiis much" on what is ostensibly $10 of PVC.

[bumblyburg]

ted lasso finale thoughts

Need the richmond women's team spinoff NOW!!!!!!!!!!! And it better have LESBIANS i swear to god!!!!!!!

As always the strongest part of this ep was the team dynamics. Roy joining the diamond dogs. Isaac with the penalty kick!!!! The fucking dance sequence callback T^T theres no place like afc richmond <3 Them winning the match but losing the whole thing was a good balance of success vs realism. I didn't know enough about football to predict it beforehand LOL but that probably worked in my favor bc i genuinely didnt know whether they would win or lose. Rebecca and ted's friendship was heartwarming as always. I was living in fear that they'd become a couple even though i knew that wasn't what the writers were going for, so I probably need to rewatch to fully enjoy it.

Tedependent lost RIP. it would have made sense but at the same time im kinda glad they didn't, at least this season. trent was still very much a side character and i just don't think the story beats were there for tedtrent endgame. the story would have had to been constructed differently, or it would need another season. I also liked how the main focus was ted & rebecca's friendship rather than either of their romantic relationships. I love a good romance but its not what this story is about.

Thats part of the reason why the dutchman return felt cheap to me lol. Sorry rebecca im always rooting for you but i just wasn't feeling it. Another part of that is probably because Ted and Trent had a much stronger foundation and we still didn't get to see even their friendship develop as much as i would have liked. Maybe ive been spoiled by all the trent this season idk. but i was just hoping for a little more. After all, it's not lost on me that we only got one confirmed gay couple at the end (we don't even know anything about Michael!!! Ugh sorry Im a michael hater he's so boring.)

Speaking of boring, I simply do not care about ted's family. So him moving back was... not really compelling for me. like none of the kansas characters are fleshed out at all. i wish they had done something more interesting with them so i could actually get invested. There was something there with michelle dating their couples therapist, but it ended up falling flat imo. Also Michelle being a teacher is a total copout, I would have preferred if she had an unexpected job that revealed a new side to her. Give her a personality outside of being a wife/mother/caretaker please and thank you.

I did like how Royjamie was left openended!!! thats the ship i care most abt and i knew it wasnt going to *actually* happen so im satisfied with what we got. I am in the (im assuming) minority of royjamie enjoyers that is against roykeeleyjamie. This episode really hammered it in why roy and jamie are not good for keeley LOL, but the signs have been there all along. Keeley needs to be her own boss for a bit! Roy and jamie are just not at her maturity level (lovingly), and they've got some misogyny to work through.

(I need to think on it more, but I'm pretty sure that I liked the way this episode/season handled the Roy And Jamie Are Lowkey Sexist subplot. Like the whole fighting over a woman thing is soooo trite atp, and i still dont know how i feel about them physically fighting over her or whatever. but the story was realistic about how these asshole male footballers are going to have some weird views about women, while still shutting that down those views. like not even giving them the time of day. Keeley literally shoos them out without a word LMAO. So idk need to think about it more but at least keeley didnt end up with either of them).

Hey you know who DOES deserve each other.... and makes each other better people, as represented by their football training arc.... the student is the teacher and the teacher is the student etc etc…… Anyways royjamie is real TO ME!!! (And brett goldstein and phil dunster, number one royjamie warriors. phil dunster wrote royjamie smut I will never get over that)

Overall im sad to see ted lasso go. i think i need to sit with all 3 seasons a bit more before forming my full opinion, but s1 will always have my heart. Mostly because evil jamie and evil rebecca are so so fun to watch.

[captain-kit-adventuress]

Note: I'm not trying to prove myself "right," I'm not sure there is any way to actually do so, but I think this is a fascinating conversation and wanted to add my two cents!

I don't think it's as far off as maybe one might assume. If one uses the US Bureau of Labour Statistics' CPI Inflation Calculator, that number will take inflation in account, of course, but also the Consumer Price Index. Unfortunately, it only goes back to 1913, but that's because we don't have as reliable of income records before then–1913 was the first year income taxes were standardised across the US; before that it was pretty haphazard and very geography-dependent.

According to the calculator, $20 in Jan 1913 USD is the equivalent of $629.42 in Jan 2024 USD. Even taking into account a 7-10 year timing difference, It still may be a bit off, because inflation is always an average to begin with, and an index is a complicated bit of averaging as well, so both of those are subject to the same sorts of flaws any average is subject to, like outliers, population densities, etc. Or like, the fact that the US wouldn't even have all of the current states until 1950 so the data would still be expanding at that point. So there are issues, yes, but I think it's probably as representative as mathematics and incomplete pricing records can make it.

