#which is weird when i think about it bc i can ramble for hours on the lore of this

[reds-skull]

Bringer of Demise - Chapter 2

[FIRST PART] [AO3]

I'll be honest, I wasn't that confident with the first chapter (probably because it's been a while since I sat down to write something) but I like this one much more. The angst is definitely helping lol

Here's chapter 2: Like a House Fire

“Simon-” Soap jumps as the door slams behind him. Ghost grunts, walking further into his room to sit at the desk, reports now laying forgotten. Not that they need them anymore, with Novikov’s arrival.

Soap takes a sit in front of him, the bed creaking when he leans forward to look in Ghost’s dark eyes. “Talk to me, mo chridhe.”

Ghost slides the mask off his face, and throws it on the desk with so much force some papers fly and land behind it. Soap waits as he stares at the wall for a minute or two, lost in whatever dreadful memory the Doctor brought forward.

“Novikov was the one that tested me. When they brought me back from Mexico.” he starts, voice carefully monotone. “Went through regular shit at first. How long I can use Limbo before I have to stop. What happens if someone shoots at it from the outside. See if sound travels, if comms work.”

Soap holds his tongue, ignores the questions that float to his mind about the process. It’s more important for him to listen to Simon.

“Didn’t really have a problem with those. Expected them, really.” Simon shakes his head, bitterness bleeding into his voice, “it started going wrong when Shepherd came into the picture.”

At the mention of that name, Soap’s jaw clenches. General fucking Shepherd, the man behind Graves’ leash. Ran like a coward after his dog died, still off grid even after Laswell got the go-ahead from CIA to start a search for him. Soap remembers the few meetings he was in, how Shepherd would address Ghost. Spoke to him as if Limbo wasn’t tearing itself apart because of his orders.

Ghost never told him much about the bawbag, Soap never asking. Felt wrong, with how little he willingly gives Ghost about his own past.

“What did he do?” he asks, a little hesitant to hear the answer.

“Novikov wasn’t pushing me hard enough, according to him. Because he was afraid of what my powers would do to me or to others, or for a different reason, I didn’t bother finding out. Don’t know if the Doc tried to resist. It doesn’t matter.” Simon lets out a mirthless laugh, “you know the rest.”

Soap nods. “Ye think… he will do it again? Push ye to…”

“I’m not worried about me, Johnny.” He leans closer to Soap, and it dawns on him that Simon’s not as angry as he is terrified, “there’s nothing new Novikov can tell me to use Limbo on that would break it like last time. But you… they never found your limits, have they?”

“... You know they didn’t need to.”

“I don’t think that ever satisfied Novikov, or the higher-ups.” Soap frowns, Simon’s voice lowering to an almost whisper, “I think they were just as tied up in red tape as you.”

He doesn’t respond to that. He doesn’t think he needs to, they both know Simon is right.

Soap’s memories of that time period are… muddy at best. And it wasn’t because of the shot he received to the head, the day he died.

In the weeks following it, Soap felt like everyone that knew what happened there was walking on eggshells around him. Not many knew, they tried to sweep it under the rug immediately to avoid an international incident, but those that did…

When Soap refused to use his powers on field, his Captain was irritated. Said he’d go to the higher-ups, get him written for insubordination.

The very next day, the Captain took him to the side and asked him to tell him. Fuck the higher-ups when it comes to his own personal curiosity, eh?

Soap refused, obviously. The Captain let it go, eventually, but Soap always wondered if he was trying to send him into impossible situations to see just how much destruction he can survive.

“I’m not going to let him do anything to you, love.” Simon’s voice makes him refocus on the present, “Novikov tells you to jump, you ask me how high.”

Soap scoffs fondly, the anger that has bubbled up in his chest subsiding, “they’re gonna write ye up, LT.”

“Don’t care. They won’t boot me out anyway.” he answers smugly, scarred lips quirking up in a way that makes Soap want to explode the rest of the world, if only to keep him safe.

He returns the smile, “sound awfully certain of yerself. Should I ask Price if the power went to yer head?”

Simon huffs, “just the facts, Johnny. Not only I’m legally dead, they wouldn’t want someone like me strolling around civvies in case I go off and send a couple hundred to Limbo.”

“Sometimes I forget just how much off yer heid you are, Simon Riley.”

“Takes one to know one, and all that.” Simon moves to get up, when something pulls at his leg.

A few dark hands started petting at their boots, so gently they didn’t notice. Soap smiles, leaning down to return the favor with his left hand.

“Look, we made yer friends worried.” the hands wrap around his fingers, chasing the little white flames.

Simon shakes his boot, loosening the residents of the void’s hands, “you know that’s not how that works.”

“Well, they react to our emotions, you never know!” he turns back to the hands, “don’t listen to him, he’s just grouchy ‘cause I’m not holdin’ his hand.”

He’s happy to continue playing with Simon’s “friends” until a shrill sound cuts through the air. Soap watches Simon grab his phone from his pocket.

“It’s Rudy.” he taps his phone and sits down next to Soap, “Rodolfo?”

“Fantasma. Is Soap with you?” Rudy greets, voice hurried.

Soap takes Simon’s wrist and brings the phone closer, “aye, what’s wrong?”

“All of our revenants were woken up by our Reapers, I… I assume it happened to yours as well.”

Christ, must be later than midnight in Mexico right now. Getting dragged into your Reaper’s realm in the middle of sleeping… can’t be fun.

“Affirm.” Ghost says, “I assume yours asked about Fate and Lumity?”

“Yes.” there’s someone talking in the background, and Soap realizes it’s Alejandro, giving out orders, “some of our revenants chose Fate. We’re in the process of reprimanding them, but… It’s more important that I tell you what we gathered.”

Simon and Soap share a look. Anything would be helpful at this point.

Rudy continues, “the ones that chose Fate didn’t give us much. Apparently their Reaper just left, only saying they chose right. It is mine that explained the most.”

“You did say your Reaper was chatty…” Simon mutters.

“It is.” Rudy sighs, “my Reaper didn’t get mad when I chose you. It said it was expecting it.”

Rudy’s Reaper… Reaper of Matter… is on Lumity’s side?

“The Reapers are… in a state of disorder.” he pauses, mulling over the words. “... My Reaper said this hasn’t happened since before the age of revenants.”

“Did it say what’s Fate’s goal in all this?” Simon asks.

“No. I don’t think it knows.” Rudy begins talking in Spanish to someone on the other side, far too fast for Soap to understand. “-Jabón y Fantasma?”

They can hear some rustling before Alejandro’s voice comes through, “Hermanos! You landed us in a real shitshow this time around, eh?”

Soap smiles sheepishly, “good teh hear ye, Ale. Sorry about the mess.”

“All good. Well- for now.” Alejandro hums, “I have a feeling that is due to change at any point.”

“Ye said it…”

Rudy turns the phone back to him, as he says, “whatever it is, you can call us. We’ll continue to update you.”

“Appreciated, hermano,” Ghost answers, “same goes for us.”

“Don’t be strangers. We’ll talk later.” Ghost and Soap say their goodbyes as Rudy hangs up.

So the Reapers themselves don’t quite know what Fate is planning… he didn’t think it was possible, but Soap is even more unsettled. Reapers are volatile as it is, though before they could’ve trusted them to not meddle in their “boring human affairs”.

A Reaper even Reapers can’t foresee… how can they prepare against something like that?

Soap eventually returned to his own barrack, long after daylight faded. Sleep evaded him for most of the night, burning moths fluttering around his cot as he tosses and turns, flames occasionally charring his blanket.

When morning finally comes, he finds himself in the revenant training grounds along with Ghost. Anxiousness drips down his spine as they wait for the Doctor and his assistants.

Ghost knocks their boots together, and Soap calms. He’s not going through this alone, unlike any other revenant.

He begins to hope Novikov has simply forgotten about them when the man is late. Unfortunately, he doesn’t. Almost 20 minutes after the tests were supposed to start, the man comes hurrying down the training grounds, the papers in his hands miraculously not flying away in the gentle breeze.

“Sergeant! Lieutenant! I apologize for the delay.” Novikov calls when he gets close enough, somewhat out of breath, “yesterday’s incident had us sifting through reports all night, as you can imagine.”

The Doctor pauses to take another deep breath, and flips through the folder he brought, “as I’m sure you understand, this will not be a standard revenant test. I will not be redoing your basic tests, Lieutenant. As for you, Sergeant…”

Novikov turns his bespectacled grey eyes to him, and gives him a small smile, “I understand that I will not be able to test your limits here, but the records of the Verdansk incident are enough.”

Soap’s back straightens, and he can’t help but growl, “ye know about it?!”

He can count on two hands the amount of living people that know the whole truth behind his Reaping, and about half of them are in the 141.

“Laswell has allowed me access to the files. I’ve known about the incident beforehand, of course, theorized Konchar had-”

“Don’t ye dare say that fuckin’ name.” he snarls, flames flickering within his clenched fists. It doesn’t stop the stream of blurry memories, of melting skin beneath his fingertips-

Soap forcibly exhales, coercing his flames to die down.

Novikov doesn’t seem offended by the interruption. On the contrary, he looks… intrigued.

“I’d like to test the difference between your hands, to start. I have only been made aware of the changes in flame color, and the markings, of course.”

Soap glances at Ghost, who gives him a nod.

“What do ye need me to do, Doctor?”

“This is most intriguing… the flesh of your left hand is cooler than your right, but the flames are considerably warmer…”

Soap feels the ground between his fingers crumble to ash. So far, The tests are quite… boring, if he’s honest.

He’s had his own morbid fascination with his own powers, for a while. Wondering how it compares to other explosive compounds, trying to run the numbers to find the closest approximate. He thought, if he could find an equation, he could control his powers better.

Soap gave up on it soon after. Didn’t have enough data to work with, and generating more meant using his powers, and well…

Novikov lifts his pen, “very good, Sergeant.” steamin’ Jesus, he’s not 5, is he gonna give him a sticker next? “Now, Lieutenant, remove any clothing on your right arm, if you will.”

Ghost, who up until now stood motionless in his best imitation of a statue, stares at Novikov for a long moment, before slowly removing his glove and tucking it into his belt. He steps closer to Soap, rolling his sleeve to reveal pale, scarred skin.

“Now, with your left arm of course, I want you to attempt to explode the Lieutenant’s arm.”

Soap notices the assistant with the heat-sensitive camera aim it at Ghost, “it’s not gonna do anything to him, Doc.”

“Then there shouldn’t be any problem demonstrating it.” Novikov doesn’t look up from his papers. Bawbag.

Ghost offers him his arm silently. Soap knows it won’t do anything to him, they bear marks to prove it.

Soap takes the arm. White flames wrap harmlessly around it. He focuses his powers to his left hand, the air around them distorting.

It feels fundamentally wrong to try and hurt Simon. His breathing picks up, fingers twitching as the flames climb higher and higher.

“-it’s as if they’re trying to reach equilibrium. The flesh cools the flames, the flames heat it in return-”

Ghost doesn’t react, not that Soap can see with his vision tunneling on their joined limbs. The fire burns, searing, scorching, mutilating-

“-You may stop now, Sergeant-”

He can’t hurt him, how could he ever dare hurt him? Why isn’t anyone stopping this?

