#while burning her after she gets slashed and stuff

[ultimate-snek]

Hebichi, her blood literally boiling, about to stab herself: this’ll hurt you more then it hurts me :))

The guy she’s fighting: D:

[yandereunsolved]

Yandere self aware Maegor—burn the book and escape to another country (requested)

Yandere Maegor became aware of your presence early on in his childhood. It was some time after his eighth name day. He had just stabbed to death a palfrey. The poor thing only lightly kicked him while spooked. Just then he heard a sort of gasp and turned his gaze to the sky. It felt like he was looking through a watery veil. He could see your face, your surroundings, and your fingers gripping onto what looked like a book of some sort. 

A stable boy came running towards him after hearing the pained screeches of the animal. In that moment the connection was broken as the watery veil disappeared and he was left staring upward with a new feeling sprouting within his soul. It was red hot and made his chest ache. He wanted you back to soothe the pain, but the damn stableboy took you away from him. 

The boy broke your connection.

So he slashed the stableboy's face in half and let him writhe in agony on the grassy field. That was Maegor's first taste of you. His first taste of exploring the darkest recesses of his desire, all thanks to you. He couldn't get enough, and he needed more. It is his right. 

Yandere Maegor was betrothed to Lady Ceryse Hightower and thought it was the perfect time to try to reconnect with you. Throughout the years, he has seen glimpses and even heard your name being spoken by someone else. That should have been him! This was his time to make you need him in every way, just as he needs you.

For many nights he treated himself to his newlywed spouse's body. He would have her covered in sweat and exhausted, and still he would go. He knew it pleased you to some extent. He always refused to look into his wife's eyes during this time because his head was trained upwards, staring at you. 

He always saw you during those times. That's why he was so insistent to constantly drag his wife to bed. It was like some gateway that was always open when he was inside of her.

Still, that bitch remained bare. Full of his seed, and she still couldn't produce any heirs. Worthless woman. He would scoff any time she tried to initiate. What gives her the right? She hasn't earned it.

Yandere Maegor was never one to stuff his head into books and frolick around like a pansy. That was the detestable lifestyle his half-brother Aenys lived. Still, his scarred hands found their way to dusty old scrolls that even the maesters forgot of. He learned of a strange phenomenon some Targaryens experienced. They had deemed it to be 'naejot ūndegon aōla' (to see yourself).

A certain awareness that very few had every scrapped the surface of. Dreamers were more likely to have such a revelation? ability? He couldn't find much information on it, considering the chance to study this anomaly was a rarity. 

He asked Aenys and he knew nothing. Typical.

Yandere Maegor dedicated his extra time to trying to reach out to you. He knew sex was one way to reach you. He really didn't want to touch a woman every time he wanted to interact with you. The both of you would never get any alone time. Not to mention the fact that it is quite hard to hear someone over long drawn-out moans. 

So he would meditate. He would lock himself in an isolated place for days just for a chance to see your visage once again.

He had minimal luck.

Yandere Maegor seemed to only marry women with cursed wombs. Bedding anyone was a way for him to see you, but bedding his wives had a ninety-percent success rate for being able to see you. Still, he needed an heir and was left without one. 

Was this a sign? He took it as one.

No one could change his mind on it.

You had been specially made for his seed. If you were unable to bare children due to your anatomy, he could—would find a way. You were meant for him. It was no wonder that no one else could satisfy him as you could.

You made him crazed without a touch. A feat no one but you achieved.

Yandere Maegor still felt as if you were the one after learning of his third wife's betrayal. She cursed his potential heirs! He doubts she could have cursed you. You are incredibly unique. Someone who is one of a kind.

So he uses his dead wife's book on sorcery and potions to interact with you bit by bit. He's astonished that he is in written text but is also thankful, as that is incredibly advantageous for him. He flips pages and changes the text. He dares to reach out to you through the pages and gently caress whatever part of you he is able to get ahold of. 

It's pure bliss for him, pure horror for you.

Yandere Maegor will find a way into your world. He will bring you into his. He will find a way to concoct a potion of vitality for you both. Although you seemingly do not age by much in his eyes. You are just as stunning as the first time he saw you. There's so much lost time to make up for.

[you-aint-gotta-pray-for-me]

Hell on Earth: Chapter 1

words: 2.7k

pairing: Steve Harrington x ex-friend!Henderson!reader (eventually romantic- could be called a slow burn I guess, but they're not together right now, there's some bad blood, just read it man I suck at summarizing T_T)

summary: Things do not seem normal in simple, down-to-earth town Hawkins, Indiana. With Will Byers missing, tensions rise while the mystery claims another victim.

timeline: set in season one right after Will goes missing

warnings: language, bending of canon, fic from reader's pov (3rd person will be there as well, will warn before a pov change if there is one)

a/n: hey guys! so, I see you have found the first part of Hell on Earth :) This is a Steve x reader, yes, I promise we will get there and it'll be awesome when we do, but as much as it is a reader insert Steve slash fic, this is also an actual Stranger Things spin-off story that I'm writing, meaning there will be a lot of focus on the actual plot along with steve and reader's relationship. Also yes, reader is Dustin's older sister.

Reader POV

Will Byers was the kind of kid you wouldn't know was missing until you looked for him. He didn't bother anybody, just kept to himself and his little group doing whatever it is kids these days do, you know? He was a simple, soft-spoken kid, the last person you would wish danger upon. So when I heard that he'd gone missing, I was as confused as I was worried.

"And he was with you when you cycled back home?"

"Yes, Jesus Christ (Y/n), for the millionth time. Yes."

"Don't get annoyed you little shit, I'm trying to help you here."

"Oh, excuse me for getting worried because my best friend is freaking missing."

"Dustin! Don't talk to your sister like that!" I heard Mom scream at us from the living room, oblivious to any context. I mean, he was right to get annoyed with me. His exasperated look at Mom's comment told me he thought the same thing. I just shook my head in understanding. What more can I do?

"Listen, I know you want to go looking for him, I would too, but you can't go on your own. I need you to promise me you won't go on your own, okay? Wait after school, and we'll go together."

"You get off school like two hours after I do, what am I supposed to do, sit and scream his name from my room and hope he shows up? Come on, man. That's bullsh-"

"Dustin."

"What?"

I stared at him, hoping my disapproving-but-concerned-older-sister look told him what he needed to hear. It did.

"Fine. 2 hours. A minute late and I'm going off on my own."

"Deal," I said, knowing full well that I'd have to ditch Algebra II. I wasn't complaining, though. Staring at a newly painted wall and waiting for it to dry would be more interesting than Algebra II.

Later that day

I had exactly 5 minutes to bolt before Algebra II started. I went to my locker and hurriedly rammed all my shit inside when I noticed my locker neighbor Barbara coming towards hers. We'd make conversation when we're at our lockers and smile and wave when we saw each other in the hallway. Outside of that, I didn't really know her all too well.

"Algebra II?"

"Nah, I'm ditching. I promised my brother I'd help him with some stuff."

"Lucky," she sighed. "I can't believe I need to sit through Mr Treeger's bullshit for 2 hours."

"You are welcome to join me if you'd like," I offered with a grin. "Algebra II can be soul-sucking."

"Thank you, really, but I can't leave Nancy hanging. Besides, we've got this thing later as well and, yeah, it's a whole thing, don't bother," she explained.

"Suit yourself, Barb." I shut my locker and almost left before I heard her voice again.

"I mean, if you need notes or anything, I could- uh- I could take them for you? If you want?" she said, almost like she wasn't sure I would take her up on her offer.

"I would love that, actually. Where do you live?"

"Uh, I think I’ll be at Steve’s party later. At the Harrington's. You know the place?" She shifted her books like they suddenly weighed too much. Her expression said she wasn't entirely looking forward to this.

Hearing Steve's name threw me slightly on edge. When you grow up with somebody and you fall out with them, you don't exactly forget things about them. I practically spent half my life at his house. I practically spent half my life with him. So, yes. I definitely knew the place.

"Y-yeah. I do"

"Great, I'll have it ready, then."

"Barb, you are literally an angel." I hurriedly gave her an impromptu hug and rushed outside to get to my car, where I saw Jonathan Byers handing out missing posters. His shoulders sagged under the weight of the stack in his hands and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. I can only imagine what he and Mrs Byers were going through.

I hesitated for a second before walking up to him. I knew Jonathan from Dustin hanging out with Will. We weren't close friends or anything, but someone had to say something. His hands trembled slightly as he stapled one of the posters onto the community board near the lot, his eyes darting nervously like he was waiting for Will to suddenly appear and tell him it was all a joke.

"Hey, Jonathan."

He flinched at my voice, turning to me with an exhausted half-smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"Hey," he mumbled.

I nodded at the posters in his hands. "Any updates? Are the cops, like… actually doing anything?"

"They found his cycle a few minutes from Mirkwood. So that's... yeah. That's it, I guess?"

"What are they thinking?"

He hesitated, glancing down at the posters like he thought they might hold some kind of answer. "They think he might’ve run away, but that’s not Will. He wouldn’t just… leave."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I don’t buy that either. Will’s not the type to just take off. He’s… dependable, you know?"

Jonathan looked at me for a moment, his expression softening just a little. "Thanks."

I shrugged, kicking at a loose rock on the ground. "For what? Telling the truth?"

"For… caring, I guess," he said, turning back to his work.

I watched him for a second longer, the weight of the whole situation sinking in deeper. "Let me know if you need help. With the posters or anything else."

Jonathan nodded, his focus back on the board. "Thanks," he said again, so quiet I almost missed it.

I didn’t know what else to say, so I just turned and walked back to my car, leaving him to keep stapling the same plea for help over and over.

I drove back home and Dustin was practically at the edge of his seat, looking like he was at the verge of explosion.

"What the hell took you so long?"

"Jesus Christ, I'm right on time. Give me a break."

He continued to yell at me about how time is of the essence. I held up a hand to calm him down. "Relax, I’m here now, aren’t I? Anyway, listen. They found some stuff near Mirkwood."

That got his attention. His eyes widened, his mouth snapping shut mid-rant. "What kind of stuff?"

I sat down across from him, leaning forward so Mom couldn’t overhear from the kitchen. "They found his bike. Just abandoned on the side of the road. No tracks, no clues, nothing else. It’s like he just… vanished."

Dustin’s face fell, his usual confident bravado cracking under the weight of what I’d just told him. "His bike?" he echoed, voice smaller now.

"Yeah. Cops are calling it ‘strange circumstances.’ I’m calling it suspicious as hell."

He nodded, jaw tightening as his brain started working overtime. "Okay. Okay, so that means he didn’t run away. Someone- or something- took him."

I flinched a little at how easily he jumped to "something." This was Hawkins. Strange wasn’t on the table.

"Dustin, don’t get carried away. Let’s stick to facts. We know where his bike was, and that’s it. But you promised me you wouldn’t do anything stupid, remember?"

He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. "Fine. But we need to check it out. Together."

I sighed, knowing there was no talking him out of it. "Together. No sneaking off without me, got it?"

"Got it," he said, though I could tell from his tone he was already planning something.

A couple hours later

"So that was fucking useless."

"Dustin, come on. Don't be like that."

"We found nothing, (Y/n)! He's out there, probably being tortured for all we know, and we found literally nothing."

"Don't jump to conclusions. Yes, we don't know anything now. But we are not the only people looking. Okay?"

"I'm telling you. We should look for him right around when he went missing."

"No way I'm letting you go out there at 10 pm unsupervised. Mom would gut me."

"I won't be unsupervised if you're with me."

"Dustin," I sighed, slightly annoyed at how he wouldn't level with me at all. "Whatever happened to Will could be bigger than us. If it's something we can't handle, I don't want us to go all in with literally no information."

"Oh, come on! but-"

"No buts. Sit this one out. I am begging you. At least until we know something."

Even though he begrudgingly agreed, his words stuck with me. I hated the idea of him sneaking off on his own, but I also couldn’t shake the feeling that he was right. If there were answers out there, they wouldn’t come to us- we had to go to them. And if I knew Dustin at all, I knew exactly what that meant. He’d go anyway.

The only way for me to deal with this was to either find something before he did or supervise, just in case. And both those options required me to be out in the woods in the dead of the night. Perfect. I remembered that I had to stop by to see Barb so it won't all be for nothing.

The glow of streetlights flickered against the windshield as I pulled up to the Harringtons' house. The faint hum of music and muffled laughter carried through the warm night air, the telltale signs of a Steve Harrington classic. For a moment, I hesitated, fingers gripping the steering wheel. It had been a while since I’d set foot here, and it felt strange- nostalgic in a way that made my chest tight. I didn't like it.

I stepped out of the car and walked around the side of the house, avoiding the main door. I wasn’t here for the party, and I definitely wasn’t in the mood to exchange awkward hellos with people who probably didn’t even remember my name. Also, I might punch Tommy and Carol just because.

The backyard was bathed in the eerie blue glow of the pool lights. It was quieter here, the party sounds muffled by the distance. Sitting by the pool, her legs dangling lazily in the water, was Barb. She was hunched over slightly, fiddling with the strap of her watch, looking as out of place as I felt.

"Hey," I called softly, not wanting to startle her.

She looked up, her face lighting up with a small, relieved smile. "Oh, hey! You made it."

"Yeah," I said, walking over and sitting beside her on the cool concrete. "Figured I’d pick up those notes before your night gets too crazy," I said before I noticed her poorly bandaged hand bloody hand.

"Holy shit, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's... nothing. I'm okay."

"Partied too hard?"

Barb scoffed, glancing over her shoulder at the house. "Yeah, not exactly my scene. Nancy’s inside with Steve. I’m just... taking a break."

I nodded, leaning back on my palms and staring at the pool. Nancy's inside with Steve. That didn't bother me at all. "Can’t say I blame you. These things get out of hand quickly," I said, slightly regretting my hand pun.

She laughed at my poorly timed joke and reached into her bag to pull out a neatly folded piece of paper. "Here you go. Sorry if it’s a little messy. Mr. Treeger was really on one today."

I took the notes with a grateful smile. "You’re the best, Barb. Seriously."

She waved it off like it was no big deal. "It’s nothing. So, what are you up to?"

I reached into my bag and pulled out a worn paperback with a cracked spine and dog-eared pages. "Actually, I thought you might need this more than I do right now," I said, handing Barb my copy of The Shining.

Her eyes lit up as she took it, carefully running her fingers over the cover. "No way. I’ve been wanting to read this forever."

"Well, now you’ve got no excuse. It’s a classic. Just don’t read it alone at night unless you want to start hearing creepy voices in your house."

Barb laughed, flipping through the pages. "Thanks, (Y/n). This is awesome. I’ll take good care of it, promise." She looked up at me, her expression softening. "This one your favorite? "

"It's my comfort book, honestly"

"The Shining is your comfort book?".

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it. Besides, no matter how bad my day is going, everyone in that book is having a much worse, more horrible day."

She laughed and looked at me with a smile extending far beyond her eyes. "But seriously, why do you always have the best recommendations? Like, do you just spend all your time reading?"

"I wouldn’t say all my time," I joked, leaning back and shrugging. "But books don’t talk back or ditch you for better plans. So they’ve got that going for them."

