#trish like fish

[newwavesylviaplath]

[inmyziploc]

Me cleaning out my purse of the month

[ice-creamforbreakfast]

Trisha declared Emilio and Sabrina husband and wife and offered to sing them out, which they politely declined, but not to be put off, she did it anyway.

[ohshy]

inspo boards for my ocs I made today !!!

[coochellati]

I’VE NOTICED SOMETHING!!!!

According to the anime, Bruno was born in the suburbs of Naples.

Later on, when Bruno thinks he is speaking with Trish, he mentions that he owns a house in the suburbs of Naples.

Methinks there may be a connection—this information makes me wonder…

…is this house his childhood home? We’re never told exactly what happened to his family’s house—there’s a good chance Bruno inherited the place after his father passed away.

If it isn’t, did he buy a house near where he grew up to feel connected to his past? Sure, there many of suburbs around Naples, but I like to think he chose to live near to where he grew up.

And this thought doesn’t come without reasoning—there’s evidence in Purple Haze Feedback that supports the idea that Bruno wants to hold memories of his family close. (If you consider PHF to be canon, of course.) A passage within the book states that Bruno has one of his late father’s old fishing nets hanging on the wall in his living room.

If he’s sentimental enough to hang a direct reminder of his dad in his living room, then it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he would want to live close to the place he was raised. Perhaps it comforts him.

[rebirthofdiana]

Fun fact Trisha paytas (Trish like fish) invented the body positivity movement!!!

[fortuositywritings]

Never Gonna Happen Masterlist

Summary: The way to get over someone is by finding someone new, at least that’s your friends say. You follow their advice rather reluctantly. 

“Go talk to her.” Jennifer nudges you a little too hard. You nearly fall off the stool you’re sitting on.

You’ve accompanied her and her friend/coworker Nikki to a night out in the city and wound up at a fancy bar. For the past five minutes, they’ve been trying to get you to go talk to the blonde woman that hasn’t taken her eyes off you since you walked in. 

“I don’t know,” you say hesitantly. “I haven’t asked anyone that wasn’t Wanda out in the longest time.”

“Damn it,” Nikki mutters, taking her purse out and fishing for some money while Jen laughs triumphantly. 

You watch confused as Nikki hands Jen a ten dollar bill and Jen says, “And I still had fifteen minutes left.”

“Fifteen minutes left for what?” you ask.

“For you to bring up Wanda,” Nikki explains, making you gasp in return. “I do not talk about her that much do I?”

“Enough for me to make ten bucks out of it,” Jen answers, waving her prize in front of your face. You smack her hand away. “Oh, don’t pout. I think it’s adorable how in love with her you are.”

“I am not in love with her,” you lie.

“Okay, prove it. Go over there and ask that blonde out,” Jen challenges. 

“Like I said, I’m rusty,” you claim. 

“What better way to get back out there than walking over and chatting her up? This could be your trial run,” encourages Nikki. 

“I don’t know. I think I should start safer. What about you, Nikki?”

“What about me?”

“You like women, right? So how about you be my first date?”

“We’ve got a nice thing going here. Let’s not ruin that, Y/N,” Nikki says, patting your shoulder.

“Boom! First rejection right there. The rest comes easier,” Jen interjects. 

“Fine,” you groan and reluctantly stand up. You down one of the shots on the table before making your way over to the blonde. Your friends cheering you on can be heard faintly. 

“How bad do you think that’s gonna go?” Nikki asks Jen as they watch you introduce yourself to the blonde. 

“Oh so bad,” Jen responds. “But this will be good for her. If we get her asking a few girls every time we go out, someone is bound to say yes.”

“Oh, we’re thinking like men now, are we? Where is the confidence for our new friend? She’s cute! She’ll get plenty of yeses.” 

“Then why didn’t you say yes?” Jen counters with a knowing smirk.

“Cause you and I both know she is still way into Wanda and the last thing I am gonna be is one of those insecure women who compare themselves to another girl throughout the whole dating period. Nuh-uh. That’s not for me, honey,” Nikki explains and then takes a sip of her drink. 

“Exactly. Girls can spot a lovesick puppy from a mile away, which is why Y/N is coming back right now with that face like she’s been rejected as I predicted.” Jen looks in your direction and sure enough Nikki sees you walking back with a small frown on your face.

“It’s okay. It takes some practice, buddy,” Jen coos. 

Nikki is about to sympathize until she sees the napkin in your pocket and pulls it out. She praises, “But not for Y/N! Holy shit, you got her number and on a napkin? Talk about moves.” Jen doesn’t quite believe her until Nikki hands the napkin over. 

“Who even carries a pen around?”

“Don’t you have one in your bag?” you remind her. 

“Yeah, but I’m a lawyer. It would be weird if I didn’t,” Jen jokes. She reads the name on the napkin. “So, are you gonna call Trish?”

“I don’t know.” You shrug. “She seems nice enough, but I don’t know if I am ready to date yet.” 

“That’s all right. This was a good step to moving on,” Jennifer declares.

Nikki readily agrees, “A great step!��

Jennifer lifts her drink up to you two and cheers, “To moving on!”

You reluctantly join, clinking your drink to theirs. 

You wake the next day to a rap on your door, initiating an equally heavy pounding in your head. Not even Wanda’s sweet voice on the other side calling your name can soothe the ache. “Y/N, are you there? We have to head out in ten minutes.”

Shit. You have a mission today. 

Wanda hears shuffling on the other side of the door, then a thud and a groan. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m good. I’ll be right out,” you reply in embarrassment, internally thanking the lord Wanda didn’t see you trip putting on pants. Despite the slight mishap, you think you set a personal best getting ready whilst hungover. 

“Morning, Wanda,” you greet her when you open your door and see her leaning against the wall seemingly waiting for you. Your raspy morning voice interrupts her reviewing key notes for the mission on her phone. She’s about to greet you back but the sunglasses on your face distract her. She narrows her eyes at you.

“Are you hungover right now?” she accuses. 

“No,” you lie, before closing your door comically softly giving you away. She scoffs, “Unbelievable. Let’s go. Bucky is waiting for us.”

She walks ahead of you annoyed. She walks rather quickly too as you follow behind her. She has to be doing it on purpose. Anytime you are close to falling into step with her, she picks up her speed. If the car was any farther, you think you and Wanda would have ended up jogging. Luckily, Bucky has pulled the car up front. 

Wanda and you wordlessly get into the vehicle, she taking the passenger seat and you making your way into the back seats. You close your door gently. Wanda in turn practically slams hers shut, causing you to grab your head and groan. Wanda wouldn’t say she takes pleasure in causing people pain, but in this rare instance it does satisfy her a bit. 

“Someone had a good time last night. I don’t think I have to ask who you were with yesterday,” he teases you as you stretch out in the back seat throwing an arm over your face in order to block out the sun after tossing your sunglasses. He gets a grunt in response. 

“Here, this should make you feel better,” he says. You look over to see him handing you a water bottle and some painkillers he apparently stashed in the car. You sit back up, taking the items gratefully. 

“You’re a godsend,” you dramatically thank him and lean over the console to give him a hard kiss on the cheek. Wanda watches beside you two, her stomach twisting uncomfortably. She determines the feeling must be disappointment in herself for not being a good friend like Bucky. Had she helped you soothe your ache instead of making it worse, maybe she would be the one whose cheek you’re kissing.

Nope. Not the point, Wanda, she tells herself. The point is to be a good friend. Bucky shrugs it off and turns on the car. “Yeah, yeah. Put your seatbelt on.”

“Yes, sir,” you reply jokingly, but do as he says. “That’s the last time I'll try keeping up with Jen’s drinking,” you declare, and suddenly Wanda’s thoughts about being a better friend fly out the car window and she holds herself back from turning on the radio at full volume. 

You open the water bottle, taking the pills. You go through the water rather fast. Bucky notices and warns you to slow down. “We’re cutting it close as it is, so no bathroom breaks.” 

You’ve practically chugged the whole bottle already. “I can hold it.”

“You wouldn’t have to had you woken up on time,” Wanda points out.

“I thought I had set my alarms last night, but I guess I forgot,” you replied.

“Forgets to set her alarms, but not to get drunk the night before a mission,” she mutters not so under her breath. She doesn’t even know why she is so upset with you.

“Why are you mad at me?” you ask. Obviously you could feel it, but you sincerely don’t know what you did to upset her. You and Wanda both laughed when Clint showed up to work once hungover. You figured it would be Bucky who would give you an earful about it, not Wanda. Bucky doesn’t say anything, instead focuses on getting you to your destination.

“I’m not mad,” Wanda lies.

“You look mad,” you reply. 

“I’m not mad,” she repeats, getting annoyed.

“You sound mad.”

“I’m not mad!” she yells.

You wince at the loudness. Bucky gives Wanda the side eye, clearly not believing her. You back off, “Okay, you’re not mad.”

The rest of the car ride is quiet, but it gives you time to get your head in the game. You have a job to do. Whatever is going on with Wanda can wait. Bucky parks the car across the building where your person of interest plans on meeting someone your team had apprehended four days ago.