Like a bystander watching a house fire, Soap is helpless in front of the flames. He can almost smell the bubbling flesh from here, the melting of everything in the face of unending ruin-

“-ohnny. Enough.”

Soap jumps, the world rushing back to his senses. He turns his head shakily, to see Novikov’s gaze boring into him.

“Ah’m not- I can’t-” he mumbles, words barely forming on his lips, “Ghost-”

“You’re alright, Johnny.” Ghost’s smooth voice is steady as ever, but his eyes betray him, “it’s over.”

Novikov affirms, “We got all we needed, Sergeant.”

Ghost lifts his hand towards him, and Soap barely suppresses a flinch as it trails down his bicep. “You’re alright.” he repeats.

Soap nods, feeling like a bampot all at once. Of course Ghost is fine. They already knew this, he told Novikov as much not 10 minutes ago.

Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid. Soap grits his teeth, “what’s next, Doctor?”

Novikov takes a while to answer, and Soap avoids Ghost’s perceptive gaze as they wait, “I have received approval for Limbo, Lieutenant. I’d like to see the changes it went through first-hand.”

“... Understood. We will need to put some distance between us.” Ghost grunts.

The Doctor waves his hand, “naturally. You’re familiar with your limits, I’ll leave it to your judgement.”

Soap feels Ghost urge him to move, and they begin walking.

“Johnny-”

“Aye.” Soap huffs, “sorry, LT.”

“What for?” Ghost hums, “you did nothing wrong.”

He doesn’t answer to that. If Ghost didn’t see his fuck-up, he’d rather not bring it up.

“If you need to stop at any point-”

Maybe he’s easier to read than he thought, “Ah’m solid, Simon.”

“You froze there. Don’t think you can hide it.” or maybe Ghost knows him too well by now.

They come to a stop, facing one another. Soap bites the inside of his cheek, “I’m- I’ll be fine as long as Ah don’t have to repeat that.”

“You won’t.” Ghost assures him, “ready for Limbo?”

If there’s a place to find peace of mind, it’s the void, “aye. Been a while since we paid our friends a visit, hm?”

Ghost chuckles, “only you’d call them that.” He raises his voice, shouting to Novikov, “Limbo out in five!”

The Doctor gives them a thumbs-up, so Ghost closes his eyes.

Entering Limbo never got less jarring. Soap gets used to it faster if he expects it, but the shift from the colorful, lively world to the still void is an odd one.

Still, once he gets accustomed to it, he can’t help but smile. As weird as it is to say, he missed this place.

Limbo’s victims are docile, chasing after bright moths with no sense of urgency. Like shooting stars, they paint the dark skies of Limbo with radiant yellows and oranges.

This might be the only good thing Soap’s powers have ever done.

He catches Ghost staring at him, his eyes a glowing white, “what?” he asks with a small grin.

“Better?”

“Aye.”

“Sergeant!” Novikov shouts, though it sounds muffled as it enters Limbo from the other side, “try to explode something!”

Soap frowns, “is he talkin’ about yer friends?”

Ghost mutters, clearly unhappy with the disturbance, “don’t know.”

“What do you want ‘im to test it on?!” Ghost shouts back.

“Any material will do! I assume you’re standing on something, correct?”

Soap looks down, at the solid black ground. “What is this made of, anyway?”

The way Ghost hums back tells him ‘fuck if I know’. He crouches down, placing both hands on it. The texture is almost like a glass pane, except his fingers can’t get a grip on it no matter how much he tries.

Before he can hesitate, Soap flexes his fingers.

Nothing happens.

“Huh.” he tilts his head, “suppose it makes sense.”

“How so?” Ghost kneels beside him, sliding a finger over the undamaged surface.

“My powers have to come into contact with a material to explode.” Soap shrugs, getting back on his feet, “void’s made of nothing, no?”

“Hm.” Ghost casts another look around Limbo, and blinks.

Soap catches himself before his knees buckle from the rush of color and noise back into the world. Ghost hooks an arm under his shoulder as a precaution, but he assures him he’s stable.

“Absolutely outstanding! This is the first time you couldn’t explode something, is that correct, Sergeant?” Novikov half-jogs to them.

“Uh… Aye?”

The Doctor’s eyes gleam with wonder, “Incredible! If only there were more Revenants of Destruction in this base, I would be able to test if this is a result of a relation between your Reapers, or a consequence of your powers mixing… Alas, this is not the purpose of my visit.” 

Novikov’s assistants are absorbed with the testing equipment they brought, some looking like set pieces of a low budget sci-fi movie to Soap. He’d love to nick one to take apart, but the shite’s probably so delicate even his fingertips would burn and destroy them.

“Now, for the next test, I’d like you to-” a shrill noise cuts Novikov off, and Ghost pulls out his phone.

Soap pouts when Ghost answers. Why does no one ever call him?

“Affirm. We’ll be there in fifteen.” Ghost ends the call, “we need to go to a meeting with Laswell.”

Novikov’s eyes dim, “ah, I see… I suppose we can continue this afterwards.”

“You’re invited too, Doctor.” Ghost grunts, making both Soap and Novikov swing around in surprise.

When Laswell finally shows up on screen, she seems different from what Soap remembered.

Dark eye bags, pale, hair more grey in some places. He almost didn’t recognize her, and looking around the room tells him the rest of the team thinks the same.

The rest, except Price, “how are you, Kate?”

Laswell sighs, more hair falling off her tight bun. “Let’s get to work, John.”

As she brings up several images on screen, Price reports in their mind, “someone attacked Laswell and her wife in their home two months ago. She got off with minor injuries, but her wife… her concussion was severe enough that she barely talks most days.”

“Did they catch the fucker that did it?” Soap thinks back. If they didn’t, he’d gladly volunteer to put the bastard six feet under. He owes Laswell that much.

Price stops him from continuing to plan a revenge, “Kate killed him, son. She’s trained for field work, an everyday burglar doesn’t stand a chance against her. Now focus up.”

Soap huffs, “yes sir.”

“-we found signs of Shepherd’s work around Urzikstan. Supposedly, he’s working with one of the resistance groups there.” blurry satellite images pop up on screen, convoys and remote buildings hidden between green hills.

Gaz frowns, “either he suddenly grew a moral compass, or there’s a catch.”

Laswell nods, “it’s possible it’s a false lead, but with recent clashes between Urzik forces and the Russians, I’d like you to personally investigate it.”

“We’ll get it done, Laswell.” Price says, his authoritative voice on full blast.

“No one I trust more than you.” Laswell smiles, in a way Soap has never seen. “Now, obviously as you all are grounded, I wouldn’t just send you on what could potentially lead to nothing…”

She begins talking to Novikov, “we’re working on tracking the missing revenants Graves and Shepherd trafficked.”

The Doctor nods, adjusting the frankly huge glasses on his nose bridge, “many of them belong to rarer kinds of Reapers. If they were to fall into the wrong hands…”

“We can’t allow that to happen.” Ghost finishes sternly.

“Commander Karim has been working to find them, but there’s so much she can do while also fending off Russians.” the screen switches to a compilation of names and passport photos, each listing both a date of birth and Reaping. “This is your official reason to be sent to Urzikstan, boys. Whatever intel Graves has left behind him regarding the revenants’ location, we need it.”

“When are we up?” Price asks.

“1600.”

Gaz whistles, “brass’ knickers are all twisted up, huh.”

“Miss Laswell, if I may.” Novikov pipes up, “I have yet to finish the renewed revenant test of Sergeant MacTavish and Lieutenant Ghost. I will not be able to give you an accurate recommendation before that.”

The fuck’s he talking about?

“I understand, Doctor, but it’s out of my control.” Laswell exhales, “this is why I invited you to this meeting. Based on what you do know, what is your verdict?”

The entire room swivels to stare at the Doctor. Novikov scrambles to flip through the papers in his hands, before speaking with an air of defeat.

“Considering my current understanding of Lumity, and the state of Sergeant MacTavish and Lieutenant Ghost… I recommend that until further testing, they should be separated as much as possible on field, if their powers are to be used.”

… What?

[fear-less]

Ok so I have a request///Sirius black x reader but reader is just really weird not like Luna lovegood type of weird cuz Luna love good it's like whimsical still weird but whimsical vibes but like reader it's kind of like mad Hatter vibes like for example show randomly start carrying a frog around on her head or she'll be in a conversation and randomly space out and then start talking about something completely off topic and really random Wonderland vibes so pretty much she's just really weird lol

₊˚⊹˚ 𐙚 puff

paring: sirius black x f!reader

➥ In which,Sirius Black finds himself captivated by the wonderfully eccentric (and slightly chaotic) reader, whose spontaneous, Wonderland-inspired ramblings and unexpected frog companion lead them on a whimsical adventure that’s as unpredictable as it is charming.

warnings: reader is a gryffindor (not mentioned but yeah), fluff ofc, whole lotta nonsense, reader is a #yapper, idk anything else..

a/n: this was way too fun to write, I love weird!reader sm bc lowkey... im the same way. cooked this up in like 2 hours.. ijbol🙏

1.7K words 

Sirius Black leaned against the wall, in front of the potions class as class had ended merely ten minutes ago,  his arms crossed and a smirk playing on his lips. He had been watching you for the last 5 minutes, not even paying attention to whatever James was telling him, trying to figure out exactly what you were doing.

You had just wandered in, miss matched shoes, with a small frog sitting happily atop your messy hair. The creature seemed to be perfectly content, its little legs dangling over your ear like a charming, offbeat accessory. You hummed a random tune to yourself, oblivious to the stares you were attracting.

"Is... is that a frog?" James Potter asked, looking over to Sirius.

"Yes, yes it is," Sirius replied, amused, his eyebrow raised. "And I’m starting to think it’s not the weirdest thing about her."

Although you two had talked no more than a few words to each other since first year, he had somewhat cared for you, maybe it was because he was the odd one out in his family and you're just the odd one out in the whole school..

You skipped over to the door where Sirius and James were currently standing, still humming your odd tune, and made your way into the class. The frog gave a tiny croak in response. Sirius shook his head, trying not to smile at your quirky nature.

He'd never quite figured you out. Not that he minded. In fact, he loved that about you.

The last time he’d tried to have a serious conversation with you, you’d abruptly gone off on a tangent about whether or not trees would prefer if humans walked on all fours, and if so, what kind of shoes they would wear. He had no idea how to respond. But that was you—weird. Completely unpredictable, like a puzzle with no instructions.

James and Sirius soon left when more and more people started entering the class. They made their way to the common room since they had a free period, which surprisingly was also their last class of the day. 

An hour and a half later, you made your way to the common room and danced your way to the couch,a couch near where he and James were sitting,  catching Sirius' gaze. Something about the way you stared at the fire, entranced, made him curious. He sauntered over to where you sat, leaning down to catch your eye.

"Hey, Y/N," Sirius said, his voice soft, "you good?"

You blinked up at him, your wide eyes almost glassy, as though you had just been pulled out of some distant, far-off dream.

"Oh, yes, of course!" you said, suddenly animated. "Did you know that turtles are like the original time travelers? I read somewhere that they can live for centuries, so... maybe they’ve seen things, you know? Like, really ancient things. What if they hold the secrets of the universe in their shells? Maybe we just need to ask them. Or—" You paused, looking at the frog, "—maybe this one has seen something, too. He looks wise. I trust him."