Barb chuckled, but her smile faltered slightly, and she hesitated before asking, "Speaking of people ditching... can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to."

I glanced at her, curious. "Shoot."

"What happened with you and Steve? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking. You two seemed really close back then"

I froze for a moment, caught off guard by the question. It wasn’t exactly something I loved to think about, let alone talk about. Barb’s expression wasn’t nosy or judgmental- just genuinely curious. I hesitated for a moment, debating whether to say anything. But Barb was easy to talk to, and I felt like I could trust her.

"It’s... complicated," I said, exhaling sharply. "Before his, you know, 'coronation', King Steve and I were best friends. We practically grew up together. You stick with someone throughout middle school and still want to hang out? That's true friendship, right there."

She nodded like she related to what I was saying. "High School came and he changed. He wanted to hang out less, which was fine with me, you know? People change and everything," I paused for a second.

"It got bad only after Tommy and Carol started hanging out with him. He became this mean jerk, this person I could barely recognize. And I never got along with Tommy or Carol from the beginning, he knew that from the million times I have told him that I hate their guts. Hell, I've directly said it to Tommy and Carol. I just... I guess you could say we both grew up and became distant or whatever, but the fact is, he's just a colossal asshole now.

Barb frowned, clutching the book tighter. "That sucks. I’m sorry."

I shrugged, trying to play it off. "It’s whatever. We’re not kids anymore, and I guess we just outgrew each other. Besides, I’m not exactly missing out on this." I gestured toward the house, where someone let out an ear-piercing whoop, followed by the unmistakable sound of something breaking.

Barb laughed, shaking her head. "Yeah, I don’t think either of us belong here."

"Hey, misery loves company, right?" I teased, bumping her shoulder lightly.

She smiled, a little more at ease now, and held up the book. "Thanks for this. I mean it."

"Don’t mention it," I said, standing up and brushing off my jeans. "Enjoy the book- and maybe steer clear of the creepy twins in the hallway."

Barb laughed again as I started to head back to my car.

"You sure you don't need a lift? Your house isn't too far, I don't mind."

"Really, it's ok, (Y/n). I'll just go whenever Nancy leaves."

"It's almost midnight, Barb, you sure?"

"I am. I really am."

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s5 episode 14 thoughts

we left off on some pretty high stakes last episode: bridges burning, eyeballs oozing, etc. now we must jump back in!

this episode is called “the red and the black”, huh… (les mis starts playing in the distance)

post episode thoughts: damn. this episode was full of twists and turns. the CSM lore goes CRAZY. krycek is your problematic bisexual representation. i do not believe that genes determine someone's capacity for evil, but i am going to have to ask this spender fellow to please back tf away from our agents. marita, you must defeat the ratboy in combat. please increase your studies of the blade. and perhaps most importantly, i love when mulder is written first and foremost as scully's loverboy and partner. yeah.

we begin with a recap of last episode, and ewww, those poor boy's eyes are soooo drippy and gross.

WHO IS THIS WRITING TO THEIR SON??? and who is this little boy in the winter snow, forced to be the mailman?

this mystery man is typing up a letter mentioning war gods, while this young child is out in the woods. someone go fetch this small child. he is wandering about. knocking on someone’s door and receiving a letter and dollar bill 

the mystery man is sending this red enveloped letter to the FBI???

wait hold on… it's a man living deep in the woods… writing a letter to his son in the FBI… is this CSM playing on the bastard mulder allegations…? because the typewriter… it’s CSM coded…

a bold swing and likely an equally bold miss, but we shall see

(i was so close and yet so far from the truth)

YOOO THE INTRO WAS SHORT *AND* WE GOT DIFFERENT WORDS THIS TIME!!! it says “resist or serve”! it has been a while since those have gotten changed up. hmm. "resist or serve" i do not care for that!!

back to the bridge slash dam area where we last saw many people gathering, including cassandra and scully. the burning has taken place!!! it was in pennsylvania?! that’s a bit of a drive from DC!!!

the medical personnel are arriving, and so is mulder!!! he’s running on his absurdly long legs while his coat billows behind him!!! does he know scully was here????

look at these bodies, they’re burned beyond any recognition!! it's horrible.

is that scully he finds??? no, and thank god for that.

skinner is here!!! mulder is yelling at him, asking if she was here, and he says she is!! and she is alive!!!

she was huddled in the woods… with a bunch of other survivors… and she had burns, but strangely all her fluids and electrolytes were gone!! the nurse tells these two men to gtfo because she is in vasogenic shock, which is not a term i know the meaning of 

look at mulder touching her hair while she is unresponsive...

(god, getting in those medical devices for a scene must be the worst)

they’re taking her away and he’s trying to follow!!! but they’re taking her in the helicopter. i thought for a second he would try and hop on and cause a scene, but he actually didn't do this.

(gruff skinner voice) “what happened here, mulder?” “the answer just got loaded onto that chopper!”

omg… are krycek’s people going to be after her, too?!? like they were after that poor boy dmitri??

agent spender is here, too. he wants to know if his mother has been found. :(

jump to a wildly different scene. is the well-groomed man a surgeon?? we see that marita is intubated!!! she was found on the roadside after her cryptic call with mulder, and it doesn’t look good for her survival. nooo, she has to live so she can backstab krycek. please hear me, queen.

OHHH he opens her eyeball and sees it covered in that nasty black oil stuff… and the syndicate is watching from above?!?! what will they do!! can they run some trials??

MULDER BRUSHING SCULLY’S HAIR TO WAKE HER UP IN THE HOSPITAL BED AND THEN SMILING GENTLY AT HER…. OH MY GOD I NEED TO LAY DOWN

if you could HEAR the noise that just came out of my throat….

LOOK AT HIM LOOKING AT HER, OH MY GOOOOOD

she asks what time is it and he LAUGHS!! oh my god, she nearly died and she just wants to know the hour... scully, you are so precious

he laughs at this question and she asks “why are you laughing?” <-OH SHE’S SELF-CONSCIOUS. STOP. I’LL CRY!!!

“i’m not laughing at you. i’m just very happy to be standing here talking to you, that’s all” <- OH MY GOD HE LOVES HER SO BAAAAAAAD he was so gentle in that explanation

(god. rereading these notes is killing me all over again. he loves her, he loves her, he loves her, a million times over. the way he explained to her that he's not making fun of her, he's just relived she's okay... oh mulder. you sweet man. absolute pathetic wet cat of a guy. you are so dear to me)

((SEE, WRITERS? see what mulder can be?! this is the man i recognize! jot that down! he's a lover!))

she asks him what she is doing here, suddenly panicked. and he gently explains, raising her bed so she can sit up while taking a seat next to her. oh my god. the tenderness. it will kill me a thousand times.

(there is something addictive stored in hospital scenes. the relief of realizing that someone is still with you, the terrible possessiveness it provokes after you almost lost them, realizing how lucky you are to have them in your life, loving someone at their most vulnerable, and the person in the hospital bed allowing themselves to be loved and cared for......... bottle it up. let it sit in the cellar and i'll pour it out only on the most special of occasions)

she can’t remember what happened. oh my god, she’s so scared :( the report on the incident is playing in her room.

she has no memories of what went on at the dam, but at this time a nurse comes in and lays her back down, saying she needs her blood pressure to come back up, and shooing mulder out. oh, i paused to write this down and she looks like a deer in the headlights. so trapped.

he says he’ll come back, but she has something to say!!! he’s out the door with a thumb’s up, though, trying to reassure her it'll be okay as she has no idea wtf is going on 

i’ve said it once i’ll say it again: poor scully :(

agent spender is here!! they didn’t find his mother, and he wants to know what mulder was “doing with her”. she hasn’t driven in a long time, and he knows scully was meeting with her!!! he wants them to leave her alone :( but now scully is wrapped up in this, too. so his mother might be the key to getting answers. agent spender, you may not get your wish.

oh, back to the russian ship in the new york harbor. krycek is chained up!!! well-groomed man is here… is some torture about to go down??

he says that the ship is heading back to russia tomorrow, and he is (sarcastically) sure that krycek's gulag pals will be happy to see him after his whole cutting and running deal. well-groomed man is dripping water into his mouth, and it’s making me thirsty.

OHHH get him for me: “your alliance with her was as misguided as ours, but it appears she was unaware of the consequences of her deception” marita... you are so mysterious...

omg, so krycek infected the boy so that anyone who betrayed him would also get infected!!!!

damn. did not wanna see krycek taking the W here. marita, you NEED to get better NOW and get some revenge.

but dmitri is dead!!! he died in the pennsylvania incident. 

krycek says that well-groomed man has to make a deal with him… but well-groomed man is no fool!

NOOOO I GOOGLED THE WELL-GROOMED MAN TO MAKE SURE I WAS USING THE RIGHT NAME (and i WASN’T, it’s “WELL-MANICURED MAN” and i got a SPOILER💔)

this is why i should not do these things. if i call someone by the wrong name, y’all are just gonna have to let me know in the replies and cringe through my mistaken posts.

damn. 

well. it’s been 2 seasons. i might as well keep calling him the wrong name.

okay, so he put together that if krycek was willing to infect the boy, he also must have had a cure for him, developed by the russians. krycek is silent at this. 

AND THIS WOULD MEAN RESISTANCE TO THE COLONISTS IS NOW POSSIBLE ‼️‼️

OHHH well-groomed man is YELLING AT HIM!!!! “DO YOU HAVE THE VACCINE?” damn, it's very echo-y place to yell, in the bottom of a soviet ship. 

hmm… well-groomed man leaves. i hope he finds the vaccine and it is not copyrighted by anyone and the whole world can become immune to oil aliens. this is the good ending.

okay, what the hell is going on now! a plane just exploded? where did this take place?? someone is dragging a body away. and a ton of military personnel are moving in. 

OMG THE BODY DRAGGER IS THE NO FACE GUY FROM BEFORE!!! who was lighting the people on fire in the last episode!! is he an alien?? was that his spaceship??

back to more important matters at hand: scully. she’s looking through the photos of the incident at the dam that she was in attendance of, but cannot recall anything. and she is sitting up now, so that means improvement!

she cannot tell you where this place even is- but none of the other survivors have been able to give an account, either. very interesting that they felt called there but cannot recount it.

mulder found more implants in the bodies, which would explain how she and the others got there. must be her new implant that cured the cancer also inspires the feelings of restlessness that brought the others abductees to the dam. but it doesn’t explain why they wanted those people dead, or why she lived.

“all comes down to a question, scully, one that hasn’t been answered or… i don’t even think honestly addressed: who made that chip in your neck?” <- OH SHOOT... HE’S (finally) GOING THERE!!!

it was found in a military research facility… he’s convinced it was the government that did all this, to do biological experiments and warfare

“the truth i’ve been searching for? the truth is in you” <- oh my god… the truth being her… hold on, i need a moment for that one.

the truth being something that is physically within someone, and as a result, being able to hold The Truth; the truth being the forceful result of autonomy being stripped away; the truth being an act of violence; the truth being the north star that guides you; all of these things being in contradiction and embodied in dana scully. i am getting ideas for poetry out of this line. everybody say thank you mulder for making me want to pick up a pencil.

oh shoot. i sense some stuff is about to go down.

“mulder, when i met you five years ago, you told me that your sister had been abducted… by aliens” (he smiles, as if thinking his past self is foolish, or recalling that first night together, or both of these things)

“that that event had marked you so deeply that nothing else mattered. i didn’t believe you, but i followed you, on nothing more than your faith that the truth was out there, based not on facts, not on science, but on your memories that your sister had been taken from you. your memories were all that you had”

(faith being a motif in scully's life... faith not in what he thinks, but in him as a person... belief being a motif in both of their lives in opposite directions... her faith placed in him and in science, and his in her and in the unknown... man, hold on...)

“i don’t trust those memories now”, he points out.

“well, whether you trust them or not, they’ve led you here. and me. but i have no memories to either trust nor distrust, and if you ask me now to follow you again, to stand behind you in what you now believe, without knowing what happened to me out there, without those memories, i can’t. i won’t”

oh my god. ohhhh my god. is this the end? do they travel no further upon this twisted road together? and if it is the end, can we even blame her?

he gets up and looks out the window, probably to conceal the inner turmoil

he wants to give her those memories, to prove that what he believed for so long was wrong… but she asks if that is really what he wants

:( :(

this has the sort of emotional weight that makes me think i'll be unpacking it for decades. i will give it room to nestle into my soul, break my heart, and then dissect it in detail at a later time.

back to the syndicate. according to their reports, the guy with no face seems to have lost his facial features in self-mutilation done as protection (??). no facial features is protection against infection by the black oil!!! omg!!!

he’s an alien rebel!!!! omg!! that is what the boy saw last episode! so this alien rebel was the one that did the torching!! he’s fighting against the alien colonists!!!

a war has begun!!! 

OH SHIT!!! well-groomed man HAS the vaccine!! it was what was in that bottle that krycek stole last episode! do you think he’s telling the truth, or just bluffing to try and inspire resistance against the colonists?! well, we can find it out if we inject marita...

well-groomed man wants to side with the rebel, but the other dude says that the alien colonists will squash them! a terrible dilemma. reminds me of the civil war plotline in skyrim. you must take a stand against the aliens!!!!

so they inject marita….

but before we can learn if that mystery liquid krycek snatched from the gulag has any effects on marita, we cut to dr. werber’s office!!! he asks if scully is okay with this, and she quietly says she is. mulder is playing with his tie on the other end of the couch.

oh my god, so even though he didn't trust his own memories, he's going to bring her to his doctor to undergo the same process? he must really want to prove she experienced what she did.

the doctor is laying her down, and she’s watching mulder before she closes her eyes and tries to relax everything…. is it going to work??

OH!! she’s screaming!!! and mulder is freaked tf out as she does so!!!

she’s recalling the ship flying over…

and she’s groaning, tapping the couch next to mulder, wordlessly asking for him to hold her hand as she relives the awful moments (oh my GOD???)

she’s remembering the people with no faces lighting the others on fire. and there’s another ship!! and the rebels are burned up by the ship!! 

and then the second ship TAKES cassandra!! from right next to her!! they all lift their hands in supplication and she rises up out of her wheelchair!!! the aliens beam her up!!

she’s still yelling when the doctor tries to get her to come back, and it takes three tries to do so. she finally does, and she’s still panting when she turns to look at mulder and asks him if he was there the whole time. and he nods.

so that means that her body knew she needed to hold his hand despite her not being mentally present at all... the way they need each other...

holy fuck, we have never seen scully screaming in that level of distress before. and we have seen some CRAZY scully distress!! like when she lost her father, or when she confronted her sister’s killer. but this was SO out of body, the whole thing, like watching her worst nightmare.

and what is mulder thinking right now?? is he back in his alien era?? how does it feel to watch your best friend scream and scream in terror, knowing you can do nothing to stop it because the terrible things already happened??

please just cuddle for a bit, you two. take a breather.

