#this has been another rambling in the tags segment

[zmarayu]

cheeb

[simp-ly-writes]

Can you do a Spencer x reader sickfic bc I’m sick rn and it’s bothering me :/

Under the Weather

─────── · · A Smosh Sick-Fic

Pairing: Spencer Agnew x gn!Sick!Reader

─ · · TAGS: gender-neutral pronouns, fluff, sick-fic, comfort, mentions of flu.

─ · · MASTERLIST | TAGLIST REQUEST | WORDCOUNT: 767

─ · · A/N: I'm so sorry that you got sick so soon after your birthday 😔 wishing you health hope you are feeling a bit better now though, dear reader! 🫶

─────── · ·

You wanted to die. Not in the literal sense but it did feel like you were. Through your blurry vision you made out some number over one-hundred on the thermometer before burrying yourself back under the covers as a cold chill ran across your hot and acheing skin.

Fuck, I was supposed to go out today, the notification on your phone blaring through your already pounding head as you groan and look for the off switch before going into a concussive sneezing segment.

"Hey, I grabbed some groceries from the store-" your boyfriend, Spencer mentioned opening the bedroom door as you groaned, throwing your phone to the end of the bed so you could cover your face within the pillows.

"Don't come any closer, might get you sick," you warn, throwing up a hand to wave him away like a white flag yet a dip in the bed has your arm falling back down to your side, the hair getting brushed out from your face as you huff back a cough.

"Have you taken your temperature yet? You're really burning up, honey," Spencer speaks more softly now as you press your head into his cold hand in a cat-like fashion. You can hear the actual cats chasing themselves around the apartment in the background as the air condition comes back on with a subtle hum.

"Yeah, came out to a hundred-something," you mumble out from the pillow, "texted in sick, I feel like shit." Spencer hums out, listening to your words as he takes in your state.

"Can I get you anything? Medication, water, tea, soup, juice? Another blanket-" Spencer rambles, looking at you intently for an answer. You knew he was not going to leave without one.

"Some juice would be great, I think I already drank the rest of it last night through, I'm really sorry if I ended up getting you sick last night, Spence," your tone horse as you cough in between breaths, eyes closing and eyebrows pinned together as another wave of pain radiates through your bones, you feel pathetically limp.

"Hey, none of that. If I get sick, I get sick. Let me take care of you," Spencer leans in, kissing your temple and letting out a small sigh to the subconscious smile you try and fight.

"Mmm-kay," you hum out, falling asleep to Spencers soft caress, his fingers scraping against your scalp, fingers gracing your cheek as you fall into a deep sleep from his touch.

─────── · ·

You did not remember when you feel asleep, what time of day it was or even if a month had passed. Your eyes peeled themselves open, your bones cracking with a satisfying stretch and you smile seeing the cats laying by your feet moving slowly to greet your recently awakened state.

"Its good that you ended up sleeping, I got you some more medication from the drug store and those that lausange flavour you like. I'm making soup too if you think you're ready for it?" Spencer comments, leaning against the doorframe as he observes the cats circling around your lap and the way your hair sticks up in all kinds of directions.

"Only if you eat some with me, and watch the new Dropout episode," you bargain to a playful eye-roll that has your heart racing and not from your sickness. "I'll be back, one sec," Spencer mentions, turning back down the hall as you move yourself to a side of the bed and take the next dose of your medication.

Spencer comes back into the room with a tray, two bowls of piping hot soup and and a few slices of bread and fruit sit next to them in a thoughtful display. "Thank you, honey. You really didn't have to do all this, I would've just been fine with canned soup-"

"But I want you to get better, not just be fine," Spencer cut you off with a smile, placing the tray on your lap before crawling over the bed and reaching to take his own bowl in his lap.

"That was kinda cringe," you mention, but by the way you refuse to make eye-contact with him, staring intently at the bowl of soup in front of you. Spencer chuckles, hand reaching over to rest on your thigh as he rubs small circles into the sore muscle.

"You like cringe, we wouldn't be dating otherwise,' Spencer observes. "I guess you are right," and you both chuckle at that before you begin chocking on your soup as Spencer pats down your back.

"I love you, Spence."

"I love you too."

─────── · ·

─ · · A/N: wheres a Spencer when I need one? lol

─ · · SPENCER AGNEW TAGLIST: @lisiliely @missflufffanfics @little-stitious-studios @thejourneyneverendsx @sibsteria @lizzylynch1

[kyleoreillylover]

Fashionably Late

Sami Zayn (platonic) x Fem!Black!Reader x Kevin Owens (platonic)

Summary: Torn between too many outfit choices, indecisive girlfriends and desperate to avoid any crazy fans discovering where you're staying, you call your best friends Sami and Kevin for a ride. The only problem? Your segment starts in 20 minutes, and includes both men, one of which (Kevin) now wants your head on a platter. Will you make it to the arena in time?

tagged: @southerngirl41@venusesworld @jeysbae @reci1996@tbones450 @steakwithasideofmashngravy @selena-tyler-564@saintaquarius@whatdoeseverybodywant@raya-hunter01@hope4more

a/n: this is a total crack fic. I needed something to lighten up my life, and I hope this does the same for yours. Enjoy!

Time: 7:45 PM

Liv and Naomi’s voices rang through the room like alarms.

“No, the red dress!” Liv screamed, holding her phone up to her face, her expression as intense as if lives were at stake.

“But the silver set has that effect,” Naomi countered, looking equally convinced, throwing her hands up on screen. “You have a segment, you’ve got to kill it, girl!”

The pile of outfits on the bed was growing with every suggestion, clothes scattered around like some chaotic fashion explosion. The red dress, the silver set, heels that probably made a three-story building jealous — all of it a blur. It wasn’t even the outfits. It was the fact that neither Liv nor Naomi could pick a single option.

“They’re both stunning, you know you’ll look amazing,” Liv insisted.

“Ugh! I can’t— okay, last one. We need another outfit check,” Naomi added, still flipping through options with wild enthusiasm.

A glance at the clock on the bedside table stopped everything.

8:50 PM — Realization and Panic Mode

Silence.

SmackDown segment…9:30 PM. Location? An arena across town. You’re still at the hotel.

“OH MY GOD, IT’S ALMOST NINE!”

You let out a scream, cutting off Liv and Naomi, who are both shrieking with laughter and yelling at you to HURRY. The Facetime screen goes black as you hang up, frantically dialing Sami’s number, hoping to God he picks up.

8:50 PM 

Kevin Owens is done. Beyond done. He and Sami are in the locker room, scripts laid out, getting ready to run through the segment.

They both know it’s going to be fire — this whole “Honorary Uce” angle with Sami is gold, and they’re practically buzzing with ideas. But there’s one problem: you aren't here.

You're never late. The woman shows up early for everything. You're also an absolute perfectionist about your wardrobe. So naturally, Kevin’s mind starts running wild, thinking you had some disaster or something.

Sami sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Kev, maybe she’s just...stuck somewhere?”

And then, the phone rings. FaceTime.

Kevin picks it up, and there you are, hair done, makeup on, looking good — but very frazzled. Behind you, it’s pure chaos. Outfits are everywhere, like a tornado went through her hotel room.

“Oh my god, you guys, you guys! Help!”

Kevin felt a headache forming just from the sound of your panicked voice.

Okay, so you weren't in an emergency that required EMTs, but at this rate, Kevin was about ready to call someone for himself.

Sami’s face softened, but even he looked a bit on edge. “Wait...are you not on your way?” he asked, his voice calm but with a very real hint of panic.

“I—I was! I mean, I was about to leave, but then Liv and Naomi... and then they couldn’t decide, and I couldn’t decide, and now I don’t know what to wear!” you rambled, looking as close to the verge of tears as Kevin had ever seen.

Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath. “So you’re telling us...you’ve been ready, but just can’t decide what to wear?”

Sami tried to be encouraging. “Okay, breathe, it’s not the end of the world. Just pick something, alright?”

“But I can’t just pick! I need an opinion!” You said the last word with all the desperation in the world, staring at them both through the screen like they held the answer to all your problems.

Kevin glanced at Sami. “Here’s an opinion: Get. to. A. Car.”

“But Kevin—”

“Nope,” Kevin interrupted, sternly. “No more buts. You’re getting to the arena right now. Do you understand?”

You swallowed, nodding but still looking around at the tornado of options surrounding you.

"Fine. But—could you guys maybe come and get me? Because if I take an Uber, some crazy fan might see me and figure out the hotel…remember last time! And I can’t walk there, and—and—”

“Fine, fine! We’re on our way,” Kevin said, already grabbing his keys as he shoved the phone into his pocket, muttering the entire time. “This woman, I swear...”

Sami gave him a reassuring smile as they headed out the door. “Look, she’d do the same for us, right?”

Kevin shot him a look. “She’d think about it. And then get sidetracked picking out shoes.”

9:05 PM — Hotel Room Tornado

Kevin’s jaw drops when they finally arrive. You're spraying herself with perfume, the air so thick with it that it nearly chokes him. Your room looks like it exploded: dresses, shoes, accessories strewn everywhere.

“Uh… so… what happened here?” Sami asks gently, trying to mask his shock.

You whirled around, eyes wide, clutching a pair of heels. “I don’t know! It just… spiraled! And I still don’t know what to wear. Can one of you reach up there and hand me that other perfume bottle?”

Sami hesitantly reaches for the perfume. You snatched it, spraying yourself and the room like it’s some kind of ritual.

Kevin finally steps in, grabbing the perfume bottle from you. “Alright, that’s enough! You already smell like a department store!”

You paused, looking genuinely surprised. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Kevin deadpans, barely hiding his amusement. “Now can we please pick something?”

Your eyes flicker between Kevin and Sami, desperate for some guidance. “Please, I’m begging. I need an opinion.”

“Listen,” Kevin said, voice stern, “here’s an opinion: we need to get out the door now. No more perfume. No more earrings. You look fine!”

“But which outfit?” you begged, eyes wide and pleading, grabbing at another rhinestone-covered top from your pile.

Kevin rolls his eyes. He had his “stern dad” face you usually saw him have with his kids. “Here’s another opinion: Get. To. The. Car. Now. So grab something, anything, because we’re not missing this segment. Or I'll drag u out like this...”

“Okay! Okay.” You frantically nodded, grabbing a bag of clothes in a rush. But you’re still panicking, hopping on one foot as you try to fasten your heels. “Wait, wait! Do I go with the red dress, or the black one with the rhinestones, or—”

You were still struggling to get your heels on, and they are so tall that, for a moment, you almost fall over, your hands flailing as you try to balance.

Kevin let out a long-suffering sigh, walked over, and, with remarkable gentleness, scooped you up and tossed you over his shoulder.

“Kevin!” you yelped, laughing but still scrambling for your heels. "I have a skirt on!" 

“Too bad. You should have thought about that before making us late. Put those heels on in the car. We don’t have time for this, were going now!” Kevin ordered as he carried you down the hall, Sami grabbing the bags and following behind.

9:15 PM — En Route to the Arena

In the backseat, you’re still panicking, practically rummaging through one of your bags as you start asking questions they barely understand.

“Which highlighter should I go for? Does this lip color look too bold? Should I touch up my eyeshadow? Sami, I need an opinion — it’s got to look fierce but not, you know, too fierce.”

Sami, bless him, actually humors you. “Uh, I’d say… go for whatever makes you look the most… fierce but not too fierce?” He shrugs, glancing at Kevin, who just rolls his eyes.

Kevin finally snaps, “How about whatever lets us get out of this car on time?”

9:25 PM — Arena Locker Room They dragged you straight to their locker room, not giving you a chance to second-guess.

Kevin stood by the door, hands on his hips. “Alright, pick one. Now.”

You fumbled through the options, but everything seemed like it could work. “I just need your guys' opinion!” You begged, glancing between them.

Kevin gave you a look that was 50% done and 50% concerned.

He crossed his arms, sighing deeply. “My opinion is..."

You gave him a hopeful look that almost made him feel bad.

"...Is one that gets us out of here and into the parking lot now."

Your face dropped as Kevin continued. "Triple H will have our heads if we’re late, and then no more budget for your endless outfits.”

That actually seems to scare you into focus, and after a dramatic sigh, you look at Sami, eyes begging him to make the choice for you.

