#this is like the ONE time I give Zane the benefit of the doubt

[stellisketches]

I have a variety of different ways I end up looking at this (both the werewolf part and the Zane’s intentions part), and one of them is definitely Zane doing it to ensure the Ro’Meave bloodline, however there is another school of thought that I had (that I admittedly have not fully scoped out) where Zane actually misintended the amulet’s purpose. As in he thought the amulet was made to do something different than it actually did. Magicks is a slippery slope and going off from the various reactions and opinions we see from the characters throughout the show, it doesn’t really feel like anyone knows what the fuck is going on with magicks half the time, and from what I remember in Diaries we never got any direct follow up from Zane discussing the amulet. 

And now I’m thinking about this way too deeply. 

As for what I think the amulet was, I think it may have been a werewolf tribe heirloom. If you really think about it, being a werewolf is more of a “condition” rather than an actual race (though they obviously still possess a culture). In season one the werewolves say there are only like, two or three ‘pureblood’ werewolves, and the only description they were given were that they were not originally born human. It’s possible that a pureblood werewolf is just a person who was born after both of their parents became werewolves. I might just be spitballing now but maybe the amulet may have been a means of creating a pureblood-werewolf ‘artificially’ as it seems the tribes tended to be led by pureblood werewolves and if they didn’t have any around it’d be a handy build-your-own-heir tool to have just in case.

As for what Zane thought it was, I haven’t decided. He may have thought it possessed some type of surveillance ability so he could spy on Phoenix Drop, or he may have thought it would allow him to have control over Kiki’s life force and use her as a hostage. Again, I’m just spitballing. To be honest though, if it was the ensuring the family line thing I doubt he got any pleasure from it. Honestly, if that’s the case he may not have even WANTED to do it but decided to just for the Ro’Meave lineage. He may have even been ordered by Garte to do it. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like Zane would be averse to having children (not just for the obvious reasons) but also because of a narcissistic belief/almost weirdly valid concern that if he had a child that was anything like him, they might become a future rival and seek to destroy him. 

do you have any ideas on the ro’meave lineage past garroth,, zane and vlyad? like do any of them end up having children or have you not thought that far? also love your lore it’s rly interesting :)

Thank you! I'm glad you like it :) I only have like one generation past Garroth. For one thing I know Vylad won't have any biological kids, if any at all. Same with Levin, though I could totally see him adopting an anklebiter or two. I've gone back and forth as to whether Leona is actually Zane's daughter by blood just because I think it'd be an interesting concept to explore. As for Garroth, well, spoilers but I do plan on having him and Aphmau end up together at the end of my Diaries reimagining. They have one biological child together after the events of the main story, a little girl named Zella, who I imagine would become the Lord of O'Khasis when she comes of age. As for after her, I'm not really sure.

[extraextrascreamallaboutit]

Mafia Au

So I am basing this idea on the fic "Garbage Business" from @aeroargonic (thank you Aero for permission), go read it please! it really inspired me, and it's not a super long read dw

Putting this under a cut since it's very long

Anyway, so disclaimer: I have no clue how the mafia works beyond a cursory google search, so if it doesn't work out that way in real life, uhh Ninjago is different from IRL

Also, trigger warnings (nothing explicitly stated): mature content, violence, dubcon, abuse, miscommunication, murder

Basic Idea:

Shade Pathis-Oppenheimer, a "mafia prince", is the younger half-siblings of Neuro Pathis, the head of a very powerful mafia gang, is an expert in keeping secrets. Most assume the secrets Shade knows are mostly comprised of the various crimes of those working under Neuro.

But that's not all. There's also the fact that Shade is having all these weird inhuman traits pop up, like the irresistible urge to hoard any and all shiny things or make a nest in under the bed or being able to disappear into the shadows completely.

It's the fact that "brother" and "boy" don't fit like they used to, and that Shade would prefer to be called Neuro's "little sister".

It's the fact that Shade's dating three people, one of whom is the child of another mafia boss and the other two are basically nobodies she met at school.

While these might not get her arrested, they could get her disowned. So...time to brush up on her lying skills and hope Neuro, or anyone who works with him, doesn't catch on.

TLDR:

Shade's secretly a trans girl, in a poly relationship with Tox/Kai/Skylor, and has an elemental power without knowing it + phantom traits (both of them are from her mom, who is not Neuro's mom). All of which Neuro doesn't know shit about it.

More Information About This AU (subject to change)

Shade (and partners) are like 16/17, which is the age of consent where I live, please do not come at for me

There will be mature content!! I will tag for that, so don't worry, and the tag will be 'nsft'

Kai is genderfluid and Tox is a trans girl and Skylor is a trans boy

Neuro and Shade are related by their dad, who is the former mafia boss

The polycule doesn't get to hang out of school too much because they're all closeted to their guardians

Shade is in choir with Tox, and Kai and Skylor are in band togehter

Griffin and Karlof work with Neuro, with Karlof as the muscle and Griffin as a sort of righthand man. Griffin gets a bunch of annoying jobs

The story will be told through a bunch of connected fics, mostly cause a long-fic would be so annoying to write tbh, and it would be harder to write different character's perspectives of some incidents

Zane works for the mafia as a back-alley doctor, who gets paid in bones for bone weapons when the mafia kills people

The ninja all are go to high school, and are at varying degrees of awareness of Kai's relationship with the other three

Nya and Jay don't trust the other two at all while Lloyd and Cole are indifferent/give them the benefit of the doubt

A lot of this au is basically "Shade and Neuro, due to a large age gap and Shade's fear of disappointing Neuro and Neuro thinking Shade would ask for help, are bad at communication"

Neuro's like late 20s (25+), and became the head of the mafia about 2 years earlier, since their dad is getting older and wanted to travel the world and was honestly not doing well due to losing his wife (Shade's mom)

Potiential Fic ideas

A POV of the whole series at the end from Griffin's perspective because he doesn't care but he learns so much more than he wants to know

Zane and Shade conversations

Neuro and Shade go shopping and it is very awkward

Parent Teacher Conference fic

Potential ideas For How To Get Neuro/Shade To Talk (Because I wanna ramble) (not guaranteed to go with any of them lmao)

Paleman/Ash route

Paleman and Ash are here, but they are not good at all. They're actually two lower level guys who are super good at sneaking around and tell Shade that Neuro wants them to help her be "a man"

Shade, who doesn't talk with Neuro all that much, thinks that they're telling the truth and lets them do a bunch of shit to her, like send an escort to her in the middle of the night, stealing her stuff and making her watch them burn it

Don't worry, Neuro does catch them and that sets off a bunch of conversations

De-Aging Fic where so much about Shade gets revealed

Because I love these fics and no one writes them

Basically Shade gets turned into a kid (like 8-11) and Neuro learns about the kid he basically never saw since he was out at college when Shade was 7-14

Their dad makes an appearance! And Shade actually communicates a lot of stuff about being a girl to him

Shade goes into heat/her phantom traits get brought up

What it says on the tin: Shade goes into heat basically

For this au, heat is more about being very clingy and over possessive of personal belongings and wanting to nest than anything

Also a phantom's scent is very strong and can't really be hidden

Shade gets them every other month or something, and pretends to be sick for the duration of the heat, with Zane being the only one to know (because Zane does not give a shit lmao)

But then one time Neuro decides to check on Shade and whoops, now she has to explain shit to Neuro

ANYWAY, yeah that is a long post. Sorry about that, y'all, I just wanna ramble about this au so much. Feel free to ask about it, and I'll fix any typos later, it's midnight as I am writing this help.

[yourlocalartsonist]

ROTTMNT - Moths Fly In Packs Chapter Two

A/N: Hi lmao I’m back from the depths for my dumb little fanfic. And yes I know I self indulged a teensy bit and made it another Leo-centric chapter but shush next chapter I promise I have it planned to focus on a different duo. ANYWAY OFF WE GO I HOPE YALL ENJOY <3

Next Chapter

Previous chapter

Disclaimer: Chapter involves manipulation, light s*xual h*rassment, and curse words. If you’re sensitive to that stuff, scroll past and stay safe <3

SLAM!!

I jumped at the sound of Jaiden shutting our locker.

“Awake yet?”

“I am now. Jeez Jaiden, did you have to close it so loud?” I tried blinking my blurry vision away.

“You started snoring in the middle of the hallway. How long did you even stay up last night?”

I smiled “You don’t wanna know.”

I’ve been trying my hardest to stay awake at school today but my efforts remained unsuccessful, teachers kept having to wake me up in class. But, in moments like this, it helps having a goody-two-shoes reputation. They were more concerned than upset and some of them even let me nap if I finished my work early. I suppose the sleepiness is to be expected. The adrenaline from last night paired with my usual insomnia left me awake for at least an hour after I got home.

No regrets, though. I’ve felt happier than I have in a long time and despite my incredibly sleep deprived face, I feel like I’m glowing.

A blonde haired boy perked up as I passed him. “Salena, wait!”

For better or worse, that glow is definitely noticeable since Zane’s been losing his mind seeing me so visibly chipper after the one night I didn’t speak to him. I ignored him yet again and kept walking with Jaiden to class.

“Hey, don’t you think you’ve been mad at him long enough?” There it is, the conversation I was dreading all day.

“Nope.”

“You’ve nearly ignored him for the whole day. The silent treatment isn’t exactly a good look on you.”

“He broke someone’s nose, Jaiden. That guy didn’t even come to school today! And this is his sixth fight this year, how many more am I supposed to just excuse?”

“Maybe he had a good reason. You yourself say that Zane wouldn’t pick a fight with someone without needing to.”

I grumbled at their words. Zane was known to be a bit of a bully since highschool started. I used to be someone he targeted but I still treated him like a human and I guess that won him over or something. He had friends but apparently they were just for show, I was the only one who didn’t see him as a heartless monster so he treated me differently. Getting to know him better, he really was a fun guy to be around. I wish his anger wasn’t so easily set off, people would honestly like him more.

“I know and you’re right, he probably did have a reason. But I don’t know, I just don’t feel okay with this right now.”

“So you’re just taking your anger out on him then?”

“No, I’m not, I-I think. I’m just…Look I’ll forgive him when I’m ready, okay?”

“Since when were you so petty.”

It stung a bit. It’s not that I didn’t plan on forgiving him, or that I didn’t know I was putting Jaiden in an awkward spot with this whole situation. Or that I didn’t feel bad acting like this. I just can’t shake off the feeling that he did what he did for a bad reason. I know he’s a good person deep down and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt but something’s stopping me. And honestly, the confusion from all that made me set it to the side altogether. I’m too tired to think and just wanted to reminisce about the feeling leftover from last night a little longer. Without having to deal with all of this.

But Jaiden is probably right. I guess I am just being petty. I tapped my desk in annoyance for a bit, then sighed. Defeated, I whipped out my phone to text Zane.

After finishing my last class, I waited outside the school building for him at our usual spot. It didn’t take long till I saw him running over. He yanked me into a hug immediately, way too fast for me to stop him.

“So you finally forgive me!”

“Yeah, I did.” I smiled, slowly trying to wiggle out of his grip to not hurt his feelings. “But I still need to know something.”

He blinked at me expectedly, not losing his grin from earlier. He can look quite endearing when he wants to, it boggles my mind why he chooses to be…well, him.

“Why did you punch Anand? I know you had your reasons so I want to know what they were.”

His smile faltered a bit. “That…I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t. I don’t want you stressing the whole week.”

I raised my brow “Why would it stress me out?”

He said nothing. I tried pushing him a bit more. I didn’t want to overstep boundaries but I’d lose my head if I just dropped it at that.

“Zane, I have to know. I want to believe you weren’t trying to hurt him for no reason but I can’t until you tell me why.”

He muttered something under his breath. “...To protect you.”

“What?”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

“From him, duh.”

I squinted my eyes unable to figure out what he meant. Was it me? Was my lack of sleep consuming my last remaining brain cells?

“Zane, he’s never even talked to me before then?”

Zane avoided my gaze.

After a while, he gave in. “Anand’s a creep, he’s been stalking you for days.”

“He what?”

“I caught him staring at you a lot and got a bad feeling. Everywhere you were, he was somewhere near by. So one day I kept an eye on him after school and saw him following you home. That’s why I punched him when he tried talking to you yesterday. I just got worried.”

“Wha…why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to scare you.”

My eyes went wide. I felt a wave of guilt rushing over me. He was trying to protect me from a stalker. Ever since we became friends Zane’s done nothing but try to protect me. I’m just…an ungrateful brat. Maybe I started seeing him differently after his pushiness grew. But at the end of the day he’s still my best friend. He was trying to help.

“God, I am so so so sorry Zane. I should’ve heard you out. I never would’ve guessed…”

“It’s okay, I already let it go.” He hugged me tighter. I didn’t really like the way it felt but I wasn’t in any position to deny him. “You really need to be more careful, you know? The world is full of bad people and you’re so damn naive.”

My eye twitched. Ah yes, because I wouldn’t know a thing about bad people.

Shut up, Salena. You already let your tempter get the best of you once, just focus on making it up to him now.

“Well, do you wanna get some ice cream like we used to? My treat.”

He pulled away almost entirely, still keeping a hand on my back.

“Sounds great!”

***

“Bye Tina, bye Aaliyah!” I waved back at the tiny girl and her mom, leaving their building soon after.

It was pretty dark out now. The Johnsons don’t usually give me such awkward hours. Most of the time it’s for date nights where neither mother would be home till at least one am. They let me sleep over whenever that happens since they sometimes stay out late enough to put even my insomniac ass to shame. Today was different, though, they called me over last minute. April showers bring May flowers but also brought parental panic when both of them got stuck at work due to the unexpected weather. Did that mean I had to go out in the storm to get to Tina’s place? Yes, yes it did. Would I do it again in a heartbeat? Yes, yes I would. She’s only five after all, I’m way older and still scared of thunder.

Mother Nature finished her tantrum about an hour ago. It’s ten pm currently and Aaliyah just got home, granting me the pleasure of walking back to my place in the cold dark night of New York City hoping I don’t get mugged or worse. I’m not upset at them, though. It’s not their fault and I needed the extra cash anyway. Plus, they did offer to let me stay the night like always. I had to refuse this time as my aunt was already super pissed I had to be away for the day, and I like my head on my neck so I chose the lesser evil.

They lived in a quieter area, a part of New York that actually does sleep. A late night walk in this atmosphere meant being alone with my thoughts. And that meant not being able to push away what I’d been trying to for a literal month now.

Zane.

Things with Zane went back to normal at school. Or, normal-ish at least, he would still try to touch me every opportunity he got or bring up how good we look together whenever we’re out. But that’s besides the point, it’s not what’s been bugging me lately.

It’s his accusation. Of Anand being a stalker.

I guess I didn’t realize this in the heat of the moment but when I look back, one thing just doesn’t sit right with me: I have quite good intuition and know if I’m being watched or followed. My senses were always naturally heightened and on top of that I’ve traveled to school by myself since I was eight. Doing that in this city teaches you a thing or two about having eyes on the back of your head. If Anand had been following me to my house, I definitely would’ve noticed. But Zane wouldn’t lie to me, either, he’s promised that from the start. Could it be a misunderstanding maybe? What if Anand was innocent?

Speaking of heightened senses, my thoughts broke when I suddenly got the feeling I wasn’t alone. But scanning my environment, there wasn’t a single person around, and yet I could still feel a…presence.

I flinched. I saw something, I swear I saw something! Something pink and mushy, disappeared when I turned back to get a better look. But it could just be nothing probably, I read somewhere when your brain gets bored it causes you to see things out of random everyday shapes. Maybe that’s what it was?

Surely I’m just seeing things. Right?

Still, I quickened my pace and rushed out of that area as fast as I could. Better to not risk it. When I felt a bit safer, I took out my phone and opened Zane’s contact.

My mind went back to his confession. It was during Valentine’s day, when he insisted I go with him to a late night movie that ended around midnight. I didn’t normally stay out so late but since I was with a friend, I thought I’d be safe. And I did feel safe up until my back was figuratively and literally against a wall.

