#unedited im sorry this is such a ramble

[5eraphim]

posting this here instead of main bc i like to keep my writing stuff here,

i stopped attaching songs to fics bc i was sick of being like "who the hell is gonna listen to this?" every single time i included one. i like using quotes a lot more to be honest bc its a much more effective to give the reader a peek of the story's vibe

but usually id wait till the last moment to pick a song to attach, or i'll pick a few and decide ever everything was written.

usually i sort of let the prompt marinate in my head and think of one scene i really wanna write, or some kind of specific dialogue interaction

before starting the draft i write out an outline in longhand in a notebook and include notes on the margin abt content warnings and what dirty stuff i wanna add. (im sorry this is very cumbersome and weird but its the only way that makes sense to me)

also i sort of break the outline into chunks and usually end up starting the fic somewhere in the middle to write the part i care about the most. and then kinda skip around and hope for the best when i get to editing.

in my experience if you write smut, or explicit content, you really gotta force yourself to write it in one sitting. ive found its so hard to write the endings to dirty scenes if i cant quite remember the feelings i started with, if that makes sense?

examples of scene inspired fics:

solly getting his boots kissed in hunting party

not gonna lie when i read the request for nuthin' personal i knew right away i wanted sniper to use jarate to "rub a little salt in the wound" if you know what i mean

trypanaphobia, or more generally using a phobia against you to force cooperation (upcoming story)

examples of dialogue inspired fics:

Engie's "so you think i'm the selfish one" interaction from birthday cake

scout's ma talking about what scout's been through and about how he was growing up, why he gave up on wanting to find his father talk from puppy eyes

basically all of doomer medic's lines in heaven waits. like i basically wrote his lines at once and went back to add the other half of the conversation and narration. i usually like to write dialogue first then fill in the narrative blanks, but ive always write every character's dialogue together (bc thats what makes more sense) but heaven waits has been the only acceptation.

i cant write chronologically to save my life so i like to let whatever sparks my creativity the most to start. writing long hand helps me visualize what scenes are gonna be the longest/ get a general idea what the beginning middle and end are gonna look like.

also writing longhand is good when u have ideas at odd hours of the night u wanna jot down and remember rather than using notes app bc the notepad's not going to irritate your eyes like a screen would. i think that deserves a shout out.

[rxttenfish]

Asking because I’m extremely curious about this, how did MonProm’s writing get different over time? I remember you saying that the lore and characters feel different, and that it's missing sincere character interactions, too. I know almost nothing about the lore and I’ve only seen a few people mention the characters, so I’d be interested in a rundown of what aspects you think got worse in the series

I wouldn’t mind a very long response since I’m not that active in the fandom, I need to catch up on what happened

sorry for taking so long to answer this! i kinda waffled on it for a long bit, mainly because i started doubting myself again, and whether or not this was me simply overreacting or being tinted by nostalgia or simply being extremely picky and choosy in what i like (the last of which is true, i seldom get into fandoms at all for this reason and stay away from most popular media, but i wasn't sure if it applied here). i've posted about it already, but i'm in the middle of a psychotic episode where i can't feel a lot of pleasure to begin with + most things i do experience ending up solidly in the "very bad" category, so as you can imagine, i really didn't want to mislead and check that i was actually in objective reality.

as it is, this is also when a lot more screenshots started to be posted in the monster prom tag, and that helped me bridge the gap back into returning to the games themselves and feel like i was making a more accurate judgement. if you're one of those people who have been posting screenshots, i sincerely thank you, and i appreciated seeing you in the tag greatly.

for those not in the know — i've been in the monster prom fandom since it first released, prior to even the first additional ending to be added (the "Punch the sun" ending, and i recall the minor fandom drama that happened at that time due to it). my impression of monster prom is very much influenced by this, as what got me into the first game was the fact that the characters genuinely seemed to care for each other and were friends with each other (not merely tolerating each other's presences nor dressing it up, they sincerely thought of each other as friends and were open about that fact), on top of the wide variety of small details and statements that, if taken at face value, could create compounding complexity in the lives of each and every character and had wider implications for their lives.

no, they were not necessarily explored nor even necessarily "real", with so many conflicting events and statements, but i liked this too, because it meant a wider flexibility in what you could imagine, helping to create a more tailored experience for everyone who thought about these characters. this was what i liked about the early fandom too. what was baseline "canon" was so vague and minimal that you could have wildly different interpretations of the same characters' histories and relationships with each other. you would have radically different perspectives on what the world itself looked like, what it was like, that there wasn't really any wrong answers so long as their personalities remained the same. this is where you got the old headcanon of polly and liam being childhood friends who knew each other as humans, or that the world of monster prom was post-apocalypse where humanity itself had gone extinct or only existed in tiny pockets, or my personal headcanon that both monster and human society existed right next to each other and had minimal crossover for petty cultural reasons. this was also prior zoe-as-ro, and there were wildly different interpretations of zoe's personality, with most going for a far more disquieting creepy-cute than the deep nerd we got.

this is why you get stuff like the timeloop theory, where everyone is repeating the same weeks leading up to prom over and over, and are perhaps vaguely aware of it but broadly unconcerned. this is also why it felt like the joke that, the characters were still in high school but were all fully legal adults with most in their 20's, best landed, because it was absurd and strange and didn't quite make sense, but the world itself was inherently absurd and semi-malleable to begin with. realistically, i felt like everyone understood it was making fun of the trope of having adults play teenagers in american sitcoms and wildly casting outside the age range, but for more in-universe explanations it wasn't any different from the way that you would have a large, dramatic ending in which everything changed, but then you'd restart and everyone would be right back at the beginning with nothing different, or even having conflicting events in the same run. it was a dream-logic that fit with the tropes and, thus, diagetically made sense.

to be clear, i don't mind canon having a set, well, canon on which it refers back to itself. i don't mind expanding that or including more things which are set in stone. but there was a perceivable shift in how the games handled this over time, becoming a lot more... bitter, it felt, towards all of these different branching ideas and concepts that, yeah, the people making them knew wouldn't necessarily be "canon" because "canon" already liked to contradict itself so much. most people weren't even sold on any one idea, and there was a much greater sense of enjoying and appreciating all the varying ideas people would come up with even if you personally didn't share them. making the characters be out of character was the real crime, because then it didn't diagetically make sense in the same way, didn't wholly fit.

(again, this is not to say fanon didn't happen and characters weren't smoothed down into a simplified personality that fit these varying fan-interpretations instead of the game itself. certainly damien love/lust was just as bad as it had ever been, and everyone loved to mangle his character into a more stereotypical "bad boy with a heart of hold" all the time. but it certainly felt less set-in-stone about it than it does now, with any deviation from the norm being considered strange and odd and even broadly shunned from the wider fandom.)

all of this is setup for establishing what the writing, lore, and characters felt like in the earlier days. the characters were the strongest part, with their relationships to each other being equally as important. the lore played it fast and loose and was far less interested in setting anything in concrete because that wasn't the important part. the lore wasn't the important part, which was what made it all the more intoxicating to think about, all the more fun to play with.

montrip is easily the biggest offender when it comes to setting everything in all-or-nothing terms and demanding absolutism from the world. broadly i blame the hitchhiker conversations for the worst of it, but i think ultimately the way they handled the entire premise of the game is where this problem stems from. it's not really an exploration in the same sense that you might explore the first game, discovering different perspectives and different people with different relationships to each other. it's an exploration in the sense of a sequel that over-explains the monster, that takes the most boring option out of all those that were possible and floating around and settles on something that was blatant, obvious, typically rejected not because of how novel it is but how trite and par for the course it is in the rest of the genre.

yeah, okay. humans know nothing about monsters and there's a "monster dimension" that exists separately from the human dimension. there's no crossover between the two of them. of course there's a big grand-scale fight between the eldritch powers that zoe used to be a part of, from which not only are slayers the main organization against them, but also the merkingdom has some horse in this race too. it's an urge to make things so universal in explaining them, in revealing connecting threads which unite everything that's ever happened in here, that makes the worldbuilding and lore immediately much more boring than it ever was before.

and it didn't have to be this way! nothing in the first game contradicts any of this too explicitly (see the above, the first game loves to contradict itself), and i would even be happy if this was basically canon but never stated or confirmed to be the big overarching everything going on underneath it all. i believe you should probably know these things about any world that you create and have them in the back of your mind. the difference is that you can know these things and keep them in mind, even focusing on things where its very relevant, and still not reveal them. this is why you have lore bibles, after all. every horror writer knows exactly how their monster works and the full underlying reason for everything that happens, but that doesn't mean the audience will see it or possess this same information too, and leaving it intentionally obscure will make far better stories.

which, this is bad enough, but it wouldn't be the breaking point for me if this was all there was.

but the worst thing of all has to be the slow decay of the very same characters that sold me on this world, this lore, this game in the first place. monster prom is nothing without the characters in it. it's a dating sim, it has nothing but characters to get you to play, and liking these characters are the entire reason anyone would pick up monster prom in the first place.

and the first game pulls this off extremely well. it's all in the tagline: be your worst self. they are, indeed, all terrible people. yes, even that character that you just thought of right now. they all have points in the game where they commit atrocities, where they kill or hurt people, where they do inexcusable things that could not be ignored in a more serious setting.

but that's the point. i think there's something very powerful in creating a character who not only do you love and love their personality and the way they interact with the world, but who also are inapologetically terrible, and to have the humor and the charisma be so good that you don't get bogged down in the "this is awful". likewise, it never feels the urge to really go out of its way to justify what's going on. this is not to say theres no discussion of if someone "deserved it", but usually there's still the sense that the joke is on them, that this is still an extreme reaction specifically for comedy and not necessarily something that can be justified. you can have damien set leonard on fire and have it feel earned, without prompting the needed reaction of what it's actually like to watch someone burn to death.

this is what sets the prank masterz ending apart from the rest of the game, and really establishes it as the first real "bad ending". because nothing that you do or happens in the prank masterz ending is any different from anything else that happens in any other run. you summon evil beings from other dimensions as a throwaway gag on how visiting one location raises your stats. you kill other people and damn them to terrible fates. you watch as body horror happens. the only difference is that, in the prank masterz ending, the laugh track doesn't play.

the rest of the game and the writing echoes this philosophy, this careful interplay of tropes that keeps everything tongue in cheek and yet sincere enough to make sure emotional beats still land when they're needed. the characters feel true to themselves and their own emotions, even when the world is extreme and excessive, when everything else runs on comedy logic.

this is also what i noticed failing first as time went on.

like i said, fanon has always existed and there's always been very specific ideas as to what characters are like in the same way fanon always flattens down characters into the same tropes over and over. scott is stupid and innocent and doesn't know what sex is. damien is violent and hot and too cool for anyone else. miranda is the idiot girl character. repeat over and over and over until you get sick of it.

