#timelines my behated

[illusionprotected]

@admiralchristopherpike | plotted

In the end, they aren't alone. They seem it. That's some kindness. The Talosians haven't had much interest lately in observing. For all the shared dream looks at the moment, though, it could be nothing but gentle wilds for miles.

"Walk with me?"

Vina almost holds out a hand with her smile. Thankfully, she thinks better of it quickly. One day, she hopes, it will become less strange to realize how little they've ever known each other.

"Or I won't be offended, if you'd like to be alone."

[mazzystar24]

ok pls you know I just started watching like less than two weeks ago (rip) please please explain to me why Ryan has been in pr jail what did he DO 😂😂

okay idk the exact timeline and i wasnt here for a lot so dont take my word for it but basically since like s2/3 they havent really let ryan be out on press stuff like interviews because this man is unhinged and is like renee rapp levels of PR's behated child

buttttt in s7 they seemed to let him out and he went FERAL

imma just link some posts and let you see SOME of the carnage he caused:

https://www.tumblr.com/mazzystar24/744957136107356160/being-a-buddie-fan-is-a-roller-coaster-cos-like?source=share - guess who said what thing hint hint the ones that make you convinced that buddie explored eachothers bodies are ryans ones

https://www.tumblr.com/mazzystar24/744759295588073472/girls-when-this-goes-beyond-friendship-and-i-love?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/mazzystar24/744758759488962560?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/911bts/744780265752330240?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/mazzystar24/744875617757069312/closer-than-ever-a-lot-of-changes-in-that?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/mazzystar24/744781629175840768/ryan-saying-well-there-is-something-brand-new?source=share

in conclusion if you think oliver destroyed us with his recent interviews you should be more scared of the next time they let ryan out of his ward

[welcome-to-clouds-cuckooland]

about my story, "ryan: sins of the father"!

this is a story about a boy named ryan, finally facing the crimes of his father. for so long he idolized his father, saw him as perfection, but slowly that image will unravel. along the way, he'll unravel himself, as well. can ryan ever forgive himself? can ryan ever be a good person? can ryan be a good brother? can ryan be a good lover? let's find out!

note: this is a multi-fandom fic, where characters will be from and travel to various movies/shows/games. the main characters are undertale aus/headcanons; ryan himself and his brother are sans and papyrus aus respectively, and their father is gaster. they're not meant to be entirely accurate (i mean, for one, it's unlikely that canon sans and papyrus are fallen humans at all.), they've always just been my own interpretations of the characters. with heavy projection. with that in mind, i should also state that this has been in the works since 2015-2016 or so, so it's pretty self-indulgent and cringe but i like it that way!!! i've projected too heavily onto this and i'm constantly brainrotting it so i can't just abandon it!!!

the star of the show, my behated /neg, it's ryan gallagher! the 23 year old manfailure, whose personality i would describe but it's almost 7,000 words long what the fuck ryan!!!! (writing him was a pain holy shit) but to sum it up he's a little messed up lying bitchface (explodes him with my mind) i will insult him a lot but i also projected onto him extremely heavily so idk if that says a lot about me or not. um. it's a semi-joke and it's been long-running that i hate him (i have extremely strong feelings about him /neg) but it's (mostly) not really serious. this guy needs therapy but he's terribly in denial and he is committed to destroying himself and all of his relationships before that happens 🙄 like just stop lying lmao (i am a hypocrite) his backstory is not written yet because. i'm fucking terrified of how long that's going to take and how long it's going to be because i'm planning for all of the stuff that felix and wiley's backstories missed (they're kind of written from their perspective but also not because third person??? idk man) and holy shit. if you thought his personality was bad. or if you thought it wasn't as bad as the trigger warnings made it seem. they're mostly for the backstory. as a sans au he fucking lost it and killed frisk, but that exploded his timeline so he panicked and absorbed the souls, and he's here now ig do not go to his toyhouse i am begging

aaaaa it's him!!!!! felix gallagher!!!! the bestest ever <333 i love him sm /p this is ryan's younger brother, 22 years old and loving life!!! he's optimistic, loves to help, and totally doesn't have any sort of anxieties rooted from his brother manipulating his life!!! (he does) he seems quite confident and independent, but he feels like ryan's babying can undermine his individuality. at the same time, he doesn't like to think such things of his brother, surely ryan knows what's best for him? as a papyrus au, he befriended flowey and gained the courage to fight back against frisk and absorb the seven souls to fix his glitched timeline, but that backfired, so here he is now! felix toyhouse :]

aislinn gallagher, felix and ryan's mother, dearly missed ;-; she may be gone, but her absence has left a void in many a heart, and her short-lived presence in the gallaghers' lives has affected them deeply. visit her in the garden?

this is wiley gallagher, he's 43 years old and i might joke about how much ryan is a terrible person but i'm serious when i say this man is literally AWFUL. like. i'm not kidding. he has not a single redeeming quality and not in the "haha silly" kind of way i mean. i hope literally nobody likes him because actually. what the fuck. i wrote him to be an irredeemable disgusting piece of shit and he's staying that way. there are sympathetic aspects to his story because otherwise it'd be a bit boring y'know but like. straight up. he's not a good person. he's the villain for a reason lmao uhhhh ramble aside he's a scientist who hates his sons and wants to reach the edge of scientific possibility, whether or not that destroys the universe he doesn't really care (great guy). he just wants to be the smartest dick to have ever lived, and hold all of the scientific knowledge ever or something like that. egotistical with an overinflated sense of what he's capable of. writing his backstory actually made me sick like /srs i took "gaster is associated with the devil" and ran with it i'd advise only to go to his toyhouse to send him hate.

