#this was cool to watch in the anime if i'm remembering the part right

[apple8ees]

MIHAWK MENTIONED IT SEEMS

[doofnoof]

@7-11thuniverse my tags Explain why I am. Confused to say the least, answering Prev

Tldr; most of the critters I know are less "please don't bother us we wanna be left alone" and more "SKYRIM BELONGS TO THE NORDS" like?? I have been consistently dealing with the Katsuki Bakugo of the Natural World. Not even kidding, the Chasing experiences where a critter has fallen on my face/out of my hair/out of an object are all real, and most choose to die fighting, with honor or smth. One particular spider had to have a work boot thrown at it twice because it kept getting back up and rearing it's front legs at my mom before running forwards a bit. Yes I did pee a little. No I don't know what his entire problem was.

YOU DONT HAVE DRYERS IN AUSTRALIA???

KANDI WHY

HOW DO YOU WASH YOUR CLOTHES??

DO YOU JUST

WEAR SOGGY CLOTHES AFTER A WASH??

HAVE YOU NEVER EXPERIENCED WARM CLOTHE FEELING AFTER A DRYER CYCLE ENDS??

WELL WE *WASH* OUR CLOTHES IN A WASHING MACHINE BELEIVE IT OR NOT BUT FOR HOW WE *DRY* OUR CLOTHES WE JUST USE A CLOTHES LINE CUZ BELEIVE IT OR NOT ITS RELATIVELY WARM ALL YEAR ROUND IN AUSTRALIA SO WHY WASTE MONEY AND ELECTRICITY WITH A DRYER WHEN ITS WAY SMARTER TO JUST USE A LINE?????

(i have one of these washing lines but its like over 20 years old and super broken so it cant close but thats okay)

[joelscruff]

I have a prompt for you: Joel, reader and pillow humping. Do with this what you want 😁

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YES. (this is short and not proofread don't come for me) i'm also combining this with another request i just got: joel and reader with the sentence “you say it’s big but you take it. ride cowgirl.” from frank ocean pyramids😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 when i say this isn't proofread, i mean it!!! it's probably bad!!! i'm sorry!!!!!!!! i just wanted to write something lmao

you wake in the middle of the night with a fire burning in your tummy. you can barely remember the dream you just had but the lasting effect is evident as you shove your hand down under the blankets and feel your pussy, wet and sticky beneath your fingers. fuck.

joel is fast asleep beside you and you know better than to wake him; he's had trouble sleeping these past few nights and this is the first time in a while that he hasn't been tossing and turning. you don't want to deprive him of that pleasure.

but you don't want to deprive yourself of pleasure either.

you start to rub yourself, scrunching up your face in satisfaction as you give your clit the treatment it deserves, releasing some of that ache and pressure in your belly. but it's not enough; the angle isn't right, the feeling of your fingers. you don't like masturbating, not anymore, not since you met joel and he started keeping you more than satisfied almost every single day. touching yourself has lost its spark and after rubbing your clit for a few moments you realize it's not gonna get you where you need to be.

you sit up, being careful not to jostle joel too much as you grab your pillow and slide off the bed. you place it on the floor, watching from the corner of your eye to make sure he's still sleeping. then, with quick hands, you yank your panties off and settle easily onto the pillow, spreading your legs around it and kneeling on the floor. the coolness of it against your wet heat makes you bite back a whimper.

you dig your hands into the carpet, baring down on the pillow and letting the edge of it slip past your puffy and swollen lips. it rubs perfectly against your clit, foreign enough that it no longer feels like you're getting yourself off.

you turn your head to look at joel, lying there looking peaceful and relaxed as he sleeps through your sudden depravity. he's so handsome, hair grey and tousled against his pillow, forehead and jaw solid and firm, lips parted and slightly wet beneath his scruffy beard and mustache. a few hours ago he'd had that mouth against your pussy, suckling at your clit and fingering your hole until he'd made you come. you keep that image in your head now as you grind against the pillow, soft and supple.

it's only after a few more gyrations that you realize his eyes are suddenly open. you freeze, staring back at him and wondering what he could possibly think of you right now, crouched on the floor like some kind of wild animal while you fuck yourself against a pillow.

"what are you doing, baby?" he murmurs, not moving from his place on the bed.

"i don't know," your face is red but you start to grind against the pillow again, no longer worried about the whimpers bubbling past your lips, "i just wanna come."

he sits up in bed then, pulls back the covers and tugs his boxers down; he's already half hard from watching you, "come here, baby, sit on it."

you scramble up from the floor, leaving your wet pillow behind as you climb back in bed and crawl over to him, pulling yourself up and hovering over his dick. he holds it in place, watches you sink down on it with no preparation whatsoever.

"fuck," he groans, "what a way to wake up."

you're too distracted by the stretch of him to know what to say, squeezing your eyes shut and biting down hard on your lip as his girth stretches your hole. you regret not fingering yourself; why'd you have to go straight for the pillow? his cock feels good inside of you but the burn is almost too much.

"i should've prepped," you whimper, "it kinda hurts."

his brow furrows, "what? baby, why didn't you tell me?" he moves to pull out of you and you bare down on him quickly, shaking your head.

"no, joel, it's a good hurt. it's so big," you look at him with hazy eyes, feeling simultaneously half asleep and wide awake, "and it's getting bigger. fuck." you whine then, a high keening sound that has you wrapping your arms around his neck and leaning in closer, "oh my god, it feels amazing."

he holds you close and lets you get used to his size, growing larger the longer he's inside you. you've taken his cock countless times before but never without him fingering you first, and never when he was only half hard to begin with. the sheer size of him just continues to fill you up the longer you sit there, a deep groan emitting from your throat when he's finally at his peak size.

"oh, fuck," you moan, "okay, fuck me. fuck me." you suddenly feel frantic, lips against his ear as his hands find their familiar place on your back. he hears you loud and clear, immediately fucking up into you and giving you what you need. the head of his cock pounds fervently against your cervix and your eyes roll back, already feeling like you could come at any second.

"what's gotten into you, baby?" he asks between thrusts, gripping you tightly as he bounces you up and down, "you need cock that bad, huh?"

"yours," you whimper, "your cock, no one else's."

"needed it so bad you fucked a pillow," he groans, fucking you faster, "just had to have something touching that needy little pussy. absolutely shameless. does it still hurt, baby?"

"n-no," you shake your head, "doesn't hurt."

he suddenly stops thrusting, stills inside you and leans back against the headboard, "then you do the work for a bit, i'm tired."

"joel," you whine, pulling back to look at him, "that's not fair."

"you woke me up, baby," he whispers, the ghost of a smile on his face, "i was sleeping so good and you woke me up with your pretty little whimpers."

you pout, "it's too big," you're laying it on thick, hoping he'll come around, "i'm tired too, can't do it by myself."

he smiles, "it's not too big, baby. it's made for you," he reaches down and lands a playful smack against your ass, squeezing your cheek tightly, "now ride it."

it takes a few seconds for you to get back into a rhythm but before long you're pulling yourself up and down on his cock, loving the way it slides all the way in and hits the deepest part of you and then pulls all the way out. joel just watches you with sleepy eyes, squeezes your ass and smirks every time you cry out.

he knows when you're close, has seen that expression on your face and felt the way your pussy tightens around him too many times to not know what it means. he reaches down and rubs your clit, smiling when you moan his name and start twitching in his lap.

"there it is," he murmurs, "that's what you wanted."

you're vaguely aware of him finishing a few seconds later, coming inside of you without having to ask; he knows you want it. your legs are shaking when he pulls you off, lays you beside him and strokes your hair. you can feel yourself drifting off again but before you can fall asleep you feel him place his pillow beneath your head.

"but-" you start to protest, opening your eyes again and watching as he leans over you on the bed, reaching down onto the floor for the pillow you'd fucked yourself against only moments ago.

"shhh, go to sleep baby," he whispers, picking it up and placing it on his side of the bed, "i want this one."

[silverzoomies]

Oooh, some good ol' Peter Maximoff with number 1? That'd be either godly or comedic gold, I feel...

Peter Maximoff/Reader drabble: ⚡"So, how do you want me to fuck you?"⚡ warnings: light hints of cunnilingus and smut. peter being peter. sorry !!

Peter is…blunt. Majorly blunt. Quick to the point, but somehow always wasting time.

You were both going at it like insatiable animals. Peter’s skilled lips and buzzing tongue brought you to nirvana. Gifting you not one, not two, but three wickedly intense orgasms.

In post-nut bliss, you’re buck ass naked on his basement sofa. Your limbs droop loosely. Sweaty in summertime heat. Cool air wafts within the basement, but it does nothing to nullify steamy warmth on your skin.

Wordlessly, he comes up to kiss you. Conquering hungry smooches with his swollen lips, Peter brings the taste of your own arousal on his tongue. His torturous fingers toy with your sore pussy a little more. Peter plunges his digits in your soaking wet slit. He explores your plush channel, testing the tight space for a future visit.

“Tell me how you want it, babe.” He breathes into your ear, nuzzling your cheek, moving to murmur into your lips, “You want it fast? Or...nah? You want me to hold back? Take it slow? Cuz, fuck. You feel so good, I dunno if I can…”

You answer with an unintelligible squeal that makes him chuckle. As you moan and writhe under Peter, you help him peel off everything he wears. Peter kicks off his worn sneakers.

“Don’t need these where I’m goin’.” He quips humorously, moving in for another messy kiss.

His Buffalo Springfield shirt comes next. And just as you run your trembling hands down the athletic shape of his torso, Peter parts from your urgent kisses. His muscles are hard as steel under your fingertips. But you don’t get a moment to appreciate them before they’re gone. Peter sits up all the way, his black jeans and belt undone. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and stalls for a beat.

“Uhm...what's up? Are you o-” You start to ask.

Peter interrupts, “I'm great. But can you hold on just a sec? Thanks.”

The silver haired speedster disappears in a flash, leaving your poor pussy abandoned and aching. Your brows curl inward as you sit up on the sofa. You relax your tense shoulders. Completely nude, so spent, and longing for more all at the same time; you await his return. Sex-ridden pulsations of scorching heat stir in your core. It’s such a strong sensation, it physically pains you.

Your body needs to feel the pressure and warmth of his hands again. Peter must’ve imbued you with his own heightened impatience. Because you’ve never wanted dick this badly in all your life. He takes such a long time getting back. You almost tear up at the agonizing loss of his presence.

He reappears in a blurry, silver gust of wind. Standing idly in the basement - barefoot, shirtless, with his pants undone and his belt hanging loose - Peter shovels pink frosted sprinkled donuts in his mouth. One by one. It’s a nauseating sight, watching him shamelessly devour the sugary delights.

Your lustful frustration boils to a breaking point, and you scoff. Any other time, you might've laughed 'til you passed out.

“You cannot be serious right now.”

“Whuhhuhhh?” Peter mumbles with his mouth stuffed full. Pushing the last donut past his stained, pinkish lips, he swallows in less than a second. He speaks in a clearer, albeit wise-ass tone, “Sorry not sorry. What? You never got, like, a wild craving outta nowhere?”

He moves to the sofa faster than your brain can process. Digging a single knee into the cushions, Peter guzzles an entire soda in one swig. You don’t remember him grabbing one. And while you don't care to think about it, it's gone in an instant.

"C'mere, you." He sluggishly smirks.

Another half-second, and he smashes his sickly sweet lips into yours. Sporting a proud hard-on in his open jeans, Peter ruts his clothed bulge into your bare heat. Even in spite of how maddening his tendencies are, he makes you melt under him so easily.

The two of you find your rhythm again. Reviving the erotic mood simmering between you both, you speak your own hushed, coquettish words.

"Peter, please? Give it to me fast? So fast. I want you to keep going, and never stop. Can you do that, baby?" You breathe a bashful whisper into his lips.

There's another pause. Peter halts for a tormentous moment. He narrows his eyes in pensive thought, shaking his head.

“Wait. So, how do you want me to fuck you? I totally spaced out.”