but it's been an issue as time has crept on that canon has started to approach fanon and began to merge with it. now, scott is so innocent that he can't even curse. polly starts being mean to her friends and saying things that would be very hurtful to hear. the merkingdom isn't really super evil and fucked up, it's just miranda that's like that. they become simpler, easier to digest, streamlined for social media posts and mass-sharing. they become less and less subversions of existing tropes and moreso just another example of them, something else to add to the collection, not their own individual stories.

even further from this, what more complex traits they had are now stated and not shown. polly is stated to be smart and clever in a way that her party girl persona doesn't imply and to be sincerely rather down to earth with the people she cares about, but we seldom ever see this anymore unless its the game specifically trying to make a point about it, in which case it won't let her do anything that implies cleverness and moreso will just outline it in the narration. vera is stated to care for people in a very genuine and heartfelt way, but seldom will get a chance to do so, and every opportunity for her to do so to their faces is missed while she will just outright state it later. it does not feel consistent, it does not feel like any of these are intended reads of their actions. it feels like the devs have something they want to do but no idea on how to actually do so. and forget it if you want these traits to manifest in small ways that show up in unrelated moments and scenes.

the dialogue becomes harder and harder to tell between each speaker, if you are just looking at what's said and not at the pictures attached to it. the characters' distinct voices have been eroded away, so that they speak more and more like each other, relaying the same terms and ideas in the same words. perspective becomes a suggestion, instead of a must.

this is something that started back in monster camp too, as all of the endings in that game felt ultimately the same as every other ending. it's very hard to place or define the full reason why, why there feels like there's no emotional stakes nor investment, why everything feels moreso like selecting different coats of paint and trying to find all the different ending pictures rather than being interested in exploring the characters as characters.

stranger yet, the series that started with the tagline of "be your worst self" has experienced a kind of... softening, for lack of a better word? what i mentioned about being able to handle the balance between terrible people who do terrible things and the light tone of the game starts to change, as abruptly the same characters who were down with violent murder in the first game start to lose their nerve, acting more and more on more typical morality. it's one of those things that feels like it's starting to damage the tone, as abruptly it's not as absurd as it used to be, demands less suspension of disbelief which could buffer and support the rest of the setting on it. there's even a part in one of the endings in montrip which involves current-polly and current-scott looking back on their monprom selves and reacting in horror at how violent and careless their pranks are, in a way that fundamentally felt like it was undercutting and disparaging all the things that felt fun and made monprom what it was.

which is odd, really, because more and more i feel like the characters in these games like each other less and less. the friendships and genuine enjoyment of each others company that brought me to this game in the first place has gone. now they don't mention each other as much, don't care for each other's feelings and reactions as much, aren't as willing to support each other. they are more and more found on their own, relied on their own, seem to seek out contact and interaction with their own friends less and less. it feels like they're all separating out into their own worlds, but also feels like they wouldn't willingly want to interact with each other if they weren't already forced together by some other outside contrivance.

if anything, i'd compare it to every other dating sim out there, where you, the player, are the most important person in these characters' lives, and they only feel ambivalent or antagonistic towards every other character. which, again, is not why i picked up monster prom or why i liked it so much in the first place.

and it's because of this that it feels like the current state of the series has to focus on its increasingly weak worldbuilding and lore, trying to form a more serious foundation without character relationships being so tightly bound together, without the characters themselves being more developed and rich, without an aspect of absurd humor to rely on.

more and more i've noticed monprom has to rely on referencing other series to make itself funny and create humor, which, again, it's always done. it was just easier to ignore back then, if you didn't know what was being referenced, because there was always more going on in the exact same scene to bolster it and give context clues as to the setup and punchline at play. it feels like the current games are much more dependent on you knowing pop culture references in order to have any fun with it, and i'm someone who, again, is very picky in what i like or what i'll seek out. i'm not interested in a stream of references about other things that i would much rather be doing than playing through a game that feels like it hates that i like it at all, when i could, again, just be engaging with the thing that takes itself seriously and knows what it wants.

[frontlinebicepsoftheninth]

ok with the short story title reveal i think the featured duo is ianthe and pal and it's the fight in her head in ntn. pal being the titular unwanted guest in her mind etc. not sure mercy and camilla make sense and anyways as much as i want it i doubt we'd get another short story set basically at the same time as As Yet Unsent. now that i'm thinking about it gideon squared shouldn't be possible because i'm pretty sure by the time gideon was in control of harrow pyrrha had taken over for g1deon?? so no way they could have communicated unless g1deon didn't actually die fighting the rb and he interacted with kiriona in the river or something

teacher and john could still be a possibility cause i think the title is vague enough that it could apply to something during the period canaan house was occupied (and i would kill for a short story set at that time....) but i think it best fits for ianthe and pal which frankly i am ecstatic about as someone who thought we had gotten the last cam or pal we were ever gonna get

[conicalsurprise]

Okayokayokay

I can't sleep and I just finished s3 of atlantis so I have thoughts and feelings about Daniel not being there

I KNOW there are good reasons for him to not be there (as a character) ie taking some of mckay's necessity on atlantis but it really does feel like a disservice to Daniel in general. He was so excited to see Atlantis and actually be within a city of the Ancients but he didn't really get a good chance to go and see what he wanted to see. Tbf we're only 5 episodes into s4 and I know he joins for 2 more episodes in s5, but having him there intermittently would've been so fun.

I know also logistically, Michael Shanks was shooting sg1 and was also welcoming a new child into the world but man I wish he had more opportunities to go and actually learn and study and round out his work surrounding the Ancients. He's such an integral part of stargate that it really feels a lil empty without him.

[devondespresso]

WIP Wednesday!

Tagged by the epic @stobinesque​ ✨

THE RULES

In a reblog (or new post w/ rules attached), post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to post!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can’t share from (for example, an event fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. If you tag me in your post, I will send you an ask request!

WIPS

1. Steve Henderson AU

2. The Claudia Henderson Canon Character Masterlist

3. Dustin season 3 Funko (tiny!)

4. Chrissy Cunningham Funko

no direct tags today because anxiety is nibbling on my forearm as we speak but if you wanna do this consider this your official tag!! 🕺

SNIPPET

on today’s episode of The Steve Henderson Au, I finally figured out i want to actually start the fic! Im basically writing alongside canon for the first few chapters to establish everything and then the plot diverges after the season 2 finale (before epilogue). So this snippet is timed around episode 3 of season 2, after the Halloween fight and confrontation during gym but before meeting Dustin

Tommy kept grilling him for “breaking up” with Nancy, verbally poking him with a stick trying to get him to do something and especially in the showers where he couldn’t escape the conversation. He seemed obsessed with getting some sort of reaction out of him for it, insulting everything and anything about the relationship to get a rise. It wasn’t fun by any means, but Tommy was at least clueless enough about their past year together to have anything really solid or true to work with. They didn’t even actually break up yet, they’re just fighting right now. Meaning every attempt at a sad bachelor jab missed by a mile.

And thank god for that. 

Though hearing “breakup" over and over didn’t exactly make him feel better about where they were going, he wasn’t about to correct him and let him know where it actually hurt.

The rest of his classes played out like the first two. During lunch he hid in one of the private rooms in the library to avoid another conversation with Nancy. He needed time to think, work through all this shit, and cool down. 

He has a right to be angry, he thinks. It's normal for couples to say i love you. It's normal to want your girlfriend to say she loves you. It shouldn't be so hard to say it, even just to lie and say it to get him to drop it. She couldn't even lie about it.

And she doesn't remember that night at all. She remembered him being mad about being drunk, like he wasn't just trying to be the responsible one for a change and keep her from a blackout. 

And she thought he took her home. Did she mistake Jonathan for him while drunk too? Its like last year all over again except he fuckin asked for it this time.

Maybe she just hesitated because she really doesn't remember anything. And it's her first time drinking so she's confused and not used to having whole hours missing. Maybe that wasn’t her playing dumb face but her actually confused, caught off-guard face.

Or maybe she just didn't care.

He just wanted the day to be over.

[thebestandrealestever]

~LET THE LIGHT IN!~

part one: “friends?”

black fem coded! reader x miles morales 42 sum: ur his light :) .grumpy x sunshine kinda . warns : n word use, arguments translations: sol= sun

a/n: hey bookies , school beatin my ass !!! ima try to update at LEAST twice a week . yaal can slap me if i don’t, lol enjoy <33 . as always this is heavily unedited and this is short because it’s going to have multiple parts! a lil sum sumi’ve been working on.

miles used to be talkative, before you know what happened. he was quieter and if he did talk it was cold toned and short lived, you noticed that he didn’t talk and that’s no way to spend your high school years. so you were going to no determined to be his friend this year, it doesn’t hurt that you think he’s cute also.

“hey miles” you smiled at him as you took your seat next to him, he just nodded at you not even looking back. you smiled awkwardly to yourself but ultimately shook it off. you said hi to him and small talk every day, he was still the same monotone dude who never reciprocated the cheerful manner you spoke to him in so you decided do stop, you weren’t gonna waist your time trying to be nice to a gu-

“hey (name). how was your morning?” speak of the devil, even though his tone was rock hard if sounded like he was at least trying, you turn your head to him and see the small smile tugging at his lips and you return it “hey miles!” you ramble on to him about your morning and he talks too.

the next 3 days he didn’t show up at all, it did worry you a bit but maybe he was just sick. when he did come back he had a fat bruise on his sharp cheekbone, you noticed it when he sat down.

“what happened to your face? is it the reason you haven’t been at school. are you okay miles?” you turn your whole body to look at his bruise moving his chin with your hand. “don’t worry about it, sol. im good” he said gently brushing your hand off of his face but you didn’t believe it one bit. “but i am worried, tell me what happened?” you eagerly said almost demanding, putting your hand back on his chin and moving it up to get another look at the bruise and you knew his temper was short but you didn’t care right now, that’s not normal. “i said im good (name) u can stop acting like u care so much now.” he spat feigning annoyance through gritted teeth pushing your hand off.

you raised a eyebrow confused at that last part, “i can stop acting like i care. nigga i do care, you’re my friend miles and i care about my fucking friends. but you right, ima stop acting” you said sarcasm coating your voice as you turn to face the other way fake focusing on whatever work was infront of you , you hear miles sigh deeply after 10 or so minutes and you roll your eyes at it.

