#unconventional friends :) its nice to think about

[feastfic]

I had a moment and wrote down a whole lotta nonsense with Popcorn and I accidentally made myself feel really hard with it so. I might as well haha

Tw for drug use and (NONGRAPHIC) mentions of sex.

Okay so, where to begin hah. A lot of this was spawned from indulgent things and so I'm going to try and reword a lot of what I wrote down to make it more general.

• To me she is the pinnacle of "making everything a joke to push away the fact that she is deeply fucked up". To her it's just easier to never address anything and play it off as just a bit or something unimportant if somehow, someway, someone approaches her about it.

• Her avoidance has lead to an unstable relationship with substance use — it's a cycle of getting high and getting a whitey, and then getting hungover and being back at the base of "feeling the things she literally just got high over to not handle". Keeping herself busy with hosting (as precarious as it is, given that her contestants aren't exactly the most empathetic bunch about her case) is one of the only means for her to dodge herself, in a sense. So it sure isn't a good alternative, but it's better than y'know, whiting out...right?

• Literally everything she has is undiagnosed and she isn't about to get her shit checked out. (ADHD, BPD, MDD and Crohn's.) The majority of the folks around her aren't really versed in Why she decides to act like she does; they just think she's egotistical, big-headed and a dick overall.

• If for whatever reason somehow there was someone who was wholeheartedly genuine with themselves and with everyone around them...she'd actually kind of hate them. Literally they could do nothing wrong but she would be skeeved about the fact that they can just essentially gallivant around with their heart on their sleeve. It's like an anti-her, you get me.

• To add onto the last point, she's made herself so distant that if there was anyone that would try to actually talk to her and y'know, be a basic human being (or, well, object being) she wouldn't know how to reciprocate that in the slightest. Because she does want closeness but that kind of thing is deeply unsettling to her, and she would engage in what she guises as just "casual" sex; to her it's the only feasible way to actually figure out how exactly she feels about someone. It's just an empty feeling spawned from an innate guilt at this being the only way she can achieve basic positive social interactions and anger — less at herself and instead projecting it onto the other person for, in a twisted and cruelly roundabout way: leading her into this situation in the first place.

• She doesn't really cry — it's just...hard for her to be able to. "Feeling miserable" isn't how she'd describe it but there's no real way to really say it otherwise. Pretty much everything gets bottled up, both good and bad, and it can sometimes (unfortunately) seep through into her actual hosting job.

• If somehow she came across Airy, he would genuinely be one of the only people she could tolerate. He's so similar and yet could not be more different. Both apathetic but in his case he just... legitimately doesn't really seem to express that he cares. It's like if Popcorn were a firecracker and Airy was a bundle of wet sticks — they can exist next to each other without friction that would spark either of them.

• On MUCH much lighter notes: somehow she managed to get her 3D glasses to be prescription. She cannot see without those things but also you just Cannot take them off; if you lift them up there's just an endless amount of others underneath the pair(s).

[juliussilver25]

Harnessing Silver

In the bustling streets of London, a man clad in a shimmering silver outfit stood out like a beacon in the night. His metallic puffer vest and matching joggers caught the light from the sun, making him the focal point of the urban landscape. Passersby stole glances, some intrigued by his futuristic attire, others bemused.

This man in silver, known to his friends as Adrian, had always been a bit of an enigma. He thrived on the edge of the extraordinary, his fashion sense merely an outward manifestation of his colorful personality. Today, he found himself in the company of two young men in black hoodies and caps, their attire a stark contrast to his own. These lads, often dismissed as chavs by society, were anything but ordinary.

"Nice outfit, mate," one of the young men, named Liam, remarked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Adrian smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Thanks, Liam. Silver suits me, don't you think?"

Liam's friend, Ethan, chuckled. "You've got guts, I'll give you that."

Adrian's confidence never wavered. "Guts and style," he corrected with a wink. "But enough about my fashion choices. Let's talk business."

Liam and Ethan exchanged a glance. They had heard rumors about Adrian, whispers of his unconventional ways and his knack for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Today, they were about to find out if the stories were true.

"I'm listening," Liam said, crossing his arms.

Adrian leaned in, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "I've got a proposition that could change your lives. No scams, no tricks—just an opportunity to be a part of something bigger."

As Adrian continued to speak, Liam and Ethan felt a strange desire to touch the silver. Hesitantly at first, they reached out to feel the smooth, cool fabric of Adrian's vest. As their fingers made contact, their clothes began to shimmer and transform, the black hoodies and caps morphing into sleek silver garments that matched Adrian's own.  Their perceptions changed bringing them closer to realizing their untapped potential. 

"What the...?" Ethan muttered, looking down at his new attire in amazement.

Adrian grinned. "Welcome to the silver club, lads. This is just the beginning."

While Adrian spoke with Liam and Ethan, across the street another man, also dressed head-to-toe in gleaming silver, was having a conversation with a different group. This man, known as Jace, had an air of mystery and a charisma that drew people in. The group he was addressing consisted of a few university students masquerading as Chavs for a research project.  The students were completely engrossed by the conversation and captivated by Jace.

Jace's voice was smooth and confident as he spoke. "Silver is more than just a color or a fashion choice. It symbolizes power, prestige, and transformation. Throughout history, silver has been revered for its purity and strength. It's conductive, resilient, and reflective. It’s a metaphor for how we should live our lives—shining brightly, adapting to change, and conducting positive energy."

One of the students, a man named Max, raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying we should all start wearing silver?"

Jace chuckled. "Not exactly. It's about embracing the qualities that silver represents. It's about standing out in a world that often tries to make us conform. It's about being resilient in the face of adversity and reflecting the best parts of ourselves."

Another student, Ben, asked, "So, how do we start?"

Jace smiled. "By believing in yourselves and embracing the unique qualities that make you who you are. The silver? It's just a symbol, a reminder of your potential. But the real power lies within you. And once you tap into that, there's nothing you can't achieve."

As Jace's words resonated with the group, Max and the other students felt an irresistible urge to touch the silver. When they did, their plain clothes began to shimmer and change, transforming into stylish silver outfits.

The students looked at each other in awe, their skepticism melting away. "Wow," Max said, admiring his new attire. "This is incredible."

Jace smiled. "And now you understand. It is not about the clothes.  The silver you wear is a symbol of the potential within you. Embrace your individuality and shine brightly your silver clothes reflecting your inner strength."

As Adrian and Jace continued their enlightening conversations, another man in silver stepped into the urban scene. This third man, Rey, wore a tailored silver blazer over a crisp white shirt, paired with silver pants that shimmered with every step. His appearance was sophisticated and commanding, contrasting with the street-wise attire of those around him.

Rey approached a group of individuals gathered around in an alleyway bathed in smoke. These were the locals, the unsung heroes who knew the city's heartbeat better than anyone. They eyed Rey with a mix of curiosity and wariness as he walked up to them.

"Afternoon," Rey greeted with a warm smile, his voice deep and reassuring. "Mind if I join you for a bit?"

A man named Jordan, who seemed to be the leader of the group, nodded. "Sure thing, man. What's with the silver? Some kind of promotion or something?"

Rey chuckled, taking a seat on a crate. "Not exactly. The silver is a symbol, a representation of resilience and transformation. You see, in ancient times, silver was considered a mirror to the soul. It reflected light and repelled darkness. I believe that each of us has the power to reflect our inner light and transform our surroundings."

A young man, named Tom, who had been listening intently, spoke up. "So, what's the point? Are you trying to sell us something?"

Rey shook his head. "No, Tom. I'm here to share an idea. The power of silver isn't about wearing silver clothes; it's about recognizing our own strength and potential. It's about standing out, not blending in, and using our unique qualities to make a positive impact."

The group seemed intrigued, their skepticism slowly fading. Rey continued, "Think of the silver as a reminder. A reminder that we can shine even in the darkest of times, that we have the resilience to face challenges and the ability to transform our lives and the lives of those around us."

Jordan leaned forward, his interest piqued. "And how do we do that?"

"By starting small," Rey replied. "By supporting each other, finding our passions, and working towards our goals. It's about community and connection. Together, we can create a ripple effect of positive change."

Rey's words began to resonate with the group. As Rey continued to speak, Jordan and the others felt a compelling need to touch the silver. As their hands brushed against Rey's blazer, their clothes began to transform, the drab and worn fabrics turning into radiant silver garments.

Jordan looked at his new outfit, his eyes wide with amazement. "This is... wow."

Rey smiled. "These silver outfits are a reminder of your strength and potential. Embrace it and use it to create positive change in the neighborhood." 

Just as the conversations with Adrian, Jace, and Rey were gaining momentum, a fourth man in silver emerged from the shadows. His name was Seth, and his presence exuded a calm yet powerful aura. His silver attire was a blend of both futuristic and elegant, with a tailored silver suit jacket over a sleek black shirt, and silver shoes that gleamed under the streetlights.

Seth approached a small gathering of artists and musicians who had set up an impromptu performance area in a nearby park. The flicker of candles and the strum of guitars created an intimate atmosphere. The artists paused as Seth stepped into their circle, his silver suit catching the light in mesmerizing patterns.

"Hey there," Seth greeted with a warm smile. "Mind if I join your circle for a bit?"

A man named Nate, who was tuning his guitar, looked up and smiled back. "Sure, feel free. What's your story?"

Seth took a seat on the grass, crossing his legs comfortably. "My story is simple. I'm here to share the power of silver, not just as a fashion statement, but as a symbol of creativity and connection. Silver, like art, has the power to reflect and enhance the beauty around us."

Another man, named Ryan, who was sketching in his notebook, looked intrigued. "How does silver relate to creativity?"

Seth leaned forward, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. "Silver is a conductor, a medium through which energy flows. Similarly, art and music are conduits of our emotions and thoughts, allowing us to connect with others on a deeper level. When we embrace our creative selves, we reflect our inner light and inspire those around us."

As Seth spoke, Nate and Ryan couldn't resist the urge to touch the silver. When they did, their clothes began to shimmer and change, transforming into sleek silver attire worthy of musicians.

Nate strummed his guitar thoughtfully. "So you're saying that by embracing creativity, we're channeling something powerful?"

"Exactly," Seth nodded. "When you create, you tap into a source of energy that is both personal and universal. It's about expressing your true self and making a positive impact on the world. The silver we wear is just a reminder of that potential."

As the artists absorbed Seth's words, they felt a renewed sense of purpose. The man in silver had not only captured their attention but had also ignited a spark of inspiration within them. The night air buzzed with the promise of new beginnings and creative exploration.

Gradually, as these four men in silver continued to share their wisdom, the Chavs, the students, the locals, and the artists began to fully embrace the silver. Each felt more confident, more connected to their true selves. The silver became a part of their identity, a reminder of the strength and resilience they had discovered within themselves.

In the end each was ready to inspire others to embrace their unique qualities, to stand out and shine brightly in their own way. The silver clothes reflecting what was already within, letting it shine for all to see.  And so, under the stars of London, a new movement was born—one that celebrated individuality, creativity, and the transformative power of silver.

___________________________________________________________

Silver is Brotherhood.

Silver is Family.

Silver is Life.