[wirewitchviolet]

I miss games conveying a sense of Bigness

As you know if you watch my twitch streams, I play a lot of games, and games from a lot of eras, and there's a whole bunch of industry trends you pick up on from certain time periods. The one I really feel like talking about was a definite thing from oh... 1998 through... 2010 or thereabouts? Basically the aughts, give or take a couple years. Or if you prefer, the first two Playstations' run and a bit of the third. It was a period where games in general were really committed to feeling Big.

It feels a little weird to say that when major releases are priding themselves on stuff like measuring how much disk space they need in terrabytes and maps that sprawl out everywhere, but that's not what I'm talking about here. Games trying to feel Big is more of an attitude thing, and ironically enough I'd say it fell out of fashion almost immediately when Open Worlds became the new big thing. We hit a point where people actually made the maps for their games super big (even if most of that space was just kinda vast stretches of unremarkable rocks) so there's no more need to fake it, right? But faking it was kinda great.

I was thinking about this a lot playing the Resident Evil 2 remake, and comparing it to the original PSX game. See the original Resident Evil was set in a spooky mansion out in the middle of nowhere, but RE2 was the Bigger Better Sequel. So now we have a zombie outbreak happening in a whole major city, not just this single mansion. And how do we accomplish that? Do we actually model hundreds of buildings and have a big meandering adventure through all of them, or even a good swath? No not at all. Let's compare the actual maps side by side...

[There WAS a full map of RE2 here it was causing the post button to bug out. Look it up on your own?]

It's a little bigger. There's maybe a dozen more total rooms? But mostly, it's a smoke and mirrors thing. We've still got one big primary location, an animal-filled hike to a side location and back, and an underground science facility, but it feels like we've increased the scope to an entire city. The first playable moments have us out on the streets of the city, objectively in a few quick hallways, but presented as streets packed with dozens of crashed cars, raging fires everywhere, dead bodies littering the streets, and what again feels like innumerable zombies feasting in scattered packs. Once inside, arms of several zombies outside will reach in clawing at you, or later in the game finally breaching through. The remake completely loses that feeling. It feels like there's maybe a dozen zombies out on the streets.

Not to focus on just the one game though. How about GTA3? Remember how even when you're just on the first island, it feels like you're exploring this vast sprawling city?

Here's a more elevated angle from about the same point. I'm looking at this with noclip.website by the way, it's a really cool little toy.

The actual map is LAUGHABLY small. But it FEELS huge. They were really careful to avoid straight roads, and place a couple big vision blocking buildings, even if they're basically just a cube or two so that when you're actually on the ground, it always feels like there's so much more around you. Have another side by side, and a rough estimate of what's visible on the ground in the bird's eye.

RPGs around this time were also having a lot of fun playing with scale comparisons. FF7 is the obvious go-to. The world map is on par with any other in the series, but Big Cities are presented as such, making it very clear that you're just seeing parts of a single district in Midgar, really just the main street in Junon. Dragon Quest 8 had this very bold idea to keep the same visual scale on the world map as in the streets of the towns, with forests made of actual individual trees.

And I'm not even getting into the biggest elephants in the room. Are you old enough to remember how mind-bogglingly sprawling Hyrule Field felt? Maybe a bad example when sequels have kept that focus on selling their worlds as staggeringly Big. Shenmue? Objectively, looking at this map, there's not much there, but damn if I don't feel like this was a real town I lived in for a while 20 years ago. It's the way the detailing gets finer and finer the closer you get to Ryo's bedroom, where you can open every drawer, turn on every light, turn that orange in your hand, you know? I believe that bus you take to the docks has to stop in several other neighborhoods like this one.

And of course, then there's the one other series, maybe worth mentioning, perhaps.

Years later I'm still just speechless.

Again though, I don't actually WANT games with worlds as big as some of these feel. There just isn't the time and the money and the ability for a creative team not to burn out to fully realize that in a handcrafted caring way. I want some kind of inverted Plato's Cave, where it feels like there's a vast breathing world out there, but I'm really in a small cozy space watching masters of the craft put on a shadow puppet show.

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Just A Kiss

Joining the congrats train for @withacapitalp, happy birthday Liam! You're not escaping the frog theme and cursed Steve, not on my watch.

"Look man, I don't really care if you're actually a prince, a model or a lying hobo, the answer is still no."

The frog looked at him with so much sass Eddie actually considered caving in, but...nah. It was disgusting. Even though it looked kind of cute with that weird pattern on its head that looked like a really fluffy mane of hair, light brown eyes and slight pout. "Like it's going to kill you, man," it croaked out and Eddie took another drag from his cigarette. Talking frogs. Yep, just another normal day in Hawkins.

"Look, even if I wanted to, which I don't - zoofilia isn't cool under any pretense, just for your info - I'm pretty sure I'm just high as a kite. You're a frog, which duh, you probably know that, but...uh. I don't want to wake up in the morning with the unsettling knowledge that I smooched some poor non-consenting animal and all I got from that was some rash on my mouth. Hey, can animals even consent? That's...no, you can't." One more drag of his cigarette. Maybe two. Make it another cigarette, shit. He didn't think that one joint was so strong.

The frog rolled his eyes again. "I'm not telling you to go and such face with a dolphin or something. Plus animals don't give consent because they a) can't talk, b) aren't cursed human beings. Like yours truly."

Eddie bit the filter in a futile attempt to sober up. Didn't help. "So you've said. Cursed human. Sorry if I don't believe you, froggy."

"It's Steve."

Eddie snorted out the smoke through his nose. "Steve. A frog named Steve."

There it was, that adorable eye roll again. "It's a temporary frog, otherwise full-time human Steve." It even tried to put its...paws? No, not paws, frogs don't have paws, legs? Front legs? Cute legs. Those, on its...hips? Eddie didn't know enough about frog anatomy but hell. It was adorable.

He giggled, brushing back his hair. "Sure, full-time human Steve. Is this a part-time job, then? A hobby?"

"A fucking curse, that's what it is." The frog almost growled, except it ended the annoyed tone with an unintentional ribbit. "Shit. Have you ever had hiccups? This - ribbit - oh god fuck why - ribbit - is worse."

Eddie just shook his head, wondering if he'd remember this trip the next day. He hoped so. "You'd think it would be natural to you." When the frog - sorry, Steve - just stared, he corrected himself. "For a frog, I mean. Which you're obviously not, except now you are-"

"Which part of a it-was-a-curse-from-an-old-hag-my-dad-pissed-off-a-few-decades-ago don't you understand? Ribbit, god make it stop-"

"Pretty much everything that wasn't a ribbit, pal," grinned Eddie and lit another cigarette. But it was a bit too quiet and when he turned to part-time-frog Steve, he wondered if maybe the trip was finally going away, if he'd just been chilling with an innocent frog for which his nerdy brain made a full page of lore, except- "What?" he asked the frog who was eyeing his smokes.

The frog groaned and tried to rub its still-not-sure-if-leg-or-paw over its forehead. "Look, if you're not willing to put me out of my misery either by - ribbit fuck this - stepping on me or giving me an absolutely consensual kiss, at least give me a cigarette. After the day I've had, I really need it."

"Uhhhh..." Eddie thought for a moment. Was it animal cruelty if he lit up a cigarette and put it next to a frog? The frog didn't have to smoke it, right? And he had no way of verifying if the frog was a minor. In...frog years or whatever.

The frog narrowed its eyes at him. "A kiss or a cigarette, dude. Choose now."

"Geez, so demanding for such a little guy," grumbled Eddie but obliged, lit another cigarette and handed it to the frog...the frog who grabbed it with both palms and took a long drag from it, closing its eyes.

"I really, really needed this," it muttered. Eddie wondered it being a frog would help him save on the smokes. It looked like its lungs were fairly small, one cigarette would last him for ages, but how would he buy them? So many questions...questions interrupted by Steve blowing a tiny puff of smoke from its - his? - mouth and looking at Eddie. "Don't you have better things to do than smoke with a temporary frog on a Friday evening?"

Eddie rolled his eyes. "I liked you better when all you could say was ribbit. But actually no, I'm waiting for a few of my friends."

And wow, could that frog smirk. "Can't wait to meet them."

Eddie was still pretty convinced that kissing a frog was off the table. But when a familiar pizza van parked next to him, Jonathan and Argyle jumping out, he found himself reconsidering. Just a little. Because it would have saved him from the following conversation.

"How are you doing, my man?" smiled Argyle and pulled Eddie into a hug, cracking his spine in the process. Argyle's bear hugs tended to do that.

Jonathan just stood there, staring. "Is that frog smoking a cigarette?"

The world slowed down and Eddie was just about to explain that the weed was a bit too strong this time and he might have hallucinated that the frog was talking to him, but then it blew another cloud of smoke from its tiny mouth and glared at Jonathan. "You've got a problem with that?" it asked in a dangerous croak.

"Oh yeah," offered Eddie weakly, "guys, this is Steve. Steve, this is Jonathan and Argyle."

And Argyle, bless his perpetually stoned heart, just walked towards Steve and shook his front leg/paw/hand/whatever. "Cool, nice to meet you, dude! Hey, do you just smoke cigarettes or are you in for some Purple Palm Tree Delight?"

Full time Steve or whatever just gave a pleased ribbit. "I thought you'd never ask."

And that's how Eddie, Jonathan and Argyle ended up stoned out of their minds...along with a frog. The nights were warm and they ended up napping next to each other in a patch of grass next to the Lover's Lake, setting tiny stoned Steve to the side to make sure no one crushed him in their sleep. And Eddie, in his blissed out state of mind, really didn't look forward to the next morning. Froggy Steve was fun. He liked Steve. He didn't look forward to the moment he'd have to accept that Steve was just a shared hallucination between the three of them.

Except...

Except in the morning, he got woken up by someone cuddling him. And that wasn't unusual, Argyle was a cuddler, except he was wrapped around Jonathan like a very dependent octopus. Maybe it was the blanket. Yes, definitely, the blanket must have fallen off him and crumpled behind his back and-

And the blanket snored.

Flipping around, he found himself face to face with an absolutely gorgeous young man. The bitchy slope of his eyebrow, furrowed in sleep, the numerous moles...Eddie's breath hitched.

Before he realized what was happening, his eyes opened and the lazy smile he gave Eddie made him want to jump in the lake and swim to the other side and back. Just to cool down a little bit. "Morning, Eddie," he yawned and Eddie recognized that voice. With or without the ribbit.

"...Steve?" he tried, and the smile just widened. "Oh god, this is going to sound so weird, but I was really convinced that you were a frog when I met you yesterday."

Steve just stretched those biteable arms above his head and groaned, closing his eyes again. Only then did Eddie notice he was wearing his spare clothes, a bit too tight and mismatched, but it was all he had in the van. "I was a frog, man. Is your memory usually this bad?"

Eddie's mouth hung open. Oh okay. That explained everything. Except it fucking didn't. "Uhhhh...no. I mean. I remembered you being a frog so it's a good thing, no?" Squinting at Steve, he slowly added, "how come you're not a frog anymore?" It sounded stupid, even to him.

But Steve just rolled his eyes with clear affection. "It's what I told you when I met you. A kiss."

"Did I kiss a frog? I mean, you?!" he blurted out before he could catch himself, unsure which one of those two things shocked him more.

One more disapproving head shake. "Shit memory, told you. Nah, it was Argyle. We were high, I mentioned the curse thing and Argyle just said "anything for my bro" and kissed me. I turned back and you...uh. Kind of freaked out because I didn't have any clothes on, so you raced back to your van to get me something. Then we smoked a bit more and went to sleep."

"Oh." Maybe the weed really was stronger than usual because Eddie's mouth had no filter that morning, even more so than usual. "Is it weird that I'm kind of jealous of him?"

Steve opened one eye and smirked at him. "What, you dream of kissing frogs often?"

Eddie hit his shoulder and laughed, mindful of the sleeping pair next to him. "Nope, but sure will dream of kissing you, pretty boy. Unless that would turn you back. Would it?"

There were hands on his hips pulling him down, back to the inviting grass and towards Steve's warm body. "Only one way to find out," he grinned.