“i’m sorry, sol.” you turn your eyes at him but not your body, waiting for him to say something else “it’s been a bad week, ian mean to take it out on you. i know you care. i’m sorry.” he said in a tone that almost sounded convincing, he never usually apologized, “my bads”were the closest thing you got to one. you shift in your seat to look him in the eyes, you had never fought before, you didn’t know what to do with this. “i’m not gonna say it’s okay because it’s not, i get it though. but definitely don’t do that shit again.” you say assertively whilst keeping a small smile on your face. he stifled a laugh “yeah. i won’t.” there’s a pause between the two of you just looking at each other. “friend huh? you wanna be my friend?”

he says leaning back in his chair, keeping his eyes on you. “i am your friend, i’m trying to be atleast. but i can’t if you won’t let me.” you shrug laying the weight of your head on your shoulder until you feel a pair of toned arms around you, you shook your eyes wide open because miles never initiated touch. “i’m trying to. i’m sorry.” he says muffled by the fabric of your shoulder that he’s currently stuffing his face inside of. he hasn’t had a friend in a while, this was weird. but maybe he could be yours.

[l0vem41l]

star stickers and best efforts.

「 tws + notes: no tws, unedited, hurt/comfort but 100% not at all, reader is mildly mean when nervous LIKE A BAD DOG /ref and most definitely written self-indulgently by accident, sun is mildly condescending, they r each others best supporters, mentions of a customer being rude but rly nothing crazy, sun uh... he's an interesting fella, BIGGG dialogue chunks im sorry im sorry 」

「 gn!reader, can be platonic or romantic <3 」

↳ ft. the daycare attendant/sun/sundrop

author's note: my wip title was literally just "the one where you're yelled at" :p but... hiiii!!! obligatory return to fnaf real quick becuz,,, no, i still havent gotten into the ruin dlc but YES i do love sun's personality in help wanted 2..... if this is ooc u can erm. shove me into wet concrete. (。﹏。) aaannywayz!! missed this!!! missed this so much!!!! ( ╯□╰ ) sorry for not valentine's day posting,,, scandalous ik since im lit rally Called Valentine. but oh well. enjoy! or dont. if you dont im sorry please request fnaf stuff so i can Fix That /srs

if you weren't relying on this job to put food on your table and a roof on your head, you’d burn the freddy fazbear’s mega pizzaplex to the ground for a piece of pocket lint and a pat on the head.

maybe it’s a bit dramatic to say that— you're paid well, you like your mostly robot coworkers, and most of the time (emphasis on most and not always) the work is manageable enough.

the customers are another story.

sun notices the minute you walk in the daycare. you look like you're a minor inconvenience away from murder— which naturally, makes him feel inclined to prod a little.

“well, someone’s awfully sulky today!”

while you’d typically crack a smile at the upbeat jester animatronic, his enthusiasm in the face of your misery is grating. there’s no energy left in your body to banter with him— you were using most of it to drag your feet over to the shoe caddy, toolbox in hand to fix up its shelf, now hanging askew due to a busted bracket.

“can it, sunny, i don't wanna hear it.” you mutter, more venomous than you intend it to be. he doesn’t even blink at your grumpiness. instead, he happily holds up the shelf while you inspect it and grab a new bracket to secure it.

at least he’s trying to make himself useful. you think to yourself.

his faceplate tilts slightly, staring at you with that ever present grin. his staring isn’t really helping, but you don’t fault him for it. you’ve gotten used to his antics by now. “woke up on the wrong side of the bed?” sun questions.

you shake your head.

“got yelled at by a customer— now, if you could please just drop the topic—” you sigh exasperatedly, not even bothering to finish the sentence as you sit down cross legged in front of the shoe caddy, slumping slightly in defeat.

much too persistent for his own good, sun decides that inquiring even further about the incident that seems to have you beat down is a good idea. “what’d you do?”

you consider feigning offense as he insinuates it’s somehow your fault. but you don’t. you just shrug it off.

“my job.” 

“ah, they do hate it when you do that.” he tuts.

“it wasn’t even that big of a deal,” you mutter, getting the bracket in place and marking it, “this one kid just so happened to walk up to the arcade machine i was putting an out of order sign on. i felt bad, so like, obviously, i hand the kid a few tokens, apologize politely, explain— and you’d think it’s all good right?”

you pause mid-ramble as you fix up the shelf. in all your misery, you forgot that you don’t even know exactly what caused the shelf to collapse like this. you consider asking.

sun leans in just a bit too close, interrupting your train of thought as you stare at the shelf. when you glance at him, he gives you a little nod.

go on, he seems to say wordlessly. he’s waiting silently for you to continue your story. it’s never not unnerving when he’s quiet.

“...anyways, uh... the kid’s dad came by and got mad or something. didn’t understand why i couldn’t just let him play one game since it looked perfectly functional— keep in mind, this is the arcade machine that literally kept eating up tokens only to not function, and shocked kids when it did— so i kept trying to explain why i couldn’t exactly do that. but for some reason, it was such a big fucking deal—”

“language.” he chides.

“...fricking deal. of course, i had to be berated for it. i offered to grab them more faz-tokens as compensation and i thought the problem was solved... and then i checked and saw he still left a bad review. definitely gonna hear about that from management.” sun hands you a tool as you continue to speak.

“but now i’m upset, i’m definitely in trouble, and my face hurts from the whole customer service smile i was holding that entire conversation. like seriously, i don’t know how i’m expected to do that 24/7.” you stop at your last remark and stare at sun and his unchanging expression. “...my bad.”

the awkward silence only lasts for a moment, thankfully. you’ve spoken your piece— sun decides to speak his.

“you did your best.” he says simply, as you finally fix the shelf into place. he pats you on the head and doesn't even hide his amusement when you sulk.

“i know that tone, sunny, you're making fun of me—”

“poor thing.” he continues, grinning brightly as he makes a show of patronizing you. sun’s hand continues to pat the top of your head gently, like he would when consoling a child. or when greeting a dog. has he,,, ever seen a dog before? probably not.

you groan and manage to shove his arm away.

“i do mean it though,” he continues, his tone still lighthearted— but notably more earnest as he notes your expression. sun helps you put your tools away neatly back into the toolbox, even though it really is just a one-man job.

“you tried your best,” sun closes the toolbox with a flourish and a click, “...and for that—!”

with a dramatic flick of his wrist, bells jingling as he does, sun produces a gold star sticker from… somewhere. he holds it up for you to see.

and then gently presses it onto the tip of your nose.

“to my favoritest human employee here! and my bestest of friends!” it’s hard to bite back a smile at those words. even if his little show of empathy and affection is much too theatrical for your current mood.

“whatever.” you shrug a little, unable to stop the corners of your mouth from twitching into a little grin. standing up and grabbing the toolbox, you give him an awkward thumbs up.

“thanks. and uh… sorry. for being mean. i guess.”

sun shakes his head dismissively, bouncy and bright as ever. “oh, don't mention it!”

something about his seeming lack of offense towards your prickliness makes you feel even more guilty. still, he gives you a wave as you head out, “bye-bye”-ing happily as you walk away, sticker stuck to your nose and smile on your face like an idiot.

you decide you’ll find a way to make it up to him later. you figure he deserves that much for putting up with everything.

meanwhile, sun is taking mental notes on more stuff to break of whenever you’ve been away for too long. just in case, of course. maybe you’d have more interesting customer encounters to rant about. and hey, you could use the company, couldn’t you?

— reblogs always appreciated!

[valentine-writes]

Hello hello! Been downright dying over how much I love your AtSV work!! So I thought I would feed into it >:) If you're feeling up to it, whats been brewing in your mind about The Spot x reader? Take it platonic or romantic, either has so much potential for fun in my opinion and I guess I'm just interested in what ideas you might have?? Not a lot to work off of from what I'm asking but I hope you're able to have fun with it anyways ^^; Whether youre able to get to this request or not, thanks for reading! Love what you do :)

collision.

「 tws + notes: possibly ooc, unedited, he's kind of pathetic little meow meowified im sorry, first bit inspired by @//submurged-into-clouds !! <3 」

↳ ft. the spot

「 gn!reader, can be platonic or romantic <3 」

author's note: first, AUWJHEJSBS thank u so much!!!! im glad u like what i've written so far– and i am SUPER excited to write for the spot becuz im gon b real,,, there was a momentary lapse of insanity where i was scouring for any content of him at all. SO TY 4 UR REQ!!!! ( /)u(\ ) i hope this is ok!!! i got carried away and stuff so,, i hope this is at the Very Least coherent! leaned for platonic stuff with romantic undertones that intensify throughout so,, read it how u like ^_^

▸ we're going to start this by establishing that bro has literally No Friends anymore. you met him after the collider incident and by some miracle, some sort of mercy from a higher power in the multiverse– you ended up becoming friends with him

really, meeting him was an accident. wasn't supposed to be anything more– just him messing around with his new abilities and slipping into a random universe with no idea where he was.

and there was you.

just you. out, alone at night. just taking a walk– disrupted by someone falling out of a weird portal from the sky.

this is the day your paths crossed, the day your fates intertwined, the moment that your world collided into his.

to put more literally: the day he crashed into you very unceremoniously.

im now re-reading the title and remembering his backstory and giggling at my unintentional joke. he is not catching a break. even from me.

▸ after recovering from a random stranger from another universe tumbling into your own, you began to talk.

now– you don't remember how the conversation started, but you were glad to listen. the way which he rambled to you, words tumbling out of his mouth like they'd been on his mind for a while– you felt like he needed someone to hear him.

he's surprised. you're not bothered. not frightened. not even weirded out. but you're not indifferent. you nod along, you comment on things here and there– but you listen. you actually listen to him.

eventually, when he leaves, you're sat there for a moment. just frozen– processing whether that had really happened or not. you see the indent his body left in the grass where the two of you sat. it's evidence enough for you.

a few weeks pass and you're certain that you were just fated to meet once and never again. you were fine with this.

▸ until he randomly popped up in your living room one day.

yes, he had been actively trying to find your universe again– and as casually as he can be, is now peeking from out the portal he created, head leaning in to get a better look at you.

you're not sure how you can tell considering he has no face,,, but he's definitely smiling.

he waves to you, awkwardly, (noticing that you're just staring at him while not saying a word), "thought i would say hi, so– ...hi."

you blink at him tiredly. "dude, it's 6:30 in the morning–"

he's treating this like it's normal for people to just show up in your house. he missed you– and it's very evident.

▸ no matter what type of relationship you're in with him: you GOTTA set boundaries. being one of the only people who cares to hang around him anymore means that you're gonna be seeing a lot of him.

while he certainly hasn't completely lost grasp on the concept of privacy, it's definitely been altered by the fact he's got powers that allow him to pop up wherever he wants. he's just a teeny bit invasive.

"hello!" he'll greet, randomly poking his head through a portal he made to your bedroom.

on instinct, you throw the closest thing to you. he's just glad you reached for the pillow and not the alarm clock also at your arms reach on the bedside table.

definitely a good idea to remind him that if he wants to hang out, he should probably message you, and if he wants to show up at your house for whatever reason, he should give you a heads up.

he has nearly walked in on you changing. and has apologized a million times every time it's brought up. it fr keeps him up at night.