Ready to join us on this journey? 🩶 Contact Our Cap @morphmastersilver

[starshadyy]

what your favorite splatoon character says about YOU!

obligatory “this is a joke” disclaimer, please don’t take offense i’m only being silly👉👈

☆ ★ ☆

callie: you are a diehard squid sisters fan. you have an intrinsic sense for design and are probably super creative. you hate it when people misinterpret her. others wouldn’t assume it, but you actually need therapy more than most others on this list…😔

marie: you’re really intimidating but probably super nice. you’re actually good at the game and are well-versed in the meta. you may not be the best at communication, but you have a strong intuition and are good at reading people

pearl: an absolute feral crackhead who needs to be kept on a leash. definitely queer. nasty majesty is your national anthem. you breathe life and energy into every situation you enter, and others appreciate you for it. you are pearlina’s strongest soldier! 🩷🩵

marina: you are a massive nerd /affectionate. you either wanna be her friend or you have a fat crush on her. you listen to splatoon ost all the time. your room is packed with stuff from the media you like, including mountains of plushies

shiver: you join her team during splatfests even when you don’t necessarily agree with the platform. you’re likely very sarcastic and always speak your mind. oh yeah, and you’re a weeb

frye: you loved her from the start and defended her honor back when everyone was clowning on her design. you’re very talented but humble about your accomplishments. you would bite someone if allowed

big man: you act laid back but are probably filled with anxiety. i get the vibe that you would own an unconventional pet of some kind [turtle, frog, ferret, etc.]. you’re for sure the mom friend. you know nothing about splatoon lore

captain 3: you are the BACKBONE of this fandom and i have nothing but respect for you. you’re probably ranked pretty high in competitive and are likely a completionist

agent 4: you grew up on splatoon 2 and were sure that they would show up in side order only to be… uh, half right? i’m so sorry sweet prince /gn. don’t you worry, your day [splatoon 4] is fast approaching…

eight: you’re very analytical and derive great joy from the story aspects of splatoon. you either write or read fanfiction and maybe cosplay too. you LIVE for the found family trope, and also probably ship them with captain 3. you have amazing taste :]

neo agent 3: you think lil buddy is the most adorable creature to walk the planet. you wish their initial outfit was actually accessible in the game. you’ve probably only played splatoon 3

cap’n cuttlefish: you’re an og who’s been around since splatoon 1 but still know next to nothing about the lore. you don’t main a weapon, and instead prefer to bounce around. you are… an inscrutable crackhead who i want to study

dj octavio: you’re willing to die on the hill that he is not a villain and only did what he did to support his people [you’re right btw]. you’re actually really chill and fun and i have a lot of respect for you. also, i’m liable to believe that you ship him with cuttlefish, don’t you? DON’T YOU?!?

commander tartar: you’re… ME??? villainous characters are always your favorites. you think octo expansion is a masterpiece [and you’re entirely right]. you’re a splatoon scholar and scour every obscure twitter post and artbook note to satiate your hunger for that sweet sweet lore. there’s something deeply wrong in your head.

mr. grizz: you play a lot of salmon run but are actually kinda bad at it [shhh i won’t tell]. you suffered through after alterna just for his backstory log and the bear ears. i’m going to go out on a limb here and say… you have daddy issues

smollusk: you LOVE the idea that marina and pearl are its adoptive moms. you’ve beaten side order with every palette. you overuse the “🥺” emoji. you miiight be a little annoying, but your heart is in the right place… probably

acht: either the chillest person you’ll ever meet or the most insane. probably both. you’re 100% queer and probably neurodivergent too. i bet you listen to will wood and / or tally hall. i wanna be your friend

harmony: you know every chirpy chips song by heart. you’re probably really sweet and i know you make banger fanart. you have an affinity for cute things and i bet your favorite pokémon type is fairy. DEFINITELY neurodivergent.

cq cumber: ???you both confuse and frighten me!!! what can i even say? you’re a cryptid! but honestly, you’re kinda iconic. i salute you, you freak of nature🫡

iso padre: I LOVE YOU. you’re accepting of all people and are just an absolute saint in general. daddy issues, but you’re coping way better than the grizz fans. also, i’m betting that you’re neurodivergent

sheldon: i didn’t think you existed, but turns out that you do? you actually listen to his rambles. splatoon 2 is your favorite game in the series. you’re able to see the value in things that others tear down and y'know what? i respect that [not saying i approve of your character choice though]

judd: wait, why him? ohh wait, i know! you probably just don’t care about splatoon’s story at all and / or love cats. there, that’s totally it, right?

lil judd: you either DON’T know his lore and just like the cute little kitten, or you DO know his lore and you’re unhinged. i’m scared of you

spyke: you’d bark for him without hesitation and DON’T pretend you wouldn’t. you clown. you absolute freak. i know what you are. /j

murch: if i had to bet, you’re probably the shy type who prefers to let others do the talking for them. you might secretly be a little freaky though, and i think you should embrace that side of yourself. you’re safe here. be free.

[1tbls]

been thinking about AF and daemon AU.

i read one fic where artemis had a lemur demon, and i really liked that 👍🏻 like with ms. coulter's daemon, primate daemons are associated with intelligence, but also an element of the cold and calculating, which obviously suits artemis.

however, for me, monkey and great ape daemons also have a touch of brutality or connection to baser instincts. and i don't quite get that same feeling from lemur daemons? i see a lemur daemon as being more in touch with the creative or unconventional. a little more contemplative and reserved. just a touch of whimsy. just as artemis prides himself on maturity, but also chases after fairies.

i get the most artemis vibe from the fork-marked lemur and the silky sifaka, though perhaps the latter is a little too on the nose. they look a little more silly than he would probably prefer, perhaps before she settles she's often in the form of a magpie or other corvid? similar vibe but a little more subdued.

next, butler :) i think a dog daemon is essential for butler for their association with service. my thought process was that it needs to be a dog, something huge and menacing, bite as bad as its bark, but also deeply loving and caring.

regular guard dogs felt right out because there's a persistent hardness to them as daemons. they serve and protect, but where's the softness? now livestock guardians are perfect. they blend in with the herd, take them as family all their own, and the teeth come out for anything that threatens their wooly friends.

here i chose the kangal. the daemon needed to be something big and muscled, but not too fluffy or sweet looking. great pyrenees got ruled out for fluffiness, central asian shepherd dog because their faces look just a little too goofy :p kangals win because they're huge and have a resting bitch face. i also like that the breed is from turkey, a bridge between europe and asia, since butler is described as eurasian.

juliet is a hard one, especially since it's been a while since i've read the books where she's a significant character. the key characteristics i associate with her are strength, extroversion, glitz, and unconventionality, particularly in family expectations. so, my two thoughts:

my first thought was to pair juliet with a wild cat. i think it creates a nice juxtaposition between the butler family expectations of service to the fowl household and her choice to strike out on her own. the same way wild cats may look so much like our pets at home, may not even be physically imposing, but are still dangerous predators. i like caracals specifically because they're a bit stockier in build, and also the ear tufts make them eye-catching like juliet's wrestling outfits :p

not as much thought in choosing the rainbow stag beetle as another option, except that i wanted another option because feline doesn't feel like a 100% fit for juliet to me. "rainbow" stag beetle because jade princess, and a stag beetle because they look tough but mostly they just like to show off (not that juliet isn't actually tough, but she's more interested in the performance than viciousness or sadism.)

[nortism]

Nor's Les Mis Fic Recommendations

I've been scouring les mis ao3 for a few months now so here are my fav fics I've found. I've tried my best to tag tumblrs where I can but let me know if you are the author of any of these and I'll tag you!

Three Days (or The One Where Javert and Valjean Take a Road Trip Through France and Raise a Child) by zamwessel

Rating: E

Ships: Javert/Jean Valjean

Summary:

Javert calls what he thinks is Valjean's bluff about needing three days to find the child Cosette and intercede for her. The Inspector comes along for the ride -- and gets much more than he bargained for, in the process.

Notes: First Les Mis fic I ever read and its an absolute banger. It's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin and I'm a sucker for a kid fic so I absolutely adored it.

A Change of Bizarre Kind by M_Moonshade

Rating: E

Ships: Javert/Jean Valjean

Summary:

Six months ago, Doctor Henry Jekyll sought to escape the dramatics of London by coming to M-sur-M. Tonight his murderer pays a visit to the Mayor Madeline. (Being the Curious Case of Inspector Javert and Mister Hyde)

Notes: Criminally underrated. Jekyll and Hyde AU but I went in knowing very little about that book and I could understand what was going on. Each chapter contains bits from the past and present day until the timelines eventually add up which makes the main mystery all the more compelling. Also Fantine is alive and well which is always nice.

Our Souls Still in Fetters by Cinaed

Rating: E

Ships: Javert/Jean Valjean

Summary:

After Javert is assigned to discover a blackmailer within a public-house that caters to men who prefer other men, Valjean is unexpectedly drawn into the case. Together they must stop the blackmailer before any lives can be ruined...including their own.

Notes: This author has so many great Valvert fics but this one is probably my favourite. There's the classic "undercover as a couple" trope as well as old timey gay bars. Also a huge fan of how this author portrays Cosette and Valjean's relationship.

In Defiance of all Geometry by idiopathicsmile

Rating: T

Ships: Combeferre/Enjolras/Grantaire

Summary:

Amis House might not be the biggest student co-op, or the fanciest, but it's got something all its own. Specifically, smoke damage on the kitchen ceiling from that time Courfeyrac lit a political pamphlet on fire. In which there are secrets, pining, pancakes, and revelations, and sometimes the shortest distance between three points is not a triangle but a circle.

Notes: I love a good poly fic and this is one of the best. Also just a generally fun and wholesome friendship fic. Definitely a nice comforting read after all the old man angst I've got on here.

Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) by Need_To_Comment_Rising (@aromantic-enjolras)

Rating: T

Ships: Courfeyrac/Enjolras, Combeferre/Courfeyrac (Its complicated)

Summary:

Enjolras takes a swig of his drink with everyone else, and then smirks at Courfeyrac over the rim of his glass. "You didn't seem to mind much me being bossy yesterday night when I had you in my bed..." At his side, Grantaire chokes on his drink and starts coughing. But how did we get here, you might ask? Well, let’s rewind. ------- Enjolras and Courfeyrac have had a friends with benefits arrangement for a while. But when Coureyrac starts dating Combeferre, Enjolras is left with the question of where he fits in the new status quo...

Notes: Another poly fic with aromantic!Enjolras. I love fics with unconventional relationship dynamics as well as people actually communciating with each other (though not before there's been some hijinks ofc). Criminally underrated.

How Marius (Painstakingly) Won the Hand of Mlle. Fauchelevent by writingsyrup (@syrupsyche)

Rating: G

Ships: Cosette/Marius

Summary:

When setting out to woo his beloved Cosette, Marius had never imagined that it would bring him to this: sitting at a dining table next to her grim-faced father, and staring at the marble that was Enjolras picking at his peas. Or; Enjolras and Cosette are siblings in 19th century France. Marius has to deal with the consequences of this.

Notes: Probably the best Marius characterisation I've ever read, he's just so awkward and weird bless him. I love a good awkward "meeting the parents" and this filled that hole in my heart. Is part of a wider series but can be read as a standalone.

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit by Apathy and saltedpin

Rating: M

Ships: Javert/Jean Valjean, Cosette/Marius Pontmercy

Summary:

Valjean's panting breath does not belong to him. He scrambles out of the bed and stumbles on too-light feet to the mirror in the corner, although he already knows what he will see. Peering back at him from behind a curtain of dark hair, wide-eyed, is Éponine Thénardier. Jean Valjean awakens one morning from uneasy dreams to find that something quite unexpected has happened during the night.

Notes: Cosette and Javert get bodyswapped and Marius is weirdly into it, if that's not enough to convince you to read this fic then idk how to help you. Not normally a huge body swap fan but this was absolutely hilarious as well as having some genuinely sweet moments. Also Theodule is there which means something to some people.

It's Not the Same Anymore by ShameDumpster (@shamedumpster)

Rating: T

Ships: Enjolras/Grantaire

Summary:

Grantaire is a bookstore clerk in his late twenties, and to everyone’s eternal disbelief, a father. It’s been years since he’s seen anyone from his former group of friends, after a falling out cleaved him from the ABC, but everything changes when Enjolras walks into his bookstore. Can they rekindle their friendship, or something more, while they both come to terms with how their lives have changed over the past decade?