I would also argue, for example, that the suits being sold in 1904-06 were probably a lot nicer than a $600 suit of today. So the price maybe isn't comparable, but is the quality? A quick search leads me to see that an absolute clearance Brooks Brothers suit, originally just shy of $1,300, is now selling for $699. That doesn't include finished sleeves or hems–though that makes sense–and I can't seem to find whether or not alterations are included in the purchase price or not. However, that's for off-the-rack suiting. For a completely bespoke suit, it starts at $1,000, roughly, and again I don't know if that includes the labour or not. How close to Brooks Brothers would, say, a department-store suit have been, in terms of comparable quality? Or even just your average tailor if you went that route?

(From what I can see, the off-the-rack stuff at BB, in some cases, may use what I believe is fusible interfacing (I only have marketing puffery to extrapolate from) which is not exactly what I would consider a high-quality material but I'm also not a sewist of any kind, I just know some basics. And those buttons definitely looked plastic because you can bet they'd talk it up if they were anything nicer.)

Then there's the idea that these indices and comparable historical price lists were made at a time when the general pricing of, say, grocery items vs clothing vs anything was so, so different from today. That rule about rent taking up no more than 1/3 of your monthly income? Probably applicable in 1904-06, not so much today. Food, I think, would have been a lot more expensive then, as a sort of ratio of [expense] to monthly income, especially items like meat and dairy, but we would consider it dirt-cheap by just the amount.

*shrug* pricing in any era is an art, not a science.

Whatever the actual value of the food, I think we can all agree that's a shit-ton of ham and eggs lol.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1904

[sootneo]

no one gave a fuck when i posted this on twitter but hello, this is my personal au for what rt's character would be like in the dsmp:

— i think the role that would fit rt in the dsmp the best is a simple resource-full kind of character. i don't really see him engaging in like elections and wars. because of smplive, i like to think he'd make lots of potions and sell them around for cheap prices. i also REALLY like the idea of rt selling and trading some materials like diamonds and such, consequently having to mature a bit more on that to be able to get netherite.

+ a good main "characteristic" could be that. with time, he becomes professional at digging holes and progresses until he's able to build huge underground spaces, raising an entire empire while hundreds of blocks under the earth. he could have scars from his adventures to the nether, from exploring caves and ravines, and have his clothes go from the suit to a more simple look since he gets dirty easily, only switching to an usual snazzy attire when it comes to going around selling his beloved potions.

+ he could be good friends with techno over that! they'd probably trade a lot, and since they would go well together personality wise, it would develop into an "i'm actually just straight away giving this to you just do this silly favor for me and you can have it."

+ he'd probably get interested in building (before making his empire and everything), he was so dedicated when building the spire in that one smp that it was cute, and the 100 players streams are always about builds, so he would start making little dirt houses, then more cool wooden houses, then progressing through tutorials until he's able to make somewhat of a castle to live in. he'd probably take inspiration from past builds his scribers had made and maybe cc rt could ask for consent to recreate it.

— about the three lives: i think rt would be very scared of losing them, but not in a "i don't wanna die i don't wanna die i don't wanna die" way, but in a "man if i lose a life it's gonna SUCK ASS and i'm gonna be FUCKED pretty soon."

+ he doesn't like getting involved in any kind of pvp, with mobs or people, but he's not scared when it happens. i think he can be quite good at pvping (judging by that one charity stream he did with kevin with the natural disasters happening because that's also all i remember). he's also really good at fleeing from it, like parkouring around, so people would have to hunt him down to get him.

+ about losing them: i think he'd rather lose them in a dramatic situation than simply mining or getting killed by a mob. i wanna think he'd become more and more neurotic everytime he loses one. with 3 he's just chilling and talking to everyone. with 2 he's a bit too cautious of who he approaches or stays close to. with 1 life left he would actually just "go missing" and live underground, away from everyone; i think it would make a cool arc to have someone go look for him and end up stuck in all the mazes he has built and stuff, and it could end in them either becoming good friends or... rt killing them and people getting a confirmation that he's alive because the "_____ was slain by RTGame" would appear in chat. >:)

— about the relationships, rt with wilbur and techno is basically inevitable. but he'd befriend everyone, even if only to a "oh yes, we've talked once! it was nice!" point.

+ he'd be a bit too anxious to talk to tommy, but he'd probably try and befriend him over building stuff, that when he was still a newbie, making cute gardens and tents here and there with the little guy. he'd probably attempt to act like an older sibling just like he watched wilbur and techno do, not exactly soft-spoken but not being too loud so tommy could find a bit of peace in him, still laughing at his jokes and going "tommy, please..." between giggles when he's being mischievous. he'd be someone to suddenly crawl out of a hole just to help tommy when he was in exile, giving him food and some things dream wouldn't notice are different.

