#this took forever and still is a bit meh but you get the point

[stocious]

how to spot stolen/uncredited gifs + how to work the search function

there's been a lot of talk about not stealing gifs and not supporting people who do, but it might not be easy to spot shady posts for everyone. so i made this little guide with things i personally look out for. at the end there's also a guide on how to work the search function. i hope this will help out there on the wild tumblrmachine!

the gif has a watermark that doesn't match the poster and there's no "gif by @[username]" under the gif. please note that a lot of people don't watermark their gifs at all, but this is one of the biggest give aways to a gif being stolen and reuploaded.

the gif doesn't stretch across the entire post. very seldom does a gif maker go through the entire process of making a gif and not making it cover the entire post space. in the example below, the gif was most likely a part of a set, as a second gif would fit perfectly right next to the one posted.

"theme posts" with gifs of different sizes and/or quality. in the examples below, "mickey smiling" has gifs of different sizes and no "gif by" credit under either of them. "theme posts" can still be made with proper credit to the gif maker, like "road trip" to the right.

new posters and no "my gifs" tag. if you're unsure if the gif is stolen or not, click the top of the post and go the blog and look at the tags attached to the post. if someone made the gif themselves, there's usually a "my gifs" or a similiar tag under the post. this might be a good thing to do if someone is new to the space has started posting gifs. this is not 100% foolproof method, but it can help you give an idea if the gif is stolen or not.

so how do i work the search function? how do i get the gifs i want?

good question! in the example of "mickey smiling", try searching for just that - "mickey milkovich smile" and you should get some good results. in the case of grabbing a specific gif from a specific post, i'll try to make a guide down below. if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

first, find a post you want to use a gif from. we're gonna use this set from @heymacy.

open the post you wanna use and copy the url to it. then make a new post and hit the gif search button. paste the url and it should find you the first gif of the set. click the gif and tumblr brings you back to your post with the gif and the "gif by heymacy" at the bottom.

but say you want the last image in the set. we're gonna use a tiny bit of html but don't fret.

first, do the previous step i just explained above.

click the cog wheel at the top right corner, scroll down and choose "text editor - html". go back to your post and it should be a whole bunch of text instead of an image.

search the text for "img scr" and then delete everything between the two quotation marks following that, it starts with https and ends with gifv.

go back to the post with the gif set and right click the gif you want (in this case the last one of the set), and choose "copy image link" and paste it between the quotation marks where you deleted stuff before. make sure not to delete any quotation marks and that your new link placed between them!

please note: you might get an error message from tumblr that the post contains unsupported html, just ignore that.

then click the cog wheel again, and change the editor back to "rich text". you're new image should be there, with proper credit!

bam, you're done! i'm also including a video below of me doing these steps so you can follow along. sorry my os is in swedish, but the thing i right click on is just "copy image link" as stated above.

here's a more in depth guide to this method, but it can be a little confusing if you're not used to working in html.

as you add more images and text to your post, the amount of text after you change to the html editor will increase. it might be hard to find the exact gif you want to change, but play around with it and try it out. the more you use the method, it'll be easier to work with.

thank you for coming to my ted talk, i hope this helps! 🫂

[stereor4t]

lesbian movies I've seen so far (review based on my tastes)

I'm going to give my opinion of the lesbian movies I've seen so far and I'm going to give them a score from 1 to 5 stars :3 it may contain some spoilers

Bound(1996)

For the year this movie was made, I was actually surprised by the END of it(fuck the obsession with killing the protagonist). I didn’t really have much faith in it by how it stars, but man, I was so surprised, I loved it, be gay do crime. ★★★★☆

Gia(1998)

God, this movie is my new roman empire, I didn’t know about Gia’s story, but the ending of the movie DESTROYED ME. the scene where shes talking with Linda and she says: now we have all the time in the world, I was so moved by it, I loved it. It’s currently one of my favorite movies.★★★★★

Lost and delirious(2001)

ugh shakespearean shit, this movie touches more than one of us when it comes to the experience of liking girls. I liked it but I felt like there was a lot of wasted potential that could’ve made it great, tbh i just wanted Paulie to be happy; the fact the Piper Perabo is in it helps the score too. ★★★☆☆

D.E.B.S.(2004)

ITS THE BEST FUCKING MOVIE IN THE WORLD, GOD. I actually hated this movie before watching it ‘cause I thought it was some dumb comedy, but god, when I gave it a chance it BLEW ME AWAY. If you want to see some lesbian spies enemies to lovers shit watch debs.  ★★★★★

My summer of love(2004)

Personally, I HATED this movie kjj, I didn’t really get ANYTHING at all, like it felt like everything was just too rushed??? like when did they even fall in love lol? Gets points just for Emily Blunt. ★★☆☆☆

Imagine me & you(2005)

Piper Perabo again and Lena Heady THE WOMAN. This movie is ART, my fav movie, it’s beautiful, comfort movie af. The true don’t let your husband keep you from meeting your future wife. ★★★★★

Loving Annabelle(2006)

This movie was made for all of us who once liked a teacher or profesor. I liked it quite a lot, but I feel like seize it’s true potential. Personally, I choose to think that the alternative ending it’s the true one lol. ★★★☆☆

Bloomington(2010)

Again for us that like fantasizing about our teachers. I like this movie but again, I feel like they didn’t really make the most of it jskdja annoying af bitching about the same but yeah, it bothered me. Anyway, i liked the movie, and I didn’t like the ending at all,I felt bad for the poor teacher :c. ★★★☆☆

A perfect ending(2012)

I know a lot of people hate this movie and think it’s shit, but I personally love it lol. Idk I remember that when I watched it it got me super emotional and i liked it a lot, dont care what anyone says to me it’s a good movie. ★★★☆☆

The girl king(2015)

★☆☆☆☆

Didn’t like it at all, boring af, i didn’t really get it, idk, i was expecting more. ★☆☆☆☆

First girl i loved(2016)

Im fond of this movie, it was one of the first ones I saw, the ending just made a me a bit frustrated, but I liked it, Brianna Hildebrand with a wig funny as hell. ★★★☆☆

Disobedience(2017)

Rachel Weisz and McAdams DAMN. Great movie, I liked it in all aspects. Although the ending wasn’t what I expected I still liked it. ★★★★★

Tell it to the bees(2018)

Mmm I think this movie is kinda meh, like it’s okay but I feel like it lacks something for me to like it, tho I didn’t get the ending, like I don’t understand the decisions each one took. ★★☆☆☆

Ammonite(2020)

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan!!!! I liked it but I didn’t love it, I never got to understand if Mary hated or loved Charlotte. The ending got me frustrated!!! ★★★☆☆

Crush(2022)

The kind of movie you gotta watch after Gia, I liked it I thought it was silly, like very much teenage romcom sort of shit, like the Kissing Booth but for lesbians. ★★★☆☆

You can live forever(2022)

I think this is a great movie, interesting story, I wasn’t expecting the whole ending sequence, what Marike says to Jamie destroyed me, in my head theyre the young version of the Disobedience ones. ★★★★★

Booksmart(2019)

GREAT MOVIE, very entertaining and funny, I liked it quite a lot, it’s perfect to watch it with friends. Gigi is just like me fr best character ever. ★★★★★

[gunsatthaphan]

the asks are piling up already lol so here are some initial thoughts on the trailers from today (in order of release, BL/GLs are marked with a 🏳️‍🌈, favorites with a 🌟):

Ossan's Love Thailand 🏳️‍🌈🌟: HELP this looks so chaotic lmao. I forgot about the show for a second and thought we were in for another EarthMix office romance kjdhgd. But yeah I have a very soft spot for Earth in chaotic slapstick roles and Mix fits in there just perfect as well. I have not seen the original and was concerned as a lot of people said it's not very good but I had a very good time with this trailer and I'm excited!!! .

Leap Day 🌟: I've been curious about this project ever since that casting call for younger versions of Dew and Pond lol and the trailer did not disappoint! The story seems interesting and I know Gun will eat in this role lol. It's going on my watchlist. .

The Heart Killers 🏳️‍🌈: **edit: not gonna lie, initially I was very disappointed by this. I was excited for the Jojo show but this seemed very random to me. I couldn't follow the story and the trailer just seemed like FK and JD were given a few guns and thrown into a dark setting which just seems like a clash of NLMG and OF. If JD weren't there, I would think this is a SandRay spinoff lol. I now know about the Shakespeare adaption which does change the way I view it a little bit but I still have concerns because I still have no idea what's going on lmao. I was hoping for something simpler and calmer for FK's new project so I really hope the show will be better than the trailer. .

Friendshit Forever: Legit thought this was a GL for the first 30 seconds of the trailer lmao but turns out it's another Beauty Newbie type of toxic friendship lol. I love the vibe though!!! the cast is amazing, Pat never fails to deliver and my girl Mook is back as well!! 🥺 I'm very much into the energy and the chemistries are on point as well. Sign me up!! .

Perfect10 Liners 🏳️‍🌈: If I took my glasses off I would think this is We Are season 2 lmao like do we really need another gay ensemble. And there's SO many others as well??? There were like 30 people on that stage lmao. New really said who doesn't have a job this year? done. I don't know what else to say, it looks very generic. I didn't expect PerthChimon to be part of an ensemble for their second bl and I sure did not expect ForceBook to get their 5th gig lmao. Good for them though. I'm still gonna take a look. .

Us 🏳️‍🌈🌟: YES I LOVE THIS 😩😭 I was hoping we would get another GL and I loooove the energy of this. It's giving all the COA vibes and I'm SO glad it's not another highschool romcom. 23.5 is nice but I'm so happy this is taking it one step further. I'm here for it. Emi was born for sapphic roles you can't change my mind lmao and her chemistry with Bonnie is on point. Simple story, big emotions and a strong cast - This is right up my alley. It's going on my list for sure. .

Hide & Sis: The title still cracks me up lmao but YES this is everything lol. The PLL/PSIHY vibes are STRONG and I love it. Snap25 never fails to deliver us badass girl gangs and I'm here for it. The toxic family trope is generic for these types of shows but if it's done right it works. And I think this will. Sign me up! .

Heart That Skips a Beat 🏳️‍🌈🌟: god don't even touch me this looks so lovely 🥹 I'm always down for a good idol x mundane romance lol and EstWilliam are a good pair for sure. It was kind of obvious that they would get something together but I'm still very excited. I didn't expect the whole LYKN group to be in it but I feel like this plot fits them very well. Plus the trailer is absolutely beautiful. Thumbs up!! .

Break Up Service: This looks meh to me, I'm surprised to see Jorin lol I didn't know she was acting. The story seems fun but the trailer did not catch my attention. It's a maybe for now. .

Revamp 🏳️‍🌈: Honestly I did not expect them to give us another trailer for this lol I was set on a different project for BounPrem. But yes this looks very expensive lmao and I'm hyped we're getting another vampire show this year. I also approve of the other cast members, especially Kay since I haven't seen him in forever lol and also Santa!! I will be tuning in! .

Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist 🏳️‍🌈🌟: *starts vibrating violently* YES I FEEL NORMAL ABOUT THIS kjshdf call me crazy but this is my highlight of this lineup lmao. I got deeply attached to MarkOhm over the last few months and this is all I could ever ask for lmao. Ohm is my little squish and my boy Mark finally got his main role 😩 I'm so proud. The plot is not the most sophisticated lol but I am SEATED. GIMME. .

Dark Dice: This did not intrigue me whatsoever. Pass. .

The Ex-Morning 🏳️‍🌈: Anyone who spent any time on the internet in the last few months knew this was bound to happen lmao. I feel torn about it, K. is not off the hook but KS were my very first bl on-screen couple and I'm feeling very nostalgic about this comeback lol. I'm fond of the trend to bring back OG couples and I'm not gonna lie, yes, it looks good. The story is interesting and the fact that they play exes,,,, art imitates life lol. I think this genre suits them and hey, maybe this will become the second Cherry Magic. Let's see how it goes. .

Scarlet Heart Thailand: The trailer gave us next to no information, I'm guessing that if you saw the original you might have a better idea of what's going on but other than pretty costumes, this didn't give me much ground to make a judgement on lol. Let's see.

conclusion: All in all this lineup seems a lot more colorful than part 1 which is very exciting!! It had the typical light-to-dark structure that the first part (and all the previous ones) had as well but it's still more diverse than I was expecting. There are some disappointments and concerns but compared to part 1, this has a lot more promising projects that I will be tuning in for - Even the lakorns. I spent a lot of time on Twitter leading up to the event, so almost everything I put on my bingo card became reality lol. I noticed some changes in the production of the trailers where it seems that they are more carefully made and edited and I found myself connecting emotionally with them a lot more than in part 1. Overall I'm very happy with this lineup and I will be putting all of these shows on my watchlist with the exception of 1 or 2, which is something I couldn't say about part 1. Thumbs up!! 🧡

Let me know your thoughts!

