#watch the second seasons ive put off

[dovveri]

aftermath

bachelorette masterlist - part 1 ▸ part 2 ▸ part 3 ▸ part 4 ▸ part 5 ▸ part 6

synopsis: the finale! and then the afterparty :')

warnings: suggestive, cursing, sana kisses a fictional man im sorry

w/c: 2.9k

a/n: surprise! double feature release! bcs theyre both quite short compared to the other chapters and i lwk just wanted to close this series and be done with it - im v happy w and vvvv grateful for all the support ive received w this - it was my first ever published fic and 36.7k words later im pretty happy w how it ends :)) stay healthy and safe!! mwah <3

⊱✿⊰

true to her word, sana ended up telling everyone that she had gained feelings for you during the filming experience. you had wanted to go with her but she insisted it would be easier for those who had gained feelings for her to accept it if you weren't there. so you were stuck at home, twiddling your thumbs watching reruns of the last few episodes anxiously waiting for her to come home.

you're up in seconds when you hear the door click open softly, rushing to greet her.

"hey! how'd they take it?"

sana's a little surprised to see you in such a hurry, but recovers quickly, smiling and tilting your chin down to peck you sweetly.

"hello to you too. they were okay." you help her organise her things as she settles in, "jihyo was obviously eliminated after house visits like i promised i'd do. i still have a soft spot for her but it was easier to talk to the other three when she wasn't there, probably because i could get my entire story across uninterrupted. unfortunately, jiwon decided to forfeit herself after the news which she has every right to do. the producers are going to mark it off as a family emergency and say she can no longer participate in the filming."

"oh... and the other two?"

"momo took it pretty hard, but jacky seemed to already have a clue what was going on. they both agreed to stay on until the end of the season though. i still feel terrible for having to put them through this, especially the last 2 dates with each of them, knowing that they don't have a chance with me anymore..."

"hey, it's okay. they agreed to stay right? they're being good friends right now and feeling bad or sorry for them and not giving it your all for the last few days isn't going to be helpful for them."

she sighs, "you're right. after all this craziness is over i'll definitely try and do something for them."

you smile, pecking her temple, "and i'll help you."

⊱✿⊰

because there were no more group dates, and the season would end after the final 2 dates and the decision sana makes, you weren't really needed for the filming of the rest of the season.

so most of your time was spent at home, lounging around in the pool or in the kitchen while sana was out on extravagant dates not with you, and completely bored out of your mind.

at nights, you'd bound excitedly up to sana and find out what adventure she went on, completely attached to her, even sitting on top of the toilet seat while she was in the shower so you were never apart. the seperation anxiety for just a few hours was definitely something that caught you a little off guard but after spending practically every minute together while filming, combined with your newfound romantic love for her, you couldn't bear being apart from her.

soon enough, the final day of filming came. it was set in this beautiful meadow with flower strands that reached mid-calf. sana was in the most perfect sundress, like she belonged in the meadow, like she was aphrodite herself born not from the sea, but the flowers.

typically, the final choice is snapped together with flashy editing between tension building scenes of sana walking up to both of the final contestants in two different settings. they filmed her rejection shot the day before already, so there wasn't much suspense watching as sana walked through the meadow towards her final choice. not that there needed to be, you were enthralled enough just being able to take in the breathtaking view that was minatozaki sana, just imagining it was you she was walking gently towards.

but it wasn't. and the mindless chatter of the cameras and crew served to remind you that again, you had to stand in the background while the love of your life confessed to someone that wasn't you. no amount of reassurance from her would be able to get the feeling of utter despair out of you.

⊱✿⊰

sana walks forward with a gentle, rehearsed smile.

"hi."

"hey sana."

"how are you feeling?"

"could be better. i'm either about to have my heart broken in front of the entirety of korea and my family back home or i'm about to be able to call the most beautiful girl on the planet my girlfriend. pretty big moment."

sana giggles, "welll... jacky... regardless of the outcome-"

"oooooh that word's not a great sign is it?"

she hushes him, "shhh, just let me finish. jacky... the time on this show, the time you've given me, has been absolutely incredible. from the first time i met you with your charming smile and lively wit, it was hard to forget your dual entrance with eunji, both of you looking absolutely dapper in your suits. and then on our individual date, you dared to go on that hot air balloon at the asscrack of dawn to watch the sunrise with me, and even though i'm not totally sure if you did see it or not, the fact that you went up there, and you overcame that fear, it was so inspiring and courageous of you. it was that moment that really made me realise the kind of person you were, and the courage, and fun you'd bring into a relationship, and even to a family in the future. that is... if you wanted to officially become my boyfriend?" she finishes her piece with a shy smile, a strand of hair falling cinematically over her face while she peers up at him under her eyelashes.

jacky gapes a little, and then he's grinning, hoisting her up in a whoop and spinning her around on the spot, stopping finally to plant his lips on hers.

when they break apart, they both have the widest smiles on their faces, eyes glowing in adoration of each other.

"yes! yes of course i'd be honoured sana! i hope to spend the rest of our lives together until we grow old and wrinkly and our kids have to come dote on us in the retirement home while we annoy them with how unbelievably cute we are even in our old age. and i look forward to watching reruns of our season and being able to show our kids how absolutely gorgeous their mom looked and how incredibly lucky i got being able to be the one at the end of it all!"

there are happy tears and more kisses, hugs, and spins, and with that, the bachelorette season for 2024, is officially over.

⊱✿⊰

"eugh, did you seriously kiss him?"

sana throws the popcorn at you playfully, "yes but it was all planned babe and you're a way better kisser anyway."

"show me."

"oh i will." sana grins, sliding into your lap, pushing the bag of popcorn aside, lips immediately finding yours while the credits for the final bachelorette episode run in the background.

you smile into the kiss, hands finding their place naturally on her waist while her hands cup your face, tilting her head slightly to angle the kiss better.

she breaks away with an over-exaggerated smack that has you rolling your eyes and wiping at your lips in mock disgust.

"so now that the final episode is out... are we allowed to be seen in public together yet?" you're voice is whiny, pleading with her.

she coos, "my little babyy, i thought you weren't big on pda?"

"well i'm not but i'm sick of everyone thinking that you're with someone that's not me!"

sana giggles, "just think how this is for jacky right now. poor eunji..."

you scoff, "eunji will be fine. she's never been one to care about what the public thinks anyway."

"everyone says that but no-one is immune to societal pressure." she boops your nose with her finger gently, "but to answer your question, yes. we'll be able to go public soon i promise. and soon enough the tabloids will get bored of me and move on to the next big celebrity or whatever anyways so it'll be fine. now c'mon, we gotta get ready for the reunion, get your cute lil butt into your fit for the night."

you groan, pulling her back down when she tries to move off of you, "nooooo one more movie?"

sana laughs, pushing you out of her neck, "absolutely not. i'm not gonna be the only star for tonight, this time we're both gonna be the centre of attention, and we cannot be late! i swear if we don't get ready now you're sleeping here on the couch tonight."

"what?! you wouldn't!"

"i would."

"you couldn't survive without cuddles anyway."

"i can replace you with mr. bean."

"not my arch nemesis... i knew winning that bear for you was a bad decision... i'll rip off his stuffed head..."

sana laughs freely, "as if winning was a decision for you. you went back to that stall like 6 times."

"i should've left him there the 5th time..."

"nope! so if you don't want me getting all close and personal with him tonight you're gonna come get ready now with no funny business."

she stands up and you let her, your hands still attached as she pulls you up as well.

you smirk, "what funny business? i never pull any funny business!"

"yeah like the time you fucked me in a bathroom while everyone was waiting for us outside to start filming for national television. and then did it again at a public amusement park like a week later."

"i don't recall you saying no."

"well i'm saying no funny business now."

"okaaaaaayyyyy." you grin, fingers crossed behind your back while you follow her to your room to get dressed.

⊱✿⊰

"y/n!"

"miyeon oh my god!"

miyeon's running towards you with her arms outstretched, easily wrapping them around you the moment she sees you.

you laugh into her, hand still held in sana's while you greet her.

"sana too hi!"

miyeon breaks away from you easily, going in to hug your girlfriend with her everlasting friendliness.

"how are you guys!? i heard through the grapevine that after the filming ended you were finally able to get together officially, even though you kinda had to keep it on the down low so it wasn't like publicly official but it's a step further?"

you laugh, "awwwh yeah you heard right, but now that the show is officially over..." you bring you and sana's intertwined hands up to your lips, kissing her knuckles, "we can say we're officially together!"

miyeon squeals happily, "yay! i'm so happy for both of you. really. no jealousy sana?"

sana laughs as well, hitting miyeon playfully, "noo don't remind me."

"oh i'm afraid it's permanent now. unless they burn every single copy of this season the day you broke my heart is forever recorded in history."

"oh god... y/n... swear to me you'll never show this to our kids."

"can't do that babe. gotta show them their mom in her prime. the sweetheart of korea at one point in her life."

"just one point?"

"sweetheart of mine for my whole life obviously."

sana grins, kissing you cheesily, miyeon doesn't even mind, simply happy to see both her friends together.

"are jacky and eunji here?" you ask miyeon when you break away with a smile.

"i haven't seen them but i also haven't said hi to everyone yet. c'mon let's go!" she leads you into the garden where the party's being hosted.

you and sana are attached by the hip, if one of you has to let go of the other's hand, another body part will eventually replace it, your skin contact is constant, never parting from one another while you greeted all the old contestants.

some were still a little surprised to see that sana had come with you in hand and not with jacky, but she explained what happened patiently, apologising for the confusion.

"jacky! eunji!" sana spots them first, calling them out.

you grin at the sight of them, wearing matching suits, hand in hand, waving them down.

"hey couple of the hour! how are you guys faring tonight?"

"oh says you. finally got the girl jacky?"

jacky blushes, "crazy how things turned out right? just two sets of best friends realising they're in love with each other and not the person they're both dating. kinda lucky it turned out that way so we could fake that finale sana. it's just a shame for momo..."

"yeah i felt terrible especially after all she did with that home visit in japan. but i talked to her after filming ended and we actually get along really well as friends, we have so much more in common and so much more to talk about when we're not in a controlled environment like the filmset!"

"you guys talking about me?"

you turn in a flash, surprised but excited to see momo coming up behind you.

"momoring!"

sana goes in for a hug first, which momo gladly returns with a giggle.

"hi everyone. it's nice to see you all again outside of the filming."

"of course! it's great to see you again too. how have you been holding up?"

"oh alright. i was contacted already to be on the next season of bachelor in paradise which is always just a massive orgy i swear, so i won't be going on, but i heard jiwon accepted a place!"

sana pouts, "i hope jiwon's okay... she's the only finalist i haven't talked to since breaking the news. i thought it'd be too soon to reach out to her after she left..."

"you talked to me right?" momo playfully nudges sana's shoulder, "jiwon's doing better. she's happy for you both, really. and she's getting her second chance so there's really nothing she's complaining about."

sana smiles gratefully, "i'm glad."

momo turns her attention to the other couple, "and jacky, eunji! i can't believe you guys got together in the end! i mean i was pretty oblivious in the house but nayeon always swore there was something between you two. guess she was right."

eunji laughs, "it came as a surprise to the both of us as well. i guess we just spent so much time together in the house that it was a lot like old times and then when seeing each other go off with sana and realising we weren't jealous of each other but jealous of sana, well that did it!"

"this entire thing is honestly just a mess of feelings. i don't know how you guys do it as contestants. i had a hard enough time not even being a part of the competition."

"to be fair you did kinda insert yourself in pretty heavily when you started sleeping with sana."

"hey!"

there's laughs and teasing all round. the night goes on like this, in the company of people you've grown easily close to in a very short amount of time, and holding hands with the woman you fell in love with.

⊱✿⊰

"sana, y/n, can i steal you both for a minute?"

you both turn, surprised to see jihyo there, looking a little sheepish. you squeeze sana's hand, looking to her for confirmation. she nods, clearing her throat, "yeah. sure jihyo."

jihyo leads you to a quieter clearing, then stands in front of the both of you, eyes on the ground, awkwardly rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"i just wanted to say i'm sorry for how i acted the last time we saw each other. i was jealous and petty for bringing sungbin and i wanted to throw sana off her game so that she'd admit she was in love with you on national television. i went into it wanting to embarass sana and i'm sorry."

sana sighs, gripping your hand reassuringly, "we know. it's okay jihyo. i'm sorry about how it went down between us. i do hope you find the right person one day."

jihyo looks up then, "thank you. really. and it probably doesn't mean a lot coming from me but i am glad the two of you ended up finding each other. she makes you happier than i've ever seen you sana. i genuinely hope for all the best for the both of you."

"thank you jihyo." sana smiles at you then, and you return it softly. "she does make me really happy."

"after some time... maybe you could both come by again? my siblings and my parents miss you lots and i'd like to make it up to both of you for the last time you were there."

"we'd love to. thank you jihyo."

jihyo smiles gratefully, bowing and leaving the two of you alone.

sana sighs, turning to you and looping her arms around your neck.

"you okay?"

she hums, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against yours. "never better."

you giggle, stealing a quick kiss, "the headlines are gonna get pretty crazy once they get wind of the current couples."

"let them have their drama. all i need is you."

"cheesy."

"you love it."

"i love you."

"i love you too." she grins, bringing you into another kiss, sealing the love you have for each other between your lips.

[niceonejames7]

the vices of mice

james potter x reader

fluff, friends to lovers(?)

warnings: none really

content: james didn't envision his second date with you to involve so many......rats?

a/n: i kinda hate this ngl, ive looked at this too long. terribly nervous to post but fuck it we ball

Mice. 

No offense to Wormtail, they were not James' favourite. But unfortunately, actions always have consequences, and this was it. Mice, popping up in their room, out of nowhere! Someone has retaliated to one of their pranks, and as hilarious as it was to watch Sirius jump around before he had the idea to turn into Padfoot and run away, it had become a nuisance, just in the span of a day. Sirius had made it very clear he wasn't scared of them (he definitely was) which "comforted" Peter (no it didn't, it was very clear that he was scared).

Remus had very explicitly said he would not do it, because he respects his friend's kind. But when after a week, the mice had taken over the dorm, running over sleeping bodies, ruining clothes, eating hidden stashes of sweets and chocolates, it was very clear what needed to be done. The predicament became much more severe when Sirius started wailing about his "lost hair" which had been "eaten by the rats". That's because it's shedding season Pads, Remus jokes. 

Some would say this was a diabolical move, as the announcement to finally get rid of the mice was made on a Monday, the exact Monday when it was James' turn to keep the dorm clean, an exercise started by Remus. Previous week, it had been Remus's shift, but the full moon had rolled around, and James didn't have the heart to accuse his friend. If he can go through the extensive process of becoming an animagus, he can get rid of mice, though the former was a much more interesting project. 

But this was not his biggest worry of the week, as surprising as it must be. 

James had gone on a date. 

And now he wasn't sure how to ask for another one.

Oh, the horror. 

It had been a week since the date, and you had had a great time. The date had been a success, even though you were pretty nervous. James and you had known each other for a while, and it took much coaxing from Sirius and Peter and a particularly meticulous plan made by Remus to get you two to go on a date.

Now, both of you shut out again, a game being played on who will ask first. Bit of you wanted to win, but the paranoia of losing was much too great. 

Two days went by but there had been no progression. Remus, again, had to take matters into his own hands.

"James, just go ask her out. She's not gonna say no!" He exclaimed to the bespectacled boy, who was now rolling his fork to capture his noodles in a spiral, but as he lifted his fork they fell down and James took a bite of a single noodle. But he kept his vision glued to yours. You were unaware of your admirer, or as Remus put it, stalker.

"Actually, I don't care. Just get rid of the rats." He said, shooting a quick apologetic glance to Pete which he responded to with a wave of his hand. He slung his backpack and began leaving the Hall, with Sirius and Peter hot on his tail. James took his time, finally took a few bites of his food and started cleaning up.

He took his last bite when he heard a voice say, "I thought you four had all the same classes." 

His head perked up and he saw you, sitting opposite to him, nibbling at Sirius' leftovers, or well, the crusts of bread he had cut off. Fucking prince, you thought.

James was caught a little off guard and he couldn't explain why he decided to slurp the single noodle in his mouth before responding. He had anticipated the wait to be around five seconds, but it seemed as if the noodles had no intention of ever ending. He tried to speed up the process but that only added to his embarrassment. 

Your eyes lit with amusement as you took small bites of the crusts,"Take your time." you tease. 

He finally let go of the noodles, cleared his throat and spoke as calmly as he could, "I don't take Astronomy. And Remus has Divination."

You hum and a silence follows. James had been nervous before, and now he was panicking. It wasn't a welcome feeling. He had known you since you were kids, it was always easy to talk to you. The nervous anticipating silences bothered him. Fuck this, he thought. 