so r:sotf was originally not even a multifandom story, it was just an undertale multiverse story, which is why there's such a focus on undertale characters. so here's chara, flowey/asriel, and frisk dreemurr, and the other fallen children (noah, icarus, and madeline)!!! i've never liked how the fandom interprets chara personally, like the whole "chara is an evil demon child" or "chara is abusive and hateful" like. this is a ten year old. what the fuck. like yeah most of the ut fandom especially back then were children but why do children hate children lmao anyway. chara and flowey have issues to work out but they're getting through it!!! i believe in them. read more about my interpretations of chara, flowey/asriel, and frisk on deviantart (since i can't upload them to toyhouse)!!!

meet ginger clair and jacinta bardales, two rivals who are some of the first people that ryan meets once his (dead) timeline kicks him out!! the girlypop and gamer goth girl hate each other oh no :[ the 19 and 20 year olds have a bit of a history with each other and ryan's getting caught between the crossfire ginger is glittery pink mr beast and jacinta is matpat if he was a goth lesbian (i'm so sorry) i'm very normal about women here's pink toyhouse and purple toyhouse yeah

this isn't hello kitty, it's oisin kelly, silly!!! i saw hello kitty goth fashion once and knew that i needed to make an oc that was just. that. and here he is!! ryan meets the 22 year old in the world after ginger and jacinta's, where he also finds felix and flowey. oisin is hiding them from the government!!! yippee! oisin likes baking and cake decorating, and sees a lot of potential in ryan (i don't see it but you do you) and bow's trying to support him which is nice :] not worth it though me when hello kitty on toyhouse????

yes that is the ok ko character base, because edward chen is an ok ko oc!!!! (ok ko is such a silly show you should watch it NOW!!!!) his hero name is multi-magician and this 23 year old is very chill, maybe even stoned. (you know those characters where they're ambiguously high. yeah) yes ryan and felix go to the ok ko universe and there they meet edward who is very cool and just wants to make sure these two sillies don't hurt themselves. (particularly ryan because he's very concerning holy shit) the scar on his face he got from climbing a fence and subsequently falling. he tells a different story every time and he thinks it's cool and funny edward toyhouse be upon ye

last but not least!!! here we have elara samson, from the world of the spectacular spider-man. she's the 18 year old vigilante, who thinks spidey is immature and naive, and they're quite jaded and vengeful in general. sometimes they're on the same side as spidey, sometimes she's against him! just depends on the job. elara toyhouse moment

that's all, folks!! as i said in the beginning of this post, this has been in the works for like. what. 8 years now??? time is such a fucked concept wtf :[ and it's still being worked on!!! can you believe it??? but this is definitely the story i'm most passionate about, and i'm excited to finally be posting about it!! i'd love to see what you guys think :0

[sindar-princeling]

Thank you so much for doing the LOTR newsletter, it’s so fun to see everyone reading it together!

I wanted to ask, are you splitting days by having a new day start at midnight, or at dawn (or something else)? That’s what I find trickiest when I’ve tried to work out the chronology of the books, esp when characters are travelling at night.

Thank you! I LOVE seeing everyone read it too!!

Oh my god, yes it is EXTREMELY tricky. At first I tried to stick to the rule of "new day starts around dawn", because in Appendix B in the timeline, events happening at night usually get "assigned" to the earlier day of the two. Also jirt often ends the day with "and so the night passed" or similar phrases.

But then I turned out it wouldn't always be the case, and my rule changed to "new day starts at dawn or after they go to sleep, but most importantly, when there is a reasonable moment to take a break and create a bit of mental space between the two days for the readers". That's what I did today with Pippin and Merry's fragment - they escape from the Orcs on 29th just before morning, but as you go backwards in the text, there is not really a good moment to start a new day until after Pippin talks to Merry and gets kicked. Everything after that would be cutting a single scene in half, and I didn't want to do that.

So honestly, it totally depended on the day! Most times, jirt himself will end a given day in a way that is clear, and there is no choice but to follow it. There is one period of time when he seemed to almost get lost in one of the timelines (one of four, at that point), but after some thinking and reading Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth, even that was possible to solve (the dawnless day and the few days that follow, my behated akjshkjdhfkjhdf).

Thank you for asking, I looooooooove talking about it (and I will be talking about some things in even more detail when the newsletter is finished, you can be sure of that asdlskflfjlfg)

[lemonzestywrites]

fictional timelines my behated

[doubleddenden]

I posted 12,226 times in 2022

That's 13 more posts than 2021!

2,292 posts created (19%)

9,934 posts reblogged (81%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@frivilosity

@trailblazes

@youseiaoi

@daefromjay6

@importedglue891

I tagged 3,127 of my posts in 2022

#toonami - 2,145 posts

#one piece - 521 posts

#nart - 321 posts

#assassination classroom - 243 posts

#lupin the 3rd part 6 - 214 posts

#made in abyss - 158 posts

#shenmue - 121 posts

#pokemon - 119 posts

#yashahime - 95 posts

#attack on titan - 76 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#especially assholes who want to take your very trivial and non important/impactful opinion and want to use it as an excuse to virtue signal

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Most Pokémon NPCs: oh, you took a step! What a big boy! Here's 5 Max Revives! Here's a free heal! You're so cool and great! You're the greatest trainer ever! Here's a TM! You're doing so good! You want my house? You want this Pokémon I've had since I was a kid? God, You're so great!