+ i like to think that the "tutorials" he'd use were actually lessons from phil. he'd visit him often and ask to help whenever he could, to which dadza couldn't say no to, getting proud whenever rt made something cool by himself or followed his tips while making something impressive for a newbie. they'd spend time building, but i think he'd end up asking rt for materials as well after techno had mentioned it to him one day. i don't think both ccs would like to get heavily involved in lore, so they'd probably talk about others just like they talk about them irl, except maybe once or twice for techno lore or wilbur lore.

+ he'd be good pals with eret too, being protective with him over fundy. they'd be the "we barely know each other but i respect YOU" duo. i think fundy would also really like him to the point of being a very present friend, visiting him often just to talk, maybe going on walks just to mess around. these two would come as package deal.

+ techno and him would act like they "just know each other," but they're actually almost best friends at that point. even though rt understands techno would rather be alone and do things on his own, he shows how he cherishes him by paying visits while bringing useful gifts, staying a bit to help techno here and there with like farming stuff or anything that is considered "not too much" as techno would say. if he called, techno would probably come running to help him. techno also likes the fact rt is good friends with phil, takes care of tommy and is someone who deeply cares about wilbur. i would like to think he'd actually help techno during the butcher happenings because of how close they could've gotten.

+ rtsoot. how do i get started on rtsoot. i don't think he would be the reason for rt to show up at the dsmp, i think rt actually would've wandered there and accidentally found a home for himself, but he'd have arrived just as soon as l'manberg would start counting down its last days. wilbur wouldn't have seen him yet, but rt had heard of his friend being there. the first time wilbur sees him, he has already become unhinged, throwing a "you've gotta be fucking kidding me. you, out of all people, rt?" at him and making him already notice something's happening. i don't like thinking they'd interact much other than wilbur visiting him once and acting very weird, saying things that would make rt worry even more, all while they're just picking berries outside in the forest. after that, wilbur dies, ghostbur comes along, rt helps tommy deal with that while he himself has to deal with the fact he saw wilbur's own father kill him. he feels incredibly depressed whenever he sees ghostbur, and even though the ghost treats him with lots of kindness, even bringing him berries with a huge note half apologizing half trying to understand what he's apologizing for one evening, he's not able to look at him in the eyes. it's not even a shell of his best friend, it's just a blurry image of his face staring right back at him, nothing about the man rt loved (/p) behind those eyes. when revivedbur comes back, he ends up getting closer to him, and when he notices something is ten times worse, he desperately tries to fix him (personally loving the idea of rt going "this isn't you, wilbur! this isn't my wilbur!" and will being so pissed off at him that he grabs his hand and puts on top of his chest just to go "feel this, rt? you don't, right? because i'm dead. your wilbur is fucking dead. i'm the walking corpse of your beloved best friend and everything he wasn't enough to be. you're facing an illusion, but when you look into my eyes you're facing reality. snap out of that pathetic fairytale of yours.") but after getting manipulated to hell and back, he just completely turns on wilbur. would also like to have him take maybe his 2nd life, the fall to a single life remaining and having wilbur as the one who pushed him would be soooooo good. maybe towards the end, if rt is still mentally stable (lol) wilbur could come back and try to apologize, not really knowing how to make it up for rt ("i hated it whenever you looked into my eyes. because i was here. he is. he never died, you know? your wilbur. and i'm sorry that i made it look like i killed your best friend, when he had been standing right in front of you this entire time.")

+ quackity is his "right person, wrong time and wrong judgment." it starts with something silly, like they're having a conversation with someone they both know but they keep saying stuff that clashes, so they're just weirded out by each other since the start. it gets worse when rt helps techno with the butcher thing – fundy easily forgives him, while ranboo and tubbo are understanding of rt's motives, but quackity just gets incredibly mad at him to the point of growing some kind of hatred towards him. they have peak tension after quackity finds out rt has been getting manipulated by wilbur, drama ensues, but quackity ends up saving his life at one point because he doesn't actually hate him, their feelings towards each other were simply messy since they barely ever talked. from then on, it starts to get better, and i think they'd make a good pair. i'd like to think he'd join las nevadas at some point with the sole reason of gambling his ass off but he'd rather do bets with quackity.

[patchun]

after many hours in UM and 1cc'ing with every character, i can finally present my card tier list! some of these rankings are based on personal preference. for instance, some tier lists have placed remilia at s tier, and i don't DISAGREE with that. it's a really good card, but i just don't enjoy it as much. so in a way, this is very much "the casual player's tier list". i will explain some things below if you're interested:

S tier

Saki is in S tier because her card is ESSENTIAL, in my opinion. The damage difference is really important for every character, and at least as far as I can tell, it doesn't drop off late-game, either. If someone informs me that it does drop off when you hit full power, i'll be removing it.