Sami, patience worn thin but still kind, grabs the first outfit he sees tossed onto the bench: a sleek black crop top with rhinestones and matching tight leather pants. “This one. It’s simple, it’s hot, and it doesn’t take a hundred hours to get into.”

You hesitate for a second, looking at it, then at him, like you’re about to argue. Kevin doesn’t even give you the chance.

“Bathroom. Change. Now.” His expression is pure dad-mode, like there’s zero room for debate. He even points at the door for extra emphasis.

You huff, grabbing the outfit, muttering something about “fashion police” as you dart into the bathroom. Kevin and Sami exchange a look, relief mixed with exasperation.

Finally, after what feels like forever (and more muffled muttering from you), you step out, fully dressed in the chosen outfit. Kevin gives you an approving nod, arms crossed. “There. Perfect. See how easy that was?”

"No." You pouted, going to get some perfume, but Kevin takes it from your hand once again, looking at you in disbelief. "No more perfume. You already smell like a whole store, now let's GO!"

You jumped at his tone, getting up and racing out the door. “Fine, dad.”

Sami gave Kevin a exasperated look before he followed you, mostly to steady you in your heels (you can barely ever run in them, so why you wore them Kevin will never understand)

Kevin watched you run both ahead, muttering to himself, “If she pulls this again, I’m going to…” He trailed off, clearly unable to hold back a fond smile despite the chaos.

9:29 PM — Parking Lot Set for the Segment

They make it just in time, practically skidding into the parking lot where their segment is set to go live. Kevin and you go stand next to the car as Sami goes near the wall, waiting for his cue to walk up to the two of you.

You're still catching your breath, adjusting your top, as Kevin gives you a long, unimpressed look.

“If you ever pull this again…”

You didn't pull a stunt like that again for another five months, which for Kevin, was something he was actually proud of you for.

[bittersweetorpheus]

this idea has been boiling in my head for WEEKS I tell you WEEEEKSS so I thought I might as well just let it out:

what if you worked for the tsaritsa as just another fatui skirmisher or cicin mage and slowly climb the ranks until you manage to land a position as the personal assistant to the personal assistant to the harbingers! yay! a promotion! but also maybe not so yay since it’s highly likely you get killed in like the first week or so… but whatever, you’ll take what you can get.

they don’t pay much attention to you at first but they eventually warm up to you and even start seeking you out more as time goes on.

meanwhile, you, on the other hand, have started to notice this- how could you not when you could feel the captains gaze on you whenever youre bent down over paperwork and thinks you can’t see him or the way the balladeer always drags you away from whatever you were doing for something “urgent” when he really just wandered around somewhere while ranting about random things to you or the fiery red butterfly that’s seemed to take a liking to you and could almost always be found resting on your shoulder

…and well, there were less subtle ones too- like the random segment that would always be a few steps behind you no matter where you went or the almost weekly chess games that the jester kept invite you even though you kept losing miserably to him hey! it’s not you’re fault when you also have to focus on ignoring the suprising amount of sexual tension!

but even more suprising is the way damselette calls you over to just. lay her head in your lap and sing or doze off while you do your work.

however, unlike damselette, the marionette is one for more silent appreciation. she shows you the projects she’s working on and if you show interest in a particular thing, say, one of automaton she’s creating, she’ll take note of it and might even make a pocket sized version to give to you- something that you could put on your keychain or keep as a figurine if you’re into that type of stuff!

Speaking of gifts- the regrator. gives. you. so. many. at first, he gave you jewelry with a price tag that even glancing at would probably send someone into debt but if you don’t wear jewelry, he’ll probably take note of things you like or hobbies you have. you like drawing? prepare to have trouble opening the door with how many expensive art supplies are piled up infront of it. you like stuffed animals? BOOM!! Your bed is overflowing with so many stuffed animals! You’re hyperfixating on something? Don’t worry- hes got ya covered!

Now, if you ever wanted to get better in combat, who better to ask for help than the Knave herself? However busy she is with the orphanage, she can always find time to help you fix your posture or get better at using a different weapon or anything you might need help with. While she’s cold and straightforward to everyone else, she’s surprisingly patient when it comes to you and sometimes, on the particularly rough days, quietly reassures you that you did good.

And lastly, Childe. He’s one of the more openly friendly ones that you can have actual normal conversations with. He’s definitely more comfortable with showing affection because of the traveler and his family and such so he’s someone you could go to if you just need a hug and a headpat.

Soft harbingers. That’s it. I WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY PLEASE MIHOYO PLS GIVE THEM HAPPINESS

anyways so sorry that this turned into just me rambling or if this is incomprehensible or something 😭

[cherrycherryking]

Hi! I love your stuff with Wally!! I was wondering if you could do Wally (Or Eddie if you write for him) with a reader who likes to write and make up fun stories to share with friends? (You don’t have to but I think it’d be cute) Oki have a nice daaaay :))

sooo idk if you just wanted this to be just and x reader or a character ideas, so, i did both!! hope you like it <3

(+some drawings!)

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Wally Darling x Gen!Reader (platonic or romantic) Eddie Dearest x Gen!Reader (platonic or romantic)

Writer Character

✧We got ourselves a little writer!

✧Or maybe an author, or a librarian, or a poet- point is! You love to write and create this silly funny stories for all of your friends to see.

✧Some fun concepts for a character like this could be a bee cause spelling bee! Or a mouse because library mouse (or just whatever you like)

✧We know in the show there was storybook sections. I think a lot of these would be narrated and a lot of times even created by you!

✧I can picture your segment starting with the camera focusing on you reading or writing, then inviting the viewer to follow the story along. As you may imagine for a kids show they all had a neat message at the end.

✧Oh, and another resident smarty pants! I can think of some chapters or scenes where you teach spelling and grammar. "No, is not t-h-e-y-r-e, they're birthday, but t-h-e-i-r, their birthday!" (or maybe like me you suck at spelling, so ignore this lol)

✧For outfits i can suggest plaid pattern, glasses, a vest or maybe a cardigan! You can either go for a well put together smart little guy or a mess of a bookworm (that's like a scale on my head.)

✧Sally and you could be good friends now that i think about it! She loooves to make her friends perform her plays and you're just the perfect helper for that.

(if you use this as a base credit me and tag me so i can see!!)

✧Maybe appear with Frank as well, I think he could borrow books if you have a library or even have a little book club with other neighbors :]

───────────.★..─╮ Eddie x Reader ─..★.───────────╯

✧Oh you appear to help when he's teaching arts and crafts!

✧If you're big into reading, or trying to publish a book or any other sort of thing then you would see Eddie pretty often because he would always have a package or letter for you.

✧He's a bit of a forgetful klutz so you always make sure to help him a little by organizing a calendar for him! Writing down stuff you know for sure he'll forget.

✧Yes it makes him a little bit embarrassed to say the least but he's infinitely grateful of your help.

✧Every single morning in his usual route if he has the time, he always goes past your house to say hello and catch up on what you have been writing! Eddie is interested in the story you have and always listens to it with so much focus, almost as if you were telling him the hottest latest gossip of them all.

(help my poor soul im getting into an art block. eddie someday i will make you justice i promise.)

✧Or maybe you walk with him a little to accompany him. Just a heads up! Be ready to catch him when he inevitably falls because of some marbles julie forgot to pick up, a plastic duck (Barnaby- pick up your trash!) or just because!!

✧But is all worth it at the end of the day. Eddie always has time for you and your rambles. Only problem is he likes everything you write so he's not the best person if you're searching for criticism!

───────────.★..─╮ Wally x Reader ─..★.───────────╯

✧As the most prominent character of the series the plot follows Wally, and that's a way you two end up talking so much for a starters.

✧Any time Wally is staring at his canvas with no idea of what to draw he thinks "Well, they surely will have an idea" and go search for you (that is if you're not already there).

✧Thinking about how many chapters could follow the formula of you and Wally brainstorming ideas for a story, with him drawing what you narrate (and we come back to the storybook sections of the show!)

✧He would ask you "what are you doing today, neighbor?" to which you respond that you are writing about something! He asks what, you respond, he asks for more context of your story and- well now you're infodumping to him telling him all about what you have so far.

✧Oh but he would definitely be the type to draw your characters because "they are a lot of fun".

✧Picturing calm afternoons consisting of the two of you doing parallel play and every so often showing the other your progress <3

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by the end i kinda got into an artblock 😭😭 og plan was to make two rendered drawings, one for wally other for eddit yet it appears i flew too close to the sun. my god.

also this is my first time writing eddie so i'm not sure if i captured him correctly! in any case thank you so much for reading.

[vasito-de-leche]

i just realized something from each arcanist's voiceline, im not sure if u are ahead of me in this but anyways...

...their "monologue" segments, each of their monologue segments their most vulnerable they have ever been or the deepest they have ever opened up, at least for the ones that I have read.

for example:

- pavia admitting that every night it feels like he's still in piedmonte (by extension, that boarded up basement)

- blonney thinking why it's impossible for humans and arcanists to get along when they have similar interests like movies

- mesmer jr. screaming to stop being insane and leave her alone (poor girl is traumatized and a big F you to constantine and her family for being persistent in putting her in those situations)

- sotheby in yet another scene about how little she knows about distinguishing human things and arcane things (which is a problem for a young arcanist like her should she be unintentionally blatant about it)

- horropedia being glad that he is still himself despite the foundation's attempt to fit him in a mold

all in all, "monologue" segments are actually sad bits about our faves

A good chunk of the monologues are tragic, yeah - but I think that it's because we have the benefit of the full picture and we each have our own interpretations!

I just don't like to think of monologues as just exclusively sad bits for characters to show how sad they are or used to be in their lives? It takes away the nuance of how the character speaks about these things, if that makes sense!

I'll put the rest of my thoughts and ramblings under the cut so I don't keep clogging the main tag with nonsense <3

For example, Pavia's monologue - a popular interpretation of his character is that he's still traumatized by his past and the time he spent in the basement, therefore his monologue implies that no matter where he goes, he's still alone in that dark basement. From my personal reading on it, Pavia is a character who reclaimed the things that hurt him (the darkness, the isolation) and are now part of him (his wolves and shadow arcanum, his independence).

So to me, that monologue is a threat. I already explained this in detail in my first Pavia posts, so I'll spare y'all from the repetition lolol

Sotheby's monologue - you say that her lack of knowledge when it comes to differentiate human things from arcanist things is a problem. To me, this quote is just a highlight of her curiosity and her sheltered life, because she sounds chipper at the idea of learning new things. And I think it's a monologue meant to focus on her curiosity, because her Insight II is "World on the Other Side" which shows Sotheby inside a glass cage, looking outside to the real world.

The outside world is different from what I imagined. There are more arcane animals than I thought ... Humans are also more interesting!

And one can still continue to look deeper into this monologue and relate it to the full context of her situation to have a different reading!

Maybe someone else thinks this quote is extremely fucking tragic, because we're talking about a rich, privileged and sheltered girl who relied heavily on her caretaker, Mr. Karson, and now that he's gone, she's left to explore the world all on her own! Maybe it's a really lovely and happy quote, because it shows Sotheby's growth, still excited to learn about the outside world! Maybe it's all at once!

And Blonney's monologue, to me that's not a tragic voiceline at all but a rather hopeful moment for Blonney, a moment of thoughtful consideration which contrasts the "Blonde Bimbo" stereotype she's been cast in and shows how observant and attentive to detail she can be.

Is it true that humans and arcanists cannot live in harmony? We have so many things in common to share and enjoy, like the movies. As I learned about humans from the movies, so can humans learn about arcanists ... It's just that no one has made such a movie yet.

From my reading on this monologue, Blonney very clearly believes it's possible for humans and arcanists to live in harmony - it only takes for both sides to consider each other's perspectives. She's lived among humans, she's learned about humans through their movies. But she's ignorant about arcanists because of the way she was raised, because of the lack of exposure she's had to arcanists and their world.

No one has made such a movie, but maybe her, an arcanists that's experienced the duality of everything, a bimbo who is majoring in film, a major that everyone insists is wrong for her because it doesn't fit her image - maybe she can make such movie.

Yes, it's a sad monologue because of the context of subtle oppression towards arcanists, because of what we know about Blonney's life and all. But to me, it doesn't end on a sad note. Especially with how driven and outspoken Blonney is.