Sirius blinked a few times, unsure whether to laugh or just stare in disbelief. You were completely off the rails, but there was something endearing about it.

"You’ve got a lot of theories, don’t you?" he remarked, sitting down next to you.

You beamed, excited to have caught his attention. "Oh, Sirius! Theories are what make the world go round, don’t you think? Like, imagine if gravity was actually just a really strong magnet and the Earth was stuck to it like a fridge magnet!" You suddenly flung your arms out, almost hitting him in the process, but he ducked just in time.

"Careful, I don’t want to become the fridge magnet," Sirius teased, his lips curling into a grin.

"Of course not!" you giggled, your voice bright and airy. "You’re much too handsome to be a fridge magnet. I’d probably put you on the outside, though—just so I could look at you all the time, y’know?"

Sirius chuckled, but there was a softness in his gaze as he looked at you, the girl who could suddenly start rambling about frogs, turtles, or magnets at any given moment, and yet still manage to draw him in.

"You’re impossible," he said, but there was no real malice in his voice. It was affection, the way someone would say, “You’re so frustrating, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

You tilted your head and grinned, that spark of mischief lighting up your eyes. "And you’re very charming for someone who doesn't seem to understand the power of a well-placed frog."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "A frog, huh? Well, tell me, what’s its power?"

You glanced up at the frog on your head and nodded solemnly. "It’s the Guardian of Puddles. In every puddle it rests upon, it can create a tiny world, where everything is upside down. But only if the moon is full."

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

Sirius Black leaned against the wall of the Gryffindor common room, his arms crossed and a smirk playing on his lips. He had been watching you for the last ten minutes, trying to figure out exactly what you were doing.

You had just wandered in, barefoot, with a small frog sitting happily atop your messy hair. The creature seemed to be perfectly content, its little legs dangling over your ear like a charming, offbeat accessory. You hummed a random tune to yourself, oblivious to the stares you were attracting.

"Is... is that a frog?" James Potter asked, looking over to Sirius.

"Yes, yes it is," Sirius replied, amused, his eyebrow raised. "And I’m starting to think it’s not the weirdest thing about her."

You danced over to the couch, still humming your odd tune, and plopped down with a soft plop. The frog gave a tiny croak in response. Sirius shook his head, trying not to smile at your quirky nature.

He'd never quite figured you out. Not that he minded. In fact, he loved that about you.

The last time he’d tried to have a serious conversation with you, you’d abruptly gone off on a tangent about whether or not trees would prefer if humans walked on all fours, and if so, what kind of shoes they would wear. He had no idea how to respond. But that was you—weird. Completely unpredictable, like a puzzle with no instructions.

Today, though, something about the way you stared at the fire, entranced, made him curious. He sauntered over to where you sat, leaning down to catch your eye.

"Hey, [Y/N]," Sirius said, his voice soft, "you good?"

You blinked up at him, your wide eyes almost glassy, as though you had just been pulled out of some distant, far-off dream.

"Oh, yes, of course!" you said, suddenly animated. "Did you know that turtles are like the original time travelers? I read somewhere that they can live for centuries, so... maybe they’ve seen things, you know? Like, really ancient things. What if they hold the secrets of the universe in their shells? Maybe we just need to ask them. Or—" You paused, looking at the frog, "—maybe this one has seen something, too. He looks wise. I trust him."

Sirius blinked a few times, unsure whether to laugh or just stare in disbelief. You were completely off the rails, but there was something endearing about it.

"You’ve got a lot of theories, don’t you?" he remarked, sitting down next to you.

You beamed, excited to have caught his attention. "Oh, Sirius! Theories are what make the world go round, don’t you think? Like, imagine if gravity was actually just a really strong magnet and the Earth was stuck to it like a fridge magnet!" You suddenly flung your arms out, almost hitting him in the process, but he ducked just in time.

"Careful, I don’t want to become the fridge magnet," Sirius teased, his lips curling into a grin.

"Of course not!" you giggled, your voice bright and airy. "You’re much too handsome to be a fridge magnet. I’d probably put you on the outside, though—just so I could look at you all the time, y’know?"

Sirius chuckled, but there was a softness in his gaze as he looked at you, the girl who could suddenly start rambling about frogs, turtles, or magnets at any given moment, and yet still manage to draw him in.

"You’re impossible," he said, but there was no real malice in his voice. It was affection, the way someone would say, “You’re so frustrating, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

You tilted your head and grinned, that spark of mischief lighting up your eyes. "And you’re very charming for someone who doesn't seem to understand the power of a well-placed frog."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "A frog, huh? Well, tell me, what’s its power?"

You glanced up at the frog on your head and nodded solemnly. "It’s the Guardian of Puddles. In every puddle it rests upon, it can create a tiny world, where everything is upside down. But only if the moon is full."

"Right," Sirius said with a dramatic nod. "So what are we waiting for, then? We should find the next puddle, moon or not."

"Exactly!" you exclaimed, suddenly standing up and nearly tripping over your own feet. The frog wobbled a bit but managed to hang on. "We must go! The universe needs us."

Sirius laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. "You’re completely mad. But I wouldn’t have you any other way."

You looked back at him, wide-eyed and playful. "Mad? Oh, I’m not mad at all, Sirius. I’m simply tuned to the rhythm of a different drum. It’s much more fun this way, don’t you think?"

He watched you for a moment, and then, without missing a beat, said, "Maybe I’ll start carrying around a frog too. You know, for balance."

You gave him a look of approval. "Good idea. We'll form a secret society of frog-bearers. We’ll rule the world, one puddle at a time."

Sirius just smiled, content. "Sounds perfect, puff."

[year2000electronics]

I absolutely LOVELOVELOVE your Reverse Falls HCs from what I've seen :). I would love to ask more about so much aspects haha.

What is Reverse Ford's main goal in this universe?

What is Ford' and Stanley's backstory?

Mind sharing some info about Reverse! Dipper and Reverse! Mabel?

HOKAY. i will use this ask to talk a little about the reverse stans' backstories because i have Some Ideas. as always full answer under cut bc its got images and rambles galore

in my mind, the gleeful family association with magic & the supernatural starts with caryn's phone psychic business, and ford having "The Gift" while stan ABSOLUTELY doesnt. but in real terms that means just having a really strong intuition and being able to guess well. (at least thats what filbrick and caryn thing. ford genuinely thinks he has some semblance of psychic ability and so does his mom, but they just havent properly honed it yet) and so ford is the preferred child for that, instead of his smarts really. ford is also obsessed with the supernatural still, but it's more focused on the magical aspect.

ford and stan's relationship ends up being close because stan is the only one who believes ford about magic. i mean there are other reasons but thats very important to ford

ford, seeing how stan has always had his back by believing what he says about magic, offers to try and "tutor" stan into having The Gift. drilling him for hours by holding up cards and making him guess, stuff like that. but yknow, since both of them are kinda clamoring to inherit their mom's business, stan kinda ends up relying on ford for everything, and theyre taking on almost a mentor-student relationship when theyre Literally Brothers.

instead of west coast tech, the scholarship ford is being offered is for a famous performing arts school after his teachers saw him take the leads in school plays year after year. they tell him a scout will be at their school's talent show, and ford decides he's going to put on a stage magic show (with stan as his assistant). this time, not only is stan worried about ford leaving, but also, since they've both been working towards a really similar thing (performing for a crowd), he's really worried he'll never get a chance to show off that HE has skill, too! ford brushes him off about this saying that he'll put a good word in for stan when he's at performing arts school and stan is like "ok." and agrees to be his assistant.

in the middle of ford's show, he goes rogue, trying to show the scouts that he can be just as skilled as ford is, and completely screws up the trick he ends up performing. ford doesnt get that internship, ford is furious, so is filbrick, stan gets kicked out, you know the rest.

ford goes to backupsmore and double-majors in both theatre and whatever he majors in in the show. he plans to move to gravity falls because of its high ratings of weirdness. after stan got kicked out, instead of becoming a traveling salesman, he becomes a street magician who doubles as a pickpocket. stealing peoples' watches and stuff. he runs around all over the place

ford digs up four mystic amulets once he gets to gravity falls and stays there for a while, and is like "oh man i can USE these". so how i imagine the amulets to work is that they're kinda like, a conduit through which you can learn legit magic? like casting spells and stuff. but he probably only needs one so he keeps the other three in his house (and that's how the kids eventually find the others)

and of course thats how he starts up the tent of telepathy!

but he wants more. he wants to make the world pay for ever calling him a six fingered freak. and he wants to prove to the world that his magic IS real. he can't just lie sequestered in gravity falls forever. so he goes hunting for more answers about gravity falls' weirdness, and how he might be able to get more POWER to make a show so good the entire world will see... and that's how he summons will cipher! will tells him about the portal, and how itll open up a dimension of weirdness into his own, and ford accepts on those terms, looking out just for himself. then he asks fidds to come help with the portal, fidds walks out on him, he shackles will to him in a deal, but they both realize they don't have the manpower to run the portal. reluctantly, ford calls stan up, telling him to come and that it's important.

...but of course that doesnt go well. stan initiates a physical fight and ford ends up getting sucked into the portal. will is left alone with stan, who tells him he can buzz off because HE certainly doesnt want him around. stan works for the next 30 years to get ford back because he wants ford to finally be the one who has to suck up to HIM and owe HIM something.

at some point, mason and mabel's parents become unable to take care of them and give them to stan. he reluctantly takes them in, but soon after, not only do they find the amulets but also journal 2, and they end up reactivating ford's deal with will, getting passed down to the "next of kin" after stan rejected it. AND THATS SORTA WHERE THE SHOW STARTS. THUMBS UP.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Rambles about an au I'll probably never fully write out

Contrary to popular vigilante assumption, the Red Hood does, in fact, have a civilian job. He actually really likes his job! It's super flexible, he sets his own hours, his own rates, is his own boss - heck he even likes a lot of his clients, and finds the conversations they fall into to be very grounding and comfortable.

It's also been a big help to his vigilante work to boot! After all, it's a hell of a lot easier to figure out what the sex workers in Park Row need and want when he himself is one of them.

A few of the Johns I've imagined for him:

Christie:

Serious and dour. Has a tendency to overstate her displeasure and only let slip the faintest of praise for what she actually likes

Thinks flirting is inane, incomprehensible, and demeaning. Almost wept with relief when someone tried to insult her by telling her she'd never find a husband and would only get laid if she was paying someone

They would never want to be friends with each other, but hold a mutual respect for each other's intelligence and general attitudes

Claims to hate gossip, has bitched about her coworkers so much between rounds of making out that Jason has highly detailed profiles on every member of her entire department whether he likes it or not

A regular

Jessica

Met him when her sorority hired him for a party (one of his least favorite jobs - handling 23 drunk people as a service worker is simply always going to be stressful no matter the industry)

Has changed majors like five times, perpetually finding herself

Generally pretty jovial and chill, though it took her a little while to get over her initial awkward towards him and his profession

As much as a client who doesn't know about your secret crime lord identity can be a friend, she's a friend

A regular

Devin

Jessica's friend

Complained about being a poor loveless virgin and jokingly asked to get laid with a tall hung goth guy for his birthday

Jessica is not one to let her friend's birthday wishes go unfulfilled!!