[sarah-yyy]

Sarah jie jie, In Blossom rec or no?

this is a real tough question to answer hooooo boy where do i start??

i mean, for starters, the premise of the show is actually really fun, and i like it a lot so far!! let's talk a little about this:

(spoilers for the first 2 eps in its entirety which covers the background/setup of the story)

this is yang caiwei. her dad was a minister who was framed for one thing or another, demoted, and subsequently murdered. she was disfigured in the process, and ended up in the city of heyang where she grew up to be a corpse bearer training under a coroner.

yang caiwei has been betrothed since she was a little girl to:

pan yue. this boy is the son of a concubine so his relationship with his dad is very meh. when yang caiwei's family got into trouble, pan yue's dad quickly cut off all ties with them. this led to yang caiwei being turned away at the door p harshly when she came to pan yue for help. pan yue himself though has loved her since he was a boy, and has been looking for her for 10 years!!

ANYWAY these two find each other. he wants to marry her. ofc he does!! she's his 白月光, and he wants to love and protect her!! he's disowned his family so that he can do this, he is ALL IN BABY. he's only found her again for all of 10 minutes and he's already planning their wedding in his head lbr.

she is calm and composed and v sensible because of the way she had to grow up. this whole thing seems too good to be true, and also she might be harbouring some ~feelings over the way he just cut her out of his life when she needed him the most. the yang caiwei she is now just wants to live her life as normal.

the chemistry is 😘 at this point, and i am so invested in their relationship. at this stage, i was still thinking she was the second female lead and was like. huh. this is going to be one of those shows where i'd ship these two more than the official couple i guess??

anyway enter:

shangguan zhi. sister of pan yue's best friend, who is obsessed with pan yue, putting it mildly. she also has this ~thing about her own physical appearance - essentially, she thinks she needs to look and act perfect to be worthy of pan yue's love. this involves a lot of witch doctors and v unhealthy dieting and scrolls on how to smile the perfect way and walk the perfect way. y'all get the gist.

shangguan zhi hears that pan yue is getting married (to someone ugly at that!!!) and loses her shit. she decides the way around this so she can be with her yue-gege forever is-

(you guessed it!!)

-body-swapping with yang caiwei, and pushing yang caiwei (and also the shaman who actually helped her with the swap) off a cliff so that nobody ever finds out.

to her credit, it actually works!! she swaps bodies with yang caiwei, and marries pan yue.

what she didn't account for was being murdered on her wedding day.

ANYWAY. the actual yang caiwei, now in shangguan zhi's body (😭), survives the fall from the cliff, rushes to the wedding with the intent on stopping the wedding and getting her goddamn body back, and reaches just in time to kinda sorta witness shangguan zhi's murder.

cue her thinking that it was pan yue who killed shangguan zhi (she knew the whole wedding thing was too good to be true) and pan yue thinking that shangguan zhi had something to do with yang caiwei's death (after all, she was obsessed with him and had a whole fit over him wanting to marry someone else).

everything about this premise was *chef's kiss*. give me a bucket of popcorn and some comfy pillows, i can watch this all day.

EXCEPT.

except my dudes shangguan zhi (and subsequently yang caiwei-in-shangguan-zhi's body, let's call her shangguan caiwei for now) is played by ju jingyi. 😞 zhhz played yang caiwei TOO WELL my friends, so that when jjy took over, shangguan caiwei felt like a whole different character. it's a bit difficult to reconcile yang caiwei and shangguan caiwei tbh, which made watching the third ep onwards a bit jarring, especially after zhhz set the character up so well.

it's not like......fatal to the show. i mean. i went in expecting nothing from jjy (rightfully i think 😑) and i wouldn't say i am disappointed by it just because i was prepared to be ehhhh about her going in. i'm still watching the show mainly because i like the plot and also, and this is a big factor that i truly cannot stress enough:

liu xueyi looks so good in this show hoooooo boy

look at this!!! is this a face i would suffer 30+ episodes of jjy for??? apparently it is!!

tl;dr: love lxy + like the plot + dislike jjy = still watching and will likely finish the show. is it a rec?? conservatively, i'd say soft yes??? i mean. a huge part of me watching this show is because i'm entertained by the shenanigans, 😍 over lxy, and daydreaming about an alternate universe of the show where we have zhhz instead of jjy as the female lead. it's not something to watch seriously though!!

[breadraptor]

what i ate in toronto last week

felt like food blogging hehe

Day One

The first thing I got was a tea and donut bites from a new donut stand in the Portland airport. Yum! Then I remembered I had a long day of traveling ahead of me and went back to the Tillamook store for some real sustenance. Honestly I thought a chive biscuit egg sausage cheese sandwich would be a slam dunk but it wasn't that good.

Donuts: 8/10 (had them over the course of 3 days)

Sandwich: 5/10

Even on long flights, Air Canada only offers paid options. I got this BBQ chicken wrap for $11 CAD or something. Tortilla to filling ratio was bad but it did the job. 4.5/10

I got into the hotel late at night and just decided it wasn't worth the effort to get more food, so thats all for day one lol

Day 2

Met with Suyasha and had Cafe Landwer! Was starving and it took forever for the food to come out. This is the Mediterranean shakshuka. Bread was so fluffy. The presentation is gorg but i wasn't obsessed with the tomato-y sauce I guess. 7/10

In the afternoon I got a matcha at the library cafe where we worked (it was average, so I guess 7/10 because me love matcha). Later, I went to Fuwa Fuwa Pancakes for pre-dinner dessert. I'm glad I went when I did, because they cook everything fresh, and the wait was long even when I was the only customer. So fresh, fluffy, and refreshing - not too sweet. Yum! 9/10

After that, some folks told me they were getting dinner, so I said I'd join assuming I'd get an appetizer. Well, they decided on all you can eat hotpot, so that was unfortunate lol. We had a good time, food was good but not really noteworthy. I tried a mussel, gross! Also ate a pepper wrapped in beef that had been soaking in the spicy side for too long. That shit HURTED. 5/10

Day 3

I needed something fast to keep me going before the wedding - sadly the only thing I could walk to in time was McDonalds. The tzatziki seasoning was bad and basically ruined my fries. Chicken wrap was just whatever. 3/10

Unpictured: Shirley's wedding food! I forgot to take a pic sadly. I had chicken, kimchi mac and cheese, and other things I don't exactly remember, but it was all yummy! Plus the signature cocktails were really great. 8/10

Day 4

Niagara falls tour with Alyssa, Hwee, Jen, and Alex(?)! we shared between 4 people. It was steaming hot and yummy. I love cheese curdsss. 7.5/10

While the group went to go on the boat, I got a prosciutto goat cheese salad and a cocktail at the Queen Alexandra. Cocktail was a bit watery and salad was 90% arugula with not enough dressing - but the point was I could see the falls from my seat and they had ceiling fans (IT WAS SO HOT) 6.5/10

When we got back from the tour finally (took 3 hours to get back in traffic), we got Mr. Tonkatsu! The katsu was really flaky and good. 8/10

We also went and got asian shaved ice after this - one with red bean paste and one with almond and soybean. i wasnt really into these so i only had a few bites.. i miss hawaiian shaved ice fr. oh yeah i got some baked walnut balls here too, they were ok, would be better if they were warm. 3.5/10

Day 5

gochujang mushroom tofu banh mi at rustle & still cafe.. OH MY GOD. spicy, creamy, a lil crunch from the pickled carrots and peanuts. i might try to replicate it, it was everything. 10/10

chicken biryani from rikki tikki, with Alyssa, Shendy, and Matt. another HUGE W meal... spicy, scrumptious, perfect. the rice had pomegranate seeds in it which was such a nice little sweet crunch. it came with yogurt sauce which i adored with the spicy meal. im drooling thinking about it. 10/10 my only complaint is that i like more pillow-y naan

Day 6

Lunch was leftover Rikki Tikki!

Forgot to take a pic before it was gone, but I had a chai latte at the cafe we worked at today. It was meh, 4/10. at least the cafe had ok wifi and good a/c lol

After work, I started wandering around and went to a matcha cafe called Tsujiri. All the stuff on the menu looked amazing but I got a peach yogurt matcha frappe. It was so freaking good and those big slices of peach on top were yummy too. 9/10

While walkin' I had to stop at this Vietnamese cafe because the cake looked so yum. And it was! Fresh mango with layers of shortcake, mango pudding, and cream. i just wish it was a little smaller so I hadn't felt so bloated from eating it lol (it had to stay cold and it was a hot day so... I had to just eat it) 8.5/10

For dinner we went to a Jamaican/Chinese fusion place called Patois with Shirley, Jeremiah, Alyssa, guy who I forgot name, and his old WoW guild leader or something haha. We got a "feast for two" to share with the table, plus pork belly yakitori, becuase some of us weren't hungry. I didn't eat much but my fave was the yakitori. The rest was just ok. 5.5/10

Day 7

For my last day Suyasha and I went to Tibetan Cafe and went shopping afterwards. The reviews for this place were so high, but we were both underwhelmed by these "momos" (chicken dumplings). The dipping sauce was tomato-y but overall it was a bit bland. Suyasha is Nepalese and she said this was low-end by her standard lol. I'll try Tibetan food another time. 6/10

This was the first canned diet coke I had all week and man, how sweet it tastes - new jeans

At the airport I shared a snack of poutine and a maple moscow mule with Shirley :3 This poutine wasn't as good as the one I had before. Moscow mule was nice, the maple flavor was mild. 5.5/10

And yes, to give me the energy to travel until 3am EST, I got another BBQ chicken wrap on the plane. So nice I had it twice. Jk, it was not that nice, but actually this time it had a better filling to tortilla ratio lol. 5/10

[storymaker14]

Author's Notes, Parts One and Two (and Three)

If you haven't read the story before the author's notes... what are you doing?!? Go back and read the thing first!

Author’s Notes, 15 April 2023:

    That… is so much better. Even if it’s still meh, it’s so much better than my first try. Ugh.

    I originally wrote it just with Saavik mourning Spock on her own. And it was shit. Like, really, it was absolute fecal matter. Now that it’s rewritten literally six months later, and it’s at a point where I’ll (as of writing these notes) read it over again one more time in the morning, correct anything glaring and sand down anything in need of smoothening, and then most likely actually post it, I feel much much better.

    So let’s talk about the elephant in the room. On-screen canon absolutely does show the young reborn Spock facing pon farr on the Genesis Planet, and Saavik being super affectionate for a Vulcan once this becomes clear. It shows Young!Spock absolutely not showing signs of blood fever (aka plak tow) in the following hours or days, which indicates that his pon farr, um, urges, were, um, satisfied. And it also shows Saavik not really being able to face Spock when he’s fully restored to himself afterwards, instead finding the floor very fascinating. And at the beginning of the next movie, Saavik is staying on Vulcan for… reasons. Reasons unstated on-screen. Reasons very clearly stated in previous drafts of the script, but cut later. And yes, those reasons. And we never see Saavik again. Her actress came back on TNG (and Babylon 5!), and Valeris from the sixth movie was originally supposed to be her, but in the end no more Saavik. Fast forward to TNG, and Captain Picard mentions, when they're bringing Sarek aboard, that he'd met him before, at the wedding of his son. Given Sybok was dead by the time Picard was born, unless we're going to find YET ANOTHER surprise Sarek child... that's Spock, canonically having married.

    And then we have the fact that, for a little while, the books (RIP, forever too soon) did have Spock and Saavik getting married, and still being married in the late 2370s. Unfortunately, this ended up being ignored, and I do think eventually contradicted, but come on. Vulcan’s Heart was a really good book, and when a certain other Vulcan needed to prove who he was in the first Titan novel and did so by sending Spock regards from his wife? Nice.

    And then we include the Romulan supernova, which in the books where the Spock/Saavik marriage was a thing briefly… never came up.

    So, this isn’t canon on screen, and it doesn’t particularly correspond to the Destiny / First Splinter book timeline either. It’s kinda my own sandbox, but only in the sense that I took sand from, like, two or three different boxes and sifted it all together. At least that first part is.

