#tv is also pretty cool. i like her :D

[lobstermagazine]

I really like dreamcatchers (featuring my hc designs of star and tv)

you should watch dreamcatchers by val yu and matthew lei its on youtube and episode 3 is in a few days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[freeabortionslol]

Injury Report (quinn hughes x actress!reader)

summary: fluff!! childhood bsfs to lovers, mutual pining, you go to a Canucks game during one of your free days to see your best friend, quinn hughes play. unfortunately the game results in a knee sprain. you and quinn go back to your house where you take care of him, and he realizes he can't spend another day without you.

warnings!! baby fever, domesticity, injury (knee sprain), makeout, kinda suggestive

a/n why is the reader always an actress? why are they always best friends to lovers? why is the team always playing the ducks? idk man leave me alone

wc: 4.4k

It was supposed to be a good night, at least a normal one. That’s what you thought as you were sitting up in the box seats with your hair curled as you smiled wide in Quinn’s jersey. Ellen and Jim were tucked away in New Jersey to see Jack and Luke, so you took it upon yourself to go see Quinn play. It was an away game in Anaheim, and you just happen to have a small home in Los Angeles, so you thought it would be the perfect time to go to a game. You and Quinn had planned this about a month out, realizing the game fell during a week where you had absolutely nothing going on. It was rare to have these moments considering you’re constantly working on new projects, but you were more than happy to spend that time with Quinn. You were cozied up in between Bella Boeser and Natalie Miller, watching as Natalie tried to tame her small children. One of her daughters, Scarlett, sat in front of you staring as you spoke with Bella about the latest fashion trends.

“Do you really have super powers?” Scarlett cut off your conversation, referring to your role in the marvel films.

“Man, I wish! I just play pretend for the movies.” You shifted your focus to the small blonde girl who was sitting in front of you. In her eyes you could see the infatuation she had for you. You let your attention slip away from the game as this little girl asked you question after question. No doubt you had serious baby fever. It was hard not to when Natalie and J.T somehow made the most well behaved children on the planet.

“Who's your favorite player on the team?”

“Ooh probably Quinn Hughes because he’s one of my best friends, but your dad is pretty cool too.”

“Um, did you know that um Mr. Quinn has um two other brothers that play hockey too?” her T’s coming out as D’s.

“Yes I did! I’m also very good friends with Jack and Luke.”

“Do you like the brothers teams better or daddy’s team with um Mr. Quinn?”

“That's tough. I can’t pick or they’ll all get mad at me, but tonight I'm a Canucks fan.”

You didn’t know at the time, but while you were in deep conversation with Scarlett, the stadium's camera panned to you. This was always bound to happen whenever you went to one of the boy’s games, considering you were an A list actress with an impressive catalog. Quinn, who had just gotten off the ice, shifted his attention to the screen above him and he couldn’t help but smile at the sight of you being so gentle with the little girl. He was so hopelessly in love with you and everyone knew it, except for you. Watching you being so good to the small child made his mind create the scenario of you being the mother of his own children. It’s all he’s ever wanted, but the dynamic between the two of you always made him hesitant. Worried that it might create tension between himself and his brothers. Unfortunately for him, the tv camera quickly shifted to the smile he wore while watching you. The media was constantly trying to conjure up stories about the two of you. That you were secretly dating, hookup buddies, engaged, pregnant, but the sad truth is that the two of you had always just been friends. You and Quinn weren’t the type of people to talk about each other to the media, so you always left it up to the people to keep guessing. All they knew was that the two of you grew up together, and the rest was up to their imagination. 

“Hey! That’s my kid!” J.T yelled, pulling Quinn from his trance. “And my wife!” He waved up at the screen. “Wait, why are they showing my family?” Quinn’s attention was still on the screen, focused on the woman who was now cut slightly out of frame as Scarlett climbed into Natalie’s lap.

“Look who’s next to em.” Quinn pointed to the screen causing the realization to hit J.T.

“Oh! It’s little miss Movie Star.” He nudged Quinn’s shoulder “Huggy bear’s bunny.”

“She’s not my bunny. She’s just a good friend.” Just. The word stung as it came out of his mouth. He didn’t want to be just a good friend, he wanted to be your person.

The game continued as normal now five minutes into the second period. You sipped on a terrible IPA that Bella grabbed for you, as you attempted to fix the beanie on top of your curled hair. You weren’t too nervous about tonight considering the Canucks were on a winning streak and were already leading 3-0 with Quinn scoring one goal. The feel of the night made you wish you could do this all the time. You wished to be wearing Quinn’s jersey in a way that said “He is mine. I love him and I claim myself as his.” instead of in a “I’m a famous actress who just wanted to go to a hockey game and I didn’t have anything to wear so I wore your jersey because we're friends.” way. You watched as the small children focused on the ice from the barrier in awe, casually throwing out a “Mommy, look at how fast daddy skated!” You wanted little hockey stars and movie stars to watch Quinn skate on the ice every night. You let your mind drag you to a world where you became a Canucks WAG, had your own last name on the back of your jersey, sitting back as your children cheered on their dad from the box. They would probably have the signature Hughes chestnut colored hair and striking smile. You wondered if they would want to be a hockey player like their dad, or an actress like their mom. You were kidding yourself knowing damn well that Quinn would have those kids on the ice before they could even walk. You let yourself get wrapped in the imagery of white picket fences and family dinners with Quinn, you almost missed the moment that shifted your entire night. 

You heard a loud bang and several “Oooh”s from the box, and looked down to see Quinn kneeling on the ice. He was in the neutral zone with the puck when one of the Ducks slammed their body directly into him causing him to fly over another player's back, landing legs first onto the ice. You immediately sprung from your seat, hand covering your mouth, as you made your way toward the barrier. You placed your free hand on the rail, leaning as far out as possible. Your heart began to race and your eyes filled with tears of shock as you watched the scene before you. As he tried to get up, Quinn’s face shifted from disgruntled to agonized in an instant. You felt a lump in your throat watching as he couldn’t manage to lift himself from the ground. You’d never seen him so hurt. His face tightened as he kept trying to pull himself up. You wished you were closer so you could scream at him to stop, but he was never one to throw in the towel. He was clearly trying to convince himself that he could get up and keep playing, but his body was failing. A mix of terror and sadness creeped through your entire body as the trainers pulled him from the ice. You stayed silent watching him disappear to the locker room, each breath shakier than the last. The media was going to have a field day with the shot of tears in your eyes watching him leave, but you weren’t thinking about that at this moment. Natalie walked over to you, placing a hand on your back to try and reassure you that he would be okay, as she guided you back to your seat. You couldn’t speak and frankly you didn’t want to. You didn’t even know what to say because everything you wanted to pour out was suggestive to the fact that you were really in love with him. 

The game was now 7 minutes into the third period, and Quinn has yet to emerge from the locker room. At this point, you assumed he wasn’t coming out at all. You sat back in your seat still staying silent as you anxiously watched the game in front of you. Your mind kept drifting to the sight of Quinn broken down on the ice like that. He was in so much pain and your fears heightened as you glanced back to the memory of him not being able to lift himself from the ground. You couldn’t just sit there waiting for an answer any longer, so you decided to pull out your phone in the hopes that maybe Quinn had his in hand. Your fingers shaking as you carefully typed out a message.

You: hey i dont know if you have your phone or not but im just really worried. are you okay? please please please tell me it’s not something serious?

quinny <3: Miss me on the ice? Bet the game is boring without me.

You: OMG YOURE ALIVE whats wrong? is it bad??

quinny <3: Luckily, I didn’t break anything. I sprained my knee. I'll be out for 2-4 weeks. The pain isn’t too terrible at the moment thanks to the meds they gave me.

You: meds?

quinny <3: Advil. Meet me outside the locker room after the game. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Canucks won 5-2 without Quinn on the ice. Now, you stood outside the locker room with Bella and Natalie, waiting anxiously for him to walk out. Brock came out first, giving you reassurances that Quinn would be alright before walking out with Bella, hand in hand. J.T arrived next, swooping his two daughters off the ground after greeting his wife with a victory kiss. He teased you about the way Quinn smiled at you when you were on the screen. Natalie sent him a slap to his chest and the family made their way out. It was only you left standing. All the other players had exited along with their families. You tapped your foot on the carpet below you, pulling your phone out to the time every couple seconds. Finally, your gaze caught Quinn’s as he walked out of the doors with crutches at his side and a brace on his knee. His eyes soften at the sight of you.

“Hey, Quinny.” Your tender voice trembling out at the sight of his injured knee.

“Hey Y/n/n” He says before placing his crutches against the wall to bring you into a tight embrace. You stuffed your face into the crook of his neck, getting a whiff of his designer cologne. His grip on your waist tightened at the comfortability of your touch. You moved your head to rest on the soft fabric of his hoodie as you gave him one final squeeze. As you pulled back, hands resting on his arms, you caught a slight smirk on his face.

“Nice jersey. That mine or yours?”

“Might’ve maybe stolen it last time I was at your place.” Your smile widened as he let out a soft chuckle.

“Was wondering where that went.” He grabbed the crutches from off the wall, leaving your touch. You stared at him and grew a frown at the thought of him being in pain. When he was settled you grabbed his hand, subtly rubbing against his fingers.

“I was so scared, Quinn.” You gave him an empathy filled half smile.

“Yeah, I know.” His eyebrows raised as he reached towards his back pocket to grab his phone. He quickly handed it to you so you could see the photo of you in the box with the caption “Y/n L/n in tears after Quinn Hughes’ injury” Your mouth gaped open as you underestimated how quick they would be “That’s the official NHL instagram account, by the way.” He laughed as you stared down at the phone. He quickly snatched the phone from your grip when he caught you looking through the comment section. “Nope. Not doing that.”

“Hey I was still looking.” You protested, crossing your arms.

“No, because when you read the comments you get all sad, and then you cry, and then I have to comfort you.”

“You don’t like comforting me?” You tilted your head to the side with a fake frown.

“That’s not what I meant. I would just much rather hang out with the happy version of you.” He gave you a soft smile as he squeezed your hand. “I don’t mean to be pushy, but I was promised a bed tonight.”

“Alright then” You laughed and turned your body towards the exit “Onward we go captain!” Quinn’s hand left yours as the two of you exited the arena

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arriving at your small, cozy home in LA you quickly raced to the door to hold it open for Quinn. Faint noises from the city rang through your ears as he slowly pulled himself towards the door in silence. You couldn’t help but frown at the state he was currently in. You shut the door behind him, taking in the scent of your fresh linen candle. You walked over to the back porch to crack it lightly, allowing the fresh California air to fill the small home. You turned around to find Quinn making his way to the kitchen.

“No no no.” You quickly walked to him and grabbed his shoulders to lead him to the couch. “You need to rest.”

“Y/n I’m fine, seriously.” He protested as you pushed him closer to the cushions. He took his spot sitting on the couch, placing the crutches on the ground as you stared at him on your feet.

“Let me take care of you, please.” His gaze shifted towards the back porch. “Do you want food?” Your hands on your hips as you gave him a stern look. He sighed as his eyes softened, looking back at you accepting defeat. 

“What do you have?” He shifted his position to where he was laying on his side to face you, kicking off his shoes.

“Frozen pizza?” You asked quietly, brushing his hair back with your fingers. He leaned into your touch, nudging his head closer to your hand.