Cylene: pull your weight or die in the wild. Your choice. Oh, you caught some powerful Pokémon and nearly died several times over to do it? Great, here's a recipe. Now get back to work, asshole

492 notes - Posted January 31, 2022

#4

I knew Pokémon would have a tumblr sexyman in Scarlet and Violet, and I really thought it would be this

Or this

But of course, PokeTumblr's new babygirl is this sad man

See the full post

846 notes - Posted November 24, 2022

#3

A quick look at the timeline since we last checked in

Sonic Frontiers has a song by ONE OK GO and one version says "Fuck the pain away"

Disney proves it truly listens to what fans do not want by making live action Pinocchio, Little Mermaid, and Mufasa, which is a prequel to the much behated live action Lion King

HBO Max nuked a bunch of its animated shows for tax write offs

Uncle Grandpa almost survived with one episode called "Fleas Help Us" before being deleted

Summer Camp Island literally had a whole season ready

WB canned a completed Batgirl movie after spending $98 million. For tax write offs.

FBI raided Trump's Florida home and found hundreds of stolen top secret files, and one includes nuclear defense details on a foreign nation. Yeah he's in very hot shit

Biden administration opens the path for forgiveness for $10k-$20k of student loans, MS decides to tax anyone that gets it

When the Republicans got offended the White House Official Twitter Account revealed the MILLIONS of PPP loans the nay sayers had forgiven individually

NASA Is trying to GET US BACK ON THE MOON BABEY WOOOOOOOOO but unfortunately they had to scrub 2 launches because of engine troubles and a leak

But it's cool! It's cool! They gotta get it right because the end goal is to try and establish a MOTHERFUCKING MOON BASE!!! SOMEBODY HIGH FIVE ME

A machine on Mars the size of a lunch box made about as much oxygen as a small tree, prompting some to think we could have oxygen mines for future manned Marsian missions

Leonardo DiCaprio breaks up with another woman who just turned 25

JK Rowling wrote a book about totally not her being harassed by the very people she demonizes every day as a racist antisemitic ableist TERF and embarrassed herself in front of God and the internet again

After years of failing to sell on the market, Sony makes the decision to INCREASE the price of the PS5 despite only 5 people other than Crypto Dorks having them

Nintendo follows up by revealing they have no plans to change prices, which we all been knew because they still sell years old ports for $60

Gendy Tartokovsky's Primal aired a Dinosaur literally laying eggs up close and personal from its cloaca (side note do dinosaurs have those?)

Gendy is also apparently at the helm of a second PPG reboot in the works

She-Hulk Twerked

Looney Tunes officially ships Bugs X Daffy

3 Avatar Movies in the works. No not the blue people- well yes those too but I meant the one about the bald kid, the second one about Zuko, and the third about Korra

Blue people avatar has a movie coming in December

Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho 100 wins Twitter poll for Twink Supreme

Reigen does absolutely nothing and wins Ultimate DILF

In an ultimate final clash, Reigen just barely loses to Sans Undertale for Tumblr Sexyman

Tobyfox wrote fanfic about it and posted it to Twitter

On the same exact fucking day Sans defeats Reigen, the Queen of England DIED. Tv stations in mourning across the globe. Meanwhile Irish people and other people directly negatively impacted by colonization by the crown cheered and partied and tumblr and twitter released the crabs 🦀

This is as of September 10th, 2022, not told in any particular chronological order

This has been the look at the timeline, and no, the year is not over yet

See the full post

954 notes - Posted September 10, 2022

#2

Pokemon: we made the darkest Pokemon game ever, Legends Arceus, where wild Pokemon will try to knock you out, you're forced to work or die in the wild, you're stripped away from your home and everything you love, and you're forced to live in a strange and uninhabited land. Don't worry, you'll be able to befriend the Pokemon, befriend the locals, and just maybe you'll make it :)

Digimon: hold my beer, because I'm about to toss 8 kids and a grandpa into an unfamiliar world, kill a few of them on screen very painfully with no room for misinterpretation, and psychologically scar the shit out of them AND the player

Pokemon: W-WHY???

Digimon:

981 notes - Posted August 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

5,280 notes - Posted February 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[vetustamorla]

timelines in shows and novels, my behated

[broh3m3]

Planting kisses

[tarrevizsla]

revan....... my beloved

[ivettel]

IN MY 6-YR LOVE/HATE AFFAIR WITH AFTER EFFECTS and 8-yr love/hate affair with video editing, i think one of the things i’ve heard come up the most is this fear of, or anxiety about, after effects.

people are intimidated by the look of the application, the mechanisms, the graphs, the holy-shit-why-are-there-so-many-options, the what-the-fuck-you-can-code-things-???, and so on and so forth. and u know what? sure, as an application, it’s definitely unique, and the math behind everything can be intimidating.

but in a practical sense? nonono. nooo nono. this thing is baby food. especially if you’re already familiar with photoshop! in fact, i’d argue that it’s easier to learn than photoshop, but i’m biased, because i learned ae first.

so here are three major comparisons between the programs so that u can see that adobe’s beloved behated is really quite similar to photoshop, and that the learning curve is! very not steep! and once you get over the whole after-effects-makes-no-sense frustration, it’s exciting to properly learn things and move onto animation, vfx, and more.