"We have a mice problem."

"Let's not call Pete a problem."

"Not him, you idiot."

You grin but ask,"Who else is a mouse?"

He sighs before responding, having flashbacks to Remus' lectures."We  got payback for a prank we pulled. I'm willing to bet this was your friend Marlene's work."

You were willing to bet on it too. The Slytherins wouldn't do something so secret. They liked to show that they had won.

"Suddenly she's only my friend?" You ask with mock skepticism,

"Real friends don't do this."

"Speak for yourself." He grins wide, caught in his own accusations. 

"How do you plan on solving it? Burn down her dorm?"

"Unfortunately, I can't. Something very special to me belongs there." He says, a pleased smile taking over his face, which made you smile in return. 

"Huh? What do we have of yours?"

"You. Can't let your pretty head burn, can i?"

This took you by surprise, and there were no quips you could respond to him with. A quick blush covered your cheeks and he tilted his head, his smile contagious. You rolled your eyes playfully and tried to brush off your giddiness, "Alright, what are you gonna do?"

"Well, if I don't clean up the dorm by today Remus is going to be my head." James says, thinking back to a few minutes ago. He also remembered how he had told him to 'just ask her out', and a terrible idea popped in his head.

"Would you help me?" He asks, his voice a little quiet. He tried for an air of nonchalance, he didn't think he had achieved it.

"You want me to help you shoo out mice?" You ask, your eyebrows raised.

He only shrug his shoulders, a pleading expression on his face,

"Alright. Sure." You agree, as if you would ever give up a chance to spend more time with him. "I've always wanted to chase mice anyway." You make an excuse, which makes no sense. 

"You've 'always' wanted to?" He asks skeptically,  

"You have your fantasies, and I have mine, Potter."

"Strange fantasies you got there." He says, slinging his bag over his shoulders and extending a hand, inviting you.

You follow his lead, a bright grin on your face and James' heart does a few cartwheels. 

…

"Let me get this straight," Sirius says, holding up his hand to any obstructions, "You asked her to clean YOUR dorm room, which is infested with mice because of YOUR prank, and she's still coming?"

"She's not cleaning it for me." James tries to justify his poor choices,"None of you pricks will help me. So I had to ask for help."

"You must be packing for her to agree with this sorry excuse of a second date."

"Wouldn't you like to know loverboy?" James extends his hands and makes kissy faces towards Sirius when Sirius swats his hands away and escapes him,

"I'll pray for her well-being. You're clearly not right in the head." Sirius says, opening the door rather dramatically before leaving the room with a grin. 

"Wow, so it's not cool to kiss homies now?" he shouts after Sirius. 

Remus and Peter bark out a laugh at this. They both get up and head towards the library. 

He waits impatiently, fiddling with his hands and running his hands through his hair then fixing it, then doing it again and again. He was in the process of deciding whether his glasses looked better on his eyes or resting on his head, when he heard a knock on the door. The same time you always use to indicate it's you who's knocking. 

A smile graced his lips and he made a last futile attempt to tame his unruly hair before opening the door.

"I brought cheese!" You hold up a bag, and sure enough, James sees a block of cheese inside.

He barks out a laugh,"For us or the mice?" still chuckling.

"I thought we could share." You say shyly and James wraps an arm around you in pity (or that's what he tells himself).

"Well, at least this will go well with the snacks." He muses.

"Do we have snacks?" You ask excitedly and he points to a pile beside his bed and you run over with grabby hands but he's quick to stop you.

"One snack for every mouse. Think of it as a treat." 

After a bit of arguing over the snacks, and opening three chocolate frogs, you finally get down to business. Your hair is pulled back in a ponytail and you've set rat traps around the room when you huff,

"Tell me again why we can't use magic to summon them?"

"You don't think I've tried?"

"This is the last time I'm helping you."

He only grins and gives you pieces of cheese laced with rat poison,

"These are NOT for you." He reminds you. 

You giggle and start placing the blocks where they need to be and you've already spotted the first rodent bastard, "James, look!"

James sprints towards the rat, barely catching it, his body jumping off of beds when his feet get tangled in his sheets and he falls with a thump on the bed, his hand still outstretched to reach the rodent. You both sigh in defeat when the rat escapes his reach.

"Goddamn it."

You pat his back comfortingly trying to contain your laughter and say, "It's okay, soldier."

This continued on for a while, and now it had turned into more of a laughing contest than catching (or rather chasing) rats. 

You're on the floor clutching your stomach when James disposes of another rat, alive in the bag they had been collecting the rodents. James caught the first one and couldn't bear to kill it, saying it reminded him too much of Wormtail. 

Your bag had two more rats than his, not that this is competition, which he has pointed out later in the game, so you were winning.

After having two rats crawl over you before catching them had you at your end, and after what seemed like a few hours of this, it felt like you both had tackled the mice problem.

"You think we're done?"

"Think so."

Both of you headed to the Care of Magical Creatures professor, feeling it more fit to hand them to someone capable. It had taken a while to explain exactly why we had so many rats in bags with us, but he had let us go.

The day had ended and both you and James headed towards the kitchen to grab a bite, after extensively washing your hands. 

Sitting down at a corner the house elves had prepared for you both, a bit too nicely than either of you deserved with your untimely demands, but they didn't seem to mind.

The silence after a day of chaos was comfortable, but there was an inkling in your brain that just wouldn't go away.

"I won the game, what's my prize?"

He looks around confused pretending he has no idea what you're talking about, "What game? There was no game."

"I caught more mice than you."

"Oh, did you? I didn't notice." 

You nod your head with a smile, a grin fighting to break out. As you take bites of your food, occasionally casting each other a look after a day of enjoying each other's presence, it feels an awful lot like… 

"James…" you trail off, his eyes on yours, asking you to continue. Your bottom lip rolls between your teeth to suppress a smirk when you ask, "Was this a date?"

His chewing stops momentarily and he fixes his glasses, pushing them onto the bridge of his nose, 

"Could be if you want it to be."

You scoff, amused, "Your idea of a second date is catching mice together?"

"I just wanted a helping hand from a friend-" He stops at your raised eyebrow, his own smile mirroring yours,"I didn't ask you about this as a date. It just…" He trails off, looking for the right words,

"... happened."

"Yeah. Something like that."

His eyes flicker to your lips and there's a moment of hesitation but he leans down anyway, slowly. His lips are just a whisper away from yours,"We could make it an official date."

Your hands rested on his chest, another barely holding onto the piece of orange from your plate, "Good idea."

His smile is wider than ever when his lips lock with yours, slow and teasing as his hands curl deeper into our hair. You sigh into the kiss and you can hear James chuckle, and you swat his chest, which is only responded with him deepening the kiss. You abandon your orange to free your hand when you hear a loud hiccup, "Oh, Missy apologizes deeply. She didn't mean to see that, or interrupt you. Missy feels sorry, please forgive me, I will leave." A house elf, her eyes wider than they already are is covering her face with her hands. 

"Missy, no, it's alright, wait don't leave-" She's gone into thin air before either of you could say anything.

You look at James with a defeated look and he says, "I'll find a better place for the third one."

"This one might need a do over, though." You gesture between the two of you,

"Oh, really?" He asks, a teasing edge to his voice,

"Mhm. Multiple runs, so we know which one's the best one."

"I like the way you think." 

[obeymeshallwedateaddict]

hello hello! i saw that your request are open soo here i go i guess? 👀 so - for context - something funny has been happening to me: ever since i got my first barbatos card, which makes him appear as a surprise guest, ive tried to get all the different reactions out of him. however nothing i do actually works?? i ALWAYS!! get the stars or the hearts and i just can’t get him to be upset even a little bit!! not once!! no matter what i do skdhsk SO! may i please request a cute funny drabble where mc tries to be a bit mischievous/prank barbatos a lot of times because they want to get more reactions out of him that isn’t that super polite smile on his face but it sorta? backfires because instead of pissing him off or scaring him or something like that he’s genuinely amused and totally enamored by mc and their behavior? thank you so much in advance <3

Hello!! Im sorry for the delay but I've been in a writer's block lately which is why I don't post as often but as soon as I got an idea for your request I wrote it down and I genuinely like it. Enjoy!

Summary: MC tries to prank Barbatos but instead of being mad or annoyed the demon finds it amusing and endearing.

Contains: Fluff

GN!MC x Barbatos

You can find more of my work here: Masterlist

---

A Devilish Attempt

MC peeked around the corner, eyeing the pristine kitchen with gleaming counters and perfectly arranged ingredients. They knew Barbatos would be there any second to check on the afternoon tea preparations. Today, they’d be testing out their newest prank.

The idea was simple: they had swapped his tea leaves with the spicy demon realm “dragon’s tongue” herb. It looked the same, smelled similar… but the taste? A fiery, eye-watering kick that could surprise even the most seasoned demon.

As soon as Barbatos stepped in, MC grinned and slid into place, pretending to “help” near the teapot.

“Oh, hello, MC,” Barbatos greeted, that signature polite smile already in place.

“Hey, Barbatos! Care for a cup of tea?” they asked, barely able to keep from grinning. They expected shock, maybe a flicker of irritation something that wasn’t his unruffled calm.

Barbatos poured himself a cup, and MC watched, their eyes wide as saucers, waiting for his reaction. He took a sip and…

“Oh! Quite an interesting choice, MC,” Barbatos said, barely a blink of surprise in his expression. “A little spice can truly awaken the senses. You have such a… creative taste.”

MC was baffled. “Wait, you actually liked it?”

He smiled that calm, unfazed smile, eyes twinkling with amusement. “Not what I would typically choose, but if you wanted me to try something new, I would happily indulge.”

Undeterred, MC decided they’d have to try something bigger. Over the next few days, they went all out, each plan more elaborate than the last. They swapped out all the sugar in his cakes with salt, set up a harmless spell that made glitter burst out when he opened his recipe book, even snuck in a little toy snake to “surprise” him in the storage room.

Each time, Barbatos barely batted an eye. He’d even chuckle or offer a sincere compliment, like, “How clever you are, MC,” or, “It’s refreshing to have a little unexpected sparkle.”

MC was beside themselves. “How do you keep your cool, Barbatos? I’ve tried everything!”

Barbatos’s eyes softened as he looked at them, amusement sparkling in his gaze. “You’re quite tenacious, MC. I admire that about you.”

MC blinked, feeling their cheeks heat up slightly under his warm gaze.

He leaned in just a little, his voice low. “If it helps, I’ve been thoroughly entertained. The effort you put in to try and surprise me… I find it charming.”

Caught between laughing and blushing, MC finally threw their hands up. “Fine! I give up. You win, Barbatos!”

Barbatos chuckled softly, watching them with a gentle expression. “Thank you for the fun, MC. You’ve made each day a little brighter… and a lot more interesting.”

As he walked away, MC realized they might not have succeeded in flustering him—but in the end, Barbatos had somehow turned the tables on them completely. And maybe… they didn’t mind that one bit.

[jennilah]

a very dumb deep dive

gather round, i saw a few people say they want to crawl into the head of someone who had trouble telling Hoffman and Strahm apart upon first viewing. I offer mine for the picking because i think ive identified, at least in MY personal experience, the various elements that came together that formed the ultimate confusion

if this is not relatable nor informative, i hope it is at least a little silly. this is all in good fun and obviously the difference between them is clear as day to me now

this will be longer than it should be.

PRECURSOR POINT NUMBER ONE...

I do not remember character names. Not until they are recurring, or I've rewatched a film a few times. Sometimes it will take me an entire 12-21 episode season length for me to know characters by name in a show. I've seen some Saw films more than 6 times now and I still don't know everyone in the traps 🤷‍♀️

PRECURSOR POINT NUMBER TWO..

at the time of watching Saw IV for the first time, the madness has not yet set in for Hoffman and Strahm for me. In fact, I didn't like either of them. I wasn't looking at them with my deranged eyes yet.

Without my crazy brain activated, sometimes I'll get face blindness between people who have similar enough hair and stuff. I'll use clothes as an identifier if I can

Meaning, I didn't notice anything like face details, mannerisms, body shapes- to me, it was one dark haired white guy in a suit and another dark haired white guy in a suit who both worked in law enforcement.

uh oh

PRECURSOR POINT NUMBER THREE..

in a very elaborate plot like this with many interwoven stories being told, especially with police procedure, has a lot of details that get lost on me upon first watch because I simply easily misunderstand what is happening. I zone out on stuff like legal talk because I don't know that world at all, and the more general plot information to absorb, the more I forget.

"But [character] SAYS..!" oh, I'm aware! If you pay attention and can remember character names, everything is pretty clear in this movie!

so between all three points, you see where I'm starting to go with this.

THAT BRINGS US TO..

Saw IV. let me describe to you what I believe my thought process was to the best of my memory.

This guy shows up. as far as I knew, this was the first time I've met this character. I forgot he was in Saw III because he was only in it for a second and I definitely don't remember him among the sea of other characters.

ok. sure. new detective because the others are dead. got it 👌

next time we see him is a few minutes later, now in this lighting. I don't have his features memorized yet. I'm pretty sure I put it together that it was the same guy as before, and I see he's in a new outfit.

keep in mind he is not at all referred to with a NAME yet, until Perez shows up and introduces all three of them at the same time

here comes "Strahm," as he was quickly introduced in practically the same breath, from the FBI. and he looks like this.

I mentally go "ok FBI guy in the suit" because my occasional bout of face blindness is activating rn. The problems are on the horizon for me

I survived that scene, but the scene right after? I'm doomed.

Major Confusion #1:

this treacherous interrogation footage, ft Hoffman's ass and slutty, slutty suspenders (but I did NOT give him even a second glance here yet. genuinely.)

I'm 100% sure I just didn't know who I was looking at in this footage at all just because of the outfit change

and then the boys are back in town. and they're BOTH WEARING THIS...

This was mean. this was fucked. I was doomed. My brain is already churning trying to keep up with what the footage was, now there's two dark haired white men in dark suits. Who was who again? I think the guy who just turned off the TV was the new detective. The guy who was talking to the Swat guy before. Yeah....

Major Confusion #2:

Next time we see them, Strahm and Perez are watching the interrogation footage. They quickly start talking Jigsaw stuff and my mind is already working overtime figuring out what information is and isn't important to hold on to.

Hoffman says hello for like 1 minute and then fucks off.

My brain is going "ok.. that footage was an old interrogation... mhm..."

this is the information my brain has decided to retain from that scene for later.

Major Confusion #3

this dark haired white guy in a suit got kidnapped idfk. the shots are all very short and he's enshrouded in shadow or SUPER close-up, and I don't know to recognize him by his lips yet. clearly Im more focused on his hair color and suit, so this could be fuckin anyone

Perez said something about officers being in danger earlier, I think I thought maybe it was irony and the cocky FBI guy was the one who got kidnapped instead? i dont know.

then after the first test of Rigg's game, you see Perez and Strahm again for a SECOND. I def didn't pay them much attention. My mind is elsewhere- the insanity of the previous scene

Major Confusion #4:

then FINALLY... we see Hoffman again in the slut chair

and what have we learned about me so far?

let me sum up my logic for you

Now, if only I was certain on their names..

I'm not going to go over every single scene, but I guarantee you, the confusion was fully set in by this point. That detective from the beginning either really just went home, or he was working with Perez. Or maybe it's the FBI guy and someone else is in the chair? No idea.

My brain retained that one slightly misguided bit of information from the interrogation footage and thought This Guy, Whoever This Guy Is, was interrogating Jill a second time. (Wrong.)

there was no memory of the guy's big ass in that footage or anything. that was also way the fuck in the intro and there was a LOT more that happened between then and now in the movie to remember now. and people really don't say each other's names that often.

Yeah there's also that flashback footage showing The Guy In the Chair and Rigg back in the day, but I was too far gone. That was simply the story of how That Guy and Art Blanc knew each other.

and boy does Chair Guy not do much for the rest of the movie, so there was not much more info about his identity that I could try to work out. Maybe he was just some new random guy meant to die in someone else's game because he is kind of a dirty cop?

Pretty sure I was resigned to the fact that I was watching completely utterly confused by the third act.

then fucking JEFF DENLON shows up and i remember either mentally or physically throwing my hands up like "ok now i REALLY dont know whats going on"

I remember I was still excited by the thrill of it, just completely lost as to who was who and what the fuck was going on.

as Eric Matthews was yelling "WHO'S COMING THROUGH THAT DOOR?" i remember going "I DONT KNOW, MAN!!!!!!"

The Grand Clear-up:

THE REVEAL.