“Sounds good to me.” He gave you a soft smile, watching as you removed your hand from his hair walking towards the kitchen. He picked the remote from off the coffee table, his gaze still centered on you, as you reached for the pizza in the fridge. He laughed quietly to himself watching you prepare him food in his jersey. He wanted this to be every night for him, coming home to see your face after a bad game. He admired the way your highlighter beamed off your cheekbones from the soft glow of the sink light. You began preheating the oven while he turned his focus to the tv in front of him. Quickly turning on The Office, knowing you’d seen it a million times, so you would be okay with having conversations with him during the show. You made your way back to the couch, stopping at your tracks in front of him, giving him a good stare while the TV played softly in the background.

“Can I help you?” He laughed watching you stand directly in front of him.

“Do you have a shirt I can wear?” You asked, squinting your eyes at him.

“This is your house. I know you have your own shirt.” He smiled looking up at you.

“Not any comfy ones! All my good clothes are in New York. You know I'm never here.” You huffed out crossing your arms. Quinn let his head hang in defeat, pointing at the bag towards the door. He moved his head to prop on the arm of the couch to watch you walk to his bag. He stared with a soft smile as you unzipped the bag, finding his white tee with a blue Canucks logo in the top corner. It was one of his favorites and he knew he wasn’t getting back. He admired your figure as you brought the shirt to your chest to see how it would fit you. What he didn’t expect you to do, was rip off your jersey right there at the entryway. The sight of you in only a bra and leggings made his heart drop and his face pink. He quickly turned his attention back to the TV, propping his head up with his hand. He glanced at you in his peripheral vision, trying his hardest not to look. Were you doing this on purpose? He didn’t know, but if you were, it was killing him. He glanced as you pulled the shirt over your head, pulling your leggings off to leave yourself in only your underwear. You decided that since the shirt cut just above your knees, there was no need to put in a pair of shorts. You left your clothes on the floor and made your way back to the couch where Quinn was sitting. His face flushed as he stared at the screen in front of him. You took your spot on the other end of the couch, lying down and letting your legs tangle in his. Your eyes were locked on the TV, but Quinn was only watching you. Admiring the way you looked, the way his heart dropped every time you shuffled your legs, and thinking back on the sight of you half naked in front of him. The two of you stayed in this spot for a while, with you getting up to put the pizza in the oven, and then again to get it out. As you walked back to him with two plates in hand, his mind was only on the fact that you had no pants on under his T-shirt so casually in front of him. 

“Thanks, Movie Star.” He grinned wide as you handed him the plate. The two of you sat up, close to each other but not touching, as you ate. “Seriously, I mean. For taking care of me.” He nudged your shoulder, as you leaned into his touch letting your head fall to his bicep.

“Anything for you, Quinny.” He laughed at your comment as you took another bite of your pizza. The two of you sat in silence, finishing every last bite of your pizza. Well, you ate it up to the crust and Quinn stole the leftovers from off your plate. When you both finished, you brought both plates to the kitchen to set them down in the sink. Quinn shifted his position back to lying down as you returned empty handed. So very naturally, you made your way back to the living room, lying down in between him and the back of the couch. You rested your head on his chest and wrapped your arms around his torso. He maneuvered himself so he was able to place his arm around your back. You and Quinn had been in this position before, it was normal for you to cuddle up with each other when you watched TV. Tonight however, things felt different. Like there was a new found spark between the two of you. Quinn felt his nerves tense up in a way they had never before as you played with the bottom of his hoodie, your fingers slightly brushing against his bare skin. You could feel his heart beating against your ear which was always bound to make your body relax against him. You shifted the attention of your fingers from his hoodie down to his knee. Your touch grazed over the brace, a feeling of pity washed over you.

“Does it hurt?” You asked quietly, your eyes never leaving his knee.

“No. It’s not too bad. I’ve dealt with worse.” He let out a soft chuckle. “What’s gonna get me is the fact that I can’t play, but i’d like to distract myself from that right now.” He took your hand in his, moving from the brace back up to his side. Your thumb rubbed the soft fabric of his hoodie back and forth as you took in the scent of his laundry detergent. His hand lightly tracing up and down your back while the two of you watched the TV. You melted into his touch, having to fight the urge to keep your eyes open as he tickled your back in such a comfortable way. You moved yourself slightly, to where you were now lying on his shoulder. Your head was tucked into the crook of his neck, his beard subtly scratching your forehead as he tightened his hold on you, bringing you closer to his body. 

“I love you, Quinn.” you murmured softly.

“I love you too.” He nuzzled his head in closer to yours. It made you sad, but it shouldn’t. He loves you, but he doesn’t love you in the way that you want him to. You carefully played with the strings of his hoodie as he absentmindedly leaned into your touch further. The two of you let the show play, not saying a word to each other. Just appreciating the peaceful moment. It caused Quinn to realize that he couldn’t play pretend anymore. He couldn’t keep acting like there was nothing between the two of you, because there most definitely was. He knew he wanted to marry you, have children with you, see your beautiful face at every Canucks game, and have every night be exactly like this. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you, and he wanted the rest of his life to start now.

“Are you asleep?” He asked quietly, part of him hoping you were.

“Almost.” You nuzzled deeper into his neck

“Well, wake up. I got some things I want to tell you.” His voice was shaky, knowing that he was about to indulge in his childhood fantasies, or ruin a 15 year long friendship. You shifted yourself up looking down at him. Your hands on either side of his body.

“What’s on your mind Quinnifer?” You asked innocently, blissfully unaware of what was about to come. Quinn let out a long sigh, throwing his head back before looking back at you. Seeing you in this light, in his t-shirt, you looked more beautiful than any other woman he’s ever seen. He thought for a moment about saying nevermind, but he was already locked in to his plan at this point.

“Do you remember that time we both went to that gala in New York two years ago?”

“Mhm.” You nodded your head, still not understanding the situation.

“We went separately. Each of us dateless.” you laughed, making his face blush at the sound. “I walked into the room which was so crowded. Mostly with women, and Brock was teasing me asking which one I was gonna bring home that night.” He took your hand in his as you crinkled your nose. “But my eyes were only searching for you in the sea full of people, and when I finally found you standing by the bar in your silky navy blue dress, I thought none of these women compare.” Your face quickly turned red, your heart beating fast as you realized what he was getting at. “You were the most beautiful woman in the entire room. I stared at you for as long as I could before you caught me and ran over. You basically leapt into my arms and said…”

“Are you here with a date? Cool. Me neither. You’re my date now.” You finished his sentence, letting out a small nervous laugh.

“Let me finish!” He scolded with a smile. “When you placed your hand in the crook of my arm, that was the moment I knew I was in love with you.” Your face grew a shocked expression. Butterflies swarmed throughout your stomach, not expecting him to be this direct. You also had no idea that he felt this way, and it was the most blissful surprise you’ve ever received.

“Quinn, I-” you started but he quickly cut you off.

“Y/n, I wanna be your person.” A small smile grew across your face. “I don’t want to be ‘best friend Quinn’ anymore. I wanna be ‘boyfriend Quinn’. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I'm sorry if this is weird o-or if it makes you uncomfortable, but it’s the truth.” You cupped his face, hinting at his nervousness. “I just love you so much, and I can’t keep pretending I don’t. It actually pains me to walk around telling people that I'm just your friend.” You bit your lip, smile growing wider. “Oh and by the way, you're an asshole for taking your shirt off in front of me like that.” Your mouth gaped open and you started laughing. “Do you know how hard it was not to look?” His voice grew from anxious to relieved at your reaction to his speech. You moved in closer, now with each of your legs on either side of his body.

“Does it make me evil if I told you I did it on purpose?” You scrunch your nose. 

“Yes!” He laughed making you laugh along with him. You nervously began playing with the strings of his hoodie, his hands moving to your waist.

“Quinn, I’ve waited for you to say those words since the day you taught me how to drive the boat in eighth grade.” His smile grew wide in relief pulling you in closer. Your faces now only inches apart. “Can I kiss you now?”

“Please.” He said eagerly as you closed the space between the two of you. Melting into his lips immediately, the kiss was one that had clearly been held back for far too long. His hands squeezed your waist while yours ran up through his soft hair. You parted your lips slightly, allowing his tongue to enter your mouth. You let out a soft moan at the feel of his hands moving down to your ass, a touch that you’ve wanted for so long, but could never express. You both pulled back, resting your foreheads against each other. The sound of the TV drowned out by the heavy breathing from the two of you. Quinn managed to steal one last peck from you, moving one of his hands up to cup your face.

“I love you so much, Quinn.”

“I love you, Y/n.”

[sanguineterrain]

could I request a fic with insomniac!reader and tim? i love your writing im excited to see how you make his character your own! <3

thanks for the request! first time writing tim... kinda nervous like I'm on a first date 🫣 hope you like! this one isn't as mushy gushy as my usual fics (jason) so yeah. also my knowledge of yj is purely through fic 🤙

tim drake x gn!reader. tw insomnia, tim being so awkward but maybe... there are feelings... who can say. tim's character is so interesting to me (probably because I identify with him the most lmao).

****

It's really, really nice of the team to let you stay over tonight. Like, really nice.

You haven't even done much. You're pretty much a nobody in the superhero world, not even a D-list hero. Certainly not anybody that should be hanging out with the likes of Wonder Girl and Superboy and, God, Tim freakin' Drake.

Kon was just overly generous in his cool, brash way, herding you into a spare room after last night's battle. After tonight, you'll politely break away from the team to give them some reprieve. It didn't escape your notice that they didn't hang out last night like they usually do.

You've been awake for an hour now, listening for sounds of life in the corridor. If you were home, you'd already be on the couch watching crappy TV. But you really don't want to run into anyone here.

Maybe you have some chamomile tea leftover from the last time you stayed over. You hadn't stayed the whole night, slipping away without interference as most of the team had gone to their own homes.

You get up, stretching and popping joints. It's always a little cold in the Tower, and it wakes you up as you walk to the kitchen first. You're as quiet as you can be in heating the water and finding the tea.

You take your mug and head to the den. As you enter, you freeze.

Tim turns his head from his place on the couch. The blue light from the TV makes him paler, and his eyes bluer. Sometimes, he looks so much like Bruce Wayne, it startles you.

"Oh," you say, unsure what else to say. Your brain is tired and fried. "I... was just looking for my watch."

That's definitely your dumbest lie. You don't have a watch. Tim sure as fuck knows that.

His eyes flick to your wrist, as if reminding you both how stupid your lie is, then to your mug. He mutes the TV.

You stay where you are. Tim stands, obviously shouldering his own bout of insomnia.

"It's... you can come in," he says, just as awkward as you.

That's comforting. Tim's usually so suave, the few times you've interacted. He's all Gotham Heights, his upbringing never quite sloughing off no matter how many times he's probably tried to blend in and not be so... private school.

"I was just going to bed," he says quickly.

"No, you weren't," you say. You don't mean for it to come out so shrewd. Tim looks a little startled.

"I mean, you don't need to go," you add. "I'll take this to my room. It's fine. Sorry."

"No, I've been here too long anyway. I should work on my case."

Here's the thing. It's not that Tim avoids you because in order to do that, you'd have to see him more than three times a year.