Dick actually walked in on Jason putting on his outfit for this - black and red plaid skirt and spiked black leather jacket over full body fishnets and chunky boots - but assumed/concluded it was for an undercover case. Jason feels weird about the way Dick seemed to assume he'd never do this for anything other than a case, like it was yet another price to pay for vigilante justice to prevail.

One time client

And lastly one that's kinda an offshoot from the original au, which I think works better as Jason having a genuinely separate social/civilian life that the other bats aren't involved with at all, but also I am weak to jaytim and comedy so here we are:

Tim Drake and Bernard Dowd... Kinda

Similar to Devin except he's talking about what kinda guy he'd want to lose his virginity with to Tim, who has a very obvious crush on him

"I'd really like my first time to be with someone with black hair and blue eyes, who's strong and driven and caring and looks so very hot on a motorcycle..."

Tim Very Badly Misunderstands these incredibly obvious hints bc he thinks to himself, "Hmm, who's the best, hottest guy that fits this description and that I could absolutely trust to treat my crush right 🤔???" and hires Jason, his other crush, contenting himself with going home after introducing them to go sit on his lonely cuck chair

"You know he meant you, right?"

"Nooooo, he couldn't've possibly meant me."

"So you definitely were trying to get into Tim's pants, right?"

"Yeah I was super trying to get with Tim. Did not even think I was being subtle."

They end up having a threesome about it

[agaypanic]

Grumpy Malcolm With a Sunshine Reader Headcanons

Masterlist

Request Something!

A/N: holy shit i finally posted a fic. i posted this separately bc the ask was a bit lengthy and i didn’t want the whole post to feel bulky or anything

***

It was so weird for everyone when you first got together

You’re always so positive and energetic

Meanwhile, Malcolm hates everything and thinks the world sucks

Before you get together, it’s kinda like him and Cynthia where he likes you and stuff, but is slightly put off by your energy

“Hey, Malcolm!” The boy jolted, not expecting such an energetic greeting at seven in the morning. You plopped down into the seat next to him and took out a notebook.

“Hey, Y/n,” Malcolm responded, much more toned down compared to you.

You tossed your bundle of glitter gel pens onto the desk, letting them scatter around as you looked at your friend. “So, what did you do this weekend?”

Malcolm sighed. Francis and Piama had come to visit, which usually excited him. But those two days were filled with passive aggressiveness and backhanded comments between the couple and his mom. “Watched TV.” Malcolm usually liked complaining about his crazy family, but he figured he’d spare you from it because he didn’t want to take you out of your giddy mood. “What about you? What did you do?”

You were lucky that class wouldn’t start for a few more minutes, because you immediately went into an excited ramble about what you did over the weekend. To Malcolm, your energy made things as mundane as doing the dishes sound interesting.

Malcolm puts off you meeting his family as long as possible

Which isn’t long, considering his mom would find out pretty quick that you two are dating

He’s so worried that his family is gonna embarrass him and scare you off

But by the end of the night, he doesn’t know if he should be happy or scared that you actually like his family

You and Malcolm hadn’t even reached the front door yet, and you could already hear yelling and glass breaking. Malcolm cringed at the noises, putting a hesitant hand on the doorknob before looking at you. “Are you sure you wanna meet my family? I don’t know if you could tell, but we aren’t exactly… normal.”

“Malcolm, I don’t care if your family’s crazy.” You said comfortingly, giving him a peck on the lips. “I wanna meet them. Besides, I bet it’ll be fun!”

Your boyfriend didn’t really share your thoughts, but they gave him the push he needed to open the door and welcome you into the house. 

As soon as you stepped out of the front family room and into the kitchen, you and Malcolm were met with chaos. Lois was trying to cook, but kept getting distracted and yelling at Reese and Dewey, who kept shouting and fighting each other. Malcolm’s youngest brother, Jamie, wandered around the house, dropping toys without looking back at them. They would either make people yelp from accidentally stepping on them or be thrown at the two fighting brothers. The whole place seemed to be a complete mess. The only person who seemed unaffected by the environment was Hal, who was sitting at the dinner table drinking coffee and reading a newspaper.

You nudged Malcolm, your bright smile contrasting his horrified look. “See? This looks fun!”

Sometimes, your energy can be a little much for Malcolm

Not that he would ever tell you that

It’s just that he’s so used to people around him drawing attention for one reason or another

And sometimes, he just wants to lay low

But if anyone ever tells you to calm down or to “stop being so weird,” he’s gonna fight them

Sitting at lunch with your friends, you were talking your boyfriend’s ear off. Everyone except Malcolm seemed to tune out you talking about some artist’s new album you had been listening to. Although Malcolm was a bit tired from his classes, he nodded along and added comments whenever he felt necessary.

But for the most part, he just listened to you talk. “And now she’s going on tour, and she’s gonna be playing at a place that’s only like an hour away from us. We totally have to go, Mal!”

“Maybe,” Malcolm responded, thinking about how many extra shifts he’d probably have to pick up at the Lucky Aide to afford the tickets. “But remember, Y/n, it’s not guaranteed we’ll be able to get tickets.”

“I have hope.” You shrugged. “But before we go, you gotta listen to the album first. I think you’d like it, Mal. Oh my gosh, there’s this one song that I think could totally be our song, you know what I mean? It’s called-”

“Oh my God.” Reese appeared behind you and Malcolm, staring at you with some displeasure. “Y/n, do you ever. Shut. Up?”

All you did was blink at Reese, wondering how or if you should respond.

But Malcolm came to your defense immediately. “How about you shut up, Reese?”

“Oh, come on, Malcolm,” Reese said, rolling his eyes. “You have to admit that it gets annoying with her talking all the time.”

Instead of replying, Malcolm jumped out of his seat and pounced on his brother, taking him to the floor. Part of you wanted to try to break up the fight. But despite all the violence, you thought it was sweet of Malcolm to defend you with such urgency.

And as much as Malcolm wanted to distance himself from it, he would probably always attract attention and bring chaos. But as long as you liked it, he supposed he didn’t mind it as much.

***

Malcolm in the Middle Taglist: @rattilol

[mkgrl11]

social media cleanse and restriction. one of the most important things that helped me start being consistent

this post is aimed for people who feel bad after doomscrolling for hours AND for the people who are emotionally sensitive like me. this is NOT necessary to manifest WHATSOEVER. consider this more of a general wellness tip.

i am speaking almost exclusively from personal experience.

long post, content under the cut

what do you mean by a social media cleanse and restriction? what does it entail?

it's exactly what it says on the tin. cutting down on social media in your daily life

why should we even DO a social media cleanse? i don't wanna miss out!!

there are MANY reasons to do a social media cleanse, but i'll just be talking for the loa/loass perspective (there's literally countless other reasons, you can find a few benefits here).

first of all, you are NOT missing out. there is an infinite amount of unimportant things on there that clog up your mind! and i'm talking about mean people on twitter ragebaiting, somebody on reddit who "trolls" you by actually ruining your day, and tiktok creating a new insecurity out of thin air! doesn't it drive you crazy how riled up you can get over a TWEET??? your beautiful brain doesn't deserve to spend hours in places like that. and you do end up being "in touch" anyway, either by your friends referencing new memes, or by the small amounts of time you spend on your phone (you do NOT have to delete social media entirely)

second of all, i believe that that type of content can actually spoil your fun with manifestations, and i'll give some examples. that weird content can make you:

forget that you were saying your affirmations! maybe you wanted to robotically affirm for 20 minutes, and before you know it, your timer goes off, and you were looking at tweets respoted on instagram, and totally forgot to keep your affirmations at the back of your head

confused. maybe you're on tumblr (ironic i'm posting this online btw, i know) and scrolling on the loass hashtags and you see a post that says "manifestation is a process" followed by a post that says "manifestation is instant, and not a process", followed by someone complaining in someone's asks, followed by... and before you know it, you almost forgot what manifestation was even about

...and the point which is most important,

mess up your attention span. i know, I KNOW, don't boo me! i'm RIGHT! when i was at the peak of my social media usage, i couldn't even sit through visualising for even THREE MINUTES without picking up my phone. i had to give up stuff that made me happy (like visualising) to do stuff that fried my dopamine receptors, and i HATED it

okay, but what's the point of the "restriction"?

the restriction part of the name is just to encourage ACTIVELY taking care of the media you consume. don't hop platforms, spiral even lower, or start a worse habit. keep an eye on that kind of stuff. keep yourself busy.

what about non-social media? like music, film, etc.

i don't think music and film taste is something people can really control. but i will admit, i saw my life improve when i slowed down on listening to angry and depressing music, and snuck in happier or more neutral ones instead.

and it SUCKS to admit it, because i am a HUGE screamo, emo, and alt-rock fan (despite the aesthetic of my blog lmao). i also almost exclusively hate romcoms and fantasize about absurd horror films i watched years ago.

but the good thing is, if you want to introduce more fun music into your playlists (if you feel like the music/film you have been consuming has genuinely been ruining your mood, which i feel like it did for me a little), you can totally do that without having to quit the content you enjoy.

do you have any personal experience with this?

you bet!! i'll try to keep it short bcs i have been rambling for a while, so here it is summed up in bullet points. also this all happened slowly over like two weeks.

what i listened to/watched before:

literal youtube drama slop that i didn't care about

doomscrolling on instagram reels

songs with angry lyrics whose sounds i LOOOVED but felt a little down after listening to it

how i felt before:

bombarded with a bunch of stuff i did not wanna know about (like people's personal dramas online, random jumpscares hidden online, etc)

couldn't focus even on things that made me feel good

like i was searching for something, and never being able to calm that feeling down. for example, i would look up "how to caramelize onions" when i had done that 10 times before bc i felt that my self was so untrustworthy, bc everything i need "MUST be outside of me". or i would scroll on loassblr, bc maybe THIS time i'll find the "key to manifesting"

what i listened to/watched after:

fun youtube videos about nostalgic games and comedy that actually makes me laugh out loud

i got an app which limits my instagram and tiktok while giving me 25 minutes a day in case i need it. i could not delete instagram as a whole bc some of my friends are friends i made overseas and still keep in touch with

still a big emo fan, but i cut out a lot of songs that JUST straight up made me feel depressed and anxious and added more of bands who make relatively happier music, rock from the 70s, and edm.

how i feel now:

i am more in control of my thoughts, especially when alone

i am genuinely surprised when i watch a movie with a friend and they pick up their phone right after the title screen plays

i am more satisfied with myself as a whole, and i can rely on my intuition and senses better

i don't need "background noise" for everything anymore

what tips do you got?

i actually don't recommend that you quit cold turkey, because it might be too difficult and you might just end up saying "ehh whatever, i was never cut out for quitting social media anyway" and start scrolling again. go slow

if you do feel that the music you listen to leaves you a bit too upset, but you also don't wanna do a 180 and listen to songs you lowkey hate instead, i recommend you remove the particularly depressing songs from your playlist (you can always listen to them again when the mood calls for it of course), and add in some more "middle" songs. or try on some new genres!

abt the previous point, if you have a DR where angrier music makes sense (like if you're in a rock band, your DR SP loves going to metal concerts, or anything of the like) you can make almost anything work! use that music as visualisation material. all of a sudden, instead of making you wallow in negative emotions, it's a source of power and imagination!

youtube videos, tumblr, and pinterest matter too! especially if you're over there overconsuming loa content. i use my youtube just for fun videos and subliminals, tumblr just to post (i barely look at other posts), and pinterest to add to vision boards.

if you're like me and can't doomscroll on your laptop, log in to the web versions of instagram and snapchat. that way you can text for an extended amount of time with your friends without getting distracted by the reels and snapchat stories

i really like the app ScreenZen, i think it works better than IOS's screen time protector thing

i recommend you keep your hands busy with something else. one of the main reasons why i started this blog anyway was so i could keep my hands off my phone (i'm typing this on my laptop rn). i also picked up knitting and drawing after years of not doing that

use your feelings as a compass. does it feel good when you look at that content? if not, cut it out. you will learn to trust your feelings more that way too

conclusion?

do a social media cleanse, or don't. i'm not your mom. i'm pretty sure my explanations, experience, and tips have spoken for themselves. if you have any questions or personal experience with this, i would love to read it in a comment. please remember to focus on what makes you feel good. that's the whole point

tl;dr?

get rid of bad social media things, keep the good and important. use your own emotions as a guide as to how you should proceed. be careful and be active. you do not need to quit the music you like. be gentle and honest with yourself. good for manifestation, self-trust, and focus.