▸ everyone in his life leaving him def messed him up a bit. he can deny it all he wants, but he's terribly anxious that you're gonna grow tired of him and leave.

constantly like "oh my god what if they leave for someone who has a face" and itz like,,, boy,,,, stfu itz 3am

he needs reassurance, even if he never explicitly says. but you're kind to him. patient. you're pretty much an angel in his eyes.

which is why he feels comfortable texting u in the dead of night like:

(im gonna b real i dont even know why i have this image)

▸ he's dismissed by most people around him– but you've given him your time. you've shown him that you care. he's doing everything he can to be certain you'll still care for him.

the random waves of "oh no but what if they hate me" hit him HARD. especially if he hasn't seen you in a while, if you take longer to respond to his messages, if you haven't been answering his calls– bro will jump to a conclusion

"hypothesis: they dont love me anymore :("

☝️🤓 SORRY HAKJWOENDOEND he would NOT say that. im just clowning on him itz a part of my luv 4 him </3

needs to be needed. wants to be wanted.

eventually you have a long talk about this. he's got a bit of an ego after realizing how much power he truly possessed– but you gently encourage him to let it down. a simple heart to heart. and while you're certain these things aren't going to dissipate with a single conversation, you've let him know he doesn't have to deal with it alone.

▸ physical contact is a need for him. bro's touch starved. he likes linking his pinky with yours or just intertwining your fingers together. if you ever let him rest his head on your shoulder or hugged him he'd actually have to fight tears. he hasn't been given affection in a while :(

▸ he doesn't really feel like he has to hide anything around you. he really doesn't have much of a filter when you're talking to him which makes for some amusing conversation. he finds your laughter the sweetest sound in the world– he likes making you laugh :] it makes him feel like he's accomplished something

▸ the alterations to his body have caused some weird little changes that most people don't notice. one of them most noticeably to you– he'd cold. not frigid or like icy, but a lot colder than normal people tend to be.

you first notice this when you're hanging out in your bedroom. you're sitting on your bed, while he paces back and forth, rambling about another failed villainous act

(you haven't questioned his whole obsession with villainy considering that he seems pretty harmless with what he's been attempting– no matter how much he tries)

"and then– ohh, and tHEN THEY JUST—" you notice how he's gesturing frantically, exasperated, annoyed– and out of instinct to provide some sort of comfort (or at least calm him down) your hand grasps his wrist

there's a moment of silence.

his voice dwindles into a more soft, subdued tone, watching as your fingers wrap around his wrist. "wh– if you wanted me to stop talking, you could've just... just said or...."

his mind is going blank, trailing off at your touch. he doesn't remember the last time someone has held his hand or even brushed up against him without freaking out.

"you're cold." you comment, now taking his hand between both of yours, as if you were trying to heat him back up. you don't meet his eyes, simply staring at his hand.

"oh– yeah, yeah, it's just– a thing with now. came with the holes–"

the sensation of your hands gently squeezing his shuts him up. you raise his hand to your lips and gently blow hot air onto it.

your brow furrows, nose scrunching up. "you're still cold..." you mutter, more to yourself than to him. quietly, your gaze returns to his face.

"does that bother you?" you ask him, after a beat of silence.

he shakes his head. your hands let go of his– but he quietly reaches back to hold it again.

"hold on a second. why don't you try again?" he suggests. you laugh softly, knowing it's obviously just an excuse. still, you humor him.

[dwritesit]

this was supposed to be just a ramble about t4t phantom dew scissoring but it turned into a whole. thing.

unedited, i just wrote this on my breaks at work today lol

tags?: trans ghouls, cunt/pussy/clit/dick/tit used to describe their anatomy, scissoring, puppy as a petname, looots of petnames for tommy

word count: 3244

read under the cut!

...

dew coming back from a trip, an errand that ifrit used to take care of and is now dews responsibility. he's tired, pent up from having to go alone, and he misses his mates so much that it drags at him - but its late when he arrives at the abbey so he knows he's going to have to wait until morning for any sort of pack cuddles or... more than that.

he heads right for his room, fumbling to balance all of his belongings while he pushes the door open, and he's met with the most delectable sight.

he nearly drops his bags when the scent hits him like a punch to the nose. lavender and mint, electric on his taste buds as his tongue darts out to lick his lips. the scent burrows into dews gut, quickly burning into heated desire as sweet whimpers tickle his ears.

"what's this, puppy?" dew will ask, slowly setting his things down.

phantom whines at the name, his hips still thrusting against the pillow like an invisible force is moving them. the quintessence ghoul’s cheeks are blotchy, hes been crying, wailing as he gets close to the edge but can never reach the finish line. he didnt register dew at first, so lost in his heat, in the sensation of dews pillow against his little dick, but as soon as he realizes dew is there, the fire ghouls name is flying off his tongue like a reverence.

dew takes in the sight before him. phantom, bare as the day he was summoned, his lilac and white patched skin glinting with sweat. his plush lips were swollen, they looked bitten, chewed with worry as the poor ghoul tried desperately to catch his release and was met only with more need. dark hair, streaked with white at the front was a mess, poking out in all different directions. what really caught dew was phantoms eyes. how his furrowed brow scrunches and precious tears continue to tumble down his soft cheeks as the fire ghoul stares at him.

"please," phantom says shakily. his hips slow, and dews breath catches in his chest as he admires the large, dark patch on his off-white pillowcase. it wont come out, he already knows, its going to smell of the quint ghoul's desire for him until theyre long gone from the earth. dew doesnt care. he plans to shove his face in the pillow after the night is over and breathe it in while he touches himself.

it burns through him, lust, need, want, desperation. like he's pulling phantom's emotions off his shoulders and adding them to his own. it makes him feel lighter, and he wants to pounce and ravage and take the sweet ghoul apart, to make him cry. equally, it fills him with warmth. with passion, love, makes him feel gooey inside to find one of his mates waiting for him like this - that phantom had missed dew just as he had missed him.

so he moves slowly. though his quickly stiffening clit spasms in his boxers. he takes his time, keeping eye contact with phantom, who is beginning to look more curious than distraught, as dew sits down on a bench across from the bed to untie his boots.

phantom stills himself, watching the fire ghoul, waiting for instructions and dew knows it. the room is quiet, and dew also knows how the other ghoul tends to squirm against the lack of rules. hed be desperate to know what sort of game dew is about to play - maybe he will be patient and wait for dew to tell him what is going to happen, or-

"im sorry," it's almost a whisper, voice coarse probably from crying. it makes dew wonder why none of the other ghouls had gotten to the room first, they must have heard the shouts of pleasure throughout the entire hallway lined with their separate bedrooms.

dew clicks his tongue as he slides one boot off and then moves to the other, taking his eyes away from phantom to focus on his task. there was a wet patch spreading through his own underwear, making his fingers shake against the strings. he cant wait to take phantom apart.

"sorry for what, baby boy?"

phantom whines, "your pillow, dewy. i ruined your pillow."

the other boot comes off and hits the floor with a loud thud. dews tail flicks at the nickname he only allows this puppy to use.

"that's okay, you didn't do anything wrong. its just a pillow," dew says as he stands. he shucks off his jacket and tosses it over a chair, but leaves the rest of his clothes on as he approaches the bed. he watches phantoms eyes flick up and down his body, a silent question as to whether or not dew planned to stay clothed. dew doesn't answer it.

"why didn't you ask one of the others to help you? you're in heat." he says instead, and phantoms eyes well up again in response, "did you miss me?"

phantom nods fervently, catching his lower lip on one of his fangs in an attempt to not cry.

"just-just wanted you. needed- need you. it hurts"

dew understands this; many of the ghouls' heats often craved for a specific partner in the beginning, sometimes craving the mate they hadn't been with in a while, or in dew's case, it was always rain who he was bonded with. the heat doesn't settle until it gets what it wants.

dew reaches out to stroke phantom's cheek, and the quintessence ghoul leans into his hand heavily, a crackling purr kicking in instantly as he nuzzles dews skin. dew's own purr spurs to life, filling the silence with their rumbles. he feels good. being needed, being missed. and phantom's openness, some might call naïve, but to dew it was beautiful. the quint ghoul unburdened by shame, wearing all of his emotions on his pretty features, not yet instilled with the insecurities and fears many of the other ghouls gathered during their time on earth. a part of dew aches, remembering how he had once been just as vulnerable, splaying his heart out for all of his lovers - he's grateful for their patience with him now. he's grateful for this ghoul in front of him who doesn't even know yet that one might judge the display of emotions.

"need me to take care of you, sweet bug?" dew asks, bringing his other hand up to cup phantom's face. phantom nods in the hold, his body squirming under dew's watchful eyes. the fire ghoul considers what the next step is, should be. phantom often enjoyed when dew was mean, the back of a hand against his cheek, but tonight felt heavier than that. thick with more than just lust, softer around the edges.

"are you going to be good for me?" dew asks, taking step back, a shiver running down his spine as phantom chases his touch. the way he needs him makes possessiveness spark inside dews chest.

"always," phantom promises. dew takes another step back, just so he can see all of phantom before him. still poised on his knees, cunt pressed to the pillow. dew can tell he's itching for more friction, lilac tail hitting the mattress in quick succession.

"always good for me," dew says, "show me then."

"show you?" phantom tilts his head to the side cutely.

"show me how you were before i got home, tell me what you were thinking about."

phantom swallows visibly, nodding as he mentally prepares, "no teasing right?"

"i wont tease you tonight, sweet bug. just want to see how beautiful you are when you're so desperate for me."

phantom flushes at the words and nods again, more eagerly, "i was..." he grinds down on the pillow softly, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment at the sensation, "i was thinking about you... missed you so much."

"did you miss my cock, baby?" dew gently palms himself through his pants, they were almost soaked through already.

phantom shook his head, "n-no, i mean - yes! always... but i wanted-want just you."

dew stares as phantom rolls his hips down harder. his little patch of hair above his slit is glistening with his slick, the puffiness of his lips are mesmerizing as they drag across the fabric. dews desire to grab and devour is almost as strong as his want to take his time with the other ghoul.

"i was thinking about that-that time when i felt- shit, felt you against me," phantoms words trail off into a moan. dew steps forward, unable to stop himself from lifting phantom's chin so he can swallow the sounds off of his tongue. he kisses him greedily; slow and deep, savoring his sharp, electric flavor, phantom continuing to let out sweet little noises into dew's mouth as he ruts against the pillow. when he lets go, phantom keens loudly.

"can we please?"

"please what, baby boy?" dew knows what.

"dewy, i need to feel you. i need it. it hurts, please."

dew kisses him again, filthier this time, until there's spit dribbling down his chin. he moans into it, which spurs the other ghoul on further, "you need to feel my pussy on yours?"

phantom cries out, hips stuttering at the words, more weak than even dewdrop is to dirty talk. dew knows it, revels in it.

"please, please!" phantom begs.