But there's a distance. You've tried not to take it personally, tried to chalk it up to the fact that you're introverted and Kon and Bart are Kon and Bart, and Cassie's too straightforward to beat around the bush, and you've somehow won her over, which is nice.

And Tim is just... cautious. Paranoid.

Those are understatements, and you can't imagine the psychological damage caused by being raised by Batman, but, well, you've seen the previous and current Robins, so you can hazard a guess.

Anyway, Tim kind of acts like an unsocialized cat with you. You once mentioned it to Kon, in nicer words, but he dismissed you, saying, "Whaddya mean? Rob likes you!" Which had assuaged nothing, but whatever.

"I won't be here long," you say, as a last-ditch effort to not make it feel like you're kicking Tim out of his own space. "I just, uh, couldn't sleep."

He watches you in that freaky Bat way, like he's trying to determine if you're a threat or not. Jesus.

"It's hard for me to sleep after a battle," you add, trying to show your belly. That's how it feels, being around Tim Drake. Like you always need to be vulnerable first. Like you're in a battle of wills you didn't know you entered.

He doesn't sit down, but he does say, "Me too."

You nod and drink your cooling tea. "There's more tea in the kitchen if you want. Chamomile."

"I'm... good. Thanks."

You edge over to the armchair diagonal to the couch and sit.

"You can work in here," you say. "Unless, uh, it's too distracting. I'll keep the TV muted."

His laptop is on the other side of the couch. Tim is still, only his eyes moving from you to the laptop.

"I don't wanna push you out," you say.

"It's really fine," he replies immediately.

It's so not fine. This isn't boding well for your insomnia. You're definitely going to be agonizing over this interaction all week.

"I won't bother you," you say.

"I didn't say you would."

Then what's the problem?

Slowly, Tim returns to the couch. You look away, so it doesn't seem like you're watching his every move (you are), nor is Tim clocking your every move (he is).

He settles on the couch and opens his laptop. You drink and try to figure out what's playing on TV. It looks to be a rerun of Columbo. You smile.

"You like Columbo?"

Tim looks spooked that you're still talking to him, but he answers. "Yeah."

"Me too."

You watch Columbo silently look for clues. Tim types, fingers flying over the keyboard. Then his fingers pause.

"I used to watch it with Dick," he says. "When I first became Robin."

You nod, giving him your full attention. "Yeah? He seems like the type."

"He does a pretty good impression of him. He likes detective shows."

"You don't?" you ask.

Tim shrugs. "They're fine. I guess I just hate how predictable they can be."

"Of course the boy genius would say that," you say, smirking.

Instantly, Tim's face turns to stone. He hums, looking back at his laptop. You blink. What happened?

"Sorry. That was a joke," you say.

"I know," Tim says, any trace of warmth gone.

You're startled by the shift. "I don't—I wasn't making fun of you. I mean, you are smart. Really smart."

Tim carefully looks at you. "...Thanks."

You nod clumsily. You should've just stayed in bed.

It's quiet for a long time. You're trying to muster up the confidence to escape to your room when Tim speaks again.

"People have said stuff like that to be facetious. I... reacted without reading your tone."

It's not an apology, but it's probably the closest thing you'll get.

"It's okay," you say.

Tim nods. His shoulders aren't so tense, though his posture is atrocious when he's off-duty.

He gets up and gives you the remote. You take it, smile small. Tim retreats.

"You can unmute it if you want. I don't mind."

So you do, and you and Tim spend the next hour half-watching Columbo and half-watching each other. Eventually, your tea finishes, and the episode ends, so you get up.

"I think I'll try and sleep," you say.

Tim nods. "Good luck."

You hum. "Thanks. Good luck with the case."

"Yeah. Thanks."

You wash the mug and leave it on the dish rack. Then you escape back to your room. You really do feel like you could sleep again. Maybe Columbo reruns are the magic ingredient to a good night's sleep.

[thydungeongal]

Off anon this time. I sent the “player as product” ask. i want to minimize discourse on my blog lol but I am sauntering in. Like you said, the D&D player is the product. Hasbro/WotC’s goal, as you’ve stated, is to sell D&D products. In order to sell the products, you have to have someone to sell too. Unlike other things—food and clothes, for example, as well as toys like dolls—D&D requires its consumer to be primed. You can’t start consuming D&D they want you to without prior knowledge. You can buy pretty dice and do whatever you want, because they’re open-ended toys, but you can’t buy the Monster Manual and “play” with it because it’s a specialized “toy” for a specific sort of play.

I started with 3e. Back when I first got into D&D, it was through word of mouth (literally, new kid in school said I should play) and my prior exposure was looking at the cool pictures in the books at Barnes and Noble in the big towns (grew up buttfuck nowhere). There was minimal marketing in the mainstream. Compare with now: TV shows and actual plays and Critical Role romance novels and children’s books. Hasbro wants to saturate us with D&D, so it is easier for us to buy their shit. I went home a couple of years back, and I was floored that Walmart had D&D books and dice.

However, as I joined the ranks of 3e players, I also learned about and was exposed to other games. I was a lil Lovecraft fan and now I understood that Call of Cthulhu existed and scratched my itch since I had the prior knowledge to do so. Some biker dude ran RIFTS at my college. D&D didn’t have to be the only entry into RPGs, either. You meet folks who started with VtM, RIFTS (!!!), Star Wars, all kinds of stuff.

Now, D&D is considered the entry point AND the end point. Hasbro wants it to be our measuring stick. Not even old editions of D&D either, just its current milieu. It’s done that by using consumers as products, much like Amazon and Google has. That’s my thesis, because that’s the tea, sis.

Definitely agree with this as someone who started roleplaying around the same time and for whom 3e was her entrypoint into D&D (albeit not RPGs in general).

[horizon-verizon]

The showrunners just continue to steal from TV Daenerys’s characterization and final storyline to improve their Rhaenyra (a self righteous Targaryen woman with delusions of grandeur ? Groundbreaking), but she remains completely boring and forgettable. Dust in the wind.

And even though TV Daenerys is radically and entirely different from her book counterpart (as much as I love Emilia Clarke), TV Daenerys’ daddy didn’t tell her she’s special, unlike Rhaenyra, Daenerys realized she’s special when she brought back dragons from extinction and walked out of fire utterly unharmed, please can people stop compare her to any of the mid characters from HOTD ??

Speak it again, anon, bc what?! It's quite obvious that they are trying to inject as much a literal magic layer of significance in Rhaenyra's story as magic was in Dany's Or they are trying to make Rhaenyra more "important" in the Targ lineage & "interesting" to those who loved Dany (which is most of the fandom, lets' bfr) to promote the show. And yet at every turn they have also excused D&D's atrocious illogical writing of Daenerys' core traits and convictions behind the ol' "GRRM has not finished his series".

We know that there are only 2 books left of this series and Dany is still very NOT like her show counterpart's more...demanding isn't the right word but for now, we'll go with it. Based on this fact alone, people are so much more willing to believe that Dany will turn a 180 somewhere in these last 2 bks and destroy KL or do something akin to Mad!Aerys "bc Targs are crazy and she seeks to be a white savior while profiting from slaves". That this extreme turn for her will not happen for someone like Jon Snow who literally came back from the dead after nearly all under his command killed him. That they don't feel it rather be Cersei, not Dany, who'd blow up KL despite all the comparisons and actions she has similar to Aerys in the text, word for word verbatim. No it has to be Dany, bec she is a "foreign invader" come to ruin the good town of Westeros with her slave-owning ways.

Ryan Condal recently said as much about the D&D defense on BigThink:

Besides, there were a lot other instances where it's clear the real reason why they demolished her was to move on from the project and they just didn't like Dany. Go on over to ozymalek/PhoenixAshes' Youtube and search through to see how they broke it all down.

And yes, Dany actually showed/has very good reason to believe her singularity and even this pseudo-religious quality from her revitalizing dragons, effectively patching up a lot of the magical balance of the world by doing so.

What's also pretty cool is that bk!her still doesn't think of herself as a "god" the way Euron Greyjoy is kinda heading towards/is already at.

So it's so fucking weird how they are trying to re-capitalize on Dany's effect and show!character (and before that, her nonviolenet ADwD arc about the pits) for their false version of Rhaenyra bc apparently we can tolerate and even like ambitious, vengeful, cruel, or just selfish men like Euron, Robert B, Robb (not evil, but went to war for his own ends and his armies also raped indiscriminately), TYWIN [Rains of Castamere, everything else], etc. BUT a woman who has even just the mere self-concern to want to claim back a throne that was DEFINITIVELY usurped?! Nah, apparently, that's too much. She's unsympatheziable.

For a woman, she HAS to be "unselfish", trying to prove a point to men--dead or alive--of her strength 24/7, but unable to settle with an idea of her own "strength" or worthiness, and thus eventually be lead into semi-unintentionally building some strange "cult" around dragons from Westerosi religiosity to feel in control & for people to sympathize with her. She HAS to--as one Twitter user said--have a problem with her gender identity so as to attribute "womanly" stuff as "weak" to want the same things as what a man are granted.

If the audience is stupid, does that mean you should be as well and perpetuate MORE sexist stereotypes/frameworks? No; HotD is for the money and comes form a place of ignorant "women guide violent men" narrative, no matter much it claims it is "feminist" or how lore-knowledgeable Condal says he is.

We all know this is a media company and Condal is more businessman than creator and that you need sorta both a business/production sense as well as a creative spirit for TV/film. Problem is that Condal is inevitably and attempting to build an ethos and ethical narrative while also treating the org stories and GoT as material to re-market through his own "vision" of what he'd personally like to see as a ASoIaF story.

Just bc this is a huge media company doesn't mean whatever they say is "God" for the actual story they were tasked to adapt! You can enjoy that and still recognize nothing about it or most of it informs the orig story or "proves" anything of it WITHOUT bringing up good reasoning and comparisons as to how-why!

Much of the characterization/writing/plot decisions he makes are not about feminism or making the characters palatable for others but to--like with a lot of censorship--just make it so that as many people as possible are watching and are comfortable with the most popular but incorrect ideas of what ASoIaF & feminism or sexism is about, etc.. those of which have already been in fandom and larger life/online circulation for YEARS.

Therefore, there is much superficiality as well as what could have been fleshed out and nuanced ideas or directions the current writing HotD has AS WELL AS Condal's/Hess' own biases written into the very fabric of this show that mark it as just ASoIaF "fanfiction" instead of a strict "adaptation". I know people get annoyed with the fanfic allegations, but if you have an "adaptation" that no longer has most-to-any of the core ideas, themes, characterizations, EVENTS, etc. as its original, you call that a fanfic, not an adaptation. Just bc it came from a prestige major studio/company and had a lot of money thrown at it, doesn't make it actually an adaptation.

If the author themselves--even though they should know better bc look what happened with Dany, Euron, Cersei-Jaime, etc.--say something is egregiously wrong with how they written a certain thing in the show, it is not actually using the orig lore and therefore it is more fanfic than adaptation:

Dany--unlike any other Targ, which includes Rhaenyra--has a relationship with 3 separate dragons even though she will only ride one. Vermithor should NOT have been as "docile" with Rhaenyra as they were in the show (saw another clip online, still haven't watched the episode). There is still a reason why Jace tried to get her out TWICE, why Viserys was upset at Aemond for going down to the Dragonpit alone, why Rhaena nearly died trying to bond with some, , why Nettles approach and SUCCESS with Sheepstealer is so amazing, why Baelon bumping a dragon on the nose gave him the moniker "Baelon the Brave", etc. Dragons are damned dangerous to anyone who aren't their rider! And Rhaenyra's "specialness" was evident in the plethora and rise of dragon eggs....you want to show her as such? Have dialogue about the trajectory of dragon eggs laid compared to now vs 40/30/20/10 yrs ago!