NB: this is not an introductory tutorial to after effects! just pointing out stuff that should make it less intimidating for photoshop users :)

#1. THE INTERFACE

this is photoshop, which, with variations in your workspace, you should be very familiar with. hello!

and this is the default after effects interface. i’ve changed my workspace so much that it doesn’t look like this lol but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll go off this one.

right off the bat, you may be uneasy, and that is fair! where’s the toolbar, where’s the timeline? but there are similarities already!

on photoshop, your tool bar is on the left; on after effects, it’s still on the left, just along the top instead of the side

the timeline is at the bottom

your workspace is in the middle

some of the things you use to edit with are along the right, moreso in ae than in photoshop

now let’s add some footage—one major practical diff is that with photoshop you work on one project, but with ae you have a workspace in which you can make multiple projects. we call ‘em “compositions,” and you can think of them as photoshop files, if that helps.

i went ahead and created a composition, and i imported some footage from race of champions 2022. i also created an adjustment layer, which is probably what photoshop users have the most trepidation with, but we’ll get to that later.

this should look slightly more familiar! you’ve got layers stacking up on the bottom—a white solid layer below the roc 2022 footage is invisible because the video is on top of it, just like how layers work on photoshop. your timestamp is on the left, just like in photoshop, and the timeline is marked in increments, and your playhead works the same as in photoshop. even the way your timeline layers work is the same in that you can slide them left and right to go forward and backward in time.

as far as your interface goes, i hope this shows that it’s really not that different! obvs there are additional things to learn, but knowing photoshop means you're halfway there.

#2. ADJUSTMENT LAYERS

photoshop uses adjustment layers to make changes to the layers beneath, like if you wanted to make a photo brighter or darker, you’d use an adjustment layer. it has a separate feature for effects, which you can apply to individual layers. in a way, it separates adjustment layers from layer effects.

after effects gets rid of the distinction. the adjustment layers feature exists, as illustrated in the screencaps above, but they don’t quite work the same. i think the most apt comparison is that every layer in after effects is a smart object. you can add "adjustments" to the layers themselves, and they stack up the same as smart layers do in photoshop, and they only affect the layer they’re placed on. we don’t really call them adjustments, bc in a practical sense, they’re the same as effects. it’s a levels effect, not a levels adjustment layer.

see: the selected layer is the footage itself. the adjustment layer is empty. and to repeat, the way the effects stack in your effect controls is the same as the way adjustment layers stack in photoshop.

if you wanted to make adjustments to your whole composition (or below a certain layer), that’s when adjustment layers come in handy. below, i used an effect called twitch, and the adjustment layer makes the transition between the two clips look smooth. i could have added twitch to each layer and added a couple other effects to compensate, but the adjustment layer made life easier.

#3. KEYFRAMES

keyframes are like, the fundamental base that makes the house of after effects. it’s like the dirt beneath the house. idk how houses are built. but it’s important and holds everything up that you will ever do on ae, because ae gives users the power over literally everything. luckily, the principle is the same as on photoshop:

and once you’ve got the hang of basic keyframes, then you can play around with fun stuff like the graph editor, keyframe interpolation, etc.

so those are the three big things!

i know a lot of gifmakers stick to photoshop and only use ae for animated text, and that’s valid, like any work on this program makes my ae propagandist heart go doki doki in respect. but there’s also a whole world of vfx at your fingertips!! photoshop is still very powerful, don’t get me wrong, but because after effects is a program designed for time-based media, it offers more (and imo, easier) ways to execute your creative endeavours. (nudges gently. ur gifs.)

so i hope this guide eases some anxieties and demonstrates that ae is nothing to be afraid of! if u have any questions, my ask box is open <3

[tryalittlejoytomorrow]

murder on a plane fic?? please tell us more! (for the WIP fic ask game)

Ah, murder on a plane my beloved/behated depending on the day!! 😹 @flythesail and @scarletslippers have been sort of little devil/angel on my shoulder about it.

Open: Airplane interior; day. Camera pans through first class; Bess is beaming, her chair is reclined and she makes a show out of stretching her legs. Pan through the left; Ace is sitting in the middle between Nancy and Bess, Nancy's head on his shoulder as she looks over at Bess, amused. There's a scream. Bess startles and groans.

This - this is the sort of  story that makes me want to pull at my hair in frustration but also pat myself on the back.

It will probably be a summer project; it is all planned out already. I’m sort of a control freak about this, but when I plan multichaps, especially the sort that involves cases and mysteries, I plan everything ahead in a spreadsheet: plot, timeline, mobile, alibi, cause of death, etc. There’s been oddly specific research made about what sort of murder weapon I could have the murderer carry on an airplane, what Ace could deduce from a body examination and not a full autopsy, and I hope the FBI agent assigned to my case knows I’m just a writer by now. #oopsie

Long story short: the Drew Crew will be on a plane, back or going to a sort of DetectiveCon, when someone dies on the plane. Ace’s M.E. expertise comes in handy when he declares the death a murder, and Nancy and the others start investigating.

Stay tuned! Hopefully I can start working on it during the summer, after I’m done with my current multichap!