It's the same for Horropedia's monologue for me - yes, he's serious when talking about the way the Foundation and the way they continue to cut away all the unwanted parts of the arcanists they take in, but it also ends on a nice note. He's relieved to have survived being true to himself, he's relieved Vertin was able to do the same.

And then there's Mesmer Jr.'s monologue - this one is, without a doubt, an awful moment for her. Given what we know about her background and family, from either the main story or the Three Doors update, we can safely assume this is her having a panic attack of sorts, steming from her trauma and long-term internalized hatred/fear/disgust towards arcanists.

This is the most objectively sad and tragic monologue out of these. But what of the reading?

Is this Mesmer Jr. being comfortable enough around Vertin to let her see such a violent and vulnerable moment? Someone could easily read this as Mesmer Jr. and Vertin's relationship being repaired slowly to allow such display of vulnerability, the same way someone could easily read this as Vertin just stumbling upon Mesmer Jr. having the worst time of her life. Someone might also interpret this as Vertin doing something that caused Mesmer Jr. to react like this!

A few other examples I have at the top of my head that can differ greatly depending on the way you choose to read it...

Bette's monologue, for example!

 I've dreamt forever about my first character, not as a rich young man, a courageous adventurer, a fair or rich lady, but the first character starred by me, Bette with brown hair! I have noted them all in this notebook, which is called "My Script."

Is this voiceline sad? It can be, if you choose to intepret it as Bette's inability to get a starring role, while all of her dreams of being the protagonist are kept in a notebook that no one else will read or notice. It can also be inspiring, if you choose to interpret it as Bette holding on to the belief that she herself - not a character that she plays, but herself as a person - is important, even if no one else notices. Again, it can be this and that or both or none or all at once!

Or Baby Blue's monologue!

People at school once called me... Umm, how do you say that word? Ah... Crazy! Sad? I'm not sad... They told me that the most outstanding people were all crazy...

Yes, this can be sad, because we're talking about a 17 year old girl who was so disillusioned with her real life that she feels more comfortable in a world of illusion, while her real body remains comatose. And yes, this can be happy, because we're talking about a 17 year old girl who found a place that she truly feels alive in, where she finally has peope who understand and care for her.

I think I might've lost the point of the post somewhere through the rambling - but yeah! I don't like to think of these voicelines as just sad bits, especially with how much detail and attention the writing of R1999 has, all the love they put into all characters <3

[maaradag]

massive, rambly spoilers for the new WILTY christmas episode underneath

First thoughts after finishing: oboy, both Lee and David going THROUGH it. Bet Rob was feeling all good safe in his host chair.

The guests were Victoria Coren Mitchell (whee!), Naga Munchetty, Alex Brooker and Melvyn Hayes. I'll admit I had to look everybody's names up except VCM.

Alex Brooker's lie has been available as a clip on the BBC website for a couple of days now, so nothing new there. Delighted by the fact that Victoria's (unbroken?) streak of guessing correctly on this show continues

So for me the show proper started with Victoria's card, which oh my god, holy shit, this was worth the wait.

David looks like he wants to sink into the floor, but for me, as Lee says: "If it helps in any way, I'm absolutely loving it."

I mean this is golden. Victoria starts trying to explain David's underwear philosophy, before turning to David and checking if she's not you know, revealing too much information on national television. David who has already spent the last few minutes looking like this is his worst nightmare, reassures her that no worries, "this is dreadful". All the while Lee is clapping his hands delightedly.

(BONUS Sweet moment!. Naga patting David on the shoulder, in an attempt at reassurement, cringing too hard to be very reassuring)

I don't know who Melvyn Hayes is (I'm not British, so my bad I guess) but his small comments here and there really brought it up a notch. Could have been annoying but it was really funny.

Other nice quotes from this round:

Victoria (to David, having revealed much about his underwear habits): I'm so sorry. (Then she laughs a bit more)

David: thE biBLe AnD fifTy SHadEs oF grAy

Melvin Hayes: I'm excited! (everybody cracks up)

This was FINALLY the resolution of Lee's quest to find out what David wears underneath his clothes.

(If only I still wrote fanfiction, and if only I could ever manage to write RPF this would segment would surely inspire me. Just putting that out into the universe before going back to hiding beneath the covers)

Have some pictures of David going through it:

BONUS: Lee being a smug bastard

The Melvin Hayes story did very little for me, as previously mentioned, no clue who he was before this, and the people he mentions are people I've heard about before but also know very little. Glad everyone seems so delighted by it though.

To contrast the previous picture have a happy picture of David and Victoria being pleased by Melvin Hayes story

THIS IS MY (Feat. a Celebrity Guest whoohooo)

Yet another person I don't know who is, but Patti seemed famous and Lee was all over her which turned out to be quite funny.

Victoria's sounded familiar by any rate, like I heard it before. Delightful story anyhow, her delivery of "better still, you can be in it." killed me.

Naga with the slow reveal of it being Lee that they hadn't recognized. Wonderful! Lovely! No notes. It's great that the story wasn't true because then the digs at Lee, and the Jimmy whatshiface of it all just became the marks of a good liar

(looked it up, the guy's Jimmy Nail. An English singer-songwriter apperenly, according to google).

David used his versatile tool to make decent stomach growls. Colour me impresssed.

Last round is a classic Lee round, in which he gets an herculean task and we watch him try to reel it in. (Alex B turns out to be quite the generous laughter which is great.)

Tag yourself I'm Alex, losing it.

[slutnali]

From my understanding the people on twitter were more upset with her response to biblegirl, who tweeted something along the lines of “the sooner we accept that most adults do cocaine the better��� (not the exact wording, she deleted it now cause the response was overwhelmingly negative, but the sentiment was normalizing cocaine use bc it’s prevelant) and Denali responded “tea”. To me that’s a lot more 🤔what do u mean by that🤔 than anything she said on the podcast.

This is long so I'm adding a read more out of curtesy and also because we are talking about drugs [not very descriptive but still]

I remember seeing that earlier while I was out but don't remember it word for word, wish I did tho

But from what I remember, I thought there was some truth to it. Many people do it, it's not just rampant in the lgbt+ community but everywhere else. Does it make it okay? Absolutely not but from what I took from it is that there's just so much shaming for it and I think harm reduction should be discussed. That's not to say that you should glorify it and I don't think they are, however its such a delicate & complicated topic that people are quick to jump at each others throats defending their stance, etc.. With Nali replying 'teaaa' I think also it has to do with the fandom's reaction to it as well.. like, it always gets weird?

I remember when s13 had been announced and people did their digging and found out about her mugshot etc.. the fandoms reaction gave me an ick because people were very much 'omg how scandalous teeheee 🤭" gossiping and theorizing it... and then again when she'd made a joke about her mugshot on the GITMS segment and then people were actually thirsting over it on twt.. like it was weird imo.. and yeah, she was open about it and to some extent you could argue "she made it our business" but I think this'll probably be the last time she does share about it and I don't think she owes us any more stuff about it if she doesn't want to. That's just me though.

Could the tweet have been worded better? Yeah, but again, the tweet from Biblegirl was deleted and I can't really go in depth. But tbh I don't want to go further into depth or back and forth after this ask and another i have, because this blog is mainly for reading [and occasionally writing] drag race fic and thirsting over my faves.

There def is a discussion to be had when it comes to people who have used it and people entirely against it, and there's many points to be shared on both sides. I've seen some of it while I was scrolling twt a while ago bc I follow a bunch of dr girls [obvs] and local queens.

As for Denali, if you no longer want to support her that's fine and your right. If you need/want to separate yourself from that, do it and if you're a follower or mutual of mine that wants to unfollow me there's no hard feelings. If you do wanna keep following me you can black list 'denali foxx' and 'denali' so you wont see posts with her tag. I cant speak for everyone else who may not tag but I can for my blog because I always use them and tag accordingly.

Drug use and talk happens and it's not a cancelable offense, in my opinion at least. There are many many queens who openly talk about substance use but I rarely even see anyone bring it up: Willow and a bunch of s14 girls doing shrooms, Camden talking about how blackout she was while touring last year and not knowing how she got safe to her hotel room, Sasha C mimes sniffing coke or smoking on stage, all the open stoners, etc.. when it comes to this and other topics people are very pick and choose when it comes to their faves so idk..

but again, this is all my opinion and ramble and its okay if we have a difference.

[wemlygust]

Meanwhile, I'm over in the corner reading mostly AU's and crossovers, the wilder the better... I cannot relate. 😅 Part of the reason I like fanfic is there isn't a publisher and a profit motive acting as gatekeeper and restricting the possibility space. You get a lot more variety in story structure, character types, and so on in fanfiction, just because there ain't nobody to tell you no, and it doesn't matter if what you want to write is niche because it's never gonna make you money anyway. And you get a bazillion different takes on situations and characters and ideas, with this lively community exchange of ideas and inspirations and joy. As a category, it's not so overrun with 3-act structure, sudden but inevitable betrayal and other predictable plot twists, and so on. I mean, obviously some fic is deeply and intentionally predictable, but so is some published fiction. It's just the predictable trope sets are a bit different. I feel like people are comparing the least predictable published fiction with the most predictable fanfiction, as if there isn't variety within both those categories, apples to oranges, when instead we could compare more similar segments of published and fan fiction and see what the differences are when the intent of the work is actually similar.

And like... have ya'll really not been spoiled by traditional published book blurbs? Because I've been having issues with spoilers from those blurbs, in multiple genres, since the 90s. Sometimes they just straight up tell you the entire fucking plot of the book (Alistair Reynolds blurbs looking at you good lord). Or they'll make a plot twist blindingly obvious by saying something "vague" but leading, ala "but all may not be as it seems..." Or "it's a case that will bring her face to face with her long buried past" or so on.

And I'm fairly sure fanfiction didn't invent - or at least was not the only one to invent - such tropes as "enemies to lovers". That exists in published romance too, and has for a long time, and has been advertized as such. *Maybe* the exact phrasing might be new? And the ability to find it or another specific trope by searching for a tag directly. But the concept, not so much. I wonder if sometimes (not always) it's less that fanfic and published fiction are different, and more that people are used to approaching the two categories in different ways and with different expectations. Like, if someone is used to reach Literature^tm in printed books, and that's what they look for when they look for a book, they might not seek out the same in fanfic even if they'd like it, and vice versa with, like, comfort fic tropes. Anyways, I ramble.

Sorry it’s early but you really can’t use fanfiction terms in a non fanfiction context like if someone is trying to sell me a book to read and they tell me there’s an enemy to lovers I would be annoyed because why are you spoiling the story lol

[cata-daily]

[Wall of Text]

About doodles, Cata design, Pass the World/Player Animatic

Oh yea! Cata posted my Demon Hearts fanart as a community post, like, a day ago! (Thankies :D) And of course yt doesn't give notifications for community posts, so I saw it 20 hours later!

The design has changed quite a bit since, especially since I realised that his mask is NOT, in fact, a plague doctor mask.

"FUCK HAVE I BEEN DRAWING A PLAGUE DOCTOR MASK THIS ENTIRE TIME auughjdshjmh i need to analyse this man's vanity under a microscope and make an actual design" -Me

I considered doing another bunch of doodles for other series, but never really got around to it. I have a few ideas written down for 8 player calamity and death games, but not enough, or ehh yeah, I decided to start with PtP.

I realise nobody's going to see any of this until I'm well into summer break, so might as well say it; I started working on an animatic of Cata's segment of Throarbin's Pass the World video on April 7th because I just kept rewatching it. The 3 and a half minute long insanity of it, oh my god, he talks so fast. I was looking through the comments because I realised Cata replied to a bunch of them, and the one by @ TheNerdyBox, "Holy shit catacylsmic is autism incarnate jesus christ" absolutely sent me, I think that's hilarious.

I may put updates on that here too if I get back to working on that sometime. So far I have the start through TheTerrariaYoutuber's "ehh, yanno, it's okay", and then from "after looking through..." to "got stuck in a bloody wall". Yes I have transcripted it all out correctly (I love doing that. Ay, I'm just saying, I like listening to British people talk. At one point I had a concerning amount of Wheatley Portal 2 lines memorised).