Yes, most of the Targ women are connected and esp through magic and fertility & expressed "Targaryen woman's strength" and agency in unique but still related ways. But as rhaenin-time once said:

HotD thinks it's somehow an improvement to insist that actually, no, they're all just (by circumstance) variations of a "generic targ girl" template.

You could have even have Rhaenyra stumble on something a GoT character later finds but not have her go into that deep about it bc she's focused on the war/usurpation if you really want to stick with the whole oversimplified "distracted by selfish stuff" going on. Point is, Rhaenyra's significance was meager compared to Dany's SPECIFICALLY when we talk about active and participatory spiritutality/magic. Passively and more subtly, Rhaenyra dying spelled the end of dragons...so be subtle about it and stop with the whole "religious cult" nonsense that really is just a continuation of the whole Dany-is-a-facist nonsense we got in the final season of GoT. "Targ madness" and all that.

Of course they won't bc this is Condal's "vision", but hey, got things off my chest.

[lemondemonpickuplines]

Hey girl are you Hyakugojyuuichi 2003? 'Cause Hey you, sit down and listen

Don't be flippant and don't be dismissin'

Think you're a Flash encyclopedia?

Eating, breathing Macromedia?

Think you're cool sayin' "All Your Base"?

Get that Xiao Xiao outta my face

You gotta be kidding me with that crap

Animutation's where it's at

Nine outta ten sociopaths agree

You gotta see Hyakugojyuuichi

From the Moch to the Rie to the Pee to the Wee

Just take it from me, MC NC

You won't believe your eyes, you'll go insane

I mean, what's up with that plastic plane?

You're an idiot if you disagree

You gotta see Hyakugojyuuichi

If you got the time, go grab a pen

And watch that thing again and again

Try to figure it out, what does it mean?

What's the significance of Mr. Bean?

Does anybody know? Are there any takers?

What's up with all the broken pacemakers?

The world is full of speculation

But nobody cracks this Animutation

Nine outta ten sociopaths agree

You gotta see Hyakugojyuuichi

You're an idiot if you disagree

Just take it from MC (Ah!) NC

You won't believe your eyes, you'll go insane (Aaah!)

I mean, what's up with that plastic plane? (Aaah!)

From the Moch to the Rie to the Pee to the Wee (Aaah!)

You gotta see Hyakugojyuuichi (Aaah!)

(1... 2... 3... Hit it!)

Wakeman is biased, like a household appliance

Hello Kitty and McGruff have an unholy alliance

Science is brutal and it cuts like a knife

Not even Obi-Wan can save the yodel of life

Your name is Bob, you're my heart-throb

I lost my job when I got fired

By a guy named Farchie, he was full of starch

He smelled like an orangutan's old apartment

Found a hobo in my room, what do I do?

He looks dead, he's full of lead

Bleeding red onto my bedspread

And he also seems to be missing his head

Why am I holding this gun and axe?

Do exploding pacemakers cause heart attacks?

Will Mr. Bean ever get his fill

Or will he just keep on telling me to kill?

Hey, don't you gimme that look!

You never had what it took

I took the beef and I beefed it up

You sat and whined while I took the cup

Of gold. You are getting old

When you see my face you better fold

Take this mop and shove it, boy

'Cause it's the only way you'll be employed

I am known as the Beef Bastard

(Everyone knows I'm the ultimate master)

I am known as the Beef Bastard

(Everyone else is a walking disaster)

I am known as the Beef Bastard

(Think you're fast? Well I know I'm faster!) (Ye-ye-ye-ye)

I am known as the Beef Bastard

(Everyone knows I'm the ultimate master) (Ye-ye-ye-ye)

Ma-ma-ma [*laughing*]

Ma-ma

Beef Bastard!

Weeeell I'm Shmorky! Eatin' PORKY!

Whitey rap sure sounds dorky!

Got a girl... she's a DOUBLE D!

I slap her on the butt dressed as a bumble bee!

I eat paste all damn day

I was in a Shakespeare play

I sit down on a Lazy Susan

Spin around like TOMMY CRUISIN!

Bong bong bing bing

I get payed to play with my thing!

I zip out zip in zip up BEGIN!

ROOM WITH A MOOSE! Jay Leno's CHIN!

Ambulance, Enron, Pee Wee, Pokémon

Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, THEY CHOOSE YOU!

And I can't think of anymore to say

TV says doughnuts are high in fat, kazoo (キミたちとの　であいはぜんぶ)

Found a hobo in my room (ちゃんと　おぼえてる)

It's Princess Leia, the yodel of life (きずつけあった　こともあったけど)

Give me my sweater back or I'll play the guitar! (それは（え～と）わすれた)

It's Steve's Adventure!

(Go, go, go, go)

(Go, go, go, go)

(Go, go, go, go)

(Go, go, go, go)

One-fifty-one Pokémon on the run

Suzuki-san is a formation of a bun

And a veggie burger with tsukemono

Jay-Jay has flown away with Sonny Bono

To the afterlife to visit Barney Fife

And to see Pero's screenshots of his wife

Named Chris Benoit, wearing a pretty dress

Saying "Watashi wa animutation ga suki desu."

Do the Mario! Isty-bitsy hockey

Lipsnot is not magic like a monkey

Captain Lou body-slams a rubber duckie

Just like in the match of Earth vs. Funky

Lucky Lucky nice to Mew-two

I need tea for two, how about you

Mr. Coldheart, or should I say Professor?

It looks like Lesko got revenge on my dresser

Props to Neil, he's the real deal

His friends all call him Mr. Popiel

He's the computer geek who doesn't shower for a week

His looks are hot, his clothes are CHIC!

He singlehandedly changed the face of the net

He's an online semi-celebrity you won't forget

He stormed onto the scene like a raging thunder

His seizure inducing flag says "Mr. Gahbunga."

Hey kids! Komiyona?

Omiyo mokemon halibudo

Halimatashinta, Pokinumushimi da

Watago get ready to rumble! (1... 2... 3... Hit it!)

Bamba-jidda-babla-biga

Hedimana-gina-hamana-gita

Hana-buto-halo-gini (Ye-ye-ye-ye-ma-ma)

Ala-pone-koala-bedi (Ye-ye-ye-ye-ma-ma)

Anamu-dada, ona-dote

Omanama-zenba-bolo-ho

Puyawa-dirbu-kowa-fuji (Ye-ye-ye-ye-ma-ma)

Waruma-ina-hada-bidi! (Ye-ye-ye-ye-ma-ma)

Teyo-mata, elino-wen

Hadawata-buto-bito-bed

Amatawa-jupto-hubba-pati

Fola-coola Colin Mochrie!

TV says doughnuts are high in fat, kazoo (キミたちとの　であいはぜんぶ)

Found a hobo in my room (ちゃんと　おぼえてる)

It's Princess Leia, the yodel of life (きずつけあった　こともあったけど)

Give me my sweater back or I'll play the guitar! (それは（え～と）わすれた)

There you have it, that's the game

One-fifty-one, we can all be the same

I'm sure that it's been appetizing

With all the subliminal advertising

This has been a celebration, Animutation fans across the nation

In formation raise their hands in dedication

To the crazy-flashing-psychopathic-happy-dancing-super-magic-

Power-mega-ultra-kitschy (Hyakugojyuuichi)

Nine outta ten sociopaths agree

You gotta see Hyakugojyuuichi

From the Moch to the Rie to the Pee to the Wee

Just take it from me, MC NC

You won't believe your eyes, you'll go insane

I mean, what's up with that plastic plane?

You're an idiot if you disagree

You gotta see Hyakugojyuuichi

.

[stardustmuncher]

get to know me!!

okay, wow. guess who has not expected their art to get any attention at all, let alone even incoming requests for art. i apologize if i haven't done ur request yet btw, i've been awfully busy!

however, since i am getting traction and my bday is today (yippi to me, even tho my age is now much too serious) i think its appropriate for me to do a bit of an introduction post..

so without further ado, i present t you...

ME!

hello!! my name is aj, aka stardustmuncher we're being all official with name tags and stuff

i'm bi and use any pronouns! like, fr, any pronouns. get creative guys.

i like to think of myself as somewhat of an artist. i wanna study animation one day, so that's pretty cool i guess.

i'm american, not proudly but i'm still surviving.

also, i'm a total band kid. i'm apart of my school's percussion ensemble, which is neat. it's pretty cool, i suppose.

some of my other hobbies include:

attending drama club like the nerd i am

writing for my school paper

listening to music

sleeping a bunch

hanging out with my friends and being idiots

baking

fashion. (i'm a huge fashion nerd..)

i'm an artist, sure. which means i'm in a lot of communities, i guess. my fandoms consist of:

the owl house (proudly a goldric shipper)

gravity falls

five nights at freddy's

mouthwashing

sally face

don't hug me i'm scared

hamilton

heathers the musical

mean girls

class of 09

helluva boss/hazbin hotel

the spiderverse series

nimona

miraculous

tim burton films

the amazing digital circus

i also LOVE my music, like a bunch.

some of my favorite artists are:

tv girl

chappell roan

olivia rodrigo

mitski

the moldy peaches

tyler the creator

lil peep

dazey and the scouts

laufey

adrienne lenker

pinkpanthersss

madilyn mei

now... my favorite songs.

anyone else but you by the moldy peaches

do the act like you've never met me by tv girl

nuts by lil peep

prom queen by beach bunny

kiss her you fool by kids that fly

break it off by pinkpanthersss

before he cheats by carrie underwood

good luck babe by chappell roan

hot to go by chappell roan

not allowed by tv girl

hate yourself by tv girl

now.. just some fun facts abt me!!

for no particular reason, i am cross-eyed. like i js came out this way idk??

i wear the same barbie pants like every other week. i love these pants.

honestly i prefer chocolate over fruity flavors, they're js better

always looking for more music recommendations, hmu if you got smth good

dms are always open if you need to vent :D or if you just want someone to yap ur interests to, either way

also art requests r always open. i will draw it like one day or smth but ive been busy.. maybe this next week ill draw again

big stuffed animal fan, i sleep with the same three everynight

i have a guinea pig named amity, yes after the toh character

i also have a fish named mr blubs

and two dogs and two cats, i love my pets so much

also i love queer stuff, im way too easy to queerbait i fear

always open to friends and mutuals, just ask!! <3

some of my fav youtubers r louis mcclung, chadchad, drama mama/benoftheweek, drama kween and heather grayce

thanks for reading this total yap session, hopes this helps the people of the tumblr site to know who i am!!

much love,

aj (stardustmuncher) !!

[love-is-a-pearl]

So, here’s a question! (One that you may of answered or talked about before, if so, woops)

If Ash being put on a cross by Lysander was televised, what do you think Dawns reaction to it would’ve been? Or any of Ash’s friends tbh?