“What would you do if I kissed you?”

I felt my face contort at the memory. I hated thinking about that whole moment. I mean shoot your shot, sure, but did it have to be like that? It’s like he already expected one answer and didn’t prep for any other. I exit the chat reluctantly. Had this been any day in the past, I would’ve called him to see if he could stay on the line while I walked home just so I’d feel less creeped out. I never meant it as anything more but maybe I gave him the wrong idea? I did always struggle figuring out what things are supposed to be romantic vs platonic.

I scrolled to the next chat on my phone: the group chat Mikey added me in with the rest of his brothers. Even though I was more than ecstatic they accepted me so fast, my shyness did not magically disappear. I’m the person who pops in and cosplays the fly on the wall while everyone else is partaking in the chaos I’d secretly love to join in on. Regardless, even just being in the chat still makes me smile. Especially Raph’s daily “good morning!”s or Leo’s numerous mid-battle selfies.

I jumped to the sound of dogs barking at something in the distance. Remembering my situation, my shaky hands pressed the call button on the chat deciding I’d just ask whoever picked up if they could virtually keep me company at least until I’m in a busier area. The phone rang while my dread from earlier was slowly creeping back.

After a few rings, I got an answer “Chello~”

“Mikey! Hey! Hello! Awkward thing to ask but could you-“

“One sec Salena. Ahem, SHUT THE FUCK UP LOUDMOUTHS I’M ON THE PHONE!!” Oh my poor sweet eardrums.

“Uh, s-so anyway I-“

“MIKEY!…What did I say…about fucking CURSING!?” Raph was panting in the distance. Were they running?

There was some sort of mechanical whizzing in the background paired with the boys’ screams of terror and Donnie’s maniacal laughter. Gee, I wonder who could’ve caused the horrors going on there.

I don’t have time for this. Taking a deep breath, I attempted once more.

“Guys listen I-I’m kinda alone outside right now and it’s really late and also really really scary tonight. Can someone please just-”

“WALK YOU HOME SURE THING LEON’S GOT IT ‘K BYE!”

…They hung up. These fuckers and their habit of interrupting. I shrugged, sharing my location in the chat anyway. All I cared about right now was just not being alone.

And not five minutes later, relief washed over me as I heard the prideful voice of a certain blue idiot.

“Your favorite fearless hero has arrived!”

“Heya Leo!” He jumped down and landed next to me. “Ya know, I was just gonna ask if someone could stay on call with me. You didn’t have to come all the way out here.”

“Oh nah, I may be the hero but you saved me tonight. Don’s testing out the evil bed again.” He said with such ease as if I had any fucking idea what he was on about.

“The evil wha?..”

“Long story. And besides,”

He paused for a moment. His eyes looked…softer? I mean he kept his smirk but it was noticeably different somehow.

“your voice was shaking. Why not kill two birds with one stone and see what’s going on, catch my drift?”

“O-oh, that. Yeah, I got a little spooked I guess. I feel like I saw something but… Um, it’s good you’re here, though. You can just zip-zap me home with your mystic-magic-powers!”

“Well, about that…I forgot to bring my katanas and without them I’m kinda stuck mystic-magic-power-less.”

I cocked a brow at his shrug. “You forgot your katanas yet somehow you arrive at my location in, what, a minute? You guys live nearby or something?”

“Hey, they don’t call us ninjas for nothing! Now come on.” He guided me up to the rooftop of the building next to us. “If the streets feel unsafe we’ll take a different route.”

As tired as I was, I can’t pretend a walk with Leo didn’t sound nice. Besides, it was Friday anyway, I could just sleep in a bit and take my chances. I’m not down for dealing with an angry aunt tonight but no one said anything about tomorrow.

“Problemo, how are we supposed to travel via roof?”

“You ever tried parkour?”

“WHAT?!” Fuck the angry aunt, that’s not my main concern anymore.

“What? An adrenaline junkie like you, you’ll love this!”

“I failed gym Leon. I was the only one in my class to fail gym.”

“Relax, it’ll be fun. Just hold on to my hand and jump when I do.”

I looked down to what would soon be my death “And who’s paying for the hospital bills if I fall?”

“You won’t fall, trust me. You’ll like this.”

I’m scared out of my wits right now but Leo looked strangely sincere saying that. It was a little calming. And, as much as I hate to admit it, he had a point. Looking down at the ground I see nothing but a flat, lifeless, and dead me.

But when I look up ahead…the beautiful city lights painted an entirely different story.

I let him take my hand.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

We stepped back, ran forward, and took the leap of faith.

And there it was, that feeling again. The feeling from that night when I first properly met them. My favorite memory of this year. The wind blowing in my hair, my skin turning cold. I was breathless. It feels like I’m flying.

Surprisingly, my legs didn’t collapse under me when we landed. Leo glanced at me to check how I’m feeling and I’m guessing my beaming smile encouraged him so we kept going and made the next jump.

“THIS IS AMAZING!”

“See? Told you you’d love it!”

I can’t even explain the thrill I’m experiencing. My brain feels completely numb, my body’s moving on its own. Every fear, every worry, everything just disappears, passing by like the towers beside us. The day is gone. Nothing else matters right now. Nothing but us and the night.

I let out a cheer. I feel strong, I feel brave, I feel so many things I’d never imagine myself to be! I didn’t even notice when Leo had let go of my hand. Leaping from one canopy to another I almost completely immersed myself in the late night air.

Almost.

I saw it again, to my right this time. Pink, mushy. Box shaped. Fear overrode my systems and I forgot I was mid-air. I messed up my footing and slipped off the edge.

“Gotcha!” But as promised, I didn’t fall.

Leo pulled me up “You okay?”

I nodded, looking back at where I saw it. It was gone again.

“Hey what happened? You were doing so well back there.”

Would he think I’m crazy if I told him?

“Leo?” I gathered my thoughts “You know the whole alien invasion thing that happened a few months ago? Or, well, almost a year ago now.”

His breath hitched. “Yeah, the Krang. What about it?”

So that’s what they’re called.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess you guys were the ones to stop them. What exactly happened to them? Like, where are they now?”

“…One got trapped in the prison dimension, one was in the ship and most likely died, and the government took the last one.” Leo’s eyes were drifting away in another world. He closed them and clenched his jaw. “They’re nothing to worry about anymore.”

I shifted around a little. “You ever think if given the chance they’d want a rematch?”

“Yeah probably.” He opened his eyes and returned to a playful tone. “Especially the main one. He’s a real sore loser, don’t even get me started on that guy.”

“How delightful. Say, think I could join in on the battle this time?”

“I dunno, can you fight Krang?”

“As a matter of fact.” That seemed to catch his attention.

“Shit, for real?”

I nodded proudly. “I was outside when the invasion happened so I had my encounters. And as far as I’m concerned, I’m still alive!”

He chuckled. “I’ll consider it then. But hey, you shouldn’t worry about things like that. You’re friends with us, the world's greatest ninjas. If it comes down to round two, we’ll keep the world safe.”

There was a sense of determination to him. I knew he meant those words. But I couldn’t help wondering…

“What about you?”

He looked confused. So I continued. “I mean who’s gonna protect you guys? Yeah sure you’ve dealt with them before but…it left its consequences, didn’t it?”

His voice lowered with a sad smile on his face. “What gave it away?”

“The selfies. That you’d send sometimes. I noticed Raph’s shell…”

For a split second I saw panic in his eyes. The mention of his shell must’ve brought back some memories. But before I could ask if he was okay, he brushed it off and returned to normal.

“Yeah that was…that was the Krang. But every hero has to sacrifice, it’s just part of the job.”

…I wonder what you sacrificed, Leo.

We stayed there for a while, I think a few minutes. Just staring at nighttime New York. I think I speak for everyone, including Leo, when I say nearly losing our home to a bunch of brain aliens really put into perspective how beautiful and precious it is.

“By the way, I was only half-joking earlier. I doubt you’ll need it but…if, come round two, you guys need a hand, I’ll be ready.”

He looked at me poker faced for a bit. Then just looked away and moved on.

“It’s getting late. We should get you home, I think I’ve hogged you long enough.”

Truth be told, I didn’t want to just drop the conversation like that. But he was right, I really shouldn’t stretch out my time more than I already have.

“Still need me to hold your hand on the first jumps?”

“Just a few more times, yeah.”

We decided to stop at my building's roof instead of the fire escape and while I didn’t exactly want to go yet, it was relatively late and my legs are screaming in pain from the sudden workout. I walked to the door that leads to the stairs, if I go that route I could still enter through the front door and not have to attempt to gaslight my aunt into thinking I totally didn’t enter through the bedroom window like an insane person in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, Leo drew his katana to portal himself home.

Wait…KATANA??

“OHAHBUTUHDUHDWAH!” trying and failing miserably at saying real words, I instead pointed to the evidence. “T-THING! THE THING! YOU HAD IT ALL ALONG?!”

Boy was Leo a laughing wreck at that. Poor guy was clutching his stomach, gasping and struggling to even stand properly. It’s not like I have any right to judge, I was no better.

I tried catching my breath, at least enough to speak “You, are one stupid little liar! Why would you lie about that of all things?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I have a good reason I promise!” He wiped a tear from his eyes. “So, you know how you’ve been way too shy to ask any of us to hang out even though you so obviously want to?”

“Wait, how’d you-”

“Yeah, it was that. Just a little plan to try getting you out of your shell, that’s all. And yes, pun intended.”

I smiled at the dumb joke, or maybe it was more towards the goofy grin he gave when telling it. It’s funny, though. I usually self sabotage when it comes to texting new people: I get too shy to text first or worried I’d respond too quick, blah blah blah all that jazz. And while it’s still something I undeniably need to fix, I’ve got to say, it felt nice seeing someone actually understand why I get that way. For as aloof as he acts, Leo seems to pay pretty close attention to detail.

“You know what? I’m not even mad, tonight was so worth it!”

“Even worth the betrayal? I’d never let anyone get away so easy if they did that to me!” He struck a dramatic pose and I matched the performance.

“Oh the absolute horror! Exercise! Truly, the top dog of anime betrayals!”

I could barely even finish the joke before went into another giggle fit at our shared lack of good humor. My face was killing me from the pain but I had no complaints. I didn’t realize this before but I haven’t laughed this much in a while.

“Really though, if you’re up for it, how about we do this again next week? To make it up to you?”

“Oh goody, an extra day of gym.” I say, but the smile on my face totally stabs me in the back.

He went ahead and actually opened the portal this time “So, same time same place?”

“You bet!” I opened the door.

“Hey Leon?”

“Yep?”

“Thank you.”

And with that, I closed the door behind me and started going down the stairs.

Next Chapter

[cinnamonkittenz]

A sort of redraw of that one beach scene in season!

I have looked through the gates of hell while searching for the reference image bc I forgot how much hypersexualized and suggestive content there is of the ninja. I mean it’s fine in my opinion to draw them humanised or even shirtless (I do that too) but drawing explicit scenes or body pillows of the ninja (who are just yellow Lego figurines from a children’s show in the end) definitely crosses a line (Throwback to when I was 12-13 and got really into the ninjago fandom on deviantart and saw way too much content of legos fucking or male legos being pregnant??? There was and is a lot of fucked up shit in this fandom)

While we’re at it: can we talk about how unrealistic and essentially just gross it is that the creators gave Kai and esp Cole abs like that? Like I get it it looks cool and the ninja are supposedly very sporty and fit bc they’re constantly on the go, but Cole’s abs are literally level ‚bodybuilder who didn’t drink anything for 3 days so his muscles look nice for that one competition‘. Cole has always been portrayed as the one with a sweet tooth, he is living for cake. So it’s physically impossible to look like that except hitting the gym literally 24/7 when he’s supposed to munch on cake and just eat a lot of mostly unhealthy stuff all the time: Yes Cole is strong (which is also partly linked to his earth powers) but he would have to have a little chub for it so be realistic. Kai makes a little more sense since he’s shown to care a lot about his looks, but still I think it’s borderline unrealistic bc (say it with me) THEYRE SUPPOSED TO BE TEENAGERS. It’s literally impossible for teenagers to look like that, even if we give them the benefit of the doubt and say they’re in their late teens, like 19-20 ish.

I tried to give the boys more realistic bodies, my headcanon is that Kai is 18, Jay is 16, Cole is 19 and Zane is 18 in season 2. Esp Jay got a little chub bc that’s what teenage boys look like if they don’t put a lot of effort into working out. Kai is the only one that has more defined muscles bc like I said, he’s the ‚vain‘ one who puts a lot of work into his looks.

And yes I know the scene was like 10 seconds long and there are cases that are way worse, like shows with real people casting 30 year olds as 16 year olds with rock hard abs and in the end it’s just a kids show about Lego ninja. But I still think it’s so unnecessary to give fucking lego teenage boys such unrealistic abs. Best case scenario: this is someone’s gay awakening, worst case scenario: it kick starts a chain of self doubt and insecurity in a young boy because yes boys and men suffer from ridiculously unattainable beauty standards as well. So please just give the lego people realistic bodies k thanks bye

[swanlake1998]

Article: The Unbearable Whiteness of Ballet

Date: April 22, 2021

By: Chloe Angyal

In an exclusive excerpt from her new book Turning Pointe, contributing editor Chloe Angyal lays out the ways that white supremacy is embedded in ballet's most basic foundations.

Wilmara Manuel and her 11-year-old daughter, Sasha, were at the world finals of a ballet competition, the Youth America Grand Prix, in 2015 when it happened. Shortly before the competition began, the young dancers were on the performance stage with their parents, warming up and preparing to dance the solos they’d been rehearsing for months.

As Wilmara, who is Black and originally from Haiti, and Sasha, who is biracial, stood there, a young white dancer looked around the stage, checking out the competition. “And her eyes land on Sasha,” Wilmara remembers, “and I saw her look [Sasha] up and down, and then look at her mom.

“And her mom said, ‘Don’t worry. They’re never really good anyway.’ ”

Wilmara did her best to contain her shock. Sasha didn’t hear what the white mom had said, and Wilmara wasn’t about to tell her, because “that’s not the thing I want to discuss 10 minutes before she takes the stage.” But Sasha could sense that something was amiss. “Just the look on my face, she was like, ‘What? What happened? What did she say?’ ” Wilmara brushed her daughter off.

Don’t worry. They’re never really good anyway. An entire worldview of white resentment of Black progress and excellence passed quietly from mother to child in just seven words.

That white mother could not fathom that Sasha, a biracial child with a Black mother, might be really good—as in very good, or truly good—at a traditionally white art form at which her child was presumably also quite proficient. She could not imagine that Sasha might deserve to be at that competition, might have qualified on her merit—her talent and skill and persistence—rather than because of what she might consider a misguided or even unjust attempt to diversify ballet by lowering standards. They’re not really good, but they are allowed to be here. In this space that is rightfully yours, in this art form that is rightfully yours. They’re never as good as the white girls, a sweeping generalization that grants no individuality, no humanity, to any nonwhite dancer. They’re all the same, and they never deserve to be here. But don’t worry. Your excellence is a given. You belong here, while their presence is conditional or even ill-gotten.

A few minutes later, Sasha took the stage and performed her solo. She ended up placing ahead of that white dancer.

From then on, Wilmara traveled with Sasha to every competition, paying the additional travel costs to make sure that, if something like that ever happened again, she’d be there to support her daughter.

“That has stuck with me,” she says. “And it’s one of the reasons I make the sacrifice and I go with her everywhere. Even if there are others going, I feel like I need to be around should comments like that pop up. I just don’t feel like I can take that chance, you know? And what cracks me up is that . . . she doesn’t even look as dark as I do, which makes me feel like, ‘Oh my God, if you were darker, like, what else?’ ”

Sasha grew up in a suburb of Indianapolis and is now 16. She trains at the Royal Ballet School in London, an exclusive training ground that serves as a feeder school for the Royal Ballet. It’s widely acknowledged to be one of the best ballet schools in the world.