[threepandas]

The Vod's List: Part 3

The Separatist Army tries invade the Techganic homeworld and DIES SCREAMING.

I... I am cackling like a broken laugh 'track, in a low Senatorial staff seating area. Pretty sure everyone thinks I've lost my chips. But... BUT THEY DON'T GET IT! It's so FUNNY!? Oh Bones and Blood! Oh karking STARS!!! Of all the kriffing PLANETS to PHYSICALLY INVADE with DROIDS!!!

DROIDS!

I am wheezing. Gasping for air. Slowly tipping out of my chair as I all but seize silently in spasms of sheer, incredulous, amusement. Oh Stars, I'm gonna die. My gut is on fire and I DONT CARE. Droids! Just... just DROPPED UM right into the capitals like "here ya go! Surrender flesh bags!"

Pfffahahahahaha!

I finally slip, only for a gloved hand to catch my shoulder gently, keeping me from crashing to the floor. A calculated step and lift, brings my shoulder to brace against the side of familiar armor. A guard. I manage to glance up through my incoherent laughing fit. I know that armor!

"Fox!" I grin, glad I am starting to be able to tell the gaurds apart. It always felt rude to have to keep asking their names, even when I by all rights SHOULD already know them. "Good morning."

"Ma'am." He nods. I still don't get why people think they're 'emotionless'. Even through the voicecoder, his voice is warm. "Funny joke?"

"The Separatists invaded my planet." I laugh. At his questioning head tilt, I grin MEANLY from behind my mask. "Remember how we met? And you got infected? EVERYONE on my planet is some version of carrier, either Organic or Technological. Depending on where those droids land? They are either FOOD or free scrap metal. The Collective will EAT them. And folks back home?"

I glanced around, trying to find the room's cameras. Fox casually pointed before stepping between it's line of sight and me. Kriff he was so cool. I grabbed one of the old datapads I was supposed to dump in the recycler after my break. No one would miss if I threw one in the biohazard shoot instead... probably.

I turned it on. Showing it worked. A perfectly functioning, if old, datapad. Then? I listened to that old, old, OLD instinct in the back of my head that karking HATED technology. That honestly would be happier living in a stone shack on a distant moon, surrounded by growth. That could, at a glance, pick apart any given peice of technology's weak points.

Not to slice it. Or IMPROVE it. But to BREAK it. Irreparably.

My eyes found the weak point in the screen almost immediately. A point where fingers had worn it thin. Smack! I cracked it against the table, like an animal trying to open trying to open a nut. It cracked. And that was all I needed. All ANY of us would ever need, really.

Just One Little Crack.

I pulled off my mask, knowing my face was probably doing that... THING. That "super intent Murder Hunter" thing that we all do, when our instincts engage. But I wanted to show Fox. I trusted him. So I flexed my jaw and thought of the lift, of how me met, the STRESS. Just enough to get a bit of drool.

Then... I let it drop onto the screen.

The reaction, was of course, IMMEDIATE.

The datapad hissed and squealed, screen glitching violently. I carefully put it down, familiar with what was about to happen. Fox... was not. He watched. Frozen. Entranced. As the datapad burned and melted from within. Was CONSUMED. As my nanites wrecked hell in their final moments before dying, no longer supported by my body. Some of course, simply falling dormant.

Those were the lethal ones. The trap for future Collective members trying to reclaim tech. It's why all infected materials had to be treated as a biohazard. Those nanites stayed viable for upwards of a century AT LEAST. Several, in the right condition.

So droids? Ha! We were BIOENGINEERED to fight "droids"! We WERE the original GAR. What was that Human saying? "Nothing new in the Galaxy?" That.

Fox was taking even, measured, breaths. Clenching and unclenching his hand. His voice sounded... strained, as he agreed. That, yes. We WERE very, VERY alike. And that that was FASCINATING. Could his spit do that now too?

I... didn't know. Huh.

I blinked. First up at him. Then down at the 'pad. I hadn't considered that. Kriff. Well THAT was irresponsible of me. Yeah, yeah we should probably schedule some Techganic 101 lessons, shouldn't we? Since... you know, assuming you SURVIVE infection and first "heal"? It's kinda a one and done sort of thing.

You can't get... double infected? It very much IS a you ARE or you AREN'T a carrier. And even THEN... one of two kinds, which CAN NOT peacefully coexist.

Plus... since it's adapted to the Guards biology, a spread would be SUPER easy?

.........I..... I SHOULD tell someone.

But what would happen to Fox? I'm not blind. People aren't exactly... KIND to Clones. Would they decide its just easier to get rid of him? My gut say probably. Experience says likely. I've barely even STARTED working at the Senate and... well...

Maybe I should keep my mouth shut. WE should keep our mouth shut.

"This time, I'll be the one looking out for YOU, kay Fox?"

"Of course. I'll leave my self in your capable hands. I have no doubt... I'll learn A LOT."

There is something intent about the way he stands, the way he's bracketing me into my chair. The almost soft, warm but cloying quality to his voice. Like he's trying not to make it obvious he's handling me. Like I'm some import dignitary he wants to avoid upsetting. But one he LIKES. It's strange... I'm certain I'm missing something...

At least I have plenty of other Guards around to ask.

[ohcorny]

i need to be a hater on main about scavenger's reign or i will explode. i cannot be alone in this.

now that it's being moved to netflix and people are talking about it again, all i'm seeing is glowing praise and absolutely no criticism of the writing. i will gladly agree with anyone that it's visually stunning. like, a+ in that regard no argument. great looking show, and the worldbuilding of the planet vesta is super cool and clearly considered. i like those parts! but that seems to be all anybody is responding to when they praise it.

the character writing is fucking ridiculous. i could point at any of them individually and go "what the fuck is this" but it's been months since i watched it and i don't like arguing a point i can't clearly remember. but it was the most egregious around ursula so i'm going to focus on her. her character seems to exist just to cause problems for no reason, to the point where she's also the only character we get no backstory on. we never see her in flashbacks on the ship, never learn what she did for it or why she was there, nothing about her at all. she is the only one.

and she is the #1 source of shattering my suspension of disbelief. you cannot tell me that she and sam were surviving together for a month on this incredibly hostile planet, working together every day to call the ship down, to figure out how the world worked and what was dangerous and what they could use.... and then tell me she would turn around and treat him the way she does.

spoilers below the cut

she is so hostile toward him all the time for no reason. she wanders off to go look at a weird plant in the middle of a bramble that crushes you if you don't get out the right way, leaving sam alone on the outside with no idea what she's doing or where she is or if she's alive. and when she comes out and he is VERY REASONABLY upset that she did that and isn't interested in hearing about the thing she saw, SHE gets mad at him and says she doesn't need him.

YOU DONT NEED HIM? THE GUY WHO HELPED YOU SURVIVE THIS ENTIRE TIME? THE ONLY OTHER LIVING HUMAN ON THE PLANET AS FAR AS YOU KNOW, WHO IS THE ONE WHO KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE GOING, AND HAS THE CREDENTIALS TO GET YOU INTO THE SHIP? you have been alone with him for a MONTH, he is your ONLY HUMAN COMPANION, and you think you DON'T NEED HIM?? BECAUSE HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU IN A LOUD WAY?

this could be explainable if there was any real tension between them, or if we're given any reason to believe she actually could survive without him, but there isn't! she fucks up with the spores in the very first episode and would absolutely die if she was alone. sam is never anything but a good leader to her and keeps trying to look out for her, and any time he's "wrong" it's because he showed reasonable caution about the fuckplanet. he gets hurt by the egg parasite because he didn't want to climb into a giant animal's egg sac. reasonable thing to not want to do! when he and ursula get into that argument about her disappearing on him, he gets hauled off by the weird emu for the dramatic irony. because he was upset his only companion in the world disappeared. he never does anything wrong. it's never his actual character flaws that he gets punished for, it's only ursula's ~trusting your instincts~ shit that ever gets him hurt. she is ultimately responsible for his death but the show never acts like it.

so much of the show seemed to be drama for drama's sake. do not get me fucking started on kamen's creature. what was that thing's fucking problem. what was kris' fucking problem?

if i have to ask 'what is their PROBLEM' at every other character's choices, your writing is not good.

[layce2015]

The Boys (Soldier Boy x Female!Supe!Reader)

Chapter 4: Glorious Five Year Plan

Chapter 1 / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Present Day

*(y/n)’s POV*

"It's Solid Gold, starring Marilyn McCoo. With Solid Gold recording stars Kim Carnes, the Oak Ridge Boys, Waylan Flowers and Madame, the Solid Gold Dancers, and our first very special guest of the night, Soldier Boy!" The announcer from the show said as I sit there in my living room, watching, Bethany sitting next to me.

The camera pans down on the stage to show Ben, wearing his superhero suit including that helmet, standing on the stage as he begins to sing.

Fab Five Freddy told me everybody's fly

DJ spinning, I said, "My, my"

Flash is fast, Flash is cool

François c'est pas, Flash ain't no dude

And you don't stop, sure shot

Go out to the parking lot

And you get in your car and you drive real far

And you drive all night and then you see a light

It comes right down and lands on the ground

And out comes a man from Mars

And you try to run, but he's got a gun

And he shoots you dead, and he eats your head

And then you're in the man from Mars

You go out at night, eating cars

You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns, too...

As he sings, he did dance a bit then walked across the stage as the female back-up dancers surround him, all of them placing their hands on any part of him they could touch. And even watching this old rerun now, I still felt a bit jealous of seeing this just as I was when I was there on that show. I remember being a bit annoyed while I was standing backstage watching this from a TV screen.

"Weren't you on this episode as well?" Bethany asked me. "Yeah, I was." I muttered.

Sure enough, when Ben's song ended the camera switches to show the disco ball hanging from the ceiling as the announcer said. "And now for our second special guest, Mystic Shade!"

And the camera pans down to show me, in my superhero suit, on the stage, leaning against a tall white platform and I hold the microphone up to my lips. "Oh, there you are!" Bethany said, in a teasing manner, and I rolled my eyes.

Girls! Girls!

Watch out! Watch out!

I turn my head to look out at the crowd and I stand up, straighter.

There's a two legged animal running about

If it smokes a great big cigar

And it hangs around at a bar

If it tells the biggest lies, wears the loudest ties

It's a man

If it acts just like a crossed patch

Has a face with whiskers that scratch

If it's stubborn as can be, mean and ornery

It's a man

I watched myself saunter across the stage as I sang this old song, I raised a finger as if pointing out to the crowd before I lowered my arm, continuing to sing. "Wow, look at you go." Bethany teased and I scoff out a laugh.

It if walks, if it talks

If its habits are a little bit peculiar

If it brags and tries to make you think it's wonderful

Be on the lookout, don't let it fool ya

But if it makes the moon up on high,

More than just a light in the sky

If it kisses you and you find you like it too

GRAB IT!

It's a man

At the point I sang GRAB IT I raised my right hand up and clenched it into a fist then unclenched it and placed it on my hips as I do a bit of a dance with a smile, continuing to sing the song.

"Good God, I look so ridiculous." I muttered. "No, you don't. You're now sounding like an old woman." Bethany said, a bit of sarcasm, and I look over at her, she of course had aged a bit, wrinkles had appeared on her face and her hair was turning gray but I could still see that young girl I met back in the 70's underneath all those wrinkles.

"Well, you do realize I'm a little over a hundred years old. I think I deserve to sound like one." I said, smiling. "And yet you still look like you're in your early 30's." Bethany said and I chuckle. "Yes, bathing in virgin's blood does have its perks." I joked and we laugh.

"What? That's the secret? Why didn't you tell me?!" Bethany asked me, in a fake offended voice. "It's a curse I must bare." I said, dramatically, and we laugh and go back to watching the show as I continue to sing the song.

It if walks, if it talks

If its habits are a little bit peculiar

If it brags and tries to make you think it's wonderful

Be on the lookout, don't let it fool ya

And then one of the male backup dancers, dressed in a suit, comes up next to me and gets down on one knee.

But if it's kneelin' down on one knee

Sayin' darling please marry me

Then don't hesitate, better name the date and then

I had walked over to the man and caressed his cheek for a moment then lowered my hand to his tie as I sang the next few lines.

