#this episode pretty neat so far

[quibbs126]

Also I don’t know how controversial of an opinion this is, but Bumblebee’s my least favorite of the Autobot crew. He’s more annoying than anything

Currently I’ve gotten all the way through Season 2 Episode 9, and by this point I feel like he causes most of the episode problems. Well maybe not causes them, but he’s the one who has to learn things the most. And it’s usually the same stuff about being overconfident and not thinking ahead and stuff like that. And again, I think he’s kind of annoying

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Bulkhead originally either (mostly because I felt like his episodes kept going over the same point of him causing a lot of destruction), but he’s grown on me by this point. Bumblebee however, not so much

[kabr0ztrousers]

fem reader finds a mysterious book that summons different monsters or creatures that takes care of human needs and reader chooses to summon the demon and they have sex and make out thats all-

ima be butterfly anon 🦋 so you know that it's me as I will be requesting more in the future.

You can absolutely claim 🦋 if you like, and I do love an opportunity to make another demon. Now without further ado, here's

Kabr0z Writes Episode 33: The book

Find the rest of the Kabr0z Writes anthology here!

CWs: Excessive cum; demon summoning; long preamble; monstrous genitalia; butt stuff

A/N: This is the last ask at time of writing, so if you have an idea for something you wanna see, or just want to call me a perv, please reach out! I feed on engagement, after all

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Antiques filled your flat. Mostly worthless tchotchkes, the odd chair or end table missing the rest of some hypothetical set, one particular lamp constructed mostly from a taxidermised heron. You loved them all, but most of all your carefully climate-controlled bookshelf. Your collection wasn't particularly valuable; there weren't many first editions amongst the ranks and what you had were in pretty uniformly terrible condition. The spoils of estate auctions and charity shops.

This time was different. You weren't going to be in Bristol long, so decided to stroll down the alleys of the older parts of the city, far from the university students and the train stations. This shop was barely a hole in the wall. It was only about twice as wide as its own doorway, but it went deeper than made sense. Crowded on all sides with stacks and shelves of books, mostly well-thumbed paperbacks with peeling spines or the odd book of fairy stories from the 60s or 70s, more penguins than you could shake a stick at. One in particular caught your eye. Leather bound, stained a deep royal purple, and with an embossed sigil on the spine. 'The Book of Creatures and Calling' You hadn't heard of this work, and couldn't find any author or attributions on the first few pages. It looked handwritten, a flowing looping hand filling the work in neat, dense rows of text and painstakingly drawn diagrams.

You put it atop the pile of volumes you carried and bought your haul. Vintage copies of Grimm's Fairy Stories, Robin Hood, Tales of Arabian Nights, and that book.

You got home and put away your haul, minus the oddball. That you set about reading, googling passages from it and trying to get some inkling on who wrote it, was it published, or did you just wind up with a random manuscript?

The internet, predictably, produced nothing of use. The book seems never to have been published, or at least nobody had put any parts of it on the web. It was fascinating at any rate. Step by step directions for calling forth all manner of creatures, even organised by difficulty with simpler rituals at the start, and the more daunting ones near the end.

You opted for a simple one to start. A brownie. You drew the circle and left out offerings and a worn-out pair of shoes then went to bed.

When you checked the ritual in the morning, the offerings were gone, and the shoes were as good as new. Better, in fact.

You realised what you had. An honest-to-god grimoire. And you've successfully summoned a faerie.

You checked the book again, making sure to read and re-read every sentence. The compact was simple, the offerings were to pay the faerie back for coming and fixing a broken thing. You didn't owe it anything more, and a pair of shoes was specifically recommended as an example of 'a broken thing'. You sighed in relief. The last thing you needed was to owe something a debt.

Over the next few weeks you tried tougher summons, and got more confident in your abilities. You called forth a dryad who gave you some fruit in return for a song, a walking broom who cleaned your flat, even a golden goose once, though it didn't lay anything for you.

The day you really found the potential of the book came later. You'd been drinking pretty heavily, your boyfriend had just walked out on you. Wine and ice cream wasn't cutting it, you needed something more substantial. You reached for the book and turned to the last summon. An incubus. For the low, low price of a sliver of your soul, you could get the best fuck of your life. You shrugged and finished your wine. Worth it.

The ritual was much more complex. Carefully tracing sigils within sigils, lighting candles and incense, making sure that the protection and binding spells were perfect (It would be disastrous if they failed) before using a kitchen knife to cut a slit into your fingertip.

A single drop of blood welled up from your finger, then lifted off it, drifting to the centre of the ritual. A smell of iron joined the sweet incense and paraffin in the air. The candles flickered for a moment, and he appeared.

He was tall, brass-skinned, and well dressed. He wore a pair of tight black leather trousers and a black silk waistcoat, covered in brocade embroidered in fine gold thread. His feet, each toe tipped with a knifelike black claw, were bare and in a pointe stance about an inch above the floor. The burnished metallic skin of his arms and face reflected the soft candlelight, sending fluid reflections across your walls as he took in his surroundings. Atop his head were a pair of black horns, twisting out, then in, then straight up. His hair was the same metal as his face, a coif of impossibly thin brass wire. His eyes were the only part of him that wasn't polished metal or charred bone, black scleras surrounded glowing red irises and horizontally slitted pupils.

"A professional job, well done young summoner" His features twisted to a smile, revealing silver teeth and a forked silver tongue "I can see you know your craft"

The book had warned you about this, that he would try to beguile you, twist you into agreeing to something you didn't want. You wordlessly proferred a scroll to him. A contract. It was carefully worded: no verbal contracts would be binding for the rest of his time with you, he would give you an evening of carnal delight, and in return he would get a sliver of your soul equivalent to an hour at the end of your lifespan.

The demon read the document, and laughed "I'm not used to you people being so well prepared. Very well. An hour of your life, taken from the very end, in return for my services for the evening. This ought to be fun." He bowed deeply "I am Kamilik, lesser demon in service to Simizel and denizen of the Ashen Pit"

You told him your name, being careful to phrase it as how he could address you, which only made him chuckle further.

Once you had both signed the document, you led him to your bedroom. Your hands shook as you started to undress for the creature you had invited in to your home. He touched your waist, and stroked your hair. He must've been able to smell the wine on your breath as he pulled you towards him, easing off your top and expertly unfastening your bra, casting the garments into the corner of the room. He sat on the bed and pulled you on top of him, one clawed hand on your back, the other cupping your face before he drew you into a kiss.

His breath smelled of metal, and his skin was hot, but his lips were soft as you melted into his arms. Sat on his lap, eyes closed and running your hands through each others hair, feeling one another's bodies. You unfastened his waistcoat and he pulled it off, keeping one hand on you, then the other, never breaking the kiss.

It was like making out with a radiator, if the radiator was soft and receptive to the touch. You pushed your tongue into his mouth and he gently sucked on it, the heat even more intense, but never painful. Then his tongue entered your mouth, the forked muscle flitting in, tasting like how a 9-volt feels. You gasped with surprise at the sensation, but relaxed into it as his needle-sharp claws drew intricate patterns on your back. You pressed yourself against him, feeling your tits flatten on his burnished chest and enjoying the warm wetness spreading between your legs.

You pulled away, and knelt off the side of the bed. You yanked his waistband down, before he cut a slit down his trousers and they burned away, leaving him nude on the bed in front of you. His cock was fleshy and vascular, red veins criss-crossed pale flesh, coming to a gentle point at the end. You admired it for a moment, before taking it in one hand and jerking it. You heard him sigh as your hand pumped his shaft, even more so when you started to lick and suck on his balls. You felt a drop of precum start to leak from him, getting on your hand. You pressed a fingertip against his brass asshole, intending to gently work it in, but his eager butt swallowed it up to your knuckle with no resistance. You curled it up and touched his prostate.

You heard him groan and felt his cock pulse in your hand. He was cumming already. You felt drops of hot liquid on your face and pulled away, watching him pump a fountain of golden cum into the air. Eventually the pulsing stopped, your hand was coated in the hot, sticky gold liquid. He wasn't going soft

"I'm a demon. We're done when you say we are"

You smiled, this is going to be fun. You reached into your bedside drawer and produced a toy, long and curved, designed to seek out a man's prostate and press against it mercilessly. You pushed it up the demon. As soon as it found its mark, he started spurting again. This time you were ready.

You pushed the cock into your mouth, gripping his pulsating balls in one hand and rattling the toy inside him with the other. He filled your mouth almost immediately, and you gulped him down.

Your cunt was starting to tingle in anticipation, but you wanted to indulge yourself a little more like this. You bobbed your head, taking in the warming cum and the demon's moans and gasps as pleasure turned to pain and back to pleasure. Every few dips you'd push his tip into your throat, causing him to spurt harder and cry out louder.

You eased up on the toy, the flow slowed but didn't stop as you pulled his cock, twitching and leaking, out of your mouth. The demon was already lying flat on his back, hands either side of him, clenching his fists against the shaking. You straddled his cock and started rocking back and forth on it, adding his cum to the lubrication on your pussy before pushing him in.

He felt bigger on the inside, the pulsing mass of flesh pumping cum into you already. You started to ride him. Every rock of your hips spilled cum out of you. You leant forwards to work his frenulum inside you. His face screwed up as he grabbed you. The sharp nails on his hands marking your skin, but not cutting. You couldn't reach the toy pressed against his orgasm button, but that wasn't stopping him now. Every thrust into you, every roll of your hips, every touch of your hands on his skin made him spurt more and more into you until it was flowing out of you and onto the bedsheets. You pushed a hand between your distended belly and his twitching one, pressing against your clit for only a moment before you gasped and realised your oen climax.

You bucked harder against him, your abs pushing and pussy clenching. He came even harder, cum squirting out of you. He released you and you leant back. His cock was against your g-spot now and still spraying that hot cum into you. You grabbed the toy and fucked his ass with it. He screamed as you punished his rear, riding his cock into you and you orgasmic clenching redoubled as you came again. Your belly bounced on him almost comically, full of the golden semen he seemed to have an endless supply of.

You pulled out the toy and slumped forwards onto him, spent.

He kissed your lips again, and you kissed him back.

You grinned "Give me ten minutes, then round 2?"

He chucked "Whatever you want"

#####################################

Post script: Once again, my ask box runneth dry! Please, oh reader, toss an idea to your Kabr0z and something will likely come of it!

[ficsilike-reblogged]

Shelter - 2

Summary: You save Soap's life. Yours continues to go off the rails. Pairing: Simon "Ghost" Riley/F!Reader Warnings For This Chapter: Canon typical violence, panic attack, my continued attempt to write Soap and Ghost's accents, military inaccuracies, more canon divergence, Soft!Simon. MINORS DNI A/N: I truly cannot believe how sweet you guys were about the first chapter. Thank you so much for being so kind! I apologize for the wait. I was almost done with this chapter when I decided I hated it and scrapped all of it and started over. I also finished another draft of my novel! Busy times. This is definitely more of a slow burn romance and I'm thinking it'll be around 10 or so chapters.

Well, at least you were out of the hospital room. It wasn’t far from the hospital room, but the horrendously beige room down the hall had a television and a few chairs you could sink into and a small kitchen that always seemed to be stocked with snacks in neat boxes on the counter. Were they good snacks? Not really. But you weren’t about to complain when it was a break from the nutrient dense and flavorless food they’d been shoveling down your throat the last handful of days.