Notes: SO SO GOODDD!! Top tier slowburn kid fic, I could wax poetic about it for days. Had me gripped from start to finish.

Acts of Mercy by cruisedirector and Dementordelta

Rating: M

Ships: Javert/Jean Valjean

Summary:

After witnessing and reporting a murder, Javert is dismissed from the police and takes a job protecting the women in a brothel, where many of his long-held ideas about justice are challenged.

Notes: Breaking, man from the 1800s finds out that life for women is hard. Such a solid redemption arc fic with some really memorable ocs.

Lynx's Claws and Wolf's Mane by Kaleran

Rating: T

Ships: None

Summary:

When he is older, when he is a prison guard, he thinks back to his childhood and realizes he had been considerably fortunate. "Prison is no place for a girl like you," his mother told him often, usually fussing with what rags they could use for clothing. "Forgive me for this, draga mea." And so, instead of a daughter, she pretended to have a son.

Notes: Completely canon compliant except Javert is trans and the impact that has on the story really adds an extra layer to his character that I find really compelling. Warning, it is very depressing bc canon.

[hannahbarberra162]

hOrnithology For Beginners, Chapter 2

on Ao3 Previous Chapter Next Chapter

You have to suspend disbelief for this story - just enjoy the ride. I really wanted Ace to be in it, so don’t think too hard about the timeline. This is just silly fun.

I learned a lot about birds writing this.

Since you and Etta were going on a double date the following day - against your better judgment - she released you from your promise of going out to the bar that night. You watched as she flirted with Ace after he woke up from his mid-meal nap, laughing at something he said to her. She pointed at you, indicating you were the friend in question for tomorrow’s activities. You wanted to flip them off, but you didn’t want to get in the way of Etta’s fun. So instead you waved once and almost smiled. That would have to be enough. Only Etta and Ace waved back. 

It was busy in the restaurant, so you didn’t get a chance to tell Etta about the phoenix you’d seen. You were constantly thinking about it, hoping it was still on the island. It probably wasn’t, but a girl could dream. Your shift ended and you headed back home to pack some camping gear for the night. Since you didn’t have to work the following day you could indulge in camping out near the waterfall, one of your favorite things to do. You packed up quickly, making sure to grab your blowgun and poison tipped darts. With waterfoul on the island, you wanted to be prepared in case someone got any ideas for a quick cash grab. 

Trekking out to the waterfall, you were scrutinizing the landscape for any errant phoenix feathers that may have fallen. They were said to have healing properties when ground up into medicine, but you just wanted to keep it in your collection. Unfortunately there were no phoenix feathers, but you did find a nice tern feather specimen that you tucked into your ponytail for safe keeping. That was enough to make you happy while you set up your camp.

You hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so you pulled out the fresh fruit you’d cut up at home. You needed to eat it first since there was no refrigeration outdoors. Opening your container of pineapple, you popped a piece into your mouth and you hummed contentedly. Pineapple was your favorite fruit, dessert, breakfast, lunch and dinner all rolled into one. You ate as much as you could without getting mouth sores. 

You were munching heartily when you had the feeling someone was watching you. You swiveled your head but didn’t see anyone, or hear anything. You put one more piece into your mouth and set down the container. You slowly reached for your blowgun, preparing in case of trouble. As you grabbed it, you felt a rush of wind behind you. Turning to look, you broke into a huge smile. The phoenix from yesterday was perched in a nearby tree, perhaps 5 meters away. You admired it silently for several moments, watching its blue flames flicker.

You couldn’t believe your good fortune. It was astounding that the phoenix had stayed on the island and that you’d gotten to see it twice. You were reaching for your pencils and sketchbook slowly when the bird gracefully flew down and sat near you. You didn’t move - you didn’t breathe. It meandered over to you, looking interestedly at the pineapple.

Marco POV

He knew he’d seen you somewhere before. He hadn’t realized the charming woman from the woods yesterday was the same as the surly waitress in the restaurant. The work uniform was part of the reason he hadn’t noticed, your hair slicked back into a severe bun and wearing the same apron as your coworkers. But it was your attitude and demeanor that made you unfamiliar to him even though he’d met you before. Out here you were relaxed, free, and full of life. You smiled easily and delighted in the nature around you. You were beautiful in an unconventional way - like your features had been perfectly balanced to make you alluring. Even when working, it was clear you were pretty but it was tempered by your…temper. 

In the restaurant you seemed like you’d rather be eating glass than working. You had no patience for him and his brothers especially, practically throwing their orders on the table and stomping away. Marco was used to not getting a warm reception at some islands - some civilians were hostile towards pirates - but with you it seemed to be more than the usual distrust. He didn’t think they’d been there before, so he wasn’t sure what was irking you. He didn’t take it personally, there were good reasons why some people didn’t like pirates. 

You had spotted him in his bird form the previous evening as he relaxed from a long day. Though he often favored a hybrid form for fighting and day-to-day activities, he felt more rested when he shifted completely - either to human or bird. He had been sitting and enjoying a moment of solitude away from his boisterous family when he heard you rustling in the forest. You were astounded at the sight of him, like he was the sun and you a moth drawn to him. He had briefly watched you draw his figure - you were quick but precise with your lines. It was an accurate and flattering sketch, one he would have normally asked for. But hearing his “voice” when he was in bird form was jarring for anyone who hadn’t experienced it and he didn’t want to scare you. So he enjoyed the moment and flew away, leaving you with a fond memory. 

Something that was convenient about being an infamous pirate is that Marco rarely had to introduce himself. Not only was he a Whitebeard Commander, but his Zoan fruit made him a memorable personality on the seas. Surely you knew who he was by the emblem on his chest and well…that he was a phoenix. Though, if you did, you would have probably warmed up to him and spoken to him at the restaurant, he thought bemusedly. Well, seeing this you again was a nice surprise. Your friend had spoken highly about your ornithological knowledge to Ace, assuring him you were the best birder on the island. He wanted to see what you’d do when faced with a legendary bird - maybe your curiosity would trump your dislike. 

You were eating and humming to yourself, watching a tanager hunting for food. You looked peaceful and serene, enjoying the evening’s fair weather. He watched you for a few minutes until the hairs on the back of your neck alerted you to his presence. You reached for a blowgun, at which point Marco decided to make himself known. Even though it wouldn’t hurt him there was no need for violence. He made enough movement for you to track him and watched as you stared up at him adoringly. The look you gave him was a mixture of awe, reverence, and naked joy. He wouldn’t admit it, but he always enjoyed when people stared at his bird form. Who doesn't like to be appreciated now and again? He kept himself from preening under your gaze.

He later realized you weren’t going to do anything unless he initiated. Maybe you didn’t know how to act around a transformed Zoan Devil Fruit user? Marco saw you were eating pineapple and tilted his head, asking for silent permission to have some. Your mouth opened into a perfect circle, and you spoke softly.

“Please, go ahead. Have as much as you like.” Marco nodded his head in thanks and ate a few pieces from the container. Good pineapple. While he was eating, you started drawing him again. This time you had brought more colors and were sketching smaller areas of his figure. You were watching him intently and sketching as fast as you could. You were very talented, he thought, both in terms of anatomical accuracy as well as capturing the essence of his spirit. He finished off the last of your pineapple to his dismay. Marco realized he hadn't eaten dinner yet and was still hungry. Oh well, maybe he’d see you another time. He prepared for flight.

“Would you like more food? I have plenty.” For once, Marco didn’t have anywhere to be immediately and a free meal was always welcome. He inclined his head once more. You scrambled to get him food as quickly as you could - he could get used to being treated like this.

“I’m not sure what you prefer to eat but you can have whatever you’d like.” You set out a veritable buffet in front of him - meat, vegetables, fruit, rice, bread. He was spoiled by Thatch’s cooking but yours was tasty as well. He ate until full and trilled in gratitude. What a pleasant evening this had turned out to be. You were still furiously sketching, now working on a drawing of his wings. He looked over at it and as a thank you for the dinner, spread out his wing for you to get a better look. You gasped and reached out your fingers on autopilot as if to stroke the downy feathers. At the last second you yanked your hand back, probably afraid he would dislike the touch. Marco stood patiently, allowing you to draw his wings and smaller feathers.

“Thank you,” you said. It was simple but full of genuine emotion. You drew silently for a while, referencing his body every few seconds.

“What’s that symbol on you? Some kind of sigil? I didn’t get a good look at it yet” you said, talking to yourself. Marco turned and faced you so you could see the Whitebeard symbol adorning his chest. OK, now you’d have to put two and two together, especially since you’d seen his and Ace’s prominent tattoos over lunch. Besides, Whitebeard had one of the most recognizable jolly rogers in the world.

“I know what that is. That’s the Whitebeard jolly roger.” See, you figured it out. Soon he’d shift back into his human form and see if he could charm you now that you understood. Maybe you’d be more receptive to him now.

You scowled and spoke like acid burned your tongue. “I can’t believe Whitebeard would maim such a beautiful creature with his disgusting jolly roger.” You looked mournfully at Marco. “I’m sorry. He’s an Emperor, and really strong, I could never fight him. But I would do anything if you need help.”