SKINNER LISTENED TO THE TAPE OF HER BEING HYPNOTIZED!!! oh my god. imagine your boss listening to your worst memories…

despite sitting through scully having her own experience, mulder still refers to the memory of his sister’s abduction as false. so does he think this didn’t really happen to scully, either? i mean, they found her body there, and like 50 dead people! if i’m mulder i’d be thinking gee, maybe i was wrong about the memories of my youth being false!! this seems a little suspicious!! what is this man thinking...?

skinner clarifies that he needs to make a REPORT and this is nothing to go on. well. this is not unusual. 

mulder says the whole thing was staged by the government, and cassandra was taken by a military aircraft. but i ask: how would the government manage to kill 50 people and embed false memories in the others??

i mean, false memories through repeated hypnotherapy sessions for just mulder seems possible. it would take a while, but maybe they could convince him of the nature of his sister's disappearance being supernatural. but how could they do that so suddenly, and to so many people at once? i'm not buying it.

this explanation does not seem to please the pensive skinner

“over the past five years, i’ve doubted you, only to be persuaded by the power of your belief in extraterrestrial phenomena. and i’m doubting you now not because of that belief, but… because extraterrestrial phenomena is, frankly, the more plausible explanation” <- ohhh, we are allowed some insight into the enigma that is skinner’s mind…

(it is actually really interesting to see how skinner views mulder and the nature of his work and beliefs. i've wondered where he falls on the spectrum of believer to non-believer for a while; i guess i thought he was somewhere in the middle, not committed to anything beyond catching the bad guy of the day. if using secret psychic thwarting tricks helps get a killer off of the streets, by all means, he'll let mulder give it a go. but i think his skepticism on the authenticity of his claims makes sense. sure buddy, you can go buy a ghost detecting machine if it makes the public safer. just... get things done)

“then i suggest you put that in your report”, snaps mulder, who gets up to leave. BRO IS ALWAYS SO SNIPPY WITH SKINNER. HE IS ON YOUR SIDE. BE NICE TO HIM. meanwhile scully is sitting here in immense pain trying to figure out wtf is going on….

back to marita. the other syndicate guy is proclaiming that the vaccine does not work. he wants to turn the alien rebel over!!

but well-groomed man says they have to hold onto him- if they turn him in, they lose all chance of resistance!! i’m lowkey with him here. like, through the power of friendship everything is possible. consider that.

NOOO, this other guy says he already turned the alien rebel back over, and well-groomed man is left in shock! how wild our narrative is that i had come to root for him for a brief moment, and now feel sad that his ideas have been shot down!!

why is agent spender down in the basement office... did he let himself into the office of our agents? i do not like this one bit. he is not visually intimidating, but his aura is unsettling.

what is this dude doing…? he says he’s here about his mother. but he’s asking scully weird questions…

he wants to know what scully and his mother talked about. then he starts playing a video of baby him!!! and it seems he is doing regression hypnosis, and he’s recalling cassandra going up into the sky. but he says none of it happened!!! he said his mom told him to say those things!!!

he claims she told the story over and over again to make up for the fact that his dad left them and it drove his mother insane. which. doesn't really explain everything, but i guess it's a start.

he thinks dr. werber indulged in his mother’s fantasies and that his methods are dangerous and unsound, and she ought to question anything she experienced in his office

“well i appreciate your opinion, agent spender,  but i don’t have a mother feeding me abduction stories” <- GET HIM ‼️

“you’ve got agent mulder, don’t you?” <- OHHH, DON’T GO THERE YOU BRAT. and besides, he doesn’t even BELIEVE IN THAT STUFF ANYMORE. get lost.

(editing these notes and this pissed me tf off again. because how dare he imply that mulder is manipulating her psychologically instead of being her partner and seeing her as an equal? god forbid the two of them respect each other. no, clearly it MUST be that the man is taking advantage of the woman, tricking her into thinking alien thoughts in the same way spender's mother did to him. right?!? (heavy on the /s, btw) don't piss me off, buddy. implying their relationship is not built on mutual respect is going to piss me off EVERY time, no matter who is comes from!!!)

he tells her not to let herself be used, and there are tears in her eyes :( well right now, mr. spender, you seem like the one doing the using

when mulder gets home, he finds a note on the floor: “things are looking up” OH SHIT, SOMEONE IS ATTACKING HIM

“you must be losing it, mulder. i can beat you with one hand” GTFO KRYCEK I’M SERIOUS!!! I’LL CALL PEST CONTROL

“isn’t that how you like to beat yourself?” <- LMAOOOOO mulder may be on the ground with a gun in his face, but that man ALWAYS has a one liner 

“hear this, agent mulder, because what i’m telling you is deadly serious: there is a war raging, and unless you pull out of the sand, you and i and about five billion other people are going to go the way of the dinosaur” <- oh shit… he has to pick a side… between the colonists and the resistance!!

is the whole fate of the world really in his hands? can he not share that responsibility with his friends?

mulder is laughing at his claims of alien colonization. 

“one rule: resist or serve” <- KRYCEK SAID THE WORDS ON THE SCREEN

he calls krycek a murder and a liar and a coward, and asks how is he supposed to trust him!!! points were made!!

the mass incinerations were to disrupt the colonization… and one man is being held captive. if he dies, so does the resistance. hmm. how do you know all this, krycek? source: trust me bro

DID HE JUST KISS MULDER???

krycek is your problematic bisexual representation… wow. who would have guessed?

(been 3 days now since i watched this episode and i am STILL shocked. yeah yeah i KNOW he's russian, and european people smooch sometimes when they say hello, but that is NOT what happened here. at all. he was pinning mulder to the ground, filled with fury, and then lust overtook, as it so often does)

he gives his gun to mulder…. and says good luck in russian, leaving a very angry and sad agent on the floor. damn. i also need a moment to process that. 

let us take some time together to ponder.

okay.

HEY! i know this guy from the air force base! he’s the alien bounty hunter!! and he’s breaking in!!!

mulder is sitting on his couch in despair when in comes scully.

“what are you doing sitting here in the dark?” “thinking” “about what?” “oh the usual- destiny, fate, how to throw a curveball… the inextricable relationships in our lives that are neither accidental nor somehow entirely in our control, either” <- poetic!!

the intimacy of knocking on your bestie's door and he is just sitting there pondering with all of the lights off... wow.

she comes to tell him she’s reconsidered her experiences with dr. werber!! nooo, do not let spender get to you!! and mulder has also done some reconsidering of his own… 

has his alien era returned??

krycek’s note left the name of an air base on the back!! they must go to find answers!!

no mention of the kiss to scully, which is fine i guess. but i would have been curious to see her reaction. she's pretty unflappable, although maybe she'd say he's unfolding like a flower again. and he’s out the door. 

they’re being let into the base at night. poor scully looks very sleepy. 

OHHH THE GUY DOESN’T WANT TO LET THEM IN…. and he says his name wrong (lmao), so mulder says there is a leak and that someone inside requires immediate medical aid.

HE CALLS THE GUY “SON”? “why don’t you go check on that, son. i’d hate for somebody to die because you were uninformed” <- woah. that was very weird. him calling someone that feels off and strange.

mulder wants to gun it to get into the facility while the gate guy is investigating his claims, but scully is surprised to know that she recognizes the driver of the truck across from them!!!

while the guard is being told he needs to place our agents under military arrest, mulder has hatched onto the back of the other truck!! scully is just sitting there like wtf, and is now being arrested. he loves to jump on a moving vehicle. 

so he’s inside this tented area on the back of the truck and finds a locked box with the faceless alien rebel inside!!!! but the truck is stopping; have they been caught??

OH!! the guy driving IS THE SHAPESHIFTER!!! and he’s coming to go get the faceless rebel. what is mulder to do???

alien bounty hunter is coming to get the rebel; he pops out the needle…. but something is afoot! everything is bathed in light and shaking!!! 

the faceless man is being lifted up… but mulder screams “noooooooo” and fires his gun??? THAT WAS VERY BLURRY AND CONFUSING!! what just happened!!!!

are we back to marita now?? yes, we are!!! she seems to be free of oil in her eyes!!!

meanwhile, mulder is being arrested, but the rebel alien isn’t there!!! WHERE DID HE GOOOO?!

the agents are going on a date to jail. he’s covered in sweat and he doesn’t know what happened while he was out there….. she grabs his hand…. so romantic

spender is arriving into skinner’s office. what is going on here? he shared there is no news about his mother. oh, mulder has opened a xx file on the case…

skinner clarifies that this has no effect on spender's position in the FBI. and mentions that he has a patron who thinks highly of him??? WHO??? no one knows??? someone with a high level of influence??? oh, that is concerning. 

IS IT HIS DAD???

when he walks out her gets a letter from quebec… and it’s in a red envelope!! the same as that kid was holding at the very start of the episode!!!!

up in quebec, that kid is delivering another letter to the mysterious cabin…. and the letter was returned.

IT’S CSM??????? 

I KNEW HE WASN’T DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CSM has a son and a family he left…. omfg…. and he’s hiding out in CANADA???? 

THIS ANSWERED NO QUESTIONS. AND EVEN RAISED NEW ONES.

okay, after seeing the whole episode, here are my thoughts:

still losing it at krycek kissing mulder’s cheek. i just KNOW the slash girlies were losing their MINDS. as they had every right to do! i felt your joy across time and space.

so, the vaccine against the alien oil works! if we can simply inject every single person in the world, we should be able to put up a resistance fight!! and also we will need to get a lot of those green needles that kill the shapeshifting aliens. which probably also come from outer space. so we'll need a mass scale smuggling. no biggie. /s

what happened to the resistance fighter??? did he get out?? was he taken away by the evil colonist aliens?? 

and who bailed these two out!!!

is mulder back in his believer era?? he has to be!!! 

marita is alive… you have to stop the ratboy, queen. you need to lock in. idgaf if he’s the one who knows about the aliens. wait until the alien stuff is sorted out and then stab him. for me. train hard to complete the task you have been assigned.

CSM HAD A FAMILY!!! HOLY HELL, LET’S CIRCLE BACK TO THAT SHALL WE?? and he left them!!! but he kept writing letters!! that is CRAZY!!!

rip my boy dmitri :(

i watched this episode 3 days ago and there is still SO much to process. it might take a long time. typical jam-packed sort of episode. is this what we refer to as the "myth arc"? because it establishes the mythology and main plot? am i using this term correctly? please do share. and also please tell me if the following things gagged you:

CSM alive reveal, CSM family reveal, alien rebel reveal, marita knowing krycek reveal, krycek smooching mulder reveal, scully screaming under hypnosis, mulder gently brushing her hair out of her face, etc etc. thank you very much.

[absolutebl]

Wedding Plan Trash Watch!

You ready to snuffle-kiss the burn? 

Before I start...

Find out about Mame and the Mameverse here.

Find my other trash watches of her and others here. 

We all know what we are getting in for, 7 episodes of BLduggery. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not... that is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts. 

Episode 1 - In which I craft an ode to Dumpster Fires Everywhere 

I am sorry, but they opened with Battle Hymn of the Republic for PrapaiSky’s wedding? I busted out laughing. 

Also, you KNOW I can’t just let that go. 

Ready?

LET’S SING! (Bet you’d never thought I’d type those words). 

Battle Hymn of BL Tumblr

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the trash This is barely even BL it’s just Mame writing slash  She hath set ablaze such garbage in pursuit of all our cash But the trash watch must go on! 

 (Buh buh ba buh) 

Glory, glory hallelujah!  Mame hit us with a sewer.  Spoiling all our fun, Oh the shit storm has begun, But the trash watch must go on! 

I have seen the dumpster-fires of a hundred BL tropes She will sacrifice her ukes ’til they’ve lost all of their hopes We will watch in righteous anger while the refuse burns and smokes But the trash watch must go on! 

 (Buh buh ba buh) 

Glory, glory hallelujah!  Life’s rough for a BL reviewer.  When OG BL fans run afoul of Mame stans  But the trash watch must go on! 

 Buh buh buh buh! 

Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here for the next 7 weeks. Yes some of my rhyming conventions are awkward af but I never claimed to be a filker. Now where was I?

Oh YES, 

STILL AT THE VERY BEGINNING. 

Where have I seen this seme before? Oh! Top Secret Together. 

Micky D sponsorship? Nice. I’m impressed. 

Too many sound effects, abort! Is that the sound tech from Lovely Writer I sniff? Someone please fire his ass. Yes, it must be him. Only a straight dude misuses buttons like that. 

I feel Nuea’s pain I too hate the gym. 

This better not be in one of those situations where after instalove our seme arranges for the wedding planner boy he likes to plan his own wedding so that he can marry him at the end. 

Lots of pronouns going astray in that sentence, but you get my meaning. 

Drag baby around. Locker room. Kabeldon 

Honestly? And this is not usually a criticism I lob at Mame ( I know is there anything I have lobbed at her?) but the leads seem a bit stiff and uninspired. 

It is just me? 

Episode 2 - What’s this? Oh is that boredom? 

What are these boys in these office BLs doing behind their desks on those computers? They never actually seem to be working at all. They’re like brochure stock art ads for boys on computers. 

I had to skip most of the humiliating stuff with the food in the car and whatever was going on because… aargh. 

They keep ordering food in this episode of nobody’s eating it. And it looks really good and I’m hungry and this is very upsetting to me. 

Lom is just totally jerking Nuea around. Just tell him what your relationship is with the bride. 

There’s no need to be so fucking coy about it. 

I love the flaming yelling fit from Nuea tho.  

It was also a good kiss. 

But that’s what we expect from a Mame. 

Mame giveth and mame taketh away. 

Somewhat dull episode frankly. Even with the kiss.

Sigh. What have I become?

Episode 3 - WHAT IS THIS? There is nothing about this episode that pleased me even a tiny bit. Except Noel’s hair. But that wasn’t part of the script. 

Buckle up, I got A LOT to say. 

It’s a pleasure to welcome you back to your normal and expected ABL meets Mame interface where... ABL LOSES THEIR TINY MIND. 

Right on schedule it feels like. 

Ready?

Oh who am I kidding, you sadists life for this shizz. And you can’t tell me you don’t. 

Lom is so frustrating. 

I wanna punch him too. Sing it, sister! 

Random water sports. (And not of the kind one might expect from Mame. Stop it. You know she would go there. She’d think it was edgy.) 

Peeps! 

We need a name for when a BL reviews itself. 

It keeps happening. 

Should you tell him everything? 

Yes. 

1000 times yes. 

I’m basically screaming it at the screen. 

TELL HIM!!!! 

You tricked him into a date without telling him a single thing about what’s actually going on. Are you insane? 

What the hell. 

You keep kissing him but he is planning your wedding. How fucked up are you? You monster 

A Mame show calling out its own exploitive sexism is so fucking awkward. 

Mame. Sweetheart. Snookums. Sugarbeans. Shaken-baccon. You don’t have enough fucking talent to go meta. Leave it to the better BLs to follow trends. Your shizz is old fashioned and that’s why people like it. Don’t try to be classy, it makes this whole shit show just look even more shabby. 

Poor baby. 

Now he’s doubting himself completely. 

What are these assholes doing to you? 

Come with me. 

I’m going to transport you to this other terrible BL trash watch happening right now, where there is a LOVELY adorable boy named Max and I think you would be perfect together. 