    As for the message from Spock... remember how I said the first version was shit? Let me amend that: I copied what I wrote for that message the first time, added one sentence and a half of another (obviously), and otherwise left it as is. That part, I liked from the first pass.

    The bits from New Vulcan? Yup, that’s the Kelvinverse from the JJ Abrams films. Totally surprised me on the first pass when I realized hey, that would be a fun thing to add. Took a sledgehammer to the first draft of that, too, but not quite as extensively. Basically the first part, I made longer and better, and the second part, I made shorter and better. And kept the middle as is. (Also, does that make it four sandboxes?)

    (Oh, I almost forgot: Trek movies II, III, and IV are about the only places where the fact that Saavik is half-Vulcan, half-Romulan doesn’t come up. So while it’s technically not canon… it’s close enough. Plus it explains why she cussed toward the beginning of II, and openly cried at Spock’s funeral at the end.)

    Also, the first version existed when Kirstie Alley died in December 2022, and I probably should have rewritten it then, but I’ve never been good at forcing my muse to arrive. Besides, Ms Alley was great but Robin Curtis is my Saavik. (Oh, shoot, I made a reference in the first draft that implied Saavik looked like Curtis, not Alley. I’ll see if I can drop it in, but if I can’t, I shan’t be upset. [Note from last re-read before posting: I didn't. Oh well.])

    In case you hadn’t noticed, I write in stream of consciousness sometimes.

    Thanks to the late Leonard Nimoy and to Zachary Quinto, for portraying the versions of Spock that show up. Thanks to Ethan Peck, whose Spock doesn’t show up but is awesome anyway. Thanks to the late Kirstie Alley and to Robin Curtis, for being Saavik. Thanks to the late Ben Cross (whole lotta late on this one, boo) and the even later Mark Lenard, for the Sarek who shows up and for Sarek in general. Thanks as always to Memory Alpha and Memory Beta. Two things about Beta that I want to point out here: one, it gave me the name T’Val, which yes is a reference to something, and ten thousand Trekkie points to anyone who knows without going to Memory Beta; two, Star Trek Beyond took place in 2263 and Memory Beta says Saavik was born in 2264, which I didn’t actually know until I went looking for her parents’ names but was just, *chef’s kiss*.

    LLAP, y’all.

Author's Notes, 11 December 2023:

This was originally posted on another site back in April, but since I tend to get a scosh more attention here than there, plus it's become my go-to place to put the stuff I write... well, here it is.

Sorry if anyone was excited to read something spicy or steamy, and ended up disappointed. What's interesting is that, judging from the dates on everything, this is the last piece of fiction I wrote before I started on The State of Our Union in earnest, because the earliest notes I can find on that were from about a week after I posted this initially.

Also, this is not the only Trek stuff I've written. Not even close. I might move that over here as well at some point. We shall see. (SPOILER: I did.)

Of course, now that Strange New Worlds has boldly gone in new directions, I kind of want to figure out a meeting between Chapel and Saavik... maybe with a little La'an as a nice bonus.

Author's Notes, 5 September 2024:

It took me nine months, and rewatching certain episodes of TNG, to notice two problems with this story. One was fixed by removing a handful of words and adding a handful of words; the other, I fixed by replacing one word.

And if you can't tell... Neither will I. 😁

[twoidiotwriters1]

Copycat: Genesis —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: @siriuslysirius1107​ THERE IS A CHAPTER BEFORE THIS ONE MAKE SURE YOU’VE SEEN IT -Danny

Words: 1,931

Phase Six Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘CVS’ -by Winnetka Bowling League

xxxi: Something Else

Parker was so delighted about eating in a fancy restaurant for the first time in years that eventually she got infected by it. He was being transparent with his fun, sharing his free time with her was all he wanted and he was clearly taking advantage of every little moment.

Most of the night was wasted just talking, which was weird, cause Cat wasn't that kind of talker and Parker was afraid of scaring her off by making an out-of-line joke again, but they still couldn't shut up.

Cat felt guilty for freaking out, she was always blurting out hurtful things whenever her friends opened doors she made a point to keep closed. It got her thinking, wasn't the whole point of her latest mission to open new paths?

"You know..." she began. "If you really plan on coming every month or so... at least do it during the weekends or holidays. Getting a doctorate ain't easy."

Parker stared at her in surprise, he blinked a couple of times before replying. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, right. I'll do that."

Cat waited, but when she realized he was too busy staring she pressed. "I don't have to worry, right? You won't cause trouble."

"Yeah, no," Parker chuckled. "Don't worry, Jane Doe. Just like when you were in my universe, I'll take care of it, you don't have to worry about it."

"I hope so," she sighed, pushing the food around on her plate. "If you're going to be risking the stability of time and space, at least do so in a wise way."

He laughed quietly. "You got it."

As they left the restaurant, Parker stepped closer to her out of instinct. He glanced down and noticed she was snuggling closer to him as well, locking her arm with his. "Aren't spring nights supposed to be less cold?" She complained though it was actually her anxiety making her shiver.

"Sometimes," he smiled down at her trembling figure. "If we walk fast we may get warmer."

"Let's get going, then!" she huffed. "I should've brought a sweater..."

Parker's eyes glanced down at her sundress, and he looked like he was very glad she had forgotten to. "Sorry for upsetting you before," he said. "I thought you'd laugh... but now that I think about it, I guess it triggered you."

Cat stared at him not getting what he was saying, he'd left unsaid essential parts of his message. He groaned in frustration, took a breath, and tried it one more time. "I don't dream about you dressed in white. That's just— that's absurd."

"I never talked about marriage with anyone, not seriously," she replied, finally understanding. "I used to joke about it with Pete, but I mean... we also said we'd live with MJ and Ned, and we'd have lots of dogs, so it wasn't like... real plans. Even if some part of me liked the idea."

"Oh?" He tilted his head. "Oh. I'm... so then..."

"I'll save you the trouble of rambling nonsense," Cat snorted. "People used to joke about our wedding when we were kids. I freaked out cause I thought you were telling your aunt some story like they used to—"

"Oh, crap, no," he put a bit of distance between them. "I'm not insane—"

"Meh," she shrugged. "I don't think you're reasonable, either..."

"Let's go back to your story," he replied with a frown, but also smirking.

"I don't really do those kinds of plans... sharing a life with someone and committing to some type of forever... I'm way too independent and impulsive for that. I can't make those promises anymore."

He nodded, thinking it through. "Yeah, even when I was dating Gwen it was hard to be sure of our future."

Cat frowned. "You were going to move out of the country with her."

"Your Peter was about to leave New York for college at some point, but that didn't happen, did it?" he raised a brow. "My point is, sometimes Gwen needed me and I wasn't there for her, sometimes I couldn't choose her."

"But she understood."

"Doesn't mean she liked it," his face fell a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "We made allowances because we were in love, but not everyone does that, and when you do, you don't want to do it all the time. It's hard to plan out a future when you don't know if you'll even survive til next week. It's scary."

Cat thought of Matthew, and how hard he'd tried to help her even when he was angry. She remembered cleaning his wounds and asking him to be careful, to not get in fights he couldn't handle alone. She remembered Kate and Peter being reckless, and how she'd valued their happiness over her own safety. None of them was obligated to take care of the other, but they did, and most times it hurt.

"I get it," she meditated. "I'm lucky to have landed with the right people, they're all so willing to stay even when I make things hard..."

Parker smiled. "From what I've heard, this world is full of people willing to risk their lives for you, that counts for something. I'm happy you're starting to understand what that means."

"Huh," she frowned, remembering Shuri's words, that people followed her to battle just because they liked her. "I remember telling Pietro and Wanda that I wasn't fond of humankind when we first met, but look at me now, MJ was right, I'm a bit of a Miss Congeniality."

Cat felt his knuckles brushing against hers and she almost reached out, but she quickened her pace instead. Parker caught up with her effortlessly. "Do you have cookies at home?"

She glanced at him in confusion. "I don't. Why?"

"Let's buy a couple on the way," he grabbed her hand and tugged her forward confidently. "Coffee and cookies are the best way to end a date."

It'd been a long time since Cat had wasted an entire day like that, she was so used to having something to do, so little time to spare, that she wasn't sure it was okay to be doing nothing at all. There were people to call, and plans to make... yet she genuinely enjoyed the little moments of the day. Parker's grip on her heart was firm and determined, and she didn't even know it.

Cat took their coffee and cookies to the fire escape and sat there with Parker on opposite sides of the little structure. She was telling him about Russo, and how easy it'd been when she decided not to kill him. It felt big, even if not much had changed afterward.

"You had a lot going during the two weeks we didn't see each other," Parker's thumb was circling the rim of his cup of coffee, thin vapor rose from it, warming his skin.

She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and Felix was sleeping beside her. He'd hissed at Parker, arching his back as he ran up to Cat to make sure the young man couldn't approach her, Parker didn't even bother to appease the creature, he just sat further away to not stress him out.

"My world moves fast, and I don't take breaks between things..." Cat sighed, absently scratching the cat's head. "I do, sometimes, but the longer it takes for things to happen, the bigger the problem, so I prefer it when there's no pause."

Parker frowned at her explanation, Cat spotted the change in his expression and chuckled, nudging his thigh with her foot. "It has its compensations, don't be sad..."

"Really?" He asked in a dubious voice.

"Well," she took in her surroundings. "Moments like today feel more special. Big problems make the little things in life better."

Parker's gaze softened, it was so easy to read his face, she liked talking to him. "You think so?"

"Let's take a picture before you go," she suggested abruptly. "Harley says he would hate not to have one of me as I was the last time he saw me, in case I die or..." Cat paused, realizing she was ruining the moment.

Parker picked up on her uncertainty and he replied. "Harley's right. What if next time I come you're not here? I don't have a single picture to remember you!"

A shy smile formed on her face. That was the old Parker she'd met two years ago, not the stranger constantly trying to catch her, but the boy who talked her ear off, made her laugh and didn't care if she agreed with him or not. He was much more attractive when he didn't try to fit into her narrative.

"We should call it a day..." Parker grabbed the plate of cookies that was between them, he also took his almost empty cup of coffee and tried to get up.

At the same time, Cat tried to reach for the plate, almost bumping heads. They froze at the sense of proximity, and Cat locked eyes with him. His big eyes reflected the moonlight, and she briefly glanced at his lips. She held tighter onto the cookie plate. "You can take the cups."

"It's fine, I'm sticky."

"You're sticky?" She asked bemusedly.

"I can hold numerous things and they don't slip," he wasn't meeting her eyes, his gaze glued to her hand. "Because of my spider abilities... that's something I do..."

"I prefer my plates with no cobwebs in them," she teased him.

He chuckled nervously, shaking his head a little. Parker shifted his weight from one foot to the other and as he did he ended up even closer to her. "They're not cobwebs, it's like— like a synthetic wire, but I don't need to web anything my fingers have these—"

"Peter."

"Yes?" He asked weakly.

She opened her mouth to speak, their faces were getting closer... and then...

"Mrreow!" Felix jumped onto her leg, bumping his little head against it. Parker gave a start, dropping a couple of cookies in the process.

"Felix!" To her surprise, her voice came out in a tone of annoyance. The cat stared at her with wide, innocent eyes as he continued to purr. Parker mumbled something about doing the dishes and slipped back into the apartment. Cat glared at her pet.

"You cockblocking traitor!" she whispered angrily. "I can't believe he is the one guy you decided to hate."

Felix huffed indignantly and jumped off her. Cat picked up her stuff and went inside, she closed the window behind her after Felix jumped in and curled on the couch. The dirty white feline went back to sleep right away. Parker was washing the dishes.

"Leave it, Bug, I'll do that tomorrow."

"No, it's fine, it's the least I can do after you paid for everything," he said, not even looking over his shoulder to respond. That frustrated her.

"It's okay," she said, walking closer to where he was.

"I'm almost done— No biggie."

She stood right behind him. "Look at me."

He tensed, taking a moment before obliging. Parker turned around and gave her that cute tight-lipped smile. Her heart pounded with anticipation. "I should go," he sentenced.

"Oh," she blinked. "Really?"

Parker seemed amused by her reaction. "I said I would leave, and I promised May I'd be back soon."

"Well, soon is not necessarily right away," she stepped closer, though she did not touch him yet. "You can stay... if you're tired."