Coronation Street was playing on the television as you soaked a plain biscuit in your tea. This was probably a breakroom of some sort, cleared out of anything that you could have possibly used to communicate with the outside world and you were pretty sure the blinking light in the corner was a camera to make sure you weren’t going to do anything ridiculous. Like climb out a window.

No.

You just wanted out of that stupid room with its uncomfortable bed and terrible pillow and beeping machines.

The biscuit crumbled in half when you tried to remove it and you stared at your tea for a stretched moment as the soap opera continued to drone on. Dammit. You shoved the rest of the biscuit into your mouth and then sipped on the tea for a moment before digging out the remnants of the biscuit with your spoon. Not your proudest moment.

You were pulled from your sad cup of tea and entertainment by the door opening and Soap walking in, arm still in his matching sling.

“Why am I hearing about ye not taking yer pain killers?” He asked instead of a greeting. You found that Soap did that. He barged right into things. No slow starts for him. It would be endearing if this were any other situation.

And just like you not saying anything to Ghost about your sister and why she wouldn’t be found in any intel about you, you wouldn’t give Soap a straight answer either. You were not going to take any of those pain killers if you didn’t feel like you needed them. You knew… Well, that didn’t matter right now. “Are they telling you my medical history? I don’t think that’s legal on either side of the pond.”

He frowned. The big Scot frowned and you almost laughed with how it made him look like a puppy. “Don’t ye need it? Ye were shot.”

“I’m aware of that. Trust me.” You turned and grabbed at the sleeve of biscuits, knowing it was a blatant change of topic. “These are awful, by the way.”

Soap snatched them out of your hand and scowled at them. “These are shite. Why’d ye do that to yerself?” He then pivoted and rummaged through the cabinets you weren’t brave enough to open and then set down a pack of shortbreads in a fancy looking tin which he popped open with one hand (you tried not to be jealous about that particular skill). “That’ll be the only thing going near yer tea.”

The shortbread was delicious and you wordlessly made another cup of tea for yourself and a cup of coffee for Soap. You were prouder than you wanted to admit to hear you guessed correctly when you said he looked like he preferred coffee and prouder still when you dug some out of the cabinet and made it just the way he said he liked it as he settled on the lumpy couch beside you to watch the rest of the episode. He knew what was going on better than you and regaled you with the storylines long since finished and convoluted family ties of the characters. It was nice. Soap was…nice.

He had finished his coffee by the time the episode ended and scooped up your mug on his way toward the breakroom’s tiny kitchenette and set them both in the sink. He turned back toward you, bright blue eyes scanning your face for something. He had a casual set to his shoulders, even with the sling, but you knew the look of a smart man trying to pick his words carefully. Soap honestly reminded you, just a little bit, of a guy you went to highschool with, who looked the part of loveable idiot but eventually went to an ivy league school on a football scholarship. He was currently a doctor, knee deep in cancer research, if those annoying alumni emails had any truth to them.

“Just say what you need to say. I’m sure I can handle it.”

The corner of Soap’s mouth twitched like he was trying not to smile. “I wanted to let ye know that yer intel was good.”

You just nodded. That would explain why you hadn’t seen the other three lately. They had been sent to Kastovia. “That mean I can go home?”

Soap sighed and your heart shriveled a bit more. “No, lass. I’m sorry.”

Someone had left a calendar in the breakroom. You had tried to keep track of the days that had slipped by, but you just wanted to be sure. You counted on your fingers how many days you thought had passed, but the pain killers the first few days after the tunnel had made everything hazy. You worried your bottom lip with the blunt edge of your teeth as you flipped through the next month and dragged your finger down to the day you knew Kirby was due.

Just a few short weeks. That’s all you had. You needed to be there. You needed to be back in time. You’d promised Kirby you would be. You’d never broken a promise to your younger sister and you didn’t want to start now. Those stupid, useless tears stung at your eyes again and blurred the calendar dates. “Fuck.” You wiped at your eyes, trying to keep them from falling before anyone saw, before you felt more useless and trapped than you already did.

Another episode of Coronation Street was playing, a hum at the back of your mind, but it started to mutate and grow until it was a screech. You needed to get to Kirby. They had what they needed from you. You would sign anything they wanted, change your name, dye your hair, live off the grid. But you needed to see Kirby.

You promised.

The door opened easily and you strode out into the hallway. Did you know where you were going? Not really but you just needed to leave. You could figure out the rest later. After all, Kirby always said you landed on your feet. It was time you proved her right. You turned down another hall and yelped when a meaty hand clapped on your uninjured shoulder. You turned, tamping down the urge to throw an elbow and snarled as you realized it was only Soap and his ridiculous blue eyes.

“What’re ye doing?”

“I’m leaving. I have to go.” Your heart thudded painfully as you turned, slipping out from his grip. The edges of your vision started to blur and you hated that you knew what this meant. It had been years since you felt like this—but this situation hadn’t exactly been great for your mental health.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Each beat of your heart hurt.

“Ye cannae do that, lass. Ye know that.”

“I’m leaving.” You turned again to leave and grunted when he pulled at the back of your shirt. “Let go of me.”

“Lass-”

You turned and tugged your shirt free, letting the snarl curl your mouth as your vision continued to tunnel.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

“I’m leaving!”

What happened next was not your finest moment but you’d also been through worse. Soap reached for you again and after you pulled out of his grip once more, he lowered his shoulder and ran at you, hauling you up and over. His arm anchored you down, a weight across your back as his shoulder dug into your stomach. You didn’t even freeze as he turned, presumably to bring you back to the breakroom. Your arm pushed out of its sling and you wrapped your hands around one of his thighs and let his next step help pull you from his grip. Heat lanced across your shoulder as you wiggled against the grip until you yanked your legs free and kicked them above his head and over your own until your heels hit the ground. And then you were throwing yourself forward and dashing down the hallway. Out. You needed to get out. You needed to leave. Every breath burned a little more and-

The tile was cool against your cheek but Soap’s arms were a heavy firebrand as they banded around your waist. “Calm down. Calm down fer me.”

You thrashed against his hold as he stood but he didn’t seem to care and it wasn’t like you were a match to those dumb, hulking muscles. But still, your memory was hazy as he dragged you back to the breakroom and shoved a shortbread into your hand.

“Now, I’ll talk to someone. But ye cannae do that. Ye understand?”

By the time Simon arrived back on home soil, they’d moved her and Soap to a different part of the base. A hall of barracks that had been recently constructed but not yet assigned to a different squadron had been a good place to hide away their injured sergeant and American informant. Laswell had informed Price of the move and then sent along a video in lieu of an explanation.

Simon wasn’t entirely sure how many times he watched her claw and wiggle her way out of Johnny’s grip but Price did eventually take the phone away from him. (But not before Simon sent himself a copy.) She was wily. Strong. Stubborn.

Even when she had tears smeared across her face.

It was easy for Simon to claim one of the rooms as his own—it had always been better for Simon to be on base anyway. His flat in Manchester never felt like home. Just an expensive place to rest his head when he was ordered to take his mandated leave. Knowing the others were down the hall was more comfortable than any sort of high priced pillow anyway.

The mission had been successful. And a shitshow. The second, and larger, cache of gas in Kastovia had been exactly where her intel had said it would be in a barren steel plant. But the handful of missiles had been an unexpected find. As had the small militia that awaited them. While they had been easily dealt with, one of them managed to set off what Simon could only describe as a failsafe to take out the entire plant and the surrounding area. The gas dissipated quickly but not before it had caused extensive damage. Makarov wanted them dead. And he wanted her dead, too, if the picture one of his men had pinned up beside a map of different caches and routes to take over borders was any indication. It was upside down and some artist had taken it upon themselves to scratch out her eyes and draw an obvious axe buried in her neck. Charming. There were a few smaller pictures beside it but he didn’t get a clear look at them.

The explosion meant they didn’t have more than the one picture Gaz took of the map and Simon’s lungs burned a bit every time he took a breath. Nik had been quick in the exfil but still cut it close. Too close. And it grated on his every nerve that Makarov hadn’t been there. Still in the wind.

Simon had been told to visit the medbay before going to bed—Laswell was supposed to be arriving tomorrow for a debrief—but he thought that was more of a suggestion than an order. He’d dropped his bag on the floor and rinsed off before lumbering into the small bed, letting the standard-issue sheets scratch at his skin. It felt like coming home. And he watched the video again, feeling a strange smile push at his mouth.

He could bother Johnny about her ability to get away from him in the morning.

The doctor whose name you couldn’t be bothered to remember told you to start physical therapy. And, just your luck, Soap had been told to do the same. If he was wary of you because of your outburst, he didn’t show it at all. He would smile at you, eyes crinkling, over his coffee whenever you opened your door at the crack of dawn. A tea would be in his other hands and ready for you. It was a nice routine as more days continued to slip by.

You’d stretch and grumble about the slowly fading pain in your shoulder and Soap would do the same. At least you didn’t need to use the sling anymore. But this was, pathetically, probably the closest you’d had to a friend. He’d talk and talk and talk. About his mom and sisters up in a small town outside Glasgow. About the dog he had as a kid—“Boots was the best dog a boy could have, lass, lemme tell ye.” About anything that seemed to pop into his head as the sun would intermittently peek out from behind the low hanging clouds to splash warmth across the dead grass beneath your sneakers. You counted it as a win that they let you outside. It was behind a fence with razor wire at the top, but a win is a win. Mostly. Maybe they were seeing if they could actually trust you outside those beige walls.

You’d swallow nails if it meant you could be at Kirby’s side when she needed you.

One of the more ridiculous exercises the doctor had you and Soap do was passing a yoga ball between one another—of course, you had to move your arms a certain way to get the right stretch or whatever, but it all felt a little silly, even with the twinge growing more pronounced with each pass. Hands on top and on bottom, twist so they’re on the side, hand to Soap. He’d repeat.

“This feels very stupid.”

“Aye. But they’re watchin’ so we’d best play nice.”

The yoga ball nearly slipped from your suddenly-slick fingers. “What do you mean?” You’d heard a bit of thudding from the empty room next to yours last night but thought it was a faulty air unit. Was there someone else here?

“They got back last night. Give ‘em a chance to settle before they say hello, aye?” Soap’s blue eyes sparked with mirth and you might have shoved the ball back at him a little harder than necessary. He just laughed at you.

You chanced a glance at the rectangular windows cut into the metal building, close to the sharp edge of the roof. He was probably just being funny, but now you couldn’t fight the feeling of someone watching you. And why did your mind conjure Ghost’s ridiculous mask?

He hadn’t said much after you had told him you weren’t going to pour your heart out to him. But he’d continued to stare until he and the others left for Kastovia without a word. One guy who’d found you “mysterious” while you were in undergrad thought that he could figure you out and stared, too. Thought that his attempt at a psychology degree would unravel all…well, all of you. He gave up after a couple of months. Ghost didn’t seem the type to give up. But that still didn’t mean that you were going to tell him anything.

You threw another glance toward the window and the yoga ball hit you in the face.