So it’s basically just Narnia-level closet cases we are dealing with here? 

THAT’S IT?

THAT’S THE EXCUSE FOR THIS LEVEL OF MANIPULATION?

WHAT IS GOING ON? 

Nuea is such a cutie.

I want to punch Lom all over again.   

Noel looks v pretty as a blond. 

The proposal sequence was unnecessary. But at least I don’t wanna punch anyone. 

THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE for lying. For manipulation. For not understanding how you’re betraying another person’s faith in himself. 

Especially not if you’re in the position of power: social, cultural, employer. 

Why doesn’t Mame EVER understand this? 

You can’t have a character that is sincere and earnest in love and yet entirely lacking in all forms of integrity. 

This is driving me crazy. 

No one is in the show is as crazy as this show is making me.

I started this episode wanting to punch Lom, and I’m ending this episode wanting to punch Lom.

That’s a mame plot for ya. 

No character development at all, on any side of the screen. 

And someone, mostly me, is always left with a mad desire to punch something. 

Frankly, I kinda want to punch the screen.

Episode 4 - I Am Going to Start Drinking

I like consent especially when “no” is activated. But this being Mame she shoe horns it in and then the seme ignores it. 

It’s so awkward. She’s actually incapable of making any non-problematic tropes sexy. It’s like there is only one lane for her shows and that lane is...

the WORST 

My “Punch Lom in the face 2023” campaign continues.

I don’t see how he can ever become a sympathetic character. He just trundles along lying by omission (when speaking up would make everything better). I hate him. 

I’m glad we get to see Nuea suffering, now show Lom what he has done and make him lose the boy. 

No? No.

Instead Lom gets rewarded with sex for being a sleazy lying gutless jerk? Well terds to both you fine gentlemen. 

I mean, very gay of you, Nuea sweetie. 

“Because just SOOOO hot” being the #1 excuse in my personal “I slept with WHAT?” experience. (Heh, to be fair I’m often the WHAT? in that equation. I live to be someone’s bad mistake... just not Lom-level-bad. 

Where was I? 

Oh yeah, Gaga has the sex scene. FYI. Came outta nowhere, that sex scene did. Very disjointed... not that kind of joint. Not that kind either.

It’s not a particularly impressive sex scene, which is disappointing. Because WHY ELSE WOULD WE BE WATCHING?

I mean, if you’re going to have your characters (and by extension us) forfeit all integrity and taste in order to watch your stupid show, the least you could do is give us decent chemistry. 

I’m not saying this is worse than LITA but at least LITA was hot.

It wasn’t anything else. But it was hot.

This this is 

not hot. 

In conclusion: if Nuea’s baby bro doesnt’t punch Lom in the face next week I will have to start drinking on Weds...

oh wait!

BMF ends this Friday! I can switch to drinking mid week!

YES

(I have a new rule: only one BL a week is allowed to drive me to drink in any give rotation.) 

Imma preemptively point out that I am aware that bearding and lavender marriages are still quite common all over the world. I would whole heartedly support a good depiction of it. (Even one where it stays fix in the beard position.) This is NOT a good depiction. 

I shall draw your attention to 2017′s rarely discussed (not really BL) We Are Gamily out of... you guessed it... Taiwan. You can argue with me about this only AFTER you have watched that. 

Okay, back to the trash watch. 

Episode 5 - I Neglected to Drink and that was a Mistake

Ate a lot of crap traveling home today (feel gross) + tumblr new desktop UX has me pissed + Mame & alcohol? I’m not sure I’d survive. So no alcohol. 

Here we go. 

Poor Nuea feels so guilty. 

Please save me from ever feeling that way after sex. *shudder* 

Before you ask, to the best of my knowledge, I have never slept with a married person. I’ve slept with married people... married to each other mind you... but I hope that makes it clear everyone was consensual. (I recommend it, by the way. Being a unicorn is lots of fun.) 

Where was i? 

We were dealing with punching Lom not my misspent youth. 

(looks at calendar. wait, that was last month.) 

PUNCH LOM 2023! 

Queen! 

I love her.

It wasn’t a physical punch but a verbal one is almost as good. (And can be more damaging in the long run.) 

Could we please still have an actual punch?

Pretty please?

Mame punches her characters all the time. And no character ever deserved a punching more than Lom. 

I do wish there was a nice boy back home to scoop Nuea up. 

That line of boys wanting him, could we see it, not be told it? 

I do like the random sinshine hyung side couple. 

Omg. COLD MICKY D?! 

That might just be the most objectionable moment in this whole show. 

And that’s a tall order. 

Pun intended.

(straight, HA! pun not intended but still very much THERE) 

Was I pleased we got multiple characters who are just outright gay? Yes. 

But representation has not been one of Mame’s issues. 

I mean Tharn was one of the first openly gay seme leads in a Thai BL, and she also had rep for lube and condoms in that show. That’s not the issue with TharnType. Or Mame. 

Her issues tend to revolve around story structure and audience manipulation. 

Was I pleased that Nuea knew what was going on? Yes, I’m glad he’s not totally clueless. 

I still want Lom to be punched in the face and I’m still mad at this show. 

Episode 6 - Too hot to drink, still a Mistake

I finally figured out my real problem with Lom. It’s not that he was closeted and manipulative without good reason (although he is). It’s not that he lied and strung Nuea along for a lot longer than was necessary (because he did). It is that he basically does everything for himself and his own ends. Even when he’s confessing his love it comes off as flat because it isn’t about Nuea and what Nuea wants or needs, it’s about Lom wants.

Hanging a lampshade on it doesn’t make it right. 

It was good bridge kiss. And car kiss. And sex kisses. 

There is something corrupted grunge romantic asking the person you love most in the world to hide that love and climb back into the closet with you for the sake of your nasty arse family (is that a queer taboo, hum). I’m not saying lavender marriages are necessarily wrong, I’m just saying it’s an interesting plot twist in a BL. 

I think we HAVE to hold this up and examine it in stark contrast to the final ep of Bad Buddy. It’s interesting how the closet retreat didn’t bother me at all in BB, and I thought it was quite a clever and elegant ending twist. Whereas here it’s just annoying. It’s not making me as angry as it probably should. But it is annoying as a narrative conceit and denouement.

Can I ask a question.

 It’s not a serious question, of course. 

What is up with all of the shows this year having dates on lakes featuring that thing where you ride a funny little floaty-boat while being dragged behind a fast boat. I’m sure it has a name, but I could not care less. New sponsor? 

The sex scene was fine. But I have to say, I wish they had leaned into the fact that Lom is a virgin and Nuea has more experience. It would’ve been a really interesting dynamic to see honestly represented on screen.

In conclusion, Nuea is a saint and next week everything comes to a head that didn’t already get head this episode.

Episode 7 - Finally I’m drinking! 

I am having a tiki beverage this evening to round out this show. Coconut rum and mango popping Boba are involved. Don’t judge. I have the alcohol palate of a 7 year old. 

I’m ready! Let’s shave this beard!

And, well, that was a pink saturated drama of the mothers in law. Enjoyable lakorn style scenery chewing. The ladies seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Lom pretending to be sad and pitiful. Also funny. 

Using his evil against his mom is acceptable. Suddenly his manipulative lying ways are working in the right direction. 

Honestly? 

This was a fine ending, I’m not mad at it. 

They managed to keep Lom in character until the end, he remained deceitful.  I would never trust him, but clearly Nuea is willing to ride that dragon. 

I guess 7/10? 

If you can tolerate Mame and liars (kinda the same thing) you’ll be fine with this show. 

But, frankly? Lom as a character would sit better amongst the drama bananas of Only Friends.

In summation: 

A lackluster Mame offering with less of her usual stellar chemistry, but all of her usual manipulation. An innocent wedding planner falls haplessly and hopelessly in love with a groom who relentlessly pursues him, even though he’s about to marry someone else. 

(source) 

[acescorazon]

i know you like old man yaoi but have you considered old woman yuri (i want bughawk to kiss and be in love)

Hello, Nonnie whose identity I do not know!!! Thanks for your request!!! This series is partially for you, but it's kind of a slow burn, so there won't be any kisses and lovey-dovey stuff for a little while :) ANYWAYS. Starting another new series (because I was bullied) Where (Fem) Buggy gets thrown overboard during a storm and Mihawk (also fem) rescues her and swims them to shore. Things are a little messy at first because Buggy is pretty sure Mihawk hates her, and Buggy hates Mihawk just as much, if not more, but they figure it out, eventually. Enjoy!

Title: Coexisting (But just barely)

Pairing: Fem!Bughawk Ch: 1/? (i'm so sorry.)

Rating: M (I'm just going to rate it that as a whole.)

Word count: 2178

Warnings: Crocodile. Near death experiences. Language.

Chapter excerpt:

“Don’t be a wimp.”

At what point do they actually start panicking and say enough is enough?  With a groan, Buggy makes a desperate attempt to get back to her feet and once she does manage to stand up straight, the very next moment, yet another wave hits the side of their ship, capsizing it.

Buggy never stood a chance. She’s dumped into the water and there’s nothing she can do, but sink while being engulfed by complete darkness. Is she really going to die because of Crocodile’s negligence? Man, this sucks. She should have never borrowed money from Crocodile. Maybe if she were a little wiser, then Cross Guild would have never become a thing, and she wouldn’t be seconds away from her dying.

Oh, they fucked up.

Buggy tried to warn Crocodile that there was a storm approaching earlier, and she thinks her exact response was, “I ain’t afraid of no rain.” Okay, yeah, neither is Buggy, but this is more than just a light drizzle. It’s stinging hail that keeps slashing at their faces, it’s howling winds that are strong enough to knock even the mighty Sir Crocodile herself over, It’s waves the size of Elbaf giants that, when they aren’t smashing against the sides of the boat and threatening to capsize it, are sending them high up in the air and then hurling them back down to earth, but Crocodile doesn’t seem to care about all that.

Buggy grips the rails to the ship tightly as more hail whips across her face, and there’s this nasty voice at the back of her head that keeps reminding her that if she lets go, she’s as good as dead. Right now she can barely see in front of her, but she still squints her eyes and tries to look at the giant figure at the helm, “Crocodile!” She screams over the raging wind, “Turn back.” This is insane.  Maybe in a different situation, she’d tell her to push through the storm like the other woman definitely wants to, but her gut is telling her there’s no way they’re going to make it through this monster, and they definitely can’t sit it out either.

The island they were just at is so close, yet…

Crocodile makes no effort to turn the ship around, and over all the noise, Buggy can faintly hear her yell back,“Quit being a wimp.”  she’s a wimp for wanting to live?! She groans as she finally comes to the realization that Crocodile isn’t going to listen to reason, at least not from her. She looks around for Mihawk, and she could have sworn that she was near Crocodile earlier, but now she’s nowhere to be found. “Hawkeye?” She calls out, concerned, because the last time she checked the only ones who hadn’t run inside the ship were the three of them, and she hadn’t heard Mihawk go inside, not that she can hear much right now anyways.

Buggy doesn’t receive an answer after calling Mihawk’s name, so she turns her attention back to Crocodile, who’s struggling to stand on her own two feet as the wind blows against her. “Crocodile, where’s Hawkeye?” She asks, but doesn’t get an answer from her either, Crocodile’s way too focused on trying to keep a grip on the ship’s wheel. Oh, this is just freaking great, Buggy thinks. The last thing they need right now is to lose one of their crewmates if you can even consider them a crew.

She looks over her shoulder, trying to see if she can see anything that might indicate that Mihawk’s still on the ship. Any little sign of life will do; Her hat, her coat, her sword, anything, but she can see none of those things. Did she fall off the ship? “Mihawk? Are you okay?” Now, there is a chance that Mihawk is somewhere on the ship and just can’t hear Buggy over the sounds of heavy rains and thunder, but there’s also the chance that she might have gone overboard during one of the several times the ship was thrown up in the air. “Crocodile, where’s Hawkeye?” She yells again, this time a little louder.

Crocodile hears her this time and briefly looks around her before replying in a rather indifferent voice, “Who knows?” She could at least act like she’s concerned for someone who’s her friend, or at least Buggy always assumed they were friends. Hell, Mihawk and Buggy hate each other, but Buggy’s still concerned about her safety. “What if she went overboard?” She asks, and if Crocodile were anyone but….well, Crocodile, then she’d probably be panic-stricken right now.

“That’s her own problem.”  

Oh, she’s a mad woman and she needs to be stopped because if she doesn’t care about Mihawk potentially going overboard, then she sure as hell won’t care about what happens to Buggy or the rest of the crew. Buggy takes a deep breath and inches her way towards Crocodile, “Crocodile, turn around!” she shouts.

Crocodile glances at her through wet bangs, which means she definitely heard her, but she doesn’t respond. Enough’s enough, Buggy thinks, hating herself for even letting things get this far. She shouldn’t have let her men leave the island. She should have kept them safe, but she didn’t. She was too scared to actually go against Crocodile, and now look at them.  Good God, this is insane.

Buggy doesn’t know what the game plan is, but she has to get Crocodile away from the helm.  She takes a deep breath and lets go of the only thing keeping her safe. She struggles to make it the few feet across the deck to where Crocodile is and almost loses her footing a few times, but she’s almost there. She doesn’t care what Crocodile does to her, she has to get a hold of the wheel, she has to turn back.

Buggy's fingertips just barely brush against the plush fabric of Crocodile’s coat when all of a sudden another monstrous wave slams into the side of their ship, damn near capsizing it for real this time. “Fuc--” She yelps as her feet slip from underneath her, and she goes sliding across the deck. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t stop, and she hits the deck, shoulder first and with a hard thud. Crocodile’s words repeat in her head as pain shoots up her shoulder.

'Don’t be a wimp.'

At what point do they actually start panicking and say enough is enough?  With a groan, Buggy makes a desperate attempt to get back to her feet and once she manages to stand up straight, the very next moment, yet another wave hits the side of their ship, capsizing it.

Buggy never stood a chance. She’s dumped into the water and there’s nothing she can do but sink while being engulfed by complete darkness. Is she really going to die because of Crocodile’s negligence? Man, this sucks. She should have never borrowed money from Crocodile. Maybe if she were a little wiser, then Cross Guild would have never become a thing and she wouldn’t be seconds away from dying.

Usually around this time, one of her men heroically jumps into the water to save her, but her poor men probably don’t even know what hit them. She rushed them inside to try to keep them away from the danger, but in the end, none of that mattered because the boat tipped over, and now devil fruit users and non-devil fruit users are all screwed.  

She tries not to breathe for as long as she can, but eventually, she can’t take the burn in her lungs and she has no other choice but to breathe in the ocean around her.  It’s agonizing, to say the least, and she knows, she fucking knows that she can’t swim, but she still tries to propel herself upward and try to save herself but to no avail. Buggy feels as useless as a piece of trash sinking to the bottom of the sea right now, and she hates it. She hates how every time she’s thrown into the water, she’s unable to move let alone swim because back in the day she used to be the best swimmer on her crew, well, second best.  