Wilmara says that people often express their surprise at the quality of Sasha’s training and technique. “Oh wow, you’re really good,” Wilmara says by way of example. “Where do you train? Have you been dancing for a long time?” She says that while she tries to give these white people the benefit of the doubt, she knows what they usually mean, and she’d prefer they just come out and say it: “I’m surprised you’re that good. You’re Black and you’re dancing and you’re good.”

Now that Sasha is a little older, Wilmara talks to her about the racist assumptions embedded in those surprised comments. “You know she’s asking because she doesn’t think a person of your color can do this,” she’s told Sasha, who now “gets it when she hears that tone of voice.”

And, she says, she’s been frank with her daughter about the kind of resistance she should expect from the overwhelmingly white ballet establishment if she keeps excelling—which she shows every sign of doing.

It’s moms who do the bulk of the work of ballet parenting: the sewing of costumes, the schedule keeping for rehearsals and recitals. And when you’re a ballet mom to a dancer of color, there’s an even higher price to pay.

“Not everybody’s gonna be thrilled,” Wilmara says, paraphrasing her conversations with Sasha. “Even if you’re not a dancer of color, it’s cutthroat. And on top of that, you are a dancer of color, and so that poses another threat in some ways. So you have to be mindful of your things and what you are doing, and know what things are okay, and [pay attention to] when you are uncomfortable.”

This emotional labor, the work of helping young dancers understand what “that tone of voice” means and why it’s being used—or the work of deciding whether to tell your child about the racist remark you just overheard or absorb it yourself and shield them from it—is a part of parenting not demanded of mothers of white dancers.

Then there’s the payment in time and money required of Wilmara to make sure that Sasha’s ballet experience is as fair and worry-free as possible. Once, at a competition, Wilmara forgot to color in the “nude” pale pink straps on one of Sasha’s competition costumes. Wilmara scrambled to find brown foundation because none of the vendors at the competition had a leotard in Sasha’s skin color.

“Come on, people, you are here,” Wilmara remembers thinking. “There may not be that many [dancers of color], but they are all here and you should be able to bring various shades of nude leos.”

Succeeding in ballet, or even just surviving, requires extra talent, extra work, extra resilience, and extra sacrifices from dancers of color, especially Black and brown dancers, and their parents. White ballet moms might have to talk to their white daughters about how cutthroat ballet is. But they don’t need to issue additional warnings about how a white girl’s success will be received by that cutthroat culture, because almost all the successful girls and women in ballet are white.

“They’ve had to grow up a lot faster,” Wilmara says of Black and brown ballet dancers. “I think the ballet world makes you grow up a lot faster, but on top of that,” there are the “extra hurdles that other dancers don’t have to think about.” There are the overtly racist comments backstage before a performance and the subtly racist “compliments” after. There is time spent frantically searching for the right leotard or adapting the default pink leotard. There is the knowledge, internalized first by parents and then by their kids, that if you make it over all those hurdles your success will be viewed with suspicion and resentment—that ballet does not have a “diversity” problem; it has a white supremacy problem.

“Our kids,” Wilmara says, “are thinking about this and thinking about it early on.”

The organizing principle of ballet—of training, of performance, of making a ballet body—is control. Control of your rigid torso while your foot shoots upward from the hip in a battement. Control of a silent and compliant class of otherwise giggly 9-year-old girls. “The traditional and classical Europeanist aesthetic for the dancing body is dominated and ruled by the erect spine,” wrote dance scholar Brenda Dixon Gottschild in her landmark book The Black Dancing Body. “Verticality is a prime value, with the torso held erect, knees straight, body in vertical alignment. . . . The torso is held still.”

It all demands control. Control of your smiling face as your feet scream in your pointe shoes at the end of a long pas de deux. Control of your weight, of your turnout, of your stretched and strengthened feet that now arch into a shape no ordinary foot can make. “The ballet audience, attuned and habituated to view control as a prime value, applaud its display and are embarrassed when it isn’t fulfilled,” Gottschild wrote.

Discipline, order, adherence to strict and unquestioned rules. That’s what ballet is. When Gottschild asked Seán Curran, a white dancer and choreographer who performed with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, what he pictured when he thought of white dance or white dancing bodies, he said, “Upright. . . . For some reason, ‘proper’ stuck in the head a bit, something that is built and made and constructed rather than is free or flows.” A body that is rigid, obedient, and disciplined, remade from something natural and unruly into something refined and well behaved. Proper. “Whiteness,” Curran said, “values precision and unison.”

Curran’s assessment identifies a central underlying prejudice of white supremacy: the belief that people of color, and their bodies, are wild. Uncivilized, animalistic, subhuman. That white people—who, by contrast, are assumed to be organized and civilized—have both a right and a responsibility to tame that which is untamed and impose order, precision, and unison on it. To suppress and control that which is savage; to press it into something that approaches whiteness but will never be truly white and thus never truly equal.

This is the logic that underpinned white colonization and American slavery. It is also the logic that makes racial segregation possible: that which is pure and organized must be kept separate from that which is profane and undisciplined. And central to this worldview is the idea that the work of white supremacy is unending, not because white supremacy is flawed, but because the very people it seeks to suppress are inherently inferior, naturally incapable of complying. Because of some inborn lack—of will, of understanding, of discipline—people of color will never fully obey, never properly assimilate, never be redeemed by whiteness. In this way, white supremacy perpetuates itself, justifying both its worldview and the permanent need for its existence.

It’s little wonder, then, that ballet—with its fixation on control, discipline, and uprightness—wraps itself so neatly around whiteness. It makes sense that white Americans, reared on the belief that whiteness is synonymous with order and refinement, also believe that people of color have no place, or a limited place, or a conditional place, in classical ballet.

Furthermore, it is easy to see how the ideal ballet body—so controlled, so upright—is everything that white supremacy imagines a Black body is not. And because of deeply ingrained American cultural associations with musculature, loose movement, brute force, and untamed sexuality, the Black body is believed to be everything a ballet body is not permitted to be.

“When we talk about the ballerina,” says Theresa Ruth Howard, a former dancer and a teacher, diversity strategist, and the founder and curator of the digital ballet history archive Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet (MoBBallet), “we’re talking about the ideal, our stereotype of the desirable woman, and that is reserved for white women.”

Howard has made a career of helping the people who run ballet companies and schools to examine their ideas about what makes for a “good” ballet body, asking them to question their biases about the inherent fitness of white bodies and unfitness of other bodies, especially Black bodies. She says that long-standing racist tropes about Black women’s bodies make Blackness and ballerinas seem antithetical.

“You have the trope of either the jezebel, the mammy, or the workhorse of the Black woman,” which are incompatible with desirability, fragility, and sexual purity, the ideal of white womanhood at the heart of the ballerina’s appeal.

“She’s desired. It’s the epitome of beauty, of grace, of elegance, and these are not adjectives that are assigned to Black women,” Howard says. “Especially not darker-skinned Black women. This is why the closer you look to the white European aesthetic as a Black woman, the better chance you have at occupying that role. Especially at a higher level.”

Despite the long tradition of Latin American dancers carving out successful professional careers in the U.S. and the enormous success of Misty Copeland—a light-skinned Black dancer whose ascent to the pinnacle of American ballet was a watershed moment for Black dancers and audiences alike—the archetypal ballerina is still a pale-skinned white woman with slender limbs, negligible breasts and hips, and long, sleek hair. In the American cultural imagination, the ballerina is still white.

George Balanchine famously said that “ballet is woman,” but that’s not the whole truth. Ballet is white woman, or, perhaps more precisely, white womanhood. Ballet is a stronghold of white womanhood, a place where whiteness is the default and white femininity reigns supreme.

Excerpted from Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers Is Saving Ballet from Itself by Chloe Angyal. Copyright © 2021. Available from Bold Type Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

[nonbinarykai]

🔥 wu

Not rlly a hot take bc Im p sure everyone hates wu at this point except for like 2 people

But I think everyone overlooks how wu is such a bad mentor figure to his students and we should drag him a little bit more for that

The amount of times wu has been dis encouraging or disrespectful to the ninja when they’ve reached success or defeated a villain is absolutely astounding

He really lacks the emotional maturity to take care of 6 kids and it shows, the only time he genuinely helps them is with Zane in s1 which I do admit, is a pretty nice message

But other times he straight up doesn’t listen to them, leaves them at there absolute worst moment, or stalls them just so he could make them doubt themselves

In s1, he straight up told Kai it would be better if he didn’t reach his full potential

Like wtf dude did you learn nothing from morro? And the fact he just sides with his brother the entire time is so infuriating

Like for fuck sakes dude Garmadon kidnapped kais sister and threatened to kill her, give Kai the benefit of the doubt here.

Also in s1, he literally stalls the ninja from destroying the fangblades in the volcano RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM to lament about how he’s gonna die, like dude chill out

And don’t get me STARTED on wusako, not only was it completely disrespectful to try to get into a relationship with his brothers WIFE, but the fact that it happened all in front of Lloyd is astonishing

Like seriously dude? You have to try to get with misako in front of her kid?

And let’s not forget all wise and powerful wu over here attacks Garmadon over a LETTER that he send YEARS AGO. Like dude it’s not your choice who misako goes out with, your like 80 and getting jealous over your brother like your in 6th grade, and, let me reiterate, in front of LLOYD

Ugh he’s so annoying

Oh uh, actually I did remember one hot take

I don’t think wu turned Garmadons monastery into a teashop tbh, the two locations look way to different to be the same building

[kalesandfails]

it could still be okay, but if not:

I haven’t written anything public in months, partially because who cares what I think, and partially because I have been engaged in recovering from an eating disorder in a pandemic. I suppose in a perfect world, I would have a more age-appropriate problem, although of course that’s bullshit and a growing number of women over thirty are seeking treatment for eating disorders — because if you haven’t noticed, our world hasn’t become noticeably less hateful towards women or less certain of its right to patrol the bodies of anyone it thinks it can market self-respect to.

The thing is, in the course of therapy I spend a lot of time talking about painful and confusing things that happened to me when I was a kid, and that I don’t want to get into in a public forum. But this same painful detritus has prepared me for a moment where you have to find a way to deal with things that are far from okay, to believe the world is good while also resisting the pressure to agree that the world is fine and what is being done to you is fine.

It’s not fine that people of color are being targeted and that a certain segment of hateful garbage people have taken Trump’s power as a validation of their working thesis that white supremacy and totalitarianism are okay.

It’s not fine that we’ve collectively decided that a response to a pandemic that  relies on our willingness to disregard the lives of those disproportionately dying — the poor, those without access to health care, the disabled and chronically ill, the elderly, people of color — is okay. Remember when Rose was all, don’t you get it mom, half the people on this ship are going to die, and Billy Zane is all, Not the better half? Because that’s the Trump response to the pandemic and it is not okay and if you are like me and love people who lost family members to that exact mindset and still voted for this guy, damn, I am sorry, because I know that is a hard and confusing feeling.

But it is possible to love someone deeply and also be quietly gritting your teeth through the pain of their incomprehensible and shitty actions. I can’t tell you exactly how to manage the particulars of your cognitive dissonance -- how to protect yourself and not let this evil take your dad or brother or grandma from you too. But I know it can be done, because I have been working through how to do just that in the context of deeply personal, far-from-okay behavior on the part of a family member I loved very much.

It’s not fucking okay that your body, if you are ether trans or are assigned female, is not considered your own. That we’re okay both with legislating it as though it were the ideological playground of a bunch of people whose religion is a sham — because yes, if you claim to follow someone whose entire project was about healing and caring for others and you want to take people’s kids away and lose them, want to take people’s health care away and let them die, your religion is fake and you are lying to yourself  —I don’t expect or ask or want anyone to accept that.

But I do want you to believe what I have to make myself believe every day when I think about some of the things that went wrong in my life, so I can refrain from physically hurting myself over them, which is how I managed  the fallout for twenty five years: it is not your fault that this person did this fucked up thing. The inability of others to treat you respectfully, like a human, is not a reflection on your humanity or on your value. The inability to see the inherent dignity and value in another human being is a critical flaw in the nature of the unable, not a reflection of those they are looking at.

You are fine, and valuable, and your skin or your gender or your body or your nationality is not the problem. You should not be afraid for your life and safety. You should not be dying of covid. You should not be forced to carry a child you don’t want or to go without basic necessities or to watch your child die in the streets. 

It is unfortunate that we had been so eager to give our dads and colleagues the benefit of the doubt, to make excuses and believe that if we gave them another chance, we’d see that they didn’t really mean it. But all this means is that we overestimated them. It does not mean that their working thesis —  that some people matter and others don’t — is actually correct. It doesn’t mean that any of it — the sexual assault, the dead grandmas, the lost children, the racism, the stupid cruelty, the violence, the vitriolic hatred of things like love or hope or sacrifice as weakness — is okay. It just means he, the guy whose side they are still on even though he is hurting you, got away with it. It just means you can’t earn your way into being loved well or valued by others. Take it from someone who has been revisiting this very issue in therapy for this entire dumpster fire of a year.

Nothing’s different today than it was yesterday except the people we loved, maybe, have disappointed us again. And that we hoped that we could rest a little, and now we can’t. But one thing that one white guy got right one time is that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty (or was it safety)? Either way, what I want is for everyone to be safe and free, and that will continue to be super fucking hard now. But it’s worth continuing to work for.

[toxic-gorgon]

Visiting Hours: Atticus Rhodes (Fubuki Tenjouin) x Reader x Zane Truesdale (Ryou Marufuji)

First up is a never before seen fic on tumblr, it’s on my Ao3 though. Still, reader-chan may get more than what she bargained with. 

“No, you can forget that! Let the poor guy rest!” you growl, rolling your eyes at the brunette. “Besides, I’m sure that isn’t even good for his heart’s current condition.” you explained, placing your palms on your hips, and stomping your black-leather boot onto the ground. Atticus shakes his head and waves you off, much like he did any time you reason with him.

“So naïve, Y/N. Zane can’t heal on bed rest alone. Men have other areas that need healing too.” he says, matter-of-factly. You groan, crossing your arms over your chest. Your friend was really pressing his luck this time, so much so, he won’t leave the subject alone no matter how much you plea. “Look Y/N, it’s the least we can do for him, after all that happened last year.” Of course he would use that against you.

 On your third year, it started normal enough. Seeing old friends, mountain sized stacks of homework, and of course dueling. You were sure things would finally calm down from previous years, but boy you were wrong, so very wrong. Most of that year was a blur (thank god), but of what you do remember, sometimes makes you wake up in cold sweat. It seems everyone was dealing with it in their own way.

 Zane received the worst of it, his heart too weak and barely beating. After his many duels with his underworld deck, it weakened his heart, but his final duel, the one with a twisted Jesse that was the final nail in the coffin. How you wish it was just a figure of speech. You wince, remembering, and not much longer before that, most of your friends were “sent to the stars”. Thankfully they took it one day at a time and came to terms, with an exception being Jaden, who no one really sees much anymore. Poor guy.

 With a sigh, your gaze meets Atticus’ chocolate ones. “Suppose I go along with…this, there’s always a nurse on hand, so we’ll be caught.” you explain, poking a rather obvious hole in your friend’s plan. He flashes a flawlessly sly smile, his orbs beaming even brighter.

 “That doesn’t seem to stop you. You remember, two days ago, when you came over to my dorm for the night. Girls are forbidden from the boy’s dorm, after all.” he grins, placing a hand on your shoulder. Leaning in, he whispers in your ear. “Though, I’m surprised the RA’s didn’t bust us, you were pretty loud.” You fought back a blush. Surprisingly (even to you), no one’s caught you those nights.

 You doubt it was your stealth skills, since literally everyone, if they’re lucky enough to have trees outside their windows, uses them, or even get to the floor/hall they’re rooms are on. You’ve been seeing each other, but only as friends with benefits all year. With all the never ending crazy adventures, you and Atticus confided in each other that you weren’t looking for a relationship, but agreed in this arrangement, of course remaining as friends. It was for the best to keep each other’s sanity.

 You looked around; making sure no one was around to listen to your conversation. Luckily, the far end of the courtyard was vacant, except for you two. “Will you keep it down? And fine, you have a point, but how do you know this sort of thing is ok with him? Have you asked?” Atticus shrugs, but again dismisses your questions.