“There. The black Maserati,” Bucky announces when he spots who you’ve been waiting for. The three of you wait for the sedan to make its way inside the parking structure before getting out of the car to follow. 

“You two up front. I’ll go around back in case he tries to run,” Bucky orders. You and Wanda nod before heading into the structure to find the Maserati. You catch your target right as he is walking away from his vehicle. 

“Wow, is that your car, Mr.?” you ask over-enthusiastically to the guy dressed in a suit and tie. 

The man looks up at you two realizing you are speaking to him. He gives you and Wanda a once over before smiling to himself and replying rather smugly, “Yes, it is. You girls like cars?”

You bite your lip to hold back your laughter when Wanda grimaces after he calls you two “girls”. You reply to him, “I sure like yours.”

“If you’re a fan of this one, you should see the one I have at home,” he boasts and throws a wink at you in good measure. Wanda rolls her eyes, quickly getting annoyed with the guy and with you. Could you hurry the chit chat so she can do what she came here to do and not have to watch the guy you’re supposed to take down flirt with you?

“Wow, you have two of these?” You ask and your target is eating this up thinking you’re really impressed. You turn your head to tell Wanda, “Maybe we should get into dealing alien weaponry illegally. Seems to pay better.”

His smirk turns into a frown and he takes a step away from the two of you. “Who are you?”

“I’m Y/N and this is Wanda. We’re going to ask you kindly to come with us for questioning,” you answer. He panics, you see it in his eyes, the way they drift between you and the nearest exit. Wanda notices this too. She warns him, “Don’t run.”

He doesn’t run straight away, you’ll give him that. No, he decides to pull a gun out first and shoot Wanda’s way first before making a break for it. Luckily you saw this coming the moment he reached under his jacket, so you pull Wanda safely behind a car in time for the bullet to miss. 

You make sure your body cushions Wanda’s from hitting the hard ground and yet what hurts more is her elbow hitting your rib when she lands on top of you. More shots ring so you and Wanda stay where you are. He was running towards Bucky’s way anyhow. 

You hear the clattering of a gun hitting the floor and a few groans, all signs that Bucky is kicking his ass right now. 

“That was close. Thank you,” Wanda says. 

“Will you forgive me now for whatever I did to make you upset?” you ask sincerely.

“I wasn’t mad,” she insists with a roll of her eyes and then more quietly adds, “But yes, you’re forgiven.”

You laugh at her response and she smiles back. Your hands grasp her waist, giving her tummy a warm feeling. You couldn’t pull her any closer if you tried. Gravity is already doing its thing keeping her body flush against yours. “Wanda?”

“Yeah?” she replies. Her eyes drop to your lips and she nervously gulps. Right when she thinks of finally breaking the tension and leaning in, you tell her, “I think it’s safe for us to get up now.”

Realization that you were trying to push her up and not keep her against you dawns on her and embarrassment ensues. “Oh, sorry,” she squeaks, cheeks tinged red. She gets up off of you at the speed of a bottle rocket. 

“You’re fine,” you assure her. You wish you could say the same for yourself. 

“Yeah, don’t worry, ladies. Take your time. I got this,” Bucky interrupts sarcastically as he passes by you two carrying the unconscious culprit over his shoulder.

“Do you think he’ll let us stop by McDonald’s?” you ask Wanda as you both follow Bucky back to the car. 

“No,” Bucky answers, having heard you. Wanda giggles while you argue, “We don’t have to stop. They have drive-throughs, you know?” You smile when she gives a full loud laugh after you say, “It doesn’t have to be McDonald’s.”

*****

“Have you texted her yet?” Nikki asks while stabbing her salad. She and Jen invited you to lunch a few days later. 

“Texted who?” you ask.

“Who do you think? The woman from the bar!” Nikki reminds you. The way you scrunch your face gives her your answer.

“That’s a no,” Jen jokes. 

“I totally forgot. I’ve been busy.” It’s a lame excuse. You haven’t been doing anything of importance at all after that small mission with Bucky and Wanda. Jennifer and Nikki know this too.

“Yeah, busy getting sucked right back into Wanda,” Jen comments with a laugh, but you know she means it and it annoys you that Nikki agrees.

“I am not,” you deny.

“Remind me, Jennifer. Where did Y/N say she went on Sunday?” Nikki begins with faux forgetfulness. Jen plays along. 

“The farmer’s market with Wanda.”

“She asked me if I had any plans and I didn’t so she invited me to go with her and I couldn’t say no right after I just told her I wasn’t doing anything,” you defend yourself.

“What about the trip to Target on Monday?” Jen adds.

“She was buying a bookcase and wanted a second opinion,” you answer with a shrug. 

“Opinion on what? There are like three choices.” Nikki has a point there.

“I don’t know. I guess she’s indecisive,” you reply and Nikki mumbles, “Sure seems like it.”

“Can we change the subject, please?” you ask, no longer feeling like being attacked by your friends.

Jen appeases you. “Fine, fine. What were you doing earlier that you were running late?” 

You mumble something they don’t catch, but they already have a feeling what it might be. 

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear that with your head hung down shamefully. What did you say?” Nikki teases you.

“I said I was putting a bookcase together,” you repeat, rolling your eyes when they both laugh. “Well it wasn’t going to build itself!”

“Doesn’t Wanda have telekinesis or something? She doesn’t even have to lift a finger to build it,” Jen tells you.

Nikki jokes, “Bet she doesn’t have to lift a finger when Y/N’s around.”

“Y/N, how are you supposed to get over Wanda if you are always around offering her your time and services?”

“I can’t just start ignoring her. I tried it before and it was just mean. She’s my friend,” you remind them.

“A friend you have feelings for,” Jennifer returns with a serious disposition. “Look, we’re just trying to look out for you as your friends. And if Wanda is your friend like you say, she’ll understand if you need some space to get over your feelings for her.”

Yeah, that’s a conversation you don’t want to have. “That’s definitely an idea.”

“Or,” Nikki gives you a second option, “you can move on like originally planned and actually stay busy seeing someone else. Text the woman from the bar right now. Ask her out!”

You prefer Nikki’s idea. You’ll go with that one. Before lunch is over, you text Trish and by the end of the night you have a date to plan.

You freak out about what to do for a first date so you search online and the one that speaks to you is a picnic. You know that Trish is easily recognizable after she’s told you she is a radio host and you saw her face on the side of a bus so a picnic in the park would not be the best idea. Maybe you could set up on the roof. You wonder if that’s a good idea or if she’ll hate it. Self conscious about it, you ask your teammates what they think while you are in the gym with Steve and Sam. 

“Is a picnic on the rooftop for a first date too much? Or what do you guys think?” You drop your weights to look at the men. Only Steve bothers to look your way.

“I think it’s a waste of time and energy if she’s just gonna say no,” Sam replies, continuing to punch the bag Steve is holding still for him. 

“But she already said yes,” you say. That gets Sam to stop his punches. He and Steve look at you surprised. You wonder why they look so shocked.

“Wanda said yes?” Steve asks. Oh. 

“No, not Wanda. Someone else,” you sigh. 

“Tsk, man, you got me excited for nothing.” Sam goes back to working the punching bag. Steve though carries on the conversation. “Who is it? Do we know them?”

“Maybe,” you answer with a shrug. “She’s a radio host. Her name is Trish Walker.”

“No way.” Sam stops again. “You’re going on a date with Trish Walker. The Trish Walker.”

“Who’s Trish Walker?” Steve speaks up.

“She’s Patsy from ‘It’s Patsy’!” 

“Patsy?” Steve looks at you in confusion but you can’t explain this to him because truth be told you don’t know what Sam is talking about either. 

“How do you not know- oh yeah,” Sam interrupts himself. “I forget you’re both a different generation. It was a tv show and she starred in it. I had a huge crush on her when I was younger. And you’re going out with her?” 

You nod in response, making Sam shake his head. “That’s foul. You would do that to me, your friend?”

You roll your eyes at his dramatics. “You haven’t answered my question, friend. Is a picnic a good first date?”

“I think it’s romantic. I think she will appreciate the effort and thought you put into it,” Steve pipes up. His comment makes you feel better about it. That is until Sam speaks. 

“It’s corny is what it is. You have to do something fun and interesting. No restaurant, no picnic. It has to be something she’ll definitely remember. Take her scuba diving,” Sam suggests.

You look to Steve for his thoughts on this. He is shaking his head and immediately saying, “Don’t take her scuba diving.”

You leave the gym still thinking over the picnic idea but definitely not considering scuba diving as a substitute for a good first date. You don’t notice Wanda or the way her eyes linger over your body as you walk down the hallway heading toward your room for a shower until she’s two feet away. 

“Oh, hey, Wanda,” you greet her with a smile. Her head snaps up and she smiles back with pink cheeks, praying you didn’t catch her checking you out. You didn’t. Instead you’re thinking Wanda is a girl. Her opinion over the first date matter would be valuable, so you ask her next, “What do you think about a picnic on the rooftop as a first date?”