[rorykeanersactualgf]

request where Benny Weir gets set up on a blind date with the reader who is deaf

A/N: In this, Ethan and Sarah are dating and set Benny and the reader up because it'll make the story make more sense and possibly more interesting xx :)) of course if there are any mistakes, please tell me so i can fix them

CW: slight talk of feeling like the reader isn't worth it (quickly does down the drain bcs c'mon benny is such a simp ong), Sarah being an absolute queen, kisses, Sarah and Ethan basically stalking to make sure the date was going well. That's about it, I hope you enjoy the story xxxx

The Blind Date.

I had known Sarah since we were in elementary school and we both liked similar things, she's a sweet girl and all but she likes to take a lot of things on by herself. She never liked asking for help because, well she never needed it. Always had good grades and was a very patient person, which came in handy for me because I am deaf. I was a lot like Sarah, in the way that I hated asking for help but that was because I didn't want people to think I couldn't do anything by myself, I could but sometimes people needed to be patient, and she always did.

She liked to help me in a lot of ways like learning sign language with me so we could communicate easier, making sure I didn't get told off for 'not listening' to substitute teachers when they didn't know I was deaf, etc. This also meant that she helped me by also helping one of her friends too.

Benny had been complaining to Ethan about not having a girlfriend yet and constantly whining about being lonely while Ethan tried (albeit failing) to give his dearest friend some well needed advice. It had gotten to the point where Ethan had no idea how to help him because anything that he told Benny to do, didn't work.

Ethan had told Sarah about what had happened and asked her for more tips for Benny since she had been in more relationships than he had when something had clicked in her mind. She had the same problem he was having, but with me. I had been constantly complaining to her via sign language across rooms or face-to-face. She knew that my type was the nerdy, awkward guy that loved to ramble on about random things, but it didn't matter, no one really wanted to date me because they thought that even though I wore hearing aids all the time and only occasionally used sign language when talking to my friends, that I wasn't worth the effort.

It didn't bother me too much because it was something I couldn't change but it also bothered me a bit because it was something that I couldn't change, it was a part of me, like how someone could have scars, but in my case, it was my inability to hear.

One day, she had had enough of Ethan constantly complaining about Benny saying he needed a girlfriend, it didn't matter who, and me constantly doing the same. As I got into my parents car to be picked up from school, Sarah was planning for me and one of her and Ethan's male friends called Benny Weir to go on a date together. She had surmised an entire plan for all of our problems to go away, hopefully. This included her and Ethan scheming behind mine and Benny's back.

It also didn't help that she knew exactly what my type in men was because it was the lanky, uncool, nerdy, strange, weird boys that rambled on about comics, games, movies, tv shows etc. for hours on end because I always felt they didn't get enough recognition for who they actually were, unlike the 'cool' jocks that failed every class just to be deemed interesting by his peers. It also helped that Benny would fall in love with any girl, no matter what she looked like or what she had that was different, it only made her more pretty. The only reason why we hadn't met before was because our paths had never crossed much, if at all, and he definitely did not have the same amount of courage and confidence as Rory did.

It was about 8 o'clock on a Friday night when Sarah had so graciously told me that I was going on a date to the park with the boy of my dreams and would not give any specific details other than he was basically just my type and that I needed to be at the park for about 2pm tomorrow afternoon. When I saw this, I thought she was bluffing but she told me she was serious and she even pinky promised that she wasn't joking with me and that I was actually going on a date tomorrow with someone. I decided to play along, and go to the date.

Likewise, Benny was told by Ethan that he was going on a date but was more nervous than he thought he would be, wondering who it would be, if I was going to be nice, how was he supposed to dress, oh god how was he supposed to dress, he's never been on a date before. He decided to agree and call Rory in the morning to help him get dressed for the occasion because Rory has more experience in this right? Right??

After messaging goodnight and doing my usual night time routine, I slipped into bed, looking forward to tomorrow, a warm swell of butterflies filled my chest thinking about what he may be like or look like.

After Benny had done his usual night time routine, he clambered into bed, tossing and turning side to side, nervous of what tomorrow would bring him, still slightly unsure if Ethan would prank him like that, a nervous swarm of butterflies clanked around his body as he tried hard to go to sleep, wondering if I'll at least be nice and like him... at least just a bit.

-----The Next Morning-----

Since I set my alarm so I could have an early morning start and put a bit of effort into my looks, I was able to throw the perfect casual but interesting look together, have a nice breakfast, do my hair so it looked decent at least, do a bit of homework so I wasn't behind, and make sure I was there on time. (you can wear what you want bbys x)

Benny on the other hand was a different story, he woke up with a very confused Rory in his room, looking down at Benny with a pile of 'suitable' clothes for a date cradled in his arms, his bed an absolute mess from being unable to sleep all night, and his phone still going off with alarms that had been going for at least an hour. Panicking, he checked the time and saw he only had an hour and a half to get fully ready, fed to some extent, out the door and at the place of the date.

After a long time of picking out the best clothes of the bunch, he settled on a rainbow cat t-shirt (courtesy of Rory), a pair of jeans, a jacket (courtesy of the floor) and his converse and a bracelet or two that was lying around.

Around 10 minutes before I got to the park, I got a message from Sarah with a number attached, just saying 'Benny's number ;)' on the message, I quickly added it and dialled the number, calling it to know how far he was and where we were meeting in the park, at least I hope he was coming.

Benny got a message from Ethan saying 'Readers number' with it attached, and he stopped where he was in the street and stared at his phone in disbelief for a good minute or two, unsure of what to do. Does he call you? Is he supposed to text her? No, that'd be weird and out of the blue. Do I-

His train of thought stopped when he saw the same number on his phone calling him, now panicking because he wasn't sure on what he was supposed to say but before it rang out, he answered.

"Hello? Are you my date?" Strange start, but not an unprompted question to say the least. "Did Sarah set you up to this too?" I asked the boy on the other side of the phone, genuinely curious.

"Uh yeah, sorry, I don't know your name. I was only told last night that I was doing this." He said, so it wasn't just me that was confused.

"I'm (Name), what's your name?" He didn't recognise the name so that was good, at least he wasn't being embarrassed by someone he already knows.

"Benny, Benny Weir." He said with more confidence.

"Oh, the wizard, right?" As soon as I said this, his heart sank to the floor and any confidence he ever had before, drained from him in a second. When the phone was quiet for a moment too long, I decided to speak again.

"Don't worry, Sarah already told me about you being a wizard a while ago, and I know she's a vampire." I explained, hoping that he knew I was being sincere.

"Where abouts in the park do you want to meet up? I think there's this really cool willow tree nearby a coffee shop if you want to go there?"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me, I'll see you there." I said with a big smile across my face as I hung up the phone.

By the time I had gotten to the park, there was a few families there, a couple with their dog and a few older people sat on benches with bread or bouquets of flowers they had picked. Under the willow tree, there was a boy, sat with fluffy brown hair, a slightly crinkled jacket, a rainbow cat shirt, jeans, and converse... was this Benny?

He was pretty cute so I picked up all the courage and confidence I had and walked over to him. "Hey, are you Benny?" I asked when I got close enough to him.

Benny's head turned towards me in a moments notice, almost looking like it hurt with the pure velocity. A shaky but affirmative answer followed as he took me in for a moment. His expression read nervous so I sat down next to him and started to talk to him, slowly making him more comfortable by asking him what he liked and 'nerding' out with him about his interests.

Turns out, we shared a lot of things in common, and I could already feel myself looking at him in a different light, liking him more than I thought I would because of his charming smile that grew more with pretty much any passing moment, cheeks that go red, his eyes that could hold a thousand secrets if you asked him to. Just everything about him was adorable in one way or another.

He felt the same, slowly (but really not) falling more and more in love with everything about me with every new thing he learned. As I was picking myself up from laughing at a joke he made, he finally saw something that usually turned more people away.

"Oh my god, you have hearing aids?" He questioned, with an unusually happy tone, one that felt almost out of place to me.

"Yeah, I was born almost fully deaf in both ears, I can still hear without it in but it is very muffled, my family taught me sign language when I was younger in case I did ever go fully deaf and Sarah learnt it with me," I rambled on, now nervous as to what he would think of me or if he even cared.

"That's so cool!" He almost shouted, already asking me more questions about it.

After answering most of his questions, we got up to go the little café that had a library attached to it, having a quiet conversation while going through the comic section, quietly browsing with Benny while he talked about some of his favourite plot points and characters in the comics, while comparing it to some of the various tv shows and movies he's watched.

We sat down next to each other in a corner of the café and talked about ourselves and had a really good time. I could already tell I had fallen completely head over heels for him and I hoped he felt the same about me.

He did, he could practically feel the heart eyed, love struck, cartoonish face he was probably pulling while he was listening to me ramble on about some of my favourite characters but he didn't care, he thought I was so cool already and hoped I felt the same.

After it had gone 7pm, we decided to get up and leave the café, having already been there for a few hours, and walk each other home. As we walked, I decided to make a bold move and hold his hand, blaming it on the fact it was cold outside, at this he gave me his jacket that was already warm and smelt like him. It was soft, slightly clammy, probably from nerves and from being warm inside the café and coming outside. It fit my hand perfectly, like two jigsaw pieces being placed together.

As we made it to my house, we exchanged farewells and I went to take off his jacket to give back to him, he grabbed both sides of the jacket and pulled it back onto my shoulders, keeping them there and telling me to keep it. I made a split minute decision and pulled his face to my level while standing up a bit higher to reach him and kissed him. We both froze for a moment and I pulled away to apologise but he held my face close to his. Our eyes locked for just a moment before he pulled me back in for another kiss.

Unbeknownst to us, Sarah and Ethan had been sat in a bush near my house, taking pictures of us, almost celebrating the fact that we will both hopefully stop bugging them both about being single.