Now you may ask: why Miko? Sumireko and Piece are so good, and you just talked about how good Remilia is. Well, I like Miko because with those other cards, I tend to accidentally try to use them as death-bombs. And of course, that never works. None of the active cards function as death bombs, so that false sense of comfort does me in more times than not. For that reason, Miko's active is good for me, because if you want to use it well, you have to use it preemptively. There are cards I know I struggle with, or midboss sections like stage 4, 5 and 6 mid - that Miko can handle so long as you use it at the right time. Byakuren isn't ESSENTIAL for Miko to be good, but it makes the active a lot better and reduces cooldown. If you have Miko, Byakuren probably goes to S tier.

A tier

That said, if you can't get a Miko, Sumireko is the second best bet. Her little circle of invulnerability can come in really clutch if you can use it at the right time (or remember to use it at all LOL). Byakuren would go in S if Sanae, the definitive best character (those who say Reimu is... you're crazy, snakes are too powerful), actually needed it. But she doesn't. Sanae's bomb is already insanely strong, and she doesn't really need Byakuren's help. That said. With Byakuren she becomes even stronger. So in retrospect, I think I should have put Byakuren in S tier. It just feels good, and that's important!

Speaking of remembering to use ability cards and bombs, though... Eirin can be a real run saver. Near the end of the run, you can start getting tired. If you have a silly death that could have been prevented, you may get discouraged. In those situations, it can be easy to snowball into a defeated spiral and keep dying over and over, without even bombing! But Eirin has the power to prevent that. More experienced players may find this one useless, but if you're just trying to 1cc these games for fun, Eirin can be quite good!

Mokou is good if you can afford her for obvious reasons - but be careful not to spend too much power later on to get this card. The later stages become quite difficult when you're low on power - you can go into a loss snowball really quickly because you can't clear enemies quick enough so the screen fills with bullets. To get Mokou you kind of need to be on a positive snowball.

B tier

For B tier, the top three equipment options really depend on who you're playing and what you need. For Sanae and Reimu, I think Mini-Hakkero is really good. Based on my testing, Hakkero is better than Needle and Missile, so in comparison, the other two are probably not worth it.

Sakuya B has in my experience been a GREAT card for both Marisa and Sakuya. The knives can be hard to aim, but they seem to do quite a bit of damage, so they really help to make up for the lack of range on both Sakuya and Marisa. Honestly though, I think they'd be fine on anyone. I haven't seen anyone talking about them but... yeah, they're underrated. Another thing is: they feel good.

Then, yin-yang orbs - I just think these are nice to have. They're better than snakes as equipment primarily because they can hit behind you, but I also think they have more consistent dps. Snakes miss a lot more often, which isn't really a big deal when you're Sanae who has 4 snake outlets, but it is a big deal when there's only one snake.

Alice doll - I'm pretty sure this is good. It moves quickly, homes in on stuff, can hit behind you, increases DPS, isn't too expensive. I like to take this when I see it.

Then, lives. Lives being only 80 money can be a big deal. In quite a few of my runs, I've taken lives 3/5 stages because I was just not very lucky with card selection, but I still managed. Lives are very strong if you can manage to not waste them and remember to use bombs.

Yachie's card is good if you can get it early - it wouldn't be in B tier except it's very, very cheap. Only 140 iirc. Now, the UFO... why did I choose that as my best bullet eraser? You may say: patchun, you've said in the past that Okina is really good for erasing bullets! And yes, you're right, you're right - but Okina is really only consistently useful for that one Chimata card, and once you learn that card, it's not very difficult to avoid. Plus, UFO can help with that card too! UFO doesn't give a fuck what it touches, it will erase it. It doesn't have a cooldown as far as I can tell, so it just erases everything in a circle around you constantly. I rank it this high up because UFO saved my ass MANY, many times against Misumaru, who is in my opinion the toughest boss in the game. UFO can destroy yin-yang orbs, so it makes several of her patterns a lot easier. Not even Sumireko can destroy yin-yang orbs. If you happen to see UFO and nothing else, and if you don't think you'll be distracted by it, try it out.

Few more comments

I think Sanae Frog is good on Marisa and Sakuya. Not better than the equipment cards in A tier, but good if you see it. I think anything that helps with Marisa and Sakuya's horrible range is great for them.

I've seen Sannyo card ranked pretty highly, and maybe if you get it early on it is, but I don't feel like it's worth a place in your starting deck, personally.

Mamizou can be good if you've already snowballed as a way to prevent a downfall. But I don't think she's worth picking up early at all. And Keiki's bullet erasing is good, but I found it often erased something I didn't need it to erase just to fail at erasing what I did need it to erase. Probably better than nothing, but far from a must-have, and the no-CD on the UFO and backdoor having very little CD makes them stand out for erasure.

I've heard good things about Aya, as well, but I personally never take my hand off the shoot key. Yuyuko's card may save you in a miracle situation but it's just very unlikely, honestly might be more startling than helpful. You generally know when you're about to die, so when you suddenly don't, it's like... your brain hasn't processed correctly, so you probably just die soon after. Sakuya left-right knives suck. Don't use them lol.