[mccleans]

the way i didn’t even know their were premier league fans on here….. eyes wide open right now for real. gooners are my safe space on here when i’m not occupied by ssc napoli my most behated 🥰 but man city? chelsea? liverpool? (to be FAIR i only like two english red teams - i am a secret gunnerina and my mom is from liverpool) but WOW i am learning so much and i want to learn more

i feel like i'm seeing into an alternate, happier timeline i'm so jealous i wish to god that was me . to be fair the teams i see most on here are obvs arsenal and then liverpool villa and despite my best efforts spurs. i rarely see city or united fans and this is my first time seeing chelsea on here

[lovecolibri]

Things that Spark Joy-3x11

I have GOT to stop leaving these for the end of the week because I lose track of my immediate emotions after the episode and then my brain doesn’t want to work so hard to remember everything and do these posts. Now, no show is perfect and I do have some issues with this episode which I will talk about here, but (personal salt moment here), most of the rest of the season, while overall maybe having better plot moments than this one, was close to unwatchable at times for me as I’ve discussed in my other episode posts. So I probably enjoyed this episode more than other people simply because it’s one I actually WANT to watch again, despite any plot or character wonkiness which I’m always more willing to excuse if I’m having fun. So keeping that in mind, lets talk about the good stuff!

We are really getting into the Unhinged Jones of it all in this episode! Nathan Dean continues to amaze with how GOOD this character is that no one even wanted at the end of season 2! Watching him and Liz go toe-to-toe in a battle of wits was so much fun and it’s nice to see Liz in charge, breaking her and Heath out of the back room, coming up with plans, and making a deal with the devil. Jeanine is queen of sassy comebacks and deadpan delivery and watching Jones try to pretend he was being civil and they were negotiating only for Liz to remind him point blank that he threated to maim Heath to get her to cooperate. 

I love all the names they come up for to avoid calling him Mr. Jones, but “Galactic Ass Clown” might be my new favorite.

Heath rigging up a radio transmitter because he’s a Smart Cookie and reaching out through old camp connections to get Dallas a distress message is some kind of soulmates bullshit and I love it and will be very disappointed when the show doesn’t let them be lovers in the night time (still searching in vain for that Psych gif so if anyone finds the one from Last Night Gus, let me know!). Heath is 10000% more interesting now that we know what he’s fighting for (and whooo boy do I have some things to say about that on my other post!) and I’m actually excited to see him and Liz doing science together again. It’s a shame we didn’t get some full on Liz/Kyle/Michael/Heath science squad but maaaaybe?? The finale will let us??? see all our science bros??? together??? 🤞🤞🤞

I’m really enjoying the Rosa/Isobel moments this season because a) Lily and Amber work well together, and b) this season has done a lot to alleviate the season 2 vibes/fears I had that they were going to couple them up with each other. This season feels a lot more like a mentor/mentee relationship which I still think is an odd choice to pair these two up specifically (give me more Rosa/Michael you cowards!), the actors’ screen chemistry is undeniable and fun to watch.

Speaking of Rosa, she wants to go to art school and I love that journey for her! I don’t want her to go, but if she’s pursuing her dreams then I can make an exception. Also, if they stick with the slower timeline pace for season 4 (not sure how I feel about that, I think they need to find a middle ground between a whole year, and like, two weeks), we could see her home on break from school. I just got so 😭😭😭 over her talking about how hard it is to change in a town that will only ever see you one way, and saying  that she can’t leave because her family needs her to much. Like girl, you are amazing and they DO need your skills, but you also gotta do what’s good for YOU. Get TF out of this town for awhile and be who YOU want to be!

While the actor chemistry with Amber and Dylan is good, the Wyatt arc is 😒😒😒 but he did make a LOT of mentions of the future, and who he and Rosa might be then, and that he would mail out her application sooooo, that sounds like Wyatt is our funeral vision plot (my behated) victim, which DOES spark joy, though I don’t want to see Rosa sad.

I’m sure Lily at least, thought probably Nathan Dean as well, have had a blast doing stunts and their fight scenes together are always fun to watch! And filming in that big house with all that space offered some pretty visuals. And as good as Nathan Dean is, I sometimes forget the logistics behind Jones and Max being in the same scene, but it sure was fun to have Max step in like that this episode!

I. LOVE. DALLAS. SO. MUCH. I made this meme earlier because I honestly don’t know why we didn’t get Dallas SO much sooner! (I mean, we been knew *side eyes pointless vision plotline* but still). I need more of him all the time, always. I loved that he did have an initial freak out but he isn’t having a huge crisis of faith. You can’t claim to believe in an entity that works in mysterious ways that you may not understand and then lose all faith the moment you have to...confront something you don’t understand. I desperately need Dallas and Arturo to have a chat because Arturo should have been brought in on the secret as soon as they told him about Rosa. Also you know Arturo would immediately adopt Dallas in his mind and I think they would have interesting conversations. Dallas is also  way more patient with Max that anyone should have to be, and he’s so determined to save Max, but he can also work a sassy comeback with that parallel of Max to Jesus as a sacrifice (and I see we are bringing back the “savior” metaphors which cropped up a few times this episode). I know a lot of people didn’t like all the talking but I don’t mind it too much and I enjoyed getting to see Dallas be the Reasonable One to Max’s Panicked One because Max is often painted as the Reasonable One (*Thor voice* Is he though?), so a change of pace was fun to watch. But we also get that moment of righteous fury from Dallas when he talks about the memories he received and knowing he was used as a weapon against his dad, and that Jones robbed him of the family he could have had. And MAN does that make me want to see so many more heart-to-heart scenes with him and Michael. We have all been banging pots and pans about the show letting Michael have a friend and this is a friendship I desperately want to see. Also, it furthers my “Malex and Heath/Dallas double date” agenda.