"want me to ride your sweet little cunt like last time?" dew emphasizes the words by reaching down between them to slide his fingers between phantom's folds. the quintessence ghoul ruts up into his hand, covering it in slick, moans growing louder. the whole abbey must know what they're up to by now. dew grins, thinking about how the other ghouls would be begging for every detail in the morning, probably jerking themselves to all of phantom's desperate noises.

"you have to let the pillow go and help me undress if you want it. can you do that for me, puppy?"

phantom nods quickly, but his body is reluctant as he slowly takes the pillow out from between his thighs. dew lets him take his time, shaky fingers pulling at his shirt buttons and struggling with his zipper. he knows phantom wants to earn it, wants to be good for him, so he lets him. praising him as he goes, drinking in the sight of his blushed cheeks, his wagging tail.

the room is thick with both of their scents by the time dews clothes are fully removed and tossed to some corner. they both breathe it in, phantom's sharp heated scent; the lavender and mint - and dew's beach campfire, salt and smoke. he likes the way they intertwine with each other, so different that they never fully homogenize, but its exciting the way he can taste both of them on the air.

phantom is staring at dew, between his thighs where the fire ghoul is now on display. he's waiting for permission.

"want to touch?" dew asks.

phantom licks his lips, "want to taste."

so dew lets him. he kneels onto the bed before settling back against the headboard. his thighs part, skin already shiny, his cunt aching. phantom wastes no time before diving in, licking up between dews folds, sucking his clit, lapping at his slick. a cacophony of moans and cries leave dew's tongue, forcing down embarrassment because he wants to bare himself open for phantom, wants him to know how good he makes him feel. phantom swallows it down, becomes more eager he louder dew gets.

a barrage of praises fall off dew's own tongue, and he grasps at phantoms hair, shoving him deeper, "that's it, baby, you're so good at this. making me feel so good, fuck."

he lets phantom up for a moment, and the quintessence ghoul is grinning, face covered in dew from his nose to his chin. his dark tongue swipes around his mouth, wiggling his ass in the air. then hes dropping back in again, his tongue poking at dew's hole before sinking inside and fucking in and out. dew shouts with pleasure, phantoms nose pressed against his clit as he licks inside him.

dew's gut tightens. he gently tugs on phantom's horn to bring him up, he doesn't want to finish like this. phantom looks drunk when he rises for the second time; pupils completely blown out, covering his bright gold irises almost completely, and he's whining while one of his hands slithers between his own legs.

dew replaces that hand with his own, teasing phantoms hard nub, its raw and sensitive, and he brings their mouths back together. the taste of himself fills his senses, electric campfire as he sucks his slick off of phantom's tongue. dew nips at his lips, adding sweet metallic to the spice, and phantom gives into all of it. gives all of himself to dew as he grinds into dews hand.

"you're so lovely," dew says against his lips.

"i love you," phantom cries in response.

dew cant help but smile into their kiss, fangs clicking together, "i love you too, sweetness."

"need you now, need to cum." phantom's breathing is erratic, his clit twitching in dews hand.

dew nods. he tries not to show it, wanting to remain calm and steady for his mate, but he needs it just as bad. he craved touch the whole weekend he was away.

"lay back for me, sweetheart. there you go,"

phantom lays back on the bed, head propped up with a pillow, one leg raising at the knee instinctively knowing what is coming. dew smiles at the beautiful vision before him.

"look how wet you are," he says, eyeing the way phantoms thighs have slick dripping down them, and now down towards his ass. the whole bed will need to be stripped but its worth everything, "almost as soaked as rainy when he's in heat."

"rainy," phantom breathes out.

dew grins, "yeah? want rainy to come help out in the morning?"

phantom nods, biting his lip. dew spreads his legs farther apart, raising himself up on his own legs to settle vertically across phantom's. he lifts one of phantom's legs higher, positioning himself so his own cunt is directly above his own. he's dripping down, aching to press against phantom's, to feel his little clit against his own.

"you know," he starts as he slowly lowers himself, wanting to drag out the heat of it all, "they're probably listening right now."

phantom nearly sobs as dew finally sits down, their cunts sliding together with how wet they both are. dew has to grit his teeth in order to not cry with him. he grinds down slowly, watching phantoms head fall backwards against the pillow, eyes rolling with the movement.

"they'll all be jealous, jerking off into their hands right now listening to your pretty sounds, puppy," dew continues, rolling his hips in a rhythm that phantom doesn't have enough brain left for to keep up with. the quintessence ghoul's hips only stutter and rut, and dew can't blame him. the sensation against all his aching parts is intense, he can feel his own heat being kicked at, pleasure zipping through every nerve in his body. the sounds made it worse, slick noises filling the air as he ground down on him. he tries to emphasize his movements over phantoms clit, wanting to stimulate him as much as he can.

"good puppy," dew says through his teeth, fingers digging dimples into phantom's thigh as he speeds up his pace, condensation beginning to bead on his brow and shoulders, "maybe we should let them watch next time, would you like that?"

phantom can't respond, too lost in it, falling into bliss as delicate feminine moans are ripped from his throat. dew wants to keep him there, keep his mate feeling this good forever. he knows how stressed the ghoul gets, how exhausted. phantom's love language was physical touch, a way for him to relax and cool down, and dew wants to give it all to him, make him feel loved. praise him for asking for what he needs.

dew's riding phantom in earnest, sweet words tumbling out unapologetically. phantom is crying his name, begging for more, asking if he's allowed to cum over and over.

"you need to cum baby?" dew asks, grinding harder, able to keep his own desperation out of his shaky voice. that familiar knot is growing in his gut, he needs this just as badly. to let go with his mate.

"need it so bad, want to cum with you."

"want to cum with you too, puppy."

phantom arcs off the bed, one hand digging into dews thigh, the other tweaking his own nipple - if dew could reach at this angle, he'd be sucking on them, running his forked tongue over the buds till phantom was crying from sensitivity.

"can you play with your other tit for me sweetheart? i cant reach, but i love how sensitive you get," dew says and phantom obeys quickly. hand leaving dews thigh and whimpers leaving his lips as he fondles himself. "good boy, so good for me."

"can i please cum?" phantom is crying, tears streaking down his cheeks, making his eyes sparkle.

"cum for me," dew begs, "cum with me."

he moves his hips back in forth, faster and faster, watching phantom's face as it contorts in concentration, chasing the finish line. phantoms body goes rigid for a moment, then he arcs up again, mouth agape with a cut-off cry as he finally gets his release. it gushes out, soaking between them further and that's all dew needs before he's coming with him, vision going white, legs shaking with the effort to keep riding phantom through it. he feels it between them, their releases combined, making the most sinful, wet sounds as dew slowly comes to a stop.

chest heaving, dew tries to catch his breath.

"dewy..." phantom's voice is mushy, and when dew looks at him, he sees the ghoul barely able to keep his eyes open.

"you wanna sleep?" he asks as he raises himself up, shivering as their combined fluids seep down his legs. phantom nods, already beginning to curl into a ball, his tail pulled up towards his mouth, "sleep, i'll clean you up, okay?"

"okay... i love you," phantom says sleepily around his tail. dew smiles, leaning over and pressing a lingering kiss to the sweet ghoul's forehead. he quickly goes to the bathroom to clean himself off, maybe he takes a little bit longer than intended because he can's resist sucking phantom's slick off his fingers, but eventually returns with a warm, wet washcloth. he keeps it warm with his magic as he wipes between phantom's thighs. he cleans it once, then returns to wipe the salt from the other ghoul's skin. he only has to move phantom once, just to put a fresh blanket down - he can strip everything tomorrow - and then settles down beside him.

he feels... good still. the ache is dulled. it's the best homecoming he's had in a while.

[kaciidubs]

My Mrs. Claus | 8 Days of SKZcember 2023

Prompt: "ho ho holy shit you look good." lmao im so sorry

❣ Summary: Who didn't want to make a statement for one of the final parties of the year? ❣  ❣ Word Count: 986 ❣ Warnings: Fluff, humor, slight suggestiveness, Jisung is a flirt but he means well ❣  ❣ Female! Reader [No use of Y/N] | You/Your pronouns ❣  ❣ Additional Tags: Han is referred to as Jisung, Ji, and Baby, Reader is referred to as Jagi, Mrs. Claus, unedited ❣ Stray Kids Masterlist ❣ General Masterlist ❣ SKZcember 2023

It was your favorite time of the year; the annual JYP Family Christmas Party finally making its appearance - a somewhat under the radar event started by a few of the seniors of the company as an opportunity for all of the artists and staff to have a night of celebrating the year’s accomplishments and catch up with friends they wouldn’t usually be able to catch up with.

Sometimes faces from other companies make an appearance, but the majority would always be JYP signed artists and even trainees - though they would only be allowed to stick around for the early hours of the party.

This year you planned to do it big - well, not big, big, but big to where you found yourself staring at a red sweater dress and a black leather belt to go across the middle currently laid out on your bed; a classic rendition of the jolly old Saint Nick, but cuter.

“You know the party starts in two hours, right?”

Rolling your eyes, you looked toward the closed door of your bedroom, as if you would miraculously gain x-ray vision to see your boyfriend on the other side. “Yes, Ji, I know!”

“And you know we said we’d meet the others before heading there, right?”

You scoffed, turning toward your vanity to start a simple makeup look, “I know - I don’t even know why you decided to come here to get ready, I could’ve just met you at the 3Racha plus Artist dorm.”

Even with the door shut, you could picture his offended expression paired with the pointedly loud gasp he made sure you would hear.

“And have to find out what my beautiful, amazing girlfriend is wearing at the same time as my friends? No way! That’s cruel and unusual punishment, Jagi.”

“Then you should know,” you started, pausing for a moment to apply foundation around your mouth and chin, “the more you talk to me, the longer I’m gonna take to get ready!”

“Can’t you just let me inside? I won’t do anything but watch!”

“Han Jisung.”

“Fine, fine - I’m going! I’ll be on the other side of the door, scared, cold, and so, so lonely.”

“Alexa, volume seven, please.”

The sound of your music grew louder, effectively putting a pacifier on Jisung’s teasing antics as you continued getting ready for the party.

It didn’t take long for you to finish your makeup and hair, and by the time you shimmied into your dress, there was a little more than an hour left on your metaphorical timer.

“Okay, baby, you can come i-”

The door swung open at lightning speed, Jisung all but falling through the doorway as he eagerly scanned your room, “Finally! Took you forever, I thought I was gonna-” His eyes landed on your form and they widened instantly, lips falling into a small ‘o’ as he took you in fully.

Bristling at the sudden attention, you found yourself consciously tugging at the hem of the dress, though it fell respectfully just above your knees, “Is it too much? I bought this not too long ago when I realized it matches your sweater and-”

“Ho, ho, holy shit, you look good!” Barely even acknowledging your nervous rambling, he made his way toward you, a wide smile growing on his lips, “Jagi, you look- wow, look at you!”