Through the power of the Hello Zepp reveal montage, I finally understood "OHHHH YOU'RE THE DETECTIVE FROM THE BEGINNING!!!"

i had other confusions that i eventually worked out, but I went into Saw V much more clear on who was who. There was Hoffman the evil detective, and Strahm the jerk FBI guy (who I then softened up to throughout V, no longer thinking he was a jerk)

and, if I couldn't physically tell who was on screen because I still struggled a little bit with that... I looked for Strahm's bandage :)

and thats my story lmao...

anyway finding out just how many other people mixed them up or confused them or couldn't tell them apart makes me feel so validated thank u. i understand u

[simonsrosebud]

Andreil. Neil has a little accident and has temporarily amnesia. He flips out and is running, falling in old patterns. Andrew and others look for him

THIS WAS SO FUN!!


Andrew knows Neil. Inside and out. He knows how he moves on the court and off, how he sounds when he and Kevin go at it versus when he’s beneath Andrew, how his lips twitch when he tries holding back the grin he sees in his father and the squinty eyes he doesn’t care to hide when he laughs, how he opens himself up when laid bare on the bed and wants wants wants whatever Andrew is willing to give. Andrew knows how he thinks, how he expresses himself, how he panics and worries and takes initiative.

Andrew knows Neil.

But when Neil wakes up in the hospital, one thing is clear.

Neil does not know Andrew.

It starts on the court, the Foxhole Court, during a match against Edgar Allan. It would, of course. The nest closed just a year and a half ago, and despite half of the players either killing themselves or getting killed, there was still something of a team left over when the season started in the fall. Not good enough to win, but not bad enough to lose easily.

Andrew’s post in goal was the same as always. Watch, defend, reflect. This time around with significantly less goals to block, since Kevin and Neil have taken control the second half.

Neil Josten, legally and fully, zipping around the court faster than the speed of light. Vice Captain, Andrew’s roommate and something else, PSU’s best legacy thus far.

And he goes down like he weighs less than a feather.

To be clear, his helmet comes off first, flying and rolling away from him as he goes tumbling, into the wall head first, and then underneath a beast of a human being post-impact. And when the Raven shakily gets up, Neil doesn’t.

Andrew blacked out after that. He blacked out from the second he realized it was Neil’s helmet teetering beside Kevin’s foot to the second Wymack told him he was stable, just unconscious.

That was yesterday.

Yesterday was bearable after that. Neil was alive and asleep and definitely had a wild concussion, but he was fine and within Andrew’s reach.

Now, he’s throwing up in a bucket and freezing when his eyes land on Andrew. And Andrew knows, he knows, right then and there, that this is not the same Neil Josten that came into this hospital. This is Nathaniel Wesninski. This is Abram. Andrew just doesn’t know where Abram left off.

The panic is there clear as day, so is the pain and the confusion, and Abram is lucky that he’s wearing the hoodie the doctor allowed Wymack to put on him while he shivered early this morning because Andrew’s pretty sure if he catches sign of his arms he’s going to have a meltdown.

Still, he tries. “Neil.”

Abram looks, answers to the name, swallows heavily. Neil exists in there somewhere. “You got checked into the wall, your helmet came off.”

And he’s shaking his head, trembling fingers coming up to his hair to pull on it. “Why am I- You- Millport isn’t- I-I, I can’t be here. What the fuck- What are you doing here?”

And oh, Neil Josten exists alright. If only just barely.

Andrew stands, calmly presses the button to call the doctor, and sits again. “You are my teammate. What is the last thing you remember?”

He scoffs, fingers tightening in the sheets. Don’t look at your hands. “You are not… You’re Andrew Minyard.”

“Old news.”

Neil, predictably, starts panicking more, because then Kevin is waiting outside the room and peeking just barely through the glass until Andrew locks the door on him, and Neil is scrambling against the bed, fingers shaking too much to take the IV out of his arm despite trying. “Fucking Christ,” Andrew grunts as he swats his hand away from it, reverting to gripping Neil’s wrists. If it wasn’t for his own good it would make Andrew sick to be restraining him like this. “Do not,” he warns.

“You brought him. I have to get out of here, I won’t- I won’t go back there-“

Neil chokes on his breath, trying to pull his hands away and jesus did he just try to head-but Andrew? “Abram,” Andrew raises his voice just loud enough to cut through the breathing and grunting and struggling.

Neil freezes, and it’s not in realization but in deep rooted terror. His face blanches and his hands make fists. “Who are you,” he whispers. “You’re- You’re supposed to be a no one, you’re not- you’re not supposed to know- I- you have to let me go.” “No-“ “Andrew please-“ “Stop it.” “You- You can’t make me go- He’ll kill me, they’ll kill me, you have-“

“Knock it off,” Andrew barks. He lets go of Neil’s hands and backpedals. He can’t do the touching and the begging and the memories, the grief, the brief loss, the-

“Your father is dead. Romero and Plank are dead. Lola is in prison, Riko is dead, no one is dying, and I am not a mole taking you back to Baltimore so shut the fuck up and listen to me,” he says. It’s fast and stern and Neil shuts up so fast that his head looks like it spins. Andrew isn’t used to talking so fast, not after being off his meds.

He takes a deep breath. “It is October, 2008. You are a junior at Palmetto State University, you are the caption of the Foxes Exy team despite your attitude problem. Your name is Neil Abram Josten. Your father kidnapped you a year and a half ago and tried to kill you. Your uncle’s people got there in time and killed him. We left Nathaniel in Baltimore with your father.” Neil drops his head to his hands. “The FBI made Neil Josten a real person. Kevin knows who you are. We all do. No one cares. We’re past that.”

And… Neil clearly doesn’t know what to think considering the way he shakes his head slowly and presses the heels of his palms to his eyes. “How the fuck do you expect me to believe that?”

God, how to answer such a thing? Andrew can’t recount where Neil’s scars are because it would only allude to the idea that he looked without permission. He didn’t have photos on his phone to show proof, though he could text Nicky to bring as many as possible at the drop of a hat.

He could tell stories, though. “You burned and buried your mother on a beach in California after a run in that got her shot. Your father smacked you with a hot iron because you didn’t sit still enough. Lola taught you how to use knives; you, Kevin, and Riko all watched your father cut a man to pieces at Evermore when you were a child. You had a tryout for Tetsuji before your mother took you and ran,” he says. “When you got shot,” he points to his own shoulder, “you wouldn’t take off your kevlar vest to even take a shower. You have a binder that hides money and safe houses within codes. You speak German, French, some Spanish, and have been learning Russian with me for the past year. You have friends and a life and protection from the Moriyama’s,” he says and crouches by the bed so that he’s only a bit lower than Neil. “You are safe. You just have amnesia.”

Neil continues to stare. The monitor he’s hooked up to shows how fast his heart is beating, but Andrew doesn’t look at it. He doesn’t look away from Neil because he needs to be able to see the truth and raw honesty in Andrew’s face. He can see the wheels turning, gears piling themselves up, and something finally must click or at least nag at his brain because Andrew catches Neil’s eyes flick down to his lips for a moment. “Why are you here? Why not- If you’re telling the truth, then…” he trails off.

“Because you are paranoid about hospitals and have a fear of needles.” Neil frowns further. “And because I wouldn’t let them take you without me,” he says in Russian. Neil’s eyes dart back to his, wide and alert and yes, because Andrew knows he understands him. He wants to count it as a victory.

“How the fuck do I know Russian?” It comes out louder than Andrew thinks he means to. “I don’t think… I don’t know if I could speak it, but I understood you. Why did I learn it with you?”

Jesus. Andrew sits back in the chair beside Neil’s bed and raises a calm eyebrow. “You were sick of people trying to figure this out,” he gestures between the two of them. “And I didn’t want anyone to understand us when telling you I want to blow you.”

Neil almost flinches in surprise at that. This time he lets himself stare at Andrew’s face unashamed. “So that’s why you’re here.”

-

Taking Neil home is an ordeal. He has a panic attack when he sees his arms and face; another one when Kevin finally gets himself into the room unannounced; flinches and tries to curl in on himself when Wymack comes storming into the room upon hearing that he’s awake; sits awkwardly while Robin cries when he doesn’t remember her; and has another meltdown when Nicky finally shows up with photos, proving Neil’s existence on the Foxhole lineup and essentially that everything Andrew said is true.

He’s given painkillers for the raging concussion headache he gets by the time he’s discharged- pills that he doesn’t take, to be clear, and stumbles to Andrew’s side when Wymack steps closer to grab the hospital bag from him. He accidentally latches onto Andrew’s sleeve, then lets go instantly like he’s been burned. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

“He’s coming with us, Coach.”

Kevin gets booted from coming to Columbia because Neil is still wary of him, and Aaron comes just because Andrew tells him to, even if just for his medical knowledge. Aaron tries telling him he’s not in med school yet, but it doesn’t change his mind. Nicky, well, Nicky just comes for the ride.

The week following is…

Well, for starters, Andrew hates sleeping on the couch because of it being out in the open, but there’s no way he will continue sleeping in his bed with Neil like normal. They’re not there anymore.

The only upside is that when Andrew tells him he’s sleeping in his room, Neil goes upstairs and stands in the doorway of his room, albeit unsurely, without being told which room is which. His autopilot has been working, but when it comes to detail and memory he blue screens.

He doesn’t sleep, and Neil is in pain because he won’t take anything to relieve the pain, and Aaron won’t shut the fuck up about forcing him to take something.

Then, Neil runs.

He’s out the door before anyone else is awake, before he can be caught, and runs two miles. Through the neighborhood and onto a main road. He runs. His phone is left on Andrew’s bed and he shouldn’t even be running anyway with the state of his head.

Nicky is the first to notice. He’s nosy as always, and peeks into the bedroom to check on him at 5am. Andrew knows the second he rushes downstairs with a haunted look on his face. Stubbornly, all Andrew can think is not again.

To his frustration, Aaron is the one who finds him. Tells Andrew to follow Neil’s usual running pattern, path. Andrew’s never been on a run with him, though, because he’d rather stab himself. Nicky did it once in Palmetto, and Aaron gave in with Neil and Kevin back in March when he and Katelyn went through a brief rough patch.

And despite all odds, despite Neil not truly knowing his way around Columbia in this state, he’s sitting on the curb at his usual halfway point spot. Also known as the spot Nicky picked Aaron up from when he gave up after two miles.

Neil doesn’t apologize. Doesn’t make excuses. Just slides into the passenger seat and waits for the other two to go back inside before saying to Andrew, “Don’t let me run.”

“Don’t run.”

“I can’t- I’m not all there… yet,” he looks distraught as he taps his temple. “I know I shouldn’t run, I clearly have a life here and people I care about. But I’m-I’m still in Arizona in my mind. It was my first reaction to everything for longer than I can remember.”

So Andrew nods. “I won’t let you run.”

Day three and four are fine. Neil knows he likes pecan pancakes even though he had never had them until three weeks ago, and him and Aaron are just as douchey to each other as usual despite Aaron saying anything to make him believe he’s a dick. Neil Andrew catches him asking, yes or no, before stealing Andrew’s cigarette.

Night five is when nightmares start up, and they continue throughout the next week. Andrew isn’t a stranger to them, neither is Neil, but these are vivid. They are fuzzy memories twisted with what his mind fills in, and the second time in one night that Neil wakes up nearly screaming, he staggers down the stairs on unsteady feet into the den where Andrew is, sitting up and alert as he stands in the doorway like a deer caught in headlights. Neil drops to his knees, gasping, and pushes himself against the wall. Andrew has to lower in front of him slowly, and makes sure that Neil is watching as he puts a hand on the back of his neck. The effect is the same as always.

“Riko waterboarded me,” he wheezes, sucking in a harsh breath. “True or not true?”

Andrew purses his lips. “True. He invited you to Evermore over winter break your freshman year with a threat to make my rehab… therapeutic reenactments.” It feels like bile on his tongue, Neil snaps his head up, though, as if understanding what the reenactment was. “You went. He tortured you for two weeks.”

“And… Ichirou shot him in the head,” he whispers. “True? Or not true?” He shudders when Andrew nods.

Neil chews on his lip. “You and me… having sex,” it rocks Andrew to the core, thinking that Neil is still referring to a nightmare, but the curious and comfortable set to his body tells otherwise.

“True.”

Neil hums, ears and neck pink. “Do- Did we… do that a lot?”

Andrew wills himself not to crack. “Sex, no…” he started slowly. “Only twice,” he murmured. “Other things, yes.”

Neil looks away for a hot moment, taking a slow steady breath despite his red cheeks and goosebumps along his collarbone. Then he frowns deeply again, reminded of something more sinister than careful touches and honey eyes. There’s a few more he confirms or denies, and eventually Neil closes his eyes. “They’re blending together. All these fucking nightmares.”

“I will set them straight for you,” Andrew promises. “Trust me to tell the truth.”

Neil swallows, heavy and nervous, and cracks his eyes open. It takes him a few minutes to settle, to let his eyesight fully focus, before he looks up and meets Andrew’s eyes, blue gemstones alluring and tormented. “I trust you.”

[elliespeach]

no chances part six | ellie williams

pairing: ellie williams x afab reader synopsis: you and ellie are on rival volleyball teams and after letting your competitive nature get the better of both of you, tensions are high on and off the court. warnings: 18+, foul language, implied sexual themes, no smut, fluff after the angst, ellie is a little mean to herself in this part, mentions of weed uhhhh i think thats it? if i missed anything pls let me know authors note: this is the last part guys :)) i wanna do an epilogue but it wont count as a full part really but expect that!! thank you guys so so so much for all the love for this series it really means a lot you have no idea. my bad it took me so long to get this part out, ive been quite busy with life and being sickly but i am so happy to share this with you guys finally !!! i hope it's everything u wanted and more <333 w peace n loveeee

somehow you had managed to keep yourself collected until the end of the game, returning to the gym after splashing some water on your face. ellie never made an appearance, instead remained sulking in her car at how she had treated you. she knew you didn’t deserve that and it haunted her while she drove, alone and in silence. with her absence your team had taken the win but you found it hard to be in a cheerful mood, instead putting on a fake face for your teammates while they were over the moon. the bus ride back was loud and full of energy, everyone was complimenting each other on how they had played, and congratulating each other on a glorious victory. 

at the beginning of the season this would have never bothered you so much. ellie’s words did little to affect you then, but now it took over your mind and her words echoed in your head. her decision to sit out because of you weighed on you heavily and it felt like you were about to burst into tears at any moment. not only sit out, but not show up at all. you’ve always hated her, but the past few months have felt different. felt lighter and more playful, rather than how it was in the beginning. 

staring out of the window, watching the blurry trees zip by while the bus went down the highway, you thought about the hotel. the one little moment you two had shared that wasn’t driven by lust. you weren’t sure what it was that night, but you remember how nice it had felt. seeing her in a completely different light for the first time, wrapped in her arms and just feeling at peace. a tear fell from your eye and you quickly wiped it away, shaking your head and deciding to not think about it right now. 

when you got back into your dorm room, peeling off your clothes and jumping straight into the shower you finally broke down. letting out any and all emotions you had about her. you remained in the shower way longer than you had to, just letting the hot water just run over you. it didn’t bother you until the memory of one of the nights ellie and you had come back here flooded your mind. you had felt extra sweaty from the game and wanted a shower, and ellie didn’t hesitate to join you. she had laughed while stepping into the small shower, “we should conserve water, y’know?” 

that night had been the same as the rest, after the shower she promptly went home, leaving you satisfied but missing something. and that something vanished the second she closed the door behind her. 

with that you ended your shower, stepping out into the cold of your small bathroom. a shiver went through you while you looked in the mirror, seeing how disheveled you looked. it was pitiful to be honest. you thought about texting her, telling her all of the things that crossed your mind as you stood in front of the mirror. how could you say that to me? i was just trying to help. 

only to realize that you didn’t even have her phone number. it made some sense, there wasn’t a need to anyway as you only spoke at games. still, the realization burned in your chest like wildfire and you quickly made a decision. “fuck it–” you said to yourself, throwing off your towel and replacing it with comfortable clothes. thankfully, during one of your new found traditions with ellie, she realized she didn’t bring any of her stash and you had looked a little too disappointed for her liking. she offered her dorm up almost instantly, following it up with a quick and faulty reasoning. you knew exactly where to go. 

within seconds you were in the stairwell, keys jingling in your hand and the sound of your slippers echoing off the walls. you went down three floors all the while rehearsing the speech you were going to give her the second you laid eyes on her. because of me? you didn’t play because of me like it’s my fault that we’re in this fucked up situation? you trotted down the last few steps leading to the exit door. you’re vulnerable enough to have sex with me every week but a conversation is far out of your realm of capabilities i guess. you pushed open the door with a huff. you’re too stupid to realize that we might actually hav–

“can you hold the door for me–” the sound of her voice made you look up from the ground, your pace diminished and you took slow steps out of the door. it shut with a click behind you while you looked into those familiar green eyes. “oh, fuck,” ellie said nervously, she defiantly wasn’t expecting it to be you. 