I might have some 😒 thoughts and mixed feelings about the power reveal, but Michael and Sanders interacting will always be a delight! And yeah, RNM has been a bit heavy handed especially this season with the pop-culture references, but Old Man Trying To Talk The Young Lingo To Clumsily Connect With His Child thing is always sweet so I can’t hate it too much. The whole scene with the handcuffs and Michael turning into the petulant 10 year-old-with-powers we know he would have been if Sanders had been able to adopt him was also funny and touching. His little “ta-da!” after he lifted and smashed one little planter like “See? I’m a bad kid” was just such a mistreated kid tactic to push people away. Sanders calling Michael out for having a gooey, marshmallow center was fun because WE all been knew that! But it’s nice to finally have someone confirm that, especially to Michael’s face, especially after he got yelled at for supposedly being a lazy drunk early in the season and all the cheap shots people have given him over the past seasons well. And I love that Michael has someone to tell him about his mom that ISN’T an evil dictator, and Sanders reminding Michael of who she was and what he sees of HER in Michael will never not make me tear up because I think it’s a reminder Michael needs, more than once. Also, this proves that Alex and Sanders are on the same page about who Michael is so the double dose of support he gets from them is nice to see. Then later, Michael having that deeply vulnerable moment of “Are you horrified?” was 😭😭😭 and the way Vlamis played that brief moment was *chef’s kiss*. He talked so fast like ripping off a band-aid and then held his breath and I just *cries* And getting the support of his siblings in that moment was everything. Plus we got a brief but great demonstration of consent from Michael where he lets the sheriff know what he’s doing, what she needs to do, and what he will do if she can’t fight against Jones. As much as this show has struggled with that, especially in regards to the mind power stuff, that moment was really nice to see.

And finally, while the CW PR Team (my behated) kinda spoiled the surprise by showing us everyone free and doing other things, I did like the cliffhanger and Jones pulling everyone into the mindscape. Plus his little “Well, everyone seems a little tense, sooooo” was 🤣🤣🤣 I love him and I reallllly hope he doesn’t get killed off just because I want him to come back again later. 

[fictionkinfessions]

people who think fictionkin is fake my behated, calling it a fantasy or w/e

like. listen. i understand, many ppl this character is like middle-school aged. but the character has no canon age, and it really is left up to interpretation, so me remembering him being a bit older is. not a sin lmao. not only can i not go back and change it, but i also can't get rid of the feelings i have from a newly discovered timeline!!

and like. yeah i guess with no other context it sounds sus. but fictionkin is my middle name (/j) and i have so many timelines that are just extremely unsavory. what, did you think i wanted these terrible things to happen to me? bc i didn't!

this one is good. don't take it away from me.

[puttingfingerstokeys]

A little something I whipped up for @heamatic​ with her Shinnok in mind.

No timeline alignment stuff here, just pure gift work based on a thread we’ve got on my RP account @bastardsunlight. Ft. Shinnok being creepy because that’s kind of his thing. Shinlao, because we haven’t come up with a ship name and I am appalled at our laxity. 

Also like, I can’t believe I’m saying this but neither writer is in any way under some fucked up impression that this is a good, safe, or non-toxic ship. We use the term to describe people who are involved IN SOME WAY. That way is not necessarily healthy. 

This story features no NSFW instances.

The dimly lit corridors of the Bone Temple are familiar passageways to Kung Lao as he moves effortlessly toward the audience chamber where he will soon be needed. Shinnok does not often offer his time, but today, he evidently feels generous. It is therefore his favorite creature’s duty to attend as well. Lao has long since stopped thinking of himself as a monk or even a former one, though his spiritual power is still formidable. That life is behind him. Netherrealm is—if not his home—his territory.

Emerging from a massive double door at one side of the infernal hall, he surveys the emptiness of it, the cavernous opulence of the mad god’s particular tastes. Deeper, under vents in the floor—Shinnok appreciates the screams of his captives—is the dungeon proper, though the audience hall very much resembles it. The high pillars are of dark reds, shining obsidian, and shot through with veins of other colors difficult to distinguish in the Stygian light of the realm of dishonored dead. Everything is bone and sinew and suffering here, fire and brimstone and ugly deception.

“You have kept me waiting, little one,” purrs the Elder God of Chaos from his throne. It is, naturally, constructed of bones—not all humanoid. He leans to one side and regards Kung Lao with those inscrutable eyes characteristic of his kind. “Do you wish to bring punishment down on yourself?”

“No, master,” responds Kung Lao, approaching the dais and then ascending to within reach of the massive entity’s long arms. If Shinnok wishes to pull his guts out and toss him back down like a used doll, he may do so from anywhere; why inconvenience him?

“Yet you offer no explanation…” The Elder God’s finger came out and lifted Kung Lao’s chin before sliding down his neck, over the pretty young man’s Adam’s apple, and down to collar bone and chest. He has left this one alive, appreciating the responsive heat and goose flesh of living skin. It bruises so prettily.

“I offer no excuse, my lord.” Kung Lao meets his eyes with an impertinence he loves and hates and oh he has made the right choice in this one. He had known the moment they met upon the field of kombat that Kung Lao would, indeed, make an excellent addition to his collection.