Y/N POV

Could birds sigh? It really sounded like the phoenix had sighed. You felt so bad for it, knowing that some shitty pirate had harmed it. It was an intriguing thought though - how had he done it? To your knowledge, the phoenix should have been immune to that kind of damage. But you had no doubt that pirates had enough nefarious weapons to hurt even the strongest of birds. The bird gave you a look of… exasperation? It exhaled once and flew off into the dusk. You still held your breath - no matter if you saw the phoenix daily you’d appreciate its beauty every time.

~~~

Marco POV

Marco seldomly fought with any of his siblings. He didn’t need or want to - his generally relaxed attitude meant he didn’t care about the petty squabbles of daily life. However, that morning he had grabbed Ace with a taloned leg and thrown him to the ground. Even though Marco had the most seniority on the ship, Ace had the most experience with being a little shit. 

Marco had volunteered to be the second man on the date to everyone’s surprise. They had all agreed you were pretty but it wasn’t enough to sway their opinions on your attitude. Ace had cornered Deuce and was trying to coerce his friend when Marco offered to tag along. 

“I’ll be your second, yoi” Marco said, allowing Deuce scurry away from Ace.

“Really? Why? I mean, thank you, but why? Etta and her friend are hot but her friend seems…bitchy.” 

“I met her friend yesterday and the day before actually. She can be very enjoyable company.” Marco did not include the part where you thought he was only a bird.

“Are you sure? She’s a looker but I think she’s only looking for birds….ooohhhhh.” Ace’s brain finally caught up. “So did you show her your bird form? Did she lose her mind?”

“She saw it yoi.” 

“Then why was she so mean-spirited yesterday? Maybe she doesn’t like phoenixes?” Ace mused.

“No, she likes the phoenix. A lot.” Ace thought about Marco’s words for a moment and broke into a mischievous smile and barked out a laugh.

“She doesn’t know!! She might be the only person on the Grand Line who doesn’t know you’re The Phoenix! Oh my god this is too good I’m gonna go tell everyone right now, that’s so funny.” Ace ran away to run his mouth. Marco was fast but Ace with gossip was like lightning on earth. After chasing him down in hybrid form, Marco grabbed Ace and shoved him down onto the deck with a talon.

“Don’t. Say. Anything. Yoi.” Marco said as he held down a still-laughing Ace. Marco closed his eyes. It would be wrong to claw his brother. And useless.

“Just don’t. Let it be.” 

Ace was still giggling but finally agreed. The truth was that Marco liked seeing you with your guard down when he was in bird form. You were sweet, kind, intelligent, and beautiful. He wanted to see if you would show him that side of you when he was in his human form too. 

Y/N POV

The next morning there was no phoenix but you did get to enjoy some solo birding before your social obligation. You trekked around, sketched some newly arrived birds, and went swimming in your waterfall. The only stain marring your perfect day was the thought of the upcoming double date. You wished Etta had just asked you to play tour guide for her and Ace - but you knew she was not-so-subtly trying to get you to “have some fun.” For her, you’d tolerate whoever for a few hours. And you’d keep your dart gun close by too. 

Unfortunately time passed and you headed up to the main path for the date. You saw Etta from afar and waved to her. She was wearing shorts, which you had told her not to do. They made her ass look phenomenal but weren’t suited to the activity.

“Hey! Are you ready?” Etta clearly was excited. You weren’t going to rain on her parade, you’d be on good behavior.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” you said neutrally. “Hey, listen, you should wear long pants. You look incredible right now but there’s tons of ticks and berry bugs out there. I have an extra pair, do you want to switch?” You unzipped your pack and took out an extra pair you had.

“Oh yeah, thanks, I forgot compl - oh, look!  There’s Ace! Ace! Over here!” She waved at Ace who spotted her. He smiled a thousand watt smile and waved back. You could see why she liked him - he was exceptionally cute. Not your type, but you could imagine him dropping panties all up and down the Grand Line. Along with Ace was another pirate - the Pineapple one. He looked calm and half awake. Fine by you if he passed out before you all set off. 

“Hey Ace! I was just -uh - I need to change into long pants. Give me a moment? I’ll be right back.” Etta grabbed the pants and went to change over in the public washrooms. 

“Hi,” you said. You were going to be nice, not conversational.

Ace didn’t seem to mind. “Hi! I’m Ace, this is Marco,” he said, gesturing to the tall man beside him. “We’re Whitebeard pirates. Thank you for taking us out to look for beetles, it’s kind of a silly hobby of mine.” You frowned when he said Whitebeard pirates, thinking about that poor phoenix getting marked. 

“Beetles are a fascinating species and they provide a lot to various ecosystems,” you said. Talking about birds and associated topics would be an easy way to seem cordial but not provide any personal information. 

“Yeah, my younger brother is really into them and I keep a record of what I see so I can tell him when we meet up,” Ace said, pulling out a small weathered notebook.

“Would you mind if I took a look?” you asked with genuine curiosity. Since he traveled around to different islands, it would be interesting to see what he had found. Ace handed you the notebook and you flipped through it with care. He had fairly good descriptions and accompanying drawings. You were able to identify many of the beetles he had listed and told him about some of the species he’d seen. He was paying attention, to your surprise, and was asking about a rare hercules beetle when Etta returned.

Etta came up and looked Ace up and down. “Oh, we didn’t tell them to wear long pants. Do you think they’ll be OK?” she asked you.

“Oh yeah, no problem. Marco and I won’t have any issues because we’re…” Marco gave Ace a pinch on the neck. “Uh, we are..used to it. We’re used to it, we uh, go outside all the time.” Ace was obviously lying - and poorly - but whatever. If they got ticks it wasn’t your problem. Time to look for beetles. 

[mushroompoisoning]

Good friend, I ask of you because I trust you, what are these "The Mechanisms" you are so fond of?

Okay I tried to type out an incredibly long summary but tumblr deleted it so you're getting a semi-sane version instead

The Mechanisms are a band of immortal, space-faring pirates travelling the universe singing about the tragedies they witness for our entertainment!

There are nine main members you'll hear about, with the tenth - Dr Carmilla - having left much earlier and making her own music 👍 ( there is technically an eleventh but they're more of a mystery easter egg than anyone we know things about )

Quick lore thing: the mechanisms immortality works from the mechanical part(s) they each have. They can die and get injured, but they'll revive whenever the narrative wants them too. All logic in this universe functions off of Would It Be Good For The Story

The cast is:

Jonny D'Ville (he/him) is the ship's first mate ( don't let him tell you otherwise ) and he's got a mechanical heart

Nastya Rasputina (she/her) is the ship's engineer and girlfriend! Yea the ship - Aurora - is alive btw. She's got me hanical blood

Ashes O'Reily (they/them) is the ship's quartermaster and best arsonist! they've got mechanical lungs

Drumbot Brian (he/him) is the ship's pilot and the only one with a moral code. It's controlled by a switch which flips between Means Justify Ends and Ends Justify Means with no nuance. everything is mechanical except for his heart

Ivy Alexandria (she/her) is the ship's archivist! Pretty chill, cares more for books than violence but that doesn't mean she disapproves of the latter. she's got a mechanical brain

The Toy Soldier (it/its) is the mascot and whatever else they tell it to be! it just wants to be involved. will follow anything you tell it if you ask nicely ( or with enough force ). it's not actually mechanized, and is instead a sentient wooden man

Gunpowder Tim (he/him) is the ship's master at arms! madman war veteran who I love dearly. he blew up the moon. he's great. I pick favourites. he's got mechanical eyes

Raphaella La Cognizi (she/her) is the ship's unethical scientist! nothing is off the table when it comes to research. nothing. theory is she mechanized her, but iirc that unconfirmed. she's got a mechanical spine and wings!

and Baron Marius Von Raum (he/him) who is neither the ships baron nor doctor. he claims to be both, though. Deeply unserious fella. he's got a mechanical arm

^ here are some good images for crew reference

OKAY! Now onto actual music

They have six albums and a couple singles!

Once Upon a Time (In Space) is an unconventional retelling of classic fairytales

High Noon over Camelot is a retelling of King Arthur

Ulysses Dies at Dawn is a greek mythos adaptation

and The Bifrost Incident is a norse mythos adaptation

there's also Tales To Be Told volumes I and II, and the two single Frankenstein and Death To The Mechanisms ( technically that one is part of an album but the album is just a bunch of their other songs from already existing albums )

The tales to be told albums contain some of the mechanisms origins!

One Eyed Jacks is Jonny's

Lucky Sevens is Ashes'

Lost In The Cosmos is Brian's

and Gunpowder Tim vs The Moon Kaiser I don't think I have to say

Nastya has an origin song, but it was never officially put on anything. You can find it on the @mechanismslorearchive ( you can get any lore you want on there )

They also have a number of live shows ( you can find those on youtube ) and written stories on their website! I recommend these if you wanna get to know the mechanisms as characters better

that is the basic rundown. I'm not an expert on the mechs so if you're looking to talk to a metaphorical seasoned nurse instead of a med student I'd go to @bugsinthebayou or @gunpowderdtim (sorry for tagging yall)

[albatris]

find the word tag!

thank you @illarian-rambling for tagging me in my favourite tag :3

my words are animal, ocean, pick and wall

ANIMAL

"Hey, Nat, where do you get your blood from?" She carried on without waiting for a reply. "I get mine from a slaughterhouse out in the country. Whole place run by vampires. Pretty neat business, super friendly. Do you want me to hook you up?"

Nat’s face scrunched up before he thought to stop it, and he was glad Riley was focused on the TV. "I couldn’t do that. I’m a vegetarian."

"Oh, dude, are you?" Riley said. "That’s fucking unfortunate. Vegetarian vampire. Oof. You squeamish about blood, then?"

Nat hadn’t considered this. "I’m… squeamish about animal blood. As long as I don’t drink animal blood I’m still a vegetarian."

"People don’t count?"

"Nah, I don’t think people count."

"Right on, dude." Riley skewered several aliens on her sword. "You’re so weird."

Nat filled the kettle and put it on.

"Animal blood isn’t as nice as human blood, anyway, hey?" Riley said. "But you’re not, like, killing someone every time you need a meal, right? Right? Nat?"

"No! Of course not!” Nat said. “I have a friend helping me out." A friend whose texts you’re ignoring.

OCEAN

Cypress Heights was one of those suburbs. Filled to bursting point with sprawling botanic gardens and multi-storey houses and boutique stores where everything cost more than Nat’s entire payslip. The streets were gorgeous and the schools were posh, but in the nice way. The way that spat out prim, proper kids born of opportunity, who always made a good impression on everyone and had articles written about them in newspapers. Darwelaide teen’s unconventional new method of cleaning oceans proves most effective world has ever seen!

Not to say all Cypress Heights kids were insanely successful, and not to say all Nats and Lyras were not. But if you scooped up a bucket of Cypress Heights kids and a bucket of Nats and Lyras and compared them as a whole, you could sure see the difference.

PICK

A pulse picked up pace somewhere ahead of him, hammering frantically out of time with his own, as his prey realised the position it was in. Nat started down the hall, footsteps light and springing and utterly soundless. He could hear it all, feel it all, in the vibrations through the building, in the air—the shuffling of a moving body, the swish of clothing in motion, the fearful, rapid press of shoes across tile. His throat ached. His mouth watered. The Garble pushed through his veins, tripped all the right wires in his head, sent pulsating, twitching, radiating warmth through every inch of his body. Rewarding him for the good job he was doing. Urging him to continue.

This was what he was built for. This was the most natural thing in the universe.

Nat broke into a run.

WALL

“Make yourself comfortable!” they said, and headed for the staircase at the far room. “I’ll be back in just a tick—I’m going to put your clothes in the wash.”

“Okay,” Nat said, distracted.

He supposed this was a living room. It looked more like a museum than a house, with its curling arched ceilings and marble floors. A twisting abstract sculpture stood by a set of double swing doors leading out of the room: shimmering blue and green glass, folded over itself like a ribbon, reaching up towards the roof. Abstract paintings loomed on every wall, confusing splashes of colour and shape, including one Nat thought looked rather like a dog chewing on the leg of a chair. Up a short step and to the right of the living room lay a lush dining room, with a marble table to match the floors. The table runner was strewn with candles and flower petals. Soft. Delicate. Nat already felt out of place here, like a scab that had started to itch.

I'm gonna tag @chauceryfairytales @tracle0 and anyone who can see a CAT right now :3

for the words storm, bite, bring and settle!

[dearparrishh]

here are the different possible byler endings, and why i don’t think (or do think) they will happen.