“what are you doing here?” your eyebrows furrowed, but your tone remained neutral. suddenly feeling the burning in your chest start to evaporate. the lamp posts cast a dim light on her standing on the sidewalk, playing with her fingers nervously and often shifting her weight on either foot. 

“was waiting for someone to let me in–” 

“no i mean, like why are you on my campus?” you asked, swiftly putting your keys in your pocket.

she hesitated, looking down to the ground before back up to you. “i uh, wanted to talk to you–” 

“thats a first,” the words spilled out of your mouth with a sarcastic laugh. 

ellie’s face contorted into a grimace and she shook her head, “whatever, i knew i should’ve just went home.” she spun around, taking only a few short steps down the sidewalk. 

involuntarily your eyes rolled and you jogged to catch up to her, pulling her wrist and turning her back around to you. now only being a few feet apart,  ellie could see the redness in your eyes from crying. being embarrassed you looked to the side and let go of her wrist. “if you wanna talk, let’s talk.” 

she gestured to your pocket where you had placed your keys, “i don’t wanna keep you from wherever you were going,” she tried to deflect.

you blinked, quickly trying to come up with anything besides telling her that you were on your way to give her a piece of your mind. although now standing in her presence everything felt too harsh, all the words you had prepared slipped away from you. “it wasn’t as important,” you shrugged, offering her a faint smile, “we can talk.” 

“so i’m important?” ellie teased, her lips curling at the ends slightly and she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her sweatpants. seeing your smile ignited something inside of her that made her feel softer, more comfortable. 

“didn’t say that,” you quickly rebutted while walking leisurely past her, expecting her to follow you and she did. 

“yeah but, you implied it.” she quipped, coming up beside you and keeping your pace. the lamp posts did little to illuminate the world around you and most of the walkway was dark until you were directly underneath the light. 

you sighed lightheartedly, “yeah, whatever,” you began, taking a beat between your thoughts. “so are you like, gonna apologize for being a total asshole?” 

ellie sucked in a deep breath, looking straight ahead. the cool night breeze was comfortable, but it didn’t stop your face from growing hot with anticipation. “yeah, i’m sorry ‘bout that,” ellie’s voice dropped, the amusement in her tone vanishing with the wind. “i shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.” 

“then why did you?” you asked genuinely, your voice matching hers. your eyes were glued to your feet as they scraped the cement below. 

“i don’t know,” she responded, taking a quick look at you but you didn’t meet her eyes although you could feel her gaze. “i do know that whatever this is between us is confusing–” 

“i’m not confused,” you admitted, playing with your hands. “i don’t think you are exactly that confused either. that conversation by your car a million years ago? you all but told me how you felt, so why is it so much harder for you now?” 

“because someone like you doesn’t need to waste their time with me,” ellie’s eyes diverted to the field beside the sidewalk, staring into the darkness while you finally glanced over to her. “i’ve been awful to you, even before our–” her hands gesture in front of her, “you know.” 

“we’ve both been awful to one another, ellie. somehow none of that changes anything for me, does it for you?” her eyes found yours, now under the glow of the lamp posts her green eyes bore into yours and her expression was one you hadn’t seen before. 

“i don’t want it to,” she started, keeping her gaze on you as you two remained walking forward. her mind was racing, she had been too focused on how she treated you that she didn’t even take into account that it was a two sided street. if she was being honest with herself, she never paid mind to how mean you could be right back to her. it finally registered that no matter what you did to her, her feelings for you would never dissipate. “i meant what i said that night.” 

“about what?” 

“about not wanting to see you upset,” her feet stopped, and you only took another step before noticing, turning to stand in front of her. there was a moment of silence as you looked at her trying to find her words. “i really am sorry for everything.” 

you approached her, standing just inches away. “i’m sorry too,” her eyes wandered up from the ground and into yours yet again, “we really were assholes to each other, huh?” you chuckled lightly, trying to alleviate the heavy mood that had settled around both of you. 

ellie couldn’t help but laugh as well, “yeah, we were.” your hand reached up to her cheek gently and she leaned her head into your hand. “but that all stops, okay? i promise.” ellie’s hand grabbed the wrist that was holding her cheek, rubbing her thumb across your soft skin. 

“i’m not promising anything,” you joked, the tone in your voice going up. “it’s fun to see you all flustered.” 

“oh, so it’s like that?” ellie’s lips turned up at your words and she grasped for your hips but you snaked away. you giggled, playfully turning around to escape her grasp. you made it only a few feet before she had come up behind you, wrapping her arms around your waist. you both fumbled over one another, rolling into the grass beside the sidewalk all while laughing at each other. 

“ellie!” you giggled again, the grass tickling every part of your exposed skin. ellie had landed on top of you, her arm planted firmly in the grass beside your head as she looked down on you and the smile on her face never faltering, along with yours. 

in this moment, it was only you and ellie. everything around the two of you seemed to disappear as you longingly stared into each other. a piece of her hair had fallen from her tight bun and you gently tucked it behind her ear, running your hand along her cheek again. “can i take you on a date? a real one?” she asked in a whisper, never taking her eyes off of you. 

“you don’t even have to ask,” you answered her in the same tone, your chest swelling with her every word. ellie leaned down and planted a soft, loving kiss on your lips. something unlike she had ever done. every kiss you two had shared was sloppy, desperate and full of lust. but this time, it was sweet, slow and passionate. her hand cupped your cheek before she finally pulled away, resting her forehead on yours. 

“if our coaches could see us now,” she laughed, which made you do the same. you wrapped your arms around her neck as you always do, the warmth from her radiating like the sun. 

“bet they’d still try to bench us–” another spring of laughs came from the both of you before ellie finally pulled herself off of you. standing up she stretched her arm to help you up, which you took happily. “do you wanna stay over?” 

the question was like music to ellie’s ears, “i’d love to–” she planted a delicate kiss on your cheek. 

“good good,” you trailed, turning around to look at your dorm building which was easily more than a few yards away by now. being around ellie brought out the competitiveness in you yet again but this time it was more playful. “wanna race?” 

“seriously?” she turned her head, the smile on ellie’s face was now permanent in your presence. 

“what? you scared?” you mocked her lightly, tapping her shoulder and she scoffed at the accusation. 

“you know what? yeah, let’s race. i bet you–” 

you took off sprinting, even in your slippers you had managed to get a great head start. you could hear ellie’s footsteps behind you, slowly catching up. “hey, that’s cheating!” she shouted from behind you. while she watched you win the childish bet, she felt stupid for not allowing herself this type of happiness before, but if she had the chance to go back and change anything, she never would.

epilogue

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

Stickbug AU

Just so y'all can get an idea of what I'm yapping about, I'm gonna spill everything I have planned for this AU so far on this post. I'll try to update it as I come up with more ideas.

NOTE: SO THIS CAME OUT A LOT LONGER THAN I THOUGHT SO IF YALL WANT TO CONTROL F TO CERTAIN SPOTS HERE ARE THE HEADER NAMES: The Hollows Creation AVA IV Chosen & Dark Anim VS Minecraft Purple KING LETS GO MY FAVORITE KING AVM Season 3 Victim & the Mercenaries After Everything

So this AU takes place around 50 years after the canon events of Bug Fables, and I'll explain as I go along so you won't need to know the events of the game.

Some needed information is that Humans are heavily implied to have disappeared/died, and some species of bugs have gained sapience in the "Day of Awakening," though some species remained feral with a few individuals gaining sapience far after the Day of Awakening.

The Hollows Creation

Alan is still in this AU, and in a way he is still the Hollows "creator." In this AU, he's a creature called a "Deadlander Omega" found in the Giant's Lair/Deadlands. Basic information is that they're colossal bird-like Deadlanders which are so big only their claws and eyes have ever been seen. In game they like to drop other Deadlanders onto the player which triggers a fight. Alan is a more aware Omega. He likes to collect whatever piques his interest, normally anything that shines due to the lack of sunlight in the Lair. However after a while of dropping Deadlanders onto the few passing bugs, he got more curious by bugs.

NOTE: THIS IS DRAWN BY @tatos-stick-pile SHE HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR THIS AU

So what did he do? Sneak out of the Giant's Lair. Used the overgrown weeds to his advantage and would look around. Found out about larva and got fascinated by the fact bugs came from that. So whatever larva he could find he'd take back-- which wasn't often since most people wouldn't just leave their larva/eggs lying around.

Anyway he'd bring them home. The Deadlanders wouldn't register the larva/eggs as bugs or alive so they could just crawl around and munch on the grass until they eventually grew up. Alan started realizing "oh shit grow your own entertainment" when his first little stolen egg grew to a bug, a grasshopper (victim). Alan would basically use a jar to keep Victim from running off, would drop Deadlanders on him to watch the fights even if Victim sucked at fighting.

Now even if Alan doesn't recognize the bugs as living and thinking things, he isn't stupid. He notices how they use the shiny crystals he likes to collect to heal. So when he sees Victim nearly getting killed in one of the fights he puts two and two together and "gives" Victim the crystal. AKA impales him and literally kills Victim. When he notices Victim stops moving, throws him away and tries again.

He finds a hornet larva. Decides to try something different. Bugs use the crystals for health, so as the larva crawls around and eats he crushes up one of his crystals and mixes it into areas they know they like to eat in. Because of the magic in the crystals, whatever sticks in their bodies results in the larva becoming strong, healthy, and extremely powerful sorcerers.

Chosen fights-- both the Deadlanders and Alan-- but can't win. He tries running, but Alan rips off a wing and puts him in the jar. Eventually Alan gets lucky and finds a wasp larva, and unfortunately for Chosen, this one doesn't seem to understand anything other than following Alan. Of course y'all can guess what happens from here: Alan pits the two against eachother, Chosen tells Dark they can team up to fight Alan, and end up doing a lot of damage to him before running. It takes a long while for Alan to rebuild his health before he tries again. This time a lot more careful with a little bumblebee larva (Second). He keeps a very close eye on it to make sure it doesn't hurt him, and an even closer eye to make sure it doesn't get away.

AVA IV

Red's a ladybug, Green's a grasshopper, Blue's a firefly, and Yellow's a caddisfly. While Bugaria takes place in the Giant's Lair (AKA a abandoned human home)'s backyard, the color gang are from the front yard. They each have their own reasons to travel to Bugaria: Yellow has heard about Roach technology and really wants to see how it works for himself, Red wants to join the Explorer's Association and fill out his bestiary along the way, Blue wants to visit the Harvest Festival and give an offering for the goddess of Harvest, Venus' approval, and Green just wants to stick with his friends.

However getting to Bugaria is difficult. While before most people would take the swamp, the only thing that resulted in was a lot of tension and frustration since they couldn't communicate with the Leafbugs living there and would only result in a lot of deaths on both sides. The swamp got closed off, and as a result, left two main paths. The Caravan is the most popular for good reason: it is an extremely long road usually consisting of many bugs, although because the trip normally takes around a month, it is not safe from bandits nor the weather. A lot of injuries tend to happen and many come out malnourished. The other option takes a day. Just follow the path through the Giant's Lair. There won't be many Deadlanders, but if there are, only large enough groups of bugs or explorer teams can go through to ensure safety.

Since they're a group of four impatient, naive, younger bugs, the Color Gang goes through the Deadlands. It isn't that bad actually, until a little bumblebee catches Red's eye, and an glint of Blue catches Yellow's. Each go off path, Red finding a very excited and nervous Second Coming, and Yellow finding a half of the Roach's ancient Key.

And This catches Alan's attention, because that bee and that key are both of his things. They get to see Alan's spooky ass eye, and Second urges them to run, but before they can the Color Gang gets squished by Alan's claw and Second and the key get picked up. Second isn't happy, stings Alan right in the eye, and gets dropped right next to his friends. He tries helping them up so they can leave, but they're still struggling. He takes too long and Second and his friends get a jar slammed over them.

Alan keeps watch of them, now mostly curious because that's a LOT of bugs in one jar. He's expecting them to fight or do something, but instead... they just sit together. They just chat and sit against the glass, and what really shocks Alan is when they pull out food and start sharing it. I think this is the moment it clicks for Alan that there's something more to them. Alan leaves, and when he comes back he brings back two things. A good pile of food for them, and one of his crystals. He places them on the ground and lifts the jar before perching to see what they do. They're too injured to leave even with the crystal's healing, but Alan is just fascinated with this new discovery. That they're complicated, that they think. For as long as they stay in the Deadlands, which is only a few days, he tries making it as comfortable as possible to see what they like. Tries modeling after what he's seen other bugs do and live in.

They leave of course, taking Second and the key half with them. Alan doesn't like it, but he lets them. Now he's curious on if they'll come back, and now just has a lot to think about now that he's realized they can think and feel.

Chosen & Dark

After everything with Alan, the only thing Dark and Chosen knew was the other, so they clung. Dark itched for a fight, and Chosen was more curious about the outside world. Eventually this lead to the two becoming an explorer team.

It wasn't bad at first, but Dark of course gravitated to the shadier areas. Dark THRIVED in bounties and fights, meanwhile Chosen started second guessing whether or not he liked being an explorer. Every time they had to leave a kingdom or village, he'd always just felt disappointed. But Dark wanted to keep going, so he followed.

Eventually they started to get a reputation. They would do any quest, no matter the morals, and they wouldn't sell you out. They would get worse and worse clients, and were quickly teetering on the line of hitmen, and Chosen eventually had enough. He didn't see the point in it anymore, he liked the slow moments. Dark meanwhile thrived in a fight, because it was the only thing hes ever known.

This led to a fight between them. A bad one. Dark had been experimenting with Roach crystals to boost his own abilities, and somehow, Chosen ended up accidentally dragging Second and the Color Gang into it. There was a lot of collateral damage and Dark showed off how he was not above killing people, by targeting Second's friends. They died, and that mixture of sheer rage and grief was what triggered Second's skill in magic. Y'all know how this goes, Second beats the shit out of Dark Lord, revives his friends, but before he can land the killing blow, Chosen stops him.

Chosen doesn't want Dark to die, but he can't be with him anymore. So he rats on Dark. Gets him thrown in Rubber Prison, and Dark takes this as a betrayal. They depend on each other, and Chosen wouldn't even defend him and never visited him. Chosen regrets this decision every day and before he can get arrested too, he hides and is labeled as missing.

Anim VS Minecraft

This stumped me at first because how the hell do you mix bug fables and Minecraft but NO WORRIES I FOUND A WAY

After the Deadlands, first thing Color Gang does is sign up for the Explorer's Association. Unfortunately there can't be teams of 5, so they split into two teams: Blue and Yellow form Team Sunset, and Second, Red, and Green form Team Second. They do quests for a while, Yellow spends a lot of time focusing on the key half, and eventually they team up for a pretty important quest!

Not sure what this quest would be exactly, but basically they get lured into a cave and when they get into it Red starts acting weird. And then he starts attacking them and going for the key and yep if you've realized it WE FOUND A WAY TO ADD HEROBRINE FUCK YOU MINECRAFT CREEPYPASTA BUGSONA

Art once again by @tatos-stick-pile

Herobrine is a recently awakened Golden Orb Weaver spider who uses his silk to puppet Red around. This silk is SHARP too. He tries going for the key because he's heard of the artifact and its power and he really wants it to expand his territory. He gets his ass kicked when they figure out whats going on and he escapes.

Afterwards Yellow decides to be more secretive about the key half. They don't figure this out for a while though, but the entire reason Herobrine was expanding his territory is because he looks after lesser bugs ESPECIALLY ones that have recently awakened. He just hates regular bugs.

Purple

And I lied to start with Purple I have to start with an Explorer Team y'all should be familiar with-- unless youre coming from the bug fables fandom and to that i say hello how do you like the shitstorm so far. Anyway one Explorer Team, Team Orchid. It consists of an orchid mantis named Orchid and another mantis named Navy.

Orchid is an explorer for the sightseeing and to help people. Navy doesn't exactly care about that, he's mostly around to make sure she doesn't get herself killed. Eventually he gets an idea that they can get a pet for some extra defense. Orchid LOVES the idea, and so Navy drags her to the Forsaken Lands to find something strong enough.

Orchid falls in love with a mothfly and won't settle for anything else. That mothfly is Purple, a recently awakened mothfly who is extremely confused because he's only been around feral mothflies and its his instinct to stick with them. Anyway y'all know how this goes, Navy "trains" (aka beats) Purple, who can't fight back and goes to Orchid for comfort. Purple causes a massive rift in their relationship and its not even their fault. Orchid wanted a pet to dote on and Navy wanted something to train. But Orchid isn't stupid-- even if Purple is a mothfly and can't talk she starts recognizing he's awakened. He's a child. She starts treating him as such despite how much Navy HATES it and Purple of course starts seeing them as their parents and really looks up to them.