Parker hesitated, a smile playing on his lips. "Cat, if I stay, we both know it won't be because I'm tired."

She tilted her face up, but only a little. "It's up to you... you wanted me to trust you, right?"

He bit his lower lip and frowned, staring at her as if pondering his options. "See the problem here is I don't want it to be about me, I need to know what you're thinking too."

"I'll give you a hint," she replied quietly, pulling him down for a kiss.

Next Chapter—>

Taglist.

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[chonidale]

how would you rank the characters in s7 i assume cheryl and toni take the top 2 spot but everyone else?

yes, they are top two, always.

cheryl: forever my fav, but i think what they've done with her this season is so, so good. the way they've used the 50s to show cheryl's growth is on par with how well they're using it show choni's. i do think the difference in her is also a result of her not having jason related trauma, but it's also obviously showing how much she's matured over the course of the show. i'm just so proud of her every week and pray they can keep it up for just nine more eps.

toni: her best season, bar none. they've finally figured out how to write her and write for her, and it's both so satisfying to finally see and frustrating that it took them this long to do it. but this is the toni i always knew she was, and seeing her perspective and struggles has been so nice. my single complaint is that she's missing so many episodes. anyone that has a bad word to say about her this season is dumb and nasty and has no empathy for black characters.

tabitha: no we haven't seen much of her but i love her so much and i miss her so much and i just can't rank anyone else higher than her, sorry.

reggie: we haven't seen much of him yet but i already love him so much. it's so interesting to see such a different version of him and think charles is doing a great job. best boy for sure.

archie: i do not find most of his plots interesting and he's been kinda meh in the last few eps, but i can't deny that i've found him really endearing for the first time in seasons. i do wish they would pull back on the straight savior stuff a bit, but still. i'm charmed most of the time.

kevin: it's been nice to see him get some meaty stuff to work with again, and to not be made a villain for once. i wish the writers would give his relationship with clay more onscreen development, but i'm glad kevin's journey has at least gotten some focus and has been taken seriously. i really hope they take the time to show that it helped him with his internalized homophobia in the present.

midge: listen is it unserious of me to put midge so high? yes, but i think she's cute and i love her dynamic with cheryl and toni and i appreciate her existence when it comes to fangs and i don't care which way they choose to bring her back to the present (there's a lot of ways i can think of), just that they do.

clay: i really like this guy and think he's sweet and a great match for kevin and a great fit on the show and in the gang. i wish we knew more about him and still think he should have been a topaz to give toni a family as well as kevin a love interest, but whatever.

veronica: i'm happy to see her with a bit of her spunk back, but i will just always struggle to find veronica or her stories interesting. i think she started the season off strong but now she's just fallen back into boring business and family related plots or mooning after boys with betty. meh. still, gets point for variety.

betty: i usually love betty, but find her kinda meh this season. i understand what they've been trying to do with her and i think lili is doing a good job, but it just feels so repetitive every episode, omg. we get it, betty is horny and wants to fuck the patriarchy both literally and metaphorically, can she come up with something else?

fangs: i don't mind him this season at all and i appreciate that he shaved and cut his hair so he doesn't look like the nasty man he was last season, but it's not like he's gotten anything to do for me to enjoy. but i don't hate him so good for him.

jughead: ranking him below fangs... look how they massacred my boy. i grew to love him at lot in the time jump, but i guess i'm just never going to like high school jughead because woof. the fact that i completely forgot about him until i almost hit publish says it all. completely isolated from the rest of the cast, with the most boring storylines on the show that's largely just him and guest stars... it's bad for him. not even tabitha could get me to pay attention to him.

julian: he does his job as a villain well and nick seems lovely, but obviously he's last. the one good thing i can say about him is that i'm glad they went with him over jason because i hate jason and think they've beaten that dead horse more than enough, and i'm actually intrigued by the dynamic between julian and cheryl.

[tarofel]

been in a very Kingdom Hearts mood recently so a small KH3 rant about random topics.

since it's the obvious ill just go over it, but the disney worlds have a lot of problems. several just have sora exist while the movie plays (tangled/frozen), others are just kinda bad (bighero6/monsters inc). i enjoyed olympus, toy story, and pirates most of all (they all have gameplay problems sadly), but all of the worlds mean nothing to the story in total.

there are also no original worlds you go around. twilight town is a... hub area? but not utilized barring one cutscene. it had more to it in KH2 than 3. yen sid's tower area was removed, nothing like traverse town or hollow bastion, not even like the world that never was (in this game you have a single hallway and then a gauntlet).

im not a big fan of the world design in this game. for me it's a step up from KH2 that was literally just hallways for most of it, but in a way KH3 feels like lengthy hallways of no consequence a lot of the time. though KH1 had its problems, its areas felt compact and connected. at times in KH3 i feel like im running forever getting to the next section, especially bad when grinding.

KH3 resolves all the problems set up all at once with no consequence, that'll be the next few sections.

xion comes back because the new organization just kinda found a person they didn't know and put them in a body bc they needed xehanort fodder. sure, that much is cool, but because of her being put in the final gauntlet she comes back very quickly. personally (i think i have a soft spot for xion) it feels like there's a lot more that could have happened with her that could helped sora grow. those funny nobody xion bosses from 358/2 could've made some sort of comeback too.

aqua is saved pretty easily by sora with one fight. meh.

ventus gets awoken because sora just believes in himself enough, despite the disney worlds being useless. you'd think there'd be more to either castle oblivion or the land of waking, or both even, but it's just a vanitas boss fight.

terra is probably fine (dont care too much about the bbs story too much honestly) but it still suffers being put in the gauntlet.

axel and kairi got to train in the dragonball hyperbolic time chamber but are still useless. honestly everyone was aside from sora donald and goofy (and mickey/yen sid at times) outside the gauntlet. not helped by every enemy being all-powerful in cutscenes.

i really despise xehanort as a character. he straight up is irredeemable and evil, grinning madly when he is killing and traumatizing children throughout the series. and then at the end of kh3 they go "actually you should feel bad for him, he's actually good(???). he wanted to destroy all worlds to function as a universe reset." i... straight up don't enjoy him.

attractions are incredibly unfun aside from a few times. i took too long to turn them off. the combat in the game is a mixed bag. i think shotlock dash is neat, but shotlock itself isn't that fun to me, basically just slowing down the game and needing you to point at the enemy for 5 seconds (while also losing your lock-on and pointing you in a random direction). removal of combo variations with square feels bad too.

i think this game has the worst gummi ship. it plays like a generic space exploration game with random guff scattered everywhere. WHY the HELL do you have to grind on SHOOTING ASTEROIDS to upgrade keyblades are you KIDDING ME. the golden ship makes it less painful but wow it's harder to get in critical mode.

the minigames suck. winnie the pooh is a single minigame copy-pasted 3 times. cooking is better but not by much, and im not a fan of having to find ingredients and cook them for a one-use meal.

i still haven't done the data organization in KH3 Re:Mind yet but it seems pretty fun, if a bit tough on critical mode. grinding out stat boosts is... a time. it's funny how i only got into the series only a few years ago, but it really grabbed me. wish 3 was more enjoyable, but i have some hope for 4.

[mandareeboo]

SU Music Rankings

Bc I can and I wanna start some Disk Horse rip. These are all in order of preference, with explanations, etc. It’s a long bitch. That said, I’m not counting little short jingles or small joke songs like Little Butler. This is the meat and potatoes of SU music- just under 30 songs. I might do the rest if people like my takes lol.

I scored it mostly on three bases- how dear it was to my heart, how much/often I relisten to it, and also what it means to the plot. That said, little fun songs don’t automatically go farther down than big, plot-heavy songs either! It’s a strange little balance.

Special Note: I don’t dislike any of this music! I love SU and that includes its bumps and glitches. I just pick favorite children lol.

1.) Change

Was there ever a more Steven moment than when he wiped the blood off his face and kissed it into sparkles? I think not. 

If “Be Wherever You Are” is an ode to young Steven, then this is teen Steven’s. Talking about change, and how much and how little it can do. How he holds his arms up for Spinel to hug him, so trusting. How he seems able to just. Break into soft tears at will, and not to be manipulative- it’s just his kind nature. The warmth in his voice. Fuck yesssss.

2.) Change Your Mind

This song is only fifty five seconds and it’s EVERYTHING to me. It really felt like someone was speaking the words I’d always held deep inside of me, unsure of how to say. It feels like a goodbye to someone who never really loved me. 

As much as I enjoyed Future, if this was the finale of SU, I would’ve been perfectly okay with that.

3.) Drift Away

This song gave me legitimate shivers the first time I heard it, and it still haunts me to this day. Spinel stayed, and waited, and all she got was a transmission thousands of years later. Fuck.

4.) Here We Are In The Future

THE MOVIE IS SU AS ITS BEST AND I WON’T BE SWAYED ON IT. Steven being a teen who loves his weird family but is growing just a bit sarcastic to their drama. The adorable love he and Connie share. His slow realization that he will always be working, always have things to do, is both somber and real. The Crystal Gems won’t be safe with one epic battle. They’ll be safe with years of hard work and love. HIS LITTLE HANDSHAKE WITH AMETHYST.

This is a helluva bop and a great way to summarize the main character’s backstories.

5.) Let’s Only Think About Love

Did ya’ll know that Zach Callison killed his throat with that last note? He gave his all for this performance in a vocal range he no longer comfortably do and by god did it SHINE. The FLAIR. The FORESHADOWING. All of the Gems all being awkward about Rose and Steven trying to bring them to the present. Peridot having a mini-existential crisis in a cute yellow dress. I love Zach Callison’s normal singing voice but man is that a fucking bop. Nothing will ever beat it.

6.) Here Comes A Thought

This bad boy helped me out a LOT with some mental issues I was dealing with in high school. I was unmedicated, unsupervised, and full of anxiety. I’d have break downs when I tried to speak about certain things. I couldn’t function. This song inspired me. It helped me feel okay with my intrusive thoughts.

And the episode! -chef’s kiss-. Once again bringing up the morally gray area of training child soldiers. Connie expanding her social group. Steven’s trauma hauling ass in that second half. The ANIMATION. Stevonnie’s gorgeous singing voice. GOD yes.

7.) It’s Over Isn’t It?

Just barely squeaking above Stronger Than You, this ballad is everything gorgeous. The whole episode is. I think Mr. Greg stands in the top five of my episodes for the entire show. It even got nominated!

There’s just so much about this song that I love. The gentle melancholy of Pearl’s voice. How the crew had to redo the shots for this bit bc Deedee went so fucking hard. The hard cuts between Pearl, remembering the love of her life, and Steven, who has begun to feel like he took her away. I’d recommend this song to anyone, regardless of what they do or don’t know about SU, simply bc it tugs so many heartstrings of love, loss, and responsibility.

8.) Stronger Than You

Did you realize this episode aired SEVEN years ago? This bitch was what got me into SU! Hearing about Ruby and Sapphire made my little gay heart so happy inside, and then getting a whole song confirming that they were a couple, that their love powered the strongest Gem on the team? Aaaaaaaaa

To this DAY I get excited when I hear Estelle start singing. This song is timeless. This song will live in media history. God I fucking love this song.

9.) Other Friends

I’m not the biggest musical person, so I hadn’t heard of Sarah Stiles before her casting as Spinel, but JESUS CHRIST the lady went hard. She went SO fucking hard. Sarah Stiles started on 100 and somehow just kept CLIMBING. You can just hear the sheer manic energy building in her voice, the anger and resentment. 10/10 Sarah Stiles is a queen.

10.) Independent Together

This made the list entirely bc the crew was like “you’re gonna get a himbo ass Steven-Greg fusion singing with Opal while Garnet flies across the moon on Lion while floating” and I am forever thankful to them for it

11.) Who We Are

Bismuth deserved more songs. ‘Nuff said.

12.) Peace and Love (On the Planet Earth)

It Could’ve been Great is EASILY one of my favorite s2 episodes. I love the entire concept of this song. Of Steven making music to reflect how much Earth means to him and his family. Of him teaching Peridot some self-care. Also Peridot’s singing voice is really cute and squeaky. 

I know it’s silly, but I would’ve really enjoyed a flip around of this in Future! Like Peridot reminding Steven how much he loves music, that he needs to take time to relax for himself, maybe with a new verse or just a remix of the original song!

13.) Something Entirely New

I watched this episode as it aired, and I legitimately almost cried. I love Charlyne Yi’s voice so much ya’ll- her raspy, not perfect singing voice against Sapphire’s deep soothing lull is great.