1 - mike accepts will after he comes out and moves on with his life

honestly, the fact that anyone thinks this will happen is the funniest thing ever. how can anyone think will is going to spill his feelings extremely openly (whether telling mike about his crush on him or not) and mike will just be like “oh, cool, thanks for telling me dude”. its the 80’s, may i remind you. i’m not saying everyone was homophobic back then, but it wasn’t seen as ‘normal’ to be gay, so the idea that they will just make mike have a very bland or ‘nice/kind’ reaction just isn’t it, not when mike and will have been best friends for years and regardless of whether you react well or not, it’s a big thing to learn about a person, especially considering how ‘unconventional’ it was in the 80’s. will being gay is a storyline that ESPECIALLY in s4 has been pushed to the extremities it can without explicitly stating ‘will is gay’, and for mike, will’s best friend AND will’s longtime crush to have a bland, kind of nice response, would be literally the shittest writing ever.

2 - mike doesn’t accept him

i think we all know this won’t happen. to throw away 4 seasons of best friendship between mike and will is such horrid writing, mainly because it’s just something that doesn’t have to happen. will has already gone through indescribable traumas, and currently believes that the one person, his best friend, who he has been in love with for years, will never love him back and has in fact come to accept this. to end his already heartbreaking arc by making the first and only person we know he has had any canonical romantic feelings for not only reject him but also not accept him, proceeding to make his arc end depressingly, is just such awful writing. also the simple fact that he has already accepted mike will never love him back already, before s5, raises the fact that unless mike does like will back, there’s not many other deep or exciting ways to end their arc, ending a whole 4 season long deep and complex relationship in either a bland or very awful way.

3 - mike accepts will while experiencing an inner turmoil

ambiguos byler ending is not it, not at all. again, no clever director would ever do this, I PROMISE. this just leads to so many questions, the main one being ‘why is mike experiencing this inner turmoil?’, because to anyone who doesn’t care that much (the ga), mike could accept will, no questions asked, with the kind of bullshit excuses of ‘they are best friends and he loves him (platonically)’ or he doesn’t accept him, and ‘it wasn’t typical or normal to be openly gay in the 80’s’, but, in all seriousness, regardless of how little i want those things to happen, (ESPECIALLY the latter) they have more depth and meaning than a ‘will he won’t he’ kind of ending. that would be horrendous writing, especially when said relationship has been built up for 4 seasons, and they couldn’t even end it with purpose or strength. that is never going to happen.

4 - byler endgame (mike accepts will AND himself)

try and tell me it wouldn’t be the incredible writing to have one closeted gay character and another closeted gay character, one with internalised homophobia and the other with acceptance that his crush will never like him back, happening to be best friends, and ending up together. not to mention, making mike anything other than gay with internalised homophobia would be throwing away a perfectly good character that could have had brilliant writing, because it would mean his whole thing from s3-4 would literally just be because he’s a bitch. not to mention it would be really awful writing because, it’s not like mikes character gets tremendously worse, he just, gets progressively more annoying and bland for 3 whole seasons? yeah, you can’t convince me that that is even the slightest bit likely. because mike was kind of all you could want in a character for s1-2. how come he literally just becomes a shit friend and an even shitter boyfriend for absolutely no reason whatsoever, simply to remove any of the great qualities he had in s1-2? like, that would just be so odd and weirdly written. not to mention the completely unnecessary fact of will having a crush on mike in the first place. like, it didn’t need to happen, and the idea that they will just make will even sadder than he already is due to everything he has faced over the past years by making the first and only person he has only every canonically romantically loved reject him and/or not accept him, consequently having his arc end awfully, would just be awful awful writing. and may i remind you of this scene, one that single handedly secures my hopes in byler endgame :

[griseldabanks]

For Let Me Count the Ways, 15 for any two characters, of which at least one has not yet appeared in the Foster Family AU, please?

Let Me Count the Ways ask game

Fandom: FMA Characters: Riza and Rebecca Catalina Prompt: "What? I meant it as a compliment."

“So?” Rebecca said, pulling her yogurt and fruit parfait closer and digging in. “How's it feel to know you'll be a mom soon?”

Riza focused on pouring the little cup of creamer into her coffee, watching the white swirl through the rich brown. “I don't. Feel like one, I mean.”

“Mmm.” Rebecca swallowed her mouthful of yogurt, gesturing with her spoon. “My sister said the same thing when she had her first. But hey, at least you don't have to go through all the trouble of actually giving birth, right? My sister was in labor for, like, two days.” She shuddered. “I mean, yeah, kids would be nice, but....”

Riza watched the steam swirling up from the surface of her coffee. “Sometimes I can't help but feel...that maybe we've made a mistake.”

Rebecca cocked her head to one side. “How so?”

Swallowing hard, Riza turned her head to look out the window, watching people passing by. Couples walking arm-in-arm, people rushing along on their way somewhere important...a mother walking hand-in-hand with a little girl skipping along the sidewalk, chattering away excitedly about something and gesturing with her free hand.

“They know everything about having a mother...and I don't have the faintest idea. I'm sure I...what if I...they've already been through so much....” She let out a nervous breath, trying to speak past the growing lump in her throat. “If I'm not everything they need...I'll only be making it worse. For everyone.”

“And what makes you think you're not exactly what they need?”

Riza blinked at the unexpectedly soft look in her best friend's eyes. “What?”

Rebecca winked. “Maybe what a couple of unconventional boys need is an unconventional mother.”

Shooting her an unimpressed look, Riza finally took a sip of her coffee. “And here I thought you might actually give me some encouragement.”

“Hey, I meant it as a compliment!”

“Really? Because here I thought you were just calling us all strange.”

With a shrug, Rebecca scooped up the maraschino cherry on top of her parfait and plopped it onto Riza's saucer, like she always did. “Strange doesn't have to be bad.”

Popping the cherry into her mouth, Riza savored its sweetness as she deftly tied the stem into a knot with her tongue, then stuck her tongue out at Rebecca, stem and all.

Rebecca simply took a dignified bite of her parfait.

“Still,” Riza murmured after a moment, as if there had been no interruption in her musings, “this is the situation we face, and I suppose we'll all just have to try our hardest to make the best of things.”

“So, have you met them yet?”

A smile found its way to Riza's face as she nodded, thinking back over the day when they'd all sat down in Mrs. Rockbell's kitchen to discuss the matter. “Edward is so grown-up already. He's just twelve, but he's taken on the responsibility of raising his brother. I think he's of the opinion that they don't need foster parents at all.

“Alphonse is a dear,” she added, remembering the boy's shy smile across the table at her. “He doesn't talk, but he's very kind. And Edward always seems to know what he wants to say. I can tell Alphonse looks up to his brother a lot. I'm glad they get along so well.”

“And Roy?” Rebecca asked.

“What about Roy?”

“Will he get along with the boys? I mean, we already know you're going to rock at being a mom, but....”

Riza took a sip of coffee, wishing she felt as confident about it. “It's going to take a while to adjust, I'm sure. Originally, we were both thinking it would be a baby....”

Rebecca made a sympathetic sound. Their eyes met, and a whole conversation they didn't need to have again passed by in a moment of silence. After letting that silence settle between them, Rebecca lifted the mood with a deftness Riza always envied. “Still, I bet he was relieved that he won't be changing any diapers.”

“Don't tell anyone, but I'm a little relieved myself,” Riza laughed.

“But Roy,” Rebecca reminded her. “Did he hit it off with the boys?”

Riza couldn't suppress a small smile. “If by 'hit it off' you mean he started bickering like he was twelve himself....”

Rebecca gaped at her. “He didn't! What was he trying to do, sabotage everything you've been working for all this time?”

But Riza was still smiling, thinking back to the way Edward had gone from slouching, unimpressed, in his chair to yelling at the top of his lungs and challenging Roy to a Super Smash Bros. match to settle their differences. She remembered the way Alphonse had smiled for the first time, his eyes dancing with glee as he watched them, even as he half-heartedly tugged on Edward's sleeve in a vain attempt at restraining him.

“I don't know what Roy was thinking,” Riza said fondly. “But I think that's what sealed the deal. I think what those boys really wanted to know was whether we could handle what they're really like.”

Rebecca returned to her parfait with a shake of her head. “Yep. You're all perfect for each other.”

[ohemgeeejay]

Ok this is the last time that I personally am gonna ramble about The Umbrella Academy today. Much of this season was disappointing, the last 2 episodes in particular were very unsatisfactory. So I have to get my thoughts out in a (mostly) coherent way.

Spoilers under the cut <3

I have many critiques of season 4. I know we all do. I’m just really, especially devastated about the absolute bullshit that was Five and Lila’s relationship this season.

There was no reason for that. I truly believe it was the worst decision they could have made for those two characters. It was so inaccurate to the morality and personality that had already been established for each of them. Not to mention the fact that neither Five nor Lila would ever willingly do something that they know for a fact would hurt Diego so much, and risk tearing apart their entire family. I always thought of Five and Lila as best friends, people who are truly able to understand each other because they’ve both been through the same bullshit with the Handler and the Commission. They did not have the romantic chemistry for that sub plot to feel natural. Their romance felt forced. The trauma of being trapped in that subway, jumping between timelines, never able to get home, for SEVEN YEARS is drama enough on its own! There was no need for a cheating scandal.

That romantic relationship between Five and Lila was so bad. It was bad for the plot and it was bad for the characters. And what makes it even worse is that nothing came of it at all! Diego finds out, and then he has to accept never seeing his kids again, never seeing his family again, and being erased from existence completely. He got no real closure.

Also, the fact that not a single member of the Hargreeves family got an actual happy ending? Like, yes, they died together, loved by each other despite how immensely fucked up their lives and the world is. However, nobody got to be fulfilled in their lives. Which, I guess is realistic— but when has this show cared for being realistic?

On one hand, I do think that sort of ultimate sacrifice ending was ideal, but on the other, I believe it was poorly executed. It was a beautiful action, very emotional, but there was no feeling of gratification watching it. It was just upsetting; it felt like a cop out. I don’t think the writers gave it enough time to have the proper emotional build up it needed for the impact they wanted.

I will say though, there were things in this season that I did enjoy. I really loved the relationship that Klaus had built with Claire, and the family dynamic that existed between those two and Allison. It was really sweet the way that they all loved and cared for each other so much. Also, as someone who comes from a very unconventional family structure, I always find it nice to see that sort of thing on screen. And as always, well ever since season 2, I adored Luther. He’s always in these fucking situations. Ben having gone to prison for Crypto scamming, and then comparing himself to ELON MUSK was also fucking hysterical to me.

In the end, I am gonna miss this show. I’ll miss the characters, the humour, and the entertainment it brought to me. I think TUA will always hold a little spot in the corner of my heart, even if this final season was not what I hoped it would be.

[randomfoggytiger]

I’m happy to hear you love to chat and I’m sorry I’m on anon… what do you think Mulder, Scully and their family are up to now? What’s life and love for them in the year 2024? I personally hope they are happy, healthy and still have tons of sex 🔥

No worries, anon! Unidentifiable asks are just as fun as identifiable ones. Plus, they give a nice little "ooh, I have a wider audience" kick. ;))

Per the Revival: you're probably right~.

I do wonder: would their daughter inadvertently shove them into more traditional settings, say, a mommy-daughter or daddy-daughter group, dance recitals, and local little leagues games while raising her eyebrow at their responses-- or lack of-- to the age old "why didn't you ever get married to mommy/daddy?" question? If so, Jackson would be a reflection of their more complicated, "outside the norm" past whereas Lily would come from a place of sweeter connection and greater appreciation for their second chance. In short, stability; a sense of normalcy. Or, perhaps, she'd be just fine with their "different"; and it's Mulder and Scully who-- like any parent-- would wonder if their unconventional job or numerous enemies or wandering son are a reflection of their abilities?