When I'm done (if I ever finish) I'll probably make a google doc or just put it here, and explain the little details in each frame because I like doing that. I nearly went down the rabbit hole of trying to animate the exact damage and timing of him killing WoF for that part, and got a bunch of the same gear in Terraria before realising my defense didn't line up and I had no idea what the modifiers on all the accessories was. Also cursed flame debuff was a nope.

While I'm here writing a wall of text, might as well mention that I have somehow encountered the words "cataclysmic", "armageddon", and "Nuclear option" in places completely unrelated to Cata, one of which was irl actually. And those, imo, are pretty uncommon words

This has started the tag #Wall of Text has awoken!, and I think that's accurate. Only super long ones that I think warrant it will be tagged as such. Thank you for reading my ramblings :)

[apixrl]

DROWSY.

levi ackerman x fem!reader

WARNING(S): none

word count: 3.4k

song: before i close my eyes // xxxtentacion

note(s): soft levi lives in my head rent free and that's perfectly okay he can stay for as long as he wants to

Your hand pressed against your back as you stretched, stifling a yawn that echoed through the hallway. You swore you could hear your joints wailing out in distress, every step feeling as though you were dragging a weight behind you that was five times your size. Your bed was calling out to you in more ways than you could count, the idea of snuggling under the covers absolutely heavenly.

It had been a long and tiresome day, to say the least. After waking up early and in bright spirits, you made the decision to go on a long morning jog. To ready yourself for a presumably easy day. But those words came back to bite you when Captain Levi dropped you and your comrades into an intense training segment that lasted all morning. Then proceeded a heavy clean of headquarters in the afternoon. Ordered to rid the underside of the tables of dust and to clear those sneaky corners of muck that had festered far too long. To put a long story short; you were about ready to drop dead on the floor by the time evening rolled on by.

You loved Levi with all your heart, but unfortunately, your relationship with him didn't come with any bonuses. Yes, you saw a softer side on occasion, but the man never allowed bias to take over during work hours. You were treated the same as the others; a soldier in the ranks. A member of Levi's squad. When you did right you were praised and when you did wrong you served the consequences. Levi would set you on a thirty lap run around the camp perimeter if he saw fit, and there was no getting out of it. As much as you could complain, you knew it was for the best. When it came down to it, Levi was your superior as well as his partner and there had to be some line between the two.

Plodding along the hallway, your bedroom door up ahead was your saviour. You could practically taste the sweet rest waiting for you on the other side. Though just before you could reach your salvation, a voice from the neighbouring room stopped you in your step and tore you away from it.

"Y/N,"

Levi.

It would be lying to say you didn't whimper, so close to a good night's sleep yet so far all in one go. But you weren't so selfish that you'd ignore your lover's call because you were simply exhausted. Yes, you considered it... but resisting the urge gave you credibility, right?

Regardless, you exhaled a sigh knowing it would be wrong not to respond. That man you called your partner had ears like a cat anyway. He probably heard you make your way down the hall or noticed your shadow under the door and had sensed your halt upon his call. So dragging your eyes away from the vision of your wonderfully made bed (Levi having been the one to tuck the sheets in that morning since he was the last one up. So no wonder you were fantasizing at the idea of collapsing on there) behind the door of your room, you set your gaze on the door to Levi's office instead.

You realised it was open just a tad, explaining Levi sensing your approach so easily. Pressing your hands against the wooden frame, you pushed it open and popped your head around the door, forcing your eyes open no matter how much they pleaded to close against the candlelight.

As expected, Levi was seated at the chair of his desk. Neck-deep in papers that he'd been working on most of the night. One shorter pile to the left and a taller one to the right - one pile waiting to be looked at whilst the other sat completed. You wondered which one that was... and prayed for Levi's sake it was the tallest pile to allow him a good night's sleep.

His greyed eyes didn't look up upon your entry, something you just managed to notice through the strands of wispy black locks atop Levi's head. That seemed to indicate he was focused on the task at hand, especially from the way his hand efficiently worked at the pieces of paper like it was on autopilot.

"Yes, love?" You asked, resting against the door for a brief moment as your tiredness caught up with you. If you had reacted to it a second later you believed you would have tipped over from loss of balance, and you were relieved when Levi spoke up once more - his voice jolting you upright.

"I need you to take some papers down to the Commander for me," Levi stated, a certain tone in his voice indicating his own form of tiredness. But you knew that rarely stopped him and his work, the man willing to stay up until the early hours of the morning just to get it finished.

His words made your body panic, unsure if it could muster a journey all the way to Erwin's whereabouts. You had barely walked up the stairs of headquarters well, let alone travelling back down them and then all the way back up again.

"It can't wait until tomorrow?" You tried, chewing the inside of your cheek gingerly. From the way Levi glanced over his wad of papers, grey eyes filled with doubt, you knew it was a longshot. "It's just late, that's all. You need to rest,"

"No," Levi ceased all action, slouching down in his seat briefly as his fingertips held the bridge of his nose. His version of a short break and a way to bury his annoyance down. It appeared to be one of those nights, where he was swamped with work and didn't have the opportunity to simply 'head to bed'. "I'm still nowhere near done, and I don't have the time to take the ones I've already looked at to Erwin because of that," It was there his hand propped up, elbow resting on his other which has splayed over his chest. He motioned you over, eyes skipping between you and the seat opposite him until you got the message.

You were delayed in realising, feeling guilty at your inability to proceed Levi's words. You heard them, but fatigue seemed to seize hold and throw them out the window before your brain could comprehend the meaning. You hoisted yourself off of the doorframe, letting the hinges squeak the door shut behind you as you made your way to Levi's desk. You then sat yourself down, hands pressed to the chair arms as your attention steered to your partner.

"Okay... so which pile am I taking?" Was your question, forcing a small smile to at least seem interested. The black-haired man straightened up, eyes skimming over the papers on his desk and seemingly on the floor too. That made your brow raise, head tilting to the side ever so slightly in wonder. What was behind the desk?

Levi proceeded to push his chair back with his feet, his head quickly disappearing under the table as if to grab something. You rested your cheek in your palm as you waited, a hint of a frown as you waited. Your assumptions were correct as, after a few seconds of scuffling around, Levi reappeared from under the desk - standing up to place yet another pile of paper wherever his desk had the space to hold it.

"This one," He addressed, exhaling heavily once he was comfortable in his seat again. Just when you thought that was it, Levi pushed the taller pile of papers forward as well, and it would be wrong to say you were joyful of the sight. In fact, you were very much dismayed, the sight of the multiple piles of papers meaning more than one trip.

Suddenly you wished the shorter pile was the finished one.

"And this one," Levi spoke with little character as per usual, gazing upon the piles of papers like they were nothing more than a pile of dirt. Clearly, he had experienced little joy going through them, but work never got done whilst complaining. The only words ringing in his mind to convince Levi to get his head down and focus. "You'll probably need to take two trips,"

"You don't say," You commented and sighed to yourself. For hours you had awaited your mattress and now look at you, even further away from reaching it as before. It was a big shame you woke up in such an energetic mood and was ending the day feeling like you couldn't lift a finger. "And if I cant find Commander Erwin?"

"He should be in his office," Levi returned. "But if not, place the right pile on his desk," He then gestured to the left, hand pressing on top for emphasis. "This one will need sorting, however. Just separate the tags in the stack and the drawer they belong in is on there. It shouldn't take you too long, just make sure the files are in the right place or Erwin won't be pleased. Oh, and try not to drop them, please? I'd rather not lose four hours worth of work because of your two left feet -," Levi was cut short by a sound he was not at all expecting. A snorting noise caught him off guard, but when he looked up at you in question the answers quickly came pouring in.

It appeared in Levi's ramble you had grown bored. As there you were, head lolling forwards as your arm tried to prop it up, eyes closed and snoring away to your heart's content. Levi quirked a brow at your behaviour, then scoffed lightly. The man couldn't say he was surprised, of course you would nod off to sleep exactly when he needed your help. At a time where he was swamped with things to do and an extra pair of hands wouldn't hurt.

"Y/N," He tried after a minute or so passed, Levi frowning at the lack of response. If anything, the snoring grew louder. It was there he tried again, a little more firmly and loudly but still, nothing.

Typical.

Levi sat there in silence and disbelief, watching your frame rise and fall with each intake of breath. Meanwhile, you simply slept on without a care in the world, but it's not like he could leave you there. Leaving you sleeping in such a way was bound to cause a nasty neck and backache the following morning. So with a sigh, Levi hoisted himself out of his chair and walked around his desk to your side. Then he knelt down to your level, hand landing on your shoulder to give you a gentle but firm shake.

"Y/N," Levi spoke, a little softer this time, all whilst trying to nudge you awake. It appeared you had only lightly nodded off, as, after three or four shakes, you stirred out of your little nap. Your eyes shot open to meet Levi's observing you closely, a hint of a frown to his face as he did. In your state you barely noticed though, too busy trying to shake off your drowsiness but failing miserably as your eyes merely drooped more.

"Levi?" You mumbled tiredly, lifting your gaze towards your lover, puzzled over why he was so close to you. "What is it?"

"You fell asleep," Levi said with hesitancy, glancing away from you for a second before he continued. "Is everything alright?"

"Hm? Yes... everything's fine," You reassured, sending him a reassuring smile. Levi narrowed his gaze, prompting you to keep going. "It's just been a long day, that's all,"

"I see," Levi nodded, noticing your lack of attentiveness and sleepy demeanour. All of which you tried to force back through your smile. But Levi knew you better than that. He could see straight through the façade just how you could see straight through his, acting as though you were fine when it was truly quite the opposite. That was enough for Levi to suspect something was up, and that little switch in his head that differed between his role as Captain and partner flipped in an instant.

"Sorry... y-you were saying something before I dropped off weren't you?" You asked and pointed to the papers on the table. "Something about them?"

Levi turned to look at where you gestured, seeing the papers that still needed taking to Erwin. He contemplated still asking for your help, but it was obvious from just the way you looked alone that you were long desperate for rest. So exhaling a small sigh, Levi reluctantly cast his gaze back onto you and shook his head.

"No, don't worry about it," He allowed his hand to leave your shoulder and moved it to your face. Where he tucked a few loose strands of your H/C hair behind your ear, continuing. "It can wait until tomorrow,"

"Are you sure?" You asked through a yawn, leaning into the hand that Levi proceeded to support your cheek with. The subtle graze of his thumb over your cheekbone relaxing you to the point sleep nearly stole you from him once more.

As much as he disliked tampering with his organised routine, Levi knew sending you on errands whilst so tired would do you no good the next day. Perhaps he had pushed you a little far without realising, the thought running through his mind later on in the morning. You'd been lagging behind your comrades more than usual. Much opposing to you typically being at the front of the group and urging them on over the other way around. Whilst it wasn't as obvious in the afternoon, the strain in your expression as you scrubbed the floors and countertops had peeked its way through to him. Levi knew you in and out, and the frustration displayed ran much deeper than that of germs and bacteria. That was blatant now more than ever, so the least you deserved was a good night's rest. Just because he could run on little hours of sleep didn't mean you could.

"Yeah," Levi admired you under the dim light of his office after he spoke. Your inattentive gaze somehow continued to hold such focus as you looked back at him. The way you smiled with such love and yearn. How your cheek felt warm in his palm like he was holding the entire world. Which he was really. He was holding his entire world.

"Oh... okay," You said and your eyes drooped shut, not reopening. That brought Levi to act, blinking out of his daze and pulling himself to his feet with a sharp inhale.

"Come on, let's get you to bed," He said and slipped his arms around you, lifting you into their secure hold. You didn't protest, too tired to make a sound as you adjusted to the new position. A comfier position that ensured security and safety. One hand supported your back as Levi's bicep acted as your pillow and his spare arm hooked under your legs. You could feel the ever so gentle thump of Levi's heartbeat close to your ear, much opposing to his regular temperament - curt and firm and even quite harsh at the most.

Levi carried you out of his office, using his foot to open the door as he proceeded to venture down the hall to your shared bedroom. The place you had been going to before you were called to his aid. You kept your eyes closed the entire time but didn't nod off just yet, the bobbing motion of Levi's walk both drifting and stirring you from sleep. It wasn't long before Levi was pulling back the sheets whilst he only just managed to hold you with one arm. You made it easier by wrapping your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck, giggling lightly to yourself when you almost slipped. Somewhere in Levi's silence, he found it amusing. Perhaps not verbally placed, but you sensed it nonetheless. Still, he downplayed it with concern, his hand pressing against your back to hold you closely against his frame.