And to have Ruby and Sapphire’s meeting be the way it was- for Ruby to bemoan Sapphire losing Homeworld, to being stuck with a single Ruby, while Sapphire is a noble who has always been taught everyone in her “caste” is vitally important (and has, in her own mind, taken that to mean every Gem, as she should) and how they come together and make each other happy. Good shit good shit.

14.) I’m Just a Comet

The fact that Greg’s music career never really blasted off pisses me off to this day bc Tom Scharpling’s voice is fucking BUTTER. Also the song really feels like a jab at his parents now that we know the kind of dynamic he had growing up. “This life in the stars if all I’ve ever known” is definitely him wiping away their existence after reminding them (and himself) the things they used to say about him.

15.) Do It For Her

This episode. This fucking episode. This episode got me permanently hooked on SU. I’d just binged season 1 and was kinda meh about it overall after the bop of Stronger Than You. “Oh,” I thought to myself, foolishly, “I’ll probably just casually watch this from time to time.”

Like three days later Sworn to the Sword aired and that was it. I was hooked! Pearl’s gentle training song turning darker and darker, Connie’s accompaniment from nervous to determined to fully into such a toxic mindset. The fact that SU had the BALLS to discuss the repercussions of training child soldiers, now and later. This episode was everything to me, STILL is everything to me.

Six years and well over 100 fanfics written later, I think it’s safe to say this show swallowed me whole and never let go.

16.) System/Boot.pearl_final(3)

I debated putting this on the list because it’s not anything crazy important, just a way to show things are Wrong, but I had to do it entirely bc Pearl is so damn SALTY.

Like telling us about the Gems makes sense, she felt like she was given a duty, but she went so damn petty. WHY is that Ruby alone. Gross. This Amethyst is a trash dump. Wtf are you people.

17.) Full Disclosure

This episode really feels like a turning point for SU. Before, the show had its dark moments- but now we’re in the thick of it, and it’s not going away. Full Disclosure felt like an rebuff to the idea of returning to any normal we’d established in season 1. Gems are actually a giant species now. Gems tried to kill us now. There’s this Yellow Diamond bitch who got namedropped. Something about a Cluster. 

The song itself is BALLER, with its ingenious use of Steven’s ringtone and photos as he tries to decide whether to clue in Connie on all this nonsense. Meanwhile we, the audience, already know damn well Connie about to yeet some common sense into him.

18.) What’s the Use of Feeling Blue?

I’mma admit it- I’m a Yellow Diamond stan. I’ve always loved her- her anger, her poise, her hardworking nature. I actively argued against the “Yellow Shattered Pink” theories back in the day. But, man, when this arc leaked? I got so overexcited I was too jittery to watch it for like two days. It’s easily my favorite arc of the series. The sheer alien nature of the zoo, the Famethyst, and absolutely Patti Lupone’s beautiful ballad. Goddamn. Yellow singing to Blue to try and help her regain her old status, the warble in her voice as she reminds Blue she misses Pink too, the movement of the bubbles as she talks about attack. It gives me shivers to this day. FUCK.

19.) Tower of Mistakes

This is, fun fact, that only SU song I have completely memorized. The story itself is kinda funny! See, we lost internet at my house for a solid 5 to 6 months when these episodes aired, so I only got a very brief window to view them all. But this was the first Amethyst song in a long while, and I didn’t want to forget it! So I keep replaying it in my head for ages. And that’s still definitely a thing.

Anyway will never not be sad that this entire song was about making it up to Garnet for Amethyst’s perceived slights with Sugilite (which was a two-way road), only for Garnet to pressure her into fusion later when pissed and never discuss it again bc Garnet probably never thought twice about it and Amethyst has the emotional openness of a clam that’s just been told its ugly. Helluva way to make someone feel like shit, G. Helluva way to bottle that shit, Ames.

20.) On the Run

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Amethyst! Needed! More! Songs! 

The dichotomy between Steven’s play and Amethyst’s honest desire to run away from home is so well-done, especially when you consider a lot of Steven and Amethyst’s actions are playing together. The song is also near and dear to me simply bc it’s my favorite Amethyst episode to exist (well, maybe second to What’s Your Problem, but not by much). Moments like these are all the proof I need that they were right to fuse first.

21.) Be Wherever You Are

This tune really just feels like an ode to who Steven was as a kid. Trapped on an island with no way home, and he’s just happy to be with his friends. The stars are beautiful and not oppressive. Also that one animatic with Lars and the Off Colors playing in the Homeworld Kindergarten to this music was iconic and made this song get stuck in my head for a solid month.

22.) Familiar

I ADORE how the crew use bright neon colors to show how alien Homeworld can be. And Steven recognizing that the Diamonds treat him how the CGs used to, and how prepared he is to “fix” a broken family. It’s a soft, gentle tune about melancholy. Also the Pebbles are beautiful.

23.) Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart

Such a cute little love ballad, but every time I listen to it now I just imagine the heart attack Rose must’ve had at the line “And if we look out of place/Well, baby, that's okay/I'll drive us into outer space.” like there’s a Vietnam war flashback if I ever heard one

24.) What Can I Do?

I’m kind of neutral on this one? Rose and Greg both have great voices, but the song itself lacks many lyrics. I think it was definitely a good way to show Rose’s flaws in thinking.

Also, I’m shocked they managed cram that much vaguely sexual innuendo into two minutes, followed by how Not Hetereo that dance between Rose and Pearl was, and not get their asses chewed by it. You go guys.

25.) Cookie Cat

I love a lot of the vibes this song has. The lyrics are so damn prophetic, but they also sound like the kind of weird 90s commercials I grew up on. It’s been like two decades since I saw the Shirley Temple commercial but I’ll be damned if I don’t remember “Animals crackers in my soup! Monkey and rabbits loop-de-loop.”

26.) Giant Woman

I am. NOT the biggest fan of Steven’s original singing voice. I feel bad saying that, since it was just Zach Callison as a kid, but he never jived well with me for some reason. So I wouldn’t listen to this on the fly. 

The song itself is still really good though, with all sorts of fun animation of Amethyst and Pearl being bitchy to each other. It’s a bit sad in hindsight to see tiny Steven trying to get his moms to get along. Ahh, season 1.

27.) Strong in the Real Way

This song has SUCH a strong start. Pearl reflecting on Sugilite’s problems, but the show making sure to show us that Pearl’s lack of enthusiasm towards her also lends itself to jealousy as well as just general malaise. How much she cares about Steven, and wants him to grow up strong. 

And then Steven just kinda. Ruins it? I appreciate his enthusiasm for tryna bulk up but to take what was starting as such a rich, personal song and broadcasting it to random strangers just makes me a bit sad. Almost a bit angry on her behalf?

28.) That Distant Shore

I KNOW this is gonna create some discourse, but I’m just not the biggest Lapis stan. I love her voice. I love the visuals of the song. And I get why she felt afraid and needed to flee.

But Lapis never got to take responsibility for her own actions. And, in the end, the song feels hollow to me- because we all know she’ll never talk to anyone about it, know she’ll burst back in and destroy the barn, and no one will ever question it. I like Lapis a lot, but I feel like her arc never was fully finished. She never got help. She never learned to feel safe.

29.) Dear Old Dad

I’ve yet to meet a single human being who likes this episode tbh. There’s some great discussion about what kind of parent Greg is from it, and what kind of dynamic he has with the Gems that he felt he had to fake an injury to hang out with his son. Honestly the first half was fine and dandy. It’s just that then they Greg just went out of his way to drag Steven away from missions and such. It never jived well with his character before or after.

Also, is it just me, or does Zach himself sound like he hates the song as he sings it? There’s no passion or heart in his voice. It sounds like they told him to read off cue cards and he did. Tom Scharpling’s best attempts didn’t save this one for being a skipper. But the episode, unfortunately, isn’t, so it gets a spot on here.

[itsagrimm]

Darth Maul one shot.

This picture was an inspiration for it so pls leave some love there.

bury me 6 feet deep for the cheesy ending. I deserve it.

Darth Maul x Y/N gender neutral reader without description of appearance during his reign on Mandalore

Later: Savage Opress x Y/N

Summary: You and the snappy crime boss have been friends for a while. You enjoy each other’s company and spend your free time being good ol' meanies together. Savage joins you in a surprising twist.

CN: talk of bad dates and murder, talk of sex and relationship, alcohol consumption

1700 words

The office was empty except for a table in the middle, a few chairs, and a giant window across the large doors. It was a minimal arrangement, and the inattentive visitor would have considered it bare or tasteless. But the inattentive visitor would see the man behind the table as a threat, a monster, a murderer and not the most beautiful and powerful centre of the room.

"Maul!"

He looked up from his work. Intelligent eyes met Y/N. Instead of an answer he raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Lord Maul."

He nodded. His power always had to be recognized first. Even by you.

"Y/N. What a surprise. I thought you were busy. Sit down."

You bowed to your lord before taking one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Yeah... the date didn't go so well."

Maul leant back and casually put one leg on one of the armchairs.

"Oh really? Do tellwhat the man, who will likely have an unfortunate accident now, did?"

You smiled.

"Oh yeah, accidents can be so surprising. It's always so sad when someone dies. Especially when the concerning man had the audacity to only talk about himself during the date. He did not even ask my name. I don't even know why I went outside for that."

Maul grimaced.

"I don't think one accident to this"- he gesticulated into the air before spitting out-" boy will be enough."

"Yeah. But maybe he is not worth it. It takes a lot of work and effort before someone dies. And I actually have other things to do."

The dark sith lord, criminal master mind and successful general rolled his eyes.

"Your reluctance to make your enemies pay always surprises me. You need to put in the work sometimes. It can feel so satisfying to see your enemies bloody and begging before you."

"I know. You are so right. But right now, I just needed to vent. Do you wanna get out of here?"

He looked at the desk. It was full of holopads, data carts and actual paper.

"Yeah. I am done for now. Let's go."

XXXXXXXX

“Why are you always so extra?”, you tried to compliment Maul who was striding through the palace gardens before you.

He did not even flinch before answering.

“You call this extra? I call this a casual. I have not even tried to impress yet.”

You chuckled.

Maul was wearing dark pants made from silken fabric, an equally dark thin coat with leather armoury shoulder pieces and no shirt therefore showing off his muscular chest and his dathomirian tattoos. He looked good and he walked like a man who knew he looked good.

“Alright. Next to you I feel like an ugly Bantha after my horrible date and little time to change.”

He turned around and checked your outfit.

“Yeah, I can see why you feel that way.”

You gasped.

“Maul! Don’t be mean!”

He smiled.

“Come on, that one was just low hanging fruit. And you know, no one can tease my beautiful and extraordinary friends except me. So this little bad date boy’s life is still hanging on a thin thread.”

“Ok. let’s plan his untimely death tomorrow. I need a drink today.”

“Works for me.”

XXXXXXXXX

The bar was busy. But the Lord of Mandalore and his company got a table at the more private back of the bar, giving you and Maul the chance to observe and gossip.

“Do you see that man over there?”, he pointed at an armoured warrior at a faraway table, “He looks cute. He would definitely be a better date than your last, at least in the looks department.”

You checked the man. He was chatting with a few other Mandalorians. His armour was of a clean blue colour and it was well kept.

“Meh, that armour is a bit too shiny for someone actually using it. And who goes into a bar while wearing a whole set of an antic armour anyway? No, this gives me show off vibes and I don’t like it.”

Maul shrugged before sipping at his martini.

“You will stay single forever, dear Y/N.”

“What is so bad about that? You are single and appear to be doing perfectly fine.”

“I am the Lord of this dominion. I can do what I want anyway and the words >single< or >in a relationship< cannot not really describe my love life.”

“That’s an awfully complicated way to say you get laid.”

He smirked.

“You can say that.”, he rolled the words of his tongue with particular enjoyment, “But unlike you I am not coming into other people’s offices to lament about bad dates.”

“Just drop the date already and pass me the bottle. I don’t want to talk about the mess that is my love life. How is your life going?”

“Embracing the mess can give you strength. Don’t try to detach yourself from the bad but learn to enjoy it.”

“Is that a Sith thing?”

“Partly. I would consider it a sentient thing. We all are constantly confused, emotional and graving for something. Instead of denying that try to give in and enjoy the chaos. Cheers.”

You clinked your glass filled with fine Mandalorian wine against Mauls martini.