And one day Navy is sick of it. Takes Purple by the arm and drags him back to the Forsaken Lands and far from Orchid. Purple is nervous but still trusts him, thinks its for training. Navy drags him all the way to the abandoned Ant Settlement and tells him to stay there. To prove his training he needs to protect that settlement until he comes back to get them. Purple of course is "okay ❤️ yay❤️."

He doesn't come back. Neither does Purple. But Purple sticks to the settlement and protects it-- getting a little overly defensive of it. Overtime more mothflies are drawn to the area and of course they form little hivemind clusters and whoops! False Monarch 2. But since Purple is awakened and actually intelligent he has a lot more control over the mothfly clusters-- or False Citizens-- and they act more as an extension of him. Purple forms his own little cluster too-- and hates being separated from it and DESPISES being acknowledged as "just a mothfly" so he dresses with a mask and cloak to be a better bug. He gets a bit of a superiority complex as well due to just being surrounded by nothing but feral bugs that he can control.

Anyway the sudden re-population of this abandoned settlement with False Citizens does not go unnoticed. Especially because whenever one wanders close, Purple tends to have a citizen stalk and lurk around the edge until it creeps the bug out enough for them to leave. So a bounty is made once again for the False Monarch.

Blue and Green see it. They think it would be SO fun to lean into their competitive sides and see if whoever got the killing blow on the bounty would finally prove their team as better. So they go to the settlement, see the citizens staring and stalking them and ignore it. They aren't attacking them, after all. They're just being creepy.

They end up finding Purple who is NOT happy and is immediately defensive. But he's not attacking them. He's just kinda throwing a fit and making himself look bigger. Which is weird because bounties are usually extremely dangerous and hostile, but this one is just... throwing a fit. They end up just nearly dodging a fight when some of the citizens start grabbing Green and Blue to throw them out and Blue blurts out they don't want to fight. Turns out Purple does understand Bugnish, but can't speak it.

Great! So they don't have to kill the pretty chill bounty. But others don't know that, and they need to bring back proof they killed Purple to get the bounty taken down. They bring it up to Purple and after vague translations, they make a deal. Purple's been having trouble with a strong enemy near the settlement, so he gives them their mask and helps them defeat the enemy.

And its a big fucking spider, but thankfully they have Purple's range to help in the fight, and while its going smooth at first-- Purple ends up bailing. He's spent too long away from the settlement and figures since Blue and Green are strong enough that they'll be fine. They aren't. Because they needed Purple's range. Purple almost ends up getting them killed, the only reason they survived is because their friends realized they were gone for a long time and come just in time.

Green and Blue afterwards take the mask and leave. They're pissed at Purple but they can confront him another time, they mostly just want to be away from him at the moment.

KING LETS GO MY FAVORITE KING

Time for King! Y'all know King's deal. He has a child he loves with all his heart. In this AU he is a Violin Mantis and his little Goldie is a mantis nymph. King personally isn't an explorer, but Gold REALLY wants to be once and he always finds it difficult to say no to Gold.

Anyway Gold hears wind of a tourist thing. They're doing this mini-tour of the Deadlands in a 100% totally nothing will ever go wrong encased area. Its gonna focus on theories on the Deadlands and what Gold is more interested in-- how Explorers made it safer and how they traverse it.

King doesn't like it. Its called the Deadlands for a reason. But Gold really wants to and is begging him and is doing all his chores and being the most perfect little nymph so he can go. And they claim its safe. King finally caves and takes Gold, and y'all can guess what happens. Deadlander breaks through and kills his son right in front of him before the Explorer escorts can kill it.

So like any regular parent experiencing grief King vows to fucking blow up the Deadlands and everything in it. Not like anybody cares about that fucking place and is widely considered a No Man's Land. He ends up getting his hands on the other half to the Key and is obsessed with finding the other half.

AVM Season 3

While going towards the Termite Kingdom to hopefully find some clues on where the other key half is, King gets lost along the way and finds the abandoned Ant Settlement. False citizens are of course not happy and watch him, but he ignores them. He might as well search the place while he's here. He ends up finding Purple, whose not happy and already a little on edge because Blue and Green haven't come back despite promising they will.

King notices the bounty paper Green and Blue drop and promptly manipulates Purple. Tells them that they probably won't be coming back. But I imagine Green and Blue were yapping to Purple, mentioning the key half because both dont take it that seriously, and Purple sees King's key half and mentions it through a drawing.

King turns up the manipulation to 100. convinces Purple to take his citizens with them (wants to use them as a deadlander bait). If they get the key they'll be strong enough for their village. He just has to get the key from his friends and bring it to King.

Very cute doodle once again from @tatos-stick-pile

Purple does. A while after he's ditched the village to be with King, they run into Color Gang again. They're chatting and having fun and eventually Purple just... dissapears along with the key. Y'all should know what happens, the chase happens, Purple brings the key to King, he combines them and gets really strong and starts destroying shit. Big fight starts up, King focuses on superpowered Second, the color gang go after Purple, who isn't really that strong. He tries getting help from King, but King ignores him. Leaves him for dead.

This fucks up Purple. Because King introduced that fear and realization of abandonment in Purple. And Purple not only realizes how many mistakes he's made, but also realizes he's in fact a lesser bug. That's why nobody wants him. And people don't hesitate to kill lesser bugs when they're in their way. Purple gets both super emotional and terrified for his life, and is forced to abandon his beloved cloak and mask to make a run for it. Green pursues him, everything else happens.

Not sure how everyone splitting up would work so far, but Red somehow gets Herobrine and some of the bugs he watches involved in the fight. Green convinces Purple to go after King, and the bigger fight starts. King uses the Key to attack anyone and hes close enough to his goal hes gotten a lot more brutal. Will just hold whoevers nearest and shoot them point blank with it. Y'all know that scene. The scene where King is nearly killing Purple and goes through that flashback and is slapped in the face with the realization he sees Purple as his own son. That still happens, King gives up, helps Purple and Purple still sticks to him.

Victim & the Mercenaries

Shortly after being discarded by Alan, a cordyceps fungus found and started growing in the grasshopper's body. He is EXTREMELY lucky, because the tiniest crumbs of magic crystal left in his body was just enough magic to balance out the fungus sticking to him and passing on its memory without completely overloading it and turning him into a zombie. But its not perfect, and it still shows in the mini holes in his body. He also woke up fucking PISSED enough to turn him into a Locust

I'm gonna keep this section extremely vague since we still don't know what happened to Victim in AvA canon. Just know he built a massive "charity" corporation in the Termite Kingdom that claims its going to find a way to turn the Deadlands useful. AKA he wants an excuse to have enough money to research a way into killing Alan.

This involves hiring explorer teams, leading him to the Mercenaries: Hazard, Ballista, Primal, and Agent. They are explorers who work in the shadier areas of the Association and are EXTREMELY difficult to hire as they only accept high rewards up-front.

Some concepts for Victim and Agent since I haven't settled on a design for them...

Chosen and Dark catch Victim's eye, since they're rumored to have attacked an Omega and lived. However since Chosen is missing, Victim and the Mercenaries stop by Rubber Prison to visit Dark. Now Dark and the Mercenaries were very well known in the same area, so they know each other. Doesn't mean Dark likes them.

They convince Dark to help them with the promise of his bands back and a dead Omega. Dark thinks Chosen would absolutely love a dead Omega, and so he doesn't hesitate.

Shit happens. Chosen and Second get captured by the mercenaries and Chosen is PISSED at Dark despite all the regret. They're both mad at each other but Dark's doesn't last long when Victim starts torturing Chosen for information. He's mad at Chosen but he doesn't want that.

He blows up at Victim a little at it, so to get Dark to listen, Victim rips off a good chunk of Chosen's remaining wing. That makes Dark stand down, and now Dark doesn't know what to do. Chosen feels too guilty about everything to say anything, and Dark is too prideful to apologize. More shit happens-- Victim has the gem of Hoaxe's crown. Long story short it can brainwash Hornets, which Victim starts using when Chosen keeps refusing. That pushes Dark more off of Victim but he can't do anything lest Victim directs it all back on Chosen tenfold.

More vague shit. Mr alan becker i need the next part of episode six soon please. Anyway big fight in the Deadlands. Everyone's in there and Victim wants Alan DEAD. But Victim is getting progressively more and more pissed off because despite being attacked Alan is being as gentle as he can. He's going the extra mile to make sure he doesn't kill them. Anyway Dark ends up snapping Chosen's antennae to break him out of the brainwashing and Victim gets cooked.

Chosen decides to not murder Victim-- mostly because clearly that's not permanent and its too good for him. Victim is extremely upset about this because the fact nobody is killing him and just being weirdly merciful and the fact hes lost all control has sent him into a breakdown. Its challenging all the rules hes lived by and how he thought the world worked. Hes screaming and shouting at them.

Which attracts the attention of another Omega. Now the thing about Omegas is because they're pretty fragile due to being mostly bones, it means they need to build armor to survive. And they're territorial. Usually if an Omega picks a fight the one with the better armor survives.

Once again-- art provided by @tatos-stick-pile THEY ARE COOKING

And to protect the bug he KNOWS he hurt and was alive-- Alan attacks the other Omega despite already being extremely injured and losing most his armor. The others dont have a choice but to hide out of sight, and eventually the other Omega wins and kills Alan. Tries looking around for the interesting thing that was shouting but finds nothing and fucks off along with a few undamaged parts of Alan's armor.

Everyone except for Second and the Color Gang decide to take their leave. I imagine throughout the story theres a lot of moments where Alan works on making it up to Second and just truely shows he cares and is regretful. So Second tries reviving him, but the problem is that Alan is just... fuckin' massive. Even when they're dead or asleep they're so big their bodies get mistaken for terrain.

It doesn't work at first. Until Yellow finds the gem Victim left behind that he used to control Chosen, and he learned that this can boost magic. He gives it to Second and he completely exhausts himself and they revive Alan. Yipee!! Everyone is saved happy ending go home its over

After Everything

Chalk my liar count to 2 y'all

Purple lives with King, and King has officially adopted him. They still have their own issues they're working towards, but they're slowly getting there together.

Dark and Chosen don't know what to do at first. Chosen wants a chill and peaceful life, but Dark directly contrasts that. He's much more well known and hated than Chosen. Just by being with him, he ruins Chosen's happiness, but he just wants to stay with him. Chosen wants to stay with Dark as well. Thankfully, one of the mercenaries pops up. They're pissed at first, but all they do is mention a town.

Looking into it, after the attempted takeover half a century ago, the bandit leader Astotheles got inspired by the celebration. He wanted a home, a nation for his people, so he left Bugaria because it obviously wasn't gonna happen there. Outside the nation's borders, he established his own village. Where bugs who are abandoned or discarded can come to start anew.

Chosen and Dark decide to move to there, leaving behind and finally moving on from everything that happened to them.

Victim on the other hand went missing. He took that loss HARD. Agent thinks he has an idea on where he went, but needs extra help, so he puts up a request. He's not bringing the other mercs because they don't know about the cordyceps thing and Victim prefers to keep it hidden.

Color Gang ends up taking it up. They are low on berries and its the only request on the board. Nobody is happy about this. Agent makes sure to go with them, and he leads them all to Snakemouth Den. In the den there's a lot of spores and magic in the air, and it gets worse the deeper you go in because in that cave is an ancient Roach laboratory where experimented on cordyceps and magic in an attempt to recreate the immortality of the Everlasting Sapling (that thing is long dead it doesnt matter).

Anyway Victim went here for a power boost. Thinks he just needs to try again and he'll have more control and he'll win. Now he aint thinkin' clearly because the magic that is so goddamn potent in this cave is messin with the fungus. And y'all remember what i said?

"He is EXTREMELY lucky, because the tiniest crumbs of magic crystal left in his body was just enough magic to balance out the fungus sticking to him and passing on its memory without completely overloading it and turning him into a zombie."

Yeah. Ends up shanking himself with the crystals to try and force more magic in him and it makes the fungus go stupid crazy and completely overgrow out and through his exoskeleton and whoops! say goodbye to your sentience. Control freak loses everything even the control over himself. Fun little boss fight I also imagine he has a poison thing going on.

Anyway they end up knocking him down and restraining him, Agent rips out all the crystals. Victim isn't dead yet but he's in awful shape, and congrats you earned Second's pity. Second heals him and Agent pays them a shit ton for that and brings Victim home to help him recover.

Anyway thats it for the AU so far holy god that was so much longer than I expected if you made it here we should go on a date to texas roadhouse together

[suffarustuffaru]

interesting details about otto + a few other miscellaneous stuff in season 3’s op and ed (may have vague spoilers)

hello :3 i love yapping so real quick im gonna talk abt some fun stuff i noticed in the op and ed in regards to otto (+ a few other things) under the cut :3 i wont be explicitly mentioning spoilers but i will be alluding to spoilers so read at your own risk!

woo so lets start with these shots from the op!! these are subaru and otto's introduction shots (at least, the first shots focusing solely on them) in the opening - these show off more of the background work in priestella (with the intriguing detail of putting subaru beatrice and garfiel otto in pretty specific places...) but also they do pair subaru and otto off with beatrice and garfiel often in the ed and op.

which makes sense - those are their respective emotional and fighting support blondes with pinkish red outfits!! theyre both pairs who've become closer throughout post arc 4 (and they are paired together often in canon, such as when roswaal in ep1 notes to emisuba to bring ottogarf along with them), though its interesting to note how much these shots of subaru and otto parallel each other. backs turned to the audience - and then they turn around to look at you for a moment with soft, neutral expressions... though while subaru and beatrice hold hands as they usually do, otto stands behind garf.

beatrice and subaru are of course paired again in this shot of the entire emilia camp together, and its fun to note that emisuba and ottogarf are put in paralleling positions here too!! (also i always forget how tall otto is especially with that damn hat until you put him next to his camp members lajdfls) (and, of course, in true rezero fashion both the op and ed loop right around back to the beginning! its seriously so cool to me that they keep doing that.)

speaking of the ed, these shots actually completely slipped my mind the first several times ive watched it - it took me seeing a screenshot of this to finally notice that otto is actually right there, sitting near anajuli. and thats because the ed does a lot to hide otto.

in general, the op and ed both have otto facing his back to the audience a good amount, and hes also the main arc 5 emilia camp member with the least eye catching screentime in the op and ed. which makes sense both bc he doesnt need more screentime than he warrants and also bc he is very much a side character thats well aware that he is a side character. hes the supporting role, the quiet support, and it shows very cleverly in both his writing and screentime. if youre a novel reader youve probably noticed this; the anime does a very interesting job of handling his screentime this season.

so in the ed, the ana camp and emilia camp are paired together, most likely bc of their growing relations and their intertwined interactions from here on out (such as garf and mimi getting paired together, hence extra triplet action in this shot). theres a lot of light and dark interplay in the ed (more on that in a second) and the light catches our eye here, especially with the triplets being the most active players in this scene - emilia sitting outside, the triplets running around which makes you more likely to look at them and less at the right side of the shot.

it's interesting how ana, julius, and otto are put together at the same table here. ana, partially in the light, but ana, julius, and otto are in the shadows here. julius, partially obscured by otto, then otto, partially obscured by plants thatre suspiciously the color of his cloak, along with flowers thatre purple and blue....

then subaru walks on screen, drawing our eye more to the right side, but subaru also overrides otto and julius in the process.....

the ana and emilia camp shots also echo the other camp intro shots in the ed - the priscilla camp + liliana on a boat going underneath a bridge, the shot cutting right to felt and crusch camp right as the shadow passes over pris camp + liliana... and then the crusch camp in shadow, their faces purposefully obscured as felt and reinhard walk towards them, into shadow... and of course, the group pairings here are done very purposefully.

in general like i said earlier, theres a lot of interplay between dark and light in this ed. the establishing shots of priestella, for example, make the contrast stark.

the archbishop shots in the ed go from light to dark, at different points in the day - we see sirius and regulus in daylight (as they made their first appearances in broad daylight), capella at dusk, gluttony at night, and of course, regulus at night again as reinhard and subaru rise up to fight him. sirius and regulus in their daytime shots are purposefully in shadow as well - and the bright white light comes back with subaru's final portion of the ed (calling back to stuff like rezero s1 op and ed 1!).

the ed is also called "nox lux". which...

:)

anyway - emilia and beatrice right next to subaru, ottogarf being put near each other again - its a cute little detail :D !! i love garf's big grin pfft.

and lastly....... of course, we can't forget this blink and you miss it shot from the op.........

[sink-me-in-your-ocean]

𝔊𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔥 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔰 IV

It's time to kick off spooky season!

What is it like watching scary movies with the ghouls? And what movies are you watching with them?

Mentions of gore/slight spoilers for the movies mentioned.