A wave of exhaustion also hits her to make matters worse, and she just wants to go to sleep. Maybe that’s what she should do. Maybe she should just stop struggling and accept her cruel fate. No one’s coming for her. Her men are probably confused and trying to get off the ship right about now, and if they don’t drown right away, surely the storm will sweep them away. This is all Crocodile’s fault, and she swears if she sees her in the afterlife she’s going to make her regret this bullshit. 

 

Something grabs Buggy by the waist just when she’s on the brink of going unconscious, but she can’t tell what’s got her. For all she knows it could be a sea king, and she’s not sure if she’d rather die from being eaten by a sea king or if she’d rather die from drowning, but it probably doesn’t matter anyways. Dead is dead.  She doesn’t fight whatever has her though, she just wants this nightmare to be over with. (Also, she hopes that the same thing that has her eats Crocodile too, if it is a sea king.) Much to her surprise though, whatever, or rather whoever has her starts pulling her up to the surface.  

This can't be real. She's sinking to the bottom of the sea, moments away from meeting an untimely end. She's not actually being rescued right now. That's impossible, who would even be able to see her and rescue her? This has to be some sort of delusion. This can't be real.

Rather quickly, though, the darkness surrounding her disappears, and before she has time to comprehend what’s going on, her head is reaching the surface and her lungs are burning as she gasps for air then proceeds to start coughing. Maybe this isn’t a delusion, or if it is, then Buggy doesn’t want to know the truth. As she tries to catch her breath, she looks up to see who rescued her and almost passes out.

“Hawkeye?” She calls out, weakly, still not convinced that she hasn’t died and gone to hell or something. It just doesn’t make sense for her to actually come to her aid, she hates her guts! But even if she did come to save her… How was she able to see in that cold abyss and find her?  Where did she even come from?

Mihawk stares at her with an unreadable expression on her face. She takes a moment to catch her own breath before looking away and finally muttering, “Oh, it’s you.”  

The words, 'Oh, it’s you.' echo throughout Buggy’s head, and a part of her wants to tell Hawkeye to drop her back into the ocean and let her drown for real this time because seriously? What does that mean? 'Oh, it’s you.' Who was she trying to rescue? Crocodile? “What’s that supposed to mean?” Buggy complains in a hoarse voice. She’s so close to Mihawk's face right now, that she could… she could just bite it off! Who cares if they both end up drowning after that?

“...I thought you were a little too light to be Crocodile.”

“Why don’t you drop me and go find her instead? “

Sometimes Buggy doesn’t quite understand why she does the things she does and, much to her horror, Mihawk does let go of her, and Buggy swears her life flashes before her eyes as she feels herself start to fall a little. She reaches out, quickly grabbing onto Mihawk and clinging to her. “Don’t! I was just kidding!” She whimpers, “I don’t wanna die.”

Mihawk sighs, “Then be quiet.” The annoyed tone in her voice kinda pisses Buggy off, and she really wants to say something, but this isn’t the time to be fighting with her. Their boat just capsized and now that Buggy’s gotten the chance to look around, she doesn’t see their ship or anyone else around for that matter, and she’s unsure if she’s the one who got swept away or if it was them. “What now?” Buggy asks.

Mihawk gives her a rather nonchalant reply, “We swim to the shore.”

”Are you crazy?” Buggy frowns, “We’ll drown before we make it ashore.”

“We’ll drown if we stay here and do nothing.”

Okay, that is very true, but it’s still storming and If the storm doesn’t get them, then the exhaustion or hypothermia will. They could be swimming for days before they actually reach land, and what happens if Mihawk gets tired or a bad cramp or something? That’s right, she’s going to drown. And do you know what happens if Mihawk drowns? Buggy drowns with her. “Maybe someone’s nearby and can rescue us.”

”In the middle of a storm like this?”

Okay, that’s a fair point. The only ones who were truly stupid enough to try and sail through a storm like this were them, and that obviously didn’t turn out well. Buggy groans, “Okay, but I still think that we need to get help!”

”We aren’t going to get help in the middle of the ocean.”

Buggy knows that she should just be happy and grateful that Mihawk saved her and that she’s still alive. Sure, she’s fatigued and freezing, but she’s still breathing and that has to count for something, but Mihawk really pisses her off.  Why does she always get to decide on what they do? Who died and made her king? She’s sick and tired of Crocodile and Mihawk doing whatever they want and bossing her around like she’s their henchman! 

[trans-queen-administrator]

One of my friends asked what some of my favorite moment in Worm are and I've narrowed it down to just a few but how am I supposed to choose between "they seem like good people" I lied, or the second lung fight with the caterpillar in the eye to win, or Taylor breaking out of the burning building Coil trapped her in, or her terrorizing people while drinking tea, or when Taylor tries to 1v1 Leviathan to save people and gets her back shattered, or when Rachel saves her afterwards, or when we learn Rachel carved the names of her dogs into the monument, or when Taylor almost kills Triumph with bees, or the Mannequin fight, or running through the streets to warn people about Shatterbird's scream, or the fridge, or cutting Noelle in half, or just how hopeless the Noelle fight seemed before that with Eidolon caught, or Eidolon and Glaistig Uaine's fight with Scion, or Phir Sé's time bomb engulfing Behemoth and just obliterating him only for Behemoth to keep going, or Chevalier's interlude where he goes out to fight Behemoth alone despite being injured, or String Theory, or the wards therapy interlude where Lily can't get over how Taylor's words are stuck in her head, or Labyrinth and Burnscar reuniting, or Legend looking at the lie detector after the meeting, or Taylor hovering over the ocean knowing she doesn't have the battery in her flight pack to get back, or Aster getting shot, or the oil rig fight when Taylor crawls back up as a monster after being cut in half, or the horror of Alec's interlude, or Bonesaw having a crisis because Contessa said like 4 words to her and oh hey that parallels with you needed worthy opponents I never noticed that, or Taylor telling Eidolon and Scion to fuck off and leave, or Scion's entire interlude, or Number Man's interlude when he thinks about what it means of powers if Jack Slash's loves how he does stuff, or Kevin Norton, or Taylor ruining the chili, or the cafeteria scene where she's outed but talks her way out, or maggots in his eyes monday, or her turning herself in, or her talk with Dinah when she realizes that there's a solid chance she becomes Coil and keeps Dinah around because it's useful, or her killing Coil, or her killing Alexandria and Tagg, or the Cauldron raid where she swings a death knife through a crowd to hit one guy, or her requesting Lung cauterize her arm, or when Piggot is kidnapped and she fucks up the Undersiders just by talking, or Taylor's attempt to become besties with the Simurgh, or the Simurgh singing a lullaby to Lisa and Taylor, or the tea party with Nilbog, Taylor, Jack, and Riley, or the moment she reunites with her team post-timeskip, or when Glenn shows her a video of her being horrifying and she only thinks about her passenger moving her in it, or when her passenger makes her choke on a cockroach to save her, or going shopping with Lisa for fun, or when she helps Rachel at the shelter, or when she goes home with Brian and meets Aisha, or when we see Dinah for the first time and it's fucked, or when Taylor has Amy fuck with her brain knowing she won't come back from it, or when Lisa finally opens up and tells Taylor about her trigger, or when Taylor goes blind, or when Clockblocker keeps asking her questions in the car ride to Echdina, or when Scapegoat takes her injuries and freaks out, or when Sundancer tears off her costume and walks through the portal after killing Noelle but the pavement is cooling around her because she'll never escape her power or what she just did, or Fortuna's interlude, or Rachel stepping into Khepri's range because she trusts her, or Lisa tearing into Taylor with words after she sees what happened, or the realization she can't read anymore, or the fight with Dragon where she thinks she killed her, or all of the fight with Scion where she's controlling thousands of people while her brain deteriorates, or "finally, everyone was working together," or the talk with Contessa at the very end? How am I supposed to choose?

[sofasoap]

Lastochka - Raging waves preview

Thanks to @siilvan and @gamergirlbones for bouncing the ideas with me. Thinking of making part two to my Lastochka series. it might lead to nowhere, or it might be discontinued if i get really stuck with how to proceed with the plot, but at the moment I just wanna share my ideas out. prob be lot more angst than the first series. this is just a preview, I might tidy it up later to make an official prologue.

pairing : Nikolai x F!reader + OC ( child ) + Taskforce 141.

warning : talk of injuries, gore, violence. Mature theme. minors DNI.

not proof read.

Door slammed open, Ghost spotted the tiny figure hiding in the dark corner of the wardrobe, clutching to a crochet doll tightly, while clamping her small hands over her mouth, body shaking and eyes wide with terror. 

“Anya.” 

“Uncle Simon!!” Ghost swung his gun quickly over his shoulder,  crouching down with open arms to catch the petite girl as she scrambles over piles of clothes and boxes, lunging herself at Simon, tears finally spilling over her fear infested orbs. 

“Shh. it's ok.” Ghost soothing the sobbing girl in his arms as he patted his niece on her back. That's when he noticed the red sticky substance. 

Blood. 

Ghost pulled Anya away from him, scanning her up and down, checking for any signs of injuries.

“Love, are you hurt? Did someone hurt you??Tell uncle Si…” 

“Anya!” 

Both of their heads turned, Nikolai storming up the staircase, followed closely by Price. Soap and Gaz emerged from the other rooms seconds later. 

“Papa!! Papa!!!” Arms out, little Anya burst into tears again as she cried for her father. Ghost immediately passed her into Nikolai’s embrace. Nikolai gave his daughter a tight hug, followed by kisses on her face. “Are you alright my little dove?”  checking over his daughter carefully “ Why have you got blood all over you?! Where is your Ma?” 

“Ma told me to be a good girl and hide in there,” pointing into the wardrobe, “and.. And.. there were so many scary men… hurting Ma… Ma told me to close my eyes….” the poor little girl, trying her best to recount the event, distressed. 

“Close your eyes, Mah bairn, remember that silly song uncle Johnny taught you? Just keep singing in and clutch onto me tight, ok?” 

Sounds of gunshot ringing throughout the house, Anya tried her hardest singing out loud, eyes closed, burning her head into your chest. 

Men yelling, sounds of you screaming as you break through waves of men trying to reach the two of you. 

One, two, three, four, five.  Shot after shot. Until you ran out of bullets. You pull the knife off some of the dead attack’s vest and slash the arm of the next attack as they try to grab you, and stabbing them right in the eyes.  Turning around, slashing the next enemy right in the throat, blood spraying out, covering both of you and your daughter. 

You made a quick run up the stairs as you saw the opening. Right into the spare room in the corner of the house where it is currently used as a storage room, full of stuff. You open the wardrobe and tuck Anya right in the corner. 

“Stay in here, and try not to make a sound, ok? No matter what happened.” The little girl covered her mouth, nodded her head furiously “Papa and uncle will come and save us soon. We will be ok.” Giving her one last kiss on the forehead, as if this might be the last time you lay your eyes on your most precious treasure in the world, you throw some clothes on top of her, shove some boxes in front before slamming the door shut. 

“I only heard some bad guys talking.. And… and.. Ma.. Ma she screamed. So loud. .. and I don’t know what happened…” Anya clutch onto Nikolai’s vest, shaking uncontrollably. 

Soap stares at his brother in law. Lip tightly pressed together. His tightly clench and shaking fist emitting his fury and anger. 

“House is clear. Apart from the dead bodies downstairs, there are no other signs of life…” Gaz whispered into Price’s ear, worry sipping out between his words. 

Nikolai was beyond furious. He thought he had his family kept safe. His two precious little birds in his safety.  With his reputation and connection with both sides of the world. Clearly someone who is daring enough and with someone who has larger and unknown backing try to threaten him. But.. who?

With that thought, all their mobile phones suddenly chimed. 

The five men look at each other, before carefully taking the phone out and checking the message. 

– The little bird is in the cage.  The countdown starts, before the little swallow breaks her wings forever.

Nikolai is seeing red.  crimson red.

Tag: @siilvan @gamergirlbones @nrdmssgs @preciouslittlecreature @homicidal-slvt @celshideout @froglights-and-pearls @liyanahelena

@caramlizedtomatos

[hematomes]

You know,as someone who played Genshin,hsr,zzz and hi3 (not at the same time , I dropped hi3 after a while and I might drop zzz cuz combat wise it's also a hack n slash) ,maybe I'm biased but it feels like Genshin gets the worst ideas ,Like if you put the aspects of each game on a spectrum I feel like most of Genshin's aspects end up on the lower half.

It kinda makes me sad because zzz has some cool stuff, hsr too, HI3 has the excuse of being hoyos golden child so to say I guess, regardless of how well it does financially that game is still a big deal you know, but Genshin feels like it's being weirdly left out of all this cool stuff.

Character kits? Been getting worse tbh, animation probably not,I don't think Genshin's animation has ever went anywhere but up, story wise it's fine, and design wise it depends on the character I guess.

Idk ,maybe I'm talking nonsense but it feels like somewhere a few higher ups decided that Genshin would some sort of scapegoat somehow, but then again why would they do that when they could just as well just rake in the money from all of thier IPs, my thought process feels a bit conspiracy theory like

I'm probably just making a big deal out of nothing though.

i agree that genshin has been getting the short end of the stick in v5. rant incoming but i genuinely can't believe how bad it has become lmao

natlan as a nation is... extremely underwhelming. the archon quest has its moments (the war bit was actually very intense imo), but the characters lack depth for the most part, or at least it's explored in different parts that are mostly hidden.

mavuika is the worst archon by a long shot, because she's not flawed like the rest of them. it still feels uncanny that capitano agreed with her plan in a matter of minutes. she feels very... mary sue-esque? like everyone even outside of her nation blindly trusts her, even the traveler. it negates the traveler's character development from nations like fontaine and inazuma, and makes mavuika boring as hell.

mualani is the classic bubbly girl. cool. xilonen exists as a justification for the modern tech. cool. chasca is supposed to be constantly battling demons and was supposedly raised by literal beasts but it's barely addressed/isn't reflected in her character both design and personality wise, and both of her npc sisters were more interesting than her. citlali was cool until she turned into yet another aether simp (they even gave her a specific romantic moment if you play aether, which never happened with playable characters so far). ororon is the saving grace but also turned into a matchmaker for aether and citlali, which is also boring as fuck, and to top it off he's a 4* despite his importance and involvement in the quest (same thing can be said about kachina, the other interesting character). kinich has potential, but appears for a total of 4 frames to have a funny moment with ajaw and then dips. iansan seems really fun but she's yet another chibi with an ambiguous age (professional trainer? how.).

gameplay wise... mavuika is a let down. the nth pyro main dps, HEAVILY reliant on natlan mechanics and characters, fundamentally unplayable without at least xilonen or citlali. the fact that they're rerunning arlecchino in the same patch when arlecchino is 1k better and more powerful is kind of laughable. it is believed that they're surprisingly running both mavuika and citlali in p1 to damage control their revenue, idk how accurate that could be but im inclined to believe it.

xilonen is a cool addition, and a great buff to some teams. she's the only saving grace of natlan so far imo- citlali has a lame ass shield that layla surpasses with a few constellations, kinich is burn reliant so without emilie he's a bit difficult (clinky gameplay as well in my experience), mualani is HORRID to play but she is in fact neuvi-level, chasca is just.. erm. idk. i miss fontaine and sumeru.

even disregarding the glaring issue of gender ratio (a matter so big that even streamers and casual "waifu" pullers are also complaining about it lmao), natlan is ass. like, genuinely. it is ass. i have been playing genshin for 4 years. i stopped buying the battle pass and the login blessing for the first time in these 4 years.

genshin, imo, is the money maker- they've built their empire on it with how big it became, so now they're comfortable enough to neglect it. it's sad and i hate it bc it was one of my favorite games, but i don't really hold out any hope for snezhnaya anymore.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for leaving my best friend?