Just before we parted ways, we both agreed to go on another date soon I kissed his cheek before going inside my house, letting a slightly too loud excited squeal leave my lips. Benny heard me and realised what had just happened and held his cheek the entire way home, only letting go when he made it back to his house and sat down on his bed and started to watch videos on how to do sign language. We had messaged almost the entirety of the night until we both fell asleep, smiling with our phones in our hands, a message waiting to be sent on both of our chat boxes, 'I love you'.

[ad-hawkeye]

wanted to know if you ever got to read artem’s pool/8 ball card i thought the event story was cute but i was a wee bit curious on your thoughts on the card

I JUST FINISHED IT!!!!!!!!! AS WE SPEAK!!! i have a whole list of my thoughts HAHA SORRY FOR THE RAMBLING IN ADVANCE

"artem had to join a pool club for work" is one of the better excuses to give him a new hobby, ill begrudgingly give them that

im glad artem still has the alcohol tolerance of a squirrel. do NOT let this man go off by himself he will accidentally take a sip of alcohol and then need a time out in the corner.

"is it that obvious?" yes, artem.

mc making sure artem eats a fucking meal is rly cute LMFAO

mc ordering artem a non-alcoholic drink is also sweet. i remember i wrote a fic (all the way back in like 2021 after reading atmospherics) where i wrote abt artem going out of his way to drink mocktails after all of that. genuinely really happy to see that's canon.

i've noticed newer ssrs are just. shorter? first year ssrs tended to be like, over an hour long when put on auto. but newer ones are only 40 mins on auto. laaaame. but then again with the overall writing quality, maybe they're just putting us out of our misery.

ah yes. artem getting surprised by mc kissing his cheek in public. what a sly sex chad. did they get the only good artem writer left at hoyoverse on this card or something

artem being exhausted from socializing is a mood. girl same.

the way these two talk about alcohol sends me. dear god artem we can let you have a sip oh god. OH JESUS CHRIST ARTEM NO --

this story is cute enough to make me sad. godddd. it's really nice to see artem more casual and open, esp since this story is more in character.

THE IRISH GOODBYE?? ARTEM LMFAO.

mutuals meet me in the secret passage of the pool place

sneaking out by running is giving the same energy as his revisiting youth ssr where they decided to sneak to the school's roof and hide from the security guards lmfao. ah. the nostalgia.

AND this ssr acknowledges artem's love of movies?? YES

STOP KISSING IN THE STORAGE ROOM GUYS THE CINEMA STAFF IS GOING TO FIND YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! DEAR GOD

"this should be filmed in slow motion" LMFAO

JUMPSCARE. JUMPSACRE. NEW ARTEM EXPRESSION. JUMPSCARE. HOLY FUCK

i sincerely think a full on artem smile is all i ever wanted back in the day i cant believe i fucking got it in the POOL CARD OF ALL CARDS

"was something set up incorrectly?" "[artem pout] probably."

mc taking a pic of his stupid distracted expression is amazing and him getting blushy about it is even funnier

"was it too sour?" "yeah...."

thank god pathetic artem is back

nevermind he is licking her arm like a dog. tot's fascination with licking will never fail to amuse me. this is like when my dog licks my leg in the middle of the night

if one sip of alcohol fucks him up this bad i'd hate to see what happens when he's a few shots in. mr wing breaking it down sloppy style on the floor (not clickbait)

STOP LICKING EACH OTHER YOU FREAKS

i think artem should trip a few more times it's funny

this is the closest we've gotten to artem fessing up about atmospherics i can fucking taste it

NOOOO THEY FUMBLED IT. NO ATMOSPHERICS MENTION. ENDING IT ALL. GOD DAMN IT

i can forgive this bc the running joke of them missing scenes in a movie is back

all in all as far as post second anniversary cards go, this one wasn't bad at all and had a lot of cute moments. a few weird ones (which is to be expected at this point ig), but mostly cute!! it made me miss my fav artem cards but in a good way. siiigh ;_;;;

[iheartgaykey]

be free my ltitle yaoilings

ANYWAYS HI ELLIE. HI. HI. One time you mentioned that you liked being inboxed and that's like AWESOME to know because I'm showing up today (Reply on your own accord though! Don't feel forced to answer this in the next hour) I wanted to just ask if you can ramble about something to me. It can be literally ANYTHING you can think of like ocs, fandoms, music, I'm just in the mood to hear about something from anyone who's up to ramble a bit :D Feel free to even talk about Locked Up...... YOU DON'T HAVE TO THOUGH I LTIERALLY SAID IT CAN BE WHATEVER COMES TO MIND!! You mean a lot to me so I want to just show up sometimes ILYSMMMM HOPE YOU'RE TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF BTW I'M HERE FOR YOU ALWAYS RAAA I love reading your posts!

HELLO DOLL!!! RJAKXSKSBWIRB THIS WAS SUCH A PLEASANT SURPRISE...

All jokes aside so glad I can yap bc weird shit has been going on for like. 2 days help 💔💔💔

I've been playing alot of forsaken w my friends and maining Elliot (pizza guy !!) He's a healer and I luh him lots.... I don't know a lot of the lore behind him buut I'll probably look more into that later.....

My other friends main Zedletsky + two time. IM SO EXCITED FOR THE NEW CHARACTERS TO DROP IM GONNA BUY UP ROOK SO FAST I HEARD HE WAS DEFENSE BASED AND IVE BEEN LITERALLY WAITING FOR ONE THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO DO WITH OFFENSE OR JS SURVIVING 💔💔💔💔💔

(For refrence most forsaken characters with defense abilities also have an ability that can hurt the killer WHICH I don't want to do + won't use since i prefer support characters or being able to help without being directly involved in distracting or being close to the killer so people like Elliot (who can heal) Builderman (build a machine that slows killer when they're near it + a machine that gives health to people near it) and Duskkar (Can protect and give people speed boosts + make the killer slower when in range for like 10 secs) are usually my first options

BUT IM REALLY HOPING THAT ROOK HAS SIMILAR ABILITIES TO BUILDERMAN SINCE I LIKE THAT HE CAN HEAL AND AFFECT THE KILLER IN SOME WAY...

Also considering making a cosplay for Elliot bc it'd be a lot easier than Astro...... 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

[lautity]

do you perhaps have any ziggy headcanons,, :3 (this is also an indirect way of me asking how weed works bc i'm curious,,)

HIIII. kicking my feet i didnt know i Had ziggy thoughts. until right now

nonbinary pan acespec & demiro.....i think they're probably nonpartnering. designated occasional third in other's relationships. gets involved in other people's buisiness Always (just for kicks).

socialist. anarchist maybe? becoming ungovernable. mutual aid user & provider. bleeding-heart drug dealer who often eats losses to make sure people get what they need (emma always reprimands them for this. NO FREE SAMPLES)

raised by pot-smoking hippies lol. they were maybe a bit too hands-off with their parenting & ziggy ended up getting injured a lot as a kid & young teen. tons of scars from climbing fences & falling out of trees & such

primarily selling psychadelics (they have a little mushroom growing situation in the basement @ perky's i think) & obviously weed, but they're also the local hookup for diy HRT supplies

(max jagerman is under the misguided impression that half the transmascs in hf are actually cis dudes who ziggs sells steroids to)

chronically ill !!! cane & rollator user. their mobility aids are all decorated & sick as hell . i don't have specific diagnoses laid out but they have chronic joint issues (especially in colder weather) & trouble standing for long periods (fatigue & dizzy spells). maybe something like the classic eds/pots who knows. they also have chronic eczema & i ponder hearing aids for them sometimes....

took music lessons with grace as kids mayhaps.. (though when she meets ziggy later she doesn't make the connection At All)

they've probably been a guest performer of the lex/steph/ethan band…. i think they'd probably play pedal steel & keyboard or maybe synth. & they have a soundboard. silly but crowd gets so hyped for the vine boom.....

ziggy views emma as an older sister/cool aunt & she feels weird about it. it's an unfamiliar pressure to be the "adult" sibling. & bc ziggs is around the same age as jane was when emma left (early 20s) it's really disorienting to suddenly feel like you're living fourteen years in the past because there's a 20 year old in your house. even though ziggy and jane could not be more different

despite being The Dealer they're an awful tripsitter LOL they just like fucking with people a bit too much (they do this to emma often & she does it back they make each other sooo paranoid for laughs)

obligatory theatre headcanon they did stagehand stuff in middle & highschool. mostly sound & maybe props.....

i could talk.....so extensively forever about weed...... i dont know what you want to know ill talk more abt emma and ziggy i suppose.....sorry i got really rambly down here LOL

there's two main types (below) & while the differences are pretty exaggerated a lot of the time for many people they do feel different. & i think emma & ziggs are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of preferences... ziggs favors sativa for the energy & creativity. emma smokes something called "concrete shoes" & spends three hours unable to get off her couch. fun looks different for everyone

wow i love beautiful convenient infographics. anyways. in my irl experience, older people tend to favor joints and pipes while younger people are more into bongs... i'm not really sure why this is but it does track here. emma usually rolls & smokes joints while ziggs uses a bong when they smoke alone most of the time. i think they'd have pretty shaky hands & struggle to roll. and it's is also just less harsh than other smoking methods (with a bong you have water that the smoke goes through, which cools it off so it is smoother & less harsh on your throat & lungs) which they like bc. illness

neither of them vape they are both purists abt smoking Real Weed. and vaping kind of sucks anyways it can be a very boring high... when you smoke flower it's a little bit different every time and feels more 'awake' whereas vaping its like very samey every time and gets stale. i dont really know what i could compare this to.... like listening to a whole album vs just one song. its just a more full experience and you don't tire of it as quickly.

and of course not pictured here but edibles my best friend edibles..... from what i've seen a lot of younger people use edibles as their primary or sole method of getting high, because they are convenient to store, don't smell, and you don't have to smoke them. they do offer a slightly different high; it's still very distinctly weed but it is certainly more body-heavy & it's more potent because of how it's metabolized. some people also get a 'hangover' where they'll feel groggy or unfocused the day or days after using edibles. because it is a different sort of feeling i always recommend that people try out smoking as well.... imo it's a better first time, because an edible takes ~1-2 hours to kick in & the body of the high can be 3+ hours especially at higher doses. there is no easy way to tap out if you're having a bad time. smoking hits within a few minutes & it wears off faster Generally (ymmv by dosage. of course)

emma uses edibles pretty rarely. you would think she'd like them for the body high & couch-locking but she just doesn't love the feeling... i think she would only do them if she wanted to get Really fucked up, as an event. not a casual user. but maybe she's into making and selling them... charlotte/emma baked good edibles venture & they fall in love. can anyone hear me. anyways. ziggs uses them much more often especially for managing pain flares. emma is in awe of how coherent they can be walking around on like 500mg (for ref. most people i know take 10-20mg recreationally. personal top dose for me has been 40mg + smoking)

uhm. what else. OH greening out. so you can't 'overdose' on weed it doesn't really work like that but you can definitely take too much. i have never done this (#responsible) but it's generally described like a really nauseous panic attack. i've been close to it and it's a very. looming dread sort of ordeal. most people will throw up & get dizzy. anxiety/paranoia is common. ziggy is pretty good abt avoiding this and has only done it once or twice. emma repeatedly does this to herself especially in her early 20s and every single time shes like wow that was shit im never smoking again (lying)

for an idea of How Much Weed 400mg is & a particularly severe account of greening out i really like this ted nivison video :)

[merwynpersonalhub]

marco x his partners headcanons fhdh

Marco x Kevin

-Actually very clingy to each other- I like to think if they are around the hold hands without thinking or kevin has a hand on his back and marco has a hand on his waist or whatever whatever

-Mostly spends time just cuddling and rambling- They can spend GOD DAMN HOURS talking- well mostly marco but still!!