I wanted to reply with a small comic but I realize that doing that may take some time so. Text it is for now

Misty: the most worried of them all. Mentally curses Brock for not being there to take care of Ash anymore (even if he being there wouldn't have made a difference). Totally calls Delia and tells her that her son is on channel 06. Once she learns he also had jumped on an active volcano in that same region before, she pretty much forbides Ash from going to Kalos without her or Brock or someone a little bit saner.

Brock: he changes the channel the moment one of his siblings points out that that's Ash. He ain't gonna have him be a bad example for them.

May and Drew mid-date. Drew: isn't that your friend..? May: Whut?

She then pratically forces the owners of the french cafe they're in to turn up the volume and hyperfocuses on the TV until Ash is safe. After that, Drew tells Ash to stop putting himself in those situations cause he almost gave his girlfriend a heart attack that time.

Dawn: unfazed. That's Ash alright. Wait. PIKACHU TOO? NOOOOOO.

Iris: I bet she didn't see it lmao She was busy with the Unova league. But Drayden at some point is like:

D: Your friend made to the finals of the Kalos league. I: Ohh, cool!! D: he also almost died stopping an evil organization after that. I: .. why am I not surprised?

Cilan: Honestly I'm not a Cilan expert but the thought of him passing out at the sight and his brothers having to care for him is funny to me.

[blamin8r]

These are my personal designs/references for SMG4 because of how much I draw fan art for it. You can tell which ones are my absolute favorites to draw based on how much I’ve changed them basically. It’s organized by Recolors, The Girls, Non-Human, and Excess (sorry Kaizo)

Mario: I gave him stitches on his outfit because of how often he explodes and gets hurt (Luigi fixes his clothes since that’s less expensive than constantly replacing them), and those dark marks on his face from when Zero grabbed him and did that weird crap during the 10 year anniversary video. I also gave him a star pin on his overalls too.

SMG4: There’s so much. I made him shorter, changed his body type, gave him darker skin, scars from when he was possessed by the TV Adware dude (and other various scars), eyebags, a jacket, IV on his gloves, and the arrow from the USBs. He also has the arrow on the back of his jacket, but I haven’t drawn his back view before with this design so that’s never been visible in my art yet.

SMG3: I made him even shorter than SMG4, gave him longer hair, matching scars to SMG4, darker skin, a cape, black gloves, platformer boots, the USB arrow, and I changed his body type. The back of his cape has the same skull design that’s on his hat and boots too.

Luigi: I didn’t change too much to him, just his shirt, a flower pin, and some scars. Also he’s round like Mario but not the “skinny brother” because I don’t personally believe in that. (Though whenever he takes off his shirt he immediately becomes a buff man because SMG4 logic)

X: This one was fun. He already has dark skin on his recolor self, so I also went ahead and gave him curly hair, a beard, eye bags, a beanie, hoodie, changed his height, and gave him a cool weird eye thing because why not. He and FM also have similar eye colorings to 3 and 4

FM: He’s the only recolor I decided to make not chubby but instead kinda fit since he’s a police officer. I also gave him a police styled hat, badge, different shirt and gloves, longer hair, a bunch of scars, piercings, and steel toed boots. He looks pretty cool :D

Minion: Parts of her design I did out of pure spite. Her body type matches SMG4’s but she’s a bit shorter, an overalls skirt thing, matching hat, pink gloves, some long socks, and I kept her mustache but just made it smaller. Why? Well, I haven’t headcanoned SMG4 as trans (unlike what a lot of my friends and mutual have done), but I did do that for Minion, because in my mind, she basically has SMG4’s exact body type, including the reproductive organs. But she’s still a woman. And I also believe that women (cis and trans) shouldn’t have to feel shame for having facial hair or body hair, so I kept that there, again, out of spite for people who really feminize her body in a stereotypical way in their personal designs for her.

Meggy: I’m not an extremist for Inkling Meggy or anything, I do like her as a human, but I’m still not sure why they chose to make her a human and not just a squid that’s not Nintendo styled. So instead I just gave her some other squid attributes, like the typical tentacle hair thing, but also some fins on her arms and legs. Her skin is a little darker and she has freckles now. I made her outfit more black and orange themed because I personally hate the dull whites and browns on her outfit. To reference two of her other outfits, I had her keep her college jacket tied around her waist, and her glasses on her shirt since I feel she probably needs them for reading still. I also gave her more sports styled clothes like her shorts and the knee pads. And I removed her goggles because I despise drawing them, she has too much accessories on her head and that one section is so annoying to draw. Lastly, I made her a bit muscular because there’s no way every single one of the girls has the exact same body type.

Tari: Her design just got updated when I was in the middle of working on this, and it’s really good so I only changed her body type by making her chubby and added a gradient to her hair.

Saiko: Her outfit is cool minus the colors, so I gave her a more pink and black theme for her outfit colors. I also made her more muscular and gave her some scars since she’s known as the more violent one in SMG4 who carries that massive ass hammer just casually.

Melony: I looked up where watermelons came from, and they came from Africa apparently, so I made her black (also because all the human characters are white/light skinned so I changed that) and I think it makes sense with her hair too because of the thingies that come down over her ears. It also makes the pointy things behind her hood make sense too. I changed her body to have more body fat and gave her some stretch marks and cellulite to go with it. I like her hoodie, but you can’t tell me that’s all she has on, so I also gave her some shorts, since she gets sexualized so much.. She also has shoes too, those socks would be so nasty otherwise. Her diety form is gonna have actual armour because that makes more sense than just a different colored hoodie.

Belle: I changed nothing about her, not because I don’t like her or think her design is perfect or anything, (she’s great and I miss her ;-;), but I actually chose to keep her as is just because people who look like her and have her body type still exist, they’re just not the only one or the main one. Humans vary a lot.

Karen: I didn’t change much, but since she’s a single mother, I made her body look a little more like a middle aged woman, and gave her a sweater her kids made for her too that she wears proudly.

Shroomy: I know there are multiple characters that are technically naked, but I felt that Shroomy should at least have a Boy Scouts outfit on, he lives in a world with Toads which do have clothes so it didn’t feel right to have just the badge thing over him

Bob, Rob, Boopkins, and Jub Jub: I kept them as is because there’s not much to their appearances anyway, minus a few rips and tears for Bob’s outfit.

SMG2: I made his body a little more proportional so that his head was at least not larger than the rest of his whole fucking body, and I gave him some excess scars since he and SMG1 have been around for the longest, and have probably been through a lot together. I also gave him sleeves, shoes, glasses, and matching gloves that all the SMGs now have. His antenna thing is also thicker because I don’t wanna make it too thin.

SMG1: His body is also more proportional, but that’s mainly because I didn’t like making his torso long. I also gave him clothes to match 2 a little more but darker. He’s got excess scars as well, and his gloves are opposite to 2’s similar to how I made 3 and 4’s gloves opposite of each other. He’s also got glasses like 2, and they match their head shapes.

Kaizo: I fucking love Kaizo, he looks so damn cool to me, so I kept his outfit the same, just changed up his body. He’s more muscular and has more demonic features (pointed pupils and ears, tail, more sharp teeth, forked tongue, claw-like nails), as well as a bunch of scars everywhere on his body. Plus more body hair, and based on a Kaizo design I saw elsewhere (I forgot who made it) but I made the ends of his hair dyed red because it looks cool. And piercings.

Swag and Chris: I love these two, but I couldn’t think of how to change Swag and Chris besides making them a buff and old. (To me, they’re at least in their 30’s or 40’s). I do believe in dilf Chris tho, so make whatever assumptions you want from that.

Whimpu: I actually really don’t like Whimpu, mainly for his personality, but also because of the Waifu Factory episode, it just really made me uncomfortable with how objectified and dehumanized the anime girls were in it, and he was a big part of that. Still, I wanted to change him a bit since his design is a little plain. He’s still plain, but a bit less. I added acne, buttons on the tie, and a shirt pocket with a pen in it.

Steve: I hate how I end up drawing Steve, but I didn’t want him to look too human in a normal way, because a part of his charm is being this weird block dude. So he just looks like a more blocky human with dirty clothes, a lot of scars, and a beard.

[a0random0gal]

If you had the chance to change something about the dance of the dragons (TV show or book), what would it be? For example, how a character dies, which team a house is on,or an entire character personally. How would you change it to make the story better, in your opinion?♥️🖤💙💚

Ohh anon i've got a list.

When it comes to the tv show there are a few choices the writers made that just don't sit right with me.

Laenor

I do like the characterization they went for, he's a pretty cool dude who really loves his weird, dysfunctional family. What I really don't like is how they handled his death.

See I truly can't stand it when a character is sugar coated just because they're the protagonist and thus must be righteous and always objectively correct.

So to witness the writers white wash his murder, having him flee to essos instead of being killed by Rhaenyra pisses me off. I get that after showing them being good friends it would be very odd to have her kill him.

But that's the thing, they should have opted for a more ruthless Rhaenyra in the first place!

Laenor's death in the books (at least for me) was the first instance of Rhae Rhae making morally wrong choices in order to pursue her ultimate goal. It was compelling! Here she just takes the easy way out, without having to make a tough choice.

Also his survival really fucks her up when you really think about it. Now all her sons are bastards since her marriage to Daemon isn't valid, and for the upcoming season 2, how are they going to handle Addam and Seasmoke? Laenor is still alive, his dragon won't accept a new rider. This doesn't make any sense and just causes plotholes what the actual fu-

Sidenote: After Laenor's very moving speech on how he was done goofing off and was now willing to really step up for Rhaenyra and their family it's super strange to imagine him ditching them all immediately afterwards Lol.

Rhaenys

My gosh, where do I even begin with this woman?

She too is pretty cool at the start, but then episode 9 rolls around and I roll my eyes.

She's so hypocritical. She tries to shit on Alicent for "toiling in the service of men." When that's all she does in the goddamn story!

She wants Baela to get Driftmark, tells Corlys about it, he shuts off the whole plan cause he wants a kid who he's not even related to on the driftwood throne, and when she complains about it he dismisses her.

So what does feminist Rhaenys do about it?

She... submits to her husband, something she conveniently forgets about when talking to Alicent. My god. Just remove this entire exchange, it hurts to watch.

And the coronation scene, Jesus Christ! It was so cool in the books, why did they have to ruin it? Had they replaced it with something better I wouldn't have complained, but this is just, the worst.

Rhaenys shows how badass she is by.... Brutally crushing hundreds of small folks to death and almost slaughtering the greens.

Cool, cool, absolutely necessary. Thanks Sara.

And you know what's even more infuriating? When she flees to Dragonstone to inform Rhaenyra of all that happened. She says she didn't kill the greens cause she didn't wish to start a war. I'm sorry what?

That would have ended the war at the start! As glad as I am that Rhaenys didn't barbecue them it makes absolutely no sense!

If she had killed them there would have been no dance in the first place!

I hate these dumb show only moments. They needlessly complicated an already complicated story and just mess everything up.

There's probably other stuff I could rant on, like how Aegon was made a rapist sorely to make the audience think:

Oh look! The greens are so baad, they believe a rapist alcoholic douche should be in charge instead of our empowered dragon queen, they sure do suck!

Or how house Velaryon was disrespected and mistreated by D*emyra but still somehow decided to support Nyra's claim.