He placed you down with care, hand only leaving your back once it rested on the mattress. Sliding it out, it returned to the sheets as he placed them back over you. Meanwhile, you watched through half-lidded eyes, following where Levi's gaze trailed. Mainly sticking to the sheets he tucked in for you out of the goodness of his heart, though flickered back to you on occasion. His eyes contained a warmth that opposed their normal grey colour. A warmth that he usually failed to place into the spoken word and resorted to showing it rather than saying it.

Eventually, Levi finished, his hands stopping their skilful movement and pressing into the pillow on either side of your head. He was silent for a moment, observing your tiresome state and realising just how fatigued he was too. He battled the urge to collapse on the bed beside you, pull you into his arms and fall fast asleep. To ignore his duties for just one night. Give himself a treat and spend the night snoozing away like the everyday citizen. But Levi knew that was irresponsible. He had been irresponsible enough leaving the paperwork so late. It also wasn't the life he had been fated to lead, regardless of how pleasant the idea may be in the subconscious of his mind.

"I still have a lot of work to do," He uttered no louder than a whisper, exhaling deeply in an apologetic sigh and hating the idea of traipsing back to his office to work. "I'll have to join you later but I'm guessing you'll be asleep,"

"It's okay," You hummed, head tilting to the side as an innocent smile formed on your face. "Do I get a kiss good night, at least?"

Levi couldn't fight the small chuckle that escaped him, head proceeding to hang forwards and shake too and fro at your words. He truly felt he didn't deserve you and the love you gave him. Always so understanding, never complaining about his packed work schedule. How you made him feel steady and kept him sane. Perhaps it was because you were a soldier too and knew how time-consuming the job was, but Levi was grateful for all of it. The man met your eyes, a certain radiance in them that he'd refrain from showing to anyone else other than you.

"You're twenty-nine years old and you act like a child," He remarked with no ill intent, the laugh that elicited from you music to his ears.

"Yeah, and you chose to -," You were cut off, Levi leaning forwards to press his lips to yours in a tender kiss. You hummed in approval, forgetting the words you planned to say and instead enjoyed the display of affection. Levi lingered longer than usual, an indirect apology for the fact he had to leave you with the bed half cold. You didn't question it, knowing Levi's work never truly stopped and granted him a break. The fact he'd even paused just to tuck you in comfortably was enough to satisfy your needs, whether Levi would believe that or not was up to him. But your eyes fell closed, both from bliss and sleep catching up to claim control.

Gradually your lips loosened on Levi's, indicating you had nodded off. He opened his eyes and pulled back in question, watching your head tilt faintly to the side as your pillow held its weight. Levi exhaled deeply, leaning down to plant one final kiss on your forehead. Then he hoisted himself off of the bed and walked to the door.

"Good night, Y/N," He said once there, glancing back at you one final time. From where he stood, you appeared merrily at peace. Finally grateful for the embrace of your bedsheets after a dragging day of nonstop training. Levi did feel somewhat bad for being a cause for your tiredness, knowing that he could sometimes be cruel when playing his 'Captain' role. But he couldn't favour you just because of his feelings, and the fact you rarely made that an issue provided him relief like no other. Still, Levi's guilt asserted as he closed the bedroom door quietly behind him.

Why... it wouldn't be terrible if he let you sleep in a little bit past the wake-up call, would it?

[sillyguyhotline]

k. i finished logic route today and i'm beginning to play emotion route, but ngl, i'm not exactly sure if i'm the biggest fan of 3-1b so far? i sort of mentioned it in some of my ramblings last night but i do feel like the sense nankidai created earlier in the game, that everyone's actions have severe impact, have been diminished slightly. i feel like part of that is because of the introduction of the dolls; when you have a mechanic where an exact replica of the dead can be brought back to life, deaths begin to feel like they have less meaning. hence the whole q-taro thing. i do think that he got a satisfactory ending to his character arc, and his death definitely made me sad, but his doll just showing up and being like "yeah im not actually him im a doll lollll" and then fucking dying felt so rushed. same with alice/reko's death. maybe it's just because there's nobody left to significantly grieve the surviving yabusame sibling, but i honestly feel like everyone forgot about them dying as soon as they did. sara should have been a lot angrier imo. plus, we got 2 major human deaths and all the dummies got killed off. in the span of HALF a chapter. that just doesn't rub me the right way. it amazes me that a chapter segment that took me 9 hours to complete managed to feel so rushed, but it definitely did. deaths in this game don't feel consequential anymore, and it doesn't feel like nankidai did that on prupose. like i said yesterday, one of my favorite things about the game prior to chapter 3 was how human the deaths and the grief suffered afterwards felt. but now barely anyone bothers to acknowledge the deaths that occurred before this chapter, and the ones that do happen in this chapter don't feel processed that well. i'm really, REALLY hoping that this is because everything that's happened to sara in the logic route has desensitized her and that it'll be different in the emotion route, but that's probably not going to be the case.

i also mentioned this as a joke a few days ago, but the stakes feel so much lower. i mentioned that midori was just sort of fucking around and not really doing anything, and i don't like that very much. the group is essentially held to their own objectives. there's a timer for how long keiji has until he's incinerated, but it doesn't actually come into play in the game. in chapter 1, the threat of the oh-so-suspicious Main Game was looming over everyone's head. in chapter 2, the characters were held to clear time limits. even in 3-1a, they have a clear, floormaster-motivated objective of tagging him. now everyone, including the floormaster, is just fucking around and doing whatever and i'm not a huge fan of that.

shin just also isn't a threat during this chapter. at all. he has one offhanded line about how he views everyone as no different from midori (a sentiment that he already voiced almost word for word in 3-1a anyway) and that's it. my thoughts on this are kind of mixed. on one hand, i think it's kind of interesting that as much as shin promised to be a threat and to avenge kanna, the threat posed by saving him is actually the toll that his actions had on sara. his manipulation motivated sara to put more value into her own life, which consequently led to her voicing those thoughts to ranmaru and ranmaru literally fucking hanging either alice or reko. he turns sara into the monster she never wanted to be and compromises her leadership. i sort of like that. however, while that makes sense in terms of writing, it doesn't in terms of the story itself. you're telling me that he showed her one shitty ai and then was like "ok cool im just gonna be a chill member of the group now" ??? it just seems like another example of things no longer having consequence and i'm not a huge fan of that.

overall, it feels like nankidai set himself up to accomplish too much this chapter. he introduced too many new characters and too many new plot points, and addressing all of them came at the consequence of character development and the writing style from the previous chapters.

[fiveminuterice]

 Welcome back to Rice’s dumbassary. Today, we have more Imaginary rambles.

@owlf45

First and foremost I will say I was semi convinced that Owl was fucking with me with those recent posts, but also it makes too much sense that First would be ambiguous and perhaps… the Second and First epic love story is a little less epic than I may have thought, but that won’t stop me from drawing sappy fanart for them. I’ve been bugging Owl for the past few days on Discord with my shenanigans, and tonight’s topic was First. I am inspired and I just drank a lotta tea so I’m ready to roll.

Nonsense galore is under the cut in a slightly more organized manner than last time.

I started this whole thing because Owl was posting about Second again, so it only makes sense that I go over my interpretation of his character: where he was, is, and is going. I recommend listening to “Married Life” from Up while reading this segment.

Second is a total dad. I’m not going to try to get too detailed on the intricacies or whatever of how relationships affect the way you interact with people, but in this post’s tags, Owl did say that “it’s not like second had the most healthy relationships growing up”. My thoughts on this is sort of like that trope where characters treat others they want to parent well because they want to, in a way, make up for their own childhood. Also, I do want to bring up the worldbuilding Owl does in Imaginary, especially their take on “quirky marriages”. First’s wedding gift to Second was a cat, as per this post. Since they couldn’t even get legally married, I doubt they would have the chance to even consider legally adopting children. A part of me thinks First knows about Second’s urges to emotionally adopt people, and maybe giving him a cat was his way of encouraging that behavior.

Second seems to have a low baseline for relationships. Arguably, his closest relationships we’ve seen in Imaginary itself are with Third, Sixth, and Izuku, and he’s kept all of them at arm’s length in some form or another. Third knows so much about him mainly because he snooped around his journal. Third’s backstory chapter, titled Third, delves into his relationship with what are essentially his children – when he’s past the point of even remotely caring about the law and is considered a vigilante. He was notably distant from them emotionally, and basically spent the rest of his life before he died obsessing over First and trying to avenge him only to be curb stomped by All for One. Which makes me sad, but I digress.

With Sixth, he barely acknowledged him as a vestige, and only really saw him as he was dying. They have more interactions when they’re both dead.

With Izuku he is the first imaginary friend Izuku has when he’s four. He’s on the bench, the same one he spends every night waiting for First for five years straight on, and is initially distant from Izuku too. However, Izuku is the protagonist and he jumpstarts Second’s arc throughout the story. Izuku is super open with his love for Second, and I think that’s really important to Second. For all we know, his relationship with Izuku is one of the only open and loving relationships he’s ever had, and he’s not even that open with Izuku.

Let’s talk about All for One and Second now because transitions are hard and it’s midnight where I am currently.

In this post, Owl notes that First didn’t really talk too much about First to All for One. It makes sense, considering First’s death that All for One was undoubtedly a part of, that they wouldn’t be super close, but Owl also mentions another thing that kinda threw me for a loop.

“You could even say AFO was concerned for Second when they eventually met, like the good older brother figure he is”

The wording threw me off, because it implies that All for One wasn’t concerned about his brother in a relationship with Second, but Second in a relationship with First, as in Second was in a position of concern. He also attended their wedding, and is a notable third wheel in this post. To quote that post, “AFO though?? Absolutely. He almost seemed to enjoy [being the third wheel] since he was always the one butting in.” This suggests that All for One was an active figure not only in First’s life, but in Second’s as well. They like… hung out. I’m just wondering how they went from “haha third wheeling older brother” to “grinding your face in the pavement and having your children watch as I kill you”. Owl also says that All for One approves of Second and First’s relationship, but Second cannot fathom why. Can First understand why? I mean, they’re family and (probably) grew up together. The people you surround yourself with are bound to rub off on you in some way or another, like behavioral osmosis or whatever.

What about First and All for One and how their behaviors might not be as dissimilar as we might think. In canon, we know that All for One isn’t above emotional manipulation as a way to get people on his side. If First needed people on his side, then Second was there. Depending on how close they were before they started dating, maybe First knew about the lack of healthy relationships and took this as a way to get somebody vulnerable to follow him and his ideals. Considering Second dedicated the rest of his life, and afterlife, to First, he succeeded to an extent. However, this is a super sad take and I’m not convinced there’s all there is to their relationship.

My best guess is that they both had very skewed views of what relationships with other people were. If I had to go by a gut-feeling on Second’s relationship with the people in his life pre-First, I think he was probably abandoned in some ways or another (neglect, some form of foster/orphan situation, or anything of the sort), so when he falls for somebody or is in some sort of relationship with somebody he is susceptible to codependency. I think there definitely was a level of codependency on Second’s part to First, and when First died he could never truly get over it because of that. It makes me depressed thinking about how Second has spent so many years chasing after First when First died, and how their relationship probably isn’t as wholesome as I thought it was.

However, while Second seems codependent, First was probably more detached. I think they loved each other, and I refuse to believe otherwise, but First has a lot of mystery surrounding him, so the extent of that love is... dubious.

Owl’s notes from this post, again, states that “ambiguous first… that would make him capable of lying about his love for second wouldn’t it?” which is super fucking depressing. Owl also says in those same notes “who’s to say [Second] wasn’t just another one of first’s pawns against afo.. so many things to consider”.