 “It’s meant to be a surprise, but no, I haven’t asked him.” he states. “But, what man wouldn’t appreciate such a gesture? You’re such a great friend Y/N!” he smiles, giving you thumbs up. He won, he pulled the power move he was saving to seal the deal. Every time he says that exact line, all you can do is shake your head and zip your lips.

 “Fine, but if we get expelled for this, I’m dragging you down with me. Trust me, you will suffer.” you threaten him, which he wastes no time and grabs your hand, literally dragging you from your spot.

 “Yeah, yeah. We’ll worry about that when we get there.”

________________________________________________________________

You knock on the white door and stood back. Not a second later, it slides open, the current nurse on duty peering her head out. “Oh, you have some visitors!” she exclaimed, her overly perky voice making your ears ring. You pushed back your nervousness and smiled at her, while she steps aside to let you in. Atticus urges you to go, by gently pushing you forward.

 The room was pretty decent sized, most likely average from most hospital room standards. Everything was white, sterile with everything put in their place, and joyless, everything you would expect from a hospital room. Across the room, nestled against the wall, was the only bed in the room. In that bed laid Zane, who seemed to be wrestling his own thoughts. You nearly stumbled over with Atticus’ constant prodding you forward, far too eager in your opinion. The nurse takes long strides over towards Zane and gently nudges him.

 “Zane, are you awake? You have visitors” she says softly. The male stirs and finally his eyes flutter open, adjusting to the lights. He looks up at the nurse with a reassuring smile, but then notices you and Atticus. You swore he smiled a little wider.

 “Hey Zane, how are you feeling?” you ask, standing next to his bed, with Atticus standing behind you. Zane slowly sits up, adjusting his pillows to better support his back, with the help of his generous nurse.

 “Fine, just resting. Sirus visited this morning. He’s doing well.” he chuckles, making light. Your heart sank, after all, who wants to be confined to bed all day, unable to do anything else. You cursed yourself for not visiting him often.

 “That’s good to hear. I’m glad.” you smile, another friend you don’t visit often. With graduation coming near, everyone’s already drifting apart. How inevitable, yet the sickness within your gut wished it prolonged a little longer, no matter how unrealistic it was.

 His nurse over watched everything, her smile ever so brighter, until her beeper-like device, which all nurses were required to carry on them. “Oh no, one of my patients needs his medication. You guys will be fine, right?” she asked, as Atticus reassured her with a nod. You stayed quiet, jolts of anxiety welling up within you.  

 As soon as the nurse left the room and shut the door, Atticus immediately began tugging your Obelisk Blue girl’s uniform. “Hey Zane, Y/N has a get well gift for you!” he grins, as you reluctantly comply.

 “W-Will you let me ease myself in?” you grumble, your fingers releasing one button after another, slowly exposing your chest to your bedridden friend. Light dust of red graced Zane’s cheeks, his expression resembling a deer caught in the headlights. The only one sure of this risqué event, was the one with such a scheme, Atticus.

 “If you wait too long, the nurse will come back and see you in such a compromising position.” he sings, tucking his hands into your shirt and grasping your breasts. You gasp, but continue unbuttoning, and tossed it to the floor. Atticus works on your skirt, unzipping it and pulling it to your ankles, revealing your full ensemble of lingerie: lacy, crotchless panties and a matching bra, with your nipples poking out of the keyholes.

 Zane sits up stiffly, his quick wit still processing what’s going on. “Y/N? Atticus, what’s going on?” He finally snaps out of his daze. Your face resembles a tomato, as you saunter over. You stood in front of him, biting your bottom lip. Even in such a delicate state, Zane still looked simply gorgeous. Maybe within your gut, you wanted this, but admitting such a thing and taking advantage of him like this, doesn’t sit well.

 “Atticus, if Zane doesn’t want this, I can’t-“ you were cut off by a sudden gasp, as your friend/sexual playmate gropes your breasts, causing your knees to buckle under you. Atticus grins towards Zane, pinching and rolling your nipples.

 “Nonsense! Zane, we did this for you man. Y/N went through all this effort to help lift your spirits. Why not give her a chance, huh?” Before Zane could protest, you were bent over by your friend behind, his firm hand slaps against your ass, pressing for you to continue. Your throbbing core ached, as Atticus’ digits wandered between your increasingly wet folds.

 Your nimble fingers, hesitant at first, slipped under the blanket and when you glanced up to see Zane not bothering to stop you, you pulled his half-hard cock free. Giving his shaft a couple of pumps, you tucked your hair behind your ear, as you dove in to kiss and lick from base to tip. Your eyes look to see your friend’s reaction, but his aqua orbs wouldn’t dare leave you. You took that as ‘keep going’, so you lick your lips and wrap it around the head, bobbing your head down his shaft, your tongue flicking against his veins along your way down.

 Sharply inhaling, Zane shuts his eyes for a moment, and places a hand on your head, threading his fingers into your once styled locks. Giving a satisfied hum, you swirl your tongue around his tip bobbing back up, Zane’s hips thrust up, but you push them down. Both of you were lost in the moment; you let out a surprised whine when Atticus inserts three long fingers between your dripping folds, forcing you to take Zane’s robust member right down the base, deepthroating him.

 Atticus’ fingers curl and extend teasingly against your walls, as you arch your hips higher for better access. “So, how is she?” he laughs, caressing your reddening ass, only to give it another smack, watching it wobble. Zane forcibly cracks an eye open, while his lips contort into a smile.

 “S-she’s…aah..wonderful.” He mutters a string of swears under his breath when you hallow out your cheeks, your throat constricting around his cock. Atticus nods, holding you firmly by the shoulder, and pulling you up, earning a growl from Zane. He was so, so close.

 You release his cock with a pop, drool dripping down to your chin, and you gaze down at the needy man with a lustful haze. Atticus, pleased with himself, because there was no more need of convincing either of you for this little ramp. He removes his digits from your core, bringing them to the front of your face. Without him having to spell it out, you lick your juices off, sucking them clean.

 Atticus looks over to his friend, who couldn’t take his eyes off you. Zane’s chest heaves rapidly, as his eyes narrow predatory-like. After an intense minute of Zane staring at you, Atticus speaks. “Hey, Y/N. It looks like Zane needs some extra attention, how about it?” he asks, and before reaching out to guide you, you were moving. In the pit of your core, you craved to ruin him. The blush heating his face, the way his breathing became ragged, and his clouded gaze wasn’t enough, not yet.

 Your hips straddle his, as you grind your soaked cunt along his length. You bend forward, planting a rough but passionate kiss against his lips, slithering your tongue into his cavern. Zane takes your lead and intensifies it, reaching to your hips and giving them a firm squeeze, as he quickly dominates the kiss, rubbing his tongue against yours. Smiling into the kiss, you unbutton his night-shirt, slipping the fabric just barely over his shoulders, your hands finding purchases over his toned chest.

 When you broke apart, he didn’t hesitate to lean down and take one of your pert buds and sucked on it, while he pinched and rolled the other. Arching you back, you whimper and grind your swollen lips desperately against his cock. “Z-Zane, please…” you moan. He releases your nipple, with a string of saliva connecting to his lips, as he sits up and kisses you again, while pressing the blunt head of his cock between your folds. Digging your nails into his shoulders, your hips angle down and he fills you oh so completely. A moan vibrates from Zane’s throat, as his lengthy member pulses within you. His nails grip into your hips, as your hips roll against his seemingly on it’s own.  

 The bed dips, as more weight was added. Zane glances up and past your shoulders, a knowing smirk towards the newcomer. Your mind blank with passion didn’t register, until you felt Atticus’ stiff cock slap against your ass. Whipping your head to look behind you, the brunette gave you a soft smile, his chocolate orbs clouded by the same playful lust you’ve grown to expect from him. He teasingly trails the tip down your crack, leaving thin trails of pre-cum, pushing you forward, your breasts and Zane’s chest press together, and Atticus rests his chest against your back.

 Without warning, Atticus dips his digits between your wet folds, massaging the small space that was barely left from Zane’s cock. “My, you’re still so soaked Y/N, it’s begging for more.” he whispers huskily into your ear, his warm breath tickling your ear. You let out a strained whine, as he removes his fingers. The blunt head of his cock slips between instead, and he slowly pushes himself in, stretching your walls painfully delicious.

 The slight burning of being so full wasn’t enough to deter you from accepting both cocks. Atticus kisses your shoulders and back, while Zane brings you back down for a fiery kiss. Your tongues danced and his hands grip your ass, while Atticus set the pace, gripping your hips and bouncing you at an agonizingly slow pace. You spread yourself wider, allowing both men a little more room, as you bounce into their laps with them taking turns to piston into you. You were never fully empty, as when one cock was almost slipping out with the tip remaining, the other would plunge in deeper.

 Zane’s member was longer with the head hitting the back of your depths, and Atticus’ member, shorter but more girthy. The best of both worlds you never knew you craved. Atticus gives a throaty chuckle, as he kisses your neck. “Such a greedy girl, desperately taking two men at once. I didn’t know you were into that, Y/N.” Blushing, you open your mouth to retort, but instead a loud moan flows out instead of words, earning a laugh from both men.

 “She certainly is, but what sort of men would we be to deny her?” Zane pipes up, nipping the shell of your ear. Shutting your eyes tightly, you wrap your arms around the bluenette’s neck, arching your back when their combined efforts forcing you to bounce faster into their laps, their pulsing dicks pounding against your constricting walls. You moan into Zane’s ear, shuddering between the two, and your pussy aching for more. Rolling your hips for more friction, you nearly came undone when your back entrance suddenly became filled with someone’s finger, though you couldn’t tell who’s, as they expertly thrust in time with your bouncing.

 “A-Attic…ah! Mmmn, Zane…” you moan, burying your head into Zane’s neck. Their cocks throb, as their end is just under the cusp. Your clit being flicked and rolled by again by who knows, making your back arch. Your pussy walls flutter from the added stimulation, whining and chanting their names like a prayer, losing yourself with their every thrust. They pick up the pace, skin on skin slapping echoing against the walls. Suddenly, you see white, your eyes shutting tightly, and you convulse between the two, gripping the back of Zane’s nightshirt in pure ecstasy.

 Their cocks barely had room to move, as your walls tighten in urgency to milk them. Atticus grits his teeth, stringing along swears and muttering your name, before pulling out and releasing ropes onto your backside. Zane climaxes soon after, coating your walls, and letting you rest against his chest. As all three of you rest against each other, coming down from your highs, heels clacking against tile down the hall.

 “Shit.” Atticus mutters and hops of, stuffing his cock back in his pants and pulling them up. Zane helps you off his lap and buttons up his shirt, while you gathered your uniform and slip back into it. The boys had no problems straightening out themselves, while you scrambled to put your shirt on the right way. The door opens and in steps the nurse from before, smiling at the three of you.

 “Sorry I took so long. At least that gave you guys more time to visit, right?” Her eyes widen when she looks everyone over. The boys of course as nonchalant as ever, your face still heated from almost getting caught. “Is everything ok? You look warm.” She trots over to you for further examination. Smiling nervously, you wave her off.

 “I-I’m fine, really! It’s a little warm in here is all.” you laugh, hoping your half-ass lie will work. The nurse nods and goes over to open the window and you sigh in relief. After the window was opened, the nurse turns around and looks at the time on her watch.

 “Oh, it’s that late already? It’s time for Mr. Truesdale needs his rest.” Zane smiles and nods to you and Atticus.

 “Thank you both for stopping by.” Atticus smiles back and waves.

 “Hey, no problem buddy. Glad to see you’re doing better.” he says with a wink. You nervously smooth your skirt, a lump in your throat.

 “A-Anytime Zane. We should come by more often.” you squeak, your face beat red. Atticus smirks and you can swear behind Zane’s smile, was a light dust of pink on his cheeks. Atticus grips your wrist and turns around to walk out the room.

 “Common Y/N, we’ll visit again tomorrow, ok?” You purse your lips, but nod.

 “Y-Yeah, I’m sure we can.” you gasps, being dragged out of the room. Waving goodbye to Zane and the nurse, you follow Atticus down the wall, the evidence of your misadventures dripping down your inner thigh. He chuckles, looking behind towards your ass. You frown and glare back at him.

 “What are you looking at? That was incredibly embarrassing.” you mutter and Atticus points.

 “Your skirt’s inside-out.” Your mouth opens slightly, but instead of dignifying the boy with a response, you hurry along, huffing. Tomorrow I’ll wear something simple then. You smile, leaving Atticus behind, calling your name, and running to catch up to you.

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

Okay, so I actually used my quarantine time in a semi-productive way and decided to watch the pilot of Ninjago, to start getting more background (since I’ve only really seen seasons 11 and 12, a bit far into the series). So, here are some bullet points and some overall thoughts.

-Kai’s character does show hints of that obnoxious bravado, but here it’s...understandable. I mean when you first get an old man come in and waste time while you’re trying to sell stuff then right after have your little sister abducted (especially in the context of learning that Kai raised her from young), I would be more than a little on edge too. Plus it gets to really showcase that desire to protect his sister so that’s a plus.  -The shit with Nya is why Macy ended up so much better from the start. She gets a token moment to show “yeah I can fight with the boys” and then gets abducted right after. And then as any Ninjago watcher knows she had to moonlight as Samurai X for over four seasons after. Macy actually got to put her mace where her mouth was straight away (although she also had five years for the writers to get further). She has one line I found funny and that’s about it. -Master Wu actually started getting my goat straight away. On the one he’s funnier here than I think future depictions would end up with, on the other hand he is way too harsh on Kai considering the circumstances (especially in hindsight when you know what a bastard he’s been).  -The pilots really said fuck Jay and Zane I guess. -Cole and Kai have such a good connection in the pilot, it’s actually shocking that it has taken so many seasons to really touch on that again. That’s something asking to be explored in like season 2 or 3. -As an Autistic person...yeah, Zane doesn’t come across as Autistic, you can tell even without hindsight that there’s something more. For one, the underwater scene doesn’t show Zane drowning when Wu disrupts him, he opens his mouth then closes it when he gets over the shock (not something a drowning person can do). Plus throughout, his voice tone isn’t that of an Autistic person, it is downright stilted and...for lack of a better term, robotic. I am quite harsh on the writers usually, but I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt and say that robot Zane was on the cards from the beginning. -Seriously though, poor Jay. -The skeleton army sucks. They had one decent gag but the rest was obnoxious. This carries even up to Samukai. -Garmadon throws a little bone of interest right as he leaves, but otherwise he is so generic at this point.  -If people say that Ninjago has pacing issues now, I’ll argue that it’s always had it; this was all over the place with its pacing.

So this was decently enjoyable. As much as I can criticise bits about it, overall I found it okay. I certainly see how the higher ups saw enough potential in it to extend to a full series. I dunno how fast I’d get the gumption to watch all that, but eh.

[alltheselights]

UO - but in recent months, has Niall seemed to be growing a big ego? He's coming off more arrogant and show-offy to me. And hits it a bit hard name-dropping and so on. I know he's playing the game but it's approaching unappealing for me. And I know all of them lie and lie and lie…but LOL - Niall's interview with Zane is just one heap of lies in terms of his of his 1d relationships. At least do a bit of research man, if you're going to pretend you're friends. He and Harry: the bubbly boys! Sheesh

I love Niall and I haven’t seen the Zane interview yet so I can’t speak to that, but I would say that some of his behavior on social media in the past year or so has not been nice to see. He does come across as quite rude and condescending on Twitter some of the time, which is particularly upsetting for fans when he then talks about wanting everyone to buy tickets to his tour. On some of it, I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because his tour isn’t selling super well (I think part of that is just because they announced it so far in advance of his album, which I predict will give him another push in terms of tour sales) and I think he’s probably under a lot of pressure, but obviously that isn’t really an excuse.