And finally, Utsuho is such a funny card. But... power is such an important resource in this game, with how snowball-y it is, that I could never justify using Utsuho on a serious attempt. I'd love to see some Utsuho challenge runs though.

[ktheist]

Loved your recent work!!! I was so fond of how oc and tae's relationship grew at such a quick pace yet felt nothing close to overwhelming, the trust, love and effort they're willing to put into their relationship was so lovely to read and unfold 🥺 oc is definitely my favorite character and worthy of so many hugs even though side eyed her for treating yoojung like that! Which reminds me, could you give a little extra details on jk and yoojung's relationship? You don't have to I'm so sorry if this came off as demanding I was just interested in finding out how they'd make it work or how yoojung would grow confidence within herself and her relationship with koo. Thank you for releasing such a lovely work!!!! Have a great day ❤️

First off thank you!!! I'm really happy you liked and event sent this wonderful ask to know more about the character(s) 🥺

 true, oc needs to get her act together and make up to yoojung, esp since yoojung is her best friend's girlfriend now so they'd be seeing each other a lot and the guilt is gonna catch up to her soon. but oc being oc would tell jk to invite yoojung to their get togethers bc she knows it would make jk happy that she and yoojung are getting along. then when she's alone w yoojung (taehyung's probably in on getting jk away for a bit like dragging jk to his study to geek about a new art he got and jk would follow bc he's supportive and welcomes his best friend's geeking) - anyways oc would apologize to yoojung and say that if get togethers like this make her uncomfy, oc would back off and make excuses about being busy next time but they would probably have to meet for special occasions and oc apologizes bc she probably won't be able to avoid that.

"the least I could do is leave you two alone after cockblocking for years." is something along the lines oc would say.

but yoojung being yoojung would forgive oc though the new person she is would give oc a piece of her mind first.

something like, “it’s cool i forgot about it but since you mentioned it, you do know you were an ass back then right?”

in college, yoojung thought oc was cool bc jk always talked about her before yoojung fr met oc. so when oc wasn't the person she thought she'd be, yoojung was surprised but she still joined hang outs where oc was around bc like jk said ‘maybe oc was having a bad day‘ but she was hesitant to talk to oc first bc oc was hostile at the party. later, after oc started dating taehyung, oc started not giving any mind to yoojung and yoojung was ‘oh ): i guess we’re not meant to be friends’. but given oc’s personality, the two of them would’ve been great friends if oc were’t biased against yoojung (she sees yoojung as a fickle and would dump jk when the going gets tough - but since jk and yoojung didn’t date in college we’ll never know if college!yoojung would cut and run) and if yoojung didn’t know/like jk first.

so in college, after the waterslides, her relationship or like whatever she had with jk faded away bc yoojung started distancing herself from him even though she knew he was asking her out like "oh I haven't seen that movie yet, wanna go watch together?"

but yoojung would always say no bc she was pretty traumatized to get close to rich kids even if jk is one of the decent ones. the person she was in college still sought validation from her friends or friendships but she knew when to back off when she felt like she wasn't welcomed by a certain group. so she found her own not so rich friends aka normal friends who she could relate to. actually, before she started hanging out w seonghwa who’s jk’s friend, she was a little floating cloud with lots of friends w no particular friends who she’d hang out with. so the normal friends were more like friends she was close with but never really hung out with them to get to know them until she dissociate herself from jk & co.

then, looking back, she realized that she wasn't the problem at all. it was those rich kids who were like super bratty and probably didn't like her bc she can't afford high end brands (i say probably bc she’ll never know and she defo didnt know yoojin was mean to her bc their names sounded similar lol) so she learned from that and started going "omg yes they're so cheap!!!" whenever a rich brat tried to point out that whatever she's wearing is a ripoff. she wasn't ashamed for wearing what she wore before but yoojin picking on her clothes or shoes like that kinda made her notice something wrong about what she’s wearing. but no more of those!! yoojung finds these cheap ripoffs or no name brands very practical and they last long enough that once she gets tired of them, they would be worn out and ready to go in the bin so she can change her wardrobe occasionally which is fun!

either way once she met jk again, she's like "oh he's the cute dude I had a crush on before" but that's about it. then jk being jk was very giddy to meet yoojung again. after meeting 2 times at a meeting he finally asked her out and yoojung said no unless it's for work bc she's practical and if they're gonna eat a meal together, might as well also discuss about the project they're supposed to work on. they keep meeting up several times and she accepts jk's kindness like driving her home after the supposed 'dinner-work meetin.' it was pretty confusing for jk bc no girl has ever look like she's interested in him but also be disinterested. it's like... like he's not enough for yoojung to want a relationship with but she appreciates his handsome face, treats him like a decent human being and is quite happy with working with him but that's it!! usually for jk, when a girl is nice to him, he thinks they're into him (another slap of reality to his face lmao). he kinda knows he’s oblivious when it comes to girls but don’t know how to fix that. so it takes him a lot of advice seeking from jimin the tru womanizer/personizer (since jimin would screw just about anyone) and from taehyung who’s in an established relationship. so like both friends know how to treat a possible love interest but with different approaches and jk needs all the advice he can get.