A sheepish laugh floated past your lips as you reached for the belt to top off the outfit, easily sliding it around your waist and fastening it. “Alright, alright, you don’t have to gas me up, Ji.”

“Gas you up? Baby, I don’t need a reason to gas you up, you’re already on fire!” He let out a low whistle, scanning you up and down as if you were a priceless find, “Mrs. Claus, can I sit on your lap and tell you what I want instead?”

“Jisung!” You laughed, fanning yourself in hopes of alleviating the heat of his stare and his equally heated compliments. “It’s really nothing, I’m sure there’s gonna be other people more dressed up than I am.”

“You really think that would matter to me? You could’ve dressed as the Grinch and I’d still think you were the hottest one in the room.” Walking closer to you, he slid his hands onto your hips, fingers welcoming the soft cotton dress, “You look beautiful, Jagi, really.”

Cooing softly, you leaned forward to press a soft kiss to his lips, being mindful to not smudge the red lipstick that currently painted your lips, “Thank you, baby - you look handsome too.”

Sharing one final kiss, you slipped your way out of his arms before he could be compelled to steal another kiss that would set you both back longer than necessary.

“I just need to put on my heels and we’ll be out, okay?”

“Whatever you say, Mrs. Claus, I’m just your humble elf servant here to do anything you need me to.”

Grabbing one of your black boots from the floor, you looked up at him with an arched brow, “You don’t want to be Mr. Claus?”

A sly smirk creeped its way onto his face as he shook his head, ash brown hair tickling his forehead at the motion, “Nah, Mrs. Claus getting with one of her helper elves is a way hotter concept.”

You hummed slowly, nodding your head as you slipped on your shoe, “Right, right, we’ll unpack that thought later.”

Putting on your other shoe, you were officially ready to meet with the other boys; grabbing a jacket from the closet while Jisung handled your purse and a pair of flats ‘just in case’.

“Jagi, you mind letting the guys know we’re leaving now?” Jisung called as he made sure the van was ready outside.

Humming in acknowledgement, you unlocked your phone to send a swift text to the combined group chat.

You: Mrs. Claus and her Elf are on their way 🎄

✧. ┊Tagged lovelies: @goblinracha, @having-an-internal-crisis-rn, @midnightfrog625, @anyhow-everything, @bangchanbabygirlx, @sweetracha, @j-onedrabbles, @happilydeepestwonderland, @nightimescapes, @caitlyn98s, @ch4nn13luv, @ihrtlix, @sometimesleeknows, @jeonjungkookenthusiast1997, @maximumkillshot, @y-ur--i, @acker-night, @dreamescapeswriting, @specialstay, @broken-glowsticks, @s00buwu, @dancerachaslut, @junglyric, @tinyelfperson, @jj-stay, @katsukis1wife, @inlovewithmusician, @keen-li, @armystay89, @main-character0, @vampcharxter, @ddyskz, @prettymiye0n

✧. ┊If your username is in bold italics that means tumblr won't let me tag you. If you’d like to be added to the taglist, fill out this form!

[narfin-frood]

oh yeah no i'm aware of the point of this au being that their personalities are more or less the same, just the roles they place in the story. i just forgot the word 'redeemed' and was unsure how to word it without it being to clutter-y. i usually try not to swarm inboxes with my ramblings😅

this point is actually what fascinates me in your au so much! like, it gives so much room to play around with, yet still stays true to the show :) IT'S SUCH A GOOD AU!!

(also nooo😭😭😭 touch grass was not aimed at you, i was just repeating what i saw in your post-reply to me. like, hater saying this to sylvia. im sorry for being unclear)

and yay! thanks so much! i'm swamped w work/projects atm so i'm like. UNSURE. when the promised art will happen. but it will.

/stares at the unedited 5k beast abt deprogramming swap!dominator/ i'm talking abt YOU SPECIFICALLY.

the thing abt fears is what makes this wander so fascinating to me. cults lowkey freak me out + the forced "must never move bc ITS BETTER FOR EVERYONE THAT WAY" oof. a lot of potential.

anyway, hope you're having a day! sometimes just a day is enough. though good is preferred obv

ohhh i apologize i got a little confused!!! you can ramble as much as you need to it's no big deal to me. i'll read it! i am notoriously The Rambler, and i like to hear what people think about the things i make!!!

if i'm understanding right now, you are/were asking how wander gets redeemed, or how it would go down when he does (sorry if that's still not really your question)? because i have plans i cannot share with you lest my enemies (the creatures in my brain that keep me from actively doing anything) try to strike me down... but the event would be ermmm Power of friendship, to be as vague as possible, and it would have to do with the strength of the bond between meteor and peepers and esp the bond between sylvia and wander..... i want to say more but i cant without spoiling what im cooking......

and thank you very much!!! believe me i get being ultra busy (i am also ultra busy, i'm just an expert procrastinator and i hate getting off my ass to do things) and i do not Slash will never expect anything of anybody!!! pls do it on your own time and have fun with it if you do end up doing it. no worries whatsoever if you don't. i'm forever psyched to see what you come up with, and also, do not let that be the pressure that breaks it for you!! theres no pressure at all :)

(also deprogramming dominator fic thats so FUN !!!! thats so fun)

i hope you also have a good day!! i've been having a decent weekend myself

[mapletine]

silly celeb au concept sketches (wing photocard next week <3)

+ i have so many thoughts abt this au guys i need to be sedated (don’t open the cut unless u rly want more info bc. there's. A LOT. it will be a wall of incoherent rambling text im sorry)

ok first disclaimers: i know very little abt idols and even less abt modeling so!! if anything is horrifically inaccurate forgive me im stupid!! and also this will literally be stream of consciousness unedited so if it makes zero sense im very sorry

now we begin the madness

some background info: kite was scouted off the street (as he was walking off from pickpocketing someone LMAO) for his height and build, currently very sought after to model for many brands because he’s literally the same as the sketch models on paper so the designers don’t have to compromise on their clothing designs to fit the model, bc he just. looks exactly like the paper sketch. also the white hair is very distinctive!! and his prep/management team is his research team <3 he’s currently the face of several brands, including the zoldyck brand (i see the zoldycks as a very influential family in the fashion/modeling industry, kikyo was a former model until an accident, now she’s focusing on designing, all the kids are involved in the industry somehow, illumi is within the same agency (?is that how modeling works) as kite). he’s in his mid-twenties ish and hes 6'3" - 6'4" (190 - 193 cm)

wing and his idol group debuted a couple years ago (haven’t thought too much about the members, but im thinkin feitan maybe? kurapika?? shalnark?? idk guys maybe he’s a solo act) and they’ve skyrocketed to fame. uhh in terms of content they produce, thinkin something similar to wayv/bts type music (stuff that crowds just eat up LOL like love talk by wayv, luna by oneus that kind of music) and im thinking that wing’s debut look was REALLY BAD (they made the poor man blond) but when they put him back to his normal hair color he got rly popular. he’s had some bad eras where the stylists made him look a little goofy but… he’s good now (his best era was the mullet era). also he was trained by bisky who was a former idol who has retired and she's a legend in the industry… and wing is currently guiding an idol trainee (zushi lol). wing’s in his early-mid-twenties i think and he's 5'9" - 5'10" (175 - 178 cm)

ok and the main 4 fit into this uhh... i think gon is also an idol trainee along w zushi. and killua is currently modeling for a popular teen's clothing brand. i think i mentioned kurapika as being a part of wing's idol group but lowk i think maybe he's an actor instead. leorio is also. an actor. yeah ok there we go

uhhhh ok general thoughts:

i see them meeting at like.. the met gala or its equivalent and they meet when wing trips over kite’s clothes (he’s wearing something with a ridiculously long train and wing isn’t looking where he’s going), and at first wing thinks kite is super standoffish/rude bc he doesn’t apologize or offer a hand when wing trips… he just.. sorta stares at him on the floor for a second then clacks off in his very pointy shoes (he was flustered abt the very pretty stranger who just fell for over him. also he was STRESSED asf) (also the perspective that wing had probably didn't help bc bro was on the floor and kite was staring down at him from a height of like 6'9 with the heels)

afterwards there’s a bunch of pictures and edits of wing falling over all over the internet bc it was kind of funny… and ppl are telling him like “oh my god you tripped over yorknew’s top model the LITERAL FACE of fashion right now” and wing is like “damn i didn’t know also he’s a jerk”… and to kite ppl r telling him “oh my god the country’s MOST POPULAR IDOL tripped on you” and kite’s like “uhhh.. who?” (he doesn’t keep up with the entertainment industry despite being a part of it) and they both search each other up and they both have a moment like “oh my god i fucked up (also he's really hot)”

anyways they continue randomly (not at all random very much orchestrated by the people around them) meeting at things,,, there’s a very awkward apology from kite where he explains (sortof) why he didn’t help wing up… uhh stuff happens they fall in love and start dating LOL (i didnt think abt this part that hard) and for a hot minute there r paparazzi photos circulating of them together and the media is losing their collective shit

fast forward a little bit and they r like “yea we r together LOL” and then u start seeing kite at wing’s concerts in a spectator box staring very lovingly at wing on the stage and wing (and sometimes his whole idol group) starts showing up to fashion shows and wing looks like shellshocked every time kite steps onto the catwalk hes got kind of an awed stare on his face

ok future thoughts:

after abt two? ish years dating (engaged for 6 months out of those 2 yrs) they have an extremely private wedding with only close friends invited, and when ppl start noticing theyre wearing wedding bands (takes a while bc wing usually wears a lot of rings anyways, and kite wears his on a necklace and not on his hand) the media has a collective meltdown. again. (i am the media in this i think. i have meltdowns bc of them.)

um and eventually (around when him and kite get married) wing's idol group splits apart as they all go to pursue individual passions/careers, so now he's workin on his own music/vision. i think his personal music is much more peaceful and vibey than what his old group produced, more gentle love songs and poetic music and whatnot.

and kite steps out of the spotlight and is focusing on nature conservation philanthropy type stuff,, so he'll still step out and model for charity/fundraiser type stuff and he's the face of a large conservation foundation. (also bc sometimes he'll join like.. ocean cleanup initiatives or similar things and like. imagine ur volunteering to pick up garbage on the beach and u literally see like. anya taylor joy and her husband also out there picking up garbage or smthn. that's how the other ppl feel.) hes also a big advocate for no kill shelters and donates a shitload to them i like to think.

so yeah ok if u made it this far bless u!!! i dont really have any coherent storyline thoughts just this aggregation of random world building thoughts ok bye (btw if u have thoughts on this feel free to dm me abt them or tell me what u think in the replies or tags im brain rotting abt this stupid au so hard rn)

anyways im no writer (if u couldnt alr tell from this word vomit) so no fic but i may continue churning out thought fragments like this

[astarionposting]

PSA about my screenshots/gifs going forward!

soo due to issues with my screenshots being reuploaded to other platforms without credits/being watermarked by other people (which why tf do ppl do that its so weird), I will be adding my own watermark to my screenshots and gifs from now on...