Simon stared down at the inhaler. This was stupid. The doc had hurriedly explained that being exposed to the gas during the explosion had done a number on Simon’s lungs. At least he wasn’t Price who’d hit his head on his way out and was told he’d had a concussion and also needed the inhaler. Gaz had been the only one who’d managed to get out mostly unscathed aside from needing a butterfly bandage for a cut over his eye.

His next breath burned and Simon finally shook the damn scrap of plastic and took a puff just as he heard the back door open. He stood and watched Johnny and the woman trudge out into the dead grass, carrying a few bits of equipment, including a yoga ball, craning his head just enough to see them through the high window. And well, if he stood on the small desk chair to watch, who would know?

He couldn’t hear them but he watched her throw a few glances toward the window. And then Johnny hit her in the face with the yoga ball. She promptly slingshotted one of the resistance bands at his head in retaliation.

“Heh.”

The debrief later that morning with Laswell had gone as expected: More intel was good. Makarov not being spotted was bad. They needed time to heal. Farah and Alex would investigate possible gas caches just within Urzikstan’s borders.

The picture Gaz managed to grab was helpful and did verify a majority of the intel they had already. But it did mean that Makarov’s network was larger than they had ever thought. One of Laswell’s contacts had enhanced the slightly blurry picture and Simon recognized each of the 141’s faces, pinned to the board, too. They were targets just as much as she was. Small bits of paper stemmed from Price, Soap, and Kyle’s pictures and Simon knew what they represented even without the fancy tech trying to make it clearer. They were hunting for weak spots. Family. Friends.

They needed to leave. Keep low. Hide. Simon hated it. He hated that the others had families on the line and he could do nothing but take a few puffs of his stupid inhaler and wait. These were men who’d become his brothers-in-arms and their families were at risk. He knew what it was like to lose.

Price’s hacking cough basically ended the debrief and Laswell said she needed to make some calls, disappearing to another part of the base and Price griped as Kyle urged him to go back to medical. Johnny said he was going to start packing.

Simon walked away as Price continued to grumble and walked down the small hallway toward the bunk rooms and–

BANG.

Simon paused just for a moment, straining his ears as he pushed further down the hallway. With how the mission had gone, he couldn’t rule out that someone had attempted to get onto base and finish the job the gas couldn’t. There were security gates and checkpoints, of course. The high fences. And this part of the base was underdeveloped for now. But having a traitor in the midst wasn’t something Simon could write off.

“Fuck,” came an annoyed voice.

The tension slipped from his shoulders as he pushed open the nearest door.

Sitting in a chair in front of the mirror atop the tiny dresser, she was picking at her stitches with a pair of needle nose pliers. A small pile of the twists sat atop the dresser—apparently she’d been at this for a while. Simon walked in, watching as she leaned closer to the mirror, trying to see the stitches across her shoulder better as she plucked at them. She’d jammed her tongue between her teeth and the strap of her thin top had been tugged down. A book, probably pilfered from the breakroom, was open beside her.

(Simon stared. Just for a little.)

The pliers fell from her hands and bounced off the dresser before hitting the floor. That had been the sound he’d heard.

“Need a ‘and?”

She let out what he could only describe as a squeak as she turned toward him, hurling the book at his head as the pliers slipped from her other hand. He caught it without letting loose the laugh he felt growing.

“Jesus Christ! How long have you been standing there? Don’t you knock?”

“Heard something. Thought something bad ‘appened.” Not a lie. He tossed the book onto the bed. He watched her mouth curl at the edges and Simon wasn’t sure if she was going to yell at him or laugh.

“Right.” She stared at him for a little longer before bending down to grab the pliers again. She settled in front of the mirror again and stared at the remaining stitches. At least the ones she could see. Simon had a clear view of the mess of stitches on her back. She’d never reach those.

She stared back at him in the mirror. The grip she had on the pliers was tight and grew tighter when he stepped closer. But he still easily pulled the tool from her hand and then reached down to turn her chair around to face him.

“What’re you doing?” She asked as he started to untwist the next stitch.

“Helping.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“Doin’ it anyway.”

Well, fuck.

You could do very little except stare at Ghost as he undid each of the stitches. You weren’t stupid enough to tell him to fuck off. What he was doing was nice. You couldn’t deny that but why the hell was he doing it? He was even bigger from this angle as he loomed over you. But he was being gentle with you, so gentle. And silent. Maybe it would be better if he talked to you through it all or said anything at all, but he was…quiet.

And so were you.

Until the door opened again and Gaz came in, gun drawn. You had pivoted back toward the door, only for a moment before Ghost let out a short, sharp breath from behind his mask and nudged you back into position. You still managed to see Gaz holster his weapon with a smile on his face, perfect teeth glinting in the low light. “All good here, LT?”

He grunted but didn’t turn to look at his teammate. You chanced a look up at Ghost to see him still singularly focused on your stitches. His dark eyes didn’t stray from them even though you were sure he could feel you looking at him.

By the time he reached down to turn your chair again, letting him start on your back, you found yourself liking how quiet he was. Small talk had never been your forte and you surmised that it wasn’t high on Ghost’s list of skills either.

When his thumb pressed into your spine, covered by the harsh fabric of his gloves, you tried not to shiver as you let him move you so he could see the stitches better. And he removed those, too.

It was when his finger trailed against the new scar on your back, barely a whisper of a touch, that you couldn’t stop it. God, you really were pathetic. When he moved the strap of your shirt back up your shoulder, you managed to bite the next one back. “Thanks,” you said, the word uneven and warbled. “You going to help Soap take out his, too?” You weren’t sure if you were being sarcastic or not.

The way Ghost tilted his head made you think he wasn’t sure, either. “Cap did ‘is already. Looks like shit.”

And you laughed.

The nondescript SUV rocked slightly side to side as it tore down the road. Gaz seemed hellbent on getting wherever you were headed quickly. There had been some good-natured ribbing about not letting Ghost drive. They seemed to like each other, a good camaraderie between them that seemed as easy as breathing. But you guessed that would probably happen in their line of work. Defying death together usually did that. Price, however, did seem at least a little put out about not being the driver.

And you were stuck at the back of the SUV, listening to them talk amongst each other. To his credit, Soap and Gaz both tried to involve you in the conversation. They would ask what you had been doing in London, if you’d ever been outside the city, if your shoulder was giving you trouble. It was nice.

They were still nice.

You didn’t really understand why they were trying so hard but you weren’t about to ask. Especially not now when you had a black bag over your head. They didn’t really trust you but it had been a weird kindness when you’d felt Ghost buckle you in and place a light blanket over your lap before you’d departed. It was probably a silent order to go the fuck to sleep seeing as you hadn’t been sleeping well since you’d hastily weened yourself off the most intense pain killers. It didn’t help that you’d been shuffled outside right after midnight and told to get in the back of the vehicle without much fanfare. And you knew better than to argue.

You had a bag over your head and were heading to an unknown destination. The power dynamics didn’t exactly scream trustworthy. They kept you alive, that was true. But they didn’t trust you. Funny.

You leaned your head back against the seat and sighed, the fabric rustled against your mouth. It was a strange feeling. Weirdly comforting, like when you’d push your face into the pillow and scream when you were a child, desperate for an outlet.

“I can see why you like the mask,” you muttered.

“Whot?”

Hm. You said that out loud. Well, too late to take it back now. “I said I see why you like the mask.”

“She’s bloody insane,” Gaz whispered. But you liked to think he was smiling while he said it.

“Maybe Ghost’ll lend ye one of his? Ye two could match.”

There was an answering smack and “och, what was that for, LT?” before the blanket was adjusted over your lap.

“Go to sleep.”

You smiled beneath the bag. And, knowing you had nothing better to do…you went to sleep with Ghost’s low rumbling echoing in your ears.

Next Chapter

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!

[jess-the-vampire]

Professor Caduceia and Snakely

Checked out the storyboard for the deleted s1 episode "Homesick"

You can read it here : https://t.co/WpZJFWbR48

I just loved these cut villains, one whose design def seemed like it was given to raine when they got cut. (I wonder if the color palette was similar, but we don't have a reference to that so idk)

Thoughts on the cut episode below:

An episode where king and owlbert of all characters bond is kinda neat, especially since it provides owlbert himself a bit more character here.

The opening is def far different from any of the final ones we ever see in the series, in fact it feels like it should be taking place during the episode but it can't be given we see hooty from being sick to not being sick in pretty chronological order?

A focus on the healing coven was nice to see, especially since we never got that in the show itself, and get some idea of their powerset and what they do magic wise.

So Manny was an ambulance driver, and Camila was a nurse in this. People originally assumed camila was a nurse when the show started, and it makes me wonder if that was changed between seasons at some point cause clearly the crew decided to change her profession and it's unclear why.

you can use your palisman as a communicator? and an umbrella? I do think it's so weird that even at the very end of the show, they establish brand new rules for palisman. Like them being able to shapeshift into objects is straight up not explained and just sorta....happens in the show, like i feel like hunter would have no issue hiding flap if this is a thing. (It also kinda makes stringbean's ability slightly less unique) Like this is displayed in these boards, but they kept it even in the show itself, and i think palisman might need a proper rulebook.

On that same note, owlbert uses magic in this board, like we kinda knew palisman could do some magic without a witch, but this is the only time we've seen one use it to fight another witch that wasn't the batqueen. Like owlbert tries to full on blast people in this. I don't know if removing this episode makes this ability less canon in the world itself since they still can do magic in the show, it's just worth noting that palisman, according to this board, CAN fight back, even if they're not incredibly strong it seems. Certainly the kinda thing that makes you think on other episodes tbh.

This episode also brings up the idea that eda actually CAN and DOES bring human food to the BI, which never happens in the show, in fact luz implies she gets to eat very little options there, so this idea seems no longer canon?

The demon hunters at one point don't even seem to recognize owlbert as a palisman, which does not entirely make sense given they seem to be mostly common to the townsfolk, so I'm kinda glad for that plot hole being gone.

Caduceia makes it out like the emperor's coven forced her to teach? and she thought handing over a house demon to belos would get her out of teaching as if it were some kinda punishment or job she was made to do? I have questions

side note, house demons are called rare in this, like they're not common, not sure if this still applies in the final show, but yeah.

there's some very sweet moments in this with luz and eda especially, but also some funny moments, and some jokes that land a little less....i don't think we needed Caduceia to be kissing her snake like that from that angle, even if it was meant to be a little uncomfortable.

one reason i think this episode did get cut? we got a glyph in this

a healing glyph, which has some ties to water based on it's symbol

i'm guessing since they kept the main glyphs element based, a healing glyph would of stuck out and been a bit weird. Like it just heals people, it doesn't produce water despite looking close to the alchemy symbol for water, and well....we already got ice so this would be redundent.

so yeah, this episode introduced a new glyph that saved them in the end so it would of come back in future episodes, but to keep it simple that would mean cutting the entire episode as a whole just to keep the four.

Since they enjoyed Caduceia's design so much, they must've repurposed it for raine somewhere down the line.

very fun insight into a scrapped episode.

[erose-this-name]

Kabru is such a brilliantly written character, one of the best in Dungeon Meshi (which is a high bar as it is, most of the main cast are similarly genius). 