GRAB IT!

HOLD IT!

HANG ONTO IT! 

I grabbed the man's tie, yanked on it to make him stand up and pull him close to me. The guy looked surprised but also seemed to like it as I give him a flirty smile.

For It's a man

I belted out that last line then I pulled the man down towards me and I kissed him. I face-palmed at this while Bethany said. "Ooooohhh."

The music stops and the guy and I break the kiss and we share a smile before the camera switches to a different guest. "I'm gonna guess Ben wasn't happy about that kiss, was he?" Bethany asked me and I shake my head. "No, he wasn't." I said. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" Bethany asked me, concerned, and I shake my head as the memory of what happened after I left the stage came to mind, a smile slowly forming on my face.

"No, he didn't. He, uh...he did something else." I said and Bethany looks at me then noticed my smile. "Oh, I know that smile. Give me details!" She demanded and I shake my head. "A lady never kiss and tells." I said and we share a laugh again. We look back at the TV and my mind began to wander back to that night of the filming of this episode.

Flashback

I walked backstage after the performance and a few people smiled and congratulated me as I walk past them. Then I look over at Ben, who did not look happy. “What the fuck was that?” He asked me, angrily. “What was what?” I asked, feigning ignorance. I start to walk past him but he grabs my arm and I turn to face him.

”You know damn well what I mean.” He growls and I smirk at him. “Ease up, Soldier Boy. Jealousy is not a good look on you. Besides, it was all an act.” I said. “You sure? Because it didn’t look like an act.” He said and my smile grew. Honestly, I was having fun messing with him. “So what if it was?” I asked him then I lean into him. “What are you gonna do about it?” I asked and I see his eyes darken as he glares at me.

Most people would’ve backed down from this glare but I didn’t. Because I could see the lust and desire in his eyes, which told me I was in for it.

I let out a moan that really sounded like it could've come out of a porno as Ben shoved me up against the wall of his dressing room, thrusting roughly into me, my legs wrapped around his waist.

"Fuck, Ben!" I exclaimed. "That's right, you better say my name! Not that asshole you kissed! You are mine!" Ben growls as his thrusts become harder. I let out a strangled moan as I started to feel drunk with how good Ben was making me feel until I felt his thumb rubbing my most sensitive spot.

I cried out again as Ben said, with a low growl. "This is mine! No one else's! Say it. Say that this pussy is mine!" Then his thumb works faster and my walls clench around him even harder. "Y-Y-Yours...always....I'm..yours..." I was able to say in between gasps and moans I was letting out.

"You damn right you are!" Ben growls in my ear as he pounds into me and rubs that sensitive spot even faster and harder.

And at that moment, I shut my eyes and felt them roll back as a very powerful orgasm washes over me. "BEN!" I screamed out in ecstasy and then he growls out my name in my ear as I feel him release himself inside of me.

The both of us stilled and catch our breath until we hear a knock at the door. Both of us look towards the door, lazily, when the voice of the producer of the show calls out. "Soldier Boy, you and Mystic Shade are up in ten minutes."

"Okay, thanks. We'll be out there." Ben said and we hear the guy leave. Ben turns to look at me then gives me a soft kiss on the lips. "Looks like round two is gonna have to wait." He said as he pulls out of me. I hiss at this and set my wobbling legs on the floor before he walks over to his table that was next to us.l

"There's more?" I asked, breathlessly, as he goes to grab a towel and wipes himself clean, puts his pants back on then zips it up. "Yeah...gotta make my girl know who she belongs to." He said as he comes up to me and cleans me up as well.

"Well, in that case...I should be punishing you in round two." I said, smirking, and zipping up my pants once he finished. "How so? I didn't go kissing anybody." Ben said, tossing the towel aside. "Oh, but you did let all those girls touch you, let them run their hands all over you." I said as I sauntered over to him, my legs still feeling a bit like jelly.

I get up close to him and I grab his crotch, he tensed up at this and he let's out a small sigh through his nose. "If my pussy is yours then this dick is mine. And no one else can have it, no other woman should be touching you, understand?" I asked him and I could hear a low growl coming from him as I tightened my grip on it.

"Yes, ma'am." He said, lowly, and I give a seductive smile. "Good boy." I cooed and I kiss his cheek then let him go and go towards the door. "Where you going?" He asked me and I turn to face him. "Gotta go clean up my face and hair. Probably look like a used whore." I said and Ben looks me up and down. "More like properly fucked, in my opinion." He said, with that cheeky grin, and I rolled my eyes.

"I'll see you out there, Soldier Boy." I said, in a sultry voice. "See you later, Mystic Shade." Ben said and I walk out of the dressing room.

Present Day

I sighed a bit as Bethany pats my arm and points to the TV. "I forgot you two did a duet!" She exclaims and I look at the screen as it showed me and Ben back on stage, I must've being off on la la land in my head for awhile cause I remember our duet was at the ending of the episode.

The music intro to Endless Love began to play as Ben starts to sing first, both of us facing each other.

My love

There's only you in my life

The only thing that's right

I smiled at him as I bring my microphone up to my lips.

My first love

You're every breath that I take

You're every step I make

Then we sang together.

And I want to share

All my love with you

No one else will do

And your eyes (Your eyes, your eyes)

They tell me how much you care

Oh, yes, you will always be

My endless love

"You know, even though you told me about the crap you two went through, I still think you two made a good-looking couple. Better than him and that, what was her name? Crimson Countess?" Bethany said, thinking. "Yeah..." I muttered as I look down for a moment then back to the TV.

Two hearts

Two hearts that beat as one

Our lives have just begun

Forever

I'll hold you close in my arms

I can't resist your charms

And love

I'll be a fool for you, I'm sure

You know I don't mind

'Cause you, you mean the world to me, oh

I know

I've found in you my endless love

I felt this great wave of sadness overcome me and I get up and head to the kitchen. "(Y/n)?" Bethany called out to me as I head to the fridge. "You okay?" She asked as she follows me while I grab a beer bottle.

"Yeah, I just..." I stopped then opened the bottle and started to chug down the beer. "Hey..." Bethany said as she comes up to me and places a hand on my shoulder. "I know I should be over it but....fuck, Bethany, it's hard." I said and Bethany nods. 

"I know, I mean, I wouldn't know how I'd feel or do if Steven died. Let alone forty years after the time." Bethany said. "I know he was an asshole and a bastard but he was the only one that knew what I was going through, what I had been through. He was mostly good to me; couple of things he did, did annoy me. But I still love him." I said then she hugs me.

*3rd Person POV*

Maeve was swinging her sword around, like she was getting ready for battle. She jumps, rolls and swings the sword around until she hears a knock at the door. She opens it and sees it was Starlight. “Hi. Can we talk?” she asked. “No.” Maeve said, flatly, and she goes to shut the door but Starlight stops her. “Maeve, please.” Starlight pleads and Maeve sighs then lets her in and Starlight closes the door.

”I heard that you stopped training.” Starlight said as she noticed that Maeve had moved her furniture around where there was a large space in the middle of the room. “Yeah? You also hear that I wake up six days a week hungover, tits-deep in some random fսck pile? People think what I want them to.” Maeve said as she walks over to the kitchen island. “Okay, listen. Have you ever heard of something called B.C.L. RED?” Starlight asked her as Maeve gets a drink.

”You mean a weapon that can kill Homelander, if Butcher can find it?” Maeve asked her, knowingly. “You know?” Starlight asked, surprised, and Maeve smiles. “Who do you think sent them down the rabbit hole? Actually, I should say I had help with that but still…I brought it up to them. It's why I'm training. Or haven't had a drink in four awful, shit-eating months. Maybe I can buy Butcher a second or two to get a good shot. At the very least, I'll get a couple of licks in.” Maeve said. “Wait, so who gave you the information about this weapon?” Starlight asked and Maeve glares at her.

”Why should I tell you that?” Maeve asked her. “Well, whoever this person is, could join us. I mean, this person obviously wants to help.” Starlight said. “She only wanted to give out the information about the weapon and that’s it.” Maeve said and Starlight furrows her brow. “She?” She said but Maeve doesn’t reply.

“Okay. Okay, okay. So there's you, me and your mystery friend. Maybe we can find some others.” Starlight said. “Right. Yeah. I'm sure you and Duluth's Most Mighty would really get the job done. And I told you, my mystery friend doesn’t want any part of this. This is my problem. I'm the one who was with the asshоlе.” Maeve said.

“Maeve...you cannot do this alone. He'll kill you.” Starlight pleads and Maeve rolls her eyes. “You really care that little about yourself?” Starlight asked her. “I got it coming.” Maeve said before she walks over to her sword and starts to swish it around again.

*(y/n)’s POV*

“Okay, here is one scotch for the pretty lady.” Steven said to me as he hands me a glass of the drink. “Thanks, Steven. I said as I accepted it. I had gone over to Bethany’s and Steven’s house for the night to just have something to keep my mind occupied. Steven is Bethany’s husband for almost forty years and he always had this cheery carefree attitude, even at the age he is now.

“And, of course, for the lovely lady…bourbon!” Steven said to Bethany as she takes it. “A man after my heart.” Bethany said. “I should be the only man!” Steven chuckles and Bethany pretends to think. “Hmm, I don’t know..there is that cute young man at the coffee shop…” she said. “Well, then I better go pay him a visit, show him what happens when you try to get my girl.” He said and the two laugh and I smile and shake my head as I take a drink.

”Oh, and how are you gonna do that? Hit him with your cane?” Bethany asked him, teasingly, as she gestures to the black cane leaning against their couch. “Nah…I’ll just send (y/n) after him.” He said. “And what makes you think I’ll agree to that?” I asked him. “I’ll let you keep beating me at poker!” He said and my jaw drops.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked him. “Well, not to brag but…my superpower is that I am really good at poker. I just didn’t want to show off and let you win so you wouldn’t feel bad.” Steven said and I scoff out a laugh. “Oh, really? Well, c’mon, sonny, put your money where your mouth is!” I said and Steven claps. “Alright, grandma!” Steven teased as he goes to grab his deck of cards but then Bethany looks over at the TV.

”Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Look!” She said and Steven and I look at the screen to see that there was a news broadcast. It said Neuman Holds FBSA Press Conference on the news banner and Neuman gets up to the podium. “Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. I'm Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, the director of the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. For the last year, the Bureau has been working with Vought International under one guiding principle. The most powerful among us are not above the law, including the most powerful man at the company.” Neuman said then she pauses, looks to the side and takes a breath.

”Homelander...has bravely come forward as a whistleblower and provided evidence of crimes committed within Vought by CEO Stan Edgar.” Neuman said and the crowd gasps while mine, Steven’s and Bethany’s jaw drops at this. “And in the coming days, the FBSA will be investigating charges of blackmail, perjury and obstruction of justice against Mr. Edgar. Vought International must be held to the highest ethical and legal standards. The people are entitled to the truth about their heroes...” She said while Bethany and Steven share a look.

”What the hell?” Steven mutters and I furrowed my brow. “I don’t like this. Especially if Homelander is the one that gave that information to her….” I said. “Why do you hate Homelander so much?” Steven asked me. “I don’t know…there’s something…off about him. And I know how things went there at Vought…” I replied. “Plus, Homelander dated a Nazi, isn’t that bad enough?” Bethany asked.

“But he didn’t know…I mean, didn’t you know her as Liberty, (y/n)?” Steven asked me. “Not really well, course I thought something was off about her too back then.” I said and he sighs. “Look, I’m not defending him, I mean, I’m not a huge fan of the guy either but…some men make mistakes when they love a woman. I mean, it came out earlier he and Starlight are a thing now.” He said. 

Bethany hums at this while I stay quiet about this. I don’t know but I think that whole Starlight and Homelander paring is a load of crap and trying to deflect his whole thing with Stormfront.

*3rd Person POV*

Meanwhile, in Russia, Butcher, Frenchie, Kimiko, Hughie and M.M. went to infiltrate a military compound to find the weapon, thanks to Nina. Nina was Frenchie’s old associate and he got tangled back up with her was because his old girlfriend, Cherie, begged him for help to get her out.