They didn't really have a motive to be greens though, so I think they should have stayed neutral. Their fervent black support makes no sense.

The writers really should have given them more reasons to back up the blacks or had their beloved queen treat them better so that their loyalty made more sense ( I mean holy hell I wonder how they will handle the two betrayers and Corlys's arrest lmao).

But other greens have already shat on these awful decisions and I won't beat a dead horse.

Book

When it comes to fire and blood I surprisingly have very little complaints, except of course, the Jaehaera situation.

My poor baby deserved better, I've made a post about it in the past

(where I ranted and said stuff I kind of regret now, don't post while very angry guys I don't recommend it)

tackling how the little queen was unnecessarily killed off and how her death genuinely adds nothing so why was it added? God I get upset just thinking about it lol.

Some people say George did it cause he needed Aegon's kids to be born after Viserys's, and apparently he couldn't fathom a married teen not having kids until her 20s, which is veery weird.

The more plausible theory is that he got rid of her cause he wanted more Velaryon queens to showcase how close they used to be to the Targs.

Which is something I had understood already thanks to Alyssa, the sea Snake and all the Velaryons who were masters of ships but whatever.

[the1975attheirverybest]

Maybe a blurb on the reader dealing with a depressive episode and matty starting pay attention to the signs (apathy, lack of eating, etc) if that’s like too much that’s totally cool tho :D

-🥳

Sea Peach

A/N: This one shot is partially inspired by the song "Smoochie" by Father John Misty. Also, as someone who struggles with quite severe depression, this was emotional to write. please read the warnings and exercise caution.

Warnings: mentions of mental illness, depictions of depression symptoms, and not in a pretty way cuz I never wanna romanticize this shit. so it's okay if you choose to skip this one. Take care of yourselves.

---

She grimaced and shifted on the couch when she heard the house door suddenly open and slam shut. Feeling a wave of frustration wash over her before Matty had even made it all the way inside, she turned to face away from the door, laying on her side, back to the entryway, and balling herself into the fetal position.

She tensed up when the smell of his aftershave and the cigarette he'd brought with him invaded her senses, the mixed scent making the knot in her stomach tighten.

Matty furrowed his brows at the sight of her, barely visible underneath the blanket, her arms wrapped around herself protectively, her face hidden from him. He exhaled, the cigarettes smoke forming a cloud in front of his face. "Baby? have you been sat here since I left?"

His question was out of concern. Legitimate concern, too, since it had been over six hours since he'd left her on that couch. To her, though, the mere sound of his voice irritated her like nails on a chalkboard. She sighed and rolled her eyes, not that Matty could see her.

She heard the sound of his footsteps getting closer behind her, then she felt him sit by her, on the edge of the couch, and place a gentle hand on her shoulder. She was stiff as a log of wood under his touch. The voice inside her head silently screaming for him to go away. leavemealone, leavemealone, leavemealone, leavemealone, leavemealone!!! she chanted in her mind, getting increasingly agitated.

"Honey, can you hear me? Everythin' alright?" Matty put out his cigarette in the ashtray on the nearby coffee table, deciding to focus his attention entirely on her.

"Leave me alone, Matty!" she finally spoke, her voice sounding far away, and shrugged his arm off of her shoulder.

Matty was taken aback. She sounded stone cold. They'd barely exchanged two words all day. He'd write it off as her being distracted by work earlier, but right now, judging by her current position, he felt it was obviously something more serious.

"Darlin,' are you ill? have- have I....done something to upset you?"

Finally, she turned around to face him, "Just go away! I said leave me the fuck alone!"

Matty was stunned into momentary silence. Not as much by her loud, sharp tone, but by the dead look in her eyes as she yelled. He swallowed, clearing his throat and slowly backing away from the couch. 'Alright, christ! there's no reason to be shitty about it." he muttered under his breath.

"I just want some space, is that so hard to understand?" She kicked the blanket off her body, sitting up.

"Thought I'd given you six hours worth of space already, but alright, I'll leave you alone..." Matty turned around to face the exit.

"Don't bother. I'm going upstairs." she sprinted past him, leaving the room and climbing the stairs, without even sparing him a side glance or looking back.

***

Matty crossed his brows, reaching over for the remote and turning the TV off. he hadn't been following along with the plot of the film, anyway. He'd mainly turned it on for some comforting background noise, but it had done the exact opposite.

He couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what he'd done wrong. He'd gone over their recent interactions in his head, several times, trying to figure out if he'd upset her in some way, but he came up blank. He wondered if two hours was enough "space," if she'd be willing to talk right now. There was only one way to find out.

Matty went upstairs and headed for her home office. He stood in the doorway, flicking the light switch on. She wasn't in there, but what was in there surprised him.

***

She clutched onto the tear-drenched comforting, another silent sob painfully ripping through her as she listened to the sounds of Matty's footsteps coming upstairs, and then going back down, without coming to see her. She knew it was her fault and she felt like a complete monster for the way she'd spoken to him earlier. All he was trying to do was be a good partner. But, the way she'd reacted certainly sent a clear message that she didn't want him to. When the truth is, she did. She needed him right now. She longed to apologize, to ask for his help, but she knew he'd be better off without her. She didn't want to bring him down with her nonsense or burden him with her troubles. He was finally in the best place of his life; mentally, personally, and professionally. He was full of life and energy and a lot depended on his being free and able to come and go as he pleased. Making him worry about her would only hold him back. She didn't want to be the anchor dragging him down. She'd done enough damage already. He can't know. She needs to keep this to herself, get out of his way, and hope to god that she can push through the darkness by herself so she can even begin to repair things with Matty eventually.

The only comfort she currently had was Matty's pillow. She grabbed on to it, hugging it, tightly, to her chest and breathing in his scent, hot tears running down her face.

She had no idea how long she'd stayed that way before she'd cried herself to sleep. When she woke up, she was sweaty, disoriented, and extremely thirsty. She sat up in bed, her heart aching at the sight of Matty's empty side of the bed. feeling around the nightstand for her phone, she squinted her eyes, adjusting to the light immolating from the screen.

She jumped, startled at the sudden sound of the bedroom door opening. Matty walked in, a full tray of food in his hands. He smiled softly at her when their eyes met. "Hi, my love." he whispered. "Can we talk?"

the words "my love" were like daggers to her heart. how could he still love her with the way she'd been acting lately? Tears threatened to spill again, but she pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, looking up at the ceiling to stop from crying. "s-" she cleared her dry throat. "sure"

Matty set the tray of food down on the nightstand, grabbing the water bottle that he'd filled up for her, and climbing onto the bed. "You probably need this" he handed her the water. She took it silently and gulped down the majority of it, making him smile.

"Babe, you've been crying..." Matty noticed.

She was too choked up to speak, afraid her voice and tears would betray her, so she looked down at the duvet, shaking her head.

Matty clearly saw right through her, pulling her in for a hug. "I'm so sorry, baby. I should've noticed sooner. I'm so sorry..." he whispered in her ear, kissing her hair as she sobbed into him. "I haven't been around, lately, have I? Left you to deal with all this on your own. I'm such an idiot, I really should've noticed earlier...."

When she was finally able to string together a sentence, she looked up at him, "don't- don't say that. It's not your fault, okay? It's mine....I've been such a piece of shit lately, I-"

"No, you haven't. Don't say that!"

"Matty, I yelled at you, pushed you away! Haven't retired your kind words in days. How could you-"

"You're depressed." he cut her off, wiping her streaming tears away with his thumb.

"The irritability, mood swings, the insomnia, lack of appetite, lethargy, sorry, baby, but you also smell a bit...hygiene issues." he laughed when she looked mortified and attempted to pull away from him. "Where do you think you're goin," he wrapped his arm around her again, pulling her back in. "I've been there myself. Countless times. Shoulda recognized it on you. But I haven't been paying attention. I've hardly been at home. Wasn't until I went into your office and saw that you hadn't cleaned it out in ages that...it all hit me."

She wished the ground would split open and swallow her whole. "I'm so gross. so disgusting. Not even trying to take care of myself, let alone-"

"Hey, shut the fuck up, will you?" Matty giggled. "Sorry, that was a bit much." He kissed her cheek. "You're not disgusting. You're MENTALLY ILL." he paused for dramatic effect, then felt bad. "Sorry, again, a bit much. didn't mean it like a judgmental thing...just an observation."

She simply shrugged, averting her eyes in shame.

"Hey," Matty tilted her chin up with his thumb and index finger, dipping his own head down to meet her eyes. "It's okay. I'm here now. I'm gonna take care of you, okay?... baby, don't cry," He kissed her lips.

Her eyes fluttered shut, tears ran down her face.

***

"I'm so sorry, Matty. For how I've been acting...for not talking to you about it..."

"S not y'fault. You can't control these things sometimes. I get it. I've definitely done worse when I'm in your position." He took her hand in his, kissing it softly. "You know what you can control though? your meal schedule. Go, on, eat something." He reached over to the tray of snacks he'd brought her and picked up a fruit bowl, handing it to her.

"Baby, thank you, I really appreciate you making this for me, but- I just- the very idea of food makes me nauseous."

Matty's scrutinizing gaze watched her carefully for a moment. "Very well, then, perhaps the medley of fruits is overwhelming. Just eat the tangerine."

She eyed the fruit in question skeptically, the image of herself eating it wasn't at all appealing. "Don't want any tangerine." she pouted.

"That's okay! That's actually not a tangerine, it's a sea peach."

She erupted into a chuckle, looking at him with confusion. "A what now? A sea peach! get it...cuz the word 'tangerine' comes from 'tangier'....the seaport from Morocco?" He grinned, the sight of her laughter healing a piece of his heart.

"Only you would know that!"

"Listen, if you eat the sea peach, I'll help you take a shower and clean out your office. Maybe we can hang out after? just the two of us? If you feel up to it?"

[austenpoppy]

I don't understand how anyone can think Dick, of all people, is a "himbo". He's one of the most intelligent people around, the world's second best detective (it's still true now, false believers !). I understand it even less when people have Dick be the "himbo" of the Titans when you have Wally just there.

Has no one read Flash : volume 2 ? It's a wiiild ride. I know the beginning was focused on Wally dealing with Barry's heritage and making it his own, plus was dealing with a lot of insecurities but damn, did it sometimes feel like "What is going to be Wally's fuck-up this week ? Take a wild guess !" or "How is karma going to humble Wally this month ? Turn the wheel !".

Just a few examples :

Exhibit A

Wally : *I have to break up with this married older woman I'm with, because she's so annoying and keeps nagging me...I could be with supermodels right now...sigh...How can I do this so that she doesn't throw herself at me crying ?"

Tina : Wally, I'm sorry but we can't be together anymore, for very valid reasons I'm explaining to you right now.

Wally : My life is in ruins ! It's over ! How could I let her go !

Exhibit B

Wally : Don't worry, Sir, the police loves me. It will be over in no time.

*has never spoken to the police as Flash*

The police : Go fuck yourself.

Wally : *surprised Pikachu face*

Exhibit C

Wally : Oh come on, what can those guys do, I'm still the FlashTM, I'm the best, nothing can stop me.

*everything goes wrong*

Wally : *surprised Pikachu face*

Exhibit D

Wally : Yeah, I gave this homeless man this blanket, but it was just so that children wouldn't see him, right ? Homeless people are just lazy people with mental illnesses, right ?