over time, after lots of lots effort put into giving flowers, chocolates etc by jk, yoojung admits she likes likes jk but she doesn't wanna be a 2nd choice and he can't be choosing oc and taehyung over her like celebrating holidays w the three of them and including her in it as an addition ; a third wheeler. jk had a lot of thinking to do after that esp about his priorities. they make it work bc yoojung explains to him why she gets upset since he's pretty oblivious to things. his previous gfs just dumped him whenever they're upset bc they get even more frustrated that he couldn't figure things out himself.

anyway, yoojung isn't as fixed on achievements being a yardstick for your self worth. unlike oc who keeps making money and expanding her business so she can be a worthy partner for taehyung. neither definition of worthiness is bad; just different. and taehyung loves oc even if she’s not building an empire as we speak.

And yoojung is content with herself as she is. she'll welcome jk in her life but two strikes and he's out; but jk keeps showing that he's willing to listen and learn and yoojung isn't the kind to fault someone for being ignorant esp since they're eager to improve. and yeah, that's how yoojung grew into herself and how she and jk's relationship is going!

this answer turned out to be a little long. either way, may you have the wonderfullest of day <3

[raziiyah]

that's a good question! maybe randall doesn't have a plan yet; johnny found him immediately after he got banished so he basically went from working for waternoose to working for johnny in mere minutes, so i feel like he'll first be stunned that he's actually free. sure he's a wanted man, but for once, he isn't working for anyone. he can do whatever he wants, unbound to any rules or bosses

randall was able to break himself out of jail, but he's certainly not selfless and i don't think he'd risk his freedom to go back for johnny or waternoose. maybe he'll find a new ally, either some new character or a tWiSt VilLiAn, but i really just want the writers to make him have to work for himself by himself. if anyone maybe randall would manipulate and recruit joy and it'll be revealed that she couldn't turn down the offer. she's a talented scarer and has the same competitive spirit, and probably prefers scream over laughter. and maybe randall offers that if she helps him get back at sulley, he'll help her get back at tylor. and they're both reptile-like monsters so maybe randall was an inspiration to her when he was a scarer. but it's just an idea i had and i honestly don't think they'd do that, nor do i want them too, i want to see randall try to achieve his goal by himself

part of me wasn't even sure what they would do with tylor and val in season 3 because their story seemed complete at the end of season 2. but if that means the show will shift more attention to mike, sulley and randall i am all for it. we'll probably still see a lot of the story from tylor and mift's perspective though

randall's invisibility powers are op as hell so even though the whole city is looking out for him, it'll be difficult for him to be caught. something i thought of is with randall having utilized doors to get back and forth from mi to fear co in season 2, and with johnny knowing where randall was when he saved him and somehow having an exact copy of that door (me utilizing that plot hole into this plot haha) maybe randall will some aquired knowlege on door tech to travel back and forth from the monster and human world.

i feel like randall actually never actually getting out and exploring human world was quite diappointing because all the ideas people thought of with how he'd react to things and survive and such were basically made null. so maybe this could provide another chance for the writers to play with that concept. maybe they'll even rehash some ideas from the canceled mi sequel lost in scaradise

with randall being a criminal, there's basically no way he can legally become the scare record holder, so ultimately, his main goal right now is probably to terrorize mike and sulley. so perhaps he'll sneak into mi again and find a way to access boo's door, or use whatever technology johnny used to make a copy of her door to find and kidnap her. this would mess with sulley and mike big time, and with boo being used as leverage as a hostage, mike, sulley, roz, duncan, the cda, etc. wouldn't want to risk doing anything against randall's wishes in fear for her safety

maybe somewhere randall will try to manipulate tylor, which won't work of course, and he'll joke around being like "eh it was worth a shot" i also want to see him interact with mike and sulley of course, and he better GO OFF. perhaps the show writers will also pull something unexpected, like when it was revealed that chet was working for the roz or roger being waternoose's son. like randall got johnny arrested on purpose or has been working with some unexpected character or some random shit

steve buscemi can't be cheap so i don't know how major of a role randall will actually get. but i really hope they do something cool and interesting while still being in character, and bring back more of the nastiness that made him such a good villain in mi. as for the ending, idk, i feel like people are pretty divided on randall getting a redemption or not. i've said this before, but i feel like randall's got a long way to go for redemption, but i'm not completely opposed to if maw handles it in a believable creative way. i just don't really want him to be banished again because it'll just feel so repetitive. and please do not kill him off (i'll be traumatized)

Randall in Season 3

The longer I think about it, the more I struggle to think what the fuck is Randall actually going to do in Season 3?