Wanda was not at all expecting those to be the next words out of your mouth. It’s been so long since you’ve asked her out and she can freely admit to herself anyway that she missed it. 

“You’re asking me?” Wanda double checks that this is actually happening. You look around the hallway confused. Of course you’re asking her. There’s no one else here. You nod and she asks furthermore, “For a first date?”

“Yeah, or is that too much?” You look so unsure. This is different than all the other times you’ve asked her out. You would be so confident in your delivery. This is something new. Wanda thinks it’s kind of cute. 

You take Wanda’s quietness as an answer. “It’s too much isn’t it? I knew it. Damn it.”

You sigh. Back to the drawing board you guess. Scuba diving isn’t sounding so bad anymore. Wanda pulls you back from getting too far into your brain. “Wait, Y/N. No,” she starts. Is she really about to do this? Is she about to agree to go on a date with you after having said no a hundred times? 

“I-” she hesitates. What if the date goes wrong? What if it ruins what you have now? This past week she realized just how much she enjoys your company, how comfortable she is when it’s just the two of you. What if it becomes awkward?

“You?” Your sweet eyes look at her, asking her to finish her thought.

What if the date goes really well? Then there is a second and a third and then you’re dating and you’re wrapping your arm around her and watching tv together and calling her beautiful. Okay, so not so different from what you’ve done before but with dating you would kiss her whenever you wanted and you’d smile when she kisses you back and... that actually doesn’t sound so bad. 

Oh what the hell. It’s one date. 

“A picnic on the rooftop sounds perfect.”

You smile in relief. No scuba diving for you. “Really?”

“Yes. When were you thinking?” Wanda asks.

“Oh um. We’re both free tomorrow, so I was thinking like five-ish cause the sun is supposed to set around six and the view looks awesome from the roof.”

She looks at you surprised. “You really thought it through.”

“Yeah.” You don’t give her much more than that because it would be embarrassing to admit that originally you had planned a date like that for you and Wanda. You would have had Wanda’s favorite food from her favorite places in the city and have had a cute set up you pictured in your head. But it’s fine. Hopefully Trish enjoys it. You clear your throat. “Okay, well. I should really shower.”

“Yeah, I was wondering what that smell was,” Wanda jokes. 

“Hey! Three hours at the gym with Sam and Steve, this is as sweet as anyone could smell,” you defend yourself. 

“Three hours?” she gasps. “Why do you do that to yourself?”

“An ass like this takes work,” you jest, turning around to walk back to your room but not without a shimmy of your butt to make her laugh. You feel proud when it works and you hear her giggle. 

“You better not smell like that tomorrow,” she warns you. You laugh the rest of the way to your door. Before entering your room you call Wanda one last time. “Hey, Wanda. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome?” she says, confused. It’s the first time anyone has thanked her for agreeing to go on a date. She giggles to herself after you close your door. Tomorrow is going to be interesting. 

All morning Wanda radiates nervous energy. She supposed she shouldn’t overthink it. It’s just a date. She’s had her fair share of first dates before. First date jitters is a thing, but as much as she wishes it’s simply that, she thinks there is more to it this time. 

She’s never dated a coworker before. Coworker? That doesn’t sound right. Teammate? Better, but still not fitting. Friend? Are you friends? You had always shown romantic interest so Wanda was always skeptical considering you a friend, but that’s what you ended up being, wasn’t it? 

Any way you put it, coworker, teammate, or friend, Wanda has never dated anyone of the category. It always seemed messy. If things go wrong, you would have to see that person at work all of the time or your friendship wouldn’t be the same and you’d fall out. Was it worth it?

By 11am, Wanda has convinced herself dating you would be too complicated. So she goes to find you and tell you the date is off. Would you be upset? Would you think she’s playing with your feelings? That she’s leading you on like Natasha said? 

But it’s not leading you on if she wants it too. She can confirm she does want it. Screw the outcome. Dating is meant to be fun and there is never a dull moment when you’re around. 

By 11:30am, Wanda finds you with your arms full seemingly on your way to the rooftop. It looks like you are about to set up and you tell her so when you catch her staring. 

“Oh, hey, Wanda. Don’t mind me. I’m just going to start setting up now so I have time to get ready. I promised I’d smell good, you know,” you joke with her. Seeing the blankets in your arms, the nerves come back to Wanda but this time they don’t feel so bad. There is excitement mixed in there too. “While I have you, do you think this is enough blankets? Is it enough cushion for the ground? I don’t want our butts numb twenty minutes into the date, you know?”

She laughs but she goes to feel the stack of blankets and decides you need more. “I think maybe two more. You can grab some of mine,” she offers.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll just steal some more from Sam’s room. No need to get yours dirty,” you reply, waving her off.

“Okay, hey, Y/N,” she calls you back before you can get too far. You look up in her direction. She smiles at you and says, “I’m actually kind of happy this is happening. I’ll see you later.”

She quickly dismisses herself with a blush on her cheeks. She doesn’t know what possessed her to say that but she leaves before she does anything else more embarrassing.

You stand in the hallway with the weight of the blankets in your arms and a new weight on your heart left by Wanda’s words. She basically told you she’s glad you are moving on. Although that is probably how she feels, you think she could have taken pity on you and not say it out loud. 

You can’t have this weigh on you. There’s a date you need to set up and there is still much to do. You quickly organize everything on the rooftop before moving on to getting yourself ready and by five o’clock you are greeting Trish at the door before leading her inside and up to the rooftop.

While you are hoping you don’t run into Sam on the way up, Wanda is dolled up and waiting for you to knock on her door. She grows impatient after waiting half an hour. You did say five, didn’t you? Tired of waiting, she knocks on your door. Sam catches her waiting at your door frowning down at her phone. You are not answering her texts.

“She’s not in there,” Sam tells her. 

“Where is she?”

“She’s on a date,” he discloses with a pout. Then he takes notice of Wanda dressed like she is also going out. “You look nice. You have a date too?”

“Too?” She storms up to the roof, not bothering with a reply. She bursts through the exit door that leads to the rooftop. She doesn’t have time to admire your work or realize that there is someone else here with you. All she knows is she has been waiting a long ass time for you to knock on her door and you’ve been here the whole time. 

“Y/N! I’ve been waiting for an hour. What have you been doing?” she snaps, startling you and your date. Wanda looks upset.

“Wanda? Did we have plans?” You ask, totally confused. 

“Our date?” Wanda reminds you. She doesn’t understand why you are acting like this is the first time you are hearing about it. 

“Date? I thought you weren’t seeing anybody,” the blonde woman next to you scoffs. Wanda finally turns to see a whole other human being present. Who the fuck is this?

“I’m not! This is just a misunderstanding. Give me one moment. Wanda, can I talk to you for a second?” You pull Wanda off to the side. “What are you doing?!” You ask her. 

“What am I doing?? What are you doing?! Who is she?” she fumes. 

“That’s Trish. I met her at a bar when I went out for drinks with Jen and Nikki.” It’s more information than she needed but it doesn’t really answer what she actually wants to know.

“Okay, what is she doing here?” 

“What do you think she’s doing here? We’re on a date!” you whisper yell. 

“No, you’re not.” Wanda denies. 

“What? Wanda, look around. We literally talked about this yesterday,” you remind her, waving your arm in the direction of the picnic setup. 

“This was supposed to be for me, not her.” 

This trips you. You never thought anyone would catch you. How could Wanda possibly know that you had this planned for her originally. “Wh-who told you that?”

“You did yesterday!” she hisses, both her hands shaking in front of her in clear frustration. It’s making her angrier that you still wear the dumbfounded look as if none of this is ringing a bell.

“Wanda, what are you talking about?” You couldn’t be more confused. What is going on? 

“Hey, so this looks like more than a misunderstanding. I’m gonna head out. Call me whenever you get this sorted,” Trish speaks up, grabbing her stuff, before she leaves. 

“Trish, wait-” you call after your date but all you get is the sound of the rooftop door closing. You turn to your teammate to demand an explanation. “Wanda, what the hell?” 

“Why did you stop?” Wanda asks instead, tone full of hurt. 

You sigh, “Stop what?” 

“Why did you stop asking me to dinner?” 

You frown. Why is she bringing this up now? “You said no.” 

“I’ve said no plenty of times and you still came back. You still texted me corny lines. You still chatted me up when I was trying read or exercise. You still sought me out and spent time with me no matter how many times I turned you down.”

You looked away from Wanda with your cheeks flushed. Yes, you tried a little too hard and it did you no good. Why is she bringing this up? Is she trying to embarrass you? 

If you bothered to look back at her, you’d see the tears forming in her eyes. “You never left me alone. You still tried. Now the only time you are around is when I find an excuse for you to be. Why’d you stop trying? Why did you leave me alone?” 

You work up the courage to look her in the eye and give her an honest answer, using the same words she used before. “I guess it finally clicked in my head that we are never going to happen.” 