I think one of the problems with the solo era is that because we’re seeing each of the boys standing on their own, we’re seeing sides of some of them that we may not like as much as what we saw while they were in the band. I definitely don’t think any of them are bad people, but I do think that having to lead your own career for the first time and having more direct pressure on you and you alone from labels/management/etc. when it comes to selling music and selling tour tickets and selling a particular image can bring out or even exaggerate some aspects of their personalities and that can leave a bad taste in our mouths because we’re not used to it. I know that’s happened to me a bunch with several of the boys.

I try to keep as balanced of a perspective on it as I can - I will call out their bullshit when I see it, but I also do try to recognize that while it is definitely not an excuse, they are all under pressure to become solo stars in a rather cutthroat industry where chart position, sales numbers, famous friends, and image are all valued more than they should be. They’re all competing in that now and they’re on their own, so it’s not surprising that it sometimes brings out a side of them that we don’t love as much. I don’t think it necessarily means that’s exactly who they are, but we’re still having to see it and that can be jarring after years of seeing the version of them that they were in the band and facing different pressures.

[aweebwrites]

Move on Dragons 10

‘Blaze.’ Lloyd says as he landed next to the large river that ran through the vast jungle, seeing Blaze sitting on its banks, looking into the water as it ran by, wings drooped.

‘What?’ Blaze gruffed, staring down at his reflection that looked exactly like Kai.

Yet another reason for him to be forgotten. Lloyd frowned at his tone but walked over to where he sat.

‘Is something wrong? You know you can talk to me- or any of us.’ Lloyd says softly, casting slitted green eyes at the fire dragon keeping his gaze on the water before him. 

‘Can I really?’ Blaze hissed bitterly and Lloyd’s eyes widened in surprise at that.

‘Of course! We’re your friends! We’re here for you!’ Lloyd told him firmly and Blaze sighed through his nose then got to his feet.

‘Go back Lloyd. Someone’s ought to be looking for you by now.’ Blaze grumbled, spreading his wings.

‘No!’ Lloyd declared, standing firm, not about to back down from this. ‘Did we do something to hurt you somehow? You have to talk to one of us at least so we know what’s wrong-’

‘I don’t have to do anything.’ Blaze growled, shooting Lloyd a glare, both of them ignoring the loud wingbeats in the distance.

‘Blaze…’ Lloyd says softer now, his wings tucked close to appear less hostile to his friend. ‘We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s wrong… I don’t want to lose my friend, especially over something I know we can fix-’

‘What does any of this even matter?’ Blaze interrupted, irritated now as he turned to face Lloyd for the first time. ‘All of this, me… It’ll all be forgotten anyway.’ He spoke as he glanced away, glaring out at the river, the wingbeats getting closer.

Lloyd went to immediately decline that when it hit him. Forgotten?... Kai… Before he could get a word out, the wind picked up suddenly, the wing beats thunderous now.

‘Lloyd. We’ve discussed leaving without telling anyone.’ Garmadon says and Lloyd gave a nervous rumble, forgetting that very long talk.

‘I’m sorry Dad, I had to go after Blaze.’ Lloyd apologised, nuzzling against his side then turned back to where Blaze stood, looking away from them, his wings drooped so low, they were touching the ground.

He lifted them again, giving a firm flap-

‘Blaze.’ The red dragon startles mid flap at the elder’s tone. ‘Where did you leave to. The others are worried. I am worried.’ Garmadon says as he walked over to Blaze who was looking at him like a deer in headlights.

‘I-I…’ Blaze stuttered, looking up at the elder before him.

‘Did something happen?’ Garmadon questions him and Blaze found it hard to get a word out.

‘He thinks that now that Kai is a full dragon like us, he’ll be forgotten.’ Lloyd told his father as he walked over and Garmadon glanced at his son then back at Blaze.

‘Is this true?’ Garmadon asked Blaze and he only averted his gaze, his tail flicking back and forth anxiously. ‘I see.’ The elder nods then laid down before Blaze and even then, he was larger than the red dragon.

‘What lead to you feeling like this?’ Garmadon asked, surprising Blaze.

He expected many things, him stating that his thoughts were wrong or right even, but not this. Blaze hesitated for a moment.

‘Kai…’ Blaze began, struggling for the words. ‘He has always been… Amazing… In every way. As a human, as a half dragon… As a full dragon…’ He hung his head as Garmadon listened attentively.

‘I… It’s just… Before, when he was only half like us… It was fine. He may have excelled at everything and everyone may have liked him but… I had being a full bred dragon on my side. You can’t replace someone of my size, right? At least, a half bred couldn’t… But… But…’ Blaze gritted his teeth, as he glanced down. ‘But from the moment Kai became like us, he’s had all eyes on him. I know he was hurt, in pain. I know that and I feel bad for it because he should have attention on him in that condition… But… But I…’ He lowered his head as Lloyd took a step closer, his heart aching for his friend.

Garmadon stopped him from interfering with a wing however.

‘I couldn’t help but feel… Immediately shut out… Immediately forgotten. I know I’m overreacting, acting like a spoiled hatchling but… Everyone is so focused on him now, always him. The others don’t even notice when I’m around anymore, don’t even care. I feel like such an outsider and I hate it!’ Blaze hissed, anger filling his tone before it vanished as quickly as it flared. ‘But… Kai is my friend too. He’s so bright and smart and caring and amazing… He deserves all the attention… I want him to have it, no matter how much it hurts… I just… Maybe it would be better if I weren’t around anymore…’ He grumbled low and Garmadon waited a moment to make sure he was done.

‘How would you not being around anymore make things better?’ He asked Blaze, using a wing to keep his anxious son in place.

‘If I weren’t around then… Then… The others, you guys could take Kai in without me in the way…’ He grumbled, the sound barely audible.

‘Kai has always been apart of our family however.’ Garmadon pointed out and Blaze glanced up at him. ‘He always has been, since the day he found Lloyd. That hasn’t and won’t change, Just like your position with us here.’ He says and Blaze opened his maw to argue.

‘No, not just yet. Let me finish as I had with you.’ Garmadon spoke and Blaze gave a frustrated huff but sat, keeping quiet. ‘It’s ok to feel insecure about your position here with us. It’s expected even. Even I have doubts from time to time. But it is important to remember that you are never truly alone. You play parts in each of our lives that Kai can’t. You may not realise it but it is the truth.’ He told Blaze who looked even more doubtful.

‘Yeah? Like what?’ He asked, unable to keep his pessimism out of his tone of voice.

‘You’re the only one who would break dad’s orders and get me more sweet fruit.’ Lloyd spoke up and Garmadon gave his son a look. ‘The point is, Kai never did and still wouldn’t do that because he thinks Dad’s right.’ He says, not looking at his father.

‘But that’s just fruit. And that’s back then anyway.’ Blaze says, not at all moved.

‘Yeah? Well you’re the only one who’ll let me win fights now.’ Lloyd continued and Blaze opened his mouth to protest but Lloyd kept going. ‘And you’re the only one who will let me chew on your tail and steal your place around the fire and lick me instead of headbutting and pretend to be a ghost to scare me and-’

‘Alright, alright. I get it.’ Blaze says, flicking at his muzzle with a wing affectionately, a gesture he uses to tell Lloyd he was rambling.

‘You’re the only one to do that too.’ Lloyd added with a purr then walked over to nuzzle him, Blaze allowing it, licking between his gold horns. ‘And…’ He whispered as he looked up at Blaze with large green eyes.

‘... If you left… I’d be really sad…’ Lloyd rumbled low and Blaze felt his heart squeeze.

‘... That’s playing dirty…’ Blaze protested feebly.

‘Is it working?’ Lloyd asked, not ceasing his deadly dragon eyes.

‘... Yeah. It is.’ Blaze grumbled then crooned as he nuzzled him.

He couldn’t leave Lloyd behind and especially not Nya. They’ve been at each other’s side since their parent’s death. He won’t leave… Not without a fight. Garmadon’s tail flickered back and forth, pleased with the scene before them. His tail whacked a tree however and they all looked once a large tree toppled across the river. Lloyd laughed then bounded over to his father, getting up on his hind legs as he grasped his father’s muzzle with both front paws.

‘Dad, you’re too big!’ He trilled and Garmadon huffed, giving Lloyd a lick that had the young dragon squirming.

‘If I wasn't as big as I am, you couldn’t sleep in my wing anymore. Are you sue you could live with that?’ Garmadon teased and Lloyd sat on his haunches then let himself fall on his back.

‘You make a strong point.’ Lloyd says and Garmadon chuckled.

‘Are you ready to return?’ Garmadon asked and Lloyd paused to consider.

‘Not yet. I want to hang out with Blaze for a bit longer. Just us.’ He says, looking over at a pleasantly surprised Blaze, unable to stop the wag of his tail.

‘Alright. Don’t stray too far.’ He warned them as he laid down, intent to take advantage of the sun in the form of a sunbath.

‘We won’t!’ Lloyd chirped, rolling over on his stomach then bounding back over to Blaze. ‘Last one across the tree is a rotten egg!’ Blaze blinked when Lloyd suddenly took off then growled as he bounded after him.

‘No fair!’ He called after Lloyd who only laughed.

_____

“Gliding is kinda fun!” Cole grinned, revealing thick fangs from where he stood on the back of his dragon self’s back, black wings spread wide.

‘It’s supposed to be.’ Kai huffed, amused. ‘It makes muscle memory easier and builds muscle strength. Flying isn’t all fun and games after all. It’s a work out.’ He told his friends.

‘Keep it up and you’ll all be able to fly like Zane soon enough.’ He encouraged and they all looked to where Zane was hovering over Jay who had enough muscle memory to move his wings as if he’s had them since birth but not enough muscle strength to keep himself in the air for longer than a few seconds.

The excitement in this other Jay’s eyes was undeniable however. They decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and lower their hostility around him. Zane was trying to convince him to rest. A yelp sounded and Kai held his wing up so Lloyd wouldn’t fall right off his body.

‘Man… How do you work this thing?’ Lloyd asked, looking back at his tail that was flicking almost angrily to show his impatience with it.

He must have tripped himself again.

‘It takes a while. Yours is almost as long as Jay’s so at least when you manage to control it and fly, you’ll be able to make quicker turns.’ Kai told him as an ultimatum and yeah, Lloyd could work with that.

‘Once you have all mastered these changes in your bodies, then we can see if you are able to return to your fully human forms and back.’ Dragon Wu told them as Nya kept experimenting with the movements of her wings, not quite having the hang of gliding as the others have.

‘Do you think Garmadon found Blaze?’ The blue and maroon dragon that was Nya asked no-one in particular, worried for her brother.

‘I’m positive my brother has. He is not very far away and I sense he has also found Lloyd. No doubt he has also found your brother.’ Wu crooned reassuringly and Nya nodded, trusting the elder.

‘Speaking of missing dragons…’ Lloyd says quietly then hopped off Kai’s back, his black wings with green horns spread as he glided to the ground, stumbling a bit once he hit the ground but he was focused on the space around them. ‘Where’s the little dragon?... And where’s our Wu?’ He asked with a frown.

‘He had let me know he was heading back to the ship for a bit with the dragon.’ The dragon version of Zane told them, his  attention focused on the nindragon that was their Zane.

His workings, his very existence has and always will be fascinating to the intelligent dragon. He couldn’t imagine not being organic yet here a version of himself that wasn’t was…

‘Oh. Alright.’ Lloyd says though quietly, remembering how he had gotten angry at the little guy.

He was just worried and he had snapped at him as he had. He had to apologise… He missed his constant presence already… He sighed then turned back to Kai- only for his tail to curl before his leg, causing him to trip over it yet again. Snickers and snorts sounded then but he shot a glare at the others, dragon and half alike. They quickly looked away, barely stifling their amusement. He huffed then pushed himself up- then paused.

‘Wait…’ Lloyd says then turned to Dragon Zane. ‘... How could Sensei Wu tell you that?’ He asked him with a frown and the dragon looked at him confused, all eyes on Lloyd now.

‘Uncle Wu can’t understand dragons… And you guys can’t understand us. You only understand a few words…’ Lloyd says and they were all frowning at that realisation.

‘When he spoke… I understood…’ The dragon grumbled low then blinked, looking at the rest who were now looking at him with wide eyes. ‘He didn’t speak your human language…’ Zane told them and it all dawned on them.

‘He spoke… Ours.’

______________

(There we go. I’ll add another chapter in the morrow!)

[candy-imagines]

Jealousy - David Dobrik

Summary: Y/N gets jealous when a girl flirts with David and decides to get his attention in a not-so-subtle way which ends up with them confessing their feelings.

Word Count: 1.7k

I was perched on a counter in David's kitchen with a pair of Louboutin's resting on my feet, they were swinging back and forth as I watched party-goers passing back and forth. 

I let out an annoyed breath as an intoxicated girl practically stumbled into me and didn't bother to apologize or give me a second glance. The house was full of people who clutched red, solo cups that were filled with alcohol and soda. 

My face had setteled in a scowl as a pretty blonde had practically demanded David’s attention as she pushed herself closer to him, running her hand up and down his arm in a flirtatious manner. I pressed my tongue against the side of my mouth in annoyance because although it didn't look like he was flirting back, he didn't push her away either. 

It did give me some satisfaction to see the smile he gave her, the same smile he gave strangers on the street and grocery store clerks. It was genuine but unaffectionate and detached, nothing like the smile he would flash me after spending all night together editing, or after I’d make us both dinner knowing how much he forgets to eat when he gets caught up with his work.

David and I were both single and despite how much we flirted or our obvious attraction for each other, there seemed to be an imaginary line that I was afraid to cross. David was someone I considered to be my best friend and the risk of losing our friendship is what had me hesitating on stepping out of the friend zone. 

So, we settled on being friends with benefits. And despite David making it clear on his feelings for me, I continued to ignore mine in return. I knew that when you're 'just friends' you aren't supposed to feel jealousy but watching a random girl trying to seduce the guy I secretly wanted was enough to make me not care. I pushed myself off the counter before strutting over to them, my heels making a click sound that was barely audible over all the talking and music.

Thankfully, the girl had backed off slightly in the little time it took me to reach them and instead of clinging to David, she was chatting him up from a fair distance. I took the opportunity to slip in between them and press myself flush against David's side. A slightly surprised look came on his face but quickly relaxed into a lazy grin as he tossed an arm over my shoulder.

“Hey, I was looking for you earlier.” He murmured softly as his eyes dragged over my body appreciatively. The bottoms of my pumps matched my red dress and lipstick which David greedily drunk in along with my hair that flowed in its natural curls. 

“I just got here, Zane wanted to stop by his house for pre-game drinking before coming here” I replied rolling my eyes making a grin come onto his face. The same grin that seemed to be reserved just for me. I couldn't help but feel smug at the envious look on the girl's face. His arm slid down from my shoulders to around my waist as David’s eyes traveled to my lips, his grip on me tightening. 

A loud, sudden cough caused him to jump, turning back to the girl who was staring at me with an expectant look and forced smile. 

“Who’s this?” She asked eyeing me but unlike David, it was in distaste. 

“Y/N,” I answered with an overly sweet smile that she returned with just as much fakeness. She soon ignored my existence all together continuing to conversate with David about something that was less than interesting. 

I gave David a once-over seeing him wearing his usual all-black outfit consisting of jeans and a hoodie. He was one of the more dressed down people at his own party but still managed to be one of the most attractive. I internally smirked as I leaned closer to him before latching my mouth latched on to the pulse of his neck which caused a nervous chuckle escaped his mouth as he adjusted his hold on me, dipping his head down so his lips were brushing against my ear.

“What’re you doing, sweetheart?” He asked as he discreetly moved me in front of him.

Glancing up at him through my lashes, I shot him an innocent look filled with fake confusion “I don't know what you mean”

He hummed unconvinced, as he pulled back allowing my mouth to attach to the skin once more, this time gently sinking my teeth in before smoothing it over with my tongue and a breathy groan escaped him as he shuddered. 

What's-her-name continued to hover and I was starting to get annoyed. Could she not take a hint? Continuing to babble, I could tell David was trying to listen out of politeness but his constant fidgeting was a telling sign that he was also getting impatient. 