I (17, F, non-human) left my best friend slash situationship* (17, F, human) to live with my commune in the forest after not-so-recently having burned down her city she lived in while her family was still there. I left to find my missing little brother (12, M, human) who has run away a long time ago.

I think I need to clear things up. Our species have had a difficult relationship with humans for a long time now, they’re chopping down our forests, stealing our territory, etc. Humans aren’t typically allowed anywhere near us, however, I had a human mother who lived with us in the forest, who, unfortunately, passed away the same day as my father for reasons I won’t mention. So, my brother was born human, while I was not. After my parents’ death, it got harder for my human brother to live in our commune. Everyone was pretty much against him at that time. And so when also the war with humans got more active, he ran away. I’ve been meaning to go and find him for the longest time now, however, I am an important part of our commune and organise a lot of… stuff. And meeting my best friend accidentally and also accidentally getting to know her and accidentally introducing her to others in my commune has set me back a lot. Accidentally.

I burned down her city because it is the closest to our forest and the government there has been getting very aggressive lately, we even had some losses in our commune. So by burning down their city, we wanted to show that we won’t be enduring this silently and not fighting back. Also, it’s important that my best friend knew about this plan. She didn’t mind, more so, she went with us on the mission to burn the town down. Yes, she did have the realisation that her family died and grieved, but she moved on pretty quickly and easily as far as I know. I tried to give her space in that time so she could deal with it on her own. However, when she realised I was leaving, she started crying and told me how much she’d given up for me, etc. Mentioned that her family died, as if she was still upset about that. To be fair, I don’t understand what was the point of this whole thing she got herself into then.

Also, she is accepted in our commune. I couldn’t leave her until I made sure she’d be fine on her own there, and nobody would treat her like they treated my brother.

So, AITA?

* - I called her my situationship because we kissed, but only once. No further details will be given.

[kayssweetdreams]

The "Accidents" of Kaylo.

(A little lore behind Kaylo Crescendo)

The Lobotomy of 62

In 1962, Kaylo cheered up a little boy using her magic. While most of the time, this goes unnoticed, someone saw her spawning a 20 dollar bill out of thin air and using it to buy ice cream. When the man asked her how she did it, she played dumb and said she has no idea what he was talking about.

Later on in the night, she had made another trip to see the boy again, only to get kidnapped by that same man, who then handcuffed himself to her and wouldn't let her out until she taught him magic. Instead of being scared However, Kaylo just told the man that she could ruin his life in a week if he didn't let her go. The man scoffs at her threat until she cusses him out and flips him off.

The next week, Kaylo follows through with her threat, as the man ends up losing everything. He loses his respect in a very prestigious college due to talking to "thin air" and making him look like an idiot. (Monday) He then loses his job because of fake evidence that Kaylo planted of him sleeping with the dean's wife. (Tuesday) His car got wrecked by some local gangs because Kaylo payed them into doing it (even slashing the tires) (Wednesday). Then his house ends up burning to the ground after Kaylo tricks him into saying a spell that sets stuff ablaze. (Thursday)

When he finally rages at her and begins strangling her, Kaylo finally becomes visible in front of a police officer, who then get the handcuff off her, and get the man thrown in an insane asylum (Friday) once admitted in, Kaylo decides to make things even worse for him, by throwing her usual loud and insane parties in his padded cell, making the guards then think he was losing it (Saturday) Finally, he is scheduled for a Lobotomy. As he's dragged away, Kaylo appears one last time, stating she can make all of this seem like a horrible dream, if he agrees to never try and expose magic again. He refuses, stating that he will show that he was right one way or another.

The man then died, due to the Lobotomy going horribly wrong. (Sunday)

Things that the man lost in the week.

Monday: His Respect

Tuesday: His Job

Wednesday: His Car

Thursday: His House

Friday: His Freedom

Saturday: His Sanity

Sunday: His Life

The Buzzsaw Incident

In the early 90s and 2000s, Kaylo had a favorite game called: Human Walking. In which she got a bunch of people to unknowingly walk to their doom, only to avoid it a few seconds later. This game has progressively gotten more and more dangerous as the years go by.

One day, Kaylo has at least 147 people under her control, and she makes them do death defying stuff, from walking on powerlines, to navigating a heavy construction site. However, she then made them walk into a saw mill with a still running buzz saw. She attempts to make them stop or move out of the way, but the roar of the buzzsaw is too loud for anyone to hear her snapping her fingers.

You can probably guess what happens from here

[rubiesintherough]

okay, i know i've talked about this stuff ad nauseum, but i'm doing replies with her right now and i'm having a ton of feelings, so let a sad bitch cry about her healer birb bby. this is gonna be a tough read, bc, well, her.

Just the fact that Mahia was 12 when everything went down. Just 12. Up until that point, she was a happy child. Had a loving family, if a little strict. Had her whole life laid out for her, was deep into her training to become a healer, just like many of the other Gifted kids in the village. It was what she wanted to do, had her heart set on it. She was having fun, running through the woods, splashing in streams, going to festivals in the village square, causing mischief with her younger brother, Danin. Just being, for all metrics on her world, a normal kid.

And then everything fell apart when her brother was killed by a wild animal, during a hunt gone wrong... his first out with their father, like an initiation. She'd seen him off that morning with the rest of the hunting party... and was the first to spot her father carrying his body home. And she couldn't cry. Wasn't allowed to. In her culture, crying for the dead is a disrespect. It's seen as basically spitting in the face of the Ancestors, their deities... as though implying that the person loved wasn't given enough time. Questioning the will and plans of the higher powers. 12 years old, she'd just lost her only sibling. Her best friend, and partner in childish crime. And she was punished for crying. Couldn't even outwardly mourn him.

And, then, only a few short months later --- while she was still silently grieving Danin --- the attack happened. And she watched friends, and neighbors, and family, get gunned down. Saw her home burning. Was rounded up with all the surviving children of the village and carted away in the dark, to another world. To the Lab. She watched the lifeless bodies of her friends wheeled past her every couple weeks, twisted and changed and only barely recognizable. And all the while, she was being stripped apart, too. Wings grafted on and organs removed, all without any form of anesthesia... she'd just pass out from the pain and wake up back in her holding cell, a little less human than when she'd been dragged from it, hours before. And just wondering, every time she heard those footsteps coming, if she was going to wake up this time. Or if it was her body that was going to be wheeled out, next.

And when she finally, 6 months of torture later, managed to escape the cell and stowaway on a ship... with a crew that were actually good people... she got brought back home, and was hoping against all odds that things would be okay. Maybe some of her family had, somehow survived. And ended up burying the charred remains of her own parents, and all others who died, on the edge of her village. It was a rushed job. She didn't have time to do any kind of required funeral rites for any of them, so she doesn't even know if her loved ones were allowed into the afterlife. Or if that's just another way she failed them.

And then got dropped off on Earth. Still a child. Still 12 years old. And had to fend for herself... nights in the cold, hungry, running from wild animals, learning how to fly with the wings she wanted so badly to cut off, hiding from everyone. Only to find out she was being chased by a group sent specifically after her by the Lab. To bring her back, dead or alive. Ended up killing one of them in a panic. A swing of her dagger --- pulled from the wreckage of her village --- slashing the Hunter's throat and she ran, and could hear him choking to death on blood behind her, and damn, if she can't still hear that awful sound sometimes. So, she took a life. Which was viewed as one of the worst crimes in her culture, self-defense or otherwise.

Truly believes she's been abandoned by the deities she prayed to her whole life, because she's so far from home, no longer fully human, and has taken a life... cut off from them. Cut off from any hope of seeing her family, again, if they were even allowed into the afterlife. But, she has to keep going. Because giving up or dying means letting her home's memory die. And it means letting those who took her apart win.

Mahia Emerga, who cannot allow herself to die, cannot live, cannot exist in the world she's always flying so far above. Hiding in forests, doing her best to heal others who need it, to atone for the damage she's done, and all her failures. She needs to survive, but sometimes she can't even tell if she's alive anymore.

[punchdrunkdoc]

Chapter 6

Summary: After the events of S3, Matt Murdock is trying to once again balance life as a lawyer and a vigilante. But he’s been scarred by loss and betrayal - will a mysterious new neighbour help him heal? Or will her secrets drag him back into the darkness?

Notes: This is a slow burn romance with an original female character, told in 3 parts. There is mystery, intrigue, action and angst - all the good stuff!

Also available on AO3 and Wattpad

Masterlist

-------------------

CHAPTER 6

Just over 24 hours later, Calina buckled the seatbelt across her lap and sank into the plush leather chair. “Can we afford this?” she asked, glancing around the small cabin of the luxurious private plane. 

Yelena peered at her over the top of the trashy magazine she was reading. “We’re flush right now, didn’t you hear? Anya found another one of Dreykov’s caches.”

“The stupid svoloch didn’t exactly hide his tracks,” Anya explained without looking up from her laptop or pausing the clack of her fingers across the keyboard. “He must have been so sure we would never betray him.”

“And his hubris, is our payday,” Yelena finished. “We’ve got enough to fund the next few ops, plus more to keep us all in the lifestyle we’ve never been accustomed to. You’ll be getting another bank deposit soon.”

“Thank you,” Calina replied. The money siphoned out of Dreykov’s scattered fortune equated to freedom for Calina. It gave her a safety net to pay her bills and indulge her new habit of online shopping while she figured out what she wanted to do with her life. Yes, the money was dirty as hell - obtained through blackmail, arms deals and all manner of other criminal deeds - but the Widows were owed it. They had bled and suffered and sacrificed to help create Dreykov’s empire.

It was a lifetime of backpay, and she felt zero compunction spending it. 

“Anya just needs to route it through a few dozen offshore accounts first. Then you can take your boring lawyer out for a boring meal to celebrate.”

Calina rolled her eyes at Yelena. “For the last time. He is not boring. And he’s not mine.”

He wasn’t hers. Not exactly. But he was…a friend. 

Maybe.

He’d asked her out for drinks last night. To meet his own friends. That had to mean something, didn’t it? His offer had sounded casual, but not insincere. He hadn’t just been asking out of politeness. Not when he’d said it standing close to her, with that beautiful smile on his face and his thumb brushing against her arm over and over…

“Earth to Calina,” Anya called, jerking her back to the present. 

“Huh? What?” 

“I said, who is the boring lawyer?” Anya asked. 

“He’s not boring!” Calina growled. The two women opposite her exchanged glances with each other before bursting out laughing. 

“Wow, I’ve never seen you so worked up before,” Anya remarked.

“Yes,” agreed Yelena. “It was always so annoying when we were kids. Nothing would rattle you.”

“But this lawyer does…” Anya said, fishing for details. She’d even closed her laptop - a rare occurrence. She hardly ever gave anyone her full attention. 

It made Calina talk - not about her growing feelings for Matthew. She didn’t fully understand those herself. But she shared everything she’d told Yelena in the coffee shop - all the subtle things she’d noticed about Matthew that didn’t add up. And a few more clues that she’d noticed in the last week. 

“He has scars. Quite a few of them.” His suits had hidden them from view, but up on the rooftop the other night, his arms - his beautifully sculpted, strong arms - had been bared. 

And they’d revealed another of his secrets. 

Maybe he thought she wouldn’t notice them in the dark of the rooftop. And to be fair, she hadn’t spotted the subtle, well-healed marks, despite spending long furtive moments gazing admiringly at his muscles. 

But when she’d run her fingers down his skin in the guise of stargazing, she’d felt the unmistakeable lines. “They felt like knife wounds. Deep slashes.”

“Wait, they felt like knife wounds?” Yelena spluttered. “What were you doing feeling his wounds? Or any part of him, for that matter. I thought I told you to be careful.”

“I was careful. It was completely innocent.”

Lie

She could feel her fingertips tingling, as if her body was trying to force the truth to the surface. 

But Yelena didn’t need to know how much that intimate, exhilarating, wonderful moment had changed her. Despite her teasing about dates, if she suspected that Calina was truly attracted to Matthew there was no telling what she would do to keep her ‘sister’ safe.

And if she knew how un-careful she was being in other ways, she would want to yank her out of New York and relocate her somewhere else - with a new backstory.

One she would actually stick to this time. 

Because Calina wasn’t being careful with her past. Or, rather, her made-up past. 

When she’d moved to New York, Anya had gifted her a new ID - and a new story. Calina Balashova, the Widow - the former spy, undercover operative and occasional assassin - became Calina Balashova, a small town girl who’d wasted her years at college partying, leaving her aimless and jobless, getting by on the inheritance left by her dearly departed uncle.  

It had seemed like the perfect cover at the time. A reasonable explanation for why a nearly 27 year old woman was still trying to figure her life out. And compared to some of her previous covers, it was so easy. 

No research required. No special skills. No disguises. 

But she was finding it really hard to stick to. 

Because she didn’t want to. 

She wanted to be herself. After all these years, she just wanted to be herself.

But she couldn’t tell any of this to the other Widows. Being herself - telling the truth about herself - put them all at risk. And if they thought she was a danger to them, they would put a stop to her little attempt at a life. 

Luckily, the Red Room had taught them all to lie very well. Even to each other. 

“I am being careful,” she reiterated to Yelena. “Don’t worry.”

Yelena nodded in acceptance. 

But Anya had more questions. “Tell me more about the way this guy moves.”

 ———

 They arrived in Seoul the following day, having flown through the night on the chartered plane.  

They headed to their hotel and settled into their suite. A very luxurious suite, which matched the luxurious plane. Apparently everything had been booked and organised under one of Yelena’s new aliases - a fake oligarch’s youngest daughter. Meaning that if anything went sideways, no one would find evidence of any Widows in South Korea. 

It also meant they got to travel and sleep in the style befitting a flighty, spoiled heiress and her equally flighty, equally spoiled friends. 

The three of them had changed on the plane into flashy designer gear and hitched a ride in a rented limo to the five star hotel. But not before sailing through the customs checks - Anya’s skill with fake identities was legendary.

She really was magic with her laptop. 

Right now, she was using said laptop to monitor the CCTV camera footage from the street outside the Ambassador’s residence. 

Yelena was checking inventory - the weapons they’d smuggled in, as well as the clothes and equipment needed for the Erin Brownly disguise. 

Calina was rewatching all the available footage Anya had managed to collect on her target. 

It was amazing the subconscious cues and signals that people could pick up about each other. The subtle mannerisms that defined a person, the subliminal messages that were transmitted, they all added up to a feeling of ‘rightness’ about a person. 

When something was off - when a subliminal cue jarred with known reality - a feeling of ‘wrongness’ would start to sink in. 