“My life…” he continued, “is alright. I think I can enjoy this. It has been a long time since I felt like I belonged somewhere. And it feels nice to have purpose outside of my own calling. It is nice to know that someone might miss me should I choose to leave Mandalore. My brother likes it here, you are a good friend and reigning Mandalore … and others… is a welcome challenge.”

You smiled.

“I’m glad you feel that way.”

For a few moments both of you stayed silent. You did not know what else to say and Maul was lost in some memories he was not willing to share right now. You two had always worked like that, close and chatty yet respectful and discreet.

“My brother…”, Maul started to talk, “My brother would enjoy this. But I can never convince him to come along.”

“Maybe he does not like loud and busy places. He strikes me as the type who gets stressed out by bars instead of enjoying this.”

“No”, Maul looked into his glass searching for words, “I think Savage would enjoy spending time here with us, with you.”

You starred at Maul.

“What do you mean?”

“I think he likes you. And I think he is shy about it.”

You felt your skin getting hotter.

“You like him too!”, Maul called out his eyes nearly sparkling with excitement.

“No!”

“No? I will tell him that!”

“No!”

“You have manoeuvred yourself into a trap.“

“Why are you torturing me? I don’t even know your brother well. He seems nice and-”

“Oh darling, no night brother is niceunless we want or have to.”

Maul, lord of the sith, slayer of jedi, regent of mandalore and matchmaker of his brother’s fate looked at you with an evil delight. Seeing you here, squirming about your feelings and insecurities in regards of his tall and handsome brothers was most likely the after work entertainment he enjoyed the most.

You took a deep breath.

“Ok, my love life is in your hands. I give up. What now, Maul?”

“Your love life was always in my hands.”, He replied patronizingly while starting to type a his personal com.

“Are you sending a com to your brother?”

“No, just sharing a thought with the chancellor. YES of course I am contacting Savage.”

“He will hate it here. I told you. It is loud and busy.”

“Well then then you two better get out of here fast.”

You glared at him.

“You are unsufferable, Maul.”

“And you love me for that.”

You forced a smile.

He basically beamed with delight at your reaction.

“Well, give savage my regards. I got to go.”

“What? Where are you going?”

“I have ruler of mandalore things to do. Much less entertaining things than you and my brother might do tonight.”

“You can’t leave me here. I will die of embarrassment in front of your brother.”

“Then it was nice meeting you. Any wishes for your burial?”

“Maker, you really are-“

“trying to help you embrace the chaos? Yes, I do indeed.”

You were speechless.

The thought of staying and having a kind of forces surprise date with Savage was a good thought but at the same time you felt unprepared and intrusive towards Savage.

“Ah yes, there he is already. Faster than expected.”

Maul waved towards the entrance at the bar.

Savage was standing there.

He was tall and broad as ever. His ocker skin and horns sticking out of the Mandalorian crowd. And his face had the expression of a painfully reserved man.

When he saw Maul, he started moving through the bar.

When he noticed Y/N his expression hardened.

“Good to see you, dear brother. I was a bit careless with my time tonight, so I must leave early. But my dear friend here had a bad day, could use some company and maybe someone to escort them home later, only for safety of course. Would you mind?”

Mauls voice was nonchalant, as if he had no other motives.

But Savage knew his brother too well.

“Is that it, brother?”

“Ah yes, savage! What else do think there is?”

Savage studied Mauls face for a moment before gazing at you like a commander checking a serving soldier for injuries.

“Alright. I will stay.”, he finally said.

[spaceorphan18]

99 Perspectives on a Single Love Story #48

A/N: The Story of Kurt and Blaine told through the eyes of everyone else but them. Each chapter is a different perspective in the ongoing tale of their love story.

I started something like this a while back - and now I’m taking the idea and really running with it. Each chapter is a ficlet of a different character at a different point in Kurt and Blaine’s life - documenting their love story. This starts in Audition, and each chapter will be paired with a different episode until reaching Dreams Come True.

[Ao3]

***

Eli C. (The Break Up) 

“You look like shit.”

It’s Friday morning. Eli slides into a chair at his usual table at the coffee shop. His best friend Becca is already there, sipping on her nonfat mocha with extra whipped cream, grinning like an amused fool. He’s glad someone can be so cheery this early in the morning.

“Lay off, I had a long night.” Eli savors the taste of his own black coffee - hoping it’ll kick in so he can at least pay half attention in class.

“Did you now?” Becca’s eyebrow is raised high with interest.

Eli lets out a groan, leaning back in his chair. “You don’t want to hear about it.”

Becca leans forward. “No, I think I do. What trashy thing did you do now?”

Eli takes another drink of his coffee, settling in. Fine. It’s not like Becca ever lets these things go. “You know how I’ve been on those show choir message boards for the past year or so?”

“Oh, god, this again?” She’s more delighted than appalled.

“I’m allowed to have my hobbies.”

“Yeah, your totally gay hobbies.”

“Says the woman who has her hand in pussy any chance she can get.”

“Anyway…” Becca pushes on. “Your totally normal obsession with show choirs, continue…”

“About week ago, I get to chatting with this guy named Blaine.”

“Really? His name is Blaine?” Becca lets out a hardy laugh. “Of course this story is going to get gayer.”

“Hey, you wanted to hear it.” Eli pushes back.

“Okay, okay, continue.”

“So we get to chatting, and I’m flirty and he’s flirty back, or at least that’s how I took it. So a couple days ago I looked him up on Facebook. Turns out the guy is totally hot - in that classic movie star kind of way.” Eli thinks about it - how it was really pretty harmless at the beginning. Maybe he misread the situation? Maybe he didn’t. Does he regret it? No, not really.

Becca grins her annoyingly devilish grin. “Did you go weak in the knees?”

“You know what, I did - so shut it,” Eli continues. “So, I asked if he wanted to hook up sometime.”

Becca feigns being impressed. “Wow - and he agreed without even seeing you? I mean - it’s not like your profile picture is telling a whole lot.”

“It’s a metaphor, Becca.”

“It’s overcompensation, Eli.”

“Anyway, yes he came over and we hooked up. And that’s that.” Eli doesn’t think there’s much more to tell - but Becca doesn’t seem satisfied.

“That cannot be the full story.”

“Do you really want the sordid details of my sex life?”

“Hey, you got to hear the comedy and tragedy that was Veronica Stalls, so yeah, I do.”

“Okay it was…” Eli lets out a long breath. The image of Blaine remains seared in his head - the moment he first saw him in person, showing up at his dorm room with a sad kind of beauty about him. He had been captivating - but Eli had always been one for lost causes. “The whole thing ended up being very odd. We agreed to meet at my place at seven, right? Well, he doesn’t show up. And I didn’t think much of it - cause I mean, hooking up with internet people can sometimes be sketchy. But then about quarter after ten, he knocks on my door. So, I let him in, and there’s very little talking. Like, the dude was all over me almost the second he walks in the door.”

“Um, hot.”

“More like very aggressive,” Eli corrects. Had it been hot? Yes, surely. Did something feel utterly wrong? Absolutely. Did he want to give up sex that night? Not even a little bit. “Not that it wasn’t a turn on. I just wasn’t expecting it. Online the guy is so polite and almost demure. I figured I’d have to be the one to push him a little. But nope, we were on the bed making out and grinding in, like, ten minutes.”

“Hey, no-strings-attached sex sounds kinda nice.”

In theory, it had been very nice. “Yeah, still…” Eli tilts his head back and forth as he thinks back on it. “It was like… it was like he wasn’t really there?” He remembers Blaine’s vacancy very clearly. It had been just a hook-up. No reason for Eli to take that personally, but some kind of connection would have been nice. Maybe even acknowledgement of what they were doing. Blaine, however, gave him nothing. “He gave me a handjob, and it was ‘meh’ to be honest with you. No finesse at all. Jerked me off as fast as he could. Then I asked if I could go down on him and, oh boy, that froze him up.”

Becca’s eyes grow wide. She sees people. It’s why they’re friends. “Um, so this already sounds like there’s some issues going on here.”

“Oh, clearly,” Eli nods. “But I mean, we weren’t hooking up to deconstruct whatever messed up feelings he was having. I was pretty clear from the outset that it was just a hookup. At least, I thought I was. Anyway, he finally let me go down on him and…”

“...and?” Becca’s unusually hanging onto his words.

“The dude’s dick was fucking gorgeous.” Eli licks his lips thinking about it again. If there had been one bright spot about last night - it was that dick. “I almost got hard again just looking at it.”

“Oh, I hear ya,” Becca says in a bout of sincerity. “Veronica Stalls’s tits, man. At least I get to keep the image of those in my brain for the rest of my life.”

“Right? Man…” Eli looks around. There are barely any customers there - they’re pretty alone. Still, he feels a little strange being so graphic in public. But Becca’s eyes are hard on him, so he continues. “So, yeah, I start to blow him, but he doesn’t really get into it, you know? Like most guys will pull my hair, or fuck my mouth, or whatever, but he just lay there letting me do it to him. And, I mean, seriously, I have no regrets sucking on a dick that delicious, but it did bum me out that he wasn’t, at least, a little into it. Took him fucking forever to come, too.”

“Yeah, he totally sounds suspect,” Becca agrees. “You were safe, right?”

“Oh, totally,” Eli nods. “So afterwards, we kind of make out a little, or more so, I kiss him a little, but he’s just, like, looking as if he’s going to throw up. So I got up to get some water, and by the time I get back, he’s pretty much dressed and out the door.”

“Oh my god,” Becca says, as if it is all clicking for her. “You were, like, the other guy, Eli. This dude totally has a boyfriend or something.”

“Not gonna lie, the thought crossed my mind,” Eli admits. To be honest, it had been fully on his mind but he hadn’t wanted to bring it up. Was he selfish for that? Was he selfish for just wanting to get off? “He blocked me this morning, so… I guess that was that. I feel a little bad though. Not that he blocked me - I guess I expected that. Just that I took part in whatever bad turn this guy was taking.”

“Don’t,” Becca shakes her head emphatically. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And honestly - sounds like you’re better off not being a part of whatever mess this dude’s life is.”

“True,” Eli gives a shrug. “He was a nice guy, though. I hope he figures his shit out.” He gives one last lingering thought to Blaine, hoping wherever he is today that he isn’t full of regret. Eli isn’t. Ah well. Moving on. “Meanwhile… I have a couple of hits from Grindr I should tell you about.”

“Oh, dear god…”

[darling-i-read-it]

Laughter

Joel Miller x reader

Word Count: 1k

Warnings: some spoilers for the last of us (the first one),

Author’s Note: Shut up, I went into this thinking it was gonna be meh but i LITERALLy love it so much. Grumpy old man joel, you have my entire ass heart. With how easy this came out I’ll probably do more for him 

Also, I’m going to try and finish the special hannibal one for tomorrow. It usually doesn’t take me longer than a night to write a story but this one is special lmao so hopefully you’ll see that soon! In the meantime, this :)

Summary: You, Joel and Ellie are driving. Very mellow. Much vibes. 

Genre: Fluff

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director 

(not my gif)

Figuring out how to navigate the world with zombies tended to be a harder job than you thought it would be. When Tess died you didn’t honestly think you would be able to keep going. She was your best friend and you and her had been inseparable. 

You couldn’t fathom risking your life with anyone else. 

Especially not Joel Miller and some kid you picked up along the way.

You only knew Joel by association. You had never been in the same room with him alone. You had barely even seen a child let alone dragged one around the world. 

But damn if they didn’t grow on you.

Ellie sat in the back seat of the truck. You sat in the passenger seat and Joel drove. You had just gotten the truck from Bill who proved to be just as unhelpful as you remembered him being. Ellie laid down across the back seat, a comic resting open on her lap. Her breathing rose and fell evenly in her sleep. 

You put your feet up on the dashboard and looked out the window.

“Get your feet off the dash,” Joel muttered, tapping your leg. You looked over at him and definitely kept your legs up.

“What are you my dad?” you teased. “Plus, this isn’t even your car. What do you care.” He gave you a pointed look and you gave him one back.

“If we crash your legs are going to be crushed and I can’t drag you around if your legs are crushed,” he explained simply. You thought about it for a moment and slowly took your legs off the dashboard. 

“Who knew you had a heart Joel Miller.” He shook his head.

“It’s just a matter of convenience,” he argued. You looked over at him and smiled. He really was a handsome guy. He was rugged around the edges but who wasn’t these days. You had never really looked at him before.