Never did she think those words would come back to bite her. Wanda swallows hard, realizing you heard her and Nat outside her room weeks ago. The hurt expression on her face morphs into a guilty one. She didn’t know you were listening, but of course you were. You were probably waiting to see her find the gift you left at her door. But she didn’t actually mean any of what she said. Maybe she thought she did, but none of it was true, at least none of what Wanda said was true. Natasha on the other hand laid out some hard truths Wanda didn’t want to own up to. 

“Y/N-” she tries, but you don’t let her get very far. 

“It’s okay. You’re right. I should have taken the hint. I don’t hang around you as often because I get that I can be annoying.” A lump forms in your throat from recalling that night and what was said, but you push on through. 

“Y/N, you’re not-” 

“And the less time I spend with you, the easier it will be for me to get over you.” 

“You’re over me?” She asks sadly. 

“Not yet,” you reply candidly, “but I’m trying to move on. I’m sorry if you feel like I don’t care about you anymore because I’m not there all the time, but I just need some space. I hope you can understand.”

You didn’t think it would come to this, at least you hoped it wouldn’t, but it seems Jennifer was right in the end. You need a break from Wanda. It’s the only way to move on. 

Wanda doesn’t say anything and you don’t wait for her to. “Feel free to grab whatever you want.” You point to the food leftover on the picnic blanket, not wanting it to go to waste. “I’ll clean it all up later.”

You leave Wanda on the rooftop alone with her thoughts and the scraps of a date that should have been hers. 

_______________________________________________________

A/N: This was meant to be posted like five days ago but I felt it was a little too short so I took the time to make the chapter longer. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think! Thanks for the patience and I hope I got everyone on the taglist thus far. Taglist: @skis1501 @xastrydx @almosttoopizza​ @m-r-nicely​ @matildeboh @ksslhdg @youlookterribleilookawesome @miss-chew @idkyidownloadedthisbutididanyway @simpformommywanda​ @wandanatfan​ @idcplss @poteitalouca​ @lizlil​ @watashiwaglr38​ @natashaswifeu​ @unicorn2003​ @kellexforthefuckingwin​ @sojo154 @sheriffhaughtearp​ @grxvitye​ @lissaaaa145​ @pawiie​ @anitavdw​ @tearsofglitter​ @justyourwritter69​ @natashasnoodle​ @vizoxx​ @anki-of-beleriand​ @an-evergreen-rose​ @jadechasesworld​ @lorsstar1st​ @captains-simp​ @natblackwidow2 @hella-hecka-gay @wandsmxmff​ @nothingisrealanyway​ @b0mbdotc0m​ @mmmmokdok @lonewalker17 @ageofolsen​ @infinnitycatchers​ @dark-hunter16​ @ireadtofeel​ @reereeineedtopee​ @infrunamix @how-to-disappearr​ @username23345 @panthastichumanbeing @kurosstuff​ @chasethemoon​ @etheriaaly​ @youralphawolf72​ @karmasgxrl​ @medinalethal-blog​ @capswife​ @puathepig @whataloadof​ @splatasha-jumpinoff​ @afuckingshituniverse​ @justlurkingforyou​ @maximofflover @blackluthxr​ @scarletswandawitch​ @imdreamingblo​ @anxietyisgreat​ @xxromanoffxx​ @romanoffomixam @diaryoflife​ @natashasilverfox​ @harleyswanda​ @gimaximoff​ @simplysimping999 @cmaysf​ @frvny​ @sadpiscesheart @chasethemoon​ @olsensnpm​ @chaekhan​ @dumpaccdontmindme​ @iliketozoneout​ @lordesolddepression @devriesgoode @shittylittleweirdo​ @i-have-no-life-charlie​ @dutifullysuperbwitch​ @teenybean​ @nothingisrealanyway​ @kas1644 @m-h-r-h​ @bpluvie​ @bottomforwanda  @daenerys713​ @sandyche3ks​ @justyourwritter69​ @get-the-fuck-outta-here​ @s1ut4nat​ @rooooooe @lenalesbian​ @alienstookourbunnies​ @lainjupi @mi-yo-0​ @lesbesapphic​ @sylencr​ @i-wanna-be-a-deer​ @nightimemommy​ @donnietarantino @celticjess08 @esposadejoyhuerta​ @fxckmiup​ @casquinhaa​ @paaandiculations​ @detectivepineapple @oh-thats-cute-blog​ @jusnough​ @aliherreraaa @wandanats-goodgirl​       

[silly-l1ttle-guy]

drop every headcanon of the bucci gang NOW!

ON IT BOSS!!!

--- pookie bear bruno hcs first <3

BRUNO BUCCIARATI IS 100% GAY FOR LEONE ABBACCHIO

they just kinda live together

bruabba holds a special place in my heart

bruno's probably stressed out 24/7

VERY FEMININE GUY

hes got soft features yk?

probably spends like 3 hours doing his hair in the morning

ISTG HE PROBABLY SMELLS SO GOOD

I like to think that he legally adopted Fugo after fugso bugso joined that gang

SHUT UP IT MAKES ME HAPPY

poor guy overworks himself WAY too often

he also has the most gorgeous eyelashes you'll ever see

and they're natural, too

THIS MAN HAS EYEBAGS

he's tired af half the time, idk what you expected

he tries to help fugo control his anger (bc he's a loving mother) (giorno does it better tho)

i reckon bruno's pansexual tbh, he just seems like he wouldn't give a shit about his partner's gender

he likes going fishing

brought Abbacchio along one time

abba got seasick and threw up

he likes to accessorize his hair (hence the mitochondria hair clips)

sometimes he'll let the others accessorize his hair, too

trish makes it look really cute

abba makes it look stunning (bc it's his boyfriend)

narancia just puts random shit in his hair

Mista sings loudly (and badly) to be a little shit while he does Bruno's hair (it turns out surprisingly ok)

giorno deadass just puts a shit ton of stars in his hair

fugo gets mad and almost rips a chunk of Bruno's hair out

Bruno's guilty pleasure is midnight snacks

abbacchio caught him eating a whole ass tub of ice cream while watching il postino: the postman at like 2 in the morning

they watched it together and cuddled afterwards

hot goth

gay for bruno

he probably watches those make up youtube channels

if he didn't join passione he could be a make up artist

lets trish practice on him

HE SEES NARANCIA AS HIS SON AND YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE

he's full on protective of nara too

i like to give abbacchio sharper features when i draw him tbh

also a larger nose

and while we're at it, let's hook that bad boy (the nose)

he and bruno go on wine testing dates

he has very frequent and reoccurring nightmares

(its why he sleeps with bruno)

his parents cut contact when they found out he was a dirty cop :(

this man saw narancia on his first day in the gang and accepted his fate as a father LMAO

he's a gay man and you can't tell he's not. Never felt attraction towards women

he feels like time moves by too fast. Everything happens so quickly and he wishes he could go back and just relive certain parts of his life over and over again because he feels like everything happens so quickly now that he's older and it overwhelms him (this definitely isn't me projecting what're you talking about)

moody blues is sort of the representation of this

SENTIENT MOODY BLUES SUPREMACY BY THE WAY

Moody blues is curvy and i won't accept anything else

make moody look goddamn feminine

not too feminine obviously but like

moody looks like a woman compared to abbacchio

tells people he can't dance but he definitely can

just play the right music and give him enough wine and he'll be dancing like he's never danced before (only in private tho)

YOOUU CAN DANCE, YOOUU CAN JIIVVEEEEE~~

EVERYTIME I LISTEN TO HALF-DECADE HANGOVER BY WILL WOOD I JUST THINK OF ABBACCHIO

and maybe euthanasia by will wood too

not even kidding, abbacchio has the same body type as a greek god

also the strongest guy in the team

the guy that has a dream

GIORNO. WHERE DO I FUCKING START.

I love this weird ass fucking guy

gay for fugo. that's all I'm gonna say.

I KNOW HE ACTED FRUITY W/ MISTA BUT IT'S BC HE'S A LITTLE SHIT WHO LIKES TO FLIRT WITH HIS FRIENDS AS A JOKE

not abba or bruno tho (they're too old for his taste)

remember that one seen where he and mista are up against cioccolata (fuck him btw) and they do that gay ass pose?

prime example of giorno being a little shit

putting his hand down mista's pants was an accident by the way, he just said "fuck it" and went with it

he probably showed the gang the thing he could do with his ear

they had very mixed reactions

one day (before the gang) he woke up and saw his roots were blond and he just went like "sigh, guess I have to grow my hair out and become barbie

THIS MAN RIGHT HERE IS THE TWINK

also bc his dad is dio I like to think that he sunburns easily

he can also see really well and the dark

"It's so dark in here, I can't see shit!" "I can, there's a light switch over there."

everyone was confused as hell bc it was pitch black in that room

this man is gay. he likes BOYS and BOYS ONLY

i like to think Giorno's a mischievous lil guy

he does something silly then giggles and runs away

it's to make up for the fact that he didn't have a proper childhood

ALSO CURLY HAIR GIORNO SUPREMACY

his hair is gorgeous and luxurious AND SO FUCKING CURLY

he uses about 20 hair products every day (21 if he's going on a date)

he can calm fugo down so easily too

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU NARANCIA-" "Hi fugo!" "Oh, hey Giorno."

it's really scary (according to narancia and mista)

this man loves gardening

born to be a gardener, forced to be a gangstar

autistic (it runs in the family)

the stink

Mista is the type of guy who showers once or twice a week

he only washes his clothes when they get too dirty

I like to make this man a little wider honestly

GIVE THIS MAN SOME CHUB PLEASE

he's muscular, but he's gotta have a little meat on there too

I like to think that Mista outright REFUSES to shave

the only place that he can grow barely any hair is his face

never shaved his face. He doesn't have much facial hair and he'll be damned if he ever has to get rid of the little that he has

bffs with trish btw

they make fun of each other all the time

in a friendly way

he honestly looks the least gay out of everyone

probably bi with a heavy preference towards girls (he had a boyfriend one time tho)

STINKS SO BAD IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY

sometimes he shoves Narancia's face in his armpit for fun

I'm not even kidding Narancia probably threw up one time bc Mista stank so bad

older brother figure to EVERYONE

Giorno? that's his baby brother. Narancia? his favourite brother. Trish? his little sister. Fugo? that's his angry little brother.