*Karma happens*

Wally : Well, guess I'm homeless now. I've kept using my powers so now I'm starving, and though it's only been a handful of hours I'm already looking under cars for money and begging strangers for a ten-dollar bill. Also I look like I've been on the streets for months.

Exhibit E

Chunk : You keep abandoning me. I feel sad.

Wally : Oh come on, you're my best friend, I don't have to be nice to you. Plus everyone knows I'm a jerk, LOL.

(This is pretty much his actual dialogue by the way; I mean, Chunk's nice but weird, yet somehow Wally's answer still made me do a double-take lol).

Exhibit F

Wally : *takes one of his friends and an ex-villain he's friendly with go see Jay's wife for an impromptu visit* Noooo, she won't mind, what are you talking about ? She'll be glad to see us ! Hello there !

Jay's wife : *keep cool, don't get mad, keep smiling, you can do it* You didn't think you were going to sleep there, were you, Wally ?

Wally : *surprised Pikachu face*

Exhibit G

"Religious leader" : I can help you with your problem, Wally.

Wally : Oh, finally someone who understands me ! I'm going on a retreat now, you're the best !!

*3 days later*

Wally's friends : You worry too much, mayor. Wally's fine.

Wally doing an ad on TV : This religious group is the absolute best you guys ! Look they have spas ! They'll help you like they're helping me !

Everyone else : *facepalms*

Wally : What do you mean, it's only for me that it's free ? I don't believe you, Linda !!

"Religious leader": Wally, some people only accept help if they're paying absurd amounts of money for it. They wouldn't want to think they're a charity case.

Wally : That tracks.

Linda : This. Is. A. Cult.

Wally : *surprised Pikachu face*

[shrinkthisviolet]

Backstory on how you came up with Morgan as a character, and how you decided to showcase her character? (Like, why you chose those scenes in particular for her fics)

Or anything else you want to share about Morgan and her story?

Oooh yay an OC question! I'm happy to answer this :D

So Morgan is a character I came up with while watching Jesse in s2 and going "huh. Wouldn't it be cool if she had an E1 doppelgänger?" And then I read a couple fics that fed that idea. And ofc that then spun into "what would her backstory be? How would she fit into the story?" Etc and so forth.

Funnily enough, I wasn't going to write her story at first. It was just something between me and a mutual of mine...especially once my plans got ambitious and I started envisioning multiple fics spanning who-knows-how-long. It felt too big for me to handle, so I decided from the jump that this was just gonna stay a concept I talked about but didn't write.

...hey past me, about that...😅 (further discussion below the cut!)

Anyway, the first things I figured out about her were that she'd be Eowells's daughter, obviously. I've always headcanoned that Jesse did have an E1 doppelgänger in canon, but that she died in the car crash that killed Harritess. Here, though...she survives it, and she's raised by Eowells.

This fic gave me the idea to make Tina her godmother—the fic doesn't outright make her such (E1 Jesse in that fic is an adult, so it's not pertinent), but it's a similar thing, with Tina offering the E1 Jesse of that fic a place to stay and a job. Obviously there are differences between my AU and that fic, but I did link the fic as inspiration because a) it gave me the godmother idea in a roundabout way and b) it's the E1 Jesse fic that really sparked this idea in a way I couldn't let go. My idea was so much different than theirs, but I wanted to do something with it, more than just as a concept. Still not a fic (haha past me), but...something.

Morgan kept developing. Her name was decided as "Morgan" pretty early on—Jesse Morgan Wells would be her name, following the same principle as Jesse Chambers Wells (Tess Morgan on E1, Tess Chambers on E2), and then Eowells would have her go by Morgan instead of Jesse because, per canon, he knows about Jesse Chambers (in this AU, the Jesse Chambers he knows is not from the comics, but from the multiverse of the show. But...is it Jesse? Morgan? Another Earth's Jesse or Morgan? Who knows...👀 well, I do, but I shan't say. You'll find out in the s4 arc!). I also decided she’d be the same age as Jesse (17 in s2), but a year behind her academically, to add some bones to the jealousy plotline in s2—Jesse has 5 majors and is a year ahead of Morgan? Oof yeah that’s gotta be tough.

Morgan’s powers...started off as super strength. However, this got nixed when I finally decided to make this into a fic series, because...Morgan can't have Griffin Grey's powers, she wouldn't live very long 😅 and I can't pseudoscience her a solution, because then the question becomes "why not use it on Grey, who's only 19 when he dies?" So I waffled for a bit on what her powers should be...and I settled on forcefields. I've never looked back since. They fit her personality...for better and for worse (I have a feeling some of you know what I mean 😅 if you don't, though, I'll elaborate in the notes if asked!)

Another fun wrinkle about her development is that originally, the first fic was gonna be from Tina's POV, in present tense. I still have the fic in my drive, and I often strip it for parts (for the CF AU in particular) 😅 but ultimately, I remembered the wisdom of "the character you start with is often the one the reader gets most attached to", so I decided to stick with Morgan's POV and occasional forays into other POVs once readers were sufficiently attached to Morgan (mind you, this isn't an ironclad rule! But I'm glad I followed it in this case).

From there, I started with s2, since that's where the intrigue came from. I wrote some Morgan & Jesse and Harry & Jesse...and then it occured to me that rather than leave s1 as an implied "yeah this happened but idc" thing...I wanted to actually go back and flesh it out.

And MAN am I glad I did! That decision brought about so many changes that were for the betterment of this AU (Barry & Morgan, Morgan & Iris, Morgan x James, fleshing out Morgan & Tina), and I just...I truly can't imagine the AU without them. Genuinely, there are future arcs in this AU that I can't imagine how they would've gone if I hadn't gone back to write s1 and made these changes because the muse led me that way. It's remarkable.

Writing her taking up the mantle of Sentry was important too. I've talked about how important it is to me that she was named by both her mothers (Tess gave her the name "Morgan", Tina gave her the name "Sentry", even if the latter was unintentional), and that's another reason I'm glad I went back to s1—before this, the implication was that Cisco named her, but I like this better. Sorry Cisco 😅 you can name (almost) everyone else!

Ooh and as for scenes that show her character...I'll pick out a few that I haven't talked about before:

Though, perhaps the most confusing day for her friends was when she showed up to first period absolutely glowing because she’d gotten to meet Dr. Martin Stein the previous afternoon and learned about an intriguing project he was working on, tentatively called FIRESTORM. She couldn’t talk about it to anyone, at least not by name...but that didn’t stop her from gushing about the project in concept to her friends. “We’ve got years before we go into the sort of thing you’re talking about, Mo. Maybe you should slow down?” “Oh, come on!” She insisted. “Haven’t you considered how cool it would be if we could perfect something like that? Think of the implications!” “It would be pretty cool to have superpowers,” another of them pointed out with a grin. “Being able to shoot fire from your hands? Epic!” “Well, yeah, of course that’s cool. But sharing a body with another person? Like…that could be life-changing. Life-saving, even!” They were less enthused about that idea, but Morgan figured she probably could’ve done a better job of selling it.

Her meeting Stein here is, ofc, me setting up their reunion in 1x14, when she's a bit ahead of Team Flash in terms of knowing who Stein is. She doesn't know a lot of details, because the project is hush-hush...but she knows enough that it sparks her curiosity. Because that's another thing—she's a genius for a reason, and I wanted to show that! She's precocious and endlessly curious and follows logical threads down all sorts of trails...and I wanted to show that rather than just saying it.

Another scene:

In the end, she didn’t call Tina about Dad’s treatment of Hartley. It was certainly jarring that Dad, who had once favored Hartley even above her at times, had now suddenly turned on him, but Hartley had always been arrogant, and Dad had always enabled him. It wasn’t so unbelievable to think that he thought he knew better than Dad, sought to prove it, and got burned. And everyone at STAR had been under a lot of stress with the impending launch. If they were acting out of character…well, she couldn’t exactly blame them. Still, it lingered in the back of her mind, unsettling her in ways that she wasn’t quite ready to think about yet.

It matters that Morgan is observant, insightful. This is a trait she picks up from both Eowells and Tina (for better and for worse—yes, being observant can work against you, but more on that later)...and it means she notices that something is off about Hartley. But, since she's a teenager, still susceptible to manipulation, and isn't fond of Hartley, she brushes it off as arrogance on his part (it's an impression he encourages, after all).

Another scene:

But a strange thing happened as they got close enough for Richard to let go of her hand and run toward his parents. Morgan looked up, saw a bolt of lightning coming for them, and cried, “Look out!” She shoved James and Richard out of the way, shielding them both as best as she could. And then the strike hit, and she screamed.

This is when she gets struck! I thought quite a lot about how this could've happened. Ultimately, I decided that since the other metas get their powers by doing something related to their powers, Morgan should too. Thus, she shields James and Richard, taking the blow herself...and she gets struck and gets forcefield powers (it's not real lightning though, just concentrated energy. Hence why she gets forcefield powers and not lightning powers)

And another:

“Someone has to stop them.” “Someone has to protect the people they hurt,” she corrected, clenching her fists. “What that…that superhuman did…it was terrifying. He terrorized and probably hospitalized people. Because of powers that my dad gave him.”

Every hero needs a Call moment, don't they? Well, this is Morgan's! Well, specifically, the scene before this when Jitters is attacked is her moment, but this is her reaction. She's a hero at heart, that's our girl! It shows what kind of hero she'll be...and that her powers suit her so very well.

This next one is a long one, but I couldn't justify chopping it even for this:

There was a lot to figure out about her powers, as it turned out. She and James had already figured out that her powers manifesting was an expression of adrenaline, a defense mechanism that was likely connected to her sympathetic nervous system—thank you, 9th-grade Biology. So her powers had an emotional element—a strong one, judging by her outbursts—and they relied on concentration to remain stable. It was something she needed to improve over time…if she actually wanted to use them. James thought she’d make an awesome superhero and wasn’t shy about telling her so. Morgan, however, had no desire to dole out vigilante justice with non-combative powers she barely understood…especially as a teenager who didn’t want to seriously hurt anyone. “It’s not vigilante justice, Mo,” he insisted. “It’s heroism.” “You’re basically saying I should be this city’s Spider-Man,” she retorted. “Your powers are completely different from his.” “James.” “Morgan. Do you seriously think I don’t see the look on your face? That I’m not listening when you rant about how much the explosion has destroyed so much, how your dad isn’t doing a lot to fix it, and how you wish you could?” “I can’t fight. I won’t. I don’t have time to learn all that from scratch, I’m not…I’m not Spider-Man, my powers aren’t combative like that!” As if to demonstrate, she shot a blast outward—it materialized into a shield. “See?” James nodded, looking sheepish. “Maybe not Spider-Man, then. But what about your other wish? To protect the people superhumans hurt? You’ve got the power of shielding and forcefields, who’s better suited for the task of protection than you?” She hesitated, then sighed. “Sometimes I think you know me too well.” He grinned.

The dynamic duo!! Funny to think that if not for James, we might not have a Sentry (this is also true in all the spin-off AUs) 💞 he's so very important as being Sentry's first guy in the chair, her first cheerleader, and her strongest supporter always (he and Barry might have to fight for that title later, but...hey Barry, James was here first 😂). There's a reason Morgan and James are soulmates in the soulmate AU—they're important to each other!!