He's got nothing left, everyone knows he's on the loose, his allies are both still in jail, the entirety of Monstropolis is against him, and Roz, Duncan and the CDA are trying to hunt him down

It's literally him against the world

So Like.... What even is the actual game plan here?

I can't see any conceivable way how Randall can be used as the Big Bad of Season 3 in this particular state

Only thing I can see Randall doing now is going into hiding for the majority of the season and like maybe somehow find a new ally who can help him come up with some new evil plan?

But idk I'm not a writer

[leighlim]

I had not expected to be watching again! It's...been....how long?

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The ads were everywhere (I catch three shows on Ten: 'The Graham Norton Show', 'Have You Been Paying Attention', and 'The Cheap Seats' --- so there was a lot of opportunity for the programmers of the network to get my brain to pay attention)! I wouldn't say I was worn down, but more due to the content of the extended ad. It promised increased inclusion. I didn't know what was happening at first when I got a nudge (classic 'Blink' in action) while skipping over the minutes during an ad break.

My mind was going: "Huh? What was going on?" Which prompted me to look up this Season's instalment of 'The Bachelorette' it was a bit of a struggle to find what I was looking for as Brooke Blurton had already appeared on two 'sibling shows' of the dating franchise. So I was wondering if the ads were pointing to the American version when I got results from 2018.

Then when I found out what was happening (Osher Günsberg opened the first episode noting Brooke's queer identity) I thought back to a conversation between Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor during an episode of 'Have You Been Paying Attention?' --- and of course the teaser (I was busy munching on popcorn so I just sat through it) that comes with this particular brand of Reality TV (actually...I guess that would be how you'd separate a 'Reality Show' from a docuseries).

Decades ago...I did invest quite a bit of time on the franchise and caught a lot of (I'm not sure if I caught all of them) the debut airing of this specific series (I'm not specifying by country anymore...) that had Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter. If you had me in your team during trivia night, I would have crashed and burned if the question was: "Name four 'Bachelorettes' and participants." Those two are the only names I would likely remember.

Why? I'm guessing that it was because their connection came across as real. At one point during the final two, Trista popped on her glasses while spending time Ryan. It's not the ideal I would have wanted (being a fan of 'practical wardrobe items') yet somehow that stayed with me: Guys like Charlie Maher may dazzle, but its important to look for the Ryans. The person who makes you feel comfortable in your own skin when you're around each other. That person spells 'life partner'.

My hesitancy to invest my dwindling hours to another reality show (the only one I would consider would be 'Married at First Sight' due to the personal development revelations) plus the revelation from an episode of 'Reputation Rehab' how heavily manipulated the interactions are (with the goal of mining as much drama as possible to keep viewers glued).

The biggest thing that made me a little bit more open to staying (at least until the end of the first episode) is the introduction to Brooke which mention the circumstances of her exit from 'The Bachelor' (Nick Cummins was the one doling out the roses) was mentioned. I thought that (Brooke sticking to her guns and walking after she found out that Nick really couldn't verbalise what he wanted) was a good example to show the viewing public.

I know it's actually not a significant reason to keep watching, because I can rest easier that popular culture now has included an important ingredient in relationships: You must know what you want before starting to date. The whole idea of just jumping in and seeing what's out there before taking the time to get to know oneself is basically (in my opinion) the first step when considering starting a search for 'the one'.

The biggest surprise was that there was equal distribution between men and women! I would have thought that at the most...they'd be...maybe 3-5 women (since those who openly identify as queer are in the minority). I know that this is a show that has a pretty high viewership and is reflective of most of the people I'd probably bump into when catching the train to the CBD, so...I guess I am delighted too...that maybe it'll be the end of only the blond doll being chosen as the representative 'look' of Australia.

Yes, there's a bit of discomfort that Brooke comes across (again...it might be the editing!) as someone who is bent on looking for that one person (Brooke uses the phrase: 'my person'). Because it potentially perpetuates the myth that there is that 'one person' for everyone. I know that you're probably yelling at your screen: "But... Leigh! She actually didn't say that. It's likely Brooke meant that the person she is looking for changes...because people change. A specific person may be right for a certain season of your life...but not the next!"

To that...I'd say: I understand. So we shall see how much the show feeds (or drains) my mental energy. It also helps that Osher is quite an authentic human being (yes...he comes across as slightly stilted because the show works on 'formula' so we're seeing more of his work persona than his home one --- but when more relaxed...I find myself quite easily able to watch documentaries where he is the main driving force).

PS: If you are currently putting a list of Romantic Comedies that have either the protagonist or her love interest being clear on relationship expectations...then I would vote for 'Saving Face'. I appreciated that at least one of the film recap podcasts, there is a mention of how clear Vivian Shing was in terms of her expectations (healthy communication, meeting family and friends...).

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Highlight

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Episode Rating: 6/10

[night-of-the-wicked]

Valentine fic for @neomineom

Hope you like it!

--------<3---

Dallas shifted in his sleep, instinctively sensing something in the bed was amiss. Reaching over, his arms clawed at the empty void nearby. Stupidly panic arose in him. It took the heister's brain a painfully long time to realize there was nothing to worry about. Dallas lifted himself and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, thankful he did not feel hungover this morning. He almost hated the way his subconscious felt less secure without the kid's unconscious form pressed up against him. Waking up with his arm draped over him just felt so goddamn right in a way he couldn't quite explain to himself.

"Morning Valentine!" Sokol announced as he entered the room, carrying with him a tray. 'Shit. Fuck-' "That's today?" Dallas sputtered. Sokol presented him with a plate of expertly cut heart shaped raspberry pancakes. "Always has been last time I bothered to look at a calender." Sokol answered, eager for the older man to taste his breakfast. The Russian ate a forkful of his own meal, the crusts leftover from the hearts. Dallas inwardly cursed himself. 'This fucking kid went to all this trouble and I didn't even bother to get him a card? Argh, He's going to hate me.'

Dallas recalled the two of them passing by one those obnoxious Valentine displays a few days ago when making a supply run for the safehouse. Sokol snickered at the lame pick up lines on the cheap boxes of candy. Why couldn't he have grabbed something on the sly then? "You have Valentine's in Russia?" Dallas asked with mild interest, eyes more focused on the shopping list rather than the nauseating amount of red and pink hearts plastered everywhere. "We do but it is more for adults. It's not so much a traditional holiday, more of a modern one. You get a gift for your girlfriend and hope she doesn't throw it back in your face."

Back in the present Dallas ate a slice of pancake mulling over his options. He had never had a boyfriend before, he wasn't sure if he could get away with throwing a bouquet of flowers at him with a box of chocolates and call it a night. Jewelry was definitely out of the question, perfume wasn't a sure bet either. Sokol tore him away from his thoughts. "So how is it, stud?"

"Don't call me that. And it's pretty great actually. You did well.. especially with the execution. Someone should give you a spot on top chef." Sokol scoffed at that and leaned on him. "Wouldn't be fair competition then. I'd destroy those assholes." Dallas nodded in agreement as he took another bite. "They'd probably just give up and appoint you a judge halfway through the season." The younger male beamed with approval. "I would not go easy on my critiques either, I'd make them cry."

The two of them finished their meals and the aftermath was carefully placed aside out of harm's way on the floor. Sokol already had his arms wrapped around Dallas, preventing any hope for escape. "You should take it easy today, maybe take a nap after slaving away in the kitchen." It was worth a try. "I used to work out six hours a day hockey training, I don't think cooking one meal will kill me." Sokol snickered and eased into the crook of his neck, giving the sensitive skin there some attention. Dallas let his hands travel to his back, feeling the firm flesh beneath his T-shirt.

He didn't want to keep thinking about an exit strategy all day, he wanted to just be able to relax and savor their alone time, which had a tendency to be scarce these days. "Listen, Sergei." Sokol stopped showering him with affection immediately, it was rare for Dallas to bother addressing him on a first name basis. Almost reluctantly he pulled away from the kisses and stared at Nathan head on. "I'm going to be straight with you. I didn't get you shit for Valentine's day. Wasn't even on my radar. I should have paid more attention, I just feel like a dick for it. I promise I'll make it up to you somehow." Dallas expected the Russian to slap him or for his insults to dissolve into a mixture of his native tongue and english but instead his eyes softened. "I don't care about that, I don't need idiotic card to tell me something I already know. I just want you here. With me." Dallas was at a loss for words. Relief seeped into him and he felt somewhat silly for thinking he was totally fucked. "I'm still making it up to you." he insisted stubbornly as Sokol started planting kissing along his jaw working his way to his lips, which Dallas returned generously. "I didn't tell you not to." Sokol whispered into his graying stubble. It was then an idea sparked into Dallas's head...

The next day Sokol awoke to his room being utterly assaulted by an obscene amount of various chocolate and candy valentine gifts. "Oh my god, how much did you spend on this? A grand?" he gasped, sifting through the piles of it, eyes wide with horror. "Not even." Dallas replied with a wry grin. "There's something you need to learn about America, we got hell of a lot of sales the next fucking day after a holiday"

"But-! I can't eat five million calories alone! You have to to suffer with me."

"Gladly. And we got enough to share with whoever wants it." After about a week of Valentine binging no one on the team ever wanted to see a heart shaped piece of chocolate ever again.