I have so many mista headcanons it's unreal

his hair is so fucking curly istg

and it's black too

very short tho. also super greasy

his love language is physical touch, but not in the usual physical touch way

he won't really hug people or hold hands or just do something normal, oh no

my guy likes to pick people up and throw them over his shoulder

it's definitely not to show off how strong he is

definitely

everything about him is so crusty

he literally gets along with anyone tho

you can't tell me this guy DOESN'T smoke weed

not very often but like

once every month or two he'll get high to relax

he stopped after Giorno took over as boss (bc yk, drugs are a no no)

he probably thinks France isn't real tbh (but as a joke to annoy fugo)

I HAVE MORE MISTA HEADCANONS BUT I HAVE TO CUT IT SHORT BECAUSE I NEED TO MOVE ON TO THE OTHERS

angry strawb (lots of angst in this one)

fugo is deeply in love with Giorno (FUGIO FOR LIFE)

a little bit of angst warning btw

bc of his past, fugo HATES physical touch

if someone touches him he will flinch

very uncomfortable in crowded places

Mista's love language is physical touch, but he refrains himself from touching Fugo

it's really sweet

"HEY FUGO! Lemme give you a high-five! Wait, no, you don't like that. Have this cool rock I found instead!"

he's trying

Fugo really appreciates it

after phf, he let Mista be one of the two people who can touch him (the other person is Giorno)

Fugo just randomly hugged him one day and that was that

he was really distraught when he found out Narancia, Bruno and abba died

especially Bruno

like I said before, Bruno adopted him after he joined the gang, so he genuinely saw Bruno as a father figure

definitely called Bruno "dad" in private

He genuinely cried when he realized he missed Bruno's funeral

MOVING ON TO THE NON ANGSTY STUFF BC IM GONNA CRY

when he's a bad mood, he listens to music with Abbacchio (his dad's cool boyfriend who he looks up to)

will correct any and all spelling or grammar mistakes

nerd supreme

i like to headcanon that Fugo's albino

(MANGA FUGO FOR LIFE)

he's really sensitive to sunlight because of it

his vision isn't that good, too

it's not bad enough to the point where he can't read and all that, but it definitely bothers him

since it wasn't too serious, he got some glasses that corrected his vision

he only really wears them when he's reading now, but he used to wear them all the time when he was younger

GOD I HAVE A LOT OF FUGO HEADCANONS

sometimes he wakes up and there's just a bouquet of flowers at the foot of his bed (I WONDER WHO THAT WAS HMMMM)

Narancia's like a little brother towards him

he doesn't care that nara's a year older than him, that's his brother

genuinely will forget to eat if he isn't reminded (me projecting)

i have more but i'm gonna have to end it here

BABY BOY <3

I LOVE NARANCIA I HAVE A NARANCIA PLUSHIE (and a giorno one but that's less important)

he originally had really good eyesight, but after his eye got infected his eyesight just kinda went bad

his eyes expired

but seriously though (woah no way, silly little guy can be serious?), he's almost blind in the eye that got infected

doesn't wanna wear glasses bc "they'll ruin his reputation"

he's also really short compared to everyone else in the team

he's really insecure about it

can and will fight anyone who says something even remotely teases him for his height

low iron for sure (me too bud, me too)

Abbacchio just took on the role as his father and makes sure he eats all his food

"But it tastes badddd" "Eat it or I'll shove it down your throat. Also, it has good iron."

he ate it, but was very pouty about it the whole time

mista will point at things made of iron and say shit like "that's what you need" or "you should eat that to get your iron levels up"

skinny but he's really strong

my guy has a six pack but looks scrawny as hell

Mista's jealous of him lmao

"Why do YOU get a six pack?!" "because you're fat"

Mista then forced Narancia to smell his armpits (they were rank)

he does a lot of shit with Mista lmao

partners in crime

he got high with mista one time and never did it again

oddly flexible

he's probably dyslexic

the girlboss

live laugh love Trish

lesbian fr

she practices makeup on Abbacchio

another one that sees abba as a father figure

they point each other's nails and go shopping together

Mista's bff fr

they do karaoke together

yk that one tiktok sound that was that like "OH SHIT IT'S IN KOREAN" and then starts singing it perfectly anyway

that's her and Mista

Mista's the one that sings it lmao

i don't have that many headcanons for trish tbh

she likes to try out new hairstyles a lot

they're always short tho

she doesn't like growing out her hair

says it's too much of hassle

we love trish in the household

she has freckles (from doppio)

yk those weird ass dots diavolo has in his hair? she has those but they're less noticeable

talks shit about people with abbacchio

she likes ranting about stuff to giorno bc he's a good listener

big fan of scented candles

gave mista soap for his birthday

she has frequent headaches (something she got from doppio, bc i hc that he has frequent headaches)

ANYWAY THAT'S IT FOR NOW

do you wanna hear about my la squadra headcanons? Doppio and Diavolo??? PLEASE I HAVE SO MANY GOOD HEADCANONS JUST LET ME RANT-

[manysketchbook]

Firffels: the Wuzzles Competitor That Disappeared

Recently, I found this toy at my local thrift store. I thought it was an oddly cute nativity toy, but upon closer inspection the tush tag read "FIRFFELS. I'm glad to be a SHAMEL." I did a quick search online and the first result was this page on Ghost of the Doll, a toy collector's site that archives information about 80s/90s toys and includes a forum where anyone can seek help with identifying toys. This lead me down a rabbit hole of figuring out just what Firffels were: a failed line of toys promised to be the next hot phenomenon, with minimal documentation online and a handful of toys floating around in thrift stores.

Other than Ghost of the Doll, I found info about Firffels in this 2010 blog post by Trish Babbles (written in an edgy, mean-to-be-funny style that I think is too uncharitable, but it was a different time to be online lol) and this blog post by AF Blog. My other info comes from Othello Bach's website dedicated to the book itself (her personal site is no longer functional) and from a handful of youtube videos I found of a Firffels commercial. Many thanks to these sources, without them there'd be like, nothing online about these creatures.

Firffels are based on the children's book Who ever Heard of a Fird? by Othello Bach, first edition published in 1984 by Caedmon Childrens Books (upon Googling, it appears that Caedmon is owned by HarperCollins now and focuses on audiobooks). The story follows Fird, a fish-bird hybrid, as he travels the world to find other firds. Along the way he encounters a goofy, lovable cast of other hybrid animals who have all never heard of a fird. The story ends with fird learning to love his uniqueness and find peace with being who he is. As is apparent in the Amazon link above (not sponsored, just showing my work), a used copy is $86 dollars right now. An audiobook narrated by Joel Grey (an actor that I'm unfamiliar with who is apparently known for his role in Cabaret) was also released on cassette, listed on Ebay for $75+. Luckily, there is a youtube video of someone doing a complete read through of the book, but the camera angle is poor. This is the only visual record I could find online of the interior illustrations by Michelle Dorman, other than a brief look at a few in a low quality VHS promo rip I'll get to in a minute, and the image below from an Ebay listing. There may be a few more photos in some Etsy listings that I missed.

In Trish's blog post they complain that Shamel is an ugly monstrosity and there were a few comments on Ghost of the Doll's forum of the same nature about Shamel, but I think Shamel is the cutest one! It just looks like a new breed of camel, meanwhile Fird in the background here is...he's so cartoonishly goofy. Idk how else to describe him. He's so fuckin' goofy. He'd make squeaky Spongebob-esque sound effects when he walks, I imagine.

The book was allegedly a hit and Remco bought the merchandising rights. They went all in, as is detailed in the 5 minute promotional video below. Based on a cast of 6 characters, plush toys and posable action figures hit the market with a promise that Hanna Barbera would develop an animated tv show starring Firffels, housewares would be made, there'd be a clothing line, and Design-a-Firffel contests would be held. A few housewares seem to have been made and plush toy sewing patterns were released, but I was unable to find evidence that anything else moved forward.