“You are wise beyond your years, it seems, if a bit pert.” Shinnok retracts his hand and waves it about. “Well, get on with it. I’ve better things to do.”

Quan-Chi materializes presently, late as well, though his arrival receives no acknowledgement whatsoever. His dark lord spares not a glance, instead watching the retreating back of the foolish monk who exchanged his own freedom for the life of his friend. Sentiment is worthless in Netherrealm and soon, the arrogant boy will learn this, if the old soul sorcerer must show him the way with his own two hands. His fists clench with the thought, imagining themselves about Kung Lao’s throat, squeezing until something breaks. The pleasure that arises from the thought sends a shudder down his spine.

Meanwhile, Kung Lao, unaware of this contemplation—or if he is aware, he cares so little, he doesn’t bother sparing the man, if a thing like Quan-Chi can be called a man, a single glance—turns to descend the dais. An oversized bone arm which has sprouted from the stone and bone floor of the mad god’s receiving hall offers itself, open-palmed, to the fallen monk. Kung Lao accepts it gracefully, laying his hand in the much larger one, knowing he has not displeased his lord on this day. The dry, brittle-feeling digits wrap gently about the young man’s hand as he makes his graceful retreat to discharge his duties.

Quan-Chi scowls at Kung Lao’s back until Shinnok actually turns his attention on his favored sorcerer—really the only sorcerer who will competently serve him with true, deep loyalty. It really is pathetic to watch, but sometimes a whipped dog is better than no dog. Shinnok has not even had to whip this one. He’s done it of his own accord. 

A strange Netherrealm native (as native as anyone can be in a realm of dishonored souls and demonic constructs born of the mad god’s fits of rage), it had been he who had approached the Elder God of rot and chaos to serve him. If Lord Shinnok could be said to be grateful for anything, he might have chosen that moment when Quan-Chi’s power had drawn him to his lord and master’s prison and set about events which would eventually free and embody him. Of course they have greater plans, but for the time being, this will do. 

This will do very nicely indeed, he considers, regarding his little pet’s taut backside as Kung Lao makes his way through the hall, the bone arm now sliding along with him, digging a furrow in the ground which seems to knit itself together just a few feet behind the abomination which now has its hand on the curve of Kung Lao’s lower back. Every sensation the bone arm feels, he also feels and the warmth of living flesh is delightful; he wants to grasp it hard, make the boy squeal with pain, make him bleed a little. Just a little.

Perhaps later.

“You have some… news?” Quan-Chi has been scheming—he is always scheming—to manifest his dark, mad god in Earthrealm and he clearly believes he has hit upon something. Shinnok can see it in the sparkle of the man’s eyes. Oh how he loves me, contemplates the Elder God with absolutely no reciprocity of that feeling.

“I do, my lord,” responds the sorcerer, bowing to one knee and standing to deliver his findings. Shinnok listens patiently, mind elsewhere as it must always be. He is chaos incarnate. There is little order to be had in Netherrealm beyond his absolute rule. Not much can hold the attention of an Elder God, in general, but Shinnok in particular has always allowed his mind to wander where it will. Aside from grand machinations of upset and overthrow which delight him endlessly, there is almost nothing of such magnitude in all of existence—no single object or concept which can so fascinate him. What could possibly be of such import that he, a deity, might need to focus his energies on it for any length of time? The boy, some part of his thoughts remind him sweetly. You’re quite captivated with your new toy, aren’t you? Ah but toys come and go. He will tire of this one… eventually.

That boy is now crossing the threshold of the temple’s audience hall, the doors gliding open before him. The dry heat of Netherrealm has ceased to move him and he walks out into it, ushering in the first petitioner, wondering if his lord and master will listen to this one, or slay it on sight. Any creature, demon, or lost soul who is bold enough to approach the Bone Temple and beg favors of the lord of the Realm is desperate, addled, or too cocksure for their own good. An obliteration by the death god is permanent, it is nothingness, non-existence. Somehow, that void is more terrifying by far than the screaming, burning, howling dimness of Netherrealm.

The first demon in line—he is first by virtue of having killed his way up the queue; the corpses of those before him are littered in pieces here and there as a testament to this, all still twitching and flailing as the death he grants is only pain—is a truly imposing figure, easily ten feet in height, with massive, twisted horns like a ram and a maw full of jagged teeth. His eyes ablaze with contempt. This expression does not soften when it lays its burning gaze (with all four eyes) upon the pretty, behatted monk—Kung Lao may not think of himself as a monk, but they do—but rather hardens to something bordering on obscene. The thing licks slavering lips with an exaggerated motion, clearly aiming to upset the small, soft-looking mortal, who does not respond, only gestures to the hall.

“The master will see you now,” he says in a neutral tone that betrays nothing. “Please, follow me.”

As they enter, the beast’s three-toed feet hit the ground much harder with each step than might actually be necessary, as if to emphasize his weight. Shinnok leans back upon his throne and assumes a semi-attentive posture. There is no real reason for him to pretend he cares; even the pretense is worthless, but for now, it entertains him. Some of the denizens of his realm wait the Netherrealm equivalent of months, even years, if Shinnok is indisposed and simply does not care. Lately, he has been taking more audiences, but then he has only lately had a… secretary. Kung Lao moves swiftly ahead of the demon, braid swinging tantalizingly behind his shapely back. The boy is an hourglass, upon close inspection, broad of shoulder, narrow of waist, and thick of hip and rear-end. The demon is inspecting.