“You can say it Joel. You like El and I a little bit.” He shook his head.

“I’m taking her where I need to take her. You’re extra help.” You shoved his arm a bit and watched his face.

“You like us. Come on,” you teased. He shook his head and glanced over at you. You locked eyes longer than you should have, considering the fact he was still driving. 

“I’m not going to tell you that I like you.”

“It’s okay babe. I can tell from your eyes,” you said playfully. You looked ahead again but felt more comfortable than you had in weeks. Probably months. Maybe even years. It was always touch and go. You, Tess, Joel and some others would get some resources coming in but they would be gone soon. Your life was the inbetween of the packages you were able to smuggle. 

This was dangerous and it was unsteady but you felt like you were with people who you could be with forever. You never thought this would be the scenario but here you were. You leaned your head against the glass.

“Maybe you should try and get some sleep,” Joel said quietly. His voice had a rumble to it that you liked.

“And leave you to think for yourself? No way,” you said gently. The playfulness in your voice was gone although you hadn’t intended for it to be.

“I’ve got some music,” he said, gesturing to the stereo.

“Thank God for Ellie and her slippery fingers huh?” He chuckled.

“You’re right about that.”

You looked in the rearview mirror at her. She was sound asleep. She was a good kid and she knew how to defend herself. Not a bad mix to have. Plus, she was funny.

“What were you like before all this?” you asked. 

“What do you mean?” he asked. 

“I mean what were you like? The same grumpy old guy that I see before me now?” He rolled his eyes.

“Just a little younger around the eyes,” he explained. 

“Did you always have the beard?” 

“Why you wanna know?”

“Because you without the beard feels wrong. I was just curious,” you told him honestly.

“What about you? You always been a snarky hothead?” he asked. You smiled and shrugged.

“I was born a snarky hothead.” 

Ellie’s eyes opened very slowly. She didn’t bother lifting her head, wondering if she should just drift back to sleep. She looked up at the front seat that was illuminated in the sunlight of the day. She wondered how long it had been since she fell asleep. 

She was beyond surprised and a little caught off guard to hear laughing. Joel was laughing. It was hearty and deep. 

“No she didn’t!” you were saying. 

“I swear. On my life,” Joel said. You shook your head, laughter bubbling. 

“What a bitch. Damn Tess,” you muttered, still smiling. Ellie closed her eyes again. She felt safer than she had in a long time. She was with people she liked and trusted. 

Sleep came easy. 

She slipped into subconsciousness to the beautiful sound of you and Joel laughing.

[thebeautyoffanfics]

ah thank u!! i was wondering if you could write a amane yugi found family fic with a gn!reader if that makes sense :]

(platonic) amane yugi and gn!reader

a/n: of course!! I think it makes sense, so I do hope I do this right! It wasn’t really specified, so I just sorta,,, started writing, and kept found family in mind? So I really hope it’s alright- Thank you so much for requesting, I’m genuinely so sorry for the time this took, and I hope you enjoy!! :D

(YOOOO GUESS WHO HAS A COMPUTER AGAIN!!! I'm unstoppable, babyyyyy, and am determined to get the requests done as quickly as I can-!!)

warnings: none?

word count: 872 (the angsty bonus bit is 270)

Amane understood what it was like to be a bit… indifferent to your family? He couldn’t be sure whether your relationship with yours was any similar to his, unless you told him first, but he did know one thing. For the most part, you were more like his family than his blood family.

He loved his family, sure. He had a decent relationship with his family at one point. Unfortunately, that point felt like it was forever ago. It mainly started when his brother went missing, he thought, but… upon the return, Amane really began to wonder if his brother being gone was better. It was cruel, yes, but whatever creature was posing as his brother was more so. Between his distressed parents, and that strange look in “Tsukasa”’s eyes, Amane was certain he was beginning to much prefer you. No, it wasn’t beginning… from the moment the two of you became friends, he was able to find comfort in you. Amane could only hope he provided you a similar sense of comfort, but- judging based on how you came to him just as often as he did to you- he liked that he could assume so.

You smoothed your shirt down, glancing over at Amane. “You should have told me you were coming,” You muttered, walking over to him, and laying down. Your parents were away, and both you and Amane knew they’d be gone for a while. That’s one reason you were so comforted by him… even if your parents weren’t, Amane was always around.

“Should I have? It’s not like I usually do,” He responded lightheartedly, not taking his eyes off of the stars. So, you did the same. Your eyes traveled upwards, as you took a moment to admire the sky. Amane had told you many times to just look up- every night, if you take a moment to think about the stars, your worries feel a lot smaller. You feel a lot smaller.

“Hey, what’s that one?” You questioned after a moment, tossing your hand up and pointing at some random star. You were doing it on purpose- wanting some sort of reaction out of him. His knowledge on the stars seemed endless- it amazed you. Capturing your attention, as it would most younger siblings. Sitting and listening to someone who was like your older brother, letting him ramble as he pleased. Maybe it was boring at times, but Amane let you ramble about whatever you wanted, so you could do the same for him.

Moments passed, as Amane spilled every little fact he knew. Perhaps he didn’t know as much as a professional, but he still knew so much more than you did… It was cool. How did he know that much about a little burning ball in space? There were billions. For a split second, you wondered if anyone would care to know as much about you as Amane did the stars- but the thought was crushed by Amane adding something a bit off topic.

“Anyway… maybe we should go inside? Mom got dinner, so I brought you some. I wasn’t sure what you had in the house, and cooking’s a pain.”

That’s right… Amane cared.

“Ohhh, alrighty! Thanks, haha- honestly, I was probably gonna procrastinate cooking until the last minute, so I appreciate it.”

The two of you made your ways off of the roof, and inside your house. As if it was his home- and, by this point, it very well could have been- Amane walked into the kitchen, unpacking two little boxes. Put them both in the microwave, setting a time, then glancing over at you.

“You didn’t eat at home?” You questioned, not wanting him to feel pressured to explain, but wanting him to feel welcomed to share.

“Meh, at this point, I can’t tell whether or not mom really cares. She’s on-board with me visiting you so you don’t get lonely, and making sure you eat, and whatnot. Aside from that, I… I dunno, the house feels more weird than welcoming. You’re family enough, ehehe.”

“Hm, the only weird thing now is that laugh,” You joked, opening the microwave a second before it beeped. “Sorry though. I really do hope things get better. I’m sure they will!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. You don’t need to apologize,” Amane ruffled your hair lightly, causing you to swat at his hand in annoyance, “Thanks though. Whatever has to happen is going to happen, I guess…? And what needs to happen now is dinner.”

You laughed at that comment, taking the box he offered you, and taking a seat at the coffee table in your living room.

Amane tossed you the remote, then sat next to you, letting you turn on a show the both of you found interesting. The only sound coming from either of you was the sound of eating, as the TV’s noise filled the room. Yes, these nights were your favorite. They were both of your favorites. When the two of you didn’t have a real family, you had each other… These simple things really were what made a family. Dinner and TV, a comfortable silence between the two of you, and both of you perfectly content with that.

BONUS LITTLE,, ANGSTY BIT. Anon didn’t request this, so don’t feel obligated to read it- I just felt like angst <3 feel free to consider this just… an alternate end. Amane doesn’t have to die in the main bit <3

WARNINGS: mention of death + suicide, vomit, pain-

“Amane… is dead?” You muttered, staring at the flowers sitting on his desk. The same flowers rested on his brothers’. Tsukasa had caused Amane distress… right now, you couldn’t help but focus on the death of your best friend.

“Did you not hear? Apparently, he killed Tsukasa, then,” Your classmate motioned crudely, dragging a finger across their neck to indicate his death, “offed himself.”

You were going to be sick. You were. You were sick- clumps of your breakfast splashing against the floor beneath yourself. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t right.

Unable to control your actions, you ran out of the room, practically collapsing outside of the school. You wanted to run away. Yet, there was no escaping it.

“It’s a lie,” You muttered, tears spilling down your face. “They’re lying.”

Your heart ached worse than you thought it ever could. Amane couldn’t kill anyone- Amane couldn’t be dead. You sobbed, fists balled up as you let out all of the grief that was rapidly building up.

Students looked your way, several rushing to grab teachers. Before the day could even start, it was over. Going home sooner than you expected to like, with words you never wanted to hear ingrained in your mind.

Upon your return, some time later- giving you barely enough time to learn what you could (though you still couldn’t process it), you heard mutters. Little whispers- rumors floating around.

“Have you heard the rumor…? Apparently, there’s a ghost in the girls’ bathroom on the third floor. It says, she’ll grant your wish- for a price, that is.”

[sumu-samu]

Broken

“Hi i saw that you were gonna start writing stories and we're looking for ideas and things,, maybe a Luke x f!reader oneshot around the time of The Lightning Thief. I think it would be cool if the day before he snapped and revealed himself as the thief,, he confessed his feelings to someone or took an s/o on a special date as a type of "goodbye" without saying anything. There's not many luke fics and his TLT story is so fun to explore :3″

Pairing: Luke Castellan x daughter of Poseidon!f!reader

Genre: Angst basically. Some fluff, but angst.

Warnings: non that I can really think of

A.N: Literally listened to The Lightning Thief musical while writing this.This was super fun to write ngl, I also may have gotten carried away with the back story and such but meh :3. I also took a few freedoms and made you Poseidon’s daughter, hope you don’t mind it too much, and I changed the ending of the book a bit because I can’t remember exactly how it ended, just the basics, and I can’t find my book to fact check myself. Hope it doesn't bother you too much and that you like it.<3

Y/N sat at her cabin table, her newly found brother had just come back from a stupid quest he had to go on because her uncle was throwing a fit (as he usually does) about someone stealing his lightning bolt, and he immediately blamed it on her family. She knew all about the prophecy and the whole half-blood child of the big three turning sixteen and having the power to either save or destroy the world. Thing was she had already turned sixteen (if you’re not sixteen yet, just go along with it please) and nothing special really happened, so when Percy showed up at camp and killed a minotaur on the first day, Her and Chiron had been a bit weary of the new half-blood.

When Percy was claimed by Poseidon you’d think she’d be happy that she had found family, after losing her mother at five and never seeing her father, but she wasn’t, She was more worried than anything. Worried that she would lose the family she had just found. And when Percy left to go on the quest, Y/N felt like she couldn’t breath. She didn’t know him very well, but Percy was a good kid, she could just feel it, and she wanted to get to know him more. The thought that he may not come back from this quest in one piece terrified her. And what made it even worse was that he brought Annabeth with him. Annabeth was like Y/N’s little sister.

Ever since the day she found the seven year old blond they had been through alot together. She had run away from camp after getting into an argument with Chiron, she soon learned that it was a big mistake, then ran into the little girl somewhere in Pennsylvania. She then met Luke and Thalia, and then ran into Grover. The five had been through alot, especially when they lost Thalia, she was yet another pice of family she lost. She hadn’t walked into the camp with the other three, she just stayed and watched as Thaila’s body formed into a tall standing pine tree. She cursed Zues for letting this happen to his own daughter.

As the years went by she took care of the spunky little blond, and Luke liked to help every now and then. Feelings grew for the blond boy, no doubt about it, but she also remembered how Annabeth would squeal to her and rant about her little crush on Luke.

When they came back, all three of them, in one pices to say she was relieved, was an understatement. There had been a lot of events that happened after they were back, her favourite being the look on Clariese’s face when she heard that her father had stolen the bolt. The whole cabin was angry and Percy, and the fact that he had made their father look like a fool. But what she really cherished was right now. She was able to catch up with her brother and everything. Talk about his life, get to know him and how much of a good kid he really was. They talked about the prophecy and how he was confused about being betrayed by a friend and failing to save what matters the most.

“People who know nothing about prophecies may say something like ‘oh well you know the prophecy is crazy and could be wrong in some way,’ but, I know that isn’t the case. So I’d say, that the prophecy isn’t done with you yet.” She shrugged.

“Oh, how great.” he rolled his eyes.

“Hey, Y/N” She heard the smooth deep familiar voice and looked up to meet bright blue eyes. “Right before curfew… could you uh,” he scratched the back of his neck. “Just, meet me by the lake.” he quickly stated then walked off. She sat very confused, she had never seen Luke like that before. He was usually a cocky, joking fellow. Seeing him shy and flustered,and maybe even worried, had concerned her.

When the sun had fallen, and curfew was about twenty minutes away, she snuck out of her cabin and went down to the lake. “Luke?” she called out not seeing him anywhere.