Which meant studying a person’s gait, speech patterns, accent - their whole way of being - was a process that needed to be thorough and precise.

She rewound the video clip of Erin Brownly dancing at a fundraising gala last year to assess it again.  Calina highly doubted she’d be called on to waltz during this mission, but every bit of information helped. How Erin held her shoulders; which foot she lead with, how evenly she distributed her weight to each leg, the way in which she tilted her head to laugh…it all built up a picture. 

A picture that needed to be good enough to fool even Erin’s own parents. 

She had the sudden notion that she would never be able to fool Matthew. He related to the world not through sight, but through other - more intangible - methods. Scent, sound, feel…things that she was starting to appreciate a lot more since meeting him. 

And things that were a lot harder to mimic. 

If he was as sensitive to those aspects of a person as she suspected…yeah, he would be impossible to mislead. He would-

“Are you ready for a mask test?”

Yelena’s question startled Calina out of her thoughts. 

What was she doing?

She couldn’t afford to be thinking about Matthew, not when a Widow’s freedom was on the line. She shook her head, as if to fling off the distracting thoughts. She wasn’t used to being so pre-occupied going into a mission. 

It felt dangerous. 

Reckless. 

She needed to forget about the handsome lawyer back home, and get her head in the game. 

Or she might just lose it.

 ———

 The size 9 shoes pinched her feet as Calina walked up to the electronic gate.

But Erin Brownly was a size 9, so Calina had to be as well. 

The towering stilettos were fitted with false heels, to shave an inch off Calina’s true height. The padding around her hips and breasts changed her normally willowy shape into more of an hourglass. And the photostatic veil gave her Erin’s face, right down to the summer tan and the freckles across her nose.  

The veil was Red Room tech, given to S.H.I.E.L.D. by Natasha Romanoff on her defection. It was a thin mesh of programmable, nano-sized holographic cells that could perfectly mimic the appearance of someone’s face. It also included a voice modifier that could precisely recreate a wide range of voices. It had been a game changer for Dreykov when it had been created - allowing for perfect infiltrations by more Widows across the world. 

But the tech couldn’t translate foreign languages. The engineers had tried to incorporate software to do just that, but it always resulted in the tiniest lag between mouth and voice. An infinitesimal delay…but enough to be detectable. So Widows like Calina - adept at multiple languages - were still in demand even after the tech was in use. 

“Annyeonghaseyo,” she said to the guard manning the entrance to the Ambassador’s residence. She chose to use the standard Korean greeting, rather than the more formal ‘Annyeonghasimnikka’. As a personal assistant, Erin Brownly ‘outranked’ the guards, so she wouldn’t speak overly respectfully to them. When the guard didn’t react in offence, she continued in the same speech form, “I’m here to get the Ambassador’s signatures on some documents.” She held up the leather file she carried and waited. 

This was the first test of her disguise: fooling these guards. They would have seen Erin Brownly - and spoken to her - many times in the past.  

As the guard radio-ed through to the main building, Calina stood at ease. She didn’t fidget - that habit had long since been beaten out of her. She didn’t hold her breath or bite her lip - Erin Brownly would have no reason to be anxious in this situation, so neither did Calina. She projected a relaxed, calm facade as she mentally recited the mantra that had gotten her through many a mission:

Trust your training. 

Trust your research. 

Trust your instincts.

She had prepared as well as she could for this mission. Yes, ideally, she would have liked more than just a few days, but this persona was relatively straight-forward. It was a quick in and out. Not a prolonged deep cover. 

It would be fine. 

Trust your training. 

Trust your research. 

Trust your instincts.

A few moments later, the guard nodded and hit the button to open the solid metal gate. 

First test: passed.

As the gate retracted, the house came into view and Calina felt like she’d been transported back to the past. It was a Hanok - a traditional Korean home, made of stone and clay, with a distinctive sloped tiled roof. She half expected a girl in a Hanbok, bearing ink and parchment, to walk through the bamboo-paper doors. 

Instead another guard emerged, dressed in a black suit, armed with a semi-automatic machine gun. 

Calina nodded to him as she passed, keeping her eye subtly trained on the gun in his hands. If there was any hint of trouble inside the building he, and the rest of the well-trained private security firm, would come running. And they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot. 

She felt decidedly under-armed in the face of so much fire power - carrying nothing but a thin blade, and a 9mm pistol stashed at the bottom of her handbag. 

Both of which were last resorts. 

She needed to get through this with her wits, not her weapons.

She just didn’t think she’d be needing those wits so soon. She’d taken a mere two steps into the main building when a figure appeared from behind a corner and called out an excited greeting, “Unnie!” 

Calina quickly cycled through the roster of faces from Yelena’s dossier, and recognised the girl as Park Eun-Bo, the house manager’s youngest daughter. An impish schoolgirl of only 13 years who lived in the residence with her mother. 

There hadn’t been much more information on the Park family, but Catalina could guess one thing: from the affectionate term Eun-Bo had used in greeting - Older Sister - she and Erin were close. She would need to be careful not to give herself away - children could often sense when someone wasn't acting themselves.

“Eun-Bo-ah,” Calina said, using the casual form of speech in reply. “How are you, today?,” she continued in the girl’s native language. 

“I got an A on my chemistry test today.”

“That’s excellent. Your mother must be happy.”

“She is. Unnie, did you get the tickets?”

Inside, Calina froze, her mind whirring as she decided on a suitable reply. But outwardly she remained calm, the same relaxed smile on her face. “Not yet, I’m afraid. Eun-bo I need to go see the Ambassador now - I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

A disappointed look crossed Eun-bo’s face, before she plastered on a smile. “Okay, Unnie,” she sighed, before heading back the way she came.

Second test: passed. 

Calina turned right, knowing from Yelena’s blueprints that the Ambassador’s study was down the corridor on in the next wing. Her heels clacked along the stone floor as she made her way to her destination. The sound was sure and steady - not a hint of hesitation in her steps. Her breathing was regular, her heart rate low, no sweat on her brow. 

She was in control. 

Calm.

She seemed to have gotten through that encounter with Eun-Bo with no problems - and if running into an innocent child was the worst of the hurdles today, this mission would be a cake-walk.

As she approached the study, there was no sign of Katya standing guard outside the door. Which meant the preferred plan A - in which she lured Katya away from the door to administer the antidote - was evidently off the table. 

So not such a cake-walk.

Plan B also involved some luring, but first she’d have to interact with the Ambassador - and convince the shrewd old diplomat that she was Erin Brownly, a woman he’d worked closely with for three years. 

Calina took a deep breath through her nose… 

Trust your training. 

Trust your research. 

Trust your instincts.

…and tapped on the wooden panelling of the door. 

 ———

 Calina stood in front of the large oak desk, hands loosely clasped in front of her, and watched the Ambassador sign the phoney documents. 

And she tried very hard to ignore the figure lurking in the corner of the room.

Katya.

She had noticed her as soon as she had entered, had flicked her eyes to her…but had seen no recognition on the other Widow's face. 

Her disguise was holding. 

The Ambassador didn’t seem to notice anything amiss either. He had gruffly greeted her then held out his hand imperiously for the papers. He’d skimmed them briefly then reached for his pen to sign. 

“Is the meeting arranged for tomorrow?” he asked in Japanese, head still bent over the papers. 

Anya had hacked into Erin Brownly’s computer, so Calina was ready with the answer. “Yes, sir," she replied in the same language. "The CEO of SK Holdings will see you at 3:30pm.”

“Good,” he replied, shuffling the pages together and handing them back. “I want the minutes of our last meeting for review, and find me the last five articles about the company published in the financial papers.”

“I’ll go see to that now.” She bowed to her ‘boss’ then turned to leave. 

As she passed Katya, she clutched the leather folder tightly in her hands, and dropped her gaze to the floor, almost scuttling out the door.

It was subtle - a two second hint of fear - but Widows were trained to spot the subtle. Katya would take the bait, she was sure of it.  She would come out to investigate why ‘Erin’ was behaving oddly. 

And Calina would be ready. 

She ducked into the empty room two doors down and quickly slipped out of her heels. She grabbed the small gas canister from her handbag and stepped to the side of the door to wait. Two seconds later, Katya’s footsteps could be heard as she strode down the corridor. Calina tracked the steps as they got closer…closer…then reached out and grabbed the Widow as she passed the open doorway, pulling her inside the room and raising the canister to her face. 

But before she could depress the trigger, Katya yanked out of her grip and spun away, knocking the antidote out of Calina’s hand and sending it flying across the room.

So much for quick and easy. 

It was on to Plan C: a fight. 

Calina didn’t hesitate; she crouched and dove at Katya’s midsection, propelling them both to the ground. She would usually have opted for a more elegant throw or a spin kick, but her movement was restricted by her pencil skirt. 

As Katya landed on her back, Calina drove her elbow into her throat. The move made her vulnerable to a counter-attack, but she needed to stop Katya calling out and alerting the guards. 

In response, Katya hammered her fist into Calina’s flank and the force knocked Calina onto her side. Katya rolled on top of Calina and backhanded her across the jaw. Then she went for her throat this time, wrapping both hands around her neck and squeezing. Calina tried to buck her off but she couldn’t get enough leverage in her tight skirt. 

Damn Erin Brownly and her taste in clothes. 

The hands squeezed tighter, but Calina kept her cool. She fumbled inside Katya’s suit jacket until she found her holster, trying to go for her gun. Katya felt the movement and let go of Calina’s neck. She reached for the gun herself, but Calina reared up and headbutted the other woman before she could unholster it.

Slightly dazed from the crack to the head, Katya stumbled to her feet. Calina drew both legs up and pushed off on her hands, kipping-up to her feet. The movement brought the two women close again - just as Calina wanted it. She couldn’t allow Katya to get enough distance to grab her weapon.

They fought each other in a flurry of punches and blocks - but were too evenly matched, neither woman managing to get the upper hand, despite the punishing blows. 

Until Katya got in a lucky kick to Calina’s left thigh, the impact knocking her back a foot…enough room to allow Katya to draw her gun. She aimed the weapon at Calina and rasped out a command, her voice broken and hoarse from the blow to the throat, “Tell me who you are.”

Calina raised her hands in the air, then slowly removed her wig and mask. “It’s me, Katya. It’s Calina.”

There was recognition in Katya’s eyes…but no emotion. 

No confusion, as to why another Widow was suddenly on her turf. 

No sign of remorse at trying to strangle her sister to death. 

No hint of any humanity in her cold, cold gaze. 

“Leave. Now,” Katya replied, and even her voice was different - barren of any inflection or feeling. 

So this is what it was like, Calina thought. 

Calina had been freed when the Red Room had fallen - one of a group of Widow’s all released from the mind control serum at once. So she had never seen it from the other side. Until now.

It was horrifying. 

Katya just wasn’t…there. 

Only a weapon remained. An emotionless, dead-eyed robot who had been given a task and would complete it - no matter what. 

Calina felt sick. And that roiling, vile sensation strengthened her resolve. She would free Katya from this, even if she died trying. 

Calina shifted her grip on her wig slightly, palming the thin knife that was concealed as a hair pin. Before Katya could squeeze the trigger, Calina flicked her wrist and the blade flew across the room to embed itself in the other woman’s hand. The gun clattered to the ground as Katya grasped the knife and pulled it free. Calina dove to the floor, reaching for the gun, but just as she wrapped her fingers around it, Katya stomped down on her hand, then rammed Calina’s own blade into the top of her shoulder. 

Calina gritted her teeth against the pain and clambered to her feet again, the gun still in her grip. “Stop, Katya,” she hissed. She raised the gun, using both hands to steady her aim. “It’s over.”

Katya said nothing, just stared with those dispassionate eyes.

Keeping the gun trained on the other Widow, Calina slowly stepped to the side until she reached the fallen antidote. The gun wavered slightly in her grip as she reached down to retrieve it, the pull of the knife in her shoulder affecting her control. Katya took advantage, launching across the room and tackling Calina to the floor. 

Calina grunted as the knife was driven further into her muscle and she swore she could feel it hit bone. Katya knocked the gun aside and drew her fist back ready to strike…but Calina got there first. 

She brought the gas canister up and pushed the trigger, spraying the red mist directly into Katya’s face.

-------------------

CHAPTER 7

Taglist: @hollandorks, @yanna-banana, @stilldreaming666

If you’d like to be added, let me know!

[jaekaicx]

design hcs i (try to) follow when drawing the calamity trio:

marcy

round face

Face scars (in chronological order: eyebrow scar, scar across the bridge of their nose, and chin scar from all in)

tanner than in the show bc i said so

thick eyebrows

messy, wavy hair

flat nose

i try to make them a lil chubby but im bad at it

they can get a lil bit of muscle. just a little. as a treat

arrow graze & claw scars mostly around his shoulders & upper arms, plus miscellaneous battle scars. plenty of assorted scars from being possessed (port scars from getting plugged into the chair)

ALWAYS gets some form of gloves

hoodies hoodies hoodies

they dont cut their hair throughout amphibia so by the end of s3 its gotten pretty long. he keeps it long for a few months or so post-show, but eventually he cuts it short again

his ranger outfit always had shorts, what do you mean? /j

anne

face scars: forehead/eyebrow scar (top left, inspired by laf au anne), right chin scar, and left cheek scar

cracks appear at the ends of the last two scars post finale. they also show up at the ends of her fingers and feet, plus a few around her chest, neck, and chin

no major scars pre-canon, only various faded scratch marks from over the years thanks to domino

also slightly darker than in the show. sometimes. i think.

brown eyes w little specs of blue from her powers post canon

she did bouldering and tennis and muay thai and lived on a farm of course she has muscle

still on the lanky side

small cuts and scars across her arms & legs from amphibia wilderness (yk like grazing stray branches and thorns and stuff in the forest)

MUST give her the little hair squiggly

sasha

sharp chin. long-ish head

straight hair. also less banana colored. got it cut short, and light brown roots start showing around mid/post s3

give him short hair as much as possible, or whatever looks cool. anything to avoid his stupid canon ponytail

large nose, broke it sometime early s1 n its crooked now

narrower eyes

buff. why is this teenager so buff

heterochromia !! gray/blue and brown, with the specific sides depending on how i feel atm (lighter than anne & marcy’s shade of brown)

post-canon piercings: helix on left ear, lobe on right ear, and one on her right eyebrow

face scars: left eye slashed/burned from above the eyebrow to right above his lip (plus the iconic canon scar)

gets a glass eye after the fucked up eye heals a bit. goes from bandages to an eye patch and then the glass eye, but she still wears the eye patch sometimes just cause

lots of various battle scars, mainly littered around his limbs

slightly sunburnt by s3, very tanned

muscle shirts/tank tops, and/or cool jackets

some extra gen notes:

they all lost a bit of weight while in amphibia bc of the new bug diet

marcy especially after getting possessed by the core bc they never feed him or rest or anything. only the bare minimum to keep them alive

all three got a bit tanner after spending so much time in the sun in amphibia

pre-canon height hierarchy: sasha > anne > marcy

height hierarchy during the show: anne (she had a growth spurt) > sasha > marcy

post-canon height hierarchy: depends. anne is usually the tallest though

[sharksa-shivers]

Slash and Burn dialog dump cuz yeah lol, i wannaaaaaaaaaaaaa

If i've already spoiled Sharksty, ima just spoil this too but yeah, Slash and Burn like each other lol... Sooooooooo yeah... Tho they both don't wanna be the first to admit it and thus are waiting on the other to admit it...They're that kinda couple lmaoooooo... ---------- (We see this random seal anthro man sit down outside on a park bench, taking off his backpack, sitting tiredly. We see him relax for a moment…Until-)

Seal guy:(thinking, to himself, him talking outloud)…Man, i'm getting hungry…

Slash:(we move the camera to see him there, grins deviously and scaring the absolute shit out of this seal man)Yeah, me too.