So, for that, the boys had to a job for her then she would have her people help them get to the compound. They were able to cut the power out at the compound to make the Russian soldiers leave and they make their way inside.

“Any idea what this Supe gun is supposed to look like?” M.M. asked Butcher. “Ain't the joy in the discovery, eh?” Butcher said and they look around until they see a large metal tube. What is it?” Hughie asked as they look at it then Butcher looks over some papers nearby while Frenchie looks at this large glass case.

“Hey, there's something here. Look.” Frenchie said as he shines his light into the case where he sees a small hamster inside. “Look, look. Oh.” Frenchie said and M.M. comes up next to him to see the hamster. “Hey. What does it say?” Frenchie asked as he shines his light at the label that was written in Russian. “Says his name is Jamie.” M.M. said before he chuckles. “Jamie. Hi. Are you okay, Jamie?” Frenchie asked the hamster as he taps the glass. “No, no, no, don't fսck with it. Just leave him alone.” M.M. tells him and Frenchie chuckles.

”Aw. Jamie. Who's a handsome, petite, little gerbil?” Frenchie said as the hamster scurried around in the cage and Kimiko comes up and smiles. “It's a hamster. My daughter went through three of them.” M.M. clarifies then suddenly Jamie rapidly pounds around in the case, scaring the others. “Oh, shit! Motherfucking V'd-up hamster.” M.M. said, surprised.

At that moment, alarms start blaring. “told you not to fսck with him. Damn it.” M.M. growls at Frenchie and Butcher turns to them. “Look lively!” He shouts and every pulls out their guns and get ready for a fight.

Immediately, the Russian soldiers come in and start firing at the team and the boys all take cover and fire back at them. One soldier was able to corner Frenchie but Jamie, who had gotten out, flies up and burrows into the soldier’s eye, making him scream out in pain before falling over dead.

“Merci, Jamie.” Frenchie said as he nods to the hamster.

“I'm out!” M.M. shouts and Butcher fires his gun but he stops and looks at the others as they try to take cover. Butcher looks over at Hughie, who was hiding, then smiles at him then walks out. “Oi! Evening, cսոts.” He shouts at the soldiers and he walks out. The soldier firing at him but no damage was done to him, thanks to the Temp V.

The others watch this in shock and disbelief as Butcher uses laser eyes to take out the Russians, then he grabbed the nearest one and breaks his neck. Hughie then noticed a soldier coming up behind M.M. “M.M.!” Hughie shouts and he starts to run then teleports to the soldier and punches through the soldier.

”Oh! Oh! Oh, shit. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Uh...” Hughie grunts and pants then pulls his arm out of the soldiers body, revealing him to be completely naked. Butcher glares at Hughie, realizing that he had taken some Temp V without him knowing, and everyone stared in shock. Kimiko covers her eyes as Hughie chuckles softly. “Your dіck's out.” M.M. said, plainly, and Hughie looks down at himself then goes to grab his clothes and puts them on.

”Butcher?” M.M. asked, angrily. “All right, all right, look, hang about.” Butcher tries to defuse. “You and Hughie both took Compound V? What are you two, fսcking Supes now?” M.M. asked. “Temporary V.” Butcher said then Kimiko signs at him while Hughie picks up the busted cast he was wearing, smiling.

”Oh, she say, Why do you do this to yourself on purpose?" Frenchie translates. “Only lasts 24 hours, all right? Break glass in case of emergencies, you know, like this one.” Butcher said. “And you give this to-to Hughie?” Frenchie asked. “I didn't give it to him. The thieving git must have broken into the case and nicked it.” Butcher said as he glares over at Hughie, who looks at him then stammers.

”Let's just find this thing and get the fսck out of here, all right?” Butcher said and M.M. turns to Hughie. “You're better than this, kid.” He said and Hughie scoffs. “Butcher, I'm...Look...I'm s...I'm sorry, okay? It's just, I...” Hughie said then he laughs softly and everyone walks away from him.

Butcher walks up to the large container and he grabs at the edges of the panel and pulls it open. Smoke billows out of it and everyone steps closer to it to see there was a person inside of it. The smoke starts to clear up and they see it is a man with long hair and a beard, a breathing mask was over his mouth and nose and he was restrained inside. The man lets out a breath which is filtered through the mask and he opens his eyes to look at them, Butcher recognized the man.

“Soldier Boy.” Butcher whispered, shocked. Soldier Boy moved his arms to break the restraints off of his arms then takes off the wires then the mask and starts to walk out of the tube, naked as the day he was born. He looks around at everyone then turns as Frenchie stands in front of him. “Ah... It's okay.” He tries to assure. 

Suddenly, a bright orange glow appears in his chest then bursts out of him, Soldier Boy yells as Kimiko runs to Frenchie and pushes him out of the way as she gets hit with the blast and crashes through the wall. The glow dissipates and Soldier Boy grunts then he stumbles through the hole in the wall and walks away.

“Kimiko. It's okay. Huh? It's okay.” Frenchie said as he goes to Kimiko, but she had a barbed wire through her abdomen and she wasn’t healing like she normally does. “She's not healing. Why she's not healing? Kimiko. Why does she not heal? Kimiko. She's not healing!” Frenchie panicked and the boys gather her up and carry her to their van.

@winchestergirl1720 @deans-spinster-witch @mimaria420 @wirdbeimaufhebengebunden @kitsun369 @jesllianaquilesrolonsworld @deangirl96 @demodemo909 @cassiecasluciluce

[swiftiethatlovesf1]

A race for love p.14

Hii guyss, I hope you enjoy this part. If you've missed part 13 or the other parts you can find them on my masterlist :)

Formula 1 is all about speed, but in this story, the real race isn't just on the track. Read on to find out who will win the ultimate race-for your heart.

- Spa 2023 -

The night at the arcade is a whirlwind of laughter and friendly competition. You, Oliver, and his friends jump from game to game, trying your luck at everything from basketball hoops to air hockey. The lights flash around you, and the constant sounds of clinking coins and game tunes fill the air, adding to the fun.

After several rounds, you all find yourselves at a game that requires playing in pairs. Naturally, you end up teaming with Oliver, and the two of you make a pretty strong team. As the game gets more intense, you're both on edge, laughing and teasing each other with every move. With a final victorious shot, you and Oliver win, beating the others by a small margin.

"Yes!" you shout excitedly, unable to contain your excitement. Without thinking, you wrap your arms around Oliver in a celebratory hug. He stiffens for a split second, clearly taken by surprise, but then quickly returns the hug, his face flushing slightly.

"Good teamwork, huh?" he says with a shy smile, his cheeks still a little pink when you pull away.

You don't notice his blush, but you do notice how happy he seems, and that just adds to the fun of the night. You continue playing different games with Oliver's friends, feeling more and more comfortable with them as the evening goes on. Each game is filled with laughter and playful banter, making it one of the best nights you've had in a while.

At one of the claw machines, you watch as Oliver tries to win something. After a few failed attempts, he suddenly lights up when the claw finally grabs a plush toy—a cute stuffed animal. He turns to you, holding it up with a proud smile.

"Hey, look what I got!"

You can't help but grin. "Oh, Ollie, it's so cute!"

Oliver holds out the stuffed animal to you. "It's yours."

You blink, surprised. "No, I can't take it, Ollie."

He insists, pressing the toy into your hands. "Come on, take it. That way, you'll remember tonight—and how much fun we had."

His voice softens as he says that last part, and he steps a little closer to you. There's a brief pause, and you notice his gaze lingering on you, almost like he's about to say something more or... get even closer. The moment feels a little different, a little more intense than the playful vibe you've had all night.

But just as he's about to step closer, your phone buzzes in your pocket, and the moment is interrupted. You glance down at the screen and see Franco's name flashing across it. "I'll be right back," you say with an apologetic smile, stepping outside to take the call.

Oliver watches you go, frustration flickering in his eyes as he runs a hand through his hair. He'd been so close to saying something, so close to... maybe taking a step forward with you. But now, the chance was gone, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of annoyance as he watched you walk out of the arcade.

Outside, you answer the call, leaning against the wall. "Hey, Franco."

"Hola," Franco's voice is warm on the other end, immediately lifting your spirits. "How's it going? You having a good time?"

"Yeah! I'm having a great time. Oliver and his friends are a lot of fun." You smile as you look around at the bustling street outside the arcade. "We've been playing games all night, and I think I'm actually winning for once."

Franco chuckles softly. "I'm glad to hear that. I just wanted to check on you, make sure everything was going well."

"Aww, that's sweet of you." You twirl a strand of your hair, feeling a little flutter in your chest. "You know, I was thinking... we should all hang out sometime. You, me, Oliver, and his friends. They're really cool, and I think you'd like them."

There's a brief pause before Franco responds. "Yeah, sure. We can do that." You can tell there's a bit of hesitation in his voice, but then he adds, "If you trust him and think he's a good friend, then I'm in."

Your smile widens. "I do, Franco. I think it'd be fun. Anyway, I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Sí. Have fun tonight, cariño."

After hanging up, you head back inside, oblivious to Oliver's lingering frustration. As you walk back into the arcade, you tuck the stuffed animal under your arm, a smile on your face as you rejoin the group.

The night at the arcade had been a blast, and by the time you and the group have played through every game possible, it's time to head out. As everyone says their goodbyes, you find yourself walking toward Oliver's car. The air has grown colder, and you instinctively wrap your arms around yourself, shivering slightly.

Oliver notices right away. "Here, take this." Without hesitation, he pulls off his jumper and hands it to you.

"Oh, no, I can't—"

"Come on," he insists with a smile. "I'll get it back tomorrow."

Reluctantly, you accept, pulling the oversized jumper over your head. It's warm and smells faintly like him, comforting in the chilly evening air. Oliver, meanwhile, is trying not to stare. You look gorgeous in his clothes, but he keeps that thought to himself.

As you both climb into his car, you glance over at him, your heart still light from the fun you've had. "Tonight was really great, Ollie," you say, feeling a genuine sense of warmth and happiness. "I'm so glad we met. You've really made me feel welcome in the paddock these past few races."

Oliver glances at you quickly, his heart skipping a beat at your words. "I'm really glad I met you too," he says, his voice softer than usual. "You're important to me, you know? I've missed you around the last few races."

You feel a smile spreading across your face. "We should definitely hang out again at the next race."

Oliver's grip on the steering wheel tightens slightly as he fights to keep the excitement from showing too much. "Yeah, I'd love that."

"And maybe we can invite everyone again," you suggest, remembering how much fun you had with his friends. "Tonight was so much fun."

He smiles, but there's a flicker of disappointment in his eyes that you don't notice. "Yeah, sure. That'd be great."

As you drive back to your hotel, there's a comfortable silence between the two of you. You hug Oliver's jumper closer, feeling its warmth while gazing out the window, your mind still buzzing with everything that happened tonight. You had a wonderful time, and it's clear that Oliver's presence made it even better.

When you finally arrive at the hotel, you unbuckle your seatbelt and look at him with a grateful smile. "Thanks for tonight, Ollie. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely," he replies, his eyes lingering on you for a moment longer than usual before you step out of the car.

As you walk toward the hotel entrance, you catch a glimpse of yourself in a nearby window, wearing Oliver's jumper, and it makes you smile. The night had been full of fun, laughter, and a sense of ease that you hadn't realized you needed. Little did you know, though, Oliver was driving away, thinking about how much he wished it had been just the two of you the whole night, and how he was already looking forward to the next time he'd get to see you.

Part 15

Tag list: @hs2016, @a-beaverhausen

[therabine]

We've got some new cover art and as someone who works in digital media and deals with AI content on daily basis this new cover for Troy Saga set off an alarm in my brain. Naturally I sank into an analyzing spiral, because that's just how my brain works.