His thing is that he is very friendly and nice confident and maxed out his charisma stat, but is also kinda ambitious and manipulative. But not in an overtly malicious way. Which kinda scares me.

The most impressive thing about him, writing wise, is that it’s all show-don’t-tell. He very frequently uses his charm and empathy and understanding of how people think in really clever ways.

We’re often walked through his thought process of how he does these social deductions. We’re never told he’s scarily charismatic, besides other characters reacting to him being scarily charismatic.

Kabru is a natural-born leader and social engineer with superlative skills in both, which makes him the perfect foil for Laios, who’s too autistic and unambitious that he’s not even the de facto leader of his own party that he’s the official leader of. He’s so bad at leadership that his party just, sort of, doesn’t have a leader. They just kinda argue and do stuff.

What’s also neat, and perfectly inline with Meshi’s general theme of clever and logical subversions of fantasy tropes, is that Kabru’s character design in no way clues us in on this fundamental character trait of his.

He’s sort of a human fighter / knight archetype, which in the language of fantasy RPGs is a class most would associate with being a white bread jock, chivalrousness optional.

(Laios subverts the same trope in the same way. It’s really funny that the walking exposition dump of the group looks like the character creator default preset spec’d as the most generic class available.)

If Kabru was a bard or noble and Laios a wizard, their character traits would be far less interesting

Even better is that we would expect someone who looks like Laios to have Kabru’s personality, and vice versa. Their character designs are flipped; the confident super charismatic leader is a short wide-eyed twink, while the slightly naive and very autistic monster enthusiast is a tall conventionally attractive Aryan lookin’ mf.

(see what I mean by Kabru being such a good foil for Laios?? No wonder everyone ships them, they’re perfect for each other!)

Yet, their designs also work for them. Kabru just has a face that’s easy to talk to, his piercing blue eyes and curly hair gives him a false sense of naïveté, while his iconic 👁️👁️ expression hints that there’s actually quite a bit going on inside his head. Meanwhile, Laios believably looks like someone who doesn’t know what hair conditioner is. His armor’s collar gorget thing is also pretty dorky.

You can’t trust people like that (I mean overly charismatic people with a manipulative streak, not blue-eyed twinks) because you can’t know what their real motives are. You can’t know they aren’t pretending, you can’t know they aren’t trying to or haven’t already manipulated you. How could you? When he has so much more social intelligence than you do, average socially awkward Tumblr user? He’s touched all the grass!

In episode 16 (spoilers, btw) Kabru finally meets Laios’s party, who he’s been trying to find and fight for the better part of the season, and he just decides that no confrontation is necessary. Like, immediately upon meeting the guy. Just from how Laios looked at him. He figures that since Laios didn’t seem to recognize him, they either have never met meaning he has the wrong guy, or Laios forgot meaning he didn’t think it’d be a big deal, meaning the treasure was a trap or something. Which is pretty in line with Kabru’s established ability to always roll nat 20s for every charisma and deductive reasoning check, so cool.

But he doesn’t even seem curious about which of those cases is true. (He might be interested to find out some of the treasure wasn’t dangerous, but accidentally got thrown off a bridge). Much to Rin’s dismay, he’d rather just not bring it up because that could upset the leader of the party he might be working with for the foreseeable future.

Actions speak louder than words. So, all we really learn in this scene is that Kabru’s goals and M.O. can change on a dime, and that he values reputation and political capital more than money and vengeance. More than his own party’s desire for those things. Not only is he someone with a silver tongue, but he knows its value and is determined to use it at every opportunity.

Kabru and his party might not be very good at fighting or surviving in the dungeon, in fact their frequent TPKs are a running gag. But, he also doesn’t need to be when he can just manipulate Laios’ and Shuro’s much more proficient parties into helping him.

So far, Kabru seems like the most likely one to become king of the dungeon or whatever the mcguffin is. He is the only protagonist so far who has said that’s an actual goal of his. He’s said that he doesn’t think someone like Laios who isn’t a born leader should get it.

In fact, Kabru seems to have very strong opinions on what kinds of people should be allowed to adventure in the dungeon, evidenced by the fact that he murdered an entire party over it, justified or not. Kabru seems to think that Kabru is such a leader, and he’s probably right about that, but what kind of leader? 

What would Kabru do with that kind of power if he gets it? Because I’m not sure. All I know is that he is the kind of person with the ability to use real political power to its full potential. For good, or for very, very bad.

I’m not saying that Kabru is evil or that he’s secretly gonna be the surprise villain. I dunno, I haven’t read the manga. He could just be a nice guy that’s just, like, is like that. Everything he’s done could be justified by the explanations he’s given. He actually reminds me a lot of one of my IRL friends, and I’d trust him with my life.

But, I can’t help but feel a distinct sense of unease whenever he’s on-screen. I try not to trust confident natural-born leaders like him right out of the gate. I don’t like that our instinct as humans is to blindly follow them without thinking about it.

Tyrants and psychopaths also use confidence and charm and a friendly demeanor to make people think they’re a good guy, while manipulating everyone into thinking their self-serving actions are altruistic. Benevolent, confident, skilled leaders do exist. But there exists many more snakes wearing their skin. Wolves rarely bother with sheep’s clothing, they dress as shepherds and sheepdogs.

Anyway, my point is that I think it’s kinda neat that it’s possible to overthink this much about a character whose probably just a nice guy that is the mirror opposite of an autistic person. Writing that kind of ambiguity is hard, and employing it in this way is inspired.

[empty-movement]

OLD SCHOOL ANIMATION NERDS, I SUMMON THEE TO ASSIST

Hey! Vanna here! So I recently, in a rage at the loss of the end-of-series lot of production materials, bought a cheaper lot I had been curious about, and I kinda struck animation history gold with it! Try as I might to pull the whole context together, I need y'alls help accurately naming and identifying what I have!!! There are MANY MORE of these, all from the same episode, an Utena one, a LOT of Nanami, and a group shot even, all following this similar formula. But let's be honest, Vanna and Yasha wanted that sweet Touga smugness. Analysis and questions below the cut! These aren't ALL the sheets, there are ones for the face shape and sleeve also but to demonstrate. Also, fucking amazingly, I also have the storyboards for this episode, so I can even tell you the shot number is 287 ISNT THAT COOL

So Utena fans. You may or may not know, but episodes 6 and 8 had very chaotic productions, and did end up getting swapped in the end. Per Ikuhara's directory commentary in the Nozomi Blu-ray:

He makes explicit reference here to Akemi Hayashi, credited as the animation director for the episode. I can't recall where I saw it now, but I know the difficulty of drawing Touga on model is mentioned somewhere in all the production stuff I have.

Now. Here's the problem. I DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHAT THEISIWEUGWEYGF what do I callll these. My understanding is the the douga is the final line art, transferred onto the cel, and that is the only thing that you call a douga. A douga is the 1:1 match to its cels in a sequence. With an anime like Utena, it's pretty often going to be included with the cel, if you obtain one. These are douga, the final line art that creates the animation, scans donated by JadeSabre and edited into sequence. The frames are numbered in the top right, and there are no notes or anything drawn on the sheets.

Now. That is NOT what I have above. So none of these materials are douga, they are...genga? Help? (This will get wild with Nanami, where I even have a green sketch that is clearly like, VERY FIRST draft of the shot...)

What I have are the key frames, to my understanding. Meaning these represent a point much earlier in the production process. On first glance, the white sheets are significantly cleaner, but they are also so far off model they're flying along with the Voyager probes in interstellar space. They're very capably drawn, don't get me wrong, but they're clearly done by someone who is not on the Dorito face bandwagon. This is apparently pretty common? You get your initial key frame sketches (genga??) made, and then the animation direction (Hayashi??) grades your work by making messier, but more on model versions of the shots. These are the yellow 'correction' genga?

The douga of this shot are likely with the cels. There are 11 distinct cels of Touga's face (others for the sleeve), guided by the 4 key frame sketches I have here. Looked at individually, I can even see where the filled in frames struggle a bit more to be on model than the key ones, even in the final product.

So clearly, what I have are some pretty early process materials where there was a bit of a back and forth about how to draw the characters. The others I have are similar corrections, but this is the absolute most drastic one. It's like they said 'just do it like kinda shoujo and we'll iron it out later.'

The question I have is...can I safely assume these yellow correction sheets are actually Akemi Hayashi originals? Or would there have been another person in this process doing this correction work instead? Would there be a way to know who drew the original ?genga? That may not be possible to ascertain, but it would be really cool to try, since this episode was a Chaos Production, since I have the actual storyboard for it, since I now have a neat piece of context about what the Chaos might have meant. This shot always stuck out to me in the first arc, because it's true that for a lot of the first arc, Touga and Saionji look....far more like the first drafts here. The strict adherence to the Hasegawa style gets enforced later in the series, but this is an example of the exchange that needed to occur to get folks on board with what was a pretty unique art style.

PS. This is torture, the shape of these means I actually need to make two scans of each one and stitch them together, which is nervewracking when you want them to overlap properly and also you don't want to wreck your toilet paper ass production materials pressing them into the scanner bed. Also several are fucking taped together and lemme tell you, 25 year old 'clear tape' don't stay clear and don't stay sticky.

Basically, any context or knowledge anyone can impart I would appreciate a lot! I know I've got something really cool here, but I am struggling to get much clear information about it, because Google is broken.

[factual-fantasy]

26 asks! Thank you!🐕‍🦺

I believe that AI generated """art"""/images are extremely harmful to real artists. Its just a weapon that steals mountains of peoples hard work and is causing real people to lose their jobs.

Its a rotten thing that should be obliterated from the internet. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting expectantly for its downfall.👎👎👎

@axolotlcookie0

If you're talking about making fanart of my designs/character/AUs, please do not. I'm really not comfortable with it :( If you're just trying to show your support then just leave a comment on my artwork or stop by my ko-fi. Those will go a long way for me <:))

I had no idea there was one! <:0 I haven't been keeping up with Welcome Home since Matpat took a step back...

References. Just drown yourself in references. I'm in a discord server that has a bunch of refs for the bots and also am taking dozens of screenshots as I rewatch the show. Just gathering reference after reference and using them religiously as I draw. :00

You mean the factual fam? :0 I thought about adding another character once I hit 30k followers. But when the time came I didn't really have any ideas that I liked.. So for now it'll just be the 5 of us :)

Also thank you so much! :)))

(Referencing this post)

XDDD Average day in the Autobot base!

(Link in ask)

I have not, but they have a neat artstyle! :000

@cherrycreamfairy

Nothing in particular, it been same old same old. 😔

Don't worry! I don't think you're asking to many questions! <:00

Also, I love LOVE LOVE!! The bond between Ratchet and Raf 😭😭💞💞💞

Lastly, I love that character! :DD It looks really neat :)))

(Link in ask)

Man, that's just disgusting. I'll do whatever I can to get it taken down. Thanks for letting me know 👍

I've never heard of it <:00

XDD You're welcome! Use that power wisely now, don't do anything Optimus wouldn't do!☝️

@misscherrypie (Referencing this post)

JHABDJHEHF XDD

(Link in ask)

Thank you so much! :DD I have a fanfic side blog but have since privated all the posts out of embarrassment- so currently I don't write/have any fanfics to share 😅😅--And other than sounding like a hyper five year old when I made that post😅 my opinions remain somewhat unchanged.