I don't believe Mulder or Scully could completely disattach from the files, not yet. It fulfills them, it grows them, it shares their history, it bonds them. Post S8? Yes, Post S9? Yes. Post IWTB? Yes. But each of those scenarios ended with an opportunity to do something else, more, different. The Revival ended with change and second chances but also reopened wounds that needed healing and last questions that needed resolution-- a way to end on their own terms, not have a finale thrust unexpectedly on them.

What would they do? Coursework, in my opinion. Light cases. Seminars. Training opportunities. Skinner would have a hand in that, would pointedly shrug on his cane if Mulder and Scully got stir crazy, would pointedly ask them how their daughter was over the weekend. Would delay a permission slip to pursue and solve paranormal cases until there was no other recourse. Would quietly look into who Mulder or Scully hired to watch their kid while they were gone.

Monica Reyes is buried, sorry.

DOGGETT. Doggett's no longer in contact because he sensed a shift in Monica before Mulder and Scully began their Revival shenanigans; and withdrew, jaded, from anything other than regular work. Explore that pain a little: he had to process the inability to save his son during S8 and S9 by accepting the paranormal and its reality; and still lost Mulder and Scully to the quest and Monica to "the darkness." Heavy.

Work in that psychic Charlie story line. Perhaps that's the case that brings Mulder and Scully back out of semi-retirement following the birth of their daughter. Work in the angle that he represents another sort of disconnection from his family or friends, a similar but different path than his sister walked. Meet his niece, ask hard questions about his nephew. Maybe William got some of his powers through those heavily implied psychic Scully genes from the original run. Maybe Lily does, instead; and Scully's case is a way to heal the fears Scully and Mulder face from her burgeoning psychic inclinations: she's not a Jackson 2.0, she's her own person. Etc. It'll help put to bed a few things for Scully, too.

What are Mulder and Scully doing now now? I think others would have a clearer perspective than I do or would; but here we go:

Mulder's looking into what he says are the cost of repairs but are really thinly veiled easy renovations he can tackle with his daughter. Scully is mid-nod before this dawns on her; and she swoops over his shoulder to exclaim "Painted granite countertops?" Lily's... what age, again? Old enough to know the difference between careful mess and wanton chaos; and, more importantly, when to sniff out an opportunity and make a break for it. While her parents are caught up in their discussion ("Not permanent paint, Scully, something washable"), she speeds around collecting string or yarn or anything thin and tie-able; and is halfway through her plan of pulling out a tooth via the old door-and-string trick before her parents sense the silence and bolt for her room. Scully explains why her tooth needs to stay in a few more years and Mulder promises her that the tooth fairy won't come if it's pulled too early. They call it early that night, read her a few books, and collapse on the couch, hearts still racing a little.

[cyrus-badman]

I've got a little scene from my loft AU for you guys!!! Hope you like it!!

Game night

Over the last two months, Kurt, Rachel, Santana, Blaine, and Sam have fallen into an unintentional yet rigid routine of sorts.

Mondays are the quiet, stay-in nights. On these days, everyone is tired from the day, still decompressing after the hard shift from weekend to work or school.

On Tuesdays, the five of them all go out together, either to Callbacks―the karaoke bar Rachel was so eager to introduce them all to, frequented by all of her NYADA friends, Brody included (Sam likes Brody; he’s nice, he’s hot, and they both understand what it’s like to compromise yourself for money)―or just out to dinner for a nice evening. Typically, they opt for the former, though that inevitably morphs into Rachel Berry Diva Hour, wherein the diva competes with herself for Best Bar Performance of All Time™ and “allows” everyone else to participate by being her “adoring audience of loving fans”. One time, Rachel and Kurt dragged them all to yet another Broadway show, though Sam can’t remember its title. He was reluctant at first―he has this thing where he pretends to hate all musical theater, and he’s pretty sure Blaine has to resist the urge to throttle him every time he does it; Sam wouldn’t worry too much about that, though, as Blaine looks adorable when he’s pretending to be upset with him―but after the show, he was vibrating in place, and even engaged in an enthusiastic conversation with Rachel―Sam is still surprised that that ever happened anytime he thinks about it―wherein the two of them practically talked over each other in all their excitement.

Wednesdays are movie nights. It’s a little unconventional, but in their case, they have other plans for the last day of the work week. Every Wednesday, the five of them (sometimes six, if Sebastian is over) alternate between who gets to pick the film. Most often, this results in a rom-com from Kurt, a Broadway classic as Rachel’s choice (Funny Girl more times than not), a superhero movie for both Blaine and Sam and some obscure indie film about feminism and “hot bitches” as Santana’s pick.

On Thursdays, Blaine and Sam typically have the loft to themselves because Santana takes late shifts at the Spotlight Diner, Rachel’s Funny Girl rehearsals run until seven on those days, and Kurt goes out somewhere with Sebastian (now that Sam thinks about it, there’s probably a reason for that―one that starts with B and ends with lam). Sam loves Thursdays for that reason. His and Blaine’s constant presence at the Hummelpezberry loft is a nuisance to their three friends, a fact that encourages them to stop by more often than they normally would, which is already a lot.

That means that Fridays are reserved for game nights. It wasn't intentional at first, and it's not like they've always done it. In fact, Kurt once mentioned that he, Rachel, and Santana had never had game nights before Blaine and Sam’s arrival in New York.

But one Friday a couple of months ago, the five of them were in the parlor, watching yet another of Rachel’s guilty pleasure films, when the power suddenly flickered out. It was late August, the rain was raging outside, and the electricity in Bushwick really wasn't that reliable―it still isn't, one of the many reasons Blaine and Sam picked an apartment just outside of the neighborhood―so naturally, they were bathed in darkness for the unforeseeable future. Of course, that was, until Blaine pulled out flashlights and lanterns and Rachel lit candles. Sam always used to roll his eyes when people gave each other candles as gifts, but at that moment, his opinion shifted―man, those candles sure smelled good, almost as good as his boyfriend and his raspberry hair gel.

So, of course, someone―probably Blaine, because of course it was Blaine―busted out a stack of games that had no business being in an adult household (“Who even put these in here?!” Rachel had demanded, followed by the evil cackle of Santana). They started with Uno, but that soon morphed into Sorry! and then Monopoly. It had devolved quickly into Rachel accusing Santana of stacking the deck in Uno (“HOW?!” Santana had cackled, flinging cards like throwing stars). It was fun and allowed them to spend quality time together where they could talk and interact. The week after, they’d been debating their next movie choice when Sam suggested they play another game because it had been a fun, pleasant experience the week before. Santana griped and grumbled, but ultimately, she was out-voted as Rachel jumped in glee (heehee) at Sam’s request.

When Sebastian started becoming a regular face at the Hummelpezberrys (a term coined by Sam for Kurt, Rachel, and Santana’s apartment), he would join in on their group activities, and soon enough, it became a thing. And Sam loves game nights; he savors the moments when they can all just disconnect from the electronics and enjoy each other’s company.

In high school, his family couldn't afford luxuries like game consoles and cell phones, so they’d spent a lot of time making memories, telling jokes, and just generally having fun as a family. Game nights were a regular occurrence, too, and Sam thinks it’s nice to “go back to his roots,” in a way.

This week is different.

Normally, Blaine and Sam pair up for team games automatically, and Sebastian forces Kurt to be his partner, leaving Rachel and Santana as the third, reluctant duo. Game nights like these usually consist of Rachel and Santana bickering endlessly about the most mundane aspects of the game (because Rachel insists on following the rules and apparently, Santana doesn’t see the logic in that), Sebastian self-sabotaging his and Kurt’s team with the royal goal of annoying Kurt (an objective he reaches every time), and Blaine slipping into Sam’s lap, which leads them to make out indiscreetly and quite loudly. By the end of the evening, Blaine is always a giggling mess in Sam’s lap, Kurt’s glaring daggers in Sebastian’s direction, and Santana is making fun of everyone while tossing popcorn at her friends. This is all while Rachel paces in the corner because she’s an OCD subject, and not only is there popcorn scattered on the floor, but the pieces of what used to resemble a game of charades are strewn about on the couch, under the coffee table, and―somehow―in the doorway to the kitchen. The chaos is fun, Sam argues, and Rachel turns her murderous stare on him.

...

Tonight, the volume of the apartment hit a maximum before the games even began. The plan is to play charades, a setup that Blaine happily complies with, adjusting the game pieces on the coffee table with that cute, irresistible grin of his. Just like last week, and the week before that, Blaine is wearing another of Sam’s sweatshirts, the sleeves drowning him. The neckline of the sweatshirt hangs off Blaine’s smaller frame loosely, exposing his pale, olive-colored collarbone. Sam tries not to drool, pushing the fresh swarm of memories from the sight to the back of his mind. It’s game night. He’s gotta stay locked in.

Before Blaine and Sam can even exchange more than one glance―yes, they're always partners, it's an unspoken agreement―Kurt clinks his wine glass, drawing everyone’s attention. “Teams, everyone,” he announces, wine glass and hourglass in hand. He scans the group solemnly like he’s about to make a crucial battle strategy assessment. “This time, we’re being strategic.”

Already hyped up on her third glass of wine, Rachel whirls on the only couple in the room, exclaiming, “Yes! We have to be strategic. Samuel and Blaine can’t be on the same team again! We don’t need a repeat of last week.”

“Why not?” Blaine asks, bottom lip protruding in a dramatic pout. Sam leans back into the cushiony couch, urging Blaine to relax further into him. The brunette is leaning against Sam’s chest, his dark, curly hair tousled from where Sam’s fingers have been carding through it, Sam’s sweatshirt now hanging off one shoulder. Sam can’t help but soak up the warmth of his boyfriend against his body. Blaine’s head is tucked beneath the blonde’s chin, his dark curls tickling Sam’s jaw with their soft whispers. For a moment, it’s entirely too easy to forget the madness around them and slip into the bliss that wraps around him and Blaine.

Rachel narrows her eyes, glaring, a passionate fire burning in her gaze. The look is scathing on its own. “Because you never actually play, Blaine. You get distracted!” Her eyes pointedly flick to Sam at that.

“By what?” Blaine prods again, batting his lashes with faux innocence. His hand snakes up to rest a tad too high on Sam’s thigh.

“That.” She jabs a finger at the brunette, then at his blond boyfriend. “That’s what.”

Trying to suppress a laugh but failing miserably, Sam tucks Blaine further into his side. Blaine grins and tilts his head up to kiss Sam’s cheek. As he pulls back to rest his head on his boyfriend’s shoulders, his smile turns soft. “Can’t help it,” he explains, shrugging.

Properly ruining the moment, Rachel’s voice cuts through the romantic haze. “Well, you’re not on the same team tonight,” she declares, voice firm. “You’re with Kurt.”

The boy in question jerks his head around to gape at her, practically choking on his wine. “What?!” he shrieks. “Rachel, no! You know I can’t―”

“Too late,” the short girl interrupts, cutting off whatever inevitably rude and offensive comment Kurt was about to make. She herds Blaine over to Kurt’s side of the room. Blaine’s ex sighs exaggeratedly but protests no further, shooting Blaine a glare that clearly screams don’t ruin this for me. Blaine just shrugs and smiles innocently in response.

Turning back to Sam, Rachel grabs the blonde’s arm with surprising strength. “You’re with me. We’re going to win this.” And then all of a sudden, she’s pinching him―which really hurts, by the way―while Kurt whisks Blaine away. Sam’s not too sure how he feels about that; yes, he knows Blaine is completely, one hundred percent over Kurt and head-over-heels for him, but still, the insecurity lingers. Blaine and Kurt were together for a long time. Blaine used to insist that they were soulmates. The fear is justified in Sam’s mind.

Sam blinks at Rachel, who is still pinching Sam’s arm (This is abuse, Sam thinks distantly). She announces yet again that Sam is her partner, which he never agreed to, but oh, well. He can feel Blaine’s puppy-dog eyes burning a hole in his skin. But Sam can’t exactly do anything about it, so he merely shrugs helplessly. “Sorry, B. Rules are rules.”

A loud snort reminds them all that Santana is still here and banking on a win tonight. “Oh, this is gonna be good.” She turns to Sebastian, leaning against the kitchen counter and tossing back popcorn like he’s watching a soap opera: prime entertainment. “What do you say, Smythe? You and me?”