HOWEVER, I know people like to use my stuff for wallpapers/edits/banners, etc., so I have made a google drive folder where I will upload all of my unedited/unwatermarked screenshots/gifs (also uncompressed gifs! yayyy higher quality!!).

ACCESS PAGE TO FOLDER

(sorry im making u go thru an access page but i gotta cover my bases)

time for rambling:

MAYBE I am being too much about this, but it does bother me because I do put a lot of time and effort into the content I make for bg3, even if it isnt like art or something.. and im trying NOT to be dramatic about it, nor do i like getting upset at people for it; a lot of people dont know if/think screenshots/gifs of a game need to be credited (which i get.. disappointingly, i was the same way before, it just never crossed my mind). Or maybe people just dont care lol.

SO hopefully doing it this way will make it so mostly my watermarked stuff is reuploaded and my unwatermarked stuff can still be seen/used! I don't mind if you reupload/use the unwatermarked versions, just add your own version of credit

(it can even be a little tiny tiny hyperlinked © idc)

SO YA ok enough of my rambling on about this, im annoying myself. ENJOY!!! I will be uploading the pngs/gifs aligned with the time I make the post on tumblr. I will eventually upload old stuff too... just too much work rn.

TLDR; ppl keep uploading my stuff without crediting and im annoying and dont like it so i will be watermarking my stuff but u can get the unwatermarked stuff from my google drive folder :)

BUT A BONUS IS YOU GET TO SAVE THE PNG VERSION OF MY SCREENSHOTS AND NOT THE SHITTY JPG FROM TUMBLR!!!

[hotchs-big-hands]

okay girlie hand kink hotch

you were a little late so when you got to the round table room you scooted past aaron with a quickly muttered 'sorry im late' and as you pass aarons chair you put your hands on his shoulders to scoot by and the tips of his ears go red and he clears his throat before saying "its no problem. someone can catch you up on the way to the air field" and looking back at the gruesome crime scene photos, which quickly put the delicious burning sensation on aarons shoulders out of his mind.

walking around together outside the crime scene tape to determine wether the attack was contained to the scene or if it was spread out over a larger area and when you use your hand to tap on his chest and point out what looks like a smear of dried blood on a seemingly abandoned car and he cant help himself but to ask "did you get your bails done yesterday? they look good" and now youre BOTH blushing.

aaron being flustered because while you were calming down and interviewing a traumatized child you slowly start to braid her hair to lull her into a sense of safety and he watches your fingers so intently as they flex and twist the strands of her hair together. he wants to shoot himself for getting so bothered over such an innocent moment.

hes laying on his bed in hotel room. its late and hes so fucking pent up from spending all god damn day getting riled up over you and your fucking hands. he needs a release and he needs it soon. so here he is, pajama pants pushed down, his sick sticking out of the slit in his boxers, and his left hand firmly gripping his heavy cock and stroking it. his mind is flooded with the vision of your hands. if you have soft dainty little hands hes thinking about how good theyll feel on his cock, stroking him to completion and rubbing against his skin. if you have larger rougher hands hes imaging how it would feel to have them gripping in his hair and scratching down his back.

hes so close, biting his shirt as to bot make noise, hips thrusting up off the bed to match to pace his hand is stroking. his eyes are rolling back and the pressure is building and building and- theres someone knocking on his door. he freezes for a moment before stroking again, whoever it is can wait til morning. hes sleeping. but then they knock again, louder. horny, tired and now pissed off, he shoves himself in his pants as quick as he can and marches to the door, bitterness welling up inside him as the subtle pain of blue balls creeps up (???im not a penis haver idk if thats accurate lmfao where is criminalskies when you need them) until he opens the door and realizes its you.

and for some reason, you look about as pent up and wrecked as he feels. he doesnt really remember exactly how it happened. one moment hes standing at the door asking if youre alright and the next hes sittingg on the edge of the bed, leaned back on one elbow with his other hand tangled in the sheets. head tipped back, eyes shut and mouth open spilling out soft sighs and little whimpers. both of your hands are wrapped around his cock, slowly slowly moving up anna down, twisting your wrists and leaning down and give kittenish locks to his tip. now it might be the fastest aaron's ever cum since high school, but good fucking damn was it worth it.

hes just hoping he still has a job when you guys get back to quantico. and the chance to get your hands on him again.

unedited idgaf its late and horny hour we ride like men with our typos and convoluted ramblings.

A W O O G A AAAAAAAAA I LOVE THIS IM 🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣 WOW YEAH SKSKFJRJFJWJDJAJSJ

G o d him looking at his cum dripping from your fingers would absolutely wreck his brain I'm so fucking sure of it. He's never been so turned on in a while.

[catominor]

ok heres everything i have written about romegaverse in my drafts .... putting it under a readmore so that i dont have to subject anyone who is not interested in this beautiful horrible world weve created to my extensive romegaverse worldbuilding. also this is unedited so if its incomprehensible sorry i have a very rambly way of writing when im thinking through very important questions such as these.

ok but what about gender roles. obviously omegas are stereotyped to be more feminine, and this is certainly true for female omegas (who i imagine get stereotyped as oversexed and promiscuous, but are simultaneously lusted after/desirable) but male omegas, after gaining civil rights, have worked very hard to dispel stereotypes of them as effeminate and useless in 'male' spheres (which has only partly worked). perhaps if a male omega is married to a male alpha or beta he's called a wife and expected to take the wife's role in the relationship in private, but still at the same time expected not to act 'effeminate' in his public life (if he has one, which most high status male omegas choose to) and is held to similar standards about this as other men, because he is still a man.

i imagine there'd be weird double standards about both male and female omegas? like they'd be simultaneously revered and reviled. a male omega is highly desirable because he has, in romegaverse society's view, the brain of a man but with the ability to reproduce like a woman. but there;s also a distrust of his effeminate role in private life and whether that makes him untrustworthy. female omegas, again, are highly desirable but also distrusted because of their exaggerated femininity.

(as an aside i imagine female alphas would be viewed as undesirable to most men, but would perhaps have a special place in society? maybe have some kind of priesthood a lot of them are in or religious significance to them? there also probably wouldn't be very many of them depending on whether secondary gender is visible from birth (in which case a lot of them would probably be exposed) or appeared later, in which case there'd be an amount of them proportional to male alphas)

more romegaverse thoughts: i wonder if they would end up with a dearth of women in the population if men could get pregnant? like, having a daughter wouldn't be as useful as an omega son because a daughter wouldn't also be able to participate in politics like an omega son would, and you can still marry off your omega son too for alliances so it's like the best of both worlds (though obviously it would depend on your finances; it would cost a lot of money to both give your omega son a dowry and finance his political career). im picturing a world where like. 1/3 of people each are alphas, betas, and omegas. maybe due to this they've ended up with like a 60/40 or maybe even 70/30 male/female divide? fluctuating through time probably based on other factors like the economy and so on.

as for discrimination against omegas i imagine there was a big movement for more (male) omega political rights in like the early or mid republic. mayhaps even an omega war. so now they are able to participate in politics but theres still a lot of stereotypes about them and distrust of them/view of them as less capable than other types of men. i also don't think they would be allowed to participate in warfare due to their ability to get pregnant maybe?

marriages: id imagine any union that could produce children would be a marriageable one, but any combination of sexes that couldn't would not be marriageable. so a male alpha could marry anyone except another male alpha or a male beta, a female alpha could marry anyone at all, and so on. (this is assuming that male omegas and female alphas have both functioning reproductive systems? idk is that how it usually works?) (also not sure about female alpha/female beta or omega marriages? they wouldn't have much legal rights; but maybe it's a kind of right of three children type thing where the female alpha gets limited legal freedom once she marries another woman? or maybe female alphas always have that type of legal position by virtue of being alphas? probably the latter.)

relationships: it's socially disapproved of for said non-able-to-have-children couples to be in a relationship, but not necessarily illegal. it's also socially unacceptable for a man to have a relationship with a male omega who isn't his wife. (more to think about here but i am so tired)

hiding status?: i think it would be possible for people to hide their status (for instance, if an omega wanted to be in war) but it would be probably a lot more difficult for high social class people. because it's not necessarily immediately obvious on the outside whether someone's an alpha, a beta, or an omega, if you could get anyone who knew for sure either on board to lie for you or to at least keep quiet, you could probably use some kind of medication to disguise your smell or whatever (is that how it works? its like smell or pheromones based right?) and pretend to be a different status. (perhaps in an earlier period it was much stricter/society was more repressive about disclosing your status, but now that omegas have more rights it's less stringent)

[ectopuppy]

which ben 10 series do u like best??!! im a sucker for the original series bc of nostalgia personally, but they are all good in their own ways

this is an impossible question to answer so im just gonna talk about why i love each series im sorry and thank you anon for gifting me this opportunity to ramble about The Hyperfixation (tm) o7

This is going under a cut btw. It's a little under 3000 words of unedited thoughts so like, just a heads up lmao

Why is the Original Series Good?

So first! Before I get into it! I overall just fucking love Ben 10 conceptually in general! I've always loved aliens and sci-fi and superheroes so you can imagine how excited I was to stumble onto this show airing on teletoon when I was just a tiny Kiki.

The OS has a lot going for it, but the big one is, of course, the nostalgia factor. Iconic as fuck! Fun theme song! Max is there! Yay!!

The BEST character in the OS is Max and I WILL die on that hill. Even as a kid I fucking loved him. Ben and Gwen are fun characters, but Max is the much needed reprieve from them constantly bickering. (Which is one thing I'm glad there's a lot less of in later series.)

Ben is a compelling hero, and the OS is an amazing START POINT for him. While he does have character growth in the OS, I would not be THIS obsessed with him if the OS was the only Ben 10 media that existed. He's a kid. A bit of a brat, but always TRYING to do the right thing. Which he's not always great at considering he's, you know, 10, but he really does try.

Something a lot of people seem to brush past when talking about Ben is that at the beginning of the series he was actively friendless and being bullied at school. I feel like that's a huge factor in why the Omnitrix is so important to his identity in later series. (or even in the Xylene episode when he finds out the Omnitrix was supposed to be for Max) He really didn't have much going for him before that. Being a hero is very likely one of the first times he's felt like he belongs somewhere, you know? Anyway..

Gwen is also very fun in the OS. UAF filed down her teeth just a little too much in my opinion. A lot of her personality in the OS is her THINKING she's sooo much more mature than Ben despite also being a fucking grade schooler. (They are literally the EXACT same age, right down to sharing a birthday.) She's is just as immature as Ben, no matter how much she thinks she isn't. It's just that her smug "I know better." attitude doesn't cause outfacing issues as often as Ben being impulsive and a little self centred.