"Looks like an AI art with repaints on top" I thought to myself, but to be sure I've checked it with different AI recognizing software (remember kids, if you use AI to generate your art, other AI can reverse engineer the process and identify it!). But so can a human eye most of the time. Pay attention to the combination of these identificators:

- weird blur

- different lines of horizon in one image

- bonkers anatomy/construction errors

- high contrast

- a lot of nonsense happening in the background

The results of AI checkup on the new Troy cover art were mixed

"Okay, let's check out the original Troy Saga cover, I like this one"

Yep, it has no out of place blur, the wooden horse's anatomy doesn't weird me out, the backgrounds look nice, deliberately painted with attention and care, I can make sense of the individual strokes. Good to know that my eyes are still good for something.

"Just to be sure, let's check out the Cyclop's Saga"

Okay, now it's proper weird. Maybe the Hive is off caliber? Wait five minutes, let me make a quick AI Thunder Saga cover art.

Nope, still works. What about other covers?

Fascinating! To be honest Circe Saga cover art doesn't look like Ai to me (all three animals are drawn with nice proportions and the lion is probably drawn with the help of Symmetry tool in Procreate, AI is surprisingly shitty at doing perfect symmetry).

Maybe it's the style of the artist that's confusing to the AI detector? Zwist seems to be particularly fond of whirlwind designs in all of her artwork (bad AI art often does weird stripes and whirlwinds, especially when you're trying to generate something which doesn't have a lot of references for it in the dataset that AI is trained on). Let's run Hive on her original artwork with a lot of whirlwinds and a wonky tree.

...okay. Now that is weird.

Look, I'm not saying that Zwist is a bad artist or something, using Ai isn't against the law and she clearly can paint better than I do. She is talented, go show love to her original artworks that are not Epic related. Hell, I can't even prove with 100% certainty that AI was used at all. Just because I don't like the new Troy cover art doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy it too.

But the whole situation is fascinating to me. A lot of people on insta ask if the new Troy cover is AI, only to be shut down by fans who scream "no, that's just her artsyle and X confirmed that it's not AI, you are just haters".

YOU ARE NOW IN THE UPDATED PART OF THE POST

Special thanks to the people who shared the link to the new Troy Saga cover art speedpaint for erasing my doubts and providing a respectful conversation in the comments.

Watched through the speedpaint a few times, trying to figure why the end image became unsettling enough for a lot of people (myself included) to assume it's AI.

My guess is that Zwist has developed for herself an intricate decorative style, but isn't very familiar with so called 'academic' art.

Why do I think that? Well, I wanted to see how artists of the past depicted the wooden horse, and do you know what image you see when you type up 'Trojan horse' into Google? That's right, it's the giant prop from the movie Troy (2004). And you know, no shame here, using references to draw something you've never seen before is good, I'm just shocked I didn't recognize this design sooner it's very cool. What I really like about it is that it really looks like it's been made rather fast from the scraps of the broken down ships and yet it still resembles an actual horse. Look at the cute pointy ears! Look at the mouth of it! This gorgeous posture!

What's even better, it still exists somewhere in Turkey (well maybe not the actual prop, but the full size replica of it), so there's a ton of photos from different points of view. My best guess is that Zweist used this one as a reference for the new Troy Saga cover:

And here's a problem - this is a very complex structure to draw. Not only that, but Zweist also uses two light sources - moonlight from above and the light of the fire below, which means that we have two different sets of shadows emerging from these light sources.

Unlike all other covers that are very decorative in nature, this one is attempted to be very realistic, almost cinematic in its use of lighting. With all that extra complication it's easy to set yourself up for failure and get too much in the details while losing the larger shapes.

Unfortunately in her simplification of the original reference Zweist completely neglects all the intricate shapes and planes that make up the wooden horse. She forgets that wood cannot bend in circles like that, or that unpolished wood is a low-reflective surface (which means that even the lightest spot lit up by the firelight will be darker than the light on the sand/marble/metal coming from the same light source). It seems like she doesn't analyze the shape of it at all, so we lose the majestic posture and the shape of the horse head.

Just for the fun of it I used 1,5 hours of my time to photobash the reference photo into the original Zweist background. It's very rough (I literally painted everything using nothing but a standard Photoshop round brush and a computer mouse), but I think it gets my point across.

I'm too tired to redo the background and this post is already ridiculously long. But I think that it suffers from the same problems - lack of research and care. Those are just some random shapes taking up space. I get that it's supposedly a burning Troy we see around, but does it look like anything to you? I mean really? Again, it's just a shapeless mess. And all of that could be avoided with a bit of extra research and analysis. There's more to the ancient ruins that the same set of columns over and over.

So, what is can we learn from it? What is the conclusion?

Zwist is a talented young artist, but painting "realistically" isn't her strongest suit. You may like her style, or you may not, but I think there is a difference between "doing it your way" and "trying to succeed and failing". She may try to learn from this situation in two ways: 1) work around her stronger sides making the next covers with simpler designs and less intricate lighting or 2) practice the more realistic style and get better at it.

I don't know the exact reasons why the AI recognizing software flagged some of her work as AI generated. But I think that if it's not just your audience who starts to wonder if you used AI, but you somehow manage to confuse the very program that detects AI, then you've got a problem with your art.

If we want to beat AI companies in their game and stay relevant as professional artists we can no longer produce mindless art. We can no longer afford to produce sloppy work. As sad as it is, within next 10 years there is going to be a large shift in understanding and producing art as we know it. If the art we create can be easily replicated by AI or will look like it's been made with AI, then no one would bother to commission art from you. We have to adapt, to find new ways of exploring our creativity, perhaps even to create a new visual language of expressing ourselves.

In the end of a day human art always beats AI art. You know why? Because AI is not really Artificial Intelligence. It's just a very complex algorithm that is good at recognizing patterns. That's all it is. It doesn't have a conscience, it has no context for the human experience, it cannot think, and most importantly - it cannot invent.

So I want to end this post on the hopeful note - the art will survive. The artists will survive. And if we can learn anything from this situation is that kindness and open dialog is the vest way to deal with confusion. Once again I want to thank everyone who was kind enough to comment on and engage with this post. It grew out of love for something that is deep and personal to me (Epic) to a larger discussion of the changes in the world of visual art (something I love and care for even more). Hope this update spawns more nuanced and respectful discussion on the topic!

[incorrect-koh-posts]

Your knowledge of medieval stuff is really impressive! You said in the tags of that ask you answered that you majored in literature? I would love to hear more about your passion for medieval literature and just medieval times in general. Did it start with Kingdom of Heaven or were you interested in it long before watching the film?

Ahh, I'm glad you think so, thank you! ☺️

I did my BA with a major in German literature and linguistics and a minor in English lit. For my MA (which I'm almost finished with save for my thesis defence), I switched to English full-time. My interest in medieval literature is really something that came with my studies - I've always had a general interest in history and read lots of historical fiction while in school, but I'd had basically no exposure to medieval texts (or the knowledge to engage somewhat meaningfully with them) until I had to take my first compulsory "Introduction to Medieval Literature" class at uni. From then on, I just kind of fell in love with the subject. We had a great prof - a really cool older lady who gave the most engaging lectures and with whom I later took seminars on topics like the medieval idea of monsters or animal depictions in chivalric romance.

Within all things medieval, the area that perhaps fascinates me the most is medievalism studies, which is a sort of sub-discipline of medieval studies that investigates, broadly speaking, the reception and depiction of the Middle Ages as well as medieval texts and topics in post-medieval media. Idk why it had to be that field in particular, but there's just something so beautiful in finding parallels and continuities between our world and the medieval one, especially since misconceptions about the Middle Ages are still so prevalent. Unsurprisingly, I wrote both of my dissertations on such medieval/modern overlaps: In my BA thesis I looked into the portrayal and function of mentor-mentee relationships in medieval literature and modern adolescent fiction (lots of commonalities there, interestingly enough!), whereas in my MA diss I focused on the construction of dystopian scenarios in recent British Arthurian fiction and how these respond not only to the older Arthurian material but also to present-day environmental and political anxieties. (Sounds a bit complicated but it makes sense, I promise.)

Perhaps this is why KoH has had such a chokehold on me these past 4 years. It's such a flawed piece of media that it makes me want to dig my teeth into it, in an academic as well as a fic-writing sense. There are so many moments in it that could be right out of a chivalric romance, yet also so many others where the film blows its pretence to historicity to all hell; there are so many interesting characters who only scratch at the surface of the historical figures behind them, and simply so much wasted potential. It's just ... ahhh.

The funny thing is that my growing interest in medieval literature kind of coincided with me discovering KoH, which in turn made me dig even deeper into the research side of things (a vicious circle lol). I think I wrote another post on this about a year ago, but me discovering - or rather re-discovering - Kingdom of Heaven was basically the result of the following chain reaction: I somehow stumbled upon an old novel covering the same events as KoH (Graham Shelby's The Knights of Dark Renown) > something in that book's depiction of Raymond of Tripoli scratched my brain in the right place > I investigated further and found KoH > I saw that skrunkly Mr Irons was part of the cast and decided I had to watch it immediately. In such matters I'm a simple girl - nothing will incite me to watch a film more than an old history man being hot 😂

And then half-way through the film I remembered I'd actually seen it before - with my former best friend during the early years of secondary school when she was obsessed (and by that I mean obsessed) with Orlando Bloom and made me watch literally every film with him that she could get her hands on. Which was a good thing only insofar as it made me discover Lord of the Rings. Though in hindsight it's very funny because she clearly intended for me to join her in her Orlando insanity, whereas confused 11-year-old me instead stared at Aragorn and Tiberias like this: 😳. Yes, I've always had impeccable taste, obviously.

And thus, in the spring of the year of our Lord 2020, I entered my KoH era, and so far the brainrot is still thriving.

I do wonder, though, how many people in the fandom have a similar background? The handful of people that I know or have interacted with seem to skew that way, with mostly history- or literature-related fields of study, but I wonder how representative they are of the overall fandom 🤔

In any case, thank you for the fun ask that did not flatter me at all!

[emwheezie]

Do you have some fun facts about Enzo to share? Just wanna to know the guy a bit better.

This is Enzo Vincenzo! I've gotten a TON of asks about him, but was waiting to finish some art and work his story/character a bit more before answering! He's a character we thought up in 2014-15ish, but only recently worked in depth on his development. Pre apologies here, I'm longwinded when talking about my characters! (also it is 3:13am and I'm feeling silly)

Enzo is a secondary character in the comic, friend of the main character kind of deal. My cowriter and I love Enzo and are very happy that everyone else seems to like him too! We are making sure to develop all our characters as much as the two main characters so that we can create as rich of a story/universe as possible. (like we have so much content you could pick any random minor character and be like "them. make a spinoff about them" and we could just do that immediately we have so much content my brain is going to explode)

Enzo and Lennon are high school buddies who met sophomore year, shortly before Lennon dropped out. (peep the bottom art of them from their HS years)

Him and Lennon are big into movies. They binge watch them over the weekends or when he's convinced by Lennon to skip classes for the day.

Enzo loves to draw, especially dragons and horror related stuff. He posts his drawings on DeviantArt where he met xXHexiLexi328Xx and fell in love with her. She's also an artist who loves to draw super kawaii anime chibis magical girls and pokemon stuff.

No one thinks Hexi Lexi is a real person. Everyone's like "awh poor Enzo, still single...you'll find someone, buddy." But she's real and from Arkansas. (like that state even exists?)

Enzo loves knives. His favorite one is a switchblade engraved with the name "Colleen." He found Colleen at a Goodwill while he and Lennon were looking for parts to build a "Saw trap." (you know, from the Saw franchise) Enzo thinks he's Billy The Puppet from Saw...I mean, high school Enzo kind of had the same poofy hair and I'm not gonna be the one to tell him he didn't look like that puppet.

Somewhere along the way, early in their friendship, Lennon is convinced Enzo killed his parents. Lennon's never seen Enzo with his parents so I guess that's the only solution, right? It becomes a longstanding rumor/joke... and Lennon's like wow Enzo that's so cool I'm friends with a literal murderer. (Lennon is dumb).

Enzo once wanted to become a priest but then he remembered he was evil.

Enzo is Albanian-Italian and grew up in Cambridge, MA living with his parents and grandparents. His parents are super religious people who work at the restaurant his grandparents own, located in the North End of Boston.