(We see Slash lunge at him, the seal man going into panic mode, thinking Slash is aiming for him but then we cut and see Slash stole his backpack instead, the seal man still in sheer fear from that as he watches Slash fucking take off quickly.)

Slash:(running, satisfied with his loot)Thanks for the free shit man!!!!! Ahahahahaha!!!!!!! Fuckin sucker!!!!!!!!

Seal man:(calming down after a moment, now being alone again, fearful still, to himself)…Fuck it, yeah, you can have that, fuck…Goddamnit…Least he didn't get my wallet…

(We see a shadowy cat figure on the ground behind the bench, pickpocketing him as he says this, it obviously being Burn and her sliding his wallet out and into her hands, slinking away silently with a smirk on her face…) ---------

(Slash basically stealing from a human and it's one of the times he doesn't feel like he needs to intimidate so he tones the assholery down some)

Human rando:(scared shitless, pinned against the wall by Slash who's sitting down, blocking the way and sifting through his backpack, shivering and terrified by the like 8'7 shark man who's stealing his shit and eating it, pleeding)Please for the love of God, don't eat me, please fucking God don't…

Slash:(shuffling through, stopping as he's eating a bag of walnuts the guy had in his bag, Slash just looks over, turns towards the guy, chill as fuck, shrugging as he's munching on walnuts)Why would i ever want to eat a human? Like honestly? Let's be honest, you're mostly all bones, not really alot of meat and ON TOP OF THAT…Do i really look like a murderer to you?

Human rando:(looking at his slashed up face that's covered up by his hood)………Kinda, yeah…

Slash:(groans)Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, nah!!!!! (smirking, chomping on the walnuts still)I'm just a simple thief trying to get by hehehehe…Sorry it happened to be you but i gotta get by somehow…Which speaking of-(picking up the bag, having had enough of scaring this guy)Think i'll be seeing ya. Thanks for the stuff!!! Hopefully there's more useful shit in here!!! (starts walking off, leaving the guy on his own) ------------------ (Random dialog shit but probably earlier on when they start liking each other. Idfk context except they probs playing here…)

Burn:(just smirks, tail flicking as she lets go of Slash's hoodie and lets him drop to the ground, standing above him)You're fucking stupid…I like that in a man…

Slash:(just smirking back)You're kind of a bitch…And i like that in a woman… -------------------------------- (Slash and Burn fluff shit cuz i need it, fuck you lol)

(We see it's storming pretty heavily and Slash and Burn are both stuck in a very small underground area due to the storm. They're both trying to stay warm and keep dry while stuck in this very very small area together…Since it's small, they're pretty compounded together…We see Slash kicking back(him obviously being far more chill and shit with the weather vs Burn who's very much not happy about the storm oof)…Slash is kind of in his own mind whenever we see something moving in his hoodie, getting his attention.)

Slash:(alarmed)What the fuck???

Burn:(the movement was her as she proceeds to worm her way into sharing his hoodie, popping her head out of the neckhole of the hoodie, smirking up at him)Hiya, how ya doin?

Slash:(kind of annoyed)Can you maybe not????

Burn:(annoyed too, tail swishing as she lays on Slash, obviously not fucking moving from his hoodie lmao)Can you stop the storm so i don't have to be freezing sopping wet anymore? No? Then uhhhh…I'm not going anywhere…

Slash:(annoyed as fuck but begrudgingly accepting Burn's not leaving)God, you are a fucking pest…

Burn:(annoyed too)Quit crying, you feel cold too, this has to be fucking better then freezing.

Slash:(questioning)?????? The weather feels fine to me????? (gives up)Whatever, fine, ugh…Just…Don't stretch out the hoodie okay? It's like the best one I've been able to find that actually fucking fits.

Burn:(amused as she nuzzles in, obviously she's comfortable now regardless of if Slash is or not)Yeah yeah, i got it. (sitting quite for a moment before speaking, grinning)You like this though don't you? Annoying or not, i can tell you fucking like this…

Slash:(blushing a bit, annoyed though but more annoyed now, wrapping his arms around her and putting his chin on her head, trying to keep her from seeing the blush)……..Shut up, goddamnit… -------------------------- (Earlier on shiz between them both lol)

Burn:(sits a moment as she processes what happened a few minutes prior with Slash (Basically him threatening to eat somebody) she just sits there anxious now, looking at Slash who just seems content with the shit they both just managed to steal, decides to ask) …….Were you serious? Like…Have you actually ever done that before? Eaten people?

Slash:(he just smirks and says nothing)…….

Burn:(scared kind of now)….IS THAT A YES OR A NO????

Slash:(amused)It's a "i say that to fuck with people and intimidate them into giving me their shit" and a "No i don't fucking want to murder anyone, jesus, what is wrong with you?"

Burn:(just stares, calming down)………Well fuck, it works i guess cuz you scared the shit out of me saying that…

Slash:(laughing)Good!!!! That's the whole fucking point!!!!!!! ------------------------------ (Dirty joke lmao...Also yeahhhh, Slash is like this lmaooooooo)

Slash:(snickering)Nah, i don't eat people…(motions over at Burn who looks over blushing, laughing and loud)BUT I DO EAT PUSS-

Max:(cutting him off, looking at his phone)OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT!!!!!! Hey!!!! Look!!!!!! I tracked the thing we were looking for!!!!!!! ---------------------------

Slash:(sits a moment before smirking, joking)You know what else i could eat though????

Burn:(annoyed)How about my claws rippin your gillslits open?

Slash:(smirking)Ooooooo, kinky…~~ --------------------- (Early moment shit between em both)

Burn:(curious as she's getting to know Slash)So like…What's like…the craziest thing you've eaten?

Slash:(amused, glances over at her)Like…This week or like…?

Burn:(sits a moment, staring)……Yknow, i dunno if i want an answer to this question anymore…

Slash:(amused still as he empties his backpack)What? You think my answers gonna be a person or something? A corpse maybe? That what your afraid of?

Burn:(a bit anxious)I literally have no clue, i JUST met you like…what? 3, 4 days ago? And i can't fucking tell when your joking or not so????

Slash:(amused)Ahahahahah, see, that's the fun part though! You get to keep guessing, i just keep smiling and fucking with you…Like…Where'd the fun be if i didn't fuck around yknow?

Burn:(she just stares)…….

Slash:(he rolls his eyes, sighing but keeping the smirk)I've never hurt a person and i haven't defiled any corpses…That make ya feel better?

Burn:(raises an eyebrow, seemingly a bit of doubt in her eye)……….

Slash:(groans)Okay, okay………So MAYBEEEEEE i've stolen shit off of corpses…Maybe i've sold some shit i've found off sunken ships where people have died and are still resting, LIKE MAYBEEEEEEE i've done that, ALLEGEDLY…Don't drag my ass to prison for that shit i did like 6 years ago cuz i needed cash for clothes alright?

Burn:(staring)…I don't…Ok, you still didn't answer my first question… ----------------------------

(We see Kristy sitting outside with Slash who's smoking a cigarette)

Kristy:(questioning)Isn't it bad to smoke?

Slash:(lets out smoke, looking over, shrugs)I hear that but i dunno. Something something lung cancer? I've never been to a doctor so…

Kristy:(wide eyed)You've…NEVER BEEN to a doctor???

Slash:(nods)Yeah, that shits expensive, never had cash. See, things like that are…Luxuries that i don't have…BUT…(smirks)Cigarettes are luxuries i can get. And yknow, they help me not feel so stressed, they kill my appetite so i don't have to worry bout that kinda shit so i'm gonna keep doing it…(lets out more smoke)

Kristy:(questioning again)Does it…Actually help with that kinda stuff or…?

Slash:(looking over)I mean…I dunno bout other people but it helps me…Keeps me sane…Only so much of this kinda shit i can take. It's either the cigs and vapes orrrrrrrrr it's me fucking dying so…I got alot to be stressed about and hunger can drive a man fucking mad so i'll take whatever help i can fucking get…

Kristy:(thinking)…Do you ever think about quitting? I…You probably think i am annoying but like…It is bad for you to do that kinda stuff…

Slash:(sighs)I have, i know Burn hates me doing it too but like…I kinda need it so…Maybe if i had some damn stability of some sort i could quit but…I don't so…I dunno…Eh… --------------------- Lol, that's all for now (i adore these 2 lil trash goblins, i adoreeeeeeeee them...They really are cute together but also are just fun in general...) Also, with the last one, fun fact: Slash knows very very well about Burn's deathly awful fear of fire now so he'll do his best to smoke well well away from her and always makes sure to dunk the finshed up cigs in water so he's 100% sure they're out for Burn's paranoia's sake... He's a bit of a dumbass but Slash absolutely has a good heart at the end of the day, especially for Burn...

[vaida-talks-about-everything]

Kailman Legacy || 31: Finally

In her baby pink gown, holding her violin, Edith Dean played classics for the early evening crowd of The Red Velvet Lounge but was only concerned about making a good impression on one man in the crowd.

Dirk researched the budding musician before this and had her on a list of people to reach out to, but hearing Noah John mention her without prompting was the final push. Hearing the woman share what she'd been working on was all the more reason to see her work in person.

"Thanks again for coming." Edith Dean smiled as she came to his table after her set, enjoying the momentary applause. "What'd you think?"

"What'd I think? I think you're good, very good. How long have you played?"

"Oh, my whole life. Self taught too, actually."

"Yes, Noah mentioned that. Your content is impressive too. How'd you learn to sing and play at the same time?"

"Same thing, I just got determined enough and made myself learn. I've never been one to give up easily."

"And it's clearly paid off for you."

"I sure hope so. I've been working on an album for a while, and I'd certainly love to find the right people to get it off the ground."

"I certainly wouldn't mind hearing it. How much material do you have so far?"

"Oh, everything's pretty much written. I've just gotta fine tune some things, and get a second opinion, of course."

"Okay, okay. This is good. And you said you're wanting to keep with the country route, correct?"

"Yes. It's the music I grew up on and honestly, the stuff I've been writing about just fits the kind of the mood I'm trying to set."

"And what is that, pray tell?"

"Do you remember that era of the country where women were crazy and proud of it and ready to string up their cheating ex-boyfriends and slash their tires? The kind of music that would blare in the car on a girls trip,"

Dirk laughed at her descriptor, knowing precisely what she was talking about. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. That's what you're going for?"

"Absolutely."

"Can I ask who spurred this righteous anger? I can probably take a guess, but-"

"-Thorne is... one of the inspirations, yes. But all my," she paused to laugh at herself, "romantic woes aren't all I've written about either. There's songs about the whole 'down home, dirt roads' thing to them, cos they're cozy and nostalgic, and I write about my family quite a bit. So, yeah, this covers a lot of the typical ground the genre lays out."

"So what do you think sets you apart from other women doing similar work?"

"Other than how I hope to perform, maybe, I'd say I'm just... entirely myself, always. I have a very hard time putting on an act, I wear my heart on my sleeve, despite all the whatever I've dealt with and done. Not to say others aren't doing the same thing, but not every one of them wears their scars with pride. And I'm not out to really burn up the lives of the men who've wronged me or whatever. This whole... musical, creative process is just how I come to terms with everything. It's cathartic, so my hope is that whoever really likes what I do gets a similar moment of reprieve, you know?"

"Absolutely." Dirk nodded. "Okay, so, here's what I can do. I can get you some studio time, but there's also something else on the table that would make this a bit more complicated."

"Okay, hit me."

"So I represent Travis and Carter Wells. They're about to do a world tour, and the opener had to drop out at the last minute. Thankfully, Travis' wife was willing to pull some strings and take up half the opening set, but I've got five songs worth of time to fill and everyone else on my roster's got one thing or the other going on. So, if you're willing to really grind this out, I think you'd do great at it."

"As the opening act for a massive world tour?"

"The biggest thing is getting enough material fine-tuned and ready to release beforehand, but yes, I'm willing to take a risk here."

"So what about me makes me worth the risk, Mr. Dreamer?" Edith Dean raised a brow, leaning in a bit. Dirk recognized confidence and met her with the same.

"You came highly recommended, plus you've proven to be a decent dancer already."

Edith Dean laughed at the compliment without issue initially, but then it struck her: Oh my god, he remembers. He laughed with her, and she managed to hide some of the embarrassment. Edith Dean and DJ went clubbing one night in San Myshuno during her whole thing with Thorne. He went home early, but she stayed to enjoy the music and made Dirk laugh so hard he almost cried at the bar, thoroughly shaking him out of the bad mood he walked in with. Full of confidence, she asked him to dance, and he obliged. Dirk was impressed that in the tallest go-go boots he'd ever seen, Edith Dean managed to keep herself and her drink upright and keep the rhythm of the music like she created it herself. They danced to a few songs and flirted and had a couple drinks, but she ultimately went home without exchanging as much as a phone number.

"I'm glad I wasn't too much for you then, cos I definitely didn't care about what anyone thought and acted like it."

"Certainly not a bad thing."

"Yeah, well, now I know who's watching, so, a lot less room to goof off like that now."

"Sounds like you've learned a decent lesson about that whole debacle then."

"Oh yeah, you could say that again."

So, as they walked outside to part ways, Edith Dean told him about her sister telling her about the leaked photos at her other sister's wedding in Sulani. Then, almost without hesitation, she shared the moment she'd met Thorne's wife at her front door and her whole plan to ruin his reputation further and also get Edith Dean through the door with influential people in music, something she'd been trying to do for years with very little success. With Octavia's sudden death was the sudden halt of any kind of support from an insider. Edith Dean did what she knew to do, just sunk her teeth into writing and tried finding more gigs to support herself, especially after running into him. Shaking off that reminder, she smiled at Dirk as the two exchanged contact information, discussed studio times, and said their goodbyes. Finally, she thought, something's gonna happen with all this. It won't all be for nothing.

On her way back to her car, she saw a couple kissing outside the lounge's entrance. Something about them looked familiar until they put some distance between themselves, and it hit her. Noah John James, her little brother's mentor, and Dayla Ann, her oldest sister, were clearly on a date and very into each other. No. Way. She thought of her attempts at flirting at her recent gig in Chestnut Ridge and was quick to realize that clearly, he had someone else on his mind, but she never figured it'd be her own sister. Plenty of questions flooded her mind. When did this start? How long has it been going on for? Does Emerson know? Does Tim know? Do Mom and Dad know? One thing's for sure. These sisters have a lot of catching up to do.