First of all, one of many pawns? Emotionally manipulative First is depressing, I’m sad, but probably not as sad as Second. Looking at the environment for quirked individuals in that era, I’m guessing that Second probably didn’t have a happy home life. We don’t know his quirk, but we can assume he has one because of this post of Owl’s reference for the One for All holders, where his quirk besides from One for All is just “?”. He had one, and back in those days that’s all that mattered. He probably felt abandoned and ostracized by everyone of significance in his life, then First comes along and says some stupid shit and Second falls super hard and latches on tightly to one of the only, if not the only, positive relationship in his life that seemed like it was going to stay. Anyways, we also know that First is the one to “propose” because of this quote from this post: “There wasn’t really a formal proposal to speak of, for,,, a lot of reasons, but you could say the closest thing to a proposal came from First.” Could be interpreted as making sure Second stayed, but I like the idea of romance so I want to believe that First actually loved him and wanted to be with him. Relationships in real life are really complicated, and we can see the way Owl writes relationships in their stories. For instance, in Imaginary we can see that while Inko really loves Izuku, she’s still a flawed character and that affected her relationship with him as Izuku grew up without his dad. First and Second are both flawed character with complex views of what love means to them and what it means in their relationship, and I can only hope they can come to a healthier conclusion in Imaginary – even though I am under the impression they won’t get a happy ending, a bittersweet one at best.

Might I also add that in this post by Owl, they say in the tags that Second has been waiting on the bench for 5 years. Second was introduced when Izuku was 4 and left when Izuku was 9. Does this mean that he’s done waiting when he gets back, for better or for worse?

 Okay now I wanna talk about the possibilities for chapter 11. I’ll keep this somewhat short because it is now 1 in the morning where I’m at and I’m only awake because I drank some pretty strong thai tea a few hours ago. Maybe tomorrow I’ll add more, but for now I’ll keep it short. I recommend listening to Class of 2013 by Mitski (the audiotree version) for this section, mostly because it has the Angsty vibes I’m going for.

Anyways, from chapter 10, we know that Izuku is on his way to Kouta’s. He makes one of those bastardly “what could go wrong?” remarks that lets us know that shit is about to go down. All the way back in September, Owl answered an ask about their WIPs during an author game. For Imaginary, this is what they had to say:

“Fourth, Shrimp, Muscular, and Crimson Riot make an interesting mix. I haven’t even started the chapter but BOY AM I EXCITED. My love for these ofa characters knows no bounds.”

First of all, we already know that Muscular kills Kouta’s parents in canon. Izuku is going to the Pussycats’ place to babysit Kouta. That rings some alarm bells for the next chapter. Crimson Riot is also most probably dead already, especially since he’s from all the way back from Third’s generation. Fourth, as we know him is some unnamed military guy Third trusted with One for All before his suicide mission (otherwise known as the Night of the Crystal Children). Shrimp is a bunny. What the ever living fuck do you have in mind, Owl?

From this post, Owl addresses Fourth coming into Imaginary canon, “according to [their] watch… too soon.” He’s probably going to be making some sort of appearance in the next chapter, and it’s probably going to have something to do with Muscular. I can’t tell if Owl meant that all four characters are going to be interacting in that ask or that those characters are simply highlighted in the upcoming chapter.

I touched on this detail as well in my other rambley theory post, but Third is also going to be in trouble this upcoming chapter. Owl posted a part of the upcoming chapter in a WIP challenge:

““Come on now,” Sixth says, eyes harsh and full of ice. “Show me the ‘can be’. Show me what future you want to have.”

Third isn’t going to save himself.

And at that moment, it is no wonder why the wary man from his dream likes Sixth so much.”

I previously theorized that First is the “wary man” that was mentioned, and I still stand by that. I don’t think we’re going to see much of First in the next chapter, I think it’s gonna be like how Owl treats Nana – we see snippets of her dialogue interactions with Izuku at random points in the story without her actually appearing and interacting with the other characters. Or maybe at the end of the chapter First is gonna appear and we’ll be left with a cliffhanger, I guess it depends on how mean Owl’s feeling.

Anyways, Third is trouble, and just a reminder that All for One can hurt the vestiges. In chapter 5 he tossed Sixth around and twisted his ankle. Perhaps First is hanging around All for One for whatever reason, and that’s how we see him again? Third needs rescuing from All for One (or maybe the object he’s possessing is in All for One’s possession), and while they go out to get him they end up meeting First. First doesn’t even need an object to appear, that is only for the vestiges Izuku had when he had his seizure. 

Either way, I’m expecting some shenanigans for the upcoming chapter.

At this point I’ve become rather rambley, so I think I’ll leave it off here.

[themonkeycabal]

Wandavision Ep 7 Spoilers

Spoilers below

Good morning. There's a guy power washing the sidewalks at 12:30 a.m., and the drone from the generator is drilling into my brain. So I will watch WandaVision instead of doing something I might regret.

Previously on: Wanda was getting sick of Pietro's shit. Vision knows/thinks his wife is behind all the creepy shenanigans, and he tried to escape the Hex, only to fly to pieces in the real world. I can relate.

Outside, Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy were banished from the SWORD circus by Acting Director Dick, because of course. They snuck back in, also because of course. Darcy hacked AD Dick's files and found out he's Up to Something. Then she ran to try and help Vision and got herself arrested and handcuffed to a jeep. Which is where the brave SWORD agents left her when they ran away as Wanda, attempting to save Vision, expanded the Hex, swallowing Darcy and the SWORD compound, turning it all into a sitcom circus. Well deserved. Well, not Darcy, but anyway.

AD Dick escaped. Unfortunately. But, so did Jimmy and Monica who were off to her mystery aerospace engineer friend to find a way into the Hex.

Also, Tommy and Billy have powers.  

The episode 7 summary is a delight: "Two super-powered beings living ideal suburban lives suspect that everything is not as it seems." You don't say, Disney+.

Wanda wakes, regrets everything, and hides under the covers.  Understandable. Cut away to her addressing the camera The Office style "Look, we've all been there. Letting our fear and anger get the best of us; intentionally expanding the boarders of the false world we created". (cut to screaming running SWORD minions lol).

The boys come to get her, their game is freaking out. The video game controllers can't decide what decade they're in and are glitching it up.

Billy says his head feels weird and noisy. Wanda isn't terribly responsive. Mommy needs some her time.

"As punishment for my reckless evening, I plan on taking a quarantine-style staycation. A whole day. Just to myself. That'll show me." lol

Wanda eventually rouses herself, goes downstairs in her robe and sweats, ignores the boys fighting over a video game controller, and goes for the sugariest cereal. The milk container keeps glitching, she tries very very hard to ignore that.

Interesting Office-style opening credits, where it's just her name on everything. Vision is only added at the end, with the tag "Created by Wanda Maximoff".

Out in the real world, what is the point of SWORD? Like how do they have jurisdiction? Where is SHIELD. Director Mack, wtf, dude?

Anyway, now that part of their camp has been swallowed by the hex, they're further out, staring at the angry glowing force-field. AD Dick is a dick. He wants to know what's happening with the broadcast. His little minion says the signal's gone. Ominously he says "we launch today". Mmmm, what delightfully heavy-handed dipshittery will we have to endure?

Back inside. Vision wakes in the field at the edge of town that is now a circus. And lots and lots of clowns. He gets yelled at by a strongman who seems to think Vision is the new clown and tells him he's late for rehearsal with the escape artist. Who is Darcy. lol

"I put in for the bearded lady. But this alabaster complexion wasn't fooling anyone."

Darcy is chained to a ye olde fire engine or tractor or something. Vision walks up to her making a weird face and kind of waving his hand back and forth between them.

"You don't remember me from last night? We locked eyes, there was an unspoken understanding." Darcy tells him "um, hard pass." lol She busts out of her chains and walks away, Vision chases after.

Back at home, Wanda wants to know if the boys have seen dad, they haven't, but Billy wants to know about that whole thing Uncle Pietro said about dad being dead again. Wanda says Pietro is not their uncle. The boys don't understand, and Wanda has a little rambling breakdown about how she has no answers and maybe there's no meaning to anything ha ha don't worry boys mommy's just having a little depression.

Agnes knocks and then, you know, strolls in, when Wanda magics the door open.

"Hi Agnes. I'd get up but I just don't, ahahahah, want to." If I was Billy or Tommy I'd mount a search for dad. Stat.

Agnes: "I think I got there in the nick of time, 'cause she was one split-end away from cutting her own bangs."

(It's 1 a.m. and I swear to God, that man is still power-washing the sidewalks.)

Agnes suggests the boys go with her and give mommy that 'me time' she so desperately needs. The boys are reluctant but Wanda is ecstatic.

Once alone with her certainly soggy cereal, Wanda settles back to watch crappy daytime TV. But, damn it, the furniture is glitching through the eras.

"I'm fine! I'm fine hahahah. *sigh* I'm fine. i'm fine. … I'm fine."

In the real world. Jimmy and Monica are still on the move. The file on project whatever it was from last episode (Cataract), that Darcy forwarded to Jimmy's email, has finally found its way to him. It's R&D reports.

Oh, that asshole, AD Dick was trying to bring Vision back online. Monica puts the pieces together "Heyward wants his sentient weapon back."

Jimmy says somebody has to tell Wanda.

Good thing they arrive at the other side of the Hex, I guess? Where Monica has another team waiting. An Agent Goodner. They brought her like some sort of big Mars rover thingy.

Vision is still trying to talk to Darcy. "You tried to help me." "Doubtful. I'm notoriously self-involved."

lol, some amusing back and forth. Darcy is an f'ing delight and I don't just say that because I am obviously hideously biased.

Vision distracts her with a mime and takes the opportunity to do his brain mojo on her, waking her up. "Part of me secretly wanted a guest spot on this show, but seriously that sucked."

"Dr. Lewis. I have questions." "I have answers."

And then they steal the funnel cake truck.

"Dr. Lewis, my questions. Are my children safe?" "That I don't know." "And who was that Pietro?" "Beats me."

Wanda is still working on her bowl of cereal. Give it up, sister. The house redecorates itself around her.

Uh-oh, in her talking head segment, about how she doesn't understand whats going on, the person behind the camera speaks, and asks if maybe it's what she deserves. "You're not supposed to talk."

Commercial time. For a depression medication. "Nexus, a unique antidepressant that works to anchor you back to your reality. Or the reality of your choice."

Back in Westview. The boys are hanging at Agnes's. Billy has a rabbit. As happens at your crazy neighbor's house. But, he says he likes it there, because it's quiet. "You're quiet, Agnes. On the inside." J'ACCUSE, AGNES!  

Back at Monica's backup camp, she's getting suited up in her SWORD astronaut suit. Jimmy's sad because Darcy's missing the fun. But, Monica will rescue her. SWORD is worse than SHIELD for slapping their name all over everything.

Monica and the little rover zoom off to the hex. Should she really go that fast? Maybe this is something to take cautiously? Oh, and look, she hit it hard and she's stuck. The Hex doesn't want to let her in, but she keeps trying. And now the Hex is eating into the rover — sorry, *re-writing* it. Well that was a dumb plan. Sorry guys, but come on.

Monica escapes, but the hex eats the rover and then spits it out, the front half transformed into a truck. Monica is shocked, Jimmy calls for a medic, and as they run forward, Jimmy, who has known Monica for like two days, recognizes she's got 'I'm a heroic dummy' face on and he's all "noooooo!". She runs for the hex and pushes her way in.

This is a really long sequence of her going through the hex. Like … too long. Sorry, but it is. There's a whole thing where she's hearing voices from moments in her life, and she hears Carol tell her how she's a tough kid, and now Monica is Filled With Resolve and breaks through the Hex, still in her Astronaut outfit, so like she resisted the sitcom wardrobe department.

I enjoy this show, but there are moments of hokeyness that I find very trying.

The hex rewrites you at a basic level as you pass through it. So, third time through and Monica's eyes are glowy blue and she can, like, see electrical currents, or electromagnetic fields (it looks like). Trippy. She can see power along the power lines, fields around streetlights. Closing her eyes and shaking her head makes it all go away. Of course.

Meanwhile, Darcy and Vision are on their slow-speed getaway in the Funnel Cake truck. She's trying to catch him up on what's happened since he's been dead. They keep hitting red lights and obstacles. Vision thinks Wanda's doing it to keep him from getting home. "I'm not amused," he tells the camera with a very not amused face on. lol

Vision is trying to understand what he is now. It's not going well. "My corporeal form was born from Ultron's plan for global genocide?" "Correct-o." Darcy might not be the best person to be explaining this to him.

"What am I now?" Poor Vision.