She doesn't even have to ask. The boy in question is already smirking as he replies, “Obviously. Let’s ruin their lives.”

Apparently, Kurt and Rachel didn't think this through all the way. Sam can see both of them pale instantly when they turn to the Latina and her counterpart. Santana and Sebastian are wearing matching evil grins, and Sam knows he should probably feel dread pooling in his gut right about now, but he really doesn’t. Tonight is guaranteed to be even more chaotic than last week, and that’s a plus in Sam’s book.

He can understand her concerns, though. With Tana and Seb working together, it’s surely possible that no one will win this game. Either that or one of them will end up rage-quitting and/or flipping the board game over. The mental image of Santana Lopez and Sebastian Smythe overturning a table is apparently so hilarious that it deserves an outward reaction; Sam barks out a laugh when he pictures it, and everyone turns to stare at him like he’s crazy―well, Rachel does. Santana appears unsurprised, Kurt just looks exasperated, Sebastian’s amused, and Blaine rolls his eyes fondly and curls into Sam’s chest. The blonde wraps an arm around his boyfriend’s waist and drops a kiss into his dark curls. He loves Blaine’s natural hair and spends every waking moment making sure Blaine knows it.

Sam supposes it wouldn't be the end of the world if they were on opposing teams for one game of charades. In fact, that might even make it easier to win; Blaine is terrible at this game, whereas Sam has been working on his impressions for years and finds it quite easy to translate voices into body language, hand gestures, and expressions.

Seemingly, Rachel has been trying to argue against the Sebtana duo for the last few minutes. It doesn’t seem like she’s had any success.

“I’m just saying,” Santana’s voice cuts through the comfortable atmosphere encasing Blane and Sam like a scalpel, “if I’m stuck with him―” she jerks a thumb towards the tall boy, whose smirk only widens, “―we’re guaranteed to win. Because, as much as I despise admitting this, Smythe’s clever stupidity might actually come in handy.” She pauses then, flashing a wicked grin at Rachel. “Unlike your usual partners, Berry. Dead weight is, unfortunately, not conducive to victory.”

Wide-eyed and gaping, Rachel splutters at the implications, hands flying to her hips in the universal gesture of I’m about to unleash the wrath of a thousand stage moms. In other words, Super-Saiyan, Sam thinks. “Excuse me? I am an excellent teammate.”

“Riiight,” the Latina drawls, drawing out the syllable as she tosses a kernel of popcorn down the hatch. “Just like you’re an excellent person to sit next to during a movie when your constant running commentary makes me want to toss myself off the fire escape.”

Rachel’s eyes widen further at that, mouth opening as if she’s about to fire something just as long and offensive back at her. Sam wouldn't doubt that she would if not for Kurt’s intervention.

The countertenor pinches the bridge of his nose, eyes rolling hard. “I thought this was supposed to be fun.”

Blaine, ever the optimist, takes the opening to chime in brightly, “It is!” Sam doesn't know if it’s because he's trying to diffuse the situation or because he’s just genuinely fucking oblivious. He’s willing to bet it’s the latter. His boyfriend claps his hands together as he beams at their friends. “And if we could all just channel our inner holiday spirits―”

Santana cuts him off, already shaking her head dismissively. “Unless the spirit is tequila, I don’t give a shit.”

Up until now, Sebastian has been twirling a pen in his fingers lazily, obviously having repeated the gesture enough times to be a pro at it. Now, he grins and pitches into the conversation. “What’s the matter, Lopez? Afraid I’ll upstage you in front of your little Broadway BFF?”

“Please,” the Latina scoffs. “You couldn’t upstage a rusty tambourine.” A laugh escapes Sam at the odd choice of words; sometimes Santana can be so random.

Blaine’s quiet chuckle vibrates in Sam’s chest. “Think we should referee?” he questions privately, craning his neck to look up at his boyfriend. Sam pats the brunet’s thigh and shakes his head.

“Nah, let them go at it. Adds flavor.”

Sam can tell that Santana’s preparing to interject once again, hands poised to gesticulate animatedly and eyes gleaming with fiery intent, but Kurt beats her to it, stepping between her and Sebastian. “Enough!” he demands, fixing them both with his best I’ve had it with your nonsense glare. “We’re here to have a civilized game night. Not to recreate an episode of Real Housewives of Bushwick.”

His comment may not land exactly the way it was intended, but it does ease some of the tension. Santana cackles, head thrown back as the evil gleam in her eye resurfaces. “I’m definitely Teresa,” she claims with a smirk. “Blaine can be Melissa.”

The boy in question nods as if accepting his fate, while Rachel, clearly grasping for some sense of order, inserts herself into the discussion. “Fine. If we’re all done now, can we just―”

“You never answered my question," Blaine points out. His tone is innocent, but there's an impish lilt to his voice that betrays his intentions. His hand, moments ago resting on Sam’s thigh, now inches upward marginally. “What distracts me during the game?”

Biting back a laugh, Sam watches as Rachel narrows her eyes at Blaine, her expression scandalized and accusatory in equal measure. She points at the two of them wildly, screeching, “That! That right there is exactly what I’m talking about!”

Blaine gasps dramatically in response. “Rachel Barbara Berry, I am appalled! Are you suggesting that I―”

“Stop it.” Sam thinks it was a pretty good Rachel impression and offers his boyfriend a thumbs up. Grin widening, Blaine latches onto Sam’s thumb and tugs it toward himself, hugging it to his chest in an adorable gesture. Sam knows he's smiling like a dope and he couldn't care less. Rachel goes on, unfazed by Blam’s display of affection. “You’re not charming your way out of this. We all know exactly what happens the second you and Sam end up on the same team.”

Sebastian, who has been reclining against the arm of the couch, perks up. “Oh, this is so much more entertaining than charades.”

“You,” Kurt says sharply, pointing at Sebastian, “zip it.” At that, Sebastian smirks but makes a show of miming zipping his lips, locking them, and throwing away the key.

Then Rachel stands and takes a deep breath, clearly summoning every ounce of patience in her body. She grabs Blaine by the wrist and tugs him toward the coffee table, where Kurt is already arranging the charade cards. “You’re on task tonight, Blaine Anderson,” she orders, leaving no room for discussion. “No distractions.”

As Blaine takes his place, dropping to the floor next to Kurt and crossing his legs, he turns to Sam. The brunette’s cheeky grin is already firmly in place like Sam knew it would be. The blonde wiggles his fingers in an exaggerated wave, mouthing, Behave. It’s wishful thinking, really, but the least Sam can do is try.

“Only if you promise to stop being so distracting,” the shorter boy retorts. They both laugh a little, just subtle enough to avoid prompting an icy glare from their respective teammates. Sam sighs as Blaine shifts across from him, trying to get comfy. It’s going to be a long night.

He rubs his hands together and leans forward on the couch, hanging off the edge of the cushion. “Alright, let’s get this game on then!”

...

Predictably, the game devolves almost immediately.

The room is an explosion of noise and motion. Rachel is too competitive for Sam to keep up with. She keeps barking guesses at Sam’s dramatized impressions like she’s auditioning for a role in a war film, and it’s confusing as hell. Meanwhile, Blaine and Kurt are bickering intently over whether Blaine’s charade for tap-dancing penguin is accurate (of course, Sam knows it’s not, but he values his sexytime and so he’s not going to say anything). In the background (or amidst the chaos, depending on your perspective), Santana and Sebastian are making the game into a gigantic gag, using every turn to act out increasingly suggestive gestures worthy enough to make Kurt turn red.

It all goes completely to hell when Santana grabs a stack of cards and decides to fling them about, tossing them at her partner like ninja stars. With dramatic grace and inelegant yelps, Seb manages to dodge most of the artillery, though Santana’s able to land the occasional hit square in his face. And where Blaine is terrible at guessing, Kurt is apparently shit at miming. Kurt’s pulled the Phantom of the Opera card from the deck and is nearly in tears desperately trying and failing to imitate it.

“You’re useless,” Blaine mutters under his breath, standing next to Kurt to offer his own interpretation. He proceeds then to deliver a melodramatic rendition of The Phantom Sam has ever seen (which isn’t really saying much, considering Sam hasn’t even seen it on Broadway, but still). Kurt scowls at him.

Sam turns back to his own task; he and Rachel are trying to decide whether Titanic counts as only one word or two. “I’m pretty sure it’s two,” Sam claims, scratching his head. “Like, there’s Titanic the movie, and then there’s the boat.”

Rachel narrows her eyes at him, and it sends a little chill down Sam’s spine. That girl can be really spooky when she wants to be. “Do I look like a dictionary to you, Samuel?” It’s supposed to be a rhetorical question, Sam knows, but he can’t resist.

“I dunno, you kinda look like you could fit in a dictionary,” the blonde quips with a grin. The girl’s icy glare is the last thing he sees before a book is flying at his face, whacking him in the arm when he uses his forearm as a shield. “Ow!” he whines, rubbing the injury with a wince. Rachel shoots him a prim, smug smile, clearly the victor. But only because she didn’t get thwacked in the arm with a book!

“B!” Sam calls, because throwing books at each other is fun and all, but they are playing a game, after all. His boyfriend turns to him, expectant smile on his lips, and Sam feels a grin forming when he sees the brunette. “What’s the ruling? Titanic, one word or two?”

He seems to consider the question for a moment, finger on his chin as he contemplates. After a few beats, the curly-haired boy smirks. “Whatever Rachel doesn’t want; we’ll do the opposite.” At this, Santana bursts into a fit of laughter while Rachel releases an indignant squawk.

After Rachel claims to disown the group, Sam lets himself grin, leaning back into the couch. He watches his boyfriend light up the room with his easy charm and disarming smiles that always steal Sam’s breath. Regardless of how unpredictable and utterly chaotic these game nights are, Blaine somehow always manages to make them perfect.

By the time Blaine’s next turn rolls around, he’s already a giggling mess, falling apart at the seams. Sam watches him try to mime “Superman” and it’s not even half-bad. Sam’s surprised, if not slightly impressed even. Of course, it was too good to be true because halfway through, the curly-haired boy slips on the carpet, landing sprawled out on the floor. The game cards flutter around him, one landing on his nose somehow. Blaine stares at it, going cross-eyed, and Sam wonders once again how the boy doesn’t get headaches from that. Crossing his eyes has always made Sam’s head hurt! It isn’t very fair, is all. His boyfriend blows at the piece of paper, trying to get it off him, but he only manages to launch it straight up in the air and back down on his face. The brunette huffs in mock-annoyance for a beat before bursting into laughter. His attempts to rise back to his feet are futile, as his shoulders are shaking so hard that he can’t keep his balance.

“You’re useless!” Kurt hisses, hands thrown up in indignance. His glare slides over to Rachel for a second before snapping back to Blaine. “I don’t know why I even―”

Yeah, like that is going to end well. Sam steps in, cutting Kurt off before he can go on a whole-ass tangent like he inevitably would if no one stopped him. “Alright,” the blonde says, stepping over to help Blaine to his feet. “Time out. Someone’s had too much wine.” Despite his words and the playful tinge of annoyance in his tone, Sam chuckles fondly as he scoops Blaine into his arms with minimal effort. The shorter boy reflexively wraps his arms around his boyfriend’s neck, still laughing as he buries his face in Sam’s shoulder.

Hands on her hips, Rachel stares at them expectantly. “Samuel. Put him down,” she says cooly. “We’re playing to win.”

From somewhere to his right, Sam hears a snort followed by, “Yeah, like that's gonna happen, Berry.” He tries to hide his smile by nuzzling into Blaine’s hair, pretending that he’s kissing Blaine’s head rather than secretly sniggering at Santana’s comment.

“I think Blaine needs a break,” Sam says once he’s regained his bearings. He does not put Blaine down. Take that, Rachel! He grins down at his boyfriend, who’s already gazing up at him, his wide, glossy amber eyes filled with affection and awe. It makes Sam’s heart skip a beat, being looked at like that. So tenderly, so lovingly. The blond clears his throat. “He’s, uh, clearly too drunk to keep up the game.”

Santana smirks, jabbing a finger at the pair. Her fiery eyes are dancing with knowing amusement. “Oh, that’s your excuse? What are you two sneaking off to do, huh?”

Kurt wrinkles his nose while Rachel scoffs indignantly. Sam can almost hear her squeaky upset voice, The audacity! Blaine just giggles, nuzzling Sam’s neck. “I don’t think you want me to answer that,” he responds, the mischief in his voice clear as day.

“Gross!” Kurt exclaims, throwing a pillow at them as Sam carries Blaine toward the hallway. He misses by a landslide as predicted, and when Sam passes by the weapon of choice, he kicks it back toward the living room, flashing Kurt a wink, his tongue poking out.

With a mock-salute, Sebastian shakes his head and says, heavy with amusement, “Godspeed, Evans. Don’t break anything.”