Soundwave is still my favorite Decepticon for the same reasons. The silent type that is a beast in combat, and is fiercely loyal to Megatron will always be cool to me. As for the other Decepticons, the way I would describe them has changed just a bit.

Megatron: I hate him in the way you are supposed to hate a villain. I think he's a really cool character and I enjoy seeing him on screen and seeing what evil deed he'll craft next.👀

Starscream: I used to really hate Starscream. But now his pathetic, sniveling, and cowardly behavior is more funny to me than anything. And its always funny/satisfying to watch him backstab Megatron and throw a wrench in his plans over and over XDD

Knock out: Knockouts incredibly vain and Egocentric personality is really getting on my nerves this second time around. He annoys me whenever he's on screen and keeps making me think that Breakdown was more deserving of life and a redemption arc than K.O. As I close in on the episode where he becomes an Autobot, I highly doubt there will be any satisfying character development that makes his switch from Con to Bot believable. I will surly post a rant about him sometime soon and maybe completely overhaul his character for my AU. 🙄

Shockwave: I've only seen a few episodes with him so far. But I really like him. A hulking scientist that can absolutely flatten you on the battle field. Cold, alien, calculated, unfeeling, shows no mercy or fear.. he's pretty cool to me XDD

Airachnid: I hate her but not in a fun way like Megatron. She's just an annoying villain with an annoying personality that keeps getting away when she really shouldn't have. 🙄

Predaking: Only seen this guy for a few episodes too. And I haven't gotten to the ones where he talks yet. But I don't like him much already. The stakes already felt high and realistic enough. But then you add a reincarnated overpowered cybertronian dragon thing into the mix? Just made it feel more fantastical and like there's too much going on at once. Not really a fan of him so far. <:/

Dreadwing and Skyquake: The ending these two had made me very sad. Skyquake dying in his debut episode and then having his death/body striped of all its honor by being resurrected and used as a weapon.. Only for him to mindlessly wander the shadow realm for eternity.. I can only hope he became one with the allspark and has no connection to his body..

Then Dreadwing.. The pain he must have felt when he learned of what Starscream did to Skyquake.. and he didn't even get the chance to avenge his brother.. I really hope they're both at peace together with the allspark.

I really liked the two of them, and think they were very well written and interesting characters. I will definitely be writing them into my AU and give them a happy ending where they can be reunited.💚💙

Breakdown: I really, really liked him and think it was horrible writing to kill him off after his encounter with Silas and Bulkhead. Like seriously, what happened in the writing room for this character? They couldn't have hammered it into our heads any harder that Breakdown was setting up to switch to Autobot. I went back through that episode (Season 1, Episode 16) and took some dialogue just to showcase what I mean.

First of all, we have what Megatron said after he is notified that Breakdown was captured by Silas. "If Breakdown allowed himself to be captured by those smaller than him, weaker than him. He deserves whatever fate awaits him."

This shows the viewer that Megatron sees Breakdown as weak for being captured by humans, and thus deems him useless.

Then we hear what Breakdown says when Silas comments about Breakdown being too valuable to let go. "Haha! Megatron will never pay a ransom!" His laughter and this comment shows the viewer that Breakdown believes Megatron will not negotiate with the humans and will simply eradicate the humans in order to rescue him.

These two things showed the viewer that Breakdown thinks Megatron values him and will rescue him, when in reality Megatron absolutely does not value him and has no intentions to rescue him.

Then later on with the bots we get these lines:

Bulkhead: "Mech can melt him down for all I care, let the cons rescue their own!"

Optimus: "It is unlikely that Megatron would bother with an arrand of mercy."

Arcee: "Okay, but this is breakdown we're talking about"

Optimus: "Sometimes we must rise above ourselves for the greater good."

Bulkhead: "Oh what's that supposed to mean!? Breakdowns gonna go all soft and join the cause??"

Optimus: "While it is unlikely any Decepticon will choose the path of good, even they posses the potential for change."

THIS, implies/hammers it SO HARD into the viewers brain that not only is it likely that a Decepticon WILL change, because Optimus believes they all have the ability to do so. But that BREAKDOWN SPECIFICALLY might change after they save him.

After this, we have this interaction between Silas and Breakdown after the Autobots were supposedly blown up.

Silas: "Enjoying the view? Ironically your would be rescuers may be in more pieces than you right now."

Breakdown: "Decepticons don't break that easy!!"

Silas: "Who said they were decepticons?"

Breakdown: "That doesn't make sense. Autobots wouldn't come to rescue me."

This shows the viewer two things. That Breakdown really believes the cons will rescue him, and he doesn't believe the bots would save him for any reason.. But then Bulkhead shows up.

Bulkhead: "It must be your lucky day"

Breakdown: "w...what are you doing..?"

Bulkhead: "Getting you outa here. Yeah, I don't believe it either."

Bulkhead: "Can you walk."

Breakdown: "I.. I think so"

(Alarm starts blaring)

Bulkhead: "Can you run?"

Breakdown transforms his hand into a hammer: "Never run when you can fight"

Bulkhead: "Just keep that thing pointed away from me, alright?"

Breakdown then pauses and kind'a looks at his hammer as Bulkhead moves forward. Eventually following after him.

Later in the fight against Silas, Bulkhead was weakened and fell. Breakdown rushed in to push him out of the way of the helicopter firing the laser. They look at each other, both kind'a surprised by what Breakdown just did.

Later, we then we get this interaction with Starscream.

Starscream: "Consulting with the enemy, Breakdown?"

Breakdown: "Bulkhead got me out of there!"

Starscream: "Many sparkfelt thanks, Autobot. Now destroy him."

Breakdown and Bulkhead look at each other. Both look shocked and hesitate to do anything.

Breakdown: "But y-"

Starscream: "Do you plan on joining their ranks anytime soon? No?? Then be done with it already!"

Breakdown hesitates for several more seconds. "Tough break Bulkhead, maybe in the next life." And then attacks him.

This, once again, was hammering home that Breakdown very likely was going to become an Autobot. He fought alongside Bulkhead and protected him when he didn't have to. And when he was told to destroy Bulkhead, he seriously hesitated and tried to argue with Starscream about it. Before giving in..

Then finally, he have the most damning evidence of all. After Breakdown and Sarscream escape the scene and meet up later on down the road. They have this interaction.

Starscream: "One day you will repay your debt to me Breakdown, the day it comes time to choose sides."

Breakdown: "Uh.. between bots and cons?"

Starscream: "Between myself, and Megatron!"

Breakdown: "...."

Starscream: "Incidentally I suggest that Megatron never know of this rescue. You do want him to think you overcame the puny humans on your own.. don't you."

THIS, interaction is the cherry on top. Starscream implied that if Breakdown wants to go back to the cons, he better make himself look useful and say he got free of the humans himself. This shows Breakdown that Megatron didn't actually send anyone to rescue him. Megatron does not care. So his view of Megatron and the deceptions as a whole was changed with this interaction.

THEN you have the fact that Bulkhead saved him. He doesn't understand why, but no doubt this changed his view of the Autobots and Bulkhead entirely. With their limited resources, they still went out of their way to try and rescue a Decepticon. No doubt the Bots are looking much more merciful and kind than he may have originally thought..

And lastly, us as the viewer get what Breakdown said. "Uh.. between bots and cons?" LITERALLY. This question makes the VIEWER AND BREAKDOWN consider that choice! Why else would they have Breakdown AUDIBLY QUESTION which side he should be on if it wasn't implying that he would later change???

I think it was just garbage writing to kill off Breakdown the way they did. They made an entire episode that basically spelt in big bold letters "Decepticons have the ability to change, and Breakdown is going to choose to become and Autobot." They could not have made that message to the viewers and to BREAKDOWN any more clear if they TRIED.

So basically. I really liked Breakdown and the direction his character was going. And I absolutely hate what the show did to him.

@narrator-girlart (Referencing this post)

Ah sorry, that was just a paid drawing request. I'm not actually apart of the fandom <:/

But I mean hey, I plan to reopen requests soon, maybe you could place an order for me to draw more XDD

@fancymussmuss

Aww that sounds really sweet! :) Any opportunity for Ratchet to bond with the kids and learn more about human culture is a win for me! :DD

@ilobewallmark

Thank you! :DD And I plan to! :))) And after I finish watching the show and make simpler redesigns for the bots, I imagine I'll draw them even more! :))))

@sussyhahag

(I wont show the artwork because it is not mine to share, but the text next to Miku said: "I KNOW THINGS ARE HARD RIGHT NOW, BUT IM SO PROUD OF YOU FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR! LETS KEEP DOING OUR BEST, OK?💙")

Aw <:))) Thank you! Does this mean Miku will bring me ibuprofen and cold water? 🥺

@beryl-shade

From the picture, it looks to be a beautiful lake! :00 I'm sure my OCs would think its beautiful too! :))

@knifecatss

SCREAMSSS THANLYUUU!!! :DDDD 💞💞💞💞

Oooo I might have to look into that :00 tho I don't think I'll make my holoforms bleed <XD I cant find a way to make that make sense..

..Well, maybe if the bots main body is injured, that injury will be shown on their holoform as a glitch or tear in their bodies. But idk if you can injure the holoform itself 😅

Woof. Thank you so much for the information! This really helped me make up my mind.

Its sounds like Rescue bots is a show I'd be willing to give a shot someday. Just for its lightheartedness alone tbh. At first I thought I wouldn't like a kiddie transformers show, but as I transition into season 3 of TFP I find myself missing season 1 and the lower stakes/day-in-the-life-of vibe it used to have. But I would be sure to just 100% disconnect it from TFP.

As for Robots in disguise, I think I'm bagging that show entirely. Bumblebee and the others acting way out of character, stupid/non threatening Decepticons, the main cast never learning or developing their character, it just sounds like it would be SO frustrating for me to watch. I can imagine I'd be ranting the whole time and rolling my eyes at Bee. So I won't be trying that show anytime soon.😔

@beryl-shade

I can imagine they'd be be in awe of the car factory. Maybe slightly disturbed..? Maybe it'd feel uncanny to see cars be assembled like that..

As for the DMV, half of the cars wouldn't pass inspection XDDD

@littlelightfish

He's probably chowing down on some good food and listening to the bigger cookies tell stories! :)))

@heaventhehedgi3

I actually don't remember him <:(( I don't think I've ever seen that movie before.. 😔

I've actually drawn Sherlock Gnomes and Watson before! :0 It was a long time ago tho 😅

[tobiasdrake]

Okay so I started watching Pretty Cure after seeing how raw the fights go. I'm about seven episodes in, and first impression? There's one thing in particular I find really interesting about the way the show is presented.

A key element of writing is the art of creating narrative excuses. Writing can be broken down into two components.

-> This is what I want to happen. -> This is how I explain why and how that is what happens.

Let's say I'm writing a fight between Daredevil and Thor and, for my story, I want Daredevil to win. The next step is to explain why and how this fight ends in Daredevil winning.