Absolutely fucking insane fact: according to this video, Caedmon Publishing was owned by Raytheon at the time. Thanks Raytheon for these cuddly children's toys and also, uh, horrific weapons of war?

After I bought Shamel, I went back to the store to see if there were more. There were! I found Bertle and Elephonkey, who still had the original tags. I swear the day earlier I had seen a frog toy with butterfly wings but it wasn't there anymore. I remember passing over it and thinking "eh, butterfly wings on a frog aren't cute," and did not bothering even looking at the tags. My mistake. Turns out that toy was worth a decent amount of money and was part of this whole story.

Bertle's pink belly super bright in real life, like neon. There is a sunbleached spot on it's front.

Elephonkey is the only one with original tags. I also included an image of the tush tag. For each toy the tush tag is the same but displays the character's name.

Hybrid animals are not a unique concept. Wuzzles, a line of plush toys that were animal hybrids with wings and likely made to compete with Care Bears, are brought up in most posts and forums where Firffels are mentioned--usually to disparage Firffels as being knock off, less successful Wuzzles. Wuzzles weren't exactly successful either, though they definitely lasted longer and had more reach, likely due to the backing of a Disney/Hasbro budget. AF Blog in 2015 makes a good point that I agree with: it's unlikely that Wuzzles and Firffels were ripping each other off due to production timelines. Toy lines can be in development for years before any information is made public. It takes a long time to design toys, then get them to a manufacturer, then go through the revisions process. Not to mention the time it takes to ship things out, negotiate contracts at every step of the way, etc. And, as AF Blog notes, Whoever Heard of a Fird? was released in 1984, a year before the first Wuzzles tv episode aired, and Firffels hit the market a year later.

People draw hybrid animals all the time. For example, furry adoptable artists draw hybrids all the time (take a shot every time you find a closed species that is a feline with a fish tail or deer feet or some other animal's defining trait), the Lego movie had Unikitty, and I literally went to Walmart today and in the toy section there was a miniature rabbit-like rainbow animal with wings and a unicorn horn there. The thing that makes these toys potentially appealing, in my opinion, is that they choose safe and popular traits: sparkly horns and feathery wings, for the most part. Things that are easily marketable.

The thing with Firffels is that they combined animals with traits that are less immediately appealing. Image below from Ghost of the Doll.

Some of them are cute but the others miss the mark. Personally I like Shamel and Bertle (the plush version only tbh).

Worth pointing out is that the character illustrations do not match the toy designs. If you go back and watch the commercials included in the 5 minute promo video, you can see that the Bertle plush and action figure are brown and green rather than pink and blue, and that Shamel's hair is brown instead of purple. I saw varied photos of the Butterfrog plush: some were lighter green while others were darker. Could be an issue with differing cameras, but I don't know for certain. And then there's Elephonkey, who is the most inconsistent of the bunch:

The first image is the prototype toy as it appears in the commercial. It is grey and flesh colored, with odd looking plastic hair. The second image is from Ghost of the Doll, of how the Elephonkey action figure actually appeared in stores. Third is a photo of my Elephonkey plush. Compare it with the official character art...well, he's not my favorite design in any incarnation.

I think the toys in the commercials were prototypes that were changed to brighter colors so as to appeal more towards girls. In the 30 second plush commercial there are 4 girl actors and 1 boy actor, with the camera shots getting closer to and focusing more on the girls' faces, so it would make sense. In contrast, the action figure commercial features 1 girl and 2 boys, and most of the camera shots are of the kids' hands playing with the toys, giving off a more boyish, gender-neutral vibe. Classics of gendered marketing, am I right? lol. But I think the change was a good one. I wouldn't have picked up Shamel if I hadn't seen the purple hair, and I definitely would not like Bertle if he wasn't pink. It gives the toys more of a cohesive style, a unique identity, and they fit in more alongside the Wuzzles/Care Bears visuals with the vibrant, happy colors. There's more of a toy-like quality to them, which increases the cuddle-ability and inspires more of an urge to play.

Discovering and logging all this inconsistency has been pretty fun. But it makes me think that these toys were probably doomed by a chaotic, unorganized development process behind the scenes. And given that the book was published in '84 and toys hit the market in '85...the signs seem to point to production being rushed.

To be fair to Firffels, it was probably a little harder in the 80s to hit it big with kids. You had to be lucky, you had to have connections with the right distributors, you had to anticipate what is universally appealing to children--one of the most unpredictable audiences out there--and you had to pay to air your commercials during prime child viewing hours. These are all things that are still true, but we have the internet now and the advertising power of the internet is scary. Going viral on TikTok has the potential to skibidi someone's toilet career. iPad babies are growing up into grade school kids who throw birthday parties every year and get toys as gifts. We are living in an era where mass-producing cheap little polyester plushies and plastic figures is easier than ever and corporations have massive budgets to pump into kids' eyeballs through every advertising avenue they possibly can. They don't even need to come up with the designs anymore, they can just partner with whatever Roblox game is popular right now and capitalize on that. Maybe Othello Bach should get on Roblox.

Actually, it appears that Bach was given the short end of the stick by the time Firffels were pulled. Though her personal website is no longer up, her other website dedicated entirely to Whoever Heard of a Fird? has some info:

At the height of Fird's success, with over 100 licensees cramming the store shelves with children’s merchandise and an animation contract with Hanna-Barbera, the book and all the merchandise suddenly vanished from the shelves.  Although she lost the rights to several other published children’s books at the same time, Othello has never received a reasonable explanation for what happened.

So this passage actually clears something up for me. This whole time something that hasn't really lined up is that I had assumed that Othello Bach published the book first and then was approached for merchandising rights after the book sold well. I actually think now it's possible that from the get-go the book was written with the intention for it to become a worldwide sensation. Not so much Bach's intent, though. I have some professional familiarity with licensing and other such creative publishing contracts, particularly with books. Based on what I know, I believe it's more likely that Bach pitched her manuscript to Caedmon Publishing and Caedmon, seeking to create popular IP, was like, "this has potential and we are going to sign you on not only for the book, but for more." That might be why the character designs are so strange: they were trying too hard to get famous quick and had instructed the illustrator (it is regular practice for publishers to pair authors with an illustrator and given how much was on the line for this IP, Bach might not've had much input here) to design characters that could also become toys. It's unlikely that Michelle Dorman, a kids book illustrator, had product design skills needed to make standout, awesome toy designs. Not a knock on her, illustrators just have niches within their field that they're best at it. It's why you see so many illustrators complain about how often they get approached to design logos--that's not what we do, thank you.

What's sad is that clearly Bach had signed a bad contract that gave away most of her rights as the writer to the publisher. She openly says so above. My guess is that Caedmon told her they needed more rights than usual to be able to conduct so much merchandising (like signing contracts with Remco, much easier to do when you don't have a third party also involved), and because they were pouring so much effort into it on their end. Bach is just the writer, so while the original idea is hers, Caedmon would have matched her with an illustrator and taken charge of all the licensing and merchandising. For a publisher this is a huge commitment financially and personnel-wise, so it makes sense why they would have put forth a contract that gave them so many rights. If Firffels had become as popular as they'd hoped, they don't want to not own the IP. They would have poured all those resources into it and not be able to reap all the rewards because that pesky author would own it. It's almost like contracts like these are predatory and only serve the interests of the publisher. Almost like publishers are companies existing in a capitalistic system and therefore only serve profit, not people. Almost like companies will never truly have artist's best interests at heart, and if you are ever to sign a contract with a big publisher you need to have a good lawyer by your side.

It makes me so sad to read that they didn't even give her a reasonable explanation as to why everything was cancelled. She does not even appear to have any of the merchandise on hand, as all the photos on her website are from Ghost of the Doll. In hindsight we can guess, obviously, why the cancellation happened but I'm in the moment it was probably upsetting. It's still upsetting, given that she has included this in her website for the...revamped book!

However, like Fird, Othello refused to give up. For the next 20 years, she tried to regain the rights to her work. Entertainment attorneys assured her it would never happen.  They said, "It can't be done!" But... it could be done and Othello did it, regaining the rights back to all her work.

Yeah, so, I actually think this is the saddest part about the whole thing. She managed to get some of the rights back and republished the book with...new art...that looks so fucking BAD. Image from her website:

Sorry to this illustrator, but got damn. There is no sauce to this art whatsoever. It is unseasoned, not even salt and pepper. This looks like ass and would never fucking fly with any editor worth their chops. It took me ages to figure out that the long yellow curved line is Fird's tail. Like, this is so unbelievably sad to me. I don't even really like the original art a whole lot, but compared to this...

My informed guess as to what happened is that Bach lawyered up and fought. As we know, Caedmon is now owned by HarperCollins. I can't say for certain but there was probably some case to be made that Caedmon being sold breached the contract, or nullified parts of it, or perhaps the contract expired. It could even just be that HarperCollins didn't care about an old, unprofitable IP and granted Bach her rights back. There is also Remco to consider: they also hold some of the rights, but probably just for the merchandise? Given how prominently their logo is displayed on the toy tags, they might actually own a significant share. Perhaps they were happy not to have anything to do with the book so long as the merch rights weren't touched. I don't know! There's no info about it on the site and this stuff is usually under NDA.