“Y/N.” she then heard from behind her. Turning around she saw a familiar silhouette, She couldn't see his face due to the lack of light but she knew it was him.

“Hey, what’s up?” She walked towards him.

“I-” He looked around and took her by the arm to drag her further away from the cabins so that they could be somewhere where he knew they were truly alone. “I have something to tell you.” He sounded sorrowful and serious. This made Y/N’s heart race faster in worry for the boy in front of her.

“What is it Luke?” She moved her hand to his cheek so he could look at her. He just stared into her eyes for about a minute. He was dazzled by her (e/c) eyes, that she had gotten from her mum and her dark hair that she got from her father. His hands moved to her waist before he viciously pulled her close to him, foreheads touching. Her heart sped up even more, this time from the closeness of the two rather than worry. “Luke?” she questioned.

“I’m so sorry.” He squeezed his eyes shut in pain. “I’m so… so sorry Y/N.” He wrapped his arms further around her waist, pulling her into a hug. She took in his scent as he did hers.

“Luke, I don’t understand, why… why are you sorry?” She pulled away to look into his eyes again.

“Y/N, I… I like you… I like you so much I think I love you. And it hurts me, ever since we lost Thalia, you were there, you were alway there. And I don’t know why I couldn’t be satisfied with just you and Annabeth, but I couldn’t. I’m sorry. I was just so pissed, I needed to get it all out. But in the end, I want you to know that it was you, It was always you.” And that's when he did it. He made her heart completely stop, He leaned in and kissed her. His kiss soft and gentle, the kiss was passionate. She melted into it, wanting it to last forever but alas he pulled away. “I just hope you will forgive me at some point.”

“Luke, what’s going on? What do you mean forgive you?” She was seriously done with this mysterious way he was talking.

“I can’t tell you, not yet. Just, stay with me, for the night. Tonight only, sleep beside me, let me hold you one last time.” He pleaded.

“Luke, where are we gonna sleep, we can’t go to your cabin, because… well,” She thought of the cramped cabin 11 and how embarrassing it might be to wake up in the morning with all those kids around her laughing, or how maybe the twins would try playing a prank of them in their sleep. “Percy’s asleep in my cabin, and we can’t stay out here… the harpies.” She shuddered at the thought of being attacked by those bird ladies.

“Y/N, i’ve seen Percy sleep, there's no way he's gonna wake up before us. I’ll be sure to leave before he even knows I’m there.” He rested his forehead on hers.

She thought for a while. “Alright fine.” She smiled and they walked back to the cabin.

That night she had the best sleep she had ever had. Luke’s warmth,and his scent. It relaxed her in a way that she didn’t know was possible. But he held true to his word of getting out before Percy knew he was there. In fact, she had to sit there for a while trying to be sure it was real and not just a dream, because when she woke up, he wasn’t there. Her heart dropped. It was too vivid, too detailed, too… too real, to be a dream. She got out of bed, and got dressed before hearing a snore. She grabbed her pillow and threw it at the drooling boy, still asleep in his bed.

“Wake up ragworm. You’re gonna miss breakfast.” She said, waiting till he got out of bed and started getting changed to leave and go to breakfast.

They sat at the table eating their food when Mr. D. had stood up to tell everyone to decide whether they were staying for the year or leaving before noon. “What are you gonna do?” Percy looked at his sister.

“I'm staying here.” She shrugged as if not going home was something she was used to.

“You’re not going back to your family?” He sounded confused. But he too was confused if he wanted to go back and see his mum or if he wanted to stay with his new found family. He was kinda hoping she was gonna go so that it would make it easier on him.

“Have no family to go home to, Perc. This right here,” she motioned to all the other kids at their respective tables, “this is the closest thing I have to family.”

As the day had progressed the thought of what happened with Luke last night being real faded as Luke had avoided her all day. And as she was walking around Camp, enjoying her last day with some of her friends she saw some wood nymphs carrying a body wearing blue jeans and a bright orange camp shirt. “Percy.” she gasped as she saw the black head of hair. They carried him to the infirmary where he was tended to and given some nectar to recover.

Once he woke up he started ranting off nonsense. “Luke, it’s Luke we- we need to look for him.” he tried to get up but Chiron stopped him.

“What do you mean it’s Luke, Perc?” She was worried by the tone of her brother's words.

“The… the friend who was supposed to betray me… it’s Luke. He’s the lightning thief” At Percy’s words Y/N’s head went fuzzy, her stomach turned. “He’s serving Kronos, hes trying to bring him back.” she didn’t want to believe what she was hearing, “ Oh… and Y/N… he said that if I happened to survive, to tell you… he meant what he said last night, and that he is really sorry.” Percy said that as if it was irrelevant.

“No, you're lying. Luke, he wouldn… He isn’t... “ She shook her head trying to deny it but then something came back to her.

“I’m sorry. I was just so pissed, I needed to get it all out.” She ran out of the infirmary, tears stinging her eyes and her head steaming. She ran into the cabin, and without thinking rationally started to throw things around out of… well, she wasn’t really sure what she was feeling, she just needed to get it out.

Once she was done throwing things around, and the cabin was totally trashed, she knew exactly what she was feeling. She ran to the lake, feeling angry and sad. She took her shoes off and sat at the edge with her feet in the water. Tears running down her face.

“I just hope you will forgive me at some point.” Luke’s words rang out in her head. “I don’t think I ever can.” She thought. It wasn’t because of the fact that he had betrayed her friends, her family, betrayed her. It was more the fact that Luke was so selfish, so so stupidly selfish that he had to dump that onto her. He had to tell her how he felt and then go and break her like that. Because of that, she hated him, but at the same time, deep in her heart she still loved him, something small was telling her that this wasn’t actually Luke, that he was really the Luke that she loved and that something was controlling him.

She looked up at the sky, the clear blue sky. To anyone else, on any other day, it would have been a beautiful day. But no matter how much the sun shined, all she could see was grey. “Why? Why can’t I be happy? Why do you insist on torturing me constantly. What did I do to make you decide I don’t deserve happiness? Was it because I was born? It’s not my fault that my father can’t keep a stupid promise. It’s not my fault i’m alive. I never asked for this. So why do you do this to me? You petty little brat! I hate you with every bone in my body.” She screamed at her uncle. Zeus wasn’t listening to what his pathetic niece was saying, but someone was.

His chest felt heavy. Listening to what the beautiful broken girl was saying. He had wanted to hold her like he should have for every heart breaking moment of her sixteen years. “I’m sorry i couldn’t save you from that. But I gave you Percy. You have each other now. Take care of each other like I can’t.” Poseidon sighed.

[coracandy]

So. About that 6th wedding option.

Long post. Not sorry.

Trigger warning for #beemoovnegativity I guess. Probably throw that warning on everything I’ve posted since UL launched and everything I am likely to post for the foreseeable future because I hate beemoov. So much. I hate very nearly all of the writing choices that were made through LL, with everything surrounding Eric taking 2nd place on the worst story choices of the whole game list right behind the student falsely accuses their teacher of sexual assault plot. I just really hate cheating plots. I have also been obliquely accused of hating the Eric fans and I just want to clear up here and now that I only hate some of you. Most of you I am happy for. But man.. some of ya’ll have some utter garbage opinions and I’ve had a couple wine coolers today so I’m ready to no filter on all my own opinions about this whole mess. Click through if you want them.

Starting off.. Yeah, I said it would be funny if the wedding episode ended with Candy cheating on Eric and you know why I said that? Because if your Candy is with Eric in the first place it’s only because your Candy is a cheater. Canonically. In the real story of the real game. Not your fanfic version which we’ll get to in a bit, I promise, but in the actual game as it is actually written, if this is the path you chose then, canonically, your Candy is a cheater. She is selfish. She cares about no one and nothing but herself and what she wants in the moment. And, frankly, it seems like some of the players feel the same. I vividly recall many screen shot posts by Eric fans getting offended that their former love interests were angry about being cheated on. Citing that anger as justification for the cheating even. “This is how they react to the news? Ugh! I’m glad I cheated on them. They deserved it.” And that’s just.. reprehensible. Truly. Ya’ll remind me of beemoov, tbh. Treating someone’s anger at being stabbed in the back as a good enough reason to have stabbed them in the first place and an excuse to never have to apologize or even acknowledge the hurt.

So that’s Camp One of the Eric fans (probably the smallest camp tbh, but still very much one that exists) - the people who acknowledge the cheating aspect of the storyline but think it’s a good thing and yeah, I actually do just hate those people and their attitude. So to those people let me just say - 1) Monogamy isn’t sex negative. You’re ridiculous. 2) This storyline isn’t non-monogamous representation. It’s cheating. Those aren’t the same thing. 3)Betraying someone’s trust is always -always- a selfish, cruel, morally reprehensible thing to do. (And before anyone starts strawmanning at me about but what if that person was abusive - stop. That’s not what we’re talking about here, and you know it.)

So on to Camp Two of the Eric fans -  the drama addicts. The people that took the cheating route just because it was the first interesting thing to happen in the story in about 15 episodes. This is a camp I don’t hate but man oh man do I get frustrated by the way that all media and storytelling panders endlessly to them. This type of fan is the reason I can’t have nice things. The reason I can’t have a simply told story that builds to a narratively satisfying conclusion but instead get ass-pull twist endings that are exciting by dint of being unexpected but make no sense when you stop to think about them for five seconds. They’re the reason I get to be constantly frustrated by slow burn romances that last seven seasons and then end with the characters finally hooking up only for one of them to die two episodes later because happiness and contentment are boring. Heaven forbid a story ever slow down to focus on character development. If no one’s being killed, or cheated on, or getting pregnant without knowing which of three guys the father might be, or getting kidnapped, or diagnosed with a fatal disease, or lying to their best friend then there’s not even a story there. No tension. No drama. Why bother watching? Who wants to see characters being happy? I do. Please. For once. For more than a scene or two before something devastating happens to end it again. Just let me have nice things. For the most part this camp of players seems kinda meh about the idea of a wedding episode and would probably agree with me that Candy cheating on Eric during it would be funny. Feel like a lot of them meme on Eric as best LI because they like watching drama in the fandom as much as in the game. And I do genuinely hope they’re enjoying it while it unfolds. We have polar opposite tastes but I dream of someday living in a world where we can both have our own definition of nice things and both be happy.

And now on to Camp Three -  the people I think this wedding episode is mostly for. This is the camp I have nothing but sympathy for. These are the people who just genuinely liked the character. He simply clicked with them more than the other LIs, was closest to their idealized partner. So they ignore the way he was used in the story, headcanon away the cheating or write in their own version where the breakup happened before the sex scene, or the original LI was abusive, or maybe they were just never in another relationship through LL at all in their version of events. They just really like this character and want to have their Candy get a happy ending with him. And I have sympathy. I do. I would have loved for beemoov to give an option to end up with Eric without being dishonest. But they didn’t. That version of the story is just fanfiction. And it frustrates me when people get so invested in a fanfic version of a character or story that they start insisting the canon version is wrong and that people reacting to the canon version are misinterpreting it. I sympathize. I do. As a Lysander fangirl, I understand very well the emotional attachment one can develop to a character and story you mostly had to invent yourself because the source material never bothered to. But you can’t get offended at people being disappointed or even angry that the cheating route got a happy ending just because your personal fanfic version of the story didn’t include the cheating. The anger really isn’t being directed at you but at the canon story choices you probably also hated. I wish the story had been different for you. I really do. And hey, you all get the last laugh, in the end, as it seems the story is getting whitewashed or retconned or just generally is planning to ignore the ugly parts of what happened to give you the big white wedding of your dreams with your perfect man. And I’m happy for you. We should all have had that chance.

But we won’t. Because beemoov still doesn’t care about a lot of us. That’s where this anger mostly comes from. And it’s why I can’t agree, even slightly, with the people who are pointing to this decision and saying “Look! They’re listening to the players finally. Maybe things will get better.” Because they’re only listening to some players. Some of us have been begging to be heard for years now and they still won’t listen. And they never will. Much as I'd love to be wrong about that, I’m not wrong and you all know it. I’m happy for the people who are happy right now. But I’m warning y’all.. Don’t get comfortable. Don’t ever trust them. They’ll rip your heart out, tell you you should like it, and turn their backs on you forever while you bleed out. Don’t think it can’t happen again. It can, and knowing beemoov, it probably will.