-Kevin is the more calm one out of the two which is..oddly surprising lmao- Hes always making sure marco doesnt wonder off or do something stupid (kevin looked away from marco for a second and he broke his arm trying to jump over a fence smh.)

-Kevin for the first few weeks dating marco is very meh about him- BUT OMFG when he realizes "ok i do actually like him and hes super sweet-" hes just has this moment where he hanging out with marco and apologizing for being somewhat a lil asshole and he actually for the first time says "I love you very much" AND MARCO JUST A BIG GIGGLING MESS TRYING NOT TO CRY DHDJ

Marco X Radford

-Funny enough marco is a big listener to radford and just loves listening to him- even if he gives short "mhms" or hums he does pay attention to him and since he does he easily remembers radford favorite stuff and can easily read him lile a book-

-I ACTUALLY HC THEM IN THEIR FREETIMES THEY ARE VIDEO GAME STREAMERS!! RADFORD IS USUALLY THE GUEST STAR WHILE MARCO IS THE ONE PLAYING THE GAMES!! marco never played any games so radford thought it be sweet to just let him have fun!! He fucks marco up so easily with his jokes and shit-

-BOTH AFFECTION MONSTERS- THEY LOVE GIVING EACHOTHER KISSES AND HUGS EVEN IN PUBLIC- They arent even trying to show off they just that gay-

-CLOSE TO ROBERT AND JOHN BC OF THIS SOMWWHAT. hes very sweet to robert and sorta spoils him when he can- meanwhile he respects john so much! He doesnt steal him or jacks things and sorta see him as a weird father figure since i like to think john is very close to his family so hes like..somewhat like a father to them so ofc marco going to respect him!!

Marco X Streber

-PARTNERS IN CRIMEEE!! THEYVARE CHAPTIC LIL TROUBLE MAKERS!! where you think streber got it from??/silly

-Hc streber as a guy who loves crossdressing streber and marco would shop together for dresses and makeup and stuff like that!!

-Streber is a big old gift giver and it makes marco feels bad but streber always says "its fine! You give me lots of hugs! its only fair!" He loves the gifts he gets from streber and feels honored!

-Knows strebers coworkers and they are all very supportive of marco!! They actually sorta offered marco to work with them if he had free time next halloween! he actually took up the offer and scared some kids near the end of the tour- he was a scarecrow and was very still so kids walking around would assume hes a prop!! God he got some kids good-

Marco X Rick

-rick is very affectionate even if he doesnt seem like it!! He alwaus wrapped his arms around marco and resting his head in his hair just chilling-

-THEY ACT LIKE HUSBAND AND WIFE SO EASILY ITS CRAZY RHDJC legit its so fucking sweet

-Marco always picks up his partners but cant pick up rick- SO RICK BEING A TINY CHEEKY BASTA4D will pick him up sometimes and hold him bridal style and marco always freezes as he hides his head in his chest just embarrassed

-MARCO IS THE ONE TO SPOIL RICK A FUCK TON!! he alwyas trying to make him things and always taking him out in the woods to collect rocks and hang out with him!! he always smiles slightly when marco brings him oit and they have a day togehtwr ♡♡♡♡

anyways thats it for marco x wagegang imma ramble about today jdjdj

taglist: @totally-not-a-tickle-blog @jonesy-squish

[jackals-ships]

Hey, for the sake of character devvwelopment:

Anything that your S/Is or F/Os wwvould find embarrassing to admit? Sfw or Nsft.

Things they'vve done, stuff about them in general, habits, hobbies, that time they face planted dowwvn a flight of stairs and just laid there hoping no one sawwv them-

OKAY THIS TOOK A VERY LONG SEC BC rattles my brain. you can hear my two braincells in there like lil marbles-

im reaching into the boy pile like a lil claw machine, grabbing some of them lil bastards <3

under a cut bc Ramble Hours Again

holding up solas dragon age 1st bc it came to me in a vision; for both horny and not reasons his Favorite scent in the world is jackal post workouts. pov you're just trying to towel down and ur doggy bf is trying to surreptitiously huff you. you're also like. 3-4% sure he mlemed your neck

which in a similar vein ik that a) when he was in his Pining Era he was helping with washing clothes while camping (probably in the hinterlands) (the fucking hinterlands…..) and just. yoinked one of their shirts. purely by instinct and panicked bc he can't give it back now that'll be WEIRD- and b) this behavior continued every time they had to leave him behind for a job once they got together. “...dude this is like the 10th shirt, are the nugs taking them-” Solas, who has essentially a nest now, “hm. how strange-” (also 1000% jerked it while sniffing their shirts i will Not be taking criticisms)

loki 100% practices knife tricks he can show off to jackal later bc he saw they were 👀 and he wants to fluster them except oops! every time he practices they pop into his head and he fucks it up. his ass is out here covered 24/7 in bandaids and has at Least once somehow managed to have the hilt slam into his forehead. he laid face down after that for a min

also slaps the top of him i made this mf watch mlp with me when my job was more Babysit His Ass. he kicks up a fuss and is vehemently denying liking it bc that'll be admitting defeat !! ignore the fact he's grumbling if you turn it off. he also kins Luna i will Not elaborate but i AM correct and i am at least 25% sure he has a mlp tumblr

MARAZHAI'S is hilarious 2 me bc it's only embarrassing to a drukhari; he likes kissing and holding hands. rt!jackal would often grab him by the wrist when he got the energy that he was gonna wander off which somehow morphed into hand holding. you'd THINK it's bc it makes him aware of how small and fragile their lil finger bones are but no it makes him feel Fuzzy and Weird and GROSS

aka i can allow my mon'keigh to vivisect me gleefully but i draw the line at admitting i like hand holding (you can wh)

dualscar is the one tripping down the stairs. lbr half the time it's bc dog is laying a trap- but also. but also. this doubles as a dog Will Never Admit Fact bc sometimes when he's asleep he looks so SOFT and CUTE in a drowned rat way (affectionate. begrudgingly) that they smooch his head right between the horns (dog voice his ass is only tolerable when he's asleep. or otherwise unconscious,) and i KNOW his ass has woken up at least once and i KNOW that sometimes he's faking being asleep Jus To Get Kissies. ur honor they're trying to flippy flop except it only works for two seconds bc then they're back 2 being insufferable- HFK

also he figured out they're more likely to kissy him if he's whining a little. his ass is making the smallest fake sleepiest 🥺🥺 type noises for more kissies

an finally im holding up lotor i think ive made jokes b4 about vld jackal enjoying those bodice rippers that are the sci fi type “I ended up on an alien world and gasp! sexy aliens!” ones yanno? (think like uhh. the ice barbarians is the title?? maybe) and that lotor saw them reading it once and was ??? about it while they explained. he did that affectionate exasperated eye rolling “can't believe you're reading such nonsense” Big Ol Teasing thing while they were “i like them BECAUSE they're garbage (affectionate)”

anyways his ass also reads those books. he has like a fucking LIBRARY of them it started as an idle curiousity bc “okay. well. surely there's an Actual Reason they like these,” and now he has a collection. ik this in my heart and balls just like ik in my heart and balls his favorites have Space Pirates and Space Mafia. i won't be taking criticisms there either

[autisticempathydaemon]

im here for the redacted matches thingy if ur still doing them !!

What song are you fixated on at the moment? What lyric or verse, and why? - turn the lights off by tally hall, specifically the lyric ‘everybody likes to get taken for turns, to see how bright the fire inside of us burns’ bc it scratches the right itch in my brain and reminds me of my horror obsessed friends 😋

What is your Enneagram type? - type 2 helper

Do you love gargantuan Youtube video essays, and if so, which is your favorite and why? - i love wendigoons ones, especially his fnaf lore and vhs tape ones !

Tell me about your childhood imaginary friend. - i used to be obsessed with the rainbow magic fairy books when i was younger and my favourite was heather the violet fairy so whenever i’d see anything purple i’d imagine she was with me

What is your go-to way to fall asleep? - listening to lana del rey, any redacted video or the new jersey rats

If you had to change your name, what would it be, and why? (In tandem, if you have changed your name, why did you pick that one?) - probably lilian, idrk why it’s just a really pretty name

What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why? - regulus’s rewriting your memories video, it’s so creepy i love it

What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? Like, not the one you hate but the one who you don’t get the hype for. (I won’t judge, I promise.) - DAVID. (also avior but i haven’t listened to any of his audios bc when i did i had a panic attack)

Tell me about that one book/movie/tv show you know all the words to. - mean girls lmfao

Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? Like- forget dating, which dude do you want to be your best friend? - asher or huxley !!

Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? (For example, my boyfriend knows I’m ready to sleep when I start talking about space.) - usually my cats but my friends have said i started waffling about ash from fantastic mr fox then passed straight out more than once ??

Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo. - unfortunately i am british so anyone i can find as long as it’s not on fire

Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment. - this 12 hour long playlist called pancakes (all of my playlists are named after breakfast foods) that has every song i’ve ever liked on it

What’s your guilty pleasure media, and why? - audio roleplays bc it’s been my coping mechanism for so long i don’t remember why it started 😭🙏

And whatever else you think tells me about who you are! - erm im an ENFP i have ocd im a hello kitty girl im obsessed w melanie martinez and i have a weird obsession of the psychology behind yanderes :D

There are so many reasons, big and small, for this pairing, and that’s why I like it. Personalities need to match, of course, but also you and Milo and all your cats are gonna make such a cute, blended family.

Your personality types give me the vibe of an energetic, outgoing person- effusive, fun, and interesting which would make you such a good match for Milo who has a similar temperament. I factored your OCD and panic attacks in my choice since it’s canon Milo handles his partner’s anxiety and intrusive thoughts well. I also based my choice off your being a horror fan and British, because it’s so silly to pair that scaredy cat with horror fans, and I think y’all’s accents would be fun together- just so many reasons, like I said, big and small, for why I think y’all would be a cute match.

I can’t imagine a cozier home than the one you two will share. It’s so fun to imagine the process of the two of you getting used to each other’s cats and them getting used to each other. (Marie really has her work cut out for her when she cat-sits.) I can so clearly picture you watching a Wendigoon iceberg video and Milo walking in like “Jesus Christ, Sweetheart, this is how long?!” Also, Milo doesn’t really get Sanrio, but he gets you a little Hello Kitty something whenever he can, maybe one of those blind boxes he hears Angel talking about all the time~

Song:

If I lay here/ If I just lay here/ Would you lie with me and just forget the world?/ Forget what we're told/ Before we get too old/ Show me a garden that's bursting into life/ Let's waste time/ Chasing cars/ Around our heads

One, this is a perfect, classic, romantic song. If Milo doesn’t know all the words on his own volition, he knows all the words because his parents love it. Two, you could be an adorable shitstarter and use this as an opportunity to make a wolf, shifter, dog, chasing cars joke.