So Bach got her rights back, but she's just the writer. She doesn't own any of the art, so in order to republish the book she had to hire a new illustrator. She likely did not have a huge budget for it, maybe even paying for it out of her pocket because the Choice Books logo she has in several spots on the Fird website appears to be for a distribute on demand service, in place of a traditional publisher.

As the writer, she also would not have gotten the rights to use the original audiobook, so she had one re-recorded. It also appears like she does not have the rights to the name "Firffels" either, as the only places it appears on the site are in photographs of merchandise and in titles specifically referring to the work that is still owned by Caedmon. She carefully refers to her own work as "Fird" for short or the book's full title, probably because she cannot legally imply that she owns or made anything else.

I dug into this thinking it would be a quick look at some strange, forgotten toys from a bygone era. Instead I found a story about how an artist can so easily be shafted by publishers. Everything always loops back around to workers' rights, it seems. Stories like this about shitty publishing contracts (see: Webtoon if you want to get into something current) still appear so often, man. It's depressing, and indicative that the publishing industry needs some reforming ASAP. Like, Illustrators, when are we getting a proper union?

But I'm glad Bach got her rights back and got her book republished within her lifetime. I'm sad she didn't have the budgets for a better illustrator. Sorry to bring that up again, I work as an illustrator irl and I have opinions about craft, lol. Also I just think that given how hard Bach had to fight, she deserved to have better art made. That being said, here's another link to her current website. There's not much there but what is there is a monument to a battle she fought and won, and is proud of.

The lack of detailed, clear, centralized documentation of these toys frustrates me. One of the most frustrating things about the internet for me is that there are few easily accessible, publicly available archives of toys--even for modern toys. I've had to use Amazon reviews and Ebay listings and broken online stores to decipher publication years. With this in mind I decided to do a write up and provide clearer pictures of the toys that I have (I'll take hi res pics in natural lighting too someday). Archives are important to me and the internet kinda sucks for it, I say as someone who started this blog for that purpose. If Tumblr goes down, so does everything I've posted here. As an artist who works primarily digitally, one of the scariest things is knowing that I'm laboring over an ephemeral body of work. It's just not going to exist for very long unless I print it out on archival materials. Data is not the same as a physical object. My Firffels have survived for 39 years but the digital art I draw every day is unlikely to last past 10 years because websites die and files get deleted.

I bought the Firffels from my thrift store thinking I'd resell them. I'm low income so I sell many of the things I thrift. I prefer to buy the older toys or the ones that need cleaning because it makes me feel better about being a reseller (I don't want to take away options from low income kids in my area, ya know?). But I'm putting in the labor to freshen them up and I'm putting in the effort to make unavailable toys available again, at least for one person. And I don't have a whole lot of shelf space to display the toys in my collection...but for now I think I'll keep them.

[icycoldninja]

Hello! I really like your writing for a long time and I decided to make a request ^^ Scenerio with a Dante (DMC3 or DMC5, whichever you think is most appropriate) discovering by accident that his crush wears... strawberry-print panties and that that excited him more than any lace thong...

Sure, here you go, pleasantly suggestive.

Strawberry Panties (Dante x Reader)

You'd just moved into Devil May Cry at Trish and Lady's request, as they--and you--wanted to be closer for both work and social purposes. Once you'd gotten your stuff settled in, you decided to go out shopping with the girls, leaving your possessions locked safely in your new room.

Or so you thought.

The moment you left was the moment Dante would initiate his secret mission: Sneak into your room. See, the man had it bad for you, so much so that during his mating season he'd constantly think about you, and nothing but you. He couldn't really confide this crush in anyone, for fear they would laugh or blab, so after a few months of brainstorming, Dante came up with a plan. He would sneak into your room and surprise you with an endearing confession.

The plan seemed simple enough; acting it out was even easier. With no one around to stop him, Dante slipped into your room and situated himself on your bed. Almost instantly, he felt the butterflies return, along with a string of worries. What if you were creeped out upon finding him in your room? What if you rejected him? What if he fell asleep waiting for you?

He soon waved these notions off, assuring himself that he was hot and that you would be pleasantly surprised when you came home to find him chilling in your room. Smirking at his own "charisma", the man plopped down on your bed, crossed his legs, and waited.

Unfortunately, Dante couldn't sit around and wait for very long. He began to get bored, very, very, bored. He bounced his leg, fidgeted with his clothes, tugged on his hair, and even attempted downward dog on your bedroom floor, when he realized that his boredom would not be cured anytime soon. Sighing loudly, the man paced back and forth in your room, wondering what to do when all of a sudden, he spotted something pink sticking out of one of your drawers.

Curiosity overwhelming him, the devil hunter slid the drawer open, fished out the pink garment, and gasped.

He was holding a pair of your strawberry panties. They were a light pastel pink, with dark red kawaii strawberries patterned all over them. Dante began to salivate, staring at the fabric. These were yours--you wore those panties. These things touched your bottom!!! The devil hunter started panting, feeling his whole body heat up and warmth rush into that area between his legs.

It didn't take him long to realize that your strawberry panties were his only hope of relieving himself. Glancing at the door to make sure no one was watching him, he stuffed the undergarment into his pocket and slithered out the door. He was just gonna borrow it for a few hours at most--it's not like you'll notice, right?

[inmyziploc]

Me after spending $700 today on shit I don’t need

[dumb-teambucciarati-headcanons]

what kind of social media would each person in the gang have (if they HAD to have it)

I’d like to think they would all have tumblr which is probably really cringe to say.

Giorno: has an Instagram account and posts nice outdoor related pictures with bugs and ponds and things, and he also posts really cursed memes.

Bruno: he has a YouTube account that he hasn’t started doing anything with. He wants to make “how to fish” videos when life gets simpler, the boys think he should make asmr videos with zippers.

Abbacchio: he has a Facebook account that he hasn’t used in years and all he has really done on it is like pictures related to the police. He regrets his past decisions. His family will tag him in things occasionally but he doesn’t know because he never checks. Was a MySpace teen.

Mista: he has a TikTok but doesn’t make TikTok’s, just watches things.

Narancia: has a TikTok for his rad dances. He also has a webkinz account, which I don’t think qualifies as social media but he counts it.

Fugo: he has a Pinterest account and has begged the others to make an account and follow him on it. They didn’t.

Trish: Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, she has everything that is popular and keeps them up to date. Lots of followers! But when they were taking her to the boss she wasn’t allowed to post anything.

[ice-creamforbreakfast]

Sabrina didn't want a big wedding. She was anxious about the idea of standing in front of everyone, loved ones or not, so they agreed to have a quiet ceremony at the San Myshuno city hall. 

While they were joined, by Marzia and Sebastian as witnesses and Zircon as the ringbearer, Trish, the officiant wasn't exactly quiet. She welcomed them into the hall with a rousing rendition of her critically reviewed song 'Thick'.

[clemblog]

Caine’s Lesson - Part 14

•

Pomni found herself falling into the ocean with a large splash.

It was only the third adventure she’d been on but it was the first one where she herself had changed! Her legs had been replaced with a fish tail… I guess that was why found herself in the ocean- She didn’t mind the change, she doubted it was permanent. But what she didn’t like was the fact that she wasn’t with Gummigoo-

She glanced around the deep blue sea, only spotting fish and varying corals around her.

“G-Gummigoo? Are you around here? This isn’t funny-! Please? Say something?”

Pomni got no response. It seemed her task this time was to find her dear friend! She really hoped that he was okay. He was still reeling from getting his memories back… She knew deep down he was most likely holding it together for her sake. And he’d probably continue to do so when they got back to the candy kingdom… So, she’d have to start formulating a plan to make sure he was taking care of himself! Maybe she could ask Ragatha and Ma Croc for help? They were great at taking care of people! They’d looked after her and all the others back home wonderfully.

Anyways, off she went to go find Gummigoo!

Gummigoo himself was also missing his legs. Instead of being a normal gator, he looked to be some kind of mythical hybrid between his normal gator self and a mermaid..? He was also in some kind of cell..? He glanced around and looked to be in some kind of underwater cell block. It kind of reminded him of a dungeon that the Candy Kingdom Castle would’ve had. …Not that he’d ever been down there- In the other cells where other half animal half mer people, they just looked a lot less candy like then he did-

“What on earth…” He frowned, muttering to himself. Pomni had mentioned that Caine sometimes liked to reuse NPC’s… This was probably what she meant- Huh.

He really hoped he didn’t run into himself, Max or Chad…

Pomni wasn’t sure how long she’d swam for but she’d found what looked to be some kind of underwater kingdom! People like herself swam around with fish tails and human like upper bodies. Something felt off however… Several posters were strung all over the buildings, animal heads in the centre with giant crosses over their faces. She frowned at this and swam closer to one with a gator on it. There was some writing..?