And as far as scenes that really show her character. those are the higlights! Thank you again so much for asking this 💞 I love Morgan to pieces, and I love talking about her.

Taglist (send an ask or DM to be added or removed):

@arrthurpendragon @ocappreciationtag @raith-way @vexic929 @ironverseocs

@thechaoticfanartist @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @negative-speedforce @starstruckpurpledragon @angst-is-love-angst-is-life

@miss-eli-starfleet

[ellestra]

Space Adventure

I already saw The Marvels and it was pretty much exactly what I was hoping for - light, fast, fun. I will keep this vague since it's only Wednesday but it was really fun.

The action flows nicely and we get really cool dynamics between the three Marvels. I love Monica confronting Carol about her abandonment and it was refreshing that they didn’t let their issues distract them from the fight. I liked how Monica was the responsible adult and became the voice of reason. I loved how quickly she and Kamala fall into a big sister - little sister dynamic. And of course Kamala was the best one with enjoying the adventure and world saving. And fangirling over Carol. And then Monica. And of course Fury too (she’s basically going all Fury at the end). Also I loved their training montage.

I liked how Carol is confronted with her failure to deal with stuff that can’t be solved just by punching through things. She tries to fix it all alone because she broke it. But at every step she is shown she can’t really do it alone. She needs friends who can both help and call her on her bullshit - whichever she needs at the moment. And sometimes solve the issue because they have necessary abilities or capabilities. Not just Monica and Kamala but also Fury, Goose and a certain royal.

The villain of this is driven by hurt and anger and Carol is responsible for all of it. It's a classic story of good intentions gone horribly wrong because just kill the evil leader is rarely a solution that ends wars. Most civilisations are not Chitauri. Dar-Benn has some understandable goals but, as always happens in such cases, prioritising revenge doesn't end well. And hubris doesn't help either. Still, I could see why she would not want to believe any offer from Carol to be genuine. And it's nice of Marvel to give both Zawe Ashton and Tom Hiddlestone a big moment this week.

Also , there is a flerken bit that, for me, was alone worth the price of admission. It’s horror for the participants and it’s comedy for the audience and the music makes it so much better. I see myself watching it on repeat once it hits the internet.

You don’t need to watch any of the TV series (they catch you up on the important parts). Sure it’d be easier to care about Kamala’s family dynamics if you’ve seen Miss Marvel but even that is skippable. If you watched certain D+ series you’d also be more excited about one of the teasers at the end. For the other Multiverse of Madness is a template.

[sagesariadnd]

You know a detail I really love when it comes to spellcasting in D&D and tv/movies?

When the magic has its own signature or style based on who's casting it.

The Legend of Vox Machina is a great example of this, because pretty much every school of magic - and sometimes even the individual characters - have a distinct visual or technique. Delilah's necromancy is a prime example; it's all in shades of black and purple with jagged lines, it sounds like the screams of the damned, and it pulls from life essence, either from blood sacrifices or even just the jutting veins in Delilah's arms as she's casting, as if it's pulling the energy straight out of her body. Scanlan's magic is all flashy and transparent purple, radiant magic such as Pike or Kash's is gold and glowing. Keyleth I noticed does a motion of pulling energy out of the gem in her staff for a lot of spells, and I also noticed a lot of her spells make her cry out as she's exuding force, which feels very correct for druidic magic because it feels almost primal or instinctual.

Honor Among Thieves did this a bit, too, specifically thinking of the final encounter with Sophina, when she and Simon have the Bigby's Hand fight. They're obviously both casting Bigby's Hand, but Simon's is made of stone from the pebbles and cobblestones on the ground, while Sophina's is red and fleshy, much like her undead nature.

My Friday night character Sheyleigh, as a Way of Shadow monk, has access to a handful of spells using ki, which is how I ended up going down a rabbit hole of thinking of ki as just another way of channeling magic. I thought of spellcasting through that lens as Sheyleigh, and describe pretty much all of her spellcasting through a series of tai chi moves, like she's gathering her ki into one place to make the magic happen. And when she multiclassed into a trickery cleric of the Traveler (I'll get into that story when I make a proper post about her), I also considered his style and how their aesthetics mix - when she first started going down the path of multiclassing, I described her attempting to channel her ki into a Guiding Bolt, and the way I described it was intentionally inspired by Dragonball Z's Kamehameha and the various bending techniques in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Honestly, ATLA is a good reference for a lot of abilities when it comes to monks, and not just if you're playing Way of the Four Elements.

This is honestly one of the reasons why I love playing bards so much; music is so diverse and evokes so many moods, that there really are endless options for how that manifests into music. My bardlock Ameila, for example, used to have a hurdy-gurdy which her patron was sealed in, and I used the music of hurdy-gurdy player Andrey Vinogradov for the sort of musical palette of the character. There's a very dark, ominous sound to it, that I felt represented the darkness of her patron and an element of Ameila being a bit afraid of her own powers, with heavy inspiration from HP Lovecraft's __The Music of Erich Zann__. Conversely, my folk hero bard-rogue Glerble the Goblin is very boisterous and flashy, and his spells and inspiration come from epic ballads and over-the-top one-liners. I've had ideas kicking around for a tiefling bard who creates music exclusively through prestidigitation and minor illusion to put on synthesized music and light shows like a magical EDM performer, I've considered a bard-monk who fights using a bass flute as a quarterstaff or kashakas as nunchaku...honestly I could be here forever talking about all the different ways I've considered bardic magic.

I don't know if I had anywhere in particular to go with this. Just saying that it's really fun and cool to consider how magic may look and feel different from school of magic to school of magic, and from character to character. If you haven't tried roleplaying out your spellcasting components, try it sometime! 10/10 would recommend!

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth

This one's gonna be pretty quick, but I wanted to get it out of the way before I tackled End of Evangelion.

All right, so the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series (1995-1996) was a success, and there was also a strong fan demand for a different ending. I'm pretty sure fans thought the original ending in Episodes 25 and 26 was an incoherent mess, but maybe they were more supportive about it. Anyway, those two factors led to the release of the first NGE movie, Death and Rebirth, in March 1997.

The movie is actually two smaller movies and both of them are kind of bullshit. The first half, Death, is just a trumped up clip show, which is pretty rich considering how much footage they already recycled making Episodes 14, 25, and 26. The second half, Rebirth is actually all-new material that serves as an alternate ending, but only the first 25 minutes' worth of that ending. This 25 minute segment ends on a cliffhanger, and it would air again, along with the conclusion, in End of Evangelion, released in July 1997.

So really, Death and Rebirth was just an extended preview of End of Evangelion. A fan would have gone to the theater for D&R in March, and gotten a recap of the TV series, followed by the opening third of EoE. That would presumably whet the fans' appetite to come back in four months to see EoE in its entirety.

So in 1997, this was probably a cool idea. By that time, NGE had been off the air for about a full year, and fans might have appreciated a highlight reel of all the big moments from the series before diving into the next thing. And seeing 25 minutes of a new episode doesn't sound like such a bad deal either.

But, it's 2024, and from my vantage this just comes across like a cheap stunt. It looks a lot like End of Evangelion was the movie they wanted to make all along, but they couldn't get it finished in time, so they slapped together what they had and padded it out with old clips. Then they released End of Evangelion as they had originally intended, but this way they got their fans to pay twice for that same 25 minutes of footage.

Any way you slice it, there's not much of value in Death and Rebirth. The first portion is just clips from the TV series, and the second portion is just the first portion of End of Evangelion. What does that leave?

Well, a little. I think this "found footage" clip from Misato's dad's lab is new? I could be wrong. There's not much to it. You hear people talking about stuff and then everyone gets upset because Adam is awakening or something, and then Second Impact happens.

There's also a bit with Kaji and Asuka talking while they're en route to Japan. Kaji tells her that one of the other Eva pilots is a boy, but she doesn't care about boys her own age, all she wants is Kaji.

There's a framing sequence where the Eva pilots each show up to the empty theater from Episodes 25 and 26, and they prepare to play classical music. Shinji's on cello, and I can barely tell what the others are even doing. It's all meaningless filler disguised as some sort of powerful, meaningful thing.

I think this is new footage of Unit 00 removing the Lance of Longinus from Adam Lilith's body. When the lance comes out, the bottom half of Lilith expands and grows into a pair of humanoid legs, as opposed to the bulbous mass of many teeny legs.

Maybe this was in the TV episode, but I feel like I would have remembered seeing this before.

Also new, maybe? This scene of Clownshoes talking to Yui Ikari and baby Shinji. He isn't keen on SEELE and their predicted scenario of Third Impact happening in the next ten years. Yui's a member of SEELE, and she assures him that they're just trying to ensure that Third Impact happens in a way that humanity will survive and be prepared for. Clownshoes also says that he basically got an offer he can't refuse from SEELE, which is why he's reluctantly helping them. And mybe this was in Episode 21, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't because I remember wondering when and how Clownshoes joined up and being irritated that a scene like this didn't exist to spell it out.

Oh, here's that suitcase with the embryonic Angel in it, remember that? Gendo called it "Adam" when Kaji delivered it, and I didn't understand this. Then they called the big white angel on the cross "Adam", except it turned out to be Lilith. Well, what they did was they shrank Adam down into embryo form so he'd be easier to move around. This also had the benefit of keeping him hidden when the other Angels attacked NERV in search of him. We found out Lilith was kept on the cross as sort of a decoy, but where was the real Adam, then?

Uh, in this guy's hand? I guess? They never show whose hand this is, but it just occurred to me that Gendo always wears gloves, and there were a couple of battles in the TV show where things were looking pretty dicey and he got up to leave his command post. Maybe he was trying to keep Adam away from the intruding Angel during those moments.

We also get a clip of Kaji greeting whoever shot him, but instead of the gunshot we hear a slap, and then Shinji telling Asuka that Kaji is gone. She refuses to believe it.

After that, things pretty much wrap up with the final battle against the 17th Angel. That segment is basically a quick rundown of Episode 24, but the stuff before that is a jumbled collage. I think they tried to organize it thematically. A bunch of Shinji stuff, then Asuka moments, then Rei moments, and so on. When I first learned about this movie, I assumed the Death portion was like an abridged treatment of the TV show, but it really isn't. This would be a terrible way to introduce a new viewer to the franchise. All the big important story beats are included, but in a jumbled order, often with no context. It's designed for a fan to watch and go "Yeah, I remember when that happened."

Anyway, the kids wrap up their music practice and exit the stage. Whatever.

Then there's an intermission clock before the Rebirth feature starts. Cute. I made sure to take a screenshot of the clock on 4:20, because that's the weed number. Ha ha, can you imagine what it would be like if everyone in Evangelion was high? On weed? The NERV logo would be green, and instead of a maple leaf it would be a marajuana leaf, because that's the weed plant! And when they get in their entry plug, they would be full of bongwater, and it would be green from all the weed molecules in it. Instead of LCL fluid, they would call it "THC fluid", amirite? Also Shinji and Asuka would be a lot less upset all the time.

After that, Rebirth starts, but I'm not going to get into that here. We'll save it all for End of Evangelion, since the whole thing is supposed to be there. It might take me a little longer to write that up, but I'm sure it'll be ready this weekend. Doncha dare miss it!