-> How do Daredevil's powers contribute to this victory? -> What experience does Daredevil bring to the fight that he can put over Thor? -> What weapons or gadgets or special techniques have I established (or, if I'm working far enough ahead, can I establish) to justify Daredevil winning? -> What are the environmental factors that are working against Thor and to Daredevil's benefit? -> What is going on in the characters' heads?

Etc. etc.

I have decided from the outset that Daredevil is going to win this fight, and now I can work backwards to explain why that happens. A lot of writing fumbles and awkward storytelling come from failures to take the things the writer wants to happen and have them make sense as things that would happen.

Pretty Cure is a Magical Girl series and, as such, it has the transformative format. The characters have two modes: A powerless mode and a super mode, which they can switch between.

I've seen a lot of transforming hero media. Power Rangers, magical girls, and some battle shonen like late-stage Dragon Ball work on this mode-switching format. And for series that mode switch their heroes... often times, you kinda want to have fun in both modes?

The hero fights the bad guys in their base form first, then mode switches, and then the real fight begins in their super form. Power Rangers gets special mention for having two mode switches, going from normal human to Super mode and then mode switching again to have a mecha fight with a kaiju monster.

But when you do that, there's always that lingering question of why. Why not mode switch on the spot? Why would we ever fight the monster in our powerless state?

There's a lot of ways you, as a writer, can answer that question.

They're trying to protect their secret identity and can't transform until the witnesses are away.

The character is a martial artist and wants to test the opponent's mettle before kicking it up a notch.

The thing they use to transform has been taken from them and they need to get it back.

Transforming would have an adverse effect on something and they need to do it sparingly.

Etc. etc.

What I find interesting about the powerset in the first Pretty Cure series is that it's designed for this kind of mode switching from the ground up. Because the girls cannot just... transform.

They don't have transformation sequences. They have a duo transformation sequence. Their powers have to be activated by each other. It's literally a plot point that they cannot transform if they aren't both there to do it together.

This is what allows for the mode switching. Sometimes they're fortunate enough that danger comes while they're hanging out together.

And sometimes David Bowie jumps out of the bushes and attacks one of them while she's by herself.

And she has to survive until the other one can get there so they can mode switch.

I dunno, I just think baking in an excuse like this to justify depowered action sequences without needing to come up with a unique explanation each time you want to write one is pretty clever.

And also having the characters powered by each other like this plays to the collective power fantasy that tends to be really popular in anime. That we are all individually strong in our own ways, but that the truest strength comes from the whole group working together.

It's neat.

[theinstagrahame]

Another big month of TTRPG mail calls! Got a bunch of zines, some Crowd funders, and treated myself to a book or two when I got my new job lined up.

Here's what's exciting from the last month:

Death of the Author: I've said before that we (as in I) love the work of Sam "@goblinmixtape" Leigh, and before I got into TTRPGs, I wanted to do fiction writing (I found that I got from TTRPGs what I wanted from writing). So the pitch felt like an instant yes: A solo RPG about writing fiction, and the relationship between author and character.

The World we Left Behind: Sam Leigh put this together apparently for a Ballet, which is incredibly cool, and then put it as an add-on for the Death of the Author campaign. Needless to say, I was all in.

Urban Shadows 2e: Backed this on Kickstarter before Magpie did the A:tlA campaign, and it's finally showed up now. If I'm honest, my interest has waned, but I know US 1e was really good.

Zephyr: The art and the concept behind this are great, and I know that the creator makes some really neat mechanics.

Glitch: I picked this (well, 0 edition of Glitch) up on Kickstarter years ago, because the pitch was so good, but I didn't get a hard copy then. Managed to use some DTRPG money I had to rectify this mistake. Jenna Katerin Moran's work is very philosophically interesting, but I was hooked by the notion of being a demigod who knows that there's more going on, but is going to deal with street level concerns.

The Flood: Also a Moran game, and came to be as part of The Far Roofs (which I'm sure will be featured in a future mail bag post). There's a beauty to Jenna's work, a blending of metaphor and reality that I'm really drawn to, so I'm very curious about how farming poetry will work out.

Reach of the Roach God: When I landed my new job, I pretty quickly landed on what I wanted to pick up. I found out about the Thousand Thousand Island books a little too late, so I wanted to make sure I snagged this beautiful volume before I couldn't find it anymore. It's a real triumph of a book, and I can't wait to dig deeper.

Ironsworn: Sundered Isles: I am on record as loving Ironsworn and Starforged. What if instead of Space, we had Pirates?! Hell yeah, sign me up. Ironsworn/Starforged are probably the solo RPGs I've had the most success playing, in that I got furthest into these before getting distracted by other things. So maybe I'll get myself into another one?

The Wizard's Library: I've been really intrigued by Vincent Baker's Wizards Grinoire series, although I've read (and not yet played) only the first. It's got a neat reverse relationship, where the "GM" player is the titular Wizard, and the other players run the supporting cast, helping the Wizard delve into the grimoires that they discover Fortunately, this book contains more grimoires for the titular wizard to go through, and with them, more dangers for the wizard to face.

Fabula Ultima: I've heard only good things about this self-billed "TT-JRPG" and I'm really curious about it. Final Fantasy and the Pokemon series both being such long-term loves of mine, I'm very curious to see how this one runs. (Also picked up the Quickstart for a future Mailbag.)

Wet Grandpa: Listened to an episode of RTFM about this, after seeing the name around for years, and finally picked it up. I always found the title off-putting, and really couldn't get past it until my favorite TTRPG Book Club Podcast dragged me through the cover. The physical edition is a beautiful, rugged-looking book and my mind keeps reeling at the possibility of making players make hard choices.

Psychodungeon: I really dug the pitch, and Kayla Dice makes some really fun and interesting games. Be part of a team that helps people manage their trauma after it manifests into a psychic dungeon. What intrigued me most was the use of the Belonging Outside Belonging system for this, which I think really opens up some interesting possibilities for the Workplace Drama angle, and the GMless aspect could lead to some extremely fascinating dungeons.

Stewpot: This one as a no-brainer. I've got lots of friends who are into the "cozy" genre of game, and Stewpot has been The Name in fantasy coziness for a while (for lack of a better terminology, as I know it's a loaded term). The special edition (and wooden dice) were too tempting, even though the crowdfunder hit during my Freelance Era, and cost a few extra...

Any%: I watched the HBomberGuy video about Speedrunning (shortly after his Plagiarism video dropped), and developed a soft spot for the hobby. I genuinely couldn't do it, I'm too ADHD to try the same thing over and over again in hopes of shaving a fraction of a second off of my response time. But, I'm glad that people are doing it. So, a solo RPG that plays with speedrunning and its terminology seems like a great way to feel like I'm doing it without all the Bad Brain Juices.

Pregame Lobby volumes 1 and 3: I also wanted to grab these before they became too hard to find (I can't find anywhere that has Volume 2 at the moment). I really like the vibes of .Dungeon, it feels like a game that evokes a period in my life where I was curious about the Internet and tried just about every MMORPG that wasn't WoW or EverQuest. I'm honestly struggling to not pick up the recent Spiral Bound edition, despite getting the hardback 2e, because the art and layout looks goddamn incredible.

And these books are from the Plus One EXP Zine Club, which is a Zine of the Month Club, hand-picked and hand-curated. So I'm excited because I don't actually know much about them.

Metalepsis

Fire & Stone

Hapsy Kordo's Kitchen Horrors

This Old House

Hive of the Crawling Creeps

Fallen from Grace

[anotherjheastan]

This Will Be Our Year - A Jey Uso x Rhea Ripley FanFic

CW: suggestive, drinking, drinking alcohol

Chapter 1: Tequila Blues

August 19, 2024

Rhea downed her third tequila, neat. Her chest burned and she welcomed the heat. It helped sear away the image of Dom and Liv rubbing noses on another episode of Raw. This had become her new Monday night ritual since SummerSlam. Since Dom not only chose Liv, but betrayed her. 

Rhea looked at her phone, thinking about texting Damian. He had told her to stay in his room. He offered to watch a movie or play Uno, but Rhea had really just wanted to drink. He said he was worried about her and she reminded him she was fine. Heartbroken, but fine. He usually went with her to play bodyguard, but he was tired. And probably also tired of this song and dance, but he didn’t say that. She closed her messages. 

Someone sat at the bar a few chairs down. She looked. It was Jey Uso. She smirked. Jey always appeared at the bar when she was there. He usually had one drink or beer that he nursed through the night. She had talked to Damian about it last week. 

“He’s always here when I’m here,” Rhea said, stealing glances at Jey.

“Oh how odd that he would be at the bar in the hotel we’re all staying at,” Damian said sarcastically. 

Rhea laughed before she could stop herself. “But sometimes he stares at me.”

“Hasn’t he admitted a few times on national TV that he has some sort of feelings for you?” Damian asked. “You’re surprised he’s checking you out?” 

“No. I’m surprised he hasn’t approached me,” Rhea said, stealing another glance. 

“Cuz he knows I’ll stop him,” Damian said. 

“I’m not even that drunk today,” Rhea said, shrugging. She picked up her glass, considering another drink.

“Not yet,” he said. 

With her bodyguard upstairs, she wondered if he would approach. But she felt her liquid courage fueling her curiosity. The bartender handed Jey a Corona and Jey thanked him. Rhea kept her eyes on him. Jey was attractive for sure. And he was funny. Who didn’t love to laugh? But how serious were those feelings of his? Could she drown her sorrows in Jey for the night? Would he be okay with that?

Jey turned his head and their eyes met. Rhea smiled and Jey smiled back.

“Are you finally gonna come talk to me or are you gonna keep staring at me from far away like you’ve been doing?” Rhea asked.

Jey froze for a second. He chuckled and took a sip of his beer. He got up and walked over to her. He sat in the chair right next to her. 

“I can talk to you if you’d like,” he said. 

She looked him up and down. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Jey bit his lip. He was trying to play it cool. It was cute. 

“So how’s your night been?” he asked. 

Rhea shrugged. “Pretty boring actually.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“You can make it more interesting though,” Rhea said, a grin slowly appearing on her face. 

“Oh? How so?” he asked, eyebrows raised. 

Rhea put her hand on his chest, the prospect of feeling something other than sad and drunk surprisingly giving her butterflies. “How about we go back to my room?”

Jey smiled and took her hand, keeping it on his chest. “How about I walk you to your room so you can get some rest?”

Rhea’s brow furrowed and she pouted at the rejection. The heat of embarrassment threatened to take over the heat from the tequila. 

“I thought you liked me,” Rhea said quietly, squeezing his hand. 

“I do,” Jey replied, his voice quiet as well. “I don’t want this to be a one time thing.”

“What if that’s what I want?” Rhea asked, her eyes searching his.

Jey looked away from her for a second, the grip on her hand relaxed a little. Her heart sank. It wasn’t a complete lie. She did want him for tonight. She just never thought about him and her being more than coworkers, let alone friends. She was with Dom when his advances started so she never entertained the thought. But maybe in the morning, she would. 

“Well Miss Ripley,” he said, looking into her eyes, holding her hand firmly, “if that’s how you really feel, you can tell me again when you’re sober.”

“Okay,” Rhea said, her liquid courage fading. She felt small. She dropped her head and let go of his hand. A wave of sleepiness washed over her. 

He lifted her chin up and her heart pounded in her chest. 