It's a joke that Enzo's like never heard a music once in his life before meeting Lennon who introduced him to guitar. (He's rhythm guitar in Lennon and Tony's band Poison Boy Club)

I feel like I've said a lot of words and stuff. I feel like there's more but it's now 3:40am and my brain is mush. OH later on, Enzo really hones in on his art skills and gets into tattooing, earning himself an internship at a local studio.

Overall, Enzo's a cool, confident dude who's a little scary in a "big guard dog" type of way, but he's a loyal friend and does his own thing and he's with that.

[sadakorosee]

Friends fight too

all turtles x fem!reader (platonic, best friend relationships)

summary: friends fight all the time and sometimes it gets a bit too far

A/N: this is probably my, like, 5th angst fanfic of these turtles. told ya im the expert when it's angst; i like to break people's hearts ;)

"the best fights don't occur between strangers. they occur between friends who trust each other." - chuck palahniuk

It was a cool simple Tuesday night when the turtles and you went out for your patrol. You're a still in training to become part of their team as a female ninja - a kunoichi. You've trained under their watch and Splinter's but mostly Splinter. The turtles, when not occupied to save the city under Chief Vincent's order, would train you.

Even Mikey. Yes. His classes aren't easy to catch up especially when he's hyped about you joining their team. He makes sure you eat enough so you can build a muscle.

"Don't be as bad as Raph, though." He said one time and with sharp ears, Raph threw a spare shoe at Mikey's head and knocked him over.

Almost 9 months into training, you were 87% ready according to Donnie's statistics. A week or two and you'll be 100% ready depending on your confidence.

Whoever said ninjutsu was easy, they're nuts. Here you are in your early 20s learning extensive martial arts, you are sure your legs are going to give out the moment you're in real combat.

Which is happening right now - Donnie's monitors picked up movements from a factory 10 minutes from their whereabouts and Casey Jones, who is now the NYPD's lead detective, contacted them that there was a gang infiltrated the place. The turtles responded.

"We'll be there by truck." Leo informed Casey and turned to you, "Head back to the lair."

"Wait, I'm not going with you? I'm almost full-on kunoichi."

"It's too dangerous, y/n. You're not ready for this combat yet."

"So I head straight to the lair after my 9-5 job to do my training despite being in my 20s and busted my ass doing the training and you're benching me? What the fuck, Leo?" You were pissed. What's the point of training so hard if he's pushing you away from real combat?

"Guys, we have to go." Donnie called. Without further arguments, you ended up following them to their mission.

Part of you was excited but deep down, you were nervous. Perhaps Leo was right; maybe you weren't 100% ready and into the mission.

"You okay, angel?" Mikey interrupted your thoughts and nudged your knee. "It's alright, I'll protect you! Just stay behind my back and fight as many bad people as you can!"

Oh, that much you could do and it was easy bringing down human fighters. There were 30 of them against 5 of you. It was a piece of cake until-

Whatever these gang wanted to retrieve, it was important to them as they're willing to hold down 4 large turtles and cut their skin with their blades while you stood there with a grey suitcase in your hand, threatening to throw it into a pit of fire below you. Above you was a gap to the rooftop, a chance for you to escape with the suitcase to your reinforcements outside waiting for you; Casey.

You were about to escape until you see their leader taking out a shotgun that brings down large animals and you knew it was enough to kill the turtles with one shot. Their shells may be bulletproof but their physical bodies weren't.

"Give us the suitcase, little girl, or your mutant friend's head will explode in pieces." The gun pointed at Mikey's head and he exclaimed, trying to struggle his way out but there were more than 5 men holding him down.

"Run, y/n! Get out of here!" Raph shouted but all you heard was ringing in your ears. You froze. You started wheezing at the thought of your friends getting taken down by a shotgun.

You made a huge mistake.

You didn't remember a thing - as soon as your mind was clear, you were outside the now burnt down factory but the suitcase you thought you were holding was gone. Your fists formed into a ball and repeatedly hitting yourself.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

The ride back to the lair was dead silent, even Mikey didn't look too happy. The truck abruptly stopped at an empty undercross bridge, away from the main lights and city. The turtles stepped outside and this was it; you knew they were furious at something- or rather, someone.

"What the heck were you thinking, y/n? You had that suitcase with you and you had that chance to escape to Casey." Leo started, calm on the outside but pissed on the inside. He towered over you as he speaks, "If you didn't play hero, this case would've been closed."

"Why the heck did you stay up there?" Raph's critic came after.

"Now the suitcase is gone. It was our only source to ever find these gangs. They're tougher than the foot clan." Donnie remained calm but his arms were crossed staring at you. "All evidence of them existing, just gone."

"y/n.." no, not Mikey too. "You could've ran and save yourself. We'd be totally okay."

"They were gonna shoot you, Mike. I can't--"

"Didn't I say you weren't ready for this? And what did you do then? Full-on kunoichi, you say? Not even close to our level," Leo went up to your face, scaring you for the first time. "You screwed up our plans all because you were too cocky to admit you can't be like us. Master Splinter was wrong about you being the addition to our team."

Strike one: to the heart.

"If you weren't stupid enough to freeze like a deer caught in headlights, the cops wouldn't look at us like we're a joke. Thanks to you, by the way." Raph scoffed, eyes glaring at your shaking figure.

Strike two.

"If only you had stayed behind." You couldn't believe your ears when Donnie mumbled that but you caught on, tears pooling down your cheeks.

Strike three.

Mikey stayed silent the whole time they criticized you and went inside the truck. The 4 of them got so caught up in their own feelings and disappointment, they drove off back to the lair not realizing they left you behind in the streets all by yourself.

Just like that - something in you snapped and as the last tear dropped to the wet ground, so does your body.

The beautiful April O'Neil entered the lair 5 days after the accident happened with Chinese food takeouts and Casey walking in behind her with boxes of pizzas. "Hey, guys! Food's here!" Casey called out and immediately all 4 turtles rushed towards their human friends. Mikey practically hogged two pizza boxes but Casey smacked his hand away. "Excuse you. Ladies first." He winked at April.

After the turtles thanked them, Leo broke the ice, "How's everything at the precinct, Case?"

"Actually, we got a lead on the gang's movement. We have our spy with them."

"That was quick." Donnie commented.

"Uh, have you heard from y/n lately?" Raph asked, causing tension in the air. While the turtles looked at each other guiltily, they failed to realize Casey and April sharing looks.

"Have you?" Donnie realized his human friends weren't answering. He turned to April this time. "April?"

"Wait-" Casey pulled April aside, far enough so the turtles don't hear them whispering, "We were instructed not to tell them, April. She said-"

"I know.. she said not to tell but--"

"Guys!" Raph's voice boomed the lair, flinching at how loud he was being. "Sorry but are you hiding something from us? Did something happen to y/n?"

All April could do right now was shaking her head, her facial expression gloomed.

Both April and Casey's phone dinged at the same time. Looking at each other curiously, they looked down their phones. Slowly, the message registered in their heads and without saying anything, they rushed out of the lair leaving the turtles bewildered.

The turtles haven't heard from April and Casey for 2 hours. Whatever the message they received, it was involving their 5th member; you.

Unable to sit still, the 4 of them followed Casey's GPS.

"Casey's at the PD?" Leo frowned. "Then there's nothing to worry about, right?" When Donnie didn't answer and looked as if he's concentrating on something, Leo caught on. "You hacked into Casey's phone and listening to the conversation?"

"What-- uhh yeah," Donnie chuckled guiltily. "But nothing's happening. He's just catching up with another case that's-- hey, it's April's voice!" Donnie put on a speaker for the rest to hear.

"Hey, how's everything going?" Casey asked her.

"It doesn't look good, Case.. They called me at 2am saying her heartbeat stopped from the toxins and managed to revive her back to life but then she had a seizure." April's voice trembled, followed by sniffing. "She was fine when we picked her up that night and told me the turtles were mad at her. They left her when she was dying, Case. I never thought--"

"It's okay."

"Wait, dying?" Mikey stepped back. "y/n's dying?"

"We don't know for sure it's y/n.. m-maybe it's--"

"y/n is a tough girl. She lasted long in that mission. I didn't even know she was stabbed and injured badly. She-- she's good at hiding her pain, April. At least we found her on time."

"T-They're talking about y/n!" Mikey was already sobbing.

"Toxins? Stabbed? Their blades were poisoned," Donnie barely whispered, stepping back in disbelief by what they just overhead. Raph was pacing in the background; Leo had his head down. They will always recall the night they criticize you - yes, they were disappointed they failed the mission but half of them feared for your life that night.

They nearly lost April to Shredder throwing her off Sacks building and they didn't want to repeat that mistake again but history repeats itself.

The PD had built a secret entry for the turtles' transportation to go through and that's where they're headed immediately after finding out what happened to you.

"Chief Vincent." The brothers walked into the PD, their tall forms towering over all the cops and staffs there. They were told to keep their existence a secrecy and they came over a lot for complicated missions so they're used to the turtles bursting into their department.

"Leonardo," Vincent greeted. "I don't remember calling you over about a case."

"We're not here for a case. We need your help with something." Leo started, then Donnie moved to the front handing her a canister with a blue chemical inside.

"This is for y/n.. we know what happened to her so I made an antidote for the toxin in her body. She'd feel more pain but this would detoxify her internal organs. She'll be in good shape after 1 week of bed rest." Donnie swallowed trying not to cry.

Don't cry, Don. Be strong.. for y/n.

"I will." Chief Vincent smiled in encouragement and put a hand on Donnie's large ones, "Don't worry. We have the best doctors to treat her. Keep her in your prayers," she flinched, "if you believe in those, though."

The antidote Donnie created worked, much to the doctors' surprise. They asked the genius behind the creation. After 1 painful week of your body detoxing, you finally opened your eyes to bright lights and the holter monitor annoying you. You finally recall the past events and your body shot up, forgetting the sharp pain on your lower abdomen. You hissed by the excruciating feeling.

"y/n, hey hey hey, it's me April." April held you back from moving so much. As if your reaction says it all, she sighed, "You got poisoned on your last mission. Did you remember?"

Oh yeah, you remember - when your body hit the ground, you were conscious for a while and pressed the emergency button to whoever's responding. The turtles didn't have their own personal phone, except Donnie's communication device, so it was April that came to the rescue. All you remember was being brought to the emergency room and doctors asking you questions. You blacked out after that.

"Yeah." you responded, voice half gone. April handed her water. "How long was I out?"

"15 days."

"Feels like centuries." You grumbled.

April laughed, "Actually, you died like twice and the hospital couldn't find other solutions to help you. Luckily, our friend created an antidote for you after they found out." You frowned. "I know you said not to tell them but Donnie hacked Casey's phone when they overheard me talking. He actually thought I didn't know." She winked at the end.

You finally got discharged and went straight to the Chief Vincent, who helped with your treatment.

"Chief, I'm sorry I screwed up on our last mission. Don't blame the turtles; they were trapped and I was the one holding the suitcase that night. I should've ran and hand it to you."

"Well, sometimes things don't go our way. But the good news, our medical team managed to track down the poison that came from your body and traced it to a well-known dealer in (F/C/N). Thanks to you, our team is already there apprehending them." She put a hand on your shoulder. "Good job, l/n."

"Good job but at the cost of my life." You grumbled.

April chuckled and put her arms around you. "Wanna see our turtle friends? They've been waiting for your return."

It felt like years since you last walked into the lair, when it's only been 15 days. Even though you missed the turtles, you were anxious. If they weren't so concerned about looking good infront of the humans and paid attention to your injury, none of this would have happened.

But you were at fault too and you accepted that.

"Guys!! Guess who's home!" April yelled out, surprising you a bit cause you were deep in your thoughts.

You heard loud footsteps running towards you and without warning, Mikey landed infront of you making you scream in surprise.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Chill, it's me Mikey! We're cool!" he stepped back after seeing your terrified expression.

The rest huddled up infront of you asking questions here and there until April pushed them away. "Guys, she just got discharged; go back a bit. And no Mikey, she did not see Rihanna at the hospital."