Swiss:

Loves jumpscares 

Loves scaring you (or anyone else that’s watching) too

No matter what you watch he will always want something scarier

But he also loves comedy

You watched “It” with him and he won’t stop quoting the movie

“You’ll float too!” He cackles maniacally and wiggles his fingers as he chases you around the dark loft.

“Swiss, stop!” You aren’t really scared, but you jump up on the couch anyway, grabbing a pillow to hold out as a shield.

“Beep beep Richie!” He grins as wide as possible, bugging his eyes out at you, and lunges.

You swing the pillow like you’re a heroine slaying a dragon in a fantasy book. He dodges and jumps on you, pinning you under him.

“You’re an animal!” You scream as he tickles you, making you squirm beneath him.

At least it’s an improvement from him running after you repeating, “Here’s Johnny!”

-

Phantom:

Only wants to watch vampire movies

You offered him a plethora of choices, ranging from silly ones like “Once Bitten” to more serious action movies like “Underworld”

He got overwhelmed and ended up closing his eyes and picking one at random

“The Invitation” wasn’t your first choice, but what Phantom wants, Phantom gets

“Okay she is definitely a vampire.” He stared at the pale, tall woman on screen.

“How can you tell? You can barely see out of that fortress you’ve built yourself.” You teased lightly, offering him a handful of popcorn.

He accepted it, huffing, “I have to be prepared.”

“For what?” You stifled a laugh.

“The jumpscares, duh.” 

You rolled your eyes, nodding along. The movie continued and eventually a spicy scene between the two main characters happened, making you both turn red.

“Well I was not prepared for that.” He said sheepishly.

Towards the end, it got a little too scary for him, and he ended up throwing the bowl of popcorn on the floor.

You held him close, protecting him from the sexy and not-so-scary vampires.

-

Dewdrop/Sodo:

Gets super into it

Loves any and all horror movies

The bloodier the better - blood and guts are hilarious to him

The Saw films are his comfort movies, he has definitely watched YouTube videos on how to escape all the traps

You put on a classic slasher for him once you learned he had never watched A Nightmare on Elm Street

“Oh come on! Just pop through the ceiling already and grab her!”

“Dew, stop! This is supposed to be building tension. They do that to get the audience on the edge of their seat… although it looks like you’re off yours.” You realize he’s sitting on the floor directly in front of the screen.

A few minutes later.

“That blood doesn’t look very real.” He scoffed.

“Do you think they use real blood?”

He made a face. “How else would they slice everybody like that?”

You spend the next two hours explaining to him that movies are not, in fact, real. His mind is blown to say the least.

By the time you resume watching the movie, he forgets most of what you told him, resuming shouting at the screen for Freddy Krueger to kill the teenagers.

-

Rain:

This ghoul does NOT watch scary movies 

Why? He gets bored easily

Also, he ruins the movie by calling out all of the jumpscares

(He still gets scared though, he is just deflecting)

Hypercritical as heck

You still beg him to watch Cabin in the Woods with you

“Why do they run so stupidly?!”

You reach over and grab his leg, “Rain, we are supposed to be enjoying the movie, not yelling at the characters every two seconds.”

“I can’t help it, there’s no one to root for.” He whines, “They did it to themselves wandering into that creepy basement and playing with the weird stuff down there.”

You raised your eyebrow in an “oh really?” look.

“Plus, they shouldn’t be in this cabin in the middle of the woods anyway!” He gestures for emphasis. “Who does that?”

You hold up the remote, “Okay Rain, I can turn it off if you want.”

“No, no, it’s fine, might as well finish it.” He immediately backpedals.

“Good.” You settled back in, at least hoping he would enjoy the plot twist coming up.

Spoiler alert: He didn’t.

He waved his arms at the screen, “What in the hell is the lady from Alien doing here?!”

Maybe next time you’ll think twice about watching a scary movie with this ghoul.

-

Mountain:

Likes Halloween-themed movies with humor

Will indulge in a “real” horror movie from time to time, but usually at the behest of others

He will comfort you if you get too scared

So you insist on an actual scary movie

What could possibly go wrong?

“Oh hells no!” You clapped your hands over your eyes, the scene with the reverse bear trap simply proving to be too much for you.

“Come on, it’s okay - she actually escapes it!” He watched the movie Saw already, vetting it so he could make sure it would be okay for you to watch since he knows you’re a scaredy-cat. 

He was a little too lenient with this one though, overconfident in your limited bravery.

“Practical effects like that really scare me, Mountain, you could have given me a warning!”

“Please, those intestines she found the key in don’t look real at all.” He was amused, then turned and opened his arms, “Get over here, I’ll protect you.”

“Good.” You scooted closer, putting the blanket over you both.

Once your heartbeat went back to a normal cadence, your eyelids started to droop.

The rest of the movie was fine, not that you noticed, you were too busy doing… other things. Spoiler alert: you passed out, comfortably snuggled up nice and warm.

-

Cirrus:

Prefers artsy horror movies over slashers

She is not so much picky, but she is very opinionated

Cirrus will not hesitate to tell you when a movie is bad, often pausing a film to interject her thoughts at multiple points

(But we love her for it)

She left it up to you to choose between two of her favorite modern horror movies: Hereditary and Us

You mistakenly chose the former

“I’m going to be sick.” 

The car scene just played, and now you can never look at Alex Wolff of The Naked Brothers Band the same.

“Please, just wait, I promise it’s so good!” She held your hand and squeezed softly.

You looked at her pleading eyes and sighed, giving in, “As long as the rest of the people’s heads are staying where they’re meant to be, I’m okay.”

You were not okay. The movie, to you, was a nightmare.

“Cirrus, can we please turn this off? I’m getting seriously nauseous.”

She was apologetic, forgetting your weak human stomach in regard to scary things, “Okay, okay no worries, can I just spoil the rest for you?”

“Sure.” You croaked weakly.

You managed to lighten up significantly, as Cirrus talked about the movie and highlighted important parts in the plot you had missed, she seemed to glow. You loved seeing her get so passionate over something she liked so much.

-

Cumulus:

She’s ready for a scary movie marathon

Cumulus already has a list of the best movies including The Craft, Interview With The Vampire, and Jennifer’s Body just to name a few

She also comes prepared with matching blankets and Halloween-themed onesies for you both to wear

You bake little pumpkin cookies to share between the two of you

Comfy time + spooky movie time = pure happiness 

“So, what do you want to watch first?”

“Uh, how about you choose?” You felt indecisive but warm, all snuggly inside your onesie.

“Okay, let’s start with Carrie, it makes sense because it’s one of my all-time favorites and it was also made such a long time ago.”

“Wait, there’s a chronological order to these?”

“Of course!" She says matter-of-factly, "I’ve been curating this list for years!”

In your periphery you saw that she kept looking over to watch your reactions. You loved the movie, and before you could ask she already queued up the next one.

The two of you stayed up all night watching some of the best scary movies ever made, eventually falling asleep around sunrise like a couple of vampires, covered with cookie crumbs.

-

Sunshine/Aurora:

Loves Halloween movies, not such a big fan of scary movies (also will not watch sad movies)

Her favorites are stop motion, like Corpse Bride, Nightmare Before Christmas, etc.

You debated ad nauseam over Nightmare Before Christmas though, whether it was a Christmas or Halloween movie

(You agreed to disagree, there's so such thing as winning an argument with her)

She likes to talk while watching, so… RIP your ears

She also likes to eat while watching, choosing the crunchiest candies and snacks

“Sunshine, you sweet beam of light, can you please stop chomping so loudly in my ear?”

She looks over to you, bug-eyed, mouth full of salty pretzels and sweet peanut M&M’s. “Mwha-?”

“It’s okay, just, chew what’s in your mouth,” you sighed, you kept supplying snacks for her and yet you never learned, “I’ll just turn the volume up.”

She went back to staring at the screen, witnessing Coraline travel down the tunnel for the first time. Her eyes were wide like she was witnessing a train wreck, she couldn’t look away for a second.

Towards the end of the film:

“Boo! Other Mother you suck! Get your scary spidery fingers away from Coraline!” She shouts and throws a fistful of candy at the screen.

Oh brother. Next, you’ll watch Corpse Bride for the fifth time this week and she’ll start yelling at Lord Barkis.

[crismakesstuff]

im so excited for invincible s2b now that it has an official release date… and that release date is march 14th

Let me talk about why that has me worried for the future of the show

‼️also no hate to any other shows mentioned‼️

I want to start with these two images :

invincible compared to the boys and now hazbin hotel has BARELY gotten any offical advertising on this level. The boys also got ads in times square for the promotion of s3 and the spin-off gen v im pretty sure but I could be wrong.

Don’t get me wrong I am rly happy to see an animated show get promotion at that level and I think more streaming services should do the same but why is it that invincible, a show on its SECOND SEASON gets nothing? The official invincible accounts have to do most of the heavy lifting themselves with generating hype on their twt,insta and tiktok. People complain that the accounts often make “an announcement for the announcement” but they have too! They literally have no other option! It sucks to see invincible show signs of a show thats clearly being tampered with by executive fuckery that has led so many other animated shows to an early grave.

Also I NEED people to realize that invincible’s release schedule NOT THE FAULT OF THE CREW

I see people regularly being rude and borderline aggressive to crew members online (which ive seen happen in other fandoms too) but the amount of people that were bitching and whining about the hiatus saying things like “this is why we shouldn’t let animators have good working conditions” and people agreeing with those takes were INSANE. The crew have no control over when the show drops or not, that is a decision left up to executives.

Now why could this delay be happening ?

a little bit ago amazon made this announcement to its customers:

this very well lines up with what many people began to speculate online as to why invincible had such a weird release schedule for season 2. They release the first half and get people hooked on the first 4 episodes ending on a massive cliffhanger and then release the second half after ads are introduced in hopes of making more money bc ppl don’t want ads in the middle of their shows.

Even then many people (myself included) think that it would’ve ultimately been better for the sake of the shows own hype to just wait to release them in March back to back all 8 episodes. Because the midseason break just kneecapped the hype the show had built up so hard and now many people are reasonably frustrated.

Because there was no clarity on when the show would be back. Most people assumed it would be a month long break for the holidays which shows have done for a long time. And then fake leaks came out that the show would come back in early January, and then the invincible accounts were virtually silent, and people were saying the break was intentional for fans to (recover) for ep 4. It was all over the place

What should fans do going forward?

Best thing you can do is stream the show legally if you can! TALK about invincible, don’t let the hype die out. Get this shit on trending ! Boost any official posts online showing that there is still a demand for this show! If you can, buy merch! Read the comics legally ! LET AMAZON KNOW WE STILL CARE ABOUT THIS SHOW!

again no hate to the other shows here bc ive watched all of them! I just want invincible to get some of that love too because this show is so amazing and you can tell how much love the crew has put into it <3

[thewordswewrite]

The Drought of an Ocean

Chapter 16 - Epilogue

Pairing | Finnick Odair x Fem!Reader

Story Summary | Finnick Odair was the youngest victor to ever win the Hunger Games but that didn’t earn him respect as a mentor, at least not until she came along. When a dejected volunteer from District 4 puts her life on the line, Finnick will do anything he can to protect her.

Chapter Summary | 10 years later...

Chapter Warnings | N/A

W/C | 1.7k

Taglist | @lem0ns77   @lostintheendlessvoidthatislife @curlycarley​   @bela-nov​ @lilylovelyxo​   @jaydiann @shynypeacekitten​ @dd122004dd​ @jyessaminereads​   @aquawhore420   @qallaghereid  @bazzaza​ @zulpix-blog​ @mrsjna​   @americanstarlette @lou-the-confused-bisexual​ @maxinehufflepuffprincess​ @cecepop15   @pavard-leto-girl  

A/N | Alright so this is actually the end BUT asks are open for oneshots for the missing 10 years between chapters 15 and 16! Thanks everyone so much for reading and following us on this journey!! -Smoe

Donations |  Link

|Masterlist|

In her dreams, the more and more she had as the years went on, she was at the beach–their beach–and as she sat watching the waves hit the shore, and the sun began to rise over the horizon painting the waters red with its color, for a moment her stomach would drop. Her chest began to tighten until she cupped the water in her hands, finding the illusion to only be the sun’s rays mirrored across the horizon. She would bury her feet in the sand, letting the seafoam lick at her ankles as birds called overhead. It wouldn’t be long until she felt a presence beside her, the comforting pressure of arms wrapped around her middle that bled in from reality.

This morning the feeling was just that: a feeling. She shook her head, laughing to herself about her chronic morning-person of a husband. It was hard not to think of his teasing words as she pulled her limbs back towards her body at the center of the mattress. She rubbed out a crick in her neck before pulling open the curtains and letting the sun shine into the room. 

Humming a light tune, she padded a few feet down the hall to the next room over where she opened the door just a touch to peek in. Her heart leapt in seeing the empty bassinet until she remembered the abandoned space in her own bed. She couldn’t say she was used to their routine but six months of it almost daily was starting to ease her panic. Over a year ago, for the second time in her life, Finnick held her as she cried–this time tears of joy–and nine months later their little starfish was brought into the world during a storm that drowned her screams.

With her own stomach rumbling, she set off to the kitchen to prepare a bottle, something Finnick still hadn’t mastered as he’d rather let the bottle get ice cold than risk any pain to their daughter. He’d been especially careful in everything he did since their daughter was born, their household of two made a family of three; from baby-proofing the house, reading the limited parenting resources he could get his hands on and above all, keeping the both of them within reach at all time, safe in his care. As a gesture to both their future as a family and their newfound freedom, he’d discarded his trident, a sign of all that he had done, been forced to do, in the remnants of the Capitol. 

Filling the kettle at the sink, she could just make out the form of her husband, cradling their baby girl out by the shore, through the window. Before returning to the stove, she opened the window to tend to her flowers, a window box secured by Finnick at the start of the season was full of blooming Primroses after Peeta sent seeds in one of his letters. Though she was never close to Katniss, she had grown to know her sister while she recovered in District 13 alongside Peeta. The girl was caring and had impeccable bedside manner, her hands steady when changing her IV, smiles came easy when she saw the bobbing blonde head of the littlest Everdeen sister. It was terrible what happened, she had been walking close behind Katniss when they tried to infiltrate the Presidential Palace, then the first round of bombs hit…the second.

She closed the window with a sigh and put the kettle on the burner. At the table there was a short stack of open mail, a rarity considering all that had happened, which Finnick had already sorted through. She smiled to herself, recognizing Peeta’s blocky script even before picking up the letter, an extra blush spreading across her cheeks at the greeting to the Odairs. It was mostly business as usual, Peeta filling them in on their simple life in 12 and in turn asking about them, especially now that they had a little one to update on. A year had passed since Katniss and Peeta visited and four since they backed Katniss’ decision to take down Coin and thus inciting their exile. It was a privilege to have anyone to share their pregnancy with, most of all given what they’d been through and lost to get there. 

She was about to put the letter in the drawer with the rest when she saw the small scrawls on the bottom of the page.

‘Saw this and thought of you, then of her but Peeta didn’t approve. Good luck - Katniss’

Riffling through the pile of mail, she couldn’t figure out what the note was referring to but she didn’t often know what Katniss was referring to; better to ask Finnick later. She grabbed the warmed bottle and stuffed the letter in her pocket to bring with her before slipping out the back, the screen door creaking closed behind her.

The morning was beautiful, a cool breeze contrasting the already warming sand, with rays of sunlight just finally rinsing fully above the horizon. Her bare feet sunk into the uneven ground, as she made her way towards her husband and daughter who watched the waves together.

“Here, breakfast.” She placed the bottle in his awaiting hand, taking a seat next to him on the blanket he had laid out. 

“Oh, thanks. I hadn’t eaten.” She rolled her eyes at him and his smug smile. They sat a while in a comfortable silence as their daughter ate, falling back into a slumber with a full belly when the bottle was gone. 

Pulling the letter out of her pocket, she handed it to him, absentmindedly stroking her daughter's silk soft hair, “Did you see this?”

Finnick chuckled softly, “I’m sure Peeta was mortified but I thought it was funny.” She raised an eyebrow at him as he slowly pulled back the blanket their daughter was comfortably swaddled in. They both braced for her to wake but as Finnick carefully shifted to show his wife, she only clung to her prize tighter and let out a sleepy breath. Cuddled in her daughter’s arms was a small stuffed bear, the mouth a zigzag of white stitching mimicking teeth. She used to think if she ever saw a bear again it’d be too soon but looking down at the stuffie clutched in her daughter’s tiny hands she couldn’t help but smile.

“Never thought Kat would be the one with a sense of humor, huh? You two are too alike,” She huffed with a smile, shaking her head in disbelief.

He hummed in response, “You know she hates when you call her that.”