“This is far enough,” instructs Kung Lao. “What are you called?”

The demon splutters with indignation. How could they not know him, the greatest general of the northern armies of Khadul, the god-king of the demons, the true creatures of Netherrealm! He has severely overestimated his importance, a grave error in the Bone Temple. The silent hall rings with its silence. An audience chamber ought necessarily to have an audience, but Shinnok prefers the cavernous immensity. It reiterates just how small his petitioners truly are. He eyes the demon, but has yet to speak. A bone arm sprouts near Kung Lao and it makes a twirling motion with its forefinger.

“Lord Shinnok bids you speak,” says the shapely boy through plump lips that look like they ought to be bruised and bloodied and used, in the creature’s foul opinion.

“I will speak,” he snarls, reaching out toward Kung Lao with the intent to brush past, “but with the lord of this Realm, he in whose temple we stand, not you, little slut. There are things I would do with you, yes, but speaking… it is not one of them.” The demon’s laughter rings out boldly into the hall, bouncing off the skulls and femurs and ribs and myriad other bones which make the walls, floor, and ceiling. Quan-Chi flinches minutely, though more at the brazenness of it than the sound. Shinnok is a statue. The bone arm has dissipated, crumbling like ash and ruin, leaving Lao alone. His lord is watching.

“No,” says Kung Lao, the syllable sharp and clear as a pretty bell rung in a mausoleum—and equally as incongruous next to the obscene, guttural speech of the demon. “No,” he repeats, “you do not speak. You bark like a mangy cur begging for scraps. Heel.”

He rushes the demon with lightning speed as it swings for him. There is a brief moment when it seems he might make a try for the beast’s sizeable testes, which swing visibly behind the scant loincloth one might say he is “wearing”. The idea occurs to him and a strange flash of melancholic amusement jolts Kung Lao’s spine before he disappears beneath his hat in a flash of red light and lotus petals. The creature, having never encountered this particular mortal, looks baffled and squats to examine the hat. Quan-Chi’s mouth opens to warn the beast of its insolence in his master’s presence, but a sharp gesture from said master silences him. His face heats with rage. How dare the boy show off this way? He will be punished—perhaps disemboweled or flayed. How delicious that would be!

As the as yet unnamed demon reaches toward the object to pick it up, the flash occurs once more and the deadly piece of headwear flips upward, turning vertically, its far edge held by the owner, the only man in any realm able to master such a strange weapon. The creature barely has time to cry out as Kung Lao draws the hat up its entirety, bisecting the thing and spilling its steaming insides along the floor. Midair, Kung Lao flings the hat, hard, toward Shinnok. Once more, Quan-Chi blanches, but the mad god catches it easily and holds it, bottom facing downward, toward his knees where he sits. This, he thinks, is the most fun I have had in millennia.

Kung Lao’s form plummets toward the gory mess he has made and for a brief, shining moment, Quan-Chi thinks perhaps he will fall and snap his neck and that will be that, one last escape attempt with the final spark of the monk’s spirit left to him. Lord Shinnok has no need of a broken doll. Of course this is a flight of pure fancy. Shinnok will find a use for that beautiful body, even broken.

Alas, rather than crashing to his death—or maiming, at least—Kung Lao’s body dives into a circle of blood, red light, once more accompanied by a flash and flurry of lotus petals. It takes only half a moment for him to repeat the trick, falling out of the hat and into his lord and master’s waiting lap. Shinnok allows the hat to settle upon Kung Lao’s head and once more tilts his chin upward so that their eyes meet.

“Far too impertinent,” he scolds, shaking his head, running his thumb over his little doll’s full, perfect, soft lower lip. Kung Lao is flushed with the pleasure of his accomplishment and hasn’t a spot of blood on his person. “Who are you to decide who I do and do not address, hmm? Is this not my domain?”

“His master would pretend it is not. One cannot serve two lords and you rule this Realm.” This is not a question, nor is it simpering. Kung Lao speaks cold, hard facts. “I merely saved you the trouble of hearing a dog bark.”

So bold, Shinnok thinks. I must curb this. But he does not punish his little favorite. The unpredictability delights him. Quan-Chi senses this misplaced delight and recedes from the receiving hall unseen, glowering over his shoulder and now hellbent on perfecting his machinations to bring his master to Earthrealm.

[ziracona]

Oh man, VLR. No spoilers, continuing the franchise is a tricky coin flip. I personally really like the second game a lot, but I felt like the third one really let down the whole story. It's almost worth it just to see how crazy everything gets, but not all blorbos are treated equally. I'm sure your liveblogs and takes would be great, but I completely understand if you're not interested

Well thanks for the heads up. It’s so much uglier that it’s kind of a system shock, but I am also intrigued. But also I have vague knowledge of things and I don’t know if I want to know more. But tbh the biggest deciding factor might be being joined at the hip with Phi apparently all game, because it’s no fault of the character or the VA, and in another timeline I wouldn’t be this way at all, but I hear her voice and hear my behated Kallen Kozuki, and I just don’t know if I can take an entire game of that. : / Like maybe it’d cool down (it being my Pavlovian anger response), but idk if it will and if it doesn’t idk if I can take a whole game of extreme annoyance undercurrent that should not be there. ✊😔 The only downside to have watched Code Geass at a very formative age.