My hand dragged down his chest, nails scraping over his t-shirt, to the hem of his jeans before dipping in. The, now flustered, boy's hand shot out gripping my wrist before giving the girl a strained smile. “Excuse me, I have to go take care of something but thanks for coming”

He didn't wait for a reply as he practically dragged me towards his bedroom. Excitement overcame me as I recognized the look on his face and how his jaw worked, almost angrily. He wasn't a fan of pda and my actions were something that was deemed as ‘punishable’ in his mind, but in the most pleasurable way.

David opened the door, yanking me inside, before slamming it shut and pushing me up against it. Hand coming up to grip my chin, he roughly tilted my head back so I was forced to meet his eyes. His darkened eyes were filled with lust and it had me squeezing my thighs together. “What was that about?” 

When I didn't answer he hummed thoughtfully, swiping his thumb against my bottom lip. “If I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous”

Not wanting to admit he hit the nail on the head, I decided to lie about the green-eyed monster that had overcome me earlier “It's a good thing you know better then, isn't it?”

A dark chuckle escaped David as his hand dropped from chin to my throat, wrapping his fingers around it before gently squeezing “Don't lie to me, baby.” I whined as pleasure ran through me, his eyes watching my body arch from the wall before pressing himself flush against me. 

Holy-

“If you wanted my attention, all you had to do is ask” He muttered,  dipping his head down and connecting his lips with mine. His voice had changed into a more genuine tone as if he was telling me if I wanted him, I could have him. And that had my heart racing with nerves.

I eagerly reciprocated the kiss while looping my arms around his neck. My hands slowly traveled down his body but I was soon left confused when he stopped my hands from undoing his belt. 

"Wait" he mumbled against my lips causing me to pull away in surprise. His desire for me was clear by the tent in his jeans but the apprehension on his face made me concerned.

"What's wrong?" I asked alarmed "Did I do something? I'm sorry I didn't-"

"No, No baby. You didn't do anything" David soothed, reaching out to grab my hands “But I...... I need to know If this is meaningless to you or if you want more than just random hookups”

I couldn't help but feel shocked at his straightforwardness. I also couldn't help the butterflies that erupted in my stomach. Despite how fun eye-fucking from across the room was, or how good it felt when the built-up sexual tension was finally released, I was starting to crave something more authentic. I wanted to be able to hold his hand in public or kiss him in front of other people knowing that he was all mine. 

"You know I want to be with you" he continued "but I need to know you feel the same because I can't keep hooking up with you and pretending it didn't mean anything to me the next day". His gaze held mine, his words were soft matching his expression. 

When I didn't answer he nodded in defeat, with a crestfallen face and started to leave. Panic surged through me as I quickly grabbed his arm.

“Wait!”

He jumped in surprise before looking at me with his head cocked. He waited patiently for me and I was extremely grateful because my brain suddenly felt scattered and was now having trouble finding the words to say.

"I-... I do feel the same" I admitted hesitantly "But you're my best friend. What if we break up and end up hating each other? or what if-"

My words cut off when hands suddenly cupped my face, but it was the loving look in his eyes that rendered me speechless. 

"That won't happen" David reassured me "Because you'll always be my best friend whether we're in a relationship or not. Because even though they say no one is perfect, when I look at you I can't find one fucking flaw. Besides, they always tell you to marry your best friend, right?” He added jokingly.

I could tell he meant everything he said by the sure tone in his voice which game me the courage to lean forward, connecting our lips once again and this time the kiss wasn't fast and rough. His mouth moved against mine in a sweet and slow way that made all doubts slowly wash away until all I was focused on was him.

[emisonme]

Lauren's path..........

I'm not even sure, where to begin. People are banging their heads against the wall, trying to figure out, what the hell is going on, with Lauren and her career.

Again, the first thing you need to understand, is Lauren is still with Syco. If Simco Ltd. owns the copyright to her solo music, she is still under contract with them, period!

It's pretty clear, the initial rumors that Camila and Lauren had solo options in their contracts, were correct. It's also clear, Syco picked up those solo options, as they are the only two still connected to Syco. Syco didn't have solo options on the other girls, but Sony still had control over their recording contracts. After the hiatus, with the exception of Ally, they split the other girls between the Sony Labels.

Camila stayed with Syco/Epic. Lauren is with Syco/Columbia. Normani went to a RCA imprint, with distribution through RCA. Dinah went to LA Reid's new label, that is still connected to Sony. Sony cut Ally loose, and she signed with Atlantic, which is a WMG label.

OK, now, we got the "rumor" that Lauren was signing with Columbia, back in January of last year. A year ago. If they were spreading the "rumor", then the deal was pretty much done. So, she has been a Columbia artist, for at least a year now.

Lauren has said, she didn't start writing her own MUSIC, until the beginning of 2018. It appeared, she was contradicting herself, when she stated she wrote MTT 2/3 years ago, a long ass time ago, and before she started "dating" Ty. I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt, and say, she wasn't necessarily lying or contradicting herself.

We all know, Lauren has been writing poetry, and song lyrics, for years. Even before X-Factor. But, lyrics are not the only aspect of a song. Those lyrics have to be set to music, to make a song. I can believe her, when she said she didn't start writing or composing music to go with her poetry/lyrics, until last year, because I think that's what she actually meant...If not, it's just another bullshit lie, among many.

Moving on. In June, they had her opening for Halsey's SA tour, where she performed three of her new solo songs, Expectations, Toy, and Inside. The fans started demanding the studio version of Expectation, so in October, we got it, with a video. Columbia never sent it to radio. It was a promotional single.

In November, she performed two new songs, at the MTV vote after party. They were More Than That and Freedom. The fans asked for MTT to be her next single, and a few days ago, that's what they got. The video will be released Friday. Columbia hasn't set a radio impact date, as of yet. Maybe they are waiting to see what the video will do.

I, too, will wait for the video, to do any kind of analysis of MTT. I will say, the production was subpar. Whoever did the sound mixing, done Lauren a definite disservice.

Lauren said, she is still trying to figure out her sound. That translates to, the Label is still trying to figure out how to market her and her music. It is the Labels responsibility to market the artist and promote their music. The label will monitor the internet, and collect the data, to find out what a particular artists demographic is, and they will cater the artist, to that demographic.

The artist will compile a big song library, for each album. Usually for the first solo album, they will have around 30/40 songs in the can, ready to choose from. The artist and their manager, will work with the label A&R, to choose the best songs for the album, based on the data collected. Columbia had multiple chances to collect that data. BTM, AN, Strangers, IYP, Expectations, Toy, Inside, MTT, and Freedom. They were all used for data mining. The Label A&R will use that data, to guide the artist in the direction to best connect to the public in her demographic.

Once they figure out Lauren's marketing strategy, it is up to the label to promote the music, to the GP. Thy choose the official singles. They choose when and if a single gets sent to radio. If it doesn't get sent to radio, it gets labeled a promo single, and it's up to the artist and their fans, to push it.

Radio looks to Shazam, and the amount of streams a promo single gets, to decide if they want to dedicate air time to it, or not. The more Shazam streams, the better chance it gets ait time. That's why people are always reminding the fans to stream on Shazam, as well as Spotify, YouTube, and other streaming sites.

It's also, usually, up to the label, to get a single put on popular playlists, and which, if any, television appearances for the single.

It's up to the artists management, to promote the artist. They do this, in conjunction with the label. It is the managements job, to create and control the artists/brands public image. They manage how the public sees the artist, when the public sees the artist, and where the public sees the artist.

The PR Teams and Talent Agents, work in conjunction with the management, to get the artist out there, to get attention from the media and therefore, the public.

It is the artist themselves, that has the most important role in their own career. The Label can market the artist, the management can get them attention, but it is completely up to the artist, to make a connection to fans and potential fans. If an artist isn't making a connection to the public, then the rest of it doesn't even matter.

Lauren is more than capable of making that connection. The problem is, her image is turning people off, and I'm not just talking about fans, but also potential endorsements. Her public image, right now, is not a good one, and she knows it.  Unfortunately, her damn managers would rather promote Ty and a dog, more than Lauren.

Don't get me wrong, Gracie is cute and Lauren's interaction with her, is adorable. I know they made sure she, and her dog, got nominated for one of the most ridiculous awards ever, but I'd much rather Lauren be promoted and recognized for her talent, than her cute little pet.

Columbia needs to get her a presenter spot at the Grammy's, so she can walk the carpet, and be seen on prime time television. They need to get her a performance spot on the iHeart music awards. Those air on March 19. Hopefully Columbia is ready to release an official single, and she can perform it there, like Camila did.

Honestly, her next single needs to be about something personal. Something inspirational. It doesn't have to be a slow ass ballad, but it needs to be about something that makes folks want to get to know Lauren. Expectations would have been a good choice...IF they hadn't turned everyone off to it, by saying she wrote the damn thing about Ty not being there to cuddle when she wanted him to. (that was literally one of the dumbest explanations for a song, I had ever heard)

I really don't think MTT is that song, either. The subject matter has turned even her own fans off. (I have my own theory about the song, but I'm waiting for the video to see if I'm even close to right) The problem with MTT, is the subject matter automatically takes people's minds to her "cheating" with Ty. Even though she has said, she wrote it before she even started "dating" him. The lyrics just took people there, and that was a turn off, for many. Her next single needs to be something that represents her. Not her fucking "boyfriend", not her fucking dog, but her.

She has plenty of music ready to go, so they really need to get her out there, performing at some of these Festivals. They may not all know who she is at those things, but that's the point, to get her out there, seen and heard.

She really needs to do some of the more popular radio shows, like Zane Lowe. She did good on Zack Sang, but Zane is a pretty good interviewer. He doesn't throw softball questions, so she needs to be ready, and willing to answer all the tough questions.

She hasn't been to Europe or Great Britain since what, 2016. She needs to get over there and show her face. Do some interviews, especially BBC Radio, or whatever it's called. Really, she needs to be doing a lot more than walking around propping Ty's ass up, and packing around her pooch.

Maverick needs to do their damn job, and take her for a sit down with the Spotify and YouTube folks, and make a deal with them, herself. Her Label isn't doing much, but she can talk to them and get them to sponsor her and promote her, for exclusive content. That will get her on all the popular playlists, and billboards. She doesn't need to rely on Columbia to do all this shit for her. She can help herself out, as well.

They need to scrub her SM, especially her Instagram, of anything that might be deemed problematic. The big Brands will not even consider her, for Celebrity Endorsements, if all they see is her partying it up, smoking dope all the damn time.

Lauren is a solo artist, now. She is no longer handcuffed, by a group image, or the set plan for that group. As a solo artist, she does have more say in her career, but she isn't as free as she is letting on. She has more freedom, than she had as a member of 5H, though.

Lauren needs to take some of that new found freedom, sit her management team down, tell them what she wants and expects for her career. If Maverick isn't willing to manage her career, the way she expects them to, then she needs to fire their ass, and find a manager who will.

Yes, she can fire them. As a solo artist, she pays them 15% of her earnings. If they aren't earning that 15%, she can hire someone who will. Camila did. Normani did. She can, too.

They need to put an end to all these stupid narratives. They need to.....You know what, I could sit here all day, and say what I think they all should do, but I'm not Lauren, her manager, or her Label. Maybe they have it all figured out, and are just slow walking her, I don't know. But, I do know, what they have chosen to do thus far, isn't really working, and it's really pissing me off.

Lauren has the talent to succeed in this damn business. She has the intelligence to succeed in this damn business. I just hope she has the will to succeed in this damn business. It's not really going to get any easier, at least not for a while....I really hope she achieves that dream she had when she was younger. I hope she finds that solo success, she always knew she was capable of. I know I'm rooting for her.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Sanctuary-III: Demo Analysis

Hi again! I’m here to do my full Sanctuary-III analysis. (im back on my bullshit of actually structuring posts like a functioning human. holy mother of g-)

Tl;Dr: So from what I’ve gathered so far, Sanctuary-III looks like a Maliwan-inspired ship, but was actually built by a company named <SUPAMAX MFG>. I do think the ship we go on in the demo is taken from another part of the game, probably the time period when we’ve reached the Maliwan/Monastery planet of which I don’t know the name (the one we see Maya on). I understand that we can see Pandora in the demo, but it’d be easy to travel back there and simply remove the option for the monastery planet when we go to Promethea. I have a couple reasons for thinking this, so I’ll go over it when we get there.

For now, let’s get started :D

So, even though we’re going to be doing a full analysis of the demo, I did want to start with our previous sightings of the ship.

Ellie hanging onto a smaller version of the ship.

Lorelei resting her foot on a larger model

one hiding behind Zane near the car

better view below:

and a ship as we see it on the cover art:

notice I say A ship because there are definitely differences between this one and the Sanctuary-III we meet in the demo.

Most notably the colors/design, but also the back engines are missing from below the spoiler and the fins on the front are different shapes. Additionally, the one in the cover has windows that are significantly different from the demo and the engines in demo have fins coming off the tops that we don’t see here. I’ve been yelled at before that this isn’t a noticeable enough difference to think about, that the developers just decided to roll with it, but honestly I believe if the designers put that much time into ensuring the cover art has a dozen easter eggs to solve, why would they look at the ship and decide “eh, that’s good enough”? I wanna believe they’re not that laidback about this.

So I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now and provide a handful of theories as to what this cover art ship could be:

1. Sanctuary-II or an earlier model of Sanc-III (or both)

2. A shuttle used to move people to-and-from places Sanctuary-III is too large to access and the drop pods are too violent to hit (I’m thinking meteors/asteroids here) annnd hopefully we get to putz around space in one

3. A fully separate ship from Sanctuary-III that we’ll have to use later on in the game, either due to Sanctuary-III being destroyed, or other weird circumstances that would render it unavailable. Could possibly be used to reach Elpis?

Anyway, enough of that. Let’s get right into the thick of things with the actual ship from the demo!

This hit me right in the heart. I love that u can see Pandora in the background, too.

The actual ship! Do you see what I mean by those minor differences to the cover art ship? Moving on.

The reason I thought this ship was mainly because of the huge swaths of orange and the blue engines/bridge. I had thought it was Atlas as well at one point, but retracted both those statements when I saw the name of the manufacturer printed everywhere inside lol

It is possible it was made specifically for either of those companies. I am leaning towards Maliwan, so I’ll point out my reasons why as we move through this.

Also, check out the docking bay on the bottom there. That door leads to the large room we see Ellie in. I think the fins on the front of the ship are to hold it up when it’s landed so we can drive vehicles out the bottom. I am hoping for a scene near endgame where the ship is shielding us from huge attacks from above as we drive out of the bottom and, right as we escape, it collapses behind us. Fingers crossed.

the back of the ship. And the engines I mention you can’t see protruding out the back on the cover art.

Oh, and say hi to the CoV!

that’s where Troy’s sword gets launched from orbit

as we zoom in, we can see a whole bunch of things

to start, looks like Hyperion got some nice rebranding. I hope Blake took over tbh

a poster of moxxxi’s. I love the feather in her hat; I wonder if that means her a mordy got back together...

also im going to take the time to point out

how much I love that each Vault Hunter gets something that glows. Amara has her tattoos (and she can customize the color!), Fl4k has their eye, Moze has Iron Bear’s digistruct pack, and Zane has a cool jacket. Rock on my babies, you’re all beautiful. Oh, and the whole teleporting animation for this, I don’t know if its like a “first time” only thing or what, but I love it, I love it so much. I’m so glad we’re going to be able to see our Vault Hunters in the third person.

okay moving on

so right away you notice the guide telling you where places are, with arrows point in different directions. It’s quite hard to read at the moment, but we do see it again later. 

We all know about the quick change station and the lost-and-found, so I don’t think I ought to go over those right now. 

claptrap seems to have his own little cereal or something, not sure if that’s been sighted anywhere else, but im afraid for anyone who eats it

player quarters! holy balls im so excited for these

We can see the display cases everywhere, but there’s also a vault (not that kind) in the back left. I imagine that’s the bank. Hoooopefully we get a larger storage capacity or my mule characters are gonna have a ton of new buddies to talk to lol

better look at the cereals.

also apparently that water bottle we see in the Game of Thrones joke the twitter posted is an actual asset in the game.