“And you hate it when Peeta calls you Finn but here we are,” She followed Finnick’s gaze as smiled down at the dozing infant, too lost to truly hear her,  “Here we are.” Save for the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, the beach around them seemed to disappear, their small family the only thing in the world. Her heart clenched in her chest, still seeing that nineteen year old boy who had taken a chance on her even behind the worry lines and the scars. It was a miracle that they were here at all–the odds stacked against them from the beginning–let alone together in the life that they had made. 

The air was heavy for a moment, Finnick on the verge of saying something multiple times before he finally got out, “I never thought we’d get this. Especially not her,” He clutched the baby tighter to his chest, kissing her forehead before inhaling deeply, “not after we lost–”

“We lost…a lot, and I never thought I’d want what I have, but I’m happy.” Finnick stared up at her, a familiar and unsure expression that often crossed his face, even after all this time, as if to ask, ‘are you sure?’ She reached to tuck a stray strand of blonde hair back in place, landing with her head resting on his shoulder. “I love our family, you and Ondine.”

“Our little wave.”

In an attempt to break the tension, she huffed a sigh, “Doesn't feel so little when you have to push her out of your…” She trailed off mumbling to herself as she began to stand up. “Let’s go, I’m starving, and you’re cooking!” Before she managed to take a step, she was pulled back by a  hand clutching the hem of her shirt. 

“We got this too,” Finnick fished another piece of mail from his back pocket, not bothering to make eye contact as he handed it over and immediately turned his attention back to his daughter. She eyed him suspiciously before taking the cardstock, his demeanor suddenly tense. The page was covered from top to bottom in words, some she didn’t even know and when she looked up from it Finnick was already awaiting her reaction. The confusion must’ve been clear on her face, for he explained, “It basically says…we can go.”

“Go where?”

Finnick held their daughter tighter to his chest, stroking her cheek as he answered, “Our exile is over. Katniss and Peeta’s too.” He was biting his lip, his brows furrowed. She placed a firm hand on his shoulder, urging him to look at her. 

“Go where?”

Finnick sighed, “Home? Back to 4.” She tipped his chin up with her index finger gazing into his worrisome eyes. With her thumb, she smoothed out the wrinkle between his eyebrows, something that never failed to make him laugh. 

Her whole life sat before her, the culmination of all that she’d experienced and everything that she shouldn’t have survived. Every step of the way they had tried to tell her story, the twists and turns and all the endings, happily ever after written out for her when martyrdom didn’t cut it. But for the first time in her life, the pages ahead were blank and she was the one with the pen. She managed to have it all: her life, her family and now, her freedom. Looking around at what her and Finnick had built together, she smiled, her heart clenching and eyes watering at the realization.

“We are home.”

|Masterlist| |Previous Chapter|

[thevestigeofvanillaan]

Bullworth Academy.

south park - bully scholarship edition (2006) au.

part one.

sorry this is SO delayed.. ive been so busy and my phone broke but hopefully this is good enough for now, the juicy stuff is coming soon guys😭👍.

content: swearing, stereotypes, hateful/discriminatory comments, groping of a minor, "y/n", smoking, >18 characters, alternate universe (characters aren't canon), alcohol, lot of dialog, talking through facial expressions (partial)

summary: at bullworth academy, you'll never get your way. beyond the cliques of jocks, nerds, greasers, preppies, bullies, and even non-clique students; are a bunch of assholes who attempt to make anyone's life harder with the snap of their finger. and when you met the people in the cliques, you realize how real it all was.

tags: @h-harleybaby @p1-f1 @hannah-h-pleb @milkyhere @cristuit @z-zephyrr @bro-flov-ski @59candelas

"Don't forget your suit case in the trunk!" Your mom said as she pulled in front of the large black gate.

"Not gonna." You reply, scoffing at her giggly tone. She's gonna run off and have a blast without having to take care of her teenage daughter, isn't she?

She pouts, "You know this is for the best, darling. I mean, you have been acting like a fool at your normal high schools; so maybe a change of scenery will do it for ya."

You sarcasticly smile and slam the door, walking to the trunk to grab your bag.

Grunting, as it's heavy with your needs for however long you'll be sleeping in those damn girls dorms.

"Need help with that?" An older woman asks, walking up.

You finally get it out, close the trunk and tap on the car hard so your mom gets the message to leave. "Uh, nah, I've got it."

"You've been expected, you're a week late Miss L/N." She says.

"Yeah, who are you?" You ask trying not to sound too disrespectful as she leads you through the gate and towards the main school building.

She cacks like a dog before whispering, "The one who's fucking the principal, little brat. Get inside." Practically shoving you into the building.

It was horrendously spirited on the second week of school. Football season was pretty huge for Bullworth. They went all out.

Getting acquainted to all this was weird to say the least. You'd gotten a tour of the school and the dorms by the same woman who never actually introduced herself.

"So, 'one who's fucking the principal'.." You start. "Thanks for the tour, but I need to get settled on my own now."

With a coy smile, she says "Farewell then. Bullworth will treat one like you good." She then winks and walks away.

Couldn't tell whether that was meant in a sweet way or not. You enter the dorms and attempt to walk to your room with the background full of moaning and coughing likely from smoking. You find your way to the noise of the coughing which sounds like it's in the direction of your room anyways.

How lucky, it was in your room. Two girls, one blonde, one with black hair, both smoking a joint.

You walk in awkwardly and set your suitcase somewhere, putting ur backpack on the floor as they watch your every move.

The blonde stands up. "Hi! You're the new girl.. you're Y/N, right?" She offers the blunt to which you take a hit as you nod.

"Sure." You cough and blow out some smoke.

"I'm Bebe, and this is Wendy." She points at the black haired girl. "This is Wendy's and your room, and I'm sure you'll get along. She can be shy sometimes, but once she's used to you and smoked up, you'll love her." She introduced.

Handing the blunt back and nodding at Wendy, you make your way to sit on the empty bed.

"You been helped around by Ms. Fuckface?" Bebe asks.

"I'm assuming so." You shrug and Wendy hands you the blunt.

Bebe giggles, "Let us introduce you to Bullworth."

The duo walks you around the premises.

"You kissed my Eric?!" A tall brunette cheerleader screams.

"He's not yours, bitch!" A similarly brunette girl screams back before plunging forward and grabbing the others' hair.

"Melody Adams, and Delilah.. nobody knows her last name." Bebe says as we walk past the cat fight.

Curiously asking, "Who's Eric?.. The.. guy they were yelling about.?" You ponder around.

Bebe hums. "He's actually new too. Wrestler, fucks around, but does good deeds to keep out of shit between the cliques."

"Dreamy." Wendy adds quietly and Bebe scoffs.

She points, "There he is! Eric!"

He walks over in all his pride. "Well hello there, who's this sweet piece of pie?"

"Quit it, Cartman. This is Y/N L/N. She just started today, we're getting her to know the place better." You wave as Bebe introduces you.

You notice that Wendy squeezes a finger of yours, and has a devious look on her face when you look at her. All you do is smile back

Eric chuckles. "Alls I know is don't get into shit with any of the cliques, keep your reputation good throughout all them and you'll be fine." He winks and walks off."

"Dreamy." Wendy repeats.

You giggle, "As if. Seems kinda extra.. and—"

"Horny, right?" Bebe interrupts.

"I guess." You shrug and watch him skate until you can't see him anymore.

The bell rings indicating its lunch time. You had both classes in the afternoon so you didn't have to worry until later.

"Let's go to lunch! Show you all the cliques." Bebe winks and grabs your hand, dragging you inside the school and to the cafeteria.

Once you're there, you see the groups of people wearing different uniforms. "Over there are the non-cliques, they for the most part leave people alone and are.. lone wolves. There's not that many so you'll see Eric, Kyle, Butters, and then a bunch of other unimportant people. But they're like, the trio of the non-cliques.. that can be us just.. guy version!"

Bebe went on a mission to deeply explain who everyone was before taking you to the non-clique table. "Hey guys!"

"Shut up, Bebe." That red head she called Kyle spoke with a mouth full of food.

Butters, the blonde wearing a pink shirt reaches out a hand, "Butters, it's uh, nice to meet you." He nervously smiles as you shake his hand.

"Y/N."

"Aren't you just adorable, 'Y/N'.." Kyle mocks before laughing.

Eric scoffs, "Leave her alone, man."

He only laughs harder before standing up, "Come on, Cartman. Let's go egg some prep scum houses."

Butters hastily follows but not before he gives an awkward wave goodbye as to say "nice meeting you".

You wave back and once they're far enough to where they can't hear, you ask "Why do you all call him Cartman?"

"It's not rare for Bullworth students to be known as their last names.. don't be surprised if you're called L/N a couple times or more." Bebe responds, drinking from a water bottle in-between sentences. "Vodka." She shrugs with a smirk. "Want some?"

Contemplating before taking a large sip, you stand up. "I'm gonna go for a walk, see you soon?"

"Later, L/N." Bebe winks and you wave to Wendy who returns it.

You walk around campus on your own, earbuds plugged in and music playing.

Eventually when you're done walking, the bell rings alarming to go to class, in which you make your way to.

Scoffing to see Kyle in the same Chemistry class as you. But at least you knew someone there.

Walking up to the teacher, saying "Hi, I'm Y/n. Where do I sit?"

"Ah," He smirks. "You're the new girl."

You nod and awkwardly smile at his weird facial expression.

He wraps an arm around your waist, which was odd but you were too stunned or scared.. or.. something to even move away. His hand moved up and down the side of your waist as he introduced you to the class.

"You can sit next to Stan, sweetheart. Stan, raise your hand so the pretty girl can see who you are." The teacher says and your face scrunches up.

You see a boy raise his hand, closer to the back of the classroom. You finally leave your teachers hold and walk over to Stan.

Stan only looks at you when you sit down. And once the teacher begins teaching, Stan whispers, "He's a weirdo.. seriously. The groping? Was that really at all necessary?"

Giggling slightly, you respond, "It was uncomfortable."

"Understably. Dude's got at least 15 years on you." He laughs quietly.

There's silence until he speaks again a few minutes later. "Do you got a pencil? Don't got one ever and I think there's gonna be a pop quiz today."

"Yeah, mom made sure to give me extras because 'you need to take notes'.." You scoff and reach for your bag to grab a pencil.

When you look up, you see a familiar pair of eyes staring into yours.

Kyle.

He looked fierce. And it was then when you got a good look at him. Scar on his left eye brow. Freckles among his face. And small yet noticable beauty mark below his right eye.

As you look down for just a moment you see how his arms are crossed. The rest of his body is facing diagonally, but his eyes are on you. His posture was laid back, and his legs were manspread.

At that, you make a dirty face as to say, "What are you looking at?". His face responds with his eyebrows raising, like he was cockily saying "You.", before he smirked.

His eyes fall down to your chest and his smirk only grows. Your curiosity leads you looking down, to see cleavage hanging out of the too tight uniform.

Mentally scoffing, you look up and quirk an eyebrow, to say "Like what you see?".

He nods slowly, and only one time with a grin.

You covered your cleavage with your hand, almost like saying "Too bad.".

Sitting up and handing Stan the pencil, saying, "Keep it."

He looked at it, then at you with a crooked smile. "Thanks."

Class ended after a ridiculously long wait. There was a pop quiz, which he didn't make you take since it was your first day.

As you leave the classroom, a familiar red head catches up to you, walking beside you. "What?" You ask.

"Can't walk with the new girl? Jeez." He scoffs sarcastically.

Giggling at first. "No, you can't walk with the new girl." You respond and breifly look at him. He raises both arms as to retreat, though he keeps walking. "What do you want?"

"Wanna walk you to your room. Is that a problem?"

"Sure is. You know if you get caught by any prefects you'll be in big trouble, right? Even I know that and I just got here."

He chuckles as you both exit the school building, making your way to the girls dorms. "I'm the star student of this school. I wouldn't get in trouble."

"Okay, 'star student', what's it mean when a girl says 'go away'?" You ask, not expecting an answer.

And he didn't give one. Just kept walking by your side until you reached the building. You watched as he looked around before walking in with a smirk.

To that, you were appalled. And now you're the one making sure nobody sees him in there.

Checking around to make sure no girls are walking around you quickly guide him to your room before shutting the door.

"Okay, why are you even here?" You ask genuinely.

He chuckles. "Hang out, get to know what the new girls motives are."

"Motives?" To that, you laugh. "I have no motivation or clear purpose of being here other than the fact that my mom hates me and wants me to stop getting kicked out of regular school systems. There's nothing different or 'new' about me. I don't even want to be here so would you just—"

He cuts you off by aggressively kissing you. "God, I thought you were quiet but you're just talk, talk, talk, aren't you?"

You couldn't seem to form a sentence that would even fit this scenario anymore. Only sitting down on your bed and staring at your shoes.

Not long later is when Kyle sits beside you, you could sense he was looking at you but you didn't want to look at his face. "Wanna know my motive?" He asks.

There's silence. "Do you?" He asks once more.

To which you respond, "I'm waiting."

"To kinda make like uh, a statement. A lifestyle. To change the Bullworth way to be.. Kyle's way. You know?"

"You're not always gonna get your way." You look at him. "Nobody does."

"Well what do you think im trying to do? I'm trying to make it so it can always go my way!"

You laugh. "You're an asshole. Is this supposed to make me like you? Because it's not working."

"No." Silence appears for longer. Nobody spoke for what felt like several minutes. But you noticed how when he was thinking his leg bounced rapidly up and down.

He finally stood up. "You wanna go somewhere?"

to be continued..

[blueiight]

#12

What were your favorite moments of season one? 

so the thing that actually sold the show on me my first watch around was the very beginning scene of episode 3, when lestat & louis are sitting down on that bench in jackson square.

LESTAT: There's a column in here about the history of this lovely square. It says that the man who designed it did so after the Place de Vosges in Paris.

LOUIS [ a native to New Orleans ]: I can see that.

LESTAT: Used to be called the Place d'Armes. I prefer that. Don't you?

LOUIS: Mm-hmm.

LESTAT: The Louisiana Purchase was signed here. Penny wise, franc foolish.

LOUIS: Say anything about how they used to take runaway slaves, cut their heads off, and pike 'em on the iron gates as a warning?

u can really see thru lestat’s character how the show takes a critical approach to anne rice’s fetishization of new orleans, and how louis responds to lestat is indicative of the native new orleanian, deeply fed up with& cynical toward the tourist fixations. jackson square up until 1856 was used as an execution site for runaway slaves, with maroon leader jean st. malo being one of the most well known executions in similar fashion as louis described. it is also foreshadowing for what louis will do to the alderman at the end of the episode.. ive talked abt that scene way too much but its when i sat up straight & started to pay attention fr. honestly the entire conversation honestly is such a character defining moment for lestat & louis and their relationship as a whole. louis has always been a character that struggled with his reason for existing, and lestat has always been someone eager to provide something (be that ‘reason’ for one: see the ‘i put you on this earth’ part of this conversation) and pilfer the ‘savage garden’ all he wants.

theres so many great moments on this show, im thinking of louis & paul on the roof, louis & jonah in e3, louis & claudia on the boat, the three of them going to the funeral home buying claudia’s coffin, claudia killing that man on the train tracks (happy jan 5!), claudia& charlie’s date, her e4 monologue, all of e5-7 to me, etc etc…but this scene truly let me know that this show was not generic ahistorical fetish of new orleans & understood the characters. i know some people complain that ‘lestat said the evildoers 1!1’ line, but lestat killed children & etc in the books and overall never is an existential internally driven sort of character the way louis is. anyways e5-7 is the prologue to the second season to me <3

[curator-on-ao3]

Hi! How's you? Lord's Grace, I'm fine.

Just wanted to ask, what are the standout moments from both the seasons about, for, in, about Pike and Una? Ones that you remember or half-remember but they feel like they're the defining moments about them, or reveal something about them or just moments where they're together and we simply enjoy them, moments you'd love to write more fics about.

:') Lord Bless! Have a lovely more lovely even more lovely day

I’m glad you’re doing well. ❤️ Thank you for asking — this was fun to consider!

I understand the boundaries of your question, but I’m gonna color outside the lines a little bit to say that it starts for me in The Cage when Pike is so considerate of Number One’s feelings that he apologizes for the reasonable choice not to put her on the landing party. Then, on Talos IV, they work together so cleanly, handling the same equipment and picking up on each other’s ideas and plans. Yes, the episode kicks off the ship in the obvious way of revealing that Number One fantasizes about Pike. Yet the episode also makes clear why — a closeness and camaraderie that’s evident from the start. (And at the end. Colt asking who would have been Eve and Number One shutting Colt down, then Boyce pressing the question and Pike shutting Boyce down. Meanwhile there’s me ignoring the Lilith story to shout: “Her name is literally ‘Number One,’ y’all. Who else would be Eve?”)

Then we get to Discovery and she appears before him in a shimmer of transporter beam and the camaraderie, the understanding, the care for each other — it’s all still there. He teases her about her food and drink order. She teases him right back. She knows his orders before he gives them. He trusts her completely. It’s so lovely and comfortable and real-feeling.