‘ERADICATE THE IMPERFECTIONS

By order of King Garr Trish’

Were they implying… that non human mer creatures were imperfections..? Pomni hated the sound of this King Garr already… She really didn’t want to run into him- But hey at least she had a decent idea of where Gummigoo was now! Most likely in the dungeon of the castle along with all the other animal mers- Now she just needed to think on a plan of how on earth she was going to get him out-

Then she spotted two familiar faces who were looking a lot less candy themed hidden in a dark alley between two of the coral buildings. She swam over to them.

“..Max? …Chad?”

“Oh finally! You’re here.” Grinned Mer Max, unfolding his arms. “Nice to finally meet you mysterious ally of Gummi’s!”

“You ready to help us get him outta there?” Continued Chad.

“Yeah, just one thing-“

“…mhm?”

“There’s a friend of mine stuck in their too- Can we get them out-“

“I don’t know- We don’t wanna risk getting caught-“

“Uh… How about I help you guys and then go find my friend on my own..? I’ll be okay- Long as you leave me the supplies to do so-!”

“…Mmm, alright then it’s a deal kid.”

Pomni grinned at this with a nod.

“Thanks!”

Don’t worry Gummigoo! She was on the way-

Gummigoo didn’t know how to feel right now. He knew he was himself- But he could also hear himself a few cells down yelling at the other captives, trying to rally them to break out together. He was failing miserably. Gummigoo was glad he’d been given the better personality out of the pair. Well. Better in his opinion. If the other Gummi was happy as he was, then he wasn’t going to judge. He was now just thinking about where Pomni was. He hoped she was okay… He hadn’t heard or seen her in the cells, which meant she was out in the big wide ocean with only Caine knows what- He just felt so helpless. He was helpless but he needed to be strong. For everyone at home who was under Caine’s wrath.

Whether they knew it or not-

Pomni, Mer Max and Mer Chad were now creeping through the castle halls of King Garr Trish. It had taken them an hour to finally get the guards to move away, Pomni having gone up to them around seven times with a different sob story until they’d finally gotten up to investigate. She figured mostly out of pity at that point-

Now it was just a case of needing to find the entrance to the dungeon where their friends were being held!

Chad eventually spotted a large door which looked metallic and heavy enough to lead to a dungeon. He pointed it out and the other two glanced over.

“…Chad.. It has a dungeon sign above it-“ Murmured Pomni.

“Knew I was right!” Smiled Chad.

“Let’s just get down there already-“ Sighed Max, fondly.

The three crept down the cold stone staircase. Max handed to Pomni two firm ropes. The plan was to use them to cut the bars of the cell and to then swim out another bar window at the end of the dungeon! She was handed two, one for herself, one for Gummigoo. Max and Chad thanked her for her help before swimming off to find their Gummigoo. She was glad she hadn’t slept up and mentioned him by name at any point. She didn’t want to fracture the minds of any other nps anytime soon-

“Gummigoo!”

“Pomni!”

“How the heck did ya get down here-“

“It doesn’t matter- Take this and use friction to break these bars-“

“Alright!”

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they worked at the bars, three of them popping off so Gummigoo could squeeze out. Pomni then did her best to remember the directions Max and Chad had given to her to escape through the window they’d broken out of. By the time they’d arrive they were long gone.

If they’d found this adventure normally, the circus members would’ve gone with the trio and met Ma Croc, who’d thank them for rescuing her son and would then send them home to the circus.

This time however, this was not the case!

Built into the cell wall was a new fracture which the two would push through to get to their new adventure. They’d once again link hands and push through, hoping to stick together in whatever happens next.

Part 15

[ariseur]

trish comforting angry s/o?

“hey—! hey!” trish called out, jumping up when she heard a glass break in the kitchen. her heels held a stern clack with every step she took as she made her way to the kitchen.

she narrowed her eyes at the sight in the kitchen. you, one hand on your hip and the other frustratedly buried in your hair as you looked down at the broken glass, she could practically feel the heat radiating off of you.

“th’hell?” she waves her arms around, wrapping around to enter the kitchen and get your attention. when your eyes flickered up at her, full of grief and anger as the gap between them wrinkled with your furrowed brow, it felt different.

trish had never seen you this upset before, causing her to cock her head to the side as she placed a hand on her hip herself, looking at you expectantly. almost as if saying, “what the fuck?”

your mouth gaped open and closed like a fish, trying your best to regulate your breathing as you closed your eyes with your eyebrows furrowing even harder.

your eyes brimmed with hot tears, threatening to spill as you tried to beat to blink them away. it was kinda hard to do that when your eyes were glued to the floor, though, avoiding trish’s gaze. you only looked up at her when you heard the familiar sound of footsteps, heels now softer and much less alert on the tiled floors.

it felt as if your throat coated itself in barbed wire as you tried not to cry, lip quivering as trish’s hand came up to your face.

you peered up at her, feeling weak under her stare because shit, was she gorgeous. blue eyes filled with nothing but sympathy as she slowly pulled you in to her chest, your tear streaked face pressed against her skin as she cooed and shushed you.

her hand came to smooth your hair, pressing her face against your head and giving you small brief kisses. a warm feeling seeped inside of you as you sighed, sniffling while she rocked you from side to side.

when she finally did pull away, she kept you at an arms length to get a better look at you. as you wiped your tears away, trish gazed at you, giving you all the time you needed to recuperate.

she watched as your eyebrows twitched once more, furrowing slightly before she broke the silence with a teasing, “don’t do that now, you’ll get wrinkles, sweetheart.” and as you let out a teary laugh, you couldn’t help but smile at her. despite being a demon, she really was a blessing sometimes.

[charaznablescanontoyota]

boat for short motherfuckers?

the lake is so quiet that audrey can hear the chirp of every insect, the call of every bird, the sound of her own heart palpitating in her chest. her eyes are squeezed shut so she doesn't have to see how far out in the water she is, but that just makes it worse - each wave that rocks her little rowboat could be someone with a mask and a knife coming up underneath it, tipping it over, dragging her below the surface.

"closing your eyes makes it worse," trish calls, across the water.

"yeah, i kind of noticed," audrey says flatly.

still. she opens her eyes. there are only three of them left on the lake, now; shigeo got his exit a full thirty minutes of mindful meditation ago, and shadow got his soon after. audrey's pretty sure shadow just fell asleep in his paddleboat, but the car must have counted it as enough rest and relaxation for the door to appear.

so it's her, it's trish, and it's al, who technically has a door on his boat already, but volunteered to stay behind until the others did too. maybe he wasn't expecting it to be so hard for them to relax, but he doesn't seem to mind having more time to fish with the improvised rod he put together back on the shore.

audrey sighs and drags her hands down her face. she can feel her genre butting up against the premise of this car, her danger sense pinging off of something she knows isn't there, and it's like bees in her brain. so maybe, actually, fuck the premise. maybe the way she gets through this isn't by being quiet and alone.

"when's the last time you were on a boat?" she asks aloud.

"oh," trish says. she's aimlessly paddling her paddleboat - pink, naturally - around in circles, sending ripples through the water. "in italy, when we split off from fugo. i don't remember a lot of it. i was dying."

audrey silently adds this to her mental catalog of insane trish anecdotes. she's not sure what reply she was expecting but - sure, italy. venice has waterways, right? that makes some kind of sense.

"you were dying?" al asks.

"my dad," trish says, which is all the elaboration she needs to give, because they've all seen her dad firsthand.

"i think the last time i was on a boat was when teacher took on me and brother as her students," al offers - maybe to cut the awkwardness, god bless him. "she stranded us on an island for a month."

"hey," audrey says. "what?"

"that's where i learned to fish," he adds cheerfully, every bit as skilled as trish at not elaborating on the anecdotes he shares from his home world. it's just harder to get annoyed at him for it.

"what about you?" trish asks.

audrey looks to her, squinting against the sun. "what?"

"when were you on a boat last?"

"oh. uh." she has to think about it. "i dunno. lakewood has...a fucked up lake. like, 'a murderer got shot by the cops there' fucked up. kids only go out there on a dare, or to fuck with each other."

the last time she was at the lake was at that party where noah almost drowned, she's pretty sure. audrey grimaces, tries once again to put the idea of outstretched hands under the water, ready to grab her ankles, out of mind.

"trish," she says aloud, grasping for something else to think about. "tell me a story that isn't about a time you almost died."

"i blew up a plane, once," trish says immediately, then pauses, hums to herself. "i think i almost died during that, actually. so - disqualified?"

"uh, no, fuck that. tell me about the plane you blew up," audrey says. it's true that the story might not meet her criteria but once, just once, she wants to hear the full story behind something outlandish that trish has so casually dropped into a conversation.

trish looks taken off guard; there's a beat of silence before she starts to actually tell the story, her voice low and careful, her eyebrows furrowed as she draws on the memory. audrey uses one oar to rotate her boat so she's facing trish, a little closer than before, then closes her eyes again and listens. it's easier to tune out the insects and the birds this time, easier to ignore the waves that rock the boat.