Runner-ups:

Huxley is a runner-up because his affectionate, soothing manner would be a really good match for a Type Two partner, especially one who might deal with anxious, compulsive behaviors. James, I like because I think he needs an Extrovert partner to get him out of his shell. Also, I think he’d really like your cats once he gets to know them.

note: thank you for waiting and submitting an entry 💜

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[gffa]

Oh my word, thank you for such a lovely, detailed reply to my ask about comics???? I was expecting to be redirected to some links or blogs, which is ofc great too, but thanks so much for taking the time to type out and formulate all that for me?? I’ve never actually read a comic before so your first paragraph was a bit mind blowing (I had no idea comics worked like that, I thought each comic was like a chapter in the same book ahaha). I also had NO idea about the different eras but it already makes so much of what I’ve seen from the fandom make so much more sense, so thank you for that! (It’s reminds me, like, where people in history never bothered to write down stuff they thought was obvious bc it was obvious to them and then people came along and went ???, so following with this metaphor, thank you for making me “???” lol)

Anyways, sorry, super rambly ask, but thank you so much for taking the time and effort to reply so succinctly and also thoroughly, and also explaining what pieces of media are significant and why so… like seriously, that was so nice of you and I’m??? Ajahwjehrh??? Thank you sssm, once my exams are over I’m definitely gonna have a new media obsession :)

Aww, you're very welcome! I'm glad that I could help ease the way for you! As someone who started with Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond as my first real understanding of these characters (cultural osmosis doesn't count!), it was kind of a hard leap into comics, trying to understand how all of this fit together. To be fair, I don't want to give the impression that there's no coherency in comics from one author to another--it's very clear that a lot of authors are big fans of other authors' runs or they're building on stuff that came before their own run, but I emphasize the lack of consistency between authors because you absolutely cannot rely on that consistency being there, even if it often happens. You cannot pick up a comic from 20 years ago and expect the story to be exactly the same, because it's constantly being retold--authors want to be able to tell flashback stories at multiple points in the timeline, like take Dick Grayson, that "Robin & Batman" series I recommended is a retelling of their early days, of how Dick came up with the Robin costume, and it changes things (like gave him pants this time around, which I'm fine with) and I love that we can get retellings, because now I get to choose if I want to read that one or one of the older ones! We get a lot of really fun new stories able to be told, updated versions that weren't written back in the 1940s with different social norms, and I think that helps keep the comics fresh and interesting! And you're not wrong that some comics are like a different chapter in a single book! That's what Star Wars comics are aiming to be (well, within their own three distinct continuities) or what a lot of non-mainline DC/Marvel comics are like. It's just the main shared world superhero comics are a constantly shifting landscape! (To be fair to fandom not talking about a lot of this, it's also because the different eras are HELLA complicated to talk about if you haven't been reading comics regularly and broadly for 20+ years, like I had a solid grip on things until I left, and now I've been back for five months and I'm STILL fuzzy on just what Dawn of DC even is. It's hard to talk about stuff when you have a fuzzy idea of something, enough to pick up a comic and read, but can't explain high level detail in a post that would take you an hour just to write out all the weird little connections that lead up to an event!) But also thank you for letting me know your level of familiarity with cultural osmosis and what you're interested in getting into! Often times it's hard to know, "Okay, do I have to explain the different Robins or has cultural osmosis taught you enough that we can skip straight to the finer details?" because I love writing out broader views of the characters, but I don't want to patronize someone who is just looking for recs for starting places when making the jump to comics! I want to drag you guys in, but sometimes that requires tailoring things a bit more to where a given person is at/how much they know/what they're specifically intrigued by! Give me more info and I won't shut up in trying to reel you in. :D

[davepetea]

((just ranting abt writing fanfics you can ignore me lmao. I'm just in a weird place atm but I'm feeling kinda passionate abt writing rn so I'm gonna vent

originally I wrote a lil of this in the tags but then decided to just chuck it under a readmore so people aren't subjected to it against their will. then it got really long.

I'm not actually expecting anyone to read this im just sorta venting to myself. it helps me get my thoughts sorted if I write them down. I can also look back through my #.vat file tag in a few years from now and hopefully be like "wow I'm doing so much better than THAT now", so if that's the case, hi future Vatta! I hope you're having a good day. and if you're not future me, then I still hope you're having a good day, I love you, and this is your chance to turn back bc my rants are boring and LONG

(not turning back yet? ok. your funeral)

so, I haven't been online much bc I've just been in a weird limbo lately and I'm really busy when I'm at home either sorting stuff out or, with my PDA, doing anything I can to avoid my responsibilities lmao

I've been rereading my Tokyo ghoul light novels (I only have Void and Days ? I think they're called), rewatching Zankyou no Terror, and Bungou Stray Dogs (plus the live action Beast film which was? hilarious but I don't think it was supposed to be), and just suffering lmao

(you're still here? wow. you need a hobby. jk. ily)

I've been locked out of the systems at work for a bit, but I still need to be there and wait for the IT ticket to be sorted, so I've gotta be at my desk, cant have my phone or anything, so instead of sitting there doing nothing, I've either been reading, doing codeword puzzles, or I've been writing up 'drafts' for potential fanfics.

in this year of our sufferer 2024. I've been writing up some self indulgent homestuck college AU lmao. I've written over 60 sides of a5, (not inc the inbetween sections where I wrote some stuff on the chromebook at home) some notes, some accidental first draft, bc I wanted something to take up the time. but my handwriting is terrible, I don't write fast enough for my brain, I have a lil dyslexia so the letters and words get jumbled sometimes, and I have this weird thing where I don't do spaces right. but I've been trying to upload it to Google docs with Bixby's photo text extraction. it's pretty good considering how bad my writing is, then I just need to go through and touch it up, the main issues are things like names, there's some letters I do weird like my v turns into an r, or every p it thinks is a capital, but overall. amazing how technology do that.

(see my long ass rambling isn't just confined to venting. I also pretend to write actual things. you can still leave you know. I'm not holding you hostage until you read all this. you have free will)

can't remember how I ended up back in fanfic hell but I read back through like all my old published fics (aside from the cringe ones I orphaned) and the writing isn't terrible. I don't think I actually finished any of them though, which really shows my true nature lmao,,, but I've picked up a few things on my writing style now. and I've got a few things I see other people do that I wanna avoid bc I personally don't like it, and it's mostly about balance, like using names too often/not enough, being too descriptive like All The Time and making the writing really nice, but not much happens in the story so you take like an hour to read each scene, vs not enough description so everything is happening but you don't really get a visual or a breather to appreciate what's happened so far. I've been working on finding my right balance, which is imo easier if you're writing fanfic bc first up you hardly ever have to describe the characters. if someone's reading it they already know who they are. and for scenes you can take some inspo from the source material. does the original work put alot of effort into setting a cool scene? if not, then you don't have to either! if it's 90% scenery then you've gotta do it too I don't make the rules

I'm losing steam now I'm so sleepy and I've gotta go to work in a bit ugh.

(bet you're sleepy reading this too huh. told you it'd be boring)

I've been thinking about trying out writing some BSD fics but on an anonym not linked to my main Ao3, bc the themes are doozys and I kinda just wanna have the freedom of anonymity. also I'm a baby and if someone publicly criticises my stuff without it being a requested critique then it makes me bleh (I've had a few comments in the past of just general negatives, not even constructive feedback, not that I asked for any anyway...), but the abilities are tricky to write for, so it's effort lol

anyway I'm gonna stop now ive gotta get ready for work

(if you actually read this then thanks for going on this emotion deep dive with me. tune in next week when we'll get back to my usual mental breakdown)

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

Hello valued mutual-in-law (I am the twitter mutual of Matt’s whose friend is long term essaying with him over curiouscat, for context); I just wanted to say I just read your writing on disability within enstars you linked in reply to one of the curiouscat exchanges (which I’ve been reading bc I like seeing what both people involved have to say) + the post about guardianship re: the Merus that it linked to. Just wanted to say thanks for writing it all because it was really insightful — particularly the Sakuma segment, because I’m not very well-versed on the two of them and especially not with Rei, who I’m mostly acquainted to through being a casual enjoyer of the oddballs’ group dynamic, as well as a 2winkP (the latter of which provides sort of complicated feelings on him based on Setsubun & its aftermath, or general lack thereof that’s only really brought up in Nightclub from what i’ve seen do far;;). Like I did know to a basic degree about the Wagahai & Orei selves being personas but the detail in which you went into them + the way his disability affects him & his relationship with Ritsu really gave me some new insight on him & a motivation to learn more up on him.

Tldr; I enjoyed your thoughts and writings on the mixed bag of disability representation in enstars, thank you for writing all that it was nice insight, and it helped me understand the Sakumas — particularly Rei — better. Good posts op

HIIII holy shit, thank you so much for reading them. JUST HOW FAST WERE YOU.... i am really happy to hear you liked them!!! its just a lot of rambling but i love to yap + i love when others yap and it introduces me to a new perspective...... in my mind were holding hands and dancing in a meadow <:)

genuinely, i think no one can be immune to the oddballs, right. theyre just good. see.... my partner is a shuP and my bestie is a natsumeP and matt is a wawaP and i am a rei guy by necessity and ..... THIS IS HOW I KNOW NOTHIONG ABOUT KANATA.... i feel like often orienting oneself around enstars as a series is extremely about picking like a handful of charas to major in and knowing people who are into everyone else so you experience enough secondhand lore LOL

i extremely get you though, rei is not sympathetic. i am on pc but what i mean is 2winkP handshake emoji kogaP = Fuck That Guy

i could talk about rei (and ritsu for that matter. tho i havent read that much about him) in the context of disability forever.... and it feels important because it is an angle that discussion about him is just EXTREMELY lacking. it often feels like barely anyone bothers to think about how much being ill shapes his person, his relationships, his job, his actions.... and i cant really blame people either because they probably havent made the necessary experiences to really internalize how big of a deal that is...

and narratively..... there is a big trend of characters being very lenient with him and basically thanking him for being.... extraordinarily condescending, nosy, emotionally unavailable, and actively a danger for everyone involved. the worst examples that instantly come to mind for me are repayfes, setsubun (as you mentioned), and dont even get me started on hidden beast.

+ often hes some sort of deus ex machina plot device for lazy writing and its SO obnoxious.

setsubun specifically is so weird because i understand and support his weird cartoon villain act (as in, its engaging to read and an interesting manifestation of his issues) and obviously i LOVE the drama of characters being unwell and causing issues for others that way... conflict is great... but the way the twins react to it purely positively at the end is just a really disappointing. like i dont expect them to truly nail that hinata almost died an hour ago but come on. (ig sandstorm tries to pick up there....) also sort of why i never brought anything in there about being "monstrous" and how "monsters are created" up in my disability post.... really really fits the topic and a lot of it is coming from the horses (reis) mouth but the context hinata and yuta experience it in is just an entirely different one. hm....

its sort of a similar deal with himeru, right. narratively i am disappointed. they dont get chewed out by the people i want. and hes doing evil shit. but then i see him and i go :( thats my funny menhera man.......