“It’s okay,” he said gently. “Let’s get you upstairs.”

Rhea nodded. Jey made sure both their tabs were closed. He held out his arm and she held onto it as they walked over to the elevator. 

The elevator ride and the walk to her room was silent, but not uncomfortable. She leaned against her door and looked at him. He smiled. 

“Where’s your key?” he asked. 

“Let me see your phone,” Rhea said. 

He narrowed his eyes at her, confusion on his face. “You sure?”

She nodded. He handed it to her. She put in her number and called her phone. She handed his phone back to him and took the key out of her pocket. 

“Goodnight Jey,” Rhea said. She looked him in his eyes before turning around. 

“Goodnight, Rhea,” he replied. 

She tapped the key on her door and pushed it open. She looked at him one more time, leaning against the doorframe.

Jey smirked. “Go lie down.”

Rhea bit her lip, holding back the words ‘Make me.’ She smiled and waved before closing the door. He gave her a head nod. She heard his footsteps fade away after she locked the door. She grabbed her phone and saved his number. She sighed as she stripped off her sweatsuit, down to her bra and panties.

Of course he was a gentleman, she thought, rolling her eyes.

She took her bra off and rummaged around in her bag for her big tee. She found it and slipped it on. She climbed into bed, her eyes closed before her head hit the pillow. Jey was the last thing on her mind for once. Not Dom, not Liv, not how Damian would come waking her up early with her hangover cure. Just Jey. And the way her hand felt in his. The way he said Miss Ripley. The way he looked sincere and not judgmental. She drifted off to sleep with a small smile on her lips. 

Next Chapter

[shiorimakibawrites]

Daredevil: Born Again Thoughts (spoilers)

Daredevil: Born Again Ep 1 & 2

Okay these are my thoughts on the first two episodes of Daredevil: Born Again. Spoilers below the cut. Do not click unless you don’t mind said spoilers.

(Gotta remember to save some Born Again gifs).

Still here? Okay, you were warned.

Pure Aesthetics

New show has a different feel than the OG. Not bad, just different. Not nearly as dark with the lighting but a lot has been taking place during daylight hours.

Beardy Matt is as hot as expected. The new glasses are growing on me. Through unless he has identical pair laying around, about to replaced anyway.

Matt leans toward the darker end of spectrum with his suits anyway but aside from some red ties, haven’t seen any light colors in his wardrobe. Even his at-home leisure clothing is dark. No more gray sweatpants it seems.

They have done some neat stuff with the lighting, painting Matt with red light at certain thematic places.

The first fight scene felt less grounded than before but I was also a little distracted during it. For the same reason Matt was. Second fight was very raw and brutal. Okay, the first fight was brutal too, just in a different way.

Plot had Matt saying ‘magical amulet’ in a completely serious way.

Lawyer! Matt. So much lawyer Matt.

Foggy’s Death

Okay, can’t delay taking about this any longer: As far anyone in the show knows, Foggy is dead. I’m hoping they are pulling Coulson here. It’s happened in the comics.

But not gonna lie, it was brutal. They kept intercutting what Matt heard - listening to Karen beg Foggy to hold on, help is coming, just hang on while hearing Foggy’s labored breathing. Labored, wet breathing. Not a doc or a nurse but I’d guess that Foggy was hit in the lung. Which meant he couldn’t even speak during his final moments. Then hearing Foggy’s heart go slower and slower, become irregular … all while I’m Matt going “No, no, no, Foggy, no.”

Even if this is fake out, fuck Dex. I hates him. I hates him forever. I know some people like him - and am not saying the character is badly written or acted - but I hate him. And I will never forgive him for this.

Matt’s pain - so much pain

Y’all, the way he screamed “Why?!” at Bullseye. There was so much raw agony in that single word.

And that Bullseye’s only response was to laugh? I would have fucking pushed him off that roof edge too.

That Bullseye somehow survived a fall from six stories doesn’t change the fact that Matt would have killed him. It was only sheer dumb luck. Suddenly Frank’s line from that teaser “They’re still breathing the same air as you…” … I can see how that conversation is gonna both deeply pain and enrage Matt.

Given that Matt withdrew long enough that Karen, battling her own grief and demons, had withdrawn too (all the way to San Francisco)... honestly kinda surprised that Matt didn’t kill himself. Wonder who had suicide watch until Matt decided that he had to make sure some good came out of this horror. Maybe Jerry (new character), maybe Sister Maggie (we don’t see her but it could have happened). Or both. Either way someone held Matt together during that critical time, maybe going “Hey, gotta get through the trial Matt. It’s the closest thing to justice that Foggy is gonna get…”

One year later and Matt is Fine. He promises. He has a nice apartment, a career, and everything. It’s fine.

It’s not fine. The new apartment while pretty is colder than the old place. The lighting is cooler - more blue, less yellow - than the loft. But I can see why Matt picked it - away from Hell’s Kitchen and all those memories. Well above the streets and the screams. Many floors between him and temptation.

Playing records or the radio to further drown out the screams. If he can’t hear it, he can pretend it’s not happening.

That he carries the memorial card from Foggy’s funeral everywhere he goes…Oh, Matty. And his victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing… it’s good but it’s so painful.

Very clear Survivor’s Guilt here.

And Matt seems more distant with his coworkers Kristen and Jerry. He’s friendly with them. Clearly cares about them. But he holds them at arm’s length. He jokes with Kristen, banters a bit, but it’s not chummy like it was with Foggy. Part of that is Kristen is a different person and he hasn’t known her anywhere near as long and still grieving… 

But I think a bigger part is that Matt doesn’t want to let anyone in that close again. Foggy’s murder gutted him in a way that only the deaths of Jack and Elektra have. And Matt knows how to recognize a pattern, thank you very much. 

Fundamentally, he just doesn’t want to hurt that badly again. And if no one ever gets that close to his heart? Well then, if (when) they die, it can’t destroy him like Foggy’s death did.

One of the trailer scenes has him in bed with Heather and even sleeping next to her, he’s distant. He’s not touching her. It’s her hand on his shoulder, from the other side of the bed. And it’s not because Matt doesn’t like her. He very clearly does in their on-screen interactions (that kiss was hot and sweet) but again, doesn’t want anyone getting so close to his heart again.

Seeing sparks of the old Matt under new Matt. The way he keeps gritting his teeth, barely holding onto his temper. Letting those two corrupt cops beat him. Until they pulled the gun, then brutually kicking their asses. Which I am interested in seeing how those cops are gonna try and spin this when they wake up. “You got beaten up by the blind lawyer? In some random guy’s apartment? A guy that Murdock claims is a witness. Care to explain officers?”

Side note: At least one of those cops as a Punisher style tattoo on their arm, where it would covered by clothing or a watch most of the time. It’s clearly a Punisher skull but there is some kind of design on the skill that isn’t part of Frank’s symbol…I know the tattoo is important because the camera focused on it. A clue that our beloved Devil doesn’t have since he can’t see the tattoo…

That scream at the end of Episode 2. Matty, you are so Not Fine. You have managed to stuff all that pain and anger into a little box labeled - Do No Open - but that never works. No matter how tightly you chain the box, it always opens eventually. 

New Characters

While I still hope to see our old friends again, I’m liking the new characters.

Kristen MacDuffie is a bit of a meddler but she means well and obviously cares. Dr. Heather Glenn is pretty, smart, and kind - could be good for Matt. If he actually opens up to her. Jerry, he’s a good egg.

Worried about Heather. Two guys in her book signing line gave off bad vibes. More overtly. But the second guy is from Fisk’s entourage I’m pretty sure but hide his British accent when getting his signed book.

Muse is supposed to be a new villain. Wonder if it is gonna be overtly creepy guy or that guy a red herring as he’s being telegraphed so strongly.

BB Ulrich is cute, smart, and go-getter. Remembers that the point of journalism is accuracy, telling truth to power. Ben would be proud of his niece, I think. Terrified maybe but proud.

Queenpin and Mayor Fisk

Vanessa seems to have settled into the role of crime lord pretty seamlessly.

Fisk is now the Mayor of New York. This can only end in tears.

Matt is right to be suspicious of Fisk’s new leaf. Vanessa might be technically running the show with the crime stuff and they have set up the campaign and public business as clean as whistle … he didn’t say stop criming, baby, just make sure none of it can be traced to me as Mayor candidate / actual mayor.

Okay, if I heard right, Vanessa had an affair.

And now, they are doing couples’ counseling with Heather. Again, this can only end in tears.

Diner Scene

So much tension.

Fisk says that he didn’t order a hit on Foggy. He kept that agreement. And I do believe him but because I am a deeply suspicious person I wonder if we can say the same about Vanessa. Granted Bullseye could have been operating purely on his own.

Oh Fisk, trying to threaten Matt with consequences if he takes up being a vigilante again? Foggy is dead. There is nothing you can do or take away from him that will hurt that badly. Threats are for people with something to lose. And while you could argue Matt does have stuff to lose…I don’t think he cares about those things to the same degree. And as demonstrated in the past, Matt can and will blow up his legal career if pushed badly enough.

Vigilantes

References made for Echo, The Punisher, Spider-Man.

White Tiger is Matt’s new client. Hector seems like an interesting guy.

People have noted that Daredevil has “disappeared”. Hector implies that he becoming White Tiger is connected “Someone has to do something and Daredevil ain’t around anymore.” (not an exact quote).

Okay, that’s all I’ve got so far.

[nyenyel]

Just started watching the show with my sister, we're only 3 episodes in but I like Hazel! I think it's pretty neat so far :>

[directdogman]

Commenting on DT fan OCs!

Alright, I'mma take a look at some DT fan OCs! I've been sent quite a few, so I'll try to keep my comments for each one short 'n' sweet!

great name, snappy dresser. diggin' the bowtie! the pins are also a fun accessory!

Another snappy dresser! Tied well to an existing location in-game and the idea to explain the stickers is cute! attire is unique/memorable and the blues/browns compliment each other well. solid design. I do appreciate him!

Yo, this guy was in the last one! what is this, a crossover episode???

the bandage on side of face is a nice touch! digging the pinstripe pants too! graveyard shift at a convenience store is also quite an authentic job for a DT side character to have too! very nicely done.

Solid OC! well-drawn, unique job and her fit's stylish (it probably goes without saying that i'm a sucker for TV heads with dogs on them. that's gotta be a given, right?) The stickers on the back of the head are also a nice addition! well done!

Stanley's a real cad, huh? pizza delivery guy with a novelty pizza phone head is genius - making him flirt with milves on the job is just inspired though. i almost wish i'd come up with this guy, as i can totally imagine people around town talking about him. excellent job!!!

he's aptly named for an arcade dude! dig the fit too, especially the black + purple fingerless long sleeve gloves! the decals on the phone are neat too!