While we have singular display cases for guns, it looks like items get their own display cases

it can show off rarity color and on the bottom left, you get to see exactly what you’re looking at. no more confusing grenade mods for shields in this house

a non-holographic poster for the Typhon Deleon movie. I think this is the first we’ve seen outside of Promethea. I guess Amara’s a fan.

A vault symbol rug, and the symbol spray painted onto her punching bag. I think that poster in the back is a Monty Python reference? I didn’t get quite a good look at it, we might see another one later on.

Amara has a window seat, I’m actually hoping we’ll be able to hang out in our rooms and look out the window at space. I would honestly spend so much time here. Also, regarding the bed (not pictured, that’s the window seat), I’m wondering if that will have any gameplay effects or if it's just aesthetics. I hope it’s at least bouncy...

she does have some jakobs crates holding up the plants. Don’t know if that has anything to do with her backstory or if its just to fit the aesthetic of her room.

we’re also told “again, you can modify your player quarters to how you want to play” which... I don’t know if I’m looking too deeply into that, but it seems like we’ll be able to pick and choose things like furniture or overall layout. I wonder if they’d let us cycle between the other VH’s rooms. Not sure exactly what it’s supposed to imply, but it is something to point out.

Our first look at the SUPAMAX MFG logo. “Ships made Quick”

We also get our first look at Ellie’s cargo bay. More on this later

behind the curtains to the left of here

a poster of Jack and some lootable washing machines. We’ve seen the poster before, from what I’ve heard it's a movie poster starring timothy doppleman. Which... What a legend. 

Now, I do want to point out we see this logo next to the cargo bay

this is one of the reasons I thought the ship was Atlas at first, however you can tell there’s no gap on the right of the triangle and the bottom edges don’t match. I definitely think the new Atlas logo is a delta to signify change, though, cause Rhys is a big ol nerd.

some blueprints of the ship and a bunch of reused posters from BL2 thrown in for decor purposes. There’s another poster of Typhon to the left of that, but since we’ve already seen it, fuck ‘em

We also see a buttload of Maliwan crates hanging around the ship, matching the color design of the one we saw floating around space 

here’s one of them!

a better look at the blueprints as a standalone poster. It looks like ‘Sanctuary’ was written over with something, but I can’t make out what. also checkout how the paint on top doesn’t match the paint on the cover art’s ship. Nor does the cover art have the fins coming off the engines like we see here. I actually just noticed that even the spoilers are different shapes.

Moving on before I go off on another tangent

a poster for Marcus’s shop

the new golden chest as Randy called it. I believe we’ve seen the animation already, where the guns splay upwards like a peacock or smth

a cowgirl hangin out on more Maliwan chests

Marcus’s new sign. Honestly? He’s rocking the bun.

this dude we find walking out of the store. Don’t know what his deal is, but I’m digging it.

this Amara already has 5/8 Pistol SDUs unlocked! (Also, there are 8 max SDUs) Makes me think she’s a high level character. That’ll come into play later lol

5/8 Backpack SDUS. I didn’t show it but she also had 1/8 Shotgun SDUs. Also only +3 to backpack space each. Considering Amara already has 5 unlocked, that means we get the regular 12 backpack space to start. D:

bank space only gets +2. Amara already has 2, meaning the bank can only hold 8 items without upgrades. F in chat for the big bank dreams. Max amount the bank can hold is 24. Somebody comfort me... hopefully these SDUs increase exponentially 😭

the mystery SDU. It looks like a box with a question mark on it, giving out guns and grenades. Makes me worry this is some form of loot box, but considering it can be bought with cash in-game, that’s probably a good sign. Maybe you can buy golden keys in game to open the gold chest now? Randy said no microtransactions and, while he is Randy, I want to believe him (disregarding the skins fiasco because we all knew that was coming).

since i’ve also seen speculation that it’s the upgrade for the capacity of the Lost-And-Found, I think that’s probably what this actually is.

the shooting range we can see from here. Doesn’t appear to have any targets yet, but it may be like the one in BL2 where they only appear when we enter.

more Maliwan boxes to the left of the shooting range.

Crew Quarters sign!

some very big (tm) Maliwan crates

tannis’s sign!

this NPC actually seems important, I’m wondering if she’ll give us a side quest or something

what i’m guessing is the power core to the ship. It’s in such a great place to get shot... i wonder if perhaps... we’re going to have to do that at some point...

“ain’t no place like space” I love this place.

also looks like there’s a shortcut here. You can see the planks across the pipes, the balcony, and the railing here that’s gonna be easy to get over. Excitement!

looks like a control panel right in front of the core. Yeah, there’s definitely going to be something related to it. Maybe we’ll get attacked and we have to go stabilize it. Maybe our ship will get hijacked and we’ll have to blow it up from the inside. I can’t be the only one who thinks this place is wayyy too grand to not get destroyed...

better look at that bad boy

the opening to moxxi’s bar

actual bar

i have no idea what this is, but i dig it. Also the zer0 for the O is making me go  🤔 i don’t THINK Zer0 would get involved, but then again, they are doing missions for Moxxi in Tales, so maybe the two got together to make something

this door seems different enough and detailed enough (red glowing light) to make me think we’re going to be unlocking this and going through it at some point. Then it shall glow green and make me happy instead of frustrated. the minimap, unfortunately, does not agree with me, but I want to believe. or that’s gonna bother me to no end. Maybe some sort of “we just escaped control core angel” situation, idk.

some slot machines. Ca$hTrap! and Tinx’s Hijinx. Looks like an NPC is using the latter though so idk if it will be available to use. 

scoring system. Looks like the ??x row will give us a new character skin!! hype.

the uhhh... Lava Lamp column... will give us...? ???

A devil fruit?? A grenade? wtf is that???

3 bananas gives us new colors! Crowns = head

the... Eridium...? That seems way too pink to be Eridium tbqh. It reminds me more of Seraph crystals, but maybe its a reference to the ‘Eridium’ growing out of the ground on Promethea? ...... Maybe that’s growing because Atlas/Typhon actually DID open the Vault on Promethea

uh anyway

The last column is about more crystals and then cash and then the last one... I assume the icons are Claptrap’s eye (considering the game), but the reward? i think that’s the grenade the demo player gets in the demo 

we’ve also got Loot Boxer (also taken by an NPC) and Vault Line. I’m wondering if the NPCs using the machines are just a gameplay mechanic and they’ll disappear after a certain level/event. Maybe those ones give us better loot. idk.

for Vault Line, i think that says “Knockout Prizes” but I could be wrong. More importantly, it looks like we can get legendaries from this one! First column shows a green/purple/yellow (legendary?) gun. I can’t tell what the other icons are meant to be, though. i think the next 3 are shields, then maybe class mods? or... grenade mods? i don’t know. The last one is a total blob for me, no ideas on that. Also wondering if that machine costs Eridium to play or something, 1) because of its design and 2) because the rewards seem sooo much better than Claptrap’s.

outside we see the Crew Quarters sign for the first time and, interestingly enough, a TV broadcasting the same symbol we see being broadcasted all across the CoV camps. What’s up with that?

infirmary and crew quarters signs on the wall this time

more Maliwan crap. even says it right on the tin. Why is there a pokeball on there?

a map of the ship. We see this on a bunch of monitors, even ones on Promethea, for some reason. This one is mirrored. dunno why.

more signs. Left top to bottom: “Cargo Bay” “Armory” “Infirmary”

Right top to bottom: “Engine Room” (OwO) “Crew Quarters” “Cargo Bay” “Armory” annnd nothing on the last line this bend around. when they turn the corner, you can see that it, too, says “infirmary”

Also, the Heatant and Coolant Pipes lmao

“LAB/SICK BAY” pointing to the left towards Tannis’s corner

so, here’s where we get our first glance at something very very interesting

now, the crew makes us think this is our first time visiting Promethea in the demo. But if it is, why are there Promethea civilians wandering around the ship? I believe i go over this some in an older post, but I’ll recap:

1) It could be that Sanctuary III was already in the air before the game starts and had already visited Promethea to take some Civilians off Rhys’s hands so he had less to worry about. That would mean that we’d need a shuttle or something to reach the ship in order to activate the fast travel station, which is (possibly) where the ship on the cover art could come in. Because in the borderlands universe, you need to reach a Fast Travel station first before you’re able to teleport to it and if Sanc III is flying and Lilith doesn’t have her powers, we’re stranded on Pandora. (Alternatively, the ship could come down from space, but... I kinda doubt it can without not being able to take off again. Maybe borderlands just has cooler spaceships... idk. They were able to make a caravan space capable). Unfortunately, this would mean those screencaps from the new trailer that looks like Sanctuary III being infested with wildlife would not take place on early-game Pandora/that we wouldn’t rescue the ship and claim it as our own. (We could possibly get Sanctuary III in the air in the new BL2 DLC if this is the case.) The ship getting infested then could take place above the Maliwan planet or Promethea or soon after we join the crew and we’re sent down there to clean it up as a side quest. Or there’s a time skip and the ship gets overrun and we have to fix it. Now that’d be rad... 

2) gearbox is being sneaky beaky about the demo time. We do see Maya later on, which leads me to believe this takes place after we meet her. Where does it look like she’ll be? On the Maliwan/Monastery planet. It could be possible that the devs took the ship back to Pandora and simply removed the Maliwan planet from the list of places to take our ship. That would leave Promethea as an option while also explaining why there are both Promethean citizens and Maya on board. Could also explain Lilith having her tattoos back, since we don’t know the events of the story that lead to us going to find Maya. Though, I think I have an idea... I’ll leave that for my Maya masterpost though. Lilith also says “We arrived in one piece... that’s a first” when we travel to Promethea, leading me to believe either that’s where Sanctuary-II warped and got destroyed (maybe explaining why there are Promethea Civilians with us now), possibly in the asteroid fields, also maybe due to a mechanical failure, or Sanctuary-III, when it first went to Promethea with us, got a bit damaged by the rocks floating around Promethea or some other thing like the CoV attacking, idk. What are those rocks for, anyway? ....... I gotta make a post on that, don’t I? oi oi oi...

Moving on

the front of the Infirmary

....

this kinda looks like a baby T-Rex. There are T-Rexes on the swamp planet, which we now are assuming is Promethea, aren’t there? Oh hell yeah. If the swamp planet ISN’T Promethea I’m gonna be all like [shocked pikachu face]. that outskirts area was really making me believe. 

anyway, see above lol

we also get another glimpse at the SUPAMAX logo

some lootables in the back

not sure if these are Maliwan or not.

Zed also has a machine in the back here. We haven’t seen him around yet, but odds are he’s still kicking because of this. And hopefully still friendly with the crimson raiders. Maybe Tannis locked him in a closet or something, idk.

oooo i haven’t seen this screen before

i want to know what it isssss

this also looks eerily familiar. brb, gonna go find what this reminds me of

okay, so

not sure if its exactly the same material/type of symbol, but this location, what i have dubbed the “temple” cuz i got no better name for it, does have square emblems across the floor with borders.

so, interestingly, this one has what looks like an eye with beams shooting out of it. if that description sounds familiar to you, it should, because

EYEBALL

now i got no idea if these are related aside from being in the same game, but it does interest me that they’ve both got eyeballs and streaky beams.

Oh and Tannis’s Vault symbol doesn’t have the writing (?) across the edges, but I will say, it does kinda look like cuneiform and eridian writing had a baby. Like, if you super heavily pixelate the Watcher’s name on her title card...

tbh I’ve theorized a lot about this place, but haven’t found anything I particularly like. From the place where the first Vault Atlas ever opened is (meaning its on Promethea and could explain why Tannis has that slab), the Great Vault’s holding place (where the skeleton on the ground is Typhon and his final journal) (perhaps the Great Vault is the entryway to the Eridian homeworld... that could explain why the CoV are trying to find it... might be a reason why they’re being manipulated by new aliens to find it. god please let them be the Seraphs...) uh, anyway, I also had an idea that it was someplace on the Maliwan planet, and maybe that it was in the archives area that was taken over by Maliwan and that the skeleton was of a Siren. That would explain why Maya is shown handing the book to Little Blue in the MoM. I go over that in an old post though, so moving on.

 oh, there’s also a frame of Tannis’s animation where the dinosaur she was inside stands up and clips through the table:

there’s a small room over here we don’t get to see, and I’m wondering if there’s another NPC joining us on Sanctuary-III that isn’t showcased. god I hope if its pickle he got more bearable as he got older because dear god i hated him in tps. I can’t see Athena nor Janey with a desk like that. Maybe Vaughn? Though would he really want to go back to being an accountant after everything...?

more maliwan boxes btw. looks like someone scribbled on this one lol

now we head to the bridge!!!

looks like an arcade game lol

but possibly a control mechanism for shuttles coming in???  👀 👀 👀

Crew Quarters and the SUPAMAX logo

oh yeah, and in case you were doubtful that this was a borderlands game:

“Caution: Excessive Farts Detected”

the Bridge!!!

We’ve got a holo-projector thing up front like we’ve seen Rhys use, as well as a mini one used as a digistructer during Lorelei’s hamburger quest. Most interesting, Lily has her tattoos! Definitely wondering if this takes place later on in the story or if they swapped her early game model in. either way, they’re definitely there. 

some cool art of Sanctuary III zooming away

just have to say

i love this so much

its great

okay moving on

I wish they’d be more specific. do ruins = vault? Typhon says he discovers the Vault and the Key in one fell swoop. if Typhon DID give atlas the Vault key and the location to the Vault (and we’re not just listening to an ARG for the movie or smth) then why didn’t Atlas open it immediately?! I mean, in TFTBL Cassius says Gortys is their last ditch attempt at opening a Vault! So what the heck?? I can’t believe that it would be less than 200 years from the first Vault being discovered to the Eridians abandoning everything. like vault keys take 200 years to naturally charge so there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be already charged and available (Unless its more of a cycle thing where it charges and then discharges after a while for safety’s sake??). 

And another thing, if that IS Eridium growing out of the ground on Promethea, then they totally DID open the first Vault. Or at least Typhon did. Unless there was something stopping them... like... Maybe in the temple those demon-looking-things stopped them from getting through and that’s why we find a bunch of skeletons around the place? Or maybe the Guardians got to them, or some other Eridian protection scheme. i don’t know... im so confused... brain hurt...

anyway

why the fuck does Elpis look like this

is that the light side of the moon? dear god im blind.

hhhh at least we can still see the crackening

lowkey wondering if the ship is based off of Eridian tech. I could totally see a slip-space drive being based off Lilith’s phasewalking

when we finish travelling, Lily says “We’ve arrived in one piece. that’s a first” and yeeah, i can see whyyy

rocks. rocks everywhere. tbh i think these rocks are 1) why lilith says that (we’ve either been to Promethea before in Sanc-III or Sanc-II got decimated slip jumping here) and 2) why the VH’s entry into Promethea is apparently so awful Lilith needs to ask if they’re actually still alive. also, we get to see just how much of Promethea is cities and goddamn. that’s a lot for a borderworld.

sorry for the youtube bar. 

Deck A: Hammerlock - Infirmary/Tannis - Deck B: Marcus - Moxxi Deck C: Cargo Bay

I am honestly so curious how they got this ship with that lettering on it. I guess they could’ve made it themselves, but... you gotta wonder... maybe we get the ship built on Pandora by Ellie. Or she helps us fix it up after we remove all gross rat things from it.

MAYAAAAA

better look at the Monty poster plus some other stuff, like a clock, dartboard, and a gas mask. Also if anyone knows what that says up top there, please let me know, im super curious!

Hammerlock’s quarters!

this guy has the same facial hair as Zane. I swear to god if I hear “Oh, that’s me fourth brother” im gonna lose my absolute shit

something to the far left outside of Hammerlock’s quarters we’re not allowed to see yet :(

there’s also graffiti of “Charge port here” around the ship and i think that’s hilarious. It’s like an airport

put your ports in, damn it!

Ellie!!!