The OS also benefits from being the "spaghetti on the wall" series. Things just kinda worked however the writers wanted at the moment. Big point here: Magic got to just be magic. (I have made a whole ass post RE: Anodite Gwen so I wont get into it here, but I like the retcon. That statement does not conflict with the above.) Gwen getting fed up being sidelined and going "Fuck it I'm learning magic." is so good and I love it.

I feel like it is impossible to not like the OS in some form, because it's the Original Series. Everything that happens later can only have happened BECAUSE of the OS. Is it my favourite series? No. But it's charming and silly and fun and I love it. c:

Why is Alien Force Good?

Alien Force is a tonal downshift for the series. The era it was made in was the era of Gritty Cartoons for Cool Boys, and it shows. Now, this is not a bad thing to ME, but I know a lot of people don't like the heavier atmosphere of Alien Force, especially in its opening arc. Like... episode 1 (or 2 not sure, but it's in the premiere) of AF has a dude straight up just fucking die, which is kinda. A lot. I can see where people are coming from.

HOWEVER.

Personally, I love the entire DNAlien arc, and it's use as a coming of age story for Ben. A big part of AF is Ben realizing that he needs to grow up. In the OS he was a kid. Max was the leader and the beacon of morality. In AF Max is MIA from episode 1. Gwen is more mature, and has mellowed out a lot, but she just isn't a leader. Kevin should never be put in charge of other people, so he's out. So it's Ben. He has to step up and lead, because there IS nobody else.

But, also the show is not gloomy! It has it's moments, and I get why people might watch the premiere and think "Hmm, too dark.", but AF is silly as hell. I will point to the Alien X episode as my basis here. It's smack in the middle of the DNAlien arc, and it's dumb as hell. Again, I have made a whole ass post about this, but the gist is: I love Alien X being a god being with the ability to do LITERALLY anything, but Ben gets so frustrated that he refuses to use it unless the universe is actively collapsing. (Also, the incurseans are there, and they are never not silly lmao)

But to me, the best thing AF did for the series was give it structure. The OS was extremely episodic, but the front half of AF is held together with a tight plot line. The back half not so much, but it does have a lot going for it character wise. Case in point:

Let's talk about Kevin. c:

Kevin was always a fun villain in the OS. Any time he showed up I knew we were in for a fun time, so him becoming part of the main cast (As a hero and friend no less!) in AF was a major selling point to me personally. Unlike with Gwen, I feel like they sanded him down just enough. He's still kinda sleazy and a bit of a shithead, but now he's trying to do better.

I'm aware the explanation for this behaviour is that the Omnitrix energy he absorbed in the OS drove him crazy or whatever, but that's not something we get up front if memory serves. He really does seem like he naturally just grew up and realized acting how he did when he was 11 wasn't exactly getting him anywhere good.

Kevin's arc in the back half of AF plays really well with Ben's arc. Ben is at an all time high after saving the universe, while Kevin gets mutated again and has a really shitty time. Ben getting humbled while Kevin gains confidence just works really well in tandem, I think, and they end AF on somewhat equal footing.

AF also gives us some of my favourite side characters so I really love it on those grounds alone tbh. Mostly talking about Paradox here, but also Albedo, and The Plumber's Kids (especially Alan I love him he's so baby <3), and Sandra. God, I love Ben's hippy dippy granola mom so much it fits him so well.

I could make a whole fucking post about Paradox to be honest, and this post is already insanely long so I'll be brief here. He made it a billion times easier for the writers to play with timeline bullshit without having to sneak retcons past the audience every time. He's also just insanely fun. Silly Time Man. I loves him!!

I also really love Julie and Omniverse did her so fucking dirty, but that's a whole thing and I'm sure I'll get into it when I get there in my rewatch so I'll save it.

Again, I don't know that I would say AF is my favourite series, but I will say AF DOES happen to have my favourite EPISODE of the entire continuity though. "Con of Rath" is the best Ben 10 episode and I will fight you on this one.

I'm about to pivot into Ultimate and seeing as I haven't gotten there in my rewatch I am going to have less to say about it (and Omniverse) since they aren't fresh in my mind and I don't want to be spouting half remembered nonsense or go dig through the wiki to fact check (and spoil myself on things I don't remember). I know this post is stupid long, bear with me a bit longer.)

Why is Ultimate Alien Good?

Every new series of Ben 10 does something to change the status quo in some way. In AF it was aging up the characters and relegating Max to side character status. Omniverse does much the same, giving Ben a new partner and pushing Gwen and Kevin aside. Ultimate changes things in a different way, though, and I'm NOT talking about Ultimate forms.

Ultimate's big shake up is actually the name of it's first episode: "Fame".

Now, in this house we love a secret identity, lemme get that out up top. For Ben, though? The fame works. He never really honestly HAD a secret identity the same way most superheroes do. He'd always just kinda done his thing, and had it work out. All of his villains knew who he was. (To the point that "Hit 'Em Where They Live" kinda makes no fucking sense? Zombozo is dumb as shit so like maybe he didn't? But Charmcaster DEFINITELY did, and Ben was famous OFF earth already? It's whatever, but like ',:| ya'know.)

The important thing about making him famous is that it gives him a new avenue for character growth. As in my dude needs to get his fucking act together good god. Like, it's Ben, when it comes down to it he buckles down and does the right thing, but fuck man. This is a character trait that will haunt the rest of the series. There are episodes of OMNI that focus on Ben needing to get his head on straight wrt being famous.

It circles back to my point from earlier, though. Ben was NOT popular before "Fame". His friends included: Kevin, Gwen, and Julie. That's it. He's on a soccer team (At least at the beginning of AF I feel like it never comes up later.), but he never talks about his teammates. That one bully whose name escapes me is on okay terms with him after "The Gauntlet", but I wouldn't call them friends. But after his identity is leaked suddenly everybody likes him. He's gone from absolute nobody to celebrity overnight. Of course he would love this.

This is also an extension of one of Ben's core character traits: He NEEDS to be a hero. Actually he needs to be THE hero, because that is his entire self identity. It comes across (both in universe and from a meta standpoint) as Ben being conceited and selfish, but underneath it is really just a sad little boy who is clinging desperately to the ONE thing he's ever been that people liked. The Hero.

If Ben isn't the hero then who is he? He clearly doesn't know as of the AF finale. He loses the Omnitrix and completely breaks down. Even though he's an expert tactician and a damn good leader, he doesn't even know who he is without the Omnitrix.

Azmuth of all people is the one to tell him to get his head out of his ass. I don't think any other character could have done it, though. Azmuth does not care about Ben's feelings, but he's also someone who (whether he likes it or not) sees ALL of Ben's worth. Max or Gwen would be too soft and Kevin's words wouldn't hold the same weight. Azmuth is someone Ben looks up to while also being someone who won't pull his punches. If he's telling Ben he can do something it has to be true, you know?

That aside, lets talk about the "Ultimate" in "Ultimate Alien".

The Ultimatrix is... weird. It's interesting, don't get me wrong, but it is so completely and clearly just a marketing gimmick. The Ultimatrix can be as cool as it wants, it is not making it out of this series alive. Also, everything I find interesting about the Ultimatrix gets dropped. The first episode has Ben be apprehensive about using the Ultimate forms, but then it's just never brought up ever again for some reason.

Also this shit:

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN????? WHY IS IT NEVER TALKED ABOUT? 😭

It all just feels so fucking meaningless knowing the Finished Omnitrix is going to replace it. Like, Albedo made this peice of shit. So even if I hadn't watched parts of Omniverse first I would have put together that Azmuth would inevitably replace it, right? But it doesn't really matter I guess. That's my personal gripe with Ultimate forms, though, so I wanted to get it out here. Ultimate's does give us "The Ultimate Sacrifice" which is an episode I remember enjoying though, so its not a complete wash.

The thing with Ultimate as a series it that it's really just Alien force... 2!! to the extent that fans refer to them as a collective. "Ultimate Alien Force" Like, my header up there ^^^ was "Why is Ultimate Alien Force Good?" when I first started writing the AF part, and I only changed it so I had a smooth transition to talk about "Fame". They are so intrinsically linked in my brain that I didn't even blink lumping them into one. It makes it hard to find fault in Ultimate when I love so much of the things introduced in AF that carry over, you know?

Now onto the one I was soooo close to saying was my favourite:

Why is Omniverse good?

Omniverse is very, very special to me. I did not watch UAF as a kid. It started airing just as I was hitting my "I'm too old for cartoons" phase, so I just.. never watched it. I wouldn't have ever really gotten into Ben 10 as much as I have if not for someone talking about how much they liked Omniverse on my timeline when it was airing. I watched a large chunk of Omni before doubling back to watch all of the OS (Which I had only seen bits of growing up.) and then UAF.

I fucking love Omniverse and a big reason is:

Him 👆 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

I would kill and die for Rook Blonko.

He is mine moste beloved boy. My babygirl. My right hand arm etc.

But beyond The Boy 💖 Omniverse has a lot going for it. It's another tonal shift for the series, this time back to the more innocent and silly tone of the OS. Like I said, I like the tone in UAF, but Omniverse is just so bright and charming it's hard not to enjoy it.

The art style is also very fun in Omni and matches that lighter tone really well. (There are some stylistic choices I'm not personally big on, but it's whatever.) Where UAF had scaled back a lot of designs to give off a pretty generically American Comic Book style, Omniverse lets characters look interesting again! I'm thinkng specifically about Animo and Charmcaster here (Charmcaster's UAF design is so boring. Omniverse puts her back in her cool robe/tunic thing from the OS.), but in general the characters in Omni just have more interesting designs than they did in UAF. Like, Paradox isn't just Guy in Labcoat in Omni lol

I also think the ten episode arc structure does Omniverse a lot of favours. It gets to have the fun silly episodic nature of the OS while also holding onto the structure AF gave the series.

Beyond that, based on my memory of the series (which I have not watched since it finished airing so it's not exactly perfect) I don't really have much more I can say about Omni. It's fun, and has good characters and plot lines. It's just a really good entry and was a solid ending to wrap up the whole four series continuity.

And so, finally, I can wrap up this fuck off long post.

Like I said up top, I can't definitively say which series is my favourite. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses, and are good in their own ways. If pressed, I would probably say "Um... Omniverse maybe?", but I love the OS and UAF so so much it's not a confident answer. (having not watched Omni in a hot minute also doesn't help lmao)

Thank you for reading my big dumb post. If you got all the way to the end, I love you. I mean, if you stopped reading it I also love you, but if you managed to get through all, uh, 2800ish words of this post without tapping out, you are on the top shelf. <3

I'd love to hear your thoughts, or answer more specific questions if you have them!