I approve of his activities but the lack of a visible mouth threw me off, since i've seen these old toy phones before, ofc.

i was about to ask "how does he drink ocean water without a mouth", before realizing that id been bamboozled into asking the fandom-favourite question of: 'how does he eat without a mouth?', only to then remember that practically no DT characters have visible mouths.

i hope you know that you've strained my weary brain today. cool OC, though.

banana phone's a fun concept! also, i must say your username's quite fitting. crept up on me from my peripheral as I gazed upon the banana phone, like a bizarre centipede of some sort. well, i'd assume so. in hindsight, most centipedes i've encountered have been pretty straightforward with me. i guess i should be grateful for that.

i like mary's fuzzy phone matching the trim of her dress but martin's really got my attention. cool name, neat quirk (he kills people, that takes moxie. hell, even pizzaz too, dare i say?) The dial being a lil clock is a neat touch since it ties his interest into the design. also quite like the cord tail matching the phone head's colour. solid design!

i like his head-type and the attire/pale skin gives a nice bit of contrast!

hard to say how randy'd feel about him, as someone who's only seen his design and 2 lines of dialogue (as someone's personality dictates randy's opinion on them far more than their appearance.) if you feel they'd get on though, you're probably correct! (randy isn't too picky, after all!)

Funnily enough, one of the earliest sketches for crown has a similar bolted plate stuck to a mostly intact phone head. it was even sticking from one of the sides. or corners. i'd have to dig up the notebook, as it's been like 4 years since I came up with the character. Sorry, just made me remember since the earliest sketches had one too.

Copper phone head's a neat idea. Contrasts well with his attire as well (nice and complimentary.) if only his attempts to deter jesse from the za worked out as well, eh?

Alright, that's it for me! thanks for the submissions, these were real creative! good job, everyone!

[commonwealthcass]

Greetings again

i was wondering how deep you got into the Fallout show and if so what do you think of it so far? since im a bit mixed, mostly due to me being a FNV fan and just weirded out by some decisions in the show, but what do you think, also how Cass would react to this new Ghoul, also wanted your opinion on Raul

Hey there! I’m actually a big Fallout NV fan myself and, tbh, I was very skeptical of the series when I first heard that it was in development. Video game adaptions don’t have the best track record and initial shots had a lot of people making speculations about sneak peeks we were given like Lucy visiting a town that some people thought looked like Megaton. I went into watching the show without any expectations and was pleasantly surprised at how faithfully they had tried to make it - it’s good for people who aren’t familiar to Fallout but also had enough nods that give us long-time fans a treat. I’ve had a couple friends say they were sharing the show with their parents and grandparents, which I think is pretty neat!

I think so long as you keep the mindset that this is its own thing. The last episode exceeded my expectations and I’m looking forward to the next season but I get it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Still, I do think that the showrunners did do a good job of constructing something that feels like it would belong in the universe.

Raul was my buddy in NV and I loved his story arc. We find him pretty self deprecating and suffering from survivors guilt when we find him in Black Mountain. Getting him to open up about it and take on the vaquero outfit I felt was really rewarding. Probably the companion I traveled the most with besides Boone.

Also, I think Cooper would, in typical Cooper fashion, would definitely make a big impression for sure…

[scoobydoodean]

How did, you think, the perception of Dean come to be so twisted/different from what is actually shown to us? Like some things I can see people just not bothering to look past superficial instances (The “no chic flick moment” thing, assuming that him not having Sam’s level of formal education means he’s automatically unintelligent because people assume that irl, for example) but others (Him being emotionally constipated in fandom but genuinely one of the most introspective and emotionally intelligent characters in canon, making him a slob/a bigot/an abuser, or someone that only hunts for the thrill of the kill) just… I can’t even begin to understand and it’s so homogeneous in the Fanon Mindset too.

I honestly do think a lot of these relate to Sam in an interesting way. A lot of narratives about Dean are in "contrast" to Sam. Sam is smart, Dean is dumb. Sam is introspective and emotionally intelligent, Dean is repressed. Dean is a slob, Sam is neat. We get many of these ideas from or through Sam.

Sam sometimes makes digs at Dean's intelligence (though he's far from the only one—even Dean himself is guilty of it) and people just kind of buy into that and regurgitate it despite the many examples we get to the contrary. In fact (and I wish I had tracked this in particular over this rewatch but I noticed how often it was happening pretty late) Dean is often referred to as dim-witted right before or right after displaying exactly how brilliant he is.

I think a lot of the idea that Dean is emotionally closed off also heavily comes down to Sam... because Sam is often the person asking demanding Dean open up, and when Dean refuses to open up to Sam, and Sam starts spouting off pop psychology talk about it not being good to "bury your emotions" or whatever... people buy into what's being sold to them... by Sam. Sam is selling a story that HE is emotionally healthy, but Dean is NOT emotionally healthy, and the details of what is upsetting Dean need to be pried out of him for his own good. When the truth is, 1) in many cases, what we are actually seeing is Sam being pushy and not respecting Dean's boundaries 2) many of these instances show Sam urging Dean to open up to him as a proxy for his OWN feelings that HE is avoiding (ex: 2.02, 5.11, 13.04) 3) other instances demonstrate that he is a poor confidant for Dean who is best avoided because he will harm Dean using what Dean's opened up to him about (ex: 2.09/2.11, 4.08/4.14/4.18/4.21, 6.02, 13.04). 4) Other episodes simply demonstrate that Sam is not always a preferred confidant because of their upbringing or whatever other reason but is still willing to be vulnerable with others (even if spurned by them too) (ex: 2.03, 3.10, 3.16, 4.15, 4.16, 4.22, 5.07, 6.02, 6.06, 7.04, ). And even then... Dean still opens up to Sam quite a lot! (ex: 1.16, 1.18, 1.22, 2.03, 2.09, 2.20, 4.10, 4.11, ... I'm losing steam here but you get the idea).

One of the reasons this happens I think is actually a lack of interest in Sam. Because many fans don't spend a lot of time analyzing Sam, they tend to vaguely grasp who he is based on how he talks. Then the issue multiplies when they use him as a self-insert in a fanfic instead of characterizing him as he is in the show, using him to tell Dean or Cas things the author wants them to hear, or to act as a confidant. That further lends to this belief that Sam is some High EQ Therapist Lite type who is endlessly sensitive and vulnerable and Dean is uniquely in need of Someone To Help Him Get His Shit Together.

The idea that Dean is a slob I give people a little more grace with, because I think it likely comes about more honestly through how Dean eats—and this is one area where Dean absolutely is not neat. He tends to ignore manners when eating, and I think a lot of people extrapolate from "Dean doesn't care about table manners" -> "Dean is a slob". Dean actually having some issues with germs at times is something members of the writing team have messed up before. It might also be related to Sam's weird perception of manners surrounding food (i.e., not eating food in other people's houses even when it's offered to him for some reason) and people associating his overemphasis on that with "neatness" in contrast to Dean.

Another angle here is probably classism rearing it's ugly head. Because Dean has less formal education than Sam, he has to be a slob, and he has to be emotionally closed off, and he must be a bigot, and etc etc etc.

The reasons some people insist on Dean being a bigot or an abuser are more nebulous (many forms of bigotry may be under discussion, many moments might be chosen as "proof" of one thing or another and that may require some more individual attention). In a broad sense, it's sometimes classism at work here. However, a lot of these ideas persist through certain metas passed around by people who already don't like Dean. Many of them developed a dislike for Dean early on and will always choose interpretations of various events that cast him in the worst light based on their first impression, whether their interpretation is all that reasonable or not. I mean, I could go around saying Sam idolizes a known pedophile and is afraid of people with certain disabilities because he's ableist, and I could insist his interactions with Madison in "Heart" are intentionally written to tell us that Sam is an absolute creep who takes advantage of vulnerable women, but if the goal is to analyze the show in good faith, my analysis ends up being more charitable as I dismiss some of these things as Writer Crimes or things that maybe I wasn't intended to take so seriously or things that are a product of their time. Of course we also all know that some Sam and Cas fans love to shit on Dean for doing the same shit their fave did. That does sometimes leave me wondering if people's selective memory on Sam and/or Cas is more of the issue than their selective memory on Dean, but I also think because Supernatural is so long, and there is SO much fanon content, a lot of people's views on the characters are based around fanon/fanfiction they read in ways they simply don't realize, and that ignorance persists and strengthens as memories of the actual source material become more hazy.

NOTE: I know you know this—but for others: I track some of these things in the following tags:

#my smart bby

#dean and introspection

#bad therapist sam

#dean and cleanliness

#dean minimizations

[shakespearean-dream]

TW!!! — blood, scarring and mild body horror ahead 🥲

benny’s turn!

before i start i wanna clarify i hesitated a bit on posting this because lovely mutual @vor-leser just posted his benny interpretation (go look at it and follow him btw), and idk if we like mind melded or smth but our human benny’s are super similar LOL. i damn near scrapped the whole thing out of fear someone would get mad at me but i Would Not be able to start over and get this done ever so this is as good as we’re gonna get. 😭 my apologies niko love u /p

this has been like a full 7 days in the making 😭😭 the art block that i felt coming on while doing ellen and ted hit me like an optimus prime sized semi truck this week along with a depressive episode so i definitely appreciate that happening and i am not upset about it at all! /s i’m totally good so don’t worry or anything /gen, mental health is just weird and i also wanted to explain the gap in my posts 😔

i do not know how to feel about this drawing if i’m so fr with you; i’m proud of myself for AM-ified benny cause i think i got the slowly rotting from the inside out primal freak energy down pretty good, but on the other hand this feels kinda empty?? i usually have a lot more commentary squished in here but i think my brain’s a little fried 🤦‍♂️ i love drawing me some beautiful buff men though so drawing normal ben was familiar territory. however his wack ass haircut i gave him is his punishment for being a PRICK!!! go sit in the corner and think about ur actions benjamin.

like ted n the rest of the sillies i’m not straying too far from canon with his personality, he’s an ass and a murderer and a hella smart dickhead who desperately needs to be punished by the universe (thank you for that one AM). hot take i did not like his “redemption arc” in his game scenario and i don’t think with how he was throughout the entirety of his life (and also throughout the game, main example his inner dialogue) he would actually go out of his way to help the kid because he means it??? n prove he changed to the guys he killed cause he means it??? i dunno maybe AM torturing him made him have a main character “omg i’ve been in the wrong this whole time!!1” moment like the game suggests i’m just not buying it 💀 i’m sure it’s just cause bennys scenario couldn’t be too long and they couldn’t fully flesh him out which i won’t fault the game makers for. i’m a steven universe fan, i know what time constrictions can do to a plot and redemption arc 😭 looking at you white diamond…

his wife n kids are up top and they’re kinda neat to me— i was considering the hc that part of the reason manya (his canon wife) left him is because she realized she was a lesbian which would be funny as fuck considering benny’s also One Of Them Queers 😭. i think during the brief times he was home and able to parent his daughters they got really scared and tired of him, one because he’s just a very threatening powerful and overbearing man, but also because i feel like he would’ve been on their ASS about everything. grades, extracurriculars, friends, wardrobe, this guy was micromanaging his family to an annoying extreme (ofc because of his perfectionist complex). he probably loved manya and the kids in his own weird way, but it was more contractual to him than any real personal relationship. maybe he inherited that from his own parents?? i doubt he ever talked to them after he moved out.

that’s about the end of my thoughts on this fucker. 🥲 funny storyyyy i just remembered i have laundry to finish so im gonna go do that, lord help me. thank you for reading all this if you did!!!!! we’re over halfway through so who do yall want next? wanna save AM or nimdok for last? i’ll see u guys later :]]]