There’s more in the Short Treks (Number One freaking out when Spock notes her “most careful study of the captain,” etc.), but let’s get to the heart of your question.

Strange New Worlds took the care, the camaraderie, the understanding, and deepened all that even more, made it so Chris has never served on a non-redacted ship without her, made it so they’ve known each other most of their lives, made it so we see them talk about life and duty and journeys whether in his quarters or the ready room, it doesn’t matter because the comfort they have with each other transcends location. Both times she even mentions resigning, he says absolutely not. Twice, he holds her service record in his hands and rushes off to do what he can to save her from a dangerous situation. And, as we all know, Mr. “He Views Resorting to Force as an Admission of Failure” (per Number One in Q&A) gets violent when Starfleet arrests her and is about take her away from him.

So, in terms of truly answering your question (finally), I love how, in the premiere, the second Chris walks in to rescue Una from Kiley 279 that she starts teasing him, he instantly teases back, and she knew damn well that he would come and rescue her even though he wasn’t technically on duty. I also love little things like how when he’s helping her get around despite her injured leg that there’s no self-consciousness in touching (even in underboob territory) because they’ve served together in close proximity for ages so why would they be self-conscious?

Which takes us to Children of the Comet and more talking and domesticity (yes, I can fully believe that dishwashers are a lost technology since that means I can watch them do dishes together) and sharing hard truths in his quarters. There are layers at the dinner party, stories and him teasing her in front of other people for everyone to be able to laugh together … and her deep care for his feelings when he’s not laughing at all.

Clearly, I could keep going for season one:

Ghosts of Illyria when he subtly checks in on her feelings at the beginning, then she’s so worried about him on the surface, and finally his stalwart support for her in the ready room.

Memento Mori when he asks how she’s doing — and the way he asks in the midst of a crisis with softness in his voice.

Serene Squall with the casual intimacy of her helping him put on his gear, then their history together and understanding via the Alpha Braga IV reminisce.

Quality of Mercy when she chases after him even though he put her in charge of the meeting, then his reaction to her being missing in the future, him trying to figure out what happened to her, him standing by the command chair when he finally sees her again, and, of course, as mentioned before, his reaction to her being taken away.

And I could keep going for season two:

Ad Astra Per Aspera, like, all of it but especially when he speaks of the loss it would be to him if she left, the fact that he’s an adult who suffered from asthma as a child yet he risks asphyxiation to help her, the picture of them both that she keeps in her quarters, everything about The Hug™️, and so much more.

Charades with the There Was Only One Couch scene and, earlier, the “🎶 first contact get down, get down, first contact get down” look on the bridge.

Those Old Scientists having them both like the communicator better than a commbadge — and getting how Pike and Una visually check in which each other so much than even their cartoons do it.

Subspace Rhapsody letting them kiss (I always say I will send a bouquet of flowers to the editor who put that in the show).

Under the Cloak of War showing him listening to her and trusting her where her talents exceed his.

I’m leaving things out that I’ll remember as soon as I hit post.

There are vibes and glances. There is body language. (🎶 There were moments of gold/ And there were flashes of light/ There were things I'd never do again/ But then they'd always seemed right.) There’s a certain groundedness that lets me believe these two truly know each other.

And, for all of that, I am grateful.

Fun fact: This is my first post in which I hit the image limit and couldn’t add more. Even after I combined some. Whoo-hoo! Also, I apologize for not sourcing the gifs. I had them saved and Tumblr gif search is a nightmare.

Edit: I remembered one of the many things I’m sure I’m leaving out: their conversation in The Broken Circle. The mutual concern, the lived-in feeling of their talk, the vibe that this was far from their first conversation since everything went down. I loved it all.

[sabrondabrainrot]

I forget I can just ramble and rant my thoughts!

I try to focus on sharing just my art but I also do writing and try to have a bit of a critical mind when it comes to media I consume.

Now that it has been a few months since I watched all of TMNT 12 I do have some thoughts and opinions and kind of want to just ramble about it before I forget, in an informal manner.

I at first really liked it, it was the second TMNT show I watched after Rise, now that I've been watching the 87 and 03 shows my opinions on 12 did change just a bit but I still do like it!

Literally all the turtles are my son's now. Especially Leonardo (he's blue coded so-). I just think they're so cute and neat!!!

I'm going to put thoughts to spoiler stuff of 12 so if you plan to watch the show then don't click beyond this point!

🐢💙🐢♥️🐢🧡🐢💜

So in the last season of TMNT 12 it kind of feels like all the scrapped ideas or random plots that couldn't be fit into the prior seasons were put in this one? I really like the new op it gives of Cowboy Bebop vibes. The op song change is really nice to because I never really looked the tmnt 12 op song before.

However, the plots feel all over the place? There's a mini ark where they're jumping through time meeting Halloween monsters and then another ark where Mikey defeats Satan? Then we get another really tiring ark that's this implied alternate madmax fury road parody that is honestly so depressing? Donnie is just dead.

Which btw, the show likes killing ppl off for dramatic effect. They killed Master Splinter three times and had Mikey and Donnie get scattered to atoms on two separate occasions. I should also mention Leo was in a coma for 3 months with no IV or anything and he woke up relatively fine.

Anyways, going into the last season and stuff leading up to it... They kind of ended with the 87 turtles and the 12 boys finding new passion and inspiration from teaching the 87 boys. I didn't really vibe with it because it just made the 87s the butt of the joke and made them out to be incompetent silly little guys.

They ARE silly little guys but the thing is they're not incompetent. The 87 boys have done some insanely incredible things even when unarmed. Especially when unarmed. I actually think the angle of finding a new way to help people as a means to end the series on an inspired note is fine, the 87 boys even carried on the will and told Bebop and Rocksteady they can be more than Shredder's mutant henchmen. It is very cute and wholesome. I just think they could have maybe done it differently?

Why not set up for them to teach Chi arts? The turtles of 87 don't have any mystical abilities and it would have been interesting to do a set up like that? There are ways to write the finale without just dumping on the original source.

Focusing back on the ending of 12, we also leave on a seriously alarming note. It's just a big mixed bag. After Master Splinter went to run on the hamster wheel in the sky, Leonardo was handed the reigns of the family. He was told "You're the teacher now Leonardo. You're the father. Look after your brothers" and Splinter then willingly walked into his own death. I think the writers maybe thought this was amazing and inspirational or something but I found it incredibly messed up? We start tmnt 12 on all 4 boys birthday. Meaning Splinter himself considers them all to be the same age. And since the series was running they haven't on screen celebrated a birthday and from the implied weather changes most of the seasons 1-4 seem to take place over just a year??? We don't get a definitive timeline (or I'm a bad audience and didn't notice).

So one can only assume Master Splinter was telling his...15 year old son to be the father to his other 15 year old children.

Why do I bring this up at all? After Leonardo takes over the family and he KILLS shredder they go into this rushed cult demon resurrection arc that culminates in the classic dead walk the earth and Mikey defeats Satan. In this arc we meet a ghost splinter who does not even go to see his kids, he just helps Casey and April. But throughout and the lead up to this we have moments of Leo having conversations with what we can perceive as Sensei's ghost in the dojo.

But the climax of the arc cements splinters ghost has not once visited his son's.

So Leonardo is quite literally having full on conversations, in the dojo for his brothers to hear, with a hallucination of his dead dad. He's coping this way. His family does nothing about this.

Tmnt 2012 has the worst Splinter. He ignored his son's and chose favorites. He told Leonardo to die (season 1 finale). He calls Mikey dumb and insights the others to do it too. He told Raph his anger makes him exactly like Shredder and never elaborates or teaches him how to better work through his issues. And he straight up calls Donnie useless.

None of that is even an exaggeration. Adding context just makes it worse.

Here's a list:

Do you know the turtles are the equivalent of helicopter raised homeschool boys? They've never stepped foot outside of the lair except at the start of ep 1.

They learn ALL of their lessons from old shows and cartoons. The show writers even sometimes use the cartoons to set up the theme of the episodes!

When Leonardo rescues Mikey he pats him on the head to comfort him.

Literally almost all of their ninja weapons have hidden weapons. I love it I wish I saw more of them using them.

Michelangelo is the family chef because somehow none of the rest have any life skills. Not even Splinter (explains so much).

They all have such cute shape language. I love bean pole Donnie, blocky buff Raph, perfect pear Leo, and round freckled Mikey.

They also now have unique eye colors. I love their eyes. Donnie with his big beautiful brown eyes (sometimes they look red). Raph with his acid green stare into your soul eyes, they look like they would glow like mako eyes in ff7. Mikey with bright blue eyes all big and round. And then Leo with the cunning dark blue eyes!

I just want to pinch their cheeks and kiss their foreheads and give them hugs.

Also, Leo is so affectionate to kids and his brothers??? My heart??? Couldn't take it??? He just randomly hugs them?? He had a tea party??? He wore a pink feather boa? The way he just immediately held baby Miwa??? Too good. Too good. He's such a good big bro.

Raph is also such a soft guy. Like yes he's a Butthead that beats up his brothers and takes every single violent urge out on Leo when he's even minorly inconvenienced but he does learn to do better. He helps Leo a lot and he even is there for the others a lot too.

Raphael also does art and seems to like fine arts.

Raph, like Leo, is a resident baby man. He loved tiny helpless creatures. He had a pet turtle he loved with his entire being and then later on adopted a space alien baby turtle that he also loved with his entire being.

I love Donnie in this, his cute little tooth gap, his gentle demeanor, the fact he'd rather be in the lab than training. I feel bad for him tho cause he clearly wants Splinter and Leo's approval with his inventions and efforts but very rarely gets it (Leo is the only one to really praise him and get what he does). He's also a good team player but he has so much stress and no confidence.

Donnie needs a big ol hug.

Mikey is so cute. But he is so weird. Why did they write girly pop collecting underwear. Why did they have him cannibalize a mutant pizza man? They do the most random things with Mikey. I like that he avidly tries cheering ppl up. He tries so hard for his bros. He's just a sweet little guy. I wish they did more with the baby bro.

Mikey should have kept his lightning powers.

They fight a lot but all the brothers love each other. I think they're just stressed and cooped up too much.

I like drama tho it's juicy when they argue.

I read on the wiki that Donnie is supposed to be canon OCD and Mikey canon ADHD and it makes so much sense in the show.

I really like all their voices. I miss Leo's first voice he was so dorky and sweet. The new voice is all sad and serious. Raph sounds perfect. I like Donnie's voice but instead of him always yelling why not have him do the low angry science rant because that's a good time. I like Mikey's voice he sounds like a high pitched beast boy.

But despite the occasionally baffling writing choices of the show I still like it. It's entertaining in the same way as a telenovela or kdrama. They literally have a plot where one of the turtles falls in love with his secret half sister. Something I've seen in telenovelas and kdramas.

2012 tmnt makes a great dogblooded drama.

I think the CGI art can get pretty bad at times but other times it looks great. The music is pretty good and I really like the voice cast. I actually totally see why so many people like this show but I definitely don't think it's the best one. From what I've seen thus far, I think the 2003 TMNT show might actually be a masterpiece. Better than Avatar the Last Airbender levels of masterpiece (not a competition just giving an example of another show I find monumental).

That's it, that's the rant, thanks for reading!

Btw if any one has any good 12 fic recs pls hand them over. I need 12 hurt comfort, or fem Leo, or transfem Leo, or anything introspective, or just anything with a fun plot. Pls I'm dying here send fics.

Thank you :)

[gizkasparadise]

2023 wrapped: kdrama edition!

taking a page from @dangermousie, here's a list of all the kdramas ive watched this year, in order from least liked to most liked! because i dont have a spotify wrap-up to share :'D

cdrama one here!

and i'll do a webtoon one too /o/

overall i didnt watch too many kdramas this year, and finished less. kind of a "meh" kdrama year for me overall (with 1-2 exceptions). with that in mind, full disclosure that i didnt love a ton of what i watched this year in kdramaland:

we barely knew ye: ones i dropped only a few eps in

sweet home 2. dropped after ep 2. direction it went in is v much not my thing, my fave surviving characters were either killed off or put on the bench, and im not that motivated to see what happens next. might jump back into the franchise if word-of-mouth on s3 is good, we'll see

moon in the day. first ep was actually great and i enjoyed it a lot!! but im not doing cancer storylines rn so that killed momentum. may try this one again later

king the land. watched the first ep. simply did not vibe.

death's game. ditto ^

black knight. i LOVE a good dystopian scifi. this was not that. i was really bored after the first ep and didnt bother with the rest

my dearest. i watched the first ep and liked it, but just wasnt in the mood/wasn't immediately hooked. i'm going to give this one another try when i hit the Angsty Sageuk craving again

dramas i watched at least half of

6. twinkling watermelon.

it's pretty wild to put what i believe is the current #1 show on mydramalist as my bottom pick for the year, especially since it's written by my favorite screenwriter, but here we are. this one is far from objectively the worst drama but it's here because it made me the most mad!! the female lead and second male leads were both off-putting and selfish to me, and the whole drama i was actively rooting for ryeoun's earnest and endearing male lead and shin eun soo's underwritten second female lead to escape and have mother/son adventures on their own away from the rest of everyone else

5. arthdal chronicles: sword of aramun.

sigh. i was a big believer/supporter of this season, even with all of the recasts. but despite a few moments of brilliance, it was overall a slog to watch and just kind of joyless. too much time spent on the ago tribe, too many nonsensical victories and deus ex machina coincidences, and the bag was very much fumbled with some of the characters (particularly saya, who was to me the most interesting character in s1 and you KNOW ljk could have rocked that ruthlessness). positive standouts were kim ok bin flawlessly scene-chewing as taealha and lee joon ki working what he was dealt

4. worst of evil.

adored this drama for the first 2/3rds! it was gritty, neo-noir that reminded me a lot of the old school hong kong crime films like infernal affairs. lots of style, great acting, messy and flawed characters. but the last arc/ending was a boring dud for me. still very much enjoyed the ride up to that point though!

3. perfect marriage revenge.

so! much!! fun!!! just. full commitment to making a show as gloriously makjang/soap operay as it could get and it was a blast watching because of it. made on pocket lint for a budget but it rocked what it had and a special shoutout to lee min young's absolutely fantastically camp evil stepmother. the excitement died down a little toward the end, but still a good time overall

2. the glory, part 2.

a satisfying ending to a really excellent first half. love that the female lead just got to execute revenge and there was no moral or sanctimonious hangups about it. enjoyed the way the ending was set up as "the adventure continues," and all in all this was a really solid and enjoyable dark drama! only thing that was kind of a bummer is that the time split between airing the first and second halves killed the momentum a little, but that's entirely netflix fuckery and not the fault of the show

moving

hands-down the best kdrama i watched this year, and possibly my favorite kdrama ever. i didnt plan to watch this one because im sick of superhero everything, but the cast got me wanting to at least try it and omg im glad i did. great acting from literally everyone, wild action scenes, and just beautiful characters and dynamics across every level. the family narratives are so, so good and the whole show is expertly grounded in the concept of planting seeds so your children can see flowers. please give this one a try if you're on the fence about it!

2023 kdramas that i plan to watch (but didnt get to yet!)

my lovely liar

a good day to be a dog

my perfect stranger

revenant

mask girl

bloodhounds

my demon

AWARDS

Favorite ship: juwon and jihee from moving absolutely destroyed me in the like 3 eps they were in, so they win this one. he's a gangster who gets the shit kicked out of him for a living and loves stories with happy endings. she's a weary but always brave sex worker (coded, but still) who decides to trust a lonely man crying in the street. i never thought a motion-sensor light could wreck me the way theirs did. "you have worth to me, and i have worth to you."

Favorite FL: song hye kyo's dong eun in the glory just barely edges out han hyo joo's mihyun in moving. song hye kyo needs to play, like, all the villains and anti-heroes ASAP because that's been the most fun ive had watching her. she took on a dark character and rocked it

Favorite ML: juwon from moving, definitely. to quote my older post:

Moving really said hi this is Juwon. he has scars from gunshots all down his arm. he opened a chicken restaurant. he’s a gangster. he loves pro wrestling because the good guys win. he tried to rip out his own galbladder to prove a point. he’s a proud girl dad. he is unkillable. he stands in the street and cries.

Favorite 2FL: lee min young's incredible, over the top, villainous camp queen lee jung hye from perfect marriage revenge was just so much fun to watch and she ate every single scene she was in. 10/10 would watch her throw lawn chairs in a ballgown all day

Favorite 2ML: i would die for bongseok from moving. precious sunshine child who deserves only the best

Best Cast: im a broken record, but moving. so many characters with such great depth given to them and this was truly an ensemble show A+++

Best WTF: yura eating her paternity results in perfect marriage revenge!!