More maliwan boxes to her left, btw

the actual cargo bay. remember how i said to look at the bottom of sanctuary III to find the door? I’m like 90% sure that’s it right there. Randy also says “down here we can check out the vehicles we’ve collected AND this is how/where we get access to the planets while we’re in orbit”.

Crazy Earl’s black market! dunno how he’s actually, like, connected to the black market from here, but, hey, who knows what he’s got in there.

veteran rewards, apparently drawn over one of Marcus’s machines lol

“Inter-Galactic” a little drawing of Sanc-III and another Maliwan box (you can see why I think this ship is Maliwan, right?)

Clappy and his GF... yeah...

one very big digistruct pad. listen... im praying for a space shuttle. i really am.

finally:

the drop pod

god this looks awesome. I bet we’re gonna have many a fun time in there lol

I finally get to live out my dream of being an ODST in borderlands. what badasses they are.

[crossroadsdiner]

Opal verse School Pick Up drabble featuring @mystic-muses

Pick up time from Opal's kindergarten class was one of the greatest battles Rowan had ever faced. He'd thought, after two months, the mothers might have gotten over the novelty of him by now. He hasn't made himself easy to like, and yet every afternoon at least one of the women makes a beeline for him.

Rowan doesn't smile, doesn't make eye contact. He keeps watching the classroom door, willing it to open and Opal to come pouring out. Three more women join the first, each saying hello to him. In his head, Rowan goes over the latest car brought into the shop, running through what needs to be done to make it run like new again.

The women chat together, including Rowan in their conversation even though he makes no effort to listen or respond. One woman, head of the PTA and queen bee around here, with a poor son named Ranger, keep touching Rowan's arm and it takes all his self control not to throttle her. His skin crawls and he digs his nails into his flesh, wishing he could tears away the parts of him she's contaminated.

"Zane!" Queen Bee calls, her voice as sharp and acrylic as her nails as she waves over another parent.

They look pained by the attention but suck it up and join the group of mums surrounding Rowan. "Evander, have you met Zane yet? Queen Bee found Rowan's name in the class directory and insists on using it, no matter how often he corrects her. If she isn't going to listen, he's not going to waste his breath on her. "Zane is Charlotte's father." Rowan glances at Zane. He recognises the name from the class directory. Zane Rosendale. Charlotte's parent. Opal can't stand Charlotte, so Rowan's heard a lot about her and her "renny".

"I don't recall Charlotte having a father." Rowan says, keeping his voice disinterested. He doesn't want to get involved, even if he wants Queen Bee to know her mistake.

"No, Charlotte doesn't have a mother, silly." She touches his arm again with a laugh, as if Rowan adorably endearing. Rowan grits his teeth. "You're both single dads," Queen Bee continues, "you might be able to share tips."

Its possible the woman doesn't realise she's misgendering Zane, but Rowan isn't one to give the benefit of the doubt. Especially when someone is a colossal bitch. "Helen?" Rowan starts, "Opal noticed Ranger has been eating chalk during playtime. So either something is lacking from his fancy paleo diet or you should be getting him tested for developmental delays. If you excuse me, Opal was asking for Charlotte to stay over, so I'm going to discuss that with her renny." Rowan gestures to Zane to follow him with a nod of his head and stalks away.

"Fuck, Sharon is a bitch." Rowan says when they're away from the women.

"I think her name is Kaylynn, actually." Zane's voice is soft and timid. Rowan isn't sure if that's because of him or Queen Bee's misgendering.

"I don't care what any of them are called. She can't get my name right anyway." Rowan shrugs. "It is renny, right? Opal was very insistent that Charlotte's parent was non-binary and she called them renny." It would be pretty embarrassing if Rowan was wrong.

Speaking of Opal, there's something else Rowan should clarify. "Opal doesn't actually want Charlotte to visit, by the way. I just thought we could both use rescuing from the Karen's." Opal thought Charlotte was a conceited princess. Rowan was too impressed by her knowledge of conceited to scold her for saying such. Anyway, it sounded like the dislike was mutual between them.

"It is renny, yeah." Zane says in their little timid voice. "Thanks."

"No problem. I hate misgendering cunts."

The classroom door opens and Opal comes tumbling out along with a group of other kids, all shoving each other in the effort to be first. "Tio Rowan!" Opal comes charging over to him. Her bag is open so everything starts spilling out starting with her jacket and ending with her lunchbox.

Rowan sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. "I'll see you later." he tells Zane. He meets Opal in the middle and starts picking up all her fallen items. Opal laughs and tries to help him, piling items into his hands for him to shove back into her bag. Rowan isn't gentle or methodical. He just jam crap in there.

A little girl skips past and Opal pauses what she's doing to stick her tongue out at the child. The girl has black hair and the same bright blue eyes Rowan has noticed on Zane. That was Charlotte, then. Rowan has seen her before, but only glimpses across playgrounds. He recognises her from somewhere, but can't place it at first.

"Come on, lets get home." Rowan zips up Opal's bag and walks her with his hand resting between her shoulder blades. Its all the contact he can manage after having Queen Bee touch him.

The memory comes to him all at once. Opal barging into the bedroom after a night with a beautiful stranger, inviting the stranger to breakfast. The stranger talking about his niece. And showing Rowan a picture on his phone. "Oh fuck." Rowan swears. Charlotte was Atticus' niece.

[twinklecheeks]

Friends With Benefits (Jeff Wittek Imagine) Part 1

Summary: Jeff and Y/N have been hooking up for a while. The whole vlog squad assumes they’re dating and Y/N does too but Jeff doesn’t like labels. He eventually starts to express interest in Natalie.

Note: This is my first time writing. Planning on making this a multiple part series, depending on how good it does. Also, I don’t hate Natalie at all! I actually love the idea of Jeff & Nat being a thing. They’d look so cute together.  You’re 21 & Latina in this (maybe) series

Warnings! Smut, fluff, nudity, pregnancy?

Word Count: 2.3k

*How you and Jeff met*

You met at Dom’s apartment after David invited you to film a bit. You assumed he was new because you’ve never seen him before. His accent swooned you over but you didn’t want to make it obvious. David wanted to film the bit where he shows new friends Jonah p*nis because it’s so small. You’ve been friends with David for 2 years and you’ve known Jonah a while now, so you decide to join Toddy, Jeff and Brandon in the bathroom too see it.

Jeff: Are these the types of videos he does all the time

Y/N: honestly, it happens way too often. He’d do anything for content.

Jonah pulls down his pants and all of us just bust out laughing. At this point your just wheezing and trying to calm down at what you just saw. All of you walk out of the bathroom and Jeff smiles at you and says “you have a cute laugh.” You just wanted to combust in that moment and all you could respond with was a smile. You keeping your distance from Jeff the rest of the time you’re there cause you were nervous and didn’t want to embarrass yourself by saying something stupid. You have social anxiety so it’s a little hard for you to meet new people but once they get to know you, you’re an open book. After that you had to leave to film your own video. You said goodbye to everyone, including Jeff. Y/n: It was nice meeting you. Hopefully you’ll stick around w/ us. He smiles and says “ I hope so too.” After you left, he asked Todd about you.

Jeff: “Hey, what was up with Y/n”

Todd: what do you mean

Jeff: I feel like she was avoiding me or somethin

Todd: Oh no. Don’t take offense to that. She’s really shy when she meets new people. She’ll warm up to you.

*2ish months after meeting Jeff*

As time went on, Jeff started to hang out more and more w/ the vlog squad and you two started to get to know each other. You learned that he was born and raised in Staten Island, he lived in Miami, got arrested for doing dumb shit and eventually turned his whole life around and moved to LA a couple of years ago. He was surprised to find out that you were born in New York City too; but you were born in Brooklyn.

Jeff: I had a bunch of friends that lived in Brooklyn. We might have seen each other around or something.

Y/n: Haha maybe but my family and I moved away when I was 11 tho. We moved to Seattle cause my parents really struggled to make ends meet in the city. They loved it but had to leave. It’s hard living there, raising 3 kids.

Jeff: Yeah I feel ya. My parents struggled too in Staten Island but they made it work.

Both of you talked the whole night until you both of you guys fell asleep on David’s couch. You forgot where you were when you realized you were still at David’s house. You tried to move but Jeff had his arm around your waist. You smiled at the fact that you two were getting so close. This started to happen a lot. You guys started to have movie nights together and would end up cuddling on the couch or one of y’alls beds.

*Your first kiss/ first time w/ Jeff*

It was New Years Eve. You spent the night partying at David’s house. You and Jeff have basically become best friends in the 2-3 months you’ve known each other. You were hoping that this would finally be the night you kiss him. As everybody started to countdown the final minutes while watching the ball drop on tv, your heart starts to beat like crazy. You’re right by Jeff and he has his arm around you. Both of you look watch the tv and it’s the final ten seconds. Everyone is yelling TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE… You started to have your doubts that you to would kiss and it’s like everything happened in slow motion. As it counted down the final 4 seconds, Jeff caught you off guard and pulled you in for a kiss. It felt like fireworks were going off when you kissed him. You guys pulled away but this wave of confidence came over you and pulled him in for another kiss but it was more sensual/ needy. Both of you saw the lust in your eyes and you wanted to take him right there but he started to pull you out of David’s house to head to his car. He pushed you against his car and started to ravish you. You grabbed his face and moved his lips from your neck to connect with yours. He bit down on your lip, as you moaned and parted your lips, allowing his tongue to enter. You lightly pushed him away and you guys get into the car, acting like horny teenagers. “Baby if i weren’t driving like a maniac right now, I’d fuck you right in the back seat.” You notice Jeff’s giant bulge and decide to help him out. You start to feel his throbbing member through his pants and Jeff let’s out a moan. You unzip his pants and see his cock spring up. You were excited but also intimidated at how big he was. You unbuckle your seatbelt and move closer to Jeff; the pre-cum oozing at the head. You then stroke his cock for a bit and then you started to give him a blowjob. You tease him by licking the head and Jeff swerves a bit. “Doll, are you trying to kill both of us. Jesus, This is the longest 15 minute drive to my place ever.” Jeff stops at a red light and that’s when you went all in. You hollow your cheeks so you can suck off as much as you can. His cock hit the back out your throat; you started to deepthroat Jeff while he’s still driving. Jeff hearing you choke of his cock is the music to his ears. You guys are about five minutes away and your contemplating whether to suck him until he cums in you mouth or wait until he cums inside you when you get to his place (wrap it before you tap it). You massaged his balls and continue to deepthroat him right before he was about to cum, you guys arrived at his place. You continue to deepthroat him. “Oh shit doll I’m gonna-” He reached his climax and came into your mouth. You look up to see the beads of sweat on his head. He almost cums again just by watching you swallow his cum. He pulls you in for another kiss and you look down to see that his cock is still rock hard. “Someone is still in the mood” you say while smirking. “Babe, you won’t be able to walk in the morning.” Both of you practically run into his building and you can’t keep your hands off each other. He almost takes off your dress in the elevator to take you right there. As he got his door open, all he says is “jump” and the rest of the night felt like a fever dream. And boy he was right on me not being able to walk.

*Current day*

You and Jeff act more and more coupley but he doesn’t want anything serious for right now because he had gotten out of a 3-4 years relationship 6 months before you met. At the moment, you don’t know where you and Jeff stand. You guys fuck multiple times a week and then he leaves your place without explanation. Y/n doesn’t want to say anything because she doesn’t want this to stop. She has such strong feelings for Jeff but is too scared to tell him how she feels. Over the past couple of weeks, you’ve noticed that Jeff has become kind of distant from you. You see in the comments, of several videos that Jeff and Natalie have become a thing. He’s talked about her multiple times on Scott’s podcast, fans make edits, made a joke about having kids with her at coachella and he was being flirty with her at vidcon by asking her who she was dating in front of hundreds of fans on stage during the vlog squad Q&A. You see Jeff’s insta story of Natalie with that pink filter with the romantic music. And to top it all off, the last time you guys went to Vernon Hills to visit David’s family, you were in the car with David, Jason, Ilya, Dom and Jeff is following behind. Dom sees a girl from a far and says “Damn look at that fucking ass.” Everyone is laughing cause they realize it was Natalie and David tattle tales on Dom to Natalie. You hear Jeff say “why do you think I pulled over?” But you still decide to ignore it the fact that he’s crushing on Natalie. You get back to LA and Jeff spends the night at your place. The movie nights don’t happen anymore, so has the cuddling. You both basically fuck until you both orgasm then he leaves right after. “You know you can spend the night if you want” Jeff responds with “Why would I do that?” Damn. That hurt. You play it cool and start to cry yourself to sleep right as he leaves your apartment.  

A week passes by and you hear no word from Jeff at all. David texts you to come over so you can film. You enter the house and see that the guys are in the backyard. You were getting closer and you hear Zane ask “whatever happened to you and y/n? I thought y’all were a thing.” Jeff scoffs and says “ugh could never date y/n, she reminds me too much of my ex.” At this point your ears are fuming. “Just because I’m short and Latina like his ex he doesn’t to be with me?” You grab a bottle of tequila that was in David’s cabinet and walk into the backyard and spill it all over Jeff’s head and it was perfect timing because David was recording. “Y/n what the fuck” He grabbed you by the arm and you slap him in the face hard enough to leave a red mark. “Do I still remind you of your ex?” you smile as you walk away. That was the most ballsy thing you’ve done since you kissed him on New Years.

*A month later*

Your life without Jeff has been great. After that night, you blocked his number and all social media accounts. The last you heard was that Jeff asked out Natalie; you don’t hate Natalie, she’s a great person! You still hang out with the vlog squad but you act as if nothing happened. You just started your senior year at USC and can’t wait to graduate next spring. Everything has been a real life changer for you. You were eating healthier, you started going to the gym and you realized how dependent you were on Jeff to make you happy. Just as you thought everything was perfect, it started to go downhill.

Y/n woke up not feeling great. She felt very light headed and very bloated. Y/n assumed she started her period. She checked to see but there was nothing there; then realizes she hasn’t gotten her period in a while but doesn’t think anything of it because she’s never had a regular period. You head out to go jogging on a trail, one that you know Jeff doesn’t go on. It’s normal to feel out of breath but you felt like you were going to pass out. Deciding that you worked yourself too hard, you walk the rest of the way. The last thing you remember was trying walk up the trail. Y/n wakes up in a hospital room extremely confused. The nurse walks in hearing you ask what the hell happened. “Good afternoon Ms. L/n, you fainted on a hiking trail. You were just dehydrated. You should really be drinking more under your condition.” Y/n looked at her dumbfounded “my condition??” The nurse catches on and knows something you don’t. You see her walk outside and speak to the doctor. You try to depict what she’s saying but can’t hear a thing. “Hello Ms. L/N, how are you feeling?” You ignore the question and cut straight to the point “She said I had a condition, what is it.” The nurse and the doctor looked back at each other and looks back at you. “Well, it has come to our attention that you probably had no knowledge of this but we ran some blood tests and…..” “AND WHAT”...... “It has come to our attention that you are 9 weeks pregnant” Out of nowhere, you just start laughing cause you think this is a joke. “You’ve got to be kidding me” “Mam, I can assure you that we’re not.” “Is it too early to ask for an ultrasound?” “We’d thought you’d ask,” They bring the machine from outside and put the cold jelly on your stomach. It takes a minute to find it. In the back of your mind, you’re praying that you’re not pregnant. You’re only 21. This was the time to party, hang out with friends, live your life, graduate college….. Oh shit. College. It’s your SENIOR YEAR. You prayed HARD that you weren’t pregnant and the boom, you see a blob on the screen……. The nurse turns on the doppler to see if you can hear the heartbeat. You then hear “bum bum bum bum.” You already knew who’s it was, you have no idea how you were going to tell him, or if you’re going to tell him.

Is y/n gonna keep it? Is she going to tell Jeff? What the hell is she going to tell her family if she does keep it? Who knows…… 

Side note: I’m sorry if this is bad! It’s my first time writing fanfiction and I give huge props to people who do this on a daily cause this mess is hard. Oh and I was there at vidcon when Jeff asked who’s Natalie dating.