Darcy takes a deep breath. In fairness, she looks like maybe she'd rather not be the one doing the explaining, either. "Honestly, I'm a STEM type of lady, so I thought she just flipped a switch on your head and brought you back to life. What I don't get is why you can't leave the hex."

Vision is having an existential crisis. But, Darcy assures him that based on her week-long experience as a fan of WandaVision, he and Wanda do really love each other. So, there's that. "You belong together," says the shameless shipper.

Meanwhile, Monica has arrived at the Maximoff residence and busts into the house, breathlessly trying to tell Wanda it's all Heyward being a dick, but Wanda's stunned by the sudden entry and then too pissed to really listen. "The drones, the missiles, Pietro." "No, Pietro wasn't us." "All you do is lie." She's tossing Monica around with her powers.

Monica, friend, buddy, pal, was that really your plan? To barge right in and just … what? Talk fast and hope she didn't yeet your ass again? Okay, she didn't have a lot of time, I get that, but surely she could have come up with something. Like, she should have found Darcy and Vision first, and then the three of them could approach Wanda. But, no. Jimmy Woo would have a plan, Monica.

Well, fortunately for Monica she's been rewritten into Electricity Lass. She hits the ground with a staticky crackle and her eyes glow blue again. Wanda's all "bu-whu?"

"The only lies I've told are the ones you put in my mouth," Monica says all angry like. Mmmkay, I thought you were trying to help? Wanda does not care for this response. Because, no offense Monica, but the last time she heard your voice, she had a missile launched at her head.

Monica challenges her. "Do it then, take me out." Not an approach I’d go for, but it seems to work, and Wanda hesitates and Monica tries to warn her again, that unlike Wanda who isn’t actually violent and evil, Heyward will burn down Westview to get what he wants. "Don't let him make you the villain."

"Maybe I already am."

Next door, Agnes is looking out the window, watching them, with a considering look on her face. BECAUSE SHE IS IN ON WHATEVER THIS IS.

Monica is still trying to talk down Wanda. Agnes interrupts. Creepily. And shepherds Wanda away.

Vision and Darcy are thwarted in their journey again. "Oh come on! Kids? What's next? Puppies?"

Vision takes the faster way and intangibles himself out of the van and flies off, leaving Darcy at the endless intersection. "Go on! I'll just meet you there then?"

Back at Agnes's shack of creepy ladies who are freaking up to something. Where are the boys? Oh, Wanda notices the half-eaten PB&Js and the nightmarish kids' show on the telly. Behind her the bunny is in its cage. No sign of the boys. Agnes says they're probably playing in the basement.

Wanda wanders off to find them. But, there are no boys, only horror show creepiness. The basement turns into some weird sort of domed cavern with arches all around and in the middle a weird glowing rectangle.

Agnes comes up behind her. "You didn't think you were the only magical girl in town, did you?" I was wise to you, Agnes. Which, given she was a featured co-star, was probably no great insight on my part. BUT STILL!

"The name's Agatha Harkness. Lovely to finally meet you, dear." OH! LOLOLOL! OH, I didn't see that one coming. Wow, you got me, show. It never occurred to me for a second that it was Agatha Harkness.

And now a fantastic montage of Agatha doing tricksy things as Agnes through the series, with the best theme song ever "Who's been messing up everything? It's been Agatha, all along! Who's been pulling every evil string? It's been Agatha, all along. She's insidious. HA HA! So perfidious." Oh man, this is great. "And I killed Sparky, too."

LOL. Great ending.

Hey, an unexpected mid-credits scene of Monica trying to get into the house. Maybe Agnes's? Oh, yeah, she finds a storm cellar and opens the doors, to see a stone stairway with vines or roots growing all around it and zippy electrical sparks and such. Pietro appears behind her. "Snoopers gonna snoop."

Credits!

Well then.

I KNEW IT! I didn't know what I knew, but I knew I knew a thing!

[ankhisms]

the always wonderful shelley @shanheling tagged me to do this thank u so much!! i think that everyone i wanted to tag has already been tagged to do this but if you feel like doing this feel free to consider urself tagged by me!! im putting this under a readmore bc its long and i ramble a lot

the piece i was tagged to explain my process on is this oc piece! unfortunately i have a habit of deleting my original clip studio file once ive finished my art and saved it as a new png file, so i dont have the file to show the sketch and different stages of this piece. but I still can go through my general process and talk about how i did that piece!

1. planning

honestly i think about the art that i want to do a lot, and in this last year or so ive thought about the art i want to do more than ive been able to actually create and finish that art that i want to do. for my planning i tend to do a lot of different thumbnail sketches for the art im thinking of

these are some examples of thumbnails, a lot of times ill do thumbnails just on pencil and paper and with some of these theyre done quickly with my fingers on my phone note function on a day where i was feeling too bad to get up and draw on paper but still wanted to get the thumbnail ideas down. two of these are for the same songxiao piece that i still havent finished and i have more thumbnails digitally on clip studio for the same piece, i do a lot more thumbnails when a piece isnt working the way i want it to and theres times where ill completely scratch a thumbnail or a sketch and start over in order to do more thumbnails because i dont feel happy with some aspect of it.

two of these are small gouche painting thumbnails for two pieces i did maybe a month or so ago, i did the thumbnails and then tried to expand on them digitally and im wanting to do more thumbnail paintings like this in the future because it was fun

for the piece of my oc trio it was based off a series of ask prompts i got for a few different outfit prompt memes i had reblogged, so i based their outfits on the ones in the meme. when im drawing figures i tend to try and get the movement down in the poses when im sketching, i do several rough sketches of the pose before beginning to start setting down lines (if im doing lineart at all because sometimes i dont like doing lineart and do a more lineless painting kind of style). i really try to get my art to convey some kind of emotion, in the oc piece i wanted it to feel fun and like youre seeing three best friends while theyre out on the town having a fun night

2. creating

this is the only real example i have of a piece in the middle of being filled in and created, this piece is one that im really not very happy with & have had lying around for a while and ill probably scrap it and try to come at it from a different perspective at some point. but anyway it still shows what i do, i lay down a kind of neutral gray color underneath my final sketch/lineart if im doing lineart in that piece and then i start picking out the colors that i want for the piece and kind of setting out a pallette for myself. i dont do this color pallette thing 100% of the time but i do it really often, especially if im working on a commission or a larger piece where i know theres going to be a lot of colors or if its a piece where im not sure exactly what color scheme i want so laying out the colors together helps me kind of decide what kind of scheme i want. i am sooooo picky about my colors in my art i am genuinely obsessed with colors in art and there are times where i really have to stop myself from working on something forever just constantly adding more colors or putting little tiny changes and gradients in the colors.

after ive got the colors i want down i tend to try and block out parts of the piece with the base color for that section, and then i start to paint with the colors that i want to go on top of that base color from there.

once im satisfied with the colors/shading/rendering and everything ill go back and look over things and will fix things that look off or sometimes completely redo segments if they dont look right to me. when i was younger and mainly doing digital art using my phone and my fingers i would use a lot of filters and overlays on top of my art once i was done, and honestly im glad to not be doing that anymore because i dont think it made my art look any better. i do color adjustments and sometimes will put on a color overlay or a layer to emphasize the shadows and the light in the piece, but i try to keep those layers to a minimum and like i said before i have a tendency to obsess over the colors and ill spend a good amount of time in the color adjustment tool of clip studio and then ill just decide "actually it looks fine as it is" so yeah!

3. posting

i feel like i dont have a lot to say here gbfm i mean i honestly have a lot of thoughts about the relationship between artists and social media and how social media changes our views on art including our own art and how we can feel like we constantly need to be posting new art and just become content machines churning out new stuff. but ill save that rant for another time. i used to be really concerned about how many notes my art would get when i was younger, and i dont at all blame anyone who still is very concerned about that bc it sucks when u work hard on something youve created and then you dont get a lot of recognition for it, but honestly within the last two years or so i feel like ive begun to have a lot healthier relationship with posting my art. i really just post my art on my art blog, reblog it to my main blog, and then thats that yknow! i do really appreciate any and all support people give me, it means the world to me, but for me having the mentality where i dont need to post all the art i make and i dont need to be posting every day or every week or every month even has been a lot healthier for me because then im not constantly asking myself why didnt this get notes is my art awful??? and yeah i just kind of post it and my brain goes okay were done with that art we gotta make more

ive honestly been struggling a lot with art thru the pandemic and if youre reading this and have been struggling with creating in any way recently or even before the pandemic, please know theres no shame in having trouble creating and it doesnt make you bad at whatever it is u create!

thank you for reading this, feel free to consider urself tagged by me again if u want to do this!! love u all

[a-collection-of-villainous-aus]

Coffee Shop au part four

(Segment one of three)

If I forget to tag something important please tell me.

(Present day)

(Small warning Acylius does use those he tortures for food for other demons and non mortal creatures to consume so if you have a problem with that then um just keep scrolling I guess ^^; )

What was this…that strange feeling of disappointment at seeing Black Hats chair being vacant; after all he’d only been there twice so it was not as if he was a regular customer, especially as they’d only been open for two days.

Why should the old demon stay until closing time anyway, just because he did it on the first day didn’t mean he’d do it again today, he had no reason to stay…Black Hat had been rather forward though, kissing him like that, not that he was complaining but , he wasn’t one to just play around and be used.

Friends with benefits was one thing, at least you knew where you both stood, and yet still, why did it feel so familiar, an old dream perhaps, after all who didn’t at least have one wet dream about the great Black Hat doing sordid things to your body right.

Especially with tentacles, while wearing priest robes.

Yes he had his kinks, but damn you if you tried to shame him for them.

He huffed, shoulders going slump, no this was ridiculous , feeling sad just because that idiot of a Gremlin just upped and left without so much as a good bye, Hat didn’t owe him anything and he didn’t owe Hat anything either.

Clearly he was crazy, he had finally fucking lost it, thinking of The Great Lord Black Hat owing him a good bye and a kiss on the cheek as if they were lovers, he’d just met the bastard.

No he needed to either relax or worry if the destroyer of worlds was going to ruin his café that’d he’d always wanted with his mischievous downright evil antics.

Acylius was currently grinding up their latest victim, a man who’d been abusing Nicodemus’s workers (don’t worry if you don’t know who that is I won’t be bringing him into this unless I need him for like filler scenes)

Body parts in neat piles on the counter top, ‘pork’ pies were on the menu tomorrow, this was Black Hat’s island so even the people knew some places the menu would cater to demons so if they saw the chalk was in red they knew it was demon cuisine, though of course there was always the daring person who’d ask for it anyway in which a waiver definitely had to be signed.

Hey, wasn’t going to be Acylius’s problem if they decided to off themselves on food that probably wasn’t for human consumption.

This particular man had been a pig and he was serving sow next week.

Vile beings needed to meet a vile end.

This was going to be a long night, he could manage though, at best he could manage on two nights of sleep during the week.

Currently the head of the meat sack was animated and still alive, the man was so far gone he’d reached that point of acceptance that this was happening and nothing could be done, so seeing his body being prepped for pastries and such was more amusing than anything.

“I’m a Legion demon Jake, that’s your name right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, anyway as I was saying I’m a Legion demon in this day and age that means nothing to most unless you are perhaps ancient or still follow the old ways, I have nothing to offer thee Great Lord Black Hat.”

Jake watched as the demon deboned, removed a hand and of his shaved one of his arms before washing it down to make sure all the hair was gone before slapping it into the mince meat maker.

“Last I heard your kind was like some kinda lucky charm right dude?”

“Yes, but he does not need that from me, if we did anything he would be interested in me for all of five minutes and bail, he is all shadows and darkness, I will literally spend weekends in my boxers eating cheese puffs if the week has been hard enough, hardly a turn on for someone like Black Hat.”

Acylius snapped while working on another piece.

“I dunno, some beings like to see their partners being able to feel that chill around them, but hey that’s just my jam you know, anyway stop whining, this guy is old as shit right, you don’t know, your Legion demon shit might actually put a huge boner in his pants.”

Jake taunted, smirking as he watched his killer bristle up, oooo hooo sensitive much.

You know those scenes in anime’s where the other character suddenly gets really tall, shadows where their eyes should be and their hair seems to just be blowing in the wind and there’s that broken glass sound sometimes.

That’s Acylius’s reaction as his mouth turns into a ground out grin that’s splitting wider and wider along where the scars are, ironically that injury is the reason he can smile this wide now when the demon in him starts to show.