Sam grins at that. This is one of the main reasons he and Blaine love crashing here so much; the commentary is hilarious! Sebastian’s approval is always welcome and feeds Sam’s pride a bit, Santana’s sexual remarks are funny and somewhat accurate, and Kurt and Rachel’s indignant exasperation has the ability to bring Sam up from any bad moodswings he may have. Not that Blaine’s company alone wouldn’t fix that immediately.

As they disappear around the corner, Sam can hear the glare in her voice as Rachel addresses the remaining players. “That’s it. We’re locking them out next time.” Although her voice is resolute, Sam knows it’s not going to happen. Rachel and Kurt have been bullshitting about revoking his and Blaine’s loft privileges since the first time they'd been caught in action, but they’ve never actually followed through with the threats.

Santana’s cackle echoes through the corners of the apartment. “Oh sure, Berry. Like that’ll stop them.”

[stevie-petey]

hello i wanted to say this earlier when you were talking about the wiritng of duffer brothers and specifically how they will likely be bringing back the love triangle again and i just wanted to add how it feels like a step back for all three of them! i felt like nancy breaking up with steve was important for both of them, for steve to realise that he needs to do some serious introspection and let go of the life that he knows is fake, and for nancy it feels doubly important to not attempt to stick with something just because it was there in the past, and instead allow herself to move on from a stage she feels complete with and move onto what she really wants (johnathan), even if it's unconventional! and then for johnathan it felt like the more classic, someone is choosing me when i am not usually chosen moment. i honestly, truly, wouldn't even be that mad if they break jancy up, just because, y'know they're like 19-20, and it's okay for nancy to decide she wants to explore things outside of hawkins and it's pretty normal for most people, and would strengthen that "moving on" theme they were able to capture in s2, but if she goes back to steve.............hmmmm. feels unfair thematically for steve to go back to a person he dated during a specific period of his life he wants to get away from, feels unsatisfying for nancy wheeler to be delegated to Love Interest TM (as u mentioned) AGAIN, and feels bad for johnathan because omg why??!!?!? would u do that to a character whose already lost a lot of the importance and relevance that he used to have???? remember when he used to be the main character (not to mention they literally cut out his new friend argyle for the hell of it). idk i feel like after s2 they just stopped caring about a lot of these core characters and there are so many moments i could point to and be like hey guys nice regressing you did there.

my apologies, this is getting really wrong, but you mentioned that you like themes and i LOVE your themes it's very cathartic. i am excited for s3 to see character themes continue because i understand ur working with the show itself here but it immediately upset me when they made, like, russian soldiers, the main villain of the season. i felt like we had developed two very good seasons exploring the US's ability to use its citizen's bodies, especially women and girls' bodies, in its war for imperial power, and were doing some good digging at the crux of the cold war, with the upside down and its monsters making up great metaphors for the war crimes and unnatural horrors it's willing to unleash onto people as long as the government and military benefits, with brenner and the scientists and the labs all representing this part of the government. and then we get "russian communists are bad".......right......and i'm sure you believe that....... i understand that they needed like a new villain, but i think it would have been better for them to continue that thematic critique they had established already. like, the base being in the lab is perfect! wow! what an immediate link to capitalism and consumerism in reaganamics and the ways it is designed to hypnotise you to spend your money and feed the economy that thrives on unethical practices and can only exist if it has a population hooked into the addiction of product consumption that in turn provides the economics to increase the empire. DO SOMETHING WITH THAT, GODDAMIT. The mindflayer even mind controls people which fits so well into this theme but they insisted on having the russians be the human villains of the show and it blew it so bad for me :(. i don't know exactly what they should have done, but i think maybe even having a portal open to the upside down because of all the artificial-ness of the mall mixed with the constant ads trying to convince (ie control) people to bye stuff mixing with hawkins freakiness would have been more fulfilling for me. obviously i know you won't be doing anything like that but i'm excited to get some relief through character relationships from this huge problem i have with the duffer brothers.

yeaaaaah u can def tell the show was going a bit haywire once season 3 released BUT the seasons vibes were immaculate u cannot argue with that. however yeah its wack how they brought up some cool villains and powers and then just. dropped it. do we know what happened to all those flayed people ???

as for jonathans character just becoming less and less important as the seasons go on ,,,, i grieve that every day. he deserves so much better in that aspect. and nancy !!! and steve !!!! like the love triangle pisses me OFF !!!!

as for ur russian rant imma be real i followed a bit of it but my brain is so sleepy and im not a history buff but ur SO real and valid for all that. i think the russians were fun but apparently everyone hates them ??? wild. i also have poor media literacy but thats not important rn

[awakenedsalamander]

So you mentioned Forsaken, what do you think of it? What do you think of the rest of the Chronicles of Darkness, and it's fan games?

I like Forsaken a lot! I think it has a really strong focus on its theme, which to my mind is the necessity of action in desperate times— but also the terror and uncertainty that action can bring to everyone involved. That’s a theme in Apocalypse as well, but where I think Apocalypse has a lot themes and looks very broadly at all of them, Forsaken has a honed, laser-focus on just that one and I love it. I also think that Forsaken nails elements of the “werewolf game” that Apocalypse is more experimental with. I like the unconventional spin on werewolf lore of the latter, for sure, but it’s also nice to see a classic monster by moonlight done right, without sacrificing the White Wolf flair.

I also really love the Chronicles of Darkness as a whole! I’ve said in the past to my friends (and in other communities under different screen names) that Mage; The Awakening is a game that I feel was made specifically for a person like me and that Changeling: The Lost deserves far more exposure, because I’m certain huge numbers of people would love it.

In fact, I got into WoD from CofD, if you can believe it! It is my first love, really.

So, obvious question— why don’t I talk about CofD more?

Well, there’s a bunch of reasons, though also: Never say never! It just kinda depends what I feel like doing, I may jump into CofD discussion more as time goes on.

However, CofD’s community is, for better or worse, smaller than WoD’s, and frankly I started this account to meet people and share the hobby, so I was inclined to discuss things relevant to a larger community. That’s the selfish reason.

Additionally, believe it or not, I don’t have as much to say about CofD games, at time of writing. Most of what I would write about it would be gushing about how I love the way Awakening expresses its hidden world of magic, or how Geist has such a great morbid but hopeful mood. It wouldn’t even be analysis or conversation really, just me observing that things are good, and that tends to be less interesting to write and read, I think. CofD games are meant to create stories rich with meaning, but I don’t know if the tools it provides themselves are as immediately rich. That’s the practical reason.

Finally, while I think CofD does have a really good focus on the themes of its games, those games are by definition more limited in scope. This isn’t a bad thing. What it does, though, is make it so if I’m not presently passionate about that thing, like my interests are just elsewhere, it’s harder to latch onto it, whereas WoD games usually have something for everyone, at least to a large extent. I’m just not always in the mood to talk about CofD, even though I like it. That’s the boring reason.

All that said, I love seeing stuff about CofD! This question alone has me happy to think about the World of Darkness’s little brother, and the ways in which it provides a unique but powerful counterpoint to its predecessor. It’s really cool stuff, and I’ll always owe it for getting me deeper into WoD and RPGs as a whole!

(P.S.— I do want to see more people talk about Promethean: The Created, though. Where is all the content for it? It’s a brilliant game, I just don’t know where to start when discussing it! Is everyone else in the same boat or something?)

[clouds-of-wings]

Since my epic Studio Ghibli Summer is officially over, here's my ranking of the films I watched (which, I know, isn't every movie Ghibli has ever made):

Spirited Away (My favourite! (Also IMDb's favourite, apparently, and the Oscar winning one.) The spirit world looks so fascinating and I can't help being a sucker for 'The monster is just misunderstood'. And, well, 'a neglected child wanders off into a dream world', you know... There's so much going on visually and in terms of subtext that Japanese people probably understand much better. I watched this in the cinema when I was 12 or so, the perks of growing up with weebs as friends.)

The Cat Returns (This one has the best action. Also, talking cats! And a girl gets transformed into a cat! And it's like a sequel to WotH. I watched this one first, which makes it even better - WotH also reveals the backstory of the Baron. I actually can't decide if I like this or WotH better. This one is a bit more light-hearted and fast-paced where WotH is meditative and melancholic, but they're both great in their own way..

Whisper of the Heart (This one just spoke to me. It's about a girl who's fascinated by objects in a second hand store - it's basically about me! On a deeper level it's about... well, many things. Among them: growing up without support for your dreams - even though her family is at least nice to her, but they just don't really get it - and beating yourself up for not being as good at following them as someone who gets a lot more support. Something to think about.)

Porco Rosso (My sister raved about this, which maybe makes me biased, but I liked that it was more adult than the other films, and it just has a certain charm. I wonder how they came up with the premise. 'Hey, let's make the main character an anthropomorphic pig!' - 'So like a furry?' - 'No, he's under a curse!' - 'What's the curse?' - 'Fascism :)))')

Kiki's Delivery Service (I totally like this one for its looks. Such a beautiful vision for what European cities could look like. I wish they did! To me this was probably the most visually appealing film apart from Spirited Away. The end was really funny. Yaaay 100 people just died when a zeppelin crashed into several buildings, but this one random boy survived, party time!)

Ponyo (I mainly enjoyed the very counter-intuitive combination of Wagner and a children's movie about a talking fish. Also the mother is such a huge badass, it made me giggle. I wish we had gotten more backstory about Ponyo's parents though, that was the part that really interested me.)

(Continuing the list at number 7...)

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Castle in the Sky (Kinda cool. Looks kinda simple compared to the later films, but I liked the story.)

When Marnie was here (I would have liked this better if I had watched it earlier in the summer, but I was already getting fed up with the Ghibli overload by the time I got around to it. Usually I like films that are like puzzles, where you have to gather clues and figure out what's happening. I kinda half-figured it out before the plot twist.)

From up on Poppy Hill (I mainly like the unconventional (by Ghibli standards) soundtrack)

My neighbour Totoro (This one is probably very good, but not my taste. I found it kinda boring, but I was more in an 'urban' mood anyway and even skipped most of the other more rural films.)

Howl's Moving Castle (This one I had watched before and it used to be my favourite. Then I read the book this year and the book and the film ruined each other for me. Epic fail on my part! Not the fault of the film really, but all I could think while watching was 'They completely changed this from the book!' The typical Ghibli vibe seemed too sugary when put on a book with a more cynical tone, only the book also seemed too cynical when seen through the lens of the film. I watched the film and also thought 'So this is how it could have been if the characters hadn't been so selfish and judgy to each other all the time!' As I said, epic fail on my part. Now I can enjoy neither.)

The Boy and the Heron (Surreal = Good. Watching this after 13 other Ghibli movies = It just doesn't impress me anymore.)

The Wind Rises (Nothing happens, kinda. I know, a lot happens, but also... kinda nothing.)

The Princess Kaguya (I don't get what's supposed to be so great about this. It's too long and the plot is predictable. I did like the end.)

The secret world of Arietty (This one I actively disliked. It seems to not be in the Ghibli spirit, which is of course up to me to define /s The housekeeper is Evil For No Reason, something I hadn't seen in other Ghibli films. I don't like evil aunties and grandiose speeches about the importance of family. There was something so conventional about this film, it was like something made by Disney.)