You waved meekly. "Hey, guys."

Raph couldn't help himself and hauled you up in a gentle hug, his chin over your shoulder. "You dumbass. Don't you ever do that again." He forgets about his dignity and sobbed after finally hugging you. Feeling your flesh against his. You were alive. You're in his arms.

Donnie came next and hugged you gently, your arms around his neck. Of course, you didn't miss him sniffing. "Thank goodness the antidote worked. I-I was desperate to make it for you a-and if it didn't work, y-y-y--"

"Okay, braniac." You pulled away laughing, wiping his overflowing tears from his cheek. "It worked and it was hell for me but my body is healthy, thanks to you." You kissed his forehead.

"And you--" you turned around to see Mikey waiting for his hug and you jumped into his arms. "If I die, who's going to finish our hip hop Christmas album?"

"I'm not finishing it without you, angel." Mikey sobbed.

Then finally, Leo. Man, he was getting antsy waiting for his turn to properly welcome you home. And apologize to you earnestly. When you turned around to hug Leo, he was bowing 90 degrees at you. Your eyes widened.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you," Leo remained still in his position. "I was angry and blinded by my pride that I overlooked my own team member and sister who was injured badly to the brink of death. For that, I'm truly sorry and I'm willing to accept any punishment you're giving me."

"Any punishment, you say?"

"Yes." His fists shaped into a ball.

"Buy me Baskin Robbins, choco mint flavoured and--" Leo looked up when you paused and thought he'd be seeing you angry or upset but instead sees you forming tears in your eyes, "--a hug from you. I haven't gotten a hug from you ever since I started my training."

Leo reacted and hugged you so tight you might suffocate to death but you didn't care.

[channoticedmeuwu]

IMAGINING . . . SOOBIN & HIS TATTOOS <3

☆ 💽” —— ˘˘˘˘

p — CHOI SOOBIN × FEM!READER | g — SUGGESTIVE, fluff, established relationship!au, slight domestic!au somewhere in there | w — kissing (like a lot), sexual tension, smoking (reader & soobin), mention of cigarettes, mentions of food, j a lot of that stuff

A/N — um. i'm in distress. thank you.

🖇️ READ PART ONE HERE !!

finding soobin in the corners of the party— moonlight dripping onto his skin while he bent lower to stand eye level to you, tilting his head and making his hair bounce towards the side. a hand on yours while you slowly traced the design on his neck with the corner of your nail, and he'd wince at you, pressing his lips together everytime you dug a bit too deep. “you're gonna kill me, pretty.” and you'd giggle, fingering the necklace he wore, his forehead against yours and him groaning if you'd tug on it too hard.

and soobin's hand on your waist whenever you were near him— he wasn't really the type to make a scene in person, and you knew he wasn't afraid of anything. soobin trusted you enough to know you'll do the right thing, and if you ever needed him to be there for you, that's what he'll do. so when you'd glance towards him if you had someone particularly difficult hitting on you— he'd walk up to you, his hand softly finding your waist, a finger curling around the gold chain you were wearing around your stomach, and sweetly ask, “do we have a problem?”

and surprisingly, you didn't think you'd be admitting this, but soobin was good with kids. you remember when he called you once, asking you if you'd like to tag along on a day out with his niece. and when you arrived at his place— he sat there on the floor, his legs in a W position, the shape of his muscles defined as he blew bubbles around, smiling softly as his niece scrambled to pop each one. it was quite the sight to see, someone intimidating like him waving a wand around and popping each bubble. and seeing you, she ran to hide behind soobin, who cooed and softly encouraged her to say hello.

“she warmed up to you pretty quick,” soobin hummed as he watched from the kitchen, watching his niece show you her favorite sofia the first plushie, “she doesn't let anyone touch that doll.”

and saying that, she grew shy, calling her uncle a “big meanie !!!!” and you joined her, pointing at soobin and blowing raspberries together, drowning his voice accusing you of letting her say ‘bad words’.

and after an unhealthy lunch of dinosaur nuggets and smiley face fries, soobin took his car out the garage, slowly watching you point to cats and birds in the late afternoon with his niece, her watching in awe with your vast vocabulary of animals beyond ‘cat and dog.’ and at the park, she sat with tons of paper and markers scrambled out in front of her, encouraging you to color with her. but you weren't coloring on paper, or in her barbie coloring book, but on soobin's arm.

and soobin was particular about his tattoos being colored, making faces if a marker of his choice wasn't picked up. and you'd whisper in her ear to “shut the FUCK up,” when his niece's bottom lip would start quivering, cooing at her that soobin would love the color she picked. and he'd take a nap as he'd feel the cool markers spread across his skin, sometimes smiling at the feeling. and when she'd finish, he'd beam at her, pinching her cheek and calling her his little artist— and you'd watch him in awe as he'd listen to his niece trying to convince him why he should have a heart tattoo with her and your name in it, and how she would color it pink.

and after she had gone to sleep that evening, a strict bedtime of 7PM soobin would rather die than not follow, he plopped next to you on the couch, running a hand through his hair with a sigh. and he told you how pretty you were today when you asked if she was asleep, so sweet around his family. and you felt soobin's fingers tap your thigh as he bent closer and placed a soft kiss to your jaw, nibbling at the streaks of marker on your shoulders— your “matching stars” as his niece called it, sighing as he felt your fingers tug at his hair. and he'd glance up at you occasionally, tilting his head with a smile as he fake whined, “they stop here,” he rubbed right below your collarbones, “thats not fair,” and you'd tell him to shut up, placing a finger over his wet lips, just in case his niece walked out.

and soobin loved it when you'd stare not so discreetly at his legs when he'd sit down, or the way you'd watch when he'd steer his car with one arm, picking at the material of your top. and he'd ask you what's wrong, knowing it was him that had you look so flustered, feeling the heat rise in the room. and he'd giggle at you, his chain coming over to hit your chest as he buried his face in your neck, telling you in between gasps that that he can't concentrate if you're staring at him like that.

and soobin was never someone to pressure you to try new things— but if you wanted to, he'd arrange for it. like sitting on his lap in his car, fingers softly playing with the waistband of his sweatshorts while he helped you try a cigarette for the first time. and although it wasn't particularly up your alley, he laughed at your reaction, hands grazing your thighs while you reached over to open the window, saying you'd never try that again.

and you watched him take it into his own mouth, blowing the smoke softly on your chest and lightly up your neck, the feeling of it nip at your bare skin. and he'd see your eyes trail from his lips down to his collarbones in his tank top, oh, so pretty with the smoke curling around his face. and you'd drag your fingers up from his waist to his shoulders, asking him sweetly if you could kiss the designs on his collarbones. and he started coughing on his next puff, eyes going wide and cheeks growing pink, feeling butterflies, nibbling at his stomach walls. and he'd nod, swallowing lightly as he saw your back arch in the windshield while you bent over to place your lips against his skin, his thigh involuntarily flexing underneath you, a shaking finger moving to press the button to shut the window.

and the cute whine he'd let out when you'd obviously avoid his lips while kissing his face, shifting underneath you and tightening his grip on your waist. and you'd ask all innocent, “what?” and he'd sigh, leaning his head back, eyes not being able to focus on you, licking his lips. and he'd mutter your name, whispering a small, “please.”

and you'd watch silently as he took a puff, sizzling in the silence, and bending closer and placing his craving lips on you— soft smoke curling on your skin and around your vision as his teeth lightly peppered you, asking you why you would tease him like that? and he'd try again, another sizzle in the silent car before the sound of his lips on your skin continued, lightly whimpering at your nails trailing up and down his back.

and you'd inhale the scent that was now kissed onto your skin as you'd watch soobin place his head back, teased red lips in a smirk and slick on his chin as he'd watch you, smoke in your hair and you'd smile at him.

and he'd whisper breathless as you giggled at his gaze, asking him to teach you how he did that, reaching over towards another cigarette and placing it between your teeth as he clicked the lighter in front of your lips.

“so pretty, aren't you?”

txt — masterlist

main taglist (hmu to get added!) — @koishua @navyhyuck @allegxdly @daystiny  @kdyism  @neotism  @bluejaem  @radiorenjun  @sleepylixie @oifelixcmerebrou @mrkcore @imdamnconfused  @sicluvz @abhirami20 @tyongishs @emvrd @brxght-world @1921choi @bangchansbae

I’d appreciate if you’d give me a little feedback on the drabble if you read, whether it’s an ask, a reply or in the tags of the rb! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

[cayde-orcat]

This is a long one, get ready. I'm speaking right now as a former Vivziepop fan (yeah, specifically her along with her shows.) don't let your hyperfixations cloud your judgement from real criticism. Before you ask YES IT IS OKAY TO LIKE THE SHOWS, YES, ITS OKAY TO WATCH THEM. Buying merch? things like that, probably not very cool.

Listen to me carefully: Your enjoyment of a TV show has no impact on your moral character. I am only educating you about a petty, malicious, and greedy public figure.

These videos and their second parts are both really important to watch, I think (links at the bottom of this post)

But to summarize if you don't want to watch these videos:

The Original Voice Cast:

The voice actors of the original pilot did MOST of the work funding that pilot, were led to believe by vivziepop that they would be in the full show, and then almost EVERYONE that worked on the pilot was dropped.

The goodbye song from the og voice actors was nothing more than a professional goodbye.

One of the voice actors was told they were dropped from the show right before her husband died. She described it as "the last heartbreak he ever helped her through." She had been left in (I believe) millions of dollars in debt from it all. Her and some others held a Livestream to help her out, and Vivienne told them they cannot use the voices of the old cast during the stream. They would have made significantly more money if they had been able to do this, voice acted skits and requests is what made the Hazbin Pilot possible, and what made them so much money in the first place. But apparently, because Viv wasn't benefiting from it, they couldn't use those voices.

Spindlehorse's work environment:

Spindlehorse takes in mostly fans of the shows, and animators with little to no professional experience, they are easy to take advantage of and ARE taken advantage of. I won't go into pay rates because I'm bad at remembering numbers and you should watch the first video for all of that, but the turnover rate at Spindlehorse is FIFTY PERCENT. A good average turnover rate is 10%.

The pay gap between their favorites and everyone else is, gross, honestly. Their normal workers get the industry standard, while their favorites get significantly more than that.

Many people who haven't signed an NDA have talked about how bad of a work environment it is. Some have even talked about how hard Viv and other people in management are to work with.

Kendraw, art theft, and false allegations:

This is going to be a very light summary of a LONG video. Watch VIVZIEPOP VS KENDRAW for a better understanding. If you do not want to watch the video, here you go:

Kendraw was, to my understanding, a good friend of Viv before the pilot came out. Kendraw's pronouns are they/them. Viv has always known this.

Kendraw would give Viv a lot of suggestions for the pilot, to the point where they basically wrote it for her. Viv had called herself a bad writer during all this.

They also made a concept drawing of Cherri Bomb, and when they showed it to Viv, she asked to "work off the post" and credit them if she did so.

This was Kendraw's art.

This, was Vivziepop's. (This may not be Cherri's first official render, but it's one of them.)

Kendraw was not given credit for this drawing, not given credit for his ideas for the pilot, and MANY others weren't given credit for their work on the pilot as well.

Kendraw asked Viv calmly, why they and others weren't given credit. Vivziepop told them she felt attacked, and went on to misgender Kendraw to other people, along with accusing them of talking inappropriately to a minor, instead of just, giving people the credit they deserved.

There's more to this situation, but I know people will only read so much, so this is just a little surface scratch of how BAD of a person this woman is. Not enough people are talking about this, too many people are groveling at her feet.

Let me remind you that it is FINE to like Hazbin and Helluva. I'm not the boss of you, I just think people need to talk about this so much more than we are.

We need to be aware of the people we idolize.

VIVZIEPOP V KENDRAW: the deepest dive:

https://youtu.be/DwRb4ydYTdQ?si=V4Hk6TIhLVOZAAXd

Vivziepop is a Bad Person - Part 1

https://youtu.be/pQqQhF5Q3EA?si=AAsLlPAMPQkYzVUU