Jake was going to die, he was already he dead he knew it so why not torment him just a little more and get it over with

“Awww no I know what it is baby demon, you want a daddy you can suckle on and-

Acylius brought the meat tenderiser down on Jake’s head repeatedly until there was only pulp left, brain matter and blood were splattered across his apron with a few deep scarlet streaks going across his cheek, how brightly the red stood out against the snow white skin.

He was staring at the mess he’d made, panting softly, pupils thin and biting his lip, alright maybe he’d enjoyed that a little too much, he frowned though when he saw the pies had been covered to, well perhaps they would still be salvageable.

Scraping the remains of the head into the bin marked biohazard he pulled the bag out and set it down getting rid of other pieces he no longer required, tomorrow non human waste disposal would be picking up the remains anyway.

Demencia had caught the show and was leaning on the door.

“Looks like you got a little too into that Lulu, sure you don’t want to tenderise me on the surface.”

(NOTE, Acylius’s nick name Lulu was made last year in November 2019 because my friend had trouble pronouncing his name, so I tried to think of a name that he’d only let close friends and loved ones call him and that’s where that comes from, not Helluva boss, just thought I’d point that out as there’s a Lulu world and Loo Loo land)

“Not now Demencia, I’m not in the mood for your jokes.”

Acylius ran his fingers through his hair, regretting it once he remembered oh yeah covered in blood; a shower would definitely be needed before bed.

“Ah I see, so the head got sassy huh?”

Flug, because yes reminder Acylius is Doctor Flug, paused at the backdoor and pouted

“Might have, he also said some very offensive words that I did not appreciate.”

Demmy folded her arms, shaking her head and smiling

“Well you showed that head who’s boss, now hurry up binch I want my cookies and hot chocolate, it’s late.”

Flug lovingly gave her the finger as he walked out the door while telling her she had two hands she could do it herself.

The back alley was dimly lit, not that he couldn’t see or choose to focus his vision to see clearer but sometimes it was nice just to appreciate light that softly glowed and curled around corners to take in the world in all different ways and settings…oh he missed rain, there hadn’t been any in nearly two months now, he missed how things glowed, street lamps became brighter and car lights so red and vibrant against the grey trailing along winding roads of shimmering black.

Perhaps it would soon when the snow had melted, he’d go for a long drive and listen to the rain hitting the roof of his car, patting against the windows, listening to the quiet tick, tick, tick of the vehicle when he switched on the indicator.

Yeah just drive out the middle of nowhere, strip down and run in the rain or just let it soak into his clothes as his breath streamed out in wispy clouds…

Ears twitching he heard a late party of drunks making their way home, he watched them pass by, they were completely unaware of him, if he were perhaps a rabid sort of demon they would be easy pickings, but that was not his game, at least not tonight, there was no scent that told him a wrong doing had been done, just a group of friends heading home for bed.

Snow had fallen in the tracks left by the bustling day life of the people around here and now in the silence he wondered was he lonely, Demencia’s offers had sometimes had been all too tempting simply out of need for comfort and to be close to someone, sometimes it seemed she needed it just as much as he did when they’d just lean on each other and complain about their day.

Looking up he found someone watching him from the shadows, well more saw a pair of eyes, completely yellow, no white to be seen, oranges and reds, as if he were looking at the sun, shivering as a breeze rolled through he pulled down his sleeves, goose bumps rising, a tingling down his spine, just the little things that reminded him he was alive, he was not afraid of what lingered in the shadows, there was no sense of danger.

Perhaps they were a Legion fan , someone caught off guard by his appearance, after all Flug knew his scars could be quiet unsettling to some people…though come to think of it he did sense an air of fear about this being, still they were wide and unmoving.

Really the sensible thing to do would be to just go inside and ignore this creature, yet something kept him there a longing to talk to it, placing the garbage into the bins he smiled just a little

“You know stranger, you remind me of someone…someone I feel like I should know.”

Acylius’s ears lay flat as he heard them softly whimper, it sounded so sad.

“I am sorry, I was not being offensive I assure you, this person I speak of was very kind, at least he was in the dream, I dreamt when I was little , funnily enough a night like this, Mother had locked me out…”

He held one hand in the other looking at them, fingers curling around his thumb

“My fingers were so cold and red I could barely feel them, or the rest of myself to be honest…heh you probably do not want to hear the tired ramblings of an out of date demon.”

“No, please continue.”

There was silence again, that whispered voice, it comforted him, made him feel at ease, this indeed truly was a strange day.

“Mother had locked me out, I didn’t cry or beg her to let me back in, I knew she would not open the door, so I laid down cheek to the snow, despite being almost numb my face burned, my face…”

Tracing along his scars as he recalled the moment could not help but wince

“I had to be careful still they had barely healed by that point, but I remember how good the cold felt on them, red and angry they seemed to only be satisfied when pressed to the freezing earth, I knew that night or at least believed I was going to die and…I was alright with that until I saw a pair of eyes just like yours.”

Acylius took a step forward only stopping when he saw this being step back

“They were gold, I thought they were so beautiful , I thought maybe the angels we were told about were not so bad if they could come for something like me, his claws hands reached down for me but I didn’t see his face, all I heard was that I was coming home with him and his name…his name was…”

Acylius held his head in his hands, scrubbing them down his face

“His name was Cruentus.”

When he looked back at where the eyes had been there was only darkness, the demon in the dark had disappeared so quickly he wondered for a moment if they’d even been there.

No, nope, nope, that dream was not real, that being was not Cruentus, it was all coincidence and he was just exhausted, yes that was it, perhaps he should sleep tonight, or maybe he’d snacked on too much of Jake while he was working, or had too many sugary treats either way, it was pies in the fridge and off to bed.

Opening the back door he locked it behind him, ignoring the fact Demencia was chomping on one of the pies, after all she knew what was in them if she wanted to eat it that was up to her, his mind was elsewhere.

“Mmmm you tenderized this one good, Legs, nice and juicy.”

Usually her friend would react to that name, at least grunt or gently nudge her and tell her not to call him that, something was clearly bothering Acylius.

“Legs?”

Demencia asked gently, placing a hand on his shoulder, only for him to turn and pick her up by the front of her shirt, snarling as he did so

“Do not call me that name!”

Looking down at him, Demencia could really see something wasn’t right here, was he remembering something to do with that name, like it had always annoyed him, but that glare, the disheveled hair and fangs all bared …honestly in another situation he would be hot as fuck…alright she was already thinking he looked hot as fuck but this was not the time or place.

Touching Acylius’s face lightly, she watched as his ears flicked, his breathing was ragged, his eyes returning from being solid blue to having pupils and irises again, her hands were warm and comforting and he found himself leaning into them, lips pressed against her palm…she was there to ground him in his bad moments and he could never thank his friend enough for that.

“You mind setting me down you tree.”

Demencia laughed softly.

He carefully set her back down and pulled her in for a hug

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I would never hurt you, never.”

Nuzzling against his chest and wrapping her arms around him, patting his back

“Hey, hey now, none of that you dumb tree, I know you have gaps in your memory, did you remember why do you don’t like that name?”

“Hate, I don’t just dislike that name, I hate it…all I can hear is someone called Vincent and they make me curl up and die, I have no face only a voice, if I ever heard it…I would know…”

Flug was quiet, taking in just how small she was against him, reminding him how small most were against him like this, his talons formed, slowly stroking her hair, playing with the fuchsia overlay, down to her neck where it faded to lime green, such an interesting choice of colours to wear in ones hair.

“You already know I just appeared back into existence, as if the world itself birthed me, I was somewhere forgotten…and seeing Black Hat today, I think…no it is a stupid notion to think he could see me as anything.”

He kissed the top of her head, thankful that she had not let go, Demencia was the one being who never seemed to be afraid of him, who he knew he could trust and rely on in these moments where memories were trying to break through the surface and suffocated when they could not make it.

“I am a Legion demon, no more than a trinket in the end, I am a nothing in his world and I am okay with that, I have a nice peaceful life and a coffee shop just like I always wanted…”

He sat with her on the counter, as she sat on one of his thighs

“This is just a hug, you don’t need more right?”

Demmy enquired, slightly hopeful because who didn’t want to climb him, honestly, he was an idiot for not seeing he didn’t need to be some grand demon to be wonderful.

“Yes, just a hug…I wish I could say I grew up in a loving home with Christmases like in the movies, that I could tell you my life’s story, talk about a time I scraped my knee when I was small and had a mother who put cute cat plasters on me just because I like cats.”

She listened and let him stroke her hair, it’d always calmed him to pet soft things, so perhaps she might use shampoos that were just a little pricier than she’d usually buy simply to make sure her hair was soft for these broken moments no one else saw.

Even though he was not sobbing, made no notion he was crying, the damp warmth on her shoulder told her otherwise.

“I want to tell you the times my Father took me for ice cream, my first kiss with the person I fell in love with, something…anything, but there’s nothing there.”

She listened attentively until he had nothing left to say, carefully taking his hand from her scalp; Demencia held his face and looked at him

“Damn Sillyus, they really did send you back with nothing more than a leaflet.”

“I suppose, but I have so much to thank you for, when you found me on that street, I only remembered enough to get by, to survive, but you helped me to settle into this time and be a part of the modern world.”

Acylius kissed her forehead before pressing his to hers, eyes closed as he whispered

“I’m so tired of being lost, of being unsure of what I am, who I am, I just want to bake, make coffee and kill people in my basement, I think fortune smiled on me for a moment when you found me, I think I might just give you the world if you asked.”

“Awww come on dude, sounds like a love confession here, I have bills to pay off and knew there was a darker side in me, you’re the Sweeny to my Lovett.”

She teased fondly, lightly smacking the back of his head, smiling as he managed a laugh

“I guess I could agree platonically with that.”

“But honestly Slender Man, babe if you wanted to plant your tentacles and leave your seed in me I wouldn’t say no.”

Acylius rolled his eyes and shook his head, using a tea towel to wipe his face

“Honestly woman you are bloody hopeless.”

“Yeah but you love me all the more for it.”

She grinned punching him playfully on the shoulder

“Perhaps I do, but I am not as hot as you like to say I am, I hide my face, I hate when people look at my scars and pity me.”

Demmy raised a brow and climbed off of his leg, flicking his forehead

“I know you like to hide your face behind glamour and tricks but you’re beautiful even if you don’t see it dumbass, I’m starting to wonder what the fuck happened outside that had you coming back in as if someone stole your last apple crown and there’ll never be another one again on the face of the planet.”

She put the kettle on and took out the upside down pineapple cake; this was definitely a cake and tea situation

“First of all, do not say such blasphemous things, life would not be worth living without apple crowns, second of all…I think, I know I said there’s nothing there but I think I might have had a memory about my childhood involving Cruentus.”

Demencia nearly dropped the mug she was holding, setting it down she turned to face him

“Holy fucking shit, you mean thee fucking Cruentus, Hellhound butler, Hell Knight, works for the brooding clearly wants you to nail his ass Black Hat, that Cruentus…ahh I hear he has eyes like the fucking sun.”

Acylius gave her a deadpan look, hands on hips as he stood, looming over her, trying to look seriously only for it to falter

“You Demmy are just horny on main.”

“So what if I am? Gonna call me a slut like my last partner?”

She swatted away his playfully prodding hand.

“No, I never understood why it’s perfectly fine for men to have as many partners as they wish but seen as something terrible when a woman just wants to enjoy her life the same way, society is mad…also no more jokes on Black Hat you wicked beastie.”

Demencia would be lying if she didn’t admit his ability to shift from one mood to the other sometimes made her head spin, but it was clear he’d needed that moment to talk, shrugging she turned back to the kettle

“Alright, alright I’ll behave at least for now, I mean it’s clear the big bad doesn’t want you, how could he possibly want you…even though anyone with eyes could see he kept checking you out and every single coffee you brought him in hopes your stupid number was on it somewhere.”

Demencia couldn’t help but stifle a giggle at his sounds of huffing and frustration and heard him sit at the table, she did know there was stories, legends really by this point of Cruentus having a son, but you literally had to pour through footnotes and any books that might have had more information had been removed from shelves and privatized under the order of Black Hat himself.

End of segment one

(I'll